ජානක පෙරේරා විසිනි

වීරෝධාර ශ්‍රී ලංකා සන්නද්ධ හමුදාවන් විසින් ලොව ඉතාමත් බලසම්පන්න ත්‍රස්තවාදී සංවිධානයක් යුදමය වශයෙන් පරදා මෙම මැයි 18වනදාට එකොලොස් වසරකි. අපේ රණවිරුවන් ඉමහත් කැප කිරීම් මැද කොටි බෙදුම් වාදීන් පරදා ලබාගත් එම විජයග්‍රහණය පිලිබඳ මෙතෙක් ලියවී ඇති ලිපි සහ ප්‍රකාශයට පත් වී ඇති ඇගයීම් රැසකි.

එහෙයින් මෙම ලිපියේ අරමුණ ඒ ගැන අවධානය යොමු කිරීමට වඩා යුද්ධය සාපරාධී ලෙස දික් ගස්සා තව තවත් ජීවිත බිලිගත් ඊනියා සාම ක්‍රියාවලිය යලි මතක් කිරීමය. ඊට වග කිව යුතු දෙස් විදෙස් යටිකූට්ටු බලවේග අද වෙනත් වෙස්මුහුණු බැඳගෙන තවමත් අප අතර සිටිති. වැඩිම වුවහොත් වසර 12 කින් පමණ අවසන් කල හැකිව තිබු යුද්ධයක් දශක තුනක පමණ කාලයක් ඇදී යාමට වගකිවයුත්තන් අතර මොව්හුද වෙති. පසුගිය වසරේ මේ සමරුව දියාරු කිරීමටද බලපෑම් කලේද මේ ‘සංහිඳියා‘ කල්ලියයි.  ඔවුන්ට මේ සැමරුම ‘රණවිරු ගායකි.‘  උතුරේ සමහර කුහක දේශපාලකයන්ට සහ බටහිර පදිංචි කොටි හිතවාදී දමිළ ඩයස්පෝරාවට මේ දිනය දෙමළ ජනයා සංහාරය” කල දිනයයි (‘Tamil Genocide Day’).

වසර 1983 ජුලි 23 දා යාපනේ තිරුනල්වේලි හිදී  යුද හමුදා සෙබළුන් 13 දෙනෙකු මරා ‘විමුක්තියේ’ නාමයෙන් දෙමළ ජනයා කබලෙන් ලිපට ඇද දැමූ, සියගණන් දෙමළ තරුණ තරුණියන් (ළමා සොල්දාදුවන් ඇතුළුව) නිරපරාදේ වලපල්ලට යැවූ බෙදුම් වාදයේ පළමු සංග්‍රාමික වෙඩිල්ල තැබුවේ කොටින් වුවද වසර 30 කට ආසන්න කාලයක් පැවති එම ලේ වැගිරීම් වල මූලික වගකීම ඔවුන්ට පැවරීමට මේ ‘සාම’ වෙළෙන්දෝ මැලි වෙති.  විදෙස් මුදලින් නඩත්තු වන මොවුන්ගේ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන වල යටි අරමුණ වුයේ කොටි බෙදුම්වාදය අනියම් ලෙසින් සාධාරණීය කර ඊට යම් න්‍යායික පදනමක් සැපයීමය. 

කොටි–විරෝධී යුද ප්රයත්නය කඩාකප්පල් වීමේ පළමු අවස්ථාව වුයේ වසර 1987 මැයි මස ඇරඹුණු වඩමාරච්චි සටනේදී කොටින් පරදා අපේ යුද හමුදාව ජයගන්නට ඉතාමත්ම ආසන්නව තිබියදී ඇතිවූ ඉන්දියානු මැදිහත් වීමය. එනිසා එතෙක් කෙරුනු යුද මෙහෙයුම නතර කරන්නට සිදුවීම එඩිතරව සටන් වැදුනු සෙබළුන් තුල ඇති කලේ බලවත් කලකිරීමකි.  ඉන්දියානු සාම සාධක හමුදාව මෙරටට ගොඩ බැසීමත් සමගම අපේ භටයන්ට යාපනයෙන් ඉවත් වන්නට සිදු වු විට ඇතැම් යාපන වැසියන්ගේ හූ තැබීම් වලටත් උසුළු විසුළු වලටත් ලක් වූහ.

එහෙත් එම වසර අවසන් වන්නට පෙර ඉන්දියානු හමුදාව සහ කොටින් අතර සටන් ඇරඹුණු විට එසේ රැවටුනු යාපන වැසියන් ගේ ඇස් ඇරුනි.   ඉන්දියානු සාම සාධක හමුදාව ගෙන්වා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට රාජ්‍යයට ‘පාඩමක්‘  ඉගැන්වීමට සිතු උතුරේ දේශපානඥයින් එම සටන් පටන් ගත් විට සිය ආරක්ෂාව පතා කොළඹට පැනගත්හ.  එනමුත් ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් පෙරමුණු නායක අප්පාපිල්ලේ අමිර්තලිංගම් ඇතුළු දමිළ නායකයන් දෙතුන් දෙනෙකුටම කොටි වෙඩි උණ්ඩ වලින් බේරීමට නොහැකි විය. 

ජනපති රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස මුලා කර ඉන්දියානු හමුදාව ආපසු යැවීමට කොටින් ඇතිකල ව්‍යාජ සටන් විරාමය ඔවුන්ට නැවත ශක්තිමත් වීමට කාලය ලබා ගැනීම යුද්ධය අතරමග නතර කරවීමේ දෙවන අවස්ථාව විය  ප්‍රේමදාස රජය රවටා අවි ආයුධද ලබාගත් කොටි, ඉන්දීය භටයින් වසර 1990 දී මෙරටින් පිටව ගිය විගස නැවත සටන් ඇරඹුවා පමණක් නොව සාමය වෙනුවෙන් යයි සිතා රජය කල ඉල්ලීම පරිදි අවි බිම තබා කොටින්ට යටත් වූ පොලිස් භටයන් 600 කගේ දෑත් බැඳ අමානුෂික ලෙස ඝාතනය කලහ. කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් කාත්තන්කුඩියේ  මුස්ලිම් පල්ලියකදී නිරායුධ මුස්ලිම් මිනිසුන් 150 කට ආසන්න පිරිසක් මරා දැමුවේද එම වසරේ අගෝස්තුවේදීය.  

ඊළඟ වසරේදී ඉන්දීය අගමැති රජීව් ගාන්ධි මරාගෙන මැරෙන කොටි තරුණියක් පුපුරවාගත් බෝම්බයකින් තමිල්නාඩුවේදී මිය ගියේය.  ඊට දෙවසරකට පසු ජනපති ප්‍රේමදාසටද සිය ජීවිතයෙන් වන්දි ගෙවීමට සිදු විය.  මේ ඝාතන දෙකම දුර දිග නොබලා කොටි හුරතල් කිරීමට තැත් කිරීමේ අනිටු විපාකයන්ය.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

සාම කොලොප්පම එතනින් නැවතුනේ නැත. එහි තෙවන අදියර ඇරඹුණේ චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග පාලන සමයේදීය. එහි ප්‍රධාන මැදිහත්කරුවෙකු වුයේ එවකට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රූපවාහිනී සංස්ථාවේ සභාපතිව සිට පසුව කොටි සංවිධානයේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මාධ්‍ය  ප්‍රකාශකයා වූ වසන්ත රාජාය.

වසර 1994 පටන්ගත් එම ‘සාම මධු සමය‘ අවසන් වුයේ 1995 අප්‍රේල් මසදී කොටින් විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවික හමුදා ප්‍රහාරක යාත්‍රා දෙකක් ගිල්වා දැමීමෙනි. ඉන්පසු ඇරඹුණු තුන්වැනි ඊළාම් යුද්ධයෙදී යාපනය ඇතුළු විශාල පෙදෙස් කිහිපයක් නැවත අල්වාගනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදා සමත් වූ නමුත් නැගෙනහිර තවමත් පැවතියේ කොටි පාලනයට නතුවය. සාම ගිවිසුම්  ඇතිකරගත් හැම විටකම එම කොන්දේසි උල්ලංගනය කරමින් පළමු පහරදීම් කලේ එල්.ටී.ටී.  ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් නුමුදු ඒ ගැන ඔවුන්ට දොස් පැවරීමට ඊනියා සාම ක්‍රියාකරිකයෝ අකමැති වුහ. 

අහිංසක ජීවිත සියගණනක් විනාශ කරමින්  වසර 1996 පිපිරවූ මහ බැංකු බෝම්බය, දෙහිවල දුම්රිය බෝම්බය, 1998 දී ‘ලයන් එයා’ ගුවන් යානයකට එල්ල කල මිසයිල ප්‍රහාරය සහ 1998 මහනුවර දළදා මාලිගයට එල්ල වූ බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය යනාදී කොටි අපරාධයන්ට මේ ව්‍යාජ ‘බුද්ධිමතුන්‘ දැක්වුයේ එවැනිම  ප්‍රතිචාරයකි. නැතහොත් දියාරු ‘විරෝධයකි‘.  ඔවුන්ගෙන් සමහරු බොහෝ විට උත්සාහ කලේ එය කොටින්ගේ නොව වෙනත් හඳුනානොගත් කණ්ඩායමක ක්‍රියාවන් විය හැකි බව ලොවට ඒත්තු ගැන්වීමට තැත් කිරීමයි.  ඊළඟ වසරේ (1999 දෙසැම්බරයේ) ජනපතිනි කුමාරතුංග  කොටි ඝාතන තැතකින් කොළඹදී බේරුනේ අනුනවයෙනි. මරාගෙන මැරෙන කොටි කතක් පුපුරවාගත් එම බෝම්බයෙන් ජනපතිනියගේ රියැදුරු සහ ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු 36 දෙනෙක් මිය ගිය අතර ජනපතිනියගේ එක් ඇසක් අන්ධ විය    

එහෙත් ‘සාම’ ප්‍රෝඩාව දිගටම පැවතින.  එහි උච්චතම අවස්ථාව එළඹියේ එතෙක් ලංකාව සහ ඉන්දියාව අතර පමණක් දෝලනය වූ ත්‍රස්තවාදී අර්බුදය ජාත්‍යන්තරකරණයට ලක්වීමත් සමගය.  ඒ වසර කිහිපයක් තිස්සේ තායිලන්තයේ, ජපානයේ, ජර්මනියේ සහ ස්විට්සර්ට්ලන්තයේ පැවති ‘සාම‘කතා  වල ප්‍රතිපලයකි. ඊට පහසුකම් සලසන ලද්දේ නෝවීජියානුවන් විසින්ය. ඒ සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සහ කොටි සංවිධායනය යන දෙපාර්ශවයෙන්ම නෝවේ රජයෙන් ඉල්ලීම් කර තිබින.   ජනවාර්ගික ප්‍රශ්නයට සාකච්චා මගින් දේශපාලන විසඳුමක්”  සෙවීමේ මුවාවෙන් ඇතිකරගත් සටන් විරාම ගිවිසුමට 2002 දී මග පෑදුනේ ඒ අයුරිනි. 

ඒ දක්වා මේ අර්බුදයට විසඳුම් සොයන ලද්දේ තනි රටක ප්‍රශ්නයක් ලෙස සලකමින්ය. එහෙත් සටන් විරාමයෙන් පසු සිදුවුයේ මහජන චන්දයෙන් පත්වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයත් ඊට විරුද්ධව රට දෙකඩ කිරීමට සටන් කරමින් සිටි කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදී කල්ලියත් සම තත්වයේ ලා සැලකීමය.  අඩුවකට තුබුනේ ‘දෙමළ ඊළාම්‘ සිහිනයට රජයට රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික මට්ටමින් විදෙස් පිළිගැනීමක් නොතිබීම පමණකි.  එහෙත් නොනිල වශයෙන් එය ‘දෙරටක‘ ප්‍රශ්නයක් ලෙස ලොවට පෙන්වන ලදී .   එයින් කොටින්ගේ උතුරු–නැගෙනහිර “නිජබිම් සංකල්පයට” සහ  ස්වයං තීරණ අයිතියට” ලැබුනේ ඉමහත් උත්තේජනයකි.   සටන් විරාම ගිවිසුමෙන් පසු උතුරේ ‘දෙමළ ඊළාමයට’ යාමට කොටි ගමන් බලපත්‍ර අවශ්‍යවිය. 

මේ රටේ වාසනාවට 2005 ‘සුනාමි සහන මණ්ඩලයෙන්‘ (Post-Tsunami Operational Management Sri Lanka) කොටින්ට අත්වන්නට තිබු තවත් වාසියක් වැලකුනේ යන්තමිනි.

ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කලදා සිට ලංකාවේ නිල හමුදා ශක්තිය සීමා කිරීමටත් එල්. ටී. ටී. සන්නද්ධ  ශක්තිය වැඩි කිරීමටත් කුමන්ත්‍රණ දියත් වන්නට විය.  ඉන් වඩාත් කැපී පෙනුනේ ඔවුන්ට නෝවේ රජයෙන් ලැබුනු යුද පුහුණුවයි. මේ කාලයේ ඇතැම් ‘වාමාංශික’ බක පණ්ඩිතයෝ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයේ හමුදා කුලී හමුදාවක් ලෙසිනුත් කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සාධාරණ අරමුණක් වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කරන වීරෝදාර විමුක්තිකාමීන් ලෙසත් හැඳින් වුහ.  1970 දශකයේදී සිවිල් වැසියන් ලෙස වෙස්වලාගෙන සාමාන්‍ය ගිනි අවිගත් ගරිල්ලා කණ්ඩායමක් ලෙස පහර දීම් පටන්ගත් කොටි, කාලතුවක්කු, ගුවන් යානා අවි ප්‍රවාහන නෞකා සහ ප්‍රහාරක මුහුදු යාත්‍රා යනාදියෙන් සන්නද්ධව, නිල ඇඳුම් ලාගත් සම්ප්‍රදායික හමුදාවක් ලෙසට ක්‍රමානුකූලව පරිවර්තනය වන්නට පටන් ගත්තේ 1990 දශකය අවසානයේ සිටය.

මේ පිළිබඳව ලොවට හෙලිකරමින් කොළඹ බණ්ඩාරනායක සම්මන්ත්‍රණ ශාලාවේ 2004 දී පැවති සම්මන්ත්‍රණයකට සහභාගී වීමට මේ ලියම්කරුටද අවස්ථාව ලැබින. සම්මන්ත්‍රණය සංවිධානය කරන ලද්දේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාමය සඳහා ගෝලීය එකමුතුව” (World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka) සහ ‘සංසදය’ යන විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී ලංකා  දේශ ප්‍රේමී කණ්ඩායම මගිනි.  නෝවීජියානු හමුදාව එල්. ටී. ටී. සාමාජිකයන්ට එරට රෙනා (Rena) හමුදා කඳවුරේදී සටන් පුහුණුව දෙන අන්දම දැක්වෙන වීඩියෝ පටයක් එහිදී තිරගතකරන ලදී. එපමණක් නොව ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට පවා එවකට නොතිබූ අධි තාක්ෂණික චන්ද්‍රිකා ගුවන් විදුලි පණිවුඩ හුවමාරු යන්ත්‍රද කොටින්ට ලබා දුන් බවද එම සම්මන්ත්‍රණයේදී හෙලිවිය. ඒ බව ඔප්පු වුයේ එවකට ලංකාවේ නෝවේ තානාපති ජොන් වෙස්ට්බග් සහ එල්. ටී. ටී සාමාජිකයකු අතර කෙරුනු පටිගතකන ලද දුරකතන කතාබහකිනි. (මේ බව හිටපු කොටි නියෝජ්‍ය නායක විනයාගමූර්ති මුරලිදරන් හෙවත් ‘කරුණා‘ විසින්ද තහවුරු කරන ලදී).  ‘ජාතික සාම මණ්ඩලය‘ නමින්  අදත් පෙනී සිටින රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානයටද නෝවේ රාජ්‍යයෙන් මුදල් ආධාර ලැබුනු බව සම්මන්ත්‍රණයේදී  අනාවරණය වූ තව කරුණකි.  රැස්වීමට සහභාගී වුවන් අතර නෝවේ රජයේ කොටි හිතවාදී පිළිවෙතට විරුද්ධ වූ එම්. රොවික් නම් නෝවීජියානු නීතිවේදියාද විය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සහ කොටි අතර 2002 දී අත්සන් කල සටන් විරාම ගිවිසුමට සහ නෝවීජියානු මැදිහත් වීමට තදින් විරුද්ධව සිටි හිටපු විදේශ ඇමති  ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් මහතා 2005 දී කොටි වෙඩික්කරුවෙකු අතින් මරුමුවට පත්විය. මේ සිදුවීම සහ අනෙකුත් කොටි ඝාතන සිදුවෙද්දී  ‘සාම‘ සඳහා කෙරෙන උත්සාහයන් නිෂ්පල බව පැහැදිලිවම පෙනුනද පෙනී එය අතහැර දැමීමක් සිදුවුයේ නැත.  කොටි විරෝධී යුද්ධය රජයට කිසිදාක ජයගත නොහැකි බව (unwinnable war) ‘සාම‘ ක්‍රියාකාරිකයෝ පුන පුනා කීහ. 

