A Senior Lawyer –E MAIL 

srilankastudycircle@yahoo.com

Congratulation to  Ms Shenali Waduge, she has studied the Act 21 of 1998 and explained the legal implications of Title Registration [also called Bim Saviya].  Yes many learned   members of our society  argue that  foreign funding,   foreign laws and technology  should be accepted with gratitude. They believe that once we introduce technology and foreign laws  we will  be on par with developed nations.   Sadly this is akin to seeing a duck smoothly  gliding  along the water without seeing the paddling underneath .

These countries are  where they are,  with e registration as a result of on going legal research,  with 3 decades of legal reform by their learned professors of law.  Sri Lanka has had no such legal reform prior to entering into technology for land registries. Sri Lanka does not have a single legal book on E registration and Property law,  land registration methods and Electronic conveyancing . The subjects are not even thought of being  introduced   into the  legal education programs.  We totally depend on   foreign funding agencies and foreign  advice to change our land policy and land laws.

How long  will it take to introduce a foreign law [Title Registration   Bim Saviya ] to manage the e  register?  In 1998 on the advice of the  World Bank,   without any  notice to lawyers and the public the  Government introduced the  land  law practiced in Australia and New Zealand called Bim Saviya.  The assumption wasthat the land law practiced for over 100 years in  Sri Lanka  could be changed to  Bim Saviya  within a period of 15  years.  A process called ‘ First Registration’ commenced   to change the law of the country. For this process the  government officials without any legal knowledge were appointed to  investigate and adjudicate ownership to 20 Million blocks of land and to  enter the names of owners in a Bim Saviya register. http://bimsaviya.landmin.gov.lk/ .According to the government reports the process was  a failure, and  only 0.72 Million blocks were  completed for the past 20 years  out of 20 Million blocks of land at a heavy   unaffordable cost to the Government . [ see Performance Report of Commissioner General   2018 report]   

President Mahinda Rajapakse appointed a committee to look into the serious situation created by Bim Saviya.   President Mahinda Rajapakse appointed a committee known as the Samarasekera Committee to look into the serious situation created by Bim Saviya, specifically relating to the adjudication process  of 20 Million owners.

 Committee report  explains as follows —— The Bim Saviya law permits only one owner per block of land .   When the government embarks upon the adjudication process to  investigate  title of persons peacefully in  possession,  it is inevitable  that disputes  will arise amongst those who owned land in  co-ownership and  lived  peacefully in  possession with the application of inheritance laws and personal  laws. Major task is to select one person amongst the co-owners to be registered in the Bim Saviya register. The report points out  that the  imposition of compulsory registration in this manner will create thousands of land disputes which are now dormant.  After 20 years, the  Samarasekera report has been proved correct. The  attempt to adjudicate ownership according  to Bim Saviya had failed  and 1.9 Million disputes are  presently on record says the   Performance Report of Commissioner General. https://www.parliament.lk/uploads/documents/paperspresented/performance-report-land-title-settlement-department-2018.pdf]     

Bim Saviya, a law favourable to Fraudsters .Under the Bim Saviya, once ownership of a property is registered in the e register , the title is ‘indefeasible’ or cannot be challenged. That means once your name is on the title register to a property, you are the legal owner even if you acquired the property through fraud.  The owner has no legal  remedy.  The remedy available is to obtain compensation for the loss from the Government Assurance fund. This is the basic feature of the Australian law called Torrens law / Title registration or Bim Saviya in Sri Lanka.  

E register does not prevent fraud —USA  demonstrated that the  benefit of e registration  is only  speed of registration and that an e register will not prevent fraud.   New York Daily News,  prepared  a bogus deed  to sell the popular  Empire State Building to Nelots Properties and sent to the land registry.  The land registry  upon receipt of the phony documents  registered the deed in 90 minutes . . https://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/90-minutes-daily-news-steal-empire-state-building-article-1.353477

Can the Government Pay  compensation to land fraud victims under Bim Saviya law The applicability of Torrens law / Bim Saviya would have permitted  Nelots Properties, LLC. to retain ownership of the building and the Empire State Land Associates  owner of the building would have to be satisfied with compensation  from the Government .   Can the Sri Lanka Government  pay compensation under Bim Saviya to those affected by fraud in lieu of court procedure?  The law is given in the Bim Saviya Act 21 of 1998 in Section 60 

Language in Land registries Section 4.1 of MCC says all documents & communications are to be in English and they will manage    10 registries in 7 districts .  The  administration of land registries in the country are managed in  Sinhala and Tamil.  There are Sinhala and Tamil Notaries who work only in Sinhala and Tamil.  We have a language policy a fare percentage of the country can read and work only in Sinhala and Tamil   Can the computers record  in the local languages or is it English only ?   Can all notaries be provided with computers and internet facilities ?

MCC Recommends Bim Saviya which is unsuitable. Title registration [ Bim Saviya] has been recommended  for the Land Project .  Lands that are to be privatised with the operation of the Land Privatisation Act  to be governed by Title Registration–[MCC Annex 1 – 30, ] The  MCC Land Project to funds  10 land registries in 7 districts to invest  in Bim Saviya for the e register.  [Annex 1 –31 ] However according to Annex 1—21 t the intended beneficiaries for 20 years will be only  five million individuals.   How long can the country wait to enact  a law for the e  register , it can be over 100 years and what would be the cost ?   

E register should be  administered with the Deed registration system and not with Bim Saviya   The manner in which the e register is introduced without considering the law to manage the register  is alarming . Foreign law is considered   without informing the public or allowing lawyers to participate  in the process of change. Government must pay attention to the  statute which  introduced technology  to the country  namely Section 23 of the  Electronic Transaction Act 19 of 2006 which requires deeds .  Section 23 of the Act specifically  requires paper deeds for wills, Power of Attorney  and  land sales [Bim Saviya repeals the deeds]   Registrar  has pointed out that almost all the lands;  8.5 Million blocks will be soon on the e register governed by the deed registration system ,  why convert to Bim Saviya  a foreign law at a heavy cost.  The Registrar General says there is no problem in continuing with the deed system,  according to him  the fraud prevention laws recommended by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Justice are essential to manage the integrity of the e register .  The Government has  recently  enacted the fraud prevention laws under the Trusts (Amendment) Act No. 6 of 2018 for Trust deeds  only , the   law  has   to be extended to all land transactions to prevent fraud.  

Majority of the states in USA are  reluctance to accept Bim Saviya  [Torrens law] to administer the e register.  Their  main concern is  that the  owners do not have the fundamental right to access court when affected by land fraud and land fraud is extremely pervasive in USA. They have a similar law as the deed registration system with modern  laws to prevent fraud

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Northern Province was an integral part of the Rajarata of the Anuradhapura kingdom. The Raja rata was divided into uttara passa (north) dakkhina, (south) pacina, (east) and pajjima (west). Uttara passa consisted of today’s Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar, and Jaffna. Each division was ruled by officer appointed by king.  Jambukolapatana in Jaffna was the main port for arrivals and departure to Rajarata. There was a main road from Jambukolapatana in Jaffna to Anuradhapura.

The Northern Province continued under the Sinhala king in the ancient and medieval periods. Periyakulam inscription says that during the time of Devanam Piyatissa, Vavuniya was ruled by ‘Naga’ and ‘Uti’ and Mannar was ruled by ‘Kana’. During the time of the Sinhala attakatha, Nagadipa ruler was under   Sinhala king, as diparaja.

In Vasabha’s time ((67-111 AD) Jaffna was ruled by Vasabha’s Minister Isigiri. Nelugala inscription indicated that a minister, also named, Asgiri administered the north under Bhatiya Tissa II   (143-167) and Kanitta Tissa (167-186). The inscriptions in Ichchalampaththai (date not provided) show that these were Sinhala villages.

Sigiri Gee (5th-8th century) contains   verses written by ‘Uturupasa vasi Samanal bati’ and ‘Uturupasa vasi Agalabati’ . They wrote in Sinhala.  Inscription  of Kassapa IV((898-914) at Kadurugoda said Kassapa was the ruler of the south as well as the north.  Mannar pillar inscription of Kassapa IV  has the  term Mahaputu Laddan, which  denotes officers attached to sea port. Amenities given to some villages are also mentioned .

Mannar was a part of the  Sitawaka kingdom. Kokila sandesaya (15^th century) gives a route from Kotte to Jaffna via   Mannar.  During the time of Rajasinha  I, (1581-93)  Manamperi Mohottala administered Mannar. Baldeus (1632-72)  writing during the Dutch occupation, gave a list of places under the Sinhala king. It included Trincomalee, Mannar, Batticaloa,  and Jaffna. 

The Northern Province continued under the Sinhala king. It was a  part of the last  Sinhala kingdom, the Udarata kingdom.  The Northern Province remained within Udarata until the kingdom came to an end in 1815. The Udarata kingdom was huge, about three times the size of the Portuguese and Dutch possessions.

Another way of showing that the  North was ruled by the Sinhala king was by comparing the language and script in northern inscription and those elsewhere, said Medhananda in 2013.  Medhananda  found 2 inscriptions dated to 2 century AD at Kandakudichchi aru ruins. The script and language resembled  inscriptions at  Ritigala, Vessagiriya,  Mihintale.  He found that the language  and script were the same in the Mailagastota ,    Kallampattuva  and  Tunukai  inscriptions   . Mailagastota was in the   south,  Kallampattuva in the east and  Tunukai  in the north of Sri Lanka .  Medhananda  said that inscriptions  of Kassapa IV were found in  south, east and northwest  of the island. The script and language was the same. 

The Northern Province was originally Sinhala and Buddhist. Mannar pillar inscription of Kassapa IV spoke of three Buddhist viharas in the area, Bahaduru Sen Piyangala, Na Vihara and Rakkha vihara. Kannimaduwa inscription found near Kongarayam kulam , Vavuniya   speaks of Salapavu vehera and its villages. The Province still retains evidence of this civilization. Kirivehera at   Atambagaskada, 6 km from Vavuniya, has a Samadhi Buddha statue, which is  far superior to those found in this area. It is 2’ 21/2” high.   The head dress or ketumala is unique. Villagers says it was brought from elsewhere.

A list of Buddhist sites in the north and east were prepared in 1962 by  Assistant Archaeological Commissioner ,M H Sirisoma. Buddhist Times,  in 2007,   provided a list of Buddhist sites in north and east. Jaffna had 21, Mannar had 4, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu had 104.

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda exploring in the 1990s  found  additional  sites which are not in the Sirisoma map.  He found 17 more locations  in Jaffna district, including 4 on the smaller islands, 19  more for Vavuniya and Mullaitivu , and  32  for Mannar, of which 15 are lined along the sea coast.

Medhananda also   named 48 places in  Jaffna   and 90  places in Vavuniya and Mullaitivu  which had Buddhist ruins. He says this list is not complete, there are other unexplored places. There are more than 20 archaeological sites on Dollar Farm alone. Each time I went to  Vavuniya and Mullaitivu  I found new ruins. Most are in private lands. The ruins showed  remains of stupas, foundations of buildings, statues, pada lanjana, bricks,  tiles,  potsherds. 

Medhananda says the North is full of Buddhist remains, every hill, every mound has a Buddhist   building.  Every village had an aramaya.    Medhananda  said that there were over 1500 Buddhist archaeological sites in the districts of Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar. Each time I went to  Vavuniya and Mullaitivu  I found new ruins. He has found foundations of buildings, lived in caves, inscriptions, pada lanjana and bricks. He says there are many more sites. Medhananda  said there are more than 20  archaeological sites on  the small Dollar Farm village alone.

Vavuniya is  full of Buddhist  ruins. There are  hundreds of  Buddhist ruins In Vavuniya there are three sets of ruins in a straight line, at Mahakachca kodiya,    Erupotana,  and  Periyapuliyam kulam malai. Odiamalai, Thadda malai, Kurundam malai had  inscriptions. Kurundammalai ,  originally Kurunvashoka vihara, had a  lot of ruins. Medhananda said that this was the place  where he saw the most ruins. Have not seen so many ruins in any other place I  have gone to.

Vavuniya and Mullaitivu Buddhist  ruins have not been examined  fully by anyone., said Medhananda . Most of these are not  recorded by Department of Archaeology.  ‘We have never explored these areas, said Medhananda . Our archeology only concentrated on Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa   and a few other places.

From Jaffna to Wilpattu, all along the ocean strip, one sees places with over 100 ruins. No explorations have been done in this area. These sites were never examined carefully, other than presenting a random report.

In his book Pacina passsa, uttara passa, nagenahira palata  ha  uturu palate Sinhala Bauddha Urumaya” Medhananda  gives a list of Buddhist ruins seen by him  in the Northern Province. The viharas seen by Medhananda in his northern explorations include Atambagaskada kiri vihara , Buddhanehela Raja Maha Vihara , Galgiriyagama kanda vihara ,  Iratperiyakulam vihara ,  Kadurugoda vihara ,  Kurundammalai vihara ,  Madukande Dalada vihara , Mahakachcha kodiya vihara,   Mangana vihara . Piyagukatissa vihara , Paribhoga chaitya, Salavana vihara ,  Tonigala vihara ,   Valli vihara, Vedikinarimalai Vaddamana parvata vihara . 

Medhananda  gives  48 places  in Jaffna where he has seen Buddhist ruins He says there are others as well. the places listed are Algiriya, Anai kottai, Analativu,Ariyalai,  Atchuveli, Buddhatottam, Buddhawalawwa,  Chakaveli,  Changanai, Chulipuram,  Chunnakam, Delft,  Elavativu, Gotamalu watte,  Karaitivu,Kodiyavatte Mahiyapiddy,  Mallakam, Manipai, Marattamadam,Mavaddipuram,  Nagachcha kovil precincts,   Nagarkovil, Nainativu,Nallur, Neelavarai, Pinwatte, Ponnalai, Poonaryn,  Pukuditivu, Puloli, Puttur,Sambaturai,Tellipilai,  Tennavali, Tiruadanilai,    Tisamalai,   Tunukai, Udupiddy, Uduvil,  Uratota,Uraturai, Vadukkodai, Valikamam and Valvettiturai. Medhananda says these ruins show bricks, tiles, statues, potsherds, inscriptions.   Most are in private lands, Medhananda observed.

In Vavuniya and Mullaitivu Medhananda has explored the following places: Ariyamadu,Atambagaskada,  Bogaswewa, Buddha kovil,  Bumaya, Chelliyar villu, Chenkal veddi kulam,Chenmadu, Dollar farm, Eeratperiyakulam, Erupothana,    Iluppu kulam,  Iranai illupun kulam, Iranamadu, Irasattiram kulam,Iruvil,Kachchilamadu, Kallaru, Kalnattan kulam, Kalukundammaduwa, Kanagarayam kulam, Kanchiramuddai,  Karadikulam,  Karavil kulam,   Karidikkulam, Kokkavelliya, Kongaraya kulam,  Kontaka karnakulam, Kovil puliyan kulam,Kumbakarna malai,Kurum puliyan kulam, Madukanda, Mahakachchkodiya,Mahamailan kulam, Mamaduwa Manikai,  Maniyar kulam,Mankalkeni,Mannan kadal,Manthri vihara,  Maradamadu,Maratamadu, Menik farm, Mohonnan kulam, Molliyavela,  Mudaliyakulam,Namban kulam, Navagama Kirivehera,  Nayaru,Nedunkerni, Nelukkulam, Nochchiya moddai,Oddusuddan,  Odiyamalai,  Olumaduva, Omandan, Paddikudiirippu, Padivettukulam, Palamoddai, Panaiyan kulam,Panangama,   Patta kattuveli,  Pavattakulam,  Periyakulam,  Periyamar iluppai,Periyauttukai, Pokkaravanni  tunukai, Pudukudi iruppukulam,Puleliya, Pumaduva,   Puravasan kulam,  Puvarasankulam, Ruvanmadu, Samalankulama, Sirappanmaduva,Tachcankulam,Tadikkulam,  Tambankulama, Tapassavellliya,  Tiranamadu,  Tiraviyamalai,Tonigala,Tukkumarattadi, Tuntimuruppu wewa, Udavelikulam, Ulakkulam,Unjaral kaddi, Vadamarachhci, Variyakuddiuru, Veherabanda  wewa, Vettilkulam,  Vettiyakulam and   Yakumadu yaya.

In Mannar  Ven. Medhananda has visited Arippu , Cholayan kaddu,  Compotukki,      Ilukpeyikadachei, Irantivu, Kadappiditti kulam,   Kohala wewa, Kunchi kulam, Magana, Malikai kulam, Mannankulam, Mantota,  Moderagam ara, Mudalikulam, Mukkarayakulam, Mulliyakkulam, Musali, Na vehera,  Olivettikulam, Pachcha addappan wewa,  Paniyankulam,  Pannankamam, Periyanavakkulam, Pesalai, Puliyankulam, Rajakulama, Rajamaduva,Rakkha vihara,  Samadetiya,  Talaimannar, Tiruketiswaram, Ttuvavali,  Valli vihara, Vachinikulam    and Vellantarai. 

Medhananda has given  a detailed description of the sites he has visited. In Vavuniya,  Medhananda   explored Buddanehela  Raja Maha Vihara  . Ruins are fast   deteriorating he said. Galkiriyagama kande vihara, had  remains of a huge stupa , a  Siripatula and ponds. Inscriptions show king Uththiya’s queen had  built   a structure here.

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda has drawn attention to the damage done by ‘non-Buddhists’ (Hindus and Muslims), to the Buddhist monasteries, hermitages and ancient ruins in the north and east. Medhananda says that more than five hundred sites with ancient Buddhist ruins are either destroyed or are being destroyed in the north and east. Lavatories have been built amidst Buddhist ruins in north, he said. Medhananda found a destroyed Buddha statue and moonstone at Oddusuddan.    Others found that ruins at Etambagaskanda and  Kandikulam  had been destroyed. Kantarodai was a large area, now it is reduced to a small area, they said.

 The ruins in Jaffna  and elsewhere are  in danger, said Medhananda speaking  in 2009 during Eelam war IV.  In 2009 Medhananda   wanted the  Department of Archaeology to take control of the Buddhist  ruins in the cleared areas of the Vanni. He said that there were over 1500 such sites in the districts of Vanni, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar.

In 2010 that Medhananda had   told Daily Mirror that  more than 50 sites of archeological importance in the Mullaitivu district have been desecrated by the LTTE and used as bunkers and fortifications. A total of 1633 sites have been desecrated in the Anuradhapura, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu districts and that they should be preserved from further damage. Ellawala Medhananda requested the President to take steps to hand over the control of these archeological sites to the Department of Archaeology for preservation.  Monuments like moon stones and ancient fortresses belonging to 11th century have been severely affected.

The main strategy used to suppress Buddhism in the north and east, was to promptly substitute Hindu kovils for the destroyed Buddhist ruins. Hindu kovils have been built over many of the Buddhist shrines, said Medhananda. LTTE  had put  up a Hindu kovil At Oddusuddan.

Archaeological officers in Vavuniya  complained to the Omanthai police about  a kovil being built in Maligai area, Omanthai  in an  area which has ruins  dated to the Anuradhapura period. Buddhist ruins including ancient ‘stupa’ bases, Sri Pada , bases of buildings, stone pillars, bricks and tiles had been bulldozed and replaced by  statues of Hindu gods. The area, seven acres in extent, has been enclosed as private land and arrangements have been made to build a Kovil there, the report concluded.  ( date not provided).

A Fundamental Rights petition was filed in the Supreme Court in 2019 seeking an order directing the authorities to take immediate action to investigate the imminent danger to the Buddhist religious sites and archaeological sites situated in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. This petition has been filed by attorney-at-Law Dharshana Weraduwage. The petitioner states that he was shocked and dismayed to hear the news that a certain group had bulldozed an area in Maligai, Omanthai, Vavuniya, which had contained archaeological memorials and ruins that belonged to the Anuradhapura period.

The petitioner also states that he came to know that Mullaitivu Police had removed the CCTV system which was installed to the protection of the Mullaitivu Gurukanda Temple. The petitioner further sought an order declaring that fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution under Articles 10, 11, 12 (1), 12(2), 14(1)(e) and 14(1)(f) have been violated by the respondents owing to their inaction.

There is now a impressive large Hindu kovil at Nagadipa. According to Wikipedia, theNainativu  Nagapoosani Amman Temple  is a historic Hindu temple.It has been mentioned since antiquity in Tamil literature, such as Manimekalai and Kundalakesi. it is one of the prominent 64 Shakti Peethams of Hinduism  and was identified as such in the  9^th century  by Adi Shankaracharya,  a Hindu philosopher of Tamilnadu .The present structure was built during 1720 to 1790, concluded Wikipedia.

