By Indika Hettiarachchi Courtesy EurasiaReviw

For a large number of 6.9 million voters who voted for Gotabaya Rajapakse in the 2019 presidential election, it was like giving a benefit of the doubt. This is because GR was a political novice at age 70. And his style of management or governance was a big question mark, although he was credited with military success. After two years, a vast majority of Sri Lankans aren’t convinced that giving the benefit of the doubt is a good idea when electing national leaders.   

As Sri Lanka descends deeper into economic chaos, the popularity of the President and his government have declined to levels never seen before for any political regime reaching midterm. The government appears to be disconnected from the general public and ground realities. Key forces within the government such as the military and Viyathmaga (an organization of professionals and a key ally of the current administration) seem to be lacking not only basic political experience and common sense in managing the country but also in the ability to work towards selfless goals.

Rohantha Atukorala, a popular market analyst, opines that the current administration is the worst administration in the last two decades due to poor decision making. Frequent changes of key government officials itself proves widespread accusation of poor judgments by the administration in selecting people for important positions.     

Food policy a mess

Perhaps the worst blow to people from the government came through its poor handling of the agriculture and food policy, resulting in sharp rise in food prices and shortages. Increase in cost of living to unbearable levels, coupled with rampant nepotism and corruption have angered general public to levels where they have now started to randomly and publicity hoot government and political leaders – something never seen in Sri Lanka before. 

What went wrong with the current administration, which appeared more than capable of taking the country in a positive direction, is a big question. Many blame the lack of experience of Gotabaya Rajapakse as the main cause of the failure. Lakshman Kiriella, an opposition politician, recently accused the media for its failure to question the President’s lack of understanding of the economy related problems faced by Sri Lanka at the presidential campaign stage. 

Leaning on divinity! 

Some analysts point out the downfall of the President is hastened by his and his inner circle’s blind dependency on divine powers to provide necessary guidance to run the country. Years before Gotabaya Rajapakse formally entered the presidential race, he has been a faithful follower of soothsayers – especially a popular female in Anuradhapura — the sacred Buddhist city from where he took the presidential oath.  

The President and his key aides reportedly still heavily depend on divine guidance in managing the country. Although it is common practice for politicians to seek divine blessings, some reports suggest that Gotabaya Rajapakse has become extremely dependent on such guidance — a stark contrast to his vision for the government driven by the use of science and technology.

As all indications suggest that the current political regime is unlikely to return to power, there are widespread discussions about who will be next presidential candidate and possible alliances. Anyway, for a majority of Sri Lankans, known devils are likely to be more appealing than unknown angels in future elections.  

*About the author: The writer is a Sri Lanka-based independent consultant in private market investments and projects. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at indika.h@jupitercapitalpartners.com

Source: This article was published by South Asia Monitor

A

Courtesy The Island

… says govt. has got priorities mixed up

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera says that the cash-strapped government lacked the wherewithal to implement the much publicized Rs 229 bn relief package.

Therefore, the one-time General Secretary of the Communist Party said the government had no option but to print more money at the expense of financial stability at a time the country was under tremendous pressure. The former minister quit the top party post in August 2020.

CP organ ‘Aththa,’ in its January 09, 2022 edition quoted the former lawmaker as having alleged that the Rs 229 bn relief package meant for the public sector, pensioners and Samurdhi recipients was nothing but a political strategy to revive the waning popularity of the government.

Declaring that he had no issue with the government providing relief to the public sector et al, the ex-MP warned that such measures wouldn’t help resolve the growing crisis. The outspoken former minister said that the controversial relief package should be examined against the backdrop of the failure on the part of the government to allocate the required funds through the 2022 budget.

Mr. Gunasekera last served as a National List MP from 2010 to 2015.

Reiterating that such a move had been necessitated by political compulsions, the veteran Communist warned of the grave risk of rising inflation. The CP member questioned the absence of a mechanism to assist those in the private sector, small and medium scale industries as well as the unregulated economy. The much weakened national economy couldn’t be revived unless the government paid attention to the neglected sectors.

The veteran politician explained how the global Covid-19 epidemic devastated the unregulated economy world over. However, the government hasn’t taken into consideration the fuller picture. Instead the government sought to use the financial package to counter dissenting views within the government.

The ex-Minister said that even if printing money caused inflation, the government could have achieved positive results if the total amount was used to increase domestic production. Had that happened, the government could have accomplished both political and economic objectives.

The former MP said that incumbent Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa hadn’t still understood the developing economic crisis.

Mr. Gunasekera told The Island that the private sector, including the plantation companies had quite clearly turned down the government request to match the special Rs. 5,000 monthly grant to employees. The government seemed not to have examined the situation at all, the former MP said, asserting that the current crisis could be the worst ever in post-independence Sri Lanka.

Continuing political instability in the wake of serious differences among coalition members with three ministers challenging a cabinet decision in the Supreme Court has jeopardized recovery attempts, Mr. Gunasekera said.

The one-time Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) emphasized the pivotal importance of some real effort to reach consensus on the country’s response to the emerging threat. We are almost overwhelmed. Unless tangible measures are taken there can be a catastrophe. Losses are likely to be immeasurable and irrevocable.”

Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya Courtesy The Daily Mirror

At least 14 statements have been recorded so far in connection with the recovery of a hand grenade at the Borella All Saints’ Church and those involved into the incident will be arrested irrespective of their possition, IGP C.D. Wickramaratne said.

In a special statement the IGP said that those involved will be brought to justice.

The IGP said that the Borella Police first commenced investigations into the incident after the hand grenade was found on January 11.

Thereafter the Colombo Crimes Division took action to take over the investigation.

The IGP said that relevant CCTV footage is used for this investigation in accordance with the provisions of the law and further investigations will be carried out through scientific, technical, environmental evidence and personal evidence with the assistance of experts in the relevant fields.  

These investigations are still in the early stages, he said.

A full investigation will be carried out into the person or persons who brought the grenade to the church,  the motives behind the conspiracy and the persons who aided and abetted it. 

The facts regarding the incident have already been reported to the court and further reports regarding the progress of the investigation will be submitted to the court.

The IGP said that all persons involved in this incident will be brought to justice as soon as possible.  

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Three doses of COVID-19 vaccine drop hospitalization by 90% in people above 65 years of age, health experts highlighted.

According to Head of the Immunology and Molecular Medicine Department at the Sri Jayewardenepura University Prof. Neelika Malavige, hospitalization due to Omicron is also dropped by 50% with two vaccine doses in the over 65 age group.

It is the people above 65 age of who are highly susceptible to get hospitalized and succumb to the virus. Omicron in the US is commonly seen among the unvaccinated population over 65 years. This is where booster dose plays a pivotal role.

In addition, she said most ICU admissions and COVID-19 fatalities are of the unvaccinated population.

Hence, she requested all eligible individuals get themselves boosted without further delay.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama from National Institute of Infectious Diseases urged people not to be carried away by misconceptions and myths about the booster dose.

The priority of people at present should be the safety from Omicron which can be ensured with the booster dose,” he reiterated.  

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka College of Internal Medicine President and National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL) Physician Dr. Harsha Sathischandra said no adverse effects have so been far been reported from pregnant women and neither from any other groups. 

Thus, the booster dose is recommended for persons who are pregnant or breast-feeding,” he added.

The health experts expressed these views at a news briefing held at the Government Information Department yesterday. (Sheain Fernandopulle)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara said today there was a main conspirator behind the incidents where hand grenades were placed at a private hospital in Narahenpita and at the Borella All Saints’ Church premises.

He told reporters that in both instances, it was the same person who placed the bombs, who had found the bombs, and informed of them.

He said this was a move to embarrass the government, police and security forces and added that the mastermind behind these incidents would be arrested soon.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry reports that 677 new cases of the coronavirus have been detected today (14).

This figure includes 03 persons who had arrived from overseas while the rest are community cases. 

This brings the tally of Covid-19 cases registered in the country thus far to 594,996 while over 11,000 infected patients are currently under medical care.  

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 16 more coronavirus-related deaths for January 13, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 15,190.

According to the official figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 08 males and 08 females.

Five of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. One victim is aged below 30 years and the remaining 10 are in the age group of 60 years.

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.) Kings Grove Crescent . Ottawa . Ontario . K1J 6G1  . Canada,

13 January 2022

Mr. R. Sampanthan , MP
President, Tamil National Alliance
16(30), Martin Road
Jaffna
Sri Lanka

Dear Mr. Sampanthan (Sam):

You intrigue me, and here I am writing to you again.  This time to let you hear my thoughts on your down right arrogance letting the 21 million Sri Lankans know that You on behalf of the rest of the Tamils residing in the  North and the East of the island decides who was welcome and who was not welcome to place their feet on the green chillies and toddy palm groves growing  kabook soil that covered that chunk of land which  happens to be one-third of the island’s real estate,  bordered by 66% of the coastline.

What a day-light cunning….What a day-light robbery.

 It was as if you were guarding your Grandmother’s La La Lotus land.   You said with some authority that China was not welcome in the North and East while India has a legitimate right to be there.” Hmmmm..!

You know what Sam, looking back I have little reason to begrudge your mindset and a landlordish’ regal-attitude, because the incumbent Sri Lankan government’s like a hoard of wimps, gave you that right that you displayed with authority by not kicking yours and your compatriots behinds and ask you all to behave yourselves when you all started to ethnic cleanse 27,000 Sinhalese by killing and terrorizing them from the North and East between 1971 and 1981 where they had  lived for generations. Didn’t kick your arse, when Tamil separatists stoned and chased 400 Sinhalese  lecturers and undergraduates on 13th August,1977.from the Jaffna University campus,  when they were brought south in convoys of buses escorted by the army and police, lying on the floors  to dodge the storm of  Jaffna-rocks and stones released  like hand-grenades by  Jaffna-Tamilian hands. And when you all gave 24 hours to 90,000 Muslims to leave the North and East in October 1990, leaving behind the valuables and gold at the nearest mosque, making Idi Amin look like an angel  He gave the Ugandan-Indians three months to leave.

Sam, although I resent what happened, I understand your arrogance and claiming that right because the incumbent Governments failed  to stop this rot, and make you all kiss the Jaffna-Killinochchi dust that the Sinhalese walked on..   And nip the Tamil Eelam quest in the bud.

You Tamils were lucky, as the Sinhalese were handicapped.  You had your Godmother Indira Gandhi, with the 4th largest World’s Army platooned  behind her ready to shoot when her voice would order…”ATTAIN-SHUN… NOW SHOOT”, at my Sinhalese people..  And in September 1983 decided to train 2000  of the Tamil separatists youth at Chakrata, north of DehraDun, for Commando and Army combat.  And this assignment was given  to the RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) of Indira’s Cabinet secretariat.

There were other military camps providing instructions in manufacturing bombs,suicide bodypacks, jungle warfare, weapon training, and military tactics, etc. to your Tamil separatists at Kumbakonam, Meenambakkam, Parangimalai, Senegal patu, Sudtagen Development in New Delhi, and a camp in Uttar Pradesh.  All to destabilise Yours and My Sri Lanka.

And you Sam, the son of A.Rajavarothiam, the Superintendent of Stores at the Gal Oya Project, and enjoying a ‘free-education’ as a youngster in the South among the Sinhalese, buddies at St. Anne’s College, Kurunegala and St. Sebastian College in Moratuwa, dipping your fingers into your  Sinhalese school chum’s Gamini’s, Cyril’s and Sarath’s paper cones of konda-kadale during tea breaks,  shifted your allegiance to Gandhi’s India when you commented on India’s current role in Sri Lanka Affairs explaining that India had a rightful and legitimate role to play with regard to the settlement of the Tamil national question in Sri Lanka.” 

