Courtesy The Island

Public Security Minister retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera Monday, 18 at his ministry met Justice Minister Ali Sabry, PC, to discuss ways and means of strengthening law enforcement operations. Public Security Ministry Secretary retired Maj. Gen. Jagath Alwis and IGP Chandana Wickremaratne participated in the discussion.

Former Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) of Police H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya, having read our last week’s column, further elaborated on the revelation by retired SDIG Merril Gunaratne pertaining to what he called the unprecedented expansion of the DIG cadre during Dingiri Banda Wijetunga’s tenure as the President (May 1993 to Nov 1994).

Kotakadeniya, one of the most outspoken senior cop, while in service (if one had cared to canvas his opinion) and now in retirement, said Wijetunga’s intervention had been far worse than mentioned and caused the further deterioration of the service. The retired Senior DIG sent us the following statement in the wake of the writer’s comment on Gunaratne’s latest work ‘Perils of a Profession’, titled ‘Perils of a Profession jolts scandal- ridden police’ published in the January 13, 2021 edition of The Island:

In the chapter, titled ‘Violation of the line of seniority – a major cause for decline,’ it is stated President Wijetunge ordered the DIG cadre to be increased from 19 to 30 and that there was speculation about this increase benefitting an officer who was a favourite of the President. I would like to add two relevant facts regarding this issue.

Shortly after Wijetunga assumed office as the President, in 1993, he summoned me to the Presidential Secretariat. At that time I was based at Police Headquarters as DIG Headquarters and DIG Administration. My parents and I had the privilege of being acquainted with Wijetunga from my childhood as we were from the same village.

When I met the President, he told me that the welfare of Police officers hadn’t been given the due importance and, therefore, to redress the situation he had an idea to appoint a DIG to handle welfare work in each DIG Range. He inquired from me whether I would endorse the proposal.

I reflected for a few seconds and replied that the subject of welfare in each range was being looked after by an Inspector, and therefore the appointment of an officer of a rank of DIG was not quite necessary. The President did not appear to be pleased with my response.

If few days, after this meeting, with the President, I was transferred as the DIG Logistics on 1.10.1994 and thereafter to Chilaw on 4.10.1994. I felt that the move by the President, to appoint several DIGs’ in charge of ‘welfare’, was meant to fulfill his desire to expand the DIG cadre to allow his favourite officer who was very junior, to also become a DIG.

The other matter was that the DIG cadre increase was not from 19 to 30, but much above 40 since the officer concerned was at that time 44th in the list of Senior Superintendents.

Kotakadeniya refrained from mentioning names. The Island inquiries revealed that ironically highly respected Frank Silva had been the IGP at that time and Mahinda Balasuriya the beneficiary.

Kotakadeniya, who had served as Defence Ministry advisor during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first tenure as the President following the 2005 November Presidential election, was the only retired officer to respond to The Island piece.

Deterioration of the public sector

The deterioration of the police should be addressed at the highest level. Unfortunately, successive governments, in spite of their grandiose plans to restore the dignity of the once proud service caused further deterioration. Political parties cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for the current predicament.

But at least it is no longer a runaway rogue force, hand in glove with the underworld, due to the current government’s no nonsense line on law enforcers. Yet the current dispensation, too, is still struggling to cope with the situation against continuing revelations on the depth of its rot. The revelation of the clandestine dealings involving the elite Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) and heroin Mafia sent shock waves through the entire security establishment. Gunaratne, however, hadn’t at least made a reference to the PNB fiasco or the controversial release of Easter Sunday massacre suspect Riyaj Bathiudeen who had been held in CID custody in terms of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Mahinda Balasuriya received the appointment as the IGP in early November 2009 during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first tenure as the President. Balasuriya resigned in early June 2011 following the killing of a 21-year-old worker, during a protest, by police fire at the Katunayake Export Processing (EPZ).

The government rewarded him with a diplomatic appointment. Balasuriya, perhaps is the only retired IGP to receive an appointment as head of a diplomatic mission in spite of stepping down under controversial circumstances. Balasuriya served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Brazil. With the Parliamentary High Posts Committee, chaired by the Speaker, nothing but a rubber stamp for successive governments to accommodate their favourites, at the taxpayers’ expense, without any difficulty.

Balasuriya received significant media coverage when he was investigated by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that Inquired into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC). The yahapalana outfit probed why Balasuriya provided armed police security for members of Wimal Weerawansa’s National Freedom Front (NFF), who hadn’t been at least members of Parliament.

The Commission sought clarification on what grounds Balasuriya provided security in the period 2010-2015.

The Commission estimated the exercise could have cost the taxpayer approximately Rs 30 mn.

Gunaratne dealt with officers with political patronage at different levels exploiting the much abused system to secure promotions. In the chapter referred to by Kotakadeniya, Gunaratne depicted an extremely negative picture of the service.

Let me reproduce verbatim the relevant section that referred to the pathetic situation of some influential persons securing key posts and promotions for stooges at the expense of the deserving: The pattern, so monotonous since 1977, had seriously demoralized the service. Some have been adept not only in the ‘long jump,’ but also in ‘hop, step and jump,’ by obtaining more than one promotion outside the eligible criteria.

Backdoor entry into Parliament

But should we be surprised by irregular police promotions? In a country where defeated candidates can be accommodated in Parliament through the backdoor or ruling party perpetrated Treasury bond scams twice in 2015 and 2016, ‘rape of the seniority line’ as underscored by Gunaratne seemed not so serious an issue. In fact, the rot in the police is just one symptom of the overall deterioration of both public and private sectors.

In spite of the creation of the National Police Commission (NPC) in terms of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution followed by the 19th and the recently introduced 20th, the crisis-ridden department is in bad shape. The PNB’s alleged involvement in drug dealing, Riyaj Bathiudeen’s sudden shock release, alleged attempts to undermine police investigation into Easter Sunday attacks, handling of the probe into negligence on the part of Brandix and government officials in respect of the second Covid-19 eruption highlighted fundamental flaws in law enforcement.

Police continue to play politics and politicians continue to play with the police. Both parties engage in ‘politics’ at the expense of truth and credibility. The Parliament remains indifferent. Yahapalana IGP Pujith Jayasundera, in the wake of the Oct 26, 2018 constitutional crisis caused by the sacking of Wickremesinghe government, immediately switched his allegiance to the Rajapaksas. Jayasundera returned to the fold as President Sirisena’s ambitious project collapsed.

Over the years, politicians have set up systems that took care of problems. Actually, Gunaratne in ‘Dilemma of an Island’ (2001), ‘Cop in the Crossfire’ in 2011 and the latest ‘Perils of a Profession’ launched this January dealt with perhaps some broader issues though a fully-fledged Presidential Commission as suggested by the author is required to reach consensus on genuine remedial measures.

Former Sub Inspector and defeated candidate at the August 2020 general election Palitha Range Bandara recently received the appointment as the General Secretary of the demoralized UNP. Bandara succeeded Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, who was rewarded with the post of Assistant Leader.

Beleaguered UNP leader Wickremesinghe picked Bandara in spite of him being accused often of divided loyalties. But in relation to ‘Perils of a Profession,’ it would be pertinent to mention that Bandara received backdated promotion to the rank of ASP in Dec 2017, courtesy the NPC.

The NPC recommended promotion for cop-turned-politician Bandara to the rank of ASP on the grounds the previous Rajapaksa administration victimized him, politically, though he had left the police long before Rajapaksa came to power in 2005. The NPC made the recommendation to the Law and Order and Southern Development Ministry. The NPC responded to Bandara’s appeal and recommended that MP Bandara be reinstated in the Police Service from 24 August 2000 and promoted to the ASP rank on the 27th of the same month and sent him on retirement. Promoting an SI to the rank of ASP cannot be an issue for those yahapalana grandees who brought back Maj. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake from retirement to name him the Commander of the Army. The National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) carried out the Easter Sunday attacks during Senanayake’s tenure as the Army Commander. Instead of accepting responsibility for the failure on the part of the Directorate of Military (DMI) to thwart the NTJ project, Senanayake exploited the police lapses to contest the last presidential election. Senanayake couldn’t poll even 50,000 votes. The results of the Nov 2019 presidential poll placed Senanayake fourth behind JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The yahapalana administration also brought back Rear Admiral Travis Sinniah from retirement to place the Navy under him. However, it is pertinent to mention that Sinniah led some of the most successful operations on the high seas against the LTTE arms smuggling vessels.

Need for clear cut procedures

The government will have to set up specific mechanisms to deal with both law enforcement and military officers claiming political victimization, rightly or wrongly, instead of looking at them through a political lense as has been happening under various governments. Gunaratne mentioned several instances of how retired senior officers brazenly exploited the political setup for their advantage. In the absence of procedures, any wrongdoer can secure benefits at the expense of the truth.

The author dealt with an attempt made by a Colombo-based diplomatic mission to recruit a police intelligence officer in the early 70s. Having named the officer concerned as Ananda Jayasekera, who passed away in 2019, Gunaratne discussed the case that ended up with the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike being alerted to the foreign mission’s bid to run an agent within the State Intelligence setup.

During Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second presidential term, the US Embassy made an abortive bid to recruit Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe. The offer was made at a party hosted by the then US Defence attaché Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith on January 20, 2011, in honour of a senior officer from the US Pacific Command.

Samarasinghe not only turned down the offer to secure permanent residency in the US for him and his family by betraying the then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, he promptly brought the US bid to the latter’s notice.

Against the backdrop of foreign powers stepping up their clandestine activities over the years, the circumstances under which Inspector Nishantha Silva of the CID secured political asylum for himself and his entire family a week after the last presidential poll underscored the pivotal importance of the intelligence services keeping a track of developments. Did the State Intelligence Service (SIS) headed by SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena know of the connection between Nishantha Silva and the Swiss Embassy?

Subsequent inquiries revealed a much wider conspiracy involving Swiss Embassy employee Garnier Francis, (former Siriyalatha Perera), the Swiss Embassy and the police officer who prominently figured in the leaked audio tapes of the then UNP State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake. Did SIS at least know the controversial CID investigator’s plan to flee the country in the event of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory at the presidential poll? Did the then Director, CID SSP Shani Abeysekera know of his subordinate’s plan?

If the Swiss government succeeded in evacuating Garnier Francis in an air ambulance amidst accusations that government personnel molested her and threatened her with death, immediately after Inspector Silva fled the country, the issue would have been raised in Geneva at the forthcoming 46th UNHRC sessions as if it was the gospel truth. However, the possibility of the matter still being raised during the Feb-March 2021 sessions cannot be ruled out as the West is quite capable of making an untruth a truth, especially through their ‘independent’ media as happened with Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or the maligning of Gaddafi just before his ouster and gruesome killing in public.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa placed the SIS under intelligence veteran Maj. Gen. Suresh Sally. The SIS had never been under a military officer before. The crisis-ridden police are now placed under retired Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera as the Minister of Public Security with retired Maj. Gen. Jagath Alwis as the Secretary to that Ministry. The Office of Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), too, has been placed under retired Maj. Gen. Ruwan Kulathunga. In spite of the much tighter hold on the intelligence setup, the government was caught flat-footed when the demolition of the LTTE war memorial on January 8, 2021 in the Jaffna University triggered chaos. The incident placed both Sri Lanka and India in an embarrassing position as the demolition of the memorial took place close on the heels of Indian Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s high profile visit to Colombo.

Although the author made reference to the failure on the part of the police to thwart the Easter Sunday attacks, an issue as important as how the Indian intelligence managed its operations aimed at the NTJ hadn’t received due attention.

Did India alert SIS regarding their NTJ hunt or just provided the finished intelligence product on April 4, 2019, regarding the planned operation? Sri Lanka should be really worried about foreign intelligence services engaged in clandestine activities here, especially against the backdrop of growing US-China rivalry, with the former receiving the backing of India, Japan and Australia.

PLOTE leader Uma Maheswaran killing outside the Maldivian HC in Colombo in July 1989 revealed the possible involvement of the Indian intelligence. The killing took place in the wake of the PLOTE bid to overthrow the then Maldivian President Gayoom at the behest of a Maldivian businessman. The sea borne PLOTE raid went awry even before Indian troops landed there to bring the situation quickly under control.

