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https://www.facebook.com/harsha.perera.5661/videos/10156549828102531

By Peter Singer & Paola Cavalieri courtesy Asian Tribune

The apocalyptic images of the locked-down Chinese city of Wuhan have reached us all. The world is holding its breath over the spread of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, and governments are taking or preparing drastic measures that will necessarily sacrifice individual rights and freedoms for the general good.

Some focus their anger on China’s initial lack of transparency about the outbreak. The philosopher Slavoj Žižek has spoken of the racist paranoia” at work in the obsession with COVID-19 when there are many worse infectious diseases from which thousands die every day. Those prone to conspiracy theories believe that the virus is a biological weapon aimed at China’s economy. Few mentions, let alone confront, the underlying cause of the epidemic.

Both the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic and the current one can be traced to China’s wet markets” – open-air markets where animals are bought live and then slaughtered on the spot for the customers. Until late December 2019, everyone affected by the virus had some link to Wuhan’s Huanan Market.

At China’s wet markets, many different animals are sold and killed to be eaten: wolf cubs, snakes, turtles, guinea pigs, rats, otters, badgers, and civets. Similar markets exist in many Asian countries, including Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

In tropical and subtropical areas of the planet, wet markets sell live mammals, poultry, fish, and reptiles, crammed together and sharing their breath, their blood, and their excrement. As US National Public Radio journalist Jason Beaubien recently reported: Live fish in open tubs splash water all over the floor. The countertops of the stalls are red with blood as fish are gutted and filleted right in front of the customers’ eyes. Live turtles and crustaceans climb over each other in boxes. Melting ice adds to the slush on the floor. There’s lots of water, blood, fish scales, and chicken guts.” Wet markets, indeed.

Scientists tell us that keeping different animals in close, prolonged proximity with one another and with people creates an unhealthy environment that is the probable source of the mutation that enabled COVID-19 to infect humans. More precisely, in such an environment, a coronavirus long present in some animals underwent rapid mutation as it changed from nonhuman host to nonhuman host, and ultimately gained the ability to bind to human cell receptors, thus adapting to the human host.

This evidence prompted China, on January 26, to impose a temporary ban on wildlife animal trade. It is not the first time that such a measure has been introduced in response to an epidemic. Following the SARS outbreak China prohibited the breeding, transport, and sale of civets and other wild animals, but the ban was lifted six months later.

Historically, tragedies such as the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic have sometimes led to important changes. The probable source of the new coronavirus – so-called wet markets, at which live animals are sold and slaughtered before customers’ eyes – should be banned not only in China, but worldwide.

Today, many voices are calling for a permanent shutdown of wildlife markets.” Zhou Jinfeng, head of China’s Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, has urged that illegal wildlife trafficking” be banned indefinitely and has indicated that the National People’s Congress is discussing a bill to outlaw trade in protected species. Focusing on protected species, however, is a ploy to divert public attention away from the appalling circumstances in which animals in wet markets are forced to live and die. What the world really needs is a permanent ban on wet markets.

For the animals, wet markets are hell on earth. Thousands of sentient, palpitating beings endure hours of suffering and anguish before being brutally butchered. This is just one small part of the suffering that humans systematically inflict on animals in every country – in factory farms, laboratories, and the entertainment industry.

If we stop to reflect on what we are doing – and mostly we do not – we are prone to justify it by appealing to the alleged superiority of our species, in much the same way that white people used to appeal to the alleged superiority of their race to justify their subjection of inferior” humans. But at this moment, when vital human interests so clearly run parallel to the interests of nonhuman animals, this small part of the suffering we inflict on animals offers us the opportunity for a change of attitudes toward members of non-human species.

To achieve a ban on wet markets, we will have to overcome some specific cultural preferences, as well as resistance linked to the fact that a ban would cause economic hardship to those who make their living from the markets. But, even without giving nonhuman animals the moral consideration they deserve, these localized concerns are decisively outweighed by the calamitous impact that ever more frequent global epidemics (and perhaps pandemics) will have.

Martin Williams, a Hong Kong-based writer specializing in conservation and the environment, puts it well: As long as such markets exist, the likelihood of other new diseases emerging will remain. Surely, it is time for China to close down these markets. In one fell swoop, it would be making progress on animal rights and nature conservation, while reducing the risk of a ‘made in China’ disease harming people worldwide.”

But we would go further. Historically, tragedies have sometimes led to important changes. Markets at which live animals are sold and slaughtered should be banned not only in China, but all over the world.

Peter Singer is Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and founder of the non-profit organization The Life You Can Save. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real World, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In 2013, he was named the world’s third “most influential contemporary thinker” by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute.

Paola Cavalieri, an independent researcher based in Italy, is the author, most recently, of Philosophy and the Politics of Animal Liberation.

– Asian Tribune –

Mahinda Gunasekera 

Please on the LINK below to access the video about the ordination of two young Africans at the Buddhist Centre in Uganda.  The Burmese and Thai Buddhist communities to have participated in the event.

The chief monk of the Centre is Ven. Buddharakkita Thera whom we have met on two occasions on visits to the Bhavana Society established by the Most Venerable Henepola Gunaratana Mahathera.  Ven. Buddharakkita had first ordained as a monk under the guidance of the Late Ven. U. Seelananda Thera (a pupil of Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw) who was in charge of the Burmese Buddhist Monastery in San Francisco.

Ven. Buddharakkita was very much in demand by African American communities in the USA when he was residing at the Bhavana Society in West Virginia.

The Ugandan Buddhist Centre is the first of its kind established by native African people. Ven. Buddharakkita’s mother to has ordained as a Buddhist Nun residing at the Centre.

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CONFIRMED – FORT DETRICK, THE UNITED STATES BIOLOGICAL WARFARE LAB IS WHERE CORONAVIRUS ORIGINATED

FORCED TO SHUT DOWN WHEN VIRUSES LEAKED AUGUST 2019

US SOLDIERS WERE INFECTED

300 HUNDRED CAME TO WUHAN ON PRETENSE OF TAKING PART IN THE WORLD MILITARY COMPETITION – WON NOT ONE MEDAL

SPREAD OUT IN WUHAN WITH SOME VISITING THE WET MARKETS

US CONSULATE IN WUHAN FULLY EVACUATED WITH BIOWEAPON DRUMS LEFT IN GROUNDS

WEEKS LATER FIRST VICTIM OF CORONAVIRUS APPEARED IN WUHAN

US FOUND TO HAVE 5 STRAINS, WUHAN HAS ONE

PROVING THE UNITED STATES IS THE ORIGIN OF THE CORONAVIRUS

READ ON

PS – FURTHER PROOF IN POST FOLLOWING IN COMMENT BELOW

As posted by June Lee:

August 6, 2019, the US’s main biological warfare lab at Fort Detrick was issued a “ceast and desist” order because of violation of safety standards and protocol, and leaks.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/virus-biological-us-army-weapons-fort-detrick-leak-ebola-anthrax-smallpox-ricin-a9042641.html

August – September 2019, “statewide outbreak” of a mysterious respiratory emerged in the US, causing severe respiratory diseases in a few hundred people. This was blamed on vaping although people had been vaping for more than a decade without such outbreaks. Officials were unable to find any relation to a specific vaping device and addictive.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/mysterious-vaping-lung-injuries-may-have-flown-under-regulatory-radar-n1046771
https://q13fox.com/2019/09/16/a-statewide-outbreak-two-new-cases-of-lung-disease-linked-to-vaping-in-washington/
https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2019-08-09/wisconsin-officials-12-cases-of-severe-lung-disease-after-vaping

August 2019 – Jan 2020, the US CDC reported that the US is gearing up for one of the worst flu seasons ever, with 12000 deaths. On 12 March 2020, the CDC director admitted that some COVID-19 deaths were misdiagnosed as the flu because COVID-19 were found when they did posthumous tests.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/flu-season-2020-what-to-know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_dU2RCqWs4

October 18 – 27, 2019, the 2019 Military World Games was held in Wuhan. The US sent a contingent of 350 athletes. They did not win any medals. The athletes toured Wuhan.

November 2019, the Chinese press reported that five athletes who had suffered from infectious disease had been discharged from hospital.
https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_png/cAB5zssIBQ0x144B7DJ7kB43ho1MKUbNrMYNics3XIDUZpwGYKNsN9AyAB6J282ml3BvPxrnAiaXTdQuvu5kEatQ/640?wx_fmt=png&tp=webp&wxfrom=5&wx_lazy=1&wx_co=1
https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_png/cAB5zssIBQ0x144B7DJ7kB43ho1MKUbNmicvyn5wozaksjicInYAGlcduHHwyHrJtzIEuZnRvmKB2T83pEibZVNcg/640?wx_fmt=png&tp=webp&wxfrom=5&wx_lazy=1&wx_co=1

November 2019, Wuhan locals were detected with COVID-19, with a spike of such terms in local social media. This coincided with the post-incubation period after the Military World Games.
https://www.businessinsider.sg/coronavirus-patients-zero-contracted-case-november-2020-3?r=US&IR=T

December 1, 2019, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was detected in Wuhan. Subsequently more than 80000 people will be infected. Of the first 41 cases, 34% were not related to the wildlife market.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30183-5/fulltext

Daniel Lucey, an infectious disease specialist at Georgetown University, claimed that because there is an incubation time between infection and symptoms surfacing, and the presence of infected people with no links to wildlife market, the virus could not have originated from the wildlife market. Kristian Andersen, an evolutionary biologist at the Scripps Research Institute, agreed with the assessment.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/wuhan-seafood-market-may-not-be-source-novel-virus-spreading-globally

Genotype assay of COVID-19 revealed 5 variants/strains (group ABCDE) of the virus. Most regions in the world have 1-2 COVID-19 variants including Hubei (mainly group C), and UK (Group 

. US is the only country with all 5 variants (Group ABCDE). In Virology 101, the region with the most variants is the origin of the disease.
https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_png/cAB5zssIBQ0x144B7DJ7kB43ho1MKUbN8unCYVZIE7wMduKBDFgfy2cmbTxn0yj32eRTf77WzjfKaqk52FAd4w/640?wx_fmt=png&tp=webp&wxfrom=5&wx_lazy=1&wx_co=1
https://mmbiz.qpic.cn/mmbiz_png/cAB5zssIBQ0x144B7DJ7kB43ho1MKUbNJxp8mz3Wep5HqRXqic4X2KxMoPI7FJfWsLib6EJpicJjTkicxqeKnrHkDw/640?wx_fmt=png&tp=webp&wxfrom=5&wx_lazy=1&wx_co=1

25 Jan, 2020, Japanese couple went for a 10 days vacation in Hawaii. On the second week they fell ill. On return to Japan they were tested and confirmed to have COVID-19.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/14/us/coronavirus-hawaii-japan.html

Italy lab confirmed that the strain of COVID-19 is different from the one circulating in China, and that the circulation of the virus is not so recent, and had been spreading undetected for weeks.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/28/coronavirus-may-have-been-in-italy-for-weeks-before-it-was-detected

China’s coronavirus expert Dr Zhong Nanshan, the discoverer of SARS, said that although COVID-19 was detected in China, it doesn’t necessary mean that it originated from China.

As of March 12, 2020, the US had only tested 10000 people, and COVID-19 was confirmed in 1600 of them. As a comparison South Korea tests 10000 people a day, but the disease rate trajectory is the same as the US. This suggests that there is a great number of infected people in the US, just that they were not tested.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/13/21178289/confirmed-coronavirus-cases-us-countries-italy-iran-singapore-hong-kong

Feel free to copy/paste”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/virus-biological-us-army-weapons-fort-detrick-leak-ebola-anthrax-smallpox-ricin-a9042641.html

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Ayurveda Department today cautioned the public not to be deceived by various social media posts about Ayurvedic cures for COVID-19 saying there was no such remedy for the viral infection except for immune-boosting spices or herbs like ginger and coriander.

Commissioner of Ayurveda K.D.C.S. Kumaratunga said it was a punishable offence under the Ayurveda Act No.31 of 1961 for a person who had not registered with the Ayurvedic Medical Council to dispense or promote such cures publicly.

Addressing a special press briefing held today at the Ayurveda Department in Nawinna, Dr. Kumaratunga who is also the Ayurvedic Medical Council Chairman said a growing trend was evident where numerous individuals post Ayurvedic cures for coronavirus through their social media accounts.

We have noticed a growing trend of people posting Ayurvedic formulas through Facebook or WhatsApp claiming to be easy, efficient and homemade cures for coronavirus. These are misleading messages. Neither western nor Ayurvedic medicine has a cure for coronavirus yet. Therefore, if someone is posting any Ayurvedic recipe claiming it is a solution for the pandemic, it is nothing but an absolute lie,” he said.

On the one hand, senior doctor of the National Institute of Traditional Medicine (NITM) S.K. P. Tharanga said bogus recipes containing Perumkayam (Ferula Foetida) or coriander or Nelli (Indian Gooseberry) were freely circulated via social media but nobody would take responsibility if any side effect took place with their usage.

On the other, Ayurveda Department Medical Officer Dr. Apsara Nishshanka explained how traditional Ayurvedic methods like Dhoomayanaya (herbal fumigation) with Aama Pachanaya (burning of bodily toxins) and Agni Deepanaya (cleansing pancreatic fluids) could help improve metabolism and boost the immune system.

