Chanaka Bandarage

There is widespread condemnation of clearance of the precious Wilpattu National Park to resettle Muslim IDPs.

If the allegation is true, the last two governments (2010 – 2019), and the ex-Muslim Minister who is in the centre of the allegation, have committed a serious offence. 

News emanating from the North now shows that that the Muslim IDPs have been resettled in Mannar District.  Given that Wilpattu is primarily located in the Puttlam and Anuradhapura Districts, if this news is correct, it is a great comfort for those who love Wilpattu. 

Nobody wants Wilpattu – a national treasure and perhaps a World Heritage, to be disturbed in any form or the other.

It is of paramount importance that further in-depth investigation about this is carried out.

Why is it that resettling the Puttlam Muslims in Mannar a good thing?

Puttlam is part of the North Western Province and Mannar is in the Northern Province.

When Prabhakaran chased out Muslims from the North (primarily from Jaffna) in 1980s and 1990s, there were in excess of 1 lakh of them living there permanently.

Prabhakaran was engaged in ethnic cleansing. He wanted the North and East to be confined to Tamils only.

Many of those Muslims went and lived in refugee camps in Anuradhapura and Puttlam.  Some went to live with relatives in Kurunegala, Negambo and Colombo.

After the war, some of them were resettled in the North (primarily in Mannar district). 

To preserve Sri Lanka as one Nation, it is of paramount importance that Sinhalese and Muslims live in large numbers in the North. 

North and East is a large area of Sri Lanka. It is about 1/3 of Sri Lanka’s total landmass and 2/3 of the coastal area. Separatists have not given up their desire to create a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.  The country still suffers from that threat (not militarily anymore). Thus, we need large Sinhala and Muslim populations living in the North and East.

Now is Sri Lanka’s ‘Populate or Perish’ moment.

TalaiMannar is Sri Lanka’s prime Gateway. From time immemorial, South Indians have used this Gateway to invade Sri Lanka (and we successfully chased them back, through the same Gateway).

If Mannar District is confined only to Tamils (like largely today), it is probable that eventually the North will secede.  Wigneswaran and TNA are trying all tricks in the book to achieve this.

There are over 60 million Tamils living in Thamilnadu.  Given that TalaiMannar is about 25 km away from Sri Lanka, Tamil separatists will do all they can to carve out a separate Tamil Eelam out of Northern Sri Lanka.  This could only be prevented by allowing non-Tamils (Muslims and Sinhalese), who do not want the creation of a separate nation in the North, to settle there.

Corono Virus is in a serious situation in India. There is a likelihood that Thamilnadu Tamils may flee to Sri Lanka to escape the pandemic. Northern Tamils may have no alternative but to accept them. If there are Muslims and Sinhalese living in the North, it will be very difficult for such illegal migration to take place.

The same rationale applies in curbing illegal fishing by Thamilnadu fishermen in our coastal waters.

During the Eelam war, Muslims worked to preserve Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Muslim military men such as Nizam Muthalff, Tuan Nizam Dane and MZR Sallay come to mind; they gave their lives for mother Lanka.

The bottom-line is that Muslims have never demanded a separate state, only the Tamils.

Muslims have a better chance of living in the North, and this must be encouraged (the fact that they speak Tamil is an advantage).

It is believed that when the Sinhalese were ethnically cleansed by Prabhakaran in late 1970s to early 1990s, there were at least 50,000 Sinhalese permanently living in the Northern Province (including the Sinhala public servants). 

For nearly 65 years, the Sinhalese have been denied from settling in the North and East by Tamil politicians.   This has been a systematic, very successful campaign by them. The irony is that both the Southern politicians (except DS Senanayake) and Sinhalese as a community, have not shown the need to change this racist policy.

Today, the number of Sinhalese families permanently living in the North should be less than 1500; disregarding a further 2000 or so Sinhalese families that live from Nandimithragama to Janaka Pura, largely in Vavuniya South and East. These villages include Nandimithragama, Salalihinigama, Namalgama, Bogaswewa I and II, Veherathenna. Welioya, HelambaWewa and Janaka Pura.

The writer understands that according to the Delimitation Commission recommendations (set up by the previous President in 2017), about 1200 Sinhalese villages in the Northern Province (Vavuniya South Pradeshiya Sabha) may end up being reallocated to North Central Province. The affected villages would include Namalgama, Bogaswewa I and II, Veherathenna.

It is feared that Sinhapura and HelambaWewa villages (Padavi-Sri Pura and  Muhudu-Bada Patthuwa Pradeshiya Sabhas respectively), that are currently part of the Eastern Province may end up being reallocated to North Central Province.

There is the fear that Grama Sevaka divisions of Athawetunu Wewa, Kiriibban Wewa and Kokilai, that are currently in the Eastern Province (Sampath Nuwara Pradeshiya Sabha) may be reallocated to North Central Province (to Padavi Sri Pura Pradeshiya Sabha).

If these proposed re-allocations eventuate, the Sinhala populations in the North and East will be further eroded.  Their numbers in the North Central Province will increase. Then, the Separatists will have a greater claim both locally and internationally that their demand for a Tamil Eelam is just and fair.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

It is imperative that a country should have an unwavering, unshakable, and firm determined and dedicated leader with a firm backbone if that country is to progress. Unfortunately in the recent past, we have had three Presidents and a Prime Minister who have shamelessly and cowardly genuflected in front of foreign powers and our sworn enemies. For instance

• J.R, Jayawardene who after adopting the 1978 constitution that became popular as the Bahbootha Vyawasthawa”, the Bizarre Constitution bloated saying that he is so powerful and he cannot only change a man into a woman and a woman into a man shamelessly and unblushingly bowed down before the hegemonic Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and agreed to conditions imposed by him including to force upon us the white elephant provincial council system utterly unsuitable for a small country like Sri Lanka, station Indian troops on our soil, and allow the country to be ruled under the dictates of Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka J.N.Dixit, who behaved like an uncrowned viceroy ;

• R.Premadasa without any guts and willpower allowed him to be fondled by a tiger terrorist sympathizer and their behind the scene architect Paskeralingam and under his command brought the terrorists to Colombo for homey moon talks, ordered the IPKF out as it was decimating the LTTE, ordered over 600 odd Police officers serving in the East and belong to all ranks to surrender to LTTE as a result of which they got killed summarily, supply a massive stockpile of arms and ammunition and money to LTTE which were only used only to kill and maim our gallant soldiers, facilitated the assassination of Lt. General Denzil Kobbejaduwa who had a splendid record of operations against the LTTE terrorists.  Along with him Brigadier Wijaya Wimalaratne and several illustrious high ranking officers also got killed, and nourished hardcore LTTE cadres to use his residence in Colombo as a haven for them and ultimately got dumped by a LTTE suicide bomber known as Babu whom he has fed and trusted as a confidante.;

• Mrs. Chandrika was responsible for making the country suffer the biggest debacle due to her arrogant and astigmatic rule.  The losses perpetrated by the LTTE during her rule were immense and e included entrapping over 40, soldiers of ours in Jaffna and compelling the country to seek Indian assistance to save them from their siege and bring them back to Sri Lanka, loss of the Elephant Pass camp, which was Sri Lanka’s largest camp in the North, and in this attack, the LTTE killed over 1,500 of our soldiers who were in that camp and confiscated all military hardware in that camp including artillery, multi-barrel guns, and heavy arms, loss of the: Pooneryn camp, sinking of several high-speed naval vessels with large numbers of navy personnel, shooting gown of several military aircraft that were flying out from Palaly airbase with armed soldiers and destruction of several passenger aircraft at the Katunayake Airport and many fighter planes and jets at the Katunayake Airport Hanger.  This old hag, in obliging to LTTE demands was also was responsible for needlessly facilitating Norway to interfere in Sri Lanka under the guise of a peacebuilder.

In addition to the above referenced military debacles, she had a craziness and a passion to please the Tamil community at the expense of other communities.  She seemed to be very fond of megalomaniac Prabhakaran and offered him to rule the North without any form of elections for a period of 10 years.  She could not get Prabhakaran agreed to this offer as he was only interested in carving out a separate exclusive Tamil State called Tamil Eelam comprising 1/3 of Sri Lanka’s and 2/3^rd of maritime territory. Then she commissioned another Terrorist ally, Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam to formulate a new constitution called The Package” to grant regional autonomy to provinces with much emphasis on North and East.  This proposal received strong opposition and condemnation from people belonging to all walks of life and Mt. Mahinda Rajapaksa held a long meeting with her and forced her to abandon that proposal.

When the Tsunami struck the country lots of funds were received and a mechanism named Post Tsunami Operations Mechanism (PTOM) was drawn up and she insisted and was adamant that PTOM activities in the North and East should exclusively be handled by the LTTE.  Along with her sycophant quisling Mangala Samaraweera she also launched another program called Sudu Nelum (white Lotus) program with the support of Norway saying that its objective was to rebuild North and East. 

Economically her rule was the worst Sri Lanka ever had and the growth dwindled to a minus growth rate for the first time in the country, which forced several key Ministers of her government to quit and join the opposition.

Sometime last year she made a statement saying that in the parliament there are 225 MPs and the majority of them are Sinhalese.  She said that during her tenure as President she couldn’t do much for the Tamils and hence in the future she would spend much time serving the Tamils.

• Then we come to the period of Prime MinisterRanil Wickremasinghe which ran parallel to Chandrika’s 2^nd term of presidency.  This period was completely a period of genuflecting to the dictates of the tiger terrorists.  Sajith Premadasa despite the fact that his father was killed by the LTTE fully associated with Ranil Wickremasinghe in all measures he took to please the tiger terrorists. 

• Ranil started his innings with blindly signing the ignominious ceasefire agreement (CFA) drafted by Norway under which the terrorists were made de facto rulers of the North and East.   At the, megalomaniac terrorist leader’s post-CFA news conference for foreign journalists Balasingham told the media men that Prabhakaran is both the President and the Prime Minister of the North and East and Ranil Wickremasinghe is only the Prime Minister for the rest of Sri            Lanka.  Both timid Chandrika and Ranil remained silent over this remark.  Under the CFA our soldiers were locked up in barracks and the terrorists were permitted to move freely carrying their arms. Our Air Force pilots and crew were forced to taxi terrorist leaders from North to East and vice versa, Under the CFA a monitoring mission was established manned by Scandinavians and there had been over 3,000 ceasefire violations by the terrorists but all these violations went uninvestigated and unpunished.  During this period the government allowed the terrorists to bring in several container loads of material and these containers were allowed to be taken to the North unchecked.  It is suspected that these containers contained dismantled light aircraft, artilleries, and sophisticated electronic modern communication and surveillance equipment, etc. 

During this government, a conference named Sri Lanka Aid Conference was held in the Japanese capital Tokyo attended by several foreign countries and in which a program titled ISGA” (Internal Self Government Authority) was presented by the LTTE and Ranil accepted this proposal in return for U.S$ 4.5 Million promised by the so-called donor nations.  This same proposal in toto was included in the 13 point formula by the TNA and other Tamil parties during November presidential campaign for which imbecile Sajith Premadasa wholeheartedly agreed and it was reflected in gratitude in the Tamil voted polled for him in the North and East.  

It was under such a background the 5^th President iron-willed Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power on 18th November 2005 promising to take concerted action to end the terrorist aggression early and establish an honorable peace in the country. The terrorists misjudged his determination and dedication and attempted to continue with their old games.  They made unsuccessful attempts to kill Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and the President’s brother the Defence Secretary Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa but managed to assassinate Sri Lanka’s internationally reputed former Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadiragamar.  The determined government increased the troop strengths and liberated the Eastern province.  When it was done Ranil Wickremasinghe and his cohorts undermined the achievement made by our troops  and the liberation of the main terrorist camp Topppigala in the East was ridiculed by Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe saying that Toppigala was an insignificant jungle. 

Then the war moved to the Northern theatre and when our troops were advancing shattering terrorist posts again the UNP ridiculed the war and whilethat party’s vice President Ravi Karunanayake asserted that the troops are only going to Pa,amkada claiming that they are going to Alimankade (Elephant Pass) and going to Medawachchi claiming going yo Kilinochjchi, the notorious quisling and terrorist sympathizer and currently Sajith Premadasa’s senior advisor Mangala Samaraweera said that Sarath Fonseka was not fit to command our army but fit only to lead the Salvation Army and our troops will learn unforgettable lessons if they attempt to enter Kilinochchi.

It was under these circumstances our divisional commanders under the direction of the Commander in Chief the President and the guidance of the Defense Secretary our divisional commanders led our dedicated and determined troops to capture all forward line terrorist posts and drove the megalomaniac Prabhakaran and other terrorist leaders together with their remain9ing terrorist troops to Nabndekadal for the final encounter When this operation was going on the American Ambassador in Colombo Robert Blake wanted the President to halt the war and allow them to evacuate terrorist leaders through Mullaitivu to an undisclosed western destination which the iron-willed President rejected outright.  At the same time, the British Foreign Secretary David Milliband and the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Sri Lanka to urge the President to halt the war.  The President at this time was in Embilipitiya and maintaining his illustrious status he did not proceed to Colombo to meet them and wanted them to come to Embilipitiya if they want to discuss anything with him.  Accordingly, they came to Embilipitiya and urged him to halt the war and allow them to evacuate the terrorist leaders.  This demand was also totally rejected making Sri Lankans feel proud of having a defiant President who dared to stand firm boldly rejecting the demands made by the world’s three most powerful nations.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය කැෆේ සංවිධානය 

සභාපති තුමා
මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව
මැතිවරණ කාර්යාලය
රාජගිරිය

ගරු සභාපති තුමනි

තැපැල් ඡන්ද අයදුම්පත් භාර ගැනීමේ අවධානම්කාරි බව පෙන්වා දීම

මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව අප්‍රේල් 28 වන දිනය තැපැල් ඡන්ද අයදුම්පත් භාරගැනීමේ අවසාන දිනය ලෙස මේ වනවිට ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කොට ඇත.

පවතින වාතාවරණය අනුව  එම දිනය වනවිට තැපැල් ඡන්ද අයදුම්පත් භාරගැනීම දැඩි අවධානම්කාරී බව අපගේ අදහසයි. තැපැල් ඡන්ද අයදුම් පත් නිලධාරීන් කිහිපදෙනෙකු අත හුවමාරු වෙයි.  ඒ අතර  එක් ආසාධිතයෙකු හෝ සීටීමේ දැඩි අවධානමක් මේ වනවිට පවතින බව අප කවුරුත් දන්නා කරුණකි.

