Dr. Rajkumar Singh Courtesy The Daily News

Signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in Colombo

The new Government formed on April 1, 1989 under the premiership of Vishwanath Pratap Singh inherited a tense Indo-Sri Lankan relations paradigm. The interventionist approach adopted by the previous Government of Rajiv Gandhi resulted in the Indo-Lanka Agreement of July 1987 that paved the way for interference of the Indian Peace-keeping Force (IPKF) in the country and had created a very complicated situation, bristling with dangerous possibilities and unpredictable consequences.

With the change of Government Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs and Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne hoped that the change in India would have no impact on either the Indo-Lanka Accord or the agreed time framework for IPKF withdrawal from the island country. The new dispensation that took over in India was serious over the loss of confidence and mutual trust between Colombo and New Delhi. As such, it made initial attempts to redefine the parameters of Indian policy towards Sri Lanka. India had learned a lesson that while dealing with an independent sovereign country and that too during a destabilization situation there was a point beyond which India could not go.

The National Front Government has viewed that the very presence of IPKF would pose a grave danger for mutual trust and confidence building from a small nation. In the circumstances there were three aspects which the National Front applied to the situation in Sri Lanka. (i) That South Asia was a troubled region emphasizing that in the context India’s interests must be protected. (ii) A Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Sri Lanka to bring the island back to India’s sphere of influence and to put an end to the penetration of the international forces of subversion became an imperative need for India, (iii) A good neighbourly relationship would make National Front comfortable at home and enable it to concentrate more on containing domestic subversive activities and justify its action in quelling it.

Initially, the National Front Government was charged with continuing the policy of the previous Government but soon it was realised that it had different view of the problem. With all its concern for the security of the Tamils in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces, the new Government acknowledged the stern reality that the Indian Peace Keeping Force cannot do for the Sri Lankan Sinhalese but Tamils alone can do for themselves and therefore, must live in peace and social stability.

But the webs of confusion prevailed on the issue as Inder Kumar Gujral, the Minister for External Affairs, under new dispensation going by the reply to a Parliament question stated that his Government is committed to another deadline—March 31, 1990 for the withdrawal of the IPKF. New Delhi had assured President Premadasa that the Indian Forces would leave Trincomalee and Jaffna districts much before the March deadline and possibly by January end.

Negotiations on deadline

The declaration of the new deadline (March 31) for withdrawal of the IPKF had surprised Colombo and in the background the second visit of Ranjan Wijeratne took place in the first week of January 1990. The frequency and speed of the visits suggested serious efforts for sorting out bilateral problems—the de-induction of the IPKF and related matters. During his stay at New Delhi, Wijeratne discussed with his Indian counterpart the schedule for the de-induction of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force and related matters in the context of Sri Lanka’s plea for speeding up the process.

Gujral, while giving an assurance that he would personally look into the possibility of accelerating the withdrawal also expressed the desire that Sri Lanka should take care of logistical and other practical problems. However, his main concern was to impress upon the visiting minister about the new Government’s sincerity in sorting out its problems with Sri Lanka. In his opinion, this, and not the change in deadline by a few weeks here and there was material for a relationship of trust and confidence. In the joint statement issued at the end of the visit, India and Sri Lanka agreed to make joint efforts to use their influence with the rival militant Tamil groups in the North Eastern Province and work towards a ceasefire.

New Delhi had reaffirmed the commitment made in Parliament to complete the withdrawal of the IPKF by March 31, 1990. Sri Lanka had pledged to ensure the safety and security of all communities in the North-Eastern Province.

The two sides agreed to finalise a friendship treaty proposed by Sri Lanka that incorporated most of the elements of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and elements from the letters exchanged between New Delhi and Colombo.

The main outcome of the exercise, the one most highlighted, is an agreement on finalising the friendship treaty, proposed by Colombo in an updating or upgradation of the Accord of July 1987. Wijeratne, while addressing a press conference after his visit to New Delhi, sketched an optimistic scenario of the future of Indo-Sri Lanka relations stating that We have to have a change of heart and bearing in mind the compulsions of both sides there must be a growing understanding of each other’s problems”. He appeared to feel that with a new Government coming to power in New Delhi, a fresh chapter in Indo-Sri Lanka relations devoid of the irritants of the past few years could begin.

A week ahead of the deadline (March 31), the last of Indian Peace-Keeping Force personnel left Sri Lanka ending a historic two and-a-half year long chapter in relations between the two countries. Soon after coming to power V. P. Singh on his part, fielded Karunanidhi to hold talks with the squabbling Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups. The Chief Minister, according to informed sources, assured” the PM that he would try to bring all these groups together so that the IPKF could be withdrawn without the fear of a refugee backlash for India.

No doubt, the present Government can claim to have improved relations with Sri Lanka after they had suffered under the Rajiv Gandhi Government. The irony of that Government’s policy was that India got deeply involved in the complex international contradictions of Sri Lankan politics. The fiasco of the policy of active intervention was writ large as Indian Armed Forces were virtually engaged in pulling President J.R. Jayewardene’s chestnuts out of the fire.

Hardly ten hours after the IPKF had left Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa, the President of Sri Lanka, thanked India profoundly for withdrawing its troops completely and said, We were able to send home a mighty army not by war but by consultation”. He did not hesitate in praising New Delhi publicly and while addressing the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) referred to the Indian Prime Minister and said the Premier has won our love and I am pleased to announce that his Government has withdrawn its troops from the country without attaching any condition.”

I thank the Government and people of India for respecting our sovereignty.” The Indian action was also hailed by the USA and State Department Spokesperson Margaret Tutweiler, commenting on the withdrawal said the US welcomed the departure of the Indian Forces from Sri Lanka and that it makes a step on that troubled country’s road to normalcy”.

Dr. Rajkumar Singh is a University Professor for the last 20 years and presently Head of the P.G. Department of Political Science, B.N. Mandal University, West Campus, P.G. Centre, Saharsa (Bihar), India. He is an authority on Indian Politics and its relations with foreign countries. (Eurasia Review) 

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග විසින් ලියන ලද විශ්ව සාහිත්‍යයේ පැතිකඩක් කෘතිය ඇසුරෙනි

ගුස්ටාව් ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්  විසින්  1856 දී ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලද මදාම් බෝවරි  නවකතාව දහනව වන ශතවර්ෂයේ වඩාත්ම බලගතු ප්‍රංශ නවකතාව විය. මදාම් බෝවරි ලිවීමට ඔහුට වසර හයක් ගත විය. නවකතාව පිටවූ පසු එහි  කාමමිථ්‍යාචාරය නිරූපණය කිරීම මගින් ආගමික සංවේදීතාවන්ට හානියක් සිදු වූ බව පවසමින්  ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්ට නඩු පවරන ලදි.  ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්  නඩුව ජයගත් අතර  අද දිනයේ  මදාම් බෝවරි විශිෂ්ඨ ගනයේ යථාර්ථවාදී නවකතාවක් ලෙස පිලිගැනේ. 

මදාම් බෝවරි යනු ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්ගේ මිනිස් බැඳීම් පිළිබඳ කතාවයි.  නවකතාව 19 වන සියවසේ මැද භාගයේ ප්‍රංශයේ ධනේශ්වර ජීවිතය පිළිබඳ වේදනාකාරී විස්තරයකි. ෆ්ලෝබර්ට් සිය නවකතාවේ සංකේතවාදය පුළුල් ලෙස භාවිතා කළේය.   නවකතාව  ඔස්සේ ෆ්ලෝබර්ට් ග්‍රාමීය ප්‍රංශ ජනතාවගේ සිරිත් විරිත් විස්තරාත්මකව පවසයි.  එමා බෝවරි  උසස්, අධ්‍යාත්මික ජීවිතයක් සඳහා ආශා කරන අතර, මෙම ගවේෂණයේදී ඇය සොයා ගන්නේ ස්වයං විනාශයක් පමණි. එමාගේ නාට්‍යය වන්නේ මායාව සහ යථාර්ථය අතර පරතරය වෙයි.  එමාගේ රොමැන්ටික ෆැන්ටසි ඇය වටා ඇති පොදු ජීවිතයේ අප්‍රායෝගිකත්වය මගින් සිඳී යයි.  එම නිසා ඇය තුල දැඩි ශෝකයක් හට ගනියි.

චාල්ස් බෝවරි යනු එතරම් බුද්ධියක් නොමැති නමුත් වෙහෙසී වෛද්‍ය විභාගය සමත් වූ දොස්තර කෙනෙකි. වෛද්‍ය චාල්ස් බෝවරි ගේ පළමු බිරිඳ වූයේ පොහොසත් වැන්දඹුවක් වන හෙලෝයිස් ඩුබක්ය. ඔහු ඇය සමග විවහා වන්නේ තමන් ගේ මවගේ ඉල්ලීම නිසාය.  එහෙත් ඔහුගේ විවහාය නීරස එකක් විය. හෙලෝයිස් ඔහුට වඩා වයසින් වැඩි විරූපී කාන්තාවකි. එසේම හෙලෝයිස් පැවසූ පරිදි ඇය ධනවත් තැනැත්තියක් නොවූවාය. හෙලෝයිස් ගේ මරණයෙන් පසු චාල්ස් කන්‍යාරාමයක අධ්‍යාපනයක්  ලබා ඇති රූමත් එමා රුවෝල්ට් සමග විවහා වෙයි. එම විවහාය චාල්ස්ව තෘප්තිමත් කරයි. ඔහු පොදු ක්‍රියාකාරකම් වලින් සෑහීමකට පත්වන අතර එමාගේ අතෘප්තිය  ඔහුට නොදැනේ. චාල්ස් යනු අමිහිරි සහ සිතාගත නොහැකි මිනිසාගේ සාමාන්‍ය නියෝජිතයා වන අඳුරු පොදු මිනිසා ය. 

වෛද්‍ය චාල්ස් බෝවරි ගේ බිරිඳ වන එමා තම විවහා ජීවිතයේ පවතින හිස් බව සහ ඒකාකාරීත්වය නිසා විශාදයට පත් වෙයි.  අලංකාර හා උද්‍යෝගිමත් ජීවිතයක් පිළිබඳ ඇගේ සිහින බිඳ වැටී තිබේ. එමා, තම ජීවිතයේ ඒකාකාරිත්වයට එරෙහිව කැරලි ගසන්නේ, ප්‍රීතිය හා ආදරය පිළිබඳ සිහින දකිමින් ය. ඇය නවකතාවල කියවා ඇති “සැප, තෘෂ්ණාව සහ ප්‍රීතිය”   නොලැබීම නිසා ඇය කලකිරීමට පත්ව සිටින්නීය. ඇයගේ සැමියා වන චාල්ස් ගේ කතාව අඳුරු විය, ඔහු ඇය තුළ කිසිදු හැඟීමක් ඇති කළේ නැත, ඔහුට කිසිවක් කිරීමට හෝ දැකීමට ආශාවක් නොතිබුණි. ඔහුගේ මන්දගාමී විලාශය, ඔහුගේ චිත්තවේගීය උත්තේජනය නොමැතිකම එමාට දරා ගත නොහැක.  වංශාධිපති ලෝකය සමඟ මුසු වීමට අවශ්‍ය ගුණාංග එමා සතුව තිබුනද චාල්ස් සමග ගෙවන  ජීවිතය ඒ සඳහා අවකාශ ලබා දුන්නේ නැත. එමාගේ අස්ථිර ස්වභාවය, ජීවිතයේ ඕනෑම අංශයක් කෙරෙහි උනන්දුවක් පවත්වා ගැනීමට ඇයට ඇති නොහැකියාව ඇයගේ තත්වය තවත් බැරෑරුම් කර දමන ලදි.  

අභ්‍යන්තර සාමයක් ලබා ගත හැකි යැයි බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් එමා පල්ලියට ගියාය. එමා පූජකයාට අධ්‍යාත්මික උපකාර අවශ්‍ය බව පැහැදිලි කිරීමට උත්සාහ කළ නමුත් පූජකවරයාගේ අවධානය ඊට යොමු නොවීය. ඇයගේ බලාපොරොත්තු සුන් වූවාය. එමා සහ පූජකවරයා අතර ඇති වූ මෙම කෙටි හමුවීමේදී   ෆ්ලෝබර්ට් ඉතා සියුම් ආකාරයකින් පල්ලිය හෙළා දැක තිබේ. පූජකයා තමාගේම නොවැදගත් රැකියාවෙහි යෙදී සිටින අතර එමාගේ දුක්ඛිත තත්වය වටහා ගැනීමට ඔහුට කාලය නොමැත. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම, ඔහු සිතන්නේ ඇයට අධ්‍යාත්මික මග පෙන්වීමට වඩා තේ කෝප්පයක් අවශ්‍ය බවයි. මේ නිසා එමාට අධ්‍යාත්මික සුවය කරා එලැඹීමට ඇති බලාපොරොත්තු බිඳ වැටුණි.

එමාගේ දුක්ඛිත තත්වය සංකේතාත්මකව නිරූපණය කරන්නේ ඇගේ  තමාගේ මංගල  මල් කළඹ  පුළුස්සා දැමීම මගිනි. ඇයගේ තක්සේරුව අනුව ඇයගේ සැමියා වන චාල්ස් කාන්සිය ගෙන දෙන ශෘංගාර රසයෙන් තොර මිනිසෙකි. එමා පිරිමින් දෙස උනන්දුවෙන් බලා සිටි අතර චාල්ස්ගේ පොදු පෙනුම හා පෞරුෂය නිසා ඇය පිළිකුලට පත් වූවාය. මේ නිසා ඇය ධනවත් ඉඩම් හිමියෙකු වන රොඩොල්ෆ් බූලන්ගර් සමඟ අනියම් සබඳතාවක් අරඹයි. එමාගේ අපේක්‍ෂාව රොඩොල්ෆ් බූලන්ගර් සමග පැන යාමටය. ඇය වංශවතුන් අතර  පැරීසියේ ජීවත් වීමට සිහින මැව්වා ය. එහෙත් රොඩොල්ෆ් , එමාව භාවිතා කරන්නේ ඔහුගේ ශාරීරික අවශ්‍යතා සඳහා පමණි. රොඩොල්ෆ් ඇයව ප්‍රතික්ශේප කිරීමත් සමග එමා දිගු කාලීන විශාදයකට ගොදුරු වෙයි. ඇය එයින් මිදෙන්නේ පවුලේ  පැරණි හිතවතෙකු වූ ලියොන් ඩුපුවිස් සමග මිත්‍ර වීමෙනි. එමා ලියොන් සමඟ පළමු වරට හමුවීම ඇයට සිත්ගන්නාසුලු සිදුවීමකි. ඇගේ ජීවිතයේ පළමු වතාවට සාහිත්‍යය, සංගීතය සහ ආශ්‍රිත විෂයයන් පිළිබඳව එකම උනන්දුවක් දක්වන පුද්ගලයෙකු ඇයට හමු වී තිබේ. ඇය කරුණාවන්ත ආත්මයන් බව ඇයට වහාම දැනෙන අතර ඔවුන් අතර ක්ෂණික සම්බන්ධතාවයක් ඇති විය. මුලදී ලියොන් දරුණු ලැජ්ජාශීලී සහ තමා ගැනම සැක සහිත ය. ඔහු කාන්තාවන්ගේ හා ආදරය පිළිබඳ ලෝකයේ අද්දැකීම් අඩු අයෙකි. 

වසර තුනක වෙන්වීමෙන් පසු ඔහුට නැවත එමා මුණගැසෙන විට, ඔහු නවීනත්වයේ තුනී ආවරණයක් ලබා ගෙන ඇත, නමුත් ඔහු තවමත් නොගැඹුරු හා දුර්වල තරුණයෙකි. ඔහු එමා සමඟ ප්‍රේම සම්බන්ධයක් ආරම්භ කළත්, ඔහුට ආක්‍රමණශීලී හෝ තීරණාත්මක ආකාරයකින් ක්‍රියා කිරීමට නොහැකිය. එමා ඔහුව හමුවීමට සෑම සතියකම නගරයට යන අතර චාල්ස් විශ්වාස කරන්නේ ඇය පියානෝ පාඩම් ඉගෙන ගන්නා බවයි. මේ අතර, එමා අධික ලෙස මුදල් වියදම් කරයි. එමාගේ ණය ගොඩ ගැසීමට පටන් ගනියි. එහෙත් එමාට අවශ්‍ය කායිකව තෘප්තිමත් වීමෙන් තම මනසේ තිබෙන හිස් බව වසා ගැනීමටය. ඇය සදාචාරාත්මකව දූෂිත වන අතර ඇගේ ජීවිතයේ යථාර්ථයන් පිළිගැනීමට හා අගය කිරීමට ඇයට නොහැකිය. එමාට ඇගේ තත්වය පිළිගැනීමට ඇති නොහැකියාව සහ කාමමිථ්‍යාචාරය හා රැවටීම තුළින් එයින් ගැලවීමට ගත් උත්සාහය ඇයව විනාශය කරා ඇදගෙන යයි.

