තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය

පොළොන්නරුව, කිලිනොච්චිය සහ මොණරාගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කවලින් ආරම්භ කෙරන ව්‍යවසායකත්වය ප්‍රමඛ කරගත් ආදර්ශ තරුණ අධි තාක්ෂණ ගම්මාන රටේ අනෙකුත් දිස්ත්‍රික්කවලටත් රැගෙන යන බව තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවසීය.

වැලිකන්ද අසේලපුර ගම්මානය ඇතුළු පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ගම්මාන කිහිපයක නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවකට එක්වෙමින් අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය.

අදාළ අධි තාක්ෂණ ගම්මාන සැලසුම් කෙරන ආකාරය සහ ඊට අයත්වන වපසරිය සම්බන්ධව අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවට එක්වෙමින් සොයා බැලුවේය.

එක් ආදර්ශ ගම්මානයකට පවුල් 400-500ත් සංඛ්‍යාවක් ඇතුළත්වන පරිදි මෙම ආදර්ශ තරුණ අධි තාක්ෂණ ගම්මාන ස්ථාපිත කෙරෙන අතර ඊටම අදාළ ව්‍යාපාරික ක්‍රමවේදයක් ඔස්සේ මෙම ගම්මාන ස්වයංපෝෂිත ගම්මාන බවට පත්කිරීමට නියමිතය.

තරුණ අධි තාක්ෂණ ගම්මාන පිහිටුවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙසේ ද කීවේය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා, මහවැලි, කෘෂිකර්ම, නිවාස අමාත්‍යංශ ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශ 6ක් එකතුකරගෙන අපි තරුණ අධි තාක්ෂණ ගම්මාන බිහිකරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. එහිදී පළමු අදියර විධියට මොනරාගල,පොළොන්නරුව-වැලිකන්ද, කිලිනොච්චිය දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල ගම්මාන තුනක් හඳුනාගෙන තියෙනවා.

ඒ අනුව අපි බලාපොරොත්තුවෙනවා මේ අවුරුද්ද අවසාන වනවිට සැලසුමක් සහිත ව්‍යවසායකත්වය ප්‍රමුඛ කරමින් තරුණ ගම්මාන තුනක් මේ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක තුන කේන්ද්‍ර කරගෙන බිහිකරන්න. එහිදී තාක්ෂණය උපයෝගී කරගත් කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය, සත්ත්ව පාලනය සහ අනෙකුත් ව්‍යවසායකත්වය කේන්ද්‍ර කරගත් ගම්මාන බවට මෙම ගම්මාන පරිවර්තනය කරනවා.

ඒවා අංග සම්පූර්ණ ගම්මාන වගේම නව තාක්ෂණය සමඟ  ඊළඟ පරම්පරාවට ආදායම් උත්පාදනය කරන්න පුළුවන් ගම්මාන බවට පරිවර්තනය කරන්න අවශ්‍යයයි. ඒ සඳහා අද මූලික සැලැස්ම දැනට ක්‍රියාත්මකයි. රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශ ඒකරාශිවෙලා ඉන්නවා වගේම පෞද්ගලික අංශයත් මේ සඳහා දක්වන දායකත්වයට විශේෂයෙන් අපි ස්තුතිවන්ත වෙනවා.

අස්වැන්න මිලදී ගන්නත් මෙම ගම්මාන සැලසුම් කිරීම සඳහාත් ගෘහ නිර්මාණ ශීල්පීන් ස්වෙච්ඡාවෙන්ම ඉදිරිපත් වෙලා තියෙනවා.

 මේ ගම්මාන තුන එකිනෙකට ආවේනික ගම්මාන බවට පත්කරන්න මෙහිදී අපි බලාපොරොත්තුවෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම වෘත්තිය නිපුණත්වයකින් යුතු තරුණ පිරිසක් ඒ සඳහා තෝරගන්නවා.

මෙම ගම්මානවලට තෝරාගන්න ක්‍රමවේදය පිළිබඳව ඉදිරියේ දී මාධ්‍ය හරහා මේ රටේ තරුණ පරම්පරාව දැනුවත් කරනවා. පළමු අදියර විධියට අපි භූමිය හඳුනාගැනීම සහ ඒ භූමියට අවේනික කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයද, සත්ත්ව පාලනයද  නැතිනම් කළ හැකි කාර්යයන් කුමක්ද සහ ඊට අපි තාක්ෂණය උපයෝගී කරගන්නේ කෙසේද කියන කාරණය සොයා බලනවා.

නිවාස අමාත්‍යංශය සමඟ එකතුවෙලා නිවාස යෝජනා ක්‍රමය හා නව ගම්මානය ඇතිවෙන්නෙ කොතනද කියලා හඳුනාගත්තට පසුව ඒ අවශ්‍ය තරුණ පිරිස තෝරගැනීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙල අපි ඊළඟ මාස කිහිපය තුළ ආරම්භ කරනවා.ආදර්ශ ගම්මාන තුනක් විධියට අපි මෙම ගම්මාන ඉදිකරන්න බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන්නෙ.මෙහි සාර්ථකත්වයත් එක්ක අපි බලාපොරොත්තුවෙනවා ලංකාවේ අනෙකුත් දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වලටත් මෙය රැගෙන යන්න. 

විශේෂයෙන්ම සඳහන් කරන්න ඕන නිවස ලබා දෙන්නෙ නිවාස අමාත්‍යංශය විසින්. අවුරුදු 30කින් ගෙවලා අවසන් කරන විධියට. වර්ග අඩි 650කින් 750කින් යුතු නිවාසයක්. මහල් 4ක් උපරිමය වන ආකාරයට තට්ටු නිවාස සංකීර්ණයක් හදන්න අපි බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන්නෙ. වගා කටයුතු සඳහා භූමියේ පරිහරණ අයිතිය තමයි අපි ලබා දෙන්න කටයුතු කරන්නෙ. ඒ අනුව භූමිය කිසිදු වෙනසක් සිදු කරන්න බැහැ.

ඒ අපි තාක්ෂණය එක්ක කලානුරූපීව තෝරාගන්නා වගාවන් කිරීම සඳහා යොදාගන්නවා. අපේ අපේක්ෂාව පවුල් 400ක් 500ක සංඛ්‍යාවක් එක ගම්මානයකට කේන්ද්‍ර  කරගන්න. ඒ තුළ අපට හැකියාව ලැබෙයි ඒ ගම්මානයටම අවේණික ව්‍යාපාර නිර්මාණය කරලා ස්වයංපෝෂිත ගම්මානයක් බවට පත්කරන්න යැයි අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවසීය.

මෙම නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාව සඳහා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන සිරිපාල ගම්ලත්, ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ, අනුරාධ ජයරත්න, තේනුක විදානගමගේ, ඩී.වී. චානක, ඩී.බී. හේරත් යන අමාත්‍යවරුන් ද පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී අමරකීර්ති අතුකෝරල මහතා,  ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සභාපතිවරුන් ඇතුළු පළාත් පාලන නියෝජිතයින්, පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් ඩබ්. ඒ. ධර්මසිරි මහතා ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යශවල නිලධාරි පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The national vaccination program will open up in Jaffna from tomorrow, as the Jaffna district has been one of the worst affected districts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government’s special resettlement facilitation officer for the North and East, Geethanath Kassilingam said that 12 vaccination centers will be allocated from Sunday and those above the age of 30 years will be eligible to receive their jabs.

“It will begin from areas which have been identified as ‘high risk’ and the centers will rotate during the weeks,” Kassilingam said.

Some of the centers’ are allocated in areas such as Kopay, Chavakachcheri and Jaffna Municipal Council limits.

Kassilingam requested people in Jaffna, to receive their jabs soon.

The public in north will receive the Sinopharm vaccines which arrived in the country from Beijing earlier this week. (JAMILA HUSAIN)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A total of 42 more COVID-19 deaths were reported bringing the death toll to 1,405, the Government Information Department said.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has written to the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena, requesting that a proper document with prioritized list and appropriate practical methodology for covid vaccination to be prepared and made public.

This is in view of the complaints received by the Human Rights Commission stating that the vaccination process has not been conducted in a fair and transparent manner in the last few days.

The Human Rights Commission has observed that priority should be given to groups that have been in direct contact with covid infected patients.

Accordingly, the Chairman of the Human Rights Commission Dr. Jagath Balasuriya has directed the Director General of Health Services to prepare a relevant priority document and a suitable practical procedure and inform it before June 15.

Meanwhile, despite the travel restrictions, the vaccination program is still active in several parts of the island. A vaccination program was also launched at the Narahenpita Abhayaramaya temple.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has so far received 1.1 million doses of Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine, and its first dose had been given to 80,031 people.

Army Commander General Shavendra Silva stated that a special program is planned to administer the second dose of Sinopharm vaccine from June 8.

65,000 doses of Russian made Sputnik V have been received in Sri Lanka and the number of people who have received the first dose is 14,984.

The Sputnik vaccine will be available to the public in the Kandy District from tomorrow.

Also, 1,264,000 doses of Covishield vaccine have been received in the country and the first dose has been given to 925,242 persons.

Although the number of doses remaining is 338,758, according to the Epidemiology Unit, 343,293 people have been given the second dose of the Covshield vaccine as of yesterday.

If so, it is questionable as to how the first or second dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covshield vaccine has been given to 4535 people in excess of its availability.

Courtesy Hiru News

Ajith Nivard Cabraal, State Minister of Finance and Capital Markets and Public Enterprise Reforms stated that the Colombo Port City will contribute US $ 4.5 billion to the country’s GDP in the first few years.

He was speaking at a media briefing held in Colombo yesterday to raise awareness about the port city.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 788 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,827.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 180,593.

As many as 148,391 recoveries and 1,363 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 30,839 active cases are currently under medical care.

Palitha Senanayake

Recently there has been  considerable criticism, in printed as well as in the social media, of Sri Lanka’s increase ‘dependence’ on the Chinese state, and this criticism identifies this dependence with the current Rajapakse regime.  The criticism, moreover, appears to suggest that there is some danger in this dependence vis a vis the country’s sovereignty and independence. 

In this respect it is important to ponder whether Sri Lanka, as a country, has been truly independent for the past 73 years of its existence since it was granted ‘independence’ by its colonizers’, the British, after 145 year imperial subjection.  By the time the British left after all those years, this country had an elite ring of people who were English educated/ trained and hence always acted in the way the empire would approve. The world order at that time, being the post- World War 11 scenario, was inclined in that direction as the WW11 victors appointed themselves to be the arbiters of world way-forward.  The deleterious effect of all that was not just the emulation of the West, but the servile mentality our rulers inherited. As a result they were subliminally accustomed to a state where they just could not see beyond ‘what the Englishman would show you’.   