A deeper scrutiny of ‘developments’ is required as China-US hostilities take a turn for the worse with both seeking to enhance their spheres of influence. The need for the intelligence services to be prepared to face multifarious threats on different levels is of paramount importance. The Easter Sunday carnage is certainly not the first intelligence failure and it wouldn’t be the last.

The assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa on May Day 1993 exposed the entire intelligence setup. The infiltration of President Premadasa’s inner circle by the LTTE is perhaps the worst single intelligence failure that proved the importance of the intelligence services being on top of the ‘political game,’ too. For intelligence services, there cannot be a worse period than President Premadasa’s tenure (1989-1993). An ignorant President played pandu with national security leading to the Eelam War II in June 1990 with disastrous consequences. Retired SSP Tassy Seneviratne didn’t mince his words when he appeared before the LLRC. Seneviratne explained how President Premadasa’s interventions caused debilitating losses at the onset of the Eelam War II. The rest is history.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ඇල්පෙනෙත්තක්වත් හදන්නෙ නැති ජාතියක් ලෙස තවදුරටත් අපි අපටම චෝදනා කර ගැනීම ඵලක් නොමැති බව ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද 2021.01.20 දින පැවැසීය.

පන්නිපිටිය, මාකුඹුර ප්‍රදේශයේ ඉදිකළ යෝ බ්‍රෑන්ඩ් (Yoo Brand) පාවහන් කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ සාමාරම්භක උත්සවයට විඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ සම්බන්ධවෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය.

මෙම කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ නිෂ්පාදනය කරන පාසල් පාවහන් වෙළඳපොළ මිලට සියයට 30ක් අඩුවෙන් ඉදිරියේ දී සතොස වෙළඳසැල්වලින් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකියාව උදා වේ.

පාවහන් කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව විවෘත කරමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් සියලු දෙනාටම අද සතුටු වෙන්න පුළුවන් දවසක්.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

අපි දන්නවා. අපේ රටේ අනාගතය ගැන ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්වන අපි හැමෝටම බලාපොරොත්තුවක් තිබෙනවා. හැමෝම දකින්නෙ එක සිහිනයක්. ඒ සිහිනය මේ රට සංවර්ධිත රටක්වන සිහිනය.

අපි ලෝකය හමුවේ අනෙකුත් රටවල්වලට නොදැවිනි මානුෂීය ගුණාංගවලින් පොහොසත් ජාතියක්. පෞඩ ඉතිහාසයකට උරුමකම් කියන අපේ රටට ඉතිහාසය පුරාවට විවිධ ක්ෂේත්‍ර ඔස්සේ වටිනාකම් ලැබී තිබෙනවා.

වාරි තාක්ෂණය ඇතුළු ලොව මවිත කළ විශ්මිත දැනුමෙන් අප රටක් ලෙස කලක් සන්නද්ධව සිටියා. ඒ අයුරින්ම ඉදිරියට ආව නම් අද අපි ලොව දියුණුම රටක්.

මෑත කාලයෙත් විවිධ ආණ්ඩු යටතේ රටේ අරමුණු වෙනස් වුණා. රටේ ජනතාවගෙත් රටේත් අරමුණු සමඟ අපි නම් හැමදාමත් වගකීමෙන් කටයුතු කළා.

අද කොවිඩ් අර්බුධය මුළු ලෝකයම ගිලගෙන තිබෙනවා. අනෙකුත් රටවල වගේම අපේ රටෙත් ජන ජීවිතයට එය විශාල බලපෑමක්. වෛද්‍යවරුන්, සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්යය මණ්ඩල, ආරක්ෂක අංශ, රාජ්‍ය සේවකයන් වගේම, පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ ඔබත්, රටේ සමස්ත මහජනතාවත් නිසි සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක විධි පිළිපදිමින් මේ අභියෝගය ජයගන්න වෙහෙසෙනවා. රජයක් ලෙස අප ඊට අවශ්‍ය මැදිහත්වීම් කර තිබෙනවා.

විරුද්ධ පක්ෂයේ ඇතමෙක් නම් අපි දැක්කා දැන් කොවිඩ් ප්‍රශ්නෙ එල්ලිලා ඒකෙන්වත් ගොඩයන්න පුළුවන්ද බලනවා. මිත්‍රවරුනි, අපට වයිරසයක් මතින් දේශපාලනය කරන්න අවශ්‍ය නැහැ. අපිට අවශ්‍යය රටේ සියලුදෙනාගේ යහ පැවැත්ම වෙනුවෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමයි.

ඔබ දන්නවා, ජනතාව අපට හැම වෙලාවෙම ආණ්ඩු බලය දුන්නෙ රට හමුවේ අභියෝගයක් තිබෙන වෙලාවක. එහෙම වෙන්නෙ මහජනතාවට අප ගැන විශ්වාසයක් තිබෙන නිසා. රටේ ආරක්ෂාව වේවා, වසංගත අර්බුධයක් වේවා, ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් රජයක් ලෙස උපරිමය අපෙන් ඉටුවන බව ඔබ දන්නවා. ඒ වගේම ඒ විශ්වාසය අපි හැමදාම රැකලා තියෙනවා.

විවිධ අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දෙමින් වුවත් අන් කවරදාටත් වඩා දේශීය කර්මාන්ත කරුවා නගා සිටුවීමට අපට හැකි වී තිබෙනවා.

අද විවෘතවන මෙම පාවහන් කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව මුළු රටටම සම්පතක්. දේශීය වෙළදපොලේ පාසල් දරුවන්ගෙ පාවහන් පවතින මිලෙන් සියයට තිහක් අඩුවෙන් ලබාදීමට මෙමගින් හැකිවෙනවා. ඒ වගේම ක්‍රීඩා හා ඇවිදීමේ පාවහන් ජාත්‍යන්තර සන්නාමවලට සමාන උසස් තත්ත්වයෙන් මෙහි නිර්මාණය වන බව දැනගන්න ලැබුණා.

මේ හැම පාවහන් යුගලයක්ම නිර්මාණය වන්නෙ Made In Sri Lanka සංකල්පය පෙරදැරිවයි. නිටඩ් තාක්ෂණය යොදාගනිමින් සියයට 70ක් පමණ එකතු කළ අගයක් මත මෙම නිෂ්පාදන කාර්ය ඉටුවීම විශේෂිතයි. ඒ නිසා මේ හැම පාවහන් යුගලකම තිබෙන්නෙ ශ්‍රී ලාංකික අභිමානය.

මිත්‍රවරුනි,

සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ප්‍රතිපත්තියට අනුව අපේ ඉලක්කය මේ රට දේශීය ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් තුළ සංවර්ධනය කිරීම. ආනයන සීමා කරමින්, අපේ දේශිය ගොවියා මෙන්ම කර්මාන්තකරුවා දියුණු කරන්න අප ප්‍රතිමත්තිමය තීන්දුවක් ගත්තා. කහ ඇතුළු කුළු බඩු විතරක් නෙමෙයි අපේ රටේ වැවෙන බව බෝග රටින් ගෙන්වන එක නතර කළා. දැන් ඉබේම අපේ රටේ ගොවියාට එහි වාසිය ලැබෙනවා. තව පැත්තකින් මහජනතාවටත් අපේ රටේ උසස් තත්ත්වයේ නිෂ්පාදන පරිභෝජනය කරන්න අවස්ථාව උදාවෙනවා.

මේ කර්මාන්තශාලවත් අද පටන් පාවහන් නිෂ්පාදනය කළාම, රබර් කිරි ගොවියන්ටත් ඉන් ආර්ථික වාසි අත්වෙනවා. ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල්වල අදායම ඉහළ යනවා. ඒ විතරක් නෙමෙයි අපේ තරුණ පරපුරට රැකියා අවස්ථා උදාවෙනවා.

වෙනදා මේ වගේ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවක තාක්ෂණික දැනුම ගන්න පිටරටම යන්නම ඕනි. දැන් අපේ තරුණ පරපුරට ඒ දැනුමත් මෙහේම ලබන්න පුළුවන්. මේ හැමදේම එකතුවුණාම අගය එක් කළ නිෂ්පාදනයකින් ලැබෙන ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිලාභය රටටම ලැබෙනවා.

දකුණු ආසියාවේ දෙවැනි විශාලතම මේස් අපනයන නිෂ්පාදන ආයතනයත් ඔබට අයත් මේ ආකාරයේම දැවන්ත සේවාවක් සපයන ආයතනයක්.

ඒ නිසා ඇල්පෙනෙත්තක්වත් හදන්නෙ නැති ජාතියක් ලෙස තවදුරටත් අපි අපටම චෝදනා කර ගැනීම ඵලක් නැහැ. අතීතයෙන් හොද දේ රැගෙන අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් අද අපි ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්න ඕනි.

සෞභාග්‍යමත් දේශයක් කරායන ගමනට මෙවන් කර්මාන්ත ශාලවක් ලබා දෙන ශක්තිය අති විශාලයි. මේ සදහා සම්බන්ධ සියලු දෙනාටම මගේ සුබ පැතුම් එක්කරනවා.

ඔබ සැමට සුබ අනාගතයක් වේවා ! යැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පැවැසීය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍ය විමල් වීරවංශ, වෙළෙඳ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන, අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ විවෘත විශ්වවිද්‍යාල හා දුරස්ථ අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය නීතිඥ සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත, යෝ බ්‍රෑන්ඩ් (Yoo Brand) පාවහන් සමාගමේ සභාපති හේමන්ත පෙරේරා මහත්වරු ඇතුළු සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන් පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ලෝකයම වසංගත බියකින් වෙලී ගි‍යත්, දරුවන්ගේ අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් මෙරට පාසල් පද්ධතිය යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ආරම්භ කළ බව ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද 2021.01.20 දින පැවසීය.

ඇතමුන් විවිධ දෑ ප්‍රකාශ කළද දරුවන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපනය ප්‍රමාද කිරීමට හෝ ආපස්සට ගැනීමට ඉඩ දිය නොහැකි බව ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය.

හෝමාගම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විද්‍යාලයේ දස වැනි සංවත්සර උත්සවය සඳහා වීඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මේ බව කියා සිටියේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා වීඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

දස වසරක් සපුරන හෝමාගම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විද්‍යාලයට සුබ පැතුම් එක් කරන්නෙ ඉතාම සතුටින්.

මේ පාසල ආරම්භ වෙලා ගතවන්නෙ ඉතාම කෙටි කාලයක්. ඒ කෙටි කාලය තුළදිත් අධ්‍යාපන හා විෂය බාහිර ක්‍රියාකාරකම්වලින් දක්ෂතා දක්වන්න මේ පාසලට හැකිවුණා කියලා අපි දන්නවා. ඒ නිසා රටේම අවධානය මෙම පාසල දිනාගත්තා.

එදා මහින්ද චින්තන ඉදිරි දැක්ම යටතේ මෙම පාසලට උපත දෙන්න බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මැතිතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ අපට හැකිවුණා. බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන ඇමතිතුමා ප්‍රමුඛ අපේ ඉලක්කය වූණේ ද්විතීය පාසල් දහසක් රටපුරා ඇතිකිරීම. එදා අධ්‍යාපන ඇමැති විදියට මේ සංකල්පයට බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන ඇමතිතුමා ප්‍රමුඛත්වය ගත්තා.

ජනප්‍රිය පාසල් සංකල්පයෙන් පීඩා විදින දෙමාපියන්ට මෙම සංකල්පය මහා අස්වැසිල්ලක් කියලා මම විශ්වාස කරනවා. රජයක් විදියට අපි දන්නවා හැම දෙමාපියෙකුටම අවශ්‍ය තමන්ගෙ දරුවන්ට හොඳින්  උගන්වන්න.

ඒ දරුවන්ට අධ්‍යාපනය ලබන්න පාසල තුළ පහසුකම් තිබිය යුතුයි.

අදටත් මූලික පහසුකම් නොමැති පාසල් තිබෙනවා, නම් ඒවා ගැන වහාම සොයල බලන්න අධ්‍යාපන අමැතිතුමාට අපි දැනුම් දී තිබෙනවා.

සෞභාග්‍ය දැක්ම ප්‍රතිපත්තිය යටතේ රටේ දරුවන්ට අවශ්‍ය අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය සඳහා අපි මුල පිරූ බව ඔබ දන්නවා.

