By S Godson Wisely Dass  Express News Service Courtesy The New Indian Express

Sri Lankan and some vernacular media outlets here had published reports speculating the purpose of the vessel’s visit to Thoothukudi, one of the southernmost ports of the country. 

THOOTHUKUDI:  After photos of submarine INS Sindhushashtra at the Thoothukudi VOC port were circulated on social media, leading to media speculation in Sri Lanka, it is learnt that the port authorities are attempting to track down the employee responsible for sharing the images.

The movements of naval submarines are tightly guarded information following national importance. While defense personnel in Eastern command remained tight-lipped about the vessel’s presence in Thoothukudi, Sri Lankan and some vernacular media outlets here had published reports speculating the purpose of the vessel’s visit to Thoothukudi, one of the southernmost ports of the country. 

Meanwhile the local port authorities confirmed the presence of the submarine which is encapsulated with advanced technology. However, they were unaware of the purpose of its arrival to Thoothukudi port. “The vehicle reached the port on Sunday and the officials of the submarine made a courtesy call on the port chairman,” said a senior official.ADVERTISING

However, officials said that sharing of the photographs was considered a security breach and the employee responsible was being tracked down. “A number of employees and contract labourers work in the port berths, and some one might have taken a snap out of interest”, said a senior port official, adding that the person will be inquired about. 

Navy officials in Delhi neither confirmed nor denied the presence of the submarine at the Thoothukudi port. However, they said that warships had been visiting the port for years now. “To permanently base such a submarine at any port would require major infrastructure and posting of personnel,” an official said, in response to the speculative reports in Sri Lankan media that the vessel would be permanently stationed at Thoothukudi.

(With inputs from New Delhi)

By N Sathiya Moorthy Courtesy Ceylon Today

The way the Catholic Church is going about with their own follow-up on the ‘Easter blasts’ investigations and prosecution, there may be something for the Tamil and Muslim victims of physical assaults on the respective communities to learn from. In a way, the National Catholic Committee (NCC), under Malcom Cardinal Ranjith, has gone one up on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), appointed by then incumbent, Maithripala Sirisena, by finding fault with the work of the PCoI on specifics, even while endorsing its findings otherwise.

The NCC has since shot off a 20-page missive to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, signed by the good Cardinal and a host of other Catholic Bishops, mostly from the ‘southern’ Sinhala belt. They have asked why no action has been taken against President Sirisena, who was named by the PCoI. They have also asked why action could not be initiated against then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, under relevant provisions of law.

In short, the Church does not want anyone even remotely associated with the perpetrators of the act, or anyone in authority whose actions and/or inactions could have facilitated the blast. This is a part of the post-War western concept of ‘closure’ based on ‘transitional justice’ or whatever.

The two Great Wars of the previous century, especially the Second World War, taught the Christian West when, where and how to cross the invisible line drawn by Jesus, in the name of Love. In all such cases, the fable of Christ asking to show the left cheek if hit on the right cheek has remained a fabulous fable.

The good Cardinal, his Bishops – and by extension, the community that they shepherd – want the ‘Sinhala-Buddhist’ Sri Lanka to practice that. Before him, the West as nation-States has been pressing the Sri Lankan counterpart to do it in the case of ‘Tamil victims’  of the separatist war against the LTTE, and more recently, against the Sinhala-Buddhist perpetrators of the nation’s Muslim community, in the post-war era, especially.

They may have a point. Since at least the Independence, this Land of Buddha, who preached universal peace and harmony, love and forgiveness, has been practising everything other than these stellar qualities in men and their rulers. The last such ruler was born in the battlefield of Kalinga in neighbouring India.

Emperor Ashoka sent his message of Peace, Buddhism and Peace through Buddhism, to the country, and he was the last such ruler anywhere to follow the Buddha’s diktat.  His choice of sending his own son Mahinda (Mahendra) and daughter Sangamitta (Sangamitra) for taking Buddhism to Lanka might not have had anything to do with his love towards this land. But it had everything to do with his love for Buddha’s preaching.

None of it meant that any ruler in the country, even in the days of Sangamitta, followed the good words of the Lord. Nor has anyone since followed in Ashoka’s footsteps. It’s not that they were cheating the world and cheating themselves.

Instead, the reality of statecraft is much different from the preaching of a religious order. One cannot do justice to your subjects, both under the divine law and also all the man-made rules of ruling, if he were to let dacoits loot his subjects, rapists indulge in their obsessions and ruffians rule the streets.

Until the British colonial masters brought all parts of the island under the Union Jack, there were separate kingdoms, which fought with one another – at times taking the help of neighbours and distant rulers alike. They all violated the words of Buddha’s words of love and kindness.

In the Tamil kingdoms, their rulers too did precisely that, not that their gods asked men to kill others. The Dutch, French and the British rulers, all swearing by the Book, carried the ‘Sword’, too, in the other hand.

Today, with a series of messages since the ‘Easter blasts’ in 2019, the Catholic community leadership in the country seems to be crossing the Rubicon, slowly but surely from one world of theology to the world of statecraft. One is humane, the other is human. That seems to be the only difference.

Going by the past pronouncements of the Church and the Cardinal, they seem to be deliberating about the future course, too much and too frequently, that they may be the only repository in the country, of all available information and analyses of the post-blast probes and their directions. Their deliberations, it would seem, have been leading them to take one deliberate step after another.

Thus far, all such deliberate and deliberated steps have stopped with the issuance of one statement after another, one media event after another, for all of the nation to see and hear. This time round, Cardinal Ranjith has told President Gotabaya that the Government would have to ‘face the consequences’ if justice was not done to the victims of ‘Easter blast’.

Sure enough, the Cardinal’s justice is not the Justice that awaits all humans in the other world – to whichever faith and religion they belong to while born on earth. Instead, his demand, and that of his fellow-Christians is for justice of the human, less humane kind, so to say.

From that kind of justice, they do not want anyone excluded. In the land of the good Lord, Justice is rendered differently. Or, so do gospels of every religion tell us. That’s what makes the difference between Man and God. That difference still remains.

Inevitable future

In this hoary and holy background, there is the inevitable ‘what if’ question about the Catholic Church’s caution to the Government that it would have to ‘face the consequences’ if it did not act on their 20-page letter (or, otherwise ensure justice for the innocent blast victims. They had no reason to die other than they were at the wrong place at the wrong time on a right day. Easter is the day of Christian Redemption, and yet, it happened….

 Multiple options are available before the community that justifiably feels victimised, and that successive Governments have not addressed their call for Justice. Lesser blame, they should apportion, at least at this stage on the incumbent dispensation – as much of its time and energy were taken in by the unanticipated and unprecedented havoc caused by Covid pandemic.

The same cannot be said of the predecessor regime, yes. But then, you do not expect the President and Prime Minister of the day to quit their elected offices and hand themselves over to the police, to be arrested. Yes, the PCoI Report became available only after they had left office, but then even at the time, both the Church and the rest had begun finger-pointing in their case.

Yet, none of it means that the Sri Lankan State could initiate criminal proceedings against either, again at this stage of judicial processes. The courts have recently commenced hearing in near-similar cases of culpable responsibility viz then Defence Minister Hemasiri Fernando and then Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Punith Jayasundara.

It may or may not be the Government’s intention, but it is not unlikely that it may want to wait until after the judicial processes had been completed in the case of these true, to see if any such criminal case would stick on the other two, who are political masters, with a relatively better mass-base.

If nothing else, a section of the polity and civil society nearer home and the international community elsewhere would cry ‘Foul’ if in particular the incumbent Rajapaksa leadership were to initiate criminal proceedings against the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo. The fact that the Nation has consumed them to the electoral dustbin since then should be an eyeopener.

This is how culpability of the political class has been judged in most cases of this kind – which are unlike anything like corruption and nepotism. It is also not unlikely that a case can be made out in this way unless new laws are passed and new judicial mandates given. This is what the international community has been demanding for ‘war crimes probe’.

Political means, electoral process

What does it all mean for the ‘threat’, if any, that the Church has held out at the Government leadership? It needs to be measured in political terms, to be executed through the electoral process. One could be the existing Government and the ingrained polity forcing the hand of these men of god to enter politics, directly or indirectly, and hold out their threat by floating a political party, of the Christian community, by the Christian community, for the Christian community!

At last count there are 16 Members of Parliament belonging to the Christian community. If the community’s grouse is about the State meting out justice for the Easter blast, there are other minority communities in the Tamils, Muslims and Upcountry Tamils with near-similar complaints for long.

When they levelled similar complaints against the Sri Lankan State, the Sinhala Church especially was looking the other way, all along. But the Tamil-speaking Catholics, who dominated the denomination in the North and the East, and also such other Christian denominations, stood away and aside of their Tamil-speaking Hindu brethren. Rather, it was an ethnic issue, not a religious issue. It remain so, when it is about the Tamil concerns since Independence.

If you add all three minority communities and now add the Sinhala Christians, there are about 60 MPs in a total of 225. That is not a small number in an Election uninfluenced by electoral events of the Easter blast kind.

It’s more than the number of Tamil-speaking MPs cutting across party and ethnic lines, when then President Mahinda Rajapaksa was reportedly considering the late Jeyaraj Fernandopulle for prime minister. He was a Tamil, so to say, and the rumours were enough for the LTTE to assassinate him lest there could have been a challenge to Prabhakaran’s hegemony. Or, so it seems from this distance in time.

Going by available figures, there 165 Sinhala-Buddhist MPs, 20 Muslims, 16 Christians and a combination of 24 Hindus, comprising Sri Lankan Tamils and Upcountry Tamils, taking the total to the existing Parliament’s strength of 225. The minority MPs in terms of ethnicity thus add up to 60. In a normal election year, if the majority Sinhala voters were to split, the ‘minorities’, Sinhala-speaking and Tamil-speaking could decide the victor. This may not be so for the presidential polls – but could still be a possibility.

Through the past decades of ethnic war and violence, the Tamil-speaking Christians have all along identified with their ethnicity and not religion. It has been so with the Sinhala Christians, too. They have remained more Sinhalese and less Christians. In fact, Cardinal Ranjith’s writ does not run in the Tamil-speaking areas and the ‘Tamil churches’, so to say.

Imagine a future and futuristic alliance where these communities are able to come together first within themselves and then with one another – and create a ‘national minority front’ of some kind. A Sinhala challenger to the ‘Sinhala throne’ would need to get only 55 MPs on his own – but then he could well be a ‘minority within a minority’. For such calculations to commence, the Sinhala-speaking Christians have to form a political grouping of whatever kind. If that is the message on the ‘consequences’ from the Church, that is saying a lot, yet not saying anything!

(The writer is Distinguished Fellow and Head-Chennai Initiative, Observer Research Foundation, the multi-disciplinary Indian public-policy think-tank, headquartered in New Delhi. email: sathiyam54@nsathiyamoorthy.com)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Hours after the Moody’s Investors Service has placed Sri Lanka’s rating ‘under review for downgrade,” the government hit back at the Moody’s Investors Service, stating that unwarranted announcement by Moody’s reemphasizes the need for the Sri Lankan Government to revisit its relationship with rating agencies.

Issuing a statement by the Finance Ministry, the government said that it was surprised over the announcement by Moody’s Investors Service, “at a time when the GOSL has diligently lined up adequate funds to repay its maturing foreign debt liabilities, including the International Sovereign Bond (ISB) maturing at end July 2021.”

“Moody’s has placed Sri Lanka’s rating ‘under review for downgrade,” although this does not imply a downgrade. However, Moody’s action could create uncertainty among investors who have kept faith in Sri Lankan ISBs and other investments,” the ministry said.

However, the statement said that the GOSL has taken all measures to repay the upcoming ISB maturity of US dollars 1,000 million due in end July 2021.”

“The Sri Lankan economy has shown strong signs of broad based recovery, with a real GDP growth of 4.3 per cent in the first quarter 2021. The domestic vaccination drive is continuing at full force, providing confidence of a continued improvement in economy activity, combined with a possible strong rebound of the tourism sector,” it said. 

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Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former Pakistan cricketer and commentator Ramiz Raja analysed the first ODI between Sri Lanka and India, calling it a game between a university and a school team – where the Indians looked strong like university players who made the hosts struggle like school team cricketers.

India vs Sri Lanka seemed like a University team vs School team match. Such was the difference between the skills, execution, talent and the ability to understand the game. This is a very challenging situation for Sri Lankan cricket because they were playing at home. They prepared a flat pitch for the series opener against India and still ended with an average score,” Ramiz Raja said in his latest YouTube video.

