Sri Lanka army had established a Northern Command
in Jaffna peninsula, long before the Eelam wars started. The Headquarters of
the Northern command was at Palaly, coordinating headquarters was at
Gurunagar and there were camps in
Thondamanaru, Point Pedro, Valvettiturai and Elephant pass. Navy had its Elara naval base at Karainagar.
I could not find out when this Command was set up. The army was there to stop
illegal immigration and check smuggling. I could not find out when this operation
started either, but it was in progress in 1964.
The Eelam war was the Sri Lanka army’s first proper war. The army, though inexperienced, was not frightened of facing a civil war. Once they got over the initial shock of getting killed by LTTE, they were ready to retaliate. The Saliyapura army camp was established in Anuradhapura in 1983.
The army quickly started training for war. The army quickly started training for war. By 1985 the number of battalions increased new battalions were formed, also specialized units.
In
1985, a training school was established at Maduru Oya, using the buildings that
had been built by the company doing the Maduru oya dam. In addition to recruitment training, the army
also started to train majors. Five battalions were trained for this in 1985.
They were trained at Maduru oya, Saliyapura, Tissawewa, Palaly and Vavuniya,
respectively.
It appears that by 1985, the army also knew
how to fight in the jungle. We are not told how or when they acquired this
knowledge. 3GR had conducted many operations inside the
Wanni jungle and we had much experience in jungle combat, said Kamal Gunaratne.
But we did not have much experience in fighting in built up areas, (FIBUA).
In 1986 the services of the Israel army were obtained
for training in FIBUA. A
complete town with houses, streets and roads were built inside Maduru oya for this
course. The Israelis
conducted two courses in FIBUA for company commanders. It was mandatory for all
commanders to attend these courses.
The training
covered all aspects of fighting in built up areas. The training was thereafter
extended to platoon commanders as well. We tried to send as many of them for
this training, as possible, said Kamal Gunaratne. Then we trained the troops.
The FIBUA course made us more professional, he said.
The Commandos and the Special Forces, the two
most formidable forces in the Eelam wars, were also started in the 1980s. The
Commando unit was started in 1980. It was based at Diyatalawa. The Commandos were given a course of training In Anti –
Hijacking and Hostage Release operations, by instructors from the British SAS
Force. Some of the commandos had also
undergone an airborne course at the Indian Air force training school. The Commandos played a major role in the
Vadamarachchi operation.
The Special Forces
started as the Combat Trekker Team in 1985. It was renamed Rapid Deployment Force
in 1986 and Special Forces (SF) in 1988. The SF was started by Maj. Gen. Gamini
Hettiarachchi with the encouragement and support of Colonel Lafir. However,
very few senior officers supported him. His requests for additional troops,
weapons and equipment were not welcomed, said Kamal Gunaratne.
The first SF
team consisted of 38 handpicked
soldiers from ‘almost all the regiments of the Army’, with Hettiarachchi and
Lafir as teachers. The first training course was from August to December 1985
at Ganemulla and Maduru Oya. We were given training on small group operations
and jungle tactics. We were trained by a Major and a Warrant Officer from the
USA.
The first
year was very tough” they recalled. Our entire teams’ intention was to
complete the training successfully as early as possible and become a deadly
threat to the enemy,” they said. Hettiarachchi and Lafir were a great inspiration
to the 38 trainees, the trainees said. Col. Lafir was more dedicated and
enthusiastic than us. I wondered why a senior officer was taking so much trouble.
They wanted to create a distinctive group,” said one trainee, interviewed in
2010. Formation of
the Special Forces in 1985, was one of the best initiatives of the army, said
Kamal.
The army also got itself trained at other
levels. Training was given in other fighting skills, such as tank infantry,
calling for artillery fire support, direction of artillery fire, and use of
artillery fire, how to advance in heavily mined land, handling of improvised
explosive devices, and booby traps, use of machine guns and the correct time
and place for the use of anti-tank weapons, for them to be most effective.
We came out of the training as a tough outfit
with motivation, training, dedication, physical fitness and highest level of
combat efficiency. Such was the meticulous and elaborate preparation that went
into the Operation Vadamarachchi, said Kamal Gunaratne.
The Sri Lanka army was perfectly capable
defeating the LTTE, had it been allowed to do so. The Vadamarachchi Operation of 1987 was launched
to finish off the LTTE. Vadamarachchi was aborted before it went into its
second phase. President J.R.Jayawardene did not allow the army to go ahead.
This disgraceful action of President J.R. Jayewardene should be placed on
record and never forgotten.
The Eelam wars need not have gone on for
thirty years. President Chandrika Kumaratunga on taking over in 1994 had
summoned several officers including General Fonseka to obtain their views on
the war and they had all said that the LTTE could be defeated. The method advocated was the one followed in
Eelam War IV, clear the east, then go into the north, through the Vanni, pull
LTTE out, push them down to the east and finish them off. Throughout the war,
there were military leaders, such as Kamal Gunaratne, who firmly maintained
that the war could be won.
We now move to
Eelam wars II and III. Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunge and Chandrika
Kumaratunga held the post of President of Sri Lanka, during Eelam Wars II and
III. D.B.Wjetunga dismissed the claims of the LTTE and ordered that the East be
cleared of the LTTE .Premadasa and Chandrika were highly accommodative towards
the LTTE and the worst army defeats took place under them. Chandrika ridiculed the military and neglected the needs
of the fighting military. She took back Jaffna, certainly, but within months,
the military began gradually losing control of the Vanni region.
