Courtesy Hiru News

The United National Party has lifted the suspension orders against Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and all party members who joined the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or SJB.

A senior UNP spokesperson stated that the decision was made on the instructions of UNP leader and former President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The party views this move as the first step toward uniting the opposition. All members, including those from the opposition, have been invited to the UNP’s annual convention on 6 September to discuss the current political situation.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and former presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena have also been invited to the conference.

The move follows a recent visit by Sajith Premadasa and other SJB members to check on Ranil Wickremesinghe’s health while he was in hospital.

ISLAND EDITORIAL

Tuesday 26th August, 2025

Minister Bimal Rathnayake has said Ranil Wickremesinghe should have been arrested about four decades ago over the Batalanda torture chamber, the 1983 racial violence, etc. The former has also flayed the latter for the Treasury bond scams (2015). It is now up to the judiciary to scrutinise charges against Wickremesinghe, arrested and remanded for alleged misuse of state funds, and determine whether he is guilty or not. Those who are keen to have corruption and misuse/abuse of state funds eliminated rejoice when politicians and state officials are prosecuted for such offences—and understandably so. Their concerns should be appreciated and their call for stringent action against the corrupt heeded. But the question is whether the JVP/NPP has any moral right to condemn others for causing losses to the state coffers.

Minister Rathnayake may not have realised that it was self-defeating for him to refer to what happened 40 years or so ago. He has unwittingly reminded the public of the JVP’s wanton destruction of state assets in the late 1980s. The JVP burnt 553 SLTB buses, 15 SLTB depots and workshops, 16 trains, 24 railway stations, and countless transformers and pylons belonging to the CEB, according to media reports published during that period. The human cost of the JVP’s mindless terror and the UNP’s savage counterterror was incalculable.

Maithripala Sirisena, whom the JVP backed in the 2015 presidential election, has revealed that the JVP destroyed 245 out of the country’s 545 agrarian service centres and the warehouses of the Paddy Marketing Board with paddy stocks in them. If those crimes had been properly investigated and criminal proceedings instituted against the perpetrators, many of the present-day JVP leaders would have been thrown behind bars.

As for the Batalanda torture chamber, will the JVP-led government explain why the second part of the parliamentary debate on the Batalanda Commission report has not taken place yet. The first part of the debate was held in April. Is it because the report reveals numerous crimes the JVP committed during its reign of terror in the late 1980s? If the JVP is so concerned about the Treasury bond scams will it explain why it honeymooned with Wickremesinghe’s UNP from 2015 to 2019? During the 2018 ‘constitutional coup’ when President Sirisena tried to sack Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the JVP leaders were among those who scuttled that move both legally and politically. Why didn’t issues like the Batalanda torture chamber and the Treasury bond scams cause any concern to the JVP at that time?

When the UNP-led Yahapalana government, together with the JVP had politically motivated probes conducted against their rivals, we warned that they were setting a very bad precedent. The then Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and other JVP stalwarts were on very intimate terms at the time. The JVP vilified the leaders of the previous UPFA government and raised questions in Parliament about allegations against them thereby preparing the ground for their arrests. Some courts were kept open until midnight for the suspects to be remanded. The JVP was represented in the powerful National Executive Council of the Yahapalana government and its leaders frequented Temple Trees, where the Anti-Corruption Secretariat was located. The members of the UPFA government were no doubt corrupt and had to be brought to justice, but the Yahapalana government and the JVP set about the task of doing so the wrong way to gain political mileage. They turned the arrests of their rivals into political circuses. All the cases filed in a hurry at their behest collapsed, and the Rajapaksa played the victim card, regained public sympathy and made a stunning comeback.

The Yahapalana government, just like its predecessors, had the Attorney General’s Department and the CID on a string, with SSP Shani Abeysekera as the CID Director. Today, the JVP/NPP has gone a step ahead; it has pulled Abeysekera out of retirement and appointed him CID director. Abeysekera and ex-SDIG (CID) Ravi Seneviratne joined the NPP and actively took part in its election campaigns as key members of the NPP’s Retired Police Collective. Seneviratne is the incumbent Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security. The CID has been reduced to a mere appendage of the ruling JVP/NPP. No wonder some pro-government social media activists predict impending arrests accurately. Interestingly, the newly appointed Police Chief has gone on record as saying that his department is free from political interference at present!

Ironically, Wickremesinghe is claiming victimisation at the hands of his erstwhile chums and the forces he was instrumental in creating during the Yahapalana government to further his political interests.

Shenali D Waduge

Switzerland, long celebrated for neutrality, serenity, and banking secrecy, has also quietly served as a discreet hub for global capital, both legitimate and controversial and the safe haven of dictators’ wealth. Street riots or public unrest has never been linked with Switzerland. Yet, the recent killing of a 17-year-old migrant during a police chase has violently disrupted that image. Riots in Lausanne, fires on streets, and clashes with police show a Switzerland many did not expect to see. It showed that beneath the peaceful exterior was something brewing unpublicized.

This incident is not isolated; it is the latest flashpoint in a continent grappling with deep demographic and cultural shifts. All of the human rights templates preached to Global South need to be re-circulated to Europe, it appears. 

Switzerland, despite its wealth, neutrality, and carefully cultivated international reputation, is not immune to the same tensions that have shaken France, Germany, Belgium, UK and Sweden. The very nation that prides itself on order and balance is now staring at the consequences of long-ignored social fractures. We were told they were the civilized states and we needed to take them as examples on coexistence. We are now witnessing their cracks..

Demographic Changes and Social Fault Lines

Switzerland’s immigrant population is significant: over 25% of its residents are foreign-born, one of the highest ratios in Europe. Migrants are essential to the Swiss economy, filling both skilled and low-wage jobs, yet they are also segregated into underprivileged communities with higher unemployment and limited political voice. How is this possible?

The official narrative of harmony masks deeper divides between native Swiss and immigrant-origin youth, who often feel alienated from the wealthy, orderly system around them. So what we have been shown has been a façade – an uneasy coexistence now showing cracks.

These demographic shifts are not unique to Switzerland. Across Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, immigration over decades has created societies far more diverse than in the post-WWII era. With diversity has come enrichment — but also identity crises, cultural tensions, and political backlash.

Assimilation is the key – Integration has often felt one-sided — with natives adjusting, while immigrant communities sometimes resist assimilation, which with time has annoyed natives who have felt their original nations are being turned into a replica of what immigrants left to find better pastures. They say when in Rome be a Roman – such is not taking place & whose fault is it?

Why these flashpoints keep occurring

1.     Policing & Trust Deficit: Minority youths often perceive law enforcement as discriminatory and hostile. Incidents like Lausanne’s death — whether accidental, negligent, or deliberate — become lightning rods of pent-up anger. Has law enforcement been discriminatory? Is their validity in such perception or is it being used to gain sympathy & secure more privileges for migrants?

2.     Economic Inequality: Many immigrant communities remain locked in cycles of poverty while witnessing the wealth of the societies they live in. This duality fuels resentment, particularly among youth. Has the Swiss govt investigated this. If this is a recurring issue, why has it not been addressed without allowing it to simmer into friction by both sides.

3.     Cultural Clash & Integration Gaps: Host societies expect assimilation; migrant communities strive to preserve identity. This tug-of-war leaves both sides dissatisfied, often erupting in conflict. Is it really preserving identity or stretching the freedoms of host societies in ways that fuel resentment. Migrant communities must first respect & honor the existing culture – they cannot expect their culture to be considered on par or even above. No one has denied them to indulge in their cultural traditions & customs within their homes. But it is unfair to demand that they turn their new home into a replica of what they left. 

4.     Media & Political Amplification: Right-wing groups highlight such incidents to argue migration has failed,” while another set use media to sensationalize the issue & deepen the friction. Activist groups frame these as systemic racism as these are livelihood issues for their sustenance while media bloats anything & everything out of proportion for profit. Both narratives deepen polarization rather than build solutions. The larger blame must fall on the politicians who have been flirting with immigrant lobbyist groups and have used them to advance their political careers & win votes, promising them and even giving them what has later turned into the reasons for natives to hate the immigrants. UK politicians must answer for increasing taxes of the taxpayers but housing boatloads of people in 4 star hotels, giving them buffet meals & a stipend.

Even in Switzerland, where politics prides itself on consensus, the same cycle of exploitation of migration narratives for short-term political gains is visible

Whose Fault Is It?

The blame is shared:

·      Governments that welcomed migration but failed to build integration models beyond economics or looked into concerns voiced by natives.

·      Host populations that benefit from migrant labour but resist cultural inclusion.

·      Migrant community leaders who sometimes foster insularity rather than encouraging bridges.

·      Media & elites who exploit incidents to fuel either fear or victimhood narratives, instead of dialogue.

Why it resonates across the West

·      From Minneapolis to Melbourne, from London to Toronto, the Lausanne riots echo familiar themes. Migration is no longer a European problem” — it is central to the Western world’s future. Countries built on liberal democracies are discovering their limits when diversity collides with identity, economics, and security concerns.

·      Europe: Terror attacks, riots, and ghettoization feed both populism and far-right parties.

·      Australia & New Zealand: Immigration debates are increasingly tied to housing crises, wage stagnation, and cultural anxieties.

·      Canada: Once the model for multiculturalism, it is now facing pushback on refugee intake and affordability.

·      US: The immigration debate is central to every election cycle, shaping policies on border control, policing, and racial justice.

·      UK: the nation where the sun never sets is asking what happened to mighty Great Britain. Britain, once projecting global dominance, now grapples with the question of what remains of that identity amid migration-driven change.

Outcomes to Expect

1.     Harder Politics: Expect stronger right-wing movements across Europe and the West, using incidents like Switzerland to argue for stricter migration laws.

2.     Community Polarization: Riots deepen mistrust between immigrant communities and police, making integration even harder.

3.     Identity Crisis of the West: Countries will need to decide whether they truly embrace multiculturalism, or retreat to exclusionary nationalism.

4.     Global Image Costs: Switzerland, the supposed neutral haven,” is now a symbol that no nation is immune from the fallout of mismanaged diversity.

More importantly, what if immigrants decide to return back home – taking with them all that they have earned, their knowledge, their experience – Low fertility rates, delayed marriages, and shrinking family structures among native populations promoted by global LGBTQIA agenda add another layer to the demographic challenge the West will face — making immigrant growth appear even more pronounced.

Switzerland’s riots show that no nation, however wealthy or neutral, is insulated from the pressures of migration, identity, and demographic change. The West must decide whether to manage these shifts with foresight — or continue reacting in crisis

Shenali D Waduge

Hiru News

Dilrook Kannangara

When Imran Khan became PM of Pakistan the whole world knew Pakistan will end its rot and turn the tide. However, it was not seen in good light by enemies of Pakistan both internal and external. Imran worked hard to contain corruption. But corrupt politicians, their lackeys, their supporters, extremists and the underworld joined forces to topple him and his regime and condemned him to prison. Since then, Pakistan has again fallen back to corruption, worsening poverty, extremism, war and total hopelessness. It should not surprise anyone if parts of Pakistan successfully agitate for independence tearing it apart. Will this be the fate of Sri Lanka too?

Since 1948 Sri Lankans have not experienced the meaning of equal rights when it comes to the law. They were forced to believe that politicians are a different breed of creatures entitled to more rights than the common man. Using this falsehood politicians robbed the nation to bankruptcy and war. However, since of late Sri Lanka seems to be at least trying to go the right way. It is an abnormal and unusual thing for islanders though it is very common in successful countries and countries that are trying hard to become successful. Recently the Thai PM was removed from post over the violation of the law. A number of Japanese and South Korean politicians including former presidents and PMs were imprisoned for corruption. It is just normal in successful countries. But in Sri Lanka which is destined to doom and failure, these normal acts are seen as unusual acts.

Like in Pakistan, all former political rivals have joined forces in Sri Lanka, not for any benefit for the nation, but for their own survival. Though they lack public support, they can still cause disruption, agitation, violence and racism. Unless the rulers act with determination, it will be the righteous who will end up in prison, not the crooks.

𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

SepalAmarasinghe

Shenali D Waduge Sri Lanka Political Analyst

1. Actions of then UNSG Ban Ki-moon immediately following end of Sri Lanka’s Conflict

A. Unprecedented Unilateral Action

·      First occasion in UN history that a Secretary-General personally appointed the 2011 Panel of Experts (PoE) and separately commissioned the Petrie Report, both without UNGA or UNSC mandate, after a conflict had concluded.

·      These reports became the foundation for all subsequent UNHRC Resolutions and UNHRC High Commissioner reports and the OISL investigation against Sri Lanka.

·      Double standard: decades of LTTE terror and mass civilian killings went ignored, yet scrutiny was initiated only after the war ended, implying political or geopolitical motivations.

·      Such precedent threatens the sovereignty of all member states.

B. Lack of Legal Basis

·      UNHRC is an advisory body, created by UNGA (GA 60/251, in 2006), not judicial, with no mandate to create quasi-judicial panels.

·      11 successive resolutions against Sri Lanka violate UN Charter provisions: Articles 2.1 (sovereignty) and 13–14 (ECOSOC/UNGA purview).

·      Serious procedural violation of UN standards, including Fifth Committee oversight of expenditures.

C. Violation of Domestic Mechanism Respect

·      Sri Lanka appointed the Lessons Learned & Reconciliation Commission LLRC in May 2010; Ban Ki-moon’s Panel was appointed barely a month later, preventing completion of domestic accountability.

·      Raises the question: did the UNSG intentionally bypass the principle of national accountability first, a standard recognized in international law?

D. Funding Transparency

·      Was funding formally approved by the Fifth Committee, and if not, who contributed and what were the amounts?

·      Did larger powers influence funding to push a political agenda?

·      Was there any external funding outside UN oversight undermining integrity and independence of UN mechanisms.

E. Political Bias and International Hypocrisy

·      UN ignored decades of LTTE terror, targeting the state that defeated terrorists.

·      Has UNHRC become a tool of geopolitical leverage, rather than neutral human rights body?

·      Could human rights issues have been addressed through the Universal Periodic Review, rather than UNHRC overreach into international human rights law in armed conflicts?

F. International Precedent

·      First UNSG-appointed panel operated without mandate, oversight, or state consent, a report that was later leaked, leading to successive resolutions.

·      If Sri Lanka could be targeted post-conflict, which member state can claim immunity?

G. Accountability of UN Leadership

·      Did Ban Ki-moon commit personal overreach, ignoring UN checks and balances?

·      Is there any mechanism to ensure UNSGs do not overstep their mandate?

·      As a result successive UN High Commissioners have overstepped mandates, continuing the pattern.

2. Role and Oversight of the Fifth Committee

A. Mandate and Responsibility

·      The Fifth Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving UN budget allocations and expenditures, ensuring proper oversight of all UN programs and mechanisms.