Rightful and legitimate role to play….”  What!  You must be out of your rocker, Sam.  Sri Lanka and India  were never legitimate children of the same Mother.”  They walked differently….they spoke differently…the Sinhalese certainly didn’t display the  red-moon thumbprint between their eyebrows….  It is only your clan that made their women walk five-feet behind men as if the women had some kind of a contagious ‘Flu.  So give me a break Sam.

 This is even after Indira Gandhi’s son Rajiv was rifle-butted by an angry navy soldier, Vijitha Rohana Wijemuni, on 30th July, 1987 during a Navy Guard of  Honour in Colombo.  That brave act by Wijemuni spoke for the majority of us Sinhalese, me included.

Sam, if you really felt that the outsider India had a legitimate role to play in Tamil affairs in Sri Lanka, I am lost for ‘kind’ words, but would say…Oops..Damn it!

I am not sure why you and  the rest of the Tamils in the North and East do not prostrate yourselves to  India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to syphon all of you back into yours and his Motherland, India, where 72,147,030 of your kith and kin Tamils live in Tamil Nadu.  Why don’t you Sam…why didn’t you, when your heart-strings are still back in India, and your vocal chords do not want to sing – Sri Lanka Matha/ apa Sri Lanka, namo, namo, namo..matha/ Sundara Siri barini……… but would happily sing

Jana gana mana adhinayaka  jaya he….Bharata bhagya vidhata…

But let me caution you Sam, you are internationalising your internal  Tamil problem which also concerns me a Sinhalese also troubles me. This time if your India turns out to be a Bully Boy”, one more time,  India will have to change gears in their involvement in Sri Lanka’s internal problem.  They certainly wouldn’t want a Vietnam on their hands. And for sure they will be meeting not a Ceremonial 

Army as they did in 1987, but an army that has graduated and proved themselves to be the only conventional army in the world that destroyed militarily, almost single handed,  the most ruthless terrorists in the world which had a foot army, a sea-navy and an airforce, the Tamil Tigers.

Quite potent, isn’t it?  It would be fun war- games, not just Cops and Robbers, or Catapults and Bamboo sticks. You bet.

Sam, you recall that fateful day on 4 June 1987, when  5 Indian Transport An32s escorted by 5 screaming low-flying Mirage 2000’s of No.7 Squadron flew over the sovereign territory of Sri Lanka and dropped a mere 25-tons of so called ‘Relief” supplies over Jaffna peninsula which had a population of 800,000.  Sick…Sick!  Rajiv Gandhi certainly had an ugly sick-sense on humanitarianism, wanting to watch 800,000 of your Tamils claw the earth where the 25 tons of relief supplies had been dropped to pick up three grains of red lentils and boil it in water and drink the soup to feed their hunger.  Relief supply, my foot?  If geo-politics is what this is..Sweet Mother of Jesus, please help these Jaffna Tamils survive another day waiting holding their stomachs with hunger-pains for food supplies from their GodMother and GodFather, India.  If they are hoping to poke their fingers into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs, then India better take that responsibility  to keep the Northern and Eastern Tamils alive another day, without killing them of starvation. Sam, and I would call them you no good smub–ocitilop-oeg.

With your intervention and saying that only India is welcome to the North and East of Sri Lanka, you better be ready to accept that responsibility for being such a Goddamn foolish Tin God catalyst, Sam.

And Sam, you said, outlining his reasons, the TNA MP said, firstly the TNA’s own political quest was based on human rights and democracy…concepts he charged were alien to these Chinese.”

As for your own political quest – here’s  my response Sam.  You cannot  cut a country into two any more than you can cut a human into two.. If you do, you do not have two human beings, you have a corpse.

China,  I say to you, don’t take this guy from TNA, R. Sampanthan seriously.  It is his Tamil Tiger terrorists who took away the paramount human right of a person, his or her ‘RIGHT-TO-LIFE’, when they hijacked it from 20 million Sri Lankan

people for 30 years during their Eelam war.  It was the Sri Lankan Armed forces Heroes that gave it back to the millions of Sri Lankan people after they annihilated the Tamil Tigers on 19 May 2009, militarily.

China, don’t trust.Sampanthan on human rights.  It’s his Tamil terrorists who plucked infants from young Sinhalese mother’s breasts and baynetted them and some were smashed on charnokite rocks and enjoyed watching ketchup blood oozing from the tiny split skulls.

It were their Tamil Tiger terrorists who ambushed a bus that was driven with 33 Buddhist novice monks on a pilgrimage to Kelaniya.  They shot  them at point blank range, chopped them with machetes as if in a butcher-shop, and massacred all of them at Aranthalawa at 7:15 in the morning on June 2nd, 1997.  Human rights advocates, Sampanthan called themselves.  What a crock full of  codswallop. What a sinner’s shameful claim!

Sam, you pride yourself as a Human Rights Wallah.  If so, here is a problem for you to solve, now that you have begun a love-in with the Indian Government.

You tell me, how come the Indian Government has ignored and not acknowledged the Sri Lankan Armed Forces’ Text book superior act of Human Rights when they saved 295,873 Tamil refugees from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers, who were used as a Human Shield for the last 6 months of the Eelam War,  marching them under a scorching Jaffna-Killinochchi sun like unwashed cattle,  How come Sam?

There is more to this Textbook example of the Human Rights Act.  Most of the soldiers who rescued the Tamil Refugees turned cooks to prepare three hearty meals a day, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, producing a million meals a day and feeding them in Refugee camps for months.

Not a pip squeak of acknowledgement by the mighty India.  What a bunch of humbugs…what a bunch of UNESCO’s lying salesmen and women. Sam, this is the world that you have created that I have to live in and feel sick in my stomach about it.

The Sri Lankan Governments have drummed into my thick-skull day-in and day-out for months and years that India is Sri Lanka’s best friend..best neighbour that had been in the past,  the best friend there is..and the best friend there ever will be.  This is the friend that the Sri Lankan Government is having  a love-in with, but who is silent, acting like  a pseudo-Kiwi-white painted colonial face who has found it difficult to vote against  the UNHRC’s resolution to screw Sri Lanka onto a crucifix charging them on human rights violations during the last five months of the Eelam War,

Sam….I cannot take this Bullxxxt from You and your love-in Buddies of 18 salt-water miles to the North.

Sam, I want to breathe LOVE again and break bread with Tamils..   You can help me only if you are an honest-Tamil.  I want to breathe LOVE again.  I have done my share of reconciliation efforts with your people.  Ask me, and I will tell you of my contribution.  Make it soon as my International-licence for BRAGGING will be running out soon, and I have decided not to renew it.

So,Sam stop your dishonest crap, and become a born again-honest politician.   God will love You. Your brand of honesty doesn’t  cut mustard with me.  I resent it.  All it makes me do is spit dragon breath at you a lot, for  wanting your quest to cut the island in two based on  Goddamn lies…on persection, discrimination and Genocide of Tamils.

My request to you is to reboot your honesty and be a born again decent TNA politician

 Rethink your foolish Red light for China, Green Light for India.” bylined – Marianne  David – The Sunday Morning, (January 9, 2022)

Sincerely

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)

Ottawa, Canada

Jubeda Chowdhury from Dhaka, Bangladesh

Although the RAB has paid a heavy price in its campaign against terrorists and drug smugglers, the US has unfairly imposed sanctions against the group.

A major obstacle to Bangladesh’s progress has traditionally been a volatile law and order situation, which forced the government to form an elite force to make the police more dynamic and effective. This is how the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) began its journey on March 26, 2004. Its operational activities started on June 21 that year. 

Since its birth, the RAB has been fighting terrorism and those involved in drug trafficking. If the United States aims to curb illegal human trafficking and criminal activity, this is precisely what the RAB is doing in Bangladesh. 

After the verdict in seven murder cases in Narayanganj on January 19, 2017, the US wanted Bangladesh to abolish RAB, calling it an “in-house death squad”. The government was criticized for alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances. Twenty-five members of RAB have been convicted for the murders in Narayanganj. Of them, 16 were sentenced to death and nine to various terms of imprisonment.  

Due to this aberration, there is a tendency to underestimate the achievements of RAB. But its success is more than just a measure of failure. It is also playing a special role in suppressing traditional crimes.  

According to media reports, RAB has so far arrested 1,200 criminals and rescued more than 1,000 victims of human trafficking. About 16,000 firearms and 2.5 million rounds of ammunition have been seized from terrorists and arms dealers. Some 13,000 armed terrorists have been arrested. Also, it has taken into custody more than 500 Sundarbans-centric pirates and bandits. 

According to law enforcement agencies, drugs have been behind many crimes including theft, robbery, smuggling and use of illegal weapons all over the country including Dhaka. The RAB has a zero-tolerance policy against drugs. 

According to RAB statistics, the force has arrested about 55,000 drug dealers since May 3, 2016 — and 1.5 lakh since its inception. It has seized drugs worth Rs 3,000 crore including Yaba tablets (most commonly used in Bangladesh), heroin and phencidyl. 

Yaba is mostly smuggled from Myanmar. Regular operations are carried out against Yaba traders in and around Cox’s Bazar. Since militants killed 20 people, including 17 foreigners, in an attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery (Spanish restaurant) in Dhaka in July 2016, the RAB has played an effective role against militancy. 

According to RAB sources, it has conducted 241 anti-militant operations since then, arresting 809 militants and killing 25 in gun battles. In addition, seven militants have surrendered. All activities of the militants are monitored. 

RAB Director General Benazir Ahmed said: “We are trying to prevent the militants from trying to incite people by misinterpreting the Holy Quran and its verses. We are trying to convey the correct interpretation of various verses of the Holy Quran to the people.” 

The RAB has paid a heavy price in its campaign against criminals. Twenty-seven personnel have lost their lives. More than 1,000 have been maimed in various operations. Another 2,000 have been injured. 

Today, due to the success of RAB’s campaigns, militancy and terrorism have come down to virtually zero in the whole country. The Sundarbans have been freed from piracy. No wonder, RAB officials have received various medals and recognition. 

Unfortunately, the US in December imposed human rights-related sanctions on RAB and seven of its current and former officials, accusing them of involvement in hundreds of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings since 2009. One of the sanctioned officers is Benazir Ahmed, the Inspector General of Bangladesh Police. Most Bangladeshis feel that the US action is wrong.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මෙවර රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවයට ප්‍රථම නාගදීප රජ මහා විහාරය පූජා භූමියක් ලෙස නම් කර ඊට අදාළ සන්නස් පත්‍රය පිළිගැන්වීම කළ යුතු යැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවසීය.

රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවය – 2022 බලංගොඩ කූරගල ඓතිහාසික පුදබිම කේන්ද්‍ර කරගනිමින් පැවැත්වීමට තීරණය කරමින් ඊයේ (12) පස්වරුවේ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවේ දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මේ බව දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

ගියවර රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවය පැවැත්වීමට අපි තීරණය කළේ ඓතිහාසික නාගදීප රජ මහා විහාරය කේන්ද්‍ර කර ගනිමින්. පැවති කොවිඩ් වසංගත තත්ත්වය සමඟ සෞඛ්‍ය අංශයෙන් ලැබුණු උපදෙස් නිසා ජනතාවගේ සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්ෂාව වෙනුවෙන් රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවය පැවැත්වීමට නොහැකි වුණා. මෙවර රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවයට ප්‍රථම නාගදීප විහාරය පූජා භූමියක් ලෙස නම් කර සන්නස් පත්‍රය පිළිගැන්වීම කළ යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු නොපමාව සූදානම් කරන්නැයි”අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අමාත්‍යාංශ නිලධාරීන් හමුවේ ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

කූරගල ඓතිහාසික පුදබිම කේන්ද්‍ර කරගෙන පැවැත්වෙන රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවයට සමගාමීව කූරගල ඓතිහාසික පුදබිම ද පූජා භූමියක් ලෙස නම් කිරීමට අවධානය යොමු කරන්නැයි ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පැවසීය.

රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවයට සමඟාමීව වෙසක් බැති ගී සංදර්ශන, දන්සැල්, වෙසක් පහන් කූඩු තරග, පරිසර සංරක්ෂණ වැඩසටහන්, විශේෂ ආගමික වැඩසටහන්, සංස්කෘතික වැඩසටහන්  පැවැත්වීම කෙරෙහි මෙන්ම විහාරස්ථාන,දහම් පාසල් සහ  පිරිවෙන් නගා සිටුවීම පිළිබඳව මෙහි දී සාකච්ඡා විය.

මෙවර රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවයට සමගාමීව කොළඹ ඇතුළු ප්‍රධාන නගර වල වෙසක් උත්සව සංවිධානය කිරීම  කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමුකරන ලෙස ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහි දී පැවසීය.

කූරගල පුදබිම පිහිටි බලංගොඩ සහ කල්තොට ප්‍රදේශ ආශ්‍රිතව යටිතල පහසුකම් දියුණු කිරීම කෙරෙහි විශේෂ අවධානයක් යොමු කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදාළ අංශ සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කර කටයුතු කරන ලෙස නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

මෙවර වෙසක් උත්සවය සෞඛ්‍ය අංශයේ උපදෙස් මත පැවැත්වීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සියලු කටයුතු රජයක් ලෙස අපි සුදානම් කරනවා. පරිසර සංරක්ෂණ වැඩ පිළිවලේදී විශේෂයෙන්  පැළ බෙදාදීම පමණක් නෙමෙයි. ඒ පැළ සිටුවා නිවැරදිව සංරක්ෂණය කරනවාද කියලත් සොයා බලන්න යැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පැවසුවේය.

රාජ්‍ය වෙසක් උත්සවය – 2022 බලංගොඩ කූරගල ඓතිහාසික පුදබිම කේන්ද්‍ර කරගෙන පැවැත්වීමට අදාළව ඊට සමගාමීව ක්‍රියාත්මක වන වැඩසටහන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්‍රවාහන ඇමතිනි පවිත්‍රා දේවි වන්නිආරච්චි මහත්මිය මෙහි දී පැහැදිලි කළාය.

සමස්ත ලංකා ශාසනාරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලයේ  සභාපති පූජ්‍ය මහාචාර්ය තුඹුල්ලේ සීලක්ඛන්ධ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ , සමස්ත ලංකා ශාසනාරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලයේ ප්‍රධාන ලේඛකාධිකාරී පූජ්‍ය මුගුණුවෙල අනුරුද්ධ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ, නෙල්ලිගල ජාත්‍යන්තර බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යස්ථානාධිපති පූජ්‍ය වතුරකුඹුරේ ධම්මරතන  ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ, රත්නපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් ශාසනාරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලයේ ලේඛකාධිකාරී පූජ්‍ය කහවත්තේ සේනින්ද ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ, බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යතුමාගේ සම්බන්ධීකාරක පුජ්‍ය අග්‍රහැරේ කස්සප ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ ප්‍රධාන මහා සංඝරත්නය මෙහි වැඩමකර සිටියහ.

ප්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍ය පවිත්‍රා දේවි වන්නිආරච්චි, සබරගමු පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර ටිකිරි කොබ්බෑකඩුව, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන අකිල එල්ලාවල, ගාමිණී වලේබොඩ, , බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරුන් වන අනූෂ පැල්පිට, ආර්.ඒ.ඒ.කේ.රණවක, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරුන් වන එන්.එච්.එම් චිත්‍රානන්ද, කේ.ඒ.ඩී.ආර් නිශාන්ති ජයසිංහ, ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප්‍රධානී සහ යුද හමුදාපති ජෙනරාල් ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම්වරුන් වන නීතිඥ චමින්ද කුලරත්න, නිශාන්ත වීරසිංහ, මහාභාරකාර තැන්පත් නීතිඥ ගනේෂ් ධර්මවර්ධන, බෞද්ධ කටයුතු කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් සුනන්ද කාරියප්පෙරුම, පූජාභූමි අධ්‍යක්ෂ රුචිර විතාන, බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යතුමාගේ පෞද්ගලික ලේකම් ඒ.එම් රත්නායක මහත්ම මහත්මීහු ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය ආයතන නියෝජනය කරමින් නිලධාරීහු පිරිසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

සමස්ත දමිළ ජනතාව බැතියෙන් සමරන තෛපොංගල් උත්සවය කෘතගුණ සැලකීම මුල්කරගත් උතුම් මංගල්‍යයකි.

අස්වනු නෙලීම දක්වා හිරු දෙවියන් ඇතුළු ස්වභාවධර්මයෙන් කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයට ලැබුණු ශක්තිය සහ උපකාරයන්  සිහිපත් කිරීම මෙම උතුම් මංගල්‍යයේ විශේෂත්වයකි.

හින්දු දින දර්ශනයට අනුව පළමු මාසය සහ උදාව යන්න අර්ථවත් කරමින් තෛපොංගල් ලෙසින් සමරන මෙම උත්සවය ලොව පුරා දමිළ ජනතාවගේ ආගමික, සමාජීය හා සංස්කෘතික බැඳීම් විදහාපායි.

විවිධ භාෂාවන් කතා කරන විවිධ ආගම් හා ජාතීන්ට අයත් ජනතාවක් ජීවත් වන ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සංස්කෘතික බැඳීම්වලින් පොහොසත් රටකි.

ඒ නිසාම මෙවැනි උතුම් දිනයක ඇති සමාජ අර්ථය ජීවිතයට ළඟා කර ගනිමින් එක මවකගෙ දරුවන් මෙන් අප සියලු දෙනා පෙරට ආ යුතුය.

දුෂ්කරතා හමුවේ වුවද එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන විධිමත්ව පවත්වා ගැනීම හේතුවෙන් රටේ ජනතාවගේ ජීවිත ආරක්ෂා කර දීමේ වගකීම ඉටු කිරීමට රජයක් ලෙස අපට හැකිවිය.

වසංගත තත්ත්වය හමුවේ තවදුරටත් ඔබගේ සංස්කෘතික බැඳීම් සීමා නොවන්නට එය හේතු වූවා මෙන්ම අනාගතයට අප පියමන් කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ අභියෝගවලට මුහුණදීමේ අධිෂ්ඨානය පෙරදැරිවය.

සෞභාග්‍යමත් දේශයක් ලෙස ලොවට පියනැගීම සඳහා වූ උදාර අරමුණ සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීමේ දී ද තෛපොංගල් දින අර්ථයන් මහඟු පිටුබලයක් වනු ඇති බව මාගේ විශ්වාසයයි.

කෘතගුණ සලකන සමාජයක් තුළ ඔබගේ නැවුම් බලාපොරොත්තු සඵල වනු ඇත.

සියලු දමිළ ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රාර්ථනාවන් ඉටුවන ප්‍රීතිමත් තෛපොංගල් දිනයක් වේවා! යැයි සුබ ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

ඒ.ජේ.එම්. මුසම්මිල්, ඌව පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවර

ලෝකවාසී හින්දු භක්තිකයන් දුරුතු මස උත්සවශ්‍රීරීයෙන් සමරන තෛපොංගල් දිනය සාමාජීය, සංස්කෘතික හා ආගමික වශයෙන් අතිශය වැදගත්ය. අද දින ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය හා ලෝකවාසී සියළු හින්දු භක්තිකයන් වෙත තෛපොංගල් සුභ පැතුම් එක් කිරීමට අවස්ථාව ලැබීම පිළිබඳව මා බෙහෙවින් සතුටු වෙමි.

කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය තම ජීවනෝපාය කරගත් ජනතාව අද දින හිරු දෙවියන්ට කෘතඥතාවය දක්වමින් තම ජීවන රටාවෙහි දියුණුව අපේක්ෂා කරයි. එසේම ස්වභාව ධර්මයට ගරු කරමින්, කළගුණ සැලකිය යුතුය යන්න මානුෂීය ගුණාංගයක් බව සියළු ජාතීන්ගේ අභිලාෂය වේය යන්න තෛපොංගල් දිනයේ ප්‍රාරාර්ථනාවයි.

තෛපොංගල් වැනි සැමරුම් හේතුවෙන් ජනතාව අතර ඇතිවන නව බලාපොරොත්තු පවුල් ඒකකය මඟින් සමස්ත සමාජයට ගලාගෙන යනු ලබයි. මේ හරහා මානුෂීය සමාජ ගති ලක්ෂණ වඩ වඩාත් දියුණු වන්නේය යන්න අපගේ ඒකායන බලාපොරොත්තුවයි.

මෙම ධර්මතාවයන්ට අනුව දුරුතු මහේ සියළු පැතුම් ඉටුවේය යන විශ්වාසයත් සමඟ සමරන තෛපොංගල් උත්සවය තුළින් සියළු දෙනා හට සාමය, සතුට, සෞභාග්‍යය පිරි වාසනාවන්ත දිවියක් උදාවේවායි ඉතසිතින් මා ප්‍රාරාර්ථනා කරමි.

ඒ.ජේ.එම්. මුසම්මිල්,
ඌව පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවර

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, Jan 14 (AdaDerana) – In the context of rising prices of all consumer products and the limited availability of most, the people of Sri Lanka, are faced with two ominous questions about which they are justifiably anxious.

1. Will there be a scarcity of medicines in the near future in the country and if so, should they be stocking up their regular medications?
2. Will the price of medicines go up in conjunction with all the other products in the market?

Availability of medicines in the future

At least some sections of the public must be aware that there are shortages of some medicines even at present.  This is due to many reasons but the foremost of these is the foreign currency crisis in the country which makes it difficult for banks to facilitate the payments through Letters of credit (LC’s). At present, banks, both state and private sector, allows the Pharma Importers to open LC’s only when they have sufficient dollars to safely guarantee payment for the imports.

Although medicines are given certain priority, there are other items such as essential food items, Petroleum products, fertilizer etc., that have to be given priority as well by the Government. The result is that importing of medicines is now done on the availability of foreign currency and not on the needs of the country or its patients. In this situation, it is inevitable that there will be shortages of more and more medicines as the foreign exchange crisis deepens.

READ: India extends forex support of more than US$ 900 million to Sri Lanka

As for stocking medicines in excess of usual treatment regime by patients, it is not advisable to do so for long periods since these products have to be stored under strict conditions specified by the manufacturers. It is doubtful whether such conditions can be maintained in an average household. In addition, bulk or panic buying by the affluent may deprive the less able segment of the population access to medicines they require for a healthy life.

We as an industry will do our utmost to keep the supplies of medicines available uninterrupted, since we fully realize the implications of failing to do so. In this regard, we earnestly hope that the authorities concerned will give us priority in establishing LC’s on time.