මේ කාලයේ සිහිබුද්ධිය ඇති දෙමළ ජනයා ගේ හදවත් වල පැනනැගුනු සැබෑ හැගීම්  ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ වික්ටෝරියා ප්‍රාන්තයේ  පදිංචි සෙල්වා ඥානම් නම්  දමිළ වැසියකු  දැනට වසර 14කට පමණ පෙර ‘අයිලන්ඩ්’ පුවත් පතට සැපයු ලිපියකින්  මෙසේ හෙලි කලේය. 

“අපට අපේ කාන්තාවන්, ළමයින් සහ අපේ නිවෙස් අපට නැවත ලබා දෙන්න. ‘දෙමළ ඊළාම් සටනට’ පෙර  අප ගත කල ජීවිතය අපට නැවත ලබාදෙන්න. අපට වෙනදා මෙන් අපේ දරුපවුල් සම කෝවිලට ගොස් දීවාලි පහන් පුජාවට සහභාගී වන්න ඉඩදෙන්න. අපේ දූ පුතුන් පැහැරගෙන ගොස් අමානුෂික මිනීමරුවන් කරාවිද යන බියෙන් අපව මුදවාගන්න“

ඒ මුදවාගැනීම 2006 අගෝස්තු මාසයේදී ඇරඹිනි.  එල්.ටී ටී ටිය ජුලි 26 දා  දහස් ගණන් සිවිල් වැසියන්ට ජලය අහිමි කරමින් මාවිල් ආරු සොරොව්ව වාසා දැමීමට ප්‍රතිචාර වශයෙන් රජය දියත් කල ‘ඔපරේෂන් වෝටෂෙඩ්’ (Operation Watershed) හමුදා මෙහෙයුම සියලු සාම විගඩම් වලට තිත තැබීය. රජයේ හමුදා අගෝස්තු 11 දා මාවිල් ආරු සොරොව්ව කොටි ග්‍රහණයෙන් මුදවා ගත්හ. ඒ ජයග්‍රාහී සටන ඊට තෙවසරකට පසු අවසන් වුයේ කොටින් අන්ත පරාජයට පත් කරමින්ය. 

දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයේ කීර්තිමත් ඇමෙරිකන් යුද සෙනෙවියකු වූ ජෝජ් එස්. පැටන් ජනරල් වරයා වරක් සිය සෙබළුන් අමතමින් මෙසේ පැවසීය.

“ඔබේ යුතුකම ඔබේ රටවෙනුවෙන් මියයාම නොව සතුරාට ඔහුගේ රට වෙනුවෙන් මියයාමට සැලැස්වීමය“

 අපේ වීරෝදාර රණවිරුවෝ බොහෝ දුරට ඒ යුතුකම ඉටු කර යුද්ධය ගත්හ.

සතුරා ඔහුගේ දෙමළ ඊළාම් මනෝ රාජ්‍ය වෙනුවෙන් දිවි පිදීය.

By Saundarya Wellaboda Courtesy Ceylon Today

World-renowned Professor of Medicine and expert in Endocrinology, Vitamin D and human Nutrition, Professor Sunil Wimalawansa has offered his services to the highest authorities in Sri Lanka to help the country to successfully fight the COVID-19 pandemic mainly with reference to disease prevention.

In a previous article, Professor Wimalawansa explained COVID-19 prevention and clinical trial protocol which he has designed with assistance from a group of senior foreign scientists. He noted that each of these individuals have more than 30 years experience in clinical and research work.  

Professor Wimalawansa said they all are volunteering their time, funds and expertise on a full time basis to work as an independent research group to contribute their expertise and resources to help a number of countries to succeed in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clinical trial protocol

When contacted Professor Wimalawansa clarified details regarding new developments concerning this project.
The COVID-19 prevention clinical trial protocol to be implemented in Sri Lanka, is a system which has been designed with specific consideration to the current situation of Sri Lanka and it was designed in order to provide authorities with a proper method that would help control the fast spread of the virus. 

According to Professor Wimalawansa, he along with his colleagues have also developed a number of clinical trial protocol systems for countries such as USA, China, India and Turkey but he added that each of these protocol systems were made after taking into consideration the COVID-19 situations in each of these countries. 

He emphasised that most of these systems are designed to prevent complications and ensure early recovery and added that some of the protocols are concentrated on countries suffering severely from COVID-19 and are made in order to prevent deaths. 

He opined that the prevention system made for Sri Lanka is the first study to be implemented for disease prevention in regards to COVID-19 in the world.

According to Professor Wimalawansa the prevention protocol system that has been recommended for Sri Lanka can help prevent the virus from uncontrollably spreading within quarantine centres and he further explained that in partnership with the group of senior scientists, he was able to create a capsule containing a high-potent nutrient capable of boosting the Vitamin D levels within the human body, therefore strengthening the immune system to maximum level.

Professor Wimalawansa said that the capsules are a custom-synthesised mega-dose, made in a reputed laboratory named, Bioinnovations-Pharmacal in Arkansas, USA.  He added that since these are custom-made it is currently not available for purchase.  He alleged that it is company assured that ingredients in the capsule have been tested and proven to be pure and added that it is suitable for consumption.

“For those who have just contracted the virus, when you have this mega-dose nutrient in the body, he or she will experience milder symptoms.  Those with sufficient micro-nutrients, including vitamin D and zinc, will have either no symptomatic disease or have minor symptoms.” He added.

Professor Wimalawansa further said that maintaining a healthy level of Vitamin D will strengthen one’s immunity and added that the response of the immune system is positively related to the vitamin D concentration in the blood. 

He emphasised that many recent studies report that, individuals who require Intensive Care and those who have passed away, had their serum vitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations at less than 5 nanograms per millilitre (ng/mL). He clarified that to achieve an immune system capable of winning against COVID-19, one needs to maintain serum vitamin D [25(OH)D’ concentration in excess of 40ng/mL (most certainly, above 30 ng/mL).

Professor Wimalawansa also said recent research reports from multiple countries indicate that for every person tested positive of COVID-19, there are between 10-40 more individuals who are infected, but they do not know it. He said that they are called symptomatic carriers and added that they indeed can spread the disease to others in the community. Such individuals when admitted to a quarantine centre, while may not yet have developed PCR positivity, could infect others, he added.

Professor Wimalawansa further claimed that general databases from multiple countries reported that while less than 5% of those who are admitted to quarantine centres are infected, when they leave, up to 20% can be infected while being there and added that this is what the team of volunteers proposed to prevent by implementing the protocol system.  

He further clarified that however, this process can be later applied to other areas to help prevent the virus from uncontrollably spreading not only in quarantine centres, but also in the Prison, Navy vessels, cruise-ships, and among frontline workers such as healthcare, emergency services and soldiers engaged in contact tracing.

Meanwhile, Professor Wimalawansa said during the first week of his return to the country he wrote to the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa offering his services added that after receiving his letter, President Rajapaksa notified him that the information will be entrusted to the Director General of Health Services for further attention. 

Professor Wimalawansa further emphasised that since he did get a response from the Director General he wrote to the Defence Secretary through the Army Commander, where he explained information regarding the prevention protocol system and requested an immediate response. Professor Wimalawansa clarified that he took these initiatives about three to four weeks ago but had still not got formal approval and noted that this was despite the fact that all expenses will be borne by them.

Professor Wimalawansa noted that his team has already paid the costs for the synthesis of these mega-dose capsules, and airfreight to the BIA from the US and added that to facilitate the process, his team had already purchased laptop computers for each of the participating quarantine centres to enable easy data entering regarding the progress of participants.

Furthermore, Professor Wimalawansa noted that he and associates were contacted by governmental and non-governmental groups from Indonesia, the Philippines, and India requesting for their assistance in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and added that if the relevant authorities failed to provide formal approval and cooperate, they will direct all resources to the above-mentioned countries for their benefit.

By a Special Correspondent Courtesy Ceylon Today

Sri Lanka is entering a new era after defeating the spread of COVID-19 and the country is about to commence work. In such a context, the way President Gotabaya Rajapaksa leads the country in the future is of utmost importance.

Since the declaration of the Presidential Election last year up to now, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been working hard. There was even a debate whether he was able to contest the Presidential Election or not. Although he was not as a politician, he gained fame as a public official who tirelessly worked for the benefit of the people. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa embraced the people with just a couple of words – ‘trust me’.  

Following the Presidential Election, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took the initiative to revive the country in his own way, with a strategic plan. Even though many crisis situations arose, he faced them all with determination, fearlessly. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire country came to a standstill and all products and services stopped.  

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is not at all an unfamiliar face to Sri Lankans due to his invaluable role as the then Secretary Defence during the last phase of the three-decade long war against the LTTE separatists, has taken some impressive steps to ensure people’s safety and well-being after assuming office as the President of Sri Lanka last November. Within merely a few months, he was able to gain fame and respect among the people, especially for his quality of fulfilling the promises he gave to the people during the Presidential Election and in his election manifesto.

Cutting down expenses

As soon as he became the President, he took a number of commendable measures to save public funds by cutting down his expenses as the President. First and foremost, he reduced the number of vehicles and the number of security personnel of his security team was reduced from 2,500 to 800. 

While some were concerned that this move may put the President’s life in danger, the President, through this initiative, proved that the country’s safety is in a good state and that people do not need to fear. According to reports, the number of staff attached to the Presidential Secretariat has also been reduced from 1,400 to 350, and no President who ruled Sri Lanka before had ever taken such an exemplary initiative. 

There were also allegations that the President’s expenses were massive and therefore needs to be controlled. However, today, even Adviser to the President Lalith Weeratunga does not draw either a salary or an allowance.

It is noteworthy that the previous President had 19 vehicles for his personal use but President Gotabaya Rajapaksa only has three vehicles; that is his vehicle and two other escort vehicles. It is also praiseworthy that the First Lady, Ayoma Rajapaksa, does not utilise any State allocated vehicles but continues to use her private vehicle.

Also, even to this date, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa continues to reside in his private residence in Mirihana. If the President decided to shift to the official residence, that would mean a massive drain on public funds. This is an invaluable example set by the President for other elected public officials. His simple attire is symbolic of his modest lifestyle.  

On the other hand, at the time he was elected, the President’s Media Division had 208 personnel, which was promptly reduced to 83. A vast number of vehicles allocated to the Presidential Secretariat were reallocated to various ministries and departments. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also put a stop to the practice of ordering catering service from five-star hotels for events hosted at the Presidential Secretariat and instead this service is now obtained from the Sri Lanka Navy catering.

The President also cancelled the two senior additional secretary posts attached to the Presidential Secretariat and the 16 additional secretaries were reduced to five. Thus, he has set an example on how to manage a public office with minimum staff with better efficiency, for all the other ministers and MPs to follow.

Another step that was taken by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was, to immediately put a stop to a number of special projects undertaken by the Presidential Secretariat, which could easily be handled at ministry level, and that save a large sum of money for the Government. For example, the funds allocated for the ‘Smart Sri Lanka’ Project alone amounted to Rs 500 million.

As a part of the President’s plans to reduce unnecessary costs and stopping the squandering of public funds, he went on to cut down on the number of staff members who travel with him for official work in foreign countries. 

Also, he minimised the number of foreign trips take by Ministers and other public officials. Instead of telling the people and public officials what should be done to save public funds, he set an example by including only the most essential and most relevant public officials when travelling aboard. 

Instead of appointing his close acquaintances to high places within the public sector, with the support of proper committees, he chose qualified people for the right positions. Some political figures did not like this. This gave a semblance of hope to people who trusted in and voted for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. People highly admired the manner how these appointments were made.

When it comes to reforming and reviving public institutions, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has taken a number of noteworthy steps with the aim of ensuring public institutions’ effectiveness and efficiency. During the past governments’ tenure, people had to face countless hardships due to the inefficiency of public institutions and public officials, and the President stepped forward to ensure that tax-payers’ hard-earned money are put to good use. 

A couple of months ago President Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited in person a number of public institutions including the Department of Motor Traffic (DMV)and checked himself the daily operations of each institution and how efficiently the public could obtain the services they seek.

In addition, the President also paid his attention to corruptions taking place in these institutions, and also gave instructions to responsible officials to mitigate these corruptions. It would not be an exaggeration to state that these types of measures helped the President to gain people’s admiration and respect, because of the simple reason that people want to see their tax money being used the right way. What’s more, the President also issued instructions to heads of public institutions to stop displaying of his photo at public institutions, which no President had done before.

In addition, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has given the full freedom to public officials to perform their duties without disruptions or interferences. The freedom of the Judiciary has been ensured. Law-enforcement agencies are not being used to take revenge on rivals; instead, these institutions have been given the full freedom to enforce the law in order to prosecute the culprits of the Central Bank Bonds Scam and the Easter Sunday terror attacks. The Media have been given the fullest freedom and consequently it has strengthened the democracy in the country.

Actions speak louder

In the recent past, most people claimed that the Executive Presidency must be abolished. Unfortunately, several activists and organisations that supported the Yahapalana Government to come to power went on to change the Constitution unnecessarily. 

They also said that Parliament must be strengthened, and President of the country has no significant powers after the passing of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Power is not something that needs to be given attention unnecessarily. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has proved it by his actions. People are aware of what might have happened to the country if Parliament had power today. However, unfortunately, certain people intentionally act against this.  

The year 2020 started with the outbreak of COVID-19, and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to face this massive challenge before he could even hold the Parliamentary Election and form a proper government. However, he took all possible measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to give proper healthcare facilities to those who were infected with the virus.

It would not be wrong to say that his foresight and timely actions helped to save Sri Lanka from a pandemic that has dealt a heavy blow on almost all countries across the world. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has not been completely eradicated from Sri Lanka, the decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases as well as the number of completely recovered persons are concrete proof that Sri Lanka has been able to control the spread of this deadly pandemic significantly. When other countries continue to face hundreds and sometimes thousands of deaths each day, Sri Lanka, with limited resources, has set an example as to how to control the adverse effects of COVID-19.

Both the public sector and private sector, today, have started to recommence their jobs with confidence and with determination. The reason for that confidence is the systematic plans devised by the government to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Advices were taken from experts in the medical field. Also, intelligence units were tasked with controlling the spread of this deadly virus by identifying how it spreads. This move in fact revived the intelligence units in the country. The Police, Tri-Forces and all other defence personnel worked hard, for a common aim.

People’s safety has been restored. People keep hope and faith in those who are working determinedly to eliminate COVID-19. Despite the unfortunate situation the country is facing, essential goods, especially food, medicine and hygiene products, were distrusted at normal prices and sometimes at concessional prices. Even during this difficult time, there was no shortage of medicine and medical equipment, and healthcare facilities were also built and developed to treat people infected with COVID-19.

Fighting back

While ensuring that people are able to obtain essential goods, travel restrictions were imposed to control people’s travelling behaviours and thereby minimise the spread of the virus. Sri Lanka also built and strengthened healthy relationships with other countries, and Sri Lankans living in various parts of the world requested that the government bring them back. 

The President took prompt measures to bring them back to the country and send them to quarantine centres as needed. Also, the President paid attention to school children as well as students studying in higher education centres, whose education was disrupted due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the consequent closing of educational institutions. 

To ensure that these students can continue their studies, new educational programmes were introduced through digital/ online media. In a bid to ensure that people are able to obtain the food they need, especially vegetable and fruit, farming in gardens was also promoted and people were given seeds and necessary guidance. All these activities deserve to be admired and recognised.

Some even said that distributing money to people before an election was a bad example; however, the President stood with the people and helped people who were having financial difficulties amidst the curfew. Some even demanded that the old Parliament be reconvened and that the Parliamentary Election be further postponed. 

They went on to claim that the country is plunging into a Constitutional crisis. Not only that, they also questioned the legality of the curfew, which was imposed for the safety of the people. The President allowed relevant officials to do their duty. During these efforts, the President took the advice of the Maha Sangha and act accordingly. Eventually, the country has come to a stable state.

However, our endeavours will not come to an end until a vaccine is found to treat people infected with COVID-19. There is also an uncertainty as to how this situation may change in future, and it is in this context we have to continue to build and strengthen the tomorrow of the country. It is extremely important that Sri Lanka boost manufacturing activates while limiting expenditures. It is also important that we get the assistance of intelligence who are willing to think fresh and do new work. They all are an asset in this challenging situation. With a load of hopes and plans, today, the country is being reopened to the people.

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, one of the most salubrious provinces that is home to both an internationally-known natural harbour and locally-infamous lover’s leap, remains calm in the face of the raging pandemic, as none of its residents have reported the contraction of COVID-19.

The Province, comprising the three Districts of Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee, and of four regions including Kalmunai, has performed outstandingly at a time the country, like much of the world, was brought to a standstill due to the rapid spread of the virus.

The curfew was lifted many times in the East, unlike in other provinces, and the people had more freedom of movement. Most towns were active, unlike those in Districts such as Colombo, Gampaha and Puttalam, which remained ghostly in the last one-and-a-half months.

This is because the people of the East had been cautious about the situation ever since Sri Lanka’s first COVID-19 case, when a woman from China was diagnosed in February. The mission that was then mounted by the East to prevent the disease is worth noting.

Not a single case of COVID-19 was reported among residents of the Trincomalee District. Outsiders accounted for all cases in the region, two of whom had returned from overseas and others that were sent to a quarantine centre in the area.

This successful effort to keep Easterners safe from the life-threatening disease that has paralysed the world in the last three months or so, was made possible by the Eastern Province Health officials, along with the Police and the Tri Forces, who began planning to combat it from the month of February, when the world saw it coming from Wuhan, China.  

When the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged nations to treat the pandemic as an extreme situation, the Public Health Service of the Eastern Province took it seriously and began their mission to combat it as if it had already spread in the Province.

