SL Leaders

ඉඩමේ අගය දන්නේ නෑ, රත්තරන් බඩුවල අගය දන්නේ නෑ.. බැංකු ගිණුමක් නෑ, කවුද මේ ඇමතිලා? – 209 වන දිගහැරුම

Shenali D Waduge Sri Lankan Citizen  

18 September 2025

Subject: 
Urgent Legal Inquiry Regarding Public Display of LTTE Symbols Near UNHRC, Geneva

To:
Swiss Federal Authorities / Permanent Mission of Switzerland in Geneva
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
UN Geneva Security
Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva

Dear Sir/Madam,

I write as a concerned Sri Lankan citizen to formally raise urgent legal and human rights concerns regarding the public display of symbols, flags, portraits, and banners associated with the Libe ration Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)near the UNHRC premises in Geneva, specifically around the Broken Chair at Place des Nations.

1. Background

·      The LTTE is a proscribed terrorist organisation in Sri Lanka, the UK, EU, US, and 32 other countries.

·      Banning a terrorist organisation automatically bans all terrorist-related symbols. All LTTE-related symbols — flags, logos, portraits, the Karthigaipoo flower, Lebbek/Vahai tree, and other emblems — must also be legally banned in every country that continues to ban the LTTE.

·      Photographic and video evidence shows these symbols being publicly displayed in Geneva in September 2025, adjacent to UN premises and during UNHRC sessions.

2. Legal Context

·      Swiss Law: Articles 260bis and related provisions of the Swiss Criminal Code prohibit support, glorification, or promotion of te rrorism. 

Does the public display of LTTE symbols constitute such prohibited acts?

·    UN Responsibilities: 

Under the UN Headquarters Agreement and consistent with UN Security Council Resolutions, Switzerland, as the host country, is obligated to ensure that domestic laws prohibiting the glorificati on of terrorism are upheld within its territory, including areas adjacent to UN premises. Allowing the display of symbols associated with proscribed terrorist organizations may contravene these obligations. 

Who has given authority for LTTE, a banned organisation to flaunt terror insignia within or near UN premises?

·      International Counter-Terrorism Obligations: 

Switzerland, as a UN member, is obliged under UNSC Resolutions 1373 and 1267 to preve nt support for terrorist groups. 

Why has Swiss police not taken action against pro-LTTE insignia & events in Geneva?

3. Key Concerns and Questions

1.    Banning LTTE Symbols

·      Under what legal provisions are LTTE flags, portraits, and other symbols permitted in Geneva, especially near UNHRC premises?

·      How does this align with Swiss law and international counter-terrorism obligations?

2.    Protection of Civilians vs Glorification of Terrorists

·      UN and Swiss authorities are mandated to protect unarmed civilians and prevent violence.

·      Allowing LTTE symbols glorifies individuals responsible for mass murders and terrorism, directly contradicting this mandate.

·      Some posters are even demanding LTTE be allowed to continue hold ing weapons.

·      Displaying these symbols constitutes indirect support or encouragement of terrorism, actionable under Swiss law and international counter-terrorism norms.

3.    Violation of UN Premises Neutrality

·      UN premises and adjacent public areas must remain neutral spaces for diplomacy and human rights, not platforms for any banned terrorist organisation.

·      Allowing LTTE symbols erodes the neutrality of UN premises and implies tacit acceptance of terrorist glorification.

4.    Selective Tolerance / Double Standard

·      Would symbols of Al Qaeda, ISIS, or Boko Haram ever be permitted under similar circumstances?

·      If not, what justifies the differential treatment of the LTTE, a proscribed terrorist organisation as well?

5.    Future Risk Scenario

·      Current tolerance sets a dangerous precedent. 

In 2026, what if Al Qaeda, ISIS, or other proscribed terrorist organisations attempt similar displays outside the Broken Chair or other UN landmarks?

·      Authorities must clarify and enforce consistent legal standards now to prevent such abuses.

6.     Implications for Sri Lanka

·      Pressuring Sri Lanka to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act or establish Truth Commissions, while LTTE symbols are tolerate d internationally and LTTE groups demand to continue holding weapons, undermines national security, the rule of law, and counter-terrorism credibility. It also renders reconciliation mechanisms demanded by UN/UNHRC meaningless.

4. Request for Action

·      Provide a written explanation of the Swiss legal and administrative grounds permitting these displays of LTTE terrorist insignia.

·      Clarify UNHRC policies and enforcement regarding terrorist symbols near UN premises.

·      Take immediate measures to ensure compliance with domestic and international anti-terrorism laws, and prevent glorification of terrorist organisations.

·      Ensure that UN premises and adjacent areas are aligned with the mandate to protect civilians, not provide a platform for banned terrorist organisations.

Attachments: 

Photographs and videos documenting LTTE symbols displayed near the Broken Chair, Place des Nations, Geneva September 2025.

I respectfully request a written response clarifying the legal and procedural basis for these public displays.

Sincerely,
Shenali D Waduge
Sri Lankan Citizen  

By Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

Sri Lanka stands at a pivotal moment with the new government trying to woo investors and bring FDI

 Surrounded by one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors and blessed with vast ocean resources, the island nation has the potential to transform its economy by embracing the blue economy. To do this, Sri Lanka must move beyond traditional tourism and low-value exports and aggressively promote foreign direct investment (FDI) in high-value ocean-related industries.

# Offshore Engineering Hub in Trincomalee

Trncomalee offers one of the deepest and safest natural harbours in Asia. It could serve as a nucleus for the offshore engineering sector, attracting foreign consultancy and engineering firms with EPCM backgrounds to set up in Sri Lanka. Establishing design offices, fabrication yards, and training centres in Trincomalee would allow Sri Lanka to tap into lucrative global offshore oil, gas, and renewable projects.

# Port City as a Magnet for Expertise and Capital

The Colombo Port City development can be positioned as an international offshore engineering and project management hub. By offering tax incentives, liberal visa regimes, and high-quality housing, Sri Lanka can attract expatriate professionals and global service providers. This would bring technical know-how and business networks into the country, helping local firms climb the value chain.

# Unlocking Marine Resources

The island’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers an area eight times its land mass. This provides opportunities for:

• Offshore mineral resource exploration and development
• Deep-sea tuna farming using advanced aquaculture systems
• Green hydrogen production using offshore wind and solar platforms, aimed at export markets hungry for clean energy

# Tourism Meets Marine Infrastructure

Sri Lanka can integrate tourism and fisheries development by establishing mini-marinas at fishery harbours, enabling small craft tourism, yacht charters, and eco-adventure tours. Developing a mega-yacht marina at Colombo Port City and improving facilities such as the Kapparatota breakwater in Weligama would encourage public-private partnerships (PPPs) and attract international marina operators.

# Policy and Incentives

To succeed, Sri Lanka must create a coherent policy framework offering:

• Targeted tax incentives for ocean-related FDI
• PPP-friendly regulations for marina and harbour development
• Stable foreign exchange and customs rules for offshore investors
• Joint training initiatives with international universities and engineering bodies

# A New Vision for the Indian Ocean Region

By becoming a centre for offshore engineering, aquaculture, renewable energy, and marine tourism, Sri Lanka can position itself as a Blue Economy Gateway” to South Asia. This will not only generate high-value jobs but also elevate the country’s technological capabilities, bringing in expertise from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Sri Lanka’s future prosperity lies offshore. With bold policy moves, strategic infrastructure, and a welcoming environment for expatriates and investors, the island can transform its maritime advantage into long-term economic growth.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera is the Chairman of the Advisory Board for Marine and Offshore Industry under the Export Development Board and former CEO of Colombo Dockyard.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

By Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDL), once hailed as a flagship of Sri Lanka’s industrial base, has recently secured contracts for highly specialised vessels — including cable laying ships for European clients and hybrid green bulk carriers. Yet despite this technically prestigious order book, the company under its long-standing Japanese management struggled to deliver consistent profits.

Several factors explain this paradox.

*Thin Margins on Niche Contracts

Specialized vessels such as cable layers are awarded through competitive global tenders. To secure work, CDL bid aggressively, which left razor-thin margins. Rising costs of steel, imported components and equipment further eroded profitability.

*Currency and Import Pressures

Although CDL earns much of its revenue in foreign currency, wages and overheads are rupee-denominated. The rapid depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee and shortages of foreign exchange caused delays in paying overseas suppliers, generating penalties and cost overruns.

*High Fixed Costs and Low Yard Utilisation

A shipyard’s profitability depends on keeping its docks, cranes and workforce fully employed. CDL’s yard utilisation fluctuated, with only one or two large builds at a time. When repair volumes fell, fixed costs – labour, energy and maintenance – consumed much of the profit from ongoing projects.

*Limited Local Supply Chains

Shipbuilding-grade steel, marine engines and electronics still have to be imported. With Sri Lanka’s port congestion and import restrictions, this dependency increased lead times and exposure to global price volatility.

*Talent Retention Challenges

Shipbuilding demands highly skilled welders, engineers and fitters. Trained staff frequently left for higher-paying jobs in the Middle East and Asia. CDL had to spend heavily on training and incentives to retain its workforce.CDL has been forced to employ Indian skilled welders and fabricators ar high costs to meet delivery dates

*Missed Opportunities in Offshore and Defence

Despite its strategic location, CDL did not diversify strongly into the lucrative offshore energy or naval segments, unlike Indian or Singaporean competitors. Without government-backed export credit or policy support, CDL could not match the financing packages offered by larger Asian yards.Japanesel were always reluctant to diversify into  offshore engineering sector 

*Strategic Limitations of Japanese Management

Onomichi Dockyard provided technical assistance but maintained a conservative approach. CDL remained a small satellite yard rather than a fully empowered international builder. This strategic restraint limited its ability to scale up and earn higher returns.During the last few decades Japanese management hardy go5 involved in management of thE company 

*Conclusion

Colombo Dockyard’s predicament highlights a larger lesson for Sri Lanka’s industrial policy. Technical capacity alone does not guarantee profitability. Without scale, strong financing, and a diversified portfolio, even prestigious contracts can turn into low-margin business. As Sri Lanka considers new partnerships in Trincomalee and beyond, learning from CDL’s experience will be crucial to avoid repeating the same pitfalls.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera is a former CEO of Colombo Dockyard and Chairman of the Advisory Board for Marine and Offshore Industry under the Export Development Board.

Ceehalé World Heritage Foundation

Ceehalé World Heritage Foundation (CWHF) announces that a formal complaint has been filed with the
United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) concerning the Sri Lanka Accountabilit
Project (SLAP).
The complaint has been submitted in public interest by Venerable Kassapa of Great Britain, the Founder
of CWHF, Anuradha Yahampath, former Governor of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, Rear Admiral Dr.
Sarath Weerasekera, former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament, and Dharshan Weerasekera,
Attorney-at-Law.
The OIOS is UN’s own watchdog body, created to ensure that the organization complies with its rules
and uses contributions of Member States with integrity and prudence. It functions as an independent
oversight and investigative arm of the UN, with authority to audit projects, review procedures, and
examine possible misuse of resources. By directing their complaint to this specialized unit, the
complainants have ensured that their concerns will be considered by the very body mandated to hold the
UN to account to its own operations and funtions.
The complaint calls for an urgent investigation into the administrative, financial, and procedural conduct
of SLAP, which has cost UN Member States nearly USD 16 million since its establishment in 2021. Despite
the vast sums expended, the project has provided almost no transparency in how funds are used, how
evidence is collected, or how information is shared with foreign governments and courts.
SLAP was created under UN Human Rights Council Resolution 46/1 to gather and preserve evidence of
alleged violations committed during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. Yet successive reports from the Office of
the High Commissioner for Human Rights have devoted at the end of four years, no more than one or
two pages to the SLAP project. It has failed to to explain the sources of evidence for the SLAP’s
repository, the credibility of those sources, or the procedures for collaboration with external actors. Fouryears on, there have been no prosecutions, no verified evidence disclosed, and no assurance that the
mechanism meets even basic standards of impartiality.
The complainants emphasize that they are not challenging the authority of the Human Rights Council
itself, nor the principle of reconciliation, but instead seek to ensure that UN mechanisms adhere to the
same standards of accountability that the UN expects of its Member States. They argue that without
corrective oversight, SLAP risks becoming a politicized and wasteful exercise that undermines both Sri
Lanka’s sovereignty and the credibility of international human rights work.
With SLAP’s mandate scheduled for renewal, the complaint urges OIOS to conduct a full investigation
before any extension is approved. Ceehalé World Heritage Foundation based in the UK, calls on Sri
Lankans, the Sri Lankan diaspora, and concerned international allies to join in pressing the Human Rights
Council not to extend SLAP’s mandate until transparency and accountability are guaranteed.
After four years and USD 16 million spent, the world deserves answers.
Ceehalé World Heritage Foundation

වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන

ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ඇති ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම  ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83.b ඡේදය, සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ඇති ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම  ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83.ආ ඡේදයට ගැලපෙන ලෙස නිවැරදිව ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවට පරිවර්තනය කරන ලෙස මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ සභාපති විසින් ජනාධිපති ලේකම්ට දැනුම් දී ඇති හෙයින් 1978  සිංහල, දෙමළ සහ ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂා ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත්, කෙටුම්පත් කළ නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නිලධාරීන් ගැන තොරතුරු, නීති කෙටුම්පත් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තොරතුරු නිලධාරී වෙතින්  2016 අංක 12 දරන තොරතුරු දැනගැනීමේ අයිතිවාසිකම පිළිබඳ පනත යටතේ වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහනේ සමායෝජක නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන මහතා විසින් 2025.09.16  ඉල්ලා ඇත.

එමගින් ඉල්ලා ඇති තොරතුරු වන්නේ..,

1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ සිංහල, දෙමළ, ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂා කෙටුම්පත්, කෙටුම්පත් කිරීමට නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සම්බන්ධ වී ඇති බවට නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතුව වාර්තා/ තොරතුරු තිබේද?

ඉහත ප්‍රශ්නයට තොරතුර/ පිළිතුර “ඔව්” ලෙස ලැබෙන්නේ නම්

අ.) 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ සිංහල භාෂා කෙටුම්පත, කෙටුම්පත් කිරීමට සම්බන්ධ වූ නිලධාරියා/ නිලධාරීන් ලෙස වාර්තා වී ඇත්තේ කවුද?

ආ.) 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දෙමළ භාෂා කෙටුම්පත, කෙටුම්පත් කිරීමට සම්බන්ධ වූ නිලධාරියා / නිලධාරීන් ලෙස වාර්තා වී ඇත්තේ කවුද?

ඇ.) 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ඉංග්‍රීසි  භාෂා කෙටුම්පත, කෙටුම්පත් කිරීමට සම්බන්ධ වූ නිලධාරියා/ නිලධාරීන් ලෙස වාර්තා වී ඇත්තේ කවුද?

ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ඇති 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83.b ඡේදය,  සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ඇති 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83.ආ ඡේදයට ගැලපෙන ලෙස නිවැරදිව ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවට පරිවර්තනය කර පළ කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා ලෙස මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති විසින් ජනාධිපති ලේකම් වෙත දැනුම් දී ඇති බව නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙත වාර්තා වී තිබේද?

මෙම් තොරතුරු ඉල්ලීම RTI/7/2025 අංක යටතේ නීති කෙටුම්පත් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තොරතුරු නිලධාරී විසින් ලියාපදිංචි කර ඇති අතර,

මෙම තොරතුරු ඉල්ලීමට අදාල වාර්තා නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතුව නොමැති හෙයින් එනම් 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව කෙටුම්පත් කළ නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නිලධාරීන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු නැති පදනමින් එකී තොරතුරු ලබා දීමට නොහැකි බවට 2025.09.17 දින පිළිතුරු ලබා දී ඇත.

එසේම ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ඇති 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83.b ඡේදය,  සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ඇති 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83.ආ ඡේදයට ගැලපෙන ලෙස නිවැරදිව ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවට පරිවර්තනය කර පළ කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා ලෙස මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති විසින් ජනාධිපති ලේකම් වෙත දැනුම් දී ඇති බව නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙත වාර්තා වී නැති බව නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තොරතුරු නිලධාරී පිළිතුරු ලබා දී ඇති අතර තවද ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා ස‍ංශෝධනයට අදාල යෝජනාවක් අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයේ යෝජනාවක් ලෙස අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයේ  අනුමැතිය ඇතිව නීති කෙටුම්පත් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට යොමු විය යුතු බවත් දන්වා ඇත.

මෙම පිළිතුරෙන් අතෘප්තියට පත් නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන මහතා 2016 අංක 12 දරන තොරතුරු දැනගැනීමේ අයිතිවාසිකම පිළිබඳ පනතේ අභියාචනා කාර්ය පටිපාටිය යටතේ RTI- 10 ආකෘතිය යටතේ අභියාචනයක් නම් කළ නිලධාරී වෙත 2025.09.18 දින ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.

අභියාචනය ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට අදාල නෛතික පදනම ලෙස නීතීඥවරයා සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ සම්පුර්ණ නොවූ, නොමග යවන හෝ සාවද්‍ය තොරතුරු ලබා දීම සහ ඉල්ලා ඇති තොරතුරු වෙත ප්‍රවේශවීම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා එම තොරතුරු විකෘතිකර හෝ විනාශකර හෝ අස්ථානකර ඇති බවට සැකකරන බවයි.

එසේම පවතින නීතිය, ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සහ ලේඛන සංරක්ෂණය කිරීමට අදාල නීති වලට පටහැනිව පිළිතුරු ලබා දී ඇති බවත් තොරතුරු ලබා නොදී ඇති බවත් නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන මහතා සිය අභියාචනයෙන් දක්වා ඇති අතර, සිය තොරතුරු ඉල්ලීමට අදාල තොරතුරු ලබා දෙන ලෙස නීති කෙටුම්පත් සම්පාදක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නම් කළ නිලධාරී වෙතින් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2025/09/1978.html?m=1

මාධ්‍ය ‍අංශය,
වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන. දුරකථන 0712063394
2025.09.18

Courtesy The Island

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has requested the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC) to investigate and find out how Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe amassed as much as Rs 275 mn.

