KAMALIKA PIERIS

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda has spent decades exploring the forgotten temples and monasteries in the Eastern province. His explorations have shown that there was an extensive spread of Buddhist monasteries and forest hermitages in the east in the ancient and medieval periods.

 Medhananda discovered hitherto unknown monasteries, forest hermitages, temples, caves, and inscriptions. The Buddhist ruins at Nilaveli are Mahayana, he said.  TheSembumalai ruins included a standing Buddha statue in limestone and a lotus pedestal, he recorded. Many ancient buildings went under machinery when the Mahaweli scheme started, he observed.

Medhananda‘s explorations have enlarged our knowledge of the Buddhist civilization of the east.  Medhananda found that Nelumpath Pokuna in Kumana was known in ancient times as Gosagala Maha vihara. At Nelumpath he found ruins of a stupa, a Padam gala, plenty of bricks and remains of walls and an inscription by  Kanittha Tissa, (167-86 AD).

Medhananda also found an inscription behind the Kondavattavana army camp, which said the area was Arama gama and  the monastery as Ahali Araba. Digamadulla has been administered by its Dandanayake, a person named  Sangwe Rakus,.  

Medhananda ‘s major contribution to the political history of Sri Lanka ,was his findings  on the Magama  kingdom of Ruhuna, (3^rd century BC). Medhananda  had found much information on the Magama kings and the Kavantissa  dynasty in the inscriptions he  discovered. He put it all together and came up with a full history of the Magama kingdom.

Medhananda  first  essay on the Magama kings, published in 1950 was praised in ‘Lankadipa’. Encouraged, he published Magama Rajadhaniya”  in 1970, revised in 2012. In 2017, Ven. Medhananda  was invited to  speak at the Archaeological Society of Sri Lanka, in Colombo. He gave  an excellent, well received   talk on the  Magama kingdom.. I attended this talk.  It is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxeictgo8cg .

 Medhananda views on ‘Magama Rajadhaniya’ have not been challenged , but they have not been recognized either. Sirimal Ranwella’s History of Ruhuna”   ( Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey vol XI, 2011) ignores the views of Medhananda . Medhananda   is not mentioned in the bibliography either.  However, Rajitha Weerakoon  in one of her essays on the history of Sri Lanka ,  stated that Gotabhaya and Yatalalatissa were brothers. This was one of the discoveries of Medhananda . http://archives.dailynews.lk/2006/02/02/fea02.htm).

Medhananda  said that term ‘Devanam Piyatissa”  was used only   for a king ruling at Anuradhapura , not  for those ruling  in Ruhuna. ‘Devanam Piyatissa ‘had been used by more than 18 Sinhalese kings, he added.  ‘Gamini’ and ‘ Aya’   were   used only for the reigning king. 

Medhananda  also  spoke of the early settlements  in Ruhuna.  He said that initially  there were three settlements, Anurajagama, Rohana gama and Digayu gama .Medhananda  had found inscriptions ‘everywhere’  about the leaders of these settlements and their parampara. He even  found an inscription at Hambantota where Anurajagama is mentioned.

Then arose two parallel kingdoms, the Kataragama kingdom ruled by the Kataragama clan,   and  the Anurajagama kingdom, ruled by the Chandana grama. The Kataragama group  was later absorbed into the Magama kingdom, but the Chandana grama group,  it appears was not.

Medhananda found references to Chandana grama in his explorations. Chandana grama had ruled  in the  Kirimakul area. Kirimakul inscription  gave the first generations of rulers of Chandana grama. Medhananda speculated that  Chandana were  also ruling in the Walawe Ganga region.  Walawe Ganga had ancient settlements said Medhananda , there are plenty of ruins to prove it, nobody has explored there. Medhananda  had   explored  Videi yaya and Veediya pitiya  in the Walawe forest. He saw ruins and a huge ancient  road which ended at  the Walawe Ganga. At this point there is  a bridge, said Medhananda .

The Chandana grama  base was Handagiriya said Medhananda . Medhananda’s booklet, Handagiriya hevat Sandangana Nuwara” had attracted much attention. It had gone into many reprints, and  another revision is planned..

Ven Ellawala Medhananda  has gone deep into  dense forests and looked at Buddhist archaeological  remains  which  have not been explored by the  Archaeological Department. In his writings Medhananda  lists the many areas containing Buddhist archaeological remains, which  are not under  the Department of archaeology.

I have carried out these explorations for 40 years, under great difficulty, he said.  He  has gone into inaccessible areas. To reach Madanakanda, he went to Bokkabadda, then across Kosgaha dola, through a chena to Madanakanda. for some explorations he received the support of the army. Medhananda  had  heard of an inscription in Sampath Nuwara ,Weli oya. It was on top of a rock. Army made a ladder  and Medhananda  climbed up with difficulty. 

He   did not go blindly into unexplored jungle territory, he first made inquiries about Buddhist ruins from the people living in the area. Ven.  Kithalagama Seelalankara of Dimbulagala had directed Medhananda to several historical sites, such as Keteragala, Sorivila, Duvegala, Omunugala, Kandegama kanda, Siripalana and   Mutugalle.  Samel, living in Uhana had directed Medhananda to Samangala forest hermitage and to Madanakanda len arama,  to an inscription  he had seen there. The inscription turned out to be a valuable one.

Members of the public also informed him of  places they knew of. Jayanti Liyanage, living in Mangala oya, Ampara had written to Medhananda giving the location of ruins in the area she lived in. Medhananda went there and Jayanti’s mother and brother had helped him.  He found an ancient wewa, old vihara and an old irrigation system.

Medhananda had received a letter from a girl living in Arantalawa, telling him that  there were  Buddhist ruins there. She had read of his explorations in the papers. She had studied history for her A levels. She was presently unemployed and engaged in paddy farming.

Ruins in Maha oya in Ampara are  disappearing , she wrote. Archaeological  Department  is not interested. There was a rock with 4 large stone elephants around it.  but that is  only one place.  I have picked up a piece of clay from the stupa and am keeping it safely. Send me a letter to reach me on Wednesday as that is the day we go to the pola, she concluded. Medhananda went there and looked at the ruins. Area  has been thickly populated earlier.  He found ruins of irrigation channels. 

I did not simply explore, I helped the impoverished villages  there.”, said Medhananda . He provided  money, food clothes, medicines ,books and bank deposits  for children in these villages. He   helped  impoverished temples with sivuru ,pirikara,  and money. I was given a given a gift of   20 lakhs. its interest  was used to give Rs 2500 monthly to   10 temples, he said.

When exploring Henannegala len vihara,  Medhananda had gone in the  evening, past Omuna Nai pen Ella to the cell of Seelalankara himi. This was a cave with a coconut thatch roof.  This was a dangerous journey.  Couldn’t take provisions either, it was too difficult. Instead of sugar, they  crushed chilies and drank coffee or tea with it.  In the  morning Medhananda  ate      iringu which was  roasted over the  fire and  was given hot water to drink. ‘This is to show you the sad  life these monks in these areas were leading,’  said Medhananda . 

Medhananda  befriended monks in the remote places he found them in. Medhananda heard that LTTE had attacked Piyangala hermitage, Piyangala chief priest was shot dead  and the other priests were chased away.   Medhananda knew that beyond Piyangala there were no settlements till Mangala oya. So the monks would be starving.  Medhananda decided to take dry rations to them.

Medhananda prepared three large sackfuls of provisions. Told his assistant to bring the sacks by bus from Avissawella to Balangoda. He would meet him there after a sermon at Pathakada. He was planning to  go to  from   Akkaraipattu to Siyambalanduwa, then take  bus to Ampara but the Ampara bus did not come. They set off in another bus which broke down. They paid a passing lorry and got to Ampara.

The CTB depot there  tried to help. They stopped a passing bus and asked whether he would take the mail and Medhananda to their destinations. The bus driver, a Muslim, said forget the mail bags, I will somehow take the monk to Piyangala and drop him there. He  took Medhananda , stopped by Piyangala dana sala,  helped  unload the bags , worshipped the monk and went away.

The  hermitage was deserted, the  monks starving.  They had survived on the leafy vegetables available in the forest. Not even a monk of our  sect came to see us. You are the first to come to see us, they told Medhananda . I gave them some money and left, said Medhananda .

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda has spent decades exploring the forgotten temples and monasteries in the Eastern province and to a   lesser extent in the north and north western provinces. All three are coastal provinces where the Sinhala Buddhist heritage was getting  systematically displaced by  Tamil and Muslim separatists.

The Sinhala names are going out of use, it is no longer  Kusalana kanda”, and it is now Kunchanamalai”, observed Medhananda . Wilpattu is now coming under Muslim control. Muslims have said that there are no Buddhist ruins in Wilpattu and therefore Muslim settlements can be permitted. Medhananda has shown that Wilpattu was originally  Buddhist . President Sirisena had used one of Medhananda  letter to prove that Wilpattu had Buddhist settlements.

Medhananda was openly anti-LTTE .LTTE had destroyed many ruins said Medhananda . LTTE had bulldozed the standing Buddha statue Paravankandam and destroyed its head completely. The  rest was rescued and  sent to Ampara museum.

Kopavela vihara area is going under the LTTE. It  has caves inscription, columns, moonstones,   siripatula, jatra gala, gal oru,. There is an inscription on Welgaha kandiya wewa bund too. There was a monk,  he was a  teacher at Serankada Vidyalaya. he has left.   

At Kumbakarna malai, LTTE have built bunkers using the bricks taken from the stupa on the rock. LTTE had built a communication tower  at Lankapatuna. We had visited Girikumbara vihara Ampara earlier but  when we went again in 1986 to see what had happened, no one wanted to drive us there, said Medhananda . 

Medhananda  himself had several encounterswith the LTTE.  There was a rock inscription   at Mundikulam malai site, Ampara. Medhananda had missed this on his 1964 visit.He saw it in 1999  but could not take it down as LTTE was lurking there. It was a LTTE base. Medhananda  said he had  first visited Mundikulammalai ruins in 1964  it was fear of wild animals. In 1999 the fear was of the LTTE.   We needed the support of the army and police to go there.

LTTE had caused much destruction to the stupa at Veheragalkanda,  Pulunkunawa. Bricks have been taken to build huts and there was manioc cultivation among the ruins. When I  went in 1982 they had established an Eelam kingdom there. On all hilltops there was the Eelam  symbol drawn in colour.  There was a house built on top of stupa and the owner glared at me.

At Kahabiliyawa Eramadu Medhananda and his group faced a mortar attack from LTTE . At Walatapitiya   (near Sammanthurai) they were surrounded by LTTE cadres   and kept prisoner for several hours.

Medhananda had videoed a partially destroyed inscription at Walatapitiya   and got into their vehicle,   when an LTTE cadres, a girl about 14 or 15 years, came and put her knee to the front bumper. 25  boys and girls on bicycles came and surrounded the vehicle and did not let it leave. they said this was Eelam area and Medhananda  had come without permission of the LTTE .They started  scolding in Tamil , and became aggressive. ‘They were getting ready to  physically attack us. Our lives were in danger   but  about   6 pm the girl by the car moved away’ and the  driver on a signal from Medhananda  drove away fast.  ‘ Some were hit by the   van. Also some bicycles were run over,’ said Medhananda .

The group had threatened Medhananda with death if he ever came back to inspect the site. Medhananda however, wanted  to return to Walatapitiya to finish his exploration. He went again with Sihala Urumaya, led by Tilak Karunaratne. The SU  had decided to accept the LTTE challenge and take the monk back to the site. The special Task Force and the Police were on duty to provide security. But the inscription had been destroyed . LTTE leader of that area, Vishu ,came on bicycle and watched them, but  we did a thorough exploration. Medhananda  also took the delegation to a place close by where a kovil was being constructed with the backing of the LTTE.

Ven Ellawala Medhananda  has his own ideas about the ownership of Buddhist sites. Over 90 % of the archaeological  sites are Buddhist   sites, he observed. Buddhist places of worship, including Buddhist  monastic ruins are the  property of the Sangha. They are sites that have been  offered to the Sangha.  They are therefore the property of the Sangha, not  the property of the Department of Archaeology. It is sanghika property. These sites must be removed from the Archaeology  Department and brought under the supervision of a special band of monks. At present  if a bhikhhu takes up residence in  a temple which is under Archaeology  Department, he is  obstructed. Buddhist monks have a right to be there.

Medhananda practiced what he preached. In the 1970s,  bhikkhu Kehelpannala Sugata vansa wanted Medhananda’s  help to set up an aranya in Ritigala. Medhananda  agreed.   Ven. Sugata went  ahead to Ritigala and cleared out caves at Andiyakanda. Medhananda   recalled that he went there alone, through dense forest with wild elephant and wild buffalo.

 The route was  Kekirawa- Ganewalpola- footpath through  Galapitagala junction to Gala pitagala wewa- along its bund to Andiyakanda. This was a dangerous journey. I now realize this looking back. But I have gone on that road alone, with my  bag, ten or twelve times. But never was  attacked, Medhananda recalled. Medhananda  thought it was due to his Buddhist beliefs. ‘Mama yanne budu guna sihikaragena’. Medhananda wore a suitable robe and helped  Ven, Sugata construct the kuti at Ritigala. We faced a dharanipata rain. This helped to obtain clay ,he said optimistically.

To conclude, Ven Ellawala Medhananda is a courageous, oustspoken bhikkhu. His range of activities is very wide,  possibly more that any other bhikkhu, and he has been effective in all the sectors he has worked in . He deserves more recognition than he has received so far.

In addition to the sources given in the essays, I have also used the biography , Ellawela Medhananda hamuduruwo” by Lakshman Kahatapitiya, pub. Dayawansa Jayakody, 2008. ( CONCLUDED)

(Translation of the speech made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday 28 June on Defeating domestic and foreign conspiracies against Sri Lanka”.)

Most venerable members of the Maha Sangha, Clergymen of all other faiths, people of Sri Lanka and friends,

A socialist government assumed power in this country in 1970, but nobody said that it had been brought into power through Russian or Chinese intervention. Likewise, a capitalist government assumed power in 1977, but we never said that it had been brought into power through American or British intervention. However there was foreign interference to an extent never before experienced in this country at the 2015 presidential election. Certain foreign parties began to intervene in the politics of this country in a major way after we won the war in 2009. They never thought we would be able to win that war. This intervention actually began at the 2010 presidential election but the people of this country conclusively defeated that early attempt. However the conspiracy continued till 2015. Everyone knows who prevailed on the leader of the UNP to stand aside in favour of a common candidate.

The situation that prevailed in this country following the assumption of power by the yahapalana government in 2015 was akin to having been taken over by a hostile foreign invading force. They systematically persecuted the nationalist political camp in this country. They jailed leading Buddhist monks on trumped up charges in order to intimidate the Maha Sangha which has always been at the forefront in protecting the sovereignty of this country. They went after the elephants and tuskers belonging to the temples in a major way, in order to put an end to the perahera traditions of the Buddhists.

They moved to demoralize and render ineffective our armed forces which defeated terrorism and ensured the territorial integrity of the country. Selected members of the armed forces ranging from the lowest ranks right up to the Chief of Defence Staff were arrested, kept in jail for weeks, months or years and cases were filed against them on trumped up charges. The intention behind all this was to create the impression in the minds of the local population and also to convey to the world the idea that these were not war heroes but thieves and murderers.

Nationalist politicians were also systematically persecuted. Various Commissions of Inquiry were instituted against them. They were hauled before the police, remanded for months and cases were filed against them on false charges. All this was done with the intention of completely destroying the nationalist camp in this country and thus facilitating the division of Sri Lanka by introducing a new constitution. What they could not achieve through war, they tried to achieve through political manoeuvres.

These plans could not be implemented in their entirety because we won the 2019 November presidential elections. However domestic and foreign conspirators have not yet given up. Everyone saw the drama that was orchestrated within days of the new President assuming office alleging that a local employee of a Western embassy had been abducted and questioned. That showed that these conspirators were not willing to give the new dispensation any breathing space.

The main pledges given by the yahapalana conspirators to their foreign masters were contained in resolution 30/1 which the yahapalana government co-sponsored in the UN Human Rights Council in October 2015. They admitted that the Sri Lankan armed forces had committed war crimes, and they pledged to establish a special court to try those war crimes with the participation of foreign judges and prosecutors. They also undertook to remove through administrative means, members of the armed forces who were suspected of having committed war crimes even in the absence of evidence against them which can be used in courts. The intent behind all this was to demoralise and render ineffective the armed forces of Sri Lanka.

Even though the yahapalana government was not able to implement these pledges in the manner originally intended, they have introduced new laws to implement them by other means. In August 2016, the Office of Missing Persons Act was rammed through Parliament without leaving room for any debate. Though it’s described as an ‘office’, this is actually an inquisitorial body that can issue summons, examine witnesses, and collect evidence. Officers of the OMP can search without a warrant any armed forces installation, police station, or prison and take into their possession any document or thing they deem necessary. All state bodies including the intelligence agencies and the armed forces are legally bound to cooperate with the OMP even in contravention of the provisions of the State Secrets Act.  

