Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.) Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario  .  Canada 

5 September 2020

Mr. C.V. Wigneswaran
Leader, TAMIL MAKKAL THERSIYA KUTTANI
Sri Lanka Parliament
Kotte
Sri Lanka

Dear Mr. Wigneswaran (Wiggy):

What’s going on Wiggy?  You have exposed yourself indirectly that you bombed your Grade 8  Ceylon History’ subject and failed it miserably, at Royal College, by giving  a helluva-go to usurp the Wanniyalaeto (Veddha) community’s rightful place as the indegenous peoples of Ceylon on behalf of your Tamils. You bluntly say that you Tamils were the first indigenous people that walked on the kabook earth of Sri Lanka. Prove it Wiggy.  Let us read your thesis.  Give me/us a break.

Sheesh…..come again, Wiggy! What a string of masala wade, with little shrimps fried painfully curled on top that I see around your neck. You have shown me how bankrupt you Tamils are.

Wanting to own a few hectares of  the best real estate of toddy-palm country saying to the world – “see there is no one else living here, other than us Tamils.” So you sweep to ethnic cleanse the land not with eikle brooms but with hand grenades, kalashnikovs, live bullets and machetes and then tell the world, “we were also the indigenous peoples who lived in the North and East among the snakes, elephants, sloth bears, leopards, mosquitoes and no one other human being. And we also speak the oldest language in the world –Tamil.   Whoopee-do!

How you Tamil-nasties, ethnic-cleansed the North, by kicking out between 1971 and 1981, 27,000 Sinhalese who lived in the North for generations.   Then stoned and chased 400 Sinhalese lecturers and undergraduates in October 1977 from the Jaffna campus, who were brought in a convoy of buses escorted by the army and police under a hail of missiles of rocks and stones. Now you are telling that you were the first people in the North under the scorching Jaffna-Kilinochchi sun.

 What a way to own a piece of land to call it your mono-ethnic-racist- separatist Tamil state , Eelam.    I say,  “Boo! Bully You,” to the separatist Tamils.

As for the Indigenous Veddas, let me tell you where I am coming from when I defend their place in Sri Lanka’s Human- history and their dignity.

Wiggy, I have an immense affection for indigenous peoples who were given a bad rap by the invaders, especially the white-man.  It was in 1970 that I was employed by Canada’s National Museums Corporation in Ottawa, to help build 15 brand-new Exhibition Halls at the Victoria Memorial Museum.   Four of them were of the Indigenous peoples.  The People of the LongHouse (Iroquois Indians); The Buffalo Hunters (Plains Indians); Inuit (The Eskimos) and The Children of the Raven  (West Coast Cultures like the Haida). 

I knew nothing about them when I started  on the job.  But I read  about them , understood them. and I met them.  I grew a great affinity towards them and developed a great sympathy for them. They commanded my respect, and believe me I gave them back their dignity and the rightful place in Canadian Human History in the National Museum of Man for every visitor to read.

And you take my word Wiggy.  Unless you know the truth about our Indigenous peoples, the Veddhas,  I want you to take a step back, and zip up your lips.  You are not going to destroy the dignity of these beautiful indigenous Wanniyalaetoes of ours.  You bet, you will hear from me as often, like the Kataragama coconut-bashing-cracks when cracking the nuts, to break all negative qualities  to find a new pure soul with all goodness, as you sure need it.  You bet.

Wiggy, I have now added, you,  C.V.Wigneswaran as another bankrupt Tamil-politician  “a crap-shooter through the eye of a needle” trying to gain prominence as a legitimate Tamil in my Motherland , Sri Lanka.  Your name is behind Appapillai Amirthlalingam’s in my records  who got caught as a God-damn liar when he told to some Canadian parliamentarians in the late 1980s, when he swore to Robert Wenman the Conservative MP for Fraser Valley in British Columbia,  that , “We Tamils never asked for a separate State, carved out of the North and East of Sri Lanka.”  I huffed and I puffed and told Robert, I don’t believe you.  I doubt Amirthalingam would ever say that.

“Asoka, I got him recorded on tape.  Come home and I will show it to you”

So I went to Robert Wenman’s home at Hog’s Back the following evening.  He took me to his basement and ran the VHS tape projecting the image onto a white wall.  And there was Amirthalingam standing in his white vetti, and uttering those words with all honesty and innocence as a celestial seraph.  “Robert,  this rascal is an unconscionable liar.  I will bring you some material published in black and white to prove that I am right when I call him a “Bloody uncouth liar”. And I will come by you two evenings later and you tell me what you concluded about this Tamil politician who is lobbying for their Eelam and introduced by the Canadian Speaker of the House of Commons to the MPs. and he takes a bow of honour standing in the gallery.”

Well…well…Wiggy, the final outcome was, Robert Wenman, the Conservative MP for Fraser Valley in British Columbia tells me, “Asoka I am very embarrassed.  I want to tell you truthfully, that this guy took us down the garden path into a black Hell-hole.  I apologize to all you Sinhalese-Canadians for commenting on this issue without making an effort to understand their cunning when lobbying for my support.   I took copies of what you gave me and distributed among a few of my colleagues, who have now got quite a different notion of these Tamil separatists in Canada. They are frauds!”

This stupid, unsophisticated, humbuggery, and crude act will tell the world that your  racist disingenuous  Tamil politicians would stoop  low to anything to claim that the northern hectares of the best realestates of toddy-palm country were yours, the  Tamils.  What poppycock,Wiggy.  What stinking barrels of jardi!

Here is a story, that you may not know whether to laugh at, or cry or look up and spit at yourself, ashamed of being made to look a stupid Tamil by your own people. Ha! and a former Supreme Court Justice.

Let me roll back the years to 1986.  The month was September, and the day, Sunday the 21st.  It was around 8:30 in the evening and the place was a small  bungalow in Vanier, East Ottawa, and the address was 405 Dollard Street.

That was the  day when Ronald Regan  (Republican) was President of the US; and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK.  That was the day when most of Sri Lanka’s cricket hungry people were rooting for your Mother-India, to win the First Cricket Test against Australia, and let off a great sigh of relief when the match was tied at the end.  Australia First Innings  (574 – 7 dec. Dean Jones 210, David Boon 122) & Second Innings ( 170 – 5 :David Boon 49) vs India First Innings 397  (Kapil Dev 119) & 347 (Sunil Gaveshkar 90). Tied.

That was the evening when Yours truly was interviewed and recorded on camera by Robin Benger,  for the  CBC’s National on Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner, former Sri Lanka’s Army Commander, “Bull” Weeratunga,  who was hounded day in and day out, as a Tamil torturer by the Ottawa Tamil separatists, led by the Roman Catholic priest from Vuvuniya, a Tamil, Fr. Philip Ratnapala,  in a black cassock with his white collar starched towards heaven.

After the almost one-hour interview was recorded and the camera was switched off and on his way out of the door Robin turned to me and asked, “So I will see you tomorrow morning, won’t I”).  

“Why should I Robin, what is going on?”  “Why, don’t you know. They are flying over a Tamil refugee from Paris, a Baby Para (Pararajasegaram) who says that the former Army Commander “Bull” Weeratunga, the present High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Canada, supervised when he was tortured by the army soldiers.  There will be a Press Conference  tomorrow (Monday, Sept. 22) morning at the Holiday Inn on Queen Street/Kent Street at 10 in the morning.”  And he gave me the room number.

“Robin, I will make an effort to be there” was my response.

Knowing that I will be confronted by Philip Rathnapala who hated my guts, I asked Lionel Edirisinghe, a dear friend of mine, who worked close to the Holiday Inn, whether he could join me in this venture.  “Sure”, he said. “Let’s meet at the Holiday Inn’s foyer at 9:55 in the morning and walk up.  Lionel all what I want you to do for me is that, if I am beaten up by the Tamils and taken to Hospital, please call Jeannie at work and tell her what happened and that I am in hospital.  Here’s her office telephone number,  613-995-xxxx.”

On Monday morning, at 9:55 I was in the Foyer of the Holiday Inn.  Lionel  hadn’t arrived, and I walked up to the room where the Press Conference was going to take place.  The room was chocker- block full of media people, with video cameras, boom microphones and handheld  mics et cetera.   Father Philip Ratnapala in a black suit  wearing a clerical shirt fitted with a white collarino starched towards heaven was sitting at a table near the entrance.  Beside Ratnapala was an Asian looking man sitting beside him who I presumed was Pararajasegaram.  No sooner Philip spotted me, he pointed his finger at me and told his security men, “I don’t want him here.  He is not a media reporter.” 

Two burly Tamils crowded me. and held onto my upper arms.  Wiggy, I never liked intimidation, specially when it happens to be from Tamils.  No bloody way.  Since it was an open meeting I looked at these two burly Tamils and said, “Yes, I am from the media reporting for a Sri Lanka paper.”   “Show me your credentials” spoke Ratnapala.

No sooner did I start to fumble my pockets in search of a non-existent  media card, Dr. Elugupillai a nuclear-physicist, the head honcho of the Eelam separatist movement in Ottawa, walked in. Seeing the commotion  he wanted to know what was going on. The cameras focused on me and started to roll.  Elagu was told by Ratnapala that he did not want me in the room, Elagu placed his right arm on my shoulders and said, “No, Asoka can stay”, and walked me into the room. Although Elagu and I were antagonists, we were civil to each other, and I liked him in a funny sort of a way.  I will certainly break bread anytime with him.

Lionel Edirisinghe walked into the room about 20 minutes after the Press Conference started.

Wiggy, this Press Conference was a sham, a Canadian-Tamil Blaney Gong Show of Tamil Humbugs. One more proof positive that you Tamils were bankrupt, unable to prove that you all had every right, ethnologically, ethnographically,  historically, archaeologically, anthropologically  that the North and East, toddy-palm  country’s  best real estate belonged to you Tamils.  Wiggy,  you know as well as I know, that you Tamils  don’t have a snowball chance in hell to prove it. 

After about 40 minutes into the press conference, I walked out in disgust, and Lionel followed me.  Five reporters came running after us and caught up with us by the elevator.

“Who are you Sir, why are you leaving, are you Sinhalese, Sir”, were some of the questions thrown at us.

“I am Asoka Weerasinghe, and he is Lionel Edirisinghe. We are leaving with absolute disgust.  All what you heard from these Tamils were complete lies.  All of them who spoke to you were humbugs.  And we are not Sinhalese and both of us are Canadians.”

Listen Wiggy, switch on your hearing aids, as I want  you to hear the rest of my story clearly. As it  will prove to you that you Tamil separatists are crass-puss-vedilla -liars, and God damn Humbugs to boot.  And you Wiggy, the  Justice of the Supreme Court, and the former Chief Minister of the mainly Tamil Northern Province should be ashamed of yourself.  And if I were you, I would rub off that red third eye of yours that clearly identifies you as a Tamil.

Around 3:30 that afternoon  the phone in my office rang.  And the caller says – “Sir, may I speak with Mr. Asoka Weerasinghe.”  “Yes, this is he.”  “Mr. Weerasinghe, I am Dan Ledger, a senior reporter for the Canadian Press.

Will it be possible for me to meet up with you to get a handle on the High Commissioner “Bull” Weeratunga story, that he is a Tamil torturer, and your take on Baby Para’s torture story.  I saw you at the Press Conference this morning, and Victor Parson’s our Deputy Bureau Chief, told me that  if I want to find out the true story, speak with Asoka Weerasinghe as he will tell you the facts and truthfully.”

So we met at noon the following day at the Japanese Village on Kent Street.  “Make a note of the following information which will destroy any credibility you Tamils ever had. Wiggy.”   During our conversation I asked,  “Dan, did you wonder  what the heck was going on at the Press Conference.   You reporters  ask  Baby Para a two sentence question in English.  These two sentences in English were translated into Tamil by a translator in three sentences.   Baby Para responds to the three Tamil sentence question, in Tamil in four sentences. And those four Tamil sentences were translated for the media’s ears in English in 25 to 30 sentences.  And it happened every time. Did you notice that, Dan?  As if they had  a planned script of their story, hoping that it would pick up ink  as a news story in the newspapers the following morning.  A news story crucifying High Commissioner ‘Bull’ Weeratunga as a Tamil torturer, violating codes of Human Rights.  And hoping that it would have been a good reason for Canada to declare him a persona non grata and getting him recalled.    Thus embarrassing Sri Lanka and her Foreign Ministry. Hmmmm…cunning rascals.”  Lucky for Sri Lanka, that happened to be a “Puus vedilla.”

“Funny you brought it up Asoka.  After the Tamil press conference in Ottawa in the morning they had another one in Toronto in the evening.  We sent our most senior reporter to cover it for Canadian Press.  What transpired was the same.  The final three sentences in Tamil by Baby Para, had a 30 sentences translation  in English.  And our reporter had found out that the Tamil translator couldn’t speak a word of Tamil.”  “Forget it,” he reported back. It  was a strange farce and a scam  led by the Roman Catholic priest Philip Ratnapala.  There won’t be a report on Baby Para’s intervention  to nail  Sri Lanka High Commissioner “Bull” Weeratunga, the former Army Chief as a torturer,”  I was told.

That was it Wiggi.  You are the legal man, the one time Supreme Court Justice.  And I hope that you see what I see in those Tamil separatists…a bunch of Dodos…what an embarrassing bunch of morons, a bunch of arrack spiked-kanji drinking tipsy fools.   Go figure that one out, Wiggy.

As that little bird that flew onto my windowsill and asked me…

“The little birdie with a yellow bill
sat upon my windowsill,
cocked his shining eye and said
about the separatist-Tamils
“What a bunch of pea-brain heads.”

So, I know…I know..Wiggy…when you Tamils are bankrupt you try any which way to claim the Northern Toddy-palm country hectares for your mono-ethnic, Tamil racist state, Eelam, that you will hold onto any weak straw to anchor yourself, and try any shenanigan, nevermind  whether you look a bunch of fools and scammers. When you yourself suffer from a false historical perspective, it doesn’t look good for the future generations of your Tamil clan in Sri Lanka.

With the Baby Para’s laughable  side cameo, in that bit of theatre, you all looked like clowns of the Chelva-Ponna Circus.  Aren’t you getting tired of it.  Haro..hara !

And here is my personal message to you Wiggy –  I am a true Sinhalese patriot still romancing my Mother Lanka and still attached to her with the umbilical cord, and on a Mission in Canada.  That no one, absolutely no one is going to harm her  unfairly, and that  includes You…So get off my back!

My advice to you Wiggy, is to take a step back, and cut your mythical dream of living in your Eelam inside the island of Sri Lanka.

Be safe, and do wear a mask when you step out of your house.

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)

බන්දුල චන්ද්‍රසේකර

විසාකේස චන්ද්‍රෙස්කරම්ගේ  පාංශු” මෙරට සිදු වු දේශපාලන සංසිද්ධියක් විෂය කරගත්  සිනමා නිර්මාණයකි. 1988⁄89  දේශප්‍රේමී”  නැගිටීම, කුරිරු රාජ්‍ය මර්දනය හා පුද්ගල අතුරුදහන්වීම් සහ දේශපාලන ඝාතන එහි පසුබිම් කතාව වේ.

අතුරුදහන් වූ කැරලිකරුවෙකුගේ මවකගේ (බබා නෝනා) දෘෂ්ඨියෙන් දිග හැරෙන කතා තේමාව සහ සිද්ධි සමූහය, එම කැරලිකාර පසුබිමට වඩා ඉන් වසර 6 ට පසු එළ‍ඹි පශ්චාත් කැරලිකාර කාලපරිච්ඡේදය පාදක කොට ගනී.  එනම්, කැරැල්ලේ වින්දිතයන් සහ චෝදනාකරුවන් ඇතුළු විවිධ පාර්ශවයන්ගේ සමාජ පසුබිම සහ දුක් දෝමනස්සයන් සිනමා රූපී පැහැයෙන් එහි අඩංගුය. යුක්තිය සඳහා වූ අරගලය මෙන්ම යළි ජීවිතය ජීවත්කිරීමේ අති මානුෂීය කතා පුවතද  පාංශු” හි තේමාවට ඇතුළත් ය.  

නිශ්චිත දේශපාලන පසුබිමක සිදු වු මෙම සිද්ධි දාමයෙන් අනතුරුව,  ඊට විවිධ ලෙස ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වන රාජ්‍යය: ආරක්ෂක අංශ, යුක්තිය පසිඳලීමේ ආයතන පමණක් නොව ආගමික සංස්ථාව, දේශපාලන පක්ෂ ඇතුළු පුළුල් සමාජ සත්තාව ම මෙම සිනමා සිත්තමේ සිතුවම් අතර වේ. එම සිතුවම්, හුදෙක් රූපමය නොවී එහි දේශපාලන සහ තත්කාලීන මාතවාදී  අර්ථයෙන් ම සිතුවම් ව තිබීම, නිර්මාණකරුවාගේ පුළුල් දෘෂ්ඨිය කියා පෑමකි ! 

දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය සහ සන්නන්ධ නැගිටීම්, 88/89 යුගයට පමණක් සීමා නොවිණ. උතුර- දකුණ, ජාති- කුල- ආගම් භේදයකින් තොරව තරුණ ලේ හැලුණු ඛේදනීය ඉතිහාසයක් අපේ රටට ඇත. එය මේ දිවයිනට පමණක් සීමා නොවුණු ඉතිහාසයකි. මේ කුමන අරගලයක්, කවර දේශපාලන අපේක්ෂාවක් මුල් කරගෙන, කොතැන ඇති වුව ද එහි ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය ගැබ්ව ඇත්නම්, එය මානුෂීය වටිනාකම්වල සීමාවෙන් ඔබ්බට යෑම වැලැක්විය නො හැක්කකි. රාජ්‍යය යනු මතවාදය මෙන්ම මර්දනීය යන්ත්‍රයක් බැව් ඉතිහාසය අනේක වාරයක් ඔප්පු කර හමාරය. එහි පාලකයා කවරෙක් ද, මතවාදය කුමක් ද යන්න තවදුරටත් වැදගත් කරුණු කාරණා නොවේ. එසේ නොවන පරමාදර්ශ ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ නොමැත.

ලෝකේ සෑම අරගලයක්ම, කැරලිකරුවන්ගේ ජයග්‍රහයන්ගෙන් කෙළවර වූ වීර කාව්‍යයන් නොවේ. බොහෝ අරගල, පරාජිතයන්ගේ මෙන්ම වින්දිතයන්ගේ  නැතහොත්  ඔවුන්ගේ සමීපතම ලේ ඥාතීන්ගේ, සහෘදයන්ගේ තවත් අවිහිංසක අරගලයක ඇරඹුමකි. ඒ, මානව නිදහස හා යුක්තිය උදෙසා වු වීශ්වීය අයිතිය පිළිබඳ ඇති සාපේක්ෂ මැදිහත්වීම් නිසාය. නැතහොත්, දියුණු මානව ශිෂ්ඨාචාරයක් හා සහ්‍යත්වයක් සඳහා වූ උසස් වටිනාකම්, අප විසින් නැවත නැවතත් රැකගනිමින් ප්‍රතිශ්ඨාපනය කිරීම දියුණු මිනිස් අරගලයක් වී ඇති නිසාය. කළ යුතු නිසාය. අති දුෂ්කර ගම්මානයක ජීවත්වන බාබා නෝනාට ද එය සාධාරණය. මානව අයිතිය පිළිබඳ විශ්ව ප්‍රකාශය නො කියූ වුව ද,  තම පුතු කෙරෙහි වු අනුපමේය දාරක ස්නේහයෙන් යුතුව වුව ද, බාබා නෝනා සිදු කරන්නේ  එම දේශපාලන අරගලය යි. මානව නිදහසේ සදාතනික සටනයි!

එහෙත් ඇයි? මේ අහිංසක රෙදි අපුල්ලන මෑණියෝ තම දරුවා පැහැරගෙන ගොස් අතුරුදහන් කළ (ඝාතනය කළ) ආරක්ෂක නිළධාරියා උසාවියේ දී පැහැරගැනීමේ    චෝදනාවෙන් මුදවා හැරීමට අනුබලයක් වන්නේ? තම වෛරයට සහ පිළිකුලට බදුන් වූ ඝාතකයාගේ ගැබ්ගත් යොවුන් බිරිඳට අවසානයේ දී පැන් පොදක් දී ඇගේ කන්නලව්ව ඇසීමට තරම් හිත් දෙන්නේ? තම පුතුගේ වෙඩි පහරින් මිය ගිය විරුද්ධ මැතිවරණ අපේක්ෂිකාවගේ නව යොවුන් දියණියට මල්වර දිනයේ තම කුල උරුමයෙන් ගෙන ආ වතාවත් සිදුකර ශුභාශිංසන පතන්නේ ? මේ සියල්ලට පිළිතුර, ඇගේ අරගලය පාවා දීම ද? මානව හිමිකම් නීතිඥයකු මෙන්ම සාහිත්‍යකරුවෙකු වූ විසාකේස චන්ද්‍රසේකරම්, තම වෘත්තීය ජීවිතය ද එහි සදාතනික වටිනාකම් ද සිනමාකරුවෙකු ලෙස පාංශු” හි බාබා නෝනාගේ චරිතයෙන් පාවා දී ඇත් ද?  මගේ පිළිතුර නම් නැත. නැත යන්න ය.

තම අතුරුදහන් වු පුතා වෙනුවෙන් යුක්තිය සොයන බාබා නෝනා, ඇගේ වෛරීය සිත සංහිඳියාව කෙරෙහි පහදවා ගන්නේ, නිමක් නොමැතිව තම පුතු සොයන ගමනේ රෝහලක දකිනා, බෞද්ධ චරිතාපදානයේ කියවෙන සංකල්පීය සතර පෙර නිමිති” නිසාවෙනි. ඈ කුමන මානසිකත්වයෙන් පසු වුවද, කුල පීඩනයෙන් පමණක් නොව ද්‍රරිදතාවයෙන් පීඩා වින්ද ද රටේ පොදුජන සංස්කෘතික විඥාඥයෙන් මීදීමට ඇයට  නොහැකි වන්නේ ය. ජීවිතය පිළිබඳ ගැඹුරු යථාවාබෝධය, බෞද්ධාගමික දර්ශණය, ඈගේ ඇට මිදුලු තෙක් කිඳා බැස ඇති නිසාය. එය විසාකේස ට අනුව නම්, ඇයගේ වැඩවසම් මනස ඇයට ම වද දීමකි. (ඔහු අගෝස්තු 23 අනිද්දා පුවත්පතට ලබා දුන් සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාව). නමුත් එවන් ඌණීත අර්ථ දැක්වීමකට ගොනු කිරීමට හැකි යැයි මම නොසිතමි. එවන් සීමා නොවුණු ඉසව්වක් දේශපාලන අර්ථයෙන් ම මෙහි නොවේ ද?

ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයෙන් පිරි යුද්ධයක හෝ කැරැල්ලක වින්දිතයන් සහ චෝදනාකරුවන් යනු අපට අභිමුඛවන පුද්ගලයෝම නොවෙති. මන්ද, එය සෘජු පුද්ගල ගැටුමකට එහා ගිය මතවාදී ගැටුමකි. සංස්ථාපිත යාන්ත්‍රික ගැටුමකි. එහි ඝාතනයට ලක්වූවන් මෙන්ම ඝාතකයෝද උන් නොවුන් ගේ පුද්ගලික ගණු දෙණුවක් බේරා ගැනීමට ගැටුණා යැයි කිව හැකි ද? ඔහුනොවුන් මෙහෙය වූ බාහිර හෝ අදිසි බලවේගයක් වීද?  ඒ නිසාම, රාජ්‍යය ජනතාව ජීවත් කරන සේ ම තවත් විටෙක එම ජනතාවම මරා දමනු ලබන්නේ ඒ අර්ථයෙන් ම ය. පාලකයෙක් බලයෙන් පහකොට තවත් පාලකයෙක් බලයේ පිහිටුවද, නඩත්තු කරන්නේ රාජ්‍යයම යන අර්ථයම ය.  ගැටුම් පාර්ශවයන්ගේ අමිහිරි බේදණීය අතීතය යළි යළිත් පාපොච්චාරණය කරගනිමින් හෝ වැළලී ගිය මානව නිදහස, යුක්තිය යළි ප්‍රතිශ්ඨාපනය කිරීම යුක්ති යුක්තය. එහෙත්, සංහිඳියාවට මග විවර වනුයේ අනෙකා කෙරෙහි තමා ඇති කරගන්නා ජීවිතාබෝධය මතය. පාංශු” සිනමාව ඒ ගැඹුරු දර්ශණය අප ඉදිරියේ තබා ඇත. විසාකේස චන්ද්‍රසේකරම් ඒ අර්ථයෙන් විශිෂ්ඨ සිනමා නිර්මාණකරුවෙකි.

අතිශය කුරිරු අභ්‍යන්තර බේදුම්වාදී ත්‍රස්තවාදී ගැටුමකින් පසුවත් අප ඒ සියළු වින්දිතයන් කෙරෙහි සාධරණ යුක්තියක් ලබාදී නොමැත්තේ, පාංශු” සිනමා සිත්තමෙන් සිතුවම්වන සහ්‍යත්වය, අපගේ දේශපාලන ශබ්ද කෝෂයට සහ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වයට මුසු කරගැනීමට අපගේ දේශපාලඥයන් තවමත් අපොහෝසත් වී ඇති නිසාය.

බන්දුල චන්ද්‍රසේකර

banchasekara@gmail.com

National Joint Committee

The National Joint Committee wish to salute the principled stand taken by Honourable Sarath Weerasekera Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Authorities, that he is against the Provincial Council system and would endeavor its abolition. We hail the Honourable Prime Minister’s bold decision to advise the President under the existing provisions of the Constitution to appoint Honorable Sarath Weerasekera for this office, when it was public knowledge that Mr. Weerasekera was always against the thirteenth amendment and the Provincial Council system introduced by this amendment. We believe that entrusting both Provincial Councils and Local Authorities in one ministry is not an accident but a step that can facilitate to restructure the Provincial Council System and empower the Local Authorities.

We have always opposed the thirteenth amendment and call for its abolition even now, however if that is not favored at this moment, the existing Provincial Council system should be at least restructured. Thus, it is the duty of the Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Governments to dismantle the existing Provincial Council system and empower the Local Authorities so that the Provincial Councils if at all could consist of representatives from the Local Authorities. The Minister should ensure that elections for Provincial Councils are done away with completely. It would be a tremendous waste of public resources to conduct elections and spend large sums of money to pay for salaries and grant benefits to members of the Provincial Councils.

Provincial Councils have been an utter waste of resources of the state with nine boards of Ministers entrusted with executive power in addition to the Cabinet of Ministers at the center. We see no justifiable reason to have ten Ministers of health, one in the center and nine in the provinces. The same applies in the field of education with ten Ministers of education. Provincial Councils have been used by politicians of both sides of the political divide to nurture their sons and daughters, nieces and nephews and to be a practicing ground for them to enter Parliament, and take their place when their parents, uncles and aunts retire from politics. It is repulsive that a section of the Government have orchestrated a campaign against Honourable Weerasekera to achieve their petty personal desires. It is unfortunate, that a spouse of a Cabinet Minister too has joined this selfish campaign.

The abolition of the Provincial Council system presently existing would be in line with the President’s policy; One County-One Law. The existing system with legislative power vested in the Provincial Councils would run counter to this very policy of the President. Under the thirteenth amendment, not only that, Provincial Council could enact legislation that would be effective over Central Government legislation, but the Parliament would not be in a position to amend or repeal Provincial Council legislation without two third support in Parliament. It is necessary that we restore supremacy of Parliament. Even if a Provincial Council is vested with such legislative power, the Parliament should be in a position to amend or repeal such legislation with a simple majority. Vesting Provincial Councils with police and land powers is a threat to national security and the very existence of the structure of the state. Even to date the provisions pertaining to the amalgamation of provinces exist. The National Joint Committee strongly urge the Government to rectify these misplaced clauses in the Constitution when enacting the proposed twentieth amendment, without waiting till a new Constitution is drafted.

If it is the view of the Government that the abolition of the nineteenth amendment is so urgent we see no justifiable reason why it should not forthwith repeal the thirteenth and the sixteenth amendments and the proportional representation system of elections presently existing, in as much as the Government came into power with a mandate to rectify these errors. The National Joint Committee is astonished at the decision of the Government to amend Article 53 of the Constitution which mandatorily requires Ministers to take the oath against supporting and promoting a separate state,     (i.e the 7th Schedule introduced by the sixth amendment) and by restricting it to the original oath prescribed in the fourth schedule. Article 61D of the proposed amendment too require the public officers to take the fourth schedule oath that existed in the original Constitution and not the oath prescribed in the seventh schedule introduced by the sixth amendment.

We are not in favor of repealing the provisions which bar dual citizens from being Members of Parliament and the removal of the ceiling placed on the number of Ministers. We see that there is an attempt to accommodate extremists who are citizens of other countries in Parliament and in the Cabinet without taking the required oath under the sixth amendment. We do not expect a Government that came into power with the nationalist vote just a few weeks ago to act in this manner. We are also against the abolition of the National Procurement Commission which can lead to corruption. We are supportive of the abolition of objectionable provisions in the nineteenth amendment but regret that provisions of the eighteenth amendment and certain provisions that existed prior to the nineteenth amendment are being reintroduced to the Constitution by the twentieth amendment.

We consider that the introduction of the provisions relating to enactment of urgent bills within 24 hours which was misused by all previous governments should not be incorporated in the twentieth amendment. The structure introduced by both the eighteenth amendment and the proposed twentieth amendment without the safeguards of checks and balances is an unwise move. Whilst we have the utmost confidence in the President and would not doubt for a moment that he would abuse power, our experiences with the past compel us to urge the Government to have sufficient checks and balances whilst empowering the President to manage his administration. We favour the restoration of the powers of the President including his right to select his Ministers and administrators including Members of these numerous Commissions established by law. However it is our considered view that all appointments should be approved by Parliament. We see no danger in such an exercise as no President can function without the support of Parliament. Although we were against the dubious constitutional council, it does not mean that we support the elimination of checks and balances from the Constitution.

We also note with regret that the government intends to appoint an Ambassador to the Republic of India with cabinet status. We do not consider this as a prudent move especially in view of the conduct of the proposed appointee in the past. Placing Sri Lanka’s Ambassadors on par with a Cabinet Minister will undermine the authority of the foreign minister and other officials that would represent Sri Lanka overseas. Adopting a policy to favour India in preference to other states is totally unacceptable. Therefore we urge the government to reconsider the twentieth amendment and these misplaced decisions relating to external affairs of Sri Lanka.

Lt Col. Anil Amarasekera (Retd.) 
Mr. K. M. B. Kotakadeniya (Retd. Senior DIG)
Co-Presidents National Joint Commission

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදන -අර්ජුන රණතුංග හිටපු අමාත්‍යවරයා

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට හිමි  ජාතික ‍ලැයිස්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරය එහි නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට ලබා දිය යුතු බවට හිටපු අමාත්‍ය අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතා පවසයි. අද (6) එම පක්ෂයේ 74 වැනි සංවත්සරයට එක් වෙමින් සිරිකොත පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානය ඉදිරිපිටදී මාධ්‍යයට අදහස් දක්වමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේය. එහිදී අර්ජුන රණතුංග හිටපු අමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසුවේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරය ලබා ගැනීමට එජාප නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ප්‍රතික්ෂේ කර සිටින නමුත්  නව තත්ත්වයන් හමුවේ එම මන්ත්‍රී ධුරය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට ලබා දීම වඩාත් සුදුසු බවට තමන් පෞද්ගලිකව සිතන බවයි.

”පාර්ලිමේනතුවට විසිවැනි සංශෝධනය ඉදිරියේදී ගෙන එනවා. ඒ අවස්ථාවේදී විසි වැනි සංශෝධන ගැන ගැඹුරින් සාකච්ඡා කරන්න, අදහස් දක්වන ඒ ගැන ගැඹුරු අවබෝධයක් තියෙන කෙනෙක් ඉන්න ඕන. මම පෞද්ගලිකව හිතන විදියට ඒ සඳහා සුදුසු ම පුද්ගලයා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා. එතුමාට ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගැන පුළුල් අවබෝධයක් තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා තමයි අපි එතුමාට කිව්වේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරය ගන්න කියලා. එතුමා නම් ජාතික ලැයිස්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරලා තියෙනවා. අපිත් මුලින් කිව්වා ගන්න එපා කියලා. නමුත් දැන් මම කියන්නේ මේ විසිවැනි ස‍ංශෝධනයත් එක්ක එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයෙන් ජාතික ලැයිස්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධුරයට සුදුසු ම කෙනා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා කියලා…”යි ද එයට හේතු පැහැදිලි කරමින් අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතා පැවසීය. ඔහු දැක්වූ අදහස් ඇතුළත් සම්පූර්ණ විඩියෝ පටය පහත ලින්ක් එකෙන් ලබා ගන්න…

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/8962b4d723e9a8814419958a5be338e620200906101114/8658076c2e388d7671ad4860844a44ce20200906101135/139a7f

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

 19 වැනි සංශෝධනය” කියන නමින් හඳුන්වපු ව්‍යවස්ථා මංකොල්ලයට කාරණා දෙකක් පදනම් කරගෙන අපි තරයේ ම විරුද්ධ වුනා. මූලිකව ම, ඒ වැඩේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනි, නීති විරෝධි වැඩක්. ඒ කාරණය විස්තරාත්මක විදිහට අපි පැහැදිළි කරලා තියෙනවා.