SJB leader Sajith Premadasa has asked the SJB’s Anti-Corruption Movement (ACM) to go ahead with its move in the wake of disclosure of Samarasinghe’s asset declaration for 2025. Asset declarations are mandatory for all members of Parliament.

Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahman, who heads the ACM, told The Island that the SJB had raised the issue with CIABOC’s Director General, High Court Judge Ranga Dissanayake, who assumed office as the new Director General on 10 January, this year.

Rahman vowed that the SJB would go all out on the issue at hand as the NPP accused all other political parties of corruption, at all levels, over the years.

Referring to the continuing controversy over asset declarations made by several other NPP ministers, MP Rahman said that the SJB had asked CIABOC to also inquire into Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Minister Sunil Handunetti, Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake, Health and Mass Media Minister and Cabinet spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayathissa, Energy Minister Punyasiri Jayakody and Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs and Attorney-at-Law Sunil Watagala.

Former UNPer Rahman said that Minister Samarasinghe’s feeble explanations via various television channels and social media platforms with regard to Rs 275 mn in assets were a stark reminder of the challenges faced by CIABOC and the Attorney General. Responding to The Island queries, MP Rahman said that it would be the responsibility of the CIABOC, as well as Parliament, to ascertaub the truth.

By Huzefa Aliasger, Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• Sri Lankan passport drops to 97th in global ranking within six months
• Sri Lankans have visa free access to only 18 percent of the world
• Passport power ranks 173 out 179 countries, below North Korea

Colombo, Sept. 18 (Daily Mirror) – The Sri Lankan passport which ranked at 91 among 105 countries dropped a further 6 spots since March this year to 97, further weakening the standing of Sri Lankan passport holders to travel to other countries.

Sri Lanka currently shares the 97th position with Iran which is currently facing sanctions from the United States. Just below at the 99th position is Palestine which is currently under a humanitarian crisis, and North Korea run by dictatorship.

According to the latest Henley Passport Index 2025 Global Ranking, Sri Lanka showed progress as it climbed the previous rank of 96 to 91 earlier this year, showing an improvement in the ranking from 2024. Decline in ranking indicates lower recognition for Sri Lankan passport holders during international travel.

However in the latest update, within six months, the country has slipped to 97th, one place lower than its 2024 position, with a visa-free score of 41, compared to 42 destinations previously.

Throughout its history Sri Lanka ranked highest in 2006 with a passport ranking of 74.

The current 91st position has been taken by Djibouti, a country in East Africa. Currently the countries that Sri Lanka ranks above are Sudan, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Libya, North Korea, Palestinian, Nepal, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

Singapore continues to hold the top spot as the world’s most powerful passport, followed by South Korea and Japan. Singapore has visa free access to 84 percent of the world and faces little to no difficulty in obtaining visas for countries that require them too.

The Henley Passport Index evaluates passports worldwide based on the number of destinations their holders can enter without a prior visa. The Henley Passport Index, widely recognized as the most authoritative ranking of global mobility, assesses 199 passports against 227 destinations.

Another measure of passport power is the Henley passport power index combining Henley Passport Index data and World Bank GDP data which shows the link between passport strength and economic power shows Sri Lanka currently is at 173 out of 179 countries, with countries like North Korea, Palestine and Iraq above in the scale.

කීර්ති හේවාගොඩ පරිසර ක්රියාකාරී

මැතකදී ලැබුණ යම් හොඩුවාවකට අනුව,  යම් ආගමික  කණ්ඩායමක් විසින්,  අලගල්ල කදු වැටියේ පූජා ගල ආශ්‍රිතව ඉදි කර ඇති කොන්ක්‍රීට් ඉදිකිරීම් ආශ්‍රිතව යම් බෞද්ධ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ නමක් වැඩම කොට එම භූමියේ මල් පැල සහ වෙනත් ශාක පැල කිරීමට යන බව දැන ගැනීමට තිබේ. 

අලගල්ල වැනි ජෛව විද්‍යාත්මකව ඉතා සංවේදී පාරිසරික වපරිසරයක් තුලට , උක්ත පරිසරයේ ස්වභාවිකව වාසස්ථාන ගතව නැති ශාක විශේෂ හෙවත් ශාක රටා සමයන් ආගන්තුක ලෙස ගෙන විත් පැල කිරීම විශාල ගැටලුවකි.  ඒ නිසා දැනට පවතින අනන්‍ය වූ ශාක විශේෂ සමග මේ ආගන්තුක ශාක විශේෂ තරග කරන අතර ආක්‍රමණික ශාක ලෙස රක්ෂිතය පුරා පැතිර යාමේ අවධානමද ඇතිවේ. 

මෙම අලුත් මල් ගස්, බෝ ගස්, නුග ගස්, ජලජ ඕලූ විශේෂ මගින් තිබෙන ආවේණික භූ දර්ශනය වෙනස් කරන අතර, උක්ත පාරිසරික පද්ධතියේ ජෛව පරාමිතක ( biological vectors) විසංතුලනයට ලක් කරති.  උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් යම් යම් දලඹු විශේෂ,  මෘද්වංගීන් විශේෂ සහ කෘමි විශේෂ තම ජීවන චක්‍රයේ මුල් අවධීන් තුල වාසස්ථාන කොට ගන්නා ( ආහාර/ පදිංචිය) ශාක විශේෂ ඉවත් වීමයි. මෙය කන්දේ වෙසෙන පක්ෂි විශේෂ සහ උරග විශේෂ වලට ආහාර ජාල ඔස්සේ බලපාති.  මේවා දාම ප්‍රතික්‍රියා වන අතර කාලාන්තරයක් තුලදී සමස්ත පාරිසරික පද්ධතියම හායනයට බලපානු ඇත . ( degradation)

අලගල්ල යනු ඉතා වටිනා කදුකර වනාන්තර සහ පතන බිම් මෙන්ම පහතරට වැසි වනාන්තර උප ලක්ෂණ දරණ බෑවුම් වන ගහන ඇති කදු වැටියකි.  මහා ඔය ආදි ගංගා වලට ජල පෝෂණය සපයන අතර පහල ඇති ජනාවාස සහ වානිජ මෙන්ම යැපුම් කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයට අවශ්‍ය ජල පෝෂණය සපයයි. 

ජෛව විවිධත්වයෙන් ඉතා අධික වනාන්තරයක් වූ මෙහි විවිධාකාර පාරිසරික නිකේතන දක්නට ලැබේ.. ලංකාවට ආවේණික මිරිදිය කකුලු විශේෂ, හූනන් විශේෂ සහ පක්ෂී විශේෂ දක්නට ලැබේ.  අතීතයේ මෙහි අග්‍ර විලෝපිකයන් ලෙස ලංකා කොටියා,  පිඹුරා සහ රාජාලියන් දක්නට ලැබුනද. මේ වන විට කොටියා මේ කදු වැටියෙන් තුරන්ව ගොසිනි. 

මේ අලගල්ල කදු වැටියේ ඇති ඉහත කී සුවිශේෂීතා නිසාම, මේ කදු වැටියේ හෙක්ටයාර 142.192 ක භූමි ප්රමාණයක් වන රක්ෂිතයක් ලෙස වර්ෂ 2013 ජනවාරි 7 වන දින ගැසට් කොට සංරක්ෂණය කොට ඇත. නැවත වරක් වර්ෂ 2024  අගෝස්තු 7 වන දින ගැසට් අංක 2396/48 යටතේ අලගල්ල රක්ෂිත වනාන්තරයේ සංරක්ෂිත තත්ත්වය සහ වපරිසරය උසස් කොට ඇත.

යම් ආගමික කණ්ඩායමකට වේවා, ඕනෑම සංවිධානාත්මක පිරිසකට, අලගල්ල වැනි ඉතාමත්ම සංවේදී කදුකර වනාන්තර පාරිසරික පද්ධතියක් විනාශ කිරීමට ඉඩ දීම හෝ අනුබල දීම මෙ රට වන සත්ත්ව සහ වෘක්ෂලතා ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ ආඥා පනත උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමක් වන අතර, මෙරට පොදු ජනතාවගේ සහ සතා සිවුපාවන්ගේ පවා පාරිසරික උරුමය කොල්ල කෑමකි.  

මේ සම්බන්ධව රජයේ අදාල දෙපාර්තමේන්තු වල, පරිසරවේදීන්ගේ,  මාධ්‍ය වේදීන්ගේ සහ වියතුන්ගේ අවධානය ඉක්මණින්ම යොමු වනු ඇතැයි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමු..

එමෙන්ම,  එම භූමියට ක්ෂේත්‍ර චාරිකාවක් (a field visit) කොට සිදුව ඇති විනාශය, එහි ගොඩ ගසා තිබෙන මහා කසල තොගය,  ගිනි දැල්වීම් බලා ගන්නා ලෙස ද වගකිව යුත්තන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු. එමෙන්ම කලින් අවස්ථා වල මෙහි කොට ඇති පුරා වස්තු කොල්ලයක් ගැන කසු කුසු ඇති බැවින් මේ අලුතෙන් කිරීමට යන්නේ කුමක්ද යන්නත්,  ඒ කවුරුන්ද යන්නත් සොයා බැලීම වටී..

අලගල්ල ආශ්‍රිතව සංරක්ෂණ අභියෝග ගැන සහ පාරිසරික සාක්යතා වාර්තා ( EIA) නොමැතිව ඉදිකරන ලද ආගමික ගොඩනැගිලි ගැන පුවත් පත් වාර්තාවක යොමුව පහත දක්වා ඇත. මේ පුවත්පත් වාර්තාවේ  වැදගත් සියලු තොරතුරු අඩංගු වේ .

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/200202/news/alagalla-has-the-rape-of-forest-reserve-begun-389959.html

අදාල ඡායරූප මේ සමග අමුණා ඇති අතර ඔබගේ කාරුණික අවධානය සහ විමර්ෂණය යොමු කරනු ඇතැයි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමි.

ස්තූතියි.

කීර්ති හේවාගොඩ පරිසර ක්රියාකාරී

whatsapp  0094 762974774

Shenali D Waduge

The Government of Sri Lanka’s recent announcement on granting voting rights to expats is a gamble with sovereignty. Handing the ballot to millions who neither live under Sri Lanka’s laws, nor share its daily burdens, nor pay its taxes, opens the door to forces that are already destabilizing the State from abroad. The Asian youth-led regime change & placement of non-elected interim governments are lessons to learn.

The 2022–25 youth-led protests across Asia revealed how quickly external slogans, diaspora-funded campaigns, and foreign-backed narratives can capture the streets, culminating in regime change without elections and the installation of unelected interim leadership. What was tested on the ground then could now be institutionalized digitally through the expat vote. In the volatile South Asian region, where springs” are engineered to topple governments, Sri Lanka cannot afford to hand its ballot box to external actors. What is the Govt thinking?

Who are Sri Lanka’s expats abroad?

If the government is considering giving voting rights to all expats, it must first confront the reality that overseas Sri Lankans are not a single, politically cohesive community concerned about Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. They fall into distinct and often conflicting categories:

1. Professionals & Migrant Workers (Skilled and Unskilled)

Doctors, engineers, IT specialists, entrepreneurs, teachers, domestic workers, construction laborers, and others contribute to host economies while sending vital remittances home. Yet many are disconnected from Sri Lanka’s current realities or politically aware only through partisan lenses, making them ill-equipped to determine the country’s political future.

• Asylum Seekers & Refugees

Thousands left during the conflict claiming persecution or genocide to gain asylum. Their often exaggerated or fabricated narratives severely damaged Sri Lanka’s international reputation. Granting them votes would empower the same narratives that have undermined the state abroad.

• Diaspora Political Activists & LTTE Networks

The most dangerous bloc. LTTE-aligned groups abroad are well-organized, financially powerful, and politically influential in Western capitals. They lobby the UN, EU, and host governments against Sri Lanka, glorify the LTTE as freedom fighters,” and stage high-profile protests. A handful even aspire to political office, believing media and money can achieve that goal. Giving them ballots hands enemies of the State direct influence over domestic governance.

• Dual Citizens & Their Families

Dual citizens maintain close ties with Sri Lanka, often visiting or returning to vote. Extending the franchise to their children — many of whom hold only foreign citizenship and have no lived connection to Sri Lanka — is problematic. Youth without firsthand experience of the country’s realities do not fully understand its challenges and are unlikely to offer informed solutions, making their participation in elections unwarranted.

• Second & Third Generation Diaspora

Many younger generations have never lived in Sri Lanka, barely speak its languages, and absorb distorted images through diaspora propaganda or foreign media distortions. If mobilized, they would vote not from experience or knowledge, but from narratives hostile to Sri Lanka’s national interest.

• Politically radicalized Sinhalese (former JVP sympathizers & insurrection fugitives)
  Many Sinhalese left during or after the JVP insurrections of the 1970s–1980s, carrying strong ideological animosities toward mainstream political parties. Though dispersed globally, they remain politically active and ideologically rigid, making themsusceptible to influence from external actorsseeking to steer domestic change. Mobilizing this group could directly impact family networks and amplify destabilizing narratives in elections especially towards another Asian Spring.

Key Question:

Should those who do not live under Sri Lanka’s laws, do not pay taxes, and are unaffected by its policies have equal say in choosing its government?

Voting is not only a right — it is a duty bound to shared accountability, and expat ballots risk severing that link.

Diaspora Imbalance & Oversight Gaps

Sri Lanka’s diaspora is far from politically balanced:

Tamils Abroad (approx. 1.3 million):

Concentrated in Western countries, some hold full citizenship, while others may reside illegally. Granting voting rights to undocumented residents is preposterous and raises serious security concerns. Some could even be individuals previously reported as missing” or dead” in LTTE networks taking on alias identities, effectively giving hostile actors a backdoor into decision-making.

Many remain aligned — willingly or under pressure — with LTTE-linked separatist groups focused on undermining Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.

Sinhalese Abroad (approx. 1.1 million):

Largely in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and West, they send vital remittances. A smaller portion are skilled professionals in Western countries. Unlike the Tamil diaspora, however, Sinhalese are geographically dispersed, rarely forming networks capable of influencing host-country governments or mobilizing diaspora voting blocs. Their political impact abroad is limited.

The imbalance is clear:

Enfranchising all expats would not reflect the silent majority of Sri Lankans abroad but instead hand disproportionate power to the most organized and hostile anti-Sri Lanka factions — primarily LTTE networks in the West.

This is not democratic representation; it is erosion of sovereignty from outside.

What is the Government thinking?

Foreign Ideological Capture

The 2022–23 protests revealed how vulnerable Sri Lanka is to external influence.

Youth on the ground were mobilized through slogans, narratives, and even funding amplified by diaspora networks abroad. The outcome was not organic reform but the appointment of unelected individuals to interim government positions — a clear bypass of the democratic process.

Allowing expats to vote would institutionalize this interference, giving those who live outside Sri Lanka the power to dictate its political course while remaining insulated from its consequences.

This raises a critical question: is digital voting being tested on Sri Lanka as part of a wider geopolitical experiment in South Asia — a new South Asian Spring” digitally engineered through diaspora manipulation?

Accountability Gap

Non-resident Sri Lankans do not pay taxes, obey domestic laws, or endure the economic hardships faced by citizens at home. Yet digital voting would allow them to shape policies and elect governments without bearing any responsibility for the outcomes. Democracy is not just a right — it is a duty intertwined with accountability. Extending the franchise to those detached from Sri Lanka’s realities severs this fundamental link.

Vulnerability to external manipulation – Tamil LTTE & Sinhala JVP radical expats voting dangers

Diaspora voting blocs are highly susceptible to influence from host countries, foreign NGOs, and ideological networks. LTTE-aligned groups in the West already operate as powerful lobbying machines, while politically radicalized Sinhalese expats — particularly many who fled after the JVP insurrections — carry deep partisan animosities and are ideologically easy to capture.

These individuals can be mobilized to push agendas that destabilize domestic politics, influencing family networks and voting patterns back home. Digital voting would hand both foreign and hostile domestic actors direct leverage over Sri Lanka’s governance.

What is the Government thinking?

Risks of Electoral Inaccuracy

Government records report roughly 2 million Sri Lankans living abroad, yet diaspora estimates suggest closer to 3 million, including undocumented migrants.

Without rigorous verification and an accurate census, incorporating expats into the electoral roll risks fraud, unverifiable ballots, and contested results, undermining trust in the electoral system.

Strategic Sovereignty at Stake

Granting expats digital voting could:

• Empower separatist diaspora networks with disproportionate influence.
• Allow foreign-backed ideologies and radicalized diaspora groups, including anti-national former JVP-aligned expats, to shape domestic governance.
• Institutionalize cycles of external mobilization leading to interim governments controlled beyond shores.
• Compromise the democratic principle – citizens will have no say in electing their representatives.
• Even end up making a LTTE head the President of Sri Lanka via a bogus interim-government. Examples of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Bangladesh and now Nepal shows us nothing is impossible.

Sri Lanka must prioritize foremost place to resident citizens & their democratic rights first. Expat engagement is valuable in cultural, economic, and educational spheres, but electoral power must remain grounded to those who live in Sri Lanka permanently. Voting is not merely a right; it is a responsibility. Only those who live under Sri Lanka’s laws, share its burdens, and face the consequences of governance should wield the decisive voice at the ballot box.

Shenali D Waduge

venezuelanalysis.com

Venezuelanalysis’ José Luis Granados Ceja joined Breakthrough News to take stock of the US’ military escalation against Venezuela.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has ramped up military threats against Venezuela under a purported fight against drug trafficking.

Venezuelanalysis staff member José Luis Granados Ceja joined Eugene Puryear and Rania Khalek on Breakthrough News to discuss Washington’s charges, their (absent) legal basis, and the real motivations behind the attacks.

