KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised 27.6.20

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda made a special effort to find and record stone inscriptions from the archaeological sites he explored. Medhananda had been very successful in this venture. He says he has found over 500 ‘new’ inscriptions. This can be accepted as Medhananda has been engaged in archaeological explorations for over 35 years.

Medhananda is a self taught epigraphist.  He said he learnt epigraphy from Tennekoon Wimalananda’s ‘Sellipi Sangrahaya. As far as I can see, Medhananda’s findings and interpretations have not been dismissed by academics.  His findings were first published in newspapers, such as ‘Divaina’ and ‘Davasa.’ These essays had a good reception. Medhananda received many letters of praise and was asked to compile his writings into books, which he did.His book on the Sinhala Buddhist heritage in the north and east,” won a State Literary Award.

The inscriptions found by Medhananda cover a wide time period.   Lahugala wewa inscriptions are dated from 1 century AD to 6 AD. Udagala Dagoba (Kalakulam) inscription was 9th century AD. This inscription shows the ‘pirisindu Sinahla viyavahara of the time,’  said Medhananda.

Medhananda has found several important inscriptions. They are discussed in the next essay, but here is one unique finding. Medhananda found a cave inscription in Erabadda, in Nivitigala in Ratnapura district, in brahmi script, dated to 2 century AD. The inscription said that one Revata had donated a cave. This is the only inscription found so far in Ratnapura in brahmi script. It shows that Ratnapura was a part of the Sinhala-Buddhist civilization of the time, said Medhananda.

 Unlike some epigraphists, Medhananda never disparages Senerat Paranavitana. Medhananda  noted that the Bovattegala inscription  was found by Paranavitana. Medhananda’s   Interpretations are always intended to support and expand the good work done by Paranavitana.. For instance, at Diyahinne, the Department of Archaeology had taken down just one part of an inscription. Medhananda stated that Paranavitana had used this defective copy. Medhananda had recorded the full inscription. At Kirimakulgolle Medhananda said he found an inscription on the same rock, in addition to the inscription there which Paranavitana had seen. Medhananda said he had found ten more inscriptions to what Paranavitana had found at Kudimbigala.

Medhananda is not so kind towards the Department of Archaeology. Medhananda complained that the Department does not help outsiders who engage in archaeological exploration voluntarily. During Paranavitana’s time, if you sent in a finding you got a letter thanking you. Now they do not do even that.

Medhananda observed that the Department of Archaeology, which was set up in 1890 had collected a total of 3339 inscription by 2007. That means 30 per year. Medhananda found 86 inscriptions in one month. In Horowopotana area alone Medhananda found 80 ‘new’ inscriptions.

Medhananda added further factual data to this. Henanigala had yielded one column inscription and 22 rock inscriptions. Kongala ruins yielded 14 cave inscription and 4 rock inscriptions. Maragala kanda had an old forest monastery with lots of Inscriptions. There were lots of inscriptions at Uhana too, concluded Medhananda.   

Medhananda said he had found inscriptions which the Department of Archaeology had not found.  Here is a selection.  Department of Archaeology had found 20 inscriptions at Bambaragastalawa, I found 14 more, said Medhananda. Medhananda had found three more to the 14 already known at Pulakunawa kande, Ampara. At Ritigala, Medhananda had found one inscription which the Department had not seen.

Medhananda has gone to sites which the Department of Archaeology had not explored and found ‘new’ inscriptions. At Katupotakande (close to Mihintale) Medhananda had found 4 inscriptions. Department had not explored there, said Medhananda. The inscriptions at Diviyagala vihara in Ampara district also had not been read by the Department. Sipavata vihara at Linemalai has inscriptions which have not been examined before. They indicate that this area was once a Sinhala Buddhist agricultural area.  

Medhananda is definite that he has found inscriptions which had not been seen before. That can be accepted. Medhananda has deliberately gone to difficult, inaccessible places which have not been visited before. Once he got there, he surveyed the site as fully as he could.

 At Gal len vihara, Giribawa, Kurunegala, Medhananda had found 14 inscriptions, some were carved under the drip ledge, others on cave wall or the rock.  At Nimala vana senasuna, Kirinda  Medhananda had found 14 inscriptions, cave 14, rock 7.

Medhananda  found 17 inscriptions at Samangala, one in Karosthi script. No one  knew these inscriptions existed, said Medhananda.  Medhananda had found 19 inscriptions at Magul Maha vihara, Kirinda. They were first copied and published  by me, he said. At Namalu vihara  Medhananda found 12 inscriptions, not listed before. At Akasa chetiya, Hambantota, he found 2 cave and I rock inscription.

At Sastravela   Medhananda had found  three brahmi inscriptions,  two rock inscriptions and  one cave inscription dated to 1 century  AD. Medhananda had  found 15 inscriptions at Malayadikanda, having gone there several times.  He published his findings in 1968 and 1984. ‘Till then nobody knew about them’ said Medhananda .

Medhananda provides the original names for many temples, wewa and villages. Perilya kulam was known as Manavatu tank. Uruwela is known as Arippu today. Arugam bay was formerly ‘Rugama’ derived from Aramagama. Kodavattuvana tank is the  Tamilised version of ‘Kandewattavana’. Verugal Aru is Veheragala . Ilukpiti vihara was Malayagikanda. Eravur was Erahulu.. Bambaragastalawa had Viyolaka vihara. The vihara  at Sastravela was originally Bodigiri naga pabbata vihara.’ Linemalai  had a monastery called Sipavata ( Sinha parvata). “Vav niyava” became Vavuniya.

Medhananda did not fail to record the pictures and decorations in the inscriptions he found. there is   an   inscription with wrestlers carved on it in the second Henannegala cave, he said. Duvegala vihara Tamamkaduva inscription had a sailing ship carved on it. Halbe Raja Maha Vihara pillar inscription dated to Kassapa IV, had carving of    snake,     sickle, dog and crow and a large Sri at the top of the inscription.  The inscription at Padikemgala ruins had two lotus flower bouquets on either side of the inscription. Samangala forest hermitage had an inscription with a sketch of a stupa resembling the Sanchi stupa. 

Medhananda did not explore sites blindly, he made inquiries first.  At Diyahinna, a chena farmer directed them to the inscriptions there.  One Samel, living in Uhana had directed Medhananda to the inscriptions in Samangala. He had seen them when he went there. Samel also directed Medhananda to the Piyangala inscriptions and told Medhananda how to get to Madanakanda.

Some inscriptions were found by accident. On the way to Halambagala, Medhananda got caught to the rain and took shelter under a rock, with a sandy floor. Then they found that there was an inscription under the sand. They photographed it.  

Medhananda has been very determined when it came to copying inscriptions. At Samangala Medhananda saw an inscription about 60 feet above the ketarama. There was a tree about the same height close by. ‘I climbed the tree and copied the inscription,’ he said.

Medhananda visited Kirimakulgolle six times to gather inscriptions. One the fifth visit, the inscription he was aiming at was difficult to get close to. Medhananda undaunted, climbed on to a ledge with aid of trees and bushes. Then he decided to cut a tree and climb up further using it.  The tree was cut but it did not stay in place. Medhananda and tree fell down. 

So Medhananda went again, for the sixth time. This time they took axes and ropes. They lifted up the tree they had cut earlier and put cross pieces on it, like a ladder. As Medhananda climbed up, the tree turned over, he clung to it and both came down, for a second time. Then the team re-fixed the trunk onto the tree stump, wedging it firmly this time, and Medhananda climbed again, ‘risking his life’.

Maragala kanda had an old forest monastery with lots of inscriptions.  On an instinct, Medhananda put his hand   under a low lying rock. This was a dangerous thing to do, since he could be bitten, but instead he felt an inscription. He had to dig to get at it.  He found a sharp pointed piece of wood and scraped with it. The soil was very hard as it was dry season. Then he lay on his back with his head knocking on the ketarama and copied what he could, since most of it had faded. (Continued)

Appendix  1

• Medhananda had explored Bambaragastalawa,      Lenama, Budubava,  Nalitta,   and found ruins which the Department of archaeology had not found. .
• Niyagunakanda vihara close to Hingurana sugar factory has caves near it with drip ledge inscriptions. This site has never been examined before.
• Saman gala forest hermitage on Ampara Mahaoya road has inscriptions which have not yet been  recorded. There is a cave 60 feet in height which can shelter about 500 people.
• After the Eelam war ended, Medhananda  went to Vakarai, Mavil aru, Sampur. He found 25 archaeological  sites which had not been listed before.  He also found 6 inscriptions.  Till I found  these inscriptions with the assistance of  the army, no one knew about them. they are historically important. After I told them  the Archaeological  Department went and copied inscriptions from Kalladi.

Appendix  2

• Medhananda found four inscription  close to Mihintale and was openly surprised that the Archaeological Department had not seen them.
• Medhananda discovered an important inscription on Devanampiyatissa  in  Kegalle district ,  covered in soil. Department of Archaeological had not  seen it.
• Medhananda had seen over 200 unrecorded inscriptions at Weli oya Sampath nuwara. They are not recorded in any Archaeological Department register, said Medhananda. 
• Medhananda found 22 broken chaitya at Sastravela, Ampara. There was no record of these in the Department. Medhananda discovered  one rock and two cave inscriptions. 
• Viharagal kanda at Trikonmadu has ruins for 10 acres. These have not been explored before. Medhananda found Stupa, walls, caves, asanaghara and an old wewa. He also found a cave inscription dated to 1 century AD. 
• There are no reports in the archeological depts. as to the ruins at Mahapattuva. Mahapattuva is about 8 km from Timbirigolla Vidyalaya aside the Ampara Ambalan oya road.
• Toppigala had not been examined ‘properly’ by the Department of archaeology. Not one place in Toppigala had been looked at, said Medhananda.
• After the Eelam war ended Medhananda went to Vakarai and Mavil Aru in Batticaloa and Sampur in Trincomalee. He found 25 archaeological sites which had not been listed before.   He also found five archaeological ruins at Kadavat maduva near Batticaloa   railway station. No one had looked there before. There is very useful archaeological evidence there, said Medhananda.
• C. W Nicholas had found the cave inscription at Karandahela. Medhananda had found, and publicized, the cave inscriptions   there.
• Serupitiya ruins had not been examined till Medhananda got there.
• Six important inscriptions were found by Medhananda at Punyadi ruins.
• Ruins at Pillumalai, Kopavali, and Tamketiya in Ampara have never been investigated, till I did so, said Medhananda. The same with the ruins around Dighavapi.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised . 27.6.20

The inscriptions found by Medhananda have helped to confirm known historical facts and also advance our knowledge of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka.    

The inscriptions Medhananda   found refer to a wide range of Sinhala kings. This indicates the extent of Medhananda‘s explorations. Here is a list. Galkiriyagama kande vihara, Vavuniya inscription show that queen of king Uththiya built a Buddhist structure here. King Uththiya reigned in Anuradhapura right after Devanampiyatissa.

 Nagapabbata vihara inscription says the vihara developed under Kutakanna Tissa (44-22BC). Linemalai  has an  inscription of  Bhatika abhaya,(22Bc-47AD). Galkiriyagama kande vihara. Vavuniya also has an inscription  dated to Bhatika abhaya. Muvangala temple, near Hingurana sugar factory has an inscription by king Subha (60-7).  

 Kanitta Tissa (167-86) was son of Mahallaka Naga said an inscription. Bovattegala inscription was issued in the 8th regnal year of king Jettatissa (263-73). Bilivana vihara inscription says Sirimeghavarna (301-328) donated a cave. Namalu vihara inscription also refers to king Sirimeghavarna.

An inscription found near Allai wewa speaks of a donation to Kavudulu vehera by Dappula IV (924-35)    Paranadu Amuna pillar inscription, Ampara refers to king Udaya IV  (946-54). Veheragala Raja Maha Vihara Tammankaduwa has an inscription where Nissanka Malla (1187-96) advises   the people of Ruhuna not to eat bulat. Kanichchigala in Beerihorowwa division also has an inscription by Nissanka Malla.

Medhananda has found a lot of inscriptions relating to Mahadatika Mahanaga (7-19 AD).   Pasana pabbata Vihara inscription says Mahadatikabuilt the vihara, then purchased and donated 20 paddy fields, free of tax. He also gave the water tax from Naga Ela for maintenance of the vihara. Another inscription says Mahadatika Mahanaga built Maninaga Pabbata vihara at Panam pattu. 

Mahasilu Mahatis’s grandson and Kutakanna Tissa’s son Mahadatika Maha Naga had gifted lands to Sastravela vihara, said yet  another inscription.     Medhananda also found inscriptions of cave donations which showed that Rabaya, a minister under Mahadatika Mahanaga, had functioned in both Toppigala and Seruwila.

There were inscriptions about Vasabha (67-111) too. There has been an administrative division of the Eastern province   known as Pajinikara. According on one inscription, Pajinikara was administered by Sona, the son of the minister Bhojaka. Sona had obtained permission from Vasabha and built a huge stupa in present day Kasimottai. This shows the region was under Vasabha, said Medhananda. Otherwise why ask for permission.  An Inscription at Eravur   showed that Pajinikara area was also administered   in Vasabha’s time by minister Asigira.

Medhananda has found inscriptions which  seem to indicate that the ancient Eastern province did have an international perspective. The inscription at Kandegama kande len vihara, Tamankaduwa  spoke of Supparaka”. Supparaka port, located close to present day Bombay, was an important  port in the international trade route  of the time.

Medhananda also observed that there were  many inscriptions with  the word ‘bharatha’ . ‘Bharatha’ is found in inscriptions from Mulgirigala len vihara, Puttalam and  Vanni Hatpattuwa.   Another  inscription said bharatha gothra Shavita’s son Rakshita”. India is now thinking of changing its name from India to Bharat adds this writer, Kamalika Pieris

There was also information on the local  social structure. Henangala inscription  speaks of five   villages,  Giritissa gama,  Karajinitissa gama,  Vilagama, Kasyapa nagara, Malagama,  and Nokapika gama.  In  Ganekanda vihara inscription there is a reference to Gokani grama which must mean Trincomalee, said Medhananda .

Nimala vana Senasuna inscription  speaks of the paddy fields in Mayalisara, Paharakara, Lagamasara, and Dohatana. It also mentions the irrigation  channel Kana DIgana yala”. Girikumbara vihara  lists Mahagala ketha,  Seethakala ketha, Kakalaha ketha,  Hakala ketha, Maha raja ela,   Abalaketha ela, Marachiya ela.   

Buddanehela  Raja Maha Vihara gives names of  gardens, Asunbada watte, Bowatte,  Pardevi nama watte,  Endihi nama watte,     Nanadalisatha nama watte, Nenanile watte. Girikumbara vihara, Ampara lists names of wewa, Maragama wewa, Abalaketha wewa, Maradagama wewa,  Baramanaka wewa, Marachiya wewa.  Galkiriyagama kande vihara, Vavuniya refers to Pahata wewa, Manikara wewa and Naga wewa.

The inscriptions found by Medhananda, provided   interesting information on temples and Sangha. Ganekanda vihara Kurunegala speaks of a donation to Sudamma chetiya. It is rarely that stupa get names, except for Ruvanveli, observed Medhananda .

.An inscription from Mullikulam malai referred to    ‘stupa, vihara, and cave’  in a single inscription. Danurdhara had built a stupa and vihara and had donated them to the Sangha together with a cave,” said the inscription. Medhananda says this is the first time he has seen these three structures mentioned in a single inscription.

Inscriptions have provided useful information on the Sangha. Lahugala wewa rock inscription refers to Galaturumula parapura. An inscription found in Ampara spoke of a diga majjima banaka’, a bhanaka who had studied the Diga Nikaya and Majjima Nikaya.

Piyangalle vihara, Eravur inscription said that Piyangalle was not only for Maha Vihara but also for Pansakulika, Abhayagiri and Dakkina vihara monks. Halbe Raja Maha Vihara  pillar inscription had a  complicated set of instructions as to who could enter  the temple.

Buddanehela Raja Maha Vihara pillar inscription said that all trees, paddy fields and so on within the boundary, should be shared in turn by the monks living in Sagiriya and Nagiriya. The inscription also showed how this was to be managed. 

Inscriptions spoke of donations to temples.   Gal len vihara, Giribawa, Kurunegala  inscription had a simultaneous  donation  of a cave, pittaniyak, kumburak, and  part of an amuna.  In Kongala inscription  the donation was kahavanu.

At Ganekanda vihara/ Mandalaramaya, Kurunegala one  cave has been donated by  the head  and deputy head of a trading  concern (velenda samagamak) . Nimala vana Senasuna inscription said a cave was donated by the cloth weavers society.

At   Padikemgala  all donations were by monks. Medhananda thought this most unusual.  In the Magul Maha vihara, Kirinda inscription donations were from village leaders,      upasika, doctor,  householders, elite and Sangha,  but  none  by royalty,   observed Medhananda .

Cave donations   showed  the many official designations and occupations in the island.  Karandahela inscription spoke of  a  swami,  an acharya and a  kumbalkara. Inscription at  Habutagala vihara  said one donor was a  ‘potter’. This shows that   a potter was not considered  to be a person of inferior rank, argued Medhananda . Malayadi kanda vihara  inscription speaks of a  donation by a government nurse.  In another inscription , the donor was an intelligence or secret service officer.

From  a feminist perspective, cave  inscriptions  indicated the  status of women.  Medhananda had found Inscriptions  which said  Cave of Chitra daughter of chief minister Utara”, donation of      Sachini, daughter of educationist Shata” and  Cave of  female devotee Yasashini. An inscription  saying , ‘Selabe, daughter of Paravata Kala constructed this flight of steps,’ was found at Bandara vava on Ampara –Mahaoya .

Inscriptions found by Medhananda yielded valuable information on  commerce and finance in Ruhuna. Himidurawa inscription  speaks of a cave  donated by an accountant ( ganaka) named Tisha. Other inscriptions said cave of Vahali, chief accountant and daughter of Asha”  and  cave of   accountant Suriya.

Tonigala  and Punnyadi/Kalladi  inscriptions  went further. One inscription, dated to Anuradhapura period, spoke of a market town called Kalahumanika . Kalahumanika   had a bank  where a minister called Pahejasiva  had deposited grain. A second inscription indicated that there were two large trading towns, Tambavita and  Tubavatiya  in Seruwila having banks which did international transactions.(sic) A third inscription  spoke of  yet another trading town called Kadavita. There was a banking centre there called Manarama. It states that king Mahasen had deposited the paddy from a field owned by him in Seruwila area, to a bank there  and the interest was to go to the temple.

Inscriptions  also yielded information on ownership and use of money. Samangala forest hermitage had an inscription which refers to the ownership of a forest. Ganekanda vihara, Kurunegala inscription said  that a king gave one lakh for the labour  needed to build a wall to obtain water for Tarapa gama. This is probably an amuna, said Medhananda .

  Kondawattawana inscription, Gal Oya, dated to 10th century ,spoke of  the taxes on paddy fields and the law regarding it. Another inscription  spoke of a tax called  Patta.Nelumpath inscription, Kumana    said a water tax called Mahanakaraka had to be paid to this vihara.

Udayagiri Raja Maha Vihara, Ampara yielded  an inscription   which said that in the time of Udaya I, the Senapathi Udaya and Abhaya  exempted the lands owned by the vihara from the Veletti tax. This was the first time we hear of Veletti tax. May be a  grain tax, said Medhananda .  ( continued)

ALI SUKHANVER

Pakistan has recently shot down a spy drone of India and India has arrested a spy-pigeon of Pakistan. The owner of the pigeon Habibullah, a Pakistani villager, has warned the Indian authorities to refrain from ‘victimizing innocent birds’. He has urged the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return his pigeon, currently being held in India on charges of spying. According to the details, Habibullah lives just 4km from the border between India and Pakistan and pigeon-flying is his hobby. He owns a dozen pigeons. All his pigeons wear a ring in a leg and a plastic-paper piece is attached with every ring which bears his mobile phone number. During the Eid days, one of his pigeons lost its way back to home and ‘crossed the sensitive border’ between the two countries. Somehow the Indian security authorities caught that innocent bird and started a well organized campaign against Pakistan blaming that Pakistan has once again sent a spy-pigeon to India. This is not for the first time that innocent birds are being dragged into the battle-field of two nuclear countries; in May 2015, India had ‘arrested’ a white pigeon after it was spotted by a 14-year-old boy in a village close to the border. Next year in October 2016, another pigeon was taken into custody after it was found with a note ‘threatening’ the Indian prime minister, according to the Indian media.