READ: Lanka asks China to restructure debt repayment

Pricing of Medicines

It will be also catastrophic in the event if the dollar is allowed to float, which will mean that all medicines will have to be sold at a loss and as such, the entire industry will collapse in the face of such a threat where the importation would obviously stop as the cost of importation will be higher than the approved prices.

There is no solution to this dilemma than removing the price control of medicines and implement a fair and equitable pricing mechanism which will link the price of medicines to the dollar, inflation and direct costs such as raw material, fuel and freight charges, which will make the importing and marketing of medicines viable. As difficult as it may sound, the authorities will have to choose between having medicines at a cost and not having medicines at all.

READ: China to help Sri Lanka build Made in Sri Lanka” brand

We as an ethically responsible industry, have already sought the intervention of the courts in order to bring about a transparent pricing mechanism for Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices that is fair to all. Such a mechanism may be the only salvation for the industry and the patients of the country and it is in the best interest of all concerned if the process is expedited by the authorities concerned by the government.

We would like to give a solemn undertaking to the public that we will do our utmost to see that the drug pricing is fair and equitable. The members of the SLCPI have an exceptional record of maintaining an uninterrupted supply of efficacious, safe & quality medicines at globally competitive prices over many decades while supporting the continuous medical education of the country.

(This press release issued by the Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry clarifying and offering their stance on the availability of pharmaceuticals in the market and the impact the foreign exchange crisis is having on the industry.)

Courtesy Jewish News

Colonial mansions and chattering monkeys turn up the heat for Brigit Grant in Sri Lanka

There are lots of things one expects to see at breakfast. Cereal boxes. Eggs in cups. Toast in a rack. But a monkey hanging from the branch of a Foxtail palm tree? Now that’s something different. Except it’s not, in Sri Lanka. Tufted grey langur monkeys engaged in a game of chase or clinging to rattans as they swing from palm to palm is morning cabaret at Haritha Villas + Spa and it’s an unmissable petit dejeuner performance.

Sipping freshly-pulped mango juice to the song of the yellow-fronted barbet while deliberating over whether to eat a butter croissant with pineapple jam or tuck into more passion fruit is the toughest choice you have to make at the Haritha. And to think that only a few days earlier, mornings were about beating red lights on the school run while spilling coffee on my coat.

Now, in nothing more than a sarong and a smile, my family and I were guests at a boutique hotel that would charm even the most seasoned resort traveller. No matter how fabulous your last five-star stay was, the Haritha will top it, but it does so discreetly and with such good taste. Perched on a hilltop above the playfully-named seaside town of Hikkaduwa (which means sword of knowledge or seashell jungle depending on who you ask) the property is gasp-worthy and stops you in your tracks soon after you pass through the iron gates and luscious foliage.

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Gripped by the heat we so long for at home, Sri Lanka is supposedly cooler from November to March, but with temperatures of more than 26°C in the last weeks of 2021, it’s the kind of ‘cool’ I can live with, particularly when I’ve got my own pool. Yes, I did say my own pool”, which was a mere five steps (I counted) from the heavy wood door of my Colonial Mansion.

Pool at Haritha

In truth the only sensible place to put a  family of five with a lot of luggage (Jews don’t travel light) is a Colonial Mansion and, luckily, the Haritha has two, both of which have high-ceilinged majestic adjoining suites containing large four-poster beds dressed with 500 threadcount linen under stylishly-swathed mosquito nets. Around the room, carefully placed glazed figurines, an iPad and state-of-the-art moveable speaker suggest ‘at home’, so I had to remind the family we were not and could only lay claim to the complimentary chic black stationery and toiletries. That the bathroom was outdoors exposed to the elements and visiting striped palm squirrels was a delightful novelty – at least until a Kandyan dwarf toad landed on the face of my step-son’s girlfriend while she was on the al fresco toilet. Despite being a small Indian Ocean island, Sri Lanka is recognised as an amphibian hotspot, with 116 species, 90 percent of which are not found elsewhere  on Earth. And occasional toilets.

Al fresco bath

Proximity to wildlife is just another perk while staying at the Haritha, which also has seven independent contemporary villas with saltwater plunge pools. Hidden on leafy shelves beneath the Colonial Mansion, the guests in the other villas are invisible and only seen in the restaurant, which sits beside an infinity pool overlooking rice fields. Having only arrived a month before us, the hotel’s new GM, an ebullient Italian called Umberto Piccolini was as enthusiastic about Haritha we were and, having overseen the openings of hotels in the Maldives and Dubai, knows how to  run five-star  places. He had also been culinary director at The Four Seasons, so we left it to him to choose our lunch and dinner menus, as well as the wine.

Fish is available on a biblical scale in Sri Lanka and you have your pick of yellowfin and bigeye tuna, along with all the crustaceans the Torah forbids us to eat, but some can’t resist. For those who are not averse to dining at J.Sheekey or Scott’s in London, Sri Lanka offers better quality at a tenth of the price, so make the most of it.

After a fish feast and the sommelier’s skilled wine choices, the heat of the night called for a dip in our phosphorescent lit pool. A few pranks, Lion beers (that’s a brand not the beast) and then delicious silence fell beneath the stars. Even the monkeys were sleeping – but they made it to breakfast before us the next morning, ready to swing.

Haritha Villas is currently offering a two-night stay with breakfast, three-course dinner, private airport transfer and a couple’s spa treatment for 90 minutes from £308 per night.

www.harithavillas.com

Below: Outside bath and, right,
some local wildlife

Clockwise from above left:
Bathroom wall message;
Haritha swimming pool; Brigit’s family on a Sri Lankan safari

Haritha Villa & Spa

Courtesy Jewish News

This week’s yummy recipe is extracted from Linda McCartney’s Family Kitchen: Over 90 Plant-Based Recipes to Save the Planet and Nourish the Soul

Photo: Elena Heatherwick

It can take 2,350 litres of fresh water to produce just one 150g beef burger – that’s enough water to fill 30 bathtubs or have a five-hour shower!

So that’s a good reason to try this sensational pulled meat-style jackfruit instead and enjoy a burger experience without harming the environment.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Colombo Chief Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) yesterday (12)  examined the health condition of  SJB MP Patali Champika Ranawaka, as per an order issued by Colombo High Court judge Damith Thotawattavon the previous day.

The JMO was ordered to submit a report, promptly, on the MP’s health condition.

The order was issued after the former Minister failed to appear in court for a case against him and two others Dilum Thusitha Kumara and ASP Sudath Asmadala was taken up for hearing.

The trio have been charged with concealing and fabricating evidence in relation to a traffic accident in Rajagiriya on 29 February 2016, which caused grievous injury to a youth, Sandeep Sampath.

MP Ranawaka was admitted to a private hospital in Colombo after having said to be afflicted with breathing difficulties and kidney ailment, and was discharged following the conclusion of his examination.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Chairman of Litro Gas Lanka Theshara Jayasinghe is reported to have been reappointed several hours after he was removed from the position.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is reported to have instructed to reinstate the sacked Chairman following an inspection visit at the Litro Gas Terminal this morning even though the Finance Ministry Secretary has sent the letter of removal.

It was informed that former Housing Development Authority Chairman Renuka Perera was appointed to the position left vacant after Jayasinghe’s removal.(Ajantha Kumara Agalakada)

Courtesy Adaderana

The High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, calling on Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, has expressed his country’s strong support to the island nation in the wake of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) extending over USD 900 million facilities over the last week.

These comprise deferment of Asian Clearing Union settlement of over USD 500 million and currency swap of USD 400 million, the Indian High Commissioner said in a tweet.

The Indian envoy has noted that these steps are in line with India’s strong commitment to stand with Sri Lanka for economic recovery and growth.

Courtesy Adaderana

The daily count of COVID-19 cases recorded in Sri Lanka moved to 594 today (January 13), the Health Ministry said.

According to the Government Information Department, the newly-detected cases include 04 individuals who recently arrived on the island.

The latest development has brought the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country so far to 594,319.

As many as 567,700 recoveries have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 11,400 active cases in total are currently under medical care and the death toll stands at 15,174, official figures showed.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 11 more coronavirus-related deaths for January 12, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 15,174.

According to the official figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 07 males and 04 females.

Three of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. The remaining 08 are in the age group of 60 years.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

The writer and his partner were invited on 1 January 2022 by Ceylon oldest living Olympian boxer, retired Deputy Inspector General of Police, Sumith Liyanage, with some guests. Our conversation at the lunch table discussed details of Sumith’s career in Sri Lanka’s Police force. During the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Sumith Liyanage fought in the same ring where young Cassius Clay as an amateur fought earlier in the light heavyweight category. It was at the Palazzo Dello Sports arena, and he fought against Poland’s Jerzy Adamski. Sumith Liyanage was an old Anandian and Nalandian. He showed his liveliness in cricket when he played for Ananda and Nalanda. He was an opening fiery right-hand bowler, but his forte was boxing. 

Olympics

During New Year’s lunch when the topic of Boxing came up, the writer asked Sumith Liyanage whether he ever confronted Cassius Clay in the ring during the Olympics. He answered  back with a smile “Had I ever fought Cassius Clay, then the legendary boxer would have remained Cassius Clay and I would have ended up as clay! ”

The International press releases indicated how the national featherweight champion of Ceylon, Sumith Liyanage, fought like a gladiator and confronted European champion of Poland, Jerzi Adamski with a vicious right punch in the first round but lost on points. The press releases also wrote that “If Sumith Liyanage were to win against his opponent, Ceylon would have shaken up the boxing world!”

Sumith Liyanage was known as the ‘Black Panther’ in the local Media because of his darkish complexion and professional dexterities. After participating in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he won medals at the Asian Games in Bangkok and Thailand and Gold Medals in International Boxing events in New Delhi and Karachi. Sumith Liyanage was the former Boxing Vice President of the Amateur Boxing Association; later, he became the Manager cum Coach.

Sumith Liyanage joined the Police Force as a Sub-Inspector and rose to Deputy Inspector General of Police (D.I.G.) in 1994 and retired on 24 June 1996. He was one of the honest, fearless, and respected Police officers of the day, who always cogitated in action. One incident that comes to the writer’s mind is when Sumith went to raid a gambling ring, and the gambling leader picked a crossbar to attack Sumith. It was a life and death situation for him facing a gang leader. However, Sumith faced the opponent bravely, stating: “You bloody young brat, you still do not know who I am, and gave a powerful uppercut punch. The challenger fell to the ground and was arrested immediately.”

He had a distinguished career of 38 years in the Police Force to become one of the best sportsmen Ceylon ever produced. He excelled in cricket, boxing, shooting and motor racing. His colourful gentlemanly personality and qualities of high discipline, honesty and integrity made him one of the most respected and loved Police officers in the police force.

After a brilliant career in boxing, he excelled in pistol shooting in 1991. Later he was the coach for the Sri Lanka Police Pistol team. He became the champion in rifle and pistol shooting and helped Sri Lanka win the Pistol shooting in 2007 at the World Police and Firearm games in Adelaide, Australia.

Sumith Liyanage had to bear the most heart breaking news when staff at the Police Commission took a strange stance in response to his appeals he made to the Commission in connection with his ‘pistol saga’.

Anguish

For years, he struggled with the Police Commission, surrounding his ‘target pistol’. Regrettably, it appears that he has lost the battle! In the end, Sumith wrote in detail to the Editor of the Newsletter of the ‘Retired Senior Police Officers Association on what took place. The Editor published his letter in its entirety. The following is the text of his letter to the Editor.