එමාගේ ජීවිතයේ පුරුෂයින් කෙරෙහි ඇති එකම බලය ලිංගිකත්වයයි. ඇගේ ජීවිතයේ අවසානයට ආසන්නව, ඇය මුදල් සඳහා මංමුලා සහගතව සොයන විට, ඇය ඒ සඳහා ඔවුන්ව පොළඹවා ගැනීමට ඇයට භාවිතා කළ හැකි එකම දෙය ලිංගිකත්වයයි. චාල්ස් වඩාත්ම සදාචාරාත්මක හා අවංක චරිත වේ. ඔහු එමාට සැබවින්ම ආදරය කරන්නේ ඔහු ඇගේ අවිශ්වාසය හඳුනාගත් විට පවා ඇයට සමාව දෙන බැවිනි. ඇය අසනීප වූ විට ඇයව බේරා ගැනීම සඳහා ඔහු හැකි සෑම දෙයක්ම කරයි. ඇයගේ බොරු ඇයට අසමත් වන බවක් පෙනෙන සෑම අවස්ථාවකදීම ඔහු සැකයේ වාසිය ලබා දෙයි.  නමුත් එමා චාල්ස්ට අවිඥාණිකව වෛර කරන්නීය. තමාගේ ජීවිතය විනාශ කරගෙන චාල්ස්ව හිඟමනට ඇද දැමීම ගැන ඇය කුරිරු ලෙස සතුටුවන්නීය.

ඇය ලියුරෙක්ස් වෙතින් මුදල් ණයට ගැනීමට තෝරා ගැනීම අවසන් වන්නේ විනාශයකිනි. ඔහු සට කපට පුද්ගලයෙකි ,අවස්ථාවාදියෙකි. ලියුරෙක්ස්ගේ කෑදර උපායන් සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධව එමාට විනාශකාරී උගුලක් නිර්මාණය වේ. අධික ණය නිසා ඔවුන් ගේ දේපළ විනාශ වෙයි. චාල්ස් වස්තු භංගත්වයත් පත් වෙයි. ගැලවීමේ එකම මාර්ගය ලෙස ඇය සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම තෝරා ගනී. ඇය ආසනික් ගිල දමා වේදනාකාරී ලෙස හා සෙමින් මිය ගියාය. ශෝකයට පත් චාල්ස්, එමාගේ කටයුතු අන්ධ ලෙස නොදැන සිටි අතර, මියගිය බිරිඳගේ ණය ගෙවීමට වෙහෙසෙද්දී පවා ඔහු  ඇය වෙනුවෙන් කැපවී සිටී. රොඩොල්ෆ් සහ ලියොන්ගෙන් ආදර ලිපි සොයා ගැනීමෙන් පසු, චාල්ස්, වඩ වඩාත් කලකිරීමට පත්ව  මිය යන අතර යයි. ඔවුන් ගේ දියණිය අනාත වෙයි. 

මදාම් බෝවරි යනු ධනේශ්වර විවාහයක ලෞකිකත්වය පිළිබඳ නවකතාවකි  එය ආදර ආදර කතාවක් නොව, කම්මැලිකම, මධ්‍යස්ථභාවය සහ කලකිරීම පිළිබඳ කතාවකි. සමාජය විසින් විකෘති කරන ලද නූතන කාන්තාව පිළිබඳ ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්ගේ දෘෂ්ටිය ලෙස මදාම් බෝවරි කියවිය හැකිය. එමා බෝවරි යනු මධ්‍යම පන්තික ජීවිතයට නැගී සිටීමට නොහැකි වූ මධ්‍යම පාන්තික කාන්තාවකි. ඇය සිය මුළු ජීවිතයම ගත කළේ සිහින, ප්‍රේම සම්බන්ධතා සහ බොරු මවාපෑමෙන් මෙම මධ්‍යම පංතියේ පැවැත්මෙන් මිදීමටය. එමා බෝවරි සිහින මැව්වේ පරිපූර්ණත්වයට එහා ගිය ජීවිතයක් ගැන ය. එහෙත් ඇයට ලැබුනේ වේදනාකාරී මරණයකි. එමාගේ ඇදවැටීමට දායක වන   සාධක  වන්නේ ඇය වටා සිටින පිරිමින් ය. එමාගේ පසුබෑමට චාල්ස් දායක වන්නේ ඇයව තෘප්තිමත් කිරීමට ඇති නොහැකියාව නිසාය. අනියම් සබඳතා නිසා විනාශ වූයේ රොඩොල්ෆ් හෝ ලියොන් වත් නොව එමාය. එමා ගේ කතාව පුරුෂ ආධිපත්‍ය සහ එහි බලවත්කම මෙන්ම ලිංගික සූරාකෑම පිලිබඳ තෙස්තමේන්තුවකි.   

ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්,   එමා බෝවරි ගේ   සබඳතා සහ ආශක්තවීම් මනෝ විද්‍යාව යථාර්ථවාදීව ඉදිරිපත් කළේය. පිරිමි ආධිපත්‍යය සහිත සමාජයක කාන්තා චරිතයක් පරිණාමය වීම  ෆ්ලෝබර්ට්  විචක්ෂණශීලී ලෙස විස්තර කරයි. කාමමිථ්‍යාචාරය, ණය සහ අවසානයේදී මරණයට පත්වීම, එමා බෝවරිගේ ඇදවැටීම පිළිබඳ කතුවරයාගේ යථාර්ථවාදී සහ පැහැදිලි විස්තරය, නූතන නවකතාවල වර්ධනයේ විශිෂ්ට සන්ධිස්ථානයක් ලෙස විචාරකයෝ සලකති.  මදාම් බෝවරි සාහිත්‍යයේ යථාර්ථවාදයේ නව යුගයකි. ආඛ්‍යානමය දෘෂ්ටි කෝණයෙන් බලන විට වඩාත්ම පරිපූර්ණ පොත ෆ්ලෝබර්ට් විසින් රචිත  මදාම් බෝවරි බව ජෝර්ජියෝ ඩි චිරිකෝ පැවසීය. ජූලියන් බාන්ස් එය මෙතෙක් ලියා ඇති හොඳම නවකතාව ලෙස හැඳින්වීය. හෙන්රි ජේම්ස්, මාසෙල් ප්‍රෞස්ට් සහ ව්ලැඩිමීර් නබෝකොව් වැනි ලේඛකයින් හා විචාරකයින් එය අසමසම ශෛලියක් සහිත පරිපූර්ණ නවකතාවක් ලෙස සැලකූහ.  මදාම් බෝවරි  කියවීමෙන්  පසු  ෆ්ලෝබර්ට් පරිපූර්ණවාදියෙකු බව දැකීම පහසු බව විචාරකයෝ පවසති.

(වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග විසින් ලියන ලද විශ්ව සාහිත්‍යයේ පැතිකඩක් කෘතිය ඇසුරෙනි ) 

 lanka C news

ආන්දෝලනයකට ලක්ව ඇති කුරුණෑගල නගරය මධ්‍යයේදී ගොඩනැගිල්ල බුවනෙකබා රාජ සභාවක් නොවන බව වයඹ පලාත් ප්‍රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝ නායක පූජ්‍ය රැකව ජිනරතන හිමියෝ සඳහන් කරති.

උන්වහන්සේ පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ මෙම සිදුවීම පාදක කරගෙන දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බවයි.

කුරුණෑගල ඇති සියළුම ගොඩනැගිලි පාහේ ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩු කළේ නිර්මාණය වූ ඒවා බවත් මෙම ගොඩනැගිල්ලද එවන් එකක් බවත් උන්වහන්සේ පැවසූහ.

අදාළ ගොඩනැගිල්ල පසු කාලීන බදු දීමෙන් පසු යම් යම් ව්‍යාපාර කටයුතු සඳහා යොදා ගත් බව ද උන්වහන්සේ සඳහන් කළහ.

එහිමියන් මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේ ජනාධිපති ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සමග පැවති සාකච්ඡාවකදීය.

By Shashi Tharoor New Delhi, July 25 (The Indian Express)Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

The disgraceful political shenanigans the nation has witnessed, most recently in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and the horse-trading of MLAs to switch allegiances for power and pelf, are not merely an occasion for breast-beating about morality in politics or the opportunism of the cash-rich ruling party. We never seem to look beyond the headlines to the basic problem: The system that makes this shameful conduct possible. The parliamentary system we borrowed from the British has not worked in Indian conditions. It is time to demand a change.

The facts are clear: Our parliamentary system has created a unique breed of legislator, largely unqualified to legislate, who has sought election only in order to wield executive power. It has produced governments dependent on a fickle legislative majority, who are therefore obliged to focus more on politics than on policy or performance. It has distorted the voting preferences of an electorate that knows which individuals it wants to vote for but not necessarily which parties. It has spawned parties that are shifting alliances of selfish individual interests, not vehicles of coherent sets of ideas. It has forced governments to concentrate less on governing than on staying in office, and obliged them to cater to the lowest common denominator of their coalitions. The parliamentary system has failed us.

Pluralist democracy is India’s greatest strength, but its current manner of operation is the source of our major weaknesses. To suggest this is political sacrilege in India. Barely any of the many politicians I have discussed this with are even willing to contemplate a change. The main reason for this is that they know how to work the present system and do not wish to alter the ways they are used to.

Yet the parliamentary system devised in Britain — a small island nation with electorates of less than a lakh voters per constituency — is based on traditions which simply do not exist in India. These involve clearly defined political parties, each with a coherent set of policies and preferences that distinguish it from the next, whereas in India a party is all-too-often a label of convenience which a politician adopts and discards as frequently as a Bollywood film star changes costume. Hopping from one to the next — which would send shock waves through the political system in other parliamentary democracies — is commonplace, even banal, in our country.

In the absence of a real party system, the voter chooses not between parties but between individuals, usually on the basis of their caste, their public image or other personal qualities. But since the individual is elected in order to be part of a majority that will form the government, party affiliations matter. So voters are told that if they want a Narendra Modi as prime minister, or a Mamata Banerjee or Jagan Reddy as their chief minister, they must vote for someone else as MP or MLA in order to indirectly accomplish that result. It is a perversity only the British could have devised — to vote for a legislature not to legislate but in order to form the executive.

The fact that the principal reason for entering Parliament is to attain governmental office creates four specific problems. First, it limits executive posts to those who are electable rather than to those who are able. The prime minister cannot appoint a cabinet of his choice; he has to cater to the wishes of the political leaders of several parties. (Yes, he can bring some members in through the Rajya Sabha, but our upper house too has been largely the preserve of full-time politicians, so the talent pool has not been significantly widened.)

Second, it puts a premium on defections and horse-trading. The anti-defection Act of 1985 has failed to cure the problem, since the bargaining has shifted to getting enough MLAs to resign to topple a government, while promising them offices when they win the subsequent by-elections.

Third, legislation suffers. Most laws are drafted by the executive — in practice by the bureaucracy — and parliamentary input into their formulation and passage is minimal, with very many bills being passed after barely a few minutes of debate. The ruling party inevitably issues a whip to its members in order to ensure unimpeded passage of a bill, and since defiance of a whip itself attracts disqualification, MPs blindly vote as their party directs. The parliamentary system does not permit the existence of a legislature distinct from the executive, applying its collective mind freely to the nation’s laws. Accountability of the government to the people, through their elected representatives, is weakened.

Fourth, for those parties who do not get into government and who realise that the outcome of most votes is a foregone conclusion, Parliament or Assembly serves not as a solemn deliberative body, but as a theatre for the demonstration of their power to disrupt. The well of the house — supposed to be sacrosanct — becomes a stage for the members of the opposition to crowd and jostle, waving placards and chanting slogans until the Speaker, after several futile attempts to restore order, adjourns in despair. In India’s Parliament, many opposition members feel that the best way to show the strength of their feelings is to disrupt law-making rather than debate the law.

Apologists for the present system say in its defence that it has served to keep the country together and given every Indian a stake in the nation’s political destiny. But that is what democracy has done, not the parliamentary system. What our present system has not done as well as other democratic systems might, is to ensure effective performance. India’s many challenges require political arrangements that permit decisive action, whereas ours increasingly promotes drift and indecision. We must have a system of democracy whose leaders can focus on governance rather than on staying in power.

The disrepute into which the political process has fallen in India, and the widespread cynicism about the motives of our politicians, can be traced directly to the workings of the parliamentary system. Holding the executive hostage to the agendas of a motley bunch of legislators is nothing but a recipe for governmental instability. And instability is precisely what India, with its critical economic and social challenges, cannot afford.

The case for a presidential system has, in my view, never been clearer. A directly elected chief executive in New Delhi and in each state, instead of being vulnerable to the shifting sands of coalition support politics, would have stability of tenure free from legislative whim, be able to appoint a cabinet of talents, and above all, be able to devote his or her energies to governance, and not just to government. The Indian voter will be able to vote directly for the individual he or she wants to be ruled by, and the president will truly be able to claim to speak for a majority of Indians rather than a majority of MPs. At the end of a fixed period of time, the public would be able to judge the individual on performance in improving the lives of Indians, rather than on political skill at keeping a government in office.

The same logic would apply to the directly elected heads of our towns and cities — as I have proposed in a Private Member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha — and village panchayats, who today are little more than glorified committee chairmen, with little power and minimal resources. To give effect to meaningful local self-government, we need directly elected local officials, each with real authority and financial resources to deliver results in their own areas.

The only serious objection advanced by liberal democrats is that the presidential system carries with it the risk of dictatorship. They conjure up the image of an imperious president, immune to parliamentary defeat and impervious to public opinion, ruling the country by fiat. In particular they argue that it will pave the way for a Modi dictatorship in India. But a President Modi could scarcely be more autocratic than the prime minister we have seen in office — one who has, thanks to the parliamentary system, a rubber-stamp majority in the Lok Sabha rather than the independent legislature a presidential system would ensure. In addition, the powers of a President Modi would be amply balanced by those of the directly elected chief executives in the states, who would be immune to dismissal by their party leader, or to toppling by defecting MLAs.

Democracy is an end in itself, and we are right to be proud of it. But few Indians are proud of the kind of politics our democracy has inflicted upon us. With the needs and challenges of one-sixth of humanity before our leaders, we must have a democracy that delivers progress to our people. Changing to a presidential system is the best way of ensuring a democracy that works.

(The writer is a Congress MP representing Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala)

by C.A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

The chapter on constitutional reform in Sajith Premadasa’s presidential election manifesto should have got even more attention than it did, but at the time it was released about two weeks before the presidential poll, rival candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s citizenship issue and Ven. Ududumbara Kashyapa Thera’s fast unto death over the MCC affair had pushed everything else into the background and it was unlikely that an esoteric subject like constitutional reform would come to the people’s attention in a major way. This time, Sajith’s parliamentary election manifesto has ducked the issue of constitutional reform altogether. That denotes a certain kind of politics.  

Constitutional reform is one of the main platforms on which this election is being fought because the SLPP has been openly asking for a two thirds majority in order to effect constitutional reform. Sajith Premadasa’s presidential election manifesto was a complete and total capitulation to the TNA constitutional agenda. The absence of any constitutional proposals in the parliamentary election manifesto is obviously because the TNA is contesting separately and the SJB will not get any TNA votes at the parliamentary election. It’s frightening to see a main political party or at least the main faction of a mainline political party having a constitutional reform agenda predicated on winning votes. When votes are on offer, constitutional reform appears. When no votes are on offer constitutional reform disappears from the agenda.

