උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොරෝනා මර්දනය සදහා නිපදවා ඇති දේශීය ඖෂධය මේ වන විට අවසන් සායනික පරීක්‍ෂණ සදහා යොදවා ඇතැයි රාජ්‍ය ඇමති සිසිර ජයකොඩි මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

එම සායනික අධ්‍යනයෙන් අනතුරුව එය රෝගීන් වෙත ලබා දීමට අවශ්‍ය නිර්දේශය ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි තමන් විශ්වාස කරන බව ද ඔහු පැවසීය.

ඉන් අනතුරුව මෙම දේශීය ඖෂධය කිසිදු මුදල් අය කිරීමකින් තොරව සමස්ත ලංකාවාසීන්ටම නොමිලයේ ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කරන බවද ඇමතිවරයා කියා සිටියේය.

ඒ පිලිබදව වෙද මහතා සමග දැනටම සාකච්චා කර ඇති බවද ඇමතිවරයා තව දුරටත් පැවසීය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

දේශීය වෙද මහතකු වන ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා විසින් හඳුන්වා දෙනු ලැබූ කොරෝනා මර්දන ඖෂධය ගුණාත්මක භාවයෙන් ඉහළ බව පවසන ලද්දේ ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් උනන්දුව දැක් වූ බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරුන් කණ්ඩායමක් විසින් බව හිටපු පලාත් ආයුර්වේද කොමසාරිස් නිමල් කරුණාසිරි මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

එම ඖෂධය පලමු හා දෙවන අවස්ථාවලදී සාර්ථකත්වයක් පෙන්නුම් කර ඇති නිසා ඒ ගැන යලිත් ප‍්‍රශ්ණ කල නොහැකි බවද ඔහු කියා සිටී.

ඖෂධය හදුන්වා දී ඇති ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා වෛද්‍යවරයෙක් නොව බොරුකාරයෙක් බවට ඇතැමුන් මතයක් සෑදීමට උත්සාහ කලද එවන් පුරෝකථනයන් නොදිය යුතු බවද ඔහුගේ අදහසයි.

අදටද ආයුර්වේද ඖෂධ නිෂ්පාදනය කරන ඇතැම් සමාගම් වෛද්‍යවරුන් 70000ක් පමණ ඇති ඖෂධ වට්ටෝරු ඔ්නෑම අයෙකුට නිදපවිය හැකි බවත් එනිසා ඒවාට අවමන් නොකල යුතු බවද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

එවන් තැනැත්තන් ආරක්ෂා කළ යුතු බවත් පවසන හිටපු කොමසාරිස්වරයා අදාල පරීක්ෂණය වාර්තාව මාසයක් ඇතුලත මාසයක් ඇතුළත ලබා දෙන බවද පැවසීය.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

The peak of the second wave may be over but PCR tests were being conducted.

Colombo, December 3 (Daily Mirror) – Health authorities yesterday said that following a downward trend recorded in COVID-19 cases reported from isolated areas in the Western Province, the peak of the second wave may be over but PCR tests were being conducted across the country to detect any further clusters.

Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena told Daily Mirror that a majority of new COVID-19 cases were now being reported from the prison cluster while new patients being detected from isolated areas, were seeing a downward trend.

The peak of the second wave maybe over as we are seeing a flat line now. But this is if there is no other cluster detected. We are continuing our surveillance and conducting PCR tests in factories, BOI companies, vegetable markets, fish markets across the island.

That is how the Akaraipattu and Kandy cases were detected,” Dr. Gunawardena said. He said if the flat rate continues, without fresh clusters being detected, authorities will be able to bring the situation under control by mid December or by end of December. Presently, Colombo North, Colombo Central, a few areas in Slave Island and a few streets in Dematagoda continue to be hot spots in the Western Province.

A widely circulated message on social media yesterday claiming that over 150 patients were detected in Wellawatta and over 100 patients in Kirulapona is false and areas such as Kolluptitiya, Bambalapitiya, Wellawatta, Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia have not detected many patients in recent weeks. A few weeks back cases were reported from construction sites in Kollupitiya but that is settled,” Dr. Gunawardena said. (Jamila Husain)

Courtesy International Fedaration of Journalists

The BBC has closed the Sinhala Radio service broadcast due to financial crisis, effective from November 30. The International Federation of Journalists and its Sri Lankan affiliates the Free Media Movement (FMM) and the Federation of Media Employees Trade Union (FMETU) express concern at the closure of BBC’s Sinhala broadcast and urge the media organisation to reconsider its decision.

The BBC made the urgent ruling to cease the broadcast from the end of November, stating that the closure would save £180,000 (242,000 USD) annually, despite original intentions to close the radio service from March 2021. Employees who were expecting to work till March, 2021, were informed of the decision on November 20, just ten days before the closure of the broadcast. The BBC has said it will continue its service via social media and online services; the Sinhala service was previously comprised of a radio broadcast with regular bulletins transmitted through partner stations across the island, and the deliverance of journalism through various social media platforms.

The decision impacts the right to information to free and impartial news in the local language of more than 833,000 listeners, representing around 7 per cent of the total Sinhala-speaking population of Sri Lanka. Although the BBC claims to be expanding the Sinhala broadcast service digitally through an online service and social media, the current reach of Sinhala Radio through these platforms remains at just 80,000 people, a much smaller audience compared to its number of radio listeners.

The closure has been widely criticized in both the UK and Sri Lanka. Three members of parliament in the UK tabled a motion named ‘Human Rights in Sri Lanka and the Relocation of the BBC Sinhala Service’, to highlight the need for continuity of the Sinhala radio broadcast at the time of political instability, increased human rights violations and degenerating security in Sri Lanka. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK issued a press release on the same day urging the BBC to reconsider the decision. Likewise, media fraternity in Sri Lanka have been voicing their concerns against the decision. 

The FMM Convenor, Seetha Ranjanee, said: The decision to close the Sinhala radio broadcast by BBC at a time when Sri Lanka is going through the violation of media rights, press freedom and human right,  is not appropriate. The FMM hopes that the BBC will reconsider their decision and continue Sandeshaya radio program.”

The FMETU General Secretary, Dharmasiri Lankapeli, said: The impending closure comes at a crucial time when Sinhala audiences are increasingly deprived of accurate and independent information. We opine that this move deprives Sri Lankan people from the right to know the impartial and accurate news. We urge the BBC management to reconsider the decision.”

The IFJ said: The Sinhala radio broadcast has earned a good reputation among the Sri Lankan population, providing 833,000 populations with accurate, balanced and credible local and international news in their local language. The proposed plan to conduct the Sinhala service online and via social media platform serves merely the urbanities and thereby deprives a large portion of the rural population from credible information in their native language. Therefore, the IFJ urges the BBC to reconsider its decision.”

Zinara Rathnayake, independent journalist  Courtesy BMJ 2020

Sri Lanka had no prehospital emergency medical service until 2016. The arrival of a new ambulance service changed that, and it has proved vital in the pandemic, writes Zinara Rathnayake

In 2013, Harsha de Silva was travelling with his friends and family in Kuchchaveli, a small town in eastern Sri Lanka, 297 km from the capital, Colombo. They found themselves driving in a cyclone warning. One of their vehicles skidded, hitting lamp posts and a tree. His friend was thrown out of the back window on to the road, critically injuring herself.

She required immediate surgery. They went to the Base Hospital in Kanthale, requesting an ambulance. But there was none, so they had to drive her to Colombo.

Thankfully, his friend had successful surgery and recovered with time. But things could have been different. An ambulance would have made all the difference. That day I thought if I could do anything to change the prehospital emergency healthcare system in Sri Lanka, I will do it,” says Harsha, who was then an opposition member of parliament.

In 2015, Harsha became deputy minister of national policies and economic affairs. The Indian government had offered a grant of $7.55m (£5.65m; €6.34m) to Sri Lanka as a token of friendship between the two countries.1 Harsha presented the prime minister with a proposal: a modern emergency medical service with an ambulance network.

On 28 July 2016, 1990 Suwa Seriya—which translates as the telephone number and vehicle of health”—was launched as a free emergency prehospital healthcare service along with a toll-free hotline (the 1990 in the name). Eighty-eight ambulances operated in Western and Southern Provinces. It was a collaborative effort between Harsha and engineer Dumindra Rathnayake, who volunteered as the technology expert of Suwa Seriya.

Initially we faced a lot of difficulty and criticism from the Government Medical Officers’ Association, representing doctors working in public healthcare facilities, and the opposition party,” says Harsha. When they didn’t let us park the ambulances in hospitals, I decided to speak with the police.”

Filling a void

Sri Lanka has a free healthcare system, and in spite of overcrowding, long waiting times, limited specialised care, and an unequal distribution of resources,2 it achieves impressive results, with a high life expectancy of 77 years3 and the lowest maternal mortality rate in South Asia.4 The country achieved malaria-free status in 2016.5

Yet ambulances are few and they mainly belong to expensive private hospitals in the cities. Most citizens, particularly those in rural areas, have to fend for themselves in emergencies.

In a car accident, another vehicle on the road will transfer the injured patient to the hospital,” says Sabith Liaquat, a medical officer working at the state run Base Hospital in Puttalam, 138 km north of Colombo. In remote areas of the country, he adds, when patients had any sort of pain they would rely on over-the-counter painkillers such as acetaminophen and wait until the next day. You wouldn’t realise it in Colombo, but when you work in outstations, you realise that some patients waited the entire night to come to the hospital. They didn’t have the means of transport.”

Working in remote areas early on in his career, Liaquat saw the impact this had. Patient admission delays during an accident will result in blood loss. With no emergency care before the patient was admitted to the hospital, on very unfortunate occasions, it means we were losing a life that could have been saved.”

The situation is not uncommon in South Asia. In Pakistan, ambulance services are mostly offered by non-profit organisations.6 In India, they are publicly funded by the central and state governments, but the services including drivers and paramedics are employed through private agencies. According to a report in the Indian social science journal Economic and Political Weekly,7 India’s service suffers from unattended calls, poor response times, and frequent conflict between employees and contracting private agencies, leading to an increase in the risk of medical errors and consequent loss of clinical quality of EMS [emergency medical services].”

Sri Lanka’s service is modelled on India’s 108 emergency medical service, but has gone beyond that,” says Harsha, with better equipment and continuous staff training to ensure services run efficiently. He sympathises with his Indian counterparts, who serve a population of over one billion.

With 297 ambulance units, Suwa Seriya covers the entire island, allocating ambulance units based on the area population density, with a total workforce of 1500. The ambulances are parked at police stations around the country, a step taken by the project initiators after the Government Medical Officers’ Association first rejected the service on political grounds.

The association, who backed the opposition party at the time, criticised the inclusion of a defibrillator as part of the ambulance’s standard toolkit, worrying that staff were not properly trained to use it. The association’s secretary, Nalinda Herath, warned the public not to board the Indian Ambulance Service” because they ran the risk of getting electrocuted.8 They also expressed anxieties about a flood of Indian employees, although the staff at Suwa Seriya are entirely Sri Lankan.

But perseverance has won through. Although initially drawing on the Indian grant, Suwa Seriya is now funded entirely by the Sri Lankan government as an arm’s length body with autonomy from the health ministry and has won over the Government Medical Officers’ Association.

The service has proved highly effective, particularly during a terror attack on Easter Sunday 2019, when several places in Sri Lanka including churches and luxury hotels were bombed, leading to more than 250 casualties, including 38 foreign visitors, and injuring at least 500 people.

Harsha says more than 650 000 patients have been transported by the service so far, with an estimated 66 000 lives saved. It also counts over 200 successful emergency childbirths in its ambulances, coinciding with Sri Lanka lowering its infant mortality rate from 7.5% in 2015 to 6% in 2019.9 One of the mothers even named their newborn baby after Harsha: I told my wife I had nothing to do with it!,” he says.

Tested by the pandemic

Suwa Seriya fields 5300 calls and handles 1000 cases a day on average. This has increased during the pandemic to 9000 calls and 1500 cases a day, said Sohan de Silva, chief executive officer of Suwa Seriya in a Facebook Live on 20 June. The service has an average response time of 11.25 minutes across the island, outperforming places like New South Wales, Australia (11.4 minutes).10

With the outbreak of covid-19, our work has been increased,” said Sohan. Public awareness programmes, social media campaigns, and mass advertising by the Ministry of Health on electronic media tell people to dial 1990 if they have covid-19 symptoms, with the ambulances transferring suspected and confirmed cases to testing centres and hospitals, minimising their exposure to the public.

We are disinfecting each ambulance after a patient transfer now,” said Sohan. We are in a pandemic. But it doesn’t mean other emergencies don’t arise. Road accidents happen every day. There are critical patients with heart diseases.”

Sohan applauded the commitment and dedication of his staff. Sometimes our staff were asked to relocate their accommodation because their landlords suspected they carried the virus. So they would spend their shifts at the police station. Not a single staff member complained.”

In late March, Sri Lanka’s health minister, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, highlighted the important role of Suwa Seriya on the frontline.11 Staff of the Suwa Seriya ambulance service should receive national honour for their service of picking up patients as soon as they are informed,” she said during a press conference in March. They go and pick up patients whether or not they are infected with covid-19, taking a high risk on themselves.”

A lot of people are aware of [Suwa Seriya] now,” says Liaquat. They know they have to call 1990 in case of a medical emergency.” Still, he says, conducting more awareness campaigns for the public would help spread the message to the remotest corners of the country, which electronic media does not reach. He adds that improving the quality of life of the ambulance staff by giving them proper accommodation, washrooms, and other facilities would also have considerable impact on their service.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another person infected with novel coronavirus has died today (04), the Director-General of Health Services confirmed.

The victim was identified as a 72-year-old male from Piliyandala area.

He was admitted to the National Institute for Infectious Diseases (NIID) after testing positive for the virus and passed away earlier today while receiving treatment.

The cause of death was cited as heart disease and bacterial infection exacerbated by Covid-19 pneumonia.

This brings Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 death toll to 130.

Courtesy Adaderana

Attorney General Dappula de Livera has submitted a note of clarification to Singapore today (04), regarding the request to extradite former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran.

State Counsel Nishara Jayarante, the Coordination Officer of the Attorney General stated that the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice has been informed of the clarification note.

The Attorney General has further told the Justice Secretary that the extradition request on Arjuna Mahendran is still pending.

Arjuna Mahendran is one of the major suspects wanted by the authorities in connection with the Central Bank bond scam case.

Two days ago, Minister of Justice, President’s Counsel Ali Sabry stated that he has sought a report on Arjuna Mahendran’s extradition from the Attorney General.

The Attorney General had tendered the extradition request to the Defence Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry last year for necessary authentication and transmission to the Singaporean government after the Permanent High Court at Bar issued an arrest warrant on him.

Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later informed that the Singapore Government would consider the extradition request once the necessary supporting information and documents were received.

In September 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded the extradition request on Arjuna Mahendran, to the Sri Lankan High Commission in Singapore.

The extradition request was then forwarded to the Government of Singapore for necessary action.

Several months ago, that International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) informed Sri Lanka that the former Central Bank Governor has changed his name to ‘Harjan Alexander’

Courtesy Adaderana

The Covid-19 infected man who spat on health workers and obstructed their duties at Atulugama in Bandaragama has been arrested and produced before the court today (04).

He was accordingly placed under remand custody until the 17th of December.

The man in question had spat on the face of two Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) on Wednesday (02) refusing to be hospitalized after testing positive for Covid-19.

Following the incident, PHIs temporarily withdrew from performing duties in Atulugama and the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) Office in Bandaragama called off the PCR tests that were scheduled to be carried out in the area yesterday.

The chairman of Kalutara District Public Health Inspectors’ Union, P.C. Senaratne stated that the two fellow PHIs are currently undergoing the quarantine procedure.

They warned to resort to a trade union action if they continue to face such incidents in the future.

The Bandaragama Medical Officer of Health had filed a complaint with the Bandaragama regarding the matter.

Courtesy Prvda

Individuals who have suffered from the coronavirus infection, even in a mild form, may experience premature aging of the body, scientists have noticed. Ancha Baranova, Professor at George Mason University in the United States, referred to the results of the study that was published in November, RIA Novisti reports.

A group of doctors examined patients who had come through COVID-19 in moderate to mild form. According to Professor Baranova, those who had a very mild illness, in 70 percent of cases developed pathology of internal organs. The main pathology was not heart, but liver related – mainly fatty hepatosis (the liver deterioration), as well as fatty degenerations of the pancreatic tissue. Such diagnoses are common with people over 60, but, as it appears, such symptoms can be diagnosed with 40-year-old inviduals from the post-COVID group, Ancha Baranova believes. 

Thus, the coronavirus disease makes the human body age a lot faster, the biologist noted, adding that scientists still have to study the consequences of the infection in detail.

Igor Sergienko of the National Medical Research Center of Cardiology of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation believes, however, that conclusions about premature aging after COVID-19 are untimely.

“There is too little scientific research about the long-term impact of coronavirus on the human body in terms of aging,” he told TASS.

Earlier, Baranova said that there is a decline in the birth rate in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In Russia, a recent study conducted among those who recovered from COVID-19, said that the Russians, who had suffered from the novel coronavirus infection, complain of problems with memory and concentration. As for neurological consequences, severe neuromyalgia, pains in the outer surface of legs are most common symptoms among neurological consequences of the disease. Specialists attribute such complaints to psychosomatics, stress and fear, the neurotoxic effect of the coronavirus infection and impaired lung function.
Читайте больше на https://english.pravda.ru/news/health/145347-covid_age/

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The Head of Catholics in Sri Lanka has issued a stern warning to the Sri Lankan Government that the government will be handed over to an alternative group if the current regime fail to punish the culprits of the Easter attack.   This is a serious threat to overthrow the current government by the power-hungry wealthy Catholic Action dominated by Tamil Terrorists. Westerners  against the Sinhala Buddhist Nation.

Easter attack took place during Yahapalana Regime.  The Holy Father did not bring pressure on  Ranil Wickremasinghe headed anti-Sinhala Buddhist government.  From April 2019 till early November 2019, this puppet Holy Father could have effectively pioneered a campaign to overthrow the Ranil Wickremasinghe government.   He did not do it.  His followers did not do it. .      In spite of Easter attack, Catholic / Christian dominated most areas were safely voted for the UNP candidate during Presidential election.

Now, he has become too big for his shoes, as if he was primarily responsible for the formation of the current regime. The Cardinal’s threat to overthrow the government must be taken seriously.  We are fully aware of the power of Catholic Action during the period of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike, where imperialists joined hands with the senior Police officers to throw her government.  

We urge the IGP to instruct the CID  to summon Almighty Cardinal to question and fully investigate his statements, plans, financiers,  leading up to  and including instituting legal action for an attempted coup to throw the government.

Quote: You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog.” Ashin Wirathu (Burmese Buddhist Monk)

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

කොරෝනා වසංගතය ලොව පුරාම පැතිරී ඇත. ලෝකයේ අංක එකේ වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය ලෙස දියුණුයි සම්මත රටවල පිළිගන්නා බටහිර වෙදකමට මේ සඳහා පිලියමක් නැත. දේශීයව ආයුර්වේද වෛද්‍යවරු හා හෙලවෙදකම ප්‍රගුණ කල අය මේ සඳහා තමන්ට  වෙදකම් කල හැකියි කීවද එය ඉටු කිරීමට යාන්ත්‍රණයක් නොතිබුණි.

බල්ලා පිදුරු කන්නේද නැත  කන ගොනාට කන්න දෙන්නේද නැති තත්වයක් නිර්මාණය විය.ඒ බටහිර ඖෂධ මාෆියාවේ බලපෑමයි.
හෙළ වෙදදුරන්ද තම යුතුකම ඉටුකිරීමට හැකි උපරිමයෙන් කටයුතු කර බෙහෙතක් සොයාගෙන දේශප්‍රේමී බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේද සහයෙන් පරික්ෂාවට ලක්කර සාර්ථක ප්‍රතිපලද ලබා ඇති බව පැවසේ. දැන් කල යුත්තේ නොපමාව එම බෙහෙත එකවර ලෙඩුන් 500කට ලබාදී දින තුනකට පසුව පරික්ෂා කිරීමයි. එය කිරීමට අවසර ගත යුත්තේ රෝගය වැළඳී ඇති ලෙඩ්ඩුන්ගෙන් පමණි. බටහිර වෙදකමේදී ශල්‍යකර්මයකට පෙර ලෙඩාගෙන්  හෝ බාරකාරයන්ගෙන් අත්සන් ලබා ගන්නේ සියලුම වගකීම ලෙඩා මත පැවරීමට වන බැවින් එම ක්‍රමයම අනුගමනය කරමින්, ලෙඩාගේ කැමැත්ත මත මෙම බෙහෙතදීම වහාම ආරම්බ කල යුතුය. ඒ සඳහා මේ ලෙඩේට කිසිදු පිලියමක් නැති වෛද්‍ය සභාවකින් අවසරගත යුතු නැත. එසේ සිතීම තුලම ඇත්තේ අමනකමකි. කාලයට රන් වලට වඩා වටිනාකමක් ඇත. කරුණාකර මේ බෙහෙතට සමාජගත වෙන්න ඉඩ හරින්න. කොවිඩ් පලවා හරින්න කල හැකි සියලු දෙයම කරන්න. ඒ සඳහා සියලුම බලවේග වල රැකවරණය ඒ සඳහා පෙරමුණ ගන්නා අයට නිසැකයෙන්ම ලැබෙනු ඇත.