රජය සෑම විටම උත්සාහ කරන්නෙ දරුවන් වෙනුවෙන්, ඔවුන්ගෙ අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් අපෙන් ඉටු විය යුතු යුතුකම් ඉටුකරන්න.

එදා අපි ඈත ගම්මානවල මහින්දෝදය තාක්ෂණ විද්‍යාගාර හදන කොට ඇතමෙක් හිනා වුණා. තවත් අය දේශපාලනිකව ඒවා නවත්වන්න උත්සාහ ගත්තා.

අද බලන්න බොහෝ දරුවො මේ විද්‍යාගාරවල පහසුකම් උපරිමයෙන් ලබනවා.

අප ආරම්භ කළ ඔබේ පාසල, හෝමාගම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විද්‍යාලය   නත්ථි ජාතස්ස අකරණං” ආදර්ශ පාඨය පෙරදැරිව පසුගිය දස වසර තුළ බොහෝ ජයග්‍රහණ ලබා ගත්තා.

සමස්ත ලංකා මට්ටමෙන් ජයග්‍රහණ ලබාගත් ඇතැම් දරුවන් බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන ඇමතිතුමා එක්ක මා හමුවීමටත් පැමිණියා.

සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ, උසස් පෙළ විභාගවල සමත්වීමේ ප්‍රතිශතය ඉතාම ඉහළ අගයකින් පවත්වාගෙන යාමට මෙම විද්‍යාලයට සමත්වී තිබෙනවා.

ඉතා දුෂ්කර හා අභියෝගාත්මක කාල වකවානුවක දී පවා විෂය හා විෂය සමගාමී ජයග්‍රහණ අත්කරගැනීම විශේෂිතයි.

ඒ හැම ජයග්‍රහණයකින්ම පාසල් අධ්‍යාපන තුළ විශිෂ්ට මුද්‍රාවක් බවට මෙම පාසල පත්වුණා.

රටට අවශ්‍යය අනාගත අභියෝග භාරගතහැකි, ශික්ෂණයෙන් යුතු සංස්කෘතිය හා සාමාජයීය වටපිටාව මැනවින් හඳුනාගත් දරුවන්. වෙනස් වෙමින් පවතින ලොව තුළ සැබෑ අරමුණ විය යුත්තේ ද එය බවයි මගේ විශ්වාසය.

ලෝකයම වසංගත බියකින් වෙලී ගි‍යත්, අප දරුවන්ගේ අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් පාසල් පද්ධතිය යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ආරම්භ කළා. ඇතමුන් විවිධ දෑ ප්‍රකාශ කළත් දරුවන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපනය ප්‍රමාද කිරීමට හෝ ආපස්සට ගැනීමට ඉඩ දිය නොහැකියි.

පාසල් ආරම්භ කළ ප්‍රදේශවල දරුවන්ගේ පැමිණීම අඩු වී ඇතැයි මට දැනගන්න ලැබුණා. මෙවැනි අවස්ථාවක දෙමාපියන්ට  විශාල වගකීමක් පැවරෙනවා.

ඒ සෞඛ්‍ය මාර්ගෝපදේශවලට අනුව දරුවන් පාසල් වෙත යොමු කිරීමේ වගකීම.

ඒ නිසා දැනුවත්භාවයයි වැදගත්. දරුවන් ආරක්ෂාවන පරිදි පාසල් කටයුතු සාමාන්‍ය පරිදි ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමයි වැදගත්.

දස වසරක් සපුරන හෝමාගම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විද්‍යාලය විශිෂ්ටත්වයට පත්කිරීමට දායක වන විදුහල්පතිතුමා, ආචාර්ය මණ්ඩලය, සිසු දරුවන්, දෙමාපියන් මෙන්ම, ආදි ශිෂ්‍යන්ටත් මේ මොහොතේ මගේ සුබ පැතුම් පුදකරනවා.

අනාගත ලොව දිනන සුවිශේෂි දරු පරපුරක නිමැවුම්කරුවකු ලෙස මෙම විද්‍යාලයට චිරාත් කාලයක් රටට මෙන්ම ලෝකයට සේවය කිරීමට ලැබේවා යන්න මගේ ප්‍රාර්ථනයයි.

ඔබ සැමට සුබ අනාගතයක් වේවා !

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා මහාචාර්ය මාගම්මන පඤ්ඤානන්ද හිමිපාණන් වහන්සේ ප්‍රමුඛ මහා සංඝරත්නය  වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.

හෝමාගම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විද්‍යාලයේ විද්‍යාලයේ නිර්මාතෘ වත්මන් වෙළෙඳ කටයුතු  අමාත්‍ය ආචාර්ය බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන, ප්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍ය ගාමිණී ලොකුගේ, අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ, විවෘත විශ්වවිද්‍යාල හා දුරස්ථ අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය සුසිල් ප්‍රේමජයන්ත, අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල  පෙරේරා, හෝමාගම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විද්‍යාලයේ විදුහල්පති එම්. ආර්. ඩී. කසුන් ගුණරත්න, නියෝජ්‍ය විදුහල්පති හෂිකා පෙරුම්බුලි මහත්ම මහත්මීන් ඇතුලු රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්, විද්‍යාලයේ ආචාර්ය මණ්ඩලය, දෙමාපියන්, ආදි සිසුන්  හා ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන් රැසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, January 20 (Daily Mirror) – While blaming the Health Ministry officials providing false picture about Covid-19 situation to the politicians, the Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union yesterday warned of a considerable spike in Covid-19 cases in the coming weeks.

Speaking to Daily Mirror, Union’s Chairman Upul Rohana said the Government did not heed to warnings when the PHIs urged the Government to restrict movement or lock-down high-risk areas during the festive season.

Now, the situation has almost gone out of hand and it is the people who have to pay the price for that. There is no option other than ensuring individual safety,” he highlighted.

He also said the Covid-19 cases which were limited only to the Western Province by the latter part of the last year, could now be found in all the districts including Trincomalee, Galle, Matara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kurunegala and Puttalam etc.

There are also cases being reported in the country with no visible origin, which is a sign that Sri Lanka has reached the community transmission level,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rohana stressed that officials in the Ministry of Health and other authorities related to health provided a false picture of the Covid-19 situation in the country to the politicians.

That’s why, proper actions have not been taken at the correct time. These officials provide such false details due to the fear that they may lose their positions. However, it is their duty to alert the politicians about the actual Covid situation in the country,” he added.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Washington, January 20 (BBC): Kamala Devi Harris, born to a Jamaican Economist and an Indian Tamil cancer researcher, will make history when she takes the oath of office on Wednesday, becoming the first woman and first black and South Asian American to serve as US vice-president. Harris’ Domestic Policy Advisor is Rohini Kosoglu, daughter of a medical doctor of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. This is the first Indo-Lankan-American combo in the history of the White House.

Here’s what awaits Ms Harris in her new job: What does a vice-president do? Historically speaking, not a lot. It has been described as the least understood, most ridiculed and most often ignored constitutional role in the federal government, and for a long time it stayed that way.

The role of the vice-president was, frankly, to just be that heartbeat away from the president,” said Barbara Perry, the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Centre. Unless the president died, or was seriously ill, the vice-president’s job was largely to sit around and wait.

For some vice-presidents, the dynamic meant holding a job you hoped would never be needed. One of the vice-presidents in the early 20th Century said, ‘Every day I ring the doorbell at the White House and hope the president will answer,’” Ms Perry said.

That’s not a role to take lightly. Nine of the country’s 45 presidents has left office before the end of their term, eight by death – about one fifth of all presidents – giving their vice-presidents a sudden promotion. At 78 years old, Mr Biden will be the oldest president to assume the office, putting added stress on his next-in-line.

It wasn’t until the 1970s, under President Jimmy Carter, that the vice-president began to assume a bigger role.

Mr Carter, a former Georgia governor, had built his candidacy around being a political outsider. He knew he didn’t know Washington,” Ms Perry said. So when he won the nomination, he called on Walter Mondale, a long-time US senator, to show him the ropes and be a true governing partner”.

The unstoppable rise of Kamala Harris

While their close relationship was new, their strategic match followed a well-worn pattern of vice-presidents offering geographical or ideological balance to the president.

The practice has continued on most recent political tickets. Barack Obama, then a relative political newcomer, tapped Joe Biden, a 35-year veteran of the US Senate. Donald Trump went with Mike Pence, whose evangelical bona fides were thought to smooth over Mr Trump’s image for the religious right. And Ms Harris offers a counter to Joe Biden’s age, gender and race.

What’s more, this time the ceremonial role held by the vice-president as president of the Senate will prove crucial for Ms Harris’ party. There is currently a 50-50 seat split between Democrats and Republicans in the upper chamber, and Ms Harris will cast the deciding ballot in any tie.

Where do they live?

Ms Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff will set up home in a different white house – a 19th Century mansion on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory in north-west Washington.

The estate is close to the White House grounds, where Ms Harris will have her office, and not far from Georgetown University’s law school, where Mr Emhoff, an attorney, is set to teach.

To get around, Ms Harris and Mr Emhoff will also have access to Air Force Two, a Boeing 757, and they will have round-the-clock security.

Do Harris and Biden get along?

While Mr Biden and Mr Obama often put their bromance on display during their time in the White House, close personal relationships between presidents and vice-presidents have not been the norm, Ms Perry said.

But since Mr Biden officially brought on Ms Harris this summer, it has seemed to be smooth sailing, Ms Perry said.

Mr Biden has said there’s not a single decision I’ve made yet” about his administration that he hasn’t consulted with Ms Harris on first. She has also interviewed each of Biden’s potential cabinet nominees.

A friendly relationship makes sense between the two, considering it was Ms Harris’ close relationship with Mr Biden’s son, Beau – who died of brain cancer in 2015 – that reportedly sealed the deal for Mr Biden.

It’s a surprise to some who remember Ms Harris’ sharp debate-stage attacks aimed directly at Mr Biden when they were both competing for the Democratic nomination. Biden clearly lets bygones be bygones,” Ms Perry said.

How much influence will Harris have?

Mr Biden is likely to model Ms Harris’ role after his own time as vice-president.

When he introduced her as his running mate at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, he recalled the time he was chosen for the same job by Barack Obama in 2008.

Mr Obama asked what Mr Biden wanted from the role.

I told him I wanted to be the last person in the room before he made important decisions,” Mr Biden said. That’s what I asked Kamala. I asked Kamala to be the last voice in the room. To always tell me the truth.”

What kind of vice-president will Harris be?

Ms Harris joined Mr Biden’s team as a political star in her own right. Though her own presidential bid failed to find its focus and sputtered to an early halt, it earned her a devoted fan following (they call themselves the #KHive).

And despite continued criticism from the left wing of her party, Ms Harris had one of the most liberal voting records in the US Senate, pursuing progressive causes like gay rights, immigration, legalisation of marijuana and gun control. She also has an extensive legal résumé, having served as California’s top lawyer before her Senate bid.

Her legal experience and advocacy for police reform will be useful in a White House that has promised to address systemic” misconduct in US police forces. This summer, amid a wave of Black Lives Matters protests, Ms Harris was a vocal supporter of the demonstrations and called for a reimagining” of US policing.

But as a vice-presidential first” three times over, she will enter office shouldering heavy expectations. While I may be the first woman in this office,” Ms Harris is fond of saying, I will not be the last.”

The historic moment for black Americans is worth celebrating, said Jennifer Edwards, senior director at racial justice organisation Color of Change. But we learned time and time again that representation alone doesn’t lead to transformative change.”

Hundreds of thousands of black women have fought, organised and voted to reach this moment. Now, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris has a responsibility to represent demands of the people who ushered her into office,” she said.

Ms Edwards said she will be looking for progress in Covid-19 economic relief, on criminal justice and voting and election reform.

As the more left-wing half of the political partnership, Ms Harris may face blame for perceived shortfalls here, and elsewhere in their progressive agenda.

And reports that Mr Biden will not seek re-election will mean a balancing act for Ms Harris – how to remain a loyal aide to Mr Biden while also plotting her own run.

What are the potential pitfalls?

