NICK GRIFFIN Courtesy UNZ Review

The Bucha Massacre” has now become the driving force for the propaganda push for even more NATO involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

Yet the claim that this is a Russian war crime is so patently false that a rational observer can only be left astounded by the combination of bare-faced nerve and slapdash incompetence displayed by the media outlets and politicians pushing this disgusting smear.

The latest effort of the Western media to deny Russian rebuttals is the claim that satellite photos show the bodies were there for weeks. Far from ‘proving’ the case against Russian troops, however, this new assertion in fact raises yet more questions which undermine the Western story.

The satellite photos certainly appear to show bodies, but they also show no sign at all of the burnt out cars which are such a prominent feature of the ground photos and videos. Are we supposed to believe that these vehicles were carefully driven in and positioned between the corpses after the shooting spree?

A similar suspension of belief is required when considering the dates involved. The ‘Bucha Massacre’ entry in Wiki (accessed 09.25 on 5th April 2022) reads as follows:

‘On 4 April, satellite images were provided to The New York Times by Maxar Technologies. The Times compared images to video evidence and concluded: many of the civilians were killed more than three weeks ago, when Russia’s military was in control of the town.” The images of Yablonska Street show at least 11 dark objects of similar size to a human body” appearing between 9 March and 11 March”.’

Wiki also tells us that Ukrainian troops re-entered Bucha on April 1st, following the redeployment of the Russian force to south eastern Ukraine.

Maxar Technologies, as a major contractor for NASA, is of course an integral part of the NATO military-industrial complex. As such its assertions with regards to the conduct of the conflict in Ukraine have to be regarded with caution. That said, Maxar’s dates of 9th– 11th March seem to be causing some concern in mainstream media outlets promoting the Russian massacre claim.

The Maxar dates should indeed raise eyebrows. The idea that bodies could lie in the open air for three whole weeks without undergoing massive decay is only remotely credible because the average Westerner thinks that Ukraine is in some kind of winter weather deep-freeze in late March.

Yet a look at the weather data for Kiev for March 2022 reveals that there has not been one single day in the city (of which Bucha is a suburb) with temperatures below freezing since March 11th. The average daily temperature in the last few days of the month was 6 degrees centigrade – the same as the English city of Leeds. That average in turn of course includes highs in the spring sunshine. The weather graph for Kiev for the last week in March shows the situation very clearly, with temperatures up to 15 and 17 degrees:

March weather in Kiev

Anyone who has walked past an animal killed and left on the road for a few days under such conditions will be able to imagine the appalling stench which would come from so many human bodies left in the spring sunshine for three weeks, yet not one of the Ukrainian soldiers or police shown examine the bodies can be seen wearing a mask, making any expression of revulsion or mentioning the smell.

As more graphic images have emerged of the victims, the evident freshness of the corpses seems to have prompted a revision of the dates of the alleged ‘Russian massacre’. By 5th April, for example, the UK Daily Mail’s lead story was claiming that the satellite photos showing the bodies on the road were taken on 19th March. No explanation was given for the ten-day change.

But even accepting the revised time-line, there is still the problem that none of the bodies shown in videos or photos has any sign of decay or damage from carrion-eaters. In order to believe the accounts and videos put out by Kiev and the Western media, it is also necessary to believe that Ukraine has no stray dogs, no rats and not one single crow or other carnivorous bird.

Look again at the video footage of the Ukrainian troops driving along the corpse-lined road. Do you see any carrion-eating birds flying up from any of the bodies?

For that matter, why were some of the bodies not crushed by the Russian tanks which withdrew from and through the town? Do you really believe that soldiers brutal enough to slaughter dozens of defenceless civilians would then be considerate enough to slow down their withdrawal from the area by carefully weaving their heavy armour around each corpse?

Returning to the weather, there was of course rain during the three weeks the bodies are supposed to have laid (not) rotting in the road. Looking at the cardboard of the green boxes of the food aid packages lying near some of the (clearly fresh) corpses, it is clear that they have not been subjected to bad weather. The presence of those packages is also, of course, another important pointer as to the truth in this matter – for they are Russian.

Screenshot © Photo : Twitter

Thus, in order to believe the Western propaganda narrative, we must swallow yet another ridiculous tall tale: The ‘analysts’ have spent the last month repeatedly telling us that the Russian army cannot even supply its own troops with fuel or food; but now they would have us believe that the Russians went to all the trouble of taking vast quantities of emergency food parcels to the occupied suburbs of Kiev, handed them out to civilians – and then promptly shot them.

Food parcels © Photo

On top of all this, there are four key facts which have already received considerable attention on Telegram (the last uncensored social media platform of any size in the West), though which have predictably enough been routinely ignored by the warmongering mainstream media.

The first of these is the video of the Mayor of Bucha speaking about how the Russian troops have left and that a ‘clean-up’ is now underway. As a non-Russian speaker I cannot judge for myself, but the comments by Russian-speakers accompanying this video on Telegram say that he does not mention the bodies of civilians.

The second fact, closely related to this, is the video which shows a detachment of the paramilitary Ukrainian National Police clearing the roads of burnt out and abandoned vehicles. Again, there is no sign of the bodies which appeared on the streets the following day.

Third, and perhaps most devastating of all, are the white armbands on a number of the bodies. These are clearly shown in the main video of Ukrainian troops driving along the corpse-strewn road, and they are also visible on several of the bodies of victims of torture and murder in cellars in Bucha.

The fact that Ukrainian forces wear blue armbands, while Russian troops wear white ones, is universally accepted. A number of videos from various parts of the conflict zone also show civilians wearing white armbands, as a sign either of sympathy with the Russians or at least neutrality.

Situation in Ukraine
Video: Kiev Territorial Defence in Bucha Given Green Light to Shoot Those Not Wearing Blue Armband 3 April, 16:38 GMT

Thus the appearance of white armbands on the victims of ‘the Bucha Massacre’ is overwhelming evidence that the victims were ethnic Russians. They were murdered not by Russian troops – who were of course sent in with a key aim of stopping the persecution of Russian-speakers by racist neo-Nazis – but by Ukrainians.

This should come as no surprise, for the whole history of Ukrainian nationalism is based on the mass murder of ‘unclean’ and ‘sub-human’ civilians from other ethnic groups, most notably the Poles of Wolyn and Eastern Galicia, Jews, Hungarians, Romanians and, of course, Russians.

Finally, we come to the video clip from the streets of Bucha, which was posted and then removed from the social media account of the known Ukrainian neo-Nazi ‘Botman’: There are guys without blue armbands. Can we shoot them?” F**k, yeah!”

The truth of the massacre is so clear that we can see why Western leaders such as Boris Johnson are so adamant that there should not be a proper international investigation into the crime.

Instead, they are using the most blatant fake news to justify imposing another round of sanctions pain on their own people, and to excuse the sending of billions of pounds, dollars and euros worth of high-tech weapons in order to prolong the war. One has to wonder about the scale of the kick-backs these real war criminals are getting from their military-industrial complex cronies!

Courtesy ANI

Colombo (Sri Lanka), Apr 08 (ANI): As Sri Lanka is reeling under an economic crisis, Indian businessman in the island nation is taking initiatives under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to help the people cope with the current situation.Sanjay Baid, Managing Director at a diamond cutting unit in Sri Lanka, said that he is confident that the country will bounce back with a renewed vigour. Baid, who came to Sri Lanka in 1999 and founded a diamond cutting unit, said that he had seen many ups and down in the country.”I have seen war and economic crisis in the country. Our CSR activity is always community focused irrespective of the nature of the crisis the country is going through.”Baid said that his organisation has prepared 1,500 rations packets for their employees and people affiliated with their villages. This amounts to around 20 tonnes of ration that aims to ensure that these people celebrate the new year.

Courtesy The Daily Star

Forex reserves drop to $1.93b

People stand in a queue to buy liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders in Rathgama, Sri Lanka on March 27. Scarce supplies of food and fuel, along with record inflation and regular blackouts, have inflicted widespread misery in the country’s most painful downturn since its independence. Photo: AFP

Sri Lanka’s beleaguered president has appointed an expert panel to organise a debt restructure to claw the country out of a crippling economic crisis that has sparked huge protests demanding his resignation.

Scarce supplies of food and fuel, along with record inflation and regular blackouts, have inflicted widespread misery in the country’s most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.

For all latest news, follow The Daily Star’s Google News channel.

Rating agencies have warned of a potential default on Sri Lanka’s $51 billion foreign debt, and authorities have been unable to raise more commercial loans because of credit downgrades.

Meanwhile, the country’s foreign exchange reserves dropped 16.1 per cent to $1.93 billion in March from a month earlier, the central bank said on its website on Thursday, according to another report.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office said late Wednesday that the three-member advisory panel had been tasked with guiding Sri Lanka through a  “sustainable and inclusive recovery”.

His government is preparing for bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, and finance ministry officials told AFP the trio will prepare a programme for sovereign bond holders and other creditors to take a haircut. “What Sri Lanka is keen to do is avoid a hard default,” a source from the ministry, who requested anonymity, told AFP.

“It will be a negotiated restructuring of the debt with the help of the IMF.” Parliamentary Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana warned Wednesday that the economic crisis could lead to starvation unless addressed within the week.

Meetings with the IMF are set to begin by next week but Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa — the president’s brother — resigned on Sunday night along with nearly the entire cabinet.

The country is still without a replacement, with his successor quitting after just one day in office.

Public anger is at fever pitch, with crowds attempting to storm the homes of several government figures and demanding President Rajapaksa’s resignation.

Security forces have dispersed protests with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets, and dozens have been arrested — many saying they were tortured in police custody.

Opposition parties have rejected the president’s overture to form a unity administration and joined calls for him to step down.

But chief government whip Johnston Fernando reiterated Thursday that Rajapaksa would stay in office to lead the country out of the crisis.

The government has lost its majority in parliament but there has so far been no clear signal that opposition legislators will attempt a no-confidence motion to topple the administration.

A critical foreign currency shortage has left Sri Lanka struggling to import essential goods, with the pandemic torpedoing vital revenue from tourism and remittances.

Rating agencies have warned of a potential default on Sri Lanka’s $51 billion foreign debt, and authorities are unable to raise more commercial loans because of credit downgrades.

Economists say the crisis has been exacerbated by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing and ill-advised tax cuts.

Courtesy The Bangkok Post

Last Sunday — with two notable exceptions — Sri Lanka’s cabinet resigned en masse in protest against the government’s handling of the worst economic crisis to hit the island in decades, which has sparked widespread rioting, unrest, and arson attacks on police property.

The two men stayed put were President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, scions and brothers of the powerful Rajapaksa clan.

The prime minister’s son, Namal Rajapaksa, was among those who resigned, however, explaining via Twitter that the move would “help the President and PM to establish stability for the people and the government”. President Gotabaya imposed a 36-hour curfew on Friday, a day after protesters clashed near his residence.

The economic downfall started with a changeover from an international trade strategy to focusing on domestic economy development. It resulted in shrinking trade as exports declined as a percentage of GDP — 26% in 2005, 15% in 2010, 13% in 2015; and by 2020 at 12%. The domestic economy could not create demand to stimulate economic growth, which fell from 9% in 2012 to 2.3% in 2019.

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Income tax concessions led to significant revenue loss of Rs 500 billion (55.8 billion baht; or 4% GDP). A ban on chemical fertiliser imports to promote organic farming led to crop failure and the country ended up importing staples such as rice, draining foreign reserves. By December 2019, the borrowing had shot up by Rs 4.2 trillion (173%) within two years. This is the country’s worst economic crisis with rolling power blackouts, shortage of cooking gas and essential goods including food.

Borrowings from China to finance infrastructure projects such as a $1.4-billion port construction project left a hole in the reserves. Sri Lanka owes $35 billion (10% of its foreign debt) to China, by April 2021. Foreign reserves fell to $2.3 billion by 2022 and after removing illiquid balances from China, Sri Lanka is left with only $400 million. The government imposed an import ban in 2020 shooting up food prices up by 25% as overall inflation touched 17.5%. Rising prices coupled with high debt concretised the lack of essentials, with staples like rice, milk and sugar being rationed, and a ripple effect followed for most food items.

The economy remained vulnerable to external shocks as foreign reserves were based on foreign borrowings rather than export earnings. The government spent forex on debt repayment, depleting central reserves and drying up funds for food imports. Other external shocks affected the volatile economy, primarily the Covid-19 pandemic that contracted the economy by 3.6% in 2020. Foreign migrant worker remittances also declined, adding to the woes.

The pandemic was a blow to the country’s tourism-dependent economy which has been on pause since 2020. Some 30% of Sri Lankan tourism depends on visitors from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus, which is now at an additional risk due to the Ukraine war. Petroleum products accounted for 20% of Sri Lanka’s imports in December –having risen 88% compared to a year earlier. The Russia-Ukraine conflict is worsening fuel prices; adding to an already fragile economy that has only $2 billion in reserves, but $7 billion in debt payments.

High unemployment and skyrocketing inflation have prompted some Tamils to flee northern Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu in India. Some refugees ended up stranded and later rescued by the Indian Coast Guard. Critical foreign currency shortages have left traders unable to finance imports as banks remain unable to finance the imports of food, fuel and medicines.

Sri Lankans have resorted to kerosene and firewood for cooking. Exams were cancelled for millions of students due to a printing paper shortage. The situation is dire with food being rationed at supermarkets and a shortage of essential goods. The price of food has increased more than 30%, and the price of some vegetables have quintupled. Poor availability and a price hike of milk powder has made young children’s nutrition difficult. People have cut down their meals, with some sacrificing their meals to feed their children.

Sri Lanka’s public debt increased from 94% in 2019 to 119% of GDP in 2021. Neighbours like China, India and Bangladesh have come to assist. In 2021, China swapped $1.5 billion to help reduce fluctuating exchange rates. India announced a credit of $1 billion for procuring food, medicines and essentials; $500 million was extended for petroleum purchase. Bangladesh offered a credit of $200 million to Sri Lanka in 2021. Pakistan and Qatar have also offered support.

The government took additional policy measures to reduce capital outflow; increasing investors’ confidence by not defaulting debt-servicing; introducing import restrictions on luxury vehicles, fertilisers and food items to prevent currency outflows; restrictions on forward contracts foreign exchange; policies for improving foreign remittance inflow, such as diversifying foreign employment market, introducing a contributory pension and pay remittances above the normal exchange rate; boosting investors’ confidence by offering provisions for Special Deposit Accounts. Although the country had earlier been sceptical of an IMF bail-out, it will now discuss an IMF rescue plan in addition to seeking World Bank support.

As an alternative to borrowing by way of increasing taxes and investments in healthcare and education, social protection can improve public financing and boost the economy for a lower-middle-income country like Sri Lanka. Strengthening offshore financial centres and addressing tax evasion should go hand in hand. However, collections from tax may not suffice as the current income levels may only yield proportionately low taxes.

A comprehensive policy is required for the country to bail itself out. Firstly, management of borrowings must be bettered. This includes addressing demand side issues, improving accountability and political commitment. Options such as diversifying and divestments may be explored in addressing issues that require immediate resolution. It is important to strengthen accountability of borrowers and lenders by bringing transparency in debt, so citizens and other civil bodies can collaborate for contingent liabilities management.

Debt reframing is a possible policy option that may be used in combination. Debt restructuring and rescheduling may be pursued by the renegotiation and modification of contract terms with lenders, while requesting concessions and extensions for tackling debt pay-outs. Renegotiations may also consolidate many debts into few.

Debt conversion is another way to ensure that local currency pay-out is not large — this can be achieved through conversions of assets (such as debt for equity swaps) in place of cash and increase domestic money supply. It can be managed through schemes involving issuance of government bonds to strengthen domestic capital markets.

Sri Lanka must strengthen its shock and crisis management, and make the economy resilient to external shocks by introducing permanent mechanisms. The road ahead will be rocky but not insurmountable with some belt tightening, economic reforms and most importantly — prudent political leadership.

Prof Syed Munir Khasru is Chairman of the international think tank, The Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG), with a presence in Dhaka, Melbourne, Dubai, Delhi and Vienna.

Courtesy VOA

U.S. authorities said Thursday that they had arrested a Japanese yakuza organized crime leader and three Thai men who trafficked heroin and methamphetamine and tried to acquire surface-to-air missiles for rebel groups in Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Takeshi Ebisawa, Sompak Rukrasaranee, Somphob Singhasiri and Suksan Jullanan were arrested in New York on Monday and Tuesday on drug and arms trafficking and money laundering charges, the Justice Department said.