රොහාන් අබේගුනවර්ධන

පසුගිය දශක කිහිපය තුළ අපි ඉතා ආඩම්බරයෙන් දුටුවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ සුවිශේෂී සන්නාමයක් බිහිවීමයි. එහි ප්‍රතිපලයක් ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තවදුරටත් දුර්වල කන්ඩායමක් ලෙස හෝ ප්‍රභල කණ්ඩායමිවලට අභියෝගයක් වියහැකි සුළු කණ්ඩායමක්  ලෙස නොසලකන අතර ලෝක ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ ඉහළම ස්ථානයක් ලැබීමට සුදුසු ගෞරවනීය සාමාජිකයෙකු ලෙස සලකනු ලැබේ.

ලොව පුරා ක්‍රිකට් ප්‍රේක්ෂකයින් ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රසාදය ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට පමණක් සීමා කළ හොත් එය ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ උන්නතිය සඳහා දායකවූ ශ්‍රීලංකා ක්‍රිකට්ලෝලීන්කිහිප දෙනෙකුට කරන අසාධාරණයකි.මෙම ක්‍රිකට් ලෝලීන් කවුරුන්දැයි අපි විමසා බලමු.

ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ තුන්වනවිනිසුරු සංකල්පය (Third Umpire Concept) පලමුව යෝජනාකළේ ශ්‍රීලංකා ක්‍රිකට් පදනමේ හිටපු ලේකම්වරයකු සහ දැන් ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේක්‍රිකට් ලේඛකයෙකු වන මහින්දවිජේසිංහ මහතා විසිනි. ඔහුගේයෝජනාව වූයේ පිටියේ විනිසුරුවන්ට (Field Umpires) අමතරව තවත් විනිසුරුවන් දෙදෙනෙකු රූපවාහිනී මොනිටර සහ පුනරෑපණය කල හැකි වීඩියෝ උපකරණ සමග විශේෂ රූපවාහිනී කාමරයක සිටියයුතු බවයි. පිටියේ විනිසුරුවන් සහ තිරය නරඹන විනිසුරුවන් අතර සන්නිවේදනය කිරීම සඳහා වෝකි ටෝකි පද්ධතියක් භාවිතා කිරීම ඔහු නිර්දේශ කළේය. තිරය නරඹන විනිසුරුවන් සම්බන්ධකරගැනීමෙන් පිටියේ විනිසුරුවන්ට ඕනෑම සැකයක් දුරුකළහැකිය.

මහින්දගේ යෝජනාව1984 ජූලි මාසයේ පැවති අන්තර්ජාතික ක්‍රිකට්කවුන්සිලයේ (ICC) රැස්වීමට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදී.මෙම අදහස වාර්තා වූ නමුත් සහාය නොදක්වන ලද” බව විස්ඩන් ඇල්මානැක් (එක්සත් රාජධානියේ වාර්ෂිකව ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ක්‍රිකට් ආශ්‍රය ග්‍රන්ථය) ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. දකුණු අප්‍රිකානුවන් එහි වැදගත්කම වටහා ගත්හ.1991/92 දකුණු අප්‍රිකාව සහ ඉන්දියාව අතර ටෙස්ට් සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර තරඟ වලදී වීඩියෝ සාක්ෂි භාවිතා කළ පළමු රට ඔවුන්ය.මෙම ‘තුන්වන විනිසුරු’ සංකල්පයේ නියම හිමිකරු සැබවින්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් ලේඛක මහින්ද විජේසිංහ බව ක්‍රිකට් මාධ්‍යවේදී සහ ‘’ජාත්‍යන්තරක්‍රිකට්ක්‍රීඩක’’ කර්තෘ ක්‍රිස්ටෝපර් මාටින් ජෙන්කින්ස් කලකට පෙර වාර්තා කළේය.

පිටියේ විනිසුරුවන්ගේ දෝෂ අවම කිරීම සඳහා ක්‍රමවේදයක් ශ්‍රීලාංකික නීතිඥසේනක වීරරත්න විසින් යෝජනාකරන ලදී. ඔහුවිසින්‘තුන්වන විනිසුරු අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරයාගේ භූමිකාව ඉටු කළ යුතුය’ යන මාතෘකාව යටතේ ලියනලද ලිපිය පළමුවෙන්ම 1997 මාර්තු 25 වන දින ‘ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාන්’ (The Australian ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ජාතික පුවත්පත) හි ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලද අතර ඉන් අනතුරුව ක්‍රිකට් ලෝකය පුරා පුවත්පත් සහ සඟරා කිහිපයකද පළ විය.

‘’විනිසුරුගේ තීරණය අවසාන තීරණය වේ’’ යන ක්‍රිකට් ආරම්භයේ සිටම පිළිගත් සම්ප්‍රදාය වේ. පිටියේවිනිසුරුවරයෙකුගේ තීරණයට එරෙහිව මායිමෙන් පිටත සිටිනතුන්වන විනිසුරුවරයෙකුට අභියාචනයක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට හැකි වන පරිදි මෙම රීතිය බැහැර කළ යුතු බව සේනක දැඩි ලෙස තර්ක කර තිබේ. මූලික රීතියක වලංගුභාවයට අභියෝගකරන බැවින් මෙමසංකල්පය නිසැකවම විප්ලවීය අදහසකි.

ඔහු යෝජනා කර ඇති යාන්ත්‍රණය, පහළ අධිකරණ තීන්දුවක්අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරයෙකු විසින් සමාලෝචනය කිරීමට සමානය.

මෙම යෝජනාව අන්තර්ජාතික ක්‍රිකට්කවුන්සිලයේ (ICC) ජාත්‍යන්තරක්‍රිකට් කමිටුව විසින් 2006 දී සම්මතකරනලද අතර පසුව එය ක්‍රිකට්ලෝකයට හඳුන්වාදුන්නේ විනිසුරු තීරණ සමාලෝචන ක්‍රමය (Umpire Decision Review System – UDRS)යනුවෙනි. මෙයට ‘DRS’නමද භාවිතකරයි. මෙහි ආරම්භය සේනකවීරරත්නගේ ‘ක්‍රිඩකයොමුකිරීමේ’(Player referral) සංකල්පයයි.

දැනට පවතින සියලුම සාක්ෂි විමසා බැලීමෙන් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාව සඳහා ‘ක්‍රීඩක යොමු කිරීමේ’ ක්‍රමයක් යෝජනා කළ ප්‍රථමයා සේනක වීරරත්න බවය. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වීරරත්නට අභියෝග කිරීමට මෙතෙක් කිසිවෙකුට නොහැකි වී තිබේ.

ඉංග්‍රීසි ක්‍රිකට් පුහුණුකරු වන ඩන්කන් ෆ්ලෙචර් පවා ‘ඈෂශ් රීගේන්ඩි – පුහුණුකරුගේ කතාව’ (2005) [‘Ashes Regained – the Coach’s story’ (2005)]නම් ග්‍රන්ථයේ ‘ක්‍රීඩක යොමුකිරීමේ’ සංකල්පයේ මුල්වරට  ඉදිරිපත්කලේ ඔහු බව ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත. ඔහුමෙම විෂය පිළිබඳ පළමු ප්‍රකාශය 1999 දී ඉදිරිපත් කල අතර ඊට වසර දෙකකට පෙර වීරරත්න මෙම සංකල්පය ඉදිරිපත් කරඇති බව දැනගත් පසුව ඔහුගේ හිමිකම් ඉල්ලා අස්කරගන්නා ලදි.

වීරරත්නගේ කර්තෘත්වය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රකාශයට අභියෝග කිරීමට ලෝකයේ කිසිවෙකු නොමැති නිසා එය දැන් ‘’එක් අශ්ව තරඟයක්’’[a one horse race] බවට පත්ව ඇත. මෙය ශ්‍රීලංකාවටද,අන්තර්ජාතිකමට්ටමේ ජයග්‍රහණයකි.

තවද, වීරරත්නගේ  ‘ක්‍රීඩකයා – යොමුකිරීමේ සංකල්පය’ පාපන්දු, රග්බිපාපන්දු, ටෙනිස්වැනි තවත් ක්‍රීඩා කිහිපයකම යොදාගෙන ඇතිබව පෙනේ. වීරරත්න විසින් මෙම මාතෘකාව පිළිබඳ ලිපි ලොව ප්‍රමුඛ පුවත්පත් වලට පමණක් නොව, අයිසීසී සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් පාලක මණ්ඩලය ඇතුළු සියලුම ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රීඩා කරන රටවල ක්‍රිකට් බලධාරීන් වෙත යවා තිබේ.

ක්‍රීඩා, විද්‍යාව හෝ තාක්‍ෂණයවේවා ඕනෑමක්‍ෂේත්‍රයක සාම්ප්‍රදායිකව ඕනෑම නවෝත්පාදනයක් හෝ සොයාගැනීමක් සඳහාආරම්භකයාගේ හෝකතුවරයාගේ නම නවනිපැයුමට යොදාගනු ලැබේ.

සීමිත ඕවර ක්‍රිකට් තරඟයකදී කාලගුණය හෝ වෙනත් තත්වයන් හේතුවෙන් බාධා පමුණුවන දෙවනුව පන්දුවට පහර දෙන කණ්ඩායමේ ඉලක්ක ලකුණු ගණනය කිරීම සඳහා ඉංග්‍රීසි ජාතිකයන් දෙදෙනෙකු වන ෆ්‍රෑන්ක් ඩක්වර්ත් සහ ටෝනි ලුවිස් ගණිතමය සූත්‍රයක් සකස් කළහ. එය 1997 දී හඳුන්වා දෙන ලද අතර 1999 දී අයිසීසී විසින් නිල වශයෙන් සම්මත කරන ලද අතර එය ඩක්වර්ත් ලුවිස් ක්‍රමය (D/L) ලෙස හැඳින්විය. කෙසේවෙතත්, ක්‍රීඩකයා – යොමුකිරීමේසන්කල්පය, දැන්ක්‍රීඩාවේ ආකෘතීන් තුනෙහිම, එනම්ටෙස්ට්, එක්දින හා විස්සයි විස්ස තරඟාවලදී භාවිතාකරන අතර එහි නිර්මාතෘ වන සේනක වීරරත්නට නිසි පිළිගැනීමක් තවමත් ලබාදී නොමැත. ඔහුපසුගියඅවුරුදු 20 තුළම මේ පිළිගැනීම සඳහා හුදකලා සටනක යෙදීසිටී. කෙසේවෙතත්, මෑතකදී පැවති                                      විධායක කමිටු රැස්වීමකදී, ශ්‍රීලංකා ක්‍රිකට් ආයතනය (SLC) ඔහුට නිසි පිළිගැනීමක් ලබාදීම සඳහා ප්‍රමුඛ පෙළේ ලාංකික නීතිඥයන් දෙදෙනෙකු වන ආචාර්‍ය හර්‍ෂ කබ්‍රාල් සහ කුෂාන් ඉලංගතිලක යන මහතුන් විසින් සකස්කරනල ද පරිපූර්ණ හා ඉතා සවිස්තරාත්මක සංදේශයක් ක්‍රිකට් කවුන්සිලයට ඉදිරිපත්කර තිබේ. එය ශ්‍රී ලංකික ක්‍රිකට්ලෝලීන්ට  සැනසිල්ලක් වේ. අන්තර්ජාතික ක්‍රිකට්කවුන්සිලයේ තීරණයබලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් සිටින අතර, ශ්‍රීලංකා රජය ඉන්දියාවේ සහායද ලබාගත යුතු බව බොහෝදෙනෙක්ගේ මතයයි. අන්තර්ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කවුන්සිලයේ බලවත්ම සාමාජිකයා වන්නේ මේ දිනවල දැවැන්ත  ආර්ථික බලපෑමක් ඇති ඉන්දියාවයි. වීරරත්න කතුවරයාට පමණක් නොව සමස්තයක් වශයෙන් ශ්‍රීලංකාවට ද විශාල පිළිගැනීමක් ගෙනදෙන මෙම ක්‍රියාවට පාකිස්තානය, බංග්ලාදේශයවැනි දකුණු ආසියානු රටවල සහයෝගය ද ලබාගතයුතුය.

ඉන්දියානු මාධ්‍යවේදනියක්වන වර්‍ෂා තාකූර්  මෑතකදී ලියාඇත්තේ ‘‘ සේනක වීරරත්නගේ යූ.ඩී.ආර්.එස්. සන්කල්පය’’ ආගම, යුක්තිය සහ සත්‍ය යන සාරධර්ම සියල්ලම ඇතුලත්ව ඇති අතර එය ලෝකයේ සෑම අස්සක් මුල්ලක් නෑරම පැතිරී  මුළු මිනිස් සංහතියටම බලපෑම් කළයුතු කාලය පැමිණ ඇති බවයි. ඇය තවදුරටත් පවසන්නේ ”මෝඩි” රජය ලොව පුරා ජාත්‍යන්තර යෝග දිනය ආරම්භකළ අතර එය අතිශයින්ම සාර්ථකබවය. තවද ක්‍රීඩාව ඉහළනැංවීම සහ ක්‍රීඩාවේ සුවිශේෂී ජයග්‍රහණ හා සම්බන්ධ පුද්ගලයින්ට ගෞරව කිරීමද සාර්ථක විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තියක්  බව ඇය තවදුරටත් පෙන්නාදී ඇත.

එබැවින් ලෝක ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ ප්‍රමුඛතම රටවන ඉන්දියාව විසින් ක්‍රිකට් නීතිරීති සංවර්ධනය සඳහා දැක්වූ දායකත්වය වෙනුවෙන් සේනක වීරරත්නට සුදුසු ගෞරවය ලබාදීම හරහා ලෝක ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාවේ ඉන්දියාවේ නායකත්වය තවත් ශක්තිමත් වෙනවා පමණක් නොව ඉන්දියාව සමඟ ශ්‍රීලංකාවේ සබඳතා තවදුරටත් ගැඹුරුවනු ඇත. ඉන්දියාවේ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය මැදිහත්වී මේ පිළිබඳව වහාම පියවර ගෙන සුදුසු හා අවශ්‍ය ක්‍රියාවන් ප්‍රමාද නොවී ගන්නා ලෙස කොළඹ ඉන්දියානු මහ කොමසාරිස්වරයාට නියම කළ යුතුය.

වර්‍ෂාතාකූර්,  ක්‍රිකට්ක්‍රීඩාවේ ධර්මරාජා සහ ඩීආර්ස්  සංකල්පයේ පියා ලෙස සේනක වීරත්නව හඳුන්වයි.

මේ අනුව ශ්‍රීලංකියන් මිලියන 21 ක් පමණක් නොව බිලියන 1.2 ක් වන ඉන්දියානුවන්ද ඉදිරි කාලයේදි සේනක වීරත්නට නියම හිමිකම ලබාගැනීමට සහාය දක්වන බව නියතය.

හිටපු ශ්‍රීලංකා ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩකයෙකු (පිතිකරු / කඩුලුරකින්නා) වූ රංජිත් ප්‍රනාන්දු පසුව ජාත්‍යන්තර ක්‍රිකට් විචාරකයෙකු බවට පත්විය. ඔහු ක්‍රීඩකයෙකුගේ හයේ පහරවල් විස්තර කිරීම සඳහා ගුවන්මාර්ගය”(batsman has taken Aerial route) යන යෙදුම පලමුවෙන්ම භාවිතා කල පුද්ගලයා විය.  අද ඔබට බොහෝ විචාරකයින් මෙම පදය භාවිතාකරනු ඇසිය හැක. මෙම පදය ප්‍රථම වරට විකාශය කළේ රංජිත් ප්‍රනාන්දු විසින්බව ඔවුන් බොහෝවිටදී  සඳහන් කරයි.

ලොවට දැනුම්දියයුතු වැදගත් පණිවුඩය නම්, ක්‍රීඩාපිටියේ ඉහළ ජයග්‍රහණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පමණක් නොව, ක්‍රීඩාවේ නීති විප්ලවකාරී ලෙස පරිවර්තනයකිරීම සඳහාද අසීමිත දක්‍ෂතා ඇති ක්‍රීඩකයන් මෙන්ම ක්‍රීඩාලෝලීන්ද  ශ්‍රීලංකාවට සිටින බවය. සේනක වීරරත්නගේ ‘ක්‍රීඩකයොමුකිරීම’සහ මහින්ද විජේසිංහගේ ‘තුන්වනවිනිසුරු’ සංකල්ප මගින් මේ බව මනාව පැහැදිළිවේ.  අන්තර් ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් සම්මේලනයෙන් නිසි පිළිගැනීමක් ඔවුන්ට ලබාදීම සඳහා සියලුම ශ්‍රීලංකිකයන් එක්විය යුතු කාලය දැන් පැමිණ තිබේ.

රොහාන් අබේගුනවර්ධන

Ref: Recognise Sri Lankan cricket lovers unique contributions to world cricket

http://asiantribune.com/node/94247

Senaka Weeraratna is the Dharmaraja of cricket and the father of DRS

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2020/06/06/senaka-weeraratna-is-the-dharmaraja-of-cricket-and-the-father-of-drs/

පාරම්පරික ආයුර්වේද වෛද්‍ය ඞී.එම්. ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර කෑගල්ල එම්. බී. පහලවත්ත උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

මෙම බෙහෙත රාවණා රජු කල සිට පැවතෙන්නක්. පෙර සිටි මහරහතුන් පවා වසංගත රෝග සඳහා පාවිච්චි කර තිබෙන වටිනා බෙහෙතක්. අත්දුටු බෙහෙතක්. එම නිසා රාජ්‍ය හා සෞඛ්‍ය සම්බන්ධ ආයතනවල අනුග‍්‍රහයෙන් බෙහෙතට අවශ්‍ය අමුද්‍රව්‍ය ලබා දුන්නොත් දින හතරක කාලයක් තුළදී දැනට ලංකාවේ සිටින කොරෝනා රෝගීන් සුව කිරීමට මට හැකියාවක් තියනවා යැයි කෑගල්ල, හෙට්ටිමුල්ල, උඩුමාගම මහාවීර බද්ධ කාලී දේවාලයේ ධර්මාචාර්ය පාරම්පරික ආයුර්වේද වෛද්‍ය ඞී.එම්. ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා පැවසීය.

මේ සම්බන්ධව තවදුරටත් අප සමග විස්තර කළ වෛද්‍ය ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා මෙසේ ද කීවේය.

කොරෝනා වසංගතයට ගොදුරු වූ රෝගීන් සුවපත් කිරීම සඳහා මම බෙහෙතක් සාදා තිබෙනවා. ඒ සඳහා ලංකාවේ තිබෙන බෙහෙත් වර්ග හතරයි අරන් තියෙන්නේ. එකක් පිරිසිදු මී පැණි, මී පැණි හොඳ ජීව පදාර්ථයක්. මේ ඖෂධය දීලා රෝගය සුව කරලා තියෙනවා. ඒක විද්‍යාත්මකව ඔප්පු කරන්න පුළුවන්. මෙම බෙහෙත අවසන් වශයෙන් දුන්නේ වතුපිටිවල නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානයට. එතන රෝගීන් 146 දෙනකු සිටියා. ඒ සියලූ දෙනාටම බෙහෙත් දුන්නා. දින 4ක් යන විට සුවවී තිබුණා. මේ සඳහා බිය වන්න අවශ්‍ය නැහැ. සත්තකින්ම මෙය ජීවමාන ඖෂධයක්. මෙම බෙහෙත් පාවිච්චි කළොත් සැක සිතන්න එපා, රෝගය සුව වෙනවා. අනිත් එක මේක නොමිලයේ ලබා දෙන්නේ.

මෙම බෙහෙත් සොයා ගැනීමේ අපහසුතාවයක් තිබෙනවා. රජයෙන් හෝ වෙනත් ආයතනයකින් මෙම බෙහෙත් සොයා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය නිසයි රාජ්‍ය අනුග‍්‍රහය ඉල්ලන්නේ. විශේෂයෙන් මම ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ පිරිසිදු මී පැණි හා සාදික්කායි. අනිත් වර්ග සොයා ගැනීමට පුළුවන්. මී පැණි ලැබෙන කාලය තව ඉදිරියට තියෙන්නේ. සාදික්කාත් තව ඉදිරියට කඩන්න පුළුවන්. මේ බෙහෙත් දෙක තමයි සොයා ගැනීම අපහසු.