In March 2018, the yahapalana government passed Act No: 5 of 2018 in order to make the provisions of the International Convention Against Enforced Disappearances applicable in Sri Lanka. The purpose of this was not to faciliatate the location of disappeared persons, but to persecute members of the armed forces. Under this law, a person suspected of being responsible for an enforced dissappearance in Sri Lanka can be extradited to a foreign country and either tried in that country or handed over to the International Criminal Court.

In August 2018 the yahapalana government passed an amendment to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act which will enable a foreign country or the International Criminal Court to locate suspects or witnesses in Sri Lanka or to obtain evidence they need from Sri Lanka.  The UN Human Rights Commissioner has already requested Western countries to institute legal action in their respective countries against members of the Sri Lankan armed forces suspected of war crimes under the concept of universal jurisdiction.

If the yahapalana cabal had won the 2019 presidential election, they would have implemented all this and finished off Sri Lanka. We need a very strong mandate at this election to conclusively defeat these conspiracies. You will recall that at the end of 2018 when the yahapalana government began to break up, diplomats of certain Western embasies sat in the visitor’s gallery in Parliament and applauded and cheered the yahapalana Speaker’s efforts to protect their investment. We must bear in mind that even though the conspirators lost the presidential election, they have not given up their quest.

My request to the people of Sri Lanka is to always have the broader picture in mind when it comes to politics. Given the threats we are up against, we will be destroyed if we fail to distinguish between what is politically important and politically unimportant. Various things can be said about the question whether social distancing was observed in the proper manner at Mr Arumugam Thondaman’s funeral or whether someone had been guilty of fixing a cricket match back in 2011. However these are not politically important matters.

The biggest problem that we had to face after President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came into power was the Covid-19 pandemic. What is politically important is whether that major issue was handled competently. I wish to state that we are right on top in the world in controlling Covid-19. Even New Zealand is behind us. Countries like Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan learnt how to contain pandemics like Covid-19 through the bitter experience of the SARS pandemic of 2003.

We have managed to bring Covid-19 under control in this manner without much experience with such diseases. As of now the only possibility of another Covid-19 outbreak in this country will be if an infected person coming from overseas somehow finds his way into the general population. If the yahapalana cabal had been in power, would they have been able to bring Covid-19 under control in this manner? If we are able to distinguish what is important from what is unimportant, and always have the broader picture in mind, our people will always be the winners.

We saw the manner in which the yahapalana cabal made a hue and cry about a comment made by Karuna Amman to the effect that he had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of soldiers in attacks on army camps when he was in the LTTE. This shows how easy it is to obscure the broader picture by bringing other issues to the fore. After I became President in November 2005, we destroyed the LTTE completely. Because he had by that time given up both terrorism and separatism and surrendered to military intelligence, Karuna was not destroyed along with the LTTE. It was Karuna who formally identified Prabhakaran’s dead body for us.

If we look at the doings of those who are asking the people to vote for the yahapalana camp because of what Karuna said, some interesting facts emerge. Those now in the yahapalana camp gave lorry loads of weapons and gunny bags full of cash to the LTTE in 1989 in a foolish attempt to win them over. For years afterwards, the LTTE attacked us with our own weapons. In 2002, the yahapalana camp virtually ceded the Northern and Eastern provinces to Prabhakaran through the ceasefire agreement. The yahapalana government drafted a new constitution to divide the country. Then they incorporated the conceptual framework of that constitution in their 2019 presidential election manifesto as well.

From the time Karuna Amman was murdering people, and after he had given up doing so,  and right up to the present day, what has been right at the top of the yahapalana agenda has been the division of this country. Karuna may have given up murdering people, but the yahapalana cabal has not given up trying to divide the country. That is what we have to realise here. In any case, the CID is carrying out an investigation into what Karuna said. If we allow ourselves to be distracted and forget the broader picture even for a moment, the consequences could be disastrous. That is why I always stress the importance of the broader picture.

If people cast their votes on the basis of various minor distractions, we will lose everything, our country, our nationhood, our religion, our culture and the future of unborn generations. The people should always ask themselves who can rule this country effectively, ensure economic development, eliminate terrorism and ensure the security of the nation? Who can safeguard democracy by holding elections on time? Who can build a Sri Lanka where future generations will be able to live freely and be proud of? I need not spell it out, every Sri Lankan knows the answer to those questions.  

Thank you,

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you, God bless you.

(අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා 2020 ජුනි 28 වෙනි ඉරිදා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහි දෙස් විදෙස් කුමන්ත්‍රණ පරාජය කරමු” යන මැයෙන් පැවැත්වූ දේශනයේ පිටපත.)

අතිපූජනීය මහා සංඝරත්නයෙන් අවසරයි, සියලු ආගම්වල පූජකතුමනි, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවාසී ජනතාවනි, හිතවතුනි, 

1970 දී මේ රටේ බලයට ආවේ සමාජවාදී ආණ්ඩුවක් වුණාට කවුරුවත් කිව්වේ නැහැ ඒක රුසියාව,  චීනය, මැදිහත්වෙලා හදපු ආණ්ඩුවක් කියලා. ඒ වගේම 1977 දී බලය ගත්තෙ ධනවාදී ආණ්ඩුවක් වුණාට අපි කිවුවෙ නෑ ඒක ඇමෙරිකාව, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මැදිහත්වෙලා හදපු ආණ්ඩුවක් කියලා. නමුත් 2015 ජනවාරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ඉතිහාසයේ කවදාවත් අපි අත්දැකපු නැති තරමට විදේශීය අතපෙවීම් තිබුණා. මේ රටේ දේශපාලනයට බරපතල විදියට විදේශීය රටවල් අතපොවන්න පටන් ගත්තේ 2009 අපි යුද්ධය දිනුවයින්  පස්සේ. අපේ රටට එරෙහි විදේශීය බලවේග කවදාවත් හිතුවේ නෑ ඒ යුද්ධය අපි දිනයි කියලා.

මුලින්ම මේ මැදිහත්වීම වුණේ 2010 ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී. නමුත් මේ රටේ ජනතාව ඒ උත්සාහය තීරණාත්මක විදියට පරාජය කළා. නමුත්  2015 දක්වා දිගටම ඒ කුමන්ත්‍රණය ක්‍රියාත්මක වුණා. 2015 දී එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායකයා තරඟයෙන් ඉවත් වෙලා පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතුයි කියලා තීරණය කළේත් කවුද කියලා ඔබ දන්නවා.  

2015 දී යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව බලයට ආවට පස්සේ හතුරු හමුදාවක් විසින් ලංකාව ආක්‍රමණය කරලා බලය අල්ලගත්ත වගේ තත්ත්වයක් තමයි ඇතිවුණේ. රට බෙදීමට විරුද්ධ මුළු ජාතිකවාදී කඳවුරටම ඒගොල්ලෝ පහර දුන්නා. මේ රටත් ජාතියත් සුරකින මහා සංඝරත්නය යටත් කර ගන්න ප්‍රධාන භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලා බොරු චෝදනා මත හිරේ දැම්මා. වැඩියෙන්ම පැන්නුවේ පන්සල්වල ඉන්න අලි ඇතුන් පස්සෙ. ඒ බෞද්ධයන්ගේ පෙරහැර සංස්කෘතිය ඉවර කරන්න.

ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කරලා රට රැකපු සන්නද්ධ හමුදා අකර්මණ්‍ය කරන්න පහලම සොල්දාදුවාගේ ඉඳලා ආරක්ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප්‍රධානියා දක්වා තෝරාගත් ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් අත්අඩංගුවට අරගෙන බොරු චෝදනා මත සති ගණන් මාස ගණන් අවුරුදු ගණන් බන්ධනාගාර ගත කරලා බොරු නඩුත් පැවරුවා. එහෙම කලේ, මේ රණවිරුවෝ නොවෙයි, හොරු සහ මිනීමරුවො කියන අදහස ලංකාවේ මිනිසුන්ගේ ඔළුවලට දමලා ලෝකය පුරාත් ප්‍රචාරය කරන්න.

ජාතිකවාදී කඳවුරේ දේශපාලනඥයන්ටත් දෙන්න පුළුවන් සියලුම දඬුවම් දුන්නා. විමර්ශන කොමිසම් පත් කළා, පොලීසියට ගෙන්නුවා, මාස ගණන් රිමාන්ඩ් කළා,  බොරු නඩු පැවරුවා. මේ සේරම කළේ මේ රටේ ජාතිකවාදී කඳවුර සහමුලින්ම විනාශ කරල අලුත්  ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සම්මත කරලා රට බෙදලා ඉවරයක් කරන්න. යුද්ධයෙන් කරන්න බැරි වුණ දේ, මේ විදියේ දේශපාලන මෙහෙයුම් වලින් කරන්න හැදුවා.  

2019 නොවැම්බර් මාසේ, අපි ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් දිනපු නිසා ඒ සැලසුම අවසානය දක්වා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න බැරි වුණා.  නමුත් ජාත්‍යන්තර හා දේශීය කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරයෝ තවම වැඩේ අතෑරලා නැහැ. අලුත් ජනාධිපතිවරයා පත් වෙලා දවස් කිහිපයක් ඇතුළත බටහිර තානාපති කාර්යාලයක සේවිකාවක් පැහැරගෙන ගිහින් ප්‍රශ්න කළාය කියලා රඟ දක්වපු බොරු නාඩගම අපි කවුරුත් දැක්කා. අලුත් ආණ්ඩුවට හුස්මක් ගන්නවත් ඉඩ දෙන්න මේ කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරයෝ සූදානම් නැති බව ඒකෙන් පෙනුනා.

2015 මේ රටේ බලය අල්ල ගත්ත යහපාලන  කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරයෝ ඒගොල්ලන්ගෙ විදේශීය හාම්පුතුන්ට දීපු පොරොන්දු පත්‍රය තමයි 2015 ඔක්තෝම්බර් මාසේ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ ලංකාවේ සම අනුග්‍රාහකත්වයෙන් සම්මත කරගත්ත 30/1 යෝජනාව. ඒකෙන් ඉස්සෙල්ලාම කළේ, ලංකාවේ හමුදාව යුද අපරාධ කරයි කියලා පිළිගන්න එක. ඊට පස්සේ ඒ යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා විභාග කරන්න  විදේශීය විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන් හා පරිචෝදකයන් සහිත විශේෂ අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවන්න එකඟ වුණා. උසාවියේ නඩුවක් ගොනු කරන්න තරම් සාක්‍ෂි නැති වුනත්, මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කළාය කියල සැකයක් හරි තියෙන  සන්නද්ධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් පරිපාලන ක්‍රියාදාමයකින්  සේවයෙන් ඉවත් කරන්නත් ඒගොල්ලෝ බාරගත්තා.  මේකෙ අරමුණ වුණේ, ලංකාවේ ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ ජීවගුණය බිඳලා අකර්මණ්‍ය කරලා දාන්න.

30/1 යෝජනාවේ ප්‍රධානම පොරොන්දු කියපු ආකාරයටම ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න බැරි වුණත්, ඒවා වෙනත් ආකාරයට ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව අලුත් නීති සම්මත කරලා තියෙනවා. 2016 අගෝස්තු මාසයේදී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විවාදයකටවත් ඉඩ නොදී යහපාලකයෝ අතුරුදහන් වූවන්ගේ කාර්යාල පනත බලහත්කාරයෙන් සම්මත කරගත්ත. ‘කාර්යාලයක්’ කිවුවට ඒක ඇත්තටම සිතාසි නිකුත් කරන්න, සාක්ෂි කරුවන් කැඳවන්න, විභාග පවත්වන්න බලය තියෙන විනිශ්චය සභාවක්. ඒකෙ නිලධාරීන්ට ඕනෑම හමුදා කඳවුරක්, පොලිස් ස්ථානයක්, බන්ධනාගාරයක් වරෙන්තු නැතුව සෝදිසි කරලා ඕනෑම ලියවිල්ලක් හෝ භාණ්ඩයක් තමන් සන්තකයට ගන්න පුලුවන්. රාජ්‍ය රහස් පනතේ විධිවිධාන වලට පටහැනිව වුවත්,  බුද්ධි අංශ, සන්නද්ධ හමුදා  ඇතුළු සියලුම රජයේ ආයතන මේ අතුරුදහන් වූවන්ගේ කාර්යාලයට සම්පූර්ණ සහයෝගය දක්වන්න නීතියෙන් බැඳිලා ඉන්නවා.

2018 මාර්තු මාසයේ මහා සංඝරත්නයේ  දැඩි විරෝධයත් නොතකා අතුරුදහන් කරවීම් වලට එරෙහි ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රඥප්තිය ලංකාවේ බලාත්මක කරන්න 2018 අංක 05 දරණ පනත යහපාලකයෝ සම්මත කරගත්ත. මේකෙන් ඇත්තටම කෙරෙන්නෙ අතුරුදහන් වූවන් හොයන එක නොවෙයි, ලංකාවේ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් දඩයම් කරන එක. මේ නීතිය යටතේ ලංකාව තුළ අතුරුදහන් කරවීමක් සිදු කළාය කියා සැක කරන පුද්ගලයෙකු විදේශීය රටකට උදර්පණය කරගෙන ඔහුට විරුද්ධව එම රටේදී නඩු පවරන්න නැතිනම්, ජාත්‍යන්තර අපරාධ අධිකරණයට බාරදීම කරන්න පුලුවන්.  

2018 අගෝස්තු මාසයේදී, අපරාධ කටයුතුවලදී අන්‍යෝන්‍ය උපකාර සැලසීම් පනතට යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව ගෙනාපු අංක 24 දරණ සංශෝධන පනතෙන් කෙරෙන්නෙ, විදේශීය රටකට නැතිනම් ජාත්‍යන්තර අපරාධ අධිකරණයට ලංකාව තුළ ඒගොල්ලන්ට අවශ්‍ය සැකකරුවන් නැතිනම් සාක්‍ෂිකරුවන් සොයා ගන්න, ඒ නඩුවලට අවශ්‍ය සාක්‍ෂි ලංකාවෙන් ගෙන්වාගන්න යාන්ත්‍රණයක් හදන එකයි. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුද අපරාධ කළ බවට සැක කරන සන්නද්ධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන්ට විරුද්ධව තම තමන්ගේ රටවල යුනිවර්සල් ජූරිස්ඩික්ශන්” සංකල්පය යටතේ  නඩු පවරන්න කියලා බටහිර රටවල් වලින් දැනටමත් ඉල්ලීමක් කරලයි තියෙන්නෙ.

2019, ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් යහපාලකයෝ දිනුව නම් මේ ඔක්කොම ක්‍රියාත්මක කරලා ලංකාව ඉවරම කරලා දානවා. මේ දෙස් විදෙස් කුමන්ත්‍රණය තීරණාත්මක විදිහට පරාජය කරන්න අපිට ඉතාමත්ම ප්‍රබල ජනවරමක් ඕන වෙනවා. ඔබට මතක ඇති 2018 අවසානයේදී යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව දෙකට බෙදිලා බිඳවැටෙමින් තිබුණ අවස්ථාවෙදිත් තමන් ඇති කරපු ඒ ආණ්ඩුව රැකගන්න බටහිර තානාපති කාර්යාල වල නිලධාරීන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අමුත්තන්ගෙ ගැලරියේ ඉඳගෙන යහපාලන කතානායකවරයා ගත්තු ක්‍රියාමාර්ගවලට අත්පුඩි ගසමින්, ඔල්වරසන් දෙමින් සහයෝගය දක්වපු ආකාරය. ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පැරදුනාට කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරයෝ වැඩේ අත්හැරලා නැති බව අපි හොඳින් තේරුම් ගන්න ඕනේ.

මම මහජනතාවගෙන් කරන ඉල්ලීම තමයි දේශපාලන කාරණාවලදී  හැම වෙලාවෙම ලොකු චිත්‍රය  සිහියේ තබා ගන්න කියලයි. අපි රටක් හැටියට මුහුණ දීලා තියෙන තර්ජනයේ හැටියට දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් වැදගත් කාරණා මොනවද, නොවැදගත් කාරණා මොනවද කියලා තේරුම් බේරුම් කරගන්න බැරි වුණොත්, අපි විනාශ වෙනවා.  ආරුමුගම් තොන්ඩමන් මහතාගේ  මළගෙදර සමාජ දුරස්ථභාවය හරියටම රැකුණාද, 2011 දී  කවුරුහරි ක්‍රිකට් තරඟයක් පාවලා දුන්නද වගේ දේවල් ගැන විවිධ අයට නොයෙක් කාරණා කියන්න පුලුවන්. නමුත් ඕවා දේශපාලන වශයෙන් වැදගත් කාරණා නොවෙයි.

2019 නොවැම්බර් මාසේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමා බලයට ආවට පස්සේ අපට මුහුණ දෙන්න වුණ ලොකුම ප්‍රශ්නය තමයි කොවිඩ් – 19 වසංගතය. අන්න ඒ ලොකු ප්‍රශ්නයට සාර්ථකව මුහුණ දුන්නද කියන එකයි මෙතන වැදගත් වෙන්නේ. මම පැහැදිලිවම කියනවා කොවිඩ්-19 පාලනය අතින් ලෝකයේ  ඉදිරියෙන්ම ඉන්න රටක් අපි.  නවසීලන්තය පවා ඉන්නෙ අපිට වඩා පිටිපස්සෙන්. වියට්නාමය, හොංකොං හා තායිවානය වගේ රටවල් කොවිඩ්-19 වගේ රෝග පාලනය කරන හැටි ඉගෙන ගත්තෙ 2003 සාර්ස් වසංගතයෙන් බැටකාලා.