Bartering constitutional reform for votes

President R.Premadasa made the same mistake of bartering constitutional reform for votes when he reduced the district cut off point in the proportional representation system from 12.5% to five percent in order to obtain the support of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress at the presidential election of 1988. The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was signed into law just 48 hours before the Presidential poll on 19 December 1988. The damage this has done to the UNP itself and the country is incalculable. This made narrow minded ethnic politics possible in this country and has eroded the UNP’s minority vote base. Today the SJB is making the same mistake once again and this time, the repercussions will be even more serious because what is being bartered for votes is the very structure of the Sri Lankan state.

The need for constitutional reform is not an academic exercise. It’s a necessity. No political party other than the SLPP will be able to rule this country effectively without constitutional reform. The 19th Amendment has created a permanent state of war between the President and the Prime Minister. Today, things seem quite normal because the President is the brother of the Prime Minister in an extraordinarily close knit family which also has well established working arrangements among family members in politics. If Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had been defeated at the presidential election and Sajith Premadasa had won, Sajith would by now be at war with Ranil Wickremesinghe.

After the 19th Amendment, the president cannot hold any ministry. Yet under Article 30(1) the president is the Head of the State, the Head of the Executive and of the Government, and under Article 42(3) he is also the Head of the Cabinet. Though he is the head of the Cabinet, he cannot hold any portfolio. The Constitution after the 19th Amendment does not expressly say that the President cannot hold any portfolio. What happened is that the 19th Amendment repealed the old Article 44(2) which said that the President may assign to himself any subject or function and shall remain in charge of any subject or function not assigned to any Minister. Under the 19th Amendment, the President and PM have to share authority over the appointment of the cabinet.

According to Article 43(1) the President can in consultation with the Prime Minister, where he considers such consultation to be necessary, determine the number of Ministers in the Cabinet and the assignment of subjects and functions to such Ministers. But when appointing MPs as Ministers, Article 43(2) requires the President to act only on the advice of the Prime Minister. Article 43(3) states that the President may at any time change the assignment of subjects and functions and the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers. However due to Article 43(2), even when acting under Article 43(3), it appears that the President has to seek the PM’s views if he is going to change the assignment of subjects to any individual Minister. The 19th Amendment created a situation where the President, Prime Minister and even the Speaker of Parliament were left holding parts of executive power. The Speaker presides over the Constitutional Council which has a role to play in making appointments to important state positions.

The 19th Amendment has also given the Prime Minister a kind of security of tenure. Under article 42(4) the President appoints as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament who is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament. Once appointed, the President according to the provisions of article 46(2) cannot remove the Prime Minister from office. The only way in which the PM can be removed is if he resigns or ceases to be a Member of Parliament. Because things look normal now, most people would be lulled into underestimating the disruptive effect of such provisions. What has saved the day are the working arrangements that has always existed within the Rajapaksa family. That will not be easily replicated anywhere else and constitutional reform should be a priority for all political parties not just the SLPP. In fact it could be argued that in an immediate sense, the SLPP is the political party that needs constitutional reform least.

The single most dangerous provision in the 19th Amendment is the complete prohibition on dissolving Parliament before the lapse of four and a half years unless a resolution is passed by parliament with a two thirds majority calling for an early dissolution. Now the President cannot dissolve Parliament at his own discretion until the lapse of four and a half years, and neither can parliament be dissolved in the event of repeated defeats of the budget, repeated defeats of the statement of government policy or the repeated passage of no confidence motions against the government. This in a situation where the system of elections more often than not produces a winner without a clear majority in parliament. Except on two occasions in the past three decades, governments have had to be cobbled together after a parliamentary election.

In 2001, when the parliamentary government cobbled together in that fashion by President Chandrika Kumaratunga began to fall apart, the President dissolved parliament and after the ensuring election, the UNP obtained the most number of seats and cobbled together a new government. This process ensured that the country did not descend into anarchy as the parliamentary government lost the ability to govern. Today that safety mechanism has been removed. If at some point into a government, its parliamentary majority falls apart, the President is required to somehow cobble together a majority and continue till the completion of four and a half years – an impossible task.

Housekeeping issues

There are many housekeeping issues in the 19th Amendment that need to be sorted out as well. If anyone asks a member of the Elections Commission whether they are responsible to Parliament in the discharge of their duties, they wouldn’t know. Article 41B(6) states that the Election Commission is not responsible and answerable to Parliament while Article 104B(3) says it is responsible and answerable to Parliament. If this goes before the Supreme Court, the only way that the SC will be able to decide between Article 41B(6) and Article 104B(3) is perhaps by tossing a coin! Everyone has heard of the situation where the membership of the Elections Commission is three and the quorum is also three but if the Chairman is absent, the remaining members can elect a Chairman and hold a meeting.

There are means of removing members of the independent commissions in the event of misconduct. Even in the case of the members of the Judicial Services Commission, which is made up of the Chief Justice and the two most senior Judges of the Supreme Court, Article 111E(6) states that the President may, with the approval of the Constitutional Council, and for cause assigned, remove from office any member of the Commission. A similar provision exists for the removal of the members of the Police Commission. The way that members of the Elections Commission can be removed is through an order of the President made after an address of Parliament supported by a majority of the total number of Members of Parliament including those not present.

Ideally it should be possible to remove a member of the Constitutional Council with a fixed term of three years by an address of Parliament similar to the above. But the only way that a member of the Constitutional Council with a fixed term can be removed according to Article 41A(8) is if both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition form the opinion that such member is physically or mentally incapacitated and is unable to function further in office. Instead of giving the decision making power to remove an errant member of the Constitutional Council to a wider body, it has been given to just two individuals who also sit in the Constitutional Council.

Even if the two do agree, the Constitution specifies that a member of the Constitutional Council can be removed only for one reason – that such member is physically or mentally incapacitated and is unable to function further in office – he cannot be removed for any other reason. If for example a member of the CC openly engages in politics and undermines the status of the CC, he cannot be removed even if the PM and Opposition Leader both agree that such conduct is unbecoming of a member of the CC and that he should not be serving on that body.

Tales of the independent

commissions

The two main political parties have fallen victim to the independent commissions created initially by the 17th Amendment and reestablished by the 19th Amendment. Many years ago, former UNP Minister Karunasena Kodituwakku recounted to this writer how he had fallen victim to the 17th Amendment when he was the Minister of Education in the UNP government of 2001-2004. When the UNP was re-elected to power in 2001 after seven years, teachers who had been politically victimized by the previous government had appealed to Minister Kodituwakku for relief. So a committee was set up in the Ministry of Education for this purpose and 12,000 applications were received. In the case of about 6,000 of these applicants the Ministry held interviews to ascertain whether these claims were genuine and to decide on what recommendations should be made.

 While this process was going on, the Public Service Commission had sent a directive to the Secretary to the Ministry of Education saying that the ministry did not have the power to do this and that any disciplinary, dismissal or transfer of any public servant in the central government is a matter for the Public Service Commission and therefore all files had to be sent to the PSC. The education ministry had no option but to send the files to the PSC. The Commission went through the files and began notifying the petitioners of their conclusions in Sinhala saying “On the face of it, it does not appear that you have been subject to political victimization”  

Ultimately, because of the 17th Amendment and the Public Service Commission set up under it, none of the politically victimized teachers had got any redress from the UNP government. Naturally everybody assumed that this was due to the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s ‘insensitivity’ to the travails and tribulations of the party rank and file. The independent Public Services Commission which had been set up under the 17th Amendment was a new body at that time and people were not aware that it was functioning and the UNP government of the time also did not do anything to make people aware that such decisions were no longer in the hands of the ruling party but in the hands of some unelected individuals completely unknown to the public. The independent commissions have thus made a contribution to the present split that we see in the UNP.

On the other side of the political divide, when Prof. Tissa Vitarana was the minister of science and technology in the UPFA government that succeeded the above mentioned UNP government, he wanted to set up a support service for small and medium enterprises in the rural sector in the form of the Vidatha programme manned by a science graduate with a computer operator supported by a field officer with the express purpose of helping existing small and medium enterprises and also those wishing to become entrepreneurs. When he put up this proposal, it went to the Public Service Commission and it was stuck there. Prof.Vitarana had met the PSC chairman three times and explained the importance of this programme to no avail. Officials haggled over matters like salaries and the whole project was delayed for over one and a half years. What the UPFA learned from that experience was that those who don’t understand that governments have to deliver development and progress to the people can get into these independent commissions and even buckle the work of the government.

A lot of things in the present Constitution needs to be rethought. The two or even three centers of executive power, the irrational and dangerous restrictions on the dissolution of Parliament, the Constitutional Council with members not answerable to anyone, the independent commissions which are a drag on the functioning of the government, and the practice of holding  politicians  responsible while at the same time denying them the power to fulfill those responsibilities, all have to be thought over afresh.

By Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday a future Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) government would make Colombo free of shanties.

At a forum held at the Foundation Institute in Colombo, he said the yahapalana government showed no interest in going ahead with the project to resettle low-income dwellers at proper housing schemes.

The programme to remove shanties and resettle these families at housing complexes was begun when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the then Secretary of Defence and Urban Development. A future government of ours will resume this programme and provide proper housing to low income families,” the Prime Minister said.

He said the Colombo Port City was another project suspended by the yahapalana government. “Had the construction of the port city continued without disruption, most of the project could have been completed by now, providing employment opportunities to future generations,” he said. 

Yoshitha Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A senior officer attached to the State Intelligence Service (SIS), after his retirement, had connections with an Islamic organisation that wanted to establish an Islamic state, a senior SIS official investigating Islamic extremism on Thursday night informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks.

The witness made the above statement in response to a question raised by the Commissioners whether current or retired government officials had joined organisations or movements which promote ISIS ideology.

The SIS officer also said that there were cases where family members of senior Muslim government officials had joined organisations which follow the ISIS ideology and promote the Islamic State concept.

During the investigation we received information about a son and a son-in-law of a retired judge, who had joined a Salafi movement (often referred to as the Wahhabis) in the country. The son-in-law had taught at an Arabic college named Al Kimma and some Muslim youth from Kerala had studied under him. Most of these youth later went to Afghanistan to join ISIS and most were killed,” witness informed the Commission.

The witness also informed the Commission that the former senior officer of SIS had a connection with Jamaat-e-Islami organisation but SIS did not find him as an active member of that organisation.

When the public were against the concept of Islamic State, Jamaat-e-Islami removed that objective. However, we also found information on Sadiq Abdul-Haq, who was involved in vandalising Buddha statues in Mawanella in 2018, had travelled to Syria in 2014 and studied about the Islamic State concept. He was a strong member of the Jamaat-e-Islami students’ wing,” witness informed the Commission.

The SIS officer also informed the Commission that members of the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) and another group Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim (JMI) had joined together to conduct the Easter attacks.

Earlier, another SIS officer informed the Commission that 12 NTJ members had stayed in the East to conduct a second wave of attacks on August 2019. Their plan was to attack the Kandy Esela Perahera. However, their disastrous plan had failed after all forces and police carried out a combined operation in Saindamarudu on April 26, 2019,” witness informed the Commission.

The SIS officer also said that it had received information about NTJ training camps in Nuwaraeliya by March 2019, after questioning those arrested during the Wanathawilluwa explosives raid.

Testifying further, the SIS officer investigating Islamic extremism informed the Commission that the SIS had submitted a report of 94 extremist persons on October 31, 2017 to former IGP Pujith Jayasundara.

The witness said that in the report, the SIS had included names of Lathief Jameel Mohammed, the suicide bomber who blew himself up in Tropical Inn, Dehiwala, Zahran Hashim, leader of NTJ, Rilwan and Zainee, brother of Zahran Hashim and strong NTJ members, Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Nawfer, Zahran’s mentor and the person that influenced Zahran to support ISIS.

Over 80% of those included in the list are now in jail for plotting the Easter Sunday attacks. In 2018, we requested the government to take necessary action against these 94 persons mentioned in the list and we also warned senior government officials that if these people were not arrested, there will be a terrorist attack,” the SIS officer informed the Commission.

The witness also said that the SIS had provided the list of 94 Islamic extremists to all the police stations and as a result of that the police had arrested Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Nawfer, Zahran’s mentor, in Dambulla area on the day of the Easter Sunday attacks.

“The role of the SIS is to gather information and report, but after Easter Sunday attacks we decided to go beyond our normal procedure. We had assisted the Police and STF to find vital information pertaining to the second wave of attacks and by that we stopped a disastrous situation,” witness informed the Commission.

Courtesy Adaderana

Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and the Minister for International Trade of the UK Ranil Jayawardena have discussed stepping up bilateral trade and investment and expanding the areas of cooperation during a recent teleconference.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this was the first official interaction between the two Ministers.

Both Ministers welcomed further consolidating the longstanding bilateral engagement through increased trade, security, research and training, in science and technology, including people-to-people contacts. In particular, Ministers Gunawardena and Jayawardena agreed on the need for close cooperation to address the challenges facing bilateral trade and investment because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both identified the importance of moving the supply chains, opening travel and tourism sectors and pressing economic issues. Opportunities for new export products to the UK market from Sri Lanka were also discussed, the Foreign Ministry said in its media release.

Recalling the shared values and interests between the UK and Sri Lanka as members of the Commonwealth, Minister Gunawardena reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to continue its active participation in the organization.

Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena extended an invitation for Ranil Jayawardena to visit Sri Lanka at the earliest opportunity after the General elections.

Courtesy Ada Derana

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka reached 2,769 as another person tested positive for the virus today (25).

The Department of Government Information said the latest positive case is an arrival from Belarus.

Thereby, a total of 05 fresh cases have been confirmed so far within the day. The other 04 cases are arrivals from Chennai, India.

As per the Epidemiology Unit’s statistics, a total of 655 patients infected with the virus are currently under medical care at hospitals.

In the meantime, the number of recoveries from the disease in Sri Lanka moved up to 2,103 earlier today after 09 patients were discharged from hospitals upon returning to health.

Sri Lanka has thus far witnessed 11 deaths due to the virus outbreak.

Courtesy Hiru News

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says pre-schools will be brought under a government ministry to resolve their problems.

He remarked so in response to the representations that were made to him during recent public meetings with regard to issues of pre-school teachers, says the President’s Media Division.

At one meeting at the beach park in Matara, the president said a monthly allowance would be paid to these teachers.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Attorney General has informed the Health Ministry Secretary that the draft circular instructions for Public Health Inspectors to control the Covid-19 during elections are contrary to the law, says the AG’s coordinating officer.

According to the AG, powers of the PHIs to enter premises of meetings, polling stations, to detain and to prosecute have been removed and made subject to the directions of Medical Officers of Health.

On 29 July 1987 India forced Sri Lanka to sign what became known as the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord that led to the deployment of Indian Peace Keepers. Part of that Accord also required Sri Lanka to tweak its constitution and create an artificial demarcation of land dividing Sri Lanka into 9 provinces under the 13^thamendment. IPKF went on to kill Sri Lankans while the 13a has become a burden on the taxpayer and a stepping stone to demanding separatism. That it was enforced by the powerful neighbor ensures political pressure prevails not to repeal it inspite of public protests to do so. A far more dangerous agreement aligned to two other agreements are the MCC-SOFA & ACSA. The dangers of these 3 taken together spells doom for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty & ironically the eventual doom & balkanization of India too. MCC also requires passing by Parliament to turn into domestic law just as 13a was done.Once an international agreement turns into domestic law, the elected government is bound to enforce its contents. We know the adverse impact of 13a – surely we don’t want to nose dive into a bigger catastrophe by not only signing MCC but passing MCC in Sri Lanka’s Parliament.

The root of Tamil militancy & the political ideology behind separatism using asymmetrical federalism as a stepping stone to a separate state are certainly connected not only by a segment in the minority promoting it but by numerous countries & international agencies that supported it for different reasons at different time periods. These links remain despite the demise of LTTE ground terror.

That India provided its land to train Tamil militants is nothing India can deny. That India even supplied arms & training as well as funding for these Tamil militant groups is also nothing India can deny. It was only a decade later that India chose to directly barge in as ‘saviors’ claiming to defeat LTTE and disarm LTTE via the 1987 Accord. India never honored any of the clauses in that agreement signed in July 1987 but India went on to force Sri Lanka to make constitutional changes that divided Sri Lanka into 9 provinces via 13^thAmendment & Provincial Councils Act No. 42 of 1987 certified on 14 November 1987.