I refer to my article by the Editor regarding the sad and ineffective state of the National Police Commission. Whilst agreeing wholeheartedly with the Editor on the comments presented, I wish to give further evidence supporting my claim.

“Justice and fair play are the aspirations of citizens of all civilised societies. Equality before the law and impartiality in dispensing justice are hallmarks of a healthy democracy. It is tragic that the National Police Commission (NPC), the very highest Body that ensured the implementation of these ideals, miserably failed up to date or sidestepped its mandated duties in the most ignorant of ways.”

“Many, including very senior officers of the Police Department, who endlessly expounded high ideals whilst in service, suddenly found that these very noble qualities had vanished mysteriously with their appointment to this so-called august body. They are no longer there, and I will refrain from naming them. 

“I sincerely hope that the duo appointed to the NPC and renowned for their forthrightness, ability and who could boast of a high degree of honesty and integrity will size- up the situation and contribute towards a radical change in the NPC.”

“As a retired DIG who has put my life on the line of fire ” in operational areas” in guarding several VVIP’s and Executive Heads of the State, I am the innocent victim and continue to be denied justice.

To put down facts very briefly: In April 2009, a Bank Robbery took place. During the investigation seven suspects were arrested, including my son, a former Commissioned Officer of the Sri Lanka Army. The mastermind of the robbery was a Bank Manager, who was arrested based on his confession. The Pistol used in the robbery was recovered from the Bank Manager’s kitchen, as per notes made by the investigating officer. It was a plastic toy pistol bearing the name ‘Yukon.’

Blatant lie and Fabrication

“The Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) took over this investigation. It was handled by an ASP, who telephoned for reasons best known to him, and requested that my ‘target pistol’ be produced to him for examination. My ‘ target pistol’ costs  over one million rupees according to current value. After having consulted the lawyer appearing on behalf of the accused I handed over the pistol to the Director CCD in the presence of the said ASP; neither statements were recorded, nor any receipts issued. Consequent notes of inquiry stated stated that the pistol was found after a search of my house, which was a blatant lie and diabolical fabrication. Little did I know my Pistol would be introduced into the case to make it look like an armed robbery.” 

“In this connection, I made several written complaints to all concerned, including the IGP, Attorney General and the NPC on 7 December 2015. I received a response dated 20 May 2016 (after six months) from the Director (Western Province) for Secretary to NPC advising me that they had decided to summon both parties to investigate. I was further directed by letter to present myself with my witnesses on 20 May 2016 at 2.30 p.m. Although I presented myself with the witnesses on this day at the NPC, no inquiry or investigation was held.”

“Subsequently, I received a letter dated 03 May 2016 signed by W.A.D.P. Lakshman (Director NPC) requesting that I present myself with my witnesses on 08 June 2016, to which I duly complied. Once more, to my utter disappointment, it was another day of wasting my time, as no inquiry was conducted on this day too for reasons unknown.”

“Incredibly, by letter dated 05 September 2016 bearing reference no. PC/PCID/WP/156/2015, A. G. Dharmadasa, Director PCID (WP) signing for Secretary NPC informed me the NPC had suspended the investigation, citing the pending case in Mt.Lavinia courts, which was the very cause on which I sought redress.”

Ineffectiveness 

“To summon an investigation with both parties present, and then abruptly suspend or cancel it, citing a baseless argument, stinks of the ineffectiveness partially on the part of the NPC, and the inability to hold the police department to accountability rather than being the Independent Commission that it touts itself to be.”

“The extent of its degeneration is amply reflected when retired Senior Police Officers concerned about the Police Department arrive at the conclusion the NPC is a damp squib!  While the accountability of the Police Department remains no one’s concern.”

I’m utterly disappointed.

Signed – Sumith M. P. Liyanage.

The editor of The Retired Senior Police Officers’ Association commented on Sumith Liyanage’s letter in Issue in No.02 dated July 2019 as follows:

“Retired D.I.G. Sumith Liyanage most certainly merited an investigation. His prestige and creditability were way above those who had done injustice to him. It was an unpardonable travesty of justice on the part of respective IGPs and the NPC not to have had his complaint investigated. A dereliction of duty on their part was as serious an offence.”

If the Ceylon Police Commission can suppress a case from a former D.I.G., what more can the writer say about the Commission in the case of a complaint by an ordinary citizen of Sri Lanka?

tilakfernando@gmal.com

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

වරාය ගොඩනැගීම මඟින් මේ රට නාවික කේන්ද්‍රයක් බවට පත්කරමින් ආසියාවේ බලවත් රටක් ලෙස ඉදිරියට යාමට  තැබූ බලාපොරොත්තුව අත්හැර නොමැති බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවසීය.

දකුණු ආසියාවේ සමුද්‍රීය කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානය කොළඹ වරාය නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු ආරම්භ කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (12) දින පෙරවරුවේ මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය.

නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු ආරම්භ කිරීමට අදාළ සමරු ඵලකය නිරාවරණය කිරීම සහ ඉදිකිරීම් ආරම්භ කිරීමේ සංඥාව ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා විසින් ලබා දෙන ලදී.  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ වරාය හා නාවික අමාත්‍ය රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා ද එම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තයේ කටයුතු ශ්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරිය යටතේම පවත්වා ගනිමින් මෙසේ සංවර්ධනය කෙ‍ෙරන පර්යන්තයේ මුළු දිග මීටර් 1320කි. එය අදියර තුනක් යටතේ 2024 ජුලි මාසය වනවිට සාදා නිම කිරීමට නියමිතය.

කොළඹ වරාය නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු ආරම්භ කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

කොළඹ වරායේ නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය ඉදිකිරීම ආරම්භ කරන මේ අවස්ථාවට තමුන්නාන්සේලා සමඟ එකතු වෙන්න ලැබීම ගැන මම ඉතාම සතුටු වෙනවා. මේ මොහොතේ මට අපේ රටේ වරායන් ඉදිකිරීම සම්බන්ධ අතීතය මතක් වෙනවා. නිදහස ලැබුණට පස්සේ අපේ රටට අලුතින්ම වරායක්, හදන්න ඕනෑ කියලා හිතුවේ 2005 බලයට ආපු අපේ ආණ්ඩුවයි කියලා නිවැරදි කිරීමට යටත්ව මා කියා සිටිනවා.

හම්බන්තොට වරාය හදන්න තීරණය අරගෙන අපි වැඩ පටන් ගත්තේ අපේ රට ලෝකේ දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් එක්ක සටන් කරද්දී බව ඔබට මතක ඇති. එදා අලුතින්ම හම්බන්තොට වරාය ඉදිකරන්න හදනකොට ඒකට විශාල විවේචනයක් ආවා රෝහිතට මතක ඇති. සමහරු ඒක ආපස්සට හරවන්නත් හැදුවා.

එදා හිටපු විදේශ ඇමතිවරයා වරාය ඉදිකිරීම ගැන මාතෘකාව චීනයත් එක්ක සාකච්ඡා කරන ලේඛනයටවත් දාන්න කැමැති වුණේ නෑ. මට මතකයි විපක්ෂයේ අය කිව්වා හම්බන්තොට වරායේ ගලක් තියෙනවා ඒ නිසා නැව් එන්න පුළුවන් කමක් නැහැ.

එහෙම තත්ත්වයක් තමයි එදා තිබුණේ. අපි හැම චෝදනාවක්ම ඉවසාගෙන ඒවාට මුහුණ දීලා අලුතින් අපේ රටට වරායක් ඉදිකළා එදා. ඒ වරාය ඉදිකිරීම බලන්න සහ වරායට ජලය පිරෙනවා බලන්න අපේ රටේ ජනතාව ආපු හැටි ඔබට මතක ඇති.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

හම්බන්තොට වරාය විතරක් නෙවෙයි. දකුණු කොළඹ වරාය පර්යන්තයත් ඔලුවිල් වරායත් හැදුවා. යුද්ධයත් අවුරුදු හතරකින් අපි ඉවරකළා. අධිවේගී මාර්ග හැදුවා. ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු අමාත්‍යතුමා තවත් හදනවා.  ගුවන්තොටුපොළවල් හැදුවා. 2015න් පස්සේ රට භාරගත්තේ මේ දැවැන්ත සංවර්ධනයන් විවේචනය කළ අය කියල ඔබට මතක ඇති. ඒ අය ඇවිල්ල මොකද කළේ. ඒ වරාය විකුණුවා. හැබැයි විකුණනකොට ගලක් තිබුණේ නෑ.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

අපිට එදා ඕනෑ කළේ මේ රට නාවික කේන්ද්‍රයක් කරන්න. වරාය ගොඩනැගීම මඟින් අපේ රට ආසියාවේ ප්‍රධාන බලවත් රටක් හැටියට ඉදිරියට යන්නයි සැලසුම් කළේ. අපි තවමත් එදා තියපු බලාපොරොත්තු අතහැරලා නෑ.

එදා මා යටතේ හිටපු වරාය රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිම තමයි මම විශ්වාස කරන්නේ ඇමතිවරයා වශයෙන් අදත් ඉන්නේ. දැන් එතුමා වරාය ඇමති. එදා වරායට තිබුණ බාධා ගැන හොඳට දන්න, ඒවාට හැම වෙලාවෙම උත්තර දුන්න කෙනෙක්. අද ඇමැති හැටියට වරාය ගැන බලාපොරොත්තු ඉටු කරන්න කැපවෙලා ඉදීම ගැන අපි සංතෝෂ වෙනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

සමහරු අහනවා මේ වාගේ අමාරු කාලයක මේ වාගේ අමාරු වැඩක් ආරම්භ කරන්නේ ඇයි කියලා. අපේ රටේ තිබුණ ගොඩක් ආණ්ඩු දුෂ්කරතා ඉස්සරහ පස්සට ගිය ආණ්ඩු. එල්ටීටීඊ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පැතිරුණ නිසා උතුරු නැගෙනහිර මායිම කිට්ටුවටවත් සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් කරන්න 77 ඉඳන් පත් වුණ ආණ්ඩු බය වුණා. ඔබට මතකයි.

නොරොච්චෝලේ ගල් අඟුරු බලාගාරයවත් හදන්න කැමැති වුණේ නෑ එදා. යුද්දෙ ඉවර කරන්න පුළුවන් කියලා හිතුවේ නෑ ඔහොම. 

නමුත් අපි යුද්ධය තියෙන අතරෙම තමයි අධිවේගී මාර්ගයේ වැඩ පටන් ගත්තේ. ගුවන්තොටුපොළේ වැඩ පටන් ගත්තේ එහෙම තියාගෙන.

කොවිඩ් අර්බුධකාරී අවස්ථාවේදී සියලු වැඩ නවත්තලා ඉදිරියට යන්න බෑ ඒ නිසයි අපි එවැනි දැවැන්ත අභියෝග තියෙද්දීත් සංවර්ධනය ගැන හිතන්නේ.ඉදිරියට ගියේ.

අධිවේගී මාර්ග හදන්න, සියක් නගර ව්‍යාපෘති ආරම්භ කරන්න විතරක් නෙවෙයි වරාය බටහිර පර්යන්තය ගොඩ නැගීමත් අපි පටන් ගත්ත. අපිට මේ රට ගැන විශාල බලාපොරොත්තුවක් තියෙනවා. නිකරුණේ ගෙවිලා ගිය වසර දෙකක කාලය ගැන ළතවෙලා වැඩක්  නෑ දැන් පලක් නෑ.  ඒක වැදගත් විපක්ෂයට විතරයි. ආණ්ඩුවට වැදගත් වෙන්නේ ඉදිරි වසර තුන පිළිබදවයි. ඒ වසර තුන තීරණාත්මකයි. අතීතය නෙවෙයි අනාගතයයි අපි භාරගන්න ඕනේ. 

