Courtesy Hiru News

The suspect involved in selling 30 new born babies, arrested from Matale, over child trafficking charges – Police Spokesman.

The suspect is a 47 year old and has been promoting himself on facebook. He was arrested yesterday and will be produced in court.

Police media spokesperson stated that the suspect has been trading babies for financial gain and has been avoiding the police.

The person who led a large scale child trafficking racket in Sri Lanka has been arrested in the Matale – Ukuwela area.

That was during a raid carried out by the Police Children and Women’s Bureau.

Further investigations have revealed that he had canvassed through Facebook for women who had got pregnant due to various reasons. He had then got the pregnant females to come and then under agreement had taken the babies after they were born.

He had then sold the infants after they were born to a third party.

Courtesy Hiru News

Speaking at the Cabinet press briefing today (22), Cabinet Spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella stated that the Government is not looking to abolish the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), but to appoint an alternative organization similar to that.

He explained that within a year, the Government has observed major incompetencies with the PUCSL which they hope to correct with the alternative option.

He added that the new organization will be appointed following the discussions with the Finance Ministry as well as the President’s Office which would also decide the powers that will be vested with the new organization.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of National Coalition for the Protection of Consumer Rights (NCPCR), Ranjith Vithanage stated that the PUCSL was a place where the electricity consumer could complain regarding the difficulties they face and that an organization that worked towards stopping the ‘power mafia’

Addressing in the same media briefing, Consumer Organization for Rights National Organizer Kelum Amarasiri gave examples where the PUCSL worked towards the betterment and the benefit of the electricity consumer.

He claimed that the authorities are trying to abolish the Commission as the PUCSL has managed to stop the unnecessary buying of electricity units in two occasions in the past year.

Ideological extremism leading to terrorism is a growing national security threat to Sri Lanka. The ideological extremism is being nursed by politico-religious & ethno-religious extremist groups who have covertly placed themselves in influential public & private roles. These extremisms take place openly & covertly in a synchronized action plan unaware to all. A covert buying-time new-social order program combined with manipulations by non-Muslim change agents is the threat that Sri Lanka has to deal with.

It’s all in the text

How did Islam become militant? The interpretation of the text.

This means – so long as the texts cater for misinterpretation there is always scope for Islam to be manipulated by both Muslims & non-Muslims using Muslims. The belief that Islam is superior to all is the key element that both extremist Muslim groups and extremism advocating non-Muslim groups tweak to their advantage & action plans. Manipulating Islam has been key & Muslims have been easy bait.

Scenario 1:Extremist Muslim groups misinterpret Islam to draw Muslims into violent jihad

Scenario 2:Non-Muslim groups covertly fund/train extremist groups to use Muslims against Non-Muslims & even Muslims (Islamic terror groups have killed more Muslims than non-Muslims)

Scenario 3:Same non-Muslim groups covertly fund/train non-Muslims to attack the extremist Muslim groups they are indirectly funding & supporting.

In all 3 scenarios – peacefully-living Muslims are caught between wishing to live in an inclusive society or being indoctrinated into violence and extremism because they are told they must follow their Book.

No country where ideology has risen to extremist ideology and thereafter to jihadi terrorism has found peace.

So long as Muslims are bound by elements that manipulate Islam, the cancer will spread to infest the minds of new recruits or converted non-Muslim recruits.

Rise in Islamic ideological extremism shows that moderate-Muslims are either not addressing the issue or are themselves being drawn into the extremist ideology – the justification for this has been a ready-made excuse that the actions of non-Muslims have led moderate-Muslims to become extremists. Ulema Council is today hijacked by extremism promoting group from the traditional Muslims that ran it.

This means that non-Muslims have to either agree and accept all that the ideological extremists demand as the handful of remaining moderate-Muslims threaten to become ideological extremists.

With the unlikelihood of ideological extremists declining, what safeguard and solution do non-Muslims have to preserve their country, territory, culture and heritage from jihadi ideological extremisms that are being fueled also be non-Muslims with geopolitical agendas?

Non-Muslim use of Islamic extremism for geopolitical agendas

With nations having significant representation of Muslims, it has become an easy ploy to disturb nations using Islam to create anti-Government forces and anti-National themes in other countries or spur Muslims to demand exclusive rights with intent to divide Muslims and view them as being anti-National. Countries can give enough of examples how Muslims have been easily aroused to make demands angering the rest of the citizens in countries. Ironically, the radical Islamic extremist groups can be easily engaged for they use these scenarios to increase their following while non-Muslim groups using Muslims for their geopolitical means do so to take advantage for their plans. Eventually, radical Islamic groups & the non-Muslims that sponsor radical Islamic groups and radicalized Muslims turn Muslims into extremists.  Muslims have been easy bait for Muslim radical groups & non-Muslim radical groups.

Why do Muslims become bait to Muslims & non-Muslims? How do Muslims become bait?The answer to both is Islam. Islamic groups have learnt how to radicalize Muslims for their advantage and non-Muslims know what parts of Islam can be used to radicalize Muslims. However, Muslims must realize that their own people who are radicalizing them are doing greater damage to Muslims and Islam than the non-Muslims who are manipulating Islam & Muslims to their advantage. The Book gives ways for Muslims to tactfully deal with every situation to the advantage of the Book.

Muslims who wish to have nothing to do with Muslim groups who radicalize Muslims by manipulating Islam because they know Muslims can easily be subdued to bow down to Islam must be identified by Muslims and exposed by Muslims and Muslims must refuse to fall prey to them. 

Who are these groups

Who are their leaders

What are the names of these organizations/institutes/schools/madrassas 

How do they operate

Who funds them 

What are the tactics and tricks they use?

The Government must also find answers 

The answers can help in drawing mitigation options to countries grappling to find ways to protect the national security of their nation while also not stigmatizing part of their citizens.

What role can non-Muslim moderates play?

It is presumed that there are Muslims who are

1. Aware of radical Muslim groups & individuals manipulating Islam
2. Aware of how these radical Muslim groups & individuals are manipulating Islam
3. Wish to have nothing to do with these groups
4. Compelled to silently accept because they must bow to the Book

Obviously, given the power of the extremism in numbers these moderates prefer not to collide. But tacitly colluding with extremism by their silence will not help.

What are the realities that exist?

• The international community wage’s war on terror ignoring that the intel units of their countries are nurturing the extremisms & even funding terror – naming and shaming selected perpetrators will never solve the problem. Who funded & supported Al Qaeda & all of the Al Qaeda linked terror groups?

• The need for non-Muslim majority nations, their governments & the citizens to realize that Islam is not just a religion but an entire social order.It is virtually a Constitution.It tells how the Muslims have to behave when they are a minority and how to subtly acquire their way to becoming a majority numerically. Their positions at various levels give them targets to accomplish this social order. In such a scenario, countries & their governments must clearly declare that the National Constitution must prevail over any Islamic Constitution & these have to be clearly conveyed with legislative & legal provisions. When Muslims establish their positions in prominent roles they begin to seek the wishes of their Book (though not explicitly told) and when these are not given there is another group ready & waiting to draw their people to Islamic extremism bordering terrorism. The waiting method must be dealt parallel with nations clearly establishing laws and initiatives to ensure the covert operation does not lead to extremism/terrorism. We are yet to know the reason for 21/4 and we are now told denying burial will result in extremism/terrorism. Notice how these demands are taking shape.

• Only a handful of Muslims who understand this overall larger picture yet follow their faith at a personal level & wish to have nothing to do with any groups that manipulate the Book. This understanding is self-found, nothing that can be taught. For non-Muslims, it is important to understand the mechanisms in place to build a social order tacitly – anyone in prominent roles are subtly drawn into this fold as they have to first bow down to the Book. This is a reality non-Muslims and non-Muslim majority countries & their governments must understand & ensure protections & safeguards are taken.

• The most unfortunate and exasperating situation for non-Muslims is the manner corruption has weakened and diluted countries opening doors to extremism bordering terrorism. Operational role of the Book has found it easy to bribe & get their way. This has led to unnecessary social animosities & strife. The corrupt see no larger picture and even if they did, their greed for handouts take over doing right by the Nation & all citizens.

• How easy is it for Muslims to understand that the manipulations of the Book, quoting the Book has not created any peaceful nation ruled by the Book while non-Muslims knowing the ultimate outcome for non-Muslims if only the rulings of the Book prevails, naturally negatively react every time demands of the Book gains prominence. Middle path is not the solution as scope for manipulating this scenario is also given. The moment the scenario is mapped out the response is to denigrate the message through a well-funded campaign of name-calling (hate speech-racist-fundamentalist using all of the terms in vogue). This will happen no sooner this article is read.

• Therefore, non-Muslim nations have to make clear that National Law & National Constitution is above ALL and only that will prevail without allowing scope for the rise of groups (Muslim & non-Muslim geopolitical) manipulating the Book as they know Muslims will bow down to ONLY the Book. This is what Muslim extremists are taking advantage of and this is also how geopolitical bullies have used the Book to create a set of jihadi extremists/terrorists for their geopolitical maneuverings.

The issue is something Sri Lanka cannot ignore or regard lightly. It encompasses an entire social order that creates a shadow system within the system buying time until the objective is reached.

Sadly, those who remember how life was before 1980s with no Islamic extremism/terrorism wonder if Muslims & non-Muslims can return to that friendly period without living in doubt & animosities where new cultures, new dress, new trends, exclusive demands & self-isolating behaviors never existed. We must strive to bring this back by removing all elements that stand in the way of friendship. For this effort – it takes the genuine effort of all.

We have a Problem

We should want to solve the Problem

We need to identify who the Problem makers are

Shenali D Waduge

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

It seems large sums of funds spent by all governments to combat Covid has not produced the beneficial results.  Average persons continue to disregard the health warnings and put lives at risk. 

To attract tourists $, Sri Lanka and its Tourism Minister is planning to open the Airports on the Boxing Day.   To put it in a nutshell, this is an absolute madness. 

All hardwork done by the health authorities in Sri Lanka during first phase had now been forgotten.  Putting tremendous pressure on limited resources in the health sector, the Ministers must face the reality instead of playing for the gallery.

To assume things are getting back to normal is not real.   If the gates are opened for the festive seasons, Sri Lanka will be at the receiving end of further increasing the number of positive cases, in a very short period of time.

The method of systematically isolating selected streets, suburbs  has failed.  

We urge to refrain from opening the Airport and enforce complete lockdown  of the country, prior to the festive season.

This decision is needed urgently instead of sending wrong signals  to Sri Lankans and prospective foreign tourists to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka can no longer boast about the  positive image established   during the first phase of Covid spread.

Priyantha Hettige 

People are asking – Are there any other worlds like ours out there – with life and people – or are we alone in the universe?

We know that the stars we see are large, hot and dangerous; and the many exo-planets,” we have found so far orbiting those stars, are rocky bodies, varying from barren and fiery hot to extremely cold. Space is just a few degrees above absolute zero (-273^o)  So, what are the requirements for life to exist on a planet – and will it be like us?