Both the Sri Lankan Supreme Court & Parliament stands guilty for 13a. When 13a was put to the Supreme Court – 5 out of 9 judges declared that approval by the People at a Referendum was needed (Article 120a) The 5 judges of the Supreme Court that determined 154G(2)(b) and (3)(b) of the Constitution required 2/3majority & a referendum, remains valid (if one or more PCs do not agree a 2/3 majority & referendum is required) Ignoring this Parliament simply deleted requirement for a referendum from the original Bill and passed the Bill without resubmitting to the Supreme Court.

These same dangers prevail if MCC is put to Supreme Court where Parliament can abuse its powers as a Bill becomes law upon certificate of the President or the Speaker and thereafter no court or tribunal can question the validity.

13a thus illegally passed was prevented from being judicially challenged by the People. The same outcome can happen with the MCC which is why the Public are vehemently putting its valid arguments for everyone to understand the dangers and prevent the Government & Parliament making the same mistake done with the 13^thamendment.

The Indo-Lanka Accord merged north & east falsely creating a new history. It was nothing but an Indian ploy to secure Trincomalee harbor. IPKF was brought in to disarm LTTE but went on to train other militants and groom another Tamil (V Perumal) to be India’s defacto leader after elections which ended up in him declaring unilateral declaration of independence resulting in the then President annulling the merged Provincial Council & Perumal running off to India for refuge.

A similar scenario is unfolding with the ACSA-SOFA & MCC – US military vessels and aircrafts can use Sri Lanka’s ports and airports for any logistical need, US troops can travel anywhere across Sri Lanka even carrying arms and are exempted from check or legal action for any crime committed, while in the name of development an unlimited number of US personnel, contractors have to be given work visas with tax exemptions and the freedom to bring anything into Sri Lanka & take anything out of Sri Lanka without checking as well as take full ownership of Sri Lanka’s intellectual property rights.

To understand the dangerous impact of the 3 agreements, one has to read all of its clauses. While ACSA and SOFA are bilateral agreements MCC requires Sri Lanka to pass in Parliament & turn into domestic law. Thereafter, it will become no different to 13amendment. Sri Lanka will take on responsibility to implement all of the drastic measures in the MCC on behalf of the US corporates & US government completely ignoring the wishes of the Sri Lankan citizens.

The Indo-Lanka Accord was dumped on Sri Lanka claiming to solve Sri Lanka’s ‘ethnic problem’ – 33 years on Indo-Lanka Accord solved nothing but has created more problems with the PC system & 13a.

The groundwork to force the Accord was subtly orchestrated with a series of attacks, riots and advice that was really meant to defame the armed forces and the state apparatus to build the international justification for foreign intervention. The LTTE onslaughts weakened a military that could not match the military hardware LTTE was using together with the intel provided to them by foreign sources.

MCC is also been dumped on Sri Lanka together with SOFA/ACSA claiming to ‘develop’ Sri Lanka & ‘eliminate poverty’ but only by privatizing state land and turning land into a commodity. We know where this is heading before its even launched – a massive transnational land grab and displacement of Sri Lanka’s populace is the writing on the wall that Sri Lanka’s Parliament (Opposition & Government) cannot pretend to ignore.

The manner MCC surfaced thus has to be looked in the same manner as the Indo-Lanka Accord. It is no secret that wherever US pivots to, jihadi Islamic militants with their ‘Islam’ chants travel with them to cause mayhem. This is how entire Middle East & Africa was destabilized and now it is Asia’s turn.

Unfortunately, India is now a partner of US’s pivot to Asia and the disclosures at the presidential commission on Easter Sunday mass murders certainly raises our doubts as to India’s role together with America jumping to offer MCC as a gift, days after the Easter Sunday attack. The Islamic murderers frequented India often – what exactly were the nature of these visits?

When UNP & JR Jayawardena peddled a pro-West approach in 1978 as did UNP & Ranil since becoming PM in 2001 both erroneously sold the concept of ‘friendship’ with West as sealing developmental assistance. The golden truth however is –every country is only concerned about their national interests not ours while our leaders are trying to help national interests of other countries at the cost of ours!

This cannot continue any longer.

India follows the Panikkar Doctrine (Naval doctrine and Kautilya’s Arthashastra & Mandal theory ‘your neighbor is your natural enemy’) Kautilya craftily created a civil war in Patiliputra & Indira Gandhi went on to do the same. The Islamic terror and Islamic fundamentalism is the winning ploy US will use to become an uninvited guest in Sri Lanka under their brand ‘war against terror’ (killing Muslims & non-Muslims using Muslims) – this is going to be elevated to ‘war against corona’ using the humanitarian card to claim US troop presence is required to protect US national interests & assets. Keep an eye on these developments.

The clauses of the 13a clearly show the advantages India sought to accrue itself. The clauses in the MCC, SOFA & ACSA do the same for US.

Tamil militancy & Tamil politicians were being used to carve out a separate area that India could eventually take over. US has been more strategic, the MCC SOFA & ACSA taken together will not only with time acquire parts of the island, the economic corridor from Colombo to Trincomalee but the entire island with time. This will be made possible if MCC is not only signed but also passed by Parliament which is a pre-condition and key component of the implementation pre-requisite of the MCC.

No Government elected to power by the People can betray the People & the Nation by signing MCC and ratifying MCC detrimental clauses via Parliament as was done with 13a.

Shenali D Waduge

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Social scientists and the commentariat have either failed, or deliberately ignored, to take note of the changes in the surface and subterranean foundations of the political landscape in the post-Nandikadal period. Our pundits are still cackling as if we are in the post-1956 period in which the mono-causal theme of blaming the Sinhala-Buddhists was touted cockily as a sign of being intellectually superior in public, media and academic discourses. To be anti-Sinhala-Buddhist was – and still is — the fashion of the day. Digging up every adverse comment from the dustbin of history was a common technique to demonise the Sinhala-Buddhists as enemies of the minorities. Every shred of historical, political, social or economic evidence was corralled and distorted to argue that the minorities were discriminated by the majority, though the inhuman role of the Tamil Vellala elite of marginalising their own people as pariahs was either brushed aside or hidden under the label of Tamil nationalism.

Down grading the Sinhala-Buddhist culture, language and religion at the highest academic levels became a powerful propaganda tool in the privatised research centres run by pro-Tamil agents (example: International Centre for Ethnic Studies, headed by Neelan Tiruchelvam and Radhika Coomarasawamy) whose bank accounts were stacked with foreign funds to hire the academics/intellectuals to manufacture the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist ideology. Only like-minded ideologues were invited to participate in their seminars, publications, research etc., to produce anti-Sinhala-Buddhist consensus. The focus was essentially on the South. They craftily avoided turning the searchlight deeply into the North because they knew that exposing the horrendous history of the North, where the ruling caste of Vellalas who oppressed, suppressed, persecuted their own people, and even ostracised them as pariahs, would undermine their claim to be victims of the South. History was a volatile force which had to be managed carefully to serve their politics. They were determined to sanitize their narrative by diverting the focus away from the North to make the South look like the evillest force that bedevilled inter-ethnic relations

The latest to raise the racist ghost of the past is Dayan Jayatilleka, who is raving and ranting against the armed Dharmapalas” (i.e., the Rajapakases) accusing them of dismantling the existing order to establish a militarised authoritarian regime. He is not saying anything new. He is parroting what the Saravanamuttus, Savitris and Ismails have been voicing in the post-Nandikadal period and even before. As a self-professed political scientist, he is expected to rise above cheap propaganda and analyse of the current situation either as a Marxist diagnostician, taking into consideration the de-Tigerised politics of the North in the post-Nandikadal period, or as a public intellectual digging deep into the new political contours of the nation shifting away from a defunct Left and self-destructive Right descending into a hell of divisive politics. A comprehensive analysis would consist of a mix of both. But he is wallowing in the filth of his own hate politics. Hell hath no fury as Dayan scorned and denied a lucrative post in the ruling regime!

Today the political pendulum stands steadily and comfortably at the traditional Centre which neither the Left nor the Right can challenge successfully. In fact, there is no Left nor Right to take on the dominant Centre. The Centre has emerged as the decisive force that would steer the way in the absence of a constructive and powerful Left, Right and, of course, the mono-ethnic extremists of the North and the East. All of them are struggling to recover from the massive blow dealt by the Centre in the last Presidential election. The rise of the Centre marks the end of the political adventurism and violence of the Left, Right and the North and the East.

The rise of the Centre was totally unexpected. It was also so overwhelming that it has thrown all the other forces into absolute confusion. In the main, the awakened Centrist force have thrown the Right, Left and the anti-Sinhala Buddhist North off balance and their main struggle right now is to rise from the vacuum into which they have fallen and redefine their place in the new political landscape. The rise of the Centre, packed the with the commanding grassroot forces of our time, has not only isolated the rest from the mainstream but also left them derelict, some without leaders, some without a vision / alternative, and some without a future in sight. Sri Lanka has stepped in emphatically, decisively and loudly into that global trend that, for instance, went to make Hindutva Modi in India, and America Great Again” – minus menacing Covid-19.

Managing the success in the face of the daunting Coronovid-19 and its economic consequences is the task ahead. But, politically speaking, the victory has ushered in a new phase in which the reinvigorated grassroot forces had risen determinedly to reject the attempts of the misguided neo-liberals to reverse the natural flow of history. Rewriting the Constitution was an attempt to rewrite history.   The entire Parliamentary process was manipulated, doctored and debased by the Right to legalise the robbing of the rights of the people in the name of the rights of a few who had done their worst to destroy the nation. Yahapalanaya politics was a foul exercise launched and pursued by the neo-liberals to go against the will of the people.  And when the time came the people gave the neo-liberals the reply they deserved. The Right went to destroy the people and the people turned on them and destroyed the irrelevant neo-liberals.

The will of the people expressed in the last Presidential election stunned the pundits whose political calculations never predicted the massive swing to the Centre. This swing was the definitive reaction to the extremist Right-wing forces hijacking history to serve their disruptive and unsustainable political ends. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the most manipulative and active representative of the Right, made the cardinal mistake of trying to swim upstream and, in the process, he has killed not only his prospects but the future of the Right as well. Never in the history of post-Independent history has the Right fallen to the depths of near extinction as it is today.

The collapse of the Right is a phenomenon that had never occurred even when its Parliamentary popularity was reduced to eight seats in 1956. Despite that the UNP held together at the grassroot and organizational levels, with respected and formidable leaders in command of the Party. Even in the big crisis when the two giant elephants (Dudley and JR”) fought, the Party did not go to pieces. The cleavage today is so wide that there is no political bra big enough to hold both segments together.

Today the UNP has neither the leaders nor the hard-core base which is split right down the middle. The going down of Ranil will be welcome by most, including his Party loyalists. And when the new Parliament meets after August 5th Ranil will limp his way to his seat with a depleted following who are most likely to decamp to either Sajith or Mahinda Rajapakse, unless, of course, both parties decide to unite. The end of Ranil’s grip on the UNP marks the death of his misguided pro-West, anti-national Right-wing politics. If the Rajapaksa brothers are to be compared to Bandaranaike of 1956” then it is fair to compare Ranil as the alienated, out-of-touch, vilified Sir. John of our time. The Right will be a write-off as long as Ranil Wickremesinghe hangs on to Sri Kotha – the last resort of the vanishing breed of ageing elephants who had lost their tusks.

The next option in national politics is to turn to the Left but it is rather difficult find a political animal by that name. It has been a force that has been splitting like the amoeba into sub-atomic particles from its birth. The irony is that that the last of the Marxist revolutionaries are abandoning the Left and rushing to join the decadent Right committing hara-kiri aided and abetted by Left-wing theoreticians like Victor Ivan and Dayan Jayatilleka. On the one hand, the Vikrama Bahu” revolutionary has joined the Ranil-wing of the Right and, on the other, Dayan Jayatilleka, the leading Marxist theoretician, has joined the Sajith-wing of the Right. Post-Nandikadal politics has certainly taken a bizarre turn with no-hopers of the Left embracing the coffined corpses of the Right.

Where do we go from here? Whether we like it or not, even a cursory glance at the national scene indicates that the last remaining point of sanity and stability is in the Centre. It has risen unequivocally as the will of the people and there is no alternative to it now. The clarity of the will of the people has to be factored in for the nation to calculate its next moves. It is into this political framework that the North comes in as the orphaned victim of the de-Tigerised politics of the post-Nandikadal peninsula.

The militarised, fascist de facto regime of the Tigers had gripped the North so comprehensively and obsessively that the unexpected fall of the invincible” Tiger regime has left the North in a political vacuum. No one in the North had to make decisions under Tiger regime. All decisions were made for them at the top and there was space only for the Tamils to follow the Thalaivar” obediently if they had any ambitions of seeing the sun rising the next day. That was the easy part. Now the heavy burden of making decisions has fallen on the tired, old leadership which is clueless and wandering in the new and dizzying complexities without a compass.

They are drifting between two worlds, one dead and the other struggling to be born. They are in transition. They are torn between the past which began with the Vadkoddai Declaration of War in 1976 and a future of peaceful co-existence in a de-Tigerised democracy, however infirm it may be. Despite their braggadocio and bravado, it is dawning on them that they had come to end of their tether. They have run through all options from the time S. J. V. Chelvanayakam launched his Federal Party in December 1949 at the Government Clerical Service Union in Maradana and not in Jaffna, which is supposed to be the heartland of the Tamils. Since then they had tried (1) confrontational politics with satyagrahas, (2) parliamentary manoeuvres and negotiations, (3) partnership with what they called the Sinhala-governments”, (4) waging war after the Declaration of War at Vadukoddai in 1976, (5) regional pressure through India, (6) international pressure through the Tamil diaspora, and (7) establishing even a de facto state exhausting practically all options to achieve their elusive Eelam. All of which ended eventually in Nandikadal.

So isn’t it time for the North to sit down and take a hard look at the journey they had taken, following the footsteps of Chelvanayakam, and consider seriously what other options/opportunities they have in their next mission of figuring out what is achievable and where they are likely to be in the next five, ten, fifteen years, or, for that matter, all the time available in history? The most obvious question facing them is to consider whether their future is in going back to Vadukoddai and take the same road to Nandikadal without a Prabhakaran to lead the way?

In working out answers to these and other questions the Tamil leadership should keep in mind (1) whether Vadukoddai violence will work for them internationally in this age anti-terrorism; (2) whether they can match the military might of the Sri Lankan forces that won at Nandikadal; 3) whether the peninsular dynamics that motivated the Vadukoddai Resolution are operative now to mobilise the Tamils into another round of mindless violence?; (4) in the new global order where China is a stakeholder in the Indian Ocean whether India can step in arbitrarily and arrogantly to play the role it played under Indira and Rajiv Gandhi?; (5) whether the Tamil leadership is willing to pay the bloody price required to gamble with violence without any guarantees of victory?; and (6) whether they would like to live in another Kashmir or Palestine with everyone tut-tutting at the never-ending tragedies while the privileged Tamils migrate to greener pastures exploiting the suffering of their fellow-Tamils left behind?

In reviewing all these issues, the Tamil leadership should remember that that their ageing predecessors were the first victims of the violence they unleashed at Vadukoddai. They armed and encouraged the youth to take the gun and when they began to run amok with the new toy in their hands it is the Founding Fathers of the Vadukoddai Declaration that were decimated first.

The violence of all three communities that shook the nation from time to time had the following common characteristics: a) they were motivated by ideologies that led to fascist and brutal violence b) the guns and bombs were used by immature youth who fancied that they had the solution to the problems facing them and the nation at large; (c) none of their violent experiments succeeded. All of which leads to the ineluctable conclusion that there is no future in intransigence, dogmatic blindness, political extremism, experiments of the failed past and, above all, violence.

We are right now left with only a dead Left, moribund Right, a distraught and derelict North and a wobbly East. The only viable and the positive option is the promising Centre. It is inevitable that the North+East+Right+Left (NERL) forces will have to negotiate with the Centre if they and the nation are to go anywhere. August 5^th will confirm that there is no alternative to the Centre. The future of depends on how NERL will negotiate their way to their separate or collective comfort zones with the Centre.