Hence we continued with the same economic and social values and the changes that took place since then were more in the form of ‘inevitables’ than in the form of pre- planed. To start with, the democratic system of governance that was thrust upon us would not have been the most appropriate governing system given the fact that the country’s literacy rate at the point of independence was a mere 6 % and its standard of living was hardly at the barest of necessities.  Under the democratic form of governance the people are the rulers and you could just imagine the wisdom and providence of a ruler who is only 6 % literate and whose basics needs of life were hardly fulfilled.

 The fact is that the new nation bequeathed a human stock that had been neglected for centuries with a life expectancy of only 45 years, per capita income of  1.5 $ and a literacy rate of  a mere 6 % . Thus the post independent democratic governments had little choice but to give in to the nation’s democratic dictate to raise the level of the human stock by investing heavily on health and education.  We changed governments, one after the other, expecting more from the government that succeeded. Lee Kwan Yew the architect of Singapore’s resurgence  has maintained many a times that, ‘I meet my commonwealth colleagues every other year at the Commonwealth convention and they complain of their woes in nation building; democracy has only brought regression and not progression to them’ . He further maintains that when a country’s people are not educated and when their basic needs of life are not met, democracy is the last form of government they should have. The Governor of a country, be it a Sheik or a King should carry on for at least for 20 years and instead when you have governments elected for a limited period it is inevitable that such governments will turn out to be ‘time servers”.

We complain of corruption by politicians but corruption is a part and parcel of democratic politics. Today an MP needs Rs. 20 million to do an election and how do we expect him to make that Rs. 20 million every 5 years? Central bank heist was not for a personal aggrandizement and the funds were needed to do the 2015 UNP election campaign. In America the presidential campaigns run on corporate finance and as a result today every US government is elected by the country’s 2 % rich.  Agendas of these corporations does not stop there as the most profitable businesses to day are the arms manufacture and the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.  The first make money by planting wars and the second by planting decease.

John Perkings is an Economic Hit Man (EHM) who worked for the World Bank. He has authored a book titled the ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit man’ and the US government prevented his book from publishing it for 20 years. It is an interesting episode of how WB consultants defraud developing countries for billions of dollars in the guise of ‘development finance’ and the final benefactors of such activity are the US corporations. ‘Confessions of an Economic Hit man’ details how these operations against smaller nations are carried out with the sanctions of the Central intelligence Agency of the US. Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, pay offs, extortion, sex, and murder.

Apart from this confessions, evidence is omnipresent all over the world with ‘liberation wars’, alleged ‘human rights violations’, ‘Arab springs,’ ‘export of democracy’ etc. that are disguised to enable the World Super powers to maintaining the post WW11 status quo. These are modus operands to ensure that they will always rule the world. The solutions they advocate to world issues are carefully crafted to ensure that the problems remain permanent so that their corporations could thrive.  Palestine is only a single case in point and today thousands of women and children are dying and the perpetrator of that war is backed by US and Britain.  Britain’s economy today is behind that of its colonial subject India, but thanks to the war in Yemen, British economy leaped frogged this year. Current state of the world, with so many man made wars, deceases and hunger is not a state that will reflect well on its super powers. The Super powers, while they govern their countries with humane and equitable laws, advocate the ‘laws of the jungle’ for world issues. That is the reason that why Bill Clinton was almost impeached for having an illicit affair with a white- house intern, while George Bush who killed millions in Iraq, on triumphed up WMD charges, was not even considered as impeachable material.   

Take the case of what Sri Lanka is made to face for vanquishing terrorism that haunted it for 35 years. On March 23^rd in 2021, the UNHRC adopted Resolution, A/HRC/46/L.1 on Sri Lanka at its 46th session. The resolution was presented by the United Kingdom sponsored by a core group of Western countries. The real motive of this resolution is to prevent Sri Lanka from clearing the shackles of the previous resolution 30/A brought against Sri Lanka in 2015 by the United States for alleged ‘Human rights violations’, by the SL forces at the last stages of its war against the LTTE. Lord Naseby has produced very clear evidence to prove that these allegations are not consistent with the ground reports of US and British military attaches who were in the thick of these happenings and also contrary to the census surveys carried out, post war. The most cynical nature of these allegations is that these two super powers who express so much concern about the HR violations in Sri Lanka today had no heart to express their concern in anyway while Sri Lankan people suffered at the hands of this most ruthless and organized terror outfit in the world causing the deaths of 80,000 civilians over a period of 35 years. Whenever they were confronted with this problem they advocated ‘talks’ as the only way out and finally all the talks successive SL Governments held elevated the LTTE to a diplomatic status as liberations fighters in the eyes of the west. The irony however was that the parties who called LTTE, the ‘liberation fighters’ are the same parties that called Nelson Mandela  a ‘terrorist’ for 40 years.

It should be clear to all, except of course to those who are naïve and so servile to the west, that these resolutions on HR violations are now being brought with the sinister idea of rekindling a problem that has been finally brought to an end. This is because the western propaganda industry and the west’s arms manufacturing corporations thrive at the misery of third world countries.

On the other hand china and Russia helped us to overcome terrorism in this country. Apart from the physical support they rendered, the position of Sri Lanka in international forums, if not for China and Russia, could well be imagined. Terrorism is not just about people being killed and maimed, but it is the uncertainty of life and the stagnation in development that terrorism accompanies that has plagued this country. And 35 years is just half the life time of the Sri Lankan nation.  

Sri Lanka is a small country, and in a world scenario where imperial powers are at each other’s throat for world hegemony, it is difficult to envisage a situation where small countries could remain 100 % independent. Things in this world continue to change and according to Buddhism that is the only universal phenomenon that is permanent.  Thus, things will continue to change and in that this country’s language, culture and even religion will not be an exception. Thus, in this changing scenario, wise people will change things for the better while stupid will remain bigoted and servile.

In the modern world scenario, imperialist, in their quest for hegemony use propaganda as the forerunner in their invasions. Thus, those who control the news control the world opinion. This is how they prevent people from having independent thoughts, based on truth and facts.  Therefore today if you do not read the news; you are uninformed, but if you read the news; you are misinformed. If you are uninformed you have no opinion, but if you are misinformed you have the wrong opinion. In the final analysis, it is better to have no opinion than to have the wrong opinion.

Servile mentality not only prevents you from seeing beyond your master but also perceives even those who try to liberate you, as your enemies.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The government of Sri Lanka soundly defeated the LTTE on May 18. 2009.  Eelam War IV ended in victory for the government of Sri Lanka. LTTE accepted defeat and formally surrendered to the army. [1] It was a decisive victory    and a hard fought one.   

This victory is Sri Lanka finest post-independence achievement, said analysts.  A secessionist movement was defeated after a protracted war of 30 years. It stands in stark contrast to the conflicts fought by well-funded Western forces in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decade. This victory is therefore unique in this century.

It was my singular privilege, said Mahinda Rajapaksa to have been the Commander in Chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces at the time of its greatest achievement in defeating LTTE terrorism. This is an achievement that will lie to the credit of the Sri Lankan armed forces not only locally but internationally as well, for decades to come.

Until we actually defeated them, very few people thought that was possible.  Foreign representatives who met me at that time, told me not to try to do the impossible. The lesson that we all have to learn from this is that nothing is impossible if you have confidence in yourself and are willing to take risks.

In the first three Eelam wars, Sri Lanka succumbed to international pressure   and the military offensive was stopped when the army was about to win. The first instance was Vadamarachchi in 1987 when JR Jayewardene was President.   But Mahinda Rajapaksa refused to do this in 2009. President Rajapakse firmly stated that he was not going to stop the war.

They were going to fight to the finish.  Nothing short of unconditional surrender could save the LTTE.  The UN was not needed. LTTE could contact the President through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) if it wished. CA Chandraprema observed later, that in Sri Lanka every battle whether it is terrorists, the Supreme Court, or foreign powers, is fought to the finish.

  When they saw that Sri Lanka was winning, western countries, led by the EU made five attempts to table a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Security Council. China and Russia vetoed this on all five occasions.

However, on May 13. 2009, five days before the war ended, Security Council issued a press statement .The press statement said,the members of the Security Council express grave concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in north-east Sri Lanka, in particular the reports of hundreds of civilian casualties in recent days, and call for urgent action by all parties to ensure the safety of civilians.

The members of the Security Council strongly condemn the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for its acts of terrorism over many years, and for its continued use of civilians as human shields, and acknowledge the legitimate right of the Government of Sri Lanka to combat terrorism.

The members of the Security Council demand that the LTTE lay down its arms and allow the tens of thousands of civilians still in the conflict zone to leave. The members of the Security Council express deep concern at the reports of continued use of heavy calibre weapons in areas with high concentrations of civilians, and expect the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitment in this regard.

The members of the Security Council demand that all parties respect their obligations under international humanitarian law. The members of the Security Council call on the Government of Sri Lanka to take the further necessary steps to facilitate the evacuation of the trapped civilians and the urgent delivery of humanitarian assistance to them.

The members of the Security Council take note of the steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka to address the humanitarian situation of displaced persons and call on the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure the security of those displaced by the conflict and to cooperate with the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and other international humanitarian organizations in providing humanitarian relief and access to them as soon as they leave the conflict zone.

The members of the Security Council reiterate support for the personal involvement of the UN Secretary General and urge the Government of Sri Lanka to extend full cooperation to the United Nations in order to resolve the humanitarian crisis.

The members of the Security Council, mindful of the necessity to find a long-term solution without the threat of violence, underline that the needs of all communities in Sri Lanka have to be addressed. (End of statement. )

Supported by this statement, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon arrived in Sri Lanka on 23^rd May 2009.  He spoke with the President and senior officials. He also ‘consulted other relevant stakeholders, members of international humanitarian agencies and civil society.  The Secretary-General visited the internally displaced persons (IDP) sites at Vavuniya and overflew the conflict area, near Mullaitivu that was the scene of the conflict.’

 President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Secretary General Ban Ki Moon then issued a joint statement. Rajiva Wijesinha said later that he had thought the joint statement might be used against Sri Lanka, specially the clause to address international concerns. Mahinda Rajapaksa had been warned but had signed anyway, thinking it an innocuous reference, said Rajiva.

Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena in Parliament in 2020 stated firmly that this statement was only a joint statement, not an agreement .No agreement had been signed by President and UN Secretary General. They had issued a joint statement which was now being dubbed as an agreement.

This joint statement   did not make any reference to the praiseworthy victory of the government of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was not congratulated on it. Instead, the statement spoke, inter alia, of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. 

Following is the joint statement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations at the conclusion of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Sri Lanka on 23 May 2009:

• At the invitation of Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, paid a visit to Sri Lanka.  During the course of his visit, he held talks with the President, Foreign Minister as well as other senior leaders of Sri Lanka.  During his stay, he also consulted other relevant stakeholders, members of international humanitarian agencies and civil society.  The Secretary-General visited the internally displaced persons (IDP) sites at Vavuniya and overflew the conflict area, near Mullaitivu that was the scene of the conflict.

