DR Arpita Hazarika

The chief of army staff of India, General Manoj Pande completed his Bangladesh visit recently (from July 18 to July 20) as part of the “outstanding” bilateral defense relations between Bangladesh and India.

General Manoj Pande was on his first trip abroad since taking over the post. First day of his visit, the army chief laid a wreath at Shikha Anirban to honor the valiant souls who made the ultimate sacrifices during the Liberation War of 1971.

Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande received a Guard of Honour at a convention centre of Bangladesh Armed Forces here on Monday.

Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande paid a courtesy call on his Bangladesh counterpart General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed at the Army Headquarters in Dhaka on Monday.  The two discussed ways to enhance and strengthen bilateral defense cooperation. 

Manoj Pande met with senior members of the security establishment several times throughout the day to discuss defense-related topics. In Dhanmondi, at the Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Museum, he also paid respects. He met with Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday and focused on strengthening bilateral ties.

The army chief spoke the Defense Services Command and Staff College, Mirpur, professors and students on the second day of his visit.

After that, he met with staff at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support and Operation Training, a prestigious institution in Bangladesh that prepares peacekeepers for work in a variety of UN peace operations, and engage in conversation with them. After that, he visited the Bangabandhu Military Museum in Mirpur.

Manoj Pande’s visit has strengthened relations between the two armies on a bilateral level and served as a catalyst for improved coordination and collaboration between the two nations on a variety of strategic problems.

In South Asia, Bangladesh is an important ally of the India. The two nations work closely together on problems like climate change, counterterrorism, and regional security. This visit may serve to cement bilateral defense ties. Defense cooperation between nations could strengthen bilateral ties. Both India and Bangladesh are essential to the region. Despite some bilateral issues, both countries are greatly interested in further solidifying their bilateral ties, which was made clear by this visit. This could assist in bolstering bilateral ties and reflecting better bilateral understanding. This visit is highly important for Bangladesh and India in the region. Bangladesh and the India must work together as reliable partners to address some shared issues. Through this visit, India and Bangladesh have further reinforced their defense ties.

India played a significant role in the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971, helping the then-East Pakistan transform into the new country of Bangladesh, which permanently altered the dynamics of South Asia. India and Bangladesh agreed to a “Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation” that would last for 25 years. Given the numerous cultural, diplomatic, economic, and security linkages that exist between India and Bangladesh today, the two nations’ bilateral ties are now stronger than ever. Bangladesh occupies a special place in India’s heart as a close neighbor and an essential part of the country’s “Neighborhood First Policy.”

Defense, security, and strategic connections between India and Bangladesh are expanding daily. Bangladesh is seen by India as an enduring strategic ally. In addition to giving 18 brand-new 120mm mortars to the Bangladesh Army in December 2020 as part of army-to-army cooperation, India has granted a $500 million line of credit to Bangladesh for defense procurement from India.

A 122-member group from Bangladesh’s tri-services also took part in the Republic Day parade in India in January 2021.

From March 8–10, two Indian naval ships—INS Kulish and INS Sumedha—visited Bangladesh’s Mongla Port, making it the first naval visit India had made in the previous 50 years. Bangladesh is still India’s “closest neighbor,” and relations with it are at a “golden age.” India wants to strengthen its relationship with Bangladesh just as the US wants to engage with it more strategically. Of sure, both nations would benefit from the situation.

In an effort to improve bilateral defense cooperation, Bangladesh’s new army chief Gen S M Shafiuddin Ahmed and India’s new army chief General Manoj Pande spoke via video chat earlier this month.

It is believed that the two army commanders also discussed how the geopolitical landscape was changing and how that would affect regional security.

In recent years, India and Bangladesh’s defense and security relations have improved. The 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Liberation was in 2021. Both India and Bangladesh have highly trained, experienced military, and they work together to keep the Eastern region peaceful.

Due to the close ties between the two countries, India is also hosting a number of events to commemorate the liberation of Bangladesh 50 years ago.

The Bangladeshi and Indian militaries are increasingly collaborating on defense. Through a variety of initiatives, such as joint training and drills and defense discussions, the two countries’ armed forces have been working together more and more.

Two defense agreements were signed between Bangladesh and India during Sheikh Hasina’s four-day trip to New Delhi in April 2017. These were the first such pacts inked by India and any of its neighbors. According to the accords, the troops of the two nations would engage in cooperative training and exercises.

In order to achieve self-sufficiency in defense manufacturing in Bangladesh, India will assist Bangladesh in setting up manufacturing and service facilities for the defense platforms that both nations currently possess. Additionally, India will offer the Bangladesh military specialized training as well as technical and logistical support. India also gave a neighboring nation, Bangladesh, its first ever line of credit for defense-related purchases, in the amount of $500 million.

Additionally, the forces of the two nations have taken on a significant role in conducting training programs for dealing with counterterrorism challenges, natural catastrophes, and ensuring humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR).

General M.M. Naravane, the current chief of staff of the Indian Army, visited General Aziz Ahmed, the chief of army staff of Bangladesh, in March 2019 while serving as GOC-in-C of the Eastern Army Command to discuss expanding intelligence sharing between the two nations and expanding other areas of defense cooperation. The visit most importantly took place at a time when Myanmar made the decision to take decisive action against insurgent groups that were active in foiling terrorist activities on both the sides of India and Myanmar. Discussions were also held about various ways to improve the conduct of military exercises at a more rapid and decisive scale.

Defence and security are significant elements of India and Bangladesh’s bilateral relations, and the armed forces of the two nations cooperate and coordinate with one another on numerous levels.

As some selected items are being prioritized, Bangladesh would soon import goods connected to defense from India under the US$ 500 million Line of Credit offered by New Delhi, according to Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on December 16.

On December 15, 2021, President Ram Nath Kovind met with the top officials of Bangladesh during his first state visit there at the invitation of his counterpart, M Abdul Hamid, to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina welcomed President Ram Nath Kovind, and the two leaders spoke about a range of topics of bilateral cooperation and shared interest. They talked about the development of their intricate and extensive bilateral relations.

The defense issue came up during President Kovind’s meetings with Bangladesh’s top officials.

India has added an additional $500 million to its line of credit for defense products. Under this line of credit, a number of items have been identified and are being accelerated quickly; their processing is at a fair degree of sophistication. (In accordance with news reports)

India presented Bangladesh with a $500 million line of credit in 2019 to help the neighboring nation purchase defense equipment.

The Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh and the Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) inked a contract on April 11 to allow the latter access to a US$ 500 million line of credit (LOC).

The Memorandum of Understanding aims to finance Bangladesh’s acquisition of defense equipment. In April 2017, India promised to provide Bangladesh with a US$ 500 million Line of Credit during Prime Minister Hasina’s visit to New Delhi.

Bangladesh has a “special place” in India’s “Neighborhood First” policy, according to President Ram Nath Kovind, who also told Bangladesh’s top leaders that the two countries’ relationship, which is based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and understanding, is mature enough to handle even the “most complex of problems.”

India and Bangladesh have been providing the most soldiers to United Nations peacekeeping missions in terms of bilateral military cooperation. The two Armies’ collaboration has grown in the field of counterterrorism.

India’s determination to combat terrorism in all its manifestations was echoed by Bangladesh’s resolute stance against terrorism. India is aware of Bangladesh’s efforts to prevent terrorist organizations from using space to conduct activities against India. In response, India should keep up its efforts to stop any terrorist group from using its territory to harm Bangladeshi interests.

India had encountered challenging circumstances in some of the States bordering Bangladesh, but since Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina’s government came to office in 2009, it has provided all assistance.

It made sure that no one could hurt a neighboring country by using Bangladeshi soil. Bangladesh has made a commitment to not support terrorism or radicalism in any form and to prevent these activities from taking place on its soil.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian President Ramnath Kovind, Indian Foreign Minister, Indian Home Minister, and Chief Ministers of surrounding states have frequently voiced their praise for Bangladesh’s zero-tolerance approach to combating terrorism.

As a result of the insurgency’s current low point in North-East India, Chief Minister of Assam Hemant Bishwa Sharma has thanked Bangladesh for its assistance and emphasized his wish to improve trade and connection between Bangladesh and North-East India.

To strengthen the defense and security facets of their alliance, Bangladesh and India can cooperate in the field of defense. The two nations should be dedicated to further developing the defense and security component of their partnership based on the needs expressed and each party’s ability to respond to them using different methods, including through capacity building and potential technology transfer. India can assist Bangladesh in achieving the goal of implementation of Bangladesh’s visionary military plan “Forces Goal 2030.”

Sri Lanka Political News

European ambassadors gave President GR an “ultimatum”, a “last chance” to condemn Russia,

but Sri Lanka had refused to condemn either side. A few days later the Aragalaya started.

When things had cooled down somewhat, Gota arranged to talk to Putin. Within 24 hours of talking to Putin, two Russian oil officials came to Colombo for discussions.

Julie Chung endorsed the JVP.

The Aragalaya stormed President’s House and Gota resigned.

Ravi Buddhavarapu Courtesy CNBC

KEY POINTS

• The IMF cannot… interact with the government when things are in a continuing crisis mode. So until the government stabilizes, until they have a minister of finance, there’s no one for the IMF to talk with,” professor Deborah Brautigam told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.
• The IMF will not lend into a situation where they deem their money will not be repaid,” she added.

Sri Lanka will need to emerge from its current state of chaos before the International Monetary Fund can step in with a bailout, according to a professor from Johns Hopkins University.

The IMF cannot… interact with the government when things are in a continuing crisis mode. So until the government stabilizes, until they have a minister of finance, there’s no one for the IMF to talk with,” Deborah Brautigam told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia” on Friday.

Sri Lanka has been wracked by months of protests and is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence.

Ordinary people are struggling to buy essentials such as food, medicine and fuel, setting off raging protests against the government’s mismanagement. Last week, ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned after protesters stormed his residence.

The country’s legislators have since elected Ranil Wickremesinghe, the country’s former prime minister, as president. The 73-year-old took over as prime minister in May when Rajapaksa’s elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned.

It is not yet clear if these changes in leadership will satisfy protesters.

The IMF cannot offer a program to Sri Lanka as long as the chaos in the country continues, says an expert. Raging protests have roiled the nation for months, with a file photo here capturing an anti-government demonstration outside the President’s office in Colombo earlier this month.

– | Afp | Getty Images

The IMF needs to be able to work with the Sri Lankan government to put together a program, said Brautigam, a professor of international political economy.

The IMF will not lend into a situation where they deem their money will not be repaid,” she added.

But uncertainty continued on Friday, with Wickremesinghe sending troops into a popular protest site, with soldiers destroying tents and makeshift camps a day after he was sworn in, Reuters reported.

The Johns Hopkins professor also said the IMF needs assurances from the government that it will get its fiscal house in order.”  She said the IMF would try to make sure that government revenues and their expenditures match up better.”

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VIDEO02:21

Sri Lanka’s new president is showing that he’s in ‘full control’: Opposition MP

And so if Sri Lanka cannot provide assurances, there will be nothing forthcoming from the IMF,” Brautigam said, adding that Sri Lanka would be unable to provide what is needed as long as the crisis is ongoing.” 

She said the IMF will also seek assurances from Sri Lanka’s creditors that they will provide whatever assistance is necessary to bring the country’s debt to a sustainable level.

The IMF cannot go ahead with a program for the country without those assurances, she added.

Courtesy Adaderana

Chinese President Xi Jinping says he is hopeful that Sri Lanka and China will carry forward the traditional friendship, consolidate political mutual trust and push forward the strategi cooperative partnership of sincere assistance and ever-lasting friendship.

He conveyed this in a letter to Sri Lanka’s new President Ranil Wickremesinghe to extend congratulations and best wishes on his new appointment.

In his letter, the Chinese President said he believes that under the leadership of his Sri Lankan counterpart, the island nation will be able to overcome temporary difficulties and advance the process of economic and social recovery.

I attach great importance to the development of China-Sri Lanka relations, and am willing to provide support and assistance to the best of my ability for you and the Sri Lankan people in your efforts.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The nine protesters, who were arrested this morning near the Galle Face protest site for allegedly causing damages to properties at the Presidential Secretariat premises, have been granted bail.

They were produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court earlier today.

The arrestees, including Attorney-at-Law Nuwan Bopage, were released on cash bails Rs. 10,000 each and personal bails of Rs. 500,000 each.

A tense situation was reported last night (July 21) as the armed forces stormed the protest site at the Galle Face Green to clear the Presidential Secretariat and its main entrance of demonstrators.

There were reports of civilians being assaulted by the troops as they removed the protesters from the area. Meanwhile, nine protesters were placed under arrest by the police.

Courtesy Adaderana

Ambassador of the United States to Sri Lanka Julie Chung says she called on President Ranil Wickremesinghe to express her grave concern over the unnecessary and deeply troubling” escalation of violence against protesters overnight.
 
Taking to her official Twitter handle, the US envoy noted that the President and the Cabinet of Ministers have an opportunity as well as an obligation to respond to the calls of Sri Lankans for a better future.

This is not the time to crack down on citizens,” she pointed out.

It is time to look ahead at the immediate and tangible steps the government can take to regain the trust of the people, restore stability, and rebuild the economy, the US envoy said further..

Courtesy Adaderana

The swearing-in of the new Cabinet of Ministers of the interim government under President Ranil Wickremesinghe took place at the Temple Trees.

The ceremony was held after MP Dinesh Gunawardena took oaths as the new Prime Minister this morning.

President Wickremesinghe has decided to continue the interim government with the cabinet ministers of his predecessor who stepped down last week. Accordingly, the ministers have been assigned the portfolios they were serving in prior to the resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

However, Ali Sabry, PC who was the Justice Minister and Finance Minister under Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration, has been given the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This ministerial portfolio was previously under the purview of Prof. G.L. Peiris.

The Cabinet of Ministers of the new interim government is as follows:

1. PM Dinesh Gunawardena – Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils & Local Government

2. Douglas Devananda – Minister of Fisheries

3. Susil Premajayantha – Minister of Education

4. Bandula Gunawardena – Minister of Transport, Highways & Media

5. Keheliya Rambukwella – Minister of Health & Water Supply

6. Mahinda Amaraweera – Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife & Forest Conservation

7. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe – Minister of Justice, Prisons & Constitutional Reforms

8. Harin Fernando – Minister of Tourism & Lands

9. Ramesh Pathirana – Minister of Industries & Plantation Industries

10. Prasanna Ranatunga – Minister of Urban Development & Housing

11. Ali Sabry, PC – Minister of Foreign Affairs

12. Vidura Wickramanayake – Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious & Cultural Affairs 

13. Kanchana Wijesekara – Minister of Power & Energy

14. Ahamed Nazeer – Minister of Environment

15. Roshan Ranasinghe – Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs & Irrigation

16. Manusha Nanayakkara – Minister of Labour & Foreign Employment

17. Tiran Alles – Minister of Public Security

18. Nalin Fernando – Minister of Trade, Commerce & Food Security

Courtesy Adaderana

Member of Parliament Dinesh Gunawardena has taken oaths as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

He took oaths before President Ranil Wickremesinghe this morning (July 22).

Gunawardena embarked on active politics in late 1970s and entered the parliament in 1983 representing the Maharagama electoral district.

He has held cabinet ministerial portfolios under various governments.

Gunawardena has also served as the chairperson of three Parliament Select Committees to identify electoral reforms and as the Leader of the House and the Chief Government Whip in the Sri Lankan parliament.

He was born in 1949 to leftist politician Philip Gunawardena who was fondly known as ‘the Lion of Boralugoda’ and Kusumasiri Gunawardena.

He has been leading the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna since 1973, following the demise of his father, the founder of the party.

Gunawardena, who is a schoolmate of President Wickremesinghe, was educated at Royal College in Colombo.

Upon completing his school education, Gunawardena joined the Netherlands School of Business, where he graduated with a diploma in business administration and management. He later enrolled at the University of Oregon to study international business.

By Raj Gonsalkorale

A chattering crow lives out nine generations of aged men,
but a stag’s life is four time a crow’s,
and a raven’s life makes three stags old,
while the phoenix outlives nine ravens,
but we, the rich-haired Nymphs
daughters of Zeus the aegis-holder,
outlive ten phoenixes.

The phoenix is an immortal bird associated with Greek mythology (with analogs in many cultures) that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again. Exterior to the Linear B mention above from Mycenaean Greece, the earliest clear mention of the phoenix in ancient Greek literature occurs in a fragment of the Precepts of Chiron, attributed to 6th century BC Greek poet Hesiod. In the fragment, the wise centaur Chiron tells a young hero Achilles the following, describing the phoenix’s lifetime as 972 times the length of a long-lived human’s – Wikipedia

Prime Minister on six occasions, dead as a Dodo after the last general election, losing his own seat, and the party he led, the once mighty United National Party not securing even a single seat in Parliament and polling less than 250,000 nationally, Ranil Wickremasinghe has outlasted and outwitted all by rising on the Pohottuwa bed of strange bed fellows to be voted in as the next President of the country. He has now taken his oaths.

By whatever stretch of imagination, and political maneuvering, this rise is remarkable. Hopefully, he will be the man for the season, to bring some relief for the millions of people who are on the brink of poverty and hunger, although opposition to his becoming the Prime Minister and now the President has increased. Protestors, perhaps some of them led by hijackers of the real and original Aragalaya movement, have vowed to continue their protests until the new president also resigns.

For the sake of the immediate need to address the critical economic debacle, the protest movement must consider a grace period for the new President and an emergency cabinet to deliver some relief measures results, while they, the protestors engage in island wide discussions on how the political system should change. The grace period could extend to say 12 months, and the holding of a general election based on a new system at that point. So far, it does not appear that the Aragalaya boundary extends beyond Colombo and Galle Face.