දෙවනුවට අපි අවධාරණය කළේ මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා මංකොල්ලය හින්දා ඇති වෙච්ච දේශපාලන අස්ථාවර බව. 2018 ඔක්තෝබර් මාසයේ ඉඳලා 2019 අවුරුද්දේ ජනාධිපතිවරණය පවත්තන කල් රට මුළුමනින් ම අකර්මන්‍ය වුනා. ආරක්‍ෂක මණ්ඩලය රැස්වුනේ නෑ. අයවැයක් සම්මත කරගත්තේ නෑ. මහ බෝමබ පිපුරුම් මාලාවකින් විශාල පිරිසක් මිය ගියා. සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය කඩාගෙන වැටුණා. සමාජ – ආර්ථික හැම පැත්තකින් ම රට එක තැන පල්වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා.

මේ සමස්ත බිඳ වැටීමට මුළුමනින් ම හේතු වුනේ විධායකය සහ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය කියන අංශ දෙක ම දුර්වල වීම. 19 වැනි සංශෝධනය” කියන මංකොල්ලය හින්දා ජනාධිපති ධූරය අඩපණ කරලා තිබුණා. බහුතරය අහිමි වෙච්ච හින්දා ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයත් අකර්මන්‍ය වුනා. ජනාධිපති ධුරයත් දුර්වල කරලා, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවත් අස්ථාවර වුනා ම රට පාලනය කරන්න පුළුවන් ද? මේ ගැන හොඳින් හිතලා බලන්න.

2019 නොවැම්බර් ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පස්සේ තවත් අර්බුදයක් ඉස්සරහට ආවා. එදා ඉඳලා අද වෙන කල් රටට ආරක්‍ෂක ඇමැතිවරයෙක් නැති වෙලා. මේ විදිහට ඉස්සරහට යන්න රටකට බෑ. ඉතින් 19 වැනි සංශෝධනය” කියන මංකොල්ලය පිටු දකින මේ 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම කළ යුතු දෙයක්.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව උත්තරිතර තැනක් කියන එකත් ජනාධිපති ධූරය රාක්‍ෂයෙක් විදිහටත් හඳුන්වන එකත් එක ම පිරිසක් විසින් පුන පුනා කියවන කතන්දරයක් විතරයි. ඒ ආයතන ඇති කරලා තියෙන්නේ අපිට ඕන වැඩ ඒවා ලවා කරවාගන්න. ඒත් 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් විධායකයත් ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයත් අනවශ්‍ය විදිහට එකට සම්බන්ධ කරලා තියෙන හින්දා ඇති වෙච්ච මහ අවුල් ගොඩකින් අපේ රට පීඩාවට පත් වෙලා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු අතරින් ඇමැතිවරු පත් කරන ක්‍රමයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙද්දි ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකට යන්නේ නීති සම්පාදනයේ හැකියාවක් තියෙන අය විතරක් නෙවෙයි. ප්‍රාදේශීයව මිනිස්සුන්ට නායකත්වයක් දෙන්න පුළුවන්, හොඳ විධායක හැකියාවක් තියෙන අයත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට යනවා. උදාහරණයක් විදිහට පාලිත තෙවරප්පෙරුම මහත්තයා ගැන හිතලා බලන්න. එතුමා ප්‍රාදේශීය මට්ටමෙන් සෑහෙන වැඩ ප්‍රමාණයක් කරන්න පුළුවන් නායකයෙක්. ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදක හැකියාවක් එතුමාට තියෙනවා කියලා හිතන්න අමාරුයි. ඒත් පවතින ක්‍රමය ඇතුළේ ඒ වගේ අයත් ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයට තේරී පත් වෙනවා..

යම් දවසක අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදා ගන්න කල් මේ තියෙන අවුල් මැද්දේ ඉස්සරහට යන්න අපිට සිද්ද වෙනවා. එහෙම හදන අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවකින් විධායක බලය සහ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක බලය මුළුමනින්ම වෙන් කරන්න පුළුවන් නම් ගොඩක් හොඳයි. ජනාධිපතිරණයට සමාන්තරව ඇමැතිවරු පත් කරගන්න ක්‍රමයකුත්, ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා තව තවත් ශක්තිමත් කරන ක්‍රමයකුත් හඳුන්වලා දෙන්න පුළුවන් නම් ගොඩක් වටිනවා. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් හදන ව්‍යවස්ථාවකින් ජනතාවගේ විධායක බලය” නියෝජනය වෙන්න ඕන ජනාධිපතිවරයා, අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය, රාජ්‍ය සේවය සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා කියන ආකාරයෙන් කියලා තමයි මට නම් හිතන්නේ. ඒත් එච්චර ලොකු වෙනසක් අපේ රටේ වෙයි කියලා හිතන්න අමාරුයි.

යෝජිත 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය දිහා බලද්දි මේ කියපු කරුණු අමතක කරන්න බෑ. 19 වැනි සංශෝධනය” කියන ලියැවිල්ලෙන් ඇති කරපු ව්‍යවස්ථා පිළිකාව මේ 20 වැනි සංශෝධනය හරහා නැති කරන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ හරහා රටට යම් ආකාරයක ස්ථාවරභාවයක් ලබා දෙන්නත් පුළුවන්. ඒ හින්දා මොන අඩුපාඩු සහ වැරැදි තිබුනත් මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය කෙරෙන්න ඕන දෙයක් කියලා මම හිතනවා.

මේ ලිපිය ලියන්නේ ඒ ස්ථාවරයේ රැඳිලා, මේ යෝජනාවේ තියෙන අඩුපාඩු කීපයක් පෙන්නලා දෙන අදහසින්.

ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාව” කියලා ආයතනයක් විධායකය මැද්දට රිංගෙව්වේ 17 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන්. 1978 ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 7, 8 සහ 9 පරිච්ඡේද වෙන් කරලා තියෙන්නේ විධායකය වෙනුවෙන්. ඒත් 2001 අවුරුද්දේ චන්ද්‍රිකා නෝනා බය කරලා කලබලේට සම්මත කරගත්ත 17 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් විධායක – ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක අච්චාරුව තවත් අවුල් කළා. ඒ වෙලාවේ ඇති කරපු ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාව” විධායක ආයතනයක් විදිහට ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 7 සහ 8 පරිච්ඡේද දෙක අතරට රිංගෙව්වා. මේක මහා අවුලක්.

රාජ්‍ය ආයතනයකට විධායක බලයක් ලැබෙන්නේ ජනතාවගේ විධායක බලය” යම් කාලයක් සඳහා පවරාදීමෙන්. ජනතාවගේ විධායක බලය” ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවන්න ජනතාව විසිත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාව තෝරා පත් කරගන්නවා. ඒ විදිහට ජනතාව විසින් තමන්ට පවරපු විධායක බලය අභිනියෝජනය කරලා ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඇමැතිවරු පත් කරනවා. ජනතාව විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට විධායක බලයක් පවරන්නේ නෑ. ඉතින් බලයේ උපත පිළිබඳ ඒ මූලික කාරණය සළකන්නේ නැතුව විධායක ආයතනයක් විදිහට ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාව” පිහිටුවීම විශාල වැරැද්දක්.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු කිහිප දෙනෙක්ගෙන් සහ කිසිම ජනතා නියෝජනයක් නැති පිරිසකුගෙන් සමන්විත වෙන මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාව” දැන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්නේ ජනතාවගේ විධායක බලය” සීමා කරන ආයතනයක් විදිහට. 20 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් ඒ බාධා අයින් කරනවා. ඒ වෙනුවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු සභාව” කියලා ආයතනයක් හඳුන්වලා දෙනවා.

ඒත් තවදුරටත් මේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු සභාව” විධායක ආයතනයක් විදිහට ම පවත්වා ගෙන යෑම 20 වැනි සංශෝධනයේ තියෙන විශාල වැරැද්දක්. මේක ස්ථාපිත කරන්න ඕන ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයට අයිති ආයතනයක් විදිහට. ඒකට අදාළ විධිවිධාන ඇතුළත් පරිච්ඡේදය පනවන්න ඕන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 11 වැනි සහ 12 වැනි පරිච්ඡේද අතරට. ඒත් මේ 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ දී ඒ කාරණය ගැන සැළකිලිමත් වෙලා නෑ.

අපේ රටට අවශ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශ මොනවා ද කියලා නිශ්චිතව අඳුරගන්න බැරිකමක් තියෙනවා නම් තමයි ඒකට අදාළ විධිවිධාන විවෘත විදිහට පනවන්න වෙන්නේ. ඒත් එහෙම බැරිකමක් මේ රටේ උගතුන්ට සහ අදාළ බලධාරීන්ට තියෙනවා කියලා හිතන්න අමාරුයි. ජනාධිපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වෙද්දි වියත්මග” කියලා නම් කරපු සංවිධානයක් මුල් කරගෙන ජනතාව ඉස්සරහට ගිය හින්දා ඒ වියත්තු ලව්වා ම ගෝඨාභය මහත්තයාට මේ වැඩේ කරවා ගන්න පුළුවන්. ඉතින් අපේ රටේ විධායකය මෙහෙයවන්න පත් කරන්න ඕන ඇමැතිවරු ගණන පිළිබඳ උපරිමය අයින් කළත් අපිට අවශ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශ මොනවා ද කියලා නම් කරපු උපලේඛනයක් ව්‍යවස්ථාවට එකතු කරන්න බැරිකමක් නෑ. ඒත් මේ 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් ඒ වැඩේ කරලා නෑ.

17 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් සහ 19 වැනි සංශෝධනය” කියලා නම් කරපු කොල්ලයෙන් ස්වාධීන” කොමිසන් සභා හඳුන්වලා දුන්නේ විධායක බලයට සීමා පනවන අදහසකින්. විධායක බලය උරුම කරගත්ත නැති ආයතනවලින් එහෙම කරන එක වැරැදියි. ඒ ගැන මේ ලිපියෙන් කරුණු කිව්වා.

එහෙම වුනත් මැතිවරණ කොමිසන් සභාවේ කාර්යය ඊට වඩා වෙනස් එකක්. අපේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් සහ 4 (ඉ) අනු ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් පනවලා තියෙන විදිහට ජනතාවගේ ඡන්ද බලය” ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්න ඕන ජනතාවගේ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක බලයට, ජනතාවගේ විධායක බලයට සහ ජනතාවගේ අධිකරණ බලයට සෘජුව ම අනුගත නොවෙන විදිහකට. ඒ හින්දා සුවිශේෂිත ස්වාධීනත්වයක් උරුම කරගත්ත ආයතනයක් විදිහට මැතිවරණ කොමිසන් සභාව පිහිටුවන්න ඕන.

මේ දක්වා ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන මැතිවරණ කොමිසන් සභාව ඉතාමත් අත්තනෝමතික විදිහට වැඩ කරපු බව රහසක් නෙවෙයි. ඉතින් 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් කරන්න තිබුණේ මේ අත්තනෝමතික බව නැති කරන ක්‍රමයක් හඳුන්වලා දෙන එක. මැතිවරණ කොමිසන් සභාවේ සාමාජික පිරිස හතක් හෝ නවයක් හෝ දක්වා වැඩි කරලා මේ වැඩේ ලේසියෙන් ම කරන්න තිබුණා. ඒත් මේ අවශ්‍යතාව ඉටු කරන්න 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය අසමත් වෙලා තියෙනවා.

19 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය” කියන මංකොල්ලයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 30 (2) සහ 62 (2) අනු ව්‍යවස්ථා විකෘති කරලා තියෙන්නේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83 (ආ) අනු ව්‍යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමෙන්. 83 (ආ) අනු ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ විධිවිධානවල හැටියට 30 (2) සහ 62 (2) අනු ව්‍යවස්ථා වෙනස් කරනවා නම් ඒ සඳහා ජනමත විචාරණයක අනුමැතිය ඕන කරනවා. ඒ හින්දා 19 මගඩියෙන් කරපු ඒ වෙනස් කිරීම තවදුරටත් ව්‍යවස්ථාව ඇතුළේ තියාගන්න බෑ. ඒත් මේ වංචනික ක්‍රියාව නිවැරැදි කිරීමක් 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් යෝජනා වෙලා නෑ.

මේ විදිහෙ අඩුපාඩු හින්දා, 20 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන යෝජනාවෙන් මහජන අපේක්‍ෂා අවශ්‍ය තරමින් ඉෂ්ට වෙනවා කියන්න අමාරුයි. 19 වැනි සංශෝධන පිළිකාවෙන් ඇති කරපු හානිය ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමේ අංගසම්පූර්ණ යෝජනාවලියක් බෞද්ධ ආරක්‍ෂක සභාව විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කළා. පසුගිය ජනවාරි මාසයේ දී ඉදිරිපත් කරපු ඒ යෝජනාවලිය සළකා බැලීමක් මේ සංශෝධන ක්‍රියාවලියේ දී සිද්ද වෙලා නෑ. ජාතික බලවේගවල උදව්වෙන් බලයට ආපු ආණ්ඩුවක් විසින් ඒ යෝජනා මාලාව නොසළකා හැරීම ඉතාමත් කණගාටුවට කාරණයක්.

ඒ යෝජනා මාලාව නොසළකා හැරියත් අදාළ නිවැරැදි කිරීම් නිසි විදිහට කරලා තියෙනවා නම් සතුටු වෙන්න පුළුවන්. ඒත් මේ ලිපියෙන් පැහැදිළි කරපු විදිහට මේ 20 වැනි සංශෝධනය පරිපූර්ණ කටයුත්තක් නෙවෙයි. මේ වැරැද්ද නිසා අනාගතයේ දී ඉස්මතුවෙන්න පුළුවන් අනතුරු සුළුපටු නෑ කියන එකත් අපි තේරුම් ගන්න ඕන.

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ලෝකයේ දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදී පිරිසක් කිසිඳු ගැටළුකාරී තත්ත්වයකින් තොරව පුනරුත්ථාපනය කර නැවත සමාජයට යොමු කරවීමට හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ගජධීර මහතාගේ නායකත්වය ඉතාම වැදගත් වූ බව ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අද 2020.09.06 දින දිවංගත චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මහතාගේ වර්ෂ පූර්ණ ගුණානුස්මරණ උත්සවයට සහභාගී වෙමින් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මානව හිමිකම් රකිමින් ලොව දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පුනරුත්ථාපනය කළ රට ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලොව ඉදිරියේ  පිළිගැනීමක් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකියාව ලැබුණු බවත්, ඒ සියල්ල සඳහා දිවංගත චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මහතාගේ දේශපාලන උගත්කම හා මහත්මා ගුණය හේතු වූ බවත් ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කියා සිටියේය.

යුද්දේ ඉවරවෙන කාලෙ වෙන කොට චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මහතාබන්ධනාගාර පුනරුත්ථාපන ඇමැති. එතුමාට භාර වුණා මේ රටේ දහතුන්දාහක් පමණ වන එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සාමාජිකයින් පුනරුත්ථාපනය කරන්න. ඒක ඉතාම වගකීමක් ඇතිව කළ යුතු රාජකාරියක් වුණා. එතුමාගේ කාලය තුළ කිසිම ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇතිවෙන්නේ නැති විධියට දහතුන්දාහක් එල්ටීටීඊ සාමාජිකයින් පුනරුත්ථාපනය කරලා නිදහස් කළා. යැයි ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සඳහන් කළේය.

මාතර උයන්වත්ත එච්. කේ. ධර්මදාස ක්‍රීඩාංගනයේ පැවති මෙම වර්ෂ පූර්ණ ගුණානුස්මරණයට එක් වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මහතාගේ රුව සහිත ඡායාරූපයකට පුෂ්පෝපාහාර දැක්වීය.

ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය,

චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මැතිතුමාගේ වර්ෂ පූර්ණයට සම්බන්ධ වෙනකොට මට මේ රටේ දේශපාලන ඉතිහාසය මතකයට එනවා. මේ රටේ වාමාංශීක දේශපාලනයේ පුරෝගාමී චරිතයක් තමයි මාතර එස්. ඒ. වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා. කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ පුරෝගාමී නායකයා වුණෙත් එස්. ඒ. වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා. දකුණේ දේශපාලනයට එස්. ඒ. වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමාගෙන් ලැබුණ ආභාසය කවදාවත් අමතක කරන්න බෑ. අද අපි ගුණානුස්මරණයේ යෙදෙන චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මැතිතුමා එස්. ඒ. වික්‍රමසිංහ කියන ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන නායකයාගේ අඩිපාරේ ගමන්ගත්ත කෙනෙක් කියලා මම කියන්න ඕනේ.  

චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර අදහස්වලින්, වැඩකටයුතුවලින් වගේම හමේ පාටිනුත් මාතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මාතර ලකුණ කියලා මම කියනවා. අද වියත් දේශපාලනය ගැන ලොකු උනන්දුවකින් අපේ රටේ කතාබහ කරනවා. හැබැයි චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මීට දශක හතරකට පහකට කලින් ඉඳන්ම මේ රටේ වියත් දේශපාලනය නියෝජනය කරනවා. ඒ විතරක් නෙමෙයි එතුමා මහත්මා දේශපාලනයත් නියෝජනය කළ බව මම කියන්න ඕනේ. දේශපාලනයේ දී වියත්කම ඉතාම වැදගත්. උගත්කමත් ඉතාම වැදගත්. ඒ වගේම මහත්මාකමත් අත්‍යවශ්‍යයි කියලා මම නූතන පරපුරට මතක් කරන්න ඕනේ. චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීරගෙන් අපේ අද දේශපාලනය කරන අය තේරුම් ගත යුතු දේ තමයි වියත්කම වගේම මහත්මාකමත් දේශපාලනයට අත්‍යවශ්‍යයි කියන එක.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර විද්‍යෝදය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ උපාධිධරයෙක්. සරසවියේ ඉන්නකොටම තමයි දේශපාලනය කරන්න පටන්ගත්තේ. එතුමා සරසවියේ ලංකා ජාතික ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමයේ නියෝජිතයෙක් හැටියට දේශපාලනයට ඇවිත් උපාධිය ලබාගත්තා. ගුරුවරයෙක් හැටියට රජයේ සේවයට බැඳුණා. රජයේ සේවයේ නිරතව සිටියත් දේශපාලන අදහස් තිබුණේ වමේ ව්‍යාපාරයත් එක්ක බද්ධවෙලා. 1988 මාතර නාගරික මන්ත්‍රීවරයා හැටියට තමයි මහජන දේශපාලනය ආරම්භ කළේ.  1994 එතුමා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට මුලින්ම තේරී පත් වුණා. 1994 ආණ්ඩුව කියන්නේ අවුරුදු 17ක් තිබුණ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව ගෙදර යවපු ආණ්ඩුව. අපිට මතකයි ඒ ආණ්ඩුව ගෙදර යවන්න ඉතා විශාල කැපකිරීමක් අපි වගේම වමේ ව්‍යාපාරයේ කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයත් සමසමාජ පක්ෂයත් කළා. චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර ඉතාම දරුණු භීෂණයක් මැද්දේ වෙඩි උණ්ඩ මැද ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තහවුරු කරන්න කැපවුණු මාතර නියෝජිතයෙක් බව මම මතක් කරලා දෙන්න ඕනේ.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර වියතෙක්, උගතෙක් වුණාට ඒක ආභරණයක් කරගත්තේ නෑ වගේම මහත්මාකම තමන් ළඟ තියෙනවා කියලා රටට කියන්න ගියෙත් නෑ. ඒ වියත්කම, උගත්කම ගැන ප්‍රචාරය කර කර ඉන්නේ නැතිව ඒකෙන් රටට වැඩක් කළා. මහත්මා දේශපාලනඥයෙක් කියලා පෝස්ටර් දාගන්නෙ නැතිව මහත්මයෙක් වගේ දේශපාලනය කළා. ඒ හින්දා එතුමාගේ නාමය හැමදාමත් අපේ හදවතේ රැඳිලා තියෙනවා.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර තනතුරු මුල්කරගෙන හිතුවේ නෑ. ඔහු දේශපාලනය මුල්කරගෙන තමයි හැමතිස්සෙම හිතුවේ. මට ඒකට දෙන්න හොඳ උදාහරණයක් තියෙනවා. ගජධීර 1994  දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ආවා. ඊට පස්සේ නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැතිවරයෙක් බවට පත්වුණා. 2001 පළාත් පාලන ඡන්දෙදි අපිට මාතර නගර සභාව ජයග්‍රහණය කරවන්න හොඳ නියෝජිතයෙක් ඕනේ වුණා. අපි ඒ වෙලාවේ ආරාධනා කළා ගජධීරට නගරාධිපති ඡන්දෙට ඉදිරිපත් වෙන්න කියලා. එතුමා තමන් දරපු මන්ත්‍රීකම්, ඇමැතිකම්, තනතුරු ගැන හිතුවේ නෑ. එතුමා දේශපාලනය වෙනුවෙන් නගර සභා ඡන්දෙට ඉදිරිපත් වෙලා නගරාධිපති තනතුර භාරගත්තා. ඇමැතිකමක් දරපු කෙනෙක් දේශපාලනය වෙනුවෙන් ඒ වගේ තීරණයක් ගන්න අවස්ථා තියෙන්නේ ඉතාම කලාතුරකින්. ඒ නිසයි මම කියන්නේ ගජධීර තනතුරට වඩා දේශපාලනය ගැන හිතපු කෙනෙක් කියලා. ඊට පස්සේ මැතිවරණයේ දී එතුමා මාතරට තරග කරලා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඇවිල්ලා කැබිනට් ආමාත්‍යවරයෙක් හැටියට ආයෙත් වැඩ කළා.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර කැබිනට් අමාත්‍යවරයෙක් හැටියට වැඩ කරපු වකවානුව මට හොඳට මතකයි. යුද්ධය සිද්ධවෙච්ච කාලේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු කණ්ඩායමකුත් එක්ක අපි ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවක් ගොඩනගලා තිබුණා. චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර ඒ ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවේ ස්වදේශ කටයුතු නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැතිවරයා විධියට වැඩ කළා. එතුමාගේ ඇමැතිවරයා වුණේ යූ.ඇන්.පීයෙන් ඇවිත් අපිත් එක්ක එකතුවෙලා හිටපු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක්. ඇමැතිවරු සහ නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැතිවරු අතර කවදත් පොඩි සීතල යුද්ධයක් තියෙනවා. ඇමැති එක පක්ෂයකිනුත් නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැති තවත් පක්ෂයකිනුත් වැටුණොත් ඒ යුද්දේ තවත් බරපතළ වෙනවා. ඒත් චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර දේශපාලන වශයෙන් හිතන්න පුළුවන් පරිනත පුද්ගලයෙක් නිසා තමන්ගේ ඇමැතිවරයාත් එක්ක කිසිම ගැටුමක්, ආරවුලක් ඇතිකරගන්නේ නැතිව ඉතාම හොඳින් වැඩ කළා විතරක් නෙමෙයි තමන්ගේ ඇමැතිවරයාගේ ප්‍රශංසාවටත් ලක් වුණා. එහෙම කරන්න පුළුවන් වුණේ ගජධීරගේ තිබුණ මහත්මා ගතිගුණය නිසා.

එතුමා යුද්දේ ඉවරවෙන කාලෙ වෙන කොට බන්ධනාගාර පුනරුත්ථාපන ඇමැති. එතුමාට භාර වුණා මේ රටේ දහතුන්දාහක් පමණ වන එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සාමාජිකයින් පුනරුත්ථාපනය කරන්න. ඒක ඉතාම වගකීමක් ඇතිව කළ යුතු රාජකාරියක් වුණා. එතුමාගේ කාලය තුළ කිසිම ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇතිවෙන්නේ නැති විධියට දහතුන්දාහක් එල්ටීටීඊ සාමාජිකයින් පුනරුත්ථාපනය කරලා නිදහස් කළා. ලෝකයේ දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදී පිරිසක් කිසිම ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇතිවෙන්නේ නැති විදියට හොදටම පුනරුත්ථාපනය කරලා නැවත සමාජයට යොමු කරවන්න ගජධීරගේ නායකත්වය ඉතාම වැදගත් වුණා. ඒ නිසාම අපිට එබඳු ත්‍රස්තවාදී පිරිසක් මානව හිමිකම් රකිමින් පුනරුත්ථාපනය කළ රට හැටියට පිළිගැනීමක් ලබා ගන්නත් පුළුවන් වුණා. මේ සේරම කරන්න පුළුවන් වුණේ ගජධීරගේ දේශපාලනය, උගත්කම හා මහත්මාකම නිසයි.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා අමාත්‍ය ඩලස් අලහප්පෙරුම, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය කංචන විජේසේකර, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන වීරසුමන වීරසිංහ, නිපුන රණවක, හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ඩිව් ගුණසේකර, වයඹ පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර රාජා කොල්ලුරේ මහත්වරුන්, චන්ද්‍රසිරි ගජධීර මහතාගේ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයින් ඇතුළු විශාල පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා  කළ ඉල්ලීමකට අනුව හෙට 2020.09.07 දින සිට බිත්තර මිල රුපියල් 2.00 කින් පහළ දැමීමට සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමය තීරණය කර ඇත.

සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමයේ නිලධාරීන් හා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අතර හමුවක් තංගල්ල කාල්ටන් නිවසේදී 2020.09.05 දින පැවැත්විණි.

මෙම හමුවේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා පාරිභෝගික ජනතාවට සහන සැළසීම වෙනුවෙන් බිත්තර මිල පහල දමන්නැයි කළ යෝජනාවට ප්‍රතිචාර ලෙස සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමය මෙම තීරණයට එළැඹිණි.

ඒ අනුව හෙට සිට සුදු බිත්තරයක් රු.18.00 කට හා රතු බිත්තරයක් රු.18.50 ක මිලකට බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගෙන් ලබා ගත හැකිය.

නිෂ්පාදන වියදම අධික වුවද  බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන් වෙනුවෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ රජය ලබාදෙන සහනවලට ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වීමක් ලෙස මෙසේ බිත්තර මිල පහළ දැමීමට තීරණය කළ බව එම සංගමයේ සභාපති ආර්.එම්. සරත් රත්නායක මහතා පැවැසීය.

රටේ සමස්ථ බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදනයෙන් සියයට 70ක් වයඹ බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමය හරහා බෙදා හැරෙන අතර, අඩුකළ මිලට බිත්තර බෙදාහැරීමට එම සංගමය සුදානම් බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට මෙම හමුවේදී දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

බිත්තර මිල ඉහළ යෑමට ප්‍රධාන හේතුවක් වී ඇත්තේ කුකුළු පැටවකුගේ මිල රු. 350.00ක තරම් ඉහළ මිලක් පවතින නිසා බවත්, එම මිල රු.175.00ක් දක්වා අඩු කර දෙන්නැයි සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමය අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කළේය.

ඊට ප්‍රතිචාර ලෙස ඒ මොහොතේම මෙම විෂයභාර කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍ය මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ මහතා සහ පශු සම්පත් ගොවිපළ ප්‍රවර්ධන හා කිරි බිත්තර ආශ්‍රිත කර්මාන්ත රාජ්‍ය ඇමැති ඩී.බී. හේරත් මහතා සම්බන්ධකරගත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා, සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමයේ මෙම ඉල්ලීම පිළිබඳව වහා අවධානය යොමුකර ඊට අවශ්‍යය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට සමස්ත ලංකා බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදකයන්ගේ සංගමයේ සභාපති ආර්.එම්. සරත් රත්නායක මහතා, අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩලය, බිත්තර නිෂ්පාදනයේ නිරත ගොවි මහතුන් ඇතුළු නිලධාරින් පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

නීතිඥ  අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col), 

මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා 33.2.(ඈ) අනුව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව 2018 නොවැම්බර් මස 09 වැනි දින අංක 2096/70 දරන අතිවිශේෂ ගැසට් පත‍්‍රය මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවාහැරි අවස්ථාවේ  ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය 2018.12.13 දින තීන්දු (Judgement) කරන ලද්දේ 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථව අනුව වසර 4 1/2 ක් යන තෙක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීමට නොහැකි බවයි.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා වසර 4 1/2  කට පෙර පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් අවලංගු කිරීමෙන් 2015 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19ය මගින් 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය වී ඇති බවත් වෙනත් ව්‍යවස්ථා එනම් 33.2.(ඈ) අනුව්‍යවස්ථාව අභිබවා 70.1 අනුව්‍යවස්ථාව බලවත් බවත් තහවුරු වූ අතර, ඒ අනුව පැහැදිලිවම 2002 දී 19යට දුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 7 දෙනාගේ තීරණය අනුව ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වාම 2015 දී, 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරගෙන ඇත.

2002 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19වන සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 7දෙනා ලබාදුන් ඒකමතික තීරණය උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් 2015 දී 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම වසර 4 1/2 දක්වා සීමාකර ඇත. 

(80.3 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව අවස්ථාවෝචිතව ජනාධිපතිවරයා 2015 දී 19යට සහතිකය යොදා නැති හෙයින් 19ය මේ දක්වා නීතියක් නොවන බව, ලියුම්කරුගේ අදහස වුවත් මේ වනවිට එය නීතියක් ලෙස සළකා රජය විසින් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් පවා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත)

2015 නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සිටි ප්‍රධානීන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණවලට ගරු නොකර ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය වන අකාරයට එවකට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට, මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයාට,  රජයට සහ කථානායකවරයාට උපදෙස් දීම නිසා මේ තත්ත්වය ඇති වී තිබේ.

කෙසේ වෙතත් 2018 දී මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් අවලංගු කිරීමෙන් සනාථ වන්නේ 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව වසර 4 1/2 ක් දක්වා සංශෝධනය වී ඇති බව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ ද පිළිගෙන ඇති බව වන අතර රජය විසින්ද එය පිළිගෙන විසිවෙන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත ගැසට් පත්‍රයේ පළ කර වසර 4 1/2 සංශෝධනය කිරීමට යෝජනා කර ඇත.

එය වඩාත් හොදින් තහවුරු වන්නේ යෝජිත විසිවන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 14 වන වගන්තිය මගින් 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව  සංශෝධනය කර වසර 4 1/2 නැවත වසර දක්වා සංශෝධනය කිරීමට  යෝජනා කිරීමෙනි.

දැන් පැන නගින ගැටලුව වන්නේ, 2002 දී 19යට ලබාදුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 07 දෙනාගේ ඒකමතික තීරණය උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් සහ ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වා 2020 ඉදිරිපත් කරන විසිවන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය මගින් 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරන්නේ කෙසේද? යන්නයි. ( අඩු කරන්නේ කෙසේද? යන්නයි)

2015 දී ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වා 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට සහාය දීමෙන් මෙන්ම 2020 දී ද නැවත ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වා 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට සහාය දීමට නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව කටයුතු කිරීම සිය ව්‍යවස්ථාපිත යුතුකම ඉටු කිරීමෙන් බැහැරව ක්‍රියා කිරීමකි.

මේ ආකාරයට දිගින් දිගටම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට ගියහොත් නීතියේ පාලනය යන්න විහිලුවක් වනවා මෙන්ම, නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ නොතකන පාලනයට ජනතාවට යටත්වීමටද සිදුවේ.

2002 ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වා

70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට 2020 දී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ රජයට සහාය දීම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ අධිකාරයට කර ඇති බලවත් අභියෝගයකි. එය පැහැදිලිවම නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අදාල නීතිඥවරුන්ගේ වෘත්තීය විෂමාචාරයකි. 

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අදාල නීතිඥවරු ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 105.3 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ විධිවිධාන යටතේ 2002 දී 19යට දුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය පිළිබද අවධානය යොමු නොකර, රජයට නිවැරදි උපදෙස් ලබාදීමෙන් බැහැරවයාමෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට අපහාස කිරීමේ අනතුර/ වරද සිදුකරගෙන ඇත. 

එමෙන්ම 1988 ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ රීති (නීතිඥවරයන් සදහා වූ වෘත්තීය පැවැත්ම සහ ආචාර ධර්ම පිළිබද) රීතිවලට අනුගතව 3, 15, 18, 18(අ), 51, 62 රීතිවලින් දක්වා ඇති වෘත්තීයට අදාල විනය සහ ආචාර රීතිවලින් බැහැරව යමින් රජයට නිසි උපදෙස් ලබා දීමටද ඔවුන් ක්‍රියා කර නැති අතර විශේෂයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 07 දෙනෙකු 2002 දී ලබා දී ඇති ඒකමතික තීරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයාව හෝ රජය දැනුවත් කර නැති අතර මෙය බලවත් වෘත්තීය විෂමාචාරයකි.