·      Even personally commissioned panels, such as Ban Ki-moon’s Panel of Experts and the Petrie Report, require formal authorization and budget approval to comply with UN procedures.

B. Procedural Questions

·      Was Fifth Committee consulted or funding for Panels & investigations formally approved?

·      If not, does this violate UN financial regulations?

C. Political Influence

·      Were larger nations exerting pressure to approve funding or permit overreach?

·      Does this represent politicization of UN financial oversight?

D. Precedent for Future Misuse

·      Lack of oversight allows unilateral creation of investigative mechanisms, undermining sovereignty.

E. Key Questions

·      Who authorized expenses if Fifth Committee approval absent?

·      Were external pressures undermining procedural integrity?

·      Does this threaten the legitimacy of UN investigative mechanisms & what remedial actions to be taken?

3. UN Internal Legal Oversight and Accountability

A. Role and Responsibility

·      The UN has internal legal and compliance mechanisms tasked with ensuring all actions and expenditures comply with UN Charter, financial regulations, and procedural safeguards.

·      These mechanisms are meant to prevent overreach, unilateral actions, or politically motivated investigations.

B. Apparent Lapses in Oversight

·      Despite the unilateral appointment of the Panel of Experts (2011) and the Petrie Report without UNGA or UNSC mandate, and subsequent funding questions, there appears to have been no intervention or corrective action by the UN’s internal legal oversight.

·      Raises concerns whether the internal compliance and legal teams fulfilled their duty to prevent violations of procedure and mandate.

C. Accountability Questions

·      Why did the UN’s internal legal oversight allow these overreaches to proceed unchecked?

·      Were internal legal teams influenced or constrained by political pressures from powerful member states?

·      Does this failure undermine the credibility and legitimacy of the UN’s internal governance and investigative mechanisms?

4. Successive UN High Commissioners for Human Rights

A. Mandate Extensions

·      Successive Commissioners did not adhere to the UNGA mandate 60/251 and extended investigative mandates without Sri Lanka’s consent, overstepping advisory functions.

B. Selective Attention and Bias

·      LTTE terror ignored for decades; UNHRC resolutions recommendations & High Commissioners reports focused on issues falling under domestic jurisdiction far beyond the conflict phase, suggesting geopolitical motivations.

C. Transparency and Accountability

·      Reports and resolutions issued with limited transparency, violating principles of due process and sovereign equality.

D. International Precedent

·      Continuous post-war resolutions items not related to the conflict being regularly raised, establish a precedent where any state could be selectively targeted.

E. Key Questions

1.     Are Commissioners acting within advisory mandate or overstepping?

2.     Does selective scrutiny reflect political bias?

3.     How does this affect UNHRC credibility and legitimacy?

5. Overreach of UNHRC Beyond Advisory Capacity

A. Advisory vs Quasi-Judicial Role

·      UNHRC is advisory, not judicial; yet it commissioned panels and issued resolutions mimicking judicial authority.

B. Procedural Violations

·      Did resolutions and reports follow UN Charter processes, including Fifth Committee review?

C. Sovereignty Concerns

·      Targeting a member state without consent or mandate infringes on sovereignty.

D. Key Questions

1.     Can UNHRC legally assume quasi-judicial powers?

2.     Are member states’ sovereignty and due process being respected?

6. 11 Successive Resolutions Against Sri Lanka vs 30 Years of LTTE Terror

A. Inaction During Conflict

·      LTTE committed suicide bombings, assassinations, massacres, child soldier recruitment, and ethnic cleansing.

·      During the conflict, LTTE forcibly recruited civilians, compelled them to fight, and even shot and killed those attempting to flee to the national army.

·      UNHRC passed no resolutions condemning LTTE terror during the 30-year conflict or even during the last phase of the conflict or against those providing material support as engaged in propaganda for LTTE’separatist cause inspite of LTTE being banned in the very countries that these campaigns continue to be held. Some countries proudly have large images of the LTTE leaders on their shop windows, the LTTE’s ideologue has had a portrait unveiled in a European country.

B. Post-War Targeting

·      11 resolutions post-2009 focus exclusively on Sri Lanka, ignoring LTTE atrocities.

C. Double Standards and Bias

·      UN selectively monitors victor after concluding conflict, not the terrorist, undermining neutrality and credibility.

D. Key Questions

1.     How can UNHRC claim impartiality after decades of inaction?

2.     Does this reflect political, not human rights, motivations?

7. International Precedent and Geopolitical Weaponization

A. Precedent for Other States

·      Successive resolutions and unilaterally appointed panels create a template to target any state post-conflict.

B. Geopolitical Leverage

·      UNHRC functioning beyond UNGA/UNSC consent allows larger powers to weaponize human rights mechanisms.

C. Implications for Global Governance

·      Sovereign nations may face unilateral investigations without oversight, due process, or transparency.

D. Key Questions

1.     Are member states at risk of selective targeting under similar mechanisms?

2.     Is UNHRC exceeding its advisory mandate to become a geopolitical tool?

International Precedent being set

This exposes overreach, legal irregularities, selective bias, and precedent-setting actions of the UNHRC, Ban Ki-moon, and successive Commissioners.

If Sri Lanka can be targeted post-conflict, no state is immune from unilateral UNHRC scrutiny.

Shenali D Waduge Sri Lanka Political Analyst

Rohana R. Wasala

The desert will rejoice, 
and flowers will bloom in the wastelands. 
The desert will sing and shout for joy;
 it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains
 and as fertile as the farmlands of Carmel and Sharon.
 Everyone will see the Lord’s splendour,  see his greatness and power.
–Isaiah 35: 1-2

This is an expanded version of Gaza conflict: Reply to ‘Another view’” published in The Island daily (Sri Lanka) of August 29, 2025. It is not meant to open a political debate on which side to support as Sri Lankans in the Gazan crisis, Israeli Jews or Palestinian Arabs? The conflict is beyond our powers of mediation. We have nothing to share with either except our inexpressible pain over their suffering and  our great concern for their eventual release from it. We need to remain friends of both, as we have done over the decades. Palestinians are important to us, because, among other crucial things, they are co-religionists of  the Sri Lankan Muslims minority. Israelis are equally important to us, because 30-40,000 Sri Lankan workers find employment there and are looked after exceptionally well, as many of them have told us. Sri Lanka has always followed a conspicuously pro-Palestine policy, while also maintaining friendly relations with Israel, though subject to some stress due to unavoidable global political and economic realities (which both Israelis and Palestinians understand). Christian/Catholic Sri Lankans have natural unbreakable bonds with Israel as part of the Holy Land.  The people of Sihela/Ceylon (Sri Lanka) transacted with Jewish traders as early as the 3rd century BCE according to documented history, which was contemporaneous with the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka is obliged to protect the rights of the Jews who visit Sri Lanka and interact with Sri Lankans in any way they like, just as much as Palestinians who do the same, without breaking the laws of the country. But there were reports of some anti-Israeli protests in Colombo, and Baticaloa in the East. Israelis have not committed any terrorist acts in Sri Lanka and they don’t represent the Israeli government which is embroiled in a war with Hamas. Please read the following with this introductory information in mind

Offering ‘Another view’ (The Island/August 20, 2025) in reply to the first part of the article ‘Gaza conflict: Sarvajana Balaya’s response’ published Wednesday 13th, Stanley Weerasinghe of Pannipitiya has raised seven arguments against my opinion about SB’s Gaza reaction. SW has done so even before seeing the second part of my article, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with SW doing that. Now that the second (or concluding) part has been published (August 22), there probably is no need for a reply from me. Still, in appreciation of SW’s concern for truth, which I also share, and equally importantly, for reasons that must be talked about more explicitly before long, in order to prevent the re-emergence of extremist tension in different forms, I decided to gladly try to answer his criticisms. 

Stanley Weerasinghe has done us a good turn by articulating those counter arguments. I am sure he has his own sources of information to support them. But there is a problem that none of us can avoid in looking for reliable information about anything nowadays, especially about controversial, hotly disputed subjects such as the raging Gaza conflict. It is this: Today we mainly depend on electronic media for instant news, most frequently, YouTube, the American social media platform owned by Google. Google is a multinational tech-giant, which is globally the most widely used search engine. YouTube has us, its users, in its thrall by influencing our choice of content, even our inner thoughts, beliefs, prejudices, and opinions through its recommendation algorithms. Through this it tries to please every user happy, to hell with truth, values, culture, and the rest. Unless we are critical and discriminating enough in our approach to interacting with the deluge of information that is turned on us, we tend to get latched onto some opinion, belief, or ideology, and fixated on a position that ignores really valid alternative stands regarding important issues. YouTube can even affect unwary users’ mental health.

 What has brought us together here is, I think, our great protective love of Mother Lanka, our truly resplendent Homeland, which we have saved as one country from South Indian and later European invaders. But today, our only refuge seems to be the representative parliamentary system of government based on democracy.

First, what I meant by saying that the SB delegates did not ‘care or dare’ to make any reference to Israel was that they probably wanted to register  their ‘politically correct’ indifference to that country in order to please the local Muslim voters. They must have thought that to do otherwise would antagonise the latter. But not all Muslims are extremists who are blind Jew haters, something I know through personal experience with fellow Sri Lankans of the Muslim community. My feeling is that most minority leaders (please note, not ordinary citizens who belong to different ethnic minorities) traditionally fail to reciprocate the friendship and flexibility offered by the liberal policy of political correctness usually adopted by nearly all politicians who come from the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community. The urgent need of the hour is to focus on the increasing vulnerability of the Sri Lankan people/nation to the predatory influence of extremist ideologies (whether political or religious), but not to appease opportunistic politicians generally believed to be indirectly benefiting from the actions of extremists. 

Second,  SW argues that the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been declared a war criminal  by the ICC (International Criminal Court). But its ruling (in effect, its authority) seems to be ignored by some countries. Recently, the Hungarian PM Viktor Oban said, just ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to Hungary, that his country had started proceedings to withdraw from the ICC. PM Bart De Wever of Belgium announced that the Israeli PM will not be arrested by his country either. Heads of State of sovereign nations undergoing internal crises should not be treated as common criminals merely on being charged with wrongdoing on suspicion. For all nations economy matters much much more than religion.

Three, the widely circulated allegation that Israel is starving Gazans is vehemently disputed by the IDF with plenty of video evidence available on free social media. If there is any starvation there, according to the IDF, it is due to the involvement of disguised Hamas members in the distribution of relief foodstocks  given to UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) for the purpose  by Israel and other donors including some Arab states. It is alleged that Hamas members have penetrated the UNRWA as drivers of the aid trucks and as other workers; they first secure the relief food supplies for Hamas’s own use before giving it to the ordinary Palestinians (who are allegedly being used as human shields, much like Tamil civilians in the north of Sri Lanka before 2009). Some of the food supplies find their way to an impromptu blackmarket, it is claimed by the IDF sources. References are made to alleged UN collusion with Hamas terrorists. Free media posts cite the IDF as the only army in the world that feeds the enemy that is fighting against it. This is due to its commitment to supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians including basic essentials such as food and medicines. The Sri Lanka army similarly fed the armed terrorists in the North during the separatist civil conflict while supplying relief to stranded Tamil civilians. Bogus whistleblower Azad Maulana, once aide to Pillayan, was also employed by the UNRWA, before he was featured in the fake video produced in 2024 by the infamous Channel 4 of UK about falsely alleged Sri Lanka government collusion in the Easter Sunday attacks of April 2019. UNHRC chief Volker Turk’s offhand, even dismissive, refusal of an urgent request by some prominent members of the Patriotic National Movement organization including its Secretary Dr Wasantha Bandara, senior lawyer and civil activist Kalyananda Tiranagama, former Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath, former Cabinet Minister Retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, etc., to meet him before he ended his recent official visit to Sri Lanka (23-26 June, 2025) or even to acknowledge a written appeal by them, while at the same time taking care to send an immediate reply to a Jaffna Tamil civilian’s letter (a sinister gesture, no doubt) according to some YouTube channels. There are other instances of blatant UN discrimination or active prejudice (entirely unexpected in terms of the founding principles of the United Nations) against at least 80% of the Sri Lankan population. In this respect, Israel (with a 75% Jewish and 25% non-Jewish population) and Sri Lanka are in the same boat. The minorities in both countries live in harmony with the respective majorities due mainly to the natural expansiveness and enhanced democratic values of the latter (that is, Jews in Israel, and Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka). Sarvajana Balaya should have taken the opportunity to show Israel that we understand their difficulties. 

Four, SW’s implicit charge is that Netanyahu is the main culprit responsible for the persistent human suffering in Gaza. But, so long as Palestinians chant: ‘From the River to the sea – Palestine will be free’, Israel, under Netanyahu or any other future leader, cannot be expected to agree to any arrangement that recognizes such a Palestine, because it means total non-recognition of Israel as a sovereign state. It is not Netanyahu who insists on genocide. It is Hamas (harakatul-muqawwamah al- islamiyyah or the Islamic Resistance Movement) that insists on the elimination of Israel.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was recently (August 23) questioned by some journalists about the still ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza:

 ‘And what about the civilians that are being killed everyday?’ 

Rubio said: ‘I blame Hamas. Hamas should stop hiding behind civilians, putting civilians in the way…Hamas has to stop building their military installations underneath hospitals. I think you guys get this. I want them to destroy every element of Hamas they can get their hands on…..These people are vicious animals who did horrifying crimes and I hope you guys post that.

A woman journalist asked: ‘So you don’t care about the 15,000 that died, the babies being killed everyday?’

‘I think that’s terrible and I think that Hamas is 100% to blame. Make sure you post that, please’.

That’s straight from the horse’s mouth. Who gets more authentic information about the ground situation in Gaza than the US Secretary of State?  

Though we recognise and fully support a Palestinian state at present, it is still recognised by only 147 (76%) out of the 193 countries of the UN. The territory it encompasses remains disputed. President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestine National Authority  comprises Judea and Samaria, which are Palestinian enclaves in the Israel-occupied West Bank. The resolution of this confusing situation remains a problem mostly due to Hamas’s refusal to recognise the existence of Israel.

