Courtesy Adaderana

A new division is to be established under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), stated Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon.

The unit will be titled ‘Illegal Assets Investigations Division’, said the Senior DIG addresssing a press conference held at the Police Headquarters this morning (19).

The new unit will be in charge of probing assets of those who are involved in criminal activity.

Further, it is the responsibility of this division to deal with the full time confiscation of immovable and movable property and money earned through various rackets and narcotics under the Money Laundering Act.

By Garvin Karunaratne,former G.A. Matara District

Touring Northern California and Oregan now and  touring from Baltimore to Key West in Florida,  through Louisiana via Texas and Arizona to San Diego last Summer, I am passing through villages one after the other—each vibrant with life. There are Malls that have closed down due to the recession, but through it all, village life, centering on the village parish priest and the church appears dominant. The homes of the rich- the traders, farmers and public officials are well painted, the gardens spic and span, a delight to behold and well attended.

It all reminds me of the pre 1971 Sri Lanka, when I did travel daily in the Sabaragamuwa Province and later in the Southern Province based in Hambantota and Ambalantota.  I am also at home in the rural areas of Kegalle, where I worked for three years and in Matara for another three years. Then I saw a vibrant village life centered on the temple in the village, where the rich—the land owners, estate owners, superintendents, rice millers, traders, all moved well with the masses. The rich ran the ‘chekkus’ for extracting coconut oil, engaged in dairy farming and agricultural pursuits.  It was the rich that invested and brought about employment. In Nuwarakalaviya a tank was added to this picture and this was my home for long, from where I drew inspiration for my novel: The Vidane’s Daughter (Sarasavi). It has so happened that during my 18-year-long stint I traveled far and wide in Sri Lanka and I am familiar with all aspects of rustic life.

1971 was a watershed in the development as well as the life of the villages in Sri Lanka. It was on the 4th and 5th of April 1971 that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) tried to grab State power in Sri Lanka. Many have forgotten what happened. I happened to be the Government Agent of the Matara District. If not for a breakdown in the JVP communication which led to the cadres at Moneragala and Wellawaya being ordered to attack the police stations on April 4 night, most of us would not have been alive today. The attacks on those two police stations, killing several policemen were announced by Radio Ceylon at 7 am on April 5. I was having breakfast. I rushed to stop all the jeeps and key officers leaving Matara for work. They were all deployed on surveillance tasks. Radio Ceylon gave us a warning to be prepared. On the night of April 5 most police stations were attacked. It was a Fidel Castro type of attempt to attack all police stations on a particular day and take over power.  In the Matara District all police stations other than Dondra and Matara were attacked and several policemen were killed. The Superintendent of Police closed down the police stations at Akuressa, Hakmana, Kamburupitiya and Mawarala and the personnel were brought down to Matara. At Matara a lorry-load of bombs entered the fort and was challenged by an army jeep. It was a Kachcheri jeep and my driver was injured. The JVP cadres flung bombs, shot their way through and bombs were bursting the whole night through. The moment we found the lorry of bombs we clamped a curfew and everyone chased away from all roads by the army and no JVP cadres could group. Later we found evidence of two other lorries coming with bombs. The cadres could not group and the lorries could not reach the cadres and Matara was saved from a bloodbath.

At Deniyaya the police station that was opened on April 1 with great pomp and pageantry, was repeatedly attacked and the police retreated all the way to Rakwana and Embilipitiya via Hayes as the roads to Matara had been taken over by the JVP. We were holding on to the stretch of the coast from Weligama to Dondra. Akuressa was under the control of the insurgents and the first expedition of the army cum police with some 14 jeeps led by Major Wettasinghe was ambushed  about ten miles from Matara and the JVP fire power was so strong that the army had to retreat leaving behind two jeeps in flames. Major Wettasinghe and Sumanapala Dahanayake the Member of Parliament who too had joined that force were severely injured and hospitalized.

It all meant that the Government had lost control of most of the District for around three weeks during which period the JVP ran their kangaroo courts arresting, charging people and punishing them even with death. Deniyaya was ruled by the JVP for around three to four weeks. In Deniyaya many well to do people were guillotined. This included Dr. Rex de Costa, a medical practitioner, who was a leading philanthropist of the area.  It was a cruel death for a doctor that charged no money from the poor for medicines he provided. In fact, it was his murder that made the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike dispatch a platoon of soldiers to the Matara District. Till then the Army was managing to hold the coast with shotguns issued by me.  Out of around two hundred officers in the Kachcheri only a dozen reported for work and of them all that could handle a weapon were issued with guns and cartridges by me. That was my guard as the police had fortified themselves in their station.  Except for one Headquarters Inspector no one from the police dared to get out of the Police station. That was the time when my official car was shot at.

Colombo was saved because the police found weapons of insurgents the previous day and two young Assistant Superintendents dared take the initiative to clamp a curfew. The JVP cadres could not reach their weapons in the process. This was also the scene in many other districts in Sri Lanka. In Vavunia the Government Agent took charge of the police station. Areas that were totally out of control were Elpitiya, where an Inspector of Police was killed and most areas were under the JVP rule till the army restored order. A friend of mine who was compelled to travel from Mawanella to Tulhiriya passing Kegalle after the army had gone in had counted over a hundred dead bodies scattered on the main roads.

The JVP insurrection of 1971 killed the economy of the rural areas. I was inundated with requests for an allocation of a tankful of petrol from many well to do people from the rural areas to get their moveable possessions away to the towns. I had commandeered the stocks of petrol and rationed it.

The JVP insurrection of 1986 to 1987 too took a toll of the rural areas. We had a small family estate at Mawaramandiya, near Kadawatha and the community leader of the area was one Wijesinghe. He was the President of the cooperative society and was helpful to anyone that wanted anything done. He happened to be close to the leaders of the United National Party but he helped everyone irrespective of political party affiliations. I too visited his home when anyone known to me in the area had to face a problem with the government. He was hacked to pieces one night. The JVP had held him guilty of attending the funeral of a victim of its violence. Wijesinghe had arranged for a proper funeral to take place. The JVP order was that no funeral be held and the body be carried below the knee level and buried incognito. That was the time when the JVP delivered messages, which tied to stones and thrown into gardens of the intended recipients. These had to be obeyed otherwise the JVP punishment was very severe and all this happened within ten miles of the capital Colombo. Wijesinghe’s murder sent creeps through everyone in the area. His brothers too left the village and his death left a power vacuum never to be filled ever again.

This was typical of entire Sri Lanka and the well to do people- the rich, the estate owners, the rice millers and lorry owners and traders all left the rural areas for the cities.  In my subsequent visits to Matara I met many a rice miller and many a merchant who were the live wire in their rural habitat in Kamburupitiya, Hakmana etc. They had got rid of their rural possessions and migrated to the Matara town. Many people who had been living happily on their estates left for good. Some have never stepped into their estates since the JVP uprising of 1987-1989. They have allowed their workers to manage the estates are satisfied with whatever returns they got.

Generally the rich that lived in the rural areas sent their children to schools in the cities nearby. Then later life they would commence some enterprises in the village itself. After the rich left the rural areas the children were bred in cities and none of them went back to the villages to which their parents did belong. Many of them ended abroad in foreign universities, a massive loss of young blood. As I had pointed out in my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka (Godage), after the 1971 JVP attack all the rich people whose homes had two-foot parapet walls for everyone to admire the well kept gardens hurriedly made them six feet  high with huge gates and security personnel to boot.

The development of the rural areas requires the services of every entrepreneur and entrepreneurs come from the rich families with enough money to invest and they are not in the rural areas now.

That was the legacy left by JVP with their two insurrections.  It is of interest to note that the first insurrection was entirely orchestrated by North Korea. Implicating evidence was found and the North Korea Embassy was immediately closed down and the diplomats banished from Sri Lanka It may be of interest to note that in the days immediately after April 5, 1971, when we were holding onto the coastal strip at Matara, a very large ship appeared on the coast and came very close to Dondra. Sri Lanka did not have a ship of that size then. Watching the drama through binoculars from the Army camp I saw a number of boats being lowered to the sea and things being put into them. Major Wettasinghe had his Light machine gun loaded but said that the boats were beyond its range.

Dondra was more or less under the JVP control at that time except for the police station and the adjacent areas and there was no possibility of conducting checks in the area. We radioed Army Headquarters and one of our planes came, hovered around the ship and we heard machine gun fire for around fifteen minutes. The ship vanished just afterwards and this is an episode known only to me and the Army on duty at that time. What I could do was to ban fishing. This order was effective for about two weeks.

The 1971 insurrection was essentially an attempt by the communist bloc, especially North Korea to take control of Sri Lanka. The JVP insurrections ate into the fabric of rural life. The development of enterprises and investment is at a standstill.

Today, the JVP has changed its tune but it is all a wolf in sheep’s clothing!  In 1971 the JVP danced to North Korea’s tune. Today, it is trying to woo the masses again. But, it stands discredited and disgraced by its own action in 1971 and the late 1980s.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ

බුවනෙකබා මහා රජතුමා ඉදිකළ කුරුනෑගල රාජ සැබෑ මන්දිරය පොලොවට සමතලා කර ඇත. මෙය මේ දිනවල දේශපාලන වේදිකාවේ රඟ දෙන අලුත්ම නාටකයයි. මේ නාටකයේ ප්‍රධාන නළුවා  බවට පැහැදිලිවම දකින්නේ, කුරුනෑගල නගරාධිපතිවරයායි.මේ නගරාධිපතිවරයා, මේ මහා මැතිවරණ සමයේ, අගමැති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා තරඟ කරන කුරුනෑගල ආසනයේ, ඉතා පුරානයයි සලකෙන බුවනෙකබා රාජ සමයට අයත් රාජ සභා ගොඩනැගිල්ල හදිසියේම බිමට පතිත කර ඇත.

මේ ක්‍රියාව සිදුකල කාලය හා දේශය අපට කියාපාන්නේ, කුරුනෑගල නගරාධිපතිතුමා මෙය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ පරාජය අරමුණු කරගෙන සිදුකල  ක්‍රියාවක් බවයි. මේ ක්‍රියාව අපට මතක් කර දෙන්නේ, 2015 මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ පරාජය අරමුණු කරගෙන මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ රැස්වීම වේදිකාව විනාශ කල මුතුහෙට්ටිගමගේ ක්‍රියාවයි. ඔහු මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේනගේ වේදිකාව විනාශ කොට එම කාර්ය සඳහා අත් අඩංගුවට ගත් පුද්ගලයින්ව පොලිසියට පැන බලෙන් මුදා ගෙන, එවකට තිබුණු මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ පාලනයට විශාල අපකීර්තියක් ලබාදී, එම මැතිවරණයට පෙර වහ වහා සිංගප්පුරුවට ගොස් යලි පැමිණ, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ මැතිවරණ කටයුතු සිදුකරමින්, මැතිවරණයෙන් පසු මෛත්‍රිපාල රජයේ කොටස් කරුවෙකු වී යහපාලන රජයත් සමග හොදින් ජිවත් වුහ.

දැන් කුරුනෑගල නගරාධිපතිතුමාට තමන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරයට දුන් අවමානය වෙනුවෙන් ලැබෙන දේ ලබා ගැනීමට සිංගප්පුරුවට යා නොහැක. ඒ කොරෝනා වයිරසයේ බලපෑම නිසාය. නමුත් ඔහුට ඒ සඳහා සතුරු බල මුළුවලින් ප්‍රතිපාදන උරුම විය යුතුය.ඒ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂයන්ට පහර දීමට කරුණු නැතිව අතරමන්ව සිටිය සතුරන්ට තම මැතිවරණ වේදිකාවට ප්‍රධාන මාතෘකාවක් නිර්මාණය කරදීම නිසාය.

දැන් රාජසභා මන්දිරය බිමහෙලා හමාරය. එය බිමට සමතලා කර නැත. කිසිදු දෙයක් ඉවත් කරගෙනද නැත. මෙය රාජසභා මන්දිරය නොවන බව, එය බිඳ හෙලු නගරාධිපති කියයි. මෙය තුල ගණිකා නිවාස මත්පැන් ජාවාරම ගබ්සා මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් පවත්වාගෙන ගිය බවත්, එය නැවැත්වීමට මෙය සිදුකල බවත් නගරාධිපතිතුමා කියා සිටි.වර්ෂ 2018 ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා මැතිවරණයෙන්,බලය ලබාගෙන පැමිණි මේ නගර සභාපති ඇතුළු කණ්ඩායම, මේ හේතුන් නිසා මේ ගොඩනැගිල්ල කඩා බිම දැමුවා නම්, එය කිරීමට තිබුනේ, මිට පෙරය.

කෙසේ හෝ සතුරන් රාජසභා ගොඩනැගිල්ල යයි කියන ගොඩනැගිල්ල නගරාධිපති කියන ආකාරයට මත්පැන්, ගණිකා නිවාස, ගබ්සා ආයතන පවත්වාගෙන ගිය ගොඩනැගිල්ලක නම,මේ සුන්බුන් අතර, එම ආයතන වලට අයත් ගෘහ භාණ්ඩ හා බිම බෝතල්ද තිබිය යුතුය. නමුත් මේ සුන්බුන් අතර එවැනි ගෘහභාණ්ඩ දක්නට නොලැබේ. ඉන්පෙනි යන්නේ, මේ කඩා දමා ඇත්තේ එවැනි තත්වයක් පවත්වාගෙන යමින් සිටි ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් නොවන බවත්, එම තත්වයෙන් මුදවාගත් ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් බව, අපට උපකල්පනය කිරීමට සිදුවේ.

දැන් මේ ගොඩනැගිල්ල කඩා දමා ඇත්තේ සෘජුවම නගරාධිපතිතුමා බව පැහැදිලිය. එය එතුමාද පිළිගනී. කුරුනෑගල නගරයේ පළමු පුරවැසියා වන එතුමා, ආදර්ශමත් බුද්ධිමත් පුද්ගලයෙකු විය යුතුය. ගොඩ නැගිල්ලක් කඩා ඉවත්කරන තාක්ෂණයක්, ක්‍රමවේදයක් ඇත. මේ ගොඩනැගිල්ල කඩා දැමීමේ ක්‍රමවේදය ඒ තාක්ෂණයට පටහැනි ක්‍රමවේදයකි. උලු කැට ගැලවීමෙන් ආරම්භ කර පියවරින් පියවර යා යුතු ඒ ක්‍රමවේදයට එරෙහිව යමින් මේ ක්‍රම වේදය සිදුකිරීම තුලින් ජනතා අවධානය මේ වෙත ලඟා වන්නේ ඉතා වේදනාකාරී අන්දමනි. එසේ කර ඇත්තේ ජනතා කෝපය උද්දීපනය කිරීමේ අරමුණින් බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිය.මේ ජනතා කෝපය අවසානයේදී ගලා යන්නේ මහා මැතිවරණයට තරඟ වදින මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඉලක්ක කරගෙන බවද ඉතා පැහැදිලිය.

මේ රටේ හා විදේශයන්හි මහා පරිමාවේ ඉඳීකිරීම්  කටයුතු සිදුකර ඇති අප තුල ඇති දැනුමට අනුව, මේ කඩාබිඳ දමා ඇති ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ දක්නට ඇත්තේ රජකාලයේ නිර්මාණිත ගඩොල් නොවන බවක් චායාරුප වලින් දිස්වේ. එම නිසා මේ බිත්ති කැබැල්ලක් ගෙන එම ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ ආයුෂ කොපමණදැයි නිර්ණය කිරීම සඳහා විශේෂඥයකු ගේ උපදෙස් ගෙන මෙය සැබෑ රාජ සභා ගොදනගිල්ලක්දයි නිර්ණය කල යුතුය. එය රාජසභා ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් නොවුනද මේ කල ක්‍රියාව දේශපාලන කුමන්ත්‍රණයක පලයක් ලෙස දකින අපි, මේ සම්බන්ධව විදිමත් පරීක්ෂණයක් සිදුකොට චුදිතයින්ට දඬුවම් කල යුතුයයි කියා සිටිමු.

මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය නිසි ලෙස සිදුවුවානම්, කුරුනෑගල නගර සභාවේ සියලුම මහජන නියෝජිතයින් දැනගෙන සිටිය යුතුමය. එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් එය නගරාධිපතිතුමාගේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් පලයක් වන අතර, එසේ කරන බව සියලුම මහජන නියෝජිතයින් දන සිටියා නම, දැන් මෙතනට රැස්වී විරෝධය පාන දේශපාලන පක්ෂද මේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයේ කොටස් කරුවන් බව විද්‍යාමාන වේ..

Kamanthi Wickramasinghe Courtesy Daily Mirror

The NMRA yesterday issued notices of cancellation of registrations and import licenses to five pharmaceutical companies including Hemas Pharmaceuticals and A. Baur (Pvt) Ltd for arbitrarily and unilaterally increasing the retail prices of 10 medicines.

Notices of cancellation have been issued to the following companies under Section 65 of the NMRA Act No 5 of 2015 for violating pricing regulations: 

NMRA Legal Officer Pushpamala Hettiarachchi told Daily Mirror these companies had increased prices of medicines during the past few months in violation of the conditions of registration issued by the Authority causing much hardship to patients especially in the background of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The punitive action, believed to be the first for violating pricing regulations of medicines, has been taken under powers vested with the Authority to ensure affordability of medicines and availability to the public,” she said.

Among these medicines is a brand (Diltiazem) that has already been gazetted with a maximum retail price. They have repeatedly increased the price from Rs.40.70 a tablet to Rs.43.70. Once gazetted the price cannot be changed. If they want to increase the price they have to do so after discussing with the Authority.”

However, the NMRA initially wrote a letter dated May 29, 2020 to the Sri Lanka Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industries (SLCPI) which represents its constituent members on the above concerns. In a response letter, the SLCPI claimed the NMRA only has powers to determine the initial prices of medicines, medical devices and borderline products and advise the minister on subsequent price revisions. This is in reference to Section 14 (q) of the NMRA Act.

Excerpts of the SLCPI letter are as follows :

While we contest and have always contested the regulations being prescribed by the Minister of Health on price control including Gazette Extraordinary No. 2123/35 dated 15th May 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Price Ceiling regulation”) prior to prescribing a pricing mechanism through a consultative process as provided for in Section 118 (4) of the NMRA Act, which position has already been averred by us in the Court of Appeal case bearing No. CAWA 517/2019, we wish to place on record that none of the medicines specified by your high authority in the said Letter dated 29th May 2020 and the Letters of Warning fall within the list of medicines specified in the Price Ceiling Regulation.

As you are well aware, it is with greatest difficulty, much deliberation and endless negotiations with your high authority and the Ministry of Heath that the price enhancement of 14.4% was prescribed for these price- controlled medicines, yet without imposition of an objectively formulated pricing mechanism in accordance with the provisions of the NMRA Act, as requested by the stakeholders including SLCPI.

In these premises, we are compelled to believe that the decision of your high authority to withdraw your high authority’s recommendation on proposed price enhancement of 9% for the price- controlled medicines, which in our opinion is unreasonable and capricious, is backed by male fide and unscrupulous intentions to unlawfully control the pricing of the non-price-controlled medicines. Such action of your high authority will only result in the withdrawal of some vital life saving and reliable medicines as the Importers will find it impossible to ensure continuous supply of such products to the market due to the continuous losses they will be incurring owing to the rupee devaluation and escalation of costs.

We wish to place on record that none of the members of SLCPI has violated any of the pre-conditions set out in Section 65 of the NMRA Act which warrants the cancellation of the certificates of registration and/or the relevant licenses issued thereto and if any action is taken by your high authority in terms of Section 65 of the NMRA Act, such action will be ultra vires and invalid in law in as much as it will amount to a complete abuse of powers entrusted upon your high authority by the legislature.”

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The ongoing interim school holiday has been extended by another week and the schools will be reopened for Grade 11, 12 and 13 students on July 27, the Education Ministry said today

The week long school holiday declared during a sudden spike of Covid-19 transmissions earlier this month.

The Director General of Health meanwhile reiterates that at present there is no possibility for the social transmission of Covid-19 within the community.

However, as three students have tested positive for the coronavirus, while a further 200 students and teachers in five districts are in quarantine, the Minstry has decided to extend the special holiday period in order to safeguard students and teachers. 

“As three students have tested positive for Covid-19 and the test results of a further 200 students and teachers are pending, the Ministry has decided that the most appropriate decision at this time would be to extend the holiday until July 27,” the Ministry in a statement said.

The ministry also said that new dates for the GCE A/L and Grade 5th Scholarship examinations will be announced on Monday (20).

Meanwhile, schools in the Rajanganaya and Welikanda educational divisions will not be reopened before the 10th of August, it said.

Courtesy Adaderana

Entry of pilgrims into the sacred city of Kataragama will be limited two weeks starting from July 21 to August 04, in view of the Annural Esala Perahera of Kataragama Devalaya.

Accordingly, the public will not be allowed to take part in religious activities or to watch the procession during the entire period of the Perahera festival.

The 2248th Annual Esala Festival of the Kataragama Devalaya, one of the most revered and nationally important cultural festivals of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim people, will commence on July 21 and conclude on August 04 with the Festival of Diya Kepima at Menik Ganga.

The government has given out instructions to organize and parade the processions, including that of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, Kataragama, Devinuwara and Sabaragamuwa in compliance with the health guidelines.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another fresh case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in Sri Lanka, increasing the total number of patients to 2,703.

This patient, who is from Lankapura area, has been identified as a close associate of the virus-infected person linked to the Kandakadu COVID-19 cluster.