The immediate focus for everyone however should be the economy as it will not survive unless avenues for foreign income improves and increases. For this to happen, exports have to increase, foreign remittances need to increase and tourism has to pick up. It is unlikely any tourist will want to visit a country that only knows protests, queues, sporadic violence, and an ongoing political instability.  Foreign remittances, another key contributor to the economy needs to pick up but if anyone thinks that someone who has some foreign currency earnings is going to remit all of it to a country in a state of anarchy, such thinkers should get their heads examined.

It is a catch 22 situation as queues will not end unless there is diesel and petrol and gas, and foreign remittances starts flowing in. This will not happen unless there is foreign exchange to buy the fuel, and gas, and this will not happen unless the tourists and other means of earning foreign income are restored.

It reminds one of the Harry Belafonte and Odetta Holmes song there is a hole in the bucket dear Lisa, dear Lisa” based on a Nursery Rhyme. This song epitomizes the situation the country is facing now. For those who are not familiar with this song, with a simple example, it epitomises the need to attend to fundamentals that have an impact on desired outcomes.

Its not protestations but structured, disciplined political discussions and engaging the public in these discussions that must happen now, as a system change cannot happen unless those who vote in or vote out a system participates, contributes, and then takes ownership of an alternative system. Any action counter to this would make the dysfunctional system even more dysfunctional.

President Wickremasinghe has indicated that he is out to change the political system of the country himself. He will have to articulate exactly what he means by this and the sooner he does it, the better for him and the country. He says rightly that the constitution process, which is the law of the land, has been followed and his Presidency is consequently legitimate.

However, for many Sri Lankans, the crux of the problem lies in the Constitution itself as they feel that the leaders and the lawmakers it has produced are the cause of the debacle faced by the country now. Corruption, unethical behaviour and immorality has come to define the inmates of this august building on the Diyawannawa lake and that is what the protestors have protested about. The credibility and the morality of leadership was amply demonstrated when a former President stated that his party fielded a candidate, and he lost although we voted for him”. Given the result of the election and the numbers who voted in favour of the Acting President, this outlandish statement will strengthen the resolve of those who wish to change the system.

The constitution making process in Sri Lanka has had one common thread. That is the lack of consultations with the public. If this is to be repeated now, it is certain that the much-reviled system will not be changed. All countries have constitutions. However, unless they meet the aspirations of the people, and what they have delivered as outcomes to the people of the country do not meet their expectations, it can be said they are not worth the paper they are written on. The system therefore has to be changed so that it can produce leaders and lawmakers who are credible, ethical, moral, honest and who will serve the aspirations of the people. Of course, if the people who elect leaders do not have these characteristics, the system, any system, will produce leaders and lawmakers of the ilk found in the Parliament.

President Wickremasinghe faces challenges he has never faced before. Amongst them, a Presidency that has no popular backing, a doddering economy, a populace suffering with no hope, a perception that he is a lackey of the Rajapaksa regime, and to date, no firm commitment from any country to provide urgent economic relief, except from India, and the disturbing belief amongst many that an external power is behind the fate that has befallen Sri Lanka.

Securing financial assistance as grants, loans and/or credit lines for fuel, gas, drugs and medical supplies, amongst other essentials, should be the Presidents immediate priority. Reviving the export economy, tourism and incentivising the flow of foreign remittances should run parallel to this. In order to win the confidence of the people, besides doing the above, he should introduce additional legislation to strengthen measures to make the President and Parliamentarians more accountable to the people by making it the law of the land that the President and every parliamentarian should (a) declare their assets and liabilities publicly on an annual basis (b) subject them to submission of their tax returns to the tax office and compel audited tax returns to be made public, and (c) introduce penalties including loss of civic rights, confiscation of assets, high fines and jail sentences if it is found conclusively through a national or international enquiry that the President or Parliamentarians have acquired undeclared wealth in the name of third parties.

If President Wickremasinghe does not demonstrate he has succeeded in winning the confidence of the people by doing all of the above as a minimum, his tenure will be short lived.

Shenali D Waduge

The term democracy” has become a tool used to undermine democracy in the name of democracy by interfering into the internal affairs of countries & causing mayhem. What the CIA did back in the 1970s has now been outsourced to an entity called NED – National Endowment for Democracy. Entire vocabulary of democracy” rule of law” freedoms & rights” peace” reconciliation” are encrypted to mean the opposite of what they profess to promote. NED founder Alan Weinstein called it the second CIA” in 1991.

The NED was designed to enable bogus democracy promoting bandwagon” to get closer to the People with initiatives that were tasked to private parties on NED’s behalf. The modus operandi was to hire private entities to do the dirty work of NED’s goals. These private entities became NGOs and Civil Society groups & their heads.

US Govt gives NED funds, NED in turn creates a program, outsources it to a NGO who are tasked to carry it out under supervision of NED or reporting to NED. These NGOs are the vassals for the bogus democratic values” spread among citizens to advance US strategic interests. This is why countries need to have a mechanism to keep an eye on the programs launched by NGOs/Civil Society as funding is sent for them to brainwash” citizens under cover of a program that looks quite innocent” on the exterior. Within the program the goal or outcome is different. 

National Endowment for Democracy (NED) comprises 4 key subsidies 

1. National Democratic Institute
2. International Republican Institute (supports local political groups)
3. American Centre for International Labor Solidarity (supports trade unions & labor movements)
4. Centre for International Private Enterprise (supports private enterprises)

Thus NED entraps the politicians-the trade unions & private organizations to facilitate riots, coloured revolutions, political crisis, to spread lies & rumors & infiltrate into local administrative systems. In Sri Lanka, we can notice that their tentacles have gone further to tap the Public Sector and top administrative posts.

NED disintegrated the Soviet Union, NED was responsible for the Rose Revolution in Georgia, NED instigated the Velvet Revolution in Serbia, NED led the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, NED was responsible for the Arab Spring across the Middle East, NED was responsible for Pakistan and there is no reason not to believe NED did not have its hands in what took place in Sri Lanka. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysy6qrXi0m0 US fingerprint behind Sri Lanka’s unrest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNZZmErTqbw Why the US National Endowment for Democracy Has Nothing to do with Democracy”

What is the National Endowment for Democracy & Why it’s Wrong to Take their Money

Inside America’s Meddling Machine: NED, the US-Funded Org Interfering in Elections Across the Globe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAmcdfjk0mo NED Partners from Ukraine Discuss How Civil Society Responds to the Current Crisis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJHngOuthzs Thai Opposition Leader Paid Lobbyists to Arrange Meeting with USAID, NED

https://www.ned.org/region/asia/sri-lanka-2021/ NED funding to Sri Lanka in 2021 is clearly given in its own website.

A series of twitter posts further showed NED/USAID involvement in Sri Lanka.

USAID is banned by several countries for its subversive activities.

It has been seen playing a role in the aragalaya in Sri Lanka too

How USAID is funding and training an online media empire in Sri Lanka. Thread 🧵

1. Roar Media is an online media organization in Sri Lanka with 1.2M visitors to their website and 10.9M social reach

2. According to Roar, some of their investors are IREX and Google news pic.twitter.com/cnOhwe23bQ

— BattlementLK 🇱🇰 (@BattlementLK) July 18, 2022

NED funded Law & Society Trust for land rights (note recent Land Privatization bill attempting to privatize all state land)

LST was formed by late Neelan Tiruchelvan had on its board of Directors – Chairman Chandra Jayaratne (supporter of yahapalana government) Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, G Alagaratnam (BASL President in 2015),

https://lstlanka.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Annual-Report-2018-V2.20-for-website.pdf

Transparency International – Sri Lanka 

Its top donors are USAID, NED, Open Society

NED-Affiliate – National Democratic Institute – Sri Lanka

https://www.ndi.org/asia/sri-lanka

NDI in Sri Lanka is linked with civil society groups & was involved in the 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2019 elections. NDI and IRI did a joint survey ahead of Nov 2019 Presidential Election

https://www.ndi.org/publications/statement-joint-iri-and-ndi-pre-election-assessment-mission-sri-lankas-2019

https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/STATEMENT%20OF%20JOINT%20IRI%20AND%20NDI%20PRE-ELECTION%20ASSESSMENT%20MISSION%20%20TO%20SRI%20LANKA’S%202019%20PRESIDENTIAL%20ELECTION.pdf

NDI is funded by NED, USAID, US State Dept, Consortium for Elections & Political Process Strengthening,

NDI also received contributions from Govt of Australia, Govt of Denmark, Govt of Belgium and Open Society Foundation of George Soros. Yasmin Sooka’s report against Sri Lanka was funded by George Soros Open Society Foundation. The Google balloon over Sri Lanka Google Loon Project” is also a George Soros project. In 2016 it was announced that George Soros was to fund a 3 year economic plan for Sri Lanka. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160110/business-times/soros-to-boost-sri-lankan-economy-stiglitz-to-provide-sound-advice-177966.htm

NDI also funds Centre for Policy Alternatives

In 2015 Sri Lanka became the 1^st South Asian country to be a member of the Open Government Partnership of NDI to which Sri Lanka pledge 15 commitments.

https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/sri-lanka-hybrid-report-2019-2021/ Sachini de Fonseka has been selected as OGP Researcher

Thusitha Pilapitiya is the Country Director of NDI Sri Lanka

OGP aspires to create a multi-party Open Parliament Caucus & Open Parliament Plan combining civil society. In short, the aim is to create a Parliament that includes civil society without them standing for election.

NDI partners with SARVODAYA https://www.ndi.org/our-stories/sri-lanka-sarvodaya-developing-next-generation-youth-leaders

Sarvodaya’s Vinya Ariyaratne in 2018 formed the National People’s Movement  combining its Deshodaya with United Professionals Movement & 17 civil society groups using slogans like Together We Can” Save-Serve-Sri Lanka” to bring a new face to Sri Lankan politics. Nagahananda Kodituwakku of Vinivida Foundation is also a partner of NPM.

Sarvodaya Deshodaya Next Generation” youth development training program

Waruna Padmasiri, Project Manager

NED-Affiliate – Solidarity Centre – Sri Lanka

How USAID is funding and training an online media empire in Sri Lanka. Thread 🧵

1. Roar Media is an online media organization in Sri Lanka with 1.2M visitors to their website and 10.9M social reach

2. According to Roar, some of their investors are IREX and Google news pic.twitter.com/cnOhwe23bQ

— BattlementLK 🇱🇰 (@BattlementLK) July 18, 2022

NED-Affiliate – Centre for International Private Enterprise – Sri Lanka

How USAID is funding and training an online media empire in Sri Lanka. Thread 🧵

1. Roar Media is an online media organization in Sri Lanka with 1.2M visitors to their website and 10.9M social reach

2. According to Roar, some of their investors are IREX and Google news pic.twitter.com/cnOhwe23bQ

— BattlementLK 🇱🇰 (@BattlementLK) July 18, 2022

CIPE partners with Verite Research in Sri Lanka

Nishan de Mel – Executive Director who is also on Board of ADVOCATA 

How USAID is funding and training an online media empire in Sri Lanka. Thread 🧵

1. Roar Media is an online media organization in Sri Lanka with 1.2M visitors to their website and 10.9M social reach

2. According to Roar, some of their investors are IREX and Google news pic.twitter.com/cnOhwe23bQ

— BattlementLK 🇱🇰 (@BattlementLK) July 18, 2022

How USAID is funding and training an online media empire in Sri Lanka. Thread 🧵

1. Roar Media is an online media organization in Sri Lanka with 1.2M visitors to their website and 10.9M social reach

2. According to Roar, some of their investors are IREX and Google news pic.twitter.com/cnOhwe23bQ

— BattlementLK 🇱🇰 (@BattlementLK) July 18, 2022

We are living in a cuckoo land if we think these same tactics and manipulations are not being applied in Sri Lanka, tapping Sri Lankans and working with NGOs, Civil Society, legal fraternity, media, youth leaders, human rights activists. The manner they quote terms and phrases in vogue among these democracy” promoters is a giveaway & showcases the training given to them.

The question we all hate to ask is – who are these people on NED payroll, or who are being manipulated as a result of NED-funding to outsourced local entities?

What is certain is that we need to find who are working against the state – be they in the government, in opposition, among universities, among professional organizations, among youth, among media, among public service, among legal fraternity, among judiciary and especially among NGOs and Civil Society.

In looking at the areas that NED targets it is easy to decipher their favored hot spots – elections / opposition parties / youth movements / leadership programs / women / the poor local communities. These are all nerve centres that they can work with against a government pressing the buttons when necessary while building their psyche via programs rolled out through NGOs and grassroot civil society. They have infiltrated into every sphere possible.

The governmental apparatus does not realize the extent of their outreach and people are oblivious to how much they are unknowingly being manipulated via programs on the one hand and via social media platforms as well.

With time people will understand the dangers but it shouldn’t be too late.

Shenali D Waduge

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Although Sri Lanka is a small country with a limited land area and resources it needs radical reforms to achieve stability and expected development. It is needed to understand that stability in this dynamic world is like a dream. The country has a long history of seditions (Aragala) and the result of conflicts created instability and frustration for many citizens with qualifications, skills and experience, many have left the country and many are in the country without opportunities to overseas.

In Sri Lanka, there is a religious madness that is related to all religions in the country.  Religions should not associate with active politics and seditions. Religious clergy should not go to parliament and need to understand the role they should be performed with laities.  

When looking at the country from the outside seems that it needs massive reforms relating to the Economy, Politics, Socialization and Structure, Culture, International Relations and many other areas. It is possible to write a big book on these points. Since its independence from British rule, Sri Lanka lacked a vision and people in power have promoted corrupt practices (rooted in certain families) than working for creating a just society that allows self-development with value practising. Citizens have no understanding of values. On many occasions, I published articles, that schools in Sri Lanka should educate values than Sara dharma” which is concerned with attracting worship to religious and other leaders and the application of Sara dharma concerns a limited area of human needs.  Values are broader aspects of behaviour and controls (Please read my articles www.lankaweb.com file Edward Theophilus) and they can apply to any society without differences in religions, social, and cultural backgrounds.

Religions in Sri Lanka do not play a required role and many times seem that worked against the objectives of religions and supported making a self-centred society. Therefore, religions have pressed to make a disdained society than being accepted by the public to reform the country. In this situation, religions have been attempting to promote self-centred attitudes against religious values. 

The mentality of people seems quite negative, they are promoting a selfish society and they are ready to betray values if activities don’t generate personal advantages. The current seditions of the country are viewed by many from a selfish point of view and it is not the right way of analysis. I watched on social media that Christian clergy (priests and nuns) participated without knowing the role educated by Jesus Christ.  If Sri Lanka’s population has a good understanding of values this type of violence would have not been incurred in the weak economic background. The major economic problem is the size of the economy is not sufficient to maintain the population, which is higher than the forecasted level in population plans.

Many analysts believe that leaders of the current seditions on all sides have gained hidden advantages, the investigation by police has revealed that leaders of sedition have gained millions. People have no ideas about these secret gains, and they might reveal financial and non-financial gains secretly obtained in the future. Formal leaders (Political and administrative) and leaders of the seditions worked more than they were supposed to do and few analysts believe that undisclosed gains were received by leaders more than they have in their pockets and later, all information would reveal. 

Strugglers were abandoned by motivators as they cannot spend so much money as bribery to leaders of the sedition and provide food and drinks for them. Many analysts have a feeling that the struggle was an outcome of bribes given to leaders by unknown sources. They were motivated by certain people who were using the suffering of the poor. The role of social media was negative and promoted indirect violence such as firing on houses.  

The people of Sri Lanka have a dirty heritage that is based on destruction despite religious values. Since the 1971 crisis, I observed that many people affiliate with the struggle without knowing the true leaders of the struggle and their intention. The leaders of seditions have not openly expressed how they will solve problems after taking over the administration. I saw a Buddhist monk who was associated with sedition, he was in the 1971 uprising, but he was rejected by JVP as a traitor. In current Sri Lanka, people cannot see a single ancient building in an original format, one reason that could assume buildings were destroyed by people in fights or destroyed by dishonest motives looking for valuables.  In the story of Ramayana, setting fire to properties was a way of expressing anger and taking revenge. That was the ancient culture. Now there are political Hanumans using fire for personal advantages. If Sri Lankan knew the danger of annihilation, they should have stopped Hanuma and not gone behind Hanuma in the Ramayana.

The fire-based destruction was experienced on many occasions after independence too. People who respect values do not engage in destruction whether those properties belonged to self or others. It is the best example that religions are not working in Sri Lanka’s society and religions have become a way of a showoff. Regions are not educating people to secure them when the wrong thing is going on in society.

The first step of the country at present should be to provide basic needs for people to survive and while this process is going on many policies and procedures need to develop for the future. Religions must get away from this process and they should work to achieve the ultimate reality after the death of the human. There shouldn’t be a conflict between religious motives and the government’s role. 

People must be educated on new policies and procedures, and active policies must be to discipline people because the nature in Sri Lanka was to get around when an incident happened and then steal the valuables in the place. As I observed many people have achieved enrichment by way of gambling and they used that money to acquire properties and maintain comfort life with political power. The government and opposition knew this situation, but not acted to change this uncivilized culture.  Although it is called an island of religions, it is not true, it has been promoting corruption everywhere and after the civil war in 2009, the corrupt practices have gone to the highest level and the war also used to make money through war-related materials by politicians and associates despite the role of making controls. The civil war was a way of undue enrichment.  

After independence in 1948, I observed more than ten instances of setting fire to common properties. I have never seen or heard any religious leader who was educating people that setting fire to express anger is a sin that put them into hell after death and that communicating with each other is the way of settling problems or grudges.    It is difficult to observe in many primitive societies anger expression using fire. Fuel shortage during the past several months was a blessing and if fuel was available the result would have been converting the country to ash.   

