The Academics’ Movement to Safeguard Agriculture (AMSA) in Sri Lanka

The Academics’ Movement to Safeguard Agriculture (AMSA) in Sri Lanka expresses grave concern about the potential impact of the current national crisis on the agriculture sector in Sri Lanka. First, we vehemently condemn the brutal assault launched against the peaceful protesters in front of Galle Face and Temple Trees, and the detrimental chain reactions emanated from it.

We are at a crucial stage of the Yala season of 2022 where crop establishment is severely constrained by shortages of fuel, fertilizer and other essential inputs. The current crisis has brought to a standstill almost all activities in the value chain of production, processing, transport and marketing of agricultural produce. These include food for the local population and export-oriented products which bring-in valuable foreign exchange. 

Future repercussions of the present state of inactivity are alarming. Failure of the current Yala season will not only create substantial and widespread shortages of essential food items (rice, pulses, vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat, etc.), but also cause a shortage of seed paddy for the next Maha season of 2022/2023. In view of the fact that the Maha season produces two-thirds of the national paddy production, potential impacts of its failure on the national food security and social stability are wide-ranging and severe. The current status of foreign exchange reserves means that the country will not have the capacity to compensate for the impeding shortfall in national food production by food imports.

As such, AMSA urges the President and the Legislature to urgently take measures necessary to resolve the current impasse in national-level administration and governance to enable resumption of activities across the whole value chain of the Sri Lankan agriculture sector, for both local consumption and export. We urge the new administration that will, hopefully, come into operation to accord a high priority to ensuring a reasonably adequate supply of essential agricultural inputs, especially fertilizer and fuel, and restoring farmer confidence to engage in agricultural production.  We urge the officials of the mandated governmental institutions and agencies to facilitate a fair distribution of limited agricultural inputs and provide advice to farmers, via the agricultural extension network, on technologies to achieve the maximum possible productivity with the limited amount of inputs available. We urge the general public to fully-support all agriculture, food and export-oriented crop production activities, to increase export earnings, to reduce food wastage, and to engage in home gardening where possible. We also request everyone to refrain from any activities causing destruction to infrastructure, both public- and private-owned, particularly used in agricultural production. 

The AMSA as a group of academics in the field of agriculture are prepared to fully-support all above activities by lending our expertise in different disciplines of agriculture on the basis of proven and valid scientific principles.

Names of Signatories, on behalf of the AMSA-Sri Lanka:

Senior Professor Buddhi Marambe	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
Senior Professor Janendra de Costa	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
Professor Devika de Costa	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
Senior Professor Aruna Kumara	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna
Professor T. Sivananthawerl	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
Professor Saman Dharmakirthi	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
Professor Nalika Ranathunge	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna
Professor Warshi Dandeniya	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya
Professor Nilantha Liyanage	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna
Professor Ewon Kalidasa	Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture, Uwa Wellassa University
Professor Gangani Samaraweera	Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna
Dr. Pradeep Gajanayaka	Faculty of Technology, University of Sri Jayewerdenepura

Courtesy Business Standard

Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), however, said there is no overdue payment from the Sri Lankan government as of now

The lines of credit extended to the Sri Lankan government by India Exim Bank may go through a “rough patch” as the island nation faces the worst economic crisis, a senior bank official said on Thursday.

Export Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), however, said there is no overdue payment from the Sri Lankan government as of now.

Exim Bank, at the behest of the government of India, extends lines of credit (LOCs) to financial institutions, regional development banks, sovereign governments and other entities overseas to enable buyers in those countries to import developmental and infrastructure projects, equipment, goods and services from India, on deferred credit terms.

It has extended LOCs worth USD 1.3 billion to the Sri Lankan government.

Under the Buyers’ Credit- National Export Insurance Account (BC-NEIA), the development finance institution has an exposure of around USD 230 million in the country.

“The LOC part is going to get into some negotiation between the two governments. I don’t think everything is rosy with Sri Lanka. This is going to be a rough patch,” Exim Bank’s managing director Harsha Bangari told reporters.

“How we navigate Sri Lanka in the near term is going to be a little difficult, but I am sure at least the government of India is totally invested in Sri Lanka,” she said.

While extending LOCs, Exim Bank takes risk, which is backed by the government of India, but it does not do credit assessment, Bangari said, adding that any decision on restructuring of LOCs will have to get initiated by the finance ministry.

“I am sure discussions have happened and there will be imminent restructuring. We will become a partner in negotiation but the table will be set by the government,” she said.

Bangari said the Sri Lanka government made its last repayment on March 31, 2022 and there are no bills overdue currently.

“Technically, there is no overdue from Sri Lanka today but that doesn’t mean it will not be there (in future). Going forward, there could be some stress,” she noted.

Exim Bank has a very small exposure to Sri Lankan banks but there are no concerns over it, she said.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The crisis is caused in part by the lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.

On the impact of Ukraine-Russia conflict on the bank’s exposure, Bagari said none of the exporters of the development finance institution has exposure to Ukraine.

Although the bank does not have any direct exposure to Russia, it has provided project guarantees to Indian companies that are doing contract work for Russian companies.

“We are very closely monitoring it on a daily basis. We are in touch with these companies. We have not seen any sign of stress till now. So, on the financial transaction side we do not have exposure,” she said.

The export credit agency has provided assistance to a couple of companies in India, which are the licensed manufacturer of Sputnik vaccine, but there are no concerns over it, she said.

Rashmee Roshan Lall OpenDemocracy

Oonce hailed as South Asia’s ‘success story’, the island nation has faced months of escalating violent unrest.

Sri Lanka is in a state of chaos. Faced with the worst economic crisis of its 74 years of independence, the country has been roiled by days of violent unrest – leading the government to the brink of collapse.

For months, nationwide protests have taken place over soaring food prices, severe shortages of everyday essentials, weeks of power cuts lasting up to ten hours a day, and crippling petrol and diesel costs, which are up 92% and 76% respectively since January.

A national emergency remains in force, the army is enforcing a nationwide curfew and threatening to shoot looters on sight and some Western countries are issuing advisories to warn their citizens against non-essential travel to Sri Lanka.

Its growing notoriety – as a failing state and an unstable no-go area – is a bitter blow for the tear drop-shaped island nation, which once counted tourism as its third-largest foreign-exchange earner and was not too long ago hailed by the World Bank as South Asia’s development success story”.

State of play

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government is struggling to remain in office as he attempts to cobble together a national unity administration. This would replace the 26-member cabinet, whose members resigned in unison last month bar the president and his elder brother, the prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The situation is volatile. Mahinda, who hung on until Monday, when he also resigned, has had to be evacuated by the army, after protesters tried to storm his official residence in the capital, Colombo. He is currently sheltering at a naval base in the north-eastern city of Trincomalee.

On 12 May, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s prime minister for the sixth time, but it’s not clear if cabinet formation will be speedy and smooth. The lack of a new cabinet is taking its toll on Sri Lanka’s people and its prospects. On 11 May, the head of Sri Lanka’s central bank, Nandalal Weerasinghe, said the country has just 48 hours to save itself, lest the economy will completely collapse”.

Even the basics are unaffordable. Lentils rose from 168 rupees (37p) a kilo in October to 500 rupees (£1.11) in April

Meanwhile, angry protesters chant Go Gota, go”, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – with which the government is urgently negotiating a bailout – has said talks for a loan can advance only once a new cabinet is in place.

The IMF also expressed concern over rising social tensions and violence”, according to a statement shared with local media.

A mounting debt crisis has left Sri Lanka unable to refinance foreign debt totalling more than $50bn. And with foreign currency reserves as low as $50m, the country is unable to import food, medicine and fuel.

Its 22 million people have suffered weeks of severe shortages of everyday essentials. Even the most basic food has become unaffordable. Lentils, for instance, rose from 168 Sri Lankan rupees (37 pence) per kilo in October to 500 rupees (£1.11) in April. Meanwhile soaring fuel costs are forcing public transport and private vehicles off the roads and leaving farmers unable to run tractors or start their rice paddy crops, despite it being planting season.

A desperate government has sought bailouts from India and China and even poorer Bangladesh.

How did it come to this?

But how did Sri Lanka get here? It was the first South Asian country to embrace market liberalisation way back in 1977 and was often compared to Singapore, says P. Jayaram, a visiting professor at Amrita University in Coimbatore, India, who reported from Colombo in the 1980s and 1990s.

Barely a decade ago, a report for the research-focused International Growth Centre was hailing Sri Lanka’s 7% growth rate and its substantial reduction in poverty”. As recently as 2018, Sri Lanka’s per capita GDP was more than $4,000 (by 2020 this had fallen to $3,680). According to UNESCO, an astonishing 92.5% of Sri Lankans are educated, with non-profit Borgen Project declaring the country’s relatively new education system has shocked the world with its success”. Sri Lanka’s free and universal healthcare was celebrated as a success story in South Asia”.

On 16 May 2009, Mahinda Rajapaksa, then the president, declared victory in the nearly three-decade civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels. There was dancing on the streets of Colombo and a stream of congratulatory messages poured in from world leaders for this stunning defeat of ‘terrorism’.

Sri Lanka seemed poised to reap the harvest of peace and prosperity. But the decisions made after the end of the war put the country on a quite different, perilous path.

Flawed choices

Sri Lanka made a series of flawed choices after the end of the civil war,” Sumit Ganguly, a professor of political science at Indiana University, told openDemocracy.

Amongst other matters, it went on a borrowing spree and it cut taxes. The debts came due and the revenue losses undermined public finances.”

Sri Lanka was Asia’s largest high-yield bond issuer, borrowing heavily in the years following the war for several ambitious infrastructure projects, such as South Asia’s tallest self-supported tower and wide highways in the hinterland. Critics call these projects the Rajapaksa white elephants”. The pile of debts continued to grow, with roughly a third owed to international bondholders and China and India as other large creditors.

Mahinda was in charge of the country from 2005 until 2015; his thumping election victory in 2010 leading political analysts to label him a man with a Midas touch”. But that seemed not to extend to the country’s finances, with Mahinda taking Chinese loans to build the expensive Hambantota port in his southern home district.

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This controversial relationship with China went back a long way, as Ganguly wrote in a 2018 paper. Mahinda’s final military onslaught against the Tamil rebels, Ganguly noted, found significant support, especially in the form of substantial amounts of military equipment, including six F7 fighter jets, from the People’s Republic of China.

The PRC also provided millions of dollars’ worth of other military equipment and about $1bn in overall assistance.”

The Hambantota project followed on from that – but it hasn’t ended well. In 2017, the port was leased to Beijing on a 99-year debt-for-equity swap, after Sri Lanka failed to pay off the loan. Critics say Mahinda caused Sri Lanka to fall into the Chinese debt trap”.

The man with a Midas touch lost the 2015 election, but with brother Gotabaya chalking up an emphatic win in 2019, the Rajapaksa family was back in power. At the time, Sri Lanka’s economic situation was fair – it had foreign reserves of some $7.5bn and a budget surplus – there seemed a chance it could turn the corner on the bad deals of the past.

But Gotabaya put in place sweeping tax cuts, in what some Sri Lankan commentators call voodoo economics”. With value-added tax nearly halved to 8% and seven other taxes abolished, government revenue fell. Ganguly indicates that it changed Sri Lanka’s progressive, poverty-cutting arc. Economic disparities certainly had widened with the tax cuts as the benefits mostly accrued to the wealthy,” he told openDemocracy.

The pandemic didn’t help because there was a dramatic drop in tourism… and the country lost significant remittances from the Middle East,” Ganguly added. To compound matters, with the exchequer drained an import-dependent economy saw soaring inflation.”

Economic disparities certainly had widened with the tax cuts as the benefits mostly accrued to the wealthy

In April 2021, the Rajapaksa government announced a bold and aspirational transition to organic farming. Chemical fertilisers were banned and their import halted. Virtually overnight, farmers were left to get on with farming in an organic way.

There was no proper plan, no training or education,” Vimukthi de Silva, an organic farmer in Rajanganaya, later told The Guardian. Yields of rice, the country’s staple food, dropped precipitously, as did formerly plentiful banana and tea crops. Vegetables became five times as expensive as before the ban.

The cash-strapped government slashed funding for school meals. A food crisis loomed. Donations of Chinese rice were supplemented by high-priced purchases from Myanmar. Sri Lanka’s failed organics experiment became a salutary story in South Asia for how not to do it.

What happens next?

The president promised, late on 11 May, that he would form a new government within a week. But this may not be quick enough. The situation remains fluid and the only certainty is flux.

Writing in The Guardian in 2009, celebrated British-Sri Lankan writer Romesh Gunesekera described his country of origin in lyrical terms. Sri Lanka, he wrote, is an island that everyone loves at some level inside themselves. A very special island that travellers, from Sinbad to Marco Polo, dreamed about.

A place where the contours of the land itself forms a kind of sinewy poetry.”

But Gunesekera’s article was headlined: ‘A long, slow descent into hell’. It may have been prescient, albeit unintentionally, about a country whose leaders’ aspirations catastrophically exceeded their ability to sustainably deliver.

Akshaya Nath Courtesy India Today

Speaking about the ongoing crisis in Sri Lanka, MP Namal Rajapaksa said one cannot throw out a president as it will deepen the political instability. Since the start of the economic crisis, Opposition leaders have called for the removal of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office.

Namal Rajapaksa, the son of former Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, said one cannot throw out a president as it will deepen political crisis. He also blamed the Opposition leaders for not taking responsibility of governing Sri Lanka during the country’s worst economic crisis.

Rajapaksa said, “People who are protesting against the government need to understand the democratic way. You can’t throw out the president. The president had to function without a government for over 48 hours. If the president resigns what next? We have opposition leaders who didn’t want to take responsibility. We have a clear road map now.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis escalated into civil unrest following the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 9. Soon after Rajapaksa’s resignation, his supporters clashed with the anti-government protesters.

The ancestral home of the politically-influential Rajapaksa family in Hambantota was set on fire by protesters. Eight people have died and around 250 people have been injured in the violence.ADVERTISEMENThttps://a78f51adf141dba7ee9533e4f8784c67.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The Hambantota MP said allegations of government inciting violence are false. He stated that his family would remain in Sri Lanka and face investigation into violence that broke out between pro- and anti-government protesters in the streets of Colombo.

Speaking exclusively to India Today, “This is not the first time we have a travel ban. We had four travel bans during the last government too. No intention of running away. We want to work with people and remain in Sri Lanka. As an individual or family, we didn’t have a part to play in any violence. Allegations of us [ruling party] inciting violence are false. We will face investigation. “

“We have to come out of [economic] crisis. The PM resigned as per the demands of the people. At the same time, a chaotic situation prevailed because mobs were instigated by political-motivated groups,” he added.

Namal Rajapaksa, who is currently at a secured location in a naval base, said the country went without government for 24 hours and the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa won’t serve as a solution to the current crisis.

“There is a democratic way of transferring power. The 21st amendment will be worked and executive power will be abolished. President’s power will be reduced,” Rajapaksa said, backing the demand for Constitutional reforms.

In a late night televised address on May 11, President Gotabaya refused to quit but had promised to appoint a new Prime Minister and a young Cabinet which would introduce key constitutional reforms to curb his powers.

Gotabaya had said that after appointing the new Prime Minister, and Government a constitutional amendment will be moved to enact the content of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which will vest more powers with Parliament.

Courtesy Daily Mirror

Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa extended his wishes to newly-appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

In a twitter post, he said “Congratulations to the newly-appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. I wish you all the best as you navigate in these troubled times,”

Courtesy Ada Derana

The Ministry of Defence has requested the general public to inform the details of criminal activities by mobs or violent groups and incidents of damaging of public and private properties, looting and assaults from any parts of the island.

The public can provide such information through the following contact numbers:

Defence Ministry Hotline – 0767 392 977 and 0112 441 146 

Ministry of Public Security – 118

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, responding to the letter directed by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has said the decision to appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new Prime Minister cannot be reversed at the moment.

You refused my prior invitations to accept the Premiership. Following discussions with political party leaders representing the parliament, I have appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe to the post of Prime Minister.”

President Rajapaksa has informed the Opposition Leader to inform him if he desires to include any of his party members in the Cabinet.

Courtesy AdaDerana

Newly-appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe says he accepted the President’s invitation by choosing to deliver solutions over practicing petty politics.

Speaking to the media following his swearing-in, PM Wickremesinghe stressed that the country’s economy needs to be rescued and the people are living with great difficulty.

Courtesy AdaDerana

The Leader of the United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe took oath before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the President’s House this evening (May 12).

Secretary to the President Gamini Senarath and Prof. Maithree Wickramasinghe were also present on the occasion. 

Wickremesinghe has served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on five previous occasions.

President Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe held a round of discussion on Wednesday evening (May 11) during which the new appointment for the vacated premiership and the present crisis situation in the country was discussed at length.

Wickremesinghe’s appointment comes after Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as the Prime Minister following a brazen attack on peaceful protesters camped outside the Temple Trees and the ‘GotaGoGama’ protest site at Galle Face Green by a mob of ruling party supporters on May 09. The events led to a nationwide public furore.

The resignation of Mahinda Rajapaksa was later notified in a Gazette Extraordinary published on May 09, under the directives of the President.

Soon after the swearing-in of Wickremesinghe this evening, former PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was reportedly relocated to the Sri Lanka Navy Dockyard in Trincomalee due to security reasons, congratulated his successor.