Further, four close contacts of a coronavirus patient linked to the same cluster and an arrival from the Philippines also tested positive earlier today (11).

Thereby, 06 positive cases of COVID-19 have been detected so far within the day.

The Epidemiology Unit says 669 patients infected with the virus are currently being treated at hospitals while 2,023 patients returned to health.

Courtesy Hiru News

An archaeological committee appointed to probe the damage caused to the Royal Assembly Hall of the Kurunegala Kingdom dating back to the 13th Century visited the site today.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed a special 5-member committee to probe the damages to the building.

Chairman of the committee, Director General of Archaeology, Professor Senarath Dissanayake said a report on the matter will be handed over on Monday.

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island

The SLPP has called off  its scheduled  propaganda rallies for the time being in view of the rising threat of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its national organizer Basil Rajapaksa has instructed all party organizers to abide by this decision. This must have been a difficult decision to take in a context where the strategically scattered yahapalanites are trying to hoodwink the electorate to elect them back to parliament (I say ‘strategically scattered’ because they are probably planning to gather into one camp once again after the election). At a recent election gathering, Ranil Wickremasinghe expressed his unconvincing disinclination at repeating the yahapalana experience by partnering with (presumably) Sirisena’s SLFP  (curiously though the latter has got Pohottuwa nomination). This was probably a Freudian slip on Wickremasinghe’s part: it could be an unconscious giveaway about at least two contrary things occupying his thoughts: his feeling of guilt about having formed and led a dysfunctional coalition government with a fragment of the SLFP that spelt disaster to the country, and on the other hand, secret hopes of leading a grand post-election alliance with his former partners, now fighting the election severally, against the SLPP, either as the opposition, or the government (This, of course, is just a gut feeling of mine). No doubt, the seasoned politicians of the Sri Lanka Freedom Podujana Alliance (SLFPA) led by the SLPP have more than an inkling of the survival instincts of the former yahapalanites.  

There is bound to be an evenly matched contest in the minds of the SLPP leaders between the conflicting demands of their understandable preoccupation with an indispensable two thirds majority at the election and their genuine commitment to beating the Corona epidemic; the outcome of the mental dilemma  stands doubtful  ‘As two spent swimmers that do cling together – And choke their art’ (that is, both the exhausted swimmers get drowned by clinging together, as the Sergeant in the Shakespeare play ‘Macbeth’ informs Malcolm, bringing the latest news from the battlefront where the armies of Scotland and Norway are engaged in mortal combat). However, finally, anxiety over potentially rampant spread of Covid-19 seems to have trumped concern with the hoped for result of the election in the government camp. No other electioneering party or faction has announced such a suspension of mass campaign rallies for fear of spreading the virus infection yet (July 16) as far as I can gather from internet sources.

The opposition’s approach seems to be the opposite of this. Apparently, they are not concerned with anything but regaining power to deliver the coup de grace to the unitary state as required by their foreign masters. SJB leader Sajith Premadasa and JVP’s Vijitha Herath have both vowed to continue holding their propaganda rallies, while hypocritically blaming the government for its alleged failure to deal properly with the pandemic from the very beginning and for its alleged haste to go ahead with the election for securing a two thirds majority even at the cost of lives lost to the corona virus. The UNP too seems determined to follow suit. Its leader acknowledges that the government’s management of the pandemic has been effective so far, but finds fault with it for ignoring his call to increase testing. But it seems the government appointed task force started doing that well before the idea occurred to the former yahapalana pm. He challenged the minister of health to account for the Covid funds he alleged the government had got from ‘friendly’ foreign countries like those of the European Union (no hint of a prick of conscience about the Central Bank bond scandals during his guard). The minister answered him ‘by return of post’, as it were, in her characteristic trenchant style. Wickremasinghe charges that the government is trying to exploit its initial success in its Covid-19 operation for hastening the holding of elections and for pursuing its two thirds majority bid.  The opposition’s tactless, politics driven targeting of the government over its handling of the emergency caused by the totally unforeseen global pandemic cannot be to the liking of the ordinary people, who are actually appreciative of the effective leadership provided by the new president and prime minister pair of brothers and the selfless dedication of the health and military and intelligence personnel working under their unobtrusive but effective direction. 

Spokesmen for the health and security services tasked with the management of the pandemic emergency (Director General of Health Services medical specialist Dr Anil Jasinghe and Chief of Defence Staff & Commander of the Army Lt Gen Shavendra Silva, respectively) have expressed confidence that it is still under control, and assure the public that there is no need to panic. According to the Covid-19 Situation Report of the government for July 16, 2020 by noon,  the total number of cases stood at 2674, of which 656 were active cases. At the Kandakadu and Senapura Treatment and Rehabilitation centres for drug addicts, 533 inmates had tested positive the previous day. But the Kandakadu cluster is being successfully contained, according to the authorities. The infected health personnel are from various places across the island such as Maravila, Rajangane, Ratnapura, and Kundasale. The DGHS said that contact tracing has found over a thousand persons potentially exposed to infection as the health workers involved have used public transport to commute between their hometowns and the workplaces; all these have been directed to self quarantine. Though there was a danger of community transmission of the disease due to this, the strict observance of the health guidelines including wearing protective face masks, avoiding physical touch during greeting, maintaining constant hand hygiene, and keeping proper social distance in crowded places will minimise this risk. Lt Gen Shavendra stated that intelligence personnel have been deployed across the country to immediately respond to emerging cases if any, round the clock. Dr Jasinghe expressed his opinion that the election could go ahead as scheduled provided the stringent health requirements laid down are met.

Former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya is still head of the Constitutional Council. He has urged the government to gazette the health guidelines issued by the DGHS in order that they become legal; he believes this will enable the public officials and law enforcement authorities to impose compliance among the public for containing the possible rapid spread of the pandemic. Mahinda Deshapriya, the chairman of the Election Commission, also joined him in making this call. The prejudicial, idiosyncratic behaviours of some members of both these institutions have gravely compromised the independence of those statutory bodies and rendered the genuineness of their intentions highly suspect. EC member Ratnajeewan Hoole didn’t want the dysfunctional yahapalana parliament to be dissolved making way for elections to be held. He was later reliably reported to have advised  Tamil voters in his hometown Jaffna not to vote for the SLPP. At a recent NGO event, attorney at law Javed Yusuf, one of the three civil society members in the CC, took the liberty to make the entirely reprehensible partisan comment that, had it not been for the timely intervention of the EC, the present government would have gone ahead with the general election, originally slated for April 25, despite the deadly coronavirus threat. All these people are balking at the emergence of an opportunity for the lawful assertion by the Sri Lankan people of their democratic right to escape from the evil legacy of the yahapalana nightmare. 

For such an opportunity to emerge, it will be necessary for the SLFPA to get a two thirds majority at the forthcoming election. That will be in order to abolish the ill conceived 19A, in terms of which, by the way, the EC was created. 19A is responsible for having allowed the dysfunctional yahapalana government to complete at least the first four and a half years of its full five year term despite strong public disaffection with its performance, landing the whole country in the present misery that is being deepened by the effects of the Covid-19 global pandemic and the overhanging Sword of Damocles of the secretly introduced MCC Compact. Javed Yusuf made his questionable statement at an event organized by the new civil society grouping called ‘Freedom: People’s Collective’ in the New Town Hall premises in Colombo, as reported in The Island of July 15, 2020 (‘Fresh civil society project: ‘Forward. Not Backward’ launched ahead of Aug 2020 polls’/Shamindra Ferdinando). Mangala Samaraweera, who has left the SJB, sat in the first row of seats, while M.A. Sumanthiran was on the stage with others. But Shamindra says Mangala Samaraweera is fully committed to the this latest project. The new outfit is determined to thwart the Gotabaya-led  incumbent government’s attempt to win a two thirds majority at the August 5 polls with a view to abolishing the 19A. Among the backers of the new cabalistic clique are Sinhala professor Sarath Wijesuriya of the National Movement for Justice, Gamini Viyangoda of Purawesi Balaya, and others like them. Why spend our precious time and this paper’s valuable space by writing more about these individuals, when I can  easily and aptly quote Shamindra’s concluding sentence: Their call to place Defence and Law and Order, under Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, after him having accused his own Army of killing thousands of Tamils, seemed as ridiculous as the TNA voting for the war-winning Army Chief at the 2010 presidential poll. Politics and NGOs, in this country, are obviously dabbled in by many an opportunist and scoundrel. The forthcoming parliamentary poll is no exception”. 

The SLPP-led SLFPA is set to win the coming election. But the forces that engineered the unwanted regime change of 2015 and squashed the burgeoning hopes of the Sri Lankan people just freed from the separatist terrorism of thirty years seem to be conspiring again to frustrate their democratic efforts to restore normalcy; for them the global pandemic is a godsend. May the people be wise to their dissimulations this time and vote in those who are committed to the real national interest. 

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Central Intelligence Agency of the USA, CIA was popularly seen  as a bungling agency, responsible for the many failures of US  policy abroad. But  it also has many successes to its credit. CIA  was powerful abroad.  CIA is responsible for planning, carrying out and providing cover-ups for USA assassinations.  CIA  can legally act only overseas.    CIA hacking of Americans in USA can only be done with permission, observed analysts.

The CIA and Germany’s BND Federal Intelligence Service had for decades used a Swiss encryption company Crypto AG, for spying. Crypto supplied devices for encoded communications to some 120 countries . Unknown to those governments, Crypto was secretly acquired in 1970 by the CIA and BND. They rigged Crypto’s equipment to break the codes  of other governments and read their messages. The two agencies were thus able to gather information during major crises such as the hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

Google  started its ‘street view’  in Sri Lanka in 2014, with views from the north and the east.  It had obtained government approval from the Sri Lanka Tourism Authority to image every inch of the North and east. Google is a participant in US military and CIA intelligence, said Kamal Wickremasinghe.      Google earth software was developed by the Keyhole , a company openly funded and operated on behalf of CIA.  The technology behind Google Earth is the same as that employed by US Military and intelligence system in their quest for full spectrum domination of the planet, Kamal said.   

The United States accusing Sri Lanka of war crimes is similar to the pot calling the kettle black as the US is the number one perpetrator of war crimes in the world, said critics. There is no other country than the US which is so stained with blood. What about their wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan,   they asked.

The US has the worst history of war crimes such dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  There is a long list of bombing, from Nagasaki,  china, Guatemala, Korean, Indonesia, Cuba, Congo, Peru, Vietnam, Cambodia,  Libya, Nicaragua, Iran, Bosnia, Sudan,  and Afghanistan. US has dropped  over 3000  tons of depleted uranium  through its  bombs

There were military interventions in China, France, Bolivia, Austria, Iraq, Greece, Portugal, Philippines, about two dozen names altogether, said analysts. US  also engaged in illegal covert operations  in  places like Vietnam, Chile, and Cuba.

During the Vietnam War US forces committed horrifying atrocities. There was the 1968 Mai Lai massacre of   347 and 504 unarmed citizens, most women and children, in   two villages. Information on the various Vietnam massacres is found in the Vietnam War crimes working group files, compile by Pentagon and held in the US archives.

US has had a horrifying record of human rights abuses.  There has been torture of inmates in secret US prisons.In 2006, Congress found that CIA had engaged in widespread torture. USA admitted before the UN Committee against Torture that they had ‘crossed the line’ at its CIA site at Guantanamo.

The main agency dealing with war crimes was the International Criminal Court (ICC). US armed forces have committed war crimes, as defined in the ICC and Geneva conventions, in the various US wars. US had launched an illegal war against Iraq,  on the spurious ground that it had weapons of mass destruction.  In 2004, there were photos   of US troops abusing Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib. 

But USA has made sure that it cannot be prosecuted. US does not accept the jurisdiction of the ICC.   The US is not a signatory of the ICC and does not recognize its authority over American citizens.

US went out of its way to protect its military personnel accused of committing war atrocities. USA signed some 100 bilateral immunity agreements with a number of countries, prohibiting the surrender to the ICC of officials, military personnel and US employees. No American has been indicted in ICC. US also threatened to veto  UN peacekeeping mission unless its troops were granted immunity from prosecution by the ICC.

In 2002, USA passed the American Service-Members’ Protection Act which was specifically aimed at the International Criminal Court. It prohibits any U.S. citizen or institution from cooperating with the International Criminal Court and prohibits the transfer of U.S. classified national security and law enforcement information to that court. It even bans the provision of U.S. military assistance, (with specified exceptions) to the government of a country that is a party to the court.

 The American Service-Members’ Protection Act authorizes the President to bring about the release from captivity of any U.S. military personnel or covered allied persons who are being detained or imprisoned by or on behalf of the ICC and authorizes the US President to use all means necessary to do so.

The phrase ‘use all means necessary’ enables the US government to resort to force to obtain the release of a US citizen or an ally who happens to be in the custody of the ICC. It authorizes military force to free military personnel held by ICC. 

But this is about to change. US army has been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001. For nearly two decades hundreds and thousands of American troops  have rotated through Afghanistan.  Afghanistan is a strategic hub in Central Asia bordering    Russia, China and Iran. US is building an oil and gas pipeline through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. All the US bases are located along the route of this pipeline.  Also Afghanistan has over 1400 mineral outcroppings, of iron coals, copper cobalt, gold, lithium.

There were war crimes charges against the USA in Afghanistan. The US armed forces and the CIA are alleged to have committed the war crimes of torture and cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and rape and other forms of sexual violence in Afghanistan.

The ICC Prosecutor alleges that members of the US armed forces and the CIA had used the following torture techniques against detainees – incommunicado detention and prolonged and continuous solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, sensory overstimulation,  exposure to extreme heat or cold, exploitation of phobias and cultural, religious and sexual taboos, sexual humiliation or insults, offensive use of items of religious significance, imposition of stress positions designed to induce muscle fatigue, suspension from the ceiling, food deprivation, slamming against a wall, cramped or close confinement by placing detainees in boxes, sexual violence, including by means of rectal rehydration or rectal feeding applied with excessive force; and suffocation by water, or the practice of waterboarding, placing of detainees in icy water baths etc. 

Attempts to investigate these crimes  were blocked by the US.  US said it was not a signatory to the Rome Statute and could not be investigated without a UN Security Council order or consent of USA. Though USA is not a member of the ICC and therefore does not come under its jurisdiction, Afghanistan is a member of ICC and any crime conducted on its territory can be brought to the ICC regardless of the  nationality of its perpetrator, said ICC. Afghanistan joined the ICC in 2003 and it is on this basis that the ICC has claimed jurisdiction over deeds alleged to have been committed in Afghanistan by US armed forces and the CIA, observed Chandraprema.

This ICC war crimes probe against the USA had been in the pipeline for more than two years. In November 2017, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) had requested authorization from the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC to initiate an investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by the USA in Afghanistan since 2003. This was initially rejected.

The Prosecutor filed an appeal against that decision.  On 5 March 2020, the Appeals Chamber of the ICC decided unanimously to authorize the investigation against the USA. An investigation of alleged war crimes by the US and others in the Afghan conflict can go ahead, ruled the ICC.

 ICC chief prosecutor said that US may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan, as a deliberate policy, She spoke of war crimes of torture and related ill treatment by US military forces in Afghanistan and secret detention facilities operated by the CIA.

 The US establishment has reacted sharply to the initiative of the ICC Prosecutor. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in 2019 that they are determined to protect American and allied military and civilian personnel ‘from living in fear of unjust prosecution’ for actions taken to protect America. If the ICC persists in this course of action, they will impose travel bans on judges and personnel of the ICC and will also take further steps like economic sanctions. President Trump said that any attempt to target American, Israeli or allied personnel for prosecution by the ICC will be met with ‘a swift and vigorous response’ (Continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

USA was ready to take over as the centre of the capitalist world, at the end of World War II. The US President was spoken of as ‘Leader of the free world’.  But the USA   never had the easy run into a global power that Britain had. The USA was never able to acquire its own empire. Apart from the fact that times were different and sovereign rights of a country had been enunciated, the US simply did not have the military power to conquer the whole world.

In order to rule the world, the US created a Cold War with Russia, arguing that Russia was going to take over the world and that US was forced to become the champion of the Free World. Russia, China, Cuba were demonized relentlessly.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was created by third world countries that wished to remain independent of this Cold War.  But NAM also wanted reforms in the UN, Bretton Woods, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The US   neutralized the movement. Only 10 developing country leaders attended the 17th NAM Conference held in Venezuela in 2017, with India being the most notable absentee.

US devised its own method of controlling other countries. It installed puppet governments in the countries they were interested in. The modus operandi was to find a pro-US local politician, who says he wants to transform the country. Then using NGOs, ethnic and religious minority groups, opposition political parties, and the English language media in the country, low-intensity internal conflict is created and the USA nominee installed in power. USA did this covertly, in the past,    now it is done openly, said observers.

The media was paid to discredit designated popular governments.  concocted statements were put out, repetitiously and in great volume.  ‘Democracy’ and ‘human rights’ promotion groups were set up. ‘Scandals’ were created. Colors were given to newly constructed ‘opposition’ movements, and deadly weapons used at the ‘protest’ sites.   

USA took action to ensure that developing countries were kept politically unstable. USA encouraged fissiparous separatists and other groups which will keep the developing countries weak and unstable. When countries were unstable, it was easier for USA to manipulate them. National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House,    Albert Einstein Institute and Open Society Institute of George Soros were the US agencies that funded these activities.  

US recruited anthropologists, whose methods are found to be of use for intelligence and defense. Some have entered employment in the government defense and intelligence sectors. There is a Commission on the engagement of anthropology with the US Security and Intelligence communities”.

There was also the opposing view that anthropologists should not directly assist the US military in combat, through advice or whatever.  They are expected to ‘do no harm’. Also that anthropologists should do not do secret research. American Anthropological Association had to develop an ethics code for this in 1971. An independent ad hoc network of anthropologist seeking to promote ethical anthropology emerged, the Network of Concerned Anthropologists.

Without exception however, governments brought in to power through American backed conspiracies have failed, said Kamal Wickremasinghe.  The failure is due largely to the poor quality of the persons selected to wield power. They were chosen for political expediency rather than for any level of competence in economic and other policy making or management in general. Such governments make poor economic decisions influenced by USA’s insistence on capitalist thinking. These poor policy choices drive the economy to the ground, giving rise to increased debt burden and deep social crises, leading to the demise of such puppet governments.

Prof. Levin of Carnegie Mellon University, a leading expert on American and Russian interventions in foreign elections says the U.S. has intervened  81 times in general elections worldwide between 1946 and 2000. By his estimate, the Russians have interfered in 36 elections during the same time period.  These interventions are often directed from the highest levels of US government, such as the White House/senior cabinet secretaries. Local US embassy staff and ambassadors also participate. . The CIA  attends to campaign funding and “dirty tricks.” .

The US has infiltrated, invaded, bombed, and destroyed many countries. There were unlawful US interventions in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), Cuba (1961), Vietnam (1964),  Dominican Republic (1965), Chile (1973), Nicaragua (1981–1984), Grenada (1983)  Panama (1989), Balkans (2000) , Iraq (2003) and Libya (2012). There were  US sponsored dictatorships in countries such as Nicaragua, Chile,  and Philippines. US dropped Agent Orange  and napalm on Vietnam, poison gas and other toxics were tried out.

USA has killed many heads of state and leaders of movements. In 1953, the democratically elected Iranian PM Mossadeq was replaced by the Shah of Iran, in a coup d ‘etat. Mossadeq was seen as an emerging strong leader with nationalist views. CIA organized and executed the overthrow with support from Britain, and Reza Pahlavi took over as Shah.

USA also killed Lumumba of Congo, Allende of Chile  and two heads of state in Iraq, Kassem and Saddam Hussein. Numerous unsuccessful attempts were made on Fidel Castro’s life. Osama Bin Laden was killed in 2011, in Pakistan with Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton watching from the White House. A photograph of this group watching was circulated to the world. The last assassination so far, was the killing of Iran’s most powerful general, Soleimani, in 2020.    Not a word was heard from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch when Soleimani was assassinated commented observers.“

US engages in illegal invasion and military attacks on foreign countries. US President does not have the power to authorize military attacks without Congress approval, but they do it all the time.” Clinton sent troops to Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo without Congress approval.  US Congress however, approves the action and provide funding for such interventions. It is illegal to supply arms to rebels but US as well as Europe and UK continue to do so.

The Colour revolutions of Ukraine 2004, Kyrgyzstan 2005 were actually coup d’etats. The new rulers simply shifted their foreign policy towards US interests, without any benefit to the people. In Ukraine, the west wanted to get in and clean Ukraine of all its resources. Ukraine refused. These ‘color revolutions’, later became ‘Arab Spring.’

Washington has been associated with every one of the military conspiracies and coup d’états in Central and South America, for many decades, said analysts. CIA trained and funded Nicaragua contras. USA has openly supported dictatorial regimes from Mexico to Chile. The modus operandi has been to cause food and drug shortages, then start violent mob reactions to the shortages.

USA has instigated rebellions against the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil and Ecuador. The United States had never hidden its hostility towards the Cuban and Venezuelan revolutions. Any Cuban dissident, any thugs that take up arms against the Cuban system get immediate funding from US. In 2018 USA called for hardening of the economic blockade of Cuba and hinted at US plans to influence the outcome of the general election.

USA asked the neighboring governments to help overthrow of Venezuela’s President Maduro, who was elected with a large majority at a democratically held election, and replace him with Guaido. USA also hinted at military intervention. But when Guaido called for street protests against Maduro, in 2020 only a few hundred turned out, reported analysts. . ‘The rest went to the beach.’