The nature of the society of Sri Lanka is not listening to people without power, which means political, social, religious, caste and many other groups have a feeling that supporting a leader he or she must be an acceptable person if he /she has no power with money the recognition of the society is quite remote. Various criteria are used by different groups of people to recognize a person when there are people with the ability to communicate in English. The knowledge of English used as the criterion to accept a person’s adeptness might be regarded as some form of stupidity. English is a colonial heritage and a language that is used by many leaders but in history, limited people had English knowledge but it was not caused to end of the world.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් 

විපක්ෂයේ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ දෙකක් ගත් අමනෝඥම තීරණය සජබ හා ‘කහ පක්ෂය’ ජනපති තරඟයට එක්ව තරඟ කිරීම ලෙස ඉතිහාසගත වනු ඇත. ප්‍රතිපත්ති – වැඩපිළිවෙලක් – අරමුණක් – සැලසුමක් නැති බෝඩ් ලෑල්ලට සජබ මන්ත්‍රී රැසක් ඡන්දය දී නැත.   

සජිත් ඉවත් වූ පමණින් ඩලස් දිනන්නේ නැති බව සරළවම විග්‍රහ කළෙමි.  අවසනාවකට පුද්ගලික න්‍යාය පත්‍රයකත්, අවස්ථාවාදී බල දේශපාලනයකත් සිටි සජබ – කහ පක්ෂයටත් එය තේරුණේ නැත.

ඩලස් ට දැවැන්ත පරාජයක් ලැබුණේ ඇයි? උත්තරය සරළය.

ජනපති තරඟය ඇරඹෙන විට විපක්ෂයට 62 ක්, රනිල්ට 90 ක්, ඩලස් ට 69 ක් තිබූණි.  අවසන් ප්‍රතිඑලය ඡන්ද 82 කි. රෝහිණී කවිරත්න ගත් ඡන්ද 78 ට වඩා වැඩි වූවේ 4 කි. ඩලස් ගේ පක්ෂය අලුනේ ගෙනාවේ ඡන්ද 4 ද? නැත.

විපක්ෂයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු සංයුතියෙන් 1/3 ක් මුස්ලිම්, මලය තමිල් හා උතුරු නැගෙනහිර ද්‍රවිඩ නියෝජිතයින්ය.  විමල්-ගම්මන්පිල-රතන-චන්න ජයසුමන ප්‍රමුඛ ඩලස් කණ්ඩායම මේ කණ්ඩායමට බිය ඇති කළේය.  පැලෝපීය නාල මිරිකීම, රිෂාඩ් – අසාත් සාලි හිරේ දැමීම, මුස්ලිම් ඇමතිවරු සියල්ලට තනතුරු අහිමි කිරීම, බලය බෙදීමට එරෙහිවීම එයට හේතුවයි.  පූර්වකථනය කළ පරිදිම ඩලස්ට මේ ඡන්ද 19 න්, ලැබුණේ ඡන්ද 4 කි. අනෙක් අතට, පොහොර-කෘෂිරසායන තහනමේ නිර්මාතෘවරුන් ගෝඨාභය රජයේ ආරම්භයයි.  පාර්ලිමේන්තුවම එයට බියවීම පුදුමයක් නොවේ.      

තරඟය චීන පිළ හා ඉන්දීය පිළ අතර විය.  ඉන්දියන් බලපෑම සහිත ඡන්ද ඩලස්ට ලැබුණේම නැත. එය කළමනාකරණයට සජිත්ට හැකියාවක් තිබුණේම නැත. සජබ නියෝජිතයා සිදුවන්නේ කුමක්දැයි දැන සිටියේ ද නැත!

සජිත්ට වඩා රනිල්ට සමීප 6 – 7 සජබ මන්ත්‍රී කණ්ඩායමේ වේ.  එය දෙගුණයකින් වැඩි වූවේ ජූලි 19 සජබ මන්ත්‍රී කණ්ඩායම් රැස්වීමේ දී සජිත් විධායක බලැති අගමැති තනතුරට ආරූඩ වූ නිසා ය.  ‘පූර්ණ විධායක ජනපති රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස දෝෂාභියෝගයට පෙර සිංහාසනයේ වාඩි වුණා වගේ’ සහභාගිවූවෝ කියති! ඇත්තක් දැයි නොදනිමි.  

මොකද වුනේ?

‘කහ පක්ෂය’ නිත්‍ය සමාජිකයින් 44 ක පක්ෂයකි.  රාජපක්ෂවරුන්ගේ උදහසට ලක් වූ ඉන් 40 ක්ම ඩලස් සමඟ සිටියේය.  පක්ෂ 7  නායකයින් ද, එලෙසමය. සාමාජිකයින් ගැන දන්නේ ඔවුන්ම පමණී.  සජබ ඡන්ද ඩලස් ට නොලැබුණු බව නම් පැහැදිලිය.

සැඟවුණු අමුත්තා

ඡන්දයට පෙර ඩලස් හා සජබ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් මුහුණට මුහුණ හමුවූයේ නැත. ජනපති අපේක්ෂක සැඟවුණු අමුත්තෙක් විය. ඩලස් වෙනුවෙන් සියල්ල කළේ ඩිලාන් සහ නාලක ගොඩහේවා ය. ඩිලාන් ගේ දේශපාලන වෘත්තීය භාවයට පළපුරුද්දට සමඟ හැරෙන්නටවත් ගොඩහේවාගේ 130 යේ දත්ත පූර්වකථනයට හැකි වූවේ නැත. සජබ මන්ත්‍රීවරු පක්ෂ නායකයින් හත් දෙනා සමඟ එකම අවස්ථාවක හෝ හමුවූයේ නැත. සජබ මැදිහත්කරු ලක්ෂමන් ෆොන්සේකා විය.

තරඟය ඇරඹෙන විට, සජබ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් බහුතරයට ‘කහ කණ්ඩායම’ නයාට අඳුකොළ විය.  රූපවාහිනී – පාර්ලිමේන්තු විවාදවල ඉදිරිපෙළ හැප්පුනේ මේ කණ්ඩායම් දෙක ය.  නායකයින් තබා දෙවියන් බුදුන් කිව්වත් නොමැකෙන විරසකයක් ක්‍රියාකාරීන් අතර විය.  මුජිබර්, මරික්කාර්, හලීම්, කබීර් ට ‘ඩලස්-විමල්-උදය-රතන-ජයසුමන-ගොඩහේවා සමඟ එක කඳවුරක සිට පාක්ෂිකයාගේ මුහුණ බලන්නේ කෙසේ දැයි නොසිතුනා නම් පුදුමය.

රනිල් – බැසිල් මෙහෙයුම

වත්මන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ පක්ෂ/කණ්ඩායම් 18 ක සංකලනයකි. එයින් පක්ෂ 14 ක ඡන්ද එක් කර ගැනීමට රනිල්/බැසිල් ට හැකි විය. දින 5 ක තනි තනි මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ඉලක්ක කළ මෙහෙයුමක් එහි ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.  බැසිල්, හරීන්, වජිර, අකිල, සාගල, මනූෂ බැසිල් එහි මෙහෙයුම්කරුවෝ වූහ. 

ඡන්දය දුන් සියළු දෙනා ආණ්ඩුවට එක්වන්නේ නම්, පක්ෂ 14 ක ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ දැවැන්තම සභාග ආණ්ඩුව නැතිනම්, ජාතික ආණ්ඩුව හෙට බිහිවන්නේය.   

විපක්ෂය කාටද?

ඩලස් ගේ ‘කහ පක්ෂය’ ජනාධිපති පුටුව හෝ ‘ප්‍රධාන විපක්ෂය’ වීම ඉලක්කය විය. දැන් සජබ 29 ක් හෝ 30 කි. ඩලස්ට 44 හෝ 40 කි.  කථිකයින් වැඩි, පක්ෂ නායකයින් වැඩි ‘කහ පක්ෂය’, වාසුදේව හරහා ඊයේ සවසම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විපක්ෂ නායක පුටුවට තම අයිතිය ඉල්ලා ඇත.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නිල විපක්ෂය කවුදැයි තීරණය කරනුයේ කථානායකවරයා ය.  අතීත භාවිතය අනුව නම්, සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස දිගටම තනතුර දරනු ඇත.

සජිත් – ඩලස් ට මේ තරඟයේ අතහැරුණු අවස්ථා හතරකි.  1. උතුරේ නැගෙනහිර මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු තනතුරු දෙකෙන් එකකට පත් කිරීම 2. බාහිර පුද්ගලයෙකු පත් කිරීම (සාලිය පීරිස් යෝජනාව වැනි) 3. කාන්තාවක් පත් කිරීම (නි.කතානායක ආදර්ශය) 4.මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන යෝජනාව.  අනුර කුමාර සිය කතාවේ එය විශිෂ්ඨ ලෙස පැහැදිලි කළේය.   

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී යාන්ත්‍රණයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු පත් කර ගත් පළමු අවස්ථාව මෙයයි. මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 225 ක ඡන්දයක් දවස් තුනකින් කළමනාකරණය කළ හැකි බව මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන පක්ෂ රැස්වීමේ දී කිවේය. ඒ ඔහුගේ අත්දැකීමයි. මෛත්‍රී ගේ යෝජනාව ඉදිරියට ගෙනියන්නට සජබට අවශ්‍ය නොවීය. රනිල් ගේ පැත්තෙන්, හරීන්, බැසිල්, වජිර ක්‍රියාවට නැංවූවේ තනි තනි පුද්ගලයාය.

සජබ ප්‍රධාන සාකච්ඡාකරුවා වූයේ දේශපාලනඥයෙකු නොවන ව්‍යාපාරික ලක්ෂ්මන් ෆොන්සේකා ය. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් බහු පක්ෂ සමඟ ගැඹුරු සහෘද බැඳීම් නොමැති නාලක ගොඩහේවා ය. ඡන්ද 225 ක මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරයක් මෙහෙයවිය නොහැකි නම්, රටක ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරයක් මෙහෙයවන්නේ කෙසේ දැයි සජබ ප්‍රමුඛ පක්ෂ දැන්වත් සිතා බැලිය යුතුය. 2024  පරිනත දේශපාලන දෘෂ්ඨියක් හා කළමනාකරණ ශක්තියක් අවශ්‍යමය.

ඊලඟට?

රාජ්‍ය බලය ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා විපක්ෂයට තිබූ සුවිශේෂතම අවස්ථා හතරක් පසුගිය දින 100 තුල අහිමි කර ගෙන ඇත. අභියෝග බාර ගැනීමට ඇති කුසීත බව, වැරදි උපක්‍රම, දේශපාලන අවස්ථාවන් ග්‍රහණය නොකිරීම එයට හේතු වී ඇත. ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවක් හදන්නට පස්වන අවස්ථාව සජිත් ට අද දිනය තුල ලැබෙනු ඇත.  සජබයෙන් අගමැති පත් කර ගැනීම රනිල් ගේ අරමුණ වනු ඇත.

රනිල් ට ඡන්දය දුන්නත් නැතත් සජබ මුල් පෙළ 10 කට රනිල් ගේ ඇරයුම් ලැබෙනු ඇත. ජේ.ආර්. ජයවර්ධන චරිතාපදානයේ මහාචාර්ය සිල්වා 1977 ජූලි 21 දින ගැන කදිම සටහනක් තබයි. 1952 සභානායක පුටුවේ සිට අගමැති පුටුවට යන්නට ජේ.ආර්. ට වසර 25 ගත වී ඇත.  හරියටම වසර 45 කට පසුව, අද ඒ දිනය නැවත එලෙසම උදා වී ඇත. මගහැරුණු අවස්ථා ඉතිහාසයේ පිරී ඇත.  අල්ලා ගත් අවස්ථා ලෝකය වෙනස් කරනු ඇත්තේය.

නායකයින් කියන පළියට ජනතාව තබා මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්වත් ඡන්දය දෙන්නේ නැත. දේශපාලන සන්නිවේදන — රජුන් තැනීම විද්‍යාවකි. කලාවකි. පරාජය 2024 ට හොඳ පාඩමකි.  

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් 

Malinda Seneviratne

ජනතා අරගලයක් අලුතින් ජනසතු කරන්න ඕනේ නෑ.  තිබ්බේ අරගලයක් නෙවෙයි, අරගලයන්. බහුවචනයෙන් තමයි කතා කරන්න වෙන්නේ. එක් එක් අරගල වල එක එක ජන කොටස්. සමපාත වුන තැනුත් තිබුනා. නොවුන තැනුත් තිබුනා. වඩා නිවැරදිව කිව්වොත් කවුරු කවුරුත් ‘අරගලයක්’ තුල හිටියා, ඉන්නවා සහ තමන් තේරුම් ගත්ත කුමන හෝ අරගලයක් සමග අනන්‍ය වුනා, අනන්‍ය වෙලා ඉන්නවා. ‘ජනතාකරණය’ කියන්නේ වෙනම දෙයක්. පුද්ගලීකරණය වෙනුවට රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස භාවිතා කරපු සුරතල් ආදේශයක්.
 
ජනතාව. ජනතා අයිතිය. ජනසතු වීම. ජනතා හඬ සහ ජනහඬ නියෝජනය කිරීම. ඊනියා ජනතා නියෝජිතයින්ට ජනතාව නියෝජනය කිරීමේ වරම් ලබා ගැනීම හෝ ලබාදීම ට අදාළ ක්‍රමවේදය. මේ සියලු දේවල් ආදරයේ අරගලයට අදාළ වෙනවා. අරගලය කාගේද? අරගලයට අයිතිකරුවන් ඉන්නවනම් ඒ අයිතිය ලැබුනේ කොහොමද, අයිතිය පැවරුවේ කවුද සහ කොහොමද? හැම ප්‍රශ්නෙටම ‘ඇයි බං මහජනතාවනේ!’ වගේ උත්තර හරියන්නේ නෑ.  

සිදුවුනේ මොකද්ද, සිදු වෙමින් පවතින්නේ මොනවද, ඉදිරියේ සිදු විය හැකි දේවල් මොනවාද විමසන කොට අරගලයේ ජනසතු-අගය වගේමා ජනතාකරණ අනතුර ගැනද කතා කරන්න සිද්ද වෙනවා.
 
සංවිධාන ව්‍යුහයක් නැති, පුළුල් දේශපාලන වැඩසටහනක් නැති ජනතා නැගිටීම් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම අනන්‍යතාවය වගේම නියෝජන වලංගුභාවය පිලිබඳ අර්බුදයන් වෙත ගමන් කරනවා.  අරගලය අයිති කාටද? අරගලයට අයිති කවුද? අයිතිකාරයින් ඉන්නවානම් එයාලට අයිතිය පැවරුවේ කවුද, කොහොමද? සංවිධාන ව්‍යුහයක් නැති, පුළුල් දේශපාලන වැඩසටහනක් නැති ජනතා නැගිටීම් සාමාන්‍යයෙන් දේශපාලන අරමුණු ඇති, සංවිධාන ශක්තියක් ඇති පාර්ශවයන් තමන්ගේ අණසකට නතු කරගන්නවා. එහෙම නැත්තම් අරගල වල දේශපාලන වාසිය තමන් වෙතට හරවගන්න වැඩි හැකියාවක් ඇත්තේ දේශපාල අරමුණු ඇති, සංවිධාන ශක්තියක් ඇති කණ්ඩායම් වලටයි.

ආදරයේ අරගලය ඉවර වුනාද, ඉවර නැත්තම් අරගලයේ හෙට දවස කෙබඳුද යනාදී ප්‍රශ්න පැත්තකට දාමු මොහොතකට.  හෙට මොනවා වෙයි ද කියල කියන්න බෑ. අද අරගලයේ වාසි නෙලාගන්නේ විපක්ෂයේ දේශපාලන චරිත සහ පක්ෂ. අද ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන කතා නැත. අද #අරගලයgohome ට්‍රෙන්ඩ් කරන්න දඟලන අරගලකරුවන් මතු වෙමින් පවතිනවා. එයාල විශ්‍රාමික අරගලකරුවන්ද නැත්තම් ෆේක් අරගලකරුවන්ද නැත්තම් සැබෑ අරගලකරුවන් ගොනාට අන්දපු තක්කඩිද කියල ඉදිරියට තීන්දු කරන්න පුළුවන් වෙයි.

නමුත් අරගල වලට එකතු වෙන හැමෝම අවසානයන් ගැන මොනතරම් කතා කළත් අවසානය මොනවගේද, එය වෙත යන්නේ කොහොමද යනාදිය ගැන දන්නේ නෑ. දැන ගන්න විදිහකුත් නෑ. එයින් අරගල අර්ථ විරහිත වෙන්නේ නෑ. අරගල වල ස්වභාවය එයයි. අරගල විකාශනය වන ආකාරය, වේගය සහ දිශාව කලින්ම තීන්දු කරන්න බෑ. දිගහැරෙන ආකාරය, වේගය, දිශාව තීන්දු වෙන්නේ අරගලයේ ගතිකත්වයෙන්. මොන විදිහට දිග හැරුණත් අවසානයේ අරගලයේ අයිතිකරුවන් කවුද කියන ප්‍රශ්නය ඉතුරු වෙනවා.         

