Colombo, January 4 (newsin.asia): The Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. S Jaishankar, will pay an official visit to Sri Lanka from January 5 to 7 at the invitation of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena.
Dr.Jaishankar will hold discussions with his counterpart and Sri Lanka’s leadership on the entire gamut of bilateral relations, a press release from the Indian External Affairs Ministry said on Monday.
This will be the first foreign visit by the Indian Foreign Minister and the first visit to Sri Lanka by a foreign dignitary in the New Year, the release said. As such, it signifies the priority both countries attach to strengthening their close and cordial relations in all spheres of mutual interest,” the release added.
While generally, India-Sri Lanka relations are on an even keel, there are outstanding issues such as the delay in finalizing the involvement of India in the construction and running of the Eastern Container Terminal in Colombo port; delays in starting industrial development and infrastructural projects for which MoUs were signed in 2017; and further plans to develop the Trincomalee oil tanks as a joint venture between the Indian Oil Corporation and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
A Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed in 2019 to develop and run the Eastern Container Terminal jointly by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), India and Japan, with the SLPA holding 51% share in and India taking a 15% stake. But the project ran into trouble with the port workers’ union and Sri Lankan nationalists who asked the government not to give away national assets to foreign parties. After dilly dallying the government had recently set up two committees to study the investment pattern, including the involvement of Sri Lankan companies.
The government has assured the workers and nationalists that no decision has been taken yet to give the work to India. But India wants a foothold in the Colombo port for strategic reasons because rival China is ensconced in the adjacent terminal called Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT). India says it has a legitimate interest in Colombo port as 67 to 70% of the port’s business is accounted for by Indian transshipment.
When Sri Lanka demanded that the unused oil tanks in the Trincomalle Tank Farm be handed back to it for development by the State, India said that development could be done as a joint venture. The matter rests there.
India-Sri Lanka Accord
Meanwhile, a major political problem had arisen. The Sri Lankan government has been hinting that it might scrap or drastically modify the Provincial Councils set up as part of the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government is under pressure from the Sinhala majority nationalist lobby to scrap the 13 th, Amendment under which the Provincial Councils were set up.
The majority Sinhala community is against devolution power to the provinces especially when two of them are populated predominantly by Tamil-speaking communities (Tamils and Muslims). Devolution would lead to secession, it is feared.
The nine Provinces are without elected councils for the past three years and there are demands from both within the government and outside to postpone elections to them citing the COVID 19 pandemic. It is also suggested that elections may be postponed till the country gets a new constitution. Work on a new constitution is being done now by an experts committee.
India is very much committed to the 13 th.Amendment which devolves a certain amount of power to the provinces. The 13A is India’s brainchild. India believes that devolution of power to the Tamil speaking provinces will meet a basic demand of the minority Tamils which is for a reasonable degree of self-rule. Devolution will curb separatist tendencies it is felt.
The Tamil National Alliance, which is battling the Sri Lankan government on the issue of devolution and the 13 th.Amendment, is likely to seek and secure an appointment with the Indian Foreign Minister.
Through his engagements in Colombo, Foreign Minister Jaishankar would get to know first-hand, the minds of the Sri Lankan leaders on these issues. He will in turn communicate India’s concerns and commitments.
China Factor
Jaishankar is likely to discuss the China factor in Sri Lanka and express India’s concerns about the security aspects of China’s widening strategic and economic footprint in Sri Lanka. He would like to rope Sri Lanka into the ‘Quad’ which is a maritime security alliance between India, Japan, Australia and the US to campaign for free, unhindered and rule-based navigation in the high seas, which is seen to be under threat from China.
Colombo, January 4: The Sri Lankan State Ministry of Primary Healthcare, Epidemics, and Primary Disease Control has refuted media reports claiming that a committee has been appointed to make recommendations on the issues surrounding the cremation of the remains of Covid victims in Sri Lanka.
Issuing a statement, the Ministry said there is no truth to recent reports published on various media that State Minister Sudharshini Fernandopulle had appointed a committee to deliberate if the remains of Covid victims should be cremated or buried.
State Minister Fernandopulle has pointed out that as Covid-19 is a new disease, initial recommendations made by the World Health Organization are subject to change with new emerging evidence.
She has further insisted that Covid-19 disease control should always be based on science, while religion, race, politics, social and mythical beliefs should not be considered when taking decisions on disease control.
Stating that eminent virologists and other medical and scientific experts have been advised to make periodic recommendations on the disease, the statement said no request has been made to deliberate the issue over the cremation of remains of Covid-19 victims.
(The picture at the top shows the Sri Lankan Minister of Epidemics, Dr.Sudarshani Fernandopulle
People will have to live with the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic even this year and therefore, they should be prepared to adapt to the conditions and live adhering to health guidelines, Health Services Director General Dr. Asela Gunawardane said.
He said this after paying an inspection tour to the new kidney hospital within the Polonnaruwa General Hospital.
“Controlling the virus is very difficult with keeping the country open. But the Government has to spend more than Rs.60 million per day for PCR tests, ” Dr. Gunawardane said.
To get the necessary funds for these tests, the country’s production activities should be continued, he added.
When the first sign of intelligent life first visits us from space, it won’t be a giant saucer hovering over New York. More likely, it will be an alien civilization’s trash.
Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy, believes he’s already found some of that garbage.
In his upcoming book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), out Jan. 26, the professor lays out a compelling case for why an object that recently wandered into our solar system was not just another rock but actually a piece of alien technology.
The object in question traveled toward our solar system from the direction of Vega, a nearby star 25 light-years away, and intercepted our solar system’s orbital plane on Sept. 6, 2017.
On Sept. 9, its trajectory brought it closest to the sun. At the end of September, it blasted at about 58,900 miles per hour past Venus’ orbital distance, and then, on Oct. 7, it shot past Earth’s before moving swiftly toward the constellation Pegasus and the blackness beyond,” Loeb writes in the book.
The object was first spotted by an observatory in Hawaii containing the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) — the highest definition telescope on earth.
The space object was dubbed ‘Oumuamua (pronounced oh moo ah moo ah”), which is Hawaiian for — roughly — scout.”
As space travelers go, it was relatively small at just about 100 yards long, but it was a big deal in the scientific community.
For starters, it was the first interstellar object ever detected inside our solar system. Judging from the object’s trajectory, astronomers concluded it was not bound by the sun’s gravity — which suggested it was just traveling through.
No crisp photos could be taken, but astronomers were able to train their telescopes on the object for 11 days, collecting reams of other data.
At first, scientists thought it was an ordinary comet. But Loeb said that assumption ran the risk of allowing the familiar to define what we might discover.”
What would happen if a caveman saw a cellphone?” he asked. He’s seen rocks all his life, and he would have thought it was just a shiny rock.”
Loeb soon opened his mind to another possibility: It was not a comet but discarded tech from an alien civilization. (nypost)
The Director-General of Health Services confirms that Sri Lanka’s fatality count from COVID-19 has risen with 02 more deaths caused by the virus.
Two men, both residents of Ratnapura, have succumbed to the virus pushing the COVID-19 death count to 215.
A 71-year-old man had passed away at the Ratnapura Teaching Hospital on January 02. The cause of his death has been determined as a respiratory infection caused by COVID-19 and a complication of a lung infection.
The other victim is a 86 year old male who had succumbed to COVID-19 related pneumonia and epilepsy. He had passed away at his home on January 01.
A special operation carried out by Sri Lanka Navy in the seas off Negombo led to the apprehension of 04 suspects with drugs worth over Rs 600 million.
The Western Naval Command today (04) intercepted a suspicious multiday fishing trawler off Negombo and apprehended 04 suspects with over 100 kg of Crystal Methamphetamine (ICE) and nearly 80 kg of Hashish being transported aboard.
The narcotic substance had been concealed in 09 sacks, as plastic containers and small packets, stated Sri Lanka Navy.
The street value of the stock of narcotics held during the operation is believed to be over Rs 600 million, the Navy added.
The coordinated operation has been carried out with the assistance of intelligence services and the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB). . The operation has also been assisted by Sri Lanka Air Force.
The suspects held during the operation were identified as residents of the Thoduwawa area in Chilaw.
The entire operation has been carried out adhering to COVID-19 preventive guidelines.
The suspects, drugs, and the multiday fishing trawler held during this operation were handed over to the PNB, Colombo for onward legal action.
Sri Lanka Customs has seized 7,500 kilograms of turmeric illegally imported into the country under the guise of importing wheat flour.
Customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said that the stock of turmeric was found inside a container shipped from India on December 20, declared as wheat flour.
The container was searched based on information uncovered through investigations carried out by the ‘Risk Management Unit’ of Sri Lanka Customs while a stock of turmeric valued at over Rs 15 million was discovered inside.
The turmeric had been imported by a resident of Modara while it has been uncovered that he had engaged in similar illegal activities in the past as well.
The spokesman said that the Director General of Customs has issued instructions to take strict action against the individual in question, who is currently in remand custody.
The LLRC Report was tantamount to a Betrayal of the Victory
achieved by the Security Forces on the battlefield after a huge sacrifice of
life and limb by the heroic soldiers. About 30, 000 personnel from the security
forces perished.
What was required and anticipated by the informed public from
the LLRC were recommendations for
1) ‘ de – nazification’ of the Terrorists and the network of
their supporters,
2) scrapping or re – negotiation of the unequal Treaty
between India – Sri Lanka which was forcibly imposed on the Sri Lankan Govt. by
India in 1987, and the
3) removal of the 13th amendment of the Constitution, which
was enacted at gunpoint.
The question, what was the purpose for which 30, 000
soldiers, the vast majority of whom were Sinhala Buddhists drawn from rural
areas, sacrificed their precious lives over a period of 30 years, fighting a
defensive war against brutal terrorists, was never asked nor were there proper
findings or explanation given of this significant issue, nor any sincere
expression of gratitude and appreciation of the soldiers sacrifice.
It is indisputable that people all over the country began to
sleep soundly without fear largely because of the victory achieved in 2009 via
the heroic sacrifices of the soldiers.
It is unfortunate that the LLRC saw their function as a
mechanism for appeasement of people who had ‘hurt’ feelings, and as an
apologetic role, and not to vindicate the victory achieved on the battlefield
by our security forces.
The unforgivable and unpardonable part was that the LLRC
Commissioners fell into a trap laid down by ‘Human Rights’ mercenaries
who unceasingly vilify the ethnic majority until almost the last pound of flesh
is extracted, and the LLRC Commissioners sheepishly gave in to the pressure
mounted by NGOs and turned to work on promoting the anti – majoritarian
propaganda rhetoric of Multi – Culteralism, Secularism, and Re – conciliation,
prior to ‘de – nazification’.
It must be noted that when the Allies beat Germany and Japan
in 1945, they (the allies) engaged in a full scale de – nazification’ programme
and established War Crimes Tribunals to try the leaders of the two defeated
countries.
In Sri Lanka the reverse happened. The winner was placed in
the dock for alleged war crimes while the defeated Terrorists, with blood
stained hands for ruthlessly killing innocent civilians in several incidents of
mass murder, were hailed as liberators and victims by the international
community.
The LLRC report did not do much to salvage the the good name
of the security forces which won a resounding victory over terrorism, and
became the only country in the world to do so.
The following
map shows the graphic representation of the geomorphological structure of the
Island determined by its geological foundation spreading from the center in all
directions
Morphological
map of Sri Lanka
Source Sudath
Gunasekara 1991.
You will see
from this map that all the rivers in the Island starting from the Central
Highlands flow in between these trend
lines. Not only the rivers but also the underground
water table also conforms to this morphological foundation. Hence the
possibility of whatever virus or germ that gets in to the underground water
table at any point in the upstream area the possibility of spreading downstream radially in all the directions all
over the Island in no time. As such spreading a virus in all directions in no
time and reaming there from any death body with Covid 19 virus at any point in
the country could be very high and therefore extremely risky.
