Courtesy Adaderana

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says it is high time the existing parliamentary culture underwent a change.

Addressing today’s parliamentary session, the prime minister said the National Council should be established as the first step towards a change in the parliamentary culture.

The ruling party today blocked the motion expressing displeasure against the President by defeating the proposal to suspend Parliament Standing Orders. Accordingly, the motion expressing displeasure against the President was not taken up for debate in the House as a matter of urgency.

Delivering his speech, PM Wickremesinghe stressed that a new code of conduct should be introduced for the Members of Parliament. A Parliamentary Standards Act is also needed for this purpose, he added.

The prime minister appealed to the lawmakers of the ruling party and the opposition to unite to change the existing parliamentary culture. Let’s discuss our issues. If we cannot discuss them here, let’s talk them out outside the parliament.”

He also condemned the parliamentarians interrupting fellow members when they are delivering speeches in the House.

Courtesy Adaderana

The proposal to suspend Parliament Standing Orders to take up the debate on the motion expressing displeasure against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a matter of urgency was defeated in the Parliament today (May 17).

The proposal tabled by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran was rejected in the parliament by a majority vote of 51 votes.

A total of 119 lawmakers had voted against the motion while 68 voted in favour.

Thereby, the motion expressing displeasure against the President will not be taken up for debate in the House as a matter of urgency.

Courtesy Adaderana

The nominee of ruling party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Ajith Rajapakse has been selected as the new Deputy Speaker of Parliament in a secret ballot that took place in the House today.

He obtained 109 votes in total. He was voted in with a majority of 31 votes as MP Rohini Kumari Wijerathna, the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s nominee, secured 78 votes.

Following the commencement of parliamentary proceedings this morning, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced the two nominations to the House.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa had proposed the name of MP Rohini Kumari Wijerathna on behalf of the SJB. It was seconded by MP Lakshman Kiriella.

MP Ajith Rajapakse was nominated by Minister G.L. Peiris on behalf of the ruling party.

Accordingly, a secret ballot was called in the House to select one out of the two nominations for the Deputy Speaker position, which was left vacant after MP Ranjith Siyambalapitiya resigned from the post twice this year.

However, MP Wimal Weerawansa, opposing a vote to elect a new Deputy Speaker of Parliament, had stressed that a cost of approximately Rs. 9 million is required for this. The lawmaker said an agreement should be reached without opting for a secret ballot.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

It is reported that Sri Lanka has a gigantic economic crisis. The major reason is the mismanagement of the economy since 1978, and money printing without control began in the late 1980s and has been continued by later governments.  There are reported cases in that the Rajapaksa family associated with investment projects and made money from them.

Sri Lanka could easily come out of the economic crisis if the following actions be taken. I always mention these policy actions.

• All public investments in enterprises should be sold out and the proceeds gained from these privatised projects should be used for government expenditure.
• If private enterprises are sold overseas Sri Lanka can receive sufficient  US dollars to pay out all foreign debts and increase the foreign reserves of the country.
• No local money should be printed and it should be based on the increase in population
• The Colombo Port City should be leased out to China for the US $ 300 billion for 75 years with an intention of 100 years and the money received should be put as foreign reserves for Sri Lanka. This action will quickly increase the foreign value of Sri Lanka’s official currency and there will not be a shortage of foreign currency in the country.
• After 75 years Sri Lanka gets back the Colombo Port City like a rich Island Like Hong Kong.
• If Sri Lanka wants to develop another Island Project that one could be developed in the Calpitiya area.

 If these basic proposals were implemented, the country could be converted into a rich country than Singapore.

 Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

South Asia’s Arab Spring has arrived amid energy wars and slow tectonic shifts in power and wealth eastward to Asia and the Indian Ocean Region. This has been hastened by the new Cold War proxy-war in Ukraine, US-led sanctions on energy-rich Russia and a refugee crisis in Europe. 

Two regime change operations amid staged protests have transpired within a month in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan known for his courage on an off the cricket pitch was removed on April 9:^. He accused Washington of orchestrating his ouster on the heels of his visit to Moscow.

Exactly a month later in Sri Lanka on Monday May 9, as the Central Bank commenced talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for a ‘bailout’ a regime change operation was launched in the strategically located Indian Ocean island perpetually in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry. The stage had been set by 6 weeks of peaceful protests at Galle Face, which tipped into coordinated violence the same day.

As talks with the IMF commenced hitherto peaceful demonstrators, some who even held pro-IMF posters” were inexplicably attacked and violence spiraled against ruling party politicians resulting in a mass resignation of the Cabinet. The violence was a prelude to curfew, lockdowns and the swift installation of a pro-Washington Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramesinghe. The timing of events was remarkable.

There was instant approval by US Ambassador Julie Chung who said: Ranil Wickremesinghe’s appointment and the quick formation of an inclusive government are first steps in addressing the crisis and promoting stability. We encourage meaningful progress at the IMF and long term solutions that meet the needs of all Sri Lanka.” A new regime that the IMF could ‘vibe with’ was being set up as noted by senior journalist Saeed Naqvi.

One of South Asia’s wealthier countries, Sri Lanka is caught like Greece and Lebanon in an International Sovereign Bond (ISB) debt trap. The island faces the usual cycle of currency depreciation against the US dollar, with clearly coordinated trade and supply chain disruptions in every sector resulting in fuel and food scarcities and along with cyber hacks and protests.

Simultaneously, as the Lankan rupee depreciates steeply against the US dollar, there have been calls to de-dollarize and end the reign of the ‘exorbitantly privileged” Petrodollar, and source Sri Lanka’s petrol, diesel gas, jet fuel and other energy requirements at discount prices from Russia, as India is already doing.

Such energy policy alternatives however would be stymied by the proposed privatization and IMF ‘firesale” of national energy assets and infrastructure (such as the Yugadanavi power plant that was sold to a dubious American company called New Fortress), which would further compromise Sri Lanka’s Energy Security at a time of global energy wars.

Mask of Democracy and Full Spectrum Dominance

Questions arise about the legitimacy of Washington’s Manchurian Candidate for the post of Prime Minister in Sri Lanka at this time. Wickramasinghe’s United National Party (UNP), the equivalent of the GOP, was decimated in the last elections and he did not win a single seat. He was sworn in on May while the military patrolled the streets and citizens were under curfew.

To what extent are democracy, society and economy gamed and controlled by external actors when a national parliament is convened via Zoom while citizens are locked down with military on the streets in an era of heightened Disinformation Playbook narratives, artificial intelligence, data wipes, and cyber war globally and locally?

Leaderless protestors at ‘Gota Gama’ were also organized anonymously via social media platforms and networks like Facebook (META) and Whatsapp chats via remote servers with invisible bots on the English-language based internet. Who or which intel agents and agencies backed and provided the digital intelligence? After all, Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen not so long ago had also revealed how social media were used to de-stabilize countries such as Myanmar and Ethiopia by spreading disinformation and hate and fueling ‘protests’ that also gamed election and other outcomes. On the ground the activities in Galle Face Green were organized by foreign funded local Non-Government Organizations NGOs mobilizing genuine grievances.

As protests continued a propaganda operation to continue economically debilitating lockdowns and supply chain disruptions was staged on Vesak Poya holiday: Several Indian news channels suddenly resurrected the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and claimed that they planned attacks, just like the mysterious Islamic State (ISIS) claimed Easter Sunday attacks of 2019. Simultaneously, NDTV talked up a staged refugee crisis” to distract from the main plot.

There can be no better candidate for such abject surrender to Washington than someone as politically weak as RW” noted Delhi-based Naqvi. Wickramasinghe has always been supportive of an American presence in Sri Lanka and was promoting the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact and Status of Forces Agreement when he was fired by former President Srisena.

But can the mask of democracy be sustained and for how long? Is this not a façade of democracy promoted by external actors – a new pro-western Prime Minister who has no moral legitimacy sworn to deliver debt trapped Sri Lanka into the IMF’s and Washington’s arms?

Are these masks of and for democracy in Sri Lanka and Pakistan sustainable? The outcome of talks with the IMF including the proposed firesale” of land, transport, energy and telecom assets in Sri Lanka have been hidden from scrutiny of the citizens of this strategic Indian Ocean island, kept distracted with food, fuel and energy shortages.

Is Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD), of the strategic island nation, a spaghetti junction of Undersea Data Cable (UDC) routes that keep the Indian Ocean and global financial system going, the endgame?

Meanwhile, regional hegemon and junior partner, India seems to be watching and waiting as her neighbourhood is destabilized and impoverished, seemingly benefiting from Washington’s Chaos strategy” in South Asia– to counter Chinese investment and development projects such as the Belt and Road initiative.

The same chaos strategy was visible in NATO’s exit from Afghanistan with the promise of Over the Horizon (OTH) engagement via remote servers and cyber and drone operations in that country.

India’s short term gains on China will however be long-term collective regional loss since no country can develop when its neighbourhood is in chaos. In the long term, the entire South Asia region, which is a development laggard in Asia relative to Southeast and West Asia has suffered another setback due to Washington’s new Cold War.

Wouldn’t it be in India’s own self-interest to shelve its differences for awhile and work with fellow Asian giant, China, to develop the South Asian region together?

Cold War dynamics in South Asia

Prior to the regime change operation in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, as Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in April, western pressure had mounted with almost simultaneous visits from various British, European and US emissaries who cautioned and questioned Delhi’s historic and close ties with Moscow. 

Simultaneously, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had visited Russia on a pre-planned trip a few weeks earlier, was subject to a “no confidence” motion. Khan pointed the finger at the United States as the foreign power behind events in Islamabad and a Regime Change operation by buying politicians and political parties. 

Prime Minister Khan showed material evidence of the ‘foreign conspiracy’ and named Assistant Secretary of State for south and central Asian affairs Donald Lu. A letter from Washington dated one day before the No Confidence was stated, “Pakistan would be forgiven if Imran Khan lost the No Confidence motion!” Washington had foreknowledge of events in Islamabad.

Ironically, Prime Minister Khan, who saved Pakistan’s economy from the economic destruction that almost two years of unnecessary WHO-recommended Covid-19 lockdowns caused in Sri Lanka and protected the Pakistani people and economy by refusing to lockdown Pakistanis, stating that the resulting poverty would kill more people than the lab-made virus, has been accused of economic miss-management even though he was proved right.

The World Bank had lauded Prime Minister Khan’s handling of the Covid Panicdemic’ in Pakistan. Imran Khan’s friendship with China and the recent visit to Moscow and Mr Putin, he noted, had irked Washington and was the reason that Pakistan was targeted. Washington, however, has been much softer on its Indian Quadrilateral Group QUAD partner’s friendship with Russia. There may yet be a new Asian confluence with China, India and Pakistan all refusing to follow NATO condemnation of Moscow following the NATO debacle in Afghanistan last year.

Geopolitics and IMF as Deus ex Machina

Remarkably, the Government, the Opposition, and even  some protestors see the IMF as a sort of ‘Deus ex machina” solution to the crisis triggered by an apparent dollar shortage after rating agencies downgraded the island in concert last year, making it difficult for the government to roll over the 7 billion debts to be paid this year owed primarily to Sovereign Bond traders.

Sri Lanka’s Creditors are mostly based in the USA” noted senior economist Dr. Dushni Weerakoon of the Institute for Policy studies. The island’s debt to GDP ratio is around 110 per cent, partly due to economic mismanagement, including lost tax revenue, and the Covid lockdown and injection policy debacle. But then Japan’s Debt to GDP ratio is over 200 per cent! Compared to America’s 20 trillion debt, Sri Lanka’s debt is around 67 billion.

Is the currency steeply depreciated as a precursor to IMF negotiation in March because of an apparent dollar shortage to clear goods and fuel from the targeted port staged? The saucy island dared to refuse the US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact and Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in 2019. The economic crisis has escalated to default, and an IMF bailout now appears inevitable.

The island was repeatedly downgraded by Rating agencies and could not roll over its debt. The Euro-American Financial system comprises rating agencies, sovereign bond traders and, of course, the Washington Consensus and OECD or Paris Club. 

To be fair the IMF has never pretended that it cares about poor people or inequality but instead prefers to impose austerity measures on the ordinary people which should be imposed on luxury-living politicians and business elites with, for and by which the IMF works. Is the IMF a Fake Solution offered by ALL—who are bought for a unity National Government?

Unlike Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, known for his courage and integrity on and off the cricket field, the hybrid American-Sri Lanka Rajapaksa Regime would not point the finger at the external factors behind Sri Lanka’s 2019 Easter attacks, the blow to the tourism-dependent economy followed by lockdowns and travel warning and the compounding economic debacle of the past three years.

Lockdowns to devastate an Economy?

Keeping hapless citizens in economically debilitating curfews and lockdowns seem to be President Gotabaya Rajapakse’s and his foreign advises’ preferred response to the unexpected.

For the past four years, since the mysterious 2019 Easter Sunday Islamic State (ISIS), claimed attacks that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), later farcically concluded were Master-minded by an internet bot named Sonic Sonic” in Malaysia, there have been economically-devastating Lockdowns in the months of March, April and May, the annual religious festivals season in this multi-religious land.

The Easter curfew were followed in 2020 and 2021 with militarized Covid Lockdowns recommended by the WHO that devastated economy, society and democracy. There were also mysterious cyber hacks of data on the Government Cloud and maritime trade and supply chain disruptions, including the burning and sinking of ships MV Pearl and MT Diamond. 

This year in the week that Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan faced a No-Confidence motion, Sri Lanka saw Arab Spring style’ protests unfold against former US citizen President Gotabaya and the Rajapaksa brothers’ regime, given the soaring cost of living, fuel and food shortages due to a much-hyped dollar shortage in the country and downgrades by rating agencies. 

A few weeks earlier, the Sri Lankan rupee was crashed, having lost 70 per cent of its value in a year against the exorbitantly privileged dollar—a precursor to an International Monitory Fund (IMF), “bailout” or is it “bail-in” negotiations in Washington DC?

Although Sri Lanka is one of South Asia’s wealthiest countries with high social and Human development indicators in REAL TERMS, a coordinated food, fuel and electricity crisis materialized after the rupee crash. There were long queues at petrol sheds and gas shops.

But the strategic island’s crisis may be more about Geopolitics and less about Economics. Since 2019 staged Easter Sunday attacks on Tourist hotels and the economy using religion as a smokescreen and the country’s rejection of America’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact, this strategically located island amid Indian Ocean Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC), appears to have been subject to a form of hybrid ECONOMIC and TRADE WAR with Supply Chain disruption and cyber hacking of Data.

Four years of hybrid economic and trade war

Retrospectively, the mysterious Islamic State (ISIS) claimed Easter Sunday attacks on coastal Hotels and the Tourism dependent economy in 2019, ten years after the defeat of the LTTE and the dawn of peace in Sri Lanka, may be seen to herald the onset of hybrid Economic War in Sri Lanka. The attacks used religion as a cover to hit the tourism-dependent economy and Chinese investments including the Shangri La Hotel where the leader Zaharan and another suicide bomber perished, signaling this was the most crucial target.

The US FBI which removed the cell phones Easter attackers claiming to be ‘helping’ with the investigations and cover-up subsequently claimed that the attacks were master-minded by an internet BOT named Sonic-Sonic!

The hybrid war style Easter 2019 attacks were followed by two years of Covid-19 biowar and fear narratives and economically destructive Lockdowns in 2020, 2021. There was massive health sector expenditure (almost 38 per cent of the budget) and 16 million useless and expensive Pfizer booster injections by Basil Rajapaksa, Head of the Covid Task Force.

At this time while the narrative is that there are no funds to purchase essential drugs, the 4^th Pfizer booster injection is on offer although Covid has disappeared! All health institutions were also captured through Digital Colonialism by Big Pharmaceutical industry and external actors promoting the Covid narrative and LOCKDOWNS (Great Reset after Event 201).

Energy Security compromised on UN climate catastrophe narrative

The crisis was compounded during Covid lockdowns in 2021 by Agriculture and Energy policies that appeared to follow the UN climate catastrophe” narrative. Farmers were instructed to switch overnight to organic fertilizer without a transition plan. The result was fertilizer shortages, harvest failure and farmer’s livelihoods decimated. But President Rajapakse was awarded a prize at the UN for his ‘organic fertilizer’ policy!

So too the island’s Energy security was compromised during Covid lockdowns following the United Nation’s climate catastrophe narrative although Sri Lanka’s per capita carbon emissions are minute comparted to most countries in the world.

There was a rush to convert power plants to LNG and focus on renewables, without a phased transition plan, also given high levels of corruption in energy sector and oversight institutions like the Ceylon Electricity Board and Public Utilities Commission PUCSL. Meanwhile, the Yugadhanvi power plant at Kerawelapitiya was sold to an American company- further compromising national energy security during an energy crisis! The claim was that the answer to corruption in State owned enterprises (SOE) in privatization and sale of assets to foreign companies. Is this not a case of throwing a baby out with the bathwater?!

For the past four years then a pattern has emerged: Every March-April, a new round of destabilization and economically, socially and democracy debilitating lockdowns starts and since 2019, Sri Lankan citizens have been routinely put in LOCKDOWNS and CURFEWS. Meanwhile, foreign navies stage war games off the island’s coasts of this strategic island, as was the case with the Malabar War games that beached and killed pilot whales while Lankans were in lockdown in 2020.

