By Rohana R. Wasala

Recently, there was a heated discussion about a supplementary reader in Sinhala titled ‘HATHE APE POTHA’ for Grade 7 students in government schools in Sri Lanka for ‘sexuality and reproductive health education’, which is a novel subject to the country’s school education system. The writer believes that this controversy surrounding an insignificant relic of the disastrous Yahapalanaya is likely to prove an eye-opener for the new administration to be formed under President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa after the forthcoming general election in April. In fact, the issue of sexuality education for early adolescents was raised for the first time by the National Child Protection Authority in 2012 when the current prime minister was president.  The chairperson of the NCPA even recognized the need to train teachers for the purpose, but apparently the whole matter got shelved for some reason. The new president has a clear vision for the future of the country and a well thought out action plan for realizing that vision. Patriotic, value oriented intellectuals and committed professionals are required for driving this single minded national endeavour launched by the president who is himself a true intellectual and a proven professional. The debate over the sexuality education supplementary reader has revealed the sort of poor intellectual and professional specimens that should not be employed in the future; precious development funds should not be wasted on such fakes. The writer draws this conclusion without prejudice to the genuine intellectuals and professionals (the majority) who sat through the discussion sessions mentioned below in obvious discomfort and embarrassment at the poor show that the few Yahapalana conformists among them put up defending the book.

The booklet at the centre of the mostly frivolous argumentation was in the process of being introduced to schools after nearly four years of preparation (2016-19) during the past Yahapalana regime when it provoked a sudden storm of protest from some concerned Buddhist monks and lay persons. At a media briefing held about two months ago, Ven. Professor Medagoda Abhayatissa Thera of the University of Jayawardanepura, while agreeing with the past regime’s ministerial decision to introduce such instruction for school children, severely criticised the reader for the inappropriateness of the language used, the mismatch between the age range of the students (12-13 year olds) and the level of complexity at which the subject matter is approached in the text, and most importantly, for the strong suspicion that the book aroused particularly among nationalists  that there could be a subversive agenda behind the mode of delivery of the subject matter in that slim volume that is contrary to its purported educational purpose, something probably hidden even from the experts who produced the book and argued in its defence, as Ven. Abhayatissa conceded). 

He and another scholar monk, namely, Ven. Professor Induruwe Dhammaratana Thera of the University of Kelaniya, participated (presumably, as  invitees) in a workshop/seminar conducted on a later occasion with representative officials from the ministries of women’s affairs, health, and education, politicians (MPs), and experts including professors from the University of Kelaniya and the National Child Protection Authority; some interested civil activists who had probably been invited as well were present. (The writer has no knowledge of where these events – that is, Ven. Abhayatissa’s news conference, and the above mentioned discussion – took place, and hence is unable to specify the venues. He sincerely regrets this. His source of information about the latter colloquium, and about another similar meeting that followed it, apparently to dismiss those monks’ criticisms as irrelevant, is a pair of Sath TV videos edited and uploaded to the You Tube on January 23 and 25, 2020 respectively.)    

At the first discussion mentioned above (not the news briefing), Ven. Abhayatissa explained that he heard about the book from the grandmother of a girl of Grade 7 who attends the Dhamma school conducted at his monastery premises for school children. This child is a student of Mahanama Vidyalaya and, according to the monk, her grandmother is a highly educated woman, who is now a retiree from government service. She told him that she felt that the book in question is too coarse even for her as a senior adult, let alone children of her granddaughter’s age. So the monk got down a copy of HATHE APE POTHA  and read it through, and made the observations that he made. Ven. Abhayatissa said that by the time of this discussion the education ministry had already temporarily withdrawn the reader from circulation, probably, in response to his intervention as he believed. His argument was that the book seems to be designed to sexually titillate children at this tender age, rather than educate them through proper instructional materials and methods to restrain themselves from indulging in premature sexual activity. Restraint acquired through correct awareness is what is meant by the traditional Buddhist ethical principles of ‘kumari bambasara and kumara bambasara’, that is, chastity for young females and young males respectively. The meaning of bambasara (brahmacarya) in Buddhism is important in this context: it denotes sexual continence or abstinence. (The writer would like to add here that this is entirely compatible with what is recommended by the fully updated International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education for quality Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) document published by the UNESCO in February 2018. It says: ‘Programmes that combine a focus on delaying sexual activity with other content are effective’ (in delivering CSE to juveniles). Sexuality education is essential for promoting health and well-being, respect for human rights and gender equality among children and young people, and to empower them ‘to lead healthy, safe and productive lives’.)  

Ven. Abhayatissa hinted that, like a number of other policies and programs of the previous government, sexuality and reproductive health education was being made a pretext for undermining the entrenched Buddhist cultural foundation of the country. This culturally subversive scheme received the highest government patronage under Yahapalanaya. An LGBT ( lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) office with the slogan ‘Think Equal’ operated from the then PM’s office. It was His Eminence the Cardinal, the monk claimed, who provided him information about this, and requested him to make the society aware of the fact in the interest of the safety and honour of children and women. Ven. Abhayatissa also made incidental reference, disapprovingly, to the new trend of healthy people kissing HIV+ patients in public to show that such body contact does not spread the disease. (In any case, isn’t kissing in public still taboo in Sri Lanka?) His contention was that though it is true that AIDS does not transmit through body contact, there is no need to treat someone who deserves others’ compassion and assistance to lead a normal life as a celebrity by giving them undue attention. 

Ven. Professor Dhammaratana, who spoke before Ven, Abhayatissa did, made a strong case for rejecting the supplementary reader and the erroneous approach to the subject which it is based on. His idea was that completely unnecessary sections on nocturnal emission and masturbation meant for children at the target age would encourage premature sexual  gratification rather than impart proper sexuality education. He suggested that something other than strict sexuality and reproductive health education of the young was behind the whole project: it was yet another attempt by anti-national forces to sabotage the traditional Buddhist ethical cultural foundation that supports the Sri Lankan state. It was not surprising that, being the professor of Sanskrit in his university, he found it easy to illustrate his point that there are proper culturally compatible decent ways of introducing sexuality and reproductive health instruction, by referring to the ancient Hindu classic Kamasutra (of Vatsyayana), which, he said, is without a single word that arouses ‘raga’ or lust, and that it is not pornography at all. The two monks never objected to or questioned, but fully recognized, the need for sexuality and reproductive health education for school children. Their only demand was for the subject to be delivered in a culturally acceptable manner after consultation with all stakeholders including parents, teachers, educational experts and child psychologists. 

Despite this, the Yahapalana appointed promoters of HATHE APE POTHA, it seemed, were determined to show the monks in a bad light as ignorant, irrational, change resisting, politically motivated reactionary chauvinists. The monk’s candid criticisms of the manner of presentation and of the lack of proper adaptation of the content to suit the impressionable young minds seemed to fall on deaf ears. This is something one could observe in both the videos mentioned above. It supports the two monks’ common charge that the HATHE APE POTHA project is a subversive attempt, one of many in fact (like the ‘Think Equal’ office that shared the former PM’s office space) directed against the long entrenched Sinhalese Buddhist cultural foundation that sustains the unitary Sri Lankan nation state. 

The second video mentioned above is of a meeting of mostly the same persons except for Ven. Abhayatissa and Ven. Dhammaratana, who were replaced by two other monks (whose names and designations are not known to this writer).  It was clear that the two new monks had been contracted to pooh-pooh the criticisms of the other two who had taken part in the first session. Only one of them – the senior looking one – spoke, but he only made some stale comments and the other one smiled and nodded his head in agreement. The speaker monk’s idea was that there was nothing wrong with the book and that it was OK for use with the children of Grade 7. He threw in a few  words in English, too. He said that when he contacted one of the dissenting monks on the phone and expressed his views, he had been asked to go and have his head checked by a psychiatrist, and that he returned the compliment in the same words. The writer’s opinion is that these two monks contributed little to the discussion beyond trying to rubbish the completely valid constructive criticisms that the two well informed scholarly monks had offered at the previous workshop. The senior of the monk duo who participated in the second meeting repeated what any person connected with education would say in such a context: that education means intellectual, physical, aesthetic, social, emotional, and moral development of the child, and that proper sexuality and reproductive health education was indispensable for adolescents. He held that HATHE APE POTHA is totally acceptable as it is. But it is difficult to agree with him on this, given the well-grounded arguments advanced by the more authoritative monks heard previously. 

In the course of advocating the immediate introduction of sexuality education for children he referred to the scandalous case of a thirty-five year old father seducing his fourteen year old daughter (her mother being away employed abroad) because she desired him to, as she revealed to the doctor she had been referred to by the police for examination. Here the monk was only repeating the dominant argument heard in both sessions in support of urging the immediate commencement of sexuality and reproductive health education in schools: Very young children (particularly girls, and certainly boys too) are easily vulnerable to sexual abuse, mostly at the hands of adults who are often close relatives or family friends. All speakers who found nothing wrong with the book under discussion dwelt on this theme  in order to urge its acceptance.They failed to acknowledge the obvious fact that the objections raised by the Vens. Abhayatissa and Dhammaratana were not based on a denial of this social reality, but on the non-ethical and deliberately subversive delivery strategies adopted in the book. 

The writer feels that this article has already become longer than he wants it to be. So he would like to skip over the patently inept contributions that certain other ‘resource persons’ (one of them a very very important serving government functionary with a future before him in his career) made, more to give the brush-off to the rational protests of the last mentioned two monks than to facilitate a possible answer to their legitimate concerns. One wonders whether the experts employed had sufficiently differentiated between sexuality and sex in their own minds. However, the (former/still sitting?) health ministry spokeswoman talked some sense, explaining the brief that was set to be addressed by the experts. Actual objections to the very idea of sexuality instruction for school children are likely to come from other quarters than Buddhist monks who, of course, have no issue with that, and are in fact playing a supportive role. Persons who could be expected to express discordant or modified views are not heard in the videos the writer watched. Their ideas should be considered as well, and accommodated if possible, in any government school teaching program.  

 The writer’s own opinion is that young Sri Lankans today, especially, post-millennials, that is, young people from 8 to 23 years of age by now (2020), are less inhibited and more open in social interactions with their peers of the opposite gender than their parents and their older siblings were. They can be relied on to be naturally and healthily receptive to sexuality and reproductive health education. Of course, there is no guarantee that all newfangled modes of behaviour that are embraced by them sit comfortably with the rest of the (adult) population. Local religious cultural sensitivities need to be respected (which is the point of the monks’ intervention in the issue). Fortunately, the Buddhist and Hindu religious values shared by the majority of the people tend to allow gradual integration of usefully harmless but alien behavioural trends into the local cultural setup provided they do not clash with the humanist ideals that are traditionally upheld in the Lankan society. For example, a couple of years ago, there was an outcry raised by some cultural crusaders against marking of the February 14th Valentine’s Day by a few, mostly city dwelling, local young men and women. But today the Valentine Day events seem to be taken for granted or pass unnoticed. Similarly, though legal granting of marital rights to gay couples is immediately inconceivable, the majority Buddhist population’s attitude to homosexuality (but not pedarasty or other forms of sexual crime or misdemeanour involving homosexuality), is amused connivance, as it has traditionally been the case. However, in a global context where responses to homosexuality vary from legal recognition of same-sex marriage to death penalty (only 28 out of the 193 countries represented in the UNO allow gay marriages while 6 countries execute persons for their homosexuality), gay rights issues need not be made a weapon in the hands of anti-national forces determined to destroy the Sri Lankan state, until they are resolved lawfully through democratic humanitarian consensus. The same warning is applicable to sexuality and reproductive health education for pubescent children.

Dr.Sudath Gunasekara

(Please note that this is a revised version of an article I wrote to Lankaweb on 7.6. 2018 on the same subject updated to suit the present situation)  

Lakisuru Gothaabhaya Rajapaksha Metitumani!

Abolish the white elephant and the curse that is Provincial Councils and its root the JR/ Rajiv Accord of 29th July 1987 at least now, before this Indian born Rathaksiya gobbles up the Sinhala Buddhist Nation and this whole Island in its entirety in no time.

While congratulating again for the historic and unprecedented victory you have gained, as I predicted on the 14th   Nov via my E-mail, addressed to you (Published in Lankaweb) and also while adoring all patriotic and courageous steps you have already taken within these few days like no other, such as the brief but dignified speech you made at the Election Commissioners office on the day you were declared elected as the President of this country and your historic address to the nation at the swearing-in ceremony under the shadow of Ruwanweli Seya  (which I have been yearning for 14 years for the Head of the State to do), the most sacred Buddhist Stupa in the world and the crest jewel of the Sinhala Nation. Thereby you have restored an age-old tradition followed by our ancient Sinhala Kings, signifying a turning point in the history of this Island nation.

Furthermore, the lean Cabinet of 15 Ministers, the smallest since 1956, the excellent way you have handled all Indian politicians and the Indian press on you visit just concluded and many more wise and bold decisions you have taken since you assumed Office, I am writing this note to you to earnestly request you to abolish the JR/ Rajiv Accord of 1987 and the disastrous 13th Amendment that gave birth to Provincial Councils and many an inconsistency and historical travesties in the Island’s long and checkered history  (explained in detail below), to rescue this unique tiny Island nation from disappearing forever from this planet earth in few years due to disintegration, disunity and infighting between Bhoomiputra Sinhalese and intruder Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups, resulting from this well designed Indian political Atom bomb called the Provincial Councils, planted to destroy this 2500-year-old Glorious Sinhala Buddhist civilization, an all-time pride and a garland for human civilization on this planet.