Firstly, it’s crucial that the American public see the vice-president as competent, and able to take the reins as commander-in-chief at any moment.

This has not always been the case. President George Bush’s deputy, Dan Quayle, for example, was not viewed as the brightest bulb in the drawer,” Ms Perry said.

The impression was cemented during a visit to an elementary school. A student was called upon to write a word, ‘potato’, on the chalkboard. The student wrote ‘potato’ as it was correctly spelled,’” Ms Perry said. But Vice-President Quayle chipped in, saying the word needed an E at the end.

A vice-president should also avoid getting on their boss’s bad side.

Soon after his 1828 election, President Andrew Jackson developed a deep dislike of Vice-President John Calhoun. The two differed on policy and on Washington’s social scene. The antipathy between the two grew so intense that Mr Calhoun became the first vice-president in US history to resign.

Still, the title for worst vice-presidential mistake probably rests with the country’s third, Aaron Burr. While in office, Mr Burr shot and killed his rival, American founding father Alexander Hamilton, in a duel. But while it ruined his reputation, Mr Burr still completed his term, sheltered from prosecution.

Rohini Kosoglu is a seasoned leader with over fifteen years of experience advising elected officials and candidates and serving in senior roles on national campaigns and Capitol Hill with expertise in managing large and complex organizations, says a write-up on her by the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics.

Since 2017, Kosoglu has served as a senior advisor to U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) in her U.S. Senate office and presidential campaign, Kamala Harris for the People. As Chief of Staff to Harris’ presidential campaign, Kosoglu managed and oversaw debate preparation, policy, communications, and operations for a team with over three-hundred staff with a $40 million budget. Prior to Harris’ presidential race, Kosoglu served as Chief of Staff to Harris in the Senate, directing Harris’ legislative strategy and leadership on key committees, including the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Budget Committees.

Kosoglu was the first South Asian woman to serve as Chief of Staff to a U.S. Senator and was notably the only Asian American to serve in that role during her tenure. Under her leadership, Kosoglu held a commitment to creating a diverse and representative staff by developing a talent pipeline that led to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies naming Harris’ office as the most diverse on Capitol Hill.

Kosoglu’s career on Capitol Hill has also included leadership positions with leading Democratic Senators, including U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). During her tenure, Kosoglu led negotiations on numerous bipartisan legislation, with a focus on the economy and health care. Most notably, Kosoglu served as a key advisor during the drafting and passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Kosoglu has received numerous awards for her legislative accomplishments, including the Rising Star Award from the Women’s Campaign Forum and organizations such as Pew Charitable Trust, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and the National Rural Health Association. She has also been a featured speaker for the Democratic National Committee, the National Education Association, and Kauffman Center for Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. In 2020, Kosoglu served as a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School leading a weekly discussion on navigating careers in political campaigns and Capitol Hill.

Kosoglu received a B.A. in English with Honors from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University. She currently resides in the Washington D.C. area with her husband and three sons.

(With a few additions from newsin.asia and the website of the Harvard Kennedy School of Politics)

Sandun A Jayasekara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lanka has ventured into gold exploration to determine whether the country has gold deposits to be exploited commercially, a senior official of the Environment Ministry said.

Secretary of the Ministry of Environment- Dr. Anil Jasinghe told Daily Mirror that a discussion was held last week with the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) and the Department of Wild Life Conservation to see the possibility of issuing a license to carry out excavation at Seruwawila in the Trincomalee District for gold.

A survey conducted in 1970 at Seruwawila had revealed that there was gold in small quantities in a deposit of iron- ore mixed with copper. What we are trying to ascertain is that whether there is gold in iron deposits to be commercially exploited,” Dr. Jasinghe said.

He expressed reservations on the exaggeration of certain media that a vast deposit of gold had been found in Seruwawila which was incorrect. 

Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Muslims have become reluctant to go to hospital as they are being cremated if they succumb to COVID-19, MP Rishad Bathiudeen told Parliament today.

“Muslims are scared to go to hospital as they are afraid that they will be cremated if they succumb to COVID-19,” Mr. Bathiudeen said.

“Some Government MPs are misinterpreting the holy Quran saying it has not forbidden cremation. One has to read the Quran in an honest manner to understand the truth,” he added.

“Muslims have got saddened, as an infant who succumbed to COVID-19 last Saturday has been cremated,” he also said.

Also he said Muslim businessmen have been affected by the isolation of Muslim areas including Kattankudy.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

Another individual has fallen victim to the deadly novel coronavirus today (January 20), the Director-General of Health Services confirmed.

The deceased is a 53-year-old female residing in the Mallawagedara area in Negombo.

Upon being diagnosed as a COVID-19 patient, she had been transferred from the Negombo District Hospital to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Angoda.

However, she had succumbed to the disease today.

The cause of her death has been determined as acute diabetes and blood poisoning caused by coronavirus infection.

Thereby, the total count of fatalities Sri Lanka has witnessed due to COVID-19 is 274.

Courtesy Hiru News

With 389 persons testing positive for COVID-19 infection the country total increased to 55,189. 

So far 770 persons have been reported for the day.

In January more than 11,000 cases have been reported with a daily average of over 600. In January the daily reported numbers have been increasing and this is the Sri Lanka is now closing in on Montenegro in the list of worst affected countries. Yesterday Sri Lanka overtook Afghanistan with the cases reported. 

By ASOKA BANDARAGE courtesy of Asia Times

According to the mainstream narrative, US President Donald Trump’s incitement of his supporters during the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory led to the insurrection” at the US Capitol on January 6, resulting in the banning of Trump’s social-media accounts and his second impeachment by Congress.

According to so-called conspiracy theories, however, Biden’s victory in the November presidential election was stolen” from Trump through electoral fraud, and the storming of the Capitol was staged or allowed to happen in order to bring about Trump’s impeachment and prevent him from coming back to power in 2024.

It may be even more complicated; a report by the Swiss Policy Research website, for example, suggests that the right-wing QAnon movement, heavily supportive of Trump and prominent at the event, like Russiagate, is the product of a psy-op (psychological operation) launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to discredit Trump.

The public may never know the truth behind the January 6 events, the mysterious Deep State” or the growing polarization between so-called pro-Trump white supremacist domestic terrorists” and the anti-Trump multicultural, progressive liberals.

However, the search for peace, justice and democracy at this critical time requires transcending simplistic polarizations and understanding the systemic roots of the conflict that is tearing America apart.

Polarization

Donald Trump is a member of the ruling elite representing its own interests. His assaults on the environment and mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic have put the entire country at risk.

While claiming to represent the interests of the alienated and underprivileged white population, he introduced massive tax cuts and corporate deregulation, worsening their social and economic positions. His rhetoric against minorities and immigrants has exacerbated racial and ethnic tensions and political extremism.

Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, heavily funded by the billionaire class, also represent elite interests at the expense of the general population. Under Barack Obama’s administration, economic inequality increased and black poverty, mass unemployment and police brutality persisted.

The identity-focused rhetoric of liberals has stimulated racial and ethnic politics, and the rise of groups like Black Lives Matter. Often portrayed as progressive and radical,” BLM has been significantly co-opted by corporate liberal interests and has received extensive funding from leading corporations including Amazon and Microsoft.

The corporate media have aided and abetted disunity and violence by silencing moderate and alternative voices that seek to understand and question the motives and strategies of both pro and anti-Trump extremists.

The polarization of politics and media hinder and mask an understanding and dialogue needed to move forward. For example, is there an equal risk of fascism, albeit more insidious, arising from the corporate liberals opposing Trump?

Reclaiming perspective

A handful of corporations led by big tech and finance control the US political process and practically all aspects of society. The overwhelming focus on identity politics deflects attention from the dangers of deepening techno-corporate control and the destruction of freedom of speech.

The events of January 6 have already contributed to plans for a federal law against domestic terrorism” and the criminalization of dissent, which would likely be based on the 2019 Confronting the Threat of Domestic Terrorism Act introduced by US Representative Adam Schiff. Anti-terrorism acts, such as the Patriot Act, are notorious for being used to crush dissent and marginalized groups.

Systemic violence and repression are not new to the United States. The noble ideals of democracy, freedom and human rights aside, the US was founded on plunder of the land and exploitation of people ­– native Americans, blacks, Asians, and underprivileged whites as well.

Likewise, the American Empire was established and maintained with systematic plunder and exploitation and massive military and political interventions around the world that continue today.

The Empire’s costly military adventures (the US defense budget approved for 2021 is now up to $740 billion), along with global economic shifts such as manufacturing and job outsourcing and displacement by technology, have impoverished large segments of the American population, both white and people of color.

Corporate deregulation and the decimation of labor unions weakened the working class and strengthened corporate authoritarianism. In recent decades, the Republican and Democratic parties have differed little in their pursuit of corporate and imperial interests.

While the United States has had a history of social movements for people’s rights including labor and civil rights, recent initiatives for systemic change have experienced serious setbacks.

The anti-globalization movement that came to prominence during the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle in 1999 was undermined by the Patriot Act (with Joe Biden being a key architect) and other policies introduced soon after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Occupy Wall Street movement that emerged after the 2008 financial crisis and its slogan We are the 99%” brought attention to the excesses of the financial sector and growing economic inequality. But this movement also dissipated, largely because of state and corporate tactics of division, repression and propaganda.

In the electoral realm, despite an unprecedented grassroots movement backing him, Bernie Sanders was blocked from winning the Democratic presidential nomination by the party elite in both 2016 and 2020.

The ideals of true socioeconomic reform have been squashed and subverted by the liberal establishment adopting the language of the progressive left but equating justice with racial and gender diversity and playing down economic equality. This reframing channels progressive energy away from threatening corporate control and profit into a safe zone of identity politics, which only further divides and disempowers the general population.

Techno-oligarchy

Just as unemployed and uninsured Americans are pleading for support during the Covid crisis, the combined wealth of US billionaires surpassed $1 trillion in gains since March 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic,” according to a study by the Institute for Policy Studies.

The top five US billionaires – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison – saw their wealth grow by a total of $101.7 billion, or 26%, during this short period. The increasing digitalization of life during this period represent an enormous augmentation of the political and ideological power of the technocratic oligarchs.

Silicon Valley tech firms, financial supporters of Joe Biden, withdrew attention from issues potentially harmful to his campaign. Even some left-leaning media platforms refused to publish an article critical of Biden just before the election. Such a move by The Intercept led its co-founder, investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, to resign.

Social-media companies swiftly deleted the accounts of President Trump and thousands of others after the January 6 event on Capitol Hill on grounds that they incited violence and extremism.

While it is true that hate speech and incitement of violence should not be allowed, should a handful of unrepresentative, unregulated tech corporations, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and YouTube, exercise social and political control that exceed that of the state elected to represent people’s interests? Who decides what is appropriate and inappropriate, and on what grounds?

Clearly, democratic policies and institutions are needed to oversee the right of free speech guaranteed under the First Amendment of the US constitution.

Elizabeth Warren, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, called for corporate accountability and planned to introduce policies for deregulation including the breakup of monopolistic companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google.

However, given lack of support from the dominant corporate wing of the Democratic Party, Warren was not able to secure even the vice-presidential nomination over Kamala Harris, the choice of the liberal corporate establishment.

System change

The mainstream narrative propagated around the world paints a rosy picture of a return to a post-Trump era of freedom and democracy with the Biden-Harris inauguration this Wednesday.

However, even if Trump is barred from running for office in 2024, the attitudes and grievances of the 70 million or more Americans who voted for him are unlikely to dissipate without serious efforts for change from those in power, and not just a return to corporate-dominated gesture-liberalism.

Indeed, all the issues of polarization and the inherent racism of society cannot be reduced to economic inequality and corporate dominance. Yet there has to be recognition of the suffering and despair of ordinary people on both sides, be they incarcerated blacks or unemployed whites.

As economic inequality deepens and the middle class disappears, vast segments of people of color as well as whites have become economically desperate and politically alienated from the status quo.

In the absence of genuine leaders to unite people and bring fundamental change, self-interested parties exploit and fuel discontent, anger and hatred by directing it toward one another. Use of epithets such as criminals and rapists” against Latino immigrants by Trump and basket of deplorables” against Trump supporters by Hillary Clinton have only fueled division and animosity.