ලංකාවේ අද වෙනකොට ආසාදිත රෝගීන් 5000 ගාණක් වාර්තා වෙනවා. මේ සියලූ දෙනාට මෙම බෙහෙත් දීලා දින තුනක දී නිට්ඨාවට සුව කරනවා. ආය කිසි දවසක හැදෙන්නේ නැහැ.

මේක පුරාණයේ සිට පැවත එන්නක්. රාවණා රජතුමාගේ කාලයේ සිට එන බෙහෙතක්. එදා මහ රහතන්වහන්සේලා පවා පාවිච්චි කර තිබෙන බවට සඳහන් වෙනවා. ඒ කාලයේදීත් මෙවැනි වසංගත තිබිලා තියෙනවා. මේකේ තියෙන්නේ බෙහෙත් හතරයි. ඒවා සජීවී බෙහෙත්.

‘‘නම කියන්න බැරිද?’’ ඒ අපේ ප‍්‍රශ්නයකි.

ඒවා පසුවට කියමු, වේලාවක් ආවොත් අපි කියමු.

මේ ඖෂධය වටිනා එකක්. මේක මේ රෝගයෙන් පෙළෙන ලෝකයේ ඕනෑම කෙනකුට දෙන්න. මම දිව්රා කියන්නම් දින තුනකින් සුව වෙනවා. වැඩිහිටි රෝගියකුට මේස හැන්දෙන් හතරක් දිනපතා උදේ සවස බිව්වොත් මේ රෝගය නැවත හැදෙන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ තරමටම ගුණයි, අත්දුටුවයි. බිව්ව අය ඉන්නවා, සුව වෙලා ඉන්නවා. වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට, ඈත පළාත්වල අයට දීලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ අය සුවවෙලා තිබෙනවා.

රජයේ අනුග‍්‍රහයෙන් ලෑස්ති කරනවා නම් රජයේ රෝහල්වල නේවාසිකව ඉන්න අයට බෙහෙත් දෙන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ සඳහා සැලසුමක් කර දෙන්න. මුදල් එපා. මෙම බෙහෙත් බෝතලයක් හදා ගන්න රුපියල් හයදාස් පන්සියයක් වියදම් වෙනවා. බෙහෙත හොයන්න මහන්සි වෙන්න ඕනෑ. ශ‍්‍රමය යොදන්න ඕනෑ. එම මුදලවත් අපට ඵපා. අවශ්‍ය බෙහෙත් ටික සොයා දෙන්න.

මෙම බෙහෙත මගින් කී දෙනෙකූ සුවවෙලා ඉන්නවද?

එය අප යොමු කළ තවත් ප‍්‍රශ්නයකි.

මම අන්තිමට දුන්නේ වතුපිටිවල රෝහලට. එහි 146 ක් හිටියා කියලා මම කිව්වනේ. ඒ  අයගෙන් පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ කළා. එයින් පස්සේ සුවවෙලා කියලා තියෙනව. අම්බලන්තොට පැත්තටත් අරන් ගියා. ඒ අයත් සුවවෙලා තිබෙන බවට පණිවුඩ ආවා.

මම මෙම බෙහෙත දුන්නේ පළමුවෙන්ම කොරෝනා හැදෙන සංචාරකයින් ගෙනයන මගපෙන්නන අයෙකුට. ඔහු සමග 11 දෙනෙක් හිටියා. ඉන් 10දෙනෙක් නිරෝධායනයට ලක් වුණා. එක් අයෙක් පැනලා ගියා. ඔහු ආසාදිතයෙක්. පළමුවෙන්ම බෙහෙත් දුන්නේ ඔහුට. කැස්ස, උණ තිබුණා. ගිලීමේ අපහසුකම් තිබුණා. පළමුවෙන්ම බෙහෙත් දුන්නේ ඔහුට, ඔහු සුව වුණා. දවස් දෙකයි, බේත් දුන්නේ හතර වේලයි. ඉන් පසුව සුව වුණා. එතනින් පස්සේ තමයි මම අනිත් අයට ප‍්‍රතිකාර කරන්න ආරම්භ කළේ. මට තිබෙනවා දිෂ්ටි බලයක්. ඒකත් උපයෝගී කර ගන්නවා. මෙම බෙහෙත උපයෝගී කරගෙන අපි සියලූ දෙනා නිදුක්වෙන්න නිරෝගිවෙන්න කටයුතූ කරමු යැයි ද හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

මෙම බෙහෙත රාවණා රජු කල සිට පැවතෙන්නක්. පෙර සිටි මහරහතුන් පවා වසංගත රෝග සඳහා පාවිච්චි කර තිබෙන වටිනා බෙහෙතක්. අත්දුටු බෙහෙතක්. එම නිසා රාජ්‍ය හා සෞඛ්‍ය සම්බන්ධ ආයතනවල අනුග‍්‍රහයෙන් බෙහෙතට අවශ්‍ය අමුද්‍රව්‍ය ලබා දුන්නොත් දින හතරක කාලයක් තුළදී දැනට ලංකාවේ සිටින කොරෝනා රෝගීන් සුව කිරීමට මට හැකියාවක් තියනවා යැයි කෑගල්ල, හෙට්ටිමුල්ල, උඩුමාගම මහාවීර බද්ධ කාලී දේවාලයේ ධර්මාචාර්ය පාරම්පරික ආයුර්වේද වෛද්‍ය ඞී.එම්. ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා පැවසීය.

මේ සම්බන්ධව තවදුරටත් අප සමග විස්තර කළ වෛද්‍ය ධම්මික බණ්ඩාර මහතා මෙසේ ද කීවේය.

කොරෝනා වසංගතයට ගොදුරු වූ රෝගීන් සුවපත් කිරීම සඳහා මම බෙහෙතක් සාදා තිබෙනවා. ඒ සඳහා ලංකාවේ තිබෙන බෙහෙත් වර්ග හතරයි අරන් තියෙන්නේ. එකක් පිරිසිදු මී පැණි, මී පැණි හොඳ ජීව පදාර්ථයක්. මේ ඖෂධය දීලා රෝගය සුව කරලා තියෙනවා. ඒක විද්‍යාත්මකව ඔප්පු කරන්න පුළුවන්. මෙම බෙහෙත අවසන් වශයෙන් දුන්නේ වතුපිටිවල නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානයට. එතන රෝගීන් 146 දෙනකු සිටියා. ඒ සියලූ දෙනාටම බෙහෙත් දුන්නා. දින 4ක් යන විට සුවවී තිබුණා. මේ සඳහා බිය වන්න අවශ්‍ය නැහැ. සත්තකින්ම මෙය ජීවමාන ඖෂධයක්. මෙම බෙහෙත් පාවිච්චි කළොත් සැක සිතන්න එපා, රෝගය සුව වෙනවා. අනිත් එක මේක නොමිලයේ ලබා දෙන්නේ.

මෙම බෙහෙත් සොයා ගැනීමේ අපහසුතාවයක් තිබෙනවා. රජයෙන් හෝ වෙනත් ආයතනයකින් මෙම බෙහෙත් සොයා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය නිසයි රාජ්‍ය අනුග‍්‍රහය ඉල්ලන්නේ. විශේෂයෙන් මම ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ පිරිසිදු මී පැණි හා සාදික්කායි. අනිත් වර්ග සොයා ගැනීමට පුළුවන්. මී පැණි ලැබෙන කාලය තව ඉදිරියට තියෙන්නේ. සාදික්කාත් තව ඉදිරියට කඩන්න පුළුවන්. මේ බෙහෙත් දෙක තමයි සොයා ගැනීම අපහසු.

ලංකාවේ අද වෙනකොට ආසාදිත රෝගීන් 5000 ගාණක් වාර්තා වෙනවා. මේ සියලූ දෙනාට මෙම බෙහෙත් දීලා දින තුනක දී නිට්ඨාවට සුව කරනවා. ආය කිසි දවසක හැදෙන්නේ නැහැ.

මේක පුරාණයේ සිට පැවත එන්නක්. රාවණා රජතුමාගේ කාලයේ සිට එන බෙහෙතක්. එදා මහ රහතන්වහන්සේලා පවා පාවිච්චි කර තිබෙන බවට සඳහන් වෙනවා. ඒ කාලයේදීත් මෙවැනි වසංගත තිබිලා තියෙනවා. මේකේ තියෙන්නේ බෙහෙත් හතරයි. ඒවා සජීවී බෙහෙත්.

‘‘නම කියන්න බැරිද?’’ ඒ අපේ ප‍්‍රශ්නයකි.

ඒවා පසුවට කියමු, වේලාවක් ආවොත් අපි කියමු.

මේ ඖෂධය වටිනා එකක්. මේක මේ රෝගයෙන් පෙළෙන ලෝකයේ ඕනෑම කෙනකුට දෙන්න. මම දිව්රා කියන්නම් දින තුනකින් සුව වෙනවා. වැඩිහිටි රෝගියකුට මේස හැන්දෙන් හතරක් දිනපතා උදේ සවස බිව්වොත් මේ රෝගය නැවත හැදෙන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ තරමටම ගුණයි, අත්දුටුවයි. බිව්ව අය ඉන්නවා, සුව වෙලා ඉන්නවා. වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට, ඈත පළාත්වල අයට දීලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ අය සුවවෙලා තිබෙනවා.

රජයේ අනුග‍්‍රහයෙන් ලෑස්ති කරනවා නම් රජයේ රෝහල්වල නේවාසිකව ඉන්න අයට බෙහෙත් දෙන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ සඳහා සැලසුමක් කර දෙන්න. මුදල් එපා. මෙම බෙහෙත් බෝතලයක් හදා ගන්න රුපියල් හයදාස් පන්සියයක් වියදම් වෙනවා. බෙහෙත හොයන්න මහන්සි වෙන්න ඕනෑ. ශ‍්‍රමය යොදන්න ඕනෑ. එම මුදලවත් අපට ඵපා. අවශ්‍ය බෙහෙත් ටික සොයා දෙන්න.

මෙම බෙහෙත මගින් කී දෙනෙකූ සුවවෙලා ඉන්නවද?

එය අප යොමු කළ තවත් ප‍්‍රශ්නයකි.

මම අන්තිමට දුන්නේ වතුපිටිවල රෝහලට. එහි 146 ක් හිටියා කියලා මම කිව්වනේ. ඒ අයගෙන් පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ කළා. එයින් පස්සේ සුවවෙලා කියලා තියෙනව. අම්බලන්තොට පැත්තටත් අරන් ගියා. ඒ අයත් සුවවෙලා තිබෙන බවට පණිවුඩ ආවා.

මම මෙම බෙහෙත දුන්නේ පළමුවෙන්ම කොරෝනා හැදෙන සංචාරකයින් ගෙනයන මගපෙන්නන අයෙකුට. ඔහු සමග 11 දෙනෙක් හිටියා. ඉන් 10දෙනෙක් නිරෝධායනයට ලක් වුණා. එක් අයෙක් පැනලා ගියා. ඔහු ආසාදිතයෙක්. පළමුවෙන්ම බෙහෙත් දුන්නේ ඔහුට. කැස්ස, උණ තිබුණා. ගිලීමේ අපහසුකම් තිබුණා. පළමුවෙන්ම බෙහෙත් දුන්නේ ඔහුට, ඔහු සුව වුණා. දවස් දෙකයි, බේත් දුන්නේ හතර වේලයි. ඉන් පසුව සුව වුණා. එතනින් පස්සේ තමයි මම අනිත් අයට ප‍්‍රතිකාර කරන්න ආරම්භ කළේ. මට තිබෙනවා දිෂ්ටි බලයක්. ඒකත් උපයෝගී කර ගන්නවා. මෙම බෙහෙත උපයෝගී කරගෙන අපි සියලූ දෙනා නිදුක්වෙන්න නිරෝගිවෙන්න කටයුතූ කරමු යැයි ද හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

– divaina

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysiyan police are on the hunt for a man who claimed to be the commander-in-chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and threatened to shoot Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abdul Hamid Bador.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Huzir Mohamed said the suspect had also sent threats via email to the media, that he would attack the Bukit Aman police headquarters and the defence ministry.

The suspect is the same individual who was previously investigated under Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act 1948 for reportedly making an insulting statement against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah),” Huzir told a press conference, on Tuesday (Dec 1).
According to him, the police have opened two investigation papers under Section 507 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (AKM) 1998.

Several media outlets have recently reported receiving an email containing threats against Abdul Hamid from an individual, who also claimed he would launch attacks in Sri Lanka.

The now-defunct LTTE was embroiled in a civil war with the Sri Lankan army for almost three decades, in its quest for an independent Tamil state in the north and east of the country.

It is listed as a terrorist organization in dozens of countries. Its reign ended in 2009 when the group was defeated by the Sri Lankan military.

-Bernama

Courtesy Adaderana

Five more persons including one woman who were infected with Covid-19 virus have passed away, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed a short while ago.

New fatalities were reported from Kolonnawa, Colombo 02, Colombo 10 and Colombo 12 areas, according to the Department of Government Information.

The new development brings the total deaths from Covid-19 to 129.

One of the victims is a 56-year-old woman from Kolonnaa area. She has died on Saturday (November 28) while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. The cause of death was cited as heart disease and complications from diabetes exacerbated by Covid-19 infection.

An 89-year-old man who as living in Colombo 12 has died upon admission to Colombo National Hospital yesterday (December 02). The post-mortem examination confirmed that he had been suffering from Covid-19 infection, high blood pressure and brain haemorrhage.

Another man has died upon admission to Colombo National Hospital on Monday (November 30). The cause of death was determined as complications from a bacterial infection exacerbated by Covid-19 virus. The 85-year-old is reportedly a resident of Colombo 10 area.

Meanwhile, a 71-year-old from Colombo 10, has died at home on Wednesday (December 02). He has suffered a heart attack caused by coronavirus infection.

A 78-year-old residing in Colombo 02 fell victim to the virus today (03) while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. The cause of death was cited as respiratory dysfunction and Covid-19 pneumonia.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

A total of 878 COVID-19 infected persons were identified in the country yesterday (2), and this is the highest number of cases reported within a single day.

The Government Information Department stated that all the infected persons identified yesterday are linked to the Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda COVID-19 clusters.

The total number of COVID-19 cases emerged from the Minuwangoda Apparel factory and Peliyagoda fish market clusters have increased to 21,861.

The Epidemiology Unit stated that about 400 infected persons have been reported from the Colombo District, increasing the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the Colombo District to 10,000.

Courtesy Adaderana

In reviewing a series of World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on marijuana and its derivatives, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) zeroed-in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside deadly, addictive opioids, including heroin. 

The CND’s 53 Member States voted to removed cannabis – where it had been placed for 59 years – from the strictest control schedules, that even discouraged its use for medical purposes.  

With a historic vote of 27 in favour, 25 against, and one abstention, the CND has opened the door to recognizing the medicinal and therapeutic potential of the commonly-used but still largely illegal recreational drug.  

Moreover, according to news reports, the decision could also drive additional scientific research into the plant’s long-heralded medicinal properties and act as catalyst for countries to legalize the drug for medicinal use, and reconsider laws on its recreational use. 

Back in January 2019, WHO unveiled six WHO recommendations surrounding the scheduling of cannabis in UN drug control treaties. 

While the proposals were originally set to be voted on during the CND’s March 2019 session, many countries had requested more time to study the endorsements and define their positions, according to news reports.  

Among WHO’s many points, it clarified that cannabidiol (CBD) – a non-intoxicating compound – is not subject to international controls. CBD has taken on a prominent role in wellness therapies in recent years, and sparked a billion-dollar industry. 

Currently, more than 50 countries have adopted medicinal cannabis programmes while Canada, Uruguay and 15 US states have legalized its recreational use, with Mexico and Luxembourg close to becoming the third and fourth countries to do so.  

After voting, some countries made statements on their stances. 

Ecuador supported all of WHO’s recommendations and urged that cannabis production, sale and use, have a regulatory framework that guarantees good practices, quality, innovation and research development”. 

Meanwhile, the United States voted to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the Single Convention while retaining them in Schedule I, saying it is consistent with the science demonstrating that while a safe and effective cannabis-derived therapeutic has been developed, cannabis itself continues to pose significant risks to public health and should continue to be controlled under the international drug control conventions”. 

Voting against, Chile argued, among other things, that there is a direct relationship between the use of cannabis and increased chances of suffering from depression, cognitive deficit, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, among others” while Japan stated that the non-medical use of the plant might give rise to negative health and social impacts, especially among youth”.

-United Nations

Courtesy Adaderana

Travel restrictions have imposed on two more areas due to the inflation of COVID-19 cases reported from the areas.

Two Public Health Inspector’s Divisions under the office of Ambagamuwa Medical Officer of Health (MOH) have been issued travel restrictions in this manner.

Accordingly, the following areas will be under travel restrictions until further notice:

Watawala Public Health Inspector’s Division: Lower Dadukele area in Welioya
Ginigathhena Public Health Inspector’s Division: Upper Blackwater area in Kenilworth Estate

Ambagamuwa MOH Dr. Krishan Premasiri said that 15 COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Upper Blackwater area and 07 cases from the Lower Dadukele area.

The decision has been taken following a special discussion held today (03) at the Provincial Health Services Director’s Office.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Parliamentary Council has approved the nominations presented by the President for five independent commissions.

Chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the Parliamentary Council was convened at the Parliament this evening (03).

The President’s nominees for the Election Commission, Public Services Commission, National Police Commission, Finance Commission and Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC) were thereby approved by the Parliamentary Council.

One of its representatives told Ada Derana that recommendations for nominees for the Human Rights Commission and the Delimitation Commission are expected to be submitted in the future.

Accordingly, the new chairpersons for five independent commissions, approved by the Parliamentary Council are as follows:

• Former Election Commission Director (Legal) Attorney-at-Law Nimal G. Punchihewa – Election Commission
• Retired Supreme Court Judge Jagath Balapatabendi – Public Services Commission
• Former IGP Chandra Fernando – National Police Commission
• Retired Supreme Court Judge Eva Wanasundera – Bribery Commission
• Former Finance Ministry Secretary Sumith Abeysinghe – Finance Commission

කුමාර ලියනගේ උපුටා ගැන්ම FB

දැන් දැන් දේශීය වෙදකමට සහ දේශීය සංස්කෘතියට ගරහන, අවමන් කරන, සැලසුම්සහගත ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බවක් පෙනෙන්නට තිබේ. මේවාට රුකුල් දෙන්නන් ගේ ගොබ්බ, තක්කඩි කතාවලට උත්තර දීම මහ ලොකු කජ්ජක් නො වේ.

මුලින් ම කිය යුත්තේ මා ද හදිසි ප්‍රතිකාර අවශ්‍ය විටක බටහිර ප්‍රතිකාර මධ්‍යස්ථාන සහ රෝහල් වෙත යන අවස්ථා තිබෙන බව ය. එහි ඇති කිසි වරදක් නැත. ඊට හේතුව මේ සමාජ ව්‍යුහය, සමාජ රචනය සකස් කර තිබෙන්නේ ඒ ආකාරයට වන නිසා ය.

නමුත් දෛනික වශයෙන් මා ද ස්ථාවර ආරෝග්‍ය තත්ත්වය පවත්වා ගැනීමට භාවිත කරන දේශීය ඖෂධ කිිහිපයක් දැනටත් මා අසළ තිබේ. ඒවා සෞඛ්‍යය සඳහා නො ව ආරෝග්‍යය සඳහා භාවිත කරන දෑ ය.සෞඛ්‍යය සහ ආරෝග්‍යය යනු දෙකකි.බොහෝ විට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය ගැලපෙන්නේ හදිසි ප්‍රතිකාර සහ හදිසි අනතුරු වැනි – emergency අවස්ථාවලට ය. එක්කෝ සෞඛ්‍යයට ය. නිධන්ගත, බෝ නො වන රෝග සඳහා බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයට කළ හැකි දෙයක් නැත.

එය බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයේ දුර්වලතාවක් නො ව, ඒ එහි හැටි ය. ඒ නිසා ඒ පිළිබඳ ව වාද කිරීමෙන් ඵලක් නැත.දේශීය වෙදකම වඩාත් වැදගත් වන්නේ නිධන්ගත, බෝ නො වන රෝගවලදී ය. ආරෝග්‍යයට ය. ඒ සඳහා ඕනෑ තරම් සාර්ථක ප්‍රතිකාර දේශීය වෙදකම්වල තිබේ. එකී ප්‍රතිකාර බටහිර වෛද්‍ය සභාවලින් අනුමත නො කෙරෙන බව දනිමු.

