Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 numbers saw another surge today (January 22), as 441 more persons were tested positive for the virus.
Department of Government Information confirmed that 438 of the newly-identified patients are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda cluster.
The remaining 03 were identified as arrivals from foreign countries; 02 from Tunisia and 01 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Accordingly, a total of 787 new cases have been reported within the day.
As per statistics, the total number of Covid-19 infections confirmed in the country to date now stands at 56,638.
Recoveries from the virus meanwhile climbed to 48,617 earlier today, as 633 more patients regained health.
However, 7,968 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres located across the island.
In the meantime, Covid-19 pandemic has claimed 278 lives in Sri Lanka to date.
Two more Covid-19 related fatalities have been confirmed in Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Health says.
Following the new development, total lives claimed by the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country has reached 278.
One of the victims was identified as an 82-year-old man from Colombo 08. He had been transferred to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) after testing positive for the virus while receiving treatment a private hospital in Colombo. He was suffering from Covid-19 pneumonia at the time of his passing earlier today (January 22).
In the meantime, a 51-year-old woman from Homagama area also fell victim to the virus today (January 22). She had been transferred from Colombo National Hospital to Homagama Base Hospital after testing positive for the virus. The cause of death was cited as Covid-19 pneumonia, blood poisoning and kidney failure.
There is much ado about the claims that the 1956 Official Language Act was responsible for the present ‘ethnic conflict’. The advocate of this notion must explain how ITAK formed in 1949 sought to create a Tamil Nation as per translation of its name? They must also explain how grievance over Sinhala language could be solved by giving into a demand for ‘federalism’ as sought via Bandaranaike-Chelvanagayam Pact. What does Sinhala language have to do with federalism?
Let us simply ask some questions, find the answers and think about the false notions being spread
What was the language spoken during the rule of the Kings that ruled Sri Lanka?
Were the kinglets that the Kings established ‘independent’ and ‘sovereign’ or were they under one ruler who ruled the entire island?
Is there any evidence to show Tamil as an official language at any time in our island’s history?
What was the language of administration during colonial rule?
John D’Oyly learnt Sinhalese, did he also learn Tamil? Why didn’t’ he?
If Jaffna was a separate kingdom, why didn’t British sign a separate treaty with the Tamils similar to the Kandyan Convention signed in 1815?
The colonials set up the best of missionary schools in minority areas as part of divide and rule policy, giving the best of education to minorities and enabling them to secure the best jobs thereafter – didn’t Sinhalese suffer the greater discrimination during colonial rule as a majority? – their language rights, cultural rights, religious rights were all earmarked to be vanquished.
The ‘elite’ that the British nurtured through their education system in English language, converting to Christianity meant that Sinhalese & Tamils who converted only could obtain English education. Were these not the one’s who preferred to remain the chosen elite continuing to think and act like the British even after independence? Were these not the brown sahibs the British wanted to hand over powers to on their behalf?
Wasn’t the demand to reverse the discrimination to Sinhalese manipulated into showcasing a majority-minority rift, again part of colonial divide and rule policy?
The demand to reverse the discrimination suffered by the Sinhalese had nothing linked to Tamils nor did Sinhalese demand any rights to them denying anything to Tamils. But, the media campaign was tasked to show this simply to deny the rights that was due to the Sinhalese.
The publicity was quickly directed to showcase that the demand for reversing the discrimination to Sinhalese was actually a demand to deny Tamils their rights which they were enjoying in excess of their population ratio. Statistics will reveal the jobs enjoyed by Tamils in state sector on account of Tamils being given better education opportunities. The Sinhalese demand was not to deny what the Tamils were given but for the Sinhalese to be also given with the same spoon.
Did Tamil language enjoy official language status in any time of the islands’ history?
Did Tamil language enjoy official language/administrative status during Portuguese, Dutch or British rule– if not, how can the 1956 Official Language Act making Sinhala the Official language and ‘reasonable use of Tamil’ become a grievance to Tamils? To claim that anything is purposefully denied, anyone has to be enjoying that right first. So the question returns to ask – was Tamil an official language at any time to claim a grievance?
It was only via a bogus and intrusive Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987 demanding passing of the 13thamendment that Tamil was made an official language. The same country does not even afford Tamils who have a virtual Tamil state (Tamil Nadu) official language status. Tamil is not a National Language even in India inspite of over 72million Tamils living in it. Tamil is spoken by around 6% of Indian population and barely outside Tamil Nadu.
Please share your thoughts on this discussion too.
For too long, false notions and lies have been spread in a campaign to divert people from thinking about true facts and asking rationale questions and seeking answers to them.
If implemented S/L would have carried out normal functions
and economic activities, with no loss of jobs, no excess deaths, disruption of
the supply chain, and avoid near bankruptcy. The country would have
continued all economic and business activities and no need to shut down schools
and universities. And would have avoided a single day of (worthless)
curfew or even CPVID-related deaths. That was what he recommended in
mid-March to SLGo and rejected by authorities in March 2020.
Now ten months later, a handful of countries just begun to
adhere to that; the resulting benefits are astonishing. An exceptionally
cost-effective way to prevent the disease, preventing complications, need for
ICUs admission and hospitalizations, and deaths.
Unfortunately, it still chasing the “tiger’s
tail,” that is impossible to win (control COVID-19) with the current
blinded approach by the department of health and the COVID task force.
Neither seems to have valid and achievable objectives, method of achieving the
said target and a vision OR an effective strategy to control
COVID-19.
In fact, the U.K governmental approach is even worse than
the SL approach (see data below); both approaches are ineffective in
controlling OCVID-19. Relying on COVID-vaccine(s) to control COVID is
also unwise and is simply insane. Moreover, the current approach will not
enable achieving the intended goal of heard immunity nor prevent the current
community spread.
I will upload an illustrative video early next week, into my
UTube channel, summarizing the latest data on highly cost-effective approach in
controlling COID-19. Like proposed in 2020 mid-March, which was rejected
outright by “pandits,” with little knowledge or experience in
preventing and controlling a severe viral epidemic.
The US
Ambassador patronizingly speaks of 1955 UDHR and advise Sri Lanka to respect
the dead. But, in USA the black living are subjected to ridicule and at times
violence as screened to the world especially during the last 12 months Black
Lives Matter demos.
It was
reported in December 2020 how a black US doctor died due to alleged racist
hospital care. Dr Moore who died due to the racism said this is how black
people get killed. When you send them home and they do not know how to fight
for themselves”. It is said that the virus has disproportionately affected
black minority communities in the US and Black Americans are three times more
likely to die than White Americans.
While saying that attempts are made by certain private sector hospitals to carry out PCR and antigen tests at regional testing places and mini laboratories without the authorization from the Health Ministry, General Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army said testing methodology has been twisted in some private Hospitals.
He expressed this during a meeting held with representatives of private sector laboratory technicians to discuss the possibility of implementing a common regulatory mechanism to conduct antigen and PCR tests.
“Only 30 technically-equipped such laboratories are authorized by the Health Department to carry out such tests in accordance with approved provisions and guidelines because concerns have been expressed as regards the reliability and accuracy of such tests by certain affected parties since they sometimes provide contradictory results. Only yesterday alone, 18,000 PCR tests were performed although the private sector charges, i.e Rs 6750 for BOI company employees remain unchanged,” the Army Commander said.
It is much better if those existing price ranges for such tests can be further reduced for the benefit of the masses,” he pointed out. Army Commander also urged them not to misuse the authority that has been given to them.
He also told the gathering that Health authorities allowed the private sector hospitals to conduct PCR tests on the tourists from Ukraine as a pilot project.
Meanwhile, Dr Asela Gunawardena requested those top management technicians to strictly adhere to guidelines and regulations to this effect and ensure credibility of the testing methodology at their highest levels without resorting to wrong practices.
Sri Lanka decided to use an Indian vaccine COVAXIN™ made by Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech for Sri Lanka while the AstraZeneca vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured locally in India under British license will not available for export to Sri Lanka.
Indian regulators gave the nod for emergency use to two vaccines earlier this month: the AstraZeneca vaccine and another one by Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech.
COVAXIN™, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology (NIV). This indigenous, inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) bio-containment facility, one of its kind in the world.
These vaccines being sent to neighboring countries are being sent as grants and India’s Foreign Ministry said the vaccines were not part of COVAX, the U.N.-backed global effort aimed at helping lower-income countries obtain the shots.
India kicked off its own massive vaccination drive on Jan. 17, with a goal of inoculating 300 million of its nearly 1.4 billion people.
Bharat Biotech has in January 02, 2021: announced successful recruitment of 23,000 volunteers, and continued progress towards achieving the goal of 26,000 participants for Phase-3 clinical trial of COVAXIN™ across multiple sites in India. The Phase III human clinical trials of COVAXIN™ began mid-November, targeted to be done in 26,000 volunteers across India, this is India’s first and only Phase III efficacy study for a COVID-19 vaccine, and the largest phase III efficacy trial ever conducted for any vaccine in India. COVAXIN™ has been evaluated in approximately 1000 subjects in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, with promising safety
The Director General of Health Services today confirmed two more COVID-19 related deaths, increasing the death toll in the country due to the virus to 276.
One of the deceased is a 71-year-old woman from Peliyagoda who had been transferred from Colombo National Hospital to Mulleriyawa Base Hospital after being identified as Covid-19 positive.
She had passed away at that hospital on January 20 due to acute diabetes pneumonia.
The other patient is a 46-year-old from Athurugiriya who was also identified as Covid-19 positive while being treated at the Colombo National Hospital. He was then transferred to the Homagama Base Hospital, where he had passed away on January 19.
The cause of death is cited as multiple organ dysfunctions due to nervous system infection with Covid-19 pneumonia.
The Director General of Health Services says that necessary documents have been forwarded to the Attorney General’s Department for legal approval to obtain Covid-19 vaccines from India.
India on Wednesday began supplying Covid-19 vaccines to six neighbouring and key partner countries. Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles are the first recipients to acquire the India-manufactured vaccines.
However, India had said it is still awaiting the confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India had said the country has received several requests for the supply of Covid-19 vaccines manufactured in India.
India said it will continue to supply countries all over the world with vaccines, in keeping with the ongoing efforts.
Indian regulators gave the nod for emergency use to two vaccines earlier this month: the AstraZeneca vaccine and another one by Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech.
India kicked off its own massive vaccination drive on Jan. 17, with a goal of inoculating 300 million of its nearly 1.4 billion people.
