By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The pratfallen, poloitically discarded, isolated, secluded and the worst quisling of Sri Lanka Mangala Samaraweera who has now become a staunch anti-Chinese than the well known and dedicated China bashers in the former slave traders’ western countries has circulated a lengthy article on 1^st July, 2021 to medoia institutions, extensively criticising China citing various epochs of its history, which he says were eras of oppression, plagiarisinmg from anti-China history books. This lingerie designer who was shamelessly genuflecting and licking the feet of Chinese leaders from 2004. Starting from the time of Chandrika’s presidency onwards serving as Foreign Minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa Government until he was kicked out and then in the calamitous foreign and terrorist servile Sirisena/Ranil government was liocking the feet of Chinese leaders and even bowing down to Chinese construction workers especially during the horrendous Sirisena/Ranil era.

He starts his ghost-written article, blaming the Central Bank for the commendable gesture it made by issuing a commemorative coin for the centenary of the Communist Party of China which is a country that has extensively helped Sri Lanka for the last several decades and yet volunteer to help our country.

 
Suffering from an acute paranoia of despising any economic, social or cultural progress being made or envisaged by this government, this shameless crony of the west who used to widely criticise the Sirasa TV channel with various names in the past, has suddenly become a darling of Sirasa and commends it for telecasting a story about some Chinese personnel dredging a historic lake in the deep south Walawe (where youth unemployment is at its highest he claims) and says it was for many Sri Lankans a shocking exposé by ‘Sirasa,’ and  unashamedly dedscribes Sirasa as the only truly independent TV station in this country today. He adds that this dredging was carried out under the patronage of a senior Cabinet Minister of the ruling family. This Goblin seerms to be unaware or deliberately rrfraining from making reference to shortcoming and misdeeds being shown by Derana, Hioru and Swarvahini channels in their news telecasts because those incidents relate to his own government.

Before proceeding further to comment on this stupid goblin’s ghost written article, titled Sri Lanka’s Century of Humiliation” let us wake him up from his deep stupor and acute dementia and remind him many incidents of his licking the feet of Chinese leaders from 2004 onwards, though he now attempts to project Chinese leaders as monsters of the world. 

Joint Press Communiqué of the Foreign Ministers of China and Sri Lanka

Dated 16th July, 2006

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing of the People’s Republic of China, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka paid an official visit to the People’s Republic of China from 12 to 16 July 2006.   Foreign Minister Samaraweera called on Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council of China. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing held in-depth talks with Foreign Minister Samaraweera. Foreign Minister Samaraweera also met with Mr. Li Shenglin, Minister of Communications, Mr. Yu Guangzhou, Vice Minister of Commerce, Mr. Shao Qiwei, Chairman of China National Tourism Administration, Mr. Li Ruogu, President of the Export-Import Bank of China and Mr. Yuan Xingpei, Chairman of China-Sri Lanka Friendship Group of China’s National People’s Congress.   Foreign Minister Samaraweera delivered a speech entitled “Future Orientations in China-Sri Lanka Relations in the Context of the Evolving Political and Economic Development of China” at China Institute of International Studies.   2. During the meetings, the two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. The two sides re-affirmed that China-Sri Lanka relations have enjoyed healthy and smooth growth on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence since the establishment of diplomatic relations 49 years ago. The two countries have steadily increased mutual political trust, carried out fruitful economic and trade cooperation, and exchanged frequent visits at various levels. In April 2005, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Sri Lanka. The two countries proclaimed the establishment of an All-round Cooperative Partnership featuring sincere mutual support and everlasting friendship. It marked a new stage of growth in China-Sri Lanka relations. Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga also visited China in August 2005. The two sides reviewed with satisfaction the progress made in bilateral exchanges and cooperation in political affairs, economy and trade, culture, tourism and other areas as well as their good cooperation in regional and international affairs. The two sides agreed to keep the momentum of high-level visits. The Chinese side welcomed a visit to China by H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, in 2007. The specific time of the visit would be decided upon through diplomatic channels, bearing in mind that diplomatic relations were formally established on February 7 of 1957.   The two sides decided that, as the year 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, it will be declared the Year of China-Sri Lanka Friendship. The two sides agreed to hold a number of commemorative activities in each other’s country to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples and strengthen their traditional friendship, details of which would be discussed between the Foreign Ministries and Embassies concerned.   The two sides emphasized that expanded economic and trade cooperation would be conducive to the common progress and prosperity of the people of the two countries and that bilateral economic cooperation including cooperation in trade and investment should be further strengthened. The two sides expressed readiness to enhance friendly exchanges in technical development and training, energy exploration, tourism, education, cultural and religious affairs, youth exchanges and in the academic field, and to seek new ways to deepen cooperation in these fields, based on Agreements already signed. The two sides welcomed increased participation by Chinese enterprises in infrastructure and development projects in Sri Lanka.   Consultations were held to work out mutually acceptable facilities for financing of such projects on favorable terms and expediting their implementation. The priority projects are the coal power project in Puttalam, the airport – city of Colombo highway, and the Harbor and Oil Storage bunkering port of Hambantota.   Foreign Minister Samaraweera thanked the Chinese side for providing assistance for tsunami relief to Sri Lanka. The Chinese side expressed readiness to provide aid for Sri Lanka’s economic and social development to the best of its ability. Sri Lanka allocated an exploration block in the Mannar Basin to China for exploration of petroleum resources which was appreciated.   The two sides emphasized that China and Sri Lanka shared extensive common interests in regional and international affairs, and agreed to consult one another and enhance coordination in this regard. The Sri Lankan side welcomed China’s status as an observer of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and would continue to promote cooperation between China and SAARC. The Chinese side appreciated Sri Lanka’s stand, and reiterated its readiness to conduct exchanges and cooperation with SAARC on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The Chinese side expressed support for Sri Lanka’s participation in regional and sub-regional cooperation.   The two sides agreed to continue coordinate their positions on the reform of the United Nations and the Security Council. Both sides maintained that Asian countries should deepen mutual understanding, strengthen solidarity and enhance cooperation in order to ensure that the next Secretary-General of the United Nations will be from Asia.   3. The Sri Lankan side reiterated that there is but one China, that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory. Sri Lanka reiterated that it opposes “Taiwan independence” in whatever form, and will not have any official contacts with Taiwan. Sri Lanka stressed for all efforts made by the Chinese Government to safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and China’s early reunification. The Chinese side highly appreciated this position of Sri Lanka.   Foreign Minister Samaraweera briefed the Chinese side on the peace process of Sri Lanka. The Chinese side reaffirmed that it would continue to support Sri Lanka in its efforts to defeat terrorism, and to safeguard the sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity of the country.   The two sides reaffirmed their opposition to the three evil forces of Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism and discussed measures to increase their consultation and coordination in regional and international anti-terrorism activities.   4. Foreign Minister Samaraweera thanked the Chinese side for the warm hospitality accorded him during his visit and extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to visit Sri Lanka at a mutually convenient time. Foreign Minister Li accepted the invitation with pleasure.   Mangala held discussions with China’s special envoy

On February 5, 2015, Special Envoy of the Chinese Government and Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao met with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in Colombo.

Liu Jianchao expressed that the Chinese side attaches importance to China-Sri Lanka relations as part of China’s neighborhood diplomacy and regards Sri Lanka as a significant cooperative partner in South Asia and to advance the construction of the “One Belt One Road” initiative. The traditional friendship between China and Sri Lanka has emerged stronger over time and should be cherished by both sides. The Chinese side believes, he said, that the new government of Sri Lanka will continuously stay firmly committed to its friendly policy towards China and his  country is willing to work with Sri Lanka to fully implement the outcomes of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Sri Lanka, constantly enhance political mutual trust, deepen cooperation in the fields of economy and trade as well as people’s livelihood, expand exchanges in people-to-people and cultural engagement, science and technology, oceans and other fields, and strengthen bilateral coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs so as to push forward bilateral strategic cooperative partnership for constant development.

Liu Jianchao expressed that major cooperation projects such as the Hambantota port and Colombo port city jointly conducted by China and Sri Lanka meet the need of national economy and the people’s livelihood in Sri Lanka and can bring tangible benefits to the Sri Lankan people. He said that it is believed that the new Sri Lankan government will proceed from the overall development of China-Sri Lanka friendly relations as well as the fundamental interests of its national development, and ensure that the major cooperation projects between both countries will not be disrupted by political changes of Sri Lanka.

Samaraweera welcomed Liu Jianchao’s visit to Sri Lanka as the Special Envoy of the Chinese Government and expressed that Sri Lanka-China friendly relations have withstood the test of times and both countries can be called all-weather friends. He stressed that for a long time, the Chinese side has stood together with Sri Lanka, offered valuable assistance to Sri Lanka’s economic and social development and become Sri Lanka’s largest development partner, for which Sri Lanka is deeply grateful. The new Sri Lankan government is willing to establish full contact with the Chinese government, welcomes China’s investment in and assistance to Sri Lnka and expects to strengthen practical cooperation with the Chinese side in various fields.

Liu Jianchao expressed that major cooperation projects such as the Hambantota port and Colombo port city jointly conducted by China and Sri Lanka meet the need of national economy and the people’s livelihood in Sri Lanka and can bring tangible benefits to the Sri Lankan people. He said that it is believed that the new Sri Lankan government will proceed from the overall development of China-Sri Lanka friendly relations as well as the fundamental interests of its national development, and ensure that the major cooperation projects between both countries will not be disrupted by political changes of Sri Lanka.

Samaraweera welcomed Liu Jianchao’s visit to Sri Lanka as the Special Envoy of the Chinese Government and expressed that Sri Lanka-China friendly relations have withstood the test of times and both countries can be called all-weather friends. He stressed that for a long time, the Chinese side has stood together with Sri Lanka, offered valuable assistance to Sri Lanka’s economic and social development and become Sri Lanka’s largest development partner, for which Sri Lanka is deeply grateful. The new Sri Lankan government is willing to establish full contact with the Chinese government, welcomes China’s investment in and assistance to Sri Lnka and expects to strengthen practical cooperation with the Chinese side in various fields.

As events have shown, however, Sirisena’s strategy does not involve cutting ties with Beijing completely. As The Diplomat reported earlier, Sirisena’s government has promised to move forward with the Chinese-funded Colombo Port City project in order to avoid any misunderstanding” with the Chinese government.

China, for its part, exudes confidence that it will continue to enjoy a strong relationship with Colombo no matter who is in charge China and Sri Lanka are neighbors of long-lasting amity. The two countries have forged a strategic partnership of cooperation based on sincere mutual assistance and generations of friendship over recent years,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said upon the news of Sirisena’s election.

In a congratulatory message to Sirisena, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, I am willing to make concerted efforts with the Sri Lankan side to keep lifting the China-Sri Lanka strategic cooperative partnership to higher levels.” On February 4, in a message congratulating Sri Lanka upon its National Day, Xi called the China-Sri Lanka relationship unshakeable.”

As a sign of China’s eagerness to continue working with Sirisena’s government, Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao visited Sri Lanka on February 5 (not coincidentally, the same day that Colombo announced it would allow China’s port project to go ahead). In a meeting with Foreign Minister Samaraweera, Liu defended China’s investment in Sri Lanka. Such projects meet the international and domestic demand of Sri Lanka and can bring tangible benefits to the Sri Lankan people,” Liu said, expressing China’s hope that the projects will be allowed to continue. Liu also told Samaraweera that the Chinese side believes that the new government of Sri Lanka will stay firmly committed to its friendly policy towards China.”

 

For his part, Samaraweera expressed Sri Lanka’s appreciation for the priceless assistance” China has provided for Sri Lanka’s economic and social development. He added that the Sirisena government welcomes China’s investment and assistance.”

Contacts with China are continuing apace under Sirisena’s administration. Sirisena is in India right now, but he will visit China in the near future; Samaraweera’s upcoming trip to Beijing will help lay the groundwork. With that in mind, China isn’t overly worried about Sirisena’s travels in India this week.

Mangala assures China to consult them on any project re-thinking

Mangala Samaraweera during his meeting with China’s Premier Li Keqiang at the Zhongnanhai Leadership Compound in Beijing, 9n 27^th February strongly assured that Sri Lanka will not make any decision on Chinese projects it is reviewing until it consults China,

To be Continued ………….

ෂම්මි උයනගේ (පරිගණක විද්‍යා විශේෂවේදී – කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය) පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග ඉංජිනේරු

කොරෝනා වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ අධිකරණ කටයුතු ඉදිරියට පවත්වාගෙනයාම සඳහා සූම් තාක්ෂණය භාවිතා කිරීම සම්බන්ධව මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන් මහතා විසින් ලියන ලද ලිපියක් ලංකා වෙබ් අඩවියෙහි පළ වී තිබුණි (එම ලිපිය සඳහා මෙතනින් පිවිසෙන්න).

සූම් ආයතනයේ අයිතිකරු වන චීනයේ උපත ලද අවුරුදු 50ක් වයසැති එරික් යුආන්, 8 වාරයක් උත්සාහ කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව 1997 දී ඇමෙරිකානු පුරවැසිභාවය ලබා ගන්නා ලදී. දුර ඈතක වාසය කළ පෙම්වතිය සමග කතාබහ කිරීම සඳහා ඔහු විසින් කරන ලද උත්සාහයක ප්‍රතිඵලයකි සූම් පරිගණක වැඩසටහන. කෝවිඩ් වසංගතය හමුවේ අනෙකුත් ව්‍යාපාරවලට කොපමණ දුෂ්කරතා ඇති වුවද 2020 වසරේදී සිය ව්‍යාපාර කටයුතු 300% කින් පමණ ඉහළ නංවමින් ඩොලර් බිලියන 2.6 වාර්තාගත ආදායමක් ලැබුවේය. 2019 වර්ෂයේදී දෛනික රැස්වීම් ප්‍රමාණය මිලියන 10 වූ සූම් මෙහෙයුම් පද්ධතිය තුළ, 2020 වන විට දෛනික රැස්වීම් ප්‍රමාණය මිලියන 350 දක්වා වැඩි විය.

විවිධ ස්ථානවල සිටින පුද්ගලයන් සමග සම්බන්ධ වෙමින් ඔවුන් සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීම සඳහා සූම් භාවිතා කළ හැක. යම් පුද්ගලයකු එසේ සූම් පද්ධතිය භාවිතා කරන්නේ නම් සූම් ආයතනයේ වෙබ් අඩවියේ දක්වා ඇති පරිදි පලමුව ඔවුන්ගේ සියලුම කොන්දේසි සහ නීති රීති වලට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම එකඟ විය යුතුයි.

ඔවුන්ගේ වෙබ් අඩවියේ දක්වා ඇති නියමයන් සහ කොන්දේසි, නීති රීති යනාදිය ඔවුන්ට ඕනෑම අවස්ථාවක වෙනස් කල හැකි බව ද ඔවුන්ගේම කොන්දේසි වල දක්වා ඇත. එය සාමාන්‍ය තත්ත්වයකි.  එසේම ලෝකයේ විවිධ ප්‍රදේශවල ජීවත්වන පුද්ගලයන් සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ කොන්දේසි සහ නියමයන් වෙනස් වන ආකාරය පිළිබඳවද ඔවුන්ගේ රෙගුලාසිවල පැහැදිලි කර ඇත. කැලිෆෝනියා ප්‍රාන්තය, එංගලන්තය, ස්විට්සර්ලන්තය, යුරෝපා සංගමය වැනි ප්‍රදේශ එහි දක්වා තිබුණ ද ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පිළිබඳව කිසිදු සටහනක් දක්වා නැත.

අවුරුදු 16 ට වඩා අඩු ළමයින්ට සූම් ගිණුමක් විවෘත කළ නොහැකි බවට නියමයක්  (6) පැවතුනද අවුරුදු 16 ට අඩු ළමයින්ට සූම් තාක්ෂණය භාවිතා කළ නොහැකියැයි ඔවුන්ගේ කොන්දේසි වල දක්වා නැත. සූම් රැස්වීම් පටිගත කරන අවස්ථාවලදී ඒවා ගබඩා වන්නේ සූම් ආයතනයේ පරිගණක පද්ධති තුළ බව ඔවුන්ගේ කොන්දේසි සහ නියමයන්හි සඳහන් කර ඇත (3-c).

සූම් මාධ්‍ය තුළ සාකච්ඡා සංවිධානය කරන අයගේ මෙන්ම ඒවට සම්බන්ධ වන පුද්ගලයින්යන්ගේ පෞද්ගලික තොරතුරු, සම්බන්ධිත පරිගණක වල තොරතුරු ද සූම්  ආයතනය විසින් එකතු කරන බව දක්වා ඇත. ඔවුන් එම තොරතුරු ඔවුන්ගේ වෙළඳ සහ ප්‍රචාරණ කටයුතු සඳහා පමණක් භාවිතා කරන බව පවසයි. කරුණු එසේ නම් අපට විහිළුවට මෙන් පැවසිය හැක්කේ යම් දවසක පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව නඩුව සූම් තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ විමසන අවස්ථාවකදීම මෙම නඩුවට සම්බන්ධ පාර්ශවයන්ට බෝම්බ සකස් කිරීම් පිළිබඳව වෙළඳ දැන්වීම් ඇත්නම්, ඒවා දර්ශනය විය හැක.

සූම් ආයතනය කැලිෆෝනියා ප්‍රාන්තයේ නීති රීතිවලට යටත්ව ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව දක්වා ඇති අතර (20.1) යම් කිසි ගැටලුවක් ඇති වුවහොත්  ඇමරිකානු බේරුම්කරණ ආයතනයේ (AAA) නියමයන් සහ කොන්දේසි වලට පමණක් වගකියන බවද සඳහන් වේ (Exhibit A – C).

මා දන්නා පරිදි ළමා සහ කාන්තා අපචාර, ජාතිවාදී ක්‍රියා, ආගමික අන්තවාදී කටයුතු සම්බන්ධ සාකච්ඡා හෝ ඒවා සම්බන්ධ ලිපි ලේඛන හෝ ඡායාරූප, සූම් පද්ධතිය තුල සංචරණය විය නොහැක. කිසිම දැනුම්දීමකින් තොරව එවැනි සාකච්ඡා සහ ගිණුම් අත්හිටුවීමේ බලය සූම් ආයතනය සතුව ඇත (3 b). රනිල්, හම්බන්තොට වරාය විකුණා ලබාගත් චෙක් පත ලොවට පෙන්වූ නිසා තමාගේ ෆේස්බුක් ගිණුම මාස දෙකක පමණ කාලයකට අවහිර කර තිබූ බව රේඛා කහඳගම නම් මහත්මිය විසින් සිය ෆේස්බුක් පිටුවේ සටහනක් දමා තිබෙනවා දුටුවෙමි. කරුණු කාරණා එසේ නම් පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව සහ තවත් බොහෝ නඩු කටයුතු සූම් තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ විභාග කළ හැකිදැයි ගැටළුවක් මතු වේ.