The Presidential election have been fought, and the Parliamentary elections are being fought, to test the limits of the power of the NERL competing with the Centre and vice versa. The unprecedented power that will be vested in the hands of the Centre (after the Parliamentary elections) will define the parameters within which both the Centre and the NERL can operate in seeking their separate goals.

The impending competition of the Centre vs. the NERL — of course, after the Parliamentary elections — need not be hostile or an intransigent power struggle for one power bloc to dominate the other. In the behind-the-scene bargaining there will be ample room for compromises. In between, there will be a lot of grandstanding by the NERL to claim that they can do better than the Centre. That is the name of the game. The reality is that no one – I repeat, no one — can do better than the other in a world conquered by Covid-19. Admitting and accepting this inevitability imposed by Covid-19 is the first step to economic recovery – the prime necessity that must be prioritised in the national agenda. There is a time for politics but this is not it. Economics must be given the same priority at Coronivd-19. NERL cannot win either on Covid-19 or on Article19. Both must be treated as equal partners.

In the post-Nandikadal phase the Centre has come to stay. NERL , if it fails to recognise the new realities, can either pray or bray. 

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම

දොස්තර රුවන් ජයතුංග විසින් ලංකාවෙබ් අඩවියට සිංහලෙන් ලියන ලිපි මා අගය කරන්නේ, සමහර විට, එම අඩවියට මුලින්ම සිංහලෙන් ලිපි ලිවීම ආරම්භකලේ මාද කියා මට සිතෙන නිසාය. ඔහු විසින් ජේවීපී කාරයින් සම්බන්‌ධව වරින් වර ලියන ලිපි මා කියවන්නේ, 1971 දෙසැම්බර් කාලයේදී, ඒවන විට අත්‌අඩංගුවට ගෙන සිටි ජේවීපී කැරළිකරුවන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශණ සටහන් කර ගැනීම පිණිස රජයෙන් පත්කල සිවිල් නිලධාරීන් 200 දෙනාගෙන් කෙනෙක් වශයෙන්, සමහර විට, දැනට ජීව‌ත්‌‌ව සිටින එකම පුද්ගලයා මාද කියා මට සිතෙන නිසාය. එහෙත් ඔහු විසින් ගිනිගත් නගරය යනුවෙන් ජූලි 23 දා ලංකා වෙබ් ‌අඩවියේ පලවූ ලිපියේ සඳහන්‌වූ පහතින් දක්‌වන කියමණ මා අන්ද-මන්ද කලේය. මීට හේතුව එය අසත්‍ය ලිවීමක් නිසාය. එසේ නැත්නම් එක්කෝ ඔහු විසින්, එසේ නැත්නම්, රට ප්‍රභාකරන්ගෙන් බේරාගැනීම සඳහා තුවක්කුවක් අතට නොගැනීම හැර යුද පිටියේදී කල හැකි හැමදේම කල බව කී හාමුදුරුනමක් විසින් බොරුවක් කියන නිසාය. මා විශ්වාස කරන්නේ හාමුදුරුවන්වය.

අනිත් කාරණය නම් ඔහු රංජන් රාමනායක-මංගල සමරවීර පාරේ යමින් හාමුදුරුනමකට <චීවරධාරියෙක්> යයි කීමය. පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය ගැන දැන් එලිවන තොරතුරු අනුව සිවුරු පොරවාගෙන පන්සල් වලට බෝම්බ ගැසීමට ඒමට සූදානමක් තිබූ නිසා මිණීමරුවෙකුට වුවත් සිවුරක් පොරවා ගත හැකිය. ලංකාවේ අටපිරිකර ආපසු විකිණීමේ බිස්නස් එක කරන්නේ මුස්ලිම් අය නිසා ඔවුන්ගේ ගෙවල් වල ඇඳ ඇතිරිලි වලට දමාගන්නේද සිවුරු බව අප දැක ඇත. මේ නිසා දුශ්ශීල භික්‍ෂුවක් යන වචනය වෙනුවට චීවරධාරියා යන වචනය යෙදීම, අබෞද්‌ධ ක්‍රියාවකි. සෝමාරාම, බුද්‌ධරක්ඛිත, සිවුරු දරාගත් දුශ්ශීල මිනිසුන් විය. රුවන් මොන ආගමේද යනු මම නොදනිමි. ඉරිදා දහම් පාසැලක් පැත්තකින් වත් ගිය අයෙකුට නම් චීවරධාරියා යන වචනය හිතට ආවත් ප්‍රසිද්‌ධියේ ලියන්නට නම් හිතෙන්නේ නැත.

රුවන්ගේ වාක්‍යය

<පර්‌වතයක් මෙන් උසැති, බඩ මහත, පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු සෙනඟ සන්සුන් කිරීමට උත්සාහකලේ තම තර්‍ජනාත්මක ස්වරය හා නිල ඇඳුමේ අධිකාරී බලය පෙන්‌වමිනි. අඩෝ අපි මූව වලට දාමු, පිරිසක් පසු පස සිට කෑ ගැසූහ. ඒ සමඟම ගල්මුල් ප්‍රහාරයක් ඇරඹූහ.

පිස්තෝලයක් අතින් ගත චීවරධාරියෙක් ඉදිරියට පැමිණියේය. ඔහු සෙනඟට විධානයක් දෙන්නාක් මෙන් කතාවක් කලේය.>

සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයින්ට තම අදහස් ප්‍රකාශ කල හැකි, ලෝක මට්ටමෙන් ඇති එකම වෙබ් අඩවිය ලංකා වෙබ් අඩවියය. මෙය ඉතාමත් භාරධූර කාර්යයක් බව මට වැටහුනේ, හරිමග යනුවෙන් බ්ලොග් පිටුවක් ආරම්භකර ක්‍රියා කිරීමේදීය. මට මගේ වෙනත් කිසි වැඩක් කරගන්නට නොහැකි තරම් වගකීමක් පැටවුණේ එය කියවන පිරිස වැඩිවීමත් සමඟ කුමණ හෝ වැදගත් දෙයක්, සත්‍ය කරුණු අනුව අළුතෙන් ලිවිය යුතු වීම නිසාය. මේ නිසා මට එය නතර කිරීමට සිදුවිය. තවමත් එය මගේ නමින් අන්තර්‌ජාලයේ පවතී.

මේ නිසා ලංකා වෙබ් නමැති සම්පත භාවිතා කිරීමේදී ඊට ලියන අප විසින් ඉතාමත් සුපරික්‍ෂාකාරී විය යුතුය. අපගේ මත, අදහස් කෙරෙහි බලපාන්නේ අප දන්නා කරුණු ප්‍රමාණය කෙතරම්ද යන්නා හා ඒවායේ ගුණාත්‌මකභාවය උඩය (බොරු තොරතුරු ටොන් ගණන් තිබුණත් ඒවා අපව නොමඟ යවන්නේය). මේ නිසා ඒ කාලයේ <හතේ කල්ලියේ> ප්‍රධානියාවූ, ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස විසින් කියූ උගත් මෝඩයින්ගේ ගනයට අප පත් නොවිය යුතුය (හතේ කල්ලිය කිව්වේ හත පාස් පිරිසක් රට කණවා යන තරහෙන් රටේ සිටි උගත් පිරිසක් විසිනි). ලංකා වෙබ් අඩවියට ලියන කිසි කෙනෙක් අසත්‍ය හෝ අර්‌ධ සත්‍ය හෝ නොදන්නාදේ නොලිය යුතුය. දන්නා දේ නොසැඟවිය යුතුය.

රුවන්, උස, මහත පොලිස් නිලධාරියා සිය නිල ඇඳුමේ අධිකාරී බලය පෙන්‌වු බව කියයි. ගෆූර් නම් මොහු, මිණී වලවල් ලඟ සිට, ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හාමුදුරුවන්ට වෙඩි තබන්නට ආ බව රුවන් දැන සිටියේ නැද්ද? එසේ නම් ඔහු හාමුදුරුවන් ලඟ පිස්තෝලයක් තිබුණු බව දැන් ගත්තේ කෙසේද? 1983 සොල්දාදුවන් 13 දෙනාගේ ඝාතනය පිළිඹඳව නොසිතූ පරිදි උණුසුම් තත්‌වයක් හටගත්තේ මිණී වලවල් 13 ට අමතරව තව වලවල් කීපයක්ද හාරා සූදානම් කර තිබූ නිසාය. ඒ වලවල් කුමකට දැයි ඇසූ විට ගෆූර් නමැති ඩී. අයි. ජී හෝ සුපිරින්ටැන්ඩන්ට් ඉස්සරහට පැණ සිය පිතෝලය හෝ තුවක්කුව හාමුදුරුවන්ට එල්ල කර මං උඹව මරණවා යයි ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් තර්‍ජනය කලේය. එවිට හාමුදුරුවන් පිටිපස සිටි පිරිස හාමුදුරුවන්ගේ ඉදිරියට පැන්නේය. ඔවුන් ගෆූර්‌ ට ගල් ගසා ඔහුව මිණී වලකට දාන්න ඇදගෙන ගියත් ඔහුගේ යෝධ ශරීරය නිසා එය කල නොහැකි විය. හාමුදුරුවන් මැදිහත්‌වී ඔහුව මරණයෙන් ගලවා ගන්නා ලදී.

පුදුමයකට මෙන් රුවන්ගේ ලිපිය කියවා කළකිරීමෙන් සිටි මට, පැය දෙක තුනකින්, යූටියුබ් බලද්දී චාපා බණ්ඩාරගේ නිදහස් සංවාද වැඩබීමේ, 11/28/2019 දා ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමිඳුන් සමඟ කල සාකච්චාවක් (එපිසෝඩ් 104), නැවත පලකර තිබී දක්නට ලැබුණේය. එහි ලින්ක් එක මේ සමඟ ඇත. පැයකටත් වඩා දිග මේ විඩියෝවේ 40 මිනිත්තුවේ සිට කනත්තේදී වූ සිදුවීම හාමුදුරුවන් විස්තර කරයි. මෙම වීඩියෝව ඓතිහාසික වටිනාකමකින් යුක්ත වන්නේ හාමුදුරුවන් හා ජේ ආර් අතර ඇතිවු විවාදය නිසාය. ජේ ආර් බයෙන් වෙවුලමින් සිටි හැටිත්, ඔහු හාමුදුරුවන් ඉදිරියේ අසරණව බෑගෑපත් වූ හැටිත් ලෝකයා දැනගත යුතුය.

ලංකාව ඒකීය රාජ්‍යයක් යන 6 වෙනි සංශොධනය ජේ ආර් ගෙනාවේ හාමුදුරුවන්ගේ බල කිරීම නිසාය. පවුල් සංවිධාන සංගමය විසින් සිංහල ජාතිය වඳ කිරීමට ගෙවන රුපියල් 1,500, 750 ට අඩු කරවා ගත්තේද ඒ අවස්ථාවේදීමය. විශාල මුදලක් ලැබෙන නිසා දුප්පත් ස්ත්‍රීන් ඊට යෑම මේ නිසා තරමක් දුරට හෝ අඩු විය.

මෙම වීඩියෝව ලංකාවෙබ් වෙබ් අඩවියේ සුරක්‍ෂිතව තැබෙනවා නිසැකය. නැවතත් මෙහිදී සඳහන් කරන්නේ 1983 හමුදා සොල්දාදුවන් 13 මැරීමේ සිද්‌ධිය හා ජේ ආර් ලා ජාතියට කල විනාශය ගැන බොහෝ තොරතුරු මෙම වීඩීයෝවේ ඇති බවය. රුවන් විසින් මෙම වීඩියෝව බලා ලංකා වෙබ් අඩවියට, එහි පාඨකයින්ට සාධාරණය ඉටු කරාවි යයි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමි. මේ සම්බන්‌ධයෙන් මා මෙසේ ලියන්නේ මීට අදාල සත්‍ය තොරතුරු පාඨකයින්ගේ දැන ගැනීම සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ වගකීමක් අප හැමටම ඇතැයි මා සිතන නිසාත්, ලංකාවෙබ් වෙබ් අඩවියේ කීර්‌ති නාමයට, දැන හෝ නොදැන එයට ලිපි ලියන අප වැනි අයගෙන් සිදුවිය හැකි හානිය අවම කරගැනීමට සිතට ගැනීමටත්‌‌ය.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXhm1LNdKOA

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.

Sarath Bulathsinghala

The 2020 General Election is upon us. It is time the success at the Presidential Election in Nov 2019 is carried to its logical conclusion. We thank the patriotic forces of Sri Lanka for electing Gotabhaya Rajapakse the 7^th President of Sri Lanka with a handsome majority. This victory has cast into disarray the dark forces that conspired to make Sri Lanka our Motherland a Failed State at the behest of Western Christian Powers. Today the very fires of hatred that were directed to destroy our Motherland are destroying the unpatriotic political entity the UNP from within! It stands divided, quartered and consumed by the very fires it lit to destroy Sri Lanka and make it a failed state vulnerable to Big Power intervention. The UNP, together with the SLFP rump that aided and abetted the traitorous UNP are slowly marching towards political oblivion

However, it is now left for the patriotic forces to give a resounding blow at the 2020 parliamentary election and destroy the UNP and possibly the SLFP for good.  These two geriatric political parties though brought into existence on lofty but impractical ideals, have over the years, failed live up to their promises – to bring peace and prosperity to the citizens of Sri Lanka. THE ONLY THING THAT THEY DID FAMOUSLY IS TO DIVIDE THE SINHALA POLITY IN THE MIDDLE into two ‘dog eat dog’ political parties that failed the majority Sinhala Buddhists miserably.  Together they have impoverished Sri Lanka, made politics in Sri Lanka the most corrupt in the region and the corrupt politicians rich and powerful. They also brought in the minority racists and religionists to the fray and made them kingmakers of Sri Lanka. The end result is for all to see – our past political history- the machinations and the deleterious effects of the doings of Chevanayakam, Amirthalingam, Sambandan, Thondaman, Ashrofs and now Hakeem, Mano Geneshan and Baithuddeen and add to this the Senanayake, Bandaranaikes, Jayawardeen, Premadasa  and Wickramasinghe.  

Rajapakses became the architects of winning the Tamil Tiger Terrorist War but failed to consolidate the war gains.  Winning a war is not winning just the battles – it includes maintaining the peace. This is the reason the victorious Allies are still stationed around the world in strategic locations. Mahinda Rajapakse failed in this score because he misread history. Withdrawal of Armed Forces from strategic locations in the North and East was a sign of weakness and the slippery road back to ‘giving little now and more later’ failed policy of yesteryear. No one within Sri Lanka or outside should dictate where Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces should be present or not. Then Army Commander – Sarath Fonseka’s assertion to increase the army was in fact correct strategically as it takes more to maintain peace than fight wars. It took 30 years to finish off the war because we did not have enough soldiers to keep and defend the peace in the liberated areas! Finally, the war was won, because the President Mahinda Rajapakse took a firm stand, the then Defence Secretary and now the President Gotabhaya provided the necessary manpower and war logistics to hold onto and defend liberated areas while prosecuting the war elsewhere.

While basking in the glory of winning the war he neglected the immediate aspirations of the people and ran roughshod over the economy making large scale investments – some absolute necessities for a middle income nation and others that could have been done at a more leisurely pace without entrenching the country in a debt burden. Moreover, he failed to market these projects among people giving clear cost benefit projections and getting those projects to bear fruit or to give a realistic plan and time scale to make them work. In the process and quite inadvertently Sri Lanka has now become the playground for the Big Powers trying to divide Sri Lanka between themselves. Then he lost his Presidency in 2015 with disastrous results for Sri Lanka and five years of unending political darkness!

AFTER 70 YEARS WHAT THE NATION NEEDS IS TIME AND SPACE TO MOVE FORWARD AS ONE NATION LEAVING BEHIND THE ENMITY AND DIVISIVENESS. FOR THIS TO HAPPEN THE UNITY OF THE SINHALESE IS PARAMOUNT. MINORITY POLITICS AND THEIR ASPIRATIONS WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY WITH ONLY HALF OF THE SINHALESE AGREEING. THIS IS WHY THE UNITY OF THE SINHALESE BE THEY UNP OR SLFP IS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE FOR THE GOOD OF ALL CONCERNED, MINORITIES INCLUDED.