These vaccines being sent to neighboring countries are being sent as grants and India’s Foreign Ministry said the vaccines were not part of COVAX, the U.N.-backed global effort aimed at helping lower income countries obtain the shots.
The individual who spat at health officials in Atulugama has been sentenced to 6 years rigorous imprisonment by the Panadura Magistrate’s Court and also imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000.
The incident was reported on December 02, 2020 in Atulugama police area when two Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) and two public servants had visited the area to perform their duties.
However, they were obstructed by a person, who had been identified as Covid-19 infected, who had proceeded to spit on the face of one of the PHIs.
Thereafter police had initiated investigations and after the treatment period of the accused was completed, he was charged in the Panadura court.
Police had filed 08 charges in respect of the offences such as criminal intimidation, criminal force on a government servant, disobeying quarantine orders and disobeying the orders given by a public servant.
Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said that 08 charges had been frames against the suspect who pleaded guilty of the charges.
Thereafter the court convicted him and imposed a punishment in respect of the offences. The suspect has been imposed 2-year rigorous imprisonment punishment for 03 charges, which means he will serve 6 years of rigorous imprisonment in total.
In addition to that the court has fined the individual Rs. 10,000.
He added that the investigations have revealed that this particular person had been involved in various crimes previously and that one case is pending in High Court. He had also been convicted for an offence on a previous occasion and had been given a suspended sentence.
The Police Spokesman stated that at the inception they have informed the general public to obey at all times the health regulations and instructions given by health authorities and government servants, who perform heir duties to protect the people and to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Therefore, we need your fullest support and cooperation in order to control the pandemic. Otherwise if any person is going to disturb or obstruct government servants, they are dealt with the law,” he stressed.
Steps have been taken to reinstate the interdicted Embilipitiya High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya, sources say.
Reportedly, the Judicial Service Commission is due to issue a letter regarding his reinstatement.
While he is reinstated to his duties, Pilapitiya will still be subjected to an investigation, according to sources.
Embilipitiya High Court Judge Gihan Pilapitiya was interdicted on January 22, 2020, over a controversial phone conversation he had with Ranjan Ramanayake who is currently subjected to 4-years of rigorous imprisonment.
Subsequently, the Attorney General instructed the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) to obtain a warrant and arrest the interdicted Judge Gihan Pilapitiya for conspiring to fabricate false evidence” along with then-MP Ranjan Ramanayake.
However, the Nugegoda Additional Magistrate declared that an arrest warrant could be issued for the High Court Judge only after obtaining a statement from an investigating officer through an affidavit.
Subsequently, Judge Pilapitiya filed a writ application before the Court of Appeal seeking an interim injunction order preventing his arrest. On February 20, the Appeal Court ordered the Attorney General not to arrest the High Court judge without a proper court order.
On June 08, 2020, the Court of Appeal issued an interim order suspending the hearing of the case of the interdicted judge.
The All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange has surpassed the 8,000 points mark for the first time in history.
The ASPI closed 8,131.25 points at the end of trading today (January 21), gaining 246.80 points from the previous day or 3.13%.
The ASPI had reportedly crossed the 8,000 points mark during trading on several previous occasions, however this is the first time that it crossed the mark at the end of trading.
The Colombo Stock Exchange’s turnover for the day was Rs. 14.20 billion, the highest daily turnover recorded so far this year.
The syrup produced by Dhammika Bandara of Kegalle was distributed to the public before the clinical study has been completed.
It is reported that arrangements have been made to distribute 5,000 bottles of syrup at his residence in Udukumbura, Kegalle.
However, the clinical work of the syrup produced by Dhammika Bandara is currently being carried out at the Methsiri Sevana Treatment Center attached to the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital as well as at the Nochchiyagama Regional Hospital.
Accordingly, the syrup will be given to coronavirus infected people over 18 years of age and under 80 years of age at the relevant hospitals.
This will be after a second PCR test has been performed and the patient is confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. The syrup will be is administered to the patients only after the PCR test confirmation is obtained.
This syrup is not given at the clinical trial stage to pregnant mothers, those who have previously consumed the relevant syrup or people with chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Also, the consent of the patient is mandatory to administer this syrup to the patient.
Arrangements have been made to provide this syrup to 128 patients, twice a day at a rate of 15 ml at a time, and the relevant syrup will be given to patients on clinical trials for three days.
Meanwhile, the doctor at the Peradeniya hospital who claimed that Dhammika Bandara had assaulted him, said that he was assaulted when he visited Dhammika Bandara’s housie.
He has also lodged a complaint with the Peradeniya Police. The doctor further stated that the video claiming that he had been punished was obtained on force after being assaulted by a group including Dhammika Bandara.
There is much hue and cry over allegations of post-independent Sri Lanka disenfranchising Indian Tamils. Let us therefore address this question directly.
Sri Lanka was illegally invaded and occupied by 3 western European countries from 1505 – the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British.
These colonial invaders followed a policy of divide and rule – dividing the natives so they were kept busy while the colonials plundered our wealth.
The colonial invaders began many plantation projects and when the natives were too proud to work on them, they brought in indentured laborers mostly from South India. It is these South Indian laborers brought by the colonials who are referred to as Indian Tamils. They were not asked to come to Sri Lanka by the natives, they were forcibly brought to Sri Lanka by the colonials and made to live & work in Sri Lanka. If anyone should look after their welfare it is the colonials who dragged them from their homes in South India and dumped them in Sri Lanka to work. If the Sri Lankan kings or leaders had brought these South Indian laborers, then certainly they must look after them, but when they were brought by colonials, isn’t it they who should have looked into their rights at the time of independence?
None of the countries to which these Tamils were transported during colonial rule wanted them or even asked for them.
By independence in 1948, Sri Lanka had over 1million Indian Tamil indentured laborers. The total population of the country was 8million.
It is not the fault of Ceylon/Sri Lanka that these Indians were treated as aliens, with no right of asylum. That was how the British wanted their status to be. The British only spoke for their rights when they were preparing to leave Sri Lanka.
As for the name Ceylon Tamils, this too entered the books only in 1911 when Ponnambalam Arunachalam became Registrar General and compiled the National Census report in 1911.
Before 1911 there were no people called Ceylon Tamils. It was an artificially created name.
An article by Dilrook Kannangara titled ‘Wigneswaran should know eelam (Ceylon) Tamil ethnicity is only 105 years old” draws attention to how the British created an artificial ethnic group called Ceylon Tamils in 1911. Before 1911 there was no ethnic group called Ceylon Tamils (it is identical to how the British created Rohingya issue in Myanmar).
Any Tamil born in Sri Lanka or those born in India became Ceylon Tamils in 1911.
What has to be understood from this is that the TNA and LTTE diaspora usage of ‘disenfranchisement’ of Tamils in reality referring to these coolies brought by the colonials from South India to Sri Lanka were only brought for colonial benefit and thus if anyone should be looking after them or providing citizenship to them it is no one else but the Dutch & the British. This whole argument of disenfranchisement is invalid and incorrect and we hope the UN & international community realize this and not fall for the TNA LTTE Diaspora traps by quoting disenfranchisement in their records. Some truths are hard to swallow.
The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan government’s chief legal adviser, TheAttorney General has now declared that the MCC Compact and the Program Implementation Agreement & Articles of Association of MCA are inconsistent with the written laws & the Constitution of Sri Lanka. This is a complete reversal of the AG’s legal opinion given on 10 October 2018 to the MCC Chief Operating Officer which the US Embassy has been using to justify the MCC Compact. This change in stand has severely impacted diplomatic relations, it has unnecessarily caused friction between the People & the US Government and it is seriously questioning the entity tasked with advising the Government. The AG’s department owes an explanation and an apology.
So in 2021 the AG’s department says the MCC is inconsistent with the Constitution & written laws. But the same AG’s department on 10 October 2018 in a letter to COO, MCC – Jonathan Nash said that the MCC does not violate any law in Sri Lanka.
Here are some excerpts of this letter to the MCC, Chief Operating Officer
It is as a result of this official clearance” by the Attorney General in 2018 that the US Embassy, the US ambassador insisted that the MCC Compact was legal and Sri Lanka was making a fuss over nothing.
In fact, the Sri Lanka Treasury carried the Attorney General’s legal opinion which the US Embassy linked to its website to showcase that their Compact was afterall legal.
(the US embassy links the SL Treasury document referring to AG’s consent)
Of course, many of us who were not legal luminaries but had more common sense, did not accept this version of the Attorney General and we highlighted areas that were not compatible with the constitution which led to successive committees being appointed to review the MCC Agreement. All of these reports in particular the Gunaruwan Committee report clearly showcased violations of the constitution.
Now, almost 3 years later, the same Attorney General’s dept that issued the green light for the MCC, now says the MCC is unconstitutional.
We must now pause to ask, exactly what the Attorney General’s department are up to.
We are not questioning whether what the AG’s department said in 2018 was right or wrong or what the AG’s department said in 2021 is right or wrong, but the fact that this key department is the conduit that advises the Government and writes into law what the Government does.
This one instance resulting in a major faux pas has even led to embarrassing a foreign country and its diplomatic mission and caused friction between it and the People.
This is very unprofessional of the department and they need to offer everyone an explanation.
Moving forward the same mistakes are continuing.
Presently there are 3 sets of Committees set up to review the laws in the country & make amendments.
Committee 1– led by Justice Minister Ali Sabry as Mr L Kiriella MP said appointed 147 lawyers to various committees to amend laws, amend Notaries Ordinance & Registration of Documents Ordinance. They are still in discussion stage.
Committee 2– Government Task Force appointed by the Government for Property Registration comprises Land Commissioner, Land Title Settlement Department, Survey Department & Registrar General Department & ICTC.
This Committee liaises directly with funding agencies and their proposals are directly passed to the AG’s department for necessary legal writing to be forwarded for Cabinet approval.
Task force is the working committee of all Governments.
Committee 3– Then there is a 18 member de-regulation commission headed by Lalith Weeratunga and private sector head Krishan Balendra to ‘cut red tape’ and will review all laws, regulations, circular instructions pertaining to government finance, revenue laws, circular instructions, licensing & permit arrangements, investments, approvals& building permits etc. Now private sector are changing state laws to their advantage!
The role of a Government Task Force & foreign funding agencies is key to understanding how drastic changes conflicting with the interests of the country is taking place.This is how Bim Saviya was passed having been approved by the same AG’s department.