In March 2012, President Mutharika of Malawi accused USA of plotting to bring down his government. He refused to give in to USA demands. Mutharika died of cardiac arrest just two weeks later. He was replaced by Joyce Banda. Within the first week of her presidency, the USD 350 million US grant was reinstituted. Banda devalued Malawian currency by 33 per cent against the US dollar, overturning Mutharika’s refusal. Banda became involved in a corruption scandal and was heavily defeated in the presidential election by Peter Mutharika, brother of the former President. Banda went to the US and was given a position as fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Centre International Centre for Scholars.

USA has established large army bases in strategic places. Two bases of interest to Sri Lanka are Kosovo and Diego Garcia. The largest American military base in Europe today is Camp Bondsteel at Kosovo. Kosovo is strategically positioned between Eastern and Western Europe.

Kosovo Liberation Army fought a war of independence against Yugoslavia in1998, with the support of NATO. .Yugoslavia withdrew from Kosovo, in 1999 to make way for an international presence USA moved in. USA has set up a huge army base, Bond steel in Kosovo on1000 hectares of land. The details of this army base are kept secret.

Washington quickly recognized the Republic of Kosovo.  Kosovo is loyally pro-American. Kosovo has named places and streets after US leaders. There is Bill Clinton Avenue, George W. Bush Street and Woodrow Wilson Street. Support for USA is higher in Kosovo than anywhere else in the world. Kosovo has been one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign assistance. An MCC was signed in 2017.

 In 2008, H.L.de Silva drew Sri Lanka‘s attention to Kosovo. He observed that US and NATO intervened in the Yugoslavia break up because this would give them a foot hold in a region. US quickly establish a giant military base, Bondsteel in Kosovo, and to secure the strategic oil and transportation lines of the region.

US will probably hold total dominance over Kosovo, continued H.L. de Silva. An International Civilian Representative had been appointed by US and NATO to run Kosovo. He has complete power. EU will establish a European security and defense policy mission ESDP and NATO will establish an international military presence. There with full control. So the so-called independence will be a fake. Kosovo has mineral resources which will be exploited by the giant western multinational corporations, concluded de Silva.

The US military base in Diego Garcia is of concern to Sri Lanka.  The Chagos archipelago which includes Diego Garcia was taken away from Mauritius, by Britain in 1965, paying 3 million to Mauritius as compensation. UK then rented the Chagos archipelago   to USA for military purposes for 50 years with provision for extension for further 20 years, for the sum of USD 14 million.  Since 1971 Diego Garcia was a major overseas US military base.

However, from 1980, Mauritius started agitating to get Chagos back. Mauritius went to the UN. UN asked the ICJ for an opinion. ICJ stated, in 2019, that Britain must return Chagos to Mauritius. The United Nations then asked UK hand over administration of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and gave the British government a six-month deadline.  Instead Britain challenged the decision. It is clear, however, that USA will have to give up Diego Garcia soon and find another base.  The closest roosting point is Sri Lanka .( continued)

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Upon returning to Sri Lanka he started an intensive media campaign on this subject.   I reproduce below excerpts from this traitor’s writings and appropriate counter comments  

Veteran journalist Malinda Seneviratne who was the Chief Editor of The Nation” wrote on 5^th July, 2009 that Dayan Jayatillake, with respect to the implementation of the 13th Amendment, points to two documents (a joint statement issued at the conclusion of discussions with a high-level Indian delegation and another by the UN Secretary-General. In both, there is mention of the Government’s commitment to the 13th Amendment.

He observes that some who oppose the 13th Amendment refer to Mahinda Chinthana but points out that Mahinda Rajapaksa can be safely trusted to know the spirit of Mahinda Chinthana. In other words, Dayan not only thinks the 13th is great, but trusts the President to deliver his (Dayan’s) Utopia. Nothing wrong in that of course! I, on the other hand, think the 13th was brought about undemocratically, and proved to be a ‘white elephant’ and a distraction with respect to addressing and resolving real Tamil demands.

Writing to Daily Mirror on 4^th July, 2009, Dayan Jayatilleke states upfront I don’t believe that the 13th as it stands compromises the unitary character of the state and adds that  ‘The defence dimensions of devolution’  isn’t going to be ‘full implementation’; it will always be ‘minus’ (since there was a de-merger of the North and East and hopes there will be a ‘plus’. As of now, ‘police powers’ appear set to be shoved into the ‘minus’ column while ‘land matters’ as of now are not ‘threatening’.

Malinda Seneviratne (MS) comments that as mentioned above, the utterly undemocratic manner in which it came into being, sans discussion, in secret and with more than a little arm-twisting, all this could be ‘accepted’ if it worked though. Some point out that the 13th has been legitimated by the fact that its main opponents have opted to contest PC elections. Does it make it ‘right’, though? Does the 13th as ‘solution to Tamil demands’ hold water (MS) asks? No. It is essentially a territory-based solution and such is unwarranted given that there are no ‘Tamil grievances’ that can reference territory. It is moreover a mechanism that has devolved (some) power to politicians. It is therefore for thugs and thieves, not ordinary citizens.

MS continues that some have argued ‘it is part of the Constitution, so live with it’. That’s a cop-out answer. In that case we don’t need the APRC, we didn’t need the 17th Amendment, we should not have had the 1st Amendment to the 1978 Constitution and we should not have any more Amendments. It assumes that constitutions are necessarily perfect documents and that time and society stand still. It is because something was thought to be flawed that its correction is attempted. If the 13th is flawed then it follows that it should be corrected even to the point of trashing it if a compelling case can be made.

Dayan’s fascination with the 13th on the other hand includes but is not limited to consideration of that thing called ‘geo-political realities’ that hit us with a ton of bricks and precipitated the death of 60,000 plus young people in the late eighties.

But we are not in 1987 now. We don’t have a Government enslaved to Western interests. We don’t have a West that has the kind of compelling power it used to back then. Tamil Nadu is no longer a compelling factor in how India sees Sri Lanka.

True, the statements Dayan refers to show a Government that is certainly reluctant (or made to be reluctant) to trash the 13th, but what a Government does or does not do can depend on the ability of the people and the power of the relevant arguments to sway those in power. We lived through a time when a federal arrangement was thought to be inevitable. We have suffered under 500 years of foreign rule. We were told that the LTTE was a reality that will not go away and therefore we have to accommodate terrorism. Things changed drastically. .

President Rajapaksa takes even a drastic decision on this issue, no one would be able to convince the country that he is going to bifurcate or betray the country. This is an opportunity that no Head of State in this country has been offered’. Dayan says pretty much the same thing: ‘President Rajapaksa has the trust of the Sinhalese to a degree that none of his predecessors had; he can therefore carry the Sinhalese with him into a settlement of the underlying and pre-existing issues.’

This is true. One can argue, however, that given this power of sway, president Mahinda Rajapaksa can do what, I believe, he should: trash the 13th and go for true ‘reconciliation’ and addressing of grievance by revisiting the 17th Amendment, correcting its flaws and thereby giving the respect to the citizen that has been denied and subverted by all his predecessors instead of dabbling in something that is archaic, undemocratic, wasteful and has nothing to do with the grievances that need to be resolved.

Dayan Jayatilleke who has queer passion to serve the Tamils and hinder the Sinhalese from exercising their legitimate and inherent rights, responding to Malinda Seneviratne says that the 13th amendment is historically significant and currently indispensable because it is the only structural reform of the centralized Sri Lankan state which devolves power, makes for some measure of autonomy and thereby provides a basis for the reconciliation of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities within a united and unitary Sri Lanka.

He says that the 13thy Amendment is the only such reform to take place exactly three decades after the abrogation of the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact of 1957 which proposed for Regional Councils. (It had to be abrogated because it was not discussed with the people and there was people’s consent for measures proposed in it) Those who say that the Indo-Lanka Accord and the 13th amendment were “hurried”and “externally coerced” forget the fact that from another point of view, they amounted to a Caesarean surgical intervention, bringing forth a power sharing solution that had been thwarted from 1957, through the District Councils of 1966 and the Indian facilitated negotiations of 1984 (APC/Annexure C) to 1986 (December 19th Chidambaram proposals). It is important to recall than none of these proposals for moderate power sharing were voted down democratically. They never had a chance to be. This pro-Tamil poodle accuses that leaders such as SWRD Bandaranaike, were besieged by extra-parliamentary lobbies and the parliamentary process aborted by extra-parliamentary agitation.

My strong support (“craze”) for the 13th amendment Dayan shamelessly says that is because it is already in place (by force and not with the consent of the majority of the people of this country ) and does not have to be (re)negotiated. It has only to be implemented and Sri Lanka’s military triumph would be politically reinforced instantly. Tamil nationalism would be split between the hyper-nationalists who reject it and the moderates who accept and participate, the Tamil Diaspora would be divided, the North-South gap would be bridged, a renewed cycle of conflict would be less likely or possible, the impressive weight of India in the world system would be solidly with us, (sheer imaginations and stupid hallucinations)) the international pressure on us would lift somewhat, our allies and friends in the international system would be relieved and vindicated, external financing would be more readily available, the anti-Sri Lanka global campaign would be severely weakened and the attempt to encircle Sri Lanka internationally would be defeated.

It is not any particular President I trust to deliver on the 13th amendment or its equivalent or improvement. My point was that President Rajapakse can deliver because he is the least vulnerable to a Southern backlash. (A stupid conclusion that this Colombo Baiyaa made thinking that he could easily fool the rustic Mr. Rajapajsa – a  man from the other side of the of the Bentara Ganga.  He must remember that even a kitten that has not opened its eyes coming from other side of the Bentra Ganga cannot be fooled) This poodle states that he trusts that the challenge of accommodating Tamil identity and reconciling it with Sinhala and Muslim identity will remain and that it will be necessary for any government to negotiate with the Tamil parliamentarians as India will not go away and our need for India in the face of western pressure will not go away either, and that the 13th amendment, however elasticized, will remain the saddle-point between the Sinhala insistence on a unitary state and the Tamil demand for some degree of self –rule.

MS asserts that Sri Lanka with a working 13th amendment is a far cry from “Dayan’s Utopia”, but it is a brake on a downward slide to Dayan’s Dystopia of renewed conflict in different forms, of a resumed narrative of lost opportunities, of civic violence, stagnation and decay, of a long and bitter peace and rueful mid- 21st century ruminations of “the path we never took/into the rose garden”

Dayan says that India was not the cause for the deaths of 60,000 youths in the late 1980s and if Sri Lanka had devolved power in 1957, 1966, 1981 (DDCs), 1984 (Annexure c) or 1986 (Chidambaram), there would have been no Indian intervention. (Please note that this shameless foreign servile sycophant justifies the abhorrent illegal Indian intervention) If the 1987 accord had been resisted by the JVP peacefully,(This abhorrent accord was not noly resisted by JVP but also by the SLFP and a massive sit-in protest headed by Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike was held in front of the Pettah Bodhiya and as a continuation of this protest the SLFP boycotted the first Provincial Council Elections)  there would have been no call for the Sri Lankan state to defend itself violently and adds that both the LTTE and the JVP violently opposed the 13th amendment and the North east provincial council and both movements have been militarily defeated. It must also be recalled that the JVP took up the gun before a single IPKF jawan had appeared on Sri Lankan soil and Daya Pathirana was murdered in November 1986, and the entire left was under violent siege for supporting devolution which was luridly portrayed as secessionism.

Dayan also attempts to drag China also to the dispute and says Tamil Nadu matters less than it did while China matters more and the 13th amendment matters even to China, and that is why the official Sri Lankan communiqué following the discussions between the Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka and China twice mentioned Sri Lanka’s reiteration of its commitment to implementing the 13th amendment.

Malinda Seneviratne in another article dated 14^th Jult, 2009 states that Dayan’s defense of the 13^th Amendment and his plea for its implementation is predicated on the validity of the Tamil (chauvinist) demands, or, to put it another way, the erroneous and mischievous assertion of the equation that equates aspiration to legitimate demand.

He defends the hurried and coercively introduced 13^th Amendment as a necessary Caesarean surgical intervention to bring forth a power sharing solution thwarted from 1957′ and pats himself on the back for having predicted the same.  He enumerates the advantages of going with the 13^th, painting a happily-ever-after picture of internal stability, international backing and communal harmony with an equally happy bridging of the North-South gap and a downing of the anti-Sri Lanka global campaign.  These are strategic benefits which Dayan believes will accrue automatically if we implemented the 13^th.   He implies that pandering to Eelamist mythology and burning defensible historical transcript is a small price to pay for all these goodies. 

First of all, I don’t think that the goodies are there for the taking.  There are no friends’ or enemies’ in the international, just entities playing cards as per self-interest. There is a give and take and there’s a lot of arm-twisting too. Dayan knows this and Dayan knows that India is not the do-gooder that India likes us to believe she is.   That is however not an entity that was god-made and meant to be immobile from Day One to Day Last.  Things change.  To accept current realities as overarching forces best met with acquiescence is a legitimate option, but honour, dignity and intellectual honesty demand that error in perception be resisted.  That however, is not an important entry in the diary of a politician.  I believe it was one of the First Nations in the Americas that predicated policy decision on a consideration of impact on the seventh generation down the line.  Resolving for aspirations that infringe on the rights of other communities and for grievances that can be addressed in other ways may appease ”international pals’ in the here-and-now but will amount to little more than shoving a bunch of garbage under the carpet.

 Dayan, so adept at meeting, countering and triumphing over Western mischief-making with respect to Sri Lanka, is surprisingly meek when it comes to Eelamist posturing regarding history.Perhaps this is because he is fascinated with the notion of  ”autonomous political space’ for the Tamil people in the North and East.  I will go with ”political space’ but there is nothing to support ”autonomy’ as per defined territory.  The provincial boundaries were arbitrarily drawn, to begin with. The Eastern Province is demographically divided roughly into three equal parts, and in terms of territory, ”Sinhala’ areas far outweigh Tamil and Muslim areas put together.  As for legitimacy of claim following historical evidence, it is at best paltry.  The archaeological record does not support the thesis. We could of course set the take-off point closer to the present, but then again, we do know that Chelvanayagam was not a Ceylonese, that Ponnambalam Ramanathan’s grandfather did not have an address in this country and we have to make note of the fact that the results of the first census were surreptitiously ”disappeared’.  Oh yes, Tamil chauvinism has a long history and one that pre-dates the horrendous disenfranchisement of Tamils in the estates and Bandaranaike’s swabasha adventure.

Dayan points out that our so-called”friends’ in the international community want the 13^th implemented, citing statements made.  Even if we were generous and grant that all these statements were/are made in good faith, the fact remains that they are based on their perceptions of our problem, something that is largely influenced by three factors: a) strong and sustained propaganda by the Eelam lobby, b) an ”intellectual’ community (mostly of Marxist-Leninist leanings) that was and still is quite quiescent, and c) governments and political leaders who were operating throughout in the here-and-now mode.   

 Bandaranaike cowed down to ”extra-parliamentary pressure’, yes.  But it was not a matter of going through with the Chelva-Banda pact or dumping it unceremoniously. There was a compelling argument for a instituting a reason-privileging exercise in considering ”Tamil grievances’. He could have instituted a historical audit into claims and thereafter addressed that which was legitimate and ignore that which was not. His successors could have too. That they did not is a pity, and does not in any way make a case for Caesarian section or the sanitization of belligerent bullying on the part of India.  Or anyone else.

 I agree with Dayan that the Sri Lanka state needs structural reform.  There can be structural reform without compromising its centralized form.  Devolution of power is not only antithetical to current global trends (for those who are fascinated by the Global’ with a capital G) it is not a necessary precondition for reconciliation of Sinhala and Tamil communities.  That is like saying that the United States should devolve power to the African Americans, Hispanics and Asians in clearly demarcated pieces of land in order to obtain reconciliation.  

 There is nothing wrong in any community wanting legitimate political space, in wanting equal rights as citizens, but autonomous political space is another matter altogether.  That can be an aspiration, sure, but not delivering that aspiration is not a crime against humanity and not necessarily undemocratic.  

 All communities should have political space’ to air grievances, assert identity and obtain relief where infringement occurs.  This requires an overall democratization of our institutions.  This is where my argument for the 17^th Amendment is not the apple against the 13^th Amendment orange as per Dayan’s characterization makes sense.  The 1978 constitution is anti-citizen, first and foremost and this is the structural anomaly that needs to be addressed most urgently.  It diminishes the citizen.

Reconciliation is not about pandering to a historical claim.  Aspiration clothed as right may excite those who like masquerades and cross-dressing of course, but a nation can do better than to go overboard with such things.   This is why we need to get to the basics, i.e. a historical audit of Tamil claims.  If not we will condemn our children to deal with chauvinism and the violence it tends to spawn.  We cannot afford, especially not after suffering immense costs in eliminating the military avatar of Eelamist posturing, to concede constitutionally the rudimentary structures that can later be the basis for a renewed journey towards Prabhakaran’s objective. Reconciliation, rather, is about coming to terms with realities, of privileging respect, affirming equal rights for all citizens and providing the necessary space for celebrating identity. 

ALI SUKHANVER

More than 50 people had been killed and more than 250 seriously injured by the Hindu extremist groups in the last four years; says a recent report of the Human Rights Watch, most of the attacks on religious minorities in the Indian Occupied Kashmir are led by BJP supporters. Pathetically the only allegation against all the targeted ones had been the same; they all were blamed of trading or slaughtering the cows. The Human Rights Watch says that before killing the alleged ones, the BJP extremists force them to chant Hindu slogans. The role of the local police has always been very condemnable because it always fails in doing proper investigation. There have been complaints that criminal cases are filed against witnesses to harass and threaten them. Maltreatment with the minorities is a heinous act of human rights violation and there could be no more serious and frightening example of human rights violation than maltreatment with the minorities.

Human Rights Watch is a US-based human rights international non-governmental organization with its headquarter in New York City. The basic function of this organization is to conduct research and advocacy on human rights. In mid-January 2020, this group published a report on the worst situation of the human rights violations in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The report mainly focused on the situation after Modi government’s revocation of articles 370 and 35-A which deprived Indian Occupied Kashmir of its autonomy and its people of their basic human rights. The report said, The Indian government’s unilateral actions in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 caused enormous suffering and rights violations of the Kashmiri population. The Bharatiya Janata Party led government revoked the province’s special constitutional status and split it into two separate federally governed territories. Indian authorities also failed to protect religious minorities, used draconian sedition and counterterrorism laws to silence peaceful dissent, and invoked foreign funding regulations and other laws to discredit and muzzle nongovernmental organizations critical of government actions or policies.” Another report on the same subject says that the Modi government has failed in enforcement of Supreme Court’s directives to prevent and investigate mob attacks on religious minorities and other vulnerable communities in the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Some prominent members of the Conservative Party had a meeting with the First Secretary of State Dominic Raab a few weeks back and insisted on including the names of officials from China and Hong Kong in the list of those found involved in human rights violations. In response to the demand of necessary action against officials from China and Hong Kong, Dominic Raab said, Whilst having targeted sanctions, the visa bans and the asset freezes on the individuals who may be responsible where the evidence shows that is the case, we got the mechanism to deliver it. We will of course look very carefully at any further proposals.” This said list was prepared by different investigation agencies of the UK and presented for approval in the UK Parliament. This all move is in fact the outcome of the Magnitsky legislation which has been designed to fix those foreign individuals who have been involved in significant corruption or who have committed human rights abuses. It is something very positive that this is for the first time that UK, a prominent and dominant western country, has issued a list of the human rights abusers and did not fix and frame only the Muslims. Prior to this list, it has ever been a tradition to include only the Muslims in such lists.

It was the US which passed the first Magnitsky legislation in 2012 after the brutal ‘murder’ of a Russian auditor Sergei Magnitsky in 2009. Later on some other countries also followed the US steps against human rights abusers; UK is also among those human rights caring countries. Certainly the credit goes to the US for setting such an epoch making tradition of taking to task the abusers of human rights and surely the UK also deserves appreciation for the bold steps in this context but one thing must be kept in mind that personal liking or disliking must not hinder the way of  the Magnitsky legislation. A prejudiced rather a narrow-minded approach towards the names of abusers of human rights would simply promote nothing but mar the credibility of this very sublime process. No list of human rights violators could be authentic without mentioning the brutalities of the Indian Army in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. Recently on 17^th July, 2020, the Indian troops martyred three Kashmiri youths in Nagnad Chimmer area of the Kulgram district of the Indian Occupied Kashmir on. These three innocent ones were targeted during a cordon and search operation. Experts say that this fresh act of state terrorism would give birth to a new wave of agitation in the valley. In the name of cordon and search operations, such brutal activities of the Indian forces are simply a routine matter. Let us see, how the UK Parliamentarians react to this cruelty and injustice.

By Nilakshan Perera Courtesy The Island

(Intake 3 KDU)

On July 3rd, 1990, 30 years ago “Operation Eagle” was launched to evacuate a team of critically wounded soldiers of 6th Singha Regiment (6SR) and policemen from the Jaffna Fort, where they had been trapped for more than three weeks and to deliver urgently needed weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to the besieged soldiers. The situation in Jaffna 30 years ago was a far cry from what it is today. The Tiger terrorists had the upper hand; they had taken advantage of a phony peace accord and laid siege to the Fort. The only access to it was by air, and this too was extremely dangerous as the terrorists fired at any low flying aircraft. The think tank of senior officers headed by Maj Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Group Captain Anselem Peiris as Operations Commander and Wing Commander. Sunil Cabraal as Mission Commander meticulously planned Operation Eagle and finally decided on the personnel to be assigned to carry out the high risk mission. The most risky and dangerous part of the operation obviously was the landing of the helicopter for the rescue operation.