Congratulations to the newly appointed Prime Minister of #lka, @RW_UNP. I wish you all the best as you navigate these troubled times,” Rajapaksa tweeted.

Congratulations to the newly appointed Prime Minister of #lka, @RW_UNP. I wish you all the best as you navigate these troubled times.— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) May 12, 2022

The citizens of the island nation have been showing this discontentment with the incumbent government as they continue to stand in long queues to meet their basic necessities, including food and medicines. 

It was reported last week that the Sri Lankan President had requested Mahinda Rajapaksa to vacate the premiership, in order to allow the formation of a government of national unity, an interim arrangement until the present economic crisis could be dealt with. 

Rajapaksa’s resignation as the Prime Minister came after several rounds of discussions among the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) and its constituent parties. The PM’s departure also results in the dissolution of the Cabinet. 

The Sri Lankan government is currently struggling to meet basic requirements for its population of 22 million citizens amid an unprecedented economic crisis caused by mishandling of finances and ill-timed tax cuts. 

The island nation is also currently facing a foreign exchange deficit, which has resulted in food, fuel, power, and gas shortages, and has sought economic assistance from friendly countries. 

Meanwhile, people in the country have been protesting for nearly a month demanding for the government, led by the Rajapaksa family, to resign.

Shenali D Waduge

Ask yourself, if you were Mahinda Rajapakse, with no intention of resigning as PM, would you unleash a mob to attack unarmed protestors, knowing the ultimate blame will fall on your shoulders? Presuming the answer is negative, think about what could have really happened. Without falling for pick &  go versions, think of the events & make your intelligent conclusions.

9 April 2022 – Protestors create #GoHomeGota inside Galle Face Green

Did the President err in allowing structures inside public place for a handful of protestors to claim it as their own inside which curfew & emergency were deemed null & void, questioning inequality to others having to remain indoors! This protest soon was overtaken by others with agendas diluting the message of the protestors (knicker show/anti-Buddhist slogans & dramas etc)

7 May 2022 – President declares emergency

9 May 2022 – Supporters arrive to urge Mahind Rajapakse not to resign (some had come in buses – some marched)

SCENARIO 1

• Around mid-day these supporters began attacking protestors stationed outside Temple Trees & thereafter proceeded towards Galle Face Green where they attacked the GoHomeGotaGama protestors.

Questions to answer

• Who organized these supporters to arrive at Temple Trees
• From where did these supporters arrive (districts/provinces)
• How did these supporters arrive (given the fuel crisis)
• Was PM Mahinda Rajapakse part of the organizing team?
• Did they bring poles/sticks etc with them or were they strategically placed en route or were they given poles/sticks at Temple Trees?
• If so who supplied these poles/sticks
• If the supporters inside Temple Trees did not have sticks but another group of supporters joined with sticks – who organized these people?
• who instructed them to attack the unarmed peaceful protestors”?
• By 3p.m. another set of people mostly youth arrived – were they JVP/FLSP/SJB or another group (who organized these)
• The Temple Trees supporters were outnumbered & many landed up in Beira Lake – clothe removed by ‘peaceful protestors’. Minister Johnston Fernando’s vehicle was also put into the Beira Lake – with quite a number of arrack bottles.
• The attacks left over 150 injured with the death of 1 policemen, 2 bodyguards and a SLPP Member.
• It was unusual to see the Opposition Leader Sajith P and Eran W arrive at Galle Face Green in the middle of an altercation – who asked him to arrive?
• JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, former MPs, Lal Kantha, Wasantha Samarasinghe and Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa also arrived – who asked them to arrive?
• Who attacked Sajith? Why didn’t the same people who attacked Sajith not attack Anura Kumara & Co? Does this mean the protestors at Galle Face Green are supportive of Anura Kumara but does he get the same support from the rest of the Island which is 99.9% of the populace?
• The police & army are accused of not taking action – was this under orders (if so by whom & why) or was it out of fear as they have been lambasted by the international community & human rights organizations not to block peaceful protests” & the time they did take action, this has resulted in arrest of police. Was the arrest to scare police from taking actions as arrest meant withholding salary until cleared of charges! Was police neutralized into inaction this way?

• The most important question is was Mahinda Rajapakse aware that his supporters were going to attack the peaceful protestors” & did he give the nod of approval?
• Another point to consider is – would political savvy Mahinda Rajapakse who would have known the outcome of armed supporters attacking unarmed protestors, allow such an attack when the outcome would have been blamed on him? This is the crucial question that needs to be answered.

The ultimate outcome of this attack

• Resulted in the resignation of PM Mahinda Rajapakse & the entire Cabinet

SCENARIO 2

• Immediately after the attacks in Galle Face Green – SLPP MPs houses became the target of arson with over 50 being burnt to ashes, vehicles smashed & furniture destroyed.
• If this was an act as reaction to the unprovoked attacks on unarmed protestors in Galle Face Green – how were groups of men with kerosene ready to attack houses of Ministers/MPs around the island & knew where these houses were located?
• Why did the attackers not attack the President’s residence in Mirihana, though the residences of Mahinda Rajapakse in Tangalle, Medamulana, Carlton House & Kurunegala were burnt down as well as the shrine for the parents of the Rajapakse brothers?
• Who organized these groups – generally around 25 to 30 for every attack? Why were they wearing helmets? How was media present to film the attacks?
• Why were no one present in the homes that came under attack? Were they given prior warnings? Why? Was the intent to only cause property damage & not lives?

There are numerous opinions regarding these attacks which are linked to the allegation that the police & army just watched looking helpless.

Scenario 2 – were the attacks by

• Locals organized by foreign intel
• Prime Minister & his associates (setting fire to their own homes)
• JVP / Peratugami
• SJB
• Champaka & Pathum K
• Or any other?

Then, there is the deafening silence of the head of State & all protestors appear to have forgotten about the kakka” – were these two with their families overseas also facing some sort of arm-twisting not to take action as were the other heads upon whom fell the responsibility of defending the nation & the people.

From the above scenarios, we must be intelligent enough to analyze & wonder who has the biggest advantage of the chaos that prevails? It is certainly not Mahinda Rajapakse. Who has the advantage & how?

We see very strong messages coming from the US & India is even mooting Indian troop presence claiming Indian interests in Sri Lanka are at risk.

If you were in Mahinda Rajapakse’s shoes – would you have created a situation where you are being hounded by helmet gangs and there’s a threat to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty?

GOAL ACHIEVED

In getting the PM to forcefully resign, the President has been further cornered minus the brothers that backed him, by getting over 40 key MPs to lose their homes & fear for their lives & family, they are now in a situation where to survive in politics, they have to bend on knees & beg – no longer can they dictate terms or demand dollars or positions for their vote. They are now political pawns & will say or do anything for their survival. They have been effectively neutralized. This is the perfect potion for pass legislation sans even debate or objections. There is even the question of rallying candidates to contest for the next elections with no strong leader to lead the party.

Such an operation cannot be done with local brains.

Therefore, we have to wonder who are the brains behind the chaos that erupted. From where did the pluck the helmet gangs for the job?

The biggest disadvantage was, to no one else but Mahinda Rajapakse – the once loved and the most charismatic politician in Sri Lanka. A Goebbels propaganda systematically brainwashing people over 5 years has been successful. He is now the most hated person in Sri Lanka by the LTTE-lobby/ the LTTE diaspora / the anti-Rajapakse Christian/Catholic lobby / the JVP-SJB-Peratugami & even foreign intel.

Being the only politician able to command the largest vote base, it was important that he had to be neutralized ahead of an election as well as to weaken the state and prevent him leading any opposition.

Getting rid of him was not a major exercise given the arrogance of his family members and the greed of acquiring wealth. Whether allegations of corruptions are true or not, the campaigns around them united people against him far beyond previous times.

Combining the unprovoked attacks, the allegations sufficed to justify that he was unsuited to be PM.

If he was not prepared to give up his PM position even on the day that supporters were arranged to arrive in support of him, was this unprovoked attack planned to force his resignation and to neutralize all the MPs that posed a threat for the ultimate goal of the brains behind the attacks – to abolish the Executive Presidency?

With the resignation of the PM & entire Cabinet, even those who oppose the Executive Presidency would realize its merit. Whether a weak leader sat in the seat, the position is giving the much needed powers to keep the country stable. Those that recently proudly proposed its abolishing will be realizing its importance now, especially in the light of personal vendettas/looting taking place in the guise of ‘revenge attacks’.

If the Opposition is brimming with glee – they must surely know, they can also be next!

Shenali D Waduge

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The greatest transfer of wealth in human history took place during Covid-19 Lockdowns with Covid masks and Personal Protection Equipment. The rest of the world was impoverished.[i]  

As Sri Lanka caught in an International Sovereign Bond (ISB) debt trap defaults into the arms of Washington and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), questions arise at this time: Have two years of Covid-19 lockdown induced digitalization of economy, society and democracy, a.k.a. Digital Colonialism, advanced to a point that all sides are infiltrated and gamed in this strategically located Indian Ocean island nation perpetually in the cross-hairs of great power rivalry?

Both the staged Gota Gama” protest Party that was a prelude for the coordinated violence to follow, and the Sri Lankan Parliament convening via zoom while citizens were kept in the dark suggest disturbing trends. Currently with curfew in place parliament sessions are tipped to take place on zoom or Skype– with more bots and trolls than politicians?!

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

Leaderless protestors at ‘Gota Gama’ were organized anonymously via social media platforms and networks like Facebook (META) and Whatsapp chats and invisible bots on the English-language based internet. On the ground the activities in Galled Face were organized by foreign funded local Non-Government Organizations NGOs.

Who provided the (artificial) ‘intelligence” for the apparently leader-less protestors to gather and organize at Galle Face? The Gota Go Gama” Protestors were anonymously organized via social media. They appeared to set the stage and were the prelude to the violence and curfew to follow that further debilitated the Lankan economy as talks with the IMF take place?

Some protestors carried posters supporting Washington and the IMF although the country was led to Default by a US citizen and Minister of Economic Disaster, Basil Rajapakse who has since disappeared.

Of course many protestors were youth enjoying post-Covid lockdown freedoms and genuine patriots frustrated by the deterioration of economy and society. The question remains who enabled the intelligence and led anonymous Protest organizers and later violent mobs?  Who or which intel agents and agencies backed and provided the digital intelligence though invisible, remote, server networks?

Frances Haugen the Face book Whistleblower has revealed how social media is used to game elections and other social and economic outcomes. Facebook was also used in the past to spread hate to divide societies and countries by CIA and external intelligence agencies in Myanmar and Ethiopia and during the Arab Spring Regime Change operations in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Dominance of cyberspace it is said had tipped the war in Ukraine in this era of Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) and hybrid economic war with Over the Horizon (OTH) operations by those with the technology and cyber capability. Is such an operation on-going in Sri Lanka with the citizens kept in locked down once again as talks with the IMF commence?

Inequality Kills

Meanwhile, Oxfam released a report on the economic costs and global impacts of Covid-19 titled Inequality Kills” in time for the IMF’s Spring meetings last month.

There has been, however, little analysis of the economic costs of Covid 19 lockdowns and other policies and their causality vis-à-vis the current International Sovereign Bond (ISB) Debt trap and economic meltdown in Sri Lanka, which have resulted in the predicted pivot to the Washington Consensus and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Analyses of the compounding economic crisis in Sri Lanka have mainly focused on lost State revenue due to ill-advised tax cuts implemented in the wake of the mysterious ISIS claimed 2019 Easter Sunday attacks that targeted luxury hotels and the tourism dependent economy, rather than Covid-19 lockdowns and related policies to explain the current economic crisis in this strategic Indian Ocean island.

Back in 2020 discerning medical economists like Dr. Jayantha Bhattacharya of Stanford University and national leaders like Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan stated that in poor countries more people would die of hunger, mal-nutrition and starvation due to Covid-19 lockdowns and their economic fallout, than due to the virus.

PM Khan who wisely refused to lockdown Pakistanis was removed through a ‘regime change’ operation earlier this year amid staged Arab Spring protests, but his statement rings true in Sri Lanka as people died in food, fuel and petrol queues at this time.

 In the context, a study of the full impacts and Economic Costs of World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended Covid-19 Lockdown policies (including on livelihoods and small and medium enterprises), leading to the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka would be relevant.

Other countries in the Global South are in a similar Covid-19 induced debt trap at this time and a Debt Jubilee and eventual debt cancellation is necessary, rather than an IMF’s led Firesale” of national assets including telecommunications infrastructure, electro-magnetic and digital telecom frequencies while people are under curfew as IMF talks with the Central Bank commence.

But globally, the tipping point is here now: Two years of Covid ‘panicdemic’ and World Health Organization (WHO) staged ‘Permanent Emergency’ media narrative now followed by the war in Ukraine has shown us that ‘the Emperor has no clothes’, comprehensively.

In the ‘West’ versus the ‘Rest” face-off, which the Covid-masked new hybrid Cold War looks like, the Rest has come out on top—having bested the West. The Euro-American Empire is almost done and dusted; its legitimacy shattered as the Truth leaks out: The Gain of Function (GoF) research-based, Covid virus and vaccine bio-warfare project (partly subcontracted to Wuhan labs), to digitalize, govern the world, its wealth, populations and migration with a CV-Mask, while taking down emerging economies’ and ‘China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is coming apart at the seams.

By now, it is not a secret that Moderna’s mRNA injection was a United States (US) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program to manufacture ‘vaccines’ at ‘warped speed’. Nor is it a secret that Moderna had patent applied and obtained patents on certain SARS-COV2 sequences, subsequently named Covid-19.

A First World Virus and Land Mark Indian Supreme Court ruling

All the Data shows that Covid-19 was mild in the Global South, particularly Asia and Africa, which has beaten the virus without ‘vaccines’ despite poverty and poor health care systems.

Rather, Covid-19 appears to have decimated and divided the ‘First World’ despite and arguably because of its advanced biotechnology and Big Data-dependent Health Systems and mRNA injections and global human genome maps. Not to mention over-consuming, co-morbidities-intensive, hyper-digital lifestyles.

The Global South has outperformed the so-called advanced” techno-cyborgs of the West on Covid-19. So too it seems the other Emergency, CoP-26, a.k.a. Climate Emergency” and Anthropocene discourse (Agenda 21), meant to bend the Rest to the corporate agri-business and energy agenda of the West, to enable Green-washing” of big and dirty oil companies and their rebranding as captains of clean, green renewable (LNG) energy technology as part of Climate catastrophe ‘Disaster Capitalism’.

Meanwhile, in a landmark decision the Supreme Court of the largest democracy in the world, India, ruled unambiguously 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. The court said the Centre and states did not place any scientific evidence or data to indicate that the risk of transmission of the virus from unvaccinated individuals is more than from vaccinated persons to justify the discriminatory treatment of unvaccinated persons.

India’s apex court also asked the Centre to make public data on the possible adverse effects of the Covid injections, as had the US court calling for release of Pfizer vaccine trail data.

The boot is now on the other foot! The West will have to eat humble pie and learn how to fight for democracy and against Covid-19 from the Rest”—the colonized and denigrated Third World—Africa and Asia, with its teeming masses. Covid-19 has also deeply divided ‘First World’ societies and economies (Euro-America and its NATO, QUAD and AUKUS allies), where democracy seems increasingly a farce for the rich and connected to perform. The Covid-19 ‘panicdemic’ increasingly looks like a disease of the First world” although it was supposed to target ‘minorities” everywhere.

In Africa fewer than 30 per cent are ‘vaccinated’ but Covid deaths are few, and so too, in much of Asia with its huge populations. This, despite the Hunger Virus unleashed by the World Health Organization’s (WHO), criminal Lockdown policy recommendations that have caused mass impoverishment.

Indeed, it increasingly appears that the mass rollout of inadequately tested and trialled Pfizer and Moderna mRNA injections have done much of the damage to Euro-American populations as the numbers of Vaccine Adverse Events (VAE), Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (AED) cases mount. Covid-proofing with leaky gene-therapies simply has not worked in the rich West. The next pandemic would be of the ‘vaccine’ injured.

Simultaneously, Democratic Rights and freedoms are being stripped fast and loose with the Covid-19 mask at hand in so-called advanced” Western Democracies, as vaccine mandates and passports kick in amidst massive protests on the streets and in the Courts.

The US and Europe with their vaccine cards, bio-politics and digital surveillance are hardly beacons of Democratic Rights, Liberty and Freedoms these days, and certainly cannot lecture anyone on Social and Economic Justice, Rights or Equality. Just remember Julien Assange languishing in Belmarsh Prison for exposing the war crimes of the Empire.

Vaccine and mask mandates have taken Divide and Rule” to a whole new level.

Clearly, the Covid-19 narrative to legitimate snooping on one’s own citizens and cover-up ‘Digital Colonialism’ under the guise of protecting Society and Community while destroying our COMMUNITY, RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL LIFE and digitally hacking our brains and bodies with lockdowns and injections is not working.

Society must be Defended’ was how the brilliant Philosopher and Historian of ideas, Michel Foucault, who died of AIDS, which he also knew was invented in a Lab (just like the Fall Army Worm that destroyed crops and food security in Africa and Asia not so long ago), ironically glossed the Orwellian bio-warfare program. Indeed, it is quite clear that ‘society’ and communities as Social Scientists know them had to be Destroyed and Digitalized in order to be defended, masked, surveilled and controlled by Big Brother. This irony has however been lost on a great majority of acquiescent social scientists as pop psychology and therapy has displaced social and communal life and indigenous healing systems such as Ayurveda, Siddha, or Unani.