Five, SW’s contention that my ‘fervent hope’ to see Israelis and Palestinians living as peaceful neighbours is not likely to be fulfilled because Netanyahu ‘had shattered such hopes from the inception’. I don’t agree. Surely, no leader in power could agree to the genocide of his/her own people (unlike our purblind, narrowly power craving, politicians who are turning a blind eye to what could be described as a cultural genocide that is being perpetrated against the majority Sinhalese Buddhists in the form of destruction or vandalism of archaeological sites in the North and the East provinces, propagation of the fictitious Hela Budun concept, deliberate distortion of the Dhamma, unethical conversion of innocent poor as well as not so poor Buddhists and Hindus, etc). A couple of days ago, Netanyahu said something that he had repeated several times before: ’Our goal is not to occupy Gaza. Our goal is to free Gaza, freed from Hamas terrorists. The war can stop tomorrow if Hamas lays down its arms and releases all the remaining hostages.’ But this stance seems to have now turned sterner due to Hamas’s intransigence. SW should remember that about six months ago US president Trump pledged to rebuild the destroyed Gaza with Israel collaboration, if only terrorism stopped.

Six, I didn’t write that Hamas killed 1200 Israelis, although that number is right. If the UN Secretary General (Antonio Guterres) said that the massacre (of October 7, 2023) didn’t happen ‘in a vacuum’, (he did make such a statement; I myself saw several videos of Guterres in this connection on the internet), didn’t he seem to partially justify terrorism?,  which, I don’t think, is worthy of the head of the UN. A hateful local NGO employee made a similar malicious comment in support of a vicious separatist terrorist atrocity just committed:  he  said that it was to be expected! (implying his secret admiration of separatist terrorism, as some commentators at the time read it).   

Seven, SW’s implicit comparison of Netanyahu with Yitzhak Rabin’s real killer is not acceptable. Netanyahu served in the IDF for six years (1967-73) as a Captain, taking part in active combat in a number of wars including the Yom Kippur War of 1972 and also in the celebrated anti-terror Entebbe, Uganda airport raid or Operation Thunderbolt of 1976. Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by an extremist Jew, a law student by the name of Yigal Amir, who believed that Rabin endangered the lives of Jews by his Oslo Accords (Oslo I and II, signed respectively in 1993 and 1995). 

It is true that he was charged on several counts (breach of trust, accepting bribes, fraud) in 2019, which caused him to relinquish portfolios other than the post of prime minister. His trial began in the Jerusalem district court in 2020; his prosecution rested in July 2024, and defense started in December 2024. Justice will be meted out to him in due course.  Israel is not a lawless country. It is democratic and law abiding. That is why it is so powerful.

Netanyahu posted audio ‘Greetings from Jerusalem to the proud people of Iran’ on August 26, 2025.

Greetings from Jerusalem to the proud people of Iran

A few days ago, the Iranian president said, ‘We have problems with water, electricity, money and inflation. Where don’t have a problem? There won’t be any water in the dams, by September or October’. 

He is right. Everything is collapsing. In this brutal summer heat, you don’t even have clean cold water to give your children.

Such hypocrisy. Such disdain for the Iranian people. To live like this is not fair to you. It’s not fair to your children.

But I have very good news !

Israel is the Number 1 recycler of water in the world”.

Netanyahu is implicitly offering assistance to Iran provided it abandons its hardline genocidal stand against Israel. I found this post on the internet. It suggests that Netanyahu is closer to humanity than Hamas that is committed to Israel’s physical elimination.

In this post, Netanyahu is also echoing the beautiful biblical passage I have quoted at the beginning of this essay. I read about Israel’s Green Revolution (turning dry arid land into fertile farming areas through innovative water management for sustainable agriculture) many decades ago in my youth. Jews and Christians believe that this was achieved as predicted in the Bible in several places including Isaiah 35: 1-2, which has stuck in my memory because of its poetic beauty and its profound message about the power of righteous living in keeping with unshakeable faith in God.

For me, no believer in any religion, but brought up in my native Buddhist culture, these biblical lines resonated (as they do now) with the Buddhist blessing lines repeated at the end of Seth Pirith (Blessing chant) recitation every morning heard over the SLBC radio in my youthful years in the 1970s. 

Devo vassatu kalena/sassa sampatti hotuca/phito bhavatu lokoca/raja bhavatu dhammiko

(May the rains come in time/So that the harvests may be abundant/May the world be prosperous/May the ruler be righteous)

Buddhists believe that for a nation to flourish, gaining prosperity and happiness, they must live righteously, especially the ruler. Where democracy rules, equality, mutual tolerance, care for others, rule of law, absence of corruption, non-discrimination, and so on  become the principles of governance, and foster the emergence of a righteous society

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

19/8/25 දින ලංකාවෙබ්හි පළවූ ‘Sri Lankan Marxists have not been pro – Sinhala or pro – Buddhist’ යන ඉංග්‍රීසී ලිපියේ සංශෝධිත සිංහල පරිවර්තනය, එම මුල් ලේඛකයා විසින්ම  

ආචාර්ය එන්.එම්. පෙරේරා ආදී ආනන්දීයයෙක් බව සත්‍ය නමුත් වැඩිහිටියෙකු ලෙස ඔහු බුදු රජානන්  වහන්සේට සැබෑ ලෙස වන්දනා කිරීමේ අරමුණෙන් බෞද්ධ විහාරස්ථානයකට ගොස් තිබේද නැද්ද යන්න සැක සහිතය. සමසමාජ පක්ෂය කිසි විටෙකත් සිංහලත්වය, බෞද්ධ අයිතිවාසිකම් වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කළ පක්ෂයක් නොවේ. ඔවුනගේ අනෙක් මාක්ස්වාදී සහකරු, කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය ද එසේමය.

ඩී.එස්. සේනානායක සහ ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක උතුරේ, උතුරු මැද පළාතේ (රජරට) සහ නැගෙනහිර ‘ජනපද’ පිහිටුවීම  පිළිබඳව කාර්යබහුලව සිටියදී, මෙම මාක්ස්වාදීන් එයට දැඩි ලෙස විරුද්ධ විය. උතුරට, රජරටට සහ නැගෙනහිරට  පදිංචියට නොයන ලෙස එන්.එම්. දකුණේ ජනතාවගෙන් අයැද සිටියේය. ඔවුන්ට මැලේරියාව වැළඳෙන බව පවසමින් ඔහු ඔවුන්ව බිය ගැන්වීය. උතුරේ සහ රජරට කපුටන්ගේ ප්‍රමාණයේ මදුරුවන් සිටින බවට ඔහු බොරු ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ භීෂණයෙන් රට බේරා ගත්තේ ඩීඑස් සහ පසුව ඩඩ්ලිගේ ජනපද වලට ස්තූතිවන්ත වන්නට බව අප කවුරුත් දනිමු. ඊලාම් යුද්ධ සමයේදී, ඩීඑස් සහ ඩඩ්ලි විසින් පිහිටුවන ලද කෘෂිකාර්මික ජනාවාස – පදවිය, ශ්‍රී  පුර, වැලි ඔය, ගල් ඔය, අරන්තලාව, කන්තලේ ආදිය – අනුරාධපුර, පොළොන්නරුව සහ අම්පාර වැනි විශාල නගර සඳහා අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක පද්ධතියක් සැපයීය.

මේ ‘මායිම් ගම්මාන’ නොතිබුනේ නම්, ප්‍රභාකරන් අනුරාධපුර, පොළොන්නරුව ආදී ප්‍රදේශවලට පහසුවෙන් සම්ප්‍රාප්තව අහිංසක ජනයා බොහෝ දෙනෙකු මරා දැමීමට අවස්ථාව තිබුණි.

දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධ සමයේදී එන්.එම් සහ තවත් කිහිප දෙනෙකු කෙටි කාලයක් සිරගතව සිටියහ. නමුත් ඒ නිදහස් අරගලයේ නියැලීම නිසා නොවේ. ඔවුන් 1942 අයවැයට විරුද්ධ විය. රට යුද්ධයක යෙදී සිටි බැවින් (2වන ලෝක යුද්ධය), ඔවුන් ස්වභාවිකවම සිරගෙට යවන ලදී. එන්.එම් සහ සගයන් බන්ධනාගාරයෙන් පැන ගොස් ඉන්දියාවට පලා ගියහ. ඔවුන් ආපසු පැමිණි පසු, ඔවුන්ට ක්‍ෂමාව ලැබී සිය මන්ත්‍රී ආසන නැවත ලබා ගැනීමේ භාග්‍යය ලැබූණි.  

ඉන්දියාව මෙන් වූ ශක්තිමත් අධිරාජ්‍ය විරෝධී ව්‍යාපාරයක් (ගාන්ධි) ශ්‍රී  ලංකාවේ නොතිබූණි.  නිදහස බන්දේසියක බහා අපට මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය පිළිගැන්වීය.  

අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පාලකයනට එරෙහිව තනි සටනක් කළේය. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය විරෝධියෙක් වීම නිසා ඔහු බොරු චෝදනා යටතේ බොහෝ කලක් ඉන්දියාවේ සිර අඩස්සියේ සිටියේය. ධර්මපාලතුමා නිදහස් කර ගැනීම සඳහා අතිමහත් කැපවීමකින් සටන් කළේ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු වූ ඔහුගේ සහෝදරයායි.

ඩී.ආර්. විජේවර්ධනගේ ලේක්හවුස් ආයතනය ධර්මපාලතුමාට දරුණු ලෙස පහර දුන් අතර, ධර්මපාල හොරෙක් ලෙසට බොරු චෝදනා පවා එල්ල කළේය. ඩී.එස්., එෆ්.ආර්. සේනානායක, සර් ඩී.බී. ජයතිලක ඇතුළු පිරිස ධර්මපාල රටට කරන මෙහෙය නොපිළිගත් අතර රහසින් ඔහුට පහර ගැසුහ. ධර්මපාලතුමා ශ්‍රී  ලංකාවෙන් පිටත්ව යාමට මේවාද හේතු විය. නමුත් ඔහුගේ භෂ්මාවශේෂ ඉන්දියාවේ සිට වැඩම කර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  තැන්පත් කිරීමේ දැවැන්ත උත්සවයේදී, ඩී.එස්., සහ සර් ඩී.බී. ප්‍රධාන කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කළහ. එහිදී ඔවුහු  ධර්මපාල වෙනුවෙන් ‘හොසනා’ ගායනා කළහ.

ධර්මපාලතුමා ජීවත්ව සිටියදී ඔහුට ඉහළ ගෞරවයක් හා පිළිගැනීමක් මෙරට නොලැබීම, විශේෂයෙන්ම ‘ප්‍රභූ’ පන්තියෙන් නොලැබීම පිළිගත යුතු කරුණකි. නමුත්, පොදු නිර්ධන සිංහල ජනයා සැමවිටම ඔහුට ආදරය කළහ.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන්ට දණ නොගසා තරුණ එඩ්වඩ් හෙන්රි පේදිරිස් නිර්භීතව තම ජීවිතය පූජා කළේය. කිසිදා නොකළ වරදකට ඔහුව කොළඹ බන්ධනාගාරයේදී වෙඩි තබා ඝාතනය කරන ලදී.

70 දශකයේ මුල් භාගයේ සහ 80 දශකයේ අග භාගයේදී රෝහණ විජේවීර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කුරිරු ත්‍රස්තවාදී කැරලි දෙකක් මෙහෙයවීය. නූතන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ත්‍රස්තවාදය හඳුන්වා දුන් මිනිසා ලෙස ඔහුගේ නම ඉතිහාසගත වේ (ශ්‍රී ලංකා ත්‍රස්තවාදයේ පියා). ප්‍රභාකරන් තුල පවා මුල් ත්‍රස්තවාද බීජය රෝපණය කරන ලද්දේ විජේවීරයි.  

ජවිපෙ අරගල දෙකම අන්ත අසාර්ථක ඒවා විය. ඒවායේ ප්‍රථිපලයන් ලෙස දහස් ගණනකට ජීවිත/ අත් පා නැති විය. රාජ්‍ය සහ පෞද්ගලික දේපළවලට සිදු වූ හානිය කියා නිම කල නොහැකි තරම්ය.

ජවිපෙ අරගල දෙකම සිංහල සහ හෝ බෞද්ධ අයිතිවාසිකම් වෙනුවෙන් වූ සටන් නොවේ.

මේ කැරළි පිළිබඳව විජේවීරගේ අරමුණ හුදු ආත්මාර්ථකාමීත්වය සහ ඊර්ශ්‍යාව විය. එකළ, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදීව තේරී පත්වූ ආණ්ඩු කෙරෙහි ඔහු තුල වෛරයක්/ද්වේශයක් විය.

රටේ ආරක්ෂාව දුර්වල බව විජේවීර දිටීය; එයින් ප්‍රයෝජන ගත හැකි බව ඔහුට හැගින.

විජේවීරගේ විශිෂ්ට සංවිධානාත්මක කුසලතාව සහ මුඛරිත්වය නිත්‍යානුකූල ලෙස බලයට ආ රජයන් අවී මඟින් පෙරළා දැමීය යුතුය යන ප්‍රබල මතය තරුණයින් තුල ගොඩ නැංවීමට සමත් විය.

විජේවීර මේ තරුනයන්වද රැවටුවේය. උලපනේ වතුයායේ සැඟවී සිටියදී, ඔහු අතිශය සුඛෝපභෝගී ලෙස ‘රජෙකු’ මෙන් ජීවත් විය. විස්කි පානය කිරීම සහ චෙස් ක්‍රීඩා කිරීමෙන් කාලය ගත කළේය. සැඟවී සිටියදී  දරුවන් පස් දෙනෙකු බිහි කළේය. අල්ලා ගන්නා අවස්ථාවේ ඔහුගේ බිරිඳ 6 වන දරුවා අපේක්ෂාවෙන් සිටියාය.

විජේවීරගෙන් පසුව, රජයන් විසින් මෙම පවුල දීර්ඝ කාලයක් රැකබලා ගන්නා ලදී.

1987/88 දී විජේවීර ප්‍රභාකරන්ට ඇලුම් කළේය. ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ යුද්ධය නිසා දකුණ හමුදාමය වශයෙන් දුර්වල බව විජේවීර දැන සිටියේය. එයින් ප්‍රයෝජන ගෙන ඔහු තම ත්‍රස්ත ව්‍යාපාරය ඉතාම කුරිරු ලෙස දියත් කළේය.

රජයට එරෙහිව සටන් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් විජේවීර ප්‍රභාකරන් සමඟ ලිඛිත නොවන ගිවිසුමක් ඇති කර ගත්තේය – එල්ටීටීඊය උතුරෙන්/නැගෙනහිරින් රජයට පහර දෙන අතර ජවිපෙ දකුණෙන් රජයට පහර දීම.

මෙය කිසිසේත් දේශප්‍රේමියෙකුගේ නොව දේශද්‍රෝහියෙකුගේ චින්තනයයි.

රජයට අවශ්‍ය වුයේ දකුණේ අමතර යුද්ධයක් ඇති වීම නොවේ.  නමුත්, විජේවීරට අවශ්‍ය වුයේ එයයි. ඔහු ඒ දේ කළේය.