Has the island been systematically targeted because it sits on the Indian Ocean Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC), vital to securing America’s “Free and Open Indo Pacific” after refusing the MCC compact and SOFA? Geography is history in this strategic island in the Indian Ocean. Similarly, Pakistan was targeted for regime change after Imran Khan’s visit to Russia.

Former US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Alice G. Wells, once referred to Sri Lanka as a “valuable piece of real estate” and the island appears to be vital for maintaining America’s “Free and Open Indo Pacific”.

So too, the Sinhala Diaspora seems to have been Weaponized: Basil Rajapaksa, brother of the President and Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Disaster in Sri Lanka, is a US Citizen. Governance in Sri Lanka for the past three years has been a family affair of the hybrid American-Sri Lankan Rajapaksa family. Basil Rajapaksa was set to fly to Washington to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a staged parliamentary debate on April 8 but was later ditched as a liability.

Lawfare: Solutions when conspiracy theories come true

We live in a post-Covid world when conspiracy theories increasingly seem to come true. In a landmark decision the Supreme Court of India ruled last week, that ‘no one could be forced to be vaccinated’ and that that there was NO data to show more risk from unvaccinated persons than vaccinated individuals. This begs the question why and millions being spent on Covid injections and boosters?

At this time Protests may be useless without creative alternatives to the proffered IMF “solution” requiring foreign legal firms to take over Sri Lanka’s economic negotiations. 

Strategic Sri Lanka may need to look to look east, beyond India for help and development at this time of national humiliation and develop a strategy to de-dollarize and trade in a basket of currencies. It may consider an independent Economic, Trade, Energy and Foreign Policy and source its oil, gas, and other energy needs from Russia at discount prices like India is doing.

Going to the IMF and its aid conditionalities means that Sri Lanka loses policy autonomy and sovereignty and is rendered unable to have an INDEPENDENT FOREIGN, ECONOMIC, TRADE or ENERGY policy that serves the interest of her citizens.

Sri Lanka seems to be subject also to the phenomenon of lawfare as part of a Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) remote Over the Horizon (OTH) operation. As documented in the regime change operation against Brazil’s leftist President Lula by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), lawfare has been identified as the process whereby a country’s legal system is subverted and weaponized against justice. 

There is a pattern of fundamental rights cases against government actions being dismissed while the people are distracted with food and fuel shortages and or Covid-19 lockdowns. Petitions that have been refused leave to proceed sometime by five-judge benches include challenges to the sale of the Kerawelapitiya Yugadhanavi Power plant at this time of Energy Crisis to a US company name New Fortress in a midnight deal by the President, the Central Bank Bond scam cases, the cases challenging the Covid-19 mass injections Gazette of 2022 which would impose digital vaccine certificates and discriminate those who are not injected from public places under a Fake Health Emergency etc. that would also enable surveillance, stop crowds and protest, stymie democracy and promote digital colonialism and control of citizens.

Are the citizens of strategic Sri Lanka being targeted in an Over the Horizon (OTH) Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) operation for control, colonization and occupation as Cold War returns to South Asia with America’s ominous Pivot to the Indian Ocean region?

 [IDN-InDepthNews – 04 April 2022]

Photo: A Sri Lanka protestor. Source: DAWN

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චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි 

අපේ රට ගිනිබත් කලේ වරක් දෙවරක් නොවේ. මේ රට, ඉතිහාසය තුලදී දස දහස්වාරයක් ගිනිබත් කොට විනාශ කල රටකි. ඒ රටට බටහිර ජාතීන්ගේ ගලා ඒම ආරම්භවුයේ 1505 වසරේදී වන අතර, 1518දී එවකට කෝට්ටේ රාජධානිය පාලනය කල බුවනෙකබාහු රජතුමාගෙන්, ගෙරිහම් කඩක් එලා ගන්නට තරම් කුඩා භූමියක් ඉල්ලු පෘතුගීසින්, ඒ ගෙරිහම් කඩ එළිම ආරම්භ කල ස්ථානයට මිට මසකට පෙර කඩා වැදුන මෙරට “අරගලය” නම්වූ හමුදාව, ජනාධිපති ලේඛම් කාර්යාලයට ඇතුළුවන මුවදොර අවහිර කරමින් ආරම්භ කල අරගලය, මේ වෙනවිටත් අඛණ්ඩව ගලා යමින් පවතී. මෙය මෙරට මාධ්‍යට,හා නීතියට අනුව සාමකාමී නීති ගරුක අරගලයකි. මේ අර්ථකථනයට අනුව මෙරට ඕනෑම ස්ථානයකට ඇතුළුවන මුවදොර අවහිර කරමින්, විරෝධතා පැවැත්වීමට කිසිදු බාදාවක් නැත. ඒ සෑම අරගලයක්ම ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයෙන් තොර නම් නිත්‍යානු කුල අරගල යන කඩතුරාවට මුවාවෙ. ඒ අනුව ජනාධිපති මැදුර, අගමැති මැදුර, අගවිනිසුරු මැදුර, කතානායක මැදුර , උසාවියක මුවදොර, පොලිස් මුලස්තානයක මුවදොර, හමුදා මුලස්තානයක මුවදොර, මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලය යන ඕනෑම ස්ථානයක මේ ආකාරයේ විරෝධතා පැවැත්වීම නිත්‍යානුකුල බව ඇඟවේ. ඒ ඒ ස්ථාන අනුව, “Go President go home”  කීමටත්, Go PM go home කීමටත්. Go CJ go home කීමටත්, Go  speaker go home කීමටත්, Go judge go home කීමටත්,…………..හැකි බවට නීතියට අර්ථ කතනයක් ලබාදී තිබේ. මේ නීතියට අනුව, පළමුව ජනපති හා  විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද ,අගමැති හා විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද, අගවිනිසුරු හා විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද, කතානායකතුමා හා විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද, අගවිනිසුරුතුමා හා විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද, උසාවියේ විනිසුරුතුවරුන් හා විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද, පොලිස්පති හා විරෝධතාකරුවන් අතර ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයක්ද, යන ආකාරයට විරෝධතාවයට එරෙහිව ඒ ඒ පුද්ගල මනස තුල මේ විරෝධතාවයට එරෙහිව ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයන් හට ගනී.

මෙහිදී ජනාධිපතිතුමා තුල හට ගන්නාවූ, ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයට අනුව එතුමා සිය නිල කටයුතු කිරීම සඳහා ජනාධිපති මන්දීරය. දක්වා පසුබැස ගිය අතර, මෙතන සාමකාමිත්වය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට කටයුතුකර ඇත්තේ ජනාධිපතිතුමා මිස අරගලකරුවන් නොවේ. මේ බව මෙරට මාධ්‍යට හෝ නීතියට තේරුණ බවක් දක්නට නැත.  ඔවුනට අනුව ජනාධිපතිගේ නිල කාර්යාලයට ඇතුළුවීමට ඉඩ නොතබා විරෝධතාව ගෙන යාම නිත්‍යානුකුල කටයුත්තකි. සාමකාමී අරගලයකි.

එදා 1518දී පෘතුගීසින් ඔය අරගල භූමියේම ගෙරිහම්කඩ එලා පෘතුගීසි බලකොටුව සෑදීම ආරම්භ කල දවසේ,එයට ආශිර්වාද කිරීමට රෝමානු කතෝලික පියතුමන්ලා සියල්ලක්ම එම ස්ථානයට රොද බදාගෙන පැමිණි අතර, එම ස්ථානයේ, ආරම්භකළ කොටුව ඉදිකිරීමේ බලපෑම ඒ අවට සියලු ප්‍රදේශ වලට ගලාගිය ආකාරයටම, මේ අරගල භුමියද ක්‍රම ක්‍රමයෙන් කොල්ලුපිටියේ අරලිය ගහ මැදුර දක්වා පැතිර ගියහ. එවිට අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ, සිටි අගමැතිවරයා තුල හට ගත් ප්‍රතිවිරෝධතාවයහි ස්වරුපය ජනාධිපතිවරයා ගත් ස්වරුපයට සමාන නොවීම නිසා, පසුගිය 9 වෙනිදා මුළු රටම ගිනිගත් අතර, මේ ගිනි ගැනීම විරෝධතාකරුවන් අපේක්ෂාවෙන් ඉතා සංවිධානාත්මකව කටයුතු කිරීමේ පලයක් වශයෙන් විරෝධතා කරුවන්ට තමන් අපේක්ෂා කල ආකාරයේ ජයග්‍රහණයක් හිමිවිය.

දැන් හැමෝම කතා කරන්නේ  මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හිටපු අගමැතිතුමා සාමකාමී අරගලයට පහරදීම නිසා මේ ගින්න අවුලුන බවයි. දැන් මේ අරගල කරුවන්ගේ ගිනි තැබූ හනුමන්තලා රටපුරාම ගිනි තැබූ නිවාස හා මරා දැමු මිනිසුන් සම්බන්ධව කතා කරනවාට වඩා, මයිනාගමට පහර දුන් සිදුවීම හා ගොටාගමට පහරදීමට යාමේ සිදුවීම මේ විනාශයේ ආරම්භය ලෙස පෙන්වීමට උත්සහ කරයි.

දැන් සියල්ල සිදුවී හමාරය. නමුත් අරගලය තවත් ඉදිරියට ගලා යමින් පවතී. දැන් පොලිස් මුලස්ථානය වටලා අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් මිනිසුන්ව නිදහස් කරන ලෙසත්,මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හා ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙසත් බලකරමින් අරගලය පොලිස් මුලස්ථානය දක්වා ව්‍යාප්තව ගොස් ඇත. හෙට ඔවුනට එරෙහිව නඩු දමන විට අරගලය උසාවිය අබියසටද පැමිණෙනු ඇත. එවිට අරගලකරුවන් සම්බන්ධව විනිසුරුතුමන්ලා තුල හට ගන්නා වූ ප්‍රතිවිරෝධය සාධාරණත්වය ලෙස එලි බසී. එසේ වීමට පෙර අරගලය මැඩලීම තුලින් අධිකරණයේ ගෞරවයත්, පොලිස් සේවාවේ ගෞරවයත් රැකගත යුතු බව මෙරට ජනතාවගේ මතයයි. නව අගමැතිවරයෙක් පැමිණ රට ගොඩ ගැනීමට සැලසුම් සකසන මේ වෙලාවේ විනයගරුක පුරවැසියන්ව, කටයුතු කිරීම අරගලකරුවන්ගේ වගකීමයි.

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

Sri Lanka gems  are celebrated worldwide for  their high quality, their clarity, transparency and saturation. Some are  with private collectors, others are in prestigious museums, a few were bought for necklaces for royalty. In Britain,  a Sri Lanka gem  was at  the centre of the engagement ring worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, another  gem adorns the British  royal crown (the one that is put on the head).

ROYALTY

 The crown jewels of many monarchs gleam with extraordinary spinals, sapphires, and zircons mined from Sri Lanka streams”, said gemologist  Peter Bancroft. The Imperial Treasury of the Soviet Union houses a 400-carat red spinel of great beauty which was once given to Catherine the Great. The British Imperial Crown features a giant oval-cut spinel (previously supposed to be a ruby), known as the Black Prince.” Crowns in the Green Vaults of Dresden are covered with sapphires from Sri Lanka , he concluded.

The  170 carat Sri Lankan red spinel  known as Black Prince Ruby  forms the centerpiece of the imperial state crown of Great Britain. Princess Diana’s  engagement ring consisted of 14 diamonds surrounding a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon sapphire set in 18-karat white gold.

The  Timur Ruby is an un-faceted, 361-carat polished spinal set in a necklace for Queen Victoria in 1853. It was thought to be a ruby. British Royal Jewel is a 105 carat Chrysoberyl cat’s eye of exceptional quality, discovered in Sri Lanka. It was purchased for the British Royalty from a reputed London jeweler around 1900.

Empress Maria’s Sapphire, a splendid oval cut Sri Lankan blue sapphire of 260.37 carats , purchased by the Russian Emperor Alexander II at the London Great Exhibition of 1862 and presented to his wife Empress Maria Alexandronova. After  her death, the gem was donated to the State Diamond Fund of the Russian Federation and is presently  displayed at their museum in Gokhran, Russia.

Queen Marie of Romania Sapphire,  a 478.68 carat, cushion cut, deep cornflower blue of Sri Lankan origin  was originally purchased by King Ferdinand of Romania for  his Queen .the gemstone came up for auction at Christie’s  in 2003.The buyer is unknown.

MUSEUMS

Sri Lanka gems are exhibited in prestigious museums. Star of Lanka This grayish-blue star sapphire of 193 carats was sold to the Royal Ontario Museum in 1958by its owner, Allan Kaplan

Hope cat’s eye, at 500 carats is the world’s largest chrysoberyl cat’s eye. Once owned by wealthy British banker and gem investor Thomas P. Hope, the gem  is now on exhibit at the British Museum of Natural History.

Museum of Natural History in New York  received valuable gems from JP Morgan.  Midnight Star Sapphire is a 116.75 carat deep purple-violet star sapphire, discovered in Sri Lanka in the 19^th century.  Star of India is a 563.35 carat grayish-blue star sapphire discovered in Sri Lanka.  It is almost flawless . it has stars on the both sides, which is extremely rare for its size. J.P. Morgan donated both to the American Museum of Natural History in New York in the 1900s.  Three blue star sapphires , 188 carats, 158 carats and 153 carats were also donated from J.P. Morgan’s personal collection, to this museum.

But the biggest haul of Sri Lanka gems went to the Smithsonian Museumof Natural History in Washington DC  ( USA). The following gems are displayed there.

Maharani Cat’s Eye a 58.19 carat honey colored sharp band of light chrysoberyl cat’s eye discovered in Sri Lanka , is one of the finest gems of its kind.

Rosser Reeves Star Ruby 138.7 carats ,is the world’s largest star ruby of comparable fine quality. It has rare features of excellent color, a well defined star and good transparency. Owned by advertising mogul Rosser Reeves, it was donated to the Smithsonian in 1965

Logan Blue sapphire  considered to be the second largest blue sapphire on record. It is a flawless specimen. A rich deep blue in color, weighing  423 ct it is set in a brooch and surrounded by twenty diamonds. It was gifted to the Smithsonian by Mrs. John A. Logan.

 Star of Bombay is a 182 carat violet-blue star sapphire discovered in Sri Lanka.  It was given as a gift to Mary Pickford by her husband Douglas Fairbanks in the 1920’s. She  bequeathed the gemstone to the Smithsonian.

Star of Artaban is a milky blue colour cabochon-cut star sapphire of 287 carat of Sri Lankan origin. The gem was purchased by a member of the Georgia Mineral Society toward the end of 1943.It was later presented anonymously by the  family to the Smithsonian .

Bismarck Sapphire a  98.6 carat cornflower-blue sapphire discovered in Sri Lanka in 1920. It was gifted to Countess Mona von Bismarck, by  her third husband, Harrison Williams in 1926.  Mona von Bismarck donated the stone to the Smithsonian in 1967.

PRIVATE COLLECTORS

Other valuable Sri Lanka gems went  to private collectors. The Naleem alexandriteis exceptional in size for this type of stone. It claims to be largest alexandrite in the world weighing  112 carats. it was  named after seller Al Haj Naleem, gem merchant from Beruwala. Believed to be the most expensive of its kind in the world, it is valued at over $100 million. Current owner unknown.

The Eye of the Lion is a spectacular gemstone of 465 carats. This Chrysoberyl cat’s eye gemstone  discovered in the late 1800’s in  a Pelmadulla paddy field, was  owned by  Iddamalgoda Kumarihamy, an aristocratic Chieftain in the Sabaragamuwa Province and Chief Custodian of Saman Devale.

She gifted the uncut Cats-Eye to her eldest daughter’s husband. The stone was preserved in its rough form and in turn inherited by his son, the first grandson of Iddamalgoda Kumarihamy. The family named the gem The Eye of the Lion.”     Smithsonian expressed interest in acquiring the gemstone in 1978. The stone  resurfaced in Thailand in  2006 in the hands of gemstone dealer Jeffery Bergman.

Star of Adam the largest blue star sapphire found in the world reportedly found near Adams Peak in Sri Lanka in 1902. O.L.M Macan Marker & Co purchased the rough  which weighed more than 600 carats. This impressive corn flower hued, cushion cut, blue  sapphire was the largest faceted blue sapphires of its kind at that time. With full saturation, intense medium blue color and orange red under ultraviolet light, the stone  was valued $7000 back in 1902.

Blue Giant of the Orient At 486.52 carats, this gem is considered to be the largest blue sapphire in the world.  Discovered in Sri Lanka in 1907, the gem was sold to an anonymous American collector.  Nothing was heard of the stone until 2004, when  it suddenly appeared at a Christie’s Magnificent Jewels sale held on May 19, 2004 in Geneva. Now this stone is in Switzerland.

Star of Ceylon  101 carat violet-blue star sapphire  from Sri Lanka  is  owned by a private collector in Seattle, USA.

Belle of Asia 400 carats cornflower-blue sapphire, was  discovered in the paddy field of Pelmadulla in 1926. The Blue Belle is held in the highest esteem among blue sapphires owing to its highly prized peacock blue colour and its excellent clarity. It was bought by Lord Naffield (Nuffield?) of Britain. The fate of the Blue Belle of Asia” after his death is not known. (Continued)

ජයන්ත හේරත්

යකා පේන තරම් කළු නැතය කියූ

බෝං-අගේන් අන්ර,

ජූලි චං

බැහැ දකින්නට ගියේය.