Wither the Imploding Empire that won’t go ‘quietly into the night?

Postmodernist and social theorist Jean Baudrillard argued that a simulacrum is not a copy of the real, but becomes truth in its own right: the hyperreal.  We have lived two years of Covid hyper-reality.

Of course, Pax Americana and its NATO-AUKUS imperialism is not dead yet and evidently refuses to go ‘quietly into the night’ as Asia led by China and ASEAN rises once again as the global growth centre. Rather, Joe Bidden is on the warpath with America’s old Cold War rival, Russia, while Stoking a New Cold War with China, having concocted AUKUS to encircle both while egging on the EU part of NATO to fight Mr Putin in Ukraine!

The Pax Americana was always a Hot War; partaking of coups, assassinations, staged terrorist attacks and riots as regime change operations like the Jakarta Method”, and proxy wars in the Global South, while a Cold War prevailed in the Global North. It is in this context, that strategic Sri Lanka perched in the middle of the Indian Ocean, governed by dual American citizens of the Rajapaksa family, is an outlier in the Global South with almost 70 per cent of its population vaccinated.

Sri Lanka sits at a chokepoint among Indian Ocean Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) and is in the crosshairs of the new Cold War’s vaccine Geopolitics. The US citizens who rule this post/colony are desperate (like India’s Modi) for a vaccine victory following self-inflicted economically devastating Lockdowns and attendant millionaire migration and brain-drain to the West amid the pandemic of corruption.

Simultaneously, South Asian ethnoreligious Diaspora networks in AUKUS countries have been Weaponized to advance the economic and security interests of the Deep state and against the interests of those of us actually living and working in the Global South at this time.

Digital Colonialism and Disaster Capitalism

The West is still pushing the Covid-19 and CoP 26 Climate Catastrophe narrative to enable what Naomi Klein termed Disaster Capitalism” in her book Shock Doctrine” and ensure Global Governance through Digital Colonialism: Euro-American Corporate Captains and Hedge Funds like BlackRock that got huge chunks of the 9 trillion US Government Covid 19 bailout” continue to asset strip the Global South.

Booming stock markets are an indicator of the asset stripping and massive wealth transfers going on everywhere as people are impoverished. the current surge in the stock market amid mass impoverishment and what Oxfam terms the ‘Hunger Virus’ amid spiralling inequality look like something out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not—a phantom market,” as a Colombo Stock Exchange analyst put it.

What is increasingly clear is that the Euro-American Global Reset project is headquartered between Geneva (where the DAVOS/ WEF clique and various UN agencies like the WHO and ILO that funds and controls Trade Unions that have been promoting Covid-19 Lockdowns hold sway), and Washington with its military business intelligence, research, and media industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower famously warned U.S. citizens about in his farewell address in 1961.

Novak Djokovic is the latest Celebrity victim of the Global Governance dream project of the Deep state Military Business industrial complex in tow with the DAVOS clique. Djokovic was rendered a spectacle by Australia’s judicial system and puppet Prime Minister who had earlier rushed to dis France (which is competing with and waging a high stakes battle for its share of the Indian Ocean with the Anglo-Old Commonwealth’s Pakkha Sahibs), for AUKUS.

After all, Djokovic’s defiance of Australian Vaccine Mandates advertised on pacifying Global Sports Media channels cannot be tolerated in Vaccine-card carrying Covid Democracies!

Life in a Cyber Simulacrum of Protests

It is not a secret that the world’s top ten wealthiest doubled their wealth last year.

US digital giants, known as GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft), aside from Big Pharma are the biggest beneficiaries of the Covid-19 global wealth transfers and re-set: Indeed, big Pharma funded WHO’s Covid-19 Pandemic would not have been possible without Digital Colonialism, which it has in turn deepened.

‘Digital nomads’ along with BPO or Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) have also enabled business-intelligence agents’ game global and local (social) media narratives around the world while promoting the Permanent Emergency” to destabilize, distract and digitalize communities. Online the message is surveilled and controlled, while the reality is encased the Covid-19 ‘Infodemic’ and numbers game.

Concealed in this cyber simulacrum is truth and the big picture. The Permanent Covid and Climate ‘Emergencies’ have enabled a Pandemic of Corruption, DIGITAL COLONIALISM, hacking of national data, institutions, policy-making processes and information systems like the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) Data Wipe on the Sri Lanka Government Cloud and unprecedented division of societies and communities. Divide and Rule amid digitalization.

Simultaneously, many are so distracted with mask-policing of their neighbours and now with Protests directed by Pied Pipers on social media platforms that the looting of national wealth by corrupt politicians and Digital Corporates passes unnoticed.

At this time is increasingly apparent that the protestors at the post Covid-19 party Gota Go Gama” at Galle Face were played by the same anonymous social media pied pipers who spread Covid-19 fear psychosis and promoted economically devastating lockdowns in the country over the past two years.

These protestors” had obediently followed the Covid-19 narrative, fear psychosis, militarized mass injection, and economically devastating lockdown campaign promoted on the same social media platforms and networks and via the internet for the past two years with WHO’s questionable data. They were finally enjoying freedom at the Gota Gama party, or what some cynically termed the fun gama” and sin city”. On the ground the party was supported by local donors and coordinated by foreign funded NGOs. It was a post-Covid lockdown freedom and protest party!

In the context, a systematic analysis of two years of Covid 19 Panicdemic narratives and lockdowns on industry also given lost production and livelihoods for small and medium enterprises, as well as, the Covid-19 policy response including money printing in Sri Lanka seems overdue.

After all, almost 40 percent of the national budget was diverted to the Health Sector for purchase of expensive Covid-19 injections, Pfizer boosters, endless PCR tests, oximeters, fleets of ambulances etc. Indeed, the Health Sector procurement policy may warrant systematic analysis and investigation also in the context of a constant refrain regarding medicine shortages”.

Aside from GAFAM Big Pharmaceutical companies benefited most from the Covid panicdemic and they often fund many national health sector events, research, conferences and organizations such as the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA), and GMOA and other Trade Unions which called for economically-devastating Lockdowns.

A study of the full impacts and Economic Costs of WHO-recommended Covid-19 Lockdown policies, their causality and continuity with the Easter 2019 hybrid economic war-style attacks on the tourism dependent island economy leading to the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka would be relevant. Such a report may enable seeking an ISB debt jubilee and eventual debt cancellation in this geostrategic island perpetually in the cross-hairs of great power rivalry?!

Remarkably, three years of investigations into the mysterious Islamic State (ISIS), claimed 2019 Easter attacks on economy and society have revealed that they were directed by a mysterious Pier Piper named Sonic-Sonic via the internet, who also seems to be directing many of the on-going anonymously-led Arab Spring” protests organized via Social Media platforms. These are compounding and distracting from a systematic root causes analysis of this strategic Indian Ocean island’s economic crisis, even as asset stripping and sale of national transport, electro-magnetic frequencies, communication and energy infrastructure to hedge funds that would further compound the problem are increasingly trotted out as solutions”.

Hollow Independence: Covid and the abrogation of Self-determination

The Covid-19 project, an Over the Horizon (OTH) operation for Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) and re-colonization of the Global South which would provide cheap migrant labour and raw materials for the West after the Great Re-set, while simultaneously promoting de-globalization and hyper-globalization via digital colonialism appears to have turned core principles of the United Nationals System, as well as, the Natural and Social Sciences on their heads.

Article 2.7 of the United Nation’s Charter explicitly states that: Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of States”. However national policy autonomy seemed to be in abeyance as global emergency narratives and Covid-19 Lockdown prescriptions and vaccine’ mandates caused great harm by unleashing the ‘Hunger Virus’ as Jeffrey Sacks and a host of distinguished economists have shown.

So too, founding principles of the UN and International State System, particularly the principle of the Right to Self-Determination of colonized Peoples, National Sovereignty, Territorial integrity and Policy Autonomy in National ownership in policy-making has been abrogated with the Covid-19 Emergency” and ‘Climate Catastrophe’ narrative.

No longer is it possible for people and goods to travel freely around the world as the current phase of Globalization grinds to a halt with the Covid-19 masked cyber and maritime trade wars and vaccine” mandates and passports, while finance capital moves around the world with increasing speed transferring wealth to the global corporate elite.

This is evident particularly in the social sectors (Health, Education, Culture), as the Right to self-determination for peoples in the post/colonial countries that includes POLICY AUTONOMY have been attenuated with the so-called Global Covid Emergency and Climate Emergency narrative, and the push to Digitalization amidst heightening cyber-wars.

So too have core principles in Social Science research and analysis, such as, the fact that ‘local context’ and regional and country-specific qualitative and quantitative Data and Analysis matter for appropriate policy-making have been ignored by local and global experts under the WHO’s and other UN agencies and Washington Consensus, Global Crisis, Pandemic and Climate Emergency narratives. Meanwhile, global biotechnology and pharmaceutical corporations and GAFAM profit from marketing of their products including PCR tests that are now obsolete and expiring Covid-19 injections with WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL).

 In the final analysis All that’s solid melts in the air’: The paper money castles of Euro-American Hedge Funds like Black Rock which backs India’s Adani and Ambani may disappear no sooner the Undersea Data Cables (UDC) are clipped or taxed to end the inequality pandemic and financial wealth transfers, that keep stock markets hi. After all, we cannot eat or breath data, even in this era of data fetishism in the Information Economy!

Finally, since the US has printed USD 9 Trillion as “Covid Bailouts” in the past two years and is the most indebted country on the planet, the Trillion Yuan question now is: how long will it take for the US dollar to crash as the chickens come home to roost and the masks come off?

[i] The Top 1% of Americans Have Taken $50 Trillion From the Bottom 90%—And That’s Made the U.S. Less Secure: https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

The writer, Dr Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, is a Sociocultural and Medical Anthropologist based in Colombo. Her latest publication is ‘Multi-religiosity on Contemporary Sri Lanka: Innovation, Shared Spaces, Contestation”.(Routledge 2022).

By Asoka Bandarage Courtesy Inter Press Service

World Bank, Washington DC.
The multilateral Asian Development Bank and the World Bank owns 13% and 9% of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, respectively.

WASHINGTON DC, May 11 2022 (IPS) – Sri Lanka is in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis. Faced with a shortage of foreign exchange and defaulting on its foreign debt repayment, the country is unable to pay for its food, fuel, medicine, and other basic necessities. Notwithstanding the austerities that would be entailed, a bail out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been accepted as the only way out of the dire economic situation.

Opposition political parties and citizens across the country blame the Rajapaksa government’s widespread corruption and mismanagement for the crisis, and demand that the President and the Parliament resign.

The Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa did so on May 9th, 2022. However, the protesters at Galle Face Green and elsewhere have not been able to put forward an alternative leadership or a viable road map for the future. The country remains mired in confusion, chaos and a highly volatile political impasse.

To understand the complexity of the current crisis, and to prevent us falling back into the same paralyzing debt-cycle, it is necessary to move beyond domestic politics and the relentless news cycles of corporate media and explore some of the commonly overlooked yet basic global economic and geopolitical dimensions.

Debt Crises and Global Inequality

The transfer of financial and resource wealth from poor countries in the global South to the rich countries in the North is not a new phenomenon. It has been an enduring feature throughout centuries of both classical and neo-colonialism.

At the start of 1989, developing nations owed foreign creditors $1.3 trillion US dollars. That is, just over half their combined gross national products and two thirds more than their export earnings.”

Recently, the effects of the war in the Ukraine and the Covid-19 crisis have worsened the high debt burdens of developing countries. These countries were already struggling to pay accumulated debts stemming from the expansion of capital flows from the high-income countries to lower income countries after the 2008 global financial crisis. Financial liberalization was fostered by powerful global interests, including the IMF, when interest rates dropped in the richer countries.

This facilitated borrowing by developing countries from private international capital markets through International Sovergein Bonds (ISBs), which come with high interest rates and short maturation periods.

Financial liberalization facilitated by the IMF and the developed countries working with the domestic elites of poor countries has created a hierarchical and asymmetrical international financial architecture.”

As a December 2021 Report published by the Bretton Woods Project points out, this unequal framework creates macroeconomic imbalances, financial fragilities, and exchange rate instability that can trigger debt and/or currency crises and curb the economic policy autonomy of affected countries to pursue domestic goals.”

The international NGO Debt Jubilee Campaign (soon to be called Debt Justice) has pointed out that 54 countries are now experiencing a debt crisis. According to the World Bank, Sri Lanka owes $15 billion in bonds, mostly dollar-denominated, out of a total of $45 to 50 billion in long-term debt.

The country needs $7 to 8.6 billion to service its debt load in 2022, whereas it had just $1.6 billion in reserves at the end of March 2022. The downgrading of Sri Lanka by rating agencies such as Moody’s added to the difficulty of further borrowing to pay off the debt.

The devaluation of the Sri Lankan rupee by 32% since the beginning of the year has made it the ‘world’s worst performing currency,’ exacerbating the plight of the Sri Lankan people.

The multilateral Asian Development Bank and the World Bank owns 13% and 9% of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt, respectively. Currently, China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lender, owning about 10% of its total foreign debt, followed by Japan which also owns 10%.

Approximately half of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt (55% according to some estimates) is market borrowings through US- and EU-based ISBs. Asset managers BlackRock, Inc. and Ashmore Group Plc., along with Fidelity, T Rowe Price and TIAA are among Sri Lanka’s main ISB creditors. However, the information on the ownership of ISBs – including one worth $1 billion that is maturing on July 25, 2022 – is not publicly revealed.

Sri Lanka is in negotiations with the IMF to restructure and repay its massive debt. IMF structural adjustment will include the familiar privatization, cutbacks of social safety nets and alignment of local economic policy with U.S. and western interests, to the further detriment of local working people’s standard of living and inevitably leading to more wealth disparity and repeat debt crises.

Debt Crisis and Geopolitical Rivalry

Economic crises create opportunities for external powers to expand economic exploitation and geopolitical control. In Sri Lanka’s context, this means India, the US and China.

Sri Lanka’s big neighbor India has extended a $1 billion credit line to provide essential food and medicine. The Sri Lankan government has stated that there are no conditions attached to the Indian loans. However, Sri Lankan analysts believe that agreements have been made giving Indian companies exclusive access to investments on the island.

Sri Lanka is strategically located in the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean. Over 80% of the global seaborne oil trade is estimated to pass through the choke points of the Indian Ocean. Although bizarrely overlooked by the global media, a Cold War is already in place between China and the Quadrilateral Alliance (United States, Japan, Australia and India) over the control of Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka is part of China’s $1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative, which includes the island’s Hambantota Port and Port City. The United States, on the other hand, signed an open-ended Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA) with Sri Lanka on August 4, 2017, facilitating military logistic support.

The US is also seeking to sign a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which would effectively turn Sri Lanka into a US military base. While the proposed United States Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact has not been signed due to local protests, the pact’s objective – US control over the land, transportation and communication infrastructure in Sri Lanka – continues unabated.

In this context of Sri Lanka as a tense theater of geopolitical rivalry, the Sri Lankan debt crisis cannot be understood simply as an economic crisis. Could it, in fact, be a ‘staged default’ designed to push Sri Lanka into an IMF bailout which would complete the island’s subservience to the US dominated economic and political agenda?

Alternative Sustainable Approaches

The young ‘Gotta Go Home!’ protesters who demand President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation seem to be unaware of the global dynamics of the Sri Lankan crisis. Perhaps local and foreign interests guiding the protests may want to keep it that way.

They are certainly not encouraging the protestors to join global calls for much-needed debt cancellation, debt swaps and regulation of capital market borrowing to prevent debt crises occurring in the first place.

However, at least a few Sri Lankan professionals concerned about the implications of an IMF bailout have put forward alternative short and long-term solutions. They recognize that while exploitative colonial and neocolonial policies have turned Sri Lanka into a poor and desperate country, the island is rich with abundant natural resources and human capital.

If the land and ocean and the graphite, ilmenite and the other mineral resources are sustainably utilized, Sri Lanka can be economically self-sufficient and prosperous. There is also much to be learned from Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial history in this regard, not least its hydraulic civilization.

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) has revealed that there are enough fuel and natural gas deposits in the Mannar Basin to meet the entire country’s needs for 60 years. If the abundant sustainable solar and wind power are also utilized, Sri Lanka can become not only energy self-sufficient, but an exporter of energy as well.

Bioregionalism, economic democracy, and food and energy sovereignty are the only route to a sustainable future for Sri Lanka and other debt-trapped countries, and indeed the world at large. To overcome the dominant forces seeking to monopolize control over the natural environment and humanity, people – especially the young – need to awaken and work in partnership with each other to fight the destructive greed that ensnares and threatens to destroy us.

Asoka Bandarage is Distinguished (Adjunct) Professor at the California, Institute for Integral Studies. She is the author of Colonialism in Sri Lanka (Mouton), The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka (Routledge), Women, Population and Global Crisis (Zed), Sustainability and Well-Being (Palgrave McMilllan) and many other publications on global political-economy and South Asia.

IPS UN Bureau

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communications Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart, Patriotic Sri Lankan, May 11th., 2022.

DID THE INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS COORDINATION OPERATE FROM ITALY OR SWEDEN?