This is  all nonsense. This kovil was not there in the 1950s when I visited Nagadipa with my parents. It was probably built during the Eelam wars. This  new kovil  is strategically located at the tip of  the island,   facing Jaffna. It has four tall gopurams ranging from 20–25 feet in height, the tallest being the eastern gopuram soaring at 108 feet high.  The  kovil is clearly visible   from  miles away and  gives the impression that Nagadipa is a Hindu island. 

The  annual High Festival of Sri Nagapoosani Amman Temple is supported by the state. The Navy media unit   said in 2019, the annual festival began on July 2 in Nainativu Island. As in previous years, a large number of devotees are arriving for this year’s festival too. Naval personnel of the command provide their assistance in numerous ways for making the festival a success. Naval assistance is extended in a wide range of ways from providing sea transportation for VIPs, coordinating the ferry service between Kurikadduwan and Nainativu, providing drinking water for devotees, arranging safe bathing locations, life-saving assistance for devotees, and providing pier security and security checks. Sri Lanka Navy will assist the annual festival which is scheduled to finish on July 17,assured the navy.

Nagadipa is one of the solosmastana of Buddhist worship. it is the only one  of the  ‘solosmastana’ to be located in the  Northern Province .The new Hindu kovil   is clearly an attempt to wrest this particular solosmastana from Buddhist worship and convert it to Hindu worship.  Buddhists , specially the Maha Sangha , do not seem to mind. When I visited Jaffna last year,  as part of a tour group, those who went to Nagadipa returned speaking admiringly of the Hindu kovil.

However, Nainativu cannot be the Nagadipa mentioned in the Mahavamsa .it is too small. The Jaffna  peninsula is the real Nagadipa. Paul E Pieris has  provided  the necessary evidence. He showed, among other evidence, that Ptolemy called  the Jaffna peninsula   ‘Nagadiboy’.  Vallipuram manuscript of Vasabha called it Nakadiva.   Medhananda, writing in the 1990s, stated his view. Jaffna, Elephant Pass and the islands around it were known originally as Nagadipa, said Medhananda.

Historians find the Mahavamsa reference to  the Chulodara-Mahodara contest at Nagadipa, very useful in reconstructing the settlements of pre-historic Sri Lanka . Historians accept that there was a  community of Nagas  in the Northern province. If so,  this settlement, which had to be a  large one  to accommodate such a fight, could  not have existed on the present Nainativu, which is only two square kilometers in extent. It took place in the Jaffna Peninsula.

Therefore Jaffna must immediately replace Nainativu in the list of   ‘solosmastana’. Facilities must be provided for Buddhists to worship in Jaffna. Buddhists should have asked for this long ago. Jaffna must be  also given back its original name ‘Nagadipa’.( concluded)

Black Leopard Death Court case held on July 29, 2020

A short report

As you would be interested to know, the case relating to the death of the Black Leopard was taken up at the Hatton Magistrate’s Court on July 29, 2020.

The Justice for Animals and Nature organisation ( now in the process of incorporation ) sought to intervene in the Case when the case was resumed.

The legal team comprised:

Anura Meddegoda, P.C. 

Senaka Weeraratna, (Attorney – at – law), and two other Juniors

A number of supporters of our ‘Justice for Animals and Nature’ organisation, were present in court including six monks led by Ven. Omalpe Sobhita Thero, the head of the Sri Bodhiraja Padanama. 

The court proceedings commenced at 9. 35 a.m. Our case was taken up at 11.00 a.m. 

The proceedings dealt mainly with the right of intervention of two external parties that sought to intervene to look after the interest of the dead leopard and animal lovers.

Anura Meddegoda, P.C. made some valid submissions. He pointed out that setting up snares to trap endangered animals was a clear violation of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, No. 2 of 1937 as amended by a number of later statutes.

Furthermore, setting up snares was a non – bailable offence under the law, and therefore the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) had erred in not objecting to the release of the suspect by the Police on Bail.

The Magistrate heard submissions from all relevant parties including the lawyers appearing for the two parties seeking to intervene, the DWC and the lawyer for the suspect.

The Magistrate made the point that the interests of the cultivators who grow food in these areas and their need to protect crops from wild animals must also be taken into account.

The Magistrate said that he will issue the Order concerning the Applications to intervene on October 28, 2020, and adjourned Court.

After we left the Court House ( see the photos attached showing us leaving the Court) we were interviewed by the Media at a nearby Buddhist Temple.

Voice cuts were taken from  Ven. Omalpe Sobhita Thero,  Anura Meddegoda, P.C., Senaka Weeraratna and the Officer from the DWC.

TV News Channels screened scenes recorded on that day in Hatton.

Newspapers published accounts of the case.

I was pleased to learn from the Official of the DWC, that 400 snares meant to trap wild animals in the mountainous areas have already been removed and they are giving priority attention to such work and educating the public in that area not to set up snares.

It is heartening to know that Hon. Mahinda Rajapakse has ordered a probe into Leopard deaths in Snares.

https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay.aspx?newsID=733073

Senaka Weeraratna

(Founder member of ‘Justice for Animals and Nature’)

See also

Election Manifestos must carry commitment to protect Animals  

http://asiantribune.com/node/94515

Election Manifestos must carry commitment to protect Animals and take the cue from the objects of the ‘Justice for Animals and Nature’ organization

By Noor Nizam, Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart and Convener – The Muslim Voice”, August 3rd, 2020.

POLITICAL PARTIES BASED ON COMMUNITY, RELIGION AND COMMUNAL BASIS HAS TO BE BANNED IN SRI LANKA BY THE MAJORITY SINHALESE COMMUNITY AND NATIONALIST SINHALA FORCES IMMEDIATELY UNDER ANY NEW CONSTITUTION TO BE PRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT. FOR THIS –  ALL SINHALA FORCES, INCLUDING THE MAHA SANGHA, THE SLFP, UNP (those who love the maathruboomiya”), JVP AND OTHER PATRIOTIC POLITICAL PARTIES INCLUDING THE SLPP/JO SHOULD GIVE THEIR FULLEST SUPPORT TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. SEVENTY FOUR PERCENTAGE (74% ) SINHALA MP’s (voters) CAN EASILY DO THIS. MINORITY REPRESENTATION SHOULD ONLY BE IN THE NATIONAL PARTIES BY MEMBERSHIP AND BY BEING ELECTED FOR OFFICE IN THOSE PARTIES. If the SLPP will get 2/3 majority on August 5th., 2020 at the general elections, this should be a “priority task” for the new government.

THIS IS THE ONLY WAY VOTE BANK CREATION BY MINORITY COMMUNITY POLITICAL LEADERS (THE MUSLIMS AND TAMILS) WHO TRADE THE VOTE BANK FOR SELFISH PERSONAL BENEFITS, FORGOING THE REAL BENEFITS FOR WHICH THE MINORITY GROUPS, ESPECIALLY THE MUSLIM VOTERS CAN BE SURE TO REAP THE TRUE BENEFITS OF THEIR POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS, BE MADE POSSIBLE / A REALITY. A good example is the confession made by Rauf Hakeem when Rauf Hakeem admitted that he took money from Mahinda Rajapaksa, then President, to vote in favour of the 18th., Amendment Bill to the constitution on September 8th., 2010. One of the SLMC stalwarts, Segu Dawood exposed this incident and Rauf Hakeem admitted it in public. Browse this web link and learn how this political leader (MP. Rauf Hakeem) got money to vote for the 18th., Amendment in parliament on 8th., September 2010.

http://www.jaffnamuslim.com/2016/07/blog-post_144.html  (for Muslim tamil readers).

In 1994, when the SLMC found an opportunity, supported by R. Premadasa to reduce the cut-off point in proportional representation from 12.5 to 5 per cent, in return NOT to field a Muslim candidate as a Presidential candidate, to stop the Muslims voting Premadasa, the SLMC joined the UNP. (Rishad Bathiudeen) and theAtthaullah, regional Eastern province Muslim party), began to adopt THIS POLITICAL TRADING OF THE MUSLIM VOTES” and making DEALS” that was of NO BENEFIT, BUT DETRIMENTAL TO THE MUSLIM FACTOR” which were supported by the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema and so-called Muslim Civil Society groups, whose leadership also were given a SHARE” of these SPOILS and BENEFITS”, became the NORM” of the SLMC, ACMC, NATIONAL CONGRES, ACJU, THE NATIONAL SHOORA COUNCIL and the MUSLIM COUNCIL OF SRI LANKA, in the equation of Minority politics in Sri Lanka since 1994/1980. As a result of these deceptions, the Muslims in Sri Lanka do NOT have a voice – a POLITICAL VOICE” for that purpose. The Muslims did not benefit to resolve their economical, employment, development, land education and fundamental rights issues by VOTING the SLMC, ACMC or THE NATIONAL CONGRESS. The Muslims became POLITICAL ORPHANS” in Sri Lanka at last. Today this has become a MENACE and a SICKNESS in the democratic political process of our country. Not only has it affected the Sri Lanka Muslims, but also PRALALYSED THE DEMOCRATIC RIGHT OF THE MAJORITY SINHALA COMMUNITY WHICH IS 72% OF THE NATION TO MAKE ANY DECECIVE POLITICAL CONCLUSSION BENEFICAL TO THEIR AND OUR MAATHRUBOOMIYA” OR TO AMEND / ADJUST THE CONSTITUTION TO THEIR NEEDS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE NATION AND OUR MAATHRUBOOMIYA”. The present constitutional conflict in parliament is a result of this POLITICAL PLIGHT”.  

With the media uncovering the corruption and deception of the Muslim political leaders in recent times and exposing these DECEPTIVE AND HOODWINKING” Muslim politicians and their operating beneficial gangs, the Muslim political culture has begun to change. 

As for the Muslim Minority Community, the fact remains NOW, they do NOT wish to be represented by these MUNAAFIKK and DECEPTIVE MUSLIM POLITICIANS”. THE SLMC AND ACMC MP’S SHOULD ALSO ACT ON THEIR OWN NOW and decide to support the new government, Insha Allah. We Muslims should set an example like our predecessors who TRUSTED” the majority community in the wake of the British trying to delay giving us independence in 1948. The role of Dr. T B Jayah becomes paramount at this moment to recollect, because had he, or the Muslim community, sided with the British at that time, granting of Independence to Ceylon would have been postponed. It is only because the minorities agreed that there was a United Front of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims asking for Independence. But one man was against it. That was G G Ponnambalam who tried to extract his pound of flesh. He said I will sign on the dotted line only if you agree to Fifty Fifty”. That is 50% of the seats for the Sinhalese and 50% for the minorities. Only if you agree to that, he told D S Senanayake, will I support the call for independence.  Thereby T.B.Jayah totally undercut G G Ponnambalam’s fifty fifty” cry. That was the death knell of Fifty Fifty”. If Jayah joined the fifty fifty” cry at that time, Independence would have been postponed. One has to remember that even the word Sinhala was erased from the political lexicon. S W R D Bandaranaike ditched the idea of the Sinhala Maha Saba and he first joined the UNP and later set up the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which too did not have racial connotations. Everybody felt that communal parties were counter-productive. 

It is time up that a NEW POLITICAL FORCE” that will be honest and sincere that will produce CLEAN” and diligent Muslim Politicians to stand up and defend the Muslim Community politically and otherwise, especially from among the YOUTH has to RISE”, and this NEW POLITICAL FORCE” has to support the new government formed under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and the majority Sinhalese citizens notwithstanding the fact that the Tamils of the North and East and the Upcountry Tamils and all minorities should be equally respected, politically, for a better Sri Lanka, God willing, Insha Allah. Muslims should decide to vote in support of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the New President of Sri Lanka and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and the SLPP/SLFP Alliance on August 5th., 2020 wholeheartedly, and be part of the VICTORY OF THE SRI LANKANS in helping to form a 2/3 majority government by those who love our MAATHRUBOOMIYA”, Insha Allah.     

Sriyanjanaka

කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගතය නිසා නිවසට කොටුවූ “ලොව පුරාම බිලියන 1.2ක්පමණ පාසැල්යන දරුවන්  ඉදැන් ගෙනගන්නේ වෙනස්ම ලෙසකටය. 

ඒ නිසා කලින්  තිබුනු අධ්‍යාපන රටාව වෙනස් වී ඇත.

ඔන්ලයින් ක්‍රමය නිසා ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණය උපයෝගී කරගෙන තමන් කැමති තැනක සිට දැන් දරුවන්ට ඉගෙනගත හැකි බව ලෝක ආර්ථික සංසදය World Economic Forum) පෙන්වා දෙයි.  

පාසැල හා උපකාරක පන්ති වටා බැඳුණු සම්ප්‍රදායික අධ්‍යාපනික රටාවක් තිබුණු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවෙත් අධ්‍යාපනය ඒ අනුව බොහෝ දුරට වෙනස් හෝ වෙනස් වෙමින් ඇත. 

වසංගත සමයේ ස්වාධීන රූපවාහිනී සේවය ඇරඹු ‘ටෙලිවිෂන් ඉස්කෝලේ’ එහි එක් පියවරකි 

මෙයද නිවසේ සිට ඉගෙන ගන්නා දරුවන්ට මග පෙන්වීමකි.  

 නිවසේ සිට තනියම පාඩම් වැඩ කරන්නේ කෙසේද? 

ඒ අභියෝගය පහත දැක්වෙන අයුරින් දරුවන්ට ජයගත හැකිය.

1. ඔබට නිශ්චිත කාලසටහනක් නැතිනම් එවැන්නක් හදාගෙන ඒ අනුවම වැඩ කරන්න. පාසල් දිනයක් සේ හිතාගෙන දවසේවැඩ ටික සැලසුම්කරන්න. 

2. නියමිත වෙලාවක් ඇතුලත පාඩම් වැඩ නිම කරන්න.

3. තමාව පාලනයකරගැනීමට පුරුද වෙමින් අකමැත්තෙන් හෝ නියමිත වැඩ කොටස ඉවර කරන්න. නැතිනම් වැඩ ගොඩ ගැසෙනු ඇත. 

4. පාඩම් කිරීම සඳහා වටපිටාවෙන් බාධාවක් නැති තැනක් තෝරාගන්න. ජංගම දුරකථනයක් වැනි අවධානය බිඳෙන කිසිවක් ළඟ නොතබාගන්න.

 5. සුළු විවේකයක් ගෙන විනෝදාංශයකට යොමු වීමත් අවශ්‍යයි. ඉන් ඔබට නව පණක් ලැබෙන බැවිනි.

 6. මේ පිළිබඳව අමතර තොරතුරු දැනගැනීමට සහ මෙහි අඩංගු තොරතුරු භාවිත කරමින් යම් නිපැයුමක්  කිරීම සඳහා අවසර ලබාගැනීමට Terry  Jenorge 

0776211715 යන දුරකථන අංකය ඔස්සේ අමතන්න. එසේ නැතිනම් PublicInformationDesk@jw.org යන ඊ-ලිපිනයෙන් තොරතුරු විමසන්න 

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන 

19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය පවත්වාගෙන යා යුතුද? එය අහෝසි කළ යුතුද? යන්න සම්බන්ධයෙන් සමාජයේ කතිකාවක් පවතී. 2020 අගෝස්තු 05වන දින පවත්වන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයෙන් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සහාය ලැබෙන ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදු ජන පෙරමුණ 19 අහෝසි කිරීම සදහා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3 මන්ත්‍රී ආසන සංඛ්‍යාවක් බලා පොරොත්තු වේ.

ජනාධිපතිවරයාට සහාය දෙන 2/3 බලයක් ඇති පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් බිහි වුණද? නැති වුවද? අලුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කළ යුත්තේ 19 අහෝසි කිරීමද? 19 නීතියක් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ඉදිරි පියවර ගැනීමද? යන්න මෙම ලිපියෙන් සාකච්ඡාවට ලක් කිරීමට අදහස් කරමි.

මේ පිළිබද සාකච්ඡාව ඇති කිරීම සදහා 1907 අංක 19 දරණ සාමාන්‍ය විවාහ හා දික්කසාද ආඥා පනතේ 15, 16, 18 සහ 19වන වගන්ති උදාහරණයට ගත හැකිය. 

ලංකාවේ විවාහයට පත් වීමට මූලික කොන්දේසි 3ක් සපුරාලිය යුතු බව එහි දැක් වේ.

ඒවා නම්..

1. අවම වයස් සීමාව. (වයස අවුරුදු 18 සම්පූර්ණ වී තිබීම) (15 වගන්තිය)

2. තහනම් ඥාති සබඳතා නොපැවතීම. (16 වගන්තිය)

3. වලංගු පෙර විවාහයක් නොපැවතීම.(18 වගන්තිය)

ඉහත මූලික කොන්දේසි 3ට පටහැනිව විවාහයක් සිදුකරනු ලැබුවහොත් එහිදී වලංගු විවාහයක් ස්ථාපිත නොවන අතර එකී විවාහය මුල පටන්ම ශුන්‍ය සහ බල රහිත විවාහයක් වේ. 

ඉහත කොන්දේසි 3 සපුරන විවාහ පමණක් නීතිය ඉදිරියේ වලංගු විවාහ වන අතර එවැනි වලංගු විවාහ විසුරුවා හැර ගැනීම සදහා ද්වේශ සහගත අතහැරයාම, අනාචාරය සහ විවාහ වන අවස්ථාවේ පැවති ලිංගික බෙලහීනතාවය (1907 අංක 19 දරණ සාමාන්‍ය විවාහ හා දික්කසාද ආඥා පනතේ 19වන වගන්තිය) මත දික්කසාදයක් (DIVORCE) මගින් විවාහය අවලංගු කර ගත හැකිය.එනම් අවම වයස් සීමාව සම්පූර්ණ කර නොතිබීම, තහනම් ඥාති සබඳතා පැවතීම හෝ වලංගු පෙර විවාහයක් පවතින අවස්ථාවක අයෙක් විවාහයකට ඇතුළත් වී තිබෙන විට එය වලංගු විවාහයක් නොවන අතර, එවැනි විවාහ අවලංගු කිරීම සදහා දික්කසාද නඩු පැවරිය නොහැකිය.

අලුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කළ යුත්තේ 19 අහෝසි කිරීමද? 19 නීතියක් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ඉදිරි පියවර ගැනීමද? යන්න නීතිමය ලෙස පැහැදිලි කිරීම සදහා ඉහත උදාහරණය කදිමට සැසදේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව යථා පරිදි සම්මත කර ඇති නීතියක් ඉවත් කළ යුත්තේ අදාල කාර්ය පටිපාටිය අනුගමනය කිරීමෙනි.

එනම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සාමාන්‍ය බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත කර ඇති පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් එවැනි ම වූ සාමාන්‍ය බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් අවලංගු කරගත හැකිය. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකක බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත කරන පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් එවැනිම වූ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකේ බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් අවලංගු කර ගත හැකිය. 

අදාල පනත් කෙටුම්පත සාමාන්‍ය බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත විය යුතු ද? තුනෙන් දෙකේ බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත විය යුතු ද? එසේ නොමැති නම් තුනෙන් දෙකේ බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සහ ජනමත විචාරණයකින් ජනතාව විසින් ද අනුමත විය යුතු ද යන්න තීරණය කරන්නේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසිනි. ඒ අදාල කෙටුම්පත ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ දී ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථානුකූලභාවය සම්බන්ධ පරීක්ෂණය කරන අවස්ථාවේ තීරණය ලබා දෙමිනි.

පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් නීතියක් වන්නේ කෙසේ ද යන්න ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 80 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ඉතා පැහැදිලිව දක්වා ඇත. 

ඒ අනුව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකක බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත කර ජනතාව විසින් ජනමත විචාරණයකින් ද අනුමත කළ යුතු යැයි දක්වා ඇති විධිවිධානයක්  පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකක ඡන්දයෙන් පමණක් සම්මත කර ඇති විට එය කිසිසේත් නීතියක් බවට පත් නොවේ. නීතියක් බවට පත් වී නැති පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් ඉවත් කිරීමට හැකියාවක් නැත්තේ ප්‍රතිපාන ඇත්තේ නීතියක් ඉවත් කිරීමට පමණක් වන හෙයිනි. 

එනම් මෙම ලිපියේ ආරම්භයේ දී සාකච්ඡාවට ලක් කළ වලංගු විවාහයක් සඳහා පමණක් දික්කසාදයක් ලබාගත හැකි අතර, වලංගු විවාහයක් නැති අවස්ථාවක දික්කසාදයක් ලබා ගත නොහැකි බවත්ය .

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට අනුව 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මේ දක්වා නීතියක් වී නැති බව...

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට අනුව 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මේ දක්වා නීතියක් වී නැති බවට නීතිඥයන් ඇතුලුව සමාජ කතිකාවක් පවතී. එය ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් බවද ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම නීති ලේඛකයන් අදහස් දක්වා ඇත. 