In 1998 the AG approved overnight legislation to wipe out the land law of the country to superimpose the Australian land law with Act 21 of 1998 which now has to manage the e-register.They called this Bim Saviya which came into being after liaising with foreign funding bodies. Overnight, this foreign law took away the fundamental rights of the land owners and abolished the rights of farmers and paddy field owners.
Colossal sums of money is being spent on appointing committees to amend laws that operate in the country. For the past 20 years the Bar Association wasted their time recommending amendments, and another committee appointed by President Rajapakse also made amendments. The Ministry of Justice recently has appointed a committee to look into various land laws whilst the cabinet is separately making amendments with the AG’s department & Land Ministry. Most shocking are the Government reports that say they require 100 years to implement Bim Saviya law, there are no competent officials or lawyers to manage this law – see Title Commissioners Reports of 2018 and 2019 on the web
But in reality the funding bodies put their wish list to the Government Task Force and they liaise with the AG’s dept & Land Ministry to make these wish lists into law.
How we are Trapped
The e-land project was introduced as part of the Ease of Doing Business in Sri Lankavia a cabinet appointed Property Registration Task Force.
Similarly, while other bodies are studying existing laws etc, the Task Force and foreign funding agencies are amending the conveyancing process with electronic systems. All these changes will pass through the AG’s department.
Now that the AG’s dept says MCC is inconsistent with the Constitution, it is the AG’s duty to retake the Bim Saviya Act not only because this was passed in 1998 without scrutiny but because MCC demanded amendments to Bim Saviya which the AG’s Dept conformed to.
Given that the same AG’s dept says the MCC is inconsistent with the constitution, these amendments to Bim Saviya must not only be removed, the entire Act 21 must be thoroughly reviewed again.
AG has to realize that e-registration cannot be made without revision of the colonial statutes? The Land Acquisition Act 9 of 1950 even allows a Government to acquire land to benefit the public – but why is this being repealed?
AG cannot ignore the reports by heads of Ministries– land registrar says 50% of land deeds are frauds but these are getting inserted into the electronic registrar.
AG must realize that an Australian law is going to govern our e-register and this itself is unconstitutional
Law Reform Commission must wake up. Do they not realize that lawyers are being kept busy by being appointed to various committees or given appointments while the funding agencies are wooing the Task Forces and subtly privatizing Sri Lanka’s land for neocolonial objectives – including raping of our forests.
Is there no one to realize that our laws are being changed and amended to suit the demands of the foreign funding bodies and those who want to take advantage of the amended laws for their own gain?
People must demand to stop the e-land registry being done by transferring deeds to title registration (bim saviya) as the constitutionality of this Act also needs to be looked into as this Act was passed by the AG’s department without any Public scrutiny or legal inputs in 1998.They must all explain why the deed system cannot continue with provisions of the Central Bank Financial Act of 2006 incorporated to fortify and protect against any type of land fraud. Why waste colossal sums of money to transfer from deed to Australian title system when loopholes in deed system can be addressed and these can get entered into e-land register.
We need to take a step back and review what is taking place and what is getting approved by the AG’s Department. We need to know before AG approves what suits the country. The Attorney General’s Department need to also play a bigger role by reviewing its faux pas in key decisions taken in the past several years.
The MCC opinion of 2018 and 2021 by AG’s department should not be repeated for any other law.
Globalisation has resulted in Third World
Nations, inveigled into debt and encouraged to take decisions that have made
their food-chains vulnerable and the Nations themselves, dependent on the
globalists for their physical survival.
COVID 19, has unmasked the evil face of
Globalisation that had been deliberately concealed and, exposed it for what it
is.
COVID 19, in a globalised scenario,
threatens the very survival of those living in Third World countries. If they
survive, their existence as freemen is in jeopardy and the continued
independence of the countries they live in, is at stake.
Globalisation
in a nutshell
According to news reports, the cost of
COVID 19 vaccine, to cover the entire population of Sri Lanka, is 10 Billion
SLR. Sri Lanka has sought a loan from the World Bank, for this purpose.
Nobody in this world, as reported, really
understands how this virus behaves and how it would manifest itself in the
future. There is reasonable doubt that the vaccine may not be effective against
any mutations of the virus.
If this were the case, Sri Lanka after
inoculating herself against the virus, may find herself back in square one,
this time however with increased fatalities, infections, unemployment,
starvation and crime; education and the economy, presently dislocated and
limping, would perhaps suffer irreversible harm and, to boot, with a 10 Billion
SLR Sovereign debt on her head.
What happens if there were to be an
outbreak of COVID 25 or COVID 50?
The Sovereign debt would rise by another
10 Billion and another 10 Billion and so on until we do not have the financial
strength, to even borrow.
Without money there would be no vaccine
and without vaccine people would be literally dying like dogs on the streets;
further, without basic needs such as, food, employment, health and education
the country would be plunged into a state of anarchy and be ripe for the
picking by global powers that have set their sights on the island.
The New Normal for Third World Countries
If there is no food on the table, people
can never survive let alone surviving the virus.
If, however, there is food for every Sri
Lankan mouth, the Nation and her people can survive COVID or any other germ
that may assail the world in the future.
By isolating the island from the rest of
the world, the chances of a new strain of the virus infecting the population
can be reduced; in military parlance, measures need to be taken to ‘interdict
the Island’ or in COVID parlance, ‘lock-down the country’.
Any new COVID cases that may penetrate our
health ‘defences’, subsequently, and the prevailing cases in the island can be
ably handled by our medics; any essential travel into or out of the island can
be regulated and well managed.
This is the ‘New Normal’ for Third World
countries during and in the post-COVID era, a template outside the
Globalisation model: Insulate the country, grow all our food requirements and
make the country self-sufficient in our other basic needs such as clothing,
health, education and shelter. This will ensure that all Sri Lankans survive
the COVID and other possible biological bombs that may be released on us, in
the future.
Dingo Gonsalkorale howls for the diabolic
New Normal of the Globalists
The architects of Globalisation are
puffing their own version of a diabolic ‘New Normal’; this version demands that
Third World Nations continue operating within the existing framework of
Globalisation -rules that intone the mantra of ‘borrowing – debt – poverty’.
And recruited to push this agenda of the
money lenders are the scavenging jackals, like Dingo Gonsalkorale, who follow
the predator greedily for a morsel of his killing. Dingo is listed as a
favourite of the money lenders; he intersperses his litany with some irrelevant
and banal platitudes in typical FFO (Foreign Funded Organisation) fashion, all
the time mindful however of the Money lender’s agenda.
These scavengers, who have renounced their
motherland, have followed the predator hungrily to the many lands that were
raped; now, they are howling for a New Constitution for Sri Lanka which will
enable the predator to do the same.
If a country were to slavishly follow the
fiendish advice of the globalists, she would be conned into the ‘herd immunisation’
trap where only the fittest of the population will surely survive COVID; it
would also result in large numbers being decimated by hunger, other diseases
and anarchy.
Globalists call for the culling of the
Third World population
The globalists have, for long, been
votaries of the obnoxious Malthusian theories; they are on record that the
world is overpopulated by about a billion people and needs to be culled,
starting with the old, the infirmed and the ‘unwanted’. They have also called
for a New World Order in which there would be just one Government for the
entire world.
People in Nations, whose Governments are
conned into accepting the ‘New-Normal’ of the globalists, are condemned to a
situation in which many of them would die horribly on the streets; the
Globalists, almost as a benevolent gesture, have promised to provide these
Nations with bare-bones of survival, on terms and conditions laid out by the
globalists.
One World Government – A Globalist dream
of a World Dictatorship
A world with one Government, a dream of
the Globalists and planned by the Globalists nearly nine decades ago, has come
to near fruition; a world ruled by the Globalist Mafia, with a hierarchy of
workers at their beck and call, some of whom could be classified as modern-day
slaves.
Sovereignty, Nation States, National
Boundaries, Trade Unions, human-families as we understand them, would be a
thing of the past. Each human being will be a cog to be organised and regulated
as per the rules of the Mafia.
Brilliant, how the Globalists have come
thus far, almost unnoticed.
Globalisation was a deadly web, spun by
the White Spider, to attract, lure and trap Third World Nations in its sticky
net. Attracted by the glistening web, Third World Nations, flew almost blindly
into the trap. They are stuck and are struggling to free themselves while the
White Spider inches menacingly forward to devour them at will. Third World
Nations must act concertedly, NOW, to tear-up the web of globalisation and
wrench themselves free, if they hope to
survive.
Globalisation and the food-chain
In Sri Lanka, the destruction of our
agricultural infrastructure and the crippling of our ability to wholly feed
ourselves was, in hindsight, one of the prime objectives of Globalisation;
globalisation achieved in causing the destruction of the irrigation systems,
the poisoning of the soil, water and food and the affliction of many with life
threatening diseases. Above all, it caused agriculture to be unprofitable for
farmers.
Today, approximately seventy percent of
the country’s food requirements, all of which can be grown here, are imported.
With the many cogs in the food-chain
penetrated, all that remains for the globalists, to strangle the country
completely, is to physically take control of the land. This is being done at
breakneck speed with the acolytes of the globalists taking measures that will
facilitate the Privatisation of Government Land, comprising 86% of the country.
With Globalisation, the contextual meaning
of land was changed; it was chiseled into the collective id of Third World
countries that Land is just another commodity, to be hawked to the highest
bidder; the notion that Land was the sacred provider of food, so vital for our
life, was erased from our collective mind.
In the context of this background, the
vulnerability of the people to COVID is strikingly evident.
Wrenching away Sri Lanka from the death
trap that is Globalisation
If the Sri Lanka Government has the will
and inclination to organise the country to grow all her food requirements,
store and preserve excess supplies of food grown, organise sufficient retail
outlets for the sale of food grown and make efficiently available the food at
these retail outlets, every single person will have food in his belly and can
survive the economic ill-effects of COVID.
We live today in a world where the money
lenders (the poli mudalalis) call the shots.
The business objective of any money-lender
is to make a profit by lending money. If a Country or an individual already has
money, ‘the-doing-business-index’, for the money lender, in such a situation
would be very low.
The money-lender therefore needs to
improve the doing-business-index, to make money; when he creates a situation
that would make the country poor, the doing-business index rises. The
money-lender creates poverty because he thrives and wallows, only in a bog of
poverty.
The World Bank – The World’s Biggest Money
Lender (Poli Mudalali)
The World Bank, a creation of the
globalists, is the world’s biggest money lender; it (or its constituent
members) has created situations, globally, in which countries find themselves
short of money and therefore are forced to borrow. Subsequently when it lends,
it does so on conditions, that mire the borrower into deeper debt.