ඉහත සංක්ෂිප්තව දක්වා ඇති තොරතුරු සහ සූම් ආයතනයේ නියමයන් සහ කොන්දේසි, ප්‍රතිපත්ති ගැඹුරින් අධ්‍යයනය කිරීමේදී, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට යටත්ව යුක්තිය පසදලීම සඳහා විකල්ප ක්‍රමයක් වශයෙන් සූම් තාක්ෂණය භාවිතා කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුව හෝ අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යාංශය, ඇමරිකාවේ කැලිෆෝනියා ප්‍රාන්තයේ පිහිටි සූම් ආයතනය සමඟ ඇතිකරගන්නා ලද ගිවිසුම් රටට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙස නීතිඥ අරුණ උණවටුන මහතා කරන ලද ඉල්ලීම පිළිබඳව අප පුදුම විය යුතු නැත.

සූම් පිළිබඳව මගේ සිතේ ඇතිව තිබූ කහට තීව්‍ර වූයේ කැබිනට් රැස්වීම් එම තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ පැවැත්වෙන බව දැනගන්නට ලැබුණු අවස්ථාවේදීය. ලංකාවේ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ රැස්වීමකට මටද ඔබටද සහභාගි විය නොහැක. එනමුත් එය සූම් තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ පැවැත්වීමෙන් සූම් ආයතනයට හෝ එම ආයතනය ගිවිසුම්ගතව පිහිටුවා ඇති රටක රහස් ඔත්තු සේවාවන්ට අපගේ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ රැස්වීම් පිළිබඳව තොරතුරු ලබාගත හැකිය.

එදිනෙදා භාවිතා කරනු ලබන පරිගණක මෙවලම් ආශ්‍රිතව පරිශීලකයන්ගේ තොරතුරු ඒ ඒ ආයතන විධිමත්ව සහ අවිධිමත්ව ලබා ගන්නා ආකාර පිළිබඳව ඕනෑතරම් නිදසුන් ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග විද්‍යාව වැඩිදුරටත් උගන්වන කොළඹ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, මොරටුව විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය වැනි  ආයතන වල වෙබ් අඩවි පරීක්ෂා කිරීමෙන්ද පෙනී යන්නේ ඔවුන්ද සූම් තාක්ෂණය භාවිතා කරවන බවයි. සූම් වැනි  පරිගණක වැඩසටහන් සකස් කිරීම සඳහා ආචාර්ය, මහාචාර්යවරුන්ට හැකියාවක් නැත. නමුත් සූම් වැනි පරිගණක වැඩසටහන් නිර්මාණය කළ හැකි පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග ඉංජිනේරුවන් සකස් කිරීමේ උත්කෘෂ්ට හැකියාව ඔවුන්ට ඇත. එලෙස පිටවන විද්‍යාර්ථයන්ට ජාතික හිසක් (plug-in) සවි කිරීමේ කාර්යය සිදුකළ හැක්කේ දුටුගැමුණු රජතුමා ඉදිරියේ දිවුරුම් දුන් ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකුට පමණි. නොඑසේ නම් ඔවුන් සිතනු ඇත්තේ හැකි ඉක්මනින් සූම් වැනි ආයතනයක රැකියාව සඳහා රට හැරදමා යාමටයි.

සූම් හෝ එවැනි පරිගණක පද්ධතීන් නිර්මාණය කරන ආයතන හෝ වෙනත් මෙවැනි දස දහස් ගණනින් පවතින විද්‍යුත්, ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික, පරිගණක, උපාංග, වැඩසටහන් සමඟ කිසිම තරහක් හෝ ඉරිසියාවක් මෙම ලියුම්කරුට නැත. ප්‍රශ්නය වන්නේ ඔවැනි අවශ්‍යතාවයක් මතු වන සැම අවස්ථාවකදී එය හැකි පමණ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළින් ලබා ගැනීම හෝ නිෂ්පාදනය කර ගැනීම කළ යුතුයැයි, අවශ්‍යතාවය ඇතිවූ අයවලුන්ට නොසිතීමයි. රටේ මුදල් ඉතිරි කර ගැනීම සඳහා කහ පමණක් පිටරටින් ගෙන්වීම නැවැත්වීමෙන් ඵලක් නැත.

ජනාධිපතිතුමා කළ යුත්තේ තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණය, පරිගණක විද්‍යාව පිළිබඳ ආචාර්ය මහාචාර්යවරු ජනාධිපති මන්දිරයට කැඳවා සූම් වැනි මෙවලමක් සකස් කරන්නේ කෙසේදැයි සාකච්ඡා කිරීම නොව, සිය නිලධාරීන් සහ බලතල යොදවා ලංකාවේ සතර දිග් භාගයේ විසිරී සිටින පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග ඉංජිනේරුවරුන්, තාක්ෂණවේදීන් කීපදෙනෙක්  රැගෙනවිත් ඔවුනට අවශ්‍ය මූලික පහසුකම් සහ අනෙකුත් අවශ්‍යතා ඇතුළු යටිතල පහසුකම්ද ලබා දී මාස දෙක තුනක් ඇතුළත මාර්ගගත සන්නිවේදන මෙවලමක් සකස් කොට ලබා දෙන ලෙස දන්වා සිටීමයි.

ලංකාවේ පද්ධති කණපිට හැරවිය (system change) යුතුව ඇත. එය පරිගණක තාක්ෂණයට පමණක් අදාල කතාන්දරයක් නොවේ. මිනිස්සු සිතන පතන විදිහ, කන බොන විදිහ, හැසිරෙන විදිහ, කණපිට හැර විය යුතුව ඇත.  රටේ ජීවත්වන මහජනතාව පමණක් නොව, ජනාධිපති, අගමැති, මැති ඇමැති, මන්ත්‍රී, පක්ෂ, විපක්ෂ, නායක, සභාපති, ලේකම්, එකී මෙකී නොකී සියලුදෙනාම එක පෙළට පෙළ ගැස්වීම විනා වෙනත් කිසිම ක්‍රමයක්, අවුරුදු දහස් ගණනක ප්‍රෞඩ ඉතිහාසයක් ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නැවත ගොඩනැංවීම සඳහා නැත!

• https://backlinko.com/zoom-users
• https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/03/thousands-zoom-video-calls-left-exposed-open-web/
• https://www.easeus.com/screen-recording-tips/how-to-record-a-zoom-meeting.html
• https://zoom.us/terms
• https://zoom.us/privacy

ෂම්මි උයනගේ

(පරිගණක විද්‍යා විශේෂවේදී – කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය) පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග ඉංජිනේරු

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අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කතරගම ඇසළ පෙරහර මංගල්‍යය ඇරඹෙන අද (10) දින පෙරවරුවේ ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඓතිහාසික රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලය වැඳ පුදාගෙන ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පළමුව කතරගම අෂ්ඨ ඵල බෝධිය අසල ආගමික වතාවත්වලට එක් විය.

රුහුණු මාගම් පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක කිරිවෙහෙර රජ මහ විහාරාධිපති ආචාර්ය කොබවක ධම්මින්ද නාහිමි සහ රුහුණු මාගම්පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝනායක කපුගම සරණතිස්ස නාහිමි ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය එහි දී සෙත් පිරිත් සජ්ජායනා කරමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඇතුළු රට වැසියන්ට නිරෝගී සුව පතා ආශිර්වාද කළහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සහ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආර්යා ශිරන්ති රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මිය ඇතුළු පවුලේ සාමාජිකයෝ  අනතුරුව ඓතිහාසික රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලය වැඳ ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්හ.

අතිගරු ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැත්වෙන පොල් පැල ලක්ෂ 40ක් සිටුවීමේ දොරින් දොරට කප්රුක ජාතික වැඩසටහනට කතරගම සිට එක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ශෂීන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කතරගම පූජා භුමියේ පොල් පැල දෙකක් රෝපණය කළහ.

අනතුරුව නාගරික සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ නිලධාරින් සමඟ පැවති විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, කතරගම පූජා නගරයේ පිවිසුම්, රථගාල් සහ මාර්ග පද්ධතිය කඩිනමින් සංවර්ධනය කරන්නැයි ඔවුන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

එම සාකච්ඡාවට නාගරික සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ප්‍රසාද් රණවීර මහතා ඇතුළු නිලධාරීහු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් කතරගම පුදබිමේ පැවති ආගමික වතාවත් සඳහා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ශෂීන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ, රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලයේ බස්නායක නිලමේ ඩිශාන් වික්‍රමරත්න ගුණසේකර, කතරගම ප්‍රාදේශිය සභාවේ සභාපති චානක අමිල් රංගන මහත්වරු ඇතුළු ප්‍රාදේශිය දේශපාලඥයෝ පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

ලක්සිරි උණවටුන (සමායෝජක) වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය බලාත්මක වූ සමයේ තේරීපත් වී ජනාධිපති ධූරයේ දිව්රුම් දෙන ලදී. එසේම 2020.08.05 දින පවත්වන ලද පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණය පවත්වන ලද්දේත් 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ ප්‍රතිපාදන යටතේ වන අතර එමෙන්ම මහනුවරදී 2020 අගෝස්තු 12 දින දිවුරුම් දෙන ලදී. ඒ 19 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය යටතේය.

ඉන් පසු 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සම්මත කරගනිමින් 2020 ඔක්තෝබර් මස 29 දින කථානායක සහතිකය යොදා ඇත.

ඒ අනුව 2020 ඔක්තෝබර් 29 දින සිට 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ බොහෝ කොටස්වල ක්‍රියාකාරීත්වය 20 වන සංශෝධනයෙන් වෙනස් විය. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ VIII පරිච්චේදයත් එසේ සංශෝධනය වූ පරිච්චේදයකි. එනම් අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයට අදාල ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ VIII වන පරිච්චේදය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ඉවත් කර අලුත් පරිච්චේදයක් ඇතුලත් කිරීමට 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ 7 වන වගන්තිය මගින් සිදුකර ඇත. ඒ අනුව වර්තමානයේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය මගින් අලුත් වූ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ VIII වන පරිච්චේදයයි.

දැන් පැන නගින ගැටලුව වන්නේ මහනුවරදී 2020 අගෝස්තු 12 දින දිවුරුම් දුන් ඇමතිවරුන් එනම් 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය යටතේ දිව්රුම් දුන් ඇමතිවරුන් ස්ව්‍යංක්‍රීයවම 2020 ඔක්තෝබර් 29 දින සිට එනම් 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ ඇමතිවරුන් වන්නේද යන්නයි. එය එසේ නොවේ මන්ද යත් 20 වන සංශෝධනයෙන් ඇතුළත් වූ 53 වගන්තිය නිසා නැවත ඇමතිවරු දිව්රුම් දීම කළ යුතු වේ.

20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ අන්තර්කාලීන විධිවිධානවලින් විනිසුරුවරුන්ගේ සහ ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් සභාවල සාමාජිකයන්ගේ ධූර ආරක්ෂා කර තිබුණත් 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් පත්වූ ඇමතිවරුන්ගේ ධූර 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සාංශෝධනයේ අන්තර්කාලීන විධිවිධානය මගින් ආරක්ෂාකර නැති බවත් 20 වන සංශෝධනයේ 58 වගන්තිය අධ්‍යයනය කිරීමේදී පැහැදිලි වේ.

1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 161 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව ජාතික රාජ්‍ය සභාවේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ලෙස තෝරාපත් කරගත් ලෙස සැළකිය යුතු බව දක්වා තිබුණත් 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය” පරිච්ඡේදයම සංශෝධනය කර අලුතින් ඇතුල්කර ඇති හෙයින්, ඊට පෙර සිටි 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් පත් වූ සහ දිව්රුම් දුන් ඇමතිවරුන් 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් පසුත් ඇමතිවරුන් ලෙසම සැළකීමට අන්තර්කාලීන වීධිවිධානයක් 20වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ 58 වන වගන්තියේ නොදැක්වෙයි.

ඒ අනුව පැහැදිලි වන්නේ 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය යටතේ දිව්රුම් දුන් ඇමතිවරු හැර 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය මගින් පමණක් දිව්රුම් දුන් ඇමතිවරු සහ අගමැතිවරයා සම්බන්ධයෙන් බලවත් නීතිමය දෝෂයක් පවතින බවයි.

වර්තමානයේ සම්පූර්ණ ඇමති සංශෝධනයක් ගැන පුවත් පළ වෙන්නේ 20වන සංශෝධනයෙන් පත් නොවූ, 19 යේ අගමැති සහ ඇමතිවරු තවමත් ඉන්නා නිසාද? යන්න ඉදිරියේදී සමාජයට නිරාවරණය වෙනු ඇත. නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන
(සමායෝජක)
වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කතරගම කිරිවෙහෙර වැඳ පුදා ගත් ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඊයේ (09) පස්වරුවේ එහි ආගමික වතාවත්වල නිරත වූයේය.

රුහුණු මාගම් පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක කිරිවෙහෙර රජ මහ විහාරාධිපති ආචාර්ය කොබවක ධම්මින්ද නාහිමියන්ගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පළමුව උන්වහන්සේගෙන් ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සහ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ආර්යා ශිරන්ති රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මිය ඇතුළු පිරිස කිරිවෙහෙර ආගමික වතාවත්වල නිරතවූයේ ඉන් අනතුරුවය.

කොබවක ධම්මින්ද නාහිමියන් ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය කිරිවෙහෙර අභියස දී සෙත් පිරිත් සජ්ජායනා කරමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට ආශිර්වාද පළ කළහ.

මෙම ආගමික වතාවත් සඳහා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ශෂීන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ, රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලයේ බස්නායක නිලමේ ඩිශාන් වික්‍රමරත්න ගුණසේකර, හිටපු ඌව පළාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රී විමල් ගලගම ආරච්චි, කතරගම ප්‍රාදේශිය සභාවේ සභාපති චානක අමිල් රංගන මහත්වරු ඇතුළු ප්‍රාදේශිය දේශපාලඥයෝ පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – ,MATARA

Freedom to Duminda Silva : Presidential Commission dismisses a seven-judge ruling

The Presidential Commission to Investigate incidents of Political Revenge has recommended to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that former parliamentarian Duminda Silva, who was sentenced to death in connection with the assassination of former parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, should have been acquitted and released.

The Commission decided that Duminda Silva should have been acquitted of all charges in the indictment filed against him in the Colombo High Court, the report said. The three-member Presidential Commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge Upali Abeyratne, was appointed by the President on January 9, 2020. Retired Court of Appeal Judge Daya Chandrasiri Jayatilake and retired IGP Chandra Fernando the other members of this commission.

The Commission and its purpose

This Presidential Commission to Investigate incidents of Political Revenge had been assigned to look into the politically revenged personnel and the background to those incidents, due to the investigations carried out by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, the Financial Crimes Division of the Police, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Special Investigation Unit of the Police, from 08th January 2015 to 16th November 2019.

The final report was handed over to the President by the Chairman of the Commission Upali Abeyratne at the Presidential Secretariat.The report also includes recommendations regarding a complaint lodged with the Commission by Duminda Silva’s father, Arumadura Vincent Primalal Silva. The commission report further states that it is appropriate to grant some relief to the complainant due to the damage caused to Duminda Silva due to his imprisonment, a victim of political revenge.The Commission further recommended that police officers be prosecuted under the Police Disciplinary Rules for lying, perjury and for defamation of the police service.

The report mentions that after examining the evidence presented in this case, the Commission concluded unanimously that it has been convinced through strong evidence that the respondents MP Ranjan Ramanayake, Padmini Ranawaka and Shani Abeysekara have fabricated evidence to convict the plaintiff, Arumadura Lawrence Romelo Duminda Silva of wrongdoing, to imprison him and sentence him to death.

Who is Bharatha Lakshman?

 Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, who entered politics with his father’s political affiliation, began his political career as a Member of the Kolonnawa Municipal Council. That was in 1979. In 1983 he became the Leader of the Opposition in the Kolonnawa Municipal Council. He later joined the Sri Lanka People’s Party and was the Kolonnawa organizer of the party.Mr. Premachandra, who contested the first Provincial Council election in Sri Lanka in 1988, was elected to the Provincial Council from the United Socialist Alliance representing the People’s Party. He was again elected as a Member of the Provincial Council in the 1993 Provincial Council Elections.

Subsequently, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, who contested the 1994 General Elections, was elected to Parliament with 63,421 preferential votes. Mr. Premachandra, who won the general elections in 2000 and 2001, was elected to Parliament for the second and third time and his parliamentary career ended in 2004. He was later appointed by the President as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Trade Union Adviser.

Duminda Silva’s rising

Arumadura Lawrence Romelo Duminda Silva has been in power in Mr. Bharatha’s jurisdiction since 2010. He started his political career with the UNP, as a member of the Provincial Council. He was elected to the Provincial Council in 2004 and 2009 with the highest number of preferential votes from Colombo.

He later became a member of the UPFA. He was nominated under UPFA in the 2010 General Elections and contested the General Elections from the Colombo District and was elected to Parliament as the second candidate on the Colombo District Preferential List. He received 146,333 preferential votes.

Local Council Election

At the time of this incident, in 2011, Mr. Premachandra was the President’s Trade Union Adviser, while Mr. Silva was a Member of Parliament and the UPFA organizer for the Kolonnawa electorate. According to media reports at the time, he was also appointed as the Monitoring Member of the Ministry of Defense.

Kotikawatta-Mulleriyawa Local Council is located in the Kolonnawa Electorate. Its chairman was Prasanna Solangarachchi. Mr. Solangarachchi again contested for the Kotikawatta-Mulleriyawa Local Council representing the UPFA in the local government elections held on October 8, 2011.

Mr. Premachandra worked for Mr. Solangarachchi’s victory and participated in his election campaign rallies.

Sumudu Rukshan also contested for the Local Council representing the United People’s Freedom Alliance and had a fierce battle with Mr. Solangarachchi. Mr. Silva supported Sumudu Rukshan. There was a heated battle between the two to get the highest number of preferential votes on the list to become chairman of the Council.

It was a battle that went beyond these two that tested the power of Mr. Silva and Mr. Premachandra.

Election law violations since 06.30 am

As revealed in Court, Kolonnawa UPFA organizer Mr. Silva left home at 6.30 am to go to the polls in Tamil Nadu Watta on October 8, 2011, when the local government elections were held. When Duminda Silva arrived there, his ministerial security superintendent Priyantha Dissanayake had gone there with a group of other officers.

Mr. Silva, who was sitting on a chair near the road at the time, was asking voters who they were going to vote for. He has told those who come to vote for the UNP not to do so. Mr. Silva and his group had come to the house of a man named Ramesh for lunch at around 11.30 am and had been drinking there.

Chaminda Ravi Jayanath had also arrived in Tamilnadu Watta at around 12 noon and some of them had left at 2.45 pm as a group. They had left to go to the house of a candidate named Sumudu Rukshan.

On his way to Mr. Rukshan’s house, Mr. Silva had instructed to stop at Kanda Viharaya. Mr. Silva’s defender was in front and the Security Forces (MSD) vehicle was behind it and the pajero carrying his personal bodyguards at the tail.