• President Rajapaksa and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed that following the end of operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sri Lanka had entered a new post-conflict beginning.  In this context, the Government of Sri Lanka faced many immediate and long-term challenges relating to issues of relief, rehabilitation, resettlement and reconciliation.  While addressing these critical issues, it was agreed that the new situation offered opportunities for long-term development of the north and for re-establishing democratic institutions and electoral politics after 2 ½ decades.  The Government expressed its commitment to ensure the economic and political empowerment of the people of the north through its programmes.  

• The Secretary-General welcomed the announcement by the Government expressing its intention to dismantle the welfare villages at the earliest, as outlined in the Plan to resettle the bulk of IDPs and call for its early implementation.  

• President Rajapaksa informed the Secretary-General regarding ongoing initiatives relating to rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-combatants.  In addition to the ongoing work by the Office of the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation, a National Framework for the Integration of Ex-combatants into Civilian Life is under preparation, with the assistance of the United Nations and other international organizations.  

• Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations.  The Secretary-General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.  The Government will take measures to address those grievances.

Then in June, 2010 Ban Ki Moon appointed a three-member Panel of Experts to advise  him on the issue of accountability with regard to any alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The   Panel would report directly to Secretary General.

The panel comprised of Marzuki Darusman, a former Attorney General of Indonesia, Yasmin Sooka, a high court judge from South Africa and Steven R. Ratner an American Professor of Law. The Sri Lankan government reacted angrily this panel, calling it an unwarranted and unnecessary interference with a sovereign nation”. The Panel was not allowed to enter Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka government refused to allow them into the country and refused to talk to them.

Their Report ,  known formally as the Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka” is  popularly known as ‘Darusman report’ or ‘PoE report. This report should have been confidential but it was published in 2011.

Sri Lanka rejected the Report. The Government of Sri Lanka said it does not consider the Darusman Report as a UN document, as it has not been mandated by the UN. The document is the product of a personal initiative taken by the Secretary-General.  However, the Report was eagerly picked up by the UN Office for Human Rights, its High Commissioner and by those NGOs set up to support Tamil Separatist Movement .They ran to the UNHCR with it.

The Secretary General presented the report to Security Council, though the report did not have a Security Council mandate.  It was not welcomed by China and Russia. Russia objected, saying that it was not a UN report. It was not done in accordance with the regulations and the procedures of the UN.  The report was a private one for the Secretary General

The Russian ambassador to Sri Lanka told the media (Sunday Times) in May 2011 that Russia had oppose the project from the start.  When the panel was appointed Russia had issued a statement saying that ‘the UN Secretary General as Chief Administrative officer of the UN should have asked the opinion of the Security Council or the General Assembly before embarking on this project.”

From the very beginning we were skeptical of the panel, the Ambassador said. We were assured by the Secretary General and his staff that this was not a fact finding mission,   the task was not to investigate but only to advise the Secretary General. But what we saw later was very different.

Russia also opposed the publication of the report and heavily criticized its content. To describe the last stages of the war as a ‘tragedy ‘cannot be accepted. For whom was it a tragedy? The end of the war should be welcomed by the international community. To describe the LTTE as a highly disciplined nationalist group of Tamils and not a terrorist group is unacceptable,

Allegations are made against the government of Sri Lanka. The allegations are not proved. The Report says the conclusions were made based on the evidence of individuals and groups that were considered ‘reliable’ by the panel itself which means they were choosing who was reliable and who was not.

There are too many questions about the Report. The authors of the report were far from objective. The report cannot be grounds for any further action. Russia will oppose any such attempt at the UNSC, concluded the ambassador.

Critics point out that the Secretary General cannot intervene in the internal affairs of   member countries. Section 7   of the UN Charter says Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll.”

It is the Security Council, not Secretary General that is granted powers of intervention under Chapter VII.   This Chapter too, supports the right of a country to protect itself. Article 51 speaks of the inherent right of self-defense of a member state.

The post of Secretary General is not as   powerful as people seem to think it is, said analysts. The Secretary General of the UN is not equal in rank to a Head of State. He is subservient to the Heads of state and ambassadors accredited to the UN, said Thalif Deen.   He is simply the CEO of the UN.

When told that the Secretary General had banned smoking in the UN building, Russia’s foreign minister Lavrov lit a cigarette and replied that this building does not belong to the Secretary General it belongs to the member states.  The Nigerian ambassador said the Secretary General is not my boss, I am his boss, reported Thalif Deen. 

Article 100 of the UN Charter says  in the performance of their duties the Secretary-General and the staff shall not seek or receive instructions from any government or from any other authority external to the Organization. But today, it  is difficult for the Secretary General to follow this.

Instead of keeping the UN as a  skeleton organization servicing the needs of member states and acting as a meeting place for them, the western powers have piled more and more tasks on the UN system and then funded these activities, creating a great dependency on  them to keep the system going.

The UN  now depends on ten to 15 western countries,  for  funds and these countries have turned this dependency to a handle to make the UN further their foreign policies, said analysts.  They use  their money to make the UN system  do as they wish. There is at least one document that admits that this distorts the priorities of the UN system.

In order to retain their jobs the UN officials, starting from the UN Secretary General , have to please these donors. The Secretary General plays a subservient role to the big powers, but asserts his authority to the rest of the member states,  said Thalif Deen .

While all member states in the UN rank equally  in the UN, the money contribution to the UN varies. Some countries pay large amounts. The dominant country in the UN is at present the USA. It is the largest donor to the United Nations, contributing  $10 billion in 2018, slightly less than one-fifth of the  total budget.

USA  does not want a strong independent Secretary-General. Boutros Boutros Ghali,  Secretary-General from 1992 to December 1996 was denied a second term due to a US veto. He had 14 of 15 votes. Ghali wrote a book where he gave an insider’s view of how the UN and it s Secretary-General were manipulated by  the USA. He said US Secretary of State,  Madeline Albright  demolished Ghali’s authority in the UN and tarnished his image with a smiling face and expressing admiration. ( Continued)

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-srilanka-war/sri-lankas-long-war-reaches-climax-tigers-concede-idUSTRE54D1GR20090517 We have decided to silence our guns,” statement, posted on the www.TamilNet web site.  May 17.2009

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM, Wellington NZ, Spokesperson , USLA NZ

The biggest of Sri Lanka’s woes is the truly unprecedented level of misinformation that goes on in Social media especially in English, which misrepresents any and every thing happening in Sri Lanka to discredit the government of the day and destroy the morale of it’s people with political motivation. I find it really and truly disgusting.

Not only the social media but the main stream media is also guilty of that. I was listening to a program on covid in SL two days ago with a panel of four doctors . The SL News First moderator’s main role appeared to be to discredit what the govt has done in control of Covid , where at one stage SL was held up as a role to emulate by the WHO. This moderator was even putting words in to the mouths of the doctors to achieve this. He was trying to make the listening public loose confidence in any thing the government says or recommends.

Not Once did he mention he need for the public of SL to comply with the Medical and Health recommendations, which is woefully lacking and in my opinion and that of others a single most factor responsible for the continuation of the current spread, which I am happy to say is now coming under some control.

Not Once did they acknowledge the hard task of the government to strike the difficult balance of restricting movement of public for Covid control on the one hand and the need for public movement to maintain the economy.

This less than super intelligent  guy was siting the example of NZ, where I live and have done for three decades and more and contrast it to SL’s current challenges , What he probably does not know is how the NZ PM always spoke of the ” Team of five billion and their responsibility in social distancing, wearing masks and hand sanitising” and how this team of five million responded while all sections of the media supported this and reinforced this message. In SL what the media does is to blame and ridicule the government for it’s every move for Covid control , They have done everything possible to destroy the morale and unity of what should have been a team of 23 million while the political opposition lap it up and add it’s contribution to these false orchestrations. Shame! Shame!

Yesterday I saw a thousand four hundred bed facility built and equipped in a matter of a few days as for intermediate  care ,in Seeduwa in Brandix premises . I have the never seen News 1st talk of that . That moderator guy, ridiculed Namal Rajapakse’s youth organisation providing a thousand bed facility for same purpose in the South asking what it impact it would have with three sound , now reduced two thousand five, per day . What this Maestro does not seem to realise is that though there are three thousand positive Covid results only a fraction o this requires institutional care. Yesterday I saw hordes of people discarding social distancing and mask wearing flocking to the Uswatakeyawa beach to pick crumbs released from the disintegrating containers of the container ship on fire off it’s coast, carrying hazardous material from India to Singapore, ( & so both living up to their role in bashing SL). Hullo News First Moderator mate , how about talking about the lack of social responsibility on the part of the public here.

Yesterday I saw a thousand four hundred bed facility built and equipped in a matter of a few days as for intermediate  care ,in Seeduwa in Brandix premises . I have the never seen News 1st talk of that . That moderator guy, ridiculed Namal Rajapakse’s youth organisation providing a thousand bed facility for same purpose in the South asking what it impact it would have with three thousand , now reduced two thousand five, Covid positives per day . What this Maestro does not seem to realise is that though there are three thousand positive Covid results only a fraction of this requires institutional care. Yesterday I saw hordes of people discarding social distancing and mask wearing flocking to the Uswatakeyawa beach to pick crumbs released from the disintegrating containers of the container ship on fire off it’s coast, carrying hazardous material from India to Singapore, ( & so both living up to their role in bashing SL). Hullo News First Moderator mate , how about talking about the lack of social responsibility on the part of the public hear.

What the  good bearded  Moderator    from News First should realise is the important role of responsible media in SL to foster the spirit of a “Team of twenty three million all singing together and singing from the same song sheet composed by the Medical Personnel appointed to do so while the authorities aim to implement this composition ” . What the political opposition should also realise is their role should be to do the same and not to divide the team and their morale for short term political gain. I for one have every confidence that as in the case of the ” unwinnable war” SL will win this war too under the same determined leadership that won the war despite all the internationally placed obstacles placed against it.  The Covid War will eventually be won by SL and those who are  continuing to undermine it will be on the wrong side of history, when it is written.

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM, Wellington NZ, Spokesperson , USLA NZ

28.5.21

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

       කොවිඩ් හෝ කොරෝනා යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වන ප්‍රතිශ්‍යා තත්වයේ රෝගය ආගන්තුකව මිනිස් සිරුරට පැමිණියකි. ලෝකයේ ඖෂධ මාෆියාව විසින් සහ  ලෝක බල ආධිපත්‍ය ට නතු වූ විද්‍යාඥයන් විසින් චීනයේ කරන ලද අත්හදා බැලීමක ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙසට මෙම ආගන්තුක වෛරසය පැතිරීම සිදු විණි යැයි පළ කරන මතයද අපට ඉවත දැමිය නොහැකිය.වෛරසය පිටුපසින් පැමිණි එන්නත්කරණය මෙම ඖෂධ මාෆියාවේ කූඨප්‍රාප්තිය ලෙසට ද හඳුන්වනු ලැබේ.කෙසේ වෙතත් ලංකාවට මෙම ආගන්තුක රෝගය පැමිණි මුල් අවස්ථාවේ දී එය පාලනය කරන ලද්දේ රට පුරා ඇඳිරි නීතිය ඇතිකොට සංචරණ සීමා දැමීමෙනි. නමුත් අවාසනාවකට සංචාරකයන් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට තිබෙන හදිස්සිය මත දැන් දෙවන වතාවටද වඩා බිහිසුණු කොරෝනාවක් රට තුළට ඇතුල් කරගෙන තිබේ.