Leading spices and herbal beverages like ginger and coriander, Aralu (Terminalia Chebula) and Thippili (Long Pepper) or Nelli and Rasakinda (Tinospora Cordifolia) can boost one’s immune system greatly that a person could improve his or her health up to a certain extent to safeguard from any spreading virus,” Dr. Apsara said. (Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) in a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today has proposed drastic measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic including the shutting down of all airports and harbours with immediate effect.

They also asked to extend public holidays to cover the entire week and prevent unnecessary movement and gathering of people; centrally coordinated vigorous measures for contact tracing and monitoring, utilizing MOH (Medical Officer of Health) offices, Grama Niladharis, Armed Forces and Police; Provide adequate protection for healthcare staff in both government and private sectors and postpone all non-emergency healthcare services in government hospitals.

The above measures were carefully thought out by studying the experiences in China and Singapore, which countries succeed in controlling COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, Italy which failed to adhere to the above steps in a prompt manner, failed to control the pandemic with disastrous consequences to its citizens as well as becoming a threat to the rest of the world.

Studies have shown, an 80% contact tracing is absolutely necessary for preventing the spread of the present pandemic.

Furthermore, containing the diseas, is the only path available to our country as our ICU services, including ventilator support, which is necessary to treat patient with advance COVID-19, is already at maximal utilization with virtually no reserve, the letter added. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Government of Sri Lanka has declared a special public holiday for the next three days. The declared three-day holiday is also applicable to the private sector.

Accordingly, the holiday will be in effect from tomorrow (17) until Thursday (19), the government announced. 

However, this special three-day holiday will be effective for departments, corporations and state institutions excluding health, food supply, transport, essential services, banking, District Secretariats and Divisional Secretariats.

The government had requested the private sector to also grant the three-day holiday. 

A decision on extending the holiday is to be considered after monitoring the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The Sri Lankan government declared Monday (March 16) a public holiday after the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose alarmingly. 

උපුටා ගැනීම – අනව තප්ත විල

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ covid-19 රෝගීන් 21 දෙනෙක් වාර්තා වෙලා ඉන්න වෙලාවේ පොඩි දෙයක් කියන්න හිතුණා.. මේ සටහන මම පටන් ගන්නෙ “Don’t try to be like patient 31” කියලා …

කවුද මේ patient 31 කියන්නෙ? දකුණු කොරියාව කියන්නෙ චීනයට පස්සෙ ඉතාම සීඝ්‍රයෙන් මේ වෛරසය මුලින්ම ව්‍යාප්ත වුන රටක්.. හැබැයි ඒ යම් හේතුවක් නිසා.. ඒ හේතුව තමයි ” patient 31″ කතාව.

පෙබරවාරි 18 වෙනකන් වගෙ දවසට එකා දෙන්නා වගෙ වාර්තා වුනු දකුණු කොරියානු රෝගීන් සංඛ්‍යාව තිබුණෙ 30ක් විදියට.. Daegu වල 61 හැවිරිදි කාන්තාවක් 31 වෙනි රෝගියා විදියට කොරෝනා පොසිටිව් වෙනවා..

කතන්දරේ පටන් ගන්නෙ එතනින්. පෙබරවාරි 28 වෙනකොට රෝගීන් 31 ක්ෂණයකින් රෝගීන් 1000 න් එහා පැත්තට පනිනවා.. 31 වෙනි රෝගියාගෙ ඉතිහාසය පරීක්ශා කරනකොට තමයි ඉහමොළ රත් වෙන්න ගන්නෙ..

මේ කාන්තාව පෙබරවාරි 6 රිය අනතුරකට මුහුණ දීලා රෝහල් ගත වෙලා තියෙනවා.. ඊට පස්සෙ 7 වෙනිදා රෝහලෙන් discharge වෙලා එයාගෙ ප්‍රියතම Shincheonji කියන පල්ලියට ගිහින් තියෙනවා.. උණ එක්ක හිසරදයක් මෙයාට ඇවිත් තියෙනවා.. වැඩිය ගණන් අරන් නෑ.. උණ ගතිය වැඩි වෙනකොට වෛද්‍යවරු කියලා තියෙනවා විවේක ගන්න කියලා .. අහලා නෑ.. පෙබරවාරි 15 කොරෝනා ටෙස්ට් එක කරන්න කීවට එයා අහලා නෑ. සාමාන්‍ය උණක් කියලා හිතාගෙන එදා යාළුවෙක් එක්ක හෝටලයක දවල් ආහාරයත් අරගෙන Shincheonji කියන පල්ලියේ යාඥා වලට උණ ගතියෙන්ම ගිහින් තියෙනවා.. මොකද ඒ පල්ලිය ක්‍රිස්තියානි කිව්වට වෙනම නිකායක්.. ඒ පල්ලියේ නිර්මාතෲට අනුව ” අසනීප වීම කියන්නෙ දේව යාඥාවන්ට සහභාගි නොවීමට තියෙන නිදහසට කාරණාවක් නෙමෙයි”.. එදා පෙබරවාරි 15 කොරෝනා ටෙස්ට් එක කරන එක ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන්න පල්ලියේ බලපෑමත් ඇයට හේතුවක් වෙන්න ඇති.

ඉතින් මෙයා හෙන භක්තිමත් කාන්තාවක්.. ගිහින් තියෙනවා 16 වෙනිදත්.. එදා ඒ පල්ලියට 9000ක් විතර ඇවිත් තියෙනවා. යාඥාව පැය දෙකක් වගෙ තිබිලා තියෙනවා.. යාඥාවෙන් පස්සෙ කැවිලි කෑම එහෙම බෙදාගෙන කන එකත් සිරිතක්ලු..

17 මෙයාට තදට අසනීප වෙලා රෝහලේ ඇඩ්මිට් වුනාලු.. 18 තහවුරු වුනාලු කොරෝනා කියලා.. ඊට පස්සෙ දවසින් දවස වාර්තා වුනු රෝගීන් ගාණ අසාමාන්‍ය ලෙස ඉහල ගිහින් තියෙනවා. අර පල්ලියේ යාඥාවට සහභාගි වුන අයගෙන් 1200ට විතර උණ ලක්ශණ එන්න පටන් තියෙනවා. ඒ පල්ලියට ආපු විරෝධය එක්ක පල්ලිය වහලා තියෙනවා.. පල්ලියට එන අයගෙ නාම ලේඛණයක් අරගෙන කට්ටියව වෙනමම කොරෝනා වෛරසය ආසාධිතද කියලා පරීක්ශණ කරනකොට patient 31 හරහා ආසාධනය වුනු රෝගීන් දවස ගානෙ වාර්තා වෙන්න පටන් අරන් තියෙනවා..

මේක නොසැලකිල්ල සහ මුරණ්ඩු කමට දෙන්න පුලුවන් ජීවමාන උදාහරණයක් .. ලංකාව වගෙ රටක මෙහෙම අය සෑහෙන්න වැඩියි. හිතට සහනයක් දෙන හේතුව තමයි තවමත් ලංකාවෙන් වාර්තා වෙන්නෙ කන්දකාඩු නිරෝධායනය මධ්‍යස්ථානයෙන් සිදුවීම් බහුතරයක් වීමත් පිටින් වාර්තා වුනු කොරෝනා රෝගීන්ගෙ සබඳතා හරහා බෝ වුනා යැයි සැලකෙන රොගීන් සංඛ්‍යාව තුනක් වගෙ අවම මට්ටමක තිබීමත්..

ඒත් ඉතාලියේ ඉදන් ඇවිත් නිරෝධායනය නොවී බොරු තොරතුරු දීලා හැංගිලා ඉන්න එක්කෙනෙක් හරි ‘patient 31’ වගෙ උනොත් ලංකාවට ලොකු ප්‍රශ්නෙකට මුහුණ දෙන්න වෙනවා.. එහෙම නොවේවා කියලා පතන ගමන් තව කාරණාවක් කියන්නම ඕන.

පාසල් කලින් නිවාඩු දුන්නෙ, 16 වෙනිදා නිවාඩු දුන්නෙ පවුල් පිටින් විනෝද චාරිකා යන්න නෙමෙයි … ශ්‍රී පාද වන්දනාවේ තෙරපි තෙරපි දහස් ගණනක් අය වන්දනාවේ යනවලු මේ කාලයේ..මේ ඒකට කාලය නෙමෙයි … ‘ Patient 31’ කෙනෙක් ඔය අතරේ හිටියොත් අර කොරියාවේ පල්ලියෙන් නාම ලේඛණය ඉල්ල ගත්තා වගේවත් link එකක් නෑ… ආයෙ ලංකාවට නැගිටින්න බැරි වෙන්න අඩාල වෙනවා ඒම වුනොත්..

ඉතින් තමන්ගෙ පුද්ගල වගකීම ඉෂ්ඨ කරන්නම ඕන වෙලාවක් මේක.. ‘ Patient 31’ කතාව කිව්වේ කාවවත් බය කරන්න නෙමෙයි .. අවදානම පෙන්නන්න. ඉතින් හැමෝම තමන්ගෙ පුද්ගල වගකීම ඉෂ්ඨ කරමු.. කොරෝනාවට ලංකාව බිලි ගන්න දීම හෝ නොදීම තීරණය කරන්න පුලුවන් ලාංකික අපිටමයි.. අර හැංගිලා ඉන්න අයටයි.. 🙂

උපුටා ගැනීම – අනව තප්ත විල
Copied

Courtesy Adaderana

The Department of Government Information says that there will not be any changes in the already declared Public, Bank and Mercantile holiday tomorrow (16).

However, the Department has requested the wholesale and retail traders to remain open.

Cabinet Spokesperson, Minister Bandula Gunawardana also announced this during a special media briefing held at the Department of Government Information today.

The government will work in order to make sure the general public will not suffer any shortages of goods, Minister Gunawardana has noted.

By declaring a holiday tomorrow, the government expects to reduce movement of people and disinfect various institutions, public places and transport services, the Minister has said further.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Health has announced that tomorrow will be a normal working day for health workers.

As health is an essential service and hospitals need to function continuously without interruption due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the declared holiday will not be extended to health workers, the Secretary to Health Ministry Bhadrani Jayawardene has stated.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another 7 returnees from Italy have been diagnosed positive for coronavirus bringing the total number of cases in the country to 18, stated the Director-General of Health Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

They had been in quarantine at the Kandakadu quarantine facility.

The identified persons are all male and are currently receiving treatment at the Polonnaruwa hospital.

Earlier today (15), another 45-year-old male was tested positive for the virus. He had been on the same tour in Germany with the person who had previously been diagnosed with the disease.

He is currently receiving treatment at Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Angoda.

On Tuesday (10), the first Sri Lankan coronavirus (COVID-19) case in the country was identified. This patient turned out to be a 52-year-old tour guide who had worked with a group of Italian tourists. He is receiving treatment at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH).

Two days later, it was reported that a second individual, who had stayed with the aforementioned tour guide, was tested positive for coronavirus.

Subsequently, three more cases were reported yesterday (13), bringing the total number of Covid-19-infected persons in the country to five. One of them is a 41-year-old Sri Lankan male who had arrived from Germany. He is admitted to the IDH Hospital. 

The other two patients are from the group of people who were quarantined at the facility in Kandakadu.

One of them is a 37-year-old who had arrived from Italy and he is currently being treated at the Polonnaruwa Hospital. The other is a 43-year-old male who also arrived from Italy. He is being treated at IDH.

On March 14, Dr. Jasinghe announced three more confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. 

One is a 44-year-old from the quarantine facility at Kandakadu and he is currently receiving treatment at the District General Hospital in Polonnaruwa, according to Dr. Jasinghe. The other patient, aged 43, is from Nattandiya and he was not identified at a quarantine facility, Dr. Jasinghe had said. He is reportedly receiving treatment at the Provincial General Hospital in Kurunegala.

The 42-year-old eighth patient was identified at the quarantine centre in Kandakadu and is currently receiving treatment at Polonnaruwa Hospital. These three patients had returned from Italy.

Later on the same day, a 56-year-old woman returning from Italy and a 17-year-old girl who is a relative of a coronavirus-positive patient, were diagnosed with the virus.

By Charles S.Perera

There may not be election meetings. There may not be house to house campaign by Candidates.  But there may the possibility of voting for your preferred candidate from the political party you support. Therefore there are things that you have to think before you cast your vote. 

We had been a country that was in the process of being divided and communally separated by a ruthless group of terrorists supported by the so-called Western Democracies. Yes, Western Democracies.  We were saved from that eventuality thanks to the people who elected  Mahinda Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka in 2005, amidst powerful forces against him within and without the country. President Mahinda Rajapakse faced that terrorist situation with Gotabhaya Rajapakse as his Defence Secretary.

Though many now try to take the credit for that great victory against terrorism, it was definitely the determination and the unwavering confidence  Gotabaya Rajapaksa had of the Armed Forces that they can successfully fight that war” against terrorism.

Our Armed Forces were willing to take all risks, knowing that they were in the command of the reliable political leadership of  President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse, who himself had previously been in the war against terrorism. Therefore the Armed Forces stood firmly determined to defeat terrorism for good.