පස්ස දොරෙන් ඇතුළු වී

ඉස්සරහ දොරෙන් මතු විය.

දැන් දැන්

අවවාද අනුශාසනා

ලැබෙන්නේ

ඇමරිකන් එම්බසියෙන්ය.

උතුරු කොරියාවෙන්

කිම් ඉල සුං නොවේය.

වෙනස මරුය.

කියුබාව දෙස බලන්නට

අන්ර ජූලි චංට 

කිව්වද දන්නෙත් නැත.

කියුබාව පරෙස්සම් වෙන්න ඕන දැන් ය.

අන්රගෙ ස්ලෙව්ස්ලා 

එක්ස්ට්ර්ම්ලි කේපබල්ය,

දේපල වතු පිටි වාහන

පේන්නට බැරිය.

ශුන්‍ය ය.

පෙට්රොල්, භූමිතෙල් නැතත්

ගිණි තබන්නේය.

මිනිස් බිලි ගැන 

අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැත.

ශුන්‍ය ය.

ඇහේ කැටරැක්ට්ද දන්නෙත් නැත

පරික්ෂා කර ගෙන

ඔපරේෂන් කර

ඇස් පෙනෙන්නට

පටන් ගන්නා විට

බොහෝ ප්රමාදය,

අශ්වයා පැන ගොසින්ය. 

ජිල්

ජැක් නැතුව

ඔලේනා දකින්නට

කියැව් ගියාය

මදර්ස් ඩේ 

සර්ප්රය්ස්ය.

ඒවා එන්නත්ය,

පපටෙරියන් කාර්ය

වඩාත් පහසු කරන්නට රෙකමන්ඩ් කර ඇත.

එන්නත විතරක් මදිය

බූස්ටර ද දිය යුතුය.

ජිල් හා ඔලේනාට

නැළවිලි ගීයක් කියා

යුක්රේන් කාලුශ්

2022 යුරෝවිෂන් සෝන්ග් කන්ටෙස්ට් විනර් වුනේය.

ලංකාවට කෙලවෙන්න

ඔන්න මෙන්න තියා

ඉන්දියාව

යොහානි මැණිකේ උස්සා තැබීය.

ඉන්දියාවේ හිතේ ලංකාවය.

අඩු තරමේ මැණිකේ

බච්චන්ගේ හිතේවත් නැත.

එන්නතක්ය.

හිරාන්ට

බෙස්ට් ඩ්රාමා ඇට්ටර් කම

එංගෙලන්ත ඔලිවියර් අවොර්ඩ් එක හරහා ලැබුනේ

ගෝල්පීසේ සාම-ආරගලිස්ට්-බජව්ව යන අතරතුරේය.

බූස්ටර්ය.

සුබුද්දිට

බෙස්ට් ඇට්ටර්ස් කම

හම්බ විය,

ඒ වේදිකා ඒකාංගික නාට්ය ලෝක තරඟවලියකදීය.

බූස්ටර්

පිට පිටය.

ජාත්යන්තර සම්මාන

සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින රටවල

ඩ්රීම්ස් ය,

ගිගා ඩ්රීම් ප්රයිස් ය.

විශේෂයෙන් ලංකාවැස්සන්ට

ඊට වඩා ඩ්රීම් එකක් නැත.

ලංකාවේ විදේශ නය

ඇමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් බිලියන් 51ක්ය.

මුළු ජනගහනය මිලියන් 20

අතරේ බෙදුවත්

එකෙක් ඩොලර් 2500ක් විතර ණය ය,

මහ ලොකු ගානක් නොවේය.

පහුගියදා

crypto වාශ්ප විය,

ඩොලර් ට්රිලියන් එකක්ය

බිලියන් නම් 1000ක්ය.

ශුන්‍ය 12 ශුන්‍ය විය.

ඉලක්කං මැජික්ය.

සංවර්ධිත රටවල් එය

හොඳාකාරවම දනීය,

සංවර්ධනය වෙන රටවල

මොරාල් එක උස්සන්නට

බූස්ටර් දෙන්නේය,

තවත් සම්මාන මඟ එන්නේය.

මරුය!

Nancy Pelosi

ඇමරිකන්

කතා නායිකා වය.

3rd inline for President-Of-The-United-States ය  

යකඩය.

Thatcher ය.

Thatcher ගේ පිළිරුවටත් බිත්තර වැදුනේය.

ට්රුම්ප් ගේ

රාජාසන කතාව

ඉරා සුනු විසුනු කලේ

ට්රුම්ප් ගේ මූණ ඉස්සරහමය.

පහු ගියදා

Ukrain ගියේය.

Zelensky comedian ය

බිලියන 33 ක

පරණ 

යුද අවි

ආදාර ලැබුනේය.

Pelosy ට

ලී වලින් හැදු

Princess of olga

තෑග්ග ලැබුනේය.

උන්නහෙට හිනාය.

ඒ කට මටත් හිනාය.

මතක් උනේ

ලොකුම

pumpkin ගෙඩියේ කතාවය

ගොවියෙකුට

ලෝකයේ ලොකුම

වට්ටක්ක ගෙඩිය

හැදුනේය.

ඔහු එය රජුට තෑගී කළේය.

රජු දුප්පත් ගොවියාට

සල්ලි ඉඩ කඩම් තොගයක්

තෑගී කළේ

තව වට්ටක්ක වවන්නය.

මේක බලා හිටපු

මහා ධන පතියෙක්

රජුට විශාල  මුදල් සම්භාරයක් තෑගි  කළේය.

රජු ඔහුට

වට්ටක්ක ගෙඩිය

තෑගී කළේය.

තෑග්ගෙන් තෑග්ග

උතුම් තෑග්ගය.

චර්චිල් අගමැති වූනේ

4 න්ය

රනිල්

දිනුවේ එකෙන්ය.

ඇත්තම නම්

බින්දුවෙන් ය.

ශුන්‍ය යෙන්ය.

දේෂප්‍රිය

උප්පරවට්ටියෙන්ය.

රනිල්ට ඕනා

Churchil ට ත් 

වඩා ලොකු

කෙරුමෙක්

බව පෙන්නීමටය.

Uncle Nephew

පාර්ට්යේ

nephew ය

දැන් අන්කල්  උනාට.

අප්පමාදෝ අමතා පදන්ය.

ශුන්‍ය නරක නැත.

සුභ වෙසක් මගුලක් වේවා!

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

Sri Lanka is best known for the following gemstones: Agate, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Citrine, Cymophane, ‘Cats eye’, Garnet, Moonstone, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire, Spinel, Topaz, Tourmaline and Zircon.  

Agate is a semi-precious gem occurring in a wide range of colors including brown, white, red, grey, pink, black, and yellow. Sri Lanka is known for blue-tinted agate. Amethyst is the purple variety of the mineral quartz. Colored by Iron, Amethyst occur in transparent pastel roses to deep purples.  The finest amethyst color is strong reddish-purple to purple. The best varieties of amethyst can be found in Sri Lanka.

Flawless Aquamarines have been found in Ratnapura, Rakwana, Morawaka, Hatton, Nawalapitiya, Galle, Matara, Tissamaharama and Lunugamwehera.  Sri Lanka exports irregular amethysts heat-treated into Citrine.

The most popular Cat’s Eye gem in Sri Lanka  is the one belonging to the Chrysoberyl family. Chrysoberyls are cut into cabochons to best display their spectacular eyes and are much sought after in the local and global market. Cabochon is  a stone  cut with a domed top and flat bottom.  The reflected light is focused into a bright band that forms the “cat’s eye” of  the gemstone.

The Chrysoberyl species in Sri Lanka includes two types, Cymophane and Alexandrite..Alexandrite is a rare Chrysoberyl, but is abundantly found in Sri Lanka. It displays three different colors when viewed from different directions, green, orange, and purple-red. Their ability to shift colors from red to green when viewed under different light sources makes Alexandrite a highly sought after gemstone in the global market. The color of Cymophane goes from semi-transparent golden-yellow to slightly greenish-yellow or brownish-yellow color.

 Sri Lanka National Gem Authority collection  has a  Cat’s eye, named The Ray of Treasure’.  It is a 105 carat gem discovered in Sri Lanka. This gemstone is a fine example of the most desirable qualities of cat’s eye stones.  The excellent transparency of the stone and well defined silver ray makes this nearly a flawless specimen. Its cuts and proportion make this a highly desired cat’s eye, said experts.

Cat’s eye gems are widely distributed within the main gem producing regions. They are mainly found around Agalawatta, Alutgama, Ambalantota, Avissawella,Bulathsinhala, Bulutota, Deniyaya, Elahera, Horana, Kalapugama,Matugama,Mestiya, Morawaka, Panadura,  Pelawatte, Rakwana and  Ratnapura.

Gemstones belonging to the Garnet family are available in Sri Lanka in four of its six varieties. Sri Lanka is known for the almandine and hessonite varieties . The garnets  occur in a multitude of colors and some display a color change when viewed under different types of lighting

The world celebrated blue Moonstone comes from the Meetiyagoda mines. Classical moonstones are always cut as cabochons. Sri Lanka is a leading source for fine quality rose quartz rocks.

 Ruby deposits in Sri Lanka  are found together with other gemstones of the Corundum family  in the same mines. Most Sri Lankan Ruby varieties are of a pinkish red and display a tint of purple, caused by the presence of iron in addition to chromium oxide, which is unique to Sri Lanka. Ruby deposits in Embilipitiya and Uda Walawe yield rubies of high quality.

Spinel is a gemstone found in great abundance in Sri Lanka . They are attractive, colourful and affordable. In addition to the common varieties of spinel three other varieties, namely, Ceylonite, Gahnite and Ghanospinel are also found in Sri Lanka . Sri Lanka is the second largest supplier of spinel to the global  market.

Sri Lanka spinel has colors ranging from ruby red, pink, orange, shades of reddish-brown, purple, blue, bluish-green, mauve, greenish-black, black to colorless. Natural blue spinel colored by cobalt has been found in Sri Lanka, around Ratnapura, Okkampitiya and Embilipitiya.

Until the rise of modern gemology in the 19th and 20th Century spinels were often mistakenly identified as corundums, as they were mostly found in the same mine. Many gem enthusiasts are now  finding that their beloved rubies and sapphires are in fact spinels.

 Sri Lanka is an important location for  Topaz, especially  colorless Topaz. The rich Topaz deposit at Polwatta, near Matale is managed by the State Gem Corporation.

Tourmalines found in Sri Lanka are brown, yellowish-brown, reddish-brown, or nearly black in color.. Most of the brown and yellowish-brown varieties are located mainly around Uva, Ratnapura and Tissamaharama regions in Sri Lanka while Lunugala, Bibile, Passara, Nilgala region, Horana, Matugama, Pelawatte, Morawaka, Deniyaya, Rakwana areas in the country also produce impressive specimens.

Zircon is colorless  and is a popular substitute for diamonds. Zircon found in Sri Lanka is celebrated for its brilliance and flashes of multi colored light. They are mostly found in Matara and  are  known as Matara Diamonds.

The Ceylon Sapphire  needs special mention. Sri Lanka’s blue sapphire is considered one of the best in the world and has a very high demand from all over the world. The world’s  first, second and third largest blue sapphires are from Sri Lanka .

Ceylon Blue Sapphires are mined from the alluvial deposits located in the highland complex .  Ceylon sapphires  are acclaimed for their clarity, saturation, light blue and dark blue colours. The most valued blue sapphires were velvety blue to violetish blue, in medium to medium-dark tones. They command the highest prices. The most highly regarded blue sapphires are those which display  cornflower blue color.  

The  mines in Sri Lanka have steadily yielded  large size  blue sapphires . The discovery of a ‘gigantic’ blue sapphire  of 856 Carats, from a  gem pit at Hakamuwa close to Ratnapura  in 1998   caused much rejoicing. This  gem was named as “Pride of Lanka”.

 The owner of the mine stated that mines in the area has produced bigger and better stones earlier. They were sold in black market to avoid tax. This stone came out in the right time when the tax concessions was given. The massive stone was  displayed inside a glass box to the public before it went before buyers. This gem was considered to be  one of the largest blue sapphires found in Sri Lanka .

T. Piyadasa, Director of National Gem and Jewellery Authority listed some of the large  sapphires discovered by 2003. They are listed here by     size. A blue sapphire of 8042 Carats was found in a gem pit at Pelmadulla. It was named as “Splendour of Lanka”.

 Blue Sapphire of  4002 Carats  was found in a gem pit at Neelagama in Ratnapura district in 2000.  A transparent Blue Sapphire  of 2516 carats was found in a river bank at Ellawala in Ratnapura district. Blue sapphire of 1200 carats was found at Kosgala. Sri Lanka had maintained its lead in this race. In 2016 it was announced that the world’s largest blue sapphire to date had been  found in Sri Lanka.

In  February 2012 high-quality blue sapphires  were discovered at  a  road construction site at Thammannawa near Kataragama. The new deposit generated considerable excitement since the gems occurred as sharp-edged, well-formed crystals with a pure blue color  and  vitreous luster that is unprecedented in Sri Lankan sapphires. The blue color is different from the violetish blue typically observed in sapphires from other parts of the country.

Several kilograms of rough were taken.  Well-formed crystals large enough to facet fine blue sapphires weighing more than 20 ct. were obtained. Some crystals  were larger than 200 g.  Faceted blue sapphires of fine color and weighing more than 20 ct were cut from these crystals.

Sri Lanka is also known for its star sapphires. The presence of a star is quite rare, being only found in a tiny percentage of the sapphires mined around the world. Sri Lanka is  a source of large star sapphires of premium quality. Some of the largest star sapphires in the world including the Star of Adam have come from Sri Lanka    

Sri Lanka has been able to show large star sapphires exceeding 100 carats.  Sri Lanka National Gem Authority collection has a star sapphire, named Star of Lanka weighing 105 carats. It is a rich deep blue and has a well defined six rayed star.  It is the third largest star sapphire of similar quality in existence.  This collection has another star sapphire weighing 224 carats named Star of Asia” and a third unnamed gem of 393 carats discovered in 1970.

The world’s largest star sapphire cluster to date was found in   a backyard,  by accident in 2021. The stone was found by workmen digging a well in the home of a gem trader in Ratnapura area. The cluster weighs around 510 kilograms or 2.5 million carats. “I have never seen such a large specimen before. This was probably formed around 400 million years ago,”  said gemologist  Gamini Zoysa,. Experts say the stone, which is pale blue in color, has an estimated value of up to $100 million in the international market.

Sapphires from Sri Lanka are found in colours other  than the famous blue. They also occur in violet, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, and intermediate hues.. These colored sapphires  are known as fancy sapphires.

The Ceylon Yellow sapphires are bright and does not exhibit mixture of green compared to Australian and Thailand sapphires , making  Sri Lanka one of the finest yellow sapphire producers in the world. Yellow sapphires from the Balangoda area in Sri Lanka are considered of high quality. A large yellow sapphire weighing 1.3 kilograms was found two kilometers from Ratnapura 

The pink  sapphires found in Sri Lanka are known as the ‘Hot Pink Sapphire’ or the ‘Sri Lanka Ruby’. The rare green sapphire found in Sri Lanka has a brown and black hue that  does not occur among the green-hued sapphires mined elsewhere. Ceylon lavender sapphires contain the most delicate shades of violet.  An orange sapphire of 825 carats emerged from a gem pit at Kuruwita. It was transparent and free of cracks.

Known as the rarest and the most valuable corundum found in Sri Lanka, the Padparadscha sapphire, features a delicate combination of pink and orange, a hue in between a ruby and a yellow sapphire. Resembling the tips of a new lotus flower at the dawn, the name derives from the Sanskrit term padmaraga for lotus blossom.

Although sapphires with pinkish and orange hues are also found in other countries, Sri Lanka is considered to be the true source for Padparadscha due to their unique color hues and zones. Purists believe that only the natural gem corundum with pinkish-orange hues sourced from Sri Lanka  should be called Padparadscha or Padmaraga. ( Continued)

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KAMALIKA  PIERIS

Sri Lanka is one of the top gem bearing countries in the world. It has the highest density of gems in the world and is known the world over as a destination for over 75 varieties of precious and semi-precious gemstones.

Sri Lanka is best known for the following gemstones: Agate, ,Amethyst, Aquamarine, Citrine, Cymophane(Cats eye), Garnet, Moonstone, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire, Spinel, Topaz, Tourmaline  and Zircon.   Sri Lanka,  is  specially known for blue sapphire, yellow sapphire,  ruby, Alexandrite ,  Cat’s-eye  and Garnet, experts added. The Sri Lankan origin of the gemstone is determined by  certain characteristics, they said.

It has been estimated that nearly 25% of the total land area of Sri Lanka is potentially gem-bearing, making Sri Lanka one of the countries with the highest density of gem deposits compared to its landmass. Nearly all these gem formations are located in within the Highland and to a lesser extent Southwest complex, with  a few in the Eastern Vijayan Complex. About 30 years ago people in Passara and beyond realized, quite by accident, that they were living on rich gem land, said Milroy Ratwatte in 2004.