මූළිකව, ප්‍රභාකරන්ට සහ සහ විජේවීරට වුයේ එකම මානසිකත්වයකි – ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විනාශ කර එය  සමූලඝාතනය කිරීමයි. තම අභිමතාර්ථයන් උදෙසා මනුෂ්‍ය ජීවිත නැති කිරීම ඔවුන් දෙදෙනාට සුළු දෙයක් විය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යම් හෙයකින් බිඳ වැටුණි නම් (ඒ වගට ඉතා ආසන්න විය), ප්‍රභාකරන් සහ විජේවීර ශ්‍රී ලංකාව එකිනෙකා අතර බෙදා ගනු ලබනවා ඇත.

නමුත්, බටලන්ද, සූරියකන්ද ආදී ප්‍රදේශවල වූ දේ කිසිසේත් අනුමත කළ නොහැකිය.

ජවිපේ ඉල් මහ විරුවෝ දේශප්‍රේමීන් නොවේ.

දේශප්‍රේමියෙකු කිසි විටෙකත් රජයේ පොලිස් භටයන්, සොල්දාදුවන් මරා දමන්නේ නැත, පොදු දේපළ සිත් පිත් නොමැතිව විනාශ කරන්නේ නැත.

මෙම ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් ලංවිම ට්‍රාන්ස්ෆෝමර් සිය ගණනක් පුපුරුවා හැර, ශ්‍රී ලංගම බස් රථ/පොදු වාහන දහස් ගණනකට ගිනි තබා, විවිධ හමුදා ඉලක්කවලට පහර දුන්හ; කොළඹ කොටුවේ පිහිටි විශිෂ්ට, පෞරාණික වටිනාකමක් තිබු සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශ ගොඩනැගිල්ල පවා (1987 දී සුනේත්‍රා රණසිංහ අමාත්‍යවරිය වූවාය) ඔවුන් විසින් ගිනි තබා විනාශ කරන ලදී.

රෙක්ස් ද කොස්තා, විජය කුමාරණතුංග, මහාචාර්ය ස්ටැන්ලි විජේසුන්දර, ප්‍රේමකීර්ති ද අල්විස්, දොස්තර ග්ලැඩිස් ජයවර්ධන, සාගරිකා ගෝමස්, පුජ්‍ය කොටිකාවත්තේ සද්ධාතිස්ස හිමි, රංජිත් වික්‍රමරත්න වැනි  වැනි අහිංසකයන් ජවිපෙ ඝාතනය කළේය.

මෙවැනි දරුණු අපරාධ සිදු කළ අය, සමහරවිට මනුෂ්‍යත්වයට එරෙහි අපරාධ කළ අය – කිසිදා යහපත් මිනිසුන් වේ යයි සිතීම සැක සහිතය.

සමහර ජවිපෙ ප්‍රවීනයන් දැන් ඔවුන්ගේ අපරාධ වීර ක්‍රියා ලෙස පම්පෝරි ගසන ආකාරය අමුතුය. සමහරු හමුදා ස්ථානවලට පහර දුන් ආකාරය සහ ට්‍රාන්ස්ෆොර්මර් විනාශ කිරීම ආදිය ගැන විවෘතව පවසති. නීතිය යටතේ, ඔවුන්ට එවකට නඩු පවරා නොමැති නම්, දැන් ඔවුන්ට නඩු පැවරිය හැකිය. බරපතල අපරාධ නීති කාලාවරෝධයක් නොමැතිව ක්‍රියාත්මක වේ.

නැවතත්, රටේ ජන ජීවිතවලට සහ පොදු දේපලවලට බරපතල අපරාධ සිදු කල මේ අයට කිසිසේත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අවංකවම ආදරය කළ නොහැක. මේ නිසා, ඔවුන් කිසිදා දේශප්‍රේමීන් නොවේ.

මෑත කාලයේ පොදු දේපළ, මහජන මුදල් සොරකම් කල අයද (මෙවැනි දේශපාලනඥයෝ බොහෝයි) කිසිදා දේශප්‍රේමීන් නොවේ.

තමන් ඉපදී හැදී වැඩුණු රට කෙරෙහි ඔවුන්ගේ වූ ආවේණික වෛරය/ආදරය නොමැතිකම නිසාය ඔවුන් මෙවැනි තදබල වැරදි වලට පෙලභේන්නේ. මේ විෂම අදහස් තවමත් ඔවුන් තුල තිබිය යුතුය.

බලයේ රැඳී සිටීම සඳහා ඔවුන් රට දියුණු/සංවර්ධනය කිරීම් කරන නමුත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ගොඩනැගීමේ සැබෑම වූ, සත්‍ය  ආශාවක්, චින්තනයක්  ඔවුනට තිබේද? මේ ලියුම්කරුගේ අදහස නැත යන්නය.

මෙම තර්කය අනුව, මාක්ස්වාදී (ජවිපෙ) සහ වෙනත් බොහෝ ශ්‍රී ලාංකික නායකයින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට , විශේෂයෙන්ම සිංහලත්වයට, බෞද්ධාගමට සැබවින්ම ආදරය නොකරන නිසා, ඔවුන්ට පහසුවෙන් මේ රට කැබලිවලට බෙදීමේ මනස සකසා ගත හැක.

බෙදුම්වාදී සහ වෙනත් සිංහලත්වයට/බෞද්ධාගමට විරෝධී න්‍යාය පත්‍ර අනුව වැඩ කිරීමට මේ අය කැමැත්තක් දක්වන්නේ, සිතන්නේ ඒ නිසායි.

විජේවීර කිසිදා බෞද්ධයෙකු නොවීය. ඔහු කතෝලික කාන්තාවක් සමඟ විවාහ විය, නමුත් ඔහු ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගම ඇදහු බවටද කිසිදු වාර්තාවක් නොමැත.

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ අදේවවාදී – නිරාගමික  දේශපාලන පක්ෂයකි. මාක්ස්වාදීන් වශයෙන් අප ඔවුන්ගෙන් මෙය අපේක්ෂා කළ යුතුය.

එන්.එම්. සහ විජේවීර අතර ඇති ප්‍රධාන වෙනස නම්, පළමුවැන්නා විශිෂ්ට මහත්මා ගති පෙන්වන්නෙකු වීමයි. මාක්ස්වාදියෙකු වුවද, ඔහු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තදින් විශ්වාස කළේය. විජේවීර මෙන් නොව එන්.එම්. (සහ ඔහුගේ සගයන්) කිසි විටෙකත් මිනීමැරුම් වැනි අපරාධ චේතනාවලින් යුක්ත වුවන් නොවුහ.

එදා සිටී සමසාමාජ/කොමියුනිස්ට් නායකයන් හොරුද නොවුහ.

විජේවීර අතිශය කෲර, හිතක් පපුවක් නැති අයෙක් විය. කළින් සඳහන් කළාක් මෙන්, මනුෂ්‍ය ජිවිතවල අගය ගැන සැලකීමක් නොදැක් වූවෙකි. 

මාක්ස්වාදී පොල්පොට් කාම්බෝජයේ වැඩිහිටියන් සියල්ලන්ම පාහේ මරා දැමීය. කණ්නාඩි පළදින්නන් බුද්ධිමතුන් යයි පැවසූ ඔහු ඒ අයට බියව ඔවුන් බොහෝ දෙනනෙක් මරා දැමීය. උතුරු වියට්නාමයේ ද එවැනිම මානසිකත්වයක් පැවතුනි, වාසනාවට දැන් එසේ නොවේ.

මාක්ස්වාදී ස්ටාලින් රුසියානු ඕතඩොක්ස් ක්‍රිස්තියානි පූජක පක්ෂයේ සෑම සාමාජිකයෙකුම වාගේ සහ එම ඇදහිල්ලේ බොහෝ ඇදහිලිවන්තයන්ව ඝාතනය කළේය; හෝ ඔවුන්ව කම්කරු කඳවුරුවලට යවා දමන ලදී.

මාක්ස්වාදී මාඕ සේතුං චීනයේ බෞද්ධ විහාරස්ථාන රාශියක් විනාශ කළේය. සංස්කෘතික විප්ලවය අතරතුර (1966 – 1976) තිබතයේ බෞද්ධ භික්ෂු ආරාම සහ විහාරස්ථාන 6,000 ක් පමණ විනාශ වූ බව විශ්වාස කෙරේ.

ක්‍රිස්තියානි අධ්‍යාපනයක් සහ හැදී වැඩීමක් ලැබුවද, මාක්ස්වාදී කැස්ත්‍රෝ කියුබාවේ කතෝලික පල්ලියේ බලපෑමට එරෙහිව කටයුතු කළේය.

2024 සැප්තැම්බර් මැතිවරණයට පෙර, වත්මන් ජාතික ජන බලවේග නායකයින් සිංහල විරෝධී, බෞද්ධ විරෝධී හැඟීම් විටින් විට ප්‍රකාශ කළහ. ඒ සමහර දේ පහත සඳහන් වේ:

• අප සම්ප්‍රදායෙන් මිදිය යුතුයි. සම්ප්‍රදාය හොඳ නැහැ, මොකද එය ආර්ථික වර්ධනයට බාධාවක්.
• රාජ්‍යය ආගමෙන් වෙන් විය යුතුය. රාජ්‍යය කිසිදු ආගමකට ආධාර/අනුග්‍රහ ලබා නොදිය යුතුයි.
• බුද්ධාගමට ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානය දෙන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 9 වන වගන්තිය අහෝසි කළ යුතුයි.
• වසර 76ක් තිස්සේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට දෙමළ අගමැතිවරයෙකු බිහි කිරීමට නොහැකි වීම ගැන අප රටක් වශයෙන් ලැජ්ජාවට පත්විය යුතුයි.

රුවන්ඩාවේ ජනගහනයෙන් 9% ක් පමණ ටුට්සි ජාතිකයන් වන අතර, 90% කට වඩා හුටු ජාතිකයන් වේ. වත්මන් ටුට්සි ජනාධිපති ධුරයේ සිට, රුවන්ඩාවේ ඉහළම තනතුරු ටුට්සි ජාතිකයන්ගෙන් පිරී ඉතිරී ඇත.

කොංගෝවේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජනරජයේ (DCR) නැගෙනහිර කොටසේ වාසය කරන හුටුවරුන්ට එරෙහිව යුද්ධයක් දියත් කිරීමට M23 ටුට්සි කැරලිකරුවන්ට උදව් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් රුවන්ඩාවට තදින් දොස් නැගේ.

ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයෙකුට, මානසික නිදහස, සංස්කෘතික නිදහස, ඕනෑම පලාතක ජීවත්වීමේ නිදහස සහ රාජ්‍යයේ අනිසි බලපෑමෙන් තොරව බියෙන් තොරව ජීවත් වීමේ නිදහස තිබිය යුතුයි. මේවා ආර්ථික නිදහසට වඩා වැදගත්ය.

මෙම ලේඛකයා දෙමළ අගමැතිවරයෙකු පත් වීම ගැන විරුද්ධ නැත, නමුත් රුවන්ඩා ආකාරයේ තත්වයකට නොවැටීමට අප ප්‍රවේශම් විය යුතුය.

කුසලතා මත තේරී පත්වන මේ රටේ දෙමළ හෝ මුස්ලිම් ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු හෝ අගමැතිවරයෙකු අප සාදරයෙන් පිළිගත යුතුයි. නමුත්, කෝටා මත පදනම්ව ඉහළ තනතුරුවලට එන අයගේ තත්ත්වය මීට වඩා වෙනස්ය.

වත්මන් අගමැතිනි හරිනි එම තනතුරට පැමිණියේ කාන්තාවක් වීම නිසා නොව; ඇගේ අධ්‍යාපන සුදුසුකම් හා පෙන්වන ලද කුසලතා නිසාය.

අද, ජාතික ජන බලවේගය මාස 10 කට වැඩි කාලයක් බලයේ සිට ඇත. ඔවුන් මෙම කාලය තුළ සිංහලයට, බුද්ධාගමට බරපතල හානියක් සිදු කර නොමැත. නමුත් අනාගතය අවිනිශ්චිතය. ඉදිරියේදී කුමන ආකාරයේ ප්‍රථිපල ඔවුන් නිසා ලැබේදැයි කිසිවෙකුට කිව නොහැක.

පහත සඳහන් සිදුවීම් කනස්සල්ලට හේතු වේ:

• ඔවුන් බුද්ධශාසන අමාත්‍යවරයෙක් පත් නොකළහ.
• ඔවුන් ජය මංගල ගාථාව ඉතා වැදගත් පොදු උත්සවයකින් ඉවත් කළහ.
• උතුරු පළාතේ ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා ලෙස සිංහලයෙකු පත් කිරීමට ඔවුන් අසමත් විය.
• ඔවුන් යාපනයේ අලුතින් ඉදිකරන ලද ජනාධිපති මන්දිරය (කාමර 27, අක්කර 200) වෙනත් කටයුත්තක් සඳහා පැවරීමට සැලසුම් කරමින් සිටිත්. අනාගත ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු යාපනයේ සිටින විට ආරක්ෂිතව වාසය කරන්නේ කොහේද?
• දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව සමඟ සමීප සබඳතා ඇති කර ගැනීමට ජාතික ජන බලවේගය පක්ෂයේ ධූරාවලිය අසාමාන්‍ය උනන්දුවක් දක්වයි. මේ ඩයස්පෝරා අයගෙන් බොහෝ දෙනෙක් දෙමළ ඊළාම් අදහස අත්හැර නොමැති බව අපි කවුරුත් දනිමු.
• දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාවට උතුරේ වටිනා ඉඩම් ලබා දීමට රජය සැලසුම් කරයි. නැවතත්, ඔවුන්ගෙන් බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ඊළම විශ්වාස කරන්නෝය. යුද්ධයෙන් පසු, උතුරේ ආයෝජනයට කෝටි ගණනින් මුදල් යොදවනවා කියා වසර ගණනාවක්  දකුණේ නායකයන්ට ඔවුහු පම්පෝරි ගැසුහ. අපේ නායකයන් සැමදා මේ රැවටිලි වලට අසු වන්නේ ඇයි?
• රටේ සෑම ප්‍රදේශයකම ජීවත් වීමට සියලු ජනතාවට මාර්ග සිතියමක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට මෙම රජයද අසමත් වී ඇත. උතුරු හා නැගෙනහිර බොහෝ ප්‍රදේශවල ජීවත් වීමට කැමති දකුණේ සිංහලයන්ට එම පලාත්වල රජයේ නිලධාරීන්ගෙන් කුඩම්මාගේ සැලකිලි ලැබේ.
• සිසුන් 50 ට අඩු පාසල් වසා දැමීමට රජය ගත් තීරණයත් සමඟ, රනිල්ගේ රජයට ස්තූතිවන්ත වන්නට මන්නාරමේ සහ වවුනියාවේ මෑතකදී නැවත ආරම්භ කරන ලද සිංහල පාසල් නැවත  වසා දැමීමට නියමිත බවද මේ ව්‍යංගාර්ථයෙන් පවසන්නේ?
• අභිමානවත් සිංහල බෞද්ධ ඉතිහාසය ව්‍යාජ  ලෙස විකෘති කරන පුද්ගලයින්ට ප්‍රමුඛත්වය  සහ අනවශ්‍ය පිළිගැනීම් ලබා දීම.
• රාවණාගේ යැයි කියනු ලබන ‘ගුවන් යානා’ සොයා ගැනීම සඳහා NPP රජයේ සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරිය වෙනුවෙන් අනවශ්‍ය දැවැන්ත වියදමක් රජය දැරීමට යයි. මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය සඳහා කාබන් කාල නිර්ණය කිරීමේ පිරිවැය පමණක් ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන ගණන් වැය වනු ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කෙරේ. ව්‍යාජ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රසිද්ධ කුප්‍රකට පුරාවිද්‍යා මහාචාර්යවරයෙකු මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියටද සම්බන්ධ ව සිට ඇති බවට වාර්ථා වේ.
• අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ හරහා, පාසල්වල ඉතිහාසය ඉගැන්වීම සීමා කිරීමේ සැලැස්මක් ජාතික ජන බලවේගය පක්ෂයට ඇති බව පෙනේ.