ජයග්‍රහණයකට පියවරු මවුවරු දහස් ගණනක්, පරාජය අවජාතකයි. සදාතනික සත්‍යයයක් කියන්න පුළුවන්. ඒත් ඉතින් ජයග්‍රහණය සහ පරාජය අර්ථකථනය කරගන්න විදිහ අනුව තමයි පීතෘත්වය, මාතෘත්වය සහ අවජාතකකම් මනින්න වෙන්නේ. අරගලය ඉදිරියට යද්දී කොඩි වැනුනා, ජය ගී ගැයුනා. අරගලය බ්රේක් වෙද්දී, අරගලයේ කොඩි කොහේ හරි හිටපු අය අතට ගත්තට පස්සේ, තනු වෙනස් වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා. කොඩි හැකිලුනා. මේ සියලු දේ සිද්ද වෙද්දී, අරාජිකත්වයම ඉල්ලපු, අරාජිකත්වයටම අත වනපු, හිංසනය විහින්සනය දක්වා දක්කපු ඇතැම් අයට අරගලය දැන් තිත්ත වෙලා වගෙයි. තිත්ත වෙලාම නෙවෙයි. සටන් පාඨ වෙනස් වෙලා. ගෝටාගෝහෝම් කතා දැන් වැඩක් නැහැ. මයිනාගෝහෝම් කතා ඉවරයි. සිස්ටම්-චේන්ජ් හාන්සි වෙලා.

දැන් ඇහෙන්නේ වෙන කතා. දැන් ඇති. අපි ඕවට නෑ. අරගලයගෝහෝම්. අපට අවශ්‍ය වුනේ මේ වගේ අරගලයක් නෙවෙයි. අපි එකතු වුන අරගලය නෙවෙයි මේක. ඇහෙන්නේ ඒ වගේ කතා. මරපිය, මැරියන්, ගිනි තියපන්, හොඳ වැඩේ ඕකුන්ට, අන්න අරූ අතන, අන්න අරූ left, අනන් අරුත් left, වගේ දේවල් සමාජ මාධ්‍යයේ පොස්ට් කරපු අය නැත්තම් ඒ වගේ පොස්ට් වලට ලයික්-ෂෙයාර් දාපු අය නැත්තම් මේවා නොදැක්කා වගේ හිටපු අය එක පාරටම අරගලයෙන් අත හෝදගන්න ට්‍රෙන්ඩ් එකක් පේනවා.  ඒ අයගෙන් සැලකිය යුතු පිරිසක් ඇන්ටිලා, අංකල්ලා, මචංලා නෙවෙයි. auntyලා uncleලා, broලා. එයාල සහ එයාලගේ mumලා, dadලා, grandpaලා සහ grandmaලා ඒ කාලේ ඉඳල ඡන්දේ දුන්නේ කාටද කියල හොයන්න වටිනවා. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර වුරෝධී හැම පාලකයාටම එරෙහි වුනාද, හොරකමට සහ හොරුන්ට එරෙහිව හැමදාම හඬක් නැගුවද, පාලකයෝ ගත්ත හැම මෝඩ ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීන්දුවකටම එරෙහි වුනාද, ඒ තීන්දු කෝචෝක් කළාද කියලත් හොයන්න වටිනවා. සිස්ටම්-චේන්ජ් ගැන කතා කරපු නමුත් දැන් ඒ ගැන මුනිවත රකින අය සිස්ටම් කියල අදහස් කරන්නේ මොකද්ද කියල හොයන්න වටිනවා. පැවති සහ පවතින සිස්ටම් එකෙන් තමන්ට වාසි ලැබුනද, ලැබිය හැකි වාසි ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කෙරුවද කියලත් හොයන්න වටිනවා. අරගලය සමග අනන්‍ය වුන හැමෝම මේවා හොයනාවානම් හොඳයි. අරගල බෝට්ටුවට අන්තිමට ගොඩ වුනේ කවුද, බෝට්ටුව මොන පැත්තටද ගමන් කෙරුවේ සහ ගමන් කරන්නේ වගේ දේවල් වඩා පැහැදිළි වෙයි එතකොට.    


මේ සියලු දේවල් ඕනෑම අරගලයක සුලබව දකින්න තියෙනවා. වඩා සීරියස් ප්‍රශ්නක් ඉතුරු වෙනවා. ඇත්තටම එහෙම ප්‍රශ්නයක් තියෙනවා කියල මුල ඉඳලම පැහැදිලි වුනාට අරගලයේ බහුතරයක් ඒක පිළිගන්න කැමති වුනේ නෑ. අරගලය කාගේද කියන එකට පහසු උත්තරයක් නෑ. ඒත් අරගලය වෙනුවෙන් කතා කරන අයට එසේ අරගලය නියෝජනය කරන්න වරමක් දුන්නේ කවුද කියන ප්‍රශ්නයට නම් සරල උත්තරයක් තියෙනවා: එහෙම සියලු දෙනාගේ නැත්තම් අඩුම තරමින් අරගලයේ සියලු පාර්ශවකරුවන්ගෙන් බහුතරයක කැමැත්තක් කාටවත් ලැබිලා නැත. ජනතා අරගලයක් නම්, ‘ජනතාව’ කියන්නේ කවුද, ඒ කියන ‘ජනතාව’ ජන වරමක් කාට හරි දුන්නද, ඒ ජනමතය මොකද්ද කියලා තීන්දු කරන ක්‍රමයක් තිබුනද යනාදී ප්‍රශ්න වලට උත්තර නෑ. ඒ වෙනුවට එක එක කණ්ඩායම්, ජන වරම සමස්ත ‘ජනතාව’ තම තමන් වෙත පවරාගත් පිරිස් හඳුනගන්න පුළුවන්.

මෙහි වැදගත්ම කාරණය වන්නේ ඒ විදිහට, අත්තනෝමතික විදිහට, තම තමන්ම අරගල-ඔටුණු දාගත්ත අය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය, ජන වරම සහ ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යය ගැන රටටම ටියුෂන් දෙන්න හදන එකයි.

මාතෘකාව සලකා බලමු. “අරගලය ජනසතු කළාද සහ ජනතාකරණයට ලක් වුනාද?” ජනතා අරගලයක් අලුතින් ජනසතු කරන්න ඕනේ නෑ.  ආදරයේ අරගලයේ ජනතාව දස දහස් ගණනින් හිටියා. දස දහස් ගණනින් කෙසේ වෙතත් අරගලය තුල තවමත් ඉන්නවා. වඩා නිවැරදිව කිව්වොත් කවුරු කවුරුත් ‘අරගලයක්’ තුල හිටියා, ඉන්නවා සහ තමන් තේරුම් ගත්ත කුමන හෝ අරගලයක් සමග අනන්‍ය වුනා, අනන්‍ය වෙලා ඉන්නවා. ‘ජනතාකරණය’ කියන්නේ වෙනම දෙයක්. පුද්ගලීකරණය වෙනුවට රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස භාවිතා කරපු සුරතල් ආදේශයක්.

මෙහෙම කියන්න පුළුවන්. සම්පුර්ණයෙන් ජනසතු වූ අරගල නෑ, ඒකෙ අවුලකුත් නෑ. අරගලය ජනතාකරණය වෙමින් පවතිනවා. ඒක අවුල්.  

Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

Employees at work. 

In June 2022, the Sri Lankan Government declared a ‘four-day week’ for Public Sector workers for three months, except for the essential services. It started on Friday, June 17th, giving a holiday to public sector employees. Critical services are categorised as the public sector for employees in the health, water supply, power and energy, education, and security; such essential services were exempted from the regulation.

The decision to make the four-day week was not in line with the list of other countries in the world that are experimenting with a shorter week following the COVID-19 pandemic. In Sri Lanka, of course, it is due to fuel shortage in the country and to restrict the usage of fuel by millions of public service employees to cut down on the transport and other costs during commuting to work during this period of uncertainty.

When one considers essential services, one that comes to mind is whether the dollar earners were exempt from the urgent category, such as the textile trade workers.

On June 29th, on TV Derana, a few ‘factory workers’ (women) protested about fuel supplies. They maintain they are the only category of the major contributors in bringing dollars to the country. Their fear is about losing future contracts, which are in the pipeline. If they do not get adequate fuel to take the finished orders to the airport or harbour for completed export purposes, supplies cannot ship to the appropriate countries within the time frame that the importers have. Such a situation would be going to affect their lives amidst such distress and pain they undergo at present.

Shorter working hours

When Sri Lankans go abroad on work permits to European countries or for labour work in the Middle-Eastern countries, they have to work endlessly with only ten minutes on a tea break and a one-hour lunch break. They are prepared to engage in any ‘unworthy’ job as they need weekly wages to live. But when they return to Sri Lanka, they tend to relax and take a negative attitude, which is very strange. Does it mean their supervisors are not strict enough to discipline the workforce? Same with politicians and Ministers of the Sri Lankan Cabinet; don’t they see enough development in foreign countries, but they do not execute what they experienced!

England has only eight public holidays: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday, Summer Bank Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Because of the Queens Platinum Jubilee, the UK declared an extra bank holiday in 2022. In Sri Lanka, it is quite a different kettle of fish. The island nation is known to be a country with too many holidays. Every month there is Poya, and whenever a public holiday falls on a Sunday, Monday is declared a holiday; Sinhala New Year celebrations have more than a week’s holiday; then comes Vesak and Poson holidays. In addition, February 4th was declared a National Day. Others include Msahashiva Ratri, Deepavali and Eid-Ul- Adha (Hadji Festival). There is hardly any time to concentrate on real work as there are 104 days, including weekends, for public servants. So how can a country progress?

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a change the world over with a different outlook entirely. People as well as Managements were affected by their economies. The UK has become the leader in accepting this new pattern of shorter weeks. Generally, approximately three thousand three hundred employees commenced working on a four-day week without losing their salaries. But they are supposed to work from home. Working From Home is not the same as working from an office. One tends to relax much more in a home environment unless one does perform sincere work, and it depends on the responsibility one carries on behalf of the institution he works.

Essential Services

A TV showed a sample of ‘Textile factory workers’ protesting fuel supplies. They maintain they are one of the significant contributors to bringing dollars to the country. When one considers essential services, the straightway that comes to mind is whether the dollar earners to Sri Lanka are exempt from this category? Suppose they do not get adequate fuel to take the finished stocks to the airport or harbour, which delays shipment to the appropriate countries. In that case, there is a likelihood of losing future contracts in the pipeline, affecting their jobs in the present scenario.

There is a discrepancy in the Sri Lankan Government’s proposals for a four-day week. The Minister of Public Admiration stated that the idea to implement a shorter week was due to the current fuel crisis. However, the Department of Government Information had to come out with a Cabinet Decision, which declared that Public Sector employees to engage in agricultural activities in their gardens to eliminate a food shortage is expected soon. That coincides with the Prime Minister’s warning of an acute food shortage by August 2020 unless Sri Lanka receives US$ 600 (Six hundred million) to import fertiliser for the next Kanne. The Prime Minister gave this briefing to the representatives.

The Sri Lanka Government’s controversial decision to ban poisonous agrochemicals in Sri Lanka was a terrible mistake as it caused lower yields of staple diets of Sri Lankans, such as rice and vegetables. No public servant has been trained or given the basics of growing systematically in their gardens before declaring a shorter week. How can public service employees manage home gardening without understanding when even the farmers have not received formal training in fertiliser use?

Api Wawamu was supposed to be the latest campaign across the country. Still, a campaign named Api Wawamu- Rata Nagamu was launched under the Ministry of Agriculture’s Development programme in 2011 and allocated Rs1.858.5 million. Previously from 2008 -2009 – 2010, and 2011 a total of 34.2 million has been used on Api Wawamu-Rata Nagamu on publicity campaigns.

It is not a new theme to propagate home gardening projects throughout the country. Expecting a food scarcity in the future, as prominent learned people in Sri Lanka say, makes people hoard essentials unnecessarily, which causes supermarkets and Sathosa food lines to quickly become exhausted, akin to petrol, diesel and kerosene hoarders. But there is no way of detecting how the public stockpiles essential food items unnecessarily.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Malinda Seneviratne

Ranil Wickremesinghe is no longer president in an acting capacity. He is the president, period. Did someone say ‘I don’t know whether to laugh or cry?’ I am pretty sure someone did. Did someone say, ’who wudda thunk?’ Well, if two or three years ago, if anyone suggested that in July 2023 Ranil Wickremesinghe would be the president of this country, there would have been laughter and tears, if at all, would have been of mirth.

But get this: he is legit. Yes, he barely got into Parliament. Yes, his party returned just a single member and this only through the National List. And yet, as per constitutional provisions, he was legitimately elected President. Interestingly, his ascension is similar to that of his uncle, J R Jayewardene in 1978. There was no Presidential Election in 1978. The newly elected United National Party, with JR as Prime Minister enacted a new constitution with a provision for Parliament to elect a president with executive powers. It was only in 1982 that JR actually faced a presidential election; one which was fraught with allegations of widespread malpractice over and above the fact that his government stripped Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the individual with the best chance of defeating him, of her civil rights.

2022 is a different kind of year/situation. Wickremesinghe was appointed Prime Minister by the  politically beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Wickremesinghe’s legitimacy came into question. That was in May. Today, he is the president as per the majority will of Parliament. Today, however, there are still people questioning his legitimacy on account of his party’s and the number of votes garnered at the last General Election. However, until such time an election is held, parliamentary or presidential, there’s no other mechanism to test the legitimacy of the illegitimacy-claims.

How did we get to this, some vociferous ‘Aragalists’ are asking themselves and anyone willing to listen. Interestingly, that question betrays a curious and all things considered irresponsible understanding of political processes, including provisions for change enshrined in the constitution. Let’s elaborate.

If ‘single-minded’ was what the Aragalaya was about then it was apparent in one thing alone: the slogan #gotagohome.” Aragalists, for the most part, pooh-poohed those who asked ‘and afterwards, what/who?’ First things first, they said. In other words, they deliberately back-shelved the question pertaining to post-Gotabaya Sri Lanka.

As it might have been expected, the protest lost must vim and vigour the moment the demanded outcome materialised. Some even posed, first cautiously and later quite vigorously, that the aragalaya (in other words, the aragalists) should go home. It looks like some were happy to take home a consolation prize while for others it was THE prize, i.e. evicting the Rajapaksas from the political stage. In all this, one thing is startlingly conspicuous by its very absence: zero effort to address the systemic flaws that pushed Sri Lanka over the brink, flaws that were deliberately created, sustained and made worse over almost half a century. So it was just a power game, nothing more, nothing less.

At the end of the day, Ranil Wickremesinghe has become the de facto leader of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna or, as someone might say, he has skillfully taken over that party. How he deals with the SLPP and how he performs as president is of course left to be seen, but that’s for later. Right now, his detractors within and without parliament (and these probably include many who supported Gotabaya Rajapaksa) are left to rue what may have been. How they regroup, re-imagine Sri Lanka and re-think strategy, is also left to be seen.

These turn of events have produced many questions. First and foremost, while there’s no denying the widespread displeasure and anger at the previous government (opposition which congealed naturally into an anti-Gotabaya riot of sorts or rather a ‘bread-riot’ wrapped in the #gotagohome streamer), it also provided fertile ground for all manner of political racketeers. They were essentially peddling their wares at Galle Face. Some had axes to grind. Some were far more devious, far better organised and focused. It has come to light that the US Embassy was thick in its involvement, funding directly and indirectly media outfits, ‘research’ institutes, think-tanks, NGOs, activists and social media operatives, many with pretty sick histories. Twitter feeds, instagram and Facebook posts leave trails. Makes for interesting reading. More will be known soon.

However, it is left to be seen whether such movers and shakers thought beyond #gotagohome. Is Ranil Wickremesinghe the desired ‘outcome’? It’s hard to tell. The aragalists, after all, began targeting Wickremesinghe the moment he was appointed as Prime Minister. The US Ambassador, perhaps covering all bases, exposed the JVP leader to endless vilification from left circles with endorsement that stopped just short of cuddles and kisses. She however tweeted that Wickremesinghe’s appointment as premier was a necessary first step. The JVP, after pooh-poohing the aragalaya in early April, attempting to hijack it later on by saying it needed a head (essentially ridiculing aragalists for being airheads, at best), later claiming outright ownership and on Wednesday putting forward Anura Kumara Dissanayake as presidential candidate and losing, now stands in opposition to the new government. Friends inside and friends outside. Happy times, certainly.

Reality check all around, though. The aragalaya is now positioned to shed the instigators with shady agenda who were living in the pockets of foreign governments, religious organizations and such. The nationalists have got rid of the Rajapaksa dead weight that had in effect crippled them. The Kolombians have distanced themselves from wannabe Kolombians. Wannabe Kolombians have been rudely awakened to the fact that in the face of Kolombians they are just another set of rowdies whose only redeeming feature was that at a particular moment in history they stood against their longtime nemesis, the Rajapaksas.

So, is this some kind of postscript for the aragalaya? Not necessarily. It didn’t start with any talk of bringing Ranil Wickremesinghe to power and it need not end with him becoming president. Time is long. Battles are lost but this doesn’t mean wars will also be lost. Betrayals are part of the story. Disappointments are to be expected. Falling short is not a crime. Some people, mostly youth, with exemplary idealism, courage, determination and innovative rush, decided to fight. It is unfair to ridicule them for not having emerged victorious. The aragalaya, some say gleefully, is dead. Some aragala, i.e. in the plural, did die, some would wounded, some retired hurt and some just quit. There’s another aragalaya that still breathes. Sobered, perhaps. That’s a good thing.  

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

What the Aragalaya (struggle) has finally done was to send home President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was elected through an election, and elect Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was defeated in the election, as the President, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa said today.

He told a news conference that as a result of the struggle on May 9, Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Prime Minister, subsequently became Acting President due to the June 9 struggle and now became the President.

“This is only what the Aragalaya has achieved now. That is why we did not endorse the slogan that the President should go home. I reiterated that such a move will only allow someone worse than him to come to the office of the President. But, these youth protesters were not wise enough to realize that,” he said.

Weerawansa said Ranil Wickremesinghe was able to secure 134 votes in Parliament due to the insecurity of parliamentarians created as a result of the struggle.

He said the MPs thought it was Ranil Wickremesinghe who could suppress the struggle and secure their lives than Dullas Alahapperuma who is more democratic.

