ALI SUKHANVER

Immature eagerness rather urgency makes things horrible particularly when matters are directly linked with the credibility of a nation and security of a country. A few days back when a renowned Pakistani journalist was allegedly kidnapped from a very busy road of Pakistan’s federal capital Islamabad, some media-men from national and international media groups started pointing their fingers towards the security agencies of Pakistan without any proof and without any investigation. Whosoever was behind this heinous act must be taken to task but after thorough investigation. Blaming abruptly simply mars the facts; moreover such type of ‘blame-game’ defames and discredits not only the working of our security agencies but the whole country and the whole nation. Today countless Indians are sarcastically asking on social media ‘What were the security agencies of Pakistan doing when that journalist was being kidnapped from that busy road of the federal capital.’

 It is the professional responsibility of all media-men to file their stories after complete investigation and certainly they must provide proofs in support of their investigative reports. As far as the kidnapping incident from Islamabad’s busy road is concerned, there had been countless incidents of the same kind in US, UK and so many countries hundred times more advanced in resources and available technology. The security agencies must stop such type of incidents and they no doubt do everywhere as much as is possible for them. In most of the cases they try to keep a vigilant eye on nefarious activities but they have no power of performing miracles; they cannot stop things which are in the minds of the planners.

Recently another example of this immature eagerness was observed in different national and international newspapers when a news-report on unfreezing of the bank accounts of five leaders of (defunct) Jama’at-ud-Da’wah and Lashkar -e-Taiba was published in a Pakistani paper. The news-report said that Pakistan has restored their bank accounts. The report said, All of them are UNSC’s enlisted terrorists though and currently facing sentences ranging 1 to 5 years in Lahore jail for terror financing cases filed against them by the Punjab Counter Terrorism Department.’ According to the details narrated in the news-report the defunct JUD leaders had forwarded an appeal to the government of Pakistan for restoring their bank accounts so that they could run their family affairs. They also mentioned about their financial income and sources of earning. A copy of this application was sent to the UNSC also for final approval. It means that the UNSC was the final authority which could restore their accounts. The government of Pakistan simply acted upon the directions given by the United Nations; there was no personal interest or will of the government in restoring their bank-accounts.

Keeping the facts and figures aside, unfortunately, some analysts tried to convince their audience that this restoration of accounts was the result of that ‘soft corner’ somewhere hidden in the heart of the government of Pakistan. They tried to misguide the world around that this restoration of bank-accounts was independently done by the government of Pakistan. The facts are altogether otherwise; Pakistan has never encouraged any kind of terrorism as Pakistan itself has been the worst victim to this menace. Restoration of the bank accounts of all these leaders has nothing to do with the ‘will and desire’ of the government of Pakistan; it was simply done on the direction of UNSC.

Dragging Pakistan into a new blame game is in fact an attempt to defame the whole nation in the international community and to weaken the very foundation of the country already facing a lot of problems. As per tradition the Indian media took full benefit of the situation and exploited the news published in Pakistani newspapers in the most negative way. It was also propagated that at the initial stage, Pakistan had restored the bank accounts of the ‘terrorists’, at some later stage, arrangements would be done for their release. The South Asia Monitor said focusing on that news report, The report raised eyebrows over Pakistan’s actions on ground and claims on papers in front of the global community and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), where it has claimed to seize all assets, offices and bank accounts of the JUD and its affiliate individuals.”

The ball was never in the court of the government of Pakistan; the applicants sent their applications for the restoration of their bank accounts to the government of Pakistan and forwarded the same to the UNSC. It was not the government of Pakistan but the United Nations Sanctions Committee responsible for unfreezing of these accounts. The Committee looked thoroughly into all details, followed all rules and regulations, approved the application and then directed the government of Pakistan to take necessary action.

Anyone who misreported the facts and figures in fact violated all moral and ethical values. Blaming someone for the thing he has not done is a crime and this crime becomes an act of terrorism when our own people get involved into it. While reporting on some issue of a sensitive nature or analyzing some sensitive situation of national importance, we all must keep in mind that words become more poisonous and more disastrous than nuclear weapons if not carefully used.

Courtesy The Daily News

Director of Health and Nutrition at the Ministry of Education, Renuka Peiris; Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Japan to Sri Lanka, Kitamur Toshihiro; WFP Deputy Country Director of Sri Lanka, Andrea Berardo; Secretary of the Ministry of Education, N.H.M. Chitrananda; and Additional Secretary of School Activities at the Ministry of Education, L.M.W. Darmasena.

The Government of Japan has donated a large shipment of canned fish, weighing 388 metric tonnes and worth ¥300 million (Rs.519 million), to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Government of Sri Lanka, to meet the protein needs of schoolchildren covered by the National School Meal Programme.

The donation was formalised at a ceremony held at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Colombo, at which the Exchange of Notes were signed by Kitamura Toshihiro, Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Japan to Sri Lanka; and Andrea Berardo, WFP Deputy Country Director of Sri Lanka. The event was presided over by N.H.M. Chitrananda, Secretary of the Ministry of Education; L.M.W. Darmasena, Additional Secretary of School Activities at the Ministry of Education; and Renuka Peiris, Director of Health and Nutrition at the Ministry of Education.

The Governments of Sri Lanka and Japan have had a strong bond with a mutually supportive relationship between the people of our countries for many years,” Charge d’Affaires ad interim of Japan to Sri Lanka, Kitamur Toshihiro, said.

The Government of Sri Lanka and its people demonstrated their solidarity to Japan in the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011, through a cash donation of US$1 million and three million tea bags. The canned fish provided by Japan is sourced from the areas supported by Sri Lanka, as an extension of the continuous supply provided by Japan, reflecting our appreciation of our Sri Lankan friends for lending a hand to Japan in times of need. We will continue to support Sri Lanka, in the spirit of unity and solidarity in our joint battle against the effects of COVID-19,” he added.

Through this agreement, the Government of Japan commits to making available to the Government of Sri Lanka—through the WFP—388 metric tonnes of canned fish; enough for the preparation of 19 million meals (rich in protein) for 270,000 schoolchildren. This latest contribution ensures that canned fish will continue to be offered to schoolchildren from 2021 – 2022, in addition to the previous consignment of canned fish supplied by the Government of Japan, which will last up to mid-2021.

Nutritious meals are the foundation to good health, especially for children. This generous contribution from Japan comes at a crucial time when so many Sri Lankan families are hard-hit by COVID-19, with reduced incomes and job-loss. Fish is a great source of protein, and by including it in school meals, we can be certain that children will get the right nutrients they need to grow and develop,” WFP Deputy Country Director of Sri Lanka, Andrea Berardo, said.

A lack of adequate protein intake could result in several health issues amongst children, including slow growth, poor concentration, and decreased immunity. In Sri Lanka, nutrition surveys have indicated that 40% of primary-level schoolchildren were too thin prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Consumption of protein-rich foods, such as fish, is vital to help children meet their dietary requirements.

The Government of Sri Lanka has been conducting the National School Meal Programme for several decades. The programme was developed with the objective of ensuring that children are healthy and can optimally benefit from the educational opportunities provided to them,” Secretary of the Ministry of Education, N.H.M. Chitrananda, said.

We are thankful to the Government of Japan and the World Food Programme for providing canned fish to supplement the school meal programme, and for supporting us in enhancing the nutritional status of schoolchildren,” he added.

The National School Meal Programme, which the WFP has supported since 2003, was disrupted by COVID-19-induced school closures in March.

The Government of Japan, through the WFP, has been supporting the programme since 2011, with approximately 1,500 metric tonnes of canned fish worth more than ¥1 billion, to supplement school meals twice a week, adding diversity, nutrition, and taste.

The World Food Programme, together with the Government of Japan, has pledged to continue their support to the Government of Sri Lanka in its efforts to scale up and enhance the National School Meal Programme.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

I think what is most important is proper debt management. If we get that right, we don’t need to think of debt restructuring

The Daily Mirror discussed the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the national economy and how Sri Lanka could emerge from this unprecedented challenge with the least possible damage, with former Central Bank Governor, senior advisor to Prime Minister on economic affairs and SLPP National List candidate, Ajith Nivard Cabraal.

Excerpts:
Q What exactly is the nature of damage done to the economy by the pandemic?
As we all know, the pandemic caused a massive shut-down of economic activities, globally. As a result, many industries suffered. Transportation by air, sea and road came to an almost complete halt. Tourism was severely affected. Many factories closed without work. Many also didn’t get paid for the goods they produced and sold because the buyers were so badly affected. Global oil prices plunged. In that scenario, the Sri Lankan economy suffered a serious setback because exports of apparels as well as tourism which were two of the key foreign exchange earners in our country, were seriously affected. The lockdown, while helping to control the spread of the virus, naturally led to a major slowdown in purchasing power which further affected all businesses, big and small. Many in the private sector lost livelihoods and jobs, hopefully temporarily.   

Even though difficult, the government was able to prop up several sectors as well as the affected people to some extent. Nevertheless, the significant reduction in consumer demand across the board, caused a serious contraction in the economy since the advent of the COVID -19 virus. Fortunately, the recovery is finally taking place worldwide and Sri Lanka opening out gradually, and businesses beginning to pick up. In that scenario, we now hope that the resumption of at least a reasonable degree of economic activities will enable the overall economy to record a V-shaped recovery by the fourth quarter of 2020, although that’s somewhat optimistic.   

Q Though we have contained the pandemic, the world is yet to come out. Then, is it realistic for us, to realise the economic targets?
We need to develop some economic targets if we are to move forward. Otherwise, we will find it difficult to stay focused. We also need to make certain estimates now because such estimates would be needed to help position ourselves to meet the crisis in a reasonably professional manner. It is of course quite possible, that some of the estimates and assumptions that we make today, could later prove to be erroneous, but that is a risk that we will need to take at this time. We all need to acknowledge and understand that the entire world is moving on uncharted waters right now. The course is not clear, but yet, we have got to move forward. Otherwise, we would surely perish. The government too will have to think out-of-the-box and take some bold steps. Not every decision will be 100% accurate. But, in these circumstances, if no decisions are taken or no action is taken, business confidence will suffer and all economic stakeholders will enter into a very pessimistic mode, which will lead to disastrous results.   
Even otherwise, it may slowly limp back, but that would take too long and the social fallout could be highly dangerous.   

Q The industrial sector, tourist industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, rural and domestic industries are the most affected from COVID – 19. How can these vital segments of the economy be revived in the shortest possible period of time?
As already stated, almost all sectors of the economy have been affected due to the collapse of local and international demand. In that background, the greatest pain and vulnerability will be faced by businesses in the immediate and short term. That is why we have to give our country’s businesses the necessary support to tide over that difficult period. That is not going to be easy since the government finances are also stressed at this time as tax collections in the post-COVID period would be weak while foreign inflows too, will be interrupted.   

Q Who are the most vulnerable sections in society that should be given priority in the government’s recovery programme?
There are several sectors that have been badly affected as a result of the fall in demand for various goods and services. The apparel and tourism sectors have been significantly affected in particular, and the persons who are involved in those sectors have become quite vulnerable. They certainly need to be supported until such time that those sectors recover. At the same time, there are several other local industries and services that have also suffered significantly as a result of the acute fall in local demand due to the lockdown and reduced purchasing power. Those persons too need to be supported by way of cash grants, tax breaks, loan and interest moratoriums, quick release of new loan facilities at concessionary interest rates. All these matters have received the consideration of the government, and solutions are being developed to provide the maximum support. 

 
Q The largest contributions to Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves come from remittances of the expatriate Sri Lankan community, garment and apparel exports, fish exports and the exports of tea and rubber. At a time all the export revenues has dropped to a drip, what incentives could the government offer to rekindle these sectors?
If export revenue in a country drops due to quality issues or availability problems within the exporting country, then it could be fixed by taking the required management and operational remedial measures to rectify such issues. However, if the export revenue is declining due to the decreasing purchasing power of the importing nation’s people and business entities, the problem would be more challenging as it would be beyond the control of the exporter or the exporting country.   

As is well known, in the case of many export-market collapses experienced in the last few months, it is clear that the decline is due to consumer demand in the importing country declining as a direct result of the COVID -19 situation. In that background, it is likely that the demand would pick up after a few more months, and therefore what would be important is for the exporting country to remain resilient by following policies that would enable its exporters to keep their factories and businesses intact, and survive until such time the downward trend changes.   
In the case of exports of apparels, fish, tea, rubber, etc., we have already begun to see an improvement in export revenues. Therefore, it is now time for us to strive even harder to stimulate our existing markets and find new niche markets that would provide us with the opportunity to export more.   

Further, although we do observe a reduction in remittances due to the purchasing power decline in the Middle Eastern countries, it is likely that once global demand picks up, oil prices would improve, which would be a favourable outcome from the point of view of the oil exporting nations. I think the government would do well to provide some short-term relief to those affected businesses until such time demand in the importing or employing nations reaches at least the pre-COVID levels.   

Q How does the government plan for debt restructuring?
I think what is most important is proper debt management. If we get that right, we don’t need to think of debt restructuring. During the period I was the Governor from 2006 to 2014, we were able to reduce Sri Lanka’s Debt to GDP Ratio from 91% to 71%. We were able to shave 50% off the average interest rate of our debt stock. We were able to double the average time to maturity of the debt stock. By keeping the Rupee stable, we ensured that foreign debt servicing was manageable.   

The impact of the COVID -19 economic contraction has thrown fresh challenges to debt management, and I believe this is not a matter that Sri Lanka must face as an individual country only. This is an extraordinary global condition that has been caused by a global occurrence, and as I said earlier, the world community must take a global approach to deal with the fallout. That’s why I have been advocating since April this year that the G7 countries get together with the IMF and the World Bank and take a holistic view and implement an across-the-board debt moratorium for all emerging nations for about two years. That would be a kind of an economic vaccination” that would help all countries and organisations to deal with one another, without having to continuously worry as to whether the other would suffer from debt issues.

   
May I also say that, just like individual companies or countries, the multi-lateral institutions too must think out-of-the-box to safeguard the global economy, and I hope that realisation will dawn soon.   

Q How challenging is it to increase the government’s revenue following tax cuts and dwindling income generation activities during the shutdown?
Increasing the Government revenue at this current time will be very challenging. The traditional methods are not going to work. That is why I have been advocating some new ways and means to achieve the same objective. If, as an emerging nation, Sri Lanka, together with the other emerging nations, could work out a debt-standstill” on its dues for the next two years to the IMF and World Bank, that would save a large chunk of Forex from flowing out of the country. Further, if the EPF releases 20% of the member balances direct to the members themselves, about 2.5 million persons will benefit by an important cash inflow of around Rs.500 billion at this most difficult time, which will also stimulate the economy. If several global equity and venture capital funds can be tapped and those inflows are infused into our economy, the government won’t have to allocate expensive” government funds to stimulate the economy in the post COVID -19 period. We have got to think differently now. If we go along the same beaten track and search for solutions along that track, we will not be able to deliver results. If we try to deal with the issue of dwindling income by imposing new taxes and having more restrictions on businesses, that would also be a path to certain failure.   

Courtesy Adaderana

Another 37 Local Government members of the United National Party (UNP) have been temporarily expelled from the party.

The party membership of these members was suspended for the time being as they had endorsed other political parties, the Legal Secretary of the UNP stated.

This move comes days after the UNP’s Working Committee ousted 54 members, who had submitted nominations from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), along with another 61 Local Government members.

Several top figures of the party including Ajith P. Perera, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Sujeewa Senasinghe and Ranjan Ramanayake were also among the ousted members.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General has filed indictments in the Colombo High Court against former minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne and former Chairman of State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) Mohamed Rumi, in connection with the controversial press conference on ‘white van abductions’.

AG Dappula De Livera has also filed Discharge Orders with the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on the other two suspects in the press conference, listing them as witnesses in the case.

In the days leading up to the Presidential Election last year, Senaratne had called two persons named Anthony Douglas Fernando and Athula Sanjeewa Madanayake for the said press conference, where they made controversial statements regarding alleged white vans” and purported incidents of certain abductions, assassinations, robberies and forced disappearances during the administration of former President and incumbent Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

One of them had claimed that he was a white van” driver involved in abducting people while the other claimed he once served as a driver to transport a stock of gold in previously LTTE-held areas.

The former Health Minister was arrested last December and remanded over the controversial white van” press conference organized by him in November, but he continued to receive treatment at the hospital.

