Sri Lanka has registered 32 more victims of COVID-19, Director-General of Health Services confirmed Sunday (May 23).
Official data showed that latest fatalities have moved the country’s death toll to 1,210.
Five of the deaths took place today and the 27 other victims have succumbed to the virus infection today while the rest between the period of April 23 – May 22, the Department of Government Information stated.
The deceased were identified as residents of Matale, Negombo, Kotugoda, Narangoda, Hasalaka, Galle, Badulla, Panadura, Kaleliya, Alawwa, Polonnaruwa, Kalutara South, Bogahakumbura, Imaduwa, Mawanella, Kattankudy, Katukithula, Enderamulla, Hawaeliya, Hatton, Pannipitiya, Maharagama, Minuwangoda, Kalawana, Ruwanwella, Mathugama and Nugegoda areas.
Reportedly, fourteen victims in total were aged above 71 years. Nine victims were in the age group of 61-70 years while three were aged between 51-60 years. Five victims were in their forties and the remaining victim was a 28-year-old male.
COVID pneumonia and complications from chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases have been identified as the cause of death of the victims.
Daily COVID-19 cases count moved to 2,959 on Sunday (May 23) as 705 more people were tested positive for the virus in Sri Lanka.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 164,201.
Government Information Department stated that 2,945 of the new cases reported today are associated with the New Year coronavirus cluster. Fourteen others were identified as arrivals from foreign countries.
As many as 128,607 recoveries and 1,210 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic
According to official data, up to 34,384 active cases are currently under medical care.
Ministry of Health has decided to convert 50 Ayurveda hospitals across the island into intermediate COVID-19 treatment centers.
The decision has been made at a special discussion held today (May 23) with Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi, on the advice of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
With the conversion of the Ayurveda hospitals into treatment centers, 3,500 more beds will be available for COVID-19 patients.
The staff members of the selected Ayurveda hospital will be provided formal training on COVID-19 treatment methods, the Ministry stated.
In addition, the relevant staff would also be vaccinated against the virus.
Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19 infection. Premadasa confirmed this posting on his social media a short while ago.
Reportedly, his wife had been hospitalized on May 19 over COVID-19 symptoms and had subsequently tested positive for the virus.
As per the health guidelines, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader too had undergone a PCR test which had confirmed that he too had contracted coronavirus.
However, he remains asymptomatic, Premadasa said.
Both Premadasa and his wife are currently receiving treatment at the hospital.
Premadasa further stated, Leading the opposition’s role in ensuring the safety of the people during these extremely difficult times, remains my priority, and I will continue to do my part in this united effort.”
He also urged the public to remain safe, and follow all health guidelines and strictures to fight the COVID-19 wave together, as a nation.
Meanwhile, Sergeant-At-Arms at the parliament stated that movements of the Opposition Leader in the parliament will be monitored through CCTV footage in order to identify his contacts.
The close contacts will be informed to take necessary action based on guidelines issued by the health sector, the Sergeant-At-Arms stated.
Children’s charity faces claims it failed vulnerable children and misled donors after shutting down activities in the country
One of the world’s largest children’s rights charities has admitted it made a number of mistakes” when it left Sri Lanka abruptly last year, amid accusations it had misled the public and donors and failed 20,000 vulnerable children in the country.
Former employees and provincial governors who spoke to the Guardian described Plan International’s exit as irresponsible”, cynical and indefensible”.
Child sponsors, who provided most of Plan International’s funding in Sri Lanka, said they were shocked and disappointed” by the charity’s handling of its departure and the lack of transparency over the impact of the move on the children.Advertisement
In December 2019, after four decades in the country, Plan International announced it was leaving Sri Lanka owing to the significant growth” of the country’s economy and a marked improvement” in its UN Human Development Index ranking.
In January 2020, child sponsors received letters telling them that projects they had funded through the children’s families would be handed over to local partners. They were given two weeks to send a goodbye letter to children many had supported for years, and were offered new children in other countries to sponsor.
Former employees say the real reason for the charity’s hasty departure was rising costs and internal conflicts.
Plan admitted that costs had been one of the multiple factors” it considered when leaving. It said it had conducted a thorough assessment of the continued viability of operating successfully in the country” and that costs were escalating due to security and other factors”.
Internal reports from 2018 seen by the Guardian have revealed unsustainably high levels of operating costs” and exceptionally low levels of staff morale” at Plan International in Sri Lanka. A draft internal report in 2019 said the organisation began a complex and challenging transformation process”, which resulted in staff unrest, strikes and protest”.
An investigation into Plan’s exit, published by the Norwegian global development website Bistandsaktuelt, which shared source material with the Guardian, revealed that families of sponsored children from Uva, one of the poorest areas of Sri Lanka, did not know why Plan had left and that no one had taken over the projects as promised.Advertisement
No one has helped us as Plan did,” Lalini, a mother of two from Monaragala district in Uva told Bistandsaktuelt. They contributed to better schools and to people without work being able to start their own business. They really did a great job.
We had been told by Plan staff they would continue to help us for five more years, but suddenly they were just gone. And no one has told us what happened, why they just left.”
Subashini, 12, from a remote village in Uva, spoke of her good memories” of receiving annual gifts from a Japanese couple who sponsored her. She was able to receive extra tuition in maths and the local language Sinhala. Plan also helped to build a latrine for the family.
After they left, we’ve lost all support,” said Subashini. Her mother said the family was struggling to make ends meet, which threatened her daughter’s schooling.
Dr Manoj Fernando, former head of the Foundation for Health Promotion, a Sri Lankan NGO that worked on nutrition projects in Monaragala and Anuradhapura districts, said no alternative arrangements to support the children were put in place by Plan when it left.
We heard Plan had suddenly shut down from other sources,” Fernando told the Guardian. We were upset about it.”
Maithri Gunaratne, former governor of Uva, said: Plan has failed these children. Hopes were raised with communities and thereafter dashed to the ground.”
Gunaratne, who had signed a memorandum of understanding with Plan to improve education in the province in 2019, three months before it announced it was leaving, said it had acted irresponsibly”, leaving the poorest of the poor in the lurch”.
We gave them priority as a reputable NGO. We stopped public finance in those areas and we gave the opportunity to Plan to finance things.
Those children were promised water and sanitation and livelihoods for women. They misled the donors.”
Plan, which has supported children from poor and vulnerable families in Monaragala, Uva, Ampara, and Anuradhapura districts for many years, enrolled a further 1,000 children into the sponsorship scheme in 2019, with the backing of local authorities.
Sundari Jayasuriya, deputy country director of Plan Sri Lanka from 2017 to 1 December 2019, has accused the NGO of dishonesty and duplicity” by saying the closure of its operations in the country was because of economic development.Advertisement
In my opinion, the sudden closure was primarily due to the leadership’s inability to strategically and effectively deal with internal struggles and high costs.”
Jayasuriya said international organisations had a right to end operations, but that they should do so ethically, responsibly and transparently, making sure those who rely on them are not let down”.
What happened in Sri Lanka is an example of costly fly-by-night top-down organisational restructure processes where decisions are made in haste with little local ownership.”
In a statement, Plan International said the reason for its departure was complex, but that it was largely due to the economic improvement in Sri Lanka and the improvement in its human development ranking. The charity said it had undertaken a rigorous internal review” and that early lessons from that process included the need to define the essential criteria” for leaving a country as well as how sponsored children and families were supported.
It said: We recognise that we made number of mistakes during the exiting process and we are determined to learn from them to prevent them happening anywhere else in our organisation.”
We also acknowledge that more effective communications are required, with sponsored children and their communities, with sponsors and donors, and within our organisation.”
We are truly sorry that some of the children, communities, donors and partners involved in our work in Sri Lanka feel that we left abruptly and that our communication was not sufficient or effective.”
Plan said it had communicated the decision to sponsored children’s families, and local and national government representatives immediately after the information was announced to our staff in [the] country”, and that all sponsored children’s families were sent a letter.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 761 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 2,906.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 161,242.
As many as 126,995 recoveries and 1,132 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 33,115 active cases are currently under medical care.
Resolutions against Sri Lanka are not a new phenomenon
at the UNHRC said Pathfinder Foundation. Sri
Lanka was handled at the UNHRC by Canada in the 1980s and by USA and UK in the present century.
Way back in 1987, while the armed conflict
against the LTTE was at its infancy, Sri Lanka had to face a hostile
resolution in the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the forerunner to HRC. On
that occasion, the initiative to take Sri Lanka
before the CHR was made by Argentina
at the bidding of India.
Sri Lanka had voted in favor
of the UK in the United
Nations General Assembly on the Falklands issue and Argentina was angry. Sri Lankan
delegation headed by H.W. Jayewardene
and Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala succeeded in amending the resolution and
allowed it to be adopted, said Pathfinder.
For many years, thereafter the Sri Lanka issue
was dealt with out of public sight, by a professional Foreign Secretary and
professional Ambassadors acting together under an agreed plan of action, said
former diplomat Sarala Fernando.