Eelam war II must be remembered for the
outrageous role played by President Ranasinghe Premadasa. He joined up with the
LTTE. He ordered the army to vacate some of its
bases, including those at Valvettiturai and Point Pedro and
permitted LTTE to move into prime military positions. LTTE constructed
fortifications and stationed guns in
attack positions around all the Sri
Lanka army camps in the north. The army was stuck inside its bases at
Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Kokavil, Mankulam, Mullaitivu and Jaffna Fort.
Prremadasa then ordered the Sri Lanka army to
hand over army weapons to the LTTE. Truck loads of weapons, some brand new,
still in their polythene wrappings, were handed over to the LTTE, by the army,
deep inside the jungles. LTTE received
these with smiles, greetings and hugs. The
soldiers viewed this with abhorrence. They knew that someday these weapons
would be turned against them.
Eelam War
III was LTTE’s most glorious period.
They captured key districts such as Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, and took
over the Elephant Pass base. By the end
of Eelam War III, the LTTE had control
of nearly 30% of the entire island and were running a government there under
the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. (Continued)
The victory achieved by the people of this country
on November 16th by installing Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the
president of this country and ending the rule of the western servile shameless
and spineless Ranil Wickremasinghe has intensified the antipathy to this
country by the tyrant western nations (TWNs).
As such there could be continuous activities against Sri Lanka from
these western tyrants as what happened in Iran when Prime Minister Mussadeg
nationalised oil industry of his country, President Gamal Abdel Nasser
nationalized Suez Canal, President Fidel Castro deposed American backed
military dictator FulgencioBatista, Salvador Allende became the elected President
of Chile, Hugo Chavez became the
President of Venezuela and similar to what happened in Algeria, Tunesia, Egypt
and Libya in the name of regime changes. The government should take all
precautions that TWNs will not get the slightest opportunity to reverse the
people’s victory of our country.
The travel ban
imposed by the shit head nation United States on the Chief of Defence Staff
Shavendra Silva and his family should be considered as the tip of the iceberg
that may be imposed on this country these by shithead countries, the TWNs. General Shavendra Silva is a War Hero of whom
all Sri Lankans should be proud and thankful of for being one of the Commanders
to vanquish terrorism from the soil of this country. .
Having joined the Army in 1984 he served as the Commander in the terminal
war against the terrorists. He is one of
our Commanders together with Kamak Gunaratne and Jagathe Jayasuriya hated by
the terrorist diaspora and racist separatists.
Our proud Hero has declared that he doesn’t want to go to U.S. now or in
the future.
The Terrorist
National Alliance (TNA) issuing a message has hailed the U.S. action and stated
that the U.S. ban confirm that Shavendra Silve was responsible for war crimes
and crimes against humanity and urged thatthe government should take immediate
action to investigate the relevant allegations and mete out due punishments.
The racist Wigneswaran f who all these years happily lived among the Sinhalese eating
kevum kokis as both his sons are married to Sinhalese ladies and after becoming
the Chief Minister of the Northern Province and started eatingThose and Itli and
became staunch Tamil chauvinist has also welcomed and expressed happiness about
the U.S.ban.
It is also
reported that Quisling Mangala Samaraweera, the old hag Chandrika and the
foreign funded NGO bitch Nimalka Fernando have given adversary information continuously
about the Commanders of our Security
forces and this travel ban has been imposed based on these information. Nimalka
Fernando is one of the worst enemies of Sri Lanka and she should be charged for
treason and banish from the country or subject Kandyan Kings’ roual punishment
since she attempted several times during Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency to get
Sri Lanka condemned internationally as a Failed State” Ranil Wickremasinghe
government rewarded her by appointing her as a member of the Office of Missing
Persons (OMP). Her son is working as the
political advisor to the Swiss Embassy in Colombo and is reported to be facilitating those who
attempting to flee the country to get political asylum in Switzerland. It is queer to understand why these quislings
stay in this country if they have no love for the country. It is better that they go somewhere without
acting as pimps prostituting the country.
They deserve to be stoned by the people whenever they come across them
like the stray dogs are stoned to chase them out.
The steps taken
by the Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene against this travel ban must be
appreciated. He has summoned the
American Ambassador Alina B. Teplitz and warned that the US decision to impose travel
restrictions on Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and acting Chief of Defence
Staff Shavendra Silva and his immediate family had unnecessarily complicated
the US-Sri Lanka relations and has asked the United States government to review
its decision.
The Minister has reiterated that Lt.
Gen. Silva had been appointed the Commander of the Army by former president
Maithripala Sirisena, taking into account his seniority and that there were no
substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him.
Silva’s appointment as the acting Chief of Defence Staff by President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa was on account of his being the senior most serving military officer.
The Foreign Ministry has stated that
Silva had played a major role in combating terrorism and it was disappointing
that a foreign government should question the prerogative of a democratically
elected President to call upon persons of proven expertise to hold key
positions on national security related matters.
Minister Gunawardene has also stated
that the travel ban was not based on independently verified information, but on
the much disputed Darusman Report of 2015, the Minister has requested the
United States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information. It was
recalled that the report made clear that it was “a human rights
investigation and not a criminal investigation”, and that “the names
provided in the description of the chain of command do not imply criminal
responsibility for those particularly alleged violations listed in this report,
either as direct responsibility or under command or superior responsibility.