එහෙත් ඒවා ඊට වඩා වැදගත් වන කාලය විසින් පරීක්ෂාවට – time tested ලක් කර තිබෙන ප්‍රතිකාර ය. ‘කාලය විසින් පරීක්ෂාවට ලක් කරන ලද‘ නිර්ණායකයේදී, දේශීය වෙදකම් සමඟ තරග කරන්නට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයට ඉඩක් නැත. ඊට හේතුව බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයට වඩා දේශී්‍ය වෙදකම ඈත අතීතයට දිව යන නිසා ය.

වසර දහස් ගණනක ලේඛනගත ඉතිහාසයකට උරුමකම් කියන නිසා ය.අප තේරුම් ගත යුත්තේ බටහිර වෙදකම මේ මොහොතේ දේශපාලනය විසින් බලවත් කරනු ලැබ තිබුණ ද, මේ ලෝකය හෙවත් ජෛව පද්ධතියේ පැවැත්ම තිබෙන්නේ ඔවුන් අත නො වන බව ය.

එනම් බටහිර වෙදකම මේ ලෝකයේ අයිතිකාරයන් නො වන බව ය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් අපේ රටට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය පැමිණ තවමත් වසර 500ක් වත් ගත වී නැත. එහෙත් ඊට පෙර මෙරට තිබුණු දේශීය වෙදකමට වසර දහස් ගණනක් වයස ය.පූර්ව බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රම අවධියේ පැවැති රෝග අද පවතින සියලුම රෝගවලට අඩුවැඩි වශයෙන් සමාන බව ඉතිහාසය විමර්ශනය කිරීමෙන් දැනගත හැකි ය.

මිහින්තලේ ආලාහන පිරිවෙන ආශ්‍රිත රෝහලේ, වර්තමානයේදි සිදු කෙරෙන මොළයේ ශල්‍යකර්ම පවා සිදු කර තිබෙන බව පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක ව තහවුරු වී තිබේ. එහිදි යොදාගෙන තිබෙන ශල්‍ය උපකරණ නූතන ශල්‍ය උපකරණවලට ම සමාන බව පවසන්නේ ද මෙරට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය විශේෂඥයෙකු වූ මහාචාර්ය අර්ජුන අලුවිහාරේ ය.

ඒ පිළිබඳ ව තවදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වා තිබෙන අතර, ඒ අනුව පැවසෙන්නේ නූතන බටහිර ශල්‍ය උපකරණ සියල්ල ම පාහේ ආසියාවෙන් ලබා ගන්නා ලද දැනුමෙන් සකස් කරන ලද ඒවා බව ය.

අනෙක් අතට මිහින්තලේ ආලාහන පිරිවෙන ආශ්‍රිත රෝහල, ලෝකයේ මුල් ම විධිමත් රෝහල ලෙසින් ද පිළිගැනෙන බව ය. ඒ පිළිබඳ ලිපියක් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය වෛද්‍ය සඟරාවේ ද – British Medical Journal පළ වී තිබෙන බව ය.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, දේශීය වෙදකමට සහ දේශීය සංස්කෘතියට ගරහන තක්කඩියන් සහ පරයන් මුලින් ම කළ යුත්තේ මේ රටට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය ආ ආකාරය පිළිබඳ ඉතිහාසය හැදෑරිම ය.

ඒ වු කලි අධම ඉතිහාසයකි. තක්කඩි ඉතිහාසයකි. බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය මේ රටට එන්නේ (Dr. Green) අමෙරිකානු දූත සේවාවල තුච්ඡ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් වශයෙනි. එය පැහැදිලි වශයෙන් ම දේශපාලනික ව්‍යාපෘතියකි. දේශීය වෙදකම පිළිගත නො හැකි යයි පවසමින් දේශීය වෙදකමට ගරහන පරයන්, ප්‍රථමයෙන් එසේ කරන්නට පෙර පාදඩ ව්‍යාපෘතියක් සඳහා මෙරටට ආ බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයේ අතීතයට පාරිශුද්ධ සහතිකයක් ලබා දිය යුතු ය.

දේශීය වෙදකමට ගැරහීම පිළිබඳ ව අපට ඉන්පසු සලකා බැලිය හැකි ය.බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය යනු විශ්වකර්ම දෙයක් ද?නුතන අධිතාක්ෂණික උපකරණ භාවිත කරමින් මොළය වෙනුවට යටිබඩ කපන, වම්අත වෙනුවට දකුණු අත කපන, පියයුර වෙනුවට තට්ටම කපන ප්‍රවෘත්ති පළ වන්නේ නැද්ද?ඒවා සිදු වන්නේ කෙසේ ද?බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරුන් ගේ අත්වැරදීම්වලින් මියගොස්, ඔවුන් ගේ නම්බුව පිණිස මහපොළොව යටට හොර රහසේ ගොස් තිබෙන අසරණ රෝගීන් ගණන කොපමණ විය හැකි ද? ආබාධිත වී සිටින පිරිස කොපමණ විය හැකි ද?මේ පිළිබඳ එක්තරා හාස්‍යජනක කතාවක් ද තිබේ.

කතාව මෙසේ ය.රෝහල් සේවකයෙකු විසින් මිනියක් මෝචරියට රැගෙන යනු ලැබේ. හදිසියේ මිනිය ඇහැරී ‘මං මැරිලා නෑ, මට පණ තියෙනවා‘ යනුවෙන් කියමින් කෑ මොර දෙන්නට පටන් ගනී. එහෙත් රෝහල් සේවකයා ද ගමන නවත්වන්නේ නැත. ඒ අනුව ඇහැරුණු පුද්ගලයා ‘මාව මේ කොහේද ගෙනියන්නේ?‘ කියා අසයි. ‘මෝචරියට‘ රෝහල් සේවකයා කියයි.‘මම මැරිලා නෑ ඕයි, මාව ආපහු වාට්ටුවට ගෙනියනවා‘ කියමින් නැවතත් රෝගියා කලබල කරයි.‘තමුසෙ කොහොම ද කියන්නෙ? අපේ ලොකු සර් තමුසෙට වඩා කොච්චර ඉගෙන ගත්ත කෙනෙක් ද?

ඒ සර් නෙ මට කිව්වෙ තමුසෙ මැරිලා කියලා. ඉතිං මම කොහොමද තමුසෙ කියන එක පිළිගන්නෙ?‘ එසේ පවසන රෝහල් සේවයකා රෝගියාට ගෝරනාඩු කරයි.

මේ කතාව හාස්‍යය පිණිස රචනා කරන ලද්දක් වුව, මේවා සමාජය තුළ නිර්මාණය වන්නේ නිකමට නො වේ. මෙවැනි අවස්ථා ඕනෑ තරම් සිදුවන බව අපි ද දනිමු. ඒවා ඉතා සූක්ෂ්ම ආකාරයට යට ගැසෙන බව ද දනිමු.එසේ ද වුවත්, බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයට ප්‍රතිකාර කරන, දෙවියන් බඳු වෛද්‍යවරුන් සිටින බව ද සත්‍යය ය. එවැනි අය අපට ද හමු වී තිබේ.

අපට වැටහෙන ආකාරයට එය බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයේ ම ජයග්‍රහණයක් නො වේ. අප කියන්නේ එය ව්‍යතිරේඛයක් ද විය හැකි බව ය. ඇතැම් විට එවැන්නෙකු ගේ පසුබිමේ තිබෙන්නේ උසස් පවුල් සංස්කෘතියකි. ඇතැම් විට බෞද්ධ, හින්දු, ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගමික චින්තනයකි. වැදගත් පාසල් අධ්‍යාපනයකි.

මා එසේ කියන්නේ වර්තමානය වන විට බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය අති දැවැන්ත බහුජාතික මාෆියාවක ගොදුරක් වී තිබෙන නිසා ය.

කොපමණ කීව ද වෛද්‍යවරුන් බෙහෙත් තුණ්ඩුවල ඖෂධ ප්‍රතිකාරවල වෙළෙඳ සන්නාම – Brands ලියන්නේ ඒ නිසා ය. මෙවැනි වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට බොහෝ නවීන ඖෂධවල ගුණාගුණ කියා දෙන්නේ කවු ද? යන්තම් උසස් පෙළ ගොඩ දා ගත් මෙඩිකල් රෙප්ලා ය.

මේ තත්ත්වය ම අපභ්‍රංෂයකි.ඒ ගනුදෙනුවලට අයත් වන්නේ මුදල් පමණක් නො වේ.# විදේශ සංචාර# ශිෂ්‍යත්ව# ස්ත්‍රී සැප# හෝටල් පහසුකම්# විවිධ ගෘහ උපකරණ# දරුවන්ට ජාත්‍යන්තර පාසල්, ආදි වශයෙනි.බටහිර ඖෂධ මාෆියාව කටයුතු කරන්නේ එසේ ය.

එය දෙවැනි වන්නේ ISIS ත්‍රස්තවාදී සංවිධානවලට ය.මේ ම්ලේච්ඡ මාෆියාවට එරෙහි වූ මහාචාර්ය සේනක බිබිලේට සිදු වූ දේ විශේෂයෙන් සඳහන් කළ යුතු නැත.එවැනි බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරු අදත් සිටිති.

ඔවුන් ගේ අදීනත්වයට බලපා තිබෙන්නේ මෙරට සංස්කෘතික ඉතිහාසය ය. අදටත් දිවා රෑ නො බලා රෝගීන් වෙනුවෙන් ඇපකැප වන, ජීවිතය කැප කරන ඖෂධ මාෆියාවට ද එරෙහි බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරු නො සිටිත් ද? සිටිති.

ඔවුහු ප්‍රධාන ධාරාවට අයත් නො වෙති. ඇතැම් විට බොහෝ තාඩන පීඩනවලට ද ලක්වෙති.

ඉල්ලා සිටින ශිෂ්‍යත්ව ඇතැම්විට ඔවුන්ට ලැබෙන්නේ නැත. උසස්වීම් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත. වෘත්තීයමය වශයෙන් ඔවුන්ට තිබෙන අත්දැකීම් අතිශයින් නීරස ය.ඔවුහු බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය ම පමණක් ඉස්මුදුණේ තබාගත් අය නො වෙති.

දේශීය වෙදකමත් අගය කරන්නෝ වෙති.

මා ස්වාධීන ටෙලිවිෂන් ආයතනයේ – ITN අලෙවිකරණ අංශයේ සේවය කරන සමයේ වැඩසටහන් ව්‍යාපෘතියක් සඳහා රාජ්‍ය ඖෂධ නීතිගත සංස්ථාවට – SPMC නිතර යමින් එමින් සිටියෙමි. එහි එවකට සේවය කළ අලෙවි අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා මාගේ කුළුපග මිතුරෙකු තරමට සමීප වී සිටියේ ය.

එක් දිනයක මා ඔහු ගේ නිල රථයට නැග ගත් අතර එවිට ඔහු කීවේ, ‘මේ දොස්තර ග්ලැඩිස් ජයවර්ධන වෙඩි කාපු කාර්එක‘ බව ය. එසේ කියූ ඔහු ඒ වන විටත් මෝටර් රථයේ තිබුණු වෙඩි පහරවල් කීපයක් මට පෙන්වූයේ ය.

දොස්තර ග්ලැඩිස් ජයවර්ධන යනු භීෂණ සමයේ රාජ්‍ය ඖෂධ නීතිගත සංස්ථාවේ සභාපති තනතුර ඉසිලූ, ජේ.ආර්.ජයවර්ධන ගේ සහෝදරිය ය. ඈ එකල ම වෙඩි කා මළා ය.

පසුව හෙළිදරව් වුණු ආකාරයට දොස්තර ග්ලැඩිස් ජයවර්ධන ඊට සතියකට පෙර ඉන්දියාවෙන් ඖෂධ ගෙන්වීමේ තීරණයක් ගෙන තිබුණා ය.

මේ අනුව මේ ඝාතනය පිටුපස සිටින්නට ඇත්තේ කවුදැයි කියා අනුමාන කරන්නට රොකට් විද්‍යාව අවශ්‍ය නො වන බව කාටත් වැටහී යා යුතු ය.

ඒ නිසා පරයන්ට, තක්කඩියන්ට, අමනයන්ට අප කියන්නේ නැති සුජාතභාවයක්, නැති උත්පත්ති සහතිකයක්, නැති පාරිශුද්ධභාවයක් කර උඩ තබාගෙන, දේශී්‍ය වෙදකමට සහ දේශීය සංස්කෘතියට ගැරහීමට පැමිණ රෙදි ගලවා ගෙන යන්නට එපා කියා ය.

අපට මේ ගැන වරු ගණන් කතා කළ හැකි ය. අනෙක, බොරු අධිකාරිත්වයෙන් දේශීය වෙදකම යටපත් කිරිමට ද අප ඉඩ දෙන්නේ නැත. අප ගේ තාත්තා ද, බාප්පා ද යම් පමණකට දේශීය වෙදකම දැනුම් පමණින් අත්හදා බැලූ අය වූ හ.

ඒවා සුළු ප්‍රතිකාර ක්‍රම ය. එහෙත් ගමේ බොහෝ අයට ඔවුන් ගේ ප්‍රතිකාරවලින් සෙත් ශාන්තියක් වූ බව මම පෞද්ගලික ව ම දනිමි.

ඒ බෙහෙත් වර්ගවලට ගන්නා දේ කවරාකාර විද්‍යාත්මක පරීක්ෂණවලින් සහතික කර තිබේදැයි මම නො දනිමි. එහෙත් ඒවා ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ ය.

තාත්තා ගේ එක් අසාමාන්‍ය ප්‍රතිකාරයකට ගත් ඖෂධීය අමුද්‍රව්‍ය මේවා ය.# කට්ටකුමන්ජල්# කොහොල්ලෑ# හිසකෙස්# දෙහිකොළවිෂ වෙදකම සඳහා භාවිත කෙරුණු මේ අමුද්‍රව්‍යවලින් සකස් කර ගන්නා ලද ඖෂධය දිව්‍ය ඖෂධයක් බව මා දන්නේ එයින් මා හට ද ප්‍රතිකාර කර තිබෙන නිසා ය.

වායුගෙඩි සඳහා ද තාත්තා අපූරු වෙදකමක් කළේ ය.රෝගියා සිටින නිවසින් තෙල් ටිකක් සහ හුනු ටිකක් ලබා ගනී. තෙල් ටිකට මතුරයි. හුනු ටිකට මතුරා කිරි ගසක යන්ත්‍රයක් අඳියි. මැතිරූ තෙල් ටිකක් ගෙන බෙල්ලේ තවරයි.එපමණි.එවැනි රෝගී අය නිට්ටාවට සුව වූ බව ද දනිමි.

තාත්තාට හෝ බාප්පාට වෙද සහතික තිබුණේ නැත.

ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා ම වෘත්තියක් ලෙස වෙදකම් නො කළ හ. ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීමෙන් එක බුලත් කොළයක් වත් ලබාගත්තේ ද නැත. ඒවා ඔවුන් විසින් සිදු කෙරුණේ අනුන් ගේ යහපත පිණිස ය.

කාලය විසින් පරීක්ෂාවට ලක් කර තිබෙන – time tested මේවාට බහුබූත සහතික අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ ද?

කිසිසේත් අවශ්‍ය නැත.

ශ්‍රී චන්ද්‍රරත්න මානවසිංහයන් ගේ චරිතාපදානයේ ද මෙවැනි ප්‍රතිකාර ලබාදීමක් පිළිබඳ ව සඳහන් වී තිබේ.එතුමන් වරක් මරණාසන්න දරුවෙකු ගේ ජීවිතය බේරාදීම සඳහා ඉල්ලා ඇත්තේ නම් කරන ලද ගස්වර්ග 21ක කොළ අගින්, හිරු පායන්නට පෙර වැගිරෙන පිනිබිඳු එකතුවකි.

එයින් ම දරුවා සුවපත් වූ බව සඳහන් ය.

මේවා විශ්මිත ප්‍රතිකාර ක්‍රම ය. දේශීය ඇස් වෙදකම, විෂ වෙදකම, කැඩුම් බිඳුම් වෙදකම, මානසික වෙදකම මේ ආදී වශයෙන් ගත් කල අතිශය සංකීර්ණ විෂය ක්ෂේත්‍ර ගණනාවකට පැතිර ගිය දේශීය වෙද ඉතිහාසය බහුශ්‍රැත වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයක් බව කිය මනා ය.

දේශීය ශාන්තිකර්මවලද බලගතු ප්‍රතිකාර විශේෂ තිබේ. එවැනි තොවිල් පවිල් සඳහා ගැමියන් ‘වයිද්දෙයක් බලන්න යනවා‘ යැයි කීවේ නිකමට නො වන බව, අද කාලයේ දේශීය වෙදකමට ගරහන තක්කඩි පරයන් වටහා ගත යුතු ය.

වෛද්‍යසේකරලා, වෛද්‍යතිලකලා යනු මෙවැනි පාරම්පරික වෙද පරම්පරා බව කියනු වටී.

අප ගේ පාරම්පරික වෙදකම් තුළ ඇතැම් විට ඇත්තේ අනාදිමත් කාලයක සිට ප්‍රතිකාර ක්‍රමවලදි භාවිත කරනු ලබන placebo effect එක විය හැකි ය.

එය ගෝත්‍රික සමාජයේ ද අත්දකින ලද්දකි.

අද ඉමහත් උජාරුවෙන් වහසි බස් දොඩන බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය තුළ ද වැඩි වශයෙන් ප්‍රතිකාර උදෙසා භාවිත කරනු ලබන්නේ placebo effect එක බව දන්නෝ දනිති.

‘හිත වට්ට ගන්නෙ නැතුව මේ බේත් ගන්න‘ යනුවෙන් බොහෝ සංකීර්ණ රෝගවලින් පීඩා විඳින්නන්ට පවා බටහිර වෙද හෙදකම් සිදු කෙරෙන අවස්ථාවලදී පැවසෙන්නේ ඒ නිසා ය.

එහෙයින් අප කියන්නේ බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමය යනු විශ්මකර්මයක් නො වේ. ව්‍යුහාත්මක ව එය ද දේශීය වෙදකමේ ම අනුරූපයකි.

එසේ ම අද ඇතැම් විට දේශීය වෙදකම ගසා කන, අපයෝජනය කරන තක්කඩියන් ද නැතුවා නො වේ. ඒවා වෙන ම සාකච්ඡා කළ යුතු ය.

එසේ ම පරයන්ට, තක්කඩියන්ට, අමනයන්ට දේශීය වෙදකම සහමුලින් නැති භංගකිරීමට තිබෙන පාදඩ උවමනාව විනාශ කළ යුතු ය.

එකම දේ, සුද්දන්ට යටත් වූ මේ ලංකාවේ ඉංග්‍රීසි කතා කරන වෙද මහත්තයා පොදුවේ නම්බුකාර ය. ඒ නිසා පොදුවේ අවනම්බුව එල්ල වී ඇත්තේ රෙද්ද අඳින දේශීය වෙද මහත්තයාට ය.

වරද ඇත්තේ දේශීය වෙදකමේ හෝ බටහිර වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයේ නො වේ.මේ රටේ ගොබ්බ, තක්කඩි, අමන මිනිසුන් ගේ ය.-

කුමාර ලියනගේ

Courtesy Hiru News

A special discussion was held today (02) with the participation of the Minister of Health Pavithra Devi Wanniarachchi and five State Ministers regarding the medicine developed by a local doctor in Kegalle to control Covid.

>Indigenous physician Dhammika Bandara, who developed the drug, was also present at the discussion held at the Ministry of Health in Battaramulla.

Ayurvedic doctor Dhammika Bandara, a resident of Kegalle, was able to develop a local medicine to control the coronavirus and a preliminary investigation was carried out with the intervention of a team of Western doctors.

The drug was administered to patients who volunteered at the Covid 19 Treatment Center in Wathupitiwala and tests were carried out on it.

The drug was discussed at the Task Force meeting chaired by President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday and the President has instructed that a formal examination be carried out regarding the medicine.

Accordingly a special discussion was held at the Ministry of Health at 2.00 pm today to discuss this matter.

The Minister of Health has pointed out that in order to make this medication available to Sri Lanka as well as to the whole world, research should be carried out in accordance with scientific methods and a series of proposals should be prepared in this regard.

An expert committee was appointed to expedite the preparation of the proposal and Prof. Senaka Pilapitiya was appointed as its chairman.

By Rohana R. Wasala

A heated exchange took place in parliament a couple of days ago (November 26 or 27) about the so-called Batticaloa Sharia University between Opposition MP Kavinda Jayawardane of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris MP (SLPP), as reported on Hiru TV. Following is a rough and ready verbatim translation of the dialogue with essential clarifications in parentheses (It is subject to the usual limitations of a translation, though):

KJ:- The Easter (Sunday) attacks killed more than 350 of our Catholic people and left more than  500 physically disabled to this day. Terrorist Saharan carried out those attacks. 