නීතියේ පාලනය යනු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණවලට ගරු කිරීමද ඇතුලත් වේ.

ඒ අනුව 70.1 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරන්නට යාමේදී ජනාධිපතිවරයාට සහ රජයට වැරදි නීති උපදෙස් ලබා දීමෙන් 2015 සහ 2020 නීතිපතිවරු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ අධිකාරයට සහ 1988 ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ රීතිවලට ගරු කර නැත්තේ 2002 දී ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 07 දෙනෙකු ලබා දී ඇති ඒකමතික තීරණය පිළිබද අවධානය යොමු නොකර උපදෙස් ලබා දීමෙනි.

විසිවෙනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූලත්වය පිළිබදව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ අභියෝගයට පත්වුවහොත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරු 07 දෙනෙකු හෝ ඊට වැඩි විනිශ්චය පීඨයක් ඉදිරියේ මේ නීතිමය තත්ත්වය අභියෝගයට පත්වීමට ඉඩ ඇති අතර එහිදී ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ලබා දෙන තීරණය ( Determination of The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution) ලංකාවේ නීතියේ පාලනයේ කැඩපත වනු ඇත.

arunaunawatuna@gmail.com

Courtesy Hiru News

Two books written by retired Defense Secretary Major General Kamal Gunaratne were launched at the Kularatne Hall of Ananda College, Colombo today, released under the patronage of the President.

The English translation of the book “Gotabhaya” written by the Defense Secretary as well as the novel  ‘Underworld’ based on a series of true events were released at this event.

Meanwhile, the commemoration of the late Minister Chandrasiri Gajadeera was held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Uyanwatta Stadium in Matara today.

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Sri Lanka is well and truly in the vortex of Indian Ocean geo-politics, and the three new envoys to Beijing, New Delhi and Washington -Dr. Palitha Kohona, Milinda Moragoda and Ravinatha Aryasinha, will have their work cut out for them in their new stations

Colombo, September 6: Sri Lanka is in the process of sending new envoys to three of its most important diplomatic stations, Beijing, New Delhi and Washington. Dr.Palitha Kohona goes to China, Milinda Moragoda to India and Ravinatha Aryasinha to the US. All three have had distinguished careers in diplomacy and administration, and all three are cerebral and nationalistic.

But work is cut out for them in their stations. Sri Lanka is now well and truly in the vortex of Indian Ocean geo-politics. Gone are the days when it only had India to contend with. With the outbreak of Eelam War IV in 2006, The Western bloc led by the UN, US and EU stormed into the Lankan scene, taking up war-related human rights issues at the UN to Colombo’s discomfiture. The EU stopped its GSP Plus tariff concessions to Sri Lanka with an intention to cripple its economy and force it to toe the Western line.

But the entry of China in 2010 gave Colombo much needed relief. It could now turn to Beijing for political and financial support denied by the West. But China’s entry was not an unmixed blessing. It created intense anxiety and hostility in New Delhi and worry in the Western capitals. Between 2010 and 2014, an expansionist China under President Xi Jinping had become a bugbear for the entrenched powers, especially the US.

Meanwhile, in November 2019 and August 2020, Sri Lanka had overwhelmingly elected a President and a parliament wedded to nationalism which was being challenged by regional and global powers eyeing the island for its strategic importance in the Indian Ocean Region. Sri Lanka became a truly international political arena in which various powers were jockeying for positions.

While China has already established a large footprint in Sri Lanka with its massive infrastructure projects, Beijing’s rivals have been trying to stem further inroads saying that Chinese projects have landed Sri Lanka in a debt trap. Simultaneously, the US is coming up with its own version of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road diplomacy. It is putting pressure on Sri Lanka to sign the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) for a grant of US$ 480 million for infrastructural development. But Colombo is wary about the compact’s impact on the country’s sovereignty.

The extreme nationalistic Sri Lankan opinion is that the MCC compact, as it stands, is an assault on the country’s sovereignty, and therefore, it should not be rejected outright. But a more moderate nationalistic opinion (perhaps shared by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa) is that the compact should be welcome if the offending clauses are removed. But the million dollar question is: will the US accept the Presidential committee’s proposal to amend the clauses, which are perhaps universally applied by the MCC across the world?

Ravinatha Aryasinha, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador-to-be in Washington will have the unenviable task of convincing the State Department that amendments are required for the sake of US-Lankan friendship and future economic and geo-political cooperation. But he would have to keep in mind that Sri Lanka cannot antagonize the US beyond a point because the US accounts for 26% of Lanka’s exports.

With the US beginning to sanction Chinese companies, and with the prospect of sanctions widening in scope as tension in the South China Sea mounts in the coming months and years, China’s investments and economic activities in Sri Lanka might have to take hits which would be detrimental to Sri Lanka. China is the only credible financer of major infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka and that is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

Sri Lanka will have to maintain a balance in its relations with Washington and Beijing if it has to protect itself from crossfire.

Milinda Moragoda, who is heading to New Delhi, has an equally challenging task as India is as keen as the US to see that Sri Lanka, right at its doorstep, does not leave its orbit to become a Chinese satellite. Even as it is portraying itself as the” development agent in South Asia, India is aware that it does not have the deep pocket that China has. It is therefore seeking relevance as a prime security provider” and as the first responder” if there is any distress call from Sri Lanka stemming from either a natural or a man-made disaster. Indeed, India has been a first responder on many occasions in the past.

But India has certain expectations from Sri Lanka which the latter is unable to meet. For geo-strategic cum economic reasons, India wants to have a stake and a part in running the Eastern Container Terminal in Colombo port. This is partly to keep an eye on the Chinese who have been running a container terminal in the same port. Equally importantly, Colombo port is India’s transhipment hub. India has also been eyeing the Mattala and the Palaly airports and the Kankesanthurai and Trincomalee harbors.

India had been given 99 giant oil storage tanks in Trincomalee out of which it is using only 15. Sri Lanka is asking for some of the other tanks for its use. But the Indians are insisting on the formation of a joint venture to run the other tanks. There is now a stalemate on this issue. Sri Lanka’s nationalists leaders, swept to power by two successive nationalistic waves, have adopted the policy of not giving away national assets” to foreign entities. This is preventing the Gotabaya government from yielding to India’s demands. Maintaining and building Indo-Lankan relations against this background will be a challenge for the Rajapaksa government and High Commissioner Moragoda.

Dr.Palitha Kohona in Beijing will have to be mindful of the on-going cold war between the US and China and the standoffs and skirmishes on the Sino-Indian border. All three countries, India, China and US, are important for Sri Lanka. When push comes to shove, each of them would expect Colombo to toe its line, putting Sri Lanka in a fix. But a well-thought out, finely designed approach which is also expressed with finesse, should see Sri Lanka through knotty situations.

The three handpicked envoys have the intellectual acumen, the experience and finesse to pull it off. And most importantly, they are backed and led by one of the most cleared headed and practical Presidents of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

By Manjula Fernando/Sunday Observer Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

“The genuine grievance of our people is the non-settlement of their political issues. Not the denial of economic sops!” the former Northern Province Chief Minister said.

Colombo, September 6: Maintaining his penchant for making controversial statements, the former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran told the Sunday Observer in an interview that if the Tamils of Sri Lanka do not get the right to self-determination they will become Sinhalese within 15 to 20 years.

Here are excerpts:

Q: You maiden speech in Parliament last week is still making news. At the end of your five year term as an MP how do you want your people to remember you, is it as a newsmaker or someone who delivered on his promises?

A: As someone who delivered on his promises.

Q: What are your plans to serve your people?Will you be confined to addressing issues of people in the North and the East only?

A: The North-Eastern people are the ones who were badly affected by the conflict and who due to the indifference shown towards their problems by the Central Government have still not been able to rise from their penury-stricken environment. Therefore, I would work with them. But all people who are suffering, whether they are Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims, if they need my help I would strive to help them within the constraints which have been placed before me.

Q: Can you list the issues that you would like to focus on as an MP?

A: Political issues first, economic issues next and social issues third, in that order.

Q: It seems that you have chosen a path of communal politics which is very popular in this part of the world, yet you have done very little to address the genuine grievances of the people. Your comments?

A: It is because the successive Central Governments have not focused their interest and attention on the amelioration of the conditions of the people of the North and the East that we have been forced to take up their cause.

The genuine grievance of our people is the non-settlement of their political issues. Not the denial of economic sops! Economic sops would not solve the long term problems of our people. When we speak of the needs and aspirations of our people why do you Southerners view it as communal politics? When the Government wants to give priority to Sinhala and Buddhism why did you not identify that as communal or parochial politics?

Q: Why do you believe self-determination as the only solution for the Tamils’ issues? Are you certain that this is what the people in the North aspire to?

A: Why did we want Independence from the British? Because we wanted to resurrect our heritage, give prominence to our language and culture and live a life in consonance with our individualised, indigenous background and lead a way of life which was peculiar to us. The same considerations move us to ask for self-determination now. We find that the Central Government wants to control us by keeping the armed forces here, keeping us under their thumb without giving the elbow space for us to act freely, expropriate our resources, change the demography of the North and the East and Sinhalise and Buddhisticise the North and the East.

If we do not have the right of self-determination which we are entitled to under the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Tamil speaking people of the North and the East will become Sinhalese within 15 or 20 years. Already the people from Negombo to Puttalam who were Tamil speaking when I was a child, have now become Sinhalese. The Tamils of Anuradhapura in the Old Town where I lived as a boy have become Sinhalese. Many people of recent Indian origin have become Sinhalese. The only way to preserve our individuality is to become entitled to the right of self-determination so that the people of the North and the East would look after themselves while being part of the Sri Lankan polity.

As for your other question, certainly the people of the North and the East want self-determination. Since TNA did not work towards self-determination our people temporarily embraced a National Party and a proxy for another National Party. But that is temporary.

Q: ITAK suffered a setback at the last two elections. What is your take on that? Shouldn’t you be more effective against the Government as a unified front than a scattered bunch?

A: They alienated themselves from the people. There was contradiction between what they promised to the people and what they did after being elected.Unity will come automatically when the Government resorts to anti Tamil activities.

Q: You have been accused of doing very little to serve the people while holding the office of Northern Chief Minister. Do you refute this claim? Why?

A: I have been brought up not to let the left hand know what the right hand did. I had worked at my office throughout the five years about 15 – 18 hours a day during all seven days of the week except when I was busy elsewhere. At the end of my period of office we prepared a booklet containing all that we did. That booklet is available to see what we did during our time.

The persons who set up this canard against me were those who were not given permission to setup certain projects in the North. One such person wanted to setup a Leather Factory in Mannar. Our officials pointed out that leather needed lot of water to clean and water was scarce in Mannar and that a poisonous substance comes out of the leather in the process of cleaning and it could harm the environment in Mannar. I refused to give permission. Later we learnt that he had been refused permission earlier in the Hambantota district as well. So, you must be careful in coming to conclusions about me.

Let me point out another thing. My Chief Minister’s Ministry was placed first among all the Ministries (including that of the then Prime Minister) and Departments throughout the Island numbering over 850 for proper management of our finances in 2016. The next year too we were within the first three. This was an award given by the Central Government for excellent financial management. Would they give such an award to one who did not serve the people?

Of course, I refute your silly claim. Because that is not the truth. But I thought boasting about ourselves to the outside world was childish and therefore did our work with efficiency but with no fanfare. That is the truth.

Q: Is it possible to give a short note on your views on the 20th Amendment?

A: I received a copy of the Draft 20th Amendment only this evening. The 20th Amendment lays the foundation for dictatorship.

The checks and balances against the President’s powers are now to be removed. He could hereafter hold Ministerial posts.

He could appoint Ministers like the Prime Minister. The restrictions on persons having Dual Citizenship entering Parliament is to be removed. Hereafter they could contest Elections.

Minimum Age to become President has been reduced to 30 years.

A number of Independent Commissions is to be withdrawn.

After one year, the Parliament could be dissolved. On the whole the President’s powers have been enhanced. We are to go back to J.R.Jayewardene’s type of Presidency which could do anything except to make a man a woman and vice versa!

Q: Is it true that you took a vow at the LTTE memorial in Mullivaikkal after your election to Parliament? Why did you think it was necessary ?

A: After the Election and before coming to Colombo I did go to Mullivaikal to pay my respects to the vast innocent humanity who were killed by Governmental Forces around May, 18, 2009.

I prayed for peace for their troubled Souls. As a single individual I may not be able to do much. But my prayers may bring good results. I hoped that the very thought of those killed would prevent me from getting tricked by the powers that be who had previously tricked our representatives.

Q:You don’t call the LTTE a terrrorist group. But they were classified as a dangerous terrorist entity by the FBI in the US and the UN too has a similar classification for the LTTE. They pioneered the suicide belt, they used if not pioneered female human bombs, recruited Tamil children as soldiers according to UNICEF and assassinated two state leaders among many other Tamil intellectuals. Could you comment ?

A: Keppetipola Dissawe was classified by the British as a dangerous criminal. We pay homage to him as a National Hero. Why? The British were intruders who came from outside and expropriated our resources, destroyed our places of worship, took our lands and so on.

Therefore Keppetipola though belonging to the higher strata in society, he joined the rebels in Uva and fought the British. We call him a hero.The British if they were familiar with the term terrorist would have called him a terrorist.

The LTTE consisted of many brilliant minds who if allowed to study further would have been an asset to this country and the world at large. What made Prabakaran? He was a child when he heard about the atrocities which were committed on the Tamil People in 1958.

Thereafter, he heard of many atrocities by the Sinhalese majority which made him fully believe that a proper violent response was necessary. The Military was sent to the North around 1961, I believe under Col. Udugama, only because the Tamils protested peacefully against the wrongs done by the Governments of that time.

Policeman Bastiampillai’s sadistic brutalities on the youth were well known at that time. He was a paw in the hands of the Government.

Leave America alone.. They formulated a word ‘terrorist; and called any one whom they did not like a ‘terrorist’. Who christens a murderer a terrorist?

Is it not the Government? Is it not the Attorney General? When anyone rose against ’State Terrorism’ they were conveniently christened as terrorists.

Classifications by Foreign Governments and Institutions are done on the basis of what a Government makes out to them. You speak of wrongs by the LTTE forgetting the wrongs done by the State and the State Forces. Suicide bombers and human bombs were the ultimate response to the brutality of the State Forces. If so-called State Leaders were targets find out what they had done prior to their becoming targets. Please do not call one set as terrorists when the miscreants were others. They were greater terrorists.

By Norman Palihawadana Courtesy The Island

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Friday that punitive action will be initiated against all persons who failed to avert the devastating 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, based on the findings of the ongoing Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the carnage.

Notwithstanding their positions and standing in society, we will file legal action against those identified by the Commission for their failure to prevent the coordinated scourge of terror”, the premier assured.

The Prime Minister was responding to Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith’s public statement that justice should be meted out to the Easter Sunday victims and those responsible for the dastardly attacks brought to book without shedding crocodile tears over the incident”.

Speaking during his homily for the National Day of the Sick at the basilica of Our Lady of Lanka in Tewatte last week, the Cardinal said the presidential commission investigating the Easter Sunday bombings has only identified the public faces of those who failed to prevent the attack, but the people behind the scenes, who funded these attacks, who planted the bombs, have not been found”.

If any government tries to hide and release the culprits without punishing them, I will oppose that government”, he said.

We will ensure justice”, Rajapaksa stressed, while adding that however mighty and powerful those responsible for preventing the grisly attacks may be, they will be made to face the full force of the law”.

It was a grave lapse on the part of those in authority to have ignored intelligence warnings on the imminent terrorist attacks, which plunged not only the Catholic community but the entire country into unspeakable grief, the Prime Minister noted.

Courtesy Adaderana

The fire onboard the crude oil tanker MT New Diamond has been completely doused, the Commander of Sri Lanka Navy confirmed.

However, there still remains a risk of the ship catching on fire again due to the temperature of its current location, the Commander told media following a meeting held with the Attorney General today (06).

The tanker MT New Diamond had been sailing 38 nautical miles off Sangamankanda Point east of Sri Lankan seas at around 8.30 am on Thursday (03), when the unfortunate turn of events unfolded.

Joint operation to control the fire engulfing the oil tanker, which was caused by an explosion of a boiler in the main engine room, was launched responding to a distress signal received by the Navy.

Initially, a group of emergency relief serving ships was promptly dispatched to the location for relief assistance.

According to the distress signal received by the Maritime Rescue Coordinating Center in Colombo, the oil tanker in eastern seas had been manned by 23 crew members including 05 Greek and 18 Philippine nationals and is registered under the Panamanian Flag (IMO-9191424).