Many instruments and telescopes have been sent into space to get information about our surroundings in space. We are learning about our Solar System, our galaxy and even the stars and galaxies in the wider, great cosmos. We are looking further and further out into the universe. There are many people, world-wide, interested in learning about what is out there: astronomers and scientists of course, but also people such as school science teachers and even fictional film makers. We see our sun, the stars and galaxies above, and wonder what they are?” Slowly the Astronomical community from all around the world are giving us answers and our knowledge is increasing.

We can now reach to the moon, but can we travel further and land on another, hospitable planet outside our solar system? Some people think we should leave earth because of all the damage and pollution we have created here – we need a new home! The hunt for a new planet to call home” is on!

So now, looking for habitable planets has become a major activity among certain groups, and by using telescopes and cameras, people have found thousands of planets orbiting their suns – but, unfortunately, until now, they all have one or more drawbacks which makes life on them impossible.

What are the conditions needed for life to survive, grow and develop? Well, if we take our planet as an example, it seems a whole range of particular, and demanding conditions are needed, all occurring simultaneously, as follows:

REQUIREMENTS FOR LIFE TO SURVIVE AND FLOURISH:

The first requirement is to find a planet which circulates its host sun in its habitable zone, the so called Goldilocks Zone” – not too hot, not too cold.

A second requirement is to find a rocky planet with water – again, not too little but also not too much, so as to allow some dry land for habitation.  

A third requirement is to find a planet with breathable atmosphere, without poisonous gases. Our type of life needs enough oxygen and neutral nitrogen with no poisonous gases mixed in.

A fourth requirement is that the host sun should not be violent. Most suns are violent, and some are extremely violent. For example, the current thinking is that all suns shed their outer layers occasionally. Millions and trillions of tons of red-hot molten rock are blasted out into space which we call a Nova”. These cataclysmic occurrences happen to all suns, the frequency ranging from once a year, to just once in millions of years – we are still studying the stars, suns in our universe, and learning about how the different types function.

Also, we know that all suns occasionally blast out smaller ejections of hot rock and dust which we call Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). These are lesser events but very dangerous, too, and can damage anything nearby. Our earth has experienced these and they can, and do, knock out local electric power grids in places. Luckily for us, our sun is fairly stable and only occasionally flings out large CMEs, (But look at planet Mercury – the closest to our sun – it has been thoroughly trashed!) However, our sun has allowed life to form over thousands, if not millions of years, allowing our development and for us to become conscious of our world, the Solar system, and now, even the Universe!

The fifth requirement is protection from all the harmful rays coming from the        sun and also, on occasions, coming from the cosmos or universe (space). Some planets have a liquid iron core deep inside. If this rotates it can create a magnetosphere and this will act as a magnetic shield to ward off those harmful rays. These rays are small particles of matter, chiefly protons and electrons, but also harmful Gamma rays.

A sixth requirement is for a suitable gravity. Our planet has gravity. We don’t know exactly how this arises, but this should not be too strong, too.

Another, seventh most helpful feature is that we live on a sphere formed by tectonic plates. These float on the hot liquid rock below and move around with the edges grinding and rubbing up against each other. These plate movements renew land surfaces grown old which also help life to renew and exist. At the junctions of these plates are volcanos which also spew out lava with bad gases. Our planet and its surface is impermanent, so providing new rocky landscapes for life to grow and develop on.

An eighth requirement is protection from plunging rocks – comets, meteors and, asteroids. If a planetary system has orbiting rocks or asteroids which may descend and strike a habitable earth, there needs to be other planets located in suitable positions which can help shield it from such comets and asteroids.

These eight rather specific requirements as given above, are for supporting life on any planet. To find another planet which has all these eight features will be very difficult. You can get a small feel for the immensity of the task if you see all these factors lined up to form a probability – a miniscule probability – but to our delight there are billions and trillions of stars with planets in orbit, which can give us hope of finding one or even two, benign, kind environments similar to ours!

And what if we finally find a planet with attractive life-supporting features – will we travel there only to find a civilization already in occupation – with helicopter gunships and drones hunting down escaped prisoners? The more things change, the more they stay the same”, is the saying.

OUR PERSPECTIVE:

The truth is we see our sun as normal: it is our world, it is all we see, after all. But there are clues that, on the contrary, it is special. Astronomers have categorized stars. Our sun is a ‘G’ type Dwarf, occurring in 2.7 percent of all suns. It is unusually quiet. It flares (Novas) rarely, other stars flare more frequently, and perhaps, a thousand times greater. Could our star be very special – allowing life to develop over millions of years?  Also, we think we have all the requirements on earth for life to survive – but could there be alternatives to our form of life?

Our Earth’s orbit is in our sun’s Goldilocks Zone, and we even have a moon that stabilizes our rotation. It prevents wild oscillations and gives us gentle tides. Our Moon is too large to have been captured naturally scientist say. Also, its rock and materials are different from those of Earth. It is positioned at the exact distance to fully eclipse the Sun, exactly – an almost impossible, billions-to-one chance occurrence. Someone has done this.

Our planet is billions of years old. It has a long and as yet unknown history! We are not alone in the universe – the moon tells us so! 

Do you think we are alone?     15/12/2020   PH. 

ග්‍රාමීය කලා ශිල්පි ප්‍රවර්ධන කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය.

ජාතික නාමල් උයන නිර්මාතෘ, වනවාසී රාහුල හිමියන්ගේ විශේෂ ආරාධනාවක් පරිදි ජාතික උරුම ප්‍රාසාංගික කලා හා ග්‍රාමීය කලා ශිල්පි ප්‍රවර්ධන කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විදුර වික්‍රමනායක මහතා ඊයේ (20) නාමල් උයන වෙත ගියේ ය.

මෙම ස්ථානයේ ඇති ඓතිහාසික,ජෛව විවිධාත්මක සහ භූගෝලීය වශයෙන් කැපී පෙනෙන සුවිශේෂී ලක්‍ෂණ හේතුවෙන් ජාතික උරුමයක් ලෙස නම් විය යුතු භූමියක් බව රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා එහිදී ප්‍රකාශ කළේ ය.

ජාතික නාමල් උයන, එළඹෙන 2021 වර්ෂයේ දී ජාතික උරුමයක් ලෙස නම් කිරීමට අදාළ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා ජාතික උරුම කමිටුව” වෙත යොමු කරන බවද රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විදුර වික්‍රමනායක මහතා එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේ ය.

දශක තුනක් පුරාවට මේ සුවිශේෂී භූමිය ආරක්ෂා කොට සංරක්ෂණය කිරීමත්,සියලු දෙනා සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් සහ ආදර්ශවත් ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීම පිළිබඳවත් රාහුල හිමියන් වෙත සිය ප්‍රණාමය පුද කිරීමට අමාත්‍යවරයා අමතක නොකළේ ය.

පැවැති අයහපත් කාළගුණ තත්ත්වය හේතුවෙන් මෙම සුවිශේෂී භූමිය නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමට නොහැකිවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අමාත්‍යවරයා හිමියන් වෙත සිය කණගාටුව පළ කළේ ය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය කළ අනුරාධපුර ජේතවන පුරාවිද්‍යා කෞතුකාගාරය සහ අභ්‍යන්තර මාර්ග පද්ධතිය විවෘත කිරීම බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය සහ ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සුරතින් අද 2020.12.21 දින සිදු විය.

ඒ අනුව ජේතවනාරාම පරිශ්‍රයේ පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක කැණීම් තුළින් හමු වූ සුවිශේෂී පුරා වස්තු අද සිට මහජන ප්‍රදර්ශනය සඳහා විවෘත වනු ඇත.

කෞතුකාගාරය විවෘත කිරීමට එක්  වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ජේතවනාරාම විහාර භූමියේ සල් පැළයක් රෝපණය කළේය. අනතුරුව ජේතවන පුරාවිද්‍යා කෞතුකාගාරය ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ  නිරීක්ෂණයට ලක් විය.

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල රුපියල් මිලියන 50 ක මුදලක් වැය කරමින් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කළ මෙම පුරාවිද්‍යා කෞතුකාගාරයට සමගාමීව අලුතින් සකස් කළ අභ්‍යන්තර මාර්ග පද්ධතියට රුපියල් මිලියන 82ක මුදල් ප්‍රතිපාදන යොදවා තිබේ.

පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක වටිනාකමකින් යුත් නටඹුන් සහ අවශේෂ කොටස් ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීම ජේතවන කෞතුකාගාරය මඟින් සිදු වන අතර එය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කලාකරුවන්ගේ දෑතින් නිමවුනු අභිමානවත් නිර්මාණයකි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ අදහසකට අනුව නිර්මාණය වූ මෙම ඵෙතිහාසික වටිනාකමකින් යුත් ව්‍යාපෘතිය සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම යටතේ අතීත ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ශ්‍රී විභූතිය අනාගත පරපුර වෙනුවෙන් රැකගැනීමේ අරමුණින් ක්‍රියාත්මකය.

අනුරාධපුර අටමස්ථානාධිපති අතිපූජ්‍ය ආචාර්ය පල්ලේගම සිරිනිවාස නාහිමිගේ හා ජේතවනාරාම විහාරාධිකාරී පූජ්‍ය ශාස්ත්‍රපති ඉහළහල්මිල්ලෑවේ රතනපාල නාහිමියන්ගේ අනාශාසකත්වයෙන්, සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියට අනුව සංස්කෘතික පුනර්ජීවනය වෙනුවෙන් මෙම කෞතුකාගාරය විවෘත විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා ජේතවනාරාම විහාරාධිකාරී පූජ්‍ය ශාස්ත්‍රපති ඉහළහල්මිල්ලෑවේ රතනපාල නාහිමියන් හා රුවන්වැලි චෛත්‍යාධිකාරී, රුවන්වැලි මහා සෑ විහාරාධිපති පූජ්‍ය පල්ලේගම හේමරතන නාහිමියන් ඇතුලු මහා සංඝරත්නය වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.

අමාත්‍ය එස්.එම්.චන්ද්‍රසේන, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන දුමින්ද දිසානායක, ෂෙහාන් සේමසිංහ, චන්න ජයසුමන, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කේ.ඩී.එස්.කුමාරසිරි, උතුරු මැද පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර මහීපාල හේරත්, උතුරු මැද පළාත් හිටපු මහ ඇමති එස්.එම්.රංජිත්, අනුරාධපුර නගරාධිපති එච්.පී.සෝමදාස, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු ආමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨ පුරාවිද්‍යා මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී අධිකාරී, ජේතවන ව්‍යාපෘති කළමනාකරු ගාමිණී අබේරත්න, මහත්වරු ඇතුලු පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අනුරාධපුර අරිප්පුව නව සංඝමිත්තාරාම සිල්මාතා පුහුණු අභ්‍යාස ආයතනය ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද 2020.12.21 දින විවෘත කළේය.

සිල් මෑණියන් වහන්සේලාගේ ත්‍රිපිටක ධර්ම ඥානය වර්ධනය කිරීමේ අරමුණ ඇතිව ආරම්භ කළ මෙම පුහුණු ආයතනයේ දින හතක නේවාසික පුහුණුව සඳහා සිල් මෑණිවරුන් තිස් දෙනකුට පමණ අවස්ථාව හිමි වේ.