The statement made to the Press/Media today by the Secretary of Defense Kamal Gunaratne that Stern actions would be taken against all those involved in violent acts such as vandalism and arson after May 9 irrespective of party politics, reiterate the confidence and trust the peace loving and rural folks of Sri Lanka have in the Mahinda Rajapaksa/Gotabaya Rajapaksa/SLPP coalition leadership – the 6.9 million voters who elected this government through democratic institutions since 2005.

The Defense Secretary has to be thanked profusely for stating that action would be taken against responsible persons after analyzing CCTV footage and video clips and telling “point blankly” that the government and defense establishment mean business when it comes to the manner in which the protests were organized, obstruction were created to law enforcing officers to carry out their duties to safeguard the citizens, assaulting Senior Police offers, burning of government and private property and mob groups laying “SIEGE” to official government administrative buildings and official residences.

The Secretary Defense should “NOT” forget to take a look of the Chamuditha – Lal Kantah interview released on the YouTube channel of journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama’s “Truth With Chamuditha” on JVP’s opinions about the protests and confrontations that took place on the 9th., instant in front of Temple Trees and Gota Gama at Galle Face green. 

Lal Kantha says clearly that he phoned all his senior cadres in every important city and asked them to launch protest in their localities after the action taken by the government to clear the protesters camped outside Temple Trees. 

Was these calls asking them to launch protests in their localities end up in burning residences of the PM and SLPP Politicians? 

Did the International Operations Coordination of the “gang of protesters” operate from Italy or Sweden?  The SIRASA NEWSFIRST.- TV breaking news broadcasts showed almost all the violent incidents continuously and it was noticed with sadness that Sri Lankans who were former JVP’s, Frontline Socialist Party, Tamil diaspora and some belonging to a religious denomination domiciled abroad had made special trips to Sri Lanka under the disguise of visiting the country, but really to participate in these violent episodes that had been organized as these recent “riots” in Sri Lanka. These have been recorded by the TV cameras and called for scrutiny. Even YouTube individual channels (Tamil and Sinhalese) showed these characters arriving from abroad and then participating in the events , some with their families too.  

The Secretary Defense should also probe to find out “WHO THESE INDIVIDUALS/GROUPS ARE” from these TV footage and YouTube Channels after analyzing those releases and make sure that they will “NOT” be allowed to leave the country until they are probed according to the law and allowed to leave “ONLY” if they were not involved. 

The Government should “NOT” be scared about the HR violations that the R2P promoters of the West who have pulled there strings against the Rajapaksa regime and the Gota Presidency quite smartly now will make big “noises” in the International Forum to stall these legitimate probes against the acts amounting to “TREASON” of a peaceful people and Nation and a Sovereign State. 

These probes will also show whether these interested groups infiltrated the peaceful gathering that was held at Temple Trees on May 9th., 2022 and create the chaos inside Temple Trees and then with the formation of a “CROWD ATTITUDE” by this group, attack the “MynaGama” protesters and run to “Gota Gama” and assaulted the protesters there, which made JVP Lal Kantha to give his “command orders” to his senior cadres in all the cities to begin the assaults as he had admitted to Chamuditha Samarawickrema” Truth with Chamuditha YouTube program the next day?

The so-called democratized” JVP and the SJB are working very closely with the powers that would be” who are interested in Regime Change in Sri Lanka since 2005. The JVP students group, Inter University Students Federation (IUSF), Frontline Socialist Party and the Catholic Church have shown their real faces now in this political game” that is being played in Sri Lanka at the cost of the suffering people and innocent student/youth population. 

Have the SINHALESE PEOPLE FORGOTTEN THE DISASTER THEY CREATED TO YOUR NATION AND HOW THE TRI FORCES DEFENDED OUR MAATHRUBOOMIYA” UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF SLFP/SLPP GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIPS. Sri Lanka was not allowed to be divided or separated into two nations during the 30 years brutal LTTE war against our “Maathruboomiya” as planned by the R2P group of Western powers and the EU in connivance of the UN, like what the Westerners and the EU/UN did to Aceh of Indonesia in 2005 just after the Tsunami.

Like what the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau did to the Truckers Protest which happened a few months ago in Ottawa and then in other cities in Canada, all the bank accounts of these so-called protesting groups should be also probed immediately and frozen and details of those who funded them must be made public. Using the EMERGENCY” they should be brought before the Rule-of-Law” an punished accordingly, irrespective of party politics, as the Secretary of Defense Kamal Gunaratne has stated. 

By ‘The Socialist Vanguard Party for the Restoration of a Sovereign Unitary State of Sri Lanka’

It was indeed pathetic to see broadcaster Watawala attempting to incite carousing revellers at the Maharaja-Circus on Galle Face Green to take the law into their hands, incapacitate the Legislature and make the ‘Green’, the Country’s Parliament while establishing on the esplanade an anarchical zone where State authority would not apply.

Shades of Sierra Leone where scores of ‘Galle-Face -Greens’ have been established and ‘dime-a-dozen’ warlords, with bigoted notions of governance, rule their respective parochial patches, the hallmark of a failed State.

At the ‘Maha-Killi Gama’ at the Galle-Face circus, Warlords Maharaja and K Gunaratnam reign supreme. A curious place where, anti-Sri Lankan NGOs abound, rejected Elitist ‘Colombians’ (parroting CIA scripted slogans and harbouring notions of crawling back to power through the rear door) patronise, dead Tamil terrorists (including terrorist Issipriya posthumously described as a journalist) are feted and the National Anthem is sung in Tamil. No, not ‘God Save the Queen’ or ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, but ‘Sri Lanka Matha’

The atmosphere at Maha-Killi Gama is surreal; when the need of the hour is to preserve and re-build on what little is left of the three structures of State, it is an act of hara-kiri when the warlords of the ‘Green’, willfully attempt to raze the wobbling structures of the Sri Lankan State to the ground.

When the three structures of State collapse what remains is a failed state where anarchy reigns.

To create a failed state is the ultimate goal of a foreign Enemy with designs on the country; a failed State facilitates the easy capture of the country.

Staging protests, the people must; but they must be mindful, all the while, to work within the framework of the law. These are trying times; people must resist falling prey to contracted rabble rousers. 

It is also tragic because the inflammatory exhortation tends to suggests that the warlords of the ‘Green’ are attempting to highjack the protest movement and route it in a direction that suits their agenda.

What is the Maharaja – Gunaratnam agenda? Are they working the blind-side of the American MCC plan? Is Maharaja staking claims for a monopoly of the Island’s water resources, via the ‘Gammeda’ project, when the country disintegrates, and the projected MCC Land grab takes place?

In 2019, seven million people delegated to Nandasena, their sovereign Executive power, after he pledged that no more would there be: secret deals with foreign governments; transfer of State Land and Assets to foreign entities; signing of MCC -type documents; privatising of State Land; massive corruption and mismanagement at the levels rampant during the ‘Wickramasinghe-Sirisena-Premadasa’ regime.

Nandasena further pledged to strictly adhere to Sri Lanka’s foreign policy of  Non-Alignment’ and vowed that he would re-negotiate with the relevant foreign governments to ‘re-possess’ all lands and assets bartered away by the Yahapalanaya regime.  

Nandasena, a greenhorn in politics and a below-average officer who had virtually deserted the Army in her hour of need, had the advantage of Mahinda underwriting his political campaign.

Charisma is nature’s gift to each generation, parsimoniously dispensed amongst a few; in Sri Lanka’s present political firmament Mahinda is indeed a recipient of this gift; he used his innate talent to unite the country and with his able General, Sarath Fonseka, to decimate the US mercenaries terrorising Sri Lanka for over thirty years. 

To this day, Mahinda is loved by the simple folk of this country and remains a formidable foe to any external aggressor who may entertain ideas of Colonising the Country. To the external aggressor, the Mahinda factor has to be taken care of, if they wish to succeed.  

In contrast, Nandasena’s life has been one of disloyalty, desertion and betrayal.

It is a fact of history that yankee-Nande, having absolutely and entirely renounced any iota of loyalty to Sri Lanka and even pledged his life to the cause of achieving American objectives, had in 2007 treacherously, secretly and without authority signed the ACSA Agreement, the mother of all US military agreements.

In 2019, Nandasena did another flip-flop; he claimed that he had deserted the American cause to contest the Sri Lankan Presidential election.

Curiously though, Nandasena’s family chose to remain disloyal to Sri Lanka and bow in reverence to the American flag; they file their tax returns, as is required of them, with the American Government.

Nandasena, as the faithful spouse of a committed American citizen, makes tax declarations to the American Government.

Within days of assuming Presidential office, Nandasena brazenly shed his political masquerade, not caring a whit about betraying seven million people to whom he owes his Executive power.

With the baton of Executive power firmly in his hand, Nandasena did a volta face and traversed the same treacherous American-path the Sirisena -Wickramasinghe-Premadasa gang had trod.

Nandasena, surrounded himself with American advisors and their think-tanks, secretly bartered away Sri Lanka’s Land and Assets to America and India, implemented some of the pre-conditions America insisted on prior to signing the MCC Agreement, privatised State Land, turned a blind eye to the corrupt activities of his spaniels, made a monumental mess of the Foreign Service -stacking it with his cronies and charlatans -that resulted in the Tim Sebastian fiasco.

Within two and a half years of his Presidency, Nandasena succeeded in bankrupting the economy, destroying the agricultural backbone of the country, and driving the people onto the streets.

A major factor that contributed to this debacle was the ill-advised tax bonanza granted to the super rich that helped Nandasena’s cronies; personal and corporate income taxes were abolished in some sectors while in some other sectors taxes were slashed from 28% to 18%.

The rich were jubilant; the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce chirped, We Welcome the tax relief for investment”.

The Treasury lamented; Sri Lanka lost 1 trillion (One Thousand billion) Rupees of revenue by this ill-conceived move to help cronies.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back was when Nandasena, overnight, banned the use of chemical fertiliser for agriculture, without making available the organic alternatives and studying beforehand the problems associated with this change.

This decision not only broke the agricultural backbone of this country, it pauperised the farmers and pushed the teetering economy over the edge; the yields of the money-spinning cash crops, without fertiliser, suffered and the country’s kitty shrank drastically. 

The question on the lips of many is, Was this the work of a brainless man or was this destruction planned and deliberately executed at the behest of a Foreign Nation”?

The answer to the above question, lies in the answer to Why did Nandasena, give the American Government think-tank, ‘Pathfinder Foundation’, to direct, control and manage Sri Lanka’s economy?”

/to be contd.

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E

It was expected and yet shocking. Expected, because that’s what history has taught us: those in power, having enjoyed all the luxuries that come with power, and especially through abuse of office, are lulled into believing that power is permanent, and therefore rudely shocked when they realise otherwise, seldom exit peacefully. They fight back, typically. They did.

Here are some interesting facts to keep in mind. The attack on the agitators at Galle Face (the ‘aragalists’) was carried out not by the Police or the Army; those arms of the state were adjuncts or bystanders. It was a blatant act of thuggery orchestrated by key members of the ruling party. Whether the Prime Minister, who is reported to be in ill health, had a part in it is yet to be established. Regardless, the Prime Minister was complicit; the goons were clearly invited. Nevertheless, the goons were clearly invited to Temple Trees and it is from there that they proceeded to unleash violence on citizens, mostly young men and women, who had for an entire month expressed their political views/demands peacefully. 

If someone came to my house and then proceeded to leave it only to beat up people who had gathered to protest my conduct and that of my immediate family, any law enforcement entity inquiring into the attack would, among other things, question me. Indeed, in all likelihood I would be arrested and questioned while in detention. Didn’t happen in this case.

The perpetrators weren’t stopped by the Police. They were dealt street justice, so to speak. Those who mobilised them and deployed them remain untouched by the law. It reminded me of a popular poster-line in the late eighties: paalakayini, thopi thopema neethiya kada karanne nam, apa eyata avanatha vanne kumakatada? (Rulers, if you break your own laws, why should we submit to it?).

I disagree, though, about whether our ends justifies our means. Self-defence is justified. If the perpetrators are around, chasing them is also understandable. In a situation where the law and law enforcement are absent, where a citizens’ arrest makes no sense simply because there’s no place and no one to hand over the miscreant, rage quickly transforms into a delivery of justice. Understandable. Angry mobs seeking out those who sent the goons in the first place is also understandable. However, the absence of the law  does not give license to untramelled hooliganism, vandalism, theft, arson, and murder. Sadly that’s what happened on Monday.  Anyone and everything associated with ‘the enemy’ were taken as legitimate targets. Reminds one of the proxy arrests of 88-89.

If ‘Rajapaksavaadaya’ (‘Rajapaksism’) was what was being objected to, and if this was about abuse of power, theft, thuggery, and murder (as has been claimed), indulging in the very same acts albeit on a smaller scale, essentially turns the objector into a Rajapaksavaadiyaa (Rajapaksist). There were aragalists who immediately called for blood. Many who advocated for violence on social media have come to their senses and are today calling for restraint. They’ve removed posts and stories, but the trace still exists in the following form: ‘this content is not available.’ 

The thugs and their masters clearly underestimated things. They may have believed that ‘Galle Face’ was where the problem exists and if removed, all would be fine. However, the response to the mob attack clearly indicates that Galle Face is an expression of widespread discontent. It is a movement, it is not containable or erased with an attack on the physical structures that housed the people. 

There are many serious dangers if things are allowed to spiral out of control. First and foremost, it gives those who have the keys to the coercive state apparatus  license to unleash further violence. After some time, who fired the first shot is only of academic interest. Remember 88-89? Anarchy results. Bloodbath is what is likely to happen. As serious is the possibility of conditions being created for external powers to intervene. Remember the way the USA has moved in on so many occasions to ‘restore democracy’? They essentially took control of resources, established puppet regimes and turned populations into (glorified) slaves. Let’s not forget that India is the proxy of the USA in the region. Sinophobia is what drives the USA, Japan, Australia, and India (the ‘Quad’). The EU openly and unabashedly wants Sri Lanka to sever ties with China so that the US-led policy on the Indo-Pacific region can proceed without any hiccups.

In the midst of all this, we have a serious political crisis. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has come up with some proposals which are not bad if they constitute nothing more than a discussion paper. However, the BASL has arrogated upon itself the role of Economic Expert, advocating acceptance of the IMF doctrine and thereby endorsing the neoliberal model that has turned us into easy prey for the import mafia, and compromised energy and food sovereignty. The BASL wants the 20th Amendment repealed and the 19th restored, never mind the fact that the latter was a weak document and one that was driven by narrow political interests. In the name of clipping presidential powers, the 19th set up a Constitutional Council whose composition ensured that the interests of the ruling party would prevail in all ‘independent’ institutions.

Neither has the BASL said anything of the need to define ‘national government’ as per the 19th Amendment. The BASL has called for the abolishing of the executive presidency, but saying nothing of what this could do, considering the provisions of the 13th Amendment. It’s almost as if M.A. Sumanthiran (who famously said ‘it’s ok not to use the word federalism if we get federalism in effect’) has drafted the BASL proposals.

And, in the midst of all this, we’ve forgotten that the political crisis was precipitated by an economic debacle for which few have any mitigating proposals, not for the immediate, not in relation to the long term.

And yet, we don’t have to retire hope. The aragalists rebuilt. It’s not a ‘gama’ that they are building. It’s a country they are forging. What we are seeing is a prototype. It’s a blueprint for a tomorrow that’s very different from yesterday and today. They are cartographers who have the potential to re-map the entire country, taking into account all the contours of class, caste, religion, and other identifiers, and finding the unifying threads between all of those

They’ve shown courage, creativity, leadership and organisational skills that are clearly exceptional. They got two cabinets to resign. They got a prime minister to resign. All this without throwing a single stone. They were able to do this because the people by and large, got out of their way and let them lead, and also stood with them. They proved they can re-imagine Sri Lanka. They have the ability to change things. They can see through and sideline all those groups peddling outdated theories and pernicious designs even as they tolerate such racketeers. They are not a political party but as a pressure group their role is particularly significant. They have, most importantly, the will and ability to contain the potency of their energies to degrees beyond which things could become uncontrollable and disastrous.

For a month, apart from the tragedy in Rambukkana and a few occasions when teargas was used, the aragalists were allowed to do their thing. What would JRJ, Premadasa, Chandrika or Mahinda have done is a question that needs to be asked. So there’s some credit that should go to the President.  Nevertheless, it is clear now that the President has not been able to unshackle himself from family and party. What happened on Monday, one could argue, was not only about the political survival of the perpetrators, but a clear attempt to sideline the President altogether.

For now, there’s sanity. The thugs are silent. The over-enthusiastic and pernicious sections of the aragalaya have been contained. We cannot predict what tomorrow will bring, but if we are to see a different and more beautiful Sri Lanka, it will largely depend on how the aragalaya keeps transforming itself and the extent to which those with political power can dialogue with the aragalists, one way or another.

malindadocs@gmail.com.

