By  The Sri Lanka Study Circle 

The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of its behind.” —Joseph Stillwell 

Who is Colombage? 

Monkeying around on the seat of the Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is a rank outsider and interloper, Pastor Colombage, described by many insiders as the ineptest Secretary in the history of post-independence Sri Lanka; these insiders are unable to perceive whether Colombage is just an opportunistic nincompoop or a cunning fifth columnist operating within the Ministry.  

These opinions are based on the born-again pastor’s preposterous gaffes, conflicts of interest and his membership in ultra-right American funded think tanks like ‘Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives’ covertly nestling under the wings of the notorious ‘Pathfinder’ organisation. 

The head of the ‘Pathfinders’, Agent Moragoda, whose life and reputation is mired in allegations of bribery, corruption and espionage was further disgraced when his nomination as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India did not find favour with India.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Moragoda

Colombage’s Gaffes 

Colombage, like his handler Agent Moragoda, is proving to be an embarrassment to the country and a positive threat to her National Security.  

Echoing his handler’s voice, it was Colombage who went public to utter Neutrality is the number one pillar of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy”.  

Colombage did not know the difference between Neutrality and Non-Alignment. Then, to cover up his gaffe, he made matters worse when he seemed to suggest that Non-Alignment is unfriendly. To whom?   

His next major gaffe was when he grandiosely announced that Sri Lanka will adopt an India first approach” as its new foreign policy plank and protect New Delhi’s strategic security interests”.  

With egg on his face and eating humble pie, Colombage was soon making mumbling sounds that what he meant was Sri Lanka first and India next. 

Was Colombage’s retraction genuine considering that India is today one of the four members of America’s ‘Southern NATO’, a US military alliance in the Indo-Pacific called the ‘QUAD’.  

Colombage’s latest gaffe comes on the eve of a new anti-Sri Lanka resolution which, a small group of US underlings has declared, would be presented at the UNHRC sessions scheduled to begin on 22^nd February this year. 

These lackey-nations who describe themselves as a CORE group, comprise Canada, UK, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Germany. Their proposed Resolution, as reported, is based on the outrageous Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Verónica Bachelet, a controversial and coquettish politician. 

Tail wags the dog in the Foreign Ministry 

Pastor Colambage revealed last month that the government was having discussions with the UK-led Sri Lanka Core Group in a bid to explore the possibility of reaching a consensus on what he, Colombage, described as a ‘consensual resolution’. 

Instead of mobilising the friendly nations – the majority in the International community – to win the 47-member vote in Geneva, Colombage was clearly dilly-dallying, frittering away the limited time to negotiate a dubious consensus with the Enemy, the CORE. This procrastination is helpful only to the Enemy.  

With Colombage’s strategy clearly out of step with Dinesh’s outright condemnation of the Bachelet report, it is clear that in the Foreign Ministry the tail is wagging the dog. 

Reaching consensus on a consensual Resolution – huh? 

Colombage says that he is involved in the challenging task of, ‘reaching a consensus on a ‘consensual’ resolution.  

The word ‘Consensual’ by definition is an adjective which means involving the willing participation of both or all parties, especially in an illegal transaction or practice”.   

What does the verb co-sponsor, used in the 2015 Resolution mean? It is defined as, together, introduce and support (a proposal) in an assembly.”  

What is the difference between Mangala and Colombage? 

What then is the difference between Mangala Samaraweera’s traitorous act of co-sponsoring a dubious American initiated Resolution on war crimes and Colombage jointly presenting, with the American CORE group, a consensual document, an even more traitorous Resolution?   

Has Colombage let the cat out of the bag? Has he already agreed to co-sponsor the Resolution? Is it a fait accompli?  

The question arises, How does one reach consensus on a resolution that is already tabled as a consensual resolution and where would that leave Sri Lanka?” 

Back in square one 

The answer was given succinctly by that outstanding Sri Lankan diplomat, Tamara Kunanayakam, in an interview with a leading local-media outlet on 11 Feb 21. She gave an incisive insight on the CORE Resolution, the Bachelet Report and the ramifications these held for Sri Lanka and the world if a ‘consensual’ Resolution were adopted; she summed up Sri Lanka’s position nicely when she said, We will be back in square one”.  

Why it is imperative that Sri Lanka rejects the Resolution? 

It is Kunanayakam’s contention that Sri Lanka should reject outright, this dubious Resolution and go for a vote; Sri Lanka can count on the support of her friends in the Non-Aligned movement, the Global South, the Security Council and win, considering especially the latent dangers in the Resolution that lie in store for these supportive Nations.   

Kunanayakam went on to explain that when a Consensual Resolution is tabled, it communicates, in diplomatese, to the assembly and our friends in particular, Look, even if you disagree with the Resolution and wish to support us, there is no space for you now because we have already negotiated with the sponsors, the CORE group, to jointly present this Resolution”.  

Consequently, by procedural compulsion, the voices of our friendly Nations will be muted, no vote taken, the Resolution adopted – by Consensus, if you may – and recorded, for history, as a Resolution unanimously adopted!  

Is the pastor, monkeying with words to betray Sri Lanka and simultaneously be the Pathfinder of the Americans to the lands of the countries in the NAM and the Global South? 

David and Goliath yet exist 

In 2012, Sri Lanka contributed significantly to the betterment of the UNHRC when Ambassador Kunanayakam pointed out that the US and its allies exploiting the fact that they virtually funded the UNHRC, had flexed their financial muscle to man all key appointments in that organisation; this was prejudicial to the Nations in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South.  

A Resolution was sponsored, ably supported by Cuba and Pakistan, to correct the disparate staffing and to make funding transparent; The Resolution was adopted on 04 Apr 2012. The days of David and Goliath are not over. 

Sri Lanka breaking news to the world 

In that world-shaking interview on 11 Feb 21, in a consequential studio in a small corner of tiny Sri Lanka, Kunanayakam pointed out matters in that Resolution which should set-off alarm sirens around the Capitals of the world.   

There is a plot and, in that plot, the Study Circle finds that Bachelet is a major player. If Bachelet is the foil, the pastor is the counterfoil. 

Given Veronica Bachelet’s background of assorted dalliances, association in massive corruption scandals, membership in extreme oligarchical organisations like Club Madrid and intimate work with CIA think tanks like ‘Inter-American Dialogue’ and her vulnerable status, her fabricated report comes as no surprise to those who know her. 

 Donald (Rumsfeld) with Veronica (Bachelet) 

Weaponising Human Rights 

The US is attempting to use the Sri Lankan situation to dismantle some of the norms of the current Global Order and replace them with US benchmarks of governance and tools of intimidation that would facilitate US hegemony in countries in the NAM and the Global South.  The process was described by Kunanayakam as ‘weaponising Human Rights”   

Dangerous Concepts hidden in the Resolution to advance US unilateralism and establish global precedence 

Bachelet’s report contains some dangerous and precedent-setting concepts totally contrary to the UN Charter and which violates International Law. 

In one instance Bachelet states, If the State is not willing or unable to protect its citizens, we in the West shall intervene”! Shades of R2P which was resoundingly defeated at the UN General Assembly. 

In another instance Bachelet projects the doctrine of ‘Universal Jurisdiction’ rejected outright by our African brothers and sisters; if, for example, a person in one country acts in a manner that is within the law in that country but is in breach of US law this doctrine permits that person to be tried in the US, under US Law, in a US Courthouse.  

Is this not the concept of hybrid Courts which the US failed to establish, the first time around in 2015? This time around it is far worse.  

What would the fate of our heroic soldiers be if the CORE Resolution is passed in Geneva? Is this what Colombage is hoping to achieve? 

Carte blanche for America to invade countries at will 

Also slipped in by Bachelet, in her report, is another doctrine which permits the US to peremptorily intervene militarily in any country, if the US, in their analysis, were to perceive that there could perhaps be a breakdown of Human Rights in that Country. 

This would be a carte blanche for the US to aggress and invade any Country in the world. The world is only too keenly aware how good the US is at fomenting problems in foreign countries and creating Conflicts.  

Hitherto, having created Conflict, the US follows up as do- gooders in the role of Resolving Conflict. The doctrine enunciated by Bachelet ups the ante; the US would be permitted to militarily invade countries to save them.   

Also, in violation of International Law and Charter based Rights is Bachelet’s recommendation calling for targeted sanctions; besides, this goes against the charter of the Non-Aligned Movement. 

The Resolution attempts to replace the Sovereign independence of Nation States with US hegemony  

The current World Order and the UN were created on the foundation of Multilateralism; Multilateralism implies that the World Order is built through a consultative process which embraces the recognition and respect for Sovereign equality of all States and is based on the principles of Non-intervention, Non-Aggression, International Cooperation, mutual benefit and mutual respect. 

The US, in the last two decades, has been trying to change the World Order and base it on Unilateralism where the US, and the US alone, would mould the world according to its wishes; there would be minimal consultation; the US gives a tuppenny damn about the Sovereignty of other Nations. Nations of the Global South and the Non-Aligned do not count.  

The Sri Lankan issue in Geneva is a major step towards achieving US Unilateralism in the world and erasing the concept of Independent sovereign States. 

Unilateralism will usher in a frightening world, where the US would be permitted to intervene militarily anywhere in the world, with or without international support; the rationale for US intervention is, American interest, whatever that may be. 

While Ambassador Kunanayakam is alerting Sri Lanka and the world, the US and the UNHRC is deceptively attempting to use the Sri Lankan situation to destroy some of the planks of the present World Order and establish in the process a beachhead for the American World order.  

People of the NAM and the Global South, let us rally to defeat the Enemy 

What happens in Geneva on 22 February does not affect Sri Lanka alone; it will seriously undermine the Sovereignty of all the Nations in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South. 

When the US Plan goes into motion in Geneva, the voices of all our friendly countries would be muted because the devilish pastor, Colombage, is moving for a Consensual Resolution.  

As explained earlier, the Consensual Resolution will shut their mouths and the records of history will indicate that the Resolution was adopted unanimously, by consensus. 

Sri Lanka must take the lead to stop the US plot succeeding in Geneva. Let us give leadership to the countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South.  

We reject outright the Resolution being tabled which will be a major step towards the re-colonising of all the previously colonised Countries. 

We must challenge the Resolution and go for a vote. Then only can the mouths of our friendly countries be ungagged. We can win without a shadow of doubt. There can be no compromise whatsoever with countries accusing and tarnishing us with blatant lies and unsubstantiated villainy while the accusers, in breach of International Law, the UN Charter and procedure, give us the finger 

It is in the best interest of the country that Jayanath Colombage be relieved of his duties until investigations probing his conduct to lure Sri Lanka into a trap and setting the stage to sacrifice our heroic soldiers – including the present Army Commander – are complete.   

By Raj Gonsalkorale

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you – Matthew 7:1,2

The entire world needs to respect human rights. That should be a just and natural phenomenon that all human beings should practice. Unfortunately, it is not. Some do better than others while many preach love but practice the opposite. The UNHCR seems to be a pulpit from which some preach to the rest of the world, and often the preacher is a Nation whose own practices should shame itself and the rest of the world if it understood the meaning of the word shame. The unfortunate consequence is that the selective application of human rights violation censuring, diminishes the credibility of the world body that is tasked to defend the rights of those who do not have the power to defend themselves. It is those unfortunate and helpless segment of the world population, which happens to be the majority in the world, that continues to suffer when Nations calling the shots, openly and behind the scenes, do so not to promote and defend the rights of fellow human beings, but to further their strategic political interests under the guise of advancing human rights.

The following are some highlights from the Human Rights Watch report of the human rights record of the USA (https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/united-states. The Sri Lankan government and the public in Sri Lanka are encouraged to read this report, and others published by the US State Department, Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch on the human rights record of the Core Group that is sponsoring the latest resolution relating to human rights issues in Sri Lanka. The Core Group consists of Canada, Germany, UK, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Malawi.

While the USA is not in the UNHRC, many analysts are of the opinion that it is the hand that is manipulating the Core Group to pressurise Sri Lanka. They also contend that pressure is being exerted through this group as firstly, it is not in the Human Rights Council, and secondly in pursuance of another interest, a strategic political interest, arising from Sri Lanka’s closeness to China and their growing influence in the country.

It has been reported in the media that Sri Lanka has asked for India’s support to either prevent this resolution coming up for a vote, or for help in defeating it should it come to a vote. Sri Lanka surely has to be wary about seeking India’s support, as, should they support Sri Lanka, they would do so at a price detrimental to the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. This is simple logic considering what both India and the US have an enemy in common; China, and its growing presence in Sri Lanka. India would be like the Kapati Arakshakaya” or the cunning saviour who first instigates others to pressurise Sri Lanka, and then offers to help save it from the instigators, but, at a price.

Looking at the record of the Core Group on human rights, especially that of Malawi, it is a joke that such a group could lecture Sri Lanka on human rights violations. While countries like North Macedonia and Montenegro, who also had and still have human rights issues to contend with, they seem to have taken several steps to improve their own weaknesses in human rights issues. It appears they have not taken into consideration steps that have been taken in Sri Lanka to address any lingering issues.

Neither have they taken in to account the background and the environment in which Sri Lanka had to contend with when the country fought to defend their people and its sovereignty when confronted with the most violent and virulent terrorist organisation in the world, the LTTE. So labelled by the world, not Sri Lanka.

The Core Group has also not recognised that every country, including their own, would have human rights issues arising from time to time, and that they need to be addressed by the countries themselves. The Core Group is not a pristine Snow White group who are suited to preach to others. Worse, it should not be a group that lends itself to being manipulated by any powerful force in its own strategic political interests.

No doubt there are areas where Sri Lanka has to get its house in order, but it cannot and should not countenance being pressurised by this so called Core Group that is acting on behalf of a country which is pursuing this issue not because of human rights issues but to advance its own strategic political interests. It is not to India that Sri Lanka should turn for support on this issue but other members of the Human Rights Council who have been similarly pressured by interests pursuing their strategic agenda’s.  

The Human Rights Watch report presents an abysmal record on human rights issues in the US and it certainly is not a position to lecture Sri Lanka or for that matter any other country on human rights issues. While some specifics are attributed to the Donald Trump term in office, many others appear endemic to a long and sad record on human rights violations in the US.  