Dr. Arun Kumar Goswami*

Could the power changes in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal in 2022, 2024, and 2025 resemble the violent power shift at Plassey in 1757? The relevance of the question could be found in the argument of historian E. H. Carr, who describes history as “an endless dialogue between the present and the past”. It is important to remember that the British ruled the Indian subcontinent for 190 years after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. At the same time, it is widely discussed and proven that internal protests and conspiratorial activities orchestrated by Western powers, especially the American Deep State, have resulted in bloody shifts of power in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

            We witnessed the first instance of leaving ‘power’ in Sri Lanka in 2022. In the early hours of July 13, 2022, beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made a hasty departure from the South Asian country, just days after thousands of furious protesters stormed his official residence, swam in his pool, and demanded his resignation.

            The second incidence of leaving ‘power’ was seen in Bangladesh in 2024. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on 5 August 2024, as large crowds of demonstrators surrounded the Gano Bhaban, the official residence of the prime minister. Later that day, Sheikh Hasina fled to India in a chaotic departure. Afterwards Prime Minister’s official residence Ganobhabon was ransacked and looted and parliament building was stormed by the violent protesters.

         However, the latest and most recent in the series of leaving ‘power’ forcefully has been in Nepal. On September 10, 2025 former Prime Minister of Nepal, KP Oli, stepped down and is said to have escaped in a military helicopter during a significant uprising against corruption and a prohibition on social media. Intense demonstrations set fire to the homes of officials, looted the residence of the president, and stormed the parliament, while many swam in his pool and insisted on his departure.

            The abdication of ‘power’ in three South Asian states in 2022, 2024 and 2025 could be viewed in the light of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula’s defeat and assassination 268 years ago in 1757.

The battered body of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula was being paraded through the streets and bazaars of Murshidabad, mounted on the back of an elephant! The purpose was to inform the residents of Murshidabad that Siraj had been killed! The date was July 3, 1757. Siraj was captured from Rajmahal while fleeing and brought to Murshidabad on July 2. Then, on the night between July 2 and 3, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula was hacked to death and his dismembered body was taken on elephants for a parade around the city of Murshidabad. During Nawab Siraj’s ‘horrific funeral procession’, the mahout unknowingly or intentionally and purposefully stopped the elephant carrying the body in front of the residence of Hussain Quli Khan. Siraj-ud-Daula had killed Hussain Quli Khan two years earlier. Now a few drops of blood flowed from his dead body on the road where Hussain Quli Khan was killed.’ This description is found in “Siyar-ul-Mutakhkhairin” written by Syed Ghulam Hussain. As the dead body was being paraded around the capital city of Murshidabad, both the ‘closeness’ and ‘distance’ of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula from ‘power’ were beyond all measure!

            The Battle of Plassey began at 8:00 AM on June 23, 1757. Then, around noon, a storm and rain hit, which soaked the ammunition of the Nawab’s side. Then, Mir Madan was killed by a bullet fired by the English side. After the death of Mir Madan, Mohan Lal was fighting bravely against the British forces. During this war, Siraj-ud-Daula’s chief commander, Mir Jafar, with his large armed forces, simply stood by silently, facilitating the defeat of his own master, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula, and thus hastening the victory of the English. However, on the advice of such an inactive Mir Jafar, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula announced his decision to retreat. The Nawab’s troops then scattered and began to flee. In this situation, the Nawab issued an order to withdraw the troops and he himself left the battlefield for the palace.

            He arrived at the palace the next morning, June 24 of 1757. No one came to meet him at the palace at that time. In this regard, Syed Ghulam Hossain Khan writes, ‘. . . Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula fled from his palace at about three in the morning; it was the seventh day of the month of Shawwal.’ At 3 a.m., he fled in disguise, first leaving Murshidabad for Bhagwangola. Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula and his companions were suffering from hunger and thirst along the way. It is known from the Siyar-ul-Mutakhkherin that Siraj-ud-Daula, trapped in the clutches of fate, was conveyed to the opposite bank of the palace, where he disembarked for about an hour. The intention was to prepare some khichdi(South Asian dish made from rice and lentils) for himself, his daughter, and his wife and others to eat. For three days and nights after leaving the palace in Murshidabad, none of them could taste food. Incidentally, a Fakir lived in that neighborhood. This man was the one whom Siraj had hurt during the days of his ‘closeness’ with ‘power’. Many say Siraj-ud-Daula had cut off his ear! This Fakir’s name was Shah-Dana. He had been harboring his anger against Siraj for so long. The Fakir was delighted at this golden opportunity to take revenge as Sirajuddaula had appeared at the Fakir’s hideout. He (Fakir Shah Dana) expressed joy at his arrival; and under the pretext of preparing some food for him, he sent the news of Siraj’s arrival to the people of Siraj’s enemy, Mir Jafar.

            In two chapters titled ‘Muzaffarnama’ by Karam Ali Khan, titled ‘Murder Plot’, it is described how Alivardi became desperate to kill Hussain Quli Khan. There was only one reason behind this—Alivardi Khan believed that Hussain Quli Khan was the only person who had the power to dethrone Siraj (in the future). Therefore, he (Alivardi Khan) considered it inevitable to remove him from the world. This was ultimately done.

            Syed Ghulam Hussain Khan, in his Siyar-ul-Mutakhkherin, described the death of Hussain Quli Khan as ‘innocent bloodshed’. He says that this murder set in motion a series of events that proved fatal to the power and dominance that Alivardi Khan had built with so much physical labor and nurtured through hard work. It kindled a blind fire which began to emit smoke immediately after these two murders; and which finally destroyed all the numerous families in its progress; and its devastation spread far and wide, devouring everything in that once happy region of Bengal. This revealed the truth of the great saying: What you do; you will get.

            Siraj-ud-Daulah was captured by his own servants and brought back to Murshidabad, eight days after he had fled the palace. The date was 15 Shawwal 1170 AH. Siraj was in such a pitiful state at this time that those who saw him in that plight and remembered the delicacy, dignity, care and splendor with which he had been raised since childhood, recalled the sharpness of his temper. After losing power, the Nawabs forgot the shameful deeds of Siraj-ud-Daula’s life and surrendered to feelings of pity as they watched him pass by. Some of those present could not bear the exorbitant plight of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula, but they did not want to immediately rescue the fallen Nawab from his detention.

            Meanwhile, the new Nawab Mir Jafar had occupied the palace and sat on the throne. When Siraj was brought near the palace, Mir Jafar was asleep during the day. At this time, Mir Jafar’s son ordered Siraj to be detained near his apartment and also told a large group of his friends, who were present at the time, to go directly and humiliate, insult and hurt the unfortunate Siraj. But all of them rejected this proposal outright. They did not want to disgrace themselves by treating Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula badly. Some even opposed this proposal. After many angrily refused, finally, a man named Mohammadi Beg agreed to do the job. Mohammadi Beg was able to change his fate, both personally and familially, with the help of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula’s father. It was that person who had agreed to do the terrible deed to Siraj-ud-Daula.

It is known from the Siyar-ul-Mutakhkerin that when Mohammadi Beg was preparing to kill the deposed and imprisoned Nawab, Siraj-ud-Daula recalled his own killing of Hussain Quli Khan and vowed to avenge that killing. Sirajuddaula was saying, ‘… the death of Hussain Quli Khan has been avenged. . .’, as soon as these words were spoken, Siraj fell face down.  Siraj’s body was dismembered by numerous blows and the body was thrown onto the back of an elephant to circle the most densely populated area of ​​the city. Siraj’s body was paraded throughout the city of Murshidabad, conveying the message of the new Nawab’s seizure of power to everyone.

Revenge or vengeance was sought through the killing of the Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula. However, Siraj-ud-Daula’s political commitment to independence is universally felt in the consciousness of the freedom-loving people of the Indian subcontinent! Although recent protests in SriLanka, Bangladesh and Nepal were organized by Gen-G, only in Bangladesh have students gained positions on the government’s advisory council following the movement. Mob violence and corruption have broken all past records throughout Bangladesh. While there are signs of normalcy returning in Sri Lanka and Nepal after the change of power, however, Bangladesh continues to experience mob violence.

Dr.Arun Kumar Goswami, Researcher and Columnist, Director,Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS), Dhaka

by I. Ahmad

On Sunday the 7 September 2025, at Masjid Mahmood, kodambakkam, Chennai, District (Zilla) Ahmadiyya Elders Association (age above 40) Annual Gathering (Ijtima) was held and chaired by Mr. M. Thajudeen (Vice-President, Ahmadiyya Elders Association, India.. The day-long event included Sports Event as well. Masjid Mahmood was built in the year 1979.

In this event, members from Chennai, St. Thomas Mount, Pondichery, Cuddalore, Viluppuram and Thittacheri participated.

The main event started at 9.45 am with Flag Hoisting followed by silent prayer by Mr. M. Thajudeen (Vice-President, Ahmadiyya Elders Association, India. Program further continued with Holy Qur’an recitation by C.G. Nihal Ahmad (Assistant Missionary, Ahmadiyya Community Chennai) followed Tamil translation by F. Irfan Ahmad, (Missionary, St. Thomas Mount, Chennai.)   

Mr. M. Thajudeen (Vice-President, Ahmadiyya Elders Association, India put forward sayings of Prophet of Islam Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

Pledge of Association read out and the audience repeated. An Urdu poem composed by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi was recited.

A Special Message for the Event from His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah be his Helper) was read out by Mr. M.S. Wasim Ahmad, Officer-in-Charge (Nazim), Ahmadiyya Elders Association, Chennai District. He also presented Annual Reports.

Message from Ahmadiyya Khalifa, the gist of the message reads: 

 I am pleased to know about this event. May Allah bless this event and May He bring good effects.  Ameen.

Being an Ansarullah member, he should have strong bondage with Khilafat. Pay attention towards your children in Tarbiyath (good reforms). The best way for this, you should be an example to them. Our best examples are the only to show the right direction to our youths and our children. You must keep it in mind, that, our best examples are the one to have a change in the society as well.

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Promised Messiah, peace be on him, said: Wake up during the night and supplicate with pure heart and mind, do repentance and seek forgiveness before Allah. Create pious changes in you. Avoid weaknesses in you.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said: if a believer creates pious changes in him, that will create good effects into his children as well. After his death, his progeny does continue the same good deeds. They pray for their parents. This is a source for their (parents) lofty status. Similarly, your attachment with Khilafat should be in an exemplary manner to your children.

In this age, according to Promise of Allah and the foretold of Muhammad (PBUH), we had the good opportunity of accepting Promised Messiah and also we have the opportunity to accept Khilafat, then, we must give due respect on these blessings of Allah.

In his address, Chairperson Mr. M. Thajudeen said: Elders of the Community should be an example to the coming generation in their family life.

Amir (President) of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Chennai Mr. K. Nasir Ahmad in his address said: as there is no way for Ahmadi Elders (Majlis Ansarullah) to join in any other groups or association except to the life Hereafter and because of that, Ahmadi Elders should lead a life to win the pleasure of God.

The event included academic competitions such as Holy Qur’an recitation, Urdu Poem, short speech etc. and the prize distribution also part of the event. 

Vote of Thanks by Mr. Fazlur Rahman Fazal, Chairman, Ijtima Committee and the daylong event concluded with the silent prayer led by the Chair Person.

Source: Naeem Ahmad, Chennai.

National Development Bank PLC

Strengthening its commitment to sustainability and economic progress, NDB Bank, in collaboration with the Ministry of Industries, has introduced a special facility under the E-Friends II” Refinance Loan Scheme dedicated to promoting solar adoption among Sri Lankan entrepreneurs. This initiative is designed to make renewable energy more accessible and affordable, enabling businesses to transition to cleaner energy solutions while enhancing operational efficiency.

As the demand for renewable energy grows in response to rising energy costs and environmental challenges, the E-Friends II Solar Refinance Loan Scheme provides businesses with the financial backing needed to invest in solar power. The facility offers loans of up to Rs. 10 million at a highly competitive annual interest rate of 6.5%, with a repayment period of up to 10 years. Businesses can install solar capacity of up to 50KW, giving them a practical and sustainable pathway to reduce costs while lowering their carbon footprint.

By adopting solar power, entrepreneurs not only secure long-term energy savings but also contribute meaningfully to the country’s green transition. The scheme is ideal for enterprises looking to implement eco-friendly practices, strengthen resilience, and align with global sustainability trends.

Speaking on the initiative, Indika Ranaweera, Vice President – SME, Middle Markets and Business Banking at NDB Bank, stated: NDB is proud to extend the E-Friends II Refinance Loan Scheme to support solar adoption, a vital step in creating an environmentally responsible business ecosystem. Through this facility, we aim to empower Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to embrace renewable energy, reduce dependency on non-renewable resources, and position themselves for sustainable growth.”

With its customer-focused approach, NDB Bank provides end-to-end support to ensure a seamless loan application and disbursement process. Backed by the Bank’s extensive branch network and dedicated officers, entrepreneurs across the country can access expert advice and tailored financial solutions to implement solar energy successfully.

NDB Bank invites entrepreneurs to take advantage of this timely opportunity to invest in solar power and become active contributors to a cleaner, greener, and more resilient Sri Lanka.

NDB Bank is the fourth-largest listed commercial bank in Sri Lanka. NDB was named Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank for SMEs at Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and was awarded Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Domestic Project Finance Bank of the Year by Asian Banking and Finance Magazine (Singapore) Awards 2024. NDB is the parent company of the NDB Group, comprising capital market subsidiary companies, together forming a unique banking and capital market services group. The Bank is committed to empowering the nation and its people through meaningful financial and advisory services powered by digital banking solutions.

Nava Thakuria

Some may say, it’s hoping against hope, but the people of Assam are expecting something positive, as the Supreme Court of India had recently agreed to hear a petition asking for a comprehensive and time-bound re-verification of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) updated in Assam during 2014-2019. The apex court on 22 August 2025 responded positively to the plea forwarded by a retired IAS officer (both in his personal capacity and as  representative of a large number of indigenous people in Assam) for an error-free NRC. Admitting the writ petition from Hitesh Devsarma, who happened to be a former State coordinating officer to NRC Assam updating process, the SC issued notices to the Union government in New Delhi, Assam government in Dispur, current State NRC coordinator and the Registrar General of India (RGI) seeking their responses. For records, the NRC’s complete draft was published on 30 July 2018 and its supplementary list was released on the midnight of 31 August 2019 (leaving 19 lakh individuals out of 3.30 crore participants undocumented), but that’s yet to be notified by the RGI.

The 1951 NRC for Assam was updated following the direction of the SC with an aim to detect all illegal citizens with the cut-off date 25 March 1971 (which was accepted in the memorandum of settlement- popularly floated as Assam Accord- signed in 1985 to culminate the six years long agitation to detect & deport millions of unrecognised migrants from Bangladesh). Assam Public Works chief Aabhijeet Sharma pursued for the NRC updation with a PIL in the top court, which later reportedly ‘monitored’ the exercise engaging over 50,000 government employees and nearly 6000 part-time workers (for which New Delhi spent Rs 1600 crores). Prateek Hajela, a 1995 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre was appointed as the coordinator in 2019 to supervise the massive exercise. Soon after the final NRC draft was released, Hajela, the native of Madhya Pradesh was relocated to his home-state fearing his security in Assam. Later, the State government allowed him to go with voluntary retirement benefits.

Meanwhile, the NRC updating process got embraced with corruption & malpractices, which was detected by none other than the highest national audit body of India. As per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report (year ending 31 March 2020), there had been financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 260 crores during the NRC updating process.  The CAG even recommended penal actions against Hajela  along with Wipro limited (which functioned as the system integrator in the process). Prior to the CAG report, Hajela’s immediate successor Devsarma raised the issue of corruption as well as mishandling the NRC updating process to help a large number of illegally migrated individuals to include their names in the list. He even framed serious allegations that  Hajela used tampered software in the process (preventing any quality checking) to entertain those infiltrators in the pursuit of greed for foreign money.

Thousands of illegal foreigners’ names were included  in the NRC draft as ‘originally inhabitants’ of Assam. At the same time, quality-checks of those entries were restricted for even the senior officers in Guwahati. An important verification mechanism titled ‘Family Tree Matching’ was compromised by Hajela and his associates. With more to it, Hajela implemented a separate verification process called DMIT (district magistrate investigation team) without the knowledge (and  consent) of the SC. It was done simply to include the names of persons without valid documents, alleged Devsarma, while speaking to this writer, adding that a huge volume of funds might have come from Arabian countries to enrol the migrated Bangladeshi Muslim settlers’ names in the NRC.

So it’s not a mere financial scam involving a few hundred crores, but a serious threat with implications on our national security. A probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) can only find out how much money was flown from the foreign countries to destabilize Assam and northeast India,” said Devsarma, adding that as per the procedure, Hajela should have been asked to appear before the Public Accounts Committee, but the government allowed him to go almost free. Devsarma, who served as the executive director to NRC Assam (2014–2017) and later State NRC coordinator (2019–2022) till his retirement, also emphasised on probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to deal with the money laundering issue. Himself lodged two police complaints against Hajela along with APW president Sharma and influential filmmaker Luit Kr Barman, Devsarma lamented that none have been registered till date by the State police authority. Only one case, lately lodged by Gitika Bhattacharya against Hajela, was recently registered and that was only done following a  court  directive.

Lately, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also commented that  the NRC list was faulty and the fraud was committed on Asomiya  people. The outspoken saffron leader stated that Hajela prepared a wrong NRC for Assam. He went ahead by saying that some  motivated elements came to Assam from outside to manipulate the NRC with foreign infiltrators’ names. But the government has realised it and adopted correction measures. After all, a flawed NRC cannot be accepted as it would jeopardise national security, asserted Sarma, adding that the indigenous people of Assam deserve a correct and error-free NRC. Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA), a forum of nationalist citizens in eastern India, continues demanding for an authentic NRC for Assam.

The PPFA also demanded a fair probe into the findings of  CAG regarding the corruption and deprivation of salaries meant for  6000 temporary workers. Employed as data entry operators (DEOs), those workers got only Rs 5,500 to 9,100 per month per person (which is below the country’s basic minimum wage), whereas the Wipro company received an average of Rs 14,500 per month per DEO. The total volume of siphoned money (even after deducting the reasonable profit margin) is estimated to be over Rs 100 crores, which still remain  in the pockets of Wipro, its sub-contractor Integrated System & Services, or somebody else.  The forum asserted that the deprived DEOs must get their  dues irrespective of the fate of Assam NRC (whether it’s reviewed or rejected).

