KAMALIKA PIERIS

There are three categories of objects which are venerated by Buddhists, said historian Lorna Dewaraja. Firstly, the charred bodily remains of the Buddha which were collected and distributed after his cremation.   Secondly, objects which came in touch with the Buddha in his life time, such as the Alms Bowl and the Bodhi tree.  The third category is Buddha images.

The most important items in the first category are the Tooth Relic and the Collar Bone, both of which are enshrined in Sri Lanka. The history of the Tooth Relic is known. The ‘Dathavamsa’ says that when the remains of the Buddha were divided, after the cremation, among rival claimants,   the left Eye Tooth came to an Elder named Khema who took it to Dantapura in Kalinga where it was accorded the highest honour by the rulers of Kalinga. Kalinga is present-day northern Telangana, northeastern Andhra Pradesh, most of Odisha, and a portion of Madhya Pradesh .

For eight centuries the Tooth Relic remained undisturbed in Dantapura.  In the 4 century AD the ruler of Dantapura, Guhasiva, who was a convert from Brahmanism to Buddhism, paid homage to the Tooth Relic. This angered the Brahmin priests who complained to their king, Pandu at Pataliputra who ordered that the Tooth Relic be brought to the capital.   The Tooth Relic came, but Pandu converted to Buddhism and the Tooth Relic was safe .Then Pandu was defeated in a battle with the king of Savaththi, who demanded the Tooth Relic. However, according to Dathavamsa, the Tooth Relic went back to Guhasiva.

Thereafter, the son of the king of Ujjain, who was an ardent Buddhist, came on a pilgrimage to Dantapura      bringing offerings to the Tooth Relic. Guhasiva gave his daughter Hemamali to him in marriage and appointed him ‘Dantarakkkhadhikari’ or custodian of the Tooth Relic.

Savaththi again sent a large army demanding the Tooth Relic. Guhasiva entrusted the Tooth Relic to his son- in- law and daughter and told them that if he lost the battle with Savaththi, to take the Tooth Relic to his friend, Mahasena, king of Sri Lanka, who had shown a great desire to possess it.

Guhasiva must have lost the battle and probably his life, said Dewaraja, for Danta and Hemamali brought the Tooth Relic to Sri Lanka.  They had travelled disguised as beggars and after many adventures had arrived at the port of Lankapattana situated in the Jaffna peninsula. They travelled to Anuradhapura and offered the Tooth Relic to the king.  By this time, King Mahasena had died and his son, Kirti Sri Meghavanna (301-308 AD), was king.  He was a contemporary of Emperor Samudragupta in India.

Culavamsa only gives one sentence to this event, observed Dewaraja.  Culavamsa simply says the Tooth Relic was brought to Sri Lanka during the time of King Kirti Sri Meghavanna. But there are other     writings which commemorate the event, particularly the ‘Dathavamsa’. The Dathavamsa was written in the 13 century, but it was based on an earlier work, ‘Daladavamsa’   which   was composed during the reign of Kirti Sri Meghavanna, at the express command of the king.

  Dewaraja says information in Dathavamsa can be taken as authentic.  The information agrees with conditions in India at the time. In India the Gupta period saw a powerful Brahmanic revival .But there were flourishing Buddhist centers too, and these had close religious ties with Sri Lanka. That is why Guhasiva wanted the Tooth Relic sent to Sri Lanka for safety.

Kirti Sri Meghavanna showed great reverence to the Tooth Relic. He placed it in an urn of pure crystal and deposited it in the Dhammachakka building, constructed by King Devanampiya Tissa on the palace premises. This building was then called the Temple of the Tooth Relic. Kirti Sri Meghavanna  held a  great festival for the Tooth Relic, for which he spent 900,000 kahapana. Dewaraja says the Tooth Relic went to Abhayagiri and not  Maha vihara, because Kirti Sri’s  father supported Abhayagiri and not Maha vihara. The son,  perhaps out of loyalty, did the same.

Kirti Sri Meghavanna  ordered that the Tooth Relic must be brought every year to Abhayuttara vihara (Abhayagiri vihara) and the festival be held there. The annual Tooth Relic perahera associated with Abhayagiri vihara continued throughout the Anuradhapura period, said Dewaraja. It was a spectacular event. Fa Hien who was in Anuradhapura in 410 AD has   left an account of the Tooth Relic perahera in Anuradhapura.

 Fa Hien said there were many noblemen and rich householders living in the city. The houses of the merchants are beautifully adorned. The streets and passages are all smooth and level. There are fifty or sixty thousand priests in the country.  At the head of the four principal streets there are Preaching halls. On the 8, 14 and 15 days of the month they hold bana preachings.

They always bring out the Tooth Relic in the middle of the third month, continued Fa Hien.  Ten days before hand, the king magnificently caparisons a great elephant, and commissions a man of great eloquence, dressed in royal apparel and riding on the elephant to sound a drum and proclaim a statement about the greatness of the Buddha.

‘After ten days the Tooth Relic will be brought forth and taken to Abhayagiri vihara,’ the announcer said.  ‘let all ecclesiastical and lay persons within the kingdom who wish to lay up a store of merit , prepare and smooth the roads, adorn the streets and high ways,  let them scatter every kind of flower and offer incense in religious reverence to the Relic.”

Dewaraja summarizes the above account. The King commissions an officer riding a gaily caparisoned elephant to announce the fact that the Tooth Relic will be brought from the city to the Abhayagiri vihara and kept for ninety days for the public to worship.

Fa Hien,   continued his description, saying, the king next causes to be placed on both sides of the road representations of the     500 bodily forms which the Buddha assume during his births, such as elephant and antelope. These figures are all beautifully painted in diverse colors and have a very life like appearance.   Then the Tooth Relic is brought forth and conducted along the principal road. As they proceed religious offerings are made to it.

 When the Tooth Relic arrives at Abhayagiri vihara, they place it in the Hall of   Buddha, where the clergy and laity all assemble in vast crowd and burn incense,   light lamps and perform many religious ceremonies both night and day without ceasing. After ninety days they again return it to the Vihara. This vihara is thrown open on the chief holidays for the purpose of religious worship,” concluded Fa Hien.  

Dewaraja observes that this shows that Kirti Sri Megavanna’s order was followed even hundred years later. Fa Hien said the Tooth Relic was taken out in the middle of the third month, this will be Esala added Dewaraja.

 The Tooth Relic continued under the protection of the king. In AD 428 king Mahanama had sent a letter to the Sung Emperor in China together with a model of the Tooth Relic as a sign of friendship.

King Dhatusena (455-473) showed great devotion to the Tooth Relic. He repaired the temple and   had a casket made for the Tooth Relic with a ‘halo’ made of closely fitting mosaic thickly set with precious stones. Aggabodhi I (571-604) decorated the temple and built a golden reliquary with brightly gleaming precious stones. Sena II (853-887) held a glittering festival of the Tooth Relic.

Dewaraja points out that  in this time, several persons, kings and nobles have  the Pali word Datha’ or the Sinhala word ‘Dala’ which  mean ‘tooth’, attached to their names, such as Dhatusena,  Dathapabhuti ( 531AD) Dala Mugalan ( 531-551) Dathopa Tissa ( 639-650) Hattadatha (659-667).

The Chinese traveler, Hiuen Tsang   who came to  the island in  629 AD reported  , that beside the  king’s palace was the Temple of the Tooth, which was  decorated with all kinds of gems which dazzled like the sun and above the  temple at considerable height  was fixed a great ruby that shone with brilliant light,

Dewaraja observed that in Anuradhapura the Tooth Relic had to compete with other shrines such as the Sri Maha Bodhi and the Maha thupa.  When the capital shifted to Polonnaruwa only the Tooth Relic could be taken there. The Tooth Relic became the sole object of worship In Polonnaruwa and this continued in all the other capitals to which the Sinahla monarchy moved after that.

Dewaraja also observed that by about the 12th century, the Dalada came to be regarded as the symbol of royalty and its custodian was destined to wear the crown. So deep rooted was this belief in the minds of the public that in 1818 the capture of the Tooth Relic by the British, quite by accident, marked the end of the rebellion.

The Polonnaruwa kingdom   faced an invasion of the Tamil  Cholas, who ruled there for   seventy years. When the Cholas invaded    Sri Lanka, the bhikkhus took the Tooth Relic and fled to Ruhuna in the south. The Tooth Relic returned to Polonnaruwa when Vijayabahu I (1055-1110) chased away the Cholas and started to rule from Polonnaruwa.

 Vijayabahu built a beautiful costly temple for the Tooth Relic and   instituted a permanent great festival for the Tooth Relic.  Vijayabahu also obtained a fresh upasampada from Burma as the Sangha had declined in his kingdom. In return King Anaurata asked for the Tooth Relic. Vijayabahu sent a replica.

According to the Culavamsa, Vijayabahu’s son Vikramabahu plundered the treasures offered to the Tooth Relic by devotees. The bhikkhus, thoroughly alarmed, once again  hid the Tooth and Bowl relics, taking them from place to place to ensure their safety. The Tooth Relic ended up at Udundora and its custody passed into the hands of the princes of Ruhuna.

Parakrama bahu I (1153-1186) found that his rule was challenged because he did not possess the Tooth Relic when he took power. The Tooth Relic was still in Ruhuna in the care of Queen Sugala. In 1157 Parakrama bahu waged war against Ruhuna to get the Tooth Relic and the Bowl relic back. Ruhuna had planned to send the two relics abroad. Parakrama bahu gave express orders to his generals to capture the relics.  After a fierce battle led by Commander in chief Rakkha, the Ruhuna group were defeated. The army took possession of the two relics at Uruvela, southeast of modern Moneragala. They were sent to Polonnaruwa under strict security.

Culavamsa said that Parakrama bahu shedding tears of joy and with his hair standing on end walked eight miles to the river to take charge of the relics. He held a grand festival then and there. He left the relic heavily guarded, and returned to the capital. He ordered a temporary pavilion for the exhibition of the Tooth Relic and a splendid edifice as a permanent home for the Tooth Relic.  The Tooth Relic was placed in a casket studded with costly gems. The casket was then placed inside a gold box.

Parakrama Bahu I held a festival for the Tooth Relic. .Culavamsa describes this festival. The king riding his favorite elephant  accompanied by his courtiers on horseback, and hundreds of dancing girls and musicians, and surrounded by his people, carried the relics amidst the trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, the clatter of chariot wheels, the rattle of drums and the cries of victory of the bards.’ Dewaraja notes that the king’s procession as described in the Culavamsa has a martial note to it. It includes all four components of war fare, elephants, cavalry, charioteers and infantry.

Culavamsa says torrential rains fell at that time, though it was not the monsoon season. Dewaraja observed, this is one of the reasons the Tooth Relic is of such importance to the king. As custodian of the Tooth Relic he could play the role of rain maker which is vitally important in an agricultural society. Even today, she says,   it is believed that rain will fall when the relic is taken in procession.

Nissanka Malla (1186-1197) also looked after the Tooth Relic. He built for it the temple known today as Hatadage. He made several offering to the Tooth Relic, including his own son and daughter whom he then redeemed by paying the price of a golden Dagoba to the relic. Dewaraja observed that this custom is followed today.  Parents place their new born children before the Relic chamber in the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy and then buy them back by paying whatever they can.

 King Kalinga  Vijayabahu, known as  Magha, ruled from 1215 to 1236. He was against Buddhism and destroyed Buddhist monuments. Therefore, the Sangha, headed by Ven. Vacissara took the Tooth Relic to Malaya rata and buried it in a mountain for safety, reported Culavamsa. In the latter part of Magha’s rule, Vijaya bahu III (1232-36)  was also ruling at Dambadeniya.

  His son, Parakrama bahu II (1236-1270)  rescued the Tooth Relic and took it to  Dambadeniya,. He   held a grand festival and built an edifice for it near the Palace.  He is said to have offered his 64 ornaments including his diadem and bracelet to the Tooth Relic. He wanted his son to take the Tooth Relic back to Polonnaruwa. But his son Vijayabahu IV took it to Yapahuwa, which he made his capital.

Chandrabanu of Ligor invaded Sri Lanka at this time to obtain relics, presumably the Tooth Relic.  Ligor was another name for Nakon si Thammarat, in present day Thailand. In the Vat Hva Vian inscriptions datable to 1230 .Chandrabanu is identified at king Siridhamma of Dhammarajanagara. Dhammaraja nagara has been identified as Nakhorn si Thamarat, and the ruler has been identified as the Chandrabanu who invaded Sri Lanka.   Chandrabanu  invaded twice and the second time he is said to have lost his life, according to Culavamsa.

There was a Pandya outpost in Jaffna during this time headed by Ariyachakravarti. Ariyachakravarti successfully invaded Yapahuwa, in the time of king Buvaneka bahu 1 (1272-84), captured the Tooth Relic and sent it to the Pandya king Kulasekhera who was ruling in Madura in present day Tamilnadu.

Parakrama bahu III (1287-93), who succeeded his father, Buvaneka bahu 1, went to Madura, spoke to Kulasekera and brought back the Tooth Relic. This diplomatic achievement has not received the applause it deserved. Parakrama bahu took the Tooth Relic to Polonnaruwa as his father had wanted.

In the meantime, the reputation of the Tooth Relic had spread across Asia and Chinese emperor Kublai Khan sent an embassy to the Sinhala king asking for the Tooth Relic and Bowl relic. At that time the two relics had gone to Madura. Kublai Khan then sent an embassy to Madura, but by then, the relic had come back to Sri Lanka.

The next king Buvaneka bahu II (1293-1302), established his capital at Kurunegala and took the Tooth Relic there. Parakrama bahu IV (1302-1326) known as Pandita Parakrama bahu also ruled from Kurunegala.  “Dalada sirita” was written by Devrad in 1326 during the reign of this king. Dalada Sirita” said that festivals of the Tooth Relic should be held to obtain rain.

Dalada sirita” described the ritual connected with the Tooth Relic and also how the king should behave towards it. When the king enters the Temple of the Tooth he should leave his retinue outside, clean the room and reverently pay homage to it, said Dalada Sirita.

Dalada sirita” also said that when a king went to reside in a new palace the Tooth Relic  should be brought accompanied by  the Sangha, reciting pirit and sprinkling  sacred water. The temple was to function as a sanctuary and those who entered it enjoyed immunity. Any money taken from the temple,   due to economic difficulties, should be returned with interest within six months.

According to “Dalada sirita” every year the Tooth Relic was taken in procession around the capital and exhibited to the public. For seven days preceding the date fixed for the procession, special offerings were made to the Tooth Relic, with the king, the high dignitaries of the state and the public taking part.

After morning service on the 7^th day the relic was taken out and paraded along the streets of the city. The casket containing the Tooth Relic was taken out in the presence of the head of the Uturumula   sect of the Abhayagiri vihara.

The casket was then placed on an ornamental chariot which was yoked to a gaily decorated elephant. Sacred water was sprinkled on the streets. In front of the chariot walked members of the Sangha, each one holding a string of protection, tied to the chariot, chanting pirit. Officials attached to the temple of the Tooth, palace officials and detachments from the army followed. After this the casket was opened and the relic exhibited to the public.

The next king, Buvanekabahu IV (1341-51) moved his capital to Gampola and the Tooth Relic went to Gampola. The only information available for this period is that the Tooth Relic was housed in the Niyamgampaya Maha vihara.

The capital then shifted to Kotte. Parakrama bahu VI (1412-1467) set up his capital there. The literature of  the time say that he built a splendid three storey mansion to house the Tooth Relic near his palace.

The Chinese emperor Yung Lo (1402 – 1424) asked   Cheng Ho, the admiral of the  Chinese fleet, to try and get the Tooth Relic from Sri Lanka, when his ship docked there. There was a clash between Cheng Ho and the chief officer of the king, Vira Alakesvara, during Cheng Ho’s  two visits to Sri Lanka ,  the last of which was in 1412.  Cheng Ho was unable to get the Tooth Relic. The Tooth Relic never went to China. It stayed in Sri Lanka.

The Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1509 and eventually took control of Kotte ruling it through king Dharmapala. The Portuguese were hostile to Buddhism. They had come to spread their    religion, Christianity (Roman Catholic) to Sri Lanka. Due to this, the Sangha fled from Kotte, taking with them the Tooth Relic which they hid in a grinding stone in the Delgamu vihara in Sabaragamuwa.  Records indicate that during this time, King Bayinnang ( 1551-1581) of Myanmar sent offerings to the Tooth Relic , and showed great concern for its safety.

When the Portuguese  took over  the Kotte kingdom, the Sinhalese moved the Sinhala kingdom to  the Udarata. Vimaladharmasuriya I (1592-1604) the first ruler of Udarata kingdom, rescued the Tooth Relic from Delgamu vihara. He built a splendid two storied relic house  near his palace and placed the  Tooth Relic there.

The Udarata kingdom was a huge kingdom, extending from the western shore to the eastern shore and including the ports of Kalpitiya and Trincomalee. The Portuguese and the Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka in the south west, were small in comparison. (See map no 4 in KM de Silva ‘History of Sri Lanka ‘)

The Udarata kingdom never went under the rule of either the Portuguese or the Dutch. The Udarata kings such as Rajasinha II were feared by them. The Tooth Relic continued to stay safely in the Udarata.

The Udarata capital, Senkadagala was   attacked several times by the Portuguese and the Dutch. Whenever this happened the Sangha took the Tooth Relic away from the capital Senkadagala  and hid it. During the rule of Senerat when the Portuguese invaded, the Tooth Relic was hidden in  Pansiyapattu in Dumbara. Pansiyapattu had impenetrable forests,   mountains and rivers. The public there  were  ‘made to protect the relic’.

Vimaladharmasuriya II (1687-1707) was very religious. He held a festival of the Tooth Relic  built a three storied palace and golden reliquary inlaid with precious stones . Hs son, Narendrasinha, rebuilt the palace his father had built for the Tooth Relic and had thirty two jatakas tales painted on the two walls of the courtyard. Reported the Culavamsa.

 The next king came from Andhra Pradesh,  India. He was Sri Vijaya Rajasinha ( 1739-1747). According to Culavamsa, he became a Buddhist  and patronized Buddhism . He  refurbished the Dalada Maligawa ,  organized  a grand festival in honour of the Tooth Relic and displayed the relic to the public.

 King Kirti Sri Rajasinghe (1782- 98) is remembered today as the king who combined the Dalada perahera with the annual procession held in Senkadagala for the Hindu gods, Pattini, Kataragama and Vishnu. I think that the Natha devale perahera would also have joined this collection of peraheras  once the Dalada Perahera  came in. Natha  is not a Hindu god. Natha is  a Mahayana deity, the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. The Esala perahera which continues to this day in Kandy, started in the  time of Kirti Sri Rajasinghe.

The last King of the Udarata kingdom, Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe added the Pattirippuwa to the Dalada Maligawa. This is today, the most conspicuous part of the Maligawa. During the reign of Sri Wickrema, in 1815, the British took the Udarata kingdom. The Sangha once again took the Tooth Relic away from Senkadagala for safety. After considerable persuasion, they surrendered the Tooth Relic to the British rulers. The Tooth Relic was brought back to the Dalada Maligawa in procession   in April 1815.

It was brought back in a  magnificent procession. This procession was conducted very correctly, said observers, not a single lapse. It is difficult to see how this could be. It had at least one alien element in it, the British representative John D’Oyly.

This perahera,  according to the description related by Dewaraja, was full of tusked elephants, grandly dressed,  in sets each of eight, six and five.  First came eight  elephants, followed by the  High priests, then Adigar Molligoda heralded by whip crackers and accompanied by other disawas, then came another five elephants with the Maligawa tusker in the middle, his tusks cased in gold. Then came John D’Oyly  followed by Ehelepola on a horse. The procession was a mile long. 

The Tooth Relic was handed over to the Sangha. D’Oyly was invited to join them in the relic chamber. D’Oyly accepted and said that the Governor, Robert Brownrigg wished to  make an offering to the Temple and  handed over  a beautiful musical clock. This was accepted with great delight by all present.

The keys of the casket containing the Tooth Relic were now given to D’Oyly. The Dalada perahera was held again in 1917 and there are two eye witness accounts of it, by John Davy, physician to the Governor and also by Milleva, former dissawe for Vellassa.

Then came the  rebellion of 1817 which was led by the ex-Bhikkhu Vilbave. He obtained possession of the Tooth Relic , which he had  secretly removed from Kandy, with the help of soldiers and some bhikkhus.  The British quelled the rebellion, took back the relic and in 1818 banned the Dalada perahera.  But after a prolonged drought, the British administration was persuaded to re-start the Perahera. The perahera was held   in 1828 under the patronage of the Governor.  There were torrential rains during the entire festival.

