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)

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has registered 31 more COVID-19 related fatalities confirmed by the Director General of Health Services on Saturday (July 17).

The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 3,733.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims confirmed today include 17 males and 14 females.

Among the victims are 06 males and 02 females aged between 30-59 years and 11 males and 12 females aged 60 and above.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 467 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,447.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 283,507.

As many as 255,833 recoveries and 3,733 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 23,972 active cases are currently under medical care.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

There is firm evidence to show that during the Eelam wars the Tamil civilians were   anti-government and anti-Sinhala. This became clear to the Sri Lanka army when they were in Jaffna   during Eelam War III. Kamal Gunaratne narrates (Road to Nandikadal’).

 After the Sri Lanka army captured Kilaly, (Jaffna) in 1996, tens of thousands of civilians who had left Valikamam started to return to their original homes. LTTE tried to prevent this but could not. Seeing the civilians return was a happy sight for us, recalled Kamal Gunaratne. Watching the massive influx we had a sense of great satisfaction. About 200,000 civilians were now under government administration. One the first day, an elderly man had come up, whispered “Congratulations” and moved on. But young children, who had never seen a soldier glanced at us furtively with fearful eyes,  said Kamal.

People went directly to their homes and started to settle in.  We tried our best to support them in their resettlement. We tried to bring back normalcy to their lives. We provided them with food, water and medicine.  In Thenmarachi and Wadamarachchi, we found LTTE stores filled with food items. We distributed these among the civilians.

We gave special attention to school children. The service rendered by the army to support and maintain primary and secondary education in the peninsula was immense. Besides supplying children with books, bags, uniforms, shoes, we also provided meals, especially during exams. We obtained support and sponsor ship from successful business men in Colombo for books, uniforms, shoes bags etc and encouraged the school children to study.

We also focused on elderly and sick. We   provided medical attention. We conducted eye clinics with support   of well wishers and leading opticians in the country. We donated spectacles. Many patients came to the camps and we provided medicine from our own stocks. We sent them to hospital in our ambulances.

We helped with government matters of the civilians. We conduced shramadana campaigns with joint participation of soldiers and civilians to repair and renovate village infrastructure and public properties such as hospitals, temples and schools. At the New Year   festival we gave civilians expensive gifts, donated by civic society group and businesses. We persuaded businesses to sponsor musical shows.

Our priority was to win the hearts and minds of the local population . There was a severe shortage of food items and they depended on the army welfare canteens. We tried to bring these items from Colombo and supplied them through our canteen at reasonable price. We donated part of our food quota to the poor villagers.  Whenever a member of a poor family was sick or had met with an accident it was the army medics who attended to them and in an emergency, our ambulances were used to take them to hospital.

Kamal Gunaratne said that they also changed the attitude of the soldiers. A new position of Civil Affairs officer was created and every major camp had such an officer. We organized a Tamil language course for our officers.

We built awareness among the soldiers of the need to treat Tamil citizens with respect and care. So much so that that soldiers began to look forward to supporting the civilians and sought out opportunities to be of service. They helped the civilians in many ways to improve their daily lives.Most soldier treated the  innocent poor Tamils with sympathy .They always treated the elderly with due respect and care to the extent of donating their own  meal to the hungry and medicine for the sick. However, despite the all the support we gave to the Tamil civilians, it was clear that their sympathies lay with the LTTE.

This became evident when the Ceasefire Agreement was signed, in 2002 said Kamal. We then saw a rapid deterioration in the relations between the civilians and the army. Hostility and mistrust returned and the Tamil civilians pretended not to remember what we had done for them.

LTTE started programme called Pongu Tami in 2002. It was actually Eelam propaganda, sowing seeds of hatred, revenge and racism under the guise of promoting Tamil culture.  These programmes were held in government controlled areas and were calculated to set the Tamil youth against the government.  The Army protested but government said do not disturb, it was a cultural programme.

In these progammes the LTTE accused the Sri Lanka army of destroying Tamil private property, raping, robbery and the forcible occupation of Tamil homeland.  They were building up a case against the army to rally Tamil youth so that they would help create Eelam.

The hate programme of Pongu Tamil continued. There was a programme in June 2003 at University of Jaffna attended by a large gathering which included school children. Programmes were also held in Vavuniya and Mannar. 1300 children attended the Mannar programme.

The centre for all this activity was the University of Jaffna. That was the hub of all this activity, where all the planning and coordinating was taking place. The army did not dare enter the premises.

One of its University’s main objectives, observed Kamal, was to   turn school children against the army. These children, whose education we have helped, now stood on road holding anti government and anti army placards. They had forgotten what we had done for them, said Kamal.

LTTE also entered schools when in session and delivered lectures poisoning and radicalizing these young minds. LTTE were successful in brainwashing the youth with their anti government, anti Sinhalese, anti-army rhetoric.

During the Ceasefire LTTE had trained civilians to handle a weapon. They conducted lectures on rising against the oppression by government and Sinhalese.  

The Tamil civilians then became openly hostile to the Sri Lanka army.They turned against the army. Villagers who used to work closely with us in musical shows or New Year celebrations became hostile.    Public servants were arrogant when dealing with the army. 

Soldiers who ventured into town were abused. Some would purposely bang against these soldiers and turn around and shout in filth. Even a simple exchange of word could crescendo into a major row with abuse and anti –Sinahla sentiments being flung with abandon. When soldiers went into shops, they were served last.  

Army    drivers underwent severe hardship and even the smallest of accidents turned into chaos abuse pelting of stones and death threats. Three wheeler drivers drove in the middle of the road and blocked army vehicles form overtaking and loudly spewing filth at us.

LTTE was able to gather thousands of civilians in a short time to demonstrate against the security forces. The LTTE organized protests using villagers. They stood in front of army camps and verbally abused the soldiers in filth. They   gathered  around camps shouting, pelting stones and demanding the removal of the camps.       

We started to received demands to remove road blocks and check points too. When we refused, LTTE would organize an entire village to rise up against the army. Long processions of civilians screaming anti- army slogans would come up to the checkpoint with LTTE pushing them from the rear.

When their demand for removing checkpoints was not met they would destroy everything and set fire to the bunkers and the check point while soldier watched helplessly. Then they would cheer, lift their sarongs, show their nudity, loudly abuse soldiers   and depart. Soldiers would   reassemble the  check point.

The village of Kudaththane in Nagar Kovil had enjoyed a high level of cooperation between army and villagers for many years but after the Ceasefire and LTTE takeover, the villagers turned against the army. Two soldiers of the 7^th Gemunu Regiment, (Volunteer) were tied to trees over a dispute. The army was shocked.

The STF camp in Kachchankuda in Ampara was       surrounded by LTTE and hundreds of civilians who tried to enter the camp by force. STF opened fire, killing 7 and wounding another 12 but the situation was contained thereafter, reported Kamal.

A civilian in a barber shop in Palavodai area in Jaffna was accidently shot dead in August 2005, when the weapon of a soldier on duty outside the barber shop accidentally went off. Thousands of civilians protested. Superintendent of Police,   SP Wijewardana went   alone to settle the matter. LTTE removed his uniform, dressed him in sarong, killed him and dumped his body by the wayside, having previously attacked him with sharp objects. (Continued)

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E

Political commentary is easy. Good political commentary is rare. Think of a jigsaw puzzle. A tough one, not the one with just a dozen pieces, but one with a thousand and where the picture to be obtained has colour-line elements that are similar and scattered all over it. Poor political commentary or in fact poor analysis on anything, political or otherwise, is when the whole picture is described by looking at a single piece of the puzzle.

Poor debate is about, well, debating points. Half-truths at best, but for the most part made of wild claims and worse extrapolation. We find a lot of that in a political culture where decrying the ‘enemy’ is second nature. The good is pooh-poohed, the bad is exaggerated. That ‘method’ is not the preserve of any political party. Neither is it the preserve of the media or even academics.

About a year ago there was a ‘news’ story about one village in Europe where it was ‘found’ that smokers were at less risk of being infected with the Coronavirus. No verification. However, the story was ‘picked up’ by a media station and this amazing ‘fact’ was disseminated throughout the world. Whether or not the tobacco industry planted the story and pushed its spread, we don’t know. One thing we do know is that there’s absolutely no science in this. A claim which was poorly substantiated was presented as fact. We know also that the only entity that stood to benefit is the tobacco industry.

Covid-19 or rather it’s effects and what can be expected is an unraveling story. The ‘full picture’ is not the kind we find on the covers of boxes containing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Things change. And so there’s extrapolation and speculation, ranging from sober to wildly intoxicating.

On May 10, quoting a study conducted by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party (UNP)warned that Sri Lanka may see over 100 deaths a day by June, July if the situation is allowed to escalate. Mangala Samaraweera, ex-MP, told the media that more than 20,000 COVID-19 deaths in Sri Lanka could be expected by September, again based on the IHME report.

The IHME projections were adjusted for mask compliance and physical distancing, but as was pointed out by those who questioned the numbers at the time, no adjustments seemed to have been made for contact tracing, isolation and institutional treatment. Strange, since these were key elements of a concerted effort to deal with Covid-19.

The predictions offered by IHME since then are certainly a far cry from the horror-pic that Ranil, Mangala and others painted in May. That horror-pic picked much from India. Sri Lanka was going to nose-dive, we were told. And it seemed that the predictors were struggling to hide the drool from the edges of their smirking lips as they made painted such scenarios.

There were similar stories at the beginning as well. Sri Lanka will never get the vaccine, some said. Sri Lanka cannot afford the vaccine, they added. Sinopharm is suspect, we heard that one too. In fact the decision-makers were misled by Sinophobic (that’s the generous take) or absolutely irresponsible (the more likely reason) ‘experts’ into putting that vaccine on hold. Let’s wait for Pfizer, they suggested. All this, despite the fact that the WHO had sanctioned the Sinopharm Vaccine.  

So there are doom’s day prophets who revel in dire predictions, almost as though doom is their Promised Land, anticipated with undisguised relish. And then there are those who operate assuming that the worst case scenario is a distinct possibility, working tirelessly to meet the threat.

Here are some facts. Of those above 30 years of age in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, 71.88%, 56.82% and 54.57% have got the 1st dose and 25.23%, 21.08% and 20.51% the second as well, respectively. This is as for Tuesday the 13th of July, 2021. A total of 1.27 m does of Astra Zeneca, 7.1 m of Sinopharm , 180,000 of Sputnik and 52,000 of Pfizer have been administered so far. 2 m Sinopharm, Here are the figures for what we can expect in the coming months: 1.5 m doses of the Moderna vaccine and 1.4 m of Astra Zenecaby the end of July. The is to administer the first dose to 100% of those above 30 years of age in Colombo by end of July, 100 % in the Western Province by the end of August and 100% in all other districts by the end September. Keep in mind that the total population in the country is approximately 22 m, the number above 30 and below 60 is about 8.75 m, those above six in the region of 2.75. The total population above 30 is approximately 11.5 m.

We mistakes never made? Of course there were mistakes. Remember the ‘Navy Cluster’? That was in the early days when steps weren’t taken to protect the ‘front line’ of operations. The ‘third wave’ was at least in part effected by relaxations during ‘Avurudu’. Nevertheless, these debacles notwithstanding, the authorities have done a splendid job, this much has to be said. It is always easy to say ‘this wasn’t done’ and ‘that wasn’t done’. All the more easier if the recommenders do not have to take into account factors other than the pandemic and will not be held accountable for error.