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted Sri Lanka’s misery with the bat. Raja was highly disappointed to see the host batsmen struggling with India’s spin attack.

The way Sri Lanka played against spin, it looked like they had no idea how to tackle spin. Historically, Sri Lankan batsmen have dominated the spinners. However, the current lot just does not seem to be on that level yet.

The Sri Lanka batters looked confused after getting a start. They couldn’t understand how to change the gear. And this confusion was created by India’s outstanding bowling performance. India didn’t have to push much as the challenge wasn’t tough.

The game was one-sided. Sri Lanka produced a flop show. I don’t know whether watching them in future would be interesting. Everything about them seemed in slow motion – a team is playing against a side that felt like no challenge was being thrown at them,” Raja concluded.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The almanac case filed against two accused including Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa was today fixed for September 15 by Colombo High Court. The defence sought a calling date before the matter is fixed for trial. Accordingly, the case against two accused including former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa for allegedly misappropriating Rs.29.4 million of funds belonging to the Divi Neguma Department was yesterday fixed for September 15. The Attorney General had filed indictments against the former Minister and former Director-General of Divi Neguma Department Kithsiri Ranawaka in the Colombo High Court for allegedly printing 5 million almanacs with the image of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, costing Rs.29.4 million, to be used as election propaganda material, during January-2015 Presidential election. The Attorney General alleged that by printing these almanacs between 23 November and 31 December 2014, these accused had attempted to influence citizens of this country to vote for presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa. The AG maintained that the act of the accused deems him guilty of the offence of bribery by section 79 of the Presidential Election Act No 15 of 1981. The Attorney General had listed 32 people including former Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya as witnesses in the case.

Courtesy Adaderana

Ministry of Health says that 20 to 30 percent of COVID-19 infections reported from the Colombo District can be of the Delta variant.

Deputy Director-General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath said that this is revealed through the testing of samples collected from reported infections.

We find information on the variants only through the samples. We don’t carry out gene sequencing on every positive PCR result. Therefore, we don’t receive information on every COVID-19 patient identified.

The universities have given us an estimate that 20-30 percent infections from Colombo are of the Delta variant.”

Dr. Herath points out that it can be concluded that the Delta variant has spread to all areas of the country seeing as reports of the variant are received from even North. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Court has ordered service providers to produce telephone conversation records of Rishad Bathiudeen’s wife and three others in connection to the death of the 16-year-old domestic worker at the parliamentarian’s house.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Rajindra Jayasuriya ordered for the records to be handed over to the Borella Police when a motion filed by the Police on the case was taken up today (July 19).

In addition to the phone records, the court also ordered the relevant banks to produce bank account details of the intermediary who brought the teen to Bathiudeen’s house as domestic help.

On July 15, a 16-year-old girl, who had served as domestic help at the Bathiudeen residence, succumbed to severe burn injuries while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. She had been under medical care for 12 days since her admission to the hospital on July 03.

The girl, who was residing in the Dayagama area, had been 15 years of age when she was brought to the parliamentarian’s residence at Bauddhaloka Mawatha for domestic work last October.

The judicial medical officer who conducted the post-mortem on the girl’s death concluded that she had been sexually exploited.

On July 18, a protest was held in Hatton demanding the arrest of the perpetrators who sexually abused the deceased teen.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 484 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,464.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 286,419.

As many as 261,848 recoveries and 3,827 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 20,792 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 48 more COVID-19 related fatalities that have occurred yesterday (July 18).

The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,827.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the new victims confirmed today include 20 females and 28 males.

One of them is aged below 30 years, ten victims are between 30-59 years and the remaining 37 are aged 60 and above.

Courtesy Adaderana

Fifty percent of the COVID-19 patients receiving treatment at Colombo National Hospital, reportedly, require oxygen therapy.

This was revealed at a press conference held at the Health Promotion Bureau today (July 19).

Speaking on the matter, specialist physician Dr. Upul Dissanayake said that nearly 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 are currently receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital.

There were only 100 [COVID-19 patients] two weeks ago. With the travel restrictions the figure went down to 100 from 160. However, now the numbers are going up. With that the patients that need oxygen is at 100 today. That means exactly 50 percent need oxygen therapy.”

Dr. Dissanayake says that there are only two ways to reduce the spread of the virus.

First is getting vaccinated. The second is wearing a mask. Only have meals together with people in your house. It is dangerous to remove the face mask in air conditioned rooms.”

When inquired on the reports that 30 percent of COVID-19 cases in Colombo being of the Delta variant, Chief Medical Health Officer of the Colombo Municipal Council Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni said that the tested sample group is not sufficient to conclude that this is accurate for the whole of Colombo.

That 30 percent is only in a small sample group. Only areas like Dematagoda, and Albion Place have over 30 percent of Delta variant cases. That is not enough to conclude that this is accurate for the whole of Colombo.”

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Money printing has become a folk story of opposition politicians in Sri Lanka where the story has been popular political rhetoric since the 1970s, and many people and news media in the country use this discourse without a clear understanding of the process of money printing. Is it a process like political leaflets printing in local print shops? When listening to political speeches of the opposition, the public gets an impression that money printing is like death notice printing for funerals.

Why this point has been reiterated on the political platforms? No other reason to show. The economic truth of printed money, which is tangible assets that deteriorate the value of money. When more money is available in the market whilst the supply of goods and services is in a shortage or deteriorating, many negative economic outcomes could be seen in the country. When more money is in the hands of people, prices of goods and services would be skyrocketed. This environment would create hyperinflation the prices of demand and supply will go up. Unless the production process has an increasing trend proportionately to the increase in money supply, inflation will achieve a rising trend. Therefore, it needs to maintain economic stability than printing money (production of paper money). It is observed that when politicians are in the opposition, the rhetoric of money printing uses either to popular on political platforms or attracting clapping of people to the discourse.

Money printing is an economic issue in every country and many countries have not used this as a political issue. Developed countries such as the USA print money, but the political power of such countries, money printing has not become an issue. The purchasing power of the US dollar has radically declined during the last several decades. The major reason for such a situation is they attempt to control the negative effects of money printing with a genuine attempt to maintain the value of money.

Negative effects on money printing peaked when Mr.R.Premadasa was president and International Monetary Fund imposed controls against money printing. However, the weak policy has been continuing in the country as the economic policies used did not support building a production economy. The open economic policy adopted in that period sanctioned imports when shortage incurred in consumer goods with the support of borrowed money. People used to the policy and if there is no borrowed or earned money,  printing has been the popular policy of the government. The technique was to issue bonds when investors have not bought bonds the Central Bank invested with printed money. This has been the popular show of the monetary policy of Sri Lanka.

Money printing is theoretically based on several factors. They are the volume of exports, the volume of foreign reserves, inward foreign investment, inward remittances increasing population, and many other factors. As a member of the IMF, Sri Lanka cannot print money though it wants, IMF monitors the monetary policy of all countries and Sri Lanka cannot overrule the IMF. Neither the opposition nor the public in Sri Lanka knows about this process and they shout like parrots.

The most popular government policy is to present deficit budgets and supplement estimates besides the budget for expenditure. The covering of the budget gap is done printed money by the Central Bank as the investors of government bonds are much less than expected. The truth of the money printing story in the country is this, and people are not explained by the government and money printing rhetoric is continuing. However, the discourse of money printing is bashful, and the situation should explain people using simple examples.

As long as current economic policy is used without deviation, by either government or the opposition, the money printing story remains in the country and the option to get out of the problem is to begin a unity government without opposition and explain the public true economic situation of the country.    

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil Separatist Movement says that the Tamil civilian population in the north is an innocent group,  who have suffered during the Eelam war IV.  The Tamil people were the victims of the last phase of the war, said Jehan Perera. They lost their loved ones, lost their lands, their livelihoods.  The Tamils are an aggrieved people, not aggressors.  They suffered unjustly during the war, said the Eelamists.

Anti-Eelamists do not agree. They do not think that the Tamil civilians in the north were ‘innocent victims’. Tamil civilians in the north knowingly   supported the LTTE in their Eelam war. They were Complicit”.

‘Complicit’ means involved with others in an activity that is unlawful or morally wrong”. To be complicit, means choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act with others. A person who is complicit is a person who participates in, or associates with people who are involved in, illegal activities.

Tamil civilians in the north became complicit because they supported the LTTE. LTTE was engaged in treason. The Tamil civilians were supportive of the LTTE throughout the Eelam war period. When the Ceasefire Agreement was signed and a LTTE administration was set up in the north the civilians eagerly joined the LTTE in opposing the Sri Lanka army. They joined the LTTE in demonstrating against the army camps and they treated the soldiers with contempt when they came in contact with them.

The Tamil civilians were most supportive, most complicit, in the last year of the war, (2009) when they obeyed the LTTE and marched in huge numbers towards the war zone in Putumatalan area. They left their homes and trekked east, voluntarily, on the routes ordered by the LTTE.

Analysts have pointed out that this was not the first time that the LTTE had forced a civilian population to accompany them as they retreated in the face of an army offensive. When the Army launched its Vadamarachchi operation in 1987, there was a large exodus of civilians through Varani to Thenmaratchy. When Operation Riviresa (1995) started LTTE had again instructed civilians to leave their homes. Tens of thousands left. Entire Valikamam area including Jaffna town was devoid of civilians.  

The huge 2009 exodus was not necessary. The Tamil civilians need not have left their homes once the Sri Lanka army took control of the area. The Sri Lanka army did not follow a scorched earth policy. Once the army completed its takeover of a place, they handed that territory to non-combat forces and moved on. The Tamil civilians could therefore have continued to live comfortably in their own houses in the liberated areas.

But they did not do so. They ran towards the war zone in droves. This is most unusual. Is there any other instance in the world where civilians actually ran towards the fighting?   Civilians usually try to escape from a war zone. Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons not related to the conflict or the safety of the civilians is forbidden in ICRC rules.

It is extremely unlikely that 20,000 LTTE could have forced 330,000 civilians to follow them like this. It is far more likely that they would have gone voluntarily to play their part in the LTTE war, said Desmond de Silva and David M. Crane in their report to the Paranagama Commission .

The   civilians first converged on Kilinochchi. Then around December 2008,   LTTE forced 10,000 to 20,000 civilians into the coastal stretch extending between Ambalavanapokkani in the north to Vattavaakallu in the south in order to block the advance of the 55^th and         59^th Brigade. The first function of this migrating lot was therefore to block the advance of the army. They were acting as a buffer. Acting as a ‘buffer’   comes within the definition of performing hostile acts, said   Paranagama Commission.  

But that was not all. Analysts observed that that these civilians were   marshaled by the LTTE from early 2009 for another purpose, to form a defense that would  hold back the government forces and allow an international rescue operation by sea carried out by  Norway and USA to take place.

The Tamil civilians cooperated fully, because they thought the LTTE would win, Eelam would be realized and they would return to their homes triumphantly. Interviewers reported that a good segment of those trapped believed that the West would intervene and save them and the LTTE.  

The whole family, including aged relatives, made the journey. They went in buses, cars, and on foot. As late as 2012 it was possible to see large piles of corroding motor vehicles, motor cycles, and bicycles, parked on top of each other on either side of the road . The larger vehicles    had numbers on them, observed critics.   It was possible to see large swathes of land with thousand of abandoned plastic vessels, cooking utensils, clothing, shoes children books, and other personal items strewn around.

The Tamil civilians did not go on this journey empty handed. It was reported that the IDPs who came across at Puthumathalam, fleeing from the LTTE came with their land deeds tightly held.  They also carried millions of rupees in cash and gold securely wrapped in pottanis.  They had deposited a total of Rs. 390 million in the bank.

The civilians were in for a shock when they got to their destination. The LTTE used the civilians as   human shields. This was known to the government, ICRC   and those watching the war. Human Shielding is prohibited in Rule 97 of ICRC’s compendium of IHL Customary Rules. It is a war crime. Further, those used as human shields are actually participating in the war. They are playing a passive role, not an active one, but they are definitely a part of the war, said lawyer    Michael Newton.

LTTE made good use of these civilians during the final stages of the armed conflict.  Civilians, including children, were armed and forced into the front line, noted the Paranagama Commission. LTTE used the civilians to fortify the defenses by digging trenches, bunkers and building formidable earth bunds behind the lagoon. The civilians also did sentry duty,  and carried supplies. Each family had several tasks like building bunkers, said an LTTE informant.