Individual criminal responsibility can only be determined by a Court of Law
with all necessary due process guaranteed,” the Minister has pointed out.
Ambassador Teplitz has informed the
Minister that she would convey the concerns of the government of Sri Lanka to
the US government, and reiterated the continued commitment of the US government
to all aspects of ongoing collaboration with Sri Lanka in the field of defence,
etc.
Meanwhile the Acting Chief of
Defence Staff (CDS), and Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva has denied
all allegations of human rights violations made by the US to bar him and his
family from entering that country. He has said that everyone now knows the truth
about these allegations and he will not personally respond to them since the
Foreign Ministry will take necessary action.
He has refused to comment on
the impact of the US decision would have on the ongoing military cooperation
between the two countries.
Picture
of the meeting held by the Minister of Foreign Relations eith the U.S.Ambassador
Alina B.Tepliz at the Foreign ministry
Office. Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha,
Director General/ North America, Dharshana M. Perera, and officials of the
Ministry of Foreign Relations were associated with the Minister at the meeting.
Martin Kelly, Deputy Head of Mission, accompanied the US Ambassador.
Sri Lankan patriotic
organizations, foreign and local as well as many parliamentarians have
vehemently condemned the unwanted issue that had been created by the U.S.
shithead government.
Former Minister Dr. Sarath
Amunugama has said that although there is much discussion about the travel ban
imposed on Army Commander Shavendra Silva by the US Government, it should not
be construed as a serious diplomatic issue.
He has pointed out that it
has been the usual practice as and when presidential elections are held in the
US, where the Tamil diaspora uses these trends to force the American Government
to take such decisions. However, this type of incident fails to gather momentum
to interfere diplomatic relations that exist between Sri Lanka and the
US. This action can be termed as an act of political interference in the face
of the forthcoming presidential election in that country. It is a well-known
fact that the UNHRC in Geneva is a den of thieves as once said by US President
Donald Trump. Dr. Amunugama has further stated that the international human
rights organisations cannot interfere in Sri Lankan affairs. It cannot
interfere outside the Constitution of our country. There are many declarations
saying foreign judges are scheduled to hear cases against acts of any human
rights violation. There is no possibility of such steps being taken as our
Constitution does not allow those efforts. In this context, it is advisable
that there should be a serious study of the 19th Amendment to our Constitution.
19A has curtailed the powers of the executive by not allowing him to hold even
a ministerial portfolio thereby weakened the President completely.
The Global Sri Lanka
Forum based in U.K and the Spur of
Australia and many organisations of Sri Lankans resident in Europe, Japan and
the Middle East have also severely condemned the U.S. government for attempting
to create various issues and hinder the progressive measures being taken by the
government. .
The leader of the Pivithuru
Hela Urumaya, Attorney at Law MP Udaya Gammanpila ondemned the United States as
the No.
1 war criminal. He questioned as to which Court of Justice
convicted Lt. Colonel Shavendra Silva as a war criminal based on the hearsay
charges of the ignominious Darusman report?
Further he stated that
America is the world’s biggest war criminal; and posed the following questions
to the United States as the only known crime committed by him was
wholeheartedly contributing to defeating the tiger terrorists which America
said is a ruthless terrorist outfit that cannot be defeated:
Was
it a false pretention that America declared a global operation called War on
Terror”?
Isn’t
it America that dropped a Hydrogen Bomb on Hiroshima of Japan and killed 80,000
innocent people and injured more than 70,000 people?
Dropped
another Hydrogen Bomb on Nagasaki and killed 40,000 people and injured over
60,000 people.
When
the 2nd world war was over without taking back the remaining bombs
to America as it was expensive, dropped them on the Dresden city of Germany and
killed more than 25,000 people?
Killed
3.8 million people in Vietnam by attacking them with chemical and biochemical
arms during the Vietnam War?
Killed
over 1.5million people in Iraq and Afghanistan saying that they carrying
operations against terrorism?
In fact it America is the war
criminal. Levelling war crime charges
against Sri Lanka by the United States is similar to a pot blackened with soot
telling a silver pot that you are black.
We would like to tell America try to preach others after you are in the
right form, MP Gammanpila said.
The Island editorial dated 17th
February said that the United States and its western
allies cannot depend on their nukes and economic prowess to dominate the world
any longer. Their rivals have matched their military power, and China’s steady
rise as an economic powerhouse is a worrisome proposition for them. Russia has
also bounced back, under Putin, and pitted itself against its traditional
enemies. So, the western bloc has invented a new weapon to achieve its goal; it
has weaponised human rights and uses them selectively to force the developing
nations into submission.
The editorial said that the US has banned Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt.
General Shavendra Silva and his family members from entering its territory and
the ban has come like a bolt from the blue with only a few days to go until the
UNHRC sessions in Geneva. The State Department has said, among other things:
“The allegations of gross human rights violations against Shavendra Silva,
documented by the United Nations and other organisations, are serious and
credible. His designation underscores the importance we place on human rights
in Sri Lanka and globally, our concern over impunity for human rights
violations and abuses, as well as our support for promoting accountability for
those who engage in such acts.” One is puzzled. The US must be joking! The
editorial questioned whether the United States has forgotten what it did
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam, Haiti, Diego Garcia, Chile, Iran, Iraq, etc.?