‘දිවයින ඉරිදා සංග්‍රහය’ ඇතුලු ‘ලංකා වෙබ්’, ‘ලංකා ලීඩ් නිව්ස්’, ‘ලංකා බෙබ් ටුඩේ’, ‘නීතියඑල්කේ’ වැනි වෙබ් අඩවි මගින් මේ පිළිබදව ජනතාව දැනුවත් කරමින් ලිපි ප්‍රසිද්ධ කර ඇත.

මෙම ලිපිය කියවන පාඨකයන්ගේ පහසුව සදහා එකී වෙබ් අඩවිවල අදාල ලිපි සදහා

සැබැදියන් පහත දක්වා ඇත.

19වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් කළ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක්. එය තවමත් නීතියක් වී නෑ…! නීතිඥවරයෙක්ගෙන් ජනාධිපතිට ඉල්ලීමක්…..!

19වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් කළ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක්. එය තවමත් නීතියක් වී නෑ…! නීතිඥවරයෙක්ගෙන් ජනාධිපතිට ඉල්ලීමක්…..,

* 19 ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය කළ අයට දඬුවම් කරන්න… !

https://divaina.com/sunday/index.php/visheshanga1/13222-2020-02-07-11-49-41

19 නොපෙනෙන ඇත්ත…

https://divaina.com/sunday/index.php/deshapalana2/13532-2020-02-28-03-11-134

How the Speaker deprived the franchise of judges, lawyers, university lecturers, teachers, public servants, journalists and other citizens in 2015, which was secured by the Supreme Court in 2002.* (Aruna Laksiri Unawatuna)

http://lankanewsweb.org/archives/24330

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කරමින්,ජනමතවිචාරණ ඡන්ද අයිතිය ජනතාවගෙන් උදුරාගත් 19යේ කුමන්ත්‍රණකරුවන්ගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය අහෝසි කරනු….!

http://lankanewsweb.org/archives/24318

19යටත් වරදින ලකුණු!

https://www.lankaleadnews.com/?p=53508

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දුවකට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයකින් නියම කළ ජනමතවිචාරණයක් අවලංගු කළ හැකිද?

http://lankanewsweb.org/archives/22821

19වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය තවමත් නීතියක් වී නෑ…. ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් කළ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක්! පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3ක් නැතුවම 19 දොට්ට වැටේ!

http://lankanewsweb.org/archives/22497

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් 2002දී තහවුරු කළ විනිසුරුවරු, නීතිඥවරු , විශ්ව විද්‍යාල කථිකාචාර්යවරු, ගුරුවරු, රජයේ සේවකයන්, මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ඇතුළු ඡන්ද දායකයන්ගේ ඡන්ද බලය 2015 දී කථානායකවරයා විසින් අහිමි කළ ආකාරය.

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2020/05/2002-19-2015-1.html?m=1

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නීති ඉතිහාසයේ කලු පැල්ලම ……!

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2020/04/19-19.html?m=1

19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය මුල් වරට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත්තේ වර්ෂ 2002 දී බව දන්නා කාරණයක් විය හැකිය.

19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් වර්ෂ 2002 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ අතර වසරකින් පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීමෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා සීමා කරන විධිවිධාන ඇතුළත් කිරීමට එනම් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 70වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට ඉන් ප‍්‍රයත්න දරා තිබුණි. 

19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මුල්වරට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබුණේ 2002 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 19 වන දින ව්‍යාපාර සංවර්ධන, කර්මාන්ත ප‍්‍රතිපත්ති හා ආයෝජන ප‍්‍රවර්ධන සහ ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා කටයුතු අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් වන අතර 2002 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 11 වන දින ගැසට් පත‍්‍රයේ එය පළ කර ඇත.

එම 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මගින් හඳුන්වා දී තිබූ වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට වන විධිවිධානය ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනිය යන පදනමින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ අභියෝගයට ලක්කරන ලද අතර සරත් නන්ද සිල්වා (අ.වි), වඩුගොඩුපිටිය (වි), බණ්ඩාරනායක (වි) ඉස්මයිල් (වි) එදිරිසූරිය (වි) සහ යාපා (වි) ජේ. ඒ. එන් ද සිල්වා (වි) විසින් 2002 ඔක්තෝබර් 1 සහ 3 යන දිනවල ඒ සම්බන්ධව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විභාගයට ගන්නා ලදී.

එහි තීරණය අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම වළක්වන විධිවිධානය නීතියක් වන්නේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ සම්මතය සහ ජනමතවිචාරණයකදී ජනතාව විසින්ද අනුමත කිරීමෙන් පසුව බව දක්වා ඇත.

ඒ අනුව වර්ෂ 2015 දී දෙවන වරටත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ ඇති ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 70 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරමින් වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීමෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා වළක්වන විධිවිධානයටත්, 2002 ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය අනුව ජනමත විචාරණයකින් ජනතාව අනුමත කිරීම අවශ්‍යම විය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව, ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණවලට එකඟව කටයුතු කරන්නේ නම් වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම ජනාධිපතිට සීමා කිරීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් නැවත 2015 දී සිදුකරන්නේ නම් ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 80.2 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නීතියක් බවට පත්කරන ආකාරයේ සහ 79 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ (අවසන් විධානය) පනත් කෙටුම්පත හෝ ඒ විධිවිධානය ජනතාව විසින් ජනමත විචාරණයක දී අනුමත කරනු ලබන තෙක් නීතිය බවට පත් නොවිය යුතු බවට වන කථානායකවරයාගේ සහතිකයක් සඳහන් සටහනක් තබා යොමු කළ යුතු විය.

නමුත් මේ දක්වා එය සිදු වී නැත. එනම් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ අනුව නීතියක් වී නැති 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය බලහත්කාරයෙන් නීතියක ආරෝපණය ලබා දී ක්‍රියාත්මක කරගෙන යාමට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා කටයුතු කරන බව පෙනී යයි. 

විවාහය සම්බන්ධව මෙම ලිපිය ආරම්භයේදී ගත් උදාහරණයට අනුව වයස අවුරුදු 18 අඩු තැනැත්තන් විවාහයකට ඇතුලත් වි සිටින විට එය නීත්‍යානුකූල විවාහයක් ලෙස නීතිය නොදැන කටයුතු කරනවා මෙනි.

ඉදිරියේ පත්වන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සහ ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කටයුතු කළ යුත්තේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කරන ආකාරයට නොවේ. ඔවුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණවලට ගරු කළ යුතුය. 

70 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනයේ දී ජනමත විචාරණයකට යා යුතු බවට ශේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් දක්වා ඇති විධානය පැවති පාර්ලිමේන්තුව අනුකූලව කටයුතු කර නැති හෙයින් එය වහා නිවැරදි කිරීම නීතියේ පාලනය සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය බව අලුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තේරුම් ගත යුතුය. 

ඒ අනුව අලුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කළ යුත්තේ මේ දක්වා නීතියක් වී නැති 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3 බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම නොව එකී පනත් කෙටුම්පතට 2015 සිටි කතානායකවරයා යොදා ඇති වැරදි සටහන නිවැරදි කර එය ජනමත විචාරණයකට යොමු කරන ලෙස ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 79 ව්‍යවතාවේ අවසන් විධානය අනුව සටහන් යොදා,  80.2 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ 19 නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ඉදිරි පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස දැනුම් දීමයි. එනම් දැනටමත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකක බහුතර ඡන්දයක් ලැබී ඇති හෙයින් 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත ජනමතවිචාරණයකට යොමු කිරීමට අදාල වන 80.2 ව්‍යවස්ථාව පියවර ගැනීමයි.

එනම් 2015 සිදු කර ඇති වැරැද්ද නිවැරදි කිරීමයි.

Courtesy UNILAD

No prison can hold this heroin-smuggling cat. After a short stint behind bars, the feline has escaped. 

On Saturday, August 1, an unnamed cat was caught by jail officials and detained in the high-security Welikada Prison in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

This wasn’t an innocent house pet out exploring its surroundings – wrapped around the cat’s neck, nearly two grams of heroin, two SIM cards and a memory chip were found in a small plastic bag.

Regretfully, this is only one of a number of instances of contraband and drugs being transported near the prison. Over the past few weeks, there’s been a reported increase in items being thrown over the walls, whether it be small packets of drugs or mobile phones and chargers.

As reported by the MailOnline, the detained cat made its escape from a prison room it was being kept in on Sunday, August 2. There’s been no further comment from the prison regarding the escapee smuggler.

The country is currently amid the storm of a major drugs problem; according to local media reports, a number of narcotics detectives have been implicated in selling illegal substances.

At a recent gathering, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa insisted that the country would one day be ‘free from drugs [the] same way as it was freed from terrorism’.

Also, in addition to last weekend’s cat, Athurugiriya Police were forced to seize an eagle that had allegedly been used for drug trafficking by associates of the late underworld kingpin Angoda Lokka.

The white-bellied sea eagle – said to be capable of carrying around 15kg in weight – has since been handed over to Dehiwala National Zoo on a court order.

Courtesy Deccan Herald

Sri Lanka’s underworld gangster Angoda Lokka, who was hiding in Coimbatore under the name of Pradeep Singh for the past two years, died on July 3 under mysterious circumstances. Three people, who claimed to be the kingpin’s relative and cremated his body in Madurai after taking it from Coimbatore by road, have now been arrested.

Lokka, whose real name is Maddumage Lasantha Chandana Perera, is understood to have been living in the industrial city of Coimbatore since 2018, following his escape from Sri Lanka.

Amani Thanji, a Sri Lankan national who was living with him, Sivagami Sundari from Madurai and Dyaneswaran from Tiruppur have been arrested for helping Lokka procure fake documents and cremating him in Madurai.

Since the case has international ramifications, Tamil Nadu government transferred the probe to its CB-CID wing. The Coimbatore Police began a probe after it received an input from Sri Lankan Government that Lokka was murdered in the city. Sri Lanka believes Lokka was poisoned to death in Coimbatore.

Police said Lokka was taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on July 3 by the trio who said he has suffered a cardiac arrest. The trio, who claimed to have been his relatives, admitted Lokka as Pradeep Singh and produced Aadhar card and other documents as proof to the hospital authorities.

After Lokka was declared dead, the trio collected his body and travelled to Madurai for cremation, the reason for which is not known immediately. The trio had produced the aforementioned documents for travelling to Madurai for the cremation.

Courtesy Daily Mirror

• FETO members residing in Sri Lanka have left the country
• Schools operated by them sold to a Sri Lankan businessman 

Turkish ambassador Rakibe Demet Şekercioğlu, in an interview with Daily Mirror, speaks about Fetullahist Terrorist Organization, commonly known as FETO and its operations in Sri Lanka in the past.  The interview:

  Q   How do you describe FETO?

Fetullahist Terrorist Organization, commonly known as FETO is a clandestine, criminal and terrorist network. It is unprecedented in terms of its global reach, ambitions and methods. Let me explain: in the 1970s, Fetullah Gülen and his followers disguised themselves as a benign, charitable education movement. They first started establishing schools in Turkey and later around the world. At the peak of their power, they controlled thousands of schools in Turkey and more than eight hundred educational institutes worldwide.
It appeared years later that this was the first step of an infiltration campaign where kids and their parents were recruited. The promise seemed to be innocent: a better education and a good job. Actually, they were indoctrinated and turned into unquestioning foot soldiers of Fetullah Gülen who claims to be the Chosen One”. The second step was to infiltrate FETO affiliated students into critical government posts. Mass-scale exam cheatings were organized.
Thus, the organization that disguised itself as an education movement gradually turned into a secretive operational structure aiming to transform the society by taking control of the Turkish state from within, destroying democratic foundations of the Republic and establishing a new state under the absolute rule of Fetullah Gülen, whom it considers as Imam of the Universe”.
Of course, one had to finance these subversive activities. It was taken care of by holding companies and donations from business people. Media houses were established to shape the public opinion. They soon became the focal point of the actions taken against journalists, academicians, bureaucrats and military officers who opposed or tried to expose the organization and its malicious goals. FETO also started meddling in business transactions and government tender processes. Laundering enormous sums of money, arranging illegal transfers of cash and other financial crimes became business as usual. The FETO members infiltrating critical state posts abused their power to eliminate who opposed the organization, by illegal wiretapping, fabricating evidence, unlawful arrests, thereby intimidating and blackmailing a large segment of the society.
As one of the most brutal attacks in our history, the coup attempt on July 15 in 2016 was FETO’s final move in reaching its ultimate aim to take control over the Turkish state. Since the coup attempt, Turkish government agencies have been struggling to raise awareness about the malicious activities of FETO and to ban its operations not only in Turkey but all around the world.

  Q   What action has been taken by Turkey to prevent similar incidents in the future?

During the past four years, the fight against FETO both inside and outside Turkey has been one of our main priorities.
Within Turkey, our efforts are being conducted under three pillars. Firstly, on the basis of the rule of law, the perpetrators of the 15th of July coup attempt have been brought to justice. Several judicial processes are still undergoing by relevant authorities and investigations have been carried about FETO. Secondly, FETO’s organizational structure within governmental institutions has been unveiled; administrative and judicial procedures have been initiated against its members and hence the parallel state structure” has been brought down. Finally, apart from those within the governmental institutions, FETO’s attempts to spread across all areas of the economy via its shell entities, particularly in the education, media and banking sectors, have been thwarted inside Turkey.
As these developments took place, FETO has undergone a significant transformation. The organization, which lost its backbone in Turkey, is now trying to survive by making use of its structure abroad. Actually, FETO had also established itself in around 160 countries including Sri Lanka, through schools, businesses, NGOs and media houses. Thus, fighting against the structures of FETO abroad has gained significance.
The main objective of our efforts is to demonstrate and prove the fact that FETO also poses a threat to the security of other countries where it remains active. In this regard, we have carried out approximately 16,000 initiatives at various levels to inform our foreign partners regarding the malicious activities of FETO affiliated entities and individuals. We are satisfied with the rising awareness against this group. As one of the concrete results of these official initiatives, several international organizations have adopted vital resolutions regarding FETO. It was declared as a terrorist organization by the Organization of Islamic Countries, the Asian Parliamentary Assembly.
We have requested the extradition and the freezing of the assets of FETO members from the countries where these persons are located. The awareness raised regarding FETO in third countries has also stimulated closer monitoring and investigation of the activities related to these elements by the officials of some countries. Unlawful acts carried out by FETO affiliated organizations have thus been revealed in various countries. FETO affiliated schools and education centres in 38 countries were closed down or taken over by the relevant country.

  Q   Turkey briefed Sri Lankan authorities about the presence of Fetullahist terrorists in various activities in Sri Lanka. What is the outcome of your engagement with Sri Lanka?

Both Turkey and Sri Lanka have been the target of terrorist organizations for many decades. Thousands of innocent civilians have lost their lives, many other have been wounded and still bear the physical and psychological marks of the tragedy they lived. Lives and families have been destroyed. Having been experiencing the same challenges, Turkey and Sri Lanka understand each other very well and have developed a good cooperation, especially at international level.
It would have been naive to think that a criminal network like FETO with a global economic and political aim, would not sick to establish itself in Sri Lanka, which is such a strategically located country.  Thus, FETO was also present in Sri Lanka. They were running a school, a chamber of commerce, a cultural foundation and various businesses. As their aim and modus operandi is the same all around the world, it was our duty to awake our Sri Lankan friends regarding the threat that FETO represented for the island.
For the last four years, we have been cooperating with all relevant Sri Lankan authorities to eliminate FETO’s presence in Sri Lanka. We have provided them with all necessary information regarding FETO affiliated individuals and entities in Sri Lanka. In coordination with the local authorities, we were able to establish a mechanism to limit their mobility in the country.
I am very pleased that our collective efforts have resulted successfully. We have been informed that FETO affiliated school was sold out to a Sri Lankan businessman and FETO members residing in Sri Lanka have left the country. While extending our sincere thanks to all relevant Sri Lankan authorities for the positive outcome of our efforts, I would like to underline the fact that FETO members could try to come back to Sri Lanka as soon as they would see an opportunity.
Sri Lanka has very tragically experienced last year during the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, where two Turkish young engineers lost also their lives, the dangers that may occur when the activities of terrorist organisations are not properly traced. We believe that after almost thirty years of civil war, the people of this pearl island deserve finally to live in peace. Therefore, considering Turkey’s last fifty years’ experience, we call upon Sri Lankan authorities to be always cautious about FETO affiliated individuals and entities.

  Q   How do you view the present situation in Turkey as far as terrorist activities are concerned?

Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a growing source of concern for Turkey. We are certainly one of the countries who have suffered most from terrorism. For many decades, we have been fighting in different fronts against a number of terrorist organizations such as DAESH, PKK and its Syrian offshoot, PYD/YPG as well as FETO, to only mention some of them.
Unfortunately, we see a drastic proliferation of terrorist groups all around the world that possess enhanced capacity to inflict serious physical damage on us, and ever increasing ability to disseminate their narratives” and to lure young people to commit heinous acts of violence. 
 We spare no effort to protect our people, our frontiers and our soil. Actually, Turkey has been the only country to physically fight against DAESH.  We have so far conducted three successful operations to eliminate the DAESH as well as PKK and PYD/YPG threat along our borders with Syria. Most recently, we have been conducting anti-terror operations, namely Claw-Eagle and Claw-Tiger operations” in northern Iraq against PKK targets. Our efforts to eliminate FETO threat both in and outside of Turkey are also ongoing.
We consider those terrorist groups and their activities as a fundamental threat to international peace and security, and we urge our partners to fight this threat globally, without any discrimination. Supporting one terrorist organization to defeat another is an unhealthy approach that might have serious security ramifications in future. 
 Turkey actively contributes in fighting against terrorism and radicalization in international fora. 

  Q   How does Turkey cooperate with Sri Lanka to contain radicalization?

Although Turkey and Sri Lanka are geographically far from each other, we share many similarities and challenges. Both countries are located in strategic regions, our nations are composed of various ethnic and religious groups, our youth have been exploited by terrorist and radical groups to serve their violent and criminal purposes and we faced separatist terrorism for many decades.
We are worried to see that extremist radical ideologies and tendencies that had gained a solid ground recently all around the world also threaten peace and security of Sri Lankan society. But, one of our strengths is that the two countries have a long past of cooperation on countering terrorism and radicalisation.  

Courtesy Daily Record

David Swindle, who linked serial killer Peter Tobin to the murder of schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton, will meet with Diane to see if he can help get some of her assets back.

The retired police officer who linked serial killer Peter Tobin to the murder of schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton is to try to help a Scot recover the life savings she was conned out of by her Sri Lankan husband.

In June, we told how Diane Peebles, 61, from Edinburgh, fled Sri Lanka fearing for her life after armed men were hunting for her.

Her husband Priyanjana, 33 years her junior, who had also married a local woman ­bigamously, had already been shot dead by gangsters.

Now David Swindle, a partner in the Justice Abroad group that tries to help British families affected by serious crime on foreign shores, will meet with Diane to see if he can help get some of her assets back.

David co-founded Justice Abroad, which has been helping families seeking justice.

They include the relatives of Craig Mallon, 26, from ­Coatbridge, murdered eight years ago on Llloret de Mar, Spain, and Kirsty Maxwell, 27, from Livingston, who died in April 2017 after plunging from a balcony in Benidorm, Spain.

David said: It takes a lot of courage to talk about what has happened, as Diane has done. Often women feel ashamed and don’t want to talk about it because they feel foolish.

But by opening up, they let other victims know they are not alone and there can be strength as well as comfort in finding others who know exactly what they have gone through.

These women deserve our sympathy and our support.”

Diane spent about £100,000 on the family of her husband.

It cost her some £60,000 to build a house for her to share with Priyanjana in the grounds of his parents’ home.

She was told it was difficult for a foreigner to own ­property in Sri Lanka, so agreed to the house being put
in her husband’s name. It is now being used by two of Priyanjana’s brothers, who are living there rent-free.

She also spent £31,000 on a car for Priyanjana to use as a taxi, as well as furnishing their home.

Diane’s in-laws made it hard for her to leave after Priyanjana’s murder as she was still paying most of their bills. She no longer had enough cash for a ticket home, and was wary of abandoning her assets.

In the end, she was only able to escape with help from a couple of Sri Lankan men who she befriended online, including a retired police officer. One of them even put her up in his family home for a while.

She also spent a few days in a hotel where armed men turned up looking for her just before she flew back to Scotland.

In June, we reported Diane was keen to find a lawyer who would help her recover her assets.

She is still trying to secure legal help and has written to her MP Deidre Brock and MSP Ben Macpherson asking whether the Scottish or UK Governments might be able to offer support.