• අපගේ වත්මන් පාසල් ඉතිහාස පොත්වල සහ අනෙකුත් සංසදවල, විශේෂයෙන් අන්තර්ජාලයේ නොකඩවා නිපදවෙන ව්‍යාජ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසය නිවැරදි කිරීමට කිසිදු ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගෙන නොමැති බව පෙනේ. පහත වැරදි සමහරක්:
• විජය උතුරු ඉන්දියාවෙන් වසර 2500කට පෙර මෙහි පැමිණියා වෙනුවට මේ රටේ ප්‍රාරම්භාකයා  අප්‍රිකානු හෝමෝ සපියෙන් බවට පාසැල් සිසුනට උගැන්වීම.
• මිහිඳු මාහිමියන්ගේ ආගමනයත් සමඟ මුළු රටම බෞද්ධ වූ බව (වැද්දන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු හැර) මෙය හොඳින් ළමුනට නොඋගැන්වේ.
• දේවානම් පියතිස්ස රජුගේ කාලයේ ආරම්භ වූ මහා සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරය පිළිබඳව සිසුනට නොඋගැන්වීම. ඒ වෙනුවට වසර 7,000 – 40,000 කට පමණ පෙර, මෙහි නොතිබූ, ව්‍යාජ උසස්  ශිෂ්ටාචාරයක් ඉතා මෑතක සිට ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීම – මෙහි අරමුණ ශ්‍රේෂ්ට සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරය දියාරු කර හැරීමය.
• මහා රජවරු – දුටු ගැමුණු, ධාතුසේන, විජය බාහු ආදීන් – වර්තමාන පොත්/ඉතිහාස කතා වල ඔවුන්ගේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ටත්වය ගැන කිසිවක් සඳහන් නොවේ.
• පණ්ඩුකාභය, දේවානම් පියතිස්ස යන මහා රජවරු – ඔවුන් දෙමළ විය හැකි බවට සැකයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම; කුවේණිද  දෙමළ විය හැකි බවට මත පළ කිරීම.
• වෙනත් රටවලට පවා සහල් අපනයනය කළ, දිග් විජය ජයගත් මහා පරාක්‍රම බාහු වික්‍රමයන් ගැන වර්තමාන ඉතිහාසය පොත්/පාඩම් බොහෝ නිහඬය. දරුවන් මේ ගැන නොදනී.
• සීගිරිය කාශ්‍යප රජුගේ නිර්මාණයක් නොවිය හැකි බවට පළ කිරීම.
• ශ්‍රී ලංකා භූමියේ මුල් වැසියන් හෙළයන් නොව දෙමළ ජනතාවය යන මතයක් ඉතා සියුම්ව ඇති කිරීම. හෙළ ජනතාව (උදා: බලන්ගොඩ මානවකයා) විජයගේ සිංහ වංශය (700ක් පිරිවර)  සමඟ මිශ්‍ර වීමෙනි සිංහල ජාතිය බිහිවුයේ.

තවද;

• සහල් සහ යකඩ මුලින්ම සොයාගත්තේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යයි මතයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම (නැත, චීනයේ). මෙවැනි දේ කරන්නේ ඉතා පිරිසිඳු සහ නිරවුල් වසර 2500 පැරණි ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ඉතිහාසය ව්‍යාකුල, අවුල් ජාලයක් බවට පත් කිරීමටය.
• බාර්ලි සහ ඕට්ස් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වසර 7000ට පෙර සමු වීය යන්න (නැත, ඊශ්‍රායලයේ සහ මැද පෙරදිගින් – වසර 4000 – 5000 පමණ පෙර  මේවා සොයා ගතී).
• ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිංහයන් සැරිසැරූ බවට (මෙම කථාව ගොතා ඇත්තේ මහාවංශයේ සඳහන් සිංහබාහු පුරාවෘත්තය බොරු කිරීමේ චේතනාවෙන් විය හැක).
• රාවණා රජු දෙමළ ජාතිකයෙකු බව. ඔහු ඇත්තටම සිටියා නම් (මිත්‍යා කථාවකි) හෙළයෙකි.
• යාපනයේ දෙමළ රජවරුන් ඉතා උසස් කර දක්වා තිබේ. ඔවුන් ඇත්තටම සිටියාද? සමහර ප්‍රමුඛ  ඉතිහාසඥයින්/විද්වතුන් පවසන්නේ නැත කියාය. පෘතුගීසින් එනවිට උතුරේ සංකිලි (රජ) සිටියා නම්, ඔහු කෝට්ටේ රජුගේ (8 වෙනි වීර පරාක්‍රමබාහු) උප රජෙකු වූ බව පෙනේ.

කලින් සඳහන් කළ පරිදි, ඓතිහාසිකව, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ සිංහල සහ/හෝ බුද්ධාගම කෙරෙහි කිසිදු විශේෂ අනුග්‍රහයක් දක්වා නැත (අනිත් ජාතීන්ට හානියක් නොවන පරිදි). ජාතික ජන බලවේගය මෙයින් වෙනස් වනු ඇතැයි අප බලාපොරොත්තු තබා ගනිමු.

ශ්‍රී  ලංකාව යනු ගතානුගතිකත්වය, සාරධර්ම, විනය, සිරිත් විරිත්, ආගම, සංස්කෘතිය, ඉතිහාසය වැනි දේ පිළිබඳව ඉහළ අගයක් තබන සමාජයක් බව ජාතික ජන බලවේගය මතක තබා ගැනීම වටී.

අප සමාජය වනාහි සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම්, මැලේ, බර්ගර්, වැදි කදිම සම්මිශ්‍රණයකි.

ලිබරල් මතවාදයට තැන දෙනු පිණිස අපගේ මුල් බැස ගත් සම්ප්‍රදායනට අනවශ්‍ය ලෙස ඇඟිලි ගැසීමට ගියහොත් එය සියළුම  ජාතීන්ගේ ඉමහත් දෝෂාරෝපණයට ලක්වන කරුණක් බව ජාතික ජන බලවේගය දැන සිටීම වටී.  

සිංහලයන්ට සහ බුද්ධාගමට සාධාරණ ලෙස සැලකීම පසෙකලා, ජාතික ජන බලවේගය අවම වශයෙන් සිංහලයන්ට සහ බුද්ධාගමට ආසාධාරණ ලෙස සැලකීමක් නොකරනු ඇතැයි අප උදක්ම  බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමු.

මෙම මාස 10 තුල NPP රජයට අදාළ වෙනත්, සමහර කරුණු ඉතා සංෂික්ප්තව:

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථිකය ඔවුන් සංවර්ධනය කරනු ඇත, නමුත්, එයට කාලයක් ගතවේ (SJB ද එය කරනු ඇත, සමහරවිට මොවුනටද වඩා හොඳට).

IMF ආධාර සහ අනුදැනුම, ලෝකයේ වේගයෙන්ම වර්ධනය වන ආර්ථිකයන් දෙක වන චීනය සහ ඉන්දියාව අතර වූ අපගේ භූ ගෝලීය පිහිටීම, අධි සීග්‍රයෙන් ඉහල යන අපේ සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය, ට්‍රම්ප්, ෂී, මෝඩි, EU, ජපානය, UK  – මේ සියල්ලෝම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට දෙන සම්පූර්ණ සහයෝගය ආදිය නිසා ඉදිරියේදී අපේ ආර්ථිකය හොඳින් ඉහල යනු ඇත – නමුත්, වැඩ වර්ජන, උද්ගෝෂණ, අරගල, කඩාකප්පල් කිරීම්, කකුල් මාට්ටු අවම වුවහොත් පමණි.

රටේ ඉදිරි ගමන කෙසේ හෝ කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමට ඇතැම් යු ටියුබ් කරුවෝ  පුදුමාකාර උත්සහයක් ගනිත්.

වාහන ආනයනය සඳහා ආර්ථිකය විවෘත කිරීම, කොටස් වෙළඳපොලේ සීග්‍ර වර්ධනය, විරැකියාව පහළ යාම රජයේ ධනාත්මක ආර්ථික ප්‍රගතියේ සංකේතයි.

කෘෂිකර්ම සහ අදාළ අමාත්‍යාංශ, අධ්‍යාපන, ප්‍රවාහන, සෞඛ්‍ය  යන අමාත්‍යංශන් ඉතා දුර්වල ප්‍රගතියක් මෙම මාස 10 තුල දක්වා ඇත. රජය අපකීර්තියට පත් කිරීමට මේ අය සමත් වී ඇත.

හොරු ඇල්ලීම ජනතාවගේ එකම අපේක්ෂාවයි. මහ හොරුන්ට සුළු චෝදනා යටතේ නඩු පැවරීම පුරවැසියාට ප්‍රශ්නාර්ථයක් වී තිබේ.

බිලියන ගණනින් වත්කම් හිමි දුෂීත දේශපාලනඥයන් සහ උසස් නිලධාරීන් ඒවා සොයා ගත් ආකාරය අල්ලස් සහ දුෂණ මර්ධන කොමිසන් සභාවට පැහැදිලිව පෙන්වීමට නොහැකි නම් එයම බරපතල නඩු නිමිත්තකට කාරණයකි.

මේ දක්වා අප දන්නා පරිදි NPP දේශපාලනඥයන් අල්ලස් හා දූෂණයට සම්බන්ධ නොවීම ගැන NPP රජයට ප්‍රසංශා කළ යුතුය. මෙය වසර 76 ක් තුළ රටට සිදුවූ විශිෂ්ටතම දෙයකි. මෙය ඔවුන් දිගටම පවත්වා ගෙන යනු ඇතැයි මුළු රටේම අපේක්ෂාවයි.

නමුත් කළින් කී පරිදී, පුරවැසියාට වඩාත්ම වැදගත් දේ මෙයයි – මානසික නිදහස, සංස්කෘතික නිදහස, ඕනෑම තැනක ජීවත්වීමේ නිදහස සහ රාජ්‍යයේ අනිසි බලපෑමෙන් තොරව බියෙන් තොරව ජීවත් වීමේ නිදහස. මේවා ආර්ථික නිදහසට වඩා වැදගත්ය.

sinhalasanvardhanasanvidhanaya@gmail.com

National Development Bank PLC

NDB Bank, in partnership with NewsFirst, proudly celebrated the Grand Finale of the Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana Awards on 20 August 2025, honouring extraordinary women across the island and marking a milestone season that advanced beyond recognition to long-term empowerment through the programme’s five-year sustainability model. This year built on the initiative’s expanded structure, including the introduction of the Digital Entrepreneur and Foreign Employment categories, while continuing to champion financial literacy, enterprise growth and market access for women nationwide 

At the heart of the evening was the coveted Most Popular Woman title, decided by public SMS voting from a shortlist of five national personalities which included Anudi Gunasekara, Tharindi Fernando, Kanchana Anuradhi, Lochana Jayakodi and Shanudrie Priyasad. The title was awarded to Anudi Gunasekara.

The Corporate & Professional Sector also celebrated a distinguished cohort of achievers. Honoured at the Grand Finale were Chathuri Munaweera, Suleesha Perera, Hyacinth Wijesinghe, Ashcharya Peiris Jayakody, Nilanthi Sivapragasam, Linda Speldewinde, Sandamini Perera, Prof. Neelika Malavige, A.G. Kumudika Fernando, Bernadine Jayasinghe, Bhagya Iddamalgoda, Princy Mangalika, Shiromal Cooray, Rishini Weerarathne, Deshika Rodrigo, Dulani Nissanka, Bimshani Jasin Arachchi, Suneetha Wijesuriya, Vaidyawathi Rajapaksha and Anusha Kodithuwakku.

Recognising lifetime contributions to the nation, five Vanithabhinandana (Lifetime) Appreciation Awards were conferred upon Manike Attanayake, Tilaka Jinadasa, Anomaa Rajakaruna, Wasanthi Chathurani and Vasugy Jegatheeswaran.

At the provincial level, excellence was recognised across multiple sectors, including V.M. Ayoma Nishanthi for Small Entrepreneur, D. Ransirini Gamage for Upcoming Entrepreneur, Anoma Wijethunga for Digital Entrepreneur, Nilma Samanthi Aluthgama for Education Services, Rajeepan Tharmini for Art & Literature, K.G.S. Maneesha Wicramasooriya for Young Leader, Nisha Shareef for Social Services and Chandrika De Silva for Sports.

The Foreign Employment category also honoured three exceptional women whose contributions abroad continue to uplift Sri Lanka’s global presence and inspire others in the sector. The winners were Lakmali Vidhanapathirana, S.W.Dhammika Priyadharshani and L.Sudhahari. Their stories reflect resilience, leadership, and a commitment to excellence that transcends borders.

Beyond awards, this landmark season advanced the programme’s five-year sustainability model, linking recognition to real, practical support. Through upskilling pathways, advisory and access to markets and finance, Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana is designed to help more women start, strengthen and scale businesses, with an ambition to nurture export-ready women-led enterprises by 2030. The initiative continues to serve as a national platform for capability building and sustained economic participation.

The Grand Finale of Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2025 underscored NDB Bank’s and NewsFirst’s shared commitment to inclusive progress, celebrating achievements while also facilitating the removal of entry barriers so more Sri Lankan women can convert potential into performance and recognition into long-term results.