What ailed Sri Lanka during the last 70 years is the constant demands of minority Shylocks asking for their pound of flesh and more. In their own words, it was and is – Little now and More later! Even as we speak, these forces are at play 24/7 finding ways to keep Sri Lanka destabilized and poor. Their ultimate goal is to make Sri Lanka a Failed State a country to be preyed on. Sri Lanka lost hundreds or even thousands of valuable opportunities to forge ahead because of the minority destabilization of the country. Many a potential investor went elsewhere because of the ground situation in Sri Lanka. 

Their incessant efforts in cahoots with Western Christian Powers bore fruit in Jan 2015. Yahapalanaya – which was a misnomer from its inception, just like Dhramishta Samajayak of traitor chief J R Jayawardene. Yahapalanaya  came into power on a platform of eliminating corruption. From what transpired later it is now obvious what they had in mind all along. Within seven weeks of their coming into power the first bond scam took was unleashed on the people of Sri Lanka.

FROM HIND SIGHT, IT IS CLEAR THAT RANIL AND HIS COHORTS PLANNED THIS BANK HEIST LONG BEFORE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF JAN 2015. ALL THIS WAS CLEAR FROM THE WAY HE SET IN MOTION THE INTERMEDIATE STEPS NECESSARY FOR THE CENTRAL BANK BOND SCAM. GETTING HIMSELF APPOINTED PRIME MINISTER, TAKING OVER PART OF THE FINANCE MINISTRY THAT INCLUDED THE CENTRAL BANK, GETTING ARJUN MAHENDRAN APPOINTED AS THE GOVERNOR OF THE CENTRAL BANK WHILST HIS SON IN LAW WAS A PRIMARY DEALER HIMSELF. MANY THINK THE ‘HEIST’ TOOK PLACE BY CHANCE ON 26 FEB 2105 AND THAT IS THE IMBECILIC FOLLY OF THE ORDINARY SRI LANKAN! THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY THE SECOND CENTRAL BANK HEIST AT AN EVEN LARGER SCALE AN YEAR LATER IN MARCH 2016! WITH YAHAPALANAYA TAKING OVER REINS OF POWER, ITS MAIN TASK WAS TO COMPLETE THE TASK OF MAKING SRI LANKA A FAILED STATE. COMPROMISING FOOD SECURITY, NATIONAL SECURITY, ECONOMIC SECURITY INVOLVING BOND SCAMS, HIGH TAXATION, HIGH INTEREST RATES, DESTRUCTION OF THE PLANTATION SECTOR ECONOMIES AND FINALLY THE IMPORT DEPENDENT FAILED STATE THAT WOULD BE VULNERABLE FOR ECONOMIC SANCTIONS. THE ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE CONSTITUTION WAS THE FINAL MASTERSTROKE TO MAKE SRI LANKA A VASSAL STATE OF THE USA. THESE ARE TO BE FOLLOWED BY ACSA, SOFA AND MCC AGREEMENTS TO MAKE SRI LANKA THE PRESENT DAY OKINAWA OR PANAMA –  A VASSAL STATE OF THE SUPPOSED TO BE ‘THE ONLY EXCEPTIONAL NATION’ IN THE WORLD TODAY – THE USA.

Patriotic UNPers and SLFPers should see this reality and leaving aside their petty differences unite to save Sri Lanka. The horrors of Easter Sunday attacks would not have come about if not for the criminal negligence and neglect of the Security Apparatus in Sri Lanka by the government led by Sirisena and Ranil. If they had any self-respect they should have resigned their posts in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

This why they all must join forces under Pohottuwa, not because it is the best, but because it is the ‘nearest to best we can conceive of’, the ground reality and the only existing common place where all from different political hues can gather and unite to end once and for all the tyranny of Minority Politics. We must be in a position to muster a 2/3^rd majority to bring about the necessary constitutional changes as well as provide for reasonable minority demands that do not infringe on the security, wellbeing and continued existence of Sri Lanka as a separate, unitary and independent political and geographical entity south of the Palk Straits!

It is time, all those well-meaning Tamils and Muslims leave the divisive politics and join the mainstream to achieve their realistic aspirations. Division of the country into Islamic fiefdoms or giving land and police powers to Eelamists is no way to achieve lasting peace in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka simply does not have space nor the security measures necessary to entertain such wishful thinking that only bring luxuries to a selected few and keep the majority mired in perpetual misery! Any resulting borders drawn will result in unending enmity and conflict. I am sure this is not any peace-loving citizen of this country aspire to – be they Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim!

It is time, Sinhalese of all hues, be they UNP, SLFP, Buddhist or Christian unite behind Pohottuwa to take the country away from the ‘dog eat dog’ politics of yesterday and today, for together we can prosper as a nation. It is time the Sinhalese demanded from Pohottuwa that it cannot be ‘Politics as Usual’ as it used to be. It is time they got rid of the useless riff-raff, the traitorous, self-serving and the bribe-taker lot among them and move forward with only those who can be trusted to make way for progress. Pohottuwas must leave space only for the best in the SLFP, the UNP and those among minorities who aspire to prosper together with a common consensus. Pohottuwa also must take heed of the agendas put forward by the Vikalpa groups for they too have a message that is relevant to the immediate needs of the nation. PRESIDENT GOTABHAYA MUST BE ALLOWED UNHAMPERED FREEDOM TO FORM THE BEST TEAM OF MINISTERS AND CABINET MEMBERS FROM AMONG THOSE ELECTED DISREGARDING PETTY POLITICS.

Other nations such as Malaysia and Singapore sorted similar problems right at the beginning of their independence from Colonial Powers. This is why these countries prosper and Sri Lanka not! Big and powerful nations respect their strengths and politics!

UNLESS THE SINHALESE UNITE AS ONE, BECOME SELF SUFFICIENT IN THEIR BASIC NEEDS AND SECURITY. THERE IS NO SOLUTION TO THE MINORITIES. THIS IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH BEHIND POLITICS IN SRI LANKA. This is what ailed Sri Lanka for the last 70 years. This is what led to 1971, 1989 and the 30-year Racist Eelam War and just recently the Easter Sunday Attacks by Islamists! It is only the United Sinhalese who can accommodate those peaceful intentions of the minorities and take the nation towards progress! No solution or agreement, call it what may, provided by 50% Sinhalese will stand the test of time!

The so-called International Community!

The so-called International Community are at the door calling for ‘democracy and human rights’.  This bogus cry is now seen to be fake. This has been the Big Power strategy to castigate less powerful nations in to submission. Over the years these empty ideals not practiced by themselves have led to – Black Lives Matter, We Can’t Breathe – slogans in their own countries. It is this system of governance that made the 1% own the 99% of world’s wealth. It is these very strategies that are now failing before the Corvid-19 onslaught. The so called Big Powers who sent their ‘knights in shining armour’ to the ends of the world to fight for democracy and human rights are now looking askance, having failed to provide the minimum standards of health, safety and hope to their own citizens! Shame on them for the Trillions they spent on developing arms to destroy the world and their Military Industrial Complexes.

They would rather make Sri Lanka unstable, divided, a failed state and divide the spoils rather than try to negotiate with a weak state. On the other hand, they would support a country that is strong politically and militarily. They say Nature abhors a vacuum and so does politics. They are onto Sri Lanka because they find Sri Lanka divided, unstable and vacuous. Western Christian Nations led by the USA need Sri Lanka as a staging post for their INDO-PACIFIC military strategy. Ranil has been tasked to make Sri Lanka a Failed State and he nearly accomplished that during the last 5 years. MCC COMPACT WAS TO BE THE FINAL COUP DE GRACE TO END ONCE AND FOR ALL THE INDEPENDENCE OF SRI LANKA!

We must provide India the security she needs south of the Palk Straits! It is only a strong Sri Lankan military which can provide this assurance and not a weak Sri Lanka! Senior Indian politician Subramaniam Swamy put it succinctly – We can trust the words of Rajapakses. They are a strong team and we can depend on what they promise”.

Time is of the essence, let us learn from Jan 2015 and not bungle it this time! All patriots, be they UNP or SLFP, or from minority communities, all who wish well for Mother Lanka, unite behind Pohottuwa! President Gotabhaya Rajapakse led Pohottuwa is the only practical alternative to all others who are in the fray contesting Parliamentary General Elections on 5 August 2020. They are the better team who has a chance to make Sri Lanka great again!  Ranil Wickramasinghe and Sajith Premadasa are spent forces. They are not worth spending time on!

THIS IS WHY POHOTTUWA SHOULD BE GIVEN AN OVER 2/3 MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT TO ENACT A NEW CONSTITUTION THAT WILL ENSURE THE FUTURE OF SRI LANKA AS A UNITARY, UNDIVIDABLE AND SOVEREIGN, POLITICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL ENTITY IN THE EYES OF HER CITIZENS AS WELL AS IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD!

Courtesy DNA

The development comes as a relief to Sri Lanka amidst COVID-19 and will help in its post-pandemic economic recovery. A currency swap is a transaction in which two parties exchange principal and interest in different currencies.

India and Sri Lanka on Friday agreed for US $400 million currency swap agreement. The agreement signed by Reserve Bank of India extends the swap facility for Sri Lanka till November 2022. 

The development comes as a relief to Sri Lanka amidst COVID-19 and will help in its post-pandemic economic recovery.

A currency swap is a transaction in which two parties exchange principal and interest in different currencies. Companies doing business abroad often use currency swaps to get more favourable loan rates in the local currency than if they borrowed money from a local bank.

For example, if Sri Lanka borrows Rs 100 from India and promises to repay Rs 100 in Indian currency but interest in dollars or vice versa, both parties benefit by hedging against interest rates.

Both countries are currently engaged in debt repayment rescheduling talks. On July 22, the last round of technical discussion was held on the rescheduling of bilateral debt repayment by Sri Lanka. The Indian delegation comprising of senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and the EXIM Bank interacted with representatives from the Department of External Resources of Sri Lanka through a video conference.

A release from the Indian mission in Sri Lanka said, “The next round of technical discussions between the two sides on the rescheduling of debt repayment is expected to be held soon.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 23 in which the former requested Indian government to provide USD 1.1 billion special swap facility to top up USD 400 million under SAARC facility amidst the COVID pandemic. 

By Larissa Romensky and Jo Printz Courtesy ABC News

Dilhani Dissanayake wants everyone to know a cinnamon peeler is actually a person and not a tool.

Key points:

• Cinnamon comes from the inner bark of a tree and is a spice native to Sri Lanka
• The spice was discovered by the Portuguese in the 16th century and later commercialised by the Dutch
• Cinnamon peelers have performed the labour-intensive task of skilfully peeling the spice, historically under brutal slave-like conditions

She has been so passionate about her own cultural history she completed her PhD thesis on the history of the cinnamon peelers in Sri Lanka.

Dr Dissanayake says the popular spice is native to Sri Lanka and is part of the country’s cultural identity.

“It’s come to represent Sri Lankan culture and its people’s identity,” she said.

A person and not a tool

Dr Dissanayake said cinnamon began being used in Sri Lanka as a traditional Ayurvedic medicine before it was used as a spice.

It has been harvested for centuries by peeling the inner bark of several trees of the same species and then processed as quills or powder.

Dr Dissanayake’s thesis explores this history with a particular emphasis on the often neglected figure of the cinnamon peeler.

“No-one talks about the hardships and the sacrifices the peelers made to get that product to market,” she said.

“Cinnamon peelers were among the agents who expanded Sri Lankan culture beyond the island’s shores.”

The peelers have been an intrinsic part of the labour-intensive processes for centuries with the skills often passed on between generations.

Dr Dissanayake said on average it took about five to seven years to perfect the skill of peeling cinnamon.

“The peeling process is really intensive and relies on local knowledge, expert skills, dexterity and patience,” she said.

During Sri Lanka’s pre and colonial era, peelers were from the lowest Sinhalese Salagama caste.

When the country came under Dutch rule in the mid-1600s, after seizing control from the Portuguese, the Dutch took control of the prized spice by commercialising the industry through the creation of plantations and often brutalised workers.

“They had their ears cut off and were confined in chains and also whipped and branded,” Dr Dissanayake said.

Popular spice has lesser known history

Dr Dissanayake said she was at a Bendigo-based event where local Indian people were speaking about their culinary culture when an Australian friend asked her whether cinnamon was a seed, fruit or flower.

“I was shocked to hear my friend knew nothing about it, although it is tasted in many foods, like donuts, cereals and curries,” Dr Dissanayake said.

The experience inspired Dr Dissanayake to pursue her PhD at La Trobe University in the history of the cinnamon peelers.

Dr Dissanayake and her husband first came to Bendigo so she could study a Master of community planning and development seven years ago.

“I really didn’t know anything about Bendigo, we didn’t have any friends here, no relative, and here we were in this strange climate,” she said.

“Now I know lots of people and I’m really glad we are here.

“To be somewhere where the same people greet us every day, that makes it feel homely.”

World’s largest exporter

Whereas Sri Lanka once monopolised the trade of cinnamon, it has become only the fourth largest producer globally, but has remained the world’s largest exporter of the popular spice.

Cinnamon is now grown in many parts of Asia and other tropical climates, with Indonesia now the world’s largest cinnamon producer.

Dr Dissanayake said there were two types of commercial cinnamon; Ceylon cinnamon, which was native to Sri Lanka, and the cheaper cassia cinnamon, primarily produced in Indonesia.

“Sri Lanka has the true cinnamon,” she said.

Dr Dissanayake said today workers continue to manually peel cinnamon, despite attempts by government to mechanise the process with machines.

By Anuradha Herath Courtesy Ceylon Today

Are you still the National Organiser of the SLPP?

A: I have never held the position of National Organiser.

But, you are referred to as such? 

A: No, I have only conducted the creative work of the party. Mahinda Rajapaksa has functioned as the leader of our party.

Haven’t issues pertaining to election laws and regulations come to the fore? 

A: I am not the main representative. In the past, I was entrusted with the job of looking into the needs of the public.

But, didn’t any issue emerge in this connection at that time? 

A: There was no necessity for the emergence of such issues. If we could have formed a Government, taking a post was not a problem. We care not afraid of those internal issues among some.

The Chairman of the Election Commission  said at the time that you, after resigning from your post as the party National Organiser, had proceeded to perform your duty in the COVID-19 Committee?

A: Yes, I left that post. But, I did not do any political work at the time. From the moment nominations for the August Poll had been submitted I had left that post and did my work. As a person who upholds the respectful style of work I resigned from my post and did my duty devoid of party politics.

What is your current role? 

A: Now my main task is to work towards the victory of the SLPP-led alliance at the coming Polls. Now while being engaged in party politics I have taken a break from State duties. That is not because of the law but due to my personal policies.

The SLPP is demanding a two-thirds majority at the August Poll, to introduce new amendments to the Constitution. What are these new amendments that you propose to introduce?

A: The Constitution that was formed in 1972 did not last that long. The 1976 Constitution that was changed by JR also became a radical one. That Constitution was created based on the Executive Presidency. That constantly underwent changes during various Governments. The biggest such change was the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. That was not established by even the politicians. That was given to us by a foreign power by force. Then, till up to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution several plasters had been pasted on this Constitution. Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who was in that Committee which proposed that Amendment, is now claiming at public rallies, that the 19th Amendment that had been finally adopted is not what they had formulated initially.  We are of the concerted view that the entire Constitution has to be overhauled.

Isn’t it your task to enlighten the masses before the Poll on what these new Amendments, that you intend to introduce to the Constitution, are?

A: We have already alluded to it, but we cannot explain everything at public rallies. Especially a new Constitution that guarantees a unitary State has to be enacted with the necessary changes to the current electioneering system. And this has to incorporate all ethnicities living here. First and foremost the franchise of the people has to be guaranteed through the formulation of a new Constitution.

The Opposition has alleged that the Government is demanding a two-thirds majority at the coming Poll to sign controversial Pacts such as MCC. Actually, what is the stance of the Government regarding the controversial Pact?