The editorial explained that none
of the allegations against Shavendra Silva has been substantiated. The US has
earned notoriety for its duplicity anent UN and other reports on human rights
violations. It has referred to some UN documents in a bid to justify the travel
ban at issue. But it once forced the UNHRC to retract a condemnatory statement
on Bahrain, an ally of the US and the UK.
It said that when the
Goldstone report (prepared by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict)
was issued in 2009, Richard Goldstone, who headed the mission, faced a
vilification campaign and was forced to retract the findings unfavourable to
Israel and no Israeli military officer was banned from entering the US soil on
account of that damning report!
Reminding that the Trump
administration has famously called the UNHRC a ‘cesspit of political bias’ and
pulled the US out of it in support of Israel, the editorial said that the US has no qualms about using the same ‘cesspit’
against the countries that resist its attempt to hold suzerainty over them.
It further stated that in
2006, a study published in the Lancet medical journal revealed that the death
toll among Iraqis due to the US-led illegal invasion had reached an estimated
655,000. It has proved beyond any doubt that intelligence dossiers were
falsified to provide the US and the UK with a casus belli to invade Iraq. Most
of the civilians who perished in the US-UK attacks in Iraq were children.
Properties worth billions of US dollars were destroyed and Iraq was plunged
into anarchy. The Chilcot report, based on a 2.5 million-word Iraq Inquiry,
confirmed that there had been no threat of weapons of mass destruction from
Iraq. Former US President George Bush and former British PM Tony Blair should
have been prosecuted for war crimes, but they have gone scot free. Worse, the
US and the UK are championing human rights and calling for action against those
responsible for war crimes!
Referring to India and US
relations and highlighting the US hypocrisy, the editorial said that Narendra
Modi was denied a visa to visit the US on the basis of laws governing religious
freedom when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, where anti-Muslim pogrom
happened, on his watch. But the White House chose to roll out the red carpet
for him after he was elected Prime Minister because it needed India’s backing
for its anti-Chinese campaign.
The editorial emphasized that
what’s up Uncle Sam’s sleeve is not difficult to guess and said that the travel
ban on Lt. Gen. Silva is another turn of the screw aimed at coercing Sri Lanka
into signing the MCC, SOFA and ACSA agreements that are detrimental to its
interests.
In conclusion the editorial
said that the biggest disservice that can be done to democracy and human rights
is to abuse them for political purposes. Punitive action taken against anyone
on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations is antithetical to justice and fair
play. The self-proclaimed defenders of democracy seem convinced otherwise.
It said that luckily, Sri
Lanka has not emulated the US in dealing with more than 12,000 ex-LTTE
combatants and the politicians who were openly supportive of Prabhakaran’s
terrorist campaign and are now championing democracy.
Meanwhile the Daily Mirror
editorial under the title Hypocrisy and the blame game said that on 14
February, the US Secretary of State Pompeo officially announced that the United
States had designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander
of the Sri Lanka Army and his immediate family members no entry into the
US as it had ‘credible’ evidence of human rights violations in the bloody finale
to the civil war.
The editorial said that we
do not contest the right of the US to refuse entry to its shores to whomever it
is displeased with Pompeo and his impeached boss Trump, are even now involved
in driving away civilians from Latin American countries attempting to enter the
US. These people are fleeing persecution at the hands of dictatorial regimes
backed by the US and asked why this bellicose naming and shaming?
It said that the Daily
Mirror certainly does not subscribe to gross violations of human rights. In
fact we have continued to stand up to numerous attempts to curtail this basic
right, and numerous members of our staff have paid the ultimate price for
standing up for this very right.
We agree human rights
violators should be punished for their crimes. Yet we owe it to ourselves, the
victims of these dastardly crimes and the world in general that it is the
actual perpetrator of the crime who is punished and that public postures are
not merely to portray oneself as a human rights defender.
This editorial also referred
to US war crimes related to World War II and said that US atom bombed civilian
targets in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was at a time
Japan was on the brink of surrender. Official statistics show the bombs
immediately devastated their targets. Over the next two to four months, the
acute effects of the atomic bombings killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people
in Hiroshima and 39,000 and 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half of the
deaths in each city occurred on the first day.
It said that even today, the
US refuses to even apologise to the people of Japan for this crime. To rub salt
in the wounds, or spit in the face of the Japanese the US continues to maintain
its largest military bases in Japan, despite the Japanese people themselves
openly protesting against the bases and demanding US withdrawal from the same.
In Afghanistan, the Cost of WarProject estimated that the number who have died
through indirect causes related to the war may be as high as 360,000. US
military action in Afghanistan continues to date. In Iraq, the Iraq Body Count
project documents 183,348 – 205,908 violent civilian deaths through April 2019.
So why in the face of all
these mass killings of civilians by the US military itself, is the US imposing
sanctions on General Shavendra Silva? This in the face of the fact
that just last November, the US president pardoned three US military
personnel who were convicted of war crimes in Afghanistan by US courts of
law.
Gen. Silva has as yet, not
been charged in any court of law, leave alone being convicted in one, despite
Pompeo’s pompous claims of ’credible’ evidence. This so-called ‘credible
evidence’ is as yet, mere statements issued by Non-Government Organisations. Be
that as it may, while condemning human rights violations by who-so-ever commits
them, we agree violators need to be tried for their crime. But a man/woman can
be punished only after he or she is convicted in a court of law.