Political street warfare” between the extreme-right Trump supporters and extreme-left anti-fascist groups is now a common occurrence across the US.

It is urgent that more and more people speak up and help move society beyond the polarization that is helping solidify techno-corporate totalitarianism and the police state. The us-vs-them, good-vs-bad dualism needs to be overcome with an appreciation of inherent human and planetary interdependence and the need for freedom and justice for all.

To quote the words of Robert F Kennedy on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr on June 6, 1968:

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. You can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization … filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort … to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.…

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.”TAGGED:Joe BidenOpinionUS Capitol siegeUS politics

ASOKA BANDARAGE

Asoka Bandarage PhD is the author of Sustainability and Well-Being, The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Women, Population and Global Crisis, Colonialism in Sri Lanka and many other publications. She serves on the boards of the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate and Critical Asian Studies and has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke, Georgetown, American and other universities. More by Asoka Bandarage

ප්‍රවෘත්තී නිවේදනය -නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

      අනාගත ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මුහුණපාන්නට වන ප්‍රධාන අභියෝග අතරින් තීරණාත්මක සංසිද්ධිය වන්නේ බලශක්තියයි. මෙරට සංවර්ධන ක්‍රියාවලියේදි දැනටමත් ක්‍රියාත්මක අති දැවැන්ත ව්‍යාපෘති ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේදි විදුලිය සැපයීම අභියෝගයට ලක්ව තිබේ. මෙම බලශක්ති උත්පාදනය හා කළමනාකරණයේදී මුහුණදීමට සිදුවන ගැටලු සඳහා ප්‍රායෝගික විසඳුමක් වන්නේ කෙටිකාලීනව ක්‍රියාකළ හැකි පාරිසරික හානිය අවම වන බලශක්ති උත්පාදන ක්‍රමවේදයකි.

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්‍යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් අමත්‍යංශය යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක ශ්‍රී ලංකා නව නිපැයුම්කරුවන්ගේ කොමිසම, සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරිය සමඟ එක්ව පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති උත්පාදනය සඳහා නව නිපැයුම්කරුවන් හට දොරගුළු විවර කර තිබේ. ඒ අනුව පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති උත්පාදනය සඳහා නව අදහස් , නව නිර්මාණයන් සතු නවෝත්පාදකයින් වේනම් නව නිර්මාණ දැනටමත් ඔබ සතුනම් හෝ නව නිර්මාණ නිපදවීමට ඔබ උනන්දුනම් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නව නිපැයුම්කරුවන්ගේ කොමිසම සමඟ එක්ව එය යථාර්ථයක් කරගත හැකි වේ.

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ජාතික අර්බුදයට විසඳුම් සෙවීමට හා හරිත ආර්ථිකයක් උදෙසා පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්ති උත්පාදනයට දායක වීම හරහා නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්‍යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් අමාත්‍යංශය තුළින් රටෙහි අනාගතය උදෙසා නවෝත්පාදිත තාක්ෂණයේ නව නියමුවන් රටට දායද කළ හැකිය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

මීට දින කීපයකට පෙර මම හිටපු එෆ්. බී. අයි (Federal Bureau of Investigation) නිලධාරියෙකු වූ ගැරී නොස්නර් (Gary Noesner) සමග වේකෝ වැටලීම (Waco Siege)  පිලිබඳව කතා කලෙමි. ගැරී නොස්නර් එෆ්. බී. අයි හි විමර්ශකයෙකු, උපදේශකයෙකු සහ සාකච්ඡාකරුවෙකු ලෙස වසර 30 ක කාලයක් සේවය කලේය.  ඔහු එෆ්. බී. අයි හි අර්බුද සාකච්ඡා ඒකකයේ ප්‍රධානියා විය. වේකෝ වැටලීම සිදුවූ අවස්ථාවේදී ගැරී නොස්නර් ආගමික මූලධර්මවාදී ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් සමග සාකච්ඡා කරමින් ජීවිත හානියකින් තොරව ගැටුම සමථයකට පත් කර ගැනීමට අඩිතාලම දමමින් සිටියේය. එහෙත් නිලධාරීවාදය උත්සන්න වීම නිසා නිසා ගැරී නොස්නර් ගේ සාම සාකච්ඡා පරයා මිලිටරි විසඳුම යුධ සහ උන්නතිකාමී නිලධරීන් පිරිසක් විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදි. මේ නිසා ගැරී නොස්නර් පසකට විසි විය. ඉන් පසුව සිදු වූයේ අප සියළු දෙනා දන්නා ජීවිත විශාල ගනනක් විනාශ වූ වේකෝ ඉතිහාසයයි. 

වේකෝ වැටලීමේ කතාව ඛේදවාචකයකි. එය ආගමික නිදහස, ෆෙඩරල් ආණ්ඩුවේ අයිතිවාසිකම් සහ සීමාවන් පිළිබඳ එකඟ නොවීම් සහ නීත්‍යානුකූල ආගමක් යන්නෙන් අදහස් කරන්නේ කුමක්ද යන්න පිළිබඳ කතාවකි. සමහරෙකුට එය රජය අභිබවා යාමේ කතාවයි. මා හට එය ගැරී නොස්නර් සහ ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් ගේ කතාවයි. 

මේ කතාව සිදු වන්නේ 1993 වසරේදීය. 

මුලින්ම අප ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් යනු කවරෙක්ද කියා සොයා බලමු. අස්ථාවර පවුල් පසුබිමකින් පීඩා විඳි දරුවෙකු වන වර්නන් වේන් හොවෙල්   (ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් )   උපත ලැබුවේ 1959 දීය. ඔහු 1980 ගණන්වල බෝන් එගෙයින්  කිතුනුවකු බවට පත්විය.ඔහු දක්‍ෂිණ බැප්ටිස්ට් පල්ලියට සම්බන්ධ වූ අතර පසුව සෙවන්ත් ඩේ ඇඩ්වෙන්ටිස්ට් පල්ලියකට මාරු විය   ඔහු තම නම ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් ලෙසට වෙනස් කර ගත්තේය.   ඔහු විසින් ටෙක්සාස්හි ඇක්ස්ටෙල් හි පිහිටි අක්කර 77 කින් යුතු වූ   මවුන්ට් කර්මෙල් සෙන්ටර් ගොවිපොළේ  බයිබල් අධ්‍යන අංශයක් පිහිටවන ලදි.  මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ ළමුන් ඇතුළු අනුගාමිකයන් 80 පමණ පිරිසක් වාසය කළහ. ඔවුන් ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගමික ව්‍යාපාරයක් වන සෙවන්ත් ඩේ ඇඩ්වෙන්ටිස්ට්වරුන්ගේ ශාඛාවක් වන ඩේවිඩියන්ස්” (ඩේවිඩ්වරුන්ගේ) ආගමික නිකායට අයත් වූහ.   ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් , ඩේවිඩ් ශාඛාවේ අනාගතවක්තෘවරයා හා නායකයා විය. 

කෝරෙෂ්ගේ ඉගැන්වීම් කෙරෙහි මිනිසුන් ආකර්ෂණය වූයේ ඔහු ලෝක අවසාන දින පිළිබඳව බයිබලානුකුල අනාවැකි ඒත්තු ගැන්වෙන ලෙස විග්‍රහ කළ නිසාය. ඔහු කල්ට් නායකයෙකු විය. ඔහු  තුවක්කු භාවිතය දිරිමත් කරමින්, දිනෙන් දින වර්ධනය වන එළිදරව් අනාවැකි දේශනා කරමින් සිටියේය. ලෝකයේ අවසානය පැමිණෙන බව කෝරෙෂ් නිරන්තරයෙන් අනුගාමිකයන්ට පැවසූ අතර තම කණ්ඩායම කවදා හෝ එක්සත් ජනපද ආන්ඩුවේ ප්‍රහාරයකට ලක්වනු ඇතැයි ඔහු විශ්වාස කලේය.  ඒ නිසා ඔහු තුවක්කු සහ පතොරම් තොග ගබඩා කිරීම ආරම්භ කළේය. හිටපු අනුගාමිකයන් පවසන පරිදි  තමා දෙවියන්ගේ මෙහෙවරක යෙදී සිටින බව කෝරෙෂ් සැබවින්ම විශ්වාස කළ  අතර  බයිබලය සහ එහි සැබෑ අරුත ජනතාවට අර්ථ නිරූපණය කළ හැකි එකම තැනැත්තා ඔහු බව සිතුවේය.

ඩේවිඩ් කොරෙෂ් ආගමික මූලධර්මවාදියෙකු වූ අතර ඔහු තමන් මෙසායා හෙවත් ගැලවුම්කරුවෙකු බවත්  කෙනෙකු බවත්, තමාගෙන් උපන් ඕනෑම දරුවෙකු පරිශුද්ධ බවත් දේශනා කලේය. මේ හේතුව නිසා ඔහු ඩේවිඩ් ශාඛාවේ කාන්තාවන් සමඟ බහුවිධ විවාහ” වල නිරත වූ අතර ඔවුන්ගෙන් සමහරෙක් බාල වයස්කරුවන් වූ අතර අවම වශයෙන් දරුවන් 13 දෙනෙකුගේ පියෙක් බවට පත් විය. ඩේවිඩ් කොරෙෂ් ගේ අනුගාමිකයෝ ඔහුව අන්ධ භක්තියකින් යුතුව අදහන ලදි. ඔවුන්ට ඩේවිඩ් කොරෙෂ් අනාගතවක්තෘවරයකු මෙන්ම තම එකම ගැලවුම්කරුවා විය. මේ නිසා ඔවුන් පිලිපැද්දේ ඩේවිඩ් කොරෙෂ් ගේ නියෝගය.

මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ ලිංගික අපයෝජන සිදු වන බවට සහ මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ නීති විරෝධී ආයුධ තොගයක් ගබඩා කර ඇති බවට පැමිණිලි ලැබී තිබූ නිසා සෝදිසි වරෙන්තුවක් ලබා ගත් මත්පැන්, දුම්කොළ හා ගිනි අවි කාර්‍යාංශය (ඒටීඑෆ්) විසින් 1993 පෙබරවාරි 28 වන ඉරිදා උදෑසන මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානය පරික්‍ෂා කිරීමට පැමිණි අතර එහිදී සිදුවූ වෙඩි හුවමාරුවකින් රජයේ නියෝජිතයන් හතර දෙනෙකු සහ ඩේවිඩ් ශාඛාවේ අනුගාමිකයන්  හය දෙනෙකු මිය ගියහ.  වෙඩි පහර අතරතුර කෝරෙෂ් තුවාල ලැබීය. එහෙත් ඔහු දිගටම තම අනුගාමිකයන් දිරිමත් කරවමින් ඔවුන්ට දේශන පැවැත්වීය. 

මත්පැන්, දුම්කොළ හා ගිනි අවි කාර්‍යාංශය සමග සිදුවූ අවි ගැටුමින් පසුව එෆ්. බී. අයි   නිලධාරීන් විසින් මවුන්ට් කර්මෙල් මධ්‍යස්ථානය වටලන  ලදි. ආරක්‍ෂක ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය සහ ආක්‍රමණශීලී ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ්  මෙහිදී භාවිතා කලේය. ඔහුගේ වැඩිහිටි පිරිමි අනුගාමිකයෝ කුඩා ආයුධ වලින් සන්නද්ධව සිටියහ. මුලදී ඩේවිඩියන්වරු ප්‍රාදේශීය පුවත් මාධ්‍ය සමඟ දුරකථන සම්බන්ධතා පැවැත්වූ අතර ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ්  ඔවුනට දුරකථන සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡා ලබා දුන්නේය. පසුව එෆ්. බී. අයි   නිලධාරීන්    ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් ගේ  සන්නිවේදනය කපා හැරියේය. එෆ්. බී. අයි  නිලධාරීන්  මවුන්ට් කර්මෙල්  මධ්‍යස්ථානය වටලා අනුගාමිකයන්ට ඉවතට එන ලෙසට නියෝග කරන ලදි. එලියට ආවේ ස්වල්ප පිරිසකි. දෙවියන් වහන්සේ තමාට ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ රැඳී සිටින්නට  කියා පැවසූ නිසා තමන් එලියට නොඑන බව ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් දන්වා සිටියේය . ඔහු සමග පුද්ගලයින් 98 දෙනෙකු ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ රැඳී සිටියහ. 