I am only trying
here to illustrate the behavior of the underground water table within this
underlying geological Structure as a student of geography. It is therefore left
for expert geologists to elaborate on this point. I hope those more
knowledgeable in geology will pick up from here and tell the world the imminent
dangers of burying Covid 19 dead bodies in any part of the country in view of
this peculiar geomorphologica] and
geological context that might help the
health authorities to explain to the rioting Muslim lunatics the large scale
ramifications of burying Covid19 dead
bodies
If cremation is
so antireligious then how about the souls of those who commit suicide like
Saharan Why can’t these idiots realize that the dead is dead for good. No one
knows where he or she has gone whether hell or heaven. As such there is no point in dabbling with
dead bodies. What we have to do is to protect the living
This is an article that should be
seriously read, understood, chewed and digested and corrective measures taken immediately
by the President, Prime Minister, the entire Cabinet first, and second by all
the MPP in Parliament including those supporting burial of Muslim Covid 19 corpses.
I think it is better for all who
cannot agree with the writer’s discourse should refrain from continuing in
politics in this country.
Even you,
Minister Ali Sabry?
Posted on December 31st, 2020
By Rohana R. Wasala
A HAPPY PEACEFUL PROSPEROUS HEALTHY
NEW YEAR TO ALL LANKAWEB READERS INCLUDING THOSE WHO HOLD CONTRARY VIEWS TO
MINE!
Media secretary Viraj Abeysinghe of
the Ministry of Health has issued a press statement warning against spreading
false information concocted by certain politicians and websites regarding the
subject of whether to bury or burn the bodies of persons who have succumbed to
the COVID-19 infection (lankacnews-Sinhala/December 28, 2020).
It notifies that the Ministry is
turning its attention to some ‘politically motivated fake news’ stories
featuring powerful politicians connected with the government. The statement
further says that for the time being (daenata) cremation alone is done on the
instructions of all the expert reports received by the Ministry so far. Very
much the same news was carried in Hiru TV News (9:55 pm/December 27, 2020).
Let’s hope that this is signalling an end to needlessly prolonged
dilly-dallying on the part of the authorities about an issue where
evidence-based science, not a particular religion out of the many, ought to have the last word.
Interviewed recently by two You Tube
channels (Hari TV/Lahiru Mudalige/December 16 and Konara Vlogs/Avishka
Konara/December 23) Ali Sabry PC, Minister of Justice, stressed that his
struggle is to build bridges rather than walls between the communities. For over eight months now he has been
advocating burial of bodies of Muslims who have died of Covid-19 ignoring the
decree of the competent authority, the DHS (Director of Health Services). The
DHS is acting on the advice of the local experts who know best what is suitable
for our country in the current context, i.e., cremation. The reputed lawyer was the legal consultant of (current president)
Gotabaya Rajapaksa at least for fifteen years from the latter’s defence
secretary days; he has successfully defended the latter against false charges
of various kinds fabricated by political opponents. Sabry’s aim of
establishing intercommunal harmony is laudable, and he may be sincere in his
efforts in that direction, but how sincere is yet to be demonstrated. This is
because it is puzzling that he
repeatedly warns that young Muslims are likely to be pushed towards extremism
by what they’d perceive as a denial of their right to freedom of religion if
the health authorities do not allow the burial of bodies of Muslims claimed by
Covid-19. His totally senseless stand on the sensitive issue (that must be
left for science, but not religion, to resolve) is likely to give a fillip to
extremists and other miscreants opposed to the government to create trouble.
During the first interview mentioned
above, Ali Sabry made the patently false
claim that the Aluthgama and Digana incidents drove young Muslims to extremism,
whereas the truth was the reverse of that. (These incidents must be
investigated even belatedly to discover the factual situation that then
obtained. The disastrous policy of political correctness that led to the
submergence of the truth on those occasions then seems to be at work once
again.) Sabry referred to how the UK
responded to incidents of Islamic extremist violence as a model to follow in
dealing with the same problem in Sri Lanka: the UK government reached out
to the mainstream Muslim minority and acted to win their confidence and support
in order to contain Islamic extremism in that country. He implies that Sri Lanka must do the same (as if Sri Lanka has not
been doing exactly that for centuries) or ‘we must kill all Muslims and put
them into the sea!’ (The violent imagery in his speech is an indication of the
commotion in his own mind resulting from his subliminal awareness of guilt as
he feels forced to lie in this situation for political expediency within his
own community. He probably fears violent retaliation from extremists for
what they might interpret as collusion with infidels in attacking Islam.) He’s been sounding the warning mentioned
above since early April 2020. He believes that he is undergoing a sort of
public trial by being blamed by both the Muslim community on the one hand who
feel aggrieved by the compulsory cremation rule imposed on all citizens by the
health authorities for the safe disposal of bodies of Covid-19 victims and the
electorally successful nationalist faction on the other led by the monks, who
insist that the rule should not be relaxed to satisfy the whims of one
particular group of people thereby endangering the lives of the whole
population through the possible release of the still inadequately understood
novel coronavirus from the interred bodies to the country’s water table, which,
in many places in Sri Lanka, is not very deep, and lies close to the surface.
Ali Sabry should know better than most that there has been no
lack of reaching out to the mainstream Muslim minority either by the majority
community or by the successive governments. Muslims as a community are mainly
engaged in business. Seventy-five per cent of their customer base comprises
Sinhalese, making it possib;e for Muslim businesses thrive normally, though
there’s been just condemnation, among the citizenry including the majority
Sinhalese, of worsening Islamist extremism in recent years. Be that as it may, it is not simply because Sabry has served
president Gotabaya in the past as his implicitly trusted personal legal service
provider that he was made a national list MP by the SLPP and honoured and
empowered with such a very important key portfolio. It is certain that
Gotabaya Rajapaksa believes in the Buddhist teaching that ‘a trustworthy person
is the best kinsman’, but he is the last to allow personal relationships or
personal prejudices to sway governance decisions improperly that affect the
national interest (or at least that is what people still believe about
Gotabaya). ‘One country One law’ was the rallying cry that inspired patriotic
Sri Lankans at both the presidential and parliamentary elections to vote for
the SLPP, which won with the largest margins. As minister of justice Sabry has been entrusted with the task of
supervising the making of a new constitution that is designed to achieve
that epoch making change (namely, One Country, One Law) among other things.
Gotabaya made no bones about the fact that he won the presidency almost
exclusively on the strength of Sinhalese votes; most Muslims and Tamils chose
not to respond positively to his call for support at the presidential election.
His bluntness is a reflection of his characteristic candour, which has not been
compromised by the hypocrisy of political correctness, his older brother’s
unfailing weapon, that fails more often than succeeds. But Gotabaya holds no grudge against those
who rejected him, for in the same breath president elect Gotabaya said that he
was elected as president of all the citizens of the country and that he would
serve in that post without discriminating against any citizen. There is no
doubt about the fact that he means what he says. By appointing Ali Sabry to the
all important post of Minister of Justice, the president incidentally reassured
the Muslims that he will not exclude them from his vision of prosperity and
splendour for the nation.
Ali
Sabry has not budged an inch from his
original unqualified opposition to the mandatory burning of bodies of Muslim
victims of Covid-19 over which he expressed his disappointment in a Facebook
post mentioned in an Al Jazeera news report/April 3, 2020, with the
authorities’ decision which, he alleged, ignored the WHO guidelines that allow
both burial and cremation. Are we to believe that our experts overlook WHO guidelines
without a rational explanation? Sabry
deliberately ignores the various reservations that clearly qualify the WHO
guidelines, leaving the authorised specialists of any member country to modify
those recommendations as appropriate for local conditions and ground
realities. The basic assumption that he
seems to be operating on, regarding the burial problem, is wrong. For all
intents and purposes, he pretends to wrongly believe that the health
authorities insist on making no exception for Muslim dead in this case because
that is what the monks want. Ali
Sabry is the last person that rational people would expect to demand that
Muslims should be allowed to bury their loved ones dead from the novel
coronavirus while cremation is the only method legally prescribed by the
Director of Health Services (DHS).
This is not a happy thing to say
about arguably the most important and powerful minister in the cabinet, being
the closest companion of the president, next to the prime minister, who is the
president’s own brother. It is
inconceivable how Ali Sabry is capable of (no doubt unintentionally) justifying
the berserk behaviour of some virus-infected Muslims (as seen in their show of insubordination,
noncooperation, physical harassment of the health workers trying to help them
including spitting at them (with the malicious intention of spreading the
infection); cases were reported of some Covid-19 positive tested individuals
spitting out of the windows of buses carrying them to quarantine centres in
vicious attempts to spread dreaded infection). Such demonstration of
unprovoked anger is based on the false pretext of alleged discrimination
against them by the government in the matter of mandatory cremation of Corona
dead as prescribed by the responsible health experts to prevent the escape of
the deadly virus with many unknowns into the environment. The virus is no
respecter of people’s religious sensitivities. If the Director of Health determines
that cremation is the only option for Sri Lanka in the current emergency,
citizens are obliged to accept that and act accordingly.
Why doesn’t Ali Sabry make an effort
to explain to the agitating Muslims and to the misinformed Muslim world in general,
who have never been enemies of Sri Lanka, that this blown-out-of-proportion
controversy over the burial or cremation issue has nothing to do with the monks or the government or the health
authorities or the army and police officers (the last mentioned having been
co-opted into the Covid containment operation only as ancillary personnel
employed for a strictly logistical purpose to serve under the director of
health services, DHS, the government appointed competent authority who gives
leadership to the whole enterprise, which involves every single citizen of the
country). The cremation imperative is not an arbitrary decision taken by
the government to spite the Muslim minority under pressure from the monks as
misleadingly suggested by the hostile foreign NGO elements, Islamists, a
handful of misguided Muslims, and the irresponsible SJB-led opposition. The DHS
is not acting capriciously either; his recommendations are based on a
scientific rationale collectively defined by a group of experts belonging to a
number of different relevant fields of study in the best interest of all
resident Sri Lankans and foreign visitors.
Ali Sabry seems to be more concerned about remaining in the good books of the
handful of Islamists and their sympathisers than the feelings of the
ninety-five per cent of the population who are against them. Is he in the
thrall of the five percent? Or could it be the case that Ali Sabry needs to be
saved from disguised Islamist apologists and opportunistic schemers, who are at
present busy striking while the iron is hot? But one thing is clear: The goal of One Country One Law will be a
non-starter so long as Ali Sabry remains Minister of Justice. That is my
opinion for what it is worth.
MY comments,
If
what Rohana has stated are correct Ali Sabry cannot and should not
continue as a Cabinet Minister in this government any longer, as his stance had
been running counter to that of the
President and the Government since he had been making statements and giving
interviews to media contrary to the
Government’s policy of ‘One
Country One Law. The gist of Rohana’s article clearly demonstrates that Ali
Sabry is trekking a different path from
that of the Government although he is supposed to be an eminent Presidential
Council he appears to have clearly violated the principle of collective
responsibility which is a cardinal principle of Cabinet Government. The reason
for this peculiar behavior I think is his inclination first to think and act like
a Muslim though he speaks fluent Sinhala even better than a native Sinhala man.
From the analysis of Rohana I also think he plays the role of Dr. Jekil and
Hide. (referring to persons with an unpredictably dual nature: outwardly good,
but sometimes shockingly evil.)