The HRW report on the US begins by stating In 2019, the USA continued to move backwards on rights. The Trump administration rolled out inhumane immigration policies and promoted false narratives that perpetuate racism and discrimination; did not do nearly enough to address mass incarceration; undermined the rights of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people; further weakened the ability of Americans to obtain adequate health care; and deregulated industries that put people’s health and safety at risk. In its foreign policy, the Trump administration made little use of its diminishing leverage to promote human rights abroad; continued to undermine multilateral institutions; and flouted international human rights and humanitarian law as it partnered with abusive governments

The full report referred to above paints a grim picture of the country that parades itself as the epitome of freedom, justice and human rights. Besides this report, in the area of foreign policy, the duplicity of the US in supporting countries like Saudi Arabia, an unabashed leader in human rights violations, especially against women, Israel, which has consistently abused the rights of Palestinians and snubbed all attempts by international bodies to defend the rights of Palestinians, is well known. US involvement in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt to defend justice and freedom while killing millions of people, and prior to that in Vietnam and Laos, to defeat the what they termed evil communism”, again, killing millions of people, are not exactly good examples to demonstrate their respect for other human beings. The HRW report is a telling indictment of life at home in the US and the love and respect they show for their own citizens and hapless refuges. Following are some extracts from the HRW report

• The US continues to have the highest reported criminal incarceration rate in the world, with 2.2 million people in jails and prisons and another 4.5 million on probation and parole as of 2017. In several states incarceration rose, as did the incarceration rate for women, which grew by 750 percent from 1980 to 2017.
• Stark racial disparities still exist in the prison population. While the overall imprisonment rate was down, among black women it was nearly twice as high as among white women and the rate for black men was almost six times the rate for white men. For younger black men, the disparity was even larger
• Poor people accused of crimes continue to be jailed because courts require money bail as a condition of release, forcing people not convicted of any crime to stay behind bars for long periods of time awaiting trial and resulting in coerced guilty pleas.
• On any given day, approximately 50,000 children are held in confinement. In the juvenile justice system, 2,200 are imprisoned for status” offenses—noncriminal acts that are considered violations of the law only because the individuals in question are under 18 years old.
• Additionally, all 50 states continue to prosecute children in adult criminal courts. According to the Citizens Committee for Children, roughly 32,000 children under 18 are admitted annually to adult jails. The Sentencing Project reports there are approximately 1,300 people serving life without parole
• Racial disparities persist at every stage of a person’s contact with the law, leaving children of colour disproportionately in juvenile justice systems across the country; in 37 states, rates of incarceration were higher for black children than for white, according to The Sentencing Project.
• Stark inequalities in wealth exist throughout the United States, and poverty intersects with crime, which is used to justify more aggressive policing in poor, often minority communities.

Rather than address problems of poverty—including homelessness, mental health, and gang involvement—with services, support, and economic development, many US jurisdictions simply add more police and effectively criminalize” poor communities, a vicious circle that fuels high rates of incarceration.

• According to the Washington Post, police reportedly shot and killed 783 people in the US in 2019 as of mid-November. Of those killed whose race is known, 20 percent were black even though blacks make up 13 percent of the population.
• In September, the Census Bureau released a study showing that income inequality in the US had hit the highest level in five decades. About 40 million people live in poverty, many of them members of households with at least one wage earner making at or near the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
• At time of writing, over 55,000 asylum seekers had been returned to often dangerous and unliveable conditions in Mexico, with significant barriers to obtaining legal representation and a fair hearing. This included asylum seekers with disabilities or other chronic health condition.
• The number of immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody reached a record high of 55,000 people per day.

These are but a few of the shameful record of the human rights violations in the US that is noted in the HRW report.

Within the Core Group, Amnesty International has noted gross human rights violations in Malawi in its 2019 report. Https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/malawi/report-malawi/

It says, quote 2019 was an election year for Malawi. There were incidences of protests in Malawi around elections, and the government used the law to silence civil society leaders and organisers of peaceful demonstrations. Some civil society leaders were threatened with death and their property was destroyed by ruling party activists. Persons with albinism continued to live in fear as ritual killers murdered at least one person with albinism. Persons with albinism continued to be targeted for their body parts: in many of the cases persons with albinism have been killed for ritual purposes and a superstitious belief that their body parts would bring luck in business and politics. In January, 60-year-old Yassin Kwenda Phiri was murdered in his house in Nkhata Bay while his 9-year-old son George watched helplessly. Two men cut off his father’s arms with a knife and removed his intestines with their bare hands. Goodson Fanizo, 14, was abducted in February. Although six suspects were picked up by police, neither the child nor his body had been found by year’s end.

Following the May general elections, opposition parties and civil society organizations were unhappy with the outcome, alleging electoral fraud.  The Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) organized protests against alleged mismanagement of elections by the Malawi Electoral Commission. The state responded by deploying members of the police service and the military and applying for court injunctions to stop protests.

Human rights defenders and activists remained under threat as the country prepared for its May general elections. HRDC activists who organized and led demonstrations against alleged electoral fraud after the May elections were attacked by ruling party youth cadres, intimidated, and targeted for prosecution by the authorities. Timothy Mtambo, Chairperson of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition and Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), increasingly received death threats through text messages and was attacked by unknown people. In October, at around 11pm unknown gunmen fired six shots at Mtambo’s vehicle as he drove home from a meeting in Lilongwe.

On 25 September, unknown youths hacked human rights activist Billy Mayaya and several other activists in Blantyre.  Mayaya sustained serious injuries to his head. Instead of protecting activists from attacks, police tear-gassed demonstrators. 

Excessive use of force, unlawful killings and torture persisted with impunity.  In February, Buleya Lule was arrested in Lilongwe on charges of abducting a child with albinism and appeared in court in February, jointly charged with five other people. Bulela Lule later died in a police cell. 

The post-mortem report released on 12 April revealed that Bulela had been electrocuted and sustained injuries to his head, buttocks and stomach

In September, one of the post-election protesters, Justin Phiri, died in custody of infected wounds that were not treated. He had been severely assaulted by soldiers and the police did not take him to a hospital. Human rights issues included extrajudicial killings; torture; arbitrary detention, the preceding abuses all committed by official security forces; harsh and life-threatening prison and detention centre conditions; criminal libel; corruption; lack of investigation and enforcement involving cases of violence against women, including rape and domestic violence, partly due to weak enforcement; criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct; and child labour, including worst forms.

There were reports the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. Media reported that, between January and August, 43 suspects had died at the hands of police.  For example, on June 16, after police arrested 11 persons in Blantyre, four individuals, Humpfrey Sakhumwa, Dave Sembele, Dave Gondwe, and Ashbu Daiton, were separated from the group to be transferred to another facility.  Later that day officers dropped their bullet-riddled bodies at the local hospital mortuary.  A reputable nongovernmental organization (NGO) and the United Nations carried out a preliminary investigation into several of the deaths that included interviews with family members and witnesses and found the allegations generally credible and warranting a more in-depth inquiry” unquote. 

In advocating that Sri Lanka should not succumb to pressure from the US or India or the Core Group and should harness the support of other members of the Human Rights Council to defeat any move to censure the country through stealth, it does not automatically mean Sri Lanka could pretend it has a Snow White record on human rights.

Going back to the war against the LTTE and issues that arose upon its conclusion, there are unresolved matters that need addressing. The LLRC report and its action plan that has been sent to a cold room could be activated and followed through as the Mahinda Rajapaksa began doing before the change of government in 2015, and the scuttling of it by the Sirisena/Wickramasinghe duo. The same applies to the Paranagama commission on Missing Persons, again initiated by Mahinda Rajapaksa and the scuttling of that report once again by Sirisena and Wickramasinghe. The current government owes it to all people of the country to implement the recommendations of those two reports, as they were hailed by many as  sound starting points to address genuine concerns that arose in regard to the dark days of the LTTE terrorism and the State’s role in some questionable issues. One needs to identify any shortcomings in those reports and act to address them, but it is common sense that it can best be done once the available recommendations are implemented. 

Sri Lanka cannot defend itself by being the Emperor without clothes. It needs to build itself to be a beacon for the rest of the world in ensuring the unalienable rights of all Sri Lankans are respected and assured. A country that calls itself the citadel of Theravada Buddhism and the defender of Buddhism, should not do any less unless this defence of Buddhism is also a façade to protect the strategic interests of the Buddhist institution which in turn serves the interest of politicians and vice versa. If one lives by the Dhamma and the original teachings of religious leaders like Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed, Sri Lanka can be that beacon which would put many other countries to shame.

පූජ්‍ය ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමි   
මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය මැදගොඩ අභයතිස්ස හිමි 

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ.

අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය මොහොමඩ් අලි සබ්රි මහතා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී ප්‍රකාශ කළ බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත, පුද්ගල නීතියක්, බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සම්බන්දව

2021 පෙබරවාරි මස 12 වන දින අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය මොහොමඩ් අලි සබ්රි මහතා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී ප්‍රකාශ කළේ බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත, පුද්ගල නීතියක්, බවය. පුද්ගල නීතියක් යනු යම් ජන කොට්ඨාශයකට ඊට අයත් එම කොට්ඨාශයට අයත් ජනතාවට පමණක් පොදූ වූ සාධකයන් මත අදාල වන සේ පනවන ලද නීතියකි. නීති විද්‍යාලයේ හා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ නීති සිසුන්ට නිර්දේශිත ග්‍රන්ථයක් වන මහාචාර්ය එල්.ජේ.එම් කුරේ මහතාගේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීති ක්‍රමයට හැඳින්වීමක් (AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF SRI LANKA) යන ග්‍රන්ථයේ සඳහන් වන ආකාරයට පුද්ගල නීතිය, යන්නට ඇතුලත් වන්නේ උඩරට නීතිය, තේසවලාමේ නීතිය හා මුස්ලිම් නීතිය පමණී. ඉන් උඩරට නීතිය හා තේසවලාමේ නීතිය ප්‍රාදේශීය නීති, වශයෙන් ද සැලකෙන බැවින් වචනයේ අර්ථයෙන් ම පුද්ගල නීතියක් ලෙස හැඳින්විය හැක්කේ මුස්ලිම් නීතිය පමණක් බව එහි පැහැදිලිව දක්වා තිබේ.

අලි සබ්රි මහතා විසින් සඳහන් කරන ලද බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත, වකුෆ් පනත (නිවැරදිලෙස මුස්ලිම් පල්ලි හා පුන්‍යාධාර හෝ වකූෆ් පනත), චර්ච් ඔෆ් සිලෝන් (ශ්‍රී ලංකා කතෝලික දේවස්ථාන පිළිබඳ පනත) හා හින්දු සංකෘතික අරමුදල් පනත මූලිකව බෞද්ධ විහාරස්ථාන, මුස්ලිම් පල්ලි, කතෝලික පල්ලි හා දේවස්ථාන හා හින්දු දේවස්ථාන හා ඒවායේ මූල්‍ය පරිපාලනය පිළිබඳව පනවන ලද නීති වේ. එබැවින් ඒවා පුද්ගල නීති යන අර්ථයට නොවැටෙන බව නීතිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවම හෝ දැනුමක් ඇත්තෙකුට වුව ද අවබෝධ කරගත හැකි වේ. ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය විසින් එම නීති පනවා ඇත්තේ එම ආගමික ස්ථාන සම්බන්ධයෙන් යම් නියාමනයක් හා පාලනයක් පවත්වාගෙන යාමට වේ. එසේ තිබිය දී පුද්ගලික නීති මුවාවෙන් එවැනි ආගමික ආයතන හා ඒවායේ මූල්‍ය පාලනයට බලපාන නීති අහෝසි කළහොත් සිදුවන ඛේදනීය තත්වය පිළිබඳව අවම අවබෝධයක් හෝ නොමැති තැනැත්තෙකු මෙවන් වගකිව යුතු අමාත්‍යධූරයක් දැරීම ඉතා කණගාටුදායක තත්වයකි.

එසේම  බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9 වන වගන්තියට අනුබද්ධව පවතින නීතියක් බව අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයාට වටහා දිය යුතු වේ. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9 වන වගන්තිය යටතේ බුද්ධ ශාසනය සුරක්ෂිත කොට පෝෂණය කිරීමට, රජය බැඳී සිටියි. රජයේ ආයතනයක් වන විධායකය නියෝජනය කරන අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයා ද එම වගකීම ඉටු කිරීමට බැඳී සිටියි. පුරාවිද්‍යා සංශෝධන කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගරු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් එස්.ඩ්. 1/94 නඩුවේ දී 1994.04.27 දින ලබා දී තිබෙන තීන්දුවට අනුව බුද්ධ ශාසනය, යන්නට බෞද්ධයින් විසින් වඳින පුදන හා ආගමික පිළිවෙත් ඉටුකරන සියලු ස්ථාන හා අංග ද, ඇතුලත් වන බව දල බුද්ධ ශාසනය, යන්න  බුද්ධාගම, යන්නට වඩා පුළුල් බව ද තීරණය කර තිබේ. එම කොටස ඒ ආකාරයෙන් ම මෙසේ දක්වමු.

The expression Buddha Sasana” is wider than Buddhism” and includes the entire establishment together with objects and places of religious practices and worship of Buddhists”.
ඒ අනුව බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත බලපාන සියලු විහාරස්ථාන හා ස්ථාන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9  වන වගන්තියේ සඳහන් බුද්ධ ශාසනය, යන්නට ඇතුලත් වේ. අලි සබ්රි මහතාගේ විග්‍රහයට අනුව බුද්ධ ශාසනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පනවනු ලබන සියලු නීති පුද්ගලික නීති ය. රටේ එකම නීතියක්, පවත්වාගෙන යාමටනම් බුද්ධ ශාසනය හා බැඳී තිබෙන නීති ද ඉවත් කළ යුතු බව ඔහුගේ මතය යි. එය කිසිදු න්‍යායාත්මක හෝ ප්‍රායෝගික පදනමක් මත ගොඩ නගන ලද තර්කයක් නොවේ එම ඊනියා තර්කය මගින් අතලොස්සක් වූ ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදීන් පමණක් සතුටට පත්වනු ඇත.

අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ එම සාවද්‍ය හා වගකීම් විරහිත ප්‍රකාශය රටටත්, ජනතාවටත් විශේෂයෙන් ම බුද්ධ ශාසනයටත් එරෙහිව කරන ලද බරපතල ප්‍රකාශයක් ලෙස අපි තරයේ හෙලා දකිමු. එම ප්‍රකාශය සිදු කිරීම මගින් අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් භාර කර තිබෙන වගකීම පැහැර හරිමින් ව්‍යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝනය කිරිමට වුව ද තමන් සූදානම් බව ජනතාව ඉදිරියේ ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබේ. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව ආරක්ෂා කිරිම සඳහා ජනතාව ඉදිරියේ ප්‍රතිඥා දී සිටින එතුමා පාර්ලිමේන්තු වරප්‍රසාද වලට මුවා වී සිදුකළ එම ප්‍රකාශයත් සමගම ඔහුට තවදුරටත් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු ලෙස හෝ නීතිඥයෙකු ලෙස හෝ කටයුතු කිරීමට ඇති සුදුසුකම ගැටලුවක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ.

වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පත් කිරිම සඳහා ඡන්දය ලබා දුන් 69 ලක්ෂයක ගේ අපේක්ෂාව වූයේ එකම රටක එකම නීතියක්, බලාත්මක වීම ය. යථාර්තවාදී ලෙස නීතියේ පාලනයක්, පවත්වාගත හැක්කේ එවිට ය. එහි දී සෑම තැනැත්තෙකුම නීතිය ඉදිරියේ සමාන වන අතර සැම තැනැත්තෙකුටම නීතියේ සමාන ආරක්ෂාව ලැබීමට අයිතිය තිබේ. එහෙත් මුස්ලිම් විවාහය හා සම්බන්ධ නීති හමුවේ මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාව සෙසු කාන්තාවන්ට සාපේක්ෂව පීඩාවකට හා අසාධාරණ සැලකීමකට ලක්ව සිටියි. එක රටක් එක නීතියක් යන සංකල්පය මගින් අපේක්ෂා කරනු ලබන්නේ එම නීති වලින් අදාල විෂමතාවයන් ඉවත් කිරීමය. සිංහල කාන්තාවන් බුක්ති විදින අයිතිවාසිකම් මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවන්ට අහිමි කිරීම වරදකි. අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ යටි අරමුණ අදාල නීති සංශෝධන සිදු කිරීම වැලැක්වීම බව පැහැදිලිවම පෙනේ. එය ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදීන්ගේ උවමනාවකි.  එසේම මුස්ලිම් ව්‍යාප්තවාදයට පදනම සකස් කරන ඉගැන්වීමේ මධ්‍යස්ථාන හා විෂයයන් නියාමනය කිරීම සඳහා අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයට බලය ලබා නොදීමද ජාතික ආරක්ෂාවට  තර්ජනයක් වී තිබේ. එකම රටක එකම නීතියක් යටතේ පාලනයක් ඇති රටක අන්තවාදීන්ට තම ව්‍යාප්තවාදී හා විනාශකාරී අරමුණු කරා යාම දුෂ්කරය. අන්තවාදී ව්‍යාප්තවාදීන්ගේ අභිප්‍රායන් සඵල කරගත හැක්කේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අයිතින් යටපත් වන පරිදි සකස් වූ එම ජන කොට්ඨාශය අන්තගාමීන්ගේ අණසකට යටත් කරගත හැකී නීති පද්ධතියක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වුවහොත් පමණී.

එසේ හෙයින් අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් 2021 පෙබරවාරි මස 12 වන දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී සිදුකර තිබෙන පෙර සඳහන් ජාතිදේ‍රා්හී ප්‍රකාශය මත ඇතිවී තිබෙන බරපතල තත්වය පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමු කර ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගත යුතු පියවර කඩිනමින් ගන්නා ලෙස සමස්ත ජනතාවගේ ම ජීවිත හා අනාගතය භාරවී තිබෙන ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ගෙන් මෙයින් ඉතාම ඕනෑකමින් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු. එසේ ම බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත හා සෙසු ආගම් වලට අයත් ආයතන සම්බන්ධයෙන් පනවා තිබෙන පනත් පුද්ගල නීති ලෙස හුවා දක්වමින් අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් 2021 පෙබරවාරි මස 12 වන දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී සිදුකර තිබෙන අසත්‍ය, අනෛතික හා ජාතිදේ‍රා්හී ප්‍රකාශය හැන්සාඩ් වාර්තාවෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට නියම කරන ලෙස ගරු කථානායකතුමාගෙන් ද මෙයින් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

පිටපත්:- 1. ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා
2. ගරු කථානායක, මහින්ද යාපා අබේවර්ධන මැතිතුමා
3. සියලු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු
4. සියලු මාධ්‍ය ආයතන සඳහා    

නම
1. ආචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය වැලමිටියාවේ ශ්‍රී කුසලධම්ම නායක ස්ථවිර
2. පූජ්‍ය ඕමාරේ කස්සප අනුනායක ස්ථවිර
3. පූජ්‍ය ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමි
4. පූජ්‍ය බෙංගමුවේ නාලක අනුනායක ස්ථවිර
5. පූජ්‍ය බලංගොඩ සෝභිත ස්ථවිර
6. පූජ්‍ය මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමි
7. මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය ඉත්තදෙමලියේ ඉන්දසර නාහිමි
8.  මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය මැදගොඩ අභයතිස්ස ස්ථවිර
09. මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය මල්වානේ චන්දරතන ස්ථවිර
10. ආචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය කපුගොල්ලෑවේ ආනන්ද කිත්ති හිමි

11. පූජ්‍ය වැලිමිටියාවේ ඥාණරතන ස්ථවිර  

Rohan Abeygunawardena, Nugegoda

Imran Khan, the present Prime Minister of Pakistan scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on February 22 on a two day official visit. He will hold discussions with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. He was also schedule to address Sri Lanka Parliament but later it was cancelled.

He was the only international cricketer to become a prime minister in the world. Born after the partition, in an affluent family in Lahore Imran completed his schooling in the Royal Grammar School of Worcester, England where he pursued cricket for the first time and excelled at it. His talent in bowling earned him a place in the Worcestershire County at a very early age. He was selected for Pakistan test team at age 18, in a 1971 Test series against England. Khan played until 1992, served as the team’s captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992. Under his leadership Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup in 1992. This was Pakistan’s first and only victory in the competition. Having a beautiful free flowing bowling action he could swing the ball both ways with the new ball as well as the old.  He also mastered the reverse-swing to decimate the clueless oppositions. On the other hand he was even accused of ball-tampering, the use of foreign substances on the ball, raising the seam of the ball, and deliberate roughening of the surface to achieve the conditions for reverse-swing by force, citing the reason that there was never a law disallowing him from altering the condition of the ball. Since then law has been changed and now ball tampering is an offence.

He was also a dependable middle order batsman. In the ’92 World Cup, due to an inexperienced batting order, he promoted himself to the top of the order and played the new ball exceedingly well to reinforce his reputation as one of the most versatile and holistic all-rounders of his generation.

He played 88 tests and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.7 and he has 6 centuries to his credit. He has also taken 362 test wickets at an average of 22.8. In ODI he scored 3709 runs in 175 matches at an average of 33.4 and taken 182 wickets at an average of 26.6. He has a very impressive strike rate of 73% in ODI.

Captain Imran Khan and his team nearly pulled out of Pakistan’s first tour of Sri Lanka in 1986. This was due to bad umpiring in the absence of Mahinda Wijesinghe’s third umpire concept or Senaka Weeraratne’s Decision Review System (DRS). Fortunately Sri Lanka’s then President J.R. Jayawrdene and Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq intervened and saved the series. President J.R. Jayewardene called President Zia-ul-Haq to inform Your Excellency, these 22 fools in flannels trying to disrupt the good relations between our two countries. Therefore I am ordering Pakistan team to stay and get on with the game.” What Jayewardene said was true for Sri Lanka and Pakistan had a very good relationship then. Pakistan provided arms and ammunition and training to our armed forces to fight terrorism and to convert from a ceremonial outfit to professional force. Under the leadership of General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan provided moral support to our country at international forums against the adverse propaganda by India and Tamil diaspora. It was a well-known fact that India under Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s premiership provided logistic support and training for Tamil insurgents.

Prime minister Imran Khan excelled in studies as well. From 1972 to 1975, he studied Politics, Economics and Philosophy in Kebble College, Oxford. He managed the workload of international cricket simultaneously to graduate with honours at the age of 23. And hence began an extraordinary journey. Khan was awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians in 2012 while serving as the Chancellor of the University of Bradford between 2005 and 2014.

In 1991, he launched a fundraising campaign to set up a cancer hospital in memory of his mother. He raised $25 million to set up the hospital in Lahore in 1994, and set up a second hospital in Peshawar in 2015.

Khan was elected Prime Minister in 2018. His immediate concern was the balance of payment crisis and the shrinking current account deficit faced by Pakistan. He tackled these problems by negotiating a bailout package from International Monetary Fund (IMF) and limiting military spending to curtail the fiscal deficit.

Khan propagated for an increase in renewable energy production with an aim to make Pakistan mostly renewable by 2030. He also initiated reforestation and expansion of national parks. He enacted policy which increased tax collection and investment. His government also instituted reforms to education and healthcare on a national and regional level respectively. Some reforms were made to Pakistan’s social safety net.

This educated international cricketer turned politician unfortunately visiting Sri Lanka at a time our own cricket team is in doldrums. Our young minister of sports should get some advice from this great all-rounder on how to revamp our cricket.

Zindabad Prime Minister Imran Khan!

Rohan Abeygunawardena,

Nugegoda.

Destination SRI LANKA

Technical Input by Dr Herath Mantritilake – People Friendship University (Moscow) graduate and an old Nalandian

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චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ

ලෝකයේ සිදුවු පහත් ගනයේ අපරාධයක් වන්නේ යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේව කුරුසයේ තබා ඇණ ගැසීමයි.එදා ඒ අපරාධය කලවුන්ට ඉතිහාසයේ කිසිම තැනකදී දඬුවමක් මිනිස් සමාජය විසින් ලබා දුන්නේ නැත. ඒ එවකට සිටි රාජ්‍ය පාලකයින් විසින් අධිකරණය හා සමගින් එකතුවී උන්වහන්සේව කුරුසයේ තබා ඇණ ගසා මරා දැමීමට අවශ්‍ය වටපිටාව අපුරුවට නිර්මාණය කර තිබු නිසාය.

මේ අපරාධය ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ පාස්කුව හා සම්බන්ධවූ පළමු අපරාධය සේ ගිනිය හැකිය.මේ අපරාධය සම්බන්ධව ස්වභාවය මෙන්ම සමාජයද යම්කිසි විනිශ්චයක් දිය යුතුය.අපි සියලු දෙනාම සමාජය මේ සම්බන්ධව දුන් විනිශ්චය කුමක්දැයි දනිමු. එදා අපරාධ කාරයන්ව මරා දමන යන්ත්‍රය බවට පත්ව තිබු කුරුසය යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේව මරා දැමීමට උපකාර කර ගැනීමත් සමග එයට සමාජය විසින් උසස්වීමක් ප්‍රධානය කර පුජණීය වස්තුවක් බවට පත්කර ලොව සෑම තැනකම ඉහලින් ඔසවා තැබීමට අවශ්‍ය සියලුම කටයුතු සම්පාදනය විය.

යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේගේ කරමතින් කල්වාරි කන්දට ගොස් උන්වහන්සේට පිඩාව හා මරණය උරුම කල කුරුසය අද පුජණීය වස්තුවක් බවට පත්ව,එම කුරුසය සියලුම ක්‍රිස්තියානි බැතිමතෙක්ම ඉහලින්ම වන්දනාමානයට බාජනය වෙමින් වැජබෙන තත්වයකට පත්වීම අවසාන තීන්දුවයි. ලෝකය තුල සාධාරණත්වය සිදුවෙන ආකාරය තේරුම් ගැනීමට මේ සිද්ධිය ඉතා හොඳ උදාහරණයකි.

යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේව කුරුසයේ තබා ඇණ ගසා මරා දැමීමේ ශෝකය මහා සිකුරාදාත් උන්වහන්සේ මළවුන්ගෙන් නැගිටීමේ සතුට සැමරීම පාස්කු ඉරිදාත් සිදුවීම වසර ගණනාවක් පුරා ලොවේ බොහෝ තැන්වල සිදුකිරීම අඛණ්ඩව සිදුවිය. වර්ෂ 2019දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කිතුනුවන් සුපුරුදු ලෙස මහා සිකුරාදා උන්වහන්සේව කුරුසයේ තබා ඇණ ගැසීමේ ශෝකය විඳ ගත්තද මළවුන්ගෙන් නැගිටීමේ සතුට විඳ ගැනීමට ඉඩ නොතබා මුළු රටම මල ගෙයක් බවට පත්කළහ.

අපි මේ සිදුවීමට පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය යයි කියමු. මෙයට සම්බන්ධ අපරාධ කාරයන් සොයා දඬුවම් කල යුතුයිද පවසමු. මේ ඉල්ලීම ප්‍රබල ඉල්ලීමකි. මේ ඉල්ලීම පැවතී යහපාලනය පෙරලා දැමීමට ප්‍රබලව ඉවහල් වූ අතර, ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට බලය ලබාදීමට ජනතාව පෙළඹවීමට ඉවහල් වූ එක් ප්‍රබල සාධකයක් විය.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාද ඒ සම්බන්ධව විශේෂ අවදානයක් යොමුකොට ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් පත්කොට එහි වාර්තාව මේ වනවිට එතුමා වෙත ලබාගෙන ඇත. දැන් මුළු සමාජයේම අවදානය ඒ වෙත යොමුව ඇත.දැන් දැන් ඝාතකයොත්,ඝාතනයට ලක්වූ මිනිසුන්ගේ නෑසියොත් එකතුව පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධව සාධාරණ පරික්ෂයක් ඉල්ලා සටනක් නිරතවේ. දැන් හැමෝම කෑගසන්නේ පවතින රජය ඉලක්ක කරගෙනය.