       මෙම රෝගය ඇතිවූ මුල් අවස්ථාවේ දී මාස කීපයක් ජනකාවට නිවෙස් වලට වී සිටීමට සිදු විය. ඒ කාලවකවානුවේ දී තමන්ගේ ගෙවත්තේ කුඹුරේ වැඩපළ කරමින් බොහෝ නිසංසල ලෙස ඔවුහු ජීවිත ගත කළහ. තමන්ගේ රැකියා අහිමි වුවද මෙම ජීවනරටාව ගත කිරීමට ඔවුහු පුරුදු වූහ. ඊට අමතරව ඉඟුරු කොත්තමල්ලි ඇතුලු දේශීය ජීවන රටාවේ පුරුදු වී තිබූ ඖෂධ වර්ග රාශියකට නැවත ප්‍රවිෂ්ඨ වීමටත් හැකි විය. මෙම තත්වය නිසා කාලයක් තිස්සේ අමතක කරනු ලැබූ සිංහල ජීවන රටාවේ ස්පර්ශය ලබන්නට බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට හැකිවිය.එහි ප්‍රතිඵලය වූයේ රෝගය පැතිරීම පාලනය වීමයි.

     බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පාලනයට යටත් වීමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන් ද පසුව නිදහස ලැබීමෙන් අනතුරුව ලබා දුන් අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමයේ දුර්වලතා නිසාත් අපගේ මුතුන් මිත්තන් ගේ ජීවන රටාව ක්‍රමානුකූලව ජනතාවගේ බැහැර විය.ගැමියන් ගේ දරුවන් නගරයට ප්‍රවිෂ්ඨව දොස්තර සහ ඉංජිනේරු වෘත්තීන්ට පිවිසීම සිදු විය.මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයන් තමන්ගේ දෙමාපියන් අනුගමනය කළ සරල ජීවන රටාව  අවඥාවට ලක් කළහ. සිංහල ආහාර හා විහරණ ගර්හාවට ලක් කළහ. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් රාත්‍රී ආහාර වේලට කරවිල සහ වම්බටු එක් කර ගැනීම දෙමාපියන් සිදු නොකලද ඒ ගැන තැකීමක් නොකල අලුත් පරපුර එයට විරුද්ධව මත පළ කළහ.උණක් සෙම්ප්‍රතිශ්‍යාවක් වැළඳුන කල්හි ඉඟුරු කොත්තමල්ලි පානය කොට ආම පාචනය කරගත් දෙමාපියන් ලුණු කැඳ ලබා ගැනීමෙන් ලංඝනය කරගත් පුරුද්දක් තිබුණි.ආම පාචනය සිදු වූ විට උණ බැස යන අතර දෙහි කොළ පාවට්ටා කොළ ආදිය තම්බා ශරීරයටම දුම්ඇල්ලීමෙන් තවදුරටත් උණ බැස ගොස් සැහැල්ලුව ඇති කරගත්හ.දරුවන්ට මේ සිරිත් විරිත් අරහං විය.’ඔවුහු උණක් හෙම්බිරිස්සාවක් පැමිණුන කල්හි වේදනා නශකයක් ගෙන වැඩි දුරටත් අවශ්‍ය නම් දොස්තර වරයෙකු මුණ ගැසී ප්‍රතිකාර කර ගත්හ. ගර්භණී මාතාවකටසහ සූතිකාවකට දෙන ආහාර වට්ටෝරු රැසක් අප අතර තිබුණි. එකක් නම් සූතිකාවකට නැති නම් ගර්භය සැහැල්ලු කර ගත් කාන්තාවකට දෙන කායම් හොද්දයි.ගර්භය හොඳින් පිරිසිඳු කොට ලේ දොස් ඉවත් කර ගැනීමට දෙන මේ කායම් හොද්ද නූතන ඉස්පිරිතාල වලට තහනම් විය.නිවසේ දී දරු ප්‍රසූතිය සිදු කළ කාන්තාවන් ක්‍රමයෙන් අඩු වීම නිසා කායම් හොද්දත් දැන් අභාවයට යමින් ඇත.කායම් හොද්දත් මිරිස් හොද්දත් තැම්බුම් හොද්දත් යන වර්ග තුනම අවස්ථා තුනක විවිධ හේතු කාරණා මත දෙන ඖෂධීය ආහාරයන්ය.මෙම ආහාර විහරණ ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම ජාතියේ වර්තමාන ඛෙදවාචකයට ප්‍රබල හේතුවකි.

     අතීත මුතුන් මිත්තන් සොබා දහමේ තිබෙන ආහාර ලබා ගැනීමට වාසනාවන්ත විය. පරිසරයේ ඉබේ වැවෙන මේ ආහාර වර්ෂයේ සෑම අවස්ථාවකම සෑදෙන්නේ නැත. කොස් කාලයට කොස් දෙල් කාලයට දෙල් විවිධ වන පළතුරු මෙන්ම ඖෂධීය ගුණයෙන් හෙබි පලා වර්ග ලබා ගැනීමට ඔවුහු සමත් වූහ.මානව ආරම්භයේ දී ස්වයං ජාත ඇල් වීය ලැබුණු සේම මෙම පැලෑටි වර්ග ද ආහාර පිණිස සුදුසු දැයි යන්න හඳුනාගැනීමක් විය. එසේම ඒ ආහාර  සකස් කර ගැනීමේ දැනුමක්ද මේ ජනතාවට තිබුණි.පරම්පරාවෙන් පරම්පරාවට පැමිණි මෙම දැනුම ඇත්තෙන්ම විශ්මිතය. විවිධ එළවලු වර්ග යන්හි තිබෙන සැර ගතිය කසට ගතිය මෙන්ම විස ගති ඉවත් කර ගැනීමට ඔවුහු කලේ තම්බා දිය හැරීමත් ගොරක හෝ සියඹලා භාවිතයත්ය. වෙල් අල කොළ ඇඹුල උදාහරණයට ගත හැකිය. ගොරක අණ්ඩක් දෙකක් දමා පෝෂණීය රසවත් ආහාරයක් ඉන් සකස් කරගත්තේ විය. වෙල් වැඩ කරන කාලයට මේ ඇඹුල කෙතරම් ප්‍රයෝජනවත්දැයි ගොවීන් දනී.වෙලට යන ගෙවිලියන් අල කොළ ගිරාපලා ලුණු විල මුගුණ ගොටුකොළ පමණක් නොව හතු වර්ගද ගෙදර රැගෙන එති. අල කාලයට අල ගලවා ගත් විට වේල් ගණනාවකට පිරිමහින බව ඔවුන් දැන සිටියහ.හේන ඔවුන්ගේ ආහාර ගබඩාවයි. ඉරිඟු කුරහන් මෙන්රි තණ පමණක් නොව අබ අසමෝදගම් තම්පලා මෑ හේන් මිරිස් ලබු පුහුල් වට්ටක්කාද ඉන් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකිවේ.නිකිණි මස ආරම්භයේ සිට නවම් මැදින් මාස දක්වාම මේ ආහාර සංචිතය වරින් වර ප්‍රයෝජනවත් විය.

      මෙකී ආහාර විහරණ පිළිබඳ දැනුම පරම්පරාවේ පැවැත්ම අනුව ගලා ගෙන ගියද නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය ආරම්භ වීමත් සමග යම් කිසි කඩා වැටීමක් සිදු වූ බව පැහැදිලිය. පාසලේ ඉගෙන ගන්නා දරුවාට මේ පාරම්පරික දැනුම පාසලෙන් දීමට උත්සාහ කලේ නැත. සියල්ලම විද්‍යාවේ කෝවේ දමා මකා ගත් විට භෞතික සම්පත් සියල්ල ලැබෙන්නේ යැයි උගන්වාලූහ.මේ නිසා අතරමං වුණ දරුවන් වැඩිහිටියන් බවට පත් වූ පසු තමන්ගේ ශ්‍රේෂඨ ඉතිහාසයට අවමන් කිරීමට පුරුදු වූහ.  ඉන්පසු විශ්ව විද්‍යාල මට්ටමේ දී ඒවා වියුක්ත දැනුමක් ලෙසට ඇතැම් විට උකහා ගත්තද ගැමි ජීවන රටාවෙන් පරිබාහිරව ක්‍රියාකිරීම මත මේ  දැනුම ජීවිතයට එකතු වන්නේ නැත. . වර්තමාන කොවිඩ් වසංගතය හමුවේ අප මුහුණ දෙන බරපතලම අභියෝගය මෙයයි.පළමු කොවිඩ් රල්ල අවසන් වූ පසු ජනතාව සුපුරුදු පරිදිම කොත්තු රයිස් කඩ සොයා ගෙන ගිය ආකාරය අප දුටුවෙමු. නිවසේ සාදා ගත් ආහාරයෙන් ලැබෙන ඖෂධීය ගුණය මේ ජනතාවට වෙළඳ පළ ආහාරයෙන් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත.වස විස සහිත කිරිපිටි රස කාරක මෙන්ම විවිධ කෘතිම පාන වර්ග පරිහරණයෙන් සිදුවන වින්නැහිය සුළු පටු නොවේ. ගෙදර දොර ළිඳෙන් ලැබෙන පිරිසිඳු ජලය පයිප්ප වතුරෙන් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත.එවැනි පුද්ගලයන් තුල ව්‍යාධි ක්ෂමතාවය නොහොත් ප්‍රතිශක්තිය ඇතැයි සිතන්නට නොහැකිය.වසංගත තත්වයකදී රෝග කාරක විසබීජය ක්ෂණිකව සිරුර පුරා දුවන අතර ආහාර විහරණ පිළිබඳ තිබෙන අල්ප සහ විකෘති දැනුම නිසා තත්වය තවදුරටත් උත්සන්න වෙයි.නිතර ශීතල ජලය පානය කිරීම අයිස්ක්‍රීම් සහ ශීත කළ බීම වර්ග මෙවැනි ලෙඩ වැඩි කර දීමට හේතු වේ. දේශීය වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය අනුව රෝගයක් සමනය කල හැක්කේ ආහාර විහරණ සහ චිකිත්සාව මතයි.බටහිර ලෝකයෙන් පැමිණි නූතන දැනුම තුළ ආහාර විහරණ පිළිබඳ ධර්මතාවයක් නැත. වෙළෙඳ පලේ විකිණීමට තිබෙන බොහෝ ආහාර වානිජ පරමාර්ථ සහිත විස  එක් කල ආහාරයන්ය.වර්තමාන සෞඛ්‍ය ක්‍රමවේදය තුළ මෙවැනි අරමුණු අගය කරන අතර කෘතිම ඖෂධ වැඩි වැඩියෙන් ගැනීමට අනුබල දෙයි.එහෙත් වසංගත ව්‍යසනයක් පැමිණි පසු ඔවුන්ට ඉතිරි වන්නේ නිරෝධායනය පමණි. කොවිඩ් ව්‍යසනය තුළින් මේ පාඩම ඉගෙන නොගත හොත් ජාතියක් වශයෙන් අපට ඉදිරියට යෑමට හැකිවන්නේ නැත.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය

පිහිනුම් ක්‍රීඩාවෙන් ජාතික හා ජාත්‍යන්තර ජයග්‍රහණ හිමිකර ගැනීමේ අරමුණ ඇතිව ක්‍රීඩික ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ගේ දක්ෂතා ඔප්නැංවීම සඳහා තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (28) පෙරවරුවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමය සමඟ ගිවිසුම්ගතවෙමින් ඔවුන්ට මූල්‍ය ප්‍රදානයක් ලබා දුන්නේය.