In 2006 when the UK first broached the notion of
a resolution against Sri Lanka , as Permanent Representative in Geneva, my
instructions from Colombo were to make sure there was not even a reference in
the official records, continued Sarala. I remember
briefing all the regional groups and the OIC on Sri Lanka’s fight against
terrorism. I remember ending my statement with the words: if any draft on Sri Lanka was
tabled, my instructions are to call for a vote and vote against”. No draft was
officially tabled and all the lobbying done out of the public gaze.
Today, Sri Lanka
is represented in both New York and Geneva by first time
political Ambassadors who despite fine speaking competency, have little
experience of how the UN works. The need for useful contacts and compromises,
concluded Sarala.
USA was very displeased
when Sri Lanka
won the Eelam war.USA wished to retaliate and also negate the victory. USA therefore brought war related Resolutions
against Sri Lanka
at the UNHCR. Resolutions were passed in
2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2021.
The Resolution of 2009 set the tone.
((A/HRC/S-11/2) It said, Reaffirming the respect for sovereignty, territorial
integrity and independence of Sri Lanka
and its sovereign right to protect its citizens and combat terrorism, Welcoming
the conclusion of hostilities and the liberation of hostages, Welcoming recent
reassurance given by the President that he does not regard a military solution
as a final solution, and his commitment
to a political solution with implementation of the 13th Amendment to bring
about lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, UNHRC welcomes the resolve
of the Sri Lankan authorities to begin a broader dialogue with all parties to bring about a political settlement and lasting peace based on respect for the
rights of all the ethnic and religious groups inhabiting it and invites all
stakeholders concerned to actively participate in it.
The
Resolutions put forward at the UNHRC sessions got stronger and stronger and
there was much resentment, but Mahinda Rajapaksa and his team did not take up
this matter of adverse resolutions forcefully in Geneva, said critics. Sri Lanka never
had the muscle to combat these said Palitha Kohona. But Sri Lanka did not give in, either.
UNHRC’s lovingly prepared
Resolutions met with fierce resistance in Sri
Lanka .When the first USA
backed Resolution was passed in 2012, there was an
immediate uproar in Sri
Lanka. The public strongly objected to the
west to meddling in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, under cover of Human Rights.
Committee of Vice Chancellors of Sri Lanka condemned
the Resolution as interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Engineers Association also condemned it.
There were demonstrations. Media reported that the ‘cream of the
business community’ thronged to Nelum Pokuna roundabout to condemn the
Resolution. There were representatives from John Keells Holdings, Aitken
Spence, Sri Lanka Telecom, Mobitel,
Lanka Bell, Dialog, Etisalat, Hilton Colombo, Mount Lavinia Hotel, Commercial
Bank, Hatton National Bank and others.
Rev Cyril
Fernando, of the Archdiocese of Colombo,
said that the action was tantamount to a direct intervention against Sri Lanka’s independence and sovereignty and an insult to
the intelligence of the people.
Dew Gunasekera observed that UNHRC, unlike the
Security Council, is only a talk shop. And I do not think this resolution will
have any major effect on us. The US
has passed so many resolution against Cuba and they have complete ignored
them, he said. India also
joined in. Indian newspaper Daily Pioneer
said that Sri Lanka
owes explanation to none.
Resolution 30/1 of 2015, which followed, was
hooted at in Sri Lanka. It was unheard of, said critics, for a state to actually
co-sponsor a resolution which said that its
own army had committed war
crimes. The resolution was ridiculed so much that Yahapalana government was
unable to act on it.
The next
government, Pohottu, quickly withdrew from the Yahapalana position. Pohottu completely rejected allegations of “war
crimes” leveled against the armed forces.
At the 43rd Session in 2020 Sri Lanka told UNHRC that in
co-sponsoring Resolution 30/1, the previous Government violated all democratic
principles of governance – it declared support for the resolution even before
the draft text was presented – it sought no Cabinet approval to bind the
country to deliver on the dictates of an international body – there was no
reference to Parliament on the process, undertakings and repercussions of such
co-sponsorship – more importantly the Resolution itself included provisions
which are undeliverable due to its inherent illegality, being in violation of
the constitution, the supreme law of the country”.
Pohottu then faced Resolution 46/1,
which came up for approval in Geneva in February 2021. Sri Lanka said that
the Resolution violated Article 2(7) of the United Nations Charter, and also
went beyond the mandate given in United Nations Resolution 60/251. UNHRC has no
right to interfere in the affairs of a sovereign country in this manner. Pohottu also observed that UNHRC
cannot collect evidence relating to International Humanitarian Law or to
support judicial proceedings in any member state.
It lacks both the authority to do so and also
the competence.
HR officials found Sri Lanka a hard nut to crack. The sponsors of the 2021 resolution saw that though a horse could be led to water,
it couldn’t be forced to drink, admitted Don Manu.
Chandraprema observed that when Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein presented his
report to UNHCR in September 2015, in Geneva, he
was aggressive, judgmental and arrogant but
when he visited Sri
Lanka in Feb 2016 he took ‘a humble and
flexible position.’ He made a ‘tail
between the legs speech’ and left. Probably because he saw that public opinion
was against Yahapalana government. Ban KI Moon who visited in Sept 2016 dodged
questions at the press meeting. He uttered platitudes and fled when the awkward
question started coming in, said Chandraprema.
Sri
Lanka had considerable support at the UNHRC. Cuba
became a member of UNHRC in 2013. Cuban
ambassador to Sri Lanka told
the local media, that is would support Sri Lanka at the UNHRC sessions. Cuba will remain with Sri Lanka. We will co-operate with Sri Lanka and help
in the best possible manner. Sri
Lanka needs co-operation and support. Sri Lanka has better social development
indicators than other countries, said Cuba.
In 2013, 14
nations including Russia, China, Venezuela,
Iran issued a joint
statement objecting to the report on Sri Lanka (A/HRC/22/38) issued by
the UNHRC in that year. We are of the view that the High Commissioner has clearly
exceeded her mandate in this report by making recommendations and
pronouncements. These recommendations are arbitrary, intrusive and of a
political nature”, the group said.
When the 2014
resolution on Sri Lanka came up for discussion, at Geneva, the representative
for Pakistan had said that that no self respecting country would agree to the
intrusive measures advocated in this resolution. He wanted to know how this
resolution was to be funded and whether the funders were the same as those who
had sponsored the resolution. If so the
whole process will be tainted. He got no
answer to his inquiry. India had also
warned that an intrusive approach would undermine national sovereignty.
In 2015 Pakistan and Russia spoke against Resolution 30/1. They could not oppose the resolution as Sri Lanka had accepted it. In 2021 Philippines said the text of the Resolution was driven by simplistic generalizations of complex conditions on the ground”. Pakistan said that the draft resolution fails to acknowledge the long struggle of the Sri Lankan people and government against LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam),” and shies away from a call for accountability of the LTTE and its sponsors and financiers”. (Continued)
Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, President Ambassador’s Forum
Indian version that has led to clock down of UK next week
Cvid 19 Pandemic has now become internalized and we must think
international with the involvement with UN, WHO, effected countries and
international organizations. It is a salutary step that UN has taken to
convene a special session to adopt a binding resolution for a Global
Pandemic Convention so that all the
nations are bound to work together – especially the rich countries and
international organizations There is international involvement, concern, and
network in the interest of themselves as big powers such as USA, Russia,
Brazil, and powerful India that has become very humble due to excessive
penetration of highest numbers pandemic victims and deaths with the death toll being
an unappalled, unprecedented and heart-breaking. Death toll is mounting and increasing
worldwide with fluctuations showing no mercy or improvements in terms of
patients and deaths. USA is with a brave face with President is saying to the
citizen that wearing mask is not imperative when UN and WHO is insisting more
and more stringent regulations. Indian situation is the same with Sri Lankan
situation aggravating to reach a complete lock down from 21st when the Army Commander
has advised the citizens to collect provisions for a rainy day nearby – a step
that should have taken before the New Year festive days and strictly follow
genuine and correct scientific advice. It is worth listening the views of a
genuine reputed scientist Dr Malik Perera who has given very valuable
scientific views and directions the governance should follow. It is again a
good move preventing irresponsible officers and pseudo scientists giving voice
cuts which is misleading which is captured even by world media. It is also
noted PHI officers who were doing an excellent job on the first wave should
mind their tongs or Ministry must have a control over them. There appear to be no permanent solution at the sight and the
prediction of WHO generally the world relies on ,states is that, that world
shall not expect an early and easy solution of the expanding the menace with number of variants
in many countries. Origin supposed to be in ‘’Wohan’’ in China which
has spread length and breadth of the world, hard hitting small as
well as big powers kneeling down
miserably to the venomous ‘’Covid 19’’ still spreading fast. Let us compare our
tragedy with immediate neighbour and the regional power miserably failed in
controlling the ferocious pandemic spreading fast, with new variants fearing
UK, Sri Lanka and many other counties. 50 doctors have died recently totalling
1000 over and the death toll and the infections are growing faster as before
unchanged accelerating with variants and spreading worldwide due to the large
network of Indians spread and movements are still taking place. Death toll is
mounting and there appear to be no strategy or preventive measures due to the
enormity of the geographically large area and the population one of the largest
in the worldwide, with no good health system as in Sri Lank where the health
system and the doctors are nearly as good as UK which is one of the best
systems in the world UK that has successfully controlled the menace from
thousands of deaths to nearly zero is again planning a crackdown with a full
lock down in a week again, due to the Indian variant attacking the citizens,
which is a lessons to Sri Lanka allegedly possessing number of variants in
circulation. Apparently Indian version has become more and more ferocious with
new adaptations, warning the 49 countries that has been infested showing the
danger and gravity of the spread. If this is the danger and the nature of the
spread we can imagine the conditions of other various with batter and more
comfortable situations. Wave is spreading all over fast by various methods due
to the unprotected and insecure behaviour of the world citizens on move. Lock
down appears to be imminent in UK and Sri Lanka and may spread to many other
countries unless UN and the international community intervenes to assist
members financially as finance plays a main part in clamping down. Rich is
becoming richer in Sri Lanka India and worldwide showing Amazon, EBEY
flourishing earning from the sweat of the corona victims followed by top
companies in Sri Lanka and India. Top companies, Banks, Telecommunication
sector, Lubricant, Tobacco, supermarkets, in Sri Lanka are enjoying profits
over 400% and even more including listed companies enjoying a hay day at the
cost of the suffering on the road and hospitals when the cases of suspected pandemic
are the peak (3628 today) wiht36 deaths -a sad situation. Governance should
compel ‘’Fat Cat’’ companies in Sri Lanka to make substantial contributions to
the war on Pandemic.