On December 30, Colombo Magistrate’s Court ordered to release Senaratne on bail. However, the Attorney General filed a revision application on January 08 challenging the decision of the Magistrate Court to grant bail to the former Health Minister.

The Attorney General, in his revision application, had pointed out that the Colombo Magistrate’s Court has not taken into consideration the submissions by the prosecution before delivering the verdict to release Senaratne on bail.

On May 13, Senaratne was placed under arrest after he surrendered to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and was placed under remand custody by Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne.

Courtesy Adaderana

Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Nilantha Jayawardena revealed that former deputy ministers Ameer Ali and M.L.AM. Hizbullah had supported terrorist and extremist groups in the country.
 
He made this revelation on Thursday (30), testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing the Easter Sunday terror attacks, for the fourth consecutive day.
 
During the evidence hearing, the focus of the Presidential Commission fell on the intelligence report issued by the SIS with regard to a lecture delivered by Zahran Hashim at the office of the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) on the 20th of November 2016.

The panel asked the former SIS chief if the responses of Muslim organizations and lawmakers challenging the statement made by former Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe during the parliamentary session on the 18th of November 2016, which claimed that 30 members of four Muslim families had joined the ISIS, are included in the said intelligence report.
 
In response, Jayawardena said the report contains the counterstatements made by former Ministers Rauff Hakeem, Rishad Bathiudeen and then-Chief Minister of Eastern Province and Leader of Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) N.M. Ameen.
 
In addition, following the clash at the Aliyar Junction on the 10th of March 2017, former Deputy Minister Ameer Ali had provided political support to the NTJ while former Deputy Minister M.L.AM. Hizbullah endorsed the Sunnat Wal Jamat, former SIS chief said continuing his testimony.
 
The Presidential Commission then questioned the witness of the measures taken by then-Defence Secretary and the National Intelligence after the SIS had forewarned them of the Zahran Hashim-led NTJ and the threats posed by the Islamic State (IS) to Sri Lanka.
 
To this, Jayawardena said the SIS had regularly provided intelligence information to the relevant authorities and they should be questioned on the measures they had taken in that regard.
 
When responding to certain questions posed by the Presidential Commission, the former SIS chief had requested permission to testify only in the presence of the Presidential Commission’s panel and the representatives of the Attorney General’s Department.
 
However, the chairman of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Easter attacks, in response, said the witness cannot be allowed to testify only in the presence of the aforementioned parties, pointing out that several attorneys-at-law appearing on behalf of certain parties linked to the incident have already been given the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.

Accordingly, these attorneys need to be present when the witness produces his testimony, the PCoI chief had stressed.

Courtesy Adaderana

A stash of narcotics has been seized from a house in the area of Brandiyawatta, Wellampitiya.

According to reports, the haul contained nearly 23kg of heroin.

In the meantime, a suspect has also been taken into custody from the house where the heroin cache was discovered.

The raid was jointly carried out by Army personnel and the officers of the Police Special Task Force, acting on a tip-off received by the Army intelligence officials.

Courtesy Hiru News

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa requested the people to send to Parliament at the next general election, only those who are able to work.<br /><br />He said this while participating in a public meeting held in Kahawatta, Ratnapura today.

Courtesy Hiru News

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa revealing his development vision for the district of Monaragala says that he will establish an agriculture-based modern economy thereby attracting youth to farming instead of leaving it.

President states that his policy is to develop agricultural economy with the potential to produce a high standard harvest using minimum land and state of the art technology at low cost.

President Rajapaksa made these remarks while on an election campaign tour in Monaragala district in support of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna(SLPP) candidates today(July 31).

President commenced his campaign tour in the Monaragala district from Thanamalwila National College playgrounds.

President Rajapaksa was welcomed by the candidate Sashendra Rajapaksa, teaching staff and the pupils of the school. The student Sulochana Sandeepani delivered a speech appreciating the maiden visit by a state leader to the Thanamalwila National College, in its history.

In response to the requests made by the students to renovate the school buildings and address the issues relating to drinking water, the President instructed the Army Commander to resolve those issues immediately.

President participated in the public gathering at the Thanamalwila Public Grounds organized by the SLPP candidate Jagath Pushpakumara and inquired into the issues faced by the locals.

The residents informed the President about the wild elephant intrusions that happen almost daily, land deed issues and the need for renovation of Polkatuwewa Ela canal.

In addition, the President was also informed of the abduction of milk cows in the area.

President Rajapaksa was warmly welcomed amidst cheers at the public rally in close proximity to Thelulla Bodhirama Vihara, Wellawaya, Athiliwewa organized by the SLPP candidate Gayashan Nawananda.

The President was informed of a number of issues, including inadequate storage facilities in Sevanagala Sugar factory, issues relating to land deeds, lands adjacent to Kirindioya, shortcomings in the Ethiliwewa Middle school, unsatisfactory power supply in the area, by the local residents.

President Rajapaksa took immediate action to resolve issues relating to the power supply to the area.

Courtesy Hiru News

Update: Former Director of the CID, Shani Abeysekera who was arrested this morning, remanded until August 7 by Gampaha Magistrates Court

The main argument to support the MCC Land Project is that technology will put an end to land problems & Sri Lanka will be on par with countries using advanced technologies. These countries are where they are as a result of a lot of research.  Sri Lanka has had no such research except foreign research, foreign recommendations and foreign aid to implement foreign recommendations. This was how a foreign law was passed hurried and in secret without public consultations in 1998. In a country where the population is yet to be technologically on par with the West, totally automating the Land registrar into a foreign title system will be advantageous to the very rich at the cost of the poor who have little or no access to the technology and do not know how to use it to protect their land rights.

The question is

1. Do we continue with the deed system where all of us will have a physical deed & have it automated on a e-land register with new methods introduced to eliminate land fraud? 

20 land registries have already been automated and only smaller districts covering the remaining land registries need to be completed

or 

1. Do we negate all of the work done in registering land deeds to an e-land register and convert 8.5m deeds to a new Title Registration system because it is linked to the $67m MCC Land Project which requires all lands to be privatized, repeals all the land laws of the country including judicial authority to later realize that all citizens do not have computers, internet nor deeds and the Government has no Funds to pay compensation for land fraud while the Government is additionally burdened with socio-economic issues for which the Government will have no land and no funds to resolve?

What are the issues in converting Deeds to Title Registration (Bim Saviya) & is it worth the hassle for a $67m Land Project that requires implementing Bim Saviya (MCC Annex 1-28)?

• Title Registration architects ignore legal aspect of adjudicating ownersof 8.5m land from deed to title registration (bim saviya)

• Title Registration Act removes Judicial powersafter issuing of certificate by creating a new Commission of Title Dept who has officials with no legal knowledge in land adjudication & unable to satisfactorily resolve land matters before converting from deed to title registration. The cases piling up as a result of these issues cannot be ignored by the Government.

• Only compensation for land owners if fraud title registration is registered into electronic registrar. If a fraud owner registers a fraud bim saviya into the new e-land registry the original owner can only seek remedy from the Commissioner of Title & be compensated. He/She will not have his/her land returned. This is a very dangerous scenario for land owners.
• The Government is also undertaking the economic burden under Section 60 of Act 21, 1998 Title Registration to compensate in lieu of judicial remedy. Why is the Government undertaking to compensate people for lost land from frauds as a result of Bim Saviya? Why is land not being returned to the valid & original owner? $67m makes no mention funding the Compensation component as a result of frauds from bim saviya? How can GoSL agree to a foreign land system that denies regaining one’s land if defrauded & offering only compensation. How can GoSL compensate to the value of the lost land/defrauded?

• The Government should not hurry to issue bim saviya certificates to land owners ignoring the legal issuesbecause MCC is Funding only 10 land registries in 7 districts. The remaining 35 land registries in 18 districts will have to be funded by GoSL.

• Nowhere does the MCC Agreement say that its Funding will go for legal disputes in the 10 land registries/7districts MCC is funding. Which means GoSL has to bear compensation for any land fraud. Does the GoSL have the money to compensate?

• GoSL burdened with having to Fund & Resolve new Socio-Economic Issues.In addition to compensating land owners who have had their land defrauded, how will the GoSL deal with land owners (especially the poor) who have no land to live on, no means of livelihood – where will the GoSL resettle people when GoSL has no state land as State Land has been privatized under MCC?

• The Samarasekera Committee appointed by then President Mahinda Rajapakseadmitted that giving an one-page bim saviya certificate in lieu of the deed cannot address issues like co-ownership & families living on lease land for generations and engaged in some form of agriculture.

• MCC demands the GoSL convert all lands (private & State) to title registration& the title registration certificate to be automated into a new e-land registrar that is internationally compatible.

• Title Registration is given to ONLY ONE OWNER– this means no co-ownership or shared ownership as in the deed system is allowed. Inheritance laws will also be repealed. Issues will also arise converting Temple/Kovil lands to Bim Saviya. Title Registration will remove Personal Laws – no more Thesavalamai, Upcountry or Muslim personal laws related to land will apply

• Title Registration System (Bim Saviya) REMOVES PRESCRIPTION & HISTORY RECORDS of the DEED SYSTEM. This means only the owner’s details are on the bim saviya certificate. Details of past owners will not exist. In fact the Title Registration Act 21, 1998 has provision to destroy past records in Section 53. However, in the deed system all past records of ownership prevails allowing the courts to provide legal remedy better.

The Title Registration system is an Australian land title system introduced in 1885 with the intent to eliminate the indigenous land owners adopting the legal maxim Terra Nullius.

Why doesn’t the GoSL continue with the existing deed system with almost complete Deed E-Land Register?

The existing deed system should continue. Deeds of 20 land registries have already been scanned & entered into an e-land register. The balance smaller district deeds will be entered by end of year.

The recommendations of the Samarasekera Report have been taken to account. Ironically, the Committee that was headed by Milinda Moragoda when he was Minister of Justice in 2009 recommended a simple method of recognition & identification of owners which has been statutorily introduced for Trust Deeds via Trust Ordinanceand should be extended to all deeds for land sales. This is a major development to prevent land deed fraud in manual form & in electronic format as well.

The Deed system will be 2 fold – manual deeds with co-exist with electronic deedscomplying with Electronic Transaction Act Section 23 of 2006 which states that Land Transactions SHOULD NOT be made FULLY AUTOMATED. Owners will continue to possess his/her deed & can operate the deed e-land register using the owner’s registration number. The title registration certificate has a 12 digit number accessible to anyone anywhere in the world.

Deed system also has instances of land fraud but with above owner recognition laws and the Court system we can resolve the issues as in USA WHERE THEY HAVE A DEED SYSTEM WHICH THEY CALL RECORDING SYSTEM. US has been very reluctant to accept the Torrens Title Registration system as they do not wish to deprive owners of their right to access court and because the system of compensating owners is to costly (what GoSL will soon find out)

When Sri Lanka has the solution and is already doing the solution in 2 simple steps, why do we want to confuse the situation by entering into Bim Saviya together with MCC Land Project which will take over 100 years to establish a law for the e-register as emphasized by the Commissioner of Title in 2018 report.

Why is the Attorney General’s Dept hurrying amendments in laws to facilitate & quicken Bim Saviya without simply recommending to continue with the existing deed systemand resolving the land disputes by the Courts and thereafter entering into the Deed e-land register all of which are under local patent, ownership & control and within Sri Lankan laws to adjudicate whereas the MCC-Title Registration bind Sri Lanka to follow international laws & US regulations.

Can the lawyers and professional organizations look at the issue from the lens of the citizen & citizens right to land ownership & socio-economic security instead of the merits of foreign funding only!

Shenali D Waduge

Sudath Gunasekara

Why doesn’t the government ask the CID summon Ranil on the the following revelation and question him as to why he is not doing his duty by the country by producing Mahendra as he had promised in the Cabinet and later in Parliament as well  that he takes personal responsibility for all what Mahendran does as the Governor of CB

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe recently admitted receiving a telephone call from fugitive former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran. Responding to Chamuditha Samarawickrema on ‘Salakuna’ on ‘Hiru’, the former Prime Minister said that he had spoken with Singapore-based Mahendran. Asked when the conversation had taken place, the UNP leader said recently.

Isn’t it obvious that Ranil definitely knows where this fugitive is hiding. Since Ranil has taken personal responsibility at the cabinet as well as in the Parliament doesn’t amount to standing surety against this culprit.  As such isn’t it mandatory that Ranil is legally bound to produce this man in court or face arrest for not fulfilling his duty before a court under the law. The whole country knows it was Ranil who got down this man in 2015 and got him appointed as the Governor of the CB in spite of objections by the then President

Sri Lanka’s efforts to convince Singapore to hand over Mahendran has not been successful.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B., Ph.D.

ඉල්ලන් කෑම

ඉහතින් ඇත්තේ, සිංහලයාට, විශේෂයෙන් සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයාට, සිංහල දේශපාලකයින් විසින් 1923/24 කාලයේ සිටම කල හානිය කෙටියෙන් හැඳින්‌විය හැකි කිට්ටුම ප්‍රස්ථාව පිරුළ යයි මට සිතේ. ඉල්ලන් කෑම යයි දැන් කාලයේ කියන්නේද මේ අදහසටමය. සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයාට තඩිබෑම 1551 දොන් ජුවන් ධ‌ර්‍මපාල කෝට්ටේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි රජු වීමේ සිට 1948 ද‌ක්‌වාම සිදුවිය. සුද්දා කල හානිය අවම කර ගැනීම පන්සලේ කාරිය විය. බුද්‌ධාගම දශක දෙක තුනකින් ලංකාවෙන් නැතිවී යනවායයි ජේම්ස් ද අල්විස් 1840 දශකයේදී ප්‍රකාශ කලේය! මීට විරුද්‌ධව පහත රට පන්සල් කල සටන 1873 පානදුරා මහා වාදයෙන් කෙළවර විය. ඉන් පසුව පවා සිංහල කළු සුද්දන් බෞද්‌ධයින්ට ද්‍රෝහී විය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් 1880 න් පසු වෙසක් පෝය දිනය රජයේ නිවාඩු දිනටක් කිරීමට විරුද්‌ධවූයේ බණ්ඩාරනායක-ඔබේසේකර-ද සේරම් ක්‍රිස්තියානි පරපුරෙන් පත්‌වුණ සිංහල නියෝජිතයාය! මේ කළු සුද්දන් පිරිස් 1915 දී සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයින් මැරීමේදී සුද්දාගේ පැත්ත ගත්තේය.

එහෙත් 1948 න් පසු සිදුවූයේ මේ අක් මුල් සිඳුන කළු සුද්දන් විසින්, ඕල්කොට් බෞද්‌ධයින්, ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්‌ධයින්, ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හාමුදුරුවන් විසින්, බුදු අම්මෝ නොව ඕ මයි ගෝඩ් බෞද්‌ධයින් ලෙස හඳුන්වන අය විසින්, සිංහල ජාතිය පාවා දීමය. 1815 න් පසු සිංහලයාට නැතිවූ අයිතිය ක්‍රමයෙන් ආපසු ලබා දෙනවා වෙනුවට, සිංහල ජාතියේ අඬු එකින් එක කඩා දැමීම මොවුන් විසින් කලේ, සිංහල පොකුණට එහි ඉස්මත්තේ සිට බට දමා එය හිස්කර ගැනීමට ඉඩ සළසා දීමය. ඩොනමෝර් හා සෝල්බරි කොමිෂම් වාර්‌තා වල පේලි අතරින් සිංහලයාට වන මේ අනතුර අඟවා තිබුණත්, පවතින ක්‍රමය යටතේ <නෝ බොඩීස් සම්බොඩීස්> වූ මේ පිරිස්, රබර්, තේ, පොල්, මිනිරන්, දැව, වානිජ කොන්ත්‍රාත්, ආණ්ඩුවේ රස්සා යනාදිය රැක ගණිමින්, සුළු ජනවර්‌ග වල අසාධාරණ ඉල්ලීම් ලබාදෙමින් සිංහලයා හිත හොඳ ගෑණුන්සේ සැළකුවේය. ව්‍යාජ එක්සත් ජාතියක් ගැන කතාකරමින්, පෙත්සම් ගසා ඩී. ඇස්ලා විසින් කොළඹ කළු සුද්දන්ට බලය මාරු කර ගත්තේය. අයිවර් ජෙනින්ස් ඔහුගේ දෙවියා විය. මුල්ම ඉල්ලන් කෑම වූයේ, 1947 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 29 වගන්තියය. එය 1815 කූට ගිවිසුම අළුත් කරවා ගැනීමක් විය. මේ නිසා පසු කලෙක, 1972 දී සිංහලේ (සිලෝන්) ශ්‍රී ලංකා කලා මෙන් ලංකාව සිංහලයාගේ නිජ බිම නොවේය යන මතයක් සඳහා අවකාශයක් (සිඳුරක්, ලූප් හෝල්) පොන්නම්බලම්ලාට-චෙල්වනායගම්ලාට පාදා දුන්නේය.