Blaming the neighbours and just adding fuel to fire with the help of such childish gimmicks has become the part of the temperament of those few war-mongers in India who simply desire to see the world without peace. Though such people are very little in number but somehow or the other they are in a dominating position there. It is not only with Pakistan, India’s relations with all other neighboring countries are also always at the verge of war. Most of the neighbours complain that India keeps on trying to interfere and intrude their territory by using all fair and foul means.  Experts say that the Modi government would have never shown such a brutal hostility against the neighbours if US were not at its back.

It has always been a misconception of the Mr. Modi and his political followers that all their right or wrong actions would be legitimized with the backing and support of the US government. Same has been the mode of thinking of Afghanistan’s President Mr. Ashraf Ghani. Under the supervision of Ashraf Ghani government, the Afghan forces always try to provoke Pakistani Forces by throwing bomb-shells across the border. These shells not only cause damages to the houses of innocent civilians living near the borders but also snatch the lives of children and women living there. After every such incident some of the Afghan and Indian media agents start maligning the actual situation by blaming Pakistan. They misreport that shells were thrown into the Afghan area by Pakistan and the people killed as a result were the Afghanis not Pakistanis. In short Mr. Modi and Mr. Ghani and their followers rank US as a never-declining ultimate authority. Now all their dreams seem shattering as a series of pathetic events and incidents has proved that US is not the ultimate power.

Today, the so-called world super power US is passing through the ever-worst phase of its history in shape of racial-riots. On 31^st May 2020, the Washington Post said reporting on the worsening law and order situation in US, A day of widespread protests devolved into a night of fire and fury across the nation as tensions boiled over in dozens of American cities. Police cars and government buildings were set aflame, windows were shattered, stores were ransacked, monuments were vandalized and authorities in riot gear fired pepper pellets, tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators who had amassed to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man killed at the hands of police.” The US is already badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and these racial-riots are simply adding a lot to the misery. At present, more than 24 cities are under curfew and about 12 states are being controlled by the National Guard. Astonishingly in spite of all these security measures, reports say, scores of police officers and protesters have yet been injured many of them are in critical condition. Even the White House is not safe at the hands of the protesters as there have been reports of serious clashes between Secret Service agents and demonstrators outside the White House.

It is also something very alarming that after the racial riots and after the Covid-19 pandemic, the country is facing the worst type of losses to the economic structure. Shopping-Malls are being burned, shops are being looted, houses demolished and vehicles smashed. The entire situation is so depressing and disappointing particularly for the business community that America’s one of the giant business corporations The Target has decided to close 175 of its stores across 13 states. This corporation owns and operates more than 1844 departmental stores throughout the country. Its head-office is in Minnesota, the same Minnesota where from the story of riots started. Certainly this step of the Target would lead to the unemployment of thousands of workers. In such a horrible situation of the present and with a dark, gloomy picture of the future, how US would be able to patronize Indian hegemonic designs in the South-Asian region and Afghanistan’s baseless hostility against Pakistan; this is an important question.

‘It was horrific then. It’s horrific to hear it now.’ — Ken Burns wants all of us to remember Donald Trump’s extreme response to the Central Park Five case.

In US news, Ken Burns sat down with NowThis News to talk about the Central Park 5 case and how Donald Trump reacted to it back in 1989. The Central Park 5 refers to Korey Wise, Antron McCray, Yuse Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Kevin Richardson who were convicted of raping and beating a Central Park jogger Trisha Meili. After the attack Donald Trump called for the death penalty to be used on the Central Park 5. The Central Park Five case was the subject of Sarah Burns’ book, later a Ken Burns’ documentary, and is now being turned into a Netflix series from Ava DuVernay called When They See Us. In a Trump interview at the time, Trump said he ‘hates these people’ and believed hate would help get things done.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera 

We read politicians including paradesheeya sabha members and monks involved in robberies ,  but this is the first time we hear about  a Doctor who is almost a consultant involved in a robbery.

There is nothing here to be surprised because most of the doctors who become consultants eventually start robbing poor people when they go on doing private practice.

The only difference is that this culprit wanted to rob the total loot for a lifetime in one go!

Dr Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

by Shamindra Ferdinando  Courtesy The Island

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and Minister Wimal Weerawansa on Monday (8) said that the three-member Election Commission (EC) should take the responsibility for holding up the parliamentary polls as well as the conduct of its member Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole.

The EC comprises Mahinda Deshapriya, Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole and Nalin Abeysekera PC.

Alleging the EC pursued an agenda inimical to Sri Lanka, Minister Weerawansa demanded that the biased EC resigned immediately. The NFF leader said so on ‘Salakuna’-a live interview on ‘Hiru’ conducted by a panel of journalists.

‘Hiru’ panel consists of Chamuditha Samarawickrema, Chapa Bandara and Madushan de Silva.

Minister Weerawansa emphasized that the EC couldn’t be considered an independent body, especially against the backdrop of Prof. Hoole’s conduct. Reference was made to Prof. Hoole’s daughter visiting the EC premises at Rajagiriya and his controversial interview with Jaffna-based Dan TV in which the academic criticized a section of the media for their reportage of his conduct while urging the electorate not to vote for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

Weerawansa, a member of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s caretaker cabinet holds Small and Medium Business and Enterprise Development, Industries and Supply chain Management portfolio.

Lawmaker Weerawansa said that he considered the crisis was caused by the EC not Prof. Hoole alone. Colombo District MP Weerawansa questioned the EC Chairman Deshapriya’s response to Prof. Hoole’s conduct. Responding to a query, Minister Weerawansa accused EC Chairman of protecting Prof. Hoole.

Alleging that the so called independent EC was actually engaged in prostitution, Minister Weerawansa said that Deshapriya’s actions and the failure on his part to restore public confidence in the EC were contrary to what he often preached.

Minister Weerawansa alleged that EC Chairman Deshapriya was bent on delaying the parliamentary polls.

Referring to Deshapriya’s declaration that the EC could immediately initiate the electoral process if a guarantee was received as regards non-existence of corona threat, minister Weerawansa asked whether EC wanted the government to suspend repatriation of Lankans pending the conclusion of polls.

The erstwhile JVP firebrand strongly denied accusations that the SLPP was trying to bulldoze the EC. The NFF leader acknowledged that the government lacked the power to change the composition of the EC as the only authority-Constitutional Council empowered to intervene remained in the hands of the UNP and those aligned with it.

At the onset of the interview, Minister Weerawansa said that Prof. Hoole or any other member of the EC reserved the right to vote for a particular party though decisions pertaining to the EC couldn’t be made on the basis of one’s political opinion. One-time JVP heavyweight alleged that Prof. Hoole strongly pushed for the rejection of SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s nominations for the 2019 presidential polls.

SLPP General Secretary attorney-at-law Sagara Kariyawasam recently lodged a complaint with the EC in respect of Prof. Hoole’s interview with Dan TV.

The UNP and its breakaway faction, Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) wanted to delay parliamentary polls till late August or early September as both believed the government would be in an extremely difficult situation by then, Minister Weerawansa alleged. Responding to ‘Hiru’ panel, Minister Weerawansa said that the EC facilitated political strategies of the UNP and SJB.

Minister Weerawansa also discussed the possibility of the EC Chairman receiving the backing of civil society grouping that backed the LTTE during the conflict. The minister attributed this to EC Chairman’s younger brother Sunanda Deshapriya being an influential civil society activist.

Minister Weerawansa found fault with the UNP, SJB and the JVP for not criticizing the EC’s conduct.

Acknowledging that the government had failed in the implementation of quarantine regulations in certain instances, Minister Weerawansa said that any attempt to take action against Prof. Hoole and his daughter for the latter’s visit to the EC premises could cause controversy. The minister said that the government was interested in bringing the situation to the public attention and certainly not pursue the matter in court.

Now that the Supreme Court has rejected all petitions filed against the dissolution of parliament on March 2 and EC announcement to conduct the polls on June 20, there was absolutely no point in discussing the possibility of reconvening the parliament. The EC’s responsibility would be to conduct parliamentary poll at the first appropriate opportunity, the minister said, denying accusations that the government suppressed corona deaths as part of its overall strategy to pave the way for polls.

Minister Weerawnsa asked how the government could pressure DGHS Dr. Anil Jayasinghe to deceive the public when the media had direct access to all hospitals where corona patients were warded.

NFF leader Weerawansa alleged that Deshapriya and Prof. Hoole staged a show before the public.

Minister Weerawansa said that the public could move court against the EC for inordinate delay in announcing the polls date.

Courtesy matador network

SRI LANKA IS planning to welcome tourists back starting on August 1, 2020, but it’s taking this step with a serious safety protocol.

Many countries are now requiring a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival, administering them at the airports, but Sri Lanka is requiring four tests. According to Sri Lanka Tourism, the first test must be taken within 72 hours of your departure to Sri Lanka, and the second will be administered at the airport, on arrival, for free. While you’re waiting for the results — it could take up to 24 hours — you must wait in a hotel in Colombo or Negombo. Assuming you test negative, you will be required to take another test four to five days after arrival via a mobile unit, and if you’re staying longer, yet another test after 10 days.

While this may be inconvenient,” the tourism website acknowledges, it is essential to safeguard everybody and provide peace of mind.”

If you do test positive after any of these four tests, you will be placed in quarantine for 14 to 21 days, depending on your symptoms.

In addition to the tests, a tourist visa will now cost $100 (it was previously free), and in your visa application you must provide your itinerary, proof of medical insurance, booking details, and return ticket information.

So yes, visiting Sri Lanka after August will definitely be possible, but you’ll have to be committed.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry says that one more person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (09).

The total number of positive coronavirus cases reported in Sri Lanka has now risen to 1,858.

Courtesy Hiru News

Various comments made by opposition and ruling party politicians regarding the forthcoming parliamentary election and the Independent Election Commission are given below;

Courtesy Hiru News

It has been revealed that the doctor had used a toy pistol for the purpose to threaten the cashier of the Colombo National Hospital Accounts Division and had robbed 7.9 million rupees.

Police Media Spokesperson SP Jaliya Senaratne stated that he was a doctor attached another hospital and has come to the National Hospital for post graduate training as a specialist doctor.

The suspect had arrived at the Shroff Unit of the Bandaranaike building at the National Hospital at around 1.30 pm and had robbed the overtime allowances, salaries and cash for the payment of additional duties of the hospital staff.

Investigations have revealed that two trainee State Intelligence Service officers had chased the suspect in another three-wheeler and arrested him.

It has also been reported that the officer in charge of the Women’s and Children’s Bureau, Waruni Bogahawatte who was in the hospital for an official duty has assisted the two intelligence officers to apprehend the suspect.

The suspect who was arrested is a resident of Horana.

The reason and purpose of the robbery is to be ascertained.

Courtesy Hiru News

Minister Wimal Weerawansa revealed today that the US official who arrived in Sri Lanka and refused to be subject to a PCR test was not a diplomat.

He was speaking at a press conference held in Colombo. The Minister also expressed his views regarding the conduct of the Election Commission Chairman.

Courtesy Hiru News

Police Inspector Neomal Rangajiva of the Police Field Force Headquarters said that IGP Pujith Jayasundara insisted on mentioning the name of former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in connection with the 2012 shooting incident at Welikada Prison.

He was presenting evidence before the Presidential Commission appointed to Investigate Political revenge.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

A recent statement of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka has stated that the responsibility for the failure of the finance company must be taken by the central bank as the company has been under its administration.  I am fully agreed with the statement of the prime minister and would like to analyze why the central bank should take responsibility. Theoretically, the statement of the prime minister is based on the point that the account administration of the finance company and considering the finance regulations introduced in the country. If there were regulations to prevent bankruptcies of finance companies what were the causal factors for the insolvency of the finance may be a question of depositors. There may be other reasons that could not publicly state such as the political influence and other dishonest relationships may be associated with the issue. I have no idea to look into such points.     

As I reiterated many occasions by posted articles in the Lankaweb the Central Bank as the regulatory authority of the financial system of Sri Lanka must take the responsibility for the regulatory role and administrative strategies that have been applied to manage the finance company ltd after the undertaking of the company.

 In the early stage, although the Central Bank treated as the banker to banks it had not performed regulatory responsibilities toward non-bank financial organizations. Later, when the market dynamic came to light the Central Bank was given more power to regulate finance companies. Were the power given by the new laws suffice to rescue might be an additional problem associated with the problem.  

Under the regulatory responsibilities, the Central Bank’s role was to supervise the operational activities of the finance companies. Was the Central Bank given sufficient power by new legislation and required muscles to manage finance companies is another question? The original law of the Central Bank gave the specific role on account of the trading banks and was the same authority given to control the finance companies is not clear to analyze the role of the Central Bank’s power towards the non-bank financial institutions.  The extent of the Central Bank’s power has not clearly defined and the role of the Central Bank appeared confusing. The regulatory framework adapted after the bankruptcy of the finance ltd disclosed that the regulation adopted by the Central bank was not sufficient to prevent the insolvency and after the bankruptcy of the company the Central Bank has a little option and to play the receivership role. The most vital role was to prevent insolvency rather than taking action after bankruptcy.  

In this stage, it needs to understand that the management responsibilities of finance companies are vested with the company directors and general management. Regulatory advises of the Central Bank usually direct the company management to consistent with the advice which would be dependent on the finding after a regulatory audit.  For example, if the central bank identified the finance company was operating without sufficient capital to contain the risk of company financial assets in such a situation the central bank should have advised to maintain adequate capital to cover the total risk assets. Practically, increasing the quantum of capital might be confusing advice, and deposit holders may not know the advice with a view to responding against the regulatory advice of the Central Bank.   

The bank directors should have contributed the additional capital requirement or transfer annual profits to reserves or convert deposits to the capital with the consent of depositors. In that way, the regulatory advice should have directed to the finance company management, which is responsible for compliance and there is no evidence for depositors whether the Central Bank played the right role to protect depositors. 

Did the Central Bank play such a role as the regulatory authority?  The statement of the prime minister implied that the Central Bank had not played the regulatory role. If the Central Bank had been played the regulatory role the failure of the finance company could have prevented or minimized. If the professional role had not been played by the central bank it must take responsibility for the failure.  The management of the Central Bank (the governor, members of the monetary board, and the executives of the central bank are personally responsible for the breach of trust and this type of harsh responsibility has not been insisted over the executives of the Central Bank before.

According to the freedom of information customers of the finance company (Deposit holders and Credit Customers) have a right to obtain information about what kind of regulatory role was played and advice was given by the Central Bank to the finance company. Generally, the advice of the central bank to the finance company treat as confidential and the court can decide to what extent information could be released to customers and government authorities such as company registration, taxation, and others.     

This was an issue in many countries such as Australia, England, and Canada and during the early 1980s in other countries, and such countries have changed banking laws and regulations. In Sri Lanka, finance law and regulation have not been changed by various governments elected to the office. Why it was delayed, might be a question to the public. 

Banking texts published in Sri Lanka and overseas pointed out the management issues of Non -Bank financial institutions and it is difficult to see that educated officers in the Central Bank informed the government to change the existing legislation to adopt the new environment.

The other point raised from the statement of the prime minister is that the Finance Company was undertaken over by the Central Bank and at this stage, the Central Bank has been responsible for the entire administration (company management and consistent with the compliance of the regulatory authority) of the finance company. The nature of the transaction is similar to receivership, which has broader responsibilities like the owner of the finance company. Under the receivership, the central bank has limited options and the best option is to pay depositors a reasonable amount liquidating the company.  The statement of the prime minister implied that the Central Bank has not performed due responsibilities to take out the company from the management mess and the prime minister stated that on that ground the central bank is responsible for the failure of the finance company.   The Executive Officers of the Central Bank have no practical experience in financial institution management though they have higher degrees of finance subjects.

Customers of the finance company must take responsibility for their deposits.  They were not risk-averse customers and they loved to take the risk to make higher returns than the interest yield offered by trading banks of the country. As a strongly Buddhist country, customers should have concentrated the teaching of Lord Buddha on the desires.  

The government of Sri Lanka needs to develop policies for finance company management and operations and I would like to point out some vital areas.

• The registration of a finance company should be based on five-pillar factors ( (a) Industry Environment of the finance industry, (b) Competitive Position of the proposed finance company based on the industry average and the proposed company (environment and standards of the proposed company), (c) Operational Knowledge, Experience, Skills, and Capability of the management, vision, mission, and objectives of the management. All these called management quality of the proposed company ( d) the Volume of paid-up capital and the quality of existing assets of the company (e) Accounting Quality of the proposed company).
• Before registration of a finance company, it needs to ensure that the company chairman and directors have contributed more than 50% of paid-up capital from the authorized capital. Debt capital or preference shares should not allow at least 7 years of successful operations. The Central Bank needs to insist to transfer a least 10% of annual profits to reserves of the proposed company.
• The Central Bank should train the proposed finance company management on setting rates of interest for deposits and debt finance (credit extension, leasing, Jewelry mortgages, Promissory Notes, floating and fixed charges, fixed and others) based on the prime rate of the Central Bank and contain the risk.  The highest risk factor of finance company management in Sri Lanka is the rate of interest (for deposits and charge).  The practical experience indicates that finance companies cannot offer higher rates of interest for deposits over the interest offered by trading and saving banks to attract more deposits misleading customers and charge a higher rate of interest from borrowers, who cannot afford a high rate of interest.
• The intention of directors and the past behavior of them must be checked for more than ten years.

Sri Lanka has sufficient finance companies and many companies need to merge, sometimes may need to merge with hostile bids.

It is clear that the Central Bank has a massive regulatory role and it should not play an operational role in the market like superannuation management, rural credit, and others.  It is a conflict of interest and legally wrong.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised 7.6.20

Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha has played a significant role in the preservation of indigenous culture in Sri Lanka. But his contribution has not been recognized and not much is known about him. I searched the literature for references to Ven. Siddhartha, and also asked a friend in Kandy, to find out something about Ven. Siddhartha.

My friend, who has a distant kinship connection to this family, had gone to Rambukwelle temple, situated in the old Teldeniya area. She was shown the grave of Ven. Siddhartha containing his ashes and giving his years of birth and death.  She has also met descendants of Ven., Siddhartha in Rambukwelle village. She was told that that a nephew of Ven. Siddhartha, the son of Siddhartha’s brother, (name with held) had manuscript material on the Ven. Siddhartha. She conveyed this information to me.

Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha was born on 12th December 1889 and died on 8th November 1941. Nothing is known publicly of his childhood, youth or his ordination. The family may be having this information.

What we do know is that he had studied at a pirivena,    and then had gone to Calcutta with Anagarika Dharmapala where he came under the influence of Tagore.He obtained a degree in Calcutta, specializing in Sanskrit, returned home and joined the University College in Colombo. He lived in Anderson Road when teaching at University. 

 K.N.O.Dharmadasa, writing on the origins of the Department of Sinhala of the University of Ceylon, observed, that there was a high standard of written Sinhala in Sri Lanka in the first half of the 20^th century. That is because bhikkhus such as Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala and Ratmalane Dhammarama and lay scholars such as W.F .Gunawardhana had set high standards for Sinhala. There was also an active Pirivena education system at the time, led by Vidyodaya (1873) and Vidyalankara (1875) which   insisted on good Sinhala.

This tradition of Sinhala scholarship, nurtured in the Pirivena was transferred to the Sinhala Department of the University, said Dharmadasa. The first two lecturers in Sinhala in University College in the 1940s were Ven. Suriyagoda Sumangala and Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha, both from the Pirivena tradition.