Trapped by the Money Lenders the American
people suffocate,
The American people’s tragedy with the
money lenders began in 1913; it was in that year that a cartel of money-lenders
in the US took control of America; they formed a private Company, the Federal
Reserve, which by an Act of legislation was made the Central Bank of America,
appointing it as the ultimate US financial policy maker and giving it the sole
authority to print money for the US Government.
The Federal Reserve, in addition to
printing money, lent money to the US Government.
Today, the American people owe this cartel
of money lenders, nearly 30 Trillion US Dollars, about 99 percent of the
American government income.
To pay the money-lending Mafia the annual
interest on this debt, approximately 575 Billion USD, the US government is
forced to borrow; and again, from the money lenders.
Every new born American baby has a mill
stone of a 50,000/= Dollar debt around his neck, at the time of his
birth.
With their financial clout, the
money-lending Mafia has absolute control of the two political parties in that
country and it is the money-lenders policies that are effected through the
Republican and Democratic Parties.
The Money Lenders set their sights on the
world
With their success in the US, in taking
control of the peoples’ lives, the money lenders set their sights on the world.
In 1930 the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), the Central Bank of all Central Banks, was established; the
Federal Reserve and the leading money lenders in Europe were the prime movers;
the BIS established a global banking order.
In 1941 a desperate Britain, with its Army
in disarray following the route at Dunkirk the year before, wilted to the
blackmail of the US; in response to British pleas for the US to enter WW2 on
its side, the USmoney lenders made no bones about the terms and conditions of
their entry.
At a secret meeting with Roosevelt on the
Atlantic, Churchill agreed to give independence to all British colonies at the
end of the war, the essence of the Atlantic Charter
Following this assurance, the US money
lenders immediately set about creating the infrastructure needed for a New
World Order which they described as, a World with one Government’.
From the time of the Atlantic charter to
1947, the money lenders created a Global Monetary Order (the Bretton Wood system),
a Global Trading Order (WTO, previously known as GATT), a Global Parliamentary
system (the UN General Assembly), a Global Executive system (the UN Security
Council), a Global short- term money-lending agency (the IMF), a Global
auditing agency (again, the IMF), a Global long-term money-lending agency, (the
World Bank previously known as the IBRD); all this, atop the Global Banking
Order established through the BIS at Basel.
The Federal Reserve manipulated the US
Dollar to be the global currency. The constituents of the Federal Reserve are
key players in the World Bank.
The spectre of a world held to ransom by
an evil ogre subjecting the people to death and slavery, has been the subject
of a myriad of authors, giving expression to their imagination.
Alas, this is no longer a fantasy. It
appears that a rogue Nation has unleashed a biological bomb.
And all the while, the world made an
erroneous assumption that exclusive ‘Weapons Club Members’ can never be rogue
Nations! (‘Club Members’ are permitted to retain their destructive arsenal
while non-members are not permitted to acquire the technology to manufacture
these weapons of exclusivity on the assumption that they may be rogue Nations).
Today, a rogue Nation, in possession of a
doomsday germ, is threatening to unleash death on the world, if its demands are
not met; that rogue nation is controlled by a Money-Lending mob.
Ukraine and the US collude to produce and spread COVID 19?
Location of Eleven deadly US Bio-laboratory sites in Ukraine
WHAT ARE SECRET US BIO-LABORATORIES DOING IN UKRAINE?
April 25, 2020
On April 23rd the US Embassy in Ukraine acknowledged that there are
biological laboratories in Ukraine that are under the control of the
Pentagon.
The statement of diplomats came after an open letter from people’s
deputies about the
Sri Lanka, controversially, is getting
down tourists from Ukraine at a time she should be breaking away from the
globalisation trap, locking down the country from the rest of the world,
producing all our food requirements, exhorting our fellow members in the
Non-Aligned Movement to do likewise and leading the demand at the UN to
investigate and censure, if necessary, the US Government for producing
biological weapons, despite being a signatory to the BWC (Biological Weapons
Convention).
The military relationship between Sri Lanka and USA is continuing. Sri Lanka Air Force Airmen and Pacific Air Forces Airmen participated in the first virtual and fourth annual Airmen-to-Airmen Talk, known as A2AT, hosted from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on December 2020.
The Talk included subject matter experts from each country in
logistics, flight safety, risk management, crisis response, cyber security and
medical procedures in response to chemical, biological, radiological and
nuclear emergencies. The effort is designed to help the Department of Defence
work toward a free and open Indo-Pacific region. We’ve been especially
successful, despite the COVID-19 restrictions, in being able to lay a path for
our future where we can strengthen the partnership between our two air forces,
said US.
Admiral Harris, Head of the US Pacific command spoke at Galle Dialogue 2016 about the US
partnership in the Indo-Asia-Pacific with special mention of US special
relationship with Colombo. He was pleased to see a growing military-to-military
relationship between Sri Lanka and the United States, he said. US looks forward
to working with Sri Lanka as a key force for maritime security, he said.
USA’s
military interest in Sri Lanka has been expressed in a roundabout way, to avoid
alarming the public. Sri Lanka occupies a strategic point in the Indian Ocean,
said USA. She sits in the middle of one of the busiest and most strategically important
sea lanes in the world. The sea lanes in
the Indian Ocean are considered among the most strategically important in the
world.
More than 80
% of the worlds seaborne trade in oil transits through Indian Ocean choke
points, with 40 % passing though straits of Hormuz, 35% through the Strait of
Malacca and 8 % through Ban el Mandab strait. These sea lanes are the gateway
to the control of resources and market in the near east, Middle East, Africa
and Asia, said USA. US wishes to see
that the Indian Ocean ‘remains’ a zone of peace” and that the US military
presence in the Indian Ocean will help to keep it so. But this sea route has been
in operation for a long time, observed critics, for centuries in fact. It is nothing new. It is now presented as a new discovery by
the USA, said critics, sarcastically.
US says the Indian
Ocean is a zone of peace today. Of
course it is, said critics. The sea lanes are working well except for narcotic
smuggling and fishing disputes. It is the US war lobby that is creating a
highly exaggerated perception of threat in this zone of peace said critics.
Also, it is the unnecessary US presence in this region that is actually creating
the threat. US military presence here in the Indian Ocean will by itself ensure
that the Indian Ocean ceases to ‘remain’ a zone of peace, critics said.
US should give up the present ‘Indo-Pacific’ ,revert
to the original ‘US-Pacific’ model terminating in the Straits of Malacca, and
leave the ‘Indian Ocean’ to the countries in South Asia, concluded critics.
But there are
those who see USA as a positive force. America
is seen as the steadying force in international relations. We are now facing a situation in which there
is uncertainty about America’s ability to carry out this role, but
the United States will not disappear from Asia altogether, said USA supporters.
. U.S. can still do very interesting things in Asia. We don’t know yet what
those will be, but the US is not dead and gone, they said.
US supporters
in Sri Lanka wish to nudge Sri Lanka gently towards USA. Sri Lankans should
understand that regardless of the emotional reactions to western imperialism,
the country’s economy cannot survive without its trading relationship with the
United States, said Kusum and Rienzie Wijetilleke. the US already has significant influence over
Sri Lanka through its trading relationship with exports averaging USD 2.0 Billion
annually, a tariff of a few percent would diminish Sri Lanka’s export revenue
significantly, they observed.
The question
to be asked is not whether Sri Lanka should sign the SOFA and ACSA, but what
the government should ask for in return. If certain clauses in the renewal
agreement are undesirable, for example those relating to protections and
privileges for visiting American troops, these must be negotiated. The notion that US needs to give a grant of
USD 500 million via MCC to exert influence on Sri Lanka seems farfetched.
United States
remains Sri Lanka’s largest export market and has donated US$ 6 million in
COVID-19 assistance to Sri Lanka. USA’s economy may be failing and China’s economy will overtake that of
US by 2030, but US natural gas and oil industries will see it become a net
energy exporter. US also funds and thus holds considerable sway
in many multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development
Bank and the IMF, they said. Conditional borrowings from institutions such as
the IMF may be better for the country’s long term financial stability.
In the area
of foreign policy, Sri Lanka’s decades long and carefully crafted non-aligned
and neutral foreign policy, which followed a balance between the competing
interests of major powers in the region, including of India, seems to have been
jettisoned in favor of a serious pivot towards China. This is unwise and
weakens key relationships with our largest trading partner the United States
and, of course, our historical and huge sub continental neighbor India, to the
detriment of our own national interests, said Harim Pieris.
Sri Lanka has
been linked to the US by a multiplicity of neo-colonial binds over the decades.
It would be naive on the part of local opinion to think otherwise. Neo-colonialism
cannot be wished away said Lynn Ockersz. At
this crucial juncture, can Sri Lanka afford anti-Americanism? Sri Lanka has
no choice but to follow a conciliatory line with US because it cannot afford to
antagonize the US. To express it plainly and bluntly, Sri Lanka has and will be
a neo-colony of the West for the foreseeable future. It does not have a choice,
added Ockersz.
On January 6th Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington while Congress was getting ready to declare Biden President elect. This has greatly affected the image of US to the dismay of US loyalists and the delight of those who dislike the US.
Pro-Trump supporters storming the US Capitol building
On January 6th, hundreds of
pro-Trump protesters scaled the west wall of the U.S. Capitol, pushed
through barriers, tussled with officers in full riot gear and got into the
Senate. One protester sat at the desk of the Head of Senate, another was seated
in Speakers office. They ransacked
offices, broke or overturned furniture
and threw files and papers on the floor.
They had come
from all over the country for a rally called by Trump. When interviewed by television the rioters said
they had no regret about storming the Capitol. They sounded very proud about
it. The next day they went sightseeing in Washington.
Countries
such as Britain, France, Germany watched in disbelief at this attack on one of
the world’s ‘model democracies’. Iran hooted in derision. Russia said the
United States certainly cannot now impose electoral standards on other
countries and claim to be the world’s ‘beacon of democracy’.” They pointed out
that US has supported autocratic regimes and armies in other countries. The
United States is the world’s number one backer of such anti-democratic
governments.
The
succession problem is not over. They are anticipating trouble at the
Inauguration ceremony. It will take place amidst unprecedented security. National
Mall in Washington will be closed down. It is usually packed with people for
the inauguration. The National Guard will be screened. Some of those involved in storming the Capitol
had ties to the military.