Fig 14:  Pic of a crowded locality in the Last Redoubt marked by the SL military authorities for propaganda purposes — Pic supplied by Victor Ivan

Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel President Ambassador’s Forum

Jeff Goonawardena – former Counsel General  -Managing director Tilanka Group of Hotels (International)-Joint Secretary Ambassador’s Forum.

Sri Lanka a most popular tourist destination

For centuries, Sri Lanka has been a popular place of attraction for foreign travellers, for various reasons. It is a world renowned destination for historical and archaeological significance, Buddhism linked with culture and historical sites of significance, natural beauty with forests plants and wild life of most rare species of world heritage sites and monuments, beautiful waterfalls and the network of rivers and historical water tanks spring from the beautiful hill country namely little England akin to climate and beautiful sceneries  in England, varied climatic condition within hours in the developed network of roads reminding of the roads in Wales an Ireland  are only a  few attractions in addition to smiles of the ever friendly villager with a broad smile always. It has the all qualification to be the best and the last destination on tourism for a tourist searching for many requirements such as greenery, beauty, best sandy glittering clean beaches with shallow sea/ river ( ‘Polhena’,  ‘Galle’, ‘Arugam bay’ and many more) Dry zone with hot windy weather with beaches and wild life with number of wildlife sanctuaries, Up country named small England and reminds of Wales and Scotland where the network of rivers spring with the number of beautiful nonstop water falls around the hill country. Places archaeological significance are in abundance with proof of reminders in various eras and dynasties of Kings from King Asoka onwards coming down to the last king who was forced to surrender in 1796. Sea is rough round the island with shallow and at times bit rough for surfing and ferocious streams for raft playing. Tea Estates which are commercial plants are beautiful with nice sceneries ideal tourist destination to see and enjoy as holiday homes which are not exploited by the tourism sector. Hot water wells and North and East are attractive to the tourist and tourism also not properly exploited. Sri Lanka could and should make tourism the main income earner as she has every ingredients to be the best destination using the natural resources beauty and all other conditions favourable to be a paradise for tourists.

Many visited and spoke of Sri Lanka for generations

Chinese traveller ‘Fa-Hian’ – Buddhist monk visited Sri Lanka as early as 410s AD and in the 12^th contrary with a group of other minks and stayed in Sri Lanka on a study mission where he made many noted on Sri Lanka and Buddhism. Italian explorer Marko Polo claimed Sri Lanka to be the best destination for tourists and tourism. In 2015 Sri Lankan capital Colombo was the world’s fasted growing tourist city in the world. Many have written on Sri Lanka which is known to the world as a best destination and continue to be and it is our duty to maintain and enhance learning from mistakes and the world tends of tourism.

Well documented

Sri Lanka and tourism is well known and well documented, lonely planet selecting as the best destination on the globe for tourism, despite adverse comments and clarifications required to eradicate misinformation Sri Lanka on steps taken to wipe off  the most fearful and dangerous terrorist outfit for ever, thereafter introducing law and order, peace, creating a haven for tourists and tourism with comparatively reasonable consumer items and excellent network of hotels and restaurants and guest houses to cater all strata of tourists. Success of tourism depends on the attitude of the people and the nation as a whole on the rest of the world now linked so close on modern technology. It is our duty to make use of the modern trends for the documentation process of tourism promotions.

We are still lagging behind

When compared to our other competing destinations with less glamour beauty and resources, we are still lagging behind due to various reasons we are able to take corrective measures and improve on. For example the UAE with less natural beauty resources and ingredients for tourism, she is a leading world tourist destination and a Hub in the Middle East attracting a large influx of tourists. Fortunately they have oil explored in 1960 which they vey wisely invested using the geographical situation creating a Naval, Air and Business Hub linked to tourism providing facilities but with meagre natural beauty and resources as ours. Same is mentioned in many other destinations flourishing in successful tourism. It is time for us to learn from mistakes, others, and our own experiences to aim to be the best global destination with a new vision, plan and vigour fighting the challenges of corona and world downward trends on draw backs on economy and other issues against forward trends. We have to learn a lot on small Singapore doing so well in trade and tourism using all resources in the tiny land using all modern ethnics and technics. Any visitor is furnished with all necessary information including the way of life consumer items places of interest and protective measures, which carries a long way to make them in of the best tourist attractions linked to trace and business.

Must draw up a new plan of action

We must draw up a new plan and a strategy considering, the challenges, drawbacks and the future needs exploiting our resources and competence as a group to promote tourism to lift it to the 21^st century as it is going to be our future and future hopes to promote tourism we have been gifted with our own free resources when other destinations are compelled to create artificial environments and needs for tourists and tourism. It is not only the hotels and other facilities that are needed to attract tourists to a country. We as hosts will have to look into and after all the needs of the visitors to their liking from the time the visitor plans to find a destination. It is essential on our part to publicise our destination to the best based on the modern digital age. Our publicity is on some standard and the internet and the media is fairly well equipped requiring final touches and fine tuning to face the digital age. Let us draw up a modern publicity platform with innovative novelties giving all the details in modern and attractive novel way. We must develop a tourism regime like the employment programme in Philippine where 30% population is overseas in employment where the country has planned the population for future employment worldwide. In the same way we have to train and develop our talents on tourism and transform the system to adopt to new trends of tourism without disturbing our culture, way of life and outlook which is a tourist attraction. Singapore is taking attempts to create artificial waterfalls and greenery due to the geographical situation when Sri Lanka is so fortunate to possess the best natural and gifted environments. Our young is well mannered friendly and educated lacking knowledge of English the Philippine young has bypassed us leading the employment and tourism sector worldwide. It is time for us to learn from other and our mistakes and weaknesses.

Situation in the country is not so satisfactory

Situation of the country should be to the liking and satisfaction of the visitor who has chosen the destination for some reason of is choice. It could be media, publicity, culture, religion, scenery and beauty of the country and many more one or more reasons. We must have proper and trained tour assistances who will identify the needs and cater the needs to the satisfaction till the end of the tour and thereafter to narrate the good news to the word over. Tour guide is to be trained, pleasant, knowledgeable honest and registered guided and supervised by the tourist authorities and the tourist police which is set up for safetyman confidence. Tourist schools to be streamlined monitored and have full supervision from the government and the tourist ministry based on the criteria adopted by other competing nations. The state must give special emphasis and attention on the law and order situation in the country to give protection and confidence to the visiting friends we are bound protect and look after. Media must be careful on reporting the matters regarding tourists and tourism always considering the good name and good will of the country and the reputation of Sri Lanka and world over. Law and order must be streamlined and given priority to give a sense of protection to everybody including the visitors, depending the security forces and the citizens for their protection.

Resources of countries

Many countries have own resources of income for them based on natural resources, ability of the citizen, or sources of income with always tourism is given prominence as a main or a subsidiary income of the nation. For example our friendly nation Israel is an agricultural country as a leader on agriculture and an innovative nation with leaders on modern technology, fighting with neighbours right round yet promoting and giving tourism top priority as an income generating process. Tourist arrive as it is a historical country with historical background, the country has exploited careful to promote the nation as a tourist destination. This is only an example many other countries worldwide promoting their countries tourism as a main or a subsidiary income. Israel is concerned and careful of their safety and safety of the visitors in addition to providing the services as hosts of the tourists. We are in a learning process rom others whilst improving ourselves.

Needs of/for tourists

Let us consider the needs and requirements of a tourist visited to our country, having spent a substantial sum. It could be to see the beauty such as water falls as described in broachers, to visit the sites of historical significance having heard from books or libraries, enjoy the beautiful beaches seen in books and images connected to swimming, surfing, fishing, or whale watching, learn on Buddhism and seeing the historical temples such as the temple of tooth, or any other one or more reasons known to himself and the group. Majority of tourists plan out the visit either by himself or a tour agent finding the most wanted and loved attractions of their choice and liking. Finding a reliable tour agent, places of stay, travel advice on sites, security, and the budgeting are main feathers of planning making arrangements on the explorations. There are so many areas and aspects to be looked into such as medical conditions of the hosts and their needs, making preliminary arrangements of sightseeing on meeting people making prior appointments, are list of issues to be looked into. We need genuine tourists who are not parasites such as some who visit to exploit the goodwill of the people and sometime engaged in illegal trades. The state must be careful in monitoring tourist influx and it is a good idea to maintain proper and detailed records.

Safe and friendly environment

Hosts expects a safe and friendly environment from the arrival and the officers including immigration, airlines, and support staff should be with a smiling face and ever prepared to assist in all the areas of need. Broachers should be in English and preferable in many other languages in detail educating the hosts on the visiting country, culture, way of life, and places of interest in detail. In Singapore the brother consists of basic laws including consumer law and procedure, all details on health and precautionary measures, I n detail in simple language and the guidance and procedure is so simple with friendly nature of the staff in the visiting country. In Sri Lanka the visiting friends are troubled by taxi drivers, touts and many others pleading and pressurising them with requests, demands in the guise of assistance discouraging the visiting tourists at the entry with fear physics and sense of danger and uncomfortable feeling which has to be avoided in the name of tourism and goodwill of the country. There are horrifying stores of taxi drivers harassing foreign and Sri Lankan passengers on return, with no proper remedy despite many unpleasant and dangerous incidents published on the media often gives drastic effects to the industry and the image of the country  appear to  be simple but complicate in terms of reputation and goodwill of the country. These are not unknown to the administration which has been given a blind eye for reasons one cannot understand other than sheer ignorance inefficiency and bad management. The environment has to be please clean attractive and orderly. Is it so in the Airport? In the eye of a frequent traveller entering the airport with lot of hopes and pleasant feelings. Advertisements and notices must be meaningful understanding and attractive. Some time ago there a massive notice giving the exhibiting fine for an offence shown to the visitors among whose there may or may not be a rare traveller when the message could have been transmitted in a more gentle way.

Duty of the host country

It is the duty of the host country to look into all aspects of the visitor in detail whoever is the invitee and the guardian or the guide as the host country is expected to supervise the professional work expected to be performed by the private or the state sector, as the blame always on the host country for mismanagement. There should be a separate tourist police and officers for the safety of the visitors, who are in the hands and custody of the local staff never mind who they are with. In many other tourist countries the tourist police seems to be active and do not seem function in Sri Lanka at all. These are not matters something new to the industry, but the blame is on leaders of industry who are responsible, and if they cannot perform they must honourable leave leaving a more efficient person to manage.

Consumer Items

Standards of Consumer items food and restaurants and hotels the visitors used must be of the highest quality or if this cannot be maintained we must give up tourist trade as failures. Tourist heads must agree with the Consumer Authority, Standards Bureau, Local Authorities, Public health Inspectors, and all chains of hotels and restaurants  countrywide to give  healthy food at a price may be difference of prices to visitors with a more strong buying power prepared to pay more. Implementation of these regulations will help even the local citizens awaiting the law and order to be implemented. Campaign against junk food, cola and unhygienic drinks, and generally junk food available mostly in leading sophisticated food chains must be monitored protecting visitors and locals equally in terms of long term prevention and protection health of all is a paramount necessity especially when we are in the most dangerous era on Covid-19 Pandemic leading the nation and the world nowhere with o hopes or an end in the near future and living on hopes, but the fact remains that we have to live with it for an unknown unlimited period and we must get ready to love with it with necessary adaptations and adjustments.

Environment disasters

It is sad we are destructive and destroy our environment on sand mining, deforestation, in many other ways in small an large scale sometimes with patronage from the errant government servants in the parole of the perpetrators’ on destroying our environment. For us to be on top in tourism we must give priority to environment but informational it is not given priority like in other countries which is sad to note. How could we prosper when our forest is destroyed and sand mining is taking place at a terrible rate destroying our river banks and damaging the forests on high lands which is the source of water?

Live with Covid 19

We have to live with covid 19 for an unknown period and it is time to get used to and learn with it giving priority to tourism as well as our income is say by day declining. The situation in the world including the world powers and our immediate neighbour  India and the counties are day by day declining with increase of deaths and number of patients to the highest  levels uncontrolled by all measure as sadly shown on the TV images in India with the warning to Sri Lanka to be careful reaching us across boarders and via other media such as cargo, import export and the movement of human with no order and restrictions as seen on the images and warnings by the security forces ever struggling with the unruly bombs disobeying the basic instructions so easy to follow.