I identify the following catastrophes resulting from these two Indian prescriptions.

1. A complete breakdown of the district administration
2. Complete disintegration and division of the Sri Lankan State into a number of different ethnic and religious enclaves at loggerheads fighting for its resources like land and water and supremacy over the others threatening its unitary status and sovereignty as a nation.

3 Destabilization of governance resulting in complete anarchy due to breaking down in governance

4 Colossal wastage of Public funds with no results with for the money spent

Since the first elections for Provincial Councils took place on 28 April 1988 this is how public funds have been spent or rather wasted on their upkeep.

Sri Lanka Provincial Councils: Expenditure

1996 – 2017 | Yearly | LKR mn | Ministry of Finance

 Sri Lanka’s Provincial Councils: Expenditure data was reported at 286,031.000 LKR mn in Dec 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 276,147.000 LKR mn for Dec 2016. Sri Lanka’s Provincial Councils: Expenditure data is updated yearly, averaging 103,769.000 LKR mn from Dec 1996 to 2017, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 286,031.000 LKR mn in 2017. So with an average of almost 104 mn, you can visualize how much national wealth has gone down the drain for the past 31 years, which is approximately 3224 mn or 3.2 Billion. What a colossal wastage and apathetic and unpardonable misuse of public funds.”

The other important aspect is much of this money has gone for unproductive items like salaries and remunerations of Politicians and public Servants, buildings, vehicles, meaningless regular and luxury tamasic in five start hotels, foreign joy trips and other activities unrelated to development. Once the Secretary of the Ministry in charge of this subject told me that only 10 % of voted funds are spent on capital work and the balance 90 % is spent for recurrent activities which do not contribute anything for development.

With all this wastage of public funds, the billion-dollar question the people of this country ask is what benefit PCC has brought to the Country since 1987. Besides the colossal financial loss to the country, the political, and administrative and institutional mess, chaos and confusion by way of duplication of institutions, an increase of an utterly unproductive and lotus-eater set of politicians, and public servants. What benefits it has brought to the country over the past 31 years. Officials, offices, and expenditure have exponentially increased in the ratio of 1 to 15 with zero output. It also has brought about a complete breakdown of the once highly efficient District Administration in this country. Thus the Provincial Councils have come to stay as a veritable Huniyama for this country’s peril.

Why we should have Provincial Councils at all

In this backdrop, I pose the pertinent question as to why we should have Provincial Councils at all in this country; today the whole nation asks?  Who asked for Provincial Councils?  Was it a request by the people of this country or by some genius politicians for better governance? No one at Home asked for it. It was India who proposed it first, to appease the Tamilnadu electorate to consolidate power at Home by imposing it on the Sri Lankan President by force, almost at gunpoint, well-timed when there was an old and weak President as the Head of Government. I still remember how India invaded our air space with their war jets and dropped Parippu? to the north and how arrogantly and undiplomatically their Ambassador Dixit behaved in front of the elderly Statesman JR, the Head of this country at his Ward place residence as if Dixit was the viceroy of India conveying the message of the Indian ‘King,’ threatening a Head of a Vassal State of India of an imminent Indian invasion of the Island if he refuses to sign the Accord. 

The Accord was strategically designed by India, to divide and destabilize this country on an ethnic basis giving Tamils full power to own and rule nearly half of the country including the North and East and Central Sri Lanka (inclusive of Central, Sabaragamuwa and Uva Provinces), although India did not clearly specify these three Provinces. This was nothing but an extension of the same divide and rule policy started by the colonial British in 1832 by the creation of the Provinces in a different form. This Indian conspiracy becomes crystal clear when we analyze the following impositions India made in this country by the Rajiv/JR Accord of 29th July 1987.

1 The declaration of the Northern and Eastern Provinces comprising 1/ 3 the land area of the Island as the Traditional Homeland” of the Tamil People was a complete travesty of the Island’s authentic history. These two Provinces have never been a traditional Tamil land at any time of known history. On the contrary, this whole Island had been the traditional Homeland of the Sinhala people at least from 543 BC and it is a historical fact accepted by all historians, other than the Tamils and Indian politicians.

First, this Accord enabled the Tamils to claim 1/3 of the land area of the country for a mere 5 lakhs Tamils and thereby depriving any Sinhalese or Muslims being settled there while Tamils can settle down in any part of the Island

Second, giving Tamils the right to own 1/3 of the country, 2/3 the coastal belt and nearly 3/5 of the marine territory and its resources including the Trincomalee harbor, the best natural harbor in Asia and the second-best in the world.

Thus this Accord deprived the Bhoomiputras, the Sinhalese their birthright over their Motherland, which their ancestors have protected against all foreign invasions, both Indian and European for 2500 years and enjoyed for millennia as their beloved motherland from the dawn of history. This Accord was designed by India in order to fix the last nail on the Sinhala nation, with a vicious plan to annex the Island to India in the future.

 Third Made Tamil also an Official language, nullifying Sec 18 of the Constitution of the Republic whereas even in India Tamil is not recognized as an Official language in spite of the fact that there are nearly 70 million Tamils there.

Fourth forced  Sri Lanka to give Citizenship to all estate Tamils of Indian origin in the Central, Sabargamauwa and Uva Provinces and even Indians living in other parts of the country even if they are illicit immigrants, disregarding all internationally accepted norms and our own laws on the subject of granting citizenship to foreigners in any country.

Fifth imposed that the Northern and Eastern Provinces should be merged to form one Tamil Province with provision to merge two or more Provinces as one in the future.

Thus in sum the Accord completely destroyed the Independence, sovereignty, the Unitary status and the freedom of this Island Nation and i1987 Constitution as well, within few minutes, by one man Junies Richard Jayawardana against Island wide protests organized by the Opposition and the objections by some of his own Ministers, reducing this country to a veritable vassal State of the Subcontinent without any resistance. This was a meek submission on the part of JR he committed for survival.

 Therefore while taking action to abolish this Accord, I also earnestly request you to reverse the above 4 conditions as early as possible.

JR was forced to accept the Accord almost at gunpoint and India laid down these 4 serious conditions reducing the 1987 Constitution to mere paper scrap. Adding to this JR created PCC to all other Provinces as well accelerating the process of division and disintegration and leading to future political and administrative confusion. This Accord was signed under Island wide emergency and after confining all his MPP to a five-star Hotel having obtained their undated letters of resignation.

The implementation of this Accord, to its logical conclusion will definitely wipe out the Sinhala Buddhist nation from the surface of this planet in the long run. Therefore the crying need, to abolish it immediately, with no delay.

It is in this dangerous and disastrous backdrop that I urge all patriotic people to rise against this Accord and disastrous Provincial Councils to strengthen the President’s hands and request him to abrogate it immediately as it constitutes the foundation for the division of this small country into 9 antagonistic pieces and finally falling into the hands of India (As you know Sir a scrambled egg can never be un-scrambled).  This is exactly what the people of this country have been agitating and demanding every government, for the past 31 years. But tragically it has not fallen on the deaf ears of our selfish and timid and power-hungry politicians who have no concern for the country or the future of the people. The SLFP under Sirimavo protested against it right from the beginning although later it also embraced it without realizing the inherent dangers that underlies these clauses of the Accord.

Let us abolish this PCC immediately

As such why talk of PCC elections now, instead of abolishing this national curse and disaster immediately? This is a crucial political decision long overdue that has to be taken by a patriotic statesman like you, who loves this country and its people, in order to save this country from an imminent total political, economic, social and cultural disaster in the offing. In fact, this is a priority decision that has to be taken as early as possible by your Government. The whole country wants it to go. Once the Accord is abolished, the 13th A and the PCC set up under that will also get abolished automatically. We all expected MR to do this immediately after 2009 when he had all the power including a 2/3 in Parliament.  Had he done that then no one could have dared to contest it? But unfortunately, he did not do it.  Again he appears to promise the press today that as soon as the General election is over they will have the PC elections. I do not know whether he said so to garner the 2/3 and abolish it thereafter. If that is his plan the whole nation will admire him ore that his victory over the LTTE. I only hope he will not commit the same mistake he did after the 2010 Election.

Once the PCC are gone all superficial Officeholders such as the so-called 9 Governors, 9 ‘Cheap’ Ministers, 45 Provincial Ministers and all such parasitic politicians who bleed the nation to its bones will also go home relieving the burden they have overloaded on the country. Thereafter every one of them will at least plant a manioc stem that will do some service at least to a wild boar. The professional public servants presently working in these Councils will have no problem as they could be accommodated in suitable places in the public service until they retire.

Another reason why I argue for the abolition of PCC is the need to avoid a total disaster in District Administration that will make any retrieval of governance in this country impossible. Furthermore, that will put an end to all divisive political manipulations such as federal status, self-determination, self-rule of Muslims and EELAM dreams of the Tamils. It will also save billions of rupees now being spent for the upkeep of these monkey cages and piggeries called Provincial Councils infested with monkeys and goats, a political appendage and a dead weight around the nation’s neck that has burdened the country for the past 31 years and destabilized the total administration almost beyond recovery. Finally, it will also relieve us from any future subversive Indian or Arabian invasions and conspiracies hatched to divide this country on the ethnic basis with a dream of Indianization of this country or converting it to an Arab land as Hisbulla has planned in the Eastern Katthankudi area.

 I call upon all Patriotic people to make this request in one voice from the new President to abolish these monkey cages and dens of thieves that have exponentially increased waste and corruption and completely ruined the decent political culture of this country for the past 31 years and multiplied separatists tendencies and communal agitations dragging the nation to complete disintegration in future on ethnic lines with no chance of redemption in future

I know it very well that no political party, even the UNP that invented it under J.R. or even those who were against them in 1987 will ask for their abolition, as they use these Councils members to net votes at all elections for their political survival. But for the general public, these Councils are an eyesore when they see the way how public funds are been wasted criminally on the upkeep of these useless lotus-eater Governors, Chief Ministers, Ministers, Members, a plethora of officials and the institutions that house them. Other than enjoying the luxuries of office, attending openings, weddings, funerals school functions like sport meets, temple functions, and various other social and private teams, roaming all over the world on pleasure trips and running all over the country to show their loyalty to their political masters,  misusing public funds, and collecting votes and funds for their political leaders in Colombo and herding people for their meetings like Mayday rallies and propaganda meetings of their masters in Parliament who in turn ruin the whole country and throwing their weight on the innocent and helpless masses, on the other hand, I ask these parasitic creatures as to what service they have done to the people of the country that pay their salaries and ill-gotten fabulous perks 

Why can’t the SLPP, as a group who constitutes the majority who opposed the 13th A in 1987 at least now agitate for the abolition of this tragic national curse? The people hate this system and curse them too. Now that the SLPP already has the Pradesiya Sabhas, the live wires of Local Government in its hand to organize the election campaign for them at the village and the local levels there is no need for a Provincial apparatus for elections either.

Now that the country has functioned smoothly without these parasitic and wasteful institutions, almost for the past two and half years and has proved beyond all doubts their uselessness there is no justification for their retaining. A reorganize strong District Administration headed by professional administrators will ensure better governance as it had been the indigenous system of administration in the past. Even the British adopted certain aspects of this system to run the country very effectively and efficiently for 133 years.

The Provincial Councils have already become redundant and dysfunctional. As such if he SLPP can get them abolished, its vote base will rise up exponentially at all future elections.  Therefore the SLPP will not lose anything by getting them abolished. Instead, people will definitely rally round the party as a mark of appreciation and gratitude for relieving them of this 31-year curse and disaster. Furthermore, MR also can make use of this golden opportunity to punish all those ungrateful rascals and double-dealers who have betrayed him after the 2015 elections and send them permanently to the political wilderness. In this backdrop, if the SLPP does this, I can assure that the grateful masses who have suffered for the past 31 years under this curse will rally round it in a manner nobody would have ever imagined.  Besides increasing its vote base it will also be doing a yeoman service by this country and the nation, for liberating this country out of this wishful Indian trap that has already done enormous political and economic damage to this country and that will definitely play the main role in dividing and destabilizing this Island nation in future if we retained them.

 I can assure you that the abolition of the Provincial Council curse and its umbilical code, the Rajiv/JR Accord will not be second to liberating the country from the LTTE in 2009 and it could be even a bigger achievement of higher historical significance.  It will definitely go down in history as another historic landmark in the Rajapaksa legend.

India also cannot contest the abolition of the JR/Rajiv Accord as it had already been unilaterally broken by India at the very early stages, by not complying with its obligations in the Accord. As such it has ceased to have any legal validity as an international agreement signed between two countries

Finally, I also suggest you seek a mandate from the people at the coming up election for the abolition of these two items and other vital issues like the repealing of the 19th A and revising the electoral system by removing the preferential voting, District representative system, removing the crazy National List and reducing the number of MPP in Parliament to a meaningful level, say about 150, and laying down qualifications for politicians like minimum education, character, assets, and residence within the electorate, etc. so that returning to the democratic practice of electing their representatives and just governance is restored once again in this Island nation.