Despite that courageous decision taken and fulfilled, the people were ungrateful to Mahinda Rajapaksa who gave back to them the right to exist as a free people in a  peaceful environment, yet defeated him at the Presidential election in January 2015, to what they hoped was for a change for a better life, and we now know what cost that change of heart to bring to power the worlds worst government led by  Maithreepala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe with the support of JVP which they called Yahapalanaya –good governance. What a deception it was need not be reiterated. And the voting  Gotabaya Rajapakse as the President in  November 2019 with a 19 lack majority was a vindication of that deception.

The people were wise to have elected Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka in November 2019. Sajith Premadasa did his best to balloon himself as the appropriate  Candidate with working dynamos, fully charged batteries and above all with the genes of  Ranasinghe Premadasa to lead Sri Lanka as its President.

But the people knew better, that neither Ranasinghe Premadasa, nor Ranil Wickramasinghe with whom Sajith associated was commendable men, and the son with such genes could not be any better than the father.

It was an error that the armed forces that wiped out the terrorists were considered to have violated human rights by the worlds most stupid Institution the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva when actual violators of human rights were Ranasinghe Premadasa and Ranil Wickramasinghe with a history of burning rebellious youth on pyres of rubber wheels and torturing others in Batalanda torture camp.

If the people were not wise enough not to have been swayed by Sajith Premadasa’s exaggerated trumpet blowing, we would have had the most disastrous President of all times in Sri Lanka. We are fortunate that our people were not fooled by this big” talk of loud-mouthed Sajith Premadasa.

Fortunately for Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa a far more intelligent and visionary leader who could bring back Sri Lanka from the sad state it has been relegated to by the Yahapalanaya was elected as the President. But he has inherited an empty treasury and is compelled to govern under utterly modest financial conditions as a  minority government in the Parliament. 

The opposition led by the failed leader Sajith Premadasa who was finally elected in the Parliament as the leader of the opposition boasts that the opposition would vote with both hands” if the government were to present any bills in parliament.  But that was a hoax to mislead the government.  Their intention was to allow the government to present a   Bill in Parliament and then vote against it,  thus putting the government into greater difficulty by having to dissolve the government and reappoint a new government.  

That became evident when the government presented a Vote on Account to parliament to pay the debts, incurred by the Yahapalanaya which remain unpaid, thus blocking the government from buying essentials such as manure for farmers and medicine for hospitals, etc.

This move of the leader of the Opposition was a ploy to embarrass the government and antagonize the people against the government.  But  Sajith did not see that it was the country and the people who suffered as a result. This the people should take into account when they go to polls to cast their votes,  and vote against the candidates put forward by the Samagi Peramuna of Sajith Premadasa, the UNP lead by Ranil Wickramasinghe, and Anura Dissanayake led JVP.

JVP leaders are clever to present to the people that both Samagi Peramuna of Sajith Peramuna and Podujana Peramuna will not be able to give the people the desired changes as it is they of the JVP, who has the key to provide the people with what they desire.

But these are mere words. Their true colours would be seen only if they ever come to power. They stand for a  new Sri Lanka without its Buddhist cultural background, a country where there is no communal difference. But JVP would still work with the UNP because they are politically sheltered by the UNP.

JVP cannot understand the heartbeat of the people. Sri Lanka is unique because of its Buddhist Cultural background. The Sinhala people have no other country to claim to be theirs. Therefore Sri Lanka has to preserve its Buddhist Sinhala identity which JVP opposes on the ground of equality for all.

This is contrary to what the people desire and therefore the people should not vote for them as it would be a wasted vote.

Today the Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is facing great difficulty in the administration of the country due to the financial mismanagement of Yahapalanaya. Perhaps the sudden fall of the price of fuel could be utilized by the government holding back the immediate benefits going to the people and use the fall off to bring substantial changes delayed due to the present financial difficulties, enhanced by the Coronavirus and the government’s great effort to save the country from making it goes to a pandemic level, and until a new Budget is passed in the Parliament after the elections in April.2020.

The Opposition led by Sajith Premadasa and the JVP are trying to stop this possibility to allow the government to give the people the desired financial relief and find a way out of the present financial difficulties by insisting at their political platforms that the  Government should give the people the benefit from the falling down of the fuel prices. 

The Opposition Leader and the JVP are not clamoring for these demands for any love they have for the people and the country but merely to put the people against the government ad stop it from getting a two-third majority.

The financial crisis that the Government is facing is not it’s making but that of the Yahapalanaya Government which had failed to pay the bills for construction work, pay for the purchase of manure during their period of government and pay the unpaid bills for the purchase of medicine.

The financial difficulties the government is facing is a national issue where a reasonable, concerned Opposition should cooperate with the government by voting in the parliament for the Vote on Account if they are really interested in the welfare of the people.  But Sajith Premadasa is a political leader without political maturity, working for his own personal aggrandizement. Therefore the well being of the country and its people are far from his thoughts.

Sajith Premadasa is campaigning with the intention of becoming the Prime Minister.  But as the Minister of Housing in Yahapalanaya Government he was a failure. Furthermore, he had not even participated in any important debates in parliament, and above all, he does not show the qualities of a Prime Minister. That may be the reason why apparently Ranil Wickramasinghe seems to want his defeat. Ranil Wickramasinghe is also refusing to give him the leadership of the UNP.

These are the matters the people should think of and take into consideration at the polls and vote to give Mahinda Rajapaksa led Podujana Peramuna a resounding victory. That would be a vote to bring Sri Lanka to what it had been before the 8th January 2015 and for its development into a modern Sovereign National State with different communities living in harmony as Sri Lankans.

There is a belief among the English Speaking Colombians that a tyranee” of the absolute majority should be avoided. That comes from the believers in an exaggerated democracy identified as British.

The democracy we have seen from our own experience and that of many other countries is being dictated to us by the so-called developed democracies insisting that the developing countries should adhere to a strict democratic norm as defined by them. But this norm is apparently different from their democracy.

These pontificators contrary to their strictures have adopted democracy to fit into their own purposes. We see the functionality of the UNHRC in Geneva to have got into a habit of looking at democracy differently according to the countries they deal with.

But developing countries should not adopt the western interpretation of democracy as such a system will not allow the developing countries to rise above their developing” status. In 2015 Mahinda Rajapaksa lost at the Presidential election because his opponents carried a campaign against him that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was for him to continue to be a life-long President.  

Which was wrong as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s  Government after successfully eliminating terrorism and after a planned economic development program successfully brought  The Sri Lankan economy to robust annual growth at 6.4 percent over the course of 2010 to 2015. Sri Lanka is now focusing on long-term strategic and structural development challenges as it strives to transition to an upper-middle-income country.” Sri Lanka increased from below 15% of GDP in the mid-1970 to about 25% of GDP in 2010/ This is a remarkable trend.” (World Bank).

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s intention was to keep the pace of development by continuing to lead a government for a further period of five years to strive to transition to an upper-middle-income country, which he would have been able to accomplish  if he was elected President at the 2015 Presidential election.

That was what Sri Lanka missed in January 2015,  and the result is that the Yahaplanaya reversed the development process to an economic growth below that of Afghanistan.

Today we have President Gotabaya Rajapakse who with keen intelligence and determination will follow the steps of his elder brother now his Prime Minister to bring Sri Lanka pack to the correct path for its development and bring back the pace of development set by President Mahinda Rajapakse to take  Sri Lanka to the next level of an upper-middle-income country and more.

To accomplish that for the people of Sri Lanka he needs a two-thirds majority so that he will not have to depend on any other political party, or allow other political parties to become a deterrent to reach reach the target he has set. 

Therefore the people of this country should not hesitate to give their fullest support to President Gotabaya Rajapakse by giving a landslide  victory to the candidates put forward by Podujana Peramuna and its allied Parties led by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse.

ආචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර (ශ්රි.ලo.පසේ) මහනුවර සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජෙස්ඨ පුරවැසියන්ගේ සන්ව්ධානයේ සභාපති

මේ දිනවල සමාජගත වෙමින් පවතින මේ මාතෘකාව පිළිබද අදහස් කීපයක් ප්රකාශ කිරීමට මා අදහස් කළේ ජාතියේ ඉරණම විසදෙන මහ මැතිවරණයක් අතලන්ගම ඇති බැවිනි. පසුගිය දිනක මහනුවරට පැමිණි මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ  සභාපතිතුමා  අස්ගිරි  හා මල්වතු නා හිමිවරුන් බැහදැකීමට ගිය අවස්ථාවේදි පන්සල් දේශපාලන වැඩ සදහා යොදා නොගත යුතු බවට ඔහු ප්රකාශකළ බවක් පුවත්පත් වල මම දුටුවෙමි.

 භික්සුව සහ දේසපාලනය යන කරුණ  බොහෝ සාකච්චාවට බන්දුන් වූ කරුණකි. මේ පිලිබද මනා විග්රහයක් විද්යාලන්කාර පිරිවෙනේ වැඩසිටි වල්පොල රාහුල හිමියන් විසින් භික්සුවගේ උරුමය නමැති කෘතියේ අගනා විග්‍රහයක් කොට ඇත. ඒ මගින් දේශපාලනය සහ භික්සුව පිලිබන්ද තිබුණු දුර්මත බොහොමයක් නිරාකරණය වුවද තවමත් පන්සලට හා භික්සුවට දේසපාලනය සුදුසු නැතයි යන අදහස නිතර නිතර අපට අහන්ට ලැබෙන බව පෙනේ.  භික්සූන් දේශපාලනයට සම්බන්ධ වීම නුසුදුසුයයි කියන හා ලියන වැඩිදෙනා එසේ කරණුයේ තමන්ගේ දේසපාලන පක්සයට අවාසි වන බව දැනෙන විට පමණි. එසේම මේ රට ගැන හෝ සින්හල ජාතිය ගැන හෝ ලන්කා ඉතිහාසය ගැන හෝ, මේ රටේ සන්ස්කෘතිය ගැන හා රාජ්ය පාලනය ගැන මෙලෝ  අවභෝදයක් නොමැති 1815 න් පසු උපන් අච්චාරු සින්හලයින් පමණි..

මෙම කෙටි ලිපියෙන් මම එම විශය පිලිබබ්න්ද ගැම්බුරු ශාස්ත්‍රීය විග්රහයක් කිරිමට අදහස් නොකරමි.

ලාන්කික සමාජයේ ඉතිහාශය දෙස විමසිල්ලෙන් බලන කිසිවෙකුට බෞද්ධ භික්සුව මේ රටේ පාලනයෙන් කිසි දිනක බැහැර කළ හැකි බවක් මටනම් නොපෙනේ. මන්ද මහින්දාගමනයේ සිටම මේ රට පැවතියේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්යක් වසයෙන් බැවිනි. මේ රටේ ඉතිහාසය පුරාම රාජ්ය පාලනය කලේ භික්සුවගේ උපදෙස්මතය. රටේ රාජ්ය ප්රතිපත්ති සියල්ල සකස්වී තිබුණේ බෞද්ධ දර්ශනයේ එන රාජ්ය පාලනය පිලිබද නියමයන් අනුවය. සක්විති රජු පවා රට පාලනය කලේ දසරාජ ධර්මය අනුවය. ඒ සන්දහා උපදෙස් ලබාගත්තේ භික්සුන් වහන්සේගෙන්ය. ශින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්යයේ භික්සුව නිතරම සිටියේ රජුට ඉහලිනි.

යථා සන්කාර ධානස්මින් –උජ්ජිතස්මින් මහා පතේ
පදුමන් තත්ත ජායෙථ –සුචිගන්දන් මනොරමන්
ඒවන් සන්කාර භූතෙසු- අන්ද භූතෝ පොතුජ්ජනෝ
අතිරෝචතී පන්ග්නාය-සම්මා සම්බුධ්හ්ද සාවකො

                                                            (ධම්ම පදය්)

බෞද්ධ සමාජය තුල භික්සුව හැසිරියයුතු ආකාරයයි ඒ.භික්සුව නිතරම රජුට තම රාජ්ය දැහැමින් සෙමෙන් පාලනය කළයුතු ආකාරය ගැන අනුශාසන කළේය.

කුමාරයින්ට රාජ්ය පාලන විද්යාව ඉගැන්වූයේද භික්සූන් විසිනි. ඒ අනුව කොටින්ම කිවහොත් සින්හල රාජ්යයේ රජුන් තැනුවේත් හැදුවේත් බෞද්ධ භික්සුන් විසින්මය. රජු රට පාලනය කළයුත්තේ රටේ හා ජනතාවගේ යහපත සන්දහාය. රාජා භවතු ධම්මිකො යන්න උන්වන්සේලාගේ අනුසාසනාව විය. රජමාලිගාවෙන් හා රාජ්ය සභාවෙන් රට පාලනය වුවද ඒ සන්දහා මාර්ගදේශකත්වය ලැබුණේ පන්සලෙනි. පන්සල් එලොව මෙන්ම මෙලොවද ජනතා සුභසිද්ධිය වෙනුවෙන් අනුශාසනා කළ මධ්යස්ථානය වීය. ඒ තාක් දුරට රජය ,රජු මෙන්ම ගමද පන්සලෙන් හා භික්සුවගෙන් කිසිසේත්ම වෙන්කළ නොහැකිය. ඒ වූ කලී මේ සින්හල සමාජයේ ඉතිහාසය පුරාම අඛණ්ඩව පැවැති ජාතියේ සුවිශේස ලක්ශනයකි. ර්‍ජුත්, බුද්ධගමත් ජනතාවථ් යන කරුණු තුනම මේ රටේ එකක් බව මහාවන්ශයේද සන්දහන්කොට ඇත.   එම නිසා කිසි දිනෙක පන්සලත් භික්සුවත් මේ රටේ දේශපාලනයෙන් වෙන්කළ නොහැක. මන්ද මේ දෙකම සින්හල බෞද්ධ සමාජයේ ප්‍රධාන අන්ග තුනකි, එසේම භික්සුව මෙන්ම පන්සලද ඉතිහාසය පුරාම මේ රටේ  රාජ්ය පාලනයේම අනුබද්ධිත කොටසක්ව තිබුණු නිසාය. කොටින්ම මහින්දාගමනයේ සිටම වසර 2500 කට වැඩි කාලයක් මේ රට පැවැතියේ මෙකී ලක්ශන අවියෝජනීය කොටස් වූ.සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්යයක් වශයෙනි.