 Former (Eastern Province) Governor Hisbullah had direct relations with this terrorist. Even  the chairman of the presidential commission of inquiry (on the Easter attacks) said, in relation to this governor, that the legal process initiated concerning this university was unlawful. You, as the then Opposition, said before the presidential election, that this Sharia university will be taken   over by the government.

GL:- There’s no final decision on that (subject). We will not let it exist as a private institution. I say   this to the Hon. Member very emphatically.

KJ:-  This university’s curriculum includes Sharia Law as a course component. Unless it is brought under government control, this country’s innocent children will be taught the Sharia with extremist ideologies.

GL:- Before 2015, Hon. Member, there was a clear strategy to handle the problem. We did not  allow the Sharia law to sow dissension, hatred on the pretext of teaching various courses.  After 2015, they (the Yahapalana administration) even let foreign lecturers come into the country without checking on their  past; they were given the ‘visa on arrival’ (facility) at the airport. We didn’t do so in our time. The Yahapalanaya government gave carte blanche to anyone (any Tom, Dick or Harry) to come and teach any course at  any place at any time. We are reaping what you sowed.

KJ:-  Please tell the House whether this government is going to allow the teaching of the Sharia Law in this country or not? 

GL:- Sharia or anything else, we’ll see whether it is in conformity with the Constitution. 

We will find out who created this. It is a problem that you passed on to us.

KJ:- Don’t try to pass the buck. You are in power now. During the presidential election, you said clearly that you will not allow extremism to raise its head; that you will not allow Sharia to be taught; that those who caused abortions will be taken to court; that Dr Shihabdeen will be hanged. But now you’ve forgotten about Shafi Shihabdeen; you’ve forgotten about Sharia; you’ve forgotten about the Batticaloa Campus. In regard to the Easter Sunday attacks, officials are being hunted; but the persons who taught the bombers the terrorist ideology and induced the terrorist mindset (that drove them) are left alone.

GL:- All these things were done to obtain the support of certain extremist groups for achieving narrow ends. That is the truth. It is now that the evil consequences (of those actions) are becoming obvious.

(End of the translation)

First of all, I beg that Professor Peiris and Dr Jayawardane please bear with me for taking the liberty of subjecting your parliamentary conversation to a kind of dispassionate critical analysis, that, I hope, will contribute what little it may to the emerging trend of constructive, though usually hostile, criticism in the social media directed at the speeches and actions of our MPs both inside and outside the House. Personally, I have great respect for both: the senior one is reaching the summit of an illustrious career as a celebrated legal studies academic and as an experienced parliamentarian; the junior one, professionally a medical practitioner like his late father the then UNP’s  nationalist-leaning Dr Jayalath Jayawardane, is just starting what is invariably going to be a distinguished political career, given the potential he has already shown. No personal disrespect, humiliation, or offence towards either is intended by the following opinion, offered for what it is worth.

MP Jayawardane  may be exaggerating things on the spur of the moment when he says that more than 350 Catholics were killed in the Easter bombings (Of course, there’s no gainsaying the fact that even one killed is too many) and when he talks about somebody’s alleged past threat to hang someone. Be that as it may, as a concerned Sri Lankan, I found the exchange between the two Honourable Members in the august Assembly very depressing in these critical times. My impression was that both speakers were ignorant of, or indifferent to, the crucial matter they were, somewhat implicitly, arguing about: how to deal with the emerging Islamist threat to Sri Lanka, which is behind the simmering controversies including the Batticaloa Sharia University issue, Hizbulah’s connection with it, and complaints that Dr Shafi Shihabdeen had performed non-consensual tubal sterilisations on Sinhalese mothers during a flaunted record number of caesarean section operations.

To MP Jayawardane’s question whether the government was going to bring the Batticaloa Sharia University under government control, Minister Peiris assured him that though no decision had been arrived at regarding that, it will not be allowed to exist as a private institution. This could mean that the college will not be allowed to continue at all (which is unlikely) or it will be assigned to the state university system. However, this is part of the unimaginably thorny issue of what to do about the madrasas that have mushroomed around the country. Neither speaker seems to have the faintest idea about the bigger picture. Obviously, Peiris is bluffing and Jayawardane is trying to call his bluff, though both of them are equally ignorant of the real problem.

Jayawardane is asking whether the government is going to allow the teaching of the Sharia Law. Actually, it is a non-question. There is no question of allowing or not allowing the teaching of Sharia for it is an essential part of Islam. The Arabic word sharia means the ‘way’. Google says Sharia ‘is more accurately understood as referring to wide-ranging moral and broad ethical principles drawn from the Quran and the practices and sayings (hadith) of Prophet Muhammad’. In my opinion, it parallels the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. Of course, the two things are like chalk and cheese or apples and oranges. The issue is whether certain aspects of Sharia law (such as death for blasphemy, apostacy, and amputation for stealing) can be implemented in a democratically governed non-Muslim majority country like Sri Lanka. 

Minister Peiris maintains that, before 2015, extremist Islamic activism was kept under control, and that the present troubles  are the result of the wrong attitude of the Yahapalanaya to the problem. I’m afraid it is not at all true to say that the pre-2015 government did anything special to contain Islamic fundamentalism; Peiris is just being economical with the truth. Rishad, Hakeem, Hizbullah, Salley, etc pursued their careers in those halcyon days, as ‘powerful allies’ of president Mahinda Rajapaksa while underground Islamic extremist activities were going on, despite the vocal agitations of the monks, which fell on deaf ears. The above named Muslim politicians cannot be described as terrorists or terrorist backers; but it is quite possible, going by what is being revealed during investigations, that they were abused as a protective phalanx by the Jihadists including suicide bomber Zahran Hashim unbeknown to those popular personages. Such fancied exoneration of these worthies  may be too charitable for them. In the public eye, they are more vulnerable to the charge of having been willfully involved in a symbiotic relationship with terrorists. If they are sincere, they need to do something meaningful to contain Islamic extremism within the Muslim community itself, without palming it off entirely onto the government. 

Unfortunately, it looks like what happened in the past is happening today, despite the availability of young Muslim leaders, both in parliament and outside, who think out of the box as president Gotabaya Rajapaksa correctly insists on doing. MP Jayawardane, probably unknowingly, forced Minister Peiris to admit what is most likely to be the truth, which applies to politicians of both the main parties/their new manifestations: ‘All these things were done to obtain the support of certain extremist groups for achieving narrow ends. That is the truth. It is now that the evil consequences (of those actions) are becoming obvious.’ 

Trying to please veiled opportunists is no way to tackle the Islamist problem because they, like the few mentally unhinged terrorists, are actually in a really insignificant minority. Such a policy can easily demoralize the educated young Muslim leaders who are braving the wrath of a few lawless terrorists apparently ruling the roost within that community evading detection under the radar of the security agencies. Jihadist extremists use fear as a weapon. Despite this, increasing numbers of young Muslim women are now publicly speaking up against unwarranted impositions on them regarding their dress, choice of marriage partners, socialization with members of the opposite sex, and so on in the name of religion as decided by a few conservative Muslim males. It is a fact that growing numbers of young Muslims and Tamils of both sexes are establishing close political links with their Sinhalese counterparts. 

Incidentally, the spat between state minister of wildlife protection Wimalaweera Dissanayake, SLFP MP, and some officials of the wildlife department, no doubt, brought an unpleasant sense of deja vu to most of us who were familiar with the escapades of a now discredited and defeated former MP from Kelaniya. Whatever the truth at the centre of the episode, Dissanayake clearly failed to behave as he should have. There appears to be some nefarious activity indulged in by some crooks in that locality who may have won the misplaced confidence of the deputy minister. This impression was reinforced by some well known young activist monks who symbolically pulled down an unauthorised shed built to shelter cows in the forest reserve; the monks complained that criminal elements were continuing their activities in that place rich with ancient archaeological remains in spite of the relevant authorities having been warned about the matter before. Adding insult to injury, MP Roshan Ranasinghe of the SLFP has also castigated the wildlife officers.  This cannot be approved of either. There may be a few of them who are guilty of various offences, but indiscriminately condemning government functionaries is a bad thing. We know how dedicatedly our doctors, nurses, police and army officers execute their duties in trying to control the Covid-19 pandemic situation; they are doing that in the name of the country, most of them inspired by the example of the new president, expecting no public plaudits unlike most politicians. Had Gotabaya not been there, some of these politicians would not have been elected to parliament. They are obstructing the president’s action plan. It is clearly a national crime for any politician to do or say anything that is likely to demoralize even a single dutiful public servant.    

The Parliament or the House of Representatives is traditionally described as ‘august’ and the elected members who meet there to legislate as ‘honourable’. These are formal words that are ceremonially used, but they are not devoid of serious meaning. The augustness of the Parliament as the supreme legislature of the country and the honourableness of the Members of Parliament as the elected legislators are inviolable, though the persons who man the institution from time to time may or may not be really worthy of the epithet ‘Honourable’. ‘August’ in this context means dignified, distinguished, imposing, stately, solemn, etc; the opposite qualities include frivolous, silly, undignified, and so on. ‘Honourable’ has the sense of bringing or deserving respect, honest, moral, ethical, principled, righteous, etc.  Antonyms of the word are dishonourable, despicable, crooked, deplorable, and similar negatives. Having said this, I would like to finally add that it is a reason for consolation for us that our MPs do preserve their personal dignity and the solemness of the institution that they man up, with a few exceptions, that too, under pressure of circumstances. Occasional unparliamentary behaviour among members is what prevails in legislatures in many democracies around the world, and that is due to fallible human nature.  Of course, human fallibility is no excuse for people’s representatives to resort to dishonourable conduct in an august body like the parliament.   

KAMALIKA PIERIS

USA  made its future military plans clear to those listening in Sri Lanka. At the Galle Dialogue 2017, Admiral Scott Swift,  Pacific Fleet Commander  said they look forward to the expansion of our military to military relations. It was necessary to build trust and cooperation to address multilateral challenges. With  [certain] realities creeping into the Indian Ocean, maintaining the Indian Ocean as a sea of tranquility seems increasingly problematic.

Addressing the 3rd Annual Colombo Air Symposium, October 2017, United States Air Force Major General James Eifet called for increased partnership and information sharing among nations in the Indo-Pacific region in the face of a nuclear threat from North Korea. It was not only USA, the Republic of Korea and Japan who were at risk from a possible missile attack but also  other countries in the region. Sri Lanka was also  within  the range of an attack by ballistic missiles from North Korea, he said.

IN 2017, President  Sirisena  thanked the US for resuming training of Sri Lankan armed force members, and urged the US to increase  technical training to naval officials. The Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL) briefed a delegation from the Young Alakai Warriors of the U.S. Army Pacific on Security Challenges of Sri Lanka in the Next Decade” in 2017. 

The US Army’s Pacific Region Head Gen. Robert B.Brown made an official visit to the Island in July   2018. He met Chief of Defence Staff. Gen. Brown’s visit was aimed at strengthening military cooperation and mutual friendship and thus deepening the US-South Asia understanding. Lengthy discussions took place on how the US Army can assist the Sri Lankan Army on disaster management activities and as to whether the Sri Lankan Peace Keeping Mission can get international training. Gen Brown also admired the professional competency of the Sri Lankan Army on demining.

A 17-member delegation of the United States Land Forces in the Pacific Command arrived in Sri Lanka for participation in ‘Land Forces Pacific Programme’ sessions In April 2018. There were preliminary discussions which addressed issues related to matters of interest to the US such as security cooperation. They also exchanged views on current developments in the region and other matters of mutual interest and concern.

Dr. Geoffrey F. Gresh, Department Head of International Security Studies – National Defense University in Washington, D.C and Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA), paid a courtesy call on Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ravindra C. Wijegunaratne in June 2018.  He was accompanied by LTC Douglas Hess, Defence attache, US Embassy. A cordial discussion was held between the delegates on matters of mutual interest and cooperation. The two officials also discussed matters related to Indian Ocean Security dynamics and maritime security cooperation in the region.

Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake attended the US Army’s ‘LANPAC Symposium and Exposition’, organized by the Institute of Land Warfare in Honolulu, Hawaii, in  June 2018. This annual world-class international forum of military intellectuals highlighted this year, the role, and contribution of land forces in the Indo-Pacific theatre. The theme was ‘The Future of Land Force Integration; Multilateral Approaches across the Indo-Pacific’.

Lieutenant General Senanayake also called on US Army Commanding General, Pacific Command, General Robert B. Brown and discussed several issues of concern as well as matters relating to continuing defence cooperation. Senanayake was also among the invitees to a special banquet, hosted by General Brown. Lieutenant General Senanayake’s retinue to Hawaii included Military Assistant to the Army Commander Colonel K.A.A. Udaya Kumara and Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) Warrant Officer I.W.M.S.P. Wijesinghe, perhaps for the first time in the Army history in a Commander’s entourage”.

United States will provide nearly $300 million in security assistance to improve security relationships across the Indo-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo announced at the ASEAN Regional Forum in August 2018. The security assistance funding will cover projects in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Pacific Islands, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and others, in the areas of Maritime Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR), Peacekeeping Operations and Countering Transnational Crime..

As part of the maritime security theme, we launched the Bay of Bengal Initiative to help enhance the capacity of civilian and military maritime actors in this vital region, which is home to important sea lanes linking the Indian Ocean to East Asia. Under the Bay of Bengal Initiative,  the United States will ‘work with other partners in the Bay of Bengal, including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to enhance the capacity of civilian and military maritime actors in the Indian Ocean Region to improve the target areas of detection, information-sharing, and response to emerging threats.’

In August 2018 the U.S. Department of State announced that it would provide approximately $39 million in Foreign Military Financing for Sri Lanka, pending Congressional approval.”We look forward to discussing with the Government of Sri Lanka how this contribution can support our Bay of Bengal initiative and Sri Lanka’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response priorities”, it said in a statement.

In May 2018, a delegation from the House Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Congress visited Sri Lanka. The House Armed Services Committee, a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, is a powerful Committee, responsible for the supervision of armed forces and the Department of Defence. The delegation was led by its Chairman Mac Thornberry.   

The visit was to find out ways of strengthening defence cooperation between Sri Lanka and USA.   President Sirisena told the delegation that he greatly appreciated the defense training provided by the US, such as the joint military exercises carried out by US and Sri Lanka. Such programmes should continue for security purposes.

United States Air Force Airmen from across the Indo-Pacific met with their Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) counterparts at the SLAF Headquarters in Colombo IN 2018 for ‘Airman to Airman’ talks. The two groups focused on enhancing regional security, future training opportunities and exercises geared toward strengthening interoperability and professional military education opportunities for both SLAF and USAF airmen.

According to Maj. Gen. Eifert the engagement was very successful. At the two-day meeting both sides gained valuable information to share with key decision makers. The information would help both forces strengthen their bonds and bolster interoperability. “The SLAF did an outstanding job of communicating their needs and priorities which we are able to take back to HQ PACAF. It was a great opportunity to be here and improve the Sri Lanka, U.S. relationship,” Eifert said.

The US paid much attention to the navy.A Sri Lanka Marine Corps was  set up with US help  in 2017. The U.S. Coast Guard handed over a high endurance cutter, formerly the USCGC Sherman, to the Sri Lankan Navy in August 2018 at Honolulu. The cutter, a gift from the people of the United States, will be the largest ship in the Sri Lankan fleet. It measures 115 meters long and when fully staffed carries a crew of 167 The ship will increase Sri Lanka’s ability to patrol its Exclusive Economic Zone, providing additional security for ships from all nations that transit the busy sea lanes of the Indian Ocean.

For seven decades from the end of the World War II, the US Seventh fleet dominated the Pacific area . After Yahapalana victory, ships of the   7^th Fleet,   visited Sri Lanka regularly.

 The first US navy ship to arrive was Blue Ridge’, in March 2016. When Blue Ridge came, the  US ambassador said that this would be the first of many to come. They would like to bring more of their Seventh Fleet to Sri Lanka.

The USNS ‘Fall River’,  a transport ship of  U.S. Pacific Fleet  arrived at the Port of Hambantota in March 2017  to engage in the first Pacific Partnership goodwill mission. Chief of US Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Gabrielson was present at the launch.

Admiral Gabrielson said Sri Lanka was selected as the first of four nations for the 2017 Pacific Partnership programme because Sri Lanka government had made the request. Hambantota area was selected out of about 48 areas proposed.  It takes a lot of effort to build trust and credibility. This exercise will make it easier for us to help each other when the unthinkable happens,” said Gabrielson.

100 US, Japanese and Australian marines  including 60 air borne US marines and navy personnel  participated.  SLNS Samudura (formerly of the US Coast Guard) joined the 10-day exercise.

The Pacific Partnership medical teams will join Sri Lankan doctors and nurses for training at the General Hospital and Nurses Training School in Hambantota, the Tissamaharama Base Hospital and other local clinics and hospitals. Free public medical and dental clinics in select cities will also be conducted by mission doctors and nurses, said the press release.

The activities would include free community health clinics, school and hospital renovations, learning exchanges for medical and disaster-relief responders, seminars to promote women’s roles in peace and security and public performances by the U.S. 7th Fleet Band. Local organizations, working together with U.S. Navy civil engineers,   will complete renovations of the Ambalantota Divisional Hospital, Wishaka Mahila Preschool, Sri Gunananda Preschool and multiple Maternity and Child Clinic Centres.

The U.S. 7th Fleet Band  held joint public concerts at the Galle Fort, Tangalle City Centre, Hambantota Beach Park , Bata Atha Agro Park, Matara Beach Park and several schools in the area. Television news showed the Pacific Partnership team attending a pinkama at Ambalantota  Sunadararamaya.

Thereafter,  US  guided missile destroyer USS Hopper arrived on   a goodwill visit in January 2017.   It  conducted training  for the Sri Lanka navy and also played cricket, baseball, volley ball and basketball with them.

USS ‘Comstock’ arrived  for a four day training workshop at Colombo harbour in March 2017. ‘USS Comstock’ is part of the 7th  fleet.  The training will be to enhance skill sets and strengthen relations between the two militaries. This is the third such military-to-military exchange between U.S. Sailors and Marines and their Sri Lankan counterparts in the past 12 months, the authorities observed, ‘and this will form the basis of further cooperation between our militaries.’

Approximately 325 U.S. sailors and marines joined 175 participants from the Sri Lankan Navy and Marine Corps as part of this exchange.  Training focused on  the movement and logistics support needed to successfully conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.

  US marines showed the Sri Lanka Marine Corps, procedures for life-saving skills, convoy operations, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief training and amphibious vehicle familiarization. Thereafter members of the U.S. Embassy, including U.S. Ambassador joined this group in donating toys and renovating children’s dormitories at the  School for the Deaf and Blind in Ratmalana.

Amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23), and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) arrived at Trincomalee Port in August 2018. Anchorage, is part of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), and is deployed to the 7th fleet area of operations to support regional stability, reassure partners and allies and maintain a presence postured to respond to any crisis from humanitarian assistance to contingency operations.

The US  was interested in  trying out the air logistics hub concept which utilizes Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean to ensure the quick availability of relief supplies, equipment and other material when needed by the US and partner militaries and humanitarian organizations. “The Sri Lankan navy, host nation support team and the U.S. Embassy have provided tremendous assistance and cooperation in developing the first temporary air logistics hub concept in Sri Lanka, said Anchorage officials.

Anchorage aims not only to enhance security cooperation, but to build understanding of the HADR (humanitarian assistance, disaster relief) capability that contributes to disaster, along with sharing of best practices and enabling more efficient joint relief efforts in the event of a future disaster.

Additionally, sailors and marines will conduct training in visit, board, search and seizure, security force reaction techniques with the Sri Lankan Navy and Marines. There will also be damage control training. The US Navy damage control program is the best. The visit is also an opportunity for US Seventh Fleet to explore local logistics support services for visiting naval forces operating throughout the Indo-Pacific region.

During the visit, sailors and marines will have opportunities to meet with their counterparts during exercises with the Sri Lankan Navy and marines. Approximately 300 Sri Lankan naval academy midshipmen and 40 distinguished visitors, will tour Anchorage to learn about the ship’s amphibious capabilities.

The visit offers US sailors and marines the opportunity to explore the local area and meet their counterparts during exercises with the Sri Lankan Navy and Marines, the statement said. “In addition to the professional exchanges, Sailors and Marines will take part in sporting events, including baseball, soccer, basketball and volleyball.