 1833 The British divided the island into 5 Provinces in 1833 viz N, S.E, W and S6 1845 NWP Kurunegala and Puttalam, 7 1873  NC, 8 UVa  1886 and 9 Sab   1897 the last

By : A.A.M.NIZXAM – MATARA

The imbecile and ignoramus Sirisena assumed power on January 8th, 2015 like a puppet without even knowing what he is going to do and what he has to do. After five years, since the end of the war, the terrorist realized that their dream of establishing an Eelam can never be realized as long as Mr. Mahinda Rahapaksa remained in power and subsequent to the ignominious 2012 UNP/Terrorist Singapore meeting the diaspora came forward to pump any amount of funds to launch a regime change similar to Arab Spring which replaced the rulers in Tunisia, Iraq, Egypt ad Libya. 

Accordingly a grand coalition of the terrorist diaspora, the local white-clothed terrorists, the UNP, the  CIA /M 16 and RAW undertook the task of launching a regime change operation with the blessings of their respective countries and they were joined by NGO vultures as well.  A plethora of diaspora funded outfits calling themselves as civil society organizations amounting to around 49 mushroomed overnight and joined the crusader gang who Misguided myopic Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero who stupidly believed that this evil gang is committed to abolishing the Executive Presidential System wholeheartedly supported but regretted his folly several days before his demise.         

Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe immediately after assuming office took the Central Bank under his purview and appointed Arjun Mahendran, a Singapore national, a Sri Lankan born Tamil who had studied initially at Royal College, Colombo as the Governor of Central Bank.  This appointment was made even without obtaining consent from the President to appoint this individual, a foreigner, to this the most prestigious post. This was the first incident where Ranil Wickremasinghe boldly displayed that he is the omnipotent personality in the government and Sirisena became just a ceremonial and ignoramus puppet who has to dance to Ranil’s tunes.  Also, Ranil Wickremasinghe had a world of his own surrounded by tie-coat clad, English speaking, western servile old Royalists who were aloof to the views and aspirations of the ordinary people of Sri Lanka. 

This Singaporean appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank by Mr. Wickremasinghe became instrumental in making Sri Lanka’s largest-ever financial scam on 7th February 2015, even two months before establishing the Sirisena/Ranil government and this scam caused more than US$ 11 million losses to the nation. This grand robbery had taken place through the direct intervention of Arjun Maendran in the sale of Treasury Bonds on behalf of his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius who was the owner of the Perpetual Treasuries Limited. 

The treasury bond brigand

When the then COPE (Committee investigating malpractices in public Enterprises) Chairman MP DEW Gunasekera, who was also the leader of the Sri Lanka Communist Party was about to present to the Parliament a report highly critical of the bond transaction, Sirisena took a frivolous action to safeguard his patron Ranil and dissolved Parliament nullifying the hard work done by Mr. Gunasekera and called for elections on 17th August 2015.   

Emboldened by the protection provided by Sirisena/Ranil duo for the 1^st Bond scam,

Mahendran /Aloysius couple carried out the second Bond Scam on 29^th and 31^st March 2016. 

In this instance the notorious Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake who earned a reputation as the shark that swallowed the Sathosa establishment assisted Mahendran /Aloysius duo by instructing the State Banks and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to bid low and thereby making them lose the opportunity to buy the Bonds. Initially, the Central Bank (CBSL) advertised for Rs. 1Biillion worth Bonds to be offered but Mahendran asked the CBSL to accept bids up to Rs. 10 Billion. 

Financial Analysts said that the Arjun Mahedran’s decision caused interest rates to increase rapidly, and four months later PTL sold the same bonds to the EPF at a higher price and the

Perpetual Treasuries Limited made over Rs.5 Billion in profits over this controversial bond issue.

Meanwhile, Mr. D.E.W.Gunasrkera in an interview with Hiru news channel said that Arjun

Mahendran in his statement to the COPE Committee disclosed that Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe instructed him on the mechanism to be adopted in the Treasury Bond issues.

When the term of office of Arjun Mahendran ended, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe despite

Mahendran’s involvement in Bond Scams nominated him to be appointed for a second term under his guarantee as to the Central Bank Governor but due to certain friction between Sirisena and Ranil at that time, Sirisena refused to accede to this request and appointed Indrajith

Kumaraswamy as the Governor of the Central Bank.

Arjun Mahendran sensing the dangers existing for him fled the country and Ranil

Wickremasinghe, when questioned about his fleeing from the country, said that he had gone only to attend a family wedding in Singapore. 

The Former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal urged the government to hand over the investigation on Treasury Bonds scams to the CID and conduct an impartial investigation. Cabraal also asked the government to establish several specialized units to look into various aspects of the scams.

Issuing a media statement he said that “From the very beginning, the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration managed to divert the attention and evaded the implementation of the law. This has allowed the real nature of the scam as well as those who are really responsible in it to escape the law.”He has added that the best way to deal with any crime was to conduct a police probe followed by a judicial inquiry. However, the Sirisena/Ranil government established a number of other committees to look into the matter and this has allowed those without any judicial powers to investigate the incident indefinitely and these ‘investigations’ were in fact, ploys to allow culprits to remain free and escape from their crime against the State.

Referring to the recently released Forensic Audit Report related to Bond Scams Mr. Cabral has said that it had been conducted under the supervision of those who were involved in the scams and thus the report was based on false and distorted facts.

It is also pertinent to point out here how Bond Ravi (title attributed to him by Sunday Times) got benefited from this Treasury Bonds robbery.  A report published in Daily Mirror on 24^th July 2017 stated that Aloysius paid Ravi’s penthouse lease rental: The report said that the former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and his family leased out a penthouse at Monarch Residencies in Kollupitiya for the monthly lease rental of Rs.1.45 million being paid by Arjun Aloysius, a key witness revealed at the Presidential Commission of Inqyury (PCoI) proceedings yesterday.

Testifying at the PCoI, Construction Company Director Anika Wijesuriya said she had owned a Penthouse at Monarch Residencies in Kollupitiya which she wanted to rent-out during December, 2015.

In early January, 2016, former finance minister Ravi Karunanayake and his wife Mela had inquired from the witness’ brother about renting the apartment. Later the witness contacted Mrs. Karunanayake and carried out initial negotiations about renting the apartment.

Ms. Wijesuriya had later asked Mrs. Karunanayake to visit the apartment to examine it. It was revealed that during the examination Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. owner Arjun Aloysius had also arrived at the apartment and had assured the witness that he would lease out the apartment.Ms. Wijesuriya said she was aware at the time that Mr. Aloysius would be the lessor while the Karunanayake family would occupy the apartment.

When questioned by the PCoI, the witness said the apartment was leased at a monthly rental of Rs.1.45 million.Ms. Wijesuriya said she entered into a lease agreement with the Company called Walt and Row Pvt Ltd, to which payment was transferred by the Perpetual Capital Holdings Pvt Ltd, to be paid to her.

The witness confirmed that the Karunanayake family occupied the penthouse. This is how the Yahapalana gangsters enjoyed their posh life spending Rs. 1.45 Million per month as rental for their apartments while the ordinary people to whom everything under the sun was promised were struggling unable to feed their children three meals a day. 

It was also reported that MP Ajith P.Perera, a member of the footnote gang related to the 2^nd COPE report too has received a luxury house from Arjun Aloysius.

Another of the footnote gang who is reported to have twice failed G.C.E. A/L first time passed only with 3 S passes and in the 2^nd time with 2 Cpasses and 1 S pass and finally who had bought a doctorate from a certificate awarding outfit in the United States, speaking on the Forensic Audit report of the COPE report has acknowledged the failure on the part of Parliament to check corruption.

The SLPP said that UNP lawmaker Harsha de Silva couldn’t absolve himself of the responsibility for the Treasury Bonds scams, perpetrated between Feb 2015 and March 2016.

The SLPP flayed the big-mouthed UNPer at the weekly regular briefing at its Nelum Mawatha Office. SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris and State Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena commented on a range of issues including the forthcoming Geneva sessions, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s shameless proposal to cohabit with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa following the parliamentary polls in April 2020. How can it become conducive for this Padman to agree with President GR’s policies which he was severely criticized during the election campaign?  They said that President GR has completely discarded Tamil demands which the Padman has pledged to implement with priority.

Referring to media briefing given by MP de Silva at the Opposition Leader’s Office, Kalutara District MP Abeygunawardena alleged that the UNPer made a high profile bid to distance himself from Treasury bond racketeers, in vain. He said that MP de Silva was now singing a different tune and recalled how the Joint Opposition had to plead with TNA leader R. Sampanthan to secure sufficient time to speak in parliament regarding Treasury bond scams et al. The State Minister urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to initiate action to track down as to how Treasury bond thieves spent ill-gotten money. The MP raised the question whether funds were spent on elections.

In addition to above, it was reported that Arjun Aloysius had paid millions of rupees to 118 persons, mostly for UNP MPs to protect him against criticisms and the payment included Rs. 30 Million paid to MP Sujeewa Senasinghe to write a book whitewashing allegations against Aloysius.  Despite many demands made by the Joint Opposition members to investigate this reported payment and disclose the names of recipients of this money and the amounts each of them has received the government completely hushed up the issue.

Let us focus attention on relevant extracts from an editorial comment appeared in the Daily Mirror on 27^th February 2020 which is given below:  The editorial is headlined saying Bond Scam – Debate over: Now Nab the Culprits”

The editorial states that two important events took place last week, one in Parliament and one within the Halls of Justice, which underscored the fact that all are equal before the law. One was the debate on the reports of the forensic audit on the Central Bank bond scams while the other was the unprecedented court ruling in which Colombo High Court Judge Adithya Patabendige sentenced former Homagama district judge Sunil Abeysinghe and his personal security officer(PSO), police constable Mahinda Kithsiri to 16 years rigorous imprisonment.   

The former judge was found guilty of soliciting and accepting a bribe of Rs.300,000 from a woman in 2013 on the undertaking that he would deliver a verdict in her favour while his PSO was found guilty of aiding and abetting in the act of bribery. They were ordered to pay back the bribe money of Rs.300,000 while each of the convicts was also imposed a fine of Rs.20,000 and two more years in prison in case of non-payment of the fine.   

 Prior to passing judgment, High Court Judge Patabendige observed that he had considered the damage done to the judiciary and hoped the severity of the sentence would act as a deterrent to other public servants who might contemplate committing such crimes using whatever means possible to amass filthy lucre by holding to ransom the people they are supposed to serve.   

 Meanwhile, the two-day debate on the forensic audit reports revealed the length and breadth of the Central Bank bond scams mainly with the connivance of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd.owned by Arjun Aloysius during the tenure of Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who was CB governor from 2006 to 2015 under the Mahinda Rajapaksa government and the scams that took place during the tenure of Arjuna Mahendran, who was CB governor from 2015 to 2016 under the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government.   

The participants on behalf of Wickremasinghe government did their best to divert attention from the bond scams by insinuating that the two internationally-reputed companies, which carried out the forensic audit, were not above board and furthermore the reports had no legal basis and as such there was no purpose in holding a parliamentary debate. It appeared to be an attempt to kill the messenger often seen in such cases of unscrupulous financial manipulations.   

The forensic reports taken up for debate were compiled by two leading international audit firms KPMG and BDO and comprised the following:   

• The Issuance of Treasury Bonds during the period January 1, 2002 to February 28, 2015 by the Central Bank’s Public Debt Department (PDD).   
• Primary and secondary market transactions of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) involving Treasury Bonds issued/transacted during the period from January 1, 2002 to February 28, 2015   
• EPF transactions from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2017, in listed and unlisted equities   
• Issuance of Treasury Bonds and remittance of funds received to the General Treasury during the period from February 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016, by the PDD.   
• The conduct of the supervisory and regulatory role by the Superintendent of Public Debt/Director, Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institutions pertaining to selected Primary Dealers from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2017   

The reports revealed that the Government had incurred an estimated loss of some Rs.10.47 billion through direct placements of Treasury Bonds by the Central Bank between January 1, 2015 and February 28, 2015, resulting from 4,504 direct placement transactions which were made by the PDD during this period. Now that the bond scam is over, We hope the government will now not waste any more time in nabbing the culprits involved in this financial crime.   

Violations of securities laws are not victim-less crimes. When insider traders gain windfall stock profits because they have bribed someone to leak confidential business secrets, when prices are manipulated and blocks of stocks secretly accumulated, our confidence in the underlying fairness of the market is shattered. We are all victims.”  (From the prologue of the book titled Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart)   

To be continued…………

ප්‍රවෘත්ති නිවේදනය

රජය තරුණ තරුණියන් රවටන වැඩපිළිවෙලක නියැලෙන බව විපක්ෂ නායක ලෙස කටයුතු කළ සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ඊයේ ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබෙන බවත්, බලයේ සිටියදී උස නම් සිකියුරිටි මිටිනම් කම්කර ලෙස උපාධිධාරි තරුණ තරුණයින් පොලිම් ගස්සවමින් තරුණ ජිවිත පාරට ඇද දැමීමට කටයුතු කළ මෙවැනි නායකයින් රටේ සිටීම ගැන කණගාටු වන බවත්, තරුණ ජීවිත තව තවත් අදුරු කරන්නට කටයුතු නොකරන ලෙස තමන් එතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින බවත්, හිටපු නිවාස පහසුකම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහතා පැවසීය.

රජය තරුණයින්ගේ රැකියා ගැටළු විසදීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙල ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබුවේ මැතිවරණය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන නොවන බව පෙන්වා දුන් ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහතා, මාධ්‍ය ඉදිරියේ අසත්‍ය ප්‍රකාශ නොකර හැකිනම් ප්‍රසිද්ධ විවාදයකට පැමිණෙන ලෙස තමන් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාට අභියෝග කරන බවද එතුමා පැවසීය.  

ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පළකලේ දිවුලපිටිය, මරදගහමුල ප්‍රදේශයේ පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවට අද (06) දින සහභාගී වෙමිණි.

මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ එතුමා රජය තරුණයින් රවටන වැඩ පිළිවෙලක නියැලෙන බවත්, පෙබරවාරි මාසය වන තුරු රජය තරුණ ගැටලු වලට විසදුම් ලබා දීමට සමත් වි නැති බවත් සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ඊයේ ප්‍රකාශ කරලා තියෙනවා. ජනතාවත්, තරුණ පරපුරත් රවටමින් මෙවැනි ප්‍රකාශ නිතුත් කරන නායකයින් රටේ සිටීම ගැන මා කණගාටු වෙනවා.

තරුණයින් බලාපොරොත්තු වූවාට වඩා ඉක්මනින් තරුණ තරුණයින්ට රැකියා ලබා දීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙලක් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් ආරම්භ කළා. දේශපාලන භේදයකින් තොරව උගත්කමට, හැකියාවට අනුව සුදුස්සාට සුදුසු තැන ලබා දෙන වැඩ පිළිවලක් ආරම්භ කළා. උපාධිධාරින්ගේ පත්වීම් ලිපි තැපැල් මගින් නිවසට ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කළා. දැන් පත්විම් ලබා දී අවසන්. එම වැඩපිළිවෙල කඩා කප්පල් කිරීමේ අරමුණින් එතුමා මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්ට, මාධ්‍යයට හා ජනතාවට පිණිවිඩයක් දෙනවා මැතිවරණය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන රැකියා ලබා දෙනවා කියා. ආණ්ඩුව බලයට ආ දින සිට ක්‍රමානුකූලව රැකියා ලබා දිමේ වැඩපිලිවෙල ක්‍රියාත්මක කළා. මෙය මැතිවරණය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ආරම්භ කළ එකක් නොවෙයි.

සජිත් සියඹලා ගස් යට සිටි උපාධිධාරින්ව හෑල්ලුවට ලක් කළා. දේශපාලන සම්බන්ධකම් මත උපාධිධාරීන්ව පොලිම් ගැස්සුවා. උස නම් සිකියුරිටි, මිටිනම් කම්කරු ලෙස තරුණයින්ව අපහාසයට ලක් කලා. එහෙම කරපු තැනැත්තා අද කියනවා තමන් අගමැති වී සතියෙන් රැකියා ලබා දෙනවා කියා. පසුගිය කාලයේ එතුමා අමාත්‍යවරයෙක් ලෙස සිටියදී දී දින 180 ක් යන්නට මත්තෙන් පත්වීම් අහෝසිවෙන ලෙස තරුණයින්ට පත්වීම් ලබා දී තරුණ පරපුර රවටා විශාල පිරිසක් පාරට ඇද දමා ඔවුන්ව අසරණ කළා. රටේ තරුණ තරුණියන් සාප කරන නායකයෙක් බවට එතුමා අද පත්වී සිටිනවා. එතුමාගෙන් රැකියා ලබා ගත් තරුණයින්, එතුමාට ගමට එන්න එපා කියා ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ප්‍රකාශ කර තියෙනවා. 23% අඩු ඡන්ද ලබා ගත් සජිත්ට තම දිස්ත්‍රික්කය පවා වෙනස් කිරීමට සිදුවිම නිසා දැන් මානසික ආතතියෙන් මෙන් කටයුතු කරනවා.

එතුමාගේ පියාණන් වන රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා 88 – 89 කාලයේදී තරුණ කැරළි දරුණු ලෙස මැඩ පවත්වා ඔහුගේ බලය තහවුරු කර ගැනීම සදහා තරුණ ජිවිත දහස් ගණනක් විනාශ කලා. එදා පියා සිදු කළ එම වැඩපිළිවෙල අනුගමනය කරමින්  අද සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා තරුණ ජිවිත සමග සෙල්ලම් කරනවා. පසුගිය කාලයේ සිටි අසාර්ථකම අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස තරුණ තරුණියන් අසරණ කළේ සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා. රාජ්‍ය ආයතන වල සම්පත් විනාශ කළා. තම ප්‍රතිරූපය ඉහළ දමා ගැනීම සදහා රුපියල් බිලියන ගණන් මුදල් වියදම් කර රට පුරා පෝස්ටර් ගසා තිබෙනවා. රූපවාහිනී මාධ්‍ය ආයතන වලට රුපියල් කෝටි ගණන් ණය වී තිබෙනවා. රාජ්‍ය ආයතන විනාශ කිරීමට එතුමා කටයුතු කරලා. එහෙම කරපු එතුමා අද රජයට බොරු චෝදනා කරනවා.

2019 වසරේදී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපතිධූරයට පත්විමත් සමග රටේ තරුණ තරුණියන් පිබිදුනා. තරුණයින්ගේ ශක්තිය එතුමාට ලැබුණා. තරුණයින් පාරට බැහැල චිත්‍ර අදින්න, පරිසරය පිරිසිදුව තබා ගන්න, පුරන් කුඹුරු අස්වද්දන්න වැනි යහපත් වැඩසටහන් ආරම්භ කළා. එතුමාගේ දැක්ම ප්‍රතිපත්තිය තරුණයින් හදුනා ගත්තා. ඒ නිසා තමයි කිසිදු දේශපාලනඥයෙක් ලග පෝලිම් ගසන්නේ නැති රැකියා සංකල්පය තරුණ පරපුර වෙනුවෙන් එතුමා ආරම්භ කළේ. සුදුස්සාට සුදුසු තැන ලබා දෙමින් රැකියා ලබා දී තිබෙනවා. උපාධිධාරීන්ට පත්විම් ලබා දී අවසන්. දැන් තිබෙන්නේ ඔවුන්ගේ රැකියා පුහුණුව ලබා දීම පමණයි.

යූ.එන්.පී ය තරුණ ජීවිත පෝලිම් ගැස්සුවා. තරුණයින් දේශපාලනඥයින්ට කඩේ යන සංස්කෘතිය වෙනස් කළේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා.  සුදුස්සාට සුදුසු තැන ලබා දුන්නේ එතුමා. එම වැඩ පිළිවෙලට බාධා කර තරුණ ජිවිත තව තවත් අදුරට ඇද දමන්න එපා කියා සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. එතුමාට ගැටළුවක් තියෙනවා නම් ඕනෑම මාධ්‍යයක මුහුණට මුහුණ වාද විවාද කරන්නට මා සූදානම්. මම එතුමාට අභියෝග කරනවා තමන් සමග ප්‍රසිද්ධ විවාදයට පැමිණෙන්න කියා. එතුමා පසුගිය කාලයේ කරපු දේවල් රටට හෙළි කරන්න අපි සූදානම්. දේශපාලන වශයෙන් අසරණ වී සිටන එතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ විදුරු ගෙවල් වල සිට ගල් ගසන්න එපා කියා. තම ප්‍රතිරූපය ඉහළ නංවා ගැනීම සදහා අසාර්ථක ලෙස අමාත්‍යාංශය මෙහයවීම නිසා රටට යහපතක් සිදුවූයේ නැහැ. එහෙම කෙනෙකුට පක්ෂ නායකත්වය දෙන්නේ කෙසේද ?

හිතක් පපුවක් ඇති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් අද ජනතාව පෙළ ගැසී සිටිනවා. එතුමාගේ වැඩපිළිවෙලට අභියෝගයක් වෙන්න සජිත්ට හැකියාවක් නැහැ. අප දිගින් දිගටම එතුමා සිදු කළ නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියා රටට හෙළි කරනවා. තව තවත් සමාජයේ දෝශ දර්ශනයට, උපහාසයට ලක් වෙන්න එපා කියා මම එතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. මම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී එතුමාට විවාදයට පැමිණෙන ලෙස අභියෝග කළා. එදා එතුමා පැනලා ගියා. මම නැවත එතුමාට අභියෝග කරනවා තමන් සමග ප්‍රසිද්ධ විවාදයට පැමිණෙන්න කියා.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ දැන් තිබෙන අර්බුදය හමුවේ අපේ රජය 2/3 ක බලය ලබා ගැනීම වලක්වන්න බැහැ. සමගි ජනබලවේගයේ  නායකයින්ට අද ගමට යන්න බැහැ. ඉතින් කොහොමද මැතිවරණය මෙහෙයවන්නෙ. යූ.එම්.පී. ය විනාශ කරල, ජනතාවත් විනාශ කරල ඔවුන් මරාගෙන මැරිල අවසන්. නැවත ප්‍රකෘති තත්වයට ගේන්න කිසිම බලවේගයකට හැකි යැයි මා විශ්වාස කරන්නේ නැහැ. සමගි ජන බලවේගයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට යා හැකි අතලොස්සක් දෙනා අපි සමග රහසිගතව සාකච්චා කරමින් සිටින්නේ 2/3 ක බලයෙන් රජය පිහිටුවන්නට දායක වෙන්න. ඔවුන්ගේ සහයෝගය ලබා දෙන්නෙ සූදානමින් සිටිනවා”  යනුවෙන්ද වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

2020.03.06

Dear Sri Lankan Resident of the United States of America,

The Committee of Sri Lanka America Association of Southern California cordially invites you to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival, which will be held on Saturday, April 11, 2020, from 9 am to 7 pm at Woodley Park, 6350 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys, CA 91436.

The festival is featured with the following activities and offers everyone a glimpse of the exotic Sri Lankan Tradition, Culture, Food and Heritage.

The Committee has invited over 10 Vendors to keep the visitors happy and enjoy throughout the daylong event with the Sri Lankan authentic foods such as Hoppers, String Hoppers, Kotthu Roti, Poll Rotti, Rice & Curry, Fried Rice with Devilled Chicken, Chicken Biryani, Fish Biryani, Cutlets, Rolls, Petties, Vegetable Rotti, Ceylon Tea, Ice Coffee, Ice Cream, Traditional Sweets, fashion clothes and accessories.

Once again Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation will do the coverage of this event and telecast nationwide.

This invitation is extended to your family as well as friends.

Your presence will grace the occasion.

Let’s celebrate the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival with the spirit.    

Sincerely,

Shanmuganathan Vaithilingam [Shan]
Secretary
Sri Lanka America Association of Southern California.
Cell: [213] 399 8964

Jessica Cummins Courtesy Proactive Investors Australia

An upgraded mineral resource estimate will be finalised once the mineralogical studies underway have been completed.

Panning of samples from below the water table with the dark material being heavy minerals

Titanium Sands Ltd (ASX:TSL) has received all RC aircore assay results drilled in late 2019 at Mannar Island Heavy Minerals Sands Project in northwest Sri Lanka that confirm extensive depth resource potential.

All 473 holes indicate that the current shallow surface-exposed resource of 90.03 million tonnes at 6.60% total heavy minerals (THM) is underlain by large areas of deeper mineralisation.

While the results indicate the deeper mineralisation is likely, at least in part, to have lower grades than the shallow surface resource, it is laterally extensive and typically extends down to at least 5 to 12 metres below surface, under the surface resource.

Mineralogical analysis of the RC aircore samples is underway in preparation for a revised mineral resource estimate for the Mannar Island project.

Major depth potential”

Managing director James Searle said: The complete RC aircore results again demonstrate the major depth potential to substantially increase the previously reported surface-exposed mineralisation on the Mannar Island project.”

Shares have risen almost 7% today to 6.3 cents, a new 6-year high, and up from 3.1 cents on February 26.

The program was designed to test for below water table depth extension of the surface exposed mineral resource to a nominal depth of 12 metres.

Sampling of the RC aircore drill holes every metre was undertaken from surface down to a depth where water recovery with the sample was judged to potentially compromise the accuracy of the sample.

Location of the RC aircore drill holes

Potential to enhance resource

Typically, this occurred at depths of around 8 to 11 metres below surface, however, visual logging of material from the drill holes was carried from surface to the nominal 12 metres target depth.

Visual logging indicated that almost all holes contained significant concentrations of heavy minerals all the way to the target depth of 12 metres.

A further drill program utilising Sonic Core Drilling capable of sampling in water-prone materials is likely to provide accurate samples below the 8 to 11 metres achieved by the RC aircore drilling.

This could provide TSL with the potential to further enhance the resource.

Cross-section A-B showing RC drilling results beneath the existing mineral resource of Domain 1

Quick facts: Titanium Sands Ltd

Price: 0.062 AUDASX:TSL

Market: ASX

Market Cap: $30.21 m

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30. Sep11. Nov9. Dec3. Feb2. Mar0.020.040.060.08010MZoom1m3m6m1yFromSep 6, 2019ToMar 6, 2020Highcharts.comMonday, Dec 16, 2019● Share price: 0.019● Volume: 52 631View company profile

Courtesy The Daily News

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that the directive by the Elections Commission to stop the training programme for graduate recruits to the government service was wrong.

Speaking to Newspaper Editors and electronic media heads at the Presidential Secretariat he said that they would be writing to the Commission soon explaining about it. I don’t understand why a training program should stop. Their appointment letters had been posted. It’s a training program given for the government recruits. I don’t understand why it should stop. The appointments were not political and they were not chosen on political criteria,” he said.