එහෙත් වර්තමානයේ සිදුවන පරිදි භික්සූන් මහජන නියෝජිතයින් වශයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීම නම් මම කිසිසේත්ම  අනුමත නොකරමි.2004 හෙළ උරුමයෙන් රාජ්ය සභාවට ගිය භික්සුන්ට අත්වූ ඉරම මීට හොන්දම උදාහරනයකි. එසේම භික්සූන් දේශපාලන පක්සවල තනතුරු දරීම සහ එවාට අනුබද්ධිතව ක්‍රියාකාරි දේශ පාල්නයෙහි යෙදීමද මම අනුමත නොකරමි  එසේ පක්සයකට සම්බන්ධ වූ විට භික්සුවකට අපේක්ශිත අන්දමින් මද්දියස්තව කටයුතු කිරිම අපහසු වේ

මන්ද රාජ්ය නමැති රථය නිසිමග ධාවනය කරවීම මිස තමන්වන්සේලා  එහි රියදුරු නොවිය යුතු බැවිනි.   ඉතිහාශය පුරාම උන්වහන්සේලා සිදු කළේ රාජ්ය නමැති වාහනය නිසිමන්ග  ගෙනයාම සන්දහා පාලකයින් මෙහෙයවීමය.මේ රටේ පැවති අඛණ්ඩ සම්ප්රදාය එය නම් භික්සුව හෝ පන්සල කිසිදිනක දේසපාලනයෙන් ඉවත්කොට තැබීම හෝ  පාලකයින්ට  අනුසාසනා කිරිමේ ඇති අයිතිට වාරණ දැමීම පසෙක තබා  එම අයිතිය පිලිබන්ද ප්‍රස්න කිරීමට හෝ කිසිවෙකුට අයිතියක් නැත.

අනෙත් අතින් මේ තහනම වෙනත් ආගම් වල පුජක වරුන්ට නොපැනවීමද බරපතල ගැටළුවකි. එසේම් එය සින්හල බෞධයින්ට කෙරෙන බලවත් නීතිවිරොධී වෙනස්කමකි.මේ සින්හල බෞධ රට පුරා තිබෙන කෝවිල්, පල්ලි ආදිය සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතිය විනාශකොට රට ඇල්ලීමට කුමන්ත්රන කරද්දී දී  සින්හල ජාතියේ මුරකුටිය වන පන්සලට හා ජාතියේ  මුරදේවතාවුන් වහන්සේලාට කිසිවෙකු හෝ තහනම් දැමීම අපි කිසි සේත්ම අනුමත නොකරමු.මන්ද බෞද්ධ භික්සුව සින්හල ජාතියේ අත්තිවාරම මෙන්ම මුදුන් මුලද වන බැවිණි ඈත අතීතයේදි මේ රටේ භික්සුන් වහන්සේලා රට  හා ජාතිය අනතුරට පත්වු අවස්ථාවලදී ඇතැම් අවස්ථාව්ලදී උපැවිදිව යුධයට ගිය අවස්ථාද (ථේරපුත්ථාභය්) තවත් විටෙක රාජ්ය පාලනය භාරගත් අවස්ථාද ( ධාතුසේන සහ සෙනරත්) ඉතිහාසයේ එමට ඇත.1818 සහ 1848 සින්හලයේ මහා විමුක්ති සටන් සන්විධානය කලේත් ජාතික සට්න් මෙහෙයවූයේත්  වාරියපොල සුමන්ගල සහ කඩහපොල හිමියන් වැනි වැනි බෞද්ධ භික්සූන් බවද මෙහිදී අප මතක තබාගත යුතුය.

 මේ නිසා කිසිවෙකු කිසිවිට්ක මේ රටේ පන්සලට හෝ භික්සුවට රාජ්ය පාලනයට නැත්නම් දේශපාලනයට මැදිහත්විමට ඇති පරම අයිතියට අත නොතැබිය යුතුය.

තවද උපතින්ම් බෞද්ධයකු නොවූ කථෝලික පල්ලියේ පියතුමෙකු භික්සුව හා සින්හල ජාතිය  අතර  ඇති සනාතන සම්බන්ධතාව ගැන කර ඇති අගනා ප්‍රකාශයකින් මෙම කෙටි සටහන මම අවසන් කරමි.

ඇත්තක් ඇති සටියෙන් කිවයුත්තේ
සිවුරයි පණදී රට රැක ගත්තේ
සිවුරෙයි හෙළයේ අනුපණ ඇත්තේ
අදත් නසින්නේ මේ රට මත්තේ

(ගරු මෙර්ස්ලීනු ජයකොඩි පියතුමා)

මේ රටේ හා ජාතියේ දේශපාලනයේ පතුළටම කිදා බැස ඇති  භික්සුවගේ උරුමය සහ ඒ  පිළිබද අමන ප්‍රස්න නගන  අය නිරුත්තර කිරීම සන්දහා බෞද්ධයකුද නොවෙන පුද්ගලයකු විසින් අභීතව සිදුකොට ඇති මීට වඩා හොද පිළිතුරක් හෝ සර්වකාලීන සත්යක් ඇතැයි මම  නොසිතමි.

ආචාර්ය චන්ද්‍ර ධර්මවර්ධන විසිනි.

දැනට ඇහැලියගොඩ ආපන ශාලවක් පවත්වාගෙන යන අතර අක්කර හතරක ගොවිතැන් සහ බෝග වගාවක් ද  වවන  අජිත් පිරයන්ත  තරුණ මහතගේ ප්‍රයත්නය ගැන ලක්ෂණ ලිපියක් පසුගිය ඉරිදා දිවයින පත්‍රයෙහි පල විය.

එම ලිපිය අනුව:
 තම පියාගේ ආභාෂය මත කුඩාකල සිටම කුඹුරට, කමතට ඇලූම් කළ අජිත් කැත්ත උදැල්ල කමතට අවනත කරගැනීමට වැය කළේ කෙටි කාලයකි. සිය අධ්‍යාපනය ද හොදින් හැදෑරූ අජිත් ලද සෑම විවේකයක්ම ගතකළේ පියාත් සමග කුඹුරේය.
… උදෑසනම අවදි වන අජිත් සහ බිරිඳ සිය ආපනශාලාවට අවශ්‍ය ආහාර සකසා ගනී. එ්වාට ද බහුතරයක් අඩංගු වන්නේ අජිත්ගේ ගෙවත්තෙන් නෙළාගන්නා මිරිස්, දෙහි, කංකුන්, මුගුණ, බටු, ඇඹරැුල්ල, අඹ, ජම්බු වැනි බෝගය. ඉන් ඔහු ලබන ආර්ථික ලාභය වගේම එ්වා රසායනික පොහොර භාවිතයෙන් තොරව වගා කර තිබීම නිසා එ්වායේ තිබෙන සෞඛ්‍ය සම්පන්න තත්ත්වය ද ඉතා ඉහළ මට්ටමක පැවතීම විශේෂත්වයකි.  අතීත මුතුන්මිත්තන් පරිභෝජනය කළ ගුණ සම්පන්න එහෙත් වර්තමානයේ වගා නොකෙරෙන පාරම්පරික වී බෝග හත අටක්ම වගා කිරීමට අජිත් මහතා පෙළඹී තිබුනි.
 එ්වා අතර, 1. කලූ හීනටි 2. රතු හීනටි 3. රත්දැල් 4. සත්සග‍්‍ර 5. සුවදැල් 6. කුරුලූ තුඩ 7. ගෝනබරු. ….
  අජිත් පවසන අන්දමට වසර ගණනාවක සිට රසායනික පොහොර භාවිතයෙන් තොරව සිය වගාවන් කරගෙන යෑම නිසා බැර ලෝහ අඩංගු නොවන සහල් තම ගොවි බිම් තුළින් නෙළා ගැනීමට ඔහුට හැකි වී තිබෙනවා.
… (මෙම) කෘෂි තාක්ෂණය තව තවත් ජනතාවට ළං කළොත් වස විසෙන් තොර හෙටක් උදා කරගැනීමට අපට හැකි වේවි.
 
  මෙම ලිපිය අනුව ප්‍රධාන කරුණු තුනක් කියවෙයි. එ නම්,
(1) සාමන්‍යයෙන් ඛනිජ පොහොර (රසායනික පොහොර, රට පොහොර ) යොදා වවන බෝග වල වස විෂ ඇති බවක් ය.
(2) දෙවනුව, පැරණි ගොවි තැන් ක්‍රම පාවිච්චි කරන හෙයින්, රට පොහොර නොදමන හෙයින්, වස විෂ නොමැති සහලක් ලබා ගන්න බවය.
(3) තෙවෙනුව,  චිරාගත  සහල් වර්ග පාවිච්චි කිරීම නිසා වඩා හොඳ සෞඛ්‍ය දායී සහලක් ලබා  ගන්නා  බවය.
සාමාන්‍ය ක්‍රමයට රට පොහොර යොදා සහලක් වවා, එම ඉඩ්මේම දහනව වන සිය වසේ පාවිච්චි කල,  විධියට,  රට පොහොර වෙනුවට ගෙරිකටු සහ ගෙන්දගම් යොදා  වී වගා කොට ගන්නා සහල ද ගෙන, ඒවායේ ඇති බර ලෝහ ප්‍රමාණයන්  මනින්න. එවිට, සාමාන්‍ය සහලෙහි සහ පැරණි වගා ක්‍රමයෙන් ලද සහලෙහි වස විෂ අතින් වෙනසක් නැති බව ස්ටූඵ කල හැක.

 බෝගයක ඇති බර ලෝහ ප්‍රමාණය ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් තීරණය වන්නේ එය වැවූ  පොලොවෙහි ඇති රසායනික සහ භූ විද්‍යාත්මක ලක්ෂණ අනුව ය. පසට දමන පොහොරෙන් පසෙහි ඇති බර ලෝහ ප්‍රමාණය වෙනස්වීම කෙතරම් සුලු ද යත්, එම වෙනස්වීම බොහෝ විට ඉතාම සූක්ෂ්ම විශ්ලේෂණ ක්‍රම වලින් වත් මැනීමට නොහැක.   

බර ලෝහ ඉතාමත් අධික ලෙස ඇති රට පොහොරක් වන “නෞරු ඵොස්පේට්” බහුල වශයෙන් නිව්සීලන්තයෙහි සහ ඕට්‍රෙලියාවේ ගොවිතැනට පාවිච්චි වේ.  පොහොර කිලො එකක කැඩ්මියම් මිලිග්‍රෑම් 90ක් පමණ අන්තර්ගත මෙම පොහොර පාවිච්චියෙන් පවා ගොවිතැන් පොලොව අපිරිසිදු වීමක් හෝ විස වීමක් නොමති බව පර්යේෂණ වලින් ඔප්පු වී ඇත. පොලොවෙහි ස්වභාවිකව ඇති බර ලෝහ ප්‍රමාණය, පොහොරෙන් එන ප්‍රමාණය මෙන් දහ දහස් ගුණයකින් අධික හෙයින් පොහොරෙන් බර ලෝහ ප්‍රමාණයට බල පෑමක් වේ යයි යන මතය සාවද්‍ය ය. එම මතය පතුරුවා හැර ඇත්තේ “ඕගැනික් ආහාර” විකුණන යම් යම් ව්‍යාපරික සමාගම් වලින් ද, වස විෂ කතාව දේශපාලන අත කොලුවක් කරගත් යම් යම් පුද්ගලයන් ද  විසිනි..

පොහොර පාවිච්චි කරන්නේ වගාවට (ශාකයන්ට) නයිට්‍රොජන් (N), ඵොස්ඵොරස් (P), පොටෑසියම් (K), යනාදී ඛනිජ අවශ්‍ය නිසාය.  මුලදී පොලොවෙහි මෙම ද්‍රව්‍ය ඇති මුච්, අවුරුදු කිහිපයක් වගා කල විට, ඒවා බෝග වලට උරා ගැනීම නිසා පස අසාර වේ. එවිට, පැරැණ්නෝ ඉඩම අවුරුදු කිහිපයක් පුරණ් තත්වයෙන් ගෙන ගියේය. පරණි ක්‍රමය අනුව ඉඩම  පුරණ් කිරීම වැරැද්දක් හෝ පාඩුවක් ලෙස සැලකුනේ නැත. එකල ක්‍රමය අනුව, පුරණ්  වූ ඉඩම වල් වැවුනු විට, එය පුච්චා නැවත වගා කිරීමය.
එවිට ඇති වන අළු වල තිබෙන් ඛනිජ වලින් N, P, K  ආදිය  තරමක් දුරට සැපයෙයි.
එම හේන්ගොවිතැන් ක්‍රම‍ය අද  කිරීමට නොහැක. අවශ්‍ය ඉඩම් සහ ජලය අද නොමැත.