The British government was now the custodian of the Temple of the Tooth. And the Tooth Relic was in the custody of the Government Agent, Central Province.  The keys of the casket were with him. The temple officials were appointed by him. The temple lands continued to perform services for the Maligawa.

The Christian  missionaries in England were dead against the  British administration supporting Buddhism like this in Sri Lanka . Viscount Torrington was sent as Governor in 1847  with orders to de link the British administration from Buddhism . In October 1847, the Temple of the Tooth was handed over to a committee of two Bhikkhus and a chief, a decision which the Buddhists accepted with great reluctance, said Dewaraja.

Today, Dalada Maligawa is open to the public all through the year, every day.  But as far as I know, the only time the relic is presented for public exposure is the Esala Perahera.  The audience seated on the pavement watching the Perahera say ‘Sadhu Sadhu’ and bow before the Maligawa Tusker, as he moves along majestically carrying the karanduwa.

The Dalada Maligawa has various rituals including daily rituals.  There is the morning, noon and evening thevava, with drumming in the open area facing the relic chamber. The Maligawa is also the focus of the Alut sahal mangalyaya ceremony held in January at the commencement of the harvest. At an auspicious hour, the paddy set aside for the Maligawa from the new harvest is brought on an elephant and ritually offered to the Maligawa, which means it is offered to the sacred Tooth Relic.

The Sinhala   kingdom  and the Tooth Relic  would never have migrated to the central hills as it did, if not for the arrival of the Portuguese. The Sinhala king and the Tooth Relic ended up in the ‘Uda rata’ only because of the foreign occupation in the ‘Pahata rata’.

From the 13 century the seat of government was moving downwards as the East-West trade routes started operating near the island’s fat bottom. The great leap to Kotte from Gampola shows that the monarchy realized that they had to get to the southern coast fast.

I think that the capital city would not have stayed for long in Kotte either. It is not possible to rule the whole island from Kotte. The central hills are blocking. The capital city would probably have moved from Kotte to a permanent capital in Ruhuna from where it would have been easy to monitor the rest of the island, specially the east coast .The Tooth Relic would then have gone where it had not gone before, to Ruhuna.

 I have extensively used the text of The Kandy Asala Perahera” by Lorna Dewaraja (Vijita Yapa, 2018) for this essay and wish to make grateful acknowledgment.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B.,Ph,D.

කොරෝනාව හරහා දියවන්නා හෝටලය, යහපාලන වැසිකිළියක් කරගන්නට දඟලන කූඨ සැලැස්මේ නායක හොරා ඒබ්‍රහම් සුමන්තිරන්‌ය. මොවුන්ගේ අළුත්ම ගේම් එක වනාහි ඕනෑම දේකට අත උස්සන්නම්, හෝටලයේ දොර ඇරලා දෙන්න යනුය. මීට හේතුව දැන් යුද හමුදාව මුරට දමා ඇති නිසා කලින් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ රනිල් හා තානාපතිලා කල සෙල්ලම මේ පාර කල නොහැකි නිසා යාඥාකර, පරාදෙට අකුලා ගෙන හෝ ඇතුලට රිංගා ගැනීමය. අන්තිම දවසේ ණය ගෙවීමට අතුරු සම්මත ගිවිසුම අනුමත කරන්නට අඩු තරමින් ජේවීපීකාරයින් වත් කැමැත්ත පලකලාද? ගිය වහාම මොවුන් කරන්නේ ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති ප්ලෑන අනුව විශ්වාසභංගයක් ගෙන ඒමය. යම් හෙයකින් අධිකරණය කරු ජයසූරියට යතුර දුන්නත්, දැන් සිදුවන්නේ අසාත් සාලි-මුජිබර් රහමන්- මරික්කාර්ලා කදුළු ගෑස් කා ඉස්පිරිතාලයට යෑමය.

2005 ජනාධිපති චන්දයේදීද සරත් ෆොන්සේකා හෝටලයක් බදු අරගෙන කරන්නට සිතූ මොකක් හෝ දේ, යුද හමුදාව විසින් හෝටලය වට කිරීම නිසා බකල් වුනා මතකද? සුමන්තිරන්ලාගේ, කරු ජයසූරියලාගේ පොරොන්‌දු, අළුයම ලූ කෙලපිඬක් සේ ඉවත දැමිය යුත්තේ මොවුන් වංක පුද්ගලයින් නිසාය. ඩොනල්ඩ් ට්‍රම්ප් පවා අතට අත දීම වෙනුවට අයූබෝවන් කියන අදවැනි දවසක බටහිර තානාපතිලාට විෂ්ණු දෙවියන් රැක දෙන මේ ලංකාද්‌වීපය, ඊජිප්තුවේදී, ලිබියාවේදී හෝ යූක්‍රේන්හිදීමෙන් ජනයා දෙකට බෙදී මරාගන්නා රටක් බවට පෙරලා කල්ලමරේ කරගත හැකිද?

කණගාටුවට කරුණ නම් මොවුන් නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය කරපින්නාගෙන, ඒ වෙනුවෙන් දිවි පුදනවා කියන අය වීමය. සුමන්තිරන් විසින් දින කීපයකට පෙර රංජන් රාමනායක වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිට ඔහුට ඇප දුන් පසු කල මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශණයට අනුව හරි නම් උසාවියට අපහාස කලා යයි ඔහුව කොරෝනා හදිසි නීති යටතේ රිමාන්ඩ් කල යුතුව තිබුණි. ඒ ඇප දීම සුමන්තිරන් විස්තර කලේ කොරෝනා හදිසි නීතිය, නීති විරෝධී නීතියක් නිසා මහේස්ත්‍රාත් රංජන්ට ඇප දුන් බවය. ඔහු ව්‍යංගයෙන් කිව්වේ, ජනයාට ඒත්තු ගන්වන්නට හැදුවේ ඔහුගේ මොළයෙන් ඔහු ගෝඨාභය ජනාධිපතිව දණ ගැස්වූවා බවය. මුළු රටේම කොරෝනා මර්‍ධන වැඩපිලිවෙල බාල්දු කර, හෑල්ලුවට ලක් කිරීමය. මේ ප්‍රකාශයෙන් මහජනයා තුල ඇතිවිය හැක්කේ මොන අන්දමේ ආකල්පයක්ද? දැන් 50,000 ක් වන නීති කඩන (කුඩු කාරයින්ද සමඟ) පිරිස තවත් වැඩි නොවන්නේද?

රංජන් කොරෝනා බඩු බෙදමින් කලේ යහපාලන දේශපාලනය බව වීඩියෝ බලන විට පෙනේ. එක අවස්ථාවක ඔහු බඩු බෙදීම අවසාන කලේ පාක්‍ෂික ගෙදරක දේශපාලන රැස්වීමක් තබා බැසිල් රාජපක්‍ෂටද මඩ ගසාය. ඔහු හරි ඥානවන්ත යයි රංජන් සිතයි. ඔහුගේ යටි වංක අරමුණ, හදවත ගලවා අතට දෙන ඔහුගේ වචන යටින් එලියට පණින බව රංජන්ට හා ඔහුගේ චැක් ගෝලයින්ට නොතේරේ. පාලිත තේවරප්පෙරුම හා සසඳන විට රංජන්ගේ වංක හැසිරීම හොඳටම පැහැදිලිය. පාලිතලා වගේ 100 ක් සොයාගෙන රට පුරා යැවීමට ජනාධිපති නියෝගයක් දෙන්නේ නම් කෙතරම් අගනේද? පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලන උගතුන්ට වඩා පාලිතලා රටට වටින්නේය.

සුමන්තිරන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශයට විරුද්‌ධව පොලිසිය උසාවියට ගියවිට, මහේස්ත්‍රාත් කියා සිටියේ තමන් රංජන්ට ඇප දුන්නේ පොලිස් හදිසි නීතිය නීති විරෝධි යයි සුමන්තිරන් ගෙනා තර්‌කය උඩ නොවන බවය. යමෙකුට ඇප දීමට හේතුවන නොයෙක් කරුණු ඇතැයි කියන මේ මහේස්ත්‍රාත් ඇප දුන්නේ මොන කරුණක් උඩ දැයි කිව්වාද? ඔහු සුමන්තිරන් කල මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශය දැන ගත්තේ පොලිසිය ඔහු ඉදිරියට මෝසම ගෙනාවාට පසුව නම්, මෝසම සළකන වේලාවේ වත් සුමන්තිරන්ට ඔහු කල බොරු ප්‍රකාශය ගැන අවවාද නොකලේ සුමන්තිරන්ට බයේද? මේවා දෙස බලන විට සිතෙන්නේ සුමන්තිරන්ලාට නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය යනු වෙසඟනක් නොවේද යන්නය. මොවුන් දියවන්නා හෝටලයට රිංගීමට දෙන බොරු පොරොන්දු සතපහකට වත් විශ්වාස නොකල යුතු මේ නිසාය. මොවුන් ගරු කරණ කෙහෙල්මල් නීතියක් හෝ ආධිපත්‍යයක් හෝ නැත.

Chanaka Bandarage

There is an argument being made that in accordance with Article 150 (3) of the Constitution the President has power to appropriate funds from the Consolidated Fund only until 20 April 2020; hence, the dissolved Parliament should be reconvened. This argument is wrong.

The writer states that in accordance with Article 150 (3), the President has power to raise such funds on his own accord, at least 14 -21 days after 20 September 2020 (which is 3 months+ from the date of the election on 20 June 2020 – the current scheduled date).

The 14 -21 days apply because the date of summoning the new Parliament happens after the lapse of such a number of days from the date of the election.

See especially the bold in Article 150 (3), both English and Sinhala versions below:

150(3)- Where the President dissolves Parliament before the Appropriation Bill for the financial year has passed into law, he may, unless Parliament shall have already made provision, authorize the issue from the Consolidated Fund and the expenditure of such sums as he may consider necessary for the public services until the expiry of a period of three months from the date on which the new Parliament is summoned to meet.’

150(3)- කිසියම් වර්ෂයක විසර්ජන පනත් කෙටුම්පත නිතිය බවට පත්වීමට පෙර ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරුවා හරිනු ලැබූ අවස්ථාවක පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් රජයේ සේවාවන් සඳහා මුදල් වෙන් කර නොමැත්තේ නම් අභිනව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස්වීමට නියමිත දින සිට මාස 3ක් ඉකුත් වන තෙක් රජයේ සේවාවන් සඳහා යම්කිසි මුදලක් අවශ්‍ය වෙතැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයා සලකයි නම් එම මුදල ඒකාබද්ධ අරමුදලෙන් නිකුත් කිරීමටත් වැය කිරීමටත් නියම කිරීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට බලය ඇත්තේය.”

Currently, the Opposition’s argument that the President’s financial power under Article 150 (3) ends on 20 April 2020 has merit.  This is because the Government has failed to set a date for the new Parliament to meet after the election. The Election Commission has set a date for the election (20 June 2020), but Article 150 (3) refers to the first date which the new Parliament meets. This has to be set by the President.

This is a major drawback on the part of the Government!

Thus, at the moment the 2 March 2020 gazette notification seems to be ineffective. Technically, the Opposition’s Petition should succeed.

Thus, what the Government must do is to immediately gazette such a first Parliament meeting date.

If they are slack, the Government will have to pay a huge price.

The Writer in his article dated 26 April 2020 (published in Lankaweb) stated that the proposed Petition before the Court is doomed to fail.  He standby his assertion.

Those who demand reconvening of the Parliament seeks a declaration from the Court that the President’s gazette notification dated 2 March 2020 issued under Article 70 (1) should be declared null and void. They have failed to substantiate their argument sufficiently and adequately. Their current argument that the election date mentioned in the gazette – 25 April 2020, and sitting date of the new parliament – 14 May 2020 are unachievable is a weak one.  The defective date for holding the election has already been cured by the Election Commission by proclaiming a new election date of  20 June 2020. The Government should soon gazette the first date that the new Parliament meets.

The only way to mount a proper challenge that the Parliament must be immediately reconvened is to allege that given the dangerous Corona Pandemic, the President has failed to exercise his discretion in relation to Articles 70 (1) and 70 (7) in good faith.  But, the Opposition’s proposed Petition does not raise this.

Article 70 (1) – The President may by Proclamation, summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament.

Article 70 (7) – If at any time after the dissolution of Parliament, the President is satisfied that an emergency has arisen of such a nature that an earlier meeting of Parliament is necessary, he mayby Proclamation summon the Parliament which has been dissolved to meet on a date not less than three days from the date of such Proclamation and such Parliament shall stand dissolved upon the termination of the emergency or the conclusion of the General Election, whichever is earlier.

Note mayin both Articles. That suggests the President’s power is discretionary (not mandatory). 

The exercise of a discretionary power is subject to judicial challenge.

The following are grounds of review that could be relied upon (they are set out herein only for academic purpose):

                     (a)  taking an irrelevant consideration into account in the exercising of the discretionary power (showed the desire to dissolve the Parliament early and hold early elections disregarding the danger of Corona Pandemic (breach of Article 70 (1);

                     (b)  failing to take relevant considerations into account in the exercise of the discretionary  power (the dangerous Corona Pandemic has created an Emergency situation in the country, and during the Corona Pandemic the government is ought to be present in the Parliament to answer to the people (breach of Article 70 (7).  Refuses to reconvene the dissolved Parliament (breach of Article 70 (7));

                     (c)  exercise of the discretionary power for a purpose other than a purpose for which the power is conferred (dissolved the Parliament disregarding the Corona Pandemic and set down a date for early elections with the view of securing an absolute parliamentary majority (breach of Article 70 (1). Refuses to reconvene the dissolved Parliament (breach of Article 70 (7));

                     (d)  exercise of a discretionary power in bad faith (dissolved the Parliament and set down a date for holding elections during a deadly Corona Pandemic that is likely to expose the public to unnecessary risk including death (breach of Article 70 (1). Refuses to reconvene the dissolved Parliament (breach of Article 70 (7));

                     (e)  exercise of the discretionary power in accordance with a rule or policy without regard to the merits of the particular case (dissolved the Parliament disregarding the importance of upholding ‘representative democracy’ – the Government is answerable to people through the Parliament during an Emergency (breach of Articles 70 (1) and 70 (7). Refuses to reconvene the dissolved Parliament (breach of Article 70 (7));

                     (g)  exercise of the discretionary power that is so unreasonable that no reasonable President could have so exercised the power (the Government is committed to explain to the public through the Parliament about distribution of food/how essential services would operate during the curfew, social distancing measures/conduct of PCR tests, receipt and disbursement of very large foreign/local aid/funds etc (breach of Article 70 (7).  Refuses to reconvene the dissolved Parliament (breach of Article 70 (7));

                     (h)  exercise of the discretionary power in a way that constitutes abuse of the power (breach of Articles 70 (1) and 70 (7)).

Chanaka Bandarage

Rap music evolved around 1960s from hip hop music. It involves delivering existing songs in hip hop style, rock rhythms and fast beats.

Sri Lanka’s current young performers are heavily involved in rapping music (songs).  By doing so, they do a great disservice to our highly respected, old, established songs.

Dhanno Budunge is such a song. It was written by John De Silva in early 20^th century (precisely in 1903). The first singer is unknown. Some say it was the song writer himself. In 1940s and 1950s Rupasinghe Master sang it brilliantly.

Dhanno Budunge was first released as a LP record under ‘His Master’s Voice’ label in late 1950s. The cassette, CD, DVD, MP3 versions later emerged.

Dhanno Budnuge has been played in Sinhala homes with devotion to Lord Buddha and Anuradhapura, the ancient city. The song has nobility, impeccability and perfection.

Even Dhanno Budunge has been rapped. It has been sung by artistes over different pop vocal deliveries/beats. The writer has been told that there had existed baila versions of Danno Budunge.

By rapping our highly respected, oldish songs like Danno Budunge with cynical/ulterior intention, these artistes not only cause disrespect to the song but also to our traditions, customs and heritage.

Dhanno Budunge is not a song that should be sung in a baila beat to dance.

Amazing Grace is sung devotionally in Anglo Saxon countries since late 18^th century. There is so much respect shown to this song in those countries. They would never allow it to be rapped.

Another similar song is Australia’s Waltzing Matilda. It is protected in that country as a National Treasure.

In 1960s and 1970s Sri Lanka produced brilliant and finest singers and musicians.  Rapping music (songs) was never done by them. They created their own, original, authentic  music. Sunil Shantha, CT Fernando, Amaradeva, Victor Rathnayake, Nanda Malini, Milton Mallawarachchi, Clarence Wijewardane, MS Fernando, Anton Jones, Freddie Silva, Sanath Nandasiri, TM Jayarathne, Abeywardane Balasuriya, Dyarathne Ranathunge, Amara Ranathunga, Chitra Somapala and Anula Bulathsinhala come to mind.

The importance is that the highly respected artistes never stole others’ songs to create their own. It is true that Amaradeva too sang Dhanno Budunge. But, that was alright.  He never tried to own it.  Furthermore, he did not disturb the song’s originality, seriousness and sacredness.

Unarguably Victor Rathnayake has produced some of the best music of our time. He is a living legend. He must receive the State’s patronage. The remarkable thing is that at nearly 80 years of age he continues to produce brilliant masterpieces. His most recent  මගේ සඳ ඇවිත්,  නිවී සැනසිල්ලේ and හිතින් යන අය are examples. If  he sings someone else’s song (very rarely), he would always mention the original artiste’s name.

We have highly talented young artistes today. Some of the music that they have created is most outstanding and marvelous.

But, sadly there are many that tend to sing old, favourite songs. They think that this is the only way to become popular. This inhibits their creativity. They should try to make their own quality songs/music.

On  two different aspects –

(1) Dancing to famous old tunes has become a new norm; veteran artistes in gala shows, children in school concerts commonly do this. They dance beautifully wearing incredible costumes. Often, they demonstrate superb choreography. The writer is not saying that this is bad, but it is good if new music is also created. Rather than dancing to old songs/old beats with new words/Hindi songs; performers should try to dance to new songs/music either created by themselves or others. This is how a culture is progressed. As stated earlier there is enormous new talent today. In olden days children performed in school concerts of their own creations (songs, acts/dances); later in life they ended becoming highly talented artistes.   Even in ‘Handa Mama’ today, children tend to recite old children songs; those days they mostly sang their own songs. During the show, some children made new songs instantly.

(2) There is a tendency to ‘rap’ our traditional dancing as well – Kandyan and Low Country. They rap them with Indonesian/Korean, Lebanese, Latin American style dancing. Sadly sometimes such things are done by our ‘acclaimed’ dancing teachers. The writer has attended events where our Kandyan dancing had contained ‘sexy’ overtures. Recently dancers did inappropriate Kandyan type dancing before an audience that was largely of foreign dignitaries. Their costumes exposed body parts – something abnormal in our traditional Kandyan dancing. In a certain scene, a Kandyan type dancing couple as part of the dance kissed each other on the stage. Why did the organisers tolerate such nonsense?

Again, rapping old songs is very common and fashionable in Sri Lanka today. Such rapped music is in demand and promoted heavily by our TV stations and FM radio stations. Unlike their older counterparts, many of our younger generation seem to accept any music that comes their way.

About 30 – 40 years ago, it was SLBC and Rupavahini/ITN that promoted good, local music. They may still be trying to do that; but very few people listen/watch them. As they have lost dominance, they are no longer the major source of local music.

Rapping our older, quality songs like Dhanno Budunge, Shantha Me Re Yame, Lo Ada Ninde/Mal Bara Himidiriye (CT Fernando version) should not be allowed. The writer states that it is alright to sing others’ songs in  public including older, quality songs. But, it should be done without harming the songs originality, meaning and authenticity. What they must not do is to rap them, like hip hop, heavy metal or baila.

by Chandre Dharmawardana.

Mr. Soyza writes (Lanka Web, 27-04-20) that “We hear many a good story about how Hela Vedakama can restore immunization in the human body from Hela Suwaya school of medicine.  The time tested methods are available to our citizens in these times of fear to protect them from a virus for which there is hardly any treatment except vaccinations under the Western system….”

The Hela suvaya system is NOT Hela vedakama.  One may “hear” many stories, but nice anecdotes are   NOT sufficient for sick people to rush to them. Fortunately hospitals as well as “Hela Veda hal” are equally available to the public for them to choose. Note that the Helas Suvaya team do not observe physical distances, or wear face masks in their U-tube display. Do they claim that they don’t need such things because they have boosted immune systems?