ඉතිහාසය කන්නද!

ලංකාවේ මෑත ඉතිහාසය මෙවැනි ඇස්සට දත නියවීමේ සිදුවීම් පිළිඹඳ කතාන්තරයකි. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන්, බදි උද්දීන් මොහමඩ් විසින් සිරිමාවෝ ආණ්ඩුවේ අධ්‍යාපන ඇමති වශයෙන් පාසැල් ජනසතු කරණ අස්සේම, උගත් මෝඩ, සිංහල, අධ්‍යාපන විශාරදයින් හරහා පාසැල්වල ඉතිහාසය ඉගැන්‌වීම ඉවත් කර සමාජ අධ්‍යයනය යයි මඟුලක් අටවන ලද්දේ 1960, 1970 දශක වලය. භූගෝල විද්‍යාවටද මේ ඉරණම අත්‌වුණාද යන්න මම නොදනිමි. මෙහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන් මේ වන විට ලංකාවේ ඉන්නේ දුටුගැමුණු යනු කවුදැයි නොදන්නා, සමනල කන්‌දෙන් ගලා බහින ගංඟා හතරේ නම් නොදන්නා හිස් ගොඩවල්‌ය. මාක්ස්වාදීන් නම් හැමදාම රුසියාවේ, චීනයේ ඉතිහාසය හොයා ගිය අය විය. 1978 න් පසු පාලක කළු සුද්දන් හිරි ඔත්තප්ප නැතිවම ඇසුවේ ඉතිහාසය කන්නද කියාය. ඒ ජේ ආර් ද, ප්‍රේමදාසද කියා මට මතක නැත.

සිංහලයින් හැර, මෙසේ තමන්ගේ ජාතියට වල කපාගන්නා වෙනත් ජාතියක් ලෝකයේ සිටිනවාද කියා සිතෙන්නේ දැන් අළුතින්ම, ගොන් නිලධාරියෙක් විසින් හැමෝටම හොරෙන් උප්පැන්න සහතිකයෙන් ජාතිය ඉවත් කරන්නට ගත් තීරණයය. මේ ගොනා වනාහි ඉතිහාසය පාසැලෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් නොවේද? මෙම තීරණය නිවැරදි පාරේ යාමක් යයි පොහොට්ටුවට එක්‌වී ඉන්නා අලි සබ්‍රි විසින් කියා සිටී. බුදු පිළිම අරහං රෝසි සේනානායක හා නිර්‍වස්ත්‍රම් පරමං සුඛං චන්ද්‍රිකාලා අතුළු පරම්පරා දෙකක්ම, මේ ඉතිහාසය කන්නද මතයට යටවුණු අයය.

සිලෝන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා කලේ කවුද?

එය කොල්වින් ලා, ෆිලික්ස් ඩයස් ලා, පොත පතේ එතරම් දැණුමක් නොතිබුණු අගමැතිනියක් රවටා කල, ඉතිහාසය පාසැල් වලින් ඉවත් කලා වැනිම දෙයක්ද? රාමායනයේ, මහා භාරතයේ ඇති රාවණාගේ ලංකා පාර තෝරා ගැනීම ඩී. ඇස් විසින් 29 වගන්තිය ගත්තා වැනිමය. මේවා තමන්ගේ පුද්ගලික දේශපාලන වාසි සඳහා ගත් හිතුවක්කාර තීරණ මිස ජාත්‍යාලයක් ගැන තැකීමකින් කල දේ නොවේ. අදටත් ලෝකයේ ජනයාට මතක සිලෝන් යන සුද්දගෙ නමය. එය සේලාන්, සෙරන්ඩිබ් යන ආදි ව්‍යවහාර වලින් බිඳී ආ නමකි. සිංහල කතා කල සිංහලයාගේ රට සිංහලේ හෙවත් සිලෝන් විය. මේ වන විට සිංහලයා, ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපාරය දෙමළ බෙදුම් වාදයේ හා හා මුස්ලිම් ශාරියා වාදයේ ආයුධයක් වී ඇත. මෙම උපක්‍රමය යටතේ සිංහලයින් දවල් හා රෑ දෙකේම ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකය. එහෙත් දෙමළ ඊළම්කාරයින් හා ඉස්ලාම් ශාරියාකාරයින් බොරුවට හෝ දවල්ට ශ්‍රී ලාංකික යයි කිව්වත්, රෑට දෙමළ හා මුස්ලිම්‌ය. එය හරියට රනිල්ගේ 2002 සටන් විරාම යේදී හමුදා භටයින් කඳවුරු ඇතුලේ කොටුකර සිටිද්දී, දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තයින්ට මුළු රටම ඇර දුන්නා වැනිය!

සිංහලයින්ට ලෝකයේ වෙන රටක් නැත. එසේ නම් උප්පැන්නෙන් සිංහල ජාතිය යන්න ඉවත් කර, සිංහලයා දූපතේ ජනව‌ර්‌ග තුන හතරෙන් එකක් කල විට, පරම්පරා දෙක තුනකින්, ලෝක සිතියමෙන් සිංහල ජාතිය යන නම මැකී යනු ඇත. ඉන්‌දියන්, ඇමෙරිකන් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලන්කන් යන්න පෑස්සීමට සැදීම මොන තරම් මුග්‌ධ ක්‍රියාවක්ද? මෙය ජාතික ගීය දෙමළෙන් ගයනවා වැනිම ඉල්ලන් කෑමකි. මේ නිසා එක අඟලකින් වත් සංහිඳියාව වැඩි වුනා යයි ජනාධිපති සිරිසේනට කියන්න පුළුවන්ද? ඉන් වුනේ බෙදුම තවත ත්‍රීව්‍ර වීමය. දකුණේ දෙකෙන්ම කිව්වත්, උතුරේ ඇහුණේ දෙමළ සිංදුව පමණය! ඊළම් දේශපාලකයින්ට එය තවත් එක ඊළම් ජයග්‍රහණයක් මිස සංහිඳියා බම්බුවක් නොවීය. උප්පැන්න වැඩේද එසේමය.

අළුත් බෝතල් වල අළුත් වයින්

මුන් 225 ම එපා යනු, 1948 සිට රට විනාශකල දේශපාලක කළු සුද්දන්ට විරුද්‌ධව 2015 සිට ඇතිවු ව්‍යාපාරයකි. 1971 හා 1988/9 සිදුවූයේ ඉතිහාසය නොදන්නා නැණ විකල් පිරිස් විසින් කල විනාශයකි. 1956 අප්‍රේල් චන්ද ප්‍රතිපල අසද්දී සර් ජෝන් විසින් රේඩියෝ එකට පයින් ගැසීම, හා පසුව එම් එස් තේමිස්ට පාර්ලිමේන්තු පඩිපෙලේදී හතර ගාතේ දාලා වැටෙන්නට පයින් ගැසීම, අපේ ආණ්ඩුවක ආරම්භය යයි ගම්බද ජනයා සිතුවත් එය අසාර්‍ථක විය. ඊට හේතුව අගමැති බණ්ඩාරනායක සිංහල ජාතියේ ඉතිහාසය හා භූගෝල විද්‍යාව හරියට නොදැන සිටීමය. ඕල්කොට් තෙම්පරාදු බෞද්‌ධයින්ට, ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්‌ධයින් පසුපස්සේ යාමට සිදුවීමය. ක්‍රිස්තියානි මවක් සිටි ඩඩ්ලි ලඟට මුලින් ගිය ඕල්කොට් බෞද්‌ධයින්ව, ක්‍රිස්තියානි පවුලේ බණ්ඩාරනායක වෙත යොමු කලේ ඩඩ්ලිය. බෞද්‌ධ බලවේගයේ ඇල්. එච්. මෙත්තානන්ද මහතා චන්දය දිණා මාස දෙක තුනකින්ම බණ්ඩාරනායකගෙන් වෙන්‌විය.

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය නම් ළිඳේ කටෙන්ම ගොඩ ආයුතුය!

2019 දී සිදුවූයේ 1956 දී පංචමහා බලවේගයකට පැවරූ දේ තනි පංචස්කන්‌ධයකට භාර දීමය. හාමුදුරුවරු ඉදිරියට ආවේ රට-ජාතිය-ආගම මිණී වලෙන් බේරා ගැනීමටය. ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හාමුදුරුවන් කියන අන්දමට චන්ද ව්‍යාපාරය කලේ හාමුදුරුවරුන්, තමන්ගේම වියදමින්‌ය! ගහට පොලු ගසා ගෙඩි වැටුණ විට ඒවා ඇහිද ගන්නට බොහෝ අය පැමිණ සිටී. 2020 චන්දයේදී, 225 න් බොහෝ අයට නැවත නාමයෝජනා දී ඇතත් ඒ අය දමණය කිරීමට හැකි තරමට අළුත් නම් ඉදිරිපත්‌ කර තිබේ. පවතින ක්‍රමය යටතේ, බොරු ප්‍රජාතනත්‍රවාදය යටතේ, පරණ පිරිස් තරහ කරගෙන චන්ද දිණිය නොහැකිය. එහෙත් සිදුවිය යුත්තේ වල් අලියා හීලෑ කරන්නට හීලෑ අලියෙක් යොදවා ගන්නවා මෙන්, පවතින දූෂිත පාලන ක්‍රමවේදය (දේශපාලකයා-නිලධාරියා-එන්.ජී.ඕ. කාරයා යන දුෂ්ට ත්‍රිකෝණය)‌ ක්‍රමය තුලින්ම දියකර හැරීමය. බෞද්‌ධ ක්‍රමයද එයය.

මේ සඳහා 20-30 ක අළුත් පිරිසක් මන්ත්‍රීන් ලෙස තේරීමට නියමිතය. වියත් මඟෙන් එන නම් 16 ක් ඇත. හාමුදුරුවැරුන්ගේ අපේ ජන බලවේගය පක්‍ෂය, මහසෝන් බලකායේ සුමිත් වීරසිංහලා හැරුණු විට නායකයින්ට එහෙයියන් නොවන තරුණ අයද පොහොට්ටුව පක්‍ෂයේම සිටී (රනිල්ගේ හා සජිත්ගේ පක්‍ෂ වල ඉන්නා අය ගැන කිසි විශ්වාසයක් තැබිය නොහැක, මාක්ස්වාදයට ගෑවුණ කෙනෙක්වත් වැඩක් නැත). මේ ලිපිය ලිවීමට සිතුනේ පොහොට්ටු පක්‍ෂයේ ඉන්නා එවැනි එක් අයෙකුවන ධනසිරි අමරතුංග සමඟ හරී ටීවි, ස්ටෑන්ඩ් බයි විත් ලහිරු- විසින් කල සාකච්චාවක් දුටු පසුය (ජූලි 22).

ධනසිරිගේ ඉතිහාසය හා ජාතියේ ඉතිහාසය

අවුරුදු 70 කට පෙර විල්බට් නම් තම පියා දකුණු පලාතේ දුර ගමක සිට බස් එකෙන් පැමිණ, පත්තර පිටු දෙකක් දමා නුගේගොඩ හන්දියේ බෝගහ යට රෑ නිදාගෙන, උත්සාහයෙන් දියුණුවී ඔහුව රෝයල් කොලේජ් යවා උගන්වා, ඇමෙරිකාවට ගොස් ඉගෙනගෙන, ඉන් පසු දෙහිවල-ගල්කිස්ස නගරාධිපතිවූයේය. මේ වන විට ඔහු මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂගේ සමීපතම සගයෙකි. ඔහුගේ පුද්ගලික ඉතිහාස කතාව මුල සිට අගටම අවංක වාර්‌තාවකි. එහෙත් රටේ ඉතිහාසයට එන විට, ඔහුට මිස් වන බරපතල කාරණයක් ඇති බව මට පෙනීගියේය. මට ඇති බය නම් මේ මිසින් ලින්ක් එකට අනිත් අළුතෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට එන තරුණ 20-30 ද අසුවී තිබෙනවාද යන සැකයය.

ඔහු ධර්මි‌ෂ්ට පංචස්කන්‌ධයකි. නගරාධිපතිවූ විට ප්‍රථම වරට, දෙහිවල, වේල් කරත්තයක් ගෙනයාමට දෙමළ ජනයාට ඉඩ සළසා දුන් අන්දම අගනේය. පාන්දර සිට රෑ 10-11 වෙනතුරුම වේල් කරත්තයේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට එය ඉදිරියෙන් ගමන් කල ඔහුට කකුල් ඉදිමී දවස් දෙක තුනක්ම ඇඳේ ඉන්නට සිදුවිය. ඒ ප්‍රදේශයේ මුස්ලිම් 30,000 ක් පමණ ජිවත්‌වන බවත්, බෞද්‌ධ දර්‍ශණය අනුගමනය කරන්නෙක් වශයෙන් ඒ හැමෝගේම ආරක්‍ෂාව හා අයිතීන් රැකදීම තම වගකීම බවත් ඔහු කියයි. මේ අදහසට විරුද්‌ධ වෙන බෞද්‌ධයෙක් නැත.

එහෙත් මෙහිදී මට ඇති ප්‍රශ්ණය නම්, බුද්‌ධාගමට, ඉන්දියාවේදී, ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානයේදී, පකිස්ථානයේදී, ඉන්දුනීසියාවේදී, කොරියාවේදී, මාලදිවයිනේදී, පිලිපීනයේදී සිදුවූ දේ ගැන ඉතිහාසය හා අදටත් පැරණි බුදු පිළිම කුඩු කිරීම, අරාබි රටවලට බුද්‌ධ රූපයක් වත් ගෙනයාමට නොදෙන බව ධනසිරි දන්නවාද යන්නය. ගර්‍භාෂ යුද්‌ධය යනු බොදු බල සේනාවේ ඥානසාර හිමියන්ගේ ප්‍රභන්‌ධයක් නොව, යසාර් අර්ෆත් හා කර්‌නල් ගඩාෆි විසින් නිලවශයෙන් ලොවට එලිකල යුද්‌ධොපකරණයකි. කළුබෝවිල රෝහල ඉදිරිපිට පාරක ඇති සිංහල ගෙයකට යද්දී මට ඇතිවූ හැඟීම නම්, එම පාර කුඩා මුස්ලිම් බලකොටුවක් නොවේද යන්නය. පාරේ වාහනයකට යන්නට බැරි තරමින් කාර් හා මෝටර් බයිකල් නවතාය. කොටින්ම කියනවා නම් එය ජනාකීර්‌ණ මුස්ලිම් මුඩුක්කුවකි. සිංහල නිවැසියා කියා සිටියේ තාප්පය හා ගේට්ටුව උස්කරනවා හැරතම දුක කියන්නට කෙනෙක් නැති බවය. මෙය වෙනත් පාරවලද සිදුවනවා යයි වයසක ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

මුස්ලිම් ආක්‍රමණය

වැල්ලවත්ත හෝ දෙහිවල දෙමළ ජනයා රංචු ගැසී පදිංචී සිටීම දෙමළ ආක්‍රමණයක් ලෙස සිංහල ජනයා සළකන්නේ නැත. එහෙත් මුස්ලිම් ජන ආක්‍රමණයක් මුළු රටේම පවතින්නේ ශාරියා-ඉහ්වාන් ව්‍යාප්තවාදයේ අංගයක් වශයෙනි. තමන් සුළු පිරිසක්‌ව සිටින විට ස්වයංවම හීලෑ වුණ හෙමිජ්ජන් සේ සිටීමත්, සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් කරට කර ආවිට අයිතිවාසිකම් කීමත්, බහුතරයවූ විට සෙසු ජන කොටස් වලට හිරිහැර කර එලවා ගැනීමට ක්‍රියාකිරීමත් ඉස්ලාම් න්‍යායවී තිබේ. මීට උදාහරණ අනන්ත අප්‍රමාණය. සිංහල ගම් මැද කුඩා කුඩා මුස්ලිම් බලකොටු පිහිටුවීමේ භයානක කම රාජ්‍ය මැදිහත්‌වීමෙන් පාලනය කලයුතු වන්නේ අධික මිලට ඉඩම් ගැනීමට ඩොලර් බලය එන්නේ අරාබි රටවල සිට වීමය. හිස්බුල්ලා විසින් කාත්තන්කුඩියේ අරාබි සෙල්ලම කරගෙන ගියේ ධනසිරිලාට වඩා බොහෝ ඉහළින් සිටි පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ගේ ඇස්‌වලට වැලි ගසාය. මේ දේශපාලකයින් ජාතියට වල කපමින් සිටියේය. කාන්තන්කුඩිය ඇමෙරිකන් නාවික හමුදාවට තිප්පොලක් වෙන්නටද ඉඩ ඇත. මේ සෙල්ලම් 2019 න් පසු නතරවේයයි සිංහල ජනයා බලාපොරොත්තුවේ.