මේ අවස්ථාවේදී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට අවංකවම මේ අපරාධකාරයන්ට තරාතිරම නොබලා දඩුවම්දීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය තදින්ම පවතී. සතුරන් බලා සිටින්නේ එතුමාගේ මේ අවශ්‍යතාවය කුමන ආකාරයෙන් ක්‍රියාවට නගයිද යන දෙගිඩියාවෙනි.එදා යේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේගේ නඩුවේ විනිසුරුවරයා මුහුණ දුන් තත්වයට අද ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පත්ව ඇත.එතුමාගේ එකම අපේක්ෂාව මේ අපරාධකාරයන්ට දඩුවම් දීමයි. නමුත් එතුමාට අපරාධකාරයන්ට දඩුවම් දීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් නැත. මුළු රාජ්‍යන්ත්රයම වේලි පවතින්නේ, යටත් විජිත අපරාධකාරයන් විසින් නිර්මාණය කර ඇති අපරාධකාරයන් ගලවා ගැනීම උදෙසාම සකස්කළ යාන්ත්‍රණයයි. කුමන තත්වයක් යටතේදී හෝ එතුමාට සිදුවන්නේ මේ අපරාධකාරයන්ට එරෙහිව නඩු පැවරීමට උපදෙස් දීමටයි. එය එතුමා විසින් අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ඉටුකරනු ඇත. නමුත් එතුමාට අධිකරණයේ කටයුතු මෙහෙය විය නොහැකි බැවින් මේ නඩු විභාගයෙන පසුව මරාගෙන මැරෙන ඇඳුම පුජනිය තත්වයක් ලබා සමාජයේ ඉහලම පුද සත්කාර ලබන පුජා භාණ්ඩය විය හැක.

අපි හැම ඉවසිල්ලෙන් සිදුවෙන සෑම ක්‍රියාවක් දෙසම බලමින්, පවතින සැබෑ තත්වය අවබෝධකර ගනිමින් සාධාරණය වෙනුවෙන්ම පෙනී සිටිමු.

by Senaka Weeraratna

Sri Lanka was a haven for Germans in the pre – war period as well as the immediate post – war period. 

It was treated as the Mecca of Buddhism. 

The intellectual space for exploration of Buddhism in Germany had already been created by the writings of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hermann Oldenberg, Karl Eugen Neumann, among others.

But that alone was insufficient to learn Buddhism.

Germans had to touch base with Buddhism in a setting of actual practice and learn more from teachers well – versed in the Dhamma. The ideal place was Sri Lanka. 

Europeans, especially Germans, using informal networks visited British Ceylon in the early period to sap the Wisdom of the East.  

They were welcomed in Buddhist Temples and the ordained German monks were supported by the Sinhala Buddhist laity.

German Buddhist pioneers like Dr. Paul Dahlke, Ven. Nyanatiloka, Ven. Nyanaponika, Ven. Gnanawimala etc were revered by the Buddhist Sinhalese. Nyanatiloka and Nyanaponika were given Citizenship status of Sri Lanka.

When World War Two occured, the German nationals remaining in Ceylon were arrested and first interned at the Diyatalawa Military camp and later relocated to DehraDun in India.

  The ostracization of Germans 

The ostracization of Germans in British colonies commenced then and continued thereafter. 

Almost the entirety of Europe that was occupied by Germany during the WW2 was virtually a closed area for the Germans after the war. Memories of the war lingered among people in former occupied Europe.

Battered and Bruised the Germans went through immense hardship. It was at this time that a young Sinhala businessman, Asoka Weeraratna on his first visit to Germany in 1951 saw the pain and suffering of the Germans. He was determined to do something positive and long lasting for the Germans. He chose to give the gift of Buddhism to a people in distress disillusioned with the failure of their own religions to prevent repeated wars taking place in Europe.   

Seeing the necessity to propagate Buddhism, especially in Germany, Asoka Weeraratna succeeded with his heroic efforts, sacrificial labours, devotion and energy in establishing the German Dharmaduta Society in 1952. 

 Dr.  Georg Ahrens was the first German Ambassador to Sri Lanka. He arrived in 1953. He too became a victim of boycotts and ‘persona non grata’ treatment by the Western Diplomats and officialdom. But the Buddhists warmly welcomed him and provided a public platform for him to speak.  

A well attended public meeting was held at the Colombo Town Hall on September 06, 1954 sponsored by the German Dharmaduta Society to raise funds ( One Million Rupees – Dasa Laksha Aramudala ) to sponsor a Buddhist Mission to Germany, to coincide with the Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations in 1956.. Mr. Dudley Senanayake, then former Prime Minister, presided at this meeting. 

Top Picture – Mr. Dudley Senanayake is seen addressing the gathering. The monk in the picture ( left of Mr. Henry Amarasuriya) is Samanera Friedrich Muller ( German ) who later became well known as Ven. Polgasduwe Nyanawimala Thera ( a disciple of Ven. Nyanatiloka Maha Thera). 

Middle Picture –  The German Ambassador Dr. Georg Ahrens is seen speaking. The monk in the picture ( left of Mr. Henry Amarasuriya) is Samanera Friedrich Muller (German).

Bottom Picture – Left to Right Dr. G.P. Malalasekera, Hon. J.R. Jayewardene, Hon. C.W.W. Kannangara, Hon. R.G. Senanayake, Dr. Georg Ahrens ( German Ambassador ) and Hon. U Ba Lwin ( Burmese Ambassador).

Dr. Georg Ahrens, the German Ambassador said he had been a student of Buddhism and had been greatly impressed by its tolerance. He had visited a German Bhikkhu in a hospital in Kandy and was much impressed by his lofty ideals. This Bhikkhu wished all success to the mission. The world was passing through great tribulation and people wanted peace. This was not wishful thinking but a genuine desire for enduring peace. He wished the mission success in its noble work to bring the teaching of the Buddha to the German people.

For a Full Report of this Meeting in the Ceylon Daily News of September 07, 1954, please visit the following web link

Ceylon could give the world a gift : Peace through Buddhism

by a ‘ Daily News’ Reporter

http://archives.dailynews.lk/2002/12/07/fea11.html

The Polgasduwa Island Hermitage built by the highly Venerated German monk, Ven. Nyanatiloka Maha Thera in 1911 stands as a monument to the deep cultural bonds between two countries. So does Das Buddhistische Haus ( Berlin Buddhist Vihara) in Berlin – Frohnau, Germany.

Ven. Nyanatiloka’s message

In a memorable message to the publication ‘Buddhism in Germany’ (1953) Ven. Nyanatiloka says as follows:

“It was just 50 years ago in 1903, that I came first to this island which, since then, I have considered my spiritual home, and I am therefore happy to be now a citizen of Sri Lanka.

Yet, it will be understood that it was the great wish of my heart to give the country of my origin the best I possessed, i.e. the Dhamma. And to that end I have devoted the greatest part of my 50 years in the Sangha. I did so in the firm conviction that the Dhamma will take root in my home country, Germany, and may have a great future there.

Now it has been a very great pleasure to me to hear that Mr. Weeraratna returned from Germany with the very same conviction, and was able to report on lively Buddhist activities there. I believe that the chances for Buddhist mission work in Germany are now greater than ever before. I am therefore very happy that the Lanka Dharmadutha Society has undertaken that great task of sending a well-prepared mission to Germany and to support Buddhist work there, in general.

I greatly appreciate the initial work done by the Society up to now, and particularly the sacrificing labour, devotion and energy shown by the Founder and Secretary of the Lanka Dharmadutha Society, Asoka Weeraratna.

I should, indeed, regard it as a happy culmination of my life if Vesak 1956, i.e. the year 2500, will see a well-established mission in Germany, which will not fail to have a far-reaching influence on the other Western countries, too.

I wish the Society full success in their great and noble enterprise. Selfless effort to give the Dhamma to those who are most in need of it will be of great blessing to those who give and receive”. – Nyanatiloka (May 25, 1953)

Ill treatment of Germans by the Allies

The Western Allies after the Second World War treated the Germans and the Japanese in the most brutal fashion.

Thousands of German POWs died in concentration camps run by the Americans and the British. Mostly through forced starvation of the prisoners. 

In Sri Lanka, we did not adopt the hatred of the Allies towards their enemies, Germans and Japanese, despite being a former British colony.   

The Sinhalese in particular never ostracized the Germans. Never looked at Germans or the Japanese through the lens of their adversaries. 

The German visitors to Sri Lanka were always given a warm welcome in our homes, especially at a time when the rest of the world, influenced by the victorious Allies shunned them. The German people were demonized by the Allies and were made to feel guilty collectively for the crimes of Hitler and the Nazis. 

In Sri Lanka,  German Buddhist monks were treated with utmost respect and extended a high level of hospitality that they would never receive in their home country.

The bridge of friendship that has been built between the people of Sri Lanka and the people of Germany over the last one hundred and fifty years must be strengthened and continued. 

see also

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/germany-sri-lanka-still-thinks-you-our-friend/

Senaka Weeraratna  

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන පක්ෂයේ නිර්මාතෘ දිවංගත විජය කුමාරතුංග මහතාගේ 33වැනි ගුණානුස්මරණ  උත්සවය ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් කොළඹ නව නගර ශාලාවේ දී අද 2021.02.21 දින පස්වරුවේ පැවැත්විණි.

විජය කුමාරතුංග මහතාගේ 33වැනි ගුණසැමරුම් දෙසුම පැවත්වූයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා කොමියුනිට්ස් පක්ෂයේ හිටපු මහ ලේකම් ඩීව් ගුණසේකර මහතාය.

“විජය කුමාරතුංග මහතා සමීපව ඇසුරුකළ අයෙකු ලෙස මම එතුමාගෙන් දුටු විශේෂ ලකෂණය තමයි එතුමා තුළ පැවති නොබැඳි විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සහ ජාතික සමගිය. මේ කාරණාවල දී විජය ඉතා දැඩිව නොසෙල්වී සිය මතය වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටියා. ඒ හේතුව නිසාම ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කරන්නට කඳවුරු වෙත යාමට තරම් ශක්තියක් එතුමාට තිබුණා යැයි ඩීව් ගුණසේකර මහතා පැවසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික වාමාංශික පෙරමුණේ නායක අමාත්‍ය වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර, පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක අමාත්‍ය උදය ගම්මන්පිල, මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ නායක අමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ මහ ලේකම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය දයාසිරි ජයසේකර, ලංකා සමසමාජ පක්ෂයේ නායක තිස්ස විතාරණ, සමාජවාදී ජනතා පෙරමුණේ ලේකම් වයඹ පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර රාජා කොල්ලුරේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන පකෂයේ ප්‍රධාන ලේකම් අසංක නවරත්න ඇතුළු දේශපාලන නායකයන් සහ පක්ෂ සාමාජිකයින්, කලාකරුවන් ඇතුලු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

කොළඹ හලාවත දෙදිසාවේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක, කැලණිය විද්‍යාලංකාර මහ පිරිවෙනේ පරිවේනාධිපති, කැලණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ කුලපති ආචාර්ය, වැලමිටියාවේ කුසලධම්ම නායක ස්වාමින් වහන්සේගේ 84වැනි ජන්ම දින ආශිර්වාද බෝධි පුජාව, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ  ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැලියගොඩ විද්‍යාලංකාර මහ පිරිවෙණේ දී අද 2021.02.20 පස්වරුවේ පැවැත්විණි.

විද්‍යාලංකාර මහ පිරිවෙනේ වැඩබලන අධ්‍යක්ෂ වැලමිටියාවේ ඤාණරතන ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ මෙහිදී  අනුශාසනාවක් පැවැත්වූහ.

“වැලමිටියාවේ කුසලධම්ම අපේ නායක හිමියන්ගේ ජන්ම දිනය වෙනුවෙන් සෑම වසරකම පිංකම් මාලාවක් සිදු කරනවා. නායක හිමියන් තරමක රෝගීතත්‍ත්වයෙන් සිටියද අප තීරණය කළා ඒ පිංකම් මාලාව මෙවර ජන්ම දිනයටත් ඒ අයුරින්ම සිදු කරන්න.

 අපේ නායක හිමියන් රටේ අධ්‍යාපනික, ආගමික හා සමාජයීය සෑම අංශයකම විශාල සේවාවක් ඉටු කර තිබෙනවා. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් උන්වහන්සේ වැඩම නොකළ ස්ථානයක්, විහාරයක් මේ රටේ නැති තරම්. අපේ නායක හිමියන්ට නිදුක් නිරෝගීභාවය චිරජීවනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරනවා. විශේෂයෙන් මෙවර පිංකම සඳහා සම්බන්ධ වන ලෙස  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාට අපි ආරාධනා කළා.

එතුමාගේ පැමිණිම අපි ඉතා අගය කොට සලකනවා. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාට මේ රටට තවදුරටත් සේවය කරන්න අවශ්‍ය නිදුක් නීරෝගී සුවය චිරජීවනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරනවා. ” යැයි ඤාණරතන හිමියෝ පැවසූහ.

එසේම, පරිවේනාධිපති වැලමිටියාවේ කුසලධම්ම නායක හිමියන් බැහැදුටු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා, උන්වහන්සේගේ ශාසනික මෙහෙවර අඛණ්ඩව ඉදිරියට ගෙනයාම සඳහා  අවශ්‍ය නිදුක් නිරෝගී, චීරජීවනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කළේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා  අත්තනගල්ල  රාජමහා විහාරාධිපති පන්නිල ආනන්ද නායක ස්වාමින් වහන්සේ, සබරගමුව විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ කුලපති කුඹුරුගමුවේ වජිර නායක ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ  ප්‍රධාන මහා සංඝරත්නය වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන ප්‍රසන්න රණවීර , සිසිර ජයකොඩි, ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහත්වරු ඇතුළු සැදැහැවතුන් පිරිසක් සහභාගී වී සිටියහ.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක,ස්වදේශ කටයුතු හා ආපදා කළමනාකරණ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය.