Moreover, people in the East, like Northerners, are not culturally inclined to shake hands, or hug and kiss each other, which could have contributed to controlling the spread of the pathogen. They also tend to live within their communities and traditionally cook their own meals, avoiding fast food and restaurants.

Today there are 14 quarantine centres in the East for COVID-19 cases, namely two in Ampara, four in Batticaloa, four in Trincomalee and four in Kalmunai, and the Government has spent Rs 43 million in the last three months on the Eastern Province’s mission to combat COVID-19.

The war-ravaged North and East have been classified as neglected provinces, where the demand for facilities and proper services from the public and private sectors are comparatively higher than other provinces.

The Easterners’ way of life calls for sharing and caring among their own communities, a practice that evolved naturally over decades of war. In the face of the ongoing pandemic, however, they have prioritised personal health, being vigilant of strangers visiting their areas.

This is because the Easterners were given special programmes on avoiding contact with others and maintaining social distancing. Health officials also taught them not to wait till masks are available, but to stitch their own using clean cloth.

Health Services’ efforts to fight COVID-19 in the East

Provincial Director of Health Services for the Eastern Province, Dr. Lathaharan Alagiah told Ceylon Today about the success story of keeping the East safe from COVID-19.

He recalled how in mid-February they began conducting awareness programmes in the four regions to warn people of the spread of COVID-19 and how entire neighbourhoods would be affected by even a single infected individual. These were conducted via mobile announcements, door-to-door awareness campaigns, and pocket meetings for officials.

He said the Public Health Service in partnership with the Tri-Forces began their preventive efforts at the early stages of the crisis, which brought about the campaign’s success.

“The hospitals and Medical Officers of Health (MOH) units were involved in rigorous COVID-19 preventive measures, even when there were no cases reported in the East. The public health service of the Eastern Province also had a daily activity chart, explaining what they did for the day, and holding conference calls to share information with the relevant bodies,” he explained.  

“These activities were in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, which encouraged all countries to continue preparedness activities and issued interim guidance on how to do this. This included information on how to monitor for sick people, test samples, treat patients, control infection in health centres, and maintain the right supplies.”

Prevention over cure:Coordinated efforts

He noted that the first reported cases were from Batticaloa, when a man from the UK tested positive for COVID-19, and Akkaraipattu, when a man who had returned from Dubai was found to be carrying the virus, which had also spread to his wife. “These three cases were within the region and they were cured,” he said, adding there were also two Navy personnel who were sent from Welisara from the Western Province, and not from the East.

During their early planning to combat the virus, Dr. Alagiah said they held a series of meetings, for internal and sectoral coordination and among MOH units, and between regional leaders and the Senior DIG of the Eastern Province.

The awareness programmes then began in mid-February 2020. “We began telling the public how fast COVID-19 could spread. There are 46 MOH in the East working in the four regions and three districts. The MOH started working with the Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) and midwives to educate the public.”

He pointed out that another success story was how the Kattankudy Quarantine Centre was established at the Base Hopital within a few weeks, allowing for suspected patients to be isolated for treatment.

This location saw 62 suspected cases arriving from quarantine centres in the East, 55 of whom were discharged by 10 May. Despite only presenting mild symptoms, they were treated as COVID-19 patients, and were given a nutritious diet that included fish, vegetable and fruit.

The regional technical officers of the Epidemiology Unit work with the Public Health Service doctors in the four Regional Directors of Health Services (RDHS), who in turn work with the Senior DIG of the Eastern Province, Nilantha Jayewardene.  The MOH are assigned to work with the SSPs of the 43 divisions of the Eastern Province. 

Also, the RDHS and the district’s COVID-19 Taskforce, along with all categories of public administration, are linked up with the Tri-Forces, especially the Army, which have offered excellent coordination for the COVID-19 mission thus far.

The first case onwards

The best way to restrict the spread was by tracing the primary and secondary contacts of the infected person, which happened quickly when the patient from the UK was detected.

When it was discovered that this man was positive for COVID-19, the PHI rushed with his team to trace his primary and secondary contacts, which amounted to 17 in number, all of whom were sent to quarantine centres within a day. Likewise, the teams have quarantined 17 people from Batticaloa, 81 from Kalmunai and 18 (Navy personnel) in Trincomalee; 114 in total. They were all treated, cured and released.

Although the COVID-19 spread was initially curtailed through the prolonged lockdown, it spread quite rapidly, given the fact that many Sri Lankans from overseas returned home before the airport was shut down. “However, the public health system in Sri Lanka is one of the best in the Asian region and we have set a good example,” noted Dr. Alagiah.

He pointed out the Health Ministry intermittently issued circulars, which were quickly acted upon, and provided all facilities to fight the spread of COVID-19.

“The simple rule of having one’s personal health be the top of the agenda saves everyone; this is the only message we can give to start with,” Dr. Alagiah stated.

Balancing civil life with safety

Eastern Province Governor, Anuradha Yahampath noted that their efforts got off to a good start when the first patient was identified and all those who associated with him were sent to quarantine. Subsequently, village-level lockdowns, which required people to remain at home for 14 days, were implemented days whenever suspected cases came to light. She added, “There was no big shout over this. We explained the situation and calmed the villagers.”

She also added that tourists were asked to remain indoors and not move about in towns when the curfew was lifted, adding, “Before the Bandaranaike International Airport was shut down, we provided transport for tourists who wished to leave the country.”

Public Health Service, Eastern Province Director of Planning, Mohammed Faiz said that they followed two methods to fight the virus – prevention and curative. 

“We primarily wanted to take all preventive measures against COVID-19, on seeing the fast-spreading nature of the virus. We acted swiftly to ensure foreigners remain indoors and cancel their tour plans within the country. By 15 March, all activities were halted and people were asked to live in isolation as much as possible.”

Meanwhile, quarantined families and individuals are given dry rations to cook their three daily meals, while the curfew was lifted every three days, so there was no confusion; and the Tri-Forces continue to do their best to serve the people during this time.

Wearing a mask is a must for anyone stepping outside the house, while vendors have been permitted to sell vegetable and dry rations from house to house. Fish markets are being run on district borders so that trading can carry on without people crossing over, as travel between districts is strictly prohibited.

While the authorities’ efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19 are commendable, it must also be noted that the Eastern Province’s residents have played their part by taking responsibility and cooperating with the guidelines and directives issued. As Governor Yahampath stated, “People are continuing their lives in this manner these days.”

By Buddhisiri Dharmapriya Courtesy Ceylon Today

Like many other countries in the world, Sri Lanka was also put on a lockdown due to COVID-19.

On 12 March, the airport was closed and the Western Province, which is the heart of economic activities in the country, was also subjected to lockdown. Social life was fully paralysed. The primary focus of the Government was to save the lives of the people from the coronavirus. The next most serious challenge was to restore social life. 

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa established a task force under former Minister Basil Rajapaksa to provide essential services and to restore normalcy.

The society is unaware of the way the task force acted to overcome the challenge and the difficulties they faced. This article aims at exploring this special operation during the corona time.

Modern Sri Lanka did not have prior experience on a similar global pandemic. Positively responding to the situation, the President appointed a task force. As a precautionary measure, curfew was imposed. However, the complete lockdown paralysed the economy. Production factories, distribution networks, retail markets and all the service centres were closed. Social mechanisms abruptly halted. People had no place to buy essential goods and services.

Government had to shoulder the burden of safeguarding the lives of the people of the country. The Presidential Task Force was able to manage the situation, step by step, within two weeks giving solutions to many unforseen problems.

We identified three major factors the task force on essential services had focused. The Government strategy was aiming at three kinds of members of the society. One section had money in their hands but could not purchase essentials. Some had money in banks but could not withdraw them. The third group had neither money nor  a way to buy essentials. The task force had to address all these issues.

Therefore, the first step was to make way for the people who had money in their hands to buy essentials. Super markets were opened and a distribution networks were established

Mobile teller machines and cash delivery systems were introduced for the benefit of the people who wanted to withdraw money from their bank accounts.

The supermarkets that handled door do door delivery in urban settings were not sufficient to cater the needs of the people in every part of the island. Therefore, a system was established for distribution of goods by delivery vehicles.

The administrative network, comprising District Secretaries, Divisional Secretaries, Gramaseva officers and Samurdhi officers were deployed to distribute food and other essential items directly or via economic centres. The reports on the available and non-available resources in districts were summoned from the administrative officers. 

Those reports were based on distribution and delivery. Economic centres were opened and the surplus production in districts was sent there. The necessary commodities were acquired from the economic centres directly. The Divisional Secretaries were given powers to carry out necessary buying and selling.

The small vendors were allowed to purchase items through this network and sell them door to door in delivery vehicles. The intermediary traders also started their wholesale operations. It was a complicated network although it appeared simple.

By then, almost all the hotels, restaurants and cafeterias had been closed. However, the farmers had cultivated crops especially targeting the New Year season. The Government had to purchase the production from the farmers and distribute it to the people free of charge in some instances. So far, the Government has purchased over two million kilos of vegetable from farmers.

Sri Lanka has 6.5 million families and among the country’s population, 1.5 million are public employees. The Government paid compensation of Rs 5,000 to 7.2 million families. There were delays but all of the needy people received relief.

The trading in the economic centres were paralysed as a result of corona lockdown and it was not an unexpected situation for the task force. The committee identified new issues related to production and distribution. New packaging systems were necessary for new ways of distribution. 

Some kind of food processing needed to be continued and the Government permitted such factories to operate. Meanwhile, there were extraordinary issues like feeding farm animals. The number of problems that needed solutions was massive in number. The Government had to think of the economy anew.

The remittances decreased while the export market collapsed due to corona crisis in export destinations of Sri Lankan products. As local production had collapsed, the Government decided to permit the industries of export products to restart with health precautions to safeguard their orders.

No one knows how long the country or the world has to paddle through the crisis caused by the coronavirus. Experts predict the situation to prevail until a vaccine is introduced. However, people have to overcome the difficulties and maintain social life. 

 About 200 public officials directly participated in decision making of the special task force on essential services. The committee could strentgthen the public service and activate it with new vigour during the crisis. Administrative mechanism from District and Divisional Secretaries upto the Gramaseva officials acted tirelessly to serve people during the the curfew. These are the positive factors identified during the crisis time.

The biggest issue was distribution of medical drugs and this is the first time in world history that a postal service came forward to distribute medicine. The drugs prescrbed to the clinic patients were delivered to their doorstep by the Postal Department. Private pharmacies also distributed medicine to houses. Within two weeks, the burning issues of the people were solved. Some people were happy with the new method of essential commodities delivered to the door step. The crisis led to the invention of new distribution networks.

The Presidential Task Force on Essential Services used state-of-the-art technology. IT experts, software developers, economists, business experts, administrative officers as well as agricultural experts worked in one network.
The distribution of Rs 5,000 compensation caused chaos and now the Government is developing a more professional network for that purpose too.

We must mention that COVID-19 pandemic led to the introduction of many new mechanisms to the society. The trend can be identified as a great leap forward in terms of development.

However, the construction industry came to a standstill with the curfew. Now the Government has opened the path for essential imports in the industry to reactivate the sector.

The country is now at this juncture because of the thoughtful actions taken by the task force on essential services, otherwise the result could have been very bad. The hidden secret behind this success is the freedom of decision making provided to the committee and the relevant authorities. The officials who were previously afraid of signing a document boldly acted trusting the leadership.

The public service today is the same that prevailed before the crisis. No magic was performed but a new trust was built up. Many public officials used to work online. Meetings were held remotely using online apps. New systems as well as new behaviours were introduced.

The President’s task force on essential services has now concluded its responsibility. Now it will guide rebuilding Sri Lanka under the guidance of chairman Basil Rajapaksa. The task force on rebuilding the economy comprises a large number of human resources from both public and private sectors. 

They are assessing the situation of the country and the causes for the economic downturn. Programmes will be designed to rehabilitate each sector of the economy. The Government will provide the necessary assistance while the contribution expected from the private sector is being evaluated.

The task force is now studying about the ways of sustaining and reinventing the markets for Sri Lanka’s exports. New plans will soon be launched systematically and the vision of prosperity of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be underway surely and steadily.

Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today

The all- powerful Indian Administrative Service (IAS), over decades has been considered as the steel frame of government and governance in India. A Sri Lankan High Commissioner, who served in New Delhi somewhere in the last five years, in an attempt to familiarise Indian bureaucracy to a group of Sri Lankans once said; “You may have met several joint secretaries during your stay here. 

Even though they are referred to as ‘joint’ Secretaries, they actually are ‘giant’ secretaries. It’s not the ministers or politicians that call the cards here, it is ‘them’. So I call them giant secretaries.”

This has been the common belief and may have remained same at least until the second term of Prime Minister Naredra Modi’s BJP Government regained power.

The BJP in its 2019 election manifesto stated: “To transform India into a developed nation, we need to work with the guiding principle of ‘minimum government and maximum governance’ and we will bring reform in the civil services and implement it in a manner to achieve.”

Mentioned in their 2019 election manifesto about the need of bringing reforms to the IAS, Prime Minister Modi’s Government actually started shaking and stirring the 70- year old Indian Administrative Service in the latter part of 2019. By January 2020, it began the controversial 360 degree appraisal format, the abrupt, unexplained and frequent transfers of officers from one ministry to another, the introduction of biometric attendance in government offices. Basically, PM Modi, unlike any other predecessor, dared giving a makeover to an institution that exerts more power than most civil services anywhere in the world.

Main reason for this major shake-up, as views expressed by experts and was published in Indian Media at the time, was that the efforts of the government do not seem to percolate down towards its intended recipients.
While, the Administrative Service in India was undergoing reforms, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa too appeared to have lost his cool during a meeting with a group of bureaucrats.

While insisting that irrational laws should not obstruct the policies formulated to achieve the economic objectives of the people, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told State officials to either fall in line with his policies or step down.

During a meeting held on 14 May, with officials and Ministry Secretaries attached to the plantation industry sector, at the Presidential Secretariat, the President said that when the Government takes forward a policy, all State institutions and Departments must ensure that the said policy is implemented The meeting was called to find solutions to a number of issues rooted in the plantation industry “State institutions should be maintained without burdening the Treasury. 

It should not take long to present these strategies. Mutual understanding among State institutions and proper awareness about State policies will ensure that there would not be any conflicts among institutions. When a Government makes the right decision with regard to a State policy, all State institutions should comply. 

There should be no room to withhold carrying out the right thing. A State official who could not execute the right thing is a burden to this nation. A State official is an individual who resolves issues and not neglects them,” President Rajapaksa stressed.

He also said that he is doing things the right way and that if the right policies cannot be implemented there is no point in having public sector officials.

“You know what my policies are. You will either need to act accordingly or voice your protest and leave. That is what I have to say. I don’t care if it is a secretary or a head of department,” he added.

The President noted that a decision was taken to cease the importation of ethanol which had been traumatizing the economy for a long time and he added that he would not withdraw his decision due to any influence from businessmen.

It was revealed during the meeting that State institutions had to resort to legal action as affiliated institutions had not properly discussed their issues with each other. It came to light that the Land Reforms Commission has filed over 800 cases and that 300 of them were against the Plantations Corporation.

On Monday (11), seven Secretaries were appointed, with immediate effect, to Ministries, including Health, Public Administration, Tourism and Justice.

Accordingly, (Ms.) S.M. Mohamed has been appointed as the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Law Reforms; J.J. Ratnasiri as the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government; Former Secretary of Public Administration, S. Hettiarachchi as the Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation; H.K.D.W.M.N.B. Hapuhinna as the Secretary to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and Social Security; and (Ms.) J.M.B. Jayawardena as the Secretary to the Ministry of Internal Trade, Food Safety and Consumer Welfare.  

Two Majors  General also were appointed as Secretaries to two Ministries. This includes Retired Major General A.K.S. Perera as the Secretary to the Ministry of Mahaweli, Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development, and Major General Sanjeewa Munasinghe as the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Director General of Health Service Dr. Anil Jasinghe and Former Secretary to the Ministry Bhadrani Jayawardene were present when Major General Munasinghe assumed duties.
Ever since his induction to office, President Rajapaksa came under severe criticism by his opponents and was accused of attempting to bring the country under gradual and indirect militarization.

However, upon being questioned about these concerns earlier in March this year, he defended the appointment of ex-military officers to top posts in State institutions.

Speaking to heads of print and electronic media, President Rajapaksa said that high ranking military personnel are trained both locally and internationally in a number of fields including administration.

He said that even the former Government had appointed military officers to head State institutions; in fact more than what he has done in numbers. Yet, nobody seems to have even taken a note on that, he said.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

Nobody is exempt from coronavirus restrictions – not even the Prime Minister.

Jacinda Ardern was turned away from a Wellington cafe, Olive, Saturday (16) morning because it had already reached its limit of customers under social distancing rules.

A post about the incident on Twitter drew a sheepish reply from Jacinda Ardern’s partner Clarke Gayford.

“I have to take responsibility for this, I didn’t get organised and book anywhere,” he admitted. 

But wait, the story has a happy ending. Shortly after the first couple was turned away, space opened up, and staff from the restaurant caught up with them. 

“Was very nice of them to chase us down the street when a spot freed up. A+ service,” Gayford said. 

Olive’s owner was bemused by the media attention, but told the Herald it was nice “after all the drama and stress” of the past two months to be talking about “something light-hearted and fun”.

He didn’t want to give his name but confirmed Ardern was turned away by the restaurant manager, and then chased down the street a few minutes later when a table became free – something the owner said they did for other customers as well.