Under investigation by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Thailand since at least 2019, the men had arranged to sell an undercover agent large quantities of heroin and methamphetamine from Myanmar’s rebel United Wa State Army.

Meanwhile, Ebisawa sought to buy automatic weapons, rockets, machine guns and surface-to-air missiles for Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — known as the Tamil Tigers — and the United Wa State Army, the Karen National Union and the Shan State Army, ethnic minority forces in long-standing fights with government forces.

On February 3, 2021, Ebisawa and an associate traveled to Copenhagen where the undercover DEA agent and two undercover Danish police officers showed them an array of U.S. military arms ostensibly for sale, including machine guns and anti-tank rockets.

They also showed Ebisawa photos and a video of Stinger missiles used to target aircraft.

“We allege Mr. Ebisawa and his co-conspirators brokered deals with an undercover DEA agent to buy heavy-duty weaponry and sell large quantities of illegal drugs,” the Justice Department said. “The drugs were destined for New York streets, and the weapons shipments were meant for factions in unstable nations.”

Ebisawa, the department said, was “a leader of the yakuza transnational organized crime syndicate,” using an umbrella term for a number of Japanese crime families.

Jullanan has dual Thai-American citizenship, while Singhasiri and Rukrasaranee are Thai citizens.

During the investigation, Ebisawa told the undercover DEA agent that Jullanan was a Thai air force general and that Rukrasaranee was a retired Thai military officer, according to the indictment.

The Justice Department did not explain how the four men came to be in the United States when they were arrested in New York.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

– GR appoints high powered advisory team to advise on IMF and debt management

– Bandula Gunawardena’s name was proposed for Finance but he hesitates

– Finance Minister, CBSL Governor, Treasury Secretary seats vacant

– SL expected to be at IMF by second week of April

Following the resignation of Ali Sabry as the Finance Minister in less than 24 hours, the position still remains vacant with many MPs hesitant to take it up amidst the economic mess Sri Lanka has been plunged into and the rising public anger against the President and government.

The Daily Mirror learns that Sabry resigned from the portfolio, paving way for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to appoint an independent economic expert who would be brought in through the national list, but nothing concrete had worked out as of last night.

With time running out to appoint a suitable candidate to the portfolio, former Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena’s name was proposed yesterday but he was not convinced and showed reluctancy to be the new Finance Minister. With rising public anger against all government MPs and calls for President Rajapaksa to resign from the post, all government MPs are reluctant and seem to be passing the ball from one to another with the President unable to find a suitable candidate to the portfolio.

Time is now running out for the President and government as the Finance Minister and his delegation have to be at the IMF by the second week of April to discuss Sri Lanka’s programme and seek economic assistance.

However, with the main financial seats now vacant in the country, it is unsure who will attend if no concrete appointments are made soon.

To shed some relief amidst the severe economic crisis, President Rajapaksa last evening announced the appointment of an impressive high-powered team of senior economic and fiscal experts as Members of a Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability, the President’s Media Division said.

The Members of the Advisory Group are Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy who is the Former Governor of the Central Bank and a Former Director of the Economic Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Prof. Shanta Devarajan who is a Professor of the Practice of Development, Georgetown University and Former Chief Economist of the World Bank and Dr Sharmini Coorey who is a Former Director of the Institute of Capacity Development of the IMF Institute, and Former Deputy Director, Africa Department, IMF.

The three members have already had a round of discussions with the President on key matters in going forward with the IMF programme.

Among the responsibilities that the Presidential Advisory Group will undertake are to engage in discussions with relevant Sri Lankan institutions and officials engaging with the IMF, and to provide guidance that will address the present debt crisis and lead towards sustainable and inclusive recovery for Sri Lanka.

The Daily Mirror learns that discussions are also underway with these three members to accompany whoever is appointed as the Finance Minister to the IMF this month. (JAMILA HUSAIN)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Foreign Affairs Minister Prof. GL Peiris today pointed out that some of the demands by the demonstrators were not realistic and cannot be met and that they did not seem want a solution based on available options in keeping with the Constitution.

While explainig the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka to the diplomatic corps yesterday he said, the demonstrations were not directly against the government, a political party or the ruling party but against the entire political establishment of the country and that the very foundation of the system was under criticism.

He said the Sri Lankan Government was fully aware of the severe hardships of the people and its magnitude with the most pressing issues being power cuts, shortage of gas, fuel and essential medicines.

“From focussing on the shortage of gas, fuel, essential medicines and the power cuts, the protestors were now demanding for restitution of plundered wealth and assets with some approaching the Supreme Court to prevent MPs from leaving the country until a comprehensive audit of all their private assets has been done,” Prof. Peiris said.

“The excessive heat which has exacerbated the situation and the negative impact on various industries as a result due to the power cuts were also adding to the woes of the public, he said.

He further stated that the call for all MPs to resign and allow academics and professionals to run the country is not feasible as there was no country in the world that is being governed in such a manner.

The Minister also outlined the Constitutional provisions that were currently available which included the Prime Minister taking over for 60 days in the event an incumbent President resigns, after which the MPs would have to elect a suitable leader among them to lead the country for the remaining period until an election could be held.

He said that the protests and the demonstrations by the people taking place across the country was an expression of despair” and they were crying out at a distressing situation.

He also said that 80-85% of those taking part in the protests and demonstrations were neither extremists nor politically motivated and that Article 14 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka guarantees the right to assembly, freedom of expression. He further stated that the right of the people to protest was an indication of the vibrant democracy prevailing in Sri Lanka. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) says that a payment of USD 52 million has been made to a Singaporean company for 37,500 metric tonnes diesel in a tanker held at Colombo Port for the last two weeks.

CPC chairman Sumith Wijesinghe said that unloading of the fuel stocks will commence tomorrow (April 07).

Courtesy Adaderana

Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe has been appointed as the new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and Mr. K.M. Mahinda Siriwardena has been appointed as the new Secretary to the Ministry of Finance. 

They received their letters of appointment from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo today (07). 

Secretary to the President, Gamini Senarath was also present on the occasion, the President’s Media Division said. 

Former Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Weerasinghe had arrived in the country from Australia earlier today to take up the position. 

He is expected to officially assume duties as the new Central Bank governor tomorrow (April 08).

According to sources, Dr. Weerasinghe was in Australia on a personal visit and had accepted an invitation from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take up the post of CBSL Governor amidst the country’s worsening economic crisis. 

The appointment comes in the wake of Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s resignation from the position of Central Bank governor on Monday (April 04). He had resigned from the post following the resignation of the entire Cabinet of Ministers. 

A highly-respected central banker and economist, Dr. Weerasinghe was promoted to the position of a Deputy Governor on 27 September, 2011 while he was serving as an Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and assumed office as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on 01 September 2012.  

Dr. Weerasinghe has a Ph.D and Master’s Degree in Economics from the Australian National University and a B.Sc. Degree from the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka.  

Dr. Weerasinghe had served as Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee and the Foreign Reserve Management Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). 

He had also functioned as Deputy Governor supervising the Departments of Economic Research, Statistics, International Operations, Domestic Operations, Macroprudential Surveillance, Exchange Control, Currency and Communications.

He was later promoted to the position of Senior Deputy Governor of CBSL while he had decided to take an early retirement in October 2020.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) on Thursday said there is an acute shortage of essential medicines, reagents, equipment and consumables in government hospitals and the private healthcare sector in Sri Lanka. 

In a letter addressed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the SLMA Medical Intercollegiate Committee called for urgent corrective measures for the crisis affecting the health and wellbeing of the people of Sri Lanka. 

The SLMA said already decisions have been made to curtail some services such as routine surgical operations and even limit the usage of available material to life-threatening illnesses. 

This is not at all a sound policy as, what is considered non-emergency situations could turn into life-threatening problems within a few hours,” the association emphasized. 

In addition, this is not a sustainable policy and unless urgent replenishment of supplies is made, within a matter of weeks, if not days, emergency treatment will also not be possible.” 

This will result in a catastrophic number of deaths, which is likely to be in excess of the combined death toll of COVID, Tsunami and the Civil War,” the letter warned.

The SLMA Intercollegiate Committee also said it was greatly concerned about the shortages of food and essential paraphernalia for people to provide themselves with basic needs such as nutrition, transport and electricity.

We are also concerned gravely about the need to preserve fundamental rights and guarantee basic freedoms such as right to information as these encompass important aspects of mental and social wellbeing of a population.”

In its letter, the SLMA Medical Intercollegiate Committee (SMIC) also offered its assistance to the authorities to overcome the crisis.

We accept that the current crisis has no immediate solutions and are willing to extend our expertise, guidance and advice to you at this moment,” it said. 

The SLMA said it has initiated discussions with its members on preservation of the existing stocks of medicines and consumables to last for as long as possible by prudent use, which it points out may be only a very short-term solution. 

We do appreciate that even patients having non-emergency and non-urgent illnesses require optimal care and withholding their treatment will pose medical and ethical problems for the doctors of the country.”

We urge you to discuss with ministers holding relevant portfolios, public officials such as Secretary to Treasury, Secretary Health and Governor of the Central Bank about securing funding to fulfill the basic needs of the hospitals and the National Immunization Programme of the country.”

This is an urgent priority,” the association stressed.

In the letter, the SLMA requests an urgent appointment to meet the President with top officials of the Ministry of Health to discuss and develop a contingency plan, while also assuring its fullest support to mitigate the crisis.

SMIC Letter to the President of Sri Lanka (April 6, 2022) by Adaderana Online on Scribdhttps://www.scribd.com/embeds/568501719/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-9VcMikqXEH6HyFN4mb5o

Courtesy Adaderana

The Surcharge Tax Bill has been passed in Parliament with amendments and without a vote, a short while ago. 

The committee stage of the Surcharge Tax Bill had taken place this morning (07).

The second reading of the Surcharge Tax Bill had been scheduled for today.

Last month, the Supreme Court informed Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena that the Surcharge Tax Bill can be passed with a simple majority in parliament as it is in accordance with the Constitution.

The said Bill was challenged in the Supreme Court by 10 parties including main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya, who filed petitions claiming that the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) would also be subjected to this 25% surcharge tax as any fund that exceeds Rs. 2 billion taxable income.

In 2022 Budget, it was mooted that a 25% surcharge tax be imposed on individuals or companies earning an annual taxable income of Rs. 2,000 million or more.

However, in the case of a partnership, the income of a partner derived from a partnership shall not be taken into account when calculating the taxable income of such partner as an individual, if the tax has been paid by the partnership on such taxable income.

Further, on each company of a group of companies of which the aggregate of the taxable income of all subsidiaries and the holding company in that group of companies having an income over Rs. 2 billion, a 25% surcharge tax will be charged on the taxable income.

It is to be a one-time tax payable by high-value taxpayers in 2022 for their income in the tax year of 2020/21 while the objective of this special tax was to raise the necessary revenue to finance the Government expenditure programs for the year undisturbed.

The Attorney General had informed the Supreme Court last month that the one-time surcharge tax of 25% does not include 13 retirement funds including EPF and the ETF.

Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka is experiencing an unprecedent state of events. Taken as a whole, there is much to analyze. Sri Lanka has seen governance pass from one colored party to another. Opportunistic politics has been the hallmark of governance of every government that has come to power. This has been the case of every government holding power since 1978 – UNP, PA, UNP, UPFA, UNFGG & now SLPP. What the people have asked for & expected from all ruling parties have proven a failure. Little can be said of the role of the Opposition as well. We all agree the politicians have failed us.

But is it only the politicians who have been corrupt? Why do we ignore corporate corruptions & even individual corruptions as well as the internationally influenced corruptions far greater than all. Yet, it is more fashionable & sensational to have campaigns targeting the politicians with colourful & creative slogans to match. Corruptions are a key slogan to topple & attack politicians/political parties by those equally guilty.

One day Sri Lanka will realize how much of this colored revolution & system change protests were pre-planned & well-funded, of course based on genuine grievances. Such change is choreographed by blowing genuine grievances out of proportion & steered towards multiple goals. It’s like killing several birds with one stone.  The stone today is technology & majority of youth protests are being organized & steered by foreign based whatsapp groups & social media portals spreading sensationalized ‘breaking news’ fanning an easily emotive Sri Lankan populace who are ready with the ‘gahuwoth gahanawa’ (attack if attacked) mentality.

The manipulators, everyone needs to understand, controls virtually anyone holding some form of importance, be they in government or opposition. Follow the money trail & find out the manipulators. They have been quick to pick up on the mentality of our people. Majority have stood silent inspite of numerous corrupt deals & treacheries but have stood up when anything affects them personally. This is the sad reality & what if this reality became used to manipulate the people?

What if people’s attention was purposely diverted to the successive issues they had to suffer – petrol, power cuts, gas shortage, food shortage etc while dangerous pacts/MOUs were being signed, leading people to ignore the their dangers as food on their table mattered more than national interest! If people were against India’s incursions & interventions, if people were opposed to IMF due to its structural adjustments, if people were opposed to dangerous trade deals & privatizing of land – all this was put aside & the deals went ahead without much opposition. If this was the strategy, it worked & if it worked it will surely be used again.

What if the 2^nd phase of the plan was to generate people’s protests manipulating its genuineness with planned chaos probably tasked to teams from both government (wanting to pin blame on the Opposition) & opposition (political parties/Western-Indian backed NGOs & LTTE diaspora) wanting to pin blame on the Govt). Multiple outcomes would have been planned.

• Protests would have justified signing a plethora of controversial treacherous deals lured by commissions to all involved.
• Protests going out of hand would enable the state to enforce stricter new law enforcements, invariably aimed to curtail people’s opposition, people’s freedoms & rights & protect future scenarios.
• Protests with intent to take Sri Lanka into further abyss – productivity loss as work being interrupted alongside the daily power cuts & other shortages, law enforcement authorities stretched to the maximum testing their patience as well.
• Protests could thereafter be given a 360 degree turn to attack the very politicians who signed the deals. The foreign imported slogan GoHome” was more of an amnesty deal for successfully completing mission & packing off thereafter. IMF deal was sealed to plan maintaining dollar hegemony over Sri Lanka & IMF officials would take over its roll out. What good is GoHome” calls minus accountability?
• Protests also pave way for Indo-US troop presence as the increasing number of pacts signed to establish Indian/US concerns will cite the need to ‘protect their interests’ & demand their troop presence to do so. The terrain they occupy will become ‘exclusive’ to them & out of bounds to Sri Lankans.
• The most dangerous aspect of the protests is the message being promoted that Sri Lanka is a failed state: – no money – no peace – no law & order & this eventually decides the end objective to station a foreign troop presence either directly by foreign governments or UN troops.

It is also strange that there is only a lukewarm opposition to the current chaos by the so-called international community. When Mahinda Rajapakse was waging war against LTTE – he was diplomatically attacked 24X7 by foreign govts & envoys as well as UN/UNHRC. The scale of that attack is unusually absent presently.

External or Internal manipulations aside, the protests are now spiraling out of control as the protestors are people representing various interests from various social platforms and the manipulators lose control (often intentionally) to create further chaos as the political apparatus (local & global) thrives on chaos & needs chaos to exist.

These realities are often laughed aside as conspiracy theories completely ignoring the manner countries have been brought down to their knees via regime change & covert operations. Take a look at how so many countries have fallen since 1945.

At this juncture it is prudent to refer to Pakistan & the fate that befell PM Imran Khan.  PM Imran Khan has even disclosed the name of the US official that threated him by letter.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/409421-pm-imran-khan-discloses-the-name-of-us-official-who-sent-threat-letter

South Asian nations are being increasingly under pressure to distance itself from Russia. 22 Western envoys have even released a joint letter to side against Russia’s position on Ukraine. Why did they not do the same in all of the illegal invasions/interventions that have taken place since 2001?

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ukraine-war-are-we-your-slaves-pak-pm-slams-western-envoys-joint-letter-on-russia-2807344

The visit by Under-Secretary Nuland to Pakistan-India-Bangladesh & Sri Lanka is significant in this regard. All 4 countries abstained from voting against Russia. However the ‘sanction czar’ Biden’s economic advisor arrived in India with an open threat of sanctioning India if it were to side with Russia  though India did not bow down to US pressure. No sooner Nuland left trouble began in Sri Lanka.