පාඨමාලා අධීක්ෂණය, මෙහෙයවීම හා දේශන කටයුතු අනුරාධපුර භික්ෂු  විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ කථිකාචාර්ය ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලා විසින් මෙහෙයවනු ලබති.

මීට අදාළ සියලුම පහසුකම් බෞද්ධ කටයුතු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මඟින් සලසා දෙනු ඇත.

ත්‍රිපිටක අත්වැල හා විද්‍යුත් ත්‍රිපිටක ටැබ් යන්ත්‍ර 30 ක්  කඩවල නන්දරතන හිමි හා කොත්මලේ කුමාර කස්සප හිමි විසින් මෙම පුහුණු ආයතනයේ ප්‍රයෝජනය සඳහා අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට භාර දීම ද මෙහිදී සිදු විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා මහා සංඝරත්නය ඇතුලු මෙහෙණින් වහන්සේලා වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.

අමාත්‍ය එස්.එම්.චන්ද්‍රසේන, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන දුමින්ද දිසානායක, ෂෙහාන් සේමසිංහ, චන්න ජයසුමන, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කේ.ඩී.එස්.කුමාරසිරි, උතුරු මැද පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර මහීපාල හේරත්, උතුරු මැද පළාත් හිටපු මහ ඇමති එස්.එම්.රංජිත්, අනුරාධපුර නගරාධිපති එච්.පී.සෝමදාස, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු ආමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන මහත්වරු ඇතුලු පිරිසක් ද ඒ සඳහා එක්ව සිටියහ.

By Sugeeswara Senadhira/Ceylon Today

Colombo, December 21: In the final phase of the separatist war when the European Union threatened Sri Lanka with withdrawal of the GSP plus duty concessions, President Mahinda Rajapaksa called a meeting. Rajapaksa asked Minister G L Peiris how much the country would lose due to the withdrawal of GSP plus. The Minister said it would be roughly US$ 250 million. Rajapaksa’s instant reply was: Let them withdraw GSP plus we cannot sell the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country for US$ 250 million”.

So GSP was withdrawn and the war continued until terrorism was eliminated and the country’s unity preserved.

The above incident was recalled to understand Sri Lanka’s current position with regard to the withdrawal of the US$ 480 million grant proposed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an aid agency set up by the US Congress.

Last week, the United States Embassy in  Colombo issued a statement saying that the MCC Board had decided to discontinue the proposed SL Rs. 89 billion development assistance grant ‘due to lack of partner country engagement’ without explaining it.

The truth is that it was not a question of ‘lack of engagement’. At every meeting between the Government and the MCC representatives including US Embassy officials, there were firm assertions from the Sri Lankan side about reservations over many clauses in the draft agreement. Sri Lankan officials pointed out that some of the clauses were contrary to the constitutional provisions and the Government could not sign such an agreement.

Proposal to renew 1995 SOFA

Furthermore, it was evident that although the US$ 480 million grant was meant for a transport project and an agricultural-land project, it came with a proposal to renew a 1995 Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the US. The proposed draft included several unacceptable conditions including visa-free movement facility to US security and defense personnel to travel in and out of Sri Lanka.

The MCC Agreement was approved by the previous Government of Ranil Wickremesinghe in the last year of his tenure. But he was unable to get approval from Parliament. There was widespread resistance among people who believed it compromised the nation’s sovereignty and national security.

Last year when the MCC issue was debated, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave a firm assurance that the MCC agreement will not be signed under his Administration. The MCC agreement will not be signed even in my dreams,” the President said setting aside any doubts in any quarter. In a interview, Gotabaya said that it was Sri Lanka which  reminded the US on human rights recently. He reiterated the government’s policy of protecting the sovereignty of the country.

When the MCC proposal was discussed during the former government, the SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara, who was a Minister, pointed out the proposed Land Bill, which aimed at facilitating the MCC Agreement, had many questionable provisions, which eroded the previous safeguards to ensure that arable land was protected from commercialization.

Jayasekara questioned why the government had linked the State Land Bill to the MCC $480 million grant, which will provide funding to measure land to establish a Land Bank in Sri Lanka, and also set up the Colombo-Trincomalee economic corridor.

Why did the Government ask for funds from the MCC? Why are they working on this with a US entity? If the Government wants to have a central place where all land details are recorded, why ask it to be funded by a foreign organization? As an island, Sri Lanka has limited land resources and they need to be protected. A similar piece of legislation was presented by the UNP Government in 2003, and at the time the Supreme Court said a two-thirds majority in Parliament was needed, along with a referendum. That is how serious this is,” Jayasekara pointed out.

He argued that several recommendations made by then President Sirisena, i.e. to maintain existing inheritance laws, prevent the break-up of large tracts of land, and ensure that the Mahaweli project is exempt from being covered by the new regulations, were not included in the document moved in Parliament two years ago.

The law states that when changes are recommended, they have to be included in the proposed legislation, and presented to the cabinet a second time before being presented to Parliament. These regulations ensure transparency and protect public interest. They give the public time to go before the Supreme Court to check whether the legislation is against the Constitution. But that has not happened here,” Jayasekera said.

Bill on restriction of transfer of land

The proposed Bill on the restriction on transfer of land states: Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any other written law, the transfer of title of any land situated in Sri Lanka, shall be prohibited if such transfer is:

(a) To a foreigner.

(b) To a company incorporated in Sri Lanka under the Companies Act where any foreign shareholding in such company, either direct or indirect, is fifty per cent or above.

(c) To a foreign company, unless exempted as provided in section 3.

Section 3 states the exemption from the application of the provisions of section 2 as follows:

(1) The provisions of section 2 shall not apply to:

a) Any land the title of which is transferred to a Diplomatic Mission of another State within the meaning of the Diplomatic Privileges Act or to an International, Multilateral or Bilateral Organization recognized in terms of that Act.

b) A condominium parcel specified under the Apartment Ownership Law.

In October this year, the US Embassy wanted the MCC proposal to be included in the discussions with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. However, Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena gave the firm message that Sri Lanka is determined to keep a fine balance in its international affairs and used the visit of the US Secretary to give the same message in no uncertain terms that, for Sri Lanka ‘Independence and Sovereignty come first in Foreign Relations’. Finally Pompeo said in an interview that it was for Sri Lanka to decide on the MCC agreement.

There is ample evidence of adverse clauses in the MCC Agreement. Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, who headed the four-member committee appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to examine the MCC proposal, said the MCC agreement would have undermined Sri Lanka’s status as a sovereign country.

At every step, Sri Lanka firmly stated that sovereignty of Sri Lanka could not be bartered away to any country. When this policy was clearly told, one wonders what the US Embassy meant by ‘lack of partner country engagement,’ unless it is another way of saying, We failed to coerce Sri Lanka to agree to our terms”.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, December 21 (newsin.asia): Sri Lanka would want certain key socially relevant economic rights to be included in the agendas of foreign grants for human rights promotion in the country, a top government source said.

He was commenting on the proposed US grant of US$ 1.75 million to US$ 2 million for promoting freedom of association and freedom of assembly in Sri Lanka, announced by the US Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) on December 18.

The source had not seen the offer yet, but added that, as a general principle, such offers from foreign countries would be welcome if they were meant to promote human rights as prioritized by Sri Lanka. Given the urgent development needs of the masses, Sri Lanka’s  concept of human rights gives top priority to socio-economic group rights like the  right to education, livelihood, health, housing and security. If any or all of these five goals find inclusion in an aid offer, we will have no hesitation in allowing it,” the source said.

Interestingly, the US offer comes in the wake of the withdrawal by the US of a grant of US$ 480 million under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact citing indifference on the part of the Lankan government. The US last week withdrew the offer stating lack of engagement on the part of the partner country,” namely Sri Lanka. The money would now go to an eligible country.

Sri Lankan nationalists, including a Presidential Commission, were of the view that a part of the MCC scheme relating to land was unsuited to local traditions and that it abridged the country’s sovereignty. 

Details of the US Offer

The website of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announced on December 18 that it is to hold an open competition for organizations interested in submitting applications for projects that advance and protect freedom of association and freedom of assembly in Sri Lanka.

The 2020 Human Rights Report, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly noted that although the country had a comprehensive legal framework governing the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, it was scattered in different sets of laws and regulations which seem to be interchangeably enforced, ” the statement said.

DRL seeks proposals for programs that utilize legal mechanisms and the judicial system to ensure these legal protections are enforced and these rights are respected in Sri Lanka. Proposals should assess the use of policies, laws and programs on democratic political competition, civil society, and media freedom that are being put into place in Sri Lanka under the new government.

Additionally, proposals should provide legal and organizational support to organizations and individuals facing undue government restrictions, pressure, inspections, and censorship to ensure they can continue to operate, as well as foster civil society-led strategic litigation to advance the protection, fulfillment, and respect of human rights.

Program approaches may include but are not limited to: Strengthening the role, status and capacity of defense lawyers and legal professionals; Expand the capacity of judicial watchdog organizations to monitor, document, and advocate in support of fair judicial process and court decisions; Develop public-awareness and advocacy campaigns that can be implemented via multiple media and social platforms; Assist small NGOs or informal advocacy organizations with innovative methods of civic engagement at the community level.

The proposed program must also address how it will ensure coordination with existing civil society networks, as well as ongoing civil society-led strategic litigation and advocacy efforts; all proposals must demonstrate that they do not duplicate existing efforts.

Proposed programming must be responsive to immediate needs on the ground, must be in line with the U.S. Government’s democracy, governance, and human rights goals in Sri Lanka; and should contribute to and support Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen democracy, governance, and human rights in the country. 

All programs should aim to have impact that leads to reforms and should have the potential for sustainability beyond DRL resources.  DRL’s preference is to avoid duplicating past efforts by supporting new and creative approaches. 

This does not exclude from consideration projects that improve upon or expand existing successful projects in a new and complementary way. 

Programs should seek to include groups that can bring perspectives based on their religion, gender, disability, race, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation and gender identity.  Programs should be demand-driven and locally led to the extent possible. 

Exceptions

Activities that are not typically allowed include, but are not limited to: The provision of humanitarian assistance; English language instruction; Development of high-tech computer or communications software and/or hardware; Purely academic exchanges or fellowships; External exchanges or fellowships lasting longer than six months; Off-shore activities that are not clearly linked to in-country initiatives and impact or are not necessary per security concerns; Theoretical explorations of human rights or democracy issues, including projects aimed primarily at research and evaluation that do not incorporate training or capacity-building for local civil society; Micro-loans or similar small business development initiatives; Initiatives directed towards a diaspora community rather than current residents of targeted countries.

This notice is subject to availability of funding, DRL said.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, December 21 (Daily Mirror)  – Sri Lankan authorities have gone on alert over the new strain of COVID-19 which scientists have warned is spreading rapidly in the UK, causing more serious illness, the Daily Mirror learns.

Health officials from the Ministry of Health said they were monitoring the situation closely and had been updated of the new variant through the WHO website and although there was no cause for immediate concern, authorities here were on alert. 

We are on alert but we have not officially declared anything because Sri Lanka is only receiving repatriation flights coming in from the UK, bringing in the local nationals who are working there. Anyway, they go into quarantine for 14 days,” a senior Health Ministry official told Daily Mirror.