Thereby, 22 of the crew members aboard the oil tanker were rescued; however, the preliminary information from the ship’s crew confirmed that a Filipino seaman on board had died in a boiler explosion.

The tanker was transporting 270,000 metric tons of crude oil from the port of Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait to the Indian port of Paradip when it faced with this unfortunate situation. It is also reported that 1,700 metric tons of diesel required for the use of the tanker have been stored onboard.

The disaster relief operation was also joined by several vessels and aircrafts of the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy, as well as the Sri Lanka Air Force.

On Friday (04) evening, the distressed tanker was towed away into safe waters and by Saturday (05), the ship had reached 40 nautical miles (about 74 km) away from the shore.

Considering this calamity as an urgent matter of national importance the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Hambantota International Port Group, Colombo Dockyard Limited, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited provided AFFF fire extinguishing chemicals to the Navy through the mediation of Marine Environment Protection Authority.

The owner of the ship took steps to appoint a foreign private company with expertise in disaster relief while working closely with the Sri Lankan and Indian authorities.

At the intervention of the owner of the ship, 10 British and Dutch experts including rescue operation specialists, disaster evaluators and legal consultants arrived at the Mattala International Airport this morning.

Apart from the missing seaman who is believed to be dead, the one undergoing treatment at hospital and distressed ship’s captain, the rest of crew is currently safe onboard Sri Lanka Navy ships in isolation and arrangements will be made for them to be reunited with their families by telephone.

Marine Environment Protection Authority warned that if crude oil starts to leak from vessel it could possibly lead to the largest environmental disaster in the world and not just in the region.

However, Sri Lanka Navy previously confirmed that there is no danger of the ship leaking oil into the sea.

Courtesy Adaderana

The World Health Organization says that it did not expect widespread immunisation against the novel coronavirus until mid-2021, tempering hopes just as research revealed encouraging early results from a Russian vaccine.

The virus which has killed nearly 870,000 people worldwide continues to spread, with Italy’s flamboyant former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi now in hospital after becoming the latest high-profile figure to test positive for Covid-19.

Across the world, governments are hoping to announce a vaccine as soon as possible against the virus, which has infected well over 26 million people, upended millions of lives and wreaked havoc on the global economy.

The UN health agency welcomed the fact that a considerable number” of vaccine candidates had entered final stage trials, which typically involve tens of thousands of people.

But in terms of realistic timelines, we are really not expecting to see widespread vaccination until the middle of next year,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

And WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency would not endorse a vaccine if it is not effective and safe.

‘Trials too small’
Russia has already approved a vaccine, and research published in The Lancet medical journal on Friday said patients involved in early tests developed antibodies with no serious adverse events”.

But scientists cautioned the trials were too small — just 76 participants — to prove safety and effectiveness.

Washington has also urged US states to get ready for a potential vaccine rollout by November 1, sparking concerns President Donald Trump’s administration is rushing to begin distributing a vaccine before the November 3 election.

Under normal procedures, test administrators must wait for months or years to verify that vaccine candidates are safe and efficacious.

But there has been massive pressure to roll out a vaccine quickly as the pandemic continues to take its toll.

-Agencies

Anne Moore, University College Cork Courtesy Australiam Times

President Vladimir Putin recently announced that a team of Russian scientists had developed a COVID-19 vaccine and that it had been approved for use by the regulators.

President Vladimir Putin recently announced that a team of Russian scientists had developed a COVID-19 vaccine and that it had been approved for use by the regulators – at least, in Russia.

However, the announcement caused consternation among scientists and clinicians in the rest of the world as human trials for the vaccine – nicknamed Sputnik V – had only started a couple of months before Putin’s announcement.

The results of the phase one and two human trials of this vaccine have just been published in The Lancet. So what have we learned?

First, let’s look at what type of vaccine this is. The vaccine platform” used in this study used adenoviruses. These common cold viruses, called Ad5 and Ad26, are made safe and are incapable of growing in the body. They only function to deliver the genetic code of one of the novel coronavirus proteins, called the spike protein, into a cell.

By injecting people with these modified adenoviruses, the immune system is stimulated to respond to the spike protein at the time of immunisation, and hopefully to respond for many years in the future, if the immunised person is exposed to the COVID-causing coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2.

This is not a Sputnik moment

The vaccine platform the Russians are using is not novel. Some of the leading COVID-19 vaccines use adenoviruses, including the Oxford University vaccine and an Ad26 vaccine developed by Johnson and Johnson. Following successful animal trials, both are now being tested in humans. CanSino Biologicals, a Chinese company, has also shown that its Ad5 vaccine is safe and induces immunity against the coronavirus in humans.

However, the Russian group has shown that their stable, freeze-dried preparation of the vaccine works to the same extent as their frozen liquid vaccine preparation. This is important for shipping and deploying a vaccine.

The Lancet paper outlines acceptable safety data, even with the high dose used. These safety results are not unexpected as the safety of several adenovirus-based vaccines for different diseases has been demonstrated in earlier research.

So it’s safe, at least in healthy people aged 18 to 60, but does it work – does it protect against COVID-19?

The Russian group showed that their vaccine induces high levels of antibodies that can bind to the spike protein. But a more important measure is the level of antibodies that are functional. That is, can the antibodies prevent, or neutralise, infection of a virus into a cell?

The levels of neutralising antibodies were quite low in this study, compared with other published vaccine trials. So too were the T cell responses (the other arm of the immune system’s adaptive response).

One interpretation of this is that these vaccines do not induce good neutralising protection. Alternatively, the methods used to measure these immune responses may not have been optimal. In the absence of international reference standards, we can’t tell if this vaccine is better or worse compared with others.

Crucially, as with other COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we don’t know if that level of neutralisation is enough to protect from infection and how long these antibodies remain in the blood. The publication shows responses only up to one month after immunisation. The ultimate question of whether these vaccinated people are protected against COVID-19 was not a focus of this paper.

Ready for mass roll-out?

Despite the positive results of the small phase one trial of the Sputnik V vaccine, it needs to be tested in a much larger group of people before it can be used on an entire population with confidence.

All vaccines need to be tested in large numbers of people, of different ages and ethnicities, in phase three clinical trials. Phase three trials are necessary to gain a high level of confidence that the vaccine protects against infection. They also help to tease out rare side effects that may not be evident in a small group of healthy volunteers. This final stage of testing is not one that can or should be left out.

Unfortunately, the Sputnik moniker highlights the politicisation of earnest scientific and medical efforts to develop vaccines against COVID-19. This vaccine nationalism” is a source of much concern for everyone in the vaccine field who understands the power of vaccines to eliminate disease, but only when used with the acceptance of the population.

Anne Moore, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork

By M D P DISSANAYAKE,  ( FCMA, CPA, CGMA, PhD)

The 43 page draft amendment No.20 for the constitution is now in the public domain.  Most of us thought the amendment might be couple of pages, as there was not enough time from the date of general election to draft an elaborate amendment.

Surprisingly, The Gota, Mahinda, Basil chemistry had produced a masterpiece draft legislation, which goes beyond some of the basics of 1978 original constitution.  It was not possible to compile a draft like this in a couple of days.  Therefore, we can safely conclude by looking at the depth of the draft, that it had been prepared  by constitutional experts since President Gotabaya assumed office. We all thought Prof. G L Pieris would be given the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs or Justice, but it did not happen.  As we know now, G L Pieris has already done the job of drafting 20^th  amendment with others well before the formation of the government.

Not only Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe, many others, including some writers of the  international and local media, including Lankaweb  advocated the end of Executive Presidency.  Months before the Presidential Election, many argued that the EP was a useless role, there is hardly anything in it to contribute to the nation.  But the national had the answers to the critics.

With the passage of 20A, Executive Presidency will be stronger than ever before.  Importantly, non-performing Cabinet and State Ministers will be at the receiving end of marching orders if they fail to achieve targets of performances.

Similarly, there is scope within 20A, for the President to appoint Deputy Ministers, an enlarged version of State Ministers.  The President will also be able to appoint any MP who is not a member of the Cabinet of Ministers to a ministerial portfolio.

45. (1) The President may, from time to time, in consultation with the Prime Minister where he considers such consultation to be necessary – (a) appoint from among Members of Parliament, Ministers who shall not be Members of the Cabinet of Ministers;”

This means, the President will be able to appoint any MP ( an olive branch to the Opposition MPs ) as a Minister.

46. (1) The President may, from time to time, in consultation with the Prime Minister, where he considers such consultation to be necessary, appoint from among the Members of Parliament, Deputy Ministers to assist the Ministers of the Cabinet of Ministers in the performance of their duties.”

The President will also be able to widen the scope of Deputy Ministers  with the amendment.

The 20 amendment, is just not a draft piece of legislation to do away with the 19 amendment.   It is a road-map for the new constitution.

A key feature of the 20A is the clear delegation of powers to the Cabinet of Ministers, Deputy Ministers, with a system of check and balances to evaluate the performance in determining the measurement of outputs as a return on investment.

The days ministers enjoyed the perks and made no contribution to the nation will be buried.  Each Minister will have to face the President in the performance evaluation meetings, where actual results will be compared with the planned outcomes.

The Ministers will not be able to get away with excuses.  The President himself will visit the Project Sites before evaluation meetings, meet the villagers, obtain their comments.  So, it is possible some ministers may even resign voluntarily, as they cannot bear the Heat in the Kitchen.   Availability of Basil Rajapakse to assist the President and the PM directly will further strengthen the team work. These are the expectations of the Nation.

C. Wijeyawickrema චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL. B., Ph.D.

Ven. Prof. Kotapitiye Rahula Thero,

Our perception and opinion and knowledge are all based on the amount and quality of information we have about phenomena

As a panchaskanda, not free from loba-dwesha-moha, your opinion on Milinda Moragoda or on Amin of the Ulema Sabaha is a world of  your own that you  have developed.

Please see the world I have developed with just two examples. These essays and more are available from the Lankaweb site or from the Colombo Today website.

මුස්ලිම් වෙළෙන්ඳන්, ශාරියා/ඉකුවාන් මිණීමරුවන් කරගැනීම – 2

පාත් ෆයින්ඩර් මිලින්ද මොරගොඩ ට්‍රෝජන් අශ්‌වයෙක්ද?

With your vast knowledge in Buddhism, I hope, you could educate me on why I am on a wrong path, compared to you

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට හා රටට සෙත් පතා සර්ව රාත්‍රික පරිත්‍රාණ ධර්ම දේශනාවක් 2020.09.04 දින කතරගම පූජා භූමියේ අෂ්ඨඵල බෝධීන් වහන්සේ අභියස දී පැවැත්වුණි.

රුහුණු මාගම් පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක, කතරගම ශාසනාරක්ෂක බල මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති, කිරි වෙහර රජමහා විහාරාධිපති කොබවක ධම්මින්ද නාහිමි, කතරගම අභිනවාරාමාධිපති රුහුණු මාගම්පත්තුවේ ප්‍රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝනායක කපුගම සරණතිස්ස නාහිමි ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය දේශනා කළ මෙම පිරිත් සජ්ජායනාව ශ්‍රවනය කිරීම සඳහා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා ද එක්ව සිටියේය.

ඊට සමගාමීව අද 2020.09.05 දින පෙරවරුවේ කතරගම අභිනවාරාම විහාරස්ථානයේදී සංඝගත දක්ෂිණාවක් පැවැත්විණි.

අනතුරුව රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලයේ දේව පූජාව සඳහා එක්වුණු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා දේව ආශිර්වාදය ලබා ගත්තේය.

එහිදී පැමිණ සිටි බැතිමතුන්ගේ සුව දුක් විමසා සිටි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා බැතිමතුන් සමඟ සුහද කතා බහකද නිරත විය.

මෙම ආගමික වතාවත් සඳහා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ලොහාන් රත්වත්තේ, හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වෛද්‍ය උපුල් ගලප්පත්ති, කතරගම ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ සභාපති චානක අමිල රංගන, රුහුණු කතරගම මහා දේවාලයේ බස්නායක නිලමේ දිල්රුවන් රාජපක්ෂ මහත්වරු ඇතුළු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Over 700 students from 19 schools in Sri Lankan capital city received stationery and panda school bags

COLOMBO, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) — Over 700 students from 19 schools in Sri Lankan capital city have received gifts of stationery and panda school bags from the Chinese embassy to Sri Lanka.

Students from different religious communities were joyful at the ceremony receiving the gifts on Wednesday.

Due to the Sri Lankan government’s health guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic, only about 100 students and their teachers were allowed to gather at the auditorium of the Al Hidaya school, the venue of the gift-giving ceremony.

Local organizers of the event said the students chosen for receiving the gifts were grade-10 students.

Organizers said the stationery provided by the Chinese embassy bears love and affection from the Chinese people.

Hu Wei, Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese embassy to Sri Lanka, handed over the gifts to the students, called on them to work hard.

Videos related to the anti-epidemic cooperation between Sri Lanka and China and the joint construction of the Belt and Road” projects in Sri Lanka were also shown at the ceremony.

Hu Wei said the COVID-19 had caused huge problems to countries around the world, while it also highlighted the traditional friendship between China and Sri Lanka.

I hope that the students will study hard, grow up sturdily, and join the tide of friendship and practical cooperation between China and Sri Lanka when they grow up, making their own contributions to the development of the country,” Hu said.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Dr.Kohona comes to the job armed with a distinguished record in academics, international law and practical diplomacy. He has advanced degrees from three countries and experience as a civil servant with the Australian and Sri Lankan governments and the UN.

Colombo, September 5 (newsin.asia): Dr. Palitha T. B. Kohona, a former Sri Lankan Foreign secretary and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, is tipped to be the country’s Ambassador to China, reliable sources said.

Asked about it, Dr.Kohona would neither confirm nor deny the posting.

Once he is formally nominated to the post by the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, it has to be cleared by the High Posts Committee of parliament. In this case, clearance is expected to be a mere formality.

In the current and developing regional and international geo-political context, the posting in Beijing will be a very critical one for Sri Lanka. The strategically located Indian Ocean island nation has become an arena of Big Power rivalry with China, the US, Japan and India in the fray.

While China has already established a large footprint in Sri Lanka with its massive infrastructure projects, Beijing’s rivals are trying to stem its further inroads saying that the Chinese projects have landed Sri Lanka in a debt trap. The US is coming up with its own version of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Diplomacy. It is putting pressure on Sri Lanka to sign the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact for a grant of US$ 480 million for infrastructural development. But Colombo is wary about the compact’s impact on the country’s sovereignty.

Recently, the US State Department clamped visa restrictions on select officials of the China Communications and Construction Company (CCCC), the parent organization of the China Harbour and Engineering Company (CHEC) which is building the mammoth US$ 1.4 billion Colombo Port City. The State Department had gone a step further and appealed to all governments dealing with the CCCC to be wary of its role in China’s questionable activities in the South China Sea.

Dr.Kohona will also have to be mindful of the on-going military standoff between immediate neighbour and South Asian power India, and leading investor China. China and India are economic and strategic rivals in Sri Lanka and a clash between them even in remote Ladakh will have its impact on Sri Lanka. India is wanting to match China’s presence in the Colombo port (which is in the form of the Colombo International Container Terminal) by swinging a deal to manage the East Container Terminal in collaboration with Japan.

Rivalries of this sort are likely to increase rather than decrease in the months and years to come. Therefore, Sri Lanka and its envoys in Beijing, New Delhi and Washington will have a delicate task on hand requiring a lot of tight rope walking.

Distinguished Academic And Diplomatic Background

Dr.Kohona comes to the job armed with a distinguished record in academics, international law and practical diplomacy. He has advanced degrees from three countries and experience as a civil servant with the Australian and Sri Lankan governments and the UN.

Coming from Matale in Central Sri Lanka, Dr. Kohona received his primary and secondary education at St Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, near Colombo. He obtained a LLB (Hons) in Sri Lanka, LLM from the Australian National University on International Trade Law and a Doctorate from Cambridge, UK, for his thesis entitled: ‘The Regulation of International Trade through Law,’ subsequently published by Kluwer, Netherlands. He is also an Attorney-at-Law at the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

Dr.Kohona was Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009. He then went to the UN to be the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York till 2015. In 2013, he was elected Chair of the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee (Legal). He was Co-Chair of the UN Working Group on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, and Chair of the UN Committee on Israeli Practices in the Occupied Arab Territories.

Earlier, between 1995 and 2006, Dr. Kohona was Chief of the United Nations Treaty Section in New York. At the UN he was responsible for introducing major managerial innovations and was awarded the UN 21 PIN for superior performance and efficiency. He managed the computerisation of the UN treaty database which contains over one million pages of information and which now receives over 1.5 million hits per month from around the world.