නියම බෞද්‌ධයෙක් වන්නේ කෙසේද?

ඒ කාලයේ සර්‌වෝදයේ ආරියරත්නගේ කොළඹ සාම පෙලපාලි වලට සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ විරෝධයක් ආවේ ඔහු ඒවා යාපනේ හෝ වවුනියාවේද නොකල නිසාය. සාමය සඳහා එක අතකින් අත්පුඩි ගසන්නට යෑමය. මංගල සමරවීරලා කලේත් එයය. ඉන් වූයේ හමුදා භටයින් උදාසීන කරවීමය. මේ අනුව සිතන විට, ගුරු කන්ද රජමහා විහාරයේ ආදාහන ප්‍රශ්ණය, කින්නායි බෞද්‌ධ නටබුන්, මුහුදු මහා විහාර ඉඩම් කොල්ලය, දෙවනගල, කුරගල, දීඝවාපී ප්‍රශ්ණවලදී ධනසිරි කලේ කුමක්ද? මඩකලපුවේ මංගලාරාමයට හා සිංහල ගැමියන්ට මුස්ලිම් හා දෙමළ ග්‍රාම සේවා නිලධාරීගේ සිට ඉහළ නිලධාරීන් හා පොලිසිය කරණ හිරිහැර ගැන ධනසිරිලා වැන්නන් නිහඬව සිටිනවා නම් ඊට හේතුව කුමක්ද? නියම බෞද්‌ධයෙක් වන්නේ දෙමළ හෝ මුස්ලිම් පැත්ත අරගෙන සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයින්ට අවාසි වෙන අසාධාරණ තීරණ ගැනීමෙන්ද?

හැම පැත්තෙන්ම සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයාට, ක්‍රියාකාරී හාමුදුරුවරුන්ට, බැට දීම අළුත් ෆැෂන් එකක්ද? මෙම වටකරගෙන දෙන ආක්‍රමණය හිතා ගන්නට බැරි තරම් ගැඹුරුය. සෝවාන් සහතික විකිණීම සිහි කරන්නේ මාටින් ලූතර් කාලයේ (1483-1546) යුරෝපයේ පූජකවරු මිනිසුන්ට ස්වර්‍ගයට යාම සඳහා ඉන්ඩල්ජන්ස් නම් ටිකට් විකුණුවාටය. ඒ හැර රහත්‌වූ අය, බුදුහාමුදුරුවන් ලංකාවේ උපන්නා කියන අයට අමතරව, සංඝයාට ගරහන රංජන් රාමනායකලා, මංගලලා සිටිති. රෝසි සේනානායකලාට, විග්නේෂ්වරන්ලාට බුදු පිළිම අරහංය. කොටින්ම කියනවානම් එකමුතුවීම එකම ගැලවීම බව දැන දැනත් රටේ හාමුදුරුවරු, පක්‍ෂ පාට වලට අනුව අන්‌ධ ලෙස බෙදී කොසොල් රජතුමාගේ සීන දාසැයේ ඔවුන්ගේ කොටස් රඟපාමින් සිටී. දයාන් ජයතිලක වැනි හීතල හොරුන් හා ජෙහාන් පෙරේරලා වැනි එන්.ජී.ඕ.ඩොලර්‌ කාක්කන් දියයටින් ගින්දර ගිනියමින් සිටී.

සිංහලයා, දේශපාලකයා මොඩ් (මොඩර්න්) වන්නට හදන්නේ කෙසේද?

පොල් අතු හෝ සිංහල උළු වහලට ඇස්බැස්ටෝස් ෂීට් දමා ඇමෙරිකන් ස්ටයිල් වහලක් දමා ගැනීම ගමේ තැනක් ගැනීමට අඩිතාලමක් වූ කාලයක් විය. ඉන් පිළිකා හැදෙන්නට හේතුවිය හැකි බව දැනගත්තේ බොහෝ කාලයකට පසුවය. අද කාලයේ මැක්ඩොනල්ඩ්ස්, කෙන්ටකි ෆ්රයිඩ් චිකන් කන්නට යන්නේද උජාරුවෙනි. කරත්තය ගොනා පස්සෙන් එනවා මෙන දියවැඩියා, කොලොස්ටරල්, තරබාරු ශරීර එන්නේ නොදැනමය. මේ වාගේ දේශපාලකයින්ට තිබෙන රුදාවක් නම් මොඩනයිස් වීමය. ලංකාව සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයින්ගේ රටය කියන්නේ ගෝත්‍රිකයෝය. ලංකාව බහු ආගමික රටක් යයි නොකියන්නේ බුද්‌ධාගම හරි හැටි නොදන්නා අයය. ලෙබ්බේ ලා සමඟ එකට මේසේ ඉඳගෙන කෑම නොකන්නේ ඉන්ටර්ෆේත් මතයේ අගය නොදන්නා භික්‍ෂූ‌න්‌ය. මදර්ස්ඩේ, වැලන්ටයින්ස්ඩේ, සමරිසි විවාහ, කසාද නොබැඳ දරුවන් ලැබීම හා ඇබෝශන්, බල්ලෙක් ලිවින් රූම් එකේ සිටීම, යන මේවා නූතන වීමේ ලක්‍ෂණ නොවේද? චන්දය ඉල්ලන මිනිසුන්ගෙන් මේ ප්‍රශ්ණ ඇසූ විට කෙළින්ම උත්තර දෙන්නේ මධු මාධව පමණය. මේ නිසා මේ අයට යම් සත්‍ය කාරණා පෙන්‌වා දීමේ යුතුකමක් අපට ඇත. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය දුන්නේ ඩී. ඇස් හා යූ.එන්.පී. එක යයි කියන තරුණ මන්ත්‍රීලා සිටිති. 1931 සර්‍ව ජන චන්ද බලය දීමට පක්‍ෂව සිටියේ කම්කරු පක්‍ෂයේ ඒ. ඊ. ගුණසිංහ පමණක් බව මොවුන් නොදනී.

මහල්ලන් ඉවත් කිරීම

හැම හොඳ අදහසක්ම තම පටු වාසියට නොපිටට හරවා ගන්නා දේශපාලකයින් ඉන්නා රටක, මහල්ලන් දේශපාලනයෙන් ඉවත් කල යුතුය යන්න පිට පොට පැනීමකි. අවුරුදු 65 පැන්නාට, ඇඟ දුර්‍වල වුවත්, යමෙක් එකතු කරගත් අත්දැකීම් සම්භාරය අති විශාලය. රෝද පුටුවේ යමින් අගමැති කම් දැරීම තන්‌හාවය. මෙය පොතෙන් ලබාගන්නා දැණුමට වැඩි දැණුමකි. මොළය මිය යන්නේ එය භාවිතාවෙන් අඩුවූ විටය. තරුණයින් වඩා අ‌වංක හා එඩිතර වන්නේ අත්දැකීමෙන් ඔවුන් වංකවී නැති නිසා බව සැබෑය. එහෙත් 1971 ජේවීපී කැරැල්ලේදී මා දුටු දෙයක් නම් ඕ.එල් වත් නැති හා ඒ. එල් ඇති හෝ නැති අවංක, නිර්භීත තරුණයින් ජීවිත පූජා කරන්නට එඩිතර වූ බවත්, උපාධිධාරීන් වැනි අය ෂේප්වී ගිය බවත්‌ය. නිර්භීත පිරිස් ලෝකය ගැන දැණුමින් අඩු, අත්දැකීම් නැති පිරිසක් විය. එන්ජිමේ ශබ්දයෙන් එන්ජිමේ දෝෂය කියන්නට තරම් දැණුමක් රම්පාල මහතාට තිබුණේ අත්දැකීම නිසාය. ඔහු වැන් කෙනෙකුට අවුරුදු 65 න් විශ්‍රාම ගන්නට කීම ජාතික අපරාධයකි. ඇත්තවශයෙන් ගෝඨාභය ආණ්ඩුව කල යුත්තේ රිටයර්ඩ් ටැලන්ට් යනුවෙන් රෙජිස්ටර් එකක් සදා, ඒ ඒ ජන සභා වලට එම සේවා ලබාගැනීමට ජාතික ආයතනයක් සැදීමය.

තරුණ වුනත්, මැදිවියේ වුනත් හොරා හොරාමය. මේ නිසා ජාත්‍යාලය ඇති පංචස්කන්‌ධය වයසට ගියා කියා වෙනස් නොවේ. සම්බන්‌ධන් 85 ක් වෙලාත් ඊළම අතහැර නැත. ගුණදාස අමරසේකර එහි අනිත් පැත්තය. මාක්ස්වාදය අත්‌හල නලින් ද සිල්වා වෙන්ස්වී නැත. අනිත් වු ඇන්.ඇම් අදහයි. මේ නිසා යමෙකුට වයසක් සීමාවක් නැති එකම රක්‍ෂාව දේශපාලනයයි. ඇමෙරිකාවේ පාලකයින් විශ්‍රාම ගිය දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් උපදෙස් ලබාගැනීම නිරන්තරයෙන්ම කරන්නේය. යම් ප්‍රශ්ණයක් ගැන එලිසබෙත් රැජිනට ඇති දැණුම මාළිගාවට එන-යන අගමැතිලාට නැත.