“That is why 134 MPs voted for him. As a result of the struggle which sans principle, strategy or purpose, the President who did not shoot at the protesters when they stormed into the President’s House has been sent home and created the situation to elect a President who is going suppress them,” he said.

Weerawansa said they never believe that Ranil Wickremesinghe would be able to rescue the country from the current economic crisis. (Ajith Siriwardana)

Courtesy MailonLine

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Members of Sri Lankan security forces remove a barricade blocking the main gate of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo early Friday

Sri Lankan security forces demolished the main anti-government protest camp in the capital early Friday and evicted activists hours before the new president was due to name a cabinet.

The raid came a day after veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the crisis-hit country’s new leader, replacing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled and resigned after protesters overran his palace.

Troops and police Special Task Force commandos armed with batons and automatic assault rifles swooped in on protesters blocking the capital’s Presidential Secretariat hours before they were due to vacate the area.

Hundreds of soldiers removed barricades set up by protesters blocking the main gate of the sea-front building, which demonstrators had partly overrun earlier this month.

An armoured personnel carrier was also seen in the area.

Activists had announced they planned to hand over the building, a symbol of state authority, on Friday afternoon, after a cabinet was sworn in by Wickremesinghe.

The cabinet, which is expected to feature a cross-section of political parties, faces the difficult task of steering the country out of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948.

Sri Lankan security forces tear down temporary structures set up by anti-government protesters at the site of the protest camp in front of Colombo’s Presidential Secretariat

Witnesses saw soldiers surrounding the colonial-era building and removing temporary structures set up to provide logistics for thousands of anti-government demonstrators since early April.

Troops were also seen attacking people, including journalists, with batons as they advanced towards small groups of protesters gathered at what had become known as the “GotaGoGama (village)”.

The head of the influential Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Saliya Peiris, condemned the military action and warned it would hurt the new government’s international image.

“Unnecessary use of brute force will not help this country and its international image,” Peiris said in a brief statement. He said several people, including a lawyer, had been detained by security forces.

The military used loud-hailers as they ordered a few hundred men and women camping overnight to pull back and confine themselves to a designated protest site near the secretariat.

Police cordoned off the main roads leading to the area to prevent more people from joining the protesters.

– Warning to demonstrators –

A handout photo released by the Sri Lanka’s parliament shows president-elect Ranil Wickremesinghe (front R) being sworn in

Supporters of the months-long campaign pressing Rajapaksa to step down had taken over the area after capturing his palace on July 9, forcing him to flee to Singapore and eventually resign.

After Rajapaksa stepped down, six-time prime minister Wickremesinghe took over the leadership temporarily, until he was confirmed as the new president in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday.

Wickremesinghe had warned protesters that occupying state buildings was illegal and that they would be evicted unless they left on their own.

The day Rajapaksa was forced to flee, protesters also set fire to Wickremesinghe’s private home in the capital.

“If you try to topple the government, occupy the president’s office and the prime minister’s office, that is not democracy, it is against the law,” he said, making a distinction between peaceful protesters and “troublemakers” engaging in unlawful behaviour.

The new president has also declared a state of emergency that gives sweeping powers to armed forces and allows police to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without being charged.

-Unity government-

His first cabinet is scheduled to be sworn in Friday and is expected to include opposition legislators to form a national unity government to lead the country out of its unprecedented economic crisis.

A foreign exchange crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic and exacerbated by mismanagement has left Sri Lanka suffering lengthy power blackouts and record-high inflation.

The country’s 22 million people have also endured months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

On Wednesday, a court ordered the protesters to vacate a part of their camp and confine themselves only to a designated area.

Protesters have accused Wickremesinghe of being a proxy of the former president’s powerful family — a charge he has denied.

“I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas,” he told reporters at the Gangaramaya temple. “I am a friend of the people.”

Courtesy TRTWORLD

Hundreds of Sri Lankan soldiers and police swoop in on unarmed activists blocking Presidential Secretariat in the capital after new President Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in, according to AFP.

Hundreds of Sri Lankan soldiers and police have raided the main anti-government protest camp in the country’s capital and started tearing down tents of unarmed activists, the AFP news agency said.

Security forces swooped in on the protesters blocking the Presidential Secretariat in the capital early on Friday before they were due to vacate the area.

Security personnel armed with batons began removing barricades set up by protesters blocking the main gate of the secretariat they had partly overrun earlier this month.

Activists had announced that they planned to vacate the area by Friday afternoon after a cabinet was sworn in by new the president, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Witnesses saw soldiers surrounding the sea-front office and removing several temporary structures set up in the area to provide logistics for thousands of anti-government protesters since April.

READ MORE: Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as Sri Lanka president amid crisis

Sri Lankan Military has taken over some parts of the Galle Face protest site forcibly removing protesters pic.twitter.com/NL4MtblMCt

— NewsWire 🇱🇰 (@NewsWireLK) July 21, 2022

‘No room for troublemakers’

Security forces used loud hailers asking a few hundred protesters to pull back and confine themselves to a designated area near the secretariat.

Several activists were seized by troops who smashed tents set up along the main road leading to the presidential office.

Supporters of the #Go HomeGota campaign pressing president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down had taken over the area after capturing Rajapaksa’s palace on July 9, forcing him to flee and eventually resign.

After Rajapaksa stepped down, prime minister Wickremesinghe took over the leadership temporarily until he was confirmed as the new president in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday.

Wickremesinghe, perceived by some protesters as a Rajapaksa surrogate, has vowed tough action against the protesters and warned that occupying state buildings were illegal and that they would be evicted unless they left on their own.

He had also made a distinction between peaceful protesters and “rioters” and said there will be no room for troublemakers.

READ MORE: For ordinary Sri Lankans every day is a battle

Source: AFP

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A tense situation is reported at the Galle Face protest site near the Presidential Secretariat as Police and troops moved in and remove protesters from the area.

The security forces removed some of tents and structures placed around the Presidential Secretariat.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief has held China responsible for Sri Lanka’s economic collapse, saying Colombo’s dumb bets” on high-debt Chinese investment have led to the catastrophic outcomes.

The Chinese have a lot of weight to throw around and they can make a very appealing case for their investments,” William Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday. Nations should look at a place like Sri Lanka today–heavily indebted to China–which has made some really dumb bets about their economic future and are suffering pretty catastrophic, both economic and political, consequences as a result,” he added.

Burns warned that the situation in Sri Lanka should be a lesson to other countries in the Middle East and South Asia.

That, I think, ought to be an object lesson to a lot of other players — not just in the Middle East or South Asia, but around the world — about having your eyes wide open about those kinds of dealings.”

Sri Lanka has borrowed from several countries, including China that turned out to be white elephant projects.

Back in 2017, Sri Lanka was forced to lease out a facility to a Chinese company for 99 years after the island nation was unable to repay a USD 1.4 billion loan for port construction in the south of the country.

Earlier this year, Burns described China as the single most important geopolitical challenge for the United States in the 21st century. He characterized President Xi Jinping’s China as being in many ways the most profound test the CIA has ever faced.

This warning from the CIA comes a few days after IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday warned countries with high debt levels to take lessons from Sri Lanka and said that it is a warning sign for nations with limited policy space.

Countries with high debt levels and limited policy space will face additional strains. Look no further than Sri Lanka as a warning sign,” the IMF chief said.

Emerging and developing countries have also been experiencing sustained capital outflows for four months in a row. They now suffer the risk of reversing three decades of catching up with advanced economies and instead falling further behind,” she added.

Sri Lanka has been facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, leading to an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel across the island nation.

The country, with an acute foreign currency crisis that resulted in foreign debt default, had announced in April that it is suspending nearly USD 7 billion foreign debt repayment due for this year out of about USD 25 billion due through 2026. Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt is running into billions of dollars.

Source: ANI
-Agencies

Courtesy Hiru News

Yesterday evening, President elect Ranil Wickramasinghe visited Hunupitiya Gangarama Temple in Colombo.

Although this was planned as a private visit, many politicians of the ruling party and journalists from home and abroad who came to know about it also attended the event.

A British sky news journalist asked the President that since the people of this country are expecting a change and how will you, an old Rajapaksa supporter, make that change.

The rest of the conversation is given below;

How can I be a friend of the Rajapaksas?

I am person who has been against them ever since I knew him.

You have come from abroad today and asking me if I am a Rajapaksa supporter.

Ask anyone here, they are Rajapaksa’s friends.

How do you make the change that Sri Lanka is looking for?

I am ready to make the change that the people of Sri Lanka expect.

I would like to tell you one thing.

As a journalist you should do some deep investigations before you ask questions and don’t ask questions like this.

Aren’t you a friend of the Rajapaksas?

I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas, I am a friend of the people.

Let me tell you something else, I have worked with President Chandrika Kumaratunga before… but I have never voted for her.

She belongs to one party and I belong to a different opposing party.

Saying that I work together with the Rajapaksas does not mean that I am his friend.

I am only looking into it to see the opportunities available to me and the opportunities to strengthen my party.

Courtesy Hiru News

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in today (21) as the 8th Executive President of Sri Lanka.

This was at the Parliament complex.

Ranil Wickremesinghe is the first President of Sri Lanka to be elected in a vote held in the Parliament.

Former MP Sirima Bandaranaike, the world’s first Prime Minister, was sworn in on July 21, 1960.

Likewise, Ranil Wickramasinghe was first elected to Parliament on 21 July 1977.

Darini Rajaisngham-Senanayake

But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022

Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever, due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an international Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.

The cricket victory followed a magical weekend in which the Aragalaya, or peoples’ struggle, exceeded all expectations, staging multiple coups to peacefully claim both the Presidential Palace and the Prime Minister’s official residence. The island’s President and PM were unseated by massive waves of protestors without a single person killed in gunfire. Later the protestors cooled off in the Presidential pool and had impromptu concerts celebrating what appeared to be a successful regime change operation.

There’s never a dull moment in this strategically located emerald island that is perpetually in the cross hairs of big power rivalry! Even though the confrontations in Colombo were replete with barricade breaches, water cannon charges and tear-gas sprayed, the police and military conceded to peoples’ power after brief stand-offs with unarmed protestors.

This was also on the urging of an eminent group of religious leaders in this multi-faith land of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and myriad local gods, spirits, and sentient beings.

Fewer people have died in a 100 days of massive protests in Sri Lanka than in a single day of gun violence in the United States, although the island is invariably portrayed as a space of (ethno-religious) violence in media, expert analysis and ethnography. This speaks volumes about where violence springs from in the global military business industrial complex.

The bright spot was that the Sri Lankan armed forces had demonstrated that they had little interest in military takeovers for foreign-backed dictators despite being trained in inter-operability” by various Big powers fishing in the Indian Ocean! This was another cause for hope, peace, DEBT JUSTICE, debt cancellation and victory in International Monetary Fund (IMF) talks– if only the external actors staging the crisis would let up!

Although no one has been killed during protests, the new acting President came to power in a lightening-strike Arab Spring regime change operation on May 12^th during an island wide curfew with military was on the streets. Some of the big powers fishing in Sri Lanka’s troubles waters have a bad habit of installing chosen Dictators in strategic countries.

Ranil Wickramasinghe who lost his parliament seat and decimated his own political party at the last elections, and whose house was partially burned by protestors, is now Acting President! He is the Chief architect of the Central Bank Bondscam in 2015 that opened the door to vulture funds like Blackrock that engage in reckless lending and odious debt that has cause the Debt trap, and has never made a secret of his fondness for the West.

Wickramasinghe termed the protestors who want him out, fascists” and gave all power to the military to do whatever it takes to maintain law and order and protect the Constitution! So, the scene is now set for a deadlier turn as an Indian Ocean war game heats up.

Three layers to the Crisis: Political, Economic and Geopolitical

It is clear that there are three layers and dynamics– economic, political and geopolitical– to the Crisis in Sri Lanka.

Although least discussed, geopolitics would likely determine the outcome of compounding crises in the country as a new Cold War hots up: Last week, Vlodimir Zelinski, Ukrainian President beloved of the Corporate Media that crafts the narrative weighed in on Sri Lanka at a Global Leadership meeting in Seoul, Korea, where he claimed that Russia was the cause of the island nation’s unrest!

Zelinski did not mention Covid-19 lockdowns, economic and institutional debilitation over two years as part of Shock Doctrine” and Digital Colonialism to enable what Naomi Klein has termed humanitarian disaster capitalism” or the fact that the Weaponization of the US dollar with sanctions had ruined many countries. But this may be back firing as London-based economist Michael Roberts noted: the dollar’s decades-long dominance has placed America in a strong position to dictate the terms of trade and finance for the last 70 years, but its dominance has been waning gradually”. More countries are de-dollarizing at this time.[i]

Zelinski obviously had no idea that Sri Lanka’s biggest problem was a shortage of exorbitantly privileged’ US dollars due to International Sovereign Bond (ISB) debt trap– result of odious debt owed to US-based vulture funds like Black Rock that received huge US-Government Covid-19 bailout funds to debt-trap and asset strip in countries like Sri Lanka. This is what has triggered the Default and fuel shortage in strategic Sri Lanka at the center of Indian Ocean Sea Lanes of Communication– so the IMF could enter the fray.

The Financial Times noted recently that Western nations have introduced unprecedented financial sanctions on Russia, including on the country’s central bank, which have the potential to decimate its economy. Experts say they amount to full-scale financial warfare of an unheard-of nature and scope.[ii] While the dollar has been weaponized against sanctions hit Russia, Sri Lanka too is starved of Russian oil seemingly to deepen the crisis ex poste facto the default?!

Indeed, as a number of analysts have noted, US-led NATO sanctions on big oil producing countries like Russia, Iran and Venezuela and speculation by traders in commodities futures are the main source of the current global fuel trade disruption, related food shortages and soaring oil prices! Oil companies meanwhile have never made more profit, just like big Pharma companies did during Covid-9 lockdowns and mass injection campaigns.

QUAD, Cricket and Disinformation

Who said Cricket is the Opiate of the masses of South Asia?” QUAD cricket teams from India, Australia (and now Pakistani), have played flood-lit matches despite power outages in Sri Lanka in the past two months to keep the natives entertained and distracted from the Big Picture – geopolitics and great power contest in the strategic Indian Ocean island as the crisis unfolds! Of course, the corporate media that crafts the narrative also helps.

The last ship bringing Russian oil to the Sapugaskanda oil refinery docked in the Colombo Port, South Asia’s busiest, at the end of May, after which the US Marines have been conducting Sea Vision training in Sri Lanka, as oil tankers that were due in the months of June-July in the oil staved country disappeared into thin air like the dollars paid for them via cyber hacks of data on the Government Cloud, as happened to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority during a Covid-19 injection purchasing spree in 2020?!

The Eagle had landed with the IMF team and special US Advisors” in town with Lazard, Clifford and Chance representing bond traders to bailout ISB holders? Was the disappearance of ships bring Russian oil and gas to the strategic island for 6 weeks in June-July and compounding ex post the staged default linked to the fact that US Department of Defense Sea Vision” operations were on-going with the Sea Vision Technical Assistance Field Team [iii]?

A Russian Aeroflot Airlines plane was also mysteriously grounded at the BIA International Airport in a scenario of Lawfare. Aeroflot suspended all flights to Sri Lankaafter a court ordered the seizure of one of its Airbus A330s on June 2nd. The case was dismissed a month later but the episode seemed designed to disrupt relations between the two countries and impede the possibility of fuel deliveries from Russia which has de-dollarized and does not take US dollars.

As citizens died in petrol queues, Prime Minister Wickramasinghe stated on June 10^th: If we can get oil from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise [we] may have to go to Russia again”.[iv] Wickramasinghe was clearly waiting for the IMF and Washington’s permission to buy oil from Russia!

Thus, the staged fuel-crisis, a policy choice of the pro-US regime in Colombo reached another milestone: In the first week of July 120 flights to the island were diverted to India, effectively islanding” and marooning the strategic country from the rest of the world in the midst of a news blackout![v]

While Indian media carried the story about planes diverted to Kochi and Thiruvanathapuram airports to help Lanka, the media that crafts the narrative in the island were silent about this. Failure to publish geopolitical analysis is often attributed a shortage of paper and news print! The elephant in the room of Sri Lanka’s spiraling crisis appears to be balanced analysis and news of Geopolitics in the IOR and the Covid-19 induced ‘Global Reset’ to benefit the global corporates backed by the NATO-QUAD military bus

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[i] https://english.news.cn/20220714/1302e4c23211412ca571e73f10e994a2/c.html

[ii] https://www.ft.com/content/ff95ee3f-a1b8-4a54-9657-6a1aaecc105f

[iii] https://ceylontoday.lk/2022/07/04/odcs-sea-vision-third-phase-training-concludes-successfully/

[iv] https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-pm-wickremesinghe-says-hes-open-to-russian-oil/article65520639.ece

[v] https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/120-flights-sri-lanka-flights-diverted-to-kerala-aviation-minister-scindia-lauds-trivandrum-and-kochi-airports

KAMALIKA PIERIS

JVP was allowed to register as a political party in 1981. The first elections the JVP contested were District Development Councils elections.  JVP contested four seats in the District Development Councils election in 1981, and won two.  The seats were Colombo, Gampaha, and Galle. I was unable to find out what the fourth was,   probably Matara. JVP participated in the District Development Council (DDC) elections of 1982 too.

JVP then started to regularly contest the two major national elections, General and Presidential.JVP made sure that it had a presence, however small, in each election. Rohana Wijeweera contested the Presidential Elections in 1982 and obtained 4.16% of the votes cast.   He received more votes than Colvin R. de Silva. 

 JVP got one seat in Hambantota district in the general election of1994, under the name of the National Salvation Front. The next significant election, for the JVP, was the General election of 2000. JVP won 10 seats in the parliament, and recorded 6 per cent out of the total valid votes.