Anura Thushara de Mel handed over a T-56 firearm to Chaminda Ravi Jayanath on the orders of Mr. Silva after stopping near the Kanda Vihara. It is an illegal firearm. After the exchange of firearms, the group left and stopped near Rajasinghe College on their way to Ambatale. There, Mr. Silva had assaulted a young man who was supporting Mr. Solangarachchi.

The group left again and stopped next to Rahula College. Mr. Solangarachchi’s wife had also come to the polling station and Mr. Silva had scolded her. He had asked who she had voted for and she had said that she had voted for her husband Mr. Solangarachchi. When Mr. Silva approached her, a woman named ‘Pinky Akka’ had taken her to a shop called ‘Anura Kade.’

Mr. Silva’s accomplices were seen displaying T-56 assault rifles near the polling station. The group had stayed there for a while and then proceeded towards Himbutana Junction.

Duminda blocks the road and attacks Bharatha

As Mr. Silva and his group were advancing, Mr. Premachandra’s vehicle had come from the opposite direction near Himbutana Junction. At the same time, his vehicle stopped blocking his vehicle. An argument broke out between Mr. Silva and his opponent. Beyond the exchange of words, Mr. Silva has hit Mr. Premachandra.

Following the assault, Rajapurage Gamini, Mr. Premachandra’s bodyguard, fired at Mr. Silva with his firearm to save his employer.

At the same time, Priyantha Janaka Bandara Galaboda alias Galaboda Priyantha, a personal bodyguard of Mr. Silva, had shot Mr. Gamini severely injuring him. Mr. Silva’s group then shot Mr. Premachandra and several others at the scene with an illegal T-56 assault rifle.

Mr. Premachandra, Damitha Dharshana Jayatilake, Mohamed Ashim and Manivel Kumaraswamy were killed in the shooting. The illegal firearm used in the shooting was later found by the CID on a revelation by Chaminda. The department later told the court that it was a firearm used by the LTTE.

Mr. Silva was also shot in the incident and was taken to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for treatment.

Shani Abeysekara 

This was an event that caused a great deal of controversy in the political arena. Therefore, the investigation was handed over to the CID. The then director of the department ordered its Special Investigation Unit to investigate the incident. However, the then Director appointed ASP Shani Abeysekara to overlook the Special Investigations Unit as the Assistant Superintendent of Police in charge of that investigation unit was not present on the relevant day.

The Special Investigation Unit of the CID conducted the investigation under the supervision of Mr. Abeysekera and the OIC in charge of the investigation was Inspector Meryl Ranjan Lamahewa. Several suspects were arrested during the investigation. However, Mr. Silva who played the lead role in the case was not arrested. The reason was that he was receiving treatment in Singapore outside Sri Lanka at that time.

The aggrieved party constantly blamed the CID for not taking action to arrest Mr. Silva and not obtaining a warrant against him during the investigation.

Allegations on partiality

Hirunika Premachandra, daughter of Mr. Premachandra, alleged that the CID did not arrest Mr.Silva because they were acting in a partisan manner. MP Ranjan Ramanayake also made similar statements against the CID in those days. Later, Mr. Ramanayake had stated that he had made such a statement because Inspector Meryl Ranjan Lamahewa had stated that Mr. Abeysekera was conducting the investigation in a partisan manner to Mr. Silva.

Inspector Merrill met with the deceased family members and stated that Mr. Abeysekera was investigating Mr. Silva in a biased manner.

Meanwhile, there was a need to obtain a statement from Mr. Silva and at that time his lawyer informed that he was in a position where he could not obtain a statement. Inspector Meryl Ranjan Lamahewa went to Singapore on behalf of the CID to obtain a statement from Duminda Silva.

His statement stated that Mr. Silva had no recollection of the incident. At the same time, Mr. Premachandra’s party again accused the CID of conducting biased investigations.

Former IGP N.K. Illangakoon summoned Mr. Abeysekera for questioning over his failure to arrest Mr. Silva and the failure to obtain a warrant against him. At the time, Mr. Abeysekera had said that a warrant was not required for the arrest as he had committed a crime under the Criminal Procedure Code. Mr. Abeysekera has informed the IGP that Mr. Silva could be arrested without a warrant.

Why was Duminda Silva not arrested?

When questioned by the aggrieved parties in court as to why he was not arrested in Singapore, Mr. Abeysekera had said that he could not be arrested as he was unconscious. He also said that according to the Constitution, a suspect should be arrested after being charged and that a person who is not properly conscious cannot be charged and therefore, he cannot be arrested until he regains consciousness.

However, Mr. Silva, who had recovered, was arrested by the CID after his return to Sri Lanka. He remained in Nawaloka Hospital during his remand. He was released on bail while in Nawaloka Hospital, and returned home the next day.

During the hearing of this case in the Magistrate’s Court, Inspector Meryl Ranjan Lamahewa, who was supposed to represent the CID before the court, was severely reprimanded by the court for not appearing in the case. He was later removed from the relevant investigation on the ground that he had acted in a manner prejudicial to the case.

Suspects charged

After the CID investigation, High Court Judge Shiran Gunaratne referred the investigation file to the Attorney General. The Attorney General who supervised the file, filed indictments against 13 accused including Duminda Silva in the High Court. The defendants were charged with 17 counts, including being a member of an illegal mob and murder.

The Supreme Court appointed a three-judge High Court to hear the case, considering a request by the Attorney General to appoint a three-judge panel as this is a special court case. Its presiding judge was High Court Judge Shiran Gunaratne. The other two judges were Padmini M. Ranawaka and M.C.B.S. Morais.

High Court Judge Padmini M. Ranawaka

During the High Court hearing, 118 witnesses were called to testify in the case. After a lengthy trial, the High Court decision was announced.

Judge Gunaratne, the presiding judge of the bench, passed one judgment and Padmini M. Ranawaka announced another verdict. Mr. Gunaratne ordered that all suspects including Duminda Silva in this case be acquitted and released. Ms. Ranawaka ordered that eight of the 13 suspects be acquitted of all charges and that Mr. Silva and five others were sentenced to death, including life imprisonment.

The other judge of the tribunal, M.B.S. Morais, agreed with Ms. Ranawaka. Accordingly, Mr. Silva and others were sentenced according to the opinion of the majority of the three judges.

Moving Supreme Court against the High Court decision

Mr. Silva and several other defendants appealed to the Supreme Court against the sentencing. The appeal was heard before a five-judge panel. The five-judge bench comprised Chief Justice Priyasath Depp, Buwaneka Aluvihare, Priyantha Jayawardena, H.N.J. Perera and Vijith Kumara Malalgoda.

Defendants continued to argue that the judgment of the High Court Judge and Judge Morais in this case was erroneous. Mr. Silva and other defendants also stated that Mr. Abeysekara had not conducted the investigation properly. After a lengthy deliberation, the bench ruled in favor of High Court Judges Ms. Ranawaka and Mr. Morais.

The Court ruled that according to the Sections 81A, 82C (1) of the Local Government Elections Act No. 53 of 1946, it is not permissible to intimidate voters on a local government election day and it is illegal for a group to go to the polls with firearms and such group is an illicit gathering.

Liability for the crime

The Supreme Court ruled that Article 146 of the Penal Code makes it clear that all members of an illegal gathering are responsible for an offense committed by any member of that illegal population.

Mr. Silva has been held responsible for the crime by the Supreme Court and it is mentioned in the court decision that,

The 11th accused (Mr. Silva) led the illegal assembly until the moment he (Mr. Silva) was shot in the head. This suggests that there may be only a millisecond difference in time between the first shot and the counterattack.

If there was a significant difference between the time and space between the parties and the crime, or if the shooting was carried out by a fundamentally different person, it could be argued that the 11th accused (Mr. Silva) had left the illegal assembly and separated from those acts.

But as I have discussed earlier, the death toll from firearms is a predictable consequence of their criminal agenda. It is true that the 11th accused (Mr. Silva) was a member of the mob at the beginning of the incident which lasted only 60 seconds or so.

At the same time, there is no evidence that the 11th accused (Mr. Silva) acted with the intention of separating from the meeting at any time before that. The 11th accused (Mr. Silva) was injured almost as soon as the deceased was fatally wounded.

He (Mr. Silva) has always been involved in and supporting illegal assembly activities. Therefore, criminal charges can be filed on the basis of unlawful assembly. Therefore, it aligns with the law to convict and punish him.”

Wimal Weerawansha’s argument

Wimal Weerawansa accused Judge Ranawaka claiming she had acted impartially in Mr. Silva’s case. But she was the only one judge to hear the case. Judge Morais has also ordered Mr. Silva to be convicted in the High Court. In addition, when Mr. Silva and his party went to the Supreme Court against the High Court decision, all five judges upheld the verdict and sentence against him.

That is, eight judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court have heard Silva’s case, and all but one of the High Court judges have convicted and sentenced him. When even Judge Ranawaka, who is accused of being biased, is excluded, six judges convicted Mr. Silva and ordered his sentencing.

Are orders from 3 courts mistaken?

The Commission to inquire Political Revenge appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has unanimously recommended the acquittal and release of Duminda Silva, dismissing a seven-judge ruling out of 8 judges. It was revealed that there is evidence to file indictments against Duminda in the Magistrate’s Court. Duminda was convicted and sentenced in the High Court. The sentence was upheld again in the Supreme Court.

Correction of a verdict given by a regime influencing & politicizing the Judiciary

Courtesy Hiru News

Former Colombo District Parliamentarian Duminda Silva, who was imprisoned for the murder of former Parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was released on a Presidential pardon.

Former Member of Parliament Duminda Silva played a significant role in uplifting the living standards of low-income earners in the Colombo District.

An exchange of gunfire between United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) former parliamentarians Duminda Silva and Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra took place at Walpola Junction in Kolonnawa on the day of the 2011 local government elections.

Former Member of Parliament Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three of his bodyguards were killed during this shootout. Former MP Duminda Silva who was shot in the head on October 8, 2011, at around 3.30 pm, sustained major injuries and was taken to the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital for treatment.

Following the initial treatment, he was admitted to a hospital in Singapore for further medical treatment.

Duminda Silva who was treated at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for a long time returned to Sri Lanka after recovering and resumed his usual social service to the public.

The Attorney General filed Seventeen (17) charges in the Colombo High Court including criminal charges against 13 individuals including former MP Duminda Silva over the incident that occurred on 08 October 2011 naming them as defendants.

The trial in this regard commenced on 22 May 2015.

Forty-two eyewitnesses (42) were called to court and cross-examined during the lengthy trial which lasted for more than a year.

In addition, 126 various reports, including Judicial medical reports, were submitted for this trial.

It also included the reports of the Government Analysts’ who conducted investigations into the incident.

After nearly 14 months, the case, which was heard before a three-judge bench concluded on 14 July 2016. The verdict on the case was announced on 08 September 2016.

The verdict was announced as a divided decision referred to as a majority decision of the three-judge bench which was headed by High Court Judge Shiran Gunaratne.

The Presiding Judge acquitted all the accused of all charges, while Judges Padmini N. Ranawaka and M.C.B.S Moraes announced their verdict convicting former parliamentarian Duminda Silva and four others and sentencing them to death.

Former MP Duminda Silva filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the decision given by the Colombo High Court.The appeal was heard by a five-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of the time, Justice Priyasath Dep.

Following the hearing, the Supreme Court five-judge Bench delivered a unanimous decision affirming the verdict of the High Court as correct. Accordingly, former MP Duminda Silva and the others were imprisoned.

However, a wider discussion developed in society as to how former MP Duminda Silva who was the first injured in the gunfire and had fallen down, could be the killer of former MP Bharatha Lakshman.

Meanwhile, the discussion of the verdict of former MP Duminda Silva takes the centre stage again following the leaked audio tapes of secretly recorded phone calls made by Ranjan Ramanayake who was a parliamentarian at the time.

Among the audiotapes were conversations between former MP Ranjan Ramanayake and Superintendent of Police Shani Abeysekara who conducted investigations. These conversations revealed to the public how the verdict in the trial of former MP Duminda Silva was influenced by MP Ranjan Ramanayake by giving calls to SP Shani Abeysekara.

The tapes also revealed the manner in which former MP Ranjan Ramanayake influences and exerts pressure by calling Judge Padmini N. Ranawaka who was a member of the Trial-at-Bar that heard the case against former MP Duminda Silva.

Thus, there was a wider debate in the society and in the political arena that the former Member of Parliament had been unjustly treated and imprisoned.With these controversial audio tapes being broadcasted on mainstream media channels as well as on social media, a strong voice emerged from civil society activists and even political activists calling for the release of former MP Duminda Silva.

Even in Parliament, there was a call for the release of the former Member of Parliament who was unjustly imprisoned. The main argument of all those who raised their voices against the injustice done to Duminda Silva was that this was the result of a sinister scheme orchestrated by SP Shani Abeysekara of the Criminal Investigation Department who was investigating the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

Sufficient new information and evidence emerged through the leaked audiotapes which were secretly recorded by former MP Ranjan Ramanayake to prove that it was a deliberate and well-planned setup to trap former MP Duminda Silva.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa decided to refer the verdict of the case to the Special Presidential Commission appointed to probe alleged incidents of political victimization in the wake of strong voices from social activists alleging that the former parliamentarian had been subjected to serious injustice.

It was revealed before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, which considered the verdict and the compiled evidence, that SP Shani Abeysekara had deliberately acted to convict former MP Duminda Silva. It was also revealed at the Presidential Commission that former MP Ranjan Ramanayake has also exerted pressure on the Judges to influence the verdict of the case against former MP Duminda Silva.

Following a lengthy inquiry, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry concluded that former MP Duminda Silva had been treated unfairly. Accordingly, former Parliamentarian Duminda Silva was released under a special presidential pardon in accordance with the powers vested in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the Constitution.

This is how former Parliamentarian Duminda Silva who was imprisoned in the Welikada Prison for over five years over an offence that he did not commit was released

By Dr Tilak S.Fernando

There is much controversy over President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s determination to ban the toxic chemical-based fertiliser and adapt carbonic fertiliser. Critics who are analytical comment that the President’s action was untimely when the pandemic and foreign exchange crises are under the weight of COVID-19. 

Farmers continue to protest, seen today on TV, saying that there is not enough fertiliser available  (carbonic or conventional). Meanwhile, many experts’ advice is that Carbonic fertiliser needs to be gradually stopped but cannot stop like a shot at the back! Experts further advise that a gradual implementation of proportional basis( both carbonic and conventional) is better than stopping the imports at once (of toxic fertiliser). They further advise that it is dangerous to import carbonic fertiliser if  such manure is not correctly processed. Should that happen, the Government will have to face another battle with the farmers as there is more danger in using imported sub-standard carbonic fertiliser produced from foreign sewage and the country will not have adequate stocks of rice  required by the people.

In favour of Carbonic fertiliser, experts feel that carbonic fertilisers collected in heaps develop temperature between 60 -70 degrees Fahrenheit, which will automatically kill the micro-organisms that are harmful to the crop. In Carbonic fertiliser, experts also advise that a particular type of bacteria is produced at the roots of each plant, which will kill any intruding and harmful bacteria. So, their final advice is to manufacture carbonic fertiliser with the experts advice according to a scientific formula but not to import carbonic fertiliser, because these multimillion companies are interested only increasing their profit margins rather than considering the health aspect of the public.

Farmers’ attitude

Many farmers in Sri Lanka do not use carbonic fertiliser as they have been quite accustomed to use toxic fertiliser for ages. At present, hospitals are full of patients affecting government coffers in allocating a significant portion towards the country’s health sector budget. This expenditure is in addition to the heavy expenses incurred with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government needs to find extra funds to import millions of vaccinations against COVID-19, along with the payment of  Rs.5000 given to the deserving public affected by the country’s shutdown for nearly a month, and also as a relief to the country’s recent flood victims. There are thousands of CKD (chronic kidney disease) patients in rural areas (Anuradhapura district itself records 150,000 CKD patients). The Government needs to find extra funds towards the importation of medicines required to treat CKD patients. Due to toxic fertiliser in the soil, mixed with water, may seep through to waterways and rivers and get contaminated with drinking water.

The prime aim

The main idea of the President is to maintain a healthy society by introducing Carbonic fertiliser and replacing chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Nevertheless, the expert advice is that unless it is manufactured locally in a scientific manner, it will not bring about the required levels of safety to the of peoples’ health.

Carbonic fertiliser

The carbonic fertilisers are made from peat, animal and plant wastes from agriculture and treated sewage sludge. Critics maintain that doing so could cause damage to the farmer and the country as a whole. Farmers reiterate that experts’ recommendations are to systematically execute President’s plan rather than on a complete switch over straightway; they maintain that partly mixed conventional-toxic with Carbonic fertiliser will increase paddy yields.

What is carbonic fertiliser? It contains peat, animal wastes, plant wastes from agriculture, and treated sewage sludge.  It also includes minerals out of the remains of plant preserved in petrified form. Turf consists of plant material (partially decomposed) that becomes a source of organic matter.  

Adding  carbonic manure to crops makes vegetation healthy with nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, sulphur, magnesium, and calcium. It also increases soil stability and water infiltration into the earth. 

With organic fertiliser, chicken litter is considered superior to toxic synthetic fertiliser for soil conditioning for the harvest. It contains traces of minerals such as copper, zinc, magnesium, boron, and chloride. 

Human, as well as animal urine, is a fertiliser.  Urea in urine is a nitrogen compound and contains phosphorus and potassium.

The slaughtered animal meat content becomes market products. The remaining portions, such as blood, bone, feathers, hoofs, and inedible parts are classified as by-products and refined into agricultural fertilisers. Treated sewage sludge is blended, composted, and, most of the time, dried until deemed biologically safe. Non-agricultural crops use this type of fertiliser. 

Advantages of Carbonic Compost 

Farmers prefer to use the conventional poisonous chemical-based fertiliser because they are not familiar with carbonic material, and it was freely available all this time. Usually, human beings are uneasy about changing to new methods but prefer to use the same old procedures rather than willing to move with the times.  That is what is happening with some farmers who protest about using carbonic fertiliser today.

In Britain, the Imperial System or the traditional system of weights and measures used from 1824 until the adoption of the metric system began in 1965. On Monday, 15 February 1971, Britain went decimal; after 40 years; it was time for rejuvenation. Nevertheless to date, some tradesmen and merchants use the imperial system. Nevertheless, people have become familiar with decimal currency now, which is much easier than dealing with Pounds, Shillings, and old pence.

Akin to vitamins required for the human body, plants need various elements such as Phosphorous, potassium, urea, wasted foliage, and decayed animal carcases akin to vitamins needed for the human body. 

Carbonic fertiliser is suitable for hand seeding and machine seeding, and  used it for Tea, rubber, coconut, vegetables, fruits, and paddy. It contains up to  15% of the primary nutrients needed in plants’ early and middle stages, with medium elements such as calcium, magnesium, and sulphur during plants’ early and middle stages. Plants also need trace elements such as Zinc, Tellurium and manganese for the rapid germination and growth of plants to improve plant stress resistance. By using toxic fertiliser, the soil degradation will occur gradually, especially with tea plantations, which are compelled to for leaves to turn yellowish in colour. Theowners of tea plantations believe that the plantation needs more and more toxic fertiliser forgetting the fact that100%  toxic fertiliser is doing eternal damage to the soil.