අපිට ඒ වගේ රෝග ගැන ලොකු අත්දැකීමක් නැතුව තමයි කොවිඩ්-19 මේ මට්ටමට පාලනය කරලා තියෙන්නෙ. පිටරටින් එන ආසාධිතයෙක් සමාජයට ගියොත් විතරයි ආයෙමත් කොවිඩ් – 19 ව්‍යාප්තියක් මෙහේ ඇති වෙන්නෙ. යහපාලන කල්ලිය බලයේ හිටියනම් ඒගොල්ලන්ට පුලුවන්ද කොවිඩ්-19 මේ විදියට පාලනය කරන්න? අපි වැදගත් දේවල් මොනවද, නොවැදගත් දේවල් මොනවද කියලා හොදින් තේරුම් අරගෙන, හැම වෙලාවෙම ලොකු චිත්‍රය ගැන හිතුවොත් අපේ ජනතාව දිනුම්.

කරුණා අම්මාන් කොටි සංවිධානයේ ඉන්නකොට හමුදා කඳවුරුවලට ගහලා සෙබළුන් දහස් ගණනක් මරපු බව කිවුවයි කියලා යහපාලන විපක්‍ෂය උඩ පනින හැටි අපි පහුගියදා දැක්කා. ලොකු චිත්‍රය යටපත් කරලා, වෙන වෙන කාරණා ඉස්සරහට දාන්න කොයි තරම් ලේසිද කියලා ඒකෙන් පේනවා. 2005 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ මම ජනාධිපති වුණාට පස්සෙ, අපි කොටි සංවි‍ධානය සහමුලින්ම විනාශ කරලා දැම්මා. කරුණා ඒ කාලේ ත්‍රස්තවාදයත්, බෙදුම්වාදයත් දෙකම අත්හැරලා කොටි සංවිධානයෙන් ඉවත් වෙලා යුද හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශයට යටත් වෙච්ච නිසා ඔහු කොටි සංවිධානයත් එක්ක විනාශ වුණේ නෑ. ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ මෘත දේහය හඳුනාගන්න අපි යැවුවෙත් කරුණාව. 

කරුණා මෙන්න මෙහෙම කිවුවා, ඒ නිසා ඔබේ වටිනා ඡන්දය යහපාලන පාර්ශවයට දෙන්න කියලා ඉල්ලන කට්ටියගේ කෙරුවාව ගැනත් හොයලා බලන්න වටිනවා. මේ අය 1989 දී ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ හිත දිනාගන්න කියලා  මෝඩ විදියට  ආයුධ ලොරි ගණන්, මුදල් ගෝනි ගණන් කොටි සංවිධානයට දුන්නා.  ඊට පස්සෙ කොටි අපිට ගැහුවේ ඒ ආයුධ වලින්මයි. 2002 දී ඒගොල්ලෝ සටන් විරාම ගිවිසුමෙන් උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පළාත් දෙකම ප්‍රභාකරන්ට ලියල දුන්නා. යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව කාලේ රට බෙදන්න අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් කෙටුම්පත් කළා. ඊට පස්සෙ, ඒ බෙදුම්වාදී ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ මූලධර්ම සියල්ල 2019 ජනාධිපතිවරණ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනයටත් ඇතුළත් කළා.

කරුණා මිනීමරපු කාලයෙත්, ඊට පසුවත්, අද දක්වාම යහපාලන පාර්ශවයේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රයේ තියෙන්නේ මේ රට බෙදන එක. කරුණා මිනීමරන එක අත්හැරියත්, යහපාලකයෝ රට බෙදන එක නම් අත්හැරලා නෑ. ඒකයි අපි මෙතන තේරුම් ගන්න ඕන. කරුණා කිවුව දේවල් ගැන දැන් කොහොමත් විමර්ෂණයක් පැවැත්වෙනවා සී.අයි.ඩී එකෙන්. ඉතිං පොඩි චිත්‍රය දිහා බලලා ලොකු චිත්‍රය මොහොතකට හරි අමතක කළොත් සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ විනාශයක්. ඒකයි මම හැම වෙලාවෙම අවධාරණය කරන්නේ, පොඩි චිත්‍රය නොවෙයි, ලොකු චිත්‍රය ගැනම අවධානය යොමු කරන්න ඕන කියලා. 

පොඩි පොඩි සිල්ලර කාරණා මත ඡන්දය දෙන්න ගියොත් අපේ රටත්, ජාතියත්, ආගමත්, සංස්කෘතියත්, මතු පරම්පරාවේ අනාගතයත්, සියල්ලම ඉවර වෙලයි නවතතින්නෙ. ජනතාව හැම විටම මෙනෙහි කරන්න ඕනි මේ රට සාර්ථකව පාලනය කරන්න, ආර්ථික දියුණුව ඇති කරන්න, ත්‍රස්තවාදය තුරන් කරලා ජනතාවගේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරන්න පුළුවන් කාටද? මැතිවරණ කලට වේලාවට පවත්වල ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තහවුරු කරන්න පුළුවන් කාටද? මතු පරම්පරාවට නිදහසේ ජීවත් විය හැකි, ආඩම්බර විය හැකි ලංකාවක් ගොඩනගන්න පුලුවන් කාටද? කියන ප්‍රශ්නයයි. ඒකට උත්තරය මොකක්ද කියලා මම කියන්න ඕන නැහැ, හැම ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයකුම දන්නවා.

ස්තුතියි.

ඔබ සැමට තෙරුවන් සරණයි, දෙවි පිහිටයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

MCC ගිවිසුම් පිළිබඳ ජාත්‍යන්තර අත්දැකීම් සතුටුදායක නොවන බැවින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව MCC ගිවිසුම පිළිබඳව සලකා බැලිමට පෙර එම අත්දැකිම් වලින් ලැබිය හැකි පාඩම් මනාව වටහාගත යුතු බව අදාළ ගිවිසුම පිළිබඳ සමාලෝචනය කළ කමිටුව සඳහන් කරනවා.

කමිටු වාර්තාව මගින් වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ‍ MCC හි මුඛ්‍ය පරමාර්ථයේ සඳහන් අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කරගැනීමට MCC ආධාර ලද බහුතරයක් රටවලට මෙතෙක් නොහැකි වී ඇති බවයි.

අමෙරිකාව් මිලේනියම් චැලෙන්ජ් කෝපරේෂන් සමඟ පසුගිය රජය සමයේ අත්සන් කිරීමට යෝජිතව තිබූ එම්.සී.සී. ගිවිසුම පිළිබඳව සමාලෝචන වාර්තාවේ සදහන් ඇතැම් කරුණු පිළිබඳව හිරු ප්‍රවාත්ති තුලින් අප ඊයේ දිනයේ කරුණු වාර්තා කලා.

MCC යෝජනාවලිය ක්‍රියාත්මක වුවහොත් සෝෆා සහ ඇක්සා වැනි ගිවිසුම්වලට ඇතුළත්ව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අමෙරිකානු යුද උපාය මාර්ගවල කොටස්කරුවෙකු බවට පත්වීමට ඉඩ ඇති බව කමිටුව විශේෂයෙන් සඳහන් කර තිබුණා.

අදාළ වාර්තාවේ වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වා දි ඇත්තේ එවක මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් ආචාර්ය ආර්.එච්.එස්.සමරතුංග මහතා 2018 වසරේ ඔක්තෝබර් මස 1දින සිට 5දින තෙක් අමෙරිකාවේ පැවැති සාකච්ජා සම්මුති රැස්විමේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමේ නායකයා ලෙස පෙනි සිට ඇති අතර ඒ වන විට ව්‍යාපෘතියේ සියලු තින්දු තීරණ ගෙන අවසන් ව තිබු බවට ඔහු සඳහන් කල බවයි.

එමෙන්ම කමිටු වාර්තාවේ දැක්වෙන්නේ MCC හි මුඛ්‍ය පරමාර්ථයේ සඳහන් අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කරගැනීමට MCC ආධාර ලද බහුතරයක් රටවලට මෙතෙක් නොහැකි වී ඇති බවයි.

MCC ගිවිසුම ඔස්සේ දිළිඳුකම පිටුදැකීම නොව එයින් සිදුවන්නේ අමෙරිකානු සමාගම්වලට දුප්පත් රටවල් කොල්ලකෑමට පාර කැපීමක් බව කේම්බ්‍රිජ් සරසවියේ ආචාර්ය එමා මවුඩ්ස්ලි කමිටුවට අදහස් දක්වා තිබෙනවා.

කෝර්නෙල් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය පිලිප් මැක්මිචෙල්  උපුටා දක්වන කමිටු වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් වන්නේ MCC ගිවිසුම මගින් පළමුව ආණ්ඩුව මඟින් ඉඩම් නීති වෙනස් කරවා ගනිමින් ඉඩම් ඩැහැ ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය තත්ත්වයන් නිර්මාණය කරගන්නා බවයි.

කැනඩාවේ ක්වීන්ස් සරසවියේ මහාචාර්ය සුසාන් සෝඩර්බර්ග් ට අනුව MCC ගිවිසුම යනු නව පන්නයේ අමෙරිකානු අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයක්.

නේපාලය MCC සංයුක්තයක් අත්සන් කළද එය පාර්ලිමේන්තු පනතක් ලෙස සම්මත කිරීමට නේපාලය මෙතෙක් අසමත් වී ඇත්තේ අමෙරිකාවේ ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් යුද මූල උපාය තුළ ඇතිවිය හැකි භූ දේශපාලනික අවධානමට MCC ක්‍රියාන්විතය දායක වීමට ඇති ඉඩ කඩ පිළිබඳ නේපාල පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂය තුළ උද්ගත වී ඇති මතගැටුම් හේතුවෙන්.

පිලිපීන ජනාධිපතිවරයා  මෑතකදී කළ ප්‍රකාශ තුළින් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ 2016දී අත්සන් කර ඇති දෙවැනි MCC ගිවිසුම පිළිබඳ පිලිපීනය තුළ ප්‍රසාදයක් නොමැති බවයි.

මේ කමිටු වාර්තාවෙන් වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ MCC ගිවිසුම පිළිබඳ මෙතෙක් පවත්නා ජාත්‍යන්තර අත්දැකීම් සතුටුදායක හෝ සුභදායී නොවන බවයි.

එබැවින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විසින් MCC ගිවිසුම සළකා බැලීමට පෙර මෙම අත්දැකීම්වලින් ලැබිය හැකි පාඩම් මනාව උකහාගත යුතු බව වාර්තාවේ සඳහන්.

ප්‍රතිපාදන සහිතව MCC ගිවිසුම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු පනතක් ලෙස සම්මත කරගනු ලැබුවහොත්  එම ප්‍රතිපාදන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතියක් බවට පත්වෙන බැවින් ඒ තුළින් රටතුළ උද්ගත විය හැකි සමාජ, සංස්කෘතික, දේශපාලනමය බලපෑම් සහ නීතිමය ව්‍යාකූලත්වය නොසලකා හැරිය නොහැකි බව මෙම වාර්තාවෙන් පෙන්වා දෙනවා.

MCC ප්‍රධාන යෝජනාවලිය අත්සන් කළහොත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දීය සාගර කලාපයේ අමෙරිකානු භූ දේශපාලනික සිතියමට නිතැතින්ම ඇතුලත් වන බවත් භූ දේශපාලනික වට පිටාව සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ උපාය මාර්ගික පිහිටීම ජාත්‍යන්තර බල අරගලයකදී අදාළ තරඟකරුවන්ට වැදගත් වියහැකි බවත් යුද කඳවුරු ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ස්ථාපිත කිරීම යන කාරණා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විසින් නොසළකා හැරිය යුතු නොවන බවට වාර්තාවේ දැක්වෙනවා.

මෙම කරුණු එකින් එක වෙන් වෙන්ව සැලකූ විට අවධානමක් නොපෙනුනද මෙම කරුණු සියල්ල එක්ව ගත් කළ ඒවායේ ජාතික ආරක්ෂාවට හා දේශයේ ස්වෛරීත්වයට පවා තර්ජන එල්ල විය හැකි බවයි කමිටුව පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ.

මේ අතර, යෝජිත එම්.සී.සී. ගිවිසුමට අදාළ කිසිදු මුදලක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය වෙත ලබා දී නොමැති බව කොළඹ පිහිටි අමෙරිකානු තානාපති කාර්යාලය පවසනවා.

ඔවුන්ගේ ට්විටර් ගිණුම ඔස්සේ සටහනක් තබමින් සඳහන් කරන්නේ ගිවිසුම ගැන අවසන් තීරණයක් ලැබෙන තෙක් ප්‍රදානයන් ලබාදීම දින නියමයක් නොමැතිව කල් දමා ඇති බවයි.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, මිලේනියම් චැලෙන්ජ් කෝපරේෂන් හි නිලධාරීන්  පිරිසක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිදුකළ සංචාරයක් පිළිබඳව කොළඹ පිහිටි අමෙරිකානු තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ වෙබ් අඩවියේ 2018 වසරේ ජුනි 13 වැනි දින පළ කළ ලිපියක දැක්වෙන්නේ කොළඹ දී එම්.සී.සී. ගිවිසුමට අදාළව ඩොලර් මිලියන 7.4ක මුදලක් 2017 වසරේ ජුලි මාසයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට ප්‍රදානය කර ඇති බවයි.

GAMINI SENEVIRATNE Courtesy The Island

This is hardly the time for the US State Department to be meddling in Sri Lanka. It has so many disasters on its hands, and it does not seem that any of them would go away this century.

I shall list a few on a later occasion – as the whole world knows the American jackboot has been slogging on wherever the exceptional greed of its corporations and their political henchmen directs it.

But what is of immediate interest to us here, in Sri Lanka, is the statement made by the US Ambassador, Alaina B. Teplitz, that the US would continue engagement with the Sri Lankan Government despite some recent incidents, including a controversy over a US diplomat who arrived in the country. Asked if the employee is a US military officer, the US Ambassador said that the officer is a US Embassy employee.

She said that while the US and Sri Lanka may not agree on everything, there are areas where they do agree and would be able to easily collaborate, and that while the US will continue to express its opinions on certain matters, it will do so with respect and constructively.

The key US opinion follows: “The Government needs to look at its policies and ease of doing business if it is going to attract foreign investment and take advantage of the changes that will come in future,” she said.

And, in what is not meant to be ‘an opinion,’ the Ambassador said that “the private sector will be the leading edge in the economy”.

Illustrative of the American approach to matters that have nothing to do with the USA, Ms. Teplitz “also echoed concerns on the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province”.

Excuse me? Regardless of the exertions made by European invaders to erase the indigenous archaeological remains in the US, of what concern to her is our archaeological heritage?

Or, is she articulating the intent behind the so-called Millennium Corporation Compact that they have been at pains to engineer, within the most corrupt parliament we have yet had, with a group of the most corrupt at its head?

Your paper has given the necessary support for senior journalist, Shamindra Ferdinando, to commence blowing the lid off the supposed ‘compact’ with a handful, literally, of individuals who possess not a whiff of authority to speak for our people.

For starters, let us put down, in black and white, some features that this draft document seeks to bind us to:

“MCC is a United States Government corporation acting on behalf of the United States Government in the implementation of this Compact.

“MCC and the United States Government assume no liability for any claims, or loss, arising out of activities or omissions under this Compact.

“The Government (of Sri Lanka) waives any and all claims against MCC, or the United States Government, or any current or former officer or employee of MCC or the United States Government, for all loss, damage, injury or death arising out of activities or omissions under this compact and agrees that it shall not bring any claim or legal proceeding of any kind against any of the above entities, or persons, for any such loss, damage, injury or death…

“Any current or former officer, or employee, of the MCC, or the United States Government, shall be immune from the jurisdiction of all courts and tribunals of Sri Lanka for any claim or loss arising out of activities, or omissions, under this Compact.”

The above averments are explicit enough in stating that the government of Sri Lanka ceases to have any sovereign authority vis-a-vis this US Corporation. The example that immediately comes to mind flows from Ms. Teglitz’s response, quoted above, to the inquiry regarding the US citizen who refused to be checked for the Coronavirus at the airport. The ‘compact’ sought by the US now would provide for any person, whether a US citizen or not, who claims to be an ‘employee’ of the MCC, to flout all regulations / laws that are designed to protect our country and her people. It should be mentioned that another American entity, US AID, also wishes to take over a swathe of territory around Arugam Bay. What for? one might ask. To provide R & R for military personnel in the style that destroyed Bangkok, Djakarta, Manila…?

Many months ago, I, and others, called upon those who are in possession of this draft document to publish it. Until that is done, the people, on behalf of whom such agreements are to be made, would not be able to give, or deny, the only possible legitimacy for it – their mandate.