Of course things are not done and dusted. Things can take a turn for the worse. There will be hiccups or worse. However, the vaccination program has to be seen as an integral part of recovering some semblance of normalcy. In fact, in the very least, it will help cure fear psychosis. One wonders if those who bragged (almost) that Sri Lanka won’t get the vaccine have, in fact, got the jab. Maybe they should say ‘thanks.’ Well, they ought to say ‘sorry’ too. Unlikely though.

The latest in this pernicious effort is to bad-mouth the military. Wickremesinghe wanted Cabinet to take over Covid-19 management. ‘There’s experience there,’ he said. Need we say anything of his judgment? The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) has also wanted the military to be taken out of the equation. First of all the GMOA is not a professional organization (like the SLMA, the Sri Lanka Medical Association); it is a trade union. The GMOA would have us believe that some uneducated soldiers are roaming the country jabbing people in an ad hoc manner. In the Army alone there are 5 medical units. The total strength is more than 5000 and includes over 300 doctors and over 40 consultants. They operate in concert with the health ministry. The only reason why the GMOA might be upset (and this is speculation, admittedly) is that ‘the vaccine’ is or is becoming the crux of the battle against Covid-19. If the GMOA is not part of it, then the GMOA loses bragging rights or at least has their bragging rights dimmed somewhat.

So that’s how it goes. It is clear now (and Washington University has, in number and projection confirmed this) that the struggle against the virus is systematic, tireless and (happily) impervious to the slanders of the pernicious. Does this mean Sri Lanka will not take a nose-dive? Well, that would take us back to a speculation game. We could take a piece of the puzzle and extrapolate to some dismal painting of the possible/probable, but even if that were the case, it is hard to believe that the relevant authorities are in cloud cuckoo land, as their detractors would have us believe.

Get the jab. Keep social distance. Use hand-sanitiser. Wear a face-mask. If you want to bad-mouth anyone, at least stand up. Give your armchair some respite.

malindasenevi@gmail.com

KAMALIKA PIERIS

LTTE was able to sustain the war for thirty years because the Tamil population supplied the manpower and other support. If the Tamil civilians had refused to support the LTTE and decided to support the Sri Lanka army instead, the Eelam wars would have collapsed.

The Tamil civilians had two choices, to be loyal to the central government which was looking after their needs, such as salaries and food or to link with the LTTE which was engaging in a separatist war. They chose the second alternative.

The Tamil civilians in the north did nothing to help the Sri Lanka army bring the war to an end. They could have resisted the LTTE, helped the Sri Lanka army and brought the war to an end. But they did not do so. They stayed with the LTTE.

This could be contrasted with the JVP insurgency of 1987. When the JVP militants took up arms in 1987, the Sinhala public helped to bring JVP under control. Private armed groups, such as Black Panthers and Yellow Scorpions, emerged to counter JVP terrorism. These private vigilante groups killed JVP members. When JVP issued threats,   these vigilante groups issued counter threats. They replied JVP death threats with a poster which said ape ekata thope dolahak.”   

The ‘Deshapremi Sinhala tharuna Peramuna’ circulated a letter to JVP. This letter said Dear father/ mother/ sister, your son, / brother/ husband has taken the lives of mothers like you, also sisters and innocent children.  They have killed the family members of heroic Sinhala soldiers who fought the Tamil tigers to protect the motherland.  Is it not justified to put you also to death? Be ready to die. May you attain Nirvana. .

A  female JVPer returned to her village, but found that it was difficult to live there since the villagers suspected her   and decided to return to the JVP camp.  J. H. Premasiri,  who had  belonged to the JVP, said, when interviewed in 2021 that the 1971 insurgency failed, not because of   a mistake in the timing of the attacks on April 5^th, but because ofthe lack of support from the masses.

In the north, however, the situation was different. An anti-Sinhala stance was evident among the Tamils in the north and east from in the 1970s. Tensions between the government and Tamil militant groups had  also been brewing since the 1970s. 

When Jayatissa Bandaragoda went as GA Trincomalee in 1978, his first public function was to attend the prize giving of St Joseph’s College. When he went there, he found posters urging parents not to be a part of a ceremony to receive a Sinhala chief guest. The boycott was effective, auditorium was almost empty, a few prizes were given away and the ceremony concluded. Bandaragoda also observed that on National day, 1980, many of the schools in Trincomalee did not hoist the national flag. Instead in one school they set the flag on fire.

LTTE would, therefore  not have found it difficult in the 1980s to brainwash  the Tamil civilians, to convince the Tamil civilians that the  Sinhalese were very brutal and anti Tamil. Amnesty International reported in 2001 that LTTE visited families and questioned them. Those who said they have no problems with the Sri Lanka army were scolded severely.

LTTE  controlled the civilians in various ways. The LTTE had a separate Tamil Civilian Armed Force (Makkal padai brigade) who were trained to kill. LTTE used ‘civilian spotters’ as informants.

LTTE had created a Family Card as a tool for  enumeration and surveillance. The Card contained  the names of all  members of the family, starting with the  male head of the household.  After the Ceasefire agreement was signed,  in 2002 two  LTTE operatives were  made  Grama sevaka in each area. They knew the ‘family details of every family’.

LTTE wanted to alienate the Tamil people from the Sri Lanka government.   They banned the movement of people to government controlled areas, after the Ceasefire Agreement.  They could only go if somebody stood surety for them and they had to return within the stipulated time.

LTTE incited hatred against army. In this they specially focused on children, indicating that the LTTE was thinking very far. LTTE had street plays. One play was about the Struggle. It had a father, mother, two children. One child gets shot and killed by the Sri Lanka army. Remaining child decides to join the LTTE. Father encourages.

The main attitude of the Tamil civilians towards the Sri Lanka army was one of hostility, but there were a few instances where the Tamil civilians helped the soldiers.

 After the Mankulam attack of 1990, some soldiers  lost their way and  got to the Eastern front of Weli oya. Some had stumbled upon Tamil villages  where they were chased off with knives and machetes. But  in some Tamil villages, the  villagers  had helped them secretly, feeding them and sending them off in the direction of Vavuniya. Had the LTTE found that they had given them even a drop of water they would have been killed, observed Kamal Gunaratne.

Kamal also  recorded  the experience of a lone soldier who made it back,  after the Mankulam attack    Three escaping soldiers had been attacked by the LTTE. Two were killed, the  third, though injured, escaped  and reached a hut  where    an old Tamil man had given him shelter, and medicine. This man had hidden the soldier in his house till midnight, then took him 15 kilometers on his bicycle  and  showed him the Sinhala village of Mamaduwa. He had  then spoken to him in Sinhala, when you are back in the field and fighting the terrorists, remember that every Tamil is not your enemy”.Such incidents were few. The general attitude, it appears  was one of  opposition and hostility.

Other authorities in the north also  took the  position that the Sri Lanka army was bombing Tamils in their homes, for no reason. They  seem unaware that all four Eelam Wars were started by the LTTE .

In 1994, during Eelam War II,   the Methodist Church, Jaffna arranged  for a good will  visit from a  group of Methodists from Colombo. Anne Abayasekara who led the mission wrote about it in her newspaper column. It was like going to another country, she said. We had to show ID and obtain visas at LTTE checkpoint to enter. No radios, TV, fridges, electrical conveniences, no water on tap, no telephones, no regular mail service, all cooking done on wood  fires, No drugs including even Panadol. Triposha is not allowed into Jaffna so they were trying to prepare a local substitute. There were  memorials all over to LTTE heroes.

A priest told Anne the children in Jaffna do not know any Sinhala people. The only Sinhalese they know is the soldier at Palaly releasing a shell that kills people. One person said to me,  reported Anne, our children have never met any Sinhalese people but when the shelling starts from Mullaitivu or the bombs drop  from the skies they know it is Sinhalese people who are doing this to us.

Children of Jaffna know what it is to be subject to shelling and bombardment, noted Anne. The message given by the shelling and aerial bombing is that the Sinhala government is our worst enemy.

Young persons joined the LTTE because the Sri Lanka army had started killing Tamils for no reason. 49 bodies of dead Tigers were brought to Pooneryn, immediately 112 boys and girls joined the movement,  they  told Anne.

Anne observed that there was deep distrust of the government and outrage towards the army. A doctor told Anne  ‘you have seen the destruction, tell this to the Sinhala people. How intolerable are the conditions we have to live under. Are people in the south aware of the  conditions here. We live in fear. We want to lead a normal life. If they would at least stop the bombing and shelling. They were shelling even on Christmas day and Thai Pongal.

We are not against the Sinhala people, we are against the government. If Sinhalese can bring pressure on the government to establish peace and harmony we would be very happy. Tell the Sinhala people we would like to live peacefully with them. Old grievances have not been settled, and now our children are fighting for their rights, the  Methodist Church told Anne.  ( Continued)

Malinda Seneviratne

A very wise man, then an undergraduate at the University of Peradeniya, once said that there are no wrongdoers in this world — everyone justifies their actions/decisions. The act or decision may be illegal or unethical respectively, but in the mind of the doer it is justified, it is right, it is even ethical, whether or not the world understands or sanctions.

No, I didn’t count the number of hypocrites in Sri Lanka. Neither is it a calculated guess or a ballpark figure. It simply means ‘large’ and is used simply because ‘Island of a large number of hypocrites’ is probably less eye-catching. An example of hypocrisy, then? Well, call it sleight of hand, but add ‘more or less harmless.’

There is however the pernicious kind, those who exaggerate, slip under the carpet, footnote, ignore or outrightly disavow not trivial matters such as the number in the title but things which are relevant to an entire population or the direction of national development.  

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece titled Covid-19 and the ‘science’ of the wizards” in which I quoted from a lecture delivered by Dr Diyanath Samarasinghe on ‘How the [medical] profession can help us balance work and life issues.’ Dr Samarasinghe, penned a note upon reading the article.

‘I notice that the individuals who are most insistent that the government imposes further and more strict stay-at-home orders forever include those who usually insist that government should not interfere into people’s lives. Not only in the past, but even now – e.g., by restricting alcohol or tobacco sales. Suddenly they have become proponents of an extreme ‘nanny state’. On this matter alone. Curious.’

Curious. At the same time not entirely uncommon. Recently we had a bunch of NGO operators waxing eloquent on legislation related to the Port City.  Well, some had doctorates, but are either out of academe or are posited as ‘activists’ as much as ‘academics,’ — indeed their academic output is less advertised than their activism, so called).  Ok, let’s say call them ‘academics.’ These academics were examining the piece of legislation in terms of ‘sovereignty.’ Legitimate. 

Just because laws are passed by people’s representatives, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they do not encroach on sovereignty. Any agreement which takes from the state’s power to control, regulate or annul can be construed as an infringement on sovereignty. This is why in a world of multilateral and bilateral agreements, some insist it is more useful to talk of ‘shared sovereignty’ which of course has a sanitary trace in that it can often launder capitulation. So it’s about degrees of sovereignty, which is not something any ‘sovereignist’ (if you will) could cheer.

We have palpable sinophobia in this country and those afflicted tend to be anglophiles. Brown sahibs, if you will. They take umbrage at the trivial (name boards with Chinese characters, for example) and the serious (Chinese run mega projects). Interestingly (and this is where hypocrisy is evident) very few (if at all) of these sovereignists/nationalists have had issues with things English (or, put another way, things UK and USA). ‘We are not a Chinese colony!’ scream those have have forgotten we were a British colony (if they ever believed the fact, that is) and that for many reasons we still are a plaything of North America and Europe (they’ve cheered all moves from countries in these regions to undermine legally or otherwise Sri Lanka’s sovereignty).