The “Hela Suvaya”  publicity claims that they get their “vattoru” directly from Gods like  “Daedimunda, Natha”  and other Gods that Mrs. Senanayake is  able to communicate with. This is indeed stated in the U-tube that they have issued, with the claim that:

“”දුමක් අල්ලා කැඳක් පොවලා දින 3න් කොරෝනා සුව කළ හැකි” යි (Can cure Corona in three days, giving a herbal smoke and a rice broth). No one has heard of proven cases of “immunity being built up in three days”, even with a vaccine. Immunity building up involves building up  specific proteins (antibodies), or the capacity to build such proteins when needed,  and inactivate pathogens as well as control oxidative stress etc., that build up in the body when faced with a disease.

Cocvid-19 is a NEW virus, and so the body does not know how to deal with it. All evidence point to the need for some two weeks or more, for even a very healthy person to build immunity.

The very claims of the Hela Suvaya group seems too extreme and raise red flags in the minds of those  most people.

It was said at one time that God Natha revealed to Mrs. Senanayake  that there is Arsenic in the Rajarata soil, and that was the cause of the mysterious chronic kidney disease found in some villages of the Rajarata. Dr. Nalin de Silva was the Dean of Science in Kelaniya at the time, and so manged to direct the Chemistry Dept. of Kelaniya University to look for Arsenic in the Rajarata soil. When they could NOT find any adequate arsenic in the Rajarata soil , one can imagine that Dr. Nalin de Silva was not at all amused!

If Mr. Ranjith Soyza is talking of  “Sinhala vedakama”, or Ayurveda, then indeed, such medical systems have existed in Sri Lanka since ancient times, and there ARE various time tested remedies for certain ailments.

When the Spanish flu epidemic hit Sri Lanka in 1918-1920 period, thousands and thousands of village people (who had NO access to Western medicine, as is the case today)  perished.  There were no flu vaccines in Western medicine either, but the wealthier, “westernized” people had better standards of living and were healthier – so somewhat more resistant to disease. However, it was a new virus, and  immunity to previous types of infections was of no use. Today also we are dealing with a new virus. 

Sinhala vedakama and Ayurveda were resorted to by the ordinary people during that flu epidemic in 1918, because they had nothing else to resort to, but it was to no avail.  Prior to vaccinations for small pox, Sinhala vedakama had no defence against small pox. One need not mention all the other diseases, against which children are inoculated now a days, making us forget about mumps, whooping cough, measles, typhoid, etc, etc. All medical systems, including indigenous medicine asnd Western medicine, had been helpless against such diseases, till vaccine development became better understood.

So why does Mr. Ranjith Soyza claim that “time tested methods are available to our citizens in these times of fear to protect them from a virus”. Can he give just one instance of when traditional methods protected people from any virus, if it is so time tested? I think Mr. Soyza is merely expressing a common, well-entrenched  belief for which there is no evidence what so ever.

We know that Dr. Nalin de Silva and others close to him have  declared that some “non-human forces” and “Naga beings” acting in consort are responsible for the illness. Perhaps  some people  do not even believe that it is a virus?

Was this why the Head monk of Sri Pada felt that there is no need to cancel the Vandana season this year?

Prior to the discovery of germs, and the rise of knowledge of human physiology etc., the so-called Western medicine was also a  system  based on herbs, very similar to what we call “indigenous medicine”, or Ayurveda.  Greek and Roman medical systems  used the theory of the four humours,  viz., breath (va), yellow bile and black bile (pith), and phlegm (sem), and blood. In Ayurveda, e.g.,  in the “Sushruta Samhita”, the theory of the four humours can be found;  this includes the above-mentioned “tri-dosha”  as well as blood as the fourth humour. The medical system of Europe in medieval times was a mixture of Greek, Roman and Arabic medical systems.

However, the discovery of the microscope which showed micro-organisms, advances in anatomy and physiology, discoveries of gases like oxygen,  changed all that. That these are facts valid every where, be it in the West, or in the East, and not relative to any culture  is clear to most people who know that the same diseases can be found in the East or West, and the same laws of physics and chemistry apply every where, be it here, in Moscow, or in a space station. However, there is an irrational fringe of people who believes that Western Science is a well-concocted lie (“patta pal boruwa”), and that truth must be found by  meditation as revealed knowledge, given to suitable people  by divine spirits like God Natha.

That dependence on “revealed knowledge”  is NOT the tradition or the culture that we know of in Sri Lanka, or what we see in the Pali Chronicles. The Pali texts chronicle a people who followed the Theravada tradition, with its emphasis on an analytical and critical approach, as exemplified in the Kalama Sutta and the Gnana Sutta.

In the Gnana Sutta, the Buddha emphasized the experimental method long before Archimedes, wherein he says, Oh Monks, if you want to know if a piece of metal is Gold, or a base metal, then surely you apply the test of the touch stone. In the same way with various teachings…..”. Furthermore, in the Brahmajala Sutta, the Buddha rejects the epistemology that the Helasuvaya is using to justify its medications and  treatments.  They need some mystical justifications as their treatments are NOT based on any hereditary knowledge or empirical testing.

So if Mr. Ranjith Soyza believes that the Hela Suvaya medications are “time tested traditional medicine” he is mistaken. One gets the impression that their age is not more than when Mrs. Senanayake learned of them through her claimed psychic powers.

Of course, if a medication works, it does not matter to the patient whether the medication was revealed or scientifically discovered. However, the claims of the Hela Suvaya group are anecdotal, and it would be unethical to make guinea pigs out of Covid-19 patients  on the basis of such claims.

In the 19th century, when the Veda paramaparaavas (indigenous  medical-practitioner families) were intact, and when Western medicine had made NO INROADS into the treatment received by the people, the average life expectancy was less than 40 years ( Dr. Jayantha Kelgama and others have done historical research on this sort of thing). So, if  Hela Vedakama can restore immunization in the human body, we see no clear  sign of it, and no evidence for it, from verifiable cases. However, if Mr. Soyza is able to present such cases, that would be interesting.

Some people may allude to the fact that “in their memory” their fore fathers lived to a ripe old age. Indeed, those who survived the infections that young children face, for which indigenous medicine provides no protection, one came out with various types of immunity, acquired the hard way, by actually getting measles, small pox, mumps  etc. So, those who survived  did live up to a ripe old age. But the majority died very young. So it was necessary to have big families, with many children, so that at least a few will survive.

However, one may ask about the power  of Coriander, Nelli, Rasakinda, Veni-vael gaeta, Ashwagandha, Kuturolu, Gotukola,  tea, beli-mal, wheat germ,  echinacea,  turmeric, linden flowers, cow urine, camphor, citronella, senna leaves, St John’s wort,  and so on. I have examined all these and many more plants (see dh-web.org/place.names/bot2sinhala.html), and documented their known pharmacological properties, as reported in Ayurvedic  texts, or in Western research documents. Indeed, all these plants have various valuable chemicals, and also contain various stimulants which may give an uplifted feeling.  Inhaling some  any plant in steam will bring along essential oils (volatile in steam) and give a feeling of temporary relief. But  NO EVIDENCE of any enhanced immunity has been unequivocally established for any of the above herbs, where ever  such double-blind tests have been done.

The slight exception may be citrus fruits, as they have vitamin C. However, one hears little of it as an immunity booster in indigenous medicine. Even with vitamin C, except for scurvy, the claimed enhanced immunity even for the common cold has not been established. Vitamin C is the in-vivo anti-oxidant par excellence. Linus Pauling, the great scientist and visionary suggested that Vitamin C can be effective if taken in very large doses (e.g, 2-5 g per day). However, even 10 oranges gives one only 0.7 g.    So it is no where near what is needed – if Linus Pauling is correct. In the same way, even herbs that contain useful medicinal agents have them only in minuscule proportions unless used in high concentrations, as in some “kasaahayas”.

“දුමක් අල්ලා කැඳක් පොවලා දින 3න් කොරෝනා සුව කළ හැකි” යයි  මංමුළා වූ අය.

දේශීය නම ආරූඪ කර ගෙන එයින් ලැබෙන පිලිගැනීම උපගෝගී කර ගනිමින්, නාථ දෙවියන්, දඩිමුන්ඩ දෙවියන්, මහා බ්‍රහ්මයා ආදීන් සඳහන් කරමින් කෝවිඩ්-19 සුව කිරීමට හැකියයි හෙලසුවයේ කණ්ඩායම ඉදිරි පත් වී ඇත.   ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රතිකර්ම ක්‍රමය සැබැවින් පරම්පාර්ක වෙදකමක් නොව, ප්‍රියන්ත සේනානයක මහත්මිය දෙවි ඇසුරෙන්, භාවනා මාර්ගයෙන් ලබාගන්නා ක්‍රම වේදයක් බව  ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශ වලින් දක්වන බවක් මට පෙනේ.  
(http://magazine.lankahelp.com/2011/10/04/the-lady-who-deals-with-god-%E2%80%9Cnatha%E2%80%9D/)
ස්වයං මුළාවකින් පටන් ගෙන වෙද ව්‍යාපරයක් බවට හැරී, දැන් දැන් වෙන අතකට ද හැරුනු ව්‍යාපාරයක් මෙන් අපට පෙනෙයි. එය දේශීය වෙද කමක් නොව, සියුම් ප්‍රචාරණ ක්‍රමයක් යොදාගන්නා අලුත් මාදිල්යේ පුද්ගලික වෙළඳ  ව්‍යාපාරයක්  බවට හැරී ඇතැයි යැයි මම හිතමි. මහජනයා රවටන්නේ නැතිව එවැනි ව්‍යාපාර ගෙන යාමේ වරදක් නැත. සමහරවිට, රැවටී ඇත්තේ මහජනයාම  නොව වෙලෙන්දා ද විය හැකිය. එවිට වෙද වෙලෙන්දා ගේ ප්‍රචාරය සාවද්‍ය වූවත්, පට්ට පල් බොරුවක් වූවත්, කූට ක්‍රියාවක් නොවේ.   ඇත්ත වශ්යෙන් ම, මහජන  හිතෛෂී වූවත් නොමංග ගිය ව්‍යාපාර වලින් මහා හානි ඇති විය හැක. යම් මහජන  හිතෛෂී   චේතනාවක් තුබුනත්, නොමංග ගිය වෛතුල්‍ය වාදී ව්‍යාපාර වලින් මහා හානි ඇති විය හැක.  

නුමුත්, බ්‍රහ්මජාල   සූත්‍රයට ද පා පහර දෙමින්,  දේව බලයම  සඳහන් කරමින්    කෝවිඩ්-19 සුව කිරීමට පැරණි-හාල් කැඳ සහ දුම් හට්ටියෙන් හැකි යයි කියන  පිරිස ද මොවුන්ය.  හාල් කැඳ හෝ කොල කැඳ බීමෙන් ප්‍රශ්නයක්  නොමැති වූවත්, දුම් හට්ටි ගැන ඉතාම සැකයෙන් බැලිය යුතුය.

රජරට ලිං ජලය පානය කරන අයට ඇතිවන ගුප්ත හේතුක වකු ගඩු රෝගයට හේතුව ද නාථ දෙවියන් ගෙන් ආවිෂ්කරණයක් ලෙස ලැබුවායයි කියමින්, හෙලසුව්යේ සෘෂිවරිය වන සේනානායක මැතිනිය  කිව්වේ කුමක් ද? රජරට ජලයෙහි, පසෙහි සහ එහෙයින් අහරෙහි ද ආසෙනික් විෂය   අඩංගු වී ඇති බවත්, එමගින් වකු ගඩු රෝගය  පැන නැංගී ඇති බවත් ය. එහෙයින්, ගොවියා සාමාන්‍ය අන්දමින් වගා කරණ සහල වස බවත්, හෙලසුව්යේ අනුග්‍රහයෙන් වවන සහල වැනි සහල් පමණක්  පරිභොගිකයා මිල දී ගත යුතු යැයි විශාල ප්‍රචාරයක් එදාත් අදත් පවත්වා ගෙන යති.   

 නුමුත්, රසායනික ක්‍රම වලින් රජරට ජලය, පස, පරිසරය  පරීක්ෂා කල විට සැලකිය යුතු  තරම් (මනින්නට වත් ප්‍රමාණ තරම්) ආසෙනික් ප්‍රමාණයක් එහි නැති බව ඔප්පු විය. සේනානයක මැතිනියගේ මතයෙහි පිහිටි නලින් ද සිල්වා මහතා ගේ යටතේ පැවතුන කැලණි සරසවි විද්‍යා පීඨයේ රසායන අංශයෙන් කල පර්යේෂණ  වලින් ද සැලකිය යුතු ආසෙනික් ප්‍රමාණයක් ඇතැයි ඔප්පු කිරීමට නොහැකි විය. එහෙයින් නාථ දෙවියන්ගේ වාක්‍යයක් යැයි කී ප්‍රකාශය  ස්වයං මුළාවක් පමණක් බව සක් සුදක් සේ පැහැදිලිවිය.  එවිට, ආසෙනික් කථාව කිව් අය එය වෙනස් කොට, ගුප්ත හේතුක වකුගඩු රෝගය හැදෙන්නේ ආහාරයෙහි ග්ලයිඵොසේට් වල් නාශකය අංශුමාත්‍ර වශයෙන් ඇති බවය. එහෙත්, සහලෙහි හෝ එලවලු වල  හෝ වකුගඩු රෝගීන්ගේ සිරුරු වල  ග්ල්යිඵොසේට් අංශුමාත්‍රයක් වත් ඇති බවක් කිසි කෙනෙක් පෙන්නා නැත.  එවැන්නක් නැති බව නම් පෙන්නා ඇත.

ව්ද්‍යාඥයන් වැඩිදෙනා පිලිගන්නේ රජරට වකුගඩු රෝගය හැදෙන්නේ ෆ්ලුඔරයිඩ් (fluoride)  ලවණය අන්තර්ගත කිවුල් ලිං ජලය පානය කිරීමෙන් බැවයි.  ප්‍රවේගී මහවැලි ක්‍රමය යටතේ වැව් වලින් ඈතින්  පදිංචි කල, ලිං ජලය බොන අයට හැදෙන මෙම රෝගය නැති කිරීමට යැයි කියා රතන හාමුදුරුවෝ, සේනානයක මැතිනිය, වෛද්‍ය ජයසුමන ආදීන් ගේ පුරෝගාමීත්වයෙන් ග්ලයිඵොසේ තහනම් කොට,  රජරට ජනයාට දේශීය හාල් කැඳ, කොලකැඳ  ආදිය දීමේ ව්‍යාපාරක් ගැන අසන්ට තුබුනි.

එම “කෝකටත්  දෙන කැඳය”  ඩෙඟු රෝගියාටද, කෝවිඩ්-19 රෝගියාට ද ප්‍රතිකාරය ලෙස හෙලසුවය කණ්ඩායම ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.  වෛද්‍ය කුමුදු දහානායක, වැලිසර ස්වසන  රෝහලේ  වෛද්‍ය නිරෝෂ් සමරවික්‍රම, මාතර මහරෝහලේ වෛද්‍ය මාලින් බටගොඩ හා ගම්පහ රෝහලේ පෝෂණවේදී  සූජීවා යන  අය  දුම් හට්ටිය හා කැඳ භාවිතා කර ප්‍රතිපල අත් විඳි බවද , ලෙඩුන් සුව වී ගිය බව ද කියයි.
 
කෝවිඩ් රෝගය ට පාත්‍ර වන  සිය දෙනෙක් ගත් විට, එයින් 2-3% කට පමණක් රෝගය වැලදෙයි.  එයින්ද  සුළු අනුපාතයකට පමණක් රෝගය බර පතල වෙයි. එහෙයින්, දුම් කබල  සහ කැඳ දවස් දෙකක් දුන් නිසා රෝගියා සුව වීය යි කීම පොල් ගහ යටින් තමා ගිය බලයෙන් පොල් ගෙඩිය වැටුනා යයි කීමක් වැනිය.

ඇත්තෙන්ම, ඔව්න් එසේ කියන්නේ භාවනා ශක්තියෙන් සහ දේව අනුග්‍රහයෙන් ලද පරම සත්‍යයයන් ඔව්න් සතු හෙයින්  බව ද, සාමාන්‍ය බටහිර විද්‍යා සත්‍ය ගවේෂණ ක්‍රම ඔවුන් පිලි නොගන්න බව ද පැහැදිලිය.

වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව ඉගෙන ගන්නා  අය ට කොතරම් කරුණු රාශියක් සිහි තුල පුරවා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය ද යත්, විචාර පූර්වක ව සිතීම සහ විද්යාවේ ක්‍රමය ඉගෙන ගැනීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත. ඥාණ සූත්‍රය මගීන්  විද්‍යාවේ ක්‍රමය මුලින්ම ප්‍රකාශ කල බුදු රුදුන් ලෝහයක් ඊයම් ද, රන් රිදී ද යනු දැනගැනීමට උර ගල පාවිච්චි කොට පරීක්ෂණයක් කල යුතු බව වදාලා සිටීහ. එයට භාවනාව හෝ දේව අනුග්‍රහයක් අවශ්‍ය බවක් වදාලේ නැත.

නුමුත් හෙලසුවය කණ්ඩායම කියන්නේ ඊට හාත් පසින් වෙනස් කතාවකි.   පරීක්ෂණ වලට වඩා   නිවැරදි, ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ ඇත්තක් දෙව සහායෙන් සහ භාවනා ශක්තියෙන් ලද හැකි බවය. මෙය ස්වයං මුළා ක්‍රමයක් බව  වකු ගඩු රෝගයේ අග මුල එම ක්‍රමයෙන් සොයන්ට ගොස් වලේ වැටුනු පසුදු තව තේරුම් ගෙන  නැත්තේ, වෙළඳ ව්‍යාපාරයක යෙදෙන අය සත්‍ය  ගවේෂණයෙහි යෙදෙන අය ගෙන යන ක්‍රමට වෙනස් ක්‍රමයකට යන හෙයින් ය.  දේව විශ්වාසය ඇති රටක, තම ව්‍යාපාරයට දේව වාක්‍යයක් ලැබී තිබේ යයි කීමට හැකි නම් එය හොඳම “ඇඩ්වටිස්මන්ට්” එක ය!

කොවිඩ් රෝගය මසක් කල් පැතුරුන මුත් එයින් මරණයට පත් වී ඇත්තේ හතර පස් දෙනෙක් පමණි. එහෙත්, සාමන්‍යයෙන් දිනකට රථ අනතුරු 150ක් පමණ සිදු වන අතර  එයින් මරණ අටක් දහයක් පමණ සිදු වේ. එහෙයින්, බැලූ බැල්මට කොවිඩ්-19 ගැන අපි මෙතරම් බය වෙ න්නේ ඇයි දැයි ඇසිය හැක. කොවිඩ්-19 නිසා යම් විටක ඇති ලෙඩුන් සහ මරණ ප්‍රමාණය සුලු වූවත්, එයට ඉතා වේගයෙන් වර්ධනය වීමටත්, සෑම රෝහලක් ම පිරවීමටත්  ශක්තියක් ඇති බෝවන රෝගයක්- එනම් වසංගතයක් – බැව අපි දන්නා නිසා  ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් අවශ්‍ය වී ඇත්තේ රෝගය බෝ වීම නතර කිරීමය.

නුමුත් කොවිඩ්-19 රෝගයේ හේතුව වයිරස්යක් යයි පැහදිලිව නොකියා, ඒ වෙනුවට  වැරදි ආහාරය ද, නරක අමනුෂ්‍ය බලයක් ද ඉඟි කරන හෙල සුව ය කණ්ඩායම කොවිඩ් රෝගය ගැන ඔවුන් භවනාවෙන් හෝ  දේව අනුග්‍රහයෙන් හොයා ගත් පරම සත්‍යය  පැහැදිලිව දක්වන්නේ නැත.

ඔවුන්ගේ   මාලබේ පැවතූ මාධ්‍ය වේදී ප්‍රකාශනයේ දී එකිනෙකාගෙන් මීටරයක් වත් ඈත්වීම සහ කථා කරන තැනැත්තන් වත්  මුකවාඩම් පාවිච්චි කලේ නැත.  මේ අය දොස්තර අනිල් ජයසිංහ මහතා ගේ නිර්දේශයන් උල්ලංඝහනය කොට ඇති බව ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂය.  එම අන්දමින් රෝගය බෝවීම නතර කිරීමේ අවශ්‍ය තාව ප්‍රාගුණ්‍ය කලේ නැත. ඒ වෙනුවට, සාමාන්‍ය හෙම්බිරිස්සාවක් වත් දින දෙක තුනෙන් නැති කිරීමට නොහැකි මේ අය “දුමක් අල්ලා කැඳක් පොවලා දින 3න් කොරෝනා සුව කළ හැකි” යයි මහ කය්යක් කියා ඇත !