Squadron Leader. Lasantha Waidyaratne was to be the Pilot of the rescue chopper with Flying Officer. Avindra Mirando as his co-pilot.

While Maj Gen. Kobbekaduwa was engrossed in planning the overall operation in Jaffna, in the Operation Room of Joint Operation Command (JOC) HQ in Colombo, Brig. Wijaya Wimalaratne, was busy discussing the final details of this extremely dangerous mission with a few of his trusted officers including Sqd. Ldr. Waidyaratne. Sqd., who after going through the available maps and aerial photographs of the designated landing site, was not one hundred percent happy, as he observed a small speck on one of the photographs.

On discussing his concerns with Brig. Wimalaratne, he immediately called on Capt. Viraja Leelaratne for his expert opinion. Capt Leelaratne was a Civil Engineer of the Army Engineering Regiment but at the time was attached to the JOC.

Capt. Leelaratne had graduated from the Moratuwa University and the Kotelawala Defence Academy (KDA, which was the precursor to the KDU) with a BSc (Hons) Engineering Degree specialized in Remote Sensing techniques to Present Precision Aerial photographs. On analyzing the photographs of the landing area Capt. Leelaratne identified the speck that was bothering Sqd. Ldr Waidyaratne as a telephone pole. In addition to that he observed there were a couple of wires still attached to the pole, as well as a fairly large tree which was on the flight path to the landing area. While it was decided to instruct the troops in the Fort to remove the telephone wires under the cover of darkness, Sqd. Ldr. Waidyaratne had opted not to have the tree nor the telephone posts removed as it would alert the enemy of the impending operation as Capt Viraja had estimated the distance from Rampart to the telephone post by calculating length of helicopter rotor blades, and deemed it safe. The absolute professionalism of Capt. Viraja Leelaratne and the sharp instincts of Sqd. Leader Waidyaratne saved Operation Eagle from what could have ended up as a disaster. It also speaks volumes of the meticulous planning of Maj. Gen. Kobbekaduwa and Brig. Wimalaratne the legendary duo responsible for many successful operations.

At the crack of dawn of July 3 rd Squadron Leader. Lasantha Waidyaratne and Flying Officer. Avindra Mirando, (who was a proud product of Pakistan Air Force Academy) took their Bell-412 helicopter from Palaly Air Base for this? With them were another 17 fixed wing aircraft and helicopters and Three Chinese built Y-12 and one Y-8 fixed wing planes stationed at Mannar were on standby for possible support were also engaged with Operation Eagle.

The Navy was closely monitoring the seas of Jaffna, and, as usual, the Army had deployed enough troops with the mission ahead. The troops inside the Fort had been informed of the top secret operation earlier on the 29th of June by dropping the documents concealed in a dummy bomb from an SLAF aircraft during a pre-planned attack on terrorist positions around the Fort. Though these two brave pilots had not flown together before, knowing each other’s strengths, accompanied by two airmen, Rahula Fernando and Sooriyadasa, as gunners, they worked in perfect harmony as a team. Lasantha had handpicked these two gunners. Rahula was selected purely for his bravery on several previous missions as gunner for Lasantha’s Operations and Sooriyadasa was also a skilled airman having miraculously escaped from death on three previous air operations. Also onboard was Capt Jayantha Fernando with three soldiers who joined them to be with the rest of their 6SR colleagues. All of them had volunteered for this mission even though they were well aware of the extreme dangers they faced. While most of the aircraft approached the Jaffna Fort from the northeast flying directly from Palaly and started attacking the enemy positions as a distraction the rescue helicopter piloted by Sqd. Ldr Lasantha Waidyaratne and Flying Officer Avindra Mirando approached the Fort from the direction of Mandathieu from the west, coming under heavy enemy fire, hovered for a short while and suddenly they maneuvered the chopper towards the predetermined landing spot and swiftly landed.

No sooner had the chopper landed than Capt Anura Perera and seven serious casualties were loaded, and all supplies including medicines, fresh vegetables and most importantly 81mm mortars and other vital ammunition offloaded. Capt Jayantha Fernando joined the rest of 6SR men who were holding the Fort remarkably with very limited fire power and food supplies, and straightaway assumed duties as the commanding officer. Lt Ramesh Fernando was the only officer who was there from day one holding the Fort valiantly until the siege was successfully ended in mid-September with Operation ”Thrivida Balaya”.

The whole process of offloading and loading took less than 45 seconds though they planned for around 60 seconds. Under those circumstances even 60 seconds could be an eternity! They took off immediately and though still under enemy fire landed safely at Palaly Base by 6.30 am without any harm or damage to the helicopter. The dedication to duty, great application and unwavering determination of these two flyers speak volumes of their ability, integrity and selfless bravely.

Incidentally, both these heroic flyers are from Ananda College, and both of them were hostellers as well. Sqd Ldr Lasantha Waidyaratne is much senior to Fly Off Avindra Mirando at Ananda. Lasantha was an athlete and Avindra was a good basketball player and great racing motorcyclist. At the time of this mission, Lasantha’s wife Dilrukshi was six months pregnant and their only son, Uwin, is now a medical doctor in the UK. Young Avindra met his sweetheart Chelaka at Air Force itself, got married on 20th Jan 1992 and they are blessed with two sweet daughters Layanvi and Kishali-both are professionally qualified.

Both Lasantha and Avindra opted for an early retirement from SLAF, having served the country with dedication. Lasantha retired in 1992 in the same rank and Avindra retired as Wing Commander in 2005. Lasantha was attached to SriLankan Airlines and Avindra is currently working for an Abu Dhabi Oil Company. Viraja Leelaratne, retired as Major in 1996. Was educated at Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda, where he excelled in art, winning the prestigious President’s Award for Art in 1981. While still in Grade 7, he created a Vesak Pandol. He was a Senior Cadet Cpl and very good Basketball player. He excelled in his studies. He found his lifetime partner Lakmini also from Dharmashoka. They got married on 18th Jan 1991 and, as they stepped down from the “Poruwa”, starting their new life together Brig Wijaya Wimalaratne was there to bless them, taking time off from his very busy schedule as Overall Commander of Jaffna. This was testimony of the high regard Brig Wimalaratne had for Viraja. After leaving the Army Viraja migrated to New Zealand in 2000, and currently works as a Senior Planning Engineer at Downer NZ Limited .Viraja and Lakmini are blessed with two sons Vibhava and Nikhila doing higher studies in Auckland.

Jayantha Fernando retired from the Army as a Major in 2004. A proud product of Thurstan College, he excelled in rugby. This brave officer volunteered to join the besieged soldiers of his Regiment within the Fort. As the Commanding Officer Captain Anura Perera had been seriously sick and had to be evacuated, Capt Jayantha Fernando as the most senior officer within the Fort had to take over as the CO. He remained as the CO giving exemplary leadership to his troops until the end of the siege in mid-September. The stress of this operation took a massive toll on his family, too. He had just got married to his lovely wife Wasanthi just before Operation Eagle on 19th Feb 1990. Her first pregnancy ended tragically due to stress following an incident pertaining to war which erupted in the Jaffna Fort. One could only imagine the stress and trauma the wives of these brave young officers went through during those tough times. However, later they were blessed with a son, Janith Angelo, and a daughter, Vinuri Anjali. After leaving the Army, he worked for a company in Dubai but after meeting with a very serious accident which necessitated internal fixation of the hip with three steel plates before he returned to Sri Lanka. Currently, Jayantha is not employed and lives in Kurunegala with his family. The other brave officer who fought courageously during the toughest era was Lt Ramesh Fernando, former Cadeting Sgt and excellent Rugby player from St. Peter’s College, Bambalapitiya, got married to Iresha his childhood lover on 25th May 1995; they are blessed with a son, Kamesh Manchana, and a daughter, Nishmi Warsha. Ramesh, too, retired from the Army on 30th July 2012 as a Colonel and works for a multinational company. Gunner Rahula Fernando migrated to Italy with his family but the other Gunner Sooriyapala sadly died in a chopper crash a few years later. He was the only survivor of a helicopter crash in Kimbulapitiya on 3rd of June 1988 when a chopper captained by one of the most celebrated flyers, well known among Security Forces personnel for his heroic actions as one of the most daring Combat Flyers in SLAF has produced, Flying Officer Kasun Cumaratunge described as a pilot who could land his helicopter anywhere. Today, we all live relatively peaceful lives thanks to the brave and selfless service of these officers like the aforesaid heroes.

Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A committee comprising experts has been appointed to investigate allegations of a archaeological building in Kurunegala was bulldozed on July 14, the Government Information Department said today.

It said the Committee was appointed by the Buddhasasana, Cultural and Religious Affairs Ministry Secretary on a directive of subject minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The committee comprises Director General of Archaeology, Prof. Senarath Dissanayake, Kurunegala District Secretary R.M.R. Ratnayake, archaeologist T.G Kulatunga, Director General of the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Cultural and Religious Affairs archaeologist Prasad Ranasinghe and Central Cultural Fund Director (Development) architect Sumedha Mathota.

The committee has been instructed to submit its report before July 23.

The history of the building goes back to the thirteenth century of the Kurunegala Kingdom and was believed to be the King’s Assembly Hall at that time and is considered an archaeological reserve under the Antiquities Ordinance No.09 of 1940. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Extraordinary Gazette Notification on health guidelines for the General Election 2020 has been published, says the Government Printer.

COVID-19 (Elections) Regulations was prepared by the Minister of Health and Indigenous Medical Services under section 2 and 3 of the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance (Chapter 222).

The gazette contains guidelines that should be adhered to by the political parties, their supporters, election candidates and voters during the election period.

Extraordinary Gazette on CO… by Ada Derana on Scribd

Courtesy  Hiru News

Eight (08) more persons confirmed for Covid -19: SL Country total increases to 2,697.

Eight (08) more persons have tested positive for Covid-19 (new coronavirus) infection.

Six (06) are inmates from Kandakadu & Senapura Rehabilitation Centres and the other two (02) are their contacts who have tested positive for Covid-19.

The country total has increased to 2,697 according to the latest information by the Epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health.
Covid-19 Situation Report as at 2020-July-17| compiled according to the Health promotion Bureau and the Epidemiology Unit data

Total confirmed cases – 2,697
Recovered and discharged – 2,012
Active cases – 674
New Cases for the day – 10
Total Deaths – 11

Courtesy Hiru News

Former Minister Rishad Bathiutheen has filed a Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court asking to issue an order preventing his arrest by the CID over the Easter Sunday attacks

Courtesy Hiru News

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa states that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya is contesting this election not to gain power in the government or the opposition but to gain power in Sirikotha.

The Prime Minister expressed these views while participating in a public meeting held in Kotte this afternoon.

While ACSA was signed in August 2017, the contents of that agreement has not been made public and no one in Government appears to know either. There is a leaked SOFA agreement while MCC agreement was also published after much outcry. ACSA allows US military the use of Sri Lanka’s entry points – Airports & Ports as well as logistics and other services whenever requested, while MCC is the US Govt’s new financial cum development arm. We are told the MCC is a gift but there are a host of clauses that the GoSL is bound to make payment for. We look at the exemptions being offered to US via SOFA & MCC to ask a very simple question – what are we actually getting for signing these detrimental agreements?

The 2007 ACSA was a 8page document and valid only for 10 years. The 2017 signed ACSA was 83pages and has no expiry or review or even exit clause.

The SOFA initially signed in 1995 is under negotiation but the shocking aspects leaked by a Sunday newspaper in 2018 warrants citizens to question – who were the officials and Ministers linked to these negotiations and what the hell were they thinking to even agree to the list of shocking proposals made by the US embassy on behalf of the US Government.

This is what Sri Lanka is going to give FREE under SOFA to the US Govt

https://www.pressreader.com/sri-lanka/sunday-times-sri-lanka/20190630/281771335735923

NO RESTRICTIONS for US in CONTRACTING MATERIALS, SUPPLIES, EQUIPMENT & SERVICES (including construction) 

NO RESTRICTION to choose CONTRACTOR, SUPPLIER, SUPPLIES, EQUIPMENT or SERVICES.

CONTRACTSwill be AWARDED & ADMINISTERED according to LAWS & REGULATIONS of US Govt and not Sri Lanka.

SRI LANKA WILL NOT TAX US GOVT for

• Acquisition of articles & services in Sri Lanka

US Dept of Defense Military & Civilian Personnel 

• will not have to pay any tax or similar charge in Sri Lanka

US vessels & vehicles operated by US Dept of Defense shall be exempt from payment of overland transit tolls

Sri Lanka waives

• import inspection
• export inspection
• waives tax on license
• customs duties

US Contractors can

• import into Sri Lanka any personal property
• export out of Sri Lanka any personal property
• Export of equipment, supplies, material, technology training or services shall be except from any license, restriction, customs duties, taxes or any charges in Sri Lanka

US Vessels and Aircrafts owned & operated by or exclusively for US Dept of Defense shall not be subject to payment of

• Land fees
• Port fees,
• Pilotage charges
• Lighterage
• Harbour duties at facilities owned & operated by GoSL
• Navigation fees
• Overflight fees
• Terminal or similar charges
• Sri Lankan Govt cannot board or inspect US vessels or aircrafts.

For all these FREEBIES given by the GoSL, the US is agreeing to pay reasonable charges for services requested and received & rates no less favorable than those paid by the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka”

What FREEBIES is Sri Lanka giving MCC?

http://treasury.gov.lk/article/-/article-viewer-portlet/render/view/mcc-agreement-drafted-with-the-consent-of-ag

All MCC funding is FREE from payment or imposition of any existing or future TAXES, DUTIES, LEVIES, CONTRIBUTIONS or other similar charges  

MCC funding is FREE from payment of

• Any tariffs
• Customs duties
• Import taxes
• Export taxes
• Sales tax
• Value added tax
• Excise Tax
• Property transfer tax
• Other similar charges on any goods, works, or services introduced to Sri Lanka under MCC
• Taxes & similar charges on ownership, possession or use of any property under MCC
• Taxes & similar charges on income, profits, or gross receipts, attributable to work performed under MCC
• Social security taxes & similar charges on all natural or legal persons performing work under MCC

• Where Sri Lanka has to pay MCC or MCA-Sri Lanka the amount shall be  
• Paid in US dollars or Sri Lanka currency within 60 days
• Failure by Sri Lanka to refund within specified time will result in interest on unpaid amount (Section 5.4)

We are no economists or accountants but surely this is a raw deal.

The US army, US DoD civilians, US contractors and their employees – we don’t know how many even are to land as part of the contingents under ACSA – SOFA – MCC and this is seriously worrying.

Moreover, the agreements that Sri Lanka is walking into allows these UNLIMITED US personnel (in uniform & civil) to be placed in all entry and exit points of Sri Lanka, they are allowed to go anywhere in Sri Lanka even carrying arms, their vessels or vehicles cannot be boarded or inspected by us, they are given a host of immunities and privileges and US law will apply. They can import and export anything which cannot be checked or taxed and any Govt charges will not apply to them.

Are we the insane party posing the questions or are these issues not important enough & we should just be happy that the world’s super power bully has been invited to Sri Lanka!

How about considering waiving all taxes from the citizens of Sri Lanka first!

Shenali D Waduge

Colombo East Terminal is generating much controversy these days for reasons that should clearly showcase the need for a sovereign government to take a hold of the situation & uphold its sovereign status. No country puts its strategic assets and resources to the auction table. An island nation must realize that its strength comes in its ports in particular as Sri Lanka is placed at the centre of international trade lanes that ply west to east & vice versa. Advisors and policy makers peddling short-term economic dividends only and omitting to take stock of the geopolitical and national security elements are doing great harm to Sri Lanka in the long term.

Is India a trusted neighbor & reliable economic development partner?

In dealing with India, Sri Lanka cannot ignore the history of turbulent relations that includes providing one’s terrain to train, arm Tamil guerilla warfare, medical & logistics services flouting diplomatic goodwill. The feeling among Sri Lankan citizens that India aided and abetted LTTE terror is nothing India can brush aside or force Sri Lankans to forget. The deaths that accumulated over this period will always hold India part responsible. India’s goodwill gestures are always thought of with doubt as a result of the Indo-Lanka Accord that placed an artificially created historical theory purely to secure Trincomalee harbor from a merged North-East while forcing Sri Lanka to tweak its constitution to introduce the provincial council system.

All of India’s post-2009 ventures in Sri Lanka have been viewed by the ordinary public as attempts to secure an upper advantage and monopoly wherein to exert political pressures as and when India sees fit. These ground realities proven by India’s own behavior, is what Sri Lanka’s advisors and policy makers cannot ignore. History is to learn lessons not to repeat the same mistakes. We cannot also ignore the manner India blocked food, medicines and petrol to Nepal simply because Nepal did not change its constitution the way India wanted. Ultimately, hungry Nepalis suffering without basic medical requirements had to have supplies air dropped by China. The last time India resorted to similar airdrop tactics was prior to threatening Sri Lanka not to capture Prabakaran in Vadamarachchi resulting in Prabakaran being flown off to India & kept till the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord. This past cannot be forgotten and India must realize that the distrust against India by Sri Lankans is a result of its own policy & bullying behavior.

All of the above certainly raises concern whether India will apply similar blocks in the future if Colombo Port is under its control. Western province is Sri Lanka’s highest populated area and a blockage of food, medicines and other essentials will certainly impact Sri Lanka.

Should foreign countries be given control of Sri Lanka’s entry points?

The next important consideration to be made is why Sri Lanka is not security its entry & exit points. From our experience with LTTE we know that where the Armed Forces were weak in protecting our island borders, LTTE were able to smuggle arms and ammunition. We also know that it is via these weak entry points that other forms of illegal and illicit smuggling is taking place.

The other more important factor is that with the signing of ACSA in 2017 by the yahapalana government, Sri Lanka has allowed US the use of all our entry and exit points without restrictions (Airports, Harbours and Ports). India & US at one time did not see eye to eye, but today India is the apple of America’s eye being one of its Quad partners in Asia. Sri Lanka’s political and defense establishment cannot put aside the scenarios of both these nations suddenly deciding to turn hostile against Sri Lanka and blocking our entry and exit points. Where would that leave Sri Lanka? The two nations do not have a slate clean resume for us to brush this possibility aside.

What if both countries together or individually block our entry & exit points? What is the course of action that a government proposes to take? These scenarios have to be taken into consideration given both India’s & America’s past records with nations!

Colombo Port & Covid-19

The world is today experiencing an enemy of an unknown kind. Close to 200,000 deaths around the world and even the World Health Organization cannot conclude how it spreads or how it originated. All that we do know is that people are either infected while some dying as a result. Covid-19 has turned entire nations upside down, economies in disarray and require all countries and people to think and live differently. In such a scenario, if a country’s strategic entry and exit points fall into foreign hands how can a nation protect its civilians from harm or diseased foreigners? We cannot forget that colonial mass murders started with small pox and other diseases being introduced to kill natives. These are no conspiracy theories but what actually happened in history. The success of covid-19 in Sri Lanka has been purely on the ability of our armed forces, intelligence agencies and police on the ground to quickly trace the community clusters and segregate them to prevent spreading while health authorities carried out their role. If areas were under foreign control and no access to a sovereign nation within its own country, this is a dangerous scenario. Advisors & policy makers need to take stock of this given that covid-19 is not going away any time soon.

India’s Port Development

In 2017 India announced the development of 12 mega-port projects (via Sagarmala Development Company) allocating $150m to increase Indian port capacity by 30million tonnes annually by attracting international shippers as well as set up supply chain manufacturing operations of domestically produced goods. India will also build new ports in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Karnataka.

In 2015 the Adani Vizhiniam International Container Transshipment Terminalby port developer Adani Group declared that this port was to ‘counter the growing dominance of Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port for Indian transshipment cargo’.Gadkari also hinted the ‘cabotage protections could be eased to help realize this goal’. Its goal is to handle 200million tons of cargo over next 5 years. Is Sri Lanka aware of this? Has the Sri Lankan Ports specialists thought of counter plans in the event India transfers all of India’s current transshipment handled by Colombo Port to the Adani Vizhiniam Transshipment Terminal? Colombo handled 1.2m TEUs of Indian transshipment cargo in 2014-2015 (1/4 of India’s transshipment is handled by Sri Lanka). Adani will plan to transfer this entire amount to his port. The Adani Group is no small port operator. It has cargo facilities along the East & West coast. It is already considering other avenues in Sri Lanka. The local operated South Asia Gateway Terminals run by a consortium headed by John Keells Holdings started a Build-Operate-Transfer operations on Queen Elizabeth Quay in 1999 – their 30year lease is expiring in 2020 and SAGT is also searching frantically to continue to secure its profit hold.

If Adani Group set up Vizhiniam Transshipment Terminal to counter dominance of Colombo Port, why would India field the same Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd as India’s nominee for India in the India-Japan-Sri Lanka joint partnership MOC signed in May 2019 to run Colombo East Container Terminal (ECT)? The MOC was to be signed in 6months from May 2019. That no signing took place nullifies the MoC and does not bind Sri Lanka in any way to committing to this venture by the people-rejected yahapalana government.