 “Our Navy and Marine Corps team is deeply committed to continuing to strengthen our partnership with the Sri Lankan armed forces,” Sailors and Marines are focused on completing a successful mission and representing America in Sri Lanka. “These ship visits help demonstrate the value of the growing U.S.-Sri Lanka partnership,”

The USS Anchorage also joined the Sri Lankan naval ship Suranimila to conduct an exercise at sea.  The exercise allowed the ships to improve crews knowledge and strengthen a wide variety of seamanship skills critical to operating throughout a free and open Indo-Pacific region. During the exercise, multiple ships sailed information to practice communications and maneuvering procedures.  In addition to the Anchorage and Suranimila, two landing craft air cushions (LCACs), one AH-1Z Cobra helicopter, and one UH-1Y Huey helicopter participated. .”

“The Anchorage team and I had an incredible time in Trincomalee and we are proud to be serving alongside the Sri Lankan Navy,” said Captain Dennis Jacko, Commanding Officer of the USS Anchorage.  “Not only do we increase our proficiency in communications, but we continue to build on a strong and lasting partnership with the Sri Lankan Navy.” This was part of a growing U.S.-Sri Lanka naval partnership.

USA’s  Nimitz Carrier Strike Group  visited Colombo  in October 2017. These carriers are used for offensive operations. The Group included the USS Nimitz, the cruiser USS Princeton,  destroyers USS Howard, USS Shoup, USS Pinckney, and USS Kidd. USS Nimitz is a super carrier of the United States Navy, and the lead ship of her class. It is  one of the largest warships in the world. It is more than 23 stories high from the keel to the top of the mast and is approximately 333 meters long.  It can accommodate more than 5,000 personnel . This was the first aircraft carrier to visit since1985. It was parked 150  nautical miles  off Colombo. It was too large to enter Colombo port.

The visit was given a PR  look. I’m delighted that U.S. sailors will have the chance to visit Sri Lanka, meet with its wonderful people, and take part in public service activities at schools, hospitals, and rest homes that will improve the lives of Sri Lankans of all ages,”  said the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka. While in port, sailors will also work with local non-profit organizations to support community service events at a local hospital, an orphanage, and other sites.

The local media   kept very quiet  about this visit. Foreign  newspapers did not.   Asia Times  had a paragraph on the event, starting with the headline ,‘US sends super carrier USS Nimitz to Sri Lanka in flag-showing visit aimed at China’ . This is what Asia Times said.

 ‘The US Navy, against a backdrop of quickening relations between Sri Lanka and China, is sending the USS Nimitz to make the first port call by a US aircraft carrier to the Indian Ocean nation in more than 30 years. The huge carrier will dock in Sri Lanka’s port of Colombo on Saturday for three days , in the first such visit since the mid-1980s. USS Nimitz and its escorting warships are currently one of three US carrier strike groups operating in the western Pacific. The show of force is a US response to continuing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. The Nimitz’s flag-showing exercise in Sri Lanka also seems designed to counter a growing Chinese presence in the strategic nation’.

The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS “Mercy” arrived in Trincomalee on April 25 to conduct the 2018 Pacific Partnership mission.” Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. It aims to enhance regional coordination in areas such as medical readiness and preparedness for disaster situations. Personnel from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, and Japan took part in this year’s programme working side-by-side with Sri Lankan medical professionals.

This year’s Sri Lanka stop was similar to 2017’s mission. U.S. and partner nation service members  joined their Sri Lankan counterparts in civil engineering projects, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) readiness training, and public outreach throughout the local community. ” they conducted a range of  activities for schools, hospitals, community centres and locals in and around the Trincomalee district.

The USNS Mercy” contains 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants. The ship is equipped with a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters.

US and Sri Lankan surgeons conducted the world’s first ever robot-assisted surgery aboard the USNS Mercy. The team successfully completed a cholecystectomy, or gall bladder removal, on a Sri Lankan citizen using a Da Vinci XI Robot Surgical System. This was the first time I have ever operated aboard a ship,” said Dr. Vyramuthu Varanitharan, a general surgeon at the Muttur Base Hospital.

During the ship’s stay, USN doctors along with Lankan doctors performed 24 varying surgeries onboard, out of which the robotic surgery performed onboard was the 1st in the world.  They also treated over 5,500 patients conducting medical clinics at various locations in and around Trincomalee in addition to over 500 veterinary surgeries and vaccinations.

There were also special musical performances presented by the US 7th Fleet Band partnering with the Sri Lanka Navy in a blend of US-Sri Lankan music genres.​ From medical clinics to free public concerts, our sailors will bring the best of America to local communities.

In august 2018 a joint humanitarian assistance mission called Pacific Angel, sponsored by the US Pacific Command (USPACOM) concluded at the Alagalla School in Vavuniya, The mission operated in Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Sigiriya. The purpose was to provide humanitarian civic assistance and carry out civil-military operations in the Pacific region.

Medical treatment was provided by Pacific Air Forces doctors, including representatives from the Bangladesh Air Force, Maldivian Defence Force, Nepal Army, and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Medical/Dental officers and nurses. Medical teams treated 3,000 patients the services included primary health care, physical therapy, optometry and dentistry. Vavuniya Nursing School students and Red Cross officials participated. A forum highlighting topics such as modern engineering practices in disaster management and renovation was also held for SLAF civil engineers and technicians. School buildings were also renovated.

The U.S. Navy and Marines and Sri Lankan Navy and Marines launched the annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise in Trincomalee in October 2107.  US navy    added Sri Lanka to the list of CARAT partners  for the first time in 2017,  as part of ‘our larger efforts to expand both bilateral and multilateral maritime security engagement across the Indo-Pacific region’. CARAT is entering its twenty-third year, and Sri Lanka is among the newest CARAT partner nations, demonstrating a shared commitment to maritime security in the Indian Ocean.’ 

CARAT Sri Lanka 2017 is part of a series of bilateral CARAT military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Thailand.  U.S. Navy  participation in CARAT Sri Lanka 2017 included Commander Task Group 75.5, Coastal Riverine Group 1, Underwater Construction Team 2 and U.S. Marines with Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team Pacific.

The week-long exercise  focused on maritime security skills and operational cohesiveness among participating forces.  CARAT training encompasses small boat operations, evidence collection, diving procedures, and anti-terrorism security.  It also builds relationships between military participants through community development projects, sports, and social events. 

There were several joint navy exercises.  I will list them chronologically. The world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise (Rim of the Pacific – RIMPAC) took place in the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California in June/August 2018.

.Sri Lanka took part in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime exercise  2018  held in  Hawaii and Southern California in June 2018. This was  the first time Sri Lanka   was participating in this exercise. RIMPAC 2018 was an American led combined live field training exercise that included operational and tactical level training. The Sri Lanka team also had a week of Field Training Exercise and similar training engagements with Royal Australian Navy Marines and US Marines in Townville, Australia.

The many exercises conducted during RIMPAC included the training on the operations of an assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. Participants gained firsthand knowledge on how rescue operation are conducted, how victims are brought to the ship and transferred to the ICU. A Sri Lanka media team joined other international media in documenting the exercise.

In July 2018 The Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) exercise between US Naval Special Warfare Forces personnel and Sri Lanka naval personnel from the 4th Fast Attack Flotilla (4FAF) and Special Boat Squadron (SBS) was inaugurated at the Special Boat Squadron Training School (SBSTS) in Trincomalee. The programme is held annually as part of a mutual understanding and agreements for the training and support requirements of both countries. The four – week course focused on developing professional skills and exchange of knowledge among naval personnel of US Naval Special Warfare Forces and Sri Lanka Navy.

The third KDU-CNA Track 1.5 Dialogue on Naval cooperation was held in July 2018 at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU).The two-day dialogue was a collaborative initiative between KDU and the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), USA. The KDU-CNA Track 1.5 Dialogue is a one-of-a-kind discussion that we organize at KDU, facilitating interaction between the navies of Sri Lanka and the United States, along with the participation of relevant academics.

 This year’s Track 1.5 Dialogue focused on how bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and the USA could be further improved in a variety of spheres and how the global security concerns are influencing the relations between the two countries.

 Track 1.5 diplomacy is an initiative to bring together government and non-governmental actors to discuss on a variety of topics that could improve the bilateral relations of countries. As such, this two-day deliberation witnessed the participation of analysts and academics along with naval officials from the navies of both participating countries for a discussion. Held under the Chatham House Rule, this year’s Dialogue included four main sessions, with the 5th and final session being a wrap-up session with the speakers providing forward-looking, implementable suggestions for Sri Lanka and the United States. ( continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Sri Lanka’s strategic military location in the Indian Ocean    and the value of Trincomalee to the USA was well understood by the Sri Lanka intelligentsia in the 1950s.  The intelligentsia knew that Trincomalee harbor could comfortably hold the 7th Fleet of the US Navy. This was mentioned regularly in drawing rooms in the 1950s. I recall hearing such conversations as a child. But the possibility of America actually doing so was glossed over. That was not discussed and the general public was not told.  

American power is based on alliances not colonies. US has some 60 treaty allies today. In the 20^th century, US was mainly interested in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and South East Asia.   Five of the seven US security alliances were with Asia-Pacific partners.  US also had defense pacts with sixty nine countries. Sri Lanka was not one of them.

The US was always    deeply interested in Sri Lanka, because of Sri Lanka’s strategic position in the Indian Ocean but America was not in a hurry to capture Sri Lanka. However,   when China started its rise as a superpower, US decided to project a more powerful image of itself.

Wiswa Warnapala says in his autobiography that in 1985 Wiswa was invited to visit USA on an International visitor programme.  The aim was to brief us on the superior US war   weaponry. The focus was on military hardware. The tour included the military complexes and the industrial centers engaged in the production of armaments. The tour gave us a good glimpse of the arsenal in the US .All aspects of their military superiority was shown to us to make sure that we understood the military might of the US.

With the rise of China, in the 1980s, the western focus changed. The Indian Ocean was a part of China’s new Maritime Silk Route so the Indian Ocean became vitally important. Sri Lanka’s strategic position in the Indian Ocean which had always been important now became urgently important, said K. Godage. 

In 2010 US Senate was told that Sri Lanka is strategically positioned along key shipping lanes. ‘Sri Lanka is strategically located at the nexus of maritime trading routes connecting Europe and the Middle East to China and the rest of Asia.

All of China’s and Japan’s energy resource from the Persian Gulf transits Sri Lanka and the island has the potential to control or impede the free flow these resources to China. Half the world’s container traffic also passes through Sri Lanka and the island has the potential to block this as well.   

In view of strategic importance of Sri Lanka to the US, an alliance should be maintained with Sri Lanka.  US foreign policy should be recast for the purpose.’ Sri Lanka could be used to further US interests in the Indian Ocean, said US advisors. 

For US policy makers and military planners Sri Lanka   became a top geopolitical priority. White House and Pentagon are trying urgently to figure out how ‘not to lose Sri Lanka ‘. And also how we can use Sri Lanka to further US national security interest in the Indian Ocean, said analysts.    

It is best to go carefully with Sri Lanka, said advisors. US should adopt a less confrontational approach.  It should follow a subtle and a sophisticated approach, since the political game had changed in Sri Lanka.  The formulas which were used in the past 20 years are now dead.

In early 2012 US officials in  Colombo met 15 or so business executives representing companies that were  importing from or exporting to US . The US embassy wanted regular feedback about security related matters in this country. The meeting was sponsored by the Overseas Security Advisory Council of the US State Department which looked after US business interest.

There was some urgency. It was observed in 2014 that‘If Sri Lanka has this same stability for the next five years then it will be difficult to   achieve US ambitions.  A weaker Sri Lanka is easy to dominate’.  

Mahinda Rajapaksa, President from 2005-2015 was not prepared to give in to the US. He had refused to bow down to US pressure to stop the war on LTTE.  Also he had established links with China   and was   planning a big military deal with Russia, which had offered a credit line for arms, ammunition, helicopters and land mine clearing. Rajapakse was becoming a serious obstacle to US interests in the Indian Ocean region.  He had to go.    Rajapakse gave them the opportunity by calling for elections in 2015. 

US had tried and failed to introduce a puppet leader at the Presidential election of 2010, but at the 2015 election, US succeeded. A puppet leader was elected as ‘common candidate’ and US took control of Sri Lanka. The Yahapalana government was a puppet government controlled by the USA.

Sri Lanka had a highly publicized, triumphant visit from US Secretary of State, John Kerry, In May 2015. The Secretary of State is the highest ranking member of the US Cabinet. Other officials followed.

Nisha Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, had visited Sri Lanka six times by July 2016.  Alice Wells, who replaced her, was in Sri Lanka in August 2017, Thomas Shannon, [US Deputy Secretary Defense], Tom Malinowski [US assistant Secretary for democracy and Human rights] and US Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, also visited Sri Lanka. There is a photograph of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera holding hands with Biswal and Malinowski.

Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, visited in November 2015. She said USA was deeply committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s efforts at peace, reconciliation and accountability.    She feels a strong sense of responsibility towards the beleaguered people of all communities of Sri Lanka. She considered Neelan Thiruchelvam her friend. She said that Mahinda Rajapakse, when President, had brusquely brushed aside her overtures to initiate a meaningful dialogue. Gotabhaya and Basil Rajapakse had been even worse. They had been brazenly unpleasant.

US supporters in Sri Lanka were pleased about the arrival of the USA. America is very important to us, said Minister Harsha de Silva. 25% of our exports go to US and 70% of that is garments. Changes in US trade policy have a large repercussion on Sri Lanka, because of our dependency on the US economy, he added. Within months of Yahapalana government coming to power, the application form for a fixed deposit in a state bank asked ‘are you a US person’.

Others were not pleased. They saw the Yahapalana government as a puppet government of the USA. They spoke of the ‘USA led conspiracy that installed the present government’.  ‘The government is pursuing a Western agenda  and is hell bent on destabilizing post-war Sri Lanka’, said A.J.M. Mussamil.

Yahapalana  government is following a course of action that is likely to result in a foreign dominated, bankrupt, dependent economy that places enormous burdens on the people, and destroys Sri Lanka’s independence and sovereignty, making us a semi-colony of the USA and its allies,   said Tissa Vitarana.

The current government appears to be highly dependent on the West for its political survival, said critics.  Yahapalana government is   a ‘fully pro-Washington regime’ said Tamara Kunanayagam. Tissa Vitarana said that Ranil Wickremesinghe was going to make Sri Lanka a puppet of the USA like the Philippines. Mangala Samaraweera is America’s poodle and the West’s darling, said Rajeewa Jayaweera.

After the 2015 election, USA planned to entrench itself comfortably in Sri Lanka. US immediately started to convert Sri Lanka‘s economy, administration and society to suit the needs of the USA.

USA had a new Constitution drafted and ready. Keheliya Rambukwella said in 2017. A new constitution has been prepared by the US and given to the   Yahapalana government .Almost everybody had accepted the draft except a bunch led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, complained US.

From 2015 to 2019 the US started many projects in Sri Lanka which were intended to entrench US thinking. Two batches of senior judges visited US in August 2018 and April 2019. The US State Department made provision for a Resident Legal Advisor in Colombo to provide anti-corruption and asset recovery training and also support the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC).

The Yahapalana government was given three instructions (a) weaken the state, (b) ruin the economy and (c) crush the people. Then a dissatisfied, angry, restless society will be created, which will be encouraged to protest. A state of chaos will result. The west will then be able to move in, probably using Right to Protect” (R2P). 

Yahapalana accordingly, tried to destroy every important segment of the public life of the country. Sampur power plant was cancelled, to precipitate an energy shortage. Train transport was disrupted by strikes.  The economy was to be drastically changed. Yahapalana planned to revise the Customs Ordinance, Inland Revenue Act, Audit Act and reduce the powers of the Central Bank.

 An economic programme was prepared by a team led by Ricardo Haussmann of Harvard University, funded by the Open Society Foundation of George Soros. This was unveiled at Sri Lanka Economic Forum of 2016, with Joseph Stieglitz of Harvard participating. Local economists criticized the plan and wanted it dismissed. They said it was infantile.

In agriculture, State refused to buy paddy from the local farmers. Their paddy was stored at Mattala airport. Rice was imported. Villagers at Moragahakanda complained that all they needed was just one more round of water and their harvest would be ok. The engineers had sent water, but an order had come from high up, to close the sluice.

The local pepper and onion industry faced drastic fall in prices since onions and low grade pepper were imported. Yahapalana planned to sell the Maha Illuppalama seed farm to a Bangladesh firm. The acreage owned by the Regional Tea plantations was to be limited to 5000 acres.  Glyphostate and Paraquat vitally important chemicals were banned.

Ministry of Rural Economic Development imported pregnant milch cows, carrying highly contagious and deadly diseases, which were new to Sri Lanka. The dairy farmers were thenadvised to get rid of the Sri Lankan animals they already had.

The free health service was to be replaced by an insurance based service. Eye surgeons in government hospitals could operate only on patients who get lenses from the Health   service. Also, they could not use equipment loaned by the private sector. The number of cataract surgeries per day at the National Eye Hospital, Colombo, dropped from 80-100 surgeries to 23 per day.

 A useless Russian drug   for terminal cancer was imported but a drug which would help cure breast cancer at the early stage was not. Doctors transfer list was delayed. Their vehicle permit was not given, schools were not provided for their children when doctors went on transfer.

The regulations governing cosmetic products were removed.   Skin whitening creams containing mercury amounts very harmful to the users came in. “There is one cream which has 10,000 times more mercury than the permitted amount, said critics.

Education was affected in several ways. Principals due to for promotion were not given their appointment letters. Salary arrears of principals and teachers were not paid. Vouchers were given instead of free school uniform material. External degrees could not exceed the number passing internally.

The Elevated Highway Project from Rajagiriya to Athurugiriya was to be built over a lake and paddy fields avoiding settlements. Yahapalana   chose another route which went over750 land lots, affected 1,010 families and would demolish 120 shops and business places. Residents wanted to know why the RDA chose such a highly residential area for a highway.

There was a clear anti Buddhist slant. Buddhism was to be suppressed.  I do not think this was in the Washington agenda. It would have been introduced by the anti –Buddhist NGOs in Sri Lanka.

Bhikkhus were imprisoned and elephants were impounded, so that temples and peraheras would be affected. The best teachers of Dharmaraja and Mahamaya were transferred out.  Dharmaraja and Mahamaya are the two leading Buddhist schools in Kandy. This anti Buddhist activity resulted in angering the Maha Sangha who then emerged as a formidable anti Yahapalana force.

USA was not that admired and welcomed in Sri Lanka as the US thought.  There was always considerable anti-USA feeling in Sri Lanka. Critics seem to outnumber admirers. A NGO attitude survey done   in the year 2004, found that the Sri Lanka respondents were suspicious of America. America was searching for a centre to block China, they said.    It would be a mistake for Sri Lanka to rely too much on USA. Other countries that sought Washington assistance found that they were invaded and occupied.

 America always creates problems in any country it involves itself in, said Shenali Waduge in 2011.  USA has been directly and indirectly involved in coups, invasions, regime changes from Iran in 1953 onwards, she added. USA supported   dictators like Pinochet, Marcos, Suharto, Somoza, and Pol Pot. Saddam Hussein was initially a CIA agent. Osama Bin Laden was initially nurtured by the US and had financial interests in the US.

The US was the world’s worst offender when it came to human rights, critics continued. Look at the enormous number of persons the US army has killed in its wars. The chemical Agent Orange in Vietnam resulted in severely disabled children. ‘Island’ editorial in 2016 said ‘If the US solves its own problems without being a problem to other countries, it will help solve most of the problems the world is facing’.

Yahapalana government rapidly became unpopular. It was seen as the run up to yet another bout of foreign rule. When Yahapalana took power in 2015, there was an immediate comparison with 1815. Sri Lanka is definite that it does not want another bout of foreign rule. They think that three rounds of it, Portuguese, Dutch and British is more than enough. They do not want to be under the USA.

Therefore, things did not so as smoothly and easily in Yahapalana as US thought it would. The Yahapalana administration did not crush the public into silence as the US hoped. Instead it infuriated the public and acted as a wakeup call. Wait till the next election comes” the public said.

From a triumphant, highly visible start in 2015, with prominent visits by Secretary of State John Kerry and other high ranking officials, the USA went into low profile.  Departments like USAID continued working and US officials   came in, but without much publicity.

The public reaction to the Yahapalana victory was immediate. The electorate realized what had happened as soon as the 2015 election results were announced and the next day, they flocked to the private residence of Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom they had rejected at the polls. They insisted that Yahapalana must go and Rajapaksa should take over.

There were huge meetings, demonstrations and parades in support of Mahinda Rajapaksa such as May Day gatherings and Pada Yathra. When they found that Mahinda Rajapaksa was not eligible to contest the next election, the public then turned to brother Gotabaya. They greeted Gotabaya royally when he returned from USA. They yelled, garlanded and cheered him. They insisted that he must come forward and defeat Yahapalana in the 2019 election, which he did.  (Continued)

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

නැවුම් උපාය මාර්ග යොදමින් රටේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කිරීමේ වගකීම සහ අභියෝගය භාර ගැනීමට රජය සූදානම් බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා වාණිජ මණ්ඩලය සංවිධානය කළ ශ්‍රි ලංකා ආර්ථික සමුළුව -2020 ට අන්තර්ජාල වීඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අද 2020.12.02 දින අවධාරණය කළේය.