Gem deposits can exist within a couple of feet from the surface of the ground but some are only to be found at depths of 70-80 feet.  A unique feature in Sri Lanka  is that a variety of different gems may be found within the same pit. Gem deposits vary widely in the gems they contain. Most deposits mainly  contain chrysoberyl, garnet, ruby, sapphire, spinel, topaz, tourmaline  and zircon . The gemstones found in the deposits have different origins.  Residual deposits are mainly found in the  flood plains of rivers and streams.

Gem stones are found primarily in Ratnapura and Elahera. The Ratnapura and Elahera gem fields are extensively mined. Ratnapura contains the most gem deposits.  Gemstone rich Ratnapura region is a delta of sorts, with sapphire rich gravel buried 7-30 meters below the soil, in old river beds, observed an expert. The top layers of soil, which do not contain sapphire, are rich in other gems such as black tourmaline, quartz, zircon, and spinel.

Ratnapura, city of gems” is still the heart of the industry, though new pits are being explored in other parts of the island, experts said. Yellow and blue sapphires from Ratnapura mines are the most sought after in the world. The sapphires of these mines have been used in some of the most premium jewellery grade pieces in the world.

Sri Lanka’s Elahera gem fields are located near the Wasgomuwa Nature Reserve. Because the soil in Elahera is relatively dry gem mining is less complicated than in wet zones like Ratnapura. The Elahera gem field is now second only to Ratnapura in the production of gemstones.  Elahera is considered an excellent source for large gem-quality corundums. Crystals weighing as much as 200 carat have been found .

Gunawardene and Rupasinghe (1986) said that while total exports of loose gems from Sri Lanka had dropped significantly from their 1980 peak of more than $40 million annually, they appear to have stabilized at between $15 million and $20 million in mid 1980s. Although specific production figures are as elusive for Elahera as they are for most others, they estimated, in 1986, that Elahera contributed 35% of these exports, or approximately 15,000kg of sapphires and 8,500 kg of other stones.

There are other gem mines in Sri Lanka which are not so well known. Sri Lanka also has the Bibile sapphire mines, which yield blue sapphires, Pelmadulla sapphire mines, Meetiyagoda moonstone mines and the mines at Morawaka in Matara district.

Pelmadulla mines are the traditional hand-dug pit mines found under paddy fields as well as mechanized small-scale mining operations, said experts. Pelmadulla yielded many white and cornflower-blue sapphires. Ceylon-blue and Padparadscha sapphires were also   found at Pelmadulla.

In 2005 The National Gem and Jewellery Authority found two large gem deposits covering more than six acres in Wellandura estate (Kahawatta) and Akarella estate (Opanayake). They contain aquamarine, topaz and quarts. A high quality  blue sapphire  deposit were found in the Kataragama klippe in the Thammannawa, Kataragama area in 2012.

RATNAPURA

Ratnapura mining region has produced an incredible variety of gemstones, many of them outstanding in comparison with stones from other countries said gemologist Peter Bancroft (1974). Sapphire occurs in all hues of blue, as well as yellow, violet, green, pink, and the remarkable pinkish-orange Padparadscha .

Ratnapura also had topaz in bright yellow with a reddish tinge, brownish yellow to cinnamon-colored Grossular, orange-yellow Spessartine, blood-red Pyrope and red to brownish red Almandine. The world’s finest Zircon in a broad spectrum including brown, yellow, orange, green, and colorless .

Green, yellow, and brown Tourmaline, and yellow, green, and brown chrysoberyl were also present in Ratnapura. A 5000-carat cat’s-eye” chrysoberyl, the size of a man’s fist, was found in a mine near Ratnapura in the 1970s. The unique white translucent variety of microcline with a blue sheen known as Moonstone and great quantities of Spinel in brown, green, blue, purple, violet, yellow, pink, and red were also found in Ratnapura.  Ratnapura also yielded unusual and rare stones such as Sillimanite, Andalusite, Scapolite, Enstatite, Kornerupine, Diopside and Sinhalite, said  Bancroft.

ELAHERA

Mahinda Gunawardene and Mahinda Rupasinghe (1986) studied the Elahera gem mines in the 1980s. They said that Elahera   produced a wide variety of gem materials.

The gems produced at Elahera included blue, pink, yellow, violet, and Padparadscha sapphires, marvelous color ranges of spinel, rhodolite and hessonite garnets, chrysoberyls including alexandrite and  other varieties,  brown, green ,yellow, reddish brown and yellowish brown zircons, lovely green and cognac” tourmalines.

Gem-quality Kornerupine is quite abundant in Elahera. The most common colors range from brownish green to greenish brown. Elahera also has near-colorless to yellowish or greenish Sinhalites. Many rare stones such as Sillimanite and Taaffeite were also found, Gunawardene and Rupasinghe  said.

Sapphires from the Elahera region are reputed to be the best in quality  Elahera produces particularly fine blue sapphires. The majority are of good to excellent quality, with even coloration and transparency. The Elahera gem field also produces fine yellow, pink, and violet sapphires. Ruby is not common in Elahera, but the locality is noted for the particularly fine pink sapphires found there. Yellow stones vary in color from intense “golden yellow” to light or pale yellow. Violet sapphires from Elahera are often heat treated to remove the reddish hue and obtain a blue color. Occasionally, good-quality Padparadscha  sapphires are found in Elahera, concluded Gunawardene and Rupasinghe. 

These pendants feature sapphires fromThammannawa
photo  Sherrif Rahuman.  https://www.gia.edu/doc/Sapphires-from-Thammannawa-Kataragama-Area-Sri-Lanka.pdf

KATARAGAMA.

In February 2012 high-quality blue sapphires were discovered in a in a road construction site at Thammannawa near Kataragama. The new deposit generated considerable excitement since the gems occurred as sharp-edged, well-formed crystals with a pure blue color and vitreous luster that is unprecedented in Sri Lankan sapphires. Their blue color is different from the violetish blue typically observed in sapphires from other parts of the country.

Several kilograms of rough were obtained. There were well-formed crystals large enough to facet fine blue sapphires weighing more than 20 ct. some crystals were larger than 200 g. Faceted blue sapphires of fine color and weighing more than 20 ct have been cut from these. Unlike other gem mines, the Thammannawa deposit had only corundum, mainly blue and a few yellow sapphires. Other deposits on the island contain several gem varieties. (Continued)

National Joint Committee

The SJB has proposed an amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Executive Presidential system without changing the current electoral system or repealing the 13^th Amendment. The Bar Association proposal to abolish the Executive Presidential System is on similar lines.

 The Need to Change the Electoral System.

The proportional representation system was introduced by the UNP to fulfil their political aspirations. Under the existing proportional representation system so introduced there is no space for honest and independent professionals and intellectuals to contest an election. Even though the popular demand is that all existing 225 members of Parliament should go home”, with expectation of electing honest men and women there is no way that an honest citizen can contest outside the existing party system at the next General Election. There is no internal democracy in any of these parties and only those who are supported by the corrupt leaders of these political parties could get nominations. The public have now unequivocally expressed the view that they have no faith in the existing party system. Therefore it is a sine qua non that we revert to the First Past the Post System” that existed prior to the promulgation of the present Constitution so that independent candidates not representing any political party could contest. At least 2/3^rd of the Members of Parliament should be elected to represent electorates if we are to change the colour and culture of the legislature and ensure a cleaner Parliament.

Abolition of Executive Presidency

SJB and BASL proposes the abolition of the Executive Presidency, introducing a clause to the effect that the President should always act on the advice of the Prime Minister” (not the Cabinet). What difference would it make by replacing the President with a Prime Minister? Although it may be said that when executive power is vested with the Cabinet of Ministers the Prime Minister implement the collective will of the Cabinet. We know however that the reality is that when a powerful party leader is appointed Prime Minister he runs the show. The Ministers of the Cabinet will be beholden to the Prime Minister for appointing them and it would be unlikely, that any Minister would go against the Prime Minister’s decisions.

In the seventies, over 20,000 youth got killed and, the country was governed under emergency without any press freedom not under a Presidential system but under a Cabinet form of Government. Many a country, particularly in East Asia, recorded remarkable economic and social advancement under various forms of Presidential systems. Therefore, it is evident that the autocracy, mismanagement and corruption in Government stem not from the Presidential system, but due to the lack of an appropriate legal framework to curb corruption, and concentration of power in one power centre, without appropriate checks and balances. The abolition of the executive Presidency, in effect, is synonymous to concentrating all executive and legislative power in one power centre, namely the Parliament, which the NJC considers as inappropriate.

Besides, it is now obvious that, after the next General Election, it is likely that there would be a hung Parliament, with which, a future Prime Minister will be compelled to satisfy the political demands of his coalition partners and will not be acting in the national interest. This will be an ideal environment for extremist to flourish, and take control of the State as it has happened in the past. In this respect, it may be pertinent to underline that the Provincial Council System has given Provincial Councils powers with regard to 73 different subjects and functions of Government including Police and Land powers. If any of these provincial administrators act in a manner detrimental to national interest, it could not be possible to rectify any mischief with no Executive President and a hungParliament manipulated by extremists.  Therefore, we are strongly of the view that the executive presidency should be retained.

A set of 13 proposals have been submitted by the BASL. We appreciate their initiative to bring the Opposition to the negotiation table to resolve the present crisis. We understand that at an emergency meeting of the Bar Council had been hurriedly called and these set of proposals, including the Proposal to abolish the Executive Presidency, had been adopted without adequate notice to the members. The proposals were issued under the signature of the President of the Bar Association Mr. Saliya Peries, President’s Counsel and former Chairman of the controversial office of missing persons established by the Yahapalana Government. Whether a county needs an Executive Presidential System or a Cabinet form of Government cannot be decided by the Bar Association. The general membership of the Bar Association had no opportunity of expressing their views on this question. Whilst we recognise that the Bar Association should be vigilant to safeguard the rights of the ordinary citizen it has no role to play in deciding disputed political issues in the country. We would not be surprised if the present management of the Bar Association would next agitate to convert Sri Lanka from a unitary form of Government to a federal form of Government, a project which the Yahapalana Government was carrying through so enthusiastically. The Bar Association should stop pursuing objectives of political parties their leaders sympathise with.

No Attempt to Seriously Address Corruption

The SJB through their proposed Constitutional Amendment has proposed the reintroduction of the provisions in the 19^th amendment. We have not forgotten the mess it created. The National Procurement Commission created by the 19^th Amendment had no teeth they has no power to stop a corrupt deal. Corrupt deals continued under the 19^th Amendments. The Hambantota port was handed over for 99 years without competitive bidding The conduct of the Election Commission and the Bribery and Corruption Commission was equally repulsive. Although allegation after allegation is made against the Rajapakse administration not a single successful prosecution was done. The reason for its failure is because the 19^th Amendment in fact created politically motivated commissions replacing Public Officers from the SLAS. Their sole objective was to satisfy the political needs of their masters and not to address corruption.

Therefore the National Joint Commission wish to reiterate the following;

• The Presidential System of Government should not be changed. Any constitutional reform to abolish it, should be adopted only if

 (a) The 13th Amendment is abolished and

(b) The First Past the Post System” introduced to enable a Member of Parliament to represent an electorate. However not more than 1/3 of the Members of Parliament can be accommodated under the proportional representation system to accommodate minority interest.

• Police and Land powers should be removed from the Provincial Council List
• Provincial Statutes should be subject to laws enacted by Parliament. Parliament should be able to repeal Provincial Statutes if they so wish.
• Alienation of State land to foreigners, foreign states and foreign companies should be prohibited.
• No Government contract or agreement relating to strategic enterprises and land should be permitted without approval of the Supreme Court and the Parliament.  However, when such contracts or agreements on strategic assets or lands being considered would have effective duration beyond the unexpired legitimate tenure of an incumbent Government, such contracts or agreements should also obtain 2/3rd majority of the Parliament, in addition to the approval of the Supreme Court, where the latter may even instruct to refer the matter for a referendum, if the said deal/contract/agreement could possibly have national (economic or political) sovereignty implications.
• All Government procurement contracts which fall within the categories, referred to under (v), should be based on competitive bidding, but with a transparent margin of local preference given for Sri Lankan bidders, stipulated to encouragee domestic industrialization and national economic value added.

22^nd Amendment of 11 Parties

We also observe that the 22^nd amendment proposed by the Group of 11 parties (submitted on their behalf by Mr. Wijedasa Rajapaksha) fortifying the 13^th Amendment and to ensure that the Provincial Police Commissions introduced by the 13^th Amendment is untouched. The PHU, JNP and Yuthukama Sansadaya was against the 13^th Amendment. It is unfortunate that they have forgotten these principles in such a short period.

Therefore, we urge the proponents of the 21^st and 22^nd Amendments to reconsider these proposals without taking this country towards further ruination.

In an address to the Nation yesterday the President said that he will take necessary action to abolish the executive presidency. However as for the present Constitution he does not have the mandate to do so.  

Yours faithfully,

Lt Col. Anil Amarasekera (Rtd.)                      

Mr. K. M. B. Kotakadeniya. Senior DIG.(Rtd.)

Co-Presidents National Joint Committee.

12^th May 2022.

ගාල්ලේ දෙව්සිරි පී. හේවාවිදාන ලන්ඩන් නුවර සිට ලියයි මැයි 15 ඉරිදා සති අග අරුණ

ලෙඩේ මොකක්ද ඔයා මොන පක්ෂෙද

තමන්ගෙන් ප්‍රතිකාර ගන්නට ආ ප්‍රසන්න රණතුංග මන්ත්‍රිවරයාට දේශපාලන හේතූන් මත ප්‍රතිකාර නොකළ විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරයෙක් වන මහාචාර්ය රනිල් ජයවර්ධන එක් පිරිසකට වීරයෙකි. තවත් පිරිසකට ද්‍රෝහියෙකි. ඒ අතරේ සැත්කමට භාජනය කර සිටි විමලවීර දිසානායක මන්ත්‍රිවරයාට රෝහලේදි සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල සේවකයකු දේශපාලනය සිහි කරමින් අපහසුතාවට පත් කර තිබුණි. ඉකුත් 9 වැනිදා ප්‍රහාරයක් හමුවේ තුවාල ලබා ප්‍රතිකාර ගන්නට ආ පිරිසකට ජාතික රෝහලේදී සෞඛ්‍ය සේවකයෝ පහර දී තිබුණි. සැබවින්ම දේශපාලන හේතුවක් නිසා වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට මෙසේ හැසිරීමට හැකිද. මේ ලංකාවට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය ගෙනා එංගලන්තයේ ඒ ගැන ක්‍රියාත්මක වන ආකාරය ගැන ලියැවුණු ලිපියකි.  – කර්තෘ-                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පවතින දේශපාලනය ගැන කලකිරීමට පත්වූ තරුණයින් විසින් අරඹන ලද ගෝඨා ගෝ ගමේ අරගලයට දැන් දවස් 36 කි.   පෞද්ගලික හා රජයේ ආයතන වල සේවය කරන විවිධ වෘතිකයන්මේ අරගලයට එක් වී හමාරය    දොස්තරවරු හෙදියන් උපස්ථායකයින්  ඇතුලු රෝහල් වෛද්‍ය වෘත්තිකයන් දහස් ගණනින්  අරගලයට සම්බන්ධ වී සිටිති.    වෛද්‍යවරු දෙතුන් දෙනෙකු රජයේ දේශපාලකයින් ට බෙහෙත්  කිරීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කර ඇති අතර මේට්‍රන්  වරු හා හෙදියන්  තමන් අකමැති තුවාල කරුවන්  රෝහල්වලට  ඇතුළු නොකරගෙන ආපසු හරවා යවන අන්දම අපි බීබිසියෙන් දුටුවෙමු.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍යවරුන්ටත්  දේශපාලන හෝ සමාජයීය කරුණක් මත ලෙඩුන්ට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ  හැකිදැයි අරුණ පත්‍රයේ පාඨකයින් බොහෝ දෙනකු මගෙන් අසා එවා තිබේ. ඉංජිනේරු වරයෙකු වන මට මේ ගැන ඇත්තේ සාමාන්‍ය දැනීමක් පමණි. එහෙත් අපි ජීවත්වන  කෙන්ට් ප්‍රාන්තයේ Ashford  නගරයේ මහ රෝහලේ වැඩ කරන ලාංකික දොස්තර මිතුරන්ගෙන්  ලබාගත්  කරුණුත් එකතු කොට ඔබේ දැනගැනීම සඳහා මේ ලිපිය ලිවීමට මා  අදහස් කළෙමි.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ ප්‍රධාන වෛද්‍යවරු කණ්ඩායම් දෙකක් සිටී. එක් කණ්ඩායමක් රෝහල් වෛද්‍යවරුන්ය. අනිත් කණ්ඩායම ජනතාවගේ එදිනෙදා රෝගවලට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම සඳහා වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථාන පවත්වාගෙන යන වෛද්‍යවරුන්ය. ලංකාවේ මේ වගේ මධ්‍යස්ථානවලට අපි කියන්නේ අහවල් දොස්තර මහතාගේ ඩිස්පැන්සරිය කියාය. එංගලන්තෙ වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථාන හඳුන්වන්නේ doctor’s surgery කියාය. එහි සේවය කරන වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට  කියන්නේ General Practitioner   හෙවත් GP කියාය. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ජාතික සෞඛ්‍ය සේවයේ ද ත්ත අනුව අද වන විට GP දොස්තරලා  27757  ක් රට පුරා ඇති surgery වල සේවය කරන අතර  වෛද්‍යවරු 123,813ක් හා හෙදියන් ඇතුළු කාර්ය මණ්ඩල සේවක සේවිකාවන් 3,85470 ක්  රජයේ හා පෞද්ගලික රෝහල් 1229 ක සේවය කරති.  බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යේ රෝහලක හෝ  වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයක හෝ වේවා එහි සේවය කරන වෛද්‍යවරු හා කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය විශේෂ නීති රාමුවක් හා ආචාර්ය ධර්ම පද්ධතියක් තුළ කටයුතු කිරීමට බැඳී සිටිති.

වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයක හෝ වේවා රෝහලක හෝ වේවා එහිසේවය කරන වෛද්‍යවරු හා කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය විශේෂ නීති රාමුවක් හා ආචාර්ය ධර්ම පද්ධතියක් තුළ කටයුතු කිරීමට බැඳී සිටිති. රාජකාරියෙන් පිටත දී ඔවුනට දේශපාලන හා සමාජයීය කටයුතු කිරීමට  සම්පූර්ණනිදහස තිබෙන නමුත් තමාගේ වෛද්‍ය තනතුරට නිගාදෙන හෝ  වෛද්‍ය වෘත්තීයේ ගෞරවය විනාශ වන  කටයුතුවල පෞද්ගලිකව යෙදී සිටීමටත් ඔවුනට අවසරයක් නැත. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් කියනවා නම් දොස්තර කෙනෙකු  ගෙදරදී හොර රහසේ මත් කුඩු පාවිච්චි කරකර අසු වුවහොත් ඔහුට නඩු පැවරෙනවා පමණක් නොව සේවය ද වහාම අහිමි වේ.   ලංකාවේ ඔබට ඕනම දිස්පැන්සරි එකට ගොස් මුදල් ගෙවා ඕනම වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුගෙන් බෙහෙත් ගැනීමට හැකිය. නමුත් එන්ගලන්තයේ අපිට සාමාන්‍ය ලෙඩකදී බෙහෙත් ගත හැක්කේ අප ලියා පදිංචි වී ඇති surgery යේ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුගෙන් පමණි.  ගෙදරින් ඈත  නගරකදී හදිසියේ රෝගී වුවහොත් ඒ පළාතේ වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයකින් හෝ රෝ හලකින් අපට තාවකාලිකව ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා ගත් හැකිය. මෙම ක්‍රමය රෝගීන්ට හා දොස්තරවරුන්ට ලොකු  පහසුවකි. සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුටම උපන්දින සිට ඇතිවූ ඇතිවූ රෝග හා ප්‍රතිකාර සියල්ලම එම වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ  පරිගණකවල   සටහන් ඇති වී නිසා අලුතෙන් පැමිණි  GP වෛද්‍ය වරයෙකුට පවා  රෝගියෙකුගේ   වෛද්‍ය  ඉතිහාසය බලා පහසුවෙන් වෙදකම් කළ හැකිය.  හදිසි අනතුරකදී හැරෙන්නට අපිට මහ රෝහලට ගොස් ශල්‍යකර්මයක් කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීමට බැරිය. හර්නියා, හර්ද සැත්කම අක්ෂි කාච බද්ධකිරීම වැනි දහසක් ශල්‍යකර්ම සදහා රෝගීන්  මහ රෝහලට යොමු කරන්නේ ඔහුගේ GP වෛද්‍යවරයාය. .   ලංකාවේ ඔබට දොස්තර මහතාගේ ඩිස්පැන්සරියෙන්ම එම බෙහෙත් මිලදී ගත හැකිය.  නමුත් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය surgery වල කෙරෙන්නේ  රෝගීන් පරීක්ෂා කිරීමත් ඉන්නන් ඉවත් කිරීම වැනි සුළු සුළු සැත්කම් කිරීමක් පමණි. GP දොස්තරවරයා අපේ බෙහෙත් තුන්ඩුව විද්‍යුත් මාර්ගයෙන් ළඟම ඇති ෆාමසියට යවයි. අප එහි යන විට බෙහෙත් සූදානම් කර තිබේ.  කුඩා ළමුන් ගර්භනී මව්වරුන් විශ්‍රාමිකයන් හා අඩු ආදායම්ලාභීන්ට සියලුම බෙහෙත් රජයෙන් නොමිලේ ලැබේ. අනිත් සියලු දෙ නාම එක බෙහෙත කට පවුම් නමය බැගින් ගෙවිය යුතුය. (අද ලංකා මුදලෙන්  එය රුපියල් 4600කි .)

. රෝගියෙකුට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීමේ දී අඛණ්ඩතාවය ඉතා වැදගත්ය.කලින් තමන් විසින් ප්‍රතිකාර කරනලද රෝගියෙකුට  දේශපාලන මතභේද හෝ පෞද්ගලික කෝන්තරයක්  මත ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම  නැවැත්වීමට දොස්තර කෙනෙකුට පුළුවන් කමක් නැත. එයට අමතරව ජාතිය, ආගම ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ භාවය, සමාජ මට්ටම, වයස, අංගවිකලත්වය , රෝගී තත්වයේ බරපතලකම යන කරුණු යටතේ රෝගියෙකු පරික්ෂා කිරීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමට  බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ කිසිම වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුට නීතියෙන් ඉඩක් නැත

අප ජීවත්වන Ashford නගරයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා වන්නේ කොන්සර්වටිව් පක්ෂයේ Damian Green ය. 1997 සිට අද දක්වා තිබූ මහ මැතිවරණ හතෙන්ම  තම ආසනය දිනා වාර්තා පිහිටවා  ඇති  ඔහු පළාතේ ඉතාම ජනප්‍රිය දේශපාලඥයාය.  තෙරේසා මේ ගේ අගමැති කාලයේදී උප අගමැති නිලයද හෙබවූ  අපේ මන්ත්‍රීතුමා ලියා පදිංචි වී සිටින්නේ අපේ පවුලේ අය බෙහෙත් ගන්නා වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයේමය.  අපේ ලෙඩ බලන එක් සුදු GP දොස්තර වරයෙක්   ලේබර් පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රබල ආධාරකරුවකු හා  නගරයේ  පක්ෂ ශාඛාවේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායක ද වෙයි. ශාඛා රැස්වීම්වලදී ඔහු බොරිස් ජොන්සන්ගේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂය තරයේ විවේචනය කරන්නෙකි . එහෙත් තම රැකියාවට ඔහු දේශපාලනය ගාවා ගන්නේ නැත.Damien Green  මහතා ප්‍රතිකාර ගැනීමට පැමිණි  සෑම විටකම  ඔහුව සාදරයෙන් පිළිගන්නා අපේ GP දොස්තර මහතා  මන්ත්‍රීතුමාගේ  සෞඛ්‍ය තත්වය හොඳාකාරව පරීක්ෂාකර සුදුසු බෙහෙත් නියම කරයි. ඔහුව ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් බලා ගනියි.    එසේම කොන්සර්වටිව් පක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රී තුමා මගේ ලෙඩෙක්. එයාට අහවල් රෝගය තියෙනවා” කියා ජනමාධ්‍යවලටවොයිස් කට් දෙන්නටද අපේ දොස්තරවරයා පෙළඹෙන්නේ නැත. ලෙඩෙකුගේ රහස්‍ය භාවය රැක ගන්නට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍යවරු කටයුතු කරන්නේ මෙසේය.  තමන්ගෙ උතුම් වෛද්‍ය සේවාවත්   දේශපාලනයත් පටලවා නොගෙන ජාති ආගම් කුල පක්ෂ භේද නොතකා සෑම රෝගියාටම එක සේ සැලකීම ගුණාංගය බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍යවරු  සතුව තිබීම අපේ ලොකු වාසනාවකි.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍ය  වෘත්තියේ ආචාර ධර්ම පද්ධතිය අනුව  බරපතළ අනතුරකට ලක්ව ඇති  රෝගියෙකුගේ ජීවිතය  බේරා ගැනීමට  කළ හැකි හැම දෙයක්ම කිරිමට  මෙහි වෛද්‍යවරු බැඳී සිටී.  හදිසි අනතුරකදී හෝ ආපදාවකදී එයා මගේ ලෙඩෙක් නොවේ ” හෝ “මට හරි මාන්සියි”   කියා රෝගියෙකුට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමට හෝ සිද්ධිය නොදැක්කා ලෙස එතනින් මාරු වී යෑමට බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ දොස්තවරුන්ට නීතියෙන්  අවසර නැත. එසේ කිරිම  ඔවුන්ගේ ආචාර්ය ධර්ම උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමකි  . උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් මෙයට වසර විසි පහකට පමණ පෙර බර්මින්හැම් නුවර වෛද්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් අසල මහ පාරේ ගමන් කළ පුද්ගලයකු රෝගී වී බිම ඇද වැටුණි. අසල්වාසීහු වහාම ගිලන් රථයකට ටෙලිෆෝන් කොට surgery  යට  දුවගොස් “අනේ ඩොක්ටර් අන්න පාරේ මනුස්සයෙක් වැටිලා ඉන්නවා ඉක්මනට එන්න”යි ඇවිටිලි කළහ.  නමුත් වෛද්‍යවරයා එය ගණන් ගත්තේ නැත. “අද  උදේ ඉඳන් ලෙඩ්ඩු බලල මට හරිම මහන්සියි. අනික මේක මගේ ලන්ච් ඉන්ටර්වල් එක. මම  විවේක ගන්න වෙලාවේ ලෙඩ්ඩු බලන්න මට කොහෙත්ම බැහැ”යි  කී දොස්තරවරයා තම කාමරයේ දොර වසා ගෙන නැවතත් සුළු නින්දකට වැටුණේය. ගිලන් රථය පැමිණෙන විටත්  අහිංසක මගියා  හෘදයාබාධයකින් මරණයට පත්ව තිබුණි.  මරණාසන්න රෝගියෙකුට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම උවමනාවෙන්ම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමේ චෝදනාව යටතේ පොලිසිය ඔහුට විරුද්ධව නඩු පැවරූ  අතර බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍ය කවුන්සලය විසින් ඒ රැකියාව අහිමි කරන ලදී.

එසේම දැනට වසර දහයකට පෙර බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ රෝහලක සේවය කරන වෛද්‍ය මහාචාර්ය වරයවරයෙකු තම වැඩ මුරය නිම කර බිරිඳ සමග M1 නැමැති අධිවේගී මාර්ගය ඔස්සේ ගමන් ගත්තේ වෛද්‍ය සගයෙකුගේ මංගල උත්සවයකට සහභාගි වීම සඳහා ය.  හදිසියේම ඔහු ඉදිරියෙන්  ගමන් ගත් මෝටර් රථ දෙකක්  ඝට්ටනය  වී පාරෙන් ඉවතට විසිවී ගිනි ගන්නට විය.  බොහෝ රියදුරන් වහාම තම   රථ නවත්වා තුවාලකරුවන් එළියට අදින්නත් ගින්න නිවන්නටත් පටන් ගත්හ.  නමුත් මෙම ඉන්දියන් වෛද්‍යවරයා තම මෝටර් රථය අනිත් මං තීරුවට දමා  වේගයෙන් එම ස්ථානයෙන් පලා ගියේ මගුල් ගෙදරට වෙලාවට යා යුතු බව බිරිඳට කියමිනි.  නමුත් ඔහුගේ අවාසනාවකට එතැන සිටි වෙනත් රියදුරුකු පලායන දොස්තරවරයා  කවුදැයි හඳුනාගත්තේය . අනතුරකදී තුවාලකරුවන්ට ප්‍රථමාධාර  ලබා නොදී පැන යෑමේ චෝදනාව යටතේ වෛද්‍ය කවුන්සලය මොහුට විරුද්ධව නඩු පැවරුවේය. අන්තිමේදී මේ විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය   මහාචාර්යවරයාට ජනතා නින්දා අපහාස මැද්දේ තම රැකියාවද අහිමි වීය. මෙයින් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ තුවාලකරුවකු හෝ හදිසි  රෝගියෙකු ජීවිතයත් මරණයත් අතර සටනක යෙදී සිටිද්දී නිදහසට කරුණු කියමින් අවස්ථාව මග හැර යාමට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට කිසිසේත් ඉඩ නැත.  .

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය රෝහල්වල සේවය කරන  වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ට  තුවාලකරුවන්ගේ තරාතිරම බලමින්  ප්‍රතිකාර කළ යුත්තේ කාටද   කිසිම බෙහෙතක් නොදී  ආපහු හරවා   යැවිය යුතු ලේ පෙරෙන පුද්ගලයින්  කවුරුන්ද  කියා තීරණය කිරීමට  නීතිමය හෝ සදාචාරාත්මක අයිතියක් තිබේදැයි  විස්තර කරන ලෙසද අරුණ පාඨකයින් මගෙන් ඉල්ලා තිබේ.

දුම්රිය අනතුරකදී හෝ ජාතිවාදී අරගලයකදී මෙහි  රෝහලකට එකවර රෝගීන්  සිය ගණනක් ගිලන්රථ වලින් ගෙන එනු ලැබේ.  එවැනි අවස්ථාවක  තුවාලකරුවන්  100කට ම එකවර ප්‍රතිකාර  කිරීමට හදිසි අනතුරු අංශයට පුළුවන්කමක් නැත.  මෙහිදී ඔවුහු සමහර රටවල මෙන්  තමන්ගේ දේශපාලන  මතිමතාන්තර හෝ හිත තුළ ඇති ආවේගය අනුව ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීමේ  ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දිය යුත්තේ කුමන තුවාලකරුවන්ටදැයි තීරණය  කරන්නේ නැත .  මෙහිදී මුලින්ම ප්‍රතිකාර කළ යුත්තේ කාටදැයි  තීරණය කරන  ක්‍රමවේදයට ඉන්ග්‍රිසියෙන් කියන්නේ   triage  කියාය. Triage ක්‍රමය අනුව ඉක්මනට ප්‍රතිකාර කළ යුත්තේ කවුද කියා වෛද්‍යවරු තීරණය කරන්නේ තුවාලවල බරපතළකම අනුව මිස ලෙඩා ගේ හමේ පාට, ආගම, ජාතිය, රැකියාව හෝ දේශපාලනය අනුව නොවේ. 

මේ සඳහා හොඳම  උදාහරණය 2011 අගෝස්තු මාසයේ ඇතිවූ ලන්ඩන් කැරැල්ලේදී   රෝහල්වල නිලධාරීන් කටයුතු කළ ආකාරයය. මේ බිහිසුණු කැරැල්ල ඇති වූයේ Mark Duggan නැමැති අහිංසක කළු ජාතිකයෙකු පොලිසිය විසින් වෙඩි තබා මරා දැමූ නිසාය. මෙයින් කෝපයට පත් වූ කළු ජාතිකයන් දහස් ගණන් දිගට හරහට අත්බෝම්බ හා අවිආයුධ වලින් පොලිසි හා රජයේ ආයතන වලට පහර දෙමින් ඒවා ගිනිබත් කළහ. දවස් පහක් තිස්සේ ලන්ඩන් නගරයේ ඇති වුණු  කෝලහලවලින් පස් දෙනෙකු මිය ගිය අතර කැරලිකරුවන් 180 ක් හා පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් දෙසිය පනස් දෙනෙකු බරපතළ ලෙස තුවාල ලැබූහ.  ඒ අවස්ථාවේ ලන්ඩන් රෝහල් triage  ක්‍රමය අනුගමනය කරමින් බරපතළ තුවාල කරුවන් කෙලින්ම ශල්‍යාගාරයට ගන්නා ලදී . මෙහි රෝහල් කාර්ය මණ්ඩලවල සිටි බොහෝ වෛද්‍යවරු හා හෙදියන් හා කළු ජාතිකයන් වූ නිසා තමන්ගේ වරිගයේම  තරුණයකු අමු අමුවේ මරා දැමීම ගැන ඔවුන් පසු වූයේ බලවත් තරහකිනි. නමුත් නොදියුණු රටවල් වල මෙන් ඔවුන් ” අපි තමුසෙලාට බෙහෙත් කරන්නේ නැහැ තැනකට ආපහු   ගිහින් ලේ හලාගෙන   මැරෙන එකයි ඇත්තේ “කියා පොලිසියේ තුවාලකරුවන් ජීප් වල දමා ආපසු හරවා යැව්වේ නැත.   “පාරේ යන අහිංසකයින්ට ගහලා තමුසෙලා මහ බලු වැඩක් නේද කරේ” කියා තුවාල වී ට්‍රොලියේ වැටී සිටින අරගල කරුවන්ට ඔවුන් පරුෂ වචනයෙන් බැන් නේද නැත. ඉක්මනට ප්‍රතිකාර කළ යුත්තේ පොලිස් නිලධාරියාට  ද කැරලිකරුවාට ද  පාරේ ගමන් ගත් අහිංසකයාට ද කියා තරාතිරම අනුව ඔවුන් තීරණයක් ගත්තේ නැත. ඔවුන් කඩිනමින්ම ප්‍රතිකාර කොට  බේරා ගත යුත්තේ කාගේදැයි තීරණය කළේ triage  ක්‍රමය අනුවය.  එය කොතරම් වටිනා ක්‍රියාවක් ද. අන්තිමේදී කැරලිකරුවන් හා පොලිස් භටයන් එකම වාට්ටුවට ඇතුළත් කොට ඔවුන්ට කිසි භේදයක් නැතුව එක සේ ප්‍රතිකාර කරමින් රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය මණ්ඩලය මහජනතාවගේ ජනමාධ්‍ය වල ප්‍රසංසා හා ප්‍රසාදය හිමි කර ගත්තේය.  අදත් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය රෝහල් වල වෛද්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය  කටයුතු කරන්නේ එදා  2011 ලන්ඩන් කැරැල්ලේ දී ඔවුන් තම සේවය ඉටු කළ උදාර අන්දමටමය.  රෝහලට රැගෙන එන තුවාලකරුවකු ගේ දේශපාලනය, රැකියාව ජාතීය  හා ආගම ගැන නොසලකා    triage ක්‍රමය අනුගමනය කරමින්  වෛද්‍ය අවශ්‍යතා අනුව ඔවුන්ට  ප්‍රතිකාර කරන බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය රෝහල් අනිත් රටවල් වලට  දෙන්නේ මහඟු ආදර්ශයකි.