ජනතාවගේ ජීවන වියදම පහල දැමීමට අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු සැලසුම් කලයුතු බව වාරිමාර්ග අමාත්‍ය හා රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු හා ආපදා කළමනාකරණ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පවසයි.අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව සදහන් කලේ ඊයේ (18) ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවන හා දරිද්‍රතාවය තුරන් කිරීම සඳහා වන ජනාධිපති කාර්ය සාධක බලකායේ ජාතික සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෘෂිකාර්මික අනුකමිටුවේ දී ය.

විදේශ විනිමය ගෙන එන බෝග වැඩි වශයෙන්  වගාකිරීමට ගොවීන් පෙලඹ විය යුතු බව අමාත්‍ය වරයා මෙහිදී අදාල නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දෙන ලදී.දැනට වගා නොකර ඇති ඉඩම් යලි වාගා කිරීම සදහා ගොවීන්ට ලබා දීමට අවදාන යොමුකල යුතු බව අමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් සදහන් කලා.කෘෂිකාර්මික හා ආහාර නිශ්පාදයේ දී සතුන්ගෙන් සිදුවන හානි අවම කිරීම සදහා කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගතයුතු බවට ද චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කියාසිටියා.

 රට හදන සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්මට අනුව වැඩ සමග යළි ගමට ජාතික වැඩසටහනෙහි කෘෂිකර්ම විෂය පද්ධතියට අදාළව ගැටලු මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා කරන ලදී.

මෙම  අනුකමිටුව සඳහා  වාරිමාර්ග, වනජීවී, කෘෂිකර්ම , ඉඩම්, පරිසර හා වැවිලි කර්මාන්ත යන අමාත්‍යාංශ 6  ඇතුලත් වේ. එම අමාත්‍යාංශ වල අමාත්‍යවරු, ලේකම්වරු සහ අදාළ රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් සමග කෘෂිකාර්මික ගැටලු සඳහා විසදුම් ලබා දෙන ලදී. 

2021 අයවැය යෝජනා ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම හා ක්‍රියාකාරී සැලැස්ම සහ ඊට අදාල ගත යුතු ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීරණ ගැනීම හා අන්තර් අමාත්‍යාංශයීය මට්ටමින් විසඳාගත යුතු ගැටලු මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා කරන ලදී. 

ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවන හා දරිද්‍රතාවය තුරන් කිරීම සඳහා වන ජනාධිපති කාර්ය සාධක බලකායේ ජාතික සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෘෂිකාර්මික අනුකමිටුවේ සභාපති වරයාවන්නේ අමාත්‍ය චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතායි.

රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු හා ආපදා කළමනාකරණ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ  පැවැති ජාතික සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෘෂිකාර්මික අනු කමිටු රැස්වීම සඳහා  පරිසර අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද අමරවීර මැතිතුමා, කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍ය මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ මැතිතුමා , ඉඩම් අමාත්‍ය එස් එම්  චන්ද්‍රසේන  මැතිතුමා සහ  වැවිලි කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍ය  වෛද්‍ය රමේෂ් පතිරණ මැතිතුමා  එක්ව සිටියේය. 

ඊට අමතරව රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරු වන ශෂීන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ , සිරිපාල ගම්ලත්, අනුරාධ ජයරත්න , ඩී .බී හේරත් සහ එස්. වියාලේන්දන් මහත්වරු එක්ව සිටියේය.

කසුන් වීරතුංග (මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රධානී – 0713935936)
මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය.
රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක,ස්වදේශ කටයුතු හා
ආපදා කළමනාකරණ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය.

History Hit

It is a troubling fact of World War Two history that the USA regularly employed crude racial stereotypes in the service of ridiculing and demonising their Japanese opponents.

The unannounced strike on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 sent a deep shock-wave through America and its people. The country went to war in earnest, roused to avenge those lost in the sneak attack.

Soon after President Franklin D Roosevelt had proclaimed 7 December ‘a date which will live in infamy’, anti-Japanese paraphernalia and propaganda surfaced across the United States. A notion of Japanese treachery had been planted in the minds of Americans that was open for further careful exploitation and nurturing.

Subsequent anti-Japanese propaganda was used to dehumanise, antagonise, and create fear of the Japanese people and Japanese nation. The discovery of a large Nazi spy ring within the USA heightened paranoid fantasies of a treacherous Japanese population that was working with the enemy to undermine the US war effort.

Full Report

5 Examples of Anti-Japanese Propaganda During World War Two

Courtesy Hiru News

අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය අලි සබ්රි විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත පුද්ගල නීතියක් බව පවසමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී කළ ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කඩිනම් පියවර ගන්නැයි මහා සංඝරත්නය ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට ලිපියක් යොමු කරමින් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

අදාළ ලිපියේ පිටපතක් කථානායකවරයා වෙත ද යොමු කරමින් මහ සංඝරත්නය ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ ප්‍රකාශය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හැන්සාඩ් වාර්තාවෙන් ඉවත් කරන ලෙසයි.

The Maha Sangha has sent a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa requesting him to take immediate action regarding the statement made by the Minister of Justice in Parliament stating that the Temples and Shrines Act is a personal law.

The Maha Sangha also sent a copy of the letter to the Speaker requesting that the Minister’s statement be removed from the Hansard report in Parliament

උපුටාගැණීම අද දෙරණ

අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය අලි සබ්රි මහතා විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත පුද්ගල නීතියක් බව පවසමින් ඉකුත් පෙබරවාරි 12 වැනිදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී කළ ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කඩිනම් පියවර ගන්නැයි මහ සංඝරත්නය ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී.

අදාළ ලිපියේ පිටපතක් කථානායකවරයා වෙතද යොමු කරමින් මහ සඟරුවන ඉල්ලා ඇත්තේ අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ ප්‍රකාශය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හැන්සාඩ් වාර්තාවෙන් ඉවත් කරන ලෙසය.

ආචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය වැලමිටියාවේ කුසලධම්ම හිමි, පූජ්‍ය ඕමාරේ කස්සප හිමි, පූජ්‍ය බෙංගමුවේ නාලක හිමි, මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය මැදගොඩ අභයතිස්ස හිමි, පූජ්‍ය මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද හිමි, පූජ්‍ය ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමි ඇතුළු භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ 11 නමකගේ අස්සනින් යුතුව එම ලිපිය ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත යොමු කර තිබේ.

බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත පුද්ගල නීතියක් බව අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය මොහොමඩ් අලි සබ්රි මහතා පෙබරවාරි මස 12 වැනිදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇතැයි පවසන මහ සඟරුවන වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වාදෙන්නේ, නීති විද්‍යාලයේ සිසුන්ට නිර්දේශීත ග්‍රන්ථයක් වන මහාචාර්ය එල්.ජේ.එම්.කුරේ මහතාගේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීති ක්‍රමයට හැඳින්වීමක් යන ග්‍රන්ථයේ සඳහන් ආකාරයට පුද්ගල නීතිය යන්නට ඇතුළත් වන්නේ උඩරට නීතිය, තේසවලාමේ නීතීය සහ මුස්ලිම් නීතීය පමණක් බවය.

ඉන් උඩරට නීතිය සහ තේසවලාමේ නීතිය ප්‍රාදේශීය නීති වශයෙන් සැලකෙන බැවින් වචනයේ අර්ථයෙන්ම පුද්ගල නීතියක් ලෙස හැඳින්විය හැක්කේ මුස්ලිම් නීතිය පමණක් බව එහි පැහැදිලිව ඇතැයිද පෙන්වා දෙන උන්වහන්සේ බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත ඒවායේ මූල්‍ය පරිපාලනය පිළිබඳ පනවන ලද නීති බව සිහිපත් කර සිටී.

බෞද්ධ විහාර හා දේවාලගම් පනත ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9 වැනි වගන්තියට අනුබද්ධව පවතින නීතියක් බැවින් අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ ප්‍රකාශය බුද්ධ ශාසනයට එරෙහිව කරන ලද බරපතළ ප්‍රකාශයක් ලෙස මහ සංඝරත්නය පෙන්වාදෙයි. 

එසේ හෙයින් අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යවරයා 2021 පෙබරවාරි මස 12 වැනි දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිදු කර තිබෙන එම ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගත යුතු පියවර කඩිනමින් ගන්නා ලෙස ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින බවත්, අදාළ ප්‍රකාශය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හැන්සාඩ් වාර්තාවෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට නියම කරන ලෙස කථානායකවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කරන බවත් මහ සංඝරත්නය විසින් යවන ලද ලිපියේ සඳහන් වේ.

by Prionka Jha Courtesy Sputnik

India began its “Vaccine Friendship” programme on 20 January and has supplied COVID-19 vaccines to several neighbouring countries, including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Seychelles, and the Maldives. It has also sent vaccine doses to Caribbean countries, South Africa, and the UAE.

The CEO of the world’s biggest vaccine maker, the Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla has asked foreign governments that sought to procure the COVID-19 vaccine doses from India to be patient.

Poonawalla tweeted that the SII “has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world”.

The vaccine, which has been branded Covishield and co-developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, was granted emergency approval in India and is being produced by the Pune-based SII.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently called his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and discussed his country’s requirements for COVID-19 vaccines. Prime Minister Modi assured Trudeau that India would do its best to support Canada’s vaccination efforts, just as it had done for many other countries already.

On 14 February, Poonawalla also took to Twitter to assure the Canadian prime minister that his country’s needs would be met as soon as next month:

Since mid-January, India, which has registered more than 10.9 million cases of coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic, has vaccinated around 11 million people.

කෑගල්ල එම්. බී. පහලවත්ත උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

මම කොරෝනා මර්දන එන්නත විද ගන්නා අවස්ථාවක් පෙන්වන ඡායාරූපයක් සමාජ මාධ්‍යවල යනවා. එය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වැරදි ප‍්‍රවෘත්තියක්. මම විද ගත්ත එන්නතක් නෑ. එය මට කෙණෙහිලිකම් කරන අයගේ මඩ ගැසීමක් බව කියන්න කැමැතියි යැයි ‘ධම්මික පැණිය’ නිපදවූ කෑගල්ලේ ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර වෙද මහතා පැවසීය.

 ඔහු තවදුරටත් මෙසේ ද පැවසුවේය. මගේ රූපය ගෙන තවත් කොටසකට බද්ධ කරලා මට බෙහෙත විදින බවට පෙන්නන ඡුායාරූපය හදලා.

 මෙය දෙස හොඳින් බලන අයකුට පෙනෙනවා බද්ධ කර තිබෙන ඡුායාරූපයක් බව. මම බෙහෙත් හදන්න පටන් ගත් දවසේ සිටම මට එරෙහිව ඔය මඩ ප‍්‍රචාර ගෙනියනවා. මා ඒ ගැන ඉතාමත් කනගාටු වෙනවා.

 මෙම බෙහෙත් නිෂ්පාදනය දිගටම කරගෙන යනවා. මේක නවත්වන්න ඔය කාටවත් බැහැ. දිනපතා විශාල පිරිසක් බෙහෙත ගැනීමට නිවසට පැමිණෙනවා.

 මේ විකෘති කළ ඡායාරූපය සම්බන්ධව නීති මගින් කටයුතූ කරන්න පුළුවන් ද කියා මම සොයා බලනවා යැයි ද හෙතෙම පැවසීය. තව ද ඔය ඵන්නත ගැන තමාට විශ්වාසයක් නැතැයි ද ඔහු කීවේය.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Those who don’t have even basic education shouldn’t be allowed to decide and act on the recommendations by the Presidential Commission of inquiries (PCoI) on Easter Sunday attacks, Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said today.

Cardinal Ranjith who joined a protest staged by the Catholics of Katuwapitiya together with the clergy, said it is the Attorney General who should decide and act on the recommendations made by the Presidential commission.

“Those who have not got through the ordinary level exam cannot be allowed to make such decisions” the Cardinal said.

“The government should publish the PCoI report soon. We are suspicious as to why the government is reluctant to do so,” he added.

Cardinal Ranjith reiterated that he would have to seek the assistance of international institutions, if action is not taken against those who are responsible for the attack. (Yohan Perera)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella today questioned as to why the five-member commission appointed a ministerial committee to look into the recommendations made by the Presidential Commission, which probed the Easter Sunday attacks.

Mr. Kiriella told a press conference that this committee should have comprised senior reputed judicial officers instead of members of Parliament.

We feel suspicious that the ministerial committee was appointed to actually amend the report. The objective of this committee would have been to see that some parts of the report, which refers to some in the present government, are removed. Even Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has expressed such a suspicion,” Mr. Kiriella said.

The evidence given by the wife of Zahran who masterminded the attack before the commission is vital as she had revealed from whom her husband received money. These details should not be deleted from the report,” he added.

Also, he urged the government to seek extradition from India the wife of the suicide bomber who blew himself up at the Katuwapitiya Church as she has more vital information on the attack.(Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Ada Derana

Courtesy Adaderana

It has been revealed that Zahran Hashim, the ring leader behind the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, had trained 15 women to become suicide bombers.

Police Media Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana stated that the information was revealed during the interrogation of the girl who was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) recently.

The 24-year-old Mohamed Ibrahim Saheeda was arrested at Hingula in Mawanella on Friday (February 19) over her close links to Easter Sunday bombers.

She was identified as the sister of Mohamed Ibrahim Sadeek Abdul Haq and Mohamed Ibrahim Shaheed Abdul Haq – the main suspects in the Buddha statue vandalism incident in Mawanella. The duo, who was arrested in Gampola a week after the carnage, are still in remand custody.

Their sister, Saheeda was also taken into custody and interrogated at the time, however, she was arrested again on Friday while she was out on bail.

Saheeda has divulged that she had attended lectures on extremism conducted by Zahran Hashim at Kattankudy back in 2018.

It has been further revealed that 5 of the 15 women were killed in the explosion in Sainthamaruthu following the Easter attack.

The remaining bombers are currently imprisoned or under the custody of the TID, said DIG Ajith Rohana.

During the interrogation of the Terrorism Investigation Division, it was revealed that about 15 women had participated in the classes conducted by Zahran Hashim in December 2018.