Dr. Kohona initiated the UN treaty training project as part of an outreach programme for familiarizing countries with the UN treaty collection. He also initiated the UN Treaty Event, now held during the General Assembly, which has become a regular feature in the UN calendar. Given his proactive approach to UN reform, he was assigned to the results-based budgeting spearhead group and to a range of other groups working on Secretariat reform.

Service In The Australian Government

Prior to joining the UN, Dr. Kohona was with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His last position there was as head of the Trade and Investment Section of the Department. Previously he had been assigned to Australia’s Uruguay Round negotiating team with specific responsibility for the institutional mechanism and the dispute settlement unit. In 1989 he was posted to the Australian Permanent Mission in Geneva with specific responsibility for environmental issues.

In Geneva he chaired the negotiating group that developed the compliance mechanism under the Montreal Protocol to the Convention on the Ozone Layer and was a member of the Working Group on the liability mechanism under the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes. In 1988 Dr. Kohona led the Australian delegation to the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board.

Return To Sri Lanka

He returned to Sri Lanka at the invitation of President Mahinda Rajapaksea. During the Sri Lankan Peace Process facilitated by Norway and backed by the UN, US. EU and Japan, he was Secretary-General of the Government Peace Secretariat (2006). As Secretary General Dr. Kohona participated in two rounds of peace negotiations with the LTTE in Geneva and led the delegation to a session in Oslo.

Dr. Kohona was a member of the Sri Lankan delegation to the UN General Assembly in 2006 and 2008. He had led official level delegations to a range of countries to discuss bilateral and multilateral matters. More recently, he had been working with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s outreach organization Viyathmaga (Professionals for a Better Future).

Courtesy WION News

Sufi Scholar in Sri Lanka have raised alarm on radical groups. Sufi scholar is receiving threats from Wahhabi groups. According to reports, 48 radical islamic groups are active in the country.

https://www.wionews.com/videos/sri-lanka-sufi-scholar-warns-against-extremist-groups-325404

Yohan Perera  Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Government is to go ahead with the construction of the Ruwanpura Expressway (E06), with instructions being given by the Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando, to expedite the commencement of its work.

The expressway will begin from the Kahatuduwa exit point of the Southern Expressway to Pelmadulla and will he 73.9km long. First phase from Kahatuduwa to Ingiriya will be 23.4km while the second phase will from Ingiriya to Ratnapura and is expected to 21km in length.

The first phase is estimated to cost Rs 80 billion and is to be constructed by a local contractor. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Russia’s Sputnik-V” Covid-19 vaccine produced an antibody response in all participants in early-stage trials, according to results published on Thursday (03) by The Lancet medical journal that were hailed by Moscow as an answer to its critics.

The results of the two trials, conducted between June and July and involving 76 participants, showed 100 per cent of participants developing antibodies to the coronavirus and no serious side effects, The Lancet said.

Russia licensed the two-shot jab for domestic use last month, the first country to do so and before any data had been published or a large-scale trial begun.

The two 42-day trials – including 38 healthy adults each – did not find any serious adverse effects among participants, and confirmed that the vaccine candidates elicit an antibody response,” The Lancet said.

Large, long-term trials including a placebo comparison, and further monitoring, are needed to establish the long-term safety and effectiveness of the vaccine for preventing Covid-19 infection,” it said.

The vaccine is named Sputnik-V in homage to the world’s first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union. Some Western experts have warned against using it before all internationally approved testing and regulatory steps have been taken.

But with the results now published for the first time in an international peer-reviewed journal, and with a 40,000-strong later-stage trial launched last week, a senior Russian official said Moscow had faced down its critics abroad.

With this (publication), we answer all of the questions of the West that were diligently asked over the past three weeks, frankly with the clear goal of tarnishing the Russian vaccine,” said Mr Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which has backed the vaccine.

All of the boxes are checked,” he told Reuters. Now… we will start asking questions of some of the Western vaccines.”

Mr Dmitriev said at least 3,000 people had already been recruited for the large-scale trial of the Sputnik-V vaccine launched last week, and initial results were expected next month or November.

Commenting on the results of the early-stage trials, lead author Naor Bar-Zeev of the International Vaccine Access Centre, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, said the studies were encouraging but small”.

Dr Bar-Zeev, who was not involved in the study, said clinical efficacy for any Covid-19 vaccine has not yet been shown”.

Governments and big pharmaceutical firms are racing to develop a vaccine to end the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 850,000 people globally and infected around 26 million.

More than half a dozen drugmakers are already conducting advanced clinical trials, each with tens of thousands of participants and several, including Britain’s AstraZeneca and US drugmakers Moderna and Pfizer, expect to know if their Covid-19 vaccines work and are safe by the end of this year.

The Lancet said the early-stage trials suggested the Sputnik-V vaccine produced a response in a component of the immune system known as T cells.

Scientists have been scrutinising the role played by T cells in battling coronavirus infection, with recent findings showing these cells may provide longer-term protection than antibodies.

The vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, is administered in two doses, with each based on a different vector that normally causes the common cold: human adenoviruses Ad5 and Ad26.

Some experts have said that using this delivery mechanism could make a Covid-19 vaccine less effective, since many people have already been exposed to the Ad5 adenovirus and developed immunity to it.

In China and the United States, about 40 per cent of people have high levels of antibodies from prior Ad5 exposure. In Africa, it could be as high as 80 per cent, experts have said.

Dr Denis Logunov, one of the vaccine’s developers at the Gamaleya Institute, told Reuters the vaccine uses a strong enough dose of Ad5 to overcome any earlier immunity, without compromising safety.

The booster dose, based on the rarer Ad26 adenovirus, provides further support because the likelihood of widespread immunity to both types in the population is minimal, he said.

Russia has said it expects to produce between 1.5 million and two million doses per month of its potential Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year, gradually increasing production to six million doses a month.

Source: Reuters
-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Three more persons tested positive for COVID-19 today (05), taking total number of positive cases confirmed in the country to 3,121.

The Department of Government Information confirmed that the latest cases include 02 arrivals from India and 01 inmate at the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre.

According to statistics, only 191 active cases are currently receiving medical care at hospitals.

In the meantime, the number of recoveries from the disease in Sri Lanka moved up to 2,918 as 11 patients were discharged from hospitals earlier today.

Sri Lanka has thus far witnessed 12 deaths due to the virus outbreak.

Courtesy Adaderana

The total number of positive cases confirmed in the country reached 3,118 as three new COVID-19 patients were detected today (05).

The Department of Government Information confirmed that the latest cases are arrivals from India, Bahrain and Qatar.

As per statistic, only 188 active cases are currently receiving medical care at hospitals.

In the meantime, the number of recoveries from the disease in Sri Lanka moved up to 2,918 as 11 patients were discharged from hospitals earlier today.

Sri Lanka has thus far witnessed 12 deaths due to the virus outbreak.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Presidential Commission on Inquiry (PCoI) probing the incidents of political victimization has issued summons on former State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran and Kumaran Sarvananda, who contested the General Election 2015 from the United National Party (UNP).

They are scheduled to appear before the Presidential Commission on the 17th of September.

The PCoI decided to summon this duo based on a complaint filed by Police Constable Gnanalingam Mayuran who was previously attached to the Chunnakam Police.

Gnanalingam, who testified before the Presidential Commission today (05), had claimed the former State Minister was directly involved in the release of Mahalingam Shashikumar alias Swiss Kumar, the main suspect in the murder and gang rape of Sivaloganathan Vidya.

He also alleged that Maheswaran can also be behind the imprisoning of five police officers including himself over the death of a suspect who had fled from the police custody. The suspect, accused of a robbery that took place in Chunnakam area, had drowned while making his escape.

Courtesy Adaderana

One of the important lessons emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of maintaining a centralized healthcare system President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said. 

Although the administrations of most of Sri Lanka’s state-run hospitals are vested with the Provincial Councils, fortunately there were enough hospitals nationwide under the management of the Health Ministry that could be utilized without difficulty during the height of the pandemic, the President said further.

Had we been in a situation where healthcare was a subject completely devolved to the Provincial Councils, the efficacy of Sri Lanka’s response to the pandemic may have been quite different,” the President pointed out. 

Our recent experience reinforces the importance of maintaining responsibility for certain functions with the central Government. Education is another vital area of public life that can be similarly described”. 

President Rajapaksa made these remarks delivering the keynote address at the launch of Good Intern Programme 2020” two-day workshop at Manelwatta Nagananda International Buddhist Studies Institute in Bollagala Kelaniya today (05).

The workshop organized by Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) is attended by 680 medical graduates awaiting internship. Today’s workshop is the 8th in the series. More than 100 Professors and Medical Consultants will share their thoughts during the workshop.

Commencing his address, the President said Sri Lanka was successful in containing COVID-19 pandemic primarily to due decisive, early action taken by multiple arms of the Government, and the truly outstanding efforts of our health personnel.

The outstanding success Sri Lanka achieved in this endeavour came at a time when even some of the most developed countries in the world were unable to respond adequately to the pandemic. Due to a variety of factors, ranging from a delayed response by their Governments, to the lack of universal health insurance, the unpreparedness of their healthcare institutions, the lack of sufficient testing, to the inadequacy of their management systems, the spread of the virus could not be contained in several developed nations”.

President said he commends, pay tribute to, and express his sincere gratitude to all healthcare professionals and others who contributed to Sri Lanka’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sri Lanka’s success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been justly commended by international institutions including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNICEF, as well as many foreign nations, international commentators and individuals,” the President pointed out. 

One of the core pillars of development is the maintenance of a healthy population. Achieving certain public health goals remains a core responsibility of the Government. I am determined to work towards creating a healthy nation during my tenure as President of this country.”

While there is certainly a need to further strengthen the state healthcare system, I believe it is time that we encourage greater use of the facilities we have within this system said the President adding that some innovative thinking towards absorbing state generated funds into the public healthcare system will ultimately benefit the citizens.

The mandate given to the Government by the people at the Parliamentary Elections just a month ago makes it very clear that the Sri Lankan public is hungry for development and tired of excuses,” the President added.

Secretary to the Ministry of Health Major General (Retire) Sanjeewa Munasinghe, medial officers, President of the GMOA Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya and its members and delegates of Society for Health Research and Innovation had attended the inaugural session.

Later, President called on the Chief Executive of Manelwatta Nagananda International Buddhist Studies Institute and Chief Incumbent of Kelaniya Manelwatta Vihara Ven. Dr. Bodagama Chandima Thero.

The Thero gifted the President a replica of Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi.

President posed for a group photo with Bhikkunis of Buddha Shravika Educational Center in Manelwatta Vihara and children of Dharmachakra Lama Padanama.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Navy says that the fire that broke out in the New Diamond ship in the eastern seas is now contained.

Meanwhile, the Indian Coast Guard also confirmed that the fire that broke out on the ship has been brought under control.

They said this by leaving a special note on their official Twitter account.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Before elected to the president position, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa broadly talked about technical vocational education and training (TVET). After the general election in 2020, the president has appointed two state ministers for education reforms and TVET system development, in addition to the minister of education.  TVET system has spread in many countries as it directly related to economic development and growth, many western countries spend billions of US dollars for TVET, and UNESCO has developed policies and procedures for TVET, which is the most vital aspect of education reforms in many countries. Although developed countries spend billions of dollars on TVET system many developing countries including Sri Lanka spend an insufficient amount on the TVET system and have not developed necessary regulation and awareness for people.

Promoting vocational education and training in Sri Lanka concentrated in the report of Matching Employment Expectations and Opportunities by Prof.Dudley Seers and When Mr.IMRA Irriyagolla was the minister of education in 1965 concentrated in education reforms outlining to TVET, however, left politics in the country went against vocational education in high schools without giving reasons for the opposition.  The views against Vocational Education in High Schools had been used by JVP to attract rural students in the 1970s in universities and high schools to attract students for their vicious actions. It was wrong and now JVP has achieved the results of vicious actions in the past and stupid thinking at present. (To get a simple understanding of vocational education please read Hennigan, J (2001), The Business of Vocational Education. ERIC Digest, ED 467982, Eric Clearing House for Community Colleges, Los Angeles, CA).

About three decades ago vocational education was relatively new to secondary schools and traditionally, high schools have been charged with the delivery of a broad-based general education.  General education is defined as the creation and acquisition of knowledge irrespective of uses to which it may be subsequently put. Vocational education is defined as the acquisition of knowledge relevant to employment. The role of vocational education is to stress the acquisition of demonstrable skills (competencies) and positive attitudes towards employment and the application of values in the work environment.

Crittenden (1996) distinguishes between general and vocational education on the characteristics of each.  Vocational education concerns with broadening understanding related to human vocations along with the major theoretical perspectives on various vocations.  Crittenden (1996) further explains that theoretical perspectives are selected for their relevance to practice and are studied in so as they contribute to more efficient performance and, if the conception of the program not too narrowly utilitarian, to greater insight and understanding regarding a practice.

There are diverse views on general education and vocational education. Famous education policy-maker in Australia Keating, M (1996) explained two terms concentrating characteristics of each including common to both. VET has distinctive features such as a discrete segment of learning, or modules and assessment based on demonstration of specified competencies, but its identifying characteristics is that is directed towards the need of the industry and the workplace: the authority for VET lies with industry, which sets its standards.  General education overlaps with VET, but in its more traditional academic forms, it is just as different from traditional academic subjects based on the abstract form of knowledge and learning” 

As Prof. Keating (1996) indicated the relationship between vocational education and general education can be shown as follow.

TRAINING                            VOCATIONAL                                 GENERAL

                                                EDUCATION                                    EDUCATION

Industry Training                    Key Competencies                              Subjects

Workplace directed                Theory and Practice                            Academic

Modules                                  World of Work                                    Abstract   

Why should high school deliver vocational education may be a question because the traditional delivery of education is to consists of general education. Parents in Sri Lanka have specific desires to educate kids to be medical doctors or engineers (some parents were beguiled by crooks in overseas soil engineers and saw doctors for marriages),  The current economic issues, especially unemployment in school leavers force Sri Lanka to adopt vocational education in high schools and other reasons such as increase retention rate of students in high schools until complete year 12 (G.C.E Advanced Level) in a more diverse student cohort in high schools, the collapse of the full-time employment, and to use high school students for flexible workforces, increase in the influence of the world of work on senior secondary school curriculum and changing the traditional attitudes on high school education are argued factors in many countries.   

There is a wide debate on offering vocational education in high schools, education experts argue that vocational education is technocratic, specific, practical, and managerial while the general education is democratic, egalitarian, critical, and collaborative. The desire of kids in Sri Lanka shows that kids want to engage in employment soon after secondary education and unemployed young people have become victims of a political issue in the country and after 1970 school levers had to go behind politicians to find a job, which is a fundamental right irrespective of politics.

When a high school converts as a technical high school that needs to incorporate the VET curriculum, which is written in a competency-based training format and teachers in general education have difficulties adapting CBT curriculum that indicates a broader aspect of curriculum features (Course, Module, Duration, Module Code, Introduction, Rationale, Curriculum principle, Purpose of Module/ Course, Pre-Requisites, Relationship to Competency/ Industry Standard, Conditions to Offer, Learning Outcomes, Assessment Criteria, Contents, Teaching Strategies, Assessment Methods, Teaching/ Learning Resources) and teachers need to train for CBT teaching and assessment.

The other significant issues are resources in schools. To successfully offer vocational education in secondary schools need resources that the ability to meet the minimum human and physical resources requirements.  High schools need workshops and workshop managers to offer VET courses (Certificate 1 and Certificate 2 consistent with UNESCO standards).  If industrial firms are closer to the high schools, schools can get assistance from industrial firms if the school maintains successful industry relationships or there are closer high schools with resources co-operatively use workshops in schools transporting students. In this process, there are safety procedures that teachers have to maintained and evaluate.

With resources, the other issue is the ability of schools to implement flexible timetables. According to my experience, many high schools are divided into general education areas and vocational education areas. Students study general education until 12.00-noon and after lunch students transfer to the vocational area and study until 4.00 pm vocational programs. Flexible delivery is commonly used when offering the VET curriculum.  According to flexible delivery, the training is provided the way that best meets the needs of individuals. Self-placed learning, flexible entry, and exit, RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) are recognized. As the private tuition business is strong and beguiled parents offering vocational education in high schools might be objected by private tuition business.   

Students in VET in high schools need contextual learning and assessment that means students are assessed and learned in school and workplace and VET certificates need to certify student’s competencies, in simple what can perform by certificate holders. Vocational training massively supports students to perform well in higher education and to gain multi-skills.  Many developed countries offer double degrees like MBBS and Bachelor in Nursing.