JVP further broadened its voter base at the following election in 2001, with 16 seats and 9.10% per cent of the vote. There was every sign at this juncture of JVP emerging as a serious threat to the existing two-party system, especially with its growing ability to attract the support of the semi-urban middle classes, said  Nirmal Dewasiri.

The JVP’s best performance in terms of Parliamentary representation was in 2004, when it contested in coalition with the SLFP-led alliance. Using the tactic of nominating only a few candidates in each electoral list, it secured 39 Seats in Parliament and became a crucial partner in the government. This was possible because of its alliance with the SLFP. The number of its seats plummeted when it chose to go it alone at subsequent elections.

Somawansa Amarasinghe retired as JVP leader in 2014, following a series of internal disputes in the party and Anura Kumara Dissanayake  took over. Dissanayake has however failed to elevate the JVP’s standing.

At the 2015 general election JVP only got 4.87 % and six seats.  One reason was the rush to Hansaya. JV P was there to support the Yahapalana government, said the Opposition. The Joint Opposition called them ‘Rathu Ali’. Verité Research however had ranked four of the six JVP MPs among the top five MPs for their work ethic.

JVP did not come forward at the 2015 presidential election in a strategic move that enabled Maitripala Sirisena to win the poll, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake contested the 2019 election. He polled over 400,000 votes  At a media briefing it was said that he was supported by 29 organizations  including civil society organizations,. However, he  only got 3.16% of the total votes. This is the lowest percentage JVP has got so far, commented analysts.  It was less than what Wijeweera polled in 1982.

In the 2020 general election JVP got only three seats as opposed to six it had in the last Parliament. For the 2020 general election, the JVP formed a new party, the Jatika Jana Balavegaya or  National People’s Power (NPP).   This is  nothing more than an ‘alias’ for the JVP said critics.

Of the six seats JVP had in the 2015 Parliament, JVP could retain only three of them in 2020.These were in Colombo and an ]adjoining urban centre’  at Gampaha. JVP lost badly in the areas that constituted the heartland of its militancy such as Matara, Galle, Hambantota and Moneragala. The present-day JVP leaders have lost their hold on the Wijeweera belt, which stretches along the southern littoral, said the Island editorial.

JVP only obtained 3.84% of the total vote at the General election of 2020. This election showed that the JVP support base was shrinking said the  Island editorial.    Analysts observed that a sizeable segment of UNP votes had gone to the JVP, which means the true JVP vote is less than even 3.84%.

JVP was not upset. We are not a party that judges our popularity based only on votes,”  Dissanayake remarked when questioned on the disappointing results. If an election was held under normal circumstances, we think we would receive far more votes. We, of course, do want to attract more voters and improve our performances,” he observed.

JVP  said we are far ahead of the rest. We fielded the best qualified candidates with unblemished records”. Our movement is honest, free of corruption and committed to working for the betterment of the country. The people know that, but that is still not enough for them to vote for us.

Island editorial did a quick survey of JVP votes. one MP (elected on the Sri Lanka Progressive Front ticket) in 1994; 10 MPs in 2000; 16 MPs in 2001; 39 (from the UPFA) in 2004; four MPs (from the Democratic National Alliance) in 2010; six MPs in 2015 and three MPs in 2020.

JVP has contested Presidential and General Elections and has had mixed results, said analysts. While it has been able to maintain its status as the third largest political party in the country after the two major parties, the UNP and the SLFP, it has never had a real prospect of forming its own Government.

JVP’s performance at elections is not impressive. The number of its MPs in Parliament declined at every election since a high of 39 MPs in 2004 (when it contested under the UPFA. This  showed that that voters still haven’t forgiven the JVP for atrocities during the 1971 and 1987-89 insurrections, said critics.

The JVP is known for its policy inconsistencies, contradictions and about-turns,  said an Island editorial. It contested the elections for the Provincial Councils, which it had initially  bitterly opposed. Having once bombed Parliament, it contested Parliamentary Elections too.

On the political front, JVP has made  alliances with parties it continues to call enemies.” In 1970, it backed the SLFP-led United Front, which consisted of progressive left-wing parties. The following year, it took up arms against the government formed by that coalition. In the late 1970s, it went politically steady with the UNP under J. R. Jayewardene, who released Wijeweera and others from prison, so much so that its critics called the JVP ‘Jayawardene Vijeweera Peramuna’.

A few years later it turned against the JRJ regime, which banned it, and caused another bloodbath by embarking on its second campaign of terror.

Victor Ivan said that in his opinion it was the violent political atmosphere after the JVP insurgency that helped Premadasa to win the Presidential election  in 1989. JVP boycotted the election and killed those who worked for the election. They attacked polling  centers and killed several election officers.

JVP became part of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government of Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004. In 2004, it closed ranks with the UPFA led by Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, and left her administration over a government move to share tsunami relief with the LTTE. In 2005, it backed Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential fray, making a tremendous contribution to his victory; thereafter, it fell out with him and tried to topple his government.

JVP offered implicit support to common candidate Maitripala Sirisena during the 2015 presidential election. It was also accused of backing the Yahapalana Government behind the scenes.

In 2015, it threw in its lot with a UNP-led coalition, which fielded Maitripala Sirisena as its presidential candidate and captured power in Parliament following his victory. Its honeymoon with the UNP lasted several years before it took on the UNP-led government and Sirisena both when they became extremely unpopular.

The General  elections of 2010 and 2015 showed a link between JVP and UNP. the UNP-led coalition, that backed former Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka and Maitripala Sirisena at 2010 and 2015 presidential elections, respectively, included the JVP.

JVP  cuddled up to the UNP, said  critics. The UNP and JVP are now almost conjoined. JVP often provides the   crucial support to decide between victory and defeat and survival for the UNP government in parliament,   concluded one critics.

This kind of political promiscuity has cost the JVP dear both politically and electorally as can be seen from the number of seats it has secured at the general elections over the years.

It did win many Parliamentary Seats while in a partnership with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), but once it entered the fray on its own, it has generally fared very badly. In fact, it could only gain around 3 percent of the vote at the last two national elections, said a Daily News editorial in 2019.

JVP has not yet been able to position itself precisely on the political spectrum. What made it attractive to the youth was its radical ideology as well as the mystique surrounding it. Today, it is devoid of any mystique and its ideology has been diluted.

JVP has shown promise of becoming the ‘third force’ in Sri Lankan politics from time to time but has not lived up to that promise. The problem for the JVP was that it could not quite efface its dark past, even if the transformation itself was impressive.  JVP has never really acknowledged that its actions in 1971 and 1989 were flawed and apologized to the nation.

The JVP has managed to survive as a political party with parliamentary representation only because of the proportional representation system. JVP  would not have had a snowflake’s chance in hell of making it to Parliament under a first past the post system, said Chandraprema, bluntly.

JVP is not a popular party.  The JVP have huge floats  Karl Marx and Lenin  in their May Day processions to hide the fact that  they have very few supporters marching with them. Bu it is determined to keep going.

Looking back, it appears that Sri Lanka has instinctively realized what JVP is: a brutal political entity. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Underneath its flowery rhetoric of democracy, liberty, secularism and freedom of the press and speech, the JVP remains true to its origins fifty plus years ago. Its insatiable appetite for violence as a means to achieve power was vividly shown in the late 1980s. This may be the reason that JVP was never able to break the four-percent barrier – the percentage of votes it has consistently received since it entered parliamentary politics, said former JVPer Indrawansa de Silva.

Over the past fifty years, the JVP had many opportunities to come clean of its sins but it hasn’t even tried to pretend it will do so. The JVP has done nothing wrong, the argument goes. All the carnage it created was the results of reactionaries” traitors” and the class-enemies” who infiltrated the party to destroy it. At a forum in Europe, when faced with the question of atrocities committed during the so-called second uprising in the late 1980s, the current leader of JVP sought the cover of Mao’s rhetoric again: revolution is not a dinner party, he answered, added Indrawansa.

JVP admirers are in a minority. One commentator summarized what most  of the public think of the JVP .  The JVP has a blood soaked, murderous and genocidal history, he said. The JVP brutalized a generation twice, once in 1971 and then in 1989-90.

But JVP has its admirers. The JVP has come a long way since its two armed insurrections and the passing of the leadership from the old school and discredited past of Somawansa Amarasinghe to the younger generation of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, said JVP admirers.

JVP bashing should end   said K Siriweera. In parliament,  at political meetings and in many other for a  present JVP members are criticized for incidents that took place in 1971-89 period.  Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his group were not involved in these criminal acts. Further they have shown excellent behavior since they came into the political scene. It is sickening to see politicians who are involved in anti social activities shout about events that happened decades ago to demonize a group who are thousand times better than them.

A set of University  academics got together and  urged the public to vote for   the JVP  Balavegaya at the 2020 election. Several of them came from leftist parties and were open supporters of Separatism.

These academics made a strong appeal for the  JJB which they called NPP. Only the NPP has a sound plan to save this country, they said. The NPP was formed with the hope of saving the country from its present predicament and people should extend their support by voting for it.

The academics stressed the need for electing honest, capable candidates as MPs to solve the problems and threats the people were faced with. . The NPP has experts and academics who have drafted a credible programme for Lanka’s economic future.  NPP has the only Parliamentarians with an unblemished record of financial integrity, incorruptibility and devotion to their tasks in the last three decades have been MPs elected from the JVP,  they chorused.  The academics said that The NPP will be a strong voice and the only real force standing both inside and outside parliament for a democratic polity and against dictatorship, they said.

Isn’t it time to embrace the JVP as the third force and enable them to lead the people asked Camillus Fernando in April 2021. I was frankly struck by the manifesto issued by the JVP. It is reflective and thought provoking. A candid statement, aware of the needs of the people and aimed at achieving the sincere progress of the nation. It redefines the definition of conscience. Its primary objective is unity among diversity of classes, broken and divided by religion/caste/creed/ethnicity.

Practical solutions for the economic prosperity of the people are offered. The candidates are men of education and experience, drawn from all walks of life and professions. Integrity, honesty, sheer hard work are some of their traits. There seems no room for corruption. Reconciliation with the people seems to be their goal – they denounce revolution. With humility they seek forgiveness for the lapses of the past in 1971 and 1989.Can’t we forgive them and accept and embrace them as this third force in politics to enable them to lead the country and its people asked Camillus Fernando.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Why did the two JVP uprisings happen precisely in 1971 and 1987, asked commentators. The answer is that they were both linked to the Eelam war.

JVP insurgency and the Eelam Wars both started around the same time. The first JVP insurgency started in the south in 1971. LTTE activities also started in the 1970s.       The JVP activities are well documented. Here are the parallel activities of the LTTE for the same period.

Senior DIG (Retd) Edward Gunawardena pointed out that terrorism in the north started in the early 1970s. The militant youth groups in the north engaged in many criminal activities in that period. There were robberies of banks, co-operatives, petrol filling stations and also passenger bus collections. There were many bank robberies and attacks on businesses in Jaffna in the 1970s corroborated   General Cyril Ranatunge.

There were attacks on police stations in the north in the 1970s. 34 police stations in the north were attacked. Police officers including retired officers and police informants were brutally killed, said Gunawardena. LTTE   attacked police stations in the late 1970s said Gen.Ranatunga.

 A majority of the attacks on police stations in north were master-minded by the LTTE, observed Gamini Samaranayake. PLOT, TELO, EPRLF, EROS and other groups, also launched attacks on police stations. Large guerrilla units numbering between 50 to 250 participated in these attacks, added Gamini.

Police informers were also killed in the north, said Gamini. The guerrillas branded informants as traitors to the Tamil cause for an independent state. These killings came to be known as `lamp post’ killings because most of the victims were tied to lamp posts before they were executed. A note was pinned to each of the bodies identifying them as collaborators.

Edward Gunawardena  observed that In May 1972, militant youths tried to topple a key high-tension electricity tower and also kidnap the children of a Tamil cabinet minister, Chelliah Kumarasuriyar.( Island 18.7.21 p 12  ) in 1975 Alfred Duraiappah was assassinated by a group which included  Prabhakaran.. Duraiappah had a significant vote bank among the Sinhalese, Muslims, the business community and the urban poor of Jaffna.

LTTE and JVP left each other alone. JVP had avoided mobilizing youth from Tamil villages, observed K.C.Logeswaran. JVP never killed a single Tamil or Indian soldier, said Chandraprema.  There is not a single confirmed account of a JVP attack on the LTTE or IPKF. JVP instead, used their arms on the Security forces, and on the JVP’s Sinhala opponents. JVP killed more Sinhalese than the LTTE he said. JVP only killed in Sinhala areas. 

The 1971 insurgency affected all districts except those in the north and east. JVP attacked police stations in the entire country except in the north and east.  JVP attacked 92 police stations.   They were all in ‘Sinhala’ areas, said Indradasa Godahewa.  In Vavuniya, JVP had penetrated deep into Vavuniya south which was Sinhala. Vavuniya south was a part of the 1971 insurgency.

There is evidence to show that the JVP was actively collaborating with the LTTE to chase the Sinhalese out, said Chandraprema.  The JVP, though armed, never tried to defend the Sinhalese, in the border villages, he said.  There was evidence to show that JVP was supporting the separatist Tamils, agreed   Godahewa.

There were allegations in 1987 that JVP was in collusion with LTTE in Trincomalee. This appears to be correct, said Chandraprema. There was an instance when an armed JVP contingent had met an LTTE contingent in the Trincomalee jungles and JVP warned the LTTE not to proceed as the army was in that area. 

In December 1987, JVP had entered Sinhala settlements in Aluth oya where settlers were armed, threatened them and took away 20 shot guns.    Sinhala refugees from Trincomalee, escaping after an attack on their village, said they were absolutely certain that their attackers were Sinhala. One had shouted obscenities in perfect Sinhala which showed that he was Sinhala not Tamil. 

LTTE reciprocated. No member of the JVP was ever harmed when the LTTE attacked Sinhalese, said Chandraprema. JVP had   established JVP cells in the Sinhala border villages   by the end of 1987. When LTTE swooped down on a Sinhala village they avoided going to the homes of JVP activists in the village.

JVP received training and ammunition from Jaffna. PLOTE and LTTE were reported to have sold weapons to the JVP.  The intention was to create a second front against the Sri Lankan armed forces.   EPRLF had provided training for JVP‘s Vikalpa Kandayama in north east Sri Lanka and in   India.  Gunaratna was told that they had received the training first and joined JVP after.

There may have been a transfer of explosion technology between the LTTE and JVP, as well, said doctoral researcher A.J. Behra.  JVP had used powerful land mines similar to those used in the north by the LITE. Intelligence reports had indicated that JVP was receiving regular supplies of explosives from overseas, he added.

 PLOTE had trained JVP in land mine attacks. The first was in 1988 at Kapparathota in Weligama electorate, said Shamindra Ferdinando. In 1989 PLOTE was seen in Akuressa training JVP in land mines, reported Chandraprema  An explosive expert from PLOTE had given JVP training in improvised land mines in the jungles between Matale and Batticaloa,  as well.

 The first landmine of JVP was the work of a PLOTE operator, said Gunaratna.  JVP   exploded its first experimental land mine in Kumbiyangoda in Matale.  A Tamil instructor had been present.  JVP carried out a series of land mine attacks.  Landmines in Weerawila and Hungama killed six policemen.

The JVP did not fade away after April 1971 as it would have done, had it been a purely local affair. Instead, JVP met secretly and reorganized.    They launched a second insurgency in 1987. The second JVP insurgency   of 1987-89 ran parallel to Eelam War 2.  Nalin de Silva pointed out that the JVP insurrection of the 1987-1992 period should also be investigated, not only the Eelam war.

The timing of the second JVP insurrection was significant.  1987 was the year of the Vadamarachchi campaign in Jaffna. This campaign, set for May and June, was certain to succeed. 1987 was also the year when JVP started its second insurgency in the south. The 1987-1989 JVP insurgencies forced the army to fight on two fronts, up in the north against the LTTE and down in the south against JVP. This, it was hoped, would enable the far weaker LTTE win the Eelam war.

In April 1987, JVP attacked Pallekelle Army camp in Kandy and took away a quantity of automatic weapons. A trained ex army man, led the operation. On June 7, 1987 three days after the Indian  parrippu air-drop of June 4, 1987,  the JVP’s Armed Wing, the Deshapremi Janatha Vyapaaraya  stormed the Katunayake Air Force Base and the Kotelawala Defence Academy, Ratmalana and seized 14, T-56 assault rifles, 53 sub-machine guns, two light machine guns, six pistols and 3,300 rounds of ammunition.

In October 1987 JVP attacked Kallar army camp in Trincomalee  and after a 20 minute gun battle,    took away a huge amount of weapons, including six T56 and three LMG spare barrels.  This was JVP‘s largest haul of weapons.  JVP attacked Kallar camp at the height of the IPKF sponsored LTTE attacks on Sinhala peasants in Trincomalee, observed Chandraprema.

In 1988, JVP attacked Katunayake air force base a second time and took away weapons and ammunition.  In the same year, JVP also attacked Pannala National Air Force training camp and the army training camp at Kumbukke in Horana. There was also an unsuccessful attack on Panagoda army camp.

JVP tried to ruin Sri Lanka‘s economy. JVP hit economic targets in Sinhala areas in 1971 and 1987.  A cotton processing factory had been set up in 1956 at Mirijjawila near Hambantota, to encourage cotton cultivators in Hambantota and Monaragala. During this period cotton was a popular crop in the Eastern part of Hambantota and Monaragala, and cotton was cultivated under rain-fed conditions. This factory functioned satisfactorily and it started processing their home grown cotton. It was set on fire in 1971. It was never re-started.   JVP burnt down 245 out of 545 agrarian service centers in the country along with paddy stocks and storage facilities in 1987-89.