The President said that there should be a basis for what the Elections Commission had done. I don’t see any basis for it and we would be writing to them stating our position,” President Rajapaksa said.

When asked about the upcoming general election and as to why the government was seeking a two thirds mandate, the President said that there were many obstacles created in the form of constitutional amendments brought during the previous regime that hinders delivering promises given to the people. He said that a two thirds majority was needed to change such constitutional obstacles and fulfill the mandate given at the Presidential election.

He said there should be separation of powers between the different branches of the state for smooth governance and the powers of the executive and the legislative should not overlap with each other. When that happens it is difficult to govern and those who were instrumental in bringing these constitutional provisions too later realized it,” he said.

He questioned certain provisions in the 19th Amendment and asked whether the commissions created by the 19th Amendment were actually independent.

We could see that in the way some members of the elections commission acted during the last election. One member was writing his opinions in the newspapers,” he said.

He questioned the reason to have an in Independent Police Commission which in itself was politically appointed. How can a commission that is appointed politically be more independent than the IGP who himself has about 30-35 years of service in the department,” he asked.

Speaking about the government’s withdrawal from the co-sponsorship of the Geneva Resolution, President Rajapaksa said that it was done due the violation of the country’s sovereignty through that and the Western countries too would realize it. He said even the United States completely withdrew from the UNHRC calling it a cesspit.

When asked about the progress of investigations into the Easter Sunday attack, President Rajapaksa said that it was progressing well. He said that there was a commission appointed by the Previous President inquiring into it at the time he assumed duties. He said that He asked the Cardinal whether he was satisfied with it and whether any changes were needed to it. The President said that the Cardinal had been satisfied by the progress made by it and had not suggested any changes. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that apart from the investigations, they had taken stringent steps to enhance security and curtail extremist activities, thus ensuring security to all. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar in Colombo today (06) issued an arrest warrant on Pearl K. Weerasinghe, the Secretary of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate alleged incidents of political victimization.

The judge-bench comprising  Justices Vikum Kaluarachchi, Dhammika Ganepola, and Aditya Patabendige issued the warrant for police to immediately arrest and produce her before the court, for ignoring the notice issued by the same court ordering her to appear before it.

The court also barred her from leaving the country, Ada Derana reporter said.

The court issued this order when the case filed against Samarappulige Niraj Roshan alias ‘Ali Roshan’ and seven others over the alleged illegal possession of five elephants, was taken up for hearing today (6).

The Attorney General had then filed 27 charges against ‘Ali Roshan’ and six other defendants under the Offences against Public Property Act, with regard to the possession of five elephants without licenses and racketeering.

Based on a complaint filed by the defendants of this case, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to probe alleged incidents of political victimization had commenced an investigation into this case and had taken the relevant documents into its custody.

However, the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar had issued a notice on the Secretary to the commission to present the documents before the court.

The Secretary to the commission had reportedly failed to appear before the court today while the judge bench deemed this contempt of court and issued a warrant for her arrest. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today issued warrants for the arrest of former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and 9 others over the Central Bank bond auctions of March 2016.

The Attorney General on Tuesday directed the Acting IGP to obtain arrest warrants against several suspects in the Central Bank bond scam case including the former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, former Governor of the Central Bank Arjuna Mahendran, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) owner Arjun Aloysius, CEO Kasun Palisena, former Director of the Public Debt Department of the Central Bank T.H.B. Sarathchandra and several others on charges of conspiracy, criminal misappropriation, cheating and market manipulation in respect of the bond auctions of March 2016.

In his letter to Acting IGP C.D. Wickramaratne, the Attorney General Dappula De Livera had states that there is reasonable suspicion against the following individuals with regard to the criminal wrongdoings which had occurred during the treasury bond issuances on March 29 and March 31, 2016 and that they could be considered as suspects:
 
1. Perpetual Treasuries Limited 
2. Sandesh Ravindra Karunanayake
3. Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran
4. Arjun Joseph Aloysius
5. Palisena Appuhamilage Don Kasun Oshada Palisena
6. Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius 
7. Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle
8. Muthuraja Surendran 
9. Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa
10. Thuyya Handiyage Buddhika Sarathchandra
11. Sangarapillai Pathumanapan
12. Badugoda Hewa Indika Saman Kumara
 
The AG had instructs the Acting IGP to name the aforementioned individuals as suspects with the regard to the investigations, record statement from them and report information to the court naming them as suspects.

The AG further instructed to forward copies of their statements to him without delay and to carry out further investigations if necessary regarding the information uncovered from the statements.

He urged the police to report to the relevant magistrate’s court on the charges against them and to obtain warrants for their arrests.

On Wednesday, the Fort Magistrate stated that the decision on whether or not to issue arrest warrants on the accused would be announced today and imposed an overseas travel ban on the suspects.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයට භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ ඉදිරිපත්වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ස්ථාන කිහිපයකදී මෙලෙස අදහස් පළ වුණා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

අද (06) දිනයේ සිට ඉදිරි මාස 03ක කාලය සඳහා මැතිවරණ වියදම් ඇතුළුව රජයේ වියදම් පියවා ගැනීමට භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම්වරයාට බලය පවරමින් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් අධිකාරි බලපත්‍රය නිකුත් කර තිබෙනවා.

ඒ ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් පැවරී ඇති බලතල ප්‍රකාරවයි. <br /><br />රජය විසින් ගෙවීමට ඇති හිඟ බිල්පත් හා අනිකුත් ප්‍රමුඛතාවන්ට වියදම් කිරීමට ඒ අනුව අමාත්‍යාංශවලට හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

හිටපු අමාත්‍ය රිෂාඩ් බදියුදීන්ට එරෙහිව තමන් සිදුකළ පැමිණිල්ල තවමත් විමර්ශනය කර නොමැති බවට උතුරේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව නම් සංවිධානයේ ලේකම් රාසික් මොහොමඩ් කාදර් ඛාන් අල්ලස් හෝ දූෂණ විමර්ශන කොමිසමට චෝදනා කරනවා.

ඔහු පවසන්නේ තමන් හිටපු අමාත්‍යවරයාට විරුද්ධව පැමිණිල්ල සිදුකර අදට වසර 5ක් ගතව ඇති බවයි.

උතුරේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව සංවිධානයේ ලේකම් රාසික් මොහොමඩ් කාදර් ඛාන් මහතා අද අල්ලස් හෝ දුෂණ විමර්ශන කොමිසමට පැමිණ තමන් සිදුකළ පැමිණිල්ල පිළිබඳව විමසනු ලැබුවා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

කොච්චිකඩේ ශාන්ත අන්තෝනි දේවස්ථානයට බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල කළ සැකකරුගේ සහ ඔහුගේ බිරිඳගේ දුරකථන අධිකරණ නියෝගයකින් තොරව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ හිටපු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ශානි අබේසේකර විසින් ඇමරිකාවේ එෆ්.බී.අයි. ආයතනයට සහ ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ෆෙඩරල් පොලිසියට භාරදී ඇති බවට අද අනාවරණ වුණා.

ඒ, අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ විශේෂ අංශයේ ස්ථානාධිපති ප්‍රධාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක ලලිත දිසානායක මහතා පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳ සොයන ජනපති විමර්ශන කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්ෂි ලබාදීමේදී.

පාස්කු ප්‍රාහාරය පිළිබද සොයා බලන ජනාධිපති විමර්ශන කොමිෂන් සභාව හමුවේ අද සාක්ෂි ලබා දුන්නේ අපරාධ පරික්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ විශේෂ අංශයේ ස්ථානාධිපති ප්‍රධාන පොලිස් පරික්ෂක ලලිත දිසානායක මහතායි.

සාක්ෂි විමසීම ආරම්භ කරමින් රජයේ අධිනීතීඥවරයා විමසා සිටියේ පාස්කු ඉරිදා ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබට ප්‍රධාන විමර්ශනයක් භාර දුන්නේද යන්නයි ?

ඊට පිලිතුරු ලබා දෙමින් ප්‍රධාන පොලිස් පරික්ෂක ලලිත දිසානායක මහතා සදහන් කළේ තම ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිළධාරියා වන වී.එස් තිසේරා මහතාගේ උපදෙස් මත කොච්චිකඩේ ශාන්ත අන්තෝනී දේවස්ථානයේ බෝම්බ පිපිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමර්ශනයක් සිදු කිරීමට එම ස්ථානයට ගිය බවයි.

කොමිසම ප්‍රශ්න කර සිටියේ වවුනතිව්වලදී පොලිස් නිළධාරින් සිව් දෙනෙකු ඝාතනය කිරීම සමබන්ධයෙන් සැක සහිත පුද්ගලයින් බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයට සමබ්න්ධ වී ඇද්ද යන්නයි ?

ඊට පිළිතුරු දුන් ප්‍රධාන පොලිස් පරික්ෂකවරයා සදහන් කලේ සැකකරුවන් සිව් දෙනාගෙන් දෙදෙනෙකු බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ වී ඇති බවට විමර්ශනවලදී අණාවරණ වූ බවයි.

කොච්චිකඩේ දේවස්ථානයේ බෝම්බකරුගේ සහ ඔහුගේ බිරිදගේ දුරකතන විමර්ශන සදහා පොලිස් භාරයට ගැනීමට හැකිවූ බවත් අදාල දුරකතන 2019 මැයි මස 08 වැනිදා ඇමරිකාවේ ත්‍ඊෂ ආයතනයට සහ ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ෆෙඩරල් පොලිසියට භාර දෙන ලෙස අපරාධ පරික්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ හිටපු අධ්‍යක්ෂ ශානි අබේසේකර නියෝග කල බවත් සාක්ෂි ලබා දීමේදී ප්‍රධාන පොලිස් පරික්ෂක ලලිත දිසානායක මහතා අණාවරණ කළා.

ඒ හේතුවෙන් සාක්ෂි විනාශ වීමට ද ඉඩ ඇති බවත් අදාල සාක්ෂි ඇමරිකාවට සහ ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවට ලබා දී ඇත්තේ ශානි අබේසේකරගේ උපදෙස් මතම පමණක් බවත් අධිකරණ නියෝගයකින් තොරව එයි සිදුව ඇති බවත් ලලිත දිසානායක මහතා සාක්ෂි ලබා දෙමින් කොමිසම හමුවේදී හෙළි කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි මැතිවරණය හා වත්මන් දේශපාලන තත්ත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් විවිධ පාර්ශ්වයන් අදහස් පළකළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මේ දින වල රටතුළ මතුව ඇති ගැටලු සහ තමා පිළිබඳ පැතිර යන කට කතා සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිටපු ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා අදහස් පළ කළා.

ඒ ලංකාපුර කාන්තා තරුණ ගොවි සම්මේලණය අමතමින්

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

දේශපාලන හිතවතුන්ට තනතුරු දීමට රාජ්‍ය ආයතන භාවිත කළ යුගය වෙනස් කිරීමට හැකි වූ බව ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

පෞද්ගලික ආයතන ශක්තිමත් කර ලාභ ලබන තත්ත්වයට පත් කළ අත්දැකීම් බහුල පිරිසක් වර්තමානයේ කිසිදු වරප්‍රසාදයක් නොමැතිව රාජ්‍ය ආයතන නගා සිටුවීමට තමන් සමග එක්ව සිටින බවයි ජනාධිපතිවරයා කියා සිටියේ.

රාජ්‍ය ආයතන කිහිපයකට අලූතින් පත් කෙරුණු සභාපතිවරුන් සහ අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩල සාමාජිකයන් සමග අද දහවල් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේදී පැවති හමුවකදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දක්වා සිටියා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

බැඳුම්කර වංචාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා ලැබ සිටින හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රවී කරුණානායක, හිටපු මහබැංකු අධිපති අර්ජුන් මහේන්ද්‍රන්, අර්ජුන් ඇලෝසියස් ඇතුළු සැකකරුවන් 10 දෙනෙකු අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස කොටුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය අද පස්වරුවේ වරෙන්තු නිකුත් කළා.

ඒ නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව අධිකරණය හමුවේ දැක්වූ කරුණු සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින්.

මෙම නඩුවේ පළමු සැකකරුවෙකු ලෙස නම් කර ඇති පර්පෙචුවල් ටෙ‍්‍රෂරීස් සමාගමට ලබන 18 වනදා අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටින ලෙස සිතාසි නිකුත් කිරීමට ද කොළඹ කොටුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත් රංග දිසානායක නියෝග කළා.

එමෙන්ම, නඩුවේ 10 වන සැකකරු ලෙස නම් කර තිබූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහබැංකුවේ රාජ්‍ය ණය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධිකාරි බුද්ධික සරත් චන්ද්‍රට එරෙහිව නඩුව පවත්වාගෙන යාමට ප්‍රමාණවත් සාක්ෂි නොමැති වීම හේතුවෙන් ඔහුට වරෙන්තු හෝ සිතාසි නිකුත් කිරීමක් සිදුවූයේ නැහැ.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රවී කරුණානායක ඇතුළු 10 දෙනාට වරෙන්තු නිකුත් කිරීමේදී නීතිපතිවරයා විසින් ගොනුකළ පැමිණිල්ලේ කරුණු වලට අනුව නඩුකරයක් පවත්වාගෙන යාමට තරම්, සාක්ෂි පවතින බවට අධිකරණය තීන්දු කළා.