ගොවිතැනට ජලය යෙදීමෙන් ද, එම සාර ඛනිජ ද්‍රව්‍ය සෝදා යයි. පසද සෝදා යයි. එහෙයින් අඩුවෙන් ජලය පාවිච්චි කිරීම, කුඹුරු හාන්නේ නැතුව ගොවිතැන් කිරීමේ නවීන ක්‍රම,  නිතොරව අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රමාණයට සුදුසු වර්ගයක  පොහොර යෙදීම, ආදිය වැදගත් ගොවිතැන් ප්‍රතිපත්ති බව සැලකිය යුතුය. ඛනිජ පොහොර (රට පොහොර ) කිලො එකකින් ලැබෙන ගුණය පැරණි පොහොර වර්ග  (එනම්, කොම්පෝස්ට් පොහොර, ගෙරි කටු ) වලින් ලබාගැනීමට නම්, කොම්පෝස්ට් පොහොර කිලෝ තුන් හාර සීයක් අවශ්‍යය විය හැක. පැරණි ක්‍රමයට, වල් නැසීමට, දිලීර නැසීමට, පලිභෝද නැසීමට ගෙන්දගම්, ආසෙනික් හෝ රතු ඊයම් පාවිච්චි කිරීම පොලවට නපුරු වස විෂ යෙදීමක් බව ද, මෙම  “චිරාගත” ක්‍රම වලින් විශාල හානියක් වන බවද බොහෝ දෙනෙක් නොදන්න බව ද  පහැදිලි වෙන්නේ හිරු ගොවි සංග්‍රාමය වැනි උත්සව වලදී සමහරු කරන කථා ඇසීමෙනි. විචාර ශීලීත්වයක් නොමැතිව, යමක් චිරාගත වූ පලියටම එය හොඳ යයි ගන්නා විශ්වාසය දුර ලිය යුතුය.

අජිත් වැනි තරුණ ගොවියෝ චිරාගත සහල් වර්ග වගා කොට විකිනීමෙන් වැඩි මුදලක් උපයාගැනීම ප්‍රශංසන්නීය කටයුත්තකි. නුමුත් එය වෙළඳ සැලෙහි විශේෂ හිදැසක් පිරවීමක් පමණයි. පැරණි සහල් වර්ග වලින් සහ පරණි ක්‍රම වලින් හෙක්ටාරයකින් ලැබිය හැකි අස්වැන්න කිලො 1-1.5 පමණ වේ. අලුත් බී-ජී ශ්‍රේණියේ මුහුන් සහල් වර්ග වලින් හෙක්ටාරයකින් ඊට වඩා පස් ගුණයක් අස්වැන්න ලබා ගත හැකිය.  එදා (1946) මිලියන 6.6ක් වූ ජනගහනය අද මිලියන 22ක් වී ඇත. මෙම විශාල ජනගහනයට සහල් සැපයීමට හැකි වූවේ අලුත් සහල් වර්ග සහ අලුත් කෘෂි-කර්ම විධි මගීන්ය.


ඇත්ත වශයෙන්, දනට වගාවට ගෙන ඇති වර්ග ප්‍රමාණය සලකා බැලූ විඅට්,   අද රටට අවශ්‍ය සහල් ප්‍රමාණයට වැඩි වෙන්නටත් නිපදවීමට හැක.. නුමුත්, නිපදවන සහලෙන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ගුල්ලන්ට, තෙතමනයට, දිලීර වලට, මීයන්ට ගොදුරු වේ – සුදුසු ගබඩා ක්‍රමයක් නොමති කම සහ නියම වෙලාවට අස්වැන්න වෙළඳ පලට යවීමට නොහැකි කම ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රශ්ණ වේ.  අස්වැන්න විකුනා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වූ ගොවියාට ඔහුගේ නය ගෙවා ගැනීමට කොහැකි වි, අන්තිමේදී ඔහු සිය දිවි නසා ගනී. අස්වැන්නෙන්  30%  ගුල්ලන්ට සහ වෙනත් පලිබෝධයන් නිසා නාස්ති  වෙන්නේ නම්, රටට අවශ්‍ය ධාන්‍යය ඇති කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රධානම පියවර වන්නේ (1) නිසි අලෙවිකිරීමේ පද්ධතියක් සකස් කිරීම (2) නිසි ධාන්‍ය ගබඩා කිරීමේ ක්‍රම සම්පාදනයක් දියත් කිරීම. මෙම දෙවැන්න සඳහා ඉස්සර අය සහල් දුමේ ගබඩා කල බව කියා විහිලු යොජනා ගෙන ඒමෙන්  පලක් නැත. තම අටුවෙහි තම පවුලට අයත් වී ටික තබා ගැනීමට හැකි උවත්, එම ආකරයෙන් මීයන් ගෙන් සහ නොයෙක් වර්ගයේ ගුල්ලන් ගෙන් බේරා ගැනීමට නොහැක. තව්ද, මදුරුවන් පලවා හැරීමට, ගැමියා බොහෝ  විට ගෙය තුල දුම් කබලක් ද තබා ගනී.  ගෙවල් තුල දුම් සහිත වාතාවරණයක් තබාගැනීම සරීර සෞඛ්‍යයට ඉතාම අහිත කර බවද, දර, දහයියා ආදිය පිච්චූ විට එම දුමෙහි බැර ලෝහ අන්තර්ගත වන බවද බොහෝ දෙන නොදනියි. දර වලට, දහයියා වලට බැර ලෝහ ලැබෙන්නේ පැලෑටි වැවෙන විට, පොලොවෙහි අන්තර්ගත බැර ලෝහ පැලය උරාගෙන සාන්ද්‍රණය කරන හෙයිනි. එහෙයින්, පොලොවෙහි ඇති බැරලෝහ ප්‍රමාණය මෙන් 200 ගුණයක් වැඩියෙන් බැර ලෝහ දහයියා වල හෝ   දර වල තිබිය  හැකිය. බඩවැලට යන බැර ලෝහ වලින් 5% පමණ සිරුර උරා ගනී.   නුමුත්.දුමෙන් පෙනහැල්ලට යන බර ලෝහ දුම් සියල්ලක් ම වාගේ පහසුවෙන් ශරීර ගත  වෙයි.

ගැමි ගෙවල් වල් අභ්‍යන්තර යෙහි ඇති අංශුමය දූවිලි දුම් ප්‍රමාණය කොළොඹ  බෙහෙවින් රථ හරස් වූ සන්ධියක ඇති නපුරු දුම් මෙන් සිය ගුණයක් නරක බව පරීක්ෂණ වලින්  හෙලි වී ඇත. එහෙයින් ගැමියාට පීනස, ඇදුම වැනි රෝග ඇතිවීම පුදුමයක් නොවේ. සහල් ගබඩා කිරීමට දුම් මඩු තැනීමට කියන  අය  යථා තත්ත්වය හඳුනන්නේ නැත.  

[මෙම ලිපියේ කතෲ ආචාර්ය චන්ද්‍ර ධර්මවර්ධන මහතා එකල ශ්‍රි ජයවර්දන පුර විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයෙහි රසායන විද්‍යාව පලිබඳ මහචාර්ය සහ උප කුලපති වශයෙන් කටයුතු කල කාලය තුල දී ආහර  විද්‍යාව, පරිසර ව්ද්‍යාව ආදී විෂයයන් පිලිබඳ උපාධි සහ පාඨ මාල සංස්ථාඵනය  කලේය.  ඔහු දැනට කැනඩාවේ ජාතික පර්යේෂණායතනයේ සහ මොන්ට්‍රියල් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ නිනුක්තව  සිටී. ]

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay looks at the bungling that took place in the conduct of Eelam war 11 (1990-1995) and Eelam War    III (1995-2002). This was no ordinary bungling. It was calculated bungling. War campaigns were planned in such a way that the LTTE would win. The government launched battles that the army would lose. Experienced officers and fine soldiers were made to die in battle. This was a calculated plan to engineer a LTTE ‘victory’. 

The war preparations of the Sri Lanka army during Eelam war II and III were highly questionable.  Since the Sri Lanka Army did not have a strong military presence in the north. The authorities decided to set up camps in strategic areas. There were camps at Omanthai, Mankulam, Kokavil, Elephant Pass and Jaffna Fort along the A9 road. There were also camps at Palaly, Pooneryn, Mullaitivu, and Thalladi (Mannar).  Mankulam and Kokavil were isolated camps inside enemy territory.

Sri Lanka army arrived in the north, by air or sea, watched by the LTTE. The army then proceeded to set up highly visible, vulnerable camps in the Vanni and the Jaffna Peninsula,   in full sight of the LTTE army. Army camps were established in Jaffna and Vanni and then left to the mercy of the LTTE, observed Kamal Gunaratne.

 The army set up a High-Security Zone at Palaly, which included Palaly airport, Palaly air force base and Kankesanturai harbor. LTTE constructed bunkers and defense fortifications all around it and the army was confined to its HSZ. At Pooneryn too, the army was stuck inside the camp. The rest of the area was controlled by LTTE.    Maintaining Pooneryn was a problem. Was it necessary to have an army camp at Pooneryn at all, I asked Kamal Gunaratne?

Mullaitivu was even worse. Mullaitivu camp was surrounded on all sides by the LTTE. LTTE was always dominant in Mullaitivu.  Mullaitivu camp was a heavy burden on the navy, observed Kamal Gunaratne. 

 Mullaitivu had a beach in the east, Nanthikadal lagoon in the west and a large open paddy field in the south. The army had no cover at all. There was no natural cover either since most of the trees had been cut down to make bunkers.

The fortifications at  Mullaitivu were highly defective. A large camp should have several successive defense lines with the second line 250 to 300 meters behind the first. In Mullaitivu, the distance was only 50 meters.  The trenches were difficult to maintain. Soldiers spent much effort in daily digging out the sand which constantly filled the trenches.  There was no fortification plan to stop the LTTE from getting to the trenches.

The minefield at Mullaitivu needed to be protected by a barbed wire fence. Mullaitivu had requested desperately and repeatedly for barbed wire, but HQ did not send any, forcing soldiers to use wires from lamp posts for makeshift fences.  The observation posts and listening posts in  Mullaitivu camp were in set positions. These were identified by the LTTE and avoided when entering the camp. 

It was thought that Mullaitivu camp was protected by an impregnable minefield.  Later they found just 2 anti-personnel mines in the 400 meters when there should be at least 800 mines. LTTE must have removed the rest. The sappers who were expected to check the entire minefield and submit a monthly status report had said everything was in order.

No arrangements have been made for the defense of these camps, which were like sitting ducks for the LTTE. None of the camps along A9 had the ability to resist a major onslaught. We had not considered how they would face an impending attack, said Kamal Gunaratne. Army camps did not have the personnel and ammunition they needed.

 The camps were only given token troops. Mullaitivu camp started with a nominal army, a small detachment manned by armored corp. Later it had two battalions.  That too was insufficient.  Mullaitivu should have had an experienced, fearless leader, said Kamal Gunaratne.    Mankulam had two platoons and Kokavil had just one.

Pooneryn was guarded, not with highly trained battle-ready personnel but an average infantry company with little training. When Pooneryn was under attack,  the troops included  285 new recruits with no experience at all, sent to this volatile area for their basic training.

For the LTTE  to win Eelam wars, it was necessary that the Sri Lanka army be soundly defeated.   The Sri Lanka army had a well-trained force. It was necessary therefore reduce the strength of this force. The strongest units had to be weakened first. The  Sri Lanka army had two crack units, the Commandos, and Special Forces. They were highly skilled, highly motivated, dedicated and lethal.

Commandos were trained for special operations. They should be sent in small groups to secretly enter LTTE front lines and offer deadly attacks. They should go on operations into the jungles, to ensure that LTTE could not infiltrate and identify our locations, said Kamal Gunaratne. Instead, they were used for face to face combat in battles that could have been easily handled by infantry battalions. It took one-and-a-half years to train a Commando or SF soldier, compared to the 6 months it took to train an infantry soldier, he said.

The elite 2CR Commando Regiment was sent to capture a small fortified village called Mannakulam” in 1997 during Jaya Sikurui. This battle could have been easily carried out by the infantry troops. It was a basic infantry operation not one for a special unit like commandos. As expected, LTTE  killed them all. The entire 2-Commando Regiment of  90 Commandos, was wiped out. It was the worst commando debacle in the war.

The Combat Rider Squadron,  which was a part of  Special Forces 1,   had been well trained by South African instructors and had scored many victories. They were highly successful in the east due to their speed, surprise, firepower, and skill.   In 1995, this Combat Rider Squadron was isolated in the east while the rest of the Special Forces One team were fighting Operation Riviera,  LTTE ambushed Combat Rider Squadron and killed 2 officers and 6 soldiers, including its Captain, successfully reducing the effectiveness of this unit.

In 1997, the authorities decided to create a seafaring battalion of the army,  using the Special Forces. The army and navy were both unhappy about this new plan. Sri Lanka army possessed well seasoned skilled and capable fighting force ground warfare. Why should they fight on the sea, when they should be fighting on land, the experts asked.