Now the Port City webinar-billahs can ask themselves a few questions (but they probably won’t). What did they have to say when the previous regime signed the Hambantota Port agreement?

Did the notion of ‘sovereignty’ ever cross their minds when the Yahapalana Government (in which people like Sajith Premadasa and Patali Champika Ranawaka were Cabinet Ministers) co-sponsored Resolution 30/1? Did they think ‘OMG, our sovereignty’ when Ranil Wickremesinghe signed the absolutely slanted (against Sri Lanka) Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE? 

In the long years during which successive US Ambassadors tried to push through the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact, did sovereignty enter their thoughts? [by the way the diplomat whose ‘cutting edge’ was pushing through such agreements, Alaina B Teplitz failed to deliver — was there a farewell party or is there going to be? Were these Born Again Sovereignists invited or will they be? Were people down in the mouth or will they have dehi-leli faces?]  Did they utter one word of dismay when diplomats representing countries in Europe and North America strut around and spat out venom as though they were veritable viceroys?

Did they in public or private say ‘bad show dudes’ when the cover on racism and brutality in the USA was blown? Did they say anything over the past few weeks when Canada’s ‘conveniently forgotten’ war on the indigene had to be remembered because the bones turned up? Did they tweet, tagging Michelle Bachelet, comparing that bone story with the Mannar bone story (remains over 400 years old marketed as ‘evidence’ of ‘genocide’ in 2009) with emojis and gifs denoting smirk?

Anyway, what do we make of these sovereignists and their sovereignism, these nationalists and their nationalism (if you want the terms that have made their way into dictionaries)? We could call them born again nationalists (or ‘heenen bayavunu’ nationalists, i.e. those who’ve just woken from a bad dream), but that’s easy.

What’s apparent is hypocrisy. It is not the preserve of these BANs (or HBNs). There were those who swore they would never stop fighting to repeal the 13th and yet happily contested Provincial Council Elections. There are those who swore to stop the Port City project, but let it proceed under worse terms. There are those who ranted and raved about democracy being destroyed but were strangely silent over elections being postponed indefinitely. Some talked of judicial independence but indulged in navel-gazing over extra-judicial (read, ‘kangaroo’) courts such as the FCID. We have trade unions that are pawns of political parties. Academics, professionals, journalists and others whose umbrage is framed by political preferences.

It boils down to this: our guys, whatever they do, is ok, ok? Isn’t that what it is? An island of a thousand hypocrites and a hundred thousand hypocrisies is not something to celebrate. Fortunately, we are also an island of a hundred thousand men and women of integrity and millions of everyday acts of wholesomeness. That’s where there’s true resistance to innumerable tyrannies and innumerable hypocrisies. Jayawewa!

malindasenevi@gmail.com

By Rohana R. Wasala

Few in the present government seem to understand that they are holding in their hands the hopelessly misshapen product – a generally weakened Sri Lankan state, that is, a country hamstrung in terms of its national security, economy, its internal cohesion, and external relations – left by the yahapalanaya molestation of the nation (2015-19), a critical situation compounded by the havoc caused by the extraneous hydra headed monster of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic with its protean forms. The deformed baby is still awaiting emergency corrective surgery. But unfortunately, the handful of surgeons led by their determined head are being surrounded and choked by a swarm of quack surgeons from whose concerns nothing seems to be further than what should actually be done to reassure the people including particularly the sensible 6.9 million+ voters who reposed their trust in that head surgeon. The administration must also similarly reassure the nation’s foremost spiritual leaders: the Maha Nayakes, the  Cardinal, the Kurukkals, and the Maulavis, who, together directly or indirectly encouraged the voters to elect him. The people never thought that the government would so soon come to be dominated by a set of politicians who believe that their survival depends on pleasing the minority of anti-majority extremists in different forms and agents of Western hegemonic powers, in alliance with them, each directed by the narrowly  nationalistic policies of their respective countries willfully oblivious of or crassly indifferent to the real  issues that Sri Lankans are struggling with, about which, in any case, they are least concerned in the best as well as the worst of times.

The Opposition SJB and the JVP elements have begun crawling, nay cruising, out of the woodwork on the pretext of protesting against the temporary hardships caused by the well meant ban on the import of chemical fertilizers and the proposed quite sensible Kotalawala Defence University Bill (which, if necessary, could be improved through meaningful parliamentary discussion) . What use are these purblind protestors’ demonstrations? Their conduct is atrocious, insensitive, shocking, particularly in view of the generally destabilized state of the country suggested above, and the devastating disruptions to the general economy caused by the pandemic, and the deleterious environmental consequences and financial losses resulting from two Singapore registered ships mysteriously catching fire in the vicinity of both the eastern and western seaboards of the island (one of them, the one that completely burnt down in the eastern sea, was laden with a dangerous cargo). Besides, by behaving like perfect imbeciles, trade union activists are merely adding to the burdens of the health sector and security forces personnel who are making such great sacrifices in the name of the country uncomplainingly in battling the Covid-19 pandemic. Their sacrifices and difficulties are invariably shared by their families, especially children. And what about the general populace who are undergoing such privations in their day-to-day life, finding it so hard to make both ends meet, but hardly ever complain as they understand the problems that the country is facing as a whole. 

Some farmers  complain that they have a problem because of the lack of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, to which they have been accustomed over the past half a century. The claims of those farmers who are saying that their cultivations have been severely affected by the single cause of the alleged non-availability of chemical fertilizers are hard to believe.  Previously cultivated land on which fertilizers had been used cannot be expected to lose its fertility completely after one season. It should not be a problem to forgo the usual application of fertilizers temporarily, allowing the switch over to organic fertilizers next term. The farmers are probably not making truthful claims at the behest of union activists. Anyway, according to  agriculture minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, there cannot be such a serious shortage, as all the chemical fertilizers required for the current season have been issued to the authorised outlets. Then, the farmers must be making false complaints, egged on by ant-igovernment trade unionists and politicians. Or if there’s a real scarcity of fertilizers, it must be due to hoarding. Why can’t the government go after the miscreants, if that is the case, and confiscate the hoarded fertilizers and distribute them among the farmers at a suitable price or just free of charge? 

To my pleasant surprise,when I reached this point in my opinion piece, the answer to that question came from minister Aluthgamage. As Hiru TV News reported (9:55 PM/ July 14, 2021) he and his deputy state minister Sashindra Rajapaksa made surprise visits to the depots of two private fertilizer companies at Peliyagoda and Kelaniya, and found large stocks of fertilizers hoarded. Though these companies had the capacity to issue 700-750 metric tonnes of fertilizers a day, they issued hardly a half of that amount, helping create an artificial scarcity. The minister immediately requested them to issue the fertilizers forthwith. He ordered his officials to get the state fertilizer companies to buy those stocks at a suitable price and distribute them among the  cultivators, in the event of the companies failing to meet his request. Addressing a meeting/a news briefing at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo), Aluthgamage revealed that the the private companies were secretly holding 102,000 metric tonnes of fertilizers; the purpose of deliberately withholding fertilizer supplies and inciting farmers to agitate against artificial shortages was to sabotage the success of the organic fertilizer substitution project of the government, which will be launched in earnest from the next season. (Anyone can see a link between politicians and private fertilizer companies behind these agitations.- rrw) There is money and business behind the protests, the minister said. The particular piece of news ended with a usually vociferous prominent JVP activist demanding that the government give the farmers their fertilizers and pesticides, and pay compensation for the damage already done by the alleged shortages! 

Incidentally, something akin to this context is where it is said that the rice prices are controlled by a couple of big rice mill owners, some of them politicians connected with the present government. People would like the government to resort to some stern action like taking over these mills and their hidden rice stocks, and hand over, to a state body like the Paddy Marketing Board, the job of husking the paddy and distributing the rice on a wholesale basis. It is up to the government to implement a proposal like this after appropriately considering its feasibility. That this is not happening shows the power that the private sector is wielding, not only over paddy cultivation and rice distribution, but on the policy makers. The 6.9 million voters and the spiritual leaders are waiting for the rulers to bring these mafiosi under control. They are still hopeful that the President will succeed even in other spheres of governance where dealing often replaces leading.  

Meanwhile, some teacher unions are also reported to be on strike, which means that their members have stopped online teaching. Online instruction is expected to provide some help for the unexpectedly housebound children of the country. They are in that predicament as a result of the long interruption caused to the functioning of normal face-to-face teaching in schools by the Covid associated restrictions on movement. It is by no means an adequate stopgap solution for them, because, among other snags, internet accessibility is problematic in most areas. But teachers are still being paid their salaries. It may be true that there are long standing pay scale anomalies, and other job related issues that need to be addressed. But teachers should understand that this is not the time for urging the government to provide relief. Isn’t it their duty to help the authorities to put an end to the Covid crisis first? However, according to media reports, their main complaint is against the Kotelawala Defence University Bill. They want it withdrawn, arguing that its passage will pave the way for privatising education, putting an effective end to free education. (The JVP has been flogging this dead horse for decades; it looks like they are not intelligent or creative enough to think of a better cause célèbre to ensure their political survival! I am sorry to see that industries minister Wimal Weerawansa also opposes the KDU bill. Probably, he expects only to incorporate certain amendments in it before before its passage. Weerawansa is one of the architects of the electoral victory of both Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP, and one of the very few best performing cabinet ministers. A Gotabaya government without him and energy minister Udaya Gammanpila is inconceivable.) 

That stupid demand of teacher union protestors (i.e., to withdraw the KDU bill) alone invalidates their struggle. Don’t they know that even in rural areas paid tuition supplements school instruction at every level? Don’t many of these teacher union members have a stake in that as an extra source of income? Are international schools providers of free education? How many of them are there? What are their tuition fees and examination fees in terms of foreign exchange (international school students follow foreign syllabuses)? Don’t large numbers of students go abroad every year to study not only medicine and engineering which local universities don’t have enough capacity to make available to all the students who qualify to study in them, but also subjects such as accountancy that can be learnt at the highest level within the country? Not all the parents who send their children to study abroad belong to the ‘rich’ category. Private education side by side with free state education has come to stay and has become a current necessity. Private medical colleges are essential. There should not be any argument about that. Most ordinary people now know this. They don’t approve of the politically motivated disruptive activities of trade unionists. 

These purblind politicking farmer and teacher union leaders have already earned a great deal of pent up public anger. It is bound to explode sooner or later. But the government has come to their aid! so that their irresponsible, mischievous conduct has got a semblance of decency. How? By forcibly, most likely unlawfully, quarantining some of them at the expense of the tax money paid by the already suffering general public, whom these wrong doers are holding hostage. That is not a good way of deterring their irresponsible behaviour or just punishing them for it.  Public security minister Sarath Weerasekera, whom I admire as much as I admire Weerawansa and Gammanpila, is a loyal supporter of the President, and he means business. I trust both of them (GR and SW) equally. But I am sure that the President will never resort to or approve of ‘bull in a china shop’ strategies, which he can’t later defend! 