While Sri Lanka is happy to be hanging on to the dollar for transactions primarily on account of self-interest of politicians & officials, the Ukraine issue has enabled Russia to turn the tables on US hegemony & commence a de-dollarization with increasing calls to dump the dollar & depart from US-influenced global monetary control. With Russia, China, India, Iran all now dealing with their own currencies for trade transactions the fate of the dollar is clear.

Have the manipulators decided it is time to end Rajapakse rule – if so, when & how? Who do they have in mind to replace? We know the demands of the protestors but what are their workable solutions if they get rid of Parliament plus the President? We want answers.

Can a soothsayer predict the future for Sri Lanka!

Shenali D Waduge

KAMALIKA PIERIS

There were demonstrations at Colombo, Kandy, Galle,   Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Dambulla, Gampaha Matara, Panadura, Ratnapura, Welimada Nuwara Eliya, and Ampara.  There were protests also at Homagama, Piliyandala, Polgahawela , Ragama Minuwangoda Nittambuwa, Jaela, Kantale, Nikaweratiya and Peradeniya,

The public  also protested at  Bogawantalawa and Deraniyagala, at Dehiattakandiya and Galnewa, at Kochichikade, and  Meerigama, at Dodangoda,  Gorakana, Wadduwa, Embilipitya,  Karandeniya, Nagoda, and Suriyawewa  and at  Pannipitiya , Rajagiriya Kadawatha, Kottawa, Malabe, Modera, and  Wijerama..

Within Colombo  they assembled at Nelum Pokuna, Park Road,  Panchikawatta , Wanathamulla, Dematagoda and Armour Street. Staff of National Hospital .Colombo  had a separate demonstration. They had gathered from 7 am at  Independence Square and were still there in the late evening. The NGOs who usually demonstrate at the drop of a hat,  were missing .

Undergraduates of the universities of Moratuwa, Sri Jayawardenpura, Kelaniya and Peradeniya  held their own processions. At Peradeniya they were tear  gassed. The police got tear  gassed as well. Actors, film stars, singers and other performers had their own protests. They assembled  at Diyath Uyana and  Galle Face .

There was a significant support from the Bar Association Eight President’s Counsel appeared pro bono on behalf of those arrested at Mirihana the magistrate was informed that some 400 other lawyers, too, were appearing on behalf of them.

Sri Lankans abroad also  supported.. There were demonstration in  four cities in Australia ( Melbourne, Perth, Canberra,  Hobart)  at Auckland in New Zealand, Alberta in Canada,    New York, Boston  Washington and California in USA.  Sri Lankans working in Japan, South Korea, Germany and Estonia also demonstrated.

The public were not satisfied  with demonstrations only. They started to go after the politicians individually.  MPs are now scared to appear in public, reported the media. Their personal safety is at stake. Many of them are forced to remain in their residences or official bungalows.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Parliamentarian Jayantha Samaraweera was turned back at Moratuwa when he was on his way to attend a ceremony in his electorate. In Nuwara Eliya, Shiranthi Rajapaksa was  to declare open Wasantha Udanaya in Nuwara Eliya .She was escorted out as  a crowd of angry people the public invaded the venue. Minister C.B. Ratnayake, State Minister Jeevan Thondaman and others who were due to  attend stayed away. Shashindra Rajapakse stayed away from another function which he was to open.

The angry public   have also  demonstrated before the   private residences of  leading  politicians. They started with the  Mirigama residence of President Gotabaya. .Crowds then tried to attack the Tangalle residence of Mahinda Rajapaksa . They also went to the   Deberawewa residence of Chamal Rajapaksa, Moneragala residence of Shashindra Rajapaksa ,Dambulla residence of  Janaka Bandara  and Kithulampitiya residence of Ramesh Pathirana.

However, it appears that President Gotabaya and his government are not prepared to leave. They intend to dig in and continue to ruin the country. The  interim cabinet is an odd mixture. Energy is excluded but Foreign affairs and Highways are included.

Three vital position were vacant  on the night of     5h March, . Minister of Finance, Permanent secretary to Ministry of Finance and the post of Governor, Central Bank. All  three officers had resigned.  Committee on Public Finance said it was considering bringing Ajit Cabraal before the Watchdog committee.

Parliament argues that the financial situation of Sri Lanka is very complicated and  that it  is going to be very difficult  to find a solution. This is nonsense. Sri Lanka    is a  small country, with a compact 25,000 square km of territory and  a  23 million population. That is well above the carriage rate for the island, but the birth rate is falling rapidly. The economic management of such a unit cannot be difficult. Other countries are administering economies for populations of  1.4 billion, 300 million,   67 million, without any difficulty. Pohottu’s  argument is nonsense.

If the government does not resign, the protests will have to continue. These protests can  then be hijacked  by interested parties, and the country  brought to a point of anarchy. This  is what the US is hoping for and what  US funded NGOs will be asked to do. They were put into place to carry out just this type of  disruptive activity.

Newspaper editorials have already issued a warning. Many of the protests, catalyzed by despair, are spontaneous. But they can be used by sinister elements with hidden agendas, masquerading as liberators, the  editorials said. They could  make the country slide into anarchy.

 However, the public in Sri Lanka are watchful and any attempt to hijack the protest movement will be noted and squashed. The Sri Lanka public mean business this time. They want  a smooth transfer of power, they want good governance and a well functioning economy. They are unlikely to tolerate an externally created anarchy.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa impressed  as Secretary, Defence and as head of the UDA. He was   efficient and he delivered on projects. But he did not show these qualities as President. People were dissatisfied with him.

Thousands flocked to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s official Facebook page, said the media and urged the President to just resign from office and go back to the United States.”  Catholic Church and the Maha Sangha,  also have separately asked President Gotabaya to leave .

When an unpopular President refuses to leave, it means that he  is backed by an external force, said analysts.  If Gotabaya Rajapaksa  continues to stay, he may have to  take refuge in the US embassy and be ignominiously airlifted to USA. Instead he should resign and leave Sri Lanka  taking brother Basil with him. He will  be hooted all the way to Katunayake.

The present economic crisis is not  economic, it is political. It was done to  bring the country under the control of the west. That must be understood, otherwise we will never get out  of this situation.

When Britain left Sri Lanka in 1948,   it handed the baton over to the USA. USA was the  leading power in the west at the time. USA was in low profile but was never inactive in Sri Lanka . US has meddled in Sri Lanka,  periodically, though the majority of the population do not know this. 

.JVP and the LTTE are both creations of    USA. Thereafter Yahapalana and Pohottu were created to bring Sri Lanka firmly under the control of USA.

USA has decided to  use Pohottu, to bring Sri Lanka under the economic heel of USA. Basil Rajapaksa, who succeeded his brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa as  Pohottu’s Finance Minister,  came   from the USA armed with    an energy contract.

At midnight on Sept 17,  2021, Pohottu signed a deal with USA’s  New Fortress Energy Company, giving US 40 % stake in Yugadanavi and the  exclusive gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex.

There is deep animosity to USA  in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka reacted badly to this deal. Supreme Court dismissed the fundamental rights petitions, filed against the Yugadanavi deal, without giving reasons.

Sri Lanka must understand that the west never lost its interest in Sri Lanka . Sri Lanka is strategically placed in the Indian Ocean with access to the Bay of Bengal. Its Eastern province has the deepwater harbor of Trincomalee .As long as the Indian Ocean remains politically  important, Sri Lanka   cannot escape the attention of the big powers. Sri Lanka must accept this and decide accordingly.

Sri Lanka cannot stay neutral. Sri Lanka must forget Non-Aligned. It must link with one of the big powers. It has no alternative. Sri Lanka must now decide whether to link with a rising power, (China) or a fading power (USA). Obviously, a country must link with the rising power, not a fading power.

Economist (2021) has described USA as a weary superpower.  USA is no longer the confident hegemon of the 1990s, Economist said. China on the other hand is rising and rising. It will be the leading economy soon, if it is not so already.

China will be welcome in Sri Lanka .It is part of the Asian civilization and it has Buddhist links. Therefore it is culturally acceptable. China had cordial diplomatic relations during Sri Lanka’s monarchical period. Today, China   is well liked in Sri Lanka. There is no deep animosity, unlike USA. That is because China helped us win the Eelam war and also because it has not meddled in the internal politics of Sri Lanka. The statement that we are indebted to China is nonsense. Our debt  to China is only about 10% of the whole external debt. (Concluded)

---

Shenali D Waduge

The subject of corruption” is taking prominence throughout the recent protests taking place in Sri Lanka. This has led to the people claiming that they wish to reject entire 225 member Parliament. Corruptions cannot be committed by politicians on their own. They are assisted by the Secretaries, Public Officials & Advisors. The role they play in the corruptions often get unnoticed & evade public scrutiny. Let us realize that no treacherous pact/agreement or deal can proceed without the involvement of the State officials who are tasked to negotiate with their counterparts & draft the clauses that ink these deals. Signing becomes the final stage of the deal. However, had these Secretaries & others, who were tasked to complete the deal, put their integrity & loyalty to the Nation above that of their job” & even resigned refusing to do so, the politicians would have been in a pickle to pass them. That most secretaries have not, requires the public to turn their lens on these Secretaries/Public Officials and Advisors too, now that we are trying to clean the system & cleanse corruption from the entire system.

Let us revisit some of these treacherous agreements.

1987 Indo-Lanka Accord

The contents of the Accord were guarded secrets, it was signed under virtual duress under emergency curfew with media debarred & the Cabinet forced to give undated letters of resignation.

The Accord itself had numerous controversial clauses full of historical errors which should have been pointed out by Sri Lanka’s officials & removed but were not. North & East were never Tamil Homelands or areas of historical habitation of Tamil speaking people & there was no requirement to merge North & East. Did advisors point out that India failed to fulfill its promises making the Accord invalid (Pacta Sunt Servanda). Did Officials not give leaders arguments to refuse to pull Sri Lanka’s troops out of the North & confine them to barracks?

13^th amendment/PC system

The Indo-Lanka Accord does not mention a 13^th amendment at all, so why didn’t officials point this out & point out the dangers of this amendment which was diluting the unitary status of the constitution & turning it into a quasi-federal state? How many Secretaries/Senior Officials or Advisors have pointed out the waste of public funds for Provincial Council system?

Why have officials not insisted that we correct international reference to Sri Lanka’s conflict being ethnic” when it was terrorist.

2002 Cease Fire Agreement (15 years after Indo-Lanka Accord)

The 2^nd secret agreement signed between Ranil as PM and Prabakaran as Terrorist & called the ‘roadmap to peace’ which was actually a roadmap to pieces of Sri Lanka. Why were there no people’s protest or even Public official protests for putting a terrorist group on par with a sovereign state & ceding territory to terrorists? The carrot to sign was some billions dangled by the West (US, Japan & Norway) Who & how many public officials are guilty of quid pro quo in allowing such a treacherous agreement? LTTE brought in sophisticated satellite equipment which was cleared & taxes paid by the state on letters signed by the Secretary! Who was the Secretary Defense who would have been privy to all the treacherous clauses undermining the sovereignty of Sri Lanka? Who was the Secretary for the UNF/PM who would also have been privy to every line in the agreement?

Who was the Head of the Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat – who would have also known how treacherous the agreement was & who was handling the legality of the agreement that gave LTTE 95% of Eelam?

Interim-Self Governing Authority (ISGA) 

This proposal by LTTE was to legalize what was provisionally given by CFA. Ranil baked the cake (CFA) and CBK agreed to ice it & hand it to LTTE inspite of international ban on LTTE. The carrot for this betrayal was $5b. This agreement too was kept secret from the public allowing LTTE to rule over Muslims & Sinhalese. All who were privy to the agreement did not object or question any of the clauses which included allowing LTTE to administer all State land, financial affairs, judicial affairs & development in exchange for $5billion to keep quiet. Who were the Public Officials that handled the Sri Lankan state side of this agreement & kept mum about it.

Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS)

Apart from the patriotic voices raising concern over the dangerous clauses even the pro-West Sri Lankan media chose to keep silent. ISGA carrot was $5billion & the PTOM carrot was $3billion. President CBK signed this on 24 June 2005 going so far as to omit South as a victim of tsunami. Hereto, the Govt was put in par with an internationally banned terrorist organization allowing LTTE majority in the Committee being created without any opposition from Sri Lanka public officials.

There are numerous other agreements that also need to be mentioned – ACSA, SOFA, MCC as well as trade pacts like ECTA, Singapore Trade Agreement & the present MOUs signed allowing foreign naval to coordinate on Sri Lanka’s waters & foreign troop presence as well. These are all undermining our sovereignty. Given the manner the other parties are given free reign over Sri Lanka, it makes it a formidable task to take back what is given eventually.

Politicians are elected only for a term of office. They cannot barter the country as they do. Public Officials are servants of the state and paid to protect the state. Of late we see many inducements – green cards, scholarships, foreign trips etc and these are the carrots being dangled to enable dangerous clauses to be included without objections. Most of these agreements omit exit clauses and even provisions to legally safeguard Sri Lanka’s interest. Politicians nor Public Servants own the land or the resources & assets to think they can sign on any dotted line & hand to foreign govts or corporations. The power of a state lies in its ownership of land/resources & assets. What good is a land if everything is leased? How will public servants even get paid if there is nothing to tax as everything is handed over to foreign govts or foreign corporations?

From all of the past agreements/pacts & deals signed while the politicians are certainly to blame, these deals could not have gone through if not for the inputs of public officials/Secretaries & advisors. It is they who negotiate. It is they who help draft the agreements. It is they who are asked to read the agreements before signing. It is they who have to brief the politicians. It is they who give the okay to sign or not. If so, it is they – the Secretaries/Public Officials and Advisors who must be held accountable for allowing dangerous pacts to go through under their watch.

Nothing should go through without scrutiny. They cannot function as Yes Men/Women”. They must view all agreements from the lens of its dangers to Sri Lanka & advise not to sign such. There have been many secretaries in the past who have resigned because they did not wish to be part of any treachery. This was the caliber of officials we had.

Secretaries/Public officials/advisors as citizens have a duty to serve the nation loyally. They are expected to be the counterpart to the armed forces. While the armed forces protect the nation with their guns the public officials are expected to protect the nation with their pen & paper.

If Secretaries/Public Officials/Advisors are criminally held liable for every dangerous deal undermining the constitution & their duty to the State of Sri Lanka, action must be legally taken against them & all those screaming accountability” and end corruption” should be ready to file cases against them. Such action will be a check & balance option to curtail political corruptions as well. If Secretaries/Officials/Advisors refuse to sign or be part of drafting dangerous deals – corruptions will end & we can safeguard our nations assets & resources. At present Secretaries/Public Officials/Advisors do not feel any pressure from public scrutiny. But they cannot be allowed to hide & commit acts bordering treason. Some of their actions is giving a bad name to the many loyal Secretaries/Public Officials & Advisors who exist but have no place because of their honesty.

Time to clean out the corrupt Secretaries/Public Officials & Advisors from ALL Government institutes.

Shenali D Waduge

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The public must realize that that their beloved Pohottu took over from Yahapalana   only to complete the USA scenario for Sri Lanka. Pohottu is Yahapalana 2, more deadly than Yahapalana 1, because the USA is now in a mighty hurry. The US   feels it must move fast and secure Sri Lanka. China is zooming ahead, Russia is coming centre stage and Diego Garcia has gone out of US control.

USA observed in 2014 that if Sri Lanka continues to increase its stability in the next five years, Sri Lanka will become difficult to control. A weaker Sri Lanka is easier to dominate’.  It was necessary therefore to weaken Sri Lanka quickly. Pohottu was to carry out the task. There was an easy way to do it.

 Any country which is heavily dependent on imported gas and petrol is highly    vulnerable and can be easily strangled.  The whole population of a country can be killed off by simply depriving it of its imports of gas and petrol. In Sri Lanka this was to be done by declaring that the country had no money to buy the stuff.

‘A small country like Sri Lanka can be kept afloat indefinitely   on loans,’ an economist told me. He did not think this was a good thing, but he saw it as a well tested possibility. Sri Lanka has managed up to now   to stay afloat, despite loans. That is because the external debt was somehow managed and   the country was kept going, with the public blissfully unaware that they were living on borrowings. 

When there was a global financial crisis,   in 2005, 2006, or thereabouts, the government handled it so well that the country did not even know that there   had been a crisis, analysts said.