Rohana also has said that Sabry has
served president Gotabaya in the past as his implicitly trusted personal legal
adviser which he implies the reason for him to be appointed as the Minister of
Justice. Any way if that is the reason as to why he was a taken in as a
National list member of Parliament and appointed to the third most powerful
place in the Cabinet as Rohana says I think it is a grave mistake. Rohana also
has referred to Ali Sabry’s misinterpretations made on Aluthgama and Digana
issues. Furthermore in this backdrop entrusting him with the task of
supervising the making of a new constitution that is designed to achieve that
epoch making change (namely, One Country, One Law) among other things.” Is
really dangerous. Appointing the Minister of Justice to supervise the work of
that Committee in any case negates the independence of that Committee.
Appointing a Muslim to supervise Constitution making for this Sinhala Buddhist
State makes it even worse. Even the Advisory Committee on Constitution making
appointed by the President has also already run in to serious trouble with
regard to its constitution and priorities according to internal sources. Seven
Million Sinhala Buddhists who voted the President in 2019 and the Government in
2020 are at a loss to understand as to how a Committee where there is no one to
represent the age old traditional Sinhala Buddhist interests to say at least
one prominent Buddhist scholar monk. With Ali Sabry’s steam roller authority as
Minister of Justice and his personal conviction as A Muslim for which he will
always give unreserved priority , who on
earth will believe that this Committee will come out with a Constitution
suitable and acceptable to the this
Sinhala Buddhist Nation.
In addition to what Rohana has said
on Alisabry in his note The goal of One Country One Law will be a non-starter
so long as Ali Sabry remains Minister of Justice”, to state my personal opinion
on this issue for what it is worth” any report made by this ill constituted non-independent advisory Committee on constitution making for
this nation will be a day dream” as already this Committee has run in to serious
trouble on some key issues like the abolition of the Provincial Councils.
According to what I gather from internal sources, the Advisory Committee will
finally be compelled to issue will be heavily conditioned by what Ali Sabry
will have to say and that draft Constitution
will be definitely rejected by the Sinhala Buddhist majority. But even
now he can be a second Luxman
Kadiragamar if he limits his religious convictions to the Mosque and advice the mad Muslims to bury their Covid 19
dead without creating un-necessary problems for the Government and withdraw
from the position of Advisor to the Constitution Advisory Committee
Finally the President and the
Government will have to bear the cost of public displeasure Therefore it will
be advisable at least now to reconstitute the present Committee and appoint a
new one comprising eminent Sinhala Buddhist scholars well versed in History,
Archeology, and the traditions of statecraft and law making of the Motherland
with at least two eminent monk Scholars. If the President is serious in making
a historic Constitution the country needs and the 7 million who voted him in to
power aspired him to do.
Last but not least, If the President,
the Prime Minister and the Government fail to rectify these immediately or at
least in time, the net result of Ali Sabry’s involvement in Constitution making
and the Covid 19 Muslim burials issue might end up as political suicide for the
government.
The USA, we
are told, has two governments, a visible government and an invisible one. The
visible government is the one run by the US President and Congress. But the real power which drives US policy is
elsewhere, say analysts.
USA’s politics is masterminded by a small financial elite, they
added, a kind of cabal, who control just
about everything in Washington. They are the invisible government. Many in this
elite are Jewish. The coterie includes powerful international bankers.
This
financial elite virtually runs the United States government. They operate
independently of the elected representatives. They club into submission or
drive out of office public officials who refuse to do their bidding.” It does not matter who become the President
of the USA, he will simply march to the tune of those who stand behind the
scenes and pull the strings, said analysts.
The political
ideology of this elite is labeled ‘neo conservatism’ and its practitioners were
known as ‘neo cons’. The original neoconservatives, believe it or not, were
former Trotskyites now turned anti-Trotsky, anti- socialist and ultra right.
They were influenced by the ideas of Leo Straus, (1899-1973) a Jewish immigrant
who became professor of Political Science at University of Chicago. Strauss
said that masses were an inferior breed who needed to be ruled by an
intelligent elite. It was the right of the superior elite to rule the inferior
masses.
The neo cons were also influenced by the journalist, Irving
Kristol (1920-2009). Kristol is
considered the father of neo-conservatism. He was against the welfare state and
the African American civil rights movement in USA. He wanted both squashed.
The term, “neo-conservatism was coined in 1973. Neo
conservative ideas began to enter the mainstream thinking in the USA in 1970s. The
third generation of Neo-cons emerged in the mid 1990s. These neo-cons are
active, aggressive and reactionary said critics. They wish to turn the clock back on the
liberal gains and achievements.” They
said welfare programs were breeding a culture of dependency.
Many ‘Neo cons’ are leading personalities in the USA. They have
exceptional intellectual ability. They hold key positions in the administration . They are well placed, otherwise too. Neo cons dominate Washington’s think tanks
and the news media.
The neo cons, are not conspiratorial. They prefer to write
voluminously and act openly with respect to their philosophies and actions,
said analysts. They host policy conferences that attract powerful politicians.
Neo-cons are skilled operatives. They
know how to obtain steady funding there
is an unabating flow of such support. Their
organizations and projects attract huge funding from donors and foundations.
Neo-cons have institutions that back them. They own publishing
houses and television stations and through these they control the media. They have publications that disseminate their
views and shape public debate.
Neo cons are very skilled propagandists. They use their writings
to give intellectual legitimacy to policies that are extreme and inacceptable.
The neo cons are adept at writing articles that twist any set of facts to suit
their ideological cause. They know how
to spin facts” in ways that mislead the audience, said critics. The words used
by neoliberalism often conceal more than they elucidate.
Neo con
values have been accepted inside USA. a Pew
survey of 2011 found that 58% of the Americans said freedom to pursue
life’s goals without interference from the state is more important than the
state guaranteeing nobody is in need. Neo cons encourage the strong
individualistic tradition in the US. Americans favours liberty more than
equality. To be free of governmental intervention is far more important than to
have a benevolent state provide welfare to the population, they said.
Some neo cons
have taken an interest in Sri Lanka .Geoge Soros is a leading ‘neo con’ and his
Open Society Foundation is a major source of funding for the Neo-con movement. Soros
turned up in Sri Lanka at the start of the Yahapalana government of 2015-2019.
Two other
names which are familiar to Sri Lanka are U.S. National Security Adviser Susan
Rice and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations,
Samantha Power. Samantha Power visited Sri Lanka in
2015 and 2019. She said that Sri Lanka has been a true partner of the
United States. She considered Mangala Samaraweera one of the most remarkable
people I encountered during my eight years serving in the US government”.
Susan Rice said in 2015 that Sri Lanka was a society in
transition. She equated Sri Lanka with Myanmar and Tunisia. Susan Rice is said
to have been particularly anti-Arab and anti-Islam, and was scathing and
sneering at the Palestinians in the UN General Assembly when the UN granted Palestine
observer status. Rice will serve as the director of the Domestic Policy Council in the
incoming Biden administration.
The neo cons follow the economic policy of ‘Neoliberalism’. AmericanNeoliberalism is a policy that affects both
politics and economics. It seeks to transfer the control of economic factors
from the public sector to the private sector.
Neoliberalism firmly supports free market capitalism. It
insists on privatization and free trade.
It frowns on public ownership. It
sets limits to government regulation and demands drastic cuts to government
spending.
The USA’s foreign policy includes a neo liberal economic package.
US foreign policy demands that
developing countries follows the free market system which emphasis the
maximization of profit and has no state intervention or control of industry. Corporate taxes must be reduced. The country
must open itself to global markets.
There must be privatization of state
enterprises and the removal of government subsidies. Government should sell
off any industrial assets they own. There should be open entry of foreign firms
into the local economy. Imports must be liberalized.
Social
welfare schemes must be reduced. Governments should dramatically cut back
funding of social programs and privatize pension systems. The tax base should
be broadened, which meant taxing as many people as possible. Labor
organizations and collective bargaining should be brought under control.
Neo liberal economics have concocted theories to support their
tactics. They said that the market ensures that everyone gets what they
deserve. The market” sounds like a natural system that might bear upon us
equally, like gravity or atmospheric pressure. But it is fraught with power
relations. What the market wants” means what corporations and their bosses
want, said critics.
In neo
liberalism the rich persuade themselves that they acquired their wealth through
merit, ignoring the advantages – such as education, inheritance and class –
that may have helped to secure it. In a world governed by competition, those
who fall behind are simply losers. If you don’t have a job it’s because you are
unenterprising. The poor begin to blame themselves for their failures, even
when they can do little to change their circumstances.
The
Neoliberalist ideology has increasingly prevailed in large part of the world.
This carried the notion that the market knows best, and the business of
business is business” and government should not interfere. These dogmatic
beliefs have been proved wrong. The freedom that neoliberalism offers, which
sounds so beguiling when, expressed in general terms, turns out to mean freedom
for the pike, a large fish, not for the minnows, the smaller fish, said
critics.It is a policy that benefited the wealthy. Neo liberalism has no plans for helping the
weak and impoverished groups.
Critics note that economic growth has been markedly slower in the
neoliberal period in UK and USA, starting
in 1980 than it was in the preceding decades. Like communism, Neoliberalism is a
God that failed. But the zombie doctrine staggers on, complained critics.
The implementation of Neo-con foreign policy has created
considerable upheavals in people’s lives which had been relatively safe and
peaceful, poverty where relatively little of it had existed, or it increased
the existing levels of poverty. Western
societies which practice neo-liberal economics have epidemics of self-harm,
eating disorders, depression, loneliness, performance anxiety and social
phobia, analysts observed.
This neo
liberal approach is challenged by other models which have proved to be more
successful. China’s economic policies are the exact opposite of neo liberal
policy. China went in for high levels of protectionism, no privatization, extensive
industrial policies planning, and lax fiscal and financial policies through the
1990s. This turned out to be
successful.
The
remarkable economic growth of the East Asian Tigers was due to the dominant
role played by governments. East Asian governments actively encouraged industry and also
managed to increase domestic savings. These governments had highly
protectionist policies that barred foreigners from owning land and from buying
out national firms. The East Asian
Tigers showed that mixed, managed economies grew faster and more equitably than
those following the neo liberal style, said analysts.
Analysts also noted that countries like
Norway, Singapore, and China have developed “infrastructure-savvy
economies” where the government investing massively in infrastructure
projects. These countries had large-scale, government-funded investments in
strategic infrastructure projects, said analysts.
US found that it was not easy to impose Neo
liberal prescriptions on reluctant foreign countries, given the unpopularity of
the neo liberal reforms. The determined US found that it had to impose military
force, stealth and political terror to get the neo liberal
policies through.
They hit on a deadly tactic, the Shock tactic. The opposition to
Neo liberal economics is so great that the neo cons decided that only a
large-scale disaster (hurricane, tsunami, military coup) can help get neo liberal reforms through, while
people were distracted. Neoliberal theorists advocated the use of crises to
impose unpopular policies. They also supported the actual creation of such a
crisis.
Naomi Klein
called this The Shock Doctrine. The shock doctrine
suggests that unpopular free market” measures
could be pushed through in periods of chaos following wars, coups,
natural disasters and economic panics. During a crisis, neo liberal
moves will go unscrutinized, that is the moment when unpopular policies could
be rushed through.
The first country in which the neo liberal economic programme was
comprehensively applied was Chile under Pinochet. This was the first test case
and Milton Friedman the leading neo liberal economist, was there in person. He
saw the difficulties of imposing neo liberal policies and had called for shock
treatment. Similarly when Hurricane
Katrina hit New Orleans, USA, Milton Friedman, described it as an opportunity
to radically reform the educational system” recorded Kline.
Those who wish to implement unpopular free market policies now
routinely do so by taking advantage of certain features of the aftermath of
major disasters, the disaster can be natural or artificial. Klein says that neo liberalists, such as Milton Friedman and
his followers have been perfecting this very strategy. They wait for a major crisis,
and then sell off pieces of the state to private players while citizens were
still reeling from the shock, and then quickly make the “reforms”
permanent.