Five of these women were killed in a suicide bombing in the Saindamardu area. Three other women have been remanded. In addition, 7 other women including the woman arrested the day before yesterday are currently in the custody of the Terrorism Investigation Division.

It has been revealed that the women had taken the ‘Bayat’ oath [oath of allegiance] after attending the classes by the criminal named Zahran Hashim. The ‘Bayat’ oath states that they will be prepared to carry out a suicide attack at any given moment.”

The 15 women who had pledged to commit suicide in the name of religion are as follows:

Five women who died in Sainthamaruthu explosion:
01. Abdula Sathar Sitti Umma (Zahran’s mother)
02. Mohamed Qasim Hidaya (One of Zahran’s sisters)
03. Adam Lebbe Fatima (Mohamed Zaini’s wife)
04. Mohamed Nashat Fatima Nafna (Mohamed Rilwan’s wife)
05. Feroza (Asad’s wife)

Three women who are in remand custody:
01. Mohamed Qasim Madaniya (One of Zahran’s sisters)
02. Mohamed Paleel Fatima Zahida (Sadiq’s wife)
03. Mohamed Ahmadullah Fatima Justa (Mohamed Milhan’s wife)

Seven others who are currently in TID’s custody under detention orders:
01. Uduma Lebbe Farizana, aged 45 years (Gafoor’s wife)
02. Mummadu Hanifa Fatima Nusra, aged 25 years (Wife of one of Zahran’s close relatives)
03. Mohamed Salih Jafadiya, aged 56 years (Milhan’s mother-in-law)
04. Abdul Rauf Fatima Zara, aged 22 years (Daughter of Darul Adar Mosque chairman Rauf)
05. Abdul Kuddasi Sitti Satuna, aged 44 years (Wife of Darul Adar Mosque chairman Rauf)
06. Seiyadu Ahmadu Asmiya
07. Mohamed Ibrahim Saheeda, aged 24 years (Sister of Mohamed Ibrahim)

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka witnessed 10 more COVID-19 related fatalities as the death toll climbed to 445, Director-General of Health Services confirmed today (February 21).

According to the Department of Government Information, all of the deceased were aged over 50 years.

Details of recent coronavirus victims are as follows:

01. A 74-year-old man from Kolonnawa area has died today while receiving treatment at the Homagama Base Hospital. He was transferred from Colombo National Hospital after testing positive for the virus. The cause of death was recorded as COVID pneumonia and complicated liver disease.

02. An 82-year-old woman from Wellawatte area died at the Homagama Base Hospital today. She had been transferred from Colombo South Teaching Hospital upon testing positive for the virus. The cause of death was cited as COVID pneumonia.

03. A 58-year-old woman died on February 16 at her home in Kalutara area. COVID-19 infection, blood poisoning, heart disease and acute diabetes were reported as the cause of death.

04. A 72-year-old woman who was living in Waskaduwa area died at her home on February 16. The cause of death was recorded as COVID-19 infection, blood poisoning and heart attack due to high blood pressure.

05. A 65-year-old man from Bibila area has died on February 19. He was moved to Kandy National Hospital from Monaragala District Hospital after testing positive for the virus. He suffered from brain hemorrhage and respiratory tract infection along with COVID-19 infection.

06. A 68-year-old man from Guruthalawa area, who tested positive for the virus at General Hospital in Badulla, was transferred to Mulleriyawa Base Hospital where he died yesterday (February 20). COVID pneumonia, heart disease, kidney disease and acute diabetes were recorded as the cause of death.

07. A 68-year-old man from Pitakotte area has died on admission to Colombo South Teaching Hospital on February 19. The cause of death was cited as wheezing and acute diabetes along with COVID-19 infection.

08. An 83-year-old man who was living in Kudagalgamuwa area died while receiving treatment at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital on February 14. He has suffered from COVID-19 infection, blood poisoning due to an injury and kidney disease.

09. A 90-year-old man from Ratmalana area passed away yesterday (February 20) while receiving medical care at Pimbura Base Hospital. He was receiving treatment at Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital when he tested positive for novel coronavirus. The cause of death was recorded as COVID pneumonia.

10. A 72-year-old man from Hatton area died yesterday (February 20) due to COVID-19 infection, acute diabetes, high blood pressure and brain cell death. He had been transferred from a private hospital in Colombo to National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) after testing positive for novel coronavirus.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka registered 265 more positive cases of COVID-19 today (February 21) as total novel coronavirus infections reported within the day reached 519.

Department of Government Information says 495 of today’s cases are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda cluster.

Twenty-three others were detected from the prison cluster. The remaining patient is an arrival from a foreign country.

New development has pushed the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases count to 79,999.

According to COVID-19 figures, 5,265 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres.

Meanwhile, total recoveries reported in the country now stand at 74,299.

Sri Lanka has also witnessed 435 fatalities due to the outbreak of the pandemic.

Some held portfolios during the thick of LTTE terror. Some held portfolios that could have stopped LTTE terror. Some held portfolios but simply watched LTTE carnage in silent. All of them did nothing to end the suffering 20million populace suffered when LTTE bombed and committed acts of terror. All of them woke up only after LTTE was militarily defeated or on the verge of defeat and all of them are now demanding answers for how the war was fought completely erasing their inaction during LTTE terror. What are these desperados’ really up to? What should UN Member States read from these actions? When a UN that did nothing to stop terror suddenly comes out with the rule books AFTER the terror is over, it only showcases the UN system is being used to CREATE A PRECEDENCE with Sri Lanka as a guinea pig. The Third World must rally behind Sri Lanka not for anything else, but to safeguard their own nations from becoming target of UN bullies if their attempt to subjugate Sri Lanka into the UN succeeds.

The laws of war and justice was re-written according to geopolitical demands with 9/11. Thereafter, concepts, formulas and templates took the form of what suited powerful nations & their political agendas. So accountability, justice, human rights, democracy, freedoms etc came to be determined on what suited their agendas. The UN system and NGO network became the mechanisms used to fast forward these objectives.

Those who did nothing to stop Rwanda genocide – where actual dead bodies was seen to count cannot talk about any invisible genocide in Sri Lanka – where accusers have failed to present names of 40,000 dead.

Those who did nothing when the Libyan Leader was killed in front of the whole world and watched by the world’s most powerful nation whose officials simply laughed at his death – cannot talk about justice or accountability.

Those who after destroying Libya went on to destroy Syria, bombing a country to the stone age, with goal to dislodge its leader, cannot send petitions against Sri Lanka, if they simply sat in their official chair and did nothing against it using the powers of their office.

Those that watch the suffering of the Iraqi’s Afghans, Darfur, and those who know how ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda etc are funded and trained cannot just take Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces and demand their penalization and ridicule on the world stage.

Those who are watching Yemen’s humanitarian sorrow, the malnutrition children, the hungry adults and pass the buck because of the countries involved in it are too powerful have no moral right to be only pointing fingers at Sri Lanka because it is a small nation with weak leaders.

https://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sowing-the-Seeds-of-Conflict.pdf

Name	Role / Member	Tenure
1.      Juan Manuel Santos	The EldersFormer President of ColombiaNobel Peace Prize Winner	2010 – 20182016

Former UNHRC heads

Name	Role / Member	Tenure
2.      Mary Robinson	The EldersFormer President of IrelandFormer UNHRC Head	1990 – 19971997 – 2002
3.      Louise Arbour	Former UNHRC Head	2004 – 2008
4.      Navanethem Pillay	Former UNHRC Head	2008 – 2014
5.      Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein	Former UNHRC Head	2014 – 2018

Former Special Rapporteur mandate-holders 

Name	Role / Member	Tenure
6.      Charles Petrie	Former United Nations Assistant Secretary- General, Head, Secretary General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nation’s Actions in Sri Lanka	2012
7.      Philip Alston	Former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions	2004 – 2010
8.      Manfred Nowak	Former Special Rapporteur on torture & other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment	2004 – 2010
9.      Gay MacDougall	Former Special Rapporteur on minority issues	2005 – 2011
10.   Jan Eliasson	Deputy Secretary General UN	2012 – 2016
11.   Adama Dieng	Former Special Adviser to UNSG on the Prevention of Genocide	2012 – 2020
12.   Christof Heyns	Former Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions	2010 – 2016
13.   Juan E. Mendez	Former Special Rapporteur on torture & other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment	2010 – 2016
14.   Ben Emmerson	Former Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism	2011 – 2017
15.   Maina Kiai	Former Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association	2011 – 2017
16.   Pablo de Greiff	Former Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence	2012-2018
17.   David Kaye	Former Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression	2014 – 2020

Privately commissioned Panel by UNSG

18.   Marzuki Darusman 19.   Steven Ratner 20.   Yasmin Sooka

Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka

2010-2011

Juan Manuel Santos 

Leader of Colombia from 2010-2018

Colombia’s conflict began in May 1964 between FARC rebels & Columbian Govt/Army and ended in 2016 the same time Juan Santos was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for bringing to end 50 years of conflict that claimed over 220,000 lives majority civilian and has displaced 5million (almost half being children) – between 1985 and 2012 creating worlds 2^ndlargest IDPs.

By 2003, U.S. involvement in Colombia meant 40 U.S. agencies and 4,500 people, including contractors, working from U.S. Embassy in Bogota, the the largest U.S. embassy in the world.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2013/12/21/covert-action-in-colombia/

In 2019, UN itself says 85 rebels killed after 2016 Peace Deal https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46726118

Mary Robinson

First woman President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights days before LTTE blew up MV Cordiality ship killing 5 Chinese crew members. What did she do against LTTE? Chair of The Elders, member of Club Madrid, Has links to Eric Solheim who appointed her Chairman of Development Assistance Committee in 2016. In December 1997 after her visit to Rwanda as UNHRC head the Rwandan govt accused her of ‘blatant distortions’ https://www.irishtimes.com/news/robinson-accused-of-distortions-1.135772

Louise Arbour

Appointed Chief Prosecutor for Rwanda & Yugoslavia. Her indictment of a sitting head – Serbian Leader Milosevic made history though he was exonerated of war crimes only after his controversial death in a prison. As UNHRC head she visited Sri Lanka in 2007 October. Since 2009 she was President of International Crisis Group. It was during her period as UNHRC head that LTTE increased recruitment of child soldiers and even assassinated Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister – Lakshman Kadiragamar all during an internationally mediate cease fire agreement. What did she do to question LTTE accountability?

Navanethem Pillay

As an ethnic Tamil, it was only right that she recused herself from handing Sri Lanka, which she did not. Her statements foretell the biased nature of her actions against Sri Lanka during her tenure as UNHRC head. When she appears on Mullaiwaikkal Memorials distorting her on statements, this proves the case.

Tamil ethnic bias and potential conflict of interest disqualifies Navi Pillay from conducting investigations against Sri Lanka

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/open-letter-to-un-former-unhrc-head-navi-pillays-bias-exposed-investigate-her-role-as-unhrc-head-remove-bogus-charges-against-sri-lanka/

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein

Violated Article 2.7 of UN Charter by interfering in domestic jurisdiction of Sri Lanka – asking to demilitarize and commenting on Sri Lanka’s judiciary.

ZEID COMMITS (POSSIBLE) CONTEMPT OF COURT AGAINST THE SRI LANKA JUDICIARY

Charles Petrie

Another report leaked like the Darusman Report, attempting to shed crocodile tears of UN failing to stop a non-existent carnage, whereas UN actually failed to bring peace to Sri Lanka over 30 years. Petrie should have written about the UN failure to stop LTTE terrorism. Petrie was a UN Official in Rwanda when UN simply abandoned Rwanda. Ironically, he was made UN envoy to Burma! Petrie also headed a Norwegian funded project Myanmar Peace Support Initiative”All hotspots for Western geopolitics!

https://www.onlanka.com/news/telling-the-truth-un-failed-20million-sri-lankans-not-the-ghost-estimates.html

Petrie resigned from the UN at the end of 2010 but in March 2012 appointed by Ban Ki Moon to do an internal review of UN’s action in Sri Lanka. This report was leaked probably because it was shedding crocodile tears about UN failing the civilians in the final phase without crying over UN failure over 30 years to prevent LTTE terror.

Philip Alston

Ban Ki Moon private panel included only one source for alleging ‘executions’by GoSL troops presented by C4 and Alston’s report attaching 3 technical expert reports – from an US forensic analyst Jeff Spiyack who says that there is no way to confirm solely from recordings the identity of the victims or shooters.

Manfred Nowak

Visited Sri Lanka 1 to 8 October 2007.

Gay MacDougall

American lawyer and Board Member of George Soros Open Society

Jan Eliasson

UN Deputy Secretary-General http://www.eyesrilanka.com/2013/12/20/jan-eliasson-even-the-un-security-council-unsc-failed-on-the-sri-lankan-issue/

Adama Dieng

This expert on genocide may like to redefine what genocide is as per political agenda. Where do you have mass murders in this modern era similar to the atrocities committed during colonial times?

https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/08/1070402

Christof Heyns

Joined Alston in claiming C4 videos were authentic but did not provide evidence to prove so.

Juan E. Mendez

Arrived in SL in 2016 and voiced concern over arrests of LTTE.

http://www.ft.lk/article/540790/UN-concerned-over-manner-of-arrest-of-ex-LTTE-activists

Handled case by Lasantha Wickrematunga’s daughter against Gotabaya Rajapakse filed in US. https://cja.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/49-2-Declaration-of-Juan-E-Mendez.pdf

Ben Emmerson

Another UN official overstepping mandate & violating Article 2.7 of UN Charter – demanding repealing of PTA, release of hardcore LTTE, Emmerson defended Ramush Haradinaj, the former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Maina Kiai

a Kenyan lawyer and member of HRW since 2018 was also in Amnesty International in 2001. Regular recipient of letters from LTTE fronts

Pablo de Greiff

Columbian lawyer but dual citizen of US. Joined International Centre for Transitional Justice in 2001.  Delivered a lecture on Transitional Justice” on 20 October 2017 at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute and when Pablo speaks at a TGTE webinar what else is there to say! https://www.srilankacampaign.org/live-webinar-sri-lanka-quest-for-justice-rule-of-law-democratic-rights/

David Kaye

Was one of the 5 signatories to seek justice for Dharisha Bastian & her computer! http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/70310

Marzuki Darusman

Head of the privately commissioned UNSG panel of experts that declared LTTE a ‘disciplined outfit’

Darusman was also appointed by Ban Ki to report on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto – that too ended up a pass the buck report.