Our expenditure was always more than our income, agreed the public, but we had all the gas and petrol we needed. So why did we suddenly face a shortage of these vital imports and why did we , in a matter of months, run short of US dollars?

This happened, we are told, because the authorities had deliberately refused to re-negotiate the current external debts, as they should have done. Instead they kept the debts going, knowing that it would lead to a financial crisis. It was a contrived financial crisis.

The present economic crisis in Sri Lanka was not created due to lack of exports, dip in tourist arrivals nor due to the COVID-19 pandemic but due to political mismanagement observed Murtaza Jafferjee in April 2022.

The shortages of oil, diesel, petrol, gas, kerosene, and the resulting lack of electricity that we are experiencing today are also contrived shortages. The crippling of the agricultural sector by the crackdown on chemical fertilizer, and the starvation level rise of food prices, the shortage of essential drugs are also part of the same plan.  They were mapped out long ago. They were intended to impoverish and weaken the population of the country, sector by sector. The gas explosions, which took place in all provinces except the North and east, was a shock tactic.

The plan had some success. Many small businesses    closed down permanently, families that hoped to rise and do well, became fatally impoverished. The 13 hour power cuts totally disrupted all activity in the country. 

Two persons  who were interviewed by Derana television news, on two different days, when they were standing in a queue ,  stated, independent of each other,    that we should hand the country over to the sudda.  ‘Rata suddata dena eka wada hondai,’ they both said.  This    is not a natural response. The natural response when standing in a queue is to scold and complain. This particular response has clearly been given to them, to be used when necessary. It is preparation for the entry of USA into Sri Lanka.

However, things did not go according to plan. the public were highly critical of the situation. Surakimu Sri Lanka” demonstrated before the Central Bank on the 30^th March, asking for removal of Ajit Cabraal and Basil Rajapaksa. Sinhala Sanvidana Ekamtuwa said that, foreign intelligence services were working overtime to achieve their objective in Sri Lanka.

Contrary to what was expected, the population did not become a weak, whimpering, half starved entity, grateful to be rescued by the sudda, as USA hoped.  Instead the exasperated public, angry and belligerent, responded in a   politically mature manner.

They declared that the country had never experienced such a peculiar situation ever before. They were not going to tolerate it any further. Pohottu must either run the country efficiently or get out. They would prefer if Pohottu got out. They   wished to see a smooth transfer of power from Pohottu to its successor, a stable Parliament and a return to the comfortable life they were used to, with plenty of gas, petrol and electricity.

It was only a question of time before the country exploded with anger against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Pohottu government. The Mirigama episode which took place on the night of March 31, 2022 was the precipitating event.

The Mirihana protest was primarily a protest of the educated middle class. in a middle-class society, if you by make their lives impossible, they come at you with all the education and skills at their command, observed Dayan Jayatilleka. No regime can lose the middle classes and remain in power, certainly not when it has lost the peasantry and the working classes already. The struggle to remove the ruler, the ruling clan and the regime, has begun, said Dayan Jayatilleka.

Pohottu’s statement that a group of organized extremists armed with iron bars, sharp objects and clubs had influenced the protesters to march towards President Rajapaksa’s residence, cannot be accepted. The     YouTube videos showed no evidence of   clubs, poles or helmets.  the demonstrators were unarmed middle class crowd, dressed casually and holding smart phones. It was a very angry, contemptuous crowd, but not violent. they urged the police and the armed forces to join them. You should be with us,” they said.

The Mirihana demonstration had an instant response .Cars were pressing their horns in support as they passed. Protests spontaneously broke-out on at Kelaniya, and as far afield as Anuradhapura according to the media.

Pohottu declared a curfew and shut down social media on 31st night. The public defied the curfew and continued to demonstrate along the main roads in several parts of the country, that same night. Media news reported that there were demonstrations that night in Homagama Yakkala, Moratuwa, Deraniyagala, and Pamunuwa.

The demonstrations gathered momentum the next morning, April 1^st, followed by a lull on the 2^nd and a burst of protests on the 3^rd and 4^th of April   which are continuing on the 5^th too.  The public are determined to get the Pohottu government out.

The protests were island wide. They consisted of large crowds who assembled and shouted slogans. There was clear evidence of pent up frustration and anger but the crowds were disciplined and well focused.  The chant was ‘Gota go home,” with variations such as ‘ape rata apata deepan, thoge ratata tho palayan’ .The word ‘hora’ was used   liberally.

There was island wide unanimity, on what the crowds wanted. They wanted Gotabaya Rajapaksa out, they wanted the whole Rajapaksa clan chased  out of politics,  they wanted   the present system of  parliamentary  rule completely over hauled,  the  circulation of  the same politicians  in ‘thattu maru  palanaya’ stopped and  some  form  of utopian good governance established instantly.( continued)

ජයන්ත හේරත්

මේ අපි

අත් දකින්නේ

පසු කරන්නේ

විදුලි බලයේ

විප්ලවයයි.

වේගවත්

අදුරදර්ශී

අනපේක්ෂිත

සන්වර්දන

වෑයමක  

ප්‍රති ඵල විපාකය.

විමලසුරේන්ද්‍ර ට

මිනිස්සු ලක්ෂයකට

විදුලි ආලෝකය දෙන්න

ඕන

උනේ 1918 දීය.

හිතපු සැනින් 

වැඩේ

කෙරුනේ නැත.

කැළණි ගඟ

මුදුනින් පටන් ගත්

ජලාශ

බලාගාර

පද්ධතිය

හදන්න පටන් ගත්තේ

1950 ස්  ගණන් වලය.

එතනම 40 ක් පරක්කුය.

පසුව 

මහවැලි ගං 

ජලාශ

බලාගාර

පද්ධතිය

එකතු විය.

අද මිලියන් 22 ටම

විදුලිය සන්ධි වී තිබේ.

විදුලිය ජන ජීවිත

transform

කලේ

නොසිතුවිරු ලෙසය.

පොඩි උන්ට

අම්ම තාත්තා

නැති උනත්

විදුලිය ඕ නය

TV

computer game

news

internet ඕනෑය.

අද පාරට මිනිස්සු බැස්සේ

විදුලිය

අඛණ්ඩව

නොලැබීමේ පීඩනය නිසාය.

විදුලිය

අඛණ්ඩව

අඩු මිලට 

දීමට 

තෙල්

ගල් අඟුරු

LNG 

ගැනීමට

අවශ්‍ය ඩොලර්

නැති නිසාය.

මණ්ඩලේ

විදුලිය

සැපයීම

නිසි ලෙස

කළමනාකරණය නොකළ නිසාය.

ඩීසල් මාෆියාව

ගල් අඟුරු මාෆියාව

නිලධාරීන්

දේශපාලකයින්

ජනතා සම්පත්

කොල්ල කෑ

නිසාය.

හරියට plan නොකළ

මණ්ඩලේ 

විදුලි ඉංජිනේරුවෝත්

වග කිවයුතුය.

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල වල

වැඩි පුර

පුහුණු ශ්‍රමිකයන්

නිපදවීමට

විරුද්ද වූ

සියල්ලෝම වැරදි කරුවෝය.

තමන්ගේ

උපාධිය ලැබීමෙන්

පසු

ජීවත් වන

පන්තියට

රැකියා

වලට

පහර වදීය යන

භීතිය නිසා

අනාගත පරම්පරා වලට

වල කැපූ

ශිෂ්යයෝ

ශිෂ්ය නායකයෝ

උන් මෙහෙයවූ

JVP – NPP නායකයෝ

ගල් අඟුරු නායකයෝ

මේවාට

වග කිව යුතුය.

මුළු

විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලයම

කෑලි

වලට කඩා

ප්‍රති සංවිධාන

කල යුතුය.

දැන් අපි ජීවත් වන්නේ

fully-connected  ලෝකයකය

globalized ලෝකයකය

100% ට විදුලිය තිබේ

100% ට computer ස්මාර්ට් phone විදුලි සංදේශ දුර කතන පහසුව  තිබේ.

Facebook Twitter Zoom  Skype තිබේ.

අති-ධාවනකාරී auto-bahn මහා මාර්ග තිබේ.

අලුත් වාහන තිබේ.

14% ට විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රවේශය තිබේ.

ආණ්ඩුව ට වැරදුනේ

පුද්ගලීකරනේයෙන් හෝ

මිලිටරීකරණයෙන්

14%

100% නොකල නිසා

විශ්වාසය භංග වූ

තරුණ පෙළ

නැතිවූ නිසාය.

පීඩිත පන්තියට

cake ඕනෑ නැත

අති-ධාවනකාරී Auto Bahn ඕනෑ නැත

අහස යානා ඕනෑ නැත

නැව් ඕනෑ නැත.

පීඩිත පන්තියට

ඕනෑ

14%

100% කිරීමය.

තරුණ ජීවිත වල

නාස්තිය නැති කිරීමය.

ආණ්ඩුව

තරුණයින් ලක්ෂයකට

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රවේශය දෙන

බව කීවේ 

2019 දීය.

කෙරුනේ නැත

කෙරෙන පාටකුත් නැත.

අලුත් ආණ්ඩුවේ පළමුවන කාර්ය භාරය විය යුත්තේ

14%

100% කිරීමය.

සන්වර්දන

වෑයමක  

ප්‍රති ඵල විපාකය.

විමලසුරේන්ද්‍ර ට

මිනිස්සු ලක්ෂයකට

විදුලි ආලෝකය දෙන්න

ඕන

උනේ 1918 දීය.

හිතපු සැනින් 

වැඩේ

කෙරුනේ නැත.

කැළණි ගඟ

මුදුනින් පටන් ගත්

ජලාශ

බලාගාර

පද්ධතිය

හදන්න පටන් ගත්තේ

1950 ස්  ගණන් වලය.

එතනම 40 ක් පරක්කුය.

පසුව 

මහවැලි ගං 

ජලාශ

බලාගාර

පද්ධතිය

එකතු විය.

අද මිලියන් 22 ටම

විදුලිය සන්ධි වී තිබේ.

විදුලිය ජන ජීවිත

transform

කලේ

නොසිතුවිරු ලෙසය.

පොඩි උන්ට

අම්ම තාත්තා

නැති උනත්

විදුලිය ඕ නය

TV

computer game

news

internet ඕනෑය.

අද පාරට මිනිස්සු බැස්සේ

විදුලිය

අඛණ්ඩව

නොලැබීමේ පීඩනය නිසාය.

විදුලිය

අඛණ්ඩව

අඩු මිලට 

දීමට 

තෙල්

ගල් අඟුරු

LNG 

ගැනීමට

අවශ්‍ය ඩොලර්

නැති නිසාය.

මණ්ඩලේ

විදුලිය

සැපයීම

නිසි ලෙස

කළමනාකරණය නොකළ නිසාය.

ඩීසල් මාෆියාව

ගල් අඟුරු මාෆියාව

නිලධාරීන්

දේශපාලකයින්

ජනතා සම්පත්

කොල්ල කෑ

නිසාය.

හරියට plan නොකළ

මණ්ඩලේ 

විදුලි ඉංජිනේරුවෝ ත්

වග කිවයුතුය.

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල වල

වැඩි පුර

පුහුණු ශ්‍රමිකයන්

නිපදවීමට

විරුද්ද වූ

සියල්ලෝම වැරදි කරුවෝය.

තමන්ගේ

උපාධිය ලැබීමෙන්

පසු

ජීවත් වන

පන්තියට

රැකියා

වලට

පහර වදීය යන

භීතිය නිසා

අනාගත පරම්පරා වලට

වල කැපූ

ශිෂ්යයෝ

ශිෂ්ය නායකයෝ

උන් මෙහෙයවූ

JVP – NPP නායකයෝ

ගල් අඟුරු නායකයෝ

මේවාට

වග කිව යුතුය.

මුළු

විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලයම

කෑලි

වලට කඩා

ප්‍රති සංවිධාන

කල යුතුය.

දැන් අපි ජීවත් වන්නේ

fully-connected  ලෝකයකය

globalized ලෝකයකය

100% ට විදුලිය තිබේ

100% ට computer ස්මාර්ට් phone විදුලි සංදේශ දුර කතන පහසුව  තිබේ.

Facebook Twitter Zoom  Skype තිබේ.

අති-ධාවනකාරී auto-bahn මහා මාර්ග තිබේ.

අලුත් වාහන තිබේ.

14% ට විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රවේශය තිබේ.

ආණ්ඩුව ට වැරදුනේ

පුද්ගලීකරනේයෙන් හෝ

මිලිටරීකරණයෙන්

14%

100% නොකල නිසා විශ්වාසය භංග වූ තරුණ පෙළ නැතිවූ නිසාය.

පීඩිත පන්තියට

cake ඕනෑ නැත

අති-ධාවනකාරී Auto Bahn ඕනෑ නැත

අහස යානා ඕනෑ නැත

නැව් ඕනෑ නැත.

පීඩිත පන්තියට

ඕනෑ

14%

100% කිරීමය.

තරුණ ජීවිත වල නාස්තිය නැති කිරීමය.

ආණ්ඩුව

තරුණයින් ලක්ෂයකට

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රවේශය දෙන

බව කීවේ 

2019 දීය.

කෙරුනේ නැත

කෙරෙන පාටකුත් නැත.

අලුත් ආණ්ඩුවේ පළමුවන කාර්ය භාරය විය යුත්තේ

14%

100% කිරීමය.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

රට අර්බුදයකට පත්කර හමාරය. රට අර්බුදයකට තල්ලු කල අයට, රට ගොඩ ගැනීමට එක්වෙන ලෙස ජනාධිපතිතුමා ආයාචනය කරයි. මේ ආයාචනය කිසිදාක පලගන්වෙන ඉල්ලීමක් නොවේ. ඔවුන් සිදුකලේ ඔවුන්ට පැවරු ව්‍යාපෘතියකි. ඔවුන් කල යුතු ඉතිරි කොටස කුමක්දැයි තීරණය කරන්නේ ඔවුන් නොව, ඔවුනට මේ කාර්ය පැවරු හාම්පුතාලා විසිනි.

ඒ අනුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටින සජබ, ජවිපෙ, මුස්ලිම් කොන්ග්‍රසය, දෙමල ජාතික සන්ධානය, තොන්ඩමන්ගේ පිලට සිය හාම්පුතාලාගේ,උපදෙස් බලා සිටීමට සිදුවේ. ඒ අනුව ඔවුන් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂයන්ට කුමක් හෝ කියා ප්‍රශ්නයෙන් මගහැරිමි සිටි. ඊට එහා ගිය කිසිවක් මේ කණ්ඩායමට සිදුකල නොහැක.

සත්‍ය ලෙසම අන්තර්වාර ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවීමට කිසිවෙකුගෙන් බලපෑමකින් තොරව තීරණ ගැනීමට හැකියාව ඇත්තේ, විමල්, උදය, වාසු ඇතුළු කණ්ඩායමට පමණි. ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයටද යම් ප්‍රමාණයක හැකියාවක් තිබුණද, එහි නායකත්වය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ට හැසිරවිය හැකි බව ඉතිහාසය විසින් අපට පෙන්වාදී ඇත.

සැබෑ තත්වය මෙය බැවින් මේ අය සමග එකතුව රට ගොඩනැගීමට වහාම වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් නිර්මාණය කල යුතුය. මේ අය සමග එකතුව වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් නිර්මාණය කරනවා යනු පෙර තිබු ආණ්ඩුවේ මන්ත්රිවරුම යලි එකතුවී රට වෙනුවෙන් නව වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සකස් කර රට පෙරට ගෙනයාමට පෙළ ගැසෙනවා යනුයි.

දැන් ඉතා වැදගත් වන්නේ,වැඩපිළිවෙලයි. වැඩපිළිවෙල දිගුකාලින හා කෙටිකාලින වශයෙන් දෙයාකාර වැඩපිළිවෙලක් විය යුතුය. ඒ අනුව ඉතා ඉක්මනින්,

1.සහල්
2.පරිප්පු
3.සීනි
4.කරවල
සහන මිලකට රටපුරා සියලුම වෙළඳ සල් වල අලවි කිරීමේ යාන්ත්‍රණයක් නිර්මාණය කලයුතුය. එය කිරීමට නම්, මේ ද්‍රව්‍ය  ආනයනය කිරීමේ බලය සම්පුරයෙන්ම සතොසට පවරා ගත යුතුය.

