ALI SUKHANVER

A very successful way to entrap dangerous rather very intelligent criminals is the Sting Operation. Not only in the Asian countries but everywhere all over the world the tool of Sting Operation has always been frequently used. Even in Israel and USA the law enforcement agencies take support of the Sting Operations. In most of the countries Sting Operations are considered a legal action against the criminals but there are a few countries like Sweden and France where sting operations are not permitted. According to a definition, A sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a criminal red-handed.”  Such operations are materialized with the help of undercover law enforcement officers, detectives or co-operative members of the society. These members play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect’s actions to gather evidence of the suspect’s wrongdoing. Occasionally mass media journalists also provide a support to sting operations by recording video and voice-clips.

It is always a very difficult task to trap the criminals involved in white-collar crimes but through Sting Operations many of such criminals have yet been arrested; a large number of such criminals is of those involved in visa frauds and fake travel-documents. Some involved in terrorism and drug-trafficking have also been reached through Sting Operations. Usually the targets of criminals involved in visa-frauds and fake travel-documents are the young students aspiring to enter the prosperous and peaceful countries like US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The peace and prosperity of such countries have made them the most attractive destinations for international students. Apparently these students seem seeking a world-class, internationally recognized educational degree from there but actually they are in search of a permanent abode where they could live a happy life; among such students, the largest number belongs to India. Certainly things are not very hopeful for the young students in India; they have to face scarcity of jobs and new avenues of progress as well. An overall atmosphere of lawlessness adds more to their pathetic condition. Most of the Indian students dream of becoming a permanent part of some overseas society. UNESCO Institute of Statistics said in an analysis that in 2000 the total number of Indian overseas students was 66,713; this number increased to 3, 01,406 in 2016. The analysis report pointed out average annual growth rate of 22% in a span of 16 years. This increasing number of the aspirant Indian student was something very alarming for the countries where these students had been trying to reach. An international intelligence networking unit pointed a surge in student visa frauds especially from India in the years 2011-12; the same report was on-aired by different TV channels also. So to keep an eye on the criminals involved in visa-frauds and to crack down on student, the destination countries designed sting-operations against the culprits. Unfortunately these operations did not do all that was required.

In March 2020, New Zealand’s first MP Shane Jones had made a complaint talking to the media-men that the Indian students were ruining academic institutions in New Zealand. He said, I think that the students that have come from India have ruined many of our institutions, I think it’s a backdoor to citizenship’. He further said that many Indian students were found involved in criminal activities like prostitution. In 2019 also, he had raised his concerns in relation of Indian community. His words were, The Indians have no legitimate expectations in my view to bring their whole village to New Zealand.’ It was not only New Zealand in trouble because of the Indian students; even the US has been facing the same type of problems. The US had to devise sting operations so many times against the immigrants from India. One of these sting operations was planned in by the US Department of Homeland Security Metro Detroit.

Just to catch students for alleged violation of immigration laws a fake university was created in Metro Detroit with the name of Farmington University in January 2020. There were more than 250 students from overseas who succeeded in getting admission to that fake university and used the admission papers for getting student-visas with the help of their local travel-agents. Most of them were from India. In the wake of that sting operation U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities arrested those Indian students who obtained student visas fraudulently under the pretext of attending the university. It is also a notable point that after this sting operation the scrutiny process for the Indian visa-aspirants to US was made very strict. The Indian government had expressed strong resentment over this action of the US government. Same has been the expression of the Canadian authorities who have time and again expressed their displeasure over the ‘lawlessness and ill behaviour of the Indian students’. They are of the opinion that the ‘Canadian public at large is terrorized by the ill behaving Indian students who carry out gangster like acts as frequently done in Indian Universities or Indian public places.’

This terror-patronizing behavior has become the official policy of the Modi government in India. It is not the Indian people but the government of India responsible for distorting the image of the whole Indian nation throughout the world. The most unfortunate is the fact that no expression of resentment or displeasure ever compels the Indian authorities to review this state of affairs as they have more important things to do like changing demographic status of the Jammu & Kashmir. It is the result of the stubbornness of the government of India that in this very modern world the people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir are living lives worse than those of the animals. Be it the 27^th October or the 5^th August, for the people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir every day is a Black day and every night is a Dark Night. The situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir also needs some type of a Sting Operation.

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1

October 27, 2020
The Editor
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

Dear Editor:

You asked a very simple question, Can a Tamil Tiger Change his Stripes? This is about Suresh Sriskandaraja, “Waterloo Suresh”, a smart Tamil Tiger, an extremely intelligent Tamil Tiger, a clever Tamil Tiger,  who almost hoodwinked the American and Canadian Intelligence, but was charged in the FBI probe and arrested in New York after a meeting to buy anti-aircraft missiles and other military weapons, and also researching and acquiring communications, aviation and warship-design software, to win a separatist war to create a mono-ethnic, separate, racist Tamil state, Eelam, in the North and East of Sri Lanka.

This smart Tamil Tiger had no compunction to kill and mime my innocent Sri  Lankan village-fishers and farmer-Sinhalese who went to bed in their adobe huts, wanting to wake up and smell the morning’s earth and enjoy a hot cup of tea;  the kids wanting to wake up and play ball with their buddies; and infants who were plucked off their mother’s breasts before they could suck another drop of their mother’s milk, and celebrated the infant’s kill when the head was smashed against a rock and watched the ketchup blood oozing off a shattered skull.

I am a Sinhalese Buddhist but have great difficulty to forgive and forget what Suresh did to my unarmed border-innocent people for the want of his separate Tamil State, Eelam.

My verdict is that all that this smart Tamil Tiger said was a pretense until he is licensed to be a lawyer.  His Tiger stripes are indelible and are there to stay.  Despite his new Mantra being a good Tamil, I am prepared to bet my last dollar that this smart Tamil Tiger Suresh will be communicating with members of his former stable mates, the day after the door is opened to be an active lawyer, advising them pro-bono how to achieve their Eelam.

Suresh, that is how your cookie crumbles in my eyes!

Asoka Weerasinghe
Gloucester

Press Release

ග්‍රාමීය ආර්ථිකය නගාසිටුවීමේ ජාතික වැඩපිළිවෙළට සමගාමීව ඌව පළාතේ බදුල්ල සහ මොණරාගල දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වලට අයත් ග්‍රාමීය ආර්ථික නගා සිටුවීම පිළිබඳව විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් ඌව පළාත් ගරු ආණ්ඩුකාරවර ඒ.ජේ.එම්. මුසම්මිල් මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් (27) ඌව පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවර කර්යලයේදී පවත්වන ලදි.

මෙහිදී ජනාධිපති කාර්ය සාධක බලකායේ සභාපති බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අරලිය ගහ මන්දිරයේ පැවැති ග්‍රාමීය ආර්ථිකය නගා සිටුවීමේ ජාතික වැඩපිළිවෙළේ පිහිටුවන ලද කමිටු හතරම ක්‍රියාත්මක වන ආකාරය පිළිබඳව පැහැදිලි කෙරිණි.

එමෙන්ම ග්‍රාමීය ආර්ථිකය නඟාසිටුවීමට අවශ්‍ය වන මූලික ක්‍රමවේද පිළිබඳව දීර්ඝව සාකච්ඡාවට බදුන් විය.

එම අවස්ථාවට බදුල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සම්බන්ධීකරණ කමිටු සභාපති පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සුදර්ශන දෙනිපිටිය මහතා, ප්‍රධාන ලේකම්, ආණ්ඩුකාර ලේකම්, දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්වරුන්, අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් වරුන් ඇතුළු රජයේ නිලධාරීන් ද සහභාගී විය

Courtesy Sputnik

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will leave for Sri Lanka on a two-day visit starting Tuesday, after he concludes a 2+2 Dialogue with India. From Colombo, Pompeo will be travelling to the Maldives and Indonesia to further America’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

Sri Lankans haven’t taken kindly to the Trump administration’s advice that Colombo must pick between the US and China, with many social media users rejecting any foreign interference in the nation’s domestic affairs.

​Foreign policy observers have also reckoned that there is not a chance that Pompeo can make Sri Lanka change its mind about China.”

​The strong reactions from Sri Lankan netizens come in the wake of last week’s remarks by US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Dean Thompson, in which he had called upon Colombo to make difficult but necessary decisions”.

The US Secretary of State is set to visit Colombo on a two-day visit starting Tuesday evening to advance common goals for a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” a State Department release underlined last week.

Pompeo is scheduled to hold discussions with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena during his two-day visit.

According to Sri Lankan media reports, Pompeo is expected to press Sri Lanka to stop favouring China-funded infrastructure projects and opt for other international project partners instead. As of 2018, China had invested nearly $8 billion in infrastructure projects in the South Asian island nation, with Colombo Port City and the Hambantota Port Projects being the two major ones.

A report in the Sri Lankan media, citing foreign policy officials, claimed that Pompeo’s advice would be politely rejected” by the Sri Lankan leadership. The Sri Lankan official cited in the report claimed that Colombo owed China only 10 percent of its $55 billion in overall foreign debt.

Pompeo is also expected to ask Sri Lanka to accept American funding to the tune of $480 million, part of the USAID-led Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC). Sri Lankan leadership has in the past expressed strong reservations about the terms of the pact.

The ongoing reconciliation process between Sri Lankan Tamils and the majority Sinhala Buddhist community is another test issue set to come-up in discussions.

We expect Secretary Pompeo to call upon the Sri Lankan government to strictly follow the 13th Amendment provisions and forge ahead with the promised agenda of devolving power to local councils,” Maravanpulavu Sachchithananthan, the leader of Jaffna-based Tamil rights group Siva Senai, told Sputnik.

Significantly, the US State Department had in February of this year imposed a travel ban on Sri Lanka’s Commander of the Army and Chief of Defence Staff Shavendra Silva over his alleged involvement in war crimes” at the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a left-leaning party, has even asked the Sri Lankan leadership what it was hiding about Pompeo’s upcoming visit to the country.

China hits out at US

Meanwhile, a late night statement by the Chinese Embassy in Colombo took exception to US’ interference” in Sri Lanka-China relations.

…the remarks of the US official were filled with the Cold War mentality and hegemonistic mindset doomed to fail, which fully exposed the consistent US practice of arbitrarily interfering in other countries’ domestic and foreign policies and forcing small and medium-sized countries to choose sides,” said the Chinese Embassy statement.

The statement further accused the US of bullying” Sri Lanka into picking sides, as it urged Washington DC to face up to the popular base” of Sri Lanka-China relations.

The Chinese Embassy also castigated Pompeo for burdening Sri Lanka with an official visit at a time when the country was experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases.

Does this approach truly prove your respect to the host country? Is it helpful to local epidemic prevention and control? Is it in the interests of the Sri Lankan people?” the Chinese Embassy asked.

Keegan Elmer in Beijing Courtesy The South China Morning Post

• Secretary of State is visiting at a time when Covid-19 cases are surging, prompting fiery statement from Chinese diplomats
• US is accused of sending a ‘huge’ delegation to prepare for the visit and even demanding that new roads be built

Health workers carry out coronavirus tests at a bus terminal in Colombo. Photo: EPA-EFE

China’s envoy in Colombo has accused the US of importing risk” to a nation battling the coronavirus ahead of a visit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In recent days, Sri Lanka is facing the most severe challenge since the outbreak, and the local health system can no longer bear any imported risks,” the embassy said in a fiery statement published on Monday.

[The US is] sending a huge delegation and advance team to Sri Lanka, and making requests for visits and even the construction of temporary roads. The local health system can no longer bear any imported risks,” the statement said.

The island saw a spike in coronavirus infections of several hundred per day in October, after months of reports in the single digits. So far the island nation of around 22 million people has seen just over 7,000 total cases and 14 deaths.

Sri Lanka secures US$90 million grant from China12 Oct 2020

Sri Lankan news outlets said 16 US military personnel arrived on Friday to make arrangements for the trip, though the Chinese embassy’s claim that the US had asked for new roads to be built for Pompeo’s visit could not be confirmed.

The embassy also said that China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi had, by contrast, brought anti-epidemic aid when he visited earlier this month.

The Chinese embassy statement also snapped back at remarks made by State Department officials last week who said Sri Lanka had difficult but necessary decisions to secure its economic independence for long-term prosperity,” when announcing Pompeo’s four-nation tour to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia.

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Last week Pompeo said his Asian tour would include discussions on how free nations can work together to thwart threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Sri Lanka port deal not a ‘debt trap’ set up by China, president says10 Oct 2020

Pompeo is currently wrapping up a two-day visit to neighbouring India, where the two sides are expected to strengthen defence cooperation.

The Secretary of State and other US officials have often raised Sri Lanka as a prime example of debt trap diplomacy”, accusing China of building unsustainable infrastructure projects abroad that leave developing nations with unpayable debts.In 2017, Sri Lanka transferred the port of Hambantota to China under a 99 year lease in a debt swap. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who came to power late last year, said during the election campaign that he wanted the port back, but when Yang visited he stressed that it was not a debt trap”.

The US embassy in Colombo has been contacted for comment.

By Li Qingqing Source: Global Times

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 23, 2020 shows a view of the construction site of the Colombo Port City in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo:Xinhua

The Diplomat on Tuesday published an article titled “Sri Lanka will soon have to pick a side in the China-US rivalry.” The article mentioned the mounting US pressure on Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and investment. “Sri Lanka is a weak country without any assurance of protection from major powers; it has no defense treaty with any country,” the article said. 

But there is no need for Sri Lanka to take sides as long as the US does not force it to. US pressure has not yet produced any substantial changes to Sri Lanka’s diplomacy. Against the backdrop of China-US competition, Sri Lanka still maintains a relatively neutral position.

It is unlikely for the US’ geopolitical plot to have any positive response in Sri Lanka. “Pompeo will not have his way in Sri Lanka,” NewsIn.Asia, a popular web portal in Sri Lanka, said in an article on Sunday ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the country. 

“It is not for outsiders to tell Sri Lankans how to run their country,” the article quoted a top Sri Lankan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

If the US does not directly force Sri Lanka to take sides, why should it do so? Will joining the US’ geopolitical camp benefit the country’s security and national strategy? 

In recent years, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has been well implemented in Sri Lanka, greatly improving the country’s infrastructure and people’s living standards, and bringing tangible benefits to the country.

And what did the US do? “By launching the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the US only wants benefit without investing. Everyone knows the US won’t provide substantial benefits to help Indo-Pacific countries,” Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times. 