මන්ත්‍රීලා වීමට සිතන තරුණයින්ට ඉතිහාසය මතක් කරදීම

1. 1948 වන විට රටේ නැවත ලියලමින් තිබුණ කතෝලික-බෞද්‌ධ ගැටුම, සිංහල-දෙමළ භාෂා ගැටුමකට හැරවීම පිටුපස සිටියේ මොන බලවේගයක්ද? ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමියන් පෙන්වා දෙන අන්දමට මේ වනවිට රට පුරා ක්‍රිස්තියානී මූලධර්‌ම වාදීන් විසින් සියුම් හා විවෘත ආක්‍රමණයක් කර ඇත. සෑම රාජ්‍ය ආයතනයකම, අධිකරණය, පුවත් පත්, ව්‍යාපාර යන අස්සක් මුල්ලක් පුරාම මේ අය විසිරී කෙන්ද්‍ර ගතව සිටී. ලලිත් කොතලාවලට සිදුවූ පරිදි ස්ත්‍රීන් ගාවා බෞද්‌ධ පවුල් ව්‍යාපාර දියාරු කර ගිපගනිමින් සිටී. වැඩිහිටියන් විසින් ජලනිව මුණගැස්වූ විට, සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසට ලව් ඊස් බ්ලයින්ඩ් වූ හැටි ධනසිරි ඉහත සඳහන් කල වීඩියෝවේ කියා සිටියේය. මෙවැනි දේ සංවිධානාත්මක ලෙස කෙරෙනවාද විය හැකිය. මේ නිසා යම් මිශ්‍ර ප්‍රභූ විවාහයකදී එය පිරිසිදු ආලයද නැද්ද යන සැකය සාධාරණය. ගින්දර හා පුළුන් එකතු කරන්න අමාරු නැත. ඩී. ඇස් ට හා බණ්ඩාරනායකට තිබූ දේශපාලන ප්‍රශ්ණයක් නම් උඩරටින් කසාදයක් බැඳ ගැනීමය. යුටිලිටේරියනිසම් ජෙරමි බෙන්තම්ට අනුව කසාදයක් යනු කඩෙන් භාණ්ඩයක් ගන්නවා වැනි ගණුදෙණුවකි.
2. බොදු බල සේනාවේ ඥානසාර හිමියන් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ මේ දෙය ඉහ්වාන් මුස්ලිම්කාරයින් හරහා දැන් රටේ සිදුවන බවය. බීබීසි ඒජන්ට් අමීන් නම් කොල්ලා, රංජන් රාමනායක හා අප්ප්ච්චි මළෝ සොයිසා සමඟ කර අසුවූ කුමණ්ත්‍රනය හොඳම නිදසුණය. නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ කොල්ලෙක්ද මෙසේ හැසුරුණු හැටි යහපාලන පාස්කු බොරු පාර්ලිමේන්තු කොමිටියේදී එලිවිය.
   දැන් අළුතින්ම රාජ්‍ය බුද්‌ධි අංශ අධ්‍යක්‍ෂකව සිටි නිලන්ත ජයවර්‌ධනගේ ශාක්‍ෂියෙන් එලිවන්නේ, නීති විද්‍යාලයේ මුස්ලිම් සිසුන් 2003 දී 6 දෙනෙකුගේ සිට 2012 දී 78 දක්වා වැඩිවීම (මුළු සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් 25%) අස්වාභාවික බව 2015 ජූලි 20 දා ඔහු වාර්‌තා කල බවය. එවිට ඇමතිවූයේ රාවුෆ් හකීම් ය. ඊට අමතරව හලාල් සහතික දීම මඟින් 2013 දී (නිෂ්පාදන 4,500 කට වඩා, කොම්පැනි 204 ක් විසින්) මසකට මිලියන් 1.5 ක ආදායමක් ඕල් සිලෝන් ජමියතුල් උලෙමා ව සභාව ලබාගත් බව ඔහු කියා සිටියේය (අයිලන්ඩ්, ජූලි 30). මේවා නීති විද්‍යාල සිද්‌ධිය 2012 දීම ඥානසාර හිමියන් විසින් පෙන්වා දුන් විට. උන්වහන්සේ ජාතිවාදය අවුස්සනවා යයි ඒ කාලයේ සිංහල ඇමතිලා චෝදනා කලේය! මේ අනුව මහින්ද-සිරිසේන යන දෙන්නාගේම කිල්ලෝට වල කුණු පිරී ඇත. රනිල් ගැන කියන්නට දෙයක් නැත.
3. දුශ්ශීල භික්‍ෂූන් දෙන්නෙක් ඇමට ගෙන 1959 දී අගමැති බණ්ඩාරනායක ඝාතනය හා 1962 කුමණ්ත්‍රනය ක්‍රිස්තියානි කුමන්ත්‍රණ විය. ඉන් කරන්නේ පන්සලට පහර දීමය. රංජන් රාමනායක 2019 දී හාමුදුරුවරුන්ගේ සාමනේර දූෂණ කතාවේ අරමුණ වූයේද කෙහෙල්මල් සද්භාවයක් නොව කාගේ හෝ කොන්ත්‍රාත් එකක්‌ය.
4. තිස්ස ජනනායක ටියුෂන් සර් කියන අන්දමට සමහර අයගේ ඩී. එන්. ඒ. වල ජාත්‍යාලය අඩුවීමේ දෝෂයක් තිබේ නම් ජේ. ආර් ට මුස්ලිම් හා බණ්ඩාරනායකට දෙමළ සම්භවයක් ඇත.
5. සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයා සුළු ජන වර්‌ගවලට හානී කරණවා යන අදහස වැරදිය. සිදුවූයේ ඔවුන්ගේ හිත හොඳ කමින් සෙසු අය ප්‍රයෝජන ගැනීමය. අන්තිමේදී දැන් සිදුවී ඇත්තේ, ඊළම හා ශාරියා ගර්‍භාෂ ආක්‍රමණයට අසුවී යාමය. පාදිලිවරු බද්දේගම පැත්තේ මිනිස් බැටළු පැටවුන් දඩයමේ යද්දී රෑට නැවතුනේ ගමේ පන්සලේය. හාමුදුරුවෝ රෑට කෑමද පිස දුන්නේය. ලංකාවේ එකම් කතෝලික ශාන්තුවරයා වූ ජුසේ වාස් ව ඕලන්දකාරයින්ගෙන් ආරක්‍ෂාකලේ පන්සල් වලිනි.
6. මම බුද්‌ධ දර්‍ශණය අනුව යනවා කියමින් ධනසිරිලා වැනි අය හිස වැල්ලේ ගසාගත් පැස්බරුන් නොවිය යුතුය. බුද්‌ධාගම (පන්සල) නොරැකී දර්‍ශණය කරන්නට දේශයක් ඉතුරු නොවේ. කරුණා-මෙත්තා-මුදිතා-උපෙක්ඛා- ගැන සිතසිතා සිටියා නම් මෙලහට රට ප්‍රභාකරන් යටතේය. හාමුදුරුවරු දේශ-පාලනයට නොා යුතුය කියන අය නොදන්නා දෙයක් නම් ලංකාවේ හාමුදුරුවරු ජාතියේ මුරදේවතාවුන් මිස ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමිඳුන් කියන පරිදි ඔවුන් සෙකියුරිටි ගාඩ් ලා නොවූ බවය.
7. නා නා මාදිලියේ ගමට ආවඩන (ගම නැඟුම, සමෘධිය, ගම්පෙරලිය, දිවි නැඟුම, ගම් උදාව) ව්‍යාපාර වලින් ගමේ ජනයා දිළිඳු බවේ නාහයට උඩින් වතුර ගලන-නොගලන මට්ටමේ තැබීමේ මන්ත්‍රී උපක්‍රමය මෙන් නොව 1940 ස් ගණන් වලදී ග්‍රාම සංවර්‌ධන හා අපරාධ මර්‌දන නමින් දීප ව්‍යාපව්‍යාපාරයක් කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්‍රග්ඥාශේඛර නාහිමියන් විසින් සාර්‍ථක ලෙස දියත් කල විට ඩොනමෝර් සභානායක ඩී. බී. ජයතිලක හා ඇමති ඩී. ඇස්. සේනානායක යන දෙන්නාම එය කඩාකප්පල් කරන්නට නිලධාරීන් සමඟ එකතු වුණේය. ගම් සභා භාර ඇමති, බණ්ඩාරනායකද කර ඇරියේය. අළුත් මන්ත්‍රීලා උන්වහන්සේගේ පොත කියවා මේ විස්තර දැනගෙන එහි ඇති කරුණු 99 අධ්‍යයනය කල යුතුය.
8. මෙම අළුත් මන්ත්‍රීන් තේරුම් ගත යුතු දෙයක් නම් මහජාතියට 1551 සිටම රාජ්‍ය බලය විසින් කල වෙනස්කම් හා අසාධාරණකම්, බෞද්‌ධ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාව (රීසනබල්/කොම්ප්‍රොමයිස්) අනුව යමින් ඉවත් කිරීම, සුළු ජනව‌ර්‍ගවල අයිතිවාසිකම් නැති කිරීමක් නොවන බවය. ඉන්දියාවේ, ඇමෙරිකාවේ හා මැලේසියාවේ උදහරණ දක්වමින් දැන් ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ වසන දේවනේසන් නේසයියා විසින් ලියා ඇත්තේ (2004) ඩිස්ක්‍රිමිනේෂන් විත් රීසන් පිළිගතයුතු බවය. ටුට්සි සුළු ජාතියට වරප්‍රසාද දී සුද්දන් රට හැර ගිය විට හුතු මහජාතිය දින 100 ක් ඇතුලත ලක්‍ෂ 8 ක් ටුට්සින් මරා දැම්මේය. ලංකාවේ වෙනස සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයා සතා-සිව්පාවා, ගස්-ගල් වලට පවා සුවපත් වේවායයි කියන ජාතියක් වීමය.
9. බොදු බල සේනාව විසින් 2012 මැයි සිට පෙන්වා දුන්නේ පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින් සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයාට සළකන්නේ, සමහර පිරිමි හිත හොඳ ගෑණුන්ට සළකනවා මෙන් බවය. මේ නිසා සමස්ත පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලක ක්‍රමයම දෙදරා ගියේය. ඥානසාර හිමියන්ගේ හිස ඉල්ලා කෑගැසුවේය. එහෙත් අද වන විට සත්‍යය අනාවරණයවී ඇත. ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය කෙරෙහි සිංහලයින් තබා ඇති බලාපොරොත්තුව එයය.
10. මොන ෂේප් වීම් තැත්කලත්, 13 සංශොධනය මර උඟුලක්මය. මිලේනියම් හිඟමනද එසේ මය. ශාරීයා ව්‍යාපාරයේ ප්‍රතිපලයද කාත්තන්කුඩියේ ඇමෙරිකන් නාවික අඩියක් ගසා ගැනීමය. මේවා උදුරා දැමීම පවතින ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ කල හැකිය. අවශ්‍ය යම් යම් සංශොධන පමණය.
11. උතුරේ දෙමළ ජනයා වෙල්ලාලයින්ගේ වහල් කුලවාදයෙන් බේරා ගන්නට සිංහල රජය ක්‍රියා නොකිරීම, නිවට ක්‍රියාවක් නොවේදැයි දැන් ඔප්පුවේ. මේ ජනයා ආදි සිංහලයින් කියාද මතයක් ඇත. දෙමළ ජනයා රැවටීමට, කොළඹ සිට ක්‍රිස්තියානි වෙල්ලාලයින් ගෙන ගිය ව්‍යාපාරය දැන් අවසාන වෙමින් පවතී. හින්දු-බෞද්‌ධ එකතුව, උතුරේ කුලහීන යයි සැළකූ ජනයා යුද හමුදාවට සිය කෘතඥතාවය පල කිරීම යනාදිය ඉදිරියේ හාමුදුරුවරු යුරෝපයට නොව උතුරු පලාතට වැඩිය යුතුය. උතුරේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයාවූ රඝුවාන් චෝදනා කලේද හාමුදුරුවරු දෙමළ ජනයා අමතක කර ඇති බවය. විග්නේෂ්වරන් හා සම්බන්‌ධන් කියන්නේත් දෙමළ බෞද්‌ධයාගේ ඉතිහාසය ගැනය. විෂ්ණු දෙවියන් බුදුන්ගේ අවතාරයක් ලෙස හින්දූන් සළකයි. එසේ නම් දෙමළ හින්දූන් නොව, ක්‍රිස්තියානි දමිළයින් සිංහලයා හතුරෙක් සේ දෙමළ ජනයා රවටමින් සිටියේය. ක්‍රිස්තියානි ස්ටැන්ලි තම්බයියා 1962 දී තායිලන්තයට ගොස් බුද්‌ධාගම හදාරා, අන්තිමේදී බුඩිසම් බිට්‍රේඩ් යයි අසත්‍ය තොරතුරු සහිත පොතක් ලිව්වේ මාදුළුවාවේ සෝභිත හිමියන්ගේ මාරාවේශ වූවා වැනි පිටකවරය්ක්ද දමාය. ඔහුට පින්තූරය සැපයූවේ කුමාරි ජයවර්‌ධනය. පොතට ඩොලර් සැපයූවේ ඇගේ සැමියා ලාල් ජයවර්‍ධනය. යාපනේ කුල භේදය වෙනුවට තායිලන්තයේ බුද්‌ධාගම ගැන තම්බයියා සෙව්වේ ඇයි? මේවා ශුක්‍ෂම වැඩය. මේවා තෝරා බේරා ගෙන සිංහලයා වැඩකලයුතු කාලය පැමිණ තිබේ.
12. ලංකාව ඒකිය රාජ්‍යයක් නොවේ. 13 සංශොධනය තිබෙන තාක් ලංකාව පෙඩරල්මය. එක නීතියක්, එක රටක් යනු බොරු මන්ත්‍රය. දැනට අවශ්‍ය මූලිකම දේ නම් ජන සභා ක්‍රමයක් යටතේ, පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයාගෙන් තොරව මහජනයාට තමන්ගේ එදිනෙදා බොහෝ කටයුතු කර ගැනීමට ඉඩ ලබා දීමය. මේ මඟින් නියම බලය බෙදීමක් (මීනින්ෆුල් ඩෙවොලූෂන්) ජනතාවට ලැබේ. හොර, දෙමළ හා සිංහල, මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලකයින් ඉවත් කල විට මේ ජන සභා දක්‍ෂ ලෙස ක්‍රියා කරණ අන්දම බොහෝ දෙනා නොදන්නා ගැමි දිරිය වැඩ සටහන යටතේ සිදුවිය. එය දේශපාලකයින් විසින් කඩාකප්පල් කර දැම්මේය. ඒ වෙනුවට එය යාපනයටත් ගෙන ගියා නම් මේ වන විට මොන තරම් වෙනසක් රටේ ඇති වන්නේද? 1940 ස් ගණන් වල ප්‍රඥාශේඛර හිමියන්ගේ ව්‍යාපාරයට කල දේම නැවත සිදුවිය. බිම් මට්ටමේ ජන සභා වලට පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ට ගෑවීමට ඉඩදීම එහි විනාශයය.

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The election to be held on 5 August 2020 on all counts appear to be a lack lustre event.  The Sri Lankans are generally used to massive media campaigns, bill boards, cut-outs and public rallies accommodating hundreds of thousands of supporters. 

These campaigns have energised the political parties and its leaders whilst providing much needed euphoria as a solid return on investment on cost of media blitz.  These propaganda activities also provided stiff competition, encouraging larger voter turnout on the election day.

The covid 19 has virtually killed the Sri Lankan style of electioneering.  To make matters worse, the oldest political party, the United National Party is split, making traditional UNPers to look for Elephant symbol after a long time wanting to vote for the UNP, but likely to cross UNP as the preferred party, but painfully looking for Sajith Premadasa’s  candidates with the Telephone and vice versa.

With a low turnout expected as a result of above factors, this election most likely to record a high percentage of rejected votes, as a consequence of Elephant and Telephone.

The following popular political personalities are unlikely to win a seat at the election: Rev Athureliya Rathana,  Sujeewa Senasinghe, Ravi Karunanayke, Patali Champaka Ranawaka. Hirunika Premachandra, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Duminda Dissanayake, Weerakumara Dissanayake, Ranjan Ramanayake, Arjuna Ranatunga, Vijitha Herath,  Chandima Weerakkody,  Palitha Ranga Bandara, Kumara Welgama, Sarath Fonseka, Rajitha Senaratne, Chathura Senaratne, Ajith P Perera, Palitha Thewarapperuma, Dayasiri Jayasekera, P Harrison,

The following forecast was prepared taking into account above limiting factors, with a margin of error of +/- 3%.   The  newly formed SLPP is likely to secure a tight 2/3 majority.

  PERCENTAGE SEATS %                   72%     20%        8%

The Sajith Premadasa camp may secure 28 seats as against Ranil to settle down for 18 seats.

නීතිඥවරයෙක් පොලිස්පතිට පැමිණිලි කරයි.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ (19 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය, ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කළද ) 12.2 සහ 12.3 ව්‍යවස්ථාවල ඉංග්‍රීසි පරිවර්තනයේ race යන්න දක්වා ඇති අතර වර්තමානයේ නිකුත් කරන උප්පැන්න සහතිකයේ ‘ජාතිය’ / ‘race’ ලෙස දක්වා ඇත.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දැක්වෙන විධිවිධාන අනුව ‘ජාතිය’ / ‘race’ යන්න පිළිගත් තත්ත්වයක් වන අතර එසේ වුවත් ජාතිය / race අනුව කිසිම තැනැත්තෙක් වෙනස්කමකට හෝ විශේෂයකට භාජනය නොවිය යුතු බව දක්වා තිබුණද ජාතීය/ race තිබීම ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව මගින්ද පිළිගෙන තිබියදී ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා විධිවිධාන වලට පටහැනිව යෝජිත ජාතික උප්පැන්න සහතික ආකෘතියෙන් ජාතිය / race යන්න ඉවත් කර ඇති අතර ජාතිකත්වය / Nationality සහ ජනවර්ග / Ethnic Group ඇතුලත් කර ඇත.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 12.2 සහ 12.3 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයට ලක් නොකර ‘ජාතිය’ / ‘race’ යන්න උප්පැන්න සහතිකයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමත් , 12.2 සහ 12.3 ව්‍යවස්ථාවල ඇතුළත් කර නොමැති ජනවර්ගය / Ethnic Group උප්පැන්න සහතිකයේ ඇතුළත් කිරීමත් 2019 මාර්තු දිනැති සහ අංක 2114/27දරන අති විශෙෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රය මගින් 2006 අංක 19 දරන ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික ගණුදෙනු පනතේ 8(2) වගන්තිය සමග කියවිය යුතු 24 වගන්තිය මගින් සාදන ලද නියෝගයේ දක්වා ඇති ජාතික උප්පැන්න සහතිකයේ ආකෘතිය මගින් සිදුකර ඇත.

යෝජිත ජාතික උප්පැන්න සහතිකයේ ආකෘතිය නීතියක් ලෙස බලාත්මක කර උප්පැන්න සහතික නිකුත් කිරීමට පෙර ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 12.2 සහ 12.3 ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය කිරීම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ද ඇතුලුව මුලු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 2/3 ක බහුතර ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත කළ යුතු වන බවත් එසේ නොකර ජාතික උප්පැන්න සහතිකයේ ආකෘතිය අනුව පුද්ගලයන් ලියාපදිංචි කිරීමේ කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල්වරයා විසින් උප්පැන්න සහතික නිකුත් කිරීම, දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්‍රහයේ 289 වගන්තියේ විධිවිධාන අනුව වරදක් වන බවත්, ඒ සඳහා තැත්කිරීම දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්‍රහයේ 490 වගන්තියේ විධිවිධාන අනුව වරදක් වන බවත් පෙන්වා දෙමින් ඒ පිළිබද විමර්ශන කර අදාල වැරදි සිදුකර ඇති සහ සිදුකරන අයට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙසත් එකී පැමිණිල්ලෙන් ඉල්ලා ඇත.

එම පැමිණිල්ල පහත දැක්වේ.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Given the popularity of three-wheelers as a mode of transportation, and the close proximity between drivers and passengers, the masks will prevent COVID infection”, Director General Health, Dr.Anil Jasinghe said.

COLOMBO, July 30 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka on Wednesday donated a large number of face masks and posters raising the awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic to a leading union of local three-wheel drivers.

In an event held at the Chinese Embassy in Colombo, Charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy Hu Wei handed over 50,000 face masks and 35,000 posters to Vice President of the All Island Three-Wheeler Driver’s Union M. J. M Hameed.

Hameed said that his union was happy to join with the Chinese Embassy and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health to promote health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic and promised to distribute the face masks to union members in order to protect themselves, passengers and the general public.

A press release from the Chinese Embassy said that the donations represent the sincere friendship and best wishes from the Chinese people,” and that the joint fight of the two countries against COVID-19 would strengthen the friendship and mutual trust between China and Sri Lanka.”

Director General of Health Services in Sri Lanka Anil Jasinghe, who attended the event, thanked the Chinese Embassy, saying that the donations would be useful given the popularity of three-wheelers as a mode of transportation, and the close proximity between drivers and passengers.

Rizwan Jamaldeen, a three-wheel driver and a union member from the country’s Slave Island, said that face masks are a thoughtful and practical donation that would go a long way to protect the health of both drivers and passengers.

Three-wheelers, popularly known as tuk-tuks, are a popular mode of transportation and source of self-employment to many Sri Lankans. ■

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

North Western Province Governor A. J. M. Muzammil yesterday (30) alleged that the Election Commission (EC) seemed to be brazenly selective in the implementation of relevant laws pertaining to the conducting of parliamentary polls scheduled for Aug 5.

 Muzammil said that the EC owed the public an explanation as to how the EC allowed Constitutional Council member attorney-at-law Javid Yusuf to appear on the political stage whereas Governors were strongly advised against participating in the ongoing polls campaign.

 In spite of the dissolution of parliament on March 2, 2020 to pave the way for parliamentary polls, the 10-member CC headed by former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is staying put.

 The EC, embroiled in a deepening controversy over the re-renaming of the Ape Jathika Peramuna as the Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) consists of Mahinda Deshapriya (Chairman), Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole and Nalin Abeysekera, PC.

Muzammil made available to The Island several letters he had received from the EC as well as Secretary to the President and his response to both EC and Secretary to the President to highlight the fact that the EC was following what he called a highly biased policy.

 The EC had conveniently chosen to ignore Yusuf throwing his weight behind a civil society project meant to sabotage a high profile SLPP campaign seeking a two-thirds majority at the August 5 poll to do away with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Muzammil said.

The former Colombo Mayor was referring to Yusuf calling for a common stand against the moves against the 19th Amendment enacted at the onset of yahapalana administration.