ඒ අනුව, සක්‍රිය ලෙස පර්පෙචුවල් ටෙ‍්‍රෂරීස් සමාගමට අයුතු ලාභයක් ලබාදීම සඳහා සැකකරුවන් බැඳුම්කර වෙන්දේසියේදී කටයුතු කළ බවට ප්‍රමාණවත් සාක්ෂි පවතින බවයි මෙහිදී මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා සඳහන් කළේ.

2016 වසරේ මාර්තු 29 සහ 31 යන දෙදින තුල සිදුවූ බව කියන බැඳුම්කර වංචාවට අදාළව හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රවී කරුණානායක, පර්පෙචුවෙල් ටෙ‍්‍රෂරීස් සමාගමේ හිමිකරු අර්ජුන් ඇලෝසියස්, එහි ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී කසුන් පලිසේන ඇතුලූ 11 දෙනෙකු වරෙන්තු ලබාගෙන අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නැයි නීතිපතිවරයා පසුගියදා වැඩබලන පොලිස්පතිවරයාට උපදෙස් ලබාදී තිබුණා.

ඒ අනුව, මීට පෙර සැකකරුවන්ට විදේශ ගමන් තහනමක් ද පනවනු ලැබුවා. මේ අතර, අද උදෑසන නඩුව කැඳවූ අවස්ථාවේදී නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ සොලිස්ටර් ජෙනරාල් හරිප්‍රියා ජයසුන්දරට මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා ප්‍රශ්ණාවලියක් ලබාදුන්නේ අධිකරණයට කරුණු කිහිපයක් තහවුරු කරගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය බව පවසමින්.

ඒ අනුව, එම ප්‍රශ්ණාවලියට පස්වරුවේ ලිඛිතව පිලිතුරු සපයන ලෙස කොටුව – මහේස්ත්‍රාත් රංග දිසානායක නීතිපතිවරයාට නියෝග කලා.

පිළිතුරු අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කල පසුවයි බැඳුම්කර වංචාවට අදාළව හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රවී කරුණානායක, හිටපු මහබැංකු අධිපති අර්ජුන් මහේන්ද්‍රන්, පර්පෙචුවෙල් ටෙ‍්‍රෂරීස් සමාගමේ හිමිකරු අර්ජුන් ඇලෝසියස්, එහි ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී කසුන් පලිසේන ඇතුලූ 10 දෙනෙකුට වරෙන්තු නිකුත් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන තීන්දුව ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කෙරුණේ.  

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

Sometimes we need to call a spade a spade.  Sirisena is a political Bastard.

Any associations with Sirisena is fraught with danger. His future political moves have been explained by Sirisena himself in public.  Though he is claiming to work hard to give 2/3rd majority to President Gotabaya, he hates all Rajapaksa’s. During the recently concluded Presidential Election, Sirisena worked behind the scene to support Sajith Premadasa, pretending that he was remaining neutral during the period of the election.

During the upcoming election, massive protests are planned against Sirisena.  To bring Sirisena to the same stage with Rajapakse’s could cause voter anger against SLPP.

The Leadership of SLPP must decide to prevent Sirisena from obtaining nominations from SLPP, even if it will bring an end to the so-called Alliance with SLFP.  Most former MPs, except 4, will join the Rajapakse team if SLPP gives the nod.

ඇම් ඩී පී දිසානායක විසිනි

සිරිසේන දේශපාලන දුෂ්ඨයෙකි. ලැජ්ජා නැතිකම මහමුදලි කමටත් වඩා ලොකු යන කියමන මෙම අම්බරුවාට ඉතා හොඳින් ගෑලපේ.

මීට පෙර කුමන්තර සිතුවිලි සිතතුල තබාගෙන කිරියාත්මක කල අතර,  දැන් මදාවියෙකු ලෙස වහසිබස් දොඩවමින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් තැනකට එන්න බලයි.

මොහු පොහොට්ටු වේදිකාවට ආචොත් දරුණු විරෝධතාවන් ඇතිවේ. එමනිසා සිරිසේන පිංගුත්තරයාව පිටුදකින ලෙස නායකත්වයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ

උපාධියක් ලැබුවෙක් එය ලබන්නේ සිය ජිවිත කාලයම උපාධිය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන සිදුකරන කැපකිරීම නිසාය. එය බරපතල කාර්යභාරයකි. උපාධිය ලබාගත් ඔවුන්ට ඊට සරිලන රැකියාවක් ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි සමාජයක් ඇත්නම්, ඒ සමාජය යනු උපාධිදාරියෙකුට සරිලන සමාජයක් නොවේ. එය උපාධිදාරීන් ඝාතනය කරන සමාජයකට සමානය. යම් හෙයකින් උපාධිදාරියෙක් ගොඩනැගිලි කම්කරුවෙක් ලෙස රජයේ ගොඩනැගිලි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සේවය කරන්නේ නම් තත්වය කොතරම් බරපතලයි දැයි, ඔබම සිතා බලන්න. මෙවැනි තත්වයන් මේ රටතුල නිතරම සිදුවේ. දක්නට ලැබේ. බොහෝවිට එවැනි තත්වයකට පත්වූ උපාධිදාරින්ට එම සේවාස්තානයේ සිටින ඉහල තනතුරු දරන නිලධාරින් තමන්ට හැකි උපරිමයෙන් ඔවුන් කම්කරු තනතුර දැරුවද  යම් යම් ලිපිකරුවන්ගේ කටයුතු ඔවුන්ට පවරාදී, දැක්මෙන් ඔවුන් ඉහල තනතුරක් දරන්නන්ගේ තත්වයට පත් කරයි. මෙය මා දැක ඇති සත්‍ය කතාන්දරයකි.

එවැනි ගෞරවනීය මිනිසුන්ට නිගාදෙන ක්‍රියාවක් වර්තමාන මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්තුමා සිදුකොට ඇත. තම උපාධියට සරිලන රැකියාවක් උරුමව නොසිටි උපාධිදාරින්ට තම මැතිවරණ පොරොන්දුවට අනුව ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ලබාදුන් රැකියාවන්  දෙමසක කාලයකට නවතා දැමීම තුලින් මිනිසෙක් වශයෙන් මොහුතුල ඇති මුග්ධභාවය කොතරම්දැයි මුළු සමාජයටම වටහා ගත හැකි. මේ තත්වයට මුහුණ දුන් උපාධිදාරීන්ගේ සිත් තුල පැනනගින වේදනාව කොතරම්දැයි අපිට වටහා ගැනීමට තරම් බුද්ධියක් තිබේ. නමුත් පටු දේශපාලන අරමුණු සහිත සමහර උසස් නිලධාරින් තම පදවිය අවභාවිතා කරමින් මෙවැනි පහත් වැඩ කිරීම අපි මේ සමාජය තුල අත්දැක ඇත.

මේ මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්තුමා සිදුකර ඇත්තේ කුමක්ද? උපාධිදාරීන් 50,000කට අයත් මාස දෙකක කාලයක් විනාශ කර දැමීමයි. මෙවැනි කටයුත්තක් නඩුකාරයෙකුට මිස රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරියෙකුට කිරීමට කොහෙත්ම අවසර නැත. මෙය බරපතල මානව හිමිකම් කඩකිරිමකි. උපාධිදාරීන් 50,000කට අයත් දින 60ක කාලයක් මේ මිනිසා විනාශ කර දැමීමට තීරණය කර ඇත. එය තවත් ආකාරයකින් කතාකරනවා නම්. උපාධිදාරී දින 3,000,000ක සේවය මේ රටට අහිමිකර ඇත. මේ සිද්ධියම මේ මිනිහා මේ තනතුරට නුසුදුසු බව මනාවට ඔප්පු කර පෙන්වයි. මැතිවරණයක් හේතුකොටගෙන උපාධිදාරී දින මිලියන 3ක්  විනාශ කිරීමට මේ මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්තුමාට අවසර ඇති සමාජයක ජීවත්වීමට ලැබීමත් මහා පාප කර්මයක් බව කිව යුතුමය. මිනිහෙක් ජිවත් වෙන්නේ දින 30,000නම් උපාධියක් ලබන්නේ, වයස 25දී නම් ඔහු උපාධිදාරියෙක් වශයෙන් ගත කරන කාලය වන්නේ, ආසන්න වශයෙන් දින 20,000කි. මේ මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්වරයා විනාශකරන උපාධිදාරී දින මිලියන 3න තුල දින 20,000යේ ඒවා 150ක්, ඇත. ඉන් අදහස්වන්නේ මේ මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්වරයා අමු අමුවේම උපාධිදාරීන් 150ක් ඝාතනය කරන බවයි. මෙවන් මහා ඝාතනයක් සිදුකිරීමට මේ මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්වරයාට ඉඩ දෙන්නේ නම් එය ජාතිය විශාලම අභාග්‍යයි. වහා වහාම එයට එරෙහිව නැගී සිටිමු. එය ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයෙන් නොව බුද්ධිමය සටනක් විය යුතුය. මෙවැනි කාලකන්නින්ගෙන් රටත් ජාතියත් බේරා ගනිමු.

ප්‍රවෘත්ති නිවේදනයයි තාක්ෂණ හා නවොත්පාදන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

උසස් අධ්‍යාපන, තාක්ෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන අමාත්‍යාංශය (MHETI) සහ  තාක්ෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය (SMTI) විසින් එම අමාත්‍යාංශ යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක රාජ්‍ය පර්යේෂණ ආයතන (GRI), විශ්වවිද්‍යාල සහ පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ සහයෝගීතාවෙන් සංවිධාන කරන  INNOTECH 2020  – තාක්ෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන ජාතික  ප්‍රදර්ශනය  මාර්තු මස 11 වන දින සිට 14 වන දින දක්වා හෝමාගම, පිටිපන අධි තාක්ෂණ හා නවෝත්පාදන නගර පරිශ්‍රයේ  දී පැවැත්වේ.

සමාජයේ සියලු ස්තරයන්හි විද්‍යා හා තාක්ෂණ සාක්‍ෂරතාව ප්‍රවර්ධනය කරවීමත්, අමාත්‍යංශය යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන රාජ්‍ය පර්යේෂණ ආයතනයන්හි සහ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලන්හි පර්යේෂණ හා සංවර්ධන අංශවල පර්යේෂණ හරහා බිහිවන නව දැනුම සහ සොයාගැනීම් ප්‍රදර්ශනය කිරීමත්  යන ප්‍රමුඛ  පරමාර්ථයෙන්   INNOTECH 2020” ප්‍රදර්ශනය පැවැත්වේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිනිති තාක්ෂණ ආයතනය, NSBM හරිත සරසවිය, ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයීය තාක්ෂණ පීඨය, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජාතික පාසල සහ මිනුම් ඒකක, ප්‍රමිති හා සේවා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව යන පරිශ්‍රවල දී පැවැත්වෙන ප්‍රදර්ශනය අධ්‍යාපනික කලාපය,  නවෝත්පාදන කලාපය සහ පර්යේෂණ හා සංවර්ධන කලාපය  ලෙස ප්‍රධාන කලාප තුනකින් සමන්විත වේ.පර්යේෂණ ආයතන සහ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයන්හි පර්යේෂණ වල ප්‍රතිඵල ලෙස බිහි වූ නිෂ්පාදන, මුලාකෘති සහ නව නිපැයුම්, ස්වාධීන නව නිපයුම් කරුවන්ගේ  නව නිපැයුම්, ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ සහ පොලිසියේ නව නිපැයුම් සහ ප්‍රදර්ශන භාණ්ඩ, අධ්‍යාපනික විනෝදාස්වාදාත්මක ක්‍රියාකාරකම් (ගණිත විද්‍යාගාරය, අධ්‍යාපනික ක්‍රිඩා ආදිය),  නවීන සහ නැගී එන තාක්ෂණයන් පිළිබඳ දැනුම, නිර්මාණ සහ ප්‍රදර්ශනාත්මක ක්‍රියාකාරකම්  (සුර්ය බල ශක්ති භාවිතය, 5G & IOT, ස්නායු තාක්ෂණය, ඩ්‍රෝන යන්ත්‍ර භාවිතය ආදිය)  ජංගම ග්‍රහලෝකාගාරය, රාත්‍රි අහස නිරීක්ෂණ කඳවුරු,, ජල රොකට් ප්‍රදර්ශනය, NSBM ශිෂ්‍යයින්ගේ ප්‍රදර්ශන භාණ්ඩ, STEM සහ වෙනත් අදාළ ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් පිළිබඳ දැනුම වර්ධනය සඳහා දැනුවත් කිරීමේ උපාංග, විනෝදාස්වාදාත්මක ක්‍රියාකාරකම් (සුනඛ සංදර්ශන, තුරඟ සංදර්ශන, වීදි නාට්‍ය, සංගිත සහ සංස්කෘතික සංදර්ශන) ආදී පුළුල් පරාසයක ප්‍රදර්ශන අංග INNOTECH 2020 ට ඇතුළත් වේ.