Gen. Shavendra Silva has as
yet not been convicted of a crime. If his crime is that he is responsible
because of the line of command, surely the then military commander is more
responsible than him, or the then Defence Secretary perhaps? Or perhaps is the
US smarting from military defeats from Vietnam to Afghanistan, to Iran and Iraq
looking for a weak opponent. An opponent divided on the lines of race religion
and ethnicity to prove to the world its ‘super power status’. Perhaps
it is time our political leaders took a Durtete-like stand and tell the US to
take its SOFA, ACSA and MCC baggage and buzz off, the editorial concluded.
The Indian Express Writer P.K.Balachandran (PKB) who writes on Sri Lankan
affairs said that the US move of issuing a
Travel Ban on Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva is seen as arm twisting to
get Sri Lanka to sign into the MCC compact and SOFA. He says that it is an indisputable fact that
the United States uses human rights not for humanity’s sake but to further its
strategic interests across the world. It’s recognition of human rights
violations or its blindness to them is determined by its strategic needs.
For example, he says to retain India as a strategic partner
in its fight against emerging eastern power China, the US is turning a blind
eye to Narendra Modi’s oppression of the Kashmiris, the lynching of Muslims and
the anti-Muslim citizenship law in India. Modi, who was barred from the US
after the Gujarat anti-Muslim carnage in 2002, was white washed after he became
India’s Prime Minister and signaled a pro-US tilt. The US ignored the 2002
carnage and lifted the ban on him. That the US is highly biased in its
application of human rights principles is evident in the way it tolerates gross
violations by the Saudi and Israeli governments.
On Thursday, the US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo banned the entry of the Sri Lankan army chief Lt.Gen.Shavendra
Silva into the US, for allegedly committing war crimes” when he was one of the
frontline commanders of the army in the last phase of the war against the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.
It is noteworthy that the ban should come
eleven years after the war and when there is a government in Colombo which is
branded in the West as pro-China”.
Though the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
in Geneva was seized of the issue of war crimes” in Lanka from 2009, there was
no punitive action against Lanka between 2015 and 2019 when there was a
pro-West government in Colombo headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
In fact, between 20015 and 2019, the annual resolutions of the UNHRC on Lanka
became progressively mild.
Balachandran states that the US got the
Wickremesinghe regime to seriously consider entering the Millennium Challenge
Corporation Compact (MCC) to digitalize land records with the ultimate aim of making
private land saleable to foreigners. But this was bitterly opposed by Lankan
nationalists. Despite opposition, the Wickremesinghe government got cabinet
approval for the MCC. However, it could not implement the decision because it
lost the November 2019 Presidential election to the nationalist candidate
Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Gotabaya government put the decision on hold and set up
a committee to study the MCC’s compact from the Sri Lankan angle and also its
performance in other countries.
PKB poinrs out that the other pact which
the US tried to push down Lankan throats was the Status of Forces Agreement
(SOFA) and an expanded version of the already existing Access and Cross
Services Agreement (ACSA). When the details came out, Sri Lankan nationalists
were up and arms. SOFA and the new ACSA severely abridged Sri Lanka’s
sovereignty. US troops coming to and operating in the island were to be
governed by US and not Sri Lankan laws. The Gotabaya government completely
rejected SOFA leaving the US peeved.He says the US State Department then sent
Alice Wells to apply pressure on President Gotabaya to accede to the MCC and
SOFA in toto, but the Lankan President stuck to his guns.
With the UNHRC to begin its session in
late February, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thought the moment was
opportune to manifestly and tellingly twist Colombo’s arm by announcing the
designation of Lt.Gen Shavendra Silva.
PKB claims while the majority Sinhalese
are irked by the ban on a war hero” who rid the country of terrorism, the
minority Tamils have welcomed it. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) issued a
statement recalling that it had, in August 2019 itself, condemned Lt. Gen.
Silva’s appointment as Army Commander due to allegations of war crimes, crimes
against humanity and human rights violations against him.
The TNA said that it hopes that the ban
will open the eyes of the Lankan Government, which had opposed taking
accountability measures even ten years after the war. We consider this as a
minor improvement as a result of continuous protests by the war-affected Tamil
people,” the TNA said
However, the majority Sinhalese and the
government deplored the ban as a violation of Lankan sovereignty and that too
on specious grounds. US Ambassador Allaina B. Teplitz was summoned by Foreign
Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Sunday to be told about Lanka’s displeasure.
A press release from the Foreign Ministry
said: The Government reiterates that Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva was appointed as
the Commander of the Army by the then Head of State, taking into account his
seniority and that there were no substantiated or proven allegations of human
rights violations against him. His elevation as the Acting Chief of Defense
Staff by the current Head of State President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was on account
of his being the senior most serving military officer.”
While the timing of the imposition of this
travel restriction 6 months after Lt. Gen. Silva’s appointment as Army
Commander is of concern, it is disappointing that a foreign government should
question the prerogative of the democratically elected President to call upon
persons with proven expertise to hold key positions on national security
related matters.”
The Government of Sri Lanka requests the
United States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information and to
review its decision,” it added.
The Sunday Times said that it was significant that
the ban should come days before the UNHRC was to issue its report on Sri Lanka.