ආචාර්‍ය චන්ද්‍ර ධර්ම්වර්ධන විසිනි.

ගෙවිඳු කුමාරතුංග සභාපති – යුතුකම

විපක්ෂයේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස, ආර්. සම්බන්ධන්, පාඨලී චම්පික, රවුෆ් හකීම්, රිෂාඩ් බදුර් දීන් සහ මනෝ ගනේෂන් යන හිටපු පාර් ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් විසින් ඒකාබද්ධ ප්‍රකාෂනයක් මඟින් අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ එතුමා විසින් සිදු කරන ලද  පාර් ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීම බල රහිත කරන ලෙස ය. එසේ නො කරන්නේ නම් අඩුම තරමින් විසුරුවා ඇති පාර් ලිමේන්තුව නැවත කැඳවන ලෙස ය.

ජනාධිපතිතුමා ගෙන් මේ ඉල්ලීම කරන්නෝ ඔවුන් බලයේ සිටිය දී එතුමාව බොරු චෝදනා මත කෙසේ හෝ සිරගත කිරීමට, අපරාධකාරයෙකු ලෙස හංවඩු ගැසීමට බොහෝ දුෂ්ට ප්‍රයත්නයන් දැරූවෝ ය. එතුමාගේ පුරවැසිභාවය පිළිබඳ පදනම් විරහිත චෝදනා නඟමින් එතුමා ගේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකත්වය ම සුණුවිසුණු කරදැමීමට අශිෂ්ට ප්‍රයත්නයක නිරත වූවෝ වෙති. 15 ලක්ෂයක වැඩිඡන්දයකින්  ජනාධිපති තනතුරට පත් වූ පසුව ද මුදල් ප්‍රතිපාදන වෙන් කරගැනීමට ඉඩ නොදුන්නෝ වෙති.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා ජනාධිපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වූයේ ම පැවති පාර් ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැර නව පාර් ලිමේන්තුවක් පත් කරගැනීමට ජන වරමක් ද පතමිනි. ඒ හා සමඟම බෙදුම්වාදීන් ගේ, ෆෙඩරල්වාදීන් ගේ, ආගමික අන්තවාදීන් ගේ සහයෙන්, කිසිවිටෙකත් රජයක් නොපිහිටුවන බවට ප්‍රතිඥා දෙමිනි. මේ අනුව විපක්ෂය ජනාධිපතිතුමා ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ 69 ලක්ෂයක් ජනතාව එතුමාට දුන් ජනවරම ම පාවාදෙන ලෙස ය.

එ පමණක් ද නො වේ. බෙදුම්වාදීන් ගේ හා ආගමික අන්තවාදීන් ගේ බලයට නතුව ඇති, පැවති  පාර් ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවූ සැනින් ජනාධිපතිතුමාට සුදුසු පරිදි මුදල් වියදම් කිරීම වළක්වාලනු ඇත. කොරෝනා මර් දනයට  ගෙන ඇති සාර්ථක පියවර අවුල් වන යෝජනා සම්මත කරනු ඇත. එම්. සුමන්දිරන් මහතා කර ඇති ප්‍රකාශවලින් පැහැදිලි වනුයේ ජනාධිපතිතුමාට දෝෂාභියෝගයක් ගෙන ඒමට දැනට ම කුමණ්ත්‍රණයක් පවතින බව යි. කුමණ්ත්‍රණකරුවන් ගේ ම කතානාකවරයෙකු ද වන බැවින් එවන් යෝජනාක් පිළිගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය වනුයේ සාමාන්‍ය බහුතරය පමණි. එ විට ජනාධිපතිතුමාට පාර් ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීමේ බලය ද අහිමි වේ.

අතිගරු ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමනි, මවුබිමට එරෙහි වූ, සමස්ත රට වැසියාට ම එරෙහි වූ මේ දුෂ්ට කුමණ්ත්‍රණය සහමුලින් ම පරාජය කිරීමට නායකත්වය දීම ඔබතුමා ගේ ප්‍රමුඛ යුතුකම යි. එහි දී සාතිශය බහුතරයක් ජනතාව ඔබතුමා සමඟ සිටගන්නා බවට සැකයක් නැත. එ ලෙස ම මාරාන්තික කොරෝනා වෛරසය පරාජය කිරීමට අප සමත්වනු ඇත්තේ ද මේ බෙදුම්වාදී ආගම්වාදී අන්තවාදීන් ගේ කුමණ්ත්‍රණය පරාජය කළහොත් පමණක් බව අප ගේ සදාදරණීය ජනතාව ද තේරුම්ගත යුතු ව ඇත.   ——-

Palitha Senanayake

This is a sequel to your above captioned article by Gehan De Checkera published in the online edition of the 25^th April issue, quoting lawyers and HR activist critical of the Prevention of Terrorism Act., under which Lawyer Heejaz  Hizbulla has been arrested  in connection with the Eater Sunday terrorist attack. Although the caption also includes ‘prevention of terrorism’, there no mention on the prevention of terrorism and instead the article throughout its text criticizes the PTA in the context of upholding human rights.

At the very outset it should be mentioned that the writer’s ( Mr Checkera’s) choice of the topic, PTA, to have this debate, is an aberration. This is because the PTA is not the real issue at hand as PTA has been introduced to our law books in an attempt to prevent terrorism that has haunted Sri Lankan society from time to time. The correct topic for the debate should have been terrorism and its prevention, but the writer, for reasons best known to him, chooses to criticize the PTA and Law enforcement completely disregarding the effect of terrorism on our society. Yes, we do not need the PTA that bestows extraordinary discretionary powers in the hands of the law enforcement officials, but then how do we contain terrorism that has stalked this society, the recent instance of which has been the brutal massacre of 262 and wounding of about 500 devotees at their prayer?  

The writer maintains that, ‘As long as we are prepared to accept the existence of terror laws in Sri Lanka, arbitrary actions void of accountability by the executive such as the arrest of Mr Hizbullah will continue’. This statement is completely out of context with a tinge of malice because,                                                   this subject law is not a terror law but a law to Prevent Terrorism,                                                            the arrest is not an arbitrary action because it is as per the PTA sanctioned by the Parliament and part of the Sri Lankan law,                                                                                                        accountability is only to the extent warranted under the PTA, and                                                                               the arrest is not by an executive order but by the law enforcement office in the course of duty

Therefore, Mr Chickera should understand that as long as there is terrorism among us, the SL society cannot rid itself of Terrorism preventing laws and that prevention of terrorism is precisely what the law enforcement officers are trying to accomplish by arresting Mr Hizbulla. Thus, by criticizing the Prevention of terrorism act and its enforcers, without qualification, in favor of the person who is arrested as a suspect, Mr Chickera places himself in position where he is a purveyor of terrorism. Whether this position is intentional or not is another matter, but the net effect of his advocacy is to denigrate the PTA and its enforcers and to uphold the ‘human rights’ of the suspect who has been arrested. Is Mr. Chickera and his courtier of professionals trying to suggest that we should put the Easter Sunday attack behind and carry on as if nothing has happened? The big question then is, Can we rid ourselves of terrorism if we do that ?

The society judges a person’s limits and ethics by what he tolerates!

The Criminal Investigation Department may not have ‘just arrested’ this person unless there is sufficient evidence to prosecute him. We are aware that there is an ongoing battle between the police and the lawyers to determine whose duty it is to punish a criminal. The Courts have the power to punish a criminal when proved but that power emanates from the power of the police to prosecute by bringing that suspect before the law. However, this arrested person does not become a convict until and unless he is proven guilty by the Courts.

Accordingly, this arrest, is the first step in bringing justice to those innocent who died and were injured during the bomb explosion; an act perpetrated with the sole intention of bringing death and destruction to a set of persons for the fault of being pious about their religion. Why should so many ‘reputed’ persons protest in chorus when a person is arrested in this connection, claiming that arrest to be arbitrary and unlawful when it is NOT. The laws of a country are enacted in the Parliament whether the lawyers of the country like them or not.

 Is it all because, the person arrested is a lawyer? Do lawyers have better human rights that prevent them from being arrested, impinging on the right to life of ordinary folks?  

Now let me take these professionals one by one for their statements.

PTA is an aberration of the Rule of Law- Dr Asanga Welikala                                                   May be under normal circumstances, but the PTA was enacted in Parliament when the country was battling the most ruthless and organized terrorist organization in the world, the LTTE. The  situation at the time was a social aberration with many innocent lives being lost and even the very act of terrorism is an aberration of human civilization and modern human rights.

Many countries have anti- terrorism laws that respect human rights- Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy                                                                                                                             Yes madam, may be you could cite a few instances with your international experience and thereby educate the SL law makers. That would be more productive than joining the chorus in condemning the lawful arrest to prevent terrorism.

Media quick to slap terrorist label- Ramindu Perera.                                                            This particular person has been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and that fact has to be stated in the media.

PTA reverses the principle of innocent before proven guilty- Swasthika Arulingam                 Well, the PTA does not make anybody guilty at the time of arrest. It is only after a trial that a suspect is made a convict. However in view of the wanton and cataclysmic nature of the crime of terrorism the arrest laws are stringent.

Attempt to whip up anti-Muslim communalism before polls- Sanjay Wilson Jayasekera   We deplore the attempt by this person to politicize and communalize this issue that we think should be dealt with under terrorism in the best interest of Tamils, Christians and Muslims.

Arrests should not be shrouded in mystery- Ermiza Tegal                                                     Yes, it should not be and you should be told that you are arrested under the PTA. However, when you are arrested under the PTA the police are not obliged to disclose all the details

Attorney –Client confidentiality is fundamental to criminal justice- Dinesha Samararatne  That is a professional ethic but however prevention of crime is a national issue therefore individual rights have to be compromised when it comes to national issues

Citizens should not be misguided by public theoretical display- Vidura Samaranayake.    We are not aware of an attempt to make it in to public theoretical display. Surely these things have to be broadcast over news. It is the lawyers by protesting against, that have given undue publicity to this issue.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

The acting envoy told President Gotabaya that China is only reciprocating the goodwill Lanka shown by Sri Lanka

Colombo, April 29 (Presidential Media Division): Sri Lanka is a special friend of China. We have long standing and cordial relations between the two countries. When we faced COVID- 19 disaster recently, Sri Lanka stood with us. China is willing to return that goodwill in the form of fullest cooperation to revive Sri Lanka’s economy in the post-COVID – 19 period”, said the Acting Ambassador and Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Colombo Hu Wei, during his meeting with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat here on Thursday.

Quoting a Chinese saying Hu said: True friendship is to stick together in sorrow and happiness”.

The acting envoy further said that his country and the people are grateful to Sri Lanka for being a friend in both good and bad times. Hu emphasized that China expects to assist Sri Lanka to overcome its future challenges also. Sri Lanka will receive help not only from the Central Government of China but also from the country’s leading companies and banks to rebuild its economy in the post – COVID -19 period.

Recalling the assistance extended by China to Sri Lanka from the time of the Rubber-Rice Pact President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said China stood with Sri Lanka during the armed conflict and the post-conflict development drive.

The COVID – 19 pandemic has adversely impacted not only the global economy but also Sri Lanka’s, President Rajapaksa pointed out. The sharp drop in foreign exchange earnings has posed an enormous challenge to the country, President added.

Due to the nosedive of global economy we have lost income generated by the apparel industry and tourism . It might take a considerable amount of time for the global economy to recover. As such, Sri Lanka has planned to adopt a new development model to create a production economy,” the President said.

He added that he hopes to receive positive responses and goodwill from friendly nations to make the development program a success.

Our expectation is not just limited to receiving loans and financial grants. One of our prime objectives is to attract foreign investments which can contribute to increase in production. There are ample opportunities for foreign investments in various sectors including agriculture and construction. I invite China and other countries to make use of those opportunities”, President said..

Replying to a query by the Acting Ambassador on the progress of current COVID – 19 prevention campaign, President Gotabaya said that the spread of the virus is under control in general. He explained the reasons for the sudden spike in infections in the last few days and said remedial steps have been taken immediately.

Mr. President, we are with you”, the Acting Chinese Ambassador said concluding the friendly discussion.

Courtesy Adaderana

Nineteen new confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported increasing the total number of cases in the country to 649, the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry said.

As of 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday (April 29), a total of 506 patients are currently under medical care while 136 patients have recovered and have been discharged from hospital. 

Seven Covid-19-related deaths have been reported in the country.

Courtesy Adaderana

The curfew which will be re-imposed at 8.00 p.m. tomorrow (April 30) in all districts except Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam districts will continue until 5.00 a.m. on Monday (May 04), the President’s Media Division said.

The curfew currently in effect in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam districts which have been identified as Covid-19 high risk zones is to continue until further notice.

In the other 21 districts the curfew which will be lifted at 5.00 a.m. tomorrow and re-imposed at 8.00 p.m. later that day will continue until 5.00 a.m. on Monday (May 04).

Courtesy Adaderana

The Chinese government has re-affirmed its support to the Sri Lankan government to revive the economic in the post-COVID–19 period, the President’s Media Division said.

Sri Lanka is a special friend of China.  We have long standing and cordial relations between the two countries.  When we faced COVID- 19 disaster recently, Sri Lanka stood with us. China is willing to return that goodwill in the form of fullest cooperation to revive Sri Lanka’s economy in the post-COVID – 19 period”, the Acting Ambassador and  Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Colombo Hu Wei said, during a meeting with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday (29).

Exchanging pleasantries with President Rajapaka, the Acting Ambassador who paid a courtesy call on the President quoting a Chinese saying said that true friendship is to stick together in sorrow and happiness”. 

He said his country and the people are grateful to Sri Lanka for being a friend in both good and bad times. Mr. Wei emphasized that China expects to assist Sri Lanka to overcome its future challenges. 

Sri Lanka will receive help not only from the Central Government of China but also from the country’s leading companies and banks to rebuild its economy in the post – COVID -19 period.

Recalling the assistance extended by China to Sri Lanka from the time of Rubber-Rice Pact President Rajapaksa said China stood with Sri Lanka during the armed conflict and the post-conflict development drive, the PMD reported.

COVID – 19 pandemic has adversely impacted not only the global economy but also Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa noted. The sharp drop in foreign exchange earnings has posed an enormous challenge before the country, the President added.

Due to the nosedive plunge of global economy we have lost the income generated by apparel industry and tourism. It might take a considerable amount of time for the global economy to recover. As such, Sri Lanka has planned to adopt  a new development model to create a production economy said the President while adding that he hopes to receive the positive responses and goodwill of friendly nations to make it a success.

Our expectation is not just limited to receiving loans and financial grants.  One of our prime objectives is to attract foreign investments which can positively contribute to the increase in production.  There are ample opportunities for foreign investments in various sectors including agriculture based production and in the construction field.  I invite China and other countries to make use of those opportunities”, the President said.

Replying to a query by the Acting Ambassador on the progress of current COVID–19 prevention activities President Rajapaksa said the spread of the virus is under control in general.  President explained the reasons for the sudden spike in infections during the last few days and said remedial steps have been taken immediately.

-PMD

Courtesy Adaderana

Former Minister and the leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Rishad Bathiudeen has filed a Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court, seeking a court order preventing his arrest by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).

Acting IGP C.D. Wickramaratne, the DIG in charge of the CID, the Director of the CID and the Attorney General have been named as respondents in the FR petition. 

In his petition, the former MP states that the CID has commenced an investigation into an alleged incident of transporting voters from Puttalam using buses belonging to the state-owned Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) during the last presidential election.

The former minister claims that the CID is preparing to arrest him in connection with those investigations. 

Bathiudeen, in his petition, states that he has no connection to the incident in question and that the CID is maliciously attempting to arrest him over that.

He therefore requests the Supreme Court to issue an order declaring that this is in violation of his fundamental rights and to also issue an interim order preventing his arrest until this petition is heard and a verdict is delivered. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Director General of Health Services, said no predictions can be made at the moment regarding the emergence of new COVID-19 clusters or the growth of existing clusters in the country.

Issuing a statement, the Ministry of Health stated that all measures have been taken to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the detection of infected persons among naval personnel has arrived at the last stages, said the Ministry.

It is suspected that contacts of the infected Navy personnel such as neighbors, family members, and associates may contract the virus, the statement read.

Health officials, as well as intelligence services, are keeping a close watch on the possible contacts, said Dr. Jasinghe.

However, Jasinghe said that while he does not think the existing COVID-19 clusters will not spread further, it is essential at this moment to keep a watchful eye on whether contacts of navy personnel will emerge from these clusters.

However, all suspected to have infected the virus have been directed for quarantine said the Health Ministry.

It is emphasized that the proper public adherence to health directives issued by the health sector is a key factor in the success of the disease control program.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Police says that investigations into the Easter Sunday terror attacks have uncovered a location in Sampur which had been used by the terrorists to carry out weapons training while a certain organization in Puttalam linked to the attackers has also been uncovered. 

Investigations pertaining to the Easter Sunday attacks are progressing successfully on a new direction, Police Media Spokesman SP Jaliya Senaratne told reporters in Colombo today (29).

Last week investigations had uncovered information regarding a location in the Sampur area which had been used by the terrorists for weapons training, he revealed.

He stated that the information was uncovered from a suspect who is currently in the custody of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) under detention orders and also through other investigations carried out by the TID.

He stated that a suspect who is currently in custody had directed the investigative officers to the said location last week and that according to the information uncovered thus far it is believed that this place had been used to provide weapons training to a number of individuals.

This includes basic weapons training such as dismantling, cleaning and reassembling firearms while this camp had also been used to train them on firing various types of firearms and issuing guidelines.

He said that further investigations are ongoing with regard to the information uncovered.

In addition to this, information has also been uncovered regarding a certain organization which had operated out of Puttalam, the police spokesman said.

He said that the organization in question had enrolled certain individuals and held sermons for them regarding extremism while also showing them various videos related to that.

The spokesman said that even Zahran Hashim, the ringleader behind the Easter attacks, had visited the location and held sermons for these individuals and showed them videos containing extremist religious ideologies.

He said that several other suicide bombers had also visited this location and held sermons spreading extremist ideologies with the intention of getting them involved to assist the further continuation for their operations.

He said that several suspects have been arrested in connection with this organization and that their involvement has been confirmed. Further investigations with regard to that are also ongoing, Senaratne said.

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 226 naval personnel is among the COVID-19 patients confirmed in Sri Lanka thus far, says the Commander of Army.

According to Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, 147 of these cases have been detected from the Welisara Navy Base.

The rest of the 79 officers were reported while on leave, he added.

Confirmed novel coronavirus cases tally in Sri Lanka moved up to 622 as of this afternoon (29). The three COVID-19 patients identified today were also revealed to be naval personnel.

The number of active coronavirus cases under medical care accordingly stood at 481.

Wasantha Senanayake, USA

With the current uncertain outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic, re-opening of the economy, let alone holding public elections, seem to be at a distant future. However, the current situation, where the country is without a parliament, makes holding an election a dire necessity. 

Online campaigning via social media or television can avoid public political meetings. The University of Colombo could create history by being the first to create an online voting system that is foolproof. For those who do not have access to electronic sources, the Grama Sevaka could distribute postal voting cards after checking the ID of each person. All the above would avoid costly human interactions that would lead to disease spread, and a violence-free, fraud-free election.

By Rohana R. Wasala

The news of the postponement of scheduled parliamentary elections by the Elections Commission was carried in the online Asian Tribune newspaper with an apparent anti-government bias. After closing the nominations on March 19, 2020, the EC postponed the general election, earlier scheduled for April 25, in view of the situation caused by fears of the Covid-19 pandemic gradually engulfing Sri Lanka. The move was in accordance with the provisions of the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981. Immediately reporting this under the headline Sri Lanka’s General Election postponed: Until the polls the country comes under Election Commission”, Asian Tribune (AT) datelined March 19, Colombo, states with strange glee:

 QUOTE The Election Commission (EC) has indefinitely postponed the parliamentary election earlier scheduled for April 25. Until the polls the country virtually coming under the direct control of the Election Commission. Country’s President and the Caretaker Government cant move a ‘bit’ without the consent and permission of the Election Commission even to peeing.