Yoshitha Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

In August 2016, the State Intelligence Service (SIS) had informed former Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka with regard to number of issues pertaining to Sri Lankan’s who hold the Islamic State (IS) ideology, the possible impact of the IS ideology on Sri Lanka, Sri Lankans who had joined the IS organisation and certain Madrasa schools where extremist preachings were practiced within the country, former Director of SIS Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena last week informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks.

Testifying before the Commission, Jayawardena said that in a presentation, the SIS had informed Ratnayaka on ‘Ishaq Ahmed’, who first went to Syria and joined IS organisation and about his brother ‘Nilam’, who later left for Syria under Ishaq’s guidance.

“Ishaq Ahmed left for Syria with his family. It was later informed that Ishaq’s brother Nilam also went to Syria with his wife, parents and six children. We got to know that two brothers joined IS and subsequently Nilam had died in an attack,” witness said.

Jayawardena said that the SIS also received information with regard to transactions made by several extremist organisations using ‘Dark Web’. “Most of these transactions happened using cryptocurrency,” witness said.

Witness said that the certain extremist groups also circulated IS ideologies exchanging messages through apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram.

Jayawardena said that the SIS had also learned, during the particular period those who had not been able to join the IS organisation, were planning to do something within Sri Lanka.

“It was more likely to planning an attack. Abdul Latif Jameel Mohammed, a resident from Kandy who detonated himself at a lodge in Dehiwala, was also identified as an individual who made such plans,” witness said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• We estimated the election would cost over Rs. 7.5 billion. But now we saw it is close to Rs.10 billion. We hope we can limit it to that. That is a colossal amount. We need to try and reduce costs. But we needed face masks and sanitizers. We need to sanitize voters three times at polling booths
• We have requested all contesting political parties and independent groups to send two agents each to the receiving centres to observe and confirm the arrival of the ballot boxes and they will remain in the receiving centres overnight 
• We have requested all contesting political parties and independent groups to send two agents each to the receiving centres to observe and confirm the arrival of the ballot boxes and they will remain in the receiving centres overnight together with our staff, Police officers and others 
• We are monitoring and we will request social media users not to violate election laws. But we have no legal authority to prevent them from posting anything on social media. No one holds control over social media

With just hours to go before the 2020 Parliamentary Election, Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya spoke to the Daily Mirror online on the preparations for the polls, concerns and his future plans  

Excerpts of the interview: 

Q Take us through the preparations made for the Parliamentary Election…

We have assigned the health sector staff for each polling booth. There will be at least one officer for each polling booth. We will be allocating health staff to the counting centres to monitor the counting agents and ensure they don’t have any symptoms of the coronavirus.   

We are happy with the arrangements. Credit must go to the District teams, Government Agents and our Additional Commissioner and others. We only gave the instructions while the implementation was by the officers on the ground. Its not just the Election Commission staff but the entire public sector is involved.  

• EC Chairman prepares for his last poll 
• Likely to step down in September  
• Calls for enactment of proposed laws

QThere had been concerns that voters in quarantine may not be able to vote…

Yes, we had proposed advanced voting and mobile booths for the people in quarantine but that had to be scrapped. There were legal barriers.  The Commission felt this would be the first step to move forward but we received some objections from the public. They questioned why give only people in quarantine special treatment and not others.  So we sought legal advise and decided to scrap the move. 

Finally, we decided that the voters in home quarantine will visit the polling booths on the day of the election and vote between 4pm and 5pm. They can come only with their family members and not mix with others. They will be given a special cubicle. Voters who have completed 14 days mandatory quarantine must be cleared by the Ministry of Health or Public Health Inspectors to be able to vote. 

Even voters who have completed 14 days mandatory quarantine process must be cleared by the Ministry of Health or Public Health Inspectors to be able to vote as ordinary voters

QThe cost of this election has increased as a result of coronavirus. How much of an increase have we seen so far?

We estimated the election would cost over Rs. 7.5 billion. But now we saw it is close to Rs.10 billion. We hope we can limit it to that. That is a colossal amount. We need to try and reduce costs. But we needed face masks and sanitizers. We need to sanitize voters three times at polling booths. So we needed 15ml of sanitizing liquid for that.  

QBased on the process because of coronavirus, how longer does it take for one voter to cast his/her vote?

The ballot paper for this election is also quite lengthy. There are 42 political parties and independent groups contesting in Colombo. In Ampara there are 54. So anyway it would take time with so many parties and groups in the ballot paper. And then we have the health guidelines. In one hour, we believe 100 voters would be able to cast their votes. Under normal circumstances, it is 120. That is why we have extended the time of the polling by an hour. However, we feel by 3.00pm, most voters would have cast their votes.  

Q Could you elaborate the counting process?

This is the first time in Sri Lanka, we will commence the counting of votes the next day. Normally we start counting after a maximum of five hours, but this time it will be after more than 15 hours. Once the voting comes to an end, we will store the ballot boxes inside the respective counting centres behind locked doors. The counting will begin on the next day. We have decided to do that because our staff members would work for over 10 hours and some of the same staff members would be involved in counting as well. Some would be there from the previous day and they would have worked continually for more than 36 hours. We feel if they become exhausted, virus could enter their system and make them ill. So the best solution for us, is to start counting the next day. Also, it gives them a fresh start. Counting at night is actually an issue and the efficiency would also become zero. So the best thing is to commence the next day (August 6) and complete the process on that day itself.  

 We have submitted proposals to Parliament more than five times. Yet they have not been enacted. The proposals include a ceiling on expenditure by candidates, rules for campaign financing, income and expenditure etc. We hope by the next Parliamentary election in 2025, these proposals would be made a law

QMost importantly, how about the security arrangement for the ballot boxes overnight?

That’s a good question. The ballot papers are brought to the receiving centres along with the signed documents of the staff and will be pasted on the box. That is one security measure. No one will be allowed to open the box and make any change.   

In the past, the ballot boxes arrive at the counting centres and agents were there to begin counting. This time the ballot boxes will be kept inside large cardboard cartons and sealed overnight. We have requested all contesting political parties and independent groups to send two agents each to the receiving centres to observe and confirm the arrival of the ballot boxes and they will remain in the receiving centres overnight together with our staff, Police officers and others who will be authorized to stay. Meanwhile, no one will be allowed to remain at the counting centres till the following day. So there will not be any tampering with the ballots papers and boxes.  

Q Isn’t this the first election we are not having foreign observers?

No, even at some elections in the past, there were instances where we haven’t had foreign election observers. But usually at Parliamentary elections, we used to have foreign observers. Some Asian election observers were expected to be deployed using young volunteers who are here. We will have local monitoring groups as well.  
Anyway, political parties are sending their agents and our staff will also be there, and hence, there is no concern. Also, the journalists will be around as well. Unlike in the olden days, everyone has a smart phone nowadays and nothing can escape that easily. Information is shared on social media platforms such as Facebook, Viber, Whats app and Twitter.  

QTalking about social media platforms, at the last election there were concerns that social media was misused, especially during the ‘silent period’. Is the Commission monitoring them?

Yes, we are monitoring and we will request social media users not to violate election laws. But we have no legal authority to prevent them from posting anything on social media. No one holds control over social media. The only way is to suspend social media, then people will use VPN to circumvent the ban. So, administrators of the social media pages should respect the election regulations as how they respect their religions. We have made appeals. But there is no law.  

QSome of the mainstream media have also violated election laws at past elections…

Mainstream electronic media is using frequencies which belong to the public. So we have requested the electronic media not to misuse the frequencies. But we cannot take action against them.  

QBut then isn’t the Commission weak if you cannot take action against those who violate your guidelines?

Do you think punishment is the solution? We have submitted proposals to Parliament more than five times. Yet they have not been enacted. The proposals include a ceiling on expenditure by candidates, rules for campaign financing, income and expenditure etc. We hope by the next Parliamentary election in 2025, these proposals would be made a law.  

QTill when are you hoping to hold onto office?

The Commission needs to step down by November 13, 2020. Personally, I have certain matters which I need to look into. So I hope to step down by September 15. I have been involved in the government services since 1977. In 1983, I joined the Election Department. I feel it’s more than enough.   

Courtesy Adaderana

Four arrivals from Saudi Arabia have tested positive for COVID-19 virus, stated the Department of Government Information.

The count of total coronavirus cases reported in the country is now at 2,828.

As per the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, 300 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals.

The recovery tally from the disease was pushed to 2,517 cases today (03) as 03 patients regained their health and were discharged from the hospital.

Sri Lanka has witnessed 11 deaths from the virus so far.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Constitutional Council is set to convene today (03) presided by the Speaker of the Eighth Parliament Karu Jayasuriya.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and other members of the Constitutional Council are scheduled to join the discussion at the Speaker’s official residence.

The vacancies in the office including the vacancies and compensation in the Human Rights Commission and the Public Service Commission will be discussed at the meeting.

In addition, the quarterly progress reports from the Finance Commission, the Audit Services Commission and the National Procurement Commission will be evaluated.

Today’s assembly of the Constitutional Council is the final sitting of the Eighth Parliament.

The Constitutional Council has met 93 times during the period of the Eighth Parliament.

Courtesy Adaderana

The assignment and training of election officials with regard to the General Election 2020 is reportedly in its final stages.

District Returning Officers stated that the issuance of ballot boxes will commence tomorrow (04).

Colombo District Returning Officer Pradeep Yasaratne stated that four polling stations have been set up to count the votes this election.

Senior Officers in Charge of the Polling stations will be referred to the respective polling stations before 1 pm tomorrow, Anuradhapura Returning Officer R. M. Wanninayake said.

Counting of votes in Kalutara District will be done at 3 polling stations, according to the District Returning Officer U. D. C. Jayalal.

Meanwhile, 10 senior polling officers who were selected for election duties have been removed and replaced by another group.

The decision was taken following complaints that the relevant officers had attended a political meeting, stated Nuwara Eliya District Returning Officer Rohana Pushpakumara.

Courtesy Hiru News

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa today took action to provide a library to Sirimavo Bandaranaike Primary School following a request made by a student during his recent visit to Medirigiriya.<br /><br />A special feature of this library is that an old double decker bus has been repaired and made use for the library.

Courtesy  Hiru News

Dr. Deepika Udagama has tendered her resignation from the post as chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Deepika Udagama has informed the Constitutional Council that she will resign from the post of Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka with effect from September 01.

Chairman of the Constitutional Council Karu Jayasuriya stated that she has informed the Constitutional Council in this regard.

ආචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර 

2020. 8. 2. මහනුවරදීය

බටහිර අච්චුවේ නිර්මානයන්වු කොලඹ සන්ස්කෘතියේ හැදුනු දේශප්රේමය අභිභවා චන්දප්රේමයෙන් මුසපත්වූ  රට ජාතිය නසන දේශද්රෝහී ජාති ද්රෝහී  දේශපාලන ඥයින් සියල්ල පන්නාඅදමා  රටට, ජාතියට හා සාශනයට ආදරය කරණ උගත්, බුධිමත් චරිතවත් දේශප්‍රේමී ගැමි නායකයින් පමණක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තෝරා යැවීමට ඇති හොන්දම  අවස්ථාවයි මේ.

මේ රතේ ඉතිහාශයේ ආරම්භයේ සිට 1815 දක්වාම  සින්හල නමින් එකම ජාතියක්ව සිටි මේ රටේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතිය විනාශකිරීම සන්දහා සුද්දන් විසින් මේ රටේ ජාතීන් කීපයක් ඇතැයි යඅන අයිතිහාසික මිත්යාව  මුල්බැස්සවීමට අටවාගිය පක්ශ දේසපාලනය නැමැති මර උගුලේ 1948 දී අසුවූ අපේ මෝඩ දේසපාලකයින්  ආණ්ඩු පිහිටුවීම සන්දහා සහ බලය රැකගැනීම සදහා එදා සිටම කලේ ඊනියා සුළුජාතීන් යයි කියන මේ රටට ආගන්තුකවූ, එහෙත් මිහිබට සුරපුරක්බදු මේ රට එහි භුමුපුත්‍රයින්වූ සින්හල ජාතිය විනාශකොට බලහත්කාරයෙන් හා කුමන්ත්‍රණයෙන් අල්ලාගනීමට දවල් සිහින දකින දෙමළ සහ මරක්කල ජන කොටස්වල චන්දය ලබාගැනීම සන්දහා   ඔවුන්ට වරදාන දෙමින් ශින්හල ජාතිය සහ වසර 2500 කට වැඩි ප්‍රෞඩ ඉතිහාශයක් ඇති අපගේ මාතෲභුමිය නිර්ලජ්ජිතව පාවාදීමයි.

1935 ගනන්වල සිටම සි න්හල ජාතිය ගැන හෝ සම්බුද්ධසාශනය ගැන හෝ කිසිම හැගීමක් නොතිබුණු ඊනියා වාමාන්සික පක්ශ  උඩරට වතුකරයේ සහ කොලඹ දෙමළ මිනිසුන් බිලීබා ගැනීම සන්දහා මෙම උපක්රමය යොදාගත්තද මෙම රෝගය වඩා ප්රකටව කළඑළි බැස්සේ සින්හල චන්දදායකයින් 1951 දී යු. එන්. පී. සහ ශ්රී ලන්කා වශයෙන්  බෙදීමෙන් පසුවය . එය වඩාත් උග්ර ලෙස ක්රියාත්මක වීමට ආරම්භ වූයේ 1947 දී ආරම්භවූ ලන්කා දෙමළ රාජ්ය පක්ශය (පෙඩරල්) 1956 න් පසු දරුණු අන්දමින් ක්රියාත්මකවීම සහ වතුකම්කරුවන් 1960 දසකයේ ඉතා ක්රියාකාරි අන්දමින්  ආණ්ඩු තැනීම සන්දහා තීරනාත්මක අන්දමින් මැදිහත් කරවා ගැනීමෙන් පසුවය.

අනතුරුව එතෙක් පැවැති දෙමළ ජාතිවාදයට අමතරව 1970 දසකයේදි අශ්රොෆ් නැමැති උග්ර අන්තවාදි මරක්කල දේශ්පාලකයාගේ ආගමනයෙන් පසු මරක්කල ජාතිවාදයද ඉතා දරුණු අන්දමින් මේ රටේ දේශපාලනය තුල හිස එසවීම ඇරබිණ .ඉන්පසු  කුමන සින්හල ප්ක්ශ්හයක් දිණුවද සුලුජනකොටස් දෙකේ සහාය නැතිව රජයක් පිහිටවිය නොහැකි තත්වයක් උදාවිය. ඉන්පසුව ඔවුන් ලන්කාවේ  රාජ්යයන් හදන හෝ නසන තීරණාත්මක සාධකය බවට පත්විය.

,සුළුජන කොටස් දෙකේම සහාය නැතිව තනි සින්හල පක්ශ්යකට රටේ බලය ලබාගතහැකිබව පළමුවරට ඔප්පුවූයේ 2019 නොවැම්බර් පැවැති ජනාධිපති වරණයේදීය. මෙම පාර්ලිමෙන්තු මැතිවරණයේදි එය වඩාත් ප්රබලලෙස තහවුරුවන බව පෙනේ.

ලන්කා දේශපාලනයේ එම තත්වය ඉස්තිරව තහවුරු කරගැනීම සහ සුළුජන ත්රස්ථවාදය මේ රටේ දේශපාලනයතුල යළි හිස එසවීමට ඉඩ නොතැබීම  සන්දහා ඉතාමත් සුදුසුම අවස්ථාව මෙම මැතිවරණයයයි මම සිතමි. ඒ සන්දහා මෙම මැතිවරණයේදි මේ රටේ සින්හල චන්දදායකයින් අනුගමනය කළයුතු ක්රියා මාර්ගය පහතින් යෝජනා කරමි.

උඩරට වතුකරයේ දෙමළ ඡන්ද ලබාගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් දොලපිදේනි වශයෙන් පසුගිය යහපාලන රජය සහ ඊට සම්බන්ධව දැනට “සමන්ගි ජනබල වේගය” නමින් හැන්දින්වෙන  දෙමළ හා මරක්කල අන්තවාදීන්ගෙන් පිරුණු ජාතිද්රෝහී, මන්දබුද්ධික දේශපාලන රැළ විසින්,

  මේ සින්හල ද්වීපයේ සමස්ථ ජීවී පද්ධතියටම ජීවය දෙන එසේම ජාතියේ සිස්ඨාචාරය රකින සියලුම ගන්ගා ආරම්භවන සින්හල ජාතියේ සහ රටේ භූගෝලිය හදවත (හදබිම්) වන මධ්යම කන්දුකරය විනාශකිරීමේ හා එය ඉන්දියානුවන්ට පාවාදීමේ ක්රියාවල යෙදි සිටින

1 එසේම 1505 සිට 1948 දක්වා මේරට හා ජාතිය රැකගැනීම සන්දහා සිය දහස් ගනනින්  මියගොස් රත රැකගත් අයගෙන් පැවතෑන දේසයේ නියම උරුම කරුවන්ගේ අහිමිවීගිය උරුමයන් කිසිවක් නැවත ලබාදීම නොකොට 1957 සිට නාමිකව පමනක් තිබුණු උදරට ගැමිපුනරුත්තාපන දෙපර්තමේන්තුව සහ් එසේම පසුකාල්යක පිහිතුවනලද එවැනිම  උදරට සන්වර්ධන් අධිකාරිය්ද  2014 ජනවරි 1 දා සිට අහෝසිකොට, පර සුද්දන් විසින්  ඔවුන්ගේ තේවතුවල වහල් මෙහෙයට දකුනු ඉන්දියාවෙන් මෙහි ගෙනවිත්  අතරමන්කොට, දමාගිය, මේ රටට හෝ ජාතීයට කිසිදු ආදරයක් නැති, ගතින් මෙහි සිටියදඉස සිතින් ඉන්දියාවේම ජීවත්වෙන  ඉන්දීය දෙමළ   ජනතාවක් වෙනුවෙන් කදුරට නව ගම්මාන (තනිදෙමල්) සහ යටිතල පහසුකම් සන්වර්ධන අමාත්යාන්ශය නමින් වෙනම අමාත්යාන්සයක් වතුකර දෙමලුන් වෙනුවෙන් පිහිටුවා ඒ වෙනුවෙන් වෙනම ඇමතිවරයෙක්ද පත්කොට වතුකර දෙමල ජනයා වෙනුවෙන් මූ ම සිට අඩි 8000 දක්වාම දැඩි බෑවුම් සහිත අධිරක්ශ්හිත අධි සන්වේදී භූ මිවල තනි දෙමළ ගම්මාන ඇතිකොට ඔවුන් සන්දහා නිවාස 65,000 සෑදීම 

2සමන්ගි ජනබල වේගයේ සජිත් ප්රේමදස විසින් සියලුම වතුසේවකයින් ඉඩම්හිමි වැවිලිකරුවන් බවට පත්කිරීමේ යොජනාව සහ එසේ කිරීමෙන් උඩරට සින්හලයින්ට ඔවුගේ උපන්බිම අහිමි කිරීම වැනි දේශද්රෝහි  සින්හල ද්රෝහි ක්රියාවල යෙදීම 

වැනි සින්හලද්‍රෝහී දේශද්‍රෝහි  යහපාලන රජයේ කොටස්කරුවන්වන එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ශයේ සහ සමන්ගි ජනබල වේගය ඇතුළු සියළුම පක්සවලින් ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටින සියලුදෙනාම මෙම මැතිවරණයේදී පරාජය කළ යුතුය.

විශේශ්හයෙන්ම උදරට මැතිවරන කොත්ථාසවල සිටින සියලුම චන්ද දායකයින් මෙ නිසා එක්සත් ජාතික පක්සයෙන් සහ  ඊනියා සමන්ගි ජනබල වේගයෙන් ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටින කිසිම අපේක්ශ්හකයකුට චන්දය නොදිය යුතුය.

 එසි නොකරන සෑමකෙනෙකුම සින්හල විරොධි දේසවිරෝධි පුද්ගලයකු වසයෙන් ඉතිහාසගතවනු ඇත.

By Garvin Karunaratne, former G.A. Matara 

Let us try to get away from the rhetoric- the art of effective or persuasive speaking, often with an implication of insincerity or exaggeration”(Oxford Dictionary). Promises are many but it is quite evident that most promises cannot be easily fulfilled. President Gotabhaya’s promises are few but he has vowed to implement them. So far since becoming the President and from 2005 to 2015 he has been able to keep to his word. 

The leaders, who stand a chance of getting elected  are well known and more, in some capacity they have ruled our country for years, and perhaps more than what they speak, historical facts telling what they really did, when they were ruling as President, Prime Minister or Minister will reveal what we can expect of them.  