The UNHRC report is expected to call for an International Court of Inquiry” to
probe alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
The US had designated Gen. Silva on the
basis of credible information” of his involvement, through command
responsibility, in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial
killings, by the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army during the final phase of
Sri Lanka’s Civil War in 2009. Pompeo made the declaration under Section
7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act.
But the Lankan Foreign Ministry said the
charges against Gen.Silva were based not on independently verified information
but on unverified” information.
They had been compiled, not on the basis
of a filed study by independent observers, but on accounts of refugees and
Tamil politicians with a vested interest. While the UN and Western agencies had
said that 40,000 to 70,000 had been killed in the last phase of the war,
government censuses commissions of inquiry put the death toll at around 8000.
The latter estimate is more or less borne out by the fact that out of the
population of 300,000 in the war zone, 290,000 had been evacuated and housed in
camps on the border of the war zone.
Meanwhile, in the UN Security Council,
Lankan Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne said that the actions of the Sri Lankan
security forces during the conflict were against a group designated as a
terrorist organization by many countries (including the US), and even described
as ruthless by some. They were not aimed at any community in the country.
She spoke about the modus operandi of
suicide attacks adopted by the LTTE, which for the first time in history,
deliberately targeted civilians using its human bombs
In an email to the Sunday Times the US embassy in Colombo
said the ban on Gen.Silva does not place additional restrictions on security
assistance or military engagement in Sri Lanka nor does it represent a shift in
policy or desire to limit engagement more broadly with the government and
people of Sri Lanka”.
It will not have any impact on
military-to-military cooperation such as training and joint operations,
economic/technical assistance and trade, the embassy added. But Sri Lankans
wonder how cooperation is possible if their army chief was humiliatingly
designated?
The designation of the Lankan army chief,
who is considered a war hero in the 30 year battle against Tamil terrorism, will
gravely damage America’s relations with Sri Lanka, where no political party of
the majority Sinhalese community will support a measure which will harm their
interests.
Deemed as a hostile act, the designation
will nullify any prospect of the US succeeding in getting the Sri Lankan
government to sign the MCC SOFA pacts, which the US has been very keen on to
get control over Sri Lanka’s land and security.
The designation will be counterproductive
also on account of the fact that it will drive Sri Lanka further into the hands
of China which is America’s Number One enemy in the Indian and the Pacific
Ocean region. And when Sri Lanka veers more towards China, it will be
disadvantageous to India also given its deep strategic interest in the island
nation.
In a dusty northwest India desert dotted with cows and the occasional camel, a solar-power plant is producing a few of the world’s cheapest power.
In-built 2018 by India’s Acme Photo voltaic Holdings Ltd., it may possibly generate 200 megawatts of electrical energy, sufficient to energy all of the properties in a middle-size U.S. city. Acme sells the electrical energy to distributors for two.44 rupees (3.four cents) a kilowatt-hour, a document low for solar energy in India, a rustic that knowledge trackers say has the world’s most cost-effective photo voltaic power.
Extra outstanding, the ability prices much less to generate in India than the most affordable competing fossil gas—coal—even with subsidies eliminated and the price of development and financing figured in, in response to the Indian authorities and business trackers.
Value-conscious Indian utilities are wanting to snap up that energy. We’re notorious for low value,” says Sandeep Kashyap, Acme’s president.
Solar energy has entered a brand new world period. The business was lengthy depending on subsidies and regulatory promotions. Now, technological innovation and falling solar-panel costs have made solar energy cheap sufficient to compete by itself with different gas sources in some areas, in the case of newly constructed vegetation. That would turbocharge progress of renewables within the world power business, particularly in fast-growing Asian markets the place a lot of the world’s power infrastructure growth will happen.
To date, the renewable-energy push hasn’t halted the expansion of world power emissions. However the success of nations like India in feeding their rising energy calls for with clear power will nonetheless be key to blunting the expansion of world challenges like air pollution and local weather change.
The value declines in photo voltaic panels and the ability they produce are jolting the business. Up to now decade, photo voltaic has grown from lower than 1% of the world’s electric-power capability to an estimated 9% by the tip of this 12 months, in response to the Worldwide Vitality Company, an intergovernmental group centered on power coverage. By 2040, the IEA expects that to develop to 24%, which might make photo voltaic the most important single power supply.
India is on the forefront of the pattern, with a value of constructing photo voltaic capability that has dropped 84% in eight years, in response to the Worldwide Renewable Vitality Company, an intergovernmental group centered on renewable power. Different international locations are shut behind, with prices falling quick in Australia and China.
A solar-panel manufacturing line in China. PHOTO: CHINA STRINGER NETWORK/REUTERS
India has elevated the quantity of solar energy it has put in 10-fold previously 5 years, to 32 gigawatts, and the federal government is hoping to triple that within the subsequent few years—one of many quickest paces of progress anyplace. India’s prime minister final 12 months mentioned he needs 450 gigawatts of renewable power together with photo voltaic put in by 2030.
If India manages that, which many analysts say is an actual stretch, it could account for practically all the extra electrical capability the nation’s Central Electrical energy Authority has projected it could add by then, and greater than the nation’s complete from all energy sources now. India has pledged as a local weather purpose that 40% of its electrical capability will come from non-fossil fuels by 2030; the newest renewable targets would seemingly put that proportion at over half.