 Yusuf is on record as having said that the government would have conducted parliamentary polls regardless of the severe threat posed by the corona epidemic, if not for the timely intervention made by the EC in terms of the 19th Amendment.

 Muzammil emphasized that the EC put off the scheduled polls in terms of the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981 not under the 19th Amendment as referred to by the CC member. The bottom line is that in case of a calamity even the Election Commissioner had the power to put off an election, Muzammil said, urging the EC not to play politics with the process.

 Muzammil said that the controversy over a CC member taking a political stand took place close on the heels of EC member Prof. Hoole controversial comments in an interview conducted in Jaffna. The CC remained silent on the EC member’s conduct and the EC ignored a CC member taking sides in the ongoing political battle, when all of them should be strictly neutral. The civil society grouping Yusuf is aligned with campaigning against the SLPP and was canvassing for the UNP, its breakaway faction the SJB, the JVP and the TNA to save the 19th Amendment, Muzammil said.

 Responding to another query, Muzammil said that the polls monitoring bodies seemed to be strangely silent on what was going on at the EC. The EC lost public credibility by turning a blind eye to the CC member declaring his intention to save the 19th Amendment by campaigning with a section of civil society. 

A spokesperson for civil society grouping Freedom said that due to practical difficulties caused by the Corona crisis they couldn’t conduct public meetings since the one held on July 8 at the New Town hall. However, several media briefings were held since the inaugural meeting to highlight the need to save the 19th Amendment to prevent emergence of an authoritarian administration, the spokesperson said, adding that quite a useful webinar on economic issues, too, was conducted. A second webinar would be held today, Friday (31), with the participation of Jayadeva Uyangoda, Javid Yusuf and Suren Fernando. The Freedom spokesman said that they took a strong stand in respect of the 19th Amendment on a programme on TNL television recently.

 Muzammil said that he didn’t find fault with the civil society for campaigning against the SLPP. The issue is why the EC allowed a CC member to be part of the campaign whereas Governors appointed by the President were told not to engage in any promotional activity.

 Muzammil said that he received a letter from Presidential Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera that instructed him not to promote any candidate at public expense. The Wayamba Governor pointed out that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) had issued several statements recently advising public servants et al, including those in the media emphasizing the importance of neutrality in the whole process. However, the HRCSL hadn’t commented on the CC member taking a political stand, Governor Muzammil said, adding that his position on the HRCSL was subjected to correction.

 Yusuf, in a recent interview with The Island explained his rights as a member of the civil society as well as the CC, vowing he wouldn’t serve the CC at the expense of his primary role.

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said a new government will introduce laws making it mandatory to present agreements with regard to state properties in parliament before signing them.

Speaking at a forum of professionals in Colombo, Mr. Rajapaksa said the members of the previous Yahapalana Government has signed contracts to handover the Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port to India since it already leased out the Hambantota Port to China.

Had the Yahapalana Government remained in power for another term, nothing would have been left in the country. Therefore, we will introduce laws making it mandatory to submit agreements with regard to state properties in parliament before signing them. However, today, we have been forced to go ahead with whatever we are left within the country including the destruction the previous government has made,” he said.

He said the foreign exchange revenue earned from expatriate workers and the income from the garment industry continued to be the two main source of income for the country. He said the country cannot further depend on these two sources.

We made plans to set the course of the country’s economy on a new path and to create novel ways of generating income. That’s why we created the Hambantota Port, the Port City and the Mattala Airport. We made highways connecting all these to make the country an international trade centre,” he said.

Referring to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, Prime Minister Rajapaksa said the economy of not only Sri Lanka but also the entire world has imploded.

This is the challenge we face in the short term. Due to the fluctuations in the world economy, we are yet again at a juncture where the existence of the country depends on the ability of the leaders. Had Gotabaya Rajapaksa not been elected President, the country would have become a ‘Vishala Mahanuwara.’ I hope all Sri Lankans will use their voting right to strengthen the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government,” Prime Minister Rajapaksa said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The United National Party will expel top members of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) including its leader Sajith Premadasa in the second round, and it will be announced in a few days time, party General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said today.

Mr. Kariyawasam told the Daily Mirror that Mr. Premadasa could be among those who will be expelled in the second round.

I cannot exactly say whether Mr. Premadasa will be included in the next expulsion list but it is likely that he will be included. The expulsion process will be carried out on a phase by phase basis,” he said.

He said some who were contesting under the SJB might rejoin the UNP after the general elections on August 5.

Only a few SJB big guns were included in the list of expulsions made last Tuesday.

Those who were included were Sarath Fonseka, Ranjan Ramanayake, Nalin Bandara Jayamaha, Ajith P Perera, Sydney Jayaratne, Asoka Abeysinghe, Bandulalal Bandarigoda and Vadivel Suresh.

SJB big guns such as Sajith Premadasa, S. M. Marikar, Harsha de Silva, P Harrison, Lakshman Kiriella, Eran Wickramaratne, Kavinda Jayawardene, Harshana Rajakaruna, Harin Fernando, Ranjith Aluvihare, Wasantha Aluvihare and Talatha Athukorala were not included in the list of 54 candidates expelled on Tuesday. (Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Working Committee of the United National Party (UNP) on Tuesday (28) approved the suspension of party memberships of 115 members.

Accordingly, 54 members who had submitted nominations from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and another 61 Local Government members were expelled from the party.

Several top figures of the party including Ajith P. Perera, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Sujeewa Senasinghe and Ranjan Ramanayake are also among the ousted members.

However, the decision on the suspending the UNP membership of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya leader Sajith Premadasa is to be taken soon, according to sources from the party.

The list of the UNP members who were ousted for submitting nominations fron the SJB is as follows:

1. Leonard Karunaratne
2. Ajantha Niroshan Padukka
3. M. Jayantha de Silva
4. Hasitha Wijesinghe
5. U. George Perera
6. U.G. Chandrasoma Saranalal
7. Rose Fernando
8. Ranjan Ramanayake
9. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka
10. Attorney-at-Law Ajith P. Perera
11. Jagath Premalal Pinnagodawithana
12. P.D. Abeyratne
13. R.P. Samaranayake
14. P.M. Samantha Aruna Kumara
15. H.S. Sampath Sanjeewa
16. Padmalal de Alwis
17. N.D. Kapila Nandana Nakandala
18. Hiranya Herath Ranaweera
19. Jayalath Bandara Dissanayake
20. Ashoka Priyantha Bandara
21. M.N. Hussain Kiyas
22. Attorney-at-Law B.H. Jayantha Jayaweera
23. S. Tennakoon Nilame
24. T.V.K Gamini
25. S.A. Sujeewa
26. P.A. Karunadasa
27. Aruna Sirisena
28. Chandradasa Galappaththi
29. Indunil Thushara Amarasena
30. Nalin Bandara Jayamaha
31. Ashok Ranjan Abeysinghe
32. Preethi Mohan Perera
33. D.P. Ajith Rohana
34. B.M. Bandula Priyantha Bandaranaike
35. E.D. Lionel Chandrawansa
36. Jeyananda Singh Kokilanath Singh
37. P. Sahidu
38. Rohana Bandara Wijesundara
39. R.W. Dharmadasa
40. R.m. Suranga Ratnayake
41. Anil Ratnayake
42. S.H.M. Ansar
43. M.M. Donald
44. Sidney Jayaratne
45. R.M. Ratnayake
46. H.M. Upali Senaratne
47. Vadivel Suresh
48. W.H.M. Dharmasena
49. Harinda Dharmadasa
50. Irwin Sampath Jayasuriya
51. D.M. Lakshan Dissanayake
52. W. Suresh Sanjeewa
53. Sarathchandra Ramanayake
54. Sujeewa Senasinghe

The list of the Local Government members who were expelled from the party is produced below:

Courtesy Adaderana

Three more persons have tested positive for novel coronavirus increasing the total number of confirmed cases reported in the country to 2,814.

The three new cases include a foreigner who had arrived from Turkey, a Sri Lankan who had returned from United Arab Emirates (UAE) and another Sri Lankan returnee from Qatar.

Four new cases have been reported so far today (30). Earlier today, a resident of Lankapura had tested positive for Covid-19.

Accordingly 470 patients infected with the virus are undergoing treatment at hospitals while the total number of recoveries has climbed to 2,333. 

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that the city of Kelaniya will be developed curbing the drug menace and underworld while preserving the city’s historical heritage and pride. 

President made these remarks touring Gampaha district for the second time today (30) in support of the candidates of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna contesting next week’s Parliamentary Election.

The meeting was organized by candidate Sisira Jayakody. The Ten Fold Kelani Declaration” aimed at the development of the area was presented to the President.

While paying attention to the issues raised by the people present at the venue, the President requested the public to elect a strong Parliament to ensure a development process that preserves the grandeur of Kelaniya.

Maha Sangha led by Prof. Ven. Kumburugamuwe Vajira Thero, Ministers Dinesh Gunawardene and Prasanna Ranatunga, candidate Prasanna Ranaweera, Dr. Seetha Arambepola were also present on the occasion. 

Attending a public gathering organized by candidate Nalin Fernando in Ja Ela, the President inquired into inadequacies in the area. 

President Rajapaksa stated that he will take steps to reduce the flood risks in Gampaha district by renovating all the canals in the area. The President also promised to take steps to develop the Ja-Ela city.

President Rajapaksa was cordially received by the people gathered at the public meeting organized by candidate Lalantha Gunasekara at Andiambalama area in Katana, when he arrived at the venue.  

The Maha Sangha at the scene highly commended the   ‘Saubhagye Gewaththa’ (Home Garden of Prosperity) programme launched by the government and pledged to make the religious places including the temples as a center point to promote this programme among the public.

The Maha Sangha pointed out the importance of using all the religious places to distribute seeds and information.

A group of students gathered at the venue requested the President to swiftly implement the proposed education policy in ‘Saubhagye Dekma’, policy statement which will enable the students to complete their degrees at the age of 20.

-PMD

Courtesy Adaderana

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara says that they will initiate legal action against the suspension of the United National Party (UNP) membership of 60 local councilors who supported the SJB.

Speaking during a press briefing today (30), he said that local council members elected by the people cannot be removed without a disciplinary inquiry. 

He added that they safeguard all the local council members ousted from the UNP and that they have already made the necessary arraignments to take the matter to the courts.

The full list of names of the 53 candidates of the SJB and 60 local government members, who were sacked from the UNP based on a decision taken by the party’s Working Committee, was released to the media today.

According to the said list, the UNP has suspended the party membership of a number of former MPs who had previously been elected to Parliament from the UNP. These include the likes of Ajith P. Perara, Ranjan Ramanayake, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Thushara Indunil, Nalin Bandara and Ashoka Abeysinghe.

However, the list does not mention the names of SJB leader Sajith Premadasa and General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara.

Meanwhile former MP and UNP Assistant Leader Ravi Karunanayake says that several more groups of UNP members who left the party top join the SJB will be sacked from the party under several phases.

He said another batch is expected to be expelled from the party nest Monday. 

Courtesy Hiru News

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe alleges that there is no Sinhala party in the Samagi Janabalavegaya.

He made this allegation while participating in a public meeting held in the Torrington area in Colombo yesterday.

He also stated that the members of the party were elected from the UNP.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Ceylon Electricity Board states that it has decided to provide a concession of Rs. 3 billion to all electricity consumers for the months of March, April and May.

6.7 million customers are entitled to this concession and only the fee mentioned in the February bill has to be paid for the relevant 3 months.

The CEB stated that if the bill in the three months is less than the February bill then the lower bill has to be settled. 

By Rohana R. Wasala

Buvaneka Hotel? I wanted to renovate the place when I was Secretary to the Urban Development Authority, but the owner refused to give it up for renovation.

• An amused President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to some young men who asked him, during his campaign tour of the Kurunegala district on July 27, why he kept silent when ‘our kingdom’ was bulldozed.

(The prime minister has appointed an archaeological advisory committee consisting of twenty experts – monks and laymen, archaeologist Ven. Ellawela Medhananda among them – as a first step towards protecting the gravely endangered archaeological heritage of the country, according to live evening TV news from Sri Lanka/July 29. This is a very positive response to public concerns raised over the partial demolition of what is popularly held to be the remains of a royal assembly hall belonging to the reign of King Bhuvanekabahu II of Kurunegala of the 13th century CE.)

The demolition of a part of a building that is claimed to be an archaeological site at Kurunegala on the night of July 14, 2020  caused quite a furore, with the opposition seizing the opportunity offered by the surreptitious operation to sling mud at the government. Why the mayor had to do it in the night in such a hurry is yet to be explained, though. In any case, the controversy that the destruction ignited was manna from heaven for the opposition, which is starved of a proper platform for fighting the election. Aside from this, the main opposition speakers are providing much needed comic relief for the corona-fears-hit audiences across the country through their empty campaign speeches. They have suddenly become champion protectors of the country’s cultural heritage. But it is hardly likely that the senior SLPP leaders would have allowed this act of (apparently accidental) vandalism to be committed, had they had an inkling of it beforehand, particularly in this run-up-to one of the most decisive general elections  held in the country. 

Be that as it may, the episode has drawn the attention of all Sri Lankans to a chronic issue that is directly connected with the national security and the political stability of the Sri Lankan state: the deliberate destruction/vandalizing/encroachment of Sri Lanka’s archaeological sites by treasure hunters and politically motivated individuals. The protection, through preservation and conservation, of the country’s rich ancient cultural heritage is a national responsibility that no government can ignore. There are six main parties who are bound to take an interest in this issue; they are, to list them at random: Buddhist monks, the general public, historians and archaeologists, relevant state officials, politicians in general, and the government including the prime minister the executive president. 

The president laughed when the young men queried him about the Kurunegala affair because he knows that the name ‘Buvaneka’ had been dragged into it by interested parties to embarrass the government (by highlighting its supposed antiquity). With that answer, he pricked the balloon of false propaganda of the opposition. But there is no doubt that he takes the problem that underlies the whole affair seriously. It is very clear that, taken out of that context, it is no laughing matter, though some people may try to make it out to be something trivial and  funny. In fact, the enemies of the country want to represent even the general election as a form of meaningless theatrical entertainment, which in reality this time is the moment of truth for the whole national electorate.  

Incidentally, there are those who are ever ready to attack the recorded history of the Sinhalese in their unique homeland as mere fiction. But knowledgeable local and foreign scholars, from colonial times to the present, have increasingly accepted it as something well authenticated by carefully composed ancient chronicles and orally transmitted folk traditions, both supported by epigraphical evidence and archaeological remains found across the length and breadth of the island. Ill-informed cynics are making the public outrage caused by the thoughtless act a pretext for taking a playful dig at those who are speaking up for safeguarding the rights of the variously besieged majority community. It is a different matter that there are a few political opportunists, fakes, and rogues among them as there are among members of other communities. Recent  evidence unearthed by archaeologists (some of them from foreign universities) has proved that a primitive people who had nevertheless reached a relatively advanced stage of civilization had inhabited the central mountainous region of the island at least some four and a half thousand years ago, which hints at the fact that the history of the Sinhalese is much older than the recorded 2500 years. The Ravana story may be a myth, but it is quite possible that is based on a regal ancestor of the Sinhalese who fought invasions from abroad thousands years before the time that the Mahavansa begins with. Some amateur ‘archaeologists’ in the form of You Tubers, apparently none of them with any expertise in the most difficult domain of archaeology, at various levels of commitment to the discovery of the scientific truth from one hundred percent to zero percent, are turning out videos these days about real or imagined archaeological sites. Some of them have published, for example, pictures of mysterious symbolic shapes carved on a rock in a hardly accessible place and a drawing of what looks like a dinosaur on another rock face, images worthy of being included in Erich Von Daniken’s 1968 classic ‘Chariots of the Gods’. A responsible future government must turn its attention to this so-called ‘Ravana’ aspect of Sri Lanka’s pre-history and bring it under the purview of proper archaeological study. The nation can exploit its potential for the benefit of the country in terms of its economy through the promotion of tourism in addition to contributing to the global store of human knowledge. Equally important, it will serve to ensure the future survival of the Sinhalese as a race with their unique historical identity. So, the uproar raised about the Kurunegala incident by both genuine and mischief-making protestors is not something to be dismissed with a laugh.