However, a regiment was established within the Special Forces. They trained at Maduru Oya and Trincomalee and went to Pulmoddai to gain experience. Sea Tigers were waiting. They launched an attack at Pulmoddai on 9^th September 1997 and killed five and wounded five, thus weakening the Special Forces. This was the end of the plan.  

Using  Jaya Sikurui,  the best infantry divisions were sent to locations where the LTTE could easily attack them.  Karappakutti was selected as the tactical headquarters of 53 Division.  53 The division was sent there just when it was clear that the next LTTE attack would be at Karappakutti. LTTE will hit Karappakutti next, predicted the military.  LTTE did. 

Thandikulam was chosen as a   headquarters for 55 Division. Thandikulam was close to Vavuniya where the LTTE was. LTTE  always attacked the headquarters first.  Therefore this was ‘an open invitation to LTTE to attack us’. LTTE attacked Thandikulam.

Elite infantry divisions were made to face combat together, in Jaya Sikurui, so that they were destroyed simultaneously. The headquarters of 55 and 56 Divisions were located close to each other at Kanagarayakulam, exposing both to simultaneous attacks. This was a violation of the principles of warfare. 53 and 55 Divisions were made to meet and advance together from Puliyankulam.  Experts did not like this because both would fall together.  At one stage in Jaya Sikurui, 53 Division and the entire reserve force were deployed for ground defense together. Around 2005, all the troops in Jaffna, 51,52, 53, and 55 divisions were on ground defense. None were kept in reserve.

The authorities made sure that the Sri Lanka Army would lose battles, and LTTE would be victorious. One tactic used by them was to delay sending reinforcements to camps that were under attack, or not send them at all.

The army units At Mankulam, informed HQ twice that a large scale attack on Mankulam was planned. HQ took no notice. At Elephant Pass, knowing that an attack was impending, fresh troops were asked for. They were not sent, instead, soldiers who had reported back from leave were sent. They needed fresh troops not a part of their own, observed Kamal Gunaratne.

At Silawatura (1991)  reinforcements were delayed.  The two battalions going in as reinforcement were giving various excuses, to delay their departure. When they came it was almost too late.

While  Silawatura was under heavy attack, recalled Kamal Gunaratne, the two battalions that had come as reinforcement was sleeping comfortably at Kokkupadayan just a few kilometers away. Instead of sleeping if they had pushed a few more kilometers and fought the LTTE, they could have helped us save ammunition. LTTE sent in wave on wave of attackers with guns blazing, rushing toward us with every possible weapon they could carry. They were trying to overrun the camp.

In 1990, as anticipated LTTE  launched a  huge attack on Kokavil camp. Kamal Gunaratne‘s team had arrived in Vanni, expecting to be sent to Kokavil which was under siege. But army HQ said that a commando group from the east would be sent instead. Kamal pointed out that it would take several hours for this. It would also take time for them to get a briefing and take off for Kokavil. By which time it would be almost dark. It was not possible to land at night with 30 soldiers in an unknown land and attempt to take a camp under siege.   What could 30 commandos’ do in three helicopters, once they landed and how were they going to get to the enemy area. Kamal said His troops could get there faster. He was told, we need to abide by the orders from HQ. The reinforcement delayed starting. When they finally got to the destination, the commando officer refused to launch an attack as it was dark.

Kokavil said the LTTE was getting closer, the number of dead and wounded were increasing, the camp was falling into the hands of the LTTE section by section. Air force gave support but could not halt the advance of the LTTE. Kokavil fell to the LTTE. 

Analysts were very critical. Army headquarters failed to reinforce the Kokavil detachment comprising two platoons in spite of Lt Aladeniya calling for reinforcements,  they said. Kokavil also ran out of ammunition. About 50 volunteers went down fighting at Kokavil. None of their bodies were recovered. Some of the captured volunteer Sinha Regiment personnel are believed to have been executed. Two soldiers who managed to escape by crawling through the LTTE cordon managed to reach the army base at Mankulam, situated north of Kokavil. According to them, those captured were burnt alive.

Sometime before   Mankulam camp was attacked, t Kamal Gunaratne ’s unit was taken out of Mankulam and sent to Vavuniya. It was replaced by the  Fifth volunteer force of Sri Lanka Light Infantry (5VSLLI). A well-experienced combat troop was replaced by an inexperienced volunteer force, observed Kamal Gunaratne.

Mankulam camp was attacked in 1998. There were clear signs of an impending attack. The radio transmission was increasing and a lot of  LTTE tractors and vehicles were arriving. We would be under attack in a couple of days, Mankulam said. Warnings were ignored at HQ.  Mankulam then told HQ  that LTTE  had built a huge fortification about 500 meters away from camp, covered with sandbags, for launching Pasilan mortars. HQ took no notice. Mankulam fell.

The authorities also held on to the Ammunition. Ammunition was not provided when asked for. At Mankulam the army warned that they did not have sufficient ammunition.  A measly  5000 rounds of small arms ammunition was sent. This was insufficient.

At Silawatura, ammunition was airdropped, most fell into enemy territory, 10 of the 15 bags ended up there. During the battle, Silawatura was short of mortars.  Pooneryn had only two MBTs ( Main battle tanks).  There should be a minimum of  4 MBTs for an operation. A squadron comprising three troops  should-haves 10 MBTs, said  Kamal Gunaratne. 

The authorities weakened infantry fighting ability in all sorts of ways. Raw recruits with hardy any training were given weapons and asked to guard FDLs. It was criminal to use these youths in this way, said Kamal Gunaratne .  At  Jaya Sikurui one set of bunkers was manned by just two inexperienced officers. Squadrons were split into smaller units. mediocre officers were sent for training. 

Some battalions were given absentees or deserters. They lacked training as well as fighting spirit. It is difficult to manage such a battalion. Deserters simply abandoned posts. Also, the negativity of the deserters dampened spirits. 

During Jaya Sikurui  (1997-1999)  the authorities closed down all training centers and assigned the instructors and other staff to active duty. We needed to send new recruits for training, but training schools were closed, observed Kamal Gunaratne.   On the other hand, the instructors who had earlier belonged to different units,  now lacked the cohesiveness needed in battle.

During Jaya Sikurui, the army took persons from the school cadet corps into the volunteer force. They were mainly teachers without any proper military training.  Most were elderly and not fit for war. ‘Suddenly this group of teachers became senior officers of the Volunteer force.’ This caused a split among the officers and much displeasure.  It led to repercussions later, observed Kamal Gunaratne.

There was a dearth of officers in Jaya Sikurui’s time. So the army started promoting corporals and sergeants to officer grades. The battalion were given mandatory quotas that they could not meet, so clerks, buddies of senior officers and inexperienced soldiers were recommended.    Corporals and sergeants did not make good officers. They were given 1 ½ months officer training but it was totally inadequate. Also this created vacancies at the junior leadership level, a critical component for success in the battlefield. The result was a lack of leadership at all levels. This was an important issue in Jaya Sikurui.

   The Sri Lanka army was at a great disadvantage, in the north because they were fighting an enemy who was comfortably ensconced in its own territory and knew the area intimately.  LTTE  held the advantage. LTTE was a resident in the north. They had lived all their lives in the north and knew the terrain intimately. They were familiar with jungles and the seas around  North and east. The main LTTE jungle complex the 14 Base”  was situated in the lush jungle north of Weli Oya. They did not need to carry their food, clothes, medicines everywhere they went. Those items were kept at home. The LTTE was used to Jaffna’s hot climate. The Sri Lanka army was not. ( Continued)

by Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

No longer were there individual destinies?; only a collective destiny. Made for plague and emotions shared by all.” Albert Camus

In 430 BC, an entire chapter of the Peloponnesian war documented by the Greek historian, Thucydides was about a deadly epidemic. According to him, while Athenians prepared for war with Sparta, its course changed dramatically due to a plague. First, Athenians believed it was the work of Spartans who have poisoned their waters, but eventually understood it was a plague. Over the course of history, epidemics have wiped out villages, populations and devastated and transformed empires. They wield much more power than any other security threat that could enter our society and today we all directly confront this threat. While many nations and political leaders marched towards embracing ultra-nationalist sentiments, believing their national interest is important than the other nations, will eventually understand with the growth of the outbreak the importance of transnational cooperation and building trust among nations.

Wuhan is a city of 11 million people. It is described as a city geographically at the very heart of China. It is roughly equidistant from the cities of Beijing and Guangzhou (Canton) on a north-south axis and also is equidistant from Shanghai and Chongqing on an east-west line. Currently, its residents are not allowed to move out of the city. San Fiorano is also barricaded and closed off from the outside world with nine neighbouring towns close to Milan that were the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. Italian Prime Minister[i] says This is Italy’s darkest hour” as lockdown in the northern regions and riots break out in prisons and country is facing the biggest challenge since the second world war.

The Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) epidemic has spread in 114 countries, as of 11th March there are 118,000 confirmed cases with 4291 deaths from around the world. The outbreak is declared a pandemic by the world health organization. The daily developments of the outbreak are similar to the incidents illustrated in Albert Camus’s 1947 novel ‘The Plague[ii]’. Seen as a parable about the German occupation of France the plot holds a far much deeper significance to everyday life through chronicling an outbreak in the North African city of Oran. While people suffer from death and isolation, Camus wonders what it means to resist a challenging environment and outlines human courage through a profound optimism about human nature to rise from difficult moments through small kindnesses and solidarity. Just like the authorities blocking people of Oran, police have barricaded the entrance to the Italian town and anyone who attempting escape the blockade faces up to three months in prison or a fine of up to 206 euros ($223). It is as if I am going through the pages of Camu’s chronicle when witnessing the human suffering documented from around the world. Given the current trajectory of the spread, it is poised to reach other cities which could follow the similar oppressive containment methods. It’s worth preparing for the worse. 

Distrust and Cooperation 

China is the primus inter pares among the developing countries. As an emerging power with significant economic strength, it is facing a security dilemma with the exiting global power, the United States of America. Apart from the heightened trade war between the two nations and security concerns of Chinese products, another new dimension of conflict inhibiting the dire need for cooperation during epidemics is added to the agenda.

While some reports were published misleading that the virus was a biological weapon either from laboratories in Wuhan or US inflicting Wuhan. Apart from nuclear weapons, China and the US engage in defensive biological warfare research for strategic deterrent or weapons of last resort. Distrust between the two nations at a time like this could aggravate this misleading information. What is required is to strengthen military to military bio-defence cooperation[iii] and trust and transparency between the two to minimize future hazards. Nations will require to work side by side to confront challenges from epidemics. Despite US-China trade wars, it’s also an opportune time to strengthen collaboration for global health and epidemic preparedness.

Globalization in action

Was this a ‘black swan[iv]’ moment? A random and unpredictable event. Michele Wucker got it right by calling it a ‘grey rhino[v]’ moment which is highly probable but neglected threats that have an enormous impact. No matter how powerful the nation, epidemics have no borders. The last time China had a similar outbreak was in in 2003 when the SARS epidemic which took many lives and weakened the economy even at its 10% growth rate. This time the Chinese economy is at 6% growth and the nation will face difficulty to introduce a stimulus with the current deficit. According to Reuters[vi] China’s economic growth is expected to slow to 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2020—the slowest pace since the 2008 financial crisis and could cost the global economy $1.1 trillion in lost income[vii]. The disease will reshape economies around the world. It has already impacted the oil prices which had the worst fall since the 1991 US invasion of Kuwait[viii].

The estimates of the degree of infection are on the rise and this would directly impact the Chinese economy and the entire global trade. It’s commendable that the Chinese authorities have been transparent, sharing the DNA of the virus, unlike the previous SARS epidemic. In any government, the administrative capacity and competency could be weighed at a time of crisis, particularly at a time like this, so far Chinese authorities have proven their ability to follow the correct procedures and cooperate with the global community to overcome the challenges. At the beginning, there was lapses and delay of acknowledgement by the authorities. As clearly explained by Jennifer Bouey Senior Policy Researcher at RAND Corporation the first common feature response of SARS and 2019-nCoV is the delay in acknowledging the initial case cluster to be a public health threat. If we recognize that stability is what the Chinese political system values most, and an acute public health threat, such as an epidemic, is precisely the black swan” that can threaten such stability, then it is not too difficult to understand the Chinese government’s reluctance toward acknowledging an epidemic. China’s law prohibits anyone from talking about a public health threat before an official government announcement”[ix].

Unlike in 2003, China is more globalized with around two hundred thousand people a day in and out of the mainland resulting in a higher degree of risk for the outbreak. It is also a time of globalization in action, spreading the virus from one remote corner to another faraway city in a few hours. Unlike in the 1970s where 310 million passengers travel from the air, presently, the number of air travels is in billions[x] for a year. Marc Lipsitch[xi] Harvard University epidemiologist coronavirus says the virus “will ultimately not be containable” and, within a year, will infect somewhere between 40 and 70 per cent of humanity, But don’t be too alarmed. Many of those people won’t have severe illnesses or even show symptoms at all”. 

Sri Lankan economy, navigating the global shocks 

In Sri Lanka, there was one Chinese traveller found positive, treated and sent back to China. Seen as a significant achievement by the authorities, the Health Minister took the front page of the news, not realizing its not the end but the beginning of many more to be diagnosed in the coming days. Along with the news cycle, the public focus will shift in a few days to upcoming Parliamentary election which will the cost taxpayers some several billion amidst the global outbreak and global economic slowdown which has already hit the tourism industry.