තවද පවතින තත්වය අනුව සියලුම රජයේ කාර්යාල අප්‍රේල් 27 වන දිනය වන විට යථා පරිදි සේවාකටයුතු ආරම්භ කරනු ඇතැයි ද අපේක්ෂා කළ නොහැකිය. මේ නිසා තැපැල් ඡන්ද අයදුම් කළ යුතු රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ට එය ප්‍රායෝගික ගැටළුවක් වනු නොඅනුමානය.

ඉහත කරුණු පිළිබඳව සලකා බලා තැපැල් ඡන්ද අයදුම්පත් භාර ගැනීම පිළිබඳ සුදුසු සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්ෂිත තීරණයක් ගන්නා මෙන් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලමු.

මීට

අහමඩ් මනාස් මකීන්                           සුරංගි ආරියවංශ

විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ                                 විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා

කැෆේ සංවිධානය                             ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය 

Dr Sarath Obeysekera CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard    

Dr Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

As of today in Sri Lanka, there are 417 confirmed COVID19 cases in the Island from which 107 have recovered and 7 deaths reported. COVID-19 cases count in Sri Lanka has hit 417 as another person tested positive for the virus as of 10.45 pm today (24), the Ministry of Health says. 

Colombo, April 24 (newsin.asia) – The silent streets of Colombo captured by our photographer today morning April 24, 2020. Colombo continues to remain under a curfew due to a rising number of COVID19 cases detected from the city in recent days. The curfew may continue until the threat of the virus is eliminated.

As of today, there are 417 confirmed COVID19 cases in the Island from which 107 have recovered and 7 deaths reported.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Three risk categories, high, moderate and low, identified for a phased lifting of lockdown restrictions

Colombo, April 24 (newsin,asia): The College of Community Physicians of Sri Lanka (CCPSL) on Friday submitted a scientific exit strategy to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the COVID-19 affected Colombo Municipality area, which the most densely populated and economically important area in the island nation.

Colombo City Profile:

Colombo city is the economic hub of the country. It is the most populous city in Sri Lanka, with 650,000 –750,000 people living within the city limits. This is also added with a 500,000 daily floating population. People of Colombo City are from a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural background, representing a mix of several ethnic groups, mainly Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Sri Lankan Moor.The City covers an area of 37 sq. km divided into six Districts. The Districts are further divided into 47 Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Wards for its administrative purpose.

District 1 Colombo North; 2. District 2A Colombo Central; 3. District 2B Colombo Central; 4. District 3 Borella; 5. District 4 Colombo East; 6. District 5 Colombo West.

The latest coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) data as per 24th April 2020 indicate that 91 out of 334 confirmed cases are from the Municipality area. Considering the uniqueness of Colombo as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka and the urgency in establishing normalcy, an exit strategy unique to Colombo Municipality area is indispensable.

However, at the same time, the fact that Colombo Municipality area is the worst-hit geographical area due to COVID-19 epidemic should be taken into consideration.

Key objectives

The key objectives are; 1. Maintaining a low case load; 2. Returning to near normal public life; 3. Economic recovery.

Nagalagam Street and Gunasenghepura, from which cases were reported previously, are currently cleared” of cases. The case no. 21 was reported from Bandaranayake Mawatha on 16th April 2020. This is a typical watta” found within a CMC ward and is located in a 16–18 perch geographical area with 230 people living in 62 houses. A sudden death of a 37 year old male has been reported from the same locality on 27th March 2020. RT-PCR testings performed on selected people in Bandaranayake Mawatha resulted in 81 cases and the adjacent 146 Watta has found 64 cases. In Princegate, all the samples tested were negative.

The above information gives an idea of the behavioral pattern of people in specific locations within a CMC Ward, such as in watta” and the impact on the spread of the disease. Therefore, in addition to the caseload, it is essential to study the scatter of the households (families) and properties of people within Colombo Municipality area limits.

Properties within the city:

Residential Properties – 106,068; Commercial Properties – 35,604; Government Properties – 10,158; Exempted Properties – 3,671. Total Number of Properties – 155,501

High density low-income clusters (‘Watta’): The average population density of Colombo Municipality area is 172 people per hectare (Department of Census and Statistics, 2001). However, high-risk pockets for COVID-19, similar to Bandaranayake Mawatha located within some CMC Wards, show higher densities such as 974 people per hectare. The highest population density is in Colombo North, which is predominantly a low-income residential area.

Half of the population of Colombo Municipality area has been living for many years in low income settlements, such as ‘watta’. The 2001 Survey carried out by the Colombo MC and SEVANATHA has identified a total of 77,612 families living in 1,614 low-income settlements in the city.

A unique character of these settlements was that they are relatively smaller in size. Further, 74% of them have fewer than 50 housing units while the larger settlements with more than 500 units account for about 0.7% of the total low-income settlements in Colombo.

Household size

In such high-density low-income clusters, nearly 60% of families have 5 to 7 members, while 8% of the households have more than 10 members per unit. Twenty per cent of housing units have more than 2 families. Often, when children marry, they too settle down in their parents’ house. Some families have rented out part of their house to earn an additional income.

Less-density high risk clusters

In addition to the typical high-density low-income settlements, there a Less-density high risk clusters. In addition to the typical high-density low-income settlements, there are clusters smaller in size confined to a few streets in some CMC Wards. And also there are populations in urban new settlements. Flats, mostly in Modara, Maligawatta, Dematagoda, Bluemendhal, Wanathamulla, Ingurukade and Slave Island area. The socio-cultural contexts and health behavior of these communities may also be different from other areas in the city.

Economic Implications of the low income populations

The city needs services of the people living in low income settlements for the proper functioning of various sectors of the urban economy. About 45% of the income-earning household members engage in unskilled employment activities (waged laborers, CMC garbage collectors, road cleaners, helpers, etc.).About 9% of families do not have any source of regular income. As such, lack of a regular source of income is a problem for about 54% of urban poor families.

Situation in Colombo as per WHO criteria:

1.Disease transmission is under control: Stage 3 b ;

1. Health systems are able to detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact: Yes
2. Hot spot risks are minimized in vulnerable places: Yes
3. Schools, workplaces and other essential places have established preventive measures:

Guidelines formulated. Schools not started: Not yet

1. The risk of importing new cases can be managed”: Yes
2. Communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to live under a new normal: Not sure.

Disease transmission is under control

The Colombo district, including Colombo Municipality area, has witnessed an increase in the confirmed cases during the past week. However, it is apparent that the stage of the epidemic is shifting from the level of family clusters to village clusters. But health systems are able to detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact.”

The Colombo Municipality area has the highest population density and has the highest movements of the people. A well-coordinated mechanism is essential in tracing not only cases and contacts, but also to capture possible community transmission.

Specifically, active case detection in CMC wards with lower socio-economic families should be continuously carried out. In addition, they should be targeted for testing at every given opportunity, such as when they report to work related to services (e.g. CMC labourers) and commercial/ business premises (e.g. manual labourers) within CMC sector. Currently, there is active surveillance conducted by the CMC health authrorities to detect infected persons in these high risk areas for COVID-19.

Categorization of the CMC wards as High Risk, Moderate Risk and Low Risk should be worked out based on the following parameters:

1. Number of cases reported within the last 28 days;
2. Extent of the primary / secondary contact load within last 28 days;
3. Geographical scatter of the households / families within a CMC Ward (Presence of Watta” communities or other less density high-risk clusters);
4. Judgment on the compliance of the resident population with epidemic control measures.

In addition to the above, following aspects should also be considered: 1. Pregnant women / Persons with chronic illnesses; 2. Age over 65 years population; 3. Skilled / unskilled work force in each CMC ward; 4. Location of essential services / industries within a CMC ward.

Within each of the areas according to their identified risk profile, the withdrawal of curfew / implemented measures / restrictions needs to be carried out in phases in a staggered manner, while ensuring the continuity of interventions carried out so far to contain the epidemic.

Exit Strategy for three categories:

1. Stringent restrictions in high risk areas
2. Moderate restrictions in moderate risk areas
3. Relaxed restrictions in low risk areas

The optimal operationalizing of the strategy will also need rigorous inputs of real-time epidemiological geo-spatial data originating from ward level. Further, the exit strategy should be time-bound and requires change depending on the emerging local epidemic data and will be revised by a team of multidisciplinary experts when appropriate.

Generic considerations (irrespective of the risk):

Following services should continue irrespective of the risk level or the geographical area:

Key essential services: Health / Transport / Water / Electricity / Gas / Postal / Petroleum / Telecommunication / Harbour/ Vehicle breakdown services /Road maintenance / Irrigation; 2. Essential industries (non-crowding): farming, fisheries, construction sites; 3. Selected market places / industries will be opened; 4. Control of daily floating population – This should be addressed by a specific mechanism with restrictions enforced on the presence of minimal staff working at essential services / government and private offices.

STRINGENT Restrictions for High Risk Areas:

Lockdown status 24 hour curfew will be enforced. If the ward includes mainly highly dense lower socio-economic families, they will be shifted to quarantined centers based on the judgment on their health behavior. Other families will remain in their houses under strict supervision of Police and Armed Forces.

Travel Inbound or outbound travel will not be allowed, unless for a specific humane reason. Other vehicular movement allowed without stoppage, if a main road is crossing the ward or if a ward is along a main road.

Personal level measures including hand-washing, respiratory etiquette and social distancing should be practised. No private gatherings for any purpose, no religious congregations and all places of worship shall remain closed. Transport: No public or private transport allowed. All offices government / private remain closed. Home delivery services to continue and to be more strengthened. Schools / Other academic institutes will remain closed. Small Businesses will remain closed. Banks should operate mostly via ATM, online or mobile services. No physical client services offered. Carefully selected industries will be allowed to function with 50% workforce.

Moderate Restrictions:

Modified 24 hour curfew will be enforced. Families will remain in their houses under strict supervision of Police and Armed Forces. Travel In bound or outbound travel–not allowed unless there is a specific humanitarian reason. Personal level measures including hand-washing, respiratory etiquette, and social distancing should be practiced. Only one person per house will be allowed outside the house premises at a time for a specific purpose. A token system should be introduced. Pregnant women should remain at home but allowed to attend routine clinics. Other vulnerable groups (persons above 65 years / patients with chronic illnesses are NOT permitted to move outside the house unless for medical reasons. They should obtain special passes if needed or may use the clinic record as a pass.

No private gathering for any purpose more than five persons, no religious congregations and all places of worship shall remain closed.Attendance at weddings and funerals should be restricted to 10 persons. No public or private transport allowed. All offices government / private remain closed. All pharmacies / General Practice / Medical Centers are allowed to open and should follow guidelines issued by Ministry of Health & College of GPs. Food & Groceries Home delivery services to continue and to be more strengthened. Schools / Other academic institutes all remain closed. Banks Should operate mostly online or mobile services.

Bank client services should be started with 2 sessions, 7.00 am – 12.00 N 12.30 N – 5.30 pm. Services offered once per week per customer. Different work hours may be introduced to reduce overcrowding in public transport. Daily wage-dependent employees are allowed with specific restrictions posed to employers on social distancing and basic hygienic measures. Carefully selected industries will be allowed to function with 50% workforce.

More Relaxed Restrictions:

These will be applicable to Low risk” areas. The curfew will be lifted day time. Supervision by police and Armed Forces will continue. No restrictions on inbound or outbound travel. Personal level measures including hand-washing, respiratory etiquette, and social distancing should be practiced. No restrictions on moving outside the house premises, but stay home” promoted. Pregnant women should remain at home but allowed to attend routine clinics.

Other vulnerable groups (persons above 65 years / patients with chronic illnesses are permitted to move outside the house for a specific purpose for a limited time period. No private gathering for any purpose more than 10 persons. Religious congregations and all places of worship will be opened for only 10 people at a time. Weddings and funerals should be conducted with minimal participants, complying with hygienic practices and maintaining social distancing.

Public transport (CTB / Private / Train) allowed for travel with 50% seating capacity within the area. Private vehicles / Taxi are allowed with only 2 passengers. Three wheelers / Motorcycles / Bicycles can carry only one passenger. All healthcare services (government and private) should be resumed with triage systems to care for patients with fever.

All workplaces (Government / Private) in the geographical area to resume work with 2 sessions 50% employees per session (one group per week of every other day:; 7.00 am – 12.00 N 12.30 N – 5.30 pm. Different work hours may be introduced to reduce overcrowding in public transport. Food & Groceries home delivery services to continue and to be more strengthened. Small groceries / shops allowed to open with minimal crowding.Larger food / grocery outlets (Supermarkets) –restricted entrance with one token card per family for a designated outlet / Token valid once per week for 1 hour. The catchment area and the catering population should be considered.

Economic Centers and other large scale wholesale food markets are kept open in compliance with safety health measures. Schools / Other academic institutes All remain closed. Non-grocery supermarkets, malls, Hardware and shops selling other merchandise like jewelry, textiles and electronics will be opened. Eating places, restaurants, tea shops, bakery will be opened. Eating allowed in-house for 50% seating at a time. Restaurants are allowed to open with minimal crowding.

Theatres, bars, etc. with closed air-conditioning will remain closed. Banks should operate mostly online or mobile services.Client services should be started with 2 sessions: 7.00 am – 12.00 N 12.30 N – 5.30 pm .Services offered once per week per customer.

Different work hours may be introduced to reduce overcrowding in public transport.Daily wage dependent employees are allowed with specific restrictions posed to employers on social distancing and basic hygienic measures. Lottery sellers & other street vendors –allowed with social distancing and basic hygienic measures.

Industries / larger factories to resume work with 2 or more sessions 50% or less employees per roster.Different work hours may be introduced to reduce overcrowding in public transport. Other Religious congregations, large events, political meetings or conferences or cultural gatherings shall continue to be prohibited.

In a broader perspective, Western Province is the economic hub of the country. With a high number of cases reported, WP is still considered as a high risk area. Even with the proposed strategy above for the Colombo Municipality area, it will take longer time to bring back the normalcy and the economic repercussions would be many. As such, a micro planned strategy with inputs from all the relevant non health stakeholders is indispensable.

By: PTI | Courtesy Financial Epress

Tourism is the third-largest earner of foreign exchange in Sri Lanka. The decline in tourist arrivals has hit the island nation’s tourism industry in a big way.

Sri Lanka is set to enter into an agreement with the Reserve Bank of India for a currency swap worth USD 400 million to boost the foreign reserves and ensure the financial stability of the country which is badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, a top minister has said.

The Cabinet has approved a proposal made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Finance Minister to enter into an agreement with the RBI for the financing facility to meet short-term international liquidity requirements, Co-Cabinet spokesman Information and Communication Minister Bandula Gunawardena said.RELATED NEWS

Sri Lanka will enter into the agreement with the RBI for a Bilateral Currency Swap Arrangement worth USD 400 million, Gunawardena said, adding the facility from the RBI is aimed at boosting the island nation’s foreign reserves.