The unanswered question is why would India nominate the same company to presumably develop Colombo East Container Terminal when that very company is building a massive terminal in India to counter Sri Lanka?The answer is obvious and it is unlikely that ECT would see any development in a project that would end up two’s company three’s a crowd with India & Japan partners of US pivot to Asia ensuring Sri Lanka is tied down in every way from standing on its own feet and then having to watch all of Sri Lanka’s currently handled transshipment divert to India! Can Sri Lanka’s leaders watch this happen or allow this to happen to a strategic port such as Sri Lanka.  

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/gautam-adani-pm-modi-s-constant-companion-on-overseas-trips/story-CMDqyMTSNxoewGpQVqEeDK.html(Gautum Advani-PM Modi’s constant companion on overseas trips)

If India is building a hub to divert Sri Lanka’s currently operated transshipment cargo which began in 2015, it only means Sri Lanka’s Port officials should have by now developed a business plan to counter by finding ways and means to draw the volumes that is likely to be lost for Sri Lanka. Simply turning a strategically viable port into a dead duck is not the solution.

When a port that is of strategic and national security importance as that of Sri Lanka, it is important that the holding and ownership and operating powers are held by the National authorities. We are living in turbulent times. Every country, every lending institution, every ‘friend’ puts its own interest first. It’s about time Sri Lanka did so too instead of always tryng to make the other party happier. In times where countries are out to secure resources and savings for itself, what is Sri Lanka doing to secure its national interests and national assets and resources as well as safeguard the future of its populace not only for the present generation?

Never underestimate your enemy while over-estimating yourself.

Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka Study Circle”

The Sri Lanka Study Circle thanks the efforts of some patriotic people for the images reproduced below

If Gota does not open HIS mouth now and categorically and unambiguously say NO to MCC, SOFA and ACSA, the images below may well serve to be a prediction of the fate of Sri Lanka in 2050 and support the map of Sri Lanka provided in 2018 by MCC team leader Steve Dobrilovic.

 Teplitz, whose ancestry goes back to the Romany region in Bohemia, appears to be under the impression that Sri Lanka can be bought for a pottage of 480 Million USD. Many Sri Lankans aware of the American designs on the country and who abhor their strangling white- supremacist attitude openly say, Teplitz, you can keep it; why have you not taken it back as you so repeatedly threatened since 2018?”

 ​If this is not what you want our country to go through, stand up and be counted: DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY RECOGNISED POLITICAL PARTY; THEY HAVE ALL BEEN BOUGHT UP BY THE AMERICANS. VOTE FOR ANY HONOURABLE INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE WHO HAS CATEGORICALLY DENOUNCED THE MCC, SOFA AND ACSA.

People of Sri Lanka, your country needs each and every one of you in her dire hour of need to stop the Americans taking-over our beloved Island. 

An Anguished Citizen

Recently Ranil has been going around the country doing Pooja’s and celebrating his 40 years in politics. As far as I can see he was a miserable failure as a politician. It was like 40 years of mayhem. He failed to win elections 29 times, tried to win in 2010 with Sarath Fonseka in front and failed. Then in 2014 he and CBK started a campaign of lies via social media against incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa with funding from foreign NGOs. He promised cars for all, WiFi for the youth and free cell phones. Our idiotic voters fell for it and elected My3 the SLFP traitor who had hoppers with MR and then left him to contest as President of a joint front. They had secret talks with TNA and the Tamil diaspora attended by Mangala Samaraweera in Singapore and at the elections had 94% turn out of Tamils for the joint party. In spite of all these efforts, they won by a very small margin (449,072 votes). There was a lot of cheating as was shown by Dilrook Kanangara and Ravi Randeniya. 

See: https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/08/14/cheating-at-the-election/

See Maithripala then and now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvntVXWtoII

My3 broke the law when he appointed RW as the Prime Minister while the Parliament already had D. M. Jayaratna. The reason he gave was that “the West wanted it so”. I assume the West was Britain/USA nexus. In turn, Ranil changed the Cabinet when there was an existing cabinet and appointed his own henchmen. He brought the Finance Ministry under his control and then appointed Arjun Mahendran as head of Central Bank while he was still a Singaporean citizen. He also appointed Paskaralingam whose bad reputation is well known by all Sri Lankans, as head of Treasury. Arjun then did the Rs. 5,000 Million insider trading bond scam. Very little has been done to investigate this matter and bring the miscreants to justice. Ranil is the chief perpetrator since he appointed Arjun Mahendran. My3 could have prevented the gigantic second bond scam that took place in 2016 if he had removed Arjun Mahendran. He is too weak to say no to Ranil.

See: https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/02/07/bond-scam/

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd43BclpYWo

See: බැදුම්කර ඩීල් එක කරපු විදිය

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogefGxwseWg

See: https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/arjuna-mahendran-is-innocent-another-betrayal-by-yahapalanaya/

Even in the August Parliamentary election, My3 broke the law. First, My3 brought a court action to prevent the CC of UPFA from a meeting. Then he got information from National Intelligence that UPFA is going to win 113 seats. According to his own words in order to prevent his own party SLFP/UPFA from winning and to ensure that UNP wins, he wrote a 5-page letter to MR telling him that he will not be appointed as Prime Minister under any circumstances. He then went on tv and read it out to the public to reinforce his letter. He then removed the General Secretaries of both parties (UPFA & SLFP) and appointed his own. He removed the 13 members of the CC and appoints his own. All this was done during the period where the Election commissioner has said there should be no electioneering.  Was this not electioneering by My3 for the UNP during that period? All these actions confused our voting public. On top of that many have pointed out false ballot papers, counting errors etc. Democracy is a laugh in Sri Lanka. Nowhere else in the world will the party leader work for the opposition so strenuously. The election in January was flawed due to an unbelievable number of voter increase in North, East and Nuwara Eliya. As far as I can see both elections have been cheated. After the elections, the members of the gazetted National List were removed and My3 appointed people who had lost the vote to the National List. 

See:  https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/08/25/i-wrote-that-letters-sacked-secretaries-because-i-received-intelligence-reports-that-upfa-is-on-the-verge-of-winning-president-%E0%B6%BD%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%BA%E0%B7%94%E0%B6%B8%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B6%BD/

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX_RF6_jQzw

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Z2fwfgC8s

Prof. Nalin de Silva proves that My3 only got 40% of the Sinhala vote. See:  https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/01/14/press-conference-of-chinthana-parshadaya-held-on-13th-january-2016-on-the-new-constitution-and-theravada-kathikavatha/

Some of the crimes against the Sinhalese committed by CBK, My3 and Ranil are as follows:

• When 1000 soldiers were cut off without water at Elephant Pass, CBK and her nephew Rohan Daluwatte who was the army commander, did nothing to help those men who died of thirst. She could have done so many things to help these men. Instead as Chief Commander, she did nothing !! When the LTTE blew up 11 air Lanka planes the insurance money is supposed to have gone straight into her personal account. This is unforgivable. Also read about CBK’s robbery. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/081012/News/sundaytimesnews_20.html With all this money she gathered she was able to go abroad and live in U.K. for 10 years and educate her children. She is a member of Club de Madrid which is an international group with ex-leaders from all over the world. You can read a full account of her crooked activities in Victor Ivans brilliant book “Rogue Queen”.
• RW kept trying to hand over the North and East to appease Prabhakaran. He even stopped a crucial military operation in 2001 where the army knew the exact location of Prabhakaran and was ready to take him out. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZWO5fWDikQ  See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjmw8kxbMPU
• Between him and CBK they prolonged the war by listening to the so called mediators from Norway who were brought in by CBK. The Norwegians were more interested in making the LTTE win than bringing a peaceful resolution. Under their direction container loads of equipment and may be even armaments were brought in through the customs without inspection on Ranils instructions and send directly to the LTTE. Ranil demoralized the army be limiting them to the barracks and ensuring that they were not given enough money to even maintain the vehicles and munitions. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxbGojMb1xc
• Ranil tried to give 2/3 of the land to LTTE along with the Norwegians on a bogus Peace deal which was used by the LTTE to strengthen their defense systems. Entire container loads of equipment were allowed to go to the Wanni to LTTE on Ranil’s instructions. See: http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=1146733. 
• He was involved in the release of the names of the 80 odd long range Military Intelligence group to the Parliament which resulted in the names going public. The LTTE then hunted them down and killed every one of them. Some of them were captured and tortured by them to get more names. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_City_incident
• Gonawela Sunil was in jail for 10 years for rape of a doctor’s daughter. As soon as JR came into power, on the advice of RW, he released G’Sunil. After that wherever RW went Gonawela Sunil went too as his “body guard”. Sunil was collecting “kappam” from the bagging plant operators at the Fertilizer manufacturing plant. Was he sharing this with RW? Since he was protected by RW he must have, at least to buy voters? Gonawela Sunil also managed to drill into a pipeline from the refinery which was sending gasoline to Kolonnawa. He was sucking it up and selling it on the black market. Again who protected him from prosecution? !!  Finally, a rival gang member shot him. That was the end of the strange relationship between Gonawela Sunil and RW. 
•  During the uprising of the JVP both in the 1970’s and the 1988-90 period it is estimated at almost 80-90,000 youth was killed most of them who were innocent. Most of the killing was done by the UNP regime while Ranil was one of the Ministers who was in charge of bringing the JVP uprising under control. He is supposed to have set up the Batalanda torture chamber under one Douglas Pieris. It is estimated that at least 15,000 youth were tortured in the most bestial manner and then killed supposedly under the direction of Ranil Wickremasinghe. The commission which was set up to inquire into these crimes recommended that Ranil’s civic rights be removed. This was not implemented by CBK. Why? All these innocent Sinhala children are crying out for justice. There are no UNHRC officials to inquire into these crimes by the UNP and Ranil. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9t4Tv9cy60
• He was also involved with Batalanda murders of mostly JVP lawyers, I believe, from what I heard. At the Fertilizer plant housing scheme one of the houses was acquired by RW for interrogating suspected JVP members. Many people apparently heard the screams from this house in the middle of the night when people were tortured. People also used to see bodies floating down Kelani river. The Batalanda Commission report recommended that RW’s civil rights be removed. As usual, in Sri Lanka, nothing happens to Colombians and those with memberships in International Organizations like the International Democratic Union of which Ranil is a member. 

See Maithri talking against RW in 1994:  https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/01/10/batalanda/

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqSW3cKNb7k

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Av-d2qJ0Ys

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV6_o9txURc

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgVyaHJGhc45. 

See: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9t4Tv9cy60

• Ranil has been insulting to Buddhism. He pretends to be Buddhist but is actually neither Buddhist or Christian when one looks at his actions at Batalanda. Anyone with an iota of humanity would not have what he is supposed to have done. 

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RddXfSU0aSE

• Ranil has always been trying to sell Sri Lanka to foreigners. Every time he got some power into his hands he set about trying to convert our economy to a capitalist economy not withstanding the fact that Sri Lanka is designated as a Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. When he was elected as the PM he started privatizing almost 991 profit making state enterprises. Some places like the Sevanagala Sugar factory was privatized and the new owners removed the assets and ran it to the ground. Then when MR came into power he brought most of them back to being state enterprises. Now before Ranil leaves he wants to sell the most important strategically important ports to Chinese and Indians. As soon as he came into power the first step he took was to change the law which prohibited the sale of land to foreigners so that foreigners could buy large acreages of land. 
• Pure Capitalism does not work. There are many top economists who have written on the topic. One of the most outspoken has been Dr. Richard Wolf. His famous talk Capitalism hits the fan is given below. His solution for ills of pure capitalism is to have democracy in the work place. The Mondragon Corporation in Spain is actually a large number of Co-operatives under the umbrella of Mondragon. This was set up with the blessings of the Catholic Church. In the USA there are many companies which are run as co-operatives where the employees participate in the decision making of the company affairs by being on the board. In Germany which has been very successful any company with over 2000 employees have to have at least 50% of employees on the board. This is why unlike USA Germany is very successful. In 2008 when the recession hit many companies in the USA laid off people in millions. In Germany, the Govt informed the companies not to lay off any one. They suggested that they can reduce the number of hours of employees but keep all employed. In return, the German Govt paid the wages of the companies who had reduced the number of hours of employees so that no one lost any money. The net result was that the people had money in the pocket and were spending it thereby keeping the economy rolling. They hardly felt the recession, unlike the stupid USA Corporations.

Please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZU3wfjtIJY ( Capitalism Hits the Fan – Richard Wolff)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WhZXhRS3F4 ( Austerity and Neoliberalism in Greece with Richard Wolff and Barry Herman | The New School)

• Ranil is supposed to have agreed to a bridge to Sri Lanka from India in 2002. We can be sure it is on his agenda if he remains as PM. In an export-oriented economy which is what Ranil wants one of the main requirements is cheap labor. In order to do that, he has destroyed the agrarian economy and impoverished the rural folk. MR was trying to make the country self-sufficient in food and most commodities. In fact, before the Yahapalanaya came into power Sri Lanka was self-sufficient in rice. Now we are importing rice from Thailand, Burma, and even Bangladesh. How pathetic. 

See:http://www.atimes.com/article/sri-lankans-oppose-bridge-with-india/

• The UN has become just a puppet of powerful countries to bully small defenseless countries. Sri Lanka has been pummelled by the UN and the UNHRC on bogus War crimes charges without any proof. Please see this excellent article on this subject: https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/09/06/who-monitors-the-monitors-iii/ On his instructions presumably, Mangla Samaraweera co-sponsored a resolution against Sri Lanka. 
• It is very obvious that Ranil Wickremasinghe has no love for the country or the people. He has been a stooge of the powerful countries right from the beginning. He came into power as the PM illegally on Jan 8’15 after the Presidential election when the spineless My3 was elected as President and he then appointed RW as PM when there were an existing PM and a Parliament with a cabinet. 
• Ranil then caused the Central Bank bond scam by appointing a foreigner as the Governor of Central Bank who proceeded to do a bond scam which has cost Sri Lanka a massive amount of money. Part of this money was used by him for the General Election in Aug 2015 which the UNP won only narrowly. Again the spineless My3 created a so-called National Govt as a coalition of the UNP and all the MPs who were rejected by the people who were brought in under the National List by the spineless My3. 
•  The current Parliament is a comedy since the TNA which got only 16 seats is the Opposition while the 52 SLFP members who did not join the coalition are in the wilderness without any official recognition. All the JO group members are harassed at every turn by another illegal group called the FCID created by RW. He seems to get all these brilliant ideas which are obviously coming from the think tanks of the powerful countries. 
•  Ranil is supposed to be trying to bankrupt the country so that we are helpless like Greece and he is also supposed to be trying to lease out 5000 acre lots of land to foreigners for 100-year leases. This will enable the Tamil diaspora to lease out most of the North and East for exclusive use by the Tamils thereby creating a separate state. He has already given 15,000 acres on a 99-year lease to a Chinese company based in Hong Kong presumably with British interests. This is a great crime against the country since if it was managed the way MR was doing it would have paid for itself in about 5 years. In the days of the King of Kandy traitors like this were pulled apart to pieces by elephants which is what he deserves.

The biggest problem Sri Lanka has is that the entire Colombo group is more or less very Westernized. They are so Westernized that they are more Western than the Westerners themselves! They talk with a big accent and if you go to any of the clubs you find the men and the women are like from another age of the West. They drink only whiskey, brandy, and imported liquor. You see girls dancing and with girls and kissing each other trying to emulate the West. They travel in luxury limousines like BMWs and Benzes. The children are sent to International Schools, as a result, they are completely divorced from the realities of Sri Lanka. The poor go to the middle east to make the foreign exchange which is used by these Colombians to maintain their lifestyle at the expense of the development in the country. If you look at the number of luxury vehicles you cannot imagine that the country is paying 94% of its earning to pay the foreign debts. These parasites are the biggest supporters of the UNP and Ranil. 

The other groups are the Christian Catholic groups who want to convert the entire island to their religion (which is mythology) as has been done in South Korea, etc. The foreign companies who have now put deep roots in Sri Lanka also want to make sure they are secure so they support the UNP and Ranil. One of these days the dominoes will fall and when that happens there will be a massive upheaval hopefully for the better for all who are truly patriotic and love Sri Lanka. 

Any other Govt which comes into power after this ridiculous puppet Govt must carry out a plan to correct all the mistakes that have been done over the years by successive Govts. We must rename the country as “Sinhale” which was the name of the country in the Treaty the British signed with the Chieftains of Sri Lanka in 1815 when they handed over the country to them.  They must have an inquiry into the activities of Ranil Wickremasinghe over the years and prosecute him. When the Batalanda commission found him guilty and removed his civic rights how did he manage to run for PM? Why is that no one raised any arguments against him? 

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

While the fractured opposition UNP/SJB is in a perennial bout to defeat each other and capture/retain power in the Sirikotha the foreign servile JVP, NGO vultures and the TNA as well as the racist constituents of the SJB seem to be making all efforts to thwart the imminent possibility of the SLPP getting a comfortable two thirds majority in the August 5^th Parliamentary elections.  The SLPP’s main collective slogan in the Agust 5^th election has become accord us two thirds majority to get rid of the abhorrent 19^th amendment and make appropriate changes to the 13^th amendment which had been forcibly enforced on us”.  The NGO vultures have already written a plethora of articles and held some media conferences to horrify the voters against allowing SLPP to become successful in their bid, while the patriotic groups have entered the fray in support of getting two thirds majority for the SLPP.

The winning of two thirds majority has become crucial as it is very clear that the Constitutional Council (CC) appointed by the last government will continue to function as an organ outside Parliament and it would politically hinder all progressive measures that will be taken by the new government since this CC is empowered to function until October, 2021.  Already a member of this CC, Javed Yousef has engaged in political activities against the SLPP.  We should not allow this situation to be continued until Octobert 2021 and immediate step should be taken to arrest this possibility by repealing the 19^th Amendment. There should be an only one all powerful government and people’s aspirations need to be fulfilled and the hardships they suffered should be alleviated..

This Javed, a well known UNP flunky who has even served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Saudi Arabia under the UNP government and now serving as a Constitutional Council member,  has thrown  his weight behind a fresh initiative by civil society grouping, Freedom: People’s Collective project, to prevent the ruling SLPP from securing a two-thirds majority to abolish the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Addressing a group of foreign servile unpatriotic civil society activists at the New Town Hall, Yusuf has emphasiszed the pivotal importance of protecting the 19th Amendment, enacted by the Sirisena/Ranil government.  In spite of the dissolution of parliament, the 10-member CC functions under the leadership of black sheep Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. Yusuf is one of the three civil society members in the CC, established in terms of the 19th Amendment.

Yousuf has emphasized that instead of repealing, the 19th Amendment it should be further strengthened, and has asserted that if not for the Election Commission (EC) established in terms of the said Amendment, the government would have gone ahead with parliamentary polls, on April 25, regardless of the crisis caused by the highly contagious coronavirus.

Yousuf has alleged that the public hadn’t really understood the importance of the reforms brought about by the 19th Amendment and warned that attempts were being made to reverse significant achievements since the enactment of the new law.

At the onset of this meeting, the editor of political weekly Anidda, K.W. Janaranjana, has declared that their efforts were initiated, following talks with former Speaker Karu Jayasuriyawho wanted them to reach a consensus among the civil society on how to deal with a dictatorial administration. Janaranjana has asserted the need for short and long term strategies to face the growing threat posed by the incumbent government project to abolish the 19th Amendment.

Former TNA MP and Jaffna District candidate at the August 5 parliamentary polls, M.A. Sumanthiran (one of the key architects of the 19A along with Jayampathy Wickramaratne ), Self appointed Executive Director of the foreign sustained NGO, Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, former President of the Bar Association Upul Jayasuriya PC, Dharmasiri Bandaranayake, Lucien Bulathsinhala and Sandya Ekneligoda, the wife of missing media personality Prageeth Ekneligoda, whose disappearance was blamed on the Rodhiya caste Chgampika Ranawaka have attended this Forum. 

The JVP National List Candidate, Lal Wijenayake, who heads a foreign sustained NGO outfit named Lawyers for Democracy which mushroomed in the latter part of another 48 foreign funded NGO outfits in the grand conspiracy to launch an intensive fake news campaign aimed at toppling Mahinda Rajapaksa government, has expressed fears about the SLPP getting two-thirds majority in the election. He has said that it does not augur well for the country politically and the government’s main aim is to dispense with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and this pseudo Marxist’s main concern is that in the event of introducing a new constitution not only the horrendous19th amendment which he helped his associate Jayampathy to formulate with Sumanthiran but also that the 15^th amendment which was introduced by Premadasa on the behest of Ashroff to reduce the minimum percentage of votes from 12.5% to 5% will get abolished and the JVP will then have no say in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary politics.  Indeed, this is a vital change to be made in the introduction ofa new constitution as it would close the doors of racist political parties such as Muslim Congress, JHU Indian origin Tamils’ TPA, and ACMC which were blackmailing main political parties all these years to stop their blackmailing..

The highly worried JVP National List candidates Ashoka Peiris, Upul Kumarapperuma, Dr. Nishantha Abeysena, Chamila Thushari and Muneer Mulaffer have also expressed views in support of Lal Wijenayake’s demand.