Washington has nothing but hollow promises and slogans. It does not have practical investment advice. No country will abandon its existing national interests to serve as the US’ geopolitical pawn.

The US did not place itself in Sri Lanka’s position, nor did its arrogant demands consider Sri Lanka’s interests. On Monday, China’s Embassy in Sri Lanka said in a statement that the US has “sent a large delegation and batches of advance teams into Sri Lanka” as COVID-19 rages in the US, and “made various requests for the visit, and even for an emergent road construction.” “Does this approach prove your respect to the host country?” it asked. 

The Sri Lanka civil war only ended in 2009, and what the country needs now is peace and development, not turning itself into a stage for international geopolitical conflicts. US moves are for its only sake, and all countries can see this.

“Sri Lanka is expected to maintain its diplomatic neutrality, and will appropriately and flexibly balance relations with China, the US and India,” Qian said. This is in line with Sri Lanka’s national interests in the context of the intensifying China-US rivalry. Pressuring other countries is not only inconsistent with diplomatic principles, but will also increase international resentment. 

Pranay Sharma in New Delhi Courtesy The South China Morning Post

Burst of diplomatic activities on island, including US secretary of state’s visit, seen as attempt by US, India and Japan to counter ChinaPompeo is expected to discuss proposed – and controversial – economic and military pacts with Sri Lanka.

Demonstrators outside the US embassy in Colombo on Tuesday expressed their displeasure with the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: EPA-EFEUS Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo’s visit to Sri Lanka on Tuesday and Wednesday comes at a time when key powers in the Indo-Pacific – India, China and Japan – are engaged in diplomatic outreach to strengthen ties with Colombo amid its rising strategic profile in the region.India held a virtual summit at the prime ministerial level with Sri Lanka on September 26. Japan followed with a dialogue on October 1 on maritime security, safety and oceanic issues, and on October 9 senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi visited Colombo for a series of meetings with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, on ways to strengthen bilateral ties.

China followed up Yang’s visit with a US$90 million developmental grant for Sri Lanka to pay for medical care, education and water supplies in the country’s rural areas.

During his visit, Pompeo is likely to want to discuss three pending US-Sri Lanka pacts – a US$480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact to support Sri Lanka’s economic development, as well as the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which would both give US military personnel eased access to operate in Sri Lanka.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper in New Delhi on Tuesday, where they held talks with their Indian counterparts on strategic cooperation. Photo: APThis is exactly what Sri Lanka needs,” said George Cooke, deputy director at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Colombo, referring to the recent flurry of diplomatic engagements and Pompeo’s visit, which began Tuesday night.

Cooke said that because of decades of conflict on the island and international pressure on the government to end the civil war against the Tamil ethnic minority, Sri Lanka was unable to chart a clear path for its future. Today, he said, the island is gradually inching towards that possibility”.But Malinda Seneviratne, a Sri Lankan political commentator, said a large Chinese footprint in Sri Lanka and the perceived pro-Chinese” tilt of the Rajapaksas is a common worry for the United States, India and Japan, whose desire to contain China explains the sudden burst of diplomatic activities on the island.

On Monday, China criticised the US over Pompeo’s visit, saying through its embassy in Colombo that the visit was being made to sow and interfere in China-Sri Lanka relations, and to coerce and bully Sri Lanka”.

US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh, and India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at a news conference in New Delhi. Photo: Bloomberg

According to James R. Holmes, a defence analyst and J.C. Wylie Chair of maritime strategy at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, the US has plenty of initiative to increase its level of engagement with Sri Lanka.

AS IT HAPPENSCoronavirus UpdateBy submitting, you consent to receiving marketing emails from SCMP. If you don’t want these, tick hereBy registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy PolicyLook at the map to see why Washington would prize access to Sri Lanka,” Holmes said, pointing out that the US would like to bulk up its forces in the Indian Ocean region to become more resilient in its maritime strategic competition with China.

Holmes argued that the US naval support facility on Diego Garcia, a British island territory in the Indian Ocean that is leased to Washington and is about 1,700 kilometres (1,056 miles) south of Sri Lanka, was at one time a useful airfield for the US but is no longer suitable as an anchor for major sea combat operations in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka provides a better option, with its central position off the Indian subcontinent’s southern tip, he said.

US-Sri Lanka relations in recent years have been fraught, given Colombo’s reluctance to allow a larger American presence in the island and the gap that exists between the countries on human rights issues.

But a reset of ties is in the works. The US wants to partner with Sri Lanka on the two countries’ shared goal of sustainable economic development and a free and open Indo-Pacific”, the US State department said in advance of Pompeo’s visit.

We encourage Sri Lanka to review the options we offer for sustainable economic development in contrast to discriminatory and opaque practices,” it added, presumably contrasting its approach to China’s dangling of joint projects related to its Belt and Road Initiative, which have been criticised for saddling a number of countries, including Sri Lanka, with cumbersome debts.

In 2017, Sri Lanka leased Hambantota Port to China for 99 years for US$1.1 billion. The Sri Lankan government used the money to repay the loans it had received from China to build the port in the first place.

According to Gateway House, a Mumbai-based think tank, China emerged as Sri Lanka’s leading source of official development assistance and foreign direct investment in the decade from 2005-20015, doling out loans and grants amounting to US$12 billion in sectors including energy, infrastructure and services. In addition, private Chinese investment has hit the US$2 billion mark.

Sri Lanka’s newly elected president raises human rights concerns

The US is Sri Lanka’s largest export market, accounting for over US$3 billion worth of goods. US assistance to Colombo since 1948, meanwhile, has totalled US$2 billion. Most recently, the US provided US$39 million to enhance Sri Lanka’s maritime domain awareness and another US$5 million in assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Experts feel the shift of political-military battlegrounds from the Atlantic to the Indian and Pacific Oceans has raised the importance of the two military agreements – the ACSA and SOFA – that the US is keen to sign with Colombo.But there has been some level of resistancein Sri Lanka on signing these agreements over fears that they would compromise the country’s sovereignty.

There is apprehension that the agreements would not only give US armed personnel greater and freer access in Sri Lanka to operate, but also immunity from being prosecuted in the event they commit any crimes while on the island.

Pompeo’s scheduled visit to Sri Lanka in June 2019 was cancelled after Sri Lankan protesters hit the streets in Colombo to oppose the signing of the agreements. Washington reacted by imposing sanctions on Sri Lankan army chief Shavendra Silva in February 2020, describing him as war criminal for allegedly committing human rights violations during the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and barring him from visiting the US.

Sri Lanka port deal not a ‘debt trap’ set up by China, president says10 Oct 2020

The Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said in an analysis that it felt the US decision on Silva had more to do with Washington wanting to pressure Colombo for geopolitical reasons rather than over human rights.

Cooke, of the Bandaranaike Centre, said there should be proper debate and discussion over the agreements before they are signed.

But the anti-US rhetoric on Sri Lanka has waned since the country’s parliamentary elections in August. Moreover, the Sri Lankan economy – which suffered during the civil war from 1983 to 2009 and has more recently been affected by the Easter bombings last year and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic – is desperately in need of outside investments, particularly from the United States.

The Easter bombings, in April 2019, saw 277 people killed and several hundred others wounded in suicide attacks by Islamic terrorists on three Christian churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in Colombo.

Sri Lanka seeks to balance India ties even as China presence grows26 Sep 2020

What is interesting right now is that the government is strong,” which allows it to either say no to Washington or you are welcome” – indicating its willingness to sign the agreements with the US, said Seneviratne, the political commentator. Moreover, there are no major elections in the country until 2024, giving the Rajapaksa brothers political leverage, he said.

However, Colombo may wait until after the US presidential election next week to see whether it will have to have to negotiate again with yet another new White House administration over the proposed agreements, or to continue on its present course if Donald Trump is re-elected as president.

China Daily editorial

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who began a trip on Sunday that takes him to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia, said that he will work with each of the four countries to find the best ways they can cooperate to preserve “a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

At the same time he said that his talks with these countries would include discussions on how they can work together to thwart what he claimed were the threats posed by China.

His remarks are contradictory. If his mission is meant to foster concerted actions to oppose China in South Asia, how can the Indo-Pacific possibly be free and open?

No matter what he says about China — and he says a lot, all of it malicious — it is up to these four countries to decide whether China, whose leaders have emphasized on various occasions its peaceful rise, poses a threat to them.

The US is unhappy with China’s growing influence and green with envy that China’s Belt and Road Initiative has proved so appealing. This has breathed new life into the US’ Cold War mentality, with Pompeo proving to be a tireless and enthusiastic mud-slinger at China.

Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia are all participants in the Belt and Road Initiative. They know exactly how their cooperation with China has benefitted their development.

It is an insult to these countries for the US’ top diplomat to tell them that they have been cajoled or even cheated into “debt traps” by China. It seems that the top officials in the US consider the leaders of the more than 100 countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative to be not as smart as they are, and therefore easily duped by a wily China.

That so many countries are participating in the initiative speaks volumes about how popular the program is, thanks to its emphasis on connectivity and shared benefits. Contrary to the political spite that Pompeo spews, statistics show that none of these countries has ever been caught in a debt trap.

What China is doing by advocating and promoting global cooperation is a tonic to countries that had hitherto been left to fend for themselves in the economic jungle favored by the US.

The US has become accustomed to relying on a network of remote servers to do its will, practicing a sort of cloud politics that was feasible in an earlier historical context. Now that developing countries are asserting themselves as independent members of the international community and no longer willing to play follow-the-leader, the US is trying to sow the seeds of hatred and estrangement in a bid to salvage its declining prestige and power of persuasion.

Courtesy Adaderana

UPDATE (10.15 PM): The Department of Government Information says Moratuwa, Homagama, Panadura North and Panadura South police jurisdictions will be under curfew with immediate effect.

Quarantine curfew has been imposed in more police jurisdictions of Colombo and Kalutara districts with immediate effect, says the Commander of Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva.

Thereby, Panadura Moratuwa and Homagama police areas will be under curfew until further notice.

Quarantine curfew is currently effective in 64 other police jurisdictions in the country: 37 in Gampaha District, 15 in the Colombo city, 05 in Kuliyapitiya area, 04 more in the suburban areas of Colombo (Welikada, Wellampitiya, Gothatuwa and Mulleriyawa), 03 others in Kalutara District (Beruwala, Aluthgama and Payagala).

Courtesy Adaderana

The Department of Government Information confirms that 164 more persons linked to the Minuwangoda-Peliyagoda cluster have tested positive for Covid-19 in Sri Lanka today (27).

According to reports, 156 of them are contacts of coronavirus positive cases found from the Peliyagoda Fish Market. The remaining 08 have been identified from quarantine centres.

Thereby, the total number of Covid-19 infections registered by the Minuwangoda-Peliyagoda cluster reached 5,396.

Sri Lanka has reported 457 positive cases so far within the day, the state information bureau said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General has directed the Acting IGP to investigate the spread of COVID-19 from the Brandix apparel factory in Minuwangoda.

He has also instructed the police to submit a progress report on the investigations within two weeks.

Coordinating Officer to the AG, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne stated that the Attorney General’s attention was drawn towards the dangerous condition facing human lives due to the Brandix Covid-19 cluster and that today he held a discussion with the DIG (Legal Division) Ajith Rohana and gave relevant instructions.

The Attorney General Instructed that attention must be directed towards determining whether direct negligence or carelessness on the part of the management and representatives of the company or state officials had led to the spread of Covid-19 form the factory.

He also ordered to immediately launch a criminal investigation on the matter and to look into whether any offences under the Penal Code or the Quarantine & Prevention of Diseases Ordinance are uncovered and report back to him.

He instructed Acting IGP, in writing, to appoint a team of senior officers with experience to carry out these investigations while directing the police to submit a preliminary progress report before November 13.

The Minuwangoda facility had become the epicenter of a surprise resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country after a female employee of the factory had tested positive for the virus earlier this month.

Brandix, a prominent apparel manufacturer in the country, said that the rigorous protocol implemented across the label, and the immediate response and support received from the PHI and relevant health authorities of Sri Lanka enabled the early detection of the patient, ensuring her timely transfer to IDH for immediate treatment and mitigation of any further spread of the virus.

However, the cases had soon spread to other apparel factories in the district and other parts of the country while it is believed this also led to the emergence of another cluster, the Peliyagoda Fish Market. 

The total confirmed cases from the Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda clusters have neared the 5,000 mark presently becoming the single biggest COVID-19 outbreak in the country yet.

Meanwhile the death toll from the virus has climbed to 19. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health confirms that two more Covid-19 related deaths have been reported in the country today (27), bringing the death toll from the virus in Sri Lanka to 19.

A 19-year-old youth and an 87-year-old woman had passed away by the time they were both admitted to the Colombo National Hospital, the Secretary to the Health Ministry has announced.

The Judicial Medical Officer subsequently conducted PCR tests on the deceased and the test results have confirmed that they were infected with novel coronavirus, he has said further.

The 87-year-old woman from Slave Island had been admitted to the hospital due to a foot injury while she had reportedly been treated for around a week.

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old, a resident of Keselwatte, was is said to be a youth with special needs.

Sri Lanka’s 17th Coronavirus death was also reported earlier today (27).

A 41-year-old male, a resident of Ja-Ela, had passed away while receiving treatment at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Angoda after being admitted on October 24.

According to reports, the patient had been ailing from Cirrhosis prior to his death.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health is currently looking into admitting asymptomatic COVID-19 patients into specialized centers instead of hospitalization, stated Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera.

Dr. Samaraweera stated that it has been planned to use quarantine centers for this purpose.

Speaking further, he said, The patients identified through self-quarantine will be admitted to a treatment center. In the future, we plan to keep the patients who do not show any outward symptoms in a non-hospital observation center and take necessary action.

Our objective is to properly manage all the patients, to control the largest cluster we have encountered so far, and to restore the country as soon as possible.”

This is a right of reply to an article appearing on Daily FT titled History repeating – Are we going to lose MCC or not?” by an anonymous international development expert on 22 October 2020. It would be nice for this so-called international development expert with 25 year’s experience to reveal his name if he claims to have contributed to Sri Lanka’s ‘development’ over a quarter of a decade. It is no surprise Sri Lanka is in a sorry mess economically with such experts promoting the advantages for the ‘other side’ and not considering what Sri Lanka is to gain by this MCC agreement.

http://www.ft.lk/opinion/History-repeating-Are-we-going-to-lose-MCC-or-not/14-707851

Is MCC an outright grant?