Lock downs, Crack downs, and other restrictions in controlling pandemic
Lock down is the most extreme method of controlling the pandemic (we are
commencing on 21st) when life of the citizen becomes life
threatening and the pandemic is fast spreading with dangerous consequences of
multiplicity with highest cost to the country. It is estimated that one days
cost for a lock down in Sri Lanka is around 60000 million LKR which is so
costly to a developing country battered by a 30 year war and many other draw backs
to the economy which is only rough indication to the gravity of such an step,
and we are still paying for the previous lock downs causing bleedings to the
economy which is difficult for us to bear- but what else to do as the horse has
bolted the stable and we are closing it too late. Let us go through agony for a
better day as never late that ever. United Kingdom which is victorious in
fighting pandemic has had lock downs previously .Where the death toll in UK
nearly 9000 in March has come down to rear zero due to lock downs and 85% have
been vaccinated and strict guidelines have been implemented. Due to the
invasion of the Indian variant UK will be closing in a weeks with a full lock
down at the highest loss as they can afford to as a rich country with reserves
and backers worldwide. U K was not serious and not so strict initially and paid
the highest price until stringent measures were introduced to clamp down the
situation for complete control. Death toll to date have been 163709016 and
there is no guarantee that the situation will be under control due to
uncertainty of the situation and the rate of fast spreading with variations by
the virus freely spreading with n resistance
from manmade drugs except avoiding the threat and taking precautionary
measures. Sri Lanka is planning stringent controls minus complete lock down for
obvious reasons and rich countries have stocks of vacations still unused in
full leaving some poor countries not vaccinated at all. Sri Lanka is taking
strict and stringent measures to clamp down yet the results will depend on how
the population responds and cooperates out of realization and proper
understanding without finding fault of the governance and others they presumed
to be responsible and powerful in the country, therefore the governance must
realise the lockdowns will be a proper solution and the real solution should
come from all sections of the society out of commitment and realization. Have
reached that stage or awaiting until the million infected is reached?
Where have we gone wrong and where do we stand in the crisis-are we in
trouble
This is not the
time for a blame game or to find who are responsible for the tragedy we are
immersed in may be not due to our fault alone. It is a world pandemic that we
controlled the first wave so well but lost the second and third wave reminding
of the village folk of the race between the tortoise and rabbit where the
foolish Rabbit slept under a tree undermining the slow tortoise slowly but steadily
kept on in the race and won in the end. Were we lazy or foolish – decision is
yours and it is a lesson for us for our future struggles in clamping down the
pandemic.- Our learned Opposition leader
says we could and should have purchased drugs on time finding fault on all and every step by the governance without
giving advice directions and cooperation, and I wish somebody will forward this
article written in good faith to him and it is a good idea for him to read this
column ( if he aspires to be the next leader ) not read by many politicians
mainly in the governance , due to negligence and language constraints. What has
he been doing instead of being in the blame game? With many others in the group
including famous ‘’Kumara’’ also an unproductive talking shop unproductive to
the rest of the world including himself .All the time on the blame game without
doing anything constructive. We have no place, position, or post in the
government but trying to do a service within our capacity yet we keep on
serving the nation. Learn from NM Colvin Lesley etc. who were strong left
leaders against then government, yet served the masses on the road during the
difficult periods after the war and malaria and small pox pandemics then. GMOA
finds fault on the Health Ministry doing an excellent job with an excellent
website of world standard, we are also using for our work. We are now in UK collecting
all date from Health Promotion bureau to serve the world working together with
activist groups based in London. Sri
Lanka is doing an excellent job when UK who too are in trouble despite lot of
money and facilities they possess. We will learn from what went wrong and learn
from us using our own experiences and the world, when everybody is going
through the learning process and in
trouble citizen has a civic duty to be careful and follow rules to the last
world. Mind you the total deaths in India of corona is 263533 and death per day
is 4329 which is frightening to us as well as the immediate neighbour with easy
access for the unknown and unseen ferocious pandemic dragon to invade us comfortably
with variants – that has compelled to shut down UK for safety -by various ways
and means. Only and the best way is to follow health advice and guidelines and
go back to basics. Of course we are in trouble heading for a major disaster as predicted
by our own health ministry to reach a
million in 100 days which is frightening in deed. Currently the death is around
34 a day, and detections 1000 a day which is high with 24476 in 10 days and
today it is learnt to be the highest being 3051 detections. And mind
you we have 147720 confirmed and 121145 recovered. Israel has recovered with
zero deaths by their innovativeness, and Vietnam has reached zero deaths giving
us hopes with our previous success stories and genuine traditional Ayurveda
practices and not drugs of rough illegal practitioners. Current Pandemic is
more dangerous than any previous disasters and it is time for us to get together
and harness our resources, strength and knowledge to fight the last battle or
perish together. It is so simple the governance must have a leader for the
fight – not the Army commander a lonely parrot carrying orders and doing an
excellent job in implementation of
someone orders himself with no vision or a strategy. I is time the ruler taker
over rains as the masses have given him a clear path without puling the mandate
leaving the rest apart. It is the duty of the opposition and others out of power
to let him do the job and advice and
guide in the proper way and advice without pulling his leg. There should be a
vision for the fight with proper advice by scientists who too will speak with
one world. There are pseudo masters when the real masters are silent and not
given an opportunity by the governance. Health Minister should be a medical
professional with authority and firm vision being the most important in the
process. We must go back to basics and follow health instructions and
advice to the last word, thoroughly
studying how and why UK and Sri Lanka went wrong. UK was on the correct path if
not for the invasion of the India variant and Sri Lanka went wrong due to the
own making by the people who misbehaved and the governance not taking proper steps on time due to economic
downtown. What is needed is the realization of the danger and determination to
work together leaving all before the peak of the pandemic disaster. No experts
of expert knowledge is necessary. What is needed is the commitment and
determination to act together with one and only goal without aiming at to form
the next government nobody could manage without joint determined exercise by
all citizens. Government expenditure is high running higher with 2020 9610
million,2021 4190, expenditure 5000/565939/14000/ 29and 17 for
qurwntine,education3800/districts 102/2658/ which are mentioned a few compared
to so many showing the gravity and magnitude
which is difficult for the country to bear and ever increasing, not
reached the peak yet when the government predicts the peak in September with a million in 100 day when the detentions are
1000 a day dying average 34 a day, and please believe we can win the unseen,
virus easily if we are determined and join hands as one with the leadership of
a vision and a visionary who will strictly follow the directions of genuine
experts who will be confused when before a microphone, and media. There are
responsibilities on the media, professionals, and politicians, religious
leaders to speak with one word and follow the vision of the visionary backed by
proper professionals with strict rules and guidelines. Sri Lanka being very
smaller than India it is possible to win the war if handles well
scientifically, with innovations as Israelis have done. But are serious and
determined and united is the issue and if we do nit we will be digging our own graves.
Way forward to
be out of danger
Truth and reality
is that we are in trouble on our own making but may be able to win over if we
play cards really well and to the point. We won the first wave successfully as
experienced soldiers in the battle against Covid 19. It is not sure whether we
have learnt lessons for our losses in human lives and income which is rare now
which is almost exhausted. We are in the worst list aggravating daily- but we
must win the war and it will be definitely won with the efforts of all of us,
especially in governance and media expected to act a main pivot role in the
exercise. But the fact remains that this is not a threat confined to Sri Lanka
alone and it is a pandemic that has
engulfed the world over and an international effort is necessary when the
entire world is getting ready for the battle. We are fighting an unknown and
unseen virus thriving length and breadth due to our own carelessness and lack
of precautionary measures, in combatting the enemy with simple basic methods
which are easy to apply and practice. We need a vision and a visionary to lead
the battle with a group of experts who were learned experienced and speak with
one word. What is the vision and who is the visionary is yet to be found. Now
that the people have chosen a leader with an overwhelming majority either he
must create a vision or get a group of real visionary to lead the battle to
avoid mass deaths and destruction. Sarath7@hotmail.co.uk
In the light of the growing problems with certain minority communities culminating in the Easter Sunday Massacre in 2019 that caused the death of 270 innocent men, women and children, and severe injuries to over 500 others, we have to ask ourselves whether the current social order we have today, based on ‘Multiculturalism’ had contributed in any significant way to this crime against humanity?