Cheaper than coal
In 2018, India’s levelized” value of solar-power era—an evaluation eradicating the influence of direct subsidies and figuring within the prices of development and financing for a brand new plant—fell to 14% beneath that of coal, the primary time anyplace on this planet that producing photo voltaic was cheaper than coal on that foundation, in response to worldwide power consulting agency Wooden Mackenzie.
India’s nationwide power plan doesn’t anticipate development of recent coal energy vegetation for at the least a number of years. Even state-controlled Coal India, one of many world’s largest coal-producing corporations, in November mentioned it deliberate a pilot photo voltaic undertaking because it navigated a future with much less coal.
Throughout Asia, a area anticipated to account for two-thirds of the world’s new energy demand in the course of the subsequent 20 years, worth declines will make wind and photo voltaic mixed 17% cheaper than coal by 2030 on a levelized foundation, says Wooden Mackenzie. In India, photo voltaic era shall be nearly 50% cheaper, it initiatives.
This can be a revolution in energy era prices,” says Wooden Mackenzie analyst Alex Whitmore. What it means is there shall be much more photo voltaic investment in India, and in international locations like India.”
That inefficiency is why the IEA forecasts the quantity of energy photo voltaic generates to rise to solely 11% of the world’s complete by 2040, round half that of coal or pure gasoline.
In India, which has a few of the world’s finest circumstances for producing solar energy, the mismatch is pronounced as a result of demand for electrical energy swells after individuals go house and change on air conditioners within the night, when photo voltaic vegetation aren’t working.
As Indian photo voltaic builders push costs down, the skinny margins for a lot of are being pummeled by challenges starting from an financial slowdown and tighter home financing circumstances to energy distributors that aren’t paying payments and squatters refusing to maneuver off land slated for growth.
In the course of the previous two years, the tempo of photo voltaic growth in India slowed. Though installations are anticipated to select again up this 12 months, many analysts and business leaders now anticipate India gained’t hit its aggressive photo voltaic targets.
‘Low-hanging fruit’
Challenges will seemingly multiply when solar energy in India’s grid rises from the present 9% to round 20% or 30%—a stage at which it could begin changing typical energy vegetation, say consultants like Rahul Tongia, a fellow on the India arm of assume tank Brookings Establishment.
What occurs after that time when the low-hanging fruit is finished?” says Mr. Tongia.
India’s photo voltaic push began in 2010, when its authorities outlined plans for a modest increase in capability in the course of the subsequent decade. Photo voltaic was an excellent match for India’s rising power wants. Vegetation are straightforward to construct—primarily photo voltaic panels lined up in racks—and labor is cheap. India has massive stretches of sparsely populated land and intense solar, good for huge spreads cranking out energy.
In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi quintupled the nation’s photo voltaic goal, aiming to put in 100 gigawatts of capability by 2022—roughly half of the world’s 2015 complete. On the time, India had lower than Three gigawatts of solar energy put in and the plan appeared loopy.
It was a leap of religion,” says Anand Kumar, a prime official in India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Vitality. We received very fortunate that the value of photo voltaic panels fell.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right here at a photo voltaic plant in 2015, quintupled the nation’s photo voltaic goal. PHOTO: IMAGO/ZUMA PRESS
China had been cranking out photo voltaic panels in large numbers in a government-subsidized effort to dominate the business globally. Panel costs, which may account for round half the price of a photo voltaic plant in India, plummeted. Globally, solar-panel costs fell greater than 90% in the course of the previous decade, in response to the Worldwide Renewable Vitality Company.
The Indian authorities’s system of auctioning out photo voltaic initiatives to builders that provided the most affordable electrical energy lowered costs there additional. Aggressive entrepreneurs elbowed in, figuring the federal government’s eagerness to spice up photo voltaic capability coupled with ever-cheaper panels provided a revenue alternative.
Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., whose chief executive, Masayoshi Son, is a solar proponent, set up an energy unit in Delhi across the identical time Mr. Modi introduced his formidable targets. SoftBank snagged its first solar undertaking in half a 12 months. Acme switched its focus to photo voltaic from telecom tools, figuring the business was poised to repeat telecom’s speedy progress. ReNew Energy Ltd., based in 2011, enlisted a roster of blue-chip traders together with Goldman, the Canada Pension Plan {Investment} Board and the Abu Dhabi {Investment} Authority.
As the federal government tendered lots of of megawatts of photo voltaic capability, the value at which photo voltaic builders had been providing to promote their electrical energy roughly halved between 2015 and this 12 months, in response to Bridge to India, a knowledge tracker.
Builders pushed to squeeze all of the revenue they may from initiatives. Within the Bhadla photo voltaic park, the place the Acme plant producing a budget electrical energy is situated, one downside is mud. The plant has 927,180 panels stretched over desert the place sandstorms are widespread and temperatures can swing from over 120 levels Fahrenheit in summer season to almost freezing in winter. If panels aren’t cleaned frequently, mud collects and electrical energy manufacturing declines.
Acme had used sprinklers on tractors pushed by contractors to clean down the panels, a way letting them clear all panels 3 times a month. Final 12 months, it rolled out robots that brush the panels down, doubling the month-to-month cleansing and boosting the utmost quantity of power the plant might produce.