What we have had instead is the spectacle of a tuition mudalali who, it would seem, claims to speak for them.

GAMINI SENEVIRATNE

by Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Top MCC official Fatema Z. Sumar with Dr. Samaratunga at the signing of the first agreement (file photo)

Contrary to US embassy denial that funds required for preparatory activities related to controversial MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) project had not been disbursed or put off pending finalization of the decision, the US and Sri Lanka signed two agreements worth USD 10 mn in July 2017 and June 2018, according to authoritative sources.

US Embassy twitted on Thursday (25) that no MCC grant monies had been transferred to or spent by the Sri Lankan government under the proposed USD480 million grant. Funds for preparatory activities have been cancelled or indefinitely postponed, pending the Government’s decision whether to proceed with the grant.

The US Embassy was responding to Chairman of the Experts’ Committee Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, Professor of Economics of University of Colombo declaration that though USD 7.4 mn (Rs.1.1 bn) and USD 2.6 mn (Rs 413) had been received in 2017 and 2018 no accounts details were to be found anywhere.

Sources pointed out that the US Embassy, on July 27, 2017 and on June 13, 2018, had announced the finalization of two agreements (i) to develop a compact, including identification and analyzing of specific projects and (ii) to finalize compact development. According to the US Embassy statements, the funds allocated to the tune of USD 10 mn were in addition to the total MCC compact funding amount.

The final report of the Expert’s Committee appointed to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) was handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat last Thursday.

The Expert Committee said that it stood by its report prepared over a period of six months.

On President Rajapaksa’s directive, the entire report was posted online within 48 hours after receiving it.

Sources pointed out that incumbent US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz, in an interview, in Dec 2018, which was posted on the US Embassy website confirmed the allocation of funds in 2017 and 2018. Ambassador Teplitz is on record as having said: “Via the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), we are focusing on how to improve the infrastructure in Sri Lanka. MCC’s initial grant, worth Rs. 1.2 billion ($7.4 million), was provided in July 2016 to support feasibility studies needed to develop a high-quality, evidence-based, and sustainable programme, and in 2017, an agreement was signed to provide an additional Rs. 413 million ($ 2.6 million) grant to finalise compact development.”

The Ambassador is quoted as having further said: “All our assistance is grants, and not loans which have to be repaid. We do this because we want to be a friend and partner, where we share mutual interest. Unfortunately, the MCC has been paused for the moment, until the resolution of the political crisis.”

The Gunaruwan Committee included former Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Dr. D. S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Nihal Jayawardena and architect Nalaka Jayaweera.

The committee was formed in terms of a Cabinet decision taken on December 18, 2019, a month after the last presidential poll.

Sources pointed out that Ambassador Teplitz had inadvertently said that the two agreements were signed in 2016 and 2017 whereas the actual signing took place in 2017 and 2018.

On behalf of Sri Lanka, Secretary to the Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga signed both agreements whereas Fatema Z. Sumar, Regional Deputy Vice President U.S. Government’s MCC and MCC’s Managing Director for Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Latin America Caroline Nguyen signed the 2017 and 2018 agreements, respectively.

The then Deputy Chief of US Embassy Robert Hilton was present on both occasions. Hilton in the run-up to the last presidential poll told media that the US expected Sri Lanka to honour finalised agreements whatever the outcome of the polls.

According to US Embassy statement, issued on June 13, 2018 following the signing of the second agreement, Caroline Nguyen met State Minister for Finance Eran Wickramaratne and the Minister for Highways and Roads, Kabir Hashim.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Saturday, dismissed the Gunaruwan report while challenging President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government to reveal its stand on the MCC compact.

A few weeks before the signing of the first agreement, Mangala Samaraweera received the finance portfolio, which had been previously held by Ravi Karunanayake. Samaraweera and Karunanayake exchanged foreign and finance portfolios, respectively, in the wake of Treasury bond scams (Feb 2015 and March 2016) and Co-sponsorship of the Geneva Resolution (Oct 2015).

Government sources said that the Expert Committee hadn’t been successful in obtaining Attorney General’s Office response to a series of questions formulated to ascertain the status of the MCC compact. In spite of the set of questions made available to the AG’s Office, the Expert Committee had been deprived of the required information at the time the report was handed over to the President, sources said. Responding to another query, sources said that AG’s Office was contacted as the then Finance Minister Samaraweera in the run-up to the last presidential poll issued a statement titled ‘MCC agreement drafted with the consent of AG will be presented in Parliament’. Samaraweera said, “The whole process and the final agreements, were done under the guidance of the Attorney General and well within the legal framework. The Attorney General is of the opinion that the Agreements are in order and there exists no legal impediment to execute same.” The agreements, referred to were the Compact Agreement and the Programme Implementation Agreement.

Dappula de Livera, PC has been serving as the AG since April 29, 2019 following the appointment of his predecessor Jayantha Jayasuriya as the Chief Justice. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The final report by the Expert’s Committee appointed to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) is accessible for general public on three websites, the President’s Media Division said.

Accordingly, it will be available on http://www.president.gov.lk/

Link 1: https://www.president.gov.lk/si/ ජනපතිට-භාරදුන්-mcc-සමාලෝචන-අ

Link2: https://www.president.gov.lk/.Documents/MCC-final-document.pdf

www.presidentsoffice.lk

Link 1: https://www.presidentsoffice.gov.lk/.Documents/MCC-final-document.pdf

Link 1: http://www.pmdnews.lk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/%E0%B6%85%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%83%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%8F%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%AD%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%80.pdf

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a four-member Committee to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) on January 01, 2020.

The Committee was chaired by Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, a Professor of Economics at University of Colombo.

Former Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Dr. D. S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Justice Nihal Jayawardena and architect Nalaka Jayaweera were the other members of the Expert’s committee.

The final report of the Committee was handed over to President Rajapaksa by Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan at the Presidential Secretariat on June 25.

President Rajapaksa directed the Secretary to the President to place the recommendations of the report before the public.

president.gov.lk/

අමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදමේ සහශ්‍රක අභිම ෝගතා සො තන සෙඟ අත්සන් කිරීෙට සකස් කරනු ලැබ තිමබන සංයුක්ත ගිවිසුම් මකටුම්පත, ම ෝජිත ව්‍යාපිති හා ාව්‍ා ‍රි ාත්ෙක කිරීෙට සකසනු ලැබ ිති ‍රෙමදද සොමලෝචන කිරීමම් කමිටුව්‍

https://www.president.gov.lk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/%E0%B6%85%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%83%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%8F%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%AD%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%80.pdf

Courtesy Adaderana

The final report by the Expert’s Committee appointed to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) has been made accessible for the general public, President’s Media Division said.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a four-member Committee to review the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) on January 01st, 2020.

The Committee was chaired by Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, a Professor of Economics at the University of Colombo. Former Secretary to the Ministry of Transport Dr. D. S. Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Justice Nihal Jayawardena, and architect Nalaka Jayaweera were the other members of the Expert’s committee.

The final report of the Committee was handed over to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan at the Presidential Secretariat on the 25th of June.

President Rajapaksa directed the Secretary to the President to place the recommendations of the report before the public.

The report can be accessed through the following links:

Website: http://www.president.gov.lk/

https://www.presidentsoffice.gov.lk/index.php/2020/06/25/mcc-review-final-report-presented-to-president-2/?lang=si

https://www.presidentsoffice.gov.lk/.Documents/MCC-final-document.pdf

Link2: https://www.president.gov.lk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/අවසන්-වාර්තාව.pdf

Courtesy Adaderana

The curfew imposed on the island in order to curtail the spread of COVID-19 has been completely lifted, President’s Media Division said.

This decision will be in effect from today (June 28, Sunday).

Previously, the curfew imposed on the whole country from March 20 was partially lifted with the country returning to normalcy.

Accordingly, the curfew was only in effect from 12 midnight until 4 am daily until today.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another foreign arrival testing positive for the coronavirus infection has taken the tally of virus-positive cases in Sri Lanka to 2,037.

The latest case is a recent returnee from Bangladesh, according to the Health Ministry.

With the new, four individuals have been detected to have contracted the virus, so far today (28). Previously, three individuals including arrivals from Pakistan and Kuwait were confirmed to have tested positive in PCR testing.

Currently, 365 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals, as per the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry.

COVID-19 case tally moves to 2,036

The total number of COVID-19 infections reported from Sri Lanka has now moved to 2,036 cases, confirms the Ministry of Health.

This is with an individual who recently arrived from Kuwait testing positive for the virus.

Accordingly, three individuals have been detected to have contracted the virus, so far today (28).

Currently, 364 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals.

Arrival from Pakistan tests positive for COVID-19

Another arrival from Pakistan has tested positive for the coronavirus infection, moving the total count of COVID-19 cases in the country to 2,035.

Currently, 363 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals.

Coronavirus count in Sri Lanka moves to 2,034

One more individual has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, thus, increasing the total number of virus-positive cases in the country to 2,034.

Currently, 362 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals.

Meanwhile, with 22 more regaining health, count of recoveries reported in the country to hiked to 1,661.

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

Courtesy Ada Derana

Minister Prasanna Ranatunga says that the complete reopening of airports may be delayed due to the increased number of registrations to arrive in the country.

Previously it was targeted to reopen the airports in Sri Lanka from August 01 and the country will be open for tourists.

Considering that situation, the date of complete reopening may be postponed to after August 15 or towards the end of August, said the Minister.

However, Ranatunga said that they will try their best to reopen the airports by August 01.

Persons visiting the country must be subjected to PCR testing both in the country from which they are visiting and at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Sri Lanka.

If the PCR test results are positive they will be hospitalized while the rest will be quarantined for 14 days. Between the 7th and the 10th day of the mandatory quarantine, they will be tested again and released if the results are negative for COVID-19, said the Minister.

Truth with Chamuditha

MCC ගිවිසුම පිළිබද ජනාධිපති කමිටුවේ ප්‍රධානි ආචාර්ය ලලිතසිරි ගුණරුවන් සමග කෙරෙන පුථම හා එකම සාකච්ඡාව. චමුදිත සමරවික්‍රම සමග.

BY SHENALI WADUGE ·

The very controversial and dangerous US transnational project known as MCC Compact has generated public objections for the right reasons and if not for the resolve of a handful of people who went out to publicly educate the people, the previous government would have done a 1815 on us (betrayal of the Nation) in 2015 itself. It would have become a treachery repeating itself after 200 years. The dangers seen by the public was to ensure another 1840 Wasteland Ordinance type land grab by foreigners would not take place via MCC. The plan was not plotted in 2015 but by helping regime change the plotters found it easier to roll out their plan that had been incrementally laid out via various international funding programs and associated demands. The public objections resulted in the new government appointing a Committee to review the MCC Compact headed by economist Dr. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan. Their interim report recommended not to proceed with the MCC given its impact on socio-economy of Sri Lanka & violation of constitution & sovereignty. Their final report expanded on what was given in the interim report. The shocker comes in the revelation that the US Govt/MCC has given $10million during 2017 & 2018 but there are no records of such transaction. This is a very serious scenario and the public demands answers. More serious is the reality that the Statutes associated with MCC continue to be drafted by the AG’s department and these dangerous Statutes must be stopped& that which has been passed needs to be repealed and more protective Statutes must be passed with inputs from a patriotic set of lawyers.

MCC is part of the US Government. Though claiming to function independently its an all US-Govt board – US Secretary of State is Chairman, Secretary of the US Treasury is the Vice Chairman, US Trade Representative, USAID, CEO of MCC and 4 US private sector members. All of whom are appointed by the US President with the consent of the US Senate. MCC is a bilateral foreign aid agency functioning just like USAID. The funds come through the US Govt. Thus, MCC $480m Compact to Sri Lanka is given by the US Govt. If Nepal MCC is part of Indo-US Pacific Strategy & essentially a component of US pivot to Asia, Sri Lanka’s MCC is definitely part of that project which involves all of US allies & a host of pro-US transnational companies. All those involved in this larger project are people who find common ground only in their greed to loot & plunder nations & their resources.

It’s important to note how this Compact has secretly come into Sri Lanka immediately after regime change in January 2015 installing a puppet President and placing a minority party as the Government until August 2015. The Compact is associated to prior funding initiatives to bind the project further.

A precondition of the MCC is a Constraints Analysis as ‘foundation’ for US investment. In March 2017 the GoSL, MCC and Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University agreed to prepare such a report. Was $7.4m granted for this report?

The Sri Lanka Constraints Analysis team for MCC comprised:

Charitha Ratwatte (Senior Advisor); Nandaka Molagoda (Economist); Mangala Yapa (Agency for Development); Anushka Wijesinha (Ceylon Chamber of Commerce); and Rathnasiri Sirwardhane (Coordinator). Indrajit Coomaraswamy. Coomaraswamy is now part of Pathfinder Foundation promoting signing of MCC via its post-covid economic proposal too.

The Constraints Analysis report shows that the foreigners have done surveys and statistics on Sri Lanka and know more about the country than the people or officials in Sri Lanka.Using this data, they give funding from one hand (out of money created by them) and then take back that money plus much more by demanding access to resources and assets of a country as well as change country laws to facilitate & legalize their plunder. All this is benchmarked by the doing business report” no different to the structural adjustment programs tied to aid where a State is always asked to only reduce welfare given to the poor.

There is no free lunch echoed Mrs. B.Video Player00:0001:26

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sentiments about AID being a curse is noteworthy & all Third World leaders should listen to his speech.

A study by University of Copenhagen establishes a link with foreign aid & corruption where 5% foreign aid ends up in offshore accounts. The Economist claims the World Bank tried to conceal findings by not publishing the report. https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/11665-world-bank-grapples-with-study-linking-foreign-aid-to-corruption

This certainly links to the revelation by the Gunaruwan Committee that claims $10m given by MCC in 2017 & 2018 is not found in any Government accounts. So where is this money? Who has been given this money? Has it already gone to an offshore account as the Copenhagen study implies? We want answers.

The US embassy in Colombo has denied any disbursement of money prior to signing

However, 2 newsclips reveal a different story.

https://lk.usembassy.gov/millennium-challenge-corporation-official-visits-sri-lanka-to-continue-progress-on-compact-development/

http://www.slguardian.org/2018/11/will-us-halt-its-5-years-mcc-on-sri.html

Nevertheless, the recipients must be overjoyed as no one need pay back the money if the US embassy now says – no monies were transferred! Whoever has this $10million is very lucky!

Everyone is presuming that with the MCC Review Committee presenting their report recommending Sri Lanka’s Government does not sign the Agreement which means it is not passed by Parliament, what we are all forgetting is that unknown or ignored by all, the drastic changes that MCC want to happen in Sri Lanka is already happening.

The cake is being baked already – MCC signing & passing by Parliament was just the icing needed. But the cake is good enough without the icing.

You will next ask, how this is possible.

To understand this, it is important to be aware of the bigger picture. The efforts to change our deed system began after independence but with astute judges like Justice Amarasinghe, who rejected these proposals, these external efforts got delayed. But the attempts did not stop and every attempt has been deviously tied to aid/investment initiatives. This was how a completely foreign registration law got enacted without the public knowing of it in 1998. Title Registration Act 21 is also known as Torrens Title Registration but it was promoted in Sri Lanka as ‘bim saviya’ so that people would not question the ‘international’ component of it.

This international registration system will remove all the history of our lands embedded in the deeds that we hold as well as the sannasas and other ancient scripts to claim Temple/kovil lands.

Unlike created countries, ours is an island nation with a long and proud history. The lands belonged to the King who was custodian of the land that belonged to the People. The kings’ role was passed on to the President/Parliament/Judiciary. Every inch of land has a history to it. Land was never meant to be used as a commodity.

The resources of the land were meant to continue from generation to generation. The importance of land & our future is articulated by Justice Amarasinghe in his landmark judgement on the Eppawela Phosphate case where he annulled the US-Japan project which also had a train link from Anuradhapura to Trincomalee Port covering the same area that US/MCC –Japan has demarcated in its road-rail project.

The World Bank awarded money to the GoSL to implement ‘bim saviya’.

As per Senior Deputy Surveyor-General only 700,000 title registration certificates have been given. These 700,000 would have had their original deeds taken & replaced with a 1page certificate of Title which just has the owners name and plan.  As per Act 21 of 1998 the original deeds are to be destroyed. This 1page Certificate will erase all records of former ownership and the history attached to that land. The Senior Deputy Surveyor-General however recommends that owners retain the original deeds, extracts & certified copies of their deeds. But has this been communicated to the 700,000 people BEFORE they parted with their deeds? Can they get their deeds back or have they been destroyed as was mandatory by the Act? Are people literate enough to understand all this mumbo jumbo? Even international professors writing on the Torrens Title Registration system calls it a law fit for fraudsters.

Erasing the deed history is a fundamental right violation of the People’s sovereignty!

Is there an alternative? Yes

When people began to complain against bim saviya in particular the Maha Sangha after realizing the Temple lands would also fall under Torrens Registration system, President Mahinda Rajapakse appointed a Samarasekera Committee who forwarded an alternative. This Statute is drafted by not passed. This report must be taken & studied again by LOCAL LAWYERS not foreign consultants or local lawyers paid by foreigners.