A number of civil society groups however demanded to finalize the Assam NRC with no verification as the SC upheld the constitutional validity of clause 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (which endorsed the cut-off date for granting Indian citizenship in Assam at 25 March 1971). They argued that the NRC Assam was updated with the concerned base year and following the court verdict no point remained for delaying its implementation. But the conscious citizens vigorously questioned their motive asserting that if the NRC is not re-verified,  millions of illegal migrants (read East Pakistani/Bangladeshi nationals) would get enrolled in the final list. Leaving aside a few exceptions, Assam media too remained shy of  reporting and discussing the financial malpractices taking place in the NRC updating process.

In fact, the majority of local media persons tried their best to spread misinformation (reasons best known to them only), where some Guwahati-based television journalists bent upon establishing that the NRC’s present draft was a most sought-after document for the indigenous people  of Assam. They even shamelessly lobbied for accepting it with no verification. At least one TV talk-show host was named and shamed on social media for weeks, but he did not respond to the allegation (not done till today). The outspoken scribe even published a book praising Hajela’s work as unparalleled with an inherent push for a national recognition to the technocrat turned bureaucrat. So it’s assumed that a genuine probe would unearth all misdeeds and identify guilty individuals, who wanted to cheat the nation for their selfish gains, during the much hyped NRC updating exercise in Assam.

By Palitha Ariyarathna

Synopsis:

 Foreign-funded NGOs are preparing to install multi-religious statues in two government hospitals in Kandy and Peradeniya. This article questions the legality, constitutional authority, and donor-driven influence behind such symbolic acts. It calls for public vigilance, legal review, and protection of the Buddha Sāsana under Article 9 of Sri Lanka’s Constitution. The core message: Sri Lanka’s public institutions must reflect native sovereignty—not external agendas.

A symbolic initiative is now scheduled to begin within two government hospitals—one in Kandy and the other in Peradeniya. Multi-religious statues are expected to be placed in these institutions, framed as gestures of harmony and coexistence. But beneath the surface of this narrative lies a deeper constitutional and cultural concern: Who decides what symbols belong in our public spaces? And under what authority are they placed?

Sri Lanka is a democratic republic where Buddhism holds the foremost place under the Constitution. According to Article 9, it is the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sāsana. This obligation is not ceremonial—it is legal, historical, and civilizational. Hospitals, as civic sanctuaries, are not symbolic laboratories. Their legacy is rooted in centuries of Buddhist healing—from Mihintale, the world’s first hospital, to King Dutugemunu’s village-by-village medical centers, and King Buddhadasa’s compassionate medicine. The presence of Buddha statues in these institutions is not ornamental. It reflects a doctrinal ethos of public care.

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has made this clear. In its 2023 determination on the Ayurveda (Amendment) Bill, the Court ruled that the State must actively protect the Buddha Sāsana and avoid any act—symbolic, financial, or regulatory—that causes harm or dilution. In 19/2003, the Court further affirmed that the right to propagate religion is not recognized as a fundamental right under Sri Lanka’s Constitution. Therefore, symbolic installations framed as pluralism” or coexistence” do not enjoy constitutional protection when placed in public institutions.

Recent symbolic activities appear to be supported by foreign funding streams originating from U.S. government agencies, European diplomatic missions, and global advocacy networks such as Freedom House, Open Society Foundations, and CAFOD. These campaigns, while presented as inclusive, raise urgent civic and legal questions:

• Are these foreign donors fully aware of the nature and constitutional implications of the symbolic activities being carried out in Sri Lanka’s hospitals?
• Is it legally and ethically acceptable for foreign governments to fund NGOs in another country to advance their own ideological interests—especially when executed through local organizations that appear to follow external directives?
• Do the financial reports of these donors truly reflect the constitutional realities of the host country, or are they crafted to tame hearts abroad—portraying symbolic success while ignoring doctrinal consequences on the ground?

This is not a rejection of international cooperation. It is a call for constitutional vigilance. Symbols matter. And when placed in public institutions, they must reflect the legal, historical, and cultural identity of the nation—not the editorial preferences of external actors.

In light of the above, the public must now demand:

• A formal review of all religious installations and symbolic activities planned or underway within the Kandy and Peradeniya government hospitals.
• Immediate suspension and removal of any unauthorized or constitutionally inconsistent symbols.
• A public clarification from the Ministry of Health regarding its policy on religious symbolism in state institutions.
• Assurance that the Buddha Sāsana will be protected from ideological dilution in all public spaces, especially those under state jurisdiction.
• A national inquiry into the role of foreign-funded NGOs in shaping symbolic policy within Sri Lanka’s public institutions, including hospitals, universities, and police departments.
• A legal and constitutional review of foreign donations used to influence symbolic and doctrinal representation in civic spaces.

This is not a matter of personal belief—it is a matter of constitutional guardianship and native sovereignty. The Buddha Sāsana is not negotiable. It is protected.

By Palitha Ariyarathna

This is a research-based civic submission. All references, rulings, and source materials can be submitted and forwarded upon request—for research purposes only.

Courtesy The Morning

• Complaint lodged by civil society org. against Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Bimal Rathnayake, Wasantha Samarasinghe, Kumara Jayakody, Sunil Handunnetti, Sunil Watagala
• Probe sought under Money Laundering Law

The Citizens Power against Bribery, Corruption, and Waste organisation has lodged a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), seeking an investigation into the assets of six Cabinet and Deputy Ministers in the current National People’s Power (NPP) Government.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, President of the organisation Kamantha Thushara said that he had lodged a complaint with the CIABOC, requesting an investigation into the assets of six key figures in the current Government under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, No. 5 of 2006.

The ministers and deputy ministers against whom investigations have been requested include: Minister of Health and Mass Media and Chief Government Whip Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe, Minister of Energy engineer Kumara Jayakody, Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, and Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Attorney Sunil Watagala.

Thushara said that the CIABOC had accepted his complaint, adding that he was hopeful that investigations would begin in the same way that the commission had initiated probes against Opposition politicians accused of acquiring assets and properties through illegal means.

Attempts to contact the NPP General Secretary and Government MP Dr. Nihal Abeysinghe proved futile.

Several parties, including ministers, deputy ministers, and parliamentarians have now submitted their assets and liabilities declarations to the CIABOC. 

On social media, discussions have surfaced regarding the properties owned by certain Government politicians. However, speaking at the Cabinet of Ministers media briefing, Dr. Jayatissa said on Tuesday (16) that the allegations stemmed from the very declarations submitted by politicians themselves, adding that they would be able to prove the sources of their earnings.

Courtesy Hiru News

A complaint has been filed with the Election Commission against three Members of Parliament from the National People’s Power (NPP).

The complaint alleges that the three MPs contested the last parliamentary election without properly obtaining leave or retiring from their public service positions.

The three individuals are Senior Professor Sena Nanayakkara, Senior Lecturer Dr. M.W.N.U. Gunasinghe, and Senior Lecturer P.D.N.K. Palihena, all of whom were lecturers at the Sri Lanka Rajarata University.

The complaint was filed today by the New People’s Front (NPF).

The party’s Deputy Leader, Upatissa Kumaratunga, stated that their election is a violation of Article 91 of the Sri Lankan Constitution, which makes it illegal.

The NPF has urged the Election Commission to take immediate action.

Courtesy Hiru News

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says the government is recording a higher revenue this year than was anticipated in the budget.

The President made the statement while speaking at the ceremony to resume the construction on the Kadawatha to Mirigama section of the Central Expressway.

Dissanayake said that for the first time, the country will record a smaller budget deficit than projected, adding that in the past, revenue targets were rarely met.

The President also said that the country has a “black state” operating parallel to the government, with criminal gangs receiving arms, police providing protection to drug traffickers, and government departments issuing illegal documents.

He vowed to end this “underground state” and suppress organised crime.

Addressing the public, Dissanayake said that the country should not have to bear the costs of “inflated, empty characters.”

He called for a culture of developed citizens and politicians, not one where citizens worship their leaders.

Speaking on the expressway project, the President said he had requested assistance from the Chinese President during his visit to China in January to restart all projects funded by Chinese loans.

He said the China Exim Bank has agreed to provide the loan for the expressway project in yuan, at an interest rate between 2.5% and 3.5%.

Global Insight Hub

Top News Lk

Top News Lk

By Rohana R. Wasala

 Don David Hewavitharne, who later became the famous Anagarika Dharmapala, was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on September 17, 1864. David Hewavitarne was at the beginning of Sri Lanka’s difficult transformation from a British monarchical colony to an independent sovereign republic in 1972. When the American theosophist, retired military officer, lawyer and journalist Henry Steel Olcott arrived in Colombo in May 1880, David was hardly sixteen (so would have been included among today’s youngest Gen Z’eers in the impossible event of his having been born 161 years later than he actually was, but would have been miles ahead of most of them in his awareness of the necessity of positive social change and reform in accordance with the country’s national genius). Steel Olcott catalysed the work of the native pioneers of the Buddhist revivalist movement like the prominent Buddhist prelate Mirisse Revata and scholar monk Hikkaduwe Siri Sumangala. In the contemporary environment of imperial subjugation and suppression, their exertions would have achieved nothing much without the American’s involvement. The English proficient young David assisted Olcott as his translator.

At this time of fast receding Dharmapala memories, I was moved to write this tribute to the great patriot, social reformer, and Buddhist missionary, by a casual insulting remark that a deputy minister of the current JVP/NPP government (a Colombo district MP) made about this revered national hero, during a recent YouTube chat program: the viciously ignorant minister belonging to the Millennial Generation (in his forties) said that Dharmapala made protesting noises against the well-to-do of the time because he envied them their comfortable lifestyle!

For the information of interested young Sri Lankans who may not know (for no fault of theirs) about Anagarika Dharmapala’s background, I’d like to quote the following paragraph from the brief biography of Anagarika Dharmapala  ‘FLAME IN DARKNESS’ (Triratna Grantha Mala, 1980) compiled by Ven. Sangharakshita, an Englishman, who edited the ‘Maha Bodhi’ journal of the Maha Bodhi Society of India founded by Anagarika Dharmapala, for fourteen years (presumably in 1940s and ’50s):

‘Among the few well-to-do families which, through all vicissitudes stood firmly and fearlessly on the side of their ancestral faith, was the Hewavitarne family of Matara in South Ceylon. Hewavitarne Dingiri Appuhamy, the first member of this family with whom we are concerned, belonged to the large and respected goigama or cultivator class. He had two sons, both of whom exhibited the same devotion to the Dharma as their father. One of them became a bhikshu known as Hittatiye Atthadassi Thera and occupied the incumbency of Hittatiya Rajamaha Vihara. His teacher, Mirisse Revata Thera, was fourth in pupillary succession from the Sangharaia Saranankara, the greatest name in eighteenth century Ceylon Buddhism. The other son, Don Carolis Hewavitarne migrated to Colombo, established there a furniture manufacturing business in the Pettah area, and married the daughter of a Colombo businessman, Andris Perera Dharmagunawardene, who had donated a piece of land at Maligakanda, erected on it the first Pirivena of Buddhist monastic college in Ceylon, and brought a monk from the remote village of Hikkaduwa to be its principal. Since then, the names of Vidyodaya Pirivena and Hikkaduwa Siri Sumangala Maha Nayaka Thera, have passed, inseparably united, into the history of world Buddhism. Through the halls of this great institution of Buddhist learning, unrivalled through the length and breadth  of Ceylon, have passed monks from Burma, Siam, India, Japan and China, and the memory of the great Buddhist scholar, mathematician and expert in comparative religion who for so many decades guided its destinies is revered wherever the Dharma taught in the Pali Scriptures is known.’ 

According to Ven. Sangharakshita, the young Don Carolis Hewavitarne and his wife Mallika desired a son, for different reasons, though. Mudliyar Hewavitarne wanted a son to inherit and continue his furniture business, but his wife equally seriously wished for a son who would become a bhikshu to advance the cause of Buddhism. They were overjoyed when David was born on the night of September 17, 1864, in the Pettah district of Colombo, where ‘the national religion and culture had fallen to the lowest pitch of degeneration, there came, as though to strike the evil at its very heart, the birth of Dharmapala like a vivid flash of lightning from a black and stormy sky.’

David grew up in a devoutly religious environment at home. ‘Without that early religious training’, writes Ven. Sangharakshita, ‘young David Hewavitarne might have grown up to wear top hat and trousers, speaking English to his family and Sinhalese to the servants, like thousands of his contemporaries, and Dharmapala, the Lion of Lanka, might never have been born, – and the greatness of the difference which such a calamity would have made to India, Buddhism, and the world, it is now impossible for us to gauge. It should never be forgotten that the piety of the old Sinhala type was the plinth and foundation of Dharmapal’s whole character.’

There were no Buddhist places of worship in Colombo at the time of David Hewavitarne’s birth. Devout Buddhists had to go to the Kelaniya Viharaya ten miles north of the city on full-moon poya days for their religious observances; the only other viharaya was at Ratmalana, seven miles south of Colombo, where the learned Buddhist monk Walane Nahimi (Chief Monk) lived. Neither were there any schools for the education of Buddhist children; there were only a few schools even for the secular education of the Sinhala speaking children; Buddhists’ attempts to establish schools for their children were discouraged on various pretexts. This is mentioned in Anagarika’s short autobiography in English MY LIFE STORY (edited and completed from the author’s diaries and other writings by Lakshman Jayawardane, Media Advisor, Maha Bodhi Society of Sri Lanka, in 2013). The deplorable situation of the Buddhist Sinhalese in the capital city of their native homeland from time time immemorial was indicative of the almost total sweeping away of the traditional Sinhalese Buddhist culture of the country by the successive tsunamis of Portuguese, Dutch and British invasions. Fortunately, today, this is not more than a bitter memory in our national consciousness, which, however, will remain indelible for a long time to come.

Let bygones be bygones, some people may murmur. True, generally we must. But certain past injustices in the form of racial and religious discrimination that we suffered under foreign occupation are worth remembering for properly appreciating the freedoms we Sri Lankans of diverse ethnicities, religions, and cultures enjoy today based on the principle of equality in this common homeland of ours; recalling the sordid iniquities we were subjected to by foreign intruders, and the commemoration of the visionary leaders who made emancipation from them a reality, are as cogently necessary for preventing new forms of barbarism from destroying our freedom and wellbeing again.

Under the earlier Dutch rulers, Buddhists had been compelled to declare themselves as Christians. The British enforced the same law for 70 years until they were compelled to abrogate it in 1884. Henry Steel Olcott mentioned above had it repealed by making representations to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London on behalf of the Buddhists of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Children born of Buddhist parents in Colombo at that time had to be taken to a Christian church for the minister there to record the names of the parents, and the dates of birth of the babies who were given Christian names by him. In territories under European occupation including Colombo most Sinhalese were given an English Christian name and a Portuguese surname if they were Catholic ‘converts’ or an English Christian name and a Sinhalese surname if they were ‘converted’ to Anglicanism. The majority of the Sinhalese in these areas were ashamed or afraid to own themselves to be Buddhists. Only those in the interior villages were relatively free to observe the religion of their forefathers without hindrance. Even there they were not free from the attacks of thousands of catechists who went about disparaging and disgracing the Buddhist faith for twenty rupees a month. Buddhist boys and girls were peremptorily taught Bible tracts and subliminally influenced to turn against their own religion.

In these bleak circumstances, the members of the Sangha also degenerated spiritually and intellectually. But there were a few notable exceptions who were devout, disciplined, and learned and who somehow managed to keep the dimly flickering flame of the Buddha Dhamma alive. It was some of these bhikkhus who did much to save the day for the Buddhists. In 1873, in response to hostile Christian activism against Buddhists in the form of proselytizing activities through the school system and the publication and distribution of books and pamphlets in the vernaculars among the non-Christians, one of these monks, Ven. Mohottiwatte/Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera, challenged the Christians to defend their faith at a debate. This challenge was accepted by the Christian clergy. The debate took place as arranged by mutual consent. It concluded with a decisive victory to the Buddhist monk. The debate received wide coverage in the press, and it was news of this that attracted here theosophists Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky who were instrumental in initiating a long overdue re-awakening of Buddhist education in the country. The young David Hewavitarne was a lad of 15 when they arrived in Colombo in 1880, and he accompanied them as their translator on their travels across the island.

The imperialists made every attempt to teach the children to be ashamed of and disown their own race, religion, language, culture, and the colour of their skin. In the case of Don David Hewavitharne, he had to be admitted to the Pettah Roman Catholic School (also known as St Mary’s School), where he remained from age 6 to 10 years. The reason for this was that around 1870 the government closed all Buddhist Temple schools in the country because children attending these places of instruction were found by a government-appointed commission “to be too loyal to the traditions of old Ceylon” (which most probably meant that they were difficult to convert). After 1870, therefore, Sinhalese Buddhist children were denied an opportunity to receive any religious instruction in a school unless they got it at home. Chances of their getting any secular education were also few, because the government said that they had not enough money to establish schools for Sinhalese children. 

Meanwhile the Christian missionaries opened their schools throughout the island. Their real motives were candidly revealed later to David by Warden Miller of St Thomas’ College in Colombo which he attended after receiving his primary education in the Roman Catholic school mentioned above, when he told him: “We don’t come to teach you English, but we come to Ceylon to convert you”. His parents, meanwhile, saw to it that he had a normal Buddhist training at home, as already pointed out . Even as a child he knew that he owed no allegiance to the Christian religion. When the Catholic Bishop Hilarian Sillani visited the school, the young David was asked to kneel to kiss the ring on the clergyman’s finger as the other children were required to do; but he refused to obey that customary ritual.

Buddhist parents in Colombo at that time had no choice but to be content with either a government or a missionary school for their children. David’s parents chose the second for him. It was as a result of this that he was admitted, at age six, to the Pettah Roman Catholic School (St Mary’s School). At this school he became a favourite with the padres (fathers) because of his good behavior and his studious disposition. He used to take flowers from his father’s garden to the school to decorate the altars there on feast days and he also took part in the church services. The padres treated the Buddhist children kindly, but they also constantly ridiculed and insulted the Buddhist religion which was their proud heritage, saying such things as “Look at your mud image. You are worshipping clay”. Some impressionable young boys, thus humiliated, got converted to Christianity, but David never turned away from the Buddhist training he had had at home.