 Foreign Meddling 

It has become normal for foreign Superpowers  to take action against countries that were following Socialist policies. The following excerpt from Professor Jeffery Sachs tells it all:

Notorious act of US unilaterlism include the CIA led overthrow of several governments-Iran, Guyana, Guatamala,  South Vietnam and Chile, the assassination of countless foreign officials and  several disastrous unilateral acts of war on Central America, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Iraq. The US has thrown out elections through  secret CIA financing, put foreign leaders on CIA payroles and supported violent leaders  who then came back to haunt  the US in a notorious boomerang or blowback effect(including Sadaam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden), both once on CIA payroles”(Commonwealth Economics for a Crowded Planet, Allen Lane, 2008) 

Sri Lanka has had its share of foreign influence in elections. It is well known that the defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015 was hatched at Harvard University in the USA.  

 It is up to the voter to decide which candidates are acting against the sovereignty of the country.  

Important infringements on Sri Lanka’s  Sovereignty.   

The country survived  the Fidel Castro type of one day attempt by the JVP to take over the country in April 1971, when it was found that the North Korean Embassy had a hand in the uprising and the Embassy was promptly shut down and the officials deported. Once the uprising was quelled and the JVP cadres decamped to the Sinharaja Hills, a European Ambassadorial jeep came several times and went into the jungles to meet them.   

With the two uprisings in 1971 and 1987-89, with the functioning of kangaroo courts,  the rich  in the rural habitat– the rice millers, estate owners etc. who   had made the rural areas their homes, decamped to the cities and were so frightened that they  never returned to their rural habitat. It  is they and their children when grown up  that had invested in their rural areas. They sent their children overseas for study, never to return to the Motherland. The rural areas became dead.  

Major historical happenings during Periods when the chief contenders at this election ruled or when they were associated with the rulers 

Let us take the periods when the chief contenders ruled, when their political parties held sway and assess the major events of how the country was handled and the major changes made. This will easily reflect what we can expect of the present day contenders. 

President Jayawardena 1977- 

When President Jayawardena took over at the tail end of 1977, a major change was to liberalize the economy. Though President Jayawardena  did whatever the IMF dictated, by 1986, the economy ended in shambles.  

From 1948, when we achieved independence the economy was managed  with the foreign exchange we earned. There were import controls to ensure that essential consumer goods were imported and allocations of foreign exchange were made for the import of luxury items, according to available foreign exchange.  The IMF advised President Jayawardena to open up imports- not to have import controls and also to liberalize the use of foreign exchange- allow foreign exchange to be used freely for foreign travel, for educational expenses abroad. When the country had no foreign exchange to meet such increased commitments, the IMF advice was to privatize paying State assets and if that was insufficient, to raise loans. It is this process followed from the end of 1977 that led to the ballooning of the foreign debt to some $ 60 billion today.  Though Ronnie de Mel, the Minister of Finance in his Budget Speech of 1978 hailed this : We cannot go round the world begging for aid like international beggars forever.  We must get out of this vicious circle of no growth, stagnation and mounting internal and external debt”(Budget Speech: 1978), the result was the opposite. Using money that one did not possess and raising loans only worked to make us more indebted. In eight years, by 1986 the economy was in shambles. 

 In the words of the World Bank: 

By 1986…the deterioration of the economy had become evident. The growth rate of the GDP  slowed to under 4 %, unemployment rose  to about 17% and gross official reserves  declined  to less than 2 months’ imports”(World Bank:Trends in Developing Economies,1990:496) 

While the foreign debt of Sri Lanka was negligible in 1977, by 1986, it had ballooned  to $ 4,063 million and it increased to $ 5100 million by 1989. Comparatively when Jayawardena commenced following the IMF prescriptions of the SAP at the end of 1977 Sri Lanka had a negligible foreign debt- only $ 750 million. The country slumped to become an indebted nation. In other words the IMF had through its advice made Sri Lanka a sovereign nation that had a negligible foreign debt to become a heavilyindebted country with a foreign debt of $ 60 billion today. Currently Sri Lanka has to meet a payment of $ 4 billion in 2020 purely to service the loans it owes. This is the legacy that President Jayawardena of the UNP has left for Sri Lanka- a situation of indebtedness from which Sri Lanka can never redeem itself.  

Even since President Jayawardena followed the prescriptions of the IMF, though the rich in the country benefitted from relaxed foreign exchange controls- could go on foreign holidays, send off their offspring to study abroad and enjoy imported goods, the country slumped into foreign debt and the masses- the vast majority of the people could not afford even to buy consumer goods as the prices had escalated. This caused poverty and inflation. The Structural Adjustment Programme(SAP) of the IMF  contain an economic system that would lead the countries to become indebted in the process of servicing the loans as the loans were non developmental.”(From Karunaratne: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle/Godages: 2017) 

Since gaining independence in 1948 Sri Lanka had developed and implemented an intricate and effective development infrastructure to enable development. One of the conditions laid down in following the neoliberal policies imposed by he IMF was that the Government had to accept the Private Sector as the Engine of Growth and in keeping with that proviso, the Public Sector should not have any development incentives. This meant that the  development infrastructure  had to be abolished.  In order to help agricultural production, the Government implemented a Guaranteed Price Scheme for paddy and other cereals in short supply. The aim was to enable cultivators earn a premium price for their production. This Scheme was abolished and along with it the godowns and Rice Mills which were  very valuable- were sold for a song or left to rot as scrap. This was a great loss. The producers were thereby denied  a reasonable  price for their produce. It is the authors contention that this was purposely imposed on Third World countries to destroy their agriculture development  so that they would have to depend on wheat from the USA and Europe.  

Another Scheme was the Vegetable and Fruit Purchasing Scheme, run by the Marketing Department, which provided a high price for local vegetables and fruits. The Marketing Department also had a Cannery, to make Jam,  Juice and Sauces out of local fruit. The IMF insisted that the Cannery should be privatized and the Vegetable and Fruit Purchasing Scheme should be scrapped. This was done  and the Marketing Department was abolished. While this enabled imports of jam and Juice from Developed Countries like the USA it did cause poverty in that the producers could not sell their produce. 

Sri Lanka had a very successfully run Public Transport Scheme- a  fully equipped coach making unit at Werahera. The country was producing its own coaches on imported chassis. This fully equipped unit at Werahera was closed down and the valuable state of the art machinery sold for a song, Thereafter Sri Lanka had to import all its coaches. 

The Railways had developed machinery to make all coaches at Ratmalana, This was also closed down and thousands of carpenters lost their jobs. Thereafter rail carriages were imported.  

The scrapping of this development infrastructure was agreed and done by President Jayawardena  of the UNP.  

Education  Sri Lanka had concentrated on having a highly developed school system, where children were taught free. The UNP Government introduced Private International Paying Schools which taught the children of the rich  for foreign exams and this ruptured the  comprehensive system of education that had been highly developed with  Central Schools. The UNP is totally responsile for ruining the education system and actually creating  a youth that shun Sri Lankan  culture and values. This was a major retrograde creation of the UNP.  Ranil Wickremasinghe of the UNP happened to be the Minister for Education that ruined education in Sri Lanka 

Another major incident during President Jayawardena’s period is how he caved in to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India and agreed to enact the 13 th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The Constitution of a country is a sacred document and any change has a bearing on the sovereignty of the country  and President Jayawardena caving into the Prime Minister of India to change the Constitution marks a great failure of President Jayawardena. The 13 th Amendment with Provincial Councils and decentralizing subjects was not suitable for a small country like Sri Lanka. The Provincial Council system is very costly and it is an unnecessary expenditure. Decntralization of important subjects like agriculture had a detrimental effect.  

The manner in which the 13 th Amendment was passed in Parliament  is also of great importance. It indicates the extent to which President Jayawardena and the UNP disregarded the interests of the country and compelled  the elected representatives- the Members of Parliament to be forced, like at gun point- by incarcerating them in a hotel, keeping them under lock and key and marching them to Parliament to vote as he pleased. The President  also held letters of resignation signed by all MPs (except for Ronnie de Mel, the Minister of Finance), which he held as ransom to use in case any MP refused to carry out his instructions. This undemocratic method of ruling by President Jayawardena remains a major scar on the UNP.. Up to date in implementing the 13 th Amendment Police and Land Powers have not been decentralized.  

The Samagi Bala Vegaya where Sajith Premadasa  is the main candidate has already declared that the  13 th Amendment in full- with police and land powers will be implemented. Sri Lanka will be without any  doubt  balkanized into provincial regimes and that  will be the end of Sri Lanka. 

Prresident Premadasa  1989-1993 

President Premadasas when he  was president helped the LTTE, the Tamil rebels who wanted to carve out the north and east of Sri Lanka as a separate state. President Premadasa even provided weapons to the LTTE, which they ultimately used against the Sri Lankan Army. 

President Premadasa in  Peace Talks with the LTTE agreed to hand over the Eastern Province to the LTTE and the police personnel in all the police stations in the Eastern Province were instructed to surrender to the LTTE cadres in the area. This was done and the LTTE instead of providing them safe passage to Colombo  as agreed, marched 600 police personnel  to the jungle where they were murdered.  This action of President Premadasa is a crime that can never be forgiven. ..  

It was during th reign of President Premadasa that there was a reign of terror and many people went missing, A well known lyric writer, poet Richard de Zoysa  is supposed to have been abducted and killed by the armed forces. In the days of  President Premadasa there was compulsory acquistion of land in Colombo, without any rhyme or reason. One land owner  could not even find a lawyer  to file a petition in the Supreme Court to stay the acquisition of her land.”(Karunaratne: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka: 2006: Godages) 

 Sajith Premadasa who leads the Samagi BalaVegaya, evidently  a splinter group of the UNP at this  General Election,  only quotes the good deeds like rural development which was done by President Premadasa 

Chandrika Kumaranatunge 

Kumaranatunge during her period tried to defeat the LTTE but miserably failed. It was during her time that the LTTE attacked the Colombo Airport destroying a number of aircraft.  

President Mahinda Rajapaksa 2005-2015 

The major achievement during this period was the defeat of the LTTE.   

The LTTE had a reign of terror for 30 years, developed the idea of having child soldiers and suicide bombing and had a reign of terror in the entire island 

President Rajapakda vowed to defeat the LTTE and commenced military action. The LTTE ruled the North of the island for close on three decades ,but was militarily defeated by President Rajapaksa in 2009. The cat was out of the bag at the last moment when the Superpowers, including France, the UK and the USA, came forward and  insisted that Prabhakaran,  the leader of the LTTE should be spared.  President Rajapaksa did not give in and finally the LTTE was routed and the leader Prabhakaran killed in 2009.  

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had once served in the Sri lanka Army as a Lietunenant Colonel was the Defence Secretary  and played a key role in the defeat of the LTTE.  This defeating the LTTE shows their mettle. 

The major achievement of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the defeat of the LTTE. Earlier as Minister for Highways under the reign of Chandrika Kumaranatunge, he saw to it that Sri Lanka had  developed a network of well built roads.. 

President Gotabhaya Rajpaksa  played a major role in the development of the country.  He singlehandedly developed the City of Colombo, equipped it with walkways,  and various amenities.  Under him Colombo could even aspire to have been  the best city in South Asia.  

The Helping Hambantota cheque incident is  held against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. During the Tsunami Invasion in 2004, it was brought to his notice that a cheque has ben received  as a donation and he ordered that it be banked. It was banked and forgotten. Later on it was raised as a charge of misappropriation and the cheque was traced lying unused in a bank account. This incident has to be taken in context when some 30,000 citizens had perished when the Tsunami struck and in the absence of the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the PrimeMinister,  was running everywhere in a helicopter issuing instructions. There was no time to record events and keep notes. It was a time when the earth was turning on its head. Take the matter out of context and one can say that he should have ensured that the cheque was credited properly.  The author too has had an inkiling of serious days when  it was a matter of life or death, when there was an action sequence every minute and there was no time to write down and check whether orders had been  carries out. This cheque incident must be taken in the context of handling an unprecedented  national calamity. 

Prime Minister Mahiunda Rajapaksa has faced many problems. He has never run away like President Chandrika when the Kolonnawa oil tanks were in flames- an attack by the LTTE. She was emplaning at the airport when that incident happened. She continued leaving the island,  leaving  the Presidential Secretariat to be manned by his Secretary. The one time Mahinda Rajapaksa  ran away was  in 2015, when  he realized that the voters had rejected him. Then  he left Temple Trees abruptly and stopped only at Medamulana. That indicates his adherence to the democratic process of governance and elevates his standing in democratic politics.  

Maitripala Sirisena cum Ranil Wickremasinghe  2015-2019 

The Yahapalane Government of 2015 was actually a Government that was established by foreign forces.  The USA played a key role. It was the sequel to President Rajapaksa refusing to follow the dictate of all the Superpowers  not to harm and spare Prabhakaran the leader of the LTTE. True to his form President Rajapaksa refused to accede to their request and the LTTE was totally defeated with the leader too being killed in 2009. 

Though Maitripala Sirisena was implanted as the president, the Yahapalana Government was ably run by Ranil Wickremasinghe of the UNP who was the Prime Minister.  

Sacrificing the sovereigny of Sri Lanka was clearly evident in the  Yahapalana Government co sigining and agreeing to a UK sponsored submission to the Geneva Council of Human Rights.  By this the Government of Sri Lanka agreed to many provisions put forward by the Superpowers including foreign judges participating in Sri Lanka on investigations against the Sri Lankan Army defeating the Liberation Tigers. 

The Period 2015-2019 was marked with an increased foreign debt. The Central Government debt, as a share of the GDP had increased to 102.5% when the UNP ended its term in 2005.  President Mahinda Rajapaksa handled the economy prudently and reduced the debt to 72.3% by 2015.  However from 2015 to 2019, under the Yahapalana Government  the debt increased to  86.8%.  This speaks of mismanagement during UNP rule and prudent management during President Rajapaksa’s rule.  

Earlier in 2001-2004 Ranil Wickremasinghe as the Prime Minister, sided the Liberation Tigers and had to be removed by the President Kumaranatunge in 2004. 

The MCCCompact.  The United States pressurized the Government to sign an agreement with the MCC(Millennium Challenge Corporation) for allowing the USA to have a stake in Sri Lanka in return for a grant of $ 480 million. This was supposed to be spent on a transportation and a land project. An agreement was to be signed  but due to protests the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said that the agreement will be signed after the UNP nominee Sajit Premadasa wins at the presidential election. Under the transport project some roads and traffic lights etc were to be developed , to easen traffic congestion while under the land project, all crown land including  land on colonization schemes, alienated under restricted conditions, were  to be given full saleable rights. These lands were alienated on specific conditions meant to ensure that this land will remain within the peasantry. This was decided during the State Council days. The intention of the MCC proposals was evidently to enable multinationals to get control over land in Sri Lanka.  

This MCC agreement divides Sri Lanka into three segments with a corridor from Trincomalee to Colombo, including both ports. This major corridor comprised 28% of the land mass of Sri Lanka. This section was to be given to the USA for a period of 200 years. Comparatively the British ruled Sri Lanka only for a period of 133  years- 1815 to 1948. This section would come under US jurisdiction. In short the land would be US territory coming under US laws..  

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A map distributed by MCC team Leader Steve Dobrilovic showed this  200 mile corridor between Colombo and Trincomalee to be awarded to the US authorities coming under US jurisdiction where an electric rail track  was to be built effectively dividing Sri Lanka into a southern and northern region. It was a plan for Sri Lanka to be handed over to the US Government and for the North to get into the hands of the Ltte rebels who today are planning subversion in secret. 

These negotiations took place in absolute secrecy between representatives of the Yahapalana Government and the MCC team from the USA housed within the Temple Trees Complex used by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.”(Lanka Web10/1/2019) This was highly irregular. 

The grant was to be given to be managed by a MCC Company under US Government procurement rules and regulations”(Lanka Web: 11/01/2020) 

It is important to note that similar agreements to divide Sri Lanka were also proposed earlier by the Asian Development Bank an  the Export Import Bank of Korea, but these were all based on loans. In the case of the MCC it was a grant. However the grant was to be given to a company-   which will work with theMillennium Challenge Corporation. 

It is to be noted that the valuable phosphate deposits of Eppawela as well as the illmenite deposits at Pulumuddai were within this corridor to be handed over to the USA.  

It is correct to state that this MCC Compact will impringe on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. Once granted this area will come under US, managed under their laws.  

The UNP Yahapalana Government of 2015-2019 was at first to get Minister Mangala Samaraweera to sign this MCC Compact Agreement but this was  put off due to protests.  

The aim of the MCC as the alleviation of poverty is only a façade to get this agreement signed. Instead the MCC Compact  will enable foreign multiinationals to gain control over the land.   

It is the opinion of Neville Laduwahetty that  in the case of the MCC Compact, the issue is that an Act that affects an asset that is an integral part  of the sovereignty  of all the people and held in trust by elected representatives of governments  should not be passed by a simple majority  but ONLy by a special majority of two third approval of Parliament and approval by the people at a Referendum.(The Island: 16/7/2019) 

The UNP insisted that they would sign the MCC Pact and when they found it impossible to sign,  then declared that they would sign the agreement on the day after their candidate Sajith Premadasa is victorious at the presidential election That did not happen and now they shout out that the Government of President Gotabhaya will sign it. On the other hand President Gotabhaya has subjected the MCC Pact to a Report by experts led by Professor Gunaruwan and the entire Report has been released to the public. The Report states in definite terms that the MCC Pact infringes on the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and spokesmen of the Government have stated that it will not be signed. The President Gotabhaya method is upright  with nothing to hide while when it was handled in 2015-2019, by Prime Minister Wickremasinghe everything was swept under the carpet. It was definitely wrong to house a US Company the Millennium Chaallenge Corporation drafting and scheming to get the Pact signed housed in the hallowed sacred premises of Temple Trees. 

Sajith Premadasa  was a leading minister of the Yahapalana Government of 1995 to 2020 and has to take responsibility for Government misdeeds as he was a senior minister in the Cabinet. 

It is sad that the US Embassy resorted to many tactics to get the MCC Pact signed. Though the MCC Pact is couched in terms of poverty alleviation- it amounts to a sweetened pill to drag Sri Lanka more into the orbit of the US hedgemony in South Asia.  

My frank opinion is that the MCC Compact is an attempt to carve out a separate State for the LTTE, this time in a sheep’s clothing. It is a task that was earlier attempted by the ADB and the Eximm Bank of Korea. Then the offer was a loan. In the MCC Compact it was a grant. 

Our Sri Lanka has the ability  to develop our own resources as proved just at this moment by the restoration of the Valachenai Paper factory accomplished in a few months during President Gotabhaya’s regime. It is reported that Valachenai Paper will be offered for sale within the next month. This is an indication of the economic development that can be expected under President Gotabhaya. The manner in which President Gotabhaya  handled the Corona virus epidemic , by deploying the army to check and provide quarantine has enabled Sri Lanka to become the foremost country that handled the Coronavirus epidemic in an able manner. This alone speaks volumes about President Gotabhaya’s ability to tackle a calamity. In his able hands Sri Lanka will inevitably prosper.  

The historical  facts detailed above enable the voter who may have forgotten our history, to act as a patriot and save Sri Lanka at the General Election 2020.. 

Garvin Karunaratne 
Former GA, Matara, 

2/7/2020 

Author of How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of Success(Godages :2006)   
How the IMF Sabotaged Thord World Development(Kindle/Godages: 201

Sarath Bulathsinghala

2 Aug 2020

THE VOTERS OF SRI LANKA WILL GO TO POLLS ON 5 AUGUST. SIMPLY PUT THE TASK IS TO DECIDE WHOM TO BRING TO POWER TO BRING PROSPERITY TO SRI LANKA IN A COVID-19 SITUATION NOW AND A  POST COVID-19 SITUATION AFTER?

After a disastrous 5 years of gross governmental mismanagement by a coterie of nincompoops and white-collar thieves, Gotabhaya Rajapakse was elected as the President of Sri Lanka for a period of 5 years at the Presidential Elections held in November 2019. The President could not dissolve the corrupt and non-performing parliament due to the provisions of the infamous 19^th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The President had to wait till March 2020 to dissolve the parliament and call for fresh elections in April 2020. However, this was not to be, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the General Elections had to be delayed till August 2020.

President Gotabhaya diverted his attention to containing the pandemic and by now Sri Lanka has out-performed many other rich and powerful countries in protecting and saving lives of her population.  The pandemic is well contained with only 11 deaths – 0.5 per million population so far and the infected total less than 3000 or 131 per million population. Covid-19 Testing now standing at 7480 per million population. All these figures are well ahead of Japan, just one example – see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

 The infections within the country were well contained using the ‘Chase and Contain’ policy utilizing the expertise and manpower of the Tri Forces and the Intelligence Services and the excellent Healthcare services.  This the President had to do while governing a country saddled with gross excesses and thievery of the previous regime. This he had to do without a performing parliament and a belligerent and hateful  opposition who keeps on wishing for the worst!