අප රටට තීරණාත්මක ඉදිරි වසර කිහිපයේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කර ගැනීම උදෙසා රාජ්‍ය හා පෞද්ගලික අංශය එක්ව අභියෝග කළමනාකරණය කර ගත යුතුව ඇතැයි ද ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙහිදී පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

ශ්‍රි ලංකා ආර්ථික සමුළුව -2020 අමතා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා කළ සම්පූර්ණ කතාව මෙසේය.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, ශ්‍රී ලංකා වාණිජ මණ්ඩලය විසින් සංවිධානය කර ඇති වාර්ෂික ආර්ථික සම්මේලනයට සහභාගී වී වචන කිපයක් කථා කිරීමට අපට ආරාධනා කිරීම පිළිබඳව මුලින්ම අප එම මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති ඇතුළු කළමනාකරණ මණ්ඩලයට ස්තූතිවන්ත වෙනවා.

ලෝකයේ බොහෝ රටවලට වඩා හොඳින් කොවිඩ් වසංගතය ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පාලනය කර තිබෙන බව බොහෝ දෙනා අද පිළිගන්නවා. ඒ සමඟම, අප රටේ  ආර්ථිකයද ක්‍රමවත්ව කළමනාකරණය කරගෙන ඉදිරියට යන්නට හැකි වී තිබෙන බවත් බොහෝ දෙනා පිළිගන්නවා.

එපමණක් නොව, අද වන විට අප රටෙහි වසංගතයේ පාලනය ලෝකයේ රටවල් අතරින් ඉහළම මට්ටමක පවතින අතර, ක්ෂේත්‍ර රාශියක් ඔස්සේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රගතියද සාර්ථක ලෙස සටහන්  කර ගැනීමට අප හැකිවී තිබෙනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, අප රට දැන් මුහුණ පා ඇති මුලික අභියෝගය නම් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා රටට ලබා දී ඇති පොරොන්දුව අනුව, ජනතා-කේන්ද්‍රීය” ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවනයක් උදා කර ගැනීමයි.

ඒ අතරම, කොවිඩ් වසංගතය ඉදිරියේ පුරෝකතනය කරන ලද දරුණු ආර්ථික අවපාතය, එම උත්සහයට දැඩි බාධාවක් පැනවිම හැකි බවද බොහො දෙනා අනාවැකි කොට තිබුණ ද එය අවම කර ගනිමින්, ආර්ථිකයේ පුනර්ජිවනයක් ඇති කර ගැනීමත් අප ඉදිරියේ ඇති තවත් දැවැන්ත අභියෝගයකි.

මේ අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීමට, රජය නැවුම් ක්‍රමවේද අනුගමනය කල බව ඔබ දන්නවා. රටේ ව්‍යාපාරිකයින් රැකගැනීම සඳහා ඒ අයට ණය විරාම” ලබා දෙන ලෙස රජය  බැංකු හා මූල්‍ය ආයතන වලට උපදෙස් දුන්නා.

රටේ බාහිර ගිණුම මනා ලෙස කළමනාකරණය කිරීම තුළින් රුපියල රැක ගැනීමෙන්, රාජ්‍ය ණය පීඩනය අවම කරන්නට කටයුතු කළා.

පවුල් දසලක්ෂ පහකට අධික ගණනකට කොවිඩ් වසංගතයට මුහුණ දිමට සෘජු මුදල් ප්‍රතිපාදන ලබා දීම තුළින් ජීවන පීඩනයට සහන ලබා දෙන්නටත් අප සමත් වුණා.

සුළු හා මධ්‍යම පරිමාණයේ  ව්‍යාපාර කඩා නොවැටී පවත්වා ගෙන යෑම සඳහා බදු සහ පොලී සහන ලබා දුන්නා. ජලය, විදුලිය, බලපත්‍ර ගාස්තු, යනාදිය ගෙවීමට කාලය ලබා දුන්නා. ලීසිං වාරික සහ පොලී ගෙවිම් සඳහා සහන ලබා දීමට  කටයුතු කළා.

මේ සියලුම කටයුතු සඳහා රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් සම්බන්ධ කර ගනිමින් ඔවුන්ගේ කාර්යක්ෂමතාවයද ඉහළ මට්ටමකට පවත්වා ගැනීමට කටයුතු කළා. රේගුව, ආදායම් බදු, සුරාබදු, ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලය, විදුලිය, ඉන්ධන, වරාය, ගුවන්තොටුපොළ, බැංකු, සමාගම් රෙජිස්ටාර් වැනි ආයතන සහ දෙපාර්තමේන්තු ඇතුළු අදාළ රජයේ ආයතන රාශියක් විසින් පෞද්ගලික ආයතන වලට ලබාදිය යුතු සේවාවන් දැවැන්ත අභියෝග මධ්‍යයේද ලබා දීමට රාජ්‍ය සේවය මැදිහත් වුණා.

මුලික වශයෙන්, වසංගතය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා සෞඛ්‍ය ක්ෂේත්‍රය, ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාව, පොලීසිය සහ ග්‍රාමීය පාලන යාන්ත්‍රණය ඇතුළු සියලු රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින්ගේ දැඩි කැපවීම ඔස්සේ ඉටුවිය යුතු සියලු ‍සේවාවන් ලබා දෙන්නටත් රජයට හැකිවුණා. 

මේ සියලුම කටයුතු වල අරමුණ වුයේ ජන ජිවිතය සහ රටේ ව්‍යාපාර අඛණ්ඩව ඔසවා තැබීමයි. අප එසේ නොකළා නම්, රටේ විහිදි ඇති ව්‍යාපාර දැඩි දුෂ්කරතාවයට සහ අපහසුතාවයට පත් වීමට ඉඩ තිබුණා. එසේ වුවා නම්, මුළු රටේම ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැටෙන්නටත් අවදානමක් තිබුණා. ඒ හරහා, රාජ්‍ය ණය ගෙවා ගන්නට බැරි වන්නටත්  ඉඩ තිබුණා.

එසේ වුනා නම්, විශාල අර්බුධයකට රට ගොදුරු වන්නටත් ඉඩ තිබුණා. එවන් තත්ත්වයක් හරහා, රැකියා ලක්ෂ ගණන් අහිමි වන්නටත්, මුළු ජනතාවම දැඩි කම්පාවකට  සහ අසහනයකට පත් වන්නටත් ඉඩ තිබුණා. ආර්ථික කටයුතු කඩා වැටීම නිසා, රටේ බහුතර ජනතාව අන්ත අසරණභාවයකට පත් වෙන්නටත් අවදානමක් තිබුණා. සමහර විට, සමහරු එසේ වෙන තෙක් බලා සිටින්නටත් ඇතැයි කියා අපට සැක කරන්නටත් ඉඩ තිබෙන්නට ඇති.

එහෙත්, මෙම ප්‍රශ්න සියල්ලම මධ්‍යයේ, මෙම අභියෝග වලට සෘජුවම මුහුණ දෙමින් අද වන විට, රටේ ආර්ථීකය ස්ථායිභාවයකට පත් කර ගැනීමට අප රජයට හැකි වී තිබෙනවා. මේ බව ආර්ථික කටයුතු වල නිරත වී සිටින ඔබ සියලු දෙනාම හොඳින් අවබෝධ කරගෙන ඇතැයිද මා සිතනවා. 

කෙසේ වුවත්, මෙම තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳව අපි මුලික සෑහීමකට පත්වනවාත් සමඟම, මෙම අඩිතාලම මත අපේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය හා ජන ජීවිතය තව දුරටත් ශක්තිමත් කරමින් ඉදිරියට යෑමට අපි සෑම උත්සහයක්ම දැරිය යුතු බවත් අප මතක් කර දිය යුතු යයි සිතනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, අප දකින ආකාරයට, තව වැඩි කලක් යන්නට පෙර, මුළු රටම නැවත වර්ධන මාර්ගයකට යොමු විය යුතුයි. මුළු රටම නැවත එකම වැඩ බිමක් බවට පත් විය යුතුයි. එවැන්නක් කිරීම ඔබගේ සම්මේලනයේ එක් අරමුණක්  බවද අපට පෙනෙනවා.ඒ පිළිබඳව, අපි විශේෂයෙන් සතුටු වන අතර, එම කර්තව්‍යය වෙනුවෙන් රජයේ ප්‍රධානීන් සහ පෞද්ගලික ආයතනවල ප්‍රධානීන් එකට එක් වී, සැළසුම්, තොරතුරු සහ උපායමාර්ග බෙදා හදා ගැනීම ඉතා වටිනා ප්‍රයත්නයක් හැටියට අපි දකිනවා.

පසුගිය මාස කිපය තුළදීත් එවන් ප්‍රයත්න වල එක් වැදගත් ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන්, මේ වන විටත්, රටට ගලා එන අපනයන ආදායම සහ විදේශ සේවා ප්‍රේෂණ, වසංගතයට පෙර තිබුණු මට්ටම්  වලටත් වඩා ඉහළ මට්ටමකට පිවිසී තිබෙනවා. රජය විසින් කාලෝචිත ලෙස පනවන ලද ආනයන සීමා නිසා, අපගේ බාහිර ගිණුමට යම් සහනයක් ලැබී ඇති අතර, එම වාසීන් හරහා බාහිර අංශයේ අතිරික්තයද වැඩි වී තිබෙනවා.

එහෙත්, රටට ගලා එන සෘජු විදේශ ආයෝජන තවමත් අපට සතුටු විය හැකි මට්ටමකට පිවිසී නැති බවත් අප කිය යුතුයි. එම ආයෝජන වර්ධන කරන්නට නම්, පෞද්ගලික අංශයද තව දුරටත් උත්සහවන්ත විය යුතු බවත් අප මතක් කර දිය යුතුය. ඔබත්, එම ප්‍රයත්නයට නොමසුරු ලෙස සහයෝගය ලබා දෙමින්, අප ආර්ථිකය නැවත වරක් ඔසවා තැබීමට කටයුතු කරන ලෙසට අපි ආරාධනා කරනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, ඊයේ, ඔබ ආර්ථීක සම්මේලනයේ පළමු දිනයේදී, ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවනය සඳහා  ගෝලීයව සහ දේශීයව දියත් කළ යුතු උපායමාර්ග  පිළිබඳව ඔබ සාකච්ඡා කළ බව අපට පෙනී ගියා. එමෙන්ම, රට ගොඩ ගැනීමේ ප්‍රයත්නය වෙනුවෙන් පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ කාර්යභාරය පිළිබඳවත් ඔබ සාකච්ජා කර තිබුණා. අප  රට සතු සම්පත්, තවදුරටත් උපයෝගී කර ගනිමින් රටෙහි ආර්ථීක ක්‍රියාදාමය තවදුරටත් වර්ධනය කර ගන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න පිළිබඳවත් ඔබ ගැඹුරින්ම සාකච්ඡා කර තිබුණා.

එපමණක් නොව, තාක්ෂණය යොදා ගනිමින් ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවනයක් ලඟා කර ගන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න ගැනත් ඔබ අධ්‍යයනය කළා. මේවායින් පෙනී යන්නේ, අප රට නැවතත් සීඝ්‍ර වර්ධන මාවතකට යොමු කිරීමට ඔබද දැවැන්ත උත්සාහයක යෙදී සිටින බවයි.

එපමණක් නොව, අද දින තුළ අප මේ සහභාගී වන සැසිවාරයෙන් පසුව, රජයේ ආයතන තවදුරටත් කාර්යක්ෂම පාලනය කිරීම පිළිබඳවත් අදහස් හුවමාරු කර ගැනීමට ඔබ බලාපොරොත්තු වන බව අපට පෙනී යනවා. අපි හැමෝම අවිවාදයෙන් පිලිගන්නා ආකාරයට, රජයේ ආයතන රටේ විශේෂ කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කරන අතර,  ඒවා තවදුරටත් ජනතා-කේන්ද්‍රීයව” සහ ජනතාවගේ අභිලාශයන් ඉටු කරන පරිදි, සංවිධානය කර ගැනීම අත්‍යාවශ්‍යයි.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, අද වන විට රුපියල් බිලියන පන් දහසකට (රු.බි.5000) අධික සාමුහික වටිනාකමක් ඇති මහ පරිමාණයේ ව්‍යාපෘති 289ක් රජයේ අමාත්‍යාංශ සහ දෙපාර්තමේන්තු විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. ඒවා නිසි වේලාවට සහ මුලින්ම යෝජිත අගයන් වලට නිම කිරීම ඉතා වැදගත්ය. (on time” and on budget”).

එපමණක් නොව, රජයට අයත් ආයතන 400ට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් විවිධ සේවාවන් සහ ආර්ථික කටයුතු වල අද නිරතවී සිටිනවා. රාජ්‍ය සේවකයන් ලක්ෂ 18ක පමණ සංඛ්‍යාවක් රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සේවය කරනවා. එසේ නම්, මෙම දැවැන්ත භෞතික සහ මිනිස් සම්පත කාර්යක්ෂමව, ජනතා හීතවාදීව සහ මුළු රටටම ශක්තියක් සහ යහපතක් වන ලෙස ක්‍රියාවේ යෙදවීම, අප රටේ දැවැන්ත ප්‍රමුඛතාවයක් ලෙස අප දකිනවා. ඒ අරමුණ ඉෂ්ට කර ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන්, ඉදිරියේදී, ඔබ ලබා දෙන්නා වු සහයෝගය සහ කැපවීම අප උනන්දුවෙන් අපේක්ෂා කරනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, කෘෂිකර්මය පිළිබඳවත් ඔබ වාණිජ මණ්ඩලය විශේෂ සැලකිල්ලක් දක්වන බව අප සතුටින් නිරීක්ෂණය කළා. ඕනෑම රටක ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතභාවය (Food Security) රැක ගැනීම එම රටේ ආණ්ඩුවේ විශේෂ වගකීමක් වන අතර,  ඒ සඳහා ජනතාවගේ කැපවීමද අත්‍යවශ්‍යයි.

කොවිඩ් වසංගතයේදි අපි රටක් වශයෙන් ඉගෙන ගත් එක් විශේෂ පාඩමක් නම්, ගෝලීය  උවදුරක් හේතුකොටගෙන යම් කම්පනයක් සිදු වන විට, රටට අවශ්‍ය වන ආහාර එම රටේම නිෂ්පාදනය කර ගැනීම ඉතා වැදගත් බවයි. අතිතයේදී, අපට ඕනෑම බෝගයක් හෝ භාණ්ඩයක් හෝ සේවාවක් හෝ ආනයනය කළ හැකියි යන මානසිකත්වයකින් සමහර රජයන් කටයුතු කළ ආකාරය අප දුටුවා. එවැනි ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අනුගමනය කළහොත් රටකට විය හැකි හානිය කොතරම් භායානක යන්න අද පැහැදිලි වී ඇතැයි, අප සිතනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, කොවිඩ් වසංගතයෙන් අපේ රටට සිදු වු පාඩු සහ හානි  වලින් මුල් තැනක් ගත් තවත් එක් ක්ෂේත්‍රයක් නම් සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රයයි. ගුවන්තොටුපළ සහ වරායන් හරහා අප රටට සංචාරකයන්ට පිවිසෙන්නට අවකාශය අහිමි වු නිසා, අප ආර්ථිකයට දැවැන්ත පහරක් එල්ල වු බව අපි දන්නවා. එයින් ජීවන උපායන් රාශියකට සැලකිය යුතු අවහිරයක් ඇති වු බවත් අප දන්නවා. එසේ වුවද, එම හානිය හා අවාසිය අවම කර ගැනීම සඳහා එම ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ නිරත වී සිටින පුද්ගලයන්ට සහ ආයතනයන්ට ණය සහ පොලී විරාමයන් ලබා දෙමින්, යම් සහනයක් ලබා දීමට රජය කටයුතු කර ඇති බවත් ඔබ දන්නවා. ඒ ආකාරයට, මෙම සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ සම්පත් අරක්ෂා කරමින්, අනාගතයේදී මෙම ක්ෂේත්‍රය නැවත නැගී සිටුවීමට අප සුදානම් විය යුතුයි. ඒ නිසා, මේ ප්‍රශ්නය පිළිබඳවත් ඔබ සැලකිලිමත් වීම ගැන අප සතුටු වෙනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, 2020 වසර තුළඳී අප රජයට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවු අභියෝගයන් ඉතා දැවැන්ත ඒවාය. එම අභියෝග තියුණු වුයේ කොවිඩ් නිසා පමණක් නොවේ. 2015 සිට 2019 දක්වා අප ආර්ථිකයේ සිදු වු සැලකිය යුතු පසුබෑමත් එයට හේතු වු බව අපි සියලු දෙනාම දන්නවා. එහෙත්, එම අභියෝග ඉදිරියේ, අප පසුබට වුයේ නැහැ. අප කෙඳිරි ගැවේත් නැහැ. අපි විපක්ෂයට චෝදනා කරමින් කාලය නාස්ති කළෙත් නැහැ. එසේ නොකර, ජනතාව අපගෙත් බලාපොරොත්තුව වූ කාර්ය භාරයේ යෙදෙමින් අපගේ වගකීම් අපි ඉෂ්ට කළා.

ඒ අනුව, පසුගිය මාසයේ මැඳ භාගයේදී, ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම” සැලැස්ම සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීමේ මුලික පියවර වශයෙන්, අප නව රජයේ පළමු අයවැය අපි ඉදිරිපත් කළා. ඒ හරහා, 2021 වෙනුවෙන් ආර්ථිකයේ සියයට 5.5 ක වර්ධනයක් ඇති කර ගැනීමටත්, සාර්ව ආර්ථික සාධක යහපත් මට්ටමකට පත් කර ගැනීමටත්, බදු ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නොවෙනස්ව පවත්වාගෙන යාමටත්, ආර්ථිකයට නව ජවයක් ලබා දීමටත්, අප අවශ්‍ය යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කළා. මේවා ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අප රජයේ සියලු මැති ඇමතිවරුන් සහ පරිපාලන ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ නිලධාරින් බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් සිටිනවා.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, රාජ්‍ය සේවය එසේ කරද්දී, අප රටේ ආර්ථිකයේ පුනර්ජිවනයක් ඇති කර ගැනීමට ඔබගේ වාණිජ මණ්ඩලයේ සාමාජිකයන්ද උනන්දුවෙන් සිටින බව අපට පෙනී යනවා. ඒ පිළිබඳවත් අප සතුටු වන අතර, එයින් තහවුරු වන්නේ ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවනය, රජය සතු වගකීමක් පමණක් නොව, ඔබ සේවය කරන පෞද්ගලික ආයතනවල වගකීමක් ලෙසත්, ඔබ පිළිගෙන ඇති බවයි. මෙය ඉතා වැදගත් ප්‍රවණතාවයකි. මේ පිළිබඳව අපි ඔබ සියලු දෙනාට අප රජය වෙනුවෙන් ස්තූති කරන්නට කැමැතියි.

මිත්‍රවරුනි, එළඹෙන වසර කිහිපය, අප රටට තීරණාත්මක වසර කිහිපයකි. අප රටේ ආර්ථිකමය ඉදිරි ගමන ශක්තිමත් කෙරෙන වකවානුවකි. එළඹෙන මෙම වකවානුව සාර්ථක වන්නට නම්, අප සියලු දෙනා එක්ව මෙම අභියෝග කළමණාකරනය කර ගත යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා, අපි නැවුම් උපාය මාර්ග ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතුයි. මේ වන විටත්, ඔබ දක්වා ඇති ප්‍රතිචාර වලින් අපට පෙනී යන්නේ එවැනි අභියෝගයක් භාර ගන්නට ඔබ සාමාජිකයින් සුදානම්ව සිටින බවයි.

රජයක් හැටියටත්, අප ද එම වගකීම් සහ අභියෝග භාර ගැනීමට සුදානම්ය. එසේ නම්, අප සමඟම එක්වී, අප රට ආර්ථිකමය පිබිඳීමක් කරා යොමු  කිරීමට අප ඔබ සියලු දෙනාටම ආරාධනා කරනවා. එමෙන්ම, ඔබ මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති හාන්ස් විජේසූරිය මහතා ඇතුළු සියලු දෙනාටම අප ස්තූතිවන්ත වෙනවා.