A civilizational crime by any yardstick.
David Lee states that “Western civilization” is today an oppressive hegemony that is ruled by orthodox intellectuals and the mainstream media.
Lee says that “Multiculturalism” is the dominant ideology of post-modern Western civilization. The core tenets of multiculturalism require that all ethno-cultural groups are to be treated as equal, marginalized groups should be held up to be idolized and that it is one’s duty to embrace other groups at the expense of one’s own group. This sounds very noble and humanistic”.
In fact, this ideology embodies hypocrisy and anti – majoritarian elements so much so that it stands out as something very much out of character with the foundations of the Buddhist civilization and cultural heritage that this country has been built upon.
The notion of ‘ Equality’ is given only lip service in many countries and especially where Abrahamic religions hold sway.
Movements like ‘ Black Lives Matter’ have sprung up because of the continued maintenance of the colour bar and overt racial discrimination against people of colour and the indigenous people. In Islamic countries there is a clear distinction between ‘ Believers’ and ‘ Disbelievers’. The latter is damned in the scriptures and in turn a becomes a victim of discrimination. Disbeliever is not a co – equal of a Believer.
These attitudes undermine the very foundations of Multiculturalism, Secularism and Reconciliation.
If one group is indoctrinated by religion to marginalize and look down on others because of their faith and unwillingness to worship the same God, how can there be a true sense of equality and respect?
If one group is teaching ‘Sedition to the Pupils’ in their places of worship and furthermore, not to respect the laws of the local sovereign if these laws clash with the laws of God almighty, how can a law abiding society be established?
The Easter Sunday Massacre showed that the security forces had dropped their guard at the behest of the key leaders of the Yahapalana Govt. who had implicit faith in Multiculturalism and were relying on political and financial support from minorities, some of whom were brazenly using democratic freedoms to undermine and destroy the very system that had given them unlimited freedom.
As evidence begins to unfold it becomes clear that despite mounting information on the possibility of a terror attack there was hesitancy and foot dragging on the part of the intelligence services and the key political leaders to take action because the politicians were so much bonded with the extremists having received huge bulk votes in the thousands in previous elections and therefore extremely reluctant to order a crackdown.
Action was taken only after the crime of mass murder had been committed.
Appeasement has no limits. This is very unfortunate.
What is the guarantee that if policies of appeasement, multiculturalism and reconciliation were to continue as before that another Easter Sunday type massacre will not be repeated?
It is time to think beyond the flawed system of Multiculturalism, which is hypocritical and anti – Majoritarian, particularly, in countries like India and Sri Lanka.
Multiculturalism was indirectly responsible for the Easter Sunday Massacre. It has also led to growing demands to create a parallel legal system like ‘Shariya’ law in Sri Lanka.
Where is this going to end?
In its present form, Multiculturalism is not suitable for Sri Lanka.
By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activists, Political Communications Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart, Convener “The Muslim Voice” and Member “Viyathmaga”, May 20th., 2021.
I do not think that even 25 of these MP’s would have read the bill or resourced material to understand the larger picture of the Hambantota Habour and the Colombo Port City projests in respect to the REALITY it will be for Sri Lanka.
The Port City Bill: Second reading passed in Parliament is a great blessing to our Nation. It will now have to go through the 3rd., reading with the amendments requested by the Supreme court incopted accordingly. The Bill will now be referred to the Committee of the Whole Parliament in terms of Standing Order 57, the proceedings of the Committee which is conducted in terms of Standing Orders 93 to 99.
After due process, it will go for a 3rd., reading and then voting. Being voted at the 3rd., reading the Bill will become law. This law will change the Socio-Economical and Social development of our “Maathruboomiya” in the future, the benefits that will be “REAPED” by our younger generations in the coming years by the grace of God AllMighty. It is a pity that those MP’s and the opposition that voted against this bill at the 2nd., reading have still not understood the value of this Colombo Port City Project. THEY HAVE VOTED NO “JUST TO VOTE AGAINST IT”. Idiots. It is a pity that our law makers, MAJORITY of the 225 in parliament are all idiotic fools who sit in parliament consuming our tax money being elected by the innocent people who are hoping for a better future. I do not think that even 25 of these MP’s would have read the bill or have resourced content/knowledge material in print or the internet to take a look/understand what is the larger picture of both these major Chinese projects are (Hambantota Habour and the Colombpo Port City) in respect to the REALITY it will be for Sri Lanka. Look at the “KARAKORAM HIGHWAY” that China has built jointly with Pakistan, a road that is now linking Pakistan and China – 1300 km long which had taken 20 years to accomplish and claimed today as the 7th., wonder of the world by European journalists. These MP’s who are trying to criticise Should have visited Pakistan and taken a trip (drive) from Pakistan to China on this highway to see for themselves the development and socio-economic development this project has brought to the rural and remote villages/urban towns and the people through which the Highway has been built. This link has benefited Pakistan with Sterling pounds 14 billion annually from tade alone in recent years. The “KARAKORAM HIGHWAY” and rail links will reach out to all the CIS countries and reach the mediterain sea in the near future and become part of the “One Belt One Road” project. Sri Lanka cannot loose this great opportunity because our law makers cannot “SEE FAR”. It is a pity that Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera and Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith called on the government to postpone the bill. Surely they have been misled by the opposition or other vested political forces within Sri Lanka and or the vested geo-political forces that are against this great development project that Sri Lanka will also play a major role in it’s participation. They should also take a trip to Pakistan and look at the development the Chinese “KARAKORAM HIGHWAY” Project has contributed both infrastructure wise and socio-economically to the people of Pakistan so that they both can clearly understand the benefits that Sri Lanka, our “MAATHRUBOOMIYA” will get from the outcome of the mega-infrastructure and trade project with inclusion of corridors spanning some 60 countries, primarily in Asia and Europe but also including Oceania and East Africa, at an estimated cost US$4–8 trillion. It is important that the Sri Lanka Government must get this bill passed in parliament by all means at the Committe stage and at the 3rd., reading, by the grace of God AllMighty.
Colombo, May 20 (Ada Derana) – State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) has made a commercial purchase of 14 million doses of the China-manufactured COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm.
The Embassy of China in Colombo confirmed that 03 million out of the purchase will arrive in Sri Lanka in early June.
Western Australia will be sending 18 ventilators and more than 10 million masks as part of an aid package to assist some of the worst hit nations battling COVID-19.
WA premier Mark McGowan has moved to dispatch essential supplies to help manage the escalating public health crisis in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be managing the aid arrangements and help to distribute the donated items, which include 18 ventilators and PPE supplies (10 million masks, over 419,000 gloves and 3,100 coveralls).
The situation in India and neighbouring countries is devastating,” Mr McGowan said.
This aid package includes items which are above and beyond what is required in Western Australia should we face an outbreak.”
The PPE is currently surplus to WA’s needs, Mr McGowan said, meaning the state was in a position to assist send them to where it was most needed.
In the last week alone India has recorded 24,931 COVID-19 related deaths, followed by 1,405 deaths in Nepal and 201 in Sri Lanka. India’s death toll peaked on Wednesday, claiming 4,529 lives.
To everyone who has been affected by the current situation, we are thinking of you at this time,” McGowan said.
As we have seen with other countries across the world that has been through several waves of this pandemic, we hope India, Nepal and Sri Lanka can clamp down on the virus soon.”
May 21, 2021, will mark the 30th anniversary of a well-planned and well-executed grotesque killing that snuffed out the life of an Indian leader believed to be on a comeback trail to power.
Though the LTTE and Prabhakaran kept denying its role in the suicide bombing, the killing sealed his fate.
It was Dharmalingam Siddharthan, a former Sri Lankan Tamil MP, who was among the first to realise the heavy cost Prabhakaran would pay for the killing.
Ezharai Sani [a bad phase of life, according to astrology] will go away for everyone after seven-and-a-half years,” Siddharthan told me a long ago. I can say without hesitation that Ezharai Sani gripped Prabhakaran on May 21, 1991, and it will not leave him until he dies.”
Looking back, Siddharthan turned out to be on the dot.
None of this would have been evident to the LTTE chief when he, along with his intelligence boss Pottu Amman, decided to do away with Rajiv Gandhi, fearing that he might again dispatch Indian troops to Sri Lanka.
Sivarasan gets the task
Once the task of killing Gandhi was handed over to the LTTE intelligence operative known by his nom de guerre Sivarasan, the Tigers decided that the latter should not get mixed up with the existing LTTE network in Tamil Nadu.