Once we open the airport only we have a little bit of a risk but other than that there will not be any problem at the moment.  However we are on alert,” the official added.

Sri Lanka is all set to open the Bandaranaike International Airport on Dec. 26 and will soon welcome tourists into the country under strict health guidelines. 

The WHO in a message on its official Twitter account said yesterday they were in close contact with the UK officials on the new COVID-19 virus and they will continue to share information and results of their analysis and ongoing studies. We’ll update Member States and public as we learn more about the characteristics of this virus variant and any implications,” the WHO said.

In the meantime, we continue to advise people to take all protective measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and comply with national authorities’ guidance,” the WHO said.

Countries such as the Netherlands has already introduced a ban on passenger flights from the UK because of the new variant which will remain in place till Jan 1. (jamila Husain)

Courtesy Adaderana

The total count of Covid-19 cases reported in Sri Lanka reached 37,625 as more persons were tested positive for the virus. 

The Department of Government Information said 218 fresh cases have been detected within the day.

All of the new cases are close contacts of the Peliyagoda fish market cluster, reports confirmed.

With the new development, the Minuwangoda-Peliyagoda cluster has registered a total of 33,954 cases to date.

According to the Health Ministry’s data, 28,682 of the confirmed patients have made complete recoveries from the virus.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director-General of Health Services has sent a letter to the Minister of Justice Ali Sabri regarding the bodies of COVID-19 victims.

This was in response to the proposal to place the bodies of Muslims who died of COVID-19 infection in refrigerated containers until a definite decision is made regarding their burial.

The Director-General, through his letter, has requested for 05 refrigerated containers to be provided to the Chief Judicial Medical Officer’s Offices in Colombo, Kalutara, Kandy, and Negombo and the Ashraf Memorial Hospital in Kalmunai.

Meanwhile, containers that can refrigerate corpses have been provided to the Colombo Chief Judicial Medical Officer’s Office.

Accordingly, the bodies of Muslim COVID-19 victims were placed in these containers today (21).

Courtesy Adaderana

State Minister for Money, Capital Market & State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal stated that the Government intends to follow a fair and a consistent tax policy without killing the proverbial ‘golden goose.’ Speaking exclusively to Indeewari Amuwatte at the ‘@HydePark’ program on Ada Derana 24, the State Minister expressed the following:

The most important thing about revenue is that it must be possible for people to pay because the government revenue is actually your expenditure. If the government is collecting more and more taxes it means the ordinary people of this country have to pay more and more, businesses will have to pay more and more. So, the government has to be conscious of this balance. If you were to deprive the base of the possibility of it to grow, it would be like this proverbial ‘killing of the golden goose that laid the golden eggs.’ What this government has done is to have reasonable tax rates with reasonable percentages being imposed. So that people can still part with the part of their income and not be significantly deprived of their own capacity to invest further.”

“We want to have a tax regime which is fair and which is consistent. We have a consistent policy where people can take investment decisions. That is very vital that people are able to take long term investment decisions, because through those decisions we can activate the economy very easily. At the same time, we expect the taxes to be paid by the people who are doing business in the country. That is why we want to plug all the leakages as well.  If there is a leakage that is occurring, it is the interest of the government to ensure that those leakages are plugged and those are not able to function in the future, so that, whatever is done in Sri Lanka, is a legitimate business which is yielding revenue to the government. With that kind of strategy I think we can ensure that the revenues will be consistent and  government coffers will be improving.”

Speaking further, Cabraal  emphasized on the importance of addressing the revenue losses from illicit industries.

“What you mean by illicit industry is actually smuggling. If they were to pay taxes on the products that they are manufacturing or distributing and if the proper taxes are being paid then that industry will become legitimate. Overall we do recognize that in the case of liquor, tobacco and other items, where the duty element is there, the government may be losing some revenues and those needs to be addressed.”

When you have income which is not declared there is a great possibility that it can be channeled to other illegal avenues as well. It is in the interest of all to ensure that the proper revenues are collected by the government and that all the avenue of through which revenues are coming into the country are legitimately accounted for. Very often we have seen terrorism financing or money laundering has taken place from monies that have been generated by illegal means. It is fairly a complex problem which needs to be tackled by all parties and at the same time we got to ensure that we come down hard on those who go on these types of activities as well.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The Galle Additional Magistrate has ordered for the body of a COVID-19 victim to be refrigerated instead of being cremated.

Considering a request made by the relatives of the deceased, the magistrate has ordered the body to be placed in a mortuary refrigerator at the Karapitiya Hospital until the decision of the Committee appointed by the government is out.

The deceased COVID-19 patient is a Muslim father of three residing in Dodugoda, Galle.

While the Coroner of the Karapitiya Hospital Chandrasena Lokuge recommended that the body be cremated as per quarantine laws, the son of the deceased had stated that they will not claim the body if it is cremated.

When the case was taken up today (21), attorneys representing the relatives of the deceased requested the body to be preserved in a freezer until the report of the committee appointed to look into the action to be taken regarding the bodies of Muslim COVID-19 victims.

Considering the submissions of both parties, Galle Additional Magistrate Pavithra Sanjeewani Pathirana instructed the police to take necessary action after informing the Director-General of Health Services in this regard.

Courtesy Adaderana

The procedure for inbound travellers to Sri Lanka, introduced since March 2020 has been revised, based on the joint decision made by the Foreign Ministry, the Department of Immigration and the Civil Aviation Authority and as agreed by the Presidential Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation.

The Foreign Ministry said the following procedure will take effect from 26 December 2020:

1. The Government of Sri Lanka (Foreign Ministry and National Operation Center for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) will arrange special repatriation flights for the Government quarantine facilities in coordination with Sri Lanka Missions abroad for migrant workers, students, patients, short term visa holders, government and military officials,

2. (I). However, Sri Lankans or Foreigners of Sri Lankan origin (Holders of Dual Citizenship) will be allowed to travel on any commercial/non-repatriation flights to Sri Lanka without the approval of the Foreign Secretary (or) Civil Aviation Authority subject to the limit of passengers per flight determined by the Civil Aviation Authority, based on concurrence/consultation of NOCPCO subject to compliance with paid quarantining at a designated hotel.

(ii). It is the sole responsibility of the Airline concerned to ensure that the passengers allowed on board under the above arrangement will strictly adhere to the paid quarantine.

The revision of procedure for inbound travellers will be subject to review based on further assessments made on new guidelines, the ministry said in a notice today.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health says that another 415 patients who were previously tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered and discharged from the hospital within the last 24 hours.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 recoveries in the country to 28,682.

The majority of the recoveries were reported from Bingiriya Treatment Centre (36), Kamburugamuwa Hospital (29), Kopai Treatment Centre (26), Wathupitiwala Treatment Center (24), Divulapitiya District Hospital (22), Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital (21), Panideniya Treatment Centre (21), Theldeniya District Hospital (20), and Samanalawewa Treatment Centre (20).

A total of 37,261 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Sri Lanka so far while 8,403 of them are currently under medical care.

Sri Lanka also witnessed 176 fatalities from the virus.

Courtesy Adaderana

Minister of Mass Media Keheliya Rambukwella affirms that there will be no registration of social media and digital platform users.

Issuing a statement, the stated that the statement circulating with regards to the social media regulation has been portrayed in a garbled manner where the true meaning is not conveyed.

He clarifies that the government’s intention was not to register social media users but to convey a mounting concern shared by governments across the world, that these digital multinational conglomerates are overwhelming and alienating Sri Lanka’s local businesses by data colonization. 

He said: This is directly impacting our medium scale companies. This view is also shared by leading industrialists in Sri Lanka. These predatory techniques lead to huge sums of money leaving the country through these digital platforms.

Therefore the government has been considering registering foreign digital operators and not social media and digital platform users.”

Dilrook Kannangara

Compared to Sinhala JVP and Tamil LTTE caused death tolls, Muslims have been the most peaceful community. I was both amused and appalled when a powerful Muslim MP said Muslim youth will take up weapons if they are not allowed burial of COVID-19 dead. TNA as expected echoed this very same sentiment which is also hilarious. TNA is more aware than anyone else that when Tamil youth took up weapons it killed over 100,000 Tamils and caused 89,000 Tamil war widows. Is the TNA acting like the fox that lost its tail and wanted other foxes to lose theirs?

Most Muslims understand the impact of unknowns surrounding the burial of COVID-19 dead. They therefore cooperate with the government. Only a fraction of Muslims (most had nothing good to say ever about Sri Lanka or the Sinhalese) keep demanding the burial of Muslim COVID-19 dead. No matter what the government does, they will keep hurling their racist stones at the government and the Sinhalese. In fact, if the government caves in, that will make them bolder to make worse extortion demands. Also, the mere fact that they make this demand suggests it must be bad for Sri Lanka. They do not have a history of doing any good or wishing any good for Sri Lanka so this too must be bad by definition.

What is most interesting is not even the small (10% within the Muslim community) Wahabi sects have demanded the burial of COVID-19 Muslim dead! They claim to follow Islam to the letter. This clearly shows the demand to bury COVID-19 dead is simple fantasy and a political football.

The Muslim community is certainly not interested in war. A war like the LTTE war would kill over 100,000 Muslims (and they will not be buried) and make somewhere between 89,000 and 365,000 (assumed the highest number of wives of 4) Muslim war widows (on average 198,000). No one wants this. Therefore, the fear mongering by the Muslim MP that Muslim youth will take up weapons over the burial issue is just nonsense. The government must not cave in and expose its weakness. Treat everyone equally and do not assume undue risks over a deadly pandemic that still has many unknowns. What works for Arabian deserts do not work for Sri Lanka.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

තුන්වැන ලෝක සංග්‍රාමය නිර්මාණයවී ඇත. එහි බලපෑමට ලක්ව සිටින ජනතාවට, මෙය ලෝක යුද්ධය ලෙස පෙනෙන්නේ නැත. සතුරා, පෙර ලෝක සංග්‍රාම වලදී මෙන් දක්නට නොමැතිවීම ඊට හේතුවයි. සතුරාගේ බලපෑම දැඩිව දැනුනද කිසිවක් කරගත නොහැකිව මියැදෙන්නට ජනතාවගෙන් කොටසකට සිදුව තිබේ.තුන්වන ලෝක යුද්ධයකට සුදානම් වෙමින් නිෂ්පාදනය කල සියලුම අවි ගබඩාවල දිරාපත්වෙමින් තිබේ. ඒවා කිසි වැඩකට නැති යල්පැනගිය මෙවලම් බවට පත්ව ඇත. සතුරා එතරම් බලවත්ය.ඇසට නොපෙනෙන මොලයක් නැති ක්ෂ්ද්‍ර ජීවියෙක්  ලෝකයේ බලවත්ම සත්වයාව අන්ද මන්ද කරවිමම හාස්කමකි.විශේෂයෙන් ලෝකයේ බලවත්ම ජාතින්ව බිමට සමතලා කරමින්, ධනවාදයේ ආර්ථික මුලස්ඨාන බිඳ වට්ටවමින් ලෝකයම නවතම දිසාවකට ගමන් කරවීමට මේ ක්ෂ්ද්‍ර ජීවියාට හැකියාව ලැබී තිබේ.