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium

Many farmers claim that the Nitrogen content found in carbonic fertiliser is slow and limited and does not often keep up with the nitrogen demand during peak crop growth periods. However, the Sri Lankan Government is preparing to import liquid nitrogen to distribute among farmers who adapt themselves to Carbonic fertilisers. 

Cow manure contains about 3 per cent nitrogen, 2 per cent phosphorus, and 1 per cent potassium. Cow dung indeed has high levels of ammonia, which are potentially dangerous pathogens. For this reason, it recommends that cow manure be allowed to age before its use as cow fertiliser.

Carbonic fertilisers tend to bring quality and colour to the plant as against the chemical-based manure.  Toxic fertiliser tends to bind the soil like gum, and as a result, the earth cannot breathe the air or the required oxygen where the roots become inhabited. Carbonic fertiliser also helps towards irrigation of water, and the temperature of the soil, especially after rainfall due to soil erosion and under drought conditions.

The only disadvantage of using carbonic fertiliser is the outbreaks in the absence of chemical pesticides. Weed killer in toxic farming does stop weeds from competing with desired flora and fauna and prevent non-native species from competing with native species. Therefore, pesticide weed control is vital to agriculture because weeding out the pesticide gets rid of unwanted plants. The only disadvantage in organic farming is that having to weed through a manual operation, which is extensive and expensive. According to experts on the subject, no country goes 100% on Carbonic fertiliser alone on a mass scale.

Sri Lankans were consuming for decades all contaminated food.  President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s choice of banning chemical-based fertiliser and switching over to organic farming is a step in the right direction to save the people and  save the future generation from  becoming a sick society.

On TV  these days, in many parts in the country are seen how enthusiastically some farmers are using Carbonic fertiliser made out of 

‘ Japanjabara’. Moreover, as much as it is easily said and done, it is vitally important to listen to the experts advice, who are proficient in the area, and to follow their recommendation before banning the  use of carbonic fertiliseraltogether. 

By adopting to the middle path by using carbonic and toxic type (on a gradually decreasing  basis) will be the correct method according to the experts,because at the end of the day,  it is better not making a boo-boo by completely banning toxic fertiliser.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy The Island

The Basilaagamanaya or the New Rise of Basil Politics is having its immediate impact on the Rajapaksa Power Display.

Here is a clear warning to protest politics. Covid-19 is the new tool of Rajapaksa Power, with quarantine being the system of dominance. Leading trade unionists and student protesters are the showpieces of the new Basil Power in Sri Lankan politics.

Those who protested against the crisis facing paddy production, and against the Bill for new military dominance in the Kotelawala Defence University, are the symbols of the new Covid-19 power dominance of the Raja Vasala. Putting protesters into quarantine camps, and taking them there with the most foul and repulsive behaviour of the Police, is the new showpiece of Rajapaksa Power.

The protesters in one place who were taken to a courthouse and charged with violation of the quarantine rules, were given bail by the Court, and not remanded, The Magistrate also said the Court did not have the legal authority to order quarantine of the accused. When the bailed-out persons walked out of the Court, a different legal power was functioning, with the Police being the manipulators of Power vs Justice. The persons bailed out by a court of law, were immediately seized by the Police, in the most brutal and hardly civilized manner, pushed into vehicles and forcibly taken for quarantine. Covid – 19 has scored over the law and the principles of Justice.

What we have moved to is the Quarantine-Remand or QR stage of social disorder, which will be remembered as the system of shameful Police dominance, with the entry of Basil into the Rajapaksa Posse of Power.

The students and trade unionists who carried out a protest near the Parliament also faced the same situation. While the Remand Prisons are being emptied due to the problems of Covid-19 spread, the Police are now displaying the Quarantine as the new Remand Strategy of Law and Order in the country.

This is the new message sent out to the paddy farmers protesting against the lack of fertiliser, the fisherman who protest against the increased hardships in fishing, and possibly students who may protest against the absence of signals for distant learning, and the many more sections of society who would want to come out in protests against increased hardships and necessities in life.

This Quarantine – Remand Strategy is a move far away from Democracy that has been accepted as the system of governance in Sri Lanka. With the addition of a fifth Rajapaksa member – Gotabaya, Mahinda, Chamal, Namal and Basil – to the Cabinet of Sri Lanka, we have moved away from the ‘family-ocracy’ that some writers have been commenting about in recent months.

We have in fact come to a familarchy – a monarchic system where the family is totally dominant in the government, economic management and social organisation of the country. It is time to begin remembering our 2,000 plus years of history, where such family dominance has prevailed, and also learn more about how much of enmity prevailed over the successions of power and monarchic dominance.

This Basil included familarchy, where nothing of power goes out of the family, is making huge milestones in all aspects of governance. We have become the first country in the world to issue a special coin in our currency – Rs. 1000 – to mark and celebrate the 100th year of the Chinese Communist Party. What other countries celebrate the success of political parties even in friendly countries?

This familarchy will soon give us a show of what it has done to give a Rajavasala reward to Jayantha Ketagoda, who made the road clear for Basil’s entry to Parliament, beating all the other SLPP MPs who said they were ready to resign from their parliamentary seats. Will he be a diplomat in an important country that has turned down other nominees? What about a big place in the Central Bank, having so much to do about printing more money? Or, could it be a big post in SriLankan, where he could help add to the mounting losses, with a really huge salary, many vehicles, friendly secretaries, entertainment costs, and free flying power, too?

The swearing in of Basil Rajapaksa, as Minister of Finance, was clearly a very warm family affair at the President’s Office. One brother was President and the other was Prime Minister. The worshipful greetings were clearly seen. Next came the swearing in of Mahinda, who had lost or given up Finance, to be Minister of Economic Policies and Plan Implementation. Can his Economic Thinking move away from Basil’s Financial Thinking?

What stressed the prevalence of Rajapaksa power was the additional swearing in of the Rajapaksa nephew, Shasheendra, as the State Minister of everything, from fertiliser to onions and potatoes, and Advanced Technology for Agriculture. Organic Fertiliser Production.

What is the situation of Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage? Anything more of the Rajapaksa dominance that is sweeping away all other political players of today?

There is certainly another nephew, although without a Rajapaksa surname, who is entitled to more stuff and authority. There will be several nieces to follow, too. Let;s wait and see,

It is also important to wait and see how Basil Rajapaksa’s entry to the Rajapaksa Familarchy will show the importance of governance and economic thinking of the USA, of which too he is a citizen. Will we see a new China – America friendship via Sri Lanka, or will the dominance of China prevail in the policies of Sri Lanka?

The Rajapaksa Familarchy are certainly the rulers of this Monarchy of Power that Sri Lanka has been taken into.

ආචාර්ය සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර දිසානායක හිටපු පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

පුරාවිද්‍යා විධිනියම හා සම්මත නොතකා අභයගිරිය ලෝක උරුමය වනසන්නේ යයි හිටපු පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ආචාර්ය සෙනරත් දිසානායක විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති නිවේදනයක් මෙහි දැක්වෙයි.

විහාරාධිපතිගේ බිල්ලට නතු වන අභයගිරි ලෝක උරුමය.

අභයගිරි විහාරය තනන ලද්දේ  වලගම්බා රජු විසින් ක්‍රිස්තු පූර්ව දෙවන සියවසේය. දාගැබ සෑදූ භූමියේ එවකට වූයේ නිගණ්ඨාරාමයක් වන අතර වලගම්බා රජු අනුරාධපූරය හැරයන නිමේසයේ ගිරි නිඝන්ටයා මහ කලු සිංහයා පලා යතැ” යි හඬගා කීය. වලගම්බා රජ දෙවන වර රාජ්‍යත්වයට පත්වූ අවස්ථාවෙහි ගිරි නිඝන්ඨාරාමය විද්වංශනය කළ හෙතෙම එතැන අභයගිරි දාගැබ ඉදි කළේය. එම දාගැබත්  ඊට අයත් සංඝාරාමයත් නම් කරන ලද්දේ තමාගේත් ගිරි නිඝණ්ඨයාගේත් දෙනම් එක් කොටය. මෙම දාගැබෙහි ධාතුඝරයෙහි තැන්පත් කළ යමක් ගැන වංශකතාවන්හි කිසිවක් සඳහන් නොවෙයි. එහි බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ ධාතු තැන්පත් කළේ නම් ඒ බව වංශකථාවන්හි හෝ සෙල් ලිපිවල සඳහන් නොවී තිබීමට කිසිදු හේතුවක් නැත. මේ හේතුව මතම ද්‍රෝණයක් ධාතූන් තැන්පත් කරන ලද රුවන්වැලි සෑයට මෙය කිසිදු ලෙසකින් සැසඳිය හැකි නොවේ. රුවන් වැලි සෑය බෞද්ධ සැදැහැවතුන්ගේ අප්‍රමිත ගෞරවාදරයට පාත්‍රව ඇත්තේ එම හේතුව නිසාය. ඊට ලැබෙන ගෞරවය අභයගිරිය දාගැබට දිනාගැනීමට නොහැකි වන්නේ එකී හේතුව නිසාය.

තවත් අතෙකින් ගත් කල අභයගිරිය යනු ධර්මරුචි භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාගේ මූලස්ථානයයි. ධර්මරුචි නිකාය යනු මහායාන අදහස් දැරූ භික්ෂූන්ගේ මූලස්ථානයයි . සාමාන්‍යයෙන් එම නිකායට අයත් විහාරයන්හි දාගැබ්භි තැන්පත් කරන්නට ඇත්තේ ප්‍රඟා පාරමිතාව ලියැවුනු ධර්ම ග්‍රන්ථ වීමට ඉඩ තිබේ යැයි සිතිය හැක්කේ එම පාරමිතාව ලියැවුනු රන් පත්තිරු හතක් කැණීම්වලින් සොයා ගැනීම නිසාය. මහායානිකයන් ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ පහ සියවසේදී චේතිය ගිරි හෙවත් මිහින්තලේ බලය අත්පත් කර ගත් පසු තැනූ බැව් නිසැක ඉදිකටුසෑයේ මහායාන ධර්ම පාඨ අඩංගු තඹ පත්තිරු ‍රාශියක් සොයා ගැනීම් මගින්ද  මහායානික දාගැබ්හි මහායාන සූත්‍රයන් තැන්පත් කිරීමේ පුරුද්ද කැපී පෙනෙයි.

අභයගිරිය යනු අනුරාධපුර ලෝක උරුම නගරයේ කැපී පෙනෙන ස්මාරකයකි. තවද එය පැරණි ලෝකයේ දෙවන උසැතිම ගඩොල් නිර්මාණයද වන්නේය. ලොව උසැතිම ගඩොල් ගොඩනැගිල්ල වන්නේද ජේතවනය දාගැබය. එය එකල අඩි 400ක් උසැති විය. මේ අනුව ලොව උසැතිම ගොඩනැගිලි දෙකෙහිම උරුමක්කාරයන් වන්නේ අපය; හෙට උපදින දරුවන්‍ ය.

එහෙත් අවාසනාවට මෙම ලෝක උරුම ස්මාරක ලෝක උරුම ලැයිස්තුවෙන් ගිලිහී යාමේ අවධානමක් දැන් දැන් උදාවමින් තිබෙන්නේය. එම අහිමිවීමට මුහුණ දෙන්නේ අභයගිරියේ නව විහාරයෙහි වත්මන් භික්ෂුව හෝ අමාත්‍යවරයා නොවේ; රටමය; උපනූපන් පරපුරය. අගනුවරට නුදුරු කෝට්ටේ පැරණි නගරයේ කබොක් ගල් ගනිමින්  ඇවිදිනවාට වඩා වගකීමක් අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ කර මත ඇත්තේය. එම වගකීම ඔහු අතින් ඉටු වන්නේද යන්න බලා සිටීම ජනතාවගේ වගකීම හා ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අයිතිය වන්නේය.

අබයගිරිය විහාරයේ පෞරාණිකත්වය මේ වනවිට බරපතල අවධානමකට හා අර්බුදයකට මුහුණපා ඇත්තේය. එහි සුදු හුණු තවරන ලෙස මුලින්ම යෝජනා කරන ලද්දේ වත්මන් විහාරාධිපතිය. ඊට නිසි අවසරය පුරාවිද්‍යා උපදේශක  සභාව විසින් ලබා නොදුන් අතර ඔවුන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමන්ට පෙන්වාදෙන ලද්දේ එය හුණු පිරියම් කලහොත් අනුරාධපුර නගරය ලෝක උරුම ලැයිස්තුවෙන් ගිලිහීයාමේ අවධානමක් උද්ගත ව්ය හැකි බවය. තවද එවැනි තීරණයක් ගතහොත් දාගැබ යට පටන් ඉහල දක්වාම ගඩොල් ගලවා ඉවත් කිරීමට සිදුවන්නේ අභයගිරි දාගැබ බුබ්බුලාකාරව තනා නොමැති වීම නිසාය. සිදු කරන ලද්දේ එවකට තිබූ ගර්භයට ආධාරක ගඩොල් ස්ථර කිහිපයක් යොදා දාගැබ සවිමත් කිරීමය. එවකට ජනාධිපතිව සිටි මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා උපදේශක සභාවට නම්‍යශීලීව ඇහුම්කන්දීම සම්බන්දයෙන් ස්තූතිවන්ත විය යුතුය.

අභයගිරි දාගැබට වින කටින හස්තයන් දැන් නැවත ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් තිබේ. මෙහි පළමු පියවර ලෙස අනුරාධපුරයේ පුරාවස්තු වැනසීමේ සෑම ව්‍යායාමයකදීම ඊට එරෙහිව හඬ නැගූ මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ අභයගිරිය ව්‍යාපෘති අධ්‍යක්ෂ සම්මානිත මහාචාර්‍ය ටී. ජී. කුලතුංගයන් මේ වන විට ඉවත් කර අවසානය. පුරාවස්තු වැනසුමට එරෙහිව නිති හඬ නැගූ ප්‍රධාන බලවේගයට අනුරාධපුරයේ භික්ෂු බලවේග අනලස්ව ක්‍රියාකර ඔවුහු ජයග්‍රහනය අත් කරගෙන සිටී. දැන් රිසි සේ උන්වහන්සේලාට කටයුතු කිරීමේ මග විවරව ඇත. එතුමා පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨතම විද්වතා වනු මතු නොව ක්ෂේත්‍ර කටයුතු පිලිබඳ දීර්ඝතම අත්දැකීම් ඇති විද්වතාද වන්නේය.

අභයගිරි දාගැබේ පෞරාණිකත්වය නැසෙන පරිදි එහි දොරටුවක් අරා අශෝභන මකර තොරණක් තැනීමේ කාර්‍ය භාරය මේ වනවිට ලහි ලහියේ සිදුකෙරෙමින් පවතී. වාර්ථාවන ආකාරයට දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් අවසර දී ඇත්තේ බල්ලන් ඇතුලුවීම වැලැක්වීමට ගේට්ටුවක් තැණීම සඳහාය. තවද පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අවසරයකින් තොරව පුරාවිද්‍යා ඉඩමක අනවසර ඉදිකිරීමක් සිදු කිරීමට කිසිවෙකුට නොපිළිවන. එය 1988 අංක 24 දරන පුරාවස්තු ආඟාපනතේ අංක 15 ඈ වගන්තිය යටතේ ඇප නොදෙන බරපතල වරදකි. නිලධාරීන්ට දෙස් දෙවොල් තැබීම නිමේශයකට නවතා වහාම මේ සම්බන්දයෙන් ක්‍රියා කර ආඟාපනතේ විධිවිධාන ක්‍රියාවට නැගීම අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ වගකීම වන්නේය. අපි එසේ වන්නේදැයි උපේක්ෂාවෙන් බලා සිටින්නෙමු.

දාගැබේ සිවුපස අසෝභන බුද්ධ ප්‍රතිමා සතරක් තැබීමේ ව්‍යායාමය පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ මැදිහත්වීම මත අත් හිටවුනි. ලෝක උරුමය වලපල්ලට ගියද සම්මාදම් මඩිය තරකර ගැනීම මෙහි එකම අරමුණ බව දැන් පැහැදිලිය.මීලඟ නිසැක කාර්‍ය වන්නේ සම්මාදම් වැඩි කර ගැනීමේ එම ජුගුප්සාජනක පියවරට විහාරාධිපති විසින් පිඹුරුපත් සැකසීමය. එය රජ කලදී මෙන් නැවතත් නිගණ්ඨාරාමයක් බවට පත්වීම මෙහි අවසන් ප්‍රතිපලය විය හැකිය. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලෝක උරුම මධ්‍යස්ථානය දැනුවත් කොට සංදේශයක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට මා ඇතුලු කණ්ඩායමක් මේ වනවිට කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින බවද  මෙහිලා සිහිපත් කළ යුතුය.

ආචාර්ය සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර දිසානායක
හිටපු පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has registered 33 more COVID-19 related fatalities confirmed by the Director General of Health Services on Friday (July 09).

The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,467.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims confirmed today include 19 males and 14 females.

Reportedly, one of the victims is a female aged below 30 years. Among the other victims are two males and three females aged between 30-59 years and 17 males and 10 females aged 60 and above

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 596 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,515.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 273,031.

As many as 242,839 recoveries and 3,467 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 26,758 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Hiru News

Ajith Nivard Cabraal, State Minister of Finance, Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reforms, stated that a grace period of at least one year should be provided for the repayment of loans obtained from international financial institutions.

He was addressing an online economic conference organized by Bangladesh.

It was held yesterday via Zoom technology.

Courtesy Hiru News

State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara stated that it is the duty of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) to work together with his party.

Meanwhile, State Minister Dilum Amunugama stated that even if the SLFP leaves, it will not affect the composition of the government.

More views were expressed today (10) regarding the crisis between the two parties.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – ,MATARA

UNP demands an explanation from the President.

The United National Party (UNP) which made the judicial system Court system a mockery during its 4 ½ years rule from January 8^th 2015 and caused the people to lose all trust and confidence in the verdicts of court cases and inhibited the people going for litigations called on the President to explain the decision to pardon the former MP Duminda Silva, who had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2016 along with two others over the murder of former Parliamentarian Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra in 2011.

Issuing a press release, the pratfallen UNP having only 2% of popularity in the country urged the President not to overrule the Judiciary through the unbridled use of the Presidential pardon”, pointing out that the former MP was convicted for great public interest the press release itself implying that it was a manipulated conviction. It said that The President must explain his decision to include the former Parliamentarian in his list of Presidential pardons issued and stressed that the public has a right to know why the President chose to issue this particular pardon.

It asked What were the criteria used in determining those who were eligible for the Presidential pardon?”

Hilariously, and thinking that the people of this country have forgotten all their misdeeds, perhaps using the slain Prabhakaran’s criteria that Sinhalese have short memories and they will forget anything in one week, the press release stated that the UNP remains committed to the continued independence of the Judiciary in the country.