The swap arrangement is a decision two countries reach while doing trade related payment.

Sri Lanka has placed critical economic measures to save the resources hit badly by the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected 373 persons in the country and the death toll reached 7.

Addressing the Cabinet media briefing yesterday, Gunawardena said the Cabinet meeting chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa paid special attention to the control of the coronavirus pandemic, its success and the distribution of goods and relief to the people.

The minister pointed out that the whole world is now experiencing the economic collapse since World War II resulted from the COVID-19 outbreak and a single country alone cannot find a solution to the crisis.

So the Cabinet of Ministers has approved this proposal in order to ensure the financial stability of the country, Gunawardena said.

The country has ordered imports restrictions to prevent non-essential imports.

This is in view of the local rupee falling to its historical low against the US dollar. The rupee now hovers over 195 to the dollar gaining somewhat from being down to 200 mark.

The government has also announced talks with Asian Development Bank and China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. A USD 300 million budgetary support is anticipated from the ADB, officials said.

The announcement for getting the USD 400 million financial facility from India came as the rating agency, Fitch on Wednesday warned Sri Lanka to reform its soft-peg and block the ability of its domestic operations department to inject large volumes of cash below the ceiling policy rate to stop monetary instability.

Last month, during a video conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with leaders and representatives from SAARC nations, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, Our economy has taken a severe blow due to the coronavirus, particularly in tourism… Our exports are also adversely affected.”

Tourism is the third-largest earner of foreign exchange in Sri Lanka. The decline in tourist arrivals has hit the island nation’s tourism industry in a big way.

Largely owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank recently forecast Sri Lankan economy to contract by 3 per cent this year as against a 2.4 per cent estimated growth last year, whilst the IMF predicted the global economy to contract by 3 per cent as well.

Courtesy Adaderana

COVID-19 cases count in Sri Lanka has hit 417 as another person tested positive for the virus as of 10.45 pm today (24), the Ministry of Health says.

According to the tally, Sri Lanka has confirmed a record surge in coronavirus cases with 49 new infections within the day.

The 49 coronavirus patients identified today include 11 from Bandaranayake Mawatha in Colombo 12, 30 naval personnel from the Welisara Navy Base, 5 naval personnel who were on leave and a pregnant woman from Maradana area who had been admitted to De Soysa Hospital for Women in Colombo 8.

The five naval personnel who were on leave are from Hidilla Kanda in Ratnapura, Udapola in Polgahawela, Keeniyapola in Kurunegala, Rathkinda in Badulla and Athabodhiwewa in Dambulla.

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry says that 301 coronavirus cases are currently under medical care.

In the meantime, the island has reported 109 recoveries and 7 fatalities due to COVID-19.

COVID-19 cases tally rises to 416 with one new case

Another case of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been confirmed in Sri Lanka, says the Ministry of Health.

Accordingly, Sri Lanka has identified a total of 416 COVID-19 patients so far.

Sri Lanka saw a record daily surge in coronavirus cases today as 48 persons tested positive for the virus.

Earlier today, 11 coronavirus patients were reported from the Bandaranayake Mawatha in Colombo 12.

Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva later confirmed that 30 more naval personnel from the Welisara Navy Base have tested positive for the virus.

Subsequently, it was reported that 5 naval personnel who were on leave have also contracted the novel coronavirus. They are from Hidilla Kanda in Ratnapura, Udapola in Polgahawela, Keeniyapola in Kurunegala, Rathkinda in Badulla and Athabodhiwewa in Dambulla.

A pregnant woman from Maradana area, who had been admitted to De Soysa Hospital for Women in Colombo 8, also tested positive shortly afterwards.

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry says that 300 coronavirus cases are currently under medical care.

In the meantime, the island has reported 109 recoveries and 7 fatalities due to COVID-19.

Record daily total of 47 cases in Sri Lanka today

Sri Lanka has confirmed a record surge in positive cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as 47 persons tested positive for the virus today (24), says the Department of Government Information.

Accordingly, the country’s total count of coronavirus infections has soared to 415.

Earlier today, 11 coronavirus patients were reported from the Bandaranayake Mawatha in Colombo 12.

Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva later confirmed that 30 more naval personnel from the Welisara Navy Base have tested positive for the virus.

Subsequently, it was reported that 5 naval personnel who were on leave have also contracted the novel coronavirus. They are from Hidilla Kanda in Ratnapura, Udapola in Polgahawela, Keeniyapola in Kurunegala, Rathkinda in Badulla and Athabodhiwewa in Dambulla.

Another positive case was then confirmed from De Soysa Hospital for Women in Colombo 8. The latest person to have contracted the virus is a pregnant woman from Maradana area.

Meanwhile, 109 COVID-19 patients have made complete recoveries while 7 persons died of the virus.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another 30 naval personnel from the Navy Base in Welisara have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as of today, says the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva.

Addressing the media briefing of National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 this evening, he said that the Welisara Navy Base has reported a record total of 60 coronavirus cases so far.

Sri Lanka saw the highest daily surge of coronavirus cases today, with 46 new infections including 11 from Bandaranayake Mawatha in Colombo 12. Accordingly, the country’s cases tally now stands at 414.

On Wednesday (22), it was reported that a Navy officer attached to the Welisara Navy Base tested positive for the virus upon admittance to Welikanda Hospital over a sudden illness.

Later it was confirmed that 29 naval personnel at the navy camp tested positive for the virus on Thursday (23).

The Army Chief says that a large number of PCR tests were carried out at the Welisara Navy Base since Thursday, leading to the detection of 30 new positive cases of coronavirus.

Welisara Navy Base has been put under complete isolation and every person within its premises are being quarantined, he added.

The Ministry of Health and the medical corps of Sri Lanka Navy are carrying out more PCR tests on the people who had been in contact with the coronavirus-infected naval personnel, the Army Chief continued.

He noted that all personnel of the Navy Base who recently went on leave have already been called back.

In the meantime, the families of these naval personnel have been directed to a separate quarantine centre, which was set up under the directives of the Navy Commander, Lieutenant General Silva said further.

Courtesy Adaderana

මහාසංඝරත්නය ජනපතිට කියූ දේ…

Courtesy Adaderana

The total number of coronavirus infections in the country has soared to 368 cases, according to the tally of the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit.

With two new recoveries today (23), the tally of recoveries reported in the country is at 107 cases.

Sri Lanka’s fatality count from the novel coronavirus rests at 7 cases.

Sri Lanka marked the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases today, including 29 Navy personnel from the Welisara Navy base.

The navy base has been declared an isolated area and all personnel at the base, including those on leave, have been directed for PCR testing.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Police headquarters said that that there was irrefutable evidence to link Attorney-at-Law, Hejaaz Hisbullah, who had been recently taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings.

Police spokesman Attorney-at-Law SP Jaliya Senaratne denied accusations the arrest had been made without sufficient evidence.

The suspect’s father, Naina Hisbullah, recently filed a Habeas Corpus application against the arrest, made about a week before the first anniversary of the Easter Sunday attacks.

Law enforcement authorities said that a group of civil society activists, too, recently issued a statement drawing the attention of the Chief Justice to Hisbullah’s arrest over the alleged involvement with those responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks.

SP Senaratne said that the suspect had been directly in contact with those responsible for the worst atrocity committed, since the successful conclusion of the war, over a decade ago. Among those who endorsed the statement was Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, JVP-led Jathika Jana Balavegaya (JJB) National List nominee for the 2020 general election Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, civil society activists Ruki Fernando and Dr. Carmena Gunaratne, former Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka member Ambika Satkunanathan, and Prof. Maithriee Wickremesinghe.

Responding to criticism of the lawyer’s arrest, SP Senaratne told The Island yesterday that Hisbullah had been taken in on charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the Easter Sunday carnage, after comprehensive investigation.

Asked whether the attorney-at-law had been involved with Riyad Bathiudeen, brother of former minister and Samagi Jana Balavegaya parliamentary polls candidate Rishard Bathiudeen, arrested by the CID also in connection with the Easter Sunday attacks, SP Senaratne said they weren’t connected though arrested over the suicide attacks.

Both Hisbullah and Bathiudeen were arrested, in Puttalam, on the night of April 14.

The near-simultaneous suicide attacks killed nearly 270, at six locations. The blasts wounded over 400 persons. Of the six locations, the Shangri-La Hotel, in Colombo, was targeted by two suicide bombers, including their leader Zahran Hashim.

SP Senaratne said that Paniyudeen Mohammed Riyad Bathiudeen, 41, was taken in from No 11, 10th Cross Street, Maraiikar Mawatha, Puttalam, and Hisbullah from No 02, 3rd Cross Street, New Settlement Road, Puttalam.

In addition to the CID, the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) is conducting inquiries into the Easter Sunday carnage. According to SP Senaratne, the Colombo Crime Division (CCD), too, was engaged in the investigation.

So far, about 120 persons had been taken into custody in connection with the attacks. Of them, about 40 were being held under Detention Orders and were under investigation by the CID, and about 80 by the TID, SP Senaratne said.

The government proscribed three organizations, including the National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) over the attacks.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 23 – Sri Lanka’s Army Chief, General Shavendra Silva yesterday said that opening schools on May 11 may not be possible as several logistics would have to be put in place to ensure the safety of children in classrooms.As of now I do not foresee that it can be opened on May 11. My belief is that 75 percent it may not be possible,” General Silva said, quoted in the Daily Mirror.

He explained that even if schools do re-open, there will have to be a first handed special operation put in place and guidelines will have to be set as Sri Lankan schools had a minimum of 30 to 40 children per class.A lot of logistics are required to think and practice before schools start. Everyone in the school will have to know exactly what they can do and what they cannot. There is a lot of planning to do before children can attend school. So considering all these logistics we wonder whether every school has that much of facilities to cope up and open.

This is the reason I believe we may not be able to open on May 11,” General Silva said.The government on April 11 announced that schools will be reopened for their second term on May 11, revising its decision to reopen schools on April 20.However Education Minister Dullus Alahapperuma explained that this decision would be reviewed again in the first week of May, by health experts and if schools were advised to remain closed considering the country’s situation, then the government would further delay its opening.Opening schools is not a political decision. We will let the health experts review the situation and advise us what to do. If schools cannot open on May 11, we will keep it closed further,” Alahapperuma said.

On 21^st April 2019 multiple suicide attacks claimed the lives of over 300 innocent persons. These attacks took place despite 97 intel warnings from India the last coming hours before the first suicide bombing, giving venue, names of suicide bombers and even their phone numbers. No other country would have allowed the leaders elected to, protect the Nation & people, to simply walk scot free without being held to account. Simply, relegating responsibility to failures of the officials and intelligence units and washing off one’s own actions by appointing a dubious and controversial Parliamentary Select Committee is an affront to the common man but warrants history to record this debacle and the characters that either aided and abetted the criminals or simply watched the crime take place, both instances that denote nothing but criminal negligence. 

Germany & Japan were defeated in World War 2 by the Allies. The Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal did not have a single German or Japanese on the panel. But, in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks ministers whose names were allegedly linked to the suicide bombers were not only seated at the press conference that saw yahapalana Ministers laugh off the heinous crime but the same Minister sat as a panel member at the Parliamentary Select Committee as well.

All of the people in places of power claim they did not know – the President says he was clueless, the PM says same and the envoy representing the world’s most powerful nation says her country too did not have prior knowledge of attacks. The then Army Commander told the Parliamentary Select committee he came to know about the incident only from social media! But India had given 97 warnings and by letters too.   

Pre-Easter Sunday incidents

When a government is created by gluing nefarious actors with questionable record of anti-national actions, it was like watching a volcano about to erupt. Incompetent officials put in place, the competent sidelined, the systems and units placed to protect the nation virtually neutralized or asked to lay low or closed down completely, systems opened to even foreigners to poke their noses was what was taking place post regime change in 2015.

The appeasing policy adopted and the attitude that the minorities ruled and the majority are insignificant did not help matters for it encouraged all sorts of destabilizing objectives to descend and commence their agendas across Sri Lanka. They did so knowing the leaders and their stooges were looking the other way and officials were also indirectly told to do the same. The crimes of omissions that took place from 2015 is testimony.

Special mention must be made of 37-year old Mohamed Razak Taslim of Mawanella who ended up shot by Zaharan’s men and today lies paralyzed. His crime was to put country before religion and his punishment resulted in being shot at. In December 2018 a number of Buddhist statues were getting vandalized. It was an obvious attempt to inflame communal tensions. Investigations and search for the 2 brothers linked to the vandalism led to another stash of 100kg explosives in a coconut grove in January 2019. This was no small number and it should have alerted authorities that something was brewing in the air. These suspicions should have been connected with the intel briefings sent by India. Taslim was shot in March 2019 while sleeping. Taslim had cried when he heard the news of Easter Sunday telling his wife ‘I told you something bad was going to happen’.

Another clue escaped attention. Zaharan’s brother injured himself while experimenting with explosives months before Easter Sunday and had been secretly brought to a private medical clinic in Colombo and was treated. No one reported the incident to the local police who would have investigated how he had injured his hand from explosives. This would certainly have led to Zaharan and his hideouts and perhaps even prevented the Easter Sunday attacks. Has this doctor been questioned for hiding Zaharan’s brother until his recovery? Aiding and abetting a terrorist is equal to taking part in terror.

Post-Easter Sunday findings

Within 24hours the security services were able to nab over 50 suspects highlighting that the systems were well in place and only orders were lacking. Then came the shocking revelations of detonators, explosives, swords, even military uniforms found across the island even in mosques. A UNP Colombo Municipal Councilor was also arrested in possession of 46 swords, while another Deputy Major in Negombo was arrested in possession of a sword, dagger & 37 mobile phone batteries. As the country watched in shock Rs.1.2million was found under the bed of a not-so-well to do house in Weligama. Security forces also traced vehicles registered under the names of the suicide bombers/wives and relations. In Kalpitiya a man was arrested with 22 NICs of women (29Ap2019), while antoher was arrested with army uniforms in Lunugala with 18 passports. Quite a number of foreign Muslims were also arrested during search operations. In fact, on 2^nd May media disclosed that Fathima Ilham the wife of spice owner Ibrahim’s suicide bomber son who also blew herself up in Dematagoda is the daughter of Alaludeen jewelers & Alahudeen is Bathurdeen’s uncle as well as Treasurer of ACMC. What is the status of these arrests?