Meanwhile, the notorious political chameleon, Sri Lanka’s worst foreign servile NGO culprit, and intensely docile to Tamil separatism Dayan Jayatilleke, who was a Cabinet Minister in the Varadaraja Perumal’s North Eastern provincial government, and who unsuccessfully attempted to creep into the Viyathmaga professionals group certainly with a hidden motive of creating dissension in the group and who was kicked out by the group has now joined with the slippery SJB group and is reported to have conducted political orientation classes to imbecile Sajith Premadasa amd some of others of the SJB – the shameless jabbering bandits.  After working with Varadaraja Perumal he joined President Premadasa as his advisor and served from 1989 until his assassination.  During this period he went to Kanatte cemetery to attend the funeral of General Denzil Kobbekadwa killed by the LTTE allegedly on the instigation of Premadasa this traitor was stripped naked by the bereaving and angry crowd and chased out of the cemetery premises.  When this tongue twister was nominated as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation, a protest letter signed by 38 individuals and 14 civil society groups was sent to the Secretary of the High Post Evaluation Committee of the Parliament opposing the appointment.  Nevertheless the ignoramus Sirisena, perhaps due to some personal reasons proceeded with the appointment. 

After returning from Russia and after getting repulsed by the Rajapaksas, and having no possibility of getting into the UNP camp either, this shameless nincompoop has found solace in SJB which has got swelled only by persons of his ilk who have no clear destiny or who have joined for personal safety.  He has now taken a prominent role to foil the government obtaining the already conspicuous two thirds majority. Posting an article in Lanka News Brief” website under the title The Tragic Two Thirds Trap”  this political chameleon find faults with President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for mot rendering the National Anthem in Tamil on the independence day and says that it was a recommendation made by the LLRC appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his second term, headed by a distinguished patriotic public servant, CR ‘Bulla’ de Silva, handed over to the (then) President and cited by Sri Lanka in Geneva pre-2015.

This foreign servile nincompoop then says a parliamentary two-thirds majority is rare in a democracy and it did happen twice in Sri Lanka though and on both occasions, the results across the spectrum, for the country, the state, the government, the rulers and ruling party, were devastating. Nobody gained, but everyone lost. He states that the political blocs that were dominant during the two-thirds majorities were as different from each other ideologically and programmatically as was possible and each was swept into office by a pendulum swing against the other.

This chameleon points out that the centre-left United Front Government (1970-1977) led by the SLFP and headed by Sirimavo Bandaranaike and the centre-Right UNP Government (1977-1988) headed by J.R. Jayewardene were the two administrations that enjoyed a two-thirds majority in Parliament and each administration used that majority to produce and promulgate a new Constitution. These constitutions had a disastrous political and eventually economic track record, culminating in political catastrophe.

Coming to his pet subject of Tamil servility he notes that while the first JVP insurrection on April 1971 was a shock, its suppression was an excessively bloody affair which sent wider shock waves throughout society. More damaging over the long term was the mishandling of the Tamil issue.

At the 1970 General Election, the main Tamil party called for a rejection of ethnic separatism and a vote instead for federalism and swept the polls. At the very next General Election, the sole slogan of the mainstream Tamil formation was for a mandate for an independent, sovereign, secular, socialist Tamil Eelam”, and it swept the hustings again. (He deliberately hide the facts that the said Tamil Ealam manifesto was based the despicable Vaddukkodai Reolution which called upon the Ramil youth to take up arms and fight unceasingly until they establish the Ealam). During the term of the United Front government ensconced within its majoritarian two-thirds armour, an irreversible alienation and radicalisation of Tamil consciousness took place.

When the United Front coalition was in the opposition (1965-1970), its fight against the ruling centre-right, socially insensitive, pro-west UNP of Dudley Senanayake was partially distorted in 1966 by the introduction of a racist slogan Dudley gey badey masala vadai”. This campaign was against the lukewarm, minimalist concessions (for District Councils and Tamil as a regional administrative language) that the Senanayake government had agreed to with the Tamil parties.(The government ordered the Police to shoot at the demonstrators and a Buddhist monk was killed and Dudley Senanayake went into records as the first Sri Lankan Prime Minister responsible for killing a Buddhist priest while in office)

When the 1970 General Election came around, the centre-left coalition had a Sinhala chauvinist ideological strand and caucus (of which Nath Amarakoon and V.W. Kularatne were notable personalities). This lobby had a disproportionate influence on policy, and the measure of district-wise and media-wise standardisation of marks for university entrance was promulgated, impacting most adversely upon Tamil students. Their protests were met with severity.

(This nincompoop deliberately hides the background that warranted introduction of the Standardization system by a committee headed by Minister Pieter Keuneman.  It had been veritably found by surveys carried by several individuals and civil society organizations that prior to University entrance examinations, the Tamil professors and lecturers, who were dominant at that time, particularly at the University of Peradeniya, conducted clandestine night classes for Tamil students and apprised them the questions the questions they will face and the answers that should be furnished and also they were instructed to write the phrase Oam” on top of their answer scripts.  Can anyone justify this horrendous and illegal act  of Tamil academics?)

Matters were exacerbated with the promulgation of a new Constitution. The moderate six-point proposal of the main Tamil party was ignored by Madam Bandaranaike and the new Constitution went ahead, rolling back the implicit social contract entered into during the Soulbury Constitution, and entrenching the hegemony of one language and religion in a multiethnic society.

The momentum of a freshly elected Can-Do” President combined with natural popularity of the PM, repugnance-driven public recoil away from an antiquated non-liberal political elite and its track record. The absence of a progressive democratic mainstream alternative to conservative nationalism (unlike in the U.S.A) and the refusal of the JVP to re-boot its appeal by reconfiguring its compromised leadership, make it more likely than not that Sri Lanka will be caught, mainly by default, in the tragic two-thirds trap.   

(This foreign servile and elitist nincompoop should understand that this country lost all its grandeur and heritage, together with all steps taken to modernize and industrialize the country from 1970 under UNP administrations which made the people foreign dependent.  Time has come for all the shackles of foreign bondage and servility mindsets to be removed and the past glory and magnificence to be re-established.  The golden opportunity for this exercise is now knocking on our doors and we should not miss this rare opportunity since the opposition is in shambles fighting each other to capture/retain the party office Sirikotha and Tamil parties are unable to get more than 15 seats.  Hence, all nationalistic minded people should get together devoid of party, colour, ethnic, religious and caste affiliations and ensure the government gets a comfortable two thirds majority on the August 5^th election.)

The pendulum swung to an even greater extent in 1977 than it had in 1970, and J.R. Jayewardene’s UNP won a five-sixths majority in Parliament, not merely a two-thirds.

During the years the UNP government enjoyed a five-sixths parliamentary majority, the island had a new Constitution which erected a Presidential political model qualitatively superior to the Westminster system but distorted by over-concentration and hyper-centralisation of power in the hands of the executive president, with neither the bicameral legislature that accompanies the French presidency nor the strong tripartite demarcation ensuring the separation of powers and checks-and-balances that hedges in the US Presidency.

That period of history, 1977-1988 (the UNP lost the 2/3rds but defeated the JVP in 1989) witnessed massive civil wars, mini-civil wars within civil wars (the ultranationalist JVP and LTTE vs. the anti-racist Sinhala and Tamil Left), serial assassinations, external military intervention, and the world’s worst terrorism until 9/11 in the next century.

The Jayewardene government sought to freeze the two-thirds plus majority by extending the term of the sitting

Parliament through postponing the holding of parliamentary elections on the grounds that stability and continuity are imperative for rapid economic development”—which is an argument we hear once again today, having been proved a deadly dangerous myth in the decade of the 1980s.

(Another silly attempt to mislead the voters! What the Prime Minister says today is that the Siriseba/.Ranil government stalled all the development work and was only involved in avenging former Ministers, parliamentarians, their family members and even respected Buddhist priests.  Foreign  loans obtained since 2015 was utilized for importing super luxury vehicles for Ministers and government MPs who got strangely affected by acute back aches though they entered politics riding bicycles and wearing rubber slippers. Sirisena at the time he left

  A two-thirds majority removes political competition. It makes the system lopsided and unbalanced..

• A two-thirds majority creates a top-heavy system, especially but not only, if honeycombed and made heavier still by layers of preferential/patronage networks based on ethnic, religious, regional, clan, occupational, educational and factional factors. 
• A two-thirds majority removes balance and restraint, and enables you to do things unilaterally just because you have the arithmetic to do so;
• A two-thirds majority means that within your impregnable suit of political heavy armour you think you don’t have to reach consensus through pragmatism and prudence.
• A two-thirds majority is the end of systemic equilibrium and is its very antipode. It is an invitation to adventurism. It removes brakes and encourages speeding which leads to skidding and a crash.
• A 2/3rds majority is not the road that leads to Realism, it is the path that leads to delusion and hubris. It keeps you permanently domiciled in Plato’s Cave, and is not the way out into the much vaster real world.
• A two thirds majority leads you astray from the Middle Path and the Golden Mean, tempting you to extremes. I wouldn’t wish it on any administration, whatever distance I may take from its values, mentality, ideology, discourse, and project.

This Foreign and Tamil separatist poodle who sternly opposes the two thirds majority seems to be hiding his real motive for opposing this imminent possibility, and the promulgation of a nationalistic constitution so that the country get back to its past glory and grandeur.  This Tamil separatist poodle was an extreme advocate of granting 13A-Plus for Tamils saying that it would help to solve all the problems in the country.  While serving as Sri Lanka’s representative in Geneva he misused his diplomatic privileges and mustered the international community to urge Sri Lanka to grnt 13A-Plus, which led the government to sack him from the Geneva post.

To be continued …………………

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

චිනුවා අචෙබේ අප්‍රිකාවේ  බලගතු ලේඛකයෙකි. ඔහු අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යයේ ස්වාධීනත්වය තහවුරු කිරීමට වෙහෙස ගත්තේය. නූතන අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යය නිර්වචනය කිරීමේදී ඔහුගේ බලපෑම ප්‍රබලය. අචෙබේ ගේ නිර්මාණ ලෝක සාහිත්‍යයට ස්ථාවර හා කේන්ද්‍රීය දායකත්වයක් සපයයි. හාවඩ් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ දාර්ශනික කේ. ඇන්තනි අප්පියා  පවසන පරිදි  චිනුවා අචෙබේ “අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යයේ ආරම්භක පියාය. 

චිනුවා අචෙබේ  1930 නොවැම්බර් 16 වැනිදා නයිජීරියාවේදී උපත ලැබුවේය. අචෙබේ හැදී වැඩුණේ නයිජීරියාවේ ඔගිඩි හි ඉග්බෝ ( ඉබෝ ) නගරයේ ය.  ඔහු ඉබාදාන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල විද්‍යාලයෙන් උපාධිය ලැබීය. උපාධිය ලැබීමෙන් පසු ඔහු නයිජීරියානු ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයේ සේවය කලේය.  චිනුවා අචෙබේ 1950 ගණන්වල සිට නයිජීරියාවේ ක්‍රියාකාරී  මහජන චරිතයක් විය. 1966 වන විට අචෙබේ ජාත්‍යන්තර සාහිත්‍ය ප්‍රජාවේ විශිෂ්ට සාමාජිකයෙකු බවට පත්විය. 1967 දී බියෆ්‍රා  කලාපය නයිජීරියාවෙන් වෙන් වූ විට, අචෙබේ බියෆ්‍රා  නිදහසේ කැපවූ ආධාරකරුවෙකි. බියෆ්‍රා වෙන්වීම මාස තිහක සිවිල් යුද්ධයක් ඇති  කල අතර 1970 දී නයිජීරියානු රජය බියෆ්‍රා  කලාපය නැවත අත්පත් කර ගත්තේය. අචෙබේ පසුව යුරෝපයට හා ඇමරිකාවට පලා ගිය අතර එහිදී ඔහු බියෆ්‍රා  කටයුතු ගැන ලිවීය. 1972 සිට 1976 දක්වා අචෙබේ  එක්සත් ජනපදයේ ඇම්හර්ස්ට් හි මැසචුසෙට්ස් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ සේවය කලේය.

චිනුවා අචෙබේ ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් මුල් කාලීන අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබා ගත් නමුත් ඔහු හැදී වැඩුණේ ඉබෝ සම්ප්‍රදායන් අනුවය. ඔහු ෂේක්ස්පියර්, ඩිකන්ස්, රොබට් ලුවී ස්ටීවන්සන් සහ ජොනතන් ස්විෆ්ට් යන ලේඛකයන් ගේ කෘති කියවීය. අප්‍රිකාවේ  ක්‍රිස්ටෝපර් ඔකිග්බෝ කවියා ඔහුගේ මිතුරෙකු විය. 1957 දී ගෝල්ඩ් කෝස්ට්  (ගහනා ) බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයෙන් නිදහස කරා ගෙන ගිය පළමු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා සහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා  වූ “අප්‍රිකාවේ ආඩම්බරය” ලෙස හඳුන්වන ලද Kwame Nkrumah ගේ දර්ශනය ඔහුට  විශාල ලෙස බලපෑවේය.

බොහෝ බටහිර සුදු ලේඛකයින් අප්‍රිකාව සහ අප්‍රිකාවේ මිනිසුන් පිලිබඳව පහත් ආකල්ප සහිතව ලියා තිබීම චිනුවා අචෙබේව කනස්සල්ලට පත් කලේය. මෙකී යුරෝපීය ලේඛකයින් අප්‍රිකා මහාද්වීපය  පිළිබඳ චිත්‍රය ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත්තේ  ප්‍රාථමික මනසක් ඇති නොදියුණු මිනිසුන් වාසය කරන අඳුරු ස්ථානයක් ලෙසටය. යටත් විජිතවාදය ගැන ලියූ බොහෝ බටහිර ලේඛකයින් (ජෝශප් කොන්‍රාඩ්, ජෝර්ජ් ඕවල්, හර්මන් මෙල්විල් සහ ග්‍රැහැම් ග්‍රීන් ද ඇතුළුව) අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයට විරුද්ධ වූ නමුත්, ඔවුන් යටත් විජිතවාසීන් නිරූපනය කරන ලද්දේ බොහෝ විට ප්‍රාථමික මිනිසුන් ලෙසටය. අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී මතය වූයේ අඩු සංවර්ධිත ලෝකයේ සුදු ජාතිකයින් නොවන ජනතාව ශිෂ්ටාචාරගත කිරීම  ශිෂ්ට සුදු ජාතීන් ගේ යුතුකමක් හා   වගකීමක් වන අතර අවසානයේ එය ‘වයිට් මෑන්ස් බර්ඩන්’ ලෙස නම් කරන ලදී. මෙම සංකල්පය ආරම්භ වන්නේ රඩ්යාර්ඩ් කිප්ලිංගේ කාව්‍යයකිනි. බටහිර සාහිත්‍යයෙහි අප්‍රිකානු සාරධර්ම හා සංස්කෘතිය යුරෝපීයයන්ට වඩා පහත් බව පෙන්වා දී තිබෙන බව වටහා ගත් අචෙබේ අප්‍රිකාවේ තත්‍ය ස්වභාවය ලොවට කියනු වස් ප්‍රබල අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යයක සිහින දැක්කේය. නව නයිජීරියානු සාහිත්‍ය ව්‍යාපාරයක් සොයා ගැනීමට ඔහුට අවශ්‍ය විය. අධිරාජ්‍යවාදය සහ බටහිර ආධිපත්‍යය විසින් සිරගත කරන ලද යථාර්ථයන්ට පටහැනිව ඔහු කරුණු ඉදිරිපත්  කලේය.  අචෙබේ පෙන්වා දුන් පරිදි, කොන්රාඩ්ගේ නවකතාව වන හාර්ට් ඔෆ් ඩාර්ක්නස් (1899/1902) අප්‍රිකාව නිරූපණය කළේ ‘යුරෝපයේ ප්‍රතිවිරෝධය ලෙසයි. අප්‍රිකානුවන්ට මනුෂ්‍යත්වයේ කිසිදු සමානකමක් අහිමි වූ අතර හුදු සතුන්ගේ මට්ටමට අඩු විය. එවැනි පුද්ගලාරෝපණය ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම භයානක වූ බව අචෙබේ පවසයි එය අප්‍රිකානු ජනයාගේ ඉතිහාසය ද අහිමි කර දැමූ බව ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙයි.  

අප්‍රිකානුවෙකු විසින් ඔහුගේ දෘෂ්ටිකෝණයෙන් අප්‍රිකාව පිළිබඳ කියවීමට පාඨකයාව සූදානම් කිරීම අචෙබේ ගේ මුල්ම කර්තව්‍ය විය.  ඔහු අප්‍රිකාව පිළිබඳ පවත්නා දෝෂ සහිත බටහිර දෘෂ්ටියට අභියෝග කලේය. චිනුවා අචෙබේ විසින් පොත් 20 කට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් ලියා ඇත. අචෙබේ සිය නවකතා ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ලිවීය.  චිනුවා අචෙබේ ප්‍රබන්ධයේ බලය සහ සෑම පිරිමියෙකුගේම හා ස්ත්‍රියකගේම කතාවේ වැදගත්කම ගැන  විශ්වාසය කරයි. 

නයිජීරියාවේ ආමොස් ටුටුඕලා ,  සයිප්‍රියන් එක්වෙන්සි සහ දකුණු අප්‍රිකාවේ සොල් ප්ලැට්ජේ සහ පීටර් ඒබ්‍රහම්ස්, අචෙබේට පෙර ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් වැදගත් නවකතා ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කර තිබුණි. නමුත් ඔවුන් ගේ කෘති අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රජාව ග්‍රහණය කර ගත්තේ නැත. චිනුවා අචෙබේ සහ අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යයේ නව නිපැයුමකි. ඔහුගේ කෘති අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රජාව දක්වා පැතිරුණි. 1958 ට පෙර අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යයක් ඇති බවට බොහෝ දෙනෙකු දැන සිටියේ නැත. චිනුවා අචෙබේ  සාහිත්‍ය ලෝකයට අප්‍රිකාව ඇතුළත් කිරීම සඳහා ලෝකයේ සාහිත්‍ය සංකල්පය පුළුල් කලේය. අචෙබේ අප්‍රිකානු ජාතිකයින් සඳහා සදාචාරාත්මක හා සාහිත්‍යමය ආකෘතියක් වූ අතර මොරිසන්, හජින් සහ ජූනොට් ඩයස් වැනි ඇමරිකානු ලේඛකයින් කෙරෙහි ප්‍රබල බලපෑමක් ඇති කළේය.

1958 දී අචෙබේ සිය පළමු නවකතාව වන Things Fall Apart ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළේය.මෙම නවකතාව අප්‍රිකානු සමාජයක තත්‍ය ප්‍රතිරූපයක් සපයයි. අචෙබේගේ නවකතාව අප්‍රිකානු ලෝකය පිළිබඳ නව දැක්මක් විවරණය කළ අතර අප්‍රිකානු අත්දැකීම් පිළිබඳ නව හැඟීමක් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළේය. ස්වදේශික අප්‍රිකානු සංස්කෘතිය සහ සුදු ක්‍රිස්තියානි මිෂනාරිවරුන්ගේ සහ නයිජීරියාවේ යටත් විජිත ආණ්ඩුවේ බලපෑම අතර ගැටුම පිළිබඳ නවකතාව කේන්ද්‍රගත වේ.  1800 ගණන්වල අගභාගයේදී යුරෝපීය යටත් විජිතවාදීන් සහ මිෂනාරිවරුන්ගේ පැමිණීම නිසා ඉබෝ සමාජයට ඇති වූ බලපෑම මෙම පොතේ විස්තර කෙරේ. එය අප්‍රිකානු දෘෂ්ටිකෝණයකින් යුරෝපීය යටත් විජිතකරණය පිළිබඳ කතාව පැවසූ පළමු පොත් වලින් එකකි. තවද ඉබෝ සමාජයේ පොහොසත් සංස්කෘතිය හා සංකීර්ණතා මෙම පොත විස්තර කරයි. එය අප්‍රිකාවේ ජනතාව සඳහා පරිකල්පනීය සවිඥානකතාව ගැඹුරු ලෙස නැවත ඇණවුම් කිරීමක් විය. කතුවරයා ඉබෝ භාෂාවේ වචන හඳුන්වා දෙන අතර නයිජීරියානු හිතෝපදේශ, රූපක සහ කථන රිද්ම භාවිතා කරයි. Things Fall Apart සාහිත්‍ය සම්භාව්‍යයක් ලෙස පිළිගෙන තිබෙන කෘතියකි. නයිජීරියානු සාහිත්‍ය පුනරුදය නිර්මාණය කිරීමට මෙම නවකතාව සමත් විය. ඔප්රා වින්ෆ්රි එය “අවම වශයෙන් එක් වරක් කියවිය යුතු පොත් පහෙන් එකක්” ලෙස ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළේය.

“Things Fall Apart”  එය සාම්ප්‍රදායික අප්‍රිකානු මිනිසෙකුට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත් විජිතවාදයේ ඛේදනීය බලපෑම පිළිබඳ ගවේෂණයකි. අචෙබේගේ නවකතාව කිසිසේත් ගෝත්‍රික සංස්කෘතිය සැමරීමේ උත්සවයක් නොවන බව පැහැදිලිය. මෙම කෘතිය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කිරීමෙන් වසරකට පසු ප්‍රධාන සාහිත්‍ය සම්මානය වන මාග්‍රට් වොන් අනුස්මරණ ත්‍යාගය දිනා ගන්නා ලදී. මෙම නවකතාව හරහා කතුවරයා අප්‍රිකානු සංස්කෘතික සම්ප්‍රදාය හා අනන්‍යතාව පිළිබඳ සංකීර්ණ චිත්‍රයක් නිර්මාණය කරයි. නවකතාවේ වැදගත්ම පණිවිඩය වන්නේ සුදු යුරෝපීය ශිෂ්ටාචාරයයේ ප්‍රබල රැල්ල යටතේ ඉබෝ සංස්කෘතිය, එහි සම්ප්‍රදායන්, සිරිත් විරිත් සහ ආගම ක්‍රමයෙන් අභාවයට යාමයි. අචෙබේ සිය නවකතාවේ අප්‍රිකානු සංස්කෘතියේ බිඳ වැටීම විස්තර කරයි.  අචෙබේ, ක්‍රිස්තියානි ධර්මය ආගමක් ලෙස විවේචනය නොකර, අප්‍රිකානු සංස්කෘතියට වල කැපීම සඳහා සුදු යටත් විජිතවාදීන් භාවිතා කළ ක්‍රමවේදයන් විවේචනය කරන බව පැහැදිලිය.