මෙය සහන මිලකට දීම නිසා රජයට වය වෙන මුදල පියවා ගැනීම සඳහා මෙරටට ගෙන එන අධි සුඛෝපභෝගී ආහාරවලට අමතර  පියවා ගත යුතුය. ඉතාම වැදගත් වන්නේ මිනිසුන්ට කුස පුරවා ගැනීම සඳහා තමන් ප්‍රිය කරන ආහාරයක් පහසු මිලකට ලබා ගැනීමට ඉඩ සැලසීමයි. අප අමතක නොකළ යුතු කාර්ය වන්නේ, මෙරට මිනිසුන්, 1960 මාර්තු 19 වෙනිදා බලයට පත්වූ රජයෙන්, සතියකට හාල් සේරු 2ක් සෑම මිනිසෙකුටම නොමිලයේ ලබාදුන් බවත්, ජලය පරිභෝජනයේදී කිසිදාක මුදලක් මුදලක් ය නොකළ බවත් යන කරුණුය.

මෙවන් තත්වයක සිටි මිනිසුන්ට 1977 බලයට පත් ජයවර්ධන රජය කබලෙන් ලිපට ඇද දමන්නාසේ, නොමිලයේ හාල්  හා නොලයේ වතුර සැපයීමද නවතා දමන ලදී. එබැවින් නොමිලයේ දිය නොහැකි නම් සාධාරණ මිලකට මේවා ජනතාවට ලබාදීම නොපමාව සිදුකල යුතුය.

මීළඟට විසඳිය යුතු වැදගත් කරුණ වන්නේ, ගෑස්, භූමිතෙල්, ඩිසල්, හා පෙට්‍රල් හිඟයකින් තොරව පවත්වා ගැනීමට කළමනාකරණය කිරීමයි. මේ කරනු කීපය ඉතා බුද්ධිමත්ව සිතා ජනතාවට ලබාදිය හැකිනම්, මේ වනවිට ගිනියම්ව සිටින ජනතාව යලි ප්‍රකෘති තත්වයට පත්වෙනු ඇත.

ඉතිරි කටයුතු රජයක් වශයෙන් සාමුහිකව ජනතා හිතවාදීව කිරීම තුලින් රට සාමකාමී කොට මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වා නව රජයක් බිහිකර ගැනීමට ඉඩ ලබාදිය යුතුය. ඉන් මෙහා විසදුමක් නැත.

Dr Sudath Gunasekara

I draw the attention of my readers to the following news item highlighted in the Sunday Times of 2 .4..2022.

 Kandy’s old prison now a no man’s land a news item by By L. B. SenaratneKandy.

During a visit to the eight-acre Bogambara Prison complex that now seems to be a no man’s land, Central Province Governor Lalith U. Gamage said the entire complex should be cleaned, before further action is taken.

The Governor was on an official tour of the premises with Urban Development Authority (UDA) officials. The prison complex is now under the authority of the UDA, after the inmates were shifted to the Dumabara prison complex in Pallekelle.

The Governor held discussions in his office before inspecting the old prison complex. He said no attention was given to the prison complex now, even though a number of suggestions–such as converting the prison into a cultural park–had been made over the years.

At the discussion, officials from the Archaeological department suggested certain criteria and amendments to make this complex useful to the people.

The Governor said this massive structure could become a heritage site for foreign and local tourists who visit Kandy. Aside from UDA andofficials of the Department of Aechaeology Kandy Police officers also participated in the discussion”

This news item is the latest addition to the criminal neglect and the pathetic and deplorable situation with regard to this valuable heritage site, as what I said in my observations made in an article published in the Lankaweb of 29.1.2022 (now it is for 9 years,) which I again repproduce below to stop this continuous humbug by politicians and public officials to deceive the general public at least now and  do something meaningful with this historic site, before the old Prison building collapse to the ground. It is two months and 5 days since I wrote this piece, with copies to the Heritage Ministry and the President, that was circulated all over the world thanks to the Lnnkaweb.  But, isn’t it a tragedy that none of the politicians of the Province or any other stake holder such as the Governor CP, the UDA has or the officials of the Archaeology Department have taken up any interest on what I have said in that article up to date?  I was surprised to note that the Government Agent of the District was not present at this discussion. That alone shows how District Administration and Development in the country, once upon a time that played the key role in the country’s Administration and Development has got completely derailed and destroyed with the Provincial Council system getting deeply rooted like a fatal cancer in the body politics in tis country.

 If the Governor and the Officials of the departments dealing with this subject and the government are really interested in their work they should have read this article and contacted me on my proposal. If I had been in any one of these positions, I would have been the first man to invite the writer to discuss the proposal outlined in that article that would have cost at least a couple of lacks if it was prepared by a consultant.

Proposal to set up an International Memorial Museum on Colonial crimes in Sri Lanka at the old Bogambara Prison site; Kandy.

In memory of the brave Kandyan Sinhale patriots who sacrificed, their lives in battles against three European Invaders, Portuguese, Dutch and English from (1505 to 1948) to save the Motherland and the Sinhala nation.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara  B.A. (Hons) PhD Retired Permanent Secretary to   Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayaka.

29.1.2022

(By this essay I propose to the Government of Sri Lanka to set up an International Museum on Colonial crimes from (1505-1948) in Kandy, at the old Bogamabara Prison site, in memory of the brave Kandyan Sinhale patriots who sacrificed their lives in battle against three barbaric and ruthless European Invaders, Portuguese, Dutch and English for 4 1/2 Centuries continuously from (1505 to 1948) to save their Motherland and the Sinhala Nation)

(Proposed name for the Institute)

International Museum on Colonial Crimes Committed by Portuguese, Dutch and British from (1505-1948) in Sri Lanka :  A Memorial Institute in Memory of the Sinhala Patriots who sacrificed their lives to defend the Motherland from these invaders for, four and half Centuries.”

 Bogambara Prison

This was built by the British in 1874 as the second largest Prison in this country on the model of the famous Bastiile Prison in Paris. Bastiile was built to imprison and suppress those who rose against the French Monarchy. Similarly, this was built by the colonial invader British to imprisoned, suppress and hang the native Sinhala patriots who revolted and rose against the British colonial Government. Bogambara did the same job in Sri Lanka to Sinhalese, what the Bastiile did in France. There was little difference between what happened in Batiile in France and Bogambara in Sri Lanka.

No final Plan to develop Bogambara Prison complex even after 8 years of its closing.

Already 8 years have passed since this prison was closed down in2014. Four Governments since then have been talking high and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinha and a number of Ministers, of these governments and officials of different institutions also have visited this site many a time. Much public funds have already being spent on these public shows and many a report have been published, spending millions of public funds without any substantial development to be seen, for 8 long years. Apart from real development isn’t it a tragedy that even after 8 years there is no unanimity among the political masters or the officials entrusted with the job, on what really, they are going to do here.

According to the UDA Final Report: Vol.2 (2019-2020) ‘the redevelopment plan is not finalized yet”

Looking at the long delay in converting this historic place, located right at the center of the historic world heritage city Mahanuwara (Kandy), The Great City /Capital, of the last Kingdom of Sinhale, a glistering jewel of the 2500 years old Sinhala Kingdom, to a useful purpose and more over lack of clarity in the minds of those who are in charge of the project as stated in the UDA report, which says Currently, no decision has been made on who will redevelop the major part of the prison buildings” is really very puzzling. I wonder as to what 4 Governments have been doing for 8 years with so much of talking and public displays. Just like the governments, the management also has been going from hand to hand (Central Engineering Consultancy Services and UDA, the Prison Dept and dept of Archaeology) with different priorities and expertise that are far from the historical, cultural, political and strategic depth of this city and its environs.

In this state of confusion, I am convinced that this will be never converted to a functional level at least for anotherr10 years, as already 8 years have gone waste, under four Governments since 2014. Different Ministers, have come out with different, but stale utopian plans. Neverthelss, still it is at ground level after 8 years, as stated by the UDA. I remember once Minister Malik Samarawickrama of the Yahapaalanaya government said he will convert this place into a five-star Hotel to attract foreign tourists. His plan is now gone for good along with him, fortunately.

PM Ranil also declared open a so-called Cultural Park outside the Prison wall included in the2016 plan. This event was attended by 6 Ministers 2 Ambassadors, Thailand and Japan and about 10 officials. At that time, it was under the Central Engineering Service and UDA. But very little activity is seen around the place since then.  Surprisingly for a layman like me, it looks a ghost prison site now.

At a later stage Champika Ranavaka, Minister of Megapolis visited the place and declared that he will develop this place as a major tourist attraction. This plan was dropped in 2021 May and the Department of Prison also declared it will open a five-star Prison Hotel (a crazy idea) here. Champika’s fairy plans were also disappeared in the air along with him and the Yahapalanaya Government.

Then Minister Keheliya Rambukwella (New Government) on a tour conducted on 21.7.2021 weekend declared that plans were afoot to develop the old Bogambara Prison buildings and its land as a prominent tourist attraction for both local and foreign visitors to the heritage city of Kandy, the Minister said. Sri Lankans, particularly the Kandyan traditional craftsmen and artistes, would be given the opportunity to display their goods within the premises, the Minister said.

Meanwhile the State Minister Ministry of Heritage, Vidura Wickramanayake who visited the place on August 2. 2021, emphasized that a very special mixed project will be established in the premises of the Bogambara Prison and that priority will be given to artefacts of cultural and artistic value which have been protected up to now centered on the last kingdom of Kandy. He also has said the speculations that the old Prison building will be demolish is untrue.

State Minister Wickramanayake further has said that the environment required for artisans who engage in creations highlighting traditional arts which is hereditary to Kandy, will be set up within these premises. He said that the programme will be launched together with the Urban Development Authority, the Department of Archaeology and the Prisons Authority.

The UDA who are supposed to be in charge of this rehabilitation Project (as opposed to doing something novel) on the other hand in their GREATER KANDY URBAN PLAN, Final Report: Vol.2 says.

Main Text Plans ready to develop old Bogambara Prison Complex has said they are planning to convert it to a develop old Bogambara Prison Complex that will be turned into a mixed-use building with public open space in front as tourist attraction center (Details not given. Also, it looks very vague. As they say it will me a mixed project. The details of the composition of the mix are not reveled)

Scanning through all these Mixed stories” overall, it looks to me now, that it is like Alice in Wonderland. I wonder whether all the people who visited the site have fallen through the rabbit hole and are still in Alice’s Wonderland.

My observations

 Looking at all these news reports it is more than clear that even after 8 years there is no final plan or a final decision of development rehabilitation, whatever they call it, on the proposed new Project.  All speakers have highlighted only the conventional, but rather stale, tourist promotion aspect and the service they have in their minds on Kandyan Arts and Crafts. None of them seems to be aware of the existence of the Laksala and the Department of Small Industries, with their Kundasale Sri Narendra Sinha Arts and Crafts Colony and a large number of private shops with a massive Kandyan Arts Center (Incidentally for which I laid the Foundation in 1972 as Assistant Director of the Department of Small Industries Kandy, at that time.) just in front of the Kings wood College, to take care of this sector from late 1950 s.

All these lose talks prove that even after 8 year none of them seems to has a clear idea as to what the overall plan of development for this site should be.  Therefore, it is still in the speculation stage most of them groping in the dark, politicians taking center stage, as a display of cheap political propaganda to attract the votes only. It has been a merry-go round for everybody at public expense.

In this back drop, as I see it, the Bogambara prison site has become a mere theater for politicians for regular cheap political media shows, to deceive the voters, just as they had done in all other fields for the past 73 years, by pretending that they are seriously interested in developing this place on a multifaceted development fairy tale, like the Midsummer Night Dream of Shakespeare, without a clear idea as to what they are going to do with this historically and economically valuable site. The fact that each politician who visited the site had a different approach and a different perception of future development on this site explains the confusion and lack of purpose and clarity as to what the Government is going to do here or in other words it does not have a concrete plan at all in hand and it has just boiled down to a dirty political game only. All of them are still groping in the dark, I think. To me it appears that only Heritage Minister had said something sensible.

However, no one has said anything sensible. Also no one has seen or thought of the historical and political importance of this prison site in one of the darkest chapters of Sri Lankan history where many a conspiracy and crimes have been hatched and committed against the Sinhala Nation and similarly about the light it can throw on the atrocities of expansion of Colonialism and the spread of religion at gun point by the war minded hungry European invaders in the Middle Ages with no mercy on any human being outside their complexion.

Talking about the Prison per se, it is a pity none has taken in to account the importance of the historical and political role played by this prison during the time of repressive colonial administration in designing a plan that display the sacrifices made by the Kandyan peasants and their patriotic[S1]  leaders, the battles they fought and how valiantly they kept all the invaders locked in to a narrow coastal belt for 310 long years until the British succeeded in annexing the Island to the British empire by shrewd and cunning intrigue in1815.

 None of these politicians or the officials have had the slightest idea of the important role played by the Kandyan peasants, who suffered and died inside these walls helplessly, for fighting against the enemy,  and their unique braveries in defending the motherland and the Sinhala nation for 310 years, not only in protecting the Kandyan Kingdom but also the whole country and the Sinhala nation surrounded by the mighty Indian Ocean.

 In fact, in my view the new project that is to come up here should be dedicated to the memory of that great people, who are now completely forgotten and even their descendants criminally betrayed by everybody, including the politicians who are clueless about what their ancestors had done to save this land for us and moreover their own pristine heritage as a world class nation.  These politicians and officials who do not know that they had a glorious past live and fly high in an empty European made air balloon taking this country and the Sinhala Nation to imminent disaster. So how can people like that ever conceive a meaningful plan to make the best use of this wonderful site?

The best example I can quote to prove the ignorance, disregard, the callousness and jealousy the present- ay politicians have towards these great people (Kandyans) who saved the country and the Sinhala nation from Western Colonial invasions is the abolition of the Department of Kandyan Peasantry Rehabilitation and the Kandyan Area Development Authority in Jan 2014 by the present Minister of Finance Mr. Basil Rajapaksa, who still have double allegiance by being a dual citizen (1 America and 2 Sri Lanka)  to establish his pet Project  Divineguma in 2014. by closing down three important institutions started by previous governments namely, a) The Kandyan Peasantry Dept and the Kandyan Area Development Authority and the Janasaviya.   

Therefore, any Development Project designed for this site should be a Master piece that could take the world by surprise on the darker side of Colonialism and also that could pave the way for the countries in Asia Africa and Latin America, for political, economic and cultural liberation from the neo-colonial suppressions and oppressions   

I also suggest that this memorial institute is divided in to three separate sections to demonstrate each colonial period separately vide; Portuguese Wing, Dutch Wing and the British Wing to enable the visitors to see the scales of crimes done by each colonial power to this country. Such a division will make it easy to compare and differentiate the crimes each power had done and also understand the commitments for liberation betrayals of the natives of each period.

As such any project designed to this site should be able to expose the darker side of the barbaric, inhuman and savages’ European colonialism that reflect the true colonial history on this tropical Island.

A multifaceted approach preserving the Kandyan architecture.

All other activities like public Parks, Libraries, tourist shops, cafeterias, Cinema Halls, Conference Halls, Exhibition Halls, lecture theaters should be cited separately nice landscaped. All the new buildings should be designed in the traditional Kandyan Architecture to preserve the indigenous Sinhala architectural designs.

 In my view the development of this place should expand beyond the stale and common tourist promotion mania of average men. I suggest that it must also encompass a broader academic scope. So that it could be a gold mine for researchers and students of different types of colonialism in one place, both medieval and the present times, so that it could turn out to be an academic center par excellence in the Indian ocean, -the path way to the East and the West from ancient times. So that it will attract thousands of researchers and scholars from all parts of the world both the West and the East, thereby opening a super highway for earning Foreign Exchange as well.

No one involved in this project so far seems to have noticed the potentials of developing this historic place, on these lines as a center of attracting academic interests in studying how medieval colonial expansion has transformed and changed this modern world. How colonialism was responsible for the present day socio-political, economic and human mess and conundrums arisen from the ills of colonial policies to the victim nations and how to find workable solutions to such ailing white manmade problems due to the perpetuation of the same medieval colonialism in the modern world even today and arrest the neo-colonialism intruding in different forms into the affairs of the exploited countries like Sri Lanka.