Many countries in the world have developed a more authentic work setting and a project approach is made to assess students.  According to my experience, the project approach is highly successful in many countries because students like it.  Students gain practical skills on how to develop projects incorporating team views, allocating project roles, applying knowledge and skills, project quality, application of values (safety, do your best, inclusion, etc.).  Most of these value education is lacking in Sri Lanka.

However, there is criticism from the American environment.  While this vocational education in high schools approach is admirable its effectiveness is limited as it lacks the authenticity of context. In the USA Committee for Economic Development has levied a serious indictment on many school-based VET programs stating that they are almost worthless and a cruel hoax on young learners looking to acquire marketable skills.  The commission advised to re-directed to re-shape programs.

I have training experience in Sri Lanka and hope that vocational education in high schools could be used to enhance productivity and changing the attitudes of parents, employees, and the quality of people.

Don Wijewardana

[This article was first published in the Daily News of 04 June 2013. I have requested republication in Lanka Web as the issues discussed are relevant today as they were then].

QUO VADIS, NORTH?

When the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed in July 1987 it was hailed as New Delhi’s biggest diplomatic coup, which had immense strategic value”. Indeed. The conditions imposed on Sri Lanka were intended to end the freedom it enjoyed in having independent defence, foreign affairs and regional administration policies.

A significant outcome of the Accord was the establishment of the provincial council for North and East. Crouched as a means for nurturing the distinct cultural and linguistic identity in the Northern and Eastern provinces, which were “areas of historical habitation of Tamil speaking people”,

it was Rajiv Gandhi’s answer to the separation demanded by the LTTE. It was in spite of experiencing persistent problems with its state system ever since independence that India forced the 13th Amendment on Sri Lanka.

Growing pressure to reorganize states on ethnic and linguistic lines had grown to such an extent that not long after independence, in 1953, India was forced to create the state of Andhra for Telegu speaking people. And now there are signs of further disintegration with the Talangana region clamouring to break off from Andhra Pradesh. There is also mounting pressure in the tribal areas of Bihar, Malayalam speaking areas of Southern and Western parts and Tamil Nadu. A movement also persists to this day within Tamil Nadu to secede from the union.

Northern Province street scene

In Sri Lanka, even before the ink was dry, the Accord was getting unravelled. With severe dissention within the government and outside, it was passed by Parliament with a curfew in force. While Rajiv Gandhi knew that JR did not have much choice in it, his greatest fear was Prabhakaran rejecting it.

It was strange that Gandhi was entertaining such concerns when he portrayed the PC as the way to meet aspirations of the Tamils people. However, to prevent any embarrassment by a display of resentment Gandhi sent an Air Force Helicopter to Jaffna to fetch Prabhakaran and his political adviser Anton Balasingham, to New Delhi, on July 28, 1987. That was the night before the accord was to be signed. They were held at the Ashok Hotel before being ushered to a meeting with Gandhi.

Prabhakaran was indeed outraged by the proposal. He rejected the idea of PCs in place of Eelam. But for Gandhi this was the furthest he could go. With the persistent threat from Tamil Nadu to break off, a separate Tamil state next door was the last thing India needed.

Current situation

Gandhi coaxed and bribed the LTTE supremo with the promise of new arms and ongoing funding. When none of it worked he appealed to Prabhakaran to remain silent at least till the agreement came into force. For India there was a lot at stake.

But Prabhakaran could not contain his anger for long at Gandhi’s audacity to undermine his long cherished dream. Before the week was out he called a public meeting in Jaffna and told the people this was not what he wanted but what has been thrust upon him.

When a big power decided this was the way things happen, there was nothing we could do”, Prabhakaran lamented. And that was the day Rajiv Gandhi became a marked man.

The fact that the Northern Provincial Council remained confined to the statue book for 26 years shows that it was not a deal wanted by any one, other than India. The forthcoming CHOGM has forced the issue once again.

There is growing pressure from many quarters for elections to the Northern Provincial Council as a key step in reconciliation. Foremost among them is India, along with some major powers and NGOs.

There are different reasons for different groups to push for elections but for all of them any measure that discredits the government and ties it up in knots was an achievement.

For India it is unfinished business, which has become even more critical after China entered the scene in recent years. Besides that, is the need to satisfy the demands of Tamil Nadu politicians especially in the lead up to a general election next year.

At the same time the Diaspora, through its funding and promise of electoral support, is manipulating several Western governments. The clearest example of this is Canada, which preferred to paint itself into a corner without attending CHOGM. It was prepared to forego the opportunity to display its muscle as a founding member of the Commonwealth in preference to wooing its Tamil electorate.

The other prominent groups include NGOs whose livelihood depends on ‘discovering’ human rights abuses and this group also includes sections of the United Nations. They have to keep the pot boiling to ensure the continued flow of backhanders from foreign regimes to destabilise vulnerable governments.

The current legal spat between an NGO and the Norwegian government when such a deal went sour, shows how the system involving big money, works. Then of course there are a number of opposition parties within the country for whom this issue is bread and butter.

These ongoing manoeuvres make one thing clear: it does not mean that once the elections are held the pressure will cease. By definition all these interlocutors have to move on to another, since that is the only way to justify their existence. Should the government simply yield to these demands and hold elections or consider the issue carefully to implement an option that serves the best long-term interest of the country?

There are enough reasons to show that Sri Lanka will be greatly disadvantaged if the Provincial Council system is perpetuated with an election to the Northern PC.

For geographically large countries such as the United States, India and Australia establishing decentralised systems of government is not only desirable but also essential. In most of these countries administering the periphery from the centre is difficult and inefficient. Reaching some distant places from the centre in an emergency will take several hours.

By comparison Sri Lanka is minute. For instance in terms of area it is only 0.002 per cent of India and in relation to population it is only 0.02 per cent. There is no place in the country that cannot be reached by air within one hour. In recent years new technology and a good roading network have made the country even smaller.

In this situation another layer of provincial government only adds inefficiencies and works as an unnecessary drain on public resources. The government currently provides Rs 130 billion of direct funding to Provincial Councils each year, while the councils themselves collect another Rs 38 billion in local taxes.

Without a comparable return such a large-scale burden on taxpayer funds only tends to divert valuable resources away from productive uses. Apart from the waste of funds the more invidious cost to the country is the red tape, corruption and the delays that such a system generates.

Apart from increased wastefulness there is another fundamental economic issue involved here. Achieving high rates of growth is a major national objective of the Rajapaksa government. That requires the optimum use of available resources, land, labour, technology and capital. While the last three are mobile and can be moved around and supplemented with imports, the first, land resource, has a finite limit and is immovable.

Hence the best way to gain optimum output from land is to take the other resources, in particular labour, to where land is available. The critical requirement here is land availability. The 2012 census shows the distribution of population by district and the population densities of each.

 (Table 1)

It shows more than half the districts have population densities less than the average for the country of 309/km². Population density in Moneragala, for instance, is 79 which is 25 per cent of the average.

Mullativu with 35/km² has the lowest density of 11 per cent of the average. In other words Mullativu has almost four times the land area of the Colombo district but only 0.04 per cent of its population.

The effect of this divergence is that districts such as Colombo are so densely populated that people tend to get in each other’s way while places such as Moneragala and Mullativu are crying out for more labour, for their growth is hampered by the shortage. Of course the availability of other resources is critical but all those can be brought in from outside unlike land.

If the objective of high economic growth is to be achieved the central government should be able to move resources around the country to help maximise national gains. Provincial Councils, on the other hand will not be seeing land under their control from the same national viewpoint. By definition what they will want is to protect their patch.

Land and police powers will further reinforce that trend.

In this regard it is worth noting that in Paragraph 6.104 of its report the LLRC makes a far-reaching recommendation:

Any citizen of Sri Lanka has the inalienable right to acquire land in any part of the country, in accordance with its laws and regulations, and reside in any area of his/her choice without any restrictions or limitations imposed in any manner whatsoever.

The land policy of the government should not be an instrument to effect unnatural changes in the demographic pattern of a given Province. In the case of inter provincial irrigation or land settlement schemes, distribution of State land should continue to be as provided for in the Constitution of Sri Lanka”.

The most important advantage of a unitary administration is that its decisions, by very nature, are to promote national interest and not parochial advantage. Even without granting land and police powers devolution could hamper government management of the country.

This is clear from India’s experience. For instance the Indian central government has been forced to make compromises due to the need to maintain state government political support for the centre. In some instances the centre may be made completely impotent by a regional administration by injudicious use of authority.

As a recent example of this it has been said that during the last Indian general election the plane carrying Congress Party leader, Sonia Gandhi was not given permission to land in Uttar Pradesh, a state under the control of the opposition.

Does not address issues

There is a perception abroad that giving greater autonomy to the northern province will lead to reconciliation. This is not a realistic expectation. One reason is that only a minority of Tamils live in the northern province.

The latest census data on population for 2012 shows the total Sri Lankan Tamil population in Sri Lanka as 2.27 million or 11 per cent of the total population.

Out of this the Tamil population in the Northern Province is 0.98 million or 43 per cent. In other words less than half the Tamil population live in the five administrative districts comprising the Northern province and the rest live among the Sinhalese and Muslims and other communities in other parts of the country.

The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord indirectly recognised the dispersion of the Tamil population by declaring as the rationale for setting up the provincial administration the facilitation of the return of Tamils living in other areas to these enclaves. But what has happened is quite the opposite. The 2012 census data confirms this.

 (Table 2)

In all but four districts the number of Sri Lankan Tamils living in the south increased significantly between 1981 and 2012. This was in spite of having a Tamil administration under the LTTE and despite declaring the region as Tamils only by Prabhakaran by ousting all Muslims and Sinhalese.

There are a number of implications of the movement of Tamils to other areas in increasing numbers.

a) The needs of those living in the north and those dispersed elsewhere are different. Addressing reconciliation on the basis of the situation of a minority of Tamils who live in the north will therefore be ineffective;

b) Restricting the Council territory to Tamils would invariably be the stance with the representatives of the PC after the elections. This is evident even without granting land powers, from TNA MPs currently campaigning against return of the Sinhalese and Muslims ousted by Prabhakaran.

c) When Tamil citizens of the country use their democratic right to live anywhere in the country it would be inequitable to artificially restrict non-Tamil citizens settling in the northern province.

d) Elections will be counter to the recommendations of the LLRC, which was intended to provide a sound basis for reconciliation. One of the conditions it proposed was that Devolution of power should not privilege or disadvantage any ethnic community, and should not be discriminatory or seen to be discriminatory by the people belonging to any ethnic community within the country”. As noted earlier it also reiterated that any citizen of Sri Lanka has the inalienable right to acquire land and live in any part of the country.

Recommendations of the LLRC

The LLRC recommendations are widely recognised, within the country as well as by the international community, as a suitable basis to bring about reconciliation. The Commission had far reaching proposals relating to devolution of power in the eight paragraphs 9.229 to 9.237.

They include the following:

a. Devolution should essentially promote greater harmony and unity and not disharmony and disunity among the people of the country. The promotion of this ‘oneness’ and a common identity should be the principal aim of any form of devolution while protecting and appreciating rich diversity.

b. Need to ensure that the people belonging to all communities are empowered at every level.

c. Devolution of power should not privilege or disadvantage any ethnic community, and should not be discriminatory or seen to be discriminatory by the people belonging to any ethnic community within the country.

d. Empowerment of the people should take place within the broader framework of the promotion and protection of human rights.

e. Empowering the Local Government institutions to ensure greater peoples’ participation at the grass roots level.

f. The lessons learnt from the shortcomings in the functioning of the Provincial Councils system should be taken into account.

g. Provide for safeguarding the territorial integrity and unity of Sri Lanka whilst fostering its rich diversity.

h. An additional mechanism to be considered is the possibility of establishing a Second Chamber comprising Representatives from the Provinces.

i. Any power sharing arrangement needs to have inbuilt mechanisms that would effectively address and discourage secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the State.

LLRC also cautioned that all parties must commit themselves to finding solutions internally through negotiation with each other. The report noted that the Tamil leaders should take account of the unnecessary internationalization of the ethnic issue and the external pressures exercised by the Diaspora and its impact on the negotiations for a political settlement.

The perceptions of external threat and intervention, the Commission noted, can create a sense of insecurity that can seriously impede the progress towards an acceptable solution. It also reiterated the need to launch a good faith effort to develop a consensus on devolution, building on what exists – both, for maximum possible devolution to the periphery especially at the grass roots level, as well as power sharing at the centre.

This consensus should be one that will enable peoples’ participation in governance decisions affecting them and avoid costly and unnecessary duplication of political, bureaucratic and other institutional structures that hamper efficient, cost-effective and transparent governance.

Four important considerations relating to Provincial Councils emerge from the recommendations of LLRC:

1. Safeguarding the territorial integrity and unity of Sri Lanka whilst fostering its rich diversity.

2. Ensure that any power sharing arrangement has inbuilt mechanisms that would effectively address and discourage secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the State.

3. Build on what exists – both, a) for maximum possible devolution to the periphery especially at the grass roots level and to ensure greater peoples’ participation, b) as well as power sharing at the centre.

4. To accommodate provincial viewpoint in legislative decision-making consider the possibility of establishing a Second Chamber comprising Representatives from the Provinces.

What is evident from these is the incompatibility of the 13th Amendment with LLRC recommendations. For instance 13A does not allow for maximum devolution of power to the periphery – the grass roots level. The peripheral unit it defines is the Province. Nor does it accommodate power sharing with the centre. Neville Ladduwahetty has provided more details in a recent article.

It is important that the government takes note of the LRCC recommendations for they are seen, both within and outside Sri Lanka, as the key to reconciliation. The President has echoed many of the views expressed by LLRC. In the 2013 budget speech he underlined the need for A change in the prevailing Provincial Council system to make devolution more meaningful to our people.

Devolution should not be a political reform that will lead us to separation but instead it should be one that unifies all of us. It should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people.” The President also identified the issues that people are concerned with. Everybody who met me from all corners of Sri Lanka whether they were Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, asked for greater access to education, health, employment opportunities, better living and equal standards across the nation. The elimination of provincial disparities using national standards is the main weapon through which national reconciliation can be promoted.

This government remains committed to ensure that these aspirations of our people will be fulfilled”. The point to note is that the delivery of these expectations of the pubic is best undertaken by the central government and not any regional administration.

The significance of the Northern PC Elections

The particular significance of the Northern Provincial Council elections is that the area covered is the same territory the LTTE was claiming as the base for Eelam, a separate state. During the three decades of confrontations the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) represented the terrorist group in parliament.

Since its defeat there has been no official group representing the LTTE although its agenda continues to be promoted by the TNA. If the group wins the forthcoming elections, as it has been predicted, it would amount to giving official recognition to continue the LTTE agenda.

It would turn out to be the rallying point for all the country’s enemies. That is why the Defence Secretary’s recent warning that having paid a heavy price in the battlefield to eradicate the LTTE, it would be foolish on our part to create conditions for a new war”, resonates with the public.

Is there a better way?

We are in a bind right now. International pressure to hold northern elections has come to a head with several forces bent on cashing in on the vulnerability of the government leading up to the CHOGM. India’s leaning on Sri Lanka resembles somewhat the pressure applied on JR Jayawardene prior to signing of the Accord in 1987. But the present government is not in a similar sticky situation since it has other options.

There are some key points that need to be recognised in any decision the government takes. The first is whatever the choice, it has far reaching implications for the country in the long term. Hence it is important to base it on maximising the nation’s benefit rather than as an expedient to respond to external pressure.

Secondly a measure that satisfies the critics will only create a temporary lull in interference, for by very nature they will move on to another issue. Thirdly, President Rajapaksa has the rare capability to make the change since he has the vision and commands the support of the parliament and the public.

The crisis offers the opportunity to make the gains made in 2009 enduring. Although there has been considerable criticism of devolving power to Provincial Councils and holding elections no one has disagreed on the principle of devolution.

In fact the LLRC has underlined the need for devolution as a means of helping in the reconciliation.

But what it recommends is that power should be devolved to the grass roots level in a way that discourages secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the State”.

The Northern Province will be a competing entity as it was coveted by the LTTE as their base for Eelam. Devolving power to the District will meet both conditions laid out by LLRC: giving power to the grass roots level and discouraging secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the state.

The LLRC also suggested considering the possibility of a second chamber to involve the people at the periphery in decision making. This is debatable for there is already such representation in parliament through the existing electoral system.

LLRC itself did not put forward the idea as a recommendation but as a matter for consideration. What is required in devolving power to grass roots level is a clear definition of the role and responsibilities of District Councils and to ensure that no amalgamation of District Councils is possible. They could be empowered to meet the expectations of the public in relation to health, education and other services as the President identified in the budget speech.

Writer is an economist, author and freelance journalist. He can be contacted at donwije@yahoo.com