කොළඹ එන්.සී.සී (NCC) ක්‍රීඩා සමාජ පිහිනුම් තටාක පරිශ්‍රයේ දී අදාළ ගිවිසුම්ගතවීම හා මෙම මූල්‍ය ප්‍රදානය සිදුවිය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය වෙනුවෙන් ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් අමල් එදිරිසූරිය මහතා සහ  ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයේ  සභාපති නේතෘ නානායක්කාර මහතා අදාළ ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් තැබූහ.

මහේල ජයවර්ධන මහතාගේ සභාපතිත්වයෙන් යුතු ජාතික ක්‍රීඩා සභාව සහ උසස් දක්ෂතා කමිටුව විසින් ජාතික හා ජාත්‍යන්තර ජයග්‍රහණ ලබාගත හැකි බවට නිර්දේශ කරමින් ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දිය යුතු බවට නිර්දේශ කළ ක්‍රීඩාවන් අතරට පිහිනුම් ක්‍රීඩාව ද ඇතුළත්ය.

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි එම ක්‍රීඩාවන්හි එක් අවුරුදු උසස් දක්ෂතා ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් සඳහා මෙම ගිවිසුම්ගතවීම හා මූල්‍ය ප්‍රදානය ලබාදෙයි.

පිහිනුම් ක්‍රීඩාවේ නිරත ක්‍රීඩක ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ගේ දක්ෂතා වැඩිදියුණු කරමින් ඔවුන්ව දිරි ගැන්වීමේ අරමුණ ඇතිව රුපියල් 5,780,000/-ක මුදලක්  ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජල  ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයට මෙම ගිවිසුමට සමගාමීව ප්‍රදානය කෙරිණි.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශයේ, ක්‍රීඩා සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සහ ජාතික ක්‍රීඩා සභාවේ නිලධාරි මහත්ම මහත්මීන් මෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජල ක්‍රීඩා සංගමයේ නිලධාරී මහත්ම මහත්මීහු පිරිසක් සහභාගි වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සමාජය පෙර අත්නොවිඳි අභියෝගයන්ට මුහුණ දුන් අවස්ථාවන්වලදී ජාතික ආර්ථිකය ස්ථාවරව පවත්වා ගැනීමට සුවිසල් දායකත්වයක් ලබා දුන් ජනහද හඳුනන මහජන බැංකුවට රටේ ජනතාව ආදරය කරන බව මුදල් අමාත්‍ය සහ ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (28) දින අරලියග මන්දිරයේ දී පැවසීය.

මහජන බැංකුවේ නව ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාල ගොඩනැගිල්ලට මුල්ගල තැබීමේ අවස්ථාවට වීඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ සිට එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

වසර 44ක් තිස්සේ චිත්තම්පලම් එම් ගාඩ්නර් මාවතේ පිහිටි කාර්යාල ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලය ලෙස භාවිතා කළ මහජන බැංකුව, සියයට සියයක් හරිත සංකල්පය යටතේ භූගත මහල් 03 කින් සහ මහල් 23 කින් සමන්විත නව ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලය අති නවීන පහසුකම්වලින් සමන්විතව කොළඹ ඉබ්බන්වල හංදියට නුදුරින් ඉදිකිරීම් අද දින මෙසේ ආරම්භ විය.

මුල්ගල් තබන අවස්ථාව වීඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ නැරඹූ ගරු අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නවීන තාක්ෂණයෙන් එහි සමරු ඵලකය නිරාවරණය කළේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමින් කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

මහජන බැංකුවේ නව ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයීය ගොඩනැඟිල්ලේ ඉදිකිරීම ඇරඹෙන මේ මොහොතේ ඔබ සැම ඇමතීමට ලැබීම සතුටක්.

නවීන තාක්ෂණය උපයෝගී කරගනිමින්, ඔබ අතරට එන්නේ නැතිව දුරින් ඉඳගෙන ඔබ අමතන්නේ ඇයි කියා දැන් ඔබ දන්නවා. ඒ ලෝකයම මුහුණ දෙන මේ වසංගතය නිසා. ලෝකයම වසංගතයට මුහුණ දීලා සිටියත් අපි රටේ අනාගතය ගැන තබල තියෙන බලාපොරොත්තු අතහැරලා නැහැ.

මේ වසංගතයට මුහුණ දෙන අතරේ අපි රට ගොඩනගන කාර්යයත් කරගෙන යනවා. ඒ විදියට අනාගතය ගැන සිතන නිසයි මේ වගේ දැවැන්ත ඉදිකිරීම් කාර්යයන් මේ මොහොතේ අරඹන්නේ.

ලෝකයේ දරුණුම යුද්ධයකට පැටලිලා ඉඳිද්දිත් එවක අපි රටේ වරායන්, ගුවන්තොටුපොළ, අධිවේගී මාර්ග තනාගෙන ගියා. ඒ නිසා මේ වාගේ අභියෝග මැද නොනවත්වා වැඩකරන්න අපිට හොඳට පුරුදුයි.

ඒ නිසා අද අති නවීන පහසුකම් සහිතව ඉදිකෙරෙන මෙම ගොඩනැගිල්ල භූගත මහල් 03 කින් සහ මහල් 23 කින් සමන්විත බව මට දැනගන්නට ලැබුණා. මෙය 100% ක්ම හරිත ගොඩනැගිලි සංකල්පයට ඉදිකිරීමට කටයුතු යොදා තිබීම විශේෂත්වයක්.

බැංකුවලට සම්බන්ධ නොවී සිටි පොදු ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් දේශීය බැංකුවක් ගොඩනැඟීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව එකල මතුවුණා.

1960 ජූලි මාසයේ ගරු සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක අගමැතිතුමියගේ රජයේ වාණිජ, වෙළෙඳ, ආහාර හා නාවික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය ගරු ටී.බී. ඉලංගරත්න මැතිතුමා තමයි මහජන බැංකු පනත ඉදිරිපත් කළේ.

එම පනත 1961 මැයි 30 වැනි දින නීතිගත වී 1961 ජූලි 01 දින සිට මහජන බැංකුව ව්‍යාපාරික කටයුතු ආරම්භ කළා. එසේ මහජන බැංකුව පිහිටුවීමත් සමග එතෙක් ඉංග්‍රීසි කතා කරන අතළොස්සකට සීමාවී තිබූ බැංකු ක්‍රමය සිංහල දෙමළ කතා කරන බහුතර ජනතාවට විවර වුණා. ඒ නිසාම රට පුරා ශාඛා පිහිටුවීම වේගවත් වුණා.

එතැන් සිට අද දක්වා මහජන බැංකුව ජනතාව මූල්‍යමය වශයෙන් සවිබල ගන්වමින් මෙන්ම රටේ ආර්ථිකයට දායකත්වය සපයමින් දශක හයක් ඉතා දුර ගමනක් පැමිණ සිටිනවා.

අද වන විට මහජන බැංකුව දිවයින පුරා විහිදුණු ශාඛා හා සේවා මධ්‍යස්ථාන 741 තිබෙනවා. ඒක තමයි දිවයිනේ පුළුල්ම ශාඛා ජාලය වෙන්නේ. එමෙන්ම මහජන බැංකුව මිලියන 14 කට අධික ගනුදෙනුකරුවන් පිරිසකට සේවා සපයන නිසා දිවයිනේ විශාලතම මූල්‍ය සේවා සපයන්නා බවට පත්ව තිබෙනවා.

වගකිය යුතු රාජ්‍ය බැංකුවක් ලෙස මහජන බැංකුව ගනුදෙනුකරුවන්ට මූල්‍ය පහසුකම් ලබා දීමටම සීමා වෙලා නෑ. මෙරට සමාජ ආර්ථික ප්‍රගතිය උදෙසා කර තිබෙන මෙහෙවරද සුළුපටු නැහැ. රාජ්‍ය බැංකුවක් ලෙස මහජන බැංකුව පසුගිය හැට වසර පුරාවටම අපනයන, අධ්‍යාපන, සෞඛ්‍ය, අධිවේගී, මාර්ග, සංචාරක, යටිතල පහසුකම් ආදි ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් සඳහා මූල්‍ය පහසුකම් ලබාදීලා රටේ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනයට දැක්වූ දායකත්වය ද සුළුපටු නොවේ.

ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනයේදි පමණක් නොව සුනාමි ව්‍යසනය, ගංවතුර හා නියං උවදුර වැනි ස්වභාවික ආපදා හට ගැණුනු අවස්ථාවන්වලදී වාගේම තිස් වසරක යුද්ධයෙන් අවතැන් වූ ජනතාවට උදව් කළෙත් මේ බැංකුව. විශේෂයෙන් පසුගිය වසර ගතහොත් කොවිඩ්-19 අර්බුදයත් සමග ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සමාජය පෙර අත්නොවිඳි අභියෝගයන්ට මුහුණ දුන් අවස්ථාවේදි ජාතික ආර්ථිකය ස්ථාවරව පවත්වා ගන්නට මහජන බැංකුව විශාල දායකත්වයක් ලබාදුන්නා.

මහජන බැංකුව මේ වනවිට රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 2.2 ක ශේෂ පත්‍රයක් හිමි දැවැන්ත ආයතනයක්. මෙහි මුළු තැන්පත් ප්‍රමාණය ට්‍රිලියන 1.8ක්. එමෙන්ම කොවිඩ් වසංගත තත්ත්වයෙන් මතුවූ ව්‍යාකුල ආර්ථික වටපිටාව තුළත් 2020 වසර තුළ රුපියල් බිලියන 14.2 ක ඒකාබද්ධ බදු පසු ලාභයක් වාර්තා කිරීම සුවිශේෂී දෙයක්. රාජ්‍ය බැංකුවක් ලබන ලාභයෙන් වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් නැවත යොමු වන්නේ දේශයේ සංවර්ධන කටයුතු වලටයි.