The first lecturer to be appointed to the Department of Sanskrit, Pali, and Sinhala was Rev. Suriyagoda Sumangala who held an MA from the University of Calcutta, continued Dharmadasa. His career which started with much promise ended suddenly with his resignation during the mid-1920s. The next noteworthy lecturer who joined the department was Rev. Rambukwelle Siddhartha who also held an MA from Calcutta. Unfortunately, his career too ended with his sudden demise before the University came into being, concluded Dharmadasa.

We have information on Ven. Siddhartha’s  teaching from Ediriweera Sarachchandra who had  studied Sanskrit under   Ven. Siddhartha in the University .Ven. Siddhartha’s’ knowledge of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit was far superior to that of G.P. Malalasekera, said Sarachchandra. ‘All three of us, who were specializing in Sanskrit thought so’.

Sarachchandra said Ven. Siddhartha taught Sanskrit as a living language. He did not teach Mega Dhuta, by translating it word for word into English. He made us respond to the poetry of the Megha Dhuta, not simply the content. Ven. Siddhartha recited each sloka. He did not recite in the dull manner in which Sanskrit is recited in Sri Lanka, but in the grand manner in which it is recited in India. He had a very fine voice, with a wide vocal range and a volume which resonated inside the lecture rom. I can still recall his voice reciting these slokas, said Sarachchandra.,

Ven. Siddhartha has composed poetry. Here is information on one of his effort. Sarachchandra recalls, Ven. Siddhartha   had a servant called Kira. Kira was very lazy, Ven. Siddhartha wrote ‘Kira budida ban’ kavi based on him.   After composing this poem, Ven. Siddhartha had read it out to us, his three Sanskrit students, with great relish.

There are other scattered references which indicate that Ven. Siddhartha was influential in the University. ‘Some academics serving at the university led by Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha and Prof. G. P. Malalasekara succeeded in inspiring a feeling for the indigenous culture among university students’ said one analyst.

 An appreciation of Ven. Narada of Vajiraramaya, Colombo,   said that Narada studied ethics and philosophy at the University College, Colombo, as an external student, where he was able to associate closely with Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha , an oriental scholar monk of repute”.  Olcott Gunasekera confirms this. He stated that Narada had studied ethics and philosophy at University College, Colombo and met Rambukwelle Siddhartha, an oriental scholar monk.

An appreciation of Prof. O.H.de A Wijesekera included a reference to Ven. Siddhartha. Venerable Rambukwelle Siddhartha, Senior Lecturer in the Department of   Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhalese was inculcating in his pupils a love for indigenous literature and the culture of the land, said the writer of this appreciation.

But Ven. Siddhartha did not escape criticism. The Sinhala standard at the University College was heavily criticized by Sinhala scholars outside the University, said Dharmadasa. Hela Havula group carried on a relentless campaign against the teachers and teaching of Sinhala in University College. Hela Havula attacked them, especially Rev Rambukwelle Siddhartha who was lecturing there.  When Ven. Siddhartha passed away, they criticized the grammar in the obituary poem published on Ven. Siddhartha, as well.   

Here is a formal photograph of the teaching staff of the University College. The date is not given but it can be easily obtained from University records. It is probably early 1930s. Ven. Siddhartha is in the second row.

A Sinhala literary society was started in University College in 1923. It appears to have been a shaky organisation. In 1932, there weren’t even five students to make up the quorum and the meetings were cancelled, recalled Tissa Kariyawasam. However, in the 1930s, the University College Sinhala Society was interested in Kandyan dancing due to the teaching of Rambukwelle Siddhartha there, continued Kariyawasam. Malalasekera watching the activities of this society wanted to initiate practical classes in Kandyan dancing but this never materialised, concluded Kariyawasam. The biographer of Pani Bharatha, Anura Priyalal Sirisena added that Ven. Siddhartha had tried to link Udarata dance and Indian dance. 

Sarachchandra provides better information. He says Ven. Siddhartha   had attended the meetings of the Gandharva sabha once or twice and sang vannam. But Ven. Siddhartha’s greatest contribution was the introduction of Urapola Kiribanda, to the Sabha. Kiribanda was an Udarata dancer from a traditional dance parampara. He started a dance class in the University on Sunday mornings. Sarachchandra had also gone for these, not because he wished to become a dancer but because he wanted to learn the moves.

The Oriental Faculty of University College had held an annual Mela which showcased indigenous culture. This was intended as a corrective to the Eurocentric approach favoured by the University .My recall is that Ven. Siddhartha’s name was mentioned in connection with the Mela too.

Ven. Siddhartha’s family in Teldeniya had told my friend that Ven. Siddhartha had known nine languages. This is possible. He would have known Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala, probably Bengali. He definitely knew English.  There is evidence of this. Ven. Rambukwella has edited and translated the Letters of J. D’Oyly. This was published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1937.

Ven. Siddhartha, unlike most Bhikkhus of the time, was well travelled. He has spent several years in each of the two international centers, to which the intelligentsia of the time flocked, Calcutta in India and London in the UK. In addition to Calcutta, Ven. Rambukwelle has also lived in London. He was he was the incumbent bhikkhu at London Buddhist Vihara from 1933-1937. G.Uswatte arachchi says Ven. Siddhartha was at the   School of African and Asian studies (SOAS).

This writer, Kamalika Pieris, writing on indigenous dance stated ‘Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha knew to dance, sing vannam and play the udekki. He composed a new Gajaga vannama.’ This was based   on a statement by Tissa Kariyawasam.

Rambukwelle Siddhartha, with the assistance of Urapola Kiribanda used to sing vannamas playing the udekki, recalled Tissa Kariyawasam. Siddhartha thera was a clever singer and dancer too. He was the composer of the new Gajaga vannama, added Kariyawasam.  Uswatte arachchi supported this view. Rambukwelle Siddhartha was reputed to be able to sing Vannam beautifully, said G.Uswatte arachchi. 

Sarachchandra said he had gone to Ven. Siddhartha’s house to learn Vannam. Ven. Siddhartha recited vannam and taught them to me, Sarachchandra recalled.Ven. Siddhartha not only knew vannam but had a critical knowledge and deep appreciation of Udarata dance, said Sarachchandra.  Vinaya rules were somewhat slack at the time and Sangha were able to take an interest in the performing arts. Udarata dance survived during British rule because of the support it got from the Udarata elite, including its Sangha said Sarachchandra.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B.,Ph.D.

මැකියාවේලි ශාස්ත්‍රය අනුගමනය කල මුවර් නායකයින්

ලෝනා ශ්‍රීමතී දේවරාජා විසින් 1994 දී ලියූ මුස්ලිම් ශාන්ත-දාන්ත තීන්ත කූඩු පිළිඹඳ සාම-සමාදාන පොතේ කතාව සසැඳිය යුත්තේ, ඊට පෙර 1987 දී වසුන්‌ධරා මෝහන් විසින් කල අචාර්ය උපාධි නිබන්ධනයේ පෙන්වන කරුණු සමඟය. <අයිඩන්ටිටි ක්‍රයිසිස් ඔෆ් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම්> යන මෙය ඉන්දියාවේ රාජස්ථාන් සරසවියේදී කරණ ලද්දකි. මෙම පර්යේෂණයේදී ඇය විසින් සහිරා විද්‍යාලයේ විදුහල්පති, කතානායක/ගමනා ගමන ඇමති එම්. එච්.මොහමඩ්, සර් රෂීක් ෆරීඩ්, අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිව සිටි බදිුද්දීන් මොහමඩ්, කතානායකව සිටි බකීර් මාකර් යන අය හා සාකච්චා කර තිබීම වැදගත් වන්නේ, ඇය ලියන අදහස් මේ අයගේ අදහස් මත පදනම් වී තිබිය යුතු වීම නිසාය. මේ අය කර තිබෙන්නේ කලින් පරම්පරාව දමා දුන් අත්තිවාරම උඩ ගොඩනැඟිල්ලට දොර, ජනේල දමා ගැනීමය. ඔවුන්ගේ ඊලඟ අළුත් පරම්පරාව කල පාපය නම්, අරාබි ලෝකයේ ශාරියාවාදයට යටවී, සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයාට ද්‍රෝහී වීමය. කන්න දුන් අත සපාකෑමය. කල දුටු කල වල ඉහගැනීම හෙවත් මැකියාවේලී න්‍යාය දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදීන්ට වඩා දක්‍ෂ ලෙස මුවර්‍වරුන් විසින් භාවිතා කර ඇති බව පෙනේ.

ලෝනාගේ පොතට කලින් පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ ඉතිහාසය හැදෑරූ විජය සමරවීර විසින්, මුස්ලිම් රිවිවලිස්ට් මූව්මන්ට්, 1880-1914 යනුවෙන් ලිපියක් 1978 දී ලියන ලදී. ඔහුගේ ඔක්‍ෂ්ෆර්ඩ් ආචාර්ය උපාධිය සමහර විට මේ විෂය සම්බන්‌ධව වූවා විය හැකිය කියා සිතෙන්නේ ඔහු ඇෆ්ඝනිස්ථානයේ විශේෂඥයෙක් වශයෙන් යූ. එන්. ඕ. හා ඇමෙරිකන් රාජ්‍ය ආයතන සමඟ කටයුතු කල නිසාය. බෞද්‌ධ හා හින්දු පුනරුද සමඟ සැසඳීමක් මෙහිදී ඔහු විසින් කලා විය හැකිය. සිංහලයෙකු විසින් මුස්ලිම් ඉතිහාසය ගැන කල සවිස්තර විස්තරයක් වන්නේ ජාතික හෙළ උරුමයේ, පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක විසින් 2003 දී ලියා, 2013 දී අළුත්කල, <අල් ජිහාද්, අල්කයිඩා: අතීතය, වර්‌තමානය සහ ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදය> යන වැදගත් පොතය. මේ පිළිඹදව පසුව සළකා බලනු ලැබේ.

වසුන්ද්‌ධරාගේ පොතේ කොටස් කීපයක් හෝ මෙහි උපුටා දැක්‌විය යුතු වන්නේ සිංහල ජනයාට, මායාවකින් තොරව මෙම යථා‌ර්‌ථය අවභොධ කර ගැනීමට උපකාර වීම පිණිසය. සෙනරත් රජුගේ කාලයේදී සිද්‌ධීන් කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඉංග්‍රීසි කාලයේදී, සිංහලයා දමණය කිරීමේදී, බ‌ර්‌ග‌ර් ජනයා මෙන්, මුවර් හා ඉන්දියන් මුවර් වරු හා මැලේවරු විසින්, භට සේනා හා ඔත්තු සැපයීම් කලේය. ඒ හැර වෙන කලහැකි දෙයක්ද ඔවුන්ට නොවීය. 1946 සිට එතෙක් පැවති <මුහම්මදන් ආගම අදහන අය> යන නිර්‌වචනය වෙනුවට, සිලෝන් මුවර්, ඉන්දියන් මුවර් හා මැලේවරු යන තුන් කොටසම <මුස්ලිම්> යන පොදු නමකින් ජන සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛනයේ සඳහන් කරණ ලෙස ඔවුන් විසින් බලකර සිටියේය (මෙය මලබාර් වැසියන් යන්න දෙමළ කියා වෙනස් කිරීමට සමානය). ඔවුන් රටේ පොකුරු වශයෙන් විසිරී සිටීම නිසා උතුරු-නැඟෙනහිරදී දෙමළ මව්භාෂාව ලෙසත්, සෙසු ප්‍රදේශ වලදී, පොකුරු (ඒක රාසීවූ ජනාවාස/නිවාස) වශයෙන් සිටිමින් දෙමළ-සිංහල කතා කිරීමටත් සිදුවිය. පොන්නම්බලම්ලාගේ, චෙල්වනායගම්ලාගේ බෙදුම්වාදයට ඔවුන් එකතු නොවූයේ ඉන් ඔවුන්ට සිදුවන්නේ දෙමළීකරණය වීමක් පමණක් නිසාය. ඔවුන් යොදාගත් ඥානාන්‌විත උපක්‍රම කදිමය. මේ ගැන වසුන්‌ධරා කියන්නේ මෙසේය:

<…. මුස්ලිම් නායකයින් සිංහල රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව කිරීම අනුමත කලේ මහ ජාතිය හා බද්‌ධ වීමට නොව, තමන් දෙමළ ජාතියෙන් වෙනස් බව පෙන්‌වීමටය. 1948 වන විට ගොවිතැනේ යෙදුණ නැඟෙනහිර පලාතේ (දෙමළ මව් බස‌වූ) හා වෙළදාමේ යෙදුණ (බස්නාහිර මුහුදු තීරයේ, ඉංග්‍රීසි කතාකරණ) කොටස් දෙක භාෂාව වෙනුවට ආගමට මුල්තැනක් දීමට තීරණය කලේය. අරාබි සම්භවය නමැති මිථ්‍යාව ගොඩනගන්නට ක්‍රියාකලේය. සුළු ජනවර්‌ගයක් වශයෙන් තම අනන්‍යතාවය රැක ගැනීමට බස්නාහිර නාගරික මුස්ලිම් නායකයින් කලේ දෙමළ ආභාෂයෙන් ගැලවීමට ක්‍රියාකිරීමය. දෙමළ දේශපාලනය හා එකතු නොවුනොත් දේශපාලන වශයෙන් ඔවුන්ට බලයක් නැති බව ඔවුන් දැන සිටියේය. එහෙත් එසේ කිරීමෙන් වෙන්නේ දෙමළවී යාමය. මේ නිසා ඔවුන් අරාබි අධ්‍යාපනය ආරම්භ කලේය. 1916 දී අරාබි මව් භාෂාව ලෙස සඳහන් කලේ සියේට 0.33 පමණය. අරාබි අධ්‍යාපනය මඟින් ඔවුන්ට තම අනන්‍යතාවය රැකගත හැකිවිය. හිසට වේල් එක දැමීම, මැදපෙරදිග මුස්ලිම් සටන් වලට සහාය දීමද ඊට ඇතුලත් විය…>

<… දෙමළ පුරුදු හා බලපෑම් වලින් මුස්ලිම් ජනයා පිරිසිදු කර ගැනීම මෙම අනන්‍යතාවය ගොඩනැඟීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියේ කොටසක් විය. මුවර් ඉස්ලාමික් කල්චරල් හෝම් හා ඕල් සිලෝන් මුවර් ඇසෝසියේෂන් මේ සඳහා පිහිටුවා ගත් ආයතනය. විවාහ, දික්කසාද, දේපල උරුමය පිළිඹඳව ශාරියා නීතියට අනුව රටේ නීතිය වෙනස් කර ගැනීමට ගත් උත්සාහ ඉතාමත් අර්‌ථවත් විය (මීනින්ෆුල්), ප්‍රඥාගෝචර විය. ක්වාසි වල කාර්යභාරය නීතීගත කිරීම, විවාහ හා දික්කසාද සිවිල් උසාවි වලින් ඉවත් කිරීම හා වාෆ් බෝඩ් පිහිටුවීම, මුවර් මිනිසුන් ඉස්ලාම්කරණය කිරීමේලා ලබාගත් විශාල පියවරවල් විය…>

සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ පුනරුදය හා මුස්ලිම් පුනරුදය

1880 දී ඕල්කොට් ආගමනයට පෙර, 1873 පානදුරා මහාවාදයෙන්, 1840 ස් ගණන් වල සිට බෞද්‌ධයින්ට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවූ ක්‍රිස්තියානි හිරිහැර (බුද්‌ධාගම කියන්නේ බොරුවක් යන මතවාදය), නිට්ටාවටම පරාජය කරණ ලදී. තමන්ට එල්ලවූ තර්‍ජන වලට මුහුණ දුන්නා මිස (1883 කොටහේන බෞද්‌ධ-ක්‍රිස්තියානි ගැටුම, 1915 බෞද්‌ධ-මුස්ලිම් ගැටුම), වෙසක් නිවාඩු දිනය ඉල්ලා සිටියා වැනි දේ මිස, සෙසු ජනව‌ර්‍ග වල කඩා වැදීමේ අභිප්‍රායක් සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ භික්‍ෂූන්ට නොවීය. ඔවුන්ට සිදුවූ අසාධාරණකම්, වෙනස්කම් හා හිරිහැර සුද්දා හා ඕ මයි ගෝඩ් සිංහලයා විසින් කල හා කරගත් දේ මිස දෙමළ හෝ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා කල දෙයක් නොවීය. දෙමළ නායකයින් 1923 සිට දෙමළීකරණයක් කෙරෙහි යොමුවුනේ චන්දය බලය පැතිරීයාමත් සමඟ, එතෙක් සුද්දා විසින් ලබාදී තිබූ රටේ කෘතිම නායකත්‌ව බලය ඔවුන්ගෙන් ගිලිහී යන බව ඔවුන්ට වැටහී යාමත් සමඟය.

කැමැත්තෙන් හුදකලාවීමේ උපායඥානය (self-imposed isolation)

සුළු ජනවර්‌ගයක් තුල, සුළු ජනවර්‌ගයක් වූ මුවර් ජනයාගේ භූමීය වශයෙන් පැවති විසීරී යෑම වටහාගත් මුවර් නායකයින් සෙසු ජනයාගෙන් වෙන්‌වීමෙන් තම අනන්‍යතාවය ගොඩ නඟා ගැනීමට තීරණය කලේය. වසුන්‌ධරාට මෙය පෙණුනේ දෙමළ ජනයාගෙන් ගැලවීමේ උත්සාහයක් ලෙසය. නමුත් අරාබි භාෂාව, ආගම හා මැඩ්‍රසා අධ්‍යාපනය මුල් කරගෙන ඔවුන් ලබාගත් අහිංසක සේ පෙනෙන ඉල්ලිම් වල අරමුණ දෙමළ හා සිංහල යන දෙගොල්ලන්ගෙන්ම ගැලවුණ සමාජීය-පුරවැසි වෙන්‌වීමක් කරා යෑමය (social-personal separation). මද්‍රසා වලින් බාහිර ඉංග්‍රීසි පාසැල් යනු ක්‍රිස්තියානිකරණය වීමක්‌ය යන මතයෙන් ගැලවීමට කල් ගියේද මේ නිසාය. නුවර සිටි පෙරකදෝරු සිද්දි ලෙබ්බේ, වප්ෂෙ මරික්කාර් (සර් රෂීක් ෆරීඩ්ගේ සීයා), අබ්දුල් අසීස්, අරාබි පාෂා (ඊජිප්තුවෙන් පැන ආ), මුස්ලිම් ඉංග්‍රීසි පසැල් ආරම්භ කිරීමට ක්‍රියාකලේය. 1892 දී සහිරා විද්‍යාලය ඇරඹිණ. 1921 සිට 48 ද‌ක්වා එහි විදුහල්පතිවූ මැලේ ජාතික ටී. බී. ජයා, 1951 දී කාති උසාවි ලබාගත්තේය.

එහෙත් බෞද්‌ධ ඉංග්‍රීසි පාසැල්වල ඕල්කොට් බෞද්‌ධයින් (ඕ මයි ගෝඩ් බෞද්‌ධයින්) මෙන් නොව මුස්ලිම් අධ්‍යාපනය මැඩ්‍රසා රේල්පාරේම ගියේය. දැන් 2020 සිට ආපසු බලන විට මුස්ලිම් පුනරුදය කිරි ගහට ඇන්නා මෙන් බලාපොරොත්තුවූ ඉලක්කයට ලඟාවී සිටින්නේ සිංහල දේශපාලකයින්ගේ කර පිටින්‌ය! ලංකාව ආරක්‍ෂාකරණා යම් අදෘෂ්‍යමාන බලවේගයක් විසින් රට බේරා දෙනවා යයි සිතෙන්නේ, පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය, ඊට පෙර ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ නැණ විකල් හැසිරීම මෙන්ම, සිංහල ජනතාවගේ දෑස් පෑදවූ නිසාය. ප්‍රේමදාස හෝ රනිල් හෝ චන්ද්‍රිකා බන්දේසිවල දමා පූජාකල උතුරු පලාත භාරගත්තා නම් අද ප්‍රභාකරන් ඊළම් රජුය. එපමණක් නොව මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ විසින් විග්නේෂ්වරන්ට දුන් චන්ද තෑග්ග, මහත්මා ගුණයෙන් පාවිච්චිකලා නම් උතුරේ දෙමළ ජනයාගේ ජීවිත කෙතරම් ප්‍රීති ජනක වන්නට තිබුණාද? ඔහුව බුදු පිළිම වලට භය, දේවානම්-පිය-තීෂන් උන්මත්තකයෙකු කලේ විෂ්ණු දෙවියන්ද? ශිව දේවාලයද?