The arrests were many but loopholes in law and lethargy of the system cannot prevent or deny justice to innocent people who became guinea pigs of bigger and powerful agendas – political or religious.

Yahapalana leaders were made to believe that the minorities helped them to power and whatever the minorities did they should not object or disagree or come in their way. Some Ministers including the yahapalana President have openly admitted this ‘we cannot anger the minorities’. So every ill happening was always ignored and when authorities and officials saw the body language and actions of their leaders, naturally they too thought it pointless bringing any national issue to them knowing what their reactions would be.

All this was made obvious with the co-sponsorship of the Geneva-Resolution in October 2015 that virtually sealed Sri Lanka’s fate and accepted Sri Lanka’s guilt in front of the world by a bunch of people who never sided with Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces and never provided even moral support to end LTTE.

In this scenario of the government that was ruling, the policies they were adopting and the general attitude towards protection of the country, should we be surprised when people directly linked with the suicide bombers and their families sit at the immediate post-Easter Sunday press conference and laugh at what happened on 21 April 2019?

Further rubbing salt to the wound they are even selected to be on the panel of the Parliamentary Select Committee to be grinning away at the cross examination of officials.

Can we expect justice from yahapalana for the crime that took place purely because of negligence?

Together these controversial figures found salvation in wiping all blame from their own hands and passing it off to the officials and intelligence units who were made to sit and disclose the most confidential of state secrets and relayed publicly to all and sundry. These brave officials answered as best as they could and their magnanimity was such that they did not pass blame like their leaders and accepted blame for what their leaders should have been responsible for. If a Committee passes blame to officials and holds them responsible absolving leaders of all blame, do we need to elect them, do we need to spend millions on maintaining them and their families. We can allocate that money to the officials!

It is disgusting to see the yahapalana President and Prime Minister behave as if they had no role to play in the debacle that took place. The manner that they can laugh off their role and see fit to pass blame is incomprehensive. Both have got away – one with a 800m house and the other unashamedly continuing to fool the masses still. Shameless they want to both continue in politics.

What took place or what led to Easter Sunday is a culmination of bad policies based on horse trading and bartering for one’s personal gain.

The guinea pigs for Easter Sunday blame became the security and intel officers and the public must never forget or forgive every person linked to what took place on 21 April 2019 Easter Sunday

Shenali D Waduge

Article 92(b) and Clause 20(4) of the 19a and Article 91(1)(d)(XIII) of the Constitution says persons who are dual citizens are DISQUALIFIED from being elected as MPs or the President. If this is so the onus is on the Election Commissioner to ensure no MP submits nominations withholding that they are dual citizens. Has there been any nominations submitted declaring the contestant as a dual citizen. If so, Election Commission has to reject his/her application. However, what is the election commissioner’s solution to those withholding that they are dual citizens and submitting nominations and Elections Commissioner even accepting nominations? How can elections commission allow this as it is breaching his task to ensure no dual citizen is elected to Parliament.

The reason to raise this question is that there are continuous allegations that the majority of TNA MPs are dual citizens but functioning in Parliament. How can this happen?

Key members of the TNA were architects of the inclusion of the ‘dual citizenship’ clause in the 19a primarily meant to prevent the ruling President from contesting elections.

If these MPs who went to such trouble plugging a clause denying anyone who was a dual citizen from contesting they have to also face the tune.

This means no MP sitting in Parliament can apply for dual citizenship so long as he/she is a Member of Parliament.

It also means that if anyone wants to keep their dual citizenship status then they have to forsake being a MP. In which case the TNA MPs who are dual citizens along with any others have to make a choice – be a MP or retail dual citizenship or give up Sri Lankan citizenship and go live in the other choice of country!

The citizens and voters have every right to know who in Parliament is a dual citizen.

This question didn’t arise earlier but with the insertion of 19a – we all want to ensure NO DUAL CITIZEN is in Parliament enjoying our tax payers money and also enjoying perks in a different country.

Everyone who boasts of upholding the Constitution must also come forward to support the need for transparency regarding declaration of dual citizenship.

How do we find out whether TNA MPs or any other MPs are dual citizens?

• The contestants have to personally declare so. The only person who did was Geetha Kumarasinghe and she lost her seat as a result of personal honesty.

• But who were the others who kept their dual citizenship status hidden? Obviously, the architects of the clause themselves – this is outright dishonesty. This is very unparliamentary of them.

• If there is a clause that states MPs cannot be dual citizens, then the President is well within his powers to ask each to declare that they are not dual citizens by affidavit. The PM can and should make the same demand.  

• The Foreign Ministry can also request selected countries to confirm from their records if any of Sri Lanka’s MPs are dual citizens.

• The Immigration dept can also check up on their status

• Defense Ministry should also have details regarding this

If the President had to face a humiliating court case to prove his citizenship, then those hiding their dual citizenship should also face the same tune.

However, the onus is on the Election Commission and Election Commissioner to make this call. The question is why did he not do so?

The commission that talks about following rule of law & the Constitution is nicely ignoring that they are responsible for ensuring no dual citizen gets elected to Parliament.

Ironically, it appears an Election Commission member is also a dual citizen. Is this why the team are strategically avoiding the issue of dual citizenship.

If President & MPs who as dual citizens are barred from contesting elections, all public servants who are dual citizens should also be barred. Especially the holier than thou Independent Commission members.

Elections Commission & Elections Commissioner cannot make a mockery out of democracy and the Constitution by ignoring key clauses on dual citizenship which is related to electing MPs under their powers.

19a was inserted specifically targeting key individuals to prevent them contesting. It was a shallow endeavor by people who themselves are allegedly dual citizens.  

It is now time to come clean.

Election Commissioner, we want to know if any contestant informed they were dual citizens in their nomination papers and if they didn’t and are hiding their dual citizenship status, what action you propose to take against them BEFORE the elections.

You have all the time and means to issue a letter asking nominees to reconfirm that they are not dual citizens and in the meanwhile you must reconfirm to the voters that everyone contesting elections are not dual citizens.

You cannot be silent and allow dual citizens to contest and not use your department’s authority to find out who and who is not a dual citizen.

By Constitution the Election Commission is bound to ensure no person who is a dual citizen gets elected to Parliament.

Many of these ‘dual citizens’ are attempting various juggernauts to upset the government as it grapples to deal with covid-19. The only way to deal with such trouble makers is to question and expose their dishonesty democratically, constitutionally & legally.

Shenali D Waduge

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay lists some of the many changes and improvements made by the MEP government of 1956.  These changes, carried out between 1956 and 1958 have not got the recognition it deserves.

UNP government followed an anti-communist and pro western foreign policy. The MEP government, on the other hand, swung to a non aligned position in foreign affairs.  A number of world leaders visited Sri Lanka    when SWRD was Prime Minister. They included Robert Menezies, Prime Minister of Australia, Walter Nash, Prime Minister of New Zealand, Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada, Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of UK, Ludwig Erhard, Deputy Prime Minister of Germany and Soekarnao, President of Indonesia. This was an impressive recognition of SWRD and a tribute to his policy of non alignment, said Vernon L.B. Mendis.

MEP government established diplomatic relations with socialist countries.  Viliam Široký Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia  and President Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia visited 1958. Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba soon after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. ‘Che’ Guevara visited Ceylon as Castro’s special emissary in August 1959. Guevara visited Yahala Kele rubber estate in Horana and planted a Mahogany tree there.

MEP decided to open diplomatic relations with the Peoples’ Republic of China and the Soviet Union. Before doing so, SWRD informed the British and U.S. governments of his intention.  In this way, he avoided abrasiveness in implementing foreign policy decisions, said diplomat Bandu de Silva.

In 1955 the UNP government did not allow soviet scientists to come here to observe the eclipse of the sun. In 1957, the MEP government established diplomatic relations with   Russia. Gunapala Malalasekera was the first ambassador to Russia. This was an excellent choice.  In 1958, an agreement on cooperation in economic and technical spheres between the Soviet Union and Ceylon was signed. Sri Lanka was able to gain Russian assistance in many fields’, projects including Oruwala Steel Mill, Modera Flour Mill, Kelaniya Tyre Factory, Samanala Weva hydro-energy project, Russian aid and technology.

Sri Lanka also received heavy machinery such as tractors, tippers, cranes. Russia helped some housing projects, too.  Russia gave scholarships to Sri Lankan students, to study medicine and engineering at prestigious Russian universities. Sri Lanka exported tea, rubber, coconut oil and coir products to Russia. Tea was the major export item to Russia.

SWRD established diplomatic relations with China in 1957. Chou en Lai visited in 1957 during his tour of Asian countries. He was invited to participate at the ninth celebrations of Sri Lanka’s Independence. He came with Vice Premier He Long.  Prime Minister Chou climbed Sigiriya and also visited a colonization scheme and met colonists. Sometime later, China sent the Beijing Opera to Sri Lanka.

It was significant that within a space of four months in early 1957, the Prime Ministers of India and China were here as State guests, said D.C.Ranatunga. First to come was Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. The second leader to visit Sri Lanka was Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, accompanied by daughter Indira The highlight of his visit was a trip to Anuradhapura where a large crowd was present to listen to his address. Nimal Karunatilleke translated Nehru’s speech into Sinhala. Prime Minister Bandaranaike hosted official receptions at Temple Trees, for Nehru and Chou en Lai, when they visited. The foreign affairs commentary in Radio Ceylon was headed by an Englishman. SWRD did not like its rightwing slant. He appointed Mervyn de Silva to the post.

When Britain withdrew from Ceylon, the naval port of Trincomalee, Katunayake Air base and some camps at Diyatalawa remained in the hands of Britain. DS Senanayake as Prime Minister readily agreed to this when the terms of independence were negotiated. SWRD got back Trincomalee and Katunayake, when he became Prime Minister. Trincomalee was taken back on October 15 1957 and Katunayake on November 1 1957.

SWRD had presented a Cabinet paper on the transfer of army and navy bases back to Sri Lanka. Britain wanted the transfer subject to their terms and conditions. SWRD did not agree.  He said that the return of the bases was something that Ceylon had the right to demand without any qualifications. Britain accepted that Ceylon could give them notice to quit.  Britain had no grounds on which to refuse.   ‘In the last resort we have depend on the good will of Ceylon’, admitted Britain.

Vidyodaya Pirivena, (Maligakanda), and Vidyalankara Pirivena (Kelaniya) were the leading pirivenas of the time. They had played a historical role during the British occupation, in preserving Buddhist learning and in projecting the image of a strong Maha Sangha.  SWRD recognized this and took action to elevate these two Pirivenas to University status.

Vidyodaya University and Vidyalankara University Act No 45 of 1958 converted these two pirivenas to universities. The two universities were duly established at Maligakanda and Kelaniya respectively. This was sneered at. The western oriented University of Ceylon was quite sufficient, said the opponents of SWRD.

Ven. Welivitiye Soratha who was the Principal of the Vidyodaya Pirivena was appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor of the Vidyodaya University, and the university was ceremonially opened on 16th February 1959. Today, this has become University of Sri Jayawardenepura. Vidyalankara Pirivena became the Vidyalankara University in 1959. It is today University of Kelaniya.

In 1956 for the first time a Ministry was formed for Cultural Affairs.  Ministry of Cultural Affairs was established on 12.04.1956 in accordance with the Throne Speech made by the MEP government when it came into power in 1956. It was established to formulate and implement a national cultural policy to regenerate the indigenous cultural tradition which had been suppressed for so long, under colonial rule.  

In 1956, Parliament passed the Official Language Act no 33 of 1956. It was passed after a marathon debate, with 66 ‘for’ and 20 ‘against.’ The Act said that the Sinhala language ‘shall be the one official language of Ceylon.’ The Act came into effect on 1^st January 1964.  All government transactions throughout the country had to be in Sinhala from 31.10 1964.  Therefore it was not ‘Sinhala in 24 hours’. That statement is incorrect.

‘Sinhala only’ was never ‘Sinhala only’. Critics observed that the Act had failed to limit the use of Tamil and English, ‘as it should have done’. Nor did it make Sinhala compulsory in schools. No subsidiary legislation was passed under the Act either. Implementation was based solely on administrative orders and Cabinet directions. As a result, state administration was conducted in English above a certain level.

There were many positive results from Sinhala Only.  It brought a hitherto submerged class onto center stage and upward mobility,   said Meegama. TIME said until now, citizens could not send         telegrams make long distance calls, make out a bill of lading or hold a government job unless they spoke English. Sinhala only also led to significant changes in the administration of justice in Sri Lanka. Sinhala was made the official language in 1956 and   this led eventually to the use of Sinhala in courts of law, said WTA Leslie Fernando.

A National Planning Council was formed it. This was a first for the country. This Council brought out Ceylon’s first Ten Year Plan for 1959-68. It was the first comprehensive and systematic plan covering both public and private sectors, unlike earlier plans which covered only the public sector. It extended beyond the usual five years, said the Central Bank in its 25 anniversary review.

The MEP government made   a lasting contribution to the social legislation of the country. There was significant labour legislation, said Meegama.  These laws are now taken for granted.  The pioneer role of the MEP is forgotten today.

The Prevention of Social Disabilities Act, No. 21 of 1957 prohibited discrimination on the basis of caste. This was a boon to the low caste groups in Jaffna, who at the time were prevented from entering certain temples and barber shops.

The Act permitted all persons to enter and be served at, any public hotel, rest house, eating house, and restaurant. Obtaining or using water from any public well, spring, water-pipe or any other source of supply of water to the public. Entering, or obtaining the service provided at a public hairdressing saloon or laundry. Entering any public cemetery and attending or taking part in any burial or cremation. No person should be prevented from entering and worshipping in any temple which belongs to that person’s religion.

MEP government set up Conciliation Boards   to   facilitate amicable settlement of disputes. The Conciliation Boards Act No. 10 of 1958 was passed amidst opposition from vested interest. Conciliation Boards were to operate in all villages. Boards were empowered to settle dispute of a civil nature, especially those which related to moveable property.

It was not until 1958 that a serious attempt was made to reintroduce the concept of the ‘amicable settlement of disputes’ by introducing the Conciliation Boards Act 1958, said legal experts. The Act provided for mandatory community level resolution of minor disputes by impartial conciliators. The objective of the Act was to make available to disputants a much more accessible, less expensive, speedy and participatory dispute management process.  They did a tremendous service by settling the disputes at village level and preventing length litigation in courts, said WTA Leslie Fernando.

The Conciliation Boards operated from 1958- 1977. Problems with the implementation and application of the Act ultimately led to its repeal in 1977, said analysts. The Mediation Boards Act no 72 of 1988 is nothing but a continuation of the Conciliation Boards, said WTA Leslie Fernando.