ගෙවුණු අතීතය ආණ්ඩුවට ආපහු ගන්න බෑ. ඒක ආපහු අදින්න පුළුවන් වැඩ කළොත් විතරයි.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

අපි මුහුණ දීලා තියෙන කටුක තත්වය පිළිගන්න ඕනෑ. කොරෝනා වසංගතය අපිව ඇදලා දාලා තියෙන අගාධය මේ වරායේ ගැඹුරට වඩා වැඩියි කියලයි මම විශ්වාස කරන්නෙ. ඒක අපිට ජනතාවට හංගන්න  ඕන නෑ.

ජනතාව මුහුණ දීලා තියෙන දුෂ්කරතා ගැන අපිට වගකීමක් තියෙනවා. බඩු ගණන් යනවාටත් වඩා පෝලිම් ඇතිවෙන එක හොඳ නෑ කියලා අපේ ජනතාව අපිට ඇවිත් කියනවා. අපි ඒක දන්නවා. මේ ආණ්ඩුව කිසිම වෙලාවක තමන්ගේ පහසුව ගැන හිතුවේ නෑ. තමන්ගේ පහසුව ගැන පමණක් හිතන ආණ්ඩුවක් නම් මූල්‍ය අර්බුදයකදී රුපියල් බිලියන සිය ගණනක  සහනයක් ජනතාවට දෙන්න තීන්දු කරන්නේ නෑ.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

ඔබ දන්නවා මේ වරාය සංවර්ධනයත් මුලදී ගොඩනැගුවේ අපේම මුදලින්. වරාය අධිකාරියේම මුදල් යොදවලා ගොඩනගන්න සැළසුම් කළ පර්යන්තය තමයි මේ නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය. නමුත් ඒ පර්යන්තය ගොඩ නගන්න කලින් අපි පරාද කරල අපිව ගෙදර ඇරියා. නමුත් යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව අපි කරගෙන ගිය වැඩ පිළිවෙල එදාම නතර කළා. වරාය විතරක් නෙමෙයි මුළු රටේම අපි කරගෙන ගිය වැඩ පිළිවෙල නතර කළා. මේ පර්යන්තය ගොඩනගන්න හෝ රටේ සංවර්ධනය ඒ ආණ්ඩුවට වුවමනා වුණේ නෑ. ඔවුන් කළේ මේ පර්යන්තය වෙනත් රටවල් සමඟ පටලවන එකයි.

මතක තියාගන්න එදා හම්බන්තොට වරාය විකුණුවේ මර්දනය මැද්දේ. මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගේ කන් පැලුවා. හම්බන්තොට විරෝධතාවට ගිය ජනතාවට පන්න පන්නා ගැහුවා. මැති ඇමතිවරුන් ඔළු පලාගෙන ආවේ. වෘත්තීය සමිතිවලට ඔළුව උස්සන්න දුන්නේ නෑ. භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාටත් ඇහුම්කන් දුන්නේ නෑ. යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව මේවා විකුණනකොට කතා කරන්න ගියා නම් උන්වහන්සේලාවත් මර්දනය කරනවා. එදා මේවා විදේශවලට විකුණන එක කාටවත් නතර කරන්න බැරි වුණා.

මෙහෙ විතරක් නෙවෙයි මොනරාගල උද්ඝෝෂණ කරන ගොවියන්ට ගහන්න කොළඹින් කඳුළු ගෑස් ලොරි ගණන් යැව්වා.  එහෙම කරලා අපි ගොඩනගපු සම්පත් විදේශවලට පවරලා දුන්නා.

එබඳු තත්ත්වයක් යටතේ තිබුණු රටක් තමයි අපි භාර ගත්තේ. දෙකොණ පත්තුවෙන විලක්කුවක් නිවා ගන්න වෙන්නේ බොහොම අමාරුවෙන්. පැත්තකින් යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව විදේශ සමග ගහපු ගිවිසුම්, පැත්තකින් ඒවා යළි නිදහස් කරගෙන දියුණු කරන එක.

මේ මර්මස්ථාන නිදහස් කර ගන්නත්, ඒවා දියුණු කරන්න මුදල් හොයා ගන්නත් ඕනෑ. මේ සේරම මැද ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදීව කටයුතු කරන්නත් ඕනෑ. යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව වාගේ අපිට ජනතාව මර්දනය කරන්න බෑ. අපි කරන්නෙත් නැහැ.  ඒ අය විදේශ සමඟ ඇති කරලා තියෙන ගිවිසුම් ගැන ජාත්‍යන්තරව වගකීමෙන් ක්‍රියා කරන්න ඕනෑ.

මේ පර්යන්තය ගැන ජාතියේ අපේක්ෂාවන් ආරක්ෂා කරගන්න ලොකු කැපකිරීමක් කරන්න වෙයි. මතක තියාගන්න අපි බලයට එනකොට එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාවකට සම අනුග්‍රහ දක්වන්න පොරොන්දු වුණ රටක් මේක. අපි ඒ යෝජනාවෙන් ඉවත් වුණා. අපි ඇවිල්ල තමයි ඒ යෝජනාවෙන් ඉවත්වුනේ. අපි එම්.සී.සී. ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කිරීම නතර කළා. මේවායේ බලපෑම් අපිට එනවා. රටට ආදරේ ජනතාව මේක තේරුම් ගන්න ඕනෑ. 2015 පස්සේ රටට වුණ දේ මතක තියා ගන්න.

රට ගැන තියෙන බලාපොරොත්තු අතාරින්න එපා. ගෙවුණ වසර දෙක අපේ විවේචකයන්ට කරගහගෙන යන්න භාර දෙමු. අනාගතය අපි භාර ගමු. ඔබ සැමට තෙරුවන් සරණයි.!යැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පැවසීය.

වරාය හා නාවික අමාත්‍ය රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා

ජනාධිපතිතුමනි, අසල්වැසි ඉන්දියාවේ පාර පුරා මිනි ගංගාවල් වල එක දිගට පා වෙනවා අපි දැක්කා. ඔබතුමා කල්පනා කළා  මගේ පලවෙනි ප්‍රමුඛතාවය මගේ රටේ පුරවැසියා ගේ ජීවිත ආරක්ෂා කිරීම. ඒ නිසා තමා ඔබතුමා එන්නත ලබාදීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය අතට ගත්තේ.

කොවිඩ් වසංගතය වෙනුවෙන් ජාතික රැස්වීම් වල වාඩි වුණාම අපට තේරුණේ කොළවල ලියලා තියෙන දත්ත ලේඛන වලට වැඩිය ඒවා තිබුණේ ඔබතුමාගේ ඔලුවේ කියලයි.

ඔබතුමා අහනවා අහවල්  දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ එන්නත සියයට කීයද කියලා ගාන නිලධාරීන් කිව්වොත් ඔබතුමා කියනවා බොරු කියන්න එපා මේකයි මට ලැබෙන තොරතුර කියලා.  එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් ඇති කරල තමා ඔබතුමා මිනිසුන්ට ජීවිතය දුන්නේ. පළවෙනි එන්නතත් ගහලා දෙවෙනි එකත් ගහලා ජීවිතේ බේරගන්න තුන්වෙනි එන්නතත්  ගහලා යන ගමන් තමයි ජනාධිපතිතුමනි ඔබතුමාට බැන බැන  යන්නෙ.

ජනාධිපතිතුමනි එහෙම බනින තරමටම තමයි අපිත් පන්නරය ලබන්නේ විවාදයකට ගියාම ඒ පැත්තෙන් ටිකක් වැඩිපුර බැන්නා ම තමයි ප්‍රතිවාදියාට අවශ්‍ය කරුණු ටික හොඳට කියන්න පුළුවන් වෙන්නේ.

සමහරු කියනවා ජනාධිපතිතුමනි  මේ බනින්නේ 69 ලක්ෂය කියල.   ඔබතුමාට මේ රටේ සමස්ත ජනතාවම ඡන්දය දුන්නේ නෑ. පොහොට්ටුවේ ඉදිරියේ කතිරෙ ගැහුවේ නායක හාමුදුරුවනේ  හැට නම ලක්ෂයක් විතරයි.  පනස්පන් ලක්ෂයක් ගැහුවෙ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාට විරුද්ධව. අපට වෙන ආණ්ඩුවක් ඕන කියලා ගැහුවෙ. ඒ ගහපු පනස් පන් ලක්ෂය බනිනවා මිසක් ඔබතුමාගෙ හොඳ කියන්නේ නෑ. අපේ රජයේ හොඳ කියන්නෙත් නෑ.

මම පැහැදිලිව කියනවා ජනාධිපතිතුමනි රාජපක්ෂවරු මේ රටේ දෙවරක්  මිනිස්සුන්ගෙ අතෙ තිබ්බ මරන සහතිකය මිනිසුන් ගේ අතින් ගලවපු අය.  තිස් අවුරුදු යුද්ධයක් තිබුණා. මේ  පේන කොළඹ  අපි ඇවිද්දේ නෑ. අපි  බය වුණා. පන්සලකට පල්ලියකට ගියේ නෑ.

ඒ බය වෙච්ච වෙලාවේ ඔබතුමා අපේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සේනාධිනායකයා හැටියට ඔබතුමා ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්තුමා හැටියට 2009 මැයි මාසේ දහනම වැනිදා යුද්ධය අවසන් කළා.

මට මතකයි  අගමැතිතුමනි යුද්ධය පටන් ගත්තු වෙලාවේ  අපේ ගම්වලට සොල්දාදුවෝ  රණවිරුවන් මිය  ගිහිල්ලා  ඒ දේහයන් ගේනකොට කිව්වා මේ  මැරෙන්නෙ මහින්දගේ ගෝඨගේ වැඩක් නිසා කියලා. ඒ  කිව්වේ එදා  විපක්ෂය.   යුද්ධයක්  පටන් ගත්තා කියලා. හැබැයි ජනාධිපතිතුමන් 2009 මැයි මාසේ 20වැනිදා ඒ අය කියනවා අපේ ආශිර්වාදයෙන් තමයි යුද්දෙ දින්නෙ කියලා.  එහෙම සමාජයක අපි මේ ඉන්නේ. කරුමෙ එනකොට කර ගහන්න කවුරුත් නෑ.  හැබැයි උරුමයක් එනකොට කර ගහන්න මිනිස්සු ඕන තරම් ඉන්නවා.

දැන් තව අවුරුද්දකින් දෙකකින් ආර්ථිකය ඔබතුමා ශක්තිමත් කරලා , රට හදන කොට කියයි අපි තමයි ජනාධිපතිතුමාට උපදෙස් දුන්නේ මේක කරන්න කියලා.  මේ මුහුද ගැන මේ වරාය ගැන ජනාධිපතිතුමනි මුහුදේ  වතුර ලුණු රස  දන්නැති අය  වරාය ගැන  පොත් ලියනවා. හරි පුදුම රටක අපි ඉන්නේ. හැබැයි  ඒ අයත්  එක්ක අපි  ජීවත් වෙන්න ඕන.යැයි පැවසීය.

අමරපුර මහානිකායේ ශාසනෝදය සංඝ සභාවේ මහානායක වස්කඩුවේ මහින්දවංස ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ , ස්‍යාමෝපාලි මහා නිකායේ ශ්‍රී රෝහණ පාර්ශවයේ අනුනායක ඕමාරේ කස්සප ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය අන්‍යාගමික පූජකවරු මෙහි පැමිණ සිටියහ.