Religion, Culture, crafts and such traditional trades and arts

Sri Lanka is full of cultural, religious places and full of traditional learnings will be an attractive and a productive areas in promotion of tourism and promotion of traditional skills especially in rural areas. ‘’Tovil’’ (devil dancing) and traditional plays are well known to the world and there is a demand and need to learn the process by cultural groups worldwide linked to tourism. Religious tourism will have a main roll on sightseeing of religious places of worship and learning the religion Buddhism being the most fast spreading religion in Europe and many parts of the world.

The Law and Procedure on Tourism

Tourist board act no 10 of 1966, and tourist development act no 14 of 1968 are followed by the act no 38 of 2005 in force is to be amended in due course with current proposals. Do we need change of law and whether change of law will improve tourism are matters to be considered by the Minister in charge and the governance considering tourism is going to be the main source of income and the image building we are desperately in need of. Following entities are set up under the current legislature for the management of the tourist industry. SLTDA Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority SLITHM Sri Lanka Institute of tourism and hotel management, SLTPB SLCB Sri Lanka tourism Promotion Bureau SLCB Sri Lanka Convention Bureau

Each Bodies would have a- A chairman b-director general c-Manager Director/Chief Executive Board Members and Private Sector and government representatives.

Tourism Development Fund will consist of 1/3 of airport embark

Let levies collected from the industry with voluntary payments too and the income be dispersed among four institutions. Fourteen years of existence of the act has not shown improvements and there are opinions of duplication of matters among the institutions, and there are fears that the act is not properly implemented with the feeling that the private secrtor participation is minimal. There are improvements which are minimal such as increase of 24,451 rooms of 5.6 billion investments with 6% GDP of the country.

Embassies international community and tourism

Sri Lankan Embassies are the forerunners of the nation and it is the duty of the Ambassadors and staff to take charge of tourism along with the developments based on economic diplomacy which other countries have given priority to. Every embassy must have a tourist desk and all other sectors should come under the preview of the Ambassador as the representative of the President and the nation. Needless to say it is the duty of the Ambassador’s forum to help the process and the nation in all sectors.

Way forward

Where have we gone wrong/ and what should be our way out to emerge victorious on tourism with which we can go forward to the highest echelons in the world economy. Let us be frank and realistic in life. We have gone wrong badly in strategy, management, and absence of proper way forward full of corruption and inefficiency considering inefficiency is corruption in that of the tourist leadership feels they have failed it is the duty of the head or heads to vacate forthwith to avoid being called corrupt and incompetence. In the competing world with many competitors in the world reminding us of the adage that we are not the only beautiful girl on the beach. Thailand, Vietnam, UAE, Israel, are some who have bypassed us with less or no resources and beauty that we possess. These statements may not be palatable but the truth is to be said for the betterment of all and the nation. Israel has no resources except the human resources. We have resources not second to any other nation in the globe which we have not exploited. UAE is sandy baron land using desert for sand safari. Vietnam and Israel make use the tragedies’   they have undergone to attract tourists. Nepal uses Himalaya, Bhutan religion and simplicity, India vast places of interest, Maldives shallow sea, Israel places of historical and religious significance, UK the developments and historical aspects including the Royals, France ‘’Ifal Tower’’ and places of historical significance, and Sri Lanka – What haven’t we got to show the world of tourism?. It is sheer incompetence, lack of innovativeness, lack of strategies, planning and exploration. The words may not be palatable but may be productive and useful in the long run for the betterment of the nation. If wrong please correct and suggest a proper way out.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය.

මෙතෙක් එන්නත් නොකළ දෙමාපියන්, වැඩිහිටියන් සහ විශේෂ අවශ්‍යතා සහිත පුද්ගලයන් එන්නත්කරණ මධ්‍යස්ථානවලට රැගෙන ඒමට මෙරට යෞවන සමාජ ව්‍යාපාරය ප්‍රමුඛ තරුණ සංවිධාන නියෝජනය කරන තරුණ තරුණියන්ට ස්වෙච්ඡාවෙන් ඉදිරිපත්වන්නැයි තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඉල්ලා සිටියි.

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ මැදිහත්වීම මත සෞඛ්‍ය අංශ සමඟ සාකච්ඡාකොට එම සෞඛ්‍ය නිලධාරින් වැඩිහිටියන් හෝ විශේෂ අවශ්‍යතා සහිත පුද්ගලයන් සිටින නිවස්වලට ගොස් එන්නත්කරණය සාර්ථකව අවසන් කිරීමට රජයට  සහය වන්නැයි ද අමාත්‍ය  නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

මෙතෙක් එන්නත් නොකළ දෙමාපිය, වැඩිහිටි හා විශේෂ අවශ්‍යතා සහිත පුද්ගලයන්ට එන්නත් ලබාදීම කඩිනම් කිරීම පිළිබඳව අදහස් දක්වමින් අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (18) දින මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

එහි දී අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන ඉතාමත් සාර්ථකව රට පුරා ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. මේ වනවිට ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානය අනුමත කරන ලද සියලුම එන්නත් අපේ රටට ගෙන එන්න අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා, අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ ආණ්ඩුවට හැකිවෙලා තියෙනවා. සියලුම එන්නත් කිරීමේ වැඩසටහන් මේ වනවිට දීප ව්‍යාප්තව සාර්ථකව ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා.

ඒ අතර අපි දන්නවා තවමත් එන්නත්කරණය කරගන්න බැරිවුණ දෙමව්පියො ඉන්නවා නම් අපි ගෞරවයෙන් ආරාධනා කරනවා එන්නත්කරණය කරන මධ්‍යස්ථානවලට ඇවිල්ලා එන්නත ලබාගන්න.

ඒ වගේම නිවෙස්වල වැඩිහිටියො ඉන්නවා නම් විශේෂ අවශ්‍යතා සහිත පුද්ගලයො ඉන්නවා නම් එන්නත්කරණය සඳහා මෙතෙක් පැමිණීමට නොහැකි වුණ අයට අපි ආරාධනා කරනවා මේ රටේ තරුණ පරම්පරාවට විශේෂයෙන්ම යෞවන සමාජ ව්‍යාපාරයට, තරුණ සංවිධානය මේ අයට ස්වෙච්ඡාවෙන් ඉදිරිපත්වෙලා මේ වැඩිහිටියන්ට, දෙමාපියන්ව එන්නත්කරණ මධ්‍යස්ථානවලට රැගෙන එන්න.

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාගෙත් ඉල්ලීමකට අනුව සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ මැදිහත්වීම මත සෞඛ්‍ය අංශ එක්ක සාකච්ඡාකොට ඒ සෞඛ්‍ය නිලධාරින් අවශ්‍ය තැන්වල නිවස්වලට හෝ රැගෙන ගොස් එන්නත්කරණ සාර්ථකව අවසන් කරන්න අපට දායකත්වය ලබා දෙන්න කියලා අපි ඉල්ලනවා.

ඒ අනුව මේ රටේ තරුණ පරම්පරාවෙන් ඉල්ලන්නෙ ඔබ ස්වෙච්ඡාවෙන් මැදිහත්වෙන්න. ඔබේ ප්‍රදේශයේ වැඩිහිටියන්, දෙමාපියන් සැමගේ ජීවිත ආරක්ෂා කරන්න. මේ එන්නත්කරණය තවත් සාර්ථක කරගන්න ඒ අයව එන්නත්කරණ මධ්‍යස්ථානවලට රැගෙන එන්නත්, මධ්‍යස්ථාන වෙත පැමිණිය නොහැකි අයවලුන්ගේ නිවෙස් වෙත ගොස් එන්නත්කරණය කිරීමට සුදුසු වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සකස් කර ගන්නා ලෙසත් අමාත්‍යතුමා පැවසීය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය,

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය, ඩිජිටල් හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය

බදුල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ එකම ක්‍රීඩා පාසල වන වැලිමඩ මධ්‍ය විද්‍යාලයීය ක්‍රීඩා පාසලේ කඩිනමින් සිදුවෙන සංවර්ධන කටයුතුවල ප්‍රගතිය නිරීක්ෂණය සඳහා ඊයේ (17) දින අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එක්විය.

රට හදන සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම රජයේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය අනුව ක්‍රීඩාව තුළින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට කීර්තියක් හිමි කරදෙමින් ජාත්‍යන්තරය ජයගත හැකි නිරෝගී යහපත් පුරවැසියන් බිහිකිරීමේ අභිලාෂය පෙරදැරිව තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ මග පෙන්වීමෙන් රට පුරා වැඩසටහන් රැසක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ.

එහි මූලික පදනම වන පාසල් ක්‍රීඩාව නැංවීමේ අරමුණින් අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සංකල්පයක් මත ක්‍රියාත්මක ක්‍රීඩා පාසල් ශක්තිමත් කර පවත්වාගෙන යෑමේ සැලැස්ම අනුව ක්‍රීඩා පාසල්වල යටිතල පහසුකම් සංවර්ධනය කිරීම ආරම්භ කර ඇත.

මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියට සමගාමීව අදාළ සංවර්ධන යෝජනා යටතේ ක්‍රීඩා පාසල්වල නේවාසිකාගාර, වැසිකිලි පද්ධති, ක්‍රීඩා පිටි හා ක්‍රීඩාගාරවල යටිතල පහසුකම් සංවර්ධනය කිරීම සිදුවේ.

අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ මගපෙන්වීම හා ග්‍රාමීය හා පාසල් ක්‍රීඩා යටිතල පහසුකම් ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය තේනුක විදානගමගේ මැතිතුමාගේ මෙහෙයවීමෙන් ග්‍රාමීය හා පාසල් ක්‍රීඩා යටිතල පහසුකම් ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ ප්‍රතිපාදන යටතේ මෙම සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති දියත් කෙරේ.

2021 වසරේ සිට ඉදිරි වසර 06 ක පමණ සංවර්ධන සැළැස්මක් සහිතව මෙරට ක්‍රීඩා පාසල් ගොන්නට තවත් ක්‍රීඩා පාසල් 05 ක්  සමගින් මෙම ක්‍රීඩා යටිතල පහසුකම් සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති යටතේ දිවයිනපුරා සංවර්ධනය වන ක්‍රීඩා පාසල් ගණන 30ක් වේ.

ඒ අනුව,  ක්‍රීඩා යටිතල පහසුකම්වලට අදාළ සංවර්ධන යෝජනා යටතේ  වැලිමඩ මධ්‍ය විද්‍යාලයීය ක්‍රීඩා පාසල කඩිනමින් සංවර්ධනය කෙරේ.

මෙම ක්‍රීඩා පාසලේ නේවාසිකාගාරයේ හා අංගසම්පූර්ණ වැසිකිලි පද්ධතියේ වැඩ සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම අවසන්ව ඇති අතර,  ක්‍රීඩා පිටිය හා ක්‍රීඩාගාරය සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින බව මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියේ ප්‍රගතිය විමසා බැලීමේදී අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ නිරීක්ෂණයට ලක්විය.

මේ සඳහා වූ ප්‍රසම්පාදන කටයුතු බදුල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් කාර්යාලයෙන් සිදුවන අතර, මෙම ක්‍රීඩා පාසලේ සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සඳහා වැය කරන මුදල රුපියල් මිලියන 36කි.

මෙම නිරීක්ෂණ අවස්ථාවට රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය තේනුක විදානගමගේ මැතිතුමා සහ එම අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් රවීන්ද්‍ර සමරවික්‍රම මහතා, බදුල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන කමිටු සභාපති මේජර් සුදර්ශන දෙනිපිටිය මහතා ඇතුළු ප්‍රදේශයේ දේශපාලන අධිකාරිය නියෝජනය කරමින් දේශපාලන නියෝජිතයින් කිහිපදෙනෙකු ඇතුළු නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක් සහභාගි වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය,

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය, ඩිජිටල් හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය, ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය

ඇල්ල ප්‍රදේශයේ සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ නියුතු වූවන්ට කොවීඩ් 19 එන්නත ලබාදීමේ කටයුතු නිරීක්ෂණයෙන් අනතුරුව අද (17) මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ අදහස් දක්වමින් අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සඳහන් කළේ ලෝකයේ තිබෙන හොදම කොරෝනා එන්නත් වර්ග භාවිතා කරමින් ඉතා කඩිනමින් එන්නත්කරනය කරන රට බවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පරිවර්තනය වෙමින් තිබෙන බවයි.