එෆ්.බී.අයි නිලධාරීන් විසින්   ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ්  සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීම සඳහා ගැරී නොස්නර්ව ගෙන්වන ලදි. ගැරී නොස්නර් සාර්ථක ලෙස ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් සමග සන්නිවේදනයේ යෙදෙමින් මාස 19 සිට අවුරුදු 12 දක්වා ළමයින් 19 දෙනෙකු නිදහස් කර ගැනීමට සමත් විය. ගැරී නොස්නර් සහ එෆ්.බී.අයි නිලධාරීන් කෝරෙෂ් සමඟ පැය 60 ක ආසන්න කාලයක් සාකච්ඡා පවත්වන ලදි.  ගැරී නොස්නර් සමඟ කළ සාකච්ඡාවලදී ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් තමන් සමූහ සියදිවි නසා ගැනීමක් සැලසුම් නොකරන බව තරයේ කියා සිටියේය.  එක් අවස්ථාවකදී ඔහු සතියක් ඇතුලත තම අනුගාමිකයන් සමග පිටතට ඒමට එකඟ විය. එහෙත් සමහර එෆ්.බී.අයි නිලධාරීන්ට අවශ්‍ය වූයේ ඉක්මන් මිලිටරි විසඳුමකි. මේ නිසා සාකච්ඡා අවසන් කොට ගොඩනැගිල්ලට ප්‍රහාරයක් එල්ල කිරීමට ඔවුන් උත්සුක වූහ. මෙම තීන්දුවට ගැරී නොස්නර් එකඟ නොවීය.  නොස්නර් සම්බන්ධ වූයේ ගැටුමේ පළමු දින 25 තුළ පමණි. ඉන් පසු ඔහුව ඉවත් කරන ලදි. එෆ්. බී. අයි   හි වඩාත් ආක්‍රමණශීලී භූමිකාවක් රඟ දැක්වීමට කැමතිවූ සාමාජිකයන්ට එෆ්. බී. අයි   සාකච්ඡාකරු ගැරී නොස්නර් බාධාවක්  විය.   

අනුගාමිකයන් බලහත්කාරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම සඳහා මෙහිදී වැඩි වැඩියෙන් ආක්‍රමණශීලී උපක්‍රම භාවිතා කරන ලදී. එෆ්. බී. අයි   නිලධාරීන්  ගොඩනැගිල්ලට විදුලිය හා ජලය සැපයූ මාර්ග අවහිර කරන ලදි.   එහෙත් ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ්  ඇතුළු අනුගාමිකයන් යටත් වූයේ නැත. ගැරී නොස්නර් ගේ අණාවැකි සත්‍යක් බවට පසක් කරමින් ඔවුන් වඩ වඩාත් මුරණ්ඩු වූහ. දින 51   කාලයක් පුරා ඔවුන් ගොඩනැගිල්ල තුල රැඳී සිටියහ.

මෙම ප්‍රාහාරය සඳහා බ්‍රැඩ්ලි ටැංකි දහයක්, ඒබ්‍රම්ස් ටැංකි දෙකක්, සටන් ඉංජිනේරු වාහන හතරක්, එෆ්.බී.අයි නියෝජිතයින් හයසිය හැට අටක්, ටෙක්සාස් ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂක බළකායේ සාමාජිකයින් දහතුනක්, ටෙක්සාස් රේන්ජර්ස් තිස් එක් දෙනෙකු, ටෙක්සාස් මහජන ආරක්‍ෂාව පිළිබඳ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නිලධාරීන් එකසිය තිස් එක් දෙනෙකු, මැක්ලෙනන් කවුන්ටි ෂෙරිෆ් කාර්‍යාලයෙන් 17 දෙනෙකු සහ වේකෝ පොලිස් නිලධාරීන්  දහඅට දෙනෙකු   එක්ව සිටි අතර ඇමරිකානු ඉතිහාසයේ සිවිල් සැකකරුවෙකුට එරෙහිව මෙතෙක් රැස්කර ඇති විශාලතම හමුදා බලකාය බවට වාර්තා වෙයි. 1993 අප්‍රියෙල් 19 වන අවසාන වැටලීමේදී ආයුධ සන්නද්ධ වාහන මගින්  ගොඩනැගිල්ලට  කඳුළු ගෑස් ගසන ලද අතර එමගින් ගින්නක් ඇති විය. ඉන් පසුව ඇතිවූ ගැටුම සහ පැතිරී ගිය ගින්න නිසා   අනුගාමිකයන් 76 ක් මිය ගිය අතර, ළමුන් 25 ක්, ගර්භනී කාන්තාවන් දෙදෙනෙකු සහ ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් ද මිය ගිය පිරිස අතර වූහ.   ප්‍රහාරය අවසන් වූයේ මහා විනාශයකිනි 

වේකෝ වැටලීම සිය වෘත්තියේ විශාලතම අත්හදා බැලීම්වලින් එකක් බව ගැරී නොස්නර් පවසයි. යම් ලෙසකින් තමන් ගේ උසස් නිලධාරීන් ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ්  සමග  තව දුරටත් සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට ඉඩ සලසා දුන්නේ නම් මේ මහා විනාශය වළකා ලීමට අවකාශයක් තිබූ බව ගැරී නොස්නර් විස්වාස කරයි. වේකෝ වැටලීම සහ සිදුවූ විනාශය එතැනින් අවසන් වූයේ නැත. වේකෝ සිද්ධීන්  සම්බන්ධයෙන් පළිගැනීම සඳහා වැකෝ වටලෑමේ දෙවන සංවත්සරයේදී,   තිමතී මැක්වීග් විසින් ඔක්ලහෝමා සිටි බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය දියත් කරන ලදි .මෙම ප්‍රහාරයෙන් එක්සත් ජනපද රජයේ කාර්‍යාල සංකීර්ණයක් වන ඇල්ෆ්‍රඩ් පී. මුරා ෆෙඩරල් ගොඩනැගිල්ල විනාශ විය. මෙම මාරාන්තික ත්‍රස්ත ක්‍රියාවෙන් පුද්ගලයන්  168 දෙනෙකු මරු දුටූහ. යම් ලෙසකින් ගැරී නොස්නර් සාකච්ඡා වටයකින් වේකෝ වැටලීම සංසිඳවා දැමුයේ නම් අපට ඔක්ලහෝමා සිටි බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය පිලිබඳව අසන්නට නොලැබෙනු ඇත.

සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම මට ගැරී නොස්නර් යනු ජීවිත බේරාගත් සහ  තව ජීවිත බේරා ගැනීමට උත්සහ කල වීරයෙකි. වේකෝ වැටලීම සිදු වන අවස්ථාවේදී එෆ්.බී.අයි පාර්ශවය මෙන්ම ඩේවිඩ් කෝරෙෂ් පාර්ශවය අතර සිටි එකම තර්කාන්විත සහ සිහිවත් (sane  ) පුද්ගලයා ඔහුය. ඔහුගේ මැදිහත්වීම නිසා ළමුන් 21 දෙනෙකු ඇතුළුව 35 දෙනෙකු ආරක්‍ෂිතව මුදා හැරීමට හැකි වීම ජයග්‍රහණයකි.

අවසානයේදී වේකෝ වැටලීම පිලිබඳව අද දිනයේ ඔබ සිතන්නේ කුමක්ද කියා ගැරී නොස්නර් ගෙන් මම ඇසුවෙමි. පහත දැක්වෙන්නේ ඔහු මා හට දුන් පිළිතුරය 

” I would only say that the tragedy of Waco should serve to illustrate that life is not black and white, yes or no.   In reality, life is complicated and nuanced.    There were good people on both sides of the incident and some bad decisions made on both sides as well.   Many seem to want to condemn one side or the other exclusively, not wanting to delve into the facts surrounding this real-life tragedy.    I am proud my negotiation team secured the safe release of 35 people, including 21 children,  but saddened by the tragic outcome.   While I have been a critic of some FBI management decisions at Waco, my firm belief is that David Koresh held it within his power to safely lead his people out every single day of the siege, yet refused to do so”  

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

Courtesy Ceylon Today

Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Seychelles will begin to receive Covid  19 vaccines from India tomorrow, according to a media release issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

Sri Lanka too could have been on this list and could have begun to receive shipments of the vaccine tomorrow yet that will not be the case because Sri Lanka is yet to provide “confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances” to India. 

The release by the Indian External Affairs Ministry notes that it is awaiting necessary clearances from Sri Lanka Afghanistan and Mauritius to begin shipping the vaccine. 

The Government of Sri Lanka has been busy preparing for the arrival of tourists from other countries as they are all set to reopen the airports on the 21st. However, Sri Lankans will have to wait a while longer to see airplanes touching down on Sri Lankan tarmacs with life-saving vaccines. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A candidate COVID-19 vaccine known as EpiVacCorona, Russia’s second to be registered, proved 100% effective” in early-stage trials, Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor has told local media.

The data, based on Phase I and II trials, were released before the start of a larger Phase III trial which would normally involve thousands of participants and a placebo group as a comparison, Reuters reported.

The effectiveness of the vaccine is made up of its immunological effectiveness and preventative effectiveness,” the TASS news agency reported, citing Rospotrebnadzor.

According to results of the first and second phases of clinical trials, the immunological effectiveness of the EpiVacCorona vaccine is 100%.”

The Phase I and II studies tested the safety, side-effects and immunogenicity of the potential vaccine in 100 people aged 18-60, according to the state trials register.

Typically early-stage vaccine tests on humans are based on blood readings showing an immune response in participants who have not been exposed to the virus, while the results of larger late-stage trials are based on actual infections suffered by participants in their normal lives.

Russia began testing EpiVacCorona, which is being developed by Siberia’s Vector Institute, in November.

Earlier that month, Moscow said its other approved vaccine, Sputnik V, was 92% effective at protecting people from COVID-19 based on interim results.

Russia has said it can inoculate 60% of its population against COVID-19 this year, and although the Sputnik V vaccine has been readily available in Moscow, the rollout across the country has been slow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered mass vaccinations to start this week.

EpiVacCorona will be used in mass vaccinations from March, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told the Interfax news agency.

Russia has reported 3,612,800 coronavirus cases, the world’s fourth-highest total. Its death toll from the virus stands at 66,623.

Courtesy Adaderana

India will begin supplying Covid-19 vaccines to six neighbouring and key partner countries with effect from tomorrow (January 20).

Thereby, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles will be the first recipients to get acquire the India-manufactured vaccines.

However, India is still awaiting the confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India, in a statement published today (January 19), said the country has received several requests for the supply of Covid-19 vaccines manufactured in India.

In keeping with its stated commitment to using India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity to help fight the Covid pandemic, India plans to kick off vaccine export tomorrow.

The immunization programme is being implemented in India, as in other countries, in a phased manner to cover the healthcare providers, frontline workers and the most vulnerable, the statement read further. 

Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner. It will be ensured that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad.”

Prior to the delivery of vaccines, a training programme, covering administrative and operational aspects, is being conducted on 19th and 20th of January 2021 for immunization managers, cold chain officers, communication officers and data managers of the recipient countries, both at national and provincial levels.

India had earlier supplied hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and paracetamol tablets, as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies to a large number of countries during the COVID19 pandemic.”

India has also provided training to several neighbouring countries to enhance and strengthen their clinical capabilities, under the Partnerships for Accelerating Clinical Trials (PACT) programme. Separately, several training courses have been organized for healthcare workers and administrators of partner countries under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, sharing our experience in dealing with the pandemic.

India says it will continue to supply countries all over the world with vaccines, in keeping with the ongoing efforts. This will be calibrated against domestic requirements and international demand and obligations, including under GAVI’s Covax facility to developing countries.”

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has confirmed three new Covid-19 related deaths today (January 19), says the Department of Government Information.

Following the new development, total lives in the country claimed by the coronavirus outbreak reached 273.

The first victim is a 68-year-old man who was residing in Aranayake area. He was transferred from Mawanella Base Hospital to Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital after testing positive for the virus. According to reports, he was suffering from an infection in the respiratory system caused by Covid-19 pneumonia, at the time of his passing yesterday.