These shocks are intentionally encouraged or even manufactured in
foreign countries by the US. A major collective shock would help prepare the
ground for an economic shock. The falling bombs, the bursts of terror, the
pounding winds will soften up whole societies, they said in anticipation. The
population goes limp at these times. A strategist
from Morgan Stanley actually told a conference, ‘what we need now in Asia is
more bad news. Bad news to keep stimulating the adjustment process.’
The April 2018 bomb blasts in Catholic churches by Muslims, was immediately
seen as a shock tactic supported by the USA. The ISIS story was brushed aside.
The intelligentsia looked at the link between Muslim extremists in Sri Lanka, funds
from Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia’s link to USA. Instead of going limp as
expected, Sri Lanka reacted strongly, hunted out the next set of waiting
bombers and prevented further carnage. (Continued)
No. Not THAT elephant nor the one which turned itself into a telephone. Neither are in the room. The compass is not in the room either and there’s palpable evidence that even the lotus bud has got displaced. That’s if ‘people’ constitute ‘the room.’
These days, the proverbial elephant in the room is the Coronavirus. The room is enormous and constitutes almost the entire landmass of the earth or rather those parts inhabited by humans. Today we are told that the virus is going to hang in there for quite a while, vaccines notwithstanding. We are told that we better resolve to live with the virus.
The elephant we are talking about is a tad larger than the virus. We are talking about the pachyderm, the behemoth, the elephant. Elephas maximus. And the room is the country or at least almost two-thirds of the territory.
I am not an elephant expert. However, a recent paper titled ‘First country-wide survey of the endangered Asian elephant: towards better conservation and management in Sri Lanka’ written by people who have studied the issue for a long time does shed some light. The article, principally authored by Prithiviraj Fernando, breaks it down to numbers.
There are approximately 6,000 elephants in Sri Lanka and over 4,000 of them are likely to use areas where people also live. Elephants roam in 59.9% of the island. Of the landmass a 44% slice is shared by both species. Put another way, people are resident in 69.4% of the elephant range. In other words, the ‘Human-Elephant Conflict Zone’ encompasses almost the entire Dry Zone of the country.
Given this spatial distribution and the behavior of both species, we should not be surprised at the outcome. There are fatalities on both sides. The factor that precipitates an act of aggression can vary, but deep down it is about both species wanting to survive. Individual humans and individual elephants both share a will to live and a fear of death.
For the last 61 years, the principal approach has been containment of elephants to protected areas and driving those outside into the same, as recommended by the Committee on Preservation of Wildlife appointed by the then government. Initially, it was just elephant drives but it was found that the creatures backtracked to their original locations, some of them walking over 100 kms to what they consider to be their ‘home range’. So, in the early 1990s, the authorities came up with the idea of electric fences. It is reported that there are around 4,500 kms of fencing at present. Studies have shown that herds thus driven do not explore the protected terrain, but remain in comparatively small areas in the direction of their home range. They typically overuse their habitat and eventually face starvation.
Another problem with this strategy is that the fences have been erected on the border of territories that come under the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and the Forest Department, following the basic strategy of holding elephants in protected areas. So in effect there are elephants on either side of these fences. Human encroachment on Forest Department lands obviously invites conflict. The obvious solution is to move the fences to the boundary that separates forest from human settlements.
That however is only in places proximate to protected areas. As the above data indicates, elephants roam far afield from what we are taught to believe are their ‘habitat’ or the areas that humans have marked as ‘elephant land’ so to speak.
The solution has to take into account the fact that the elephant is in the room. Right in the middle of it. Right in your face or rather the face of the Dry Zone citizen. In other words, the conflict occurs almost entirely outside protected areas. For example, the study conducted by Fernando and his team concludes that the conflict remains a serious issue even in areas such as Polonnaruwa, Puttalam and Hamabantota where electric fencing of protected area boundaries have been completed. The study details the biological and ecological reasons including elephant behavior and carrying capacity which contributed to the failure of this strategy.
The study also points out that increasing the carrying capacity of protected areas is not economically feasible. Apparently it costs around Rs 2.4 million per year to increase the carrying capacity of a protected area by a single elephant. Thus, it would cost close to a billion rupees per year if we extrapolated to the approximately 4,000 elephants living in ‘peopled’ areas.
One of the human-centric ‘solutions’ proposed and implemented, if informally, has been to shoot the elephants. It’s a simple argument: either you die or I die and I do not wish to die.’ It’s not exactly ‘shoot on sight’ but people do empathize with would-be victims shooting what are called ‘rogue elephants.’ Yes, there are rogue elephants who attack and kill for reasons that are not apparent to humans. And sometimes when it is not possible to distinguish the rogue from the innocent you shoot anyway, ‘erring on the side of caution.’
Well, there are rogue humans too and don’t we know about these! Just as the average human cannot distinguish rogue, we can speculate, the elephant too has an identification problem and could also ‘err on the side of caution.’
There is another human-centric position that seeks a solution this side of ‘getting rid of the beast,’ you know, the kind of thing that many animal lovers abhor perhaps because their lives are not at stake and who, in their innocence, arrogance or outright ignorance, berate governments and relevant departments for not doing enough to save our ‘gentle’ giants. This position is one that takes into account ‘The elephant in the room,’ literally.
We need to take into account that elephants are not naturally aggressive towards humans and it is typically their experience with our species that make them belligerent. There are problem-elephants but it is a problem that humans create in the main. The fact that around 1,000 elephants have been killed between 2017 and 2019 indicate that removing the so-called ‘problem elephants’ is not a sustainable solution.
What has worked is a strategy that goes for coexistence. Living with the elephant, so to speak. No, it’s not about elephants and humans being all lovey-dovey all of a sudden. We live with snakes, we live with dogs who get infected with rabies. We take precautions. We protect households and communities. What has worked is community-fencing. They are eminently pragmatic given that large-scale drives have not and cannot work.
Of course such a strategy would have to be accompanied by awareness-creation campaigns, protection of ‘protected areas’ — poaching, livestock grazing and invasive plants remain serious issues that need to be addressed. Most of all, there’s a need to get the facts right and peruse them with sobriety.
The bottom line, of course, is that a sixty-year strategy has not worked. Bad medicine will not work just by increasing the dose. Mis-identification of the ailment will obviously lead to erroneous prescription. There is an elephant in the room; not in the rooms inhabited by humans who don’t have to worry about face-to-face encounters with pachyderms but out there in almost the entire Dry Zone. That elephant is not going to move.
The
appointment of Mr Milinda Moragoda as High Commissioner for India met with
strong reactions from certain sections of buddhist monks and majority
Sinhalese. Naturally, a person who has been looking for fortunes and
power by switching his loyalty from UNP to SLFP and then to Pohottuwa
ought to face the reality.
His
current role is a Super role, not only just a High Commissioner,
but he carried with him the status of a Cabinet Minister. At a time when
several sensitive issues are under review between India and Sri Lanka and the
inability to the President or the Prime Minister to travel to and from India
due to Covid, the step taken by the government appear to be logical.
Mr
Moragoda has been on the job for quite sometime, though we have not heard of
any progress made by him towards addressing matters underlying the 13
Amendment.
Even
prior to the 19 Amendment, 13A was a hotly debated issue. Ideally,
13A should have been scrapped with the 19A.
19A
concentrated local issues such as presidential powers, powers of prime
minister, speaker, commissions etc. 20 Amendment did nothing to
address dangers to the country from neighbouring India and its ongoing attempts
to screw Sri Lanka, despite massive anger against the 13 Amendment by Sri
Lankans, including protests of respected Buddhist Monks.
By
and large, the introduction of the New Constitution is a LONG SHOT.
The government will be compelled to deviate from the main economic agenda
for at least another 2 years, facing strong protests from the opposition, Tamil
and Muslim community, United Nations, Human Rights Commission against the new
draft constitution. This is destined to happen regardless of the good
intentions of the government to enact a constitution for the future of
Sri Lanka, safeguarding its national interests.
The
Government must give first priority to bread and butter issues.
The cost of living is unbearable. The prices of most frequently needed
items, such as Rice,Milk, Coconut, Meat, Vegetables, transport, rent, utilities
are extremely high. The government has so far laid down realistic plans
to improve agriculture, buy back farmers products, installed several
refrigerated Silos, established marketing network to eliminate brokers
etc. These benefits will filter into the economy and directly
benefit the consumers, thus gradually bringing down the cost of living and
improving standard of living. The Government has applied breaks on the
importation of vehicles and non-essential items. These targeted measures
are already showing signs of slight improvement of forex reserves and
eventually will be able to meet debt-servicing requirements, without default,
thus gradual improvement of international credit rating for Sri Lanka over the
next 3 years.
The
government cannot afford to tarnish all these hard work, because of ASHEET
OF PAPER CALLED ‘NEW CONSTITUION’.
Therefore,
we strongly recommend to scrap 13A, with minimum disruption to the
implementation of economic plans. Once 13A is
removed, the enormous costs of maintaining the Provincial Council White
Elephant will be saved from 2021 budgeted expenditure and forward
estimates.
The
scrapping of 13A will receive overall approval of majority Sri Lankans
instantly.
Human
rights abuses in the Indian Occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir have made
the lives of the local people simply a hell. From mass killings to enforced
disappearances and from torture and sexual abuse to political repression and from
ban on freedom of speech to rape; the tale of miseries never comes to an end
there. The helpless people of Indian Occupied Kashmir have to face the
cruelties not only of the Indian Army troops deputed there but also of the Central
Reserve Police Force, Border Security Personnel and various personnel of the
Indian intelligence agencies. Hundreds of Kashmiri leaders have been sent
behind the bars just for raising their voices against the Indian atrocities in
the valley. Throughout the world various human rights organizations have been
protesting against this cruelty but yet there is no one to listen to their
protesting voices. A very notable intensity has been observed in the Indian
atrocities after Modi’s decision of scrapping of the semi-autonomous status of
the Jammu and Kashmir region in August 2020.
Pakistan,
being the only one to listen to the helpless Kashmiris, has always tried to
raise its voice in favour of the Kashmiris. A few days back Pakistan’s Foreign
Ministry issued a statement which said that Pakistan is very much worried about
continued incarceration and deteriorating health conditions of pro-freedom
Kashmiri leaders who have been stuffed into prisons for raising their voices in
favour of the Kashmiris. These Kashmiri leaders have been illegally arrested
over malicious, false, and fabricated charges by the Indian government through
invoking draconian laws promulgated in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu &
Kashmir (IIOJK),” said the statement. These leaders include Asiya Andrabi, the
founding leader of Kashmiri organization Dukhtaran-i-Millat or Daughters of
Nation; Shabbir Ahmed Shah, the leader and founder of the Jammu and Kashmir
Democratic Freedom Party, and prominent leaders such as Yasin Malik, Masarat
Alam Bhat, Mohammad Ashraf Sehraie and others. Most of them are in New Delhi’s Tihar
jail where the pandemic of Covid-19 is at its worst. Many of the other leaders like
Ali Shah Gilani and Mir Waiz Umar Farooq have been under house arrest for a
long time.
Expressing
its deep concern over the maltreatment with the Kashmiri leaders, Pakistan’s
Foreign Office said, Imprisonment and torturing of Kashmiri leaders on the
basis of their political ideology and struggle against illegal Indian
occupation is a true reflection of the extremist mindset of the RSS-BJP regime
which has no respect for the human rights of the Kashmiri people.” Islamabad
urged the international community, particularly the UN, and human rights and
humanitarian organizations to take notice of the Indian government’s inhuman
treatment of the Kashmiri leaders and raise its voice for their immediate
release from illegal Indian detention.” Security forces in Indian-administered
Kashmir have been accused of carrying out beatings and torture in the wake of
the government’s decision to strip the region of its autonomy.