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි දිවයින පුරා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලබන එන්නත්කරණ ක්‍රියාවලිය කඩිනම්ව හා ක්‍රමවත්ව සිදුකිරීමට අවශ්‍ය නිරන්තර සහයෝගය ලබාදීම අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා විසින් සිදු කරණු ලබයි.

ඒ අනුව දිවයින පුරා එන්නත්කරණය සිදුකරනු ලබන මධ්‍යස්ථාන වෙත ගොස් එම මධ්‍යස්ථානවල එන්නත්කරණ ක්‍රියාවලිය සිදුකරනු ලබන සෞඛ්‍ය අංශවල නිළධාරීන් සමග සාකච්ඡා කර ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් සොයා බලා එන්නත්කරණය නිසියාකාරව කරගෙන යාමට අවශ්‍ය සම්බන්ධීකරණය සිදු කිරීම මෙන්ම රට පුරා එන්නත්කරණ වැඩපිළිවෙල සාර්ථක කර ගැනීම සදහා පැමිණෙන තරුණ ප්‍රජාව ඇතුලු ජනතාව දිරිමත් කිරීමට ද කටයුතු කරයි.

මෙහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙසේද පැවසීය.

විශේෂයෙන්ම ජනාධිපති වරයාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි සෑම දිස්ත්‍රික්කයකම එන්නත් කරන වැඩසටහන සාර්ථකව ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා.

දකුණු ආසියාවේ වේගයෙන්ම එන්නත්කරණය කළ රට බවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද පරිවර්තනය වෙලා තිබෙනවා.

අනික් පැත්තෙන් ලෝකයේ දැනට පිළිගත් හොදම එන්නත් වර්ග භාවිතා කරන රට බවට අපේ රට පරිවර්තනය වෙලා තිබෙනවා.

මෙම එන්නත් ඉතා ඉක්මනින් එන්නත්කරණය කිරීමට යොදා ගන්නා රට බවටත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පත් වෙලා තිබෙනවා.

ඒ අනුව මේ වසංගත තත්ත්වයේ ව්‍යාප්තිය පාලනය කරනවා වගේම නැවත වතාවක් ජන ජීවිතය ආර්ථිකය දරුවන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපනය සමාජ ජීවිතය සාමාන්‍යකරණය කිරීම සදහා රජය පැත්තෙන් ගත යුතු සියලුම  ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගනිමින් ඉන්නවා.

ඒ අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේත් ආණ්ඩුවේත් විශේෂ අවධානය යොමුවෙලා තිබෙනවා සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය නැවත විවෘත කිරීමට.

අපේ රට ලෝකයේ සංචාරකයින්ට නැවත වතාවක් විවෘත වෙනකොට ඇල්ල වැනි තවත් සංචාරක ප්‍රදේශ වල අති බහුතරයක් ඒ කියන්නේ ලක්ෂ තිහකට වැඩි පිරිසකට නැවත වතාවක් රැකියා අවස්ථා ඇති වෙනවා.

BOI කර්මාන්තපුර වලට අනිකුත් කර්මාන්තශාලාවලට ආර්ථික කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් වශයෙන් විදේශ විනිමය රටට ගෙන මධ්‍යස්ථානවලට ධීවර වරායවල් වලට එන්නත් කරන කිරීම ක්‍රියාත්මක කළා.

ඒ වගේම අද වෙනකොට ඉතාමත් සාර්ථකව සංචාරක කේන්ද්‍රස්ථාන හඳුනාගෙන ඒවායේ  එන්නත් එන්නත්කරණය කිරීමේ කටයුතු අපි ආරම්භ කරලා තියෙනවා.

ඒ අනුව ඉදිරි කාලසීමාවේදී සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කරලා ගුවන්තොටුපල විවෘත කරන ගමන්ම   මේ රටේ සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය පුළුල් කිරීමට හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා. එමගින් මේ වගේ ප්‍රදේශවල ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරන්න අපිට හැකියාව ලැබේවි.

මේ වෙනකොට පළාත් අතර සංචාරක සීමා ක්‍රියාත්මක වුණත් දිස්ත්‍රික්ක අතර සංචාරන සීමා ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ නිසා යම්කිසි ප්‍රවර්ධනයක් ඒ ප්‍රදේශවල දක්නට ලැබෙනවා. ඉදිරි සති කිහිපය ඇතුළත ජනාධිපතිවරයා කොවිඩ්  කමිටුව මුණගැහිලා සාකච්ඡා කරලා  සංචාරණ සීමා සම්බන්ධයෙන් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ උපදෙස් පරිදි ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගන්නවා.

රට විවෘත කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාදාමය සිදුවන්නේ දේශපාලන හේතූන් මත නෙවෙයි. එම සියලු පියවර ගන්නේ සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය  එක්ක සාකච්ඡා කරලා ගන්නා වූ තීන්දු තීරණ මතයි.

එන්නත්කරනය සාර්ථකව ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනකොට රට ටිකෙන් ටික විවෘත කරන්න හැකියාව ලැබෙයි කියලා සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය අපට දැනුම් දීලා තිබුණා.

දැන් මේ වෙනකොට ඉතාමත් සාර්ථකව එන්නත් කරන වැඩසටහන ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. ඉදිරි මාස දෙකක් ඇතුලත වයස අවුරුදු 30 ට වැඩි සියලුම දෙනාට එන්නත් ලබාදෙන්න අපට හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා.

ඒ වගේම සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය සහ ආර්ථික වශයෙන් කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානයක් ලෙස සැලකෙන ස්ථානවල සේවය කරන වයස අවුරුදු 18 ට වැඩි අයටත් එන්නත්කරණය කිරීමට හැකියාව ලැබෙයි.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය,

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය, ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය

වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන.

මහජන යුතුකම ඉටු කිරීමෙන් බැහැර නොවන ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීතීඥ සංගමයට මහජන පෙත්සමක්….! ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනනුකූල වගන්ති තිබූ 2019 කොරෝනා වෛරස් රෝගය තාවකාලික විධිවිධාන පනත් කෙටුම්පතට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීතීඥ සංගමය විසින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ කරුණු නොදැක්වීම සහ එම පනත් කෙටුම්පත අනුමත කිරීම සහ 2021 ජූලි 12 දින ස්වර්ණවාහිනී ඉර වැඩසටහනේදී පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නීතීඥ අලි සබ්‍රි මහතා විසින් කර ඇති වැරදි සම්බන්ධයෙන් පරීක්ෂණයක් පවත්වා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙස මහජන පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට පුරවැසියන් විසින් කටයුතු කරමින් ඇත. එකී මහජන පෙත්සම පහත දැක්වෙයි.

හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්  

මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින්  ˝දේශපාලන පක්ෂ, සංවිධාන හා පුද්ගලයන් විසින් මාධ්‍ය හා සමාජ මාධ්‍ය මගින් කරනු ලැබූ ප්‍රකාශ පිළිබඳ ˝ නිවේදනයක් 2021 ජූලි 16 දින නිකුත් කර ඇත. කොමසාරිස් ජෙනරාල් සමන් ශ්‍රී රත්නායක පවසන්නේ  ˝පරිපාලන කටයුතු සම්බන්ධව අසත්‍ය හා සාවද්‍ය තොරතුරු ˝ ඒවායේ පළ කර ඇති බවයි.

මැතිවරණ කොමිසම වටින් පිටින් මේ කියන්නේ ˝කොමිසන් සභාවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් 15 දෙනෙකු මාරු කිරීම හා පිළිගත් ක්‍රමවේදයට පිටින් පිරිසක් බඳවා ගැනීම˝ පිළිබඳව මම ත්, කරූ ජයසූරිය මහතාත් පළ කළ අදහස් පිළිබඳව ය. 2021 ජූලි 7 සහ 15 දිනවල මම මේ ගැන අදහස් දැක්වීමි.   හිටපු කථානායක හා ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාවේ සභාපති කරු ජයසූරිය මහතා ජූලි 11 දින සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වු ව්‍යාපාරයේ පුවත්පත් සාකච්ඡාවේ දී මේ ගැන අදහස් දක්වා තිබුණි.    

අපගේ අදහස්, ප්‍රකාශ හා ඉල්ලීම් ගැන මැතිවරණ කොමිසම දැඩි කැලඹීමට හා කෝපයට පත්ව නිවේදනය නිකුත් කර ඇත. දේශපාලන පක්ෂ, සිවිල් සංවිධාන හා පුද්ගලයින් විවේචනය කරමින් මැතිවරණ කොමිසම නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කර ඇත්තේ ඉතිහාසයේ පළමු වතාවට ය.

එහි පහත කරුණු 6 දැක්වේ.  

1.      නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණ ගැන කොමිසම කරනු ලැබූ කාර්යයන් හා ප්‍රයත්නයන් ගැන (කීර්ති)  නිහඬව සිටී.

2.      (කීර්ති) ස්වකීය දේශපාලන හා පටු අරමුණු උදෙසා ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් සභා යොදා ගනී.

3.      ජනතාව විසින් ගොඩ නගා ගත් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ව්‍යුහයන් දුර්වල කිරීම හා ජනතා විශ්වාසය බිඳ දැමීමට (කීර්ති) ප්‍රයන්ත දරයි.  

4.      (කීර්ති විසින් මතුකළ)  ස්ථාන මාරුවීම් ගැන ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කරුණු දැක්වීමට හැකියාවක් ඇති නමුත්, එසේ කිරීම සදාචාරාත්මක නොවන බැවින් කොමිසම එය නොකරයි. අවශ්‍ය අයට කොමසාරිස් ජෙනරාල් අමතා එම තොරතුරු දැනගත හැකිය.

5.      පසුගිය කාල වකවානුවල කොමිෂන් සභා අවශ්‍ය නොවන බවට ජනමතයක් ගොඩනැංවීමට තරම් පසුගිය කොමිෂන් සභාවල ඇති වූ බලපෑම හේතු විය.  දැන් ඒවා ගැන කථා කිරීම යම් පාර්ශවයකට අගතියක් හෝ තවත් පාර්ශවයකට ප්‍රවර්ධනයක් වන්නේය.

6.      විවේචන අගයන නමුත් (කීර්ති ගේ හා කරු ජයසූරියගේ සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වන ව්‍යාපාරයේ) ඕනෑ එපාකම්වලට නතුවීමට කොමිසම සුදානම් නැත.  

නිවේදනය මාගේ පුවත්පත් නිවේදනය ගැන බැවින්, ඉහත අදහස් හා තර්ජන 6 ට පැහැදිලි පිළිතුරු ලබාදීම මාගේ වගකීමකි.

1.      17 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් බිහි කළ, 19 සංශෝධනයෙන් පසු ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ ˝මැතිවරණ කොමිසම˝ සහ 20 මගින් අඩු කඩා දමා ඇති කොමිසම එකක් නොව දෙකකි.  20 සංශෝධනය මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සතු බලතල, විධායකය විසින් උදුරා ගැනීම නිසා බිහිවී ඇත්තේ ˝තටු කැපූ කොමිසම˝ කි. ඒ කොමිසම දැනට ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් තිබූ  තරුණ, කාන්තා, ඡන්දදායකයින් දැනුවත් කිරීම, ඡන්දදායකයින්ගේ දිනය සැමරීම, සිවිල් සංවිධාන වැඩසටහන්, ප්‍රජා කණ්ඩායම් වැඩසටහන් පවා නවතා දමා ඇත. 

2020 මහා මැතිවරණයේ, ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ ප්‍රධාන පැමිණිලි සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන සියළු පසු විපරම් නවතා දමා ඇත.

පසුගිය මැතිවරණ තුන සම්බන්ධයෙන්ම (පලාත් පාලන, ජනාධිපතිවරණ, මහා මැතිවරණ) වාර්තා නිකුත් කර නැත. පසු විපරම් හා උගත් පාඩම් රැස්වීම් පවත්වා ද නැත. පක්ෂ නායක, නිත්‍ය නියෝජිත, මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂක රැස්වීම් පවත්වා ද නැත.