A 48-year-old woman from Colombo 06 area also fell victim to novel coronavirus. She had been under medical care at a private hospital in Colombo. However, upon testing positive, moved to Dr Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital where she died on Sunday (January 17). The cause of death was cited as Covid-19 infection and heart attack.

In the meantime, a 70-year-old woman who was identified as a resident of Maligawatte area died of respiratory failure caused by Covid-19 infection. She was under medical care at Dr Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital at the time of her death.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka registered 332 more positive cases of Covid-19 today (January 19) as the daily total climbed to 669.

Department of Government Information confirmed that 323 of the newly-identified patients are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda fish market.

The remaining 09 positive cases were confirmed as arrivals from foreign countries; 08 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 01 from Poland.

As per statistics, the total number of Covid-19 infections confirmed in the country to date now stands at 54,419.

Recoveries from the virus meanwhile climbed to 46,594 earlier today, as 774 more patients regained health.

However, 7,555 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres located across the island.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General has declared the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact to be inconsistent with the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

According to State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, the Coordinating Officer of the Attorney General, the Attorney General has advised the Secretary to the President on the matter through a 20-page detailed instruction letter.

The advice of the Attorney General has been based observations made by relevant state and other institutions, the report of the Committee appointed by the Prime Minister, provisions and conditions of the MCC Compact and relevant articles, and observations made by the Foreign Resources Department and the Foreign Ministry.

The Attorney General has found that the MCC Compact and the Program Implementation Agreement (PIA) and Articles of Association of MCA are inconsistent with the written laws and the Constitution.

Therefore, the Attorney General informed the Secretary to the President that there are legal impediments to the implementation of these agreements as they are.

On the request of former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, the MCC had conducted an evaluation in terms of their investment criteria and selected Sri Lanka as a qualified country to receive grant funding under their Compact Investment Program.

Under the grant, MCC had agreed to kick off a USD 350 million transport project and a USD 67 million land project in Sri Lanka. The remaining USD 63 million was to be allocated to support technical assistance, feasibility and design studies, project administration, and monitoring and evaluation.

However, the proposed grant assistance agreement was met with strong disapproval from various parties citing that it adversely affects the sovereignty of the country as it would pave way for defense deals with the US.

An Experts’ Committee was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to review the proposed MCC Compact MCC and its final report submitted to the government in June 2020, urges the government to reject the agreement. 

Subsequently, MCC decided to discontinue the proposed compact of USD 480 million with Sri Lanka last December.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

India has signed many military agreements with US and has cemented a firm military link with USA.  In recognition of this, in December 2020 US President Trump presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi with America’s highest military decoration, Legion of Merit. This is a rarely-awarded, prestigious decoration. It shows how highly US rates its link with India.

US and India both wish to contain China, but India does not intend to be a junior partner to US. An ally of the US may be, but not a pawn, said analysts. India wishes to increase her stature as the number one power in the region. However, by taking a leadership role in the Quad, India has moved away from the basic principles of Panchaseela and Non-alignment, commented critics.

India wishes to continue its relationship with its former ally, Russia. In 2018 India had a deal with Russia to purchase     S-400 air defense system, ignoring US warning.  In September 2019 India signed an ‘agreement on reciprocal logistical support” with Russia. 

India has its own military plans. In 2017 India obtained logistics facilities in Singapore for Indian warships to refuel and get water in their operational turnaround.  Since 2018, India has been given logistics facilities at Nha Trang on the Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. India is the only country to receive this facility.

But India will not find it easy. India has failed to establish good relations with its two most powerful neighbors, China and Pakistan.   Instead India has angered both and now China and Pakistan are getting ready to   hit India. Pakistan is a formidable military power.

It will be a simple matter for Pakistan and China to join hands in attacking India. The possibility of collusion between these two military adversaries of India is high, said experts in 2020. In January 2021, Indian army stated that there was a visible collusion between China and Pakistan and   it is now manifesting itself on the ground.  India is aware that Pakistan and China are sharing intelligence.

When they attack, China will grab a chunk of the north Indian border and Pakistan will try to seize Kashmir, since Indian troops would be reduced in Kashmir.  India will have to face a two-and-a-half- front- war, said experts, China in the north, Pakistan in the west, and a well planned insurgency in Kashmir.  India cannot possibly win such a war.

 India is completely unprepared for a two-front conflict, let alone a two-and-a-half front war, said India’s military.  India’s army is not large enough or well equipped. It will not be possible to move troops and resources from one front to another, either. However hard the Indian army fights it will not be able to win against the combination of China and Pakistan.

India must now hurry up and settle matters with either Pakistan or China, said advisers. China is a bigger challenge than Pakistan so   it is best to approach China. But that will be difficult. The Chinese have got a vision and a plan, admitted India.

China plans to challenge India on all possible fronts. In 2019, India revoked the limited autonomy granted to Jammu and Kashmir and turned them into union territories of India. The Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations complained about this  in a closed-door informal session of the U.N. Security Council saying that this affected the Ladakh border area.

China increased its troops in eastern Ladakh in 2020, enabling     eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in the future.   China has also massed troops 500 to 1,500 km away from the border. These troops could be brought to the border in 24 to 48 hours, admitted India.

China then suggested to India that the eight mountainous spurs jutting out of the Sirijap range   in Ladakh be turned into a buffer zone. India refused, because that area is under India at present. India did not wish to cede control over territory presently patrolled by Indian Army.

There are ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan as well. Ceasefire violations at the Jammu-Kashmir border have increased significantly. There were 2,158 ceasefire violations by India in 2020. There has been a sharp increase in ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces all along the border in 2020.

Now, Pakistan has started tunneling into Kashmir. India has detected two tunnels so far.  They are professionally constructed .The second tunnel is three-feet-wide and constructed at a depth of25 to 30 feet. Pakistan is sending infiltrators into Jammu and Kashmir, said India’s military.  

India has not changed its attitude towards Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka has not changed its attitude towards India. Sri Lanka does not trust India. Sri Lanka has not forgotten the ‘parippu’ drop. The current objection to giving the Eastern terminal of the Colombo port to the Adani   group is also anti-India. 

India wishes to gain control of Sri Lanka by making Sri Lanka dependant on India for its energy needs.  India wishes to build an overhead electricity link with Sri Lanka.  India aims to have a regional power grid which will cater to Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

India has provided assistance to Sri Lanka amounting to USD 3.5 billion in January 2021. The bulk of this assistance is for the north, east and estate areas.   In 2021 India will help in renovation of 27 schools in north, build 3200 sanitation units in Batticaloa and a temperature controlled warehouse at Dambulla.

Indian Foreign Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, had wanted to visit Sri Lanka in November 2020, but Sri Lanka was unable to accommodate   the visit. Minister Jaishankar visited Sri Lanka in January 2021. It was a hurriedly arranged visit, less than five days’ notice was given to Colombo, said the media.

Jaishankar met with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of course, but that was not all. Jaishankar met UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa as well. He invited Sajith to visit Delhi. He met Sri Lanka business leaders and discussed trade opportunities. Then he met a delegation from the TNA. TNA were delighted to meet him and gave him a copy of the TNA’s constitutional proposals.

Jaishankar was hosted to dinner at the Wijerama residence of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The only minister to take part in the event was G.L. Peiris. Conspicuous by his absence was Foreign Minister Gunawardena, said the media.

Jaishankar’s whistle-stop visit to Colombo was prompted largely by New Delhi’s concerns over China’s ‘influence’ in Indian projects, such as the proposed partnership to run the East Container Terminal in the Colombo Port, said the media. .Jaishankar had also specifically requested the Sri Lankan Government not to hand over the oil tank farm to anybody else.

Jaishankar   clearly did not come to woo Sri Lanka. He came to advise, meddle and instruct. Jaishankar said India supported devolution, reconciliation, Provincial Councils and the 13^th Amendment. There was no direct response from Sri Lanka to this, observed the media. Government said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is committed to the wellbeing progress and opportunities of all our citizens.”

 The intelligentsia however, responded. Even after a lapse of 30 years and the removal of most of the major factors associated with Tamil politics in India and Sri Lanka, India continues to see Sri Lanka from the perspective of Tamil politics, they said.

But India also has its supporters in Sri Lanka. India has quietly but carefully been a major grant donor to Sri Lanka, especially in the task of postwar reconstruction, said Harim Pieris. The Sri Lankan Government railways beyond Omanthai, as well as rolling stock, the Palaly Airport development and indeed the 50,000 houses programme in the Central, Northern and Eastern Provinces, together with ADB funded road reconstruction, have formed the core of postwar rebuilding in the former war affected provinces of Sri Lanka.

It is clearly an irritant to India, that with fast track and increasing Government approval for China to pile on debt laden costly infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka of questionable utility value, such as the Port City and the Lotus Tower, Indian investments on more mutually beneficial commercial terms, such as the Colombo Port’s East Terminal development, are [getting] stalled, continued Harim.

However, geography, history and, most importantly, modern-day economic reality, means that Sri Lanka needs to nurture and protect India, our closest and giant neighbour. Sri Lanka, much more than India, stands to benefit from closer economic ties between the two neighbors, ideally establishing ourselves as a services, logistics and knowledge hub for the giant economy next door, as well as a low-cost entry point to the subcontinent’s economy, concluded Harim Pieris. (continued)

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථාවට අයත් පෑලියගොඩ C City වෙළඳ සංකීර්ණයේ ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු විෂය භාර අමාත්‍ය සහ ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි  අද 2021.01.18 දින නැවත ආරම්භ විය.

සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශයට සමඟාමීව නාගරික සංවර්ධන හා නිවාස අමාත්‍යංශය යටතේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානී යෝෂිත රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ  පූර්ණ අධික්ෂණය යටතේ මෙම වෙළෙඳ සංකීර්ණයේ ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු සිදු වේ.

ග්‍රාමීය නිවාස හා ඉදිකිරීම් සහ ගොඩනැගිලි ද්‍රව්‍ය කර්මාන්ත ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහතාගේ මෙහෙයවීමෙන් එම අමාත්‍යංශය යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථාව මෙහි ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතු සිදු කරයි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපතිවරයාව සිටි සමයේ අක්කර 14 ක භූමී ප්‍රමාණයක මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය ආරම්භ කර තිබිණි.

එහෙත් පසුගිය යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව සමයේ දී මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියේ වැඩ කටයුතු මුළුමනින්ම අතහැර දැමුවේය.

මෙම වෙළඳ සංකීර්ණය ඉදිකිරීමෙන් පසුව පාරිභෝගික ජනතාවට ඉදිකිරීම් ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ සියලුම අමුද්‍රව්‍ය,  භාණ්ඩ හා සේවාවන් එකම ස්ථානයකින් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකි වේ.

මීට සමඟාමීව අද දින වෙළඳ සංකීර්ණයේ නිල වෙබ් අඩවිය www.ccity.lk එළි දැක්වීම ද සිදු විය.

මෙහි ගිවිසුම්ගත වෙළඳසැල් කිහිපයක් නිල වශයෙන් එම වෙළඳසැල් හිමියන් ට ප්‍රදානය කිරීම ද අද දිනයේ සිදු විය.

ගෙවීම් ප්‍රමාද කරමින් තිබූ ජාතික යන්ත්‍රෝපකරණ ආයතනයේ සේවය අවසන් කළ සේවකයින් 50 දෙනෙකු සඳහා රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 233ක් වටිනා පාරිතෝෂිත මෙහිදී ප්‍රදානය කළේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා ග්‍රාමීය නිවාස හා ඉදිකිරීම් සහ ගොඩනැගිලි ද්‍රව්‍ය කර්මාන්ත ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ, දේශීය වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රවර්ධන ග්‍රාමීය හා ආයුර්වේද රෝහල් සංවර්ධන හා ප්‍රජා සෞඛ්‍ය රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය සිසිර ජයකොඩි, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන උපුල් මහේන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ, මිලාන් ජයතිලක, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානී යෝෂිත රාජපක්ෂ, ග්‍රාමීය නිවාස සහ ඉදිකිරීම් හා ගොඩනැගිලි ද්‍රව්‍ය කර්මාන්ත ප්‍රවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් කීර්ති රංජිත් අබේගුණවර්ධන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථාවේ සභාපති රත්නසිරි කළුපහන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථාවේ උප සභාපති භාග්‍ය ජයතිලක, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථාවේ සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරී ඩී. ටී. රාජසේකරන්  මහත්වරු සහ  රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

Gamini Godakanda

The dialog is expected to provide policy-makers of the two countries with a better appreciation of the ground situation,challenges, opportunities and priorities that may affect the Sri Lanka – US  bilateral relationship.