If so, why is the MCC not just giving the money to the GoSL?

Why is this $480m being disbursed across 5 years?

Why is it not even going to the Sri Lankan Treasury but to a private bank?

If it’s an outright grant, why does the GoSL have to open a private company and outsource all of the GoSL’s obligations under the agreement to this private company?

If it’s an outright grant, why is MCC funding only for 7 targeted districts & 10 land registries?

There is no distortion – the 7 districts cover 28% land area and is mentioned in MCC agreement itself.

The ‘economic corridor’ with a map was presented by MCC Team leader Steve via a powerpoint presentation made at Temple Trees. Therefore, the writer has totally missed and messed up his argument on the economic corridor. In fact Ranil Wickremasinghe was quoted by an Indian newspaper to say that British law would apply along the corridor.

The electric fence was also mentioned via media reports with Japan funding it.

The reference to US soldiers is primarily as MCC-SOFA-ACSA all are US Government linked agreements. ACSA is already signed and enables US troops to use Sri Lanka’s Ports & Airports for logistics purposes.

It is noteworthy that the so-called international development expert with 25 year’s refers to Ranil’s 1^stperiod as PM when there was an attempt to sign off our forest against loans taken from US. This attempt proved futile after environmentalists and patriots objected. Since this topic is on MCC, the other issues highlighted by this expert can be addressed separately.

All that this development expert needs to do without claiming everything is fake news is to simply answer some basic and straight forward questions.

• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why demand Sri Lanka privatize all State land & convert all deeds to title registration BEFORE the annual disbursement of MCC Funding is made?
• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why does Sri Lanka need to sign MCC agreement & pass that agreement in Parliament (given that the compact is only for 5 years)
• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why does the GoSL have to open a company MCA-Sri Lanka & outsource all of the Governments obligations under the agreement to a private company?
• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why is this money going to a private bank?
• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why does Sri Lanka have to apply ONLY US procurement guidelines and not Sri Lanka procurement guidelines?
• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why does the Attorney General need to submit a letter claiming everything is constitutional?
• If MCC $480m is an outright grant/gift – why so much lobbying and funding of promotional campaigns with many like these experts virtually begging Sri Lanka to accept it! If the People of Sri Lanka are saying they don’t want this ‘gift’ just take it away and give it to another country or better still use it for the American people.

–       38million Americans live off foot stamps (uplift these Americans from poverty first)

• 552,830 (counted as Homeless – WhiteHouse data)
• 31% of the nation’s homeless population are over 50 years
• 51m Americans are unemployed & filed for benefits (Dept of Labor)

We can list out more questions, but hope this expert can answer these first!

The expert claims that the MCC Review Committee have included false statements & assumptions – how about listing these out instead of simply making empty statements!

The expert claims that though GoSL was eligible to apply for MCC in 2004-2007, only in 2015 GoSL applied for the grant. The MCC agreement itself negates this statement by this expert.

This is what Annex 1 under description of Program Overview says giving ‘Background & Consultative Process”

Background:

In December2015,MCC’sBoardofDirectorsselectedSriLankatodevelopathresholdprogram” (note MCC selected Sri Lanka not the other way round)

In December 2016, MCC’s Board of Directors selected Sri Lanka to develop a compact” (not MCC selected Sri Lanka)

In the same paragraph MCC says that the MCC compact development team was ‘housed in the Prime Minister’s Office of Policy Development’.

This economic expert is challenged to produce hard facts & evidence to prove what he claims as ‘paranoia and suspicion’ to be false. Without that simply plucking out words is useless. If he says any statement is false or fake, he must produce the correct version, which he is not doing.

If this economic expert claims that clauses in the MCC agreement are standard, why has he not quoted the same from other aid agreements to showcase his argument! All that this expert had to do was to quote from MCC and match that with other international agreement clauses. Why has he not done so?

If MCC Africa is so great and doing marvelously well, can this expert show how these MCC Compact countries of Africa have developed because of MCC since launching their projects? Can we have some hard data to show of development & poverty alleviation in these countries. How many Africans have been brought out of poverty as a result of MCC compact? Can we have some data and facts please.

It is naïve to even say that neither MCC-SOFA-ACSA mention each other in their agreements, while ignoring that all of these agreements are championed by the US Government. The MCC Board comprises the US Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the U.S. Trade Representative, the Administrator of USAID, the CEO of MCC and four private sector members appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. The Secretary of State serves as the Chair of the Board and the Secretary of the Treasury serves as the Vice Chair. The SOFA or Status of Forces Agreement is signed with the US Govt while the ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) is also signed with the US Govt. MCC-SOFA-ACSA are connected because they are all part of US Govt & constitutes the 3 D policy of the US – MCC (development) –SOFA (diplomacy) – ACSA (defense)

MCC Clause 3.9 on Intellectual Property is described thus:

Section 3.9     Intellectual Property. 

The Government grants to MCC a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide, fully paid, assignable right and license to practice or have practiced on its behalf (including the right to produce, reproduce, publish, repurpose, use, store, modify, or make available) any portion or portions of Intellectual Property as MCC sees fit in any medium, now known or hereafter developed, for any purpose whatsoever.

MCC defines Intellectual Property also

Intellectual Property means all registered and unregistered trademarks, service marks, logos, names, trade names and all other trademark rights; all registered and unregistered copyrights; all patents, inventions, shop rights, know how, trade secrets, designs, drawings, art work, plans, prints, manuals, computer files, computer software, hard copyfiles, catalogues, specifications, and other proprietary technology and similar information; and all registrations for, and applications for registration of, any of the foregoing, that are financed,  in whole or in part, using MCC Funding.

Do we have no right to question this & worry about the outcome?

The so-called expert resorts to taking potshots at the GMOA & SPUR and other associations claiming them to be anti-MCC spreading fake news & misinformation. How about relieving doubts and directly answering the questions, which this expert and many other pro-MCC promoters are failing to do.

Why is the MCC Agreement not translated to Sinhala or Tamil? Why does the US embassy have a few page ‘fact sheet’ only? The entire MCC agreement is only in English. Also noteworthy is that pages 12 & 13 were purposely left out and after objections only it was inserted.

The expert takes pain to showcase how other aid agencies like USAID are involved in development initiatives in Sri Lanka, agreed, but have these programs come with the list of demands and obligations that MCC is demanding as preconditions, signing and even post-signing as well as the many undisclosed letters and correspondence that the GOSL has to agree to abide after passing MCC in Parliament. How can a country agree to abide letters and correspondence from a foreign country without knowing what they are?

The expert also takes a shot at Minister Wimal Weerawansa claiming he propagated misinformation. If our memory serves well, the Minister claimed MCC was operating from PM Ranil’s office and it was denied by the Govt and pro-MCC campaigners but the agreement itself says that the MCC was operating from PM’s office! So where is the misinformation by this Minister?

This is how MCC Funding will be disbursed. It is tuppence compared to the fact that 1million of our workers in Middle East remit annually $7billion.

The comparison will reveal the absurdity of this ‘outright grant/gift’ that industry experts like this and other pro-MCC campaigners are promoting.

Our workers send $7billion annually – MCC 1^styear we get $82.8m / 2^ndyear $120m / 3^rdyear $97m, 4^thyear $89.1m & 5^thyear $57m.

It is no surprise that Sri Lanka’s development is this sad condition when there are industry experts like this promoting interests of other countries throughout 25 years instead of looking at what is beneficial to Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans FIRST.

Shenali D Waduge

Mike Pompeo is arriving amidst a sudden & unexpected covid surge in Sri Lanka and coming from two of the worst covid-hit countries. He is arriving to fulfil objectives of 2 designations. He is the Chair of the Board of Directors of MCC as well as the US Secretary of State.He most certainly is not arriving to shake hands with Sri Lanka’s President & congratulate him on passing the 20amendment or shake hands with Sri Lanka’s Army Commander whom he has designated ‘war criminal’. He does not even wish to meet the Prime Minister. What will his demands be, how nicely will he convey those demands, what are the not-so-nice repercussions he will insinuate and what are the choices Sri Lanka’s leaders haveand inadvertently what will the ordinary people end up having to put up with?

Whatever the anonymous international development experts or other experts paid to lobby and campaign for MCC say, the fact is that the $480m is no grant or gift and the money is not given to Sri Lanka.

Yet, MCC 5 year compact has to be passed by parliament, Sri Lanka requires to privatize State land & make it marketable, the GoSL has to devolve its obligations & responsibilities cited in the compact to a private company, GoSL has to grant immunity, waive taxes and duties and provide work visas to foreign personnel & contractors, Sri Lanka has to follow US procurement guidelines, all correspondence has to be only in English while Sri Lanka has to also agree to accept undisclosed letters and correspondence from time to time. If this list is not shocking enough, there are many more aspects that would make any ordinary person wonder why leaders of the country are dilly dallying without saying ‘No thank you MCC”.

Those promoting this anti-Sri Lanka agreement is probably due to a host of personal perks & privileges being offered to somehow pass this agreement which is an integral part of the Pivot to Asia Indo-US Pacific Strategy and part of the Quads containment & challenge of China.

The US has made its intentions clear asking Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary choices”. US has also warned about choosing who Sri Lanka makes economic partnerships with. How democratic and transparent these ‘threats’ are!

The Quad nations are even conducting naval training but the laughable irony is thatall of the Quad nation’s largest trading partner is China the very country they are uniting to bring down! Why don’t these nations match their military might by simply cutting all trade ties with China or even stop borrowing from China?

China owns about $1.1 trillion in U.S. debt. India’s exports to China grew 15 per cent in August, with shipments worth $1.68 billion. China has been Australia’s largest trading partner and now accounts for 32.6% of its exports. Japan exports to China worth US$ 144,053 million (19.5%)

While all 4 quad countries are trading with China, the US & India don’t want Sri Lanka to trade with China. What kind of logic is this?

The sudden arrival & the burly presence of foreign representatives arriving after sealing several pacts across Asia, is to personally read out the riot act to Sri Lanka. All this overlooking the fact that his administration may not continue after the forthcoming elections.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka should by now, know how threats will get delivered and mitigate by counter planning.

With one of the 3D’s already signed (ACSA-Defense), the US armed planes landing in Sri Lanka’s airports & ports is nothing we can now say no to. Refusing to sign SOFA-the diplomacy arm of the US pivot is of little significance as there is an immunity clause in the MCC-development component.

Now our ports & airports are open to US to use as they like and if the other 2 agreements are signed, US personnel will be on land too involved in projects that GoSL will have no say over, as a private company is being tasked to handle the entire compact project. If anyone in government are not worried about the likely scenarios of US presence inside Sri Lanka, their general knowledge and world affairs knowledge must be nil. Americans are very nice people, but US transnationals & US troops under orders don’t have too much of a proud record since 1945.

What Sri Lanka’s politicians don’t seem to realize is that the agreement handing over government powers to a private company will eventually equate to incrementally clipping the powers of politicians and the power they control. By the time they realize they are sacrificing their powers to an external foreign nation, it will be too late to reverse & the people of Sri Lanka will not be siding with traitors who betrayed them & the 2600 civilizational history of the nation.

Ironically, several attempts were made to implement aspects and preconditions of the MCC in very cunning & dubious ways since MCC came into the limelight– under various different names & with veiled objectives. Thankfully, alert public connected the dots & realized their link to MCC.

There is also a subtle insinuation that if Sri Lanka does not agree to sign MCC, we are likely to face sanctions or face other consequences. The sudden mysterious manner covid has surged certainly warrants us to question if this is part of an ugly covert operation. The human covid carrier is worse than a LTTE/jihadi suicide bomber.

The many diplomatic hiccups, also signals a scenario that Sri Lanka is intentionally being made vulnerable from within (bad advisors in political & advisory roles) and via the US-satellite states, alliances & their proxies. Easter Sunday/jihadi suicide was one such experiment. LTTE diaspora is another. Sri Lankan intel must certainly watch the South-India-US covert operations. 

The aim is to economically isolate or make Sri Lanka vulnerable, distance Sri Lanka from all of its ‘friends’ by promoting foreign policy that neutralizes the traditional ties Sri Lanka has held dear and when traditional friends isolate Sri Lanka, US comes to take the cake. There are high profile figures inside the government openly canvassing to remove Sri Lanka from the non-aligned membership. Who needs enemies when there are ‘friends’ inside the camp worse than the enemy.

Knowing that US & India will together, as partners be out to destabilize Sri Lanka, remaining ‘neutral’ would be like standing in the middle watching a tornado coming from one side and a hurricane coming from the other.

This is why Sri Lanka needs to expand and tie alliances, build better rapport, plan for mutual benefits & look for ways to neutralize opposition and googlys coming Sri Lanka’s way.  Alliances must be built with countries that don’t interfere in internal affairs of Sri Lanka, while extending the hand of help when in need.

Sri Lanka must align with rising nations not those in decline at all levels.

Sri Lanka does not need any alliances based on threats on the one hand & a handshake with the other while planning to backstab & destabilize Sri Lanka.

For those who chirp that Sri Lanka must be grateful & peddle the need to behave as a doormat to all superpowers, there are some interesting facts.

Sri Lanka earned a record $5.3 billion from apparel exports in 2019.This money comes to the companies & not to the government but, the government will get 30-30% tax only if these companies pay taxes genuinely!

Over 3000 students from Sri Lanka are currently studying in US(general courses to doctoral degrees) The annual expenditure a Sri Lankan parent will have to send from Sri Lanka covering tuition, accommodation, living expenses & health insurance will range from minimum $25,500 to maximum $96,500 (Rs.4,717,500 to Rs.17,852,500 @Rs.185 against $) – calculate this into their course term and for the over 3000 students studying in USA.

Thus, while US may be providing an income to companies in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry, Sri Lankan parents are also sending a substantial amount of money to the US in $. What if this revenue gets diverted to other countries offering more facilities and opportunities to Sri Lankan students & Sri Lankan parents opt not to send children for studies to the US?

If, the representatives of the people have only excuses to give caving in to whatever the external parties demand without safeguarding the sovereignty of the nation, the poor tax payer does not need to pocket minimum Rs.147million annually to maintain an entire Parliament that cannot carry out the fundamental responsibility tasked to their representatives? 

Many of these representatives have a second home on foreign shores and in all probability when things are not rosy in Sri Lanka, they will take wings & fly off, caring not what happens to the citizens. Quite often, these are the one’s doing deals & betraying the nation, the citizens and the resources for their petty personal gains.