Malinda Seneviratne

මසක කාලයක් ගෝල් ෆේස් හි ගොඩනැගු ගෝටාගෝගමෙහි දහස් ගණන් තරුණ තරුණියන් මෙන් ම නොයෙකුත් මතවාදී ධාරාවන් නියෝජනය කරන අන් අය එකට බැඳ තැබූ සුන්දර වරපටය ආදරයයි. එකට එක් වී වැපුරුවේ ආදරයයි. යෙදුනේ හෙට දින රට හදන ව්‍යායාමයක පෙරහුරුවකයි.  අහිංසකත්වය, අවිහිංසාවාදය, නිර්මාණශීලිත්වය, එඩිතරකම, ඉවසීම, සාමුහිකත්වය යනාදියෙන් අරගල භූමිය සුවඳවත් විය. එවැනි අහිංසක, අවිහිංසාවාදී, නිර්මාණශීලී, එඩිතර අරගලයක් මතක ඉතිහාසයේ නැති තරම්ය. අපේ රටේ හෙට දවස පිලිබඳව සුභවාදීව හිතන්න අරගලකරුවන් සියලු දෙනාට බල කර සිටියා මෙන් ය.

ඊයේ මැර ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කරන ලද්දේ අරගලකරුවන්ට පමණක් නොව, ඒ සුභවාදී සිහිනයට මෙන් ම මේ ගොඩනැගෙමින් තිබුණු අපුර්වත්වය දෙස ආදරයෙන් බලා සිටි සුවහසක් හදවත් වෙතය. මැර කණ්ඩායම් මෙහෙය වූ අය තක්සේරු නොකෙරුවේ මෙයයි. ගෝටාගෝගම යනු රට පුරා විහිද ගිය ආණ්ඩු විරෝධයක එක් ප්‍රකාශයක් බව ඔවුන් නොසිතුවා විය හැක. මැර ප්‍රහාරවලින් සිහින තුවාල වන්නේ නැති බව ඔවුන් දැන සිටියේ නැත. කෙතරම් දරුණු ලෙස පහර දුන්නත්, අරගලකරුවන්ගේ අධිෂ්ඨානය පලුදු කළ නොහැකි තරමටම ඝනකම්ව අරගලකරුවන්ගේ ආදරය වර්ධනය වී තිබිණ. සිහිනයේ බ්ලු ප්‍රින්ට් එක ඉතා වේගයෙන් නැවත සකස්වුනි.          

වෛරයම වපුරා, ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය යෝජනා කර, විහිංසනයේ මාවතම තෝරාගෙන ක්‍රියාත්මක වුවන්ට උපේක්ෂාව හෝ අනුකම්පාව නෙළා ගැනීමට අවසර නැත. ජනතා විරෝධය ජනතා කෝපය බවටත් කෝපය ප්‍රකෝපය දක්වා වර්ධනය විය. සංවිධානාත්මක පිරිස් ප්‍රභූ නිවෙස් ගිනිබත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කළා යැයි විවිධ මත ඉදිරිපත් කරන කිසිවෙකුට බැහැර කළ නොහැකි කාරණය වන්නේ ඒ සියල්ල සඳහා මාර්ග බාධක ඉවත් කරන ලද්දේ මැරයන් ම සහ ඔවුන් මෙහෙයවූවන් බවයි. අද වන විට මහින්දගේ සහ ඔහුගේ දේශපාලන සගයින්ගේ ලේ ඉල්ලන තැනට සියල්ල තල්ලු කලේ ඔවුන් ම මෙහෙයවූ ලේ පිපාසිත මැරයින්ගේ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වයයි.

ලේ පිපාසය පෙරළා ලේ පිපාසයම අවදි කරන බව ඉතිහාසය කියා දෙන සරලම පාඩමකි. සොඳුරු සිහින බොඳ වෙන්නේ එහෙමයි. ‘ලෙයට ලෙය’ දරුණුයි, එක්තරා ආකාරයකට මුග්දයි. පහරදීමට එරෙහිව පහරදීම එකක්, පහර දුන්න අයට පහර දීමත් ‘පහර දීපිය’ යන විධානය දුන් අයට පහර දීමත් තේරුම් ගත හැක, එහෙත් ‘සතුරා’ සොයා ගැනීමට අපහසු වූ විට සතුරා සංකේතවත් කරන සියලු දේ සහ සතුරාට නෑකම් කියන සියලු දෙනා විනාශ කිරීමට යොමු වීම ‘සටන’ භයානක පැත්තකට තල්ලු කිරීමක් වේ. එය දැනට උද්ගත වී ඇති තත්ත්වය තුල මීට වඩා බොහෝ දරුණු මිලිටරිකරණයකට අත වැනීමක් වැනිය. විශේෂයෙන්ම මතක තියාගතයුතු වන්නේ එවැනි ‘තත්ත්වයක්’ කෘත්‍රිමව නිර්මාණය කිරීමට වැඩිම හැකියාව ඇත්තේද ගැටුම ලේ ගැලුමකට පරිවර්තනය කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පාර්ශවයන්ට බවයි. ඒ සඳහා හැම විට ම විභවය සතු වන්නේ මර්ධනකාරී රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යුහය හසුරවන්නන්ට වේ.   

අරගලයට ඇති ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රාග්ධනය සදාචාරයේ වාසියයි. ප්‍රධාන අවිය ආදරයයි. ප්‍රබලම ශක්තීන් නම් සාමුහිකත්වයයි, අධිෂ්ටානයයි, සිහින දැකීමට ඇති හදවත් සහ සිහින සැබෑ කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ආත්ම විශ්වාසයන් වේ. ඇමති මණ්ඩලය නොව ඇමති මණ්ඩල දෙකක් ඉවත් කරන්නත්, අගමැතිවරයෙක් ඉල්ලා අස්කරවන්නත් එය ප්‍රමාණවත් විය. රටක් ජනතාවක් අවදි කරන්නත්, අරගලයට කැඳවන්නත් එය ප්‍රමාණවත් විය. මේ සියල්ල ක්‍ෂණයකින් ම්ලේච්ඡත්වයෙන් මකා දැමිය හැක.  නැවත කියන්නෙමි ‘ලෙයට ලෙය’ දරුණුයි, මුග්ධයි, අරගලයේ සදාචාරාත්මක වාසිය පලුදු කරයි. ‘ලෙයට ආලය’ ලයාන්විතයි, මෘදුයි, අරගලයට පණ පොවයි. මැර ප්‍රහාරයෙන් අනතුරුව ගෝටාගෝගම පුරා නොකියවෙන එනමුත් සියල්ල වෙළාගෙන ඇත්තේ ‘ලෙයට ආලය’ විසිනි. අරගල භූමිය හරහා තවමත් හමා යන, අරගලකරුවන්ට ශක්තිය පොවන සුවඳ එයයි. ගෝටාගෝගම වඩාත් ලස්සනට ප්‍රතිනිර්මාණය වුයේ ඒ නිසා ය.

අරගලයක ආරම්භය කවියක් වැනිය. අරගලයක හුස්ම හිරවෙන්න පටන්ගන්නේ අරගලයෙන් ආදරය ඉවත් වූ විටයි. ආදරය ‘ලේෆ්ට්’ වුනොත්, සටන්පාඨ සමග බිඳුණු සිහින පමණක් ඉතිරි වේ. වෛරයට වඩා ආදරය ඝනකම් විය යුතුම වන්නේ මේ නිසයි.

Rohan Pethiyagoda

ආචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර

(ත්‍රයි නිකායික මහානායක හිමිවරුන් ප්‍රමුඛ සමස්ථ භික්ෂු  සමාජයට සහ දේශප්‍රේමි සියළු ශ්‍රී ලාන්කික ජනතාව වෙත විවුර්ථ සන්දේශයක්)

ආචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර අග්‍රාමාත්ය සිරිමාවෝ බන්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ හිටපු ස්ථිර ලේකම්, ශ්‍රී ලන්කා රාජ්ය පරිපාලන සේවා සන්ගමයේ සභාපති (1991-1994) සහ මහනුවර සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජෙෂ්ඨ පුරවැසියන්ගේ සන්විධානයේ සභාපතී 1985 සිට මේ දක්වා))

8.5.2022. මහනුවර

පූර්විකාව

අද මේ රට හා ජාතිය පත්ව ඇති අර්භුධයන්ගෙන් ගොඩගැනීමට  ඇති හොඳම විසඳුම

*පවතින මැතිසබයේ සියළුම පක්ශ නියෝජනයවන සර්වපාක්ශික අන්තර්කාලීන රජයකි.

(මන්ද මේ අවස්ථාවේ මැතිසභය විසුරුවා මැතිවරණයකට යාමෙන් රටේ ප්‍රස්න තවත් උග්‍රවන අතර රටේ පවතින තත්වය යටතේ පැවත්වෙන මැතිවරණයකින් කිසිම පක්ශයකට රජයක් පිහිටුවීමට බහුතරයක්ද නොළැබෙන නිසා එය කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නොවන බැවිනී)

 එහෙත් එම සර්වපාක්ශික අන්තර්කාලීන රජය.

 *මේ රට සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්යක් යන මූලික සන්කල්පය මත පදනම් වූ ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අනුව රට පාලනය කිරීම, ,

*1815 වේ සිට මේ රටේ සින්හල ජාතියට අහිමිවූ සියළු උරුමයන් නැවත ලබාදෙන, (සියළු සුළු ජන කොටස්වල වාර්ගික හා ආගමික අයිතීන් ආරක්ශා කරමින්)

*1948 ලබාගත්තායයි කියන ඊනියා නිදහස 1972 න් මෙපිටට සමූර්ණ කිරීම.

* 1987 ජූලි 29 රජිව්-ජේ. ආර්. ඉන්දු-ලන්කා ගිවිසුම සහ මේ රටට සාපයක්වූ ඉන්දියාව විසින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අප හිස මත පලාත් සභා පැටවූ 13 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම සන්සෝධනය අහෝසිකිරීම සහ පලාත් සභා හූනියමද අහෝසි කිරීම 

* දැනට මේ රටේ පවතින බටහිරින් ආනයනය කරණළද අප සන්ස්කෘතියට ආගන්තුක දේශපාලනයේ පවතින බෙදීම සහ ආත්මාර්ථය වෙනුවට බුදු දහමෙන් අපට උරුමවූ,  රටේත්, ජනතාවගේත්  මෙන්ම සියලු සත්වයන්ගේත් සුභසෙත මූලික පදනම වශයෙන් සලකන දේශපාලන ක්‍රමවේධයක් නිර්මානය කරගැනීම,

*මේ රටේ දේශීය සන්ස්කෘතිය, චිරාගත සම්ප්‍රදායන් සහ සිරිත් විරිත් පදනම් කරගත් දේශයට ගැලපෙන නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම විව්ස්ථාවක් වසරක් තුල ජනමත විචාරණයට ඉදිරීපත් කිරීම,  යන කරුණු සියල්ල ඉටුකිරීමට දිවුරා සපථ කරණ,

තවදුරටත්

*එම රජය මෙම ලිපියේ  පහතින් දක්වා ඇති ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තීන් අනුව ලෝකයාගේ හිතසුව පිණිසම දැහැමින් සෙමින් රට පාලනය කිරීමට ශ්‍රී දළදා වහන්සේ සහ ත්‍රයිනිකායික මහානායක හිමිවරුන් ඉදිරියේ දිවුරා පොරොන්දුවන රජයක් විය යුතුය.

එසේම

මේ රට අද පවතින දේශපාලන සමාජ සහ ආර්ථික අර්බුධවලින්  ගොඩගත හැක්කේ මහානායක හිමිවරුන්ගේ සහ ජනතා ඉල්ලිම අනුව වහාම ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ අගමැහිවරයා ඉල්ලා අස්වි  පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවෙන් පත්කරගන්නා විධායක නොවන නව ජනාධිපති වරයකු හා මැතිසබයේ බහුතරයේ පිළිගැන්ම ඇති අගමැතිවරයකු සහිත ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අනුව රට පාලනය කිරීමට දිවුරා සපථ කරණ  රටේ සාම්ප්‍රදායික දේශපාලන මඩ ගොහොරුවෙන් මිදුනු, රටේ ඉතිහාසය, සමාජ, ආර්ථික හා තාක්ශනික සම්ප්‍රදායන් පිලිබඳ දැණුමක් ඇති දේශප්‍රේමි ජනතා හිතවාදී බුද්ධිමතුන් සහිත කුඩා (17) පහත දක්වා ඇති පරිදී අමාත්ය මන්ඩලයකින් පාලනයවන අන්තර්කාලීන සර්වපාක්ශික රජයකට පමණි

වර්තමාන අර්බුධයන්ගෙන් රට සහ ජනතාව ගොඩ ගැනීමේ ඒකායන ක්‍රමය යන මැය යටතේ 20.4.2022 වන දින ලන්කාවෙබ් පුවත්  අඩවියේ පලවූ මගේ ලිපියේ පළමු ඡේදයේ සඳහන්වූ

1 පුලුල් ජාතික වැඩපිලිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට එකඟවන,

2 නව ජනාධිපතිවරකු සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටින සියළුම පක්ශ නායක්යින්ගෙන් යුත්,

3 සර්ව පාක්ශික අන්තර්කාලින ඇමති මන්ඩලයකින්,

4 රට පාලනය කිරීමට

ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ පක්ශ 11 කණ්ඩායමේ නියෝජිතයින් එකඟ වූ බව ඇසීම මට නිම් හිම් නැති සතුටකි 

කෙසේ වුවද ඉහත දක්වනලද මගේ ලිපියේ එම ඡේදයේම සඳහන්වන

1.අමාත්ය තනතුරුවලට අදාල විශයන් පිළිබඳ විසේසඥ සහ ප්‍රායෝගික දැනුමක් ඇති පුද්ගලයින් කීපදෙනකු රාජ්ය සභාවට පිටතින් ගැනීමේ සහ 3 අවුරුදු කාලයකට  යන කරුණු දෙකද මෙම ලේඛනයට එකතුවිය යුතුය. එහි සඳහන් 3 අවුරුදු කාලය පළමුව 1 අවුරුදු කාලයකට සීමා කිරීම මැනවයි දැන් මට සිතේ. මන්ද පළමු වසරේ ප්‍රගතිය අනුව, 2 සහ 3 දක්වා එය දීගුකළ හැකි බැවිනි. මා එසේ කියන්නේ 20.4.2022 වන දින ලන්කාවෙබ් පුවත් අඩවියේ පලවූ ලිපියේ සවිස්තරාත්මකව දක්වා ඇති පරිදි මේ අවස්ථාවේදී මැතිවරණයකට යාම කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නොවන බැවිනි.එයවත් තේරුම්ගැනීමට නොහැකි කිසිවෙකු මේ රටේ පාලනයට කිසිසේත්ම සම්බන්ධවීමට තබා ඒ සඳහා සිහින දැකීමට හෝ සුදුසු නැති බව මගේ දැඩි අදහසය.

යෝජිත රජයේ සන්යුතිය සහ වැඩපිළිවෙල ප්‍රකාශකොට එවැනි රජයක් පිහිටුවීමත් සමඟම රට තුල වර්තමානයේ පවතින දේශපාලන සහ සමාජ උද්ඝෝෂන, අසහනය සහ අරාජිකත්වය මුළුමනින්ම නැතිවී  ජනතාවට සැනසුම් සුසුමක් හෙලීමට එය හේතු වියහැකියයි මම සිතමි.

නව රජය ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම සිදුකළයුතු කාර්යන්

1ජනතාවගේ එදිනෙදා ජීවිතයට අත්යාවස්ය සහල් පිටි, අල, පරිප්පු, ලොකු ළුුණු, කරවල සහ සීනි  වැනි ආහාර ද්‍රව්ය සහ, ඉන්ධන, ඖෂධ වැනි දේවල්, පෝලිම්වල පැය ගණන් නොසිට  හිගයකින් තොරව සාධාරණ මිලකට ලබාගැනීමට මෙන්ම ජලය, විදුලිය සහ ප්‍රවාහන සේවා අඛණ්ඩව ලබාගතහැකි  පරිසරයක් ඇතිකිරීම

2 අත්යාවස්ය භාණ්ඩ සඳහා දැඩි පාලනමිල ක්‍රමයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සහ එය උල්ලන්ඝනය කරණ සහ භාණ්ඩ සඟවන පුද්ගලයින්ට එරෙහිව දැඩි දඩුවම් දීම

3 වී වගාව ප්‍රධානකොට ඇති කෘශිකර්මාන්තයට, මෙන්ම අපනයන වැවිළි කර්මාන්තයට අවශ්ය රසායනික පොහොර සහ පළිභෝධ නාසක වැනි යෙදවුම් සාධාරන මිලකට හිගයකින් තොරව ලබාදීම.

4 ගෙවතු මුල්කොට ගෙන  දීපව්යාප්ත දැවන්ත ආහාර නිශ්පාදන වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් ගම් මට්ටමින් වහාම ඇරඹීම සහ  නිස්පාදිත භාණ්ඩ, ප්‍රවාහනය,අළෙවිකිරීම ගබඩාකොට තැබීමට සීතගබඩා  පහසුකම්, අලෙවි සන්වර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවෙන් සැපයීම

5 පසුසම්පත් හා ධීවර කර්මාන්ත වලටද අවශ්ය සියලුම පහසුකම් ලබාදී විශේසයෙන්ම ධීවර කර්මාන්තය දැවැන්ත අපනයන කර්මාන්තයක් බවට පත්කළහැකි අන්දමින් සන්වර්ධනය කිරීම.