එසේ රටේ දියුණුව සඳහා කටයුතු කරමින් සිටියත් ඔවුන්ට අමතක වූ එක් දෙයක් තිබුණා. ඒ නවීන පහසුකම් සහිත ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයක් ඉදිකිරීමේ කාර්යය. ඒකත් වඩුවාගේ ගෙදර පුටුව නෑ වාගේ දෙයක්.

මහජන බැංකුව තවමත් භාවිත කරන්නේ මීට වසර 44 කට කලින් විවෘත කළ කොළඹ 02, චිත්තම්පලම් එම්. ගාඩ්නර් මාවතේ ඉදිකර ඇති ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලය. එම ගොඩනැගිල්ල එදානම් කොළඹ නගරයේ පිහිටි නවීනතම ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් බවට ද අමතක කළ යුතු නැහැ.

එය විවෘත කර තිබෙන්නේ 1977 ජනවාරි 22 එවකට ගරු අගමැතිනි සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනිය විසින්. මහජන බැංකුව ආරම්භ කිරීමට නායකත්වය දුන් සහ එම ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලය විවෘත කළ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනිය සිහිපත් කිරීමටද මෙය අවස්ථාවක් කරගන්නවා.

මහජන බැංකුව දැන් ඩිජිටල් මගට පිවිස මෙරට බැංකුකරණයේ පෙරළියක් සිදු කර තිබෙනවා. ඉඳින් මෙම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ මූල්‍ය ආයතනය අති නවීන ගොඩනැගිල්ලකට පිවිසීමට ගත් තීරණය ගැන මං සතුටු වෙනවා. මට මතකයි ඒ කාලේ මහජන බැංකුව ප්‍රචාරය කරන්න හැදුව ඇඩ් එක. ජනහද හඳුනන මහජන බැංකුව කියලයි කිව්වේ. මතක තියාගන්න ජනතාව ඒ වචනයට තවමත් ආදරෙයි. ඒ නිසා මෙහි වැඩකටයුතු සර්වප්‍රකාරයෙන්ම සාර්ථක වේවායි මා ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරනවා යැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන්වන අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් , ශෙහාන් සේමසිංහ ,අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් ගාමිණී සෙනරත් ,මහ බැංකු අධිපති මහාචාර්ය ඩබ්ලිව්.ඩී.ලක්ෂ්මන්, මහජන බැංකුවේ සභාපති සුජීව රාජපක්ෂ, ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරි රංජිත් කොඩිතුවක්කු මහත්වරු ඇතුළු මහජන බැංකුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩලය එක්ව සිටියහ.

By Shiran Illanperuma Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo,  May 28 (Xinhua): The Communist Party of China (CPC) has made valuable contributions to Marxist theory by achieving China’s development over the 100 years since its founding, a veteran Sri Lankan communist leader has said.

Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) D.E.W. Gunasekera, in an interview with Xinhua, conveyed his greetings to the CPC on its 100th anniversary and hailed the party’s historic achievements.

The CPC has formulated a successful development model for China by drawing on the experiences of both developed and developing countries, Gunasekera said, noting the party has successfully combined markets and state intervention in China’s economic development, while remaining true to the country’s history and culture.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics relates to the concrete conditions existing in China,” said Gunasekera.

He added that the CPC’s theory about forging a united front, which rallies all the patriotic classes of the country in the pursuit of building a prosperous nation, was innovative and influential.

The theory of the united front is one of the biggest theoretical contributions of the CPC, and one that was brought into the strategy of the CPSL,” he said.

The CPC’s adherence to peaceful coexistence is another theoretical contribution, which has provided China with the stability needed for rapid development, he said, stressing that under the leadership of the CPC, China has made long strides in diplomacy and peacebuilding.

Referring to the Belt and Road Initiative as a case in point, he said it will enable greater global cooperation and multipolarity.

I observe that the CPC always tries to be objective. That is fundamental in Marxist analysis,” he noted, adding that with the eradication of absolute poverty, the CPC is now on track to achieve its new goals.

Courtesy VOA

NEW DELHI – South Asian countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are turning to China for vaccines for Covid 19 after India suspended vaccine exports due to critical shortages at home. Analysts say this will help Beijing increase its clout in the strategic Indian Ocean region where it has been building influence.  

China has given 1.1 million doses of vaccines made by its Sinopharm Group company to Sri Lanka. Bangladesh received its first donation of half a million vaccines from China this month while Nepal has been promised an additional one million shots. Download File  Embed Download AudioSouth Asian Countries Turn to China for COVID-19 Vaccines after India Suspends Exports

The shots from China are helping these countries restart inoculation drives that had stalled as supplies from India dried up. They come at a critical time — surging infections are raising fears that the torrid second wave which India is battling could impact neighboring countries.  

Make no mistake, India’s suspension of vaccine exports is a strategic opportunity for Beijing,” according to Michael Kugelman, the Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center. China certainly sees its vaccine diplomacy as an image-building tactic at a time when Beijing has had a tough time with image management.” Download File  Embed Download AudioChina’s Vaccine Diplomacy Aimed At Deepening Ties with Central and Eastern Europe

As in many countries, there was some hesitancy in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh about Chinese-developed vaccines, but the emergency approval granted last month by the World Health Organization to Sinopharm’s has boosted its acceptance.    

These countries had initially relied on India, which had also given AstraZeneca vaccines to several countries including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal earlier this year. They had also placed commercial orders with the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, but many of those have not yet been fulfilled due to India’s surging need.  

In a video conference with several South Asian countries last month, Beijing’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, offered to set up an emergency reserve of vaccines for the region.     

Analysts say as China moves in to fill the gap left by India, Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy” could give it leverage in the strategic Indian Ocean region, where it has been pushing its Belt and Road initiative that aims at building infrastructure projects across many countries.  

Given that this crisis will be with us for the foreseeable future, certainly there is going to be a sense of China becoming a very important player for many of these countries if India is not able to pick up some slack after a few months once things stabilize,” according to Harsh Pant, Director Studies and Head Strategic Studies program at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.  

In Sri Lanka, Beijing has already built several strategic infrastructure projects including port, roads and railways. It is now building a gleaming new port city off the coast of Colombo on reclaimed land. 

The vaccines will add another dimension to its growing presence in the country, says political analyst, Asanga Abeyagoonasekera in Colombo. China already has influence in Sri Lanka, but the vaccines represent another layer that would strengthen the Chinese influence. Chinese humanitarian assistance during the pandemic is always welcome but the question is whether it will deepen its strategic inroads,” according to Abeyagoonasekera.   Download File  Embed Download AudioThe Quad Counters China’s Vaccine Diplomacy

China’s vaccine diplomacy” may not be all about soft power, point out some analysts. The Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh recently said in Dhaka that any move to join the Quad would damage ties with China. The Quad, an informal strategic alliance which Beijing views as anti-China, comprises India, United States, Japan and Australia.  

Bangladesh meanwhile has also urged Western countries to help as it runs out of AstraZeneca shots with which it rolled out its drive – more than a million citizens have not received the second shot.  

Calling the vaccine situation a “crisis”, Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen said recently that Bangladesh is “desperate” to get vaccines from countries like the U.S., Canada, Russia, China and Britain.   

Analysts say it will be crucial for countries like the United States, which has promised to donate 80 million shots, to help those scrambling for vaccines in a region that is of strategic importance.   

The fact that Chinese are able to help countries at this point will go a long way in shaping those countries memories and remembrances of what happened at a very critical phase in global history,” according to Pant. So, America would do well to respond to some of these issues. Of course, the question is how far and how fast they are willing to go, but that might really shape the way in which these small countries, small players in the Indo Pacific, South Asia, would look at their foreign policy.”  

India, which had exported about 65 million doses before it shut down shipments, hopes to ramp up enough capacity to resume vaccine deliveries to other countries – but that may not happen till the end of the year.   

New Delhi has the opportunity to reassert itself further down the road. India is the world’s top manufacturer of vaccines, so it has an inherent comparative advantage over China,” points out Kugelman. China’s vaccine diplomacy, he says is aimed at promoting its image at a time when it has taken a hit both due to its expansionist policies and questions over how and where the COVID virus originated.  

China has emerged as the world’s largest vaccine exporter as many countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America use shots from Beijing for their inoculation drives.  

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed 38 more Covid-19 related deaths, increasing the death toll due to the virus in Sri Lanka to 1,363. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health reports that 602 more persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (28).

All fresh cases are associated with the New Year Covid-19 Cluster.

This brings today’s tally of new Covid-19 cases to 2,845.

Meanwhile the total number of Covid-19 patients reported from the Minuwangoda, Peliyagoda, Prisons and New Year clusters so far has climbed to 171,213.

Courtesy Adaderana

Island-wide travel restrictions that are currently in force will not be lifted on the 31st of May and 04th of June, the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) announced today.

As per previous announcements issued in this regard, the constraints will continue until 4.00 am on the 07th of June without being eased midway, Commander of Army General Shavendra Silva stressed.

However, Divisional Secretariats and & District Secretariats have been directed to carry out mobile services for people to purchase essential items, the Army Chief said further.

Thereby, members of the public are urged not to leave their houses during this travel-restricted period.

Courtesy Adaderana

The police spokesman, who joined a special media briefing on the COVID-19 situation today, said only those who are employed in essential services will be allowed to go out while travel restrictions are in effect.

However, they are required to carry their workplace identity cards and a printed or electronic letter calling for their services, DIG Ajith Rohana stressed.

The decision was taken during the meeting of Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 convened at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (May 28).

Further, the COVID-19 Task Force has agreed to scrap decision to relax the travel restrictions on May 31 and June 04, taking into account the conduct of the public on May 25 that risked the spread of novel coronavirus.

Thereby, the restriction orders will continue until 4.00 am on the 07th of June without interruption.

The President’s Media Division said relevant officials have been directed to go ahead with mobile vending services to provide essential items to the public.

Addressing the press conference further, the police spokesman said only pharmacies will remain open during the travel-restricted period. Shops and public transport services will not be in operation. If necessary, people can walk up to the pharmacy closest to their home to buy medicine. In the event of an illness, they are allowed to drive to a hospital without a permit.”

However, the delivery services will continue to operate, DIG Rohana said adding that the validity period of the permits issued for these services, which are set to expire on May 31, will be extended until June 07, DIG Rohana added. Delivery service providers are not required to renew their permits during this period.”

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය

එන්නත් ලබාදිය යුතු බවට නිර්දේශවන සෑම අයෙකුටම ඉතා කඩිනමින් එන්නත් ලබා දීමට රජය පියවර ගන්නා බව තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද (27) දින පැවසීය.

කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ එන්නත්කරණ මධ්‍යස්ථානවල නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවකට එක්වෙමින් අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය.