The LTTE knew that Indian security agencies were aware of almost all its activists in the State, including those working for the intelligence wing.
Accordingly, one day in September 1990, a boat packed with Tamil civilians fleeing the war in Sri Lanka’s northeast reached the Tamil Nadu coastal town of Rameshwaram.
Two men and a woman from the group met Indian officials and registered themselves as refugees but moved on to Chennai, saying they had friends in the city.
A few days later, another boat of Tamil refugees also reached the Tamil Nadu coast. As in the first instance, two men and a woman registered themselves as refugees and said they, too, would prefer to live with friends in Chennai.
The two groups rented out separate houses in Chennai, telling those who cared to ask that they were lucky to be away from the war.
The six Sri Lankans did not know themselves but their arrival in Tamil Nadu marked the unleashing of a deadly plot Prabhakaran had drawn up to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.
Sivarasan, known as One-Eyed Jack” because of a glass prosthesis he wore in place of an eye he lost in a battle, realised soon that the men sent in advance as refugees” were not enough for the tough job he had on hand.
By then, two LTTE intelligence operatives, Nixon and Kanthan, also reached Tamil Nadu. After a brief stay in the State, Sivarasan went back to Sri Lanka and returned to Chennai in January 1991.
Sacking of the DMK government
It was the month the Indian government sacked the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in Tamil Nadu for turning a blind eye to LTTE activities and placed the State under direct federal rule.
After taking permission from Pottu Amman, Sivarasan telephoned Sathasivan Krishnakumar, alias Kittu, the London-based LTTE representative, and sought introduction to a reliable Indian contact in Chennai. Sivarasan did not realise that this was a blunder. Since the June 1990 assassination of Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) chief K. Pathmanabha and his associates in Chennai and the easy escape of the killers, Indian security agencies had stepped up surveillance on LTTE activists in Tamil Nadu.
Kittu telephoned an Indian national, Muthuraja, who was close to the Tigers, and asked him to help out a new group of LTTE members from Sri Lanka. Kittu cautioned Muthuraja against speaking to anyone about the new arrivals.
Unknown to Kittu and Muthuraja, the latter was under the watch of the Intelligence Bureau. The intelligence officers were surprised by Kittu’s instruction and surmised that something sinister was afoot.
Even as a crackdown on the LTTE followed the sacking of the DMK government, Muthuraja introduced Nixon to some Indians who ended up playing a key role in the assassination. Muthuraja also introduced another LTTE intelligence operative, Murugan, to an Indian family.
This is when Muthuraja suddenly disappeared one day. He was being shadowed in Chennai by Indian security agencies but gave the slip one evening at Egmore. It was later learnt that he had left for Sri Lanka, ostensibly on the request of Pottu Amman.
Muthuraja, however, never reached Sri Lanka. His boat sank in the sea after being hit by a Sri Lankan naval vessel. Believing he died, the LTTE honoured him. But Indian security agencies believe that Muthuraja did not die. The Sri Lankan Navy took him into custody after his boat collapsed.
Prabhakaran, meanwhile, asked an LTTE member, Kasi Anandan, to meet Rajiv Gandhi to convey his best wishes for the upcoming general election in India. The meeting took place in New Delhi on March 5, 1991.
Some days later, a Sri Lankan Tamil banker based in London also called on Rajiv Gandhi with a message that the Tigers were eager to make up with the Indian leader. Both meetings were meant to make the Indian security brass believe that Prabhakaran was willing to bury the past and start a new chapter with New Delhi.
Arrival of Dhanu
Sivarasan, who had again gone back to Sri Lanka, returned to Tamil Nadu by sea early in May 1991 with Dhanu, the suicide bomber. They landed in the coastal town of Vedaranyam and left for Chennai by bus.
Within 10 days of their arrival, Dhanu and a companion, Shuba, wrote to the LTTE leadership: We are determined to attain our objective.”
By now, the Intelligence Bureau had intercepted a couple of complex, coded radio messages from Tamil Nadu to Jaffna. The IB headquarters in Delhi was pressed to break the code.
One of the LTTE messages, decoded after Rajiv Gandhi was killed, was a revealing one-liner from Sivarasan to Pottu Amman: Nobody [in India] knows about our operation.”
Another explicit message, intercepted on May 7 but again deciphered after Rajiv Gandhi had been killed, was a vow by Sivarasan: If I return to Jaffna, it will be as Pottu Amman’s man, having achieved the incredible feat of assassinating a world leader.”
Sivarasan, who pretended to be a journalist when it suited him, found out from some Congress party functionaries about Rajiv Gandhi’s election rally in the small town of Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, on May 21, 1991.
A rehearsal
To ensure that everything went well, the LTTE had carried out a rehearsal at an election rally of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh in Chennai. As Singh was leaving, Dhanu walked up to him and touched his feet as a mark of respect for an elder.
The whole exercise was recorded on video and viewed by the LTTE many times to check if there were any flaws. Clearly, there were none.
On May 20, 1991, the LTTE killer squad watched a Tamil movie at a cinema hall in Chennai. The next evening, the group proceeded to Sriperumbudur and was met by a young Indian photographer, Hari Babu, who had no clue about the planned assassination.
This is one of the photographs taken by freelance photographer Hari Babu, who died in the blast at the venue of Rajiv Gandhi’s May 21, 1991 election rally in Sriperumbudur, that proved vital in pursuing various leads. In this picture, the woman waiting with the garland is Dhanu, the suicide bomber. Flanking her are Latha Kannan and her daughter Kokila. The man in the photograph is Sivarasan. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
At the rally, Dhanu was armed with a sandalwood garland — and a deadly suicide vest which was hidden by a loose-fitting bright orange salwar-kameez. When a policewoman tried to question Dhanu after seeing her near the VIP enclosure, Hari Babu intervened to say she would garland Rajiv Gandhi. Sivarasan, dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, stood near the dais. Eventually, when Rajiv Gandhi made his way towards a waiting crowd, Dhanu moved close to him. The same policewoman tried to push her back. But he stopped her and remarked: Let everybody get a chance!”
Dhanu put the garland around him and bent down as if to touch his feet. But she never got up. She switched on the toggle switch attached to her suicide vest, triggering a terrible blast that ripped through her, Rajiv Gandhi and 16 others.
The author is a Sri Lanka watcher and has written a biography of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran
Lord Naseby, who is also the President and founder of the All Party British Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group, warned the United Kingdom that Sri Lanka would be forced back to count on China and posing a threat to the Indo-pacific strategy if the United Kingdom chose to dictate.
In a statement during the Debate on the Queen’s Speech at the House of Lords on May 19, he said, If the UK chooses to dictate, then let me be clear: there is a clear risk to our Indo-Pacific strategy on Sri Lanka. It will be forced back to rely on China, thereby threatening the sea lanes and the dissident Tamils setting up an independent state. Is this really a way to say thank you to a country whose people helped us in two world wars and whose Government accepted and helped our Government over the Falklands vote in the United Nations?
Making his remarks on the UNHRC report on Sri Lanka, he said it had generated huge tension in the country and the UK role as the chair of the Core Group with the United States having pulled out. He said Sri Lanka’s war was between the democratically elected government and the world’s most eveil terrorist outfit.
The war of 2009 was not some minor insurrection, so judgement must be made on the basis of the law of armed conflict, known as the international humanitarian law. It was a war between a democratically elected Government and probably the world’s most evil terrorists, who killed two presidents, ministers, civilians in their thousands and the most moderate Tamil leaders,” he said.
It was a war partially conducted from Camden in London, at the Tamil Tigers’ international HQ, led by Anton Balasingham—a UK citizen. Millions were raised illegally here on the ground in this country. His wife, Adele, was fighting in Sri Lanka and was closely involved in recruiting over 5,000 child soldiers, as stated by the UNICEF. This is a war crime by any yardstick,” he said.
“Charges by the UN start with the Darusman Report, from three human rights Lawyers who never visited Sri Lanka.
Worse still, they claimed that at least 40,000 civilians were killed. But all the sources of evidence are to be hidden for 20 years. Is this robust evidence? Why the secrecy? The second UN report, from OISL, is largely based on the first, Darusman. I spent three years looking at all the sources, which I have listed in my book, “Sri Lanka: Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained”. I have given a copy to my noble friend; I do not know whether he has received it, because he has not yet told me. The claim is of Tamil genocide, but my firm conclusion is that there were a maximum of 6,000 to 7,000 deaths. My evidence is verified—there was no genocide. My evidence comes from sources such as US Ambassador Blake, the UN in-country team, the census done after the war by the Tamils, University Teachers for Human Rights, the UK’s own expert military attaché in the field and many others, all of whom confirm the figure of 6,000 to 7,000. But just recently, Her Majesty’s Government stated in a letter sent to me from the MoD on 25 March, and in another from the FCO, that despatches written by Lieutenant Colonel Gash
… reported on isolated information … from a number of different sources … without offering any independent verification of this information. As such, they cannot be considered an evidenced-based assessment”.
One wonders why in heaven the dispatches I have—48 pages of what has been produced—are so heavily redacted if they are so useless. In my judgement, that redaction should be removed forthwith.