“She had a lovely brunch and left half an hour later. She was lovely with all the staff … [and] she was treated like a normal customer.”

He wouldn’t say what the Prime Minister ordered at the restaurant, which describes itself online as “an institution on Wellington’s Cuba St”.

Courtesy Hiru News

With latest Eight (08) more persons have tested positive for Covid-19 (new coronavirus) infection, the country total has increased to 957 according to the latest information by the Epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health.

Covid-19 Situation Report as at 2020-May-16| compiled according to the Health promotion Bureau and the Epidemiology Unit data

Total confirmed cases 957
Recovered and discharged – 520
Active cases – 428
New Cases for the day -22

Courtesy Hiru News

The Mahawewa Medical Officer’s office have taken measures to seal a religious place that was convened in violation of the quarantine laws.

A group of 27 people had gathered at a religious center in Marawila this afternoon and the people in the area had lodged a complaint with the Marawila police.

When the police raided the place, they found children without masks amongst the group who had violated quarantine laws.

The police stated that action will be taken to prosecute the person who is conducting the religious place.

Courtesy Hiru News

Opposition and ruling party politicians and several other parties expressed their views regarding the remand of former MP Rajitha Senaratne.

Courtesy Hiru News

The unit of the Navy, which was established to protect the land belonging to the Pottuvil ‘Muhudu Vihayraya’, has commenced duties.

A Navy unit for the protection of the Pottuvil ‘Muhudu Maha Viharaya’ which has been invaded by illegal land grabbers, was established under the directive of Defense Secretary Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne.  This was after he visited the area to inquire about the safety of the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya based on the Hiru CIA revelation.

The Secretary of Defense, Army Commander, Navy Commander, Acting Inspector General of Police and other government officials came to inquire into the security of the temple recently, following reports of a forcible takeover of land reported by Hiru CIA.

On several occasions, the Hiru CIA program revealed about the plunder of land at Pottuvil, highlighting the importance of protecting this historic sacred site.

Under the advice of the Defense Secretary, the Navy had taken steps to provide security to the sea temple.

They commenced their security duties today, exploring the boundaries of the Pottuvil ‘Muhudu Vihayraya’

Meanwhile Chief Incumbent of the North- East, Thamankaduwa Thepalatte Ven. Panamure Thilakawansa Thero and former Member of Parliament Padma Udayashantha also visited the temple to check the current status of the Pottuvil ‘Muhudu Vihayraya’

Courtesy Hiru News

Politicians including the clergy today expressed their views against the former minister Mangala Samaraweera for making a defamatory statement regarding the Maha Sangha.

Courtesy Hiru News

It has been revealed that IGP Pujith Jayasundara and DIG Nalaka Silva have advised to stop the operation to arrest Saharan Hashim in connection with a clash in 2017 between two churches in Kattankudy area.

OIC of the Negombo Division’s Intelligence Unit at the time of the attack gives evidence

This was when the former OIC of the Negombo Division’s Intelligence Unit gave evidence before the Presidential Commission probing into Easter Sunday attack

Yesterday a sub inspector attached to the Negombo Police Superintendent’s office was the last to testify to the Presidential Commission probing into Easter Sunday attack. He was the OIC of the Negombo Division Intelligence Unit at the time of the Easter Sunday attack. He testified stating that he served in the Colombo Terrorism Investigation Division in March and April 2017.

Information of clash instigated by Saharan’s lectures 

The Sub Inspector of Police said that information was reported about a clash between two churches in Kattankudy area and that a person named Saharan had been primarily involved in the clash. He said that the reason for the clash was a person named Saharan delivering extremist speeches and another party opposing it.

Photgraphs –  “I was not aware that it was the same Saharan”

The Commission questioned whether Saharan’s photographs were in his possession while he was attached to the Terrorism Investigation Division. Sub Inspector of Police confirmed that there were photographs of him.

The commission then questioned why a photo of Saharan was not given to the then Senior Superintendent of Police of the Negombo Division, Chandana Athukorala, when he requested a photograph of Sharan who was identified as the person who would be involved in the Easter attack.

The sub inspector said that he did not know that Saharan of the Kattankudy clash and the Saharan who was to carry out the Easter attack was the one and same person. 

The commission once again asked him why he was not attentive about the fact that Saharan was identified as a person from the area of Kattankudy as mentioned in the letter received by the intelligence agencies regarding the Easter Sunday attack. The sub inspector said “yes, it is correct”.

No knowledge of the Internet

The Commission questioned the Sub-Inspector of Police whether he had no opportunity to search at least through the Internet, and the Sub-Inspector stated that he had no knowledge of the Internet.

No approval to arrest Sharan

He further testified that he had to obtain permission from the then IGP, Pujith Jayasundara to travel to the area to arrest Saharan in connection with the Kattankudy incident. He said that permission had to be obtained through DIG Nalaka Silva, who was in charge of the Terrorism Investigation Division at the time.

The Commission questioned whether it was approved.

The Sub inspector said that he was given permission after two weeks but said that DIG Nalaka Silva informed him subsequently that IGP Pujith Jayasundara had instructed to suspend the operation to arrest Saharan.

The Sub inspector further said that DIG Nalaka Silva had transferred him from the Terrorism Investigation Division to several other areas in the Island following the incident.

Courtesy Hiru News

The government of Sri Lanka has demanded the retraction of the London Guardian Travel Quiz with reference to Eelam”

According to a press release issued by the Foreign relations ministry, the attention of the Ministry has been drawn to a quiz titled Travel quiz: do you know your islands, Man Friday?” published on the web edition of The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom on Friday, 15 May 2020.

The second question reads -‘Eelam is an indigenous name for which popular holiday island?’ and among the answers to this question, Sri Lanka has been listed as one of the choices and when one selects Sri Lanka as the answer, whilst indicating it as the correct answer, a further description ‘the full name of the island’s recent military insurgency was LTTE – Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam’ appears.

The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in the United Kingdom has written to the Editor of the Guardian newspaper Ms. Elisabeth Ribbans with a copy to the Editor in Chief Ms. Katherine Viner, on the inaccuracy of this information requesting that the content be removed.

Currently, this controversial question does not appear and seems to have been replaced in the Travel Quiz. 

Tamil nationalism bordering separatism was birthed by Tamil political leaders and not LTTE. LTTE only hijacked it as a camouflage to justify its existence and Tamil political leaders decided to plug themselves to LTTE, thinking that LTTE would achieve militarily what they could not politically. Far more than the actual realization of the objective was the lucrative gains that Tamil political leaders and LTTE terrorists were able to milk out of the Eelam cow. In this scenario, it was only natural that sets of others would join to fast forward their own agendas. How has this Tamil-nationalism-separatism-LTTE separatism pillow has passed from different hands over the years? With the Tamil political leaders initially poo-pooing nationalist-separatism all dead, with LTTE leadership all dead, who now owns the pillow and manipulates the Eelam quest?

Tamil separate state quest was birthed in 1949 with the creation of ITAK clearly nullifying the baseless argument that Tamils sought separate state because of Sinhala discrimination. In fact, it was Tamils themselves that weathered the seas to travel to London to beg the UK Privy Council to annul the 1957 Social Disabilities Act that allowed Tamil low castes to obtain basic education and this came a year before the infamous Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Act which had nothing to do with rectifying language issue but sought devolution.

Thus, the quest for a separate state was plugged into the overall plan of ‘ask a little now and more later’ strategy. It was these same elites that objected to school standardization in 1970s where again it meant low caste Tamils could gain university entrance which meant the elite Tamil monopoly was getting reduced.

LTTE only came into the scene in 1972 firstly using name Tamil New Tigers, incidentally timed to coincide with the first Republican constitution while TNT was rechristened LTTE in 1976 the year the Tamil politicians officially called for a Tamil separate state and inferred that Tamil youth should take to arms via the Vaddukoddai Resolution https://www.sangam.org/FB_HIST_DOCS/vaddukod.htm

All these are nicely hidden by a well-designed propaganda of crocodile tears claiming Sinhalese were discriminating totally ignoring the level of humiliation high caste Tamils were subjecting the low caste Tamils because of the caste system. It was in 1920 that Tamil legislator Ramanathan led 2 delegations to Colonial Office in Londondemanding encoding of Caste into legislative enactments in Ceylon.

Until we come to the roots of the problem and be genuine and honest enough to call a spade a spade the reconciliation, peaceful-coexistence are just sham shows to cover the truth.

Let us ask some bold questions.

Who wants Eelam a separate Tamil Only state in Sri Lanka? 
Is it all the Tamils?If some, how many? Is it Tamils living overseas – if so, are they planning to return, if not, why are they calling for a separate state, they don’t plan to live in?
How can demands of people living overseas be accepted as the voice of people in Sri Lanka? So far other than a few TNA collected demonstrators we have hardly seen more than 100 even commemorating LTTE/Prabakaran for Mahaveer Naal.

Is it West?If so, why? Is it part of their pivot to Asia, a means to turn North into a base in South Asia, a plot to eventually balkanize India? This explains why LTTE fronts are all operating from Western countries 24×7 demonizing Sri Lanka diplomatically and using UN/UNHRC to slap Sri Lanka with resolutions. LTTE diaspora are their quislings to realize their hidden objective. Isn’t this why a Swiss court ruled LTTE was not a terrorist organization. But the same entity killed a foreign leader inside his own country (Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by LTTE on contract in 1991)

All of the demands – demlilitaization, removal of military camps from North & East, separate Land & Police powers, devolution, right to directly liaise with foreign aid agencies and diplomats, self-determination are all beneficial not to the ordinary Tamil people but nicely fit into a separate state occupied by foreigners and run by Tamil quislings for the West.

All these solutions have nothing for the real victims be they Sinhalese, Muslims or even Tamils including India.

Even the LTTE former combatants promised the sun and the moon are today just outcasts in their own society.Most treat them as having ‘failed the cause’. Many are finding solace among the Sinhalese who realize they too have been victims.

In all this the politicians of the LTTE propped party have gotten away not only fooling the Tamils but fooling their handlers. Of course in this game of deceit all are taking each other for a ride be they Western power houses, INGOs, NGOs, civil society etc. All are trying to make the most for themselves.

It is in this scenario that we have to now wonder who is steering TNA, Wigneswaran, Ananthy, LTTE Diaspora and all other Tamils claiming to represent Tamils. By steering, the question is who has bought” them – India, West, foreign intel, anyone else? Are they all acting individual roles as per wishes of their handlers or are the handlers at odds with one another?

In January 2015 a regime took place with the assistance of TNA who gave orders for Tamils to vote Sirisena as President. The regime change was backed by West and India. A lot has changed since.

In February 2015 hardly 2 months after TNA supported regime change, Sumanthiran’s & Sambanthan’s effigies were burnt. Toasted in January, both Sumanthiran and Sambanthan were roasted by Tamils in the UK.

Why would some pro-LTTE Diaspora (TYO & BTF) suddenly turn against Sambanthan and Sumanthiran? It has to be more than them attending the independence day celebrations! Days earlier (21Feb2015) in Jaffna too, demonstrators shouted slogans against the same duo & had their effigies ready to burn too. How did Ananthy Sasitharan, wife of Elilan suddenly have powers to decide who was a traitor & burn their effigies? Wigneswaran was one-time part of TNA and now parted ways. Sasitharan was also with TNA and now on her own. Though Sumanthiran is part of TNA, he had no direct links to Prabakaran, his clan or the TNA politicians working under LTTE. Neelan Tiruchelvan was killed because he was using Tamil nationalism for an external agenda. Sumanthiran fits well into that category. Christian import Chelvanayagam ruled over the Tamil Hindus and dragged them into divisive politics. Secularizing Tamil politics has meant Christian lobby controlling Tamil Hindus.

D B S Jeyraj highlight the modus operandi behind using the ‘traitor’ garland story which was used by Prabakaran against anyone opposing LTTE. LTTE & Prabakaran are no more but the ‘traitor’ garland continues as a character assassination.

The board calls Sumanthiran a ‘traitor’ – traitor to whom? Who is calling whom a traitor and why is Sumanthiran a traitor? Obviously this is the confusion enveloping not only Tamil society.

There is a rationale to Sumanthiran wanting to separate TNA from LTTE. The blood shredded past will forever remain with every mention of LTTE. But then, TNA was formed by LTTE, ITAK is a constituent member of TNA and all of them are co-joined by racism and the same theme keeps them together. Simply for propaganda claiming to want to separate LTTE is committing hara kiri.

Moreover, so long as Tamils think that LTTE and Eelam is there airline ticket to live in Western countries, Sumanthiran will forever be regarded as a ‘traitor’ to that quest. Which is why Sumanthiran has had to backtrack and praise LTTE and Prabakaran for sheer political survival.

Sambanthan’s days are now numbered. ITAK was a Christian-created feigned nationalism experiment. Will TNA be baptized by Sumanthiran on behalf of the West, if so what is the role for Hindus in TNA and Hindu nationalism which links to India.

India is already realizing the dangers of allowing the NGO-faith lobby to roost in South India. India will have to come to terms with India being roasted and on its way to balkanization if this lobby is allowed to prevail in Sri Lanka & South India. By weakening Sri Lanka’s Central Government with incessant interfering, India has let its only slip down and allowed its turf to be intruded. India claiming to be concerned about its security, has, by helping LTTE lobby to weaken Sri Lanka, weakened itself.

If India wants to secure its turf, India must stop weakening Sri Lanka and instead ensure that the Tamil political elements don’t get baptized or adopted by elements that are earmarking time to balkanize India.

Shenali D Waduge

Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls in June 2019 confirmed that Canada has committed and CONTINUES to commit colonial genocide. The 2015 Truth & Reconciliation Commission report evaded the use of ‘genocide’ on advice of lawyers. The 2019 Report claimed genocide is ONGOING in Canada, leaves little room for Canada to be patronizing or preaching to other countries. 

In January 26, 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the Government of Canada (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) racially discriminated against 163,000 First Nations children. Sri Lanka can statistically present the positions Tamils hold in public and private sector as well as in Parliament to nullify any claims of discrimination. 

Canadians have been, collectively, given a history of themselves that is not accurate. Canada is a created country by European settlers grabbing the land & resources of the Natives living in the territory now called Canada. The modern Canadian ‘identity’ has come in systematically vanquishing the indigenous cultural identity that existed.  Canada with a history of just over 150 years, even regarded women as ‘PERSONS’ only in 1929 & all women in Canada were given to vote only in 1960!  

This is probably why Canadians are quick to fall for the lies of the LTTE fronts operating from Canada where many found refuge on bogus claims. With LTTE fronts unable to clearly name the civilian dead, Canadian leaders making statements on ‘Mullaivaikkal genocide’ are realistically mourning the LTTE terrorist dead and not civilian dead. 

The UNSG himself along with the international community appealed to LTTE to release civilians held as hostages to be used as human shields and many of these civilians were shot dead while trying to escape LTTE. Has Canada thought of counting how many such fleeing civilians LTTE killed without crediting that number to the Sri Lankan Armed Forces?

The Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission declared 22,247 LTTE dead of which 11,812 were identified with names. Were the remaining 10,435 identified by their family members and named? This 10,435 cannot be quoted by LTTE Diaspora as CIVILIAN dead and their names cannot be used by NGOs or quoted by the UN/UNHRC.

11 years after the comprehensive defeat of LTTE in 2009, all those claiming that ‘genocide’ was committed cannot even name 200 dead or find their skeletons! 

How can any country be accused of genocide without the dead, without relations naming the dead or without any evidence of anyone being murdered? So many videos and phone edits have been circulated since May 2009 via documentaries none have clicked any Tamils being killed on a mass scale or having their dead bodies buried and dumped into mass graves! If the Sri Lankan Army had presumably killed 40,000 to 200,000 Tamils during the last days of May 2009 surely someone should have taken some footage of this. It’s not easy to be killing civilians (identifying them from LTTE in civilian clothing), while fighting the LTTE and digging mass graves to put so many dead bodies in a small stretch of land. Why don’t’ people just imagine this scenario in their mind to realize the absurdity of these claims!

We would like to know if Canada’s leaders want to commemorate LTTE Terrorist dead and why?

Shenali D Waduge

By Rohana R. Wasala

A news report in The Island of May 9, 2020 under the heading ‘One location for national heroes’ (by Zacki Jabbar) says that Media and Higher Education minister and co-cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardane told a news conference held at the Information Department that a cabinet decision was taken on Wednesday (May 6) to locate statues of national heroes in one place so they wouldn’t stand scattered across the island. This, the minister explained, was for introducing a uniform policy  with regard to honouring those who had served the nation in outstanding ways. I for one don’t at present see any special merit or demerit in establishing a single sculpture garden or park dedicated to the memory of national heroes, nor do I have any idea about the circumstances that caused the caretaker government to worry about where to stand memorial statues of national heroes. 

However, what really stirred my curiosity was the simultaneous announcement that the Cabinet of Ministers had also made a decision to allocate some space in the Colombo Municipal Council premises for the erection of a statue of freedom fighter and former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela at the request of the South African High Commission in Colombo. Why a request had to be made by the diplomats of a friendly nation to have their late national hero honoured by Sri Lanka in this way is hard to guess. The costs are to be borne by the South Africans themselves, it is implied. On the other hand, does Sri Lanka owe Nelson Mandela or South Africa special thanks or grateful acknowledgement for any outstanding services done to her in the past? It is true that South Africans have played a tenuous supplementary role in the interventionist Western interest in Sri Lanka’s internal problem between the state and the Tamil separatists. That role was not the sort that earned the respect or gratitude of Sri Lankans. It only contributed towards paving the way for UNHRC resolutions 30/1 (2015), 34/1 (2017) and 40/1 (2019) pushed against Sri Lanka at Geneva during the previous Yahapalanaya, from whose co-sponsorship the country recently withdrew with the change of government subsequent to the election of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in November 2019. 