එසේම තමන්ගේ ප්‍රතිකාර ලැබීමට එන පුද්ගලයා  විරුද්ධ පක්ෂයක දේශපාලනයෙකු,  වෙනත් ආගමක හෝ  ජාතියක පුද්ගලයකු   නිසා ඔහුට මම බෙහෙත් කරන්නේ නැතැයි යන වැරදි ආකල්පයේ නොසිට  හැමෝටම  සමානාත්මක ලෙස ප්‍රතිකාර කරන බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය  වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගෙන්    සදාචාරය කුමක්දැයි අපි කවුරුත් ඉගෙන ගත යුතුය

ගාල්ලේ දෙව්සිරි පී. හේවාවිදාන ලන්ඩන් නුවර සිට ලියයි.

ByDanielle-Kate Wroe Steven SmithNetwork Content Editor Courtesy Cornwalllive

TUI has cancelled holidays to the destination until May 31

Holidays to Sri Lanka are being cancelled as the British government advises people not to travel there. TUI has cancelled all trips until May 31.

The Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to the country amid unrest there. Protests have been taking place across Sri Lanka against the backdrop of a growing economic crisis.

There have been shortages of fuel, medicines and food and electricity is being rationed, leading to power cuts. Protests began at the end of March and a state of emergency and curfew was declared earlier this month.

Violence against those peacefully protesting in recent days has prompted the Foreign Office to update its travel advice to warn UK travellers not to travel unless they have an essential reason, reports the MEN.

TUI has released a statement regarding the decision to stop all flights to Sri Lanka. It said: Due to the ongoing political and economic instability in Sri Lanka, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) have advised against all but essential travel.

As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel all holidays to Sri Lanka departing up to and including May 31, 2022. We will be proactively contacting all impacted customers in departure date order to discuss their options.

“Please note this advice does not apply to customers transiting through Sri Lanka’s international airport and customers currently in resort can continue to enjoy their holiday as planned. We will continue to monitor the situation and update customers should there be any further updates. We would like to thank our customers for their understanding at this time.”

The Foreign Office warns that “several incidents took place on May 9 involving violence against peaceful protesters” including areas in Colombo and Kandy, and that “further incidents could take place”.

If you have a holiday or trip booked to Sri Lanka, you’ll need to get in touch with your tour operator and airline directly.

When the Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel, travel firms such as TUI will usually cancel any trips they are operating and offer customers options such as rebooking to a later date, or receiving a full refund. They may also offer you an alternative holiday for the same dates you were due to travel on, which you can also choose if you wish.

ByMary Izuaka Courtesy Premium Times

The Indian Ocean Island nation faces its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, announced Monday that the country has run out of petrol stock.

Reuters reports that Mr Wickremesinghe disclosed this in an address to the nation amid uncertainties over fuel and medicine shortages.

At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day. The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives,” Mr Wickremesinghe said.

We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.”

The country needed to secure an urgent $75million in foreign exchange to pay for essential imports, he said, warning that fuel and electricity tariffs will be raised substantially and his government will also sell off its loss-making national carrier to reduce losses.

He urged Sri Lanka citizens to patiently bear the next couple of months” and vowed he would overcome the crisis.

Two shipments of petrol and two of diesel using an Indian credit line could provide relief in the next few days, he said, but the country is also facing a shortage of 14 essential medicines.

Sri Lanka, an Indian Ocean island nation, faces its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

The country said it has been hit hard by the COVID pandemic, rising oil prices and populist tax cuts by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his elder brother, former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Since March, protests have been going on in the island nation between pro-government supporters and those calling for an immediate change in authority.

On Thursday, Mr Wickremesinghe assumed office after his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was forced out in the wake of protests over the government’s handling of the economic crisis.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Monday said the next couple of months will be the most difficult ones in the lives of all citizens and the country must prepare to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.

In a special statement, Wickremesinghe said he had no desire to hide the truth and to lie to the public. Although these facts are unpleasant and terrifying, this is the true situation. For a short period, our future will be even more difficult than the tough times that we have passed. We will face considerable challenges and adversity. However, this period will not be long. In the coming months, our foreign allies will assist us. They have already pledged their support. Therefore, we will have to patiently bear the next couple of months. However, we can overcome this situation. Doing so will require taking a new path, Wickremesinghe said.

Full speech – 

Last Thursday, I accepted office as the Prime Minister. I did not request this position. In face of the

challenging situation facing the country, the President invited me to take up this position. I assumed
this duty not only as a political leader, but also as national leader who has benefited from free
education at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo.

At present, the Sri Lankan economy is extremely precarious. Although the former government’s
budget projected a revenue of SLR 2.3 trillion, SLR 1.6 trillion is the realistic projection of this year’s
revenue.

The estimated government expenditure for this year is SLR 3.3 trillion. However, due to the increase
in interest rates and additional expenditure of the former government, the total government
expenditure is SLR 4 trillion. The budget deficit for the year is SLR 2.4 trillion. This amount equals
13% of the GDP.

The approved debt ceiling is SLR 3200 billion. By the second week of May, we had spent 1950 billion.
Therefore, the remainder is SLR 1250 billion. Yesterday, a cabinet decision was made to present a
proposal to parliament to increase the approved limit for issuing treasury bills from 3000 billion to
4000 billion.

In November 2019, our foreign exchange reserves were at USD 7.5 billion. However, today, it is a
challenge for the treasury to find USD 1 million. The Ministry of finance is finding it difficult to raise
USD 5 million required to import gas.

Amidst all these issues we are faced with several grave concerns. To ease the queues, we must
obtain approximately USD 75 million within the next couple of days. At the moment, we only have
petrol stocks for a single day. Due to the diesel shipment that arrived yesterday, the diesel lack of
diesel will be resolved to some extent. Under the Indian credit line, two more diesel shipments are
due to arrive on the 18th May and 1st June. In addition, two petrol shipments are expected on 18th
and 29th May. For over 40 days 3 ships with crude oil and furnace oil have been anchored within the
maritime zone of Sri Lanka. We are working to obtain dollars in the open market to pay for these
shipments.

A quarter of electricity is generated through oil. Therefore, there is a possibility that the daily power
outages will increase to 15 hours a day. However, we have already obtained money to avert this
crisis. We must also immediately obtain USD 20 million to provide gas to consumers. The situation of
kerosene and furnace oil is even more urgent. At present, the Central Bank, local state and private
banks, and foreign banks functioning in Sri Lanka are all facing a dollar shortage. As you are already
aware, we possess a very low amount of US dollars. Nevertheless, we succeeded in bringing in a
diesel shipment yesterday despite these adverse circumstances with Indian assistance. Therefore,
you can obtain that diesel from today onwards. We will also work towards making a payment for the
gas shipment that arrived on Tuesday. Therefore, you will have some respite from the gas shortage.

Another grave concern is the lack of medicine. There is a severe shortage of a number of medicines
including medicine required for heart disease as well as surgical equipment. Payments have not
been made for four months to suppliers of medicine, medical equipment, and food for patients. The
payment owed to them amounts to SLR 34 billion. In addition, payments have not been made for
four months for medicine imported by the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation. As a result,
pharmaceutical companies are taking steps to blacklist the SPC. Unfortunately, our Medical Supplies
Division is unable to provide even two critical items of the 14 essential medicines that we currently
need. These two are a medicine used in treating heart disease and the anti-rabies vaccine. The latter
has no alternative treatment.

We have planned to present a new alternative budget to the development budget proposed for
2022. Intend to present it as a concessionary budget.

I further propose to privatise Sri Lankan Airlines which is incurring extensive losses. The loss for the
year 2020-2021 alone amounts to SLR 45 billion. By 31st March 2021, the total loss was at 372
billion. Even if we privatise Sri Lankan Airlines, this is a loss that we must bear. You must be aware
that this is a loss that must be borne even by the poor people of this country who have never
stepped on an airplane.

In the short term we will have to face an even more difficult time period. There is a possibility that
inflation will increase further.

At present, the government incurs a loss of SLR 84.38 per liter of 92 octane petrol, 71.19 per liter of
95 octane petrol, 131.55 per liter of diesel, 136.31 per liter of super diesel, and 294.50 per liter of
kerosene oil. The Petroleum Corporation can no longer bear this loss. Similarly, although the
Electricity Board charges SLR 17 per unit of electricity the cost of production is at around SLR 48
amounting to a loss of about SLR 30 per unit. This is also a serious problem.

Against my own wishes, I am compelled to permit printing money in order to pay state-sector
employees and to pay for essential goods and services. However, we must remember that printing
money leads to the depreciation of the rupee. Under the current circumstances, even the Petroleum
Corporation and the Electricity Board are unable to obtain rupees.

The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives. We must prepare ourselves to
make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.

I have no desire to hide the truth and to lie to the public. Although these facts are unpleasant and
terrifying, this is the true situation. For a short period, our future will be even more difficult than the

tough times that we have passed. We will face considerable challenges and adversity. However, this
period will not be long. In the coming months, our foreign allies will assist us. They have already
pledged their support. Therefore, we will have to patiently bear the next couple of months.
However, we can overcome this situation. Doing so will require taking a new path.

I thank the opposition leader and the leaders of the political parties who replied to the letters that I
sent them informing them of the current situation.

We must immediately establish a national assembly or political body with the participation of all
political parties to find solutions for the present crisis. This will enable us to discuss with all parties
and to arrive at decisions for short-, medium-, and long-term action plans that will enable us to
rebuild our nation within a specified time frame.

We will build a nation without queues for kerosene, gas, and fuel; a nation free of power outages, a
nation with plentiful resources where agriculture can freely flourish; a nation where the future of
the youth is secure; a nation where people’s labour need not be wasted in queues and in struggles; a
nation where everyone can lead their lives freely with three square meals a day.

I am undertaking a dangerous challenge. In the Caucasian Chalk Circle, Grusha crossed the broken
rope bridge carrying a child that was not her own. This is an even more difficult undertaking. The
precipice is deep and its bottom cannot be seen. The bridge is made of thin glass and there is no
handrail. I am wearing shoes with sharp nails that cannot be removed. My task is to safely take the
child to the other side. I am accepting this challenge for our nation. My goal and dedication is not to
save an individual, a family, or a party. My objective is to save all the people of this country and the
future of our younger generation. I will undertake this task willingly risking my life if needed and will
overcome the challenges facing us. I ask you to extend your support to me in this endeavour.

I will fulfill my duty towards our nation.

That is my promise to you.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Some 230 people have been arrested over various charges including  violation of curfew, attacking public, causing damages to public and private properties since May 9.

Police spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa said 68 out of them have been remanded.

He said among the arrested, 71 were from the Western Province, 43 from Southern Province, 17 from Central Province, 36 from North Western Province, 47 from North Central, 13 from Sabaragamuwa and two from Uva Province. 

Meanwhile, Police today released pictures of several persons and seek public assistance to  identify and arrest them  for indulging in violent attacks on unarmed, peaceful protesters at Galle Face and Kollupitiya on May 9.

Police requested to alert the police by dialling the following telephone numbers: 071-8594901, 071-8594915 and 071-8592087. (Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The buses that were provided to support the struggle by our association on May 9 were burnt as if they were destroyed during the height terrorist activities.

Therefore, the police should take action to arrest those involved the incidents, Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) Chairman Gemunu Wijeratne said.

He told media that some 45 private buses were completely gutted during the carnage.

“This was a willful attack launched by a section of the public. They have attacked and torched down private and Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses involved in transporting passengers and the commuters in those buses too came under assault, he said.

Therefore, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) should swing into action to arrest those who involved. If not, there would be an uncertainty in conducting public transportation in the future, Wijerathne said.

Most of the parts from the destroyed buses were removed by looters in Maharagama, he said. He requested the IGP to provide security to the buses that were damaged during the unrest. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a committee led by former Minister Ruwan Wijewardene to look into the security, health and other needs of “GotaGoGama” at Galle Face.

The committee includes officials from the Colombo Municipal Council, Urban Development Authority, Health Ministry, Police and Army.

Courtesy Adaderana

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s special statement addressing the nation commenced, a short while ago. 

He stated that last Thursday, he had accepted the Premiership of Sri Lanka. 

I did not ask for that position. In the face of the crisis situation in the country, the President invited me to accept this position,” he said. 

At this moment, Sri Lanka’s economy is at a very dangerous position, the PM said. 

He said that although the last Budget (2022) had forecasted government revenue of Rs. 2,300 billion for 2022, the actual revenue is now Rs. 1,600 billion. 

He said government expenditure for the rest of the year is Rs. 3,300 billion, however due to several reasons and extra expenditure it has climbed to Rs. 4,000 billion.

The PM said that the budget deficit is Rs. 2,300 billion or 13% of the GDP.   

He added that a decision was taken by the Cabinet of Ministers yesterday to table a proposal in parliament to increase the approved issuance limit of treasury bills from 3,000 billion to 4,000 billion.

He said Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves were USD 7.5 billion in November 2019, however today the treasury is unable to find even one million US dollars.

He said the Ministry of finance is finding it difficult to raise USD 5 million required to import LP gas.

Wickremesinghe said that amidst all these issues the country is faced with several grave concerns. He said to ease the queues, they must obtain approximately USD 75 million within the next couple of days. 

At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day,” he said, adding that due to the diesel shipment that arrived yesterday, the shortage of diesel will be resolved to some extent. 

He stated that under the Indian credit line, two more diesel shipments are due to arrive on the 18th May and 1st June. In addition, two petrol shipments are expected on 18th and 29th May. 

The PM said that for over 40 days three ships with crude oil and furnace oil have been anchored within the maritime zone of Sri Lanka. We are working to obtain dollars in the open market to pay for these shipments, he said.

The prime minister said that currently a quarter of electricity is generated through oil and that therefore, there is a possibility that the daily power outages could increase to 15 hours a day. 

However, we have already obtained money to avert this crisis. We must also immediately obtain USD 20 million to provide gas to consumers,” he said. The PM said the situation of kerosene and furnace oil is even more urgent. 

He said at present, the Central Bank, local state and private banks, and foreign banks functioning in Sri Lanka are all facing a dollar shortage. As you are already aware, we possess a very low amount of US dollars.” 

Nevertheless, he said that they succeeded in bringing in a diesel shipment yesterday despite these adverse circumstances with Indian assistance. Therefore, you can obtain that diesel from today onwards, he said. 

He said they will also work towards making a payment for the gas shipment that arrived on Tuesday. Therefore, the public will have some respite from the gas shortage, he said.

Another grave concern is the lack of medicine, the prime minister said. There is a severe shortage of a number of medicines including medicine required for heart disease as well as surgical equipment, he conceded.

He said payments have not been made for four months to suppliers of medicine, medical equipment, and food for patients while the payment owed to them amounts to SLR 34 billion. 

In addition, payments have not been made for four months for medicine imported by the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation. As a result, pharmaceutical companies are taking steps to blacklist the SPC, he said. 

Unfortunately, our Medical Supplies Division is unable to provide even two critical items of the 14 essential medicines that we currently need. These two are a medicine used in treating heart disease and the anti-rabies vaccine. The latter has no alternative treatment.”

The PM said they have planned to present a new alternative budget to the development budget proposed for 2022. Intend to present it as a concessionary budget.

He further proposed to privatise Sri Lankan Airlines which is incurring extensive losses. The loss for the year 2020-2021 alone amounts to SLR 45 billion. By 31st March 2021, the total loss was at 372 billion. 

Even if we privatise Sri Lankan Airlines, this is a loss that we must bear. You must be aware that this is a loss that must be borne even by the poor people of this country who have never stepped on an airplane.”

In the short term we will have to face an even more difficult time period.” There is a possibility that inflation will increase further, he warned.

Against my own wishes, I am compelled to permit printing money in order to pay state-sector employees and to pay for essential goods and services. However, we must remember that printing money leads to the depreciation of the rupee.” 

Under the current circumstances, even the Petroleum  Corporation and the Electricity Board are unable to obtain rupees, he revealed.

The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives. We must prepare ourselves to make some sacrifices and face the challenges of this period.”

I have no desire to hide the truth and to lie to the public. Although these facts are unpleasant and terrifying, this is the true situation. For a short period, our future will be even more difficult than the tough times that we have passed.” 