NDB Bank is the fourth-largest listed commercial bank in Sri Lanka. NDB was named Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank for SMEs at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and was awarded Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Domestic Project Finance Bank of the Year by Asian Banking & Finance (Singapore) Awards 2024. NDB is the parent company of the NDB Group, comprising capital market subsidiary companies, together forming a unique banking and capital market services group. The Bank is committed to empowering the nation and its people through meaningful financial and advisory services powered by digital banking solutions.

-SRI LANKA SOVEREIGNTY FORUM-

As a fellow member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Sri Lanka expresses deep concern at Malawi’s alignment with the Core Group on Sri Lanka — comprising the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Germany, North Macedonia, and Montenegro — in advancing hostile resolutions against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC.

Sri Lanka is a NAM nation that ended a 30-year terrorist conflict by defeating the LTTE, a group proscribed in 32 countries, while rescuing 300,000 civilians held hostage by terrorists. 

For 30 years of LTTE atrocities, not a single resolution was passed at the UNHRC. 

Yet, after ending terrorism, 11 resolutions have been brought against Sri Lanka, none supported by verifiable evidence of the claims made — such as the allegation of 40,000 dead,” which remains unproven after 16 years without even a list of names.

By aligning with a handful of Core Group states, Malawi risks endorsing a dangerous precedent:

·      The UNHRC, a subsidiary of the General Assembly (GA), is being weaponized to act beyond its mandate, contrary to the UN General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 that strictly defined its advisory role.

o   UNHRC not an independent or judicial body

o   UNHRC mandate limited to promotion, dialogue, cooperation, capacity-building, making recommendations – not punitive or quasi-judicial role

o   UNHRC’s all human rights issues to remain under authority of UNGA & UNSC

·      A small bloc of Core Group nations is misusing the UNHRC to set geopolitical precedents, targeting Global South countries and bypassing both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

·      If this precedent against Sri Lanka — a NAM state that defeated terrorism — is allowed, it will inevitably boomerang on other NAM nations, including Malawi, whenever they resist external pressure.

We therefore respectfully ask Malawi:

·      How does aligning with the UK and Canada against a fellow NAM state serve the interests of NAM solidarity?

·      How does Malawi justify endorsing a precedent where a few nations dictate to the majority of the Global South?

·      Will Malawi stand by the founding principles of NAM — defending sovereignty, non-interference, and solidarity against colonial pressures — or allow this dangerous precedent to weaken all NAM members?

We appeal to the people of Malawi: like Sri Lanka, your nation won its independence by resisting colonial domination. Do not allow your voice to be used today to strengthen those same former colonial powers against a fellow Non-Aligned nation that defeated terrorism. True solidarity lies in upholding sovereignty, dignity, and the principles on which our nations were built.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අර්තාපල් සහ ළූණු සඳහා බද්ද පනවන බවට වූ තොරතුර එම බද්ද පැනවීමට පෙර තමන්ට කීකරු ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ට රජය විසින් ලබා දී ඇතැයි සමගි ජන බලවේග දූෂණ විරෝධී බලවේගයේ කැඳවුම්කරු, හිටපු පළාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රි නිරෝෂන් පාදුක්ක කොළඹ සජබ කාර්යාලයේදී පැවසීය.

මේ හේතුවෙන් බදු අය කිරීමට පෙර ආණ්ඩුවට හිතවත් කූට ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් අල සහ ළුණු තොගයක් ලංකාවට ගෙනැවිත් අවසන් බවත් ඔහු කීවේය.

පසුගිය දින 10 තුළ ළූණු ටොන් 18,000ක් සහ අර්තාපල් ටොන් 23,000ක් බද්ද අය කිරීමට පෙර ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ඇති බව දූෂණ විරෝධී බලවේගයේ කැඳවුම්කරු සඳහන් කළේ ය.

ඒ අනුව, දේශීය ගොවීන්ට ඔවුන්ගේ අස්වැන්න විකුණා ගැනීමට වෙළෙඳපොළක් නැති වී යන බව ඔහු කීය.

ආණ්ඩුව බරපතළ ලෙස රටේ ගොවීන් අපහසුතාවට පත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් දුක් විඳ බැංකුවලට ණය වී ලබාගත් අස්වැන්න විකුණා ගැනීමට අවස්ථාවක් නොදී ආණ්ඩුවට හිතවත් කූට වෙළෙන්දන්ට වෙළෙඳපොළ විවෘත කර දී තිබෙන බවටත් ඔහු චෝදනා කළේ ය.

ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී, මහ මැතිවරණයේදී, පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයේදී ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ පැලවත්ත කාර්යාලය ආර්ථික වශයෙන් ශක්තිමත් කළ ආණ්ඩුවට ශක්තිය ලබා දුන් කූට ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් වෙනුවෙන් රාජපක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුවටත් වඩා වැඩි වේගයකින් වර්තමාන ආණ්ඩුව ආරක්ෂාව සලසමින් සිටින බවටත් ඔහු තවදුරටත් චෝදනා කළේ ය.

සචිත‍්‍ර පෙරේරා

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

පොහොසත් රටක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමේ අදහස් ඇතිව කටයුතු කරන ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු විදෙස්ගත වූ විට රාජ්‍ය නායක පෞරුෂයට ඔබින ආකාරයට ඉහළම පහසුකම් භුක්ති විඳිමින් කටයුතු කරන බව සර්වජන බලය නායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී දිලිත් ජයවීර පවසයි.

රාජ්‍ය නායකයෝ විදෙස්ගත වුණාම ඒ රටේ තියෙන හොඳම වාහනේ යනවා. ඒ රටේ හොඳම මිනිස්සු ආශ්‍රය කරලා. හොඳම වයින් එක බීල, හොඳම තේ බිලා තමයි වැඩකරන්නේ. මිනිස්සුන්ට ධනය නිර්මාණය කරන්න ඕන රටක් හදන්න උවමනාවක් තියෙන රාජ්‍ය නායකයෙක් කටයුතු කරන්නේ එහෙමයි.

සහෝදරයන්ගෙන් කාල, ලන්ඩන්වල කොත්තු කඩේකින් කාලා නෙමෙයි, ජනාධිපතිවරු රටවල් හදන්නේ. ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකුට අවශ්‍ය පෞරුෂය, ඒක නිර්මාණය වන පරිසරය හදා ගන්නේ එහෙම තමයි. මෝදි ඉන්දියාව දියුණු කරන්න කලින් පෞද්ගලික ජෙට් යානයකින් ඇමරිකාවට ගියේ. එහෙමයි ඒ රාජ්‍යෙය් පෞරුෂය ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ ගොඩනගන්නේ.

අනුර ජනාධිපතිතුමා රට රටවල ගිහින් යාළුවන්ගේ ගෙවල්වල ඉඳලා වියදමට රාජ්‍යය වෙන් කළ සල්ලි ආයෙම ගෙනැත් ආඩම්බරෙන් භාරදෙනවා. මම දිගින් දිගටම කියනවා, එතුමාට ඔය හිඟන වැඩේ කරන්න එපා කියලා. ඒ නිසා හිටපු ජනාධිපති රනිල් අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ තිරපිටපත ජාත්‍යන්තර මාධ්‍ය වර්තා කරන විදිහ දැක්කාම අපට ලැජ්ජායි. මහ බැංකු වංචාවට රනිල් අත් අඩංගුවට ගත්තා නම් අපට ලෝකය ඉස්සරහා ඒ ගැන ආඩම්බරෙන් කතා කරන්න තිබුණා.

අපි හිඟන විදිහට හිතන්න නරකයි. අපි ලොකුවට හිතන්න ඕන. අපි ඉතිහාසයේ ලොකුවට හිතුව ජාතියක්. අපි හැදිවේ මහ වැව්. වැව් නෙමෙයි සමුද්‍ර. පරාක්‍රම සමුද්‍රය හැදුවේ. මේ වගේ හිතුවා නම් ඒ කාලේ හදන්නේ ආඬු ළිං. මොකද දෙකෙන්ම වතුර ගන්න පුළුවන්. ආඬි ළිං කපන ආණ්ඩුයි, පරාක්‍රම සමුද්‍ර හදන ආණ්ඩුයි එකක් නෙමෙයි, දෙකක්.”

දිලිත් ජයවීර මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේ මොනරා පුවත්පත සමග සාකච්ඡාවකට එකතු වෙමිනි.

Courtesy Eastern Eye

The former political rivals of Wickremesinghe said the charges against him were frivolous and politically motivated.

THREE former presidents of Sri Lanka expressed solidarity with jailed ex-leader Ranil Wickremesinghe last Sunday (24) and condemned his incarceration as a calculated assault” on democracy.

The former political rivals of Wickremesinghe, who was president between July 2022 and September 2024, said the charges against him were frivolous and politically motivated.

Wickremesinghe has been accused of using $55,000 (£40,780) in state funds for a stopover in Britain while returning home after a G77 summit in Havana and the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2023.

The 76-year-old was rushed to the intensive care unit of the main staterun hospital in Colombo last Saturday (23), just a day after being remanded in custody. Doctors said he was suffering from severe dehydration on top of acute diabetes and long-standing high blood pressure.

What we are witnessing is a calculated onslaught on the very essence of our democratic values,” former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, 80, said in a statement.

Her successor Mahinda Rajapaksa, 79, also expressed solidarity with Wickremesinghe and visited him in prison last Saturday, shortly before he was moved to intensive care.

Maithripala Sirisena, 73, who sacked Wickremesinghe from the prime minister’s post in October 2018 before being forced by the Supreme Court to reinstate him 52 days later, described the jailing as a witch hunt.

Wickremesinghe’s own United National Party (UNP) said last Saturday it believed he was being prosecuted out of fear that he could stage a comeback.

He lost the presidential election in September to Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the current head of state.

Wickremesinghe was arrested as part of Dissanayake’s campaign against endemic corruption in the country.

He has maintained that his wife’s travel expenses in Britain were met by her personally and that no state funds were used.

Iraj Show

Adaderana

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Colombo National Hospital, has been discharged from the hospital on Friday.

The 76-year-old was rushed to the intensive care unit of the National Hospital in Colombo last Saturday (23), just hours after being remanded in custody.

Wickremesinghe, who was granted bail on Tuesday, was ordered to be released on three surety bails of Rs. 5 million each by Colombo Fort Magistrate Nilupuli Lankapura.

Former President Wickremesinghe was taken into custody for allegedly misusing government funds” after being questioned about a September 2023 visit to London to attend a ceremony for his wife at a British university while he was head of state.

However, considering his health condition, he was first admitted to the Prison Hospital, and later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the Colombo National Hospital based on medical advice.

Doctors said he was suffering from severe dehydration on top of acute diabetes and long-standing high blood pressure.

The case against Wickremesinghe over the alleged misuse of state funds is scheduled to be taken up again on October 29. 

Chamara Wijesooriya

Lanka Voice

Maathalan – (මාතලන්)

VFM RADIO 107

අන්තිම මොහොතේ ප්‍රභාව ගෙනියන්න ඇමරිකාවෙන් නැවක් ආවා රනිල්ව හිරේ දානවට වඩා මෙන්න මේ අයවයි ඇතුළට දාන්න ඕනේ හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපතිගෙන් ඇඟ හිරිවටෙන හෙළිදරව්වක්

Shenali D Waduge

Following US exiting UNHRC calling it a cesspool of political bias”, the United Kingdom has come forward to head the Sri Lanka Core Group which comprises of Canada, Malawi, Montenegro and North Macedonia – a cluster that aligns purely based on influence by either UK, Canada or both. Had UK & Canada exited like US & Germany, would these nations have continued case against Sri Lanka independently? All of their diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka is hardly 3 decades & questions what direct harm Sri Lanka has caused them to merit such disproportionate hostility?

As the United Nations Human Rights Council’s so-called core group” turns its focus on Sri Lanka, one must ask a simple yet piercing question: Have these nations forgotten the colonial crimes committed by the United Kingdom, a former empire whose shadow still lingers over many of them?

Sri Lanka, a sovereign nation that has harmed none of these countries directly, is now under scrutiny for alleged human rights violations during the final phase of the conflict to end 30 years of terrorism —an accusation that demands careful reflection on historical context and fairness. 

The UK, the most prominent member of this Core group, played a central role in shaping the destinies of several of these nations during colonial rule, often to the detriment of the local populations.

Colonial Legacies of Core Group Members

Canada: The British colonial human rights violations to Indigenous peoples come nowhere near those defined as human rights” violations today.

The Indian Act (1876) institutionalized systemic discrimination, restricting cultural practices, governance, and land rights. Even today, Indigenous communities face challenges under federal and provincial laws that advance development projects without meaningful consultation, infringing on self-determination. 

Malawi: 

Formerly Nyasaland, Malawi was economically exploited under British rule, with cash crop economies designed to benefit European settlers. Today, the legacy of these colonial structures persists in poverty, inequality, and limited access to education and health services 

Montenegro & North Macedonia: 

While not traditional colonies, these nations experienced significant European interference, including UK influence in political boundaries and the formation of the Yugoslav state. Today, both face political instability, ethnic tensions, and governance challenges rooted in externally imposed structures. 

United Kingdom: 

The former colonial power exploited, divided, and controlled populations across continents, including Sri Lanka. Today, the UK faces rising inequality, post-Brexit economic and political instability, unresolved regional tensions in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and systemic racial inequities. 

United States: 

The first European settlers in what became the U.S. were largely British convicts and indentured servants. These early settlements laid the foundation for a nation built upon colonial practices. Presently, the U.S. continues to wrestle with systemic racism, inequality, and the legacies of colonial displacement of Indigenous peoples and slavery.

Are you aware of Sri Lanka’s Conflict?

Sri Lanka faced three decades of terrorism and external pressure while striving to uphold its sovereignty and implement post-conflict reconciliation. Unlike the colonial impositions that disrupted the development and social fabric of core group nations, Sri Lanka’s policies have been directed toward rebuilding, maintaining peace, and protecting its citizens.

Yet, the core group pursues a narrative that selectively condemns Sri Lanka while ignoring broader historical and global contexts. This selective lens undermines the credibility of international human rights advocacy and raises the question of fairness: Is this truly about human rights, or about maintaining influence and exerting moral pressure?

Historical and Present-Day Reflection

It is worth reminding the core group that colonial exploitation is not merely history:

·      Canada continues to struggle with Indigenous rights and environmental justice.

·      Malawi continues to confront structural inequalities rooted in colonial economic systems.

·      Montenegro and North Macedonia still navigate political instability and ethnic tensions from externally imposed boundaries.

·      The UK faces unresolved domestic inequality, regional unrest, and historical accountability for colonial crimes.