Presidential pardon for Duminda Silva grave threat to democratic rule, judicial independence: SJB 

While the imbecile, visionless and nincompoop leader of the shameless jabbering Bandits (SJB) Sajith Premadasa remained tongue-tight about the pardoning of Duminda Silva, the group’s General Secretary Ranjith Madduna Bandara has called on the President to stop abusing powers vested in him and withdraw the order. He has said that the Presidential pardon had challenged the independence of the rule of law and democratic governance.

MP Ranjith Maddumabandara issuing a statement has questioned whether due process was followed when granting a special Presidential pardon to Silva who was on death row. 

The SJB condemned the abuse of power with disgust,” the statement said. 

It seems that the President is in the view that he is the Government. His conduct makes it clear that he is in the view that Parliament and Judiciary should function according to his whims and fancies. This is a grave threat to democratic rule in a country,” the statement has stated.

 Madduma Bandara has called on the President not to further abuse the powers vested in him, whilst cautioning that the controversial decision will set only dangerous precedence that will damage the country. We therefore insist that the President should withdraw this order and protect rule of law and its independence as well as the respect of judges of the courts,” the SJB has urged.

This staunch partner of the Born Again” who was a prominent member of J.R. and Premadasa governments seems to be suffering from acute amnesia and has forgotten J.R.Jayawardene’s pardoning of the rapist Gonawala Sunil Sunil and the subsequent reward given to him as an all island JP, and Premadasa’s pardoning  of Manohari Daniels, who was convicted of aiding and abetting the LTTE to carry out a bomb attack opposite Zahira College, Maradana in 1987 that killed forty innocent 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

Such a reversal of a punishment order determined by a High Court Trial-at-Bar also confirmed by a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice, in such a manner by applying the power of the Executive poses a question about the good governance in the country,” the statement of this nirvanic pipe dreamer said. 


This nirvanic pipe dreamer alleged that there was an organized approach to spring the political confidant from death row.

Meanwhile, the notorious former Justice Minister Tal.ata Atukorale of the destructive Sirisena/Ranil government who’ was a gobbledegook and who messed up matters in that government and held clandestine meetings with Rajitha and Champika to plan on joint opposition members to be taken into custody by Ranil’s Gestapo, FCID, has said that it was clear that collecting signatures of the Members of Parliament requesting a pardon for Duminda Silva was an act of clearing ground for this blatant decision.”

She may have been on a stupor when 115 MPs including several SJB MPs signed this appeal.

She has said it was up to those remaining professional Police officers and civil servants to remember that Sri Lanka was not a monarchy, to ignore coercion by the Executive and to place the lives of these upstanding judges and Police officers before whatever threats or inducements may be offered to them for looking the other way.

A report published by Ceylon Today on 19^th January  2020 said the Duminda was convicted on circumstantial evidence and the driver’s affidavit reveals all.

The report said that the exposure of the Ranjan Ramanayake voice recordings has thrown a cloud over the judiciary and people have started to question the veracity of their judgments. The confidence instilled in the judiciary by the trusting public was shattered and caused massive damage to the respect and confidence directed to such bodies that have been appointed to implement and maintain law and order in the country.

The Duminda Silva case was one that drew the highest attention in the past five years. Duminda Silva was condemned to death for the murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra.

Shani Abesekara dialogue

Featured on the Ramanayake tapes was a telephone call between one of the three Judges on the panel that delivered the verdict over Duminda, which aroused the suspicion and cemented arguments that everything about the verdict was not above board.

The recordings of the Director of the CID, Senior Superintendent of Police Shani Abesekara who led the investigations over the case gave a clear indication that there was something fishy on how the investigations had been conducted.

The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) raided the official residence of MP Ranjan Ramanayake and took the devices that had been instrumental in saving the recordings of about 121,000 secret telephone conversations between Ranjan Ramanayake and many others. The recordings have been directed to the Government Analyst to verify the voices of the callers.

The contentious telephone conversation between the Judge, with Ramanayake borders on a promotion for the Judge. This happens to be the Judge who was on the panel that delivered the verdict and passed the death sentence on Duminda.

Judge Shiran Gunarathna acquitted all 13 accused

What is curious about the Duminda case is that the most senior and experienced Judge of the three-member bench, High Court Judge Shiran Gunarathna had written in detail a separate judgment and acquitted all 13 accused from all 17 charges of the indictment on the basis that no charge had been proven beyond suspicion by the prosecution. However, High Court Judge Padmini N. Ranawaka Gunathilaka delivered a separate judgment and found all accused guilty of the crime and sentenced them to death.

Padmini Ranawaka

Now what is amusing is that Padmini Ranawaka has also been caught on tape lasciviously conversing with Ramanayake during which she doesn’t hesitate to say that she had completed several cases including the case of Duminda Silva and seeks the MP’s support to get a promotion as a Judge of the Appellate Court. In another telephone call Padmini refers to how Ramanayake influenced the Judge.

Abesekara assures Ramanayake in the taped conversation between them prior to the passing of the final judgment in the Duminda case that Duminda Silva would be found guilty and sentenced.

Excerpts:
Abesekara: Sir, I will worship you, please don’t open your mouth regarding the verdict of the case. Otherwise, it will be a big problem. Now the case is at a very good stage.

Ramanayake: Really?

Abesekara: Your call to the Madam can backfire. Anyway, we shall balance it. Please don’t tell what you know, Sir.

Ramanayake: Alright! Is the case alright now.

Abesekara: Yes. But please don’t call Ranawaka Madam again. It will be a big problem for all of us.

Ramanayake: Is there anyone else with you?

Abesekara: No.

Ramanayake: I called and told, ‘Madam, I am not influencing. The entire country is looking at the judgment related to Duminda Silva on 9th’.

Then she asked, ‘Yes Ranjan, what is it?’ I then told, ‘Madam, the entire country knows about this daylight murder. You are one of the greatest Judges whom I know.’

She then hung up saying, ‘People are coming and I will call you later.’

Abesekara: Alright, but if you call again those two will also agree to the verdict of the other one. Sir, I will wash your pots and pans at home for six months. 

Please don’t reveal a single word about this. All of us will be hanged if you do so.

The case was examined during the period of 12 October, 2011 to 14 July, 2016 and the judgment was scheduled to be delivered on  8 September, 2016.

Padmini Ranawaka verdict

On the morning of that day, justice Padmini Ranawaka read the most important part of her verdict and stated that the 1st accused Anura Thushara de Mel, 3rd accused Chaminda Ravi Jayanath, 7th accused Sarath, 10th accused Janaka Bandara Galagoda and 11th accused Duminda Silva has been proved guilty. She sentenced all five of them to be executed by hanging until death on a date decided by the President.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the panel, Justice Shiran Gunarathna ruled all 13 accused would be acquitted from all 17 indictments against them by the Attorney General. He acquitted all of them. However, Justice M.C.B. Morayes endorsed Justice Ranawaka’s verdict and thus her verdict was enforced.

The counsels who appeared on behalf of Duminda Silva stated in Court that they would not admit the verdict on the grounds that it was based on the evidence produced in the Court and said they would appeal against the verdict in a Higher Court.

A five-member panel of Supreme Court Judges including Chief Justice Priyasad Dep, Buwaneka Aluvihare, Priyantha Jayawardana, Nalin Perera and Vijith K. Malalgoda considered the appeal.

The preliminary objection and the demand by Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige to reject the appeal without being considered was dismissed. After four days of preliminary proceedings, the appeal was heard for 14 days from morning to evening.

Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige admission

President’s Counsels Anil Silva, Anuja Premarathna and Anura Meddegoda appearing for the accused inquired about the stand of the Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige of the Attorney General’s Department and the latter admitted the following facts.

1. On 8 October 2011, while the local government election was underway, the vehicles belonged to Duminda Silva and Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, both of them engaged in election activities met at Himutana by chance. Both of them climbed down the vehicles and engaged in a heated argument. Duminda Silva kept his hand on Bharatha Lakshman’s neck and pushed him. Then, as he was returning to his vehicle, Bharatha’s bodyguard Gamini shot at Duminda’s head two times.

2. Duminda Silva fell down unconscious and his bodyguards took him to the vehicle and drove to the hospital.

3. After he was taken away, an exchange of firing took place. No other shooting sans the shot fired on him occurred by the time he was there.

4. Out of the 126 witnesses produced from the defence and the prosecution, no evidence sans Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra’s daughter Hirunika’s and others loyal to Premachandra’s family said that Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was shot before Duminda Silva was shot.

5. No shooting could take place other than the heated argument unless Bharatha Lakshman’s bodyguard Gamini fired his gun.

6. Thus, an ordinary incident that could end as a heated argument ultimately developed into an attempt of murder by Premachandra’s party by shooting at Duminda Silva’s head and ended as a serious crime of multi murders.

7. Bharatha Lakshman’s party first shot for the first time.

8. Duminda Silva was the first victim of the firing.

9. Duminda Silva was unconscious and taken away from the scene like a dead body.

10. Duminda Silva did not hold a firearm.

11. Duminda Silva did not commit the act of firing a firearm.

12. Duminda Silva was unconscious after sustaining injuries in his head due to the shooting that took place targeting the rear of his head no sooner he turned his back after the argument with Bharatha Lakshman and he was not responsible for any of the incidents that took place after that because he was unconscious.

13. None of the witnesses of the prosecution among the 126 witnesses said that Duminda Silva had attempted to murder Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, or tried to harm or threatened him.

14. The only witness, who said that Bharatha was shot before Duminda Silva was shot, was the 27th witness Sanjiva Prasad who lives for a long time in the same house as Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and is a very close friend of his and the family. He has received a lot of assistance from Premachandra’s family.

15. Sanjiva Prasad was a close associate of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and accompanied him everywhere. He however, did not make a statement in the magisterial inquiry or the Police investigation until six days after the incident had happened.

16. Six days after the incident a Police officer came to Hirunika Premachandra’s house, after she had made a request and recorded the statement from Sanjiva Prasad.

Defence points 62 omissions

The Defence Counsels pointed out 62 omissions and contradictions in the verdict of Justice Padmini Ranawaka before the five-member bench of the Supreme Court.

The defence questioned on what grounds the Judge had accepted the 27th witnesses’ evidence as reliable in the context that he had made three contradictory statements on three separate occasions.

The President’s Counsels Anuja Premarathna and Anura Meddegoda further questioned the way the Judge had accepted the evidence of the 12th witness as reliable without granting the benefit of the doubt to the defence in the context that the witness himself had stated that he was influenced by the Director of CID Shani Abesekara to become a witness of the prosecution. The witness further said that the facts mentioned by Police about arresting him were totally false.

President’s Counsel Anuja Premarathna stated in Supreme Court that he had read the verdict 100 times to understand the basis of verbal or written evidence, circumstantial evidence or scientific evidence on which the Judge based her judgment and he would like to emphasise that he was unable to find any such basis.

We include a translation of the affidavit produced by Liyanage Saman Shantha Perera, the driver of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, an eyewitness who can be believed as the most reliable evidence produced before the Court.

Quote from the driver’s affidavit

I, Liyanage Saman Shantha Perera of No. 444, Himbutana Lane, Himbutana, Mulleriyawa state truly, honestly and respectfully as a Buddhist that,

I am the deponent of this statement.

I joined as the driver of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra in 1999. From 1999 to 2004, I worked attached to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. After that, I was attached to the Road Development Authority. After that, I was attached to the Prime Minister’s Office first and then to the President’s Office. I worked as Premachandra’s driver until 08-10-2011.

During this time, I was very close to Premachandra and his family.

On 08-10-2011, I reported to work as usual and drove the vehicle numbered as KL 4219. We arrived in Angoda area for the lunch and a Land Cruiser vehicle and a car followed us in our fleet. Premachandra’s friend Mohammed Naushad travelled in that car.

While driving, I received a call on my mobile phone and I gave it to Premachandra to answer. The caller was the Chairman of the Kotikawatta-Mulleriyawa Pradeshiya Sabha Prasanna Gunasinghe Solangaarachchi. After taking the call, Bharatha Lakshman got very angry. He said he would like to kill Duminda Silva and asked me to drive to Himbutana junction.

Near the library next to Himbutana Lane, a fleet of vehicles arrived in from opposite the Angoda side. Premachandra asked me to stop the vehicle and got down from the vehicle taking the revolver hidden under the carpet of the vehicle. Duminda Silva also got down from his vehicle and a large number of people who were in the vehicles in the fleet also got down.

The two officials of the Ministerial Security Division (MSD) who were with Premachandra also got down with their firearms, there were people there whose names I was not aware of.

I also got down from the vehicle and stayed near it. As Premachandra walked ahead, I heard him and Duminda Silva exchanging filthy words and quarrelling. 

Damitha Jayathilaka grabbed the MSD officer Sergeant Gamini’s revolver and fired at Duminda. I saw Duminda being shot and falling. Then, Premachandra ran towards the vehicle he came travelling in. I heard more rounds of firing and lowered myself covering myself with the door of the vehicle. After Duminda was shot, I did not see who fired and who was shot. I saw Duminda Silva fall first.

MSD officer Priyantha took Premachandra to our vehicle. I saw Premachandra was bleeding on one side of his head. I saw that MSD officer Gamini and Damitha who came in our vehicle and the driver of the rear vehicle Hashim had been shot.

Along with the others, we admitted Premachandra to the IDH hospital. 

Premachandra was immediately transferred to the National Hospital and I heard that he had succumbed to injuries.

Initially I said that Duminda fired first and asked others also to fire. But I state now that the incident took place in a different way. I made such a statement because of the continuous pressure put on me to say that I saw Duminda Silva had fired first and I was also very closely connected to them.

They recorded various statements from me and asked me to sign them. Some were video recorded. I now understand that they were trying to cover the truth and manipulate them for inapt benefits.

Therefore, I make this statement to tell the truth with honest purposes. I further state that I make this statement without any influence, threat or promise for benefits.

I have instructed that this statement be given to a counsel appearing for Duminda Silva incase any party commits any harm to my life.

This affidavit was written by Liyanage Samanhantha Perera on 5 September, 2012.

Another Ramanayake secret voice recording of a telephone discussion reported in the Media divulges that two powerful Ministers threatened Chief Justice Priyasad Dep to deliver a unanimous verdict of the five-member panel of Judges of the Supreme Court. The report further said that a strongman of the past regime had assigned three Ministers for this task. However, one Minister backed out and the other two proceeded accordingly.

The Ramanayake tapes have exposed 14 more Judges in addition to Padmini Ranawaka. In this backdrop, the death penalty imposed on Duminda Silva has now been subjected not only to suspicion but also to questioning whether it is a low-standard judiciary process or an actual political manipulation.

To be continued……………………..

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says 551 more people were tested positive for COVID-19 today (July 09) as the daily count of positive cases reached 1,515.

According to the Government Information Department, all new cases reported today have been associated with the New Year cluster, which has recorded a total of 263,636 virus infections since mid-April this year.

The new development has brought Sri Lanka’s confirmed coronavirus cases tally to 271,461.

Official data showed that as many as 241,035 patients who were infected with the virus have regained health so far. Meanwhile, the death toll now stands at 3,434.

More than 27,000 are currently under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres across the country.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has registered 43 more COVID-19 related fatalities confirmed by the Director General of Health Services on Thursday (July 08).

The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,434.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the latest victims confirmed today include 30 females and 13 males.

Fourteen of the victims are aged between 30-59 years and the remaining 29 are aged 60 and above.

Shenali D Waduge

It is in the name of the Queen that horrendous crimes have been committed and continue to be. As Jamaica orders the Queen to pay billions in slavery reparations committed during British imperial rule. God cannot save the Queen for every atrocity committed in her name by the British Empire. Reparation request involves Jamaica’s National Council of Reparation & its Cultural Minister and Jamaica’s Attorney General will be filing the petition. Between 1640 and 1807, about 70% of all Africans were transported as slaves to the Americas. When the Caribbean Reparations Commission has presented its case why is Asia lagging behind? God certainly cannot and should not save the Queen and instead should be morally held culpable for crimes against humanity spanning decades.

Doctrine of Discovery: 

It was in 1493 that Pope Alexander VI issued a papal bull (decree) Inter Caetera” authorizing Spain & Portugal to colonize the Americas & convert & enslave the natives. The Papal Bull were ‘directives from Almighty God’ and it was using this power that native lands were stolen & its people murdered. Ironically, the papal bulls have not been revoked and remain valid to this day. It does question modern western hegemony and invasions as a continuation of this decree.

Medieval Europe was controlled by Kings/Queens & Popes politically & spiritually.

A clear separation came in 1536 when England broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church via British Parliament Act ‘Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome”. This Act was due to the Roman Catholic Church not sanctioning the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine Aragon though the King later decided to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry VIII became supreme Head of the Church of England. In 1533 Henry VIII married Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I was born. The rest of the history is a separate topic.

It was King Henry VII who commissioned John Cabot to lead a voyage in 1497 – five years after the Europeans claimed to have ‘discovered’ America though people were very much living in these lands.

It was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that slave-raiding began. Ironically, England’s first oversea colony was in the 16^thcentury in Ireland after settling it with Protestants from England. It was also in the name of the Queen that Britain transported prisoners and convicts to all its colonies round the world most often as first settlers.

In the name of the Queen between 1815 and 1914 Britain’s Empire included 10million square miles (26million square km) & some 400million people. It was in the name of the Queen that Britain occupied all but 22 countries of the world.

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain declared itself Pax Britannica (policeman of the world)

It was also under Queen Elizabeth 1 that Humphrey Gilbert (Walter Raleighs half-brother) was granted a patent for ‘discovery & overseas exploration” in 1578. This was nothing but the Queen sanctioning ‘piracy’.  Colonies were established in North America (1607 in Jamestown) and the Caribbean in the name of the Queen. Plantations & slave labour were also established in the name of the Queen. Fur trade was incorporated by royal charter in 1670 in the name of King Charles II.

In the name of the Queen by 1807, Britain had transported a third of all slaves across the Atlantic. In the name of the Queen 3.5million Africans were plucked out of their homes & dumped in America. In the name of the Queen Holy Wars were fought even among Europeans.

It was after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 that the British East India Company took control over Bengal. It was in the name of the Queen that the British fought the French for 7 years in India (1756-1763)

It was in the name of the Queen that the Thirteen Colonies in US and Britain fought over taxes resulting in US declaring independence in 1776 and American independence obtained in 1783 (Peace of Paris) It was in the name of the Queen that tensions escalated between Britain & S resulting in trade wars.

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain claimed Australia & New Zealand, declaring the indigenous Australians (Aborigines) & Maoris of New Zealand were too uncivilized to require treaties. In the name of the Queen, Britain took deliberate possession of land & culture and attempted to annihilate the natives.

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain made profits from Opium in China resulting in Opium Wars (how Britain seized Hong Kong)

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain dealt to suppress revolt against Britain in the colonies by people angered by the manner they were being treated in their own homelands.