 After leaving St Mary’s School at ten, he passed through a number of other schools, first in a Sinhalese medium school learning Sinhalese and then in St Benedict’s Institute, submitting himself to further instruction in Christianity. In 1879, when he was 15, he found admission to ‘St. Thomas Collegiate’ (as he calls it), where he remained until 1883. It was during this time that David Hewavitharne came in touch with Buddhist bhikkhus (there were not many in Colombo then) and eventually with theosophists Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky. 

David Hewavitharne had to leave St. Thomas’ College in 1883, even before passing the London Matriculation examination because his father didn’t want his son to go to a Christian school after the Catholic riots of March 1883: Some fanatical Catholics attacked a peaceful Buddhist procession that was passing St Lucia’s Church in Kotahena. Ven. Migettuwatte Thera who had taken part in the Panadura Debate was living at a temple in Kotahena at that time, but this had no connection with the incident.

Anagarika Dharmapala began his career of selfless service to his people and religion in these circumstances. He was not a Buddhist fanatic or a Sinhalese racist, but a patriot who bravely stood up to defend his people and their religion from religious fanatics and foreign racists. The Temperance Movement he initiated around the turn of the last century later metamorphosed into an eventually successful national agitation for independence drawing into its ranks many patriots that his example had inspired. 

Shenali D Waduge

The Yahapalana government, installed in 2015 after a US–India regime-change operation to remove Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised “good governance,” anti-corruption, and democracy. Instead, it systematically dismantled Sri Lanka’s post-war gains. Between 2015 and 2019, it undermined sovereignty, destabilized the economy, weakened national security, and enabled unprecedented foreign interference. This exposé consolidates the failures, individuals, parties, and institutions responsible.

The Key Actors

• Maithripala Sirisena– President (SLFP)
• Ranil Wickremesinghe– Prime Minister (UNP)
• Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga – former President (key architect of coalition that toppled Mahinda Rajapakse)
• Mangala Samaraweera– Foreign Minister
• Ravi Karunanayake– Finance Minister
• Arjuna Mahendran– Central Bank Governor (foreign national, handpicked by PM)
• Indrajit Coomaraswamy– Central Bank Governor (2016–2019); advisor to Raj Rajaratnam (Galleon); Pathfinder think-tank/MCC links
• Karu Jayasuriya– Speaker
• M. Jayaratne– Outgoing PM ignored in appointment anomaly
• Anura Kumara Dissanayake (JVP)– Linked to FCID case management
• Ravi Seneviratne– Acting Head, FCID
• Shani Abeysekera– Director, CID
• C. Weliamuna– Headed SriLankan Airlines inquiry team; BASL-linked
• Nimalka Fernando– NGO activist; Yahapalana campaigner; OMP member
• Saliya Pieris– Chairman, Office of Missing Persons
• TNA, SLMC, JVP, BASL leadership, NGO coalitions– Yahapalana’s parliamentary and civil society support base
• Jayantha Jayasuriya– Attorney General, later Chief Justice, signatory to MCC
• Pujith Jayasundera– IGP
• Paskaralingam– Senior Advisor to PM; recommended Trimble mapping

1. Unity Government & Unlawful PM Appointment

• Ranil Wickremesinghe appointed PM immediately after presidential election with only 40 MPs; sitting PM D. M. Jayaratne had not resigned.
• TNA with only 16 MPs was declared Opposition, violating norms.
• Yahapalana coalition brought together UNP, SLFP defectors, TNA, SLMC, JVP, NGOs, and BASL.

Implications: Precedent for unconstitutional governance; weak, manipulable coalition beholden to external sponsors.

2. 19th Amendment & Institutional Capture

• Shifted power from President to PM/Parliament under guise of “democracy.”
• Politicized independent commissions.
• Attempted constitutional overhaul with foreign consultants; proposals aimed at diluting Article 9 (Buddhism).

3. Central Bank Bond Scam & Politicized Finance

• Central Bank moved under PM prior to 2015 bond scam.
• Arjuna Mahendran, foreign national, made Governor.
• 110 billion loss via irregular bonds.
• Successor Indrajit Coomaraswamy had conflict of interest (Rajaratnam, Pathfinder).

Implications: Credibility of financial governance destroyed; investor confidence shattered.

4. High-Risk Borrowing & Debt Entrapment

• Yahapalana floated $12.5 billion ISBs at high interest, bought by hedge funds.
• Debt burden passed to future governments, laying foundation for economic collapse.

5. Mismanagement of Assets & Vanity Projects

• Port Cityhalted; $130m compensation; additional land ceded to China.
• Hambantota/Mattala tenderscancelled; penalties imposed.
• East Container Terminalmachinery cancelled → 55b loss.
• Symbolic extravagance: Arjuna Ranatunga’s “world’s ugliest” Christmas tree at Galle Face.

6. MCC & Land Sovereignty Undermined

• MCC compact ($480m) tied to land/transport reforms.
• 28% of Sri Lanka’s land to be digitized, with foreign contractors enjoying immunity.
• Signed by AG Jayantha Jayasuriya without Parliament’s sanction.

7. Trimble Mapping & Survey Dept Sidelined

• Paskaralingam’s committee bypassed Survey Department.
• Cadastral mapping contract given to US firm Trimble at$154m (vs $40m local estimate).
• Land, cadastral data, and geospatial sovereignty compromised.

8. UNHRC Co-Sponsorship & Geneva Agenda

• Yahapalana co-sponsored Resolution 30/1 (Oct 2015).
• Committed to: OMP, Office for Reparations, hybrid courts, constitutional changes.
• Legitimized LTTE victimhood narrative and external monitoring of Sri Lanka.

9. National Security Eroded

• Intelligence officers arrested/sidelined.
• Units tracking Islamist extremism shut down.
• Military demonized internationally.
• Result:Easter Sunday 2019 attacks, preventable if intelligence had not been dismantled.

10. Corruption, Nepotism & Weaponized Justice

• FCID selectively targeted opposition; Yahapalana corruption ignored.
• Weliamuna Report on SriLankan Airlines: 136 pages, 11 chapters, cost Rs. 3.5m—widely criticized as superficial, politically motivated.
• Appointments based on loyalty/family ties.

11. Yahapalana vs Maha Sangha

• Monks opposing MCC, Geneva resolutions, and constitutional reforms branded “racist extremists.”
• Attempts to weaken Buddhism’s constitutional protection.
• Protests and objections by the Sangha disregarded.

12. Public Unrest & Declining Services

• Strikes by doctors (SAITM), teachers, and railway workers crippled governance.
• Health and education underfunded and politicized.
• Agriculture, energy, transport, and industry neglected.
• Industrialization stalled; foreign investors withdrew.

13. Foreign Influence Entrenched

• US: Geneva agenda, MCC, NGO networks.
• India: Trimble mapping, land agenda, security role.
• China: Hambantota lease painted as “debt trap” though Yahapalana mismanagement created dependency.

The Damage Summarized

• Legal/Political: Unconstitutional PM appointment, 19th Amendment abuses.
• Economic: Bond scam, ISB borrowing, asset mismanagement, Port City fiasco.
• Security: Intelligence dismantled, Easter Sunday attacks.
• Sovereignty: MCC, Trimble, Geneva concessions.
• Governance: Nepotism, weaponized FCID, NGO infiltration.
• Society/Religion: Health, education, agriculture weakened; Maha Sangha targeted.

A Wake-Up Call

The Yahapalana years (2015–2019) stand out as the most destructive governance period in post-war Sri Lanka. They inherited a nation free of terrorism, with infrastructure in place and the opportunity to deliver the “good governance” they promised. Instead, they delivered corruption, economic sabotage, and the erosion of sovereignty.

Those who enabled this betrayal — political parties, NGOs, BASL figures, and individuals within the system — must be held accountable for undoing the progress Sri Lanka had achieved between 2009 and 2015.

Shenali D Waduge

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Trincomalee has good strategic potential to develop construction & repair (shipyard / offshore fabrication / repair services). It already has a deep natural harbour, government and port-authority plans to industrialise the port, and fresh political interest (energy hub / bunkering / refinery plans) that will create local vessel traffic and project work. Those factors make a Trincomalee-based business attractive — but success depends on securing land/berths, financing, skilled labour, and anchor customers to guarantee steady revenue. 

---

Why the opportunity exists (key drivers)

1. World-class natural harbour — Trincomalee’s bay is one of the deepest, sheltered harbours in the Indian Ocean, ideal for docking, heavy lifts and fabrication of large modules. This is the long-term structural advantage. 
2. Government & SLPA plans — The Sri Lanka Ports Authority and other national plans explicitly list Trincomalee for port/industrial development and nautical improvements, and urban/industrial masterplans (2025–2035) include port-side industrialisation. That gives a policy route for permits, PPPs and incentives. 
3. Energy / bunkering projects underway — Talks and agreements with India and the UAE to develop an energy hub, pipelines, bunkering and possible refinery will generate demand for bunkering services, tank/vessel repairs, pipeline_module fabrication and logistics support. This is a major near-to-mid term demand source. 
4. Regional OSV / offshore market growth — Offshore Support Vessels (OSV), platform support and offshore construction markets in the Bay of Bengal / Asia Pacific are growing — more OSVs, cable/renewables and floating units need local repair/retrofit capacity. That feedstock is a reliable customer pool. 
5. Existing supply chain / proof of concept — Colombo Dockyard and other Sri Lankan players already run afloat/repair operations and have begun activity in Trincomalee — shows feasibility and an initial customer base to build from. 

---

Who can be your customers (practical list)

Primary customers (highest likelihood / value):

• Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) operators — routine maintenance, DP systems, deck gear, crane/anchor repairs. (Regional OSV fleets from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Southeast Asia). 
• Shipowners of tankers & product carriers — bunkering-related calls, repairs after voyages, hull/propeller/engine work. (Tankers visiting for bunkering/refinery support). 
• Ship conversion / module fabrication clients — owners/operators converting tankers to FPSO, or fabricating large modules for onshore plants/refineries. (Energy companies, EPC contractors). 
• Government & defence — Sri Lanka Navy, Coast Guard, government marine units for maintenance, docking and refit contracts. (Usually steady, secure revenue). 
• Oil & gas / energy companies and their contractors — pipeline contractors, tank farm operators, offshore project EPCs (for fabrication, pre-outfitting and repairs). 

Secondary customers (opportunity / seasonal):

• Fishing & small commercial fleet — repair, steelwork and small refits.
• Cruise/visit vessels & yachts — light repairs, provisioning, though volumes are lower.
• Salvage/repair after incidents — emergency repairs, heavy-lift refits.

---

Services to offer (what to build first)

Quick revenue generators (lower capex, fast to field):

• Afloat repairs / diver-supported hull work (can start with minimal hardstand). 
• Engine/auxiliary service, propeller/shaft repairs, electrical and hydraulics.
• Bunkering-support services and minor tank cleaning / valve work (linked to energy hub).

Higher-capex, higher-margin services (scale later):

• Dry-dock or travel-lift slipway for small/medium vessels.
• Heavy fabrication yard for modules, topsides, FPSO conversions.
• Steel plate shop, blasting/painting hall, heavy-lift crane and quay upgrades.

---

Risks & constraints (what to watch)

• Competition from Colombo & Hambantota — Colombo has mature yards; Hambantota is developing large industrial capacity. You must offer something complementary (specialist offshore, quicker turnaround, lower draft constraints). 
• Infrastructure & berthing / land availability — need secure land/berths and dredging/engineering approvals from SLPA; delays/costs possible. 
• Financing and skilled workforce — heavy fabrication + ship repair require capital and trained welders, riggers, engineers — workforce development is necessary.
• Regulatory & environmental approvals — fabrication, paint-blasting and waste management need strict controls.
• Project dependency risk — dependence on a single large anchor project (e.g., refinery) can be risky if that project stalls. 

---

Practical go-to-market plan (high level, immediate steps)

1. Secure a small pilot site / lease for afloat repairs and light fabrication (fastest to start cash flow). (Quick win: afloat repairs branch model already used by Colombo Dockyard.) 
2. Target clients: approach OSV operators, local tanker operators (bunkering routes), Sri Lanka Navy/Coast Guard, and EPCs working on the energy hub. Offer short lead-time, competitive pricing and bundled services (fuel + spares + repair). 
3. Form partnerships / JV with an established yard (Colombo Dockyard, foreign EPC, or regional shipyard) for technical backup, training and initial credibility. 
4. Invest in workforce training (welding, NDT, marine electrical) — tie with local technical institutes and the Export Development Board / SLPA incentives. 
5. Bid for SLPA / government small works (engineering, maintenance), to build local track record and cash flow. 

---

Simple revenue/scale thinking (rules of thumb)

• A small afloat/repair operation (few cranes, workshops, slipway access) can be set up with moderate capex and reach break-even faster — good for serving OSVs and coastal tankers.
• A dry-dock + heavy fabrication yard requires large CAPEX, longer lead time and anchor contracts (EPCs, oil companies) but yields higher margins on conversions and module fabrication.(If you want, I can sketch an indicative CAPEX vs. revenue timeline for small vs large options.)

---

Suggested next concrete actions (I can help do these)

1. Prepare a short investment brief (1–2 pages) targeted at SLPA/EDB or a private investor describing site, services, and expected clients.
2. Draft an Expression of Interest (EOI) to send to Colombo Dockyard, Indian shipyards or AD Ports for JV talks.
3. Make a customer outreach list (OSV operators, local tanker operators, EPCs) with contact script.

Regards

lankacnews

හිටපු පළාත් සභා මන්ත‍්‍රී වරුණ රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා විසින් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය, වැදගත් සහ බරපතල කාරණාවක් දැනුම් දීම අරමුණු කරගනිමින් අදහස් පළ කර ඇත. ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පුද්ගලිකව දැනුම් දීමට ක්‍රමයක් නොතිබුණු බවත්, දුරකථන අංක ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවූ බවත්, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ විජිත හේරත් මහතාගේ දුරකථන අංකයද වැඩ නොකළ බවත් ඔහු සඳහන් කරයි. මෙම කාරණය කල් තැබීමට නොහැකි තරම් බරපතල බවත්, රටේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව තමන් ඉතාම සැලකිලිමත් වන බවත් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අවධාරණය කරයි.

ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පෞද්ගලික කාර්යාලවල හෝ විවිධ අයගේ ස්ථානවල නොසිට, රජය මගින් සකස් කරන ලද විධිමත් ආරක්ෂක යාන්ත්‍රණයක් සහ ජනාධිපති නිල නිවාස උපරිම ලෙස භාවිතා කළ යුතු බවයි. රටේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ආරක්ෂාව ඔහුගේ පුද්ගලික වගකීමක් නොව, රටේ සහ පුරවැසියාගේ වගකීමක් ලෙස තමන් විශ්වාස කරන බවද ඔහු පවසයි. අනුරාධපුරයේ හෝටලයක ජනාධිපතිවරයා නවාතැන් ගත් අවස්ථාවක පුපුරණ ද්‍රව්‍ය සම්බන්ධ සිදුවීමක් වාර්තා වූ බවත්, එම හෝටලයේ අයිතිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සමාජයේ ආන්දෝලනයක් ඇති වූ බවත් ඔහු සිහිපත් කරයි. එමෙන්ම, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඇතුළු හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරුන් නිල නිවාසවලින් ඉවත් කිරීමේදී පවා ඔවුන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව සහ වගකීම රාජ්‍යය දැරිය යුතු බවට තමන් අදහස් දැක්වූ බවද ඔහු කියා සිටියි.

වරුණ රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ අදහස් දැක්වීමේ මූලික කරුණ වන්නේ අදාල හෝටල් ජාලය හිමි කාන්තාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන සිදුවීමකි. ජනාධිපතිවරයා අනුරාධපුරයේ නවාතැන් ගත් හෝටලය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ කාන්තාවගේ නම සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ආන්දෝලනයකට ලක් වූ බවත්, කැබිනට් මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාවේදී නලින්ද ජයතිස්ස මහතා එය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප නොකළ බවත් ඔහු පවසයි.

මෙම කාන්තාව ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ සිට රාජ්‍යයේ ඉතාම වගකිවයුතු පුද්ගලයන් විශාල පිරිසක් ඇසුරු කරන තැනැත්තියක්” බවට පෙනී යන බවද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කියා සිටියි.

බරපතලම ප්‍රශ්නය වන්නේ, මෙම කාන්තාව සතු හැව්ලොක් සිටි නිවාස සංකීර්ණයේ මහල් නිවාසයක් තිලිනි ප්‍රියමාලි නම් කාන්තාවට ලබා දී තිබීමයි. තිලිනි ප්‍රියමාලි මූල්‍ය වංචා අපරාධ සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනාවට ලක්වූ ආන්දෝලනාත්මක කාන්තාවක් බව ඔහු සිහිපත් කරයි. තිලිනි ප්‍රියමාලි මාස හයක පමණ කාලයක් එම නිවසේ රැඳී සිට ඇත.

ඊටත් පසුව, එම නිවස නමගිය පාතාල ලෝකයට සම්බන්ධ පුද්ගලයකුට කුලී පදනම මත හෝ වෙනත් පදනමකට ලබා දී ඇත. රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පවසන ආකාරයට, මෙම පුද්ගලයා සහ තවත් නාගරික හෝ ප්‍රාදේශීය මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් එම නිවසේදී අන්තරායකර මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පොලිස් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නාශක අංශය හෝ පොලීසිය විසින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන තිබේ. අපරාධකරුවන් විසින් එම නිවස මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ව්‍යාපාර කටයුතු සඳහා යොදාගත් බවට සාක්ෂි වශයෙන්, එහි නැවතී සිටි අය භාවිතා කළ පාකින් ස්ලෝට් එකේ තිබී මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය සාම්පල ප්‍රමාණයක් ලැබී ඇත.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාළිගාකන්ද මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ නඩුවක් තිබෙන බවත්, එහි අංකය B 59/24 බවත්, මෙම සිදුවීම ගිය වසරේ පෙබරවාරි 24 වන දින සිදු වූ බවත් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සඳහන් කරයි. මෙම නිවස පොලීසිය විසින් සීල් කර පසුව අධිකරණය විසින් අදාළ කාන්තාවට භාර දී ඇති බවද ඔහු පවසයි.