Much of
Washington resembles a fortified compound in a war zone, with most of the
downtown area blocked off; security fences topped by razor wire and about
25,000 National Guard troops deployed to the capital, reported the media. They are also anticipating trouble all over
the country on inauguration day. Michigan has barricaded its town hall.
Democratic
USA, defender of Free speech, went into repressive action immediately after the
Capitol incident. Those who were present were identified, from TV footage and dismissed
from their jobs.
A Chicago
real estate company dismissed one of its agents who were seen at the site. A
teacher at Allentown, Pennsylvania, was suspended. A Texas lawyer was sacked from his company Goosehead
Insurance, after social media posts appeared to show him talking about his
participation in the event. Saint
Vincent College, Pennsylvania, accepted the resignation of adjunct professor Saccone,
who has said in a Facebook post that everyone around him was “involved in
peaceful, First Amendment assembly.”
Some of those
who expressed support for the siege are also facing discipline even if they
were not physically at the Capitol. The
Texas Republican Party removed Walter West, its sergeant-at-arms, from his
position after West made comments on Facebook supporting the Capitol siege.
There are also
plans for a federal law against ‘domestic terrorism’ and the criminalization of
dissent, which would likely be based on the 2019 Confronting the Threat of
Domestic Terrorism Act introduced by California Representative Adam Schiff,
said the media.
The media had
its own take on this event. The shocking scene at the Capitol was met with less
police force than many of the Black Lives Matter protests that rolled across
the country in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis
police officers last year, observed the media. This contrasts with the massive
and intimidating troop presence around the Capitol and other Government
buildings during the largely nonviolent protests for Black Americans.
Had the mob
consisted of left-wing agitators instead, of black and brown bodies rather than
white bodies, the news would be quite different. Had that been the case, the
protesters would never have made it inside at all, let alone allowed to remain
there for over four hours.
The media
focus is on Trump. But this is not about Trump. Trump simply tapped into a deep vein of
dissatisfaction which was lying just below the surface in America. There is unemployment,
homelessness, frustration and bitterness at certain levels. There were nearly 11 million unemployed in USA
said NBC in January 2021. America dismissed 140,000 workers in December
2020 said Economist.
As economic
inequality deepens and the middle class disappears, vast segments of people of
color as well as whites have become economically desperate and politically
alienated from the status quo. The costly military activities, along with the
loss of industry, job outsourcing and displacement by technology, impoverished
large segments of the US population, both white and people of colour, said
Asoka Bandarage.
It is not
known what Trump did to improve this, but Trump notched ten million more votes in 2020
than in 2016 and there was an unprecedented
Republican turn out at the last Presidential election. His Party also gained more seats in the House
and increased its Latino votes.
Asoka
Bandarage has issued a warning. She points out that it
does not matter who becomes President, in the US, because they are all the
same. Republican and Democratic parties both have the same goals, that of big business
and world domination.
Under Obama
economic inequality increased and Black poverty, mass unemployment and police
brutality persisted, she observed. Trump was no better. He introduced massive
tax cuts and corporate deregulation. He is a member of the ruling elite
representing its own interests. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, heavily
funded by the billionaire class, also represent elite interests at the expense
of the general population. Bernie
Sanders who had genuine democratic ideas, was blocked from winning the
Democratic presidential nomination by the party elite in both 2016 and 2020,
continued Bandarage.
Racial activism
is not as progressive as it sounds, said Bandarage. Movements like Black Lives
Matter have received extensive funding from leading corporation such as Amazon
and Microsoft. Such movements take attention away from
company profits into a safe zone of identity politics. justice is equated with racial and gender
diversity, not economic equality.
During the
Covid pandemic the combined wealth of US billionaires ‘surpassed $1 trillion in
gains since March 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic,’ according to a study
by the Institute for Policy Studies. The top five US billionaires, Jeff Bezos,
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison , saw their
wealth grow by a total of $101.7 billion, or 26%, during this short period.
Systemic
violence and repression are not new to the United States. The noble ideals of democracy, freedom and
human rights aside, the United States was founded on plunder of the land and
exploitation of people, said Bandarage. (
continued)
TNA has submitted its proposals to the Experts
Committee appointed to draft a new
Constitution. What they have asked for is far in excess of the devolution
package granted in the 13th Amendment. The powers that are demanded
exceeds those granted to the states in India which is a federal country. They
seem to have forgotten that they also must show some conciliatory attitude when
everybody is talking about reconciliation and communal harmony. It takes two to
Tango. They must know what is possible and what is not. They must know that
extremism begets extremism. There are on both sides of the divide people with
extremist points of view on sensitive matters like land, language, religion etc.
If peace and harmony among communities are the desired goals of everybody,
particularly political leaders, they have to be more flexible. Asking for more
and more following on the steps of SJVC who adopted a little now and more
later” policy will not help.
TNA has asked for Regional Councils virtually with all
the powers except defense. Executive presidency is to be abolished and all
executive powers are to be taken over by the cabinet of ministers. The
president would be a figurehead with no powers. The governor of the regional
council will be appointed on the recommendation of the chief minister with the
approval of the council. Nature of the state obviously will not be unitary but
united. These powers if granted would be far in excess of those granted under
the 13th A.
The proposed regional council would obviously comprise
North and East merged as envisaged in the original 13th A. These two
provinces were demerged by an order of the Supreme Court on the 16th
October 2006 which declared that proclamations issued by President Jayawardena
temporarily extending the tenure of the merged North-Eastern Province were null
and void and had no legal effect. The proclamations by JRJ were necessitated
due to the fact that a referendum on the
merger was not held as required by the 13th A. It was well known
that the Muslims and the Sinhalese in the Eastern Province were against a
merger. However if a referendum had been held in the two provinces together the
vote would have been in favour of a merger as Tamils would be a majority when
the two provinces are joined for the referendum. However the Sinhalese leaders
did not want to merge these two provinces as it would go against the interests
of the Muslims and Sinhalese. TNA does not seem to have taken these issues and
their implications into serious consideration. They seem to be still stuck in
their four Thimphu principles. TNA must not appear to be on reverse gear when
the country is trying to emerge out of communal acrimony.
TNA proposals have to be seen as an attempt to delink
their areas of habitation as much as possible from the writ of the central
government. It seems that the proposal is to devolve to the Regional Council
all powers and functions that can be carried out at the level of the regions on
the basis of the principle of subsidiarity”. It is on the basis of a similar
conceptual framework that the separatists have been agitating for an
independent state in the Northern and Eastern provinces since 1972. The
principle of subsidiarity is defined as the principle that the central
authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which
cannot be performed at a more local level”. Obviously subsidiarity may be
suitable for big countries but could be an unnecessary financial burden on small
countries like Sri Lanka.
Powers the TNA has asked for include those pertaining
to land and police. Land is a subject under the 13th A that had
given rise to controversial rulings by the Supreme Court. Once it held that
state land can be utilized by the Provincial Councils for their projects but
later in 2011 it ruled that state land
should remain under the ownership of the central government for the
utilization at national level. Police powers had not been allowed to be taken
over by the PCs though it is provided in the 13th A. These two
subjects if devolved could give a PC that has a centrifugal tendency much
leverage to work towards its goal. For instance an independent police force
could engage in subterfuge and subversion with the connivance of the provincial
politicians. A terrorist who commits an act of terror in the South could escape
into the North and find refuge. We must not forget separatism and terrorism
have not been totally eliminated in this country.
TNA proposals tend to change the nature of the state
quite significantly and also the single sovereignty of the people in Sri Lanka.
In the present constitution people’s sovereignty is reposed in the executive
president by people’s franchise. President may delegate his executive powers to
other institutions such as the ministers and also in accordance with the 13th
A to the governors he appoints to the provincial councils. In the proposals
submitted by the TNA the governor is appointed on the recommendation of the
chief minister with the approval of the council. Thus the main link between the
central government and the council has been removed.
TNA proposals have done away with the concurrent list
of subjects that come under the purview of both the central government and the
regional councils. This is another delinking measure that TNA wants to be
adopted to strengthen the autonomy and independence of their regional
government. Such an arrangement would be federal in nature no matter what it
may be called.
And what is worse is, it would be a federal state based
on ethnic demarcation which has not been very successful in countries where it
had been tried eg. Ethiopia, Pakistan, South Sudan.
What takes the set of proposals beyond federal status
is the demand for powers to deal directly with foreign countries for aid, loans
and investment. What the TNA is asking for is almost a separate state. If all
these powers are granted their struggle to strengthen the case for the legal
establishment of a separate state would succeed to a great degree.
TNA proposals if granted would have adverse effects not
only on Muslims and Sinhalese living in the North and East but also on Tamils.
These adverse effects would be felt mainly in the economic, social and cultural
spheres. Tamils have a huge economic interest in the South, in the Sinhalese
community. Cordial relations between communities is essential for the
development of economic connections. For instance the wholesale market in
Colombo in which the Tamils have a huge presence cannot thrive unless there is
trust and understanding among different communities involved in this business.
A political rupture in the sensitive areas like land, language, religion could
affect the consciousness of these
communities and disrupt the working relationships.
The Muslims and Sinhalese who live in the North and
East would feel that they have been made minorities and may be subject to
discrimination. Such sentiments would not help reconciliation but promote
discord. Social and cultural relationships will be hampered and the whole
country may not progress very much socially, culturally and economically.
It is time the TNA took into consideration the present
realities and also politics in the Tamil areas. Adopting a more extremist
posture in an attempt to boost up its flagging popularity is not what is
needed. What is needed is a course correction and develop reconciliation
strategies that would be beneficial to the Tamils who live not only in the
North and East but also in the Centre and the South so that everybody could get
together in a peaceful and cordial relationship and develop their country in
the social, economic and cultural spheres.
Pledged by: A small but significant community of South Asian immigrants from Sri Lanka in the USA and others who have reached out globally.
We support your journey with hope for the Soul of America and the Soul of the Free World………. We are profoundly gratified by your success and convincing win for saving the Soul of America” of which we are very much a part. We rejoice with you and offer our support with gratitude to preserve our democracy and be a beacon to the world.
You delivered hope to us, a small but significant group of immigrants in the US and outside from the little island of Sri Lanka. Though small, we make a significant contribution to the intellect and economy being a part of the United States of America as law abiding citizens. We seek to be part of the inclusion for equal rights and equal justice you support across all people as promised by your upcoming administration.
Interest in this election stretched far beyond the shores of the USA to other countries. In this message, Sri Lankan Americans with citizenship to vote are joined by others who have expressed their joy and gratitude to see the muchneeded change in America take shape while they watched from across the globe. They join us to send their sincere greetings too.