ඔබ සැමට තෙරුවන් සරණයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

කොහොම වෛරසය ශරීරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම සඳහා නිෂ්පාදනය කර ඇති දේශීය ඖෂධය සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිනී පවිත්‍රා වන්නිආරච්චි මහත්මිය විසින්ද භාවිතා කළාය.

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍ංශයේදී පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී ඇය මෙම ඖෂධය භාවිතා කරන ලදී.

අදාළ ඖෂධය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉදිරි පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු සඳහා විශේෂඥ කමිටුවක් පත් කරන ලද බවත් එහි නිගමන අනුව ඉදිරි ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා බවත් එහිදී කියා සිටියහ.

මෙය නිෂ්පාදනය කල වෛද්‍යවරයා සදහන් කරන්නේ මෙම ඖෂධය පානය කිරීම මගින් ආසාදිතයන්ගේ ශරීරයෙන් කොරෝනා වෛරසය ඉවත් කරන බවත් ආසාදිත නොවන අයෙකු පානය කලහොත් ඔහුට වෛරසය ආසාදනය නොවන බවත්ය.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Being the first to report the virus does not mean that the virus had its origin in the Chinese city of Wuhan

BEIJING/WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) — A newly released study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that COVID-19 was likely in the United States as early as mid-December 2019, weeks before the virus was first identified in China, boosting evidence suggesting that the coronavirus was spreading around the world earlier than previously known.

COVID-19 infections may have been present in the U.S. in December 2019,” about a month earlier than the first case was officially confirmed in the United States, the CDC scientists wrote after finding evidence of infection in 106 of 7,389 blood donations from residents in nine states across the country, according to a study published Monday online in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

EARLIER IN U.S.

In the study, the CDC researchers found antibodies specific to the novel coronavirus in 39 samples from California, Oregon and Washington State collected between Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, and in 67 samples in Massachusetts, Michigan, Wisconsin or Iowa, and Connecticut or Rhode Island collected between Dec. 30 and Jan. 17.

The study also highlighted the value of screening routinely collected blood samples for evidence of viruses spreading in a population, said the researchers, adding the CDC is continuing to conduct ongoing surveillance using blood donations and clinical laboratory samples for COVID-19 infection in multiple sites across the country.

Before this latest report, the earliest case of the novel coronavirus in the United States was reported on Jan. 19 this year, two days after domestic testing was initiated, according to the CDC.

Yet, some reports have suggested the entry of the virus into the United States may have occurred earlier than initially recognized, though widespread community transmission was not likely until late February, the study authors said.

Also, Michael Melham, mayor of Belleville in the U.S. state of New Jersey, said in late April that he had tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies and believed he had contracted the virus in November last year, despite a doctor’s reported assumption that what Melham went through was just flu.

My fear is that there are many who dismissed a potentially positive coronavirus diagnosis as a bad flu,” the mayor said in his statement.Video Player00:0004:19

EVIDENCE WORLDWIDE

Not merely in the United States, more researches have added to growing evidence that COVID-19 was circulating outside of China earlier than previously thought.

In Spain, researchers at the University of Barcelona, one of the European country’s most prestigious universities, had detected the presence of the virus genome in waste water samples collected on March 12, 2019, the university said in a statement in June.

These results suggest the infection was present before knowing about any case of COVID-19 in any part of the world,” the statement said.

Although COVID-19 is a respiratory disease, researchers proved there are large quantities of the coronavirus genome in the excrements that reach waste waters. This situation made the waste water-based epidemiology a potential tool for early detection of the circulation of the virus among the population,” the statement said.

In France, scientists found a man was infected with COVID-19 in December last year, roughly a month before the country confirmed its first cases.

Citing a doctor at Avicenne and Jean-Verdier hospitals near Paris, BBC News reported that the patient must have been infected between 14 and 22 December, as coronavirus symptoms take between five and 14 days to appear.”

Meanwhile, in Italy, a recent research by the National Cancer Institute in Milan showed that 11.6 percent of the 959 healthy volunteers who participated in a lung cancer screening trial between September 2019 to March 2020 had developed COVID-19 antibodies well before February when the first official case was recorded in the country, with four cases from the study dated to the first week in October last year, which means those people had been infected in September.

SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATION

Regarding the new findings, Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a press conference on Friday that the WHO is working with scientists all over the world.”

The organization will take every detection in France, in Spain, in Italy very seriously, and we will examine each and every one of them,” he said.

Indeed, virus source tracing is a serious scientific matter, which should be based on science and studied by scientists and medical experts. As far as COVID-19 is concerned, being the first to report the virus does not mean that the virus had its origin in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Historically, the place where a virus was first reported has not often been that of its origin. The HIV infection, for instance, was first reported by the United States, yet it might also be possible that the virus did not owe its origin to the United States. And more and more evidence proves that the Spanish Flu did not originate from Spain.

As WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, the WHO is committed to doing everything it can based on science and solutions to find the origin and that’s the basics.”

We need to do the basics and we will not stop from knowing the truth on the origin of the virus but based on science, without politicizing it or trying to create tension in the process,” the WHO head observed.

(Photos by Xinhua. Video reporters: Hu Yousong, Ji Li, Yu Guoqing, Tan Yixiao; Video editors: Gao Shang, Ma Ruxuan, Wu Yao)■

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

* Over 2,400 inmates on their own within complex

* Death toll reachers 11, could rise further

* Clashes among prisoners injure 80

* Doctor under investigation

* Rioters popped more than 21,000 pills

A high-level investigation into the Mahara Prison riot took an unexpected turn yesterday (1) following the revelation that the prison dispensary had stored over 21,000 tablets prescribed for mental disorders and sleeping pills.

Police spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana told a joint media briefing called by the Police Headquarters and the Prisons Department, in Colombo, that they were quite surprised that such a large stock of tablets was maintained. He said it had to be found out who had ordered the stock, how inmates got addicted to such substances, and whether a doctor attached to the Mahara Prison hospital had instigated prisoners to demand PCR tests.

DIG Rohana said that on the directions of the IGP C.D. Wickremaratne as per the instructions received from Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne, a 12 -member team from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was inquiring into the riot.

DIG Rohana said those who had been addicted to heroin and cocaine were believed to have used tablets prescribed to mental patients.

Prisons Commissioner Chandana Ekanayake (Administration) said that those who popped the tablets had turned on each other. Quoting officers who had been at the scene last Sunday (29) Ekanayake said they had never witnessed such scenes of violent behaviour among prisoners before.

Responding to a media query, Ekanayake emphasised that the Mahara Prison riot had erupted suddenly whereas they received intelligence warning of possible trouble at some other prisons.

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa told Parliament, on Monday, that the prison riot was part of a sinister plan to bring President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government into disrepute.

The media was told that at the time of the riot there had been 2,782 inmates at the Mahara Prisons complex. 585 were convicts and others suspects, DIG Rohana said, alleging that they had initiated Sunday’s violence. What initially started as common demand for all of them to be subjected to RT-PCR tests quickly had led to a riot, the DIG said.

DIG Rohana, who is also the head of the Police Legal Division, said that a section of those rioters had made repeated attempts to escape. Having failed, they had set fire to buildings within the complex. Among those destroyed were the Registry and the offices of top officials in charge of the prison.

The media was told one more inmate admitted to the Ragama Teaching Hospital had succumbed to his injuries yesterday. With that the total number of dead increased to nine, while 105 continued to receive treatment.
Besides, two Prison officers taken hostage and badly assaulted by the rioters were receiving treatment at the same hospital. Several hours after the conclusion of the media briefing Police headquarters said that two more persons had succumbed to their injuries.

At the beginning of the briefing Ekanayake said that of over 2,700 prisoners, approximately 1,600 had gone on the rampage. Trouble erupted while they were being served food in line with health guidelines. They broke out from where they were held and swiftly gathered close to the main gate. They demanded immediate PCR tests on them.”

Ekanayake said 187 inmates had tested positive by then.

The rioters had attacked the main gate, Ekanayake said. Officers opened fire having failed to bring the situation under control by shooting rubber bullets.” He said the situation had taken a turn for the worse after inmates took tablets meant for mental patients.

DIG Rohana said that of the 106 who had received injuries, 80 suffered as a result of violence among the prison community. Of the injured, only 26 were believed to have received gunshot injuries, DIG Rohana said.

Commissioner Ekanayake alleged that both the dead and the wounded were those in custody on narcotic charges.

Seventy eight coronavirus positive inmates had since been moved to a quarantine facility at Adalachchenai in the Akkaraipattu police area, DIG Rohana said.

DIG Rohana said those who had been granted bail couldn’t be immediately released as the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) had issued specific instructions on subjecting inmates to two weeks quarantine before release.

DIG Rohana said that following the removal of the injured and the dead to the Ragama hospital, those granted bail and infected inmates had been moved to a special section within the Welikada Prison complex and about 2,400 remained in the Mahara Prison.

Rohana said that among them were a large number of inmates who hadn’t been involved in violence. Acknowledging that the prisons complex wasn’t yet under the control of the jailers, the DIG said that the Police, including the Special Task Force (STF) and the Prison security were making plans to carry out an operation to restore normalcy. He said they would implement a special plan while the police backed by the STF maintained its presence outside the prison.

The police deployment consisted of 400 police and 200 STF personnel.

Both Police and Prisons officers couldn’t confirm whether at least some inmates had managed to escape though they believed such attempts were thwarted.

DIG Rohana said that the rioting inmates had been prevented from seizing the armoury.

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Defence, too, discussed the availability of three varieties of pills totalling 21,000 meant for mental patients at the Prison. Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Gunaratne briefed the CC on the matter and steps taken by authorities to bring the situation under control.

DIG. Rohana told the media that he had requested Justice Minister Ali Sabry, PC, to leave him out of a special committee headed by retired HC judge Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena tasked with inquiring into the riot due to conflict of interests as his duties and responsibilities as the Police Spokesperson clashed with the probe undertaken by the committee.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The death toll has been increased to 11 inmates. Autopsies of the bodies will be conducted in due course after the magisterial inquest.

• Inmates accused of fighting among themselves, in drug-induced frenzy
• Over 21,000 hypnotic drug tablets stored at prison hospital
• Investigation into conduct of medical officer attached to prison hospital
• 26 inmates believed to have suffered gunshot injuries
• DIG Ajith Rohana seeks release from Committee, cites conflict of interest
• International rights group condemns repeated use of lethal force in prisons
• Prison coronavirus cluster crosses 1,000 mark
• Prison overcrowding raises serious concerns

A violent protest erupted in one of the country’s largest high security prisons on Sunday, as gunfire rang out and some parts of the prison set ablaze. The Mahara prison housing more than 2,000 convicts jailed and suspects remanded for various offences became the nation’s hotbed of violence, with the gunfight between security personnel and inmates resulting in the death of eleven inmates.

By Tuesday, the number of persons admitted to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital as a result of the Mahara Prison riots rose to 109. DIG Rohana said 80 of the inmates were injured following clashes among themselves.   Twenty six of the inmates are believed to have suffered gunshot injuries, though the number has not been confirmed by Judicial Medical Examinations. Nine inmates were reportedly killed while two prison officers were among those injured in the incident. Authorities have denied reports of inmates breaking out of the prison, following the incident.

At a joint media briefing on the Mahara Prison unrest, Prison Department and Police spokespersons condemned the conduct of the inmates, saying it was the first time an incident of this nature had been reported in the country. 
Prisons Department Commissioner (Administration) and Spokesperson Chandana Ekanayake said there had been fighting among the prisoners. They fought and inflicted wounds on each other with weapons and sharp objects. They entered the main building of the prison, the kitchen, the stores and the prison hospital and set them on fire,” he told the media, while giving details on the extent of the property damaged at the site. 
They have demanded in the past and continue to demand bail. This is what they are demanding as of now while their concerns about Covid-19 seem to have taken a backseat,” 
Mr. Ekanayake said. 

He said two prison officers were taken hostage and one of them brutally assaulted. We negotiated their release with the greatest difficulty. The officers were admitted to the Ragama Teaching Hospital. Meanwhile, the inmates had attempted escape by digging through the prison walls and they continued to do so even on Monday night,” 
Mr. Ekanayake said. 

Initial theories paint drug conspiracy

Prison officials said the inmates involved in drug-related crimes have been identified as those responsible for this incident. Responding to a question asked by a journalist as to why the intelligence agencies in the country had failed to indicate the possibility of such an event at the Mahara Prison, Mr. Ekanayake said intelligence reports had indicated the possibility of a riot, but in other prisons. What happened here was described as something that cropped up unexpectedly. It is the first time where inmates were found fighting with each other, especially as they were in a drugged state,” he said. 

At the time of the riot, Mahara prison statistics indicate there were 2,782 inmates at the premises, out of which 585 were convicted prisoners while 2,197 suspects were in remand custody over various offences. According to the authorities, the fighting had initially broken out among the remand prisoners, demanded that they be granted access to PCR testing facilities. 
Their initial request was to conduct PCR tests. This developed into a riot and then they attempted to breakout of the prison,” Police Media Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said the preliminary investigations had revealed that the prison hospital had been severely damaged.  

“More than 21,000 pills including drugs prescribed to mental patients, along with hypnotic drugs, had been in the prison hospital store. These are often used by addicts and consumers as substitutes for drugs.”

More than 21,000 pills including drugs prescribed to mental patients, along with hypnotic drugs, had been in the prison hospital store. These are often used by addicts and consumers as substitutes for drugs.  Investigators are probing into this, especially into the conduct of a certain medical officer attached to the prison hospital,” he said. Initial investigations looked into why such a large quantity of hypnotic drugs was available at the premises.” 
The DIG said the Investigators would also probe into how these inmates had access to these drugs and also how a Covid-19 protest escalated into a drug-induced riot. 

When asked by journalists as to why authorities were unable to prevent the unrest, he said the inmates at this prison, who were mainly convicted of grievous crimes, were responsible for situations such as this and accused the inmates of using Covid-19 as a pretext to break away from the prison. 
The overcrowded and poorly ventilated environment in the prison makes it difficult to observe the general hygienic rules. During a pandemic like Coronavirus, unsolved problems inherent to the prison system could get aggravated.  

Underworld plan or longstanding crisis in Mahara?

Minister Wimal Weerawansa told Parliament the Mahara Prison riot was not the result of congestion or overcrowding. He said according to an intelligence report, an underworld figure known as Chathuranga, a close associate of the slain underworld king-pin Samayan, held at the Welikada Prison and several other prisons had smuggled a drug known as ‘Sarath’ or ‘Reverse’ and carried out a trial run using several prisoners.

On the receipt of the intelligence report, ‘Chathuranga’ was transferred to another prison and several other prisoners were moved around. But unfortunately, the back-up plan of the Welikada Master Plan was orchestrated at the Mahara Prison,” the minister said. He said the riot was a pre-planned event to cause murder inside a prison during the term of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and discredit him internationally.

Meanwhile, Anura Kumara Dissanayake disputing these claims said over-crowding of remand prisoners due to the non-functioning of courts and the fear of contracting COVID-19 had precipitated the riots. 
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, prisoners’ rights activist Senaka Perera said the prisoners at Mahara had been facing several issues, which he himself and other rights groups had been voicing. However, he said until several lives of inmates were lost, the government paid no attention to the issues at Mahara.

The detainees constitute a group particularly vulnerable to the spread of an infectious disease because they have an average level of health lower than that of the general population. They have higher rates of underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to COVID-19 infections. On November 23, an 82-year-old inmate of the Mahara prison died from Covid-19. The patient is reported to have received treatment for cancer at the Welikada prisons hospital. Other inmates are scared about their lives which is totally understandable,” Mr. Perera said.
He also said oovercrowding has worsened the safety and health risks of prisoners during the pandemic. 

Despite the Colombo Welikada Prison having facilities for 800 inmates, the current number of inmates has gone beyond 5,000. The Prison Hospital too has so many problems when considering its facilities to treat COVID patients or any other patients for that matter. In a letter last month, we requested the government to release prisoners who have been jailed for minor offences and also initiate a review process for other prisoners. We also requested the government to release the elderly prisoners who are physically weak and unable to fight disease,” Mr. Perera said.

Is it a replay of Welikada?

The failure to bring those responsible for the killing of 27 inmates in the Welikada prison during a riot some time ago and its aftermath on November 9 and 10 of 2012 was a frequent topic on political platforms. Despite having strong evidence and testimonials from a number of witnesses to the shooting incident, no formal inquiry was held during the tenure of the then government. This is currently the government in power. 
However, rights groups said they suspect the deaths of inmates at Mahara Prison to be a replay of what happened in Welikada in 2012 under the same government. Those who died in Welikada and Mahara might have been on the wrong side of the track, when the prison riots occurred and when they committed punishable offenses. But, they too have a right to life,” President of the Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners, Attorney at law Senaka Perera said.

Prison COVID cluster exceeds 1,000

The Prisons Department said several days ago, the prison coronavirus cluster had crossed the 1,000 mark. The coronavirus prison cluster consists of infected inmates from the Welikada, Bogambara, Boossa, Kuruwita, and Mahara prisons. Meanwhile, the government is struggling to set up separate facilities for prisoners, who need be treated separately from the normal patients because of security reasons. According to the Ministry of Prison Reforms and Prisoner Rehabilitation, several hospitals have been made available to provide treatment for COVID-19 infected prisoners, from prisons across the country and these hospitals are located in Gallella – Polonnaruwa, the Kandakadu Treatment Centre, 
and Welikanda. 

Rights groups raise concern

The international human rights group, Amnesty International asked Sri Lanka to conduct an impartial investigation into the prison unrest and the use of live ammunition by guards resulting in the death of eleven inmates and injuries to 107 others. Amnesty International said authorities should examine the underlying causes of the unrest at the Mahara prison which began on Sunday evening and continued 
into Monday.

David Griffiths, Director of the Office of the Secretary General at Amnesty International, said: In the immediate term, there must be a thorough and impartial investigation into this incident and the use of lethal force – including firing live ammunition – by prison authorities.  The investigation must also address the underlying causes. Sunday’s incident reflects the anxiety among prisoners about the threat of COVID-19 within severely overcrowded prisons and the inadequate measures in place to protect them. There are already a swelling number of inmates across the country who have tested positive for COVID-19. 
The Sri Lankan authorities must implement their commitments to release hundreds of detainees to ease overcrowding and improve prison conditions. A failure to do so could see more infections, more prisoner unrest, and a greater likelihood of further violence.” 

“On November 23, an 82-year-old inmate of the Mahara prison died from Covid-19. Other inmates are scared about their lives which is totally understandable.”

Amnesty International (AI) is urging the Sri Lankan authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all prisoners detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights and to decongest prisons to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading, consider all alternatives to custody, such as parole or early release, especially of detainees who do not pose a significant threat to the public. The authorities should ensure that all prisoners enjoy the same standards of health care that are available in the community, including testing, prevention and treatment for COVID-19. 
It said the authorities must also provide inmates with opportunities to communicate with their families since visits are restricted due to the pandemic, and provide opportunities for independent observers to monitor 
their wellbeing. 

The incident at Mahara Prison Complex is the third time this year that lethal force has been used against prison inmates in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. In March, two prisoners were killed and several others injured in Anuradhapura prison in North Central Province, following a protest related to COVID-19. On 18 November, a prisoner was shot dead while trying to escape from Bogambara Prison in Central Province, where more than 100 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19.” AI said.
The rights group emphasized that Prison authorities must ensure an end to the use of unlawful and excessive force against prisoners agitating against their detention conditions during the outbreak of COVID-19 within prisons and ensure that force is only used against prisoners where it is strictly necessary and proportionate to a legitimate objective.

A committee appointed

Justice Minister Ali Sabry appointed a five-member committee on Monday (Nov 30) to investigate the violent riots that erupted at the Mahara prison on Sunday evening. According to a statement from the ministry, the committee is chaired by retired High Court Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena and includes Chief Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Justice U R De Silva, Justice Ministry Additional Secretary Rohana Hapugaswatte, Police Media Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana and former Prisons Commissioner Gamini Jayasinghe. The committee is expected to submit an interim report within one week and another in a month with recommendations for short and long-term action, the ministry said.

DIG Ajith Rohana who has also been named as a member of this committee however, has sought his release, citing a conflict of interest, as DIG Rohana also functions as Police Spokesperson. In a letter written to Justice Minister Ali Sabry, DIG has requested that he be replaced for reasons of conflict of interest. 
Earlier, Defence Secretary Rtd. Maj. Gen Kamal Gunaratne directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who in turn instructed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to carry out a separate investigation into the incident. As such, a 12-member team of CID personnel have been dispatched to investigate the case. 

Courtesy Hiru News

Two more covid-19 related deaths have been reported in Sri Lanka. The overall death count in the country due to Covid-19 has increased to 124.

The two deaths reported today were;
1. A 66-year-old female from Chilaw, has died on admission to the hospital.
2. A 67-year-old male from Colombo -13 died at home.