Finally, the 2020 General Elections are upon us. It is no brainer that a country needs to be governed and our current system of governance needs a parliament to do so. However, the objective of the current opposition was to postpone the elections as much as possible after failing to get the President to reconvene the old non-performing parliament. This they failed with the dissolution of the parliament in March 20.

Making of a Failed State

In this background, what is of paramount importance is to understand is the stratagem of the previous Yaha(Jada)palana administration. Taken in totality it is now obvious that the Government mostly controlled by Ranil Wickramasinghe and ‘his gang of white collar thieves’ were intent on making Sri Lanka a Failed State suitable for Big Power intervention and subsequent occupation by the Western Christian Forces led by the USA.

Disruptions in the Financial Sector

It was towards this objective that Bond Scams involving the Central Bank take place – first one within 7 weeks of coming to power and the second a year later. The results were there for all to see – major disruptions to the economy in terms of increased interest rates, higher taxes and rapid devaluation of the Rupee resulting in massive losses to the economy.

Disruptions to Food Security

The Yahapalana inherited an agricultural economy that was self-sufficient in rice and other cash crops. However the Yahapalana  target was to make Sri Lanka dependent on imported food. The farmers were discouraged from cultivating their paddy lands and rice was imported. Millions of tons of rice went bad after storage at the Mattala Airport and was subsequently sold for making alcohol. The Pepper market was destroyed by the import of inferior pepper from Vietnam and subsequent resale of the mixed product eventually destroying the Ceylon Pepper brand. The price of tea, rubber and coconut went down similarly. Import of onions, maize, curcumin (Kaha) and similar made many a farmer destitute.

Disruptions to National Security

Yahapalanaya willfully and purposely disrupted the security establishment set up by Mahinda / Gotabhaya Administration of 2005 – 2015. It was done with a vengeance and in accordance of the wishes of Big Powers and India. It was done ostensibly to promote reconciliation among different ethnicities in Sri Lanka. The end result was Easter Sunday Bombings and furtherance of disparities and distrust between peoples.

Sale of Hambantota Port

It is now abundantly clear that the sale of Hambantota Port to China was the trigger to Big Power intervention in Sri Lanka. It was with this that India is clamoring for Mattala Airport and Eastern Container Terminal of the Colombo Port.

ACSA, SOFA and MCC

The final nail in the coffin was to put American boots on the sacred soil of Sri Lanka.  Simply put the US wants a land corridor from Colombo to Trincomalee with unimpeded access for their armed forces and war materials. This is what these agreements with the US entail. These are in furtherance of their INDO-PACIFIC Strategy to contain the influence of China in the region. What we need to decide is whether Sri Lanka should become a part of the war theatre in a Big Power conflict in the region? As the saying goes – When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”

Lest we forget

What is apparent during the current political campaigns for the 2020 General Elections are the proverbial memory lapses of the population. They are missing the Big Picture of 5 years of disastrous rule and mismanagement by the Yaha (Jada) Palana Administration. Let us refresh our memories to what took place during this time, lest these are not factors determining the voting at this crucial election.

• Sirisena’s treachery
• The slanderous accusations against the Mahinda Rajapakse Administration which the Yahapalanaya could not prosecute during their term in office
• The unprecedented dismissal of a Chief Justice – Mohan Peiris
• The appointment of Ranil Wickramasinghe to the post of PM going roughshod over the incumbent Prime Minister – D M Jayaratne
  • Splitting of the Ministry of Finance and taking over the Central Bank under the PM
  • Appointment of Arjun Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank
  • The first Central Bank Bond Scam of 26 Feb 2015 – followed by non-result producing bogus investigations by UNP lawyers
  • First Dew Gunasekara COPE Committee Report ending up in the dustbin with the hurried dissolution of the parliament before the COPE Committee report could be tabled in the parliament
  • Sunil Handunnetti COPE Committee that ended up with dozens of footnotes diluting the findings
  • The Presidential Commission of Inquiry over the Bond Scam hidden from the public by SIrisena
• Formation of FCID – a quasi-legal institution for the prosecution of political opponents
• Formation of Independent Commissions and stuffing them with members with dubious credentials

• The SLFP rump that dashed for ministerial positions and supported the Jadapalanaya
• The now infamous 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, how it was brought about promising a follow up 20^th Amendment which never materialized and its disastrous implication for the governance of Sri Lanka
• The Second Central Bank Bond Scam in March 2016 leading to even higher losses than the previous one in Feb 2015.
• Destruction of the Salawa Armory
• Weakening of State Intelligence Services and resulting Easter Sunday Attacks
• Responses to natural disasters – Meethotamulla, Aranayake etc
• Arbitrary postponement of elections local and provincial, depriving the electorate of their democratic rights. 
• Landslide defeat at the Local Government Elections in February 2018
• Postponement of Provincial Council Elections indefinitely due to electorate delimitation fiasco engineered by the government
• Willful destruction and desecration of Buddhist sites of religious worship and of archaeological value – Kuragala, Muhudu Mahaviharaya, Devanagala etc
• Arrest and incarceration of Buddhist Priests
• Denigration of Buddhism and Buddhist practices, aspersions on the role of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by leading Ministers
• Attempts to create dissension among the Buddhist Sects
• Willful destruction and conversion of land into Muslim settlements – Willpattu and other
• 21 April 2018 – Easter Sunday Attacks
  • 97 Early warnings of the attacks including several from India not heeded
  • Parliamentary Select Committee investigations – a scam investigation that included suspected subscribers to Islamic Terrorism

THE NEW GOVERNMENT IS ON THE RIGHT PATH. LET US BRING A NEW PARLIAMENT THAT WILL SUIT THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT GOTABHAYA – A ONE WITH AN OVERWHELMING OVER 2/3 MAJORITY FOR THE POHOTTUWA! IT IS TIME THE AUGEAN STABLES ARE CLEANED UP!

Have we learnt lessons? Don Juan Dharmapala not only baptized himself but even gifted Lanka to the Portuguese. Rajasinghe II learnt a bitter lesson when he thought the Dutch was better than the Portuguese – ඉගුරැදීමිරිස්ගත්තාවාගේ. The British learnt from both predecessors and took over the entire island, not stopping there they rolled out an education system that cloned brown versions of the white who at independence, sought dominion status instead of full independence. None thought it prudent to even ask the British why a Kandyan Convention signed between Sinhale Nation & the British would result in the British giving ‘independence’ to ‘Ceylon’ (a name that did not exist in 1815) instead of Sinhale nation in 1948. We have certainly been off-guard and too trusting and not placing our interests and our priorities in dealing with external parties. We seem to be repeating the same mistakes even 72 years after independence & 48 years after becoming a fully independent Republic. Where & why are we repeatedly doing the same mistake?

We may be living in the 21^stcentury and the world may be boasting of advanced technology but what good is any technology at the peril of humanity where values, customs, traditions and good will are hardly to be seen even in homes. Can today’s engineers even conceptually match the great irrigation works and magnificent rock artefacts built by our ancestors none of whom went to school or held a degree? Did ancient civilizations have lawyers, NGOs, INGOs or even UN and proportionately were there crimes then of the nature that exist now? With all these treaties, conventions, tribunals and resolutions – shouldn’t we expect a better society? Do we have such?

In an international body that declares all are equal no matter the size of the country, where is that equality when select countries are given veto powers and these are the very countries manufacturing & distributing arms & making the world not only unsafe but the cause for frictions. What good are peace bodies to simply have annual sessions, conferences, issue speeches that no one listens to, yet plan how to over throw the person whose hand one shakes! Duplicity & hypocrisy today rule the world.

During colonial rule the invading forces created their own international laws for artificially created ‘countries’ which they drew taking a pen & dividing entire continents among themselves. Is Sri Lanka being divided in the same manner in 21^stcentury? These created countries were plundered and pilfered and their people turned into slaves & murdered & this exercise they call ‘civilizing the uncivilized using the most uncivilized methods’. None of these crimes have been taken to the gavel because post-colonial rule, the same invaders became the architects of the new international laws drafted by them omitting to put themselves on the dock. Even now how many of their crimes are internationally reprimanded or sanctioned while they are free to sanction countries they deem as their enemy? They left with their project of pilfering and plundering former colonies unfinished and now they are back to finish that project.

International aid, grants, charity are just some of the camouflaged programs that give them the excuse to enter nations and the powers to do as they please. Print some currency, give it as a soft loan with interest has far more reaching long-term repercussions than we realize. But cash-strapped nations are compelled to accept the offers as beggars cannot be choosers. If policy makers understood the dynamics behind this game they would devise ways that the nation can become self-sufficient without too much of external assistance. Of course it inadvertently means the nation must adopt simple living, fewer luxuries and these are the areas that the elite are reluctant to forfeit for the betterment of the country & its people. These are areas that the external players use to ensure national policies always revert to external luxury supply chain.

What good is diplomacy when countries have units to destabilize other countries and adopt numerous tactics to make them bend to their will. Sri Lanka suffered 30 years of terror that shouldered insidious agendas of other nations & organizations who use the presence of terror to advance their geopolitical objectives. Having helped the terrorists when the terrorists were vanquished their next ploy was to demand why the government was slow in looking after its people. This ploy was to plug a place for themselves in Sri Lanka to continue what they could not do during the terror reign. They have mapped out our resources and assets far better than we have. Their investments and their presence is in areas where we have the treasures. The bounty they could not amass during colonial rule they have returned to do using the camouflage of investments & international diplomatic relations. Agreements are a hallmark of this quest.

During colonial times the colonial invaders had their own competition, post-colonial that competition has reached far dangerous heights and involve turning countries into military bases, creating strategic alliances etc. US-China-India are at loggerheads. If policy makers and advisors are aware of the larger picture, they would not sell to us the story that foreign investment is needed for a country to develop and justify giving out our assets and resources as the only answer. If this is the best policy decision they can take do we need them in these roles? We’ve heard this story enough. We have given up assets and resources but we have made no development. We are down to countable assets and resources. With each doling out, we are not only weakening our sovereignty & territorial integrity we are making the country vulnerable and putting the lives of our people at risk. What good is independence celebration or holding elections, if the strengths of our nation are in the hands of foreign countries & we are their slave labour?

A government is elected for only a term. A Government is only a custodian on behalf of the people. At elections, people give their vote to look after the People, the Nation & its assets. People do not vote to sell national assets or resources. Under no reason can any government use the excuse that just because they have given one nation they are duty-bound to give another nation what it demands. A government’s duty & responsibility is to the citizens not foreign citizens or foreign governments.

None of Sri Lanka’s airports, ports, harbours or any strategic areas should be given to any foreign country or company.  Signing ACSA-SOFA-MCC giving ECT or any Port/Airport/Harbor should STOP & one’s given must be renegotiated.

Our island is Our Mother.

Our Mother is Not for Sale. 

Our Mother is the Mother for this generation & future generations.

Our Mother must remain bountiful and beautiful for all its sons & daughters.

Don’t sell My Mother to any foreign government or companies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPVlwuyRnZE– Rathnadeepa Janma Bhoomi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYYF3cA38Ak– Sasara Wasana Thuru

Shenali D Waduge

BY M D P DISSANAYAKE

The State of Victoria, with its beautiful city of Melbourne, the virtual birth place of multi-culturalism in Australia is in a state of shock since yesterday.  The socially friendly, compassionate, kind hearted 6 million Victorians are isolated for the second time from the rest of the country.   Australia is a geographically isolated continent, unlike Sri Lanka with its closest neighbours in India, Pakistan and  Bangladesh.

What has happend to Melbourne is a sad situation.  A large number of aged care cenres have recorded several positive cases of covid 19 and deaths. Many aged care centres have been closed down and aged  personnel moved to hospitals.  South Australia, Queensland and NSW are sending emergency medical crews to Victoria to combat the pandemic.

There are no more morning coffee tables of Italians, Greek, Macedonians etc.   There are no more Coffee Parties for Ladies.  There are no more traditional fruit and vegetable markets of farmers products available to customers.  There are no more cultural events of Indian, Sri Lankan, Malaysian, English, Americans over the weekends. There are no more places of worship open. There are no more Pubs, Pokies, Casinos open.  There are no more smiling Australians who wish you GOOD DAY MATE”.!  There are all covered with face masks.

In Sri Lanka, both Sajith and Ranil believed in increase in PCR tests as a solution.  But President Gotabaya  and PM Mahinda made an effective use of PCR tests, by placing them in isolation camps until test results  are released.  Sri Lanka opened several temporary make-shift hospitals to accommodate patients.  At the beginning Mulleriyawa IDH hospital workers refused to look after Covid patients and went on strike.  The vast continent of Australia, did not open a single new temporary shelter but released them to go home, to find positive test results later on, but  by that time the damage has been done..

Sajith Premadasa, pretending to be a Medical Doctor, recommended prescriptive drugs for the patients. Sajith Premadasa, pretending to be an Economics Wizard of London School of Economics (DUBIOUS BUT COLOURFUL DEGREE OBTAINED IN 7 MONTHS OF STUDIES!!), recommended pumping more and more money into the hands of people.

Did increase in PCR tests work in Victoria? No.  Did pumping Job Keeper Allowance, Special Work from Home Payments, Pensioners Extra $750 quarterly payments help to combat the pandemic? No.

Sri Lanka worked to a plan, without a Parliament, constrained by the ability to impose Emergency and lack of funding,  it declared curfew, restricted travel in suburbs, arranged home deliveries of all essential items, offered mere Rs 5000 for each deserving family, but ensured  movement restrictions  using drone cameras and patrolling by Army and Police personnel.   Sajith complained of a military rule in Sri Lanka.  Their local and international goons wrote massive articles to Tribune, Herald, BBC, Sky News of a possible military takeover in Sri Lanka.

But today, Victoria was reluctantly compelled to do exactly what Sri Lanka did in early part of April, in spite of pumping money into the hands of people and increasing PCR Tests.

Because of Civil War in Sri Lanka, if someone in your family had died, you still feel the pain.  Because of Covid 19, if someone in your family has died, you still feel pain .  You need not have  to have a death in your family in tragic situations, to understand the effective way in which your Leaders look after your family.

The pandemic in Australia has not been controlled yet.  Apart from Victoria, there are emerging reports of increase number of positive cases in New South Wales, Queensland as well.  South Australia, Western Australia  and Tasmania appear to be in good hands.

We wish Melbourne and the World  to return to its colourful Glory as quickly as possible.

Dhammapada Verse 204:

Arōgyā paramā lābhā
Santuṭṭhiparamaṃ dhanaṃ
vissāsa paramā ñāti
Nibbānaṃ paramaṃ sukhaṃ

(Health is the ultimate profit, happiness is the ultimate wealth, a trusted friend is the best relative, Nibbāna is the ultimate bliss”)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Buddhist shrines and temples are not accepted by the non-Buddhists in the north .Here is an example. In 2009 57 Buddhist families were brought in and settled in Navatkuli.  They were Sinhala families that had been driven out of Jaffna in 1984 and 1990. Navatkuli is located 6 km from Jaffna.

There was a fairly large Sinhalese community in Jaffna at the time. The Jaffna Sinhala Vidyalaya had 250 students. Life was pleasant with the Tamils and Sinhalese getting along like one family. Our family had roots in Maniyamthottam and Kankesanthurai and I knew Jaffna district like the back of my hand,” said one returnee.  Eight generations of her family had lived in Jaffna. The public had now turned against this community. Demonstrations were organized against the settlers.   Two Tamil politicians S.Sritharan and Suresh Premachandran said this was government-sponsored Sinhala colonization. 

Navatkuliya Sri Samiddhi Sumana Viharaya was constructed in 2013. It was promptly bombed.  In 2017   the residents wanted to start work on a new stupa. The Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha refused permission. The Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha filed the case against the construction of the Chaitya. It was taken up for hearing at the Chavakachcheri Magistrate’s Court. Chavakachcheri Magistrate S. Chandrasekeran ordered the Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha to permit the construction of the temple’s stupa without any hindrance. Her verdict was publicly applauded by the Sangha. The Magistrate has said that she respects Buddhism even though she is a Hindu devotee, reported Ven. Sooriyawewa Sumedha.

A Buddhist priest from Anuradhapura, Ven.Tissapura Gunaratana has started constructing a temple in the Kokkilai region,  on a piece of property owned by local Tamils, complained Tamilnet in 2011 and again in 2015. He justifies his project pointing towards a Bodhi tree in the plot. A local Tamil says the project has displaced at least five families. The monk is adamant that he will build the temple here in our land. He has offered money to buy the premises, but the owners do not want to sell. This is their family land and they want to stay here.” Tamilnet complained thereafter that the same monk,  was also building another Buddhist temple nearby. Land belonging to the post office, the base hospital, a Hindu temple and a public road have been taken for the temple, said Tamilnet.

The Supreme Court issued re-notice on the Vice Chancellor and several other officials of the Jaffna University, in 2018 over a complaint made by five Buddhist students of the Faculty of Business studies.

 The petitioner students said they were prevented from entering the campus premises because they had attempted to install an enclosure to house a Buddha statue in their hostel premises. They had been suspended. They have alleged arbitrary treatment and a denial of their right to abide by the religion of their choice and asserted a violation of Article 12(1), 12(1), and 14(1) (a) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. They have requested the Court to direct the VC to allow them to enter the university premises and declare that their fundamental rights have been violated by the respondent university authorities.

Buddhist places of worship have been attacked and vandalized. A Buddhist   shrine room erected by the army in its camp at Kanagaarayakulam, Mankulam, was vandalized in 2016 and Buddha statue broken into pieces. There is no camp there at present, said the media. The shrine room at Mankulam had also been vandalized in 2016. It was erected by the army in its camp at Mankulam.  This was not an isolated incident, said the media. 

A Fundamental Rights application was lodged in 2016 challenging the vandalizing of Buddhist statues in north.  There was specific reference to the shrine room at Mankulam but the petitioner stated that this was not an isolated instance. Over the past few months there have been constant demands for the removal of   Buddhist statues from Northern Province.   The Buddhist archaeological sites in Northern Province are also under threat said the petitioner.

In January 2019 a group of about 200 persons led by northern politicians stormed the precincts of Gurukanda Raja Maha Viharaya in Nayaru, claiming that the temple had been built on a land belonging to Hindu devotees, reported the media. The group included local politicians and devotees of the adjoining Neeraviadi Kovil. 

There was a clash between the Chief Incumbent of the temple and the intruders. They demanded the deeds of the temple. The Buddhists could complain to any one they liked but they would not allow the Gurukanda temple to function, said the intruders. The intruders threatened to cause bodily harm to the temple’s Chief Incumbent.  If the chief priest disturbed the day to day affairs of the kovil, he would be killed, together with all present there. 

The mob was so strong that the police found it extremely difficult to bring the situation under control. The intruders attempted to snatch the mobile phones of  those who were videoing the scene.  Mullaitivu police filed action in the courts against both parties for breach of peace.

The Mullaitivu police dismantled the CCTV cameras installed at the Viharaya .the CCTV system had been installed by a private company as a security measure since the Chief Incumbent of the temple Ven. Mihindupura Ratanadevakitti didn’t live in the temple most of the time. Police said that there was a court order to the effect no constructions or installations would be allowed in both the temple and the adjacent kovil premises.

The matter went to courts, Director General of Archeology, stated in court that Gurukanda Raja Maha Viharaya in Nayaru, had a history of over 2,000 years with so many Buddhist artifacts and an ancient monastery.  Also that it was against the law to build a Hindu place of worship in the place where there was an ancient Buddhist temple.

Officers of the Archaeological Department M.V.G.K. Asanga and I.P.S. Nishantha had   visited Gurukanda Raja Maha Viharaya. They found ruins of a monastery, remains of a stupa, bricks, roof tiles and  pot shards. They dated the temple to Anuradhapura period. A road has been built bifurcating the temple premises  and land plots have been demarcated. Several Buddhist  artifacts were found during the road building. A stupa which had been bulldozed, had a diameter of 10 meters. There was a new temple there at present. A small Hindu temple,  Neeravi Pillaiyar  temple  is also located on same site, the report said.

TNA leader R.Sampanthan made a statement in Parliament on the matter. Neeraavi Pillaiyar Temple at Chemmalai in the Mullaitivu District was a site of controversy as the Sinhalese in the area tried to take over a Saivite temple, he said. Gurukande Viharaya had been forcibly constructed between 2004 and 2009 when no civilian was permitted to visit the area.

 “More recently an attempt was made to restore that temple. This led to unrest in that area between the people who are all non-Buddhists and the monks who had come there. Upon this matter being reported to the relevant Magistrate, an order was made prohibiting the reconstruction of the temple. The Chief incumbent of the temple filed an application in the Provincial High Court of the Northern Province district of Vavuniya and the matter is still pending, Sampanthan said.