මුස්ලිම් කරත්ත පාර

තම ජනාවාස පොකුරුවල ඒකරාශීවී ජීවත්‌වන මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාවට ඉන් පිටතට ආ විට දකුණේ සිංහල ජනයා සමඟ මිශ්‍රව හැසිරීමට සිදුවූයේ ඔවුන් වෙළෙන්ඳන් වූ නිසාය. ලංකාවේ දුංකොළ වෙළඳාම පමණක් නොව සිවුරු වෙළඳාම පවා ඔවුන් සතුය! එහෙත් සිකුරාදාට පල්ලියේ අරාබි භාෂාවෙන් යාඥා කිරීම, දිනකට පස් වරක් මක්කම පැත්තට හැරී වැඳීම යන නීති නිසා, නාස් ලණුව දැමූ ගවයා මෙන් ඔවුන් ඉස්ලාම් කරත්තය ඇදගෙන ගියේය. ඒහි පස්සිකෝ ඉඩක් එහි නැත. එහෙත්, සිංහල ජාතියේ කඳ පණුවන්සේ හැසුරුණු (ට්‍රැජඩි ඔෆ් ද කොමන්ස්) පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ගේ අන්‌ධ හැසිරීම ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගනිමින්, මුස්ලිම් නායක පරම්පරා තුනක් විසින් හෙමින් හෙමින් ගිය සාර්‌ථක ගමන, ලෝක මට්ටමෙන් ඔවුන් පාත්‍රවූ හීනමානයත්, ඒ වෙනුවට ලංකාවේදී ඔවුන්ට ඉබේම පාත්‌වූ අධිමානයත් නිසා, ඉක්මන් රේල් පාරකට නොදැනම වාගේ පතිත විය. අරාබි ඩොලර් හා ශාරියා බලපෑම් ඉදිරියේ මේ තන්හාභරිත නායකයින්ට වෙන කල හැකි දෙයක්ද නොවීය. මේ නිසා <අවර් බෝයිස්ලා> අමිර්‌තලිංගම්ලාට කලදේ මෙන්, ප්‍රචන්ඩ ශාරියා තරුණයින්ට යටවී, ඔවුන් සමඟ රේල් පාරේ දෙබිඩි ගමනක් යාම හැර අෂ්‍රාෆ්ට, හිස්බුල්ලාට, හකීම්ට, කබීර් හෂීම්ට ගැලවීමක් නොවීය. මේ දෙකොටස මැද තවමත් ජාම් බේරාගෙන, පණ බේරා ගෙන ඉන්නේ රිෂාඩ් බතියුර්දීන් හා අසාද් සාලිය. ඒ අතරතුර, කෝච්චිය පීලි පැන්නේ (පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය) සිංහලයාගේ හා දෙමළ හින්දූන්ගේ වාසනාවටය. හැම මුස්ලිම් පල්ලියකම, සංවිධානයකම, තණකොළ කපන්නට කඩු එකතුකර ගත්තා නම් සිවුරු පොරවා ගත් තම්බි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගෙන් පන්සල් වලට වන්නේ කුමක්ද?

ශිෂ්ටාචාර අතර ගැටුම

සැමුවෙල් හන්ටින්ටංගේ ශිෂ්ටාචාර අතර ගැටුමේදී, ඇමෙරිකන් බලයට විරුද්‌ධව සටන් කල හැකි ශක්තියක් තිබුණේ ඉස්ලාම්වාදයටය. චීනය පෙරට එන්නට සදන්නේ මෑතක සිටය. එසේ වුවත්, බර්ලින් තාප්පය වැටීමේ සිට ඇමෙරිකාව විසින් රුසියාවට හීනමානයක් දුන්නා මෙන්, සවුදි අරාබිය අල්ලාගෙන සෙසු අරාබි (ෂියා රටවල්) වලට හීනමානයක් පැටවීම ගැන, ද වර්ල්ඩ් ඊස් ෆ්ලැට්, යන පොතේ තෝමස් ෆ්රීඩ්මන් විසින් විස්තර කර ඇත. කන්ෆෙෂන්ස් ඔෆ් ඇන් ඉකොනොමික් හිට්මෑන් යන පොතේ ජෝන් පර්කින්ස් විසින් ඇමෙරිකාව සෞදි අරාබිය අල්ලාගත් ආකාරය සඳහන්වේ. ඇමෙරිකන් ජනාධිපති බුෂ්ලා දෙන්නා, ඉස්ලාම් වනාහි සාමකාමි ආගමක් යයි කියා සිටියේ අරාබි තෙල් පයිප්ප හේතුවෙනි (ක්‍රිස්තියානී මූලධ‌ර්‌මවාදී පූජක පැට් රොබට්සන් මෙය දේශපාලන කියමනක් මිස සත්‍යයක් නොවේ යයි කියා සිටියේ ඔහු කෝරානය කියවූ බව පවසමිනි. මේ නිසාම, මාද කෝරානය කියවීමට අරඹා 70 පිටුවට ආපසු එය නතර කලේ, ඉස්ලාම් අදහන දුප්පතුන්ට උපකාර කරන්න, යන්නට අමතරව යමක් මා එහි නොදුටු නිසාය). ඉරාකයේ රන් මාවත, ඇමෙරිකන් යුද ටැංකිවලින් විනාශ වන විට මුළු ඉස්ලාම් ලෝකයම සුසුම් හෙළුවේය. වෛරයක් ජනිත කලේය. එසේ වුවත් අරාබිකරයේ සාමාන්‍ය අරාබි ජනයා තුල ඇමෙරිකන් සුදු හමට ඇත්තේ පුදුම භක්තියක් බව ඒ රටවල සේවය කරණ ඉංජිනේරුවන් වැනි සිංහලයින්ගේ (පාරවල් අතුගාන අය නොව) අත්දැකීමය. ලංකාවේ මුස්ලිම් නායකයින්ට මේ රශ්ණය වැදී ඇත්තේ, සිංහල ගෑණු වහල් සේවයට අරාබිකරයට යෑම පමණක් නොවේ. අරාබි තෙල් හා ඩොලර් මඟින් සිංහල දේශපාලකයින් ග්‍රහණයට ගෙන ඇති නිසාදය. ග්‍රාම සේවකගේ සිට ඉහළට පගා දීමට, අධික මිල ගෙවා ඉඩම් අල්ලාගැනීමට මෙන්ම රාජ්‍ය මට්ටමෙන් ණය දීමටද අරාබි පාලකයින්ට අවස්ථාව උදාවී ඇත. මානව හිමිකම් සිංදුව ඔස්සේ විදේශ බලපෑම් කිරීමට රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන යොදවා ගන්නේද මේ ඩොලර් බලය නිසාය. රිෂාද් ගේ මල්ලී හා නීතිඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයට අදාලව හිරභාරයට ගත් විට ලෝක මට්ටමෙන් බලපෑම් ආවා පමණක් නොව, ලංකා නීතීඥ සංගමයේ සභාපති පවා වලිගය පාගා ගත්තේය.

ඉල්ලන් කන සිංහල දේශපාලකයා

මෙවැනි පසුබිමක් යටතේ, ඓතිහාසිකව බලන විට ලංකාවේ මුවර් ජාතික නායකයින් හැසිරී ඇති අන්දම පිළිඹඳව ඊර්ෂ්‍යා කිරීමට හේතුවක් නැත. සිද්දි ලෙබ්බේගේ සිටම ඔවුන් ක්‍රියාකර ඇත්තේ ඔවුන්ගේ වර්‌ගයාගේ ශුභසිද්‌ධිය උදෙසාය. සෑම පියවරක්ම ගෙන ඇත්තේ එක්තරා දිගුකාලීන ප්ලෑනකට අනුව හෙමින් සීරුවේය. සෞම්‍යමුර්ති තොන්ඩමන් ඔහුගේ ටී ඇන්ඩ් පොලිටික්ස් ජීවිත කතාවේ කියා ඇති පරිදි, දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදීන් මෙන් නොව, සිය සාමකාමී ක්‍රියාවලිය නිසා ඔවුන් ආර්ථික හා සාමාජීය වශයෙන් දෙමළ ජනයා පරදවා ඉහළට ගියේය. එහෙත් සෝම හාමුදුරුවන් දශක 3 කට කලින් පෙන්වා දුන් අන්දමට, ඒ වන විටත්, මුස්ලිම්-සිංහල අයුතු බල අසමමිතිකතාවයක් බිහිවී ඇත. දැන් තිබෙන්නේ දරා ගත නොහැකි තරමේ බලයක් ලැබුණු නිසා එය පුපුරා යාමය. රිෂාඩ්ට, ආණ්ඩුවේ වාහන වලින් සහරාන්ලාගේ බෝම්බ ප්‍රවාහනය කරන්නට, මංගල හරහා පුත්තලමේ ජනයා මන්නාරමට චන්දය දාන්නට ලංගම බස් යොදාගන්නට කොටින්ම කියනවා නම් වැදගත් අමාත්‍යාංශ දුසිම් ගණනින් අල්ලා ගන්නට වීම මේ බලයය. එය පුපුරා යාම පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයය. නොබෝදා ‌‌ඥානසාර හිමියන් පෙන්‌වා දුන්නේ බේරුවල උස්තාද් මන්සූර් මූලිකව ජාමියා නලීම්වරු හරහා, දිරාර් පල්ලි හරහා, පැතිරෙන චින්තන ජිහාදය පිළිඹඳවය. ඉකුවාන් මුස්ලිම් මතවාදයේ භයානක කමය. රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ, මර්‌මස්ථාන වල, ඉකුවාන්-ජාමියා නලීවරු ස්ථානගත වෙමින් සිටීමය. මධ්‍යස්ථ පුදගලයෙකු පෙනී සිටින අමීන්ගේ පුත් අෂාම් අමීන්, බී.බී.සි. වාර්තාකරුව සිටිමින් රංජන් රාමනායක හා අප්පච්චි මළෝ සමඟ කල ජනාධිපති චන්ද කුමණ්ත්‍රණය මෙම තුවාලය උඩුදුවා ඇති තරම පන්වන්නේය.

මේ නිසාවෙන් දැන් 2020 මැද සිටවත් සිදුවිය යුත්තේ සිංහල නායකයෙක් විසින් රටට යුක්තිය ඉෂ්ට කිරීමය. අතීත ඇමතිලා, මන්ත්‍රීලා, අගමැතිලා, ජනාධිපතිලා කල සිය දිවි නසාගැනීම් වලින්, වෙස්සන්තර/සිරි සංඝබෝ රඟපෑම් වලින් ගොඩ ඒමය. එය දයාන් ජයතිලක වැන්නන් විසින් කියන (කලම්බු ටෙලිග්‍රාෆ්, 2013, පෙබරවාරි 13), ආකාරයේ මුස්ලිම් ජනයාට කරණ හානියක්, වෙනස්කමක් නොව සිංහල රට බේරා ගැනීමේ ව්‍යායාමයකි. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන්, දෙවනගල අක්කර 100 ආපසු පන්සලට දීම, තුවක්කු පෙන්‌වා පුරාවිද්‍යා නිලධාරීන් එය මැණීමට යෑම වැලැක්‌වූ එහි පදිංචිව ඉන්නා මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ට කරණ වෙනස් කමක්දැයි දයාන් රටට දැන්‌විය යුතුය. බෞද්‌ධයා කවදාවත් සුළු ජනවර්‍ග වලට හානි කලේ නැත.

මුස්ලිම් ජයග්‍රහණ ලැයිස්තුව

පසුගිය අවුරුදු 100 ක පමණ කාලයක් තුල මුවර් ජනයා ලබාගත් ජයග්‍රහණ, ඊට සම්බන්‌ධවූ සිංහල දේශපාලකයාගේ නමද සමඟ මෙහි පහතින් දැක්‌වීමට සිතුනේ, චම්පික රණවකගේ ඉහත සඳහන් කල ජිහාද් කෘතිය කියවීමෙන් පසුය. මේ ලැයිස්තුව ඔහුගේ පොතෙන් කොපිකරණ ලදී. එහි ලින්ක් එක මෙහි කොපිකර ඇත.
(https://jdorg.blogspot.com/p/view-al-jihad-and-al-qaeda-of-patali.html)
මේවා ජයග්‍රහණ වන්නේ, ඒ එකක් වත් කලින් ඔවුන්ට හිමිව තිබී නැතිවූ දේ ආපසු ලබාගත් දේ නොව, හුදෙක් සිංහල හිත හොඳකම හෙවත් ගොන්කම හේතුවෙන් දිනා ගත් ස්වීප් ටිකට් නිසාය.

ඩොනමෝර් යුගය

1. 1929 දී මුස්ලිම් ශාරියා නීතිය විවාහ නීතිය හඳුන්‌වා දීම, 1937 සිට එය ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම
   (1931 දී ස්ත්‍රීන්ට චන්ද බලය දීමට මුස්ලිම් නායකයින්ද සෙසු නායක කොටස් සමඟ විරුද්‌ධ විය. කම්කරුනායක ඒ. ඊ. ගුණසිංහ හැර);

ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක පාලනය
2.1951 කාති උසාවි ක්‍රමය පිහිටුවීම (ටී. බී. ජයා මූලිකව);

අගමැති බණ්ඩාරනායක
සිංහල මරික්කාර් හා උපතැපැල් කාර්‌යාල ව්‍යාප්තිය

1. 1957 බණ්ඩාර-චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම අනුව නැඟෙනහිර පලාතේ රීජනල් කවුන්සිල් දෙකක් හෝ වැඩි ගණනක් පිහිටුවීමට එකඟවීම;
   1986 දී මෙය ව‌ර්‌ග සැතපුම් 1,267 ක මුස්ලිම් විසිරුණු ප්‍රදේශයක් (මන්නාරම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මුසාලි, එරුක්කලම්පිටි ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් ප්‍රදේශද ඇතුලත්) සේ විශාල විය.
   2006 දී එය පැහැදිලි ඉල්ලීමක් විය
   2003 ඔළුවිල් ප්‍රකාශණය (1976 වඩ්ඩුකෝඩ්ඩෙයි ප්‍රකාශය කොපි කිරීම)

සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක පාලනය

1. 1960-> ඉතිහාසය ඉගැන්‌වීම ඉවත්කිරීම;
   (ඉස්ලාම් සමාජවාදී පෙරමුණේ අධ්‍යාපන ඇමති බදිුද්දීන් මොහමඩ්, මුස්ලිම් අධ්‍යාපන වර්‌ධනය)
   නොබැඳි ජාතීන්ගේ ව්‍යාපාරය හරහා රැඩිකල් අරාබි ලෝකයට මාට්ටුවීම 1976 ගඩාෆි පාරවල සල්ලි විසිකිරීම;

ජේ. ආර් පාලනය
මුස්ලිම් මූලධ‌ර්‍මවාදය තම යටත්ට ගත්තා යයි සිතූ ජේ ආර් එය බලවත් කර දීම

1. 1977 චන්දයෙන් පසු, එම්. එච්. මොහමඩ්, බකීර් මාකර්, මන්සූර්, හමීඩ්, අබ්දුල් මජීඩ්,යන අය පල්ලි හා ස්වෙච්චා සංවිධාන ජාලයක් ගොඩ නැඟීම;
   ශාරියා නීති ක්‍රියාවට නැංවීම-මුස්ලිම් ඇඳුම (පර්දාව, හිස්වැසුම), පැරණි ඉස්ලාම් භූමි පුත්‍ර නීතිය (දෙමළ තේසවලාමේ ද මේ මුස්ලිම් නීතියේ දිගුවකි, මුස්ලිම් දේපල අන් අයට යාම වැලකීම);

මුස්ලිම් ජාතිවාදී පක්‍ෂය බිහිවීම-1988 පලාත් සභා චන්දය
අෂ්‍රාෆ් බලයට ඒම- ඉන්දියන් රෝ, පකිස්ථාන්, සෞදි මුදල් ආධාර

1. 1988 ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක නැඟෙනහිරට වෙනම මුස්ලිම් කලාපයක් දීමට ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශණයෙන් එකඟවීම. එම්.ඊ.පී, ජේවීපී ඊට එකඟවීම;

ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස පාලනය
1989-93 ප්‍රේමදාස යුගය මුස්ලිම් මූලධ‌ර්‍මවාදයේ සාරවත්ම අවධිය විය.

1. දිස්ත්‍රික් අවම මන්ත්‍රී චන්ද ප්‍රමාණය සියේට 12.5 සිට 5.0 ට අඩුකිරීම මුස්ලිම් ජනයාට අෂ්‍රාෆ් ලබාගත් විශිෂ්ඨ ජයග්‍රහණයක් වන්නේ පවතින චන්ද ක්‍රමයට කල සුළු වෙනසකින්, ලංකාවේ රජුන් තනන්නා නොව රජුන් බවට සියේට 10 ක් වන මුස්ලිම් ජනයා පත්‌වූයේ ඒ නිසා වීමය. ප්‍රභාකරන් හා අෂ්‍රාෆ් දෙන්නා ඉදිරියේම හිට්ලර් ඇදහූ, ප්‍රේමදාස අන්ත මෝඩයෙක් ලෙස රට-ජාතිය පාවා දුන්නේය.
2. 1990 දී ගැෂට් නිවේදනයකින් පර්‌දාව හා තොප්පිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල සිසුන්ට අනිවාර්‌ය කිරීම (තුර්කිය වැනි මුස්ලිම් රටවල පවා මෙය තහනම්‌ය)

වික්‍රමසිංහ ආණ්ඩුව
සාම විරාමය, ඔස්ලෝ ගිවිසුම, අයි.එස්.ජී.ඒ, පීටොම්, යනාදියෙන් සිදුවූයේ මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදීන් අරාබි ඉස්ලාම් මූලධ‌ර්‍මවාදයේ ඔඩොක්කුවට පැනීමය. ඒ සඳහා ඔවුන්ට කිසිදු භාධාවක් නොවීය. බින් ලාදන්ලාට ලංකාව ගොදුරක් විය.