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය හා ඒකාබද්ධ වෙමින් එන්නත් ලැබුණු වහාම ජනතාවට එම එන්නත් ලබා දීමේ යාන්ත්‍රණය කාර්යක්ෂම කිරීමට තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය මේ වනවිට  සෘජුව මැදිහත්වී සිටින බව අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන සාර්ථකව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා ජනතාවත් රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රණයත් එක්ව කටයුතු කළ යුතු බව කී අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා  මැති ඇමතිවරුන් මෙම වැඩසටහන වෙනුවෙන් දක්වන දායකත්වය අගය කරන බව ද ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

කොවිඩ් 19 වයිරසය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා එන්නත්කරණය සිදුවන මධ්‍යස්ථාන සඳහා නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවල නිරතවෙමින් ජනතාව සහ රජයේ නිලධාරීන් හමුවන අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එම ක්‍රියාවලිය සාර්ථක කරගැනීමට සිය ශක්තිය ලබා දෙමින් සිටියි.

මේ පිළිබඳව අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙසේ ද පැවසීය.

රට තුළ පවතින කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගත තත්ත්වය පාලනය කිරීමට තිබෙන හොඳම විසදුම එන්නත්කරණය බව අතිගරු ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා ප්‍රකාශ කළා. ජනාධිපතිතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ කොවිඩ් කමිටුවේ සංඛ්‍යාලේඛන අනුව වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ උපදෙස් මත මේ රටේ එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහනක් සකස් කර තිබෙනවා.

ඒ අනුව අපේ රටේ එන්නත් ලබාදිය යුතු සෑම කෙනාටම එන්නත් ලබාදෙන ලෙස උපදෙස් ලැබී තිබෙනවා. ආණ්ඩුවක් ලෙස අපි ඒ සඳහා අනුමැතිය ලබාගෙන තිබෙනවා. අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා ඉතා කඩිනමින් අවශ්‍ය සියලුදෙනාටම එන්නත් ලබා දෙන්න.

කොළඹින් ආරම්භ වූ එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන මහනුවර හා කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික්කවල මේ වන විට ඉතා ක්‍රමවත්ව ක්‍රියාත්මක වනවා.

රාජත්‍රාන්ත්‍රික සම්බන්ධතා හරහා රටට අවශ්‍ය එන්නත් ප්‍රමාණය රුසියාවෙන් හා චීනයෙන් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට වර්තමාන රජයට හැකි වුණා. බෝහෝ රටවල් එන්නත් නොමැතිව අසීරුතාවයට පත්ව සිටින අවස්ථාවක ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය එන්නත් ලබා දීමට අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ වර්තමාන රජය ඉතා කඩිනමින් කටයුතු කිරීම පිළිබදවත්, එන්නත් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළ රටවල්වලටත් මාගේ ස්තූතිය පුද කරනවා.

මේ වන විටත් අපි එන්නත්කරණය කරන ප්‍රදේශවල සෞඛ්‍ය හා අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා වල නියුතු අයට එන්නත්කරණය කරලා තිබෙනවා. එය අඛණ්ඩව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. ඒ පිරිස මෙම තත්ත්වය හමුවේ විශාල සේවාවක් කරනවා. ගෙයින් ගෙට ගොස් තම රාජකාරි කටයුතු සිදු කරනවා. ජනතාවගේ අවශ්‍යතා සොයා බලනවා. අනිවාර්යෙන් ඔවුන් හට එන්නත්කරණය කළ යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා ආණ්ඩුව බැදී සිටිනවා.

ඉදිරියේදී ලංකාව තුළ එන්නත් නිෂ්පාදනය සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය ලබාගෙන තිබෙනවා. ඉදිරියේදී මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ එම කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව විවෘත කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වනවා.

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය ප්‍රමුඛ කොවිඩ් කමිටුවේ නිර්දේශ මත සෙසු දිස්ත්‍රික්ක සඳහා ද ඉදිරියේ දී එන්නත්කරණ වැඩසටහන ඉතා කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනවා යැයි අමාත්‍ය නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවසීය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය

By By Chulanee Attanayake* Institute of South Asian Studies

Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe’s official visit to Sri Lanka on 27 April 2021 has sparked a conversation on strengthening defence ties between the two countries. This paper sheds light on the gradual growth in military relations and explains the significance of adding this new dimension to the existing solid bilateral relationship.

Introduction

General Wei Fenghe, Defence Minister and a member of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially visited to Sri Lanka between 27 and 29 April 2021, with a delegation of 37 high-ranking officials. General Wei is also a member of the Central Military Committee and State Councilor. He is the second senior official to visit Sri Lanka in less than a year. In October 2020, foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi visited Colombo, marking the first-ever Chinese visit in the South Asian region since the COVID-19 pandemic. While the visit has been reported to be a routine ministerial visit to boost political, economic and military cooperation, it also emphasises the growing military dimension of Sino-Sri Lankan ties.

Growth in Military Ties since the End of the War

Despite having solid bilateral economic and political relations, the growth in military ties between Sri Lanka and China is a relatively recent phenomenon. For years, Sri Lanka’s military relations with Beijing mainly focused on arms trade. According to Stockholm Peace Research Institute, China is Sri Lanka’s largest arms supplier, having traded military equipment worth US$749 million (S$1 billion) since 1959. China’s arms trade with Sri Lanka between 2000 and 2008 was US$271 million (S$362.15 million). This has contributed immensely to the military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

However, there had been no significant bilateral military interaction between the two countries, with the exemption of a visit by Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaranatunga in 2005 in the capacity of defence minister. Additionally, two Jiangwei II-class frigates refuelling in Colombo on their way to Pakistan in March 2007 was the first time in 20 years that the People’s Liberation Army Navy visited a Sri Lankan port. These interactions were relatively trivial in comparison to Sri Lanka’s military ties with India and Pakistan. Thus, arms sale figures substantiated China’s role in defeating the LTTE.

Notably, this nature of the relationship has changed since the end of the war in 2009. Apart from continued arms purchase, which has significantly declined in volume, there is an increase in the bilateral military interactions. Chinese warship Wenzhou paid a port call to Colombo in January 2010 for the first time, followed by the missile destroyer Lanzhou in December 2010. In August 2012, General Liang Guanglie, State Councilor and Minister of National Defence, visited Sri Lanka, marking the first visit by a Chinese defence minister. Since then, Sri Lanka and China’s defence and military experienced an upward trajectory. China participated in joint exercises with Sri Lankan tri-forces, including the Cormorant Strike which was initiated in 2010.

Significance of the Visit

General Wei’s visit is an extension of already growing defence and military ties between the two countries. It followed his visit to Vietnam and Bangladesh. According to official statements released by the Sri Lankan and Chinese sides, the bilateral discussions were fruitful and focused on strengthening relations in all sectors, including the military. Apart from the minister’s meeting with Sri Lanka’s President and the Prime Minister, the Chinese delegation held bilateral discussions with high ranking defence officials led by Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary during which the Military Assistance Protocol was signed. Moreover, the two countries discussed enhancing pragmatic cooperation in the military field. The launch of the official website of the Chinese National Defence University Alumni Association of Sri Lanka is among the most notable events during the visit. It shows the emphasis given to building military-to-military ties, and knowledge sharing between the two countries.

Sri Lanka has been sending its officers to train at China’s defence colleges since Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s time. However, the number is relatively low compared to those trained in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As former colonies of the British empire, these militaries are built on the same British model that Sri Lanka follows; hence training with similar militaries seems more practicable. In addition, even though Chinese training programmes are well-structured and rich in theory and concepts of fighting, Sri Lanka’s officers face difficulties in following them due to a language barrier. While translations were provided, concerns over the loss of meaning during translations remained.

In the recent years, China has been improving the training programmes to address different needs and challenges as well as expanding the reach out exponentially. The increase in Sri Lankan officers getting trained at China’s National Defence University (Table 1) suggests Colombo too has benefitted.

Table 1: Training Courses provided by China, 2012-2019

Source: Performance Reports, Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka (2012-2019)

Undoubtedly, the Chinese military is among the most technologically advanced militaries in the world. Training with it facilitates Sri Lanka’s military to gain experience and exposure to emerging technology and China’s knowledge. In the meantime, the Chinese military benefits from Sri Lanka’s experience of real-time combating experience, especially in asymmetric war.

Additionally, the ongoing border tension between China and India, and New Delhi’s active engagement in the Quad have changed the geopolitics in the South Asian and Indian Ocean region, signalling unavoidable militarisation. Against this backdrop, China is on a mission to establish military ties with India’s neighbours like Nepal and Bangladesh and consolidate existing relations with Pakistan. Accordingly, apart from the geopolitical significance, which has gained extensive attention, General Wei’s visit reflects China’s interest in adding a military dimension to its growing ties with Sri Lanka.

*About the author: Dr Chulanee Attanayake is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. She can be contacted at chulanee@nus.edu.sg. The author bears full responsibility for the facts cited and opinions expressed in this paper.

Source: This article was published by ISAS

Institute of South Asian Studies

The Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) was established in July 2004 as an autonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS). ISAS is dedicated to research on contemporary South Asia. The Institute seeks to promote understanding of this vital region of the world, and to communicate knowledge and insights about it to policy makers, the business community, academia and civil society, in Singapore and beyond.

By Melani Manel Perera/Asia News Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo. May  27: Sri Lankan Buddhists are currently celebrating the two-day Vesak festival. The event, which ends today, commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha.

Like last year, ceremonies are subject to strict health restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic –  such as social distancing and a ban on gatherings – in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

Several leading Buddhist monks recently addressed the issue, urging the faithful to keep celebrations low key. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also called on Buddhists to celebrate Vesak symbolically.

According to tradition, the event includes trips, meetings, and get-togethers with people, sharing food, making offerings, and throwing coloured lanterns.

However, due to a recent spike in coronavirus cases following last month’s Sinhalese New Year celebrations, the authorities are asking people to avoid gatherings, displacements and large family get-togethers.

Prominent Sri Lankan Buddhist leaders like the Venerables Thibbatuwawe Sri Sidhartha Sumangala Thero, Warakagoda Dhammasiddhi Sri Pannanada Gnanarathana Thero, Ganthune Assagi Thero, and Makulaawe Vimalabhidhaana Thero have issued a joint statement urging people to carry out activities at home” because of the coronavirus pandemic, which is spreading around the world”.

For this reason, they note that in temples and elsewhere we must avoid activities that involve gathering people such as almsgiving, Sīla, Bhāvanā  (meditation)”; instead, people must follow health guidelines, stay at home, and perform religious observances”.

The statement ends with Buddhist leaders blessing all those suffering from the virus and wishing them a speedy recovery.

On behalf of Sri Lanka’s Catholic community, Archbishop Card Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo released a message wishing Buddhists good tidings for Vesak in these troubled times” due to COVID-19 that is afflicting our nation”.

In an emergency situation, it is important for us to think about our life options in the light of the teachings of the Lord Buddha and live a life based on the spiritual principles of self-denial and dedication to the well-being of one another.”