Labour Tribunals were set up on 2.5.1959. . Until these tribunals were set up, a worker had to go to the civil courts when he was wrongly dismissed. This was beyond the worker’s means. With the creation of Labour tribunals, the workman with a grievance now had a place to go to. He could get a non lawyer to appear for him in the Labour Tribunal. The Labour Tribunals provided speedier justice than the courts .  TB Ilangaratne minister of labour, housing and social service in the 1956 government was responsible for introducing the legislation for this in Parliament.

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) was established under the Act No. 15 of 1958 and is currently the largest Social Security Scheme in Sri Lanka. It had an asset base of Rs. 2,289 billion in 2018.

MEP government of 1956 nationalized the ‘port ‘and the bus services. All cargo handling operations in the port of Colombo were nationalized in 1958.  There is no further information on this. It is different with nationalization of bus services. There is plenty written on that.

MEP had promised to nationalize the bus companies and create a State Transport Board.  There were several large bus companies at the time. South Western Bus Company of Cyril de Soyza operated on the Colombo-Galle route. Silver line bus service   operated in Colombo. Sri Lanka Omnibus Company owned by Jayasena Madanayake of Peliyagoda, operated Colombo-Kandy- Gampaha-, Kurunegala run. Panadura Motor Transport Company of Leo Fernando operated on Panadura- Ratnapura- Wellawaya- Buttala route.

There was a host of smaller companies in the outstation. Siri Medura Bus Company ran buses   from Gampaha to Waturugama.  There was the Blue line Company, Green line company,  Uva Bus company, Madhyama Lanka,  Kandy Omnibus,  Galle Motor company and so on.

There was long standing dissatisfaction with the bus service provided by these private companies. There was much public anger over the deplorable service provided and the huge profits that the bus owners were making, which they did not use to improve the service. There was rivalry between the bus owners and brutal fights. Employees were badly treated.

The call for nationalization of bus service had been there for a long time, but the UNP government was not prepared to nationalize. The Bus company owners were all supporters of the UNP. They provided the UNP with funds and also provided gangs for intimidation during elections.  In the 1950s, 27    MPs had interests in the bus companies.

The MEP nationalized the private bus service. The Motor Transport Bill for the nationalization of bus services was presented to the House of Representatives on September 24, 1957 and passed on October 17, 1957. It was passed without division. Buses were nationalized in 1958. SWRD wanted the nationalization done in stages, Philip Gunawardene insisted that it must be done in one go.

All road passenger transport services were transferred from private to state ownership and on January 1, 1958 by Transport Act No. 48 of 1957. The Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) was created to operate an all island bus service.

 SWRD appointed   a senior member of the Civil Service, Vere de Mel as Chairman, He was an excellent choice. He handled the takeover expertly, then set up an integrated bus transport system which for the first time catered to   hitherto inaccessible parts of the island. CTB also made it possible for passengers to travel to distant  places without having to change buses at  several  points,  noted Meegama. It should be observed,  however, that while this may have been good for transport, it was  a  calculated hit at the  emerging Sinhala business man.  The takeover was a severe blow to them and many ‘bus mudalalis’ never recovered from it.

May Day was declared a holiday in Sri Lanka in 1956 for the Government sector, bank and mercantile sectors. Ayurveda was revived, .  A   film  and recording studio was  set up In Kirula Rd, Colombo for making  films. This was  very welcome. Until  this studio was set up,  the Sinhala film makers had to go to India to get their films processed.  ( Continued)

ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය.

ගරු ආණ්ඩුකාර තුමා,
ආණ්ඩුකාරවර කාර්යාලය,
ඩික්සන් පාර,
ගාල්ල.

ආණ්ඩුකාරතුමනි,

#කොවිඩ්– 19 (#Covid- 19) වසංගතය හමුවේ උද්ගතව ඇති තත්ත්වය නොසලකා ගුරු හා විදුහල්පතිවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් නතර කිරීමට ගෙන ඇති තීරණය සම්බන්ධවයි.

#කොවිඩ්- 19 (#Covid- 19) වසංගත රෝගය පැතිරයාම හේතුවෙන් පාසල් වසා දමා ඇඳිරි නීතිය ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත් කර තිබූ අවස්ථාවක ශිෂ්‍ය තොරතුරු පද්ධතිය (SIS) සම්පූර්ණ නොවීමක් පිළිබඳව දකුණු පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම් ගේ උපදෙස් මත යැයි සඳහන් කර ගුරුවරුන් හා විදුහල්පතිවරුන් ගේ වැටුප් නතර කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නා බවට 2020. 04. 20 දිනැතිව උඩුගම කලාප අධ්‍යාපන අධ්‍යක්ෂ විසින් සියලූ විදුහල්පතිවරුන් වෙත යවා ඇති ලිපිය සම්බන්ධව ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය දැඩි විරෝධය පළ කරන අතර මේ පිළිබඳව විධිමත් පරීක්ෂණයක් පවත්වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

02. රට තුල #කොවිඩ්- 19 (#Covid- 19) වසංගතය පැතිර යාමේ අවදානමත් සමග හදිසියේ මාර්තු 12 වැනි දින දිවයිනේ සියලූ පාසල් වසා දැමූ අතර මාර්තු 20 වැනි දින රට තුළ ඇඳිරිනීතිය ප‍්‍රකාශ වූ බවත් හොඳින් දැන සිටියදී වගකිවයුතු නිලධාරීන් මෙවැනි පීඩාකාරී අමනෝඥ තීරණ ගැනීම මවිතයට කරුණක් බව දැඩිව අවධාරණය කරමු.

03. තවද මෙම වසංගතය හේතුවෙන් පාසල් වසා දමනු ලැබූ අවස්ථාවේ අප සංගම් එකාබද්ධව ගුරු හා විදුහල්පති සේවා වල වැටුප් විෂමතාව විසඳීම ඇතුළු ඉල්ලීම් 6 ක් මුල්කර ගනිමින් වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයකට එළඹ සිටි බව ඔබද දැනසිටි කරුණකි. ඒ අනුව මාර්තු 16, 17 ,18 යන තෙදින දීපව්‍යාප්ත වැඩවර්ජනයක් කැඳවා තිබූ බවත්, එතෙක් ගුරුවරුන් විදුහල්පතිවරුන් බාහිර රාජකාරි කටයුතු වලින් ඉවත්ව අකුරට වැඩ කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයක නිරතව සිටි බවත් එවැනි තත්වයක් තුල දකුණු පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම්වරයාට මෙවැනි තීරණයක් ගැනීමට කිසිදු නීත්‍යානුකූල අයිතියක් නොමැති බව පෙන්වාදෙමු.

04. තවද මේ ආකාරයට වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයක නිරතව නොසිටියද ගුරුවරයෙකුගේ විදුහල්පතිවරයෙකුගේ හෝ අනෙකුත් රජයේ සේවකයෙකුගේ මේ ආකාරයට තාවකාලිකව වැටුප් නතර කිරීමට කටයුතු කිරීමට හෝ උපදෙස් ලබාදීමට කිසිදු නීත්‍යානුකූල ප‍්‍රතිපාදනයක් නොමැති බවද පෙන්වා දිය යුතුව ඇත. එහෙයින් මේ පිළිබඳව වහා සොයා බලා වගකිවයුතු නිලධාරීන් ගෙන ඇති මෙම අත්තනෝමතික ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගය වහා නතර කර ඒ පිළිබඳව නීත්‍යානුකූලව කටයුතු කරන ලෙස ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය නැවතත් ඉතා  ඕනෑකමින් යුතුව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට, විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,
මහින්ද ජයසිංහ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්,
ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය.

සම්බන්ධීකරණය – 071 8297022
Coordinating –      +94 71 8297022

පිටපත්
01 . ලේකම් – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය, බත්තරමුල්ල, ඉසුරුපාය.
02. ලේකම් – දකුණු පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යංශය
03. පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන අධ්‍යක්ෂ – දකුණු පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව

සමස්ත ලංකා සුවසේවා සංගමය

ඌව පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා
පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය,
බදුල්ල.

මහත්මයාණෙනි,

සෞඛ්‍ය හා දේශීය වෛද්‍ය සේවා අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්ගේ අංක අති.ලේ(පාලන) 02/03/2020 දරන චක‍්‍රලේඛණයට පටහැනිව කටයුතු කිරීම සම්බන්ධවයි

#කොවිඩ්- 19 (#Covid- 19) වෛරසය හේතුවෙන් රට පුරා ක‍්‍රියාත්මක හදිසි තත්වය යටතේ සෞඛ්‍ය අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය සේවා පවත්වා ගැනීම සදහා සෞඛ්‍ය හා දේශිය වෛද්‍ය සේවා අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්තුමිය විසින් නිකුත් කොට ඇති චක‍්‍රලේඛයට පටහැනිව වැලිමඩ මුලික රෝහලේ රෝහල් පරිපාලනය කටයුතු කරන බවට අප සංගමයට කරුණු වාර්තා වේ.

ඒ අනුව එම රෝහලේ රෝහල් පරිපාලනය විසින් 2020. 04. 20 වන දින සිට හෙද කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය සහ කණිෂ්ඨ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය හදිසි තත්වය ඇතිවීමට පෙර ක‍්‍රියාත්මක වූ සාමාන්‍ය ක‍්‍රමවේදයට අනුව රාජකාරියට පැමිණිය යුතු බවට නියෝග කර ඇත.

ඒ අනුව අප සංගමය විසින් ඒ පිළිබදව 2020. 04. 21 වන දින රෝහලේ පරිපාලන නිලධාරීතුමියගෙන් කරුණු විමසීමක් සිදුකල අතර ඇය විසින් ප‍්‍රකාශ කලේ වැඩි දුර කරුණු සොයා බලා එම තත්වය නිවැරදි කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන බවයි.

එහෙත් මේවනතෙක් එම ගැටළුකාරී තත්වය නිවැරදි කිරීමට වැලිමඩ මුලික රෝහලේ පරිපාලනය කටයුතු කර නැත. තවද සෞඛ්‍ය හා දේශිය වෛද්‍ය සේවා අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්වරියගේ 2020. 04. 12 දින සහිත අංක අති.ලේ (පාලන) 02/03/2020 දරන චක‍්‍රලේඛණය දිවයින පුරා රෝහල් හා සෞඛ්‍ය ආයතනයන්හි ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කරන අතර එම චක‍්‍රලේඛණය සංශෝධනය කර හෝ වෙනස් කිරීමක් සිදුකර නොමැත.

එබැවින් අදාල චක්‍රලේඛණයට අනවු කටයුතු කරන ලෙසට වැලිමඩ මලූ කි රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීතුමියට නියෝග කරන ලෙසට කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
මහින්ද ගුරුගේ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්

සමස්ත ලංකා සුවසේවා සංගමය.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya today rejected the reports that said he would reconvene the Parliament unilaterally.

“While fighting Covid-19, Sri Lanka does not want another constitutional crisis. Therefore, rumours that I would reconvene the Parliament unilaterally are false. All efforts must be taken by the Executive to avert a crisis. In a dispute, I am bound to uphold judiciary’s decision,” he tweeted today.

Yesterday, Mr. Jayasuriya said as the election date has been fixed now, all effort must be made not to allow a constitutional crisis, that can cost the nation dearly of its economy and legitimacy. 

“With good faith, I hope Sri Lanka can confine Covid-19 to a health and economic challenge, not a political one

Courtesy Adaderana

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a guaranteed price for 14 main crops of Yala Season with the intention of strengthening the income of local farmers by uplifting the country’s agriculture sector.

Minister Bandula Gunawardana stated this addressing the media briefing to announce Cabinet decisions today (23).

Accordingly, the Cabinet has also given its approval to procure crops from farmers if they are unable to sell the crops for the guaranteed price in the market.

The guaranteed prices for 14 main crops (per kilogram) are as follows:

Maize – Rs. 50.00
Potato – Rs. 100.00
Big onion – Rs. 100.00
Red onion – Rs. 110.00
Orid Dhal – Rs. 220.00
Green gram (Mung bean) – Rs. 200.00
Peanut – Rs. 220.00
Dried chilli – Rs. 650.00
Soybeans – Rs. 125.00
Finger millet (Kurakkang) – Rs. 175.00
Cowpea – Rs. 220.00
Sesame – Rs. 200.00
Kollu – Rs. 250.00
Turmeric – Rs. 80.00
Ginger – Rs. 125.00
Garlic – Rs. 350.00

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Police says that 36,008 individuals have been arrested in total for violating the curfew during the period of over a month since the curfew was imposed.

Over 9,000 vehicles have been taken into police custody for curfew violations during this period, the Police Spokesman’s Office said.

The curfew in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam districts, which have been identified as Covid-19 high risk zones, is to continue until Monday while the curfew in other districts is temporarily lifted at 5.00am daily during weekdays. 

Meanwhile in the areas where the curfew is in effect, arrests continue to be made of persons traveling by road without curfew passes.

The Police Spokesman’s Office said 687 curfew violators were arrested within the 24 hours ending at 6.00am this morning (23) while 186 vehicles were also taken into custody. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Twenty-nine Navy personnel at the Sri Lanka Navy base in Welisara have been confirmed to have contracted COVID-19, Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva said.

The Navy personnel had been infected while on a recent search for suspects from Suduwella, Ja-Ela, the Army Commander said issuing a special statement.

A Navy officer attached to the Welisara Navy Base had been tested positive for the virus yesterday (22) upon admittance to Welikanda Hospital over a sudden illness.

Thereby, other Navy personnel who shared the same lodging quarters and office spaces as the infected sailor and all persons who associated with him had been quarantined and directed for PCR testing.

As per the results of testing, 30 Navy personnel, including the previously identified sailor, have tested positive for the coronavirus.

Accordingly, the Navy Commander, yesterday, declared the Welisara Navy Base an isolated area.

It is confirmed that the previously identified sailor had been infected by another Navy personnel who shared lodging with him, said the Army Commander.

The relevant Navy personnel had been infected while on duty to search and quarantine suspects connected to drug-related offenses in the Suduwella area, he added.

All navy personnel at the Welisara Navy Base will be quarantined and subjected to PCR testing immediately, he said.

Further, all personnel of the Navy Base who had recently gone on leave have been called back immediately and will also be subjected to PCR testing as well, said the Army Commander.