චන්ද්‍රිකා පාලනය
1994 පාර්ලිමේන්තු චන්දයේදී අෂ්‍රාෆ්-චන්ද්‍රිකා ගිවිසුම

1. සිය මෑණියන් පොරොන්‌දුවූ වෙනම මුස්ලිම් කලාපය චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ නීලන්-ජිිෙල් පැකේජ් ඩීල් යටතේ මායිම් සහිතව, ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ කොටසක් වශයෙන් ලේඛණ ගත කරන ලදී;
   අෂ්‍රාෆ් ඇමති වශයෙන් කොළඹ වරායට 12,000 ක් සේවකයින් බඳවා ගැනීම.
2. 1995 ඔළුවිල් (නොගැලපෙන තැනක) ජාත්‍යන්තර වරායක් සැදීමට පියවර ගැනීම;
3. 1995 ඔළුවිල් (අග්නිදිග)මුස්ලිම් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය, මුස්ලිම් මූලධර්‌මවාදයේ තෝතැන්නක් වීම
4. ජමියතුල්ලා උලෙමා සංවිධානය පාර්ලිමේන්තු පණතකින් නීතිගත කිරීම;

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ පාලනය (2004-2014)
හලාල් අර්බුදය
ස්ත්‍රීන් මුහුණ වසාගෙන පාරේ යාමේ අර්බුදය
ස්ත්‍රීන් වහළුන් කල කාති උසාවි විවාහ-දික්කසාද අර්බුදය
මුස්ලිම් බහු විවාහ අර්බුදය
බාල වයස්කාර විවාහ අර්බුදය
මුස්ලිම් ගර්‍භාෂ යුද්‌ධය
සිංහල-දෙමළ ස්ත්‍රීන් ඉස්ලාම් කිරීමේ ප්ලෑන
පෝය දිනවල හරක් මස් විකිණීමේ අර්බුදය
විල්පත්තු වන සංරක්‍ෂණ කැලෑ කැපීමේ අර්බුදය
මද්‍රසා විෂයමාලා පාසැල් අර්බුදය
ශාරියා බැංකු අර්බුදය
කුරගල ප්‍රශ්ණය
මුහුදු මහා විහාර ඉඩම් කොල්ලය
දෙවනගල/දීඝවාපි අනාගතය

ඉහතින් දක්වා ඇති මුස්ලිම් ජයග්‍රහණ ලැයිස්තුව අසම්පූර්‌ණ ය. එසේම රාජපක්‍ෂ පාලන කාලය යනු, ඊට කලින් පාලනවලදී ලබාගත් මුස්ලිම් ජයග්‍රහණ භුක්තිවිඳීමේදී ඇතිවූ ප්‍රශ්ණ වලට ආණ්ඩුව අතරමංවූ කාලයය. මීට හේතුවූයේ 2012 මැයි සිට බොදු බල සේනාව විසින් ආණ්ඩුව නමැති අලියාට හෙන්ඩුවෙන් අනින්නට වීමය. යුරෝපයෙන් ආ බහුජාතික, ඉන්ටර්ෆේත් ජරමරයකට අසුවුණු ආණ්ඩුව බොදු බල සේනාවට දැක්‌වූයේ ලව්-හේට් ආකල්පයකි. ඥානසාර හාමුදුරුවන් හිරේට නොගත්තත්, ආණ්ඩුවේ මුස්ලිම් චන්ද පෙරේතකම නිසාම 2014 චන්දයේදී සිංහල චන්ද අහිමි විය.

යහපාලනකාරයින්ගේ පාලනය (2014-2019)

රාජපක්‍ෂ ආණ්ඩුව වැට උඩ සිටීමේ නැතහොත් මඩේ සිටවූ ඉන්නක ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් අනුගමනය කලත්, යහපාලනකාරයින් කලේ ඒ අර්බුද, සංඝ දඩයමක් හරහා යටපත් කර ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදයට ඉඩදීමය. ඔවුන් එහි ප්‍රතිඵල භුක්ති වින්ඳේය, දැන් 2020 දී අගමැති රාජපක්‍ෂ, ඔහු ජනාධිපතිව සිටියදී කල වැරදි, නිවැරදි කිරීමට ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභයට උපකාර වෙතැයි සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයා විශ්වාස කරමින් සිටී. තුනෙන් දෙකක් ගන්නට දේශපාලන සෙල්ලම් කර ලබා ගන්නා තුනෙන් දෙක, 1956 සිටම සිංහල බෞද්‌ධයාට වින කලේය. මුස්ලිම් හෝ දෙමළ ජනයා නොරවටා, තුනෙන් දෙක ලබා ගැනීමට තාමත් රටේ ඉඩ තිබේ. ඒ සඳහා කල යුතු සත්‍යය ජනතාවට කියාදීමය.

මේ පිළිඹද විග්‍රහයක් 3 කොටසෙන් බලාපොරොත්තු වන්න.

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart and Convener – “The Muslim Voice” – 8th., June, 2020.

The above news item that appreared in the: http://www.adaderana.lk/news/64500/president-instructs-heads-of-govt-institutions-not-to-involve-in-politics-during-election dated June 8th., 2020, can be the most welcome “INSTRUCTIONS” given by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa since January 2020 todate. Being involved in the grass-root election campaigning since 1969 till recently, engaged with the political party of my choice, the SLFP and its Alliances, I have real life experience how heads of government institutions get involved and influence the decission making of the voters in the use of their “fundamental franchise right” to vote using various tactics and methods which the ordinary “INNOCENT” rural voter does not know what he is trapped to pledge his “VOTE” to the party/candidate of the political camp/party which these government officials are aligned to (give support to) for selfish reasons, expecting those political camps/parties and candidates representing those elements been victorious.

This is a very good move to carry on with a fair and democratic general election to allow the people (VOTERS) to express their “FRANCHISE” without any influence from whatever quaters or persons. The PRESIDENT has just forgotten one major thing, which has been the “POLITICAL VIRUS” of our Democracy since Independence fought and gained “UNITEDLY” by the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays, Burghers and other minority groups “UNITEDLY”. 

It is “PARAMOUNT” that the president should issue a directive or advice the Election Commissioner to issue a directive that “NO CLERGY” from whatever religious group they may belong, should refrain from engaging in any political activities during the forthcoming General Election. THIS SHOULD EXPECIALLY APPLY TO THE MUSLIM ULEMA (not all seem to be gulity) and or the ALL CEYLON JAMIYATHUL ULEMA and it’s so-called hierarchy,  who have in many elections, it has been rumoured “publicly”, denounced the Rajapaksa regime/SLFP/SLPP and influenced the Muslims to vote the UNP/UNP Alliances during all elections using scuttle methods of sermons or “oratory metaphors” , even though they were much benefited by the Rajapaksa family viz-a-viz (The ACJU received a large block of land in Colombo 12 from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa when they were politically flirting with the UPFA/SLFP government and no one knows what happened to this block of state land that the ACJU got from Mahinda. MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA SHOULD KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS BLOCK OF LAND, WHETHER IT WAS SOLD OR NOT OR WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY IF IT WAS SOLD?)

HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s political vision is that young and new political aspirants from the Muslim community even belonging to the opposition parties should come forward to enter parliament and create a new political culture in the communities of the minorities, who can be honest and bring together the Muslim Vote Bank and gather them to create a “New Muslim Political Culture”. A culture that will create a political force which will be honest and sincere and produce “CLEAN”and diligent Muslim Politicians. The Muslim Vote Bank has decided to act on it’s own “NOW”. Let President Gotabaya Rajapaksa “HELP” create that opportunity without the interference of the ACJU or the Muslim Ulema in the forthcoming general elections, Insha Allah.

This article may disturb some of the Muslim groups who do not want to see the “REALITY” of “TRUTH” faced by our innocent Muslim Vote Bank and by some of the Buddhist Clergy who may have an opinion that they have a “RIGHT” to indulge in politics, but not disturb the Catholic/Christian Clergy because they very rarely indulge in politics but steer clear with “blanced thinking” contributing their political influence where ever necessary, as the case maybe. The April 21st, 2019 incidents are a clear indication of that.

Will President Gotabaya Rajapaksa “HELP” create that opportunity to the Muslims  in the forthcoming general elections, Insha Allah.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA.

People of Sri Lanka experienced the worst period of its existence economically, socially, morally, and culturally from 2015 to end of 2019 under the Sirisena/Ranil/TNA/JVP (SRTJ) government in which parliament had no decorum with the worst ever Speaker presiding over it and this shameless utterly bias dude even allowing government members to bring in knives to parliament and threaten to kill the opposition members.

Law and order situation was abysmal, drugs and narcotics were freely available with children prone to drug addiction, underground kingpins and contract killers reigned everywhere with the patronage of government Ministers and MPs , women became commercial items and employable even in bars and taverns, price of essential food items were sky rocketing while the price of beer and liquor coming down, other hardships, difficulties, impediments need not elaborate as it would take a few pages to do so and people know the hell of life they underwent. It was under these horrific conditions some prominent Buddhist prelates and leaders of other religious and civil organizations met Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and urged to become a Hitler and rescue and bring virtue and discipline  to this country.

Since he was not holding power at that time what they expected was for him to launch a coup in association with the battered security forces and wrest control of this country. It is to respect these sentiments expressed then that Mr. Rajapaksa in his present capacity as the President of this country and in accordance with the powers vested in him by Article 33 of the Constitution has appointed a 13 member task force empowered to eliminate nefarious activities in this country.

The members of this Task Force are:

Major General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Defense (Chairman)
2. Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army
3. Vice Admiral Piyal de Silva, Commander of Sri Lanka Navy
4. Air Marshal Sumangala Dias, Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force
5. Mr. C.D. Wickremarathne, Acting Inspector General of Police
6. Major General (Retired) Vijitha Ravipriya, Director General of Customs
7. Major General (Retired) Jagath Alwis, Chief of the National Intelligence Service
8. Major General Suresh Salley, Director of State Intelligence Service
9. Major General A. S. Hewavitharana, Director of Army Intelligence Unit
10. Captain S.J. Kumara, Director of Navy Intelligence Unit
11. Air Commodore M.D.J. Wasage, Director of Air Force Intelligence Unit
12. T. C. A. Dhanapala, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Special Task Force of Police
13. Waruna Jayasundara, Deputy Inspector-General of Police

 The Gazette notification has instructed all Government Officers and others to provide all possible assistance and  provide all information that may be provided and has directed the said Task Force to report to the President all cases of delay or default on the part of ny Public Officer or Officer of any Ministry,    Government Department, State Corporation or other similar institution in the discharge of duties and responsibilities assigned to such public officer or such institution.   

Fo`llowing the appointmenof the Task Force the President in his Poson Poya day message has said that  Sri Lanka will strive towards prosperity, inspired by Dhamma and strengthened by past experiences: He has  said that he believed justice for all prevails in a spiritually virtuous, disciplined and prosperous society and the government plans for not only the present but also for the future will be based on that solid foundation.

The preamble to the Gazette notification related to  the appointment of this Task Force headed by the Secretary to the Ministry (Rtd) MajorGeneral Kamal Gunaratne said: While emphasising that it is the most prominent responsibility of the government to give priority to National Security and create a virtuous, disciplined and lawful society which respects the rule of law and justice as it stated in the policy statement Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour,” 

And, whereas it has been recognized that the security of the country is a key factor in establishing economic strategies aimed at the development of a country,

And, emphasizing the equal protection of the law for the well-being of the people and for building a civilized society,

 And, considering that it is essential to liberate the entire society from the drug rampant spreading all over the society including the children who are considered as the future of a country is also a major factor in the social decline coupled with the economic decline,

The President has stated that it has been recognized that the security of the country is a key factor in establishing economic strategies aimed at the development of a country and emphasizes the equal protection of the law for the well-being of the people and for building a civilized society.

He fu8rther states that the Task Force has been appointed considering that it is essential to liberate the entire society from the drug rampant spreading all over the society including the children who are considered as the future of a country is also a major factor in the social decline coupled with the economic decline.”

As per the Gazette notification the Task Force has been empowered  to:

Take necessary immediate steps to curb the illegal activities of social groups which are violating the law which is emerging as harmful to the free and peaceful existence of society at present in some places of the country.

Take necessary measures for prevention from drug menace, prevent entry of drugs from abroad through ports           and airports and to fully eradicate drug trafficking in the country and to prevent other social illnesses caused by drug abuse.

Take necessary measures to take legal action against persons responsible for the illegal and antisocial activities conducting in Sri Lanka while locating in other countries.

To investigate and prevent any illegal and antisocial activities in and around prisons.

Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Defense, Mr. D.M.S. Dissanayake has been appointed as the Secretary of the s           aid Task Force.

Opposition groups and their cronies who look at everything that has been done by this government and the Prtesident pessimistically have raised their sarongs to yell that the President by appointing this Task Force fully manned with security services personnel is fast moving towards establishment of an autocratic regime.   As per the Political Editor of Sunday  Time Sri Lankan groups operating from abroad have already launched a campaign against the government.  He says that an outfit named People for Equality in Sri Lanka (PEARL), a lesser known organization from Washington DC, was quick to respond with a statement saying PEARL strongly condemns this week’s establishment of two presidential task forces in Sri Lanka, which sets the country on a firm course to autocratic governance.

A singleton named Tasha Manoranjan claiming as the Executive Directior of this outfit Pwael” has ssaidThe new presidential task forces are a serious escalation in the president’s move to militarize the activities of the state in the name of national security and as a response to the pandemic. Both new task forces appear to be exclusively Sinhala and include suspected war criminals, indicating Sri Lanka’s strengthening of its ethnocracy with the backing of a president … and ….will exacerbate the existing militarisation…..  of the Tamil-dominated North-East, breeding further tension and instability in the region,”

The London based unregistered website which is highly critical of the government and the President has said that the appointment of a presidential task force signals a major shift towards authoritarian leadership on June 2, 2020, the very day that a constitutionally mandated deadline lapsed for the convening of Parliament. It says that with the Supreme Court decision on June 2, 2020 paving the way for unchecked executive rule, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa looks to be sidelining even the Cabinet of Ministers and establishing control over the whole state machinery with his generals and the Task Force comprises exclusively military men, including Brigadier Suresh Sallay, once the country’s much-feared director of Military intelligence., and the website says for the first time in Sri Lanka’s republican history, the President of the country has made the civilian authority – the public service – subservient to military officials.

The Colombo Telegraph also has published a twitter comment made by a member of the Jaffna University lecturer Dr. K. Guruparan saying that from Poverty Eradication to Higher Education everything will now be run by Task Forces. Although the website attempted to show this as an independent scholarly opinion, it is a well known fact that the Jaffna University is a den of pro-LTTE separatists and the academics there are champions of separatist ideology. This partisan Website also states that other constitutional experts have voiced concerns that with the Supreme Court decision to disallow leave to proceed in eight petitions filed challenging President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s refusal to reconvene Parliament despite the constitution mandating that Parliament can only remain dissolved for a three month period and no later”, constitutional democracy had gone into Triage” in Sri Lanka. It says that activists are concerned the Supreme Court decision to stay out of the complicated constitutional question and allow presidential rule without a Parliament for an unspecified amount of time permits the President to consolidate power and entrench ‘rule by the generals’ – rendering even his prime minister and cabinet of ministers helpless observers in the face of the development.

Another vicious character who seems to have got much upset about the latest developments is the foreign sustained notorious NGO potentate Pakiasothy Saravenamuttu who operates two partisan websites – Groundviews and Vikalpa – which were used these two websites during the last five years as the voice of Tamil separatists and since November 16^th these sites are being used as major propaganda organs of the Tamil separatists and anti government elements to air their views against President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the government.

This NGO potentate in the name of his NGO, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in a statement has expressed its deep concern with the appointment of two Presidential Task Forces by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Following aew extracts from the statement.

These appointments came soon after the Supreme Court refused leave to proceed to all petitioners on the subject of the dissolution of Parliament for more than three months and the holding of free and fair elections. At present, Parliament has been dissolved for longer than the constitutionally mandated three months.

Thus, there is no legislative oversight over executive action. In such a context, the appointment of the two task forces demonstrates troubling trends of authoritarian rule and militarisation with serious implications to constitutional democracy and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

By Gazette No. 2178/18, the President has appointed a task force to build a virtuous, disciplined and lawful society” in Sri Lanka. It is to be headed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and comprises the heads of the Armed Forces, Police and Intelligence Heads, Chief of Customs, and the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
The task force is composed of present and former military and law and order officials and the mandate of the task force is vague and overbroad; terms such as ‘anti-social activities’ have no specific legal meaning, which raises the concern as to how the task force intends to take legal action against such activities.` 

It is unclear as to whether the task force is meant to only deal with the prevention of trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances or whether it is meant to deal with a broad range of other issues. Added to the confusion is the question whether the task force is meant to formulate policy or if its role is to implement existing laws and policy. 

The task force is designed in a manner to operate as a parallel structure to existing entities, circumventing the role of the Cabinet of Ministers and purportedly capable of giving direct orders/instructions to the public service. These issues, among several others, raise extremely serious implications that require urgent attention.

Shiral Lakthilka, a national list nominee of the Shameless Jabbering Bandits (SJB) has accused the government attempting to create a surveillance system deploying the military brass to threaten critics.  He has said that intelligence officers will establish a data base of prominent people on their passions and interests and it will be used to threaten and blackmail them.  He has explained that such activities are being carried out in the United   S

ECONOMYNEXT – The opposition is accusing the government of collecting personal data that can be used to threaten or intimidate citizens.

Lawyer Shiral Lakthilaka, a National List nominee of the Shameless Jabbering Bamdits (SJB) has said that the government plans to establish a surveillance system deploying military brass to collect data amd information on The preamble to the Gazette notification related to  the appointment of this Task Force headed by the Secretary to the Ministry (Rtd) MajorGeneral Kamal Gunaratne said: While emphasising that it is the most prominent responsibility of the government to give priority to National Security and create a virtuous, disciplined and lawful society which respects the rule of law and justice as it stated in the policy statement Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour,” 

And, whereas it has been recognized that the security of the country is a key factor in establishing economic strategies aimed at the development of a country,

And, emphasizing the equal protection of the law for the well-being of the people and for building a civilized society,

 And, considering that it is essential to liberate the entire society from the drug rampant spreading all over the society including the children who are considered as the future of a country is also a major factor in the social decline coupled with the economic decline,

The President has stated that it has been recognized that the security of the country is a key factor in establishing economic strategies aimed at the development of a country and emphasizes the equal protection of the law for the well-being of the people and for building a civilized society.

He fu8rther states that the Task Force has been appointed considering that it is essential to liberate the entire society from the drug rampant spreading all over the society including the children who are considered as the future of a country is also a major factor in the social decline coupled with the economic decline.”

As per the Gazette notification the Task Force has been empowered  to:

Take necessary immediate steps to curb the illegal activities of social groups which are violating the law which is emerging as harmful to the free and peaceful existence of society at present in some places of the country.

Take necessary measures for prevention from drug menace, prevent entry of drugs from abroad through ports           and airports and to fully eradicate drug trafficking in the country and to prevent other social illnesses caused by drug abuse.

Take necessary measures to take legal action against persons responsible for the illegal and antisocial activities conducting in Sri Lanka while locating in other countries.

To investigate and prevent any illegal and antisocial activities in and around prisons.

Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Defense, Mr. D.M.S. Dissanayake has been appointed as the Secretary of the s           aid Task Force.

The 13 members of the task force  are:

Opposition groups and their cronies who look at everything that has been done by this government and the Prtesident pessimistically have raised their sarongs to yell that the President by appointing this Task Force fully manned with security services personnel is fast moving towards establishment of an autocratic regime.   As per the Political Editor of Sunday  Time Sri Lankan groups operating from abroad have already launched a campaign the government.  He says that an outfit named People for Equality in Sri Lanka (PEARL), a lesser known organization from Washington DC, was quick to respond with a statement saying PEARL strongly condemns this week’s establishment of two presidential task forces in Sri Lanka, which sets the country on a firm course to autocratic governance.

A singleton named Tasha Manoranjan claiming as the Executive Directior of this outfit Pwael” has ssaidThe new presidential task forces are a serious escalation in the president’s move to militarize the activities of the state in the name of national security and as a response to the pandemic. Both new task forces appear to be exclusively Sinhala and include suspected war criminals, indicating Sri Lanka’s strengthening of its ethnocracy with the backing of a president … and ….will exacerbate the existing militarisation…..  of the Tamil-dominated North-East, breeding further tension and instability in the region,”

The London based unregistered website which is highly critical of the government and the President has said that the appointment of a presidential task force signals a major shift towards authoritarian leadership on June 2, 2020, the very day that a constitutionally mandated deadline lapsed for the convening of Parliament. It says that with the Supreme Court decision on June 2, 2020 paving the way for unchecked executive rule, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa looks to be sidelining even the Cabinet of Ministers and establishing control over the whole state machinery with his generals and the Task Force comprises exclusively military men, including Brigadier Suresh Sallay, once the country’s much-feared director of Military intelligence., and the website says for the first time in Sri Lanka’s republican history, the President of the country has made the civilian authority – the public service – subservient to military officials.

The Colombo Telegraph also has published a twitter comment made by a member of the Jaffna University lecturer Dr. K. Guruparan saying that from Poverty Eradication to Higher Education everything will now be run by Task Forces. Although the website attempted to show this as an independent scholarly opinion, it is a well known fact that the Jaffna University is a den of pro-LTTE separatists and the academics there are champions of separatist ideology. This partisan Website also states that other constitutional experts have voiced concerns that with the Supreme Court decision to disallow leave to proceed in eight petitions filed challenging President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s refusal to reconvene Parliament despite the constitution mandating that Parliament can only remain dissolved for a three month period and no later”, constitutional democracy had gone into Triage” in Sri Lanka. It says that activists are concerned the Supreme Court decision to stay out of the complicated constitutional question and allow presidential rule without a Parliament for an unspecified amount of time permits the President to consolidate power and entrench ‘rule by the generals’ – rendering even his prime minister and cabinet of ministers helpless observers in the face of the development.