Under MCC or under any other name elements of the MCC cannot be rolled out.

Sri Lankans have lived as servants of the whites for over 400 years. Returning to that status quo is going to be nothing new. But we refuse to maintain both a parliament as well as foreign presence – when both will end up betraying the Nation & the People.

Shenali D Waduge

By Garvin  Karunaratne, PhD. Michigan State University 

The Millennium Challenge  Corporation Compact has come up with an easy, novel method of poverty alleviation. It requires the identification and separation of a mass of  land, the  creation of a cadastral map of land parcels and a complete inventory of State land…improve the valuation of State and private land parcels by improving data collection…improving deeds registry… and research in support of measures to improve land administration policies”(The Island:15/7/2019)  The aim is also” increase tenure security and tradability of land for small holders. 

The method  involves a “transportation project for which MCC provides $ 480 million to promote economic growth.  This comprises a transport project of  $ 350 million .and a land project of $ 67 million 

It was the Batalagoda   Rice Research Institute that found the miracle seeds in the early Fifties, a half decade before the International Rice Research Institute was established by the USA in the Philippines. I was in the fray introducing new varieties to cultivators in 1955, later as Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services in Anuradhapura  I spearheaded the Green Revolution through elected cultivation committees- 300 hundred of them. The combined effort of the Department of Agrarian Services and the Department of Agriculture did a yeoman task later spearheaded by no less a person than Mr Dudley Senanayake, the Prime Minister of the country. I served as the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 1967 and 1968  and we spared no pains to bring about development. 

`The work involved a range of Departments- the Department of Irrigation to provide irrigation, The Department of Land Development to handle the development of peasant cultivation in colonies, the Department of Agriculture with its Rice Research Institutes, the Department of Agrarian Services, the Government Agents in charge  of land handled by District Land Officers, the Department of Small Industries, the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing- the department that provided the development infrastructure for marketing vegetables. In these I have worked as the Assistant Commissioner of Marketing Development, Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services, the Deputy Director for Small Industries and the Additionl Government Agent at Kegalla and the GA at Matara for eighteen long years. 

The MCC Compact thinks of transportation necessities. Sri Lanka had a marvelous  transport system in the Fifties and Sixties. Red Onions were produced in Jaffna and our stores were stock full during the season. During the season around twenty wagon loads of red onions were despatched  to the rest of the island daily. In my days in the Southern Province three wagon loads of red onions  came daily to Galle and was sold to dealers and consumers by the Marketing Department. During the paddy harvest season daily twenty wagon loads of paddy came to Galle and Matara for distribution to millers to be milled for distribution to people. At Tripoli Market the headquarters of the Vegetable Marketing Scheme there were at least ten wagon loads  and twenty lorries of vegetables dispatched the earlier day from all corners of the island.  Our transport network was extremely efficient. Highways built in recent times by our Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in his service as a Minister and Prime Minister has seen to it that transport is very efficient. Now the Railways have gone downhill, but road transport has been developed;there are better motorways and what is required for any programme of poverty alleviation is not transport facilities.  

Land was ably handled by the Government Agents who had District Land |Officers fully equipped with vehicles and surveyors. 

With all the Departments of the Government working pell mell, by 1970, the Green Revolution was a grand success and the country was self sufficient in paddy the staple crop even while issuing a rice ration to the people. The peasants settled in the colonization schemes got massive  harvests. 

To get down to what has been achieved by the Unites States of America in Third World Countries, the only success one can speak of in poverty alleviation is the Comilla Programme of Rural Development, in Bangladesh, with expertise provided by Michigan State University.  Half a dozen professors resided in the serpent infested Kotwali Thana and with the Director Akhter Hameed Khan  developed a model of poverty alleviation by providing irrigation water, mainly through deep tube wells, introducing new high yielding varieties of paddy, worked with peasants organizing them in cooperatives, brought about administrative changes, cooperatives attending to marketing.  This Programme  had grand success in that it doubled the yields of paddy the staple crop and also brought about a situation of full employment. Truly even today the Kotwali Thana where the Programme was implemented is an oasis within a poverty stricken Bangladesh. 

In all the above programmes that have been successful transport and land registration was an insignificant part. It was the opening of land, the provision of irrigation water, organizing peasants into cooperatives and other people’s organizations, providing marketing facilities, an efficient agricultural extension service that enabled poverty alleviation. 

Thus I wonder how a petty land project and a transport project is going to bring about poverty alleviation.  

If the MCC  Project had been drafted by any one with a knowledge of agricultural economics there would be funds for agricultural and rural development extension services, the build up of marketing channels, initiating small industry to enable people to get involved in manufacturing their production. That was what  the Comilla Programme of Rural Development  proved beyond doubt.  

Anyone thinking of agricultural development has to think of building up the agricultural extension service , which does not exist today at the village level because during the days of President Premadasa,  2400 overseers who worked at the village level were promoted as Grama Niladharis. Uptodate no trained officer has been appointed and the Govermants have been  appointing untrained  workers. Thus any poverty alleviation through agriculturae has to look into this aspect.  

Let me get down to specifics., It will interest the MCC organizaers to know that till 1977 SriLanka had a highly developed cereal, vegetable and fruit marketing scheme  which was totally abolished at the advice of the International Monetary Fund. The Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing implemented a cereal purchasing scheme whereby paddy and other cereals in short supply. Paddy was till 1977 purchased at a premium price from genuine cultivators. This price increase reached the genuine cultivators. After 1977, the method of purchasing from genuine cultivators was abandoned and instead paddy was purchased from anyone. Generally it was traders that sold to the Government  and the premium price went to the traders and not to the genuine cultivators.  In case the MCC wants to attend to any poverty alleviation in any country agriculture has to be looked into. Transport and land are very miniscule aspects and attending to only these two aspects cannot bring about poverty alleviation.  the development infrastructure that the country had has to be brought back.  

The Marketing Department had a vegetable purchasing scheme which purchased vegetables from producers at prices higher than what was offered by traders at the producer fairs. The vegetables were transported overnight to Tripoli Market, the headquarters in Colombo when all vegetables over ten rail wagon loads and about twenty lorryloads are received every morning and the vegetables are distributed to Fair Price Shops in the City. This controlled inflation. The IMF advise that the Marketing Department should be privatized and abolished was done in 1978 and the  producers are at the mercy of the trader mafia that purchase at the lowest possible price.  In case the MCC wants to provide marketing facilities to enable producers to sell their produce at reasonable rates, it should advise that the Marketing Department should be re established.  

The Marketing Department had a Cannery which purchased fruit from producers. The total produce of pineapples, red pumpkin and ash pumpkin  was  purchased at a premium price and this was turned into Juice and Jam. This was a boon to the producers. The country became self sufficient in Jam and Juice. With the abolition of the MD the producers have no market for their produce. This alleviated poverty among the vegetable and fruit producers and this may be an idea for the MCC to take action in case they are interested in poverty alleviation. 

To enable cultivators to have high yielding varieties of paddy for the areas we had Rice Research Institutes. Half of these have been privatized. And currently there is no definite programme to have high yielding varieties planted. 

What is the necessity to bring in a US Company for any surveying in Sri Lanka. The Survey Department in Sri Lanka is a well equipped and a very efficient department. . 

What is the urgency to do a survey of 2.5 million plots of land in the  country.  Private ;lands are surveyed and all LDO allotments have also been surveyed in the last few decades before they were alienated to settlers. 

It would interest the Millennium Challenge Corporation officials to come to know how the development in Sri Lanka and other Third World countries was sabotaged. That is the story of my book: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle/ Godages: 2017) 

Let me close with a quote from luminary professor Jeffery Sachs: 

Western  Governments enforced  draconian budget policies in Africa in the 1980s and 1990s., The IMF and the World Bank virtually ran the economic policies of the debt ridden continent recommending regimes  of budgetary belt tightening jnown technically as the Structural Adjustment Programme. These programmes had little scientific merit and produced even fewer cresults. By the start of the twentyfirst century Africa was poorer than in the late 1960s when the IMF and the World Bank  had first arrived on the scene, with disease, population growth and environmental degradation spiralling out of control. IMF led austerity has frequently led to riots, coups and the collapse of public services>”( From The End of Poverty) 

Sri Lanka has too played poodle to the IMF since 1977, carrying out all its instructions. Sri Lanka had to abolish its development infrastructure that had  actually brought about poverty alleviation, self sufficiency in agriculture and success in many areas of industry. All this was sacrificed following the IMF prescriptions, which we yet follow. It would be apt to state that our current international debt of $ 56 billion was created by adhering to the instructions of the IMF. 

It is time the IMF and its ruling Countries of the West- the USA  opened their eyes and direct a new paradigm for development. and its implementation would bring great credit to the United States of America. 

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University 
Author of  How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Altternative  Programmes of Success, Goidages, 2006 
How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development,(Kindle/Godages 2017) 
 Colombo 27/10/2020  

RANJITH SOYSA

Sri Lanka is getting ready to welcome and meet Mike Pompeo to discuss issues which are important to both countries and to reiterate their commitment to democracy and long friendship. Sri Lanka which is following a non-aligned foreign policy should strive to uphold the spirit of neutrality as a small country located in a geo-politically important and a sensitive area. It is a well known fact that there are competing international forces attempting to establish their dictates in the Indian Ocean region to achieve their global agenda. Sri Lanka is not interested in being a part of a global diplomacy and neither to align herself to global or regional powers. Sri Lanka has selected to be a friendly nation to all genuine friends and to be neutral in relation to power blocs.

Sri Lanka is presently attempting to overcome the issues concerning  the COVID 19 after overcoming an armed insurgence of a once powerful terrorist organization. The country also had a narrow disastrous escape from  the Islamic terrorism recently. Sri Lanka was able to survive protecting its territorial integrity mainly due to its neutral foreign policy as she received help and assistance from many countries following different ideologies.

The visit of Mike Pompeo has been interpreted by some commentators as a part of normal American diplomacy and by some others as a  test the waters for enhanced response from Sri Lanka for US drive in the Indian ocean region. Some have expressed their views as an effort is to follow up the MCC proposal and also  ACSA and SOFA agreements with Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka should be open and ready to discuss any issues with Mike Pompoe on the basis of friendship BUT bearing in mind that STATE IS ONLY THE GURADIAN OF THE LAND AND NOT THE OWNER, the motto of  the noble, ancient kings of Sri Lanka. Guided by this golden rule the Government should stick to the principles of upholding the sovereignty of the country without being pressurized to agree to any proposal which will create problems internally and externally to Sri Lanka.

Like another small country ,Bhutan, Sri Lanka should be able to function as a neutral country while preserving her identity in her discussions with the US Secretary of State. From Sri Lanka’s point of view mutually beneficial areas of trade and investment should receive the attention while Sri Lanka should also touch on UNHRC ‘s resolution based on faulty Darusman report and the USA ‘s questionable insistence on peddling the proposal at the Assembly. The US policy on our war winning armed forces is another important issue which should be considered for deliberations.

Two other crucial issues having a direct impact  on the region;   the climate change- the melting of the glaciers in Himalyan mountains, rising of the sea levels ,limiting her carbon foot print  and an effective program for the reduction of poverty in the Indian ocean area deserve to be analysed and discussed  at the meeting with the US, the world’s richest nation.  Sri Lanka should advocate a positive program which will benefit holistically, the country as well as the region.

RANJITH SOYSA

Chandre Dharmawardana.

Please listen to an interview of Dr. Mendis ((https://youtu.be/Lh4D4qGE854) which touches on US policy and Sri Lanka, and hear between the words.  See how a  Sri Lankan young man straight out of a Pollonaruwa school system gets educated in the US via a scholarship to becomes a complete supporter of the American Manifest Destiny” that he teaches to US soldiers.  US policies to lead the world  has only helped to enrich the elite classes of the US and impoverish the rest. But Dr. Mendis  is very comfortable with US policy. It is unlikely that Dr. Naom Chomsky’s writings are part of his syllabus.

Dr. Mendis studies at Minnesota and  joined the US Army  teaching service which provides education for  US forces living in US bases all over the world. Most countries including the US exploit their poor kids for fighting, while the rich kids  escape to “better”, safer  jobs, or join the army as officers. So,  the ordinary soldiers   need education to learn how to use complicated weapons, and also to do a civilian job when they get back to normal life when they are discharged or get injured (a very common eventuality). So Professors like Dr.  Mendis travel  among NATO bases  teaching soldiers US geography, economics, history, and justifying US foreign policy. In Canada too there is  the Royal Military College (e.g., in Kingston) and its professors teach Canadian soldiers – but unlike Canada, US has  bases  in over a 100 countries.

It is painful to see Dr. Mendis’s failure to note how US dominates other countries, using its  military presence to weaken regimes, and deploying its  capitalist globalization program to allow its Big Business to dominate the economies of poor countries. Nigeria,  the most populous country in Africa  has the U.S. West African contingent  stationed at a $110 million air base in Agadez, Niger.  The under-educated Muslim leaders of the North are buttressed by the US forces, and they together exploit the south (with its educated people) to extract oil to sell via US companies. Does even 10% of the income go to Nigerian people?  Nigeria is a very poor country with a sick and traumatized population. The country is eternally in turmoil and on the brink of war between the North and the South with government death squads eliminating dissent. The UN-human rights commission in Geneva,  the Human Rights NGOs, the Right-to-Protect agents of the “human-rights” lobbies etc., see no evil.

Oil is the main reason why the US and its Businesses are in Nigeria.  This is why I have opposed Sri Lanka’s attempt to explore for oil and  gas in the Mannar sea. If the GOSL finds oil there, big powerful  oil companies backed by the West will use extremely  dangerous methods to takeover such resources. If they have the SOFA and the MCC, they will do the oil drilling!  They will justify it saying that such resources must not fall into the hands of China. If you are weak and find a big treasure, you get robbed.

Dr. Mendis talks of the Jeffersonian policy of Freedom, democracy etc., laid down by the founding fathers and applied to the white population of the US, and the Hamiltonian policy  of economic domination laid down by Treasury Secretary Hamilton during George Washington’s time.

Hamilton was the father of American capitalism, which arguably produced one of the highest standards of living in the world for the white population.  According to Historian  Knott His policies at the Treasury Department were designed to enhance the development of manufacturing. His economic policies such as a national bank, tariffs to protect American manufacturing, …contributed to the overall rise of the United States as an economic superpower.” In consequence, Hamilton insisted in having an eventual dominating US military presence all over the world.