Country’s President had the opportunity to cancel the dissolution of the Parliament, prorogued it obtained the resolution on Covid – 19 and had time until August 290290 to dissolved it and could have called for election again. A missed opportunity is a lost one.” UNQUOTE

Through such reporting, the Asian Tribune editor K.T. Rajasingham implies, wrongly of course, that the temporary/caretaker minority government, appointed after the November 16 presidential election,  is acting in a wayward  manner and is in need of being held in check. He seems to mistakenly assume that the existing constitution has turned the EC into a dictatorial body that, at this moment, is poised to virtually replace the executive president and that the Corona-19 crisis has given it the opportunity to make the necessary intervention in controlling the government’s activities! Nothing is further from the truth. The constitutionally valid decision to postpone the election was taken independently by the EC with unquestioning acceptance of the postponement by the president, who himself had already casually mentioned its (EC’s) power to do so when the nomination process was completed. Nominations having been accepted, the names of candidates and polling booths had to be gazetted as per Section 24 (1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981. This step had to be fulfilled for the EC to secure the authority to postpone the election in terms of Section 24 (3) of the selfsame Act. 

A retrospective glance at Asian Tribune is in place at this point. Its editor K.T. Rajasingham (KTR) started the online publication in Bangkok, Thailand around 2002. I remember welcoming it as a novelty among the media I routinely consulted. In a note published in his paper years later, he described himself as a Sri Lankan Tamil journalist ‘who was forced to leave his country after LTTE raised its head and systematically targeted him’. According to the same note, he relocated to Sweden with his online newspaper; and at present it is operated by the World Institute for Asian Studies (WIAS), apparently his own creation, whose goal, KTR claims, is to bring Asian nations closer together. 

The phrase Striving for Asian Solidarity” prominently displayed by Asian Tribune as a journalistic catchword on its masthead must be a reference to this alleged mission of the WIAS. But it is difficult for one to see any implicit or explicit definition of ‘Asian solidarity’ as a political, economic, social, cultural or any other worthwhile concept or ideology that may be identified as underlying its reportage. Be that as it may, it is worth thinking about why the Asian Tribune founder and editor  experienced such a sense of malicious pleasure at the unanticipated postponement of the general election. The announcement of the postponement actually caused deep frustration and despair among the sane majority of multiracial and multireligious Sri Lankans who have been impatiently waiting to vote in a new parliament and help form a stable government during the executive presidency of the universally acclaimed Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the common target of all those who are opposed to that extremely probable and propitious eventuality (i.e., the election of a fresh parliament that will enable the new president’s vision and mission for the country to be accomplished). 

KTR’s complaint that the president had the opportunity to rescind his (March 02) dissolution of parliament  in view of the threatened worsening of the Corona-19 situation that would make campaigning and polling impossible is a frivolous one to say the least. The people are 100% sure that nothing could be gained by reconvening the dysfunctional parliament, arguably the worst since 1948, that was dissolved on March 02. No elaboration is necessary to drive home the point. The government under the executive presidency of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been doing everything possible, from the third week of January itself to deal with the unfolding conditions associated with the global Corona-19 pandemic with the dedicated participation of the health, security, and law enforcement and civil functionaries  as he explained in his address to the nation on March 17. He said that confidence is the mark of real leadership in a crisis. He has demonstrated that quality in himself in abundance since 2005, as the ordinary people know. The president concluded his speech with the words This country that is yours and mine is secure today”. But this confidence was not shared by diehard opponents.

Sarath Alwis of Colombo Telegraph (‘A Brave President, A Benumbed Nation’/March 24, 2020) scoffs at the president’s statement as wrong, after first praising it as a forthright fearless statement”, adding: The President in the statement embodied courage and sincerity.” Sarath Alwis (SA) finds fault with the president’s assertion that the country is secure now because there is more to national security than fighting with separatist terrorists, monitoring the activities of religious fanatics or countering political dissenters. He states the obvious when he says that dealing with an epidemic is different. The extremely biased Sarath Alwis must have chosen to ignore the fact that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a much more profound, much more comprehensive understanding of what national security involves and has achieved much more for the nation in that sphere than the likes of Alwis would like to appreciate. Colombo Telegraph is run, as they claim, by a group of ‘exiled journalists’ who, significantly, fled the country after it got rid of separatist terrorism for good. The Colombo Telegraph went to town with its one-sided condemnation of the presidential pardon of war veteran Sunil Ratnayake with hardly a glance at the ground realities or the actual circumstances that justify that move, while the Asian Tribune has commented negatively on the pardon of the soldier without showing the self-absorbed enthusiasm of the CT, describing it as ‘Arbitrary release of a convicted non-commissioned military officer’. Though, outwardly, the two publications were or still are at loggerheads with each other, they could be journalistically contributing to the same brand of anti-Sri Lanka destabilizing politics, which, while being sympathetic to the defeated separatist cause, is actually part and parcel of a more global operation launched by external powers running geopolitical agendas in the region.  

Eight years ago, the Colombo Telegraph carried news about KTR being found guilty of gross defamation” by a Swedish court  in a case instituted against him by an alleged Norwegian journalist named Nadarajah Sethurupan (NS) under the headline Asian Tribune Found Guilty for Defamation in Sweden” (CT/February 24, 2012). When it did so, the Colombo Telegraph  exhibited the same sort of schadenfreude that the editor of the Asian Tribune experienced at the recent postponement of the general election. It was reported that Sethurupan told the paper (CT) that KTR phoned him when he (NS) was in Oslo in 2003/2004 and that KTR tried to persuade him to attack the Norwegian peace officials and the SLMM (the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) and to work with him and his ‘secret unit’ in order to wreck the said peacemaking process; but Sethurupan refused. Subsequently, Sethurupan charged, KTR started attacking him personally calling him a ‘terrorist’ through his newspaper the Asian Tribune. The attacks continued from 2005 to 2008 according to SN.  At a Swedish district court trial KTR was adjudged guilty and this judgement was confirmed by a Swedish Appeal Court, which ordered KTR and the WIAS to pay Sethurupan $ 20,000 and the Swedish state litigation costs incurred. 

Whether the Swedish justice system was correctly apprised of the facts of the case and whether the cause of justice was served is a moot point. The CT reporter drew attention to the fact that the compensation amount of SEK 125,000 (equivalent to $ 20,000) was the highest amount imposed for defamation in Swedish judicial history up until then! How many millions of SEK or Dollars could be claimed by the relevant political leaders of Sri Lanka (I mean, particularly, the Rajapaksas) as compensation if legal action was taken based on the actually available authentic information against Tamil separatist supporters abusing the hospitality of such gullible European societies for defaming them over the last fifteen years calling them war criminals, murderers, crooks, despots, etc. without any evidence to support those denunciations!  

At the time that the  legal action related to, KTR was allegedly accused by separatists of being opposed to the Norwegian brokered peace process while being friendly towards the Sri Lankan government, which was embattled with the anti-state separatist terrorists. It was even held among KTR’s critics that the the then UPFA government financially supported the Asian Tribune; but this was an assumption that was not plausible given that the then president Mahinda Rajapaksa, though he was sceptical (with reason) about the separatists’ actual commitment to finding a peaceful solution, actively went along with the Norwegian mediation effort, until the terrorists forced his hand, by closing the Mavil Aru anicut, to take decisive military action against them, in which they vainly hoped to defeat the government defence forces and realise their separate state dream. 

It is not only online tabloids such as AT and CT that have been co-opted (this is my hunch, but could be wrong) by the powers that be to play a cankerous role against Sri Lanka. Even the mainstream English broadsheets with wide  circulations seem to be subject to the same pressure (The journalists employed by them are helpless; they have no option but to toe the line set by their employers who probably feel obliged to serve vested interests just to sustain their businesses that in turn protect the livelihoods of their employees). Ceylon Daily Mirror (March 27, 2020) published an exclusive interview with a senior US lawyer, Larry Klayman, allegedly a former federal prosecutor under president Ronald Regan. Klayman said that he was ready to work with Sri Lankans and others towards building international pressure on China. No need to say anything about the absurd hypocrisy or the hypocritical absurdity of such a proposal to Sri Lanka as the ground realities relating to the country’s vulnerable position between the two giant contenders China and America are so well known. To his credit, the Daily Mirror journalist Easwaran Rutnam who interviewed him made the apparently needy old lawyer eat his words at every turn through his informed questioning, which was redolent with sarcasm and scepticism. The Daily Mirror of April 10, 2020  carried an edited version of an Open letter (dated April 8) from the Chinese Embassy addressed to the Chairman of its owner Wijaya Newspapers. It was written by Luo Chong, the Spokesperson and the Chief of the Political Section of the Embassy in response to two articles published in the paper (one of them being the interview I have just mentioned). Somebody seems anxious to drive a wedge between tiny Sri Lanka and giant China, two nations that have enjoyed thousands of years of close cultural and trade relations.

Chanaka Bandarage

Sri Lanka is full of crows. A writer’s friend joked him that in Colombo there are more crows than people!

Crows live in groups; they work together. They thrive on trash; basically any kind of food waste.

Some think crows are good as they clean up the environment. This is a misconception.

The biggest problem with crows is that they are large scale waste carriers. A person who maintains an immaculate lawn would find spoilt food, rotten meat, dead rats etc dropped on it – by crows.

Crows form large roosts mostly on tall trees. Crows are known as ‘pooping machines’. It is somewhat fearsome to walk under Colombo’s big trees, lamp posts etc as it is quite possible that a crow would poop. There is hardly anyone who has not been treated with this offensive discharge. Whether they do it intentionally or not, only experts could say. Crows shoot their droppings upon vehicles uttering discomfort to vehicle owners.

Crows are omnivorous and eating plant material lead them to discharge greater fecal output. This is why one notices so much of crow droppings on Colombo’s sidewalks/pedestrian ways.

In early mornings the Galle Face Green is full of crows. It is difficult to stroll as their numbers are too many. The crows fly in to eat the leftover greasy/oily junk food thrown in the bins and scattered across the Green.

One could see crows gradually taking over the domain in Vihara Mahadevi Park which is home to so many other bird species. When they encroach as a group, other good bird varieties gradually become displaced. Crows are strong, they compete well and chase away the tender bird species.

The Problem at Vihara Maha Devi Park is that there are street/junk food outlets there, in the Children’s section. Like in Galle Face Green, crows are attracted therein to the waste.  As the Park is a permanent source of food, they are now permanent there. They live on trees closer to the food. At Vihara Maha Devi Park around the live food area, Rats (Mice) too have popped up in large numbers.

It is difficult to walk around the Beira Lake due to too many crows such as on Walkways around the Seemamalakaya.

Crows have encroached inside the Fort Railway Station.  The Station is well known for its Pigeons who live in nests formed under the roof.  It seems their day of exclusive occupation is numbered as crows too have got in.

Large, highly concentrated populations of crows can easily spread various diseases to humans directly/indirectly (eg. TB, Encephalitis, Meningitis). Being waste carriers, crows may be able to indirectly spread the Corono Virus (eg. carrying used masks, swabs etc).

As their numbers are ever increasing, we need a crow control program, especially in Colombo.

Many countries do this (Crow Control) by way of unmerciful killings. They use many tactics such as shooting, poisoning and gassing. We cannot do these in Sri Lanka. We are a Buddhist country.

We must adopt humane methods. In home environments, crows can be controlled by freighting; eg, lighting firecrackers, displaying crow feather, hanging something shiny across the yard (like aluminum plates), using bird (crow) traps etc.  But, as the problem is very big, we need a large scale, long term solution/operation.

One of the best methods is genetic engineering. Australia and New Zealand are world leaders in using gene drives to control species populations. If Australian CSIRO is contacted (through the High Commission here), I am sure they would assist.

We have well controlled the stray dog population in Colombo, through intent sterilization. We should be thankful to the hardworking staff of the Colombo Municipal Council for this. They roam Colombo streets on mornings in search of stray dogs, then subject them to humane sterilization. It is a very difficult job, but they do it very well. Thanks to them, Colombo’s stray dog numbers are controlled. In Puerto Rico they use a pill, Neutersol, as a method of non surgical stray dog sterilization. In regards to crows, we need to adopt similar methods. We cannot let the problem go unchecked; it is serious.

Laksiri Warnakula

The other day I was having a nice snooze in my reclining chair, my mind wandering around in a no man’s land, now and then crossing over to my childhood-past, which lay on one side and then to the other, my adulthood-present. It was a balmy afternoon, and I found it hard not to fall asleep. Finally, I did and then I dreamed.

 I was kneeling down with a couple of my childhood friends around me all looking down intently at the little funnel-shaped pit on the sand, my right index finger going around the rim of it in circles, while I kept on chanting ‘bin kundo, bin kundo….’ I can’t remember the rest of the rhyme. And suddenly there it was. It popped out from the basement of its sandy castle, hung around there for a minute or so and seemingly disappointed that it was not something, which would fit into its menu hurriedly dived back into the sand.

Eventually, I came back to the present regrettably leaving my childhood past and this thought suddenly jumped into my mind the only god knows from where: a striking behavioural similarity between that doodlebug and our present-day politician, particularly the ones, some of whom are now out and about more or less, criticizing, demanding and becoming more and more verbose and vociferous.  

Up until now almost all of them were in hiding except the President and a very few. They knew that the ‘Corona’ sees nothing except ‘ha ha here is one from that species called human, let me be your guest please’. And they heeded the advice of the health officials to the letter, which was exemplary, though not exactly synonymous with their general behaviour and conduct. But they knew very well that the Corona is made of different and sterner stuff unlike the public. So many of them did not want to take any chances and stayed put behind the closed doors.

And suddenly they felt the tremors like my childhood acquaintance, but of another kind: the election tremors. Sometimes greed can be so overwhelming that it can make one forget all around him, the mind focussed only on how to get there and grab. So now we can see some of them are already popping out, sliding into the right mood, talking to the media pointing at this and that in their customary eloquence and tone with probes, promises and proposals.

Like my tiny childhood acquaintance, they are also predators, though of a different make and mould. And instead of ants, they prey on the gullible public, who keep falling into their pits every five years or so to be mercilessly devoured by them lying in wait behind a wall of promises as loose as the sand of my doodlebugs’ castle.

We saw some endearing examples of true patriotism coming from few foreign leaders, who decided to cut down their own salaries. Then some of our own doodlebug-politicians probably taking their cue from those foreign leaders were also asking for a cut-down too, but alas, of an altogether different kind. They were requesting to consider cutting down the minimum number of years required for them to be eligible for a lifelong pension. We all know that these predators are master fishermen too (my sincere apologies to the real ones), who are well versed in the art of fishing in troubled waters. 

Then going by the fact that the election will have to be held sooner or later, the requested cut-down would surely be welcome and supported by the rest of their kind too irrespective of what colour they wear.

Now it looks like the election-tremors are getting weaker though temporarily for sure, losing the fight to Corona-tremors, which might prompt many of those doodlebug-politicians to dive back into their dens. But I am sure it won’t be too long before they will feel those election-tremors again. Then they will be ready and eagerly waiting for you down there in their pits to devour you. Don’t fall for the dazzling lights of several colours (you can guess what they are) decorating the tops of their pits beckoning you to ‘please come and have a closer look’. Don’t go near them and be their prey. Let them starve till cows come home. Many of them have been on a feeding-frenzy, far too long.

Laksiri Warnakula

සමස්ත ලංකා සුවසේවා සංගමය

සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම් භද්‍රාණී ජයවර්ධන මහත්මිය
සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය,
කොළඹ 10.

මහත්මියනි,

#කොවිඩ්- 19 #Covid- 19 වසංගතය පාලනය කිරීම සදහා නිකුත් කර ඇති උපදෙස් හා විධාන ක‍්‍රියාත්මක නොකිරීම සම්බන්ධවයි

#කොවිඩ්- 19 #Covid- 19 වසංගතය පාලනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් රෝහල් සහ සෞඛ්‍ය ආයතනයන් වෙත 2020. 04. 12 වන දින ඔබතුමිය විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති උපදෙස් සහ නියමයන් සහිත වැඩපිළිවෙල බදුල්ල මහ රෝහලේ ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම නතර කර ඇති බව අප සංගමයට වාර්තා වේ.

ඒ අනුව ආයතන ප‍්‍රධානීන් විිසින් රාජකාරී අවශ්‍යතාව හදුනාගෙන ප‍්‍රමාණවත් කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයක් සේවා මුර අනුව සේවයට කැදවීම සිදුකල යුතු බවත්, එමගින් රෝගය ව්‍යාප්තවීම වලක්වා ගැනීමට එය පිටුවහලක් වන බවත්, පුද්ගල දුරස්ථ බව ආරක්ෂා කිරීම මූලික නියමයක් සේ සලකා කටයුතු කිරීම වැදගත් බවත් සදහන් කොට ඇත.

එහෙත් එම නියමයන් නොසලකා හැර 2020. 04. 24 දින සිට පෙර පැවති සාමාන්‍ය ක‍්‍රමයට අනුව කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය සේවයට කැදවීමට බදුල්ල රෝහල් පරිපාලනය කටයුතු කර ඇත. එම හේතුවෙන් සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය කොරෝනා රෝගයට ගොදුරක් වීමේ අවධානමක් ඇති විය හැකි බව අප සංගමයේ
විශ්වාසයයි.

#කොවිඩ්- 19 #Covid- 19 වසංගතය පාලනය කිරීමට ඔබතුමිය විසින් 2020. 04. 12 දිනැතිව නිකුත් කර ඇති උපදෙස් සහති වැඩපිළිවෙල ක්‍රියාතමක නිරීම මහත් පිටුවහලක් වූ බව පෙන්වා දෙන අප සංගමය එම වැඩපිළිවෙල ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම වලක්වන කිසිදු ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් නොගෙන ඇති තත්වයක් තුල එසේ බදුල්ල රෝහලේ පරිපාලනය එම වැඩපිළෙි වල නතර කරීි මට කටයුතු කිරීම සම්බණ්ධයෙන් විමර්ශණයක් සිදු කරන ලෙසත්, වහාම එම වැඩපිළිවෙල නැවත ආරම්භ කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය නටයුතු කරන ලෙසත් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
මහින්ද ගුරුගේ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්
සමස්ත ලංකා සුවසේවා සංගමය.

පිටපත් –
01. සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල්තුමා (අ.ක.ස)
02. රෝහල් අධ්‍යක්ෂතුමා – මහ රෝහල – බදුල්ල (අ.ක.ස)
03. රෝහල් සංවිධායක – මහ රෝහල – බදුල්ල (අ.ක.ස)

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය

ඇඳිරි නීති බලපත් නිකුත් කිරීමේදී  විධිමත් ක්‍රමවේදයක් අනුගමනය කරන්නැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය පොලිසියෙන් ඉල්ලයි. වැඩබලන පොලිස්පති වරයා වෙත ලිපියක් යොමු කරමින් මෙම ඉල්ලීම කළ බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රෙය් විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා සුරංගි ආරියවංශ මහත්මිය පවසයි.

ඇය සඳහන් කරන්නේ මහජන ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා ඇඳිරිනීතිය පනවා ඇති අවස්තාවලදී පවා විශාල වශයෙන් පිරිස් මහා මාර්ගවල ගමන් කරනු දක්නට ලැබෙන බවයි. මේ අතරින් බහුතරයක් වාහනවල  අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා යන ලේබලය දක්නට ලැබෙන බවත්, ඇතැම් වාහන වල අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා සපයන ආයතනවල නාම පුවරු දක්නට ඇති බවත් ඇය කියයි.

මෙම බොහෝ වාහන ඇඳිරි නීති අවසර පත් සහිතව ධාවනය වන බව පෙනී යන බවත් එහි නිගමනය වන්නේ මේ අතරින් ඇතැම්  පිරිස් කෙසේ හෝ කුමන මාර්ගයකින් හෝ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා බව පෙන්වමින් ඇදිරි නීති අවසරපත් ලබාගෙන ඇති බව යැයි  ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය පෙන්වා දෙයි. 

සමාජ දුරස්ථකරණය මෙම වසංගත තත්වය මැඩලීමට ඇති හොඳම පියවර වන අතර ඒ සඳහා හැකිතරම් අවකාශ සලසා දෙනු වෙනුවට මෙලෙස විශාල වශයෙන් ඇඳිරි නිතී බලපත් සහ අවසරපත්ලබාදීම ඉතා අවධානම්කාරී තත්වයක් බව ආරියවංශ මහත්මිය කියයි. මේ සඳහා විධිමත් වැඩපිළිවෙළක් නොමැති වුවහොත්  නුදුරේදීම කොරෝනා වසංගතය ව්‍යාප්ත වීම නිසා අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා පවා අත්හිටුවීමට  සිදුවනු ඇතැයි ඇය පෙන්වා දෙයි. මේ නිසා එවැනි තත්වයකට රට පත්වීම වළක්වාගැනීම සඳහා කඩිනමින් ක්‍රියාත්මක විය යුතුව ඇති බව ඇය සඳහන් කළාය.