Another vicious character who seems to have got much upset about the latest developments is the foreign sustained notorious NGO potentate Pakiasothy Saravenamuttu who operates two partisan websites – Groundviews and Vikalpa – which were used these two websites during the last five years as the voice of Tamil separatists and since November 16^th these sites are being used as major propaganda organs of the Tamil separatists and anti government elements to air their views against President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the government.

This NGO potentate in the name of his NGO, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in a statement has expressed its deep concern with the appointment of two Presidential Task Forces by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Following aew extracts from the statement.

These appointments came soon after the Supreme Court refused leave to proceed to all petitioners on the subject of the dissolution of Parliament for more than three months and the holding of free and fair elections. At present, Parliament has been dissolved for longer than the constitutionally mandated three months.

Thus, there is no legislative oversight over executive action. In such a context, the appointment of the two task forces demonstrates troubling trends of authoritarian rule and militarisation with serious implications to constitutional democracy and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.

By Gazette No. 2178/18, the President has appointed a task force to build a virtuous, disciplined and lawful society” in Sri Lanka. It is to be headed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and comprises the heads of the Armed Forces, Police and Intelligence Heads, Chief of Customs, and the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
The task force is composed of present and former military and law and order officials and the mandate of the task force is vague and overbroad; terms such as ‘anti-social activities’ have no specific legal meaning, which raises the concern as to how the task force intends to take legal action against such activities.` 

It is unclear as to whether the task force is meant to only deal with the prevention of trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances or whether it is meant to deal with a broad range of other issues. Added to the confusion is the question whether the task force is meant to formulate policy or if its role is to implement existing laws and policy. 

The task force is designed in a manner to operate as a parallel structure to existing entities, circumventing the role of the Cabinet of Ministers and purportedly capable of giving direct orders/instructions to the public service. These issues, among several others, raise extremely serious implications that require urgent attention.

Shiral Lakthilka, a national list nominee of the Shameless Jabbering Bandits (SJB) has accused the government of attempting to create a surveillance system deploying the military brass to threaten critics.  He has said that intelligence officers will establish a data base of prominent people on their passions and interests and it will be used to threaten and blackmail them.  He has explained that such activities are being carried out in the United  States and the Chinese are experts of making software to suit particular interests in this field. 

Disappointing all critics who attempted to imply that the task force has been appointed to make them involve in the election campaign of the SLPP the President has instructed all heads of Departments, statutory bodies and Corporations not to participate in any political activities in support of any political group until the elections are over.

Despite these baseless and stupid criticisms the President should be whole heartedly commended for taking this bold step to create a virtuous, disciplined and lawful society which respects the rule of law and justice.  This was a long felt need in this country that got abysmally deteriorated during the last five years of pro-separatist and foreign servile rule.  We hope that the task force will achieve its objective at the shortest possible time and this country will become peaceful and harmonious for everyone to live amicably in peace and harmony.(end)

ආචාර්ය කොඩිසිංහ හේරත්.

කොරෝනාවෙන් ආරක්ෂාවෙන්න නිවාස අඩස්සියෙ හිටපු කාලෙ පරණ පොත් ගොඩක තිබිලා හම්බවුන පොත් පිංචක් ‘මැලේරියාව ‘, මේක මගේ මතකය ඈත අතීතයට ගෙනි යන්න සමත්වුණා. අද වෙනකොට සිරි-ලංකාව මැලේරියාවෙන් නිදහස් වුනත් එදා මේ රෝගය මේ රටට විශාල තර්ජන්යක් වගේම විශාල බරක්වෙලා තිබුනා. එයින් රටේ ජනතාව බේරාගැනීම සදහා සිය -රට වෙනුවෙන් තම සේවා කාලය කැපකළ දහසකුත් මැලේරියා මර්ධන රාජ්ය සේවකයින් අතර මමද එක්කෙනෙක් වූවෙමි . කෙනෙකුට අහන්න පුළුවන් ඔබ කරපු ඒ සේවයට එදා පඩියක් ලැබුවා, තවත් මොනවද කථාකරන්න තියෙන්නෙ? මේ වගේම පහු ගිය දවසක ‘රණවිරුවන්’ ගැන රටේ කතිකාවක් ගොඩනැගෙන දවසක එක්තරා දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායමක නායකයෙක් කියල තිබුණා ‘හමුදා සෙබළු කියන්නෙ පඩියට වැඩකරණ රජයේ යුද හේවායෝ, ඔවුන් විරුවන් වෙන්නේ කොහොමද? . ඔව් ඒක ඇත්ත, ඔවුන් වගේම අපිත් එදා රජයේ සේවකයො . නමුත් මෙතැනදී මතක්කර දිය යුතු වැදගත් කාරණාවක් තියෙනවා. තමන් ගන්න පඩියට සරිලන සේවයක් රටට ලබා නොදෙන අතලොස්සක් දෙනා සිටියත් බොහොමයක් තැන්වල සේවකයො එහෙම නෑ . ඔවුන් තමන්ට ලැබෙන වැටුප ගැන පමණක් නොවෙයි ඊටත් එහා ගිය සේවාවක් තමන්ගෙ රටවෙනුවෙන් ඉටුකරණ අවස්ථා ඕනෑතරම් තියෙනවා. එදා මරාගෙන මැරුණු ත්රස්තවාදීන් එල්ල කල අනේක-විදි පීඩාවන්ගෙන් සහ මරණ බයෙන් මුළු රටම තක්කු-මුක්කු වෙලා හිටපු යුගයෙ ඊට අභීතව මුහුණ දී රට මුදවාගත් යුද හමුදාවත්, ඒ වගේම එදා මැලේරියාවෙන්, විශේෂයෙන්ම වියලි කලාපයේ ජනතාව අසරණවී හෙම්බත්ව සිටි යුගයේ එම වසංගතය රටින් අතුගා දැමීමට කටයුතු කල මැලේරියා මර්ධන සේවකයොත් තමන් කල සේවය වැටුපක් ලබන රැකියාවක් ලෙස හිතනවට වඩා මැලේරියාවෙන් පීඩා විඳි අහිංසක ගැමි-ජනතාව එයින් මුදවා ගැනීමට කල සේවාවක් ලෙස සලකා කටයුතුකළ බව මට විස්වාසය. එදා සිරිලංකාවේ, මගේ සේවා කාලයෙන් හරි අඩකටත් වඩා වැඩිකාලයක් මැලේරියා මර්ධන කටයුතු සඳහා මිඩංගු කල මා ගැන පුද්ගලිකව කතාකලොත්, මේ පොත්-පිංච කල- එලි බැස්සෙ මා කල අමතර කටයුතුවල ප්රිතිපලයක් විදියට. මේ වගේම මගේ සම කාලින මැලේරියා -මර්ධන අනෙකුත් සහෝදර නිලධාරීන් විසින්ද ඔවුන්ගේ සේවා බල ප්‍රදේසතුළ මේ හා සමාන කර්තව්යසන්, ක්ෂේත්රි පර්යේෂණ ආදී කටයුතු අමතර ලෙස ඉටුකළ බව මම දනිමි. මා මෙහිදී කථාකරන්නෙ මේ පොත්-පිංච ගැන පමණි. මොකද? මේ පොත නිර්මාණය කිරීමට හේතු-කාරක වූ පසුබිමත් එය නිර්නමායවි පොතක් ලෙස කල -එලි බැසීමෙන් පසුව රාජ්ය-ආයතනයක මා අත්දුටු අනෙකුත් අත්දැකීම් ඔබ සමග බෙදා ගැනීමට තරම් මිහිරිය.

එක්දහස් නවසිය අසූව දශකයේ ක්රියාත්මක වූ කඩිනම් මහවැලි සංවර්ධන ව්යාවපෘතිය යටතේ අනෙකුත් කලාපවලදී මෙන්ම මාදුරු ඔය, දෙහිඅත්ත කණ්ඩිය , වැලිකන්ද සහ බකමුණ වැනි ප්රදේශවලද එතෙක් මිනිස් වාසයෙන් බැහැරව තිබු කැලෑ සහ වන-රොදවල් එළි-පෙහෙළි කර එම බිම්වල අලුත් කුඹුරු සහ ජනාවාස ඉදිකලෝය. මේ ප්ර්දේශවලට මහවැලි ගඟෙන් හරවපු වතුර ගලාගෙන එනවත් එක්කම එතෙක් වතුර නැතිකමින් අඩ-පණව සිටි මදුරු-ගහනය ඉතා සීග්රයෙන් තම වර්ගයා බෝකිරීම නිසා මුළු මහත් මහවැලි බිම් සියල්ලම පාහේ මදුරුවන්ගේ පාරාදීශයන් බවට පත්විය. තෙල්දෙණිය, වික්ටෝරියා වැනි රට මැද්දෙ ප්රුදේශවල එතෙක් ජිවත් වූ මිනිසුන්ගේ, ගේ -දොර හා ඉඩ-කඩම් මහවැලි ජලාශවලට යටවීම නිසා ඔවුන්ට එම ප්රදේශ අතහැර ඒ වෙනුවට මාදුරුඔය වැනි අළුත් මහවැලි කලාපවල තම වාසස්ථාන ගොඩ නගා ගැනීමට සිදුවිය. අලුත් මිනිසුන් කොටසක් විදියට ඒ ප්රදේශවල පදිංචිවීමට සිදුවිය.

ජිවිතයේ කිසි දවසක මැලේරියා අත්දැකීම් ලබා නොතිබුන මේ මිනිසුන්ට මැලේරියා මදුරුවන්ගෙන් එල්ල වූ තර්ජනය සුළුපටු නොවිය. ඒ අනුව ඔවුන්ට ජිවිතයේ කිසිදාක නොවිඳි දුක් කන්දරාවකට මුහුණ දෙන්නට සිදුවිය. ඇඟ ශිතලවී, ගැහි-ගැහී වෙවුලලා ටික -මොහොතකින් හිස්කබල පුපුරණ තරමට මතුවෙන හිසේ ඇම්මකුත් සමග ඇඟසහළවලා උණ ගනී. දවසක් හැර දවසක් මේ විදියට මැලේරියා උණෙන් පෙළුණු මොවුන් ටික දවසකින් ගතින් මෙන්ම සිතින් වැහැරී ගියෝය. තමන්ට ලැබුණු අලුත් කුඹුරු-බිම් අස්වැද්දීම තබා ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිත ආරක්ෂාකර ගැනීම ඔවුන්ට තිබුන එකම අභියෝගය විය. ඒ අනුව බොහොමයක් ඉඩම් ලාභින් මහවැලිය අතහැර වෙනත් ප්ර්දේශවලට සංක්රමණය විය.

තමන්ට යන්න වෙනත් තැන් නොතිබුණ මිනිස්සු අන්ත අසරණවිය. ඔවුන් ජීවිතයත් මරණයත් අතර සටනක යෙදී එම ප්රදේශයේම රැඳුනත් ඔවුන්ට මැලේරියා ප්ර්තිකාරය නිසි වෙලාවට ලබා දීමට තරම් අවශ්යවු රෝහල් සහ වයිද්ය පහසුකම් එම ප්රදේශවල නොතිබිණි. ඒ අනුව මේ මිනිසුන්ට මැලේරියා ප්රීතිකාරය නිසි වෙලාවට ලබාදීම සඳහා විකල්ප ක්රමයක් දියත්කිරීම එදා මැලේරියා මර්ධන අංශ ප්රධානීන්ට එල්ලවූ අභියෝගයක්විය. ඒ අනුව ලෝක සවුක්ය සංවිධානය (WHO) විසින් ඒ වෙනකොට අප්රිකානු රටවලට හඳුන්වා දී තිබූ ස්වෙච්චා ප්රතිකාර මද්යශස්ථාන ක්රමය අපේ රටේ මහා වැලි කලාපවලට හඳුන්වා දීමට තීරණය විය. අලුත් පදිංචි කරුවන් අතරින් ස්වේච්චාවෙන් ඉදිරිපත්වූ දැන-උගත් තරුණ දරුවන් පිරිසක් තෝරාගෙන ඔවුන්ට මැලේරියා ප්රතිකාරය පිළිබඳව මනා පුහුණුවක් ලබා දී ඔවුන් ලවා තම අසල් වැසියන්ට මැලේරියාව හැදුන විගසින් නිසි ප්රතිකාරය ලබා දීමේ වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් ක්රියාත්මක විය. (මේ වැඩ පිළිවෙලට එදා බටහිර වයිද්ය්වරු පිරිසක් විරුද්ධ වූවත් ඒ වෙනුවට වෙනත් විකල්පයක් එතෙක් නොතිබුන නිසා එය එසේම ක්රිමයාත්මක කිරීමට සිදුවිය).
මාදුරුඔය මහවැලි කලාපයට එල්ලවූ මේ මැලේරියා තර්ජනය එදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විවාදයට ලක්වුන උණුසුම් මාතෘකාවක් වූ බැවින් එවකට සවුක්ය් ඇමති, රංජිත් අතපත්තු සහ මහවැලි ඇමති ගාමිණී දිසානායක යන මත්වරුන්ගේ විශේෂ අවදානයක් මාදුරුඔය ව්යා්පෘතියට යොමුවී තිබුනි. ඔවුන් පිම්බුරත්තෑවට පැමිණි දවසක කියා සිටියේ මේ මහවැලි බිමේ පදිංචි කරුවන් මැලේරියාවෙන් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමත්, ඒ වනවිට ඉඩම් අතහැර ගොස් සිටි සියලුම දෙනා නැවත ආපසු ගෙන්වා ගැනීම කලයුතු බවත්ය. ඔවුන් වැඩිදුරටත් කියා සිටියේ පොලොන්නරුව දිස්ත්රික්කය සහමුලින්ම මැලේරියාවෙන් නිදහස් කල යුතු බවය . ඒ අනුව පොලොන්නරුව – හිඟුරක්ගොඩ දිස්ත්රික්කයේ ප්රා්දේශීය නිලධාරී වශයෙන් කටයුතු කල මට එම භාරදූර කටයුත්ත පැවරුණි.
ඒ දවස්වල මගේ පාවිච්චියට තිබුනෙ බොහෝවිට මග නවතින, පරණ ඇලුමිනියම් පාට ලෑන්ඩ් -රෝවර වාහනයක්. එක දවසක මහවැලි රැස්වීමකට මා පැමිණෙනවා දැක තිබු මහවැලි ඇමති ගාමිණී දිසානායක මහතා එදා ඒ රැස්වීම අවසානයේ මා අසලට පැමිණ මගේ පිටට තට්ටුකර “පුතා මේ වැඩේ කරන්න ඔබට ඕනෑම පහසුකමක් මහවැලියෙන් ලබා දෙන්න නේවාසික කළමණාකාර මහත්යතයට මම කියලයි තියෙන්නෙ” ඔහු පැවසිය. ඒ කථාව මට ලොකු ශක්තියක් විය. ඒ වෙනකොට සුළු වැඩකට උනත් කොළඹ මැලේරියා මුලස්ථානයට ලියලා මුදල් ලබාගැනීමට බොහෝ කලක් බලාසිටිය යුතුවූ මට මෙය අස්සිවැසිල්ලක් විය. ඒ අනුව එදා මහවැලි කලාපය තුල මැලේරියා මර්ධනය සඳහා තිබූන අවශ්යතා කීපයක්ම මහවැළි මුදලින් ඉටුකර ගැනීමට මම සමත්වුවෙමි.
එයින් එකක්වුයේ ඒ වනවිට මහවැලි කලාපවල ක්රි්යාත්මකවූ ස්වෙච්චා ප්රතිකාර සේවකයන්ට උපදෙස් සහිත අත් පොතක් නැතිකම. ඒ අනුව මේ පොත් පිංච දින 2-3ක් තුල මා විසින් ලියා මහවැලි මුදල්වලින් මුද්ර-ණය කරවා ගතිමි. එහිදී එවකට මැලේරියා මර්ධන ව්යාපාරයේ පුහුණු හා අධ්යාපන අංශ ප්රධානි, දොස්තර පී . බී . ආර් . ඩයස් මහතා ගෙන් ලැබුන නීතිමය සහයෝගය අගය කල යුතුය. ඒ අනුව මේ පොත දිවයින පුරාම මහවැලි කලාපවල ස්වෙච්චා ප්රතිකාර මද්යස්ථානවලට බෙදා හැරීමටද දොස්තර ඩයස් මහතා කටයුතු කළේය.

කෙසේ නමුත්, ඊට වසරකට පමණ පසුව මේ පොත් – පිංච තවත් අදියරයකට තල්ලු වුනේ මම දන්නෙම නැතිව. මැලේරියා මර්ධන මුලස්ථානයේ ප්රරධාන නිලධාරීන්ගේ අනුග්රසහයෙන් මේ පොතේ එක අකුරක් හෝ වෙනසක් නොකර එහි අන්තර්ගතය එලෙසම තිබියදී, මගේ නම කතෘත්වයෙන් ඉවත්කර ‘මැලේරියා මර්ධන ව්යාපාරයේ ප්රකාශනයක්’ ලෙස පිටපත් දහසකට වඩා වැඩි ගණනක් අළුත් මුහුණුවරකින් මුද්රණය කරලා – මුළු දිවයින පුරා මැලේරියා ප්රදේශවලට බෙදාහරිනලදී . මෙහිදී මගේ කතෘත්වය තබා අඩුම වශයෙන් පොත ලිවීමේ ගවුරවය වචන කීපයකින් හරි එහි මුල්ලක සදහන් නොකිරීම අසාදාරනයක් ලෙස පෙන්වූ ඇතැම් නීති-ක්ෂේස්ත්රවයේ මිත්රියින් කියා සිටියේ බුද්ධිමය දේපළ සොරා ගැනීමට එරෙහිව එහි වගකිව යුත්තන් නිතිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනියන්න. මම කාටවත් විරුද්ධ වෙන්න තරම් ආවේගයක් හිතට ගත්තෙ නැහැ. මම කල්පනා කලේ ඊට හාත්පසින් වෙනස්‌ විදියකට; මගේ පෑන් තුඩින් මැලේරියාව පිළිබඳව – පැල්පත්වල ජීවත්වෙන මිනිසුන්ට තේරෙන විදියට ගැමි- වහරින් ලියපු පොත මහාවැලි කලාපවලින් ඔබ්බට ගිහින් කතරගම , මොණරාගල , පුත්තලම , පදවිය , ඇඹිලිපිටිය මෙකි- නොකී ගම්වල මැලේරියාවෙන් පීඩා වින්ද මිනිසුන්ගෙ අතට නොමිලේ ලැබිලා ඔවුන් මේ රෝගය පිළිබද දැනුවත්වී එයින් නිදහස්වීම කොයිතරම්නම් භාග්යික්ද ?

ඒ කොහොම උනත් මේ පොත නැවත මුද්රනණයේදී සිදුවූ වෙනස්කම පිළිබඳ කසු-කුසුව එදා සවුක්‍ය අමාත්‍යන්සේ ප්‍රධාන නිලධාරීන් කිහිපදෙනක් අතරටද ගොස් තිබිණ. තවත් කලකට පසු එවකට සවුක්ය සේවා අධ්යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල් (මගේ සේවා ප්රධානියා ) ලෙස කටයුතු කල දොස්තර ජෝ ප්රනාන්දු මහතා මගේ ඉදිරි ගමනට වල කැපෙමින් පැවතුන මොහොතක ඒ එදිරිවාදින්ට එරෙහිව වහා ක්රියාත්මකවී මට හිමි තැන ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කල බව හද පිරි සතුටින් මෙහි සදහන් කරමි.
ආචාර්ය කොඩිසිංහ හේරත්.

ආචාර්ය කොඩිසිංහ හේරත්.