අමාත්‍යවරුන්වන චමල් රාජපක්ෂ,ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු , රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහත්වරු ඇතුළු  කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යවරුන්, ගුදම් පහසුකම්, බහාලුම් අංගන, වරාය සැපයුම් පහසුකම් හා බෝට්ටු හා නැව් කර්මාන්ත සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ජයන්ත සමරවීර මහතා ඇතුළු  රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වරාය හා නාවික අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් යු.ඩී.සී ජයලාල්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරියේ සභාපති කපිතාන් නිහාල් කැප්පෙටිපොල මහත්වරු ඇතුළු  පිරිසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

Mehjabin Bhanu  Rajshahi Bangladesh

No one has the right to kill a citizen at the border. This is a clear violation of human rights and international law. We need to intensify our foreign policy and diplomatic efforts to reduce border killings to zero. According to Human Rights Watch, between 2000 and 2019, the BSF shot and killed at least 1,165 Bangladeshis on the Bangladesh-India borders. The friendly relations between the two countries need to be taken into account by the Indian Border Security Force. They have to understand that there is no war on the border. Shooting alone cannot be the answer. If a citizen crosses the border unknowingly, by mistake or illegally, arrangements must be made to hand them over to the BGB or local police as per the agreement. Friendly relations with the Indian authorities need to be developed at various meetings, conferences and government level meetings. As promised, border killings must be reduced to zero. Besides, surveillance at the border should be increased. We need to make our people aware so that they do not cross the border illegally.

Where is the end of border killings? There was a lot of talk between India and Bangladesh about border killings. Until the agreement. Our friendly country India is constantly killing the ordinary farmers and small traders of Bangladesh from the border areas. Many Bangladeshi nationals are being killed every year by indiscriminate firing by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF), which we never expect from friendly India. India’s enemy states are Pakistan and China, their borders are never shot dead by an ordinary citizen of India, Pakistan or China. India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, the border countries of India, if ordinary citizens can live very peacefully on their borders, then why we, the friendly state of Bangladesh, are disgusted with the BSF of India.

In the last 10 years, more than 1,000 people have been killed by Indian security forces, most of them Bangladeshis. The border area turned into a South Asian killing field. Despite clear evidence of cold-blooded killings against unarmed and helpless locals in many cases, no one has yet been charged with murder.

India also shares a border with China, Pakistan. There are border issues. But there but India does not fire like this. Not only cattle are smuggled across the Bangladesh-India border, but also phencidyl, drugs and illegal weapons come from India. The BSF does not see that. And cows don’t just come from West Bengal. Comes from different provinces of India. Why not stop there?

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said in Dhaka last year, “Border killings are a shame for India. It has been decided between the two countries that no lethal weapons will be used on the border. No shots will be fired. But it is happening. So, it is a shame for them.” And sadly, we are losing our lives. “

Meanwhile, at a function in Dinajpur last year, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswamy said that the border killings were definitely sad and unexpected for both the countries. Indian border guards have been specifically told not to open fire on the border if there is no threat of an attack on them. We do not want border killings in any country. Border killings are a heinous act.

Despite repeated promises from the highest levels of India to stop border killings, it has not stopped. As soon as they talked about bringing the border killings down to zero, the border killings started again. Now time to implement their sayings. Indian authority should consider this with special attention. We want to see the proper implementation of the political dialogue. There is no justice in filing a case in specific cases like Felani’s murder. As a result, there is no reason for the BSF to stop. But this time, they should understand this that it may be an obstacle to introduce themselves as India-Bangladesh eternal ties.

According to Indian authorities, the BSF killed in self-defense. But reality does not say that. Several years ago, Human Rights Watch (HRW) cited a number of such cases in a report called Trigger Happy. Survivors and eyewitnesses allege that the BSF fired indiscriminately without trying to apprehend or warn them. The BSF also claimed that its members fired when the miscreants tried to avoid arrest. However, the use of lethal weapons on suspicion of any crime is not justified.

Although relations with India have improved, they are not reflected on the border, even in the overall context. It was decided in the bilateral talks that the BSF would use non-lethal weapons. So that the killings at the border can be brought down to zero. But then why the use of deadly weapons? Border killings cannot go on like this. The governments of Bangladesh and India should now find the right solution, to stop border killings.

The failure of the Indian authorities to take any meaningful action to stop the killings at the border for years is detrimental to the India-Bangladesh bilateral ties. This has put the Bangladesh government in a difficult position by increasing the pressure on bilateral relations. Now is the time Dhaka policymakers to take action to come to the right conclusion.

ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය.

ගරු අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය,
දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා,
අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය,
ඉසුරුපාය,
බත්තරමුල්ල.

අමාත්‍යතුමනි,

අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨවල 02 වන වසර සිසුන් නැවත මාස 03 ක නේවාසික
පුහුණුවට කැදවීමේදී පැනනැගී ඇති ගැටඵ සම්බන්ධයි.

කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගතය හේතුවෙන් 2020 ඔක්. 10 වෙනි දින වසා දැමුණු අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ පළමුව නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථාන බවටත්, පසුව ප්‍රතිකාර මධ්‍යස්ථාන බවටත් පත් කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව එහි නේවාසිකව සිටි සිසුන්ගේ පොත්පත් උපකරණ, ඇදුම් පැළදුම් ඇතුඵ දේපළවලට බරපතළ හානි සිදුව තිබියදී ඒ කිසිත් නොසලකා මාස 03 ක් සදහා නැවත 02 වන වසර සිසුන් අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨ නේවාසිකාගාරවලට කැදවිම සම්බන්ධව විරෝධය පළ කරන අප සංගමය මීට ඉහතදී 2021.11.30 දිනැති ලිපියෙන් මේ පිළිබදව ඔබගේ අවධානය යොමුකළත් මෙතෙක් එයට කිසිදු ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගෙන නොමැත. පළමුව අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය ඔවුන්ට හා නේවාසිකාගාරවලට සිදුව ඇති දේපළ හානි ස`දහා පූර්ණ වන්දි ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය බලකර සිටිමු.

02ග අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය, අධ්‍යාපන විද්‍යාපීඨවල නේවාසිකාගාර කිසිදු සොයා බැලීමකින් හා වගකීමකින් තොරව සිදුකළ මෙම අත්තනෝමතික ක්‍රියාව හේතුවෙන් සිසුන්ට නැවත නේවාසික පුහුණුව සදහා අවශ්‍ය පොත්පත්, ඇදුම් පැළදුම් හා උපකරණ බොහෝමයක් මෙහිදී විනාශ කර සහ සොරකම් කර ඇති අතර එය ආරක‍ෂා කිරීමට කටයුතු නොකිරීමේ සම්පුර්ණ වගකීම සෘජුවම අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය ඇතුඵ පාලනාධිකාරීන් විසින් භාරගත යුතුව ඇත. එවැනි වටපිටාවක සාධාරණ වන්දියක් ලබාදීමට අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය කටයුතු නොකොට නැවත නේවාසිකාගාරවලට අවශ්‍ය සියලූ ද්‍රව්‍ය හා උපකරණ මිලදී ගෙන රැගෙන ඒමට බලකිරීම කනගාටුවට කරුණකි.

එහෙයින් පළමුව සිසු දරුවන්ගේ දේපළවලට හා පොත්පත්වලට සිදුකර ඇති හානිය පිළිබදව නිවරැදි තක්සේරුවක් සිදුකර ඒ සදහා සාධාරණ වන්දියක් ගෙවීමට කටයුතු කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඔවුන්ගේ ඉදිරි අධ්‍යයන කටයුතු සැලසුම් කරන ලෙසත් ඒ හා පැනනැගී ඇති ගැටඵ කඩිනමින් සොයාබලා විසදීමටත් බල කරන ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් මෙම ගැටඵ විසදා දීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔවුන් සම`ග ඉදිරි ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීමට සිදුවන බව දැඩිව අවධාරණය කරමු.

ස්තූතියි,
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By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, January 12 (newsin.asia): China has plans to revise schedules for the repayment of loans given to Sri Lanka, in response to the request made by the Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his meeting with the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on January 9, the Global Times said.

The Communist Party-run Global Times quoted Song Wei, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, as saying that the interest-free loans offered by the Chinese government are applicable for debt relief while the concessional loans raised through the market cannot be written off.

It is likely that China may exempt part of the interest-free loans to Sri Lanka. And for preference loans that are not eligible for debt relief, China may work with Sri Lanka through negotiations, equity cooperation and rescheduling,” Song said.

China will actively respond to Sri Lanka’s request like what it did to African countries, Chinese observers added. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, China announced the cancellation of 15 African countries’ debt in the form of interest-free government loans that were due to mature by the end of 2020, Global Times said.

READ: Lanka asks China to restructure debt repayment

According to data from Sri Lanka’s Department of External Resources, China only accounts for about 10% of Sri Lanka’s U$35 billion foreign debt as of April 2021. Japan also accounted for about 10% of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt.

Other Countries Should Cooperate  

Long Xingchun, a senior research fellow at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance of the Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that only restructuring loans with China is not enough to help the island nation tide over its difficulty, which needs a package plan with other involved parties.

Sri Lanka’s crisis is also a test to countries like Japan, India and the US on how much help they would offer, but what we see now is that they are standing by and even defaming China which is truly helping the country,” Long said.

READ: China to help Sri Lanka build Made in Sri Lanka” brand

White Elephants?

The island nation is gripped by one of the worst economic crises, and several credit rating agencies including Moody’s and Fitch downgraded its credit rating from B to C.

Global Times noted that some foreign media mentioned nothing about other involved parties’ responsibility but claimed that Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was partly due to Beijing-financed projects that don’t generate revenue.”

READ: Sri Lanka debt pain will go from China to Wall St

Many infrastructure projects China and Sri Lanka worked together on, including ports and highways, require large amounts of investments and a long construction period, which shows returns of up to 20 to 30 years. Hyping their returns when the projects just started was unprofessional and had ulterior motives.

During a meeting with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo on Sunday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on China and Sri Lanka to discuss the restart of talks on free trade agreement by tapping the opportunities of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and China’s vast market. Wang said the Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port projects could be engines for pushing forward bilateral cooperation.

Courtesy The Straits Times

COLOMBO (REUTERS) – The Sri Lankan government will meet all debt repayments in 2022 and work on a more comprehensive plan to address its dwindling foreign exchange reserves, said central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal on Wednesday (Jan 12).

Sri Lanka managed to boost its reserves to US$3.1 billion (S$4.2 billion) at the end of December, thanks to a yuan currency swap with China worth US$1.5 billion. The government is also currently in talks with India and Qatar to obtain multiple credit lines and a currency swap arrangement, totalling around US$2.9 billion.

Sri Lanka needs to repay about US$4.5 billion in debt this year, starting with a US$500 million International Sovereign Bond (ISB) maturing on Jan 18 for which fund allocations have already been made, Mr Cabraal said.

“Not paying debt will push us into bigger challenges,” Mr Cabraal said during an event organised by the Department of Government Information.

“We need a more comprehensive, longer-term plan to address debt and other issues in the Sri Lankan economy. Not honouring ISBs will get Sri Lanka into a path of pain.”

Due to the pandemic, Mr Cabraal said the country has lost about US$9 billion in tourism revenue in the last two years, but he expected a pickup in tourism in the next two to three months would help rebuild reserves.