As such the establishment of a museum of the model proposed here   could be a world famous research center for scholars the world over on colonialism and its impact on reshaping and transforming the old world and how colonialism has implanted the aggressors religion, language and culture at gun point and thereby destroying the native and replacing the local cultures that has disturbed and destroyed the global equilibrium that was brought about by environmental diversity where each nation respect the other man’s culture that might have far reaching effects on our co-existence on this planet  and WORLD peace, sans the present day global tension and unrest by practicing the ‘Matsya nyaaya as preached by Kautillya, where the stronger swallows UP THE WEAKER.

 In addition to what I have discussed above the proposed museum complex will also have separate sections to display

1 Visuals of brutalities committed by colonial invaders

Like murder, arson, vandalism, destruction of religious places slaughter of cattle, wanton destruction to the environment, large scale deforestation on the hill country, destruction of irrigation canals, village Tanks, destroying home gardens and paddy fields, economic bases social institutions removal of valuable books, ola leaves, artifacts, science and indigenous knowledge like Ayurveda

Instances of Destabilizing political harmony by discriminatory methods like giving minorities special privileges, discrimination against the Sinhala majority setting Tamils and Muslims against them, planting Indian nationals right at the centre of the country giving rise to a new Indian Tamil civilization to destroy the territorial integrity of this Sinhala country.

Introducing new laws for the minorities while denying the natives their own and imposing Roman Dutch Law on them. Robing the native land by repressive legislation like Encroachment on Crown lands Ord of 1840, Temple Lands Ord of 1853 and the Wasteland Ordinance of 1897. They also destroyed the age old native political, legal, administrative and social institutions and replaced them with systems   completely alien and inappropriate to the traditions of the colonies. The proposed Museum should provide a store House of information on these subjects.  

A special committee to study each of these aspects and prepare a comprehensive sectoral plan for each section

The Govt must set up a special committee to study each of these aspects and prepare sectoral plan for each section. Within this programme we also can have provisions for Hotels, Sale centers, Theaters, conference halls, craftsmen at work to demonstrate how medieval Sinhala Craftsmen work in their villages, Exhibition halls, libraries. In fact, this museum should be developed as a museum complex. This could be the first of its kind on studies on colonialism in the whole world. The entire site of 14 acres should be nicely landscaped and buildings should reflect Kandyan Architecture. I suggest the following statues should also be erected in prominent places to add colour, decor and pride of a nation that had a Great heritage.

, Ehelepola Disava, Monaravila Kepetipola Disava Pilimatalava Adhikaa

rama, Meegastenne Adikarama, Viira Madduma Banda  Wariyapola Sumangala and Kadahapola Thero and Welivita Sangharaja Thero,  Puran Appu.,Gongalegoda Banda Saradiyal Sirima Bandarnayaka and Tennakoon Wimlananda, Nittawela Gunaya and Thittapajjala Suramba, so that they will add colour, dignity and pride to a nations past. Ahelepola Disava walking with a hunch back looking for Independence of his motherland in Mauritius Isle in conversation with his French care taker.

1Use the traditional Temple painting technique in narrative form for Wall Paintings.

2Miscellaneous items that could be incorporated to enhance the historical and cultural values.

3 All displays should be arranged in a way that pays the nation’s highest  gratitude and honour to its heroes who fought against the enemies to defend the Motherland and the Sinhala nation and their religion and sacrificed their loved ones and everything they had and finally their lives  in the name of the motherland and its people. during one of the darkest chapters of Sri Lanka’s history

4Exhibit Sinhala weaponry and war techniques they used in battle against the invader

5 A fully equipped library to House documents pertaining to the 1505-1848 period with a competent library staff.

6 A research unit in collaboration with the Peradeniya University

7 A Theatre for regular display of Kandyan Dancing and Folk Drama for tourists

8 A Gallery of Photographs and monuments including those in Foreign Lands like Mauritius.of Sinhala Patriotic Prisoners in Exile Eg Ahelepola Maha Adikarama For school Children to see the true history of their Motherland from 1505  to 1948 and thereafter to date.I suggest that Mahawamsa should be revised to update history according to these findings.

9 A separate research section to do research on the true history of the Sinhaleduring this period.

10Two separate Galleries of Sinhala Patriots and British Traitors headed by Ahelepola Adikaraam and John Doily.

Finally, I also propose to set up a Special Committee of experts in Sri Lankan and World Colonial History. Pertaining to the period mentioned (1505-1948) with a mixture of experts in History, Architecture of this country, State Craft and Kandyan Law, Sinhala Legal system and state craft, Indigenous Agriculture social system etc.

Members

Few names I would like to suggest to this Committee. Emeritus Professor Gerald Peiris, Senaka Weeraratna, Asoka Badarage, Senali Waduge, Ariyawansa Jayakodi, Palitha Ariyaratna,Wansaratna Senaanayaka,

Ex-Officio members

GA Kandy, Commissioner of Prisons, Mayor of Kandy MC or his Representative, Two scholarly Representatives from Malwatta and  Asgiriya Sects, Someone to represent the VC of Peradeniya University, Diyawadana Nilame. a Representative from the UDA, A Rep from the Ministry of Heritage and Com of Archaeology

(The services of the writer are also available if they want it, 

on request)

 I invite these people including the Governor CP and the UDA to read my proposalat least now ang organize a discussion on this  Proposal

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 [S1]

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

1505දි ලොරෙන්සෝ අල්මේදා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණිලි වෙලේ කෝට්ටේ රජ කලේ ධර්ම පරාක්‍රමබාහු රජතුමායි (8වන පරාක්‍රමබාහු). ඉතා කපටියෙකු වූ අල්මේදා තමන් පෘතුගාල රජුගේ දුතයන් බවත්,  තමන්ට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අයිති කරගැනීම පිළිබදව කිසිම ආශාවක් නැති බවත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සමඟ වෙළඳ සහ වාණිජ කටයුතු සිදු කිරීමට පමණක් කැමති බවත් කියා සිටියේය. රජතුමා මේ සම්බන්ධව සිය ඇමති මණ්ඩලය සමඟ සාකච්චා කළේය.

ඇමති මණ්ඩලයේ හතර දෙනෙක්ම වුයේ ඔහුගේ සොහොයුරන්ය!

මේ ඇමති මණ්ඩලය ගත් තීරණය වුයේ පෘතුගාලය සමඟ රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික ගිවිසුමක් එකෙහිනිම අත්සන් තැබිය යුතු බවයි. ගිවුසුම ප්‍රකාරව පෘතුගාල රජතුමාට වසරකට කුරුඳු අති විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් (රාත්තල් ලක්ෂ 2ක් පමණ) තුටු පඳුරු ලෙස සැපයියමට පොරොන්දු විය.  ආපසු යන අල්මේදාගේ නැව්වලට පෘතුගාල රජු වෙනුවෙන් ඇත් පැටවූ 2ක්, මුහුදු ගමනේදී ආහාර පිණිස ජීවත්වෙන කුකුලන් රාශියක්, පිරිසිඳු පළතුරු විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් (කෙසලේ, අඹ, අන්නාසි, තැඹිලි ආදිය) පැටැවිණි. පෘතුගීසීන්ගේ ඉල්ලීමට ඉඩ දෙමින් ඔවුනට තම රජතුමාගේ නිල මුද්‍රාව සහ ක්‍රිස්තු කුරුසය කොළඹ වරාය තුල ගලක කෙටීමට ද ඉඩ දෙනු ලැබිය (කොලඹ වරායේ මේවා අද දවසටත් දක්නා ඇතැයි කියත්). පිටත්වීමට කලින් ඒ ස්ථානයේ කුඩා කතෝලික දේවස්ථානයක් සාදා එහි කතෝලික පුජාවක් පැවැත්වීමටත් අනුමැතිය ලැබුණි. මේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පැවැත්වූ ප්‍රථම දිව්‍ය පුජාව විය හැකයි. පල්ලියට අසලින් කුඩා කර්මාන්තශාලාවක් සැදීමත් එහි ස්ථිර මට්ටමින් පෘතුගිසි සේවකයන් කිහිප දෙනක් නවත්වා තැබීමටත් අවසර ලැබුණි. පෘතුගීසිහු ඉතා කෘර ලෙස අප රට අවුරුදු 150ක් පමණ පාලනය කර ගියහ.

 එක් පවුලකට උපරිම බලය ලබා දීමේ පළ විපාකයි ඒ.

අවුරුදු 500ට එහායින් පසු එම වරද අපි නැවත කළෙමු.

අද ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වැටි තිබෙන්නේ අති දැවැන්ත වළකය. එය ඉතා ගැඹුරුය, අන්ධකාරය, භයාන්කරය. 

අපව වලට වට්ටවුවේ අපේම පාලකයෝය.

අප කෙසේ හෝ මෙයින් එලියට ආ යුතුය. නැත්නම් අප වල තුලම මැරී යනු ඇත.

ග්‍රීසිය, ආර්ජන්ටිනාව, ලෙබනනය මෑතකදී මෙවැනිම වලවලට වැටුණු රටවල්ය. ඒ රටවල බැංකු පද්ධති විනාශ වී ගොස් ජනතාව සිය දේපල, මුදල්, ඉඩ කඩම්, සියලුම දේ නැති කර ගත්හ. දහස් ගණන් මිනිස්සු සිය දිවි හානි කර ගත්හ. අපේ රටේත් මේ දේ හෝ මීටත් වඩා භයානක දේ සිදුවිය හැක.

අපේ රටේ දැනටමත් උද්ඝෝෂණ,  මහජන ප්‍රතිරෝධ නිසා වටිනා ජීවිත නැතිවී ඇත.  දේපල හානී සිදුවී ඇත. බොහෝ විරෝධතාකරුවන් සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවයි. දරුවන් කර පින්නා ගත් දෙමව්පියන් එම දරුවන් සමඟ පැමිණ පාරේ සටන් පාට කියත්. රෝහලේ එවලේ උපන් දරුවා ගෙදර රැගෙන යන ගමන් උද්ගෝෂණවලට සහභාගී වූ තරුණ යුවලක්  විය. මේ අය සාමකාමී ලෙස, එහෙත් දැඩිව තම පණිවුඩය පිට කරත්. හරි ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය එයය; ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 14 වගන්තියෙන් ඒ අයිතිය සැමට ලබා දී ඇත. එම අයට විරුද්ධව ආරක්ෂක අංශ වලට කිසිත් කළ නොහැක. නමුත්, ගෙවල් ගිනිතැබීම්, දේපල හානි සිදුකිරීම්, වෙනත් ලොකු අපරාධ කිරීමේ  පරමාර්ථයෙන්ම ඒවාට එක්වන අයද සිටිනු දක්නට ලැබේ. මේ අය සාමකාමී උද්ඝෝෂණය කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමට පැමිණෙන අයය. සියල්ලන්ටම වඩා ප්‍රවේශම් විය යුත්තේ මේ අයගෙනි.

මේ අය හඳුනාගෙන, පාලනය කිරීම/ඉවත් කිරීම කල යුතුය. ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණ උද්ගෝෂණය නොවේ; හිංසාකාරී, අපරාධකාරී ක්‍රියා කිරීමයි. මේ අය එන්නේම කළහ ඇති කිරීමටය.   

මේ අය නිසා මුළු වෑයමම ව්‍යවර්ථ වී යා හැක.

අන්තරේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍යයන් සහ ඒ හා අදාළ කණ්ඩායම්, පෙරටුගාමින් මේ මහජන පිබිදීම තමන් කලින් කරන අරගලවලට වඩා වෙනස් බව සිහිතබා ගත යුතුය. සෙසු අය සමඟ, ඔවුන් යන වේගයෙන් වැඩ කිරීමට, ඒ අය සිහිතබා ගත යුතුය.

පිටරට (බටහිර) සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් ඉතා හොඳින් ඔවුන්ගේ උද්ගෝෂණ සිදු කරති. ඔවුන් කිසිදු ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයක් විද්‍යාමාන නොකරත්.   

ජර්මනියේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුරෝපය විසින් ග්‍රීසිය මේ වලෙන් කදිමට උඩට ගනු ලැබිය. ආර්ජන්ටිනාව ගොඩ දැමීමට IMF දැවැන්ත සහායක් දැන් ලබාදෙයි (අප IMF ආධාර ලබා ගැනීමට අකමැති වූ ප්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වුයේ මෙම රජය බලයට පැමිණි විගස සුපිරි ධනවතුන්ට දුන් දැවැන්ත බදු සහන නවතා දමන ලෙස IMF විසින් බල කර සිටිනු නිසා විය යුතුය). දැන් ප්‍රංශ නායකත්වය යටතේ යුරෝපය සහ සවුදි අරාබිය ඇතුළු මැද පෙරදිග රටවල් එකතුව ලෙබනනය මේ වලෙන් ගොඩට ඇද දැමීමට කටයුතු කරත්. එය සිදුවෙනු ඇත. වෙනිසියුලාවට සහ ඉරානයට නැවත තෙල් විකිණීමට ඇමරිකාව නැවත අවසර දීමට සලකා බලන ආරංචි අසන්ට ලැබේ?

අපට?

ඉන්දියාව සහ චීනය අපට ආධාර කිරීමට ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටී. එය මේ වෙලාවේ වාසනාවකි. නමුත්, ඔවුහුද අප සම්පත් සුරා කන අවස්ථා දක්නට ලැබේ. චීනයට කොළඹ/හම්බන්තොට වටිනා ඉඩම්, ඉන්දියාවට ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ තෙල් ටැංකි දීමට සිදු වුණි. සුළං සහ සොලාර් බලාගාර ඉදිකිරීමටය කියා රජය විසින් මේ දෙරටට දැන් උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර ඉතා වටිනා ඉඩම් අක්කර දහස් ගණනින් පවරා දෙමින් සිටී. චීනයට, අදානිට අක්කර දහස් ගණනින් රජය දෙන්නේ දීර්ඝ කාලීන බදු පදනම මතය, අවුරුදු 99 වැනි. මේවා දෙන්නේ නිකම්ද? නැත්නම් ගෙවූ මුදල් මොනවාද? ඒ ගැන කිසිම පාරදුශ්‍ය භාවයක් නැත්තේ ඇයි? ගැහු කොමිස් අහුවෙන නිසාද?

දැන් ලැබෙමින් පවතින ඉංදීය, චීන ආධාර නිසා යම් සහනයන් ඉදිරියේ ලැබෙනු ඇත. මේ නිසා විදුලිය කැපීම, ඉන්ධන (පෙට්‍රල්/ඩීසල්/භූමිතෙල්), ගෑස්, රෝහල්වල බෙහෙත් ආදියට යම් තාවකාලික විසදුම් ලැබෙනු ඇත.

හැමදාම ලෝකේ වටේ ගොස් හිඟා කාමින් ජීවත්වීමට මේ රටට නොහැකිය. දැන් බංග්ලාදේශයද අප දුටු විට දොර වසයි.

2019 ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ගෝටාට ලැබුණු 69 ලක්ෂයක් වන චන්දවලින් 75%ට වැඩියෙන් සිංහල චන්දය. රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් 85% පමණ ගෝටාට චන්දය දුන්හ.  ඉන්පසු 2020 අගෝස්තු මහ මැතිවරණයේදී පොහොට්ටුවට 2/3ක බලයක් ලබාදුනි. එම රජයට මාස 6ක් වත් යාමට ඔබ්බෙන් ‘සර් ෆේල්’ වැනි සටන් පාට මඟින් රජය ඉල්ලා අස්විය යුතුය යන දැඩි මහජන මතයක් ගොඩ නැගුණි.  

අසාර්ථක රාජ්‍යක් වූ පකිස්ථානයේද හැමදාම වාගේ සිදුවන්නේ මේ වැනි ක්‍රියාදාමයි.  ඒ තත්වයට අපද දැන් වැටි ඇත.

මෙම පොහොට්ටු පාලනය ඉතා අසාර්ථක බව නොකිවමනාය. 2015දි ද ඔවුන්ව ගෙදර යැව්වේ ඒ හෙයිනි. ඉදින්, අවුරුදු 5ක් යන්න මත්තෙන්, ඒ බව දැන දැනත්, පොහොට්ටුව නැවත බලයට ගෙන ඒමට ජනයා චන්දය දුනී.

මේ තත්වයට ජනතාවද වග කිව යුතුය.