Suren Raghavan said that the boundary of the temple was under dispute. Though  the Gazette notification of 2016 said the temple was an archaeological site, the boundary was not mentioned. A problem arose when new measurements were taken to mark the boundary. While the measuring was going on, ‘both parties had a debate  regarding their historical heritages.” There was an army camp there during the war.  They had a set of buildings which they had handed over to the chief priest, added  Raghavan.

The opposition to Buddhist temples has extended also to cremation of chief priests on  temple premises. Two such protests are on record. The first was in 2017.

 In 2017, a group of 12 lawyers   had gone to courts to prevent the last rites of the late chief incumbent of the Naga Vihara, Ven. Meegahajandure Gnanaratana, being performed at the Jaffna Fort Sports Ground. The restraining order had been sought on two grounds. Permission had not been obtained from Jaffna Municipal Council and secondly,  the cremation of bodies could damage the environment. Jaffna Magistrate Katheeswaran  did not agree. He refused to issue a restraining order.

The second   protest was  at Gurukanda Raja Maha Viharaya. The chief priest of Gurukanda, Ven. Colomba Medhalankara ,passed away in Colombo. Neeraavi Pillaiyar Temple promptly filed a police complaint that that if the body of the priest is brought to the  Gurukanda temple,   while a court case is going on, there will be trouble.. 

Mullaitivu Police informed  Magistrate’s Court. The magistrate ordered that the  body of the deceased priest should not be cremated or buried in  Gurukanda temple, until a final order was granted in the  court matter.

Court was informed that the  Buddhist  temple was willing to conduct the cremation ceremony at another location and  that the  Hindu temple was agreeable to this. Court  then ordered that the cremation  be conducted at the second location. Maritimepattu Predeshiya Sabha intervened to say  that arrangements were made for the cremation without obtaining permission in terms of the Cemeteries and Burial grounds Ordinance.

After the order was made a group of monks led by Ven. Galagodatte Gnanasara of Colombo,  took the body of the deceased chief priest to the  temple premises and cremated the body there. The cremation was attended by several monks   and took place amidst sadukara from a large crowd.

An equally large or possible larger crowd were there to oppose the cremation, observed the media. Television cameras showed heated arguments. Police were there. A clash occurred and the priest of the Hindu temple was severely injured. A lawyer appearing for the  Hindu Temple was  assaulted.

Several monks spoke to  Derana television  after the cremation. It is a Buddhist tradition to cremate a monk in the temple premises.     If Gnanasara did not go this cremation would not have taken place, they said.

Regarding the ownership dispute, the monks told Derana, that the Archaeological  Department should   point out that Gurukanda is on  protected territory. 3 acres at Gurukanda belong to the  Archaeological   Department. Court should be told this. Ven. Polonnaruwe Thilnakara  said there was no kovil there earlier.

This temple matter can escalate,  said  Bellanwila Dammaratana. Foreign forces are wanting to intervene and incidents such as this will be used for this.    TNA is behind this the monks said.  They scolded Yahapalana as well. We sacrificed ourselves to establish these temples. We went into jungles. It is we who looked after Buddhism in the north, the monks  told Derana, with emotion.

Former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran,  then led a protest opposite the Mullaitivu Divisional Secretariat against the cremation in the temple premises while a court  decision was pending. Several politicians, both national and local,    as well as lawyers, civil society activists and the public in Mullaitivu joined the protest. Some, including lawyers, wore black arm bands.

The protestors demanded legal action against the  cremation. It was violation of a court ruling.  Violating a court ruling  constitutes Contempt of Court. They  demanded the immediate arrest of Galagodaatte Gnanasara and others responsible for cremation. They were extremely critical of Gnanasara Thera’s involvement in the matter, and wanted to know  whether the country has a separate law for Buddhist monks. They  burnt an effigy of  Ven.Gnanasara .  

The Attorney General should take legal action within three days against all those who are involved in the incident including Ven.Galagoda Aththe Gananasara along with the other Buddhist monk who had openly protested against the court order.  Attorney General must assure them in writing that he will  do so. Unless swift action was taken, the demonstrations would continue, said protestors.

The demonstration then marched from Mullaitivu Divisional Secretariat to Mullaitivu District Secretariat and  handed over a memorandum to the District Secretary to be forwarded to the UN envoy in Sri Lanka. They also protested opposite the Mullaitivu Magistrate’s court.

All the lawyers of Northern and Eastern provinces led by Batticaloa Bar Association President K.Narayanapillai boycotted court duties in a black arm band protest outside the Batticaloa court premises. The Mullaitivu Trade Association closed shops and carried out a hartal in support of the demonstration.

TNA’s R. Sampanthan wrote to the President Sirisena, saying, the corpse was cremated in close proximity to the “Theerthakerni” tank in the Hindu temple premises containing Holy water for use by the Deity. The temple and the premises were  thus desecrated. .” He urged  President Sirisena to ensure that those who cremated a Buddhist prelate’s remains at Chemmalai, Mullaitivu in violation of a court order are brought to justice.”

In this ding dong battle there is a slim ray of hope. Ven. Meegahajathure Siriwimala, the Chief Incumbent of Naga Viharaya in Jaffna said that over 100 persons, including the Buddhist and Hindu clergy, gathered in Jaffna on 30th January  2020  to discuss problems faced by them and find mutual solutions. During the discussions, a committee to protect the Buddhists and Hindus was formed. Ven. Thirikunamale Ananda of the Amarapura Chapter, Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhita, Prof. Agalagala Sirisumana from the University of Colombo, President of the Buddhist Monks’ Association Ven. Vengamuwe Nalaka participated in the meeting. Three Tamil Buddhist monks from Chennai as well as Ven. Bagawanthalawe Rahula, who was initially a Hindu Kurukkal, as well as Somasundara Paramacharya, the Chief Kurukkal of Jaffna were among those present.

It was suggested at a talk I attended, in 2019, that Tamil should be taught in the Pirivenas, so that they can teach Buddhism to Tamil speakers.  Ethnic discord may not have arisen,  if in the 30s and 40s monks learnt Tamil and preached the Buddha’s words in the North and East. The present objection to temples is because there is a distrust of Buddhist temples in Jaffna. Sponsoring Buddhism in the north east without enforcing Sinhala colonization could go a long way.  The presence of more Buddhists may have diffused the situation and prevented a war. So it should be Buddhisation and not Sinhalisation. ( continued)

A public pledge made through the Sri Lanka Study Circle 

Sri Lanka is the hub of South Asia, ground vital for the attack or defence of Nations in South Asia. The Americans are in the process of physically capturing the hub, having negotiated with the Chinese and the Indians between 2009 and 2011, at the highest of levels, to give each of these Nations portions of the hub in return for their support to allow the US to take over the lion share of the hub. This is the gist of a relatively new bipartisan-US Foreign Policy. Vide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian_foreign_policy_of_the_Barack_Obama_administration and Clinton’s https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/10/11/americas-pacific-century/ 

The MCC is the instrument with which the US plans to take over the hub, Sri Lanka, and this is only the first phase of Operation ‘Pivot-to-Asia’. The US is enticing the Sri Lankan political leadership by dangling 480 M USD in front of them to sell the country. The MCC is the biggest threat facing the country since 1815. 

With the Parliamentary Elections coming up and with the politicians having a record of appropriating powers never delegated to them, the people have told the politicians, who will only be temporary custodians of the people’s sovereignty for the next 5 years, to make a public pledge that they would not sign the MCC in any form. 

In keeping with the people’s requirement, a new patriotic-politician, has lain himself very humbly at the altar of people’s opinion to pledge solemnly thus: Tennekoon Rusiripala <rusiri21@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 1, 2020 6:39 AM

 

I shall not under any circumstances sign the MCC in its present form or in any amended form or by any other name.”  

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ

මෙවර මැතිවරණයේදී ඉතා පැහැදිලිව පොදු ජන පෙරමුණ ජය ගන්නා බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිය. මේ බව සතුරාද මැනවින් දනී. මැතිවරණය කල් දමා ගැනීමට සියලු ආයුධ පාවිචිචි කරමින් වෙර දැමු ඔවුන්, දැන් දැන්  දැනගෙනම, පරාජය වෙන මැතිවරණයක් සඳහා වියදම් කරමින් රට පුරාම සැරිසරයි. සතුරා දැන දැනම පරාජය උදෙසා සටන් කරන්නේ නැත.

දැන් සතුරාගේ මිතුරා එනම් ඔවුන් සතාපිත කල ස්වාධින මැතිවරණ කොමිසම චන්ද ගණන් කිරීම පෙර මෙන් නොව, පසුදා උදෑසන දක්වා කල්තබා ඇත. පැය 12ක කාලයක් චන්ද පෙට්ටි ඒ ඒ ස්ථානවල රදවා තැබීම චන්ද කොමසාරිස්ට අනුව සිදුවේ. මෙය ඉතා භයානක ක්‍රියාදාමයකි. මේ චන්ද පෙට්ටිවල ඇත්තේ අනාගත ලංකාව පාලනය කිරීමට ඇති බලයි. එබැවින් මේ චන්ද පෙට්ටි කතිර ගැසූ කඩදාසි වලින් පිරවූ පෙට්ටි වශයෙන් සැලකීමට ඉඩදිය නොහැක.

සියලුම ආරක්ෂා විධිවිදාන ඇතුව තිබු ශාලාව අවි ගබඩාව ගිනිතබා විනාශ කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධව සලකා බලන්න විට අපට යම් අවදානමක් දැනේ. එබැවින් කොරෝනා වලින් ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහා සියලුම දේ සපයන මැතිවරණ කොමිසම මෙම චන්ද පෙට්ටි ගින්නෙන් ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහා ගිනි නිවන හමුදාවද සුදානම් කර තබා ගන්නේ නම්, ඉතා ඥානාන්විත මෙරට ජනතාවගේ හැඟීමයි. 

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

While the main opposition UNP/SJB is in a perennial bout to defeat each other and capture/retain power in the  Sirikotha, the foreign servile JVP, NGO vultures and the TNA, as well as the racist constituents of the SJB, the JHU, Muslim Con-gross, A CMC and TPA, are in an endless fake news onslaught to prevent the achieving its goal of getting the two-thirds majority to get rid of the abhorrent 19th amendment, make appropriate changes to the  13th   amendment which had been forcibly enforced on us and repeal the 15th amendment which empowers the insignificant political bandits who get a minimum of 5% of the votes district-wise and island-wide to entitle for seats and thus blackmail major parties.                           

It is a practice all over the world to introduce amendments to their constitutions when there is an absolute necessity. Bu t in this country amendments except amendments No, 6, and 18 have been made to the so-called bizarre constitution merely for political expediency. For instance amendment No. 15 was adopted on the behest of Ashroff to get Muslim Con gross votes for Premadasa in the 1988 presidential election, just 48 hours before the election and it was political bribery.     

The  TNA which has not done any good at all for this country since its formation in 2001 as an appendage of the terrorist  LTTE continues with its Tamil supremacy obsession introduced by their racist grandfather Ponnambalam      Arunachalam( PA ) in the 1880s.  This concept would have vanished a long time ago if not for J.R.Jayawardene’s father’s brother Walter Jayawardene. (WJ)  When Mr. Mark Fernando announced his candidacy for the State Council  (SC) elections,   Walter Jayawardene without contesting him directly went to Madras to meet PA who was spending his retired life in Madras and persuaded him to return to Sri Lanka and contest the election against Mark Fernando and in addition to this he also espoused caste conflicts among the Sinhalese against Mark Fernando and got him defeated.

This stupid and antinational act done by Walter Jayawardene gave a boost to Tamil racists and encouraged them to form the Tamil supremacy concept and think that they could rule over the Sinhalese.  When the British colonialists were contemplating to grant independence to Sri Lanka, the Malaysian born alien S.J.V.Chelvanayagam (SJV) bloated by  PA ’s ill-conceived Tamil Supremacy concept told in the State Council that if Sri Lanka is to be granted independence,   Tamils should be granted the right of self-rule in the North and East as the inferior Sinhalese cannot be allowed to rule the superior Tamils.  This was vehemently opposed by the SC member Sir Marcan Marker saying that Sri Lanka belongs to the majority Sinhalese and they should be made the rulers of the whole country, (source Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka – a book written by SJV”s son-in-law A.J.Wilson published in the U.K.  The publishers of this book has made a note on the back cover of this book saying that it is not for sale in Sri Lanka).  

 Under the post-independent governments of D.S., Dudley, and Kotelawala, Tamil politicians were the real rulers of the country, and the North flourished with massive development work and many industrial projects were established in that part of the country.  Tamils were Secretaries to prominent Ministries and the PWD, Railways, Port, Health, Telecom  and many other departments were fully employed with Tamils opening up a money order economy in which Tamils employed in the South regularly sent money orders to North for their family expenses.   

 The advent of the populist government of Prime Minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike in 1956 changed this situation and then only the educated Sinhalese people started getting their due share in the administration of the country.  This unexpected loss of privileges made the Tamils unleash a confrontational attitude against the government and the Sinhalese people in general.  When the government as in almost all Middle East countries using their alphabets for vehicle number plates introduced the Sinhala letter SHRI for our vehicle number plates Tamils made it a ploy to launch a  Tar campaign” and apply tar on all Sinhala name boards in the North and East and this led to clashes between Tamils and Sinhalese. 

 In these clashes, the Tamils reportedly acted as barbarians and it was said that Tamil hooligans branded Tamil SHRI letters on the breasts of Sinhalese women with hot tar. One of our neighbors who returned from Mullaitivu at that time, named Wijepala had burnt marks all over his face caused by hot tar. Then this type of confrontation became frequent between the two communities on political issues and the Tamil politicians took maximum advantage of the new scenario to win elections just by spreading antagonism against the Sinhalese.  Rowdies and communal minded thugs in both communities took advantage of these situations and resorted to looting business premises, torching properties, and even to murder people belonging to the rival community.

 
Prior to these unfortunate incidents, both communities owned businesses in each other’s areas and were living in peace and harmony. .Matara Hotels and Matara bakeries were popular in Jaffna and Jaffna Cafes and Sarasvathi Stores frequented in the South.  Colombo was full of shops owned by Tamils. Several streets such as Sea Street, Keyzer Street, Dam Street, and some of the Cross Roads had Tamil shops together with shops belonging to Muslims and S9inhalese.  The confrontational atmosphere created by Tamil politicians forced many people to abandon their vibrant businesses and return to their home areas.

In 1976 the racist Tamil chauvinists held a Conference in Vaddukkottai and at this conference, many Tamil chauvinists delivered hate lectures depicting the concocted history of the Tamils similar to what is being done by  Wigneswaran and they emphasized the need for the Tamils to have a separate state named Tamil Eelam.  Their argument was that there is no country in the world that does not have Tamils but the Tamils do not have a country od their own and hence a Tamil nation, the Tamil Eelam should be established in the North and East of Sri Lanka.   Accordingly, they adopted a Resolution calling for the establishment of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka and to launch an armed struggle to achieve this goal. This conference authorized the Tamil youth to take up arms and launch an armed struggle to gain Tamil Ealam. 

  During the 2015 Presidential election campaign, the terrorist diaspora pumped a colossal amount of money to the UNP, the shameless and policy less greedy JVP, and the NGO vultures to carry out an unprecedented and an unbelievable smear campaign and many NGOs mushroomed overnight calling themselves as civil organizations to grab the fortunes being offered by the terrorist diaspora, Indian RAW, CIA, and other foreign bandits, and the UNP sources said that 49  civil organizations were in operation in this fake news crusade.

 With this election, the racist Tamil politicians and the stupid UNP assumed the misconception that hereafter Sri Lanka cannot have a functional government without the support of the Tamils and based on this misconception the despicable Sirisena/Ranil government was shamelessly appeasing the Tamils and the TNA as well as the Kallathoni descendant    Mano Ganeshan.  Ganeshan even without being a member of Parliament in February 2015 compelled the government to introduce singing of National Anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil languages while terrorist proxy Sumanthiran became the policy formulator of the government and even the Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella genuflected before him, within the chamber of Parliament itself, bringing shame to the Kandyan pride. Sumanthiran even attended the Working Committee meetings of the UNP without any objections from its docile members.  People wondered as to whether they were having a Sirisena/Ranil government or TNA/Ganeshan government?

It should be mentioned here that the Kallathoni descendent Ganeshan claimed that the Indian Origin Tamils (IOTs) must have 14 MPs in this country a separate contagious province in the hill country IOTs.  With this illusory dream in mind during the 2010 elections he went to contest from the Kandy district and the glorious people of the Kandy district humiliatingly defeated him and chased him to Colombo.

In this darkest chapter of Sri Lanka’s history, then came the much-awaited Presidential Election for which the people were longing to repent for the misery they got inflicted upon themselves by believing in the fake news crusade and for helping to topple development-oriented Rajapaksa government.  The War Hero Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (GR) was the candidate of the patriotic forces against the racist/extremist/reactionary candidate Sajith Premadasa (SP), the notorious treasure hunter of archaeological sites, the alleged plunderer of Rs. 11 Billion of the Central Cultural Fund earmarked for the development of religious sites, alleged to be responsible for misuse of Rs. 400 Million from the Ministry of Housing, and having many other allegations..   

The racist politicians all over the country and the NGO ruffians joined together in a massive crusade against GR and made all efforts to prevent him from contesting and ultimately to defeat him.  These ruffians filed several petitions against GR to disqualify him from contesting the election while the Tamil racist politicians carried out an intensive campaign in the North and East in support of SP who had consented to grant the 13 anti-national demands put forward by the TNA and the Jaffna University students.  Sumanthiran took a leading role in SP’s campaign and addressing many meetings he boldly urged the Tamils to vote for Sajith to defeat the Sinhalese.  The election results showed that the Tamils in the North and East had en-masse voted positively in responding to Sumanthiran’s Defeat the Sinhalese” call. 

The election result also confirmed that the Sinhala Buddhist majority of this country has given a firm mandate to GR and accordingly he launched an admirable country re-building program with equal treatment to all Sri Lankans devoid of ethnicity, religious and other petty differences and at the same time he faced the Covid-19 pandemic in a very systematic manner which even the so-called developed countries such as America and the U.K could not combat successfully.  Even a book can be written on the President’s successful virus combat operation but let us observe it separately later.

 The growing popularity of the President became a bitter pill for Tamil racist politicians and they realized that hereafter they should adopt a cunning strategy and get their aspirations fulfilled without adopting a confrontational attitude.  The diaspora proxy Sumanthiran took the lead in this respect and he self-arranged an interview in Sinhala with the well known Sinhala media personnel Chamuditha Samarawickrema and in this interview, he denounced the LTTE atrocities.  This interview became a storm in a teacup which brought severe condemnation from many racist Tamil politicians of TNA and pro terrorists in Tamil Nadu and they burnt effigies of Sumanthiran in protest and demanded the TNA leader Sambanthan take disciplinary action against Sumanthiran and dismiss him from the TNA immediately but despite these protests, Sambanthan who even graced fundraising campaigns for LTTE in Canada and U.K endorsed the stand taken by  Sumanthiran. 

The question that needs to be asked why Sumanthiran who was having a safe posh life in Colombo and there was no possible threat to his life from LTTE as it was for some other TNA members who were living in the North and East took all these years to condemn the LTTE and why he remained silent when the LTTE was forced conscripting school children for their auxiliary forces and sometimes even for frontline combat duties and why he kept silent when the LTTE was forcibly taking the innocent civilians from place to place as human shields to provide protection for their cadres and why he did not hail the vanquishing of the LTTE on 19th May 2009?

The UK based Suren Surendiran, the spokesman of the Global Tamil Forum GTF)  who maintained a high profile close contacts with Sumanthiran to protect and promote Tamil separatism too, has defended Sumanthiran. Surendiran is reported to have held discussions with Sumanthiran on the future strategy to be handled and he  has asked whether unqualified and uncritical support for the armed struggle of the past, is a must, to play a leading role in Tamil politics  today?’ Reports said that Sumanthiran’s declaration that he wouldn’t approve terrorism, under any circumstances, received Surendiran’s approval. Surendiran categorized the Tamil community into three segments (a) those who unreservedly backed the war, waged by the LTTE, but blamed the group’s defeat on external factors (b) the second group comprised Tamils who accepted the war, in its entirety, while finding fault with all stakeholders for not doing everything possible to save the LTTE (Surendiran called it …to prevent its catastrophic end) (c) and the last group opposed violence without exception.

In their latest move, Surendran’s GTF has urged the Tamils to vote for those only contesting the northern and eastern regions. In addition to the TNA, the Thamizhi Makkal Tesiya Kootani or the Tamil People’’s National Alliance led by former Northern Province CM C.V. Wigneswaran are in the fray in the North and East.