 මේ නිසා මේ පිළිබඳ සොයා බලා ඇඳිරි නීති අවසරපත් නිකුත් කිරීම සඳහා මීට වඩා විධිමත් ක්‍රමවේදයක් අනුගමනය කිරීම සුදුසු බව යෝජනා කරමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය වැඩ බලන  පොලිස්පති වරයා ගෙන් ලිඛිත ඉල්ලීමක් කර තිබේ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B.,Ph.D.

මහජන විශ්වාසය හා හිතෛෂීභාවය ගොඩනැඟීම ඇපැල් හා සුප්‍රිම් උසාවි දෙකේ මොටෝ එක

මීට කලින් මා ලියූ, <කොරෝනාවට ගොඳුරුවීමට යන ලෝකයේ එකම සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය>, යන ලිපිය, මා විසින් සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියේ හා ඇපැල් උසාවිවල රෙජිස්ට්‍රාර්ලාට, අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිෂමට, නීති සංගමයට, මැතිවරණ කොමිෂම යනාදීන්ට ඊමේල් කර යවන ලදී. එම ලිපියේ මා කල අනතුරු ඇඟවීම නම්, උසාවිය විසින්, 2019 නොවැම්බර් 18 මහජනයා දුන් තීරණය, නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය නමැති සුදු හෝ කළු සළු පටෙන් වසා දැමීමට හොඳටම ඉඩ ඇති බවය. මේ සම්බන්‌ධයෙන් ලංකාවේ ජීවත්‌වන අය කිසිවෙක් නොලියන්නේ (චාපා බණ්ඩාර නිදහස් සංවාද වැඩබිම හා උදය ගම්මන්පිල පර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී නඩුකාරයින් ඇමෙරිකාවට ගෙනයාම ගැන කල ප්‍රකාශය හැර) නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යයට ඇති බියම නිසා විය යුතුය! තමන්ට බලපෑම් කලා යයි, තානාපති කාර්යාලය ශූක්‍ෂම ලෙස තෝරාගත් (ලොතරැයියකින් නොව) ඒ නඩුකාරයින් 9 දෙනා උසාවියට අපහාස කලායයි නීතිපතිට වාර්‌තා කලාද?

1802 දී අග්‍ර විනිශ්වයකරු, එවකට උසාවිය අසල තිබූ බැරැක්ක හා යුද අභ්‍යාස කිරීමේදී ආ ශබ්දය නිසා උසාවියේ වැඩ කටයුතු වලට බාධා වූවා යයි, හමුදා ප්‍රධානියාගෙන් උසාවියට අපහාස කිරීම උඩ නිදහසට කරුණු විමසා සිටි විට, නෝත් ආණ්ඩුකාරයා මැදිහත්‌ව එය විසඳුවේය! සුද්දන්ගේ තිබූ ඒ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ සම්ප්‍රදාය කළු සුද්දන්ට තිබේද? උසාවියට අපහාස කිරීම, නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යයට පහරක් යනුවෙන් තීරණය කර, තමන්ව වටකර ගෙන ආරක්‍ෂක ප්‍රාකාරයක් බන්ඳවා ගෙන (ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය හරහා), එය අසාධාරණ (අන්‍රීසනබල්) ලෙස සිය පංචස්කන්‌ධ වල වැරදි වසා ගැනීමට උපයෝගීකර ගැනීම, බටහිර නීති විද්‍යාව (වෙස්ටර්න් ජුරිස්ප්‍ර‌ැඩන්ස්) දූෂ්‍ය කිරීමේ එක්තරා සියුම් උපක්‍රමයකි. රටක නීති ක්‍රමය යනු ඒ රටේ සුළු පාලක පන්තිය (ලංකාවේ නම් කළු සුද්දන්) විසින් සෙසු ජනතාව පාලනය කරණ ආයුධයක් යන මතය ඉදිරියේ මෙය විවෘත ඒකාධිපතිවාදයකි.

රංජන් රාමනායක විසින් ටෙලිෆෝන් කතා පටි එලියට දමා කලේ එක අතකින් බලනවිට, ඔහුට විරුද්‌ධව උසාවිය මෙම ආයුධය පාවිච්චි කිරීමට යෑමට විරුද්‌ධව බෝම්බයක් ගැසීමය. උසාවිය නිහඬයි යන වික්ටර් අයිවන්ගේ නිර්භීත ක්‍රියාවටත්, සුගන්ධිකා ප්‍රනාන්දුගේ එලිදරව් කිරීම් වලටත්, නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කුගේ සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියේ නඩුකාරයින්ට විරුද්‌ධ නඩු වලටත් වඩා, රංජන්ගේ උපක්‍රමය අතිශයින්ම සාර්‌ථකවුනා යයි මම සිතමි. ලංකාවේ තිබෙන දුෂ්ඨ ත්‍රිකෝණයට නීතීඥයින්, නීති සංගමය, හා බොහෝ නඩුකාරයින්ද ඇතුලත් නොවේද යනු මහජනයා විසින් අසණ, සිතන, කාරණයකි.

උසාවියේදී යම් සරම ඇඳගත් හෝ නොගත් ගැමි ගොවියෙකුට හෝ කම්කරුවෙකුට කිමිහුමක් ගියත් එය උසාවියට කරණ අපහාසයක්සේ සළකන මහේස්ත්‍රාත්ලා ලංකාවේ සිටිති. කලකට පෙර බද්දේගම උසාවියේ මහේස්ත්‍රාත්ටත්, නඩුවලට එන විත්තිකරුවන්ටත් තිබුණේ පෝලිමේ යායුතු එකම මුත්‍රා කරන තැනැක් යයි ඒ කාලයේ ඒ පැත්තේ ඩී. ආර්. ඕ. ව සිටි මගේ මිත්‍රයෙක් මට කී විට මා පුදුමවූයේ එය රජයෙන් මිනිසුන් ලවා උසාවියට අපහාස කරවීමක් නොවේද කියා මට සිතුන නිසාය. ඇමෙරිකාවේ නම් ඉහළ උසාවි තීන්‌දු වාර්‌තා කපා, කොටා, තලා ඇන බලා, මිරිකා, විශ්ලේෂණය කිරීම, රටේ නීති ක්‍රමයේ පොදු සංසිද්‌ධියකි. නඩුකාරයින් යනු ලෝභ-ද්වේෂ-මෝහයෙන් පිරි පංචස්කන්‌ධය යන අදහස හොඳින්ම පිළිගන්නේ ඇමෙරිකාවේය. නීති විද්‍යාල සඟරාවල මෙවැනි විශ්ලේෂණ බහුලය, නිරන්තරය. ඉන් සමස්ත නීති සංස්ථාවද, නඩුකාරයින්ගේ දැණුමද වර්‌ධනය වේ. සමහර විට මීට හේතුවක් වන්නේ ප්‍රාන්ත රාජ්‍යවල නඩුකාරයින් පත්‌වන්නේ මහජන චන්දයෙන් වීම නිසා, නඩුකාරයින් තම ක්‍රියා හා හැසිරීම සම්බන්‌ධයෙන් චන්දදායකයාට වගකිව යුතුය යන්න විය හැකිය.

බළලා මල්ලෙන් එළියට පැනීම

මෙම දෙවන ලිපිය ලිවීමට මට සිතුනේ දිනපතාම එලියට එන නොයෙක් ප්‍රකාශය. ඒ සියල්ල දෙස ඇමෙරිකාවේ සිට බලන විට, හරියට හෙලිකොප්ටරයක සිට පහත බලන විට මෙන්, සමස්ත පින්තූරයම පෙන්වන්නේ කොරෝනාව, දෙවියන් ඔවුන්ට දුන් කදිම අවස්ථාවක් ලෙස සළකන සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ විරෝධි පිරිසක් (යහපාලන කල්ලිද සහිත) විසින් උසාවිය ඔවුන්ගේ
හිර අඩස්සියට ගන්නට හැකිය යන විශ්වාසයෙන් මත්‌වී සිටිනා බවය. කොළඹ සරසවියේ ත්‍යාගරාජා නම් කොල්ලාගේ ප්‍රකාශය ලියා ඇත්තේ ඔහු නොව, එය ඔහුට වෙන කෙනෙක් විසින් ලියාදී ඇති බව පැහැදිලි වන්නේ, සිංහල භාෂාව එසේ හසුරුවන්නට, සිංහල මව් භාෂාව නොවන කෙනෙකුට නොහැකි නිසාය. එය තේරුම්ගැනීමට බුද්‌ධි අංශ සේවකයෙකු වීම අවශ්‍ය නැත. මෙහි පහතින් ඇති ලැයිස්තුව දෙස බලන විට පෙනීයනුයේ නොයෙක් පැති වලින් වටකරගෙන එන්නේ පරණ යහපාලන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව මිණී වලෙන් ගොඩට ගැනීම නොවේදැයි සිතා බලන්න. වික්ටර් අයිවන් විසින් කලින් කොලයක ලියාගත් කතාවක් එය බලාගෙන කියවීම (කලින් අවස්ථාවේ තානාපතිලා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හා අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ සැරිසරුවා මෙන්), ජාත්‍යයන්තරය බලාගෙන ඉන්නවා යන පණිවුඩය දීමට ඔහුව ඉත්තෙක් කරගත්තා නොවේද කියා සිතේ.

1. ගන්න කිව්වේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ උපදෙස්… ඒ වුනාට ගත්තේ සංඝ පාතාලයෙන්… -බෞදිය- වරා ත්‍යාගරාජා
2. කොරෝනා මූල්‍ය ආධාර විශාල තොගයක් ලැබුණා. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවන්නේ නැත්තේ ඒවා මාටියා ගහන්නයි – තලතා අතුකෝරල
3. අනවශ්‍ය හා මින් පෙර කවදාවත් මුහුණ නොදුන් ව්‍යවස්ථාමය අර්බුදයක් වැළැක්‌වීම සඳහා, ජූනි 2 දාට පෙර පරණ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නොකැඳවීමට ජනාධිපති ගත් තීරණය නීත්‍යාණුකූලද යන්න ගැන සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියේ විවරණය අවශ්‍යමය. මැකෝට එය ඉල්ලා සිටිය හැකිය – හර්‌ෂ ද සිල්වා
4. කෝපය වැඩිවෙමින් පවතී. මේ ලොක්ඩවුන් එක අවසන් විය යුතුයි- කුමාර් ඩේවිඩ්
5. මම ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා ඉදිරියේ සාකච්චා වලට යාමට බයයි; මැතිවරණ කොමිෂම ස්වාධීනද; මැකෝ සභාපති මට විරුද්‌ධව ක්‍රියා කරණවා; මට කොළඹට ඒමට වාහනයක් දෙන්නේ නෑ – මැකොසා හූල්
6. නීති විරෝධී පාලනයක් ගෙනගියොත් තත්‌වය භයානකයි,; ජාත්‍යන්තර බලපෑම් එල්ලවිය හැකියි- වික්ටර් අයිවන්

කලින් ලිපියේ ලියූ කරුණු ආපසු ලිවීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයක් නැත. සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියේ නඩුකාරවරු මෙම බෞද්‌ධ විරෝධී, මේ යුද්‌ධය නම් කවදාවත් දිණන්න බෑ යයි 2009 මැයි 18 ට කලින් බෙරිහන් දුන්, පිරිසේ පැත්තේයයි කීම අසාධාරණය. එහෙත් මේ පිරිස ලියන්නේ, සිතන්නේ, සංවිධානය වන්නේ උසාවිය ඔවුන්ගේ අන්තිම, මරාගෙන මැරෙන තුරුම්පුව යයි සළකා ගෙනය. ඔවුන්ගේ විශ්වාසය උසාවිය ඔවුන් සමඟය කියාය. ඒ සඳහා, 19 සංශොධනයේ ඇති ව්‍යාකූල ස්‌වාභාවය (70 වගන්තිය හා 33 (2) (සී)) දෙවන වරටත් (සිරිසේන විසින් රනිල් ඉවත්කල නඩුවේදී මෙන්) ඔවුන්ට පිහිට වේයයි ඔවුන් සිතන්නේ, සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය නමැති මිථ්‍යාවේ හිරකාරයින් වී සිටින නිසා විය හැකිය. 1954 දී බ්‍රවුන්/බෝඩ් ඔෆ් එඩියුක්ක්ක්‍ෂන්, ටොපිකා, කැන්සාස්, යන ඓතිහාසික නඩු තීන්‌දුවෙන්, නඩු වා‌ර්තා හා නීති පොත් වලින් පිට පැන, වෙනත් බාහිර ශාක්‍ෂි (එක්ස්ට්‍රා ජුඩිෂියල් එවිඩන්ස්) පිළිගැනීමට ඇමෙරිකන් සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය තීරණය කලේය.

ප්‍රශ්ණය වී තිබෙන්නේ කලින් සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය දුන් ඒ තීරණය, කබරගොයා තලගොයා කිරීමක් යයි මහජනයා විසින් සිතීමය. මෙය උසාවියේ මොටෝ එකට හානියකි. ගෝඨාභයගේ ජයග්‍රහණය මෙම උසාවි තීරණයට විරුද්‌ධව 69 ලක්‍ෂයක් විසින් දුන් තීන්දුවය. රජ්‍යයේ සර්‍වබලධාරියා මහජනයා නම් උසාවියට සිය බලය එන්නේ මහජනයා මේ බලයෙන් කොටසක් එයට මාරු කල නිසා නම්, මහජනයාට විරුද්‌ධව තීරණ දීමට උසාවියට පුළුවන්ද? එංගලන්තයේ මහරැජිනට ඩ්‍රයිවින් ලයිසන් එකක් ගතයුතුයයි එරට උසාවිකයට තීරණය කල හැකිද? මේ රටේ කළු හා යහපාලන බලවේග විසින් සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය ගිරයට අසුවූ පුවක් ගෙඩියක් කර ඇත. ඉහත සඳහන් ත්‍යාගරාජා කොල්ලාගේ යයි කියන කියමන මාක්ස්වාදයෙන් අන්‌ධකල රැවුල වවාගත් අහිංසක දෙමළ ළමයෙක්, මුහුණු පොත නමැති ලෝකයේ හැම දෙනාටම සමාන අවස්ථාවක් ලබාදෙන උතුම් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදි යාන්ත්‍රණය කෙළෙසීමක් ලෙස සළකන්නට වන්නේ ඔහු තාමත් දණගාන උගතෙක් නිසාය. ඔහු විසින් ප්‍රසිද්‌ධ කල පර්යේෂණාත්මක ලිපි මොනවාද? ඔහු නිර්‍මාණය කල දෙයක් තිබේද? ඔහු ඉගෙන ගත්තේ මැත් ද? ඔහු දන්නේ කොම්පියුටර් කී බෝඩ් එකට කොටන්නද? නිර්‍මාල් රංජිත් දේව සිරි, සරත් විජේසූරිය, ජයදේව උයන්ගොඩලා ඔහුගේ ගුරුවරුද?

උගත් මිථ්‍යාව!

හූල් ලංකාවේ ඉහළම උගතා යයි, මහින්ද දේශප්‍රියත්, දයාන් ජයතිලකත් කියයි. ඩොක්ටර් ඔෆ් සයන්ස් කියා ඔහු පාස්කල ව්භාගය කුමක්ද? හොයාගත් දේ කුමක්ද? ලංකාවේ විද්‍යාඥයින් ගැන නලින් ද සිල්වා විසින් කියන පරිදි ඔහු විසින් ලොවට දුන් එක සුළු අළුත් නිර්‍මාණයක් වත්, එච්-ටූ-ඕ- වැනි ෆෝමියුලා එකක්වත් තිබේද? ඔහු ලියූ පර්යේෂණාත්මක ලිපි වෙනත් විද්‍යාඥයින් විසින් උපුටා දක්‌වා තිබේද? ඔහු විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිෂමේ සාමාජිකයෙකුව සිටියදී (2003-6) මගේ මිත්‍රයෙකු ඊට ඉදිරිපත් කල පර්යේෂණ යෝජනාවක් ඔහු විසින් මගේ මිත්‍රයා රවටා සොරාගත් බව මගේ මිත්‍රයා ඔහු හදිසියේ මිය යාමට පෙර මට කිව්වේය. ඔහු ඇමෙරිකාවේ ඉගෙන ගන්නා කාලයේදී මා ඔහුගේ ඊළම් තර්‌ක වලට විරුද්‌ධව ඊමේල් හුවමාරු කර ගත් බව මට මතකය. ලංකාවේ මිනිසුන් මේ උගත් මිථ්‍යාවෙන් ගැලවිය යුතුව ඇත. උපාධි, ආචාර්ය උපාධි කියන්නේ අන් අයට නොලැබෙන අවස්ථාවක් යමෙකුට ලැබීම මිස ඒ තැනැත්තා පුංචි අයින්ස්ටයින් කෙනෙක් යනු නොවේ. අයින්ස්ටයින් ගේ වැඩ පවා කලේ ඔහු නොව ඔහුගේ බිරිඳ යයි දැන් කියැවේ. හූල් ගේ දැන් හැසිරීම බලන විට ඔහු සමබර මනසක් නැත්තෙක් නැත්නම් යහපාලන ගැත්තෙක් මිස උගතෙක් කියා නොසිතේ.

කොළඹ කොල්ලාගේ කියමන ඔහු විසින් එහි බැරෑරුම්කම නොදැන කල දෙයකි. ඔහු හරහා වෙන අයෙක් කල දෙයකි. උසාවිය හා සංඝයා යන සංකල්ප දෙක ගැන ඔහුට උගන්වා ඇත්තේ කවුද? මේ දෙක අතර වෙනස අහසට පොලොව වැනිය. ලංකාවේ ශිෂ්ටාචාරය කියන්නේ සංඝයා විසින් අවුරුදු 2,500 ක් පුරා ගොඩනැඟූ විෂ්මිත දෙයකි. යුදෙව්, අයිරිස්, චීන, ඉන්දියන් ශිෂ්ටාචාර වලට වඩා අඛණ්ඩ ඉතිහාසයක් සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයට ඇත. 1505, විශේෂයෙන් දොන් ජුවන් ධ‌ර්‍මපාල කෝට්ටේ කතෝලික රජවූ 1551 න් පසුව, 2018 දී මේ බව රටට (චන්ද්‍රිකා, රනිල්, රෝසි සේනානායක, මංගල සමරවීරලාට) හා ලෝකයට පෙන්වා දුන්නේ කතෝලික පල්ලියේ මැල්කම් රංජිත් කාදිනල්තුමාය.

ගෝඨාභය විසින් සංඝ පාතාලයෙන් උපදෙස් ගත්තේ, ගෝඨාභය නම් පංචස්කන්‌ධයක් රටේ ජනාධිපති කලේ මේ සංඝ පාතාලය නිසාය. පුරා අවුරුදු 40 ක් වනගතව සිටි හාමුදුරුවරු චන්දය දීමට ආවේ සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියට විරුද්‌ධවය. ඒ සඳහා 69 ලක්‍ෂයක් මදිනම් එය 2020 මැතිවරණයේදී තවත් ඉහළ යනු නිසැකය. මෙය යහපාලන මර බියය. මොන උප්පරවැට්ටියක් හෝ කරන්නට නම් පරණ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පණ දිය යුතුය. මේ කූඨ යහපාලන ව්‍යාපාරයේදී ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති කාර්‌යාලය පිටු පසින් සිටින්නේ 2009 දී ප්‍රභාකරන් මළදා සිටමය. මිලේනියම් හරහා රට දෙකඩ කිරීමේ දෘඨ ප්‍රයත්නය ඔවුන් අතාරින්නේ නැත. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන්, රුසියාව කැබලි කිරීමට, ලෝක වෙළඳ සංවිධානය පිහිටුවා ගැනීමට, ඔවුන් දශක හතරක්, පහක් තිස්සේ ඉවසීමෙන් ක්‍රියා කලේය.