We are a small lesser-known group, but we belong to the strong fiber of this country as South Asians. With a South Asian connection at the highest level of your administration, we come from a South Asian country that elected the World’s First Woman Prime Minister in July 1960”, shattering the glass ceiling ahead of powerful western countries.
Sri Lanka is the oldest democracy in Asia with adult universal suffrage introduced in June 1931, even prior to Independence from Britain.
As South Asians, we share a connection with the Vice President elect, to join the new order and the journey forward.
The values you expressed are common to all of us and for our children and grandchildren. Our culture is one that lays emphasis on education and human values. Those of us who chose to spend decades of our lives in the US brought with us an investment in free college education, nurtured by free health care given to us by our home country. We added value to our adopted land and promise to continue to do so.
We bring a literacy rate of 91% among our people. We are multiethnic and multi religious. We practice the Philosophy of Buddhism among a majority who spread the message of kindness and compassion to all beings. We live by the diversity we value with a multi religious composition among us and followers of Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam who freely follow their faith among the predominant Buddhists. They merge with ease sharing mandated holidays in celebrating all religions in the nation. This multiethnic group speaks three languages, and we are Sri Lankans striving to obliterate our differences while enriching the diversity in our homeland and adopted land, the United States of America. We have immersed ourselves to restore America to the position of the pinnacle of the world. We offer you our blessings in your new and difficult roles ahead. We are, Sri Lankan born US-citizens and non-citizens. in the USA and around the world
Indian Foreign Minister in his recent visit to Sri
Lanka has firmly told the government that the 13th Amendment must be
implemented in a united Sri Lanka. Unitary state is not acceptable to India
probably because it is not acceptable to TNA and Tamil separatists. India has
been reminding our governments when ever the opportunity arises that the 13th
A is crucial for the dignified existence of the Tamils, their aspirations,
peace and reconciliation of communities. When the Indian PM visited Sri Lanka
he reminded the then ‘yahapalana’ government about this matter and in his
messages to the present government also he does it.
India doesn’t seem to have taken into consideration
that Tamils have been living quite comfortably without PCs for several years
now because the PC elections have not been held. The elections have not been
held because the TNA, the leading Tamil political coalition, colluded with the
‘yahapalana’ government to postpone the elections. The question has to be asked if the PCs are essential for
the well being of the Tamils would Tamil leaders get the elections postponed.
Why didn’t India intervene at that time and ask TNA not to postpone elections
and kill its child, the 13th A and Provincial Councils. India seems to be oblivious to this
reality.
Is India aware that the 13th A or the PCs
have not served the Tamils irrespective of where they live, in any sphere of
their lives, economic, education, cultural or reconciliation with other
communities. They had the opportunity when C.Wigneshwaran was the Chief
Minister of the Northern PC. They squandered that opportunity by choosing to
use their provincial council as a platform for separatist political propaganda
and agitation. The Northern PC adopted several seditious resolutions including
one that stated successive governments had caused a Tamil genocide. The CM
instead of giving responsible leadership to the Tamils chose to mislead them by
distorting historical facts aimed at creating emotions in sensitive areas like
Tamil origin in the island. The Northern PC did not spend 85% of the funds
allocated for the development of the province. This was done probably to keep
the area under developed to show that
the government is discriminating against the Tamils. India must be aware of all
this. Surely India did not want the 13thA and PCs installed for this kind of
subtle separatism to operate in the North.
Or did it ?
The expenditure for maintaining the 9 PCs is more than
Rs. 250 billion per year and it is rising by about Rs.30 billion every year.
This amount could rise further if land and police powers are also devolved.
This little island doesn’t need PCs in the rest of the country. Yet the
country, often battling to avoid being bankrupt, has to spend all this money to
maintain nine white elephants. Just to keep Tamil politicians and India happy.
One ninth of this money, which is about Rs.30 billion, would be available to be
spent in the North to develop its industry, education, infra structure, culture
etc. Norochcholai power plant cost Rs. 91 billion. Mattala airport cost about Rs.40 billion
which shows what a waste PCs are from the economic development point of view.
We could build nine Mattala airports every year with this money, not that
Mattala airports are of any use, but just to give an idea of what we are
missing, the magnitude of the problem.
What is the benefit that accrued to the people to
justify this huge expenditure. Insignificant to say the least. Has the Northern
PC in its short tenure or the other PCs in the last 30 years of their existence
done anything original and creative in the
economic, education, cultural or any other area. Nothing significant has
been done except to form another obstacle to the people to be overcome to get
any service done. And another opportunity for bribery and corruption.
There is no need for PCs for the economic, social and
cultural development of the North or any other part of this country. However,
there could be two other reasons why they are being demanded by Tamil
politicians and India. Political power sharing is the long standing grievance
of the Tamil political leaders. How this demand could be addressed has been
often discussed in these columns by experts on the subject. A solution has to
be found which is acceptable to everyone including the majority community.
Greater devolution of power will not solve the problem of the Tamils and may not
be acceptable to the other communities. Making the unit of devolution larger
will make matters worse as pointed out by several writers and also in my
earlier letter (The Island 14.01.2021). Perhaps it may be possible to solve
this problem by two steps. The administrative powers could be devolved to a
smaller unit such as the district which would be economically and functionally
more feasible. Further a political power sharing arrangement could be worked out at the centre where Tamil
political leaders instead of being parochial in their attitude could serve the
whole country. It must be remembered more than 50% of Tamils live outside the
North and East. Tamil leaders at the centre could serve all these Tamils
The other reason is the geo-political concerns of
India. Sri Lanka due to its strategical situation in the Indian Ocean is a
valuable piece of real estate”. China and the US are vying for a foothold on
the Island. India due to its border confrontations with China is supporting the
US. India’s policy towards Sri Lanka depends to a degree on its foreign
relations with the two opposing global power camps, the Western and
China/Russia camps. There was a time when India sponsored Tamil terrorists to
counter the then government’s tilt towards the US and now it is with the
opposite camp and is using the ethnic issue to have a support base in Sri
Lanka. A Northern PC in a United Sri Lanka” would serve this purpose.
It must be said that though the US and India interfere
in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs China strictly adheres to the UN convention on
non-interference in other countries’ affairs. In this sense it is a true
friend. Sri Lanka in this hour of need and peril must strengthen its relations
with China, Russia and other countries in that camp. Sri Lanka must not be
browbeaten by the big neighbour for it is not friendless and helpless at this
juncture. China is forging ahead in spite of Covid and has beaten the US
economically and also in the trade war that the latter waged against it. China hence
is a good friend to have on one’s side.
It should be possible to convince India on the futility
of pursuing with the 13th A and PCs as a solution to the ethnic
issue. Leaders of this government were once successful in convincing India on
the desirability of eliminating the LTTE and the war was fought to its
conclusion. A similar strategy may have to be adopted in this instance as well.
India has to be shown the unfeasibility of PCs and the available alternatives
to solve the problem. India must also be shown that Sri Lanka cannot be used as
a piece of real estate” by any foreign power, including China. It must also be
shown that arm twisting may not work, for Sri Lanka is not without powerful
friends.
Public Security Minister retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera Monday, 18 at his ministry met Justice Minister Ali Sabry, PC, to discuss ways and means of strengthening law enforcement operations. Public Security Ministry Secretary retired Maj. Gen. Jagath Alwis and IGP Chandana Wickremaratne participated in the discussion.
Former Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) of Police H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, having read our last week’s column, further elaborated on the revelation by retired SDIG Merril Gunaratne pertaining to what he called the unprecedented expansion of the DIG cadre during Dingiri Banda Wijetunga’s tenure as the President (May 1993 to Nov 1994).
Kotakadeniya, one of the most outspoken senior cop, while in service (if one had cared to canvas his opinion) and now in retirement, said Wijetunga’s intervention had been far worse than mentioned and caused the further deterioration of the service. The retired Senior DIG sent us the following statement in the wake of the writer’s comment on Gunaratne’s latest work ‘Perils of a Profession’, titled ‘Perils of a Profession jolts scandal- ridden police’ published in the January 13, 2021 edition of The Island:
In the chapter, titled ‘Violation of the line of seniority – a major cause for decline,’ it is stated President Wijetunge ordered the DIG cadre to be increased from 19 to 30 and that there was speculation about this increase benefitting an officer who was a favourite of the President. I would like to add two relevant facts regarding this issue.
Shortly after Wijetunga assumed office as the President, in 1993, he summoned me to the Presidential Secretariat. At that time I was based at Police Headquarters as DIG Headquarters and DIG Administration. My parents and I had the privilege of being acquainted with Wijetunga from my childhood as we were from the same village.
When I met the President, he told me that the welfare of Police officers hadn’t been given the due importance and, therefore, to redress the situation he had an idea to appoint a DIG to handle welfare work in each DIG Range. He inquired from me whether I would endorse the proposal.
I reflected for a few seconds and replied that the subject of welfare in each range was being looked after by an Inspector, and therefore the appointment of an officer of a rank of DIG was not quite necessary. The President did not appear to be pleased with my response.
If few days, after this meeting, with the President, I was transferred as the DIG Logistics on 1.10.1994 and thereafter to Chilaw on 4.10.1994. I felt that the move by the President, to appoint several DIGs’ in charge of ‘welfare’, was meant to fulfill his desire to expand the DIG cadre to allow his favourite officer who was very junior, to also become a DIG.
The other matter was that the DIG cadre increase was not from 19 to 30, but much above 40 since the officer concerned was at that time 44th in the list of Senior Superintendents.
Kotakadeniya refrained from mentioning names. The Island inquiries revealed that ironically highly respected Frank Silva had been the IGP at that time and Mahinda Balasuriya the beneficiary.
Kotakadeniya, who had served as Defence Ministry advisor during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first tenure as the President following the 2005 November Presidential election, was the only retired officer to respond to The Island piece.
Deterioration of the public sector
The deterioration of the police should be addressed at the highest level. Unfortunately, successive governments, in spite of their grandiose plans to restore the dignity of the once proud service caused further deterioration. Political parties cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for the current predicament.