Chuls Rajapakse MNZM

The outstanding violence that Sri Lanka experienced in the last fifty years are:

1. The thirty-year terrorism of LTTE of a Tamil group supported by a national and international diaspora consisting of Tamil people supported by significant contributions from Christian & Catholic clergy.

2 The Easter Sunday carnage caused by a militant Muslim group supported by National and International diaspora.

Buddhist organizations had no hand in any of this carnage

As Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has repeatedly acknowledged it is the Magnanimity and Tolerance of Sri Lanka’s 2500 yer old Buddhist culture, that permitted other religions like Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam to thrive as it has been doing for several hundreds of years in SL.

As he stated Buddhism is like the trunk of the tree of Sri Lanka and these other religions are like some of its branches. The trunk has to them for the rest to do so.

Don’t pick on a leaf that may be drying and. try to make out that this represents the tree.

The much-maligned Gnanasara Thero of the BBS informed the authorities in great detail about impending dangers from Zaharan and his comrades well over twelve months before the bombings happened with amazing accuracy particularly in relation to who the attackers would be.

When asked after the event of how he came by such accurate information he said that it was the peaceful Sufi Muslims of Eastern province from places like Kattankudya where Zaharan did his indoctrination from, frustrated by the lack of response (possibly stifled by influential Muslim politicians,), from the police when they reported the ongoing subversive activities of Zaharan and his group, they reported it in 2017/18 to Gnanasara of BBS hoping that he could stop pZaharan on his tracts. As it turned out when he reported it to the police, Zaharan’s strong Muslim allies warded of any action against Zaharan even then, painting BBS and Gnanasara as Anti Muslim extremists.

It took 300 innocent catholic lives to expose Zaharan and co but the stigma they cleverly attached to BBS and Gnanasara still lives on, possibly till the next ISIS or Tiger instigated carnage.

There has never been any carnage of the Tiger or Zhaharan instigated magnitude, attributable to any Buddhist organization.

Concepts war of Crusades or War of Jihad to spread their respective religions is totally contrary to Buddhist Teachings and ethos and never occurred anywhere in history.

This loving-kindness inherent in Buddhism has been systematically exploited in Originally entirely Buddhist countries like Afghanistan, South Korea, Bangladesh where Buddhism has been completely wiped out in these regions.

This process still continues currently especially in SL and Mynamar and any opposition to these movements is cleverly misrepresented to the world as intolerance and violence of Buddhists.

Perhaps, if not for resistance from groups like BBS, the percentage of Buddhists who was 80% in 1900 now reduced to 70%, but for the a percentage of Buddhists in SL would have been reduced to 50% by now.

Shame, Shame Shame

Chuls Rajapakse MNZM

The violent side of Sri Lankan Buddhism

Courtesy Adaderana

BEIJING: China has suspended debt repayment for 77 developing countries as part of its efforts to help underprivileged nations in the fight against Covid-19.

However, it did not reveal the nations that would be benefitting from this move.

Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, made the announcement at a press conference where the country also issued a white paper on its war against the coronavirus.

The white paper, titled “Fighting Covid-19: China in Action”, was issued by the nation’s State Council Information Office on Sunday (June 7).

It recorded the country’s efforts in combating against the pandemic while sharing its experience with the world.

Ma revealed that the country had so far provided assistance to over 150 nations in various forms, including dispatching their medical experts out.

“When we were at our most difficult time, more than 170 world leaders, over 50 heads of international organisations and 300-over political parties sent their regards and support to us.

“A total of 77 nations and 12 international organisations donated items for us to combat the virus while people from all over the world showed their support for China in various forms.

“We will not forget this precious friendship,” he said.

Ma also refuted claims that China’s relationship with other countries were affected by the negative sentiments brought by the pandemic.

– thestar.com.my

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

At the recently concluded Ranawiru Day commemoration, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed “not to allow anyone to exert undue pressure and harass our war heroes who have sacrificed so much for the country” to return to the status of peace and tranquility to the people and our country. 

He then expanded, “If any international body or organisation continuously targets our country and our war heroes, using baseless allegations, I will also not hesitate to withdraw Sri Lanka from such bodies or organisations”.

Continuous target 

Ironically, independent onlookers instantaneously assumed that he was referring to the UN. Since then, many subject experts have articulated their concerns. Many warn that while the President’s words are great for local consumption, leaving the UN is not an option for Sri Lanka. Instead, they advocate that Sri Lanka must stay on and continue to engage with the UN. 

The fact that almost all jumped to the conclusion that the President was referring to the UN exclusively and was not making a general statement should get the UN bigwigs to closely study the President’s statement. The statement that he will not hesitate to leave offending entity cannot be taken in isolation.

 Instead, it must be taken in conjunction with the conditions that he specified that must come true for him to leave such an entity. The two conditions for him to leave are, if “our country and our war heroes” continue to be “targeted using baseless allegations”. 

Thus, the stress should be on “continuously target” Sri Lanka and “baseless allegations,” rather than on just target Sri Lanka with accusations. The allegations must be both baseless and continuous beyond reason for such a drastic step to be activated. 

Concrete evidence a prerequisite 

Therefore, President Gotabaya’s loaded statement can also be correctly interpreted as; any entity has the space to raise questions about our Military Forces’ conduct as long as it is not baseless. The charge must be followed with tangible evidence. This means, if there is evidence on which one can conduct a credible investigation, it will be done so. 

Hence, it is not enough to simply level allegations such as thousands had disappeared and insinuate that all disappearances had been involuntarily enforced. Each person who is alleged to have disappeared must be accompanied with details such as a name, his NIC number or some form of identification (if he is a minor) and so on. Otherwise, an investigation simply cannot be conducted on the mere allegation that “thousands have disappeared”.

A la Deutsch – the German way

It is not only the paucity of information that has stalled Sri Lanka’s efforts of conducting thorough investigations. It is also the lack of cooperation from the accusers. A classic case would be the arrest by German authorities of a person involved in Sri Lanka’s then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s assassination. 

He, identified as only “Navanithan G” in line with German privacy rules, had applied for asylum in Germany in 2012. The war ended in 2009. At the asylum interview, he had admitted to have been a member of the LTTE. 

Instead of handing him over instantly to Sri Lankan authorities for further investigations, the German authorities arrested him in January 2019 and in 2020 sentenced him to prison for six years and ten months. As Germany did not share their information with Sri Lanka, our authorities still do not know the identity of Navanithan. 

He may well be listed as missing in Sri Lanka. How did he arrive in Germany? Did he leave Sri Lanka alone, if not, where are the others who accompanied him? What was he doing in Germany for seven years before his arrest? 

Navanithan is not an isolated incident. Over the past 11 years such “disappeared” persons have surfaced from many places including Tamil Nadu, Europe and Australia. Yet, none of these countries agree to cooperate with Sri Lanka to locate those who had disappeared from the Island but now settled in their countries. 

By allowing those with a criminal past, still nurturing the LTTE ideology, capable of unleashing violence against fellow Tamils domiciled in these countries such as extortion without any form of rehabilitation carries a risk. 

Yet, clearly it is a risk these countries are willing to carry. In 2009, summoning the UNHRC for a special session Germany tried to pass a resolution against Sri Lanka citing war crimes. Yet, Germany is unwilling to corporate with the Sri Lankan authorities to conduct investigations into these allegations. 

Navanithan gets German crime record!

Sri Lanka, instead of prosecuting the LTTE cadres, sent former LTTE cadres into rehabilitation. This was designed with the help of international experts, including Harvard. The programme, ranged from six months to two years depending on how high the level of LTTE ideology was indoctrinated, the cadres were either sent back to school or trained in a vocational skill. 

Afterwards, much support was extended to them to reintegrate into society and rebuild their lives. They now live amongst citizens without any branding or blemish attached to them. 

Thus, it is not as if cooperating with the Sri Lankan authorities would result in former LTTE cadres been subjected to gross human rights violations. Hence, the reluctance of countries that accuse Sri Lanka of war crimes to cooperate is questionable. 

The irony is, had Navanithan surrendered to the Sri Lankan authorities, the chances are that by now he would have been able to firmly put his violent past behind him. As it turned out, 11 years after the war ended, he is being punished for a crime he committed 15 years ago. In 2026 he will leave the German prison with a permanent criminal record. 

Yahapalana Govt co-sponsored defeated UNHRC resolution 

The second condition President Gotabaya stipulated was that Sri Lanka must also have the space to clear its name. Once Sri Lanka conducts and concludes an investigation, the matter must be allowed to rest. This is something Sri Lanka has not been allowed to do. In 2009, the Germany initiated UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka was defeated. In fact, a counter resolution commended Sri Lanka for resolutely eradicating terrorism from the Island. Yet, the resolutions kept coming. Each time, the accusations within became more aggressive. 

Had the Yahapalana Government not co-sponsored the 2015 resolution, this exercise would have continued. However, co-sponsoring the resolution did not stop this process either. For instance, the Office for Missing Persons that came about as a result of this resolution states that if a missing person is located, his status as missing cannot be changed without his explicit consent. The whole premise of bringing closure to his loved ones who do not know his fate is thus lost. Worse, Military officers accused for his disappearance can never clear their name or record. 

LLRC and Paranagama Commissions

Contrary to what many internationally think about the Sri Lanka Government trying to push war crime allegations under the carpet it is not true. After the war, Sri Lanka engaged in two mechanisms – the Lessons Learnt and the Reconciliation Commission and the Paranagama Commission. The LLRC was made up of some of the finest legal brains in Sri Lanka. Citizens of all walks of life were encouraged to share their experiences and opinions vis-a-vis the war and causes that led to the war. 

The Paranagama Commission, though a domestic mechanism, also included experts on warfare and International Humanitarian Laws as Sir Desmond Silva, Sir Rodney Nixon, Major General John Holmes, Sir Geoffrey Nice, Professors David Crane and Michael Newton. 

Both commissions found the Sri Lanka Military did not intentionally target civilians, nor commit war crimes. Yet, these findings did not stand a chance. 

Ban Ki-moon violates UN mandate

Before the LLRC was concluded, the then UNSG Ban Ki-moon initiated his own fact finding mission – the Panel of Experts who produced the controversial Darusman Report. Though he violated the UN mandate, he assured that it was for his own personal appraisal. 

Yet, the contents of this report was leaked and republished by other sources. Today, these contents despite its questionability are established as true and factual, when true facts are pushed out of sight. More damagingly, Ban Ki-moon undermined the domestic mechanism without due cause. 

President Gotabaya is not being unreasonable when he noted that allegations must be with evidence that can lead a solid investigation and the findings must be accepted. He demonstrated his sincerity during the recent allegation involving an employee from the Swiss Embassy. Even in his Ranawiru Day speech, he did not accuse or address any specific entity. 

However, all independent onlookers immediately linked this to the UN. This despite the Gotabaya Administration pledging at the recent UNHRC session to continue to work with the UNHRC. This means the onlookers are accusing the UN of needlessly targeting Sri Lanka with baseless accusations. This is a very serious charge and the UN must immediately conduct an internal investigation as to the reasons for this presumption. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com.

Courtesy Adaderana

In a backdrop where the COVID-19 outbreak has been controlled and a suitable environment for holding the election has been facilitated, the behavior of certain officials of the Election Commission is controversial, says Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa.

The former General Secretary of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) mentioned this during a press conference held in Kandy yesterday (07).

Prof. Piyadasa says that the opinions of certain members of the Elections Commission are debatable. Some say that these have somehow led to a delay of the elections, he added.

Further speaking, he said that there is no use of searching for reasons to delay the election and that the country should go for an election as soon as possible.

Courtesy Adaderana

Eight individuals have tested positive for the novel coronavirus hiking the count of infections in the country to 1,857 cases.

With 18 more persons also being confirmed to have contracted the virus, a total of 26 COVID-19 positive patients have been reported within the day so far.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 infected patients currently under medical care to 856.

Meanwhile, the number of recoveries in Sri Lanka has risen to 990 with 49 patients being discharged from their respective hospitals today.

The death toll due to the virus in the country stands at 11.

Courtesy Adaderana

An expert in geology produced a report to the Supreme Court that the burial of persons deceased from COVID-19 infection may cause adverse effects in the environment.

Previously, 12 individuals, including the son of a COVID-19 victim, filed a Fundamental Rights petition claiming that the cremation of persons deceased from the virus is a violation of their fundamental rights.

The petition was heard before the Supreme Court Justices Sisira de Abrew and Yasantha Kodagoda today (08).

Representing Professor Meththika Vithanage, President’s Counsel Sanjeewa Jayawardena submitted a report compiled by the Professor to the court.

Jayawardena pointed out that according to the relevant report, the virus may enter the groundwater and soil by burying persons who had deceased from COVID-19.

Subsequently, the court postponed the hearing to July 13.

Courtesy Adaderana

The date for holding the General Election will be declared within this week, stated the Elections Commission a short while ago.

The Elections Commission is currently holding a press conference regarding the General Election 2020, in Colombo.

Earlier today (08), the members of the Elections Commission convened to decide on the date to hold the upcoming general election.

Speaking at the press conference, Chairman of the Commission Mahinda Deshapriya further said that the gazette pertaining to the preferential numbers will be issued tomorrow (09).

Deshapriya had made a request to the Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe to regularize campaign guidelines through a gazette.

Courtesy Hiru News

Chairman of the Avant Garde Company, Nissanka Senadhipathi states that the main reason for the loss of GSP plus for Sri Lanka is the illegal fishing business conducted by a private secretary of former Minister Rajitha Senaratne.

This was while he was giving evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to investigate incidents of political revenge

Meanwhile, former Prisons Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewa had also been summoned to give evidence before the commission.

H. L. D. Mahindapala

The Twentieth century, it is safe to say, has made all of us into deep historical pessimists – The End of History and the Last man – Francis Fukuyama

One of the primary tasks of a creative and path-breaking political scientist is to demystify and demythologise the hidden past to raise the consciousness of a shared / common political domain to progress into a better and a new world, leaving the misery of the failed past. To achieve this objective, they must be blessed with a holistically integrated intellect with a critical capacity to grasp and understand the new realities that rise constantly as opportunities to carve new paths to the world of tomorrow. But the stupid political scientists will continue to find excuses and theories for the failed past to resuscitate, justify or glorify the political criminals who misled the people into inescapable depths of death, destruction and despair.

I regret to say that my long-time friend Dayan Jayatilleka, who never ceases to advertise himself as a political scientist extraordinaire, has revealed that he belongs to the latter category of political scientists as demonstrated in his latest outburst against the Sinhala-Buddhists, regurgitating the hackneyed theoretical concoctions that had not taken him or his fellow-travellers anywhere.

Tirade

In his latest tirade against the Sinhala-Buddhists in the Financial Times, shedding buckets of tears for Tamil grievances and aspirations”, he has returned to his original ideological base locked in cock-eyed theories that formed the basis of Varatharaja Perumal’s state that was dead at birth. He snaked out of it and meandered for a while in the sober world of hard realities which eventually manifested itself in full measure in the last Presidential election. (November 19, 2019). In fact, he was an integral part of it initially. He was a leading light in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s viyathmaga. But then came the tempting offer of an ambassadorship in the Yahapalanaya administration and he jumped into it breaking all known Sri Lankan records in high-jumping. He must be excused because this kind of high-jumping is built into his genes.

I also gathered that before going on his mission to Moscow he rushed to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and assured him that he would work for ‘Pohottuwa’ underhand, betraying his sworn commitment to serve the Yahapalanaya regime. In other words, he was acting according to his genetic make-up of being an Under..” (no, I do not want to mention the obnoxious word for reasons he knows best) doing underhand deals!

Before I dig my teeth into the meat of his latest attack on Sinhala-Buddhists, it is necessary to highlight that no one can beat Dayan Jayatilleka’s extraordinary capacity to stooge those in power disguised as ‘political science’. The unscrupulous jumps he makes from one side to another is projected by him as the quintessence of political science computed at the highest cerebral level.

He began his career in stooging as a Cabinet Minister in Varadaraja Perumal’s Cabinet. But Perumal was a stooge of India. And, ipso facto, that makes Dayan a stooge of India. Of course, this was done in the name of political science, with a bit Gramsci, Lenin and Marx thrown in for good measure. Then he veered away from Perumal and gravitated towards President Ranasinghe Premadasa. They were two extremes in the inter-ethnic equation. The somersault he made from Perumal to Premadasa deserves an Olympian medal. But it was one of the few good ‘scientific’ decisions he ever made.

He has also kept one foot in NGOs. He was in fact the master of ceremonies for the award given to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu by Jehan Perera – a Tweedledumbo scratching the back of Tweedledingo, with the blessings of Dayan presiding over the ceremonies. Of course, all this was done in the name of ‘political science’. He thinks that his capacity to rationalise each jump into various camps is ‘political science’. It is his political science that made him one of the leading lights in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s viyathmaga. It is the same political scientist who is now attacking Gotabaya.

Now in his latest outburst in the Financial Times, reviving the myths of Tamil ‘demands, grievances and aspirations’, he has turned against his idol of yesterday, Gotabaya. He condemns the triumph of Gotabaya as ‘armed Dharmapalism’, echoing Isaac Deutsche’s ‘Prophet Armed: Trotsky.’ But he was quite happy to continue under ‘armed Dharmapala’ until he was recalled. Then when he was recalled he saw his world tumbling down. If he was a man of principles dead against ‘armed Dharmapalaism’ why didn’t he send in his resignation immediately from Moscow saying he will not serve ‘the Sinhala Hard Right’/ ‘Sinhala ultranationalist unilateralism’, which is aiming to for the first time….. end of Tamil political history’ the end of history of a specifically Tamil politics, the politics of power-sharing at the centre and autonomy at the periphery, damned in the President’s discourse (Parliament Jan 2020) as ‘political agendas founded on race…playing the role of king maker…the influence of extremism’?

But he stayed on hoping that he could continue to represent President Gotabaya — the ‘Sinhala Hard Right’, the ‘armed Dharmapala’ even though he knew that Gotabaya had acknowledged his debt to the ‘Sinhala Hard Right’ / ‘armed Dharmapalism’ for his victory. As a ‘political scientist’ he should have known what he meant and resigned instantly to prove that he was a man of principles, if he has any. He did not resign. He was with ‘the Sinhala Hard Right’ until he was recalled. And when he was thrown out of Moscow, leaving him without a job, he went bananas. If, however, he was asked to continue he would have taken the first trans-Siberian train to Vladivostok – the other end of Russia – proclaiming all the way across the vast tracts of the largest land mass in Asia, as loud as he can, that any rise of any shade of Prabhakaranism and the Vadukoddian ideology was contrary to the principles of his theoretical dodo, Gramsci and his latter-day idol, Gotabaya.

His kinky obsession with Gramsci is as relevant to Sri Lanka as the authoritarian militarism of his most favoured political hero, Fidel Castro. Sri Lanka’s political and social achievements are far greater than those scored by both put together. Take, for instance, his baby doll, Gramsci. There isn’t a following for Gramsci even in Italy – his homeland. But Dayan is now fossicking desperately for Tamil Gramscis in Jaffna. In Moscow he would have noticed that no one gives a hoot to Gramsci. Gramsci was an Italian egg-head whose inedible theoretical spaghetti twisted round his head provided no relief to the hungry Italian workers in Mussolini’s jails. His negligible impact on the Italian workers’ movement did not go beyond the impact of the local Marxists at the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills. He failed to move the Italian workers to any meaningful political goal.

Fashionable thinkers

The Italians are reacting to Covid-19 more than to irrelevant Gramsci. But after he came back from Moscow Dayan has gone hysterical. Dayan is fossicking in Jaffna for Tamil Gramscis who will be totally irrelevant to either peninsula politics or national issues. His writing indicates that his knowledge of Gramsci makes him an exceptional ‘political scientist’. Our intellectuals are very good at dropping names of fashionable thinkers of the West. But they never pause to ask how relevant they are to ground realities of Sri Lanka. For instance, in the last presidential election was it Gramsci who determined the result or Dharmapala? They drop names to impress how clever they are. But how many of their theories have moved the nation beyond its cultural and spiritual base?