වරුණ රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා අවධාරණය කරන්නේ හෝටල් ජාලය හිමි කාන්තාව සහ පාතාලය හෝ මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය අතර සම්බන්ධයක් තිබේදැයි තමන් නොදන්නා බවයි. නමුත් මෙවැනි අධිකරණ ක්‍රියාවලියක් සිදුවී ඇති බව සත්‍ය නම්, ඇය අවස්ථා දෙකකදී විවිධ ආකාරයේ චෝදනාවට ලක්වූ අයට නිවස ලබා දී ඇති බවද ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙයි.

මෙම තොරතුරු තමන් කියන නිසා නිවැරදි යැයි නොසිතන ලෙසත්, මේ පිළිබඳව වැඩිදුරටත් සොයා බලා නිවැරදි බව තහවුරු කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව අවශ්‍ය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා ලෙසත් වරුණ රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියි. මාළිගාකන්ද උසාවියෙන් B-රිපෝට් එක ලබාගෙන, පොලීසියෙන් සහ මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නාශක අංශයෙන් විස්තර දැනගෙන, මේ ක්‍රියාවලිය පිළිබඳව සම්පූර්ණයෙන් සොයා බලන ලෙසත්, ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ පුද්ගලික ආරක්ෂාව මෙන්ම දේශපාලන පක්ෂයේ ක්‍රියාකාරීන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳවද අවබෝධයක් ලබා දෙන ලෙසත් ඔහු ඉල්ලා සිටියි. පුරවැසියකුගේ වගකීමක් ලෙස තමන්ට දැනගත් තොරතුරු වහාම ලබා දුන් බවද ඔහු පවසයි

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka expects Chinese state energy giant Sinopec to start work on a $3.7 billion refinery this year and is considering the company’s long-standing demand to sell more fuel locally, the energy minister said on Tuesday.

The Sinopec refinery, approved in 2023, will have capacity to process 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day and will be located near the Chinese-built and operated Hambantota port in southern Sri Lanka, Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody said in an interview at his office.

The land we already have allocated for them, and they have done the other facilities too,” he said. The government … we all have the same idea and the same expectation on this project (that it will start this year).”

Sri Lanka’s deputy economic development minister, Anil Jayantha Fernando, separately told Reuters that Sinopec could take about three years to complete the project.

A Chinese industry executive with direct knowledge of the project said Sinopec has been waiting for months for the latest proposal from the Sri Lankan government on access to the local fuel market.

Previously, Sri Lanka had wanted Sinopec to sell only 20% of the refinery’s output locally and export the rest, but it is now considering a proposal allowing the company to sell up to 40% domestically, the minister and another official said.

A Sinopec spokesperson declined to comment.

From what they tell us, if they don’t have greater market access, feasibility and viability in the current context (could be challenging),” said Arjuna Herath, chair of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka.

That’s the point that’s being negotiated as to what it should be – whether it should be 30, 40 (percent) or other points. So there is a lot of commitment to see whether we can work this out.”

Sri Lanka imports most of its fuel.

For energy security, Sri Lanka also plans to invest about $3 billion to expand its state-run 38,000 bpd refinery near Colombo to up to 150,000 bpd, Jayakody said. Sinopec is among companies from countries including China, India and Qatar that have shown interest in the project, he said.

Expansion work at the refinery, run by Ceylon Petroleum, will start next year and finish in two to three years, he added.

Sinopec participated in Sri Lanka’s tender briefing early this month on the refinery expansion and has until September 26 to submit a letter of interest, said the Chinese executive, declining to give further details.

The executive declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media.

Details of the projects have not previously been reported.

Sri Lanka’s proximity to major maritime routes connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe has made it a focal point in the rivalry between China and India, with both investing heavily in infrastructure and energy projects to expand their influence in the Indian Ocean island nation of 22 million people.

India said earlier this year it was working on establishing an energy hub on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast.

Our country’s location is very, very important for the geopolitical aspect, especially since most sea routes go nearby,” said Jayakody.

On one side, we have India, and the other countries are also going through the same route, you know, so our country automatically and naturally gains some important geopolitical advantages.”

Source: Reuters

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

කුණු දමන පෙට්ටියක් හම්බුවෙන තෙක්  කිමි 2ක් තම බස් ටිකට් එක කමිසයේ උඩ සාක්කුවේ දමාගෙන  පයින් ගිය විශ්‍රාම ලත්  ඉස්කෝලේ මහත්තයෙක් හමු උනා. ඇහුවහම කිවුවා පාර අවට වෙන මොන කුණු කන්දරාවක් තිබුනත් තමන්ගේ කුණු (බස් ටිකට් එක) පාරේ විසිකරලා පරිසරය තවත් අපවිත්‍ර කරන්න හිත ඉඩ දුන්නෙම නැතිලු.  කොච්චර හොඳ මහත්මයෙක්ද?

අපට 1948 නිදහස ලබන විට රටින් 49% මහා වනය.  2012 දී මේ ප්‍රමාණය 16.5% දක්වා අඩුවී තිබුනා. මේ ප්‍රමාණය එන්න එන්නම ක්ෂය වෙනවා.

හරියටම ගණන් හැදුවොත් අද 10% වත් ඇද්ද? මන්ද, බොහෝ ඝන කැලෑ යයි අප සිතන කැලෑ මතුපිටින් පමණයි. ඇතුලට ගියහම පේනවා ඒවත් ජනාවාස කරගෙන, සමහරු විශාල හෝ කුඩා ප්‍රමාණයේ වගා ව්‍යාපාරයන් කරනවා (උදා: පුත්තලම, මහව, කැකිරාව, වැලි ඔය, මුලතිව් ඝන කැලෑ තුල). මේවා අතර තමා අලි සහ අනෙක් සත්තු ඉන්නේ. මේවා නිසයි අලි රෑට ගම් වදින්නේ.

2019 – 2023 රජයන් විශාල ලෙස ගොවීන්ට සහ වෙනත් අයට තුවක්කු ලයිසන් නිකුත් කළා. මේ නිසා අද සිදුවන අලි ඇතුන්, වඳුරන්, මොනරු  වැනි සතුන් ඝාතන අති මහත්.

කැලයේ ජීවත්වන බොහෝ අලින්ගේ වෙඩි වැදුණු තුවාලයක් දක්නට තියෙනවලු. ජාතියක් වශයෙන් අප ලැජ්ජා විය යුතු දෙයක්.

රිටිගල කන්ද මහා පුදුම තැනක්. කන්දේ පාමුල තියෙන්නේ වියලි කර්කෂ දේශගුණයක්, කඳු මුදුන නුවරඑලිය වගේ සීතලයි.  රිටිගලට පමණක් ආවේනිකවූ ශාක වර්ග 5ක් තියෙනවා, ලෝකයේ වෙන කොහෙවත් (ලංකාවද ඇතුළුව)  ඒවා නැහැ. 

ඈත මුහුදේ යන නැව් වලට දැන් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය ලස්සනට පේනවා; ප්‍රථාපවත් අපේ ඒ ගොඩනැගිල්ල.  ඒකත් වැහිලා යන විදියටයි පෝට් සිටිය නිර්මාණය වන්නේ. ගෝල් ෆේස්  එකේ ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය අසළ මුහුද දෙසට යොමු කල කාලතුවක්කු අවුරුදු 70ට වැඩියි. ඒ ස්ථානවල සාඩම්බරව ස්ථාපිතව තිබුනා. ගලවා කිසි අරමුණක් නැතිව දැන් හයි කරලා. එක කාලතුවක්කුවක් ඒ ළඟ තරු 5  හෝටලයක් ගාව  හයි කරගෙන.

පෝට් සිටි නව නගරයට අවශ්‍ය වන බලශක්තීන් සෝලර්, සුළං, මුහුදු රැල්ල, සුළං මෝල්,  වැනි පරිසර හිතකාමී මාර්ගවලින් ද ලබාගැනීමට පියවර ගත යුතුයි. කැලි කසළ බැහැර කිරීමද කැලි කසල ප්‍රතිචක්‍රීයකරණය වැනි පරිසර හිතකාමී මාර්ගවලින් ද විය යුතුයි.  පුරවනු ලබන වටිනා ඉඩම්වලින් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් වාහන නැවත්වීමට නොයොදවා බිහි කල පොලවේ  උස, මහල් ගොඩනැගිලිවල වාහන නැවත්වීමේ පහසුකම් ඉදි කල යුතුයි.

පෝට් සිටි නව නගරය තනිකරම හෝටල, සමාජ ශාලා, ඩිස්කෝ, කැසිනෝ, ඇමරිකන් වැනි කෑම  විකුණන ආපනශාලා  වලින් පිරි, බටහිර සංස්කෘතියේ අංගෝපංග වලට පමණක් මුල් තැන දෙන තැනක් නොවිය යුතුයි. සුපිරි මහල් නිවාස බිහි කිරීම අවශ්‍යයි.

අපේ දේශීය සංස්කෘතිය,  සභ්‍යත්වය, ප්‍රෞඩ ඉතිහාසය, බුද්ධාගමට, හින්දූනට, මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ටද නිසි තැන ලැබෙන පරිදි එය නිර්මාණය කිරීමට දැන්ම සිටම වග බලා ගනිමු.  උද්‍යාන, සක්මන් මාර්ග, ජල පොකුණු, වතුර මල්, භාවනා/යෝගා සඳහා ස්ථානයන්, ලංකාවට ආවේනික විවිධ ශාක වර්ග එහි විය යුතුයි. දැනට නැහැ හෝ අඩුයි.

ඉස්සර බේරේ වැවේ පල්, ජරා වතුර ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය අසලින් බැස ගොස් ගෝල්ෆේස් එකට ඔබ්බෙන් මුහුදට වැටුනා කිසි අවහිරයක් නොවී. දැන් පෝට් සිටියේ නව ගල් බැම්මවල හැපී, නැවතී, ඒ වතුර සේරම ගෝල් ෆේස් පැත්තේ මුහුද දෙසට හරවා යැවීමෙන් ඒ පැත්තේ (කොළඹ  3, 4) වෙරළ ආසන්න මිනිසුන්ගේ සෞඛ්‍ය්යට අයහපත් කාරක ඇතිවන්නට පුළුවන්.

පෝට් සිටිය පුරවන්න ටාපොලින් වැසූ කළුගල් පිරවූ ලොරි 100ක් වත් දවසකට  බත්තරමුල්ල පැත්තේ සිට කොටා රෝඩ්  පැත්තෙන් කොටුවට ගියා. දැනුත් යනවා, හැබැයි අඩුයි.

පෝට් සිටියට මුහුද පුරවන්න කළු ගල් ගෙනල්ලා තියෙන්නේ ඔරුවල, අරංගල, අතුරුගිරිය, මීගොඩ පැත්තේ විශාල කළු ගල් පර්වත කඩා.  දැන් ඒ පැත්තේ රස්නෙ වැඩියි, බොහෝ ලිං වල වතුරත්  හින්දිළලු.  වෘක්ෂ ලතා, වනජීවී හානිය කියා නිම කරන්න බැහැ. දුර දිග නොබලා කරන වැඩවල විපාක. තව අවුරුදු 20 – 25කින් තමා නියම ආනිසංස තේරෙන්නේ.

බේ‍රේ වැව අවට නිවාස, කර්මාන්තශාලාවලින් පිටකරන බොහොමයක් මිනිස් සහ වෙනත් අපද්‍රව්‍ය කෙලින්ම එම වැවට මුදාහරිනවා.  මේ අතර  තදබල රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍යත් තිබෙනවා. මේවා නතර කරන්න වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ගෙන නැහැ. 

බේරේ වැවේ සමහර ස්ථානවල  ජලය ගලාගෙන යන්නේ නැහැ. මේ නිසා වැවේ ඉහළ ස්ථරයේ නීලහරිත ඇල්ගී හැදෙනවා. එවිට වැව් ජලයේ ඒ ප්‍රදේශ වලට සූර්යාලෝකය කිඳාබසින්නේ නැහැ.  ජලයේ ‍පහළ ප්‍රදේශයට හිරු එළිය නොලැබීම නිසා එහි නිර්වායු බැක්ටීරියා සක්‍රීය වෙනවා. මේ නිසා සල්ෆර් ඩයොක්සයිඩ් වායුව හැදෙනවා. මේ නිසාත් දුර්ගන්ධය ඇතිවෙනවා. දැන් කරන්නේ ඇල්ගී නැතිවෙන්න ඒවා උඩට අළුහුණු දානවා.   එයින් ඇල්ගී ඉවත් වෙනවා. එහෙම කළාම ගඳ අඩුවෙනවා.  නමුත් මාළු සහ අනෙක් ජීවින් මැරෙනවා. ඒ වතුර අල්ලන්න සුදුසු නැහැ. අළු හුණු දැමීම ප්‍රශ්නයට පැලැස්තර දැමීමක් පමණයිද?

එදා මිනිසුන් කෙතරම් බේරේ වැවේ මාළු බෑවාද.  අද කිසිවෙක් නැහැ.

කොළඹ සහ වෙනත් ප්‍රධාන නගරවල කානු, ඇල දොළ වල් ඉතා අපවිත්‍රවී කුණු ගඳ ගසයි.  

මේවා අද  ඊයේ ඇතිවූ ප්‍රශ්ණ නොවේ – වසර ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ. දැන් පවත්නා ආණ්ඩුවට බැනීම වැරදියි.

උදාහරණයකට, බේරේ වැව කොළඹ නගරය මැද සමහර ස්ථානවල දරා ගන්න බැරි තරම් අප්‍රසන්න ගඳක් වහනය කරනවා; විශේෂයෙන්ම  මිනිස් වැසිකිලි අපද්‍රව්‍ය බේරේ වැවට වහනය වීම නිසා.  මේවා වැව උඩ පාවෙනවා පේනවා විශේෂයෙන්ම තදින් පායන දවස්වලට.  

කිරුලපොන ඇලෙත් හැව්ලොක් ටවුන් වලට එන්න කළින් පැතිවල තත්ත්වය මෙයයි.

අද කොටුවේ කස්ටම්ස්, ලේක් හවුස් බිල්ඩින් තියන පැතිවල සමහර දිනවල බේරේ වැව ලඟින් යනකොට නහය වසාගෙනයි ඕන කෙනෙක් යන්නේ. මුළු කොළඹම මිනිස් අසුචි මෙතනට එක් වෙලාද කියලා හිතෙන තරමට අසුචි ගඳ උහුලන්න බැහැ. ඒ විධියට නම් අපිට ආසියාවේ ආශ්චර්යය වෙන්න බැහැ. දවසකට  දහස් ගණනක් සංචාරකයෝ පයින් මේ ස්ථාන පහු කරගෙන යනවා නේද. ජාතියක් හැටියට අපට ආඩම්බර වෙන්න පුළුවන් දෙයක් නොවේ.  

විසදන්නම ඕන ප්‍රශ්න මේවායි, බොරුවට ගාලු පාර වගේ ප්‍රදේශවල හොඳට තියෙන පේව්මන්ට් කඩ කඩා වටිනා රතු පාට වගේ ගඩොල් වර්ග නැවත ඇල්ලීමට වඩා.

නගරයක්/ටවුමක් වූ විට උස ලස්සන බිල්ඩින්, බඩු පිරිච්ච සාප්පු, පාරේ දෙපැත්තේ නවත්තපු ලස්සණ කාර් වගේ දේවල් පමණක් තියෙලා වැඩක් නැහැ. ඉස්සෙල්ලම බලන්න ඕන කානු පද්ධතිය දිහා.  හොඳට බැහැලා යන  කුණු ජරාව නැති කානු/ඇලවල් තියෙන්න ඕන.  පිරිසිඳු කානු  කොන්ක්‍රීට් පියන්වලින් වසා තිබිය යුතුයි.

තැනින් තැන ගොඩ ගහපු කුණු විසිකරන ස්ථාන නැතිවෙන්න ඕන.  කැඩිච්ච නැති පිරිසිඳු පේව්මන්ට් තියෙන්න ඕන.  ආපන ශාලා පිරිසිඳු වෙන්න ඕන. කාක්කෝ, අපිරිසිඳු බල්ලෝ,  වල් බළල්ලු අඳුරු තැන් වල හැංගිලා ඉන්න ඌරු මියෝ වගේ සත්තු නැති හෝ අඩු වෙන්න ඕන.

කැඩුණු පාරවල වැසි දිනවල වතුර වලවල් සෑදෙනවා. මේවා නිසා පාරේ යන මිනිසුන් පල් වතුර, මඩ නානවා. 

මහජන සෞක්‍යය පරීක්ෂක වරු, පරිසර පොලිසිය හරියට, අකුරට රාජකාරි කරනවානම්  නගර/ටවුම් වල තත්ත්වය ගොඩාක්  සතුටුදායක කරගත හැකියි.

ජපානයේ නගරවල කානු වල ගලන ජලය බීමට වුවත් ගත හැකි තරමට පිරිසිඳුයි. හැබැයි කිසිවෙක් බොන්නේ නම් නැහැ.

අලුතින් සැදු රුසියානු තානාපති කාර්යාලය අසලින් බැස යන විශාල කානුව (බෝක්කුව) ලඟින් යනවිට එන්නේ අසුචි මිශ්‍ර පල් වතුර ගඳක්. මෙය එන්නේ ග්‍රෙගරි පාරේ විශාල බෝක්කුවෙන්. ප්‍රධාන පෙලේ තානාපති කාර්යාල කිහිපයක්ම ග්‍රෙගරි පාරේ තිබෙනවා.