1890 ගණන්වල දිග හැරෙන  මෙම නවකතාවේ දක්‍ෂ මල්ලවපොර ක්‍රීඩකයෙකු ලෙස කීර්තිමත් ඉබෝ රණශූරයෙකු වන ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ කතාව සඳහන් වේ.  ඔකොන්ක්වෝ   වයස තිස් ගණන්වල පසුවන  සාර්ථක ගොවියෙකු ලෙස හැඳින්වේ. ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ පියා යුනෝකා කම්මැලි හා නාස්තිකාර මිනිසෙකි. ඔහු බොහෝ විට මුදල් ණයට ගත් අතර පසුව එය පාම් වයින් සහ මිතුරන් සමඟ විනෝද වීම සඳහා නාස්ති කළේය. ඔහු කම්මැලිකම සහ බියගුලුකම නිසා ප්‍රසිද්ධ පුද්ගලයෙකි. ප්‍රජාව තුළ, යුනෝකා අසාර්ථක හා හාස්‍ය ගෙන දෙන සළකුණක් ලෙස සලකනු ලැබීය. ඔහුව හැඳින්වූයේ අග්බාලා ලෙසය. වැඩිහිටි මිනිසෙකු ලෙස, යුනෝකා අසාර්ථක යැයි සලකනු ලැබූ අතර, ඔහුගේ බිරිඳ සහ දරුවන්ට කෑම සැපයීමට පවා ඔහු අපොහොසත් විය. යුනෝකා මිය යන විට ඔහුට කිසිදු පදවි නාමයක් නොතිබූ අතර ඔහු තවමත් ණය බරින් මිරිකී සිටියේය.

ඔකොන්ක්වෝ තම පියාගේ නිරුත්සාහී සහ පාදඩ ජීවන මාර්ගය හෙළා දකී. තම පියාගේ දුර්වලකම් හේතුවෙන් තමාට දැනෙන ලැජ්ජාව මඟහරවා ගැනීමට ඔහු අධිෂ්ඨාන කර ගත්තේය. තරුණ වියේදී ඔකොන්ක්වෝ  මල්ලව පොර තරඟයකදී අමලින්සේව පරාජය කරමින්  තම ගමට ගෞරවය ගෙන ආවේය. සාම්ප්‍රදායිකව පුරුෂභාවය අගය කරන සංස්කෘතියක් තුළට පිවිසීමට ඔකොන්ක්වෝ උත්සාහ කරයි. ඔහුගේ භාර්යාවන් තිදෙනෙකු සහ දරුවන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු ඔහුගේ ගමේ පරිශ්‍රයේ නිවෙස්වල වාසය කරති. ඔහු තම පියා වැනි අසාර්ථක මිනිසුන් කෙරෙහි නොඉවසිලිමත් වේ. ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ ජීවිතයේ ඉලක්කය වන්නේ ඔහුගේ ගමේ නායකයෙකු වීමයි. ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ ජීවිතය ආධිපත්‍යය දරන්නේ අසාර්ථකත්වයට හා දුර්වලකමට ඇති බියයි. එනම් ඔහු තම පියාට සමාන වනු ඇතැයි යන බියයි.

සුදු ජාතිකයන් ගමට පැමිණීම ගමේ විනාශය සනිටුහන් කරයි. ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ සහ ඔහුගේ ජනතාවගේ සාම්ප්‍රදායික ආගම මුලිනුපුටා දැමීමට අමතරව, සුදු ජාතිකයන්   යුක්තිය පසිඳලීමේ ක්‍රමය භාරගෙන තිබේ. ක්‍රිස්තියානි මිෂනාරිවරු අප්‍රිකානු සංස්කෘතියේ සිරිත් විරිත් පහත් කොට සලකති. මිෂනාරිවරුන්ගේ පළමු බඳවා ගැනීම් වන්නේ ගමේ දුර්වල හා වැදගැම්මකට නැති මිනිසෙකු වූ එෆුලෙෆු ය. කාන්තාවන් ඇතුළු ගම්වාසීන් වැඩි කල් නොගොස් ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගමට හැරේ. බොහෝ පිරිමින් ඔවුන්ගේ පදවි නාමයන් අතහැර දමා ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගමට හැරෙති. ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ  පුතා ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගමට හැරෙන අතර ප්‍රතිඑලයක් ලෙස ඔකොන්ක්වෝ ඔහුව ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කළේය.  සුදු මිනිසුන් සිරගෙයක් ඉදිකර ඇත. ඔවුන් රජයේ අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවා ඇති අතර එහිදී සුදු ජාතිකයාගේ නීති කඩ කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් මිනිසුන්ට නඩු පවරනු ලැබේ. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත් විජිතවාදය සහ ක්‍රිස්තියානි මිෂනාරිවරුන් හඳුන්වා දීමෙන් ඔහුගේ ලෝකය විනාශ වේ. යටත් විජිතවාදී ව්‍යවසාය විසින් උමූෆියා ගම්මානය විනාශ කිරීම  ඔහුට කම්පන සහගත අත්දැකීමක් වෙයි.  අවසානයේදී  ඔහු ගෙල වැලලාගෙන සියදිවි නසා ගනී.  ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ ජීවිතය සිය පියාවූ යුනෝකා ගේ මෙන් ඛේදජනක ලෙස අවසන් වේ.     

අචෙබේගේ නවකතා මගින් ඉබෝ සමාජයේ සම්ප්‍රදායන්, ක්‍රිස්තියානි බලපෑම්වල බලපෑම සහ යටත් විජිත යුගය තුළ හා පසුව බටහිර හා සාම්ප්‍රදායික අප්‍රිකානු සාරධර්ම ගැටුම කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු කරයි. ඔහුගේ ශෛලිය ඉබෝ වාචික සම්ප්‍රදාය මත  රඳා පවතින අතර ජන කතා, හිතෝපදේශ සහ කථන නිරූපණයන් සමඟ සෘජු ආඛ්‍යානය ඒකාබද්ධ කරයි. ඔහුගේ බොහෝ කෘති අප්‍රිකානු සමාජයට යුරෝපීය සංස්කෘතියේ බලපෑම ගවේෂණය කරයි.  යුරෝපීය යටත් විජිතකරණයේ ප්‍රතිඑලයක් ලෙස අප්‍රිකානු මහාද්වීපයට සහ එහි ජනතාවට සිදු වූ හානි ඔහු විග්‍රහ කරයි.  බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් ඉබෝ සංස්කෘතියේ බොහෝ අංශ විනාශ කළහ. ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවන රටාව වෙනස් කිරීමට ද බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් ස්වදේශිකයන්ට බල කළහ. ඔවුන් විසින් හඳුන්වා දුන් අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය  මිෂනාරිවරු  ආරක්‍ෂා කල  අතර විනිශ්චය කලේ ඉබෝ ගෝත්‍රිකයන්ව පමණි. බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් විසින් ගොඩනඟන ලද පාසල් ස්වදේශිකයන්ට සුදු මිනිසාගේ සංස්කෘතිය තුළ කියවීමට හා ලිවීමට ඉගැන්වීය. භූමිය අත්පත් කර ගැනීමේ සිට නව විශ්වාසයන් ඇති කිරීම දක්වා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් සමස්ත සංස්කෘතියම අත්පත් කරගෙන සිටියහ. අප්‍රිකාවේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදය මුදල් හා බලය පිළිබඳ වූ අතර මිලියන ගණනක් ජනයා ඔවුන්ගේ ඉඩම්වලින් ඉවතට ඇද දමා ඔවුන්ගේ ග්‍රාමීය මාර්ග අත්හැර දැමීමට බල කෙරුනි. සමහර ඉබෝවරු මෙය  දකින අතර සුදු මිනිසාගේ ආක්‍රමණයට බිය වෙති. මිෂනාරිවරුන් එහි සිටියේ විජාතීන් හැරවීමට පමණක් වන අතර අප්‍රිකාවේ සුදු මිනිසා සාමාන්‍යයෙන් කුරිරු හා නොසැලකිලිමත් විය.  සුදු මිනිසා අප්‍රිකාවට පැමිණ ඔවුන්ට අනුවර්තනය වීමට හෝ මිය යාමට බල කලේය. ඔවුන් ඉබෝ සමාජයේ ව්‍යුහයටම පහර දුන්නෝය. යුරෝපීය යටත් විජිත බලවතුන් අප්‍රිකාවට ඇතුළු වීමට පෙර අප්‍රිකානුවන්ට ගෞරවය තිබුණි. එහෙත් යටත් විජිත අධිරාජවාදීන් විසින් එම ගරුත්වය කෙළසන ලදි.

යටත් විජිත සමයේ අප්‍රිකානු ජනතාවට සිය අභිමානය අහිමි වූ බවට ඔහු විශ්වාස කලේය. පසුකාලීන කෘතිවල අචෙබේ 20 වන සියවසේ නයිජීරියානු ජීවිතය ගවේෂණය කළේය. එසේම සමහරක් කෘති නයිජීරියාවේ අභ්‍යන්තර ගැටුම් ආමන්ත්‍රණය කලේය. නිදහසින් පසු නයිජීරියාවේ නායකත්වය නොමැතිකම පිළිබඳව ඔහු ජාතියේ ගැටලුවලට හේතු සාධක ලෙස දකියි. අචෙබේ සිය ප්‍රබන්ධයේ දී අන්තර් පුද්ගල, දේශපාලන, සංස්කෘතික හා භාෂාමය ඒකාධිපතිවාදයට විරුද්ධ ය. යටත් විජිත බලවතුන්ගේ සංස්කෘතික අහංකාරය සහ නයිජීරියානු නිලධාරීන්ගේ නරුම කෑදරකම ඔහු විවේචනය කලේය. පළමු ජනරජයේ අවසානය; සිවිල් යුද්ධය; මිලිටරි කුමන්ත්‍රණ මාලාව ඔහුගේ අවධානයට යොමු වෙයි. එසේම තදින් පැතිරී ගිය දූෂණය සහ භීෂණය පිළිබඳව ඔහු ලිව්වේය. පශ්චාත් යටත් විජිත අප්‍රිකාවේ දේශපාලන ජීවිතයේ දූෂණ ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙයි. ඔහු සංස්කෘතීන් පිළිබඳ ගැටුම පිලිබඳව ලියයි. සාහිත්‍ය කෘති මූලික වශයෙන් සමාජයේ ගැටලු සමඟ කටයුතු කළ යුතු බව අචෙබේ විශ්වාස කරයි.  

අප්‍රිකානු සමාජය ප්‍රාථමික, සරල හා පසුගාමී යැයි සැලකූ බටහිර පාඨකයන්ට සංකීර්ණ, ගතික සමාජයක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම ඔහුගේ එක් අරමුණක් බව අචෙබේ ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. අප්‍රිකාවේ භාෂා හා උපභාෂා 1,000 ක් ඇති අතර එක් පොදු භාෂාවක් නොමැතිකම අසමගිය හා ගැටුමේ ප්‍රධාන සාධකයකි. එය ජාතික, කලාපීය සහ මහාද්වීපික ඒකාබද්ධතාවය අඩු කරන සාධකයකි . නයිජීරියාවේ ඉතිහාසය එහි භූගෝලය සමඟ බැඳී ඇත.  නයිජීරියාව අප්‍රිකාවේ බටහිර වෙරළ තීරයේ  අභ්‍යන්තර වක්‍රයට ඉහළින් පිහිටා ඇති අතර සමකයට උතුරින්, සහරා කාන්තාරයට දකුණින් පිහිටා ඇත. ජනවාර්ගික කණ්ඩායම් දෙසියයකට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් සහිත විවිධ භාෂා  විශ්වාසයන් සහ සංස්කෘතිතීන් ගෙන්  නයිජීරියාව සමන්විතව තිබේ. විශාලතම ජනවාර්ගික කණ්ඩායම් වන්නේ බටහිරින් රෙපරමාදු යොරුබා, නැගෙනහිරින් කතෝලික ඉබෝ සහ උතුරේ ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් මුස්ලිම් හවුසා-ෆුලානි ය. ජනතාවගේ මෙම විවිධත්වය වසර දහස් ගණනක ඉතිහාසයේ   ප්‍රතිඑලයකි. 

1904 වන තෙක් බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් නයිජීරියාවේ වැඩි කොටසක් අත්පත් කරගෙන නොතිබුණද, දහනව වන ශතවර්ෂයේ මුල් භාගයේ සිට බටහිර අප්‍රිකාවේ ඔවුන් ප්‍රබල ලෙස රැඳී සිටියහ. බටහිර අප්‍රිකාවේ ස්වාභාවික ධනය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් අනෙකුත් යුරෝපීයයන් සමඟ තරඟ වැදුණි. බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් නයිජීරියාව තම යටත් විජිතයක් ලෙස ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළේය. නයිජීරියාව 1960 ඔක්තෝබර් 1 වන දින ස්වාධීන රටක් බවට පත්විය. 1960 දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයෙන් නිදහස ලබා ගත් නයිජීරියාව, තෙල් ආදායමෙන් සහ යටත් විජිත බලපෑමෙන් තොර ප්‍රබල ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයක් බවට පත්වනු ඇතැයි අපේක්‍ ෂාකල නමුදු එම අපේක්‍ෂාවන් හුදු සිහිනයක් පමණක් විය.

1960 දී නයිජීරියාව නිදහස ලැබූ විට, අචෙබේ  No Longer at Ease  නවකතාව ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළ අතර එය  සම්මාන කිහිපයක්  දිනා ගත්තේ ය.  No Longer at Ease යන නාමය අචෙබේ ලබාගත්තේ  බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය-ඇමරිකානු කවියෙකු වන ටී. එස්. විසින් රචිත “”The Journey of the Magi”  කාව්‍යයෙනි.    No Longer at Ease නවකතාව  බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබ නයිජීරියානු යටත් විජිත සිවිල් සේවයේ රැකියාවක් කරන ඉබෝ ගෝත්‍රික  ඔබි ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ කතාව පවසයි. ඔබි ඔකොන්ක්වෝ ඔහුගේ අප්‍රිකානු සංස්කෘතිය හා බටහිර ජීවන රටාව අතර ගැටුම් වලට මුහුණ දෙන පුද්ගලයෙකි.   

නවකතාව ආරම්භ වන්නේ අල්ලස් ලබා ගැනීමේ චෝදනාව මත ඔබි ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ නඩු විභාගයෙනි.  ඔහු පාලක නයිජීරියානු ප්‍රභූ පැලැන්තියක කොටසක් වන අතර ඔහුගේ දූෂණය පිළිකුල් සහගතය. කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඔහුගේ ඉරණම ඔහුව අභිබවා යයි.   නවකතාවේ ප්‍රධාන චරිතය වන ඕබි හැදී වැඩෙන්නේ යටත් විජිතවාදයේ ව්‍යාප්තිය දුටු එම සම්ප්‍රදායන්  ස්වදේශිකයන්ගේ සම්ප්‍රදායන් සමඟ මුසු කළ රටකය.  ඔබි අධ්‍යාපනය  ලැබීමට එංගලන්තයට ගොස් නැවත නයිජීරියාවට එන විට නයිජීරියාවට තම ආත්මය”  අහිමි වී ඇති බව තේරුම් යයි.   විජිත ස්වාමිවරුන්ට දැක්විය යුතු පක්ෂපාතීත්වය සහ නයිජීරියානු සමාජයේ සංස්කෘතික අනුවර්තනය ඔහුගේ චරිතය වෙන් කොට තබන අතර එමඟින් හුදෙකලා වූ අනන්‍යතාවය හා සංස්කෘතික අර්බුදය ඔහු තුල දෙබිඩි තත්වයක් ඇති කරයි. යටත් විජිතවාදය විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන අනන්‍යතා ගැටුම් සමඟ සාර්ථකව කටයුතු කිරීමට ඔහු අසමත් වෙයි.

 ඔහු තම ගමෙන් වීරයෙකු ලෙස පිටත්ව යන අතර, විදේශීය අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබා ඇති නයිජීරියානුවන් අතලොස්සෙන් කෙනෙකි.  ඔහු සිවිල්  නිලධාරියෙකු සහ මෝටර් රථයක හිමිකරුවෙකු ලෙස ප්‍රභූ පැලැන්තියේ සාමාජිකයෙකු බවට පත්වේ. තම උසස් තරාතිරම පවත්වාගෙන යාම සඳහා ඔහුට මුදල් වියදම් වෙයි. ඔහුගේ අධ්‍යාපනයේ පිරිවැය  ආපසු ගෙවීමට ඔහු බැඳී සිටියි. ඔහු තම දුප්පත් දෙමාපියන්ට ආර්ථිකව උපකාර කල යුතුය. ඔහුගේ දුෂ්කර මූල්‍ය තත්වය නිසා ඔහුගේ ජීවිතය තවදුරටත් සංකීර්ණ වේ.  ඔහු අල්ලස් ලබා ගන්නේ කෙතරම් ආධුනික ලෙසටද යත් , බල්ධාරීන් විසින් ඔහුව පහසුවෙන්ම අල්ලා ගනිති.   

ඔබි ඔකොන්ක්වෝගේ අත්දැකීම් මගින් වේගයෙන් සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින සමාජයක අවිනිශ්චිතතාවයන්, අන්තරායන් සහ පෙළඹවීම් අනාවරණය වේ.  මෙම නවකතාව නිරූපණය කරන්නේ යටත් විජිත පාලනයෙන් නිදහස ළඟා වෙත්ම නයිජීරියානු ජාතියට ඇති අවිනිශ්චිතතාවයන් ය. දූෂණය යනු පශ්චාත් යටත් විජිත අවධියේදී අප්‍රිකාව තුල ව්‍යාප්ත වූ ප්‍රපංචයකි. යටත් විජිතවාදය නිසා ස්වාභාවික ප්‍රභවයන් දූෂණයෙන් හා සූරාකෑමෙන් පිරී තිබුණි. කතුවරයා දූෂණය පශ්චාත් යටත් විජිත ගැටලුවක් ලෙස නිරූපණය කරයි. උගත් තරුණයෙකු දේශපාලන ක්‍රමය අතර නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවන් කිරීමට බල කෙරුණු බව ඔහුගේ නවකතාවේ දැක්වේ. ඔබි ඔකොන්ක්වෝ දූෂණයෙන් තොරව ජීවත් වීමට සහ ඔහුගේ පවුල රැකබලා ගැනීමට දැඩි උත්සාහයක් ගත්තද, ආර්ථික අර්බුදය ඔහුව විනාශ කරයි.එම නිසා ඔහු අල්ලසට යොමු වෙයි. අල්ලස් ගැනීම නිසා ඔබි ඔකොන්ක්වෝව  අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන සිරගත කරනු ලැබේ. විචාරකයින් මෙම නවකතාව චිනුවා අචෙබේගේ සුවිශේෂී කෘතියක් ලෙස වර්ගීකරණය කරන්නේ එය සුදු ජාතිකයන් සහ නයිජීරියානුවන් අතර ගැටුම් යටතේ දූෂණයේ පසුබිම පැහැදිලි කරන සහ දූෂිත ගැටලුව සුවිශේෂී ආකාරයකින් මතු කරන බැවිනි. 

ඔහුගේ A Man of the People නවකතාව දේශපාලන උපහාසයක් වන අතර කතාව සිදුවන්නේ මනංකල්පිත අප්‍රිකානු රටකය. නවකතාවට විශේෂිත ජනවාර්ගික හෝ සංස්කෘතික කණ්ඩායම් ඇතුළත් නොවේ. ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය, අල්ලස, දූෂණය , ඥාති සංග්‍රහය, නොහැකියාව සහ රජයේ උදාසීනත්වය මෙම මනංකල්පිත රාජ්‍යයේ ලක්‍ෂණ වෙති. මෙම නවකතාව හරහා මිනිසුන්ගේ දේශපාලනය, බලය සහ කෑදරකම පිළිබඳ විවේචනාත්මක ඉදිරි දර්ශනයක් කතුවරයා විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරයි. කතාව සිදුවන්නේ නිර්නාමික අප්‍රිකානු රටක වුවද, අචෙබේට නයිජීරියානු දේශපාලනය පිළිබඳ ඔහුගේම අත්දැකීම්  ප්‍රබල බලපෑමක් කළ බව පැහැදිලිය. දූෂිත රජයකට බලයේ සිටිය හැක්කේ එහි පුරවැසියන් ඊට සහයෝගය දක්වන්නේ නම් පමණක් බව අචෙබේ  ප්‍රකාශ කරයි. මූලික වශයෙන් නයිජීරියානු ජනතාව විශ්වාස කරන්නේ නිදහස ලබා ගැනීමෙන් ඔවුන්ට අවංක ජීවිතයක්, සමානාත්මතාවයක්, ආරක්ෂාවක් සහ යුක්තියක් ලබා ගත හැකි බවයි. කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඔවුන්ගේ නව නායකයන් එකම යටත් විජිත පීඩාවන් අනුගමනය කරන නිසා ඔවුන්ගේ සිහින වාෂ්ප වී ඇත. දේශපාලන නායකයින්ගේ ප්‍රධාන පරමාර්ථය වන්නේ තමන් ධනවත් වීමය. ජනතාවගේ අවශ්‍යතා ඔවුන්ට එතරම් වැදගත් නොවේ.. මෙම නවකතාව 1966 නයිජීරියානු කුමන්ත්‍රණයන් පුරෝකථනය කලේය. 