There cannot be any dispute about the fact that the structure at the place in question is of archaeological value, though the mayor of Kurunegala, the first citizen of the city, is unaware of it. Ignorance is no excuse for a person who holds such a responsible position. However, the Adhikarana Sanga Nayake Thera of Vayamba,  at a meeting of the Bauddha Upadeshaka Sabhava with the President (July 25) said that the place in question was not an archaeological site, and that it was a big lie to say that it was. He said that there was no ‘raja sabha mandapaya’ (a royal assembly hall) belonging to king Bhuvanekabahu II at that place. In his detailed explanation of its recent history of about twenty years, he described how the premises was leased out by the municipal council during that period and was enlarged and used for various commercial purposes such as running wine shop,a  restaurant, a barber shop, and even for renting out rooms for couples. It was implied that the enlargement of the building by adding rooms, etc was done without proper official authorization. But the monk admitted that the old structure that  originally stood there and apparently still stands there partly damaged or tampered with, was one built more than one hundred years ago, which means that the place should be considered an  archaeological site. An archaeologist who was seen at  the meeting, had stated to a local newspaper on an earlier occasion, that, according to popular tradition, the particular place was where king Bhuvanekabahu II held assizes/adjudged cases (though there was no literary or other evidence to support this.)

With apologies to historians and archaeologists, I would like to suggest, as a lay reader, that  unrelated information available in Chapter XC (90) of the Mahavansa (continued in the Culavansa) lends  credence to the popular tradition that the archaeologist monk mentioned. That particular chapter narrates the goings on in a period of history made noteworthy by such events as the relocation of the seat of government from time to time to Dambadeniya, Kurunegala,  and Yapahuwa, internecine conflicts triggered by succession disputes sometimes leading to torture, treachery and murder, foreign invasions, the forced removal of the Tooth Relic to the captivity of Pandyans in south India by ‘a chief among Tamils, known as Ariya Cakkavatti, albeit he was not an Ariya’, and its eventual recovery through sophisticated diplomacy, cultural activity in the service of Buddhism and the advancement of letters under royal patronage, and the construction of architectural monuments such as the magnificent rock fortress city of Yapahuwa (Subha-pabbata/Subhacala/Subagiri) built by king Bhuvanekabahu I, whose son Bhuvanekabahu II ruled at Kurunegala from 1293-1302 CE. That the latter dispensed justice from a specially constructed assembly hall in Kurunegala is not an improbability. Has any archaeologist tried to compare the architectural features of the alleged  royal assembly hall to those found at Yapahuwa? In view of these facts, talking further about the issue is worth our while. (The Mahavansa references here are based on Mudaliyar L.C. Wijesinha’s translation of 1889.)

The issue involves the accidental or premeditated partial destruction of a heritage building and its complex aftermath. The foreign and local supporters of the opposition may not see any complexity in either, the former because of their ignorance of, and the latter because of their indifference to, the cultural sensitivities and political perceptions of the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community. Hence they might express adverse opinions about the way the six categories of people responded to the incident. 

It is obvious that the mayor found himself caught off his guard when he was confronted with the fact that what was partly demolished was of archaeological value. A minister of the present government, a prominent member of the SLPP (who comes from a business background, and who was a UNP stalwart before he joined the Mahinda camp), rushed to his rescue, which one of his cabinet colleagues publicly criticised. If some irregularity was committed in this instance, which is very likely, there is a common heritage of guilt to be shared by the incumbent and previous mayors, possibly of a different political colour. Prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, it seemed, showed a special interest in the matter as the Buddha Sasana and cultural affairs minister in the caretaker administration. The opposition’s exploitation of the mayor’s blunder to attack the government to gain some propaganda advantage over it, with the elections round the corner, made the PM’s concern in this regard look like a mark of what they probably thought was his desire to engage in some sort of damage control exercise. In my opinion, there was absolutely no need for the government to register a panicked response. What happened was what could have happened under any government, notwithstanding its desire to avoid such embarrassment or to ensure rectification of what went wrong in such a situation. The commercial abuse of that place, and many other similar registered and unregistered heritage sites, for that matter, has persisted for a long time, in some cases, with the connivance of or under the sponsorship of politicians in the local authorities allied to main parties. Party leaders have no control over this. In politically motivated attacks on the country’s ancient Buddhist heritage in the east particularly, government officials become vulnerable to manipulation by well funded extremists through bribery. 

The only solution is to leave matters to the law enforcement authorities so they can take appropriate action. The PM-appointed committee has made some recommendations (conservation of the part damaged while preserving its archaeological features, acquisition of the building by the department of archaeology, requesting the RDA to revise its road widening plan at this point, prosecuting the persons responsible for the destruction, and recovering the cost of conservation from the institutions or individuals responsible for the destruction) which are to be implemented in the short term. Once the building is restored and the problem, whatever it is, that required a part of it to be bulldozed under cover of the night is sorted out, the current mode of its utilization will have to be reviewed, and changes introduced as appropriate. At the meeting he had with the monks of the Bauddha Upadeshaka Sabhava on July 25, the president decided to appoint a committee of experts to propose changes to the Antiquities Ordinance, which should ensure more robust implementation of the law relating to archaeological places, buildings and objects than now. 

Even in the past the president was the only person in a position of power (as defence secretary) who made a meaningful intervention in the problem first articulated by Buddhist monks (for example, Kuragala). Meanwhile, it will be very important to depoliticize and de-communalize the problem of protecting the archaeological relics of the country’s glorious Buddhist past. Most of the vulnerable sites lie in the north and east where the island civilization started as currently understood. Actually there is no threat to them from the mainstream Tamil and Muslim minority communities who respectively dominate those provinces in terms of population numbers, but these peaceful people are held hostage by a few political extremists (separatists and jihadists).  Tamils and Muslims are not confined to these two provinces. More than 50% of them live in the south among the Sinhalese. The protection of archaeological sites has become a political and communal issue, particularly in the north and east, because of the the extremists. The government must enlist the support of ordinary Tamils and Muslims in these areas to overcome the extremists, and then entrust the protection of the archaeological sites to people of all three communities who live there, in addition to ensuring state protection of the same. Places already encroached upon must be re-acquired by the state, and people already settled on them gradually relocated elsewhere with the least inconvenience to them. 

These archaeological remains belong equally to all present day Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnicity. In economic terms, the existence of ancient historical places and objects is beneficial to the people who today inhabit the relevant areas, because they are tourist attractions. Most people are ignorant of the value of these relics of the past. Popular ignorance facilitates the extremists’ anti-national activities. One of the lessons taught by the Kurunegala episode is about the importance of adequate awareness on the part of the officialdom as well as the populace regarding the country’s inestimable archaeological treasures.     

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara.

Before I present my updated write up on the above topic I give here my prediction made on the last Presidential Election on 14 Oct 2019 in an email I sent to Mr Gothabhaya Rajapaksa.

Your victory as well as that of the country is a foregone conclusion. I am repeating, you will be definitely starting with at least 65 lakhs the minimum that is what the SLPP, UPF and SLFP got at the 2018 Local Government Elections. Looking at the present trend no one should be surprised even if it exceeds 70 lahks.

(This is the introduction of an email sent to GR on 14.Oct 2019)

The accuracy of my prediction was proved   to the    very letter when he polled 6,924,255 votes and comprehensively won that election and I take pride in that forecast as I was the only man who said so. Many of my friends expressed their reservations on my conclusion. But I persistently maintained my conviction and finally it was proved correct.

Similarly I ammaking this prediction this time too on the upcoming General election after making a general survey of the political situation on ground by listening to people in the work place, paddy field and on the streets and media. In addition to the changes that have taken place over the past two weeks changes bound to occur in the behavior of the electorate between now and the 5^th of August also have been taken in to consideration in arriving at this conclusion. This election is definitely going to be a historic land mark in the political history of this Island Nation and it will mark the beginning of a period of new political culture, the change people of this country are yearning for decades.

First of all I opine the next General Election is going to be an important historic land mark in the political history of this Island nation for the following reasons. The final result will be something unexpected by any. But definitely it will happen and it is destined to become a turning point in Lankan history.

The summary of my considered guess on the outcome of the election is given below

1The SLPP will emerge victorious with a landslide with 170 -175 or more out of 225 seats in the next Parliament (Eg 150-155 elected and 20 national list slots, the minimum)

 2 The UNP (Ranil and +Premadasa camps together) will get 35 or 40 (elected + national list)

3 TNA this time may get about 12 elected and 1 National list members

4 None of the JVP candidates will get elected. They might get 1 national list seat.

 5 Not a single Independent candidate will get elected and they all will forfeit their deposits.

This overall result is predicted on the basis of two sets of mutually exclusive factors coming in to play, one negative and the other positive. Both sets will have adverse negative effects on the present UNP and Samangi Balawegaya. It is very likely they might get completely wiped out at the end and the term UNP” in any case will be only past history thereafter. As the ongoing life and death battle between the two camps with no intelligent policy statements or pragmatic solutions to the burning problems of the people or the country with hardly any effective rebuttal against the achievements of government in power and the failure to offer any alternative to the people have already made both these camps dwarfs in the 2020 election battle. The harvest of their follies will be handsomely reaped by the SLPP, recording a landslide victory never expected by any, including even those of the SLPP and the President’s Office. It reminds me of the 1956 and 1977 election scenarios but with a marked difference. That is in both those   occasions the opposition re-emerged but this time there want be an opposition left behind as the UNP will disappear from the political map of this country as a political party. There is also absolutely no chance Saji’s Camp emerging either as an alternative as it is bound to disintegrate in to pieces after the election.

First let us look at the negative factors I mentioned above.

1This election is held after 5 years of complete anarchy and political bungling and economic mismanagement in this country under the ill-famed Sirisena–Ranil-Karu, the three headed Government. Going by the present situation in the country, the political environment at Home could be compared to a sinking and wrecking ship in mid seas caught by a giant Tsunami, sans a captain to rescue and navigate it in the proper direction.

2 We are going to have this election at a time when the country is beset by extremely serious crises in a plethora of political, economic and social fields never witnessed before in this country. 

3 The country is going through a serious economic depression after the nation’s Central Bank had been robbed by the then ruling UNP lead by its own leader, and subsequently the whole country paralyzed by extremist Muslim terrorist attacks on the nerve centers of the economy throughout the country, now in complete disarray and reached its lowest growth level in its 72 years of Independence. On the top of it is a time when the whole  world is undergoing one of the most difficult and unpredictable future due to the world wide Covid 19 pandemic that has almost crippled the whole world and brought it virtually on its knees almost to a non-returnable situation.

4 The country’s economy is also undergoing one of the most difficult times ever in its history more or less facing a national crisis level with no agricultural or industrial production and nor exports, where the main foreign exchange  inflow channels like foreign employment has almost got dried up

5 Scanty domestic FE reserves and worldwide economic depression and limitations and constraints on exports and imports due to global restriction on shipping and international trade mechanism and production in all sectors.

 6 Meanwhile continued interference in our domestic affairs and competition by powerful countries to take control of our strategic situation on the great E-W trade route in the Indian Ocean in view of its importance in the context of emerging supremacy of the Indo-Pacific zone in world politics and by various International agencies hostile to this country that are trying to create disunity among Sinahala, Tamil and Muslim communities within the country that  have created many a problem to this country.

Second on the positive side

In spite of this darker side, after 72 years of So-called Independence on the other hand, we as a nation have got a patriotic and strong Sinhala Buddhist Statesman in President Gothabhaya Rajapaksa as a man with a clear vision and a mission who has the proven capacity  to successfully face all these challenges of   multifaceted conundrum and take this country out of the Augean mess it has been put in to by all politicians who are supposed to have ruled this country for the past 72 years since the so-called Independence in 1948. 

None of them knew the kind of fake Independence they got in 1948. As I see it none of them knew that the kind of Independence given by the British was only a transfer of continuation of the same British governance to a local set of kalu Suddhas to run the country as their proxy. This is exactly what we are doing even today. But the brainless politicians call it Independence. The true Bhumiputras of this country, that is Sinhala Buddhists expect at least Gothabhaya Rajapaksa the new President to make this country a fully pledge Independent and sovereign State after this election.  This perhaps is the priority number one, the people of this country expects from him. This long overdue political   strategy forms the cornerstone of all the rest like economic and social development as an Independent sovereign and free country.

1 Going by his past record as the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense, as to how he defeated the LTTE and how he converted Colombo to be recognized as the best City in Asia within four years after the war are enough testimonies for his ability and leadership as a task master. His peerless success in these two fields almost made him the Sinhala Buddhist benevolent Statesman with no peers overnight; the nation was desperately looking for seven decades. That is why the whole nation almost unanimously got him elected as the 8th President of this Island nation with 6,924,255 votes that gave him an unprecedented majority of 1,360,016 in spite of numerous false and vicious conspiracies and intrigues’ relentlessly deployed against him until the last moment by anti-national ant-Sinhala forces both from within the country and outside the shores to prevent him from getting even nominations. All such attempts were successfully foiled and finally truth prevailed, justice won and he got him elected as the 8th President of this country to the overwhelming joy of the Sinhala nation at last.

The way how he has conducted in office as well as in personal life since he was sworn in front of the Ruwanwelimahaseya and his short but dignified speech from the hallowed precincts of the Great Stupa reminded me ancient traditions of our great Kings who swore in in front of the Mahasangha to rule the Lankan Kingdom according to the Dasaraaja Dhamma. How he set about thereafter by ordering not to exhibit his photo in Government offices, reducing his staff, and even security and banning all state tamasas, reducing the Cabinet to 17 and his simple dress and manners has won the admiration and the hearts of the masses. How he managed the Covid 19 pandemic when even countries like USA have miserably failed, has already made him the most outstanding national leader the post Independent Sri Lanka has produced. The majority in the country are unanimous on this consensus. For them he is already a national idol and a hero as well. For the poor and those deprived of their daily bread due to the Covid 19 disaster, the food basket and the 5000 payment given was manna from heaven in their difficult times.  As for me I see in him as the legendary Diyasena eulogized in Perakumbasirita by Sri Thotagamuve Rahula Thera at last born to rescue this thrice blessed Punyabhuumi, by Lord Buddha.

All these actions on his part have convinced the masses that at last after 72 years of so-called Independence they have got a Patriotic and honest Sinhala Buddhist task master Statesman of proven ability and unblemished character beyond any doubt in Gothabahaya Rajapaksa, as the Head of State they have been looking for decades.

2 At the same time there is an unprecedented emerging unity among the Sinhala nation from west to East and North to South and from the sea to mountain tops throughout the country with no regard what so ever to their differences like caste, creed and religion as one nation.

3 A towering sense of belonging together also has emerged among the people of the country as one nation due to the exemplary leadership of Maha Sangha in unison and Catholic clergy headed by His Eminence Cardinal Malcom Ranjit Fernando.

4 The splitting of the main opposition party UNP and infighting within it for personal gain and glory rather than the concern for the people and the vituperative speeches thrown at each party have left the grass root UNPers dismayed, frustrated, disillusioned and high and dry. Majority of UNPers have already realized that hanging on to UNP an already a sunken ship will not take them anywhere under these circumstances. In sum all of them know pretty well that there is virtually no UNP as an alternative Political party that can come to power ever in the foreseeable future. It is already dead and buried under six feet, thanks to Ranil and Sajit Premadasa. No one will hear about the UNP after 5th of August.

5 The patriotic younger generation looking for change and new hopes getting attracted by this new leadership qualities displayed by Gota have already got rallied round him

6 Nationwide hope and the dream for political stability under a joint partnership between the proven and able leadership qualities of the Rajapaksa brothers specially the charismatic MR and proactive and dynamic Gota the task master who does not tolerate humbug and who has aptly proved his capacity in his war against the savages LTTE, as the Defense Sec of the country and as the President of the country from the day he was elected as  the President and more particularly as to how he rescued the nation form the Covid 19 pandemic when almost all world leaders have failed has made the people confident  that they have got the leadership they were looking for decades who can rescue this country out of the political, economic and Social mess in to which successive Governments have dumped it.

7 The newly emerging wave and the sense of patriotism and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism gathering momentum around this new leadership supported by the Three Forces, Professionals, Civil Servants and the Six National Forces Sanga, Veda, Guru, Govi-kamkaru and Ranaviru and the youth votes around the country brimming with new hope and power like a multi barrel war machine rolling across the battle field are taking the lead for nation building under the new President.

 At the same time we see all round auspicious sings like anti-national elements getting caught and exposed daily clearing the way for the nation to march forward without any obstacles.