A
few months back, the BBC sent a correspondent to the valley to see the
on-ground realities. The correspondent reported that several villagers had told
him they were beaten with sticks and cables, and given electric shocks. Many of
the villagers showed him the injuries inflicted upon them. ‘Tens of thousands
of extra troops have been deployed to the region and about 3,000 people,
including political leaders, businesspeople and activists, are reported to have
been detained. Many have been moved to prisons outside the state,’ says the
report. According to a report prepared by Kashmir Media Service in the Indian
Occupied Kashmir, more than 275 people were killed in the year 2020 by the
Indian security forces. More than 60 women were brutally raped by the Indian
forces in the same year. The report said that since 1990, Indian army has
martyred over 100,000 Kashmiris, widowed 22,000 women, orphaned 108,000
children and raped more than 11,000 women.
According
to the latest reports lady Asia Andrabi, a very active leader of Kashmir was
arrested in 2018 along with her assistants Nahida Nasreen and Fehmida Sofi and
shifted to the Tihar Jail. The arrested women were accused of sedition and
anti-India activities and foreign funding by India’s National Investigation
Agency the NIA. After completion of the so-called investigations the NIA sent
the charge sheet to NIA’s Special Court. Recently on 21 December the NIA Court
started hearing of this case. Sources say that in the second week of January
2021, the NIA Court is going to give its verdict against these three women.
This verdict would simply add a new chapter to the book of State-Cruelties in
the Indian Occupied Kashmir.
Last
October Mr. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan also complained
about India’s hostility on Kashmir issue and said that this brutal behavior
poses a serious threat to peace and security in the region. Addressing the
virtual meeting of Conservative Friends of Pakistan, the said he has written a
number of letters to the UN Secretary-General and the President of the Security
Council on the Indian posture but has yet not received any response. He further
said that India should be pressurized to stop human rights violations in the
occupied territory and move towards resolution of the Kashmir dispute as per
the UN Security Council resolutions. In spite of all these efforts by Pakistan,
the Kashmiris in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are continuously living in a hell
of hatred and indignation. No one knows when this turmoil is going to end.
Professionals from diverse streams of specialisations in the country, seek an opportunity for traditional physicians to treat Covid-19 patients so that it could be ascertained if we need to spend billions of dollars to import a vaccine.
These professionals argue that Sri Lankans should not underestimate the vast knowledge and skills of its thousands of indigenous medicine physicians who have already cured the people with Covid-19 symptoms, who had sought their treatments. They said that some traditional physicians have also cured Sri Lankan Covid-19 patients living abroad by sending their medicines through their relatives and friends.
These professionals maintain that Sri Lanka should investigate for the sake of the country the statements by traditional medicine physicians in almost every district, who have accounts of Covid-19 positive patients and those exposed to the virus recovering after consuming their medicines.
Immunity booster
There are also reports of every quarantine centre and hospital in Sri Lanka as well as almost everyone in the forefront of the Covid-19 battle are using only traditional medicine to boost immunity in the backdrop of there being no Western medicine for this ailment.
These professionals argue that this is the same as in the case of ailments, such as Dengue from which hundreds of Lankans die every year, but against which Allopathy/ Western medicine is helpless as it has no cure.
They said that they have lists of names of traditional physicians from around the country who have with them evidence in writing with all details for follow up as well as video recorded evidence of the Lankans who had contracted Covid-19 disease recovering within three days. These professionals who stand for traditional medicine, said that the approach of the Traditional and Ayurvedic physicians are totally different from the approach of the Allopathic (western) doctors.
The former treat the patient to restore the balance of tridoses (three factors) and the patient as a whole, whereas the latter treat the specific disease and the specific virus, or bacteria).
These professionals argue that Allopathy, Ayurveda and our traditional medicine are three different Knowledge systems and they cannot be compared by the same criteria.
We ask the Government with much respect, to make arrangements to allow our traditional physicians to test their medicines which are all from herbs and non-toxic, on treating Covid-19 patients,” said Harsha Kumar Suriyaarachchi, an engineer who along with several other academics and intellectuals has formed the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya which lobbies to overcome the obstacles that prevent Ayurvedic and Traditional physicians from treating Covid-19 patients. Our intention is to assist the President to implement the plans related to our traditional medicine stated in his visionary Saubaghya Dekma, he said.
People’s wellbeing
We urgently call to set up a Deshiya Waidya Sabhawa which is an integral part of the Saubhagya Dekma, to ensure that traditional medicine is upheld, our physicians supported, their rights and skills recognised and used for the wellbeing of the people of the nation.
We understand that there are many traditional physicians who have submitted their medicines for Covid-19 to the Sutra kamituwa (committee appointed by the Department of Ayurveda to investigate traditional medical products), the related channel for such testing,” Eng. Suriyaarachchi said.
He urges for the protection of the intellectual property rights of Sri Lankan traditional medicine and practitioners so that the country will not risk its traditional medicine knowledge being stolen and patents achieved by other countries on local herbs and their usage especially for Covid-19, as has happened in the past on other instances.
We are facing a health challenge which has crushed the Western world which does not have the kind of expertise that we have; the expertise that is bound with nature; our age old Deshiya Chikitsa or Sinhala Wedakama (traditional treatment) where a humble physician would hold thousands of years of knowledge which he would use not to mint money, but to heal and accrue good merit, as per Buddhist tradition,” said Nemsiri Jayatilleke, an academic at a university in the stream of Mathematics and Philosophy of Science, a core founder of the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya.
Our traditional medical system and its ideology is still vibrant. The European imperial powers who ruled our country for almost four-hundred years could not destroy our culture even though they destroyed many other cultures of much bigger countries.”
Verification
We have no more time to lose. We need to show publicly in the quarantine centres and in the hospitals whether these diverse traditional medicines of our many physicians who have developed Covid-19 cures can cure these patients. The situation where the Traditional Physicians are prevented from treating Covid-19 patients by the Western medical authorities shows the western knowledge hegemony,” Jayatilleke said.
These professionals who have discussions with indigenous physicians in many parts of the country, the latest being Panadura, argue that people should remember their medical legacy that stands in the form of the first hospital in the world in Mihintale and the fact that every village still has the tradition of having an indigenous physician committed to prevent, pre-empt and cure illnesses of people as in yesteryear.
Dr. Abey Rathnayake, Senior Lecturer in Medical Anthropology, Former Head, Department of Sociology, University of Peradeniya whose Ph.D. Thesis is on the Developments of Traditional Medicine in Sri Lanka and organised the Kandy meeting of the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya two weeks ago, showed the differences of medical systems and their philosophies and relevance.
Some of the attendees included Ven. Kumbukkadawala Punnarathna Thera, retired Principal and a Karaka Sangha Sabhika, Asgiriya Chapter, Ven. Hanguranketha Naradha Thera, Vice-Principal, Variyapola Sri Sumangala College, Kandy, Ven. Mahawela Rathnapala Thera, Karaka Sangha Sabhika of the Malwathu Chapter and Visiting Lecturer, University of Peradeniya, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Peradeniya, Emeritus Professor, C.M. Madduma Bandara.
Emeritus Professor, H.M.D. R. Herath, Department of Sociology, University of Peradeniya and the Deputy Chairperson, Kanda Udarata Urumaya Department who has written his Ph.D thesis on the Taxonomy of Sinhalese Herbal Plants. Prof. Herath delivered a talk on the classification of medicinal plants in Sinhala traditional medicine.
here are many physicians throughout Sri Lanka, such as indigenous medical physician D. D. Hettiarachchi of Ganemulla whose Covid-19 curative and preventive medicines have been taken by hundreds of Sri Lankans in Dubai and Italy who had got them down through beneficiaries at the height of Covid-19 phase 1 and safeguarded from the disease.
Written proof
Traditional medical physician Amila Sanjeewa in Gampaha who runs a traditional medicine charity, said that he has treated around 18,000 persons against the Covid-19 infection, primarily preventive and has written proof to provide. These are a few examples and not an exhaustive list of all the physicians of Sri Lanka who say that they have investigated and made cures for Covid-19.
These physicians ask why officials take traditional cures and specific traditional medicine of physicians but do not work towards ensuring that the people educate themselves on the power of traditional medicine against Covid-19. The narration below of a traditional medicine physician who shared his views at a meeting in Panadura, may epitomise the problems and issues of the traditional medicine physicians of the country.
My name is Sampath Kalutharage. I am an Ayurveda Shasthri qualified traditional physician who has received training from the Malawena Weda Parampara based college in Beruwela. I have a background related to traditional medicine. My grandmother was a weda hamine. I have also apprenticed under a well-known physician of the area, Piyasena Edirimanne who passed away six years ago.”
He in turn is the student of the well-known Diyal Jayakoddy (Palpolla wedamahattaya). This physician’s uncle is the famous weda bhikkhu, who was the chief priest of the Benthara Wanawasala temple.
I live five kilometres from the Dombagoda army camp in Kalutara. Some 692 military personnel were put under quarantine in the camp and there was one Covid-19 positive patient. From the first day of quarantine, they took my medicine. In the first phase of Covid-19, I gave these medicines free so they could take it if they want to.
In the second phase, they asked for it. The Covid-19 positive military personnel recovered within three days.”
I have treated 10 other Covid-19 positive patients who on their personal initiative took the medicines while being treated at hospital. Over 50 Covid-19 exposed people have taken my medicines. Most of these people have been close associates of their infected relatives. No one had contracted the disease after taking the medicines I prepared.”
Specifications
However, now the authorities approve my medicine only as food supplement, and I have to produce it in a building 12 feet wide and 20 feet long. Now I am in debt trying to get this sorted. I have been informed by the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) as per its rules that there has to be a production plant for the medicines I make to give me permission to release it.”
Like all traditional physicians, I make my medicines in my home. Wedamahattayas did not have big buildings to make their medicines. If specific buildings are required to ensure the safety of patients thinking our medicines will be contaminated, I urge the authorities to consider an alternative route other than physicians spending large sums of money for building constructions or for renting or leasing. Maybe temples could be facilitated for us to prepare our medicines or any other alternative.”
There are many other traditional physicians who have submitted their medicines to the health authorities for approval and are awaiting results.”
He highlighted along with other traditional physicians, the need to protect their knowledge from unscrupulous elements and calls for steps that will prevent traditional physicians from being forced to revealing the wattoruwa.
In the discussions organised by the Sinhala Weda Uruma Baraya, a key point that surfaced was the need to protect traditional physicians against the forced revelation of their herbs and preparation methods. They appeal to the authorities to look into this with a strong sense of patriotism while ensuring that no harmful substances are used by fraudulent entities passing off as traditional physicians.
Colombo, Jan 3 (Prensa Latina) The foreign minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Dinesh Gunawardena, congratulated the Cuban Government and people on the 62nd anniversary of the Revolution, a diplomatic source said on Sunday. Cuban Ambassador Juana Elena Ramos met with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who noted the victories and achievements of the Cuban people, as well as the historic relations between the two countries, characterized by friendship, mutual trust and good will.
Gunawardena noted that Sri Lanka will continue to support Cuba in its struggle against the economic blockade imposed by the United States for six decades.
Present at the meeting were other members of the Cabinet and Parliament of Sri Lanka, leaders of political parties and members of the Cuba Friendship Association.
Sri Lanka’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic went up with two more deaths caused by the virus being reported, the Department of Government Information stated.
The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed that two females aged 57 and 76 years have succumbed to the virus in this manner.