මේ තත්වය යටතේ, දැන් ලෝකයම නව අවියක් සෙවීමට කටයුතු කරයි. කොරෝනා එන්නතක අවශ්‍යතාවය සම්බන්ධව ලොවම කතා කරයි.තරඟයට මෙන් සියලු දෙනාම කොරෝනා එන්නත් නිෂ්පාදන තරඟා වලියකට ප්‍රවිෂ්ඨව සිටි. ඇමරිකාව, රුසියාව, චීනය ඒ තරඟයේ ඉදිරියෙන්ම සිටි. ලෝක බලවතුන්, යුද්ධයක් අතර තුර තවත් යුද්ධයකට ප්‍රවිෂ්ඨ සිටි. ඒ මේ ක්ෂ්ද්‍ර ජීවියා  නිර්මාණය කල නව වෙළෙඳ පොළ අල්ලා ගැනීමේ තරඟ යයි. කොරෝනාව නිර්මාණය කල නව ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථානය සතුකර ගන්නා බලවතා අනිවාර්යෙන්ම අනාගත ලෝක බලවතා බවට පත්වීම නියතය. ඒ යුද්ධය කොරෝනාව මර්ධනය කිරීමේ යුද්ධයට වඩා බලවත්ව ඉස්මතුව ඇත.

 මෙය වෛරසයක් විසින් ලෝකයට කරන බලපෑමකි. එසේ ප්‍රකාශකළ විට ලෙස ප්‍රකාශ කල විට, ලෝකයේ බුද්ධියෙන් අඩුම දැනුමක් ඇති මිනිසුන්ටද වැටහේ. අපි ජාතියක් වශයෙන් වෛරස් රෝග සම්බන්ධව හොඳ අත්දැකීම් ඇති ජාතියකි. අපි මේවාට කියන්නේ දෙවියන්ගේ ලෙඩ කියාය. අපිට පැපොල, සරම්ප, යන රෝග මෙන්ම කොරෝනාවද දෙවියන්ගේ ලෙඩකි. අපේ මිනිසුන් පැපොල, සරම්ප වලින්ද මියගොස් ඇති අතර කොරෝනාවෙන්ද මියැදෙමින් සිටි. අපි පැපොල සරම්ප සැදුන විට ස්වයංව නිරෝධායනයට යන්නේ කිරි අම්මාවරුන්ට බාරයක්ද වෙමිණි. ඒ අපි කිසිවෙක් නොදකින බලවේගයකි.නොදකින වෛරසයක් අපට වින කරන විට එවැනිම වූ නොදකින බලවේගයක් සහනය පතමින් ස්වයංව නිරෝධායනට පත්ව දින 14ක් නිවසේ විශේෂිත ස්ථානයක ගත කරන්නේ විශේශි ආහාරද ගනිමිනි. දින 14කට පසු අඛණ්ඩව දින 7ක් නෑම අපේ සමාජ සිරිතය.ඉන්පසු රෝගියා නිරෝගී වී සමාජගත වේ..

මේ අපි පාරම්පරිකව වෛරස් රෝගවලට මුහුණ දුන් ආකාරයයි.මේ ආකාරය තුල ඇති දෙවියන්ට බාරයක් වීම හැරුන විට අනිකුත් සියලුම දේ සම්බන්ධව එකඟතාවයක් පල කිරීමට නවීන විද්‍යාව පමණක් අදහන මිනිසුන්ටද හැකියාවක් තිබේ. රෝගයට එකම පිළියම වෛරසය ශරිරගතවුදා සිට ඒ වෛරසය  සමග ගනුදෙනු සිදුකරන ආකාරය මත රදා පවතී.

සටන ඇත්තේ දින 14ක කාලයකි. සටන ඇත්තේ, වෛරසය හා ඊට එරෙහි සටන් වදින ප්‍රතිදේහ අතරය. මේ කාලය තුලදී, වෛරසයේ ප්‍රවර්ධනයට හිතකර ආහාර නොගැනීම, ප්‍රතිදේහ වර්ධනය කරන ආහාර ගැනීම කලයුතුමය. වෛරසය සමග සටන් කිරීමට ප්‍රතිදේහ නිර්මාණය කිරීමට හැකි මිනිසා සටනින් ජය ගනී. මරණය අභිබවා නැගී සිටි.මෙය සාර්ථකව කල හැක්කේ ආහාර තුලින්මය.මේ සඳහා ආහාරයක් කෑගල්ලේ ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා නිෂ්පාදනය කර ඇත. ඒ සම්බන්ධව පරීක්ෂණද කර ඇත. සාර්ථක ප්‍රතිපල අත්විදි බවටද පිළිගෙන ඇත. දැන් ගැටලුව ඇත්තේ එතනයි

දැන් ලෙඩුන්ට සුව වීම සමාජ අර්බුදයක් බවට පත්ව ඇත.ඒක එහෙම වෙන්නේ කොහොමද? ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතාට ඇති සුදුසු කම් මොනවාද? මේ ප්‍රශ්න ඉස්මතු කරන්නේ නවීන විද්‍යාව අදහන ඊට එහා කිසිවක් නැතැයි අදහන උගතුන් විසිනි. සහතික උපාධි ඇති උගතුන් එසේ කියන විට ඔවුන් අනුගමනය කිරීමට වෙර දරන නුගතුන්ද, උගතුන්ගේ මතයම ප්‍රකාශ කරමින් ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා නිෂ්පාදනය කල බෙහෙතට ගැරහීම ආරම්භ කර තිබේ.මේ හේතුවෙන් මේ බෙහෙතට එරෙහිව උගතුන්ගේ හා නුගතුන්ගේ සන්ධානයක් නිර්මාණය වී අඛණ්ඩව මේ නිෂ්පාදනයට එරෙහිව මතයන් සමාජ ගත කරමින් සිටි.මේ බෙහෙත නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමට තමන්ට බෙහෙත් වට්ටෝරුව දුන්නේ “මහා භද්‍ර කාලි මෑණියන්” බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමත් සමගම මේ සංවිධානාත්මක උගතුන් හා නුගතුන්ගේ සන්ධානයට අමුතුම ආකාරයේ ප්‍රබෝධමත් බාවයක් ආරෝපණය වී මහා භද්‍රකාලි මෑණියන්ට ඉතා පහත අන්දමින් නින්දා කරමින් කවුද යකෝ මේ කාලි කියන්නේ යන ආකාරයෙන් හාස්‍ය මුසු ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කරන ආකාරයක් අපි දිනපතාම දකිමු. ඇත්තටම කාලි කියන්නේ කවුද? ඇය මේ රටේ ජනතාවට සේවයක් කර නැද්ද?

අපි දන්නා ඉතිහාසයේ මේ රටේ කුරිරුම පාලන යුගය නිර්මාණය වී තිබුනේ වර්තමාන විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසයන්ගේ පියානන්වූ ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ පාලන සමයේදීය. මරා දමන ලද්දේ මෙරට තරුණ දරුවන්ය.මුළු ලෝකයම මේ ඝාතන කලාවට සහය දෙමින් කටයුතු කල සමයේ මෙරට මව් වරුන්ට මේ අවනඩුව කියාපෑමට කිසිවෙක් නොසිටියහ.අවසානයේදී සංවිධානය වූ දරුවන් අහිමිවූ දෙමව්පියන් තමන්ගේ දරුවන් විනාශ කරමින් රට පාලනය කරන ප්‍රේමදාස පාලනයට එරෙහිව පැමිණිල්ල ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට ගියේ මෝදර කාලි මාතාවගේ දෙවාලයටයි. එදා පාලකයින් මේ ක්‍රියාවලියට කොතරම් බියවිද යත් කාලි දේවාලය වසා දමා දෙමව්පියන්ට එහි ඇතුළුවීමට ඉඩ ලබා නොදුනි. එම දෙමව්පියන් තමන් තුලවූ කෝපය මුදා හරියේ මෝදර කාලි දේවාලයේ තාප්පය මත පොල් ගැසීම තුලිනි.

මහා භද්‍රකාලි මාතාව හැම විටම කාන්තාවන්ගේ දුක වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින චරිතයක් බව ප්‍රකාශිතය.එදා ඒ ක්‍රියාවත් සමගම ප්‍රේමදාසගේ උද්දච්ච ගාම්භීර පාලනය දෙදරා යාම ආරම්භ විය පළමුව දරුවන් හොයා හොයා මරා දැමීමේ සෙනවියා වූ රන්ජන් විජේරත්නගේ ශරීරය ඔහු විසින් පුළුස්සා දමන ලද ලක්ෂ ගණනක් වූ තරුණ තරුණියන්ගේ මෙන්ම පිළිස්සීම තුලින් ආරම්භවූ ඒ ක්‍රියාවලිය ප්‍රේමදාස ජනාධිපතිවරයා හා ඔහුගේ මැරයින් සියල්ලක්ම එක ගොඩට දමා විනාශ කිරීමට තරම් බලවත් විය.එදා රටේ ජනතාව තම ප්‍රීතිය පලකල ආකාරය ඉතිහාස ගතවී තිබේ. ඒ කාලි මාතාව විසින්ම මෙවරද පිඩාවට පත්ව සිටින ජනතාව වෙත ලබාදීම සඳහා මේ ඖශධ වට්ටෝරුව දුන්නා යයි කීවිට සිනාසිම නොකළ යුතුය.

දැන් ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා අත කොරෝනා රෝගය සඳහා යම් ඖෂධයක් ඇත. ඒ ඖෂධයට අපහාස කරන කිසිවෙක් ඇත කොරෝනාවට බෙහෙතක් නැත.මේ සිදුවීම අමුඩයක් ගසා ගත මිනිසෙකුට හිනාවෙන නිරුවත් මිනිසුන් සමුහයක් සිහි ගන්වයි. මේ මිනිසුන් තමන් නිරුවත් බව වටහා ගැනීමට ප්‍රකෘති මනසකින් යුක්තවුවන් නොවේ, එසේවීමට තව කල්පයක් ගතවෙනු ඇත.. 

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල මඟින් සීගිරිය පුරාවිද්‍යා පරිශ්‍රයේ ඉදිකරන ලද මහාචාර්ය සේනක බණ්ඩාරනායක පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්ෂේත්‍ර පුහුණු පාසල, ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සුරතින් අද 2020.12.20 දින ජනතා අයිතියට පත්විණි.

රුපියල් මිලියන 50 ක වියදමකින් ඉදිකරන ලද මෙම පුහුණු පාසල ඔස්සේ නවක පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයින් සඳහා නේවාසික පහසුකම් සහිතව ප්‍රායෝගික හා න්‍යායික අධ්‍යයන කටයුතු සිදුකිරීමට අවස්ථාව සැලසේ.