Garvin Karunaratne, who was GA, Matara during the 1971 insurgency observed that the insurgency affected the economy of the south.  Many well to do people from the rural areas, immediately transferred themselves and their moveable possessions to the towns.

Thanks to the JVP, the well to do people in the rural areas, the estate owners, the rice millers, lorry owners and traders all left the rural areas for the cities.   In my subsequent visits to Matara I met many a rice miller and many a merchant who were the live wire in their rural habitat in Kamburupitiya, Hakmana etc. They had got rid of their rural possessions and migrated to the Matara town.

The development of the rural areas requires the services of every entrepreneur and entrepreneurs come from the rich families with enough money to invest. They are not in the rural areas now. That was the legacy left by JVP with their two insurrections, concluded Karunaratne.

 JVP also planned to eliminate the local administration at village level. In 1971 JVP killed government representatives in the village, such as grama sevaka, postmaster, station master, and co-op manager. The first killing took place in Tangalle. In 1987 insurgency, grama sevaka were not welcomed in the villages. In April 1989 an unprecedented number of government officials, grama sevaka, were killed, said Gunaratne.

JVP was firmly anti- Buddhist. Ven.Ellawela Medhananda was engaged in locating the ancient Buddhist monasteries in the north and east, despite objections from the LTTE .JVP set out to kill Ven. Medhananda. JVP’s Kirti Vijayabahu had sent Ven. Medhananda a letter threatening to kill him.  His temple also received a letter telling Medhananda and his assistant to leave the temple.  Medhananda had slept the night in the school, hidden in a mezzanine. JVP came to the school in the night and searched for him, while Medhananda watched fr0m his hiding place.

The very first attack on the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, was by the JVP not the LTTE .JVP attacked the Dalada Maligawa, Kandy on 8 February 1989. Eyewitness accounts, including a former JVP member who took part in the attack, describe the incident in detail. Former JVP member, Adhikari alias Kosala, had participated in the attack. A fully-fledged member, Adhikari had received arms training, and participated in several operations on behalf of the party, including the 1987 Pallekelle Army camp attack, 1987 Bogambara prison attack and Digana bank heist. 

According to Adhikari, the first meeting to plan the attack was held at the house of a JVP co-ordinator named Sunanda, in Kandy. In that meeting, Sunanda explained the motivation behind the attack.  He said that if they stole the Tooth Relic, which had been residing in the country for at least 1,700 years, would have made the people to rise up against the government which couldn’t even protect the sacred property.

Next week, another meeting was held at the same place, with the presence of D.M. Ananda alias Kalu Ajith, the JVP leader of Western and Sabaragamuwa provinces, and Somawansa Amarasinghe alias Sanath, In that meeting, Adhikari proposed a place in Medamahanuwara, to hide the relic after getting hold of it. He was asked to be present near the Queen’s Hotel, Kandy around 2.00 – 2.30 pm the next day.

There Sarath, one of his colleagues in Digana bank heist, introduced him to 4 boys and 2 girls. The girls, dressed in white lama saris were carrying two trays filled with flowers. Adhikari’s task was to bring the group to the entrance to the Maligawa. There he would meet two gentlemen, who would be carrying pens attached to their pockets. After that he was to proceed to Kundasale where he would receive the casket which contained the tooth relic.

But the plan went wrong. The two girls had gone past the checkpoint near the entrance, without being properly searched, and waited for the others to follow. A guard had become suspicious and had come forward towards the girls. The other members of the group then arrived. They had snatched the guns hidden inside the flowers on the tray; and shot at the guards. Guards had returned fire. The following firefight left at least two attackers dead.

During the 2001 Parliamentary election, JVP denied that the JVP was involved in the attack. The politburo of the party issued a statement denying that the attack ever took place. These statements were rejected by the Diyawadana Nilame and Mahanayake theros of Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters .Diyawadana Nilame said “There was blood-letting at the Sri Dalada Maligawa and five persons were killed in the JVP attack”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Temple_of_the_Tooth_attack)

In the early 1970s JVP gave the impression that they were champions of the Sinhala race. This would have been done to capture Sinhala youth for the movement. After 1977 JVP changed its stance. JVP discarded its pro Sinhala attitude. JVP recognized the right of Tamil people for self determination and by 1980 they were supporting the secession of Tamil areas, said Godahewa. DJV had links with the international community which supported devolution, said Sampanthan.

JVP supported Tamil Separatism. JVP has consistently taken a separatist or anti-national stance. For years Ravaya argued that the LTTE couldn’t be militarily defeated and did their best to demoralize troops and sabotage the efforts of the security forces, observed Malinda Seneviratne.

JVP said in 2015 that seats in the new parliament must accommodate fair representation for the ethnic and religious minorities.  The Tamil and Muslim minorities in this country have been in distress for decades and been taken for endless rides by the two main parties. JVP/NPP said in 2019.  JVP/NPP however was a trustworthy ally.  

The JVP/NPP programme calls for devolution of political and administrative power to the regions, said its spokesman in 2019. The NPP demands release of political prisoners, protection of Muslims from injury and insult, establishing a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission, empowering the Commission on the Disappeared to deliver justice to families of victims, releasing military occupied lands, terminating ethnic based colonization and economic upliftment of war affected areas.

බෞද්ධ අධ්‍යයන පිළිබඳ සේවාර්ජිත මහාචාර්ය අසංග තිලකරත්න දම්රිවි පදනමේ සභාපති

දැනට උද්ගතව ඇති ආර්ථික හා දේශපාලන අර්බුදය සම්බන්ධ ප‍්‍රධාන ආගමික ක‍්‍රියාකාරිකයෙකු වන ඕමල්පේ සෝභිත හිිමිපාණන්ගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයක කොටසක් පමණක් උපුටා දක්වමින්ිදැන් සිංහල බෞද්ධ ඉවරයැ’ යි පිරිසක් උදම් අනනු සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ජාලාවල දක්නට ඇත. කෙනෙකුගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයක් විකෘති වන සේ උපුටා දැක්වීමේ වරදට අමතරව, මෙහිදී අප අවධානය යොමු විය යුතු වඩාත් වැදගත් කරුණ වනුයේ මෙබඳු විකෘති කිරීමක් මගින් සමාජගත කිරීමට උත්සාහ දරනු ලබන මතවාදය කවරක්ද යන්නයි. සෝභිත හිමියන් ප‍්‍රකාශ කොට ඇත්තේ ගෝඨාභය රජයට තව දුරටත් සිංහල බෞද්ධ ඡුන්ද පදනම නැති බවයි. එහෙත් මෙම ප‍්‍රකාශකයන් එය යොදා ගන්නේිසිංහල බෞද්ධ ජාතිකත්ව හා ආගමිකත්ව පදනම තව දුරටත් වලංගු නොවේ, සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජන කොටස විසින් ම එය බැහැර කොට ඇත’ වැනි අදහස් සමාජගත කිරීමටය. එමගින් ඔවුන් වක‍්‍රාකාරයෙන් කීමට උත්සාහ දරන්නේ අර්බුදය සඳහා සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජාතිකත්වය හා ආගමිකත්වය වග කිව යුතු බවයි. සිංහල බෞද්ධ ස්ථාවරය හෙවත් ගෝඨාභයගේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ ඡුන්ද පදනමත්, ගෝඨාභය රජයේ අසාර්ථකත්වයත් අතර මෙම විවේචකයන් යෝජනා කරන ආකාර හේතුුු-ඵල සම්බන්ධයක් තිබේද යනු විමසීම වටී.
අර්බුදය පැහැදිළි වශයෙන් ම ආර්ථික හා දේශපාලන කරුණක් විනා ජාතික හෝ ආගමික කරුණක් නොවේ. ජනාධිපතිවරයා රුවන්වැලි සෑ මලුවෙහි දිව්රුම් දීම හා හෙතෙම තම සිංහල බෞද්ධ ඡුන්ද පදනම පිළිගැනීමත් ඔහුගේ රජයෙහි අසාර්ථකත්වයට හේතු වූ ආර්ථික හා දේශපාලන තීරණත් අතර සම්බන්ධයක් නැත. පොහාර ප‍්‍රශ්නය, මහා පරිමාණ බඳු අඩු කිරීම, වංචා හා ¥ෂණ වැනි මේ කිසිවක් ආගමිකත්ව හෝ ජාතිකත්ව ප‍්‍රශ්න නොවේ. එහෙයින් උද්ගතව ඇති අර්බුදය ජාතිකත්වය හා ආගමිකත්වය, විශේෂයෙන් ම, සිංහල ජාතිකත්වය හා බෞද්ධ ආගමිකත්වය හා සම්බන්ධ කොට දැක්වීම, රටේ ඇතිවී තිබෙන ප‍්‍රබල ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් යොදා ගනිමින් වෙනත් අරමුණක් ඉටු කර ගැනීමට දරන උත්සාහයක් බව පැහැදිලිය. එහි වරද වනුයේ එමඟින් උද්ගතව ඇති ප‍්‍රශ්නයෙහි සැබෑ හේතු කෙරෙන් අදාළ නැති කරුණක් වෙත අවධානය යොමු කරවීම මඟින් අවසානයෙහි ප‍්‍රශ්නයට විසඳුමක් ලැබීම වෙනුවට එය තව දුරටත් වියවුල් බවට පත්වීමය.
සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජාතිකත්වයට හා ආගමිකත්වයට විරුද්ධ සටනෙහි මූලික අවධාරණයක් වන්නේ නිරාගමිකත්වයයි. එනම් ආගම මුළුමනින් ම පුද්ගල හා සමාජ ජීවිතයෙන් බැහැරකිරීම හෝ ආගම එය හා බැඳුනු සමාජ කාර්යයෙන් ඉවත් කොට හුදු පෞද්ගලික කාර්යයක් බවට පත්කිරීමය. නිරාගමිකත්වය පිළිබඳ සංකල්පය මුලින් ම යුරෝපයෙහි ඇති වනුයේ ක‍්‍රමයෙන් නැගී ආ ධනවාදී ආර්ථික ක‍්‍රමයෙහි අවශ්‍යතාවක් ලෙසය. එහි දාර්ශනික පදනම සපයනු ලැබුවේ පුද්ගල කේන්ද්‍රීය චින්තනය මගිනි. නිදහස් පුද්ගලවාදය යනුවෙන් හැඳින්වෙන මෙම චින්තනයට අනුව පුද්ගලයාගේ පෞද්ගලිකත්වය සමාජයේ සාමූහික අගයට වඩා සෑම විටම වැඩි වන අතර, ඒ අනුව පුද්ගල අභිලාෂ ඉටු කර ගැනිමට මුල් තැන ලැබේ. ඒ සඳහා කවර හෝ බාධාවක් තිබිය නොහැකිය. ආගමේ හා ආගම හා බැඳුණු සංස්කෘතියේ ඉරණම, ඒ අනුව, තීරණය වන්නේ පුද්ගලවාදී, ධනවාදී ක‍්‍රියාකාරීත්වය තුළය. ගෝලීයකරණය වෙමින් පවත්නා වර්තමාන ලෝකයෙහි සමහර ආගම් ප‍්‍රබල වන්නේත්, තවත් සමහර ආගම් දුබල වන්නේත් මේ අනුවය.
ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව වැනි සම්ප‍්‍රදායික ආගමික සමාජවලට නිරාගමිකත්වය පැමිණෙනුයේ රජය හා ආගම අතර අතීතයේ සිට පැවත ඇති සම්බන්ධය බැහැර කිරීමේ උපාය මාර්ගයක් ලෙසය. අප වැනි රටක ආගමිකත්වය හා ජාතිකත්වය සමග බැදී ඇති සංස්කෘතිය නිරාගමිකත්වය හේතුකොටගෙන අස්ථාවර වූ පසු එම සමාජය රික්තයක් තුළ පවත්න්නේ නැත. හිදැස පුරවනු ඇත්තේ ගෝලියකරණය වූ ලෝක සන්දර්භය තුළ බටහිර සංස්කෘතිය මගිනි. එහි ආගමික මුල් පිහිටා ඇත්තේ යුදෙව්-ක‍්‍රිස්තියානි ආගමික සම්ප‍්‍රදාය තුළය. ඒ අනුව අවසාන විග‍්‍රහයේදී නිරාගමිකත්වය යනු හුදෙක් සම්ප‍්‍රදායික ආගම හා සංස්කෘතිය බැහැර කිරීම පමණක් නොව ඒ වෙනුවට බටහිර ආගමික සංස්කෘතික සම්ප‍්‍රදාය ආදේශ කිරීමක්ද වේ. දෙකෙන් කවරක් වඩා හොඳද නැතහොත් නරකද යනු වෙනම කරුණකි. මෙහි දී සිදුවන්නේ ආගමික සංස්කෘති දෙකක් අතරින් එකක් තෝරාගැනීමක් විනා එකක් ප‍්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කිරීම පමණක් නොවේ.
විවිධ අභිලාෂ හා න්‍යායපත‍්‍ර සහිත විවිධ පිරිස් අරගලය තුළ සිටින බව පෙනුනද, එයට සහභාගී වීමට ලංකාවේ නන් දෙසින් පැමිණි බහුතර ජනතාව අවුරුදු දෙකකට පෙර ගෝඨාභය බලයට පත්කළ හැටනම ලක්‍ෂයට අයත්ය. සිංහල බෞද්ධ මෙම පිරිස ගෝඨභය රජය ප‍්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කිරීම සිංහල බෞද්ධ
ඉවර වීමක් ලෙස අර්ථකතනය කිරීම එම පුළුල් සිද්ධිය වැරදි ලෙස වටහා ගැනීමකි. අවසන්ව ඇත්තේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ පවත්නා බහුවිධ ජාතිකත්වය හෝ ආගමිකත්වය නොව දේශපාලනඥයන් විසින් ඒවා තම බලලෝභි පටු අභිලාෂ ඉටුකර ගැනීම සඳහා යොදා ගැනීමට තිබු ඉඩයි. මෙම පුළුල් මහජන සහභාගිත්වය මගින් පෙන්වා දෙනු ලැබුවේ, බරපතළ ආර්ථික දුෂ්කරතාවලින් අත්විඳි පීඩනයට විරුද්ධ වීමට අමතරව, මෙම පිරිස, ¥ෂණය, වංචාව, පවුල්වාදය, අනීතිකබව, අ¥රදර්ශීබව වැනි පසුගිය කාලයෙහි දිගම ම දක්නට ලැබුනු අමනෝඥ දෑ පිළිබඳව දැඩි කළකිරීමකින් ද සිටින බවයි. ඉන් තවදුරටත් පෙන්වා දෙනු ලැබුවේ ජාතිකත්වය හා ආගමිකත්වය ඉක්මවා යන සදාචාරාත්මක පදනමක් මෙම මහජනතාව සතුව ඇති බවයි. මේ පිරිස හුදු ජාතිවාදී හා ආගම්වාදී පිරිසක් පමණක් වී නම් ඔවුන් කවර තත්වයක් යටතේ හෝ ගෝඨාභය රජය සමග රැුදෙනු ඇත. එහෙත් එය එසේ නොවීය.
රජයට විරෝධය පෑ ජනතාව සමග එකට සිටිමින්, රජය නිවැරදි මාර්ගය අනුගමනය කළ යුතු බවට මුලින් ම ප‍්‍රබලව බල කළේ මහනායක හිමිවරුන් සිව්නම ඇතුළු මහා සංඝයා වීම මෙහිදී ඉතා වැදගත්ය. සංඝයා සමස්තයක් ලෙස ආගම්වාදී හෝ ජාතිවාදී නොවන බවට මෙය නිදසුනකි. සියලු ආගම්වලට අයත් වන ජනතාවට අමතරව හින්දු, ක‍්‍රිස්තියානි, ඉස්ලාමික පූජක පිරිස් ද මෙහෙණින්වහන්සේලා හා කන්‍යා සොයුරියන් ද අරගලය හා දිගින් දිගට ම රැුදී සිටිනු පෙණිනි. තම ආගමික සීමාවලින් ඔබ්බෙහි පිහිටි පුළුල් සදාචාර චින්තනයක් මගින් මෙම පිරිස මෙහෙයවනු ලැබු බව පැහැදිලිය. සාමුහික ආගමික ක‍්‍රියාකාරීත්වය මගින් ප‍්‍රදර්ශනය වූ මෙම අන්තර් ආගමික සදාචාර විග‍්‍රහය ජාතික වශයෙන් අතිශයින් වැදගත් බව අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැත. කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ එම සදාචාරාත්මක අවදිබව ජනතාව තුළ තව දුරටත් තහවුරු කිරීමත්, කවරෙක් හෝ ආගම, ජාතිය හෝ සංස්කෘතිය තම දේශපාලන හෝ ආර්ථික අරමුණු සඳහා යොදා ගන්නේ නම් එය පිළිකුළෙන් ප‍්‍රතික්‍ෂේ්ප කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ශක්තිය වර්ධනය කිරීමත්, දේශපාලන ගැති බවෙන් ජනතාව නිදහස් කර ගැනීමට ක‍්‍රියා කිරීමත්ය.
එහෙයින් ගැටලුව වන්නේ සිංහල බෙදීම හෝ දෙමළ හින්දු හෝ සිංහල දෙමළ ක‍්‍රිස්තියානි හෝ ඉස්ලාමික හෝ සංස්කෘති නොවේ. සංස්කෘතිය ජන ජීවිතයෙහි අවියෝජනීය අංගයක් වන අතර, කෙනෙකුගේ ආගමිකත්වය හා ජාතිකත්වය එහි ලක්‍ෂණ වේ. එම සමස්ත සංස්කෘතියෙන් තොර පුද්ගලයෙකු පිළිබඳව සිතීම පවා දුෂ්කරය. එබැවින් සිංහල බෞද්ධ ඉවර කිරීම හෝ අනිකුත් එබඳු සංස්කෘති ඉවර කිරීම හෝ පිළිතුර විය නොහැකිය. කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ ජන සමාජයෙහි සියලු සංස්කෘති ආරක්‍ෂා කරන අතර ම, එම සියලු ජන කොටස් තුළ පළුල් සදාචාරාත්මක විඥානයක් පෝෂණය කිරීමය.
ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව වැනි කුඩා රටකට ගෝලීය අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දෙමින් තම ස්වාධීනත්වය ආරක්‍ෂා කර ගනිමින් ක‍්‍රියා කිරීම සෑම විට ම අභියෝගයක් වන අතර, මේ මොහොතෙහි එය වඩාත් ප‍්‍රබල අභියෝගයක් වී ඇත්තේ රටෙහි පාලක පිරිස් තම අ¥රදර්ශී දේශපාලන චර්යාව මගින් ගෝලීය බලවතුන් හට තම න්‍යාය පත‍්‍ර ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා අතිශයින් උචිත පරිසරයක් රට තුළ නිර්මාණය කොට ඇති බැවිනි. වර්තමාන ගැටලු සහගත තත්වයට වගකිවයුතු සියලු දෙනා විසින් ජාතියට කරන ලද විශාල ම අපරාධය වනුයේ එයයි. මෙහි බැ?රුම් බව අප සැම විසින් නිවැරදිව තේරුම්ගත යුතුව ඇත.
අවසාන වශයෙන්: රාජ්‍ය තන්ත‍්‍රය විසින් දිගු කලක් මුළුල්ලේ කරන ලද සියලු ආකාර ¥ෂණ, වංචා, සොරකම් හා අනීතිකභාවය ද ඇතුලු ක‍්‍රියාකාරකම්වලට විරුද්ධව ජනතාව සාමුහිකව එක්රැුස් වීමෙන් පැහැදිලි වනුයේ අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දිය හැකි ආකාර ප‍්‍රබල සදාචාර විඥානයක් කෙරෙහි ජන මනස විවර වී ඇති අයුරුයි. මේ තත්වය තුළ අනාගත ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා පාලන තන්ත‍්‍රයක් තුළ කවර ජාතියකට හෝ ආගමකට හෝ අයත් සොරුන්ට, මිනීමරුවන්ට, වංචනිකයන්ට, මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ජාවාරාම්කරුවන්ට හෝ තම පෞද්ගලික ආර්ථික ලාභය සඳහා දේශපාලනයෙහි හෝ පරිපාලනයෙහි යෙදෙන කවරෙකුට හෝ ඉඩක් තිබිය නොහැකිය. එමෙන්ම දේශපාලකයන්හට ¥ෂණයෙහි යෙදීම සඳහා මඟපෙන්වන හා අනුබල දෙන ¥ෂිත නිළධාරී තන්ත‍්‍රයක් ද තිබිය නොහැකිය. එහෙයින් මේ මොහොතෙහි කළ යුතු වන්නේ අප ඉදිරියෙහි ඇති ගෝලීය අභියෝග පිළිබඳව අවබෝධයකින් යුතුව, ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍යය නිවැරදි මෙඟහි ගමන් කිරීම සහතික කරන සුලු ප‍්‍රබුද්ධ ආරක්‍ෂක පිරිසක් ලෙස ක‍්‍රියා කරනු වස් සදාචාර ජන විඥානය පෝෂණය කිරීම වේ.
බෞද්ධ අධ්‍යයන පිළිබඳ සේවාර්ජිත මහාචාර්ය
අසංග තිලකරත්න
දම්රිවි පදනමේ සභාපති