(පසුගිය කොමිසම විසින් කෙටුම්පත් කළ) ඡන්ද හිමියන් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීමේ පනත සංශෝධනය සඳහා වූ කෙටුම්පත වත්මන් කොමිසම, නියමිත පරිදි තාක්ෂණික දෝෂ සකස් කිරීමකින් තොරව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ න්‍යාය පුස්තකයට, න්‍යාය පත්‍රයට ඇතුලත් කරනු ලැබීය. ජූලි 6 දින පාර්ලිමේන්තු අනුමැතිය ලැබීමට තිබූ සංශෝධනය ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැකි බව දක්වමින් ගරු දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ගේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂ කාර්යාලය ආපසු එවා තිබුණි. වත්මන් කොමිසමේ කාර්යයන් හා ප්‍රයත්නයන් ඒ ආකාරය.   

පසුගිය මාස 7 ට නව කොමිෂන් සභාව කළ සාධනීය කාර්යයන් පිළිබඳ කිසිදු සටහනක් ඔවුන්ගේ වෙබ් අඩවියේ, සමාජ මාධ්‍යයේ හෝ පුවත්පත් නිවේදනවල හමුවන්නේ ද නැත.  එබැවින්, කියන්නට එකම හොඳක් හෝ මා නම් දන්නේ ද නැත.    

2.      අද වන විට මම කිසිදු දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක හෝ සංවිධානයක සාමාජිකයෙකු නොවෙමි. මා හට ˝පටු අරමුණ˝ ක් ඇතැයි නිවේදනය කියයි.  එය කුමක්දැයි නොකියයි.  මේ ˝පටු අරමුණ˝ පුරවැසියාට පැහැදිලි කිරීම නිවේදනය ලියූ පුද්ගලයාගේ වගකීමකි. 

3.      ජනතාව විසින් ගොඩනගා ගත් ˝ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ව්‍යුහය˝17  වන හා 19 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන යි.  කරු ජයසූරිය ‘ස්වාධීන කොමිසන් සභා‘ අදහස විධිමත්ව ඉදිරිපත් කළ ප්‍රමුඛ දේශපාලනඥයා ය. 19 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයට පදනම් වූ ˝සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වූ ව්‍යාපාරයේ˝ පළමු 12 වැදෑරුම් ප්‍රතිපත්තිය ද, දෙවන 10 වැදෑරුම් ප්‍රකාශනය ද ලිව්වේ මා ද ඇතුලත් කමිටුවකිනි. එහි කෙටුම්පත සකස් කළේ මගේ අතින් මාගේ පරිගණකයේ ය.   ජනතාව විසින් ගොඩනගා ගත් 17 හා 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයන් මගින් බිහි වූ  ˝ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ව්‍යුහයේ˝ මළගම 20 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය යි.  එයට සම්බන්ධ වූ කිසිදු පක්ෂයකට, සංවිධානයකට මාගේ කිසිදු සම්බන්ධතාවක් නැත. අපට අලුතෙන් බිඳ දැමීමට තරම් ජනතා විශ්වාසයක් 20 වන සංශෝධනය විසින් මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට තබා අනෙකුත් කිසිදු කොමිසමකට ඉතිරි කොට නැත. අවශ්‍ය නම්, මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට ඒ බිඳවැටුණු විශ්වාසය ක්‍රියාවෙන් නැවත ගොඩ නංවා ගත හැකිය.

4.      //ස්ථාන මාරුවීම් ගැන ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කරුණු දැක්වීමට හැකියාවක් ඇති නමුත් එසේ කිරීම සදාචාරාත්මක නොවන බැවින්//  යැයි නිවේදනයේ දැක්වේ.  එක් ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් වරක් ˝මගේ ලඟ ඔබ කාගෙත් ෆයිල් තියෙනවා.  හැබැයි එළියට දාන්නේ නෑ˝ යැයි සිදු කළ ප්‍රකාශය, නිවේදනයේ වචන හා අර්ථ සම වේ.  මේ කථා කරන්නේ පසුගිය මාස 7 තුල ස්ථාන මාරුවීම් සිදු කළ ටී. හෙන්ස්මන්, සුරංග රණසිංහ, නාලක රත්නායක, ධරණී වීරසේකර, රාජේන්ද්‍රන් සසීලන්, තිලිණ වික්‍රමරත්න, දිලිප් ගම්ලත්, නාමල් තලංගම, ගයාන් පතිරණ, පරිපාලන නිලධාරි ජේ.යු. ප්‍රියනාත්, ගණකාධිකාරි තිලක් කුමාර, ශානික රූපසිංහ, රිසාන් මන්සිල්, බන්දුල රණතුංග, සහ පී.ආර්.බී.සුමංගලී යන අය 15 දෙනා සම්බන්ධයෙනි.  ඔවුන් සියළු දෙනා රාජකාරි මට්ටමින් මා දන්නා අයයි.  නිවේදනය ඉගි කරන ආකාරයේ ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කථා කළ නොහැකි වරදක්, දුෂණයක්, අගතියක් නිලධාරි සිදු කර ඇතැයි මම නොදන්නෙමි.  එසේ කර ඇති නම් ඔවුන්ට විනය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගත යුතුය.  එසේ නොමැතිව ˝මගේ ලඟ ෆයිල් තියෙනවා. ආවොත් පෙන්නන්නම්˝ කතා පළක් නැත.  ස්ථාන මාරුවී ගිය නිලධාරීන් 15 දෙනා තමාගේ ˝සදාචාරාත්මක නොවන කරුණු˝ මොනවාදැයි  පැහැදිලි කර ගත යුතුය.         

5.      //පසුගිය කාල වකවානුවල කොමිෂන් සභා අවශ්‍ය නොවන බවට ජනමතයක් ගොඩනැංවීමට තරම් පසුගිය කොමිෂන් සභාවල ඇති වූ බලපෑම හේතු වූ බව// නිවේදනයේ දැක්වේ. මහින්ද දේශප්‍රිය හා නිමල් පුංචිහේවා කොමිෂන් සභා දෙකේම කොමසාරිස් ජෙනරාල්වරයා සමන් ශ්‍රී රත්නායක ම ය. ඔහු නිවේදනයක් මගින් ලිඛිතව හා පැහැදිලිව පවසන්නේ පසුගිය (මහින්ද දේශප්‍රියගේ )  කොමිෂන් සභාවට බලපෑම් එල්ල වූ බව ය.  ඒ බලපැම් කොමිෂන් සභා එපා යැයි කියා ජනමතයක් ගොඩනැගීමට තරම් ප්‍රබල වූ බවය.  මේ රටේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ගැන අබමල් හෝ කැක්කුමක් ඇති අයෙකු ඔය කියන බලපෑම් කාගෙන්?, කාට?,කොතැනදී? කෙලෙස? කවදා? එල්ලවූවාදැයි යන්න හෙළිකළ යුතුය.  මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට නිල වශයෙන් බලපෑමක් කළ හැක්කේ ජනාධිපති, අගමැති හෝ කථානායකට පමණී. බලපෑම් කළ ජනාධිපති, අගමැති, කථානායක කවුදැයි කොමසාරිස් ජෙනරාල් රටට කිව යුතුය. දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් හෝ පාතාල/මැර/විදේශ කණ්ඩායමක් බලපෑම් කරන්නේ නම් එය ද ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කිව යුතුය. මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට කරන මේ බලපෑම් මොනවාදැයි සොයා බැලීමට දේශපාලන පක්ෂ, ජනමාධ්‍ය යුහුසුළු විය යුතුය.  

නිවේදනයේ කියන පරිදි, මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට එල්ල කළ බලපෑම් හෙළිදරව් වීමෙන් අගතියට පත් වන්නේ කවුද? ප්‍රවර්ධනය වන්නේ කවුදැයි? රටට වැදගත් වන්නේ නැත. ˝මම කතාව දන්නවා. කියන්නේ නෑ˝ යැයි නිල නිවේදනයක ඇතුලත් කරමින් වහසි බස් කියන්නේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3 සහ 4 වගන්ති ක්‍රියාවෙහි යෙදවීම පැවරී ඇති කොමිෂන් සභාවේ කොමසාරිස් ජෙනරාල් ය.  ‘බලපෑම් තියෙනවා. කියන්නේ නෑ.‘ මේ මොන ලැජ්ජා නැති වැඩක් ද? 

6.      කොමිසම අපගේ හෝ කාගේ හෝ උවමනා එපාකම්වලට නතුවිය යුතු නැත. නමුත්, එහි වෙබ් අඩවියේ අගයන් එනම්,  1. අවංකබව (සෘජු බව) 2. පාරදෘෂ්‍ය භාවය 3. විවෘතභාවය 4. කැපවීම 5. වගකීමට ඇති බැඳීම 6. වගවීම  7. අපක්ෂපාතීභාවය  8.  කණ්ඩායම් හැඟීම හා එක් කණ්ඩායමක් ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීම කොමිසමේ වගකීමකි. නැතිනම්, ක්‍රියාවෙන් මේ අගයන් නැති ආයතනයක් බවට කොමිසම පත්වන්නේය.

වත්මන් කොමිසම, අවංක (සෘජු බව) නැත.  පක්ෂ නායක රැස්වීම, නීත්‍ය නියෝජිතයින්ගේ රැස්වීම, මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂකයින්ගේ රැස්වීම තබා සහකාර කොමසාරිවරුන්ට ප්‍රශ්න කථා කරන්නට රැස්වීමක් නොදෙන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.

වත්මන් කොමිසම, පාරදෘෂ්‍ය භාවයක්, විවෘත භාවයක්, වගවීමක් පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේනැත.  මාරුවීම් ගැන ˝හේතු තියෙනවා. එළිපිට කියන්නේ නෑ.  කතා කළොත් ෆයිල් එක අදින්නම්˝ කියන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.

වත්මන් කොමිසම, අපක්ෂපාතීභාවයක් පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ ද නැත.  ලිපි ගොනු අරගෙන කොමිසමේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් සවසට දේශපාලනඥයින්ගේ නිවෙස්වලට රිංගන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.

වත්මන් කොමිසම, අතුරලියේ රතන හිමි සහ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට අධි වේගයෙන් ගැසට් ගැසුවේය.  ඒ කාර්යක්ෂමතාව ‘නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණ‘ යාන්ත්‍රණය ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට ද යෙදවිය යුතුව ඇත.  කොමිසමට විශ්වාසයක් ගොඩ නගා ගත හැක්කේ එමගින්ම පමණී.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර

ඇමුණුම්

මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවේ නිවේදනය – https://www.facebook.com/SriLankaElectionCommission/photos/a.675555132581200/2221929807943717/

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් නිකුත් කළ නිවේදන – https://www.facebook.com/Keerthi.tennakoon/posts/10223208133205185

https://www.facebook.com/Keerthi.tennakoon/posts/10223187774696235

සාධාරණ සමාජයක් සඳහා වු ව්‍යාපාරයේ සභාපති හිටපු කථානායක කරු ජයසූරිය මහතා ගේ ප්‍රකාශය

https://www.facebook.com/lankaenews/posts/4417748501623614

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්‍යාංය

ජාතික ආධුනීකත්ව කාර්මික පුහුණු කිරිමේ අධිකාරිය (NAITA) සහ Huawei Technology Lanka පුද්ගලික ආයතන එක්ව ආරම්භ කෙරෙන උසස් විදුලි සංදේශ තාක්ෂණ ශීල්පි පුහුණු පාඨමාලාව ආරම්භ කිරීම පසුගියදා ඔරුගොඩවත්ත ප්‍රතිනිර්මාණය කරන ලද පුහුණු මධස්ථානයේදී අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය මහාචාර්ය ජී. එල් පීරීස් මහතාගේ හා නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මහත්මීයගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් සිදු කෙරිණි.

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ජාතික  ආධුනීකත්ව කාර්මික පුහුණු කිරිමේ අධිකාරිය විසින් ආධුනිකයින් 30 දෙනෙකුගෙන් ආරම්භ වන මෙම උසස් විදුලි සංදේශ තාක්ෂණ ශීල්පි පුහුණු පාඨමාලාව සදහා සියලු නවීන පහසුකම් වලින් සමන්විත ගෘහස්ථ සහ එළිමහන් ප්‍රායෝගීක පුහුණුව ඇතුලත් අංග සම්පුර්ණ විද්‍යාගාරයක්ද Huawei සමාගම විසින්  ස්ථාපිත කෙරිණි . මෙම පාඨමාලාව සදහා නව ආධුනීකයින් හා ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ නියුතු  ශිල්පීන්ද ඇතුලත්ව පුහුණුව ලබා දීමට සැලසුම් කරන ලදි.