Even before the pandemic struck, tourism had fallen off in Sri Lanka as a result of the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that targeted churches and hotels, and killed 267 people.

Mr Cabraal said the negotiations with India were at advanced stages. Sri Lanka is seeking a US$1 billion credit line, and a US$400 million swap arrangement with India, plus a US$500m credit line for fuel involving Indian Oil Corp, which has operations on the island.

The recent sharp increase in its energy import bill, due to surging global prices for oil and gas, has exerted more pressure on Sri Lanka’s reserves.

Discussions with Qatar for a US$1 billion credit line are also under way.

Mr Cabraal said the government could also look at a fresh loan from China, which is Sri Lanka’s fourth-biggest lender, behind international financial markets, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan.

Several analysts have said Sri Lanka may eventually need to go to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout – something the government has been reluctant to do.

“Approaching the IMF is not something to be taken lightly. The monetary board has had many discussions on this matter and we only see the IMF as one of many options,” Mr Cabraal said.

“Our view is the path we are on is the most appropriate. The IMF is not a fix-all solution, it’s not a magic wand.”

By P. K. Balachandran Courtesy Eurasia Review

A part of interest-free loans may be the first to be rescheduled while arrangements for other loans will have to be negotiated

China has plans to revise schedules for the repayment of loans given to Sri Lanka, in response to the request made by the Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during his meeting with the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here on January 9, the Global Times said.

The Communist Party-run Global Times quoted Song Wei, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, as saying that the interest-free loans offered by the Chinese government are applicable for debt relief while the concessional loans raised through the market cannot be written off.

It is likely that China may exempt part of the interest-free loans to Sri Lanka. And for preference loans that are not eligible for debt relief, China may work with Sri Lanka through negotiations, equity cooperation and rescheduling,” Song said.

China will actively respond to Sri Lanka’s request like what it did to African countries, Chinese observers added. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, China announced the cancellation of 15 African countries’ debt in the form of interest-free government loans that were due to mature by the end of 2020, Global Times said.

According to data from Sri Lanka’s Department of External Resources, China only accounts for about 10% of Sri Lanka’s U$35 billion foreign debt as of April 2021. Japan also accounted for about 10% of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt.

Other Countries Should Cooperate 

Long Xingchun, a senior research fellow at the Academy of Regional and Global Governance of the Beijing Foreign Studies University, said that only restructuring loans with China is not enough to help the island nation tide over its difficulty, which needs a package plan with other involved parties.

Sri Lanka’s crisis is also a test to countries like Japan, India and the US on how much help they would offer, but what we see now is that they are standing by and even defaming China which is truly helping the country,” Long said.

White Elephants?

The island nation is gripped by one of the worst economic crises, and several credit rating agencies including Moody’s and Fitch downgraded its credit rating from B to C.

Global Times noted that some foreign media mentioned nothing about other involved parties’ responsibility but claimed that Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was partly due to Beijing-financed projects that don’t generate revenue.”

Many infrastructure projects China and Sri Lanka worked together on, including ports and highways, require large amounts of investments and a long construction period, which shows returns of up to 20 to 30 years. Hyping their returns when the projects just started was unprofessional and had ulterior motives.

During a meeting with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo on Sunday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on China and Sri Lanka to discuss the restart of talks on free trade agreement by tapping the opportunities of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement and China’s vast market. Wang said the Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port projects could be engines for pushing forward bilateral cooperation.

Courtesy Financial Express

Last week, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi that Sri Lanka would be helped if the debt could be restructured.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a shortage of almost all essentials due to a shortage of dollars to pay for the imports.

Sri Lanka is negotiating a USD one billion loan from India to import goods from the country, the governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on Wednesday, amidst a shortage of almost all essential commodities.

Cabraal also said that Sri Lanka is negotiating another loan from China as part of an attempt to restructure its debt repayment. The loan amount has not been decided.

He said that Sri Lanka is negotiating a USD 1 billion facility with India to import goods from the country.00:05 / 00:30

Cabraal said that this will also help Sri Lanka in its debt repayment and promote more trade with the respective countries.

Last week, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi that Sri Lanka would be helped if the debt could be restructured.

We have an understanding that they would assist us in making the repayments in that form. So maybe there is a possibility that we would have a new loan coming in order to cushion our debt repayments to China”, Cabraal said.

Cabraal said Sri Lanka’s debt repayments this year would amount to about USD 6 billion.

We are confident we can pay all of them despite current difficulties we are facing,” he said, adding that the USD 500 million international sovereign bond (ISB) repayment due next will be duly paid.

The government in the past week faced lobbying by the trade chambers who advocated an ISB default in order to pay for imports.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a shortage of almost all essentials due to a shortage of dollars to pay for the imports.

Cabraal defended the Central Bank’s decision to sell more than half of its gold reserves last month in order to supplement the foreign exchange reserves. The Central Bank economic indicators dated January 7 showed that gold reserves had fallen to US dollars 175 million in December from 382 million.

Cabraal said the gold-selling was part of reserves management adopted by the Central Bank and could be brought to the bank in the future.

The government officials said the USD one billion loans from India would be restricted to food imports.

Agriculturists have warned of food shortages in the country during the next two months.

Sandun A Jayasekera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lanka’s economy is gradually but surely on the road to recovery and the country will record a GDP growth of over 5% in 2022, Governor of the Central Bank, Ajith Nivard Cabraal said today.

The government is in the process of negotiating with India and China to obtain the assistance of the two friendly countries – a super power and a regional power – to facilitate debt repayment of Sri Lanka which is the major issue before us right now,” Cabraal said.

Cabraal said he had rejected outright the requests made by a section of economic pundits, the opposition and corporate sector leaders to default the repayment of US$ 500 million by January 18th and use it to purchase essential commodities like food, fuel and drugs.

No, I don’t accept the request to default the repayment of International Sovereign Bonds (ISB) worth US$ 500 million. It is not a request made by bona-fide intensions. We have never defaulted a loan obtained from a friendly country, global financial agency or from the bond market. We pay this loan for sure and maintain the investor confidence unscathed. Those who ask us to default loan repayment will be thoroughly disappointed,” Cabraal said.

The tourist sector has shown a steady improvement, exports revenue and foreign remittances in 2021 has increased satisfactorily. I expect a better performance of this three major foreign income generators in 2022 and as such, by the end of this year, Sri Lanka’s economy would be in a very healthy position, he noted.

Commenting on the suggestion that Sri Lanka was facing bankruptcy and not in a position to repay her loans, Cabraal said this canard has been in the social domain since 1977.

What I cannot understand is that the same people now ask the government to default the ISB repayment of 500 million dollars. Lebanon fell to the same trap a few years ago heeding to the requests made to default loan repayments but Sri Lanka will not be foolish to do the same. When the foreign reserves dropped to little over US$ 1 billion in November, I said we increased foreign reserves to over US$ 3 billion by January 2022,” he noted.

Responding to the issue related to the source of US$ 1.5 billion obtained to strengthen foreign reserves, Cabraal said no bank in the world would disclose the source of income for any bank account as it is unethical to ask it and against the bank secrecy law.

“When you deposit some money in your bank account, do you agree if the bank reveals the information of your account to an outside source?” He quizzed adding that it was surprising to note that no one questioned about the source of foreign reserve income when he increased it to US$ 8 billion soon after he assumed duties as the governor of the CBSL in 2006.

In response to a journalist, Cabraal said the Central Bank uses various tools to manage the economy, and increase foreign reserves prudently with the hope of economic recovery gradually but surely in 2022. By doing so, money printing would be drastically curtailed this year. However, the trade gap resulting from high import cost in excess of low export revenue remains a major drawback to the national economy, he emphasized.

On the issue of recent of gold reserves of Sri Lanka worth US$ 207million, Cbraal said it was a tool used regularly by almost all countries to maintain a healthy foreign reserve stock. 

Courtesy Business Recorder

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka ruled out an IMF bailout on Wednesday and said it plans to seek another loan from China to address an economic crisis that has led to food and fuel shortages.

The island’s tourism-dependent economy has been battered by the pandemic, with supermarkets rationing goods and rolling blackouts imposed by power utilities unable to fund oil imports.

Sri Lanka seeks Chinese debt reschedule for crashing economy

International rating agencies have warned of a looming sovereign default on Sri Lanka’s $35 billion foreign debt as the treasury battles a crunch on foreign exchange reserves and a gaping budget deficit.

But central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal rejected mounting calls from local and international economists to seek an International Monetary Fund bailout and debt restructure.

“The IMF is not a magic wand,” he told a news conference in Colombo. “At this point, the other alternatives are better than going to the IMF.”

Cabraal added that talks with China over a new loan were at an “advanced stage”, and a fresh agreement would service existing debt to Beijing.

“They would assist us in making the repayments… the new loan coming from China is in order to cushion our debt repayments to China itself,” he said.

Beijing is already the island’s biggest bilateral lender, accounting for at least 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s external debt.

Sri Lankan shares end lower as industrials, financials drag

Cabraal’s remarks come days after a visit from Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who discussed a debt payment restructure with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka has borrowed heavily from China for infrastructure in the past, some of which ended up as white elephants.

Unable to repay a $1.4 billion loan for a port construction in the south, Sri Lanka was forced to lease out the facility to a Chinese company for 99 years in 2017.

The United States and India have warned that the Hambantota port, located along vital east-west international shipping routes, could give China a military toehold in the Indian Ocean.

Cabraal did not give an indication of the size of the loan sought from China, but said talks were also underway with India for a $1 billion credit line to fund a broad range of imports.

He also said Colombo will repay a $500 million sovereign bond that matures next Tuesday despite local business leaders publicly asking him to withhold the repayment and seek IMF help.

Riyaz ul Khaliq    Courtesy Anadolu Agency

Rasheed Hajjul Akbar was arrested in March 2021 by counterterrorism police, say sources.

The former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Sri Lanka was released on bail by a Colombo court on Wednesday, sources said.

Our lawyers had challenged the detention of Usthadh Rasheed Hajjul Akbar as illegal under fundamental rights violation in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka,” sources close to the case told Anadolu Agency from Colombo.

Akbar, 61, was arrested last year in March by the counterterrorism and investigation division of the Sri Lankan police.

The top court set the case for hearing on Dec. 17 where the government’s top counsel agreed to release Akbar on bail,” the sources said.

Akbar’s family lives in Mawanella, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the capital Colombo.

He was previously arrested in August 2019, following the Easter bombings in April that year which killed over 250 people.

Akbar headed Jamaat-e-Islami Sri Lanka for 24 years – from 1994 to 2018.

There is no indictment against him and the attorney general agreed in court to release him on bail,” the sources said.

Under the anti-terrorism act, the Sri Lankan government can keep a person in detention for at least 18 months without producing him in court.”​​​​​​​

Courtesy Adaderana

The daily count of COVID-19 cases recorded in Sri Lanka moved to 653 today (January 12), the Health Ministry said.

According to the Government Information Department, the newly-detected cases include 02 individuals who recently arrived on the island.

The latest development has brought the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country so far to 593,725.

As many as 567,519 recoveries have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 11,000 active cases in total are currently under medical care and the death toll stands at 15,163, official figures showed.

Meanwhile, the Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 14 more coronavirus-related deaths for January 11, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus pandemic to 15,163.

According to the official figures released by the Government Information Department, the deaths reported today include 07 males and 07 females.

Three of the patients are between the ages of 30-59 years. The remaining 11 are in the age group of 60 years.