6 බහුතර ජානතාවගේ එදිනෙදා ජීවිතයට අනවස්ය, ඇපල්, මිදි චීස් සහ රට බීම වර්ග වැනි සුඛෝපභෝගී භාණ්ඩ ආනයනය කිරීම වහාම නතර කිරීම

7 අතීතයේදී පැවති අන්දමට අඩු ආදායම් ලාභීන්ට සලාක ක්‍රමයට සහල්,පිටි සීනි වැනි අතයාවස්ය ද්‍රව්ය ලබාදීම සහ වැඩි ආදායම් ලබන පුද්ගලයින් සහ ආයතන වලින් වැඩි බදු අයකර ගැනීම

8 රජයේ අනවශ්ය වියදම් වහාම නතර කිරිම

9 පාසැල් යන ළමයින්ට ඇඳුම් සහ පොත් ලබාදීම වැනි අනවශ්ය දේවලට විරාමයක් තැබීම.

10. 13 වන විවස්ථා සන්සෝධනය සහ පලාත් සභා අහෝසිකිරී.

11මැති අමතිවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් වසරකට නතර කිරීම සහ ඔවුන්ට ලබාදෙන සියළුම අමතර දීමනා, වරප්‍රසාද  අහෝසි කිරීම සහ දැනට දී ඇති නිල වාහහන සියල්ල ආපසු ලබාගෙන වෙන්දේසියේ විකුනා එම මුදල් ඹාණ්ඩාගාරයට බැරකිරිම සහ ඔවුන් සියලුදෙනාටම විදෙස් ගමන් තහනම් කිරීම.මැතිසභා රැස්වීම වලට පොදු වාහනවලින් එන මෙන් දැන්වීම.ඒ සම්ඟම ඔවුන්ට දී ඇති පුද්ගලික සේවක මන්ඩල (ඇමති 25 රාජ්ය ඇමති?—) සහ ආරක්ශක නිලධාරින් ආදී සියල්ලද වහාම ඉවත් කළයුතුය

12 ශ්‍රී ලන්කා පරිපාලන සේවය ට අයත් නැති සියලුම අමාත්යාන්ශ ලේකම් වරුන්  සහ ශ්‍රි ළන්කා විදේශ සේවයට අයත් නැති සියළුම විදේශ සේවා පත්වීම් අවළන්ගු කල යුතුය.(අන්ක 11 සහ 12 යටතේ ඇති යෝජනා කීපය පමණක් කිරීම වුවද  ජනාධිපති වරයාටට නැවත ඉපදීමට, ප්‍රමාණවත් යයි මම කියමී

දෙවනුව

මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙල කාර්යක්ෂමව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට සුදුසු පරිපාලන යාන්ත්‍රණයක් සකස්කළයුතුය. 

1)         මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙල කාර්යක්ෂමව ක්‍රියාත්මක කළහැකි අදාල විෂයන් ගැන මනා පරිචයක් ඇති කුඩා අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලයක් පත් කිරීම

2) අදාල සේවාවන් කාර්යක්ශමව ක්‍රියාත්මක කළහැකි පළපුරුදු දක්ශ වෘතීය පරිපාලන සහ විදේශසේවා ලේකම් වරුන් ඇතුල වෘතීය නිලධාරීන්  රාජ්ය ආයතනවලට පත්කිරීම

3) රජයේ සේවයට බඳවාගැන්නීමේ පටිපාටියට  සහ ක්‍රම්වේදයන්ට පටහැණිව සහ භණ්ඩාගාරයේ  සේවා හා සන්ක්යා අද්යක්ෂකගේ නියමයන්ට පටහැනිව කිසිම රජයේ ආයතන්යකට කිසිම සේවකයෙකු අලුතෙන් බඳවා නොගත යුතුය.

මෙම ක්‍රියාත්මක වැඩපිළිවෙල නිසියාකාරව සිදුවේදැයි සොයාබැලීමට විෂේෂ ඒකකයක් බැගින් සෑම අමාත්යන්ශයකම පිහිටුවීම

4 රජයේ මෙම වැඩ පිළිවෙල ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේ වගකීම ජාතික මට්ටමේ අමාත්යන්ශ හා දෙපාර්තමේන්තු වලට අමතරව දිසා, උපදිසා සහ ගම් මට්ටමේ පූර්ණ වගකීම දිසාපති, ප්‍රාදේශීය උපදිසාපති සහ ග්‍රාමසේවා නිලධාරීන්ට පැවරීම.

(මෙම වැඩ පිළිවෙල ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම දේශපාලන ඇඟිලිගැසීම්වලින් තොරව සිදුකළ යුතුය.)

අඛණ්ඩ ප්‍රගති සමාලෝචනය

පළමුව සතිපතාද  දෙවනුව දෙසති පතාද ඉන්පසුව මාස්පතාද අඛණ්ඩව ප්‍රගති සමාලෝචනය කළයුතුය. සෑම මසක අවසානයේම කාර්ය සාධනය සමාලෝචන වැඩපිළිවෙලක් මගින් නිලධාරින් මෙන්ම ඇමැතිවරුන්ද ඇගයීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙලක්ද ක්‍රියාත්මක කළයුතුය..

තෙවනුව ඩොලර් යුද්ධය ජයගන්නා හැටි

ණය ගෙවීම සහ හාණ්ඩ ආනයනයට අවස්ය ඩොලර් සොයා ගැනීම

1)         මහබැන්කුව මගින් දැනට කෙරීගෙන යන වැඩපිළිවෙලට අමතරව ලෝකය පුරා විසිරීසිටින ශ්‍රී ලාන්කිකයින්ට මාස්පතා රට ගොඩගැනීමේ අරමුදල නමින් මහ බැන්කුවේ විශේෂ ගිණුමක් ආරම්භකොට එයට තමන්ට හැකි මුදලක් එවනමෙන් නව ජනාධිපති වරයා ඔවුන්ට ආයාචනයක් කිරීම. ඒ සඳහා ඔවුන් උනන්දුකිරීම සඳහා විසේෂ ප්‍රතිලාභ ක්‍රමයක්ද ඇතිකළ යුතුය

ළොව පුරා විසිරී සිටින 10 ලක්ස්ගයකට අධික පිරිසකගෙන් මසකට එක් අයෙකු ඩොලර් 10 ක් එව්වත් එක් මසකට $ මිලියන 100 ක් ලැබේවි නේද 

2)  හෑම ශේස්ත්‍රයකම අපනයනය  ඉහල දැමීමේ වැඩපිලිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක් කිරීම. අපනයන කරුවන්ට අව්ස්ය සෑම පහසුකමක්ම ලබාදිය යුතු අතර, ඒ සඳහා ඔවුන් උනන්දුකිරීමේ විසේෂ වැඩ සටහනක් ඇතිකල යුතුය.

3) අත්යාව්ස්ය දේට පමණක් ආනයන භාණ්ඩ සීමාකිරීම

4) රට, අහරින් ස්වයන්පෝෂනය කිරීම. ඒ අතර වී වගාවට ආර්ථිකයේ ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානය දියයුතු අතර ඊට අවශ්ය ජලය,රසායනික පොහොර, පළිභෝධනාසක ආදිය සාධාරණ මිලකට ලබාදීම. මීට සමගාමීව අලි, ඌරන්, මුවන් ,ඉට්තෑවන්,වඳුරන්, රිළවුන්, දණ්ඩු ලේණන්, මොණරුන් සහ වෙනත් පක්ශීන් වැනි වනසතුන්ගෙන්  වගාවන්ට සිදුවන හානි (දැනට 35 %) අවම කිරීමේ දීපව්යාප්ත වැඩපිළිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක් කිරිම.

5.ඊට සම්ගාමිව රටතුල  දැවැන්ත කෘශිකාර්මික, කාර්මික සහ සේවා ආදි සියළු අන්ශවලම අපනයනය කඩිනමින් වර්ධනය කිරීම මඟින් විදේශවිනිමය ලබාගැනීම වැඩි කරගැනීම සහ ඊට් අවස්ය ව්යාප්ති උපදෙස්, යෙදවුම් සහ වෙනත් සේවා සැපයීම.

මෙම වෙනස්කම් සමඟම පහත දැක්වෙන පරිදි ශුභවාදී බලාපොරොත්තුවක් තැබිය හැකි වාතාවරණයක් රට තුල ඇතිවිය හැක.

1 1948 න් පසු, කිසිම අව්ස්ථාවක සිදු නොවූ පරිදි, ප්‍රථම වතාවට මේ රටට හිතකර එසේම ගැළපෙන ජාතික ප්‍රතිපතියක් මත සියලුම දේශපාලන පක්ශ එකඟවීම මෙන්ම  සියළුම දේශපාලන පක්ශ ජාතියේ පෙර ගමනට එකම මාර්ගයකට ප්‍රවේශවීම.

(මේ වූ කලී මේ රටේ ඉතිහාසයේ අයිතිහාසික  සන්සිද්ධියක් වනු නො අනුමානය.මගේ අදහසේ හැටියට නම් මෙය සිදුවියයුතුව තිබුණේ 1948 ඊනියා නිදහස ලැබීමත් සමඟමය).

 2එසේම 1948 සිට මේ රට හා ජාතිය විනාශකළ, රට සන්වර්ධනය පසෙක තබා තමන්ගේ දේශපාලන බලය සහ මඩීය තරකරගැනීමේ එකම අරමුණ ඇතිව එකිනෙකා මරාගනිමින් මේ රටත් ජාතියත් යන දෙකම අද තිබෙන තත්වයට පත්කල, අධිරාජය වාදීන් විසින් අප බෙදා පාලනය කොට විනාශ කිරීමට අපට දායාදකොටදී ගිය මරඋගුලක්වූ, දේශපාලන පක්ශ ක්‍රමය අවසන්වීම ආරම්භවීම සහ පක්ශ දේශපාලනය නිසා උනුනුන් කුලල්කාගැනීම ද තාවකාලිකව හෝ නතර වීම.

3 අනෙකුත් හැමරටකම ඇත්තේ එක් ජාතියක් පමණක් නිසා මේ රටටද ඒ අනුව සින්හල/ශ්‍රී ලාන්කික නම්වූ එක් ජාතිය පමණක්බව ප්‍රකාශකොට එය විවස්ථාගත කළයුතුය. ඒ අනුව මින් පසු මේ රට බහු ජාතික, බහුවාර්ගික සහ බහු ආගමික අනාදි බහුභූත කතා කිසිවෙකු නොකියා සිටිය යුතුය, එසේම නොලියා සිටිය යුතුය. මේ තුලින් ජාතියේ පෙරගමනට නැතිවම බැරි ජාතික සම්ඟිය ස්ථාපිත වනු ඇත.

4 දේශප්‍රේමි, ජනතා සේවයට ඇප කැපවූ උගතුන් බුද්ධිමතුන් කීපදෙනෙකුගෙන් හෝ සමන්විත අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලයක් සහිත රජයක් පළමු වරට රටට ලැබීම

5.ඒ සමඟම රට දේශපාලන සහ ආර්ථික වශයෙන් ශුභවාදී මාවතට පිවිසීම,  යන සියළු ජාතික අපේක්ශාවන් ඉන් එකවර ඉටුවන නිසාය.

එබැවින් විපක්ශ නායකයා සහ ජාතික ජනබල වේගයේ නායකයා ඇතුලු කිසියම් දේශපාලකයකු හෝ පක්ශයක් හෝ මෙම ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති නොපිලිගන්නේනම් එසේම ඊට විරුද්ධවේනම්  අනිවාර්යෙන්ම. ඔවුන් මේ රටේ දේශපාලනයෙන් සදහටම ඉවත් විය යුතුය. ඉන්පසු ඔවුන් සදාකාලික දේශපාලන වනසණ්ඩයට යනු ඇත.එසේම ඔවුන් නායකත්වයදරණ දේශපාලාන පක්ශද මියයනු ඇත, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්සය, ශ්‍රී ලන්කා.නි.ප, සමසමාජ, සහ ල. කො. ප. යනාදියට අත්වූ ඉරණම මේ පක්ශ දෙකටද  සිදුවීම නොවැලැක්විය හැක.

මේ රටේ දේශපාලන ස්ථාවරය ඇතිකිරීම සඳහා මෙම ලිපියෙන් මවිසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරණ සියළුදෙනාම විසින් පිළිගතයුතු, සාකච්චාකළ නොහැකි මූලික ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාවක් පහතින් දක්වමි.

රටතුල පවතින අර්බුධකාරී තත්වයෙන් ජනතාව සහ රට මුදාගැනීමට යෝජිත ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති.

වහාම ගතයුතු පියවර කීපයක්

1රජයේ අනවශ්ය වියදම් වහාම නතර කිරීම සහ ආදායම් වැඩි කිරීම

උදා: 1 අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය මෙම ලිපියේ සඳහන් පරිදි වහාම 17 ට අඩු කිරීම

2 ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය විහිලුවක් බවට පත්කොට කැබිනට් ඇමතිවරුන් හුදු පඹයන් බවට පත්කොට ඇති විවස්ථා විරෝධී රජයේ ශබ්ද විකාශන යන්ත්‍ර සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කොඩිගස් පමණක් බවට පත්වී සිටින රාජ්ය ඇමතිවරුන් වහාම ඉවත් කිරීම එසේ කළ විට අමාත්යාන්ශ 24 ක් වැසීයාම නිසසා ඊට අදාල කාර්යාල,නිලධාරින්න්,යාන වාහන සහ වෙනත් වියදමද කෝටි ගණනින් අඩුවෙනු ඇත

3 කිසිම වැඩකට නැති පින්පඩි කාරයින් රැළක්වන පලාත් සභා ආණ්ඩුකාරයින් වහාම ඉවත් කොට, 1987 සිට වසර 35ක් පුරා ඉන්දියාව සතුටු කිරීම සඳහා ජාතික ධනය කෝටි ප්‍රකෝටි ගාණක් විනාශකල එසේම  වරෙක ලන්කා රාජ්ය පාලනයේ මුදුන් මල්කඩවූ දිස්ත්‍රික් පාලනය විනාශකල ජාතියට සුදු අලියෙක් සහ හූනියමක් වූ පලාත් සභා වහාම අහෝසිකොට දිසාපතිවරුන්ට තම දිසාවේ රාජකාරිය කිරීමට යලිත් නිදහස දීම.

ඒ සමඟම ප්‍රාදේශීය පාලනයේ , වියළි කලාපය,තෙත් කලාපය සහ කන්ද උඩරට වසර 12 ක් වත් අවම සේවා පුරුද්දක් ඇති මහජන සම්භන්ධතාව පිලිබඳ විසේශ කුසලතාවක් ඇති දිසා මට්ටමේ  වසර 6 ක් වත් අතිරේක දිසාපති වරයෙකු වශයෙන් පළැපුරුද්දක් ඇති  ඊට අමතරව ජාතික මට්ටමේ  දෙපර්තමේන්තු  දෙපර්තමේන්තු ප්‍රධානි සහ අමාත්යාන්ශ සහකාර සහ අතිරේක ලේකම් වරයෙකු වශයෙන් වසර 6 ක හෝ අවම සේවා පලපුරුද්දක් ඇති දක්ශ, ජේෂ්ඨ ලන් ප. සේ නිලධාරීන් පමණක් දිසාපතිවරුන් වශයෙන් පත්කළයුතුය..

4 මැති ඇමතිවරුන්ගේ සියලු දීමනා සහ වැටුප් නතරකොට මෙතෙක් රටට හා ජාතියට කර ඇති පව් ගෙවීම සඳහා, රට යථා තත්වයට පත්වන තුරු,නොමිලේ සේවය කරන මෙන් දැන්වීම,ඔවුන්ට සපයාඇති සියළුම සොඛෝපහෝගී වාහන  වහාම රජයට ගෙන ප්‍රසිද්ධ වෙන්දේසියේ විකුනා මුදල් රාජ්ය හාණ්ඩාගාරයට බැරකිරීම

5 පාඩු ලබන රාජ්ය ආයතනවල ප්‍රධානීන් වහාම ඉවත්කොට ඒවා යථාතත්වයට පත්කළ හැකි අය පත්කිරීම

6 සියලුම අතිරික්ත අමාත්යාන්ශ සහ රාජ්ය ආයතන වසා දැමීම

7 සියලුම විශ්‍රාමික මැති ඇමහිවරුන්ගේ ඔවුන්ගේ පවුවල අයගේ  සහ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ගේ සහ ඔවුන්ගේ බිරින්දෑවරුන්ගේ විශ්‍රාම වැටුප් සහ සියලුම වරප්‍රසාද වහාම අහෝසිකිරීම කිරීම

8 අඩුම ගානේ 1977 සිට හෝ සියලුම දේශපාලකයින්ගේ වත්කම් පරීක්ශාකොට වැරැදිකරුවන්වන් සියලුම දෙනාට දණ්න්ඩුවම් කිරීම සහ යුතු අන්දමින් උපයාගෙන මේ රටේ හෝ විදේශවල තිබෙන සියළුම වත්කම් ශ්‍රි ලන්කා  භාණ්ඩාගාරයට ලබාගැනීම

8 අධිකරණය ,රාජ්ය සේවය සහ සියලුම විස්ව විද්යාල ස්වාධීන කිරීම

9 සියළුම රාජ්ය අයතනවල අතිරික්ත රාජ්ය සේවක්යින් වන්දි

ගෙවා ඉවත්කොට ස්වයන් රැකියාවලට යොමුකිරීම

10 ජාතික රාජ්ය වැටුප් ක්‍රමයක් හා අර්ථවත් අයබදු ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කිරීම.