ප්‍රදර්ශනය පැවැත්වෙන දින හතර පුරා පෙ.ව. 9.00 සිට ප.ව.10.00 දක්වා එය විවෘතව තැබෙන අතර ඇතුළත්වීමට කිසිදු මුදලක් අය නොකෙරේ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

තාක්ෂණ හා නවොත්පාදන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

Sangkallpa

ALI SUKHANVER

Right to information or freedom of expression, if suppressed, simply demolishes the whole structure of a society. If a society is filled with all lively activities including business, trade, politics, arts, and sports, it means it is a flourishing society. When we analyze the society of Pakistan particularly in present days, we find all these elements at their best which reflect the liveliness, sparkle, and vigour of the whole nation. Just to blame and defame Pakistan, it is a routine practice rather a tradition of the hostile forces to make hue and cry that there is no freedom of expression in Pakistan. Particularly for the last few months, there has been a notable rise in the propaganda move against Pakistan with reference to the media freedom. Different mouthpieces are doing all their best to vomit out their dirt-inside against Pakistan’s political government, Pakistan’s Armed forces and even against Pakistan’s Foreign policy; their only purpose is to please their pay-masters.

Just to make the already present media norms more effective the government of Pakistan has decided to introduce a new law comprising of a code of conduct for print, electronic and social media. Pakistan Media Regularity Authority (PEMRA) is busy giving the final shape to the rules and regulations in this context. Apprehending the expected check and balance on media, the ‘well-wishers’ have started expressing their unease and agony. Recently some ‘unknown’ type of writer penned down an article in some ‘unknown’ type of newspaper in which he blamed that the expected code of conduct for media would simply be misused as a tool against the mainstream media.  With the help of this new Code of Conduct, the PEMRA would simply threaten, browbeat and gag the voices ready to explode against the alleged ‘ineligibility’ of Imran Khan’s government. The writer has expressed his fear that the new law in the making would push offline or prosecute media for non­ compliance with strict “codes of conduct” in the context of the fifth-generation warfare. It is also blamed in the article that the government of Pakistan has banned all the news regarding the anguish of the near and dear ones of “missing” or “disappeared”   persons.  In short, the above-mentioned article is simply a misguiding piece of writing.

The actual situation is altogether different. There is no ban on any news item in Pakistan; media persons are free to say whatever they want to say in their writings and in their TV programs. However, the PEMRA never allows any of the media men to spread hatred against the ideology of Pakistan. No country all over the world allows anyone to spread hatred against its own existence; it is a common practice. In the name of liberty and freedom of expression no country ever permits anyone to dig up its roots; the same does Pakistan.

The freedom of media, the liberty of expression could be estimated by the financial prosperity of the media houses which are running different TV channels and newspapers. Media has become a very lucrative industry in Pakistan. People invest in this industry and then their investments are multiplied many times. If the media were not free in Pakistan, this progress could never have taken place. The basic difference between the days gone and the present time is that of the philosophy. Just ten or fifteen years back media houses were not run in a businesslike manner as they are being run today. Moreover, it is the basic right of media house owners to take steps necessary for the survival and progress of their business. They would say what people desire to hear; if people do not want to hear anything which could be harmful to the country; the media houses would never say that. However, the proposed Code of Conduct for media would simply regularize and channelize the things. Ultimately in media, there would remain no place for those whose real business is to spread bogus news and to bring a bad name to Pakistan. And this is the basic target of the proposed Code of Conduct.

By Hassina Leelarathna

Aeshea Jayasinghe (right) and Naseema Qureshi at the Sri Lanka Independence Day celebration in Los Angeles: Church of Scientology International 

In a message published in the Sri Lanka America Association of Southern California’s (SLAASC) souvenir to mark its Independence Day 2020 celebration, the association’s President claimed his group was back in the saddle, in organising the signature event”.

Well, not quite, as evidenced by a press release issued 19 February by the Church of Scientology.

In fact, all signs are that SLAASC, among the oldest Sri Lankan expat community groups in the US, is the latest outpost to capitulate to the mighty Church of Scientology.

In good ole cowboy style, SLAASC bartered bragging rights to the church in exchange for free use of one of its facilities and to Scientology’s leading advocates Dr. Walter Jayasinghe and wife Aesha for a cash donation of $ 7,000.

In the press release dated 19 February, the Church of Scientology International makes no mention of SLAASC, headlining the event as one where ‘The Southern California Sri Lankan community gathered at the Church of Scientology of the Valley to celebrate their freedom from English rule’.

In addition, and most importantly, the Church, represented by Way to Happiness Ambassador to South Asia Naseema Qureshi, and the Jayasinghes, got a captive audience at Sri Lanka Independence Day where it ran a 30-minute long video highlighting its work in Sri Lanka.

While the showing of the video to the largely Sinhala Buddhist audience, including monks from the local temples, was indicative of Scientology’s influence in the expatriate community, its contents provide  troubling details on the wide swath it has cut into the highest echelons of Sri Lankan Government including the President’s Office (under President Sirisena).  The Church boasts it has made inroads into various branches of Government in Sri Lanka and the Buddhist communities.

Today, The Way to Happiness is widely used in schools and Government institutions across all of Sri Lanka,” says Qureshi.

The Scientology video flashes photos of the infamous LTTE/Channel 4 propaganda picture of a blindfolded man allegedly being executed by the SL military during the 30-year civil war and ‘insurgency’. It goes on to declare that there’s rampant religious tension” in the country with 56% of districts in Sri Lanka reporting religious discrimination”. 

Qureshi then teams up with an advisor” from former President Sirisena’s Office, Dr. Samantha Kumara, and presents several Way to Happiness seminars for hundreds of Sri Lankan Police, Air Force, Army, and Navy personnel with the stated aim of providing them with a workable solution” to deal with conflicts.

For the first time, people were reaching out to the Police to teach and educate them on looking after themselves and their families,” Qureshi asserts showing pictures of uniformed Police and Army personnel on the streets and getting on and off buses distributing Scientology’s Way to Happiness. Thanks to the Scientology hand-outs, the Sri Lankan people were suddenly realising that fighting was not a solution, according to Qureshi.

Beaming school children, smiling three-wheel drivers, and young Buddhist monks, are all featured waving L. Ron Hubbard’s Way to Happiness. 

How much has the church and/or Dr. Jayasinghe poured into the pockets of powerful Sri Lankan politicians to get the country’s security agencies working as foot soldiers spreading L. Ron Hubbard propaganda? 

 In the press release dated 19 February, the Church of Scientology International makes no mention of SLAASC, headlining the event as one where ‘The Southern California Sri Lankan community gathered at the Church of Scientology of the Valley to celebrate their freedom from English rule’

Dollar figures are being floated in the community, upwards of $ 100,000 by some accounts.

And the numbers are believable given the size of the Jayasinghe fortunes. Publicly available documents show the Jayasinhala Foundation, a private non-profit launched in 2014, having $ 1.8 million in revenue and $ 49 million in assets.

In addition to the Jayasinhala Foundation, Dr. Jayasinghe controls the Sri Lanka Foundation, Sri Lanka Buddha Dhamma Society and the Los Angeles Medical Center Foundation which in 2015, received $ 400,000 from the Jayasinhala Foundation for the stated purpose of ‘Religious work/planetary dissemination’. The [Jayasinhala] Foundation lacks transparency and does not maintain a website, which makes it difficult to locate further information on its priority areas,” writes Stacey Suver, a senior editor at Inside Philanthropy. Suver notes that in a recent fiscal year, the foundation gave away around $ 2.3 million.  Grantees include Sri Lanka Medical Association, Church of Scientology, and Bridge Publications which publishes L. Ron Hubbard’s books in 50 languages. 

Publicly available information also suggests that virtually all the Sri Lankan Buddhist temples in the Los Angeles have received funding from one or another of the maze of non-profits under Dr. Jayasinghe’s control. Amounts have varied from the low thousands to over half-a-million dollars as a gift to one temple.  

A notable exception is the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles, whose founder Ven. Walpola Piyananda Nayake Thera politely declined to accept Dr. Jayasinghe’s gift of $ 75,000 offered for his 75th birthday.   

How important is Sri Lanka to the Church of Scientology? 

It boils down to a case of survival. If it is to endure and thrive, the Church needs new frontiers. In the US, its numbers are said to be declining. 

Author of Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ Tony Ortega believes Scientology numbers peaked in 1990s with roughly 100,000 members worldwide but that membership has declined to around 20,000. The Church vigorously contests such stats, claiming that it has millions of parishioners in 167 nations, a third of whom are in the US”.

Prof. Stephen A. Kent of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, considered a leading expert on Scientology who has been tracking its activities for several decades, shares the view that plagued in recent years by numerous scandals and public relations crises the church is in decline. Historically, most new religions die, and it’s fairly clear now that Scientology is on a downward path,” said Kent.  

Evidence abounds of Scientology actively looking for and investing in new frontiers overseas. In January 2019, it opened an elaborate new African headquarters in a sprawling castle outside of Johannesburg, South Africa. In Latin America, pop singers and television personalities are making the rounds promoting the Church. 

In Ireland, where its numbers are said to be just 87, Scientology remains undeterred and has made a multimillion-euro investment in three new facilities in Dublin.

The Church is known to show up after natural disasters such as the Indonesia earthquake, the Ugandan mudslide and the mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand where Scientology volunteers pass out Hubbard’s The Way to Happiness.   Journalist and long-time Scientology critic Mark Ebner sees these efforts as recruiting expeditions on the most vulnerable”.

Scientology debuted in Sri Lanka in 2005 when its members were seen distributing church leaflets after the devastating tsunami. It has been registered since August 2006 as a limited company under the name of ‘Scientology Applied Religious Foundation of Sri Lanka’. Its Dianetics Centre in Nugegoda offers the church’s signature ‘Dianetics Auditing’ – a controversial system used in place of psychiatry or psychological counselling for mental problems.  

At the crux of Scientology is the belief that through the utilisation of Dianetics individuals can cleanse their minds and attain ‘new state of spiritual awareness called Clear’ which is a form of enlightenment derived, in part, from the Buddhist concept of Bodhi. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard claimed he was Maitreya Buddha in his 1955 book Hymn of Asia An Eastern Poem.

While the number of Scientology adherents in Sri Lanka is not known, it might well be on the cusp of a major take-off, especially with the backing it is receiving from very powerful politicians. That Police and other government officials have been deployed to spread Scientology speaks for itself.

In Los Angeles, Dr. Jayasinghe’s generosity via his numerous non-profit foundations assures the Church of a front pew at Sri Lankan events. A musical show or other community event that doesn’t receive Jayasinhala dollars and/or staged at a venue other than at a Church of Scientology venue has become a rarity.  

Noteworthy is that while a church facility may be obtained free-of-charge, there’s still a price to pay: it requires the audience to watch a Scientology video at the start of the event. In addition, books containing the Church’s teachings are distributed at the venue.

It’s no secret that the Church of Scientology is actively trying to convert Buddhists in Los Angeles,” said Dr. Sunil Jayasinghe, author of several books on Buddhism, notably The Last Meal of the Buddha when asked to comment on these trends. I know because I myself have been approached.”  

The Church also gets a stall to distribute its literature at ‘Sri Lanka Day’ – the flagship event of the Sri Lanka Foundation usually held in mid-August to coincide with Dr. Jayasinghe’s birthday. The daylong street fair provides local artists a stage to perform while, for a sizeable fee, Sri Lankan eateries can sell their food. The event culminates in a perahera where the Jayasinghe family and the local city mayor ride in an open car waving to the crowd of Sri Lankan expats lining the street.  

While Scientology’s inroads into the community have gone unchallenged, the Church’s predominance at this year’s Independence Day event is being noticed with unease. According to Sunil Jayasinghe, there’s concern among long-time residents but they’re reluctant to talk about it. I think it’s time for open discussions on this issue, especially, as it will have a huge impact on our future generations,” he said.

(The writer can be contacted via email on hassinal@gmail.com)

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Both parties have undergone splits before, but the current situation appears to be life-threatening.

Sajith Premadasa with Ranil Wickremesinghe

Colombo, March4: After the April 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, the island nation is likely to see the virtual extinction of two of its main (and oldest) parties, namely, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) founded in 1951 by SWRD. Bandaranaike, and the United National Party (UNP) founded by Don Stephen Senanayake in 1946.

Of the two, the SLFP has already been reduced to a nullity. After the sweeping victory of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in the November 16, 2019 Presidential election, most members of the SLFP latched on to the new SLPP government formed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Subsequently, the SLFP’s chairman and former Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena made his party a junior partner in the SLPP-led alliance to fight the April 2020 parliamentary elections. Today, the SLFP is so weak that it cannot even ensure a parliamentary seat to Sirisena. If the SLPP gets a majority in parliament, the SLFP will be obliterated because its present affiliates will have no reason to continue in it.

The United National Party (UNP) was already disunited at the time of the November 2019 Presidential election. It is now on the verge of a split with party Leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe leading one outfit and Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa leading the rebel outfit. The rebel outfit calls itself Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB)” and not UNP.

The SJB is actually a coalition comprising a section of the UNP, small parties and parties of the minorities like those led by Rauff Hakeem, Rishad Bathiudeen and Mano Ganeshan.

On the surface, the quarrel between Ranil and Sajith is over the election symbol. After Ranil-loyalist Ravi Karunanayake refused to give SJB the Swan” symbol he owns, Sajith has been wanting to use the UNP’s Elephant” symbol. But Ranil will not allow him to do that. The SJB’s claim that the Elephant symbol had been granted to the SJB by the Working Committee of the UNP is ignored by Ranil as granting the Elephant to the SJB would make the SJB look like UNP. And Ranil would not surrender the UNP to Sajith. For Sajith, getting the Elephant” is crucial because it has been the UNP’s symbol for decades and therefore, very familiar to the voters.