Why shouldn’t the existing deeds be entered in e-register. Why erase the existing deeds and issue new international title registrations promoted by USAID, World Bank & US actors?

Even US refuses to use Title Registration & continues with deed system. If US is following deed system, why do US actors insist other countries depart from existing deed system and adopt an international registration system. The deed system used by all commonwealth countries allows land owners access to court but the Torrens Title Registration doesn’t.

By agreeing to adopt an international registration system, international lawyers will play a prominent role over local lawyers. This should be a concern for all Sri Lankan lawyers.Foreign lawyers & their international consultancy firms will be handling land cases hereafter with little or no say for the Sri Lankan Government. Let’s not forget that we live in times where international companies are taking governments to international tribunals. With an international title registration system in place this too may become a reality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv_d6ISe6f0listen to former MCC Chair Hillary Clinton who says after signing MCC will be sole judge and smart power aligns to US policy of Development, Diplomacy & Defense.

What was the AG under yahapalana thinking when passing MCC agreement?

The title registration once fully implemented will also repeal Roman Dutch Law, law of prescription & judicial precedence that existed for over 150 years.

E-Register/Land Information System

The title registration makes no difference in Private or State Land. All will be entered into an electronic land registry as per international template and identified by a 10 digit number. We will not know what was even a temple land.

Transferring a country’s entire land data to ELECTRONICS destroying the manual documents means whoever owns the data owns the future. MCC agreement says it owns Sri Lanka’s intellectual property – past, present & future. How could the AG under yahapalana government approve such a hand over of a country’s data?

The US embassy Colombo advertised for Expressions of Interest from consultancy firms to develop the E-Land Hub for the National Land Titling Program in Sri Lanka. It was the US embassy that chose the consultancy company.

https://photos.state.gov/libraries/sri-lanka/577989/pdf/eLand%20Hub%20Project.pdf

That we have found ourselves in a stalemate situation is purely because politicians and officials have fallen prey to foreign funding and servility mentality ignoring the more valid and practical inputs of the BASL and Ministry of Justice to improve existing land laws.

MCC funding requires title registration & electronics for its land project.

The most dangerous aspect disclosed in the MCC agreement itself is the subtly included clause that US will stay beyond its 5 year compact if GoSL cannot carry out the project as per MCC conditions.

Politicians and officials in their short-sighted belief that funding will provide answers to all economic-ills and in a hurry to accept investments overlooking the socio-economic /environment impacts or even legal ramifications for the country have walked into too many traps, worse of which is the MCC.In so doing, they have ignored that title registration is only in English– why has no politician or public official not raised the need to have any system in Sinhalese & Tamil the language of the country? How many speak & can understand English or are literate enough to deal in computers?

While politically claiming MCC will not be signed, everyone seems to ignore that on the ground all that the MCC compact roll out requires is taking place & no politician or public official is taking action to stop the initiatives that are all part of the MCC Compact. The title registration is continuing, the cadastral mapping is continuing, the land information system is continuing, scanning of land registry books is by US company and the Statutes related to MCC and facilitating MCC are being drafted by the AG’s Dept. If MCC is not to be signed then the bigger dangers of the Statutes getting passed which are linked to MCC must be stopped and alternatives and protections placed.

E-registrar with Title registration via international law CANNOT be implemented and SHOULD NOT be implemented. A Govt that agrees not to proceed with MCC must immediately halt all initiatives and programs that were launched as part of it prior to signing.

The GoSL must immediately halt these initiatives and appoint a team of lawyers to relook at the Samarasekera Committee Report & provide a quick, efficient & cost-effective counter proposal fine-tuning what was recommended by the Samarasekera Committee.

Shenali D Waduge

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

In Australian State of Victoria, Roving Testing Squads and government Health Door Knockers are  making surprise checks in homes, similar to the campaign started long time ago in Sri Lanka.

Many returning inter-state travellers are refusing to undergo Covid 19 Tests, as it is not mandatory, unlike in Sri Lanka under curfew and Quarantine Law.  The law in Sri Lanka is primarily governed under Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance No.03 of 1897 (QPDO). The ordinance was introduced (inter-alia) to prevent the introduction of plague and all contagious or infection diseases to Sri Lanka and the spread of such diseases in and outside Sri Lanka”.

In Sri Lanka only one foreign traveller, an American Diplomat, escaped the tests, but presented himself later on government intervention.  In Sri Lanka the rules are so tight at present, the returning travellers or tourists must undergo PCR  tests at the Airport   upon arrival before Immigration compliances.

Based on the PCR test results, all passengers are diverted to the hospitals or quarantine centres for 14 days.  Strict vigilance is conducted in and around quarantine centres prohibiting any arriving tourists, leaving the centres or socialising  in violation of health regulations of Sri Lanka. Drone cameras are also being used for this purpose.  Perhaps these are handy hints from a small nation to Big Nations!

The States are also blaming for the failure to engage Australian Defence Force actively  in combating Covid 19. We recall the Sri Lankan opposition blaming its government for engaging the Army to assist health authorities, which was ignored by the government of Sri Lanka.

Recently Shenali Waduge wrote an excellent piece on  Federal Governance system in combating Covid 19.   In Victoria, with its extremely popular City of Melbourne, the State Government is facing a tough battle to contain the  spread  of virus.  This was in spite of the great volume of planning and hardwork undertaken by its Premier Mr Daniel Andrews. 

Hurriedly organised Testing Centres are inundated with anxious Victorians queuing up, some had to wait as much as 4 hours to get tested.  Due to unexpected massive crowds arriving at the centres, the centres have been closed  early, with massive traffic jams.  The centres were not fully equipped to meet the demands of unexpected influx of Victorians.  The shopping centres  once again have placed maximum quantity for each customer  for most sanitary related products.

Last week, Dr  Stephen Ducket  a Senior Health Economist from the Grattan            Institute,   requested other States to keep their boarders closed.

South Australia has virtually opened its boarders to most States, except Victoria.   Queensland and New South Wales are requesting Victorians not to travel to their States.

Since yesterday, Victorian Government appears to have taken another  leaf from the books of Sri Lanka.  They are now embarking on random police checks of drivers in the 6 Victorian Local Government areas identified as hotspots.  In these Cities of Hume, Brimbank, Moreland, Darebin, Cardinia and Casey where 17, 10, 6, 6 and 7 Covid 19   cases have been tracked down as Covid 19 positive patients.  These are densely populated cities, with at least one million Victorians living in 6 Cities.  Similar to Sri Lanka, the Army has been  deployed from 24 June for door-knocking  to find any Covid 19 cases.   In a vast continent with  only 23 million Australians,  it is regrettable that the situation is still not under control.     Visionary actions of President Gotabaya Rajapakse saved our small nation with 23 million Sri Lankans, in a densely populated island.

Within States confusion existed  between State Premiers in regard to the opening of the School days and now the closing days before the upcoming Winter vacation.  Where in some families, either mum or dad work and reside inter-state, the kids are unable to meet both parents and siblings during school holidays due to confusion and restrictions. 

Our politicians like Ranil, Sajith, Sambandan, Sumanthiran, Mano, Hakeem, Jayampathy Wickremaratne ( thank  God he has disappeared ), JVP,  etc.  need to study the practical aspects of their demands for federal system of government.

In Australia the Federal Prime Minister Mr Scott Morrison has done an excellent job in providing  leadership and relief packages.   But the State Premiers are under no obligation to accept the orders of the Prime Minister.  He can only REQUEST the state premiers, representing Labour and Liberal Premiers, squabbling with each other.

Hence, the pandemic continues unabated in Australia. This is mainly due to lack of central control where the National Leader Mr Scott Morrison is bound by the Federal System.

The introduction of Federal System and removal of Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka will be a recipe for disaster!

http://www.mq.edu.au/ “Visions of an Island” is an autobiographical account of Sir Christopher Ondaatje’ romance with Sri Lanka drawing on several of his books. Sir Christopher is writer in residence from 28 March till 14 April 2011, he was born in Ceylon, educated in London and immigrated to Canada in 1956. He has worked at several magazines and newspapers, and in 1967 founded the Pagurian Press, which eventually became the enormously successful Pagurian Corporation. In 1988 he sold all his business interests and returned to the literary world. He is the author of seven books including the best-selling Burton biographies “Sindh Revisited” and “Journey to the Source of the Nile”. He was a member of Canada’s 1964 Olympic bobsled team, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery. He lives in London, England.

N SATHIYA MOORTHY Courtesy Observer Research Foundation

The recent border clashes with China on the land frontier may have spiked the stakes for India on the sea-front, too, more than anticipated and acknowledged. While the multiple security agreements with the US and the rest over the past years may be an expression of the nation’s resolve to check Chinese ‘expansionism’ through the ‘String of Pearls’, more needs to be done to ensure that China is unable to use its ‘land acquisitions’ in Maldives and Sri Lanka, among others, against India, in times of military adversity.

Through a December 2019 decision, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) expanded the relatively recent IOR (Indian Ocean Region) Division to include Comoros, French Reunion and Madagascar to the existing quartet of Maldives and Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles. Looked at from Delhi, the seven-island combo has made the Indian Ocean, an ‘Indian Lake’ from New Delhi’s diplomatic perspective.

In the post-Cold War era, for the larger ‘Indo-Pacific’, a geo-strategic space that India has since adopted from the US creator of the term, New Delhi has signed multiple inter-operable agreements with different nations. The main aim is to keep China off the nearby seas, or at least make the costs dearer for Beijing, to undertake an adventure of the northern land-border kind.

India has signed multiple security/Inter-operable military agreements with the US, Japan and Australia, and also has the Quad of all four. New Delhi also has similar pacts with Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia. There are now reports of India signing similar pacts with the UK, the erstwhile colonial ruler of South Asia, and possibly with Russia, too. Independent of the Rafale fighter deal, India has also signed a security pact with France. The two nations conducted joint patrolling of the seas from French Reunion, in February 2020/

Territorial possessions

In India’s immediate Ocean neighbourhood, however, China already has ‘territorial possessions’ in the form of Feydhoo Finolhu resort-island in Maldives and Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka. Apart from Hambantota, Chinese investments in Sri Lanka have gone into building the Mattara ‘international’ airport, Colombo Port City and expressway projects criss-crossing the island-nation.

China obtained the former through a direct, 50-year-lease, purportedly against a payment of $4 million under the controversial regime of erstwhile President Abdulla Yameen. Beijing obtained a 99-year-old lease for the Hambantota Port area after Sri Lanka agreed to a ‘debt-for-equity’ swap-deal under a regime different from that of the one that had signed a construction-cum-concession contract.

Independent of regime-change in either country, there is nothing to suggest that two by themselves pose security threat of any kind to the larger Indian neighbour. However, with China in possession of their land-holdings on a long-term lease, it is anybody’s guess how Beijing may operationalise what Sri Lanka’s current president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has since described as a ‘commercial agreement’ involving his predecessor dispensation, and has moved away from his intermediate commitment of ‘re-negotiating’ the same.

India’s experience with China in the tri-junction corridor with Bhutan at Doklam in 2017 should be educative. That should have prepared New Delhi to expect a strategic, security situation of the kind in the immediate waters, now or later. While the adjoining waters may be secure than otherwise, following the multiplicity of security pacts, the same cannot be said of China’s land holdings in these two nations.

Freedom of navigation

If push comes to the shove, and China feels ‘choked’ by India and its pact-partners in the Indo-Pacific, especially the immediate Indian Ocean waters adjoining the Indian shores, Beijing can seek ‘freedom of navigation’ to its possessions in Maldives and Sri Lanka. China could insist on transporting only ‘civilian material’ by sea to these countries, and make the host-governments legitimate partners in pressing its demands in international water.

It is one thing for the international community, including India, to read the rule-book to China, and point out how it had violated the very norms that it wanted enforced, when it came to the South China and East China Seas. However, it will be another if the two smaller neighbours of India were made to cite those norms and rules, and submit that their economic subsistence and sustenance were being challenged for no fault of theirs. It would be a situation India could do without.

Even without such a politico-legal showdown, India cannot hope to feel secure as long as there are Chinese installations even of a civilian kind in its immediate waters. Both Hambantota and Feydhoo Finolhu face the Indian Ocean sea-lanes of communications (SLOCs) and also the US military-base in Diego Garcia.

India’s EEZ is not far away from these two Chinese possessions. The nation’s shorelines, starting with the Andaman-Nicobar Command too with be at an ear-short from either of them. Without these two Chinese posts, India used to feel secure and confident that the Andamans Nicobar Command would watch out into the ocean, day and night, for signs of adventurous adversarial movements, be it of China or Pakistan. Now guard-watching may become mutual, though China’s PLA or PLA-N or the air force may have a visible presence in either Hambantota or Feydhoo Finolhu.

Public diplomacy

New Delhi seems confident with the existing and new security pacts with such other users of Indian Ocean trade-routes, it can hope to ensure rules-based navigation in these waters. However, this would not suffice when it comes to ensuring India’s national security and territorial integrity, which it cannot compromise, New Delhi then will have to engage its Ocean neighbours, pro-actively.

At present, India is engaged with Japan and Singapore to develop the eastern Trincomalee port and town, as if it were a parallel to the real-time Chinese possession of Hambantota. India is also set to develop the Colombo Port’s East Terminal. In Maldives, the two nations have agreed on India funding the Male-Thilafushi sea-bridge, on the lines of the China-funded, Male-Hulhumale’ sea-bridge, connecting the national capital and island-airport.

Departing from the traditional mode of ‘budgetary support’ in the case of Maldives, India is engaging these two countries in infrastructure and developmental funding in multiple ways. Over the past decade or so, and more so with incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, New Delhi has made developmental funding a part of its ‘public diplomacy’ in the host-countries, reaching out to their people, though only through the medium of their respective national governments.

India began with a massive housing scheme for Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged ethnic Tamils, and has since extended the facility to cover Upcountry Tamils or ‘estate Tamils’, and majority Sinhalas, too. In Maldives, it has funded municipal schemes, which is a major concern in the archipelago-nation. These have become popular with the local population, whose sympathy and support cannot be overlooked in the formulation of India’s neighbourhood policy, especially.

Pro-active measures

To gain a greater sense of security than already, India needs to revisit the Neighbourhood Policy, which has mostly remained a diplomatic initiative with economic initiatives thrown in for effect. New Delhi needs to engage all neighbours, especially Ocean neighbours starting with Maldives and Sri Lanka in the immediate waters, to deny traditional adversaries a toe-hold on their territory.

India needs to work even more with its international partners to help its neighbours to find ways of clearing China’s dues, which has acknowledged to be a ‘debt-trap’ of unmitigated proportions for Sri Lanka, and promises to be so for Maldives, too. This, and such other funding of developmental projects in the neighbourhood, as different from India’s reported bid to take over the management of the unused and under-utilised Mattara airport, another white elephant of a China-funded project in Sri Lanka.

On the security front, New Delhi can begin by re-activating the biennial India-Maldives ‘Dhosti’ Coast Guard exercises, to which they brought in Sri Lanka after the end of the ethnic war in that country, a decade ago. India then needs to extend the scope of the effort to rope in other nations now coming under MEA’s IOR Division, and also expand the operations, by bringing in the Indian Navy and IAF.

India may be able to achieve this goal only in phases and stages, and through a time-consuming process. But without such arrangements with the immediate neighbours, India can never really feel secure in the company of its pact-based strategic allies in and for the Indian Ocean Region on the one hand, and the Indo-Pacific on the other. After Doklam and Galwan along the land borders, time may not be on India’s side just now. New Delhi should still play for the medium and long terms, and should not let the need and opportunity lapse for want of trying.The views expressed above belong to the author(s).

ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA Courtesy Observer Research Foundation

Sri Lanka will hold its Parliamentary election on 5 August. The efficient leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was demonstrated in managing the recent Covid-19 pandemic crisis. It is a proven leadership which will be a significant factor to ensure a landslide victory in the upcoming election for the Rajapaksa front. There are two other factors which will determine a Rajapaksa victory. First, the fracturing of the main opposition party the United National Party (UNP). For the first time in its history, the party is split into two camps which will divide and erode their voter base. Second, the loss of several years of economic growth and political instability due to Sirisena-Wickramasinghe policies finally resulting in the loss of hundreds of lives and threatening national security. Perhaps predicting the upcoming defeat at the elections one-time political spin doctor and former Foreign Minister of Sirisena-Wickramasinghe Government, Mangala Samaraweera, withdrew from the parliamentary race. Hopefully after the upcoming election, the long absent political stability will be restored in the island nation.

There are currently two inquires afloat, one on corruption and the other on negligence. The central bank bond scam and the Easter Sunday terror attack inquiry findings will impact the domestic political landscape. Both inquiries are in full swing, revealing shocking information such as a previous Central Bank Governor accused of the bond scam who is now residing in Singapore having changed his name. On the Easter Sunday inquiry, more previously unheard and unattended information were revealed and exposed to the public on the extremist activities by the perpetrators. Further, discussing the Easter Sunday attack at a recent interview to BBC, former President Sirisena explained Why should I accept responsibility for the Easter attacks? Responsibility should be taken by those responsible”. As the commander in chief with direct responsibility on national security, there should have been acknowledgement of the failure in authorities. Comparing with another post-terror attack in Norway in 2011, carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg apologized to the nation for failings in his duties, and this even without any prior warnings. The Sri Lankan situation was a systemic failure at different levels, the system was headed by no other than the Sirisena-Wickramasinghe duo.