But at least it is no longer a runaway rogue force, hand in glove with the underworld, due to the current government’s no nonsense line on law enforcers. Yet the current dispensation, too, is still struggling to cope with the situation against continuing revelations on the depth of its rot. The revelation of the clandestine dealings involving the elite Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) and heroin Mafia sent shock waves through the entire security establishment. Gunaratne, however, hadn’t at least made a reference to the PNB fiasco or the controversial release of Easter Sunday massacre suspect Riyaj Bathiudeen who had been held in CID custody in terms of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Mahinda Balasuriya received the appointment as the IGP in early November 2009 during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first tenure as the President. Balasuriya resigned in early June 2011 following the killing of a 21-year-old worker, during a protest, by police fire at the Katunayake Export Processing (EPZ).
The government rewarded him with a diplomatic appointment. Balasuriya, perhaps is the only retired IGP to receive an appointment as head of a diplomatic mission in spite of stepping down under controversial circumstances. Balasuriya served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Brazil. With the Parliamentary High Posts Committee, chaired by the Speaker, nothing but a rubber stamp for successive governments to accommodate their favourites, at the taxpayers’ expense, without any difficulty.
Balasuriya received significant media coverage when he was investigated by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that Inquired into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC). The yahapalana outfit probed why Balasuriya provided armed police security for members of Wimal Weerawansa’s National Freedom Front (NFF), who hadn’t been at least members of Parliament.
The Commission sought clarification on what grounds Balasuriya provided security in the period 2010-2015.
The Commission estimated the exercise could have cost the taxpayer approximately Rs 30 mn.
Gunaratne dealt with officers with political patronage at different levels exploiting the much abused system to secure promotions. In the chapter referred to by Kotakadeniya, Gunaratne depicted an extremely negative picture of the service.
Let me reproduce verbatim the relevant section that referred to the pathetic situation of some influential persons securing key posts and promotions for stooges at the expense of the deserving: The pattern, so monotonous since 1977, had seriously demoralized the service. Some have been adept not only in the ‘long jump,’ but also in ‘hop, step and jump,’ by obtaining more than one promotion outside the eligible criteria.
Backdoor entry into Parliament
But should we be surprised by irregular police promotions? In a country where defeated candidates can be accommodated in Parliament through the backdoor or ruling party perpetrated Treasury bond scams twice in 2015 and 2016, ‘rape of the seniority line’ as underscored by Gunaratne seemed not so serious an issue. In fact, the rot in the police is just one symptom of the overall deterioration of both public and private sectors.
In spite of the creation of the National Police Commission (NPC) in terms of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution followed by the 19th and the recently introduced 20th, the crisis-ridden department is in bad shape. The PNB’s alleged involvement in drug dealing, Riyaj Bathiudeen’s sudden shock release, alleged attempts to undermine police investigation into Easter Sunday attacks, handling of the probe into negligence on the part of Brandix and government officials in respect of the second Covid-19 eruption highlighted fundamental flaws in law enforcement.
Police continue to play politics and politicians continue to play with the police. Both parties engage in ‘politics’ at the expense of truth and credibility. The Parliament remains indifferent. Yahapalana IGP Pujith Jayasundera, in the wake of the Oct 26, 2018 constitutional crisis caused by the sacking of Wickremesinghe government, immediately switched his allegiance to the Rajapaksas. Jayasundera returned to the fold as President Sirisena’s ambitious project collapsed.
Over the years, politicians have set up systems that took care of problems. Actually, Gunaratne in ‘Dilemma of an Island’ (2001), ‘Cop in the Crossfire’ in 2011 and the latest ‘Perils of a Profession’ launched this January dealt with perhaps some broader issues though a fully-fledged Presidential Commission as suggested by the author is required to reach consensus on genuine remedial measures.
Former Sub Inspector and defeated candidate at the August 2020 general election Palitha Range Bandara recently received the appointment as the General Secretary of the demoralized UNP. Bandara succeeded Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, who was rewarded with the post of Assistant Leader.
Beleaguered UNP leader Wickremesinghe picked Bandara in spite of him being accused often of divided loyalties. But in relation to ‘Perils of a Profession,’ it would be pertinent to mention that Bandara received backdated promotion to the rank of ASP in Dec 2017, courtesy the NPC.
The NPC recommended promotion for cop-turned-politician Bandara to the rank of ASP on the grounds the previous Rajapaksa administration victimized him, politically, though he had left the police long before Rajapaksa came to power in 2005. The NPC made the recommendation to the Law and Order and Southern Development Ministry. The NPC responded to Bandara’s appeal and recommended that MP Bandara be reinstated in the Police Service from 24 August 2000 and promoted to the ASP rank on the 27th of the same month and sent him on retirement. Promoting an SI to the rank of ASP cannot be an issue for those yahapalana grandees who brought back Maj. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake from retirement to name him the Commander of the Army. The National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) carried out the Easter Sunday attacks during Senanayake’s tenure as the Army Commander. Instead of accepting responsibility for the failure on the part of the Directorate of Military (DMI) to thwart the NTJ project, Senanayake exploited the police lapses to contest the last presidential election. Senanayake couldn’t poll even 50,000 votes. The results of the Nov 2019 presidential poll placed Senanayake fourth behind JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The yahapalana administration also brought back Rear Admiral Travis Sinniah from retirement to place the Navy under him. However, it is pertinent to mention that Sinniah led some of the most successful operations on the high seas against the LTTE arms smuggling vessels.
Need for clear cut procedures
The government will have to set up specific mechanisms to deal with both law enforcement and military officers claiming political victimization, rightly or wrongly, instead of looking at them through a political lense as has been happening under various governments. Gunaratne mentioned several instances of how retired senior officers brazenly exploited the political setup for their advantage. In the absence of procedures, any wrongdoer can secure benefits at the expense of the truth.
The author dealt with an attempt made by a Colombo-based diplomatic mission to recruit a police intelligence officer in the early 70s. Having named the officer concerned as Ananda Jayasekera, who passed away in 2019, Gunaratne discussed the case that ended up with the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike being alerted to the foreign mission’s bid to run an agent within the State Intelligence setup.
During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second presidential term, the US Embassy made an abortive bid to recruit Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe. The offer was made at a party hosted by the then US Defence attaché Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith on January 20, 2011, in honour of a senior officer from the US Pacific Command.
Samarasinghe not only turned down the offer to secure permanent residency in the US for him and his family by betraying the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, he promptly brought the US bid to the latter’s notice.
Against the backdrop of foreign powers stepping up their clandestine activities over the years, the circumstances under which Inspector Nishantha Silva of the CID secured political asylum for himself and his entire family a week after the last presidential poll underscored the pivotal importance of the intelligence services keeping a track of developments. Did the State Intelligence Service (SIS) headed by SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena know of the connection between Nishantha Silva and the Swiss Embassy?
Subsequent inquiries revealed a much wider conspiracy involving Swiss Embassy employee Garnier Francis, (former Siriyalatha Perera), the Swiss Embassy and the police officer who prominently figured in the leaked audio tapes of the then UNP State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake. Did SIS at least know the controversial CID investigator’s plan to flee the country in the event of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory at the presidential poll? Did the then Director, CID SSP Shani Abeysekera know of his subordinate’s plan?
If the Swiss government succeeded in evacuating Garnier Francis in an air ambulance amidst accusations that government personnel molested her and threatened her with death, immediately after Inspector Silva fled the country, the issue would have been raised in Geneva at the forthcoming 46th UNHRC sessions as if it was the gospel truth. However, the possibility of the matter still being raised during the Feb-March 2021 sessions cannot be ruled out as the West is quite capable of making an untruth a truth, especially through their ‘independent’ media as happened with Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or the maligning of Gaddafi just before his ouster and gruesome killing in public.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa placed the SIS under intelligence veteran Maj. Gen. Suresh Sally. The SIS had never been under a military officer before. The crisis-ridden police are now placed under retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera as the Minister of Public Security with retired Maj. Gen. Jagath Alwis as the Secretary to that Ministry. The Office of Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), too, has been placed under retired Maj. Gen. Ruwan Kulathunga. In spite of the much tighter hold on the intelligence setup, the government was caught flat-footed when the demolition of the LTTE war memorial on January 8, 2021 in the Jaffna University triggered chaos. The incident placed both Sri Lanka and India in an embarrassing position as the demolition of the memorial took place close on the heels of Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s high profile visit to Colombo.
Although the author made reference to the failure on the part of the police to thwart the Easter Sunday attacks, an issue as important as how the Indian intelligence managed its operations aimed at the NTJ hadn’t received due attention.
Did India alert SIS regarding their NTJ hunt or just provided the finished intelligence product on April 4, 2019, regarding the planned operation? Sri Lanka should be really worried about foreign intelligence services engaged in clandestine activities here, especially against the backdrop of growing US-China rivalry, with the former receiving the backing of India, Japan and Australia.
PLOTE leader Uma Maheswaran killing outside the Maldivian HC in Colombo in July 1989 revealed the possible involvement of the Indian intelligence. The killing took place in the wake of the PLOTE bid to overthrow the then Maldivian President Gayoom at the behest of a Maldivian businessman. The sea borne PLOTE raid went awry even before Indian troops landed there to bring the situation quickly under control.
A deeper scrutiny of ‘developments’ is required as China-US hostilities take a turn for the worse with both seeking to enhance their spheres of influence. The need for the intelligence services to be prepared to face multifarious threats on different levels is of paramount importance. The Easter Sunday carnage is certainly not the first intelligence failure and it wouldn’t be the last.
The assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa on May Day 1993 exposed the entire intelligence setup. The infiltration of President Premadasa’s inner circle by the LTTE is perhaps the worst single intelligence failure that proved the importance of the intelligence services being on top of the ‘political game,’ too. For intelligence services, there cannot be a worse period than President Premadasa’s tenure (1989-1993). An ignorant President played pandu with national security leading to the Eelam War II in June 1990 with disastrous consequences. Retired SSP Tassy Seneviratne didn’t mince his words when he appeared before the LLRC. Seneviratne explained how President Premadasa’s interventions caused debilitating losses at the onset of the Eelam War II. The rest is history.
Colombo, January 20 (Daily Mirror) – While blaming the Health Ministry officials providing false picture about Covid-19 situation to the politicians, the Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union yesterday warned of a considerable spike in Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks.
Speaking to Daily Mirror, Union’s Chairman Upul Rohana said the Government did not heed to warnings when the PHIs urged the Government to restrict movement or lock-down high-risk areas during the festive season.
Now, the situation has almost gone out of hand and it is the people who have to pay the price for that. There is no option other than ensuring individual safety,” he highlighted.
He also said the Covid-19 cases which were limited only to the Western Province by the latter part of the last year, could now be found in all the districts including Trincomalee, Galle, Matara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala and Puttalam etc.