Steven Ratner 

Also a member of the privately commissioned UNSG panel of experts.  TGTE extensively quotes Ratner https://issuu.com/tgte/docs/chogm_2013_booklet_by_tgte

Yasmin Sooka

Also a member of the privately commissioned UNSG panel of experts and thereafter became the ‘comrade’ of LTTE fronts appearing at their events. Though paid by EU to look into affairs of South Africa/Africans she is preoccupied with Sri Lanka and its military. Her reports churned out for UN sessions are all without evidence and hype only.

Thus 20 personalities linked to the UN system have put aside all other conflicts, all other human rights or humanitarian issues and is only bothered about Sri Lanka. We want to know why? We want to know what propels them to be so obsessed with Sri Lanka ONLY AFTER they all watched Sri Lanka suffer 30 years of terrorism & DID NOTHING TO STOP LTTE TERROR?

How dare they talk about justice & accountability when they ignored 30 years people suffered under LTTE.

Out of the blue, when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces ended 30 years of terror, how dare they enter holding the rules of war when they chose to ignore all laws that LTTE flouted when they committed pre-meditated murder. They cannot simply brush 30years of terror aside and demand truth and justice for a period they wish to control and dictate to governments.

The fact that their very claim for 40,000 dead has fallen flat with their setting of the Missing Persons Commission which has not got any 40,000 dead names!

This looks nothing but a desperate attempt by UN officials (serving & former) to cover up their follies and biases. When they single out only Sri Lanka where not a bomb has gone off or LTTE suicide attempt occurring since LTTE defeat in May 2009, it baffles all of us as to why these officials are so obsessed with Sri Lanka. This needs serious attention. None of the allegations made have concrete evidence to prove anything beyond doubt.

What are they all up to?

Why are they using Sri Lanka to try to create a precedent?

This is why the third world UN membership should not allow such a precedence to be created using Sri Lanka as a guinea pig.

Shenali D Waduge

H. L. D. Mahindapala

The increasing interventionist role of the UN and its agencies, mainly the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), in the domestic affairs of Sri Lanka, seen especially in the unwarranted excesses listed in the latest Michelle Bachelet’s report, threatening, for instance, to report Sri Lanka to ICJ, should come under unrelenting scrutiny to expose its (1) disproportionate scrutiny and intervention in the domestic affairs particularly when M. A. Sumanthiran says that progress has been made though not  to their satisfaction; (2) partisan selectivity manipulated by pro-Tamil/LTTE agents abroad, including TNA, NGOs, INGOs, etc. (All these players have been complicit in one form or another, by word or by deed,  in appeasing the Tamil Pol Pot killing his own people) and (3) politicisation to appease the Big Brothers who are engaged in  twisting the arm of Sri Lanka to serve the urgent interests in combatting and containing China.   

So, when Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, pretend to be the moral high priestess supervising all that is not to her liking on earth, she must be told in no uncertain terms that in burying the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), the immediate  predecessor to UNHRC, Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General, quite  rightly pinpointed that it was put six feet under because meddlesome interlopers like Bachelet overstepped their mark and violated the three evils mentioned above. She must also be reminded that the  new UNHRC was established not  for the  likes of  Bachelets to go back to the rotten old ways of the buried UNCHR but to hold the balance and steer human rights justly, even-handedly and proportionately to achieve the long-term interests of the  human rights of all and  not just those who are vindictively waging a war in Geneva to get even with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) for crushing Tamil terrorists banned by the world. 

Take the case of M.A. Sumanthiran, the current holy cow of  Tamil politics, manipulating with the American Ambassadress, Alaina B. Teplitz, to fix Sri Lanka in the coming session of UNHRC on human rights principles. Not so long  ago he was on the other side, going on his bended to Velupillai Prabhakaran. During that time, he no qualms in pledging his loyalty to him as the supreme leader of the Tamils when he knew that he had killed more Tamils than any other. To this day he has not apologised to the Tamil people for collaborating with the Tamil Pol Pot and willingly being a part of his killing machine. At least Adolf Eichmann had a rather tenuous excuse for being a part of Hitler’s killing machine. He claimed that he was only a cog in the wheel of the Nazi system and he  had no choice. He said he was merely carrying out orders. But Sumanthiram had a choice. There was no compulsion for him to be an integral part of the Prabhakaran’s killing machine. He did it on his own, voluntarily, agreeing to be a partner in war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly the crimes against his fellow Tamils.

For instance, did he once go with a Tamil parent to Tamil Chelvam, to plead for the life of an abducted  schoolgirl or school boy? He is a lawyer. Did he  ever file a case in the Prabhakaran’s court complaining about the violation of the  fundamental rights of Tamils in his quasi-state? Did he go to the American Ambassador and put pressure on him/her to protect the dignity, justice, equality and peace of the Tamils denied by his sole representative of the Tamils”?  Today, he says that truth will set him free, quoting the Bible. True. So when will he liberate himself from the web of lies in  which he is trapped and walk as a free man? Also, will the American Ambassadress hold the hand of Prabhakaran’s partner in war crimes and crimes against humanity and escort him to Geneva for him to pose as champion of human rights?  

Both of them will find themselves quite at home because UNHRC is built on lies, biases and frauds. John Bolton, the arch conservative, was right when he said that US did not have sufficient confidence to be able to say that HRC wold be better than its predecessor.” (p.56 – The United Nations Human Rights Council, Rosa Freedman, Routledge). He added: If the UN Secretariat building in New York lost ten storeys, it wouldn’t make a little bit of difference.” (ibid – p. 156). In any case, the UN and its agencies have been taken over from time to time by war criminals, liars, frauds, sex maniacs, morally blind hypocrites, etc that one more going from Jaffna will not make much of a difference to UN’s moral failure to be a universal instrument for peace, justice and the security of imperilled man.

A quick glance at some facts will reveal why humanity cannot  depend on the UN as an instrument  for the overall good of man:

Fact 1: Between 1972 and 1981 the UN – the highest instrumentality set up to protect human rights – was run by a war criminal: Kurt Waldheim. As lieutenant in  the  Nazi killing machine he operated in Greece where more than 60,000 were deported to Jewish  death camps. had no qualms. Waldheim served as Secretary – General for two terms. Is this  the institution that is now pointing a finger at Sri Lanka?

Fact 2: On February 5, 2005 Colin  Powell, Secretary of State for Bush, deliberately lied to the Security Council, saying that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction from inspectors and  refusing  to disarm.  The unpardonable immorality of the UN-sanctioned lies  diminishes the credibility of  the UN making accusations against other countries. In the case of Sri Lanka its worse. A case is constructed against Sri Lanka by the three hand-picked characters sitting  in New York and collecting  the evidence of accusers whose names will not be revealed for the next thirty years. What credibility or justice will there be in a case built out of anonymous  accusers whose identity will not be revealed for the next thirty years?

Fact 3: UN-sanctioned naval cordon thrown around Iraq killed 600,000 children and when Madeleine Albright, America’s State Secretary, was asked whether the price was worth for achieving the aims of the West in Iraq she replied that the price was worth it. This figure of 600,000 amounts  to more than all the children killed in Hiroshima. UNHRC is crying its heart out, wringing its hands, on an unverified figure of 40,000 dead between September 2008 and May 2009. Leaving all other factors out, at least on the principle of proportionality will Bachelet report Albright to the ICJ? She can do it because there is no statute  of limitation for crimes against humanity. Will she do it?

Fact 4: Derek Halliday, former Assistant Secretary General of UN in charge of Humanitarian Operation in Iraq  said that the West is waging a war through UN on the people of Iraq, with results that you do not expect to see in a war fought under Geneva conventions. We are targeting civilians… its monstrous situation for UN, for the Western world, for all who are part of some democratic  system and the implementation  of economic sanctions”. Halliday calls it genocide and believes when history books are written the Security Council, the UN, Washington and London will be ’slaughtered’ for their actions (British Medical Journal – March 11,  2000. John Pilger’s documentary Paying the Price – the killing of the children of Iraq.)

Fact 5 : Under UN Security Council Resolution 819 Srebrenica enclave was declared a safe area by UN. The safety status was extended to Sarajevo, Zepa Gorazde, Tuzla Bihac. All cities were placed under UN peacekeeping units UNPROFOR. Member states who voted for it were for political reasons not willing to take necessary steps to ensure the security of the safe areas When the Muslims of Srebrenica were panicking fearing the imminent attacks from Serbs the overall UN Commander rushed and assured the Muslims that they are safe because they are under the protection of UN forces. The next day under the very eyes of the of UN forces commanded by a Dutch unit 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred in a pre-planned genocidal attack. Dutch state was found liable in Dutch supreme court and the Hague district court of failing to do enough to prevent more than 300 deaths. (Wikipedia).

In the Darusman report the GOSL is accused of firing into zones declared as No Fire Zones. This is denied by the GOSL. But let’s assume that it did happen. Unwittingly the Darusman report provides the answer. It says that the LTTE placed  military equipment where civilians were to provoke fire from GOSL forces. GOSL forces did not rush into the No Fire Zone to launch a genocidal attack under the blind eyes of the UN. It was reacting to provocative fire from the LTTE. This is different from UN forces turning a blind eye to the genocidal attack  on Muslims who were in the UN protected Safe  Zone. If anything near to what happened in Srebrenica happened in the No fire Zone in the last days of the 33-year-old war Ms. Bachelet’s would have danced by now her politicised Cancan in Geneva without  knickers.

The overall pattern emerging from her irate report indicates that she in cahoots  with the NGOs, anti-Sri Lankan Western powers who overlook – and even defend – the violations of  human rights of their allies, the Tamil diaspora, India with  its pinch-the-baby-and-rock-the-cradle policy – all of which is taking UNHRC down the very same path that led to the burial of UNCHR.

To understand the inexcusable immorality on which the whole attack on Sri Lanka is based one has to look at the framework on which it stands. Organised Tamil violence against the democratically elected began officially when the Vellala elite declared war in the Vadukoddai Resolution on May 14, 1976 urging the Tamil youth to take up arms and never rest until they achieve Eelam. Since then they have financed it, mobilised cadres for it, internationalised it, lobbied and raised funds for Tamil terrorism in  every available corner  of earth for it, manufactured theories and excuses for violations of human rights and  crimes against humanity, glorified war crimes, triumphantly hailed every killing and/or massacre that led to territorial gains, demonised or eliminated any potential rivals including  the cream of Tamil elite, justified the suppression of all liberties that denied the dignity, justice, liberty, and peace etc. This war ran for 33-years with the backing of  the Diaspora, local elite and even at time with the support of India who never fails to profess eternal friendship with Sri Lanka. It ended on May 19, 2009.

Now here comes the irony of ironies. In its infinite wisdom UN pundits picks only eight months out of 33 years to accuse Sri Lanka in the main of violating human rights and subjecting Sri Lanka only to disproportionate and severe strictures and judgment of the UNHRC and UN. The unanswered – and even the unasked — question why limit the judgment on a war of 33 years to the last eight months only? On what logic? On what rationale? And who was it who drew up the dates? For what reasons?

The dates were arbitrarily determined by the three UN zombies sitting in New York for their convenience. They were not  after serving justice or peace, or human rights, or the truth. They were out to pick bits and piece from wherever they could, stitch them together as credible evidence” and hang Sri Lanka at the end of their rope. Apart from their personal convenience there is a grand design behind  it. It was the only way they could eliminate all the other responsible actors in originating, causing, promoting, financing, and directing a needless war and pin it exclusively on Sri Lanka.  It provided the rationale for the whole world to gang up against Sri Lanka as the only culprit responsible for the 40,000 (a figure picked out of the skies) that died in the  last days of the war.

This arbitrary dating avoids (1) the key issue of crimes against peace committed by the Tamil leadership under the Charter of the Nuremburg Tribunal principle where they planned and conspired and made preparations for waging a war of aggression – the principle under which the Nazi war criminals were tried and sentenced – in passing  the Vadukoddai Resolution on May 14, 1976 declaring war against the democratically elected government of Sri Lanka; (2) the interventionist role of India which engaged in deliberately pursuing a policy of aggression in recruiting, training, financing and directing Tamil terrorist to destabilise a friendly neighbour violating universally accepted international law ; (3) the guilt of Western nations which provided safe havens for agents of Tamil terrorist to raise funds and propagandize terrorism violating Resolution 1373 of the UN ; (d) war crimes and crimes  against humanity committed by the IPKF in massacring patients, doctors, nurses  in the Jaffna Hospital etc., (e) the issue of safe havens given in Western countries to LTTE agents who had directly aided and abetted the violations of human rights  and been an active part of the killing machine of Tamil terrorists (.e.g Adele Balasingham and V. Rudrakumaran, lawyer of Prabhakaran) (f) the refusal to give information on LTTE agents hiding in Western havens as refugees , thereby hampering the overall attempt to bring justice and reconciliation based finding the truth, etc. 

It is the responsibility of the Ms. Bachelet’s, if her office is genuinely concerned about dealing with human rights issues to help the GOSL with these issues instead of passing the  buck to GOSL on every minor issue. For instance, it is immoral for her to limit her investigations arbitrarily only to the last eight months of a 33-year-old war. If truth finding is vital for reconciliation and peace then revisiting the past – the entire length and breadth – is imperative to arrive at a fair and reasonable judgment. If she sits in Geneva like the Darusman zombies in New York and continues to pass judgment impulsively, with eyes wide shut, is will be doing a disservice to the reputation and viability of UNHRC. Even at this stage she has to take a holistic view of the crisis and be fair by all parties.

UNHRC has been battered by all sides. It has been used mainly by US to wipe its feet whenever it decides to get out or come in. Her task is to lift the UNHRC to  a new level of respectability and acceptability. Can she do it? Can she make a difference? Her latest report indicates that  she has the capacity to act only like the monkey dancing to the organ grinders behind her.