It was in the name of Queen Victoria that the British Raj was established in 1858 and she ruled over the Jewel in the Crown”. It was in the name of the Queen that millions of Indians saw their deaths from calculated famines. It was in the name of the Queen that the Amritsar Massacre took place.  https://www.dw.com/en/the-jallianwala-massacre-when-british-troops-killed-hundreds-of-unarmed-indians/a-48313295

https://theconversation.com/1918-flu-pandemic-killed-12-million-indians-and-british-overlords-indifference-strengthened-the-anti-colonial-movement-133605

It was in the name of the Queen that artificial countries were created, artificial borders became the foundation of future wars and disputes.

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain took part in the Scramble for Africa dividing Africa between European nations to plunder.

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain acquired the Cape Colony in 1806 and kept the Boers (Afrikaners – descendants of the Dutch) in the world’s first concentration camps.

It was in the name of the Queen that Britain declared war with Germany.

It was in the name of the Queen that the 1917 Balfour Declaration resulted in a home for the Jewish people in Palestine. Similarly, it was in the name of the Queen that an Islamic state (Pakistan) was created out of ‘India’ which preaching ‘multiculturalism’.

It was also in the name of the Queen that national leaders that challenge imperial hegemony like Patrice Lumumba and Aung Sang were brutally assassinated. It was also in the name of the Queen that the British funded/armed/trained various insurgents/rebels and even terrorists.

It was in the name of the Queen that British troops were sent to recapture Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982.

It is in the name of the Queen that Britain continues to keep troops in 42 countries (145 overseas military bases) It is also in the name of the Queen that Britain retains sovereignty over 14 territories still.

It is in the name of the Queen a British joins police service. ‘I will well & truly serve the Queen in the office of constable’

It is in the name of the Queen that all judicial cases in UK are adjudicated The Queen versus …” What if the Queen commits a crime – even if she does she cannot be questioned by policy or require to testify in a court!

Yes, it was in the name of the Queen that the Bloody Sunday Massacre in Ireland took place.

It was in the name of the Queen that the British Foreign Office in 2012 admitted to deliberately destroying thousands of records documenting atrocities committed by the Queens Army and that the remaining were being kept hidden from public/media.

https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-230767

It is in the name of the Queen that the British plundered and pilfered the wealth of natives from across the globe. The British Museum is home to stolen artifacts and cultural treasures from which the British continue to make money as a tourist attraction.

https://kottke.org/20/08/the-british-museum-is-full-of-stolen-artifacts

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-koh-i-noor-diamondand-why-british-wont-give-it-back-180964660/

This is just a handful of crimes that have been committed by UK in the name of the Queen/King while singing God Save the Queen/King”.

How can any God condone such acts committed over centuries with no acknowledge, apology or compensation?

Shenali D Waduge

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil Separatist Movement appears to have started its   Genocide charge in 2014. 28 Members of the Northern Provincial Council and 5 members of the Eastern Provincial Council sent a joint letter on 17^th August 2014, to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.

The letter said, The Tamil people strongly believe that they have been, and continue to be subject to Genocide by Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred in groups, their temples and churches were bombed, and their iconic Jaffna Public library was burnt down in 1981 with its collection of largest and oldest priceless irreplaceable Tamil manuscripts. Systematic Sinhalese settlements and demographic changes with the intent to destroy the Tamil Nation are taking place. We request the OHCHR investigative team to look into the pattern of all the atrocities against the Tamil people and to determine if Genocide has taken place”.

P. G. Ravindra Nirosha of Nugegoda wrote to the Court of Appeal saying that the IGP and the Attorney General has failed to enforce provisions of the Penal Code against the 28 members of the Northern Provincial Council and five members of the Eastern Provincial Council who had written to the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, that the Sinhalese are committing genocide against the Tamils and that Sinhalese settlements are being set up in Tamil areas.

The petitioner had requested the Court of Appeal to issue a mandatory order on the IGP and the Attorney General, to take action under Provision 120 of the Penal Code. The respondents included IGP, Attorney General, K.  Shivajilingam, a member of the Northern Provincial Council and 32 others.

 The public of Sri Lanka must be thankful to Ravindra Nirosh for coming forward in this manner, said Shenali Waduge. TNA and LTTE propaganda machine have escaped the law till now. Ravindra Nirosha has issued a Writ of Mandamus against authorities demanding that they take action using Section 120 of the Penal Code.

In February 2015, Northern Provincial Council unanimously passed a resolution saying that there has been continuous genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1948, and that the UN must investigate and submit a report at the next session of the UN Human Rights Council and refer its findings to the International Criminal Court for further action. The Resolution was tabled by Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran, and adopted by the Council unanimously.

This is a lengthy Resolution of 5241 words. It is a rambling, sometimes nonsensical statement, more like a lament than a Resolution. It is based on material from Human Rights Watch. One source cited is the film maker Callum MacRae. This Resolution has examined the five activities that qualify as Genocide and have made claims for three of them.  Excerpts from the Resolution are given in Appendix 1.

In 2016, ‘Tamils for Obama’ and ‘American Tamil Forum’ two major Tamil Diaspora groups, in the USA, alleged that around 70,000 Tamils were killed in the six months of 2009 and that this could amount to Genocide.  

In 2019 a Private Member’s Bill (Bill no104) titled An Act to Proclaim Tamil Genocide Education Week was placed before Ontario Legislative Assembly, Canada   by Vijay Thanigasalam, MP for Scarborough-Rouge Park. Vijay Thanigasalam is a LTTE supporter.  The move had been facilitated by the Committee on Regulations and Private Bills coming under the purview of Logan Kanapathi also of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The Bill claimed that 146,679 were killed in the final days of the Eelam War that civilians were starved and Tamil children were forcibly taken away from their homes.

The progress of this Bill was closely watched by the anti-Eelamists in Canada. . Several Sri Lankan organizations strongly opposed the Bill. Submissions were made in writing to the Standing Committee on regulations and Private Bills. 

The Bill stalled at the second reading, Chandre Dharmawardene said. Only 59 supported it. 66 either refrained from voting or said ‘No.’ The Bill was then referred back to the relevant committee for want of required support.  In the meantime anti-Sri Lanka resolutions were passed in Brampton, Pickering and Toronto Municipal Councils, though the matter was outside local politics.

On May 6, 2021   Ontario Legislative Assembly, Canada, voted in favor of the Bill. It was carried through without a vote taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic which had restricted the participation of the majority of members. Vijay Thanigasalam declared the passage of the Bill ‘a historic event for Tamil people in Ontario and across the world.  Ontario is the first government worldwide to pass such a law.

The newly passed Tamil Genocide Education Week Act establishes a week each year, May 11 to 18, during which Ontarians are encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history. However, the Bill would not become law until Ontario Lieutenant Governor General gave her consent on behalf of the Canadian Government.

Analysts saw this Ontario move as very   significant. This Bill is an attempt to legitimize the claim that a Tamil Genocide happened in Sri Lanka. Such projects intended to legitimize war crimes accusations, should be nipped in the bud they said.

It would be a serious mistake, on Sri Lanka’s part, to consider the genocide rap as a project of the Ontario Legislative Assembly instead of a Canadian move. The Canadian move is severely inimical to Sri Lanka. The Ontario project would further strengthen the Geneva-led campaign meant to weaken Sri Lanka, said Shamindra Ferdinando. The Geneva onslaught will take a new turn with this Genocide charge.

Sri Lanka acted promptly. The Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa protested. Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena   conveyed Sri Lanka’s deep concern over the adoption of Private Member Bill 104 on ‘Tamil Genocide Education Week’ by the Ontario Legislative Assembly on 06 May 2021 to Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon.

Anti Eelamists in Canada also responded. Dr. Neville Hewage[1]    went to Supreme Court against the Act. He said that Ontario Legislative Assembly did not have the jurisdiction to pass Bill 104 and the facts presented in Bill 104 were completely false.

Mahinda Gunasekera sent an open letter to^. Prime Minister, Ministers, Premier of Ontario, Members of the Federal Parliament/ Ontario Legislature and GTA Mayors on the matter [2]He pointed out that Eelam war IV was a civil war not a genocidal one and its was initiated by the LTTE not the government, that the UN has not declared the Eelam war to be genocidal and that Ontario Provincial Legislature does not have the authority to determine Genocide

The Ontario Centre for Policy Research organized a webinar on LTTE Terrorism and Alleged Tamil Genocide in June 2020 to discuss the Ontario Bill. The panel consisted of Neville Hewage, Sarath Chandrasekera and Chandre Dharmawardana.

On June 3 2021, those who opposed Eelam issued a joint statement. We are pleased to announce that the following Sri Lankan-Canadian organizations have joined as a united front to fight a Superior court case against the Ontario law on Tamil Genocide Education Week. Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC) Canadian Sri Lankan Center for Social Harmony (CSLCSH) Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA) Sri Lanka Canada Association of Brampton (SLCAB). A 12-member steering committee will address aspects of the proceedings and fundraising campaigns, we hope to draw attention to the misinformation contained in the Act, and see that Tamil Genocide Education Week Act is repealed, they said.

 Canada has this image internationally of a great defender of human rights violations, the protector of human rights throughout the world, but in its own backyard it has ’ violated the rights of   the indigenous inhabitants, said critics. Canada’s ugly record of Genocide is described in Appendix. 2

Appendix 1.

The Resolution said that Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils began with the island’s independence. This Council is of opinion that during the period extending from 1948, successive Sri Lankan governments have perpetrated genocide against Tamils. Extensive evidence demonstrates that acts have been committed that constitute four of the five enumerated genocidal acts in the Genocide Convention:

A series of anti-Tamil pogroms, fueled in part by fabricated rumors about Tamil violence against Sinhalese, began with the passage of the Sinhala Only Act, or the Official Language Act, in 1956 In Gal Oya, from June 11–16, Sinhalese mobs, who were galvanized by false rumors about Tamil-initiated violence, killed around 150 Tamils, injured about 100 more, and destroyed many Tamil-owned properties

 \In May 1958, Buddhist monks and other Sinhala nationalists organized anti-Tamil pogroms throughout Sri Lanka from May 22–27 estimates indicate that 300 Tamils were killed, over 1,000 were injured, and 200 women were raped

.From August 12–20, 1977, Tamils were attacked on the train from Jaffna to Colombo, through the country from Anuradhapura to Colombo, and in the Hill Country. About 300 Tamils were killed, over 1,000 were injured, and 25,000 were displaced.

The most horrific anti-Tamil pogroms, known as Black July,” occurred July 23–30, 1983, and involved state-sponsored Sinhalese mobs attacking Tamils and destroying their properties across the country, beginning in Colombo.. Over 3,000 Tamils were killed, 500 women were raped, 8,000 homes and 5,000 businesses were destroyed, and about 500,000 Tamils fled the country.

The Vanni genocide of 2008-09 had previously been rehearsed in the Eastern Province. On 28 August 2006, the Sri Lankan military began a multi-pronged offensive against the LTTE- administered region stretching from Sampoor to Vaharai. According to UN estimates, 60–100,000 Tamil civilians were killed over the course of the 27-year-long war.

The Sri Lankan government intentionally corralled Tamils into the so-called No Fire Zones in 2009, in a calculated and deliberate attempt to destroy as many Tamils as possible. .

At the end of January 2009, government forces were killing approximately thirty-three Tamil people each day, with these casualties increasing to 116 people per day by April 2009. According to the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka, this toll surged, with an average of 1,000 civilians killed each day until May 19, 2009.”

 In a submission to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the Bishop of the Mannar Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, stated that according to the Government Secretariats, the population in the Vanni region in early October 2008 was 429,059. However, only 282,380 people emerged from the Vanni into government-controlled areas, according to UN OCHA 2009 statistics. Thus, over 146,679 people in the Vanni are not accounted for after the 2009 atrocities.

The obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention is not a matter of political choice or calculation, but one of binding customary international law. This Council urges OCHRC to comprehensively investigate and report on the charge of genocide in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015.

 The UN Security Council should refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecutions based on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Alternatively or concurrently, domestic courts in countries that may exercise universal jurisdiction over the alleged events and perpetrators, including but not limited to the United States, should prosecute these crimes.

The case of genocide in Sri Lanka is unique among genocides in history because it occurred over several decades and under different governments before intensifying into a no- holds-barred war for nearly three decades and culminating in the mass atrocities of 2009.

It is accordingly vital that Sri Lanka’s historic violations against Tamils, in addition to the 2009 attacks, are addressed through an international mechanism in order to combat Sri Lanka’s institutionalized impunity.

This international intervention, coupled with action to promote the respect of human rights, is necessary to ensure a sustainable future for self-determination, peace, and justice, in Sri Lanka and for the Tamil people.  (End of Resolution.)

Appendix 2.

Canada has its own ugly record of Genocide. Canada destroyed the indigenous people of Canada. There was forced sterilization. Canada created a special school system for the indigenous children, the Resident or Industrial School system run by the Federal Government and the Church. Residential Schools were part of a policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will.”

This school system removed children from parents, who were not permitted to visit their children. They in fact never saw their children again. The result was children, who lacked family love, and parental guidance.

Over 70% of children were tortured, sexually abused by school teachers, priests, and nuns. When they left school after 10 years, their level of knowledge and education was at the level of a Grade 2 child. They did not receive higher education or skills. They often resorted to larceny, drug and alcohol addiction, ending up as urban poor.

Five generations of children went through this school system. Between 1890-1970 over 100,000 children were forced to attend 139 resident schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015 released its final report, documenting the tragic experience of at least 150,000 residential school students.

Canada’s genocide was camouflaged as state policy and it was carried out with state patronage and blessings.  In 2008 Prime Minister of Canada, Steven Harper, apologized to the indigenous people. (Continued)

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KAMALIKA PIERIS

The word genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 for the killing of Jews in World War II. Genocide was first recognized as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-I). It was codified as an independent crime in the  UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948. Sri Lanka    signed the Convention in 1950. .The International Criminal Court (est. 2002) which is specifically mandated to judge crimes of Genocide uses the definition given in the UN Convention.

The international legal definition of the crime of Genocide is found in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention. There must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. Also action must be taken to carry out the intent. A crime must include elements, intent and action, to be called “genocide.” If the government is to be blamed, it must be a part of state policy.

The four groups which need to be protected from Genocide   as stated in the UN Convention were, a ‘national’ group meaning a set of individuals whose identity is defined by a common country of nationality or national origin. An ‘ethnical’ group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common cultural traditions, language or heritage. A ‘racial’ group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by physical characteristics. And lastly, a ‘religious’ group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common religious creeds, beliefs, doctrines, practices, or rituals.

The victims of genocide must be deliberately targeted.  The target of destruction must be the group, not individuals. Genocide can also be committed against a part of the group, as long as that part is identifiable”, such as within a geographically limited area and substantial.” The part targeted must be significant enough to have an impact on the group as a whole.”

The tribunals appointed to investigate Genocide in Rwanda and Yugoslavia   used these criteria. Genocide was declared in Rwanda, where there was a mass slaughter of more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi between April and July 1994. But not in Bosnia or Serbia.

In the case of Bosnia, the Court held that deporting a group to make an area ‘ethnically homogeneous’ is not genocide. Deportation or displacement, even if done by force, does not mean destroying that group, the Tribunal said.  It was the same in Croatia. . The deporting of the Serb population in Krajina by Croatian leaders did not mean destroying the group.

The Rohingya issue in Myanmar is another high profile Genocide trial. Myanmar is being tried simultaneously by three separate tribunals, ICJ, ICC and Argentina. Gambia   reported Myanmar to the International Court of Justice for violating the Genocide Convention.  The ICJ is now hearing the case. In 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi appeared before the ICJ, where she defended the Burmese military against allegations of genocide.

The UN sent a fact-finding mission to Burma In 2018, to examine the Rohingya issue. This mission urged the UN Security Council to report Myanmar’s’ top military officials to International Criminal Court on the charge of Genocide. The UN Mission however stated that the standard of proof used was lower than that required in criminal proceedings”.  The ICC duly opened an investigation on Myanmar, for crimes against humanity in its dealings with the Rohingya.

Thirdly a universal jurisdiction case was filed in Argentina by the Burmese Rohingya Organization of UK.  Argentina then started a case against Myanmar’s head of state, Aung Sang Suu Kyi using universal jurisdiction.

Myanmar   told the UN General Assembly that it had no right to interfere in the internal matters of a country. Myanmar is carrying out its own investigation on the 2017 events through its Independent Commission of Enquiry.

 Myanmar appeared before International Court of Justice in December 2019. Myanmar said that expelling a group was not Genocide. There must be firm proof of Genocide. It is not enough to say that an action looks like Genocide. It must be proved to be Genocide and nothing else. Genocide must bethe only inference that could reasonably be drawn from the acts in question.

The standard for proving genocide is now quite high, and very challenging, observed Myanmar. Even evidence of mass atrocity is not enough today to meet the strict legal definition of genocide.

Now to the situation in Sri Lanka .The Tamil Separatist Movement   stated that the Eelam war IV was Genocide of the Tamil people. Ceylon Tamils were living in the north for centuries, they said. It was their homeland.  The Sri Lanka army came there, without reason and started killing innocent Tamils’ with the deliberate intention of carrying out Genocide. This is nonsense. The Eelam War IV was a civil war started by the Tamils themselves. The Sri Lanka army had a legitimate right to be there and to engage in military action.

There is/are no ‘Tamil people’ or ‘Tamil nation’ or ‘Tamil homeland’ in Sri Lanka.  The Ceylon Tamil”   is descended from    the   low caste, landless agriculture laborers who were initially brought in to Sri Lanka by the Dutch in the 18th century to work on the tobacco plantations in the north. The Tesawalamai was drawn up by a Dutch administrator, Claas Isaaks in 1707 and the Yalapana Vaipaya Malai was written in 1736, at the request of the Dutch governor.

The British followed the Dutch policy and more Tamil laborers came in to the north. Tamil immigrants were also brought in by the British to populate the Eastern province. This was deliberate. It was to replace the Sinhala villagers who were allowed to die. These newly arrived Tamils of the north and east, were given the label ‘Ceylon Tamil’ in the Census which started in 1871.  The ‘Ceylon Tamil’ is a bogus race invented by the British.  The concept of ‘Race’ is itself bogus                                 

The notion of a ‘Tamil nation’ and ‘Tamil homeland’ are    inventions of the Tamil Separatist Movement. They can be dated to the post independence period.  Tamil ‘nation’ has been taken from the utterances of Lenin. It is used to justify the civil war.

 The term ‘Tamil homeland ‘was used by the Tamil Separatist Movement to mean ancestral land or the place where a cultural, racial identity had been forged. The notion of a Tamil homeland    got publicity through the Union of Regions” proposal of January 1996.

The concept was promptly squashed. Historians showed that there was no historical basis for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. The public laughed at the very idea. They wanted to know, is there any other ethnic group that has two homelands, one in Tamilnadu and the other in Sri Lanka.

The government of Sri Lanka has consistently denied that it engaged in genocide. Sri Lanka said that it has rescued 295,000 hostages and rehabilitated 12,000 former LTTE cadres.

Sri Lanka government has   also challenged the use of the word Genocide for the Eelam war. The term has specific legal connotations, and the United Nations, which has codified the concept of ‘genocide’, has never used it in relation to the Sri Lankan conflict, nor has the term been used by any of the UN’s subsidiary bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka said.