But US ideas of democracy and liberty are applied essentially to the Whites and to European nations.  The US blacks, Natives and other nations were considered subjects to be held in check for  economic exploitation as dictated by Hamiltonian policies.
Dr. Mendis does not see all that. He  ignores how the US in the South American continent  supported corrupt dictators  to exploit the resources of those countries by US companies Mining, taking over land and making them into US plantations.  A few Latin American countries followed the lead of Cuba and drove out the US, but  most others are still struggling. Haiti is a very good example. The equivalents of the 1983 Black July that the Colombo Tamils suffered once  has happened to US Blacks and Native peoples regularly, every decade or so.

In South Asia and in the Pacific, the Vietnamese were most successful in driving out the US by waging  war. Vietnamese successfully  kept  China out of their country,  developed its own patriotic” form of socialism. Vietnam avoided any anti-Americanism and  is using US technology to its own advantage in in even collaborating with highly aggressive companies like Monsanto.

Dr. Mendis does not see any problem with SOFA, MCC and other instruments of domination used by the US. This is not unusual. The neo-liberal politicians like Mangala Samaraweera, Ranil Wickremasinghe, and some in the  Pathfinder organization etc., also believe that  participating in US conglomerates is the way to prosperity. As  Dr. Mendis explained, SOFA, MCC etc  already apply to  countries now in the US orbit. As part and parcel of the US military machine, perhaps Dr. Mendis thinks like a US soldier, and what  is good for US forces is good for the world and for God.

SOFA and other mechanisms make the signatory countries becomes almost like a member of NATO, without the advantages of NATO membership  that the  Western NATO countries enjoy. It is logical and valid for a country like Canada or Italy to e in NATO, but not for Sri Lanka or Ecuador. The MCC is a sugar pill to make SOFA and other military takeover agreements palatable to the rulers who agree to comply, or are made to comply under military pressure. Some one like Pompeo is mandated to do just that. The MCC will make it easier for US Capital to penetrate and dominate the Sri Lankan business and agrarian sectors.  Dr. Mendis kept on insisting that SOFA has been signed in 2017 but  did he know that it was done in quasi-secrecy by the Yahapalanaya administration? or may be he felt that the end justifies the means of achieving Hamiltonain objectives.

Unfortunately, Dr Mendis did not look at how this US action, directed to checkmate Chines action has only benefited a small elite t of each of these societies that joined in with the US. These elites who control the business sector of those countries become part of US capitalism, while leaving the ordinary people even more poor. US capitalism is good for those who are well to do, but not for the vast majority of people, even in the US.  The business machine  doesn’t cannot stop  to care about the poor, as seen in how Brendix preferred to push the workers to meet export targets even when the workers were in danger of Covid.  One finds that directors of Brenidx are also directors of Air Lanka, and perhaps they have the capacity to bend even health rules about who they can fly in and fly out!  The Chapa interview did not bring out any of this because the Interviewer, although clearly uncomfortable with Dr. Mendis’s views, was very hesitant to ask tough questions from an old friend!

Sri Lanka has had a history of being an independent nation right at the center of the maritime Silk Road since the time of the Greeks. Its history, and its contribution to the world can continue even within the “Manifest Destinies” claimed by big nations.  Dr. Mendis and other fail to see this. This is not a matter of politics, but of biology and bio-diversity. Just as bio-diversity is good for reasons that I cannot go into here, an ecology of diverse nations with independent views is good for humanity.

So, I  re-iterate that Sri Lanka should take a closer look at Vietnam that defeated the US in war, and has in spite of it come back as a friendly with the US while being independent of it while also being strongly independent of China.

Chandre Dharmawardana.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

India and Sri Lanka signed an FTA in 1998,  it was done very fast. Discussion started in August 1998and the FTA signed in November 1998 with just 4 consultations. The FTA became effective in 2000, but only the criteria were laid down not the procedures, observed critics. 

A Joint Study Group (JSG) was set up in April, 2003 to expand the FTA to go beyond goods and include services. The JSG report was ready in October, 2003 CEPA negotiations were started in February, 2005 and concluded in July 2008 after thirteen rounds of negotiations. CEPA was to be signed at the SAARC Summit of 2008 but due to reservations expressed by Sri Lanka, it was not.

India did not give up India said that CEPA can resolve the problems created by the FTA.Federation of Chambers of Commerce of India handed over the agreement at the IIFA Business Forum, 2010. Once again Sri Lanka raised objections and the President did not sign it. A copy had come to a few Sri Lankans secretly, and they took action to prevent the agreement. The document has not been made public they complained.

When the government changed in 2015 and Yahapalana came in, the agreement was brought out again, this time with the name changed from CEPA to ETCA (Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement). Yahapalana was determined to proceed with this Agreement.  The trade sector in Sri Lanka protested strongly against this.

Sri Lanka‘s industrial sector, and the Chambers of Commerce said that the FTA of 2000 had not benefited Sri Lanka, although many people are talking about the entry into the vast Indian market. Our businesses find it hard to compete in India since our cost of production and domestic price are higher. When we analyze the     FTA with India for 2003-2009, we find that India exports to Sri Lanka are up and ours are down.

After 10 years of FTA Sri Lanka exports to India have declined  from USD 515 million  2007 to USD 324 million  in 2009 last year, they said.    India has also not benefited by the FTA due to the checks and balances impose by the Sri Lanka side otherwise by now the local market would have been flooded with cheap Indian good.

India had granted concession to Sri Lanka for 4000 products, of which   Sri Lanka produces very few. New industries are not nurtured, spec icily in the agriculture sector, to make use of these export concessions and we continue to struggle with poor infrastructure, high-energy costs and a shortage of labor which undermines our competitiveness, the trade sector said.  They did not ask why sign a trade agreement for goods Sri Lanka does not produce.

Industrialists complained loudly that India harasses the Sri Lanka exporter. There is no end to the long list of non-tariff barriers that confront these goods. Indian exporters do not face any non tariff barriers when exporting to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka exports face numerous non-tariff barriers,   tariff rate quantities, port restrictions, customs delays and cumbersome laboratory tests. Tests are asked for even when the goods are accompanied by certificates. The checking of edible items is done by labs situated far away. Imports into Chennai are sent to CFTRI Mysore, and imports into Mumbai are sent to CFTRI Pune.

Documents not specified in the FTA are asked for.  Documents in accordance with the FTA are rejected by the Indian officials who say that they are not the proper documents and ask for additional documents. Often customs even demand a detailed cost sheets which reflect the value added criteria and there are disputes when these are produced.

The classification of goods is also a problem. While some goods appear on the Open General License when the good arrive in India, the importer is told that Special Import License is required. The SIL for any non vegetarian food stuff, for instance has to be issued by the Indian subject ministry, which is in faraway Delhi.

Different ports in India classify the goods imported under different duties. At time customs declare that although for certain good where there is  Basic Customs Duty but Counter Vailing Duty is applicable. The importer [means the exporter] due to time and cost pays this amount under protest.

The rule of origin criteria are too stringent and can block Sri Lanka exports. The Certificate of origin from Sri Lanka can be used only after the shipment has left.  When goods arrive, prior to the documents, without the essential COO which has to be certified by the local Sri Lanka High commission there is a delay as goods cannot be cleared without this vital document. Delay as every point result in demurrage and other costs be incurred which are prohibitive which in turn make the import unviable.

In addition to central government taxes, sometimes the particular state also has special taxes for some of the items, e.g. Kerala is taxing the tea packaging and the tea tags too. The import of quality Sri Lanka teas, particularly flavored teas has encountered a significant number of problems in India. The Tea board in India has to approve the imports, which is time consuming as there are no procedures laid down.

The business sector in Sri Lanka objected strongly to CEPA.  India has asked Sri Lanka to sign the agreement first and see to the details after. The schedules will come later. Critics said No. It is India that is pressing for this. if we sign the agreement cannot be reversed. It is a bilateral agreement so there is no court to which we can go. If we change terms heavy penalties have to be paid.  The danger is in the annexures said critics.

Our exports go elsewhere not to India, the business industry said. India is not a big market for us, elsewhere is better. We must sign CEPA only after we ensure that it will be in our interests to do so. we must not sign CEPA in a hurry. CEPA must be reviewed by all ministries including defense because there is a national threat involved.

We must first address all the key issues, that are hindering our exports, include the schedules and bring in conditions preventing additions of any schedules outside the discussed areas. we must avoid signing an open-ended framework agreement, have sufficient domestic legislation, and have a patriotic committed result orients and hard working team that should match if not better the Indian team.

The Indo Sri Lanka frame work agreement (CEPA/ECTA) has many irreversible loopholes that will trap Sri Lanka into a helpless situation. The clauses are vague and open ended, such as ‘shall include but shall not be limited to’. Also it says all subsequent agreement shall form part of ECTA. once ECTA is signed any annexes added later will have the same legal binding as the signed ECTA. If we default we have to pay compensation. BOI allows foreign investment which is unilateral and revocable, so why CEPA?

 Why is India so keen when our market is small? India does not need CEPA.  They have already established industries and Indian business houses and their businesses thrive in Sri Lanka. Is there an underlying motive behind CEPA?

 Yes, there is, said critics. It is to get control of the country. Sri Lanka is strategically important.  India can’t control Sri Lanka militarily, so India plans to do so  through other means, by getting control of Sri Lanka‘s goods and services.

CEPA is inimical to our interests. The ground realties are not conducive to signing CEPA.  There is strong possibility of Indian dominance of our home grown industries, taking control of companies manipulating the stock exchange, said critics.

The persons urging CEPA appear to be non-business men, such as economists, who do not have businesses to export to India, but are urging business men on to it.  Those supporting India said that CEAT and Nicholas Piramal have taken over sick units and turned them around. Also Lanka IOC is a notable achievement, entering in 2002, and revolutionizing the petroleum sector. They have plans for further expansion. Also Bharati Airtel has led to a drastic reduction in mobile call rates.  Ceylon Biscuits, Brandix, John Keells, Hayleys, and Aitken Spence hotels have done well, these ECTA supporters said.

 Pathfinder Foundation said that there were provisions in the agreements for safeguards.  And we have the trade negotiators to handle this.

Business people were less enthusiastic. Indians can come and start state trading organizations here. They can repatriate profits abroad. if they start industries here, it will kill the local ones by undercutting for a few years, then they will start to increase prices. Sri Lanka companies will also then have to raise their prices, so no benefit to us.

The factories in India are huge, the scale of operations is gigantic, they have the raw materials. Sri Lanka can only boast of a few FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industries what are somewhat large and may the only ones that will survive the CEPA as a niche market.   India is not a level playing field, and the local manufacturers will get hurt.  India can enter with low prices, sustain long price wars, smother competition without feeling it. No foreign exchange will come in, it will only go out.

  Furious business men pointed out that ECTA gives India access to all goods and services in Sri Lanka except the following. Sri Lanka was given exclusive rights to pawn broking, money lending, small time retails trade, personal services, coastal fishing ,  not deep sea fishing.   There would be 50% Indian ownership of 25 cinemas. there can be 10 halls inside each cinema.40% cinema time would be for Tamil and Hindi only. Film makers when alerted objected. Our culture will also be affected critics complained.

If CEPA goes thoughSri Lanka will be swamped by Indian labor in all spheres of work, profession, skilled semi skilled, due to the heavy unemployment in India. All seven copper industries operated in Sri Lanka by Indians had unskilled laborers as their managers. CEPA says India can bring down all technical staff from India. Any Indian can bring his family and they can work anywhere they want. Dependants are not defined. So the family alone can take up about 5 jobs.

The FTA was for trade in goods only, but CEPA included services, investment, and movement of people.  if we open up the service sector without regulation our county will be swallowed up by the mighty India companies, said Bandula Perera.

Services will include the movement of persons. This comes under Mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organization. Mode 4   is on ‘the presence of natural persons ‘in the receiving country.  This is a tricky, dangerous issue.  Officials of the   Ministry of Trade said   that they are careful never to agree to anything in Mode 4, ‘because once we agree we cannot get out of it’. India has carefully defined and limited the scope of movement of natural persons. They can stay only for a maximum period of 15 months. Sri Lanka does not have the necessary controls in place.

 Mode 4 could also be used to send   Indian professionals to Sri Lanka. Professionals in Sri Lanka were concerned. Sri Lanka does not have a regulatory system for monitoring professionals. There are no legally authorized bodies.  The few we do have are weak.  Indian professionals will walk in. This is unwise. Indian professional standards are different to ours.    

In the case of engineering, Sri Lanka engineers observed that. India’s degree for engineering is only three years, ours is four years. also, there are many unemployed engineers in India who will flood this country.

Sri Lanka doctors strenuously object to India entering the health sector. They do not think highly of India’s health service or medical education. They say Sri Lanka’s   medical training is superior. it is uniform and invariably excellent. In some of the best research hospitals of the world, a Sri Lanka specialist can be found. Sri Lankans go abroad for treatment because those hospitals have superior technology, not superior doctors. The answer therefore is not to import Indian doctors here, but to get down modern technology.

Sri Lanka could be proud of its health achievements, low maternal mortality, high life expectancy, successful elimination of malaria and free availability of healthcare to all citizens. All this has been achieved at the mere cost of only 1% of National GDP due to the skill and dedication of our health care professionals, said the doctors.

Sri Lanka Medical Association said India was asking Sri Lanka to recognize the qualifications of Indian doctors. They also said that 25 to 30 categories of paramedical professional were to be included in the CEPA.  also CEPA   would  help by pass a number of health laws including those associated with quality control (CDDA no 27 of 1980)and the monitoring of the private health sector ( PMIR no 21 of 2006). 

They also complain that Sri Lanka eradicated polio years ago but cannot get a certificate because neighboring Tamilnadu had frequent polio epidemics. They point out that the substandard pharmaceuticals coming into Sri Lanka are all of Indian origin. Tablet manufacture is a cottage industry in India. (continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Sri Lanka is important to India, because of its location and India is determined to bring Sri Lanka under its control. India set up consulates in Hambantota and Jaffna in 2010. India has a long-standing consulate in Kandy.

Critics wanted to know why does India want consulates in Jaffna and Hambantota. Consulates are established to look after nationals. India wants a consulate in Jaffna, mainly to station some RAW official there to monitor what is going on and to foment trouble in Jaffna to create another insurgency like last time, said one critic.

  India wants an office in Hambantota as a watch post for India to monitor what happened, said another. India should close its consulates in Jaffna and Hambantota. They are viewed as RAW stations set up to destabilize the country if necessary, said a third.