Sri Lankan economy which is at the lowest growth rate in South Asia will have further effects from the coronavirus. The tourism industry went through a hard recovery after the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks and while it was recovering was hit by Coronavirus. Chinese tourist visiting the Island will drop and Chinese infrastructure projects will also face some impact from the construction workers. Depending on the global impact on supply chains and how soon things will be back to normal, the Sri Lankan economy would have to navigate the shocks in the global arena. A caution on recent irrational government policies in the international arena UNHRC and turning down the US MCC loan, decisions are taken for the sake of elections will have ripple effects in post-elections, especially with the prevailing global economic slowdown. 

Coronavirus Election and the National Security Policy for Sri Lanka

While the government in power is seeking 2/3rd majority in Parliament in the upcoming Parliamentary elections in April, the political environment will be different from the past elections. You could call it a Coronavirus election. Should there be elections with the global pandemic? Regardless of the global health hazard, does the Government encourage public gatherings? Why can’t the Government postpone elections? Are some useful questions to carefully think twice? Government efficiency and President’s unilateral decision making on managing the epidemic will be a factor. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who came to power projecting a national security threat from the Easter Sunday bombings will face another form of global security threat. Responding to disease outbreak is a multifaceted effort by the whole of Government. It involves provincial and local level to Mayors.

Successfully managing the spread of the virus relies on the efficiency of the overall system of government, not one individual. Has Sri Lanka prioritized who receives virus test? How fast the results could be delivered? Who is responsible to sanitize public transit places? How effective and efficient are the quarantine facilities managed? are some vital questions that require answers. The Government’s efficiency of managing the crisis will be a daunting challenge which will lead to building trust with the general public and the system in place which will eventually secure the vote in the coming election. A slight lapse or mismanagement would have a drastic public reaction and outcome.

We must understand this new reality to reduce the risk of future epidemics. Having a security policy is an essential ingredient that can add value to the process of preparedness during a national security crisis. National Security Policy (NSP) will capture the holistic security threats (health, climate, economic etc) to the nation in the next several years. An NSP was compiled at the National Security Think Tank(INSSSL) during last three years with several military experts from tri-forces along with the researchers and handed over to the Secretary Ministry of Defence General Shantha Kottegoda in 2019 October. According to the Sri Lankan National Security Policy which highlights that ‘a nation should develop the means and capacities to prevent and control epidemics that might cripple the country’. The document is worth circulating to the public and line Ministries for further inputs and development. Unfortunately, these documents go classified and not shared with the public just like the National Defence Policy (NDP) which was declassified and approved from the cabinet on November 11th 2019[xii]. Not many Sri Lankans know that the nation has a National Defence Policy. These policies belong to the people and not to a particular regime or individual, therefore it should be carried forward with improvements and amendments not to be hidden inside cupboards and shared with a restricted audience.

At a time with of a global crisis such as this with anxiety and uncertainty with multiple socio-political and economic shocks which could engulf distrust among nations what is required is cooperation, solidarity and acts of human kindness to each other. While epidemics teach us, a collective destiny is what we possess, we still tend to be fragmented and glued to our destiny securing our national interest, ignoring others.

*Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is the author of ‘Sri Lanka at Crossroads’ published by World Scientific Singapore(2019). He is a visiting lecturer for International Security at Colombo University and the former Director-General of the National Security Think Tank(INSSSL) under Ministry of Defence and former Executive Director of Kadirgamar Institute(LKIIRSS). Young Global Leader World Economic Forum.

End Notes:

  [i] https://www.ft.com/content/7e5ee68e-6200-11ea-b3f3-fe4680ea68b5

[ii] La Peste is a novel by Albert Camus, published in 1947

[iii] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-03-05/us-chinese-distrust-inviting-dangerous-coronavirus-conspiracy

[iv]   Black Swan moment describes an event that comes as a surprise. The theory was developed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 

[v] Grey Rhino concept was coined by Michele Wucker, a fellow YGL and policy analyst who came up with the term after the 2012 Greek financial crisis.

[vi] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/how-coronavirus-disrupts-global-value-chains/

[vii] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/19/coronavirus-could-cost-global-economy-1tn-in-lost-output

[viii] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/business/oil-price-crash-explainer/index.html?utm_campaign=wp_todays_worldview&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_todayworld

[ix] Jennifer Bouey, Testimony presented before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Nonproliferation on February 5, 2020. https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/testimonies/CT500/CT523/RAND_CT523.pdf

[x] 2018 was 4.2 billion air travel for the year https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IS.AIR.PSGR

[xi] https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-outbreak-could-hit-3-billion-adults-harvard-expert-2020-3

[xii] Approved by Government of Sri Lanka (Cabinet Paper No 19/3132/103/173) on 11th Nov 2019

දයා හේවාපතිරණ

ආචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර මහතා, අප ජනාදිපති තුමා වෙත යොමුකර ඇති ඉතා වැදගත් ඉල්ලීම් මෙන්ම, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා රටෙහි ජනාදිපති ලෙස සිටි කාලයෙහිදී මෙම සිහල බෞද්ධ රටෙහි අභිවුර්ධය සදහා ගතහැකිව තිබුන අවශ්‍යම පියවරයන්, අවස්ථාව තිබියදී පවා, ඉතා අදූරදර්ශී ලෙස අතපසු කිරීම නිසා, රටෙහි ඒකීය භාවයට සහ හෙළ බොදු සoන්ස්කෘතියෙහි උන්නතිය සම්බන්දයෙන් උද්ගතවී ඇති දැවැන්ත අභියොගයන් පිලිබන්දව එතුමා දක්වා ඇති සත්‍ය තොරතුරු, දේශප්‍රේමී සියලු දෙනා අනුමත කරන බව නොඅනුමානය.

 විශේෂයෙන් එතුමා දක්වා ඇති පහත සදහන් සත්‍ය තොරතුරු දේශප්‍රේමී සියලු දෙනාගේ-අවධානයට-යොමුවිය-යුතුය:

… ඉන්දියාව විසින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අප හිසමත පටවනලද පළාත්සභා ශාපය සහ ඊට පදනමවූ 1987 ජේ.ආර්/රජීව් ගිවිසුමේ මූලික අරමුනවූයේ…. මේ රටතුල ඉන්දීය දෙමල ආධිපත්තිය තහවුරු කිරීම සදහා.. ඉස්ථිර පදනම දැමීමයි…

1987 සිට මේ දක්වාම මේ රට පාලනය කොටඇත්තේ…මොලයක් නැති පිරිසක්…. එවැනි පාලකයින් රජකරන රටක් සව්භාග්ය කරා ගෙනයන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න ඔබතුමාට දැනටමත් අවබෝධ වී ඇතයි අපි සිතමු…. එසේ නොවී එතෙක් මෙතෙක් මේ රටේ පහලවූ විශිස්ඨතම රාජ්ය පාලකයා ඔබතුමා වනු දැක්ම මුලුමහත් ජාතියේම අපේක්ශාවයි”….

…මහින්ද රාජපක්ශ අගමැතිවරයා 2010 මැතිවරණයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3 බලය තිබිලත් මේ මර උගුල් දෙක අහෝසි නොකෙරීම සහ තව වසර දෙකක් තිබියදී 2015… මැතිවරණයකට යාමෙන් සිදුකරගත් මෝඩකම වැනි දේ නොකෙරීමට ඔබතුමාද වග බලාගනු ඇතැයි සමස්ථ ජාතියම දෑස් දල්වා බලාගෙන සිටී.

…ජාතිය ඉදිරියේ ඇති මේ මහා විනාශයෙන් මේ රටත් ජාතියත් බේරාගැනිමට ඔබට හැකි බව අපි දනිමු. එබැවින් මේ අවස්ථාවෙදි එසේ නොකළොත් ඔබද 1948 සිට මේ දක්වා මේ රට අගාධයට ගෙන ගිය දුගන්ද හමන දේශපාලක පරම්පරාවේ ගොඩටම වැටෙනු නියතය…”

…” වහාම මෙම (1987ජේ.ආර්/රජීව්) ගිවිසුම අහෝසි කොට රට හා ජාතිය මරණයෙන් බේරා ගනිමු. මේ ජාතික ශාපය හා ව්යසනය වහාම අහෝසි කරනවා වෙනුවට පලාත් සභා මැතිවරණ ගැන මේ දේශ පාලුවන් කතා කරන්නේ ඇයි? මෙය තීරණාත්මක දේශපාලන තීරණයක් වන අතර, මේ රට සහ එහි ජනතාවට ආදරය කරන ඔබ වැනි දේශප්රේමී රාජ්ය තාන්ත්රිකයෙකු මේ රටත් ජාතියත් බේරා ගැනීම සඳහා මෙකී ගිවිසුම අහෝසිකිරීමට වහාම පියවර ගත යුතුව තිබේ.එසේ නොකලහොත්, 1987 සිට මේ දක්වා මේ ප්‍රස්නයේදී ගොල්ලුවන්, බිහිරන් සහ අන්ධයින් මෙන් ක්‍රියා කල සෙසු සියළු දෙසන්පාලකයින්ටම විරුද්ධව නැගෙන චෝදනව හා සාපය ඔබතුමාටද එල්ලවනු ඇත… …”මෙම විනාශකාරී ඉන්දියානු උගුලෙන් මේ රට මුදා ගනු ලබන රාජ්ය නායකයා කිසි දිනෙක නොමැරෙන සදාකාලික ජාතික වීරයකු වනු ඒකාන්තය”….

      දයා හේවාපතිරණ

සමස්ත ලංකා ප්‍රවාහන සේවක සංගමය

ගරු ප‍්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද අමරවීර මැතිතුමා,
ප‍්‍රවාහන හා සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍යාංශය,
7 වන මහළ, සෙත්සිරිපාය,
බත්තරමුල්ල.

ගරු ඇමතිතුමනි,
මගී ජනතාවගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සඳහාත් ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවකයින්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සඳහාත් ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සියලූම රියදුරු කොන්දොස්තර මහතුන් හට මුඛ ආවරණ ලබාදීමට කඩිනමින් මැදිහත්වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීම.

මේ මොහොත වන විට අප රට තුල උද්ගත වී ඇති කොරෝනා වසංගතය නිසා ජනතාව ඉමහත් අසීරුතාවයන්වලට පත්වී ඇත. ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවය කරනු ලබන රියදුරු කොන්දොස්තර මහතුන් දෙපළ දිනකට 1000 කට වඩා ජනතාව සමග අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ඇසුරු කිරීමට සිදුවේ. බස් රථවල ගමන් කරන මගීන් පිළිබඳව විධිමත් අවබෝධයක් නොමැති නිසා ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවකයින් ආරක්‍ෂා කර ගැනීම අපගේ වගකීමකි.

ආරෝග්‍ය ශාලාවල සේවය කරනු ලබන බොහෝ සේවකයින් මුඛ ආවරණ පැළඳ සිටිමින් සේවය කරයි. ඒ හා සමානවම ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම බස් රථවල සේවය කරන රියදුරු කොන්දොස්තර මහතුන්ද විශාල සේවාවක් ඉටු කරයි.

ගරු ඇමතිතුමනි,
මගී ජනතාවගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සඳහා ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවකයින්ගේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සඳහාත් ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සියලූම රියදුරු කොන්දොස්තර මහතුන් හට අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම මුඛ ආවරණ ලබාදීමට කඩිනමින් මැදිහත්වන ලෙස අප සංගමය ඔබතුමාගෙන් ගෞරවයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නෙමු.

ස්තූතියි.

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

Dan Lee Dimke

The highly contagious virus that has caused “The COVID-19 Outbreak”, carries a significant vulnerability that may be immediately exploitable. In other words, this coronavirus can be stopped, far more easily than most people, and many health professional, realize. Dr. Dan Lee Dimke PhD, explains the science behind the fragile nature of this virus, and offers an easy, self-administered therapy that may hold the key to ending this outbreak quickly. (FULL Extended Version 16:45)

Courtesy Scroll.in

The prime minister said ‘prepare but do not panic’ was India’s motto as it tackled the virus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the video conference of SAARC nations to tackle coronavirus on Sunday. | BJP/Twitter

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday proposed to set up a COVID-19 emergency fund for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations to help tackle the spread of the virus, and said India can initially offer $10 million, reported The Hindu.Modi had on Friday called on the other seven SAARC nations – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – to chalk out a strategy to fight the pandemic.

As we all know, COVID-19 has recently been classified by the World Health Organisation as a pandemic. So far, our region has listed fewer than 150 cases. But we need to remain vigilant,” Modi said in his opening address. I propose that we create a COVID-19 emergency fund. India can start by contributing $10 million.”

The Indian prime minister also listed out the country’s experience with the virus, and highlighted various measures taken to prevent its outbreak. We evacuated nearly 1,400 citizens, including some from our neighbouring countries,” Modi said. We recognize other countries are also concerned about safety of citizens in India. So we briefed foreign diplomats.”

Courtesy BBC

Sri Lanka has closed its border to travellers from the UK, affecting England fans who were still planning to visit the country despite the postponement of the two-Test series.

Even though Joe Root’s side arrived home on Sunday, a number of supporters intended to go ahead with holidays.

However, people from the UK, or who have travelled through the UK, will not be allowed into Sri Lanka from midnight local time on Monday.

Some fans are already in Sri Lanka.