In the economic front, Sri Lanka and many developing nations will face the brunt of Covid-19 and the global economic recession. Japan’s JICA suspended funding for a new project until financial policies and the debt position of Sri Lanka is clarified raising concerns on the current debt situation of the country. Meanwhile, China recently extended its assistance standing strongly with the island nation. As a symbolic gesture, acting Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Hu Wei, handed over an official letter from President Xi to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on his 71st birthday, praising his leadership in managing Covid-19. Medical assistance during the pandemic has transformed into financial assistance as China takes the helm in assisting many nations.

Containment strategies: Sri Lanka’s role in regional stability

The global pandemic has made the world a more dangerous place with pressure surmounting within nations from internal and external pressure in the political, economic and security spheres. Assessing China’s aggression, former Indian National Security Advisor Amb. Shivshankar Menon explains: it seems to me that it’s part of a general pattern and a general shift in Chinese behaviour in the way they deal with the world. What I supposed the Chinese themselves have called wolf warrior diplomacy”. The general pattern and shift of China’s behaviour could be trickled down to the pressure exerted on China from recent containment strategies at the geopolitical high table. Nations use other nations for their strategic advantage. Long before the Cold War, using Russia’s geographical position, US made an alliance with Russia to act as a wedge and not a bridge between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. In the same way, has the US taken advantage of India’s geography to drive a wedge between China and her strategic allies surrounding India? With the brewing conflict of Indo-China, how would Sri Lanka manage its defence and foreign relations with both nations?

China is directly facing geopolitical challenges arising from multiple issues at multiple geographies at the same time, from the surrounding Indian geosphere at Galwan and Pangong Tso, Ladakh, Senkaku Islands, South China Sea, Taiwan to the streets of Hong Kong. According to professor Srikanth Kondapalli, ‘all of these Chinese assertive and aggressive responses have been put down to a new wolf warrior” diplomacy and is a bid to cover-up the Covid-19 disaster’. While China’s presence in the multiple geographies is visible, it does not reflect that its actions are intended to cover up the pandemic. More than a cover-up, it is symbolic and strategic, depicting Beijing’s military might at multiple locations simultaneously. A clash triggered at Galawan Valley between Indian and Chinese troops with casualties for both sides was explained by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian by stating: on 15 June Indian troops seriously violated our consensus and twice crossed the borderline for illegal activities and provoked and attacked Chinee personnel.” The direct accusation by China has intensified and reset the China-India confidence-building mechanism (CBM) exercises during the last three decades, while both sides accuse each other of violating the unmarked border, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) of 3,440 km distance. Threats at the harsh geographical terrain are linked to the larger geopolitical context. There has been a threat looming from the militarization of strategic alliances in which India has played an active role.

While the pandemic environment has the potential to severely erode military budgets and minimize the military projection of many nations, there seems to be silent military alignments and infrastructure expansions taking place in South Asia. With the US President’s decision to reformat G7 grouping of the advanced economies to G11, inviting India, Australia, South Korea, and Russia is a significant step impacting Indo-Pacific geopolitical space. Two scholars from India, Mansheetal Singh and Megha Gupta suggest that the ‘Indo-Pacific requires an urgent need for a coordinated strategy to mute China’s swaying strategies in the region. Leadership for this should come through mooting a proposed Indo – Pacific Treaty Organization (IPTO). IPTO must be patterned on the lines of NATO which have been a successful and effective association even after the disintegration of the USSR. Only through an alliance like this can we hope to avert further security turbulences inflicted by China in the Indo Pacific region’.

The Mutual Military Logistics Support Agreement with reciprocal access to military bases was signed on June 4 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison. This agreement would strengthen the quadrilateral partnership that includes Japan and the U.S, further. The agreement adds to India’s already existing agreements with the United States, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. These agreements would assist to secure India’s role as a net security provider of the region and to contain Chinese influence in India’s marine sphere. Australian Scholar David Brewster highlights that ‘Australia will need a sober understanding of India’s likely future abilities to act as a regional security provider across our shared oceanic space.’ While the agreements would provide strength, it also drags India closer to US orbit and the western sphere, departing from its South-South agenda away from Iran in India’s western shores. The Sri Lankan government did not proceed with the similar US military logistics agreement SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) and financial assistance MCC (Millennium Challenge Compact) seeing it as detrimental to its national security. This position could push Sri Lanka closer to the Chinese orbit despite its neighbor’s alliances with the US.

Thus, the entire focus is on India’s north, on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). There is less focus on India’s south, the Indian Ocean and its littorals. Seeing the growing security threat from China in India’s vicinity, there will be strong reaction to counter and strengthen India’s role as the net security provider of the region. At the beginning of the year, India started to reorganize its military command structure by introducing the first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) since 1947, General Bipin Rawat. Sri Lanka introduced its CDS many years back, providing a single point of view to the government on the three armed services under a unified command. Perhaps the reason India took so long was to keep military at limited engagement with bureaucracy at the center. The shift and internal reorganization would assist its process to take swift coordinated action.

The tense situation in the Sino-India relationship will have an impact on regional nations that maintain a cordial relationship with both countries. The recent conflict has got the Indian foreign policy circle to revisit their view on China and long-term economic barriers for Chinese products are already being discussed. India would need a mediatory partner to ease the tension in the region, while conflict would minimize the strategic space for nations like Sri Lanka to gain and maximize its gains while not antagonizing either. There is no harm in Sri Lanka playing a mediatory role left behind by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake in December 1962, where she was trusted by both nations to minimize the tension and draw up the ‘Colombo Proposals’, which India accepted, and China accepted in principle. Although the context is different to 1962, Sri Lanka with its unique geography in the Indian Ocean, being the closest neighbor to India and a strong strategic partner to China, revisiting and resuscitating its foreign policy legacy, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa could perhaps play an active role with the question of regional stability increasingly being contested.The views expressed above belong to the author(s).

Aswathi Pacha Courtesy The Hindu

Formations like the El Niño of the Pacific Ocean could emerge

About 19,000-21,000 years ago, ice-sheets covered North America and Eurasia, and sea-levels were much lower, with Adam’s Bridge exposed so that the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka were contiguous. This period, the peak of ice age conditions, is called the Last Glacial Maximum. Researchers analysed simulations of this past climate and predicted that the ongoing climate change could reawaken an ancient climate pattern of the Indian Ocean.

They find that this could be similar to the El Niño phenomenon of the Pacific Ocean bringing more frequent and devastating floods and drought to several densely-populated countries around the Indian Ocean region. If current warming trends continue, this new Indian Ocean El Niño could emerge as early as 2050. The results were published in Science Advances.

Study on shells

By studying microscopic zooplankton called foraminifera, the team had published a paper in 2019 which first found evidence from the past of an Indian Ocean El Niño. Foraminifera build a calcium carbonate shell, and studying these can tell us about the properties of the water in which they lived. The team measured multiple individual shells of foraminifera from ocean sediment cores and was able to reconstruct the sea surface temperature conditions of the past.

In the previous paper, we argued for the existence of an ‘Indian Ocean El Niño’ during the Last Glacial Maximum. We suggest that the Indian Ocean has the capacity to harbour much larger climate variability than observed during the last few decades or a century,” writes co-author Kaustubh Thirumalai, from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona in an email to The Hindu. In this paper, we argue that this climate variability in the Indian Ocean can arise under increased greenhouse gas forcing of global climate change.”

Lessons to learn

He explains that there are many lessons to be learnt from this cooler period about our warmer future, even though the Last Glacial Maximum consisted of vastly different conditions compared to where the world is headed… For example, global sea-level is rising and glacial ice is melting today whereas the opposite was true for the Last Glacial Maximum”

Prof. Thirumalai adds: As it is, under present-day conditions, changes in the Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation strongly affect Indian Monsoon variability from year to year. If the hypothesised ‘equatorial mode’ emerges in the near future, it will pose another source of uncertainty in rainfall prediction and will likely amplify swings in monsoon rainfall.”

The paper adds that it could bring more frequent droughts to East Africa and southern India and increased rainfall over Indonesia. The team warns that further work is needed to accurately assess this new mode, particularly under lower-emission scenarios and also taking into account past climatic states other than the Last Glacial Maximum.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  මව්බිම දැන්

කොරෝනා (කොවිඩ් – 19) වසංගතය නිසා මුළු ලොවම කැලඹී ගියේ පෙර නොවූ විරූ ලෙසිනි. ලෝක යුද්ධ දෙකක අත්දැකීම් සපිරි මුළු ලොවම අනිසි මරණ බියකින් සසල වූ හැටි හරි පුදුම සහගතය. චීනයේ වූහාන් නගරයෙන් මුල්ම කොරෝනා රෝගියා හමු වූ තැන සිට වයිරසය ලොව පුරා පැතිර යමින් වයිරසය පුද්ගලයන් 9,393,862කට මේ වන විට බෝවී ගොස් ඇත. ලොව පුරා මියගිය ගණන 480,587කි. වයිරසය වැලඳී සුවව නිවෙස් වෙත ගිය පිරිස 5,079,050කි. 

ශ්‍රී  ලංකාවේ 2001දෙනකුට මේ වයිරසය වැලඳී ඇත. සුව වූ ගණන 1562කි. මියගිය ගණන එකොළොස් දෙනකුට සීමා කිරීමේ කීර්තිය රජයටත්, ජනාධිපතිවරයාටත්, සෞඛ්‍ය බලධාරීන්ටත්, ආරක්ෂක අංශ ඇතුළු සියලු ජනතාවට හිමිවිය යුතුය. 

මෙම වයිරසය වැලිසර නාවික හමුදා කඳවුරේ සෙබළුන්ට බෝ නොවූයේ නම් කොරෝනා වයිරසය වැලඳුණ ශ්‍රී  ලාංකික පිරිස විශාල ලෙස පහළ අගයක පවතින බව කිවයුතු නැත.

වැලිසර නාවික හමුදා කඳවුරේ නාවික සෙබළුන් 898 දෙනෙක් මේ වයිරසයට ගොදුරු විය. ඔවුන්ගෙන් 790 දෙනකු මේ වන විට සුවය ලබා සිටිති. රෝහල්වල සිටින්නේ නාවික සෙබළුන් 108 දෙනකු පමණි. ඉකුත් දින පහක කාලයේ සිට නාවික හමුදා පොකුරෙන් අලුතින් එකදු රෝගියෙක් හෝ හමු නොවීමද සතුටට හා සැනසුමට කාරණයකි.

මේ වන විට කොරෝනා වයිරසය නිසි ලෙස පාලනය කළ රටවල් අතර ශ්‍රී  ලංකාව ප්‍රමුඛ තැනකට පත්ව සිටී.

ප්‍රශ්නය එය නොවේ. මේ වන විට විදෙස් ගතව සිට මෙරටට එන ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් අතුරින් කොරෝනා රෝගීන් රටට එකතුවීමට පටන්ගෙන තිබීමය. විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් ගණන ලක්ෂ දහසයකට වැඩිය. ඔවුන්ගෙන් හතළිස් දහසක් පමණ පිරිසක් මෙරටට යළි ඒමට අවශ්‍ය බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේ කොරෝනා වයිරසය චීනයේ වූහාන් නගරයෙන් මතු වී පැතිර යන මුල් සති කිහිපයේ සිටය.

මේ වන විට විදේශ රටවල්වල සිටි ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් සැලකිය යුතු පිරිසක් මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගෙන ඇත. එසේ ගෙන්වා ගත් ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන්ගෙන් හත්සිය අනූවකට මෙම වයිරසය ආසාදනය වී තිබීම බරපතළ තත්ත්වයකි. මේ අතර මෙරටට පැමිණි විදේශිකයන් තිහකටද වයිරසය ආසාදනය වී තිබේ. 

කොරෝනා වයිරසය පාලනය කිරීමට රජය ගත් ක්‍රියාමාර්ග සම්බන්ධව ලොව සතර දෙසින් පැසසුම් ලැබුණේ හේතු ඇතුවය. මෙවැනි මාරාන්තික වයිරසයක් නිසි ලෙස කළමනාකරණය නොකළේ නම් අපට අත්වන ඉරණම පිළිබඳ සිතාගත නොහැකි තත්ත්වයක් ඇති වීමට ඉඩ තිබිණි.

දැන් අලුත්ම ප්‍රශ්නය වී ඇත්තේ විදේශ රටවල සිට යළි මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගන්නා ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් අතර සිටින අය අතර මෙම වයිරස ආසාදිත වූවන් හමුවීමය. ආගමික නායකයන්, විද්වතුන්, වෛද්‍යවරු, සිවිල් සමාජ ක්‍රියාකාරින් මෙන්ම දේශපාලනඥයන්ද මේ තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ වඩාත් අවධානය යොමුකර ඇත්තේ වයිරසය යළි සමාජගත වීමට ඇති ඉඩකඩ පිළිබඳ සැක මතු කරමිනි.

ඇත්තටම විදේශ රටවල සිට එන අයගෙන් යළි මෙම මාරාන්තික කොරෝනා වයිරසය අපේ සමාජය තුළ පැතිර ගියහොත් කුමක් කරන්නද? මුල සිටම රට යළි අවුල් විය නොහැකිද? චීනයේ වූහාන් නගරයේ වයිරසය ආසාදිත වූ අයකු හමුවන විටත් ඒ ආසාදිතයා වයිරස පොකුරු පිටින් බෝකර දමා තිබිණි. ශ්‍රී  ලංකාවෙන් හමුවූ පළමු කොරෝනා රෝගී කත චීන කාන්තාවකි. රටේ වාසනාවට ඇය වසංගත රෝගී පොකුරක් හදා තිබුණේ නැත. පසුව හමුවූ පළමු ශ්‍රී  ලාංකික කොරෝනා රෝගියා ටුවරිස් ගයිඩ්ය. ඔහු යම් පමණකට පොකුරක් හදා තිබිණි. ඉන් පසුව රට පුරා වයිරසය පැතිර ගිය හැටි හොයන්නට ලෙහෙසි නොවූයේ ඇතැමුන්ගේ නොමනා හැසිරීම් මැදය. අන්තිමට ජාඇළ තුඩැල්ල ප්‍රදේශයේ මත්කුඩුවලට ඇබ්බැහි වූවන් කිහිප දෙනකු හරහා වැලිසර නාවික හමුදා කඳවුරට මෙම වයිරසය බෝකර හැරියේ රටම අඳුරකට හෙළමිනි. රට පුරා පාසල්, පන්සල්වල ‍ෙදාර වැසිණි. ලොකු කුඩා කොයි කවුරුත් නිවාස අඩස්සියට පත්විය. ආහාර පාන පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්න නැඟිණි. රටේ පාලකයන්ගේ සැලසුම් සහගත වැඩසටහන් නොවන්නට බඩගින්නේ මියැදෙන මිනිසුන් පිරි පරිසරයක් නිර්මාණය වන්නට ඉඩ තිබිණි. රැකියා සහ ආදායම් අහිමි වූවන්ට රුපියල් 5000ක දීමනා ලැබිණි. මාස දෙකක් පුරා ඒ දීමනාව ලබාදීම අගේ කළයුතු හා වැදගත් තීරණයකි.

එහෙත් දැන් ප්‍රශ්නය වී ඇත්තේ විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකික පිරිස ගෙන්වා ගැනීමය. මේ අය අපේම ඥාති හිතමිත්‍රාදීන් බව සැබවි. ඔවුන් යළි මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගැනීම පාලකයන්ගේ වගකීමක් යැයි කීමද පිළිගත යුතු දෙයකි.

එහෙත් දැන් රට සාමාන්‍යකරණයට ලක් කරමින් තිබෙන මොහොතකි. කොරෝනා මාරයා පරාජයට පත් කළ ශ්‍රී  ලාංකික අප සැනසුම් සුසුමක් ගන්නට පටන් ගත්තා පමණකි. කර්මාන්තශාලාවල වැඩ යළි අරඹමින් තිබෙන මොහොතක, මිනිසුන් එදිනෙදා වැඩ කටයුතු අරඹමින් බලාපොරොත්තු සහගතව සිටින මොහොතක යළි වයිරසය සමාජයට ගලා ගියහොත් සියල්ල සුන් වී යනු නිසැකය.

එනිසා විදේශ රටවල සිට යළි මෙරටට ඒමට සිටින අය ගෙන්වා ගැනීම පිළිබඳ යළි යළිත් කල්පනා කර බැලීම වගකිව යුත්තන්ගේ වගකීමකි. මේ වන විට එය සමාජ කතිකාවක් බවට පෙරළී ගොසිනි. හෙට අනිද්දා වන විට පාසල් ආරම්භ කිරීම රජයේ ඉලක්කය. රටේ අනාගත පරපුර ඇඟිලි ගණිමින් බලා සිටින්නේ පාසල් යළි ආරම්භ වන තෙක්ය. මාස ගණනක් තිස්සේ නිවෙසට වී සිටි දූ පුතුන්ගේ හෙට දවස තීන්දු වන නිමේෂයද මෙයය. එහෙන් මහ මැතිවරණයය.