Thereby, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka has surged to 368 cases, according to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මෙරටින් දැනට වාර්තා වී ඇති කොරෝනා රෝගීන්ගෙන් සියයට 20 ක පමණ පිරිසක් නිව්මෝනියා රෝග ලක්ෂණ පෙන්නුම් කළ ද දැඩි සත්කාර ඒකකයන්හි ප්‍රතිකාර ලැබීමට තරම් අසාධ්‍ය තත්ත්වයේ පසුවන්නේ සියයට 5ක පමණ පිරිසක් බව අංගොඩ ජාතික බෝවන රෝග විද්‍යායතනයේ කායික රෝග විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය එරංග නාරංගොඩ පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ හිරු ටී වී ඔස්සේ අද විකාශය වූ රට සහ හෙට වැඩසටහනට එක්වෙමින්.

By Rohana R. Wasala

The November 2019 inauguration of president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa rekindled bright hopes of national resurgence. The visions of peace and prosperity that bloomed in the years following the end of nearly three decades of civil war in 2009 faded in the years 2015-19. While the people were eagerly looking forward to electing a new parliament, the entirely unexpected COVID-19 pandemic struck the world and its deleterious impact is being currently experienced in Sri Lanka as well. The state health and security forces tasked with containing the spread of the disease are doing their job extremely well, hardly caring for their own health. The leadership provided by the president and the government is a vital factor here, as much as the patriotic commitment of the health sector workers (doctors, nurses, and paramedics), the triforces and the police personnel, and the intelligence sectors. This was complemented by the high level of cooperation extended by ordinary citizens. However, such galvanizing of the state machinery and the citizenry would be inconceivable without the kind of true leadership that is being provided by those at the helm today.   As Simon Sinek said, Leadership is a responsibility. It is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in your charge.” The president and the government-appointed under him are taking care of the country and the people.

How well this is being done by them has already been acknowledged even internationally. A research study commissioned by the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (Australia) to evaluate the response and leadership observed in each country, and to thereby develop a Global Response to Infectious Diseases (GRID) index to indicate the level of efficiency and effectiveness of its leadership and the preparedness of its health system demonstrated in confronting the Covid-19 pandemic. The ICMA thinks that the index will be a motivator for the relevant country in tackling a future pandemic or other crisis situation. Sri Lanka is ranked 9 in the highly reliable ICMA study. New Zealand ranks 1, and Australia 4, and America 70..  This is unprejudiced international recognition of the efficiency and effectiveness of Sri Lanka’s current political leadership.(Information used here about the ICMA and its GRID Index, and the Simon Sinek quote above is taken from the cmawebline.org website)

Former UNP MP and current SJB member Ajith Perera was heard (April 19) trying to discredit this distinguished ICMA ranking of Sri Lanka by arguing that the government got its friends in Australia to produce that allegedly fake result. He said that some Sri Lankans including Nalaka Godahewa are influential members of the  ICMA. Such baseless accusations are more likely to be condemned as an unwarranted smear on that globally operating civic organization of certified management accountants than a blind attack on the Sri Lankan government on its management of the effects of the pandemic. The only saving grace in this Ajith Perera episode is that he himself has not much credibility as a local politician and that therefore his words need to be taken with a pinch of salt. As for the  Melbourne headquartered ICMA, it is a legally established business professional body; it was duly incorporated under the laws of the Victoria State government in the year of its inauguration (1996) and is accredited by the Commonwealth of Nations under the category of Civic Organisations. There are many certified management accountants of Sri Lankan origin who are members of the ICMA. Nalaka Godahewa, with a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of South Australia (2008), and various other advanced qualifications from UK universities relating to his field of speciality,  demonstrated his excellent management skills as a brilliant technocrat during the time of the 2009-14 government of the then president Mahinda Rajapaksa. His well-intended, result-oriented but his novel, daringly unconventional methods earned him the envy of his detractors and made him vulnerable to legal persecution at the hands of MR’s successors in 2015. Ajith Perera may be reverting to his partisan dislike of Dr. Nalaka Godahewa.

The ICMA sponsored study obtained its raw data (i.e., unprocessed information or data not subjected to doctoring) from the Worldometer website, something that guarantees the credibility of the results. Dr. Chris D’Souza is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of CMA, Australia.  So contrary to what local critics like Ajith Perera may say, the authenticity of the  Global Response to Infectious Diseases (GRID) index assigned to Sri Lanka cannot be called into question.   

While the government is thus handling the Covid-19 crisis with a fair degree of success, the opposition consisting of the estranged Yahapalana politicos, currently left high and dry, appear to be seeking to make a comeback courtesy the coronavirus pandemic, all the time pretending that the government is anxious to have early elections at any cost. Even the Yahapalanaya appointed Election Commission seems to be sympathetic to them. The EC’s constitutional role is of vital importance in this context. The EC commissioners are responsible for conducting the electoral process in absolute impartiality. However, the sayings and doings of two members of the three members of the Election Commission over the past four or five years have been perceived by neutral observers as favouring a return to the anarchical Yahapalana state of affairs. The Island editorial points out today (April 20), one of the serious flaws of the controversial 19A is that for meetings of the EC to be quorate, all three members must attend them. This gives anyone dissident member to absent himself so as to make the meetings inquorate. I remember Foreign Relations minister Dinesh Gunawardane predicting, a few weeks ago, a situation like this that could worsen a possible constitutional crisis involving the holding of elections. Meanwhile, Jayampathy Wickremaratne PC, a former national list MP and a so-called constitutional expert who is usually made out to be the principal drafter of the faulty 19A is calling for reconvening the malfunctioning parliament of buffoons that stands dissolved today.    Such attempted sabotage of the country’s transition from Yahapalana anarchy to political stability under the SLPP will be lethal for democracy, which these worthies habitually swear by. The Island had to interview Hoole while he is apparently holed up in Jaffna due to the curfew is significant. (A new date for the next parliamentary election – June 20 –  was declared, apparently amidst controversy, by the Election Commission after the first draft of this article was emailed to The Island newspaper, where it appeared yesterday/April 22, 2020. It was marginally touched up for Lankaweb.)

Stanley Gunaratne.

The Covid 19 situation is a terrible global crisis. In the island of Ceylon, where despite $3 billion a year wasted on Provincial Councils and Indian style politicians, we have managed to curtail the spread and combat it thanks to a relatively efficient administration which is in stark contrast to the usual modus operandi of the prevailing system (which has been designed by India and Indian bootlickers). 

It has shown that this country has zero need for 225 fat buffoons (Indian bootlickers), Provincial Councillors (bootlickers of the bootlickers) or endless “jobs for the boys” appointees in a bloated public sector to run the country. The politicians are attempting with various press gimmicks to try and prove their relevance!

This opportunity to free ourselves from India and this Indian corrupt system must not be missed. It is sad that our island of such potential has seemingly in its post-independence history never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Nations that were far behind us (South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and even Japan) have overtaken us tanks to coherent social policies and sound economics with THE RULE OF LAW. This is despite us having far superior infrastructure and supply chain links in the 1940s and 50s.

IF an election is to be held (it is this author’s opinion that the country does not need to elect the same bunch of fat buffoons presented thus far by ALL the political parties in an act of reshuffling the same deck), then will any party, including the President promise the following:

“1. Vote for us to abolish the Indo Lanka Accord
2. Vote for us to abolish the 13th amendment and Provincial Councils
3. Vote for us to use all the money wasted on Provincial Councils on proper electrified high-speed public transport like in Japan/China/Singapore (a high-speed train can cross the island in 70 minutes)
4. Vote for us to BAN all ethnic parties
5. Vote for us to mix the whole population and end ethnic ghettos (i.e. reinitiate the Gal Oya Schemes)
6. Vote for us to establish the rule of law
7. Vote for us to build a proper international airport
8. Vote for us to ensure proper schools for your children
9. Vote for us to ensure proper hospitals for everyone
10. Vote for us to stop being an Indian vassal state
11. Vote for us to teach these politician mankollakaraya Indian bootlickers a lesson
12. Vote for us to establish ONE nation, ONE PEOPLE, one LAW.
13. Vote for us to restore our national flag of 1948 (the Lion flag minus the artificial stripes) where the Lion represents us all
14. Vote for us to have all children of all ethnicities in one school together in the same classroom and on the same playground (taught in either Sinhala, or English medium) – BILINGUAL in one mother tongue and English – NOT the Trilingual nonsense
15. Vote for us to have an independent judiciary
16. Vote for us to support our armed forces
17. Vote for us to put the PEOPLE first and to become a nation of LAWS, not endless hordes of politicians!
18. Vote for us to have young, vibrant, visionary, and genuine patriots in Parliament instead of fat buffoons!”

The rule of law, zero tolerance for corruption, and pro-business policies can result in a shower of investment into this country and take us toward being another Singapore with ease. But nothing will change unless some entity promises above and does it. It is high time for a “PAP” style party in Ceylon.

In addition, the name of the country MUST be restored to Sinhale (Ceylon in English is acceptable as a phonetic transliteration) with the complete removal of the artificial Indian name of Sri Lanka, the name of a party, not a nation, or her people. 

No self-respecting country would continue to abide by the Indo Lanka Accord which violates international law and is akin to the Nazi Anschluss imposed on Austria against her will prior to WWII. ANY POLITICIAN WHO DOES NOT SEEK ITS REMOVAL IS A TRAITOR PURE AND SIMPLE and guilty of committing High Treason.

This country has vast potential. Just recently, West Texas Crude was selling for a negative price on the international markets – meaning one would be effectively PAID by the barrel to store oil. When Ceylon has vast storage capacity at the Trincomalee Oil Farm (with capacity for 12,000 tonnes of oil at current capacity) and all of that is under the control of the Indians (the enemy of our nation), that speaks volumes about the opportunities we miss. Furthermore, in the era where electric cars are taking off, we are sitting on some of the purest graphite (used in electric batteries) in the world and have zero supply chain links (in 1948, we were the number one graphite producer in the world)

Will President GR promise the above 18 points? Or will he simply go along with the vile vermin politicians seeking reelection who are shedding crocodile tears for the Sri Lankan/Ceylonese people who they have enslaved and robbed all these years?

I ask all patriots to DEMAND patriotic POLICIES on manifestos and vote for your country and children, not for parties and politicians.

No more “India is my brother” from our so-called leaders. 

I bow to thee my country of Sinhale/Ceylon.

A concerned citizen,

Stanley Gunaratne.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

On 21^st April Tuesday Sri Lankans belonging t all religions and of all walks of life mourned by lighting a lamp, ringing Church and Temple bells and Muslims held special supplications (Dua) and prayers in the mosques and homes at 8.45 a,m, for more than 250 killed and nearly 500 injured on a day like this last year by a gang of inhuman brutes who had identified themselves as Muslims by blasting bombs in four leading Churches and three super luxury hotels in Colombo.  It was a tragedy that these suicide attacks could have been prevented if not for the inaction of the reckless government. 

Very reliable foreign intelligence reports had been received well advance by them government identifying the would-be suicide bombers, their contact details, potential targets, and even their time of action.  There were no reports initiated by our intelligence officers as the cream of our intelligence service was behind bars to appease the terrorist diaspora, the separatists, and the foreign masters on concocted charges.  The government however ignored these foreign intelligence reports and kept the Ministers, including the Minister of Christian Affairs and the Christian MPs of the government informed about the impending attacks.  Minister Harin Fernando had informed the media later that his father prevented him from attending Church on that saying there could be bomb attacks on Churches on that day. The egregious government did not at least bother to contact Harin’s father and find out the source of his information and it was buried with him as he passed away in the latter part of last year. 

Instead of conducting a proper investigation and apprehend and punish all those connected to this mayhem the government only staged media shows finding some suckers such as the Hemasiri Fernando and Pujitha Jayasundera and shuttling them between courts and remand and also holding another media show of a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry in which even some suspected collaborators for the attack took part as investigators. 

In addition to there were many video clips of a prominent government Minister holding discussions with Zaharan, the main suicide bomber, visiting to see his brother in a hospital and another Minister and the former Governor of the Western Province allegedly requesting the Police to release some people connected to the tragedy from Police custody.  Despite numerous requests made by Cardinal Dr, Malcolm Ranjith Cooray, the most aggrieved by this tragedy the ludicrous government did not take any action at least to investigate the Ministers concerned.

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa upon his election on November 16^th gave a firm commitment to the Cardinal Dr. Malcolm Ranjith Cooray that an extensive investigation will be carried out about this Easter Sunday carnage and all those who had been responsible will be punished.     

Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, in his message on the first anniversary of the Easter Sunday carnage, said that “those responsible for governance at that time, did not take seriously the repeated warnings received concerning these attacks and so, not only allowed this massacre to take place but also sought to hide their culpability, in different ways, after the attack.”

He said that on this occasion when we commemorate the dead and pray for the wounded of the Easter Sunday bomb attack, on its first anniversary, he wishes to express their sincere thanks to all those who stood by the victims, showing your solidarity with them and for assisting them in every way possible and added these victims belonged to all ethnic and religious groups in Sri Lanka and included foreigners.

The Archbishop stated that they honour, especially all those who lost their loved ones and those who were injured, for their spirit of magnanimity in not reacting in anger and hatred. What was remarkable in that was the resolve to stay calm and peaceful so that an evil plot to destabilize Sri Lanka, with racial or religious riots, was defeated by all Sri Lankans.

He said that he wishes to commend all those who espoused the cause of peace and extended a helping hand to those injured, and to the families of the victims, in many ways and also call to memory and pray for the 42 foreigners who came with their families to visit this beautiful and peaceful Island and lost their lives in this heinous attack.

The Archbishop emphasized that first of all, he wishes to extend their grateful thanks to the Holy Father Pope Francis who was one in spirit with them during this time and sent his special envoy to convey his closeness to our country and its people. He said that they are also thankful for the foreign missions in the country, particularly the High Commissions of all the Islamic Republics, for their prompt visit to him after the attack, to convey their solidarity with our nation and wishes to extend his sincere thanks to the many foreign countries, and their citizens, who sent messages of condolences, support to the Relief Fund and the assurance of prayers. For example, the Eiffel Tower switched off its lights at midnight on 21st April and the Burj Kalifa, in Dubai, was lit up with the colours of the Sri Lankan flag, in honour of the victims. He said that they are also grateful to many other countries, which showed similar gestures of solidarity with our people and also to the local and foreign business entities and individuals who generously supported the Relief Fund established to help the victims.

The Archbishop in his message thanked the International Media, especially those who interviewed him locally and via phone, for reporting the true facts to the international community and wishes to state that even in the future we need you to support us in reporting to the international community the true facts and the true image of our beautiful Island Nation which has been called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.