කුසලතා සහ ආකල්ප වලින් සපිරි ක්ෂේත්‍ර පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයින් බිහිකිරීමේ අභිලාෂයෙන් මෙම පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්ෂේත්‍ර පුහුණු පාසල මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල සීගිරිය ව්‍යාපෘතිය තුළ ස්ථාපිතය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඵෙතිහාසික පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක සංදර්භය ශුද්ධ විද්‍යාත්මක විෂය ධාරාවන් සමඟින් අධ්‍යයනය කර, කාලය හා අවකාශය තුළ විද්‍යාත්මකව ස්ථානගත කිරීමේ විෂයානුකූල කාර්යය සඳහා අවැසි දැනුම ලබාදීමත්, විනයානුකූල පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයින් බිහිකිරීමේ අපේක්ෂාවත් පෙර දැරිව මෙම පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්ෂේත්‍ර පාසල ආරම්භ වේ.

දෙස් විදෙස් පුරාවිද්‍යා පර්යේෂකයින්ට ද සිය පුරාවිද්‍යා කටයුතු සඳහා මෙම පුහුණු පාසල විවෘත ය.

මහාචාර්ය සේනක බණ්ඩාරනායක වියතාණන් පුරාවිද්‍යා විෂය ධාරාවේ පාරිසරික පුරාවිද්‍යාව, ජනාවාස පුරාවිද්‍යාව, මානව වංශ පුරාවිද්‍යාව ආදී ක්ෂේත්‍ර පුරාවිද්‍යාවන්හි පුරෝගාමියෙකි.

සීගිරිය ව්‍යාපෘතියේ ආරම්භක පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරයා වූයේ මෙතුමාය.

විදේශීය විශ්වවිද්‍යාල හා සම්බන්ධ වෙමින් බහු විෂයාත්මක පදනමකින් පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක පර්යේෂණ ආරම්භ කිරීමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙසින් සීගිරියේ රාජකීය නාගරික අංග හඳුනා ගැනීමටත්, තදාශ්‍රිතය සහ නිෂ්පාදනාගාර හඳුනාගැනීමටත්, එහි ජීවත් වූ ජනතාවගේ ජනාවාස රටාව හඳුනා ගැනීමටත්, එමඟින් තාක්ෂණික විශේෂඥතාවය අධ්‍යයනය කිරීමටත් හැකියාව ලැබුණි.

මහාචාර්ය සේනක බණ්ඩාරනායක පුරාවිද්‍යා ක්ෂේත්‍ර පුහුණු පාසල දේශන ශාලා, පර්යේෂණාගාර හා නේවාසික පහසුකම්වලින්ද සමන්විතය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා අමාත්‍ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන්, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විදුර වික්‍රමනායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන ප්‍රමිත බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන්, රෝහන කුමාර දිසානායක, මධ්‍යම පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර ලලිත් යූ ගමගේ, දඹුල්ල මහ නගරාධිපති ජාලිය ඕපාත, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන ඇතුලු මහත්ම මහත්මීන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ නිර්මාතෘ ආචාර්ය රෝලන්ඩ් සිල්වා වියතානන්ට උපහාර පිණිස ඉදි කරන ලද දඹුල්ල ආචාර්ය රෝලන්ඩ් සිල්වා බිතුසිතුවම් සංරක්ෂණ හා පර්යේෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානය බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ගරු මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සුරතින් අද 2020.12.20 දින විවෘත විය.

මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පිහිටුවා ඇති ප්‍රථම නවීන තාක්ෂණානුකූල බිතුසිතුවම් පර්යේෂණ හා තොරතුරු මධ්‍යස්ථානය වේ.

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලේ රුපියල් මිලියන 100ක ප්‍රතිපාදන වැය කරමින් ඉදි කළ මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පැරණි බිතුසිතුවම් පිටපත් කර සංරක්ෂණය කර ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමේ විද්‍යාත්මක පර්යේෂණාගාරයක් ලෙස ස්ථාපිත කර ඇත.

ආචාර්ය රෝලන්ඩ් සිල්වා වියතානන්, ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය පුරාවිද්‍යා වංශකතාවේ නව පිටුවක් පෙරළමින් යුනෙස්කෝවේ මග පෙන්වීමෙන් සංස්කෘතික ත්‍රිකෝණ ව්‍යාපෘතිය පිහිටුවීමෙහි ලා පුරෝගාමී මෙහෙවරක යෙදුණු එහි ප්‍රථම අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්වරයා සහ නිර්මාතෘවරයා ය.

පුරාවිද්‍යාව සහ වාස්තුවිද්‍යාව යන විෂය ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් හි විශාල දියුණුවක් ඇති වූයේ සංස්කෘතික ත්‍රිකෝණ ව්‍යාපෘතිය ආරම්භවීමත් සමඟිනි. ශ්‍රී ලංකා පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්මාරක ලෝක උරුමයන් ලෙසින් ලොව පුරා ප්‍රචලිත කිරීම විදේශීය සංචාරක කර්මාන්තයෙහි ප්‍රගමනය හේතුවිය. ඒ ඔස්සේ අරමුදල් රැස් කර ගැනීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය මඟින් ස්මාරක නඩත්තු සහ උරුම කළමනාකරණයට මහඟු පිටුබලයක් ලැබිණි.

මෙවැනි උදාර සංකල්ප ක්‍රියාවට නැංවූ ආචාර්ය රෝලන්ඩ් සිල්වා මහතාට උපහාර පිණිස රංගිරි දඹුලු රජමහා විහාරයට යාබදව ඉදි කරන ලද මෙම පර්යේෂණ හා සංරක්ෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානය මඟින් ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය බිතුසිතුවම් කලාවේ ප්‍රාග් ඵෙතිහාසික යුගයේ සිට නූතන යුගය දක්වා අදින ලද සිතුවම් පිටපත් කිරීම, සංරක්ෂණය, නඩත්තුව සහ විද්‍යාත්මක ගබඩා කිරීම සිදු වේ.

දෙස් විදෙස් උපන් නූපන් කලාකරුවන්, සංරක්ෂකයින්, පර්යේෂකයින් සහ විද්‍යාඥයින් උදෙසා මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානය පිහිටුවීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලැබූ විශිෂ්ට ජයග්‍රහණයකි.

මෙම මධ්‍යස්ථානය තුළ දේශනාගාර, ශ්‍රවනාගාර පහසුකම්, ඩිජිටල් ලේඛනාගාරයක්, ද්විමාන සහ ත්‍රිමාණ සංරක්ෂණාගාරයක්, හදිසි බිතුසිතුවම් සංරක්ෂණ ප්‍රතිකාර ඒකකයක් සහ පර්යේෂකයින් සඳහා නේවාසික සහ අනෙකුත් පහසුකම් ද ස්ථාපිතය.

සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ප්‍රතිපත්තිය අනුව, පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක හා සංස්කෘතික පුනරුදය උදෙසා ක්‍රියාත්මක වැඩසටහනේ ප්‍රමුඛ දායකත්වයක් බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ මෙහෙයවීම යටතේ මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදල විසින් දරනු ලබයි.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා රංගිරි දඹුලු රජ මහා විහාරාධිපති උඩුගම මංගල නාහිමි ඇතුලු මහා සංඝරත්නය වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.

අමාත්‍ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන්, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විදුර වික්‍රමනායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන නාලක කෝට්ටේගොඩ, ප්‍රමිත බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන්, ආචාර්ය සුරේන් රාගවන්, රෝහන කුමාර දිසානායක, මධ්‍යම පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර ලලිත් යූ ගමගේ, දඹුල්ල මහ නගරාධිපති ජාලිය ඕපාත, බුද්ධශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, පුරාවිද්‍යා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨ පුරාවිද්‍යා මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී අධිකාරී  ඇතුලු මහත්ම මහත්මීන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ. 

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

මධ්‍යම අධිවේගී මාර්ගය අනිවාර්යෙන් දඹුල්ල දක්වා දිගු කර දෙන බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඊයේ 2020.12.19 දින පැවැසීය.

රට හදන සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්තියට සමඟාමීව රන්බිම ඔප්පු දස ලක්ෂයක් දිවයින පුරා ප්‍රදානය කිරීමේ ජාතික වැඩසටහනේ වයඹ පළාත් ඔප්පු ප්‍රදානය කුරුණෑගල රන්සර උත්සව ශාලාවේදී පැවැති අවස්ථාවේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය.

ඉඩම් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන මෙම ඔප්පු ප්‍රදානය යටතේ හිමිකම් නොමැති ඉඩම් සඳහා අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් නීත්‍යනුකූල ඔප්පු 400 ක් බෙදාදුන්නේය.

ආණ්ඩුව නරක වැඩ කළොත් විවේචනයට ලක්විය යුතුයි. නමුත් හොඳ වැඩක් කළාම ඒක අගය කරන්න විරුද්ධවාදීන්ට පුලුවන්කමක් නොමැතිවීම කණගාටුවට කරුණක් බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කියා සිටියේය.

අපේ ආණ්ඩු ආවම වැඩ කරනවා. වැඩකරගෙන යනකොට ජනතාව ඊ ළඟට අනිත් ආණ්ඩුවකට, යූ ඇන් පී ආණ්ඩුවකට බලය දෙනවා. බලය දුන්නයින් පස්සේ ඔවුන් අපි කරපු වැඩ සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නතර කරනවා. ඒවා වෙනත් විදිහට කරන්න උත්සහ කරනවා. ඒක තුළදී ඇති වෙන්නේ අපිට නැවත බලය ඇවිල්ලා. හැබැයි අපි කරගෙන ආපු වැඩ කොටස එහෙමම තියලා තමයි ඒ කට්ටිය යන්නේ. අපිට ඒක මුල ඉදලා කරගෙන යන්න වෙනවා. නැත්නම් දඹුල්ලට අධිවේගී මාර්ගය හැදෙන්නේ හුගක් ඉස්සර යැයි ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

රන්බිම ඔප්පු ප්‍රදානය කිරීමේ ජාතික වැඩසටහනේ වයඹ පළාත් ඔප්පු ප්‍රදානයට එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

අද මෙම ඔප්පු ලබාදීමේ උත්සවයට සම්බන්ධ වෙන්න ලැබීම පිළිබඳව මම සතුටු වෙනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම කුරුණෑගල ප්‍රදේශයේ ජනතාවට එය ලබා දෙන්න පුළුවන්වීම ගැන මම ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම සතුටු වෙනවා. ඇමතිතුමාට වගේම සභාපතිතුමා ඇතුළු නිලධාරීන්ට මා ඒ සඳහා ස්තූතිය පුද කරන්න ඹ්නි. මට මතකයි මේ ඉඩම් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව ආරම්භ කරපු කාලේ, එදා අපේ ආණ්ඩුවේ,  70 ගණන් වල අපේ ආණ්ඩුව තුළ මේ ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ ඉඩම් ලබා ගැනීමේදී ඒ පනතට ඡන්දය පාවිච්චි කළ මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු වශයෙන් අද පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඉන්නෙ මමත් වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර මන්ත්‍රීතුමත් පමණයි.