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) provided a truly heroic leadership to the longdrawn struggle for South Africa’s freedom from the White supremacist Apartheid system.  He spent a gruelling 28 years in detention and in jail (1962-1990) because of this. He proved more powerful as a prisoner than as a free person in turning world opinion in favour of black South Africa’s emancipation, and he had already become a globally celebrated freedom fighter by the time of his release from prison in 1990. The last Aparheid president F.W. de Klerk held a series of negotiations with Mandela between 1990 and 1993. De Klerk’s government took a number of unilateral steps and arranged for the country’s first non-racial election in 1994, which Nelson Mandela easily won as leader of the African National Congress. He led South Africa as president from 1994 to 1999. Mandela won great sympathy as well as great admiration from Sri Lankans, who also had experienced the inhumanity of Western imperialism for over four centuries.

 As far as I can remember, South Africa started showing an interest in Sri Lanka’s domestic problem around 2007 during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first term as president, and continued to do so during his second term as well. Of the 58 million SA population, over 80% are native black, about 8% white, and only 2.6% Asian Indian citizens. Tamils form a large proportion of the last. This factor seems to have enabled the interventionist West and their minions the Tamil diaspora to imagine a false analogy between South Africa’s ending of the Apartheid system in 1994 and  Sri Lanka’s termination of the separatist civil conflict in 2009, which they wished to exploit to force Sri Lanka to adopt South Africa’s model in resolving ‘reconciliation and accountability’ issues (which, in reality though, seems to have left the dispossessed blacks in no better economic position vis-a-vis the White minority. It is said that the White 8% still possess 80% all arable land in South Africa!). Whatever the proffered wisdom of the South Africans meant, the ultimate aim of those antinationalist forces and their local proteges seemed to be the achievement, through political, diplomatic, and constitutional skulduggery, of the separatist aim which they couldn’t realise through armed terrorism. The fact that prominent UN functionaries Yasmin Sooka who drafted a damning report on Sri Lanka based on unreliable evidence and Navaneetham Pillay who served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008-14) were both from South Africa, would have been a morale booster for the aforementioned Sri Lanka baiters (that is, the meddling Western powers and the Tamil diaspora). 

Another tormentor of Sri Lanka has been Louise Arbour, Canadian lawyer, international prosecutor and jurist. She made history by successfully indicting an incumbent head of state, the former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Melosevic over alleged war crimes. Arbour is currently the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for International Migration. As former president and CEO of the South Africa based International Crisis Group that wanted to play a role in bringing about a so-called reconciliation in Sri Lanka, she wrote an article in the organization’s website on July 24, 2011 under the title ‘What South Africa can do to help with reconciliation in Sri Lanka’. She began:

‘As South Africa knows better than most, a country cannot begin to overcome decades of internal conflict without a sustained effort at revealing the truth of the past and a committed push for reconciliation. If only Sri Lanka could learn that lesson.’ 

(If only LA could understand how very different Sri Lanka is from South Africa in every imaginable respect!)

She arbitrarily asserts that the final months of the conflict saw both the Sinhala majority government and the rebels contribute to the massive loss of Tamil civilian lives, but that, instead of ‘starting on the slow painful path towards a more democratic and equal society….the post-war policies of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his powerful brothers have further undermined the country’s damaged political institutions and deepened the ethnic divide’…..the government has increasingly cut minorities out of decisions on their economic and political futures, clinging to its claim that the war was about terrorism” and not an ethnic conflict….      

Louise Arbour also claims that ‘the unwillingness of the million strong Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora to recognize the brutality of the LTTE and its share of responsibility for a largely broken Tamil society has only strengthened the government’s hand’.

(Occasionally blaming both the government and the rebels in common is a feeble attempt at pretending impartiality. How misinformed or ill-informed on the subject LA is!) 

According to her ‘the process of reconciliation and accountability partly through the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was criticised as deeply flawed by a UN panel of experts that included South Africa’s Yasmin Sooka. The panel had specifically addressed the government’s claim that it had drawn on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), finding that the LLRC falls far short of that important precedent’. This panel claim must have been a fabrication, because the LLRC commissioners were not ignorant of the fact the South African experience contained no lessons that Sri Lanka could learn from.

Louise Arbour thought that ‘The country’s post-war course will not change unless the Rajapaksas decide it has to’ and that, up to that point, they had shown no interest ‘in doing anything that would diverge from the Sinhalese nationalist vision they have embraced fully as both a means to stay in power and an end in itself’. The Rajapaksas came to rule only because they got elected to do so by the people with whom sovereignty lies. How ethical was it for an ignorant prejudiced professional service provider to impugn in this way the personal honesty and the worth of the political ideal of the most successful and the most popular head of state Sri Lanka had had since independence until then?

In the article she accused the Rajapaksas of repressing the media and political opponents, while manipulating elections, and silencing civil society. The truth is that it was the Yahapalana politicians who were really guilty of those violations of democratic norms during their term. Arbour also blamed the (pre-Yahapalana) Rajapaksa government for rejecting the allegedly growing body of evidence supporting allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by both sides in the final stages of the war, allegations that, she asserted, were supported by the UN panel of experts, and the Channel 4 TV documentary ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’. Arbour recommended that ‘The international community should push for a fundamental change of course’. This is unwarranted interference in the affairs of an independent and democratic sovereign nation.

This UN functionary wanted South Africa to ‘use its influence with other emerging powers and members of the non-aligned movement to advance the recommendations in the UN panel report, including their call for an international investigation into alleged atrocities by both sides. It should encourage other governments to reject Sri Lanka’s attempt to dismiss any international scrutiny of its war-time and post-war policies as a neocolonialist assault on its sovereignty….If the government would stick to its promises to ensure accountability and devolve power to the traditionally Tamil-speaking north and east, such scrutiny would disappear.’ 

Isn’t this plain blackmail unworthy of an international dignitary? Louise Arbour concludes her International Crisis Group article of July 24, 2011 thus:

‘Finally, South Africa should resist the government’s attempts to gain undeserved legitimacy by comparing the LLRC with South Africa’s TRC. Such a comparison is, frankly, an insult. Sri Lanka desperately needs a fair accounting of its violent history to avoid repeating it. The Sri Lankan people should not have to settle for anything less’.

Who or what was Louise Arbour to determine that the then Mahinda Rajapaksa government didn’t have legitimacy? The war winning Mahinda had been returned to a second term as president only a year previously (2010) with a majority of 1.8 million votes (the largest ever in a presidential election) beating his commander-in-chief Sarath Fonseka conspiratorially fielded against him under the auspices of the meddlesome international community that Arbour serves. The three decade persecution of all communities by the LTTE had united the nation under Mahinda Rajapaksa. Peace reigned for five years 2009-14. The destabilizing forces succeeded in toppling him in January 2015 with his second betrayal at the hands of his own closest partners. The so-called Yahapalanaya worked to polarize the electorate as minorities vs majority. The result was that Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency with a convincing majority of 1.3 million only on the strength of the Sinhala voters, not without substantial support from minority voters, nevertheless. So much for the contribution made to ‘re-con-silly-ation’ in Sri Lanka by the so-called  international community including South Africa.   

What does this all mean? In the final analysis, what this old conscienceless salary-paid foreign jurist and international civil servant, completely ignorant of the history, the culture, the population composition, the demographic distribution, the geography, etc etc of the island nation, is trying to do is to hold the 22 million citizens of the country to ransom through the medium of South Africa, for the sole purpose of dividing the country on ethnic lines, which was the goal of the defeated LTTE. 

The LTTE was militarily defeated, but its ghost ideology has not been exorcised. The Tamil National Alliance was not the largest partner of the later disintegrated Yahapalanaya coalition; but it was the most influential in the dodgy circumstances in which the Yahapalana misrule managed to survive for four and a half years, and also the clearest in its head about its goal, i.e., separatism (temporarily camouflaged as federalism). The TNA today is led by the senile R. Sampanthan possessed by the separatist ideology, but he himself is guided (i.e., led) by M.A. Sumanthiran, former MP. He was reported to have met with the prime minister recently and offered to work together on condition that a devolution model, i.e. a federal solution to the so-called Tamil national question would be adopted. Needless to point out that this runs counter to the ‘unitary Sri Lanka’ stand that Gotabaya is espousing; but the ‘devolution model’ (euphemism for federalism) is exactly what the international community supports. 

Meanwhile, Sumanthiran appeared in a Sinhala language TV interview a day or two ago and pretended to denounce the LTTE. He belittled, in the eyes of  some northernTamils, the  separatist cause that it fought for.  Sumanthiran uttered the falsehood that the northern Tamil youth took to arms because of economic deprivation and joblessness. He also claimed that the LTTE killed more innocent civilians than the Sri Lankan security forces did. He must have been uttering these things with an implicit knowing wink at the incredulous Tamil viewers. The veteran TULF leader V. Ananda Sangari, of probably the same vintage as Sampanthan, in an immediate response, says that Sumanthiran is only play-acting to hoodwink the Tamils. 

Extremist racist minority politicians like Sumanthiran and Hakeem will never see eye to eye with nationalists. At the next parliamentary election, nationalists will definitely find favour with the ordinary Tamils and Muslims who are led by young minority politicians like  former LTTE deputy leader Karuna Amman and Mohamed Musammil of Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) led by Wimal Weerawansa. Prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will not alienate the latter group of fresh thinking young minority politicians (actually they are national politicians) by trying to be politically correct with the former group of fair-weather friends (belonging to the communal regional group of politicians).

The South African High Commission’s gratuitous request for a Mandela statue to be erected in Sri Lanka could be an importunate reminder of the so-called international community’s past strategic reconciliation efforts, apparently still not abandoned, but waiting to be re-launched in pursuit of its so far aborted agenda. Cabinet ministers of a caretaker government shouldn’t act as undertakers.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

        ලෝකයේ බොහෝ රටවල පැතිර පවතින නව වෛරස වසංගතය නිසා ලක්ෂ තිස් එකක් පමණ වන ජනතාවක් මේ වන විට අසරණව සිටී. ලංකාවේ ද මෙම රෝගය වැළඳී අතැයි සැළකෙන පුද්ගලයන් නවසීයකට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් හඳුනාගෙන තිබේ.වසංගත පාලනයට අද භාවිතා කරන්නේ වර්ෂ 1897 දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් හඳුන්වා දුන් නිරෝධායන හා ස්පර්ශයෙන් බෝවන රෝග වැළැක්වීමේ ආඥා පනතයි.එකල පැතිරී ගිය මහාමාරිය වසංගතය මර්දනය කරලීමට ඉංග්‍රිසි රජයට තිබුණේ එවැනි උපාය මාර්ගයක් පමණකි.රෝගය පැතිරීම කළමනාකරණය ඇරුණු කොට ඖෂධයක් නියම කොට රෝගය පහකිරීමේ සමත්කමක් ඔවුනට නොවීය.1818 සහ 1848 වර්ෂ වලදී ඉංග්‍රීසීන්ට විරුද්ධව අරගල කිරීමෙන් හෙම්බත්ව සිටි සිංහල ජනතාව රෝග වලින් අසරණ කිරීමට සමත් නොවුණි.  රජරට  සහ රුහුණේ.ගම්බිම් පාලුව ගියේ ඉංග්‍රීසීන් ගේ කෘරකම් නිසාවෙනි. ඉන්පසු ඇති වූ මැලේරියා වසංගතය නිසා බෙලහීනව සිටි සිංහලයන්ට එයට මුහුණු දීමට නොහැකිවීම නම් සත්‍යයකි. නමුත් මහාමාරිය වසංගතය පැමිණී අවස්තාවේ දී සිංහල වෙදුන් එයට ප්‍රතිකාර කළහ. වසූරියටද කොළරාවටද අතීසාරයට ද හොඳින් වෙදකම් කළහ. ඒ උඩරට සහ සපරගමුවේ ජනතාව ශක්තිමක්ව සිටි හෙයිනි. ඉංග්‍රීසීන් ගේ නිරෝධායන ආඥාව නිසා මෙවැනි වෙදුන් කීප වරක්ම අත්අඩංගුවට පත් වී ඇත්තේ නිරෝධායන නීති උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම නිසාවෙනි.එවැනි එක් අවස්ථාවකදී මහෙස්ත්‍රාත් ඉදිරියට පමුණුවනු ලැබූ එක් වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු ගෙන් උසාවිය ප්‍රශ්ණ කරන විට ඔහු පිළිතුරු දුන්නේ කවි පන්තියකිනි.බෙලෙක් උණට ( ඒ කාලයේ මහාමාරියට ප්ලෙග් යන්න භාවිත විය. එහි විකෘතිය බෙලෙක් යන්නයි. ) පමණක් නොව උණ වර්ග අටකට පිළීයම් අප වෙත අතැයි මේ කව කියමින් ඔහු පවසා ඇත.

කුට මත නගාරා අඹු සොඳ කටකාරී – අට අඹු ගෙනා සිටි එකෙකුට බේරී

සිටි අඹ කණා ලුණු ලා පස්දින නෑරී- අටවක ජොරා බැට කාගෙන යයි බේරී

            ඉංග්‍රීසීන් ගේ ආඥා පණත් වලින් සිංහලයන් ගේ නිර්මාණ ශක්තිය පාලනය කරනු ලබනුයේ එදා පමණක්ම නොවේ. එය අදටද වලංගුය.වර්තමාන කොරෝනා වසංගතය හමුවේ රට මුහුණ දුන් අභීයෝගයට සාර්ථකව ඉතාමත් කොටි කලකදී මුහුණ දීමට සිංහල වෛද්‍ය ක්‍රමයේ සහයෝගය ලබා ගැනීමට  පාලකයන් උනන්දු විය යුතුව තිබුණි.නමුත් එ එසේ සිදු නොවුණි. එයට හේතුව ඉංග්‍රීසීන් ගේ නිරෝධායන නීතිය එලෙසම ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමයි. වෙනසකට තිබුණේ එදා ඉංග්‍රීසි නිළධාරීන් විසින් මෙහෙයවනු ලැබූ නීතිය මෙදා සිංහල නිළධාරීන් විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමයි.අයි.ඩී.එච්. ඇතුලු රජයේ රෝහල්වල මෙම රෝගයට ප්‍රතිකාර ආරම්භ කළද කිසිම විටක ආයුර්වේද රෝහල් වල ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීමට අවසරයක් හිමි නොවුණී. නිරෝධායන ආඥා පනත අනුව නව රෙගුලාසි ගැසට් කොට ආයුර්වේද කොමසාරිස් තුමාටද බලතල හිමි කිර දීමට සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිකුමියට ඉඩකඩ තිබුණද බටහිර වෛද්‍ය වරුන් අමනාප කර ගැනීමට බියෙන් ඇය පසුබා සිටි බව දැන ගන්නට ඇත. මේ පිටිපස  ඔසු ජාවාරම ඇතුලු බහුජාතික සමාගම් වල විවිධ මාෆියාවන් පවතින බව නොරහසකි. මේ අගනා අවස්ථාව ගිලිහී යෑම නිසා රට ආර්ථික වශයෙන් අන්තයටම පරිහානියට පත් වුණි.රජයට ලැබෙන ආදායම පවා අහිමි වුණි. ඉතින් ඉදිරියේ රට සාගතයකට මුහුන දීමට සිදු වනු ඇතැයි රජය බියෙන් පසුවේ.

      සාගතයක් ඇති වන්නේ මූලිකව ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාවය අර්බුදයකට ලක්වීමෙනි.දෙවනුව කලට වැසි නොලැබී දුර්භික්ෂ තත්වයක් මතු වී ජනතාව දුකට පත් වීමෙනි.එහෙත් දුරාතීතයේ සිටම ලංකවේ ජනතාව මෙවැනි සාගතයන්ට සහ දුර්භික්ෂයන්ට මුහුණ දී පුරුදු වීම නිසා ඒ ආශ්‍රිත අත්දැකීම් වලින් සන්නද්ධ වී යම් යම් සිරිත් විරිත් අනුගමනය කළහ. එයින් පළමු වැන්න සොබාදහම සතුටු කිරීමයි. සිංහල අවුරුදු ආසන්නයට පැමිණෙන විට ඇති වන වසංගත වලින් වැළකී සිටීමට ද නොයෙකුත් උපක්‍රම අනුගමනය කළහ. පාරම්රික සිංහල වෙදකමෙන් උපන් ප්‍රතිකාර විධි අනුගමනය කරලීමට අමතරව මෙම රෝග වලින් හට ගැනෙන විපත් සහ තැති ගැනීම් දුරු කරලීමට දෙවියන් ගේ ආශීර්වාදය ප්‍රාර්ථානා කළ ආකාරය පැහැදලි වෙයි. විපත් රෝග සහ තැතිගැනීම් දුරු කර ගැනීමට උපකාරි වන් ප්‍රධාන දේවතාවිය ලෙසට සැළකෙන්නේ පත්තිනි දේවියයි. ගජබා රජ කල හුරු වුණු පත්තිනි  දේවි නැමදුම ලංකාවේ බොහෝ ගම්වලට තදින්ම පැතිරෙන්නට වූයේ කොට්ටේ යුගයේ දී යැයි සිතමි.සශ්‍රීකත්වය හා බැඳුණු නොයෙකුත් සිරිත් විරිත් සමගින් එක්කාසු වී පවතින මේ දේව වන්දනය ජනතාවට සමීප වී අති ආකාරය පුදුම සහගතය.