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 21 (newsin.asia): Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe won the Sri Lankan Presidential election with a thumping majority against Dullas Alapahpperuna and Anura Kumara Dissanayake. In the election held on Wednesday in the Sri Lankan parliament, with its 225 members as the voters, Wickremesinghe got 134 of the 219 valid votes, Alahapperuma got 82 and Dissanayake got three.

Voting was by secret ballot, which allowed members to vote freely.

The post of President had been vacant since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned on June 14, having falling from grace. Pressured by a violent agitation on May 9 and July 9, Gotabaya fled the country to Singapore via Maldives and resigned from Singapore by email on July 14. 

As per the constitution, the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed office as Interim President and then as Acting President after Gotabaya resigned. Again, as per the constitution, parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa  Abeywardena asked parliament to elect a President from among its members.  Wickremesinghe will be Sri Lankan President till November 2024 when Gotabaya’s term would have ended in the normal course.

Alignments

Wickremesinghe was supported by the single largest party in parliament, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), an outfit of the Rajapaksa clan. The combined opposition led by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) withdrew from the contest at the last moment and pledged support to Dullas Alahapperuma, a recent SLPP rebel who was expected to split the SLPP.

But Alahapperuma failed to split the SLPP, even though he was backed by the chairman” of the party G.L.Peiris. The SLPP had 145 members out of a total House membership of 225. Out of this, a sizeable number would have voted for the party candidate Wickremesinghe as without those votes, Wickremesinghe would not have got 134. This demolishes the pre-poll propaganda that SLPP MPs would desert the party because they feared the wrath of public agitators who had burnt many SLPP MPs’ houses on May 9 and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s house on July 9.

The agitators who drove Gotabaya Rajapaksa out had threatened to relaunch the agitation (Aragalaya in Sinhalese) if a candidate of the Rajapaksa party won the election. But no agitation took place when Wickremesinghe won. On July 19, trade unions had called for a general strike to prevent nominations being filed. But the call was ignored and all public services functioned.

The extremists in the Aragalaya (Wickremesinghe called them fascists) were demanding the resignation of all 225 MPs and a general election to elect a government which would follow their dictates.

The lack of response to the call for agitation was partly due to the fact that the Chief of Defense Staff Gen.Shavendra Silva had warned that disruptors and violent elements would have to bear the responsibility for their deeds. The peaceful supporters of the Aragalaya, who were the majority, stayed away, isolating the violent elements led by the ultra-leftist Frontline Socialist Party (FSP).

If there was violence on May 9 and July 9, it was mainly because the State machinery had collapsed. The then Head of State and Government Gotabaya Rajapaksa had lost his marbles and failed to activate the law and order machinery. In the absence of orders, the men in uniform were mere spectators, for the most part.  

Opposition Took Cues from Agitators

The opposition candidates, Alahapperuma and Dissanayake, on the other hand, had promised the Aragalaya” activists that they would go by their agenda, even though the more vocal section had put forth radical left and anti-IMF demands which cannot be implemented by any government.       

On Tuesday, it was reported that many members of the opposition had begun to feel that given the dire economic situation in Sri Lanka, the country needed a stable government under a firm leader who would be in a position to calmly negotiate with the IMF and the international community for emergency forex injection and debt restructuring.

The domestic supply situation had also improved in the past few days with ships with fuel and cooking gas arriving and with the streamlining of the distribution system. As Acting President, Wickremesinghe had imposed a State of Emergency to keep supplies flowing. That worked, giving confidence to a number of MPs who wanted a government which would work with single-minded devolution and also see that its writ ran in the land.

After being elected, Wickremesinghe appealed to the opposition to join him in putting the economy back on track. All divisions should cease and all should work together to pull Sri Lanka out of the woods, he said. As President and Commander in Chief of the armed forces, Wickremesinghe also inspected troops on Wednesday. He would be sworn-in on Thursday in parliament, an institution to which he has been passionately devoted for decades. His bible is said to be May’s parliamentary practice.  

Independently, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr.Nandalal Weerasinghe said that an agreement with the IMF is near. Such an agreement should help Sri Lanka negotiate with lenders for re-scheduling loan repayments. The Indian High Commissioner has also assured that India will continue to help Sri Lanka, especially by increasing investments.

Benjamin Norton Courtesy https://towardfreedom.org/

Facing a deep economic crisis and bankruptcy, Sri Lanka was rocked by large protests this July, which led to the resignation of the government.

Numerous Western political leaders and media outlets blamed this uprising on a supposed Chinese debt trap,” echoing a deceptive narrative that has been thoroughly debunked by mainstream academics.

In reality, the vast majority of the South Asian nation’s foreign debt is owed to the West.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=U52tT5hgtSk%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Sri Lanka has a history of struggling with Western debt burdens, having gone through 16 economic stabilization programs” with the Washington-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF).

These structural adjustment programs clearly have not worked, given Sri Lanka’s economy has been managed by the IMF for many of the decades since it achieved independence from British colonialism in 1948.

As of 2021, a staggering 81 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt was owned by U.S. and European financial institutions, as well as Western allies Japan and India.

This pales in comparison to the mere 10 percent owed to Beijing.

According to official statistics from Sri Lanka’s Department of External Resources, as of the end of April 2021, the plurality of its foreign debt is owned by Western vulture funds and banks, which have nearly half, at 47 percent.

The top holders of the Sri Lankan government’s debt, in the form of international sovereign bonds (ISBs), are the following firms:

• BlackRock (U.S.)
• Ashmore Group (Britain)
• Allianz (Germany)
• UBS (Switzerland)
• HSBC (Britain)
• JPMorgan Chase (U.S.)
• Prudential (U.S.)

The Asian Development Bank and World Bank, which are thoroughly dominated by the United States, own 13 percent and 9 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, respectively.

Washington’s hegemony over the World Bank is well known, and the U.S. government is the only World Bank Group shareholder with veto power.

Less known is that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is, too, largely a vehicle of U.S. soft power. Neoconservative DC-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which is funded by Western governments, affectionately described the ADB as a strategic asset for the United States,” and a crucial challenger to the much newer, Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

The United States, through its membership in the ADB and with its Indo-Pacific Strategy, seeks to compete with China as a security and economic partner of choice in the region,” boasted CSIS.

Another country that has significant influence over the ADB is Japan, which similarly owns 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt.

An additional 2 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt was owed to India as of April 2021, although that number has steadily increased since. In early 2022, India was in fact the top lender to Sri Lanka, with New Delhi disbursing 550 percent more credit than Beijing between January and April.

Both Japan and India are key Western allies, and members of Washington’s anti-China military alliance in the region, the Quad.

Together, these Western firms and their allies Japan and India own 81 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt – more than three-quarters of its international obligations.

By contrast, China owns just one-tenth of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt.

The overwhelming Western role in indebting Sri Lanka is made evident by a graph published by the country’s Department of External Resources, showing the foreign commitments by currency:

As of the end of 2019, less than 5 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt was denominated in China’s currency the yuan (CNY). On the other hand, nearly two-thirds, 64.6 percent, was owed in U.S. dollars, along with an additional 14.4 percent in IMF special drawing rights (SDR) and more than 10 percent in the Japanese yen (JPY).

Western media reporting on the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, however, ignores these facts, giving the strong, and deeply misleading, impression that the chaos is in large part because of Beijing.

Sri Lankan Economic Crisis Driven by Neoliberal Policies, Inflation, Corruption, Covid-19 Pandemic

This July, Sri Lanka’s government was forced to resign, after hundreds of thousands of protesters stormed public buildings, setting some on fire, while also occupying the homes of the country’s leaders.

The protests were driven by skyrocketing rates of inflation, as well as rampant corruption and widespread shortages of fuel, food, and medicine – a product of the country’s inability to pay for imports.

In May, Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt. In June, it tried to negotiate another structural adjustment program with the U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF). This would have been Sri Lanka’s 17th IMF bailout, but the talks ended without a deal.

By July, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe publicly admitted that his government was bankrupt.”

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spent a significant part of his life working in the United States, entered office in 2019 and immediately imposed a series of neoliberal economic policies, which included cutting taxes on corporations.

These neoliberal policies decreased government revenue. And the precarious economic situation was only exacerbated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Facing an out-of-control 39.1 percent inflation rate in May, the Sri Lankan government did a 180 and suddenly raised taxes again, further contributing to popular discontent, which broke out in a social explosion in July.

Media Falsely Blames China for Sri Lankan Debt Default

While 81 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt is owned by Western financial institutions, Japan, and India, major corporate media outlets sought to blame China for the country’s bankruptcy and subsequent protests.

The Wall Street Journal pointed the finger at Beijing in a deeply misleading article titled China’s Lending Comes Under Fire as Sri Lankan Debt Crisis Deepens.” The newspaper noted that the crisis opens a window for India to push back against Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean region.”

U.S. media giant the Associated Press also tried to scapegoat China, and its deceptive news wire was republished by outlets across the world, from ABC News to Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya.

Many corporate media outlets in India, including the New Indian Express, Business Standard, India Today, The Print, as well as Japan’s media conglomerate Nikkei published similarly fallacious reports.

U.S. government propaganda outlet Voice of America, which is closely linked to the CIA, employed the same spurious tactics in an article in April titled China’s Global Image Under Strain as Sri Lanka Faces Debt Trap.”

VOA accused Beijing of pursuing a kind of ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ meant to bring economically weak countries to their knees, dependent on China for support.”

On social media, the Western propaganda narrative surrounding the July protests in Sri Lanka was even more detached from reality.

A veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and National Security Agency (NSA), Derek J. Grossman, portrayed the unrest as an anti-China uprising.

China’s window of opportunity to one day control Sri Lanka probably just closed,” he tweeted on July 9, as the government announced it was resigning.

After working for U.S. spy agencies, Grossman is today an analyst at the Pentagon’s main think tank, the RAND Corporation, where he has pushed a hawkish line against Beijing.

BBC Reluctantly Admits the ‘Chinese Debt Trap’ Narrative in Sri Lanka Is False

China has funded several large infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka, building an international airport, hospitals, a convention center, a sports stadium, and most controversially a port in the southern coastal town of Hambantota.

The UK government’s BBC sent a reporter to Sri Lanka to investigate these accusations of supposed Chinese debt traps.” But after speaking to locals, he reluctantly came to the conclusion that the narrative is false.

The truth is that many independent experts say that we should be wary of the Chinese debt trap narrative, and we’ve found quite a lot of evidence here in Sri Lanka which contradicts it,” BBC host Ben Chu acknowledged.

He explained, The Hambantota port, well, that was instigated by the Sri Lankans, not by the Chinese. And it can’t currently be used by Chinese military naval vessels, and actually there’s some pretty formidable barriers to that happening.”

A lot of the projects we’ve been seeing, well, they feel more like white elephants than they do Chinese global strategic assets,” Chu added.

The British state media outlet interviewed the director of Port City Colombo’s economic commission, Saliya Wickramasuriya, who emphasized, The Chinese government is not involved in setting the rules and regulations, so from that standpoint the government of Sri Lanka is in control, and it’s up to the government of Sri Lanka’s wish to flavor the city, the development of the city, in the way it wants to.”

It is accurate to say that infrastructure development has boomed under Chinese investment, Chinese debt sometimes, but those are things that we’ve actually needed for a long, long time,” Wickramasuriya added.

Chu clarified that, Importantly, it’s not debt but equity the Chinese own here.”

So is the debt trap not all it seems?” he asked.

Mainstream U.S. Academics Debunk the ‘Chinese Debt Trap’ Myth

Mainstream Western academics have similarly investigated the claims of Chinese debt traps,” and come to the conclusion that they do not exist.

Even a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, which is notorious for its revolving door with the U.S. government and close links to spy agencies, acknowledged that the Chinese ‘debt trap’ is a myth.”

Writing in 2021 in the de facto mouthpiece of the DC political establishment, The Atlantic magazine, scholar Deborah Brautigam stated clearly that the debt-trap narrative is a lie, and a powerful one.”

Our research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota,” Brautigam said in the article, which was co-authored by Meg Rithmire, a professor at the stridently anti-socialist Harvard Business School.

Brautigam published her findings in a 2020 article for Johns Hopkins’ China Africa Research Initiative, titled Debt Relief with Chinese Characteristics,” along with fellow researchers Kevin Acker and Yufan Huang.

They investigated Chinese loans in Sri Lanka, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Angola, and the Republic of Congo, and found no ‘asset seizures’ and, despite contract clauses requiring arbitration, no evidence of the use of courts to enforce payments, or application of penalty interest rates.”

They discovered that Beijing cancelled more than $3.4 billion and restructured or refinanced roughly $15 billion of debt in Africa between 2000 and 2019. At least 26 individual loans to African nations were renegotiated.

Western critics have attacked Beijing, claiming there is a lack of transparency surrounding its loans. Brautigam explained that Chinese lenders prefer to address restructuring quietly, on a bilateral basis, tailoring programs to each situation.”

The researchers noted that China puts an emphasis on ‘development sustainability’ (looking at the future contribution of the project) rather than ‘debt sustainability’ (looking at the current state of the economy) as the basis of project lending decisions.”

Moreover, despite critics’ worries that China could seize its borrower’s assets, we do not see China attempting to take advantage of countries in debt distress,” they added.

There were no ‘asset seizures’ in the 16 restructuring cases that we found,” the scholars continued. We have not yet seen cases in Africa where Chinese banks or companies have sued sovereign governments or exercised the option for international arbitration standard in Chinese loan contracts.”

Benjamin Norton is founder and editor of Multipolarista.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Leader of the House and MP Dinesh Gunawardena is tipped to be appointed as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka under the Presidency of Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that his party’s candidate was unable to win the Presidential election in Parliament today.

We presented Dullas. We voted for him, but lost. Somebody has to win,” he told media in parliament.

“He (Ranil) got more votes, so he became the president. That’s what has happened. We are waiting to see what will happen in the future. Whatever the government is, it must work for the people of the country,” he said.

“There are different opinions. Some say this is the opinion of the people. We say this is not the opinion of the people,” he also said.

Commenting about the protesters, the former President said “I think the struggle is over now. The youth who are engaged in the struggle at Galle Face must understand that now. They must now leave and get on with their work,” the former Premier said