·      The United States continues to grapple with systemic racial inequities and the consequences of its colonial foundations.

If these nations have yet to fully reconcile their own pasts and present failings, their authority to lead a selective campaign against Sri Lanka is deeply compromised.

A Call for Fairness

Before launching what increasingly resembles a witch-hunt, the members of the core group should pause and reflect on their own histories and present challenges. 

Sri Lanka asks only to be judged on facts and actions, not on selective narratives shaped by historical amnesia and geopolitical interests.

The principle is simple: nations that were once colonies, or whose foundations were built on colonial displacement, exploitation, and division, deserve a fair and consistent application of international standards. 

Sri Lanka, which has harmed none of the core group countries, merits an approach grounded in factual assessment, fairness, and respect for sovereignty.

The world must ask itself: If colonial crimes are forgotten and unaccounted or even acknowledged, can we truly claim moral authority to judge another nation – one that suffered 30 years of terrorism, abiding by the internationally promoted ceasefires, peace talks & negotiations in spite of which the terrorists targeted & killing hundreds & thousands of unarmed civilians. The Government of Sri Lanka was compelled to take action only after the LTTE terrorists closed the sluice gates denying water to over 40,000 farmers committing a war crime. While eradicating the terrorists the National Armed Forces saved close to 300,000 civilians in spite of which a figure of 40,000 killed is being promoted falsely without any proof or evidence failing to even name the dead even 16 years after the end of the conflict.

The Dangerous Precedent being Set

What is being applied to Sri Lanka today sets a dangerous precedent for tomorrow. 

If unproven figures, unverifiable allegations, and politically motivated reports can be used as the basis for punitive action, then no country is safe. Any state — particularly in the Global South — could find itself subject to the same kind of witch hunt” under the guise of human rights, when in fact the motivations are political, strategic, or economic.

If this model of selective justice continues, it risks turning the UNHRC into a tool for global power struggles rather than a platform for genuine human rights protection where a handful of Nations in connivance with the UNHRC attempt to usurp the powers of the UNGA & UNSC 

The very countries driving this agenda should ask themselves: would they consent to having their own colonial crimes, present-day discrimination, or military interventions subjected to the same standard they now impose on Sri Lanka?

Shenali D Waduge

By Raj Gonsalkorale

Some are more equal than others” is a paradoxical phrase from George Orwell’s allegorical novel Animal Farm that highlights societal hypocrisy, where the concept of equality is proclaimed but a privileged few receive preferential treatment

Theatrics in Sri Lankan politics has reached a crescendo with the arrest, remanding and bail out of Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe, former President, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and member of parliament since 1977.

Opposition strong men and women who shunned Mr Wickremasinghe and strongly objected to him being the President of the country, from within Opposition ranks and from outside, and called him various derogatory names in Parliament and outside, rallied around him after his arrest. Some quipped that birds of a feather always flock together although when he was President, many of them questioned his legitimacy as President claiming he did not have a mandate to be President having entered Parliament as a nominated member while the party he led suffered the most humiliating defeat in its history at the general election in 2020. His party, the United National Party polled only 249,435 votes. The 2024 general election was much worse for his party, as it managed to obtain only 66,234 votes nationally.

He was praised by some for steadying the economy of a bankrupt country once he took over the reins of the Presidency.  Many though shared the view that if not for the compulsory fiscal discipline that was mandatory for support from the IMF and their bailout package, Mr Wickremasinghe would not have been able to do any steadying judging by his record as Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development from 2015 to 2019. They contended that drop in GDP growth from around 6% in 2015 to 2.3% in 2019, increase in the overall debt to close to 90% of GDP in 2019 from around 70% in 2015, arising mainly from a record USD 12 Billion International Sovereign Bond borrowing, contributed to the country’s bankruptcy in 2022, and that his economic credentials were far from satisfactory. Despite this, it has to be said though that as the political leader at the helm as the President of the country, he has to be given some credit for the commencement of the economic recovery along with IMF support.

In this backdrop, many seem to be amused at what some have termed the theatrics displayed by a collection of disparate Opposition politicians. What really brings these people together and what motives they have, as well as the objectives of the government is the topic of conversation and opinions circulating, especially in social media platforms.

As a case has been filed against Mr Wickremasinghe for alleged abuse of State resources, this article does not wish to discuss any aspect of the case, its merits or demerits or any politics associated with it, or not. Suffice to say that it is now left to the Judiciary to make a legal determination based on the evidence that will be presented by the prosecutors and the arguments presented by his legal team in his defense. 

Irrespective of the politics associated with the case filed against Mr Wickremasinghe, what matters and should matter to the general public, again irrespective of party affiliations, is the principle that some should not be more equal than others and enjoy any rights or privileges that are not available to the rest of citizenry, and that no one should be above the law of the land. In the past, many political leaders became overloaded with their ego, and they surrounded themselves with people who played to their ego and received rewards for doing so.  Such leaders were protected by other politicians, some members of law enforcement agencies, and the armed forces, and even some members of the judiciary.  Some were elevated to the status of unofficial kings through orchestrated campaigns. Families of some leaders basked in the glow of this superiority of leaders, and they too were regarded as more equal than other families of ordinary citizens of the country. It cannot be denied by any nonpolitical citizen of the country that the ruling class of the country was collectively more equal than others and they enjoyed a special status that shielded them from the law, where an ordinary citizen would have had to face legal punishment for exactly a similar kind of offence.  

Neither should one deny that such leaders and their families, if they are among the living today, should be brought down from their elevated pedestals, a status created by themselves in their minds and only for themselves, to the same status as an ordinary citizen who is subject to the law of the land.

These more equal than others category of leaders and their families have shields beyond from some in the law enforcement agencies as well as within the judiciary. Their shields have been and still are to varying degrees wider and deeper with sections of the bureaucracy supporting them and shielding them from their illegal practices, often for monetary reward.  Such shields contribute to the maintenance and further elevation of the more equal than others status of these leaders and their families.

Basically, this translates to a situation of cultural exclusivity for such leaders and their families, where sections of the citizenry too are complicit, willingly or unwittingly, and elect and re-elect such leaders as they see them as different and above their own status and deserving special attention and even respect.

However, it needs to be said here that for the first time in the post-independence history of the country, people viewed this self-made exclusivity as unjust and unfair, and voted overwhelmingly to reject them and, in their place, elect a different type of leadership at the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections. This transformation hopefully will lead to the evolution of a Sri Lankan society where no one will be regarded as more equal than others in the eyes of the law of the land.

A word of caution however is relevant here. As the fictional story Animal Farm by George Orwell illustrates, one set of leaders who works hard to replace another set of tainted, corrupt leaders, promising huge changes to the culture of some being more equal than others, should not end up similar or even worse than the leaders they have ousted, and introducing a culture with an exclusivity  that could appear to be different to what has been changed, but which in effect could be even worse and maintained by means that are undemocratic, dictatorial and even violent.  An end by itself cannot justify the means to that end, and it is vital that the means employed are lawful, democratic and nonviolent.

There cannot be any doubt except in the minds of those who considered themselves as members of the some are more equal than others” collective, that a cultural change is needed to ensure every citizen adheres to the law of the land irrespective of their status, which is only a construct in their minds. It is true that over the centuries, history has shown how some people, including the country’s kings and queens and other nobles and high-ranking officials, lived in a status driven feudalistic society, and perhaps it is in the genes of some in contemporary times! In some respects, it can be said that the historical status quo began changing when all of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was ceded to the United Kingdom in 1815. The evolution that began did not necessarily result in a more equal and equitable society. Beginning in the late 1920s, in Sri Lanka, a ruling elite began taking shape culminating in a society where a few of them dictated the destiny of the majority.  Many have argued that the so-called independence struggle was not a peoples struggle as such but more a discussion forum involving the small coterie of the elite and the British Colonial authorities, resulting eventually the granting of a negotiated sovereign status to the country that ensured the continuance of some British interests and a governance system based on the British system with the Monarch of the UK being the Head of State of the country and represented in Sri Lanka by a Governor General. In respect of the theme of this article, what is relevant here is that with such independence, there was no marked cultural change in the mindset of a majority of the people of the country, and they witnessed the coming to be of a new set of elites to replace the departing ones who were more equal than others.

In the context of ensuring an equal and equitable society where everyone is equal before the law of the country and no special privileges are given to a few based on their so called status”, Sri Lanka needs a cultural shift in their mindsets and a system change that assigns such a status to anyone based on their values and ethics and not their political power, connections or money. Values based on an individual’s religious beliefs, the teachings of their religious leaders, lessons from living examples of people who have done selfless service to others without any monetary or other rewards expectations, could pave the way for a values-based society to replace a society where these noble characteristics are not recognized, emulated and appreciated.

An article titled System change and ushering a value-based society” (https://www.ft.lk/columns/System-change-and-ushering-value-based-society/4-771369) explores what a system change should mean in a society and how a system change could restore some values that have been eroded over time and how the political, religious and civil society leadership could act and be examples to others about governing within a value system. In a value-based society, a truth and a lie cannot conveniently fall within the ambit of a democratic right. In fact, democracy itself should fall within the ambit of a broader value system. After all, what is a democracy if there are no moral values, if there no ethics, if there is no fairness, if there is no equality and equity, if there is no honesty, and if there is no integrity? In a society that has such values, there will not be any room for some to be more equal than others.

Shenali D Waduge

The people elected Sri Lanka’s second female leader Chandrika Bandaranaiake, the daughter of the world’s first prime minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaiake and assassinated Prime Minister S W R D Bandaranaiake, with much hope. Her policies were a direct opposite to that of her parents. During the late 1990s, Sri Lanka embarked on an aggressive privatization and liberalization drive, amidst LTTE terror often influenced by IMF and World Bank advice. While presented as modernization” and private sector efficiency,” the process systematically transferred profits and control of key national assets to a small group of local elites, foreign investors, and corporate partners, leaving the state and people with only short-term cash gains and no change to loan/national debt status.

Key features of this mismanagement include:

• Long-term leases and BOO/BOT deals:

Assets such as hotels, plantations, and utilities were leased or sold with contracts lasting 50+ years, ensuring profits were siphoned to private and foreign hands for decades.

• Elite capture:

Local politicians, public servants, and corporate players colluded in deals that prioritized private gains over national benefit often for commissions.

• Profit leakage offshore:

Amendments to the Monetary Exchange Act in 2016 removed restrictions that previously criminalized hiding profits abroad, allowing local companies to retain billions in offshore accounts—showing that corporate actors were just as culpable as public officials in profiting from these deals.

• Aid-driven conditions:

Many privatizations were aligned with IMF/World Bank prescriptions, pressuring the state to reduce involvement in energy, telecom, transport, and plantation sectors. While these deals were sold as modernization, the long-term strategic losses far outweighed the short-term cash inflows.

• Public backlash and controversies:

Scandals, undervaluation, foreign control, and monopolistic privileges created lasting economic and political resentment, as seen in Water’s Edge, Emirates’ sudden exit from Air Lanka, and criticism over RPC leases.

Key privatizations under President Chandrika

1. PRIMA / Colombo PRIMA Hotel – Late 1990s
2. Privatized under:President Chandrika Kumaratunga

BOT was approved under Jayawardena, but Chandrika converted to BOO.

• Buyer / Foreign involvement:Private consortiums with foreign hotel partners
• Current status:Fully private under BOO model – total monopoly
• State gains:Upfront cash; capital investment commitments
• State losses / concerns:Long-term profits diverted; state had limited operational control
• Aid / Judgment factor:Likely aligned with IMF/World Bank preference for private sector-led tourism; questionable judgment in BOO model
• Scandals / Legal issues:No major annulments, but public criticism over monopoly and long-term revenue loss

• Shell Gas / Colombo Gas (LPG) – 1995–1996
• Privatized under:Chandrika Kumaratunga
• Buyer / Foreign involvement:Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands), 51% stake
• Current status:Buyback in 2010 under Mahinda Rajapakse; now Litro Gas Lanka
• State gains:~$37 million upfront; infrastructure investment
• State losses / concerns:Dividends to Shell; exclusive monopoly rights; lost strategic control; billions in potential profits diverted abroad
• Aid / Judgment factor:Likely pressured by World Bank / IMF to reduce state involvement in energy; poor strategic judgment on monopoly terms
• Scandals / Legal issues:None formal, but public criticism of revenue leakage

• Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) – 1997
• Privatized under:Chandrika Kumaratunga
• Buyer / Foreign involvement:NTT (Japan) – 35% stake
• Current status:Majority state-owned; NTT exited
• State gains:$225 million upfront; debt reduction; tech transfer; capex commitments
• State losses / concerns:Management fees (1.2% net revenue + 0.5% gross profit); dividends to foreign shareholders; partial influence on strategic decisions; monopoly ended.

NTT managed day-to-day operations for 5 years; fees: 1.2% of net revenue + 0.5% of gross profit

• Aid / Judgment factor:Encouraged under World Bank / IMF liberalization agenda; partial loss of long-term monopoly profits
• Scandals / Legal issues:None reported

• 23 Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) – Mid-1990s
• Privatized under:Chandrika Kumaratunga
• Buyers / Foreign involvement:Hayleys, Browns, JKH, Richard Pieris, Watawala (Tata India), Udapussellawa & Pussellawa (Finlays UK)
• Current status:Private-managed under long-term leases (50+ years); some leases for 53 years. performance mixed
• State gains:Upfront lease proceeds; ongoing rent/tax revenue; investment commitments
• State losses / concerns:Long-term profits from tea/rubber largely privatized; foreign dividends; strategic control over estates reduced
• Aid / Judgment factor:IMF / World Bank encouraged privatization and foreign investment; poor long-term judgment on lease durations
• Scandals / Legal issues:Some criticism over foreign control and long leases; public dissatisfaction over land control

• SriLankan Airlines (Air Lanka) – 1998
• Privatized under:Chandrika Kumaratunga
• Buyer / Foreign involvement:Emirates – 40% stake; full 10-year management control
• Current status:Government bought back 43.6% stake in 2010; airline remains state-owned
• State gains:$70 million upfront; temporary improvement in management/service
• State losses / concerns:Lost profits (~$200–300m); lost control of routes; forced buyback at $53m; ongoing bailouts
• Aid / Judgment factor:Possibly influenced by liberalization agenda; extremely poor strategic judgment in management control
• Scandals / Legal issues:Sudden Emirates exit left state unprepared; heavy public criticism

• Ceylon Electricity Board / Independent Power Producers (IPPs) – Late 1990s

• Privatized under:Chandrika Kumaratunga
• Buyer / Foreign involvement:Private IPPs; some foreign partners – foreign IPPs included AES (US) and other joint ventures.
• Current status:Privately operated; state partially regulates tariffs
• State gains:Investment in new power capacity; operational improvements
• State losses / concerns:Profits and dividends to private operators; tariff adjustments limited state revenue capture; strategic control reduced
• High tariffs to consumers and profit repatriation abroad.
• Aid / Judgment factor:Likely IMF / World Bank influenced; short-term expansion achieved but long-term revenue ceded
• Scandals / Legal issues:Criticism over high tariffs and private profits; no annulments

Additional Notes / Scandals under Chandrika:

Water’s Edge land: Controversial lease/BOT arrangement; public outcry over undervaluation and foreign management.