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

ජපානයේ ටෝකියෝ නුවර පැවැත්වෙන 2020 ඔලිම්පික් තරගාවලියට සුදුසුකම් ලැබූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රීඩික ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් හා පුහුණුකරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් ඉතිහාසයේ වැඩිම අයෝජනය සිදුකරමින්  තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය රුපියල් මිලියන 46.2ක පිරිවැයක් දරන බව ක්‍රීඩා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් අමල් එදිරිසූරිය මහතා පවසයි.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි ජාතික ක්‍රීඩා සභාව හා උසස් දක්ෂතා කමිටුවෙන් නිර්දේශිත මුදල් චෙක්පත ලබාදෙමින් ක්‍රීඩා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් අමල් එදිරිසූරිය මහතා ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ දී ඊයේ (15) මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

ඔලිම්පික් ක්‍රිඩා උළෙල නියෝජනය කරන ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ට වෙනුවෙන් දරණ පිරිවැය සහ ලබාදෙන පහසුකම් විස්තර කළ අමල් එදිරිසුරිය මහතා ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ වැඩිම වටිනාකම ඔවුන් වෙත හිමිකරදීමට තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මූලිකත්ව ගත් බව පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

ඒ අනුව, 2020 ටෝකියෝ ඔලිම්පික්  ක්‍රීඩා උළෙල සඳහා සහභාගී වන ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් සහ ඔවුන්ගේ පුහුණුකරුවන් සඳහා ලබාදෙන දීමනාවන් සහ පහසුකම් පහත සඳහන් පරිදි වේ.

1.             තරග ඉසව් සඳහා දක්‍ෂතා මත සෘජුවම සුදුසුකම් ලැබු ක්‍රිඩක/ ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් තිදෙනෙකු වෙත                   

              අමරිකානු ඩොලර් 15,000 බැගින් ලබා දීම.

2.             තරග ඉසව් සඳහා වෙනත් පදනමකින් (Bipartite/ Tripartite සහ වෙනත්) සුදුසුකම් ලැබු ක්‍රිඩක/ ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් සයදෙනෙකු සඳහා අමරිකානු ඩොලර් 10,000 බැගින් ලබාදීම.

3.             සුදුසුකම් ලබාගත් ක්‍රීඩක/ ක්‍රිඩිකාවන්ගේ පුහුණුකරුවන් සයදෙනෙකු සඳහා අමරිකානු ඩොලර් 5,000 බැගින් ලබාදීම.‍

4.             සහභාගී වන සියලුම ක්‍රීඩක/ ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් සඳහා ව්‍යාපාරික පන්තියේ  (Business Class)  ගුවන් ගමන් පහසුකම් ලබා දීම.

5.             සියලුම ක්‍රිඩක/ ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් සහ පුහුණුකරුවන් සඳහා දෛනික දීමනාවක් ලෙස ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් 40  බැගින්  තරගාවලියට සහභාගී වනු ලබන කාල සීමාව සඳහා ලබා දීම.

6.             තරගාවලියට සහභාගීවීමට පෙර සියලුම ක්‍රිඩක/ ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් සහ පුහුණුකරුවන්  ප්‍රධාන පෙළේ තරු පන්තියේ සංචාරක හෝටලයක් වන සිනමන් ග්‍රෑන්ඩ් හි (Cinnamon Grand)  ජෛව බුබුලකට ඇතුළත් කර පූර්ව නිරෝධායන කටයුතු සඳහා පහසුකම් සපයාදිම.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය,

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

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.

වර්ෂ 1967-68 වසර අපට වැඩ අධිකම යුගයක් විය. අපි ඒ වනවිට අපොස උසස් පෙළ පන්තිවල ඉගෙනුම ලබන සිසුවන් වීමු..අපි ඒ දිනවලදී කල වැඩ කන්දරාව සම්බන්ධව සිහිකරන විට අප එතරම් විශාල වැඩ කොටසක් කලේ කොහොමදැයි යන්න අපටම සිතා ගත නොහැක.අපි

1.පාසල් ගොස් උසස් පෙළ හදාරුවෙමු.
2.හවසට මුදලක් සොයා ගැනීම සඳහා අපොස (සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ ) සිසුන්ට ටියුෂන් දුන්නෙමු.
3.කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ ජාතික ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානය හා බැදී කටයුතු කළෙමු.
4.මෙරට නව දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් ගොඩනැංවීම සඳහා වූ කාර්යය වේගවත්ව කරමින් සිටියෙමු.
5.වාමාංශික තානාපති සේවාවන් සමග සම්බන්ධවී ඒ ඒ රටවල තත්වයන් අධ්‍යනය කරමින් හොඳ සම්බන්ධතාවයන් ඇතිව සිටියෙමු.
6.ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය ගොඩනගමින් සිටි ඒ ගුරු පියවරුන් සමග බද්ධවී ලංකා ගුරු සංගමයේ හැම කටයුත්තකටම අත ගැසූ ශිෂ්‍ය පිරිසක්ද වීමු.

අප දේශපාලනය ඉගෙනගත්  තවත් මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් වුයේ ලංකා ගුරු සංගමයයි. එවකට එහි සභාපතිත්වය ගරු ඒ.බී.සි. ද සිල්වා මහතා දරු අතර, ඔහු නිහතමානි නිහඬ චරිතයක් විය. ඔහු කතා කලාට වඩා කලේ නිහඬව සිතීමයි. ඔහු කතාකල වචන ස්වල්පය තුල ඉතා ගැඹුරු අර්ථ රාශියක් විය. එහි ප්‍රධාන ලේකම් වුයේ, අපගේ ගුරුවරයෙකු වූ එච්.එන්.ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතායි. ඔහු සිනාව පිරි මුහුණකින් යුතු නිතරම කතා කරන චරිතයක් විය. භාණ්ඩාගාරික පරාක්‍රම රණසිංහ මහතා දැරු අතර උප භාණ්ඩාගාරික චිත්‍රාල් ද සිල්වා මහතා දරණ ලදී. මේ ගුරුවරු නිතර රැස්වී, සාකච්චාකර තීරණ ගැනීමට පුරුදුව සිටියහ. අපි සිසුන් වශයෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ සංගමයේ පසුපෙළ සහයකයිසේ කටයුතු කළෙමු.

අපි මේ සංගමයේ කටයුතු වලට සහය දෙමින් එකවිට වැඩකටයුතු දෙකක් කළෙමු. එකක් වුයේ එදා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ මතවාදය සම්බන්ධව අපට මුණගැසෙන ගුරුවරු සමග සාකච්චා කිරීමයි. දෙවැන්න වුයේ ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය මෙරට ප්‍රභල ගුරු සංගමයක් බවට  ඒ  සහය දීමයි.අපි මේ කරුණු දෙකම සාර්ථකව ඉටුකළ මිනිසුන් වීමු.ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය අපට අපේ දේශපාලනය මුවහත් කිරීමට උපකාර කල එක අධ්‍යාපන මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් යයි කීවද එහි කිසිදු වරදක් නැත.

මම මේ කතා කරන දිනවල මෙරට අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිවරයා වුයේ,අයි.එම්.ආර්.ඒ.ඊරියගොල්ල මහතාය. ඔහු හා මේ ගුරු සංගමය අතර දේශපාලන ගැටුමක් නිර්මාණයවී තිබුණි. රාජ්‍ය  මර්ධනයද මේ ගුරු සංගම් ප්‍රධානින්මත මුදා හැර තිබුණි. ප්‍රධාන ඉලක්කය වුයේ  ලංකා ගුරු සංගමයේ ලේකම් වූ එච්.එන්.ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතාය. ඒ දිනවල එක දඬුවම් දීමේ ක්‍රමයක් වුයේ,ඈත පළාතකට මාරු කිරීමය. එච්.එන්ට මේ මාරුවීම් නිසා ගුරු සංගමයේ වැඩකටයුතු වලට මහත් බාධා ඇති විය.

එදා අපි ගුරුවරු නොවුනද මේ සම්බන්ධව අපේ මතත් එච්.එන්. හා චිත්‍රාල් වැනි ගුරුවරුන් වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කළෙමු.

“ඇයි සර්ලට බැරි ස්ට්‍රයික් කරන්න?” දේශපාලනිකව නොමේරු අපි එසේ පැවසුවේ, ඉල්ලීම දිනා ගන්නට හැම තැනකදීම සිදුකරන වැඩ වර්ජන මෙතනද කල හැකි නේද යන විශ්වාසය ඇතිවය. එවිට එදා ගුරු සංගමයේ ලේකම්වූ එච්.එන්. ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා පැවසුවේ,


“චන්ද්‍රේ ඔයා හිතන්නේ ගුරුවරුනුත් ෆැක්ටරියක වැඩ කරන කම්කරුවෝ වගේ කියලද?” යන ප්‍රශ්නයයි.
“ඕගොල්ලෝ අපි හැමෝම කතා කරන්නේ පන්ති සටන ගැන! අපි ගුරුවරු, අපි ලබාදෙන්නේ නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයයි. අපි කාටද මේ නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දෙන්නේ? අපේම පන්තියේ අයටයි. අප අපේ ඉල්ලීම ඉල්ලලා ස්ට්‍රයික් කලොත් අපි පහර දෙන්නේ කාටද? අපේම පන්තියේ අපේම දරුවන්ටයි. යකෝ අපි ධනපති පන්ති විරෝධී අරගලය කරමින් අපේ පන්තියේ,දරුවන්ට පහර දෙනකොට ධනපති පන්තිය, දුක හිතිලා අපේ ඉල්ලීම් ලබා දේවිද? නැහැ උන් මුකුත් කරන්නේ නැහැ. හැබැයි දන්නවද මොකක්ද වෙන්නේ කියලා? අපිට පාසල දරුවොයි, ළමයින්ගේ අම්මලා, තාත්තලයි එකතුවෙලා බුලත්දිලා වදිනවා වෙනුවට පොල්පිති පහරදීලා අපිව ගුරු වෘත්තියෙන් එලියට ඇදලා දමයි. එක තමයි ඊරියගොල්ල උන්නැහැටත් දකින්න ඕනි.”

මේ කියමන එදාට මෙන්ම අදටත් වලංගුය.ඔවුන් කිසිදාක දරුවන් ඇපයට තබා වර්ජනය කලේ නැත. නමුත් අරගලයද අත්හළේ නැත. 1977 බලය ලබාගත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ඔහුව මරා දැමීම සඳහා ඉලක්ක ගත කලේ එම රජයේ ආරම්භයේදීම වන අතර,ඔහුගේ ජීවිතය බේරා ගැනීම සඳහා ඔහුට යාපනයට පලාගොස් ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාවගේ රැකවරණය යටතේ ජිවත්විමටද සිදුවිය. කෙසේ නමුත් පසුව යම් විෂක් ශ්රිරගත්විම හේතුවෙන් ඔහුට සිය දිවි නිම කිරීමට සිදුවිය.

එදා ලංකා ගුරු සංගමයේ,උදාර ලේකම්තුමා වර්තමාන ලංකා ගුරු සංගමයට ලබාදුන්නාවූ පණිවුඩය වන්නේ,

“අද ඔබ අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතුවලින් බැහැරවී මේ පහර ගසන්නේ නුඹලාගේ පන්තියෙමවූ ආදරණිය දෙමව්පියන්ගේ දු දරුවන්ටය. දරුවන් සංඛ්‍යාව ලක්ෂ 40ක් නම් පවුලක දරුවන් දෙදෙනෙක් ඉන්නවා යයි සලකා ගණනය කළහොත්,දෙමව්පියන්ද තව ලක්ෂ 40ක් මෙයට එකතුවේ. ඔවුන්ගේ අනිකුත් ඥාතින්ද ගෙන බලන විට නුඹලා මේ සටන් කරන්නේ,ආසන්න වශයෙන් කෝටියක් පමණවූ පිරිසකට එරෙහිවය. නුඹලාගේ මේ අරගලය පොහොට්ටුවටත්, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයටත්, සජබට අයත් පිරිසටත් ජවිපෙ යටත් එකසේ බලපායි. නුඹලා ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මේ සිදුකරන්නේ, “මට ඌ ගැහුවා: ඌ මට ගැහුවා” සෙල්ලමයි. අවසානයේදී ගුටි කා ඇත්තේ ඔබත් ඔබේ පන්තියේ උනුත් පමණි.”

වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන.

කොරෝනා පනතේ වගන්ති 7/13ක් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝනය කරද්දී නීතීඥ සංගමයේ ඉහළ නිලතල දරන අයට එය නොපෙනීම නීතියේ පාලනයට බලවත් අනතුරකි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නීතීඥ අලි සබ්‍රි මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීතීඥ සංගමය ඉහළ නිලතල දරණ අය ග්‍රහණයට ගෙන ඇති බව පැහැදීලි වන්නේ 2020.07.12 දින ස්වර්ණවාහිනී “ඉර” වැඩසටහනට සහභාගී වෙමින් නීතීඥ සංගමය කොරෝනා පනතට සහාය දුන් බව ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ පැවසීමෙන් සහ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට අපහාස කිරීමෙනි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීතීඥ සංගමය කෙරෙහි ඇති ජනතා විශ්වාසය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම පුරවැසියන්ගේ අයිතියකි, වගකීමකි, යුතුකමකි.

[1. කොරෝනා පනතේ වගන්ති 7/13ක් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝනය කරන බව කොරෝනා පනතේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූලත්වය විමසීමේදී ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය තීරණය කර ඇත.
2021.07.06 හැන්සාඩ් වාර්තාවේ ඇති ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය බලන්න…

2. කොරෝනා පනත අභියෝග කළ නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නීතීඥ අලි සබ්‍රි මහතාට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට අපහාස කිරීම යටතේ පැමිණිලි කර ඇත] මාධ්‍ය අංශය,
වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන.
දුරකථන 0342256066, 0712063394

Courtesy Newsin.asia

Colombo, July 16 (newsin.asia): President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed the officials to launch a mobile vaccination service for those who are suffering from illnesses and unable to leave their homes.

The Covid-19 vaccination process has been expedited at the district level throughout the country. However, vaccination of the people who are sick and unable to leave homes has become an obstacle. The President emphasized the need to expedite the mobile vaccination programme with the assistance of the Medical Officers and the Public Health Inspectors or by obtaining information through special telephone numbers.

The President expressed these views at a meeting with the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control held at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (16) on the vaccination drive and future operations.

The Covid-19 Committee revealed that a higher percentage of Covid-19 patients identified in the last few days have not received the vaccine and the deaths were of those who have not been vaccinated. Therefore, the President pointed out the need to make people aware of the importance of vaccination and to get them involved in the vaccination programme.

Ministers Prasanna Ranatunga and Rohitha Abeygunawardena pointed out that all persons over the age of 30 in the Gampaha and Kalutara districts can be vaccinated within the next four days. The vaccination of persons from the investment promotion sector and tourism industry is 90% completed. Therefore, Minister Namal Rajapaksa said there is a significant revival in these fields. The President instructed that those who are employed in any field should be given the opportunity to get the vaccine easily from any vaccination centre.

State Minister of Indigenous Medicine Promotion, Rural and Ayurvedic Hospitals Development and Community Health Sisira Jayakody stated that COVID-19 patients were successfully treated at Ayurvedic Centres. Minister Ramesh Pathirana highlighted that no one who had been treated at Ayurvedic centres had succumbed and that special research should be carried out into their speedy recovery. The President pointed out the need to direct the students and teachers to use local indigenous medicines to boost immunity after recommencing schools.

END

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has registered 41 more COVID-19 related fatalities confirmed by the Director General of Health Services on Friday (July 16).

The new development has pushed the official death toll from the virus outbreak in Sri Lanka to 3,702.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims confirmed today include 23 males and 18 females.

Reportedly, among the victims are 09 males and 03 females aged between 30-59 years and 14 males and 18 females aged 60 and above.

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 367 more people tested positive for COVID-19 today (July 16), raising the daily count of positive cases reached 1,446.

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 273,881 virus infections since mid-April this year.

The new development has brought Sri Lanka’s confirmed coronavirus cases tally to 281,989.

Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that as many as 254,871 patients who were infected with the virus have regained health so far. Meanwhile, the death toll now stands at 3,702.

More than 23,000 are currently under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres across the country.

Courtesy The Daily FT

BowerGroupAsia (BGA), a strategic advisory firm that specialises in Foreign Direct Investment throughout the Indo-Pacific, has cautioned its clients, claiming that Sri Lanka is on the brink of severe economic crisis. 

BGA cited a host of recent developments to substantiate its warning.

In a confidential commentary to its clients, BGA claims Sri Lanka’s external finances are perilously low, foreign debt repayments are large, and weak public finances severely limit the capacity of the government to take adequate measures to alleviate escalating poverty by providing income support to prevent starvation or stimulate economic growth. 

If Sri Lanka’s Government and Central Bank continue to hold onto the current short-term policy measures, without immediately addressing the worsening crisis in the country’s external account, the Sri Lankan rupee is likely to plummet even beyond the current exchange rates prevailing in the black market,” opines BGA.

There is an urgent need for the country to seek the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to resolve the current crisis in the country’s external account, which has led to shortages in US dollars in the country’s banking sector,” it added.

BGA advised businesses operating in Sri Lanka should be prepared for a tumultuous business environment at least through the end of 2021. 

It said the Government’s ballooning current account deficit, plummeting foreign exchange reserves and drastically reduced revenue increase the risk of rapid depreciation in the Sri Lankan Rupee. Sri Lanka’s strained relationship with Western economies due to human rights and political concerns also threatens key export markets for cornerstone industries of the economy, exemplified most saliently by the risk of the island losing preferential access to the European Union for its readymade garments. Investors should be particularly observant about whether international creditors make good on threats to ‘blacklist; the Sri Lankan Government, which would complicate access to global capital markets on the island.  

BGA helps clients interpret the world’s most complex and dynamic markets, providing on-the-ground, hands-on support and actionable insights and analysis to implement strategies, mitigate risk, expand business and do great things in Asia.

In its commentary to clients, BGA has highlighted the impact from unsuitable economic policies in the weak state of economy.

It said the fragile financial conditions are compounded by inappropriate policies, and ineffective management has depressed incomes, increased prices of essential consumer items, decreased food availability and accessibility and aggravated poverty. The sudden banning of chemical fertiliser will reduce agricultural output, increase import expenditures, reduce export earnings and decrease the incomes of farmers and agricultural workers. Food prices are likely to increase, and Sri Lanka risks a hunger crisis if there are not adequate food imports. 

By the end of May, Sri Lanka’s gross foreign exchange reserves fell to $ 4 billion, while the external debt servicing for the next 12-month period stood at close to $ 7 billion (including private sector external debt servicing commitments).  

A Government overdraft with Sri Lanka’s State banks had soared to Rs. 620 billion ($ 3.1 billion), or 3.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), by April 2021 up from Rs. 304.4 billion ($ 1.5 billion) as spending grew and revenues were under pressure because of tax cuts and the pandemic. 

BGA said the overdraft is now also bigger than total Government revenues in the first four months of 2021, which were at Rs. 481.7 billion ($ 2.4 billion), or about 2.9% of GDP, and is also bigger than the budget deficit of Rs. 520 billion ($ 2.6 billion), or 3.2% of GDP. Revenues in the first four months were down 19% from Rs. 598 billion ($ 3 billion) in 2019. 

The reduction in agricultural export earnings at a time when manufactured exports are under the threat of a withdrawal of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Plus concession by the European Union is a serious concern. 

The Government is confident that the withdrawal of GSP Plus would not matter, but export manufacturers consider it to be a grave threat. 

It said the Apparel Exporters Association has said that a withdrawal of GSP Plus will affect the country’s exports severely. In addition, if other countries that are main markets for manufactured exports also withdraw concessions, the country’s exports would be seriously jeopardised. 

BGA is of the opinion that the country may be compelled to brace itself for an impending financial storm that may strike sooner than later, which could seriously damage the country’s economy. 

Domestically and internationally, the Sri Lankan currency has come under siege with little relief in sight. The Government took the extreme step of printing an unprecedented Rs. 208 billion ($ 1 billion) on June 28 after having already printed Rs. 23 billion ($ 115.6 million) the previous week. The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued a statement on the state of US dollar reserves and appealed for calm and restraint on 29 June. 

With this input of fresh liquidity, the Central Bank holdings of Government securities or the printed money stock reached a record Rs. 1.1 trillion ($ 5.5 billion) from Rs. 919.2 billion ($ 4.6 billion) on 25 June 2021. 

BGA noted internationally, a crippling debt burden has reduced foreign reserves to only $ 4 billion, which may not be enough to service the annual interest to international lenders, let alone enable Sri Lanka to meet other commitments. 

The risk of a worldwide blacklisting is a reality should the Government fail to make good on loan repayments when due, warned BGA.

It said despite the pending crisis, the Government has dismissed seeking help from the IMF. Minister of Money, Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal has ruled out any arrangement with the IMF for restructuring its debt servicing criterion but asserted that there were alternatives, though he did not provide any details on a strategy. 

The Minister has insisted that the economy was not on the brink of a severe crisis, despite contrasting remarks by Opposition legislators, and accused the Opposition of wishing to capitalise on a bankrupt economy to catapult it into power. Interestingly, on 26 April, he made the remarkable observation there was no relationship between printing money by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the depreciation of the local currency in the foreign currency market. 

BGA commentary also referred to nine restrictions on outward remittances. It said effective for six months from July, the Central Bank issued an order under the Foreign Exchange Act, suspending and restricting outward remittances.

It said on 10 June, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the withdrawal of the GSP concession to Sri Lanka in the absence of Government efforts to strengthen the fundamental rights of its citizens, a mandatory condition of the EU’s GSP. The focal point of the EU resolution was the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

In the face of the European Union (EU) threat to withdraw the GSP concession to local exporters, if Sri Lanka does not clean up its human rights record, the Government has decided to end the standoff by changing its position. It agreed to improve and address its tainted human rights record and amend the PTA by studying existing legislation, past practices and international best practices. 

The GSP scheme is limited by its declared object: to provide duty concessions on exports to approved applicants as an incentive to protect and enhance the human rights of the applicant nation’s citizens. The EU itself has no power to stray beyond this limited ambit, BGA said.

උපුටා ගැනීම lanka C news

වර්තමානයේ මුහුණ දී තිබෙන විදේශ සංචිත අර්බුදයල ජාත්‍යන්තර ණය ආපසු ගෙවීම් සහ දුර්වල රාජ්‍ය මූල්‍ය කළමනාකරණය හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රි ලංකාවට රටේ ජනතාව සාගින්නෙන් පෙළීම වැළැක්වීමට හෝ ඔවුන්ට නිසි ආර්ථික උත්තේජනයක් ලබා දීමට නොහැකි වනු ඇති බවට රහස්‍ය අනතුරු ඇඟවීමක් ඉන්දු-පැසිෆික් කලාපයේ ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේ ආයෝජන උපදේශන සමාගමක් සිය ගනුදෙනුකරුවන් වෙත සිදු කර ඇත.