We will face considerable challenges and adversity. However, this period will not be long. In the coming months, our foreign allies will assist us. They have already pledged their support. Therefore, we will have to patiently bear the next couple of months. However, we can overcome this situation. Doing so will require taking a new path.”

I thank the opposition leader and the leaders of the political parties who replied to the letters that I sent them informing them of the current situation.”

We must immediately establish a national assembly or political body with the participation of all political parties to find solutions for the present crisis. This will enable us to discuss with all parties and to arrive at decisions for short-, medium-, and long-term action plans that will enable us to rebuild our nation within a specified time frame.”

We will build a nation without queues for kerosene, gas, and fuel; a nation free of power outages, a nation with plentiful resources where agriculture can freely flourish; a nation where the future of the youth is secure; a nation where people’s labour need not be wasted in queues and in struggles; a nation where everyone can lead their lives freely with three square meals a day.”

I am undertaking a dangerous challenge. In the Caucasian Chalk Circle, Grusha crossed the broken rope bridge carrying a child that was not her own. This is an even more difficult undertaking. The precipice is deep and its bottom cannot be seen. The bridge is made of thin glass and there is no handrail. I am wearing shoes with sharp nails that cannot be removed. My task is to safely take the child to the other side. I am accepting this challenge for our nation. My goal and dedication is not to save an individual, a family, or a party. My objective is to save all the people of this country and the future of our younger generation. I will undertake this task willingly risking my life if needed and will overcome the challenges facing us. I ask you to extend your support to me in this endeavour.”

I will fulfill my duty towards our nation. That is my promise to you,” he said in conclusion. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The parliamentary group of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has unanimously decided to fully support all progressive steps taken by the new government and development activities through parliamentary processes, without accepting any posts. 

The party said in a statement that the decision was taken at a meeting of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s parliamentary group today (16).

As a responsible political party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya believes that at this moment it is essential to rescue the country from the crisis situation it is currently facing.”

Accordingly, the parliamentary group of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has unanimously decided to fully support all progressive steps taken by the new government to uplift the economy, for the benefit of the country through a parliamentary process, without accepting any posts in the government. 

However, the SJB said that the group had decided that it would unconditionally suspend their support for the ruling party if any action is taken to exploit the members representing the Samagi Jana Balawega and to involve the members in the ruling party outside the basic policy of the SJB.

Courtesy Adaderana

During a discussion with the Prime Minister, the 10 political parties that quit the former government have assured that they would contribute to the new government’s efforts through the National Council and the Parliament Oversight Committees proposed to be set up.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader MP Udaya Gammanpila stated this while speaking to reporters following a meeting between the representatives of the 10-party alliance and the Prime Minister held at the PM’s Office this morning (16).

Following the invitation of PM Wickremesinghe to form an all-party government, members of 10 independent political parties who left the SLPP government had decided to support it.

However, it is further reported that the 10 parties have refused to accept any ministerial portfolios in the new government.

The special discussion between Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and the leaders of the 10 parties had commenced at the Prime Minister’s Office this morning.

Meanwhile, political sources say that the other ministers of the new government will be sworn in today if a final agreement is reached.

Four ministers have already been sworn in and 14 more are expected to be sworn in.

This time the cabinet will be limited to 20 ministers, including the president and prime minister.

The Cabinet meeting is scheduled to be held this afternoon under the chairmanship of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

This is the first cabinet meeting to be held after Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party had also engaged in another discussion with the Prime Minister this morning.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has decided to support the formation of an all-party government at the invitation of the Prime Minister.

It is reported that the chairman of the party Maithripala Sirisena has sent a letter to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe informing him about this.

However, a discussion was held between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party this morning to reach a final agreement in this regard.

MPs Dayasiri Jayasekara, Shan Wijayalal De Silva, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Dushmantha Mithrapala had participated in this meeting.

අචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර  මහනුවර

අද මේ රට හා ජාතිය පත්ව ඇති අර්බුධයන්ගෙන් ගොඩගැනීමට  ඇති හොඳම විසඳුම, පවතින මැතිසබයේ සියළුම පක්ශ,  වසර 74 ක් තිස්සේ අනුගමනය කළ පටු කුහක දේශපාලන වාද භේද සියල්ල පසෙක තබා,  සියලු දෙනාම එක්වී සර්වපාක්ශික අන්තර්කාලීන රජයක් පිහිටුවා කුඩා ඇමති මන්ඩලයක් මඟින් පළමුව ගිනිගෙන දැවෙන ජනතා ප්‍රස්න විසඳා ඒ ගින්න නිවී රට යථාතත්වයට පත්වූ පසු මැතිවරණයක් ගැන සිතීමයයි මම සිතමි.

මන්ද, මේ අවස්ථාවේ මැතිසභය විසුරුවා මැතිවරණයකට යාම කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නොවන බැවිණි.රටේ පවතින ආර්ථික තත්වය අනුව ඒ සඳහා අවම වශයෙන් රුපියල් කෝටි 1500 පමණ හෝ     සොයාගැනීම බරපතල ගැටළුවකි. දෙවනුව මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වා අවසන් කිරීමට මාස 6 ක් වත් ගතවනු ඇත. අද රටේ පවතින තත්වය අනුව ඒ අතරතුර පවතින තත්වය තවත් උග්‍රවී, රටට කුමකින් කුමක් වේදැයි කිසිවෙකුට කිව නොහැක. එබැවින් මේ අවස්ථාවේ මැතිවරණයක් පැවැත්වීමට වඩා වැදගත් වනුයේ ජාතිය ඉදිරියේ ඇති ගිනිගෙන දැවෙන ප්‍රස්න පලමුව විසඳීම සහ ජනතාව ඉන් බේරාගැනීමයි.

අනෙක් අතින් කෙසේ හෝ මැතිවරණයක් පැවැත්වුවද කිසිම පක්ශයකට හෝ රජයක් පිහිටුවීමට බහුතරයක්ද ස්ථිරවෂයෙන්ම නොලැබෙනු ඇත. එසේ වූ විට යලිත් 1948 සිට මෙතෙක් සිදුවූ පරිදිම ඉර හඳ ඉල්ලන සුළුජන කොටස්වල ආධාරයෙන් ඔවුගේ ඇපකරුවන් වී හෙල්ලෙන දතක් වැනි රජයක් පිහිටුවීමෙන් යලිත් කබලෙන් ලිපටම වැටෙනු ඇත. ඒ සමඟම 2019 සින්හලයින් දුටු සිහිනය දවල් හීනයක් බවට පත්වනු ඇත. එම නිසා මේ අවස්ථාවේ මැතිවරණයකට යාමෙන් රටේ ප්‍රස්න තවත් උග්‍රවනු මිස කිසිම ප්‍රස්නයක් විසඳෙන්නේද නැත..

තවද අද රටේ පවතින අවුල් සහගත තත්වය යටතේ පැවත්වෙන මැතිවරණයකින්, චන්ද දායකයින්ට බුද්ධිමත් තීරණයක් ගැනිමටද නොහැකිවනු ඇත. එසේ වූ විට 2019 දි අප ලබාගත් සියලුම ජයග්‍රහනයන් අවසන්වී නැවතත් 1948 සිට මේ දක්වා පැවැති අච්චාරු ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටූවීමට සිදුවන නිසා ජාතියක් වශයෙන් අපි කබලෙන් ලිපටම වැටෙනු ඒකානන්තය. එම නිසා මේ අවස්ථාවේ මැතිවරණයකට  යාම  කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නොවේ.

 පවතින තත්වය යටතේ මේ අර්බුධ වලින් ගොඩ ඒමට තිබෙණ ඉතාමත් සුදුසු ක්‍රමය පවතින පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුලින්ම සර්වපාක්ශික අන්තර්කාලීන රජයක් පිහිටුවාගෙන පළමුව ජනතාවගේ දැවෙන ප්‍රස්න විසඳීමයි. ඉන් පසු අවස්‍යනම් මැතිවර්යකට යා හැකි බව මේ රටේ බුද්ධිමත් බහුතරයේ මතයයි.

එමනිසා මේ අවස්ථාවේ රට හමුවේ පවතින අර්බුධයන් ට තිබෙන හොඳම එසේම එකම  විසඳුම සර්වපාක්ශික අන්තර්කාලීන රජයක් යයි මමද සිතමි.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා නව අගමැතිවරයකු පත්කොට ඒ සඳහා දොර විවුර්ථ කොට ඇත.

වර්තමාන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටින සියළු දෙනාම අතුරින් පළපුරුද්ද සහ විෂය දැණුම  මෙන්ම පවුරුෂත්වය සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර සබඳතා ආදිය  අතින් අගමැතිකමට වඩාත්ම සුදුසු පුද්ගලයාවන රනිල් වික්‍රමසින්හ බව මගේ අදහසයි. එමනිසා එය ජනාදිපතිවරයා ගත් නිවරැදි තීරණයකි. ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙන්ම නව අගමැතිවරයාද විපක්ශ නායකයා ඇතුලු සියළුම පක්ශවලට  මෙම අන්තර්කාලීන රජයට එක්වන මෙන්  විවුර්ත ව ආරාධනාකොට ඇත.

එහෙත් විපක්ශ නායකයා අගමැතිකම ප්‍රතික්ෂේපකරමින් කළ මෝඩකම යළිත් කර ඇත. සෙසු පක්ශ සහ කණ්ඩායම්ද තවමත් කල්මරමින් සිටින බව පෙනේ. එසේ නොකොට රනිල් සහ ගෝඨාභය සමඟ එක්වී රට ජාතිය බේරාගගැනීමේ වැඩපිලිවෙලක් නොපමාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනමෙන් මම ඒ සියළුදෙනාගෙන්ම ඉතා  ඕනෑකමින් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි

 ඔවුන් එසේ එක්වී රට වැටී ඇති අඝාධයෙන් ගොඩගැනීමට සහාය නොවන්නේනම්  නව අගමැතිවරයාට කළයුතුව ඇත්තේ අමාත්ය ධුර දැරීමට සුදුසුකම් ඇති ප්‍රවීනයින් කීපදෙනකු ජාතික ළැයිස්තුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පත්කොට ගෙන රට හමුවේ ඇති ගැටළු නොපමාව විසඳීමට පියවර ගැනීමයි.

එසේ වූ විට  රට දැනට පත්ව ඇති අභාග්‍යසම්පන්න තත්වයෙන් බෙරාගන්නා එම කණ්ඩායමට ඊළඟ මැතිවරණයේදීද බලය ළැබීමෙන්, මේ අවස්ථාවේදී ප්‍රස්නයෙන් මඟහරින විපක්ශ නායකයා ඇතුලු  සියළු දෙනාම සදාකාළික දේශපාලන වනසන්ණ්ඩයට දක්කනු ඒකාන්තය

ජාතික ළැයිස්තුවෙන් ඇමතිකම් දැරීමට සුදුසු පුද්ගලයින් කීප දෙනකුගේ ලැයිස්තුවක්ද මේ සමඟ ඇත.

ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් ඇමතිමන්ඩලයට ගත යුතු කීපහෙනෙක්

සරත් නන්ද ද සිල්වා  හිටපු අග්‍රවිනිශයකාර

ආචාර්ය ගාර්වින් කරුනාරත්න

ගාමිනි විජේසින්හ හිටපු විඝනනාධිපති

නීතිඥ නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු

ප්‍රභාත් මහනාම

වන්නියෑලෑ ඇත්තො

චන්ද්‍රේ ධර්මවර්දන,

ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ මනොහර ද සිල්වා

අලි සබ්‍රි

*මොවුන් ඇමති තනතුරු භාරගැනීමට අසතුටුනම් යටත් පිරිසෙයින් ජාතික සැලසුම් මන්ඩලයේ උපදේශක වරුන් වශයෙන් හෝ පත්කර ගත යුතුයයි මම යෝජනා කරමි

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) (සමායෝජක) වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන

19 නැවත ගේන්න 21 ගේනකොට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම වසර 4 1/2ක් කල් යනව කියන්නෙ අරගලේ තව මාස 34ක් තියෙනව කියන එකද? ඒ වගේම 19ය නැවත ගේන විට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ  85.2ත් ඉවත් වෙනව කියන එකද?

(20වන සංශෝධනය යටතේ 70 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව වසර 2 1/2 කින් පසු (2023.02.20) පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවන්න ජනාධිපතිට බලය ලැබේ.)

පාර්ලිමේන්තු විසුරුවීම වසර 4 1/2ක් කල් යවමින් 2023.02.20 පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම වළක්වා ගන්නවට මන්ත්‍රීවරු අකැමැති වීමට හේතුවක් නැත.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව 2023.02.20 න් පසු විසුරුවන්න වෙන එක වළක්වන විධිවිධානත් ඇතුලත් 19 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය 21 නමින් නැවත ගේනව කියන්නෙ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට තව මාස 34ක් මන්ත්‍රීධූරවල ඉන්න අවස්ථාව ලැබීමය.

2023.02.20 වන දිනට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව වසර 2  1/2ක් සම්පූර්ණ වීමෙන් පසු  විසුරුවාගෙන තමන්ගේ විශ්‍රාම වැටුප ඇතුලු මන්ත්‍රී වරප්‍රසාද අහිමි කරගෙන නැවත මැතිවරණයකින් මන්ත්‍රීවීමේ දුෂ්කරතාවයට කැමති මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු සිටිය නොහැකිය.

ඒ කියන්නෙ අරගලේ තව මාස 34ක් තියෙනව කියන එකය. (2025.02.20 දක්වා)

(2002ත් චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක ජනාධිපති සමයේ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් ගෙනා බවත්, එයට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 7ක් ඒකමතික තීරණයක් ලබා දෙමින් ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නියම කර තිබූ බවත්, ඒ තීරණයට පටහැනිව 2015 දී 19වන  ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ගෙනවිත් තිබූ බවත් සමහරක් තවමත් නොදනී.)

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) (සමායෝජක) වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන

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වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග විසින් ලියන ලද විශ්ව සාහිත්‍යයේ පැතිකඩක් කෘතිය විශ්ව සාහිත්‍ය පිලිබඳව උනන්දු වන සිංහල පාඨකයන්ට අතිශයිම සුදුසු ග්‍රන්ථයකි. විශ්ව සාහිත්‍යයේ පැතිකඩක් කෘතිය හෝමර් , වර්ජිල් ,  ඩන්ටේ අලගියරි, ජෙෆ්‍ රි චෝසර්, සර්වන්ටෙස්, විලියම් ශේක්ස්පියර්, වෝල්ටෙයාර්, ඇලෙක්සැන්ඩර් පුෂ්කින්, ගෝගොල්, චාල්ස් ඩීකන්ස්, වික්ටර් හියුගෝ, ගුස්ටාව් ෆ්ලෝබර්ට් , වෝල්ටර් ස්කොට්, විලියම් වර්ඩ්ස්වත්, ෆියෝඩර් දොස්තයෙව්ස්කි, ලියෝ ටෝල්ස්ටෝයි , ඔස්කා වයිල්ඩ්, වර්ජීනියා වුල්ෆ්, හර්මන් මෙල්විල්, එඩ්ගාර් ඇලන් පෝ, ඩී.එච්. ලෝරන්ස්, ජෝසෆ් කොන්රාඩ්, මැක්සිම් ගෝර්කි, ෆ්‍රාන්ස් කෆ්කා, ඇල්බෙයා කැමූ, අර්නස්ට් හෙමිංවේ , බොරිස් පැස්ටර්නාක්, රබීඳ්‍රනාත් තාගෝර්, යසනූරි කවබත, ගේබ්‍රියල් ගාෂියා මාකේස්,  චිනුවා අචෙබේ යනාදී ලෝක පූජිත සාහිත්‍යධරයන් ගේ කෘතීන් පිලිබඳව විග්‍රහක් ඉදිරිපත් කරයි. ලෝක සාහිත්‍ය පිලිබඳව සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලියා ඇති සීමිත පොත් අතර විශ්ව සාහිත්‍යයේ පැතිකඩක් ග්‍රන්ථය එකතු වීම සිංහල පාඨකයන් විසින් ලද ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. මහාචාර්‍ය සෝමරත්න බාලසූරිය වැනි විද්වතුන් ගේ ප්‍රසාදයට ලක් වූ මෙම ග්‍රන්ථය පිටු 472 කින් යුක්ත අතර කතෘ ප්‍රකාශනයක් ලෙස ලබන මස එළි දැක්වෙයි.

Pathik Hasan from Bangladesh

Myanmar is one of the closest neighbors of Bangladesh. Which is also known as Burma. Before the Second World War, many people from Bangladesh used to travel to Burma in search of livelihood. Since then, the people of this country have developed an economic and social relationship with Burma. Apart from India, Bangladesh shares a border with Myanmar. The 271 km long Bangladesh-Myanmar border is very important for Bangladesh due to geographical reasons. Bangladesh can use Myanmar by land for communication in Southeast Asian countries including China. Road connectivity is possible through Myanmar. Maybe a new horizon of relationships and possibilities unfolds.

Myanmar can also use Bangladesh to reach South Asia specially Nepal, Bhutan, Mainland India. Bangladesh and Myanmar both share a common regional platform like ‘BIMSTEC’. On the other hand, Bangladesh is considered as a ‘Hub ‘between South Asia and South East Asia. It is true that Bangladesh is a South East Asian country geographically but South Asian country culturally, demographically and historically. This is an outstanding geo-strategic characteristic of Bangladesh. Therefore, without the involvement of Bangladesh, any connectivity amongst the states of ASEAN and SAARC is absolutely impossible.