The US delegation will be led by Robert O. Blake Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs under the Obama Adminstration and former Ambassador to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia. The Sri Lankan delegation will be headed by Bernard Goonetilleke, former Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to the United States. 

The conclusions reached at the discussion will be presented to the two governments for consideration.

By P. K. Balachandran Courtesy Eurasia Review

The Gotabaya Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka is unfazed by the possibility of Western nations’ taking a hostile stance  at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council UNHRC) in Geneva.

In sharp contrast to the past, Sri Lankan Tamil leaders (mainly from the Tamil-majority Northern province) have united and presented a joint charter of demands to the UN.  For the first time, disparate and mutually antagonistic leaders like R.Sampanthan, C.V.Wigneswaran and Gajendrakumar Ponambalam, have banded together.

The unity was brought about by the powerful and moneyed Tamil Diaspora in the West. The current unification will mark a sea change in Tamil politics if the unity on key issues is maintained beyond the March session of the UNHRC.   

However, the Gotabaya regime in Colombo is unfazed by the prospect of facing intense hostility. A top source in the regime pointed out that the Western nations (which will stand in for the United States as the US is not a member of the UNHRC) will not have the gumption to lecture to Sri Lanka about human and democratic rights after the Black Lives Matter movement and the vandalism and riotous behavior of defeated President Trump’s followers at the Capitol. Colombo feels that America’s failure to control COVID-19 and increasing unemployment only shows that there is no magic wand to solve national problems.

The US, which pushed anti-Sri Lanka resolutions at the UNHRC in the past, is not only in a dire state of disarray at home, but is also not a member of the UNHRC. Interestingly, the Trump Administration had showed little respect for the integrity of the UNHRC when it quit the council saying it was biased. The US had thus lost its moral authority to use the council to browbeat Sri Lanka, the source said.

The US has to first put its house in order, restore democracy, instill in its population and leaders respect for the law and the constitution and curb racism. The Biden Administration, which will come into being on January 21, will be busy doing precisely this,” the source added.

The Gotabaya Administration has already declared that it will not co-sponsor any resolution against itself. And therefore, any resolution will have to be re-worded, incorporating new content.

The contents of the new resolution will have to take into account, the Tamils’ new and radical demands, new issues like the burial of Muslims who had died of COVID, and of course Colombo’s contention that the Tamil or the Muslim issue is a domestic issue to be solved internally in Sri Lanka without outside interference. Colombo’s argument is that a lasting solution for a national question can be found only through domestic mechanisms and the engagement of the parties directly concerned with the problem uncomplicated by foreign  hands or  foreign interests.

The Tamil parties’ have  proposed that the UN Security Council and the General Assembly should take up the Tamil case and refer the matter to the International Criminal Court or any other international accountability mechanism to inquire into allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Tamils are also asking for a UN evidence gathering mechanism such as the one set up in the case of Syria with a 12-month timeframe to finish its work.

The Tamils’ letter embodying these demands had been sent to the UN and UN officials in Colombo had discussed the contents with the Lankan Foreign Ministry. The various inputs will eventually be incorporated in the UNHRC resolution.

Commenting on the Tamils’ demands, the Foreign Ministry source said: These demands will only harden the stand of the majority community, whose views no democratic country can ignore. It’s time the Tamils realized this and accepted the thesis that the liberation of all Sri Lankans, irrespective of ethnic or other identities, lies in economic development on an equitable basis.” 

Courtesy france24.com

Galle (Sri Lanka) (AFP)

A lone England cricket fan who waited 10 months in Sri Lanka to watch his team play had unexpected phone call Monday from team captain Joe Root after they beat the hosts in the first Test.

After winning the by seven wickets, Root telephoned Rob Lewis, who had been cheering from Galle fort overlooking the cricket stadium.

The 37-year-old stayed in Sri Lanka after England quit the tour in March without playing a test because of the coronavirus pandemic.ADVERTISING

With spectators and media banned, Lewis was kept away from the stadium when the match eventually started last week.

He was forced off the ramparts on the first day, but the Sri Lankan cricket board later intervened to get him a place on the 16th-century fort.

Root said Lewis was a “beacon for everyone at home”.

“Rob? Hello mate, how are you? It was nice to see you finally up on the fort,” said Root.

“That’s why I wanted to come over, on behalf of all the lads we really appreciate your support and it’s an incredible story and journey that you’ve been on.”

Lewis said the call was “an unbelievable gesture”, and that he would be watching when the second Test starts Friday.

Root tweeted a video of him making the call to Lewis who could be seen on the ramparts of the UNESCO world heritage site.

Whilst in Sri Lanka, Lewis has worked remotely as a web designer and done stints as a nightclub DJ.

Courtesy Mailonline

Sri Lanka is famous for its picturesque beaches, but the country’s tourism industry has been devastated by the pandemic

Sri Lanka will reopen its borders to foreign tourists this week after a 10-month hiatus, officials said Monday, with travellers subject to tough Covid-19 protocols.

The announcement came despite a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths, as authorities sought to revive a once-lucrative tourism sector devastated by the deadly 2019 Easter bombings and the pandemic.

“Every precautionary measure has been set in place to make the island getaway as safe, secure and serene as possible for visitors,” the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said in a statement, with borders due to open on Thursday.

The sun-soaked island nation, famous for its picturesque beaches, last month welcomed some 1,700 Ukrainian tourists on charter flights in a “pilot project to test our systems”, the government said.

Sri Lanka is also currently hosting the England cricket team for a two-Test series, with the matches played behind closed doors.

Under the protocols, tourists will be allowed to stay in 55 designated hotels — off limits to locals except for staff — across the country.

Visitors will be required to produce a negative result from a PCR test taken up to four days before their arrival.

They must undergo two more tests for a visit of up to seven days, and three tests if they stay for more than a week.

Tourists are also required to fork out US$12 for insurance that will cover up to US$50,000 in Covid-19 related medical costs.

For the first two weeks of their visit, they will have to be accompanied by officials when travelling to designated tourism spots.

Those who test positive during their stay will be isolated in their hotel rooms if they are asymptomatic, and taken to a hospital if they show symptoms.

Passengers who have spent up to two weeks in Britain before arriving will not be allowed to enter the country, and flights from the UK remain banned in an effort to keep out a more contagious coronavirus variant.

Officials did not say if more airlines would resume services to Sri Lanka.

Qatar Airways, Emirates and several other airlines currently operate repatriation and transit flights. National carrier SriLankan Airlines has also been flying on a limited schedule.

Sri Lanka has seen a surge in virus cases since October, with the total number of infections passing 53,000 and deaths rising to over 260 from just 13 in October.

By Feizal Samath Courtesy ttgasia

Sri Lanka will once again welcome tourists on January 21, this time under a bio bubble, following a successful pilot programme to assess the country’s capability in managing tourists under a bio bubble amid the pandemic.

A daily limit of 2,500 inbound tourists has been set. While tourists do not need to undergo mandatory quarantine, they have to abide by a strict set of rules. Travellers must obtain their visas online along with confirmed hotel booking, pre-purchased PCR tests and mandatory Covid-19 insurance coverage of US$50,000 on hospitalisation or medical bills for a month. They must also produce a valid PCR test taken 96 hours before arrival.

Vaccination will not exempt travellers from these health and safety protocols.

The first PCR test on Sri Lankan soil will be conducted on arrival at the hotel; the second will come five to seven days later or when symptoms develop; and the third will be conducted 10 to 14 days of their stay.

Travellers staying in Sri Lanka for more than a week will need to pay for all three tests ahead of time, with each costing US$40.

Under the bio bubble, all arriving travellers must stay in one of 40 certified hotels for the first 14 days of their trip. These hotels will not accept any local guests nor local events. After this period, travellers are free to move to their hotel of choice and mingle with locals.

During this same period, travellers are restricted to only 14 attractions and tourist sites.

With the reopening of Sri Lanka’s borders, scheduled flights by key airlines such as SriLankan Airlines, Emirates and Singapore Airlines will resume from January 21.

Sri Lanka Tourism officials said the first arriving tourists were likely to be a group of Germans who would come through Bandaranaike International Airport.

Courtesy Port strategy.com

The East Container Terminal of the Colombo Port will not be sold or leased, Sri Lanka has confirmed.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the plan was to develop the terminal as an investment project that has 51% ownership by the state-owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and the remaining 49% as an investment by India’s Adani Group and other stakeholders.

The President said that the East Container Terminal Development was planned after reviewing all the factors including the regional geopolitical concerns, sovereignty of the country, revenue and employment generation potential”.

He explained that the Eastern Terminal will be sustainably developed” under the investment programme. India contributes 66% of the East Terminal re-export operations. 9% is re-exports to Bangladesh and the rest to several other countries.

The operation of the West Container Terminal will be handed over to the SLPA.

What’s the history?

The previous administration had agreed to sell the East Terminal to India. The agreement envisaged obtaining a loan from Japan after sale and purchasing construction equipment with the loan money. The President said that after the present Government negotiated with India on the contract it was possible to reach an agreement to retain 51% of the ownership and the control of the terminal under the SLPA.

The previous Government had leased the Hambantota Port to the Government of China for 99 years. After coming to power, the present government, in consultation with China, took over the responsibility for the security of the port, the president noted.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Colombo High Court has served indictments on former minister Rajitha Senaratne and 2 others for causing losses to the state when leasing out Modera Fisheries Harbour in 2014.

Indictments were served on the defendants before Colombo High Court Judge Pradeep Hettiarachchi.

After the indictments were served, the court ordered the three defendants including MP Rajitha Senaratne to be released on a personal bail of Rs 1 million.

The judge then ordered that fingerprints of the accused be obtained and called for a report on their previous offences. 

The attorneys representing the defendants requested the court for a date to to review and inform of any shortcomings in the documents handed over to their clients.

The court accepted the request and decided to take up the case on April 22 to consider it.

In August last year, the Bribery Commission filed indictments against the former minister and the other two defendants, for allegedly causing losses to the state when leasing out the Modara Fisheries Harbour in 2014.

The other two defendants in the case are former Chairman of the Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation (CFHC) Upali Liyanage and its former Managing Director Neil Ravindra Munasinghe.

The indictment had been filed under section 70 of the Bribery Act and on five charges.

They are accused of causing losses to the government by persuading the Director Board of the Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation to lease the Modara Fisheries Harbour to a private company for an insufficient sum between the period from August 01 and November 01, 2014.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General has declared that Ranjan Ramanayake’s seat in the parliament has fallen vacant due to his conviction and prison sentence.

The Attorney General has advised the Secretary-General of the Parliament on this matter today (18), according to the Coordinating Officer of the Attorney General State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne.

On January 12, MP Ranjan Ramanayake was sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court regarding a contempt of court case.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another six coronavirus-related deaths reported today (January 18) have brought Sri Lanka’s total fatality count to 270.

One of the deceased is a 63-year-old woman from Colombo 13 who succumbed to COVID-19 pneumonia and acute diabetes. She had passed away at the Colombo National Hospital on January 17.

A male, aged 80 years, from Colombo 15 has succumbed to COVID-19 pneumonia upon admittance to Colombo National Hospital on January 15.

Another male – a 75-year-old from Modara – has also died on January 15 from COVID-19 pneumonia. He had been a resident of an elders’ home where he passed away.

Meanwhile, a 65-year-old man from Kalutara South had died on admission to Kalutara District General Hospital over COVID-19 pneumonia, a heart condition, and acute diabetes. He had passed away on January 14.

One of the victims is a 63-year-old male from Dehiwala. He had been transferred from Negombo District Hospital to the Iranawila Treatment Center after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He had died today of bronchopneumonia caused by coronavirus infection.

Another person has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic today at the Homagama Base Hospital. the 65-year-old had been transferred from the Ratnapura Teaching Hospital after being diagnosed with the virus. The cause of his death has been determined as COVID-19 pneumonia.