There are also cases being reported in the country with no visible origin, which is a sign that Sri Lanka has reached the community transmission level,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rohana stressed that officials in the Ministry of Health and other authorities related to health provided a false picture of the Covid-19 situation in the country to the politicians.
That’s why, proper actions have not been taken at the correct time. These officials provide such false details due to the fear that they may lose their positions. However, it is their duty to alert the politicians about the actual Covid situation in the country,” he added.
Washington, January 20 (BBC): Kamala Devi Harris, born to a Jamaican Economist and an Indian Tamil cancer researcher, will make history when she takes the oath of office on Wednesday, becoming the first woman and first black and South Asian American to serve as US vice-president. Harris’ Domestic Policy Advisor is Rohini Kosoglu, daughter of a medical doctor of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. This is the first Indo-Lankan-American combo in the history of the White House.
Here’s what awaits Ms Harris in her new job: What does a vice-president do? Historically speaking, not a lot. It has been described as the least understood, most ridiculed and most often ignored constitutional role in the federal government, and for a long time it stayed that way.
The role of the vice-president was, frankly, to just be that heartbeat away from the president,” said Barbara Perry, the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Centre. Unless the president died, or was seriously ill, the vice-president’s job was largely to sit around and wait.
For some vice-presidents, the dynamic meant holding a job you hoped would never be needed. One of the vice-presidents in the early 20th Century said, ‘Every day I ring the doorbell at the White House and hope the president will answer,’” Ms Perry said.
That’s not a role to take lightly. Nine of the country’s 45 presidents has left office before the end of their term, eight by death – about one fifth of all presidents – giving their vice-presidents a sudden promotion. At 78 years old, Mr Biden will be the oldest president to assume the office, putting added stress on his next-in-line.
It wasn’t until the 1970s, under President Jimmy Carter, that the vice-president began to assume a bigger role.
Mr Carter, a former Georgia governor, had built his candidacy around being a political outsider. He knew he didn’t know Washington,” Ms Perry said. So when he won the nomination, he called on Walter Mondale, a long-time US senator, to show him the ropes and be a true governing partner”.
Kamala Harris
The unstoppable rise of Kamala Harris
While their close relationship was new, their strategic match followed a well-worn pattern of vice-presidents offering geographical or ideological balance to the president.
The practice has continued on most recent political tickets. Barack Obama, then a relative political newcomer, tapped Joe Biden, a 35-year veteran of the US Senate. Donald Trump went with Mike Pence, whose evangelical bona fides were thought to smooth over Mr Trump’s image for the religious right. And Ms Harris offers a counter to Joe Biden’s age, gender and race.
What’s more, this time the ceremonial role held by the vice-president as president of the Senate will prove crucial for Ms Harris’ party. There is currently a 50-50 seat split between Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber, and Ms Harris will cast the deciding ballot in any tie.
Where do they live?
Ms Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will set up home in a different white house – a 19th Century mansion on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory in north-west Washington.
The estate is close to the White House grounds, where Ms Harris will have her office, and not far from Georgetown University’s law school, where Mr Emhoff, an attorney, is set to teach.
To get around, Ms Harris and Mr Emhoff will also have access to Air Force Two, a Boeing 757, and they will have round-the-clock security.
Do Harris and Biden get along?
While Mr Biden and Mr Obama often put their bromance on display during their time in the White House, close personal relationships between presidents and vice-presidents have not been the norm, Ms Perry said.
But since Mr Biden officially brought on Ms Harris this summer, it has seemed to be smooth sailing, Ms Perry said.
Mr Biden has said there’s not a single decision I’ve made yet” about his administration that he hasn’t consulted with Ms Harris on first. She has also interviewed each of Biden’s potential cabinet nominees.
A friendly relationship makes sense between the two, considering it was Ms Harris’ close relationship with Mr Biden’s son, Beau – who died of brain cancer in 2015 – that reportedly sealed the deal for Mr Biden.
It’s a surprise to some who remember Ms Harris’ sharp debate-stage attacks aimed directly at Mr Biden when they were both competing for the Democratic nomination. Biden clearly lets bygones be bygones,” Ms Perry said.
How much influence will Harris have?
Mr Biden is likely to model Ms Harris’ role after his own time as vice-president.
When he introduced her as his running mate at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, he recalled the time he was chosen for the same job by Barack Obama in 2008.
Mr Obama asked what Mr Biden wanted from the role.
I told him I wanted to be the last person in the room before he made important decisions,” Mr Biden said. That’s what I asked Kamala. I asked Kamala to be the last voice in the room. To always tell me the truth.”
Vice President’s House- the former Naval Observatory. Photo: AP
What kind of vice-president will Harris be?
Ms Harris joined Mr Biden’s team as a political star in her own right. Though her own presidential bid failed to find its focus and sputtered to an early halt, it earned her a devoted fan following (they call themselves the #KHive).
And despite continued criticism from the left wing of her party, Ms Harris had one of the most liberal voting records in the US Senate, pursuing progressive causes like gay rights, immigration, legalisation of marijuana and gun control. She also has an extensive legal résumé, having served as California’s top lawyer before her Senate bid.
Her legal experience and advocacy for police reform will be useful in a White House that has promised to address systemic” misconduct in US police forces. This summer, amid a wave of Black Lives Matters protests, Ms Harris was a vocal supporter of the demonstrations and called for a reimagining” of US policing.
But as a vice-presidential first” three times over, she will enter office shouldering heavy expectations. While I may be the first woman in this office,” Ms Harris is fond of saying, I will not be the last.”
The historic moment for black Americans is worth celebrating, said Jennifer Edwards, senior director at racial justice organisation Color of Change. But we learned time and time again that representation alone doesn’t lead to transformative change.”
Hundreds of thousands of black women have fought, organised and voted to reach this moment. Now, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris has a responsibility to represent demands of the people who ushered her into office,” she said.
Ms Edwards said she will be looking for progress in Covid-19 economic relief, on criminal justice and voting and election reform.
As the more left-wing half of the political partnership, Ms Harris may face blame for perceived shortfalls here, and elsewhere in their progressive agenda.
And reports that Mr Biden will not seek re-election will mean a balancing act for Ms Harris – how to remain a loyal aide to Mr Biden while also plotting her own run.
What are the potential pitfalls?
Firstly, it’s crucial that the American public see the vice-president as competent, and able to take the reins as commander-in-chief at any moment.
This has not always been the case. President George Bush’s deputy, Dan Quayle, for example, was not viewed as the brightest bulb in the drawer,” Ms Perry said.
The impression was cemented during a visit to an elementary school. A student was called upon to write a word, ‘potato’, on the chalkboard. The student wrote ‘potato’ as it was correctly spelled,’” Ms Perry said. But Vice-President Quayle chipped in, saying the word needed an E at the end.
A vice-president should also avoid getting on their boss’s bad side.
Soon after his 1828 election, President Andrew Jackson developed a deep dislike of Vice-President John Calhoun. The two differed on policy and on Washington’s social scene. The antipathy between the two grew so intense that Mr Calhoun became the first vice-president in US history to resign.
Still, the title for worst vice-presidential mistake probably rests with the country’s third, Aaron Burr. While in office, Mr Burr shot and killed his rival, American founding father Alexander Hamilton, in a duel. But while it ruined his reputation, Mr Burr still completed his term, sheltered from prosecution.
Rohini Kosoglu
Rohini Kosoglu is a seasoned leader with over fifteen years of experience advising elected officials and candidates and serving in senior roles on national campaigns and Capitol Hill with expertise in managing large and complex organizations, says a write-up on her by the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics.
Since 2017, Kosoglu has served as a senior advisor to U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) in her U.S. Senate office and presidential campaign, Kamala Harris for the People. As Chief of Staff to Harris’ presidential campaign, Kosoglu managed and oversaw debate preparation, policy, communications, and operations for a team with over three-hundred staff with a $40 million budget. Prior to Harris’ presidential race, Kosoglu served as Chief of Staff to Harris in the Senate, directing Harris’ legislative strategy and leadership on key committees, including the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Budget Committees.
Kosoglu was the first South Asian woman to serve as Chief of Staff to a U.S. Senator and was notably the only Asian American to serve in that role during her tenure. Under her leadership, Kosoglu held a commitment to creating a diverse and representative staff by developing a talent pipeline that led to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies naming Harris’ office as the most diverse on Capitol Hill.
Kosoglu’s career on Capitol Hill has also included leadership positions with leading Democratic Senators, including U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). During her tenure, Kosoglu led negotiations on numerous bipartisan legislation, with a focus on the economy and health care. Most notably, Kosoglu served as a key advisor during the drafting and passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.
Kosoglu has received numerous awards for her legislative accomplishments, including the Rising Star Award from the Women’s Campaign Forum and organizations such as Pew Charitable Trust, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the National Rural Health Association. She has also been a featured speaker for the Democratic National Committee, the National Education Association, and Kauffman Center for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. In 2020, Kosoglu served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School leading a weekly discussion on navigating careers in political campaigns and Capitol Hill.
Kosoglu received a B.A. in English with Honors from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University. She currently resides in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and three sons.
(With a few additions from newsin.asia and the website of the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics)
Sri Lanka has ventured into gold exploration to determine whether the country has gold deposits to be exploited commercially, a senior official of the Environment Ministry said.
Secretary of the Ministry of Environment- Dr. Anil Jasinghe told Daily Mirror that a discussion was held last week with the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) and the Department of Wild Life Conservation to see the possibility of issuing a license to carry out excavation at Seruwawila in the Trincomalee District for gold.
A survey conducted in 1970 at Seruwawila had revealed that there was gold in small quantities in a deposit of iron- ore mixed with copper. What we are trying to ascertain is that whether there is gold in iron deposits to be commercially exploited,” Dr. Jasinghe said.
He expressed reservations on the exaggeration of certain media that a vast deposit of gold had been found in Seruwawila which was incorrect.
Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Muslims have become reluctant to go to hospital as they are being cremated if they succumb to COVID-19, MP Rishad Bathiudeen told Parliament today.
“Muslims are scared to go to hospital as they are afraid that they will be cremated if they succumb to COVID-19,” Mr. Bathiudeen said.
“Some Government MPs are misinterpreting the holy Quran saying it has not forbidden cremation. One has to read the Quran in an honest manner to understand the truth,” he added.
“Muslims have got saddened, as an infant who succumbed to COVID-19 last Saturday has been cremated,” he also said.
Also he said Muslim businessmen have been affected by the isolation of Muslim areas including Kattankudy.