වේරහැර, කටුවාවල පැත්තේ  මහා මාර්ගයේ පැත්තක හොඳට බෝක්කු ලොකුවට හදලා කොන්ක්‍රීට් පියන් වලින් වැසුවත් කාණුවලින් තදබල් මිනිස අසුචි දුඟදක් හැමුවා. සමහරු හොරෙන් ටොයිලට් හරවලා වගේ. නැත්නම් වැහි වතුර බහින්න හදපු කාණුවලට මලාපවහන වතුර එක් වුනේ කොහොමද?

මාතර මහ රෝහලෙන් බැහැර කෙරෙන අපද්‍රව්‍ය සහ මිනිස් මලාපවහන කෙලින්ම නිල්වලා ගඟට මුදා හැරීමට කටයුතු කර තිබුනා.  පුදුම ගඳක් ගඟේ ඒ පැත්තෙන් ආවේ. දැන් කොහොමද දන්නේ නැහැ.

ගම්පහ මූලික රෝහලේ අසූචි මිශ්‍ර මළ ද්‍රව්‍ය ගංවතුරට යටවූ අවට නිවාසවලට ගලා ඒම නිසා ප්‍රදේශවාසීහු දැඩි දුෂ්කරතාවකට පත්ව සිටියා. මේවා මඟින් ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ට ලෙඩ රෝග වැළඳීමේ අවදානමක්‌ තියෙනවා.   

ගල්කිස්ස, වටරප්පල පාරේ, හුළුදාගොඩ මංසන්දිය අවට මාර්ගයේ  දෙපස ජලය බැසයන කානු පද්ධතිය පිරිසිදු නොකිරීම නිසා ඇති දැඩි අපවිත්‍රතාවයෙන් ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්, විශේෂයෙන්ම කුඩා දරුවන්, මොනතරම් ප්‍රමාණයක් ලෙඩවෙන්න ඇද්ද කියා වෙලාවකට සිතෙනවා.

නල්ලතන්නියේ හෝටලයක වැසිකිළි අපද්‍රව්‍ය සීත ගඟුලට හරවලා. ශ්‍රීපාද රක්‍ෂිතයේ සිට මාවුස්‌සාකැලේ ජලාශයට ගලා බසින සීත ගඟුල ඔයේ ජලය, ශ්‍රීපාද වන්දනාකරුවන් හා ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් දහස්‌ ගණනක්‌ දිනපතා ප්‍රධාන අවශ්‍යතාවන් සඳහා පාවිච්චියට ගන්නවා.

බොරැල්ල වනාතමුල්ලේ ජීවත්වෙන මිනිසුන්ට දෙවියන්ගේම පිහිටයි – මොවුන් දිනපතා ගමන් කරන්නේ කුණු කසළ වලින් පිරි පාරවල්, කාණු, බෝක්කු, වීදි සුනඛයන් පසුකර. කිසිම ආණ්ඩුවකට මේ ප්‍රශ්ණ නිසියාකාරව විසදන්න බැරි වුනා. මාලිමාවට පුළුවන් වේද?

සහශ්‍ර පුර ප්‍රදේශය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නොව දකුණු සුඩානයේ හෝ සෝමාලියාවේ කොටසක් වැනියි.

වසර දෙදහසකට අධික ඉතිහාසයක් ඇති ඓතිහාසික රංගිරි දඹුල්ල ලෙන්විහාරය ලෝක උරුමයක් ලෙස නම්කර තිබෙනවා. මෙහි ලෙන් විහාරයේ‍ චිත්‍ර විනාශවීමේ බලවත් තත්ත්වයකට මතුවී තිබේ,  වැහි වතුර කාන්දුවීම නිසා. 

ඉස්සර ගෝල් ෆේස්, විහාරමාහාදේවි පාක්  දරු පවුල සමඟ ගියේ සාමකාමී, නිහඬ වින්දනයක් ලබන්නයි, ස්වාභාවික පරිසරයේ ආශ්වාදය රස විඳින්නයි. සියළු දෙනා සමඟ ලැබූ ඒ ආශ්වාදය ඉතා මහඟුයි; රසවත්.    

ඒ ස්ථාන එදා සුද්දා හැදුවේ කෑම කන්න යන්න නෙවෙයි, ඒවාට වෙන තැන් නගරයේ තියෙනවා. අද ඒ ස්ථාන කෑම කඩ දාගෙන, විශේෂයෙන්ම මස් කෑම විකුණන ප්‍රධාන තැන් බවට පත් වෙලා. මේ නිසා වෙනදා නොතිබුණු කසළ හා අප ද්‍රව්‍යය, වෙනදා නොසිටි තඩි බලලුන් තරම් වූ උරු මියෝ, කැරපොත්තෝ, මැස්සෝ, කාක්කෝ (දඩාවතේ යන බල්ලෝ පවා) ආදී ලෙඩ බෝ කරන සතුන්ගේ තෝ තැන්නක් වෙලා, මේවා  ඉතාම වැදගත් අපේ ස්ථාන.

සවසට ගෝල්ෆේස් පැත්තේ දැන් ඇවිදින්න, දුවන්න යන්න හිතෙන්නේ නැහැ, කෑම සංස්කෘතිය මුළු තනනිල්ලම වගේ අල්ලලා ඉවරයි. සවස 7ට පමන මස් පිලිස්සීමෙන් වහනය වන්නේ දැඩි තෙල්/ග්‍රීස් මිශ්‍රිත වාතාශ්‍රයක්. කොහොමද පිරිසිඳු වාතාශ්‍රයක් ලබා ගන්න ඇවිදින්නේ, දුවන්නේ ?  බොහෝ කෑම කඩ පිරිසිඳු බවින් ඉහළ ගුනාත්මයකට ඇවිත් නැහැ.

ගෝල් ෆේස් තන බිම මත සරුංගල්, ළමා ප්ලාස්ටික් බෝනික්කෝ වගේ සෙල්ලම් බඩු මහා පරිමාණයෙන් විකුනනවා. මේ අය මේ අල්ලා ගෙන තිබෙන්නේ සාමාන්‍ය මිනිසුන්ට නිදහසේ ගමන් කිරීමට තිබෙන ඉඩ ප්‍රදේශයි. සරුංගල් කඩ  ලඟින් රෑට යන්න භයානකයි, මොකද ඒ සරුංගල්වල නුල්  වලට පය පැටලිලා වැටෙන්න පුළුවන්.

කොල්ලුපිටිය පැත්තේ සිට එන විට, ගෝල් ෆේස් තන බිම ආරම්භ වෙන තැනම එය තුළ දැවැන්ත රෙස්ටොරාන්ට් එකක් හදා ගෙන – හරියට ගාලු මුවදොරට අයත් කොටසක් වාගේ එය. එහි වාහන නැවතුමට ගාලු මුව දොර තන පිටියෙන්  ලොකු කොටසකුත් අල්ලා ගෙන. මේවාට අවසර දුන්නේ කවුද?

ගෝල් ෆේස්, විහාරමාහාදේවි උද්‍යානයේ කෑම විකුණන පැති කුණු කෑම, කුණු බක්කි නිසා ඒ පැති විනාශ වෙලා. ජනාකීර්ණ දවස්වල කළුවර වැටුණු පසු සමහර මිනිස් කණ්ඩායම් ගෝල්ෆේස් තන බිමේ බිම වාඩිවී හංගාගෙන අරක්කු, විස්කි, බියර් වගේ ජාති  බොන බව පේනවා. සිගරට් බොනවා. මේ වැඩවලින් මේ  ස්ථාන විනාශ වී යනවා.  හොඳ, යහපත් මිනිසුන් ඒම අඩු වෙන්න පුළුවන්. පොඩි ළමයිනට සරුංගලයක් යවන්න, දුවන්න පනින්න සෙල්ලමක් කිරීමට, නිදහසේ ගත කිරීමට සුදුසු පරිසරයක් බිහි කල යුතුයි.

විහාර මහාදේවි උද්‍යානය හැදුවේ නගර මැද කලබලකාරී පරිසරයෙන් ඈත්වී නගරයේ ජනයාට කිසියම් මානසික සුවයක්, නිදහස් වූ වින්දනයක් ලබාදීමටයි.  එය අතිශය  චමත්කාර ජනක උද්‍යානයක් වුවා. බොහෝ ගස්වැල්, අඳුරු ස්ථාන,  නුග, නා, මාර  වැනි වසර සිය ගණන් පැරණි දැවැන්ත වෘක්ෂයන්, පොකුණු, ගුහාවල් ආදියෙන් පිරි, ජනාකීර්ණ නොවූ, කොලඹ හරි මැද පිහිටි  නිසංසල පරිසරයක්.  අහිංසක පෙම්වතුන්ගේ නිසල පාරාදීසයක් වුවා.

අද,  එහි එදා තිබු ඒ ගුප්තාත්මක සහ විවිධාකාර භාවය නැහැ හෝ අඩුයි. ගොඩාක් ගස් කපලා, තැනිතලා තෘණ භුමි මතුවී පේනවා. ඇවිදින මං තීරු නිසා එය ව්‍යායාම කරන්නන්ගෙන් යම් තරමකට පිරිලා; ළමා පිටිය ඉතා ජනාකීර්ණයි; ඒ අතර කෑම කන්න එන අයගෙන් ඒ ප්‍රදේශය පිරිලා.  මේවා නිසා පාක් එක බිහිකිරීමේ මුලික පරමාර්ථය වෙනස් වෙලාද?

විඩා පත් නගර වැසියාට හෝ පිට පලාතකින් කොළඹට පැමිණි කෙනාට එදා මෙන් නොව අද විහාරමාහාදේවි උද්‍යානයේ තන බිම මත හෝ උද්‍යාන බැංකුවක් මත එදා මෙන් පැයක් දෙකක් නිදා ගෙන යාමේ හැකියාව බොහෝ දුරට අවහිර වෙලා.

විහාරමහා දේවිය යනු අප රටේ පහලවූ උසස්තම කුල කාන්තාවක්. දුටු ගැමුණු රජතුමාගේ මව.

ඇගේ නමින් පිහිටවා තිබෙන එම ඉතා දැකුම්කළු උද්‍යානයේ ඇගේ පිලිරුවෙන් ඇය වැඳ ගෙන සිටින්නේ එම උද්‍යානයේම පිහිටුවා සිටින දර්ශනීය බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ පිළිමයට නොවේ; ඇය වැඳ ගෙන සිටින්නේ වෙනත් ආගමික සිද්ධ ස්ථානයකටද?

ඒ කාලයේ හිටපු කොළඹ පුරපති කවුද කියා සෙව්වොත් සමහර විට මේ කාරණය තේරුම් ගත හැකි වේවි?

විහාරමහා දේවි උද්‍යානය පිරිලා ගිහින් – ඉතුරුවූ/කැලි කසල පිරි බඳුන්වල ආහාර කෑමට කාක්කන් දැන් සිය දහස් ගණනින් එනවා. ඒ වගේමයි මී උවදුර. කොකුන්, හංසයන් වගේ සතුන්ට නිදහසේ සැරිසැරීමට කිසිම අවකාශ නැහැ.

කාක්කෝ නිසා විහාරමහාදේවි උද්‍යානයේ උස ගස් වල වහලා ඉන්න වවුලන්ට තර්ජනයක්.

කාක්කන් බහුල වෙන්න වෙන්න වෙනත් පක්ෂීන්ට බෝවෙන්න බැරි වෙනවා.

කාක්කන් මුළු විහාරමහාදේවි උද්‍යානයම යම් දිනකදී ‘අල්ලා’ ගනු ඇත.

විහාරමහාදේවි, පේරාදෙණිය, නුවර එළිය, හක්ගල, නුවර වේල්ස්,  හෙනරත්ගොඩ, සීතාවක මෙවැනි මාහැඟි උද්‍යාන නගර මධ්‍යයන්හි  පිහිටවුයේ විඩාපත් ජනයාට ඒවාට පිවිස, විඩාව නිවා, නිස්කලන්කව  ඔවුනට ඒවා තුල කාලය ගත කිරීමට ඉඩ දීමටයි; ස්වභාව සෞන්ධර්යයේ රස විඳීමටයි. අප උවමනාවට වඩා මේවායේ  ඇවිදින මං තීරු, කෑම කඩ, ළමා ක්‍රීඩා පිටි ආදිය බිහිකලොත් මේ උද්‍යාන පිහිටුවීමේ මුල් අරමුණ නැති කර ගන්නවා. ඒ මුල් අරමුණ සාක්ෂාත් කරගැනීම සඳහා එන පුද්ගලයන් අඩුවී, නව අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කරගැනීමට එන අයගේ සංඛ්‍යාව වැඩි වෙනවා.

උදේ පාන්දර 6ට විතර ගාලු මුවදොරට ඇවිදින්න යන්න බලන්න. කුණු කෑම කන්න ඇවිත් ඉන්න කාක්කෝ රංචු බලන්න පුළුවන්. සිය, දහස් ගණන් කාක්කෝ නිසා මුහුද අද්දර පාරේ කෑම කඩ පැත්තෙන් ඇවිදින්නවත් යන්න බැරි තරම්. ඉදිරියේදී ගාලුමුවදොර, විහාරමාහාදේවි පාක්  එකේ තවත් කෑම කඩ දානවට සැකයක් නැහැ. වරාය අධිකාරියට, කොළඹ නගර සභාවට වඩ වඩා ආදායම් ලැබෙනවා නම් තමයි.

කාක්කා කසල වාහකයෙක් මිස කසල ශෝධකයෙක් නොවෙයි. කුණු කා දමන නමුත් කුණු එක් තැනක සිට තවත් තැනකට ගොස් දමා අත්  හැරීමෙන් කරන හානිය අපමණයි,  කොතරම් පිරිසිඳුවට තබා ගත් මිදුලකට වුනත්.

නිතරම කොළඹ ඇවිදින කෙනෙකුට සතියකට දෙතුන් වරක් වත් කාක් වසුරු තම ඇඟ මත වැටෙනවාමයි.

කොළඹ සෑම ගහක්ම, ලයිට් කණුවකම වාගේ කාක්කන් ආක්‍රමණය කර ඉවරයි.

කාක්කෙකුට  ඉතා පහසුවෙන් මැරුණු මී කුනක්, මස් කඩෙන් අහක දාපු සත්ව බඩවැල්/හම් ආදිය ගෙනවිත් අතහැර යන්න පුළුවනි.  මෙයින් ඒ අවට පරිසරයම අපවිත්‍ර වෙනවා. වෙනත් පක්ෂීන්, මාංශ භක්ෂක නැති/අඩු  ඔවුන්ගෙන් මෙවැනි ප්‍රශ්නයක්‌ නැහැ.

කොටුව දුම්රිය ස්ථානය ඇතුලේ ඉස්සර හිටියේ පරෙවියෝ විතරයි. දැන් ක්‍රම ක්‍රමයෙන් කාක් ආක්‍රමණය පටන් අරං. තව ටික කලකින් කාක්කෝ සිය  ආධිපත්‍ය එම ස්ථානයෙත් විහිදුවයි වගේ.

කාක්කන් අද අපේ ප්‍රධාන නගර අල්ලාගෙන ඉවරයි. මුන් කරන පරිසර හානිය, කුණු කසල ප්‍රවාහනය නිසා ඇතිවෙන සෞ ඛ්‍යය සහ පවිත්‍රතා ප්‍රශ්න කියා නිම කල නොහැකියි.  උන් කුණු කසල යම් ප්‍රමානයක් කා දමනවා වෙන්න පුළුවන්, නමුත් ඉතා පිරිසිඳුව තබා ගන්නා ස්ථානවලට ඒ කැලි කසළ ගෙනත් දානවා. සමහර අය හොරෙන් මේ සතුන්ව මරා දමනවා විවිධ ක්‍රම වලින්. එය ඉතා වැරදියි – අප බෞද්ධ රටක්.

මේ සතුන් නවීන ජාන විද්‍යා ක්‍රම උපයෝගී කරගෙන ඒ අයගේ බෝවීම අවම කල හැකියි. කොළඹ  නගර සභාව මඟින් විදී බල්ලන්ගේ පැතිරීම දක්ෂ ලෙස ඔවුන් වන්ධ්‍යාකරණයට බඳුන් කර පාලනය කරනවා වගේ.

අපේම දේශගුණය තිබෙන සිංගප්පුරුවේ දැන් කාක්කෝ දක්නට ලැබෙන්නේ නැහැ.

බල්ලන්ට, පූසන්ට පාරේ කෑම දමන අය උන් කෑ පසු ඉතුරු ඉඳුල් ඉවත් කර යා යුතුයි.

ලෝක සංරක්ෂණ සංගමයේ රතු දත්ත පොතට අනුව නම් වෙන කවරදාටත් වඩා වේගයෙන් ලෝකයේ කුරුල්ලන් වඳවී යාමේ තර්ජනයට ලක්ව ඇත.

ලංකාවේ ඉස්සර ගෙවල් වල කුඩු හදාගෙන ජීවත්වූ ගේ කුරුල්ලන්ට කුමක්ද වුනේ?

සුද්දන්ගෙන් අපට ලැබුණු යහපත් දායාදයක් ගාලු මුවදොර තන නිල්ල. ඒ අය අපට දීලා ගියේ සැබවින්ම එක, සම මට්ටමේ, දිග තන නිල්ලක්.  ලෝක උරුමයකට පවා සුදුසුකම් ලබනවා මේ බිම් තීරුව. අද අපි එය හැමතැනම මැද්දෙන්/පැතිවලින් කඩා දාලා, හරියට කුඹුරුවල නියරවල් හදලා වගේ. ඉස්සරහට මේ අය තව නොයෙක් අට මගල් ඕකේ මැද ගහයිද? 

ගාලු මුවදොර තන නිල්ල පාලනය කරන වරාය අධිකාරිය කිසි සොයා බැලිල්ලක් නැතිව, ප්‍රමිතියක් නැතිව එම භුමිය විවිධ සංදර්ශණ වලට බදු දෙනවා – සංගීත, රැස්වීම්, කානිවල් වැනි. දරුණු වැසි කාළ වල පවා. මේවා අවසන් වූ පසු  භුමියේ තනකොලවලට ඒ බදු ගත්  අය සිදු කර ඇති හානිය අති විශාලයි.

මෙය නැවත කොළඹ නගර සභාවේ පාලනයට නතු කළ යුතුයි.