එහෙම ආරම්භ කරපු මේ වැඩපිළිවළෙන් රජයට පවරා ගත්තා ඉඩම් ටික. ඒක බෙදාදීමේ කටයුත්ත ඉටු කරන්න එදා ඉදලම අපේ බලාපොරොත්තුව තිබුණෙ. අද ඒ කොමිෂන් සභාව තමන්ට පවරා ගත්ත ඉඩම්, ඉඩම් නැති ජනතාවට ලබාදීමේ කටයුත්ත කරගෙන යෑම ගැන අපි සතුටු වෙනවා. ඒ ඉඩම්වල පදිංචි උදවියට තමයි ඔප්පු ලබා දෙන්නේ. අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා ඉඩම් නැති ජනතාවත් තෝරාගෙන මේ ඉඩම් ලබාදීමේ කටයුත්ත ඉටු කරන්න පියවර ගන්න. බොහෝ ඉඩම්වලට ඔප්පු නෑ. ඒවට රජයෙන් ඔප්පු ලබා ගන්න නොලැබීම නිසා ඔවුන්ට ණයක් ගන්න ගියාම තමයි මේ ගැටලුවලට මුහුණ පාන්න වෙන්නේ. චන්ද්‍රසේන ඇමතිතුමාගේ වැඩ සමඟ යළි ගමට වැඩසටහන ගැන අපි සතුටු වෙනවා. ඇමතිතුමාට ස්තුතිවන්ත වෙන්න ඹ්නි ඒ වැඩපිළිවෙළ තුළින් ඉඩම් ඔප්පු ලබාදීමේදී මේ කටයුත්ත කරන්න මැදිහත්වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන්.

මා විශේෂයෙන්ම බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා ජනතාව අද රටේ තියෙන තත්ත්වය අනුව ජනතාවට මේ ඉඩම් ලබාදීලා ස්ථීර වැඩපිළිවෙළකට යන්න කටයුතු කරන්න අපේ කොමිෂන් සභාවට හැකිවේවි කියලා. මෙය මුලු දිවයිනටම බලපාන විදිහට මුලු රටේම මේ ප්‍රශ්නය තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා මුලු රටේම මේ කටයුත්ත ඉටු කිරීම වැදගත්. ඒ නිසා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපතිතුමා පිළිබඳව අපි විශ්වාසය තියලා තියෙනවා මේ කටයුතු ඉටු කරන්න හැකියාව ලැබෙයි කියලා.

අද කුරුණෑගලට ඇවිල්ල නුවරට යන අධිවේගී මාර්ගය ආරම්භ කරන්න පියවර තැබුවා. ඒ අධිවේගී මාර්ගය දඹුල්ල දක්වා දික් කිරීමට එස්.එම්.චන්ද්‍රසේන ඇමතිතුමා ඉල්ලීමක් කරනවා, අපේ ජොන්ස්ටන් ඇමතිතුමා එවිට කිව්වා ඒක ලැබෙනවා කියලා. අපි ඒ්ක අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ඉටු කරලා දෙනවා කියලා ඔබ තමුන්නාන්සේලාට මතක් කරලා දෙන්න ඹ්නි.

විශේෂයෙන් මේ ආණ්ඩුව ආපුවාම අපේ ආණ්ඩු වැඩ කරනවා. වැඩකරගෙන යනකොට ජනතාව ඊ ළඟට අනිත් ආණ්ඩුවකට, යූ ඇන් පී ආණ්ඩුවකට බලය දෙනවා. බලය දුන්නයින් පස්සේ ඔවුන් අපි කරපු වැඩ සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නතර කරනවා. ඒවා වෙනත් විදිහට කරන්න උත්සහ කරනවා. ඒක තුළදී ඇති වෙන්නේ අපිට නැවත බලය ඇවිල්ල අපි කරගෙන ආපු වැඩ කොටස එහෙමම තියලා තමයි ඒ කට්ටිය යන්නේ. අපිට ඒක මුල ඉදලා කරගෙන යන්න වෙනවා. නැත්නම් දඹුල්ලට අධිවේගී මාර්ගය හැදෙන්නේ හුගක් ඉස්සර. ඒ තත්ත්වය තමයි ඇති වෙන්න තිබුණේ. අපි තමුන්නාන්සේලා මතක තියා ගන්න ඹ්නි අපි කරන හැම ක්‍රියාවලියකටම විරුද්ධවාදීන් විවේචනය කරනවා. අපි හොඳ වැඩක් කරත් විවේචනය කරනවා. අපි නරක වැඩක් කළත් විවේචනය කරනවා. ඒක හොඳයි. නරක වැඩ කළොත් විවේචනයට ලක්විය යුතුයි. නමුත් හොඳ වැඩක් කළාම ඒක අගය කරන්න ඔවුන්ට පුලුවන්කමක් නැහැ. ඒකයි කණගාටුව.

ඒ නිසා අද ඒ තත්ත්වය වෙනස් වෙන්න ඹ්නි. අපිට කරන්න පුලුවන් සියලු කටයුතු අපි ආණ්ඩුවක් ලෙස ඉටු කරන්න කටයුතු කරනවා. ජනාධිපතිතුමා හැම ප්‍රශ්නයක් ගැනම සොයා බලලා ගමට ගිහින් ගමේ ප්‍රශ්න හඳුනාගෙන කටයුතු කරන්න පියවර අරන් තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසා අපිටත් පහසුයි. ජනතාවටත් පහසුයි. නිලධාරීන්ටත් පහසු වෙනවා ඒ වැඩකටයුතු ඉක්මන් කරලා ඉටු කරන්න. මම විශේෂයෙන්ම අද ඉඩම් ලබාදීම පිළිබඳව අමාත්‍යතුමා, සභාපතිතුමා ඇතුලු සියලු දෙනාට ස්තූතිය පුද කරමින් ඔබ සියලු දෙනාට සුබ අනාගතයක් පතනවා.

යැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා පැවසීය.

මෙහිදී කුරුණෑගල රොහලේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයේ ඉල්ලීම පරිදි, කුරුණෑගල නගරාධිපති තුෂාර සංජීව මහතාගේ විමධ්‍යගත අරමුදලින් රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 54ක් වටිනා පීසීආර් (PCR) යන්ත්‍රයක් කුරුණෑගල රෝහල වෙත පරිත්‍යාග කිරීම ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අතින් සිදු විය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන එස්.එම්.චන්ද්‍රසේන, ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන අරුන්දික ප්‍රනාන්දු, ලොහාන් රත්වත්තේ, ඩී.බී. හේරත්, ප්‍රියංකර ජයරත්න, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන අසංග නවරත්න, මංජුලා දිසානායක, සුමිත් උඩුකුඹුර, චරිත හේරත්, ගුණපාල රත්නසේකර, ජයරත්න හේරත්, ශාන්ත බණ්ඩාර, ඉඩම් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් ආර්.ඒ.ඒ.කේ රණවක, ඉඩම් කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති නීතීඥ නිලන්ත විජේසිංහ ඇතුලු මහත්ම මහත්මීන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, December 20 (Sunday Times) – The Government has started talks with the World Bank to secure a Rs. 10 billion loan for the purchase of a vaccine against COVID-19, The Sunday Times reported quoting a Senior Government official.

The official said the Government was seeking a soft loan while also looking at the possibility of obtaining funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU) for the purchase of the vaccine required for a large part of the population.

Sri Lanka has been so far assured of being provided a vaccine for 20 percent of its population under an international initiative in which the United Nations agency, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is also involved.

Prof. Channa Jayasumana, State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulations of Pharmaceuticals, told the Sunday Times the cost for the proposed imports would largely depend on the type of vaccine to be imported according to its cost-effectiveness. 

Courtesy proactiveinvestors.com.au

Whilst the year was impacted heavily with COVID-19 restrictions and issues, it achieved some milestones in its growth and formed a solid base on which to work from in 2021 and beyond once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

The company is committed to developing the Mannar Island project in an environmentally sustainable manner

Titanium Sands Ltd (ASX:TSL) remains focused on recommencing drilling to finalise the release of numbers contained in a scoping study and moving the environmentally-friendly Mannar Island Heavy Mineral Sands Project in Sri Lanka into its next phase. 

Whilst the year was impacted heavily with COVID-19 restrictions and issues, the company has achieved some milestones in its growth and formed a solid base on which to work from in 2021 and beyond once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

The company is committed to creating opportunities for residents of Mannar Island and Sri Lanka while adhering to the guidelines in place so that the will not have a detrimental impact on the environment.

Describing 2020 as a volatile year mainly due to COVID-19, the company thanked shareholders for their ongoing support and faith in the project and hopes to provide meaningful updates” as COVID restrictions are lifted.

Milestones achieved

Milestones achieved in the year include:

➢ Indicated resource upgrade to 90.03 million tonnes at 6.6% total heavy mineral concentrate (THM) with 66% in the indicated category;

➢ Reverse aircore results show major depth resource potential, identifying heavy mineral concentrations down to 9 metres beneath the entire 8 kilometres domain to mineral resource zone;

➢ Further assay results show extensive depth resource potential, with aircore drill holes demonstrating heavy mineral down to at least 10-11 metres in an area on 18 square kilometres of the existing shallow resource;

➢ TSL resource triples to 264.93 million tonnes at 4.38%;

➢ Positive scoping study results show potential for a robust long-life major dredging project;

➢ Project upgrade with garnet added to the mineral resource estimate;

➢ Placement and share purchase plan which saw firm commitments for $2.2 million received for the placement; and

➢ Share Purchase Plan from existing shareholders raised a further $167,000 via a share placement plan (SPP).

The Mannar Island project is an exploration-stage project on the 26 kilometres by 6 kilometres-wide Mannar Island in northwest Sri Lanka, joined to the mainland by a 3-kilometre-long road causeway.

Titanium Sands Ltd has been exploring and defining areas of heavy mineral sand concentration on the island since December 2018.

Exploration has involved shallow hand auger drilling and light mechanised drilling, both of which have very low to zero environmental impact.

The project is at an early stage and is being progressed under exploration licences granted on the basis that the proposed exploration activities should not have a detrimental impact on the environment.

Any mining or major development project in Sri Lanka must move through numerous regulatory steps, including demonstrating compliance with the Sri Lankan Environment Act and a public consultation process.

Granting of a mining licence, terms of investment, export licences, operational licences and other regulatory compliance can only occur once the project has been sufficiently defined by studies that include comprehensive environmental impact and management assessments.

COVID-19 impact

Since March 2020, Sri Lanka has, like the rest of the world, been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the country has experienced relatively low levels of infection and death, a recent increase in positive cases has prompted the re-imposition of restrictions on domestic travel including to and from Mannar Island.

The situation remains uncertain but it is hoped exploration will be able to recommence before travel restrictions are fully lifted.

Courtesy The Straits Times

JOHOR BARU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Johor police will be working closely with its Selangor counterpart after death threats were made against state police chief Commissioner Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

Datuk Ayob, who was previously head of the Special Branch’s Counter-Terrorism Division (E8) at police headquarters before being promoted to Johor police chief in February this year, said investigations were ongoing to identify the suspect, believed to have links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

“I received the threats two weeks ago from a man who contacted my personal assistant claiming that three LTTE members from Selangor were coming down here to kill me.

“The person gave detailed information about me and even knew my home address,” he said when met after attending an event on Sunday (Dec 20).