It is wonderful—not only is our military attaché cast aside and my evidence seemingly cast aside but it goes on. I say to my noble friend: read the Paranagama Commission Report, which had some of the UK’s finest human rights Lawyers as advisers—namely Sir Desmond de Silva, Sir Geoffrey Nice and others. Their eminent view on Darusman was that it was of no value to a court seeking to establish the truth because the reports are based on anonymous sources. There are others on top of this; there is the US Military Attaché. All report that the Sri Lankan army behaved appropriately under the leadership of General Shavendra Silva. OISL’s view on the camp of 200,000 was that it was a quasi concentration camp. How so, when the Red Cross was there from day one? Additionally, the Tamil MPs who visited it said a huge thank you to the Sri Lankan Government for the way the Tamils were looked after,” he said.
The committee stage reading of the Colombo Port City Economic Commission draft bill has been passed with amendments in parliament, with majority of 91 votes.
Ada Derana reporter said that the third reading of the bill was passed with 149 parliamentarians voting in favour and 58 voting against the bill.
After presenting the amendments, Justice Minister Ali Sabry moved the Port City Bill for the Third Reading and JVP MP Vijitha Herath had called for a Division for the Third Reading of the Bill.
During the Second Reading, the Government presented the Bill with amendments at the Committee of the Whole Parliament. Amendments proposed by the Opposition were rejected by the Government.
Accordingly, a division were called for and voting took place in three occasions at the Committee Stage.
The Opposition, asked for a number of clauses to be recorded as opposed by the Opposition during the committee stage.
Previously SJB MP Harsha de Silva had proposed amendments to Clause 23 and a division had been called for it as well, the 3rd proposed amendment for which a vote has been called for. 45 votes were cast in favour of the amendment proposed by the MP while 146 vote against it.
Earlier today, the second reading of the bill was passed with a total of 148 Members of Parliament voting in favour and 59 against.
All political parties affiliated with the government have supported the draft bill during the vote, while members of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), National People’s Power (NPP) and Tamil National Alliance had opposed it.
Parliament this morning resumed the debate on the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill, which kicked off on Wednesday morning (May 19).
Delivering a special statement to the House yesterday, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said the government expects to bring in an amendment that allocates at least 75% of the job opportunities at the Colombo Port City should be reserved for Sri Lankans.
On Tuesday (May 18), Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had presented the Supreme Court’s determination on the Colombo Port City Bill.
The Supreme Court had found that several clauses of the Bill were inconsistent with the Constitution. However, these clauses can either be amended or passed in the parliament with a special majority or in a referendum, the Supreme Court determined.
In its 62-page determination on the Bill, the Supreme Court had also included how the concerning clauses can be amended.
The government later announced that it agrees with all determinations and amendments of the Supreme Court with regard to the Colombo Port City Bill.
The Parliamentary Council has approved the appointment of Acting Solicitor General Sanjay Rajaratnam as the new Attorney General of Sri Lanka.
The Parliamentary Council decided to concur with the proposal of the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to appoint Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, Solicitor General (Acting) as the Attorney General upon the retirement of the incumbent Attorney General, the statement said.
The official term of current Attorney General Dappula de Livera, who was sworn in to the position on May 10, 2019, is set to come to an end this month.
The Parliament Council which met today (20) under the patronage of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena also agreed to concur with the recommendation to re-appoint Mr. Sanjeeva Jayawardena, PC, as a member of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
The Parliament Council also recommended the nomination of Mr. H. Jayantha Shantha Kumara Wickremarathne to the vacant post of a Member of the Office on Missing Persons and recommended Major General (Retd.) W. P. P. Fernando to the vacant post of a Member of the Office for Reparations.
Sanjay Rajaratnam was appointed as the Acting Solicitor General in October 2019, after then-Solicitor General Dilrukshi Dias Wickremasinghe was interdicted, pending an inquiry into her alleged phone conversation with Avant-Garde chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi.
The Ministry of Health reported that another 661 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, pushing today’s total count of positive cases to 3,441.
All new Covid-19 cases reported today are associated with the ‘New Year’ Covid-19 cluster.
The tally of coronavirus cases associated with the Minuwangoda, Peliyagoda, prisons and New year clusters has risen to 148,406 with this.
There may be three times more cases of COVID-19 infections in the society than the ones that are being reported, says State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle.
She points out that there is a risk of these unreported infections spreading around the virus even further.
She said, Over 3,500 cases were reported as the daily count yesterday. But there may be more patients in the community. If 3,500 is reported, there must be three times as many in the community. These individuals can spread [the virus] further in society.
Even if the public is asked to remain at home and only to go out on odd, even days, people are still on roads. The roads must empty. But it doesn’t happen. To prevent the spread we must stay at home. I request the public not to leave their houses unless it is essential.”
When inquired regarding the circular issued to health officials on issuing statements to the media, State Minister Fernandopulle said that state officials in the Ministry of Health have discipline.
Therefore, no one can issue statements to the media as they like and this only inconveniences the public, she added.
She said, People are intelligent now. They know who to choose and believe in medical matters. People are aware. The public is inconvenienced when different persons in the Health Ministry make different statements.
Meanwhile, State Minister Fernandopulle denied the charges that the government is trying to cover up the true situation regarding the pandemic.
I am deeply grateful to have been offered this opportunity to contribute to this years USLA commemoration , as I have done in the previous 10 years since 2010.
As before , we remember the Ranaviru, every single one of them that contributed to liberating Sri lanka from three decades of Tiger Terror, especially the ones who paid the price with life and limb to achieve this. We remember them starting from the 13 soldiers who were ambushed by the tigers in July 1983 to the ones who contributed to the many campaigns of the war, from Vadamarachi, to the rescue of Jaffna fort , to the elephant pass campaign, to the campaign in the Eastern province an Thoppigala, thence to Mannar, to Vanni to the final campaign Mulaltivu that ended on the shores of Nandikadal.
We remember the combatants, those that directed the different campaigns, the civilian leadership that made this possible. We also remember the over one hundred thousand civilian victims of all races of the war. We also remember that it was the sacrifices of the Ranaviru that made it possible for Sri Lankans to travel freely without fear of being bombed out, that enabled parents going to the same destination to travel in the same public transport without having to split lest a single Tiger bomb would deprive their children of both parents in one blast.
We remember that it was because of the ranaviru that it became possible for those of us living overseas to travel freely to sri lanka without being a victim of a blast.
We are grateful to USA for having a ranaviru fund, so we could all contribute to the welfare of the maimed ranaviru in the different Abimansala’s they reside in and contribute to the welfare of the families of the Ranaviru as USLA is doing this year providing computer tablets of the ranaviru children needing them.
However Ladies and gentlemen, I must also remind that our obligations do not end there. An equally important obligation is to protect the dignity and honour of their sacrifices and achievements by preventing them from being tarnished & desecrated by false allegations .
Unfortunately, this is precisely what happened , when within days after the SL’s liberation from Tiger Terror, the Tiger backers, their international diaspora came out with the allegation that this liberation was achieved through a disproportionately high loss of civilian lives in the last few weeks , with figures of anything from 40,000 to 120,000 being claimed as this number of civilian victims .
They therefore equated it to serious HR violations and s Genocide. They claimed the UN supported this number , quoting a reference made by the Darusman commission. This was not a UN commission but a panel of experts” appointed by the UNSG Bank Moon , against the wishes of the UNSC to advice him on accountability provisions in SL .
Any credibility to their findings is lost as, all these three had in the immediately preceding period had adverse interactions with with SL, they issued their report receiving submissions only from the Tigers but not the SL govt and the sources of their information was not revealed and would not be for a further three decades. . On the other hand over the years, a mountain of evidence has accumulated that would make this claim of large civilian loss of life and Genocide, untenable.
The most prominent of these would come from Lord Naseby of the UK hose of lords who in October 2017 tabled 39 dispatches from Lt Colonel Anton Gash, Defence attache at the UK HC in Colombo in May ’09 that clearly showed that the SL security forces had exercised extreme care with civilians and the casualty numbers were of the order of 7000 . this information and numbers were corroborated by the defence attaches of the US embassy, by Sir John Holmes the UN resident representative at that time, and the census carried out by the Jaffna university teachers, a few months later.
Additionally , it is recognised in war that the casualty numbers would be accompanied by at least twice that number being injured making it anything from 80 to 240 thousand. The injured found post war was no where near that number not to mention no trace of burials or dead bodies of the order of 40 to 120 thousand as claimed. Considering all this information, Sir Desmond De Silva UK based QC, a former UN Chief War Crimes Prosecutor in Sierra Leon, presented with all this information advised that the regrettable civilian loss in the final stages of the war was permissible collateral damage” It is for all these reasons that the allegation of HR violations and Genocide is no longer tenable.
Despite all these, in one of the saddest moments in modern SL history, in March 2015 at the UNHCR sessions in Geneva, the then SL govt joined US to co sponsor a resolution that tacitly acknowledged HR violations and Genocide” by the Ranaviru as a credible possibility and continued to reinforce it annually till March 2020 when the present administration withdrew the sponsorship when the resolution lapsed as the other sponsor US had , under Donald Trump withdrawn for the UNHCR calling it a cess pool of intrigue”.