විදුලි සංදේශ පද්ධති පිළිබඳ සවිස්තරාත්මක න්‍යායික හා ප්‍රායෝගික පුහුනුව ද ඇතුළුව පද්ධති නඩත්තුව සහ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳ පුහුණුව ද මෙහි අන්තර්ගත ය. න්‍යායාත්මක කොටස මාස 06ක් සහ ප්‍රායෝගික පුහුණුව මාස 12ක් ද වශයෙන් පාඨමාලාව සකසා තිබේ. මෙරට වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපනය තවත් සංවර්ධනය කීරිමට Huawei සමාගම තවත් ඉදිරියෙදි මෙවැනිම ව්‍යපෘතින් සදහා අනුග්‍රහය ලබා දෙන බව ඒහි ප්‍රධානීන් අමාත්‍යවරුන්ට පවසන ලදි.

මෙම පාඨමාලාවේ තවත් ඒක් සුවිශේෂීත්වයක් වන්නෙ Huawei Technology Lanka පුද්ගලික සමාගම සතු  තාක්ෂණික දැනුම ආධුනික වෘත්තීකයන්ට ලබාදෙමින් නව රැකියා අවස්ථාවන් බිහිකිරිමටත්  ඔවුන්ට මාර්ගගත ක්‍රමය ඔස්සේ චීනයේ Huawei ප්‍රධාන ආයතනය සමග සම්බන්ධ වීමටත් අවස්ථාව සැලසේ.

මෙම අවස්ථාවන් සදහා Huawei Technology Lanka පුද්ගලික සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිළධාරී ලියැං යී මහතා, අධ්‍යක්ෂ රිකාඩෝ මහතා, ජාතික  ආධුනීකත්ව කාර්මික පුහුණු කිරිමේ අධිකාරියේ සභාපති තරංග නලීන් ගම්ලත් මහතා, පාඨමාලාව සදහා සුදුසුකම් ලැබු සිසු සිසුවියන් ඇතුඵ පිරිසක් සහභාගී වුහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්ය අමාත්‍යාංය

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The image of Sri Lanka as a leading cricket playing nation is now heavily bruised.  The team cannot go down any further   the cricket lovers no longer consider Sri Lankan team as competitive.  The team in the past was not balanced.  If the batters deliver goods, then bowlers fail and vice versa. The lack of batting partnership could be  identified as the main cause for batting failure.  It is unfortunate to notice that in rare instances where some partnership develops, then our batters find another way of getting out, famous RUN OUT.

SLC  board is facing severe financial crisis.  The ODIs between Sri Lanka and India has been scheduled as day night matches.  We cannot understand the logic, playing matches under Covid Bubble, why not play it as a day match and save millions of dollars of power costs!

We hope Dasun Shanaka will lead the team forward, it is important to retain him, barring any unavoidable circumstances, until the next world cup.  My team for today’s match picked as follows:

ALL ROUNDERS:

Isuru Udana

Dasun Shanakha

Dananjaya de Silva

Wanindu Hasaranga

BOWLERS:

Chameera or Rajitha

Praveen Jayawickrema

BATTERS:

Avishkha Fernando

Pathum Nissanka

Ramesh Mendis

Bhanukha Rajapakse

Minod Bhanuka

Identify your weaknesses and build on your strengths.  Jayawewa.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

තමනට රාජ්‍ය ඇමති ධූරයක් ලැබීමට නියමිත බව සමගි ජනබලවේගය පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී අලි සබ්රි රහීම් මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයට සහාය දුන් අවස්ථාවේ ඇමතිධූර සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය සංවර්ධන කමිටු සභාපති ධුර ලබා දෙන බව පොරොන්දු වූ බවද ඔහු පැවසීය.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=234445195190565&t=4

කෙසේ වෙතත් බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මුදල් ඇමති ධූරයේ දිවුරුම් දුන්නේ මෑතක දී නිසා ඔහු කියූ දේ ඉටු කරනු ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කරන බවද ඒ මහතා පවසයි.

20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය සඳහා සහාය ලබාදෙන ලද්දේ එම පදනම බව ද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ ය.

අලි සබ්රි රහීම් මහතා නියෝජනය කරන්නේ රිෂාද් බදුර්දීන් මහතාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුතු වූ සමස්ත ලංකා මහජන කොංග්‍රසයයි.

එම පක්‍ෂය පසුගිය මැතිවරණයේදී සමගි ජන බලවේගයෙන් තරග කලේය.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Residents of the area yesterday staged a protest compelling the authorities to hold a formal investigation into the death of a 16 year old girl at former Minister Rishan Badiudeen’s residence who had died of serious burn injuries. The victim J.Ishalini was a resident of Diagama West in Agarapathana

The protest organised by the Kandurata Janatha Peramuna in front of the clock tower in Hatton was led by the Nuwara Eliya district Jathika Samagi Balavegaya Parliamentarian and leader of the Kandurata Janatha Peramuna V.Radha Krishnan .

The 16 year old girl J.Ishalini had found employment in the former minister’s residence at Bauddhaloka Mawatha Colombo through an individual from Diagama. She had received serious burn injuries on July 03 and sucumbed to her injuries on July 15 at the hospital.

However, the JMO of the Borella hospital who performed the postmortem examination had reported that she had been raped.

The protestors including Parliamentarian Radha Krishnan pointed out that in view of the postmortem report the authorities should hold a formal inquiry and arrest the individuals who raped the girl. He stressed that responsibility of the authorities was to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents to provide protection to the hundreds of estate sector children employed in Colombo and several other areas.(Ranjith Rajapakse and Manura Sellahewa)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 46 more COVID-19 related fatalities that have occurred yesterday (July 17).

The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,779.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the new victims confirmed today include 16 females and 30 males.

None of them are aged below 30 years, thirteen victims are between 30-59 years and the remaining 33 are aged 60 and above.

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 380 more people tested positive for COVID-19 today (July 18), raising the daily count of positive cases reached 1,402.

According to the Government Information Department, the new cases reported today have been associated with the New Year cluster, which has recorded a total of 276,730 virus infections since mid-April this year.

The new development has brought Sri Lanka’s confirmed coronavirus cases tally to 284,914.

Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that as many as 256,676 patients who were infected with the virus have regained health so far. Meanwhile, the death toll now stands at 3,779.

More than 24,000 are currently under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres across the country.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 18 (NewsWire) – Health authorities in Colombo City say that the Delta variant of the COVID-19 has been identified in Covid patients reported from several areas.

Dr Ruwan Wijemuni, Chief Medical Officer of the Colombo Municipal Council said that 11 people infected with the highly infectious Delta variant have been identified within the Colombo city limits in the last few days.

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Dr Wijemuni said that Dematagoda, Maligawatta & Colombo North areas could be high-risk areas for Delta variant as patients were found from those areas.

Dr Wijemuni also said all the patients and their associates identified have been quarantined.

Meanwhile, Colombo Regional Epidemiologist Dinu Guruge requested the public to follow health guidelines.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Anyone who is indulging in politics should have dignity and integrity and should not be shameless and a backboneless individual.  Mangala Samaraweera lacks all these noble qualities and is an incorrigible shameless and jaundiced hypocrite we have never had in this country among our politicians.  In the last series of articles, we outlined in detail how ashamedly he licked the boots of Chinese leaders and genuflected before them. This series is devoted to highlight how he became enslaved before the American officials in a gross undignified manner which would have never done even by an ordinary street vendor in Sri Lanka.

Addressing an audience, American docile audience, at the Lakdshman Kadiragsmar Institute for International Studies, at a function held to introduce United States’ Foreign Service Officer Thomas A. Sjhanmon Jr., this reprehensive chameleon giving a full detailed account odf this American official said that 2015 was a milestone year in US – Sri Lanka relations, and Ambassador Shannon’s visit follows a series of important visits from the US including two members of President Obama’s Cabinet: the Secretary of State, H.E. John Kerry, and Ambassador Samantha Power his new found LGBT colleague.

He said that Secretary Kerry, during his visit announced that the US and Sri Lanka will establish a Partnership Dialogue and his discussions with Ambassador Shannon they decided that the Partnership Dialogue will be launched in Washington DC in February 2016 and it will be a remarkable development in relations between Sri Lanka and the United States to  institutionalize the renewal of our centuries-old friendship and he is happy that their Partnership Dialogue will benefit from Ambassador Shannon’s wisdom and experience.

Just remember that this shameless multi-faced immoral hypocritic Gobnlin made this statement while continuing his boot licking of Chinese leaders through various visits to China.

Continuing his speech, he said that the Partnership between Sri Lanka and the United States” is what Ambassador Shannon has chosen as the topic to address that meeting.

I know that all of you hear me often almost on a daily basis on television and radio and read what I have said sometimes quoted correctly, and sometimes wrong. I will spare you now from having to listen to me further and invite our guest speaker, Ambassador Thomas Shannon to speak to you on ‘The Partnership between Sri Lanka and the United States’. 

I am sure that his thoughts will be a precursor and a guide to broadening and deepening both people-to-people contact and government-to-government relations between our two countries. 

Delivering his speech on The Partnership between Sri Lanka and the United States” the U.S. official said thalt your nation’s journey down that long road is well underway.  In January, and again in August, the world witnessed your resolve to move beyond the acrimony of the past and towards a future that is inclusive, peaceful, just, democratic, and prosperous.

Sri Lanka is an example of the power of citizens to reinvigorate their democracy, to retake control – through the ballot box – of their country’s trajectory, and to set a course to a brighter future.  We now look to Sri Lanka to also provide inspiration to others around the world, to show them how justice and compassion can overcome a difficult past and help create a stable and prosperous future, and strengthen a nation’s security, prosperity, and prestige.

The United States wants to see a strong Sri Lanka, one that is a leader in the international community, contributing to the global economy, promoting human rights, justice, and democracy abroad, and helping to uphold international law.  With its entrepreneurial people, abundant resources, and strategic location, Sri Lanka is uniquely positioned to do so.

The maritime importance of Sri Lanka, stretches far back into history.  Ships from ancient Greece, Rome, Arabia, and China sailed through Sri Lankan waters and docked at its ports. Yesterday, I was in Trincomalee and took a tour of Fort Frederick, which the Portuguese built nearly 400 years ago, and which was long a site of strategic rivalry between European powers.  The Portuguese soon lost it to the Dutch, and it then changed hands with the French several times before the British captured it in 1795, fortifying and defending it through two World Wars until 1948, the year that Sri Lanka gained independence.  Trincomalee is still one of the world’s finest natural deep-water ports, and its beautiful city has tremendous growth potential. (This bloke displayed his lacuna about the actual history as the British imperialists continued to keep Katunayake and Trincomalee under their control and it was the late Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike after coming to power in 1956 who got these two strategic locations liberated from their control)

I would add that I also visited the Temple at the top of Fort Fredrick and I was struck by the power of faith and the resilience of faith.  One that overcame the years of conquest and subjugation and showed the ability of the Sri Lankan people through its faithfulness.  Let me put it this way – it was humbling for me to be in such a place and recognize that a commitment to a faith was at the end of the day able to overcome so many years of conflict.

While I was in Trincomalee, I also toured an ice factory that’s partly funded by USAID, and helps small-scale fisherman preserve their daily catch.  But before it had factories to make ice, Sri Lanka had to import it.  And, believe it or not, it was in the early 1800s that an entrepreneur from Boston, Massachusetts, started shipping blocks of ice – cut from frozen New England ponds – all the way to Colombo.

In fact, our countries have a long and fruitful history of commercial relations, going back centuries.

Today, the United States is Sri Lanka’s largest single-country market, which accounted for over 20 percent of your exports in 2014, worth nearly two and a half billion U.S. dollars.

As I flew into Colombo two days ago, I saw below me the busiest port in South Asia and one of the top 30 in the world – an operation that moves over five million containers every year.  And that number, I predict, is only going to go up.

Your nation sits at the crossroads of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia.  By the middle of this century, economists predict that Asia will account for 50 percent of the world’s GDP.  Over the next few decades, the supply and demand generated by the billions of people who call this region home will become increasingly central to the world economy and to global stability.  We share your vision of Sri Lanka as a hub for trade and investment, and support this effort through our Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor initiative. Majority of the docile listeners may have not known what the Indo-Pacific Corridor was?