In this most encouraging and welcome backdrop the Pohottuwa will emerge victorious in a landslide victory unheard and unseen in the political history of post Independent Sri Lanka. I predicted SLPP 69-70  lakhs at the last Presidential poll and Gota polled 6,924,255. Based on the same argument at this election the SLPP should get it increased to at least 80 lakhs of votes taking in to account ground reality factors like the defections from the UNP, JVP, Tamil and Muslim votes and new youth segment, who are seriously looking for a complete change in Sri Lankn politics. Therefore the SLPP should bag at least 150t-155 out of 196 elected seats and therefore it will bag at least 20 national list pin slots as well, making the total to stand around 175 since the UNP disarrayed factions together are very unlikely to get even 25 lakhs this time as against the 5,564,239 Premadasa polled at the Presidential election. Both Ranila nd Sajith camps will get at least 2,500,000 less than what he got at the Presidential election.

1 On the other hand substantial number out of UNP floating voters will also vote with the Pohottuwa this time as they are convinced that there is no point in betting a losing horse. The disgusted UNP hard liners will boycott elections and that will also drastically reduce the UNP votes. The JVP as usual will get eliminated at this election for their sins they have committed to this nation and they are also very unlikely to get any national list slots either. The chances of UNP getting Thodamans votes is also not there at this election as Mahinda has played his cards well, the SLPP will get a majority of Estate Tamil votes. Estate Tamil votes not going to SLPP getting divided between R and S will also unlikely to make any significant impact over the overall results. But even if those brainless Sinhala Budhhist UNPers who are suffering from chronic and incurable UNP constipation syndrome fail to realize the gravity and the seriousness of the crime they are going to commit against the Sinhala nation and the Sinhala Buddhist civilization in this country by voting an anti-Sinhala, anti-Buddhist and anti-national force, that is UNP, that is now fast disintegrating and disappearing as a national political force in no time from the surface of this land. Under these circumstances no force either at Home or abroad can stop the victory of the Sinhala Buddhist forces led by Rajapaksas at this election. There is a likelihood of all Sinhala forces drifting towards this historic goal. I have a deep feeling all forces will merge and coalesce to emerge as one giant national force to rescue this Land of the Buddha on the 5th of August.

Under these circumstances, even though there is going to be a substantial drop in the voter turnout, no one can stop the MR Camp getting a 2/3 majority in the 2020 Parliament.  It will go down in history as the biggest electoral victory ever in the post Independent Sri Lanka by any political Party. As for me, I am fully confident that this miracle will happen on the 5th of August, the results of which will be obvious by the 6th evening.

Taking the above situation as a stimulant and a blessing in disguise the whole nation should rise in unison as a mighty force in one roar like the Phoenix from ashes under the new patriotic and vibrant leadership of President Rajapaksa to march forward as one united and determined nation

Thereafter it is left for Gothabhaya and Mahinda to lay the firm foundation to rescue this country and the Sinhala Nation from all misdeeds and misfortunes committed by all the previous Governments since 1948.

Now what all of us, the patriotic people of this country have to do is to give the President a clear and stable Government by voting the SLPP en-block at the forthcoming election to enable to have a strong government exceeding 2/3 majority under MR in Parliament to carry out the Presidents avowed mission by the nation and our motherland.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara

–TNA’s call for self-determination –TNA began singing its old theme-song calling for the merger of the North and East provinces into one provincial council; self-determination and made references to a ‘Tamil Homeland’ – with a proviso that it will be within an undivided Sri Lanka”.The alliance also calls for the merger of the North and East provinces, a pipe-dream when it couldn’t even run the Northern Provincial Council without in-fighting.It is nothing but pathetic that the TNA is continuing with its communal politics to chase behind votes at the upcoming elections. They may be trying to compete with other fringe political parties of the North espousing the same or even more radical views. Maybe they are even the lesser evil. But like the House of Bourbons of France all of them seem to have learned nothing, and forgotten nothing”, committing the same mistakes over and over again expecting different results. In this instance, they are playing to the age-old sentiments of their electorate, only helping fuel an equal and opposite reaction in the ‘south’ which will be greatly advantageous to parties that wish to ride to power in Colombo by playing their own ‘communal card’.These northern politicians will not be able to blame ‘southern’ coalitions for beating the communal drum if they are doing it themselves in the North – and the East. What they are trying to do is whip up a communal frenzy among a new generation of youth. If the LTTE used a previous generation to wade through slaughter to its impossible dream of a separate state, the TNA – and other northern regional parties, seemingly want to do the same for some seats in the National Parliament.

Why can’t the Government invoke the 6th Amendment to the Constitution passed on 8th August 1983 and Take action against this Party its members at least now and put an end to this nuisance without dragging on  as all governments have done since 1983 creating, continuous political instability in this country?

If it also can’t do it then why doesn’t we remove 6^th A from the Constitution without allowing article 157 A to be a big legal joke as it had been from there in the book from August 1983, the day it was passed in Parliament, never used for the purpose of which it was passed by its fathers.

 In brief this is what 157 A says.

(1) No person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

(2) No political party or other association or organization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka

The punishments for these offences are clearly stated as removal of civic disability, forfeiture of movable and immovable property ect

 As such it is very clear both in concept and law. Had they made use of this provision on the first occasion after it became effective, most of the separatist problems, both Tamil and Muslim would probably not have been there today.

But our politicians who never do anything properly have never used it to tame these extremist communal politicians. The sword is not meant to cut jak fruits as the Sinhala proverb says.

It is high time therefore at least now for the present government first to implement the 6th A and thereafter ban all political parties named after ethnicity Language, religion and who hold allegiance to other countries and conspire to destroy this 2500 year Sinhala Buddhist nation on this planet earth in order to bring back political stability and sanity to this country

As far as I know this the only country in the world where minorities descending from invaders ,illicit immigrants and traders, not only enjoy the highest privileges for any country but also where they enjoy more privileges than the native people who have found the civilization in that country and defended it against enemies.  For example Tamils have Thesavalamei and Muslims their own Muslim law an deen Kathi courts Moreover they also don’t hold allegiance to this country where they live and earn their  daily bread. They only live and earn their living here. For Tamils it is India and Muslims Arabia Even when they worship their god they turn to those countries. But unfortunately we don’t have a Putin or a Howard to put the minorities in their places. In 1815 when we handed over the country by Convention this country had only one nation. It was the British who divided them and conferred more privileges to minorities to weaken the native Sinhalese. This is why I say we want to go back to the native system of Constitution and Government we had in this country prior to 1815 that was time tested for more than 2500 years.

What the Government must tell the minorities Tamils and Muslims in this country

This was the historical Homeland of Sinhala nation as it had been for the past 2600 year. The traditional Home land of Tamils is Tamilnadu in South India and Muslims is Arabia. You both never had a Homeland on this Island. Therefore you cannot claim to have any Homeland here although after coming here over time under different circumstances such as remnants of invading forces,  remnants of people who have come on trade or as indentured coolies who were brought by the British firstly to work on their project in the north and East and  secondly highest number of South Indians as slaves/indentured labour to work on their newly opened up Tea plantations in the Central Hill Country who were British citizen then and left behind when the British left  in 194 as Stateless people. Unfortunately none of our politician who embraced the Pandora’s Box of so-called independence in 1948 as a Dhatu karanduwa  had the brain or the mouth to tell the British ‘Hey look none of these people were there when we handed over the country in 1815 we need you to take them back along with you in order to make Independence to this country to be meaningful and complete. But it never happened 

The minorities must clearly understand this and be prepared to live amicably realizing that they are only a part of another nation and society. If they are not prepared to concede with this reality they have only one option. That is to get back to their own mother lands without creating unnecessary problems for us.

The government or the leaders must openly tell this as Puttin ad Australiam Pm sometime back have told the minorities living in those countries. As much as Puttin and Austarliama Prime minister said we have never invited them to come here. They have come on their own and if any one of them wants to live here then they must think, behave and talk as the citizens of this country that is Sinhale (called Ceylon by the British meaning the land of the Sinhala people)

The people who are there having got elected to Parliament with the Sinhala majority votes who have formed the government must say this clearly to everybody or depart so that the Sinhala people of this country can elect a Government that is prepared to do that.

Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma

The terms Robotics is often mentioned these days. There were many local inventions that were presented in mass media recently highlighting the possible use of Robotics in health care industry to meet the challenges faced under the COVID -19. The local innovators need to be congratulated and supported to ensure their prototypes are developed and converted in to fully commercially viable ventures.

Background

The word Robot” in Czech language, meaning forced labour, has served as the root for the word Robotics. Per ISO 8373:2012, industrial robot is defined as an automatically controlled reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in three or more axes, which can be either fixed or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.

Robotics is known as an interdisciplinary field at the interface of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of Robotics is to design intelligent machines that can help and assist humans in their day-to-day lives and keep everyone safe. Robotics draws on the achievements of information and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and others.

There is evidence to show that mechanised human-like figures date back to ancient times, to Greece. The concept of an artificial man is found in works of fiction since the early 19th century. Despite these initial thoughts and representations, the dawn of the robotic revolution has begun in earnest in the 1950s. American inventor, George Devol, created the first digitally operated and programmable robot, named Unimate in 1954. This ultimately laid the foundation of the modern Robotics industry. Many significant and gigantic developments in the timeline of Robotics happened thereafter, which led to the modern commercial and industrial robots.

As an academic discipline

As an academic discipline, robotics is a relatively young field with highly ambitious goals, the ultimate one being the creation of machines that can behave and think like humans. This attempt to create intelligent machines naturally leads us first to examine ourselves – to ask, for example, why our bodies are designed the way they are, how our limbs are coordinated, and how we learn and perform complex tasks.

Usefulness

Modern commercial and industrial robots are widely used performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans. Robots are used for jobs which are too dirty, dangerous or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing industry, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry and laboratory research.

One key feature of robots is the ability to learn from a human and play back. A skill of a well-trained painter, for example, can be transferred to a robot. This can be done by ‘teaching’ the robot through conducting a painting job by the skilled worker while holding the arm of the robot. The robot will learn all the movements, paths and forces applied by the human in doing the job and remember. Robot can repeat the painting work the same way as the skilled worker when instructed. Of course, some fine tunings need to be made before a perfect result can be achieved.

Applications in Everyday Life

Following are some examples of the use of Robotics in everyday life, further to their widespread use in different Industries:

• Automated Transportation (Self-driving Robot)

The day is not that far when human drivers won’t be needed for driving vehicles. As a result, the accidents happening today due to human errors may be reduced.

• Security, Defense, and Surveillance

Robot monitors homes when people are away from their homes. These Robots help people to monitor the skies, ground, and water from a remote location.

• Medicine

Robots are capable of doing things which need precise and accurate performance. For drug delivery system (targeted drug delivery), robots can locally concentrate therapeutic payload (dosage of medicine) around pathological sites (where actually treatment is needed) so that they can reduce the dose of administrative drugs and side effects caused by them.

In the case of robotically-assisted minimally-invasive surgery, instead of directly moving the instruments, the surgeon uses one of two methods to administer the instruments. These include using a direct telemanipulator or through computer control, allowing the possibility for remote surgery.

• Education

Robots can help the students attend their classes remotely. The robot performs as a person in the classroom which is controlled by the person himself. Robot’s cameras are his eyes, and its body is for interacting with other students and teachers. So, the person can see and do everything in the classroom that he wants to do, from a remote location.

There are many other areas in everyday life that Robots can and will be able to assist in the near future, including home maintenance, cooking and acting as friends to humans.

Future of Robotics

As technological developments have done in the past, the next generation of robots, utilising artificial intelligence and automation to streamline processes currently handled with the assistance of human workers, will significantly alter the job market.

Robotic engineers are designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and act more human, to make it easier for us to work with them. Realistic looking hair and skin with embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in their environment. For example, a robot that senses your touch on the shoulder and turns to greet you.

Author:

Dr. Gamini Padmaperuma, a Chartered Mechanical/Production Engineer and a former Senior Lecturer at OUSL, holds a PhD from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand in Instructional Design for Computer-Based Learning. Email: gamini_pad@hotmail.com

By Noor Nizam, Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLPP Stalwart and Convener – The Muslim Voice,

SRI LANKA MUSLIM VOTE BANK MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO FACE THE TRUTH. EACH MUSLIM VOTER SHOULD DECIDE TO VOTE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COUNTRY AT LARGE.They should let go clining to the SLMC, ACMC, NC & UNP/NDF.

IT IS BETTER FOR THE SRI LANKA MUSLIMS TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT OF HE. PRESIDENT GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA AND PM. MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA FROM THE BEGINNING TO MAKE SURE THAT THE SLPP SLPP GETS A 2/3 MAJORITY AT THE AUGUST 5th., 2020 GENERAL ELECTIONS. This is what HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is asking for from the SLPP Candidates who are contesting the general elections and who hope  to become the new government parliamentarians and the people of our Maathruboomiya”. The Muslims should look at this political opportunity positively and this is the right time for Muslims to get organized to make sure that the Muslim Vote Bank will caste their votes to the SLPP candidates at the next general elections on August 5th., 2020.

What WE AS SRI LANKA MUSLIMS HAVE FORGOTTEN  is about the aspirations and inspirations of the Sri Lanka Muslims and Muslim Vote bank. We/our votes are sold to either the UNP or SLFP (UNF, UPFA or NDF) for the benefit of the deceptive MUNAAFIKK” Muslim political leaders/party leaders. The Muslim Voice” believes that the country’s thinking that a CHANGE” should be brought in with minority communities supporting the SLPP is correct. It has been proved beyond doubt that the present PM Ranil Wickremasinghe is really involved in the Bond Scam and has always worked against the welfare of the poor and supported the capitalist elite with great interest in helping the foreign powers with whom governments headed by Ranil has been maintaining close dealings, against the interest of Sri Lanka – our MAATHRUBOOMIYA”. Muslims should understand more what MAATHRUBOOMIYA” has meant to the majority Sinhalese people. Moreover, he has also forgottenbetrayed the Muslims when ever he was in power after getting EN-BLOCK” Muslim. Since 2014,”The Muslim Voice” spoke in favour of the Sri Lanka Muslims supporting the MAHINDA PELA”, JO and now the SLPP, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (POTTUWA). The Muslim Voice” is happy that 38% of the Muslim Vote Bank  voted HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the November 16th., Presidential Elections. What ever some of the Sinhala MP’s who say that the Muslims did not vote HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa (SLPP/POTTUWA), the did vote the SLPP/Gotabaya Rajapaksa and that is the political truth.

Why The Muslim Voice” advocated this view was because, the Sri Lanka Muslims would have worked out to win the confidence of the Mahinda/Gotabaya/Basil Pela and its Sinhala Buddhist Nationalistic supporters/voters. Today the Muslims, politicians and so-called civil society organizers (not the ordinary Muslim voter) trusting the UNP and flocking en-block and have traded nearly 800,000 Muslim votes to the UNP/NDF/TNA alliance, has betrayed and dumped the Sri Lankan Muslims in the political dustbin, beaten and penalized as a result of the conspiracies of the UNP/BBS/Rajitha Seneratne, Champika Ranawaka and the so-called Civil Society groups like the Puravasibalaya which is supported by our own Muslim Civil Society groups such as the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (an ad-hock group gathered without a constitution and by-laws), the National Shoora Council and ACJU.
The political principle/ideology that The Muslim Voice” advocated and is advocating it even now is because it is based on the political vision shown to us by the late Dr. T.B.Jaya, viz-a-viz – NOT TO PUT ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET WHEN IT COMES TO POLITICS”. It is Time up that the Sri Lanka Muslims should rethink their stand to gain advantages for the future by supporting/negotiating with the SLPP or the Mahinda Pela. THEREFORE IT IS BETTER FOR THE SRI LANKA MUSLIMS TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT OF GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA AND PM MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA FROM THE BEGINNING AND HELP THE SLPP ALLIANCE WIN THE GENERAL ELECTIONS IN APRIL/MAY 2020 WITH A 2/3 MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT, Insha Allah.

The Muslim Voice” is followed by many thousands of well-wishers supporters who have appreciated our NOBEL” cause in the struggle to get rid of the Sri Lanka Muslim Community of MUNAAFIKK” Muslim politicians, Civil Society groups and the deceptive ULEMA, the ACJU, Alhamdulillah. We will therefore continue our Nobel mission till we achieve the end political goal of creating a NEW POLITICAL FORCE that will be honest and sincere and FREE OF CORRUPTION willing to work with the majority community, to stand up and defend the Muslim Community politically and otherwise, especially from among the YOUTH. This has now emerged from within the Sri Lanka Muslim Community to face any new general election expected to take place in August 5th., 2020, Insha Allah.