The Paranagama Commission stated firmly that after many months of investigation and after consulting top legal experts, it had concluded that there is no     evidence to support the charge of Genocide. The Paranagama commission rejected the suggestion that civilians were targeted by the SLA as part of an alleged genocidal plan.

The Paranagama Commission also pointed out that the term ‘genocide’ is a legal concept with a very precise and definite meaning and scope of application. The International Court of Justice rejected claims of genocide by both Croatia and Serbia making it plain that the crime is only made out if it is proved that the perpetrators acted with specific intent to destroy physically the group concerned

Analysts pointed out something else in this Genocide claim.  If 40,000 were killed at Nandikadal in the last weeks of Eelam War IV, where are the bodies? If genocide of 40,000 occurred in the last weeks of Eelam IV, mass graves of 40,000 killed must emerge.  In every country where there have been “system crimes” invariably mass graves have been found.

It’s been ten years since the end of the war, but no mass graves have been found.Even the Northern Provincial Council under Wigneswaran, which charged the government with genocide, has not succeeded in finding mass graves. The Mannar mass grave, which was excavated with great expectations contained skeletons that have been carbon dated to the Portuguese era. 

Analysts observed that it would not have been possible to conceal the piles of skeletons or mountains of ashes of 40,000 bodies in an area like Nandikadal, which is not heavily forested. Also,   if the skeletons existed, then they would have been found during the mine clearing operations. (Continued in A2)

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.

ලෝකය කොතරම් සුන්දර තැනක්ද? නමුත් මේ ලෝකයේ සැබැ සුන්දරත්වය අත්විදිමට හැම දෙනාටම වරම් තියෙනවා නම් කොපමණ හොඳද?  සිතුවිලි කන්දරාවක්  පහලවේ. ඒ මී මැසි රජ දහන තුලදිය. මී මැසි රජ දහනේ සංචාරය, එම රජ දහනට ඇතුළු වූ මෙහොතේ සිටම නවතාවයකින් පිරුනක් විය. තම රජ දහනට ඇතුළු වූ මේ නවකයා කවරෙක්දැයි කිසිවෙකුටත් බැලීමට කිසිඳු උවමනාවක් නොවිණ. මහා වැඩ කන්දරාවක නියළුන පිරිස, තමනට උරුම කාර්යයෙන් බැහැරව කිසිම දෙයක් සම්බන්ධව තම අවධානය යොමුකරන බවක් නොපෙනේ. මෙච්චරට මේ සත්වයින්ට තිබෙන කාර්යයභාරය කුමක්ද?අමුත්තා තුල  ගැටළුවක් මතු කලේය.  තමන් ගේ රජ දහනට ඇතුළු වු මේ අමුත්තා දෙස නිකමටවත් බැලීමට එකද මී මැස්සෙක්වත් උත්සහ නොකලේ මේ එන අමුත්තා ඔවුනගේ හතුරෙක් නොව, ඔවුන් වෙනුවෙන්ද වෙහෙසෙන  මිතුරෙකු බව, ඔවුන්ව දැනුවත් කර තිබුණ බැවින්ය. මී මැසි රාජධානියේ ව්‍යුහය ‍කොතරම් අපූරුද, ‍මෙහි සැලැසුම මෙය විය යුතුයයි තිරණය ක‍ලේ කවුද? එම සැලසුම මී මැස්සා‍ට කිරිමට හුරු කරවනලද්‍ දේ කව‍රෙකු විසින්ද? මේ ගොඩනැංවිමේ තාක්ෂණය මී මැස්සාට පලමුව හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ කවරෙක්ද? මෙම තාක්ෂණය මී මැස්සාගෙන් මීමැස්සාට සම් ප්‍රේෂණය කරන අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමවේදය කවරේද? අමුත්තාගේ සිත තුල කිසිදා නැති ආකාරයේ ප්‍රශ්න කන්දරාවකින් වෙලී පවතී. නෑ ඕක ඉබේම එනවා යන පිලිතුර සැබෑ පිලිතුරක් නොවන බව අමුත්තා ඉතා හොඳින් දනී. එහෙම නම් ඇයි මිනිසුන්ට එහෙම කිසිම දෙයක් ඉබේටම එන්නේ නැත්තේ? අමුත්තා තව තවත් සිතයි.මිනිසාට වඩා හොඳ අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රම වේදයක් මී මැසි රාජ්‍යය සතුව පවතිනවා අමුත්තාගේ තීරණයයි. මම අංශක 90ක කෝණයක් නිර්මානය කරන්න තියොඩලයිට් එකක් අරගෙන වෙහෙසී කරන කාර්යය හා සසඳන විට මේ කුඩා මී මැස්සා කිසිඳු තාක්ෂණික මෙවලමක් නැතිව, අංශක 120 කෝණ නිර්මාණය කරමින් ගොඩනංවන සඬස්‍රාකාර කුටි වලින් පිරුණ රාජ්‍යය සම්බන්ධව මීට වඩා හැදෑරිය යුතු බව අමුත්තාම සිතා ගනී.

ආයබෝවන්! බර කල්පනාවක වගේ

අමුත්තා පිලිගනිමින් මී මැස්සියක විචාලාය.

ආයබෝවන්!  මම බැලුවේ මේ රාජ්‍යෙය් ඇති ක්‍රමාණුකූලභාවය සම්බන්ධවයි. ඇත්තටම විශිෂ්ඨයි, ශ්‍රේෂඨයි. මට කියන්න වචන ඇත්තේම නැහැ.

ස්තුථියි. රැජින ඔබ එනතුරු රැදී සිටිනවා. අපි යමු.

අමුත්තා රැජින වෙත යන ගමන මල්පැණි ගබඩා, මී පැණි ගබඩා, මල් රොන් ගබඩා, පසු කරමින් ගමන් ගනී. පැණියෙන් පිරුණ දේශයක්, මේ කුඩා සතුන් මේවා රැස්කරන්නේ කිසිවෙකුටත් කරදරයක් හිංසාවක් කරමින්  නම් නොවේ. අමුත්තා තුල තමන් සම්බන්ධව සියුම් ලැජ්ජාවක් හට ගනී. මම නියෝජනය කරන සමාජය මේ සතුන් එක්රැස්කරන දේ කොල්ල කන්නේ කොතරම් පහත් ආකාරයටද? තවත් ප්‍රශ්නයක් කරදර කරයි. රැජිනගේ සුහඳශීලී පිලිගැනුම අමුත්තා තුල නව ප්‍රබෝධයක් ඇති කලේය.

ආයුබෝවන්! ඔබේ පැමිණීම අපට කල විශාල ගෞරවයක් ලෙස පිලිගන්නවා. සතුට පිරි ඇගේ දෑස් විශාල කථාන්තරයක් කීමට සැරසේ .

ආයුබෝවන්! මහා රැජිණියෙණි, මගේ ජීවිතයේ දුටු අපූරුම පුරවරය ඔබගේ රාජ්‍යයයි මට හැඟෙනවා. මම බොහෝමයක් දේ දුටුවා සමහර දේවල් ඔබ වැනි කුඩා සත්ව පරපුරක් කරන්නේ කෙසේදැයි මට විශ්වාස කරන්නත් බැහැ.

මාගේ පලමු ප්‍රශ්නයෙන්ම ඈ මුවඟට නැඟුනේ හාස්‍ය යෙන් පිරි සිනාවකි. ඇය මද වේලාවකට පසුව කථා කලාය.

පුදුම වන්න ඔබ දුටුවේ මොනවාද? ඇය අමුත්තාගෙන් විචාලාය.

මහා රැජිණියෙණි, මෙතරම් කුඩා ජීවියෙක්, මෙවන්වූ අපූරු රාජධාණියක් ගොඩනැංවීමම මහත්වූ ඓශ්වර්යක් ලෙස මට දැනෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම,සඬස්‍රාකාර කුටි සමමිතිකව ගොඩනැංවීම, ඒවා විශිෂ්ඨ ලෙස පරිපාලනය කිරීම මට අදහා ගන්න බැහැ.

ඇත්තටම ඔබ පුදුම වෙන්නේ; පුදුම වෙන්න ඕනි දෙයකට නම් නොවේ. ඇයි ඔබ අහන්නේ නැත්තේ  මුළු ලෝකයේ ජීවීන්ගෙන්  80% කඩා අවශ්‍ය කරන ආහාර මේ කුඩා ජීවියා නිශ්පාදනය කරන්නේ කොහොමද? කියලා, මුළු මහත් ලෝකයේ ජනගහණයෙන් 80% කට වඩා ජනතාවට අපි කන්න දෙන්නේ කොහොමදැයි? කියල ප්‍රශ්න කලා නම් මම වඩාත් සතුටු වෙනවා. ඔබට නිකමටවත් හිතිල නැහැ, ඒ කාර්යය කරන්නේ මේ කුඩා සතා බව.

අමුත්තාට මී මැසි රැජීනගේ ප්‍රකාශයේ සැබෑ අරුත එකවරම නොතේරුණි.

ඔබතුමියගේ කථාව පැහැදිලි කලා නම් මම අගය කරනවා.

ඔව් මම දන්නවා මිනිස්සු හිතන විදිය. ආහාර නිශ්පාදනය සඳහා ඔබලාට අවශ්‍යයයි සිතන්නේ, ඉඩම, බීජ, ජලය, පොහොර, වල් නාශක, කෘමි නාශක හා ගොවියා යන කරුණු විතරයි. ඔබලා ගෙන් හුඟ දෙනෙක් හිතාගෙන ඉන්නෙත් ඒ විදියට, ඒ උනාට ඒ සාධක වලට අමතරව බඹරා, දෙබරා, කණ මැස්සා මී මැස්සා වැනි පරාගණය සඳහාම පුහුණුවූ හමුදාව නැතිව ඔබලාට කිසිම පලදාවක් ලබාගන්න නම් බැහැ. මේ පරාගණ හමුදාව තමයි මුළු ලොවටම ආහාර සපයන්නේ. ආහාර නිශ්පාදනය කරන්නේ පරාගණ හමුදාවයි. ඒ කාර්යය කිරීම සඳහා අපි දිවා රෑ වෙහෙසෙනවා. වැඩකරන මැස්සියන්ට දිනපතා උපදෙස් දෙනවා. ඉදිරිකාල වලදී මේ කාර්යයන් ඉටු කිරීම සඳහා අනාගත මී මැසි පරම්පරාව ගොඩනංවනවා. අපිට විශාලම ප්‍රශ්නය තියෙන්නේ මේ ලෝකයේ බුද්ධිමත්ම සතා කියන මිනිසාගෙන් ඇතිවෙන බාධකයි. බලන්න අද වෙනකොට රට පුරාම ඔබලාගේ මිනිස්සු මොනවාද කරන්නේ, විෂ පොහොරයි, විෂ වල් නාශකයි, අපිව මරන්න කෘමි නාශකයි  ඉල්ලමින් කිසිම වැඩක් නොකර මහා පාරේ රස්තියාදු ගහනවා මේ යටත් කන්න දෙන්න අපිට වැඩ කරන්න සිද්ධ වෙලයි තියෙන්නේ ! කොච්චර අසාධාරනයක්ද?

අමුත්තාට මීට මොහොතකට පෙර ඔහු කෙරෙහි ඔහු තුලවූ අභිමානය ගරා වැටෙන්න විය.ඔහු මහා අපහසු තාවයකට පත්විය. මෙවැනි කාර්යයක් සිදුවෙන බව අප දැනගෙන හිටියත් ගොවියට වඩා කෘමියා ඉහල ඉන්න බවක් නම් විශ්වාස කලේම නැහැ. ඇත්තනේ ලෝකයේ තියෙන මහා වනාන්තර පද්ධතිය තුල සිටින මහා ජීවි පරපුරට අවශ්‍ය කරන ආහාර වලින් කොටසක් සපයන්නේ ගොවියා නොව මේ කුඩා කෘමියා බව අමුත්තාට වැටහිණි. ගොවියාලේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් කරන වගාවන්වලදීද මේ කෘමියා කරන පරාගණ කාර්ය අත්‍යවශ බව අමුත්තාට වැටහිණි.

ඔව් මට ඔබතුමිය කියන කාරණාව මනාව වැටහෙනවා

ඔබට පරාගණය යනු පොතට සීමාවූ කුඩා විෂයක් පමණයි. නමුත් අපට පරාගණය යනු මුළු පෘතුවියේ අඛණ්ඩව ගලායන ජීවී ප්‍රජාවගේ උරුමයන් රැක දෙන මහා ක්‍රියාවලියයි. මේ ක්‍රියාවලියෙන් මිදීමට අපිට හිමි කමක් උරුමව නැහැ.අපි අපේ සතුරන්ටත් මිතුරන්ටත් එකසේ අවශ්‍යකරන ආහාර නිශ්පාදනය කරන්නෝ වෙමු.

ඔබතුමිය පරාගණ කාර්ය සම්බන්ධව කථා කරන විට මිනිසා යන නාමය ඇසෙන විට කථා කරන්නේ සතුරෙක්ගේ නමක් ඇසුනාක් මෙනි. ඒ ඇයි?

අපිට කථා කරන්න ගොඩාක් කරුණු තියෙනවා. මේ සංවාදය අපි සතුරු ලෙසින් කථා කිරීමෙන් කිසිඳු පලක් නැහැ. නමුත් මිනිසාගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් රාශියක් අපට මහා වේදනාවක් ගෙන දෙනවා. ඔබලා ඉටු කරන මොනම කාර්යකටත් වඩා වටිනවා ආහාර නිශ්පාදනය කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය. ඒ මහා කාර්ය කරන්නේ කෘමි ප්‍රජාව,:වැඩිපුර අඝ්‍රණය කලොත් තමන්ටත් මරණය උරුම කරන අති පුබල කාමි නාශක කිසිඳු පදනමකින් තොරව විසුරුවා හැරීම හේතුවෙන්, පරාගණය කිරීමට සිටින හමුදාව මරා දමන්නේ මිනිසා බව ඔබේ මිනිසුන්ට වටහා දෙන්න.. මේ පරම්පරාව අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වා ගැනීම සඳහා රැජිනක් වශයෙන් මට පැවරී ඇති කාර්යයන් අතර, දිනකට බිත්තර 700කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක්  දැමීමට අමතරව මෙහි පරිපාලනයත් ඉටුකරනවා. මී වදයක් පිරෙන්න මී පැණි හොයන්න මී මැස්සෝ ගමන් කරන දුර ප්‍රමාණය කිලෝ මීටර 80,000කට වැඩි බව මිනිසුන්ට අවබෝධ කරල දෙන්න. මේ මී වදය පුරවන්න පැණි නිශ්පාදනය කරන්න මල් මිලියන දෙකක් තරම් ප්‍රමාණයක් අතර සැරි සරන මහා කාරියක්. මේ වනවිට මෙතරම් මල් ප්‍රමාණයක් සොයා ගැනීමත් මහා දුෂ්කර කාර්යයක් බවට පත්වෙලා. එදා මෙන් නොව අද හැම මිනිහෙක්ම වවන්නේ මල් පිපෙන ගස් නොව, මල් නැති කොල හා කඳ අලංකාර වූ ගස් පමනක් වීමත් මහා අර්බූදයක් වෙලා. ඒ නිසා සමාජය මල් වලින් බරිත වූ සමාජයක් කරන්න කියන්න. එවිට සමනලයින් මී මැසිසන් කන මැස්සන් ගෙන් පිරුණ සමාජයක් නිර්මාණය වේවි. මිනිසුන්ට මී මැස්සන්ට ආදරය කරන්න කියන්න. මී මැස්සන්ව ඇති කරන්න කියන්න. මී මැස්සා හා සහජීවනයෙන් ජීවත්වෙන්න කියන්න. කාබනික පොහොර මෙන්ම මී මැස්සන් සඳහා වූ කලාප වගාවන් අසලම ගොඩනංවන්න කියන්න. ආහාර අතින් සංවර්ධනය කිරීම එවන් තත්වයන් යටතේ අපට පහසුවෙන් කල හැකි වේවි.

ඇගේ ඉල්ලීම තුලවූයේ කාරුණිකභාවය කැටිවූ තද ස්වරයකි. ඇය වැඩකරන්නේ මුදලට නොවන බැවින් රට සංවර්ධනය කිරීම ඇයගේ එකම අභිලාශය බවට පත්ව ඇත.මිල ස්ථාවරව පවත්වා ගැනීම සඳහා මිනිසා පලදාව විනාශ කරන්නෙක් බව ඇය දන්නේ නම් මට මෙතරම් වටිනා රජධානියක් තුලට අතුළු වීමටවත් අවසර නොලැබීමට ඉඩ තිබිණැයි අමුත්තාට සිතිණි. මී මැසි රැජිණිය ගෙන් සමුගත් අමුත්තා මහත් සිතුවිලි රාශියක් අතරේ තෙරපෙමින් ඉදිරියටම ඇදිණ.
සෑම මී මැස්‍සකුටම සම නිපුනතාවයන් නිරිමාණය කරන ලද නිර්මාන කරුවා. අපට උරුම කර ඇත්තේ කොච්චර සුන්දර නිර්මාණයන්ද? හැමටම සඩාස්‍රාකාර සමාන කුටි, හැමදෙන ඒකාකාරව කරන වෙහෙසීම අපට කියාපාන්නේ මිනිසා කථා කරන සමාජවාදයද? නැත්නම් උත්තර නිර්මිතියද?

මී මැසි රාජධානියෙන් එලියට බට අමුත්තාට ඇසුන කන පිනවන මියුරු ගී නාදයට අනුව මුළු ලොව උයනක් බවට පත් කරවිය යුතු බව අවබෝධ වී කිබිණ. නමුත් ඒ මියුරු ගී නාදය පරයමින්  බෝඩ් උස්සාගත් කාඩ්බෝඩ් ගොයියෝ

“අපට පොහොර දියව්!”
“අපට් කෘමි නාශක දියව් ”  යනුවෙන් මොරදුන්හ.

අමුත්තාට මී මැසි රැජින මේ ගොයියන්ට වඩා කොතරම් ප්‍රබුද්ධාදැයි සිතිණි.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි..

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

වරාය නගරය සක්‍රීයව ඉදිකිරීම ආරම්භවීමත් සමග එහි අවශ්‍යතාවයට ගැලපෙන පරිදි පියවරෙන් පියවර  පුහුණු වෘත්තීකයින් එයට සම්බන්ධ කරන අයුරු පිළිබද සාකච්ඡාවක්  ඊයේ (07) දින නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මහත්මිය සහ කොළඹ වරාය නගර ආර්ථික කොමිසමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය භාර නිළධාරීන් අතර නිපුණතා පියසේදී පවත්වන ලදී.