ඩේලි ෆයිනෑන්ෂල් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත වාර්තා කරන ආකාරයට පුරා සෘජු විදේශ ආයෝජන සම්බන්ධයෙන් ක්‍රියා කරන බෝවර් ගෘප් ඒෂියා නම් මෙම සමාගම සිය සේවාදායකයින්ට අනතුරු අඟවා ඇත්තේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දැඩි ආර්ථික අර්බුදයක අද්දර සිටින බව පවසමිනි.

සිය සේවාදායකයින්ට රහස්‍ය වාර්තාවක් ලබා දෙමින් බෝවර් ගෘප් ඒසියා සමාගම තවදුරටත් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ රටේ බාහිර ගිණුම් නරක අතට හැරෙමින් පවතින තත්ත්වයට වහාම විසඳුම් නොදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සහ මහ බැංකුව වත්මන් කෙටිකාලීන ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග දිගටම කරගෙන යන්නේ නම්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රුපියල වර්තමානයේ කළුකඩ වෙළෙඳපොළේ පවතින අගයටත් වඩා වැඩි මට්ටමකින් කඩා වැටීමකට ලක් විය හැකි බවය.

මෙම තත්ත්වය මත එක්සත් ජනපද ඩොලර් හිඟයට තුඩු දී ඇති රටේ බාහිර ගිණුමේ වර්තමාන අර්බුදය විසඳීම සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ සහාය ලබා ගැනීම රටෙහි හදිසි අවශ්‍යතාවක් බවත් පවසන එම සමාගම ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේ පවතින ව්‍යාපාරවලට අනතුරු අඟවන්නේ 2021 වසර අවසන් වන තෙක් දැඩි පීඩාකාරී ව්‍යාපාර පරිසරයක් සඳහා සූදානම් වන ලෙසය.

‘රජයේ ජංගම ගිණුමේ හිඟය ඉහළ නැංවීම, විදේශ විනිමය සංචිත පහත වැටීම සහ ආදායම විශාල ලෙස අඩු කිරීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රුපියලේ අගය වේගයෙන් පහත වැටීමේ අවදානම වැඩි කරයි. මානව හිමිකම් සහ දේශපාලන ගැටලු හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධානතම අපනයන වෙළෙඳපොළ ස්ථාවරත්වයටද යම් යම් තර්ජන එල්ල වී ඇත. දිවයිනේ නිමි ඇඟලුම් සඳහා යුරෝපා සංගමයට ඇතුළු වීමට ලබා ඇති සහනශීලී අවස්ථාවන් අහිමි වීමේ අවදානමක් ඇත. මේ තත්ත්වයන් තුළ ශ්‍රි ලංකාව යුරෝපා රටවල් අතර අසාදුගත වීමේ අවදානමක් පවතී. ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේ ආයෝජනය කිරීමේදී ඒ පිළිබදව කල්පනාකාරී විය යුතුය.

නොගැලපෙන ආර්ථිකමය ප්‍රතිපත්ති හේතුවෙන් ආර්ථිකය බිඳෙන සුළු තත්ත්වයට පත්ව ඇති අතර අකාර්යක්ෂම කළමනාකරණය මඟින් ආදායම් අවපාතයට ලක්වී ඇත. අත්‍යවශ්‍ය පාරිභෝගික භාණ්ඩවල මිල ඉහළ ගොස් තිබේ. රසායනික පොහොර හදිසියේ තහනම් කිරීම කෘෂිකාර්මික නිෂ්පාදනය අඩු කිරීම, ආනයන වියදම් වැඩි කිරීම, අපනයන ඉපැයීම් අඩු කිරීම සහ ගොවීන්ගේ හා කෘෂිකාර්මික කම්කරුවන්ගේ ආදායම අඩු කරනු ඇත. ආහාර මිල ඉහළ යාමට ඉඩ ඇති අතර ප්‍රමාණවත් ආහාර ආනයනයක් නොමැති නම් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සාගින්නෙන් පෙළෙනු ඇත.’ යනුවෙන් එම වාර්තාවේ වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් වේ.

මැයි මස අවසානය වන විටල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දළ විදේශ විනිමය සංචිතය ඩොලර් බිලියන 4 දක්වා පහත වැටුණු අතරල ඉදිරි මාස 12 සඳහා බාහිර ණය සේවා සඳහා මුදල් අවශ්‍යතාව පමණක් ඩොලර් බිලියන 7 කට ආසන්න බව පෙන්වා දෙන මෙම වාර්තාව පවසන්නේ පවතින සංචිත රටට කිසිසේත් ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවයි. ශ්‍රි ලංකාවට නිසි පිළියම් නොයෙදුවහොත් දරුණු ආර්ථික කුනාටුවක් අත ළඟ බව එම සමාගම තම ආයෝජකයන් වෙත අනතුරු අඟවමින් පවසා තිබේ.

– mawratanews

යොමුව මෙතනින්

ආචාර්ය සී. වීරත්න උපුටා ගැන්ම The Island (A Translation)

රටක ආර්ථිකයේ තත්වය සාධක ගණනාවකින් පෙන්නුම් කරයි. වර්ධන වේගය, වෙළඳ හිඟය (TD), විනිමය අනුපාතය (රු. / ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර්) සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර බාහිර ණය ඒ අතර වේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වර්ධන වේගය 2015 න් පසු පහත වැටී ඇත. එය 2016 දී 4.5% වූ අතර  2017 දී 3.1% දක්වා අඩු වී 2020 දී එය -3.6% දක්වා පහත වැටී ඇත. වෙළඳ හිඟයේ (අපනයන හා ආනයන අතර වෙනස – ටීඩී) අඩුවීමක්ද පෙන්නුම් කරන අතර වර්තමානයේ එය පවතින්නේ – ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 6.1 ක් ලෙස ය.  2010දී ඇමරිකානු ඩොලරය රු. 111 වූ විනිමය අනුපාතය 2020 දී රු.  186 ක් දක්වා අඛණ්ඩව ඉහල ගොස් ඇත. දැනට එය රු. 200 වේ. 2020 අවසානයේ දී ඉතිරිව ඇති බාහිර ණය ප්‍රමාණය ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 49.2 කි. මෙම සංඛ්‍යාලේඛනවලින් පෙනී යන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පෙර නොවූ විරූ ආර්ථික අර්බුදයක් කරා ගමන් කරමින් සිටින බවයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සහ වෙනත් තැන්වල සිදු කරන ලද පර්යේෂණ අධ්‍යයනවලින් පෙනී යන්නේ අකාබනික පොහොර යෙදීමෙන් බෝගවල වර්ධනය හා අස්වැන්න වැඩි වන බවයි. පොහොර හා පළිබෝධනාශක ආනයනය කිරීම තහනම් කිරීමට රජය මෑතකදී ගත් තීරණය රටේ බෝග නිෂ්පාදනය අඩාල කිරීමටත් සියලු භෝගවල අස්වැන්න අඩුවීමටත් ඉඩ තිබේ. වර්තමානයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාමාන්‍ය වී නිෂ්පාදනය හෙක්ටයාරයකට ටොන් 4 ක් පමණ වන අතර යූරියා වැනි අකාබනික පොහොර නිවැරදි වේලාවට යොදා නොගන්නේ නම් මෙය අඩු වනු ඇත. දැනටමත් සමහර ප්‍රදේශවල වී ගොවීන් තම යල බෝග සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පොහොර නොමැති බවට පැමිණිලි කරති. මෙම තත්වය අඛණ්ඩව පැවතුනහොත් සහල් ඇතුළු දේශීය බෝග නිෂ්පාදනය අඩුවනු ඇති අතර සහල්, ධාන්‍ය ආදිය ආනයනයද ඉහළ යයි.

වර්තමානයේදී පවා වාර්ෂිකව අපි ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 2 කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක් ආහාර ආනයනය සඳහා වියදම් කරමු. ආහාර ආනයනය සඳහා වන වියදම් වැඩිවීම රටේ වර්තමාන ආර්ථික හා සමාජ ගැටලු උග්‍ර කරනු ඇත. දේශීය ආහාර නිෂ්පාදනය අඩු කිරීම රටේ ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවයට බලපාන අතර වර්තමානයේ අප අත්විඳින ආහාර මිල ඉහළ යාමද ඒ හා ඇතිවන බලපෑමකි. ඵලදායිතාවයේ අඩුවීම නිසා ගොවීන් දුප්පත් වන අතර එමඟින් ඔවුන්ගේ මිලදී ගැනීමේ හැකියාව අඩු කිරීම, දේශීය කර්මාන්ත කෙරෙහි බලපාන අතර එමඟින් රැකීරක්ෂා හිඟය ඉහළ යනු ඇත.ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ගොවීන් මිලියනයක් පමණ සිටින අතර ඔවුන්ගේ ආදායම පහත වැටෙන විට එය ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවන තත්වයට, ඔවුන්ගේ සෞඛ්‍යයට හා දරුවන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපනයටද බරපතල ලෙස බලපානු ඇත.

විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ශාස්ත්‍රාලය, කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව, අපනයන කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව යනාදිය නියෝජනය කරන පාංශු විද්‍යා විද්‍යාඥයින් ඇතුළත්ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාංශු විද්‍යා සංගමය (SSSSL) කාබනික පොහොර දෙසට මාරුවීමට යෝජිත පියවර පිළිබඳව ජනාධිපති ගෝතබයා රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත ලිපියක් යවමින් සිය කනස්සල්ල පළ කර තිබේ.  SSSSL ට අනුව, අකාබනික පොහොර ආනයනය කිරීම තහනම් කිරීම බෝග අංශයට විනාශකාරී බලපෑම් ඇති කරනු ඇති බව පුරෝකථනය කර ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා කෘෂිකාර්මික ආර්ථික විද්‍යා සංගමය (SAEA) යනු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කෘෂිකාර්මික ආර්ථික විද්‍යාඥයින් නියෝජනය කරන වෘත්තීය ආයතනයයි. රසායනික පොහොර හා පළිබෝධනාශක සඳහා නිසි ආදේශක නොමැති විට,  අඩු අස්වැන්නකින් විය හැකි අලාභ නිසා විශාල ආර්ථික අලාභයක් SAEA ද පුරෝකථනය කරයි. ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාව, ගොවිපල ආදායම, විදේශ විනිමය ඉපැයීම් සහ ග්‍රාමීය දරිද්‍රතාවයට ක්ෂණික අහිතකර බලපෑම් අනර්ථදායක විය හැකිය.