Myanmar is a country rich in natural resources. There are huge amounts of natural resources like tin, zinc, copper, tungsten, coal, marble, limestone, natural gas, hydropower etc. The major resource of this country is mineral resources. Myanmar can be a major source of energy for Bangladesh to ensure its energy security. Food and grains are produced in large quantities in Myanmar. Myanmar can also be a big helper of Bangladesh in the field of food security.

Myanmar has a huge potential of rice cultivation. But lands of Myanmar are unutilized for decades due to lack of human resource. Myanmar needs labors. Rice production in Myanmar accounts for approximately 43% of total agricultural production in the country, making it the seventh largest producer of rice in the world. Out of 67.6 million hectares of land, 12.8 million are used for cultivation. In 2019 alone, Myanmar accounted for 13,300 million metric tons of milled rice production. Rice production in Myanmar is heavily dependent on human and animal power, both traditional methods of cultivation. Myanmar has lack of Manpower and technology in this regard. But Bangladesh has these two things. Bangladesh has surplus human resource. Myanmar can utilize the human resource of Bangladesh for the maximum gain.

But Bangladesh has never been able to take full advantage of this opportunity. This country of 135 tribes and different ethnic groups has been under military rule for many years. That may be one of the reasons why the relationship is not deep. If Bangladesh had good relations with Myanmar, its dependence on India could be reduced in many cases. If contacts were made in Southeast Asia and China through Myanmar, there would be immense potential for investment and trade.

Bangladesh and Myanmar are both on the way to be developed countries. Bangladesh is going to be a South Asian Economic Miracle. Bangladesh can play a significant role in Myanmar to some extent whole South East Asia. For this, Myanmar should increase its diplomatic relations with Bangladesh for the better mutual interest for whole South Asia and South East Asia. EU, China, India, Russia and North Korea are becoming allies in Myanmar’s oil, gas, mineral resources and military markets. Taking advantage of the US negligence, Myanmar’s military junta extended a helping hand to China to invest. So, China is now the biggest investor in this country. According to Earth-Rights International, a private group, more than 26 Chinese companies are investing in Myanmar’s oil, gas, mineral resources and allied sectors. China has already become its biggest ally in building and supplying arms to Myanmar. Myanmar has developed relations not only with China but also with India. India and China are building trade relations with Myanmar. The United States is also changing its approach to the Myanmar question. That is why America, a strong economic country, has started taking new initiatives to develop relations.

Recently, a 41-year dispute over the maritime border with Bangladesh-Myanmar has been settled by the International Court of Justice. As a result, the rights of Bangladesh have been established in an area of ​​1 lakh 11 thousand square kilometers. Myanmar’s waters have also been identified. As a result, this problem has been eliminated. The path of creating tension in the Bay of Bengal has been blocked.

Myanmar is rich in minerals, ores, oil, gas, precious stones and other natural resources. The country is a major supplier of natural wood to the world. While attracting foreign investment has been limited to the oil and gas sector, the country has recently shifted its focus to attracting production-based investment. The country is well ahead in power generation due to good investment in hydropower generation. The tourism industry is also a promising sector of the country. Myanmar’s economy has so far been limited to extracting natural resources, said Nobel laureate economist Professor Joseph Stiglis, who warned that the country would suffer a “curse of wealth” if it continued. Some resource-rich countries in Africa, including Nigeria, Sudan and Benin, have been plagued by corruption, internal strife and poverty. These countries could not adopt proper wealth management system. Economists have the opinions that if democracy is restored in Myanmar and corruption is reduced, it will not have to go to the level of countries that have failed in wealth management. Therefore, it can be assumed that Myanmar will become a country with rapid economic growth in a few years. The country’s biggest economic advantage is that they are members of the ten-nation ASEAN. ASEAN is one of the three most successful trade blocs in the world. The trade consists of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The alliance controls about 24 percent of total world trade and their share in world trade is growing every year. Their trade relations with China, Japan and South Korea are deepening due to the increase in trade. ASEAN countries account for more than 50 percent of total trade between themselves and the three countries. As a result, Bangladesh has the opportunity to benefit by strengthening ties with this trade alliance, that is, Myanmar. Bangladesh and Myanmar are among the seven member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). Therefore, there is ample opportunity to increase trade and investment relations between the two countries through BIMSTEC.

There are many opportunities to enhance Bangladesh’s bilateral trade and investment relations with Myanmar. Through the import of gas and electricity, Bangladesh can get future energy security. The two countries can jointly explore for oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh can also contribute to the development of Myanmar’s infrastructure.

The proposed construction of the Asian Highway, funded by the Asian Development Bank and other donor groups, could also increase land connectivity between the two countries. And there is ample opportunity to increase shipping. Besides, joint investment can be made in fertilizer, plastic, cement, furniture etc. Both countries will benefit if Myanmar produces raw materials and Bangladesh with skills, technical knowledge and labor. Because, Myanmar imports every product. Bangladesh can also export readymade garments.

Bangladesh produces medicines, electronics. Myanmar can import these from Bangladesh hugely. On the other hands, Myanmar is a source of agricultural products. Bangladesh can import these from Myanmar. During the moment of Bangladesh’s onion crisis with India in 2019, Myanmar provided onions to Bangladesh. Bangladesh understood the importance of bilateral trade with Myanmar at that time. On the other hands, Bangladesh is keen to provide assistance to Myanmar.

Covid-19 vaccine diplomacy, counter terrorism approach for the regional security are some sectors. Rohingya refugee problem has made distance between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Myanmar should solve this problem to serve its own and reginal interest. Myanmar should understand that it is the issue of the region. Whole South Asia and South East Asia may be volatile and unstable for this problem.

However, the two countries can also increase production in the agricultural sector through joint ventures. Apart from adopting joint investment projects, Bangladesh can increase imports of various agricultural products including pulses, spices, fish and rice. Thus, enhancing bilateral relations could contribute to the growth of trade and investment relations with ASEAN and BIMSTEC countries. This will create an opportunity to solve the Rohingya problem and stop militant activities. Therefore, Myanmar should take effective steps to strengthen bilateral relations. Pathik Hasan, Dhaka based NGO activist and Writer on contemporary international issues. He can be reached at pathikhasan1141@gmail.com

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 15: Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been subjected to jibes and invectives from political opponents, armchair pundits and the media, both mainstream and social. But political realties being what they are, the 73 year-old sixth time Prime Minister is more likely to survive in office than be hounded out of it.

In fact, he is expected to get majority support in parliament, though his party, United National Party (UNP), has only one MP (that is himself). When his support base is tested in parliament on May 17, he might romp home with a comfortable majority. Many political parties and groups have now come round to accepting him as PM if only to have a stable government to tackle the grave economic crisis. MPs, across the board, are now realizing that the major powers of the world, who are also the donors or potential donors, are watching their antics with increasing anxiety, and the flow of funds from abroad might stop if instability continues. ADVERTISEMENT

Be that as it may, Wickremesinghe’s real challenge is not so much within parliament, but outside parliament, on the economic front. The country’s forex reserves continue to be abysmally low – US$ 50 million according to the Central Bank Governor Nandala Weerasinghe. But US$ 70 million is immediately required to offload a consignment of fuel which has arrived. Indian aid, now notching up to US$ 3.5 billion, is keeping the economy from sinking, but in three months’ time, that flow will come to a halt. The promised Chinese aid of US$ 2.5 billion is yet to materialize due to some conditions placed by Beijing, according to Sunday Times. Reportedly Sri Lanka immediately needs US$ 1 to billion.

The expected IMF facility will take six months to be extended, according to the Governor of the Central Bank. But once the Staff Level Agreement with the IMF is signed, the World Bank and the ADB will extend help it is said. The World Bank has already given US$ 600 million.

Western countries have not even offered bilateral or multilateral help. As a Sri Lankan academic once out, the Americans come with a bagful of advice not money.” Japan is the only country from the Western camp which is likely to help because of its long-standing position as a leading donor. Even now, its loans to Sri Lanka are slightly more than China’s, accounting for 10.8% of the total Sri Lankan external debt of US$ 51 billion.

Wickremesinghe is keenly aware of the dire economic situation and has told the media that his first task will be to see that the public get their basic needs such as food and fuel. I will see that every Sri Lankan has three meals a day,” he said.

Towards this end, he has set up a small task force and held preliminary talks with the envoys of India, China, the US and Japan, which have resulted in promises of cooperation. The West and India have welcomed his appointment as Prime Minister as they view him as their friend. He is Right of Center in ideology and is pro-West, though not antagonistic China. He is a known advocate of integrating Sri Lanka’s economy with India, especially, the five South Indian States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. He was keen on giving the contract to build and run the Easter Container Terminal in Colombo port to India, but President Maithripala Sirisena thwarted it.

Wickremesihghe’s relations with China were frosty in the initial stages of his last stint as Prime Minister. He called a halt to the Chinese-funded and executed Colombo Port City project, but after a year and a half, entered into a deal with the Chinese, re-naming the project as the Colombo Financial City and giving them a give piece of land there for their exclusive use. He gave the Hambantota port to China on a 99-year lease for US$ 1.1 billion, terms deemed very favorable to the Chinese.

However, China appears to be a bit wary about recent developments in Sri Lanka, mainly due to the active role being taken by India with the active cooperation of the Sri Lankan government. But India stepped in partly because the Chinese were prevaricating on helping Sri Lanka. Beijing wanted Colombo to go by its advice on how to tackle the economic problem. Beijing was overlooking the fact that what Sri Lanka was facing was an economic emergency needing an urgent infusion of loads of cash. India understood the Lankans’ plight better and responded with alacrity and generously, earning the gratitude of the powers-that-be in Colombo as well as the man-in-the-street.

Eventually, China may come up with an aid package if only to keep its place in Sri Lanka which in terms of investment is substantial (over US$ 5 billion). China is especially interested in checkmating India geo-politically in the island, including the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern provinces. The Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong had had a much publicized visit to the North. He is now eying the East, where India has a strategic interest, especially in Trincomalee.   

On the domestic political front, matters are now going Wickremesinghe’s way. He has already secured the full support of the biggest party in parliament, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). Rebels from the SLPP-led ruling alliance, who are sitting in parliament as Independents, have stated that they will support Wickremesinghe’s good policies and oppose the bad ones. The main opposition party, the Samage Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has come round to saying the same thing. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) have also joined the chorus on giving selective and principled support to tide over the economic crisis. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), led by former President Maithripala Sirisenam has also said that it will support the government.

Only the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) with 3 MPs is adamant about opposing the government as it feels that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should not have made Wickremesinghe Prime Minister when the latter’s party had been wiped out in the last elections and Wickremesinghe himself had entered parliament only as a nominated member.

Though political circles give many reasons for President’s decision to make Wickremesinghe Prime Minister, the most cited reason is that he has entered into a deal with Wickremesinghe to run the administration smoothly and successfully so that, at a suitable time, he will be given a safe exit from power and perhaps the country itself. It is said that the President had agreed to assist the repeal of the 20 th.Amendment of 2020 which had given him dictatorial powers and substitute it with the 21 st.Amendment which will be a new avatar of the 19 th.Amendment under which the President would only be a figurehead and not a functioning Executive President. Reportedly, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had also told Wickremesinghe to take all decisions and promised to sign on the dotted line.

With the political decks cleared or about to be cleared, Wickremesinghe will be able attend to the urgent task of ensuring a steady flow of foreign exchange. He would engage in intensive diplomacy with all major powers and international financial institutions to meet the basic needs of the much deprived and helpless people of Sri Lanka and also put the derailed Lankan economy back on the rails.

Courtesy India Today

The new Sri Lankan PM, Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Saturday said that a committee has been appointed to look after the interests of the ‘Gota Go Home’ protesters who have been camping at Colombo’s Galle Face Green since April 9.

In an unusual move, Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has extended public support to the protesters, who have been camping at a popular beachfront here for over a month calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation for mishandling the country’s worst economic crisis.

The Prime Minister on Saturday said he had appointed a committee to look after the interests of the ‘Gota Go Home’ village protesters who have been camping at Colombo’s Galle Face Green since April 9.

Wickremesinghe, who was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Prime Minister after asking his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa to quit, said the young protesters in the village would be safeguarded and their views would be sought for the shaping of future policy.

In an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service, the Prime Minister said the ‘Gota Go Gama’ protest should be continued to bring a change in the political system in the country and let the country’s youth take the responsibility for leading.

Wickremesinghe, the 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader, was appointed as Sri Lanka’s 26th prime minister on Thursday as the country has been without a government since Monday when prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after violence erupted following an attack on the anti-government protesters by his supporters.

The attack triggered widespread violence against Rajapaksa loyalists, leaving nine people dead and wounding over 200 others.

Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) has extended their support to Wickremesinghe and almost all parties represented in the 225-member Parliament have said although they wouldn’t be a party to Wickremesinghe’s government, they would support him in his effort to pull Sri Lanka out of the current economic crisis.

Political sources said two more ministers are to be appointed to the interim Cabinet on Sunday. Rajapaksa appointed four of them on Saturday.

At least 78 parliamentarians, including the former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, faced arson attacks on their private properties during the unrest on May 9.

At the government parliamentary group meeting held on Saturday, the attendance was low as parliamentarians still fear for their lives despite the imposition of a curfew.

Those present blamed the Inspector General of Police for what they alleged was “police inaction” to prevent arson attacks on the properties of government parliamentarians. Sri Lanka is going through the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials, while power cuts and soaring food prices have heaped misery on people.

The economic crisis also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of the powerful Rajapaksas.

President Rajapaksa sacked his Cabinet and appointed a younger Cabinet as a response to the demand for his resignation. A continuous protest opposite his secretariat has now gone on for well over a month.

Courtesy The Telegraph OnLine

Wickremesinghe appoints committee to look after interests of ‘Gota Go Home’ leaders camping at Colombo’s Galle Face Green since April 9.

In an unusual move, Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has extended public support to the protesters, who have been camping at a popular beachfront here for over a month calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation for mishandling the country’s worst economic crisis.

Appointment of a new prime minister in Sri Lanka has failed to appease anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of the president for the country’s disastrous economic crisis.Advertisement

The Prime Minister on Saturday said he had appointed a committee to look after the interests of the ‘Gota Go Home’ village protesters who have been camping at Colombo’s Galle Face Green since April 9.

Wickremesinghe, who was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Prime Minister after asking his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa to quit, said the young protesters in the village would be safeguarded and their views would be sought for the shaping of future policy.

In an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service, the Prime Minister said the ‘Gota Go Gama’ protest should be continued to bring a change in the political system in the country and let the country’s youth take the responsibility to lead.

Wickremesinghe, the 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader, was appointed as Sri Lanka’s 26th prime minister on Thursday as the country was without a government since Monday when prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after violence erupted following an attack on the anti-government protesters by his supporters.

Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) has extended their support to Wickremesinghe and almost all parties represented in the 225-member Parliament have said although they wouldn’t be a party to Wickremesinghe’s government they would support him in his effort to pull Sri Lanka out of the current economic crisis.

Political sources said two more ministers are to be appointed to the interim Cabinet on Sunday. Rajapaksa appointed four of them on Saturday.

At least 78 parliamentarians, including the former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, had faced arson attacks on their private properties during the unrest on May 9.

At the government parliamentary group meeting held on Saturday, the attendance was low as parliamentarians still fear for their lives despite the imposition of curfew.

Those present blamed the Inspector General of Police for what they alleged as “police inaction” to prevent arson attacks on the properties of government parliamentarians.

Sri Lanka is going through the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.

A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people.

The economic crisis also triggered a political crisis in Sri Lanka and a demand for the resignation of the powerful Rajapaksas.

President Rajapaksa sacked his Cabinet and appointed a younger Cabinet as a response to the demand for his resignation. A continuous protest opposite his secretariat has now gone on for well over a month.

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

JVP General Secretary Tilva Silva yesterday (10) said that Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa shouldn’t have visited Galle Face during the SLPP goons attacks on protesters.

Silva was commenting on protesters attacking the SJP leader and his colleagues as they walked towards the crowds.

The JVP General Secretary said so addressing the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte.

Everybody should be careful. People hate to see politicians travelling in luxury cars with security contingents. People detested the politicians’ attitude of trying to stay above them. The Opposition Leader went there in his luxury vehicles with his security guards and henchmen. So, he had to face the wrath of the people.

Go and see what happens on the roads. Angry people stop only luxury vehicles. They have a reasonable anger against them because they know that they have to live without food because the politicians and their officials travel in those petrol guzzlers.

The Opposition leader should know where he should go. On the other hand, the prevailing public anger is also against him,” Silva said.

Asked to comment on his party leaders visiting Galle Face and coming out without incidents, Silva said: Our party has been there right from the beginning. We have our youth, cultural, student and women wings at the Galle Face. Our leaders did not go there because we did not want to stamp our seal on a people’s struggle. We are part of that struggle. Yet, there was an incident when the SLPP set its goons on the struggle. So, our leaders had to rush there. Leaders have to do that. Our leaders did not go there with escorts of security and VIP vehicles. We went there and saw what happened and supported them in whatever possible manner and left that place. We did not go there to mark our presence. The Opposition Leader and others have been rejected by the people because they too are responsible for the crisis, and on the other hand their intentions are to score political points.”