අනිත් අතට සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය කියන්නේ, සුද්දගෙ නීතිය අපිට එපා කියන බලවේගයේ හතුරාටය. ඊට හේතුව, ඒ නිතිය රැකීමේ වගකීම, හිසරදය උසාවියට පැවරී තිබීමය. 1950 ස් ගණන් වල ඉන්දියාවේ නේරු සමයේත්, 1940 ස් ගණන් වල ඇමෙරිකාවේ ෆ්‌රැක්ලින් රුසවේල්ට් සමයේත්, සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය හා ගැටුම් ඇතිවූයේ මේ හතුරු සංකල්පය නිසාය. ලංකාවේ එය උග්‍රවී ඇත්තේ 13 වන සංශොධනයට පසුවය. මෙහිදී සිදුවන්නේ කුමක්ද? කුමණ අන්දමකින් හෝ ජාම් බේරා ගන්නවා මිස රැඩිකල් වීමට උසාවියට නොහැකිය. ඔවුන්ට ඒ සඳහා සාමූහික ශක්තියක් නැතිවා පමණක් නොව ලංකාව දෙකට කැඩීමට රහසින්වත් පතන පංචස්කන්‌ධ ඉන්නවා නිසැකය. හොඳම උදාහරණය විග්නේෂ්වරන් නඩුකාරයාය. මොනතරම් බරකින්, ආතතියකින් ඔහු පෙළෙමින් සිටියාද යන්න දැන් පේන්නේ සිංහලයා දෙමළා සමූල ඝාතනය කරනවා, බුදු පිළිම එපා යන ඔහුගේ කතා වලිනි. සිංහල ස්ත්‍රීන් දෙන්නෙක් ඔහුගේ පුතුන් දෙන්නා කරේ ගහ ගැනීම මීට යටි හිතේ කැකෑරෙන හේතුවක් වුනාද?

ආණ්ඩුකාරයා පත් කරන්නේ ජනාධිපති නිසා 13 සංශොධනය ව්‍යවස්ථාවට එකඟ බවත්, ඒකීය රාජ්‍යය දිගටම පවතින බවත්, ඒ නිසා ජනමත විචාරණයක් අනවශ්‍ය බවත්, 5-4 බෙදුනු තීන්‌දුවකින් ශ්‍රවානන්ද අග විනිසුරු තීරණය කලේය. මෙය නීති පොත වුනත්, මෑත භාගයේදී, නැඟෙනහිර හිස්බුල්ලා, බස්නාහිර අසාත් සාලි හා උතුරේ රඝුවාන් ගේ ක්‍රියාකලාපයවූයේ කුමක්ද? නැවත වරක් මේ උසාවියම තීරණය කලේ 13 යටතේ ලංකාව පෙඩරල් බවත්, ඒ නිසා දෙමළ පක්‍ෂය පෙඩරල් ඉල්ලීම නීති විරෝධී නොවන බවත්‌ය! පෙඩරල් යනු දෙමළ පක්‍ෂයට ඊළම කරා යන පාරේ ඉණිමඟ බව මේ නඩුකාරයින් දැන සිටියේ නැද්ද?නොදන්නවාද? නඩුකාරයින් නීති පොතට හිරකාරයින්‌වී සිටිනවා නම්, මහජනයා කලයුතු බකංනිලාගෙන සිටීමද? රිශාඩ් බතියුර්දීන්ලා මන්නාරමේදී කලා මෙන්
උසාවියට ගල් ගැසීමද? නැත්නම් ජේ. ආර් ගේ කාලයේ මෙන් නඩුකාරයින්ගේ ගෙවල් ඉදිරිපිට පෙලපාලි යැවීමද?

මීට කලින් ලිපියේ කරු ජයසූරිය යනු හීතල හොරෙක් යයි සඳහන් කලාට පසු, දැන් එය ඔප්පු වී තිබේ. ඔහු රංජන්ගේ බබාට වඩාත් පුංවි බබෙකි. ඔහු කිව්වේ ව්‍යවස්ථා අර්බුදයක් ඇතිකරන්න ඔහු සූදානම් නැතිය කියාය. දැන් ඔහු කියන්නේ, හැබැයි සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය තීරණයක් දුන්නොත් ඔහු පරණ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවන බවය. සුමන්තිරන් ගෙන් ඇරඹූ දැල, දැන් සියළු පරණ යහපාලන පක්‍ෂ වල යෝජනාවක් ලෙස ජනාධිපතිට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. අපි ආණ්ඩුවට උපරිම සහයෝගය දෙනවා කියා කෙසේ හෝ දියවන්නා හෝටලයට රිංගා ගැනීම ඔවුන්ගේ ප්ලෑනය. එසේ රිංගා ගත් ගමන්ම ආණ්ඩුවට විරුද්‌ධව විශ්වාසභංගයක් ගෙන ඒම ඔවුන් විසින් මහජනයා වෙනුවෙන්, නාස්ලණුවාදය වෙනුවෙන්, නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය වෙනුවෙන් කරණ යුතුකමයයි ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති විසින් ප්‍රකාශ කරණු ඇත. දියවන්නා හොටලයට යුද හමුදා මුර දැමීම, ගෝඨාභය ජනාධිපති විසින් ගත් තීරණය සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියට කරණ ලද අනතුරු අඟවීමකි. සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියේ වගකීම රටේ ලක්‍ෂ 69 යේ මතයට ගරු කර නීති පොතෙන්ම කබරගොයා-තලගොයා මඟක් සාදාගෙන මෙම ගුලෙන් ගැලවීමය.

ඇමෙරිකාව විසින් වෙන රටවල කලා මෙන් මේ කතානායක පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට, ඇතුලත් වීමට සැදුවොත්, කලින් රනිල් විසින් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ කල සෙල්ලම මෙවර සිදු නොවේ. ඔවුන්ට සිදු වන්නේ දියවන්නා හෝටලය වෙනුවට වෙන කොළඹ හෝටලයකට යාමටය. බලෙන් ඇතුළු වන්නට ඇවිත් ප්‍රථම වෙඩිල්ලට මුහුණ දෙන <හසලක වීරයා>, සුමන්තිරන්ද, මනෝ ගනේෂන්ද, හර්‍ෂ ද සිල්වාද, අජිත් පෙරේරාද, සුජීව සේරසිංහද, මර්වින් සිල්වාද, සරත් ෆොන්සේකාද කියා රටම බලා සිටී. සජිත්, මංගල සමරවීර හෝ චන්ද්‍රිකා හෝ රනිල්/රවි නම් නොෙන බව නම් නිසැකය. පෙන්ෂන් එක නැතිව ගිය මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් වත් ඊට ඉදිරිපත් වේවිද? යුද්දෙට නැති කඩුව කොස් කොටන්නද කියන්නේ මීටය. සාලාව අවි ගබඩාව පුපුරවා හැර, වටිනා අවි ආයුද මුහුදට දැමූ, ජීනීවා වලදී රට පාවාදුන්, චීනයට අවුරුදු 200 කට වරාය විකුණූ, හම්බන්තොට ගුවන් තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩාකල, පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයට ඉඩ ඇර දුන්, යුද අපරාධ කියා රණවිරුවන්ට දස වද දුන් මේ හැතිකරයට පාඩමක් ඉගැන්‌විය හැකි දැනට රටට ඉන්නා එකම පුද්ගලයා, අවුරුදු 30 කට පසුව ප්‍රභාකරන්ට සයනයිඩ් කරල අමතක කරවූ ගෝඨාභයය.

භගවත් ගීතාවේ, විෂ්ණු අවතාරය විසින් අර්ජුනට කියා සිටියේ තම රාජකාරිය (වගකීම), නෑයින් ගැන කණගාටුවීමට වඩා ඉහළ, ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ ඩියුටියක් බවය. නන්දා මාලිනීගේ සිංදුවේ කියන්නේ කඩුව අවශ්‍ය තැන එය පාවිච්චි කර, නවගුනවැල ගැනීම පසුවට තබන ලෙසය. දුටුගැමුණු රජතුමාගෙන් ආරම්භවී පලවෙනි විජයබාහු රජතුමා දක්‌වා (ඉන් පසුව රජවරු දුර්‍වල අය විය) සිංහල රජවරුන්ට රටේ හාමුදුරුවරු ආශිර්‍වාද නොකලා නම් අද සිංහල රටක් වත්, ථේරවාද බුද්‌ධාගමක් වත් ලෝකයේ නැත.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

Failures of government agencies including local short-sighted politicians also local authorities had led to uncontrolled human settlements in the form of Ghettos and slums and Watta” within state-owned lands, road reservations, canal reservations, railway reservations.

After 1977 since the change regime from a quasi socialistic government to a more open economy, the urban population started expanding and people started forcibly settling along in lands that are owned by state agencies.

Authorities kept quite when Colombo, some parts of Gampaha, some areas of Kalutara, and Beruwala started rapidly growing with closely built clusters of shanties.

In 1975 onwards various high rise flats  were built, going away from the concept of various settlement such as Jayawardene Pura Rukmal Gama Mattegoda which are settled with families widely spread out to a certain extent 

There was a canal resettlement program in Colombo in 1990 where such slums were resettled  in a somewhat wider area 

Examples are Havelock Road near  Lumbini school Narahenpita near RMV , Panchikawatte Kadirana in Colombo 15, etc .

Now we have a leadership which can emulate Singapore and take action to remove these encroached settlements, if necessary by force for this function, a task force is not sufficient but a Task Master with determination and endurance  Should be appointed 

State agencies should have strict control on protecting  their lands from further  encroachment 

Physical distancing on the road or in shops and offices may not be sufficient unless we have such plan to establish habitats with enough space in between for the people to live in 

I hope the government will take this seriously once corona spread is controlled.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said that he has given thought to change the current practice of useless and expensive election campaigns, the President’s Media Division said.

The President has expressed these views when be met with the Maha Nayake of Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dhrama Maha Sanga Sabha, Most Ven.

Dr. Iththapana Dhammalankara Thera and His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith at the Presidential Secretariat today.

At the meeting, His Eminence Cardinal Ranjth has observed that the time has come to deviate from election propaganda that is wasteful and spiteful and adopt a new political culture.

Meanwhile, Ven. Dhammalankara Thera has pointed out that some tanks and irrigation schemes have been neglected in areas where agricultural crops are cultivated.

The President’s Media Division said President Rajapaksa has responded saying that funds will be allocated to renovate these tanks and irrigation canals from the next Budget.

Secretary to the President Dr P. B. Jayasundera and Principal Advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga were also present at the discussion.

Courtesy Adaderana

Eight more positive cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Sri Lanka while the tally reached 619.

Earlier today, 23 coronavirus patients were detected in the country. Five of them were revealed to be naval personnel and the other three were from the quarantine centre in Punanai.

A total of 31 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed within the day.

Meanwhile, 8 persons who had tested positive for the virus had recovered from the virus today (28), raising the coronavirus recoveries total to 134.

Sri Lanka saw the highest daily surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases on Monday (27) with 65 new infections. The tally went up from 523 to 588 just within 24 hours.

According to the Epidemiology Unit’s tally, 478 active cases of coronavirus are currently under medical care at selected hospitals.

Seven coronavirus patients in the country have succumbed to the disease.

Denis Campbell and Ian Sample Courtesy The Guardian (UK)

At least 12 UK children have needed intensive care due to illness linked to Covid-19

Patients may have new type of toxic shock syndrome, which causes pain and inflammation

• What is the new illness affecting children, and is it linked to coronavirus?
• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

More than a dozen children have fallen ill with a new and potentially fatal combination of symptoms apparently linked to Covid-19, including a sore stomach and heart problems.

The children affected appear to have been struck by a form of toxic shock syndrome. All have been left so seriously unwell that they have had to be treated in intensive care.

At least one has received extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment, which is used when someone’s life is at risk because they can no longer breathe for themselves.

NHS bosses are so concerned that they have written to doctors alerting them to the emergence of these cases and asked them to urgently refer any children with similar symptoms to hospital.

Most of the children affected have Kawasaki disease, a rare vascular condition that is the main cause of acquired heart disease in under-18s in the UK. There are estimated to be 4.5 cases for every 100,000 children under the age of 18 in the UK. These cases happen when someone with Kawasaki disease gets Covid-19 and that produces complications,” said one NHS source.

In a letter to GPs in north London, reported by the Health Service Journal , NHS bosses said: It has been reported that over the last three weeks there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multi-system inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the UK.

The cases have in common overlapping feature of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease with blood parameters consistent with severe Covid-19 in children.

There is a growing concern that a Sars-CoV-2-related inflammatory syndrome is emerging in children in the UK, or that there may be another, as yet unidentified, infectious pathogen associated with these cases.”

If you have been affected or have any information, we’d like to hear from you. You can get in touch by filling in the form below, anonymously if you wish or contact us via WhatsApp by clicking here or adding the contact +44(0)7867825056. Only the Guardian can see your contributions and one of our journalists may contact you to discuss further. 
Tell us

A version of the warning has been sent by the Paediatric Intensive Care Society to all specialist doctors working in paediatric intensive care units in UK hospitals.Advertisement

The NHS letter adds that while some of the children did have Covid-19, others had tested negative for it. That could suggest that that group did not have it, or had had it, or that their tests were faulty.

Describing the illness, the letter added: Abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature, as has cardiac inflammation. This has been observed in children with confirmed PCR positive Sars-CoV-2 infection as well as children who are PCR negative. Serological evidence of possible preceding Sars-CoV-2 infection have also been observed.”

Sars-CoV-2 is the official name of the virus that causes the disease Covid-19.

Doctors have been told to please refer children presenting with these symptoms as a matter of urgency”.

One intensive care doctor said: There’s been an utterly unexpected uptick in severely sick children with a late inflammatory response that we think is related to Covid-19. It’s most unusual.”

It is not known if any of the children have died.

This is not something people should be panicking about,” said Dr Liz Whittaker, a consultant at St Mary’s hospital in London and a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s allergy, immunology and infectious diseases committee.

Asked at the Downing Street daily press briefing about the reports, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, said they had left him very worried”, while the government’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said: This is a very rare situation but I think it is entirely plausible that this is caused by this virus, at least in some cases.”

The condition came to light when doctors saw a number of unusual cases of children admitted to intensive care with a mix of symptoms from toxic shock and Kawasaki syndrome. The children had persistent fevers and severe abdominal pain and some had skin rashes. What concerned doctors most were blood tests that revealed severe inflammation, similar to that seen in adult patients with severe Covid-19 infections.

Of the children admitted to intensive care, a number needed treatment for heart inflammation. Our worry is that paediatricians who see children with fever and abdominal pain will do blood tests to look for problems such as appendicitis, but might not do bloods that look for inflammatory issues,” Whittaker said.

Doctors suspect that the illness may be a post-infection inflammatory response” where the immune system goes into overdrive. While some children have tested negative for coronavirus, they may have cleared the virus before the inflammation took hold, or the tests may simply have missed the infection.

Prof Russell Viner, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, sought to reassure parents that children are generally unlikely to become very unwell due to Covid-19.

We already know that a very small number of children can become severely ill with Covid-19 but this is very rare. Evidence from throughout the world shows us that children appear to be the part of the population least affected by this infection.

New diseases may present in ways that surprise us, and clinicians need to be made aware of any emerging evidence of particular symptoms or of underlying conditions which could make a patient more vulnerable to the virus. However, our advice remains the same: parents should be reassured that children are unlikely to be seriously ill with Covid-19, but if they are concerned about their children’s health for any reason they should seek help from a health professional.”

The RCPCH’s guidance for parents on symptoms and seeking advice is available here.

https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-04/covid19_advice_for_parents_when_child_unwell_or_injured_poster.pdf

Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today

Due to the imposition of curfew, to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year 2020 had to be celebrated in solitary comfort of their homes.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa also remained in his residence in Mirihana during this period. At the dawn of the New Year, Rajapaksa contacted his siblings, the Minister of Mahaweli, Agriculture, Irrigation and Rural Development, Chamal Rajapaksa and the Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa and extended his New year wishes.

The President also received calls from the public while he constantly was in contact with officials for the discussion on measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and the measures taken for the country to return to normalcy.

On 15 April he arrived at the Presidential Secretariat and called on the Presidential Task Force, appointed to combat COVID-19, to inquire into the updates of the measures taken.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa also celebrated the New Year with his family at the Carlton House in Tangalle. Although generally a huge crowd gathers at the Carlton House during New Year season, this year was an exception.

Certain New Year traditions have been consistently followed at the Carlton House every year and this year it took place in the presence of his whole family.

On 14 April, Minister of Passenger Transport Management, Power and Energy, Mahinda Aamaraweera arrived at the Carlton House to wish Premier while the former Governor of the Central Bank, Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Rajapaksa’s parliamentary affairs secretary, Kumarasiri Hettige travelled from Colombo to Tangalle to wish him.

On 15 April, Premier visited his elder brother Chamal Rajapaksa’s residence and spent a few days at the Carlton Estate in Weeraketiya while constantly making contact for updates on measures implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The President, head of the Presidential Task Force, Basil Rajapaksa, the Minister of Health, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Director General of Health Services, Anil Jasinghe and the current Commander of Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva were constantly in contact during the New Year period.

Prasanna blames JVP

The National Organizer of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the former Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa appears to be held up in a busy schedule although he is not a Cabinet Minister or even a deputy minister.

While the SLPP has long been preparing for the upcoming General Elections, Rajapaksa, right after having handed over nominations, has been vested with a huge additional responsibility.

He has been appointed as the head of the Presidential Task Force formed by the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in order to take necessary steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including the curfews that have been imposed and other precautionary measures adopted by the government.

Basil has had experience in such involvement. Discussions in furtherance for measures that have to be adopted for the country to return to normalcy have thus taken place at Temple Trees under his leadership.

A similar discussion was also held on 15 April chaired by Rajapaksa. This discussion was more far-fetched as in addition to steps that have to be implemented for the country to return to normalcy, measures pertaining to that of Sri Lankans currently overseas were also discussed.

The discussion focused on the return of Sri Lankan citizens overseas who want to return to their homeland during the pandemic as there is a considerable number of such individuals. Minister of Foreign Relations, Dinesh Gunawardena and the Minister of Industrial Exports and Investment Promotion, Prasanna Ranatunga were also present at this discussion.

Basil stated that these individuals have to be brought back to Sri Lanka upon the instructions of health officials while the spread of COVID-19 will also be controlled.

Meanwhile Gunawardena noted that information on these individuals have been obtained from Embassies and High Commissions and the process of ensuring their return is being carried out methodically.

Ranatunga added that the SriLankan Airlines will begin preparations for their return upon the approval of the State while emphasizing that the instructions of the State and health officials in this regard is mandatory.

Upon approval, they will be tested at the airport following which the report could be obtained within six hours until which they will remain in the airport. They will then be subject to a 14 day quarantine period.

During the previous Cabinet meeting, matters pertaining to Sri Lankans stranded in International airports was also discussed.

Ranatunga said issue of over 33 Sri Lankans having been stranded in foreign airports and measures that have to be adopted for their return were discussed in this Cabinet meeting adding that two Sri Lankans who arrived from the London Heathrow Airport have also been subject to quarantine.

He also stated that JVP’s, Wasantha Samarasinghe had alleged that Sri LankanAirlines is operating as usual while not taking measures for the return of Sri Lankan citizens overseas.

”This is a complete hoax as this entity has carried out their social responsibility by ensuring the safe return of Sri Lankans from Wuhan China and will continue this by bringing back all other Sri Lankans overseas when time permits,” he said while blaming JVP for consistently making false accusations and not carrying out clean politics.
 Rajapaksa then instructed officials to take steps and formulate mechanisms for the quick return of all those who are employed overseas, involved in business and students studying in foreign universities.

It’s all about elections

The Party led by South Korea’s President, Moon Jae-In, has scored an emphatic victory in the parliamentary poll held early this week. More than 17 million had cast their vote despite some 30 persons being tested positive for the coronavirus every day.

Though political pundits had expressed doubts about people being eager to vote, due to the rapid spread of the killer virus, the voter turnout had been 66.2 percent, dispelling those predictions.

Despite the presence of some 3,100 COVID-19 infected people throughout the nation, the South Korean Government had taken measures to conduct the election at eight quarantine centres, too.

Also, unlike previous polls there, an additional five million voters had cast their vote at the poll. The Democratic Party led by President Moon Jae-In had won 180 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly.

Political pundits have pointed out that what had enabled the ruling party to post an emphatic win had been its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the prevention of the spread of the deadly virus throughout the country.

Political analysts have noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had proved to be a blessing in disguise for President Moon Jae-In and his party as they won comfortably.