අපගේ වාර්ෂික තේ වලින් අපනයන ආදායම ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියනයක් පමණ වන අතර අකාබනික පොහොර නොලැබීම ද තේ නිෂ්පාදනය අඩු කරනු ඇති අතර එමඟින් අපනයන ආදායම පහත වැටෙනු ඇති අතර එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස දැනට ඇති ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 6.1ක වෙළඳ හිඟය ඉහළ යනු ඇත. යූරියා වැනි පොහොර නොලැබීම තේ නිෂ්පාදනයට මෙන්ම වතු කම්කරුවන්ගේ ආදායමට ද බලපානු ඇත. තේ වෙළෙඳුන්ගේ සංගමයේ සභාපතිවරයා පවසන පරිදි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තේ කර්මාන්තයේ ප්‍රධාන වෙළඳපොලවල් අහිමි වනු ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමස්ත තේ නිෂ්පාදනයෙන් 70% ක් පමණ ලැබෙන්නේ තේ කුඩා හිමියන්ගෙනි. මෙම අංශය හෙක්ටයාර 138,900 ක් ආවරණය වන පරිදි තේ ඉඩම් හිමියන් 500,000 ක් පමණ වේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකා තේ හිමියන්ගේ සම්මේලනයේ සභාපතිවරයාට අනුව පොහොර හිඟය නිසා තේ නිෂ්පාදනය 2021 අවසන් වන විට 30% කින් ද 2022 මාර්තු වන විට 50% කින් ද පහත වැටෙනු ඇත. මෙය තේ කුඩා හිමියන්ගේ ආදායම අඩු කිරීමට හේතු වන අතර එය තේ කර්මාන්තය මත යැපෙන මිලියන 1.5 කට ආසන්න පුද්ගලයින්ට බලපානු ඇත. ඔවුන්ගේ ආදායම අඩු කිරීම ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල්වල ජීවන තත්ත්වය සහ සෞඛ්‍යයට සහ ඔවුන්ගේ දරුවන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපනයට බලපානු ඇත.

මේ අනුව, පොහොර තහනම් කිරීම රටේ ආර්ථිකයට කලහැකි විනාශකාරී බලපෑම් ඇති කරයි. පොහොර හා පළිබෝධනාශක ආනයනය කිරීම තහනම් කිරීමේ බරපතලකම ආණ්ඩුවේ සිටින අය නොදැන සිටි බව පෙනේ. අකාබනික පොහොර සහ වෙනත් කෘෂි රසායන ආනයනය කිරීම තහනම් කිරීමේ සියලු ප්‍රතිවිපාක අදාළ බලධාරීන් විසින් බැරෑරුම් ලෙස සලකා බලා සුදුසු පියවර ගැනීම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වේ. එසේ නොවුවහොත්, රට විනාශමුඛයට පත්වනු ඇත.

Dr.C.S. WEERARATNA Courtesy The Island

A number of factors indicate the state of the economy of a country. Among these are growth rate, trade deficit (TD), exchange rate (Rs/US $) and debts. The growth rate of Sri Lanka has declined after 2015. It dwindled to 4.5% in 2016 and 3.1% in 2017 and in 2020 it was -3.6 %. The Trade Deficit (the difference between exports and imports- TD) shows a decrease, but at present it stands at – 6.1 US$ billion. Exchange rate continued to increase from Rs. 111 to a US $ in 2010 to Rs. 186 in 2020. Currently it is around Rs. 200. At the end of 2020, the total outstanding external debt was US $ 49.2 billion. These figures indicate that Sri Lanka is heading towards an unprecedented economic crisis.

Research studies conducted in Sri Lanka and elsewhere indicate that application of inorganic fertilisers tends to increase growth and yields of crops. The recent decision taken by the government to ban the import of fertilisers and pesticides, is likely to retard crop production in the country and a drop in the yields of all crops. Currently the average paddy production in Sri Lanka is about 4 t/ha, and this is likely to be reduced if inorganic fertilisers, such as urea, are not applied at correct times. Already paddy farmers in some areas are complaining that basal fertilisers were not available for their Yala crop. If this situation continues to prevail, local crop production including rice will decrease, causing food imports such as rice, pulses, etc., to increase.

Even at present, annually we spend nearly US $ 2 million on food imports. Increase in expenditure on food imports will exacerbate the present economic and social problems in the country. Reduction in local food production will affect the food security situation of the country and a rise in food prices which we are experiencing at present. Decrease in productivity will make the farmers poorer, which will tend to reduce their buying capacity, affecting local industries and thereby increasing unemployment. There are around one million farmers and when their incomes go down it will seriously affect their standard of living, their heath, and the education of their children.

The Soil Science Society of Sri Lanka, (SSSSL) the membership of which includes soil scientists representing the university academia, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Export Agriculture, etc., in a letter sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, , has expressed its concerns over the proposed move to shift towards organic fertilisers. According to the SSSSL, banning import of inorganic fertilisers will have disastrous effects on the crop sector.

Sri Lanka Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) is the professional body representing the agricultural economists of Sri Lanka. The SAEA too predicts massive economic losses due to potential yield losses, in the absence of proper substitutes for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The immediate adverse impacts on food security, farm incomes, foreign exchange earnings and rural poverty can be detrimental.

Our annual export earnings from tea is around US $ 1 billion, and non-availability of inorganic fertilisers will also reduce tea production, which will cause a decline in export income resulting in a rise in the Trade Deficit, which at present is around -6.1 million US $. The non-availability of fertilisers, such as urea, will affect tea production and the incomes of the plantation workers as well. According to the Chairman of Tea Traders Association, the Sri Lanka tea industry will stand to lose its key markets.

Around 70% of Sri Lanka’s total tea production comes from tea small holders, and this sector comprises approximately 500,000 tea land owners covering 138,900 hectares. According to the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Federation of the Tea Small Holders, because of the fertiliser shortage, tea production will drop by 30% by the end of 2021 and 50% by March 2022. . This will lead to a reduction in the incomes of the tea small holders, which will affect nearly 1. 5 million individuals who depend on the tea industry. Reduction of their income will affect the living standards and health of their families, and the education of their children.

Thus, banning fertilisers will have disastrous effects on the country’s economy. Those in the government appear to have not realised the gravity of banning imports of fertilisers and pesticides. It is essential that the relevant authorities seriously consider all the repercussions of banning import of inorganic fertilsers and other agrochemicals, and take appropriate action. If not, the country is going to be doomed.

Dr.C.S. WEERARATNA

csweera@sltnet.lk

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Nimal Lewke, then senior DIG Northern Province had a close view of the last stages of the Eelam War IV.  How come that the people in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and other surrounding areas ended up in Nanthikadal Mukkuwal areas, he wondered.  

 A number of buses, lorries, tractors, other vehicles, motorcycles and push cycles were abandoned in this area in large numbers. When he questioned the people who escaped from the LTTE and came over to the government, they said that they were forced to leave their homes and proceed to Nanthikadal area and they had to abandon their vehicles and join the LTTE members as per instructions.  Thousands of vehicles were parked along a stretch of about three kilometers, observed Kamal Guneratne.

Fig 9: Congestion along the main road at Ampalavanpokkanai — from TamilNet, 29 March 2009

 Civilians arrive at the village of Putumatalan in Puthukkudiyirippu, northern Sri Lanka April 22, 2009 REUTERS/Stringer

https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War

The civilian camps,   tent cities, were vast and stretched for several hundreds of miles in the second and third No Fire Zones.

 This is the Last Redoubt,” or the coastal strip of 13 by 4 square kilometers, within which the civilians were mostly crammed by February 2009

Meanwhile, living conditions for the population became increasingly difficult. With the start of the monsoon in late 2008, tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) had no access to latrines and little to no shelter. By January 2009, to protect themselves from shelling, IDPs were living and sleeping in mud-and water-filled trenches. The entire area of Pudumatalan was like a hell on earth said Kamal Guneratne. due to the herding of hundreds of thousands of civilians in these areas, the stench was unbearable. the place was infested with millions of flies.  (continued)

By Raj Gonsalkorale

All animals are equal but some are more equal than others- George Orwell

Presidential pardons in Sri Lanka seem to have conferred a constitutional privilege for some citizens to be more equal than others, even for those convicted of murder by the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court. Another feature associated with these pardons is that politicians from the major parties, do not make much noise over these compared to other comparatively less important issues for which they protest, march the streets and go berserk on social media.

The constitution of the country permits the President to grant pardons for convicted criminals. The relevant clause is noted below

34. (1) The President may in the case of any offender convicted of any offence in any court within the Republic of Sri Lanka – (a) grant a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; (b) grant any respite, either indefinite for such period as the President may think fit, of the execution of any sentence passed on such offender; (c) substitute a less severe form of punishment for any punishment imposed on such offender; or (d) remit the whole or any part of any punishment imposed or of any penalty or forfeiture otherwise due to the Republic on account of such offence:

Provided that where any offender shall have been condemned to suffer death by the sentence of any court, the President shall cause a report to be made to him by the Judge who tried the case and shall forward such report to the Attorney-General with instructions that after the Attorney-General has advised thereon, the report shall be sent together with the Attorney-General’s advice to the Minister in charge of the subject of Justice, who shall forward the report with his recommendation to the President.

While the President of the country has the power to pardon, in the case of any person serving a death sentence, the above caveat requires the President to  cause a report to be made to him by the Judge who tried the case and shall forward such report to the Attorney-General with instructions that after the Attorney-General has advised thereon, the report shall be sent together with the Attorney-General’s advice to the Minister in charge of the subject of Justice, who shall forward the report with his recommendation to the President.

Leaving aside any humanitarian, moral or political arguments, the issue in all instances where a President has pardoned a criminal serving a death sentence, is whether the above process enshrined in the constitution has been followed or not.  This is the acid test in regard to the constitutionality of a President’s decision, and whether or not the country is one of laws.

The clause however does not extend to criminals serving other sentences, and in this regard it appears that the Executive President has an unfettered power to pardon criminals who have committed crimes for which they have not been served a death sentence. It is time perhaps that society questioned this power granted to one individual and commenced a discussion on a procedure that should be followed prior to granting a pardon to any convict serving a sentence imposed by the Courts.

Presidential pardons are nothing new, in Sri Lanka and in several other countries, and they have been granted without controversy and with much controversy. The real issue is whether there is a process in place for one person to effectively over rule a decision made even by the highest court in a country.

Some countries have empowered their judiciaries to review executive pardons. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the courts have the jurisdiction to review the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy by the monarch (on advice of the justice secretary) ‘in accord with accepted public law principles’. Thus, in the United Kingdom, the power to grant pardons does not go un-checked. Meanwhile, in India, through the landmark case of Epuru Sudhakar & Anor v. Government of Andhra Pradesh & Ors, the Indian Supreme Court held that it has jurisdiction to judicially review the pardoning power of the president.

The controversy with Presidential pardons has arisen again following the pardoning of former MP Duminda Silva who had been convicted for murder and sentenced to death by a High Court and the sentence unanimously ratified by the Supreme Court, by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Ahalya Lelwala, a Research Assistant attached to the Legal Research team at Verité Research, an interdisciplinary think tank that provides strategic analysis and advice for governments and the private sector in Asia, writing in Verite Research on the 21^st of July 2020 (https://www.veriteresearch.org/2020/07/21/presidential-pardons-in-sri-lanka-an-unchecked-executive-power/), says, quote On 26 March 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa granted a presidential pardon to former Lance Corporal Sunil Ratnayake, a prisoner on death row for the murder of eight persons in Mirusuvil in 2000. Ratnayake was sentenced to death by a Trial-at-Bar bench of the Colombo High Court in June 2015. In the case of Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Sunil Ratnayake Vs Hon. Attorney General, SC TAB 01/2016, decided in April 2019, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court affirmed this sentence.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena granted two such presidential pardons during his term in office. In May 2019, he pardoned secretary general of the militant Sinhala-Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, Venerable Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera.

The Thera was serving a six-year prison sentence for contempt of court imposed by the Court of Appeal in August 2018 (Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Vs Hon. Attorney General, CA (CC) Application No. 04/2016). His subsequent appeals against the prison sentence filed in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court were dismissed.

The second pardon by President Sirisena was granted on 9 November 2019 to Don Shramantha Jude Anthony Jayamaha, who was sentenced to death in the Royal Park Murder case by the Court of Appeal in 2012. The Supreme Court in 2014 affirmed this sentence. The president’s pardon was reportedly on the basis of requests made by the Buddhist clergy, and other parties, including the considering of reports prepared by the Prisons Department and several other state institutions.