India is emphasizing the cultural links between Sri Lanka and India, particularly Buddhism. India’s using Buddhism to firm up ties with Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, said analysts. China and Pakistan have   started emphasizing their Buddhist past.

India has installed a 16-foot-tall statue of the Buddha at the entrance to the International Buddhist Museum complex at the Dalada Maligawa, Kandy. There is   an India Gallery in the Museum. It consist of eight major sections, including the origin of Buddhism in India, pilgrimage sites in India, symbolic representation of Buddha  in Buddhist  art in India and the  spread of Buddhism  from India.

India and Sri Lanka   signed an MOU in 2020 to establish  a training school for Dalada Maligawa at Pallekele, Kandy to provide training in Kandyan dance and drumming   as well as costumes, ornaments and musical instruments, lacquer painting, mahout training and sculpturing.

Delegation of Indian Buddhist met President Rajapakse in 2013. They want to install a statue of Ambedkar in Sri Lanka and set up an institute to commemorate him.

India is  drawing attention to two much admired Indians, who visited Sri Lanka, during the British administration. They are Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. Mahatma Gandhi had visited Matale, Colombo, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Bandarawela Hatton, Colombo, Galle, and Jaffna during his three week long visit in 1927. He had made over 35 speeches to Sri Lanka audience and also visited many schools including trinity, Dharmaraja, Zahira and Ananda,    Indian embassy said.

Therefore, a Mahatma Gandhi International Centre funded by India, was established in Matale in 2015. It had an auditorium, library, meditation centre and a conference hall. Before that, in 2014, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi was installed in the city square at Point Pedro by the Urban Council of Point Pedro. It was unveiled by the consul for India.

Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Mahinda College, Galle, was unveiled on November 4, 2019. A photo exhibition of Mahatma Gandhi, organized by India’s Hambantota consulate was held at Mahinda College, Galle on the same day.  In 2020 the Consulate   organized a series of events in the Southern Province and Moneragala District to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. 

There are Gandhi statues elsewhere in the world too.  In 2016 a statue of Gandhi was set up in the University of Ghana. University of Ghana lecturers began a petition for its removal soon after. The petition said Gandhi was “racist” and African heroes should be put first. Gandhi looked down on the Africans. The statue was removed in 2018. Students at the university welcomed the decision to remove the statue.

Rabindranath Tagore came to Sri Lanka for several highly successful visits. India wants his name remembered by the present generations. In 2012, Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo conducted an essay competition for ‘A’ level and University students on ‘Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Lanka.’  India built the Rabindranath Tagore memorial auditorium at University of Ruhuna in 2018. 

Sri Lanka had been very impressed with Tagore’s dance drama, Shap Mochan when it was performed in Colombo in the 1940s.  A dance troupe from Shantiniketan performed Shap Mochan in Colombo in 2012. The audience was not impressed. The applause was weak.

North Indian and Carnatic music became an influence in Sri Lanka during British   rule. Sinhala musicians ran to Shantiniketan. They returned declaring that Indian music was ‘high’ culture while the local stuff was ‘low’ culture (‘cula sampradaya’). India has not made any such assertion, but it has supported the   study of Indian music in Sri Lanka.  

In 2020 India presented 104 Indian classical musical instruments such as Veena, Sitar, Tabla, Sarod and Tanpura received from the ICCR, New Delhi to several schools in the south. The schools were Richmond College, Siridhamma College, Anula Devi College from Galle and Beverly Tamil School, at Hulandawa, Tamil Maha Vidyalaya at Pitabeddara,   Handford Tamil Maha Vidyalaya, St. Matthew and Bilingual School, Deniyaya. India also gifted these musical instruments to the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna.

In 2013, an India corner” was started in Jaffna public library, with books on Indian cultural history, Tamil language. There are plans to set up a Jaffna Cultural centre on the lines of the Indian Cultural Center in Colombo, supported by the Indian Council for Cultural relations. This center will teach Hindi and Indian classical music and dance. A link between the Ramanathan academy of fine arts, and Kalakshetra Foundation in south India, was also planned.

India has taken a special interest in the North .India said in 2015 that it was going to develop Kankesanturai port. It had signed an agreement in 2011. India has built many houses in the north after the Eelam War. India has also focused on the estate sector.

 As at 2020, of 12 Health and medical care projects”, 6 were in the Northern Province, 2 in Eastern province and 1 in estate sector at Dickoya.   In  the  ”  Education research and training”   5 in estate sector, 4  in north,  2 in East 2 in west,  2 in south. In Transportation sector” 3 in north, 1 in east, 1 in south . (Daily News 15.8.20 p 6 India supplement)  

India wishes to be a strategic partner in Sri Lanka. India   decided to link Sri Lanka to India in terms of energy. India was to build 500 MW coal based thermal power plant at Sampur in Trincomalee as a joint venture with CEB. In 2008 there were plans for India’s state run Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) to set up a link for 1,000 mw between India and Sri Lanka, of which 30km will be under the sea. The undersea cable was prohibitively expensive and this was changed in 2019 to an overhead electricity link. The India-Sri Lanka transmission link was to run from Madurai to Anuradhapura.

India wants high visibility for its projects. India had agreed to refurbish the road between Anuradhapura and Trincomalee, in 2004. It was to be named the Rajiv Gandhi Amity Highway.

The most visible Indian intervention in our economy is Lanka IOC.   In 2003, Indian Oil Corporation was permitted to set up a subsidiary, Lanka IOC  to set up petrol stations all over the island. Distribution is through the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation pipelines. This was approved through a cabinet paper of 2002 without any competitive bidding, said critics. Though 70 million was promised, only USD 40 million has come in by 2016.

 Lanka IOC now has 202 petrol & diesel stations in Sri Lanka. Lanka IOC   received approximately USD 3.6 billion in sales   in 2002-2013. The profits went to India.  Lanka IOC also owns one-third share in Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL), a joint venture of Lanka IOC and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). 

IOC also runs 235 Lanka IOC Servo  shops and 24 lubricant distributors, offering a variety of lubricants and engine oil for motorcycles to ships. Servo lubricants are produced in Sri Lanka in its facility in Trincomalee.   Lanka IOC holds a 35% market share in the highly competitive bunkering fuels market. Lanka IOC has an oil terminal at Trincomalee, a lubricant blending plant of 18,000 tonnes per annum capacity and a state-of-the-art fuels & lubricants testing laboratory at Trincomalee. . India said in 2015 that it has plans to set up its first overseas petroleum hub in Sri Lanka.

Critics observed that half of the petroleum trade is now in the hands of   IOC, a partly state owned Indian company. If the entire trade had been in their hands, the war effort could have been throttled by India stopping the fuel supply to the military. It can cause problems to Sri Lanka in the future too.

India has many other business projects in Sri Lanka. Indian firms are managing Sri Lanka tea estates. Indian companies have their factories here. There is a beverage factory on 50 acre land in Gampaha importing fruit pulp and exporting juice. It is using about 50 million liters of ground water per annum, critics complained.

Indian assistance is heavily criticized. Several of the railways engines supplied by India have failed to operate after a few years, and the large extent of the railways line laid by India contractors showed defects, including concrete sleepers, said critics.

 In 1968 India offered a loan of Rs 100 million for purchase of equipment used in government departments.  The items had to be of Indian manufacture.  The government department prepared a shopping list, said Neil Perera of the Department of Government Electrical Undertakings, which were of international standard. The Indians refuse to provide these they instead offered items which they could not sell in the international market.   The departments   which accepted these, such as telecommunications faced difficulties. The Telecommunications switchboard in the head office of the DGEU went out of order within a short period of installation. 

Sri Lanka does not want too close a link to India. There was strong objection to a highway link between India and Sri Lanka. Un-ESCAP had proposed a Trans Asian Highway to link 27 countries. India and Sri Lanka are signatories to the highway. There was a proposal to extend the UN-ESCAP Asian Highway   into Sri Lanka,  with a bridge linking Rameswaram and Talaimannarand roads branching to Trincomalee and Hambantota.  Such a link with Tamilnadu is dangerous, said critics.

The railway line constructed by the Indian thorough Mannar Island does not end at the Talaimannar station but goes beyond and has been raised to marry with a possible future bridge head at Talaimannar.  The railway should have been terminated on the main land. This would have left the sea open to Sri Lanka naval movement from north to south and easy movement for other seagoing craft as well. The introduction of a rail bridge between the mainland and the island of Mannar would block this, said Ashely de Vos. 

Land Bridge with India might lead to the introduction of a special type of malaria mosquito into Sri Lanka, observed Kamini Mendis. So far it has not come here.  What keeps it away is the ocean. So land bridge will help it come here.  We have eradicated malaria here.    In 2014, it was announced that the India Sri Lanka road rail network had been stopped.

India became the first country, since independence, to interfere with the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. India decided to foster, train and promote Tamil militancy in Sri Lanka with retired generals training the LTTE, the government of India providing funding and bases in India, said critics. India supported the   break up of Sri Lanka. india wanted the North east merger even more than the Tamils. The purpose was to create a client state in North and east, said diplomat Bandu de Silva. K. Godage agreed. He noted that India supported the establishment of a North east Provincial Council and continued to insist that   we merge the north and east provinces.

The parippu drop in Jaffna violating Sri Lanka air space is still recalled with deep feeling. The Indo-Lanka accoard is resented. The rifle but attack on Rajiv Gandhi by naval rating at the honor guard, symbolized the deep resentment of a sovereign nation at the humiliation cause to them. India had forfeited the respect and confidence of Sri Lanka, observed Gamini Gunawardene.

There is considerable anti-India feeling in Sri Lanka. China gave the Conference hall and the Convention center, Japan gave Sri Jayewardenepura hospital and the Dental faculty in Peradeniya.  What India has given, Sri Lanka public asked.

Indian fishermen are fishing in Sri Lanka water with impunity but When Sri Lanka fishermen are arrested by Indian coast guards, they are treated harshly.   One set arrested after straying into Indian waters was ordered to kneel on a heavy iron plate which dad heated due to the sun. We were beaten up by the coast guards and offered rice with dhal and were force to pick out the worms off the plates of rice before we ate. There were more worms than rice.

 We were kept in prison in Hyderabad for two and half month and were released only after paying Rs 75,000 each. We did not receive any support from the government and had to manage our affairs on our own. But in contrast Indian fisherman are seen poaching in our water freely and when they are arrested they are provided with the best possible treatment and released a few weeks later. When we overpowered some Indian fisherman and handed them over to the authorities they were released, without any punishment.

The International Indian Film academy awards were held in Colombo in 2010.  USA holds it Oscars and Britain it Bafta in their own countries, but India hold its festival in different capitals. This is an attention getting device. IIFA has resulted in vast tourist publicity for Sri Lanka which no advertising campaign could have bought. Event had an 80 million audience. IIFA is organized to promote Indian cinema all round the world, said India. 

Sri Lanka was not thrilled. They complained about the cost. In other countries India spends, here, critics allege that Sri Lanka had provided the money. IIFA organizers were invited to lunch by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.  Those supporting stated that Sri Lanka had got a tremendous advertising boost from the event.

India’s   activities in Sri Lanka are watched closely.  A Ramayana Trail” has been concocted to drag Buddhist Sri Lanka into the heart of Hindu mythology, making Sri Lanka a geographic extension of India. Indian money is funding Ramayana temples in Sri Lanka and Indian officials are coming as pilgrims.

There are four Ravana destinations in Sri Lanka, Ravana’s palace, Ashok Vatika, Hanuman’s entry point  at Nagadipa, Donara where Rama first attacked Ravana, and Yudaganawa the main battle ground. Ashok   Vatik and Donara are imaginary places. Yudaganawa is important in Sinhala history. India has offered many crores to build a Sita Devi temple at Divirumpola.  The object is to subvert Sri Lanka history.

Lanka IOC also controls the oil tank farm in Trincomalee, formerly owned and operated by CPC. This has 99 tanks, made of the best Manchester steel, each with a capacity of 12,000 kilolitres. Currently, only 15 of these tanks are operational. This was was handed over to India instead of to the highest bidder. Why was it not left in the hands of the Sri Lanka navy asked critics. There is now a call to take it back.

India loyalists think that India must be the dominant power in South Asia because of its size.  That Sri Lanka must recognize this. India is Sri Lanka closest neighbor. When Sri Lanka looks upwards all it sees is India. Col Hariharan of India said that India dominates the  south Asian region physically and economically.  India’s geographic location enables it to be a dominant power in the Indian Ocean region.  Sri Lanka does not agree.

Sri Lanka’s location  to India is viewed critically. One reader  said personally my wish is that we were not 20 but 200 miles away from India”.  Sri Lanka is under threat from the Kundukkulam and Kalpakkam nuclear complexes in south India. The southerly monsoon and wind will  bring any unwanted emissions for these installations towards Sri Lanka, said analysts in 2011. 

The Sethusamudran canal, initially causd much concern in Sri Lanka . It was then found that  this would not be a threat to the ports of Colombo. The canal will only cater to vessel of less than 10 m draft and feeder vessels from  the Indian east coast could use the path to come to Colombo on a shorter route. India will incur huge costs in dredging and also in maintenance of the canal. In 2010, India stopped work on Sethusamnudran canal due to its difficulty of dredging.

Sri Lanka observed happily that Sri Lanka   has   one important economic advantage over India. Sri Lanka’s ports are superior to those of India. India’s attempt to substitute Indian ports for Colombo failed. India now recognizes Colombo to be the regional transportation hub.  Sri Lanka’s location gives it its port a natural advantage. Colombo port enjoys a better reputation in international shipping than the ports in South India. Turn over time for ships in Colombo is much less.  70% of the volume handled by the Colombo port is trans shipment of goods imported by India and this could be increased because Indian ports don’t have adequate depth. 

India is considered arrogant. At CHOGM when bilateral talks were taking place between India and Sri Lanka, Indian delegates had suggested that Sri Lanka cancel the Tuesday night dinner scheduled for visiting official delegations to continue the talks. Sri Lanka had flatly refused to do so.

India is concerned about China’s influence in Sri Lanka. In 2007 India objected to Sri Lanka purchasing Chinese built JY-11 3Dradar system, because it would ‘overarch’ into Indian air space. . India gave the radar instead, but this was not effective and eventually Colombo acquired the Chinese radar. Delhi also complained about Chinese submarines in Colombo Harbor in 2014. India said it had not been notified.