මේ අල්ලපනැල්ලේ මෙරටින් අතුගා දැමූ කොරෝනා වයිරසය විදේශ රටවල සිට එන අයගෙන් යළි සමාජයට ගියහොත් සිදුවන්නේ රෑ වැටුණු වළේ දවාලේ වැටීමකි. එනිසා විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් යළි මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට ගත් තීරණය යළි සලකා බැලීම අතිශය වැදගත්ය. 

එනිසා විදේශ රටවලට ගොස් යළි පෙරළා ඒමට බලා සිටින අපේ ඥාති හිතමිත්‍රාදීන් මවුබිම පිළිබඳ වගකීමෙන් කල්පනා කළ යුතුය. මේ රට අපේය. අප ඉපදුණ රටය. මුතුන් මිත්තන් ජීවත් වූ බිමය. අපේ අනාගත පරපුර ජීවත් වන බිමය. එනිසා ශ්‍රී  ලාංකික අප මුලින්ම කල්පනා කළ යුත්තේ රට ගැනය. රටේ දූ පුතුන්ගේ හෙට ගැනය. එනිසා විදේශගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන්ට වයිරස  අවදානම සමඟ යළි මෙරටට විත් රට විපතට හෙළනවාද නැද්ද යන්න ඔවුන්ම තීරණය කළ යුතු බව අපගේ වැටහීමය.

එතෙර පිරිස් ගෙන්වා ගැනීම තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවීම මේ වෙලාවේ අතිශයින් වැදගත්

මිතුරු මිතුරෝ මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නිවාරණ සංසදයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ කුප්පියාවත්තේ බෝධානන්ද හිමි

කොරෝනා වසංගතයේ දෙවැනි රැල්ලකට තිබෙන ඉඩකඩ ඇහිරී ඇති බවත් එතෙර සිට පිරිස් මෙහි ගෙන්වීම තාවකාලිව අත්හිටුවීම මේ වෙලාවේ අතිශයින් වැදගත්.

මෙහි පැමිණෙන සියලු දෙනා සම්බන්ධ වගකීම් අදාළ රටවල දූත මණ්ඩල කාර්යාල අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ එම රටවල පිළිගත් සෞඛ්‍ය පරීක්ෂණ තුළින් සහතික වූවොත් පමණක් සිදුවිය යුතුයි.

එම රටවලදීම සියලු නිරෝධායනයන් හා පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණ කර වයිරසය ආසාදිත වී නොමැති බවට ස්ථීර සහතිකයක් නොමැතිව සීමා විරහිතව ඔවුන් මෙරටට රැගෙන ආවොත් අවදානම් තත්ත්වයක් ඇතිවිය හැකියි. 

මෙහි පැමිණෙන අත්‍යවශ්‍යම අයට වුවද එවැනි ක්‍රමවේදයකට අනුගතව මෙහි පැමිණීම අනිවාර්යය කළයුතුයි.

සියල්ල සිදුවිය යුත්තේ මෙරට සෞඛ්‍ය අංශවලට මුහුණ දිය හැකි නම් පමණයි. නිරෝධායනය සඳහා වුවද මෙවැනි පිරිස් පැමිණීමේදී කළයුතු නව සැලසුම් කල්පනා කළයුතු බැවින් ඒ පිළිබඳ සිතීමටද කාලය වැය කළ යුතුයි.

විදේශගතව සිටින අපේ ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන්ගේ සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්ෂාව හා ජීවිතාරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධ එම රටවල තානාපති කාර්යාල යළි දැනුවත් කර ඔවුන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව තවත් සුරක්ෂිත කරන ලෙස රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.” 

‍ෙදාරගුළු ඇරීම කළ යුත්තේ සීරු මාරුවට

ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමි

විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් යළි මෙරටට ඒමට පෙර අපේ රටේ තත්ත්වය ගැන කල්පනා කළ යුතුයි. යළිත් මේ රට කොරෝනා වසංගතයට ගොදුරු නොකිරීම මේ කාගේත් වගකීම. ඒනිසා මේ මොහොතේ යළි මෙරටට ඒමට සිටින ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් ඒ ගැන කල්පනා කිරීම ඉතා වැදගත්. මේ මොහොතේ අපි කළ කැපකිරීම විදේශවල සිටින අයත් කළ යුතුයි. 

විදෙස්ගතව සිටින අපේ ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් පිළිබඳ සොයා බැලිය යුතුයි. ඒ අය මෙරටට ගෙන ඒම කළ යුත්තේ ඉතා පරිස්සමින්. මෙහි එන්න උත්සාහ කරන ඇතැම් අය එන්නේ වසංගත තර්ජනයම නිසා නොවෙයි. අපේ රටේ නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථාන ප්‍රමාණය, ඒ අයට කෑම බීම, ගමන් පහසුකම් හා බෙහෙත් හේත් ලබාදීම සුළුපටු නෑ. එනිසා අපේ රටට ඇත්තටම ආදරේ නම් මේ අය ඒ ගැන කල්පනා කළ යුතුයි. පැතිරයාම වළක්වා තිබෙන මොහොතක රටේ ‍ෙදාරගුළු ඇරීම කළ යුත්තේ සීරුමාරුවට. නැත්නම් අප කළ කැපකිරීම් සියල්ල විනාශ වී යළි රට අනතුරට පත්විය හැකියි.”

විදෙස්ගත අයට ඔවුන් සිටින රටවලම රැකවරණය සලසා ගත හැකියි

අගරදගුරු පදවි මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක ආචාර්ය කැමිලස් ප්‍රනාන්දු පියතුමා

මේ මොහොතේ තම උපන් මවුබිමට කවුරු හරි එන්න හිතනවා නම් එය වගකීමෙන් කළ යුත්තක්. නොමැති නම් මේ විදෙස්ගත අයට ඔවුන් රැඳී සිටින රටවලම රැකවරණය සලසාගත හැකියි. පහසුකම් සපිරි රටවල සිටින අයට ඒ පහසුකම් යටතේ මේ වසංගතයෙන් ආරක්ෂා විය හැකියි.

රටක් ලෙස අපි මේ වසංගතයෙන් රට මුදාගෙන තිබෙනවා. එනිසා යළිත් රට ප්‍රපාතයකට ඇද නොදමා මෙරට ජනතාව පමණක් නොව විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයනුත් වගකීමෙන් කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි.”  

කොවිඩ් අනතුර තුරන් කරන තුරු විදෙස්ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් ගෙන්වීම තාවකාලිකව නැවැත්විය යුතුයි

විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිසමේ සභාපති ජේ‍යෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය

සම්පත් අමරතුංග

ඇත්තටම ලෝකයේ දියුණු නොදියුණු සියලු රටවල් දිහා බලපුවාහම ශ්‍රී  ලංකාව තමයි මේ කොවිඩ් තර්ජනය ඉහළම මට්ටමින් කළමනාකරණය කළ රටවල් අතරින් එකක්. කොවිඩ් තර්ජනය මෙරටට දැනෙන්නට පටන් ගත් මොහොතේම ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එය නිවැරදිව කළමනාකරණය කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය සියලු තීන්දු තීරණ නියම වේලාවේදී ගැනීම තමයි මේ ජයග්‍රහණයට හේතු වුණේ.

ලෝකයේ බොහෝ රටවල් ඒ තීරණයට එනවිට ප්‍රමාද වැඩියි. අන්න ඒ නිසා තමයි ඔවුන්ට හරි ආකාරව කළමනාකරණය කරන්නට බැරිවුණේ. එහෙත් අපේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙරටේ සෞඛ්‍ය අංශ, හමුදා, බුද්ධි අංශ, ඒ වගේම මේ පිළිබඳව විශේෂඥතාවක් දක්වන විද්වතුන් එකට ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේ සාර්ථක මෙහෙයුමක් ආරම්භ කළා. ඒ මෙහෙයුමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් හැටියට මේ වනවිට අපේ සමාජයෙන් අප්‍රේල් 30 වැනිදා සිට කිසිදු රෝගියකු වාර්තා වී නෑ.

නාවික හමුදා පොකුර මේ වනවිට නිවී යෑමේ උපරිමයට ළඟා වෙමින් තිබෙනවා. මේ සාර්ථක මෙහෙයුමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් විදිහට උසස් පෙළ විභාගයට සියලු කටයුතු සූදානම් වෙමින් පවතිනවා. වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලවල අවසන් වසර විභාග ජුනි 15 වැනිදා ඇරැඹුණා. අනිත් සරසවිවල විභාග ජුනි 22දා ඇරැඹුණා. 

කොවිඩ් නිසා කඩා වැටුණු ආර්ථිකය අමාරුවෙන් හෝ හිස ඔසවමින් පවතිනවා. රට සාමාන්‍යකරණය වීමේ සියලු මෙහෙයුම් අවදිවෙමින් පවතිද්දී රටේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව බලගැන්වීමට අවශ්‍ය සියලු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගනිමින් පවතිනවා. ඒ වගේම රටේ අය – වැය තීන්දු කිරීමට ලැබෙන අවස්ථාව කොවිඩ් අනතුර නිසා කල්ගියා.

මේ සියලු බාධක ජයගත හැකි මාර්ගය පැහැදිලිව විවරව තිබියදී රටට කොවිඩ් අනතුර යළි එන්නට පුළුවන් එකම අනතුරුදායක ස්ථානය හැටියට කිව හැක්කේ එතෙර සිටින ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් මෙරටට වරින් වර ගෙන්වීමේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය අකමැත්තෙන් හෝ තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවන්නේ නම් මේ අවස්ථාවේ එය ඉතා ප්‍රඥාගෝචර තීරණයක් වනවා.

ඒ සියලු දෙනා අපේම සහෝදර සහෝදරියන් වුණත් යළිත් කොරෝනා දෙවැනි රැල්ලකට ඉඩකඩ විවර වුවහොත් මුළු රටම බලවත් අනතුරක ගිලෙන්නට හොඳටම ඉඩ තිබෙනවා. එසේ වුවහොත් රටේ ආර්ථිකය දරුවන්ගේ අනාගතය, සාමාන්‍ය ජන ජීවිතය බිඳවැටීම හරහා නැවත වතාවක් රට අස්ථාවර වීමට ඉඩ තිබෙනවා. 

එබැවින් දූරදර්ශීව කල්පනා කර බලා රටේ වගකිවයුත්තන් මුළුමනින්ම කොවිඩ් අනතුර රටින් තුරන් කරන තුරු විදෙස් ගත ශ්‍රී  ලාංකිකයන් හා විදේශිකයන් හා සංචාරකයන් මෙරටට ගෙන ඒම තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවන්නේ නම් එය දූරදර්ශී තීරණයක් වන බව මගේ අදහසයි.”

කොවිඩ් දෙවැනි රැල්ලක් ඇතිවිය හැකි නිසා විදෙස් රටවල සිටින අය ගෙන්වීම තාවලිකව ප්‍රමාද කරන්න

ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ චන්දන ලියනපටබැඳි

පළවැනියෙන්ම කියන්න ඕනේ කොවිඩ් – 19 වයිරසය අප සාර්ථකව පාලනය කළ රටක්. අපේ සම්පත් අඩුවුණත් අපි එම භයානක රෝගය පාලනය කළා.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා අවශ්‍ය වෙලාවට නියමිත පියවරයන් අරගත්තා. 

විශේෂයෙන්ම කියන්න ඕනේ නාවික හමුදාවෙන් වාර්තා වුණු රෝගී පොකුර ඉතා භයංකර සිද්ධියක්. එහෙත් අපේ සෞඛ්‍ය අංශ ඒ තත්ත්වයත් පාලනය කළා. විශේෂයෙන්ම අනිල් ජාසිංහ මහත්මයා පිළිබඳව මම ගෞරවයෙන් මතක් කරනවා.

ඉතින් මම ඉතා සද්භාවයෙන් කියන්නේ මේ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන් ගෙන්වීම තාවකාලිකව නැවැත්වීමෙන් අපේ රට කොවිඩ් – 19 දෙවැනි රැල්ලකට යෑම නවත්වන්න කියලායි. ඒ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන්ට මම කියන්නේ අපේ රට හොඳටම ආරක්ෂා වුණායින් පසු ඔබට ඔබේ මවු රටට පැමිණෙන්නට පුළුවන්.

ඉතින් මම රජයට කරන්න කැමැතියි යෝජනාවක්. පිට රටවල ඉන්න අපේ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව අපේ විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශය හා තානාපති කාර්යාලය හරහා තහවුරු කරන්න. ඔවුන්ට සහතිකයක් ලබාදෙන්න.

අපි ඒ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන් බලාගත යුතුයි. පහසුකම් සැලසිය යුතුයි. ඊට තානාපති කාර්යාල යොදාගෙන ඒ කටයුතු සම්පාදනය කළ හැකියි.

ඒ නිසා මේ විදේශවල සිටින සහෘදයින් ගෙන්වීම ටික කාලයකට ප්‍රමාද කරන්න. 

මොකද කොවිඩ් දෙවැනි රැල්ලක් ඇතිවුණොත් අපේ ආර්ථිකය විනාශ වෙලාම යයි. එය ඉතා භයංකරයි.

මම මේක කියන්නේ රටටත් අපේ පුරවැසියන්ටත් තිබෙන ගෞරවය නිසයි. මම මෙය සද්භාවයෙන් කියන්නේ පිටරටවල සිටින සහෘදවරුනි, අපේ රට මේ වසංගතයෙන් ආරක්ෂා කර ගන්න. නැතිනම් ඔබලාට මවුරටක් ඉතිරි වෙන එකක් නැහැ.”

Yoshitha Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Although representatives of the World Muslim League (WML) had announced a donation of USD 5 million to support victims of the Easter Sunday attacks in July 2019, the Catholic Church was not aware of further progress of this initiative, Director of Sethsarana, the charity wing of the catholic church, Father Nishantha Lawrence Ramanayake informed the PCoI probing Easter Sunday attacks on Thursday.

He said that the WML had made this announcement at the National Conference on Peace, Harmony and Coexistence at Nelum Pokuna held in July 2019.

Fr. Ramanayake said the announcement of the funding decision was made before the then president Maithripala Sirisena, former western province governor A. J. M Muzammil and other dignitaries, by WML Secretary General, Dr. Mohommad Bin Abdulkarim Alissa.

The witness said during the conference, former President Maithripala Sirisena had received a symbolic dummy of a cheque mentioning USD 5 million.

After making this announcement before higher officials of the previous government, we haven’t received any update about the funding process. We don’t even know whether the previous government got those funds or not,” Father Ramanayake said.

Testifying before the Commission on Thursday (24) night, the witness said that before announcing the above initiative at the conference, the WML had informed this to Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon said today that those who fail to wear face masks in public places would be arrested and sent for self quarantine from tomorrow. He said nearly 7,000 people have been warned in the Western Province for not wearing face masks. DIG Tennakoon said arrests would be made under quarantine regulations.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that 19 more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 as of 2.30 pm today (27).

The latest coronavirus infections have moved the tally to 2,033.

The Department of Government Information said all of these patients are arrivals from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 recoveries confirmed in Sri Lanka increased to 1,639 earlier today as 20 patients were discharged from hospitals.

According to the Epidemiology Unit’s statistics, 383 active cases are currently under medical care at several hospitals across the country.

Eleven patients have succumbed to the virus to date.

Courtesy Adaderana

A commission will be appointed to look into the financial misconducts and irregularities in the loans provided by state banks during the government of Good Governance, says Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This decision was reached during a meeting with the employees’ union of the Bank of Ceylon at the Temple Trees.

The Premier also heeded the issue of pension of current state bank employees. He assured them that solutions will be provided to the matter through a committee, without delay.

Courtesy Adaderana

Defence Secretary Major General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne has reiterated that punitive actions would be initiated without delay against prison, law enforcement and other officials, who were found to have abused official powers through corrupt practices, abetting and collaborating with underworld criminals and drug traffickers.

He said the law enforcement authorities have already taken all measures to identify those uniformed men who were abusing powers vested with them, to get involved in corrupt practices.

When we were in the military academy, we were taught that the most dangerous enemy is the enemy within. We now need to identify and confirm the enemy within us to eradicate the drug menace. Otherwise, it will be a futile effort”, the Defence Secretary said.

Addressing a gathering at the foundation laying ceremony held to establish a new rehabilitation centre at the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB), at Nittambuwa, on Friday (26), he assured to take all necessary measures to eradicate drug menace in Sri Lanka soon, the Ministry of Defence said.

The Defence Secretary said drug addicts needed sympathy, support and assistance to get rehabilitated to reintegrate into the society to lead productive lives.

The fully-fledged rehabilitation centre, which is targeted to rehabilitate nearly 1,000 drug addicts, will be constructed with the assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The event was also held to mark the ‘International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking’, which falls on June 26.