With his latest somersault Dayan has jumped into the camp of discombobulated jokers in the anti-national NGOs. His greatest achievement so far was his victory at UNHRC. Did he score that victory defending the bellicose Vadukoddian ideology or the peace-making state of Rajapaksa – the leading icon of Sinhala-Buddhism in contemporary times? He might try to come back saying that there is a fundamental difference between the Rajapaksa he served in Geneva and the Rajapaksa who has thrown him out now. But that will be all hogwash. He will only be splitting hairs trying to prove that there are two Rajapaksas, one of whom is not so Sinhala-Buddhistic as the other.

We are in a time when even the UNPers regret that they had swung to the ‘Hard Tamil Right’, giving ‘Ellam’ which runs parallel with Eelam, under Ranil Wickremesinghe, a leader rejected by his followers. The millions that voted for Gotabaya were not that stupid not to recognise the difference between the many shades of Prabhakaranism, including cock-eyed Dayanishitism, which pretends to be the kokatath thailya, and the Sinhala-Buddhist forces that took on the most formidable force ever launched by the Tamils, backed by Solheims, Millibands and the well-oiled machine of the Tamil Diaspora. Whether in the Vadukoddai War, or in electoral contest, or in confronting Erick Solheims and Millibands the Podi Appuhamys and Podi Nonas who voted with their feet knew that the Rajapaksas stood as defenders of Sinhala-Buddhism. If they knew it at that level how come our ‘political scientist’ didn’t know it? Why was he with the ‘armed Dharmapalas’ when they were buttering his bread? And why has he jumped once again to ‘armed Vadukoddians’ who committed the grievous crime against peace – the only community to do so?

His career has zig-zagged across the political compass in so many directions that it is difficult to locate him at any given place at any given time. He has been all over the place, justifying each position as the latest political science of a pundit whose infallibility exceeds that of the Pope. His unscrupulous tergiversations indicate clearly that he is for sale for the highest bidder. Dayan, as everyone knows, is the proverbial hound who is loyal to any master willing to let him lick the crumbs that fall off the table. Karl Manning was thinking of characters like Dayan when he said that the intellectual’s pen is always ready for sale.

Spinning his theoretical yarns as usual, pretending to be Marx XIV (or is it Gramsci II?) he has come swinging against Gota. This Pavlovian behaviourial pattern, salivating at the first sight of a bone thrown in his direction, is a clear indication of an incurable recidivist returning to his infantile days when he was a stooge of Varadraja Perumal who was a stooge of India.

I don’t have to ask him to get stuffed because his head is already stuffed with all the theoretical muck that justifies authoritarian Castro’s one-man regime and other left-wing characters of the Marxist left. He believes in his exaggerated greatness as if he is God’s gift to Sri Lanka. But only knowing people know (Singlish) that he has been juggling so many balls that he has come to point where he does not know whose ball he is juggling now. What is clear now is that he up for grabs for anyone who wants their balls to be juggled. He is now trending towards Sajith Premadasa. Soon he is likely to surface as the guru and ideologue of Premadasa. Will Premadasa abandon his other guru, Victor Ivan and hire Dayan. Or will he have both?

Victor Ivan theories didn’t take Sajith very far in the last election. The populist tampons and buns didn’t win. The people went for their spiritual and cultural values. How far will Dayan’s theories take Sajith?

To sum up, the grass that comes of the bull at the butt end of his anatomy has been more productive to the nation, down the ages, than the constipated theories that had come out of Dayana’s four-legged brain.

It’s time he started thinking on two legs.

More on DJ’s cock-eyed theories next

Dr. Varanthaja was one of the 5 doctors who was in the war zone till the final stages that ended in May 2009. The country has no issues in him seeking asylum and living in the US since 2011. With LTTE terrorist arm disseminated everyone wanted to get on with their lives after living 30 years in fear. This was a feeling applicable to all communities. However, we did not and do not expect the LTTE business arm to take over and make a living lying. This is why as citizens we have every right to question Dr. Varatharaja who was educated with public funds, who enjoyed a state salary until his departure and who now lives abroad but wishes to continue lies that is impacting on the entire nation. 

We pose these questions and in so doing ask readers to ponder about how many others like him are out there ridiculing and denigrating the country they were born in and in so doing violating our human rights by the manner they are partnering with entities out to destabilize and destroy Sri Lanka & its development, wishing Sri Lanka to suffer perpetual misery sans peace.

BIOGRAPHY 

1975 Born

1986 Passed Grade 5 scholarship

1991 Passed O/L

1994 Passed A/L Bio given Mahapola Scholarship

1997 Entered Jaffna University

2004 Graduated

2004 Intern at Pudukudurippu hospital, Mullaitivu

2005 Intern at Kurunegala Teaching hospital – Paediatrics/Surgery

2006 Relief House Officer at ICU

2006 1^stAppointment MOH Kalmunai District/Eechilampatru hospital/Vaharai hospital

2007 March – Mullaitivu Hospital

2007 December – Appointment Regional Director of Health Services

2008 – Overseas training Philippines

2008 – Anti-Malaria training Anuradhapura

2009 – May 16 Arm injured from bomb & carried to army rescue point in Mullaivaikal on 17 May 2009

2011 – US gives him & family asylum

Despite living in LTTE controlled areas, he was able to study, obtain scholarships, enter university & even become a doctor. How many other Sri Lankans have been this lucky?

Can you explain why US chose only you to offer refuge in USA instead of the other 4 doctors who also served in the war zone?Why did USA only choose you & your family to give asylum? What makes you more special than them? All were employed by the State and paid to take care of Sri Lankan citizens.

What was your real role as a child living amongst LTTE where many had to function as Pottu Amman’s informant?

This is what your Facebook features

While MOH Kalmunai District in 2006, when doctors refused to be stationed at Eechilampatru hospital (in a small village of 70,000 people located North of Vakarai) because it was under LTTE control, why did you wish to be stationed there? 

Is it true that having made contact with NGOs/INGOs/UN Agencies OXFAM ICRC, UNICEF etc you became one of their ‘credible reporters’?

Why did you move to Vakarai with the civilians when the army was advancing to Eechilampatru LTTE controlled area? If you were not part of or sympathetic to LTTE, you could have stayed on with the other civilians and patients?

Did you continue to report to INGOs/NGOs & Media while stationed at Vakarai hospital?

If you were just a doctor doing your duties looking after patients, why should EPDP or Karuna Group threaten you? 

Was the 12 December 2006 UNICEF report on Vaharai stating that you were the only doctor treating patients for diarrhea and dysentery, as a result of inputs given by you?

Did you decide to leave Vakarai hospital after media broadcast that the hospital was run by LTTE – is this why you contacted the UN agencies & INGOs to inform that the GoSL was about to attack the hospital OMITTING that the hospital was run by LTTE and you were a doctor treating LTTE as well?

Isn’t it true that the Govt & Ministry of Health trusted you so much that they requested you to use a white flag and leave the Vakarai hospital concerned for your safety and not even doubting you may be on the side of the LTTE?

When the Ministry of Health reposted you to Trincomalee General Hospital, why did you APPEAL to be posted to Mullaitivu which was under LTTE control?

Is it true that you abused your authority as Regional Director of Health and submitted requests for medical supplies IN EXCESS OF what was required?

Is it also true that you handed these additional supplies to LTTE pharmacy chains and private pharmacies & pocketed the money from commissions?

Isn’t it true that you made use of your position to manipulate both the GoSL as well as the LTTE knowing LTTE needed to have you as a doctor to treat LTTE injured as well as keep civilians with them? You were taking advantage of both sides

Is it also true that when GoSL permitted essential drugs to be taken in lorries to uncleared areas you ordered in excess and sold these to LTTE and private pharmacies? 

Didn’t you think what you were doing was wrong by the poor taxpayers who were paying for all the excess medicines which were sent to North rationing what was sent to other parts of the country? 

You knew very well that Sri Lanka was getting internationally cornered for deciding to eliminate the LTTE. You knew very well the restrictions Sri Lankans was facing and yet you only thought of making money.

You present yourself as a hero but you made money from commissions on sale of items paid by the Sri Lankan tax payer

Is this how you accumulated money to buy a luxury jeep imported by former MP Kanagaratnam with his vehicle permit in 2008? Can you explain how you got MILLIONS being a government doctor to buy a luxury imported vehicle? 

You started work in 2005 – how did you accumulate 11million (eleven million) to buy a luxury vehicle by 2009 —- in just 4 years?

In the thick of war, you had enough time to think of buying a luxury vehicle! 

Is it true that you decided to remain in LTTE controlled area not because of any love for patients but because the LTTE leadership refused to allow you to take your luxury jeep out of Vanni even when you requested to travel in it to Colombo for meeting in January 2009? 

Didn’t LTTE doubt of your plans to flee with jeep & that was why you were not allowed to take your jeep out of Vanni? LTTE leadership had profiled you correctly.  

Was it not because of your luxury jeep that you made frantic efforts to cross Omanthai as the land route had closed from 14 Jan-23 January 2009 but you had no choice but to stay in Vavuniya Kurumankaadu bungalow & somehow managed to return to Mullaitivu. 

All for the love of your jeep and nothing else. How can you present yourself as a ‘hero’ given these realities?

Is it also not true that when land routes to Vanni got closed from February 2009, you & your luxury jeep was virtually ‘trapped’ and you had no other choice but to remain in the Vanni?

Was it not you that bloated civilian figures to the international media/INGOs to give an impression that the GoSL was planning to kill them? 

Is it not because of your daily lies to the international agencies that their hysteria over civilian killings resulted?

How is it that as soon as you arrive in US, your first visitors are the LTTE lobby and the international players linked to the LTTE lobby? How did they know where you were in the US?

How come you were invited to only pro-LTTE events to deliver speeches in New York, Toronto & Europe.

Who arranged a meeting with a UN Special Representative in New York before you travelled to Geneva for UNHRC? What was the deal?

Were all the allegations against Sri Lanka & Its armed forces a culmination of the liaison with LTTE fronts and the UN entities attempting to prove their allegations were correct. Is this what resulted in the Geneva session statement by you in 2014?

What is your relationship with Human Rights Watch & Channel 4?

How come LTTE fronts are only awarding you with awards for heroism in the war zone? Why are the other doctors excluded?

Is it true you travelled to London to remember LTTE dead – doesn’t this remind you of how you as a Student Youth Leader went on hunger strike after LTTE’s Thileepan died of hunger strike – you were then just a teenager!  

Who is funding you to travel round the world?

How much do you know about South Africa & apartheid to compare that to Sri Lanka? 

How did you strike a relationship with Sooka

Is it you that has provided Sooka with missing/dead LTTE that Sooka lists as civilian missing/dead? Are you taking them for a ride too?

From your Facebook – anyone mourning dead with LTTE flags is mourning DEAD LTTE and not Tamil civilians.

Are you basing your ‘Genocide’ story on the exaggerated figures you yourself admitted to the international media in July 2009?

How can you expect people to believe you when you keep changing versions of the same story? 

What is the credibility you have as a result of your links with LTTE since childhood, aligning with LTTE while working for the State, seeking asylum in exchange for singing for LTTE diaspora? 

Have you not sold your soul to the LTTE diaspora who decide what you say, how you say it, when you say it? Is this not torture by another name? Isn’t it a torture to have to daily lie and keep alive the lies just to enjoy luxuries? Does that provide any luxury for your mind except torment & torture?

From humble beginnings are you happy for forsaking the country that educated you, that provided you a Mahapola scholarship to become a doctor, that provided you, local and international training, that gave you promotions and never distrusted you even when you were making money bloating medical requirements & selling them for commissions from which you were even able to buy a imported luxury vehicles for millions? 

It is we who must press charges against you for violating our human rights, for making us suffer while you enjoyed from what we toiled to earn. 

Is this how you repay the state? Is this how you show solidarity with the rest of the citizens? Do you hate our country and our people this much? 

Don’t you have a guilty conscience for the human rights violations you are committing against the people of Sri Lanka? 

This is the real torture for fabricating allegations of physical torture. Mental torture is far more harmful than physical torture, especially knowing you had done wrong by an entire nation & its people in lying to the international community.

You left Sri Lanka and none of us grudged you for leaving to make a new home in another land.

But you left Sri Lanka with intent to harm us by your lies. This is violating our fundamental rights.

Can you sleep at night knowing your lies are impacting an entire nation and its citizens? 

You made use of the LTTE, the GoSL, the international community and now you have joined a bandwagon of equally corrupt people taking advantage of the loopholes & manipulating international systems. 

Shame, Shame, Shame on all of you.

Shenali D Waduge

Myriam François Courtesy Guardian

As Cambridge investigates its past, it’s time we acknowledged that slavery embedded a racial privilege that exists to this day

Cambridge University has announced that it will finally – just two centuries after the abolition of slavery and about 80 years after the end of the British empire – conduct an in-depth academic study into ways in which it contributed to, benefited from or challenged the Atlantic slave trade and other forms of coerced labour during the colonial era”.

I’m not sure in-depth” is how I would describe an inquiry which omits all 31 of its colleges, which hold most of the wealth in Cambridge, and some of which already have verified slavery connections. And it is worth pointing out that, while Cambridge has framed this inquiry as part of its race equality initiatives”, this conversation was forced on it by students, activists and brave academics.Advertisement

But Oxbridge institutions are not alone in owing a tremendous debt to slaves. The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership at UCL has created a vast database that shows just how profoundly slavery shaped modern Britain – well beyond its two best-known universities. Among the institutions with a history of slavery connections are the Bank of England, high-street banks (RBS, Barclays and Lloyds), railway companies, insurance companies and even the Royal Mail. And as these organisations flourished through their use of forced labour, their owners bequeathed part of their huge wealth to some of the UK’s leading cultural institutions, including the National Gallery, the Royal Academy, the Tate, the Victoria & Albert and the British Museum. Visitors to these galleries today are given little or no indication of their murky histories.

Slave-owning planters, and merchants who dealt in slaves and slave produce, were among the richest people in 18th-century Britain. Profits from these activities helped to endow the industrial revolution, Britain’s naval supremacy, and even British capitalism itself. By the late 1700s, slave-generated profits were large enough to have covered up to a third of Britain’s overall investment needs.

But the privileges accrued from slavery were not only economic: prestige properties were built which would be passed down as generational wealth. If you’ve ever marvelled at some of Britain’s stately homes or listed buildings, you should be aware that many of them were built or bought using money derived from slavery. One example is Dodington Park, a beautiful estate, currently owned by British inventor James Dyson, and which was originally built by Christopher Bethell-Codrington, using sums derived at least in part from plantation profits.

Often this wealth translated into political power. Alderman William Beckford, whose father was one of the most powerful men in 18th-century Jamaica, went on to serve as mayor of London. He even kept enslaved Africans to serve him in England. More recently, former prime minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, were both revealed to have slaveowners in their family background. Inherited wealth matters for generations.

Yet, as historian David Olusoga has pointed out, it would be a mistake to think of slave-ownership in the UK as confined to the upper classes. Many middle-class people, including clergymen, naval personnel and people who had returned from the colonies were also slave-owners”, regarded an enslaved person as a sound investment”.

The footprints of slavery, and the profits it bequeathed to generations, still shape the present. The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 formally freed 800,000 Africans. Not one of them got a penny. Instead, the British government paid out today’s equivalent of £16bn to former slave owners to compensate” them for their loss of property”, a national debt that took until 2015 to be paid off. Yes, that means the descendants of slaves here in the UK were, until just four years ago, paying off slave owners for their ancestors’ freedom.

Britons today aren’t directly responsible for the actions of their ancestors, but we are responsible for making the consequences of their wrongful actions right – starting with recognising how history and a culture rooted in supremacy feed into modern-day injustice.

Today in Britain, Pakistani and Bangladeshi people are more than three times more likely than white British people to live in the most deprived neighbourhoods. Rates of prosecution and sentencing for black people are three times higher than for white people. Unemployment rates are significantly higher for ethnic minorities; from mental health to education, crime to housing, there are enduring inequalities. The question, then, is why?Advertisement

Could it be that the supremacist beliefs that shaped slavery and colonialism did not simply evaporate in 1833? And that the structures – social, economic, cultural – forged by that period haven’t disappeared? That we are still beholden to hierarchies shaped by racism, such as the idea that the barbarism of some faiths justifies military encroachment, or that white people’s DNA makes them genetically smarter? The structures forged by white supremacy have proved incredibly durable, partly because we refuse to recognise them, and partly because feeling superior to other races justifies actions which would otherwise seem unacceptable.

As the Jamaican-American philosopher Charles W Mills points out, while other political ideologies are acknowledged – socialism, capitalism, fascism – we consistently fail to name the ideology that forged global European imperialism: white supremacy.

Professor Stephen Arata argues that narratives of colonial reversal”, whereby colonisers and exploiters are treated with sympathy, and their victims dehumanised, were frequent in late-Victorian popular fiction in Britain. But such fiction is just as popular today, with bestselling books about the genetic superiority of Germans being dumbed down” by migrants; or the Great Replacement” theory, in which the French author Renaud Camus claims the presence of Muslims in France will lead to the destruction of French culture and civilisation. It’s seen too in media frenzies about white female sexuality being under threat from migrants.

Across Europe, far-right parties are making gains. The mistake is to view these developments as a new phenomenon – this is a resurgence. White supremacy is back with a vengeance because Europeans failed to unpick the dangerous underpinnings that forged its first incarnation.

So, here in Britain – in a country whose modernity was birthed in violence and racial supremacy – what is each and every one of us doing to confront that past and pave the way for a fairer future? Far beyond Cambridge and Britain’s elite institutions, this is a conversation that implicates us all. Because as American author James Baldwin wrote, Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed if it is not faced.”

• Dr Myriam François is a research associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, Soas University of London, and founder of the blog We Need to Talk about Whiteness

Aloysius Hettiarachchi

On the 4^th of June  former president made a startling revelations to say that he had to personally sign 22,000 documents within  a couple of days or so for the extradition of Arjun Mahandran from Singapore. He has been convinced again to say that he cannot be brought to Sri Lanka to face charges because he is now an Alexander and not a Mahendran. This is amazing given the fact that all those around him were very experienced civil servants and top lawyers. I think the Attorney General at that time was the current one. Did they all take our head of state as a joke?. If so, no wonder a thing like Pasku Praharaya (the 4/21 attack) took place when all law enforcement forces as well as armed forces were under him. And all those top brass took advantage of the situation to make a fast buck at the experience of about 300 innocent lives as well as those 500 people who have been critically injured. If what he said was true, then it is an insult on the whole nation (especially on the Sinhalese) and action should be taken against all those who advised him to do this shameful act.

Similarly we see the same thing happening to the current president, too. We see that he is being surrounded by a similarly experienced lot and being advised to approve some wonderful projects. The world’s largest cricket grounds with money collected by begging is one. And then he has been advised to embark on beach nourishment project at a most unsuitable period of rough and high tide seas without any serious studies. Almost one billion rupees gone in water in just a couple of days. I remember the government of the country where I previously worked sent some senior engineers from their relevant department together with a representative of the company where I worked to Sri Lanka (Lanka Hydraulic Institute) to do the modelling of the project in their research station for a Coastal Protection Project. They were the consults together with LHI for that multimillion dollar project and they had high regard for those engineers doing the modelling. Why was LHI overlooked for this project?. Like signing the documents by the former prez, these coastal conservation officers and their contractors must have created a very nice picture of beautiful beaches after the work was over. However there should have been a clause to rectify the damages by the contractor if things go wrong.

We saw the other day a bunch of so called experts on dairy farming which included some lady professors giving a rosy picture to the nation. The whole nation knows how silly their plans are as similar importation of cows have gone awry more than once.

Not stopping there now the education ministers want to build so many universities in one go without any planning  when we are running short of money to pay even the salaries according to some news reports.

When we supported the prez in these forums for his campaign we had a good idea about him.  We thought he would at least take back Hambanthota port as promised and will not be openly supportive of some sections of the minorities who are hell bent in destroying the country.

Looking at the number of blunders already committed or planned to do within this short period of time we do not know where we will be heading on the long run, if advisors remain the same.