Since you cannot invade a country with an army, efforts are being made to invade through infrastructure and technological advancement,” admitted India. India has to use its cultural and historical ties in the region to build personal ties with countries like Sri Lanka, to prevent them from drifting towards China. As a result, areas of soft power such as the Buddhist circuit between India and Sri Lanka, are being emphasized.    ( continued)

By ASOKA BANDARAGE

Small states are leading the fight to make the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty legally binding

Of all the weapons created throughout human history, nuclear weapons are the most destructive and indiscriminate. They are capable of causing enormous devastation involving uniquely persistent, spreading, genetically damaging radioactive fallout.”

Whereas a single nuclear bomb detonated over a large city could kill millions of people, the deployment of tens or hundreds of them could disrupt the global climate, creating intolerable conditions for both humans and other species.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty, was adopted in 1970 with the objectives of halting the adoption of these weapons and disarming those that already existed.

The NPT recognized five states as nuclear-weapon states (NWS). In order of acquisition, they are the United States, Russia (successor to the Soviet Union), the United Kingdom, France and China. Ironically, these states are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

The NPT has had limited success in curtailing nuclear weapons’ proliferation and the motivation of states to acquire them. The five recognized NWS have also shown a reluctance to disarm.

Since the adoption of the NPT, three more states, India, Pakistan and North Korea, have conducted overt nuclear tests. North Korea, which had been a party to the NPT, withdrew in 2003, while Israel, which is known to have nuclear weapons, does not acknowledge it.

Together, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), these nine countries possess nearly 14,000 nuclear warheads, enough to destroy the planet many times over.

Five more states – Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey – also host US nuclear weapons. Twenty-six other countries endorse” the possession and use of nuclear weapons on their behalf in accordance with defense alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

Despite the NPT’s calls for a diminishing role” for nuclear weapons in security policies, the five declared NWS have maintained huge stockpiles, leading critics to question the legitimacy and enforcement capacity of the treaty.

US plans to develop new weapons, including anti-ballistic missiles, earth-penetrating bunker busters” and new small” bombs, have been of particular concern. Strongly anti-nuclear countries like New Zealand also see the NPT’s inability to subject Israel, India and Pakistan to the treaty’s restrictions as a major problem.

As geopolitical conflicts intensify, nuclear-weapon states continue to modernize and rearm their arsenals, while still other states, such as Iran, are believed to be developing nuclear weapons. The danger of a limited nuclear war, if not a full-scale one, in the near future is real.

Anti-nuclear movement

Among those leading the movement to ban nuclear weapons are the few remaining hibakusha, the victims of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Setsuko Thurlow, who was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is today a leader at ICAN in Geneva.

On October 6, 2017, ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.” The landmark Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted at the United Nations on July 7, 2017, with the support of 122 nations.

The TPNW (also known as the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty) is the first legally binding international agreement comprehensively to prohibit nuclear weapons and to seek their total elimination.

Article 1 of the treaty, on Prohibitions,” states that each state party undertakes never under any circumstances to do the following:

• Develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
• Transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly or indirectly;
• Receive the transfer of or control over nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices directly or indirectly;
• Use or threaten to use nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices;
• Assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
• Seek or receive any assistance, in any way, from anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Treaty;
• Allow any stationing, installation or deployment of any nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices in its territory or at any place under its jurisdiction or control.

For the TPNW to come into effect, 50 countries must sign and ratify the treaty. As of October 23, 84 states had signed and 49 had ratified or acceded to it. Only one more state is needed to complete ratification. A mere 90 days after the 50th ratification, the TPNW will enter force as international law, binding on countries that have ratified it.

US opposition

Stating that it won’t sign the TPNW, US President Donald Trump’s administration continues to move away from international agreements to curtail nuclear weapons.

On August 2, 2019, the Trump administration officially withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty between the United States and Russia. As critics have pointed out, by withdrawing from the INF Treaty, the administration eliminated consequences for Moscow’s alleged non-compliance. 

The US and Russia are currently negotiating an extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the only remaining treaty placing limits and monitoring transparency on the growth of the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. New START is set to expire on February 5, 2021. Whether the Trump administration will complete the extension before the November 3 US election remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, the United States is urging countries that have ratified the TPNW to withdraw their support as the pact nears the 50 ratifications. The TPNW’s supporters believe that the 50th ratification needed to bring it into effect could happen any time soon.

However, a recent letter sent by the Trump administration to signatories and obtained by The Associated Press states that the five original nuclear powers – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France – and America’s NATO allies stand unified in our opposition to the potential repercussions” of the TPNW.

The letter also states that the TPNW is detrimental to the objectives of the NPT, claimed to be the cornerstone of global non-proliferation efforts. It further says to the countries that have ratified the TPNW: Although we recognize your sovereign right to ratify or accede to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), we believe that you have made a strategic error and should withdraw your instrument of ratification or accession.”

Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, the sponsor of the TPNW, responded by saying, That the Trump administration is pressuring countries to withdraw from a United Nations-backed disarmament treaty is an unprecedented action in international relations … shows how fearful they are of the treaty’s impact and growing support.”

There is no fundamental difference between the Democratic and Republican parties on US foreign policy and US militarism. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has affirmed support for continuation of US military and imperial agendas. However, it remains to be seen if a Biden administration would take a more favorable stance toward the TPNW, which is endorsed by the majority of countries in the world.

Collective power for peace

Small and medium-sized countries have joined the TPNW to avoid possible nuclear buildups and conflagrations on their soil. Indeed, the vast majority of countries that have ratified the TPNW thus far are small states struggling to maintain their neutrality and independence from powerful nuclear-armed states.

Take a country such as Sri Lanka, faced with simultaneous interventions by three nuclear-armed powers, China, the United States and India. The TPNW provides such beleaguered countries a means to assert their sovereignty vis-à-vis external powers that support neither the abolition of nuclear weapons nor the demilitarization of the world.

Nuclear weapons represent the myopic geopolitics of domination, subordination and annihilation. Wisdom, compassion and partnership are needed instead. Perhaps, with these values, Sri Lanka will accept the honor of being the 50th state to ratify TPNW and bring this historic treaty into effect.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති ඩොමිනික් ෆර්ග්ලර් මහතා හා ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අතර හමුවක් අද 2020.10.26 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී පැවැත්විණි.

ආයෝජන, අපනයන, සංචාරක සහ කොවිඩ්-19  වසංගතයට එරෙහිව සටන් කිරීම ඇතුළු දෙරට අතර සහයෝගීතාව වර්ධනය කරගත හැකි  ක්ෂේත්‍ර ගණනාවක් පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා විය.

පැහැදිලි නීති පනවමින් හා ඒවා බලාත්මක කරමින් රජය කොවිඩ්-19 වයිරසයට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වන ආකාරය පිළිබඳව තානාපතිවරයා මෙහිදී අගය කළේය.

සෞඛ්‍ය මාර්ගෝපදේශයන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම හා රට අගුලු දැමීම සියලු දෙනාටම ඉතා අසීරු කාරණාවක් වුව ද සමස්ත ජනතාව ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට එය ඉවහල් වන බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා මෙහිදී  පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කොවිඩ්  වයිරසයට එරෙහිව කටයුතු කරන ආකාරය අගය කරන බව පැවසූ තානාපතිවරයා, මෙම ක්‍රියාදාමයේ ආරක්ෂිත බවක් තමන්ට දැනෙන බවට  විශ්වාසය පළ කළේය.

කොවිඩ්-19 වසංගත තත්ත්වය පැතිර යාම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා රජය දරන උත්සාහයට දායක වීම සඳහා ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත රජය  කටුනායක ගුවන්තොටුපලේ පී.සී.ආර්.(PCR) පරීක්ෂණ වේගවත් කිරීමේ පහසුකම් සපයන උපකරණ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබා දී ඇත.

කොවිඩ් – 19 තත්ත්වය පහව ගිය වහාම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය පුනර්ජීවනය කිරීමට සහයෝගීතාවය දක්වන බවත්, ඒ සඳහා ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත රජය ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංචාරක හා හෝටල් කළමනාකරණ ආයතනයට යටිතල පහසුකම් වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම, පුහුණුව ලබා දීම සහ විෂයමාලාව සංවර්ධනය කිරීම සඳහා තාක්ෂණික සහාය ලබා දීමටත් සූදානමින් සිටින බවත් මෙම හමුවේ දී අනාවරණය විය.

ඉදිරියේදී දෙරට අතර ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ හැකි ආයෝජන සහ අපනයන පිළිබඳවද මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා විය.

ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය රජයක ප්‍රමුඛතාවයක් වන බව කියා සිටි තානාපතිවරයා, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත ආයෝජන වැඩි වශයෙන් ගෙන ඒමට කටයුතු කරන බව ද කියා සිටියේය.

ස්විට්සර්ලන්තය මේ වන විට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ 8 වන විශාලතම ආයෝජකයා වේ. අපනයන සම්බන්ධයෙන්, ජීඑස්පී + පහසුකමෙන් වැඩි ප්‍රතිලාභ ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයට අපනයන පරාසය තවදුරටත් පුළුල්  කළ හැකි ක්‍රම පිළිබඳව ද මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා කෙරිණි.

වර්තමානයේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිට ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයට ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් ඇඟලුම්, තේ, මුහුදු ආහාර සහ මැණික් හා ස්වර්ණාභරණ අපනයනය කරයි.

Prime Minister’s Media Unit

During a meeting with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning in Colombo, the Ambassador (Apostolic Nuncio) of the Holy See Archbishop Brian Ngozi Udaigwe praised and expressed appreciation for the wonderful cooperation between the State and the Catholic Church” in Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Rajapaksa fondly recalled his two visits to the Vatican in 2012 and 2014. It was during his last visit that he invited His Holiness Pope Francis to make a state visit to Sri Lanka, which Pope Francis accepted. The state visit took place the following year. The Archbishop said Pope Francis recalled the warm reception he received in Sri Lanka during his visit and hopes he will be able to visit again soon.

Archbishop Udaigwe said he looks forward to continue promoting good relations between Sri Lanka and the Holy See in areas of education, health and assistance to the poor.

Prime Minister acknowledged the vast amount of work done by the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, especially in the area of education.

The two delegations also discussed the Easter Sunday attacks. Prime Minister Rajapaksa said the unfortunate loss of life could have been prevented had the government at the time paid attention to the warnings they received and took them seriously. Prime Minister Rajapaksa, then the Leader of the Opposition, was the first politician to visit the St. Anthony’s Shrine after the bombing.

Sri Lanka is known as a peaceful country,” Archbishop Udaigwe said. It is a country that is a model for so many. I’m really happy to be here.”

Archbishop Udaigwe is the newly appointed Ambassador of the Holy See to the Embassy in Colombo, which has been functioning since 1976. Despite being the world’s smallest sovereign state, the Vatican maintains 108 resident diplomatic missions and is concurrently accredited to another 74 countries.

Prime Minister’s Media Unit

Calling on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo this morning, Ambassador of Switzerland to Sri Lanka Dominik Furgler discussed a number of areas to further cooperation between the two countries, including investment, exports, tourism and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ambassador commended the manner in which the Government is responding to the Coronavirus outbreak by publishing clear rules and enforcing them.”

Prime Minister Rajapaksa said that while lockdowns and health precautions can be difficult on everyone, sometimes it’s necessary to keep people safe.

I admire the way you deal with the COVID,” Ambassador Furgler said. I feel safer this way.”

To contribute to the Government’s efforts to contain the outbreak, the Swiss government is providing assistance to Sri Lanka with equipment which would enable faster PCR tests at the airport. This is also a part of collaboration to try to revive tourism to Sri Lanka once the situation improves. Towards that end, the Swiss Government has also provided technical assistance to the Sri Lanka Institute of of Tourism and Hotel Management to upgrade infrastructure, provide training and develop the curriculum.

The two delegations also discussed investments and exports. With economic development being a priority of the Government, the Ambassador said he will work on bringing in more Swiss investments. Switzerland is currently the 8th largest investor in Sri Lanka. With regard to exports, the delegations discussed ways in which Sri Lanka can further diversify export product range to Switzerland to reap greater benefits from the Swiss GSP+ facility. Currently, major exports from Sri Lanka to Switzerland include apparel, black tea, seafood, and gems and jewelry.

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

සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෙටි දුරකථන අංකය ලෙස 1966 හඳුන්වා දී තිබේ

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන,  හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මැතිනියගේ සංකල්පයක් අනුව තාක්ෂණ, පර්යේෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන සම්බන්ධ සේවාවන් ජනතාවට සමීප කරවීමට මෙන්ම එම ක්ෂ්‍රේත්‍රයට අදාලව ජනතාවට ඇති ගැටඵ නිරාකරණය හා තාක්ෂණික මාර්ගෝපදේශ කඩිනමින් සැපයීම අරමුණු කරගත් සම්බන්ධීකරණ ඒකකයක් ලෙස නවෝත්පාදන සහය පියස සෑම සඳුදා දිනකම, සෙත්සිරිපාය දෙවන අදියරේ 6 වන මහලේ ඇති අමාත්‍යාංශ පරිශ්‍රයේ දි ක්‍රියාත්මක කෙරේ. ගරු අමාත්‍යතුමියගෙ මුලීකත්වයෙන් පසුගියදා මෙහි  සේවා සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෙටි දුරකථන අංකය ලෙස 1966 හඳුන්වා දී ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.

රට තුළ උදුගත වී ඇති කොවීඩ් 19  අවදානම් තත්වය හේතුවෙන් මෙම ආයතනයට පැමිණ සෙවාවන් ලබා ගැනීම තාවකාලිතව නවත්වා ඇති අතර, මෙම ඒකකයේ සේවා සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෙටි දුරකතන අංකය වන 1966 හරහා සම්බන්ධ වී තම ගැටළු නිරාකරණය කර ගැනීමට සේවා ලාභීන්ට පහසුකම් සපයා ඇත.

මෙහි ආරම්භක අවසථාවේදී ගරු අමාත්‍යතුමිය විසින් දුරකථන මාර්ගය ඔස්සේ නවනිපැයුම්කරුවන් හා සම්බන්ධ වූ අතර ඔවුන් විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද තොරතුරු නිවැරදි පර්ශවන් වෙත යොමුකර ගැටළු සදහා ඉක්මන් විසදුම් ලබා දෙන ලෙස යෝජනා කෙරිණි

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් අංශයට අයත්  ආයතන රාශියක්  දිවයිනේ විවිධ ස්ථානවල ස්ථාපිත කර තිබේ. තාක්ෂණය පදනම් කරගත් සමාජයක් ගොඩනැගීම මෙන්ම එහි ප්‍රතිලාභ සමස්ත ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය ජනතාවට උරුම කර දීම මෙම සියලු ආයතනවල මූලික අභිප්‍රාය වන අතර, රටේ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනයට සුවිශේෂී දායකත්වයක් ලබාදීමේ හැකියාව මෙම ආයතන සතුවේ.