BOT/lease undervaluation (~Rs 300–500m estimated); long-term revenue lost.

Some privatizations had long-term leases (RPCs, hotels) that effectively handed profits to private/foreign entities for decades.

Public outcry:  public opinion criticized mismanagement, undervaluation, and excessive foreign control.

Note: Details from publicly available records

Other IMF / World Bank–Influenced Policies and Sectoral Reforms

• Education and Culture:

Programs encouraged privatization of schools, vocational training, and cultural institutions, along with shifts toward foreign-funded curricula, reducing state control and prioritizing donor objectives over national priorities. Present promotion of LGBTQIA ideology among young children is part of that agenda while also being funded & promoted by western embassies & their NGOs.

• Land Administration:

The Bim Saviya land reforms replaced historical land deeds with simplified records, facilitating asset acquisition by private and foreign interests.

Replacing original land deeds with simplified A4-style records and US-operated electronic database facilitated foreign/private acquisitions & was part of MCC.

• Financial Sector:

Partial privatizations and foreign management of banks, coupled with liberalization of capital flows, exposed the national financial system to profit repatriation and offshore holdings.

Partial privatizations included Hatton National Bank (HNB) and People’s Bank collaborations with foreign management/partners.

• Energy and Utilities:

Privatization of LPG, telecoms, and IPPs often came with long-term contracts and foreign management, aligned with IMF/World Bank prescriptions to reduce state involvement in infrastructure.

• Tourism and Hospitality:

Policies promoted BOO/BOT privatizations of hotels (e.g., PRIMA) to attract foreign investment, often sacrificing long-term revenue streams and giving operational monopolies to private consortia.

• Economic Liberalization:

Across multiple sectors, the agenda emphasized short-term investment and fiscal inflows over strategic control, leaving state assets vulnerable to profit siphoning and elite capture.

These policies, though framed as modernization or efficiency initiatives, systematically transferred long-term benefits and strategic control from the state to private and foreign actors, often at the expense of national sovereignty and public interest. With income that could have been generated by the State falling into local private or foreign investor hands or their partnership, while promoting consumerisms & import-culture which invariably meant commissions to handlers, Sri Lanka steadily progressed into the debt trap of its own making due to poor leadership understanding, poor advisors and caving into privatization deals & their carrots.

The privatization agenda under Chandrika not only lost control of key assets but also transferred billions in potential profits abroad, enriching a handful of local elites and foreign investors. Understanding this history is essential for the public to grasp how policy misjudgment, elite collusion, and foreign-aligned privatization contributed to structural economic vulnerabilities in Sri Lanka.

Shenali D Waduge

Trump’s Florida, Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago Manor within the Radius

Were there Drones in some of the 325 Containers marked dangerous that were cleared without customs inspections, many allegedly sent to Israeli businesses located in vulnerable coastal and hilltop areas in Sri Lanka? The geostrategic island must take note as another American warship, USS Tulsa approaches in the wake of USS Santa Barbara last week, and sink holes appear inland, in Colombo. After all Geoengineering Climate Disasters are increasingly the new normal in the Faux Anthropocene.

·  Carlo Domenico Cristofori

The powerful and devastating Russian Geranium 2 drones would have already deployed in Venezuela and so would be ready to strike in the event of a concrete threat against the Latin American country, which has been under the protection of Russia and China for 6 years.The Russian military intelligence website News-Pravda has reported it.

Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran have been defending Caracas and the elected President Nicolas Maduro since 2019, when US President Donald Trump had the Christian Socialist Bolivarian Republic hit with terrible electromagnetic attacks by the US Army in the hope of achieving a regime change, first attempted by the CIA’s American counterintelligence team in 2002.

Then it was mercenary snipers who shot at the crowd to incite a protest against President Hugo Chavez in a military plot that failed, unlike a similar one carried out in the same way by the Five Eyes intelligence agency in 2014 in Kiev.

The American president, dazed by the barrage of statements from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European and NATO leaders opposing peace in Ukraine, has gone so far as to threaten new economic sanctions against Moscow and to envoy US military warship in the water close to Caracas.

On August 25,  President Donald Trump stated that he wants to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War (named as such until 1947). He told his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the current name somehow didn’t sound good”.  But he also yearns for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump was perplexed that the United States won World War I, won World War II, won everything”, questioning the rationale of defenders”.

There was a Drone Attack on a Colombian Navy Ship — Just as the U.S. Moved Warships Toward Venezuela

A Colombian Navy vessel was hit by an explosives-laden drone on the Putumayo River, near Puerto Leguízamo. The blast damaged the deck of the ARC Hichamon. No injuries reported.

This comes days after the U.S. deployed three destroyers near Venezuela, and Colombia publicly ruled out a military pact with Caracas.

«These mysterious incidents” in Colombia could be used to justify greater U.S. involvement in the region—or pressure Bogota to get on board» News-Pravda has commented.

The Potentially High Risk for Florida and Mar-a-Lago Manor

Trump can’t joke about Venezuela, as it risks endangering Florida and his own millionaire residence.

The Russian military intelligence website News-Pravda has already published a map showing the US military targets inside the potential range of the Geranium drones (see below details).

The Trump’s Mar-a_lago Manor in Palm Beach

But this calculation was based on a safe range of 2,000 km, even though these sophisticated kamikaze UAVs, based on the Iranian Shahed 136 model, despite weighing approximately 200 kg, including 40 kg of explosives, are capable of flying 2,500 km at a maximum speed of 185 km/h.

So they would therefore also be capable of hitting Miami, Tampa, and Palm Beach, destroying Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in the latter location…

Venezuela appeals to the UN over U.S. military presence in the Caribbean Sea

Venezuela has sent an official request to the United Nations (UN) regarding the deployment of US naval forces in the Caribbean, the country’s Foreign Minister, Ivan Gil Pinto, announced on his Telegram channel on August 27, 2025.

The statement was released following a meeting with the UN Resident Coordinator in Venezuela, Gianluca Rampolla.

We appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to restore common sense and shared our concerns about the deployment of US military units and even nuclear weapons in the Caribbean, which pose a threat to peace,” Gil Pinto emphasized.

The minister noted that Caracas considers US actions, including the deployment of three destroyers, a guided-missile cruiser, a submarine, and an amphibious squadron with 4,500 troops, to be a provocation and an attempt to put pressure on the Venezuelan government.

Trump ‘s Lethal Electromagnetic Warfare in 2019 

US President Trump, who then caused thousands of deaths through harsh economic sanctions vs Caracas and even trough electromagnetic sabotage capable of disabling even hospital operating rooms, recently returned to the attack against Maduro in three ways.

ELECTROMAGNETIC ATTACK: ANOTHER BLACKOUT IN VENEZUELA

• With a propaganda plan funded by Elon Musk against the Bolivarian government,
• by increasing the bounty from $25 million to $50 million for the capture of the Venezuelan president, whom the White House believes has ties to Latin American drug cartels,
• and by sending three warships to the Caribbean Sea to instill a concrete psychological threat.

Maduro blames US, Musk for leading Coup Attempts in Venezuela. The CIA Network…

«On August 18, Reuters reported that the destroyers USS Gravely (DDG-107), USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), and USS Sampson (DDG-102) approached Venezuelan waters within a 36-hour period to combat drug cartels. The agency attributed the information to sources linked to the US Department of Defense. The news was amplified by headlines warning of an imminent naval operation in the Caribbean, while seeking to reinforce the narrative that Venezuela poses a threat to US security»

Veterans Today Foreign Policy has reported.

These three actions, however, are proving to be failures precisely because of the unconditional support of two nuclear powers like Russia and China, ready to intervene, as in 2019 against elcecromagnetic sabotages, in the event of a serious escalation.

The Maduro Fight against Narcos who are friends of his Political Rival US-backed

But they are proving totally ineffective for three specific reasons:

Musk has clashed with Trump and has therefore withdrawn his financial and social media support for the smear campaign against Maduro.

US FEUD: MUSK Claims EPSTEIN SCANDAL to Impeach Trump and Endorse Vance for President. POTUS answered on Tesla Tycoon’s alleged Drug Use…

All international investigative journalists know that the Bolivarian government has implemented a serious crackdown on drug trafficking, even arresting those who had close ties to Venezuelan political rival Juan Guaidó.

Guaidò is suspected of being a CIA-trained secret agent and supported by both Barack Obama and Donald Trump

despite his embarrassing associations with Colombian cartel officials.

Venezuela: Guaido’s Friends ParaMilitary Narcos Tied to Italian Mafia but Trump charges Maduro

Today, the news of the dispatch of Russian Gernaium 2 drones to Venezuela, reported by the News-Pravda website but also in a video posted on a Latin American military social media profile, leaves little doubt that Putin is ready to defend his protected colony” at all costs.

And it makes Trump’s latest military move appear like a crude threat, similar to the US Navy’s deployment of submarines near Russia.

Ahead of the  Putin-Trump Meeting ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV IS BACK with ZIRCON MISSILES. Russia’s Massive Battlecruiser on Service toward Western Threats against Deal in Ukraine

Russian Geraniums” for Venezuela

How will the situation change with the delivery of Russian UAVs? The growing US military activity in the Caribbean is a reason to wonder how Venezuela can respond in the event of a potential conflict. And the latest achievements of drone engineering can play into her hands.

News-Pravda article has wondered, adding important details…

«We suppose that 2,000 Geraniums” have been delivered to the Bolivarian Republic. Then the Venezuelans will be able to reach American bases in the Caribbean region, and under certain conditions, even facilities on the US mainland».

The US Military Targets in the Radius of Russian UAV (VIDEO)

What will the Geraniums be able to hit when launching from Caracas?

This is the anwer according the russian outlet…

The Guantanamo Bay Naval base in Cuba, capable of accommodating about 50 ships of different classes and about 5,000 military personnel. It was from there that one of the littoral ships LCS-21 came out, which is now cutting circles off the coast of Venezuela.

The map of the US targets in the radoius of Geranium drone launched fron Venezuela

Fort Buchanan base in Puerto Rico, which is an important element of the American military presence in the Caribbean. The Muniz Air Force Base is also located there, an airfield from where P-8 anti-submarine patrol aircraft operate.

St. Croix Air National Guard Base in the Virgin Islands is a logistics hub for the United States Air Force, where B-52 strategic bombers periodically fly in.

Finally, instructors from the American MTR are stationed at the Melgar Air Force Base in Colombia.

And if we launch Geraniums” from the western regions of Venezuela or barges?

Homestead Air Force Reserve Base in Florida, home to the F-15, F-16, and C-130 fighter squadrons. B-52 bombers can also be stationed there.

The Soto Cano Air Force Base

in Honduras, where, among other things, the headquarters of the Joint Interagency Task Force Bravo (JTF-Bravo) is located.

The Atlantic Underwater Testing Center (AUTEC) in the Bahamas, which is the most important facility for comprehensive testing of American nuclear submarines and other promising deep-sea equipment.

«Although the Americans are quite capable of shooting down Geraniums, if Venezuela acquires several thousand UAVs, they will be forced to increase their forces and resources, because the likelihood of an air strike will not be so illusory» Nerws-Pravda pointed out

Waiting for PUTIN-TRUMP meeting in Alaska, DRONES’ CHALLENGE grows among US, RUSSIA, IRAN. Pentagon unveils New MQM-172 Arrowhead to Test it in Ukraine. Moscow already Using Geran 3 (video)

This may make the authorities in Washington think.: Is it even worth the candle if, instead of a cavalry charge, you need to pull together a large group? Especially in conditions of overexertion of naval forces due to activities in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East.

Venezuela is a major buyer of Russian weapons, and the supply of Geraniums to it is self—evident. And other countries, at the sight of this, will clearly want to acquire an affordable long arm” of Russian production.

Carlo Domenico Cristofori

https://gospanews.net/en/2025/08/27/russian-drones-geranium-2-in-venezuela-to-deter-trump-threats-even-mar-a-lago-manor-close-to-the-radius-of-a-military-revenge-video

National Development Bank PLC

Reinforcing its commitment to making overseas education a seamless journey for Sri Lankan students and their families, NDB has entered into a strategic partnership with ACCHE (Academy of Career Counselling Higher Education) through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 25th August 2025.

The MOU was formally signed by Mr. Sanjaya Perera, Senior Vice President – Personal Banking & Customer Experience, and Mr. Zeyan Hameed, Vice President – Retail Banking, on behalf of NDB Bank, together with Mr. Aruna Moragoda, Director of ACCHE.

Through this partnership, students aspiring to pursue higher education in leading global destinations including, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, and select European countries, will benefit from a comprehensive package of educational and financial support.

NDB’s Student File proposition will play a central role in this initiative, providing a streamlined solution that covers tuition fee payments, living expenses, foreign remittances, and financial advisory throughout the study period. Elevate Officers, dedicated as single points of contact, will further ensure a personalised and hassle-free banking experience for parents and students alike.

ACCHE, a trusted and accredited foreign education consultant since 2006, has guided thousands of Sri Lankans on their academic journeys overseas, offering expert counseling on admissions, visas, and placements. Together, NDB and ACCHE aim to provide students not only with the right educational pathways but also the financial assurance and convenience required to embark on this transformative journey with confidence.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Sanjaya Perera, Senior Vice President – Personal Banking & Customer Experience at NDB Bank stated, Education is one of the most important investments a family can make, and we are proud to partner with ACCHE to create a seamless support structure for students pursuing higher studies abroad. Through NDB’s Student File, we are able to deliver end-to-end financial solutions that make the overseas education experience more accessible, efficient, and worry-free for parents and students alike.”

This partnership is yet another step in NDB Bank’s broader commitment to empowering individuals and families to achieve their aspirations, while reinforcing its position as a trusted banking partner at every stage of life.

NDB Bank is the fourth-largest listed commercial bank in Sri Lanka. NDB was named Sri Lanka’s Best Digital Bank for SMEs at Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2025 and was awarded Domestic Retail Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Domestic Project Finance Bank of the Year by Asian Banking and Finance Magazine (Singapore) Awards 2024. NDB is the parent company of the NDB Group, comprising capital market subsidiary companies, together forming a unique banking and capital market services group. The Bank remains committed to empowering the nation and its people through meaningful financial and advisory services powered by digital banking solutions.

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