එක් පවුලක් විසින් රට පාලනය කරන බවත් එම පවුල ඉතා දුෂිත බවත් මිනිසුන් අද මැසිවිලි නගති. නමුත්, මේ බව, එය මෙසේම වෙන බව ඔවුන් නොදැන සිටියාද? 2004 සුනාමි ව්‍යවසනයට එකතු කල අරමුදල් පවා මංකොල්ල කෑ බවට බරපතල චෝදනා තිබියදී, 2005දි එම පවුල බලයට පත් කලේ රටේ ජනතාවම  නොවේද?  

1994 පසු මේ රටේ බිහි වී ඇත්තේ ඉතා කලහකාරී, ආත්මාර්ථකාමී, අසහනකාරී සමාජයකි. උතුම් ගති පැවතුම්වලට, ශිෂ්ටසම්පන්න බවට, සාරධර්ම වලට අද රටේ ඉඩ අඩුය. පාරේ වාහන වලට හැප්පෙන මිනිසුන් ස්වේච්චාවෙන් රෝහලක් වෙත ගෙනයාමේ හැදිච්ච කමක් අපේ රටේ තිබුණි. අද හප්පප්පු වාහනයේ රියදුරු අනතුර සිදුවුන ස්ථානයෙන් පැණ යනවා පමණක් නොව, පරීක්ෂණ අවස්ථාවේදී වෙනත් රියදුරෙක් ඔහු වෙනුවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට තරම් අප සමාජය පිරිහී ඇත.

අප වංක සහ දුශිතයයි කියා චෝදනා කරන දේශපාලඥයන් බිහි වන්නේ මේ සමාජය තුලින්මය. මෙය කියවන ඔබත් මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක්, ඇමතිවරයෙක්, සංස්ථා/මණ්ඩල සභාපතිවරයෙක්/අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයෙක් වූ පසු බොහෝ විට හැසිරෙන්නේ මේ දැන් ඉන්නා අය අයුරින්ම  නොවිය හැකිද (හොරකම් කරන)? මන්ද, අප සමාජය ඒ තරමටම පිරිහී, ගරාවටිමකට, කඩාවටිමකට ලක් වී ඇති නිසාය. අපේ අනාගත පරපුර ගැන ඇතිවන්නේ ඉතා දුකකි.

මෙම රජය අසාර්ථක බව ජනතාව තරයේ කියති. කිසිදාක පාරට නොබැස්ස අය පාරට බැස උද්ගෝෂණය කරති.  

මේ අයටම, අන්තර් පාලන රජයක නව අගමැතිවරයෙක්  යටතේ, අපව මේ වට්ටවා තිබෙන වලෙන් ගොඩ දැමිය හැකි යයි ජනතාව පිළිනොගනිති. ජනතාවට මේ අය එපාය.

පොහොට්ටු රජයන් තුල අහසට උසට නැඟ යන අල්ලස්, දුෂණ, කොමිස් වැනි හොරකම් පිලිබඳ විශාල ප්‍රශ්ණ ඇත. මේවායෙන් තොර පාලනයක් ගැන ඔවුන් දන්නේ නැත. රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලනයේ සහ කළමනාකරණයේ ඔවුන් දක්වන්නේ ඉතාම අකාර්යක්ෂමතාවයකි, අදක්ෂ කමකි. මුල්‍ය පාලනයක් කියා දෙයක් නැති ලෙසටයි ඔවුන් රට පාලනය කලේ. මේ රජයේ පාලකයන්ට කිසිම ඉදිරි දැක්මක් නැතිව බව ඔවුන් විසින්ම ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ කර ඇත.    

සජබ – සජබ තුල අති දක්ෂයන් රාශියක් සිටිති. ඔවුන් තරුණය. කඩිසරය. දේශප්‍රේමිය. ඔවුන්ට යමක් කල හැකි ඉතා හොඳ බුද්ධියක් ඇති අයය.  දක්ෂ කථිකයෝ රාශියකි. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල හොඳ සටනක් ඔවුන් ගෙන යයි. සජබ ඉහල නායකත්වයනට රට භාර ගෙන කල හැකිද නොහැකිද යන මතයක් ද රට තුල ඇත. යුද්ධයට නායකත්වය දුන් ෆොන්සේකා රණ විරුවා සජබ තරුණ නායකයිනට නායකත්ව හැකියාවන්   ගැන මනා පුහුණුවක් ලබා දීම ඉතා අවශ්‍යවේ.

ජවිපෙ – ජවිපෙ පැමිණ රට බේරා ගනු ඇතැයි බොහෝ අය දැන් විශ්වාස කරති. හෙට පාර්ලිමේන්තු චන්දයක් තිබ්බොත් ජවිපෙ විශාල ආසන සංඛ්‍යාවක් නියතයෙන්ම ජය ගනු ඇත.

ජවිපෙ තුලද අති දක්ෂයන් රාශියකි. ඔවුන් තරුණය, හොඳ ජවයක් තිබේ. ජවිපෙ සැබවින්ම රටට ආදරය කරන බවක් පෙනේ.

ජවිපෙ නායකයන් තමන් සර්ව සම්පුර්ණ බවට සිතති; අනුන්ගේ වැදගත්, වටිනා උවදෙස් වලට සවන් දීමට අකමැත්තක් දක්වන බවක් පෙනේ. මේවා හදා ගත යුතුය.

 දුෂණයට, අල්ලසට විරුද්ධව ජවිපෙ කථා කරන බව සැබවි. ඒ පිළිබඳව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සහ ඉන්  පිටත මහ හඬක් නඟති.  එය ශ්‍රේෂ්ටයි.

නමුත්, කලක් හඬ නැගීමෙන් පසු ඔවුහු නිහඬ වීම ගැටලුවකි. එක් මාතෘකාවක් සජීවව තිබියදී තවත් එකක් අල්ලා කථා කරති. එය ගැනද මහ හඬක්  නඟා, ඉන්පසු තව එකක් අල්ලා ගනිති. එකකින් වත් ජනතාවට ප්‍රථිපල ලැබී නැත.

මහ බැංකු මංකොල්ල සටන හැර වෙනත් කිසිම සටනකින් සාර්ථක ප්‍රථිපල ලබාගැනීමට ජවිපෙට නොහැකි විය. අවසානය දක්වා සටනක් ගෙන ගොස් හොර දේශපාලනඥයන් තනතුරු වලින් අස් කිරීමට, ඔවුන්ව නඩු අසා හිරේ යැවීමට ජවිපෙ කටයුතු කල යුතුය. එංගලන්තය, කැනඩාව, ප්‍රංශය, ඕස්ත්‍රේලියාව වැනි රටවල් මොන ක්‍රමයෙන් හෝ දුෂිතයන්ව  මන්ත්‍රී/ඇමති ධුරවලින් ඉවත් කරති/ සිරේ යවති. ඒ, විපක්ෂයේ පක්ෂ සියල්ල පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල එක දිගටම නොනවත්වා නගන මහා හඬ නිසායි (මාධ්‍යද ඒ සඳහා උපරිම සහාය දේ). ශ්‍රී ලංකාවත් ඒ රටවලුත් අතර ඇති ප්‍රධානතම වෙනස එයයි.

පැනමා පේපර්ස්, පැන්ඩෝරා පේපර්ස්, සිනි මංකොල්ලය, සුදු ළුණු/පොල් තෙල්  මංකොල්ල,  ඇන්ටිජන් සහ වැක්සින් හොර, පර්ල් එක්ස්ප්‍රස් පාඩු, යුරියා/ගෑස් මගඩි, ගෑස් සිලින්ඩර් පිපිරීම්, නැනෝ පොහොර මංකොල්ලය, බුරුම සහල් මංකොල්ලය – මේවා දැන් සැමට, ජවිපෙ ඇතුළු, අමතක වී ඇත්තාසේය. මෙය ඉතා අසතුටුදායකය.

තමන් බලයට පැමිණි පසු මේ හොරුන්ට දඬුවම් කරන බව පමණක් පැවසීම මදිය. ජවිපෙ මේ සටන් දැන් සිටින පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල ඉතා තීව්‍රව, සෙසු විපක්ෂ කණ්ඩායම් සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන සිදු කල යුතුය.

 ‘මුන් ඔක්කොම හොරු මල්ලි’ යන රන්ජන්ගේ කථාව ජවිපෙටත් අදාලද? එය එසේ නොවේයයි පතමු.

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ  – රනිල් ඉතා වැදගත්, මහත්මා ගුණයෙන් යුත් කෙනෙකි. රනිල් එංගලන්තයේ හෝ ඕස්ත්‍රේලියාවේ ඉපදුනා නම් මේ වනවිට අගමැති වී (රාජ්‍ය නායකයා) අවසානයයි සමහරු කියත්. මෑතක් වනතුරුමඔහුව  හැඳින්වුයේ මිස්ටර් ක්ලීන් නමිනි. මහා බැංකු කොල්ලයෙන් ඔහුගේ නම ඉතා පලුදු විය. වෙනත් දේශපාලනඥයන් මෙන් හොරකමේම යෙදෙන්නට රනිල්ට හේතු අඩුය; නමුත් ඔහු යටතේ සිටී අය බොහෝ වංචා දුෂණ කළහ. මෙය ඔහුගේ අඩුවකි.

2016න් පමණ පසු රනිල් හොඳ පරිණත බවක් පෙන්වා ඇත. කලින් තිබු සබකෝලය, ගොත ගැසීම, උඩඟු බව දැන් සකස් කර ගෙන ඇත. දක්ෂ නායකත්ව ගුණ විද්‍යාමාන කරයි. අති දක්ෂ කථිකයෙක් බවට අද ඔහු පත්වී සිටි. අද, රනිල් සිය දක්ෂතා උපරිමව විදහා දක්වන, හොඳම කාලයයි. දැන්, ඔහු සැබවින්ම රටට ආදරය කරන බවද පෙනේ.

දැන් රට කල යුත්තේ කුමක්ද?

‘අප්‍රේල් සුවඳ’ (April Scent) රැල්ලේ වැඩිමනත් ජනතාව ඉල්ලන්නේ නවතම පාළනාධිකාරයකි. ඔවුන් දැන් සිටින ජනාධිපතිතුමා, අගමැතිතුමා සහ මුළු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවම (225) ම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරත්. ඔවුන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම ඇරයුම  නැවුම් පිරිසකටය. රටේ නායකත්වය මේ ලෙසින් වෙනස් විය හැකිද?

ඔව්.

1989 රුමේනියානු විප්ලවයට කිසිදු නායකත්වයක් නොතිබුණි. දින ගණනක උද්ගෝෂණ වලින් පසු චව්චෙස්කුගේ රාජ්‍යය එක් වරම ගිලිහී වැටිණි. ඉන්පසු ජාතික ගැලවීමේ සභාව (National Salvation Front) විප්ලවාදින් අතරෙන් බිහිවුයේ අහම්බෙන්ය. ඔවුන් පසුව දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් බවට පත්වී දිගටම රට පාලනය කළහ. ලෙනින් සෝවියට් විප්ලවයට සම්බන්ධ වුයේ බොහෝ ප්‍රමාදවය. සාර්ව රජකමින් පහ වුයේ 1917 පෙබරවාරිවලය; ලෙනින් සෝවියට් දේශයට ජර්මනියේ සිට නැවත පැමිණියේ 1917 ඔක්තෝම්බර් (2වන) විප්ලවය යන අතරතුරේය. නොවැම්බර් වල ඔහු සෝවියට් නායකයා විය! අයටොල්ලා කොමෙයිනි ඉරාන  විප්ලවය මෙහෙය වුයේ යුරෝපයේ සිටය. ඔහු යලි ඉරානයට එහි නායකයා වී ආවේ ෂා ඉරානය අත් හැර ගියාටත් පසුවය.

වහාම පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස්ව දැන් සිටින වියපත් අගමැතිතුමා එම තනතුරෙන් ඉවත් ව, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ගරුත්වය සහ විශ්වාසය දිනු විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් භාරකාර අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය තනතුරට පත්විය යුතුයි. භාරකාර ඇමති මණ්ඩලයට හොරුන් ඇතුලත් නොකල යුතුයි.

ඉන්පසු, දින 90ක් ඇතුලත ජනාධිපති සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු චන්දයක් පැවැත්විය යුතුය. වියදම් පිරිමසා ගැනීමට මේ දෙකම එකම දින සිදු කල යුතුයි.

මෙම දින 90 තුල ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ස්වකීය  කැමැත්තෙන් ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ගෙනවිත්, 19වෙනි සංශෝධනය යටතේ, අගමැති තුමාට තිබු බලය නව අගමැතිතුමාට ලබා දෙන්නේ නම් මැනවි.  එසේ කල හැකි නොවුවහොත් (පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3 ලබා ගත නොහැකි වුවහොත්), තම විධායක බලය පාවිච්චි කර, තමන් සතුව ඇති අති මහත් බලතලවලින් කොටසක් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය තනතුර මැනවින් හෙබවීම පිණිස නව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය තුමාට පැවරිය හැකියි. 

නව අගමැතිතුමාගේ පළමු පියවරක් විය යුත්තේ රන්ජන්ව නිදහස් කිරීමට කටයුතු කිරීමය. මන්ද, මුළු මහත් රටේම ඉල්ලීම එය නිසයි.

දින 90 අවෑමෙන් පැවැත්වෙන චන්දයෙන් පවත්නා ඕනෑම පක්ෂයකට ජය ගත හැක; ඔවුන්ගෙන් නව ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් සහ රජයක් බිහිවේ; මේ ‘අප්‍රේල් සුවඳ’ රැල්ලෙන් මතුවන කණ්ඩායම/ක් ඇතුළු. පසු සඳහන් කණ්ඩායම/ක් ජය ගැනීමේ සම්භාවිතාව වැඩි බවයි දැනට පෙනෙන්නේ.

රන්ජන්ද බොහෝ දුරට තරඟ කරනු ඇත.

කවුරු කෙසේ කිවත් රටට ඉතා අහිතකර මේ විධායක ජනාධිපති ධුරය අහෝසි කර සැබෑ වෙස්ට්මිනිස්ටර් ක්‍රමයේ, ඉතාම  ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී, සාධාරණ රාජ්‍ය පාලන ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කල යුතුවේ. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ආසන ගණන අඩු කල යුතුය. මනාප ක්‍රමය, චිට් මන්ත්‍රීන් අහෝසි කල යුතුය. ආසනයකට වගකීයන මන්ත්‍රීකෙනෙක්, තනිව කෙනෙකුට -ස්වාධීනව චන්ද ඉල්ලිය හැකි ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කල යුතුය.

මෑතකදී හොරකම් කල සියළු දෙනා අධිකරණය ඉදිරියට පැමිණිය  යුතුවේ. අසාධාරණ ලෙස නිදොස් කොට නිදහස් කල නඩු නැවත ගොනු කල යුතුය. හොරුනට කිසිම සමාවක් නොදිය යුතුය. සොරා ගත් මුදල්, දෙපළ රාජසන්තක කල යුතුය.

Courtesy UCA News

Catholic clergy join calls for president’s resignation over the worst economic crisis in decades.

Catholic nuns hold placards during a demonstration against the government amid the worsening economic crisis in Colombo on April 5. (Photo: AFP)

By UCA News reporter, Colombo

Published: April 06, 2022 09:04 AM GMT

Catholic bishops, priests and nuns joined street protests against the government while people surrounded parliament as Sri Lanka faces its biggest economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, two bishops and hundreds of priests and nuns joined thousands of others marching in the streets of capital Colombo on April 6.

“Ordinary people have taken to the streets to demand that the government resign,” said Father Jude Chrisantha, archdiocesan director of mass communications.

“The president allowed ministers who sold the country’s resources to take commissions and bribes. Therefore, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is responsible for creating the crisis. We seek to change the system, not merely change politicians. The problems can’t be solved by changing heads.”

Thousands of people have protested in cities and villages across the nation demanding the resignation of the president and the government amid rising prices of essential goods, fuel and daily power blackouts.

Chief government whip Johnston Fernando said in parliament on April 6 that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would not resign.

“People have taken to the streets to demand that the president and 225 members of parliament go. The people also demand that the money stolen by the politicians from the country be returned”

Father Cyril Gamini, a member of Colombo Archdiocese’s committee on the 2019 Easter attack, said the government has no sense of the suffering of ordinary people and is determined to hold on to power.

“People have taken to the streets to demand that the president and 225 members of parliament go. The people also demand that the money stolen by the politicians from the country be returned,” the priest said.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), an independent organization fighting corruption, said the current situation has been caused by decades of misuse and mismanagement of public resources on a large scale, systemic corruption coupled with kleptocracy, and an overall lack of transparency and accountability in both governance as well as in the public service sector.