A: To sign the MCC Pact there is no need for a two-thirds majority. They had signed the MCC Pact. Our national resources have also been sold. To do those things under the then UNF-led regime they never sought a two-thirds majority.

We will never sell our national assets. And, we will never allow those who sell national assets any room. It has always been a UNP Government that sold national assets. It is recorded in history that the Rajapaksa Government always safeguarded the country’s sovereignty, independence and national security.

At the previous Presidential Poll you promised that totally new representatives will be fielded at the General Election. But, majority of the contestants are those who have been implicated in criminal, corruption, fraud, wastage and similar cases like illegal sand mining, those importing ethanol etc. How can the public anticipate a radical change from the SLPP?

A: If not for sand mining how can houses be built in the country? If not for soil how can the roads be constructed. The people still consume ethanol. The majority of ethanol in this country is produced at the Pelawatta and Sevanagala factories and sugarcane farmers are noted for earning high revenues through it.

I am going to ask again, should those against whom the aforesaid charges are levelled be sent to the Parliament?

A: It is up to the people to select the most suitable out of the lot at the end of the day. There is some form of opposition to get rid of the preference vote system introduced by J.R. Jayewardene. If any political party has fielded unsuitable politicians at an election then it is up to the voters to reject such people. 

Then what is your view regarding charges directed at some over misusing public property?

A: Most such allegations are only canards spread by their rivals. Even I had been charged with distribution of GI pipes and I have never even seen those pipes. I was charged with misappropriation of State property. I am still going to the Court and I also go to the Police Station to sign documents. The charges directed at me have not even been levelled against a criminal. These charges are wholly unjust and I know for a fact that I have been politically victimised. However, I have the implicit trust in the Judiciary.

One of the contestants from your party recently claimed that the SLPP has fielded even horses and donkeys at the Poll. What is your comment regarding that statement?

A: I do not know whether we have given nominations to any horses or donkeys. But, some in the nomination board may have been.  I request not to use the names of animals to describe such persons as it would be highly disrespectful for the animals concerned.

Several members from the Rajapaksa family are contesting the election this time. What is your comment on that? 

A: It is that same franchise exercised by the voters that catapulted another Rajapaksa to the Presidency last year, and another one to the Premiership. I also do not think that there is any new Rajapaksa in this election. Nobody is saying that he withdrew. It was only Gotabaya Rajapaksa who came to the post of Defence Secretary. But, now he happens to be the President with the majority consent of the people of this land. 

There was renewed hope that once Gotabaya became the President that he will create a country where all will be treated equally before the law. But, some claim that this has not happened?

A: Tell me where the law has treated citizens here differently. I am yet to come across such incidents. It may be the case for those who look at everything from an racist point of view. But, today the law is treating all equally in this country. The President has shown this through his exemplary conduct. He has taken off his security. If he had not taken it then it is wrong. He does not travel abroad willy-nilly and his office has not been overstaffed. As he said there is no poster campaign in his electioneering work. Therefore, show me examples of where the law has treated people differently under the President’s watch.

As an example, after the 13th century historic building in the Kurunegala District was bulldozed, where the Buwaneka Hotel was situated, a Minister claimed that he would never allow anyone to lay a finger on the Kurunegala Mayor. Isn’t this clearly an instance of politicians taking the law into their hands?

A: differently If I were to express my views on it then I cannot be biased or I cannot even be unbiased. Just like the earlier issue regarding horses and donkeys I intend not to take sides on this incident. Let the people decided on it at the election. The President, PM, the party and I myself, have taken a firm decision not to air any comments that could be either advantageous or disadvantageous to our contestants.  But, my belief is that it would be better if we could eschew such statements. It is more than sufficient for the people to think in which direction this Government is heading looking at the work performed by the caretaker regime in the past eight months. Some of the pressing issues tackled effectively by this Government have been the curbing the COVID-19 pandemic spread which has been exemplary in the world, and the operations to bust illegal drugs and acts of crimes along with the silencing of the underworld. Also the measures that have been taken on behalf of the farming community have to be highlighted. The best yardstick of this Government’s efficiency is how we sent essential services to people’s doorstep during the lockdown period. The Government for the first time intervened to purchase harvests. The difference between this regime and the previous UNF-led regime is there to be seen for all. The previous Government struggled to look into the plight of people affected by the Salawa ammunitions blast, Mawanella earth slips, the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage mound etc. A sum of Rs. 5000 was given to over 7 million families affected by the crisis situation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Try to see the difference.

What was the delay in the issuance of the Gazette Notification containing the health guidelines to be adopted at the 5 August General Election? Was it finally issued for the sake doing so?

A: Usually the Gazette was not delayed and it was issued at the right time. 

Though a Gazette Notification was issued there is no official to implement its recommendations. Hence is there any use in its publication. Why are the PHIs, not granted the necessary powers to carry out the recommendations?

A: No, it should not been granted to the PHIs. The PHIs have been clearly informed to carry out the duties mentioned in their appointment letters. If they do that then it would suffice. They do not need to venture beyond that.

How do you respond to the Opposition’s allegation that a second wave of COVID-19 emerged due to the negligence and over dependence on the Poll by the Government?

A: Is there any so-called second wave of the pandemic. I am not aware of it.

The head of the Election Commission had previously issued independent statements. But, he recently said that the conduct of the next month’s Poll will only be halted if the world were to come to a standstill in its rotation. Some are charging that the Government has begun to intimidate the EC?

A: We have various views and criticisms regarding the head of the EC and its members. But, those criticisms we have not made public at anytime. We have always made them at the right time. We believe that the EC is an independent body. But, there is an issue here on the interpretation of the word independent. We have to sort out whether this word means the independence of the members of the EC or whether it entails the work performed by the EC. The Election Commission is sizeable machinery. In the history of elections here the voters had braved many instances of violence to cast their votes. On all such instances the EC had stood like a beacon to conduct polls in the past. Hence we have the utmost confidence in the EC. The decision taken by them to postpone the GE on 24 April was the right decision in my book. The decision taken to stage the Poll next month, come what may, is also the correct one. We have our criticism. But, when those who know that they cannot win an election they tend to take the EC to task.

Though some say there is no tussle for preference votes there are more than enough examples for it. To some of those in the SLFP, those in the SLPP are casting serious aspersions. In Moneragala Jagath Pushpakumara was jeered publicly. On the other hand Minister Prasanna Ranatunga is continuing to virulently attack former President Maithripala Sirisena. What are your views?

A: How can we overcome the fight for preference votes? At the time of the handover of nominations two to three got ignored. Tell me whether anyone likes to lose. This should be further clarified as not being a tussle for preference votes but only as a contest.

You mentioned that a majority of MPs should be elected on the SLPP ticket. At the Presidential Poll several parties linked up with your alliance. Do you have any intention of discarding them at the GE?

A: I told you that three will definitely lose. 

What do you mean by it? 

A: Our party leader is Mahinda Rajapaksa. It is only to him, that in the contest for preference votes, voters will cast their official votes as a party. To all others it will only be one. Then if taken as an alliance all are in it together. All are contesting under the SLPP ticket. In that, various parties and organizations had submitted their nominations. These various parties and organizations are conducting their campaigns towards the victory of their candidates. Some might say the horse should be supported. There are still some who contest under the symbol of the horse as well. 

There are also those who had ridden the horse and carried out propaganda work? 

A: The symbol of those who had ridden it is the horse.

Is that right? 

A: What is wrong in it? 

In this situation would the propaganda work be impeded?

A: Without carrying out publicity work how are you going to display your symbol? 

Then what would become of the election laws and regulations? Are you of the view that those regulations should be ignored?

A: Then tell me whether those contesting under the hand symbol cannot they take it. Do you mean their hands should be chopped off?

Do you reckon that the flower bud too should be carried out? 

A: Yes. For a considerable period of time we contested under the hand symbol. It was displayed by us without any hitch. What I am saying here is not that we are going to ignore the instructions of the EC. What we are raising here is whether the stance of the EC is justified or fair. I am not criticizing the EC. The shortcomings prevalent in the provisions contained in Sections of the Parliamentary Election Act No. 1 of 1981 has to be addressed urgently and not just those in the Constitution.

Lastly, we would like to seek your views regarding what you would want to appeal to the people as the person in charge of the management of the SLPP?

A: The only appeal that I would like to make to the people is to allow the SLPP to form a strong Government in Parliament in order to carry out the proposals stipulated in the manifesto of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the last Presidential Poll. I can vouch for the fact that the President, during his term, will wipe out the underworld and illegal drugs from this country. He will also usher in a revitalised economy to this nation and to accomplish these aims we seek a two-thirds majority.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another person has tested positive for COVID-19 this evening (24), taking the confirmed positive cases tally to 2,764, the Ministry of Health said.

According to the Department of Government Information, this latest coronavirus case is an arrival from the United Kingdom.

As per the Epidemiology Unit’s statistics, a total of 659 patients infected with the virus are currently under medical care at hospitals.

In the meantime, the number of recoveries reported from the disease in the country moved up to 2,094 earlier today.

Sri Lanka has thus far witnessed 11 deaths due to the virus outbreak.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has paid his attention to amend the Antiquities Ordinance in order to strengthen the preservation of antiquities and historical national heritage.

President accordinglyl decided to appoint a committee comprising Maha Sangha and experts in the field to study how the amendments should take place.

The proposed amendment seeks to stop the destructions caused to antiquities that has been going on for a long time and to pass on the country’s heritage to the future generation while resolving practical issues, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

This decision was taken by the President during the fourth meeting with the Buddhist Advisory Council held at the Presidential Secretariat today (24).

Courtesy Adaderana

UPDATE (11:23AM): The COVID-19 patient, who was apprehended after making his escape this morning, has been brought back to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH).

In the meantime, the driver of the three-wheeler in which the escapee travelled in, has been directed to the quarantine centre in Kandakadu.

The COVID-19 patient, who escaped from the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), has been apprehended by the Sri Lanka Army a short while ago.

Army Chief Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva said the escapee was located near the National Hospital of Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Several teams of the Army were deployed earlier to discover the suspect who had fled this morning (24).

According to Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon, the escapee had initially gone to the Main Street in Pettah after breaking out of the hospital at around 2.00 am today.

Investigations are currently underway to determine how the escapee reached the Main Street, the Senior DIG added.

He has then arrived at the Colombo National Hospital in a three-wheeler.

The 41-year-old was being treated at the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre in Kandakadu for his severe drug addiction.

He was admitted to the Welikanda Base Hospital on the 9th of July after testing positive for COVID-19 while at the rehabilitation centre. He was subsequently transferred to the IDH on the 15th of July.

The escapee, named Mohammed Kasim Mohammed Nasim, is a resident of Marble Beach Road, China Bay in Trincomalee.

Courtesy Hiru News

Retired Defense Secretary Major General Kamal Gunaratne says that the reason for the creation of underworld activities is the lack of proper implementation of the law.

Commenting to the media after a ceremony held at Rajarata University today, he noted that if the country continued as it has in the past few years,  a woman would not even be able to move freely on a road.

He said that despite the threats to his life, he would not give up the fight against the underworld.

Courtesy Hiru News

One (01) more person confirmed for Covid -19: SL Country total increases to 2,764

Friday, 24 July 2020 – 18:33

Courtesy Hiru News

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa says that Colombo will be converted into a city without shanty dwellings. 

The Prime Minister said this while he was addressing a function at the Colombo Foundation Institute today.

Courtesy Hiru News

IDH The police and the health sector are conducting further investigations to find out how the coronavirus infected person who escaped while receiving treatment at the hospital arrived in Pettah this morning.

This is due to the contradictory statements he has made so far.

The suspect first jumped out of a window of the hospital building where he was staying and then escaped from the hospital wall around 2.00 am this morning.

He had later told the police that he had come to Angoda Junction and walked along the Low-Level Road to the Grandpass area via Orugodawatta.

He had then hired a three-wheeler in the Grandpass area and arrived at the Colombo National Hospital due to an exacerbation of a chronic ailment in his leg.

According to the police, the victim and the three-wheeler driver residing in the Maligawatta area are being investigated on the basis of CCTV footage due to providing conflicting statements.

While the coronavirus infected patient was staying near the OPD of the Colombo National Hospital, two hospital employees had informed the police and taken steps to get him into custody.

The hospital staff had identified him after his photo was posted on the internet.

The victim was identified as Elsiam Naseem, 41, of Vallimalar, Trincomalee.

He was admitted to the quarantine center at the Mullaitivu Army camp on May 11 due to the coronavirus infection.

He was later admitted to the Welikanda Base Hospital after being diagnosed with the coronavirus infection during a PCR examination at the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center, where he had been referred due to his drug addiction.

That was on the 10th.

Investigations have revealed that he was admitted to the IDH hospital on the 15th.

This person has been referred again today to the Angoda National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

The health department and the police are conducting an extensive investigation to find those who made contact with him close to the places where he was discharged from the hospital.

Police Media Spokesperson SSP Jaliya Senaratne further stated that since the coronavirus infected person was identified before being admitted to the National Hospital, there are no concerns regarding the infection at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Government Information Department stated that 11 coronavirus infected persons have been reported so far today. Nine of them are detainees at the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center, while the other is a close associate.

Accordingly, the total number of corona infections found in the country will increase to 2764.

Courtesy Hiru News

Rumor being spread that Central Bank is pledging USD 4.5 billion worth of US Treasury Securities to obtain credit facility of USD 1 billion is completely false.

CBSL has issued the following notice in this regard

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has recently entered into an agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank, New York (FED) as a temporary source of US dollar liquidity to be used when required. The facility, in technical jargon, is an overnight Repurchase (Repo) facility available for Foreign and International Monetary Authorities” (FIMA). Many central banks in the world have resorted to this facility to meet their short-term US dollar liquidity requirements. This facility enables a Central Bank to secure short-term funding when needed, without having to make any sudden structural adjustments to its long-term investment portfolios in foreign exchange. 

As part of the contingency plans to meet COVID-19 related difficulties, the CBSL has decided to pledge a sum of USD 1 billion worth of US Treasury Bonds held in the CBSL reserve and enter into the above type of Repo facility with the FED. This would permit the CBSL to raise USD 1 billion in cash form when required. When this Repo facility is settled by the CBSL, there will be no change in the CBSL Reserve position as the FED would release the pledged bonds back to the CBSL. The cost to the CBSL would be the applicable Repo fee, which is about 0.35 per cent per annum. 

The CBSL has entered into this agreement with the FED, but no borrowings have yet been made. Withdrawing from the facility at any point is at the discretion of the CBSL.

The statement found widely in media that the CBSL is pledging USD 4.5 billion worth of US Treasury Securities to obtain a credit facility of USD 1 billion is totally false. The CBSL wishes to reiterate that this facility is not extraordinary by any measure and constitutes an independent financial instrument available for use when required by central banks around the world.

Courtesy Hiru News

President to appoint an experts committee to study how to amend the Archaeological Act.

The decision was taken by the President during the fourth session of the Presidential Buddhist Advisory Council held at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (24).

The President has stated that no one will be allowed to damage the historical heritage or archeological value of any sacred place and that all such places will be considered and protected as a national heritage.

President  Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also stated that steps will be taken to increase the annual financial allocation to the Department of Archeology and to fill the staff shortage.

There is much controversy over East Terminal of Colombo Port with India & Japan claiming that a Memorandum of Cooperation signed in May 2019 with the previous Government, binds the present government from giving both joint venture stakes in the terminal. In this course of debate there is reference to honoring commitments made and also warrants requoting of a phrase used in the MOC signed with the previous government. Is it because of ‘long-standing goodwill’ that India helped train, arm, financial support & provided logistics services to Tamil armed terrorists from 1970s? Is it because of ‘long-standing goodwill’ that the Indian Peace Keepers sent with assurance to disarm LTTE within 24 hours ended up not only raping women but killing all 3 communities in Sri Lanka? Is it because of ‘long-standing goodwill’ that India forced Sri Lanka to sign a bogus peace-accord and even tweak Sri Lanka’s constitution creating a provincial council system the nation did not want or ask for & is a burden to the tax payers? Is it because of ‘long-standing goodwill’ that India plots regime change and overthrowing of governments that don’t tow its line? What has Sri Lanka done wrong for India to be so hostile and function as a bully? Nothing that we know of, except that India envies Sri Lanka’s geopolitical positioning and dislikes Sri Lanka to develop while also developing relations with anyone other than India.