 The GTF, in a statement issued on 31^st July, has said: First and foremost, ensure that people appreciate the significance of this election and the power of their vote – every vote matters. Second, no vote should be wasted on the multitude of independent groups and those representing countrywide parties, as these could only dilute the strength of the Tamil representation for future political engagements. Overly unrealistic agenda and an inward-looking insular political strategy is not the most suited in the present circumstances. The question for the Tamil voters is among the parties that represent Tamil national interest, which party and candidates are the best suited to navigate Tamil politics through the turbulent times ahead.”

 The GTF alleged the election was being held amidst authoritarian presidential rule through decrees and task forces, key civilian functions entrusted to serving and retired military officers in` an atmosphere of intimidation and fear leading to media self-censorship and silencing of civil society activists, and insecurity among the minority communities.

 The GTF has further stated that: It is in this atmosphere that Rajapaksas are seeking 2/3rd majority to change the constitution, in particular, to abolish the 19th Amendment, and in the last two attempts at constitution-making (1972 and 1978), where the political parties that drove the process had 2/3rd majority, were disastrous, and their effects are still crippling the country.

.The long statement of the GTF also states that  The Tamil political leadership during the recent past has earned some positive marks on the national politics of the country and the Tamil community should never take its eyes off from achieving political outcomes, and the Sri Lankan political leadership’s intransigence in accommodating the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil community, made the Tamils look to the international community and India, with hope and expectation.

The double-tongued hypocrite Sumanthiran while condemning the LTTE in a tactful move has justified the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks saying that such attacks should be expected if the government did not address the grievances of the minorities. He has made this remark at a function held at the B MICH, to mark the first anniversary of the political weekly ‘Anidda in which Karu Jayasuriya, Human Rights Commission Chairperson Dr.  Deepika Udagama, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and several others have attended.

Reportedly on the instigation of Sumanthiran, members of the TNA including its leader Sambanthan, making a major split in the opposition camp made a strategic move by accepting Prime  Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s invitation to attend a meeting, chaired by him, at Temple Trees, on May 04^th. The TNA participation at the Temple Trees meeting also led to a private meeting between the Prime Minister and Sumanthiran at his official residence, on the night of May 4^th The TNA broke ranks with the UNP, and its breakaway faction, the Samagi  Jana Balavegaata (SJB), as well as the JVP, to attend the Temple Trees meeting.

The pro-LTTE elements formed the TNA in 2001 as part of its overall strategy to promote a separatist ideology, both in and outside parliament. The original grouping, having contested the Dec 2001 parliamentary polls, under the TULF symbol, secured 15 seats. The ITAK hadn’t been part of the TNA, at that time.

The signing of the Norway-arranged Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) took place on Feb 21, 2002. By then, the TNA had recognized the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people. The LTTE exploited the recognition received from the TNA. Then the TNA threw its weight behind the LTTE’s absurd demand for ISGA (Interim Self-Governing Authority) in the run-up to Prabhakaran walking out of the negotiating table. The LTTE quit tripartite negotiations, in late April 2003. The TNA played ball with the LTTE. They took a common stand. TULF leader, Veerasingham Anandasangree, quit the TNA as the LTTE-TNA bond grew stronger. But, the vast majority of Anandasangaree’s colleagues, including Sampanthan, reiterated support to the LTTE’s macabre cause. They resurrected the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), ahead of the 2004 parliamentary polls. The TNA swiftly reached an agreement, with the LTTE, to contest the parliamentary polls, on the ITAK ticket.

The LTTE unleashed violence in the North-East Province, in the run-up to parliamentary polls. The LTTE operation was meant to strengthen the TNA, at the expense of other political parties, including the ruling UNP. The European Union Election Observation Mission declared that the TNA achieved success at the 2004 parliamentary polls as a result of the LTTE’s unleashing violence. Local monitors refrained from commenting on the TNA-LTTE project. Parliament, and the international community, refrained from taking up this issue, for obvious reasons. The LTTE-TNA project received international blessings, even after the EU forthrightly condemned the LTTE-TNA relationship.

The LTTE mistakenly felt that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s victory would give them an excuse to launch an all-out war. The TNA certainly subscribed to the LTTE’s assessment. Within two weeks, after Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa election as the President, the LTTE resumed claymore mine attacks, in the Jaffna peninsula, and expanded similar attacks to the Mannar region.

The TNA cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for setting the stage for Eelam War IV. Political analysts point out that there is no point in seeking an explanation from Sumanthiran, as regards the wartime TNA-LTTE partnership, as he joined the TNA parliamentary group, after the demise of the LTTE. But, Sumanthiran, who received recognition as a President’s Counsel, in 2017, knew the TNA’s wretched past. Having joined the TNA parliamentary group, in 2010, he spearheaded a high profile international campaign to haul up Sri Lanka before hybrid war crimes investigation mechanism. In fact, no one has done so much for their cause since the eradication of the LTTE. However, if the LTTE somehow survived the final onslaught on the Vanni east front, Sumanthiran wouldn’t have received an invitation from the TNA to join its parliamentary group. The elimination of the LTTE automatically gave the TNA an opportunity to take control of the situation. Gradually, Sumanthiran became the most influential person, among the parliamentary group. Sumanthiran maintained excellent relations with the top UNP leadership, and Western diplomatic missions, in Colombo. Sumanthiran never found fault with the LTTE. The TNA, right throughout the Eelam War (August 2006-May 2009), stood steadfastly with the LTTE.

The demise of the LTTE allowed the TNA to charter its own course. At an early stage, the TNA reached consensus with the UNP, on a common political programme. Both parties wanted to see the back of war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sumanthiran played a significant role in the shaping of the TNA strategy, since entering parliament, in April 2010. However, the TNA adopted an unprecedented strategy, at the January 2010 presidential poll. TNA’s decision to back General Sarath Fonseka proved the grouping’s readiness to do whatever necessary to achieve their overall political objectives. The UNP-led political alliance, which backed Fonseka, included the JVP, the TNA, the SLMC, and the ACMC. The same grouping backed Maithripala Sirisena, at the January 2015 presidential polls. Although the project failed, in 2010, in spite of the TNA ensuring Fonseka’s victory, at all northern electorates, and making a significant contribution in the East, the former Army Chief lost to Mahinda Rajapaksa, by a staggering 1.8 mn votes.

The Manifestoes of Tamil chauvinists in all elections since 1977 demands Tamil self-rule in the North and East of Sri Lanka saying that it is their homeland.  This demand has been produced in their manifesto for the August 5th election as well, in which they demand amalgamation of the North and East as a non-divisible territorial unit to be under their self-rule.  Their arrogance, invalidity, and the stupidity of their demands have reached intolerable limits and the need to curb presentation of such demands has become extremely vital.

There are only 29 seats in the North and most of these seats except in the Jaffna peninsula can be won by non-Tamil candidates if they employ a collective understanding devoid of the party and religious affiliations and if they collectively decide to vote for the most suitable/popular candidate in each district and reduce the total Tamil MPs getting elected from the two provinces to less than 15 seats.  Please remember that this is not a difficult task as Sambandan was defeated in the 2000 election.  Therefore all Sinhalese and Muslim voters should join hands to defeat racist politicians in their respective areas and elect non-racist politicians to the new Parliament. These criteria should be applied not only to the North and East but all other districts and the Sinhalese and Muslims should make all efforts to defeat the racist JHU, TPA, SLMC, and ACMC candidates as well and make them understand those racist politics has no place in this country.    

A Special and kind appeal to Muslims:

Please use your precious vote with firm determination to defeat the rogue separatists and communalists who continuously hinder the progress of this country and minimize their representation in the parliament and help establish the virtuous and harmonious nation envisaged by the past Muslim leaders such as Sir Marcan Marka Sir Razik Fareed, Dr. Badiudeen Mahmoud, Dr. T.B.Jayah, Dr. M.C.M.Kaleel, C.A.S.Marikkar, (SinhakaMarikkar), Muttur Majeed, A.C.S.Hameed and M/H.Mohamed.  At the same time ensure the defeat of Munafiqs (Hypocrites), nepotists, and the alleged rogues in the Muslim garb such as Rishad Bathiudeen, Rauf Hakeem, Mujibur Rehman, Kabir Hashim and their ilk who bring forth disgrace and shame to the peace-loving Muslims in this country.

TV Derana

විමල් විරවංශ මහතා සමග පැවති 360 සජීව වැඩසටහන.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් නිත්‍ය නියෝජිත/සමගි ජනබලවේගය

මහින්ද දේශප්‍රිය මහතා,
සභාපති
මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව,
රාජගිරිය.

මහත්මාණෙනි,

ප්‍රේමලාල් ජයසේකර ගේ අපේක්ෂකත්වය ශුන්‍ය හා බලරහිත බව සම්බන්ධයෙනි

රත්නපුර මහාධිකරණය මගින් මරණ දඬුවම නියම කරනු ලැබූ පොදුජන පෙරමුණු අපේක්ෂක ප්‍රේමලාල් ජයසේකර මහතා ට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 89 වගන්තිය ප්‍රකාරව මරණ දඬුවම නියම වූ දිනයේ සිට පුරවැසිබලය අහිමිවේ.  ඒ අනුව, 2020 අගෝස්තු 5 දින පැවැත්වෙන මහා මැතිවරණයේ දී ඔහුට ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සඳහා වන අවස්ථාව හිමි නොවේ.

මැතිවරණයක දී ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම සඳහා සුදුසුකම් නොලබන කිසිදු අයෙකුට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 91 වගන්තිය යටතේ ඡන්දය ඉල්ලීම සඳහා වන අයිතිය ද අහිමි (පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු යටත් වන අනුශක්තාව) වේ. ඒ අනුව, රත්නපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්ක පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ලැයිස්තුවේ මනාප අංක 13 යටතේ තරඟවදින අපේක්ෂකයාට නීතියේ ඉදිරියේ වලංගු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු නොවන නිසා ඔහුට  සලකුණු කරනු ලබන ඡන්ද සියල්ල අපතේ යන ඡන්ද බවට පත්වන බව මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව හොඳින් දන්නා ස්ථාපිත කරුණකි.

එවැවින්, අගෝ. 5 දින මැතිවරණයට ප්‍රේමලාල් ජයසේකර ට ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමේ අයිතිය අහිමි බවට වන නිල දැනුම්දීම සිදු කිරීම මැතිවරණ කොමිසම සතු වගකීමකි.  ඒ රත්නපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් තේරීම්බාර නිලධාරි වෙත දැනුම්දීමට  කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ද ඉල්ලමි. තව ද,   ඔහුගේ අංකයට සලකුණු කරනු ලබන මනාපයක් වේ නම් එය ශුන්‍ය හා බලරහිත බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම ද.  කොමිසම සතු වගකීමක් බව කාරුණිකව සිහිපත් කරමි. 

මෙයට විශ්වාසී,

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

නිත්‍ය නියෝජිත/සමගි ජනබලවේගය

1.       දිස්ත්‍රික් තේරීම් භාර නිලධාරි – රත්නපුර

2.       කොමසාරිස් ජෙනරාල් – මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව

3.       සහකාර මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් – රත්නපුර

By R Kirubakaran Express News Service Courtesy The New Indian Express

Trio who forged his identity papers and buried his body arrested by police.

COIMBATORE: Coimbatore police on Sunday confirmed the death, in the city, of Sri Lanka’s underworld kingpin Angoda Lokka. One man and two women, including a Sri Lankan national, were arrested for allegedly forging identity papers for the wanted criminal and cremating him in Madurai after his death on July 3. Police revealed that Angoda Lokka, who was wanted by Sri Lankan police, had been hiding in the city for at least two years.

While the two women — one of them a Sri Lankan native — were arrested in the city by Coimbatore city police on Sunday, the man was arrested from Erode for allegedly creating forged identity documents, including an Aadhaar card for him in the name R Pradeep Singh (35).

After the wanted man’s death on July 3, reportedly due to cardiac arrest, the trio submitted forged documents to take his body for cremation the next day, said a police report.

The arrested persons were identified as Sivakami Sundari (36) wife of Dinakaran from Hal Nagar Phase I near Pasingapuram in Madurai district, her associate from Erode S Thiyaneshwaran, who had helped get the forged documents, and Amani Thanji (27) daughter of Thanji Arjan Mugariya from Colombo in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan woman is said to have lived with Angoda Lokka in Coimbatore.

The three were booked under Sections 120 B, 177, 182, 202, 212, 417, 419, 466, 468 and 471 of IPC and remanded to judicial custody, said police.

According to police, the man who was later found to be Angoda Lokka was taken to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on the night of July 3, in an unconscious state. The women had claimed he was R Pradeep Singh from Green Garden near Cheran Maanagar on Kalapatti road in Coimbatore and told authorities that they were his relatives.

They said that he had fainted at home due to sudden cardiac arrest. Peelamedu police registered a case under section 174 of CrPC. Following the post-mortem they received the body after submitting his fake Aadhaar card details. Police allegedly failed to check the documents properly.

Meanwhile, based on an intelligence report that Angoda Lokka was murdered and buried in Coimbatore, Sri Lankan police approached Tamil Nadu police for further probe.

Based on this, city police reopened the case and found that the documents submitted by the women had been forged and they had pretended Angoda Lokka was Pradeep Singh. After receiving the body they had cremated it at Madurai the next day, said police sources.

Police sources added that, after the post-mortem, samples were sent for viscera testing and only after the test results come, would they be able to arrive at any conclusion whether he died of cardiac arrest or was murdered.

Based on preliminary investigation with the arrested persons, police said they had learnt that the deceased was Maddumage Chandana Lasantha Perera alias Angoda Lokka (aged around 35) from Kotikawatta, Colombo in Sri Lanka. He came to Coimbatore three years ago and lived at a rental house in Cheran Maanagar. He was running a food supplement business and lived with his girlfriend, Amani Thanji, who came to Coimbatore from Colombo in March. He had received forged documents, including Aadhaar card and citizenship documents, through Sivakami Sundari and Thiyaneshwaran, police said.

According to Sri Lankan police intelligence, Angoda Lokka was poisoned to death in India in early July. One of his sisters was allowed to watch the funeral via video streaming. His rivals had planned to assassinate him by using a woman, who was living with him in India, and she allegedly poisoned him.

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

The much awaited General Elections is before us. We have a new set up in the sense that the two traditional main parties have each split up into two factions. The UNP breakaway faction is the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party which transformed to the United People’s Front Alliance by combining with a number of satellite parties split up five years ago. Subsequently the UPFA breakaway faction reconciled forming a new party, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, under the Pohottuwa symbol. 

Yet, it is an uneasy truce. Some members like Prasanna Ranatunga and Roshan Ranasinghe openly ask voters not to caste a preference to those who betrayed the party and country. Their bitterness is clearly visible, both having stood fast against the Yahapalana Government and even risked persecution. 

This appeal is not made in the vain attempt to gain preferential votes over each other in the same camp. The resentment is palatable against those who have now meekly crawled over to the Pohottuwa to protect their own political career. It is however up to the voter to decide whether the time is right to put a stop to these opportunistic politicians, who jump from one end to the other for self serving purposes and in the process jeopardise the entire country. 

Conning the voter

The UNP split is still fresh and therefore the two factions seem too angry with each other to see eye-to-eye over anything ever again. Udaya Gammanpila however believes that this is simply an act to deceive the voters. The hardcore UNP had been long disillusioned by Ranil Wickremesinghe, especially for his alleged role in the infamous Central Bank bond scams. However, some of the voters may still prefer Wickremesinghe to Sajith Premadasa, who comes across as shockingly immature and very silly. Therefore, according to Gammanpila, this so-called split is simply a gimmick for Premadasa to garner votes that will not come Wickremesinghe’s way and vice verse. Either way, the voter is being entertained by the quarrels between the four factions of the two parties. This only serves to highlight the immature nature of Sri Lankan politics. Rather than articulating their vision, policies and plans of implementation, each of these politicians are attacking their opponents in a bid to discredit them. 

However, there is a difference between the infighting within the Pohottuwa and the cat fight between the UNP and the SJB. The likes of Ranatunga and Ranasinghe can afford to denounce the newly joined once erstwhile members for they are standing on the moral high ground of never having strengthened the Yahapalana hand. Therefore, they are innocent of all the transgressions committed by the Yahapalana Government from which the country is still reeling. In fact they played a decisive role to roll back the Yahapalana carpet. 

Birds of a feather

On the other hand, neither the UNP nor the SJB have that luxury as both these factions can never absolve themselves from the sins committed during the Yahapalana Government. Wickremesinghe pointed out that those who are standing with Premadasa to the likes of Patali Ranawaka, Rishard Bathuideen, Rauf Hakeem and Mano Ganesan are not from the UNP, how then does Premadasa claim the hardcore UNP are with him, is Wickremesinghe’s rhetoric question. However, it was none other than Wickremesinghe who allowed these politicians to assume the UNP garb. Having allowed them to grow on UNP soil for years, having depended on them for UNP’s survival, it is now difficult to dissociate them from the UNP. The only reason for Wickremesinghe to remember they are not part of the traditional party is because they are not standing with him now, but with his biggest rival. 

Sajith Premadasa never lets his audience forget that none of the bank robbers are with his party. However, this hardly exonerates Premadasa or those in the SJB from the crime. The reason being, they never objected to it while they were together. Today, Premadasa’s proud lieutenants are Bathuideen and Hakeem – both accused of assisting the Easter Sunday bombers. Had they not joined SJB, no doubt Premadasa would boast that his clean party is not entertaining any of the terrorists or extremists. 

Premadasa especially cannot absolve himself from the bond scam scandals. In October 2018, Maithripala Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe from the premiership. One of the reasons that led to this sacking was apparently this crime, though the scams took place in 2015 and 2016 and no discernible action was taken against it. With the sacking of Wickremesinghe, the Yahapalana Government toppled. 

Takes two to Tango

However, proponents of the Yahapalana Government quickly rallied the troops and had Wickremesinghe reinstated. Premadasa was among those who celebrated it the most. During the drama it came to light that Sirisena had offered the premiership to Premadasa a number of times but each time he protected Wickremesinghe’s position. He had not even been diplomatic in his efforts. Sirisena recalled the embarrassment he had to face when Premadasa double crossed him and exposed his intent to Wickremesinghe without giving Sirisena any prior warning. 

Therefore, it is not possible for Premadasa to now dissociate himself from the crime. It is interesting how he conveniently ignores this while those who committed the crime might not be with him, those who tried to whitewash it have followed him to form his new party. They are known as the Footnote Kalliya (gang)”. 

Sujeeva Serasinghe even wrote a book to say that no wrong doing was committed. He was only somewhat silenced when it came to light that one of the main culprits, Arjun Aloysius has paid him a number of large payments. Though the revelation submerged almost immediately after surfacing, the fact remains that Serasinghe too benefited from the crime. It was not only Serasinghe who thus benefitted. It is still not clear the reason for the 2016 bond scams to take place. However, the purported motive for the scams in 2015 was allegedly to fund the then upcoming 2015 General Elections. 

The UNP then floated the theory that after 20 years in the Opposition the Party was badly placed financially. Therefore to finance the 2015 Presidential Election they had to scrape their coffers and could not afford the impending General Election. It was a simple and plausible explanation. It was an open secret that the UNP headquarters, Sirikotha, was struggling to pay even their utility bills. This served to stop further speculation to the motive behind the scams. 

US taxpayers’ USD 300 M

However, this explanation is a tad difficult to accept for two reasons. The first because it does not explain the reason why the 2016 bond scam took place and the second being the regime change engineered in 2015 was very well funded by foreign Governments. According to a slip made by then US State Secretary John Kerry, the US spent at least USD 300 million of the American taxpayers’ money to install the Yahapalana Government. 

This then begets the question why was the Central Bank robbed twice within 13 months?” The answer lies with the results of the bond scams. Unlike in other corruptions where the effect of the fraud is just once, here the effect continues to increase throughout the bond’s lifespan. Thus, the interest rates that originally were in single digits immediately shot to two digits. A country’s interest rate is the indicator for a lender to decide crucial information. A high interest rate means that the country’s repayment capacity might be lower. This means, lenders would insist on shorter repayment durations. Higher interests would also deter investors. Thus the bond scams were an effective way to sabotage Sri Lanka’s national economy. 

Whether it was to the fund the General Election or to sabotage the economy the point is that Premadasa never did protest. Instead, he valiantly played his part to protect the Yahapalana Government. The only reason he now attempts to distance himself from the crime is for self preservation. In a sense, this Election is a most challenging one. Sri Lanka is unwittingly caught in the vortex of perhaps the largest geopolitical struggle for regional dominance. The only way to safeguard our sovereignty is to strengthen our economy. Therefore, the voter should not let the petty accusations politicians are hurling against each other distract them from the real threats that are before Sri Lanka. The voter must thus identify who will and will not allow Sri Lanka to be manipulated for the benefit of foreign nations. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com