UNP watchers say that if the UNP splits between the Ranil faction (the official faction) and the Sajith faction (the rebel faction), the party will cease to be a political force because the SJB is aiming to be a distinct party or a permanent alliance, not a mere temporary electoral alliance. Sajith said so in his speech at the launch of the SJB.

The split will be on ideological lines too, as the official UNP will be right wing and pro-West, and the SJB will be left wing, nationalist and explicitly Sinhala-Buddhist as Sajith openly said.

Past Splits

Both the UNP and SLFP have suffered splits in the past, but perhaps never in a way that causes obliteration of the original outfits.

The first split in the UNP occurred in 1951, when one of its top-line leaders, SWRD Bandaranaike, left it to form the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist and center-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). Reflecting the communal yearnings of the majority rural Sinhala-Buddhist community, the SLFP won the 1956 parliamentary elections.

After the 1951 split, the remaining UNP survived as one unit till 1990, when top leaders like Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake left, unable to get along with President R.Premadasa. But the Democratic United National Front (DUNF) the rebels formed, collapsed after the assassination of Lalith and Gamini by the LTTE.

The next big split came in 2007, when 18 senior MPs of the UNP joined President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition to strengthen his hands in the war against the LTTE. Disunity afflicted the UNP again, when many younger leaders of the party felt that the Westernized and aloof Ranil was unsuited to be a leader of a mass party. He had little or no touch with the Sinhala-Buddhist rural masses ,they alleged. The malcontents pitched for Sajith as he was not from an elite background and was thought to be more popular among the hoi polloi.

While the Sajith faction wanted him to be the UNP candidate in the November 2019 Presidential election, Ranil resisted it and agreed only at the eleventh hour. He also did not campaign for Sajith. The move to replace Ranil by Sajith gathered momentum after Sajith’s defeat in the Presidential election. It intensified as the parliamentary elections approached.

Splits in Sri Lanka Freedom Party

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party faced a major crisis in 1980 when its chief, Sirima Bandaranaike, was deprived of her civic rights for seven years and was expelled from parliament by the then UNP leader and Lankan President J.R.Jayewardene. With Mrs. Bandaranaike politically crippled, internal conflicts arose in the SLFP. Sirima’s daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga broke away in 1984 and formed the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya (SLMP). But she came back to the SLFP in 1993, and made it win the 1994 parliamentary and Presidential elections.

The next rift in the SLFP came in 2005 over the choice of its Presidential candidate. Party chief, Chandrika Kumaratunga backed her brother Anura Bandaranaike but most other leaders propped up Mahinda Rajapaksa, a dynamic and popular left-oriented leader. Mahinda won, and sidelined Chandrika totally.

Mahinda got two terms, the second and the last in 2010 after he vanquished the LTTE. But his second term was marked by corruption, scandals and high-handedness. The UNP-led opposition exploited these fully, and got SLFP’s General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena to defect and stand as the united opposition’s candidate in the January 2015 Presidential election.

Sirisena won and took over the leadership of the SLFP which was surrendered to him by Mahinda. But the SLFP was defeated by the UNP in the 2015 parliamentary elections because it was divided by the Sirisena-Mahinda conflict.Soon, the Mahinda faction broke away and formed the SLPP.

Because of the lousy performance of the Sirisena-Ranil coalition government, the SLPP swept the 2018 local bodies’ elections with Sirisena’s SLFP coming a poor and distant third. The rout triggered a flight from the SLFP to the SLPP sounding the death knell of the SLFP.

(The featured image at the top shows )

Courtesy Hindustan Times, New Delhi

Jacqueline Fernandez opened up about all kinds of ridiculous advice she received when she started out in Bollywood.

When Sri Lankan beauty queen Jacqueline Fernandez decided to pursue a career in Bollywood, she got all kinds of advice on how to fit in. In an interview with Pinkvilla, she revealed that a lot of people felt that her name was very Western” and suggested that she change it.

I was told, ‘Do a nose job’, ‘Change your name’. So many people! In that moment, I thought, ‘Is it really needed?’ I decided to just be me. I was quite calm and cool and collected about it, and then things worked out for me,” the actor said.

She added, I was told, ‘Change your name to Muskaan.’ I remember these suggestions. My agency also thought, ‘Should we change her name? Jacqueline Fernandez is very Western. How do we crack the industry?’ Then they were like, ‘Maybe we should just go with her name and just see where that goes.’”

Jacqueline was given all kinds of weird” advice, like being asked to make her eyebrows darker, but she stuck to her guns. She also revealed that she got a lot of grief for her accent, but has now made peace with the fact that it is a limitation for her and continues to work hard every day to improve her Hindi diction.

Not just this, Jacqueline was mocked for trying hard” to be Indian. She said, I felt really offended by this. I came for a Diwali party once in a really traditional outfit. Three of my actor friends were like, ‘Why are you wearing a saree? Why are you trying so hard? You are not Indian!’”

Also read: Irrfan opens up about his health, says ‘Now, I have an idea what running out of time actually means’

Jacqueline made her Bollywood debut with Sujoy Ghosh’s Aladin in 2009. The actor, who was last seen in the Netflix film Drive alongside Sushant Singh Rajput, has another Netflix project – Mrs Serial Killer – in her kitty. Directed by Shirish Kunder, the film will see her as a doting wife who will go to any lengths to prove the innocence of her husband, who has been framed for serial killings.

Jacqueline’s next Bollywood release is the action thriller Attack. Directed by Lakshya Raj Anand, the film revolves around a rescue operation done by an elite commando team, and also stars John Abraham.

Courtesy Mailonline

Sri Lankan authorities believe the Indian Ocean island is being used as a trafficking transit point for drugs

Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33 million worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka’s biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said Thursday.

Troops found 400 kilogrammes (about 880 pounds) of heroin and 100 kilogrammes (about 220 pounds) of the drug “ice” on board the two vessels, spokesman Isuru Sooriyabandara said.

The street value of the seized narcotics was estimated by officials to be 6,000 million rupees ($33.5 million).

The vessels, as well as a Sri Lankan fishing boat, were Thursday escorted to a harbour near the capital Colombo.

Sixteen foreign crew and five Sri Lankan crewmen were detained for questioning, Sooriyabandara added. The nationalities of the foreigners were not disclosed by authorities.

“The two foreign vessels were trying to offload the drugs onto a Sri Lankan fishing boat,” Sooriyabandara told AFP.

The foreign vessels, which carried no registration, were intercepted in international waters some 1,100 kilometres (687 miles) from Sri Lanka’s coast.

Sooriyabandara said investigators were checking GPS data on board the vessels to establish the route and the point of origin.

Authorities said initial investigations suggested the Iran-Pakistan coast was the point of origin.

In 2016, the navy arrested 10 Iranians, two Pakistanis and one each from India and Singapore for allegedly trying to smuggle 110 kilogrammes of heroin into the island nation via a trawler.

The country’s previous largest drug haul was in December 2016 when police seized 800 kilogrammes of cocaine on a ship at Colombo’s port from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah port.

Six months earlier, authorities discovered 301 kilogrammes of cocaine inside a shipping container at Colombo.

Authorities believe the Indian Ocean island is also being used as a trafficking transit point.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday, (5) questioned the conduct of some members of the Election Commission (EC) during the last presidential election in Nov 2019.

Rajapaksa said he had recently raised the issue in the presence of the then Speaker Karu Jayasuriya at a meeting in Parliament. He said so at a meeting with representatives of print and electronic media at the Presidential Secretariat.

The EC consists of Mahinda Deshapriya (Chairman), Nalin Abeysekera, PC and Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole.

Acknowledging the right of EC members to express views on matters of public interest, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said they couldn’t pursue personal agendas at the expense of the EC.

President Rajapaksa questioned the neutrality and the independence of the EC established by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Responding to another query, President Rajapaksa alleged that the neutrality and independence of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) couldn’t be ensured by making that particular appointment through the Constitutional Council.

The 10-member Constitutional Council appointed in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution makes appointments to independent commissions.

President Rajapaksa expressed serious concern over EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya directive to suspend the countrywide training programme implemented for the benefit of unemployed graduates recruited to the public sector. The EC Chairman wanted the high profile project suspended pending the parliamentary election to be held on April 25.

President Rajapaksa said the government would take up this matter with the EC. Declaring that the suspension severely hampered the project, the President said that he couldn’t comprehend why the EC Chairman had intervened in that matter. Pointing out that nominations hadn’t been so far called for the general election, President Rajapakasa said there was no reason to suspend the training programme.

At the onset of the media briefing, President Rajapaksa emphasized that rapid progress in key sectors couldn’t be achieved unless the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was either amended or repealed. He said he was certainly not the only one keen to get rid of the 19th Amendment, which instead of addressing pressing issues had created additional problems.

President Rajapaksa said that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna needed to win the April 25 general election with a two-thirds majority to pave the way for far reaching constitutional changes.

Assuring that he wouldn’t seek to bring back the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which did away with the presidential term limit, Rajapaksa said that he could achieve what he wanted to within his first term unless the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was done away with.

Asked how his government intended to address grievances of the Tamil speaking people against the backdrop of his administration recently withdrawing co-sponsorship of accountability resolution in Geneva, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa emphasised the pivotal importance in addressing economic issues. He said difficulties experienced by all communities were alike and, therefore, the need for tangible measures to uplift the living standards couldn’t be ignored.

The President declared that economic problems manifested themselves as political issues.

Responding to questions on missing persons, President Rajapaksa alleged that interested parties used the issue to cause turmoil.

Recalling an operation undertaken in the Jaffna peninsula during Eelam War II, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that troops under him and Sarath Fonseka had undertaken an operation. Acknowledging they had failed to achieve the objective, Rajapaksa said that they had failed to retrieve bodies of those killed outside the Jaffna Fort. “Due to our failure to recover bodies, some families of those officers and men killed there considered them missing. Both communities suffered as a result of the conflict.”

President Rajapaksa recalled the government had not been able to recover hundreds of bodies following fierce battles, including the one at Muhamalai front line in 2006 because their identities couldn’t be verified.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that there were specific disappearance cases. Unfortunately, those with vested interests generalized on such cases, he added.

Responding to another query, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dismissed claims that there were political prisoners.

Rajapaksa said that a study undertaken by the UNICEF during the previous Rajapaksa administration had proved that a vast majority of those believed to be missing or in custody had actually died fighting for the LTTE, willingly or unwillingly.

The Island asked President Rajapaksa why Sri Lanka was without a proper strategy to expose the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and a section of the international community and civil society propagating allegations of war crimes after having backed General Sarath Fonseka at the 2010 presidential election. The Island pointed out that accusations as regards 40,000 killed on the Vanni east front became ridiculous after the war winning Army Commander had received the TNA’s backing with the blessings of the US.

President Rajapaksa strongly defended Sri Lanka’s decision to withdraw co-sponsorship of the Geneva resolution adopted on Oct 01, 2015. He said the US had quit the Geneva council in June 2018. The US alleged the UN body was a cesspool of political bias. The Sri Lankan leader said that the decision to withdraw support was in line with the mandate he received at the presidential election. President Rajapaksa said that his government had explained to those countries pursuing the accountability issue why Sri Lanka couldn’t continue to support a decision taken by a previous government. He said, “How could our own security forces were betrayed in Geneva?”

Jamila Husain Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and President’s Counsel Ali Sabry will enter Parliament through the National List under the ticket of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), government sources told Daily Mirror yesterday.

Sources said SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam and MP Wimal Weerawansa had also been nominated by the SLPP.

SLPP Chairman G.L. Peiris has held a political career since the early ’90s but lost his parliamentary seat in 2015 when he was not nominated to the National List from the UPFA. Ali Sabry and Cabraal – who was appointed last November as Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Senior Advisor on Economic Affairs – will enter Parliament for the first time.

Moreover, the premier will contest the April 25 general election from the Kurunegala District while his brother Chamal will contest from the Hambantota District. Former President Maithripala Sirisena from the SLFP will contest from the Polonnaruwa District.

Daily Mirror learns that Prime Minister Rajapaksa had informed his party that contestants would not be able to change their electorates and that they would have to contest from their respective electorates.

Several new names are expected to be added to the electoral list by the SLPP. 

Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa today refuted the claims made by the government that he had got the election commission to cancel the appointments given to 44,000 unemployed graduates in the state sector and said he will provide employment to them within a week if elected as the Prime Minister.

Mr. Premadasa told a media conference that he would provide permanent employment to all unemployed graduates within a week if elected as the Prime Minister.

Asked as to how he could ensure his election victory and under which party or symbol he would contest, Mr. Premadasa said these would be finalised soon.

Mr. Premadasa said the government had ample time to provide employment to the graduates but did not do it. The government promised to provide employment to all unemployed graduates during the Presidential elections. Then a promise was given that they will be given appointment in January. Then the government said it will be done in February. This followed by another assurance that it will be done in March. Finally, they posted appointment letters shortly before the dissolution of Parliament. However, the Chairman of the Election Commission cancelled the appointments claiming them to be a move to capture votes. Why blame me for this? He questioned while stating that the graduates were to be paid only Rs 20,000, Mr. Premadasa said this allowance will be increased if he is elected as Prime Minister in April this year.