Unfortunately in March 2021 at the UNHCR the UK sponsored a resolution similar to the lapsed one which once again reintroduced the dark cloud over the honour and dignity of our war heroes sacrifices. Though the government fought against it the resolution was carried with a simple majority.
However , much of the information I just enumerated , especially Lord Naseby’s revelations and those of Sir Desmond did not get the airing at the UNHCR that it deserved . The Tamil Genocide cry reached a new height in Ontario Canada two weeks ago when Bill 104 naming the week leading to the 18th of May , the Tamil Genocide Education week” opening up funds to orchestrate this falsehood to schools and public in Ontario annually.
This campaign of well organised misinformation is being carried out by some vociferous members of Tiger Diaspora in Ontario, led by prominent LTTE cadres there .
When I first learnt of the last August 2020 after the passage of the second reading of the bill I wrote to every one of the 140 members of the state legislature explaining the lack of legitimacy of this claim along the lines I have just enumerated and also wrote to the President, PM and FM of SL urging action to prevent completion of the third reading , but to no avail.
Since its third reading however, the FM of SL has advised the Canadian High Commissioner of SL’s objection to this bill and requested central government to over ride of it while SL groups in Onatario are challenging the legality of the Bill in it’s courts. Time will tell whether it is a another case of too little too late.
Closer to home , on learning two weeks ago of a planned Tamil Genocide Remembrance Meeting” on the 18th in Auckland, I wrote to the NZ PM , FM, Ethnic affairs Minister, MP’s Anushi Wolters and Greg O’Connor indicating our frustration at the planned event in view of the lack of legitimacy to the Tamil Genocide” claim siting the the evidence just enumerated and sought their support to prevent this claim being perpetuated.
However, the detailed responses I received so far from Anushi Wolters and Greg O’Conner, while not offering patronage to the meeting or claim indicated the right in NZ for groups to have freedom of expression”.
I have responded asking them of what protection the likes of us have, consequent to such expression, when we are accused of Tamil Genocide” , when clearly the evidence suggest that, Tamil Genocide did not happen.
I have also asked if there was room to protect against such serious accusations when they are clearly false, along the lines that the NZ PM along with the French President , have called for restricting the freedom of expression in social media when such freedom is used to incite violence & terrorism, to protect potential victims.
This is a call that all of you too may choose to orchestrate to your local MP’s, as a part of protecting the honour and dignity of the sacrifices of our Ranaviru.
Ray Cook: A Mohawk perspective on Canada Day and Independence Day
Canada’s Mohawk peoples view of Canada Day
Regaining Indigenous Rights – Play Against All Odds
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’s violated the rights of the First Peoples indiscriminately for years and years. And the greatest human rights violation has been the imposition of the residential school experience.” Phil Fontaine, Aboriginal Canadian leader
“The Tamil diaspora is not monolithic; it is differentiated by class, excludes certain castes and is gendered in its exploitation. The mobilisation of the diverse Tamil diaspora abroad and the rhetoric used have become the rationale for reinforcing the security establishment in Sri Lanka. A democratic Tamil leadership from within the country should challenge the larger Tamil diaspora to change course and work constructively towards building a plural and democratic society out of the ravages of war.” Ahilan Kadirgamar Tamil Diaspora: Classes, State and politics” Economic & Political Weekly. July 31, 2010 vol. xlv no 31
Whitewashing LTTE genocide
A recent announcement featuring the news, Tamil Genocide Education Week by Scarborough MPP Vijay Thanigasalam’s Bill 104, received third reading at Queen’s Park on May 6th. Let us look at the messenger” first and his credibility and secondly, the nature of the Canadian State i.e. hidden political agenda Canada has for the dependent Diaspora as a cat’s paw. The man himself has a dubious history and was a one-time LTTE sympathiser even after the Elaam war ended in 2009.
Quite naturally Thangasalam’s antics immediately sparked off a debate within Canada and the overseas resident Sri Lankan community.
The mindset of the pro-LTTE Diaspora is inevitable. It is another step in the long march consolidating its racial identity and legitimacy within a white-dominated country and the West.
It also needs a bogy to legitimise very existence in the eyes of its host country, the international community, and funding agencies, mostly, to the next generation and generations yet born.
Mythifying the heroic struggle opposing this evil is an instrument unifying the larger Tamil community and a convenient oppressed people’s theory”. On the other hand, it is an essential ingredient imaging the enemy” i.e. the Sri Lankan state, Sinhala speaking community, and Buddhists.
There is certain dialectic in this process. While projecting the Evil” Sri Lankan state, Sinhala people and Buddhists, simultaneously whitewashes the genocide carried out by the LTTE. It will be an education to learn to what extent this education” will list the human and cultural genocide and the carnage carried out by the LTTE.
The abduction of children transforming them into killer machines and feeding them with cyanide pills; physical liquidation of opposing Tamil political parties and their leadership; the killing of Sri Lankan leaders, civilians (Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese), Buddhist bikkhus and destruction of cultural property is an unending list of scalps that need to be listed as genocide, even by UN standards.
Huge funds they amassed by robberies, intimidation carried out on the helpless Tamil-speaking Diaspora by pro-LTTE thugs will not feature in the awareness program.
They also will not speak of the untold racial discrimination they themselves faced in White Canada. This will provide a comfort zone to the Canadian State to whitewash and present itself to the international community as the moral state”, which ironically emerged by default as a champion of the oppressed when President Trump was doing is number in the neighborhood. Ironically, Canada’s own track record on human rights needs a new chapter on the history of genocide.
Will the learning material highlight the genocide carried out by the LTTE and unfold the genocide track record of the masters of the Pro-LTTE Diaspora – Canada?
These are the antecedents of rewriting history to be introduced to the school system perpetuating a mythical story of the birth of a new Nation” to the next generation.
This is the long-term plan of laying the foundation of its own future Eelam State which will be the next step towards demanding or carving out a Province within the State of Canada. It may be too late when Canada wakes up to a replay of the Quebec Syndrome”!
It will dilute Canada’s banal excuse of inclusivity is nothing but empty rhetoric. Only a week back it was reported that the highest number of racial attacks on Asians is in Vancouver. With almost 1 out of every 2 residents of Asian descent in British Columbia experienced a hate incident as it was reported in the past year (Bloomberg Equality + Businessweek May 7th 2021).
The study of history and its dynamics needs to be seen in the motion of events and people
Of course, this is happening in Canada, in case the pro-LTTE Diaspora forgot the map! It will be interesting to document the nature of discrimination the newly arriving Tamil-speaking immigrants faced in Toronto and other cities. Either they are silent or consciously hide such facts without causing embarrassment to the Canadian white master.
Conversely, the pro LTTE Diaspora will never educate their children how the LTTE gunned down their own people while escaping along the eastern beach front; they will never speak of Tamil-speaking people who were fleeing not so much from the Sri Lankan military but from the LTTE and how many of them were also hunted down overseas.
It is unlikely that the humanitarian aid given by the Sri Lankan army to the public in the North and the East as the war ended; social development carried out in the north and the east, where inclusivity programs and systems were placed on track and among other people-friendly measures.
Will they educate the children that in almost all metropolitan centers such as Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Galle Trincomalee, Nuwara -Eliya the Sinhala and Buddhist population is less than 50 percent of the resident population and there is coexistence among language, religious and ethnic groups? Will they be educated on the quantum of investments made by the Diaspora in such places during the battle period against terrorism and the rich harvest they reap from such investments?
There is another important factor we often tend to forget. This is conscious support and the nurturing of pro-LTTE elements and lovingly embraced by the Canadian State.
The great savior and knight in the shining armor crying and lamenting on Heroes Memorial Day who actually shed tears and how their voices break down at such events.
Full marks to the Canadian political leadership for the Oscar-winning performances. Seeing this, Niccolo Machiavelli may have added another volume to his thesis on The Prince pleased that the pro-LTTE Diaspora followed his famous dictum, the end justifies the means”! Of course, Canada will not shed any tears for its own indigenous people nor will it take the state of Israel to task for current massacres carried out on the Palestinian people!
Hero worshipping Prabhakaran is a God-given excuse to sweep under the carpet Canada’s own miserable history of slavery, racial discrimination, exploitation of indigenous people and brutally putting down its own French origin white citizen’s aspirations and silent support for multinationals that undermine environment protection within Canada and overseas.
This is the Diaspora’s ‘His Masters Voice’ that was screaming on Sri Lanka’s genocide record at the UNHRC this March! A press release from the Scarborough-Rouge Park MPP, however, said the Conservative government, by passing the bill, demonstrated its commitment to fighting injustices and standing up for the Tamil people who call Canada home”.(MAY 11, 2021 Scarborough Mirror).
The thread of history: Multiple narratives
The study of history and its dynamics needs to be seeing in the motion of events and people. This dynamic is seen in cyclical and spiral movements. However, if the circle or spiral is stretched, it becomes linear. There is linearity representing the History of Canada as multiple narratives connecting it from the past to the present. Canada’s ruling cabal may wish to hide behind the sympathetic engagements of the pro-LTTE Diaspora and presenting itself as the greatest exponent of human rights (bleating from the UNHCR pulpit).