   විපත් රෝග උපත්‍රායාදී යසකීර්ති තේජං -පත්තිනි දේවි සමින්දා -පාද පත්මා වන්දේ යයි පළමුවන රාජසිංහ රජු විසින් තැනූ මැදගොඩ පත්තිනි දේවාල යාතිකාවේ සඳහන්ය.මේ ආකාරයට රටේ විවිධ පළාත්වල පවතින පත්තිනි දේවාලයන්ට සම්බන්ධ ජනප්‍රවාද සහ විස්තර රාශියක් පවතී.ඒ සැම තැනකම පත්තිනි සළඹ හා බැඳි ජනප්‍රවාදයක් පවතී.සිංහලඅවුරුද්දට පළමු අස්වනු කපා පාගා ගැනිමෙන් පසු මේ දේවාල වල සිරිත් විරිත් ආරම්භ වේ.විශේෂයෙන්ම ගම්මඩු නටා මුරුතැන් පූජා කර දේවදානය අවසානයේ මේ චාරිත්‍ර නිමාවට පත් වේ.පත්තිනි දේවලයන්හි විශේෂත්වයක් නම් දේවාලය ආශ්‍රතව නාගයන්ගේ වාසය සිදු වීමයි.ගමේ අස්වනු කැපෙන සමයේ මේ නාගයන් කමත් වල සැරිසරන බවද දෙවියන් උදෙසා කොටස වෙන් කරන තෙක් අසළින් නොයන් බවද පැරණීයන් ගේ මතයයි.කමතේ අස්වනු මනින අවස්ථාවෙහි පත්තින මෑනියන් ගේ පිහිට ඒ ස්ථානයට ලැබෙන අතර කමත වට ගොක් තිර ඇද ස්ත්‍රීන්ට  පැමිණීම් වළක්වා කරන කටයුතු වලින් අස්වනු සරු වන බවද පැවසේ. ඇතැම් අවස්ථාවලදී වී මනින ලාහ කමත මත මුනින් තලා කිරීමට සිදු වන්නේ වී මැනීම ඉවර කරගන්නට නොහැකි වන බැවිනි. ඒ දෙවියන් ගේ ආශීර්වාදයයි.පත්තිනි ඇදහිල්ලද විශ්වාසයන්ද ක්‍රමයෙන් සමාජයෙන් බැහැරව යන් කල්හි නාගයන්ගේ බැල්ම අතුරුදහන්ව පවතී. නමුත් අදටත් මේ දේවාල භූමි තුළ වරින් වර නාගයන් ගේ පැමිණිම සිදු වේ.

        වර්තමාන කාලයේ බොහෝ සැදැහැවතුන් පත්තිනි මෑනියන් අභියසට පැමිණෙන්නේ විපත් සහ රෝග දුරු කර ගැනීමටයි.එසේම ගර්භනී සමයේ මෙන්ම දරුවන් උපන් පසු කිරි අම්මාවරුනගේ දානය දීමද සිරිතකි.දෙවියන්ට යාතිකා කිරීමෙන් ලබන ආශිර්වාදය නිසා විවිධ වසංගත ලෙඩ ධූරි භූතවන බව පැරණියන් ගේ විශ්වාසයයි.කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය නොහොත් පස්යොදුන් කෝරලයේ දේවාල සතක් තිබූ බවද නාගයන් සත් දෙනෙකු විසින් එම දේවාල ආරම්භ කරන ලද බවද ජනප්‍රවාද ගතව පවතී. වීදිය බණ්ඩාරයන් වරක් සිය ඇතු පිටින් ගමන් කරද්දී ඇටිගිරිය ගම් පියස අසල තැනක හදිසියේ ඇතු  නැවතීමෙන් පසු විපරම් කර බැලූ කල්හි දේව හාස්කමක් බව දැන ඇතුගේ පිටේ තිබූ සෝමනය එම දේවාලයට පූජා කර තිබේ. එසෝමනය අදටත්  ලත් පඳුර දේවාලය සතුව පවතී. නයි හත් දෙනාගෙන් පැවතෙන හුරුලු ගෙදර දේවාලය අගලවත්ත ආසන්නයේ කඳු පාමුළක් පවතී. එක අවස්ථාවක එහි බුලත් හුරුල්ලක පැළවිය. ඒ නිසාම හුරුලු ගෙදර දේවාලය යයි ප්‍රසිද්ධ විය. මේ නිසා පත්තිනි දේව වන්දනය කෙරහි ජනතාවගේ බයක් මෙන්ම ගෞරවාදරයක්ද පවතී. සශ්‍රීකත්වය උදෙසා කරන ශාන්ති කර්ම වලට මුලට ගැනෙන පත්තිනි කන්නලව් කලට වේලාවට කිරීමෙන් අස්වනු සරු වන බවද කලට වර්ෂාව ලැබෙන බවද කියති.අදටත් මඩු නටා දේව දානය දුන් කල්හි යල් කන්නයේ වර්ෂාව ආරම්‍භ වීම සත්‍යයකි.

      අවාසනාවකට නිදහසින් පසු ලංකාවේ පලානයට පත් වූ පුද්ගලයන් හට මේ සම්බන්ධව තිබෙන උනන්දුව ඉතා අල්පය. 1956 දී සංස්කෘතික දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පිහිටුවන ලද්දේ මෙම අවශ්‍යතාවයන්ට රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහය ලබා දීමටය. නමුත් එය සාර්ථක පරිදි සිදු වී නොමැත. එහි සෑබෑ තත්වය මෙම වසංගත සමයේ දී මැනවීන් ප්‍රකට විය. ඇඳිරි නීතිය දමා සියලු මිනිස් ක්‍රියාකාරකම් පාලනය කලාසේම මෙම ආශීර්වාද පූජාවන් කර ගැනීමට තිබෙන ඉඩකඩද  සීමා කළහ. මේ නිසා සෑම වසරකමසොබා දහමෙන් ලැබෙන ආශීර්වාදය මෙවර නොලැබී ගිය බව මාගේ විශ්වාසයයි. විශේෂයෙන්ම දළදා මාළීගයේ පවත්වනු ලබන ප්‍රධාන පින්කම් රජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහයෙන් ලංකාපති ගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් සිදු විය යුතුය.නාථ දේවාලයේ පූජවන්ද එසේමය. මෙවර එය එලෙස සිදු නොවීය. එවිට සාගතයන් සහ දුර්භික්ෂයන් පැමිණීමක් සිදුවුවහොත් පුදුමයට කරුණක් නොවේ. එම නිසා රජු දැහැමි වීම යන පැරණි සංකල්පය වර්තමාන පලාකයන් නිතර නිතර සිහිපත් කළ මනාය.රටට ජනපතිවරයෙකු අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ රටේ ප්‍රධානියාගේ බෝසත් චර්යාව තුළින් රටට ආශීර්වාදය ළඟා කර ගැනීමටය. යහපතට නායකත්වය දීමටය. දැන්වත් මෙම ගුණ ධර්ම වටහා ගත යුතුය.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

I. de Silva Canada

Mayor Bonnie Crombie of Mississauga

I have just watched your statement regarding what you refer to as Tamil Memorial Day. I am writing to you because I was offended by your statement and the fact that you are making public statements based on  misinformation and lies without doing any research on the Tamil terrorist movement in Sri Lanka that lasted for nearly thirty years.

It is obvious that you are ignorant of the situation in Sri Lanka and the fact that the terrorist movement in Sri Lanka was by a segment of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka that resorted to extreme violence and terrorised everyone else who did not support their views. The Tamil terrorists  were classified by the FBI as the most ruthless terrorists in the world. The thousands who lost their lives for human rights were not the Tamil terrorists but those who they terrorised.  Tamil terrorism was to deprive Sri Lankans of their human rights, not as you claim, to support humans rights. Their goal, which was the division of Sri Lanka, was to establish a Tamil only, fascist state in the north of Sri Lanka. This effort was funded by Tamil terrorist sympathisers from all over the world  including Canadian Tamils and it was estimated that at least a million dollars a month was sent from Canada. The RCMP has a lot of information on Tamil terrorism and support from Canada so it would have been very simple for anyone in your office to check this funding of terrorism by Canadian Tamils and other facts regarding Tamil terrorism before you issued this biased, ignorant statement. In plain language, Canadians  were responsible for the deaths of thousands of Sri Lankans of all communities and successive Canadian Governments and politicians at every level were aware of this and supportive of it just to get votes in Canada. They not only condoned terrorism but actively helped in the collection of millions of dollars to kill the people of Sri Lanka. Your statement indicates that you are another Canadian politician making inaccurate statements to get Tamil votes in Canada.

The Tamil terrorist movement was ended on May 2009 by the Sri Lankan security forces without the help of the western countries who had throughout the years supported the Tamil terrorists from the west just to get votes in elections in their individual countries. In other words, politicians in the west supported terrorism in Sri Lanka and are accountable for those who died in Sri Lanka because of their support of terrorism in Sri Lanka. Although the military offensive of the Tamil terrorists ended in May of 2009 with the death of their leader, it is obvious that those who supported terrorism in Sri Lanka from Canada are still working towards the division of the country but now they hope to achieve their goal through political pressure and not military offensives. Your statement is confirmation. I trust you will educate yourself on Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka before you make any future statements, unless you are a supporter of terrorism to achieve your goals.

If there is to be a “memorial day” it should not be Tamil Memorial Day but Memorial Day for all Sri Lankans killed by the Tamil terrorists which, for your information, included Tamils. By making this statement you are offending all  Sri Lankans who are the victims of Tamil terrorism whether they live in Mississauga, anywhere else in Canada or the world.

Yours truly,

I. de Silva

Canada

by Malaka Rodrigo  Courtesy Mongabay

• Home gardening has boomed in Sri Lanka as residents under lockdown look to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables.
• The government, which has championed home gardening in the past, launched a program to support a million home gardens by issuing 2 million seed packs and offering technical advice to the public to undertake home gardening.
• With the country now easing out of lockdown, the government says it will take some prodding to keep people interested in home gardening, including by emphasizing the benefits of growing food at home instead of importing it from abroad.
• While the main benefit of home gardens is to ensure people are food secure at the individual and family level, gardening is also a useful stress buster that supports outdoor family time.

COLOMBO — On April 22, Sri Lanka eased its nationwide lockdown that was imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That sparked a buying rush for essential goods, primarily food. But another type of commodity was also high on shoppers’ lists: organic fertilizers, seeds, and clay pots. Demand was so strong that people lined up in queues with little regard for physical distancing guidelines as they sought out home gardening essentials.

Goods have become scarce since the lockdown on March 16, with food supplies from the northwest and central parts of the island suspended to contain the spread of COVID-19. With a shortage of rice and vegetables looming as part of the new normal,” there has been a heightened interest in home gardening among even urban Sri Lankans.

Promoting home gardens online

Tips and tutorials on home gardening have flourished on Youtube and Facebook, with people showcasing their small-time cultivation efforts to the world.

Nuwan Nilamuni, a member of a local government authority in southern Sri Lanka, set up a Facebook group with colleagues in late March to encourage home gardening and provide a platform to discuss gardening issues. The group reached 100,000 members within a month. Similar groups have mushroomed on social media platforms during the lockdown, while existing pages and channels on farming and gardening have recorded massive growth in subscriber numbers.

Ahead of the lockdown, and uncertain about how long it would last, residents stocked up on food items with a long shelf life. That meant plenty of dry rations, but no vegetables or fruit, which, along with rice, were subject to distribution bottlenecks as a result of quarantine controls between different districts. That led people to the quick realization of the practical value in growing their own produce. And with people confined to their homes, with no outdoor activity possible, there was solace in growing their own plants.

Local media rallied behind campaigns such as the Home gardening challenge,” with the country’s cricketers — superstars in a country that reveres the sport — showing how they were taking to cultivate their backyards and inspiring people.

Sri Lanka, a tropical Indian Ocean island, has climate variations that enable year-round crop cultivation. Home gardens in Sri Lanka account for 13% of the total land area. Realizing the value home gardening can contribute to household food security, the government through the Department of Agriculture (DOA) also launched a program called Saubagya (meaning prosperity”) to promote a million home gardens.

Under this program, officials distributed 2 million seed packets to households, W.M.W.Weerakoon, director-general of the Department of Agriculture, told Mongabay.

We offer these vegetable seed packets as a means of encouragement to try home gardening. People can find many other things to plant in their gardens like green leaves, so they can expand on their own,” he said.

The department also had field staff offering advice on tackling pests and maximizing yields. The public can contact our agriculture hotline anytime,” Weerakoon said.

The department has tried to promote home gardening a number of times in the past, but with little success. The current concerns around household food security have caused a wave of their own, making it likely that this program will succeed, Weerakoon added.

The lockdown has since been eased in 23 of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts, so people will need some prodding to retain their interest in home gardening. We are reminding the public of the value of growing your own food, which is healthier as vegetables available in the markets are often having high agrochemical residue,” he said.

Urban home gardens

While rural areas have more land that can be used for home gardening, urban populations are constrained by a lack of space. Not if you have the will and an interest,” says Arulkumar Jebamani, who lives in a second-floor apartment in Bambalapitiya, in the heart of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital. I have two balconies and a terrace with a roof. I use pots to grow vegetables in my tiny urban space,” Jebamani said.

Udaya de Silva, a former director of agriculture, has played a lead role in current efforts to promote home gardening in the island. As Sri Lanka attempts to reduce imports of popular spices such as ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turmeric (Curcuma longa), de Silva says it’s best to grow these medicinal herbs at home.

This is the right time to plant ginger and turmeric as they need about eight months to mature and people can gather harvest in December/January,” he said.

There are a number of medicinal herbs found in Sri Lanka believed to be able to boost the immune system. People can grow their own medicinal plants like polpala [Aerva lanata] and asparagus [Asparagus gonoclados] that do not require special care,” de Silva said.

By early May, farming supply stores had run out of fertilizer. Once again, people had to learn to make it on their own, said Nalika Ranathunga of the agriculture department at the University of Ruhuna, who specializes in plant pathology.

Half of the waste collected in Sri Lanka are biodegradables. If everyone individually turns biodegradable waste into fertilizer, it can effectively reduce the country’s waste production and benefit useful activities such as home gardening,” Ranathunge said.

She told Mongabay that home gardening has a value well beyond food production. Ranathunge, who got her entire family engaged in home gardening, said the activity gives more productive family time and physical exercise.

It is a stressful time and gardening is always a pleasurable activity,” she said. Doing it together brings the family to connect through one productive activity and offers quality family time that can eventually benefit the family with produce from one’s own compound,”

Banner image of capsicum and ocra plants from a home garden in Sri Lanka, by Malaka Rodrigo.

• Home gardening has boomed in Sri Lanka as residents under lockdown look to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables.
• The government, which has championed home gardening in the past, launched a program to support a million home gardens by issuing 2 million seed packs and offering technical advice to the public to undertake home gardening.
• With the country now easing out of lockdown, the government says it will take some prodding to keep people interested in home gardening, including by emphasizing the benefits of growing food at home instead of importing it from abroad.
• While the main benefit of home gardens is to ensure people are food secure at the individual and family level, gardening is also a useful stress buster that supports outdoor family time.

COLOMBO — On April 22, Sri Lanka eased its nationwide lockdown that was imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That sparked a buying rush for essential goods, primarily food. But another type of commodity was also high on shoppers’ lists: organic fertilizers, seeds, and clay pots. Demand was so strong that people lined up in queues with little regard for physical distancing guidelines as they sought out home gardening essentials.

Goods have become scarce since the lockdown on March 16, with food supplies from the northwest and central parts of the island suspended to contain the spread of COVID-19. With a shortage of rice and vegetables looming as part of the new normal,” there has been a heightened interest in home gardening among even urban Sri Lankans.

Promoting home gardens online

Tips and tutorials on home gardening have flourished on Youtube and Facebook, with people showcasing their small-time cultivation efforts to the world.

Nuwan Nilamuni, a member of a local government authority in southern Sri Lanka, set up a Facebook group with colleagues in late March to encourage home gardening and provide a platform to discuss gardening issues. The group reached 100,000 members within a month. Similar groups have mushroomed on social media platforms during the lockdown, while existing pages and channels on farming and gardening have recorded massive growth in subscriber numbers.

Ahead of the lockdown, and uncertain about how long it would last, residents stocked up on food items with a long shelf life. That meant plenty of dry rations, but no vegetables or fruit, which, along with rice, were subject to distribution bottlenecks as a result of quarantine controls between different districts. That led people to the quick realization of the practical value in growing their own produce. And with people confined to their homes, with no outdoor activity possible, there was solace in growing their own plants.

Local media rallied behind campaigns such as the Home gardening challenge,” with the country’s cricketers — superstars in a country that reveres the sport — showing how they were taking to cultivate their backyards and inspiring people.

Sri Lanka, a tropical Indian Ocean island, has climate variations that enable year-round crop cultivation. Home gardens in Sri Lanka account for 13% of the total land area. Realizing the value home gardening can contribute to household food security, the government through the Department of Agriculture (DOA) also launched a program called Saubagya (meaning prosperity”) to promote a million home gardens.

Under this program, officials distributed 2 million seed packets to households, W.M.W.Weerakoon, director-general of the Department of Agriculture, told Mongabay.