Commissioner Ayob added that he was puzzled why the threats were made against him, as he was no longer the E8 head.

“I am unsure why the threats have been made, as it’s been more than a year since I left Bukit Aman and I do not know why this issue resurfaced again,” he added.

Bernama news agency reported the senior policeman as saying: “We believe these people (suspects) are locals, because the call was made to a personal assistant in my office using Bahasa Malaysia, and we are investigating the case now.

He added: “There are rumours that the LTTE want to be removed from the list of terrorist groups… or maybe there are certain parties that want to take the opportunity to play up the LTTE issue again.”

The LTTE is a defunct terrorist group that was based in Sri Lanka, with symphathisers in Malaysia and other countries.

ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA Courtesy ORF

At present, albeit in a different context, there is another westward strategy from the Eastern Pacific theatre. It is that of the US Pacific Command in Hawaii along with Japan, Australia and other like-minded allies.Sri Lankan navy at Sri Lanka’s 72nd Independence Day — 4 February 2020, Colombo. Photo: Ishara S. Kofikara — AFP via Getty

Sri Lanka was never at war with Japan during World War II. Japan was at war with the allied forces and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) happened to be a base operation for the British Eastern Command. Four months after the Pearl Harbour surprise attack by the Japanese in the Pacific theatre which altered US Foreign Policy, another similar attack took place in the Indian Ocean. On Easter Sunday morning of 5 April 1942, Sri Lanka came under attack. The geostrategic locations of Hawaii and Sri Lanka were identified and rightly assessed by the Japanese-German strategic officers — such as Vice Admiral Nomura and Admiral Kurt Fricke, Chief of Staff of the German Maritime Warfare Command (Seekriegsleitung) — as the perfect launchpad to springboard their sphere of influences.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill remarked that the Japanese attack, carried out in Sri Lanka by their Fast Aircraft Carrier Strike Force under the command of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, was a decisive moment in the Second World War. This was due to the significant threat Allied Forces would face from losing Sri Lanka — a clear geographical advantage will fall to the enemy to expand to India, the Middle East and Africa. This was explained by historian, Sir Arthur Bryant as ‘a Japanese Naval victory in April 1942 would have given Japan total control of the Indian Ocean, isolated the Middle East and brought down the Churchill government.’ Unlike Pearl Harbour, which was a surprise attack, the British Eastern command in Sri Lanka was prepared ahead. The westward Japanese expansion strategy was suppressed and ended in Sri Lanka, marking a decisive moment in the Second World War.

At present, albeit in a different context, there is another westward strategy from the Eastern Pacific theatre. It is that of the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) in Hawaii along with Japan, Australia and other like-minded allies who subscribe to ‘shared values’ of a rules-based order, against a rising China — where Sri Lankan geolocation is revisited with its strategic importance. In view of China’s acts of aggression and to protect these shared values, Admiral Philip S. Davidson, commander of the USPACOM from Hawaii, sends a clear message: Maldives and the US recently agreed to a security cooperation framework to deepen engagement and cooperation in support of maintaining peace and security in the Indian Ocean. India’s support for this new effort is just one example of how like-minded nations can support one another in pursuit of our common vision for the region,” referring to the success of Australia’s participation alongside India, Japan, and the US in MALABAR 2020, a joint naval exercise. With multiple military alliances taking place in the Indo-Pacific theatre, Sri Lanka is also provided with the choice of stepping into the alliance, with a clear warning to abide by the ‘rules-based order’ and not with the aggressor China. Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour, India, ‘has also entered into a series of partnerships with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific, such as Australia, Japan, and the United States, to offset the growing Chinese influence as well as to enhance India’s own capabilities,’ argues Rajeswari Rajagopalan.

Sri Lanka executes a binary foreign policy and it is important to understand the implications of being part of both — one for economic benefit and another for security.

Indian High Commissioner to Colombo, HE Gopal Baglay, in a recent interview explained, I am happy to note the recent articulation by Sri Lanka of the ‘India-first’ policy, particularly in the realm of security,” further expressing India’s commitment to a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific and appreciating Sri Lanka’s view as a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific [being] as important for Sri Lanka as it is for India. It is a matter of great happiness to hear similar views articulated in the senior echelons of the Government of Sri Lanka, including at plurilateral occasions.” It is also worth understanding that the senior echelons have also proscribed with China’s BRI and recently endorsed the CCP model of development, which is not really a free and open model. Sri Lanka executes a binary foreign policy and it is important to understand the implications of being part of both — one for economic benefit and another for security. A hedging foreign policy could weaken its alliance posture with external powers and gravitate towards an external conflict not by choice but by default. Sri Lanka needs to move beyond the binary choice between the US and China, disaggregating strategic competition, case-by-case. One such way is to establish strategic alliances with ‘middle powers’ to move out of the binary path.

Geo-intelligence alliances in the Indo-Pacific

The US has expanded its intelligence budget according to the Director National Intelligence, and is clear on the Chinese threat as he stated, if I could communicate one thing to the American people from this unique vantage point, it is that the People’s Republic of China poses the greatest threat to America today.” Multiple alliance geo-intelligence pacts will be signed in the coming months and the Five Eyes structure revisited.

From the Pacific theatre, Japan — an important partner — will join the five eyes intelligence-sharing network. The new Japanese Prime Minister Suga has pushed Japan to do so, where for the first time, a nation from the eastern theatre will join the military-intelligence alliance. The Five Eyes, established in 1941 with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, played a key role in signal intelligence gathering and analysis during the Cold War. In the present context, Japan’s entry as the sixth eye would complement the strategic alliance as the other five, including Australia, anticipate increasing security concerns vis-à-vis China. This was further strengthened through the recent military partnership, the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) with Japan and Australia.

Multiple alliance geo-intelligence pacts will be signed in the coming months and the Five Eyes structure revisited.

Promoting India’s subregional agenda with its critical island littorals in the Indian Ocean, the 4th National Security Advisor-level trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation meeting trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation meeting between India-Sri Lanka-Maldives was successfully concluded. Its last meeting in 2014 was stalled due to strong bilateral relations of the littorals with China. At the recent trilateral in Colombo, an important intelligence sharing agreement identified the areas of terrorism and cybersecurity as common security threats.” This is a definite improvement since the last high-level Indo-Sri Lanka Defence Dialogue held at the Defence Ministry in Colombo with the two Defence Secretaries, where the subject area of terrorism or extremism was excluded from the agenda. It is significant that this was held on 8 April 2019, weeks before the 21 April Easter Sunday Attacks.

The head of the delegation for the trilateral from India was the country’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. On the sidelines of the trilateral, a meeting between President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Doval took place, where multitudes of security challenges for both nations were discussed. It was Doval back in 2014 who flagged to then-Secretary Defence Rajapaksa, that the Chinese submarine presence would be a threat to India’s interests. Since then, there has been a strong personal level connection between the two. Institutionalising this relationship is an important step for Indo-Lanka security ties. Due to India’s strong security alliance with the US inclusive of multiple security agreements, Sri Lanka will be made a partner in the future similar to the Maldives, with a view to share intelligence not only on counter-terrorism but also to keep (the US threat number one) China deterred.

Civilisational powers

In a great power rivalry where several geographical theatres could be used from Central Asia, the Arctic, the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific, there are factors to show the US-China tension would be more visible in the Indo-Pacific. During the Cold War, the pivotal defending geography from the Soviets was Berlin in Europe and today it is about defending Taiwan in East Asia.

Three ancient civilisational powers in Asia — India, China and Iran — will directly impact the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. These nations have a civilisational imprint on their geographies where neighbouring nations are overshadowed by their influence. Iran holds a pivotal position in the Middle Eastern frontier whose year began with the assassination of Iranian top military officer Soulamani and ended with the killing of the architect behind Iran’s nuclear program Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi. The coordinated assassination of Fakhrizadeh in Teheran was a direct signal to the incoming US President Biden, to stay away from the Iran Nuclear deal to carry forward the status quo. The assassination was aimed to secure the recent ‘Abraham pact’ with the UAE, Israel and Bahrain backed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The attack came days after the covert Israeli-Saudi-US meeting that reportedly took place in Neom.

Three ancient civilisational powers in Asia — India, China and Iran — will directly impact the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific.

Two geopolitical pressure points will impact two regions in the coming year. First, the Middle East with its Abraham pact to deter Iran. Second, in the Indo Pacific region to deter China. If sanctions are relaxed, Iran would play a much larger economic role in the oil trade and support its proxies in the same manner. If China is not contained by the US and its allies, it will continue to influence through its economic, security and CCP political model. From multiple military intelligence agreements crisscrossing geographies, expanding towards the sixth eye to contain China, with binary choices to nations like Sri Lanka, the year 2021 will begin with an elixir to the global populace suffering from a pandemic and a heated Cold War in the Indo-Pacific theatre.

T.K.G. Kapila Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A Russian tour group has been granted permission to visit Sri Lanka and will be the first batch of tourists to enter country after the reopening of the airport on December 26, Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CASL) Chairman Upul Dharmadasa said.

He said this Russian tour group consists of more than 200 people, will be the first to arrive at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and at the Mattala Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) respectively.

Mr. Dharmadasa said the airport authorities and the travel agents have been informed of this and instructed to take necessary actions, such as disinfecting the airport premises, organising customs and immigration formalities, hotels reservations by travel agents and arrange buses for the tourists.

Courtesy Adaderana

Death toll from Covid-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka has climbed to 176 as five more virus-related fatalities were confirmed today (20), the Director-General of Health Services says.

One of the victims is a 71-year-old male from Panagoda area who died of blood poisoning and Covid-19 pneumonia. He was transferred from Pimbura Base Hospital to Mulleriyawa Base Hospital where he died on December 18.

Another man, aged 52, has also fallen victim to Covid-19 pneumonia. He passed away on December 17 while at his home in Colombo 08.

The third victim is a 71-year-old woman from Colombo 12 area. She was transferred from Colombo National Hospital to Pimbura Base Hospital where he died on December 19. The cause of death was recorded as cancer and blood poisoning due to Covid-19 infection.

A 44-year-old man residing in Colombo 02 meanwhile died of lung infection exacerbated by Covid-19 infection. He was transferred from Colombo National Hospital to National Hospital for Respiratory Diseases (NHRD) in Welisara. According to reports, he has passed away on December 19.

The fifth victim was identified as a 49-year-old man from Bandaragama area. He died on admission to Horana Base Hospital on December 19. The cause of death was cited as chest infection caused by Covid-19 virus.

Courtesy Adaderana

Covid-19 infections registered in Sri Lanka crossed the grim milestone of 37,000 as 330 more persons were tested positive today (20).

The Government Information Department stated that 322 of the newly-identified patients are close contacts of earlier cases linked to the Peliyagoda fish market. In addition, 08 from the prison cluster were also confirmed to be positive for the virus.

With the new development, total positive cases detected within the day stand at 592.

As per statistics, Covid-19 infections confirmed in the country to date have reached 37,261.

Recoveries from the virus meanwhile climbed to 28,267 earlier today, with 715 more patients returning to health.

However, 8,823 active cases are still under medical care at selected hospitals and treatment centres located across the island.

Sri Lanka has also witnessed 171 deaths related to Covid-19