We strongly condemn the attempts of the president and the administration to stifle the constitutionally enshrined freedoms of expression and lawful assembly of citizens through the use of emergency regulations, curfews and social media blackouts,” TISL said.

“We call on the law enforcement authorities to act independently in order to ensure that those in power are held accountable for their actions and brought before the law. They must also safeguard the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people and impose serious penalties against officers of the law who carry out their own form of vigilante justice.”

The Free Media Movement (FMM), a media watchdog, strongly condemned anti-democratic actions taken by the government to stifle dissent and quell the voices of the people affected by its gross failure at managing the economy, and urged the government to take immediate action.

“The constitution of Sri Lanka recognizes freedom of expression, including freedom of speech and publication, as well as freedom of assembly and association, while the freedom to protest peacefully and display dissent has been widely interpreted by a number of Supreme Court rulings as part of freedom of expression. It also recognizes that these rights include the right to criticize the government and the head of state. The above actions taken by the government are arbitrary and violate all these rights,” said the FMM.

Courtesy BDNews24

• 

Bangladesh’s economy is robust” and the government has been exercising extreme caution” so that the country does not face a crisis like that of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

She made the remarks after Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader expressed concern over the risks facing Bangladesh’s economy in parliament on Wednesday. He fears Bangladesh may not also be able to repay loans if its economy suffers the way Sri Lanka has.

Hasina then said, This [Sri Lanka’s crisis] is real. But one thing I want to say to him is that we’ve repaid loans taken for development in time since we formed the government.”

Quader said Sri Lanka’s economy is based on tourism and agriculture. While tourism in the country was hit by the coronavirus pandemic, agriculture suffered due to wrong decisions by the government.

They [Sri Lanka] borrowed billions of dollars in the name of development before collapsing under pressure of loans. Now they cannot repay,” the Jatiya Party chief said.

If the three main planks of Bangladesh’s economy — garment export, remittances and agriculture — take a hit like Sri Lanka’s, Quader said he wonders whether Bangladesh will be able to repay the loans it is taking for development.

We can’t say for sure whether our condition will not be like that of Sri Lanka,” he said.

Hasina said Bangladesh has never been and won’t be a defaulter because the base of our economy is very strong. And we’re very much alert”.

She also claimed her government is saving money in the development projects while the Jatiya Party and the BNP had taken away funds through corruption. They showed twice as much the price for foreign goods and pocketed the extra money.”

I inaugurated a 1,320MW power plant in Payra some days ago. The work there ended eight months ahead of schedule and we saved about Tk 8 billion. We always finish all the jobs ahead of schedule and save money.”

Planning Minister MA Mannan also brushed aside concerns on Tuesday that Bangladesh will suffer a situation like the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, saying such comparison was unacceptable”. I can say we [government] take every bit of precaution while running our economy,” he said.

For the last few weeks, the island nation has been battling its worst economic crisis since it became independent from Britain, leaving basic goods like food, fuel, gas and medicine in short supply and pricey.

Enterprises like shops and small businesses were forced to close because of shortage of goods and electricity and anxious customers were seen queuing up for hours in the searing heat to fill their tanks. Some people have even died waiting.

The pandemic and decades of irregularities and insensible public spending on mega projects left Sri Lanka’s tourist-dependent economy with a large deficit.

Considering the turmoil, even Bangladesh Bank has recently decided not to extend a $200 million line of credit to Sri Lanka, a fellow member in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, despite Colombo’s request.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has revoked the State of Emergency imposed in the country. 

Issuing an Extraordinary Gazette Notification, the Head of State revoked the order issued with effect from midnight of 5 April.

President Rajapaksa issued an Extraordinary Gazette, declaring a state of Public Emergency on 1 April.

The decision was taken in the interest of public security, the protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake came under fire in Parliament today by government MPs who claimed he was instigating violent protests. 

Government MPs claimed that Dissanayake was seen chatting to protestors on his way from Parliament on Tuesday and echoing the sentiments of them.

Referring to the claims, Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando said it was unbecoming of the JVP leader to provoke protestors to unleash violence and vandalism against anyone . He said the JVP leaders instigated a similar murderous culture during the 88/89 period .

Today , you are in hiding because you lost face over your chat with protestors ,” Fernando said. (Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign from office under any circumstance, Minister Johnston Fernando said today.

The remarks of the Chief Government Whip came during the parliamentary proceedings this morning (April 06).

In response to a question raised by Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s MP Lakshman Kiriella, Minister Fernando said I would like to remind the chief opposition whip that 69 lakh of people had voted for the President. As the government, we would like to make it clear that the President will not resign under any circumstances. We will face this [the present situation].”

Courtesy Adaderana

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Harin Fernando today proposed fellow MP Harsha de Silva’s name as a caretaker President if no one else is up for the position.

His remarks came during the parliamentary session earlier today (April 06).

Fernando said Harsha de Silva, who is an expert in economics, should be appointed as the caretaker President for a period of six months.

Speaking further, Fernando stressed that the politicians should set aside the differences in their ideologies and unite to resolve the ongoing crises.

He said it is regrettable that none of the political parties in the parliament are genuinely interested in providing solutions for the issues faced by people.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed a Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability.

Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Prof. Shanta Devarajan and Dr. Sharmini Coorey serve as the members of the said advisory group, according to the President’s Media Division (PMD).

Courtesy Adaderana

Two shipments of fuel have been delivered to Sri Lanka in the last 24 hours under Indian credit line, the High Commission of India in Colombo says.

Each consignment contained 36,000 metric tonnes of petrol and 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel.

Taking to its official Twitter account, the high commission stated that this brings the total supply of various types of fuel Sri Lanka received under Indian assistance to more than 270,000 metric tonnes.

Sugath Kulatunga 

“The clarion call in Mirihana and many other demonstrations and opposition protest meetings was a clear message of Gota go. Even a few political commentators have gleefully echoed this call. Gota can be expelled only under Section 38 of the Constitution where he resigns or ceases to be a citizen of Sri Lanka or ousted by a resolution passed in Parliament with a two thirds majority. The forces behind the agitation cannot be ignorant of this fact. But their attempt is to destabilize the government as much as possible. One critical factor they have not taken into account is the loyalty of the military to the government. The agitators and the opposition should on no account create a situation which will lead to military rule which Sri Lanka has been so far fortunate to avoid.

It cannot be denied that the masses have been driven to desperation with the denial of basic amenities like electricity and continuing scarcities of fuel, milk foods and high price of medicines, groceries, fruits and vegetables. On top of the existing scarcities fixed income earners have been severely affected by the dubious devaluation and high rates of interest. Peoples’ anger is exacerbated as these problems should have been anticipated, communicated to the people and remedial action taken. People are convinced that a few politicians and officials are guilty of negligence and incompetence.

 I am amused at a statement that In Greece a competent economist was made the Minister of Finance to resolve the economic problems. In a Ministry like finance the Minister is guided by his professional officials. Officials who managed our economy were PhDs in Economists borrowed from the Central Bank and the result is the current economic debacle. The last of them who was called an economic assassin” by a former Minister resigned from his post.

By early 2021 Corvid 19 had taken its toll. Tourist income had trickled down to a minimum. Income from foreign employment had dried up. The balance of trade continued to be negative.

Following are statements made by the Central Bank in several of their Press Releases on the balance of trade.

Sri Lanka had a total export of 11,741,036.79 in thousands of US$ and total imports of 21,316,199.95 in thousands of US$ leading to a negative trade balance of -9,575,163.16 in thousands of US$

The trade deficit widened on a year-on-year basis for the third consecutive month
in May 2021 to US dollars 716 million, compared to US dollars 407 million recorded in May 2020.

Expenditure on merchandise imports in May 2021 increased notably by 61.7 per
cent to US dollars 1,607 million from import expenditure of US dollars 994 million in May

The deficit in the trade account widened in December 2021 compared to a year earlier, mainly due to
excessive surge in imports recording the highest ever monthly import expenditure…”

The signs were clear. A crisis was in the making. But the government was complacent. There were instances of allowing massive import of luxury vehicles to gain revenue from customs duty without any regard to future consequences. Government was distracted by an organic food campaign. Even for a token increase in fuel prices proposed, the Minister of Energy had to face a no confidence motion originally suggested by the General Secretary of the ruling party. Criticism was taboo. Even in the last Address to the Nation On the 4^thof of February 2022, the President did not mention about this looming debacle. The Government perhaps expected a miracle to take place and a miracle man Basil R took charge of Finance in mid 1921.There are no miracle in this game, only hard facts demanding hard decisions.

The miracle proposed was a sudden massive devaluation of the currency.

It must be repeated in simple terms that the focus should be how to earn an extra dollar and to save one. The past experience is that devaluation has neither increased exports nor reduced imports whereas our competitors like Bangladesh have adjusted their currency gradually and increased their exports. Maldives with an exchange rate of Maldivian Rufiyaa 15.42 is getting more tourists. The consequence of devaluation will bring more hardships to the bulk of the population of the country. Out of the 80 billion US dollar GDP of Sri Lanka the contribution of exports is only 20 billion dollars. Only that sector which is one quarter of the population will reap some benefits in the short term.

In his Independence Day speech, the President had said ‘Special attention must be paid on ways and means to enhance export revenue whilst encouraging local production.” But there is no concrete program to implement the suggestion. This needs further elaboration which will be done later. But the spike in import value in December 2021should have been closely examined. It is the standard subterfuge that importers over invoice their invoices and exporters under invoice their invoices and try to retain part of the dues abroad which is then kept in tax havens abroad. This is a global phenomenon the extent which is callosal. Customs department is not known for honesty and cannot be depended upon to investigate the individual transactions. They should be trained for this, or new group of officers should be assigned this task.

The outcome of the present political crisis cannot be predicted. In all probability it will be and all-party interim government as proposed by the dissidents within the government. The opposition should not ask for the pound of flesh at this juncture. They should think of the country before party politics. It is time that they present to the public their solution to the immediate problem.

One last suggestion is that the former President move out of the present residence and Gota must move into that house which should be the residence of the incumbent President. That will reduce the security risk of residing in Mirihana and the cost of additional security involved. 

All politicians and officials who were negligent or incompetent to prevent the present crisis must be penalized. “

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

ජනතාව විප්ලවයක් කිරීමට සුදානම්ව වීථි බසින යුගයක අප ජිවත් වෙමු. මේ වනවිට මෙරට ජනතාවට මෙරට විධායකය, ව්‍යාවස්ථාදායකය  හා අධිකරණය සම්බන්ධව තිබු විශ්වාසය සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම බිඳ වැටී,මේ රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රනය බිඳ දැමීමට සුදානම්ව සිටී. මෙය සමාජ ප්‍රගමනයේ ඉතා වැදගත් සන්ධිස්ථානයකි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව හා එහි වාසි 225ක මන්ත්‍රී සනුහරේම ජනතා උදහසට ලක්ව තිබේ. මේ තත්වය ප්‍රංශ විප්ලවය, රුසියන් විප්ලවය සිහියට නංවන අතර, වර්තමාන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අරගලය ප්‍රංශ විප්ලවයේ ස්වරුපය අපට මනාව සිහියට නංවයි. අපට අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ ප්‍රංශ විප්ලවයට සමාන විප්ලවයක් නොව, රුසියන් විප්ලවයට සමාන විප්ලවයක් බව සටහන් කල යුතුය.

අපි ප්‍රංශ විප්ලවයට සමාන විප්ලවයක් අපේක්ෂා නොකරන්නේ, ඒ විප්ලවය තුල සිටි අවස්ථාවාදීන් විසින් රාජාණ්ඩුව පෙරලා දැමු පසු පැරිස් කොමියුනය නම්වූ ඒ කුලුදුල් රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රනය බිඳ දමා බලය ලබාගෙන ධනවාදයට පාර කපන නව ආණ්ඩුවක් බිහිකල බැවිනි.

සමාජ පරිනාම නියමයන්ට අනුව,එදා රුසියාවට අවශ්‍යව තිබුනේද ධනවාදය වුවද, කොමියුනිස්ට් ප්‍රකාශනයෙන්  සන්නද්ධව සිටි විප්ලවීය නායකත්වය, ලබාගත් බලය සිය අරමුණ වූ සමාජවාදී සමාජයක් ඉලක්ක කරගෙනම මෙහෙය වීම නිසා සාර්ථක සෝවියට් රුසියාවක් ගොඩනංවා, මුළු ලෝකයම සමාජ පරිවර්තනයකට පත්කිරීමට එම විප්ලවයට හැකිවිය.

අද මෙරට ජනතාව, මුළු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනවා පමණක් නොව, මෙරට විධායකය හා අධිකරණයද ඇතුළුව මුළු රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණයම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන්නෝ බවට පත්ව සිටි.

හරියටම මිට වසර,51කට පෙර මෙරට තරුණයෝ මෙරට පවතින මේ රාජ්‍යන්ත්‍රණයෙන්. මෙරට සංවර්ධනයට කිසිම දෙයක් කල නොහැකි බව වටහාගෙන ඉතාම ප්‍රාථමික අවි ආයුධ අතැතිව, විප්ලවීය රජයක් පිහිටුවීම අරමුණු කරගෙන කැරැල්ලක් දියත් කළහ. එදා ඒ කැරැල්ලට නායකත්වය දීමට න්‍යාය පත්‍රයක් හා වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් තිබුනද, ජනතාවගේ පැත්තෙන් එවැනි කටයුත්තකට සුදානම් නැති පසුබිමක් තිබීම හේතුවෙන්, ප්‍රතිගාමී රාජ්‍යන්ත්රණයට ඉතා පහසු ලෙස එම කැරැල්ල මැඩ  පැවැත්වීමට හැකි විය.
මේ වනවිට මෙරට ජනතාව විප්ලවීය මාවතකට පිවිස මුළු රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණයම කුඩු පට්ටම් කිරීමට සුදානම්ව සිටින මේ මොහොතේ, මේ ජනතා නැගිටීම දෙස අපි ඉතා ඉතා උනන්දුවෙන් හා පරීක්ෂාවෙන් බලා සිටින්නෝ වෙමු. ඒ මේ රාජ්‍යන්තය බිමට සමතලා නොකර මෙරට ජනතාවට ලබාගත හැකි විමුක්තියක් නැති බව අපි හොදාකාරව දන්නා බැවිනි. නමුත් නායකත්වයක් නැති,සැලසුම් සහගත අරමුණක් නැති, මේ ජනතා අරගලය,එය තුලට රිංගා ගත් ප්‍රතිගාමිත්වයට ඉතා භයානක පැත්තකට වුවද මෙහෙය විය හැකි බව ජනතාව සිහි බුද්ධියේ තබාගත යුතුය. මෙය කාම්බෝජ විප්ලවය ගෙන ගිය දිසාවට මෙහෙයවීම නොකොට නිවැරදි දිසාවට ගමන් කරවීම මෙරට දේශපාලනය කරන සියල්ලන්ගේම වගකීමයි. මේ සටන ජයගත යුතුය. සටන රාජපක්ෂලාට එරෙහි සටනකට ලඝු නොකළ යුතුය. මොවුන් පිටුපස සිටින ඇමරිකානු අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයට හා ඉන්දීය ව්යාප්තවාදයට එරෙහි සටනක් බවට පත්කර ගත යුතුය. අපේ ඉඩම් ආත්මේ දුෂිත පාලකයින්ට කප්පන් දෙමින් අත්පත් කරගෙන සිටින්නේ, මේ විදේශීය බලවේගයි.මේ වැටලීම් වලදී අපෙන් ලබාගත් අපේ ඉඩම් අපි යලි අත්පත් කර ගත යුතුය. අපේ අනාගත පරපුරට ඒවා යලි ලබාදිය යුතුය.

දේශප්‍රේමී සටන් නියෙමුවන් වන්න.රටට එරෙහිව සිට නොගන්න.

ජයවේවා!

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 4 (newsin.asia) – Rallies against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government have increased, with many protests taking place around the country today.

The people have protested peacefully in numerous locations, calling for the President to resign as a result of the present economic crisis.

https://newsin.asia/watch-protests-intensify-against-sri-lanka-president-demanding-resignation/

During the protests that are taking place around Sri Lanka, the homes of numerous key ministers and state ministers have also been encircled by the people.

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