අචෙබේ අප්‍රිකාවේ පශ්චාත් යටත් විජිත යුගයේ සිදු වූ ඉතාම ම්ලේච්ඡ ගැටුමක ඛේදවාචකයන් විස්තර කරමින් කෙටිකතා (ද ඉන්සයිඩර්, ගර්ල්ස් ඇට් වෝර් ) ලිවීය. ඔහුගේ අවසාන ප්‍රකාශිත කෘතිය වූයේ සාහිත්‍ය ස්වයං චරිතාපදානය වන   “There Was a Country”  වූ අතර එහි බියෆ්‍රාන් යුද්ධය පිළිබඳ ඔහුගේ මතක සටහන්  අඩංගු වෙයි.  බියෆ්‍රාන් යුද්ධය නූතන අප්‍රිකාවේ වඩාත්ම විනාශකාරී සිදුවීම් වලින් එකකි. බියාෆ්‍රා යනු නයිජීරියාවේ පරිහානිය ගැන විලාපයකි.  මෙම පොත ලිවීමට අචෙබේට වසර 42 ක් ගත විය. සංස්කෘතික හා දේශපාලන දෘෂ්ටි කෝණයකින් නයිජීරියානු බියාෆ්‍රා  යුද්ධයේ කතාව ඔහු පවසයි. හැටේ දශකයේ අග භාගයේදී නයිජීරියාව ඉරා දැමූ ගැටුමේ  ඔහුගේ පෞද්ගලික අත්දැකීම් ද මෙම කෘතියේ අඩංගු වෙයි.

නයිජීරියාවේ පෙරදිග වැසියන් තවදුරටත් ආරක්‍ෂිත නොවන බව පවසමින් 1967 මැයි 30 වන දින කර්නල් ඔජුක්වු විසින් නව බියාෆ්‍රා ප්‍රාන්තය ස්වාධීනව ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලදී.  නයිජීරියානු රජයට ඉබෝ ආරක්ෂාව සහතික කළ නොහැකි වූවා පමණක් නොව; එය ඔවුන්ගේ රුධිරය ක්‍රමානුකූලව වැගිරවීමට සම්බන්ධ වී තිබුණි. බියාෆ්‍රා නිදහස ප්‍රකාශයට පත් විගස යුද ගැටුමක් ඇති විය. නයිජීරියාවේ ෆෙඩරල් රජය, වෙන්වීම වැළැක්වීමේ අභිප්‍රාය ඇතිව, බිඳී ගිය බියාෆ්‍රා  ජනරජයට එරෙහිව යුද්ධ ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. සැන්ඩ්හර්ස්ට් පුහුණුව ලැබූ    බියාෆ්‍රා නායක ඔජුක්වු සහ නයිජීරියානු ජනාධිපති ජෙනරාල් යකුබු ගෝවොන්  මෙය තමන් ගේ පුද්ගලික යුද්ධයක් බව සිතූහ. මේ නිසා ගැටුම ඉක්මනින් අවසන් කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවන් මග හැරුණි.  නයිජීරියා රජය තම තෙල් අවශ්‍යතා ආරක්‍ෂා කිරීමට උනන්දුවක් දක්වන එක්සත් රාජධානියේ  සහාය ඇතිව මිලිටරි බලයෙන් වෙන්වීම පරාජය කළේය. කැරැල්ල මර්දනය කිරීමේදී නයිජීරියානු රජය නිර්දය ක්‍රියාකලාපය අචෙබේ විස්තර කරයි. ” සියල්ල යුද්ධයේ දී සාධාරණ ය. සාගින්න යුද්ධයේ ආයුධවලින් එකකි ” කතුවරයා පවසයි. සටනේදී හා සාගතයෙන් මිලියනයකට අධික පිරිසක් මිය ගියහ.  අවසානයේ – 1970 ජනවාරි මාසයේදී බියාෆ්‍රාවට යටත් වීමට සිදුවිය. අචෙබේ පවසන්නේ බියාෆ්‍රාව කිසි විටෙකත් සම්පූර්ණයෙන් යථා තත්ත්වයට පත් වී නැති බවය.

 අචෙබේගේ ලිවීම ප්‍රබන්ධයේ විප්ලවයක් ඇති කලේය. ඔහුගේ නවකතාවල යුරෝපීය සම්ප්‍රදාය සහ අප්‍රිකානු ප්‍රකාශන ක්‍රම එකිනෙකට අනුපූරක හා තරඟකාරී ආකාරවලින් එකිනෙකට සම්බන්ධ වෙයි. එසේම  අචෙබේ  ප්‍රසිද්ධ ප්‍රකාශිත කවියෙකි. ඔහු කවි විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ලියා ඇත. ඔහුගේ බොහෝ කවිවල  අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයේ සහ යටත් විජිතවාදයේ සංස්කෘතික බලපෑම් පිළිබඳ තේමාවන් අඩංගු වෙයි. ඔහුගේ කවි ඉබෝ  හිතෝපදේශ හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි නිරූපණ සමඟ සංයුක්ත වේ  ඔහුගේ Christmas in Biafra කාව්‍යය බියෆ්‍රා යුද්ධයට  කාව්‍යමය ප්‍රතිචාරයකි. එය වධහිංසාවට ලක්වූ රටක විළාපයකි. යුද්ධයේ සංකීර්ණ නිරූපණයන් එහි අඩංගු වෙයි. අචෙබේගේ හොඳම මිතුරා – කවියෙකු වූ ක්‍රිස්ටෝපර් ඔකිග්බෝගේ යුධ කාලීන මරණය  “A Wake for Okigbo” කවියෙන් පිළිබිඹු වෙයි.

අචෙබේට ලොව පුරා අධ්‍යාපන හා සංස්කෘතික ආයතනවලින් සම්මාන රාශියක් ලැබුණි. මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ, කැනඩාවේ, නයිජීරියාවේ සහ එක්සත් ජනපදයේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල විස්සකට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් අචෙබේට ගෞරව උපාධි ප්‍රදානය කර ඇත. අචෙබේ ඔහුගේ ජීවිතය සැලකුවේ ගැටුම්කාරී සංස්කෘතීන් අතර හුවමාරුවක් ලෙස ය. චිනුවා අචෙබේ 2013 මාර්තු 21 වන දින වයස අවුරුදු 82 දී මැසචුසෙට්ස් හි බොස්ටන්හිදී මිය ගියේය. නූතන අප්‍රිකානු සාහිත්‍යයේ අත්තිවාරම සඳහා චිනුවා අචෙබේගේ භූමිකාව විශාලය. විචාරක ඉලේන් ෂෝල්ටර් ඔහු අප ලෝකය දකින හා තේරුම් ගන්නා ආකාරය  ලෙස වෙනස් කළ” ලේඛකයෙකු ලෙස පිළිගත්තේය.  

Works Cited  

Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. New York: Fawcett

Achebe, C. (2010). No Longer at Ease, Penguin Classics  

Gikandi, S . (2001). Chinua Achebe and the Invention of African Literature.” Research in African Literatures, 32 (3): 3– 8.

Innes, C.L(1990). Chinua Achebe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  

Killam, G.D.(1977). The Writings of Chinua Achebe, rev. ed., London: Heinemann. Noveler, M. K. ed. (2000 ). The Chinua Achebe Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 

A.J.M. Muzammil Media Unit 

දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් අස්ථාවර නායකයෝ දේශපාලනයට ගෙනැවිත් තමන්ට අවශ්‍ය විදියට මේ රට පාලනය කරන්න පුළුවන් කියලා සමහර රටවල නායකයෝ විශ්වාස කරනවා යැයි හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික් තරුණ මුස්ලිම් සම්මේලනයට ප්‍රධාන ආරාධිතයා ලෙස සහභාගි වෙමින් නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ අදහස් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. 

කුරුණෑගල බ්‍රයිට් බ්‍රාවෝ හෝටලයේදී පැවති මෙම සම්මේලනය කුරුණෑගල දිස්ත්‍රික් මුස්ලිම් තරුණ සම්මේලනය විසින් සංවිධානය කර තිබුණි. මෙම සම්මේලනයට කුරුණෑගල නගරාධිපති තුෂාර සංජීව, ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා මන්ත්‍රී රිෆාල්, ‘කාන්තා සවිය’ සංවිධානයේ සභාපතිනි ෆෙරෝසා මුසම්මිල්, සබීර් මන්සූර්, වයඹ පළාත් රැකියා විරහිත උපාධිධාරීන් සංගමයේ නියෝජිතයින්, තරුණ ව්‍යාපාරිකයින්, සිවිල් සංවිධානයේ තරුණ නියෝජිතයන් ඇතුළු අති විශාල පිරිසක් සහභාගි වූහ.

එහිදී වැඩ දුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙසේද පැවසීය;
මේ රටේ ජනවාර්ගික දේශපාලන පක්ෂ එක් කාලයකදී ඉස්මතු වුණා. දකුණේ ආගම කේන්ද්‍ර කරගෙන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ ඉස්මතු වුණා. උතුරේ ජාතිය කේන්ද්‍ර කරගෙන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ ඉස්මතු වුණා. එතැනින් තමයි අපි අතර බෙදීම පටන් ගත්තේ. ඇයි එහෙම දේශපාලන පක්ෂ හැදුවේ කියලා තරුණයෝ විදියට ඔබ පොඩ්ඩක් හොයලා බලන්න.

එහෙම දේශපාලන පක්ෂ හදන්න තිබුණ බලවේග මොනවාද ? කවුද මේ රටේ තරුණයා දේශපාලනිි වශයෙන් බෙදන්න තීන්දු කළේ ? 

මේ ළඟදී මේ වගේම රැස්වීමකදී මාධ්‍යවේදී සහෝදරයෙක් මගෙන් ඇහුවා මාත් එක්ක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ ඩීල් එකක් තියෙනවද කියලා. එහෙම නැත්නම් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසයි මායි අතර ඩීල් එකක් තියෙනවාද කියලා ඇහුවා. මම කීවා එහෙම ඩීල් එකක් නැහැ කියලා. මම ඔහුට කීවා දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් අපි අතර ඩීල් එකක් නැහැ . රනිල් මාව තුන් පාරක් හිරේ දැම්මා. අපේ ආච්චිව ගෙනිච්චා. අම්මා සීඅයිඩී එකට ගෙනිච්චා තාජුඩීන් ඝාතනය කළා කියලා. එහෙම ඩීල් එකක් අපි අතරේ තිබුණානම් මගේ අම්මා සීඅයිඩී එකට ගෙනියයිද ?

 සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසත් එහෙමයි. එළිමහනේදී බැන්නාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී බොහෝම හොඳට හිනා වෙලා කතා බස් කරනවා. එහෙම වුණා කියලා අපි අතර ඩීල් එකක් නැහැ. හැබැයි එක කාරණයක් තියෙනවා. සජිතුයි රනිලුයි තරහා වුණාට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහයි සජිත්ගේ තාත්තා රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාසයි එකතු වෙලා තමයි මේ රටේ හැට දාහක් තරුණ තරුණියෝ මැරුවේ. එදා එහෙම කරනකොට ඒකට ඒ දෙන්නාටම විරුද්ධව කතා කළේ මගේ තාත්තා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විතරයි.

පලස්තීන මිත්‍රත්ව සංවිධානය හැදුවේ මගේ පියා. ඒ සංවිධානයේ මාත් ඉන්නවා. මාත් විශ්වාස කරන දේශපාලනයක් තියෙනවා. අපි හැමෝම නොබැඳි දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිපත්තිය අනුගමනය කරනවා. අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා රටක අභ්‍යන්තර කාරණා වලට වෙනත් රටවල් ඇඟිලි නොගැසිය යුතුයි කියලා. එහෙමනම් පලස්තීනය වගේ රටකට තමන්ගේ අයිතිය ලබා දෙන්න ඕනෑ. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ නමින් පමණයි ඒ රටේ විදේශකයෙකුගේ නමින් පාරක් නම් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. 

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ දේශපාලනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව සහ දමිළ ජනතාව අතර ගැටළු  තත්ත්වයක්. ඒක මේ අපේ රටෙන් නිර්මාණය වූ දෙයක් නොවන බවයි මානම් දකින්නේ. ගෝලීය දේශපාලනය තුළ අපේ රටේ බල කඳවුරු තිබෙන ආකාරයක් තිබෙනවා. ශක්තිමත් දේශපාලන පෞරුෂයක් තියෙන නායකයන් වට්ටන ක්‍රමවේදයක් තියෙනවා. 

අපේ රටේ වගේම ලෝකයේ දෙවැනි පෙළ දේශපාලන නායකත්වය හසුරුවන්නේ වෙනත් හස්තයන්. අද මැද පෙරදිගට වෙලා තියෙන තත්ත්වය බැලුවාම මේ ලෝකයේ වැඩියෙන්ම මුදල් උපයන පිරිස ඉන්නේ මැද පෙරදිග. ලිබියාව ඉරානය වගේ රටවල් ඩොලර්වලින් ඉවත් වෙන්න හදනකොට ඒ රටවල්වල නායකයෝ එක පාරටම ත්‍රස්තවාදන් බවට පත් වුණා. ඒ රටවල නායකයෝ එක පාරටම අතුරුදහන් වුණා. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය නැහැයි කියලා ඇවිත් බලෙන් ඒ රටවල් අල්ලා ගත්තා.

ඉස්සර රටවල් අල්ලා ගත්තේ ගහලා විනාශ කරලා. නමුත් අද රටවල් අල්ලා ගන්නේ ඒ රටවල ආර්ථිකය විනාශ කරලා. නැත්නම් ආගම දහම විනාශ කරලා. ලිබියාවට මේ දෙකම පාවිච්චි කරලා විනාශ කරලා දැම්මා. මම දකින්නේ දෙදහස් පහළොවට පෙර අපේ රටෙත් වෙන්න ගියේ ඒ දේයි. 

එල්ටීටීඊ එක ඇති වුණේ කොහොමද. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහයි රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාසයි එකතු වෙලා දකුණේ මැරුවේ දමිළ තරුණයෝ නොවෙයි. බටලන්දේ වධකාගාරයේ මැරුවේ දමිළ තරුණයෝ නොවෙයි. සිංහල තරුණයෝ තමයි මැරුවේ . හැබැයි  උතුරේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කළේ දකුණේ සිංහල මුස්ලිම් දමිළ තරුණයෝ එකතු වෙලායි. ඒක තමයි ඇත්ත කතාව. 

අපි එල්ටීටීඊ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කළාම ඒකට පණ පොවපු අය අලුතින් ක්‍රමවේද හොයනවා නැවත මේ රට බෙදන්න. ඒකේ ආරම්භය තමයි අන්තවාදය ජාතිවාදය සමාජය තුළ වපුරවපු එක. ඒකේ ප්‍රතිඵලය තමයි එල්ටීටීඊ එකේ බෝම්බෙන් පතරොමෙන් ඝාතනය කරන්න බැරි වුණු මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂව මැතිවරණයෙන් පරාජය කිරීම. ඊට පස්සේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂව හිරේ දාන්න උත්සාහ කළා. 

ඊට පස්සේ සිදු වුණු සිදුවීම් රාශියක් වගේම පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයත් ගත්තාම මේ සියල්ලම දිහා බැලුවාම අපේ රටේ ජාතීන් අතර අර්බුදයක් ඇති කරන්න අසමගියක් ඇති කරන්න බටහිර රටවල අයිතිය තහවුරු කරන්න ගත්ත කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරී වැඩ පිළිවෙලක කොටසක් විදියටයි මා දකින්නේ. පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය ගත්තාම සිංහල දමිළ මුස්ලිම් අයගේ ජීවිත අහිමි වුණා. මේ සියල්ලෙන්ම අපි තේරුම් ගත යුතු කරුණ තමයි අපි ඉදිරියට අභියෝග රාශියක් තිබෙන බව. මේ රටේ ස්ථාවර දේශපාලනය අස්ථාවර කරන්න පුළුවන් නායකයෝ දේශපාලනයට ගේන්න ඕනෑ කියලා සමහර රටවල නායකයෝ විශ්වාස කරනවා යනුවෙන්ද නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මෙහිදී මුස්ලිම් තරුණ තරුණියන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ප්‍රශ්න වලටද නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පිළිතුරු දුන්නේය. කාන්තා සවිය සංවිධානයේ සභාපතිනි ෆෙරෝසා මුසම්මිල් මහත්මියද මේ අවස්ථාවට සහභාගි වූවාය.

Gamini Sarath Godakanda

As part of its post-COVID investment strategy, Pathfinder Capital of MMBL-Pathfinder Group has launched the ‘Pathfinder Vimana’ initiative aimed at developing advanced civilian drone technology solutions for Sri Lanka.

The project will entail Pathfinder Capital creating a network of alliances and partnerships, with advanced drone technology providers across the globe. In the first phase, Pathfinder Capital will be establishing a series of relationships with leading drone technology companies in the United States and Israel that specialise in sophisticated delivery, inspection/surveillance and agricultural solutions.

Once the first phase has been consolidated and the necessary regulatory and related clearances obrtained, the ‘Pathfinder Vimana’ initiative will further expand its international network with the objective of acting as a catalyst to create local capacity, competency and infrastructure in this crucial sector.

Over the years the MMBL-Pathfinder Group has promoted several pioneering aviation-related ventures in Sri Lanka. These have included strategic alliances with leading global air transport companies. MMBL-Pathfinder is also a promoter and joint-venture partner in Cinnamon Air, the domestic airline that provides scheduled and charter flights across the island.

Ancient Sanskrit texts going back to several thousands of years provide vivid details of flying objects called Vimanas. It is believed that the ‘Pushpaka Vimana’ was one such aerial vehicle used by king Ravana of Lanka, referred to in the Indian epic ‘Ramayana’.

Courtesy Hiru News

The number of coronavirus infections reported in the country has increased to 2687.

This was with the identification of another infected person today.

The infected person was from the United Arab Emirates and was being quarantined.

Courtesy Hiru News

The leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya Sajith Premadasa stated that some groups are contesting the general election this time to sell their seats to Pohottuwa after the victory.

He was participating in a public meeting held in Kotmale yesterday.

Courtesy Hiru News

The DIG in charge of the Anti-Terrorism and Investigation Division Nalaka de Silva who has been interdicted, admitted that it was wrong to not inform the rest of the police regarding the open warrant obtained from the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to arrest Saharan Hashim before the Easter attack.

This was when he was giving evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter attack .

DIG Nalaka de Silva, who is currently interdicted, testified before the Commission for the second day stated that the lecturers who came from Saudi Arabia to teach in the madrassa schools that were active in the country during the period 2005-2015 carried out extremist teachings in those schools.

He said that the Department of Muslim Religious Affairs had intervened through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue visas to the lecturers and later they were informed to direct through the State Intelligence Service.

Nalaka de Silva said that he was transferred as the Director of the Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division on February 25, 2015, adding that it was a political transfer.

However, he said that the counter-terrorism unit had been restructured and two separate units had been set up to look into religious extremism and underworld activities.

The unit was then provided with a state-of-the-art field surveillance van by the Japanese government in August 2018 and was able to identify a person from a group of people after being given a photograph.

The commission inquired whether it was possible to identify Saharan Hashim by inserting a picture of him into the vehicle.

Nalaka de Silva stated that although there was such a facility, the vehicle was not taken out of Colombo.

Nalaka de Silva further stated that he was arrested two months after receiving the vehicle and that the CID had instructed him to remove the vehicle from usage.

The Commission then questioned whether he had attended the Security Coordinating Meeting.

He stated that his Deputy Director participated after 24-09-2017 for a special reason.

The Commission asked why he had left the meeting.

Replying to this, Nalaka de Silva stated that at the Defense Coordinating Committee meeting held on 24-09-2017, the then Defense Secretary Kapila Vaidyaratne had accused him of not inquiring into the information received regarding the activities of the Turkish terrorist organization FETO.

Nalaka de Silva further stated that he did not know about the incident until it was revealed by the Director of State Intelligence and that the intelligence services should have informed about it, adding that intelligence would not fall from the sky just because he became the director of T I D.

Nalaka de Silva further stated that the reason for withholding such information was that it could have affected the policies of the government at that time and the success of the process could be seen in comparison to the Easter attack.

He further stated that although he had obtained an open warrant for the arrest of Saharan Hashim through the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on 09-07-2018, he had not informed all the police stations in the island.

Nalaka de Silva further stated that although he had sought advice from the Attorney General before obtaining the warrant, he had not received any special advice and after obtaining the warrant, he had sought the advice of the Attorney General through two files to execute the warrant and he did not receive any guidance.

The Presidential Commission stated that the relevant officials of the Attorney General’s Department will be summoned before the Commission in this regard in the future.

Meanwhile, statements were recorded from former Municipal Councillor Madhumadhava Aravinda who appeared before the Police Investigation Unit this morning regarding the Easter attack for about an hour.

Meanwhile, former IGP Pujith Jayasundara appeared before the Police Investigation Unit on the 4th of this month.