11.මහපොල ආධාර ණයක් බවට හැරවීමෙන් අති විශාල මුදලක් රජයට ඉතිරි කරගත හැක

ආදී වශයෙන් මේ යෝජනා කීපයෙන් මේ පමණක් ප්‍රකෝටි කීයක් රටට ඉතිරිවේදැයි බලනමෙන් මම ජනාධිපහිවරයාට කියමි.

එක්සත්, සව්භාග්යමත් ප්‍රබල ශ්‍රී ලාන්කික ජාතියක් ගොඩ නැගීම සඳහා සියළු දෙනාම ඒකමතිකව පිළිගත යුතු ජාතික  ප්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාවක්.

1 කි පු 307 සිට 1815 දක්වා නිලවශයෙනුත් එදා සිට අද දක්වාම නිලනොවන ලෙසිනුත් අඛන්ඪව වසර 2329 පැවති පරිදි මේ රට සින්හල බෞද්ධයින්ගේ පරම මාතෲ භූමියමිය බව මෙරටවාසී සෑමදෙනාම මෙන්ම සමස්ථ ලෝකවාසීන්ම අවිවාදයෙන් පිළිගතයුතුය

තවද කිසිම අවස්ථාවකදි කිසිවෙකුට ඒ තුල වෙනම වාර්ගික ප්‍රදේශයක් හෝ වෙනම පාලන ප්‍රදේශයක් හෝ වෙනම රාජ්යයක් ඉල්ලීමට අයිතියක් නැත. එබඳු ප්‍රකාශකිරීම හෝ ක්‍රියාවන්වල යෙදීම   රාජද්‍රෝහී වරදකි..

මේ අතර රටේ පුරවැසියන් වශයෙන් ජීවත්වන දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් සහ වෙනත් සුළුජනකොටස් මේ බිමෙහි වසර 2500 කට වැඩි කලක් පුරා රටේ පරම උරුමකරුවන් වන සින්හලයින් සමඟසුහදව ජීවත් වී ඇත. ජාතියේ උරුමයට තර්ජනයක් නොවන තුරු ඔවුන්ද සින්හල අපගේම සොහොයුරන් වශයෙන් අපි සලකමු. කෙසේ වුවද අපගේ එම පරම උරුමයට ඔවුන් කිසිදිනක වචනයෙන් හෝ ක්‍රියාවෙන් තර්ජනයක් නොවිය යුතුය. එමනිසාම ඔවුන් කිසිවෙකුට මේ රටතුල අයිතිහාසික නිජබිම් හෝ වෙනමරාජ්යයන් ඉල්ලිමට කිසිදු අයිතියක්ද  නැත.එසේම මේ රටේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම විවස්ථාවේ ඒ බව විව්ස්ථා ගත කළ යුතුය.  එසේම සැමදෙනාම  ඒ බව පැහැදිළිව වටහා ගතයුතුය.

2රටේ නම සින්හලේ/ශ්‍රී ළන්කාව විය යුතුය ඒ හැර ඉලන්කයි, ඊළම්  ආදි වෙනත් වචනවලින් එය හැඳින්වීම රාජද්‍රෝහී අපරාධයක් වශයෙන් සැළකිය යුතුය.

3 මේ රටේ ජාතිය. ක්‍රි පූ.548 සිට පැවති පරිදි සින්හල /ශ්‍රී ලාන්කික වියයුතුය දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් ජනකොටස් යනු මේ සින්හලයින්ගේ රටට විටින් විට පැමිණි සින්හලේ රජ්වරුන්ගේ සහ පසුව මේ රටේ පාලකයින්ගේ අනුග්‍රහය ඇතිව මෙහි පදින්චි පුරවැසිකම ලබාගත් සන්ක්‍රමනික ජනවර්ග පමණි. ඔවුන් අතීතයේදී කිසිම අවස්ථාවක මේ රට තුල වෙනම ජාතීන් වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කොට නැත.එබැවින් වර්තමානයේද නොකළ යුතුය. එසේම එවැනි ප්‍රකාශ කිරිම හෝ කටයුතුවල යෙදීම රාජ්ද්‍රෝහී  අපරාධ්යක් වශයෙන් නීතිගත කළයුතුය

4 ක්‍රි ව පෙ 307 සිට අඛ්ණ්ඩව පැවති පරිදි අදද බුද්ධාගම මේ රටේ රාජ්ය. ආගම විය යුතුය, කෙසේ වුවත් සියළුම ආගම් ඇදහීමේ පූර්ණ අයිතිය සහතික කෙරේ.

5 රටේ රාජය භාෂාව 1978 විවස්තාවේ තිබුණු පරිදි නැවතත් සින්හල විය යුතුය (ඒ අනුව 16 වන විවස්ථා සන්සෝධනයද  අහෝසි කළයුතුය

7 බුද්ධාගම රටේ රාජ්ය ආගම වියයුතුය.

8 මේ රටේ,ජනාධිපති, අගමැති, අග්‍රවිනිස්චයකාරතැන,ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාපතිවරුන්, පොලිස්පති සහ නීතිපති        සින්හල යින්ම වියයුතුය

9 සියලුම ජනවර්ග,ආගම්,ආදිය මුල්කරගෙන පිහිටුවා ඇති සියළුම දේශපාලනපක්ශ තහනම් කළ යුතුය.

10 ඒකීය රටක් එක  නීතියක්     

11        මධ්යම කඳුකරයේ මු ම අඩි 5000 ඉහල අධිරක්ශිතයක් වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශකොට 3500-5000 අතර විශාල තේ වතු තිබුණද සෑම වර්ගයේම ජනාවශ තහzනම් කළයුතුය. 

12 එක් ජාතික කොඩියක්. 1815 තිබුණ සින්හලේ කොඩිය

13 ජාතික ගීය දිවයින පුරාම ගායනා කළැ යුත්තේ රටේ රාජ්ය බාශාව වන සින්හලෙන් පමණි

14 නිදහස්  දිනය මැයි 22 වශයෙන් නැවතත් ප්‍රකාශකළයුතුය.

15 ජාතික ආර්ථිකයේ ගොවිතැනට මුල්තැනදිය යුතුය.

16 නව මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයක්. පැරැණි ආසන ක්‍රමය යළි හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුය. අනුපාත, ම්නාප සහ බහු ආසනයේ  ක්‍රමය ඉවත්  කිරීම, අපේශක්යන් තේරීම අදාල ආසන චන්ද දායකයින්ට දීම සහ අපෙක්ශකයකු වීමට අදාල චන්ද කොට්ඨාශයේ වසර 5 ක් ඉස්තිර පදින්චිය හෝ ඉපදී තිබීම අනිවාර්ය කිරීම

තවද මේ යටතේ රාජ්ය සභාවේ දැනට ඇති ආසන ගණන 95 දක්වා අඩුකොට දියවන්නවේ පාර්ලිමේතුව නැවතත් ගාලුමුවදොර පාර්ලිමේන්තු ගොඩනැගිල්ලට ගෙන ආයුතුය. විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසිවූ විට එම ගොනැගිල්ලද හිස්වන බැවින් එහි ගැටලුවක්ද ඇති නොවනු ඇත.

17 ජාතික ලැයිස්තුව අහෝසිකිරීම ඒ වෙනුවට රටට විසිස්ඨ සේවයක් කර ඇති යම් යම් ශේෂ්ත්‍ර පිලිබඳ විසේසඥ දැණුමක් ඇති කීපදෙනකු පත්කල මන්ත්‍රීන් වශයෙන් ගැනීමට විවස්ථාවේ ප්‍රතිපාධන සැලසීම.

18        දරුණු අපාරධවලට මරණ දඬුවම

19 දේශීය සහ විදේශීය රාජ්ය සේවය වුර්තිකයින්ට පමණක් සීමා කිරීම

20 වෙනස්නොවන නොබැඳි විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තියක්

21 සෑමපුර වැසියෙකුටම රටේ ඔනෑම තැනක පදින්චියට, දේපල මිලදි ගැනීමට සහ රැකියා කිරීමට අව්ස්ථාව        

22        මේ රට ෆෙඩෙරල් රාජ්යක් කොට දෙමල බලය නන්ග්වා සින්හල බ්ලය බිඳ දමා සින්හල ජාතිය විනාශ කිරිමට            ඉන්දියාව විසින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අප හිසමත පැටවූ 1987 ජූලි 29  ඉන්දු-ලන්කා ගිවිසුම සහ ඒ තුළින් උපන් 13 වන විවස්ථා සන්සෝධනය අහෝසිකොට මේ රටට හා ජාතියට  හූනිමක් වි ඇති පලාත්සභා වහාම අහෝසි කිරීම.

23 මේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය බිඳවැටීමට ප්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වන  දැනට පවතින අධික රජයේ නිවාඩු දින ගණන ජාත්යන්ත්‍ර  සාමාන්ය  ගණන වන 12 හෝ ඊට ආසන්න සන්ක්යාවකට අඩුකොට  වසරකට අපතේ යන මිනිස් දින ගණන රටේ සන්වර්ධනයට යොදාගතයුතුය.එය පහත සඳහන් පරිදි විය යුතුයයි යෝජනා කරමි

. නම                                   මාසය                    දින ගණන

1 සින්හල අලුත් අවුරුද්ද  අප්‍රේල්  13 &14               2

2 වෙසක්                             මැයි    වෙසක්  පෝය    2

3 ජනරජ දිනය                          මැයි  22                   1

4  ජාතික ගොවි කම්කරු දිනය    මැයි 1                   1

5  සින්හලේ ජාතික දිනය පොසොන් පෝය            1                                                

රජය විසින් තීරණය කලයුතු නිවාඩු දින 

6    ජාතික වීර දිනය                                                 1

7   පරිසර දිනය                                                         1

8 ජාතික ළමා  දිනය                                                 1

9 ජාතික මව්වරුන්ගේ දිනය                                    1

10 ජාතික වැඩිහිටි දිනය                                           1

මුළු ගණන                                                                12

මීට අමතරව සෑම පෝය දිනයක්ම රජයේ නිවාඩු දිනයක් කිරීමෙන් තවත් නිවාඩු දින 49 ක් රජයේ සේවකයින්ට එක්වෙයි, ඒ අනුව පාසල් සතියද සකස්කරගත හැක. මේ අනුව රටේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ අනන්යතාවද  ආරක්ශා වනු ඇත.

අනෙකුත් ආගමික නිවාඩු දින අදාල ආගම  අදහන අයට පමණක් සීමා කලයුතුය              

යෝජිත අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලය

ජනාධිපති; අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලයේ ප්‍රධානියා, ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රධානියා සහ සන්නද්ධ සේවාවන්හි ප්‍රධානියා

1අග්‍රාමාත්ය, රාජ්ය ආරක්ශක,  බුද්ධසාසන හා සන්ස්කෘතික කටයුතු

2 මුදල් හා ක්‍රම සම්පදන හා රජයේ වැඩ

3 ඉඩම්,  වාරිමාර්ග සහ පරිසර සන්රක්ශන

4 කෘශිකර්මාන්ත, වැවිලි කර්මාන්ත සහ කුළුබඩු

5 කර්මාන්ත, බලශක්ති හා තාක්ශන 

6 අධ්යාපන සහ ක්‍රීඩා

7 අධිකරණ, නිතිය හා සාමය

8 සෞක්ය, ආයුර්වේද සහ සමාජසේවා

9 නිවාස, පලාත්පාලන හා ජලසම්පාදන

10 වෙලඳ හා නාවික කටයුතු

11 විදේස සහ ජාත්යන්තර කටයුතු (මෙම ඇමති ධුරයට නිතරම පත්කල යුත්තේ ශ්‍රි.ලන්.වි.සේ  විශිස්ඨතම නිලධාරියෙකි- ජාතික ළැයිස්තුවෙන්)

 12 ධීවර සහ සමුද්‍ර සම්පත් –

13 කම්කරු හා රැකිරක්ශා –

 14 ගමනාගමන, මහාමාර්ග හා ගුවන්සේවා 

 15 ප්‍රවුර්ති, ගුවන්විදුලි, රූපවාහිනී සහ ජනමාඩ්යධ්ය

16`උඩරට ගැමි පුනරුත්ථාපන සහ කන්ද උඩරට (ජාතියේ හදබිම ) සන් රක්ශනය 

17 ස්වදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්ය පරිපාලන හා ග්‍රාම සන්වර්ධන (මෙම ඇමති ධුරයට නිතරම පත්කල යුත්තේ ශ්‍රි.ලන්.ප.සේ විශිස්ඨතම නිලධාරියෙකි- ජාතික ළැයිස්තුවෙන්)

(ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, රාජ්ය පරිපාලන හා ග්‍රාම සන්වර්ධන අමාත්යාන්ශය මට භාර දෙන්නේනම් 1948 සිට නොකෙරුණු මේ රටට ගැලපෙන දිස්ත්‍රික්ක, ප්‍රාදේෂීය සහ ග්‍රාම පාලන ක්‍රමයක්  6 මසක් අතුලත මට මේරටට නිර්මාණය කොට දිය හැකි බව්ද ප්‍රකාශකරමි).

දැනට තිබෙන අමාහ්යාන්ශ, දෙපාර්තමේන්තු සහ අනෙකුත් රාජ්ය ආයතන සියල්ල (අනවශ්ය ඒවා වසාදැමීමෙන් පසු ඉතිරිවන) මෙම අමාත්යාන්ශ යටතට විධිමත්ව අන්තග්‍රහණය  කළ යුතුය

5 ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් ඇමතිමන්ඩලයට  ගත යුතු කීපදනෙක්

ආචාර්ය ගාර්වින් කරුනාරත්න

ගාමිනි විජේසින්හ හිටපු විඝණනාධිපති

නීතිඥ නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු

ප්‍රභාත් මහනාම

වන්නියෑලෑ ඇත්තො

ආචාර්ය චන්ද්‍රේ ධර්මවර්ධන.

මෙම ළැයිස්තුවට ලක්ස්මන් කදිරගාම වැනි දෙමල නියෝජිතයෙක්ද ඇතුලත් කරගත යුතුය

                        (මොවුන් ඇමති තණතුරු භාරගැනීමට අසතුටුනම් යටත් පිරිසෙයින් ජාතික සැලසුම් මන්ඩලයේ උපදේශක වරුන් වශයෙන් හෝ

                                  **************

ත්‍රයි නිකායික මහානායක හිමිවරුන් ප්‍රමුඛ සමස්ථ භික්ෂු  සමාජයෙන් සහ දේශප්‍රේමි ශ්‍රී ලාන්කික ජනතාවගෙන්ම මේ අවස්ථාවේදි දේශප්‍රේමයෙන් මා ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ (ඉතිහාශය පුරාම ඔබ සිදුකොට ඇති පරිදි ක්‍රියාත්මක්වී) මෙම සන්දේශයෙන් මවිසින් යෝජිත වැඩපිලිවෙල, අඩුපාඩු ඇත්නම් ඒවාද සම්පූර්ණකොටගෙන, වහාම ක්‍රියාවට නන්ග්වා අපගේ ආදරනීය මව්බිමත් සින්හල ජාතියත් පත්ව ඇති අනතුරෙන් බේරාගැනීමට පෙරමුණ ගන්නා මෙන්ය.

Courtesy Hiru News

අද අපේ රට ඉතිහාසයේ බරපතලම අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ දී තිබෙන අවස්ථාවක්. මේ අවස්ථාවට එන්නට ප්‍රථම ආර්ථික අර්බුදය නිසා ජනතාව මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටි දුෂ්කරතා නිසා සමාජ, දේශපාලන අස්ථාවරත්වයක් නිර්මාණය වුණා.

මේ පැවති ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් හැටියට විවිධ පාර්ශ්වයන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ පොදු යෝජනාවක් වුයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන බහුතරයක් පක්ෂ එකතුකරන නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවන ලෙස. පසුගිය කාලයේ මම මේ සඳහා විවිධ පක්ෂ සහ කණ්ඩායම්වල නායකයන් සමග සාකච්ඡා බොහොමයක් කළා. ඒ අදහස මමත් පිළිඅරගෙන මේ විසඳුමට අවශ්‍ය පසුබිම සකස් කරන්න අසීරු හා දැඩි තීන්දු කිහිපයක්ම අරගත්තා.

පසුගිය කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය පත් කිරීමේ දී එවකට හිටි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ ඇමතිවරු විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ඒ වගේම රාජපක්ෂවරු සියලුදෙනාම නැති තරුණ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් සමන්විත නව ඇමති මණ්ඩලයක් පත් කළා. ඒ වගේම අගමැතිවරයා ඉල්ලා අස්වී සමස්ත කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයම විසුරුවලා නව අගමැතිවරයෙකුට සහ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයකට අවස්ථාව සලසා දෙන්නට එකඟතාවකට පැමිණියා.

නමුත් මැයි මස 09 වන සදුදා උදෑසන ඔබ සියලුදෙනාම දන්නා පරිදි ඉතා අවසනාවන්ත තත්ත්වයක් ඇති වුණා. මේ සිදුවීම පාදක කරගෙන ඉතාම සුළු වේලාවක් තුළ දිවයින පුරා කළහකාරී සිද්ධීන් ඇති වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා. ඇඳිරි නීතිය පනවලා ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාව ස්ථානගත කරන්නටත් ප්‍රථමයෙන් මේ ක්‍රියාදාමය සංවිධානාත්මකව රට පුරාම සිදු වුණා. පැය කිහිපයක් ඇතුළත පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් ඇතුථ නව දෙනෙක් පමණ අමානුෂික ලෙස පහරදී මරා දමනු ලැබුවා. ඒ වගේම 300කට ආසන්න සංඛ්‍යාවක් රෝහල්ගත කළා. ඒ වගේම නිවාස විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ගිනි බත් කළා.