We offer these vegetable seed packets as a means of encouragement to try home gardening. People can find many other things to plant in their gardens like green leaves, so they can expand on their own,” he said.

The department also had field staff offering advice on tackling pests and maximizing yields. The public can contact our agriculture hotline anytime,” Weerakoon said.

The department has tried to promote home gardening a number of times in the past, but with little success. The current concerns around household food security have caused a wave of their own, making it likely that this program will succeed, Weerakoon added.

The lockdown has since been eased in 23 of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts, so people will need some prodding to retain their interest in home gardening. We are reminding the public of the value of growing your own food, which is healthier as vegetables available in the markets are often having high agrochemical residue,” he said.

Urban home gardens

While rural areas have more land that can be used for home gardening, urban populations are constrained by a lack of space. Not if you have the will and an interest,” says Arulkumar Jebamani, who lives in a second-floor apartment in Bambalapitiya, in the heart of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital. I have two balconies and a terrace with a roof. I use pots to grow vegetables in my tiny urban space,” Jebamani said.

Udaya de Silva, a former director of agriculture, has played a lead role in current efforts to promote home gardening in the island. As Sri Lanka attempts to reduce imports of popular spices such as ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turmeric (Curcuma longa), de Silva says it’s best to grow these medicinal herbs at home.

This is the right time to plant ginger and turmeric as they need about eight months to mature and people can gather harvest in December/January,” he said.

There are a number of medicinal herbs found in Sri Lanka believed to be able to boost the immune system. People can grow their own medicinal plants like polpala [Aerva lanata] and asparagus [Asparagus gonoclados] that do not require special care,” de Silva said.

By early May, farming supply stores had run out of fertilizer. Once again, people had to learn to make it on their own, said Nalika Ranathunga of the agriculture department at the University of Ruhuna, who specializes in plant pathology.

Half of the waste collected in Sri Lanka are biodegradables. If everyone individually turns biodegradable waste into fertilizer, it can effectively reduce the country’s waste production and benefit useful activities such as home gardening,” Ranathunge said.

She told Mongabay that home gardening has a value well beyond food production. Ranathunge, who got her entire family engaged in home gardening, said the activity gives more productive family time and physical exercise.

It is a stressful time and gardening is always a pleasurable activity,” she said. Doing it together brings the family to connect through one productive activity and offers quality family time that can eventually benefit the family with produce from one’s own compound,”

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Bandaranayake Mawatha in Colombo 12 and the Suduwella area in Ja-Ela, which were placed under isolation, have been re-opened, Army Commander Shavendra Silva said.

With the lifting of restrictions in these areas, there are no isolated areas due to Covid-19 in Sri Lanka now,” the Army Commander said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The deadline for accepting online applications to select the 4th batch for the Interest-Free Loan Scheme granted to Advanced Level students of 2016, 2017 and 2018 for pursuing degree courses in non-State higher education institutions has been announced.

Accordingly, the deadline has been declared as the 20th of May, the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation said today (15) issuing a media release.

The Ministry had previously set the 23rd of March as the closing date for sending in applications, however, the deadline was indefinitely postponed following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.

The interviews for these applicants, which were prepared using Microsoft Team software, will be held on the 1ts of June, the release read further.

Courtesy Hiru News

Ten (10) more persons have tested positive for Covid-19 (new coronavirus) infection.

The country total has increased to 935 according to the latest information by the Epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health.

Covid-19 Situation Report as at 2020-May-15| compiled according to the Health Promotion Bureau and the Epidemiology Unit data

Total confirmed cases – 935
Recovered and discharged – 477
Active cases – 449
New Cases for the day – 10

Courtesy Hiru News

Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday acknowledged that the government has provided the necessary funds to transport IDPs from Puttalam to Mannar during the last presidential election.

This was when he spoke to the media after making a statement to the CID regarding the incident.

However, former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen had earlier stated that the money had been provided by an NGO.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has recorded statements from Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera for over five hours regarding the incident of providing the necessary facilities to transport IDPs by bus from Puttalam to Mannar during the last presidential election.

Meanwhile, the ‘Sinhale’ National Organization has strongly condemned the statement made by the former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera that there are Sangha cliques in the country.

Other politicians expressed their views regarding the statement made by Mangala Samaraweera regarding the Sangha.

Courtesy Hiru News

Opposition politicians and several other parties expressed their views regarding the remand of former MP Rajitha Senaratne.

Courtesy Hiru News

DIG Chandana Athukorala, who was in charge of the Negombo division at the time of the attack</strong>

DIG Chandana Athukorala, who was the SSP in charge of the Negombo division at the time of the attack, said that although the officers in the lower ranks were instructed to provide armed police protection to Catholic churches, no officers had been deployed for security.

This was when he was giving evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to probe the Easter Sunday attacks. He is currently serving as the DIG of the Police Welfare Division and was the first person called to give evidence today

When did you first become aware of the threat?

The Presidential Commission asked him when he first became aware of an attack of the Thawheed Jamaat organization. Responding to this, DIG Chandana Athukorala stated that on the evening of April 12, 2019, he received a file through a messenger and that he had opened it the next morning.

The Presidential Commission asked him when he first became aware of an attack of the Thawheed Jamaat organization. Responding to this, DIG Chandana Athukorala stated that on the evening of April 12, 2019, he received a file through a messenger and that he had opened it the next morning.

He further stated that it contained information about the attack and that it was sent by DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon, who was in charge of the Western North Division at the time.

The DIG stated that he had sent a letter he had prepared to the Police OICs, District Officers and the OIC of Negombo Division Intelligence, after he had looked into four files.

Not aware of Islam extremism or any such organisation

The Commission then asked the DIG whether he had any prior knowledge of Islamist extremism or any such organization. Deputy Inspector General of Police Chandana Athukorala stated that he was made aware of such an incident after the letter.

The DIG has also pointed out that he had not received more written or verbal information from the superiors by the 17th.

DIG Nandana Munasinghe called and informed

However, Senior DIG Nandana Munasinghe, who was in charge of the Western Province, telephoned him and informed him that there could be an attack on Catholic churches the following day.

The DIG said before the commission that he had acted in accordance with the instructions and informed the officers in charge of the police stations to provide armed police guards to the catholic churches.

DIG Chandana Athukorala stated that since he did not receive a response to his letter, he inquired further details from the OIC of the Negombo Division Intelligence but he did not have any further information.

Special attention not provided

The Presidential Commission asked him whether he did not give special attention, since the Senior DIG Nandana Munasinghe provided information over the phone.

The DIG stated that he did not pay any special attention to the telephone calls since they receive calls very often.

Do you feel that you have failed in your duties?

The Presidential Commission has inquired whether he does not feel that he has failed in his duties in this regard and the DIG has said that it is his junior officers who are responsible for it.

However, DIG Chandana Athukorala has admitted that he is also responsible in the face of continued interrogation by the Commission.

I did not believe such a serious incident would take place

The Deputy Inspector General of Police, giving evidence before the Presidential Commission today, said that although he had received information from his superiors, he did not believe such a serious incident would take place.

Courtesy Hiru News

Defense Secretary Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne has taken steps to establish a navy sub-divison for the protection of the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya which has been invaded by illegal acquisitions.  

This was after he visited the area to inquire about the safety of the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya based on the Hiru CIA revelation.

On several occasions, the Hiru CIA program revealed about the plunder of land at Pottuvil, highlighting the importance of protecting this historic sacred site.

The land invasion was so intense during the last Yahapalana regime that the Pottuvil Pradeshiya Sabha had taken steps to turn the beach adjacent to the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya into a cemetery.

While the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya was losing land at an alarming speed, the ‘yahapalanaya government turned a blind eye into those revelations.  

After the election of the present government, the invaders were silent and gradually recommenced their work during the Coronavirus pandemic, when countrywide curfew was in force.

The Hiru CIA team exposed the demarcation of the coastline around the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya using illegal fencing, amidst the obstruction of the invaders.

Minister S.G.M. Chandrasena and a group of officials were deployed to investigate the plunder of lands belonging to the Muhudu Maha Viharaya on the instructions of the President and the Prime Minister after the illegal land grabbing incidents were exposed by Hiru CIA.

Meanwhile, yesterday the Defense Secretary Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne also visited to look into these issues.

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute has written an open letter on 13 May 2020 to Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice urging Sri Lanka to abide by due process in the case of arrested lawyer Heejaz Hizbullah. While the International Bar Association President is Horacio Bernardes Neto. The IBAHRI is only an entity within the IBA. IBAHRI President is Michael Kirby. The IBAHRI in its letter is asking Sri Lanka to ‘uphold the rights of lawyers to be able to carry out their professional responsibilities” but the arrest has nothing to do with any lawyer being denied his/her right to carry out professional responsibilities. The arrest is related to his connections to the mass murder that took place on Easter Sunday. IBAHRI should not confuse the prima facie reason for the arrest nor try to divert attention away from that fact. The rest of the letter is virtually a cut and paste of ICJ and Amnesty International statements being circulated.    

Strangely IBAHRI is issuing a statement after a drought of 7 years. Its last statement on Sri Lanka was in 2014 https://www.ibanet.org/Article/NewDetail.aspx?ArticleUid=39648b5e-489b-4634-a530-558464f9502f

The selective topics of the IBAHRI is seen in its own website

A lot has since happened. How come IBAHRI did not question the due process followed in the removal of Chief Justice Mohan Pieris, if they saw fit to question the removal of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake? Didn’t IBAHRI see fit to question why a sitting CJ was removed from post by not allowing him to enter his chambers on the flimsy argument that the rulers never considered him appointed as CJ. Didn’t IBAHRI want to question the status of his judgements and verdicts made during the 2 ½ years he was Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice?

Attorney Hejaaz Hizbulla was arrested on 14 April 2020 by CID along with former Minister & ACMC Leader Rishad Bathiudeen’s brother Riyad Bathiudeen and another in connection with the Easter Sunday mass murder.

15 April 2020 – CID in writing informs BASL that the attorneys arrest and detention is owing to his connection with terrorist activity that took place on Easter Sunday.

16 April 2020 – The police spokesman informs that the arrested lawyer was associated with the bombers and had been involved with the bombers as an office bearer in an organization. The Sri Lanka Bar Association claims this association is purely based on professional capacity. However, the Bar Association President had been informed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court that the attorney’s arrest was not related to any function he attended on a professional capacity.  The arrest was due to a clear prima facie evidence against him. Was this not communicated by the BASL to the IBAHRI given that other details of the arrest had been communicated to them?

25 April 2020 – 158 persons most claiming to be lawyers (less than 1% of the entire lawyer fraternity in Sri Lanka) without disclosing their Bar membership numbers release petition claiming it is the right of lawyers to defend the ability to function as lawyers, without obstruction, fear or favour”

29 April 2020 – 216 attorneys giving their Bar Association member sends a detailed letter to the Bar Association President. Poignant remarks in that letter is quoted

undue collateral pressure must not be brought to bear or be exerted on the investigative process or on the investigation officers”

there are various forces and unlawful influences that are at play, who/which are attempting exert pressure to release Mr. Hizbullah and to discontinue the investigations against him, but that most fortunately, the investigation officers and the Sri Lanka Police are remaining steadfastly committed to their duties and to not succumbing to these pressures. The investigation must be taken to a full and logical conclusion and no amount of repetition would be in vain, in emphasising this fact”

Immediately after the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019, 6 foreign intelligence units arrived to assist but we are yet to know what they unravelled. The disappointment in not getting to the bottom of those who planned the attack is what has resulted in a new investigation with new teams.

On 5^th May attorney Gowry Thavarajah filed a FR seeking release of arrested lawyer http://www.themorning.lk/fr-petition-filed-seeking-release-of-detained-lawyer-hejaaz-hizbullal/

Only people in high places can pervert course of justice in preventing justice being meted

This is evident from the propaganda and hype associated with the arrest & arguments for release. Every attempt is being made to dilute the arrest – propaganda depicts his arrest due to him being a Muslim, being a minority, handling high profile cases against the govt… all of these are clearly to divert the attention of the people from wondering if the arrested lawyer really had been involved in the crime of killing innocent people.

The legal fraternity must put the human rights of the victims before surrounding a colleague simply because he is ‘one of them’. How can the legal fraternity international and local, lobby for one person immediately following arrest without giving benefit of doubt and waiting for the investigators to reveal on what grounds and why he has been arrested.

The allegation against him is no small a crime. It is linking him to the killing of over 300 people 46 of whom were foreigners.

There is nothing the international nor local legal fraternity can say that a lawyer cannot be part of a conspiracy against the country.  

Turkey arrested 14 lawyers in 2017 for alleged terrorist involvement

The main suicide bomber Zaharan Hashim has Rs.140million in gold and cash. This shows a bigger nexus at play.  

No one is above the law and no lawyer is above the law as well.  

The police arrests people not by status but by evidence before them.

Lawyers on the other hand depending on their ability to argue a case can even turn a murderer into an innocent and an innocent into a murderer. The value of lawyers and their ability to twist the law increases their demand.

The police however, can only frame charges based on the evidence before them.

Therefore, it is morally wrong and indefensible for the international bar association human rights institute to interfere in an investigation which has hardly got off the ground. Allow the police to prove the arrested lawyer was part of the Easter Sunday plot. Defend him in court but it is incorrect to demand his release simply because he is a lawyer. This is a very specious argument.

It is unfair by the victims who have died, the victims who are injured and the victim families who continue to mourn their dead. Did one of these lawyers writing petitions even consider to appear on behalf of them for legal issues that may require legal attention?

But, in a matter as serious as that which happened on Easter Sunday, which is of national security risk and concern, the Government has every right to lift the lawyers cloak and determine if the arrested lawyer was involved in the mass murder.

The cloak of ethics does not apply when a criminal lawyer defends a known murderer because it is his professional service to defend a murderer and he is paid handsomely to win the case. Even if a man has committed murder, a good lawyer is able to present him as innocent and win the case based on legal arguments. Strange is the justice system that prevails.

The cloak of ethics does not excuse or exonerate anyone in the legal fraternity simply because they are a member of the legal fraternity from being investigated, arrested or even charged for wanting to kill innocent people. None of us have made any conclusions. We are all keenly watching how the investigations unfold. If there is circumstantial evidence, then he is very much answerable. Let the court decide that. Natural and probable consequences of his conduct in the Easter Sunday mass murder as well as plans to carry out further mayhem cannot be exonerated simply because the international legal forums international and local send letters and petitions. Being lawyers they should know this is not how justice is meted out.

There is a thin line that will determine if he has provided only legal advice to the suicide bombers or whether he provided material support to carry out the suicide bombings. Let the police produce the evidence and let his legal defence argue his case and allow court to decide.

No lawyer can be afforded preferential treatment simply because he is a lawyer. In a crime of the nature that took place on Easter Sunday, all suspects whatever their status or profession should have no favors afforded to them. Given, the scale of the crime it is unfair for the Bas Association – international or local to be issuing statements without allowing the course of justice to prevail. The context of the matter is not to argue the merits or demerits of his legal professionalism but to fathom if the arrested lawyer was part of the mass murder that took place on Easter Sunday and planning another attack as revealed following mass arrests made. The Bar Associations both international & local must surely view the possibility of more murders as a concern far above demanding release of a lawyer implicated in the plot simply because he is a lawyer!

“Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done” 

Shenali D Waduge

By Gandara John

/Contd from Part 1

With dedicated medical-personnel and with selfless and disciplined military and police cadres leading the way, Gota very likely saved the lives of about a Million Sri Lankans who may otherwise have died if the medical-lockdown strategy had not been initiated.

This strategy, as was explained previously, is logically simple: Isolate the people from the virus and prevent the spread of this highly contagious disease; in military parlance, interdict the population from the disease: And, in the meantime, medically treat all those infected by the virus

From statistics on COVID virus fatalities, it would appear that Sri Lanka has found a cure for those affected by the disease.

The rationale of this anti-COVID campaign-approach was placing human life at the apex of Sri Lanka’s concerns. Every single human life was considered precious; there was no discrimination in treating patients; their wealth, station in life, age, infirmities etc mattered not the least.

This was in total contrast to the approach taken by America. The American approach to the anti-COVID campaign was ‘herd-immunisation’; the rationale for that approach was not ‘Humans first’, but rather ‘Economy first’.

In pursuing this policy of ‘herd-immunisation’ – an entire population being deliberately exposed to the COVID virus – all those who are infected and survive, develop immunity to the virus; those who are poor and cannot afford medical treatment, those who are old and  infirm, those who have no medical insurance, those who are homeless,  they are all considered expendable. Many in this category are the black, coloured and Hispanic communities in the US.

In short, the Americans are adopting a policy of ‘survival-of-the-fittest’ as their solution to the COVID virus; the resources in the country will be available only to those who are young, strong, wealthy and healthy.

This is the law of the jungle that was first publicly propounded and practised by Hitler and the Nazis. Now, following this law are the US and their crony European states.

With the Nazi-style ‘herd-immunisation’ programme in place, Americans today are dying like dogs, on the streets of the US. In New York alone the daily death-tally is presently about 3oo0. As at date the total death count in the US, due to COVID, is nearly 100,000 and is expected to rise to a million before the virus is brought under control.

It is ironic that in this scenario, some Americans, like vultures, are feasting on the misery of the doomed.

It is indeed pertinent that the US in 2018, prior to this pandemic, surprisingly closed down the ‘National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense’. 

It is also interesting to note that the Americans warned NATO and Israel in November 2019 of a deadly virus attack that would unfold anon.