Several more were set to depart in the coming days, with the first Test in Galle originally scheduled to have begun on Thursday.

Another, travelling with the official Barmy Army tour group, was held at Colombo’s Bandaranaike airport for several hours before being admitted to the country and told he would be the last to do so.

“One of our members, who was held at Colombo airport for several hours, has now been allowed in and has informed the Barmy Army that there will be no more flights following from the UK,” said Barmy Army managing director Chris Millard.

“We are aware that over 50 of our members are currently in Sri Lanka and several more have travelled over the weekend. Our official travel programme still had 20 members wanting to go on the trip as a holiday, even with the cricket cancelled, but their flights have now been cancelled too.

“We are in open communications with Sri Lanka Cricket, tour operators and airlines to try to help our members get home safely. If anyone is out there and wants to speak to us, feel free to get in touch.”

Courtesy TTG Media

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to advise against all but essential travel to Sri Lanka.

The move effectively places the popular holiday hotspot off limits to British tourists.

The FCO made the announcement shortly after midday on Sunday (15 March), citing a decision by the Sri Lankan government to curb travel.

“The Sri Lankan government has decided people arriving from the UK, or having travelled through the UK, will not be allowed to enter Sri Lanka from midnight on 16 March (6.30pm UK time),” said the FCO.

“We therefore advise against all but essential travel if you are travelling from or via the UK.”

It comes after the FCO this weekend warned against all but essential travel to Spain and the US.

Courtesy ANI

New Delhi, Mar 15(ANI): While attending a video conference of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries amid Coronavirus scare, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, Our economy has taken serious blow, particularly tourism sector which was just recovering after last years’ terrorist attack. I strongly recommend SAARC leaders to formulate mechanism to assist our economies to tide over difficult period.”

MANO RATWATTE, USA Courtesy The Island

March 15, 2020, 8:50 pm

Your Sunday paper headlines speak of panic buying in Sri Lanka because of the Coronavirus. 

I can assure you it is no different in the US right now.  Almost all major Walmart and Target type super stores are out of toilet paper and all hand sanitizer products (gels and wipes), and people are buying up nonperishable goods in unusually large quantities. I witnessed that at four stores, when I went to buy my regular groceries for the week. I usually maintain stocks sufficient for one month. So, I did not need to engage in panic buying.  

Consider the pathetic incompetence of the US in responding to the coronavirus outbreak. I closely follow news from my motherland because I still have family and friends there. 

The President and health care professionals in Sri Lanka are doing a far better job than the pathetic inconsistencies of Donald Trump and his government. 

For weeks Trump mocked the concerns about the outbreak as “fake news” and claimed this was no big deal and how by April, when the weather warms up, COVID-19 would die off. He blamed Democrats for creating hysteria.  And then what did he finally do this week, much later? Declare a national emergency.  As of Friday March 13th, less than 15,000 have been tested in contrast to S. Korea and China, where hundreds of thousands have been tested. 

On Friday, President Trump and Pence lied about “1,700 Google engineers are working to launch a website soon”, and took a veiled potshot at the problem with the Obama administration’s rolling out of their health insurance website. Google tweeted their clarification  attached to this email.  Before that, for days he bragged about there being plenty of tests and that millions could get tested if they wanted to. Not so. The local Main OSF hospital in my town has ordered that NO ONE should be tested even if they showed symptoms. He also said insurance companies would waive treatment costs. Another falsehood! 

President Rajapaksa has been professional and not behaved like a thin skinned real estate agent taking potshots, lying, bragging and refusing to take responsibility for anything. When a journalist asked a tough question, Trump bristled by saying it’s a “mean question “.  Really what is that all about? Aren’t journalists supposed to ask tough questions?

Take the massive stock market panic after Trump gave an incoherent rambling address to the nation on Wednesday.  After the emergency was declared, the market had a very good recovery.  He claimed credit for the recovery on Friday, but not for the massive 19% two-day cumulative drop in the Dow Jones Index. 

Poor nations are faced with problems. But I have more faith in Sri Lankan efforts to combat this virus than in Trump’s belated efforts.

Please use common sense such as washing your hands frequently with soap and water. Practice social distancing. Look, the virus came to Sri Lanka from foreign tourists. You already have quarantine facilities and preparedness in place. Listen to the healthcare professionals. Do not spread rumours. Do not speculate. The more vulnerable segments are those over 60 years of age with underlying health problems like diabetes; and the most vulnerable are older people over 80 years of age. Please protect your elders. Do not panic. For younger people, the data shows it will be no worse than the flu.  What you should do if you suspect being infected, is to isolate yourself and STOP BEING SELFISH. 

I tip my hat to President Rajapaksa and his team for their rational logical approach to coping with this serious public health issue. I also thank the healthcare professionals and the military for responding to the crisis.  Learn from China. It’s already helping Italy, which is now ground zero for the pandemic. China and the WHO should be your main sources of information, not the US government.

After all, Billionaire Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma says he is donating 500,000 coronavirus testing kits and one million protective face masks to the United States. The Chinese billionaire already has pledged two million protective masks to European countries. A first shipment of test kits, medical supplies and 500,000 masks intended for Italy, which has been hard-hit by the virus, arrived at Liege Airport in Belgium late Friday. 

Sri Lankans are resilient people. There’s no need for superstition and religious mumbo jumbo, soothsayers and claims of miracle cures.  Appropriate quarantine efforts combined with common sense hygiene are your immediate prescriptions for limiting the spread of this virus in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government did the right thing by banning rallies, meetings, etc. Reduce human contact.  Stop taking rumours seriously.  

MANO RATWATTE, USA

by Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, yesterday, said the general election would be held on 25 April, as scheduled. He said so, participating in a video conference of SAARC leaders on Sunday evening. Pakistan was represented by the Health Minister of that country.

The SAARC leaders’ video conference was aimed at chalking out a strategy to combat coronavirus spreading in the region.

President Rajapaksa informed the SAARC leaders of the steps Sri Lanka had taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Prime Minister Modi said that though the number of COVID-19 patients reported from the region was not comparatively high, the situation had to be taken seriously and everything possible done to contain the pandemic, which, yesterday, caused Spain to effect a nationwide lockdown.

President Rajapaksa’s assurance that the general election won’t be postponed has come amidst speculation that the increasing number of COVID-19 patients being detected in the country and the suspension of political rallies and other such mass gatherings may affect the scheduled polls.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Health Ministry dispelled rumors that Colombo city or any other province will come under lockdown following a rise in the number of COVID-19 patients but added that preventive measures were being updated on a daily basis.
“As of now, there is no truth to Colombo being locked down. However our medical teams are closely monitoring the situation here and are making decisions which will benefit the citizens and prevent a public spread of the virus,” an official from the Health Ministry said.
A source from the President’s Office also denied the rumors stating that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had informed SAARC Leaders yesterday that he would ensure that the daily life of Sri Lanka citizens continue as most of those who were testing positive were in the quarantine centers.
“The President is aware that a majority of those who are testing positive are nationals who are returning from Italy in the quarantine centers. So up to now there has been no decision taken to lock down Colombo or any other province,” the source said.
The number of COVID-19 patients yesterday evening rose to 18 with the Health Ministry stating that more positive cases were likely to be reported in the coming days with the increasing number of Sri Lankan nationals returning from Italy and South Korea.
Over 4000 people are under self-quarantine in their homes and monitored by public health inspectors. (Jamila Husian)

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (15) proposed to leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to formulate a collective response to combat COVID – 19. He further called for SAARC Ministerial Meeting to discuss measures to overcome this deadly health threat.

President Rajapaksa made these proposals participating in a video conference with all SAARC leaders under the theme of SAARC Leader on Combating COVID – 19, Setting an Example to the World”, an initiative by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. 

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa noted that presently there are 11 confirmed cases in Sri Lanka.

Our biggest challenge is to stop or minimize the virus entering into Sri Lanka and control the spreading of the virus within Sri Lanka,” stated President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. For this purpose, we have banned tourists and other people from about 12 countries, especially some EU countries, entering in to Sri Lanka, following the guidelines and statistics relating to the spread of the virus, issued by the WHO. We have also banned tourists and others from South Korea and Iran coming to Sri Lanka.”
 
However, the challenge is with the Sri Lankan expatriate community wishing to return to Sri Lanka. We have a large number of Sri Lankans working in Italy and South Korea. We cannot stop these Sri Lankans coming back to their home country”. Therefore, the president explained that steps had been taken to subject those returning to Sri Lanka to a 14-day quarantine period in quarantine centers.  
 
President Rajapaksa explained that besides the IDH that is close to Colombo, 12 other hospitals have also been designated to treat suspected or confirmed cases. Those who show flu symptoms have been asked to self-quarantine whilst seeking medical attention. Both the police and the Public Health Inspectors are closely monitoring the progress of the suspected patients. Furthermore, a National Task Force with all major stakeholders empowered to make crucial decisions has been set up and meet on a daily basis with close and constant monitoring of all aspects relating to the spread of this deadly virus.
 
Like the other SAARC countries, Sri Lanka’s economy too had taken a nosedive, noted President. Most of our tourists are from Italy, Germany and other EU countries, and now there is a ban on their coming.  Our tourist industry was just recovering after last year’s April 21st terrorist attack. Our exports are also adversely affected. Therefore, I strongly recommend to the SAARC leaders to formulate a mechanism to assist our economies to tide over this very difficult period.” 

Today’s initiative by the Indian Prime Minister to address the CORVID 19 pandemic was greatly appreciated by all other SAARC leaders. This was an initiative to discuss with the SAARC leaders a roadmap to combat the virus.
 
PM Modi, as he opened the forum noted that our societies are deeply connected and thus we must be prepared together to face the challenges ahead.
 
We know we have a serious challenge ahead of us,” he observed. However, we still do not know the shape of the pandemic that we are to face in the coming days.’
 
He emphasized the need to be careful instead of panicking and that the threat should not be underestimated.
 
All the leaders spoke of their countries’ experience and the current status of the situation. While the situation is still within control, the austere measures taken to contain the virus had severely affected the economies. As the Bhutan Premier Dr. Lotay Shering noted, it is the smaller economies that have got hit disproportionately.
 
This was also attested by the President of Maldives Solih as he spoke of the effect on the Maldivian economy with the drastic decrease in the tourism sector. A quarter of Maldives’ GDP and two-thirds of their Foreign Exchange comes from tourism. In addition, almost all forms of employment in the Maldives are directly or indirectly related to the tourist industry. Even though there had been only 13 confirmed cases and no deaths yet, the industry had been declining since February.
 
At the conclusion of the conference, PM Modi advocated a joint effort to combat the challenges posed to the region by the virus. He proposed a CORVID 19 emergency fund for the SAARC countries can draw from to deal with the related issues. Contributing to this fund would be an entirely voluntary decision, said PM Modi. As a starting point though, he pledged USD 10 million, which through the India Foreign Ministry and related missionaries could be accessed.
 
PM Modi also assured shared resources and knowledge as medical expertise, testing kits, and other equipment as well as online training for health workers. He also advocated the use of existing facilities as available in SAARC disaster management.
 
President Rajapaksa reiterating the need to work together appreciated the Indian prime Minister’s offer especially when there is a shortage in testing kits worldwide. President also emphasized the need to create social awareness and the reasons behind government decisions to avoid misunderstandings or miscommunications. He also advocated the need for one central place to disseminate information or otherwise confusion will result. 

President Rajapaksa thanked PM Modi for taking this initiative to get all the SAARC leaders together to discuss this important issue. This sentiment was echoed by all other leaders and they too repeated that this should be a more frequent exercise.

Courtesy Adaderana

Individuals who conceal the fact that they have contracted COVID-19 will be sentenced to six months in prison, stated the Police.

DIG Ajith Rohana mentioned this at a special press conference held earlier this afternoon (15).

He added that steps will be take enabling arrest of such individuals without a warrant.

Further, the law will be strictly enforced against those who spread false rumors on the coronavirus through social media, he said.

Meanwhile, 23 individuals have been arrested over the spread of such false information on the virus.

While, the police would not act on private parties, in the event of a wedding, health instructions are to be strictly followed, Rohana added.

He also said that 7 officers who are informed on the quarantine process have been deployed to each police station in the country.

The police hotline 119 is available for the general public to inform in case of suspicion of having contracted the coronavirus.

Courtesy Adaderana

The government has introduced a hotline (117) for the public to seek or provide information on the novel coronavirus or COVID-19.

The hotline will be active from 8 pm tonight (15), stated the Department of Government Information.

Courtesy Adaderana

All flights to Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom, Norway and Belgium have been suspended from tomorrow (16).

The relevant travel restriction will be in effect for 2 weeks, stated the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

All airlines are strongly instructed not to board in any of their flights destined to Sri Lanka, any passenger who is either originating from the aforementioned states or who has been in any of those countries within the last 14 days.

Further, any passenger arriving from those countries on March 16 will be directed to quarantine centers, while there will be no quarantine for passengers who arrive in the country until midnight today (15).

Courtesy Adaderana

Steps will be taken to identify and quarantine those who had arrived in Sri Lanka from Italy and had not undergone a quarantine period, stated the Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

Persons who had arrived in the country from Italy between the 1st and 9th of March will be identified for quarantine in this manner.

Dr. Jasinghe mentioned this at a joint television program conducted to educate the public on the current status of COVID-19 spread and control.