රට පුරාම මංකොල්ල කන්න පටන් ගත්තා. මේ සිද්ධීන්ට පාදක වූ මුල් සිද්ධිය පක්ෂපාතීත්වයකින් තොරව මම දැඩි ලෙස හෙළා දකිනවා. ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමර්ශන කටයුතු ආරම්භ කරන්න නිසි කටයුතු කරන්නටත් පොලිස්පතිවරයාට උපදෙස් දී තිබෙනවා.

ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් ඉන් පසුව සිදු වූ මිනීමැරුම්, පහරදීම්, බිය ගැන්වීම්, දේපළ විනාශ කිරීම් ඇතුළු මේ ම්ලේච්ඡ සිදුවීම් මාලාව කිසිසේත්ම සාධාරණීයකරණය කිරීමට හැකියාවක් නැහැ. මෙම සිද්ධිය සිදුවූ මොහොතේ ඉදලා ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්, ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා ප්‍රධානීන්, පොලිස්පති, බුද්ධි අංශ ප්‍රධානීන් ඇතුළු ආරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලය සම්බන්ධ කර ගනිමින් මම රට සාමකාමී කරන්න පියවර ගනිමින් සිටිනවා.

මේ අවස්ථාවේදී රජයේ මූලිකම වගකීම වන්නේ සියලුම පුරවැසියන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීම. ඒ නිසා කළහකාරීන්ට එරෙහිව දැඩි ලෙස නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙස ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවට සහ පොලීසියට නියෝග ලබා දී තිබෙනවා. මේ සිද්ධියට සම්බන්ධ වූ සැලසුම් කළ, අනුබල දුන් සහ ප්‍රචාරණය කළ සෑම දෙනාටම විරුද්ධව දැඩි ලෙස නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමටත් පියවර ගන්නවා.

ඒ නිසා මේ වගේ කඩාකප්පල්කාරී ක්‍රියාවලින් ඉවත් වී සිටින ලෙස මම සියලුදෙනාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. මෙතෙක් සිදු වූ ජීවිත හා දේපළ හානි දෙස බලා තවදුරටත් වෛරය වපුරුවන කණ්ඩායම් හෙළා දකින්නට මේ රටේ වගකිවයුතු පුරවැසියන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. රටේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන අතරම රටේ දේශපාලන ස්ථාවරත්වය ඇති කිරීම සඳහා මම සියලු පක්ෂ නායකයන් සමග කටයුතු කරනවා.

වර්තමානයේ තිබෙන තත්ත්වය පාලනය කරන්න, ඒ වගේම රට අරාජිකත්වයට පත්වීම වළක්වා ගන්න දැනට ඇණහිට තිබෙන රජයේ කටයුතු පවත්වාගෙන යන්න නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවීමට මා කටයුතු කරමින් සිටිනවා. මම මේ සතිය තුළ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බහුතරයකගේ විශ්වාසය දිනාගත්, ඒ වගේම රටේ ජනතාවගේ විශ්වාසය තහවුරු කර ගන්න පුලුවන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයෙක් සහ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයක් පත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා.

ඊට පස්සේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට වඩා බලතල ලැබෙන ආකාරයට 19 වන සංශෝධනයේ අන්තර්ගත දෑ නැවත බලාත්මක වන පරිදි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් කිරීමට ද මා කටයුතු කරනවා.

පත්වන නව රජයේ අගමැතිවරයාට නව වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ඉදිරිපත් කර රට ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන්න අවස්ථාව සලසා දෙනවා. ඒ වගේම විවිධ පාර්ශ්වවලින් ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කරන ලෙසත් ඉල්ලීම් ලැබි තිබෙනවා. පත්වන නව රජය රට ස්ථාවරත්වයට පත් කිරීමෙන් පසු සියලුදෙනාම සමග සාකච්ඡා කර ඒ සඳහා කටයුතු කිරීමටත් ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථාව සලසා දෙනවා. මෙම අතිශය දුෂ්කර අවස්ථාවේදී රට කඩාවැටීමට ඉඩ නොතබා මහජනතාවගේ ජිවිත වගේම ඔවුන්ගේ දේපළ ආරක්ෂා කරගෙන ජන ජිවිතයට අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය සියලු දේ සැපයීමට රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණය අඛණ්ඩව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න මට සහය දෙන ලෙස මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

එබැවින් මේ අවස්ථාවේදී සාමකාමීව සහ කල්පනාකාරිව කටයුතු කරන මෙන් සියලුම ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජනතාවගෙන් මම ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe says that the law and order situation in the country is not functioning properly which will not help in overcoming the economic crisis.

The Governor of the Central Bank stated this while participating in a media briefing.

He points out that there is a dysfunctional situation in the country where there is no Prime Minister, no Finance Minister and only an Executive President who does not take any action in Parliament.

The Governor further said that a stable system of governance and a stable government should be appointed as soon as possible.

He pointed out that this is the main responsibility of the 225 people’s representatives and the President.

Sri Lanka’s central bank will also announce a daily trading band for the rupee dollar exchange rate to prevent high off market premiums being charged from importers by exporters and stabilize volatility, Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

“The band will be based on the previous day’s price and a plus or minus margin,” Governor Weerasinghe told reporters in Colombo.

The Governor further stated that it is essential to appoint a government capable of maintaining law and order in the country in a better manner and points out that if this situation continues for a few more days, there could be a power cut of more than 10 hours and a shortage of fuel.

The Governor of the Central Bank further stated that he condemned the attack on those who were engaged in a peaceful struggle.

Meanwhile the Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe states that he will resign from his post if political stability is not established in the country.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

නව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වශයෙන් හිටපු අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පත්වනු ඇතැයි  මාධ්‍ය කිහිපයක්ම වාර්තා කර ඇත.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ සභාපති වජිර අබේවර්ධන මහතා පවසන්නේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා හෙට හෝ අනිද්දා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස දිවුරුම් දීමට නියමිත බවයි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බහුතර කැමැත්ත ලබා ගැනීමට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට හැකියාව තිබෙන බවද ඔහු පැවසීය.

ජනාදිපති ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අද පස්වරුවේ හදිසි සාකච්ඡාව පැවැත්විය.

තමන් අමාත්‍ය ධුරය ලබා ගතහොත් සහයෝගය ලබාදිය හැකි දැයි වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ඇතුළු පක්ෂ කීපයකින්ම දුරකථනය මාර්ගයෙන් විමසා ඇත.

මේ අතර වාර්තා වන්නේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට සහයෝගය පළකිරීමට සමගි ජනබලවේගයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 25 කට වැඩි පිරිසක් සූදානම් සිටින බවයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පත් කළ පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විපක්ෂයේ අසුන් ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ නියෝජනය කරන මන්ත්‍රී කණ්ඩායමක් තීරණය කර ඇත.

එම තත්ත්වය මත විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා දරන විපක්ෂ නායක ධුරය ද අහෝසි වී යාමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

ඒ අනුව නව විපක්ෂ නායකයා කවුදැයි ඉදිරියේ සාකච්ඡා කර තීරණයක් ගැනීමට නියමිතව ඇත.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ‍අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධුරය භාරගෙන කටයුතු කරන්නැයි ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගෙන් අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදීම ඉල්ලාසිටියද විවිධ කොන්දේසි ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් එය ඔහු මඟ හරිනු ලැබීය.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

SJB MP, Harin Fernando has informed party leader Sajith Premadasa that he will sit independently in Parliament as Premadasa had failed to give a possible solution to solve the ongoing crisis in the country.

Fernando told Daily Mirror that  the SJB members had held discussions throughout the day but no possible solutions had been reached to sort the ongoing issues, and Premadasa had refused the Premiership post till such time some conditions are not met.

“I told Sajith this is not the time to put forward conditions.We should be thinking of the country first and how we can reach political stability. He should have taken the Premiership and then worked out the conditions after solving the economic crisis and brining normalcy to the people. However he failed to do that,” Fernando said.

He further said that he will support the new government that is appointed as he believed in first reaching a solution for the people.

Fernando also hinted at a possible split in the SJB saying he was not alone and there were more who were with him and these numbers would be seen when the votes get underway in Parliament. (Jamila Husain)

උපුටා ගැන්ම නෙත්

නව අගමැතිවරයා ලෙස එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පත් කිරීමට නියමිතව බව නෙත් නිවුස් වෙත වාර්තා වනවා.

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට සහය දැක්වීම සඳහා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරනු ලබන සිංහල, දමිල සහ මුස්ලිම් මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් රැසක් ඉදිරිපත්වී ඇති බව සඳහන්.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධුරය භාර ගන්නා ලෙසට ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා දේශපාලන පක්ෂ කිහිපයකම නායකයින් වෙත ඉල්ලීම් සිදුකළ ද රටේ පවතින ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය මත ඔවුන් එම අභියෝගය භාර ගැනීමට ඉදිරිපත් නොවූ බවයි දේශපාලන ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කර සිටින්නේ.

හිටපු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් අතර ඔවුන් සමග පැවති සාකච්ජාවේදී රටේ ජනතාව පත්ව ඇති ආර්ථික පීඩනයෙන් ඔවුන් මුදා ගැනීමට තමන්ට සැලසුමක් ඇති බවට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා සවිස්තරාත්මකව පැහැදිළි කර දී ඇත. 

එහිදී එම මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් හිටපු අගමැතිවරයාගේ විමසා ඇත්තේ රටේ සිදුවූ දුෂණ වංචා සම්බන්ධයෙන් කෙබදු පියවරක් අනුගමනය කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වනවාද යන්න ගැනයි.

එහිදී හිටපු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත්තේ සිදුව ඇති බව කියන දුෂණ වංචා සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීතිඥ සංගමය, අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සහ පොලිස් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ඇතුළු අදාළ සියලු අංශ සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන පිහිටුවනු ලබන කමිටුවක් අනුව ඉදිරි කටයුතු කරගෙන යෑමට අවශ්‍ය ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථාව නොඅඩුව ලබා දෙන බවයි.

ඒ අනුව මේ වන විට නව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට සහය පළකිරීමට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරනු ලබන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් රැසක් තීරණය කර ඇත.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, condemning the initial actions that led to the unruly incidents on the 9th of May, says he has directed the Inspector-General of Police to conduct an impartial inquiry in this regard.

Delivering a special statement to the nation today (May 11), he said the armed forces and the police have been ordered to take stern legal action against people engaging in unruly behaviour.

President Rajapaksa noted that he would take steps to appoint a new Cabinet of Ministers and a Prime Minister this week, who can command a majority in the Parliament and earn the trust of the people.

He also expects to introduce constitutional amendments to strengthen the positive features of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and provide more powers to the Parliament.

Read the President’s full statement below:

Most Venerable Maha Sangha,
Other Religious Dignitaries,
Mothers and Fathers,
Brothers and Sisters,
Beloved Children, Friends,

At present, our country is facing the worst crisis in its history. The economic crisis that preceded this event created social and political instability due to the difficulties faced by the people.

As a solution to these problems, a common proposal was put forward by various parties to form a new government with a majority of parties represented in the Parliament. In the past, I have had many discussions with leaders of various parties and groups in this regard. I too accepted that idea and took some difficult and tough decisions to set the platform for this solution.

When the last Cabinet was replaced, a new Cabinet was appointed consisting of young MPs where a large number of former Senior Ministers as well as Rajapaksas were not appointed. Also, the Prime Minister resigned and an agreement was reached to dissolve the entire Cabinet and make room for a new Prime Minister and Cabinet.

But on Monday morning, May 9, as you all know, a very unfortunate situation arose. Based on this incident, riots broke out all over the country in a very short period of time. Even before the curfew was imposed and the tri-forces were deployed, this process took place in an organized manner throughout the country. Within hours, about nine people, including a Member of Parliament, were brutally beaten to death. Approximately 300 were hospitalized. Also, a large number of houses were set on fire. Looting began all over the country.

I strongly condemn without prejudice the original incident which led to these events. The IGP has been instructed to initiate investigations into the incident.

However, the series of murders, assaults, intimidation and destruction of property that followed cannot be justified. From the moment this incident took place, I have been taking steps to control the situation in the country with the involvement of the Secretary of Defence, the Chiefs of the Armed Forces, the Inspector General of Police, the Chiefs of Intelligence and the Security Council.

At this juncture, the primary responsibility of the government is to ensure the safety of all citizens. Therefore, the three Armed Forces and the Police have been ordered to strictly enforce the law against the rioters. Steps will be taken to strictly enforce the law against all those who planned, supported and promoted this incident.

Therefore, I urge everyone to refrain from such acts of sabotage. I urge the responsible citizens of this country to look at the loss of life and property that has taken place so far and to condemn the groups that continue to spread hatred. While working to ensure the security of the country, I will work with all party leaders to bring about political stability in the country.

I am taking steps to form a new government to control the current situation, to prevent the country from falling into anarchy as well as to maintain the affairs of the government that have been halted. This week, I will appoint a Prime Minister who commands the majority in Parliament and can secure the confidence of the people and a Cabinet of Ministers.

Thereafter, I will take steps to amend the Constitution to re-enact the contents of the 19th Amendment to empower that Parliament.

The new Prime Minister of the new government will be given the opportunity to present a new programme and to take the country forward. There have also been calls from various factions for the abolition of the presidential system. After the new government stabilizes the country, the opportunity will be given to discuss with everyone and to work in this regard. I request the assistance in maintaining the state machinery uninterrupted to protect the lives of the people as well as their property and to provide the essentials to the people without allowing the country to collapse at this critical juncture.

Therefore, I urge all Sri Lankans to act with restraint and prudently at this juncture.

May the Noble Triple Gem bless you all.

Courtesy Adaderana

The tri-forces are instructed to use necessary force to prevent vehicles checking by unlawful gangs or violent groups, incidents of damaging public or private property, looting and assault, the Ministry of Defence says.

They are also directed to also open fire when required, the ministry noted in a statement.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has held talks with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe this evening (May 12).

During the talks, the former Prime Minister has requested the President not to obstruct the protesters at the Galle Face Green.

According to the UNP Media Unit, MP Wickremesinghe and President Rajapaksa have discussed the ongoing crisis situation and the economic turmoil in the country.

Courtesy Adaderana

All police stations have been instructed to exercise maximum force to prevent vehicle searches by unruly mobs or violent groups and incidents of damaging public or private property, looting and assault, Sri Lanka Police says.

Police officers are also directed to open fire when necessary to prevent such incidents, the police media division said in a statement.

It also noted that members of the public are not allowed to loiter on roads while the curfew order is in effect.

An island-wide curfew was declared in Sri Lanka at 7.00 p.m. on May 09 as public furore erupted across the country following an attack on two main anti-government protest sites in Colombo by a mob of SLPP supporters.

The police media division said, despite the imposition of curfew, incidents of looting, private and public property damages, assaults, torching vehicles and acts of revenge were reported on the nights of May 09 and 10.

Accordingly, the curfew order will be strictly enforced, especially tonight, Sri Lanka Police said, urging the general public to stay home as much as possible.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Police says 59 social media groups used to gather people for violent incidents since May 09 have been identified and that investigations are underway to initiate legal action against the admins of these groups. 

Issuing a release, the Police Spokesman’s Office said that various social media networks and social media groups have been used to summon violent groups to carry out attacks on individuals, houses, vehicles and other properties amidst the tense situations on May 09 and after.

Fifty-nine (59) such social media groups and their admins have already been identified while investigations have been commenced against them under the Computer Crimes Act and criminal law.

The public is requested to provide information regarding such social media groups provoking people and promoting violence and individuals disseminating such information via the hotline ‘1997’ or the email address: telligp@police.gov.lk 

Courtesy Adaderana

Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa is currently at the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Dockyard in Trincomalee due to security reasons, according to Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne.

He stated that as soon as the situation returns to normalcy, the former Premier will be relocated to a place of his choice.

He said it is their responsibility to protect the lives of every citizen, from the leader to the former leader. He said they decided that the former Prime Minister continuing to remain at the previous location would a security concern and that therefore he was taken to the Trincomalee naval dockyard.

But that is not to stay there permanently. After the country returns to normal in a few days, he will be taken to a location of his preference,”  the Defence Secretary told reporters in Colombo.    

A protest was staged in front of the Trincomalee Naval Base yesterday after reports emerged that former prime minister and some of his family members were there after leaving the official residence in Colombo.

Rajapaksa had resigned as prime minister on Monday amid unprecedented economic turmoil, hours after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters, prompting authorities to impose a nationwide curfew and deploy Army troops in the capital.

Earlier today, the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka refuted as fake and blatantly false” local social media speculation that the former prime minister and his family members have fled to India.

Meanwhile the Defence Secretary also said that the death toll due to the recent incidents of violence in the country has risen to 09. This includes two police officers.

He said that a total of 41 incidents of setting fire to vehicles, 61 incidents of causing damages to vehicles around 136 incidents of causing damages to properties have been reported so far.