The 57-year-old woman had succumbed to a severe chest infection and COVID-19 pneumonia. The Welipenna resident had been transferred from the Kalutara General Hospital to the Homagama Base Hospital where she passed away today (January 03).
The 76-year-old woman too had died at the Homagama Base Hospital. She had been transferred to the Homagama hospital upon being identified as a COVID-19 patient at the Colombo National Hospital. She had died today from COVID-19 pneumonia, heart conditions, and epilepsy. She had been a resident of Colombo 15.
Accordingly, the total count of fatalities in Sri Lanka from the COVID-19 pandemic is at 213 cases.
They say the use of polythene sheets/body bags for burial of bodies of COVID-19 victims and sodium hypochlorite to spray them, could impact the environment; point the need for analysis of the same
WHO guidelines emphasise usage of cloth for burial
without using any chemical sprayed as disinfectant
Research scientist and health experts including
environmentalists are concerned about the usage of sodium hypochlorite on
polythene sheets/body bags and dead bodies of covid 19 victims, before wrapping
them for burial, as these plastic bags and chemical may have adverse impact on
both the soil and microorganisms beneath, which cannot be ruled out, until a
regular soil sampling for research and analysis is done, to prevent any adverse
long-run impact on the environment and the ecosystem.
It is a known fact that polythene would
take decades and centuries for degrading, and any chemical like sodium
hypochlorite sprayed may increase the soil pH level, which needs to be studied
regularly to understand if it has any short term or long-term impact in future
on microorganism and even plants. Instead, experts are of the view that we must
follow WHO guidelines, as they emphasize the usage of cloth for burial without
using any chemical spayed for disinfectants.
A senior scientist working in this area,
requesting anonymity said, “It is a known fact that polythene and
polythene sheets will remain in the soil for decades together before it gets
degraded and it will surely have an adverse impact. However, the immediate
concern would be using sodium hypochlorite on dead bodies and polythene
sheet/body bags, which might increase the pH level of the soil, and will have a
direct impact on earthworms and even the plants within the initial few years.
And such an impact may or may not be favorable for the ecosystems of the
surrounding areas, which can be monitored only through appropriate periodical
analysis by soil scientists.”
The scientist added, “We are
dealing with such a pandemic for the first time, and if such analysis, are not
done from now, we may miss on crucial data, for analysis, in future. Hence it
is important for maintaining regular records, of all such burial areas, where
COVID 19 bodies have been laid to rest, and if analysis findings are showing
adverse impact, then, either way, the polythene sheets can be removed, and scientifically
disposed off, instead of keeping them inside, for decades together, causing
further ecological damage.”
“The pandemic has also shown, how
polymer can be used for making a face mask, face shield, and even the PPE kits
for better health care system, thereby preventing the spread of the COVID 19
virus. And the very polymer was earlier looked as an environmental health
hazard,” the scientist concluded.
Dr. Ashok Patra, Director – ICAR –
Indian Institute of Soil Science (IISS), Bhopal, whose department carry out
soil analysis, for the agricultural sector in the country said, “The
concern raised about the ecological impact of using a chemical like sodium
hypochlorite on plastic sheets and dead bodies, need to be looked into, but the
fact remains polythene sheets/body bags may take years and years for degrading
inside the soil.”
When informed about the pH level of
soil, likely to get impacted due to Sodium hypochlorite chemical, Dr. Patra,
said, “Though we also conducted Environmental studies related to agriculture,
this is a new area of concern, which may be looked into.”
Dr. Jiyalal Jaiswar, former Scientist,
CSIR- National Institute of oceanography said, “Though the plastic used
for wrapping the dead bodies due to Corona Virus, is nondegradable and may take
1000 years to degrade, still we must know scientifically what would be the
future impact on soil, groundwater adjacent marine water. It is therefore
important scientific analysis and research of the grave and nearby soils should
be done immediately, and documented to know the future impact, and can use for
future reference, as and when it happens decades or century later, as this
practice will have long term repercussion on the soil and the
environment.”
Dr T Jacob John, 84, known globally for
his extensive work in the fields of virology and paediatrics, who headed the
ICMR Centre of Advanced Research in Virology and the National HIV/AIDS
Reference Centre, at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, where he set up
the country’s first diagnostic virology laboratory, tells why he feels so,
“I am not an expert on the
environmental issues raised in your question. But let me ask why even one
plastic sheet or bag is necessary to wrap a dead body of a person who died of
Covid? Neither WHO nor other concerned agencies have recommended body to be
bagged,” said Dr John.
“Excessive fear among people,
driving them to behave in great anxiety of virus transmission by physical
closeness to a dead body even when properly dressed in culturally accepted
norms, is the result of lack of public education by the Government. We humans have
certain values that dictate that dead bodies be treated with dignity, bereaved
family members be given opportunity to see the face of the deceased, and be
present for last rites and cremation/burial. Let not a virus rob us humans of
our humanity. Crowding must be avoided as part of prevention of transmission
between the living, and is not a part of dignified last rites,” Dr John
added,
As for adding non-biodegradable plastic
and unnecessary chemicals in the earth — commonsense dictates that it is overkill
by the under-informed and must be avoided, concluded Dr John.
Interestingly, Dr Wiqar Shaikh, Senior
allergy and Asthma specilalist, “A scientific research needs to be done,
to analyise the extend of soil contamination, if any happen to the grave where
bodies sprayed with sodium hypochlorite, with multi-layer plastic sheets
sprayed with disinfectants, and its impact on the microorganisms s and insects
which is otherwise known for playing a pivotal role in degrading the
corpse.”
Stages
That Body Go Through Once Buried
“Also we have to wait to watch, the
level of soil contamination, if any, especially during the monsoon time, when
the groundwater level is always high and usually body takes a longer time for
decomposition. Also, we have to monitor, the impact of the flowing groundwater,
from these graves to the other water bodies, and under groundwater pipes, as if
unmonitored, this can lead to not only water contamination but also have
adverse impacts on the natural water reservoirs,” Dr. Shaikh concluded.
Dr Ketan Vagholkar, Professor of
Surgery, DY Patil Medical College, said, “Decomposing, a human corpse,
produces, 0.4 to 0.6 litres of Leachate, per kilogram body weight, this
contains, all sorts of bacteria, and viruses. The survival strength of COVID 19,
is different under a variety of physical and chemical environment, if the
corpse is not buried with care, it can happen that, pathogens, in addition to
COVID, which are present in the dead body, could contaminate aquifers by
negatively impacting, the quality of groundwater. In addition to this, toxic
chemicals like sodium hypochlorite and the polyethylene sheets, which are used
to decontaminate, the dead body before burial, could also release into the
groundwater, adding to the contamination. Even medical waste, from the
treatment of COVID 19 patients are usually shrouded in secrecy, this can also
pose, challenges through the purity of groundwater, depending on the level of
aquifer depth. These three factors, need to taken into consideration and
studied in a scientific perspective of environmental protection, before
deciding areas for mass burial.
Dr Vagholkar added, “In the current
unprecedented time, the quantum of these toxic waste can easily overwhelm
normal mechanisms of environmental protection, this can eventually lead to
another very dangerous, environmental catastrophe. Therefore enough timely
research and scientific studies need to be done, in the field of hydrogeology,
to understand the effect of such burials, soil contamination, if any, and impact
of the same on microorganisms and the environment as a whole.”
“There are so many unknowns about
the effects of universal use of sodium hypochlorite used as Viricidal chemical
and plastic bags on our ecosystems. The soil scientists should participate in control
programs of this pandemic so that soil research Is undertaken by them
simultaneously. With over 81,000 reported COVID-19 deaths in India, and Mumbai
city alone has lost over 11,000 of these numbers, the debate is raging about
the dignity of final rites of dead ones,” said, Dr Subhash Hira, Professor
of Global Health at the University of Washington-Seattle, USA and health
advisor to several UN, Indian and African health agencies.
Recent lessons learned from 11,300-odd
Ebola deaths that occurred in six African countries between March 2014 and
October 2016 should guide the world rather than reinventing the wheel. During
that focused epidemic of Ebola in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Lione, Nigeria, and
DR Congo, last rites of dead bodies were ordered to be done by cremation due to
several reasons, namely, opposition by local communities against opening up of
new burial grounds near their villages because of fear that it will cause Ebola
soil contamination of their farmlands and ground-water filling up the water
supply in community wells, lack of trained persons who could handle the
infectious burial process using set protocols and yet maintaining the dignity
of the departed soul, and the time is taken for burial process was too long
that lead to large queues lasting several days of delay in burying their loved
ones, etc, said Dr Hira.
“Subsequently in 2019 when Ebola
deaths reduced to occasional sporadic deaths, countries decided to return to
burial policy after having trained burial staff in infection control techniques
and revisiting coffin designs,” Dr. Hira concluded.
Nicholas Almeida, trustee of Watch Dog
Foundation said, “In Sahar Village, itself over a hundred plus people have
died due to COVID, and final rites were done according to their religious
belief. As per norms, the bodies were wrapped in polythene sheets and sprayed
with sodium hypochlorite and final rites, done, without getting the bodies to
village.”
Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, trustee of
watchdog foundation, said, “We must understand that we will have to
survive with Covid 19, hereafter, moreover death will remain inevitable, but
the practice of using polythene and chemical for disinfecting the body, should
be done away with, to prevent any adverse impact of these hazardous chemcials
on the soil and microorganisms, moreover there is a need to be soil study from
these burial areas, to check if there is any adverse reaction, of the polythene
and corrective measures should be taken, before it is too late. And authorities
should now come up with biodegradable materials and should also be sensitive
towards protecting environment, amdist covid pandemic.”
Sages
Of Decomposition
Dr Wiqar Shaikh, senior allergy and asthma
specialist
Dr Wiqar Shaikh, when a human being die,
the body undergoes, four stages of decomposition, after it is buried – stage 1
is autolysis, which begin immediately after death, the body contain carbon di
oxide (Co2) in its various tissues this Co2 ruptures the body cells, thus
releasing enzymes, which destroy the cells within 24 to 72 hours after death (1
to 3 days).
The second stage is the stage of
bloating, in which the enzymes leaked by the cells, in stage 1, produce gases,
this enables bacteria to enter the dead body and due to the bacterial
contamination and gases, the body doubles in size, which takes (3 to 5 days)
after death. In the stage of bloating insect activity begin and the skin starts
peeling off.
The third stage is the stage of active
decay, in which fluid released by the body, begins active decay, soft tissues
decompose, hair, bones, cartilage also begin to decompose, and the cadaver
loses most of its mass. It takes anything from eight to ten days after death.
Stage 4 is skeletonization, in this
stage soft tissues, and organs are all lost and only the skeleton remain, this
stage happens a month after death and end almost one and half year.
From stage 2 onwards the following
insects present in the soil are known to consume the mortal remain – maggots,
which are of two varieties – blowflies, and flesh flies, and their larvae. Both
these maggots, lay eggs in the body orifices and in open wounds, each maggot
deposit 250 eggs, which hatch, within24 hours and this gives rise to further
maggots, they feed on rotting flesh and these maggots transform to adult flies.
Maggots can consume up to sixty percent of a human body, within seven days.
The second insect that is known to
consume the human body, are beetles, which are of two varieties in the grave
American Carrion beetles and brown bettle.
The third variety of insects, which can
consume human remains are mites, moths, wasps, and crickets, of these the most
aggressive insects in consuming human remains in the grave maggots and it has
been scientifically proved, that maggots can eat plastic. A hundred maggots can
eat up to 92 milligrams of plastic in one night, besides, bacteria present in
the grave can also degrade plastic. Those COVID dead bodies, which are wrapped
in black coloured plastic sheets, or in body bags, can be degraded by these
maggots and bacteria.