Mary Juliet Monica Fernando, the wife of a former Minister of Parliament had been sentenced to death for a double murder in 2005. Subsequently, on International Women’s Day in March 2009, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa granted her a presidential pardon.

In addition to the above high-profile pardons, Sri Lankan presidents have routinely granted mass scale pardons to persons convicted of minor offences. These pardons are usually granted on special days, such as Independence day, Vesak day and Christmas” unquote.

It is not clear whether the procedure followed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was consistent with the constitutional requirement.The same goes for President Sirisena in regard to the pardon granted to Anthony Jayamaha and whether it was in line with what is specified in the constitution. Neither is it clear whether President Mahinda Rajapaksa adhered to the constitutional provision in pardoning Monica Fernando.

Previous Presidents have granted pardons to convicted criminals too. Lakdev Liyanagama writing in the Daily News on 30th May 2019 cites what he states as perhaps one of the first Presidential pardons to raise concern, that of Sunil Perera, better known as ‘Gonawela Sunil’ who was serving a sentence for rape. Perera, who had close links with the United National Party (UNP) was granted a pardon by then President J. R. Jayewardene. Liyanagama also mentions President Ranasinghe Premadasa pardoning Manohari Daniels, who was convicted of aiding and abetting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to carry out a bomb attack opposite Zahira College, Maradana in 1987 that killed forty persons. Daniels was pardoned at a time when the Premadasa government was having ‘peace talks’ with the LTTE, as a gesture of goodwill in what was a bid to ensure the talks succeeded.

Several newspaper reports mentions that in April 2014, ten former PSD officers were released from prison as they were granted Presidential Pardons by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Panadura High Court judge, Kusala Sarojani Weerawardana, had found these ten Presidential Security Division (PSD) officers who were accused of assaulting two famous songsters Rookantha Gunathilike and Chandraleka Perera to be guilty of the charges and sentenced them to four and a half years of rigorous imprisonment. The PSD officers had entered the living premises of the two famous singers, shaved their heads and assaulted them in the year 2000. The PSD officers allegedly did this due to the two singers participating publically at an opposition UNP political rally. The attack on the two singers was political revenge for them participating in the opposition rally. At the time of the attack Chandrika Kumaratunga was the executive president. The Presidential Security Division had acquired a not so dignified reputation during this time as they were allegedly used for political attacks on opponents of the government.

There cannot be any doubt that the Presidential pardons mentioned were nothing but politically motivated actions on the part of the Executive and the political party he or she represents. The privilege of being pardoned would not be extended to others in the death row who do not belong to the elite club of persons who have in common the motto, it is who you know and not what you know that matters”.

Death sentences are looked at as archaic and medieval by many as the belief that an eye for eye practice is not an act of meting out justice in this day and age. Neither is there any conclusive evidence that that passing a death sentence on anyone has deterred other persons from committing offences punishable by such a sentence. In a detailed study carried out by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2015 titled Fact check: No proof the death penalty prevents crime” (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-26/fact-check3a-does-the-death-penalty), it states clearly that there is no conclusive evidence that the death sentence has acted as a homicide deterrent.

Amnesty international reports that there are around 20,000 persons who are in the death row throughout the world.

In an article by Max Roser and Hannah Ritchie in the website Ourworld in Data in 2019, states that more than 400,000 people die from homicide each year – in some countries it’s one of the leading causes.

A citation taken from an Oxford School Education Blog is worth repeating here to illustrate a what some may interpret as a simile in the political administration of the country. Quote, in George Orwell’s allegorical novel Animal Farm, animals conspire to take control of their farm from humans, establishing ‘Animalist’ commandments to prevent the reproduction of the oppressive behaviour of humans. Unfortunately, as time goes on that is exactly what happens and the pig Napoleon ends up changing the final rule of ‘All animals are equal’ so that it reads that ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others’. This is a parody of Stalinist Russia which Orwell was criticising, unquote.

In Sri Lanka, not of course dissimilar in other democratic countries, the parody of Stalinist Russia perhaps is alive and well as people vote in one party to replace another in order to, as the Blog says create their vision of a Utopian society, only for it to become another group’s dystopia”. The blog goes on to say way a society is structured may change but human nature does not necessarily follow suit. Thomas Hobbes viewed human life as ‘nasty, brutish and short’ and therefore we should perhaps not be surprised if time and time again we replicate previous inequalities and tyrannies with only a change of ‘players’.

The Animal Farm illustrates this. Some might say the general public will continue to have the same wine in different bottles irrespective of a change of guard at an election.

Court decisions are not always right, and there have been many miscarriages of justice throughout the world. While a person with wealth, and right connections, will always have a chance of some redress, like a pardon, and perhaps even a re trial on discovery of new evidence, most convicted persons have no recourse to such a process as their case will not generate any interest, and they will languish in jail for the duration of their sentences or be executed in countries where death sentences are carried out.

No doubt there are many instances where a person accused, tried and convicted of murder maintain their innocence, and they are justly or unjustly convicted and sentenced to death or a life imprisonment. Justice will be meted out in a law enforcement and judicial system that functions efficiently, effectively and impartially, free of political interference and free of inducements”. There is a question mark whether any country could boast of having a perfect system where all of above are met in all instances by everyone engaged in law enforcement and justice. Consequently, there is the possibility of some persons being executed or committed to life in prison for a crime they never committed.

A judicial review process even beyond the highest court in the land, may be an avenue that could be considered although the parameters of such a process would be extremely hard to implement. A Presidential pardon system maybe one such avenue, but it has to include a formal review process and some parameters as to who should be subject to such a review process.

Clearly, such a process cannot include political favourites at the expense of others who do not subscribe to the motto It is who you know and not what you know that matters”. Of course in an imperfect society riddled with corruption and other vices, what one knows might lead them to persons of influence and power and a consequential symbiotic existence.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

When Eelam war IV started in 2006, Tamil civilians had followed the retreating LTTE across the Northern Province, to their shrinking area of control in Mullaitivu and became trapped between the two armies.   They went voluntarily.

The map given below shows the movement of Vanni population from September 2007- September 2008.   They are moving towards the war zone.

• hpsl.lk stands for Humanitarian Portal – Sri Lanka (UNOCHA).
• ONOCHA means United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
• the map was downloaded from  https://www.scribd.com/document/132499266/The-Numbers-Game-Politics-of-Retributive-Justice

When Eelam War IV started, Tamil civilians   left their villages and trekked to the east thinking that eventually LTTE would win and they could return home, said Kusal Perera.   LTTE had instructed them to remove roofs, doors and windows of their houses, when they left. They did so.

Kusal Perera met such a family in Menik Farm. This family had been travelling from west to east for three years. They were from Adampan in Mannar. Adampan was under the LTTE for the past 20 years. The daughter told Kusal, whenever the   Sri Lanka army started firing shells and mortar and entered our village we have to leave the village.  Then after a month or two we come back. Tiger army takes over and announces that we can return.

In July 2006, after the Mavil Aru closure, the army started shelling Adampan. The shelling was intense. People moved out and army came in. Her family packed everything and left in a tractor. they thought they would return in a month or two as before. Some even took their livestock with them said the daughter.

They settled first in Palliyaru. That was shelled, so they moved east with the whole village. Next stop Jeyapuram. Then east again. Kusal’s informant, the daughter said they still believed the LTTE would  fight the army  and regain lost territory for them to return home.  Instead they kept moving east all the time .They eventually got to Dharmapuram near Visvamadu in August 2008. Kilinochchi was still under LTTE so they thought that would be the limit for advancing forces. This statement by the daughter shows that these civilians were alertly watching the progress of the war.

LTTE then told them to move  further east and they shifted to Mungil Aru south with  the rest of the exodus. they were forced to keep moving, Kusal’s informant told him.  They  kept walking toward Mullaitivu ,  then to Pudumathalan, arriving there  on 19 April, 2009   with the rest of the massive crowd. They seem to have travelled on A35 road. For a week they had shared a sandy bunker with 12 other families,  the daughter said. The army too reported that civilians had  moved into Mungil Aru, Sudthanithirapuram, Devipuram and Irrittumadu areas located north of the Paranthan-Mullaitivu Road.

In 2019, Bejamin Dix produced a  cartoon book  on Tamil refugees,  which included the last stages of the Eelam War. the book followed the fortunes of one fictionalized Tamil family.

The book  was titled, ‘Vanni, a family’s struggle through the Sri Lanka   conflict, by Bejamin Dix  illustrated by   Lindsay Pollock,( Penguin Random House, 2018.) It was funded by Arts Council of England.  it was thereafter issued by New Internationalist (UK & Europe), Penn State University Press (USA and Canada), and Penguin India.

Dix and Pollock decided on  telling the story through a ‘comic book’. they thought it a good way  reach the public. Comics reach a different readership than journalism. Cartoon books  connect with people in a different way. The initial impulse for the book was publicity, to alert the general public to the injustice which had befallen the Tamils. It was intended to educate and campaign.

 Benjamin Dix told  the newspaper Indian Express, I left Vanni with a huge collection of interviews, photographs and reports, along with my own lived experiences and relationships within the Tamil community. A deep sense of shame and guilt engulfed me as I drove out of Kilinochchi in the last UN convoy on 16 September 2008.”

I wanted to turn what I was seeing in Vanni into a graphic novel, depicting the displaced people, the carnage, our impotence at the UN and the many stories of human suffering,” he  told the interviewer.

For the international media, the war remained largely a story of freedom” from a terrorist organization. But that did not take into account the hundreds of displaced Tamilians, on the move, dying as shelling continued, or of the many others who were disappearing” into internment camps. Sri Lanka is especially important, because, Dix said,  10 years on, there still has not been any credible sense of closure and justice for the victims. (continued in  D2)

RANJITH SOYSA

I write to thank thousands of Sri Lankan armed forces’ members for their exemplary and attentive services extended in handling efficiently the vaccination program of Sri Lankans who are waging an unenviable war against the covid epidemic and according to reports they vaccinated around 150,000-200,000 a day!

The way they set off on the program deserves our highest praise as we did not see any complaints regards the service and the way the vaccinations were administered. We saw how the men and women in uniforms helped the disabled and the old to counters where the services were extended and again accompanied them back by showering the needy people with kindness.

It was ironic indeed to watch the health workers proceeding to strike when the iron was hot by being oblivious to the sick and many others who were seeking advice and guidance from the health sector, they completely ignored that they were getting paid for their input while tens of thousands of Sri Lankans had lost their jobs and many hundreds of small businessmen were forced to close shop. And they forgot their primary duty and decided to strike at a very vulnerable hour of the nation. BUT the men and women of the armed forces came to the rescue of the beleaguered nation and completed the task expected of them serenely.

Yet, we heard some narrow-minded comments from the health professionals saying that the health service is not a section of the armed forces to be run like a brigade under a commander. The armed forces did not waste time to reply to these wayward comments, but they rendered their services to the helpless Sri Lankans.

We hark back to dark days when the terrorists attempted to put the nation under the weather. As the last resort. we had to be saved and liberated by the heroic members of the armed forces at the expense of thousands of their fellow members who sacrificed their lives and others were heavily injured, Similarly, at present, the nation is attempting to overcome a deadly epidemic and the uniformed heroes have come to our rescue. We are grateful to you dear brothers and sisters.

RANJITH SOYSA