Whistle-blower Rick Bright – Head of the ‘Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority’- having prior knowledge of the virus forewarned the Americans about it, in January 2020; he was sacked from his job by the US Administration.

It is pertinent that news coming out of the US on COVID-19 is censored.

Interestingly, a former Editor of the Japan Times Weekly, Yoichi Schimatsu, a regular contributor to several reputed global media outlets including those in US and China, writing to ‘Rense’ asserts that COVID 19 is augmented with HIV proteins and a DNA sequence of M-tuberculosis for upgrade to make it a lethal biological weapon.

Yoichi adds, COVID-19 targets human testicles and its TB strand blocks the immune system.”

A reader could be forgiven if his or her mind went immediately to the US-Government funded ‘Pathfinder International’, a eugenic organisation, committed to de-populating the world by employing viruses and other means; ‘Pathfinders’ believe that the world is overpopulated and that there is a need to make the world, its land and its riches the exclusive preserve of a selected breed of persons, by culling selected segments of the human population.

Are they looking at a blond haired, blue-eyed, white skin breed?

Over the years, Pathfinders have fine-tuned eugenics to a fine art; they have come a long way since the terrible days of the Auschwitz extermination camps.

As was mentioned in Part 1 of this article, Agent-Moragoda, the founder of ‘Pathfinder Foundation’, unsolicitedly and without raising any security concerns from the previous Sri Lankan Government, had the impertinence to draft Sri Lanka’s National Security doctrine; the paper has been broadly described as a shoddy piece of work, not worth the 34-pages it is written on.

Agent-Moragoda, basing his arguments on several fallacious assumptions and drafting his unsolicited paper in the immediate aftermath of the Easter bombings last year, has floated the notion that Sri Lanka’s National Security should be handed over to the Americans!!

What is indeed revealing is that Agent-Moragoda in August 2019, when drafting America’s doctrine for Sri Lanka’s National Security, appears to have had a premonition of the COVID-19 attack.

Says Agent Moragoda in page 2 of his document, Quote: …. National Security policies of a country should bring within its purview, the broader issues of survival of humanity and connected long term threats to human security concerns, such as food security and environmental security, which some security policy makers advocate countries to adopt in their national security policies. Long term survival of humanity, though a noble task, is a far broader objective, beyond the capabilities of a single state.” Unquote.

This writer is unable to resist asking Agent-Moragoda. Who are these security policy makers who are so powerful as to advocate so many countries on National Security, huh?”

Agent-Moragoda’s comments, put a new spin on the Easter-Bomb attack and the COVID virus attack. Were these two attacks, from Sri Lanka’s perspective, contrived to drive us desperately into the waiting arms of the Americans and willingly sign the MCC Agreement which remains the most contentious issue between the two countries; over 6.9 Million Sri Lankan adults are opposing it while the American Administration is trying to force their ‘gift’ horse down our throats?

The face behind the Islamic veil?

Sri Lankans distinctly remember how ‘Easterbomb’ Teplitz gleefully and very insensitively announced, just two days after the Easter tragedy while the country was in deep shock and mourning, that the MCC booty had been upped by 60Million USD; Teplitz’s Matara-boy Samaraweera was quick to chortle ‘This is the proverbial silver lining in the dark cloud’.

Matara Americanisation Centre

 It was Agent-Moragoda who, about a month ago, attempted to coerce Gota to rescind Sri Lanka’s ‘human-lives-first’ strategy and adopt instead America’s ‘economy-first’, ‘herd-immunisation’ strategy. This was widely opposed by the medical fraternity. Fortunately, saner counsel prevailed.

It is hoped that the exit-strategy from the medical-lockdown presently in progress, is strictly in line with the laid-down medical guidelines.

What was Agent-Moragoda’s motive to push for the Nazi style herd-immunisation strategy? Was it Agent Moragoda’s plan to get a Million Sri Lankans to die like dogs on the streets of our country?

Agent-Wickramasinghe had already done the necessary spadework to allow an American-led Indo-Pacific military force to invade our country, in such circumstances.

In the first week of June 2017, feigning sickness and pretending to seek urgent medical attention, Agent-Wickramasinghe slipped furtively into the US in what he termed was a private visit. He went through this charade at a time when there was an ongoing National Disaster with hundreds dead and hundreds missing in flood waters and mud slides; his presence in Sri Lanka was considered vital, at the time.

In the US, Agent-Wickramasinghe shed his medical garb to  attend the Ocean Conference organised by the UN; he committed Sri Lanka to SDG 14 (Sustainable Goal 14) which permits US led forces to ‘invade’ Sri Lanka in certain circumstances including those caused by pandemics similar to those being encouraged by Agent-Moragoda.

It is presumed that the Auditor General has made sure that Agent-Wickramasinghe has not misappropriated State funds during his private visit to the US.

The whole concept of achieving Sustainable Development Goals (there are many SDGs) is a part of the globalisation process (or colonisation of the world by the US) which has come under attack by the COVID 19 virus. This will be touched upon in Part 3 of this series where the main thrust is on what economic guidelines should be followed in the post-COVID era; Agent-Moragoda, echoing his master’s voice, is pushing for solutions, within the ‘globalisation’ template. 

 /to be contd

Gandara John is a freelance journalist and can be contacted at gandarajohn@outlook.com

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised 27.6.20

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda was born on 28^th January 1937. He was named Piyaratne. His father was Ellawala Imiyahami Punchi Mahatthaya and his mother was Hapurugama Kiri Ethana. Father was a person of some standing in the village. He owned considerable land.   He was a building contractor and had 12 or so workers under him.   He   also engaged in gemming. He was not very religious, but would read the Pujavali or Jataka Pota before going to sleep.

Piyaratne was the sixth of eight children, 5 girls and 2 boys.  He first attended a school in Ellawala. On passing the Grade 5 exam, he attended Ruwanwella Madhya Maha Vidyalaya. According to his biographer, young Piyaratne met a bhikkhu on the road and decided, then and there, to become one himself.  His mother welcomed the idea. His father did not, but advised him not to back out halfway, now that he had taken the decision to be a monk.

At thirteen he went to Napawala Sumangalaramaya, in Getahatta, hoping to be ordained as a samanera. Instead he was made to work all day long at household tasks including cooking and washing up. He did not like it. He left the temple and went home, walking all the way, not once but thrice.  Each time Loku Hamuduruwo, Ven. Soratha, came to his house and persuaded him to return.  Piyaratne returned for the fourth time and was   ordained a samanera in 1950.

In 1955 he was sent to Ratmalane Parama Dhamma chetiya for his education. He recalled that at the time, the Pirivena was not developed unlike now. The food was inadequate. He got lunu kanda for breakfast every day. Loku Hamudurowo gave him five Rupees a month and his mother gave another ten, but this was not enough for his needs. However, he got pens and copy books as pirikara.

From Parama Dhamma he moved to Vidyodaya Pirivena. He stayed at Hunupitiya Gangarama while attending Vidyodaya. His subjects were Sinhala, history, Sanskrit.  Medhananda was at Vidyodaya when it was elevated to a University.  He obtained an honors degree in Sanskrit, with a class, from there. Then he obtained a second honors degree from University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, specializing in Sinhala. He also obtained a Masters degree from University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He started on a Ph.D thesis but could not complete it,   due, he said, to his teaching commitments. 

On graduating, in 1962, Ven. Medhananda went headlong into secondary school teaching.  He taught in several schools in the   Uva-Sabaragamuwa provinces.  They were, in sequence, Badulla Dharmaduta Vidyalaya, Karandana Maha Vidyalaya,   Kuruwita Maha Vidyalaya,   Uduvaka Siddhartha Vidyalaya, Ellepola Maha Vidyalaya and Anura Maha Vidyalaya, Getahetta.   (Dates not provided)

W.J.M. Lokubandara , when he became Minister of Education decided that Ven. Medhananda should be in the Education Department, not puttering about in secondary schools. He appointed him  as assistant director in the Education Department, where his first task was inspection of schools. Medhananda was also in the religious education section.. Ven. Medhananda  worked in several zonal and provincial  education divisions in Sabaragamuwa  and retired from the Eheliyagoda division.

Medhananda‘s first appointment was to Badulla Dharmaduta Vidyalaya.  He stayed at Kailagoda Vihara while teaching there. Dharmaduta was a leading school in the district, it had 3000 to 4000 students. It was trilingual. Medhananda  taught history, Sinhala and Buddhist civilization. Medhananda introduced Advanced level classes to Dharmaduta,  with history as one of  the A level subjects. Students were eager to take up History at A level, Medhananda said. He  also started a sil movement  in the school.  

Karandana Maha Vidyalaya had excellent students, recalled Medhananda. They came from good homes and were well brought up. He taught Buddhist civilization and history at A level. When Medhananda transferred to Kuruwita these students had no one to teach  these two subjects. There was just 8 months left before the exam. Medhananda got them down to his temple every evening and taught them.’They did well in the exam.’

Medhananda’s longest period of teaching was at Kuruwita. At Kuruwita he started a school magazine ‘Gaveshana’ to encourage pupils to write creatively. Kuruwita was a large school and the principal was too old to manage the school. MP Nanda Ellawala asked Medhananda to find a good principal for Kuruwita. Medhananda scouted around and found a suitable person, the principal of Weligepola Maha Vidyalaya.

Medhananda was next  asked to accept the post of principal at Uduvaka Siddhartha Maha Vidyalaya for one year. it was a neglected school. No principal ever stayed long  .Medhananda was asked   to turn it round. 

Uduwaka was in a bad state,  recalled Medhananda . The school had just three classrooms, the lavatory had no door, the access road was so bad that not even a tractor could go on it. Medhananda obtained donations from well wishers   and provided the school with class rooms, an open air theatre, library, playground and  Budu medura .He also built  class rooms for ‘industrial training.’ He spoke to the owner and obtained the adjoining land for the school, when others had failed to do so.

The school had no water, Medhananda obtained water from a stream one kilometer away on a hill. His team  did all the work .The wood needed for  building was obtained from nearby Danagala Kanda. Medhananda obtained a permit, cut down trees and   with the help of pupils,  the logs were carried downhill and loaded to lorries below.

Medhananda said he too participated in the physical labor involved.  He said he had carried bricks and  sand, dragged wood, cut drains, and dug the soil when necessary. He was Principal and labourer, both.     He arrived in school early. He returned after school had closed and stayed there till 7 or 8 pm. Sometimes he slept there, on a bench, especially when  building was in progress.

Ven. Medhananda found that discipline was very lax in the school. students came and went as they wished, were absorbed in love affairs and spent school time in the nearby boutiques. Medhananda   put stop to this. No pupil could leave school once he came in, except with permission. Parents could not hang around in the school either.

Despite this, some pupils   left the school premises during school hours without permission. Medhananda   caned them  before the whole school. Parents protested. Medhananda did not give in.

Medhananda   created a prefect  committee of 15 girls and 15 boys   and gave them much responsibility; They were entrusted with looking after classes when  teachers were not  available. 

 Medhananda insisted that the staff must be punctual and  should take less leave. They must go to class on time. Teachers must move from one class to another quickly, without wasting time chatting. he was very strict about this.  The staff resented all this for about a month, then  settled down said Medhananda . 

The number of pupils increased from the initial 300 to 1500 during Medhananda’s time. they came from Hanwella, Dehiovita, Eheliyagoda   and Karandana. There were only 5 in the A level class when he arrived. He coached them  and all five entered University  to study in the Arts  faculty.  The numbers in the  A level class then rose to 150. 

In addition to the arts stream, Medhananda introduced commerce. He wanted to start science as well and began to build a laboratory. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, MP helped with money from the Decentralized Fund.

Then in 1977 the government changed . UNP came to power. UNP supporters in Uduwaka were opposed to Medhananda . They wanted Medhananda removed.  but the MP of the area, resisted. He   said it was Medhananda  who  had developed the school.

A meeting to decide  on the  building needs of the schools in the area,  took place in the Education Department . Medhananda participated and said that his science building needed to be completed. The MP for the area, who was also present, said that Uduwaka  did not need a science lab. Medhananda pointed out that  pupils from ten miles away attended Uduwaka. The school served about 10 villages,  ‘These are poor  people. Please approve the remaining money.’ No said  the  MP,  Uduwaka  does not need a science lab.  Education   must be done the way I want it.

There was an argument between Medhananda and MP.  A few days later Medhananda  got a letter transferring him to Ellepola  Maha Vidyalaya in Balangoda  as ‘upa guruverayek’.  Medhananda  went to  Nissanka Wijeyeratne, then Minister of Education , and got the transfer cancelled, he then returned to Uduwaka, signed in as principal, and then asked for a transfer. 

M.L.M. Aboosally was MP for Balangoda at the time. He intervened. He personally  visited Medhananda   and asked Medhananda to name any school he wanted. Medhananda  had no preference. Aboosally  then appointed  Ven. Medhananda as principal of Ellepola Maha Vidyalaya  since the principal   there was going on transfer. Medhananda   observed that it was a Muslim politician who had come to his aid, not the Sinhalese.

Ellepola Maha Vidyalaya  gave him a welcome when he arrived. Ellepola had sufficient buildings  but otherwise, Ellepola was a bad as Uduwaka, Medhananda recalled.  Medhananda   started A level classes and gave the school an open air stage.

Wimal Wickremasinghe, MP for Eheliyagoda, then asked Ven. Medhananda to take over Anura Maha Vidyalaya, Getahatta  . Medhananda  improved that school too. The access road was improved and  buildings renovated.  Medhananda  added new buildings, including a  library and  shrine room. Pupil count rose from 364 to 2000. There were only 3 pupils in A level class initially.  Under Medhananda ,  Anura Vidyalaya’s  Arts and Commerce results for ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels  improved so much, that Anura ended up as one of the five schools with the best results in Sabaragamuwa. 

Medhananda taught Sinhala, History and Buddhist civilization in the schools he went to.  He encouraged students to study these subjects.  He also encouraged them to explore the historical sites in their area.

At Dharmaduta, he told the pupils to go and look at historical places in Badulla.  They first went to Matigahatenna pansala, where Medhananda found an inscription. Pupils then went to Alupota and  other archaeological sites in Moneragala. Karandana students were taken on exploration to Valaellugoda kanda.  Advanced level students from Uduwaka   joined Medhananda in his exploration of the ‘whole of the Sitawaka kingdom.’

When history was removed from the school syllabus, in 1972, Medhananda tried to compensate. He wrote many essays to the mass media on history and archaeology and also arranged for an all island series of talks. There was a good response, said Medhananda to his biographer.

Medhananda has been among the group who had agitated for the return of history to the school syllabus. He had very unflattering things to say about its removal. When Histoyr was brought back to schools, Medhananda, then in the Ministry of Education, was on the board responsible for Grade 9 History textbook.

Ven. Medhananda  has also had a successful,  though  brief, career as a University teacher. After his spell at Kuruwita Maha Vidyalaya , he was asked to join  the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, his University , as a lecturer. Ven.  Kaluachchimulle Mahanama had left for postgraduate studies abroad and Medhananda was asked to fill in. He was given a room in the Vice Chancellor’s quarters to live in.

He taught Sanskrit at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Medhananda recalled that   some lectures were attended by more than 400 students. University teachers had also attended his lectures. My view ( Kamalika Pieris) is that he would have lectured on history and Buddhist civilization  in addition to Sanskrit  and the increased audiences would have been for these, not Sanskrit.

In 1971 the teaching at Sri Jayewardenepura  was hampered by the fact that  the JVP was giving the lectures inside the University .  The University  closed. Medhananda and some other s decided to use the time to  translate   Sanskrit works to Sinhala.

While teaching at Sri Jayewardenepura, Medhananda accepted a request to take over Uduwaka Anura Vidyalaya. When the undergraduates go to know of this, they signed a petition asking that  Ven. Medhananda be persuaded to  stay on in the University. The petition was signed by undergraduates of  Colombo, Peradeniya and Sri Jayewardenepura . Medhananda observed that as far as he  knew, this was the first time that such a request had been made.  Medhananda said he still had a copy of this petition.

Medhananda insisted that he must go to Anura Vidyalaya as he had accepted the position. The University  was   determined not to lose his services. Sri Jayewardenepura  asked Medhananda  to teach on weekends, as a substitute could not be found. Medhananda  readily  agreed. He taught in the University during weekends, for two years, without pay. But the University eventually   found a way to pay him, and he got paid for his full period of work, including arrears. University had kept a complete record of the lectures he had given. Medhananda travelled to Nugegoda from  Getahatta   in his own car. He owned a Vauxhall car,  ‘in rather poor condition,’  bought for 3000 rupees.  

Ven. Medhananda is a prolific writer.  That is well known. He has written many books on Sri Lanka history and on Buddhism. Medhanand. also composed many kavi. His biographer, Kahatapitiya says, Medhananda had learnt how to write Kavi from ‘Sirisena Maitipe pavat va gena yanu labu Arunaloka grantha vidyalayen”.

 Medhananda  has contributed  poems and prose writings to Ambavanaya”  and ‘Sinhala Bauddhaya’. His first published book of poems was Athvasi hasna’( date not available). In 1956 he wrote  Abhinava swarna mayura sandesaya.’   This was a sandesa  sent from Napawala to Natha devale, Kandy, asking Vishnu to protect  rata, jatiya, agama.

In 1958 he published  ‘Sokaye geethaya’  which was based on a story written in English.   A relative gave him the money to print this work and Medhananda had  sold a considerable number of copies, each  priced at fifty cents, which was a big sum those days.   His next composition, influenced by the Sanskrit work on the subject, was  Buddha charita maha kavya. ( continued)