Interestingly, Dr Shaikh pointed out
that the above scenario, is standard practice, however, scientific research
needs to be done, to analyse the extend of soil contamination, if any happen to
the grave where bodies sprayed with sodium hypochlorite, with multi-layer
plastic sheets sprayed with disinfectants, and its impact on the microorganisms
s and insects which is otherwise known for playing a pivotal role in degrading
the corpse.
“Also we have to wait to watch, the
level of soil contamination, if any, especially during the monsoon time when
the groundwater level is always high and usually body takes a longer time for
decomposition. Also, we have to monitor, the impact of the flowing groundwater,
from these graves to the other water bodies, and under groundwater pipes, as if
unmonitored, this can lead to not only water contamination but also have
adverse impacts on the natural water reservoirs,” Dr. Shaikh concluded.
Expert
Ask Why Body Should Be Wrapped In Polythene
Dr T Jacob John, noted virologist
Dr T Jacob John, 84, known globally for
his extensive work in the fields of virology and paediatrics, who headed the
ICMR Centre of Advanced Research in Virology and the National HIV/AIDS
Reference Centre, at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, where he set up
the country’s first diagnostic virology laboratory, tells why he feels so,
“I am not an expert on the
environmental issues raised in your question. But let me ask why even one
plastic sheet or bag is necessary to wrap a dead body of a person who died of
COVID?
Neither WHO nor other concerned agencies
have recommended the body to be bagged.
What
Is Wrong With Regular Cloth Cover?
The SARS-CoV-2 infection is transmitted
either by inhalation of droplets shed while breathing, talking, cough, or
sneeze or by “fomites”. As the dead body does not shed any droplets
at all, droplet transmission by inhalation cannot occur.
Fomite transmission is a virus picked by
touch from contaminated surfaces and by self-inoculation in the eye or nose. As
the face of the dead person is very likely to have a residual virus from when
the person was alive, kissing is too risky and must be avoided. Preparing of
the dead body should use minimum handling, but there may be unavoidable
procedures as cultural or religious norms.
When washing, attendants must wear
protective equipment, including apron, mask, and gloves, and avoid splashing of
water. Disinfectants on the body are not necessary. The body can be placed in a
coffin, face exposed. Anyone touching the body or covering cloth, or combing or
tidying hair, must observe strict hand-hygiene. Burial is safe as also
cremation. The virus in the body also dies as body cells die. Organ transplants
have taught us that body organs/tissues/cells do continue to be ‘somatically
viable’ for some hours. After that, no live cells, no live viruses.
The precautions appropriate for
hemorrhagic fevers like Crimean-Congo fever or Ebola are not necessary for
COVID, as it is essentially respiratory transmitted.
Excessive fear among people, driving them
to behave in great anxiety of virus transmission by physical closeness to a
dead body even when properly dressed in culturally accepted norms, is the
result of lack of public education by the Government. We, humans, have certain
values that dictate that dead bodies be treated with dignity, bereaved family
members are given the opportunity to see the face of the deceased, and be
present for last rites and cremation/burial. Let not a virus rob us humans of
our humanity. Crowding must be avoided as part of the prevention of
transmission between the living and is not a part of dignified last rites.
As for adding non-biodegradable plastic
and unnecessary chemicals in the earth — commonsense dictates that it is
overkill by the under-informed and must be avoided, concluded Dr. John.
I refer to the article written by Mr. C Wijeyawickrema
(CW) in Lankaweb, in response to my article that appeared in the Island
newspaper on the last Xmas Day.
CW says that he had two purposes in responding; one, to reply to
the contents of my article; and second, to give an alternative proposal for
consideration of the Romesh de Silva Committee. The second objective is
personal to the writer and the Committee and I have no comments on it.
Since I have had no deals with Chandrika- GL- Neelan and
Jayampathy Combo (though I knew them and know the living three closely), I need
not comment on the paragraph titled ‘Austin and Orumittanadu.’ The only point
is I gathered information on 1997 from the Constitution Reforms published by
the Chandrika Government, and a Draft Bill submitted to the Parliament in 2000.
Both were not titled Orumittanadu draft constitution” as CW identifies. I
accept official tags and not gossip tags! The difference in reference prevents
me from responding content-wise. But I reiterate that vistas of devolution have
been expanded by these proposed reforms.
However, I presume that the incumbent PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and
several incumbent senior Ministers like GL Pieris, Nimal Siripala de Silva,
Chamal Rajapaksa, Susil Prem Jayanth were approving these Reforms then.
Therefore, by his writing, CW makes them sinners of the so-called Orumittanadu
draft Constitution.” I disagree because they love Sri Lanka as much as I
do.
The section titled ‘Secret map of the Package Deal’ is a
critique of Chandrika Kumaratunga regime and not me, and hence I need not
respond. In the quoted article what I tried was to remind some developments on
devolution that must be reviewed, if revising. I have read these two documents
and do not find any changes to create a ‘Malayanadu’ or buried ‘P-Tom’ or
‘ISGA.’ Hence, I observe an unexplainable compounded confusion in CW. CW
forgets that P-Tom and ISGA were later proposals (2003) and should not be mixed
with 1997/ 2000 proposed Reforms, to which I refer.
Earlier I have published another article (https://island.lk/crisscrossing-13a-abolition/)
where I have mentioned commitments made by PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ministers GL
Pieris, Basil Rajapaksa, PM Manmohan Singh, PM Modi, Minister SM Krishna, and
pointed out the issues endorsed by such commitments. It was to show the
complexity of the issue in question. I reiterate I have no interest in PCs or
their elections.
The section ‘You cannot legislate against geography’ has no
relevance to my article and I refrain from commenting. I have only to say that
digesting what CW has presented is certainly swimming against the current,
fearing drowning. The only commonality we can quote is that both of us have our
roots in Panadura! As he has said In Buddhism, no two persons are the same”
and it is no wonder our thinking befits his philosophical judgment,
irrespective of roots.
The section ‘Non-majoritarian devolution trap’ does not point
out any reference to me and hence I ignore commenting. Even his reference to my
respected teacher Prof Gerald Pieris’s article relating to federalism does not
make any similarity to my thinking, as I have not proposed federalism. Since he
has mentioned Prof Pieris, I may mention that he has informed me he disagreed
with my thinking, and I informed him that it was great to agree to disagree. I
mention this to motivate CW to become great by emulating Prof. Pieris.
The section Meaningful devolution-empowerment of people”
has no relevance to my article contents and hence is ignored. The section
Decentralization or empowerment of people” also has no relevance to the
contents of my article.
There were several options tried like Gam Sabhawas, Town
Councils, Urban Councils, District Development Councils, and Provincial
Councils. All these have their good and bad, and ugly too, which I know by
being involved in the administration of all these and seen how Panchayats
function too. Maybe, CW has the same experience. No constitutional change since
inception to 2020’s 20th Amendment, excepting 17th and 19th
had the empowerment of people as the objective. Others have empowered
politicians of all hues. Many predict that this will be the result of the
current exercise too.
The only worthy information shared by CW is regarding the
potential threat to security where he says, if Muslim corona body-burning
issue becomes another July 1983, American warships are ready to land marines”.
Now I understand why he has copied his article to Secretary Defence. This is a
matter worthy of being discussed at the National Security Council to which CW
should be invited to prove his case since it jeopardizes national security-
i.e., the threat of the US invading Sri Lanka! Over to you respected Secretary
Defence.
In a lighter vein, I have a quip with regards to CW’s gold mine
gifted by Rajiv Gandhi”. Some Jaffna’s sophisticated think that PCs are the
elusive golden deer that tricked Rama in the Ramayana!” Let CW learn from
Ramayana and even to agree to disagree!
The section titled Montesquieu standing on his head” and Part B
of his article does not deal with my article and as I understand contains his
propositions. Anyway, I have the right to agree or disagree but he has the
right to present, though the learned writer probably presumes that we should
not even present some argument, against his whim and fancy.
He is saying that his article is in reply to mine, but one is at
a loss to find such replying! I have seen a Sinhala article that had been
purportedly written by CW quoting some events regarding me while giving his
interpretation, without having knowledge, understanding, and capacity to digest
the background under which we had to respond as public officers. Sugar-coated
little knowledge is poison to wisdom!
I
do not wish to waste my time responding to him any further. Best wishes to CW
for the New Year 2021 whose ‘talent’ may be harnessed by the Romesh de Silva
Committee, if worthy.
United States
rose to prominence after World War II. USA and Russia thereafter fought a Cold
War which neither won. When the Cold War with Russia ended abruptly in 1991 USA
became the world’s sole super-power. Throughout the 1990s, the USA reigned
supreme. USA had the best army, air force and navy. No other country could
rival it.
USA became a global policeman. ‘American leadership is good for the world’
recorded TIME.
USA divided
up the globe into different military ‘combatant commands’, such as the Pacific
command with each Command taking orders from a single officer. The Pacific Command
had
USA navy’s
powerful 7th Fleet. This fleet dominated the Pacific Ocean.
US is bound by treaties to defend quarter of
humanity, said analysts. 69 countries
have some form of defense pact with USA and they make up around 75% of the
world economy. US has defense pacts with NATO, with OAS, which is the Organisation of American States, meaning Central
and South America and with ANZUS, Australian New Zealand US Security Treaty. UK, European Union and South Korea depend wholly on USA for their military
defence. They could not face a world war without the US, said analysts.
In the past
25 years America’s leader have acted as though America were becoming stronger
in the world. That is not so. The rest of the planet is catching up, said TIME
in 2015. USA thought it would continue to rule the world forever, but by the late
21 century, Russia and China started to come into the picture. Now China is
taking over and Russia is hovering alongside, making the world
multipolar. US is losing its position. America’s military
advantage vis-à-vis China and Russia is eroding admitted USA. USA’s
powers are now decreasing. It is
the super powers in decline that are often the most dangerous, warned analysts.”
USA was
presented as a shining example of democracy, the perfect state. This is
nonsense. No country is a perfect
democracy, ever, and USA was no exception. But recently, it has got even worse. USA has been declared a
flawed democracy. This has affected
USA’s public image. USA is no longer an admired and feared country. There was
Watergate. In the last few Presidential elections, the candidates spent much
time disparaging their rivals. The world saw this.
According to
the 2018 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, the
U.S. is ranked 25th out of 165 sovereign independent countries. The Democracy
Index” defines a flawed democracy as a democracy where despite free and
fair elections as well as civil rights and liberties there are significant
weaknesses” in other democratic characteristics such as problems in
institutional governance, a poor political culture, and lower levels of
political participation in public life. USA has experienced government
shutdowns, low
voter turnout and a lack of electoral
reform, it said.
In USA the President
is not elected by a direct vote of the people, he is elected by an Electoral College.
The intelligentsia knew this all along, but after the 2020 Presidential
election everybody got to know this. The Electoral College need not follow the
popular vote. However, in every state except Nebraska and Maine, the candidate
winning the majority of popular votes theoretically wins all that state’s
electors. In July 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could order
their Electoral Colleges to cast their votes according to the popular vote in
that state.
There have
been several instances in USA where the candidate who won the popular vote lost
the election. Five presidents in all have risen to the office this way, said
analysts. John Quincy Adams was the
first, in 1824, against Andrew Jackson. More recently, the 2000 election
resulted in an epic Florida entanglement between George W. Bush and Democrat Al
Gore. Gore had won nearly 500,000 more votes nationwide, but Florida Electoral
College voted for Bush. In 2016, Trump did not win the popular vote but won the
election.