But it cannot wash away the sins of the past, its double standards, and crimes against humanity which is yet a living reality in its sub- stratum culture and psyche.
Narrative 1: Colonialism
As in the case of most countries discovered” by the West, Canada was founded under Colonialism with a history of discrimination and cruelty to humanity. Colonialism commenced as early as 1600 though Canada became a nation in 1867. Formalising genocide as a policy of the state then commenced with state patronage and blessings.
Controlling land and resources was imperative. Indigenous people had to be physically liquidated that provided the space to appropriate their land (mainly resource areas) by force. They were expelled to unproductive land unworthy of good soil, water resources, and game including sacred spaces.
The most successful system of liquidating the indigenous people was: the forced sterilisation and disenfranchising them of their indigenousness thus mentally and physically deculturalising those communities.
The most damaging strategy was by culturally absorbing them to the Western ethos introducing by force the damning colonial school system and the creation of stolen generations.
This was practised in the USA, Australia and Africa with great success and Canada fine-tuned this system by establishing the Resident or Industrial School system. Since the Pro LTTE Diaspora is targeting the school system, let us look at the roots of the Canadian school system under Colonialism and how subordinate people were educated, and its tragic consequences.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) in 2015, released its final report, documenting the tragic experience of at least 150,000 residential school students.
Residential Schools were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will.” (Genocide and Indigenous people in Canada”. The Canadian Encyclopedia).
Policy on indigenous education was primarily based on assimilation and colonisation. Assimilation was carried out by removing children from their parents and families to educate” and to be deculturalised and isolate them where children had to be caught young” (1879 Devin Report).
Residential School (RS) system run by the Federal Government and the Church totally removed children from parents, who were not permitted to visit their children.
They in fact never saw their children again. Between1890-1970 over 100,000 children were forced to attend 139 RS. Half the day they had no education but menial work in school, barns, and farms. It was slave labour and hardly any time for education.
Girls were taught to cook, sew, and household work to become maids. Eventually, when they left school after 10 years, their level of knowledge and education was at the level of a Grade two child. In the final count over 70 percent of children were tortured, sexually abused by school teachers, priests, and nuns. This is cultural genocide at its best!
These children were unable to adjust to an alien space and society nor were they able to receive higher education or skills.
They often resorted to larceny, drug and alcohol addiction, ending up as urban poor and plantation workers and often without livelihood as urban poor.
The memory of their cultural past was obliterated and abuse blocked out the indigenousness. School leaving children who lacked family love, parental guidance, and poor family life and pauperised in turn also resorted to child abuse of their own children.
Five generations of children went through this school system and the next generation of indigenous people was diluted and devastated and had no identity. Only in 2008 did the Prime Minister of Canada, Steven Harper, apologised to the indigenous people, again too late. Similarly, the Australian Prime Minister too apologised for the wrong done to the indigenous people only in 2008.
It has been very trying for Indigenous populations to have their existence annulled—that’s what the last 150 years have been. The 150th anniversary has to be marked by the fact that things have to change. We must confront our colonial thinking and attitudes and redefine what Canadian-ness means. We must move beyond the false notion that Canada was founded by the French and the English, recognising that we started off with the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, and have become a society that thrives on diversity and knows how to share resources fairly among everyone.” – Karla Jessen Williamson (Inuk),
Will the pro-LTTE Diaspora convey this dark history to their children by instructing them on Sri Lanka’s imagined genocide and sweep under the carpet the history of their White Master’s ugly history? They are only perpetuating the White Man’s history and not looking at their own history taught in the school system (Justice Murray Sinclair).
Quotes About School And Learning – About Quotes g
Narrative 2: French separatist movement.
The Quebec Sovereignty Movement (Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) emerged in the 1960s as a political movement and presented its ideology advocating an independent movement for the province of Quebec.
Its antecedents ran to a much earlier period. The 1837 Patriots Rebellion was the first attempt by French Canadians to overthrow British dominance since 1760 conquest.
An entire literature has grown up around the theme of the exploitation of the French-Canadian people. Until the II World War, the French-Canadians, who constituted more than two-sevenths of the population, disposed of only one-seventh of the wealth.
Thirty-one richest mines, twelve were owned by Anglo-Canadians and nineteen by Americans. The 497 mining companies listed employed a grand total of seven French-Canadian engineers (French Canada and the war”. TE Wood. VQR.1940). It is their ethnic and language identity that propelled the French-speaking Canadians to move towards separation. In 1969 the FLQ stepped up its campaign of violence with the October Crisis. The group claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Montreal Stock Exchange, and in 1970 the FLQ kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was later murdered. The silent repression that followed is not popularly recorded.
Many of Quebec’s francophones felt that the 1982 constitution significantly eroded their status and powers and threatened their survival as a people. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifically acknowledges the multicultural character of Canada.
The tension between the bi-communal and emerging multicultural aspects of Canadian society and politics is at the root of the current threat to Canada’s survival as a country. (Vol. XVII No. 2, Fall 1997 Ethnic Structure, Conflict Processes and the Potential for Violence and Accommodation in Canada. by David E. Schmitt). Here is another thread in history the pro-LTTE school book may wish to include. They may well borrow Charles de Gaulle’s famous slogan expressed in Montreal during a state visit to Canada,”Vive le Québec libre!” only with a slight twist, Vive le Scarborough libre!”
The Canadian Right Pushes Away The Québécois Left – AN SIONNACH FIONN
Narrative 3: Environment and genocide
New court challenge launched against Trans Mountain pipeline expansion – Vancouver Is Awesome
One of the focus areas of colonialism was its predatory expansion into land held by indigenous people that had resources of water, precious metal and minerals, supply of fish, animal skins and furs, and by the mid19th Century striking crude oil.
The height of eviction of indigenous people, massacres, forced sterilisation, enhanced expansion of industrial (Residential) schools coincided with this period. They were placed in reservations and had little ownership over their traditional land. The First Nation or indigenous people are yet alienated from their land and resources and are on a relentless confrontation with the Federal government of Canada. To cite some case studies. The Aamjiwnaang First Nation community has expressed concern regarding its proximity to chemical plants over a falling birth rate. This is due to the adverse effects of maternal and exposure to the effluent and emissions of the nearby chemical plants.
Protests broke out in many parts of Canada including Wet’suwet’en community, triggered off by arrests of dozens of protesters on traditional indigenous land along a route for TC Energy Corp’s TRP pipeline.
The flashpoint was police arrests that started in northern British Columbia of protesters who opposed the pipeline’s construction on the traditional land of the Wet’suwet’en indigenous people.
Some 28 percent of the pipeline route runs through Wet’suwet’en lands.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, whose province depends on oil and gas revenue, called for police to step up enforcement, saying the protests are about ideology that is opposed to fossil fuels, not indigenous issues”. (Reuters Feb. 13th 2020).
In addition to pipelines, coal deposits, salmon fishing zones and timber growing areas are on or adjacent to indigenous residential areas. There is a constant conflict between these communities and investors who are covertly supported by authorities.
The worst of it comes from the conduct of Canadian companies outside Canada (see Report to UN Committee in Mining Companies Pervasive abuse against women Oct. 4th, 2016. The Mining watch/Canada) Human rights advocates’ report shows that the government has actively supported abusive companies, rather than holding them accountable (Ottawa/Washington, D.C.)
A majority of the world’s mining companies, operating at over 8000 sites in over 100 countries, are headquartered in Canada. Many of these mines are also sites of serious human rights violations, including direct violence against local women and environmental degradation.
One recent study found that Canada’s mining companies are involved in such abuses and conflict more than any other country.
The report, submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), charges that Canada has been supporting and financing mining companies involved in discrimination, rape, and violence against women in their operations abroad, when it should be holding those companies accountable for the abuse”.
I hope this part of environmental and human degradation will be taught to the Diaspora school program enlightening the students of the violence and abuses supported by the magnanimous state of Canada while it sheds tears of genocide against Sri Lanka over the fallen heroes of LTTE!
Epilogue
The greatest hope and asset to the Tamil-speaking Diaspora is their children, the next generation. Let their minds open up to the world, inquire, question, and think for themselves. This is all about education and not something that is poured into one’s head tainted with biases and prejudices. Let them be exposed to their parents’ and grandparents’ place of origin and learn for themselves what Sri Lanka is and its inclusive history and heritage.
This account does not point the finger at all resident individuals of the Tamil-speaking Diaspora. I personally know of high-end professionals, intellectuals, and friends who are very close and dear to me. Some of them cannot voice their sentiments in an invisible draconian social environment that has taken root over 40 odd years making them a potential voice of the voiceless”. This is in some ways is dedicated to such individuals who one day will rise up and question the residue of a fascist rule controlling their thoughts and mind. Please reach out to your brothers and sisters across the ocean in Sri Lanka and embrace us!
The writer is an Emeritus Professor. University of Peradeniya
Only in 2008 did the Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper apologise to the indigenous people, again too late