While stating that the underworld and drug dealers should be ashamed of feeding their families using the money earned by abetting wrongdoings, the Defence Secretary noted that eliminating drug menace was a mammoth task and needed to bring all the notorious drug kingpins to book to do justice to the future generation.

The Defence Secretary stressed that the first corrective measure should be at rescuing children who had fallen prey, the second was saving the future generations and the third was to identify those who abuse the respective official capacity by abetting the wrongdoers.

Chairman NDDCB Dr. Laknath Welagedara said the NDDCB, which had been in operation for 36-years since 1984, was expanding treatments and rehabilitation facilities in order to ‘build a drug-free, healthy and secured nation’, the first response onto the nation’s policy of prosperous country following the vision of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.  

He said the new building, ‘Nawa Diganthaya’ for treatment and rehabilitation centre, would be built in partnership with the Government of Germany and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) while the construction being undertaken by the Sri Lanka Navy.  

Deputy Ambassador of Germany Andreas Berg said Germany was supporting the initiative as a part of a much larger project strengthening the capacity of Sri Lanka to prevent and counter-terrorism and violent extremism through effective criminal justice responses.

The expansion of this rehabilitation centre reflects the fourth pillar of the larger project and this is to strengthening capability and capacity in the prison sector”, he said.  

Berg said the expansion of NDDCB’s new facility would support the government’s efforts to decongest prisons, in which a high number of drug users are being currently held.  

He further said the project would complement the efforts by the government to tackle the challenges of drug menace in the country and consider treatment not as a method of punishment in addressing the issue.

We are looking forward to working in partnership with the government, UNODC, civil society, judiciary and prison officials in curbing drug and drug abuse and violent extremism,” he said.   

Head of Global Maritime Crime Program of the UNODC Alan Cole said since the land routes for drug trafficking had been restricted amidst the COVID-19 lockdowns, maritime routes become more attractive for drug traffickers while placing Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) at the forefront in the regional fight against the drug trafficking.  

Assuring to provide advice curbing organized crimes in prisons and drug menace Cole hailed the government’s new strategy to take them out of the prison system and initiatives introduced to rehabilitate them.

Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretary Ravinatha Ariyasinghe, Navy Commander Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Maj. Gen.(Retd) Darshana Hettiarachchi, Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya, Defence Ministry’s Additional Secretary Malika Sooriyapperuma were also present at the occasion.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට අභියෝගයක් කළා.

ඒ කොළඹ ඊයේ පැවති උත්සවයකදීයි.

එහිදී ඔහු කියා සිටියේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට සහ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට න්‍යාය පත්‍ර දෙකක් ඇති බවට කවුරුන් විසින් හෝ පවසන්නේ නම්, තමන් එය එසේ නොවන බවට තමන් අභියෝග කරන බවයි.

රට පාවාදෙන සෑම ගිවිසුමකම ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ සිටි බවට ද ඔහු එහිදී චෝදනා කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මැතිවරණ කොමිසම එජාපය ප්‍රමුඛ විපක්ෂයට පක්ෂග්‍රාහීව කටයුතු කරන බවට අමාත්‍ය විමල් වීරවංශ අද යළි චෝදනා කළා.

ඒ වව්නියාව – බෝගස්වැව ප්‍රදේශයේ දී මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් දක්වමින්.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

MCC ගිවිසුම සම්බන්ධයෙන් රජයේ ස්ථාවරය පළමුව රටට හෙළිකළ යුතු බව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පවනවා.

මේ අතර ඵක්‍ක්‍ ගිවිසුම සම්බන්ධයෙන් දේශපාලන වේදිකාවේ තවත් අදහස් පළ වුණා.

රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රිකයන් හමුවූ පමණින් හෝ සාකච්ඡා කළ පමණින් කබල නොවිය යුතු බවයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ අපේක්ෂක චන්දිම වීරක්කොඩි කියාසිටියේ.

අමාත්‍ය විමල් වීරවංශ ද මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ කළා.

ඔහු කියාසිටියේ හොරට අත්සන් කළ ගිවිසුම් දෙකක් මේ වන විට එළියට පැමිණ ඇති බවයි.

සමගි ජන බලවේගයේ අපේක්ෂක පී හැරිසන් මහතා කියාසිටියේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ද මීට වගකිව යුතු බවයි.

මේ අතර එවැනි කිසිදු ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් නොකරන බව අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද අමරවීර කියාසිටියා.

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Imagine for a moment Gunadasa Ameresekera, last of our novelist in the great tradition, writing a tirade against the Muslims, giving it the title F*** you, Mr. Rauf Hakeem”. Imagine if it is published in a leading Sinhala newspaper. Can you imagine the reaction? The entire phalanx of the NGO moralists would come out screaming like bats out of hell to condemn it. In one voice they will argue that this is not the language for reconciliation, peace or to maintain common decency. Prof. Savitri Gunasekera, Prof. Arjuna Aluvihare, her side-kick, Dayan Jayatilleka, Paki Saravanamuttu, Jehan (Pacha) Perera and their fellow-travellers will denounce it from roof ​-tops. Even NGOs, Ingos, Yasmin Sooka, ICJ et al will front up before international media to brand it as virulent Sinhala nationalism, a century-old phenomenon one could trace back, to name just one person, to Don David Hewawitharane, also known as Anagarika Dharmapala”, or weep saying the Muslim is today’s object of Sinhala nationalist war of terror.”

The quote above was written by Prof. Quadri Ismail, who teaches English at the Minnesota University, USA. He didn’t stop his accusations against Sinhala-Buddhists at that.  He went all out to hurl abuse at President Gotabaya Rajapakse. He told him: F*** you, Mr. President!”  He labelled Sinhala-Buddhists as a***holes”. Sinhala-Buddhist had said many things about the minorities but I can’t recall anyone of them spitting foul obscenities on any Tamil or Muslim leader. Nor can I remember Tamils or Muslims being called a***holes” by any Sinhalese. The minorities may have been called pariahs” at worst by the Sinhalese. But that, of course, is a Tamil word used by Tamils to describe their own outcastes

The Professori’s article was carried in the on-line publication, GROUNDVIEW— the micro-mini organ of Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu. At all times he parades as the high priest of public morality. He also claims to provide decent alternatives to indecent politics. His Centre for Policy Alternative has been pontificating on the need for decent discourse on public affairs. But when it comes to Sinhala-Buddhists and the Rajapakses he delights in ​abusing them with ​no-holds-barred obscenities. Obviously, the Professori and Paki” seem to be birds of a feather who suck together! What is ​equally obnoxious ​i​s that ​​the Professori has nothing new to say in demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists and, in particular, the President. In his piece he has been vomiting the same old anti-Sinhala-Buddhist venom expectorated earlier by his partisan hacks in the NGO circuit.

Apart from that, he has brought the English Department of the MU into disrepute by abusing those whom he hates with the four-letter words. It is not the lack of refinement that is worrying. After all, the F-word” has many uses. One of them has been to release the frustrations and anger of pompous professoris who have failed to find the mot juste to target their bete noirs. At a higher level, it gained a celebrity status when D. H. Lawrence used it in Lady Chatterly’s Lover. The use of it was challenged in courts and it passed the test with flying colours at the trial. In the Lawretian sense, with shades of Freud kicking in, it acquired an earthiness and respectability.

Lawrence picked the F-word appropriately to express the rawness of Lady Chatterly’s sensuous relationship with her virile gardener – unlike her paralysed husband — watering her grassy patch. When Lawrence uses it, it is literature. When our Professori uses it, it’s an obscenity because it is packed with hate. Anything packed with hate is an obscenity. When our Professori used the cheapest word in the richest language of the world to express his anger it means that he has either to (1) go for some training in anger management or (2) go for a refresher course in English to express his anger with a more effective and elegant verbal punch in keeping with the declaration of the English Department of MU: enlarging  our understanding of the human condition and power of creative imagination.” 

What is offensive is the Professori’s inexcusable crudity which arises from his inability to express his anger in measured tones and tempered terminology. That is appalling. It is possible to tolerate it if it came as an explosion of anger at the sophomoronic level but not from the professoriate of the English Department of MU. By using that trite obscenity, he is obviously trying to emphasize his anger with what he thinks is the most effective weapon in his verbal armoury. In other words, he is trying to impress that he is master of the English language who put the U” in KCUF!

His use of the four-letter word is a reflection on the standards maintained by the English Department of MU. It boasts that by studying or creating literature in English we enlarge our understanding of the human condition and power of creative imagination.” This statement is inspiring and incontrovertible. But in what way has the MU Professori contributed to its ideals? Leaving aside all other considerations, it is only fair to judge him by the ideals outlined by MU.

The first question that comes to mind is: How can a member of the MU’s professoriate enlarge our understanding of the human condition and power of creative imagination” by spitting the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist ideology he had swallowed from the hate-mongers of his ilk. Among the Sri Lankan literati he is known to have circulated in circles that lived on a diet dished out by anti-Sinhala-Buddhist NGOs – a diet that consisted mainly of the grass that came out of the other end of bull. So, it is not surprising that there isn’t a single original thought in his bitter attack that can elevate him to the ideals laid out in the laudable declaration of MU.

Second, how can anyone enlarge our understanding of the human condition” when it is laced with only venomous hate – all of which is encapsulated in F*** you, Mr. President”? He would also know that when he spits at the President he is also spitting at the nation – in particular, the Sinhala-Buddhist voters who elected him. He should also know that in the overheated inter-ethnic environment of Sri Lanka his vulgarity can be explosive. It is provocative and the Professori has no moral right to act as a pyromaniac throwing verbal sparks into a field saturated in Wahabist/Arabic fuel. 

For the sake of those who had not read his bitter bile let me summarise it. The first thing to note is that the Professori too has joined the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist queue that is raving and ranting against the newly elected President, Gotabaya Rajapakse, who won the Presidential election on November 19, 2019 exclusively on the Sinhala-Buddhist vote. It is a victory that has stunned Professori’s mob, the Muslims, who claimed that they were the makers-and- breakers of governments with their minority votes.

The victory of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority has thrown off balance the two major minorities – the Tamils and the Muslims. The Muslims who always had a share in one or the other governments in the past have suddenly found themselves without even a toe-hold in the present administration. The loss of political leverage by not being in the government is unbearable to them. Their reaction to the majority winning on its own is predictable: they are crying that the Sinhala-Buddhist majority is overpowering the minorities. This, however, is only fear-mongering – a common game played by minorities against majorities. But in case it happens who is to be blamed? The minorities boastfully joined the anti-Rajapakse side hoping to dictate their terms and conditions as king-makers. But when they lost the election they also lost the power to manipulate power at the centre. Their next move was to cry foul and complain that majoritarianism is threatening the minority – an allegation which is yet to be proved. Well, as in all politics, those who make the bed can’t refuse to lie on it, can they?

On top of losing the political clout they had in the past, the Muslims are facing the anger of the nation for breeding covertly the multi-millionaire Muslim terrorists who, for no reason arising from local conditions, blew up Churches on Easter Sunday (2019) killing 270 Tamils and Sinhala worshippers. Our Professori is now angry that there is a backlash against the Muslims as a result of the brutalities caused by some of the richest terrorists of the world, next, of course, to Osama bin Laden.

The angry reaction that has stirred the nation against Muslims is predictable. The aggressive and provocative actions of a minority trying to impose their will on the majority ineluctably causes friction and tensions. The government has kept the lid on it preventing any violent reaction against the innocent Muslim civilians. No mass murders of Muslims have taken place despite the angry reaction of the Buddhist monks and the public at large against the Muslims in the wake of Muslim terrorists blowing up innocent civilians. However, when the Professori points a finger at the Sinhala-Buddhists he fails to realise that the other four are pointing at him. He paints all those whom he hates (mainly the Sinhala-Buddhists) as a***holes”. He also declares that they should be effed” from the President downwards.  In the same breath, he proclaims that he considers dissent a virtue”. If so why does he label dissentients whom he hates (mainly the Sinhala-Buddhists) as a***holes”? He even insists on penetrating forcibly his bete noirs with circumcised sausages. What is the virtue in that, eh Professori?

He is also bitter that the Buddhist monks and the majority have reacted angrily at the Muslims by staging public protests against the Muslim leaders holding public office – leaders who are being investigated for maintaining close political links with the Muslim terrorists. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the Easter Sunday morning bombings was told that Rifkhan Bathiudeen, brother of former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, had assisted National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) Leader, Zahran Hashim in fleeing to India by sea in 2018. (The Island).

They launched the Arabification of the East with the fanciful notion of creating a Wahabist caliphate for the Muslims. Also, with Saudi money, madrassas mushroomed to radicalise young Muslims. Books were distributed to school children instructing them to kill Muslims who change their religion and cut the hands off of those who steal. In November 2018 they killed two Policemen in Vavunathivu, Batticoloa. In a provocative act, Muslim radicals vandalised Buddhist statues, a la Bamian barbarism, in central Mawanella. Muslim leaders are accused of raping the virgin forest of Wilpattu to plant Muslims who destroy the environment. These and other violent acts have roused fears and suspicions about the next move of the Muslims.

It is the irrational crimes committed by the Muslim terrorists that have provoked the wrath of public at large against those wearing the hijab, nijab, abaya and bisht, the long white robe worn by men.

Besides, the Muslims have generated fears, suspicions and anger against them through their own violent actions. It is a global phenomenon. But with his cock-and-bull theories the Professori tries to make out that the anger against the Muslims is vicious reaction of only the Sinhala-Buddhists. In support of this accusation he traces the origins of anti-Muslim anger to Anagarika Dharmapala, who revived Sinhala-Buddhism as an anti-colonial, anti-Western ideology over a century ago. Pretending to be a political scientist who knows the undercurrents of the social forces at play he says: The Rajapaksas, of course, don’t bear sole responsibility for virulent Sinhala nationalism, a century-old phenomenon one could trace back, to name just one person, to Don David Hewawitharane, also known as Anagarika Dharmapala.”

This is hilarious. He is parroting the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist venom that was first bruited by G. G. Ponnambalam in the thirties. It was his attack on the Mahavamsa and Sinhala-Buddhist history that sparked off the first racial riots in Ceylon, as it was known then. And the Professori wants to be taken seriously for regurgitating the hatred propagated by an antiquated Tamil politician from the Jurassic Park.

I do not know whether Minnesota University is a chunk hived off this earth and fired out to float among the debris circulating in outer space. But if the Professori’s feet are planted firmly on our planet he would know that the Muslims should take full responsibility for the fear they have created among citizens of the world wherever they may be.

The Muslims have brought down the wrath of the public upon themselves with their violent politics. In Sri Lanka they lived amicably with the rest until they began to aggressively confront the rest with their new radicalism, rituals, practices, dress code, and violent anti-Sinhala-Buddhist politics threatening their traditional place in history. Even in Kattankuddy the traditional Muslims resisted the violent aggression of Wahabist radicalism. In fact, Zaharan had to flee from the East and hide in Mawanella and Kurunegala. Was the internecine warfare between the traditional Muslims and the Zaharan’s also caused by Dharmapala? Is the global antagonism towards Muslims also caused by Dharmapala? The vast majority of the innocent Muslims too have become victims of the ideological fanaticism and indiscriminate violence of a few suicidal maniacs who are in a hurry to lift their bisht and go between the legs of virgins – an issue that needs to be explored by our Professori who is obsessed with Fraud – oops, Freud!

The last thing the nation needs now is provocative obscenities from a trousered mullah in Minnesota. If he is genuinely interested in serving the interests of the Muslims should he provoke the Sinhala-Buddhists with his obscenities? Can he explain how his obscenities can help the security of the Muslims? Isn’t he merely showing off that he is a great hero by throwing obscenities at the Sinhala-Buddhists knowing that he has the freedom to do so in the Sinhala-Buddhist democracy? Since he displays a serious concern about the Sri Lankan journalists, can he show us how brave he is by holding Prince of Saudi responsible for the torture and killing of Jamal Kashoggi? Will he also tell him to Eff-off” for this crime and get it into a Saudi publication?

All what he has done so far is to rap the knuckles of the Muslim terrorists who killed 279 Tamil and Sinhalese worshippers, including 45 children, with a wet tissue. He says that the Muslims must be understood in a global frame – its targets were Christians and westerners – represents the antipolitical as such, solicits only antipathy from anyone on the left or, indeed, any decent human. In their case, suicide constitutes a passport to paradise. Since Islam prohibits suicide, they conjure jihad as their visa.” Please note, there is no Eff-off” for the ideologically perverted Muslim terrorists. He hurls such abuse only at the Sinhala-Buddhists for resisting Muslim fanaticism and violence.

As stated earlier there is nothing original in Professori’s anti-Sinhala-Buddhist ravings to convince the readers that he is a creative product of MU. This is jejune stuff repeated umpteen times by every Tom, Dick and Ismail. Sadly, he has proved to be nothing more than a vulgar ventriloquist trained to repeat what his counterparts broadcast in the NGOs circles. He is, in short, a disgrace to the Minnesota Department of English.

Last word: Since you are unlikely to bring any kudos to the English Department of the MU why don’t you, QUADRIPED PISMAIL, go forth and multiply, activating your circumcised sausage, if it is not at a dysfunctional state these days?