There is no great achievement in becoming a Dittohead to the paymasters. Any mug could do it. It is Ms. Michelle Batchelet’s turn to write a new chapter to the UNHRC. She should, for instance, go back to  the beginning and start from the Declaration of War by the Tamils against the  democratically elected state and see how it went all the way to Nandikadal. The Declaration of War took place in Vadukoddai and though it’s a short  distance as the crow flies to Nandikadal where the war ended it took 33 years.

How fair is it, Madam, to judge a journey of 33 years with  the events of only last eight months, eh? Can it serve truth and justice? Doesn’t it all come back the original sins of selectivity and  politicisation? You didn’t break through the glass ceiling just to follow in the footsteps of the male chauvinists, did you Madam?

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart, Member of Viyathmaga and Convener – “The Muslim Voice”, February 20th., 2021.

A visit by Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa to Islamabad in the near future, can pave the way for Pakistan’s engagement in Sri Lanka for the betterment of both brotherly Nations.

Pakistan is a good friend of Prime Minister Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President Gotabaya Rajapksa, Basil Rajapaksa and the Sinhalese Nation of Sri Lanka where the minority communities had lived in “Peace and Harmony”, if not for the problems the Minorities created themselves for political greed and selfishness.

Sri Lankan majority community will never forget the UNSTINTING SUPPORT Pakistan gave Sri Lanka in the war against the most ruthless terrorist group the LTTE organization and to defeat the so-called Tamil Tigers. The communication between PM Imran Khan and HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa is much appreciated and welcome by the Muslims of Sri Lanka at this moment of history making in our “Maathruboomiya”. HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa should accept any invitation that maybe extended my PM Imran Khan during his official visit to PM Mahinda Rajapaksa to make an official vist to Pakistan (Islamabad) at the earliest. Pakistan investments should be encouraged and more trade between the two brotherly nations should prosper as a result of the new frienmdship extended, while we maint an Equilibrium in international relations with our neighbour India. Pakistan investments should be encouraged and more trade between the two brotherly nations should prosper as a result of the new friendship extended, while we maintain an Equilibrium in international relations with our neighbours. With regards to bilateral relations, this is the correct moment for Pakistan to extend all support and assistance to Sri Lanka to get through with the budened debt crisis that the country is facing presently. 

Pakistan should also offer more educational scholarships to Sri Lankans in educations, especially in the technical trades and animal husbandry and designate more experts in the field of Technical experts in agriculture and especially in animal husbandry and “Dairy Farming”. Pakistan should come forward to take over and “turn around” the large “Dairy Farms” that the West, Australia and NewZealand has dumped on Sri Lanka under the pretext of assisting to increase milk production, but really sold thousands of cattle (milk cows) that are NOT Acclimatized to the weather conditions of Sri Lanka. 

They have been sold to Sri Lanka at large prices on strict country to country loans and fraudulent deals, one of the causes of Sri Lanka’s present debt crisis. This is how the West operate bilaterally  to criple the economy of growing nations like Sri Lanka. Pakistan with a track record of having developed the dairy indusrty to become one of the largest diary industrial producers out beating even European countries with having the 3rd., largest cattle breed in the world, should come forward to assist Sri Lanka to follow their foot-steps in the dairy industry. The Sahiwal and the Red Sindhi breeds may suit Sri Lanka the best and Pakistan should try to introduce these breeds to help Sri Lanka’s Dairy Industry. Unlike the production systems in the developed countries, milk production systems in Pakistan represent smallholding with subsistence- or market-oriented-level farming followed by peri-urban or commercial-level farming. This can be an answer to failing Diary Indusrty of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka governments plans to import around 1 million milking cattle heads in the coming 4 years, it has been revealed by the The Task Force is responsible for reviving the economy and eradication of poverty while paying special attention to the challenges posed and opportunities emerged in Sri Lanka in the wake of COVID – 19 outbreak. This Task Force is headed by the Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

Pakistan has also to make sure that no undesirable persons enter Sri Lanka, with the assistance of the Sri Lankan security forces and the Immigration authorities and help Sri Lanka to prevent the flow of drugs into Sri Lanka by nefarious characters operating through Pakistan soil. While it is very much appreciated taht HE. PM Imra Khan is visiting Sri Lanka on the 22nd., of February 2021 on a two day official visit, a visit by Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa to Islamabad in the near future, can pave the way for Pakistan’s engagement in Sri Lanka for the betterment of both brotherly Nations.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලා ඇතුළු අනෙකුත් ආගමික නායකයන්ට කඩිනමින් කොවිඩ්-19 එන්නත ලබා දෙන්නැයි ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද ‍රාජපක්ෂ මහතා උපදෙස් දී ඇත.

ඒ අනුව මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට කොවිඩ් එන්නත ලබා දීම අද 2021.02.20 දිනයේ ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබේ.

පූජ්‍ය පක්ෂයට කඩිනමින්  එන්නත් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරන ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන මහතාට උපදෙස් ලබා දී තිබේ.

ඒ අනුව කඩිනමින් එම එන්නත් දිවයිනම ආවරණය වන පරිදි සියලුම භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලා ඇතුළු අනෙකුත් ආගමික නායකයන්ට ලබා දෙනු ඇත.

මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙළ යටතේ බදුල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට කොවිඩ් එන්නත ලබාදීම හෙට දිනයේ ආරම්භ වීමට නියමිතය.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Minister of Education Professor G.L. Peiris states that the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on the Easter Sunday Attack will be publicised.

He stated this at a press conference held in Colombo today (15),

The Minister of Education also acknowledged that the Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has stated that he will seek international support if justice is not served, therefore a copy of the report will be submitted to him as well.

by Jamila Husain Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, February 20 (Daily Mirror) – Following complaints that several people who were not under the ‘vulnerable groups’ had received the Astra Zeneca vaccinations against COVID-19 in recent days, health officials at a meeting yesterday decided to get tough and strictly implement the programme according to the groups officially allocated.

A senior health official told the Daily Mirror yesterday that since the vaccination programme had opened out, especially to the vulnerable groups in the Western Province this week, several individuals who were not under the ‘vulnerable group’ had received the vaccination, eventually leaving out those who urgently require it.

Following these complaints, health officials have decided to implement the programme strictly from today and will begin to vaccinate those above the age of 60 years who are on the third priority list. Vaccination programmes will also begin among the workforce aged 30 to 60 as they are said to be the worst affected by the COVID-19 while the highest mortality rate was reported among those above the age of 60.

Meanwhile, health officials have insisted that despite being vaccinated, the transmission of the COVID-19 virus would not halt and people were urged to practice all health guidelines.

Officials said there was a possibility that a vaccinated person could contract the virus again but the vaccine would help develop the antibodies to fight the virus within.

Therefore we urge people to strictly adhere to the health guidelines even after being vaccinated and urge everyone to get vaccinated once the vaccines are available,” the official said. (Jamila Husain)

adaderana

සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ විභාගය හෝ සමත් නැති අයට පාස්කු ඉරුදින ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරයට වගකිවයුත්තන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් තීරණ ගැනීමට ඉඩදිය නොහැකි බව අගරදගුරු අති උතුම් මැල්කම් කාදිනල් රංජිත් හිමිපාණන් පවසයි.

උන්වහන්සේ මේ බව කියාසිටියේ, නව කමිටුවට එරෙහිව කටුවාපිය සාන්ත සෙබස්තියන් දේවස්ථානය වෙත කාදිනල් හිමියන් අද (20) හදිසියේ පැමිණි අවස්ථාවේ දීය.

උන්වහන්සේගේ පැමිණිම සැලවු ප්‍රදේශවාසින් පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයට යුක්තිය ඉල්ලා මඟ දෙපස රැස්ව සිටියේය.

අපිට ඕනේ සාධාරණය. රජය නිහඬ ඇයි? තවත් කමිටු පත්කරන්න එපා. අපේ දරුවෝ දෙමව්පියෝ ගොඩාක් මැරිලා තියෙන්නේ. අපි ඔබ වහන්සේ සමඟ ඉන්නවා.ඔබ වහන්සේව තනි කරන්නේ නෑ. ඔබ වහන්සේ කාටත් බියවෙන්න එපා. සත්‍යය කතා කරන්න. මේ රජය කරන බොරුව අනිවාර්යෙන්ම මිනිස්සුන්ට පෙන්නන්න ඕනේ. අපි තාමත් අඬනවා. යනුවෙන් ජනතාව පැවසීය.

එයට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් කාදිනල් හිමියන් පවසා සිටියේ, ඔයාලා විතරක් නෙමෙයි අපිත් අඬනවා. එහෙම කිසිම අසාධාරණයක් කරන්න ඉඩ තියෙන්නේ නෑ. පාස්කු කොමිසමේ වාර්තාව අපි ඉල්ලුවා. ඒක ලැබෙනකල් මම ඉන්නේ. නමුත් කමිටු තාලා තමන්ට අවශ්‍යයි කියන දේ තෝරා ගැනීමේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය අපි පිළිගන්නේ නෑ. අපි ඉල්ලන්නේ මේ වාර්තාව සම්පූර්ණයෙන් එළදරව් කරන්න. වාර්තාවේ තියෙන සමහර දේවල් හංගන්න එපා. එතකොට අපි තීරණය ගන්නම් කරන්න ඕනේ දේ. යම් ආකාරයට රජය බයවෙලා මේක හංගනවා කියලා හැඟීමක් අපිට එනවා. කමිටුව අපි පිළිගන්නේ නෑ. නිලධාරින් ටික දෙනෙක්ව හිරේ දාලා මේකට පිටුපසින් ඉන්න බලවේග හංගන්න දෙන්න බෑ.

ප්‍රශ්නය – මේකේ විසඳුම් ලැබුණේ නැතිනම් මොකද්ද හිමියනි ඊළඟ පියවර?

අපි කිව්වා නේ අපි ජාත්‍යන්තරයට යනවා.

ප්‍රශ්නය – ඔබ වහන්සේ වතිකානුවේ පාප් වහන්සේව දැනුවත් කරලා තියෙනවා ද මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ?

උන් වහන්සේලා දන්නවා. උන් වහන්සේලා සමග සාකච්ඡා කරලා තියෙන්නේ. ඒ වගේම විවිධ සංවිධාන තියෙනවා අපේ ජාත්‍යන්තර ඒවට කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න අපි ලෑස්තියි.

අනතුරුව කටුවාපිටිය දේවස්ථානය වෙත පැමිණි කාදිනල් හිමිපාණන් එහිදි ද ප්‍රදේශවාසි ජනතාව සමඟ සාකච්ඡාවක නිරත විය.

ඔයාලා බය වෙන්න එපා. අපි ඔක්කෝම මෙතෙන ඉන්නේ ඒකට යි. කමිටුවලින් කරන්නේ සමහර යෝජනා යටපත් කරලා අනිත් යෝජනා විතරක් ඉදිරියට ගේනවා. අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ පිටකොන්දක් තියෙන නායකයෙක් ව. අපේ නායකත්වයෙන් වැඩක් නෑ කියන කියන දේට ඔලුව පාත්කරන්න ගියාම.ඔයාලගේ පැත්තේ මම ඉන්නේ. පාලනය වැරදියට කරනවා නම් අපි ඒකට විවේචනය කරනවා. උගත් මිනිස්සු 5කගෙන් සමන්විත කොමිසම දුන්න විනිශ්චය දුන්නේ ඒ කරුණු ඉෂ්ඨ කරන්න. ඒ නිසා O/L පාස් නැති මිනිස්සුන්ට මේක තීරණය කරන්න ඉඩදෙන්න බෑ.

මේ අතර සහරාන් හෂීම්ගෙන් ත්‍රස්ත පුහුණුව ලැබූ වයස අවුරුදු 24ක තරුණියක් මාවනැල්ලේදී ත්‍රස්ත විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසයේ අත්අඩංගුවට පත්ව තිබේ.

පාස්කු ඉරුදින ප්‍රහාර මාලාව එල්ල කළ සහරාන් හෂීම් ඇතුළු ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමඟ සමීප සම්බන්ධතා පැවැත්වූ තරුණියක් ඊයේ මාවනැල්ල හිඟුල ප්‍රදේශයේදී අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනුණි.

ඒ ත්‍රස්ත විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසය විසිනි. අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇත්තේ මොහොමඩ් ඊබ්‍රාහිම් සහිඩා නම් 24 හැවිරිදි තරුණියකි.

ඇය මාවනැල්ල බුදු පිළිමවලට පහර දීමේ සිද්ධියේ ප්‍රධාන සැකකරුවන් වන මොහොමඩ් ඊබ්‍රාහිම් සාදික් අබ්දුල් හක් සහ මොහොමඩ් ඊබ්‍රාහිම් ෂාහිඩ් අබ්දුල් හක් යන දෙදෙනාගේ නැගණියයි.

ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරයෙන් සතියකට පසු මෙම හක් සහෝදරයින් දෙදෙනා ගම්පොල පාවහන් වෙළෙඳසැලක් තුළ සැඟව සිටියදී අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනුණු අතර ඉන් පසු අවස්ථාවකදී ඔවුන්ගේ පියා ද අත්අඩංගුවට පත්විය.

ඔවුන් මේ වන විට රිමාන්ඩ් භාරයේ සිටින අතර ඊයේ අත්අඩංගුවට පත් තරුණිය ද ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වූ කාලයේදී ආරක්ෂක අංශවල ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම්වලට ලක්ව ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ.

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Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Those who don’t have even basic education shouldn’t be allowed to decide and act on the recommendations by the Presidential Commission of inquiries (PCoI) on Easter Sunday attacks, Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said today.

Cardinal Ranjith who joined a protest staged by the Catholics of Katuwapitiya together with the clergy, said it is the Attorney General who should decide and act on the recommendations made by the Presidential commission.

“Those who have not got through the ordinary level exam cannot be allowed to make such decisions” the Cardinal said.

“The government should publish the PCoI report soon. We are suspicious as to why the government is reluctant to do so,” he added.

Cardinal Ranjith reiterated that he would have to seek the assistance of international institutions, if action is not taken against those who are responsible for the attack. (Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has reported 02 more coronavirus-related deaths, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed today (February 20).

As per the Department of Government Information, both victims are male patients.

The new deaths bring the number of COVID-19 related deaths witnessed in Sri Lanka to 435 in total.