The prelate ends his statement by wishing a blessed Vesak celebration to his fellow citizens, especially the members of the venerable Maha Sangha.

According to health guidelines, during the two-day celebration Buddhists can conduct religious activities at home, and must avoid meetings and gatherings in temples or shrines.

According to the latest count, Sri Lanka reported 2,377 new cases and 29 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours for a total of more than 172,000 cases and 1,269 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

(Photos: Ajith Perera/Xinhua)

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The ban imposed on all arrivals will be lifted from 01 June, the Civil Aviation Authority says.

In a statement, the CAA mentions that restriction will continue to adhere to passengers who have been India within the last 14 days.

Sri Lanka previously banned all arrivals from 22 to 31 May.

However, all inbound travelers are required to undergo mandatory quarantine irrespective of the vaccine obtained by them.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Says offers by private companies is likely counterfeit and should be refused and reported

AstraZeneca has informed Sri Lanka’s State Pharmaceutical Corporation not to purchase the AstraZeneca vaccines from any private trader or company as these vaccines are likely to be counterfeit and should be refused and reported to the relevant authorities. 

The Daily Mirror learns that in a desperate bid to secure 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to roll out the second jabs as time runs out, Sri Lankan authorities had made inquiries from several private companies who claim they have stocks of the AstraZeneca and are willing to sell it to Sri Lanka at a higher rate. 

A senior minister told Daily Mirror earlier this week that an inquiry had also been made in the black market as the government wanted to fulfill its responsibility of administering the second doses to all those who had received the first jabs.

The government has expressed its willingness to purchase the 600,000 injections at any price.

The Daily Mirror learns that authorities were in discussions with over 15 private global companies who said they had stocks and were willing to part with 600,000 doses for a higher price. However the government had reached out to the AstraZeneca parent company seeking validation over the authenticity of these doses, and said they would purchase it only if confirmed by the manufacturers and parent company. 

In response to this query by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation, AstraZeneca Singapore (Pvt) Ltd., in a letter sent to SPC Chairman Dr. Prasanna Gunasena said that AstraZeneca had learnt that numerous private traders and companies had been approaching the government in Sri Lanka to sell the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca.

The Associate Director, Government Affairs, Asia Area of AstraZeneca, Jasper Meyns said that AstraZeneca’s current focus was delivering on its substantial global commitments to governments and international health organizations as quickly as possible to help end the pandemic.

“As such, there is currently no private sector supply, sale or distribution of the vaccine. If a trader, or company other than AstraZeneca offers private vaccines, it is likely counterfeit, so should be refused and reported to the relevant authorities,” the letter said.

“AstraZeneca would like to clarify that currently only COVAX, UNICEF and Serum Institute of India are our designated partners to make the vaccine available in Sri Lanka,” the letter added.

Presently the Sri Lankan government has received no confirmation as to when or from whom they can purchase the remaining stocks of vaccines. An official from SPC told Daily Mirror that to date, there was no confirmation on the AstraZeneca supply but reiterated that they were trying hard to secure the doses.

The current program which is underway to roll out the second jabs has come under severe criticism with those with connections and money having received the doses behind closed doors. The Health Ministry has clearly ignored the protocol of administering the doses according to the dates of the first jabs, resulting in the entire system going adhoc and desperate citizens lining up outside hospitals everyday seeking their second doses. (JAMILA HUSAIN)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A Special Women Corps Quick Reaction Rider Team had been formed to operate in an emergency situation and to assist COVID-19 prevention work and controlling process. 

The Quick Reaction Special Rider Team, comprising  woman soldiers  of  7 Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps was formed on the instructions of Jaffna Security Force Commander and Colonel Commandant of Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps Major General Priyantha Perera.

The Team has been operational since Tuesday in Jaffna city and its suburb under supervision of the Commanding Officer, 7 Sri Lanka Army Women’s Corps Major Rashmi Galhena. (DSB)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services confirmed that Sri Lanka has reported 27 more deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday (May 27).

As per the Department of Government Information, the reported deaths had occurred between May 22 and May 27.

They are identified as residents of Gurutalawa, Badalkumbura, Kandy, Agalawatta, Wennappuwa, Polonnaruwa, Welipenna, Matale, Aluthgama, Maggona, Darga Nagar, Morapitya, Kalutara-South, Galpatha, Beruwala, Galle, Wattegedara, Boossa, Millewa, Neboda, Bulathsinhala, Kadawatha, Wattala, Wellampitiya, and Colombo 15.

Accordingly, the total number of deaths due to Covid-19 infection in Sri Lanka has risen to 1,325.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 790 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,572.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 174,849.

As many as 143,789 recoveries and 1,298 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 29,762 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Adaderana

A Gazette Extraordinary has been issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declaring several services as essential services.

The relevant gazette has been signed by the President today (May 27).

Accordingly, the following services are declared as essential services hereon:

• All services, works or labour of any description carried out or required to be carried out by or in connection with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority established by the Section 3 of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act, No. 51 of 1979.
• The supply and distribution of all fuels, including petroleum products and liquefied gas.
• All services, works, labour of any description whatsoever, necessary or required to be carried out in connectionwith the discharge, carriage, landing, storage, delivery and removal of oil or fuel from vessels within any port, as defined as such,for the purposes of the Customs Ordinance.
• Freight transport by Sri Lanka Railway Department and all public transport services carried out by the Sri Lanka Transport Board for passenger transport.
• Maintenance, security and operational aspects that are essential to carry out such public services in line with service requirements.
• All type of services, works, or labour contributions which should be carried out or required to be carried out by District Secretariats, Divisional Secretariats, Grama Seva Officers, Samurdhi Development Officers, Agricultural Research Assistants including all field level officers of all District and Divisional Secretariats.
• All state banking and insurance services including the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
• Waste management services carried out by the Local Authorities.

Services Declared Essential by Adaderana Online on Scribd

Courtesy Adaderana

Vaccines from China’s Sinopharm successfully contained Covid-19, according to a study published in a prestigious U.S. medical journal, the first time detailed findings from a late-stage trial of a Chinese shot have appeared in the scientific literature.

The two inactivated vaccines developed by Sinopharm’s vaccine-making unit China National Biotec Group Co. prevented symptomatic infections by 72.8% and 78.1%, largely in-line with what the state-owned drugmaker previously announced. The findings were reported in the May 26 Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Chinese shots, including those from Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech Ltd., another Beijing-based vaccine maker, have formed the backbone of the vaccine rollout in developing countries ranging from Hungary and Serbia to Seychelles and Peru. The immunizations have come under scrutiny and their manufacturers have been criticized for not sharing adequate data about the shots’ safety and efficacy.

The lack of transparency fueled doubts about the shots’ ability to contain Covid, especially after cases continued to spike in countries such as Seychelles and Chile that used them to vaccinate a sizable share of their populations. It also stalled approvals by stringent drug regulators and the World Health Organization. While Hong Kong waived the requirement for a peer-reviewed publication to approve the Sinovac vaccine earlier this year, regulators in Singapore are still demanding additional data.

No Serious Infections
The study published in JAMA included 40,832 volunteers from across the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt and Jordan. They were equally split into three groups and received either two doses of the vaccines, three weeks apart, or a placebo. Two weeks after the second shot, infections developed in 26 people given the vaccine known as WIV04, 21 of those given the vaccine known as HBO2 and 95 given a placebo shot.

None of the volunteers given an active vaccine developed severe disease, compared with two of those given placebo. The results were initially submitted to JAMA on March 17, Sinopharm’s subsidiary China National Biotec Group said in a statement. The paper was accepted for publication on May 12.

The published study revealed some limitations in the vaccine trial. The testing was heavily skewed toward men, who accounted for nearly 85% of the participants. Less than 2% were aged 60 or older, and most were healthy. As a result, there is little evidence about the efficacy and safety among women, the elderly and those with underlying diseases.

Still, the World Health Organization cleared one of Sinopharm’s Covid shots earlier this month, paving the way for it to be more widely distributed around the world through the Covax facility that provides access to safe and effective vaccines.

Key details on another Sinovac shot were released in pre-print form, without a formal peer-review or publication. That vaccine has yet to get the green light from the WHO, though more than 380 million doses have been distributed around the world.

Meanwhile, the Embassy of China in Colombo tweeted the findings of JAMA regarding the Sinopharm vaccine.

Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka@ChinaEmbSL·26 MayThe Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA today published world’s first complete data of #Sinopharm Phase3 clinical trials: 14 days after 2nd shot, Efficacy: 100% against severe cases, 72.8-78.1% against #COVID19 , 99% neutralizing antibodies

Courtesy Hiru News

The owner of the distressed vessel X-Press Pearl, X-Press Feeders stated today (27) that the reports of which that the container ship was denied entry to Hazira Port in India and Hamad Port in Qatar are incorrect.

Explaining further, they noted that the ship had undergone discharge and loading operations in both ports before continuing on its planned journey to Colombo.

The ship had appealed to both ports to offload the container that was leaking nitric acid at the time, however, advice given was there were no specialist facilities or expertise immediately available to deal with the leaking acid.

Meanwhile, Executive Chairman of the company, Tim Hartnoll said that poor packaging was responsible for the acid leak, which the crew had detected while in the Arabian Sea thousands of kilometres away from Sri Lanka.

The biggest threat to container shipping is a fire onboard on ships,” Hartnoll further emphasized.

While salvage teams assisted by Sri Lankan and Indian military forces fight to minimize damage, acid and fuel are thought to have spilled into the sea, and the ship’s owner is anticipating that the insured vessel will be declared a total loss.

Meanwhile, sharing a message on Twitter, the High Commission of India in Colombo, Sri Lanka stated that the raging fire of the MV X-Press Pearl has largely been controlled.

Courtesy Hiru News

Sharing a message on Twitter, the High Commission of India in Colombo, Sri Lanka stated that the raging fire of the MV X-Press Pearl has largely been controlled.

“Result of the #India -#SriLanka joint operation is now more tangible. The raging fire has largely been controlled and parts of #MVXPressPearl are now clearly visible even as the fight continues. Hoping for more good news. Stay tuned!!”

India promptly responded to an emergency request by Sri Lanka Navy and deployed multiple assets to douse the fire on MV X Press Pearl off Colombo on 25 May 2021.

This includes Vessels Vaibhav, Vajra and Samudra Prehari by Indian Coast Guard and Tug Water Lilly by Director General, Shipping in addition to Dornier aircraft for aerial reconnaissance.

Debris from the burning container ship has washed ashore and the public has been warned not to touch any of it as it could be contaminated with harmful chemicals.

However, the Marine Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA) stated that several cases of allegories have been reported from persons who had come in contact with the debris from the distressed vessel.

Debris from the X-Press Pearl vessel that is burning in the sea area off the Colombo Port has been washed ashore in Ja-Ela, Kapugoda, and Sethupaduwa along the Negombo Coastal line