මෙහිදී  වැඩිදුරටත්  අදහස් දක්වමින් අමාත්‍යවරිය ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ  වෘත්තීය පුහුණු  ක්ෂේත්‍රය නවීන ලෝකයට ගැලපෙන පරිදි ඉතා ඉක්මණින් යාවත්කාලීන කල යුතු බවත්, එමගින් වරාය නගරයේ එක් එක් පියවර වලදී ඊට අවශ්‍ය පුහුණු ශ්‍රමිකයින් නියමිත පරිදි ලබා දිය හැකි බවත්ය. විශාල රැකියා ප්‍රමාණයක් එක වර උත්පාදනය වන බැවින් ඊට සරිලන පරිදි පුහුණු ශ්‍රමිකයින් නුතන තාක්ෂණයෙන් සවිබල ගැන්වීමට  වෘත්තීය පුහුණු ආයතන වෙත එක් එක්  වගකීම් වෙන් වශයෙන් පැවරීමද මෙහිදී අමාත්‍යවරිය විසින් සිදු කරන ලදී. එමෙන්ම NVQ සහතික ලබා රැකියා වියුක්තියෙන් පෙලෙන තරුණ ප්‍රජාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් විශේෂ අවධානය යොමුවන ලදී. එම තරුණ පිරිස් නැවත රැස් කර  ඔවුණට වරාය නගරයේ නූතන තාක්ෂණයට  ගැලපෙන පරිදි දැණුම යාවත්කාලින කර හැකි ඉක්මනින් එම පිරිස  වරාය නගරයේ අවශ්‍යතාවයන් සඳහා යොමු කරන ලෙසද උපදෙස් ලබා දෙන ලදී. එමෙන්ම එම පිරිස් වල භාෂා දැනුම හා තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ දැනුම (IT) වරාය නගරයට ගැලපෙන පරිදි යාවත්කාලින කිරීම සඳහා ද මෙහිදී අවධානය යොමු විය.

 පළමුවෙන් පටන් ගන්නා ඉදිකිරීම් ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ අවශ්‍යතා වෙනුවෙන් අවශ්‍ය ඉදිකිරීම්, විදුළි , ජලනල, වායුසමීකරණ, දැනුම ඇති කණ්ඩායම්  හැකි ඉක්මණින් සුදානම් කරණ ලෙස මෙහිදී සියලු නිළධාරීන්ට අමාත්‍යවරිය විසින් උපදෙස් ලබා දෙන ලදී.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට කොළඹ වරාය නගර ආර්ථික කොමිසමේ සාමාජීක ආචාර්ය පියත්බන්ධු වික්‍රම මහතා ඇතුඵ එහි නිළධාරීන්, අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් දීපා ලියනගේ මහත්මීය ඇතුඵ අමාත්‍යංශයේ වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන අංශයේ නිළධාරීන් සහභාගී වුහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Bangkok, Thailand

A national consultation workshop on a strategy for sustainable freight transport in Sri Lanka was virtually held by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Embassy and the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Bangkok and the Ministry of Transport of Sri Lanka, on 5^th July 2021.

Making opening remarks at the workshop, the Chief of the Transport Connectivity and Logistics Section of the Transport Division of UNESCAP, Azhar Jaimurzina assured that UNESCAP would render necessary technical assistance in implementing the strategy for sustainable freight transport in Sri Lanka in order to maximize the positive externalities of freight transport.

In her opening remarks, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Thailand C.A. Chaminda I. Colonne appreciated the efforts taken by the UNESCAP in conducting the assessment on sustainable freight transport in Sri Lanka and developing the national strategy.

Secretary Monty Ranatunge of the Ministry of Transport of Sri Lanka welcomed the initiative of the UNESCAP to organize the national consultation on sustainable freight transport. He further appreciated the draft of the strategy prepared by the UNESCAP for consultations. He concurred with strategic thrust areas identified in the strategy and highlighted need for increasing the role of railway transport by undertaking restructuring of railways in Sri Lanka.

The UNESCAP Economic Affairs Officer Sandeep Jain elaborated on the strategy. Explaining on the rationale for strategy on sustainable freight transport he stated that it would help Sri Lanka to provide coherence to sustainable freight transport measures that are currently fragmented and scattered. The strategy would help implement Sri Lanka’s international obligations particularly- the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The draft strategy has identified seven focus areas that include increasing role of railway transport, improving intermodal freight transport, transforming Sri Lanka into a global maritime hub, building resilience of transport to climate change impacts, enhancing sustainability of road transport, addressing urban freight transport challenges, and expanding role of women in transport sector in Sri Lanka.

It also identified five enablers that would help implement strategy including strengthening of governance for sustainable freight transport, building capacity of transport policy makers, promoting transformative transport technologies, encouraging private sector participation, and diversifying funding source for sustainable freight transport.

The workshop also included a representative from the Ministry of Oceans and Fishing of Republic of Korea who shared the experience of port policies and how Sri Lanka could learn from them. The representatives of Asian Institute of Transport Development (AITD) also shared their views on challenges faced by Sri Lanka railways and how to boost the role of railway transport in Sri Lanka. The President of the Infrastructure Economic Centre based in Moscow explained how understanding of freight flows post pandemic would become important component for appropriate planning and investments in transport infrastructure in Sri Lanka.

The workshop agreed that the draft strategy would be finalized soon after consultations with relevant stakeholders and then after government endorsement/adoption would be taken up for implementation.

Secretary D. Mataraarachchi of the State Ministry of Warehouse Facilities, Container Yards, Port Supply Facilities and Boat and Shipping Industry Development and other senior officials from Ministry of Highways, Ministry of Ports and Shipping, Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Sri Lanka Railway also joined the discussions. Prof. Lalith Edirisinghe from the CINEC Maritime Campus, Sri Lanka shared the views representing the non-government sector. First Secretary and Deputy Permanent Representative Saritha Ranatunga also joined from the Embassy. 

Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Bangkok,
Thailand

07^th July 2021

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

ක්‍රීඩාව ගොඩනැගීමේ මූලික අඩිතාලම ගතයුත්තේ පාසල්  හා ග්‍රාම නිළධාරී කොට්ඨාශ මට්ටමින්  බවත් ඒ සඳහා අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය සමග ඉතා සමීපව කටයුතු කර නැවත වතාවක් පාසල් ක්‍රීඩාව ආරම්භ කරන බවත්  ඊයේ (07) දින අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් දෙහිවල ප්‍රදේශයේ පැවති අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ආහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය බෙදාදීමේ අවස්ථාවේදී මාධ්‍යවේදීන් නැඟූ ප්‍රශ්නයකයට පිළිතුරු ලබාදෙමින් අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

එහිදී අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේද කීය.

පැහැදිලිව කියන්න අවශ්‍යයි ක්‍රීඩකයින්ගේ විනය සම්බන්ධව අපි විශේෂයෙන් සැලකිලිමත් වෙනවා. ක්‍රීඩා සංගම්වලටත් අපි දැනුවත් කරලා තිබෙනවා කිසිසේත් විනය කඩ කිරීම් වලට සමාව දෙන්න පුලුවන් කමක් නැහැ කියලා. විනය ප්‍රධානකොට ගෙන ක්‍රීඩාව සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙල අපි හදන්න අවශ්‍යයයි.

අම්මා කෙනෙක් දරුවෙක් ක්‍රීඩාවට එවන්නේ බලාපොරොත්තුවක් ඇතිව. අම්මා තාත්තා විශ්වාස කරනවා දරුවා ක්‍රීඩකයෙක් බවට පත් වෙනකොට ඒ දරුවාගේ විනයත් හැදෙයි කියලා.

සමාජයේ ගෞරවය ආරක්ෂා කරගෙන කටයුතු කරයි කියන විශ්වාසේ ඔවුන්ට තිබෙනවා. ඒ දේවල් ආරක්ෂා කරගෙන අපි ඉස්සරහට යන්න ඕනේ.

මේ වෙනකොට අපි මහේල ජයවර්ධන මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ ක්‍රීඩා කවුන්සිලය එකතුවෙලා ඉහළ දක්ෂතා සහිත ක්‍රීඩකයින්ගෙන් සපිරි සංචිතය සමග ගිවිසුම්ගත වෙලා තිබෙනවා. ක්‍රීඩකයින් 60 කට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් මෙම ගිවිසුම හරහා අප සමග සම්බන්ධ වී තිබෙනවා. ඔවුන් සදහා සාධාරණ ගෙවීමක් අපි කරනවා.

ඉදිරියේදී කනිෂ්ඨ සංචිතය ගිවිසුම්ගත කිරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙල ක්‍රියාත්මකයි. ක්‍රීඩාව දියුණු වෙන කොට ජාත්‍යන්තර ජයග්‍රහණ කරා ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවෝ යොමු වන විට ඔවුන්ගේ ආදායම් මට්ටම ඉහළ යනවා. එය ක්‍රීඩා ආර්ථිකයේ කොටසක්.

ක්‍රීඩා ආර්ථිකය ගොඩ නගන්න නම් දක්ෂ ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් ගොඩ නගන්න අවශ්‍යයයි. අපි පළාත් මට්ටමින් ජයග්‍රහණය කළාම ඇති, ජාතික මට්ටමින් ජයග්‍රහණය කළාම ඇති කියන මානසිකත්වයෙන් මිදිලා ජාත්‍යන්තර ජයග්‍රහණ කරා අපේ ක්‍රීඩකයෝ අපි අරගෙන යන්න ඕනේ.

ක්‍රීඩකයා ක්‍රීඩා කරන කාල සීමාව තුළ තමන්ගේ විනය ආරක්ෂා කරගෙන ආදර්ශමත් ක්‍රීඩකයෙක් බවට පත් වුවහොත් ඔහුට අනාගතය ගොඩනගා ගත හැකි සැළැස්ම අපි හදනවා.

පසුගිය වසර ගණනාව පුරා අපි දැක්කේ නැහැ එවැනි වැඩ පිළිවෙලක්.  ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් රට වෙනුවෙන් තරග කරලා ජයග්‍රහණ ලබා ගෙන ක්‍රීඩාවෙන් සමු ගත්තාම ඔවුන්ව රැක බලා ගන්න වැඩසටහනක් තිබුණේ නැහැ.

අපි ජාතික ක්‍රීඩා විද්‍යා ආයතනය සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන ක්‍රීඩකයින්ගේ වෘත්තීය නිපුණතාවය හා ක්‍රීඩකයාගේ ව්‍යවසායකත්වය වැඩි දියුණු කරන්න මේ සියලුම පැතිකඩවල් ආවරණය කරන්න සැළසුම හදලා තියෙන්නේ. අනාගතයේදී ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට හොද අධ්‍යාපනයක් වගේම ව්‍යවසායකයන් ලෙස රට තුළ කටයුතු කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව උදා කර දෙන වැඩ පිළිවෙළ මේ වන විටත් ආරම්භ කරලා තිබෙනවා.

වර්තමානයේ දෙමව්පියන් දරුවන්ව ක්‍රීඩාවට යොමු කරන්නේ නැහැ ඔවුන්ගේ අනාගතය අදුරු වෙයි කියලා. වර්තමානයේ ක්‍රීඩාවට යොමු වන දරුවන්ගේ අනාගතය මොන වගේ වෙයිද කියලා.

අපි දෙමව්පියන්ගෙන් ආදරයෙන් ඉල්ලන්නේ තමන්ගේ දරුවා ක්‍රීඩාවට යොමු කරන්න.

විශේෂයෙන්ම ක්‍රීඩාවට යොමුවීම තුළ කායික හා මානසික සුවය දරුවාට ලැබෙනවා. කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගතය නිසා ගෙවල්වලට හිරවෙලා ඉන්න දරුවන්ට ගෙදර සිට ව්‍යායාම කරවන්න, තනිවම ව්‍යයාම කරන්න, ශරීර සුවතා කටයුතු සදහා යෙදෙන්න සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය මගින් අවසර ලබා දී තිබෙනවා. තනි තනිව සිදු කරන ක්‍රීඩා සදහා පුහුණුවීම් කරන්න අවසර ලබා දීලා තිබෙනවා.

එවිට මානසික සුවය, කායික සුවය සමග සෞඛ්‍යසම්පන්න දරුවෙක් බිහිවෙනවා වගේම අපිට හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා ඒ තුළ ජාත්‍යන්තරය ජය ගත හැකි ක්‍රීඩකයන් බිහි කරන්න.

නිරෝගී සම්පන්න දරුවෙක් බිහි කළොත් පමණයි ලොවක් දිනාගන්න ක්‍රීඩකයෙක් අපිට හදන්න පුලුවන්.

අද ක්‍රීඩාව වෙනදාට වඩා වෙනස්.  ක්‍රීඩා කරන පසුබිම හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස්. අද ක්‍රීඩා ආර්ථිකය රටේ ගොඩ නැගෙනවා. ඒ තුළ තමන් වෘත්තීමය ක්‍රීඩකයෙක් බවට පත් වෙනවා පමණක් නොවෙයි මේ සැළැස්ම තුළ ඔබේ දරුවාට පුලුවන් වෘත්තීය පුහුණුව, කාර්මික පුහුණුව, නිපුණතා සංවර්ධනය හරහා ඉදිරියට යන්න.

ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට ව්‍යවසායකයින්වීමේ අවස්ථාව තිබෙනවා. තමන්ගේ පාසල් අධ්‍යාපනය නොකඩවා කරගෙන යන්න පුලුවන්.

ලෝකය ජයගත් ප්‍රවීණ වෘත්තීමය ක්‍රීඩකයින් ඉන්නවා ක්‍රීඩාවට අමතරව තමන්ගේම ව්‍යාපාර, වෘත්තීන් කරගෙන ආර්ථික අතින් ද ශක්තිමත් වුණ. මේවා ආදර්ශයට ගන්න ඕනේ.

ක්‍රීඩාවට යොමු වන දරුවන්ගේ අනාගතය ජයගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය සැළසුම අපි හදලා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරගෙන යනවා. අපි කළ යුත්තේ දෙමාපියන් සමග එකතුවෙලා දරුවන්ව ක්‍රීඩාව සදහා යොමු කිරීමයි.

ක්‍රීඩාව ගොඩ නගන්න අවශ්‍ය මූලික අඩිතාලම ගත යුත්තේ පාසල් මට්ටමින් හා ග්‍රාම නිළධාරී කොට්ඨාශ මට්ටමින්. අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය සමග ඉතා සමීපව කටයුතු කරලා නැවත වතාවක් පාසල් ක්‍රීඩාව ආරම්භ කරන්න කටයුතු කරනවා.

ලබන වසරේ ජනවාරි මස සිට ග්‍රාම නිළධාරී කොට්ඨාශ හරහා ගමේ ග්‍රාම නිළධාරී හා සෙසු රාජ්‍ය නිළධාරීන් සම්බන්ධ කර ගනිමින් ක්‍රීඩාවට දක්ෂ තරුණ පිරිස් හදුනා ගැනීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ආරම්භ කරනවා. කොට්ඨාශ, දිස්ත්‍රික්ක, පළාත් සංචිත හරහා ජාතික දක්වා තරුණ දක්ෂ ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් ඉදිරියට ගෙන ඒමේ දීර්ඝකාලීන සැළැස්ම  ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන බවත් අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය,

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

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ නියෝජ්‍ය සංවිධායක ධුරයට පත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදු ජන පෙරමුණේ මහ ලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නීතිඥ සාගර කාරියවසම් මහතා ඊට අදාළ පත්වීම් ලිපිය ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අතින් අද (08) දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී ලබා ගත්තේය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ පිහිටි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේ දී මෙම පත්වීම් ප්‍රදානය සිදුවිය.

මෙයට පෙර ජයන්ත කැටගොඩ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ නියෝජ්‍ය සංවිධායක ධුරය හෙබවූ අතර ඒ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීමෙන් පුරප්පාඩුවන එම ධුරය සඳහා මෙසේ නීතිඥ සාගර කාරියවසම් මහතා පත් කර තිබේ.

පත්වීම් ලිපිය ලැබූ නීතිඥ සාගර කාරියවසම් මහතා ඊට සුළු වේලාවකට පසුව සිය ධුරයේ වැඩ භාරගත්තේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායක අමාත්‍ය ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා, ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායක ලේකම් නීතිඥ චමින්ද කුලරත්න මහත්වරු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

Courtesy Hiru News

Sixteen people, including Joseph Stalin of the Ceylon Teachers Union, who were arrested and released on bail on charges of violating quarantine laws, have been referred to a special quarantine center.

Courtesy Adaderana

UPDATE: Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Founder Basil Rajapaksa has assumed his new duties at the Ministry of Finance.

The founder of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Basil Rajapaksa has taken oaths as the Cabinet Minister of Finance this morning (July 08).

The Elections Commission yesterday (July 07) gazette Rajapaksa’s name for the SLPP MP seat left vacant with the resignation of former MP Jayantha Ketagoda.

With the revision of the scope of functions of ministries, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa took oaths as the Minister of Economic Policies and Implementation of Plans.

Accordingly, Basil Rajapaksa was sworn in as the Minister of Finance.

He took oaths before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat.

Minister Namal Rajapaksa, Secretary to the President, P B Jayasundara, Senior Advisor, Lalith  Weeratunga, Secretary to the Prime Minister, Gamini Senarath, and Mrs. Pushpa Rajapaksa were also present during the swearing-in ceremony.

Basil Rajapaksa spearheaded a number of government initiatives in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and played a major role as a member of the Committee to Combat COVID 19. He is also the Head of the Presidential Task Force on Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation and the Presidential Task  Force on Creating a Green Sri Lanka with Sustainable Solutions to Climate Change.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 381 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,223.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 269,946.

As many as 239,584 recoveries and 3,391 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 27,011 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed 40 more COVID-19 related fatalities that have occurred yesterday (July 07).

The new development has pushed the official death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 3,391.

According to the data released by the Department of Government Information, the new victims confirmed today include 11 females and 29 males.

Twelve of the victims are between 30-59 years and the remaining 28 are aged 60 and above.

Courtesy Adaderana

Two State Ministry Portfolios were reshuffled and accordingly, two State Ministers were sworn in before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (July 08).

Shasheendra Rajapaksa was sworn in as the State Minister of Organic Fertilizer Production, Supply, and Regulation and the Paddy and Grains, Organic Food, Vegetables, Fruits, Chillies, Onion, and Potato Cultivation Promotion, Seed Production and Advanced Technology for Agriculture.

With the reshuffle of the ministerial portfolios, Senior Prof. Mohan De Silva was sworn in as the State Minister of Coast Conservation and Low-Lying Lands Development.

Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundera was also present at the occasion.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa says that the priority of his ministry, the government as well himself is the needs of the country’s people. 

Speaking to reporters after officially assuming duties at the Finance Ministry today (8), he said that they need the support of the working people especially the farmers, fishermen, labourers, public servants and professionals.

He also urged all the public representatives from parliamentarians to the members of local government bodies to support their efforts. This is a big difficult task. Let’s accept the challenge. Let’s all work together.” 

The priority of our ministry, our government as well as myself is the needs of the general people. Their priority is our priority. We know all those priorities. We have an understanding what the problem is.” 

He stated that the President, the Prime Minister and everyone in the government have understanding as to what the issues are, and that however sometimes some unpleasant things will have to be done, like a father has to do.”

Even so, we believe we are doing these things for the people with honesty. Support that.”