American
politics has its ugly side. There is the John Kennedy assassination. The Warren
Commission report said that Oswald acted alone when he assassinated Kennedy
Nobody believes this. Warren Commission report is considered a cover up. Secret
Service had confiscated all evidence from nearby witnesses just before and
after the shooting. They also destroyed records. Oswald was killed in front of live television by
nightclub owner Ruby, preventing Oswald from saying anything. There are many
conspiracy theories about the John Kennedy assassination. CIA and the Mafia are
considered possible candidates. The assassination is clearly an internal issue.
The assassinations
of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy are well known. But there are two other deaths connected to the Kennedys, the
film star Marilyn Monroe and the journalist Dorothy Kilgallen which are not so
well known. Kilgallen was investigating the assassination of John F Kennedy and
had announced that she was nearing the end of her investigations. When her
hairdresser found her at her home, one morning in 1965, Kilgallen was propped
up in bed, makeup, hairpiece and fake eyelashes still on, in an outfit she
disliked, stone dead, reading a book upside down.
Marilyn
Monroe had been friendly with John and Robert Kennedy and had threatened them
with exposure. Analysts say that she was not as dumb as she looked. She was very intelligent, understood
politics and had picked up sensitive information. On August 5, 1962, Marilyn
Monroe was found dead in her home in Los Angeles, lying nude on her bed, face
down. These two dramatically presented deaths were clearly a warning to
others. ( The Kilgallen and Monroe information
was provided by YouTube, which
popped up clips saying ‘recommended for you’)
The criminal
life of USA is now underplayed in the
media. The Italian-American Mafia has long dominated organized crime in the
United States. This Mafia initially consisted of Italian immigrants from Sicily, who settled in
New York. From there the mafia spread to other cities, such as Chicago. And at
its peak, there were at least 26 cities
where the mafia was active. Each Mafia
organization is known as a
‘family’. Each crime family has its own territory and operates independently.
Among its activities,
the Mafia, notably controlled labor unions
and engaged in labor racketeering. There was a large concentration of
Mafia owned restaurants in New York
City. Not only were they the setting of many killings and important meetings,
but they were also an effective means of smuggling drugs.
In the 21st
century, the Mafia is engaged in murder, extortion, corruption of
public officials, gambling, infiltration of legitimate businesses, labor
racketeering, loan sharking, tax fraud schemes and stock manipulation schemes,
said Wikipedia.
The Mafia is
currently most active in the Northeastern
United States and Chicago. They continue to dominate organized crime, though
other criminal organizations such as Mexican drug cartels have all taken
a share. The television series
Sopranos” is about a modern Mafia
family. It sanitizes the Mafia. It has won many awards and is regarded as
one of the greatest television series of all time.
The US
economy is no longer the best in the world. It lost its lead 15 years ago,
said economist Srimal Abeyratne.
Industrial production has collapsed in the US. The US no longer leads in the
manufacture of durable goods. Electric and electronic items, which were
originally produced in the US, are now produced in other countries such as
China. As manufacture decreased, so did job, resulting in unemployment. Since
the US now has to import these goods, there is
now a trade deficit as well.
R&D
expenditure has shrunk significantly over the last few decades, said TIME. Once
the world leader in R&D the US now ranks 12th in government
funded R&D as Percentage of GDP. China
on the other hand is heavily funding basic research, continued TIME IN 2019.,
TIME says US system of market capitalism is to blame. USA made a
magnificent advance from agriculture and manufacturing to finance. This was
considered USA’s highest achievement. But now finance is not supporting business.
The best stocks are owned by the wealthiest 10% and the money is concentrated
there. Once a company goes public, in order to keep its stock price high, it
stops innovating and does not support job creation, concluded TIME. Manufacturing
jobs are disappearing because of robots and automation.
Big companies
and multinationals, such as Exxon Mobil and other fossil fuel companies, mega
banks such as Bank of America, the defense industries us as Boeing, Lockheed
Martin have control of the major seats of political power and also able to
lobby the government to take decisions in favor of companies.
There is
corruption, such as Chicago’s famous cronyism, where the most lucrative city contracts are
awarded to favoured persons. A study of international corruption cases in 2012
found that most of the shell companies used to hide financial crimes were from
America. The most secretive shell
companies are in America. They are very easy to set up in the US. When US
Congress suggested corporate transparency legislation, it was shot down, reported Economist.
The US
infrastructure is aging. America’s
highways, waterways and subways, built decades ago are in dire need of upkeep. USA has around 50 bridges that need repairs.
They were built a hundred years ago. The New York subway system is on the verge
of collapse. There are delays, breakdowns and overcrowding. New York lacks
the USD 8 billion needed for repairs.
Therefore the authorities wanted to remove seats on at least two train lines so
that the trains could carry more passengers. This idea was ridiculed by the
commuters.
Where did the
US wealth go asked critics. Jack Ma of
Alibaba observed that multinationals such as IBM, Microsoft and Cisco
had made huge profits, but US squandered it on 13 wars in 30 years.
The notion of
USA as a supporter of free speech and
other wonderful freedoms is now
questioned. There is the example of Julian Assange of Wikileaks and US
whistleblower Edward Snowden. USA wants Assange
punished for leaking secret
American documents. He was
arrested under a US extradition warrant kept secret till now. Countries were told that if they
gave Snowden asylum, USA would punish them.TIME says Snowden wants to return to the US but does not believe he will
get a fair trial.
USA is not
as liberated and as socially advanced as the world thinks it is. Roe vs Wade” is still not
completely accepted. Alabama recently passed the nation’s most extreme abortion
bill, reported TIME. It would ban abortion almost entirely in the state and
make it a felony to perform an abortion.
There is a great discrepancy between the salaries paid to men and those
paid to women for doing identical jots in USA.
American women have now started complaining.
12 American universities
are listed among the best ranked universities in the world, but secondary
education is not always excellent. There was a teachers strike in Los Angeles
in January 2019, due to a lack of education funding. They demanded better
school funding, smaller class sizes and higher pay said TIME. Federal spending
on education has also declined.
There is race
prejudice, now declared to be systemic race prejudice. Actually, it was
systemic all along . The African American is still discriminated against.
Every black person knows that no amount of accomplishment or wealth can exempt
him from racial prejudice,” reported TIME. An African American doctor, dying of Covid 19,
stated on video, in December 2020, just before she died, that if she had been white she would have been well
looked after and on her way to recovery.
People will stop for a stray dog before they will stop for a
black child alone in the middle of the day’ said Kamala Harris. A white teenager who kills is a good kid who
deserves a second change, but a black teenager who commits the same crime
should be locked up for life. Police routinely pull over African-American
motorists on suspicion, and arrest them for no reason.
African
Americans are prevented from voting at
elections. Michelle Obama said in her book ‘Becoming” that it was estimated
that about 400,000 African Americans in the state of Chicago were eligible to
vote but were still unregistered. For those
registered, racists try to figure out which polling booths to close so that
they would have difficulty getting to one, added TIME.
National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP)
was planning in 2012, to complain to the UN Human Rights Council that the new
voting laws in US violate civil rights
by suppressing the votes of minorities and others. For instance, they have to
show proof of citizenship before they can vote.
There is a
second race problem looming in USA. The Latin American group is overtaking the
blacks and the whites in America. California which is full of Latinos wants to
secede, said TIME in 2017.
There is
violence in America, shown worldwide in the numerous mass shootings in US
schools and elsewhere. The justice system is not perfect either. In 2018, 151
persons were cleared of convictions made for crimes they did not commit. This
group had served an average of 10 years in jail. In USA despite the law it is
the prosecutor who decides. He will decide to put sex workers in jail while
letting their customers off.
An entire generation of USA has come of age without having seen US
prosperity, said TIME in April 2019. And there was a shared sense among them
that they had been screwed”. Farm bankruptcies are increasing in USA said CNN
in September 2019. Certain categories of low paid workers, such as waitresses,
live on tips. The management openly asks customers to tip them. That is a part
of the US economic system.
TIME did a series of interviews in 2016, with the American public,
who said that the future for America is bleak, no chance of a good job and
rising in life. The country is going downhill, the rich and powerful have it
good, but not the rest, they said. There is rising inequality, stagnant
incomes, shrinking middle class and stalled upward mobility.
The American
political scientist Ian Bremmer formulated three roles for USA. First, ‘Indispensable
America’ which said that no other nation can provide the leadership that the
world desperately needs, except America.
Therefore America must increase its international commitments?
Second Moneyball
America”, which said that we must defend US political and economic interest
when they are threatened. Third, Independent America”, where we must rid
ourselves of international burdens and focus on improving the country from
within. America must renounces its role
as the global problem-solver and defend
only America’s strategic interests.
Brenner did a
national survey on these three options. The respondents had no clear
preference. However, the older generation wanted” Indispensable America,” the younger
generation wanted Independent America.” (Continued)
The
Centurian Park was famous for fast bowling attack. Yet Wanindu Hasaranga of Sri
Lanka grabbed 4 wickets at 3.80 economy rate. The absence of a
second front line spinner was clearly the weakness of Sri Lankan cricket
team. The South Africans are more acclimatized
for fast bowling, their key spinner Maharaj is yet to make a
mark. The Wanderers was famous for fast bowling. But in order to exploit
the weaknesses of SA batsman, Sri Lanka need to field a strong spin
attack. Hence my choice:
Batters: DIMUTH KARUNARATNE (c) BINOE BHANUKA DINESH CHANDIMAL OR ASITHA FERNANDO OSHADA FERNANDO (part time leg break) KUSAL JANITH PERERA (Bat and Wk)
Russia assured Sri Lanka that it is ready to share all the necessary scientific data on Sputnik V vaccine developments and agreed to hold a series of further discussions to ensure the Sri Lankan party possesses the full spectrum of information, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said.
The Sri Lankan Embassy facilitated an online meeting between the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Ministry of Health of Russia.
The statement said,in the height of the final trials, research and registration of COVID-19 vaccines around the world, the Sri Lankan and Russian specialists in virology, as well as top administrators,met to discuss the Sputnik V vaccine, which is developed by the Russian Gamaleya Research Institute.
The parties discussed the technology used in production of the vaccine,its safety and efficiency, the results of clinical trials and the status of approvals.
The Sri Lankan side apprised the Russian specialists of the research done on the virus modifications in Sri Lanka and the immunization programme of Sri Lanka.
Both parties underlined the importance of international scientific collaboration in face of the pandemic and agreed to expand relations between the health-related institutions of the two countries.
The meeting was chaired by Sri Lanka Ambassador Prof.m. D.lamawansa who was joined by other staff members of the Embassy.the Sri Lankan side was represented by Secretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. S.H. Munasinghe,additional Secretary Medical Services Dr.sunil De Alvis,additional Secretary Dr. L. Somathunga,epidemiologists, microbiologists,vaccinologists, virologists; immunologists and other experts. From the Ministry of Health of Russia,the following representatives took part in the meeting: Director of the International Cooperation and Public Relations Department Sergey Muravyov,advisor to the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Sergey Glagolev and others.the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was represented by Director of the Institute Academician Alexander Gintsburg, scientific associate Darya Yegorova and others.
The Director General of Health Services has confirmed three more coronavirus related deaths increasing the tally of fatalities in the country due to the virus to 211.
One of the victims is a 93-year-old woman from Colombo 13 who had passed away at her home on December 30, 2020. The cause of death is cited as multiple complications caused by Covid-19 infection.
The Government Information Department reports that the second deceased is a male around 70 – 80 of age whose identity has not been verified. He was found in Maradana police division and died on December 30, 2020. The cause of death is Covid-19 infection.
The third patient is a 76-year-old male from Colombo 12 who had been transferred from a private hospital in Colombo to the Homagama Base Hospital after being identified as Covid-19 positive. He had passed away today (02) while receiving treatment at the hospital. The cause of death is Covid-19 pneumonia and complicated kidney infection.