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන,  හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මැතිනිය මෙම ආයතන පිළිබඳ විධිමත් අධ්‍යයනයක් කොට ජනතාවට මෙම ආයතනවලින් වඩා කාර්යක්ෂමව සේවා ලබා ගැනීමට හැකිවන පරිදි නව සංකල්පයක් ලෙස නවෝත්පාදන සහය පියස ආරම්භ කිරීමට පියවර ගත්තා ය.

අමාත්‍යාංශය යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන පර්යේෂණ හා සංවර්ධන ආයතනවලින් විවිධ වූ සේවාවන් ලබා ගැනීමට පැමිණෙන සේවාලාභියෙකුට  එක වහලක් යටදී කාර්යක්ෂම හා සුහදශීලී සේවාවක් මෙන්ම මගපෙන්වීමක් ඉතා ඉක්මනින් ලබාදීමට නවෝත්පාදන සහය  පියස ක්‍රියාත්මකටය. මෙහි සේවා සම්බන්ධීකරණ කෙටි දුරකථන අංකය ලෙස 1966 හඳුන්වා දී තිබේ. තාක්ෂණය පදනම් කරගත් සමාජයක් බිහිකිරිම තුළින්, පර්යේෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන හරහා එහි ප්‍රතිලාභ ආර්ථිකයට දායක කර ගැනීමට  සාමූහිකව කටයුතු කළ හැකි ස්ථානයක් මේ හරහා නිර්මාණය වේ.

අමාත්‍යාංශය යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන ශ්‍රී ලංකා නව නිපැයුම්කරුවන්ගේ කොමිසම, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නැනෝ තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය, කාර්මික තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය, ජාතික ඉංජිනේරු පර්යේෂණ හා සංවර්ධන මධ්‍යස්ථානය, නවීන තාක්ෂණය පිළිබඳ ආතර් සී. ක්ලාක් ආයතනය, ජාතික විද්‍යා පදනම, ජාතික විද්‍යා හා තාක්ෂණ කොමිසම, ජාතික පර්යේෂණ සභාව, ජාතික මූලික අධ්‍යයන ආයතනය, විද්‍යා තාක්ෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන සම්බන්ධීකරණ ලේකම් කාර්යාලයය, සිත්‍රා – සමාජ නවෝත්පාදන පර්යේෂණාගාරය මෙන්ම දිවයින පුරා ස්ථාපිත කර ඇති විදාතා සම්පත් මධ්‍යස්ථාන ජාලය සහ ලෝක බුද්ධිමය දේපල සංවිධානය ආදී ආයතන සම්බන්ධීකරණයෙන් නවෝත්පාදන හා පර්යේෂණ විෂයයට අදාල පහසුකම් සැලසීමේ  කාර්යය මෙම පියස තුළ දී සිදු කිරීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

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

SUMANE LIYANAARACHCHI JP Sydney, Australia

Dual citizenship issue has become prominent in Sri Lankan politics. The Sri Lankan Government has taken extraordinary steps to allow dual citizens to serve their country without losing citizenship status of their adopted country. This is a forward and visionary step taken by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government, considering its numerous benefits to this developing nation.

Sri Lanka needs foreign experts for developing the country for the benefit of current and future generations. Many Sri Lankan expatriates have a high level of skills, knowledge and necessary linkages in vast technical areas, for supporting Sri Lanka in its development efforts. Such Sri Lankan expatriates must be considered as trading arms in countries such as Australia, USA, Britain, Canada, France, Italy,New Zealand etc.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a good understanding of the advantages of having dual citizenship, and disadvantages of not allowing its dual citizens to engage in state affairs. He himself was a dual citizen with adopted American citizenship. However, he had to give it up to contest for the presidency. We believe allowing dual citizens to enter the Sri Lankan parliament helps not only secure individual support but also connect the Sri Lankan expatriates in their respective countries, thus allowing them to influence their adopted countries when needs arise.

Those who argue against the decision to allow the Sri Lankan expatriates to engage in state affairs, should not forget that the country was supported by dual citizen holders when LTTE activities were high in countries such as Australia, USA, Britain and Canada. When President Mahinda Rajapaksa continued the war against the LTTE, we gave him a helping hand, influencing Australian politics.

As an Australian citizen, I was given an opportunity to contest at the Local Government election of Penrith City Council in 1999, from the Australian Labour Party. This connection opened avenues for me to study the LTTE activities in Sydney, and control their activities, using their supporters in the Australian Labour Party. With my influence, ALP Senator Steve Hutchins blasted the LTTE on the floor of the Federal Parliament of Australia on 16th June 2006. Addressing Australian Parliament Senator Steve Hutchins said Acts of Violence were not the actions of a group seriously attempting to consolidate peace. Those were the actions of cold-blooded killers not interested in bringing to a conclusion the conflict that was tearing their country apart. If they were serious about making peace there would be no child soldiers, no suicide bomb attacks on civilians, and no assassinations of members of the governments. Senator Steve Hutchins further said, My friends in the Sri Lankan community here, and High Commissioner Balapatabendi, are always in touch with me regarding Sri Lankan affairs.”

Considering my contribution to protect my motherland from the LTTE, the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka wrote to me, I deeply appreciate your untiring efforts. Your timely intervention, followed by the address by Steve Hutchins of the Australian Labour Party, will bring encouraging results”. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was aware of my contribution on the issue, and congratulated me over the phone, as this was a helping hand for him to completely wipe out terrorism from Sri Lankan soil.

Those who are criticizing dual citizenship must understand the value of dual citizens. They have contributed protection to the Sri Lankan nation over the last decades, contributing their energy, time and money. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa used every support available for him in Sri Lanka and overseas, to protect the people of Sri Lanka . Now both Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa have immense tasks ahead for protecting Sri Lankan people from economic war. Many Sri Lankans are below the poverty line and disabled people have been ignored. Consecutive Sri Lankan Governments failed to solve these problems. They failed to maintain equal opportunities for all sectors in society . This kind of discriminatory behaviour of the Sri Lankan Government must be addressed without delay. It can be achieved through getting support from wealthy countries such as Australia, USA, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, France, Germany , Italy, etc. through influence from Sri Lankan expatriates on these countries.

It is our view that the Sri Lankan government is on the right track in extending government tentacles, attracting Sri Lankan expatriates to its development efforts. We are happy Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has proposed an election commission to provide voting rights to Sri Lankan expatriates. This is another visionary action of Mahinda Rajapaksa to protect the nation from the economic war, by removing discriminatory behaviour of the government that excludes Sri Lankan citizens abroad from voting rights.

As Australian citizens with Sri Lankan heritage we will work with the Australian Government to help and support the Sri Lankan Government for winning economic war, providing Australian Development Assistance to Sri Lanka during next decades, until Sri Lanka becomes a developed nation from its brand of a developing nation. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims must work together, respecting each other and maintaining equity in the society.

SUMANE LIYANAARACHCHI JP

Sydney, Australia

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

Ex-Chairman of National Thowheed Jamaath tells PCoI

Muslims from all over the world donated to the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), a former chairman of the terrorist organisation, Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed Tawfiq Moulavi, who is currently in remand custody told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks on Saturday.

I don’t know much about the specifics. I don’t know who exactly donated to the NTJ account. But there is a ledger on the expenses. I maintained that with the NTJ Treasurer, a man named Mastakeen.”

However, Mohamed insisted that he was not an extremist and that if he had known that NTJ leader Zahran Hashim was an adherent of ISIS ideology, he would never have joined the NTJ.

The representative of the Attorney General’s Department (AGD), who led evidence, told the witness that he had shared some videos of Zahran on his social media platforms. Given that Zahran’s posts were sectarian and fundamentalist by nature how Mohamed could claim that he had not been aware of Zahran’s ideology, the counsel asked.

I only shared Zahran’s speeches that I agreed with. I have not shared any speech that promotes extremism or ISIS,” the witness said.

Although Mohamed said that he was not aware of Zahran’s extremism, the AG’s Department representative said the NTJ’s media unit had boosted Zahran’s extremist speeches.

The counsel asked how come Mohamed, the Chairman of the NTJ, had missed those extremist speeches.

I am human. I could not observe Zahran all the time. I have also not seen any of these videos that promote extremism,” the witness said.

Mohamed said there had been a clash in Kattankudy on 10 March 2017 between the NTJ and members of Sunnath Wal Jamath group and that Zharan had gone missing thereafter. Since then he had had no contacts with Zahran, the witness said, stressing that he served as the Chairman of the NTJ in 2016 and joined the organization upon a request by Zahran Hashim.

Members of the PCoI then asked the witness when he had found out that Zahran was involved in the Easter Sunday attacks.

Mohamed: Two days after the attack, the CID and the TID came to my house and asked if I could identify Zahran’s head. I was the one who identified it.

A Commissioner:How did NTJ devotees respond to Zahran’s involvement?

Mohamed: They were angry with Zahran.”

A Commissioner: Was the NTJ registered with the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU)?

Mohamed – No.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Non-admission of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients to hospitals for indoor treatment will be the option if the caseload increases exponentially, an official said yesterday.

Dr Jayaruwan Bandara, who has been requested to work as the spokesman of the Health Ministry told Daily Mirror this in response to speculation about the government looking at such a possibility.

He said more than 80 per cent of COVID-19 patients who are currently under treatment are asymptomatic. Sri Lanka now has well over 7,000 cases reported in the country. Nearly 4,000 of them have recovered.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing the newest outbreak of COVID-19. It started with the discovery of a garment factory worker attached to Brandix tested positive. The case was reported from the community for the first time after a gap of two months.

However, he said no such decision had been taken at the moment. At the moment, no such decision has been taken. If the number of cases increases beyond limits, it may be the option,” he said.

COVID-19 is spreading fast globally at the moment. Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last Friday that the global pandemic situation would be critical in the coming months.

“We are at a critical juncture in this pandemic, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. The next few months are going to be very tough,” Tedros said.(Kelum Bandara)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While accusing the US for the blatant violation of diplomatic protocols by way of interfering in Sri Lanka-China relations, the Chinese Embassy yesterday said that at a time Sri Lanka was facing the most severe challenge since the outbreak of COVID-19, the US had made various requests for the US State Secretary Mike Pompeo’s upcoming visit and even for an ‘emergent road construction’.

Currently, Sri Lanka is facing the most severe challenge since the outbreak of COVID-19, and the local health system can no longer bear any imported risks. The United States has sent a large delegation and batches of advance team into Sri Lanka when its own confirmed cases reached 8.8 million and the death toll surpassed 230 thousand, and made various requests for the visit and even for an emergent road construction. The general public are constantly questioning: Does this approach truly prove your respect to the host country? Is it helpful to local epidemic prevention and control? Is it in the interests of the Sri Lankan people?” the embassy said in a statement.

The full statement:

On 22nd October, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Dean Thompson openly instigated and interfered in China-Sri Lanka relations during a press briefing on Secretary Pompeo’s upcoming visit, and even urged Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary decisions” on its foreign relations, which is a blatant violation of diplomatic protocols. On the next day, the Spokesperson of Chinese Foreign Ministry has responded strongly and stressed that the remarks of the US official were filled with Cold War mentality and hegemonistic mindset doomed to fail, which fully exposed the consistent US practice of arbitrarily interfering in other countries’ domestic and foreign policies and forcing small and medium-sized countries to choose sides.

On local and international media inquiries, the Embassy further solemnly stated as follows:

The people of China and Sri Lanka have a history of friendly exchanges for nearly two thousand years. We have enough wisdom to handle relations with each other and do not need a third party to dictate. Even before the two countries established diplomatic relations with each other in the 1950s, we broke through the US blockade and sanctions, and signed the historical Rubber-Rice Pact. Today in the 21st century, it is more impossible for the two countries to succumb to the coercion of any external forces. As a sincere friend of the Sri Lankan people, China is happy to see the island developing healthy relations with other countries. However, we are firmly opposed to the United States taking the opportunity of the State Secretary’s visit to sow and interfere in China-Sri Lanka relations, and to coerce and bully Sri Lanka. It is hoped that the United States will face up to the just calls of the international community, face up to the popular base of China-Sri Lanka relations, face up to the real needs of the Sri Lankan people, “make difficult but necessary decisions,” and correct the ugly practices of arbitrarily interfering in other countries’ domestic and foreign affairs.

At the same time, we also sincerely advise the United States that true friends should put themselves in the other side’s shoes. Currently, Sri Lanka is facing the most severe challenge since the outbreak of COVID-19, and the local health system can no longer bear any imported risks. The United States has sent a large delegation and batches of advance team into Sri Lanka when its own confirmed cases reached 8.8 million and the death toll surpassed 230 thousand, and made various requests for the visit and even for an emergent road construction. The general public are constantly questioning: Does this approach truly prove your respect to the host country? Is it helpful to local epidemic prevention and control? Is it in the interests of the Sri Lankan people?

Recently, a high-level Chinese delegation also visited Sri Lanka, bringing much needed assistance and support to Sri Lanka’s pandemic fighting and economic reviving. Furthermore, although the pandemic has already been effectively controlled in China, in order to minimize risks and respect the host country, the Chinese delegation still minimized its activities and personnel as much as possible, strictly abide by Sri Lanka’s epidemic prevention guidelines, and resolutely avoided any trouble to the host country. We are willing to share these practices with the United States, hoping to provide some reference for Mr. State Secretary’s visit and its handling of relations with small and medium-sized countries.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The First contacts of COVID-19 infected patients will be placed under home quarantine from today onwards, Army Commander Shavendra Silva said.

Although the first contacts of the COVID-19 infected patients were earlier sent for quarantine centres, such positive patients will no longer be sent for quarantine centres but placed under home quarantine,” he said. 

Therefore, the Army Commander requested such patients to remain indoors without any interactions with other persons. 

This new practice came into effect following the instruction of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after reviewing the quarantine process currently in place in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, he said they would not be hesitant to lift the curfew in the areas where it is already enforced, if the risk of Covid-19 in those areas would be lessened. (Sheain Fernandopulle)