(This was a plan launched by the Americans in their resolve to control the countries in the Asia-Pacific region with emphasis on critical areas such as military planning, foreign policy and economic and trade policies launched in late 2011/early 2012. Under this strategical plan the United States would continue to engage and play both `a larger and long-term’ role primarily conditioned upon three tenets – first, that international law and norms were to be respected; second, issues relating to free passage and the freedom of navigation were not hindered or blocked. Third, where emerging powers – a clear reference to China – and their neighbours conflicted over unresolved territorial claims, the US to get involved in their resolution)

Continuing his speech this bloke stated our wonderful U.S. Ambassador here, his good friend Atul, has recounted to me his amazement at seeing, from the old Dutch fort in Galle, the countless ships that sail past Sri Lanka along the sea lanes between the Straits of Hormuz and Malacca.  Forty percent of all seaborne oil passes through the former, and half the world’s merchant fleet capacity sails through the latter.  To put it simply, stability and prosperity of the entire world is dependent on the stability of these vital energy and trade routes.  And Sri Lanka is at the center of this.

(It is the reason that these former slave trader nations and the current white-skin discriminators are so keen to get Sri Lanka subdued so that they even can launch a war against China and destroy the massive development of that country and that country helping other nations in the region.  Why these war mongers look after people in their own countries and their own region instead meddling in the affairs of Asian-Pacific countries uninvited and which is unwelcome?)

Through your relationships with other nations and active engagement in multilateral organizations, including, for example, the Indian Ocean Rim Association – where, it’s worth noting, Minister Kadirgamar once held a position – you can help lead regional efforts to strengthen economic ties and support maritime security and safety.

In the decades ahead, the economics, politics, and security of the Indian Ocean region will be a central focus of the world.  We are hopeful Sri Lanka will continue to contribute to the development of a regional consciousness – one that promotes the values of democratic governance and respect for human rights, freedom of navigation, sustainable development, and environmental stewardship.

You have already accomplished much: ratifying the UN protocol to combat human trafficking, as well as supporting civil society through your voice and vote at the U.N., and, importantly, agreeing to host next year’s Asia-Pacific consultations for the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Commission.  By these actions, you have demonstrated a commitment to improving human rights not just within Sri Lanka, but throughout the world.

(As His Eminence Cardinal Dr. Malcolm Ranjith explained that Human Rights” as a new religion these inhuman western rulers have embraced.  Our people have their own religions and under which they upheld peace, stability, and good neighbourly relations for the last several centuries and no one in this country except the modern slaves of the western countries living here wants this oppressive religion called Human Rights”.  That is why that shameless Mangala continues to promote LGBT culture and undermine all religions)

Your military has also demonstrated regional leadership – you were one of the first nations to arrive in Nepal with critical relief supplies after its terrible earthquake this past April.  Members of your Engineering Corps cleared several kilometers of roads, allowing for ambulances and relief materials to reach areas devastated by that disaster.

(This bloke should understand that helping the needy in their distress is a culture that Sri Lankans have inherited for the last several centuries.  It was because of this noble and inherent qualities of Sri Lankans our gallant war heroes rescued nearly 300,000 Tamil Civilians who had been shepered from place to place on the front lines of LTTE bandits during the last stages of the war, which had been blind to the so-called American and western prevaricators)

The need for these efforts will only increase as your region grapples with the impact of climate change and an increase in extreme weather events.  The United States looks forward to working with Sri Lanka to help strengthen our abilities to provide humanitarian assistance and respond to natural disasters.

Your armed forces are also stepping up to contribute to global security challenges, sending peacekeepers to some of the world’s toughest spots – including Lebanon, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan.  We welcomed President Sirisena’s pledge of several additional vetted battalions at the recent peacekeeping summit of world leaders, and we look forward to working with you to ensure future participation reflects the best of Sri Lanka’s professionalism and honor.

The United States welcomes all of these efforts, and we believe that your armed forces can also play a constructive role in ensuring a bright future.  As the resolution that we co-sponsored at the Human Rights Council stated: a credible accountability process for those most responsible for violations and abuses will safeguard the reputation of those, including within the military, who conducted themselves in an appropriate manner with honor and professionalism.”  We strongly support these statements, and are willing partners to help you implement them.

As Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Samantha Power both made clear during their visits to your country: we have long worked with Sri Lanka to help it further strengthen democratic institutions, reconcile multi-ethnic and religious communities, and accelerate economic growth.

(How can you call your illegal involvement in the regime conspiracy spending several million dollars and your notorious coordinating and mapping out those activities as help, what you call to further strengthen democratic institutions, reconcile multi-ethnic and religious communities, and accelerate economic growth?)

We are now working to expand trade flows, increase foreign direct investment, and, together, show the world the bright possibilities of Sri Lanka’s future.  We are forging partnerships with the private sector, especially in under-developed regions.

We are supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises in creating jobs, promoting investment, and improving the business climate.  Those initiatives help provide the financial assistance, tools, training, and market access that can help bring economic stability to all Sri Lankans, including war widows, the disabled, resettled families, and ex-combatants.

We are working with Sri Lanka’s economic ministries to help ensure competitive and transparent procurement processes. We are helping to improve law enforcement capabilities and support anti-corruption task forces that seek to uncover and prosecute large-scale financial fraud, breach of trust, misuse of public funds, and money-laundering crimes.

The partnership between Sri Lanka and the United States continues to grow, and with Sri Lanka’s continued progress, we plan to expand and strengthen our relationship in the years to come. In fact, one big reason I came here this week was to spend some time with my friend, Minister Samaraweera, who, to my great honor, will lead Sri Lanka’s participation for the first U.S.-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue.  When we meet for this dialogue in February in Washington, D.C. our discussions will be organized around four main pillars.

First – governance, development cooperation, and people-to-people ties. That will include everything from steps on justice and reconciliation to educational exchanges.

Second – economic cooperation, including topics like women’s empowerment, investment climate, and clean energy.

Third – security cooperation, in particular peacekeeping and security-sector reform, to support Sri Lanka’s military preparedness to address current and future challenges.

And fourth – international and regional affairs, including efforts to combat climate change and ensure maritime security.

As we continue planning for this inaugural dialogue, both the Foreign Minister and I will have much more to share with you about the details and what we hope to accomplish.

But as you can see, our partnership spans virtually all fields of endeavor, and the people of both our nations can expect to reap the benefits.

(This shameless and spineless Foreign Minister will have nothing to share with you but wkill agree to whatever you propose like a man of deaf, blind and mute person.  It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka has such a goblin as its Foreign Minister)

After having seen the tremendous potential of this island nation, I know that the future holds great promise. The United States will work with you to achieve that promise – we are with you as a fellow democracy, as a long-time friend, and as a strong and dedicated partner.

Across my 31 years in the United States Foreign Service, I have worked in many countries in transition. From Central America, to Colombia to South Africa, I have seen countries grapple, with the kind of conflict Sri Lanka has faced.  I have seen these countries grapple with the problems of reconciliation, of transitional justice, of social and economic development.

I can tell you that while Sri Lankans look out into the world and try to find examples or experiences that might be relevant to Sri Lanka, I can assure that your success here will make Sri Lanka a reference point for the rest of the world.  And for those countries that are facing conflicts today, in the Middle-East, in Africa and elsewhere, if you get deeper into this century and people look for a model of reconciliation, when people look for hope in dark moments, Sri Lanka will be the point of reference.

What you are dealing with here has global consequence. I recognize that it is important to Sri Lanka, I recognize that it is a work in progress, I recognize that there is much to be done but I can assure you the solidarity of the world with Sri Lanka is strong, the solidarity for the United States with Sri Lanka is strong.  We want you to be successful, for your own benefit, for our benefit and for the benefit of the world.  So I congratulate you all, I thank you for your patience today and listening to me and I am delighted to be here and I look forward to coming back.

(So, good bye for you. under the new GR government your hidden agenda will not get materialised.)

To be continued…………………

******

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Supreme Court has awarded one million rupees against the five Police Officers attached to Peliyagoda Police Station as compensation for torture leading to the death of a father of two children, a seven-year-old son and a daughter of one month at the time of his death. 

Delivering the judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Preethi Padman Surasena ordered that out of the sum of one Million rupees awarded as compensation, a sum of Rs. 500,000 should be invested in the names of the two children in equal shares in a state bank.

According to the judgment, the Supreme Court awarded a sum of one million rupees as compensation, of which a sum of Rs 750,000 should be paid by the State and Rs 50,000 each by the five respondents personally. The amount of money ordered as compensation must be paid within four months from the date of the pronouncement of the judgment. 

It was revealed during the Post Mortem examination that the cause of death is due to extensive muscle and soft tissue contusions caused by blunt force trauma.

The petitioner Nilmini Vijesekara, the wife of Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi who is alleged to have died while in Police custody had filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking a declaration that the respondents have violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner’s husband.

Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Justice Janak de Silva and Justice Mahinda Samayawardena held that the five respondents have infringed the fundamental rights of the Petitioner’s husband Chadik Shyaman Wickramarachchi guaranteed under Article 11 for freedom from torture and 12(1) of the Constitution.

The petitioner stated that around 4.00 am on February 25, 2017, five Police Constables Sumedha Thushanga, Indika Priyadharshana, Chanaka Rukman, Ajith Jayalal and Lahiru Roshan had come to their residence in Kaduwela and arrested her husband Chadik Shyaman and taken him to Peliyagoda Police Station. The Petitioner who was also present at the time of the said arrest had identified respondents as police officers who had come from Peliyagoda Police Station.

When inquired as to the reasons for taking him to the police station the respondents had stated that they wanted to record a statement from Chadik Shyaman over a robbery.

Around 9.00 am on February 25, 2017, the Petitioner had gone to her husband’s house to visit Peliyagoda Police Station. It was at that time she was informed that her husband had died and the body was lying at the Colombo General Hospital.

The petitioner said one high ranking police officer had explained to the petitioner that Chadik Shyaman was arrested in connection with a robbery of a car and jewellery in Kelaniya and Bandarawatte, that her husband had fallen sick, suffering from a wheezing attack when his statement was recorded and that he was admitted to the hospital. 

The Petitioner states that this briefing is manifestly false given the findings in the postmortem report.
The Consultant Judicial Medical Officer who conducted postmortem examination had observed twenty-eight external injuries on the body of the Petitioner’s husband.

The Consultant Judicial Medical Officer has described these injuries as signs of recent injuries and identified the injury pattern as one commonly seen in torture.

It was clear from the findings of the Post Mortem Examination, that the Petitioner’s husband’s death was not due to a wheezing attack. The Post Mortem Report is clear that the cause of death is due to extensive muscle and soft tissue contusions caused by blunt force trauma.

Attorney General who had directed to file charges against the five respondents for an offence punishable under section 296 of the Penal Code and conduct a non-summary inquiry in the relevant Magistrate’s Court. 

After the conclusion of the said non-summary inquiry, the case was again referred to the Attorney General who thereafter having considered the available material had taken steps to indict the five respondents under section 2(4) of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act No. 22 of 1994 in the High Court of Colombo. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa in a letter addressed to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene today urged the latter to convene the Parliament Council to discuss about the sudden transfer and removal of officers attached to the Elections Commission. Premadasa in his letter informed the Speaker that Parliament Council which is ultimately responsible for the appointment of persons to independent commissions and officers servicing those commissions under the constitution should be convened to discuss the transfer and removal of officers attached to the polls commission.

  “The procedures pertaining to officers attached to the Elections Commission goes beyond normal procedure and norms pertaining to the removal and transfer of normal state officers. It is also essential to keep the officers attached to the polls commission without transfering them to other institutions. This is because their expertise is essential to ensure free and fair elections. Besides such transfers and removal of officers will prevent free and fair elections in the future,” he said in his letter.  The latter was signed by SJB MP Kabir Hashim as well. (Yohan Perera)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

It was revealed that the girl working at the house of former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen in Borella, who died of burn injuries, was brought to the house as a domestic helper when she was 15 years old.

Police Spokesman SDIG Ajith Rohana said the police has decided to conduct further investigations into the girl’s death on the content of the post moterm report.

The girl, a resident of Dayagama Estate, off Talawakelle was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital on July 3 with burn injuries and breathed last on July 15.

Police said her parents brought her to the former minister’s house a few months ago.

However, it is learnt that the girl, who was 15 years old when she was brought to Colombo as domestic aide in October last year.

SDIG Rohana said the Borella Police and the Colombo (South) Divisional Children and Women’s Bureau are conducting further investigations.

Earlier the police recorded a statement from the mother of the deceased girl. However, the police to record another statement from her once again.(Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)