Being July, Sri Lankan’s have not too many fond memories of its relations with India. Having invaded Sri Lanka’s territory to drop dhal threatening to take military action if Sri Lanka were to stop India, Prabakaran was whisked off to Delhi & prevented from being captured by Sri Lankan troops. Prabakaran was kept in Delhi until JR Jayawardena then President of Sri Lanka signed the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord under emergency rule with even his own cabinet not aware of the contents of the said agreement. The Agreement itself is faulty and historically erroneous and went on to force constitutional change by introducing an unwanted 13a that divided Sri Lanka into 9 provinces and merged the north and east temporarily. All of the conditions that India promised to commit to, India did not follow-through and has failed to honor, virtually nullifying the agreement by the legal fact that conditions were not met.

Not stopping there, India went on to toy with Prabakaran even tapping his deputy Mahaththaya who ended up tortured to death for betraying Prabakaran. All the while India’s Centre was well aware of LTTE & other militants using Chennai (Madras) as its logistics hub and just like the West allowing LTTE fronts to operate from their shores, India did the same. These are no goodwill actions of a friendly nation towards a friend. Be that as it may, while helping LTTE militancy on the one hand, India was using the ‘our concern for Tamils’ with the other hand to exert tremendous pressure on Sri Lanka. The excuse given by Indira Gandhi for assisting militancy was her displeasure at JR Jayawardena’s affinity towards US when she was aligned to Russia but fast forward to present India is bosom pals with US and is partners of America’s pivot to Asia. India plotted regime change to oust Rajapakse as punishment for allowing submarines from China to enter Sri Lankan shores and now India is America’s partner not only signing defense pacts but now a partner of QUAD and engaged in joint training with US marines and India is virtually inviting its balkanization while putting entire region in jeopardy & chaos in time to come.

India has recently entered the news for secret meetings with TNA politicians. https://www.kubiyonews.com/local-news/ඉන්දීය-නියෝජ්%E2%80%8Dය-මහකොමසාර/?fbclid=IwAR0Gtac6pKIPAIljo6QHuSJelGJlQYl6yLnFkWIOV3iZYWvxG3_MptQjvdI

The media also reported that teams of Indian intel have landed to upset and change the election result. We now wonder whether the decision to start counting the votes the day after elections is part of this plot & question the locals tapped for this plot.

Then the startling disclosure at the Easter Sunday Commission with the news of Indian intel aware of jihadi attacks also forces us to wonder whether India is doing a LTTE with the jihadis. These are no small diplomatic bullying. These acts have caused hundreds and thousands of lives and Sri Lanka cannot even think of following an appeasing line with India thinking that giving what India demands is going to stop India from its bullying ways. It is only likely to increase with every giveaway that makes Sri Lanka ever vulnerable and weak. The giving in & allowing consulates in Jaffna, Kandy & Hambantota are today hotspots for various destabilizing networks taking place. The Trinco Oil Tank issue has led to Sri Lanka having to ask a foreign nation to use its own assets! We have been brought down to such low levels in our own country! Had the previous Govt given India monopoly over distribution of petrol we would have even faced a similar situation that Nepal faced when India blocked its borders preventing food medicine and petro reaching Nepal.

Imagine the Ports & Airports where the entry & exit points for Sri Lanka are under control of India!

It is in this context that we come to the subject of this discussion the demanding of Colombo East Terminal by India.

There is much that the previous government has to account for. Having come to power in 2015, the current East Terminal crisis unfolded as result of its poor choice of Minister & putting a closure to the development of the East Terminal being done since 2013 utilizing State funds by the SLPA. If the process had been allowed to continue a developed ECT would have been in operation by 2016. We are yet to even know the cost of cancelling the tender given to operate the cranes in 2015 and thankfully the Minister was changed in 2017 May but the damage of his tenure is said to have been Rs.4billion.

In August 2017 the then President declares ECT would not be privatized & would be run by SLPA going on to say that if ECT is privatized the SLPA would have to close down in 10 years. Yet, exactly 7 months later, the same President is holding discussions with the Prime Ministers of both India & Japan regarding developing ECT.

Confounding matters is that India’s nominee to develop Sri Lanka’s ECT is the very company not only developing Ports in India with intent to divert current Sri Lanka handled transshipment to India, but the very party now handling the Chahabar Port in Iran which India has been fidgeting with, without developing. Would the Indian company that is building India’s ports to divert Sri Lanka’s transshipment to India, wish to develop Sri Lanka’s port that would anyway have an edge over India’s ports however developed they are on account of Sri Lanka’s geopolitical positioning being viable for vessels in terms of logistics costs? https://www.adaniports.com/Ports-and-Terminals

Giving India to develop ECT is not only commercially a threat to Sri Lanka but there are major political implications too. We have enough of past experiences not to have to spell out these dangers.

Moreover, the MoC published on a media site claims India & Japan would ‘manage ECT’ for ‘long periods’– exactly how long is this? However beneficial for the country if the yen loan interest component is also to go on for ‘long periods’? Clause 5 speaks of a study – has this been done, by whom and where is the report? Clause 5 also speaks of a joint working group meeting – who sits on this and what are their conclusions?

1. What was the conclusions or recommendations made regarding control and operations of ECT?
2. What is the scope of the yen loan & how beneficial is such an arrangement for Sri Lanka?
3. Since issuing of this MoC what has been the steps taken vis a vis the partnership?
4. What are the terms & conditions concluded and more importantly what is the duration of this cooperation as that would determine the key aspect of yen loan?

What is clear is that the MoC does not carry or indicate any clear outright handover of control or operations to India or Japan. A MoC is NOT LEGALLY BINDING. It is only a means to outlinethe terms and details of the agreement before actual contract is signed. No contract was signed.

The strategic importance of Colombo Port

Lack of national policy should not sacrifice an islands’ most strategic asset – its ports & harbours. Every entry & exit point to an island is of strategic importance. Colombo Port is one of Sri Lanka’s most strategic locations in the Indian Ocean.

With over 30,000 vessels operating along the East-West shipping route the objective is to attract these ships to Colombo Port. Currently 23 major shipping lines and 7 feeder services operate out of Colombo. Colombo Port is one of the most economical ports in South Asia reputed for its fast turnaround time. EDI and other state of the art technology & control systems is improving its services. In 2019 JCT handled 7m TEUs. SAGT handled just 2m TEUs in 2018. ECT must remain under SLPA to maintain its container terminal business.

India has to face the hard truth that it is no goodwill partner. Sri Lanka can produce a list of partnerships that have been one-sided and based on threats and bullying. This is not a healthy partnership and one that Sri Lanka can continue given the stakes involved.

Sri Lanka must certainly have good relations with all countries at varying levels but Sri Lanka should not become ground for rivalries especially against a country (China) that has done no harm to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka must also never forget the countries that have been with Sri Lanka without a trace of animosity. ‘Long standing goodwill’ does not apply to some nations whatever they claim on paper. We cannot forget the countries that have aided & abetted terrorism and terror in Sri Lanka. These countries can never espouse to be put on par with countries that have done no harm to Sri Lanka.  Diplomatic niceties cannot replace the damage they have done & no one can blame the Sri Lankan populace to be reminding an elected government of these past demeanors. All erroneous decisions are suffered not by politicians but the citizens!

The hidden objectives of AID, PROPOSALS, RECOMMENDATIONS were all ignored resulting in Sri Lanka’s sovereignty being tweaked & tampered. Agreements cannot compromise the national security & overall well-being of the citizens. No amount of international goodwill is of any value if the country’s wellbeing has to be sacrificed & compromised.

Shenali D Waduge

By Charles.S.Perera

Nearly 7 million people have elected Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka on the 16 November,2019 approving his Presidential election manifesto  Saubhaagye Dakma or the Ten  Principles of Inclusive Governance. According to democracy we claim to practice in Sri Lanka, all the people of Sri Lanka belonging to different political parties whether they voted or not for  Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka have to accept the verdict of the majority of the people, and accept  Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka and his political manifesto as the political  plan of development of Sri Lanka for the next five years. 

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End of last year saw Sajith Premadasa pushing himself  to the maximum, claiming to have in him  dynamic power, and genes of the dead to rule Sri Lanka as its President,  as no President  had ever done  before. 

But with all those unrestrained outbursts he was defeated at the election and got blown off like an empty  balloon. He then disappeared from circulation”, and  the people wondered  what had happened to him.  However, he next showed up as the leader of the opposition in the parliament chasing the media personnel from entering his office. Sajith Premadasa  who says he  is democratric does not seem to have  accepted the President of Sri Lanka elected with an overwhelming majority as his President as well, and showed that he is all out to make governing difficult for the President, by refusing to pass the vote on account presented to the Parliament by the government.  

After dissolution of the Parliament and a general  election was called for the election of the members of the Parliament,  Sajith Premadasa reappeared before the public , as a leader of a Political party  Samagi jana balavegaya, this time asking the people  to elect him to be the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He has refurbished his old speeches he used last year for his failed presidential election campaign,  and renders them with revived mechanical vigors he claims to have,  swearing once again to the public in his election campaign meetings, that he still has those machine power and genes of the dead to carry him forward and if fortune would smile a little more brighter this time to rule the country”, as the Prime Minister !! 

If what is said about democracy still holds good, one does not get elected as a Prime Minister, but the President of the country appoints a member of the Parliament who in his opinion is most likely to command the confidence of the Parliament, in terms of the Constitution of the country,   Therefore  it is presumptuous  for Sajith Premadasa to go round asking the people to elect him to be the Prime Minister, or as a matter of fact even Ranil Wickramasinghe, or Mahinda Rajapakse to do so.

However, Sajith Premadasa relying on the dynamism of his youth, and the genes of the dead he claims to have in his possession,  recently answered questions at a public show in  his best British Council English accent, where he ignored the President of Sri Lanka as a mere individual in a country where there is a tripartite rule under the Constitution. And explained how  he is going to implement the election manifesto he has just launched.

But tripartite or no, the President of Sri Lanka has been elected by a large majority of the people of the country to carry out his Presidential election manifesto, and the same people at the same time rejected Sajith Premadasa from having anything to do with the Presidency of Sri Lanka. 

In such a situation Sajith Premadasa if elected has only to work with the elected President of the Sri Lanka His Excellency Gotabaya Rajapakse, who has already started the implementation of his Manifesto – The Ten Principles of Inclusive Governance. Sajith Premadasa has no alternative, but to fall in line with the Democratic System and wait to see what  His Excellency the President of Sri lanka Gotabaya Rajapakse will decide after the general election of the Parliament. Will Sajith Premadasa be the Prime Minister ? Que sera sera….

However, Podujana Peramuna  is asking the people to give them a two third majority in the parliament at the elections,  to have an edge over other political parties to expect that its leader may be appointed as the Prime Minister. That is a wiser move, than that of  Sajith Premadasa who blinded by Prime Ministerial ambition seems already to have taken the role of  an executive Prime Minister perhaps dreaming once elected,  to relegate his excellency  the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to a role of a ceremonial President. Ranil Wickramasinha,  not wanting to play a second role to Sajith Premadasa in front of the people, also claims the  position of the Prime Minister in the next Parliament !!! 

It is all a guessing game for Sajith’s supporters and those of Ranil, which election manifesto is Sri Lanka going to implement ?  But they have all forgotten that nearly 7 million people have accepted the Presidential political manifesto of His Excellency the President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa-the  Vision of Prosperity or  the Ten  Principles of Inclusive Governance

Sajith Premadasa seems to be at the peak  of pushing his youth, dynamos, and the genes of the dead he possesses. His aim now is to bait voters- UNP’s old tactic which it used successfully to fool the voters to vote against President Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential election in 2015, which was to promise a salary increase of Rs.30000,00 to government servants.  That worked, and Sajith Premadasa seems to hold onto the same old tactic   this time,  promising everyone  an allowance of Rs.20,000,00, and Ranil Wickramasinhe promising Rs.10,000,00.

Rightly speaking,  the Commissioner of Elections should prohibit candidates making  election promises of  financial aid or grants if elected. It is as good as giving  bags of cements, or roof sheets. If the Election Commission stopped giving appointments to employ unemployed  graduates as he said it is  against the Election Law, so should be promises of  financial aid  or allowances  if elected. 

The people should look at these parliamentary candidates like Sajith Premadasa, or Ranil Wickramasinghe as potential trouble makers in a future parliament where the President has presented a workable election manifesto to modernise Sri Lanka bringing it out of the mess into which several of the former governments which had acted for their own  or for the benefit of their clan members  rather than to help the country and its people as a whole. After 72 years,  it is time Sri Lanka  agrees for a common plan  of development without different political parties proposing their own, each wanting to take credit for the final outcome.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has formed an alliance and also present their own political manifesto  asking people to give them a chance to carry out their proposals. That means JVP and its alliance of political partners are asking the people to allow them to try  out their plan to make Sri Lanka  their guinea-pig” to see whether their proposed method would help in the development of the country. Is it that the people want ? Allow political parties to carry out experiments  with the country and its people to see whether their methods will work better  than those previous methods that had been tried and mostly failed ?

Is not that what Sri Lanka had been doing since  independence ?  Sajith Premadasa as much as Ranil Wickramasinha have not tried out any plans before and got results to show the people that they have the best method to develop the country.  The result of these political experimenting left us with a thirty year of separatist terrorism,  and today with a  country in a financial cricis with an economic groth less than that of Afghanistan the result of a four years of Yahapalanaya  in the midst ofa pandemic. 

Until 2005 no one came forward with any suggestion to end the terrorism and put Sri Lanka onto a path of development. Now Sajith Premadasa, having failed to have been elected the President wants to be the Prime Minister,  to carry out the same programme of development he proposed when he campaigned as the Presidential Candidate.   Sajith Premadasa as the Presidential candidate had to wait a long time to put forward his election manifesto which came much later than that of his  rival candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa,  and  Sajith Premadasa’s political manifesto some found  repeating in different terms  certain parts of  his rival Candidate Gotabhaya Rajpaksa’s manifesto.  Sajith Premadasa has no political vision and therefore  cannot produce any valid workable development plan.

His Excellency the President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was  and is a practical man.  He had gone through life the hard way as a battle hardened soldier knocking on the doors of death most of the time. And he proved after he was entrusted with the Defense Ministry as its Secretary that he can work with different people with different experience and get them all together to successfully end the terrorist war that lasted for thirty long years without any one even making a positive suggestion to end it.

Sarath Fonseka was in the helm of the Armed Forces in 2004 and was on the verge of retirement  when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was called to be the Secretary of Defence. It was Gotabaya Rajapakse who got Sarath Fonseka back to the army and made him  the Commander of it. But  Sarath Fonseka lacks the gratitude to accept it. But Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a silent man who does not want to take credit for what he does. To him it does not matter whether one appreciates him or not, but  he wants a job of work well done, generous  to give credit for it.

Another criticism leveled against the Government  by the Sajith Premadasa, and also coming from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna  is against promoting Sinhala Buddhism which for them  is racism. It is a wrong understanding of historical reality.  

Being Sinhala Buddhist is not being against Tamils , Muslims or any one else, it signifies a cultural trait of the people and an inane generosity  which makes Sinhala Buddhists a friendly people who are ready to accept into their  fold those who demand acceptance. 

It was that Sinhala Buddhist trait which saw even during the terrorist war” Sri Lanka Armed Forces sending lorry loads of food items to the people in war zones, the army saving thousands of people in distress kept as human shields by the terrorists, and the Sinhala Buddhists in the South sending to those people in refugee camps in the North packets of rice, clothes and dry rations almost on a regular basis. 

Lastly,  Sajith Premadasa complains that the government is only promoting a family,  Rajapaksa family.  This may sound so, and it  is an easy target of attack . But if one looks at that family objectively without any bias, one may realise that  it is not so. In a way Sri Lanka is fortunate in having had that Rajapakse family. It seems that Rajapakse  family has a natural ability  to attract people,  make that family  a refuge of safety, a family that has the  ability to foresee and deliver what makes others happy, giving them an assurance of peace.

What other family in Sri Lanka could make that claim ?