Speaking about the then government, the Cardinal said that they are aggrieved that those responsible for governance at that time, did not take seriously the repeated warnings received, concerning these attacks, and so, not only allowed this massacre to take place but also sought to hide their culpability, in different ways, after the attack. Still more serious is the responsibility of all those who masterminded these attacks, by planning, funding, and encouraging the perpetrators and deliberately covering up the facts of the case. Some of them, he stressed,  surely knew this was coming and thanked the incumbent President for his insistence in investigating these attacks thoroughly and for ensuring that those responsible are brought to book. He said that they are indeed sad and shocked to hear that some educated and elitist people, some of whom are connected to the legal sphere, are trying to bring pressure on the President to cover up these investigations and possibly hide the authors. What are human rights when they try to use such to cover up the perpetrators and associates of those he asked?

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in his Condolence Message on the anniversary of the Easter Sunday carnage has said that he will not leave any room for any form of extremism, or violence from any extremists to be unleashed on the Sri Lankan people again and assured that the true perpetrators responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks will be identified and brought before the law.

The President stated that.I deeply empathize with the families of all those who lost their lives and sustained grave injuries, the Catholic community and entire Sri Lankan citizenry who were terrorized by these horrifying massacres,”

He said that Even though Catholics were targeted, this was a terrorist attack against all Sri Lankan citizens.This heinous crime against humanity needs to be condemned by all without any tolerance towards this extremist ideology,.”

It is most unfortunate that the mechanisms that were in place to ensure national security were dismantled. When anarchy prevails, it is only natural for extremism, terrorism and all kinds of violence to raise its despicable head.”

The President reiterated the pledge he made in his Vistas for Prosperity” policy statement that he will ensure the safety of all communities in the country. 

 In the conclusion of his message, he said: I once again commiserate with all those who were adversely affected by the Easter Sunday massacres and all Sri Lankans who were deeply shocked by these barbaric acts.”  

The defence secretary Maj.General (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne reiterating the assurance given by the President to Cardinal Dr. Malcolm Ranjitjh as well as the people of Sri Lanka said that the Government would soon bring all culprits who planned, financed and supported the Easter bombing carnage that killed over 270 and wounded over 500 innocent people on last year’s Easter Sunday. irrespective of their social status, political affiliations, ethnicity, or religion to the book. , Referring to the on-going investigations, he said that under the leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had pledged to give the topmost priority to national security, country’s people would be protected from terrorism and extremism and this government will not let our people die and suffer in such unfortunate incidents.

The Defence Secretary further stated that they have taken all precautionary measures to identify such acts of terrorism or extremism at the early stages and taken all necessary actions to bring them before the law. Highlighting the importance of public support and contribution of the intelligence agencies in curbing extremism, he said that under the directives of the President the intelligence agencies had been strengthened under a system that brought all

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa commenting on the subject stated that the Easter Sunday carnage was the worst terrorist attack, on civilians, ever to take place, not only in Asia, but also anywhere in the world, and it could have easily been prevented had those in charge of security and power acted promptly on the warnings.

In a statement titled ‘Remembering the Easter Sunday Attacks,’ the Premier said: “We in Sri Lanka are no strangers to suicide bombings. However, the Easter Sunday bombings differed from what we had experienced during the 30-year war against separatism. The intelligence service of a friendly country had provided advance warning to the then Sri Lankan government of the possible dates and targets of the attacks, and the names, addresses, identity card numbers and even telephone numbers of the terrorists involved. Therefore, this attack could easily have been prevented.”

Most of the victims, the Premier said, were worshipers who had gathered in Churches to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and it was the worst terrorist attack, on civilians, ever to take place, not only in Asia but also anywhere in the world. The Tokyo poison gas attack of 1995, the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, the London bombings of 2005 and the Mumbai attacks of 2008, which are internationally remembered, were all of a lesser magnitude than the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka and pointed that one victim died recently after battling for life for nearly a year and some victims are still receiving treatment for their injuries.

The Prime Minister said that “The Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has requested all Catholics to light a lamp in their homes in remembrance of the victims. I wish to request Sri Lankans to remember those who died, were injured, and those who were disabled due to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks in accordance with their own faiths.

Prime Minister revealed that several more persons would be arrested, as per on-going investigations by law enforcement authorities, and assured that the government would not interfere in police investigations to apprehend criminals responsible for conspiring and abetting in the terror attacks that killed more than 310 people and injured over 480.

He said that as a responsible government, it is needed to ensure justice and assure the relatives and family members of the victims that this government will not allow investigations to be hindered by any means. The police and the security force investigations are continuing and several more will be arrested in the coming days irrespective of any rank and social status of those responsible for the bomb attacks.

The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, an independent organization of Muslim theologians expressed intense grief and emotional pain, along with the entire Nation on Tuesday in sadly commemorating the barbaric suicidal terror attacks that took place on Easter Sunday on the 21st of April 2019 A message issued by the organization\s General Secretary Ah Shaikh M.M.A Mubarak said that they vehemently condemn this inhuman cruel deed, in the strongest possible terms, and also extend their deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives and those who were injured, and they pray to Almighty God that all those who are suffering due to the loss of their loved ones, to be blessed with solace and to be compensated with all forms of good fortune in life. The message stated that there is no dissent to the fact that, the massacre of innocent worshippers who were involved in prayers at their places of worship, and those of the public, was an act that was completely antithetical to the teachings of Islam and the perpetrators were the enemies of humanity. It said that whoever who was involved in these crimes must be punished and pointed out that The Holy Quran states “….whoever kills a person not in retaliation for a person killed, nor (as a punishment) for spreading disorder on the earth, is as if he has killed the whole of humankind and whoever saves the life of a person is as if he has saved the life of the whole of humankind….” Surah Ma’idah Verse 32.

The message further stated that it is well known that any religion including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam does not endorse nor approve violence and those who engage in evil and destructive activities in the name of their religion are completely contradictory to the teachings of their respective religious beliefs. On this basis, it should be noted that based on the despicable activities of some misguided individuals, it is not fair to evaluate a particular religious belief or its followers and stated that they take this opportunity to extend their wholehearted appreciation to His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith for the commendable efforts in consoling the community and to those who were affected for adopting calmness and peace, which prevented a repercussion against the Muslim community.

The SLPP National list nominee Ali Sabri PC has strongly condemned the inhuman barbaric Easter Sunday attacks perpetrated exactly one year ago.  In a Twitter message, he has said that politically motivated negligence facilitated this attack and the society has a responsibility to curtail the emergence of such barbarians.

Meanwhile, the Governor of the North-Western province Mr A.J.M.Muzammil has queried as to what happened to Rs. 900 Million promised by the World Muslim League as assistance for the Easter Sunday carnage victims.   This matter has also been raised by the scholarly monk Dr Omalpe Sobhita Thero.  Mr Muzammil has recalled that a seminar to promote national reconciliation initiated by the World Muslim League was held under the aegis of the former President Maithripala Seirisena on 30th June last year and the General Secretary of the World Muslim League Dr, Mohamed Abdul Kareem Al Eisa was the Chief Guest at this seminar.  Mr. Muzammil says that Dr. Al Eisa promised to give Rs. 900 Million at this seminar and the seminar activities were coordinated by one Abdul Cader Al Mashooe Mowlana. Mr. Muzammil further states that Dr. Al Eisa arrived in the country on 28^th June and on the same day he met Cardinal Dr. Malcoln Ranjith as well.

The Island editorial said on 21^st April that the first anniversary of the Easter Sunday carnage fell while the country was battling a highly contagious virus, which is as destructive as extremist terror, which snuffed out more than 250 lives at several churches and hotels. Our hearts go out to the grief-stricken family members, relatives, and friends of the victims of the terror attacks.

It said that it has been established that the Easter bombings could have been prevented if the intelligence warnings thereof had been heeded and action is taken, but, unfortunately, nothing was done to thwart the terror strikes. Worse, a raid on a terrorist training facility in Wanathavilluwa had yielded a haul of explosives, a few months before the Easter attacks, but no serious effort was made to trace all those responsible for running it. The CID officers in charge of the investigations balked at arresting some key suspects with links to those who had run the training camp, but they have got off scot-free, to all intents and purposes. Action must be taken against them as well.

The editorial pointed out that disasters are inevitable when dirty politics takes precedence over national security and public safety. All those who failed to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings must be brought to justice. An Opposition politician’s brother has been arrested for his alleged links to the terrorists. But there are many others including politicians and police officers who must be made to explain why they had not acted on the intelligence warnings and the findings of investigations into the wanton destruction of Buddha statues in Mawanella, a test explosion in the East and the training of terrorists at Wanathavilluwa. The killing of two policemen in Vavunativu, in the East, a few months before the Easter attacks was not properly probed. Some ex-LTTE cadres were blamed for the crime, which was committed by the Zahran group.

As the dead cannot seek justice. Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has been striving to have justice served, but sadly his campaign has not come to fruition. One can only hope that he will succeed in his endeavor. He deserves the assistance of all Sri Lankans to achieve his noble goal.

The editorial said that mystery surrounds the Easter bombings which have been blamed solely on Zahran Hashim, who is believed to have masterminded the terror strikes, on behalf of ISIS. He perished in one of the attacks. Irrefutable evidence has emerged that, at the time of their suicide attacks, he and his fellow terrorists had been working tirelessly to expand their terror network by setting up training facilities, stockpiling arms and explosives, and recruiting cadres. Efforts of the National Thowheed Jamaath to build a formidable terror network make one wonder whether there was any need for it to do so to carry out a few suicide attacks, which did not require years of planning. It is believed that Zahran had links to ISIS, which belatedly claimed the responsibility for the Easter bombings, but did he really work for the ISIS proper, or did he have links to one of its affiliates? Was his handler working for another organization masquerading as an ISIS agent? The picture is not clear.

The editorial concluded saying that the need for a separate investigation into the external links Zahran had established cannot be overemphasized.

සමස්ත ලංකා හෙද සංගමය

මධ්‍යම පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා
පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය
මහනුවර.

මහත්මයාණෙනි,

#කොවිඩ්– 19 (#Covid- 19) මැඩපැවැත්වීමට අදාලව සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමිය නිකුත් කර ඇති උපදෙස් නොසලකා කටයුතු කර ඇති තෙල්දෙණිය මූලික රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයාගේ ක‍්‍රියාකලාපය සම්බන්ධවයි.

මේවනවිටත් පාලනය කර නොමැති #කොවිඩ්- 19 (#Covid- 19) වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ රට පුරා රෝහල් පද්ධතියේ කටයුතු පවත්වාගෙන යාමට අදාලව රේඛිය අමාත්‍යංශයේ සෞඛ්‍ය ලෙකම්තුමිය විසින් සියළු රෝහල්වල ආයතන ප‍්‍රධානීන්, පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම්වරුන් සහ පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂවරුන් වෙත අවස්ථා කීපයකදී විශේෂ උපදෙස් මාලාවක් නිකුත් කරන ලදී.

එම උපදෙස් මත පදනම්ව රට පුරා සියළු රෝහල් ප‍්‍රධානීන් විසින් තම ආයතනවල කාර්ය මණ්ඩල අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය සේවාවන්හි පමනක් යොදවා ගන්නා ලදී. නමුත් තෙල්දෙණිය දිස්ත‍්‍රික් මූලික රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරී විසින් ඔහු වෙත එවැනි උපදෙසක් නොලැබුනු බව පවසමින්, හෙද කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය ආරක්ෂාකාරී ලෙස රාජකාරියේ යෙදවීමට ක‍්‍රියා කල රෝහලේ විශේෂ ශ්‍රේණියේ හෙදි නිලධාරිනියගෙන් නිදහසට කරුණු ඉල්ලමින් ලිපියක් නිකුත් කර ඇත.

මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය යනු #කොරෝනා අවදානමක් සහති කලාපයක් බව හදුනගෙන තිබියදීත් දිස්ත්‍රික්කය තුල ඇදිරි නීතිය ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කර තිබු තත්වයක රට පුරා රෝහල් පද්ධතිය #කොරෝනා මර්ධනය සදහා එකාවන්ව කටයුතු කරද්දී ඊට අදාලව සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය නිකුත් කර තිබූ විශේෂ රෙගුලාසි තෙල්දෙණිය මූලික රෝහලේ අධිකාරීතුමා නොදැන සිටියේ නම් ඔහු මෙම වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ පියවි සිහියකින් කටයුතු කර ඇති බවක් නොපෙනේ. ඒ පිළිබද විශේෂයෙන් සොයා බැලිය යුතු බව අපගේ අදහසයි.

ඒ අනුව තෙල්දෙණිය රෝහලේ හෙද කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය ආරක්ෂා කර ගනිමින් වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ ප‍්‍රශංසනීය ලෙස රාජකාරී ඉටු කර ඇති විශේෂ ශ්‍රේණියේ හෙදි නිලධාරිනියට එරෙහිව රෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීතුමා විසින් පුද්ගලික පළිගැනීමේ අදහසින් එල්ල තිබෙන මෙම චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප සංගමයේ බලවත් අප‍්‍රසාදය පල කරමු. එබැවින් මෙම නිලධාරිනියට එරෙහිව සිදුකරමින් තිබෙන අත්තනෝමතික පළිගැනීමේ ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගය නවතාලීම සදහා ඔබතුමාගේ මැදිහත්වීම සිදුකරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමු. එසේම රේඛිය අමාත්‍යංශයේ සහ පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයේ උපදෙස් අනුව ක‍්‍රියාකර නොමැති මෙම වෛද්‍ය අධිකාරීවරයා පිළිබදව ද සොයා බලා අවශ්‍ය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා මෙන් ඔබගෙන්
ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තුතියි.

මෙයට,
හෙද නිලධාරී එස්. බී. මැදිවත්ත
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්

සමස්ත ලංකා හෙද සංගමය.

සම්බන්ධීකරණය – 071 8616645
Coordinating – +94 71 8616645

පිටපත්
01. සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම් භද්‍රාණී ජයවර්ධණ මහත්මිය (අ.ක.ස)
02. සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්තුමා (අ.ක.ස)
03. මධ්‍යම පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂතුමා (අ.ක.ස)
04. නියෝජ්‍ය පලාත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂතුමා – මහනුවර (අ.ක.ස)
05. සමස්ත ලංකා හෙද සංගමයේ මධ්‍යම පලාත් ලේකම්(දැ.ස)

සමස්ත ලංකා ප්‍රවාහන සේවක සංගමය.

පොරොන්දු වූ පරිදි සේවක ඉල්ලීම් ලබා දීමට කඩිනමින් මැදිහත්වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීම.

ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. සභාපති කිංස්ලි රණවක මහතා සියලූම ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. වෘත්තීය සමිති සමඟ 2020.04.21 වන දින පස්වරු 2.00ට ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. ප‍්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේ දී සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වන ලදි.

* ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. සේවකයින් හට මුඛ ආවරණ, අත්වැසුම් සහ වෙනත් වෛද්‍ය පහසුකම් ලබා දීමට මැදිහත් වන ලෙස

* අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවාවන් වල සේවකයින් ජීවිත පරදුවට තබා ප‍්‍රවාහනය කරන ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. සේවකයින් හට විශේෂිත දිරි දීමනාවක් ලබාදෙන ලෙස

* දෛනික සේවාවන් වල නිරත වූ සේවකයින් හට ගංවතුර ආධාර ඉතිරි මුදල සමානව බෙදා දෙන ලෙස

* ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම.ය තුළ අලූතින් ස්ථාපිත කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන සුබසාධක සමිතිය විධිමත්ව කඩිනමින් ස්ථාපිත කරන ලෙස

* රු.50 000/- ණය මුදල මෙතෙක් ලබා නොදී ඇති ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. ප‍්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේ සේවකයින් හට සහ පිටකොටුව මධ්‍යම බස්රථ කාර්යාලයේ සේවකයින් හට ලබාදීමට මැදිහත් වන ලෙස

* මාරුවීම් මණ්ඩලය කඩිනමින් කැඳවන ලෙස

* රණවිරුවන් සුව විරුවන් හා සමානව ම ‘‘ල.ං.ග.ම. විරුවන්’’ ජීවිත පරදුවට තබා කරන සේවය අගය කර ල.ං.ග.ම. විරුවන් පිළිබඳව ඇගයීමක් පාලකයින්ට සහ මාධ්‍ය ආයතන වලට ප‍්‍රකාශකර සිටින ලෙස

* සියලූම වෘත්තීය සමිති වලට සමානව පහසුකම් ලබාදෙන ලෙස

ඉහත ඉල්ලීම් ඉටුකරන ලෙස වෘත්තීය සමිති විසින් මෙදින ඉල්ලා සිටි අතර එම සියලූම ඉල්ලීම් ඉටු කිරීමට කඩිනමින් මැදිහත්වන බව ශ‍්‍රී ල.ං.ග.ම. සභාපතිතුමා පොරොන්දු වූ අතර එම පොරොන්දු ඉටු කිරීමට ක‍්‍රියාකරන ලෙස අප සංගමය වගකීමෙන් යුතුව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට – විශ්වාසී,
සේපාල ලියනගේ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්
සමස්ත ලංකා ප‍්‍රවාහන සේවක සංගමය.

ALI SUKHANVER

Natural calamities and disasters have ever been hostile to the peace and serenity of all human societies. Today it is the Corona, somewhere in the 14^th century it was the Plague commonly known as the Black Plague and Black Death. That devastating epidemic resulted in the deaths of more than 200 million people in Eurasia and its climax was observed during the period of 1347 to 1351 in Europe. Reports say that ‘the plague created a number of religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history’. Another report on the consequences of the Black Death says, Half of Paris’s population of 100,000 people died. In Italy, the population of Florence was reduced from 110,000–120,000 inhabitants in 1338 down to 50,000 in 1351. At least 60% of the population of Hamburg and Bremen perished and a similar percentage of Londoners may have died from the disease as well. In London approximately 62,000 people died between 1346 and 1353.” The story does not stop here; this scourge gave birth to so many economic and social problems. The most important problem was that of the lack of lobourers. With such a large population decline wages soared in response to a labor shortage.  According to the Decameron Web, The plague had large scale social and economic effects. People abandoned their friends and family, fled cities, and shut themselves off from the world. Funeral rites became perfunctory or stopped altogether, and work ceased being done.” Today the Corona virus is dragging the world to the same direction.

The world was not a global village in the days of the Black Death; there were time-taking distances but now those long distances have been shortened to hours and days. Even for the viruses, journey from one place to the other place is as easy as it is for human beings. We see that this Corona Virus has spread throughout the world in just a few weeks. From US to Afghanistan, no country is safe from this virus. The severity of its consequences could be more severe than that of the Black Death. Another important fact is that fighting with Corona needs a lot of financial resources and certainly countries like Pakistan don’t have such resources. In case this disease spreads here in Pakistan, it won’t be possible for the government, which is already under the burden of billions and trillions of dollars debts, to control it vehemently.

The prime minister of Pakistan Mr. Imran Khan, in a recent interview with the Associated Press of Pakistan, has expressed his concerns over the possible upsetting impacts the corona-virus might have on the countries facing economic instability and unsteadiness. He said, My worry is poverty and hunger. The world community has to think of some sort of a debt write-off for countries like us, which are very vulnerable, at least that will help us in coping with the corona virus.” Whatever said the Prime Minister is really worth-consideration. The scenario towards which he has tried to draw the attention of the world had once destroyed the whole social and economic fiber of the world somewhere in the 14^th century. Imran Khan is very right in saying that exports would fall off, unemployment would soar and an onerous national debt would become an impossible burden. The consequences of this scourge would not remain limited to Pakistan only, India and many of the African countries would also be facing the horrible consequences of this scourge. He further said, If a serious outbreak happens in the country, the government’s efforts to lift the economy out of near-collapse would begin an unstoppable slide backward.”

To stop this pandemic from spreading further, the government of Pakistan is doing all best possible. Learning a lesson from Italy, the government of Pakistan has put a ban on public gatherings in public parks, schools, colleges, universities, shopping malls and even in the mosques. With the help of radio, TV, newspapers and social media, the government is trying to make the public aware of the precautionary measures with reference to the Corona virus. In some cities of Pakistan even the cafés and restaurants have been stopped from working till next orders. Italy currently has the highest number of Corona virus cases in Europe. Reports say that the corona virus cases in Italy surged from hundreds to thousands within two weeks, from a few hundred in the third week of February to more than 3,000 in the first week of March and crossed 10,000 on 10 March. On 15^th March 2020, it was 24747. The only reason behind this so rapid increase in the number of Corona Virus affected patients is that the public in Italy did not take the precautionary measures imposed by the government serious.

 Certainly, the people of Pakistan have realized the severity and gravity of the matter and they are doing all possible cooperation with the government in fighting against the Corona Virus. Situation would soon get better and the cruel Corona virus will have to get out of Pakistani borders. Pakistanis are a brave nation; they know very well how to defeat disasters and how to counter the calamities. Moreover we pray for the complete safety and protection of the whole world from the cruel clutches of the Corona disaster.

ගෲප් කපිතාන් ප්‍රකාශ් ගුණසේකර ( ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාව විශ්‍රාමික , සිවිල් සේවා කපිතාන් )  B.Sc , MPA ලියයි

මේ වන විට බොහෝ දෙනෙකුගේ කථා මාතෘකා  කොරෝනා මර්ධන වැඩසටහන සහ මැතිවරණයෙහි යුක්ති යුක්ත බාවය කෙරේ යොමුව ඇති සේයක් දිස් වෙයි. වසංගත මර්ධන වැඩ පිළිවෙල සහ මැතිවරණය උත්කර්ශයට නගන බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට ලග එන සාගතය ගැන වගේ වගක් නැත. වසංගතය මෙන්ම ලග එන ආර්ථික අර්බුධය බිහිසුණුය. එලඹෙන ආර්ථික අවපාතය 1929 දී ලොව උඩු යටිකුරු කල මහා ආර්ථික අවපාතයටත් වඩා දරුනු විය හැකි බව අර්ථ ශ්‍රාස්ත්‍රඥයන් මේ වන විට අනතුරු අඟවා ඇත.  ආර්ථික ව්‍යධියේ ප්‍රතිවිපාක මෙරට ජනයා කරා නොපැමිණිමට හේතු නැත.

දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයේ  අහිමි වීම

රටක ජීවන තත්වය තීරණය වන්නේ නිෂ්පාදනය කරන භාන්ඩ හා සේවා  ප්‍රමානයට සාපේක්ෂවය . ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දල ජාතික නිෂ්පාදිතය ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 89 කි. ඒ අනුව එක් දිනක  දල ජාතික නිෂ්පාදිතය  ඇ. ඩොලර් මිලියන 244 ක් පමණ වෙයි. එනම්  රට ලොක් ඩවුන් කර ඇති සෑම දිනකම, ඇ.ඩොලර් මිලියන 244 ක් පමන හෝ ආසන්න මුදලක් අපට අහිමි වෙයි. මෙම අහිමි වීම ඉදිරියේදී විවිධාකාරයෙන් ජනයාට බලපානු ඇත. භාන්ඩ හා සේවා හිඟයක් ඇති වන විට, වත් පොහොසත් කම් ඇති අය වැඩි මිලක් ගෙවා ඒවා භුක්ති විඳීමත්, එවන් වත්කමන් නැති පිරිස් වලට නිකම් බලා සිටීමට හෝ පින්සෙන්ඩු වීමට සිදු වනු ඇත.

සංචාරක සහ අපනයන ආර්ථිකය බිඳ වැටීම

ලංකාවේ අපනයන ආදායම වසරකට ඇ.ඩොලර් බිලියන 12 ක් පමන වෙයි .  ලංකාව අපනයන විවිධංගී කරණයකින් යුතු රටක් යයි කිව නොහැක. බටහිර රටවල ඇතිවන අර්බුධයකින්  මෙරට අපනයන ආර්ථිකය මුළුමනින් කඩා වැටිය හැක. කැමති වුවද අකැමති වුවද දැන්  එම තත්වය උදා වී ඇත. මෙරට සංචාරක කර්මාන්තයෙන් වසරකට ඇ.ඩොලර් 4.5 උපයා දෙයි. මේ වන විට එම ආදායම මුළුමනින්ම අහිමි වී ඇත. ගුවන් තො‍ටුපොල විවෘත්ත කළද නීරෝධායනය ක්‍රියාත්මක වනු ඇත.  අතින් මුදල් වියදම් කරගෙන නිරෝධායන කඳවුරු වල ලැගීමට කිසිවෙකු පැමිනෙනු ඇතැයි සිතිය නොහැක. සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය කඩා වැටීමෙන් ඇ.ඩොලර් බිලියන 4 ක් පමන අපට අහිමි වනු ඇත.

නොවැලැවිය හැකි විනිමය අර්බුධය

විදේශ ශ්‍රමිකයන් වසරකට ඇ.ඩොලර් බිලියන 8කට ආසන්න මුදලක් ලැබුණි. වැඩිම ප්‍රේශන ලැබුනේ මැදපෙරදිගිනි.  මැදපෙරදිග රටවල ලක්ෂ 8 කට ආසන්න ශ්‍රමිකයන් පිරිසක් සේවය කරයි. තෙල් බැරලයට ඉතිහාසයේ අවම මිලක් ලැබීමත් සමග මැදපෙරදිග ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැටීම නොවැලැක්විය හැක . ඒ අනුව මැදපෙරදිග  විශාල පිරිසකට ‍රැකියා අහිමි වනු ඇත. විදේශ ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගෙන් ලැබෙන ප්‍රේශන වලින් 50% අහිමි වුව හොත්  එය  බිලියන 4කි. අපනයන , සංචාරක, විදේශ ප්‍රේශන යන ප්‍රමුඛ ක්ෂ්ත්‍ර සියල්ල කඩා වැටීම හරහා ඩොලර් බිලියන 30 ක පමන අහිමි වීමක් සිදු විය හැක.  එය උග්‍ර විණිමය අර්බුධයක් ඇතිවීම දක්වා වර්ධනය වනු ඇත.

‍‍රැකියා අහිමි වීම

ලංකාවේ ලක්ෂ 40ක් පමන අවිධිමත්  ‍රැකියා කරන්නන් වෙයි ( එදිනෙදා මෙහෙයුම මගින් ආදායම සරි කර ගන්නා අය ) රට ලොක් ඩවුන් කිරීම නිසා මොවුන් සියල්ලන්ට ‍රැකියා අහිමි වීඇත . සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය ලබා දුන් සෘජු ‍රැකියා 170000 ක් සහ වක්‍ර ‍රැකියා 230000 මුළුමනින්ම අහිමි වී ඇත. විදේශ ශ්‍රමිකයන් ලක්ෂ 4ක් ‍රැකියා අහිමි වන ගැට්ටට පැමින ඇත. ලංකාවේ පෞද්ගලික අංශයේද ලක්ෂ 4ක පමන ‍රැකියා කප්පාදුවක් සිදු වනු ඇත. සමස්ථයක් ලෙස ගත් කළ ලක්ෂ 50 කට ‍ පමන රැකියා අහිමි විය හැක. (පූර්ණ හෝ අර්ධ වශයෙන් ).එවිට, එවන් පුරවැසියන් පිරිසකගෙන් ගන්නා බදු මුදල් වලින් ලක්ෂ 14ක පමන රජ්‍ය සේවකයන් නඩත්තු කිරීමේ යුක්ති යුක්ත භාවය පිළිබද ප්‍රශ්නාර්ථයක්  පැන නගිනු ඇත.

රටට ආදරය කරන පුරවැසියන්ගේ යුතුකම

ලංකාවේ ආර්ථිකය සමාන්‍ය තත්වයෙන් දුවන කාලයේ පවා රජයේ සමස්ථ ආදායම ණය වාරික ටික ගෙවා ගැනීමට ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවූ බව ප්‍රසිද්ධ කරුණකි. රජය ණය ගෙවූයේ චීනයෙන් ගිණි පොලියට තවත් ණය ලබා ගනිමිනි. පසුගිය ආන්ඩුව ණය ගෙවූයේ හම්බන්තොට වරාය වැනි ජාතික සම්පත් කුණු කොල්ලයට විකිනීමෙනි. කොරෝනා ව්‍යවසනය හරහා ඩොලර් බිලියන 30 කට ආසන්න මුදලයක් අපට අහිමි වෙයි. නමුත් ලබා ගෙන ඇති ණය වලින් සතයක් වත් අඩු වන්නේ නැත. ආර්ථික අර්බුදයේ දිග පලළ මින් ගම්‍ය වෙයි. සංකීර්ණ රොකට් විද්‍යාවක් නොවන මෙය  රටට ආදරය කරන ඕනෑම අයෙකුට තේරුම් ගත හැක. කරුණු එසේ හෙයින්, වහල් මානසිකත්වයෙන් දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිරූප වලට ආවැඩීම වෙනුවට රට ගොඩ නැගීමට ‘ඇක්ෂන් පෑලෑන්’ ඉදිරි පත් කිරීමට කාලය පැමින ඇත. එවා ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට , අධීක්ෂණය කිරීමට පාලකයන්ට බල කළ යුතු කාලය පැමිණ ඇත.