However, at the onset of the disease, the handling of the pandemic by President Jae-In had come in for severe criticism.

An internet petition containing over 1 million signatures had been posted over the South Korean President’s decision taken not to prohibit travel between Seoul and Beijing.

But, despite such criticisms the handling of the spread of the pandemic by the South Korean Government sans any lockdown had come in for much praise from around the world.

Meanwhile, the South Korean Government had also made facilities available to some 44 million qualified voters to cast their vote at the election.

The talk in the town is that even Sri Lanka too, in the past, had conducted elections at the height of JVP insurgency, where people were massacred when involved in the democratic process and also when Prabhakaran obstructed the Tamils in the North and East from voting in 2005.

If both, the Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasingha and the head of the presidential taskforce, to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, were to grant approval, the stalled General Election (GE) could be held during the last week of May, sources attached to the Election Commission (EC) say.

The Election Commission headed by Mahinda Deshapriya is already planning to hold a crucial discussion regarding the present situation in the country as well as the measures that could be taken to conduct the postponed General Election which was originally slated to be held on 25 April.      

These sources noted that Dr. Jasingha, who is the sole authority empowered to enforce the COVID-19 Quarantine Act in the country, as well as several other health officers have been invited for a discussion with Election Commission officials on 20 April.

Among others who have been invited for this discussion have been the Army Commander, Acting IGP Chandana Wickremaratna, DIG Priyantha Weerasuriya and PMG Ranjith Ariyaratna.

Meanwhile, Election Commission sources stated that all necessary measures to conduct the 2020 General Election has been undertaken by the Commission and they are also planning to publicize the preference numbers of all candidates through the publication of a gazette notification shortly.

A senior officer from the Commission added that if the General Election is to be held during the final week of May, the Election Commission would need a period of five weeks commencing from 20 April.

In the meantime political analysts have said that akin to South Korea staging its own General Election despite the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic there, Sri Lanka too would be able to take a lead from that book and hold its own General Election both successfully and effectively.

However, legal circles have pointed out that based on the gazette notification issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa the General Election would have to be held before 2 June this year.

Former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Friday (17) requested the Government and the Opposition to work together with the Election Commission (EC) to avoid a possible Constitutional crisis if the Parliamentary Election could not be held on time.

In a statement, Jayasuriya said that if a Constitutional crisis erupted at this particular time, there would be a risk of delegitimising and destabilising the country, which could gravely impact Sri Lanka’s prospects of obtaining economic relief.

“Sri Lanka is the only democracy to face the COVID-19 crisis without a Legislature to pass laws and financial appropriations to combat the pandemic and its economic consequences. It is my opinion that the Government and Opposition must engage with the EC and with each other urgently and in good faith. If there are any precautions or new laws that the Commission determines would allow it to safely hold the Election on time, these must be explored immediately,” he said.

Jayasuriya said he had recently been contacted by religious and political leaders, former Parliamentarians, academics, civil society and trade union representatives and members of the public seeking clarification on the impasse between the EC and the Executive on the Parliamentary Election.

“Sri Lanka is faced with an unprecedented health and economic crisis. As the prospect of a Constitutional crisis further compounding the plight of our country is a matter of grave national concern, I am setting out my position publicly rather than replying to each query individually,” he said, issuing the statement.

He noted that it was the position of the EC that the prevailing situation and logistical constraints prevented the Parliamentary Election from being held in time for the new Parliament to be summoned to meet by 2 June while the Government was of the view that there wasn’t necessarily any impediment to holding the Parliamentary Election on or before 28 May.

“In the interest of the nation, I appeal to the Government, the Opposition, and other stakeholders to set aside their political differences and to take urgent and meaningful steps to avoid an unnecessary third crisis for our country,” Jayasuriya said.

Meanwhile, all active election observation missions urged all relevant authorities to resolve their issues regarding a new election date, with the mutual understanding of not creating a Constitutional crisis against the backdrop of COVID-19.

Issuing a joint statement, they pointed out that: i) It is undesirable to head into an election with the EC and the Executive at odds with each other, ii) An environment of relief provision to those affected by the crisis is not ideal for an election campaign, as it can be exploited by candidates for their own political gain, as can already be seen; and iii) The National Operation Centre for the Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak and health authorities must confirm that the new election date will not put voters and election officials at risk.

The tug-o- war, as to who should take initiative to declare the next date for General Election is continuing,  issuing a statement on the matter, Prime Minister Rajapaksa has elaborated on holding elections amid COVID-19.
Full Statement:

The Coronavirus pandemic hit countries like the USA, India and Bangladesh in a situation where their economies had been experiencing strong growth for years. In contrast, Sri Lanka has had to face this crisis in a state of economic ruin. During the five years of yahapalana misrule from 2015 to 2019, our debt burden increased by 71%, the Rupee lost one third of its value and economic growth had plummeted to 2.7%. 

Furthermore, though we had won the presidency in November 2019 and formed a government, we did not have a majority in Parliament and were not able to get a vote on account passed even to pay off the previous government’s debts to suppliers of fertilizer and medicine.

The financial powers vested in the President, under Article 150 (3) of the Constitution, is the only saving grace in this situation. It was with all these debilitating disadvantages that we had to face the Coronavirus pandemic. After the first Coronavirus patient was discovered on 11 March, we introduced a raft of measures to control the disease including early detection, isolation and treatment of patients, quarantine for those exposed to risk, the tracing of patients’ contacts and social distancing measures. An operation like this has not been seen in our lifetimes. Curfews lasting for weeks on end had to be imposed to prevent the spread of the disease.

People unable to go out of their homes had to be supplied with essentials like foodstuffs, medicines, and even cash throughout the country. Aid had to be provided to low income earners. The produce of paddy and vegetable farmers and fishermen had to be bought to keep the production process going. The fact that all these tasks were dealt with simultaneously at short notice is nothing less than a managerial miracle. Today, the whole world acknowledges Sri Lanka’s success in containing the coronavirus pandemic.

The President’s leadership in this regard has to be commended. Our government doctors, nurses, and health service workers have come to the attention of the entire world. The skill and dedication of the intelligence services in tracing the contacts of patients, the efficiency of the armed forces in implementing quarantine and lockdown measures has prevented the spread of the disease. 

The Police, and government officials at all levels have all contributed to the success of the anti-Coronavirus campaign. Today, our country is one of the safest places to be in the whole world. We have achieved this despite an economy that had been driven into the ground, and an unpatriotic and opportunistic opposition bent on undermining our government at every turn.

 The opposition leader tried to sabotage the anti-coronavirus campaign at the very outset by personally encouraging protests against the quarantine process. Then they tried to undermine government services including the health service with the argument that the President had no power to allocate funds for government services after the dissolution of Parliament. Now they say that the Gazette dissolving Parliament should be rescinded the as the new parliament has to meet before the 2nd of June, and the parliamentary election cannot be held before that.

The yahapalana government delayed local government elections by nearly three years. Their attempt to postpone that election indefinitely by moving courts failed only because the Elections Commission declared they would hold elections to the institutions that were not involved in litigation. 

With just days to go for the dissolution of the provincial councils in 2017, the yahapalana government changed the provincial councils elections system to prevent elections from taking place. When the Attorney General held that a two thirds majority in Parliament was required to pass that amendment, they bartered policy for votes in the corridors of Parliament to obtain the required majority.

As a result of that unprincipled political horse trading, the local government elections law which was passed on 25 August 2017 has 40% proportional representation whereas the provincial council elections law passed four weeks later has 50% proportional representation! Sri Lanka is also the only democratic country in the world where political parties petitioned the Supreme Court to get the declaration of a parliamentary election annulled. The present scramble to have the parliamentary elections put off is a continuation of that deplorable past.

Things have to come back to normal sooner or later. In eleven of the 25 administrative districts, there have been no coronavirus patients at all. In another seven districts, there have been only one or two patients, and five to seven patients in two more districts. Only five districts have a high incidence of coronavirus patients.

On 2 March the President dissolved Parliament and fixed 25 April for the poll and 14 May for the first meeting of the new Parliament. Ten days later, when the first Coronavirus patient was found, the President did not have the power to postpone the poll. Under Section 24(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act No: 1 of 1981, when the poll cannot be held on the day fixed by the President, the Elections Commission is mandatorily required to fix another day for the poll. 

They have no power to postpone the poll without fixing another date. Such mandatory legal requirements cannot be ignored on the basis of speculation as to what may or may not happen weeks and months into the future. The Elections Commission should first fulfill its duties under Section 24(3) and thereafter take up for discussion any outstanding issues.

Sajith begins online campaign

The members of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya have continued to communicate with the public almost every day through online platforms amid the curfew regarding the current situation of the country and through this method Former opposition Leader and SJB Party Leader Sajith Premadasa has taken the initiative to educate people on the faults evident within the relief mechanism established by the Government.

Due to this reason, the members of the SJB decided to meet President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and share with him their opinions on how the country should function under the present circumstances.  Apart from this, Premadasa has also taken steps to advice his party members to help provide relief to people in any way they can sans political bias.

However the members of the SJB replied to Premadasa claiming that it is not the SJB who are favoring the people based on their political bias but rather the Government and added that the Government only provides relief to a selected group of people from which the majority is biased towards them. The members of the SJB further claimed that it is only Premadasa who truly helps people in need without having his own political agenda and further added that during the Presidential campaign there were individuals who voted for the opposing political parties while living in houses that were provided to them by Premadasa.

Premadasa then noted that political leaders should lend help to people in need without taking politics into consideration and added that he is not used to working with the hope of winning an election but rather he wants to help the people in need regardless of the time and place. Premadasa then questioned as to why the Government has failed to provide equal relief to everyone when they have successfully lead the health and defense sectors to control the spreading of COVID-19 and opined that the Government should not involve politics when helping the public.

During discussions held by Premadasa through the media, he also took the initiative to communicate to the people regarding a few important topics such as the reopening of the tourism and apparel industries.  Premadasa also opined, via a message posted on twitter on 16 April, that Sri Lanka should be made into a medicine producing center and added that if the relevant authorities focus on developing modern machinery that is capable of producing medicines then the country can use its existing resources to manufacture medicines.  

Meanwhile during a discussion held between party leaders Premadasa as the former Opposition Leader was given permission to use the Opposition Leader’s Office on a rent basis for the next few days due to not having a proper office to conduct his duties as the former leader of the opposition.

RANJITH SOYSA

We hear many a good story about how Hela Vedakama can restore immunization in the human body from Hela Suwaya school of medicine. The time tested methods are available to our citizens in these times of fear to protect them from a virus for which there is hardly any treatment except vaccinations under the Western system. While a pot of medicinal smoke provides protection at a very inexpensive cost, the broth -kenda- made out of selected native rice varieties and medicinal herbs can supply the nutrition not only to withstand virus attacks but also as source of wholesome food. After listening to a very useful interview conducted by doctors who are attempting to popularize Hela Suwaya , I learnt that they have very effective treatment for non- infectious diseases such the Diabetes in Sri Lanka which will be a major threat to the Sri Lankans in the near future, kidney problems and even for Dengu

With the globalized systems facing the challenges of Corivid 19, the government and the people should NOW consider Hela Suwaya seriously as an effective way of restoring the health of the people.

There is another factor concerning Hela Suwaya  which should receive the attention of the economic planners who are probably now busy developing economic models to get us away from the dependence on apparel exports and export earnings remitted by the ex-patriate workers. Hela Suwaya treatment can be developed into a feasible pharmaceutical home industry in manufacturing herbal based medicine and types of food which can also assist in reducing our cost of living and importing of foreign made medical supplies. Further, Hela Suwaya has begun to promote agriculture based on organic fertilizer which too can be developed into a feasible industry and can help in the supply of wholesome food rather than consuming chemically treated types. While helping to reduce the cost of agriculture inputs especially the imported fertilizer , the alternate offered by Hela Suwaya can be a very effective impetus to real economic growth.

It is up to the policy makers to make use of Hela Suwaya for the nation’s health needs and to use the whole package as a God sent economic opportunity.

RANJITH SOYSA

Palitha Senanayake

By selecting the 20^th June 2020 as the date on which Parliamentary election could be held the Election Commission has pushed the country, constitutionally, in to a no- man’s land.  The commission seemed certain that the country would not be normal by end of next month, the month in which the election should be held with no constitutional issue.  But then it seemed certain that things will be normal by June, the month after.  The commission appears comfortable in forecasting what will happen in two months but not what will happen next month.  Thus, we have a constitutional crisis on top of the Covid 19 crisis, courtesy the election commission.  In the end the Election commission seemed to have made its point, ‘Well, this is why we requested the President to seek Supreme Court opinion!’

The Commissioner maintains that he prevailed over the pressure received to hold election as well as the pressure received to delay it. Well, the Commissioners job is not to give in to this political camp or that but to hold free and fair elections when they are due.  However, the reason for this procrastination appears to be that it is not possible to have an election campaign to the heart’s content of the candidates contesting in the prevailing pandemic atmosphere. Here again the commissioners primary concern is the democratic rights of the people over and above those of the candidates. Alright, the people have the right to get to know the candidates but this may not necessarily be done in the way that we have been used to all this while.

The election campaigning ways that continued throughout in this country was first introduced in 1947 when the literacy level of the people was only 6% of the population. It is said that the symbols were first introduced and displayed prominently because the majority could not read. Today the literacy level is   90 + % and that may require a differ campaigning strategy. In 1947 public support was portrayed through community leaders, with limited political acumen,  and intoxicant was the main method of obtaining this support, but today even though some social riffraff would look for ‘free drinks’ during the time of an election campaign, their support may not have a positive effect.  On the other hand today the level of communication has reached new heights with television, internet and social media.  Thus, there are better and more effective ways of getting at a more educated polity and hence the strategies have to follow suit.  In any case we have to come out of this culture of offering a bottle of liquor and a meal to attend a political meeting with a free bus ride and also of holding meetings that phew venom with no substance. Therefore let this dark cloud of Covid 19 have a silver lining as well.    

There however is another political aspect to this procastination in holding elections and that is, some politicians expect that the pressure of delay in elections will render the country without a Parliament for more than three months prompting the President to reconvene the dissolved Parliament. The fact that the Parliament was dissolved 6 months early on Presidential proclamation has spawned a score to be settled  among these outgoing parliamentarians; the last straw of hanging in power.

Those who subscribe to this school of thought should realize that the world and the society will never be the same in post covid 19; at least for some time. The WHO has expressed optimism that a cure may be found towards September but that will take some more time to reach formal commercial levels of production. In such a light is Sri Lanka going to postpone elections indefinitely until this pandemic is brought under total control?

The life of the Parliament, by lapse of time or by proclamation, is constitutionally over and hence there isn’t a chance of reviving it. The country has to go forward and not backwards and hence the need of the hour is to elect the new Parliament rather than to resort to political gimmicks to recall a dead body to life. The last Parliament, though legally cremated on the 2^nd march 2020 was dead in its moral and ethical right to continue to be the legislator in February 2018 when the people expressed an overwhelming lack of support for same at the Pradeshiya Sabha elections. That was the day the voters of this country gave a resounding defeat to the incumbent and brought a relatively unknown set of people with a completely new political party; something that has never happened in the political history of this country.  The majority overwhelmingly voted Podu Jana Peramuna, neither because they were well educated on their policies nor on how they would govern once in power, but because they were so disillusioned with the policies of the Government that was in power.

Ironically, that was the only chance the people received to concur with the policies of the government that was elected in January 2015, promising to restore democracy!    It is indeed unfortunate that the Judiciary of the country looked only in to the legal aspect of the life of the Parliament, when it restored it in power in November 2018, glossing over the moral and ethical aspects of the same. And now with a new President in power, the old Parliament has no justification to exist except to sabotage the program of work of the new President that the majority approved.

The philosophers who gave thought to democracy ( demos– common people, kratos– strength) back  in 507 BC in Athens, strictly thought in terms of a government by the will of the majority on a day to day basis. However this became too cumbersome an affair in practice and hence it was later decided that the people should elect representatives for a stipulated period to govern the country for them and ‘ in keeping with their aspirations’. In this, it was not the period for which representative was elected that mattered, but whether that representative truly represented the wishes of the majority at all times. Thus, it was not acceptable (and was not democratic) for the elected representative to act as he/ she pleased during the time stipulated, ignoring the wishes of the majority. Therefore, did the previous legislator had a democratic right to continue as the legislator after it received such a resounding lack of support from the majority of this country, merely because it received a mandate for 5 years in 2015?

Thus, since the elected President has said that he is not in favor of convening the old parliament under any circumstance, if the Supreme Court orders to reconvene the dissolved Parliament in response to the petition filed by M A Sumanthiran, that order will be made in defiance of the 69 million majority who voted to elect the new President.

No man is good enough to govern another man, except with that other’s consent– Abraham Lincoln.

Courtesy Reuters

NEW DELHI/DHAKA (Reuters) – More than 500 garment factories in Bangladesh that supply to global brands reopened on Monday after a month-long shutdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, while India considered ways to scale back its vast lockdown to reduce economic pain.A medical worker sits inside a mobile test van for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) after she collected swabs from people to test, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, April 27, 2020. REUTERS/Amit Dave

Some of the world’s biggest clothing firms including Gap Inc, Zara-owner Inditex and H&M source their supplies from Bangladesh, which allowed garment manufacturers in the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chittagong to resume work from the start of this week.

We are making sure the workers wear masks, wash hands at the entrance, undergo temperature checks, and maintain physical distancing,” said Mohammad Hatem, vice president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Bangladesh is home to around 4,000 garment factories employing 4.1 million workers, and industry groups for the sector had warned that the shutdown that began on March 26 could cause the country to lose $6 billion in export revenue this financial year.

Competitors such as Vietnam, China and Cambodia have already resumed operations, Hatem said.

Bangladesh reported nearly 500 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday to take the total to 5,913 of whom 152 have died.

While the country has allowed garment and other factories to reopen, much of the rest of the economy is still shut down and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told government officials on Monday that schools and colleges may have to remain closed until September if the situation did not improve.

We will reopen educational institutions when the situation improves,” she said.

INDIA SAYS VIRUS FAR FROM OVER

In India, where a strict shutdown for its 1.3 billion people is due to end on May 3, Prime Minister Narendra held talks with the chief ministers of the country’s 28 states to decide on what restrictions should be kept in place.

Modi said the risk from the virus was far from over, although India had been able to save thousands of lives because of its extended lockdown, a government statement quoted him as saying.

India has reported 28,379 confirmed infections of the coronavirus, according to government data on Monday, the highest number in Asia after China. So far 886 people have died, nowhere near the levels the United States, Italy and Spain have suffered.

ADVERTISEMENT

Health experts say India is testing far less per capita than many countries and the virus is lurking undetected. Still, a surge in hospitalisations has not happened across the country, strengthening the case for lifting some curbs.

(The) Prime Minister said that we have to give importance to the economy as well as continue the fight against COVID -19,” the government statement said.

India’s economy, which was already growing at its slowest pace in years before the pandemic struck, could contract in the fiscal year that began in April, private economists say, making jobs even more scarce for its young population.

One way out of the 40-day lockdown would be to allow the least-affected parts of the country to return to activity while keeping a tight lid on hot zones which include major cities Mumbai and Delhi, officials said.

Neighbouring Pakistan also sought to reduce the economic pain, saying it will pay the electricity bills for 3.5 million small businesses for the next three months as part of a 50.69 billion rupees ($316.56 million) package.

The government has extended a nationwide lockdown until May 9. However, it is switching to a smart lockdown” with targeted tracking and tracing of cases while allowing some industrial and commercial activities to resume under safety guidelines.

The outbreak continued to spread through the Indian Ocean island nations of Sri Lanka and the Maldives.Slideshow (9 Images)

Sri Lanka reported 45 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, all of them navy personnel, after it surfaced in a base near the capital Colombo earlier this month. A quarter of the country’s 567 cases are from the navy, according to government figures.

The Maldives also reported a spike in cases, mostly among migrant workers living in packed dormitories in the capital Male. The country has 200 confirmed cases, the government said, a large number of them Bangladeshi migrant workers.

Here are official government figures on the spread of the coronavirus in South Asia:

* India has reported 28,379 cases, including 886 deaths

* Pakistan has reported 13,328 cases, including 281 deaths

* Afghanistan has reported 1,703 cases, including 57 deaths

* Sri Lanka has reported 567 cases, including seven deaths

* Bangladesh has reported 5,416 cases, including 145 deaths

* Maldives has reported 200 cases and no deaths

* Nepal has reported 52 cases and no deaths

* Bhutan has reported seven cases and no deaths