ගාලු මුවදොර තන බිම කියන එක ගාලු මුවදොර පස් බිම කියන තත්වයට යළි පත් වෙමින් පවතිනවා.

මතු සම්බන්ධයි  ……..

Shenali D Waduge

There is no perfect template for governance, yet when comparing the two great powers of our time, the contrast is undeniable. One — the United States — has long boasted of liberalism, freedoms, and human rights, presenting itself as the world’s moral compass. The other — China — has quietly implemented a multi-layered development plan for its future. For decades, America and its Western allies have claimed to be models for the world. Yet beneath the rhetoric, their societies are breaking down — morally, spiritually, socially, and economically. Citizens are burdened by debt, terrified of crime, consumed by culture & ideology, and increasingly distrustful of their governments. In stark contrast, China — once dismissed as poor and backward — has risen in just thirty years to become the world’s second-largest economy, eradicating extreme poverty, ensuring public safety, and forging partnerships abroad without invading or bombing other nations.

1. Families: Broken in the U.S., Stable in China

The family unit — the foundation of any society — is collapsing in the West. In the United States, marriage rates have plunged to record lows raising concern about the future of the white population while the traditional definition of marriage is being obscured by legalizing same-sex marriage subtly destroying progeny and the institution of marriage and family. Nearly 1 in 4 American children grow up in single-parent households — the highest among advanced economies. Divorce has become a norm rather than an exception, leaving children without stable homes. Added to this is the rise of extreme identity politics via LGBTQIA+ activism: children are told they can choose or change genders, undergo irreversible medical procedures, and even identify as non-humans. Social norms are being rewritten in ways that create confusion, instability, and long-term health consequences, including sterility.

By contrast, in China, the family remains the cornerstone of society. Marriage continues to be a respected institution, and multi-generational households are common, preserving intergenerational bonds. Filial duty — the obligation to care for parents and elders — is deeply ingrained, providing stability and continuity across generations. Chinese schools emphasize discipline, education, and practical skills, preparing the young for life rather than confusing them with ideologies.

2. Safety: Fear in the West, Security in China

The United States, despite its wealth, is plagued by violence and insecurity. Over 600,000 Americans are raped or sexually assaulted every year. Mass shootings have become routine — averaging more than 600 incidents annually, many inside schools, shopping malls, and places of worship. Despite being one of the most surveilled societies on earth, crime continues to spiral. Drug overdoses now kill more than 100,000 Americans each year, reflecting a deep social and spiritual crisis. Homeless encampments dominate cityscapes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and beyond, while countless citizens admit they fear walking the streets after dark. Children are increasingly medicated with powerful prescription drugs to manage behavioral issues, while nearly 70% of American adults take at least one prescription medication — a sign of a society that is not healthy, but dependent.

China’s society does not suffer from such widespread decay. Violent crime is rare, and mass shootings are unheard of. There is no opioid epidemic, nor a culture of mass prescription dependency. Children are not raised on psychiatric medications, and the population is not reliant on pharmaceutical companies to function in daily life. Women and children can walk freely at night without fear of assault, and urban landscapes are not scarred by sprawling homeless encampments. Order, stability, and health are the everyday norms — the result of a social model built on cohesion rather than chaos.

3. Education & Culture: Indoctrination in the West, Practical Learning in China

In the United States and much of the West, education has drifted far from its traditional role of equipping children with knowledge and life skills. Classrooms have become battlegrounds for ideological agendas. Children are exposed to gender and identity debates from the earliest grades, encouraged to question their biological sex, and introduced to LGBTQIA activism instead of focusing on literacy, numeracy, and practical skills. Parents increasingly complain that their children are being confused rather than educated, while academic performance continues to decline — with American students ranking below many peers in mathematics, science, and reading on global assessments. Universities, once centers of excellence, are now mired in “cancel culture,” political bias, and a prioritization of ideology over critical thinking.

Beyond schools, Western societies are consumed by identity politics. Debates over LGBTQIA+ rights, transgender policies, and gender ideology dominate politics and media, dividing communities and distracting from core issues like jobs, healthcare, and education. Instead of unity, there is polarization; instead of cultural pride, there is confusion.

China, by contrast, has kept its education system rooted in discipline, knowledge, and national pride. Students are taught practical skills — mathematics, science, engineering, technology, and vocational training — alongside cultural values such as respect for elders and social responsibility. Cultural continuity, rooted in Confucian traditions, ensures harmony, duty, and collective responsibility. Chinese schools consistently produce some of the highest-performing students in the world, with Shanghai, Beijing, and other regions topping international rankings in math and science. Instead of being distracted by ideological experiments, Chinese youth are being prepared to contribute meaningfully to society, driving innovation, industry, and national development.

4. Poverty: Dependency in the U.S., Eradication in China

Despite being the richest nation on earth, the United States struggles with poverty at home. Over 42 million Americans rely on food stamps to survive, and more than 650,000 people sleep on the streets or in shelters every night. Credit card debt, unpaid loans, and mortgages leave families at risk of losing their homes and belongings, creating a cycle of financial despair. Instead of empowering citizens, the U.S. system traps millions in dependency, while corporations and billionaires amass obscene fortunes through lobbying, monopolies, and financial speculation.

China has followed a very different path. In just three decades, it lifted over 800 million people out of poverty — the greatest achievement in human history. It does not mean poverty is over but people in extreme poverty have been uplifted. By 2020, extreme poverty was declared eradicated. Massive investments in housing, healthcare, infrastructure, and education created opportunities where none had existed before. Instead of dependency, China built self-reliance and upward mobility, ensuring that prosperity is broadly shared and not monopolized by a tiny elite.

5. Debt, Wars, and Corporate Profiteering: America’s Burden, China’s Discipline

The greatest source of U.S. decline is not just domestic mismanagement but decades of endless wars and financial exploitation. The United States is over $34 trillion in national debt, while ordinary households drown in credit card, mortgage, and student loans. A significant portion of this debt stems from unnecessary wars and foreign occupations waged across the Middle East, Asia, and beyond — Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and more. Many Americans cannot even identify these countries on a map or explain why they were bombed.

These conflicts were not about freedom or democracy but about enriching a handful of corporations. War lobbyists, arms manufacturers, private security firms, and contractors have grown wealthy, while ordinary Americans foot the bill in taxes, inflation, and debt. Trillions were spent destroying nations abroad instead of rebuilding infrastructure at home.

China has taken an entirely different path. While the U.S. squandered its wealth on bombs and occupations, China invested in railways, ports, schools, and hospitals. It has not invaded or occupied foreign nations. Instead, through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has built partnerships, opened trade routes, and created shared prosperity. Where America exports war, China exports development.

6. Global Finance: Exploitation vs. Partnership

The U.S. controls international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, using them to stifle development and extract wealth. Developing nations are often forced into debt traps with policies demanding privatization of national assets, austerity, and sale of resources at bargain prices. These measures enrich U.S. and Western corporations while leaving citizens of those countries — and ordinary Americans — poorer, saddled with stagnation, crumbling infrastructure, and unaffordable healthcare.

China’s approach is different. Through bilateral agreements and the Belt and Road Initiative, it invests in railways, ports, power plants, and digital infrastructure across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Rather than enforcing austerity or privatization, China builds capacity, accepting repayment through trade, commodities, or long-term partnerships. Where U.S.-led institutions deepen dependency, China promotes development, shared prosperity, and self-reliance.

7. Abroad: U.S. Wars vs. China’s Partnerships

The U.S. and its Western allies built their wealth through colonization, slavery, and resource plunder. In the modern era, this has continued through wars, invasions, sanctions, and covert operations. Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria stand as monuments to destruction: trillions of dollars spent, millions of lives lost or displaced, and nations left in ruins. These wars enriched Western arms dealers and contractors, but they left ordinary Americans poorer and the targeted countries shattered.

China has followed no such path. It has not invaded or bombed foreign nations. Instead, it has built partnerships through trade and infrastructure. The Belt and Road Initiative has delivered railways, ports, highways, and power plants across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Instead of destruction, China leaves behind bridges, schools, and power stations.

8. Two Models, Two Futures

The contrast is stark. The U.S. boasts of freedoms and rights but delivers debt, insecurity, and decay. Its citizens are afraid to walk at night, trapped in poverty, or consumed by cultural confusion. Its foreign policy brings destruction, not development.

China, in just thirty years, has risen from poverty to prosperity, built safe and stable communities, and created global partnerships without waging war. It shows that a nation can grow strong not by exploiting others, but by investing in its own people and respecting its partners abroad.

The decline of the U.S. and the West is not accidental. It is the result of centuries of plunder, followed by decades of endless wars, corporate greed, and social decay.

The rise of China, by contrast, is the result of long-term planning, social stability, and development-centered policies placing people first.

While the U.S. preaches “freedom” but delivers chaos, China has shown that stability, security, and prosperity can be achieved without conquest, without colonization, and without bombing nations into submission.

The message is clear: the Western template is in decline; China’s path offers a different future — one rooted in stability, development, and respect.

For nations and their policy advisors observing these two paths, the lesson is clear: sustainable growth, societal cohesion, and genuine national strength are built through investment in your people, respect for culture, and partnerships that foster mutual development — not through debt traps, foreign domination, or dependence on external powers.

Countries that follow China’s model of development-focused, cooperative progress (not corporation greed) can achieve prosperity without repeating the mistakes of Western liberalism, avoiding cycles of exploitation, debt, and social fragmentation.

The message is unmistakable: the Western template is in decline; China’s path offers a tested, people-first model for nations seeking a stable and prosperous future.

Shenali D Waduge

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

Before you study the economics, study the economists!”

e-Con e-News 08-14 September 2025

The big lie, relentless and widespread, that the English & the US defeated Fascism in 1945 is meticulously unmasked by Roy Singham in this exclusive ee Focus. Singham dates the beginning of World War II to Japan’s invasion of China in 1931. He establishes that it is the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union & China, through the ‘strategic brilliance’ of their socialist leaders, who made the greatest sacrifices to smash imperialist forces. He details how England & the US kept hedging their bets, while amassing their war profits, quite content to wish the German and Japanese Fascists would eliminate the Communists.

*

A prolix commentator, writing about the Ceylon University Magazine’s ‘attitude of the Indian Communist Party to Hitler’, claims ‘The confusion of Sri Lankan communists and their relations to the English with regard to the war are legend here even though these subtle differences mean so little now.’ (see ee Quotes, Trots). Really? Were they that ‘subtle’; don’t these confusions or deliberate distortions about the larger world endure?

     Early September saw the 80^th Anniversary of the victory of that war against Fascism, preceded by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit: a security alliance of some of the leading economic powerhouses in the world. Since Sri Lanka is facing dangerous political, military and economic threats to its sovereignty, Shiran Illanperuma examines the failure of the elected National Peoples Power (NPP) government in Sri Lanka to send high-level representation to both these historic events(see ee Focus). Such ‘miscalculations’ recall earlier misapprehensions, by some of Sri Lanka’s nominally socialist leaders, despite claims to being revolutionary, against supporting the USSR in 1939, which resulted in Sri Lanka continuing as a colony, in all but name, to this day. Many of these leaders instead strengthened their alliances (personal, social & political) with England, the EU, & the USA, further straining under the claim that they alone upheld a purer form of socialism – if only in theory.

*

Last week, we failed to note – midst listing all the escalating threats to Sri Lanka, from oceanic war-games to the charade in Geneva – the upcoming 2026 budget preparations, from September to December. It is no coincidence that a delegation from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), direct representatives of the Executive Office of the US President, are here largely unheralded and un-headlined (see ee poster, see ee Quotes). The US, EU & English governments, their thinktanks and ‘chambered’ fronts, keep salivating at the prospects of selling off national resources & enterprises, on behalf of their Wall Street fund managers, while muttering about ‘free trade’ this and ‘green, ‘carbon’ that. The NPP’s neutered (napuns) rather than neutral responses has been attributed to a failure of the government to break out of the economic trap that the country has been led into – constantly whitewashed & greenwashed with claims to environmental & human rights. Prabhat Patnaik (see ee Focus) recalls how most countries after nominal decolonization had sought to promote self-reliance, by expanding the home market and using the public sector to develop domestic production & technology. The US government’s ‘weaponization of tariffs constitutes an entirely novel tactic of imperialism’ and hopes to prevent any such economic emancipation. Yet, is it new, and is it not an evolution of England’s economic terrorism such as ‘imperial preferences’, etc?

*

Fascism today, this time led by the USA, with England & the EU in tail-wagging lockstep, is waging horrific wars in Central Africa (largely unreported), and West Asia (displayed in graphic detail, minus naming exactly who is responsible), fronted by proxies, which include not just Uganda, Rwanda, Israel, & Ukraine, but also those who claim to be opposed to such aggression, like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc. Their war on Myanmar also goes largely unreported in a supine media in Sri Lanka that relies almost totally on the BBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, etc, for its ‘international’ news, despite our ancient ties with that country. Whence does such abject slavishness originate?

‘[US] Ambassador Chung, known for her strong support of young

political leaders open to learning from global experiences,

engaged with representatives from the SLPP, SJB, PTA,

ACMC, ITAK & the RUF during the meeting.’

– see ee Sovereignty, NextGenSL holds

constructive talks with US Ambassador Julie Chung

With US envoy Chung in a constant state of imminent departure, due to her failure so far to deliver the heads of the Rajapakses, the US appears to be signalling that Sri Lanka might be up next for further destabilization, coming close on the heels of setting fire to Nepal. The attacks in Nepal appear to have targeted those people and institutions linked to China. The USA’s playbook for destabilization of our countries appears to be: 1) the co-option of socialist and nationalist opposition; 2) the promotion of what Lenin tagged Leftwing Communism, An Infantile Disorder, unleashing anarchists, nihilists, etc., to sabotage any attempt at ‘delinking’ from imperialism; and 3) the eventual imposition of a fascist (not-so-new) world order…

*

• Meanwhile, an entrapped government has taken to AI-generated virtue-signalling, daily declaring anodynes (‘water is wet’ & ‘poison is bad for adults as well as children’). Each day huge flotillas of Indian fishermen invade Sri Lankan territory, so it was perhaps more symbolism that saw the President, appearing brave minus life jacket, declaring an islet as sovereign. Perhaps it is to signal larger issues such as India’s Sethusamudram Canal Project, the Palk Bay, Palk Strait & Demarcation of the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI), Regional Maritime Posture, etc, which is being left to the talking heads of mostly US-funded thinktanks. Yet what of the USA taking over the Chagos Atoll, lobbing missiles on Asia and Africa from there? The President should perhaps sail the entire perimeter…

*

• England has banned and erased a wall mural of a bewigged judge baton-whipping a child holding a poster – a reference to England criminalizing and brutalizing support for Palestine, any protesting against the US-England-EU-Israel war on their occupied country. What is notable is that it is the woollen wig that is the distinctive feature that makes the mural contentious. Wool, as ee has pointed out before – from cricket’s wicket, to Jesus as shepherd, to Baa baa black sheep – is the historical cultural symbol, par excellence. that all laws and parliamentary proceeding etc in England are fundamentally based on its economic needs. England had to go to war for a century and more to prevent the export of unfinished wool to Europe. So, look how all our erected monkeys – the businessmen, the judges, the speakers – are still suited and bewigged in wool in our weather…

*

An AGA in Sri Lanka wrote in 1895 how ‘agitated’ the chiefs were

‘over the Ball to be given in honour of the departing Governor.

They are all anxious to do what they can to show their respect

to HE [His Excellency]… though they don’t dance…

Besides, their full dress is out of place at Colombo.’

– SBD de Silva

• In his conclusion to Chapter 1 of The Political Economy of Underdevelopment (PEU), SBD de Silva notes that underdevelopment was a ‘total phenomenon’, not just confined to peasant agriculture or to economic activity but has also created ‘an underdeveloped society’.The incessant medianonsense about the impartiality of the police and public service under colonialism is just not true… The English privileged ‘archaic, conservative & backward’ classes, who were / areprimarily interested in preserving the social & economic status quo. De Silva details the creation of a bureaucracy and a loyal class ‘whiter than the white’, producing generations of people who ‘found themselves rootless, out of touch with their own country & its enduring culture’, yet unable to compete with the English culturally or technologically. They entrenched ‘retrograde social structures and ideologies’ creating mimic men who ‘even the white rulers found ridiculous’. SBD de Silva’s PEU provides excellent examples of such classes across Asia and Africa. (see ee Focus)

• The USA’s recent televised hunting down, manacling and deportation of ~450 Korean and other workers ‘of color’ at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, suggests that such ‘global brands’ as Samsung, Hyundai, LG & Hanjin are but ‘coolie’ fronts for US multinational corporations (MNCs). This ee concludes the look at US-occupied Korea’s model of industrialization, examining how that colony benefited the most from the US wars on East Asia, unlike the Philippines and Thailand etc, who also gained from those wars. Apparently, despite these countries’ governments allowing US military intrusions into their domestic & foreign affairs, there was a strong nationalist element that made the US suspicious of their governments. The authors conclude that unlike the ‘free market’, ‘free trade’ theories, ‘statist analyses of the ways policies guide the market’ are far superior. Certainly, the present US government has thrown all such theoretical fashionings to the winds. (see ee Focus)

*

• Despite the US embassy’s increasingly hysterical claims about the USA’s commitments to ‘free and fair’ this and that, ee Focus also continues looking at US politics. Here is the best mockery of democracy that money can buy, provided through Gustavus Myers’ 1917 History of Tammany Hall, that famous New York ‘charity’ that disguised a political machinery, embracing ‘a vast & intricate web of influences, activities & consequences’, linking municipal potholes fixers & federal presidents. The buying & selling of votes, contracts for railways & cement, etc., offices, jobs, the deployment of ‘ethnic’ diasporas, the fixing of elections, and creative political maneuverings, required an organization with iron discipline, a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, ruled by ‘one hard-headed, tireless ‘boss’, with each member linking self-interest to a loyalty, which like Christian marriages were ‘for better or for worse’, no matter the various claims to ‘reform’…

*

_________

Contents:

Honoring China & the USSR’s Historic Defeat of Fascism 1931-45 & How Sri Lanka Remains a Colony