Bottlenecks
As photo voltaic costs sank, some initiatives had been delayed by an absence of transmission traces to ship the electrical energy. Others fell behind due to tussles between villagers, builders and native governments over land—issues dogging development in other countries as well.
Acme and different builders have been hamstrung by a delay in tax and tariff refunds they’d counted on. Lots of fairness received caught, which was deliberate for brand new initiatives,” says Mr. Kashyap, Acme’s president.
ReNew and different corporations have been hit by fee delays from India’s struggling energy distributors, primarily state-owned corporations that purchase electrical energy from producers and promote it to households. India’s Central Electrical energy Authority estimated that as of Nov. 30, renewable-energy corporations had been owed some $1.Three billion in overdue payments.
At anyone time, distributors in roughly 1 / 4 of the eight or 9 states that ReNew Energy operates in are behind on funds, says CEO Sumant Sinha. Though ReNew and different builders issue such fee delays into electrical energy costs they provide when bidding for initiatives, a miscalculation might hit income. Everybody sees delays in funds,” he says.
Some Indian state businesses, hoping photo voltaic costs fall decrease, have canceled photo voltaic auctions after they thought builders had been providing to promote energy at too excessive a worth.
solar-power plant in 2016
Final 12 months, the southern state of Andra Pradesh —which has one of many highest ranges of renewable-energy consumption in addition to one of many largest unpaid payments—threatened to cancel outdated photo voltaic contracts and renegotiate them at decrease costs, sending the business into an uproar.
The Andra Pradesh authorities says paying these larger costs has left its electrical energy distributors in monetary misery, and that it’s attempting to persuade” renewable-energy mills to produce energy at a mutually helpful fee.”
By early 2019, many builders had been beginning to go on photo voltaic auctions, threatening the nation’s aggressive growth timetable. Many builders and analysts now say India is prone to fall behind in reaching its renewable-energy targets.
India is working to take away roadblocks, constructing extra transmission traces and tweaking guidelines governing public sale, growth deadlines and photo voltaic parks to make it simpler to construct vegetation. It’s holding auctions for initiatives bundling photo voltaic with wind energy and electricity-storage capacity to assist even out photo voltaic era’s peaks and troughs. ReNew lately gained one such contract.
And India is contemplating initiatives that bundle current coal vegetation with renewable-energy sources, to assist easy the transition from fossil fuels, says Mr. Kumar, the renewable-energy official.
Specialists like ReNew’s Mr. Sinha say it should seemingly be a number of years earlier than India builds a lot photo voltaic capability that the know-how’s daytime energy surges and nighttime plunges might have an effect on the nation’s total electrical energy provide. By that point, says Mr. Sinha, different new applied sciences equivalent to batteries and techniques for delivery electrical energy could also be obtainable to easy out irregularities.
India has already proven it may possibly develop its photo voltaic capability far quicker than anybody would have anticipated, he says: That isn’t an achievement to be scoffed at.”
Wickremesinghe government had co-sponsored the resolution without consulting the cabinet, parliament and Executive President.
Colombo, February 18 (newsin.asia): The incumbent Gotabaya Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka has decided to withdraw from the co-sponsorship of resolution 30/1 of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Sri Lanka on the grounds that the decision to co-sponsor was fundamentally flawed and lacked legitimacy.
A top official in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office told newsin.asia that the decision to co-sponsor was taken by the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera without consulting the cabinet, the Executive President Maithripala Sirisena and parliament.
In other words, the decision had no mandate. It was because co-sponsorship was resorted to without taking the domestic stakeholders into consideration that the accountability mechanisms demanded by the resolution could not be put in place. The constitution and legal system of Sri Lanka had no place for some of the mechanisms that the then government had committed itself to. It ran into popular opposition. It was because of the lack of mandate that 30/1 of 2015 could not be implemented in the last five years,” the top source explained.
Resolution 30/1 of 2015 was on measures that Sri Lanka should take to address credible” allegations of war crimes” committed by the Lankan armed forces in the closing stages of the 2006-2009 war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It sought a hybrid judicial mechanism with the participation of foreign judges and investigators.
Asked if, after withdrawal from co-sponsorship in the coming (March) session of the UNHRC, the Lankan government will make an effort to get 30/1 cleared by the due democratic process, the source said that the idea is not to rework the resolution but to reject it altogether. Our policy is to seek a closure of the resolution,” he said.
The Sri Lankan government appears to be moving step by step. It expects to negotiate with the US on a wide range of matters which are bedevilling bilateral relations because of the need for good relations. But at the same time, it is keeping its powder dry for a sharper confrontation if push comes to shove in defending national sovereignty.
Although the previous Wickremesinghe government had co-sponsored the resolution, it nevertheless argued at the UNHRC that no war crimes were committed by the Lankan forces, and that any killings that might have taken place, had been inadvertent collateral damage.
However, the then government promised to set up an information gathering and judicial mechanisms as demanded by the resolution. But it did not deliver on any of its commitments because the mechanisms had no political support among the majority of the population. Only the minority Tamils were asking for them.
Facing difficulties and lacking internal consensus (Executive President Sirisena was totally opposed to the resolution and not just to co-sponsorship), the government dragged its feet on implementation and kept seeking from the annual sessions of the UNHRC, more and more time to implement it. Eventually, it ended up doing nothing.
The UNHRC co-sponsorship fiasco was one of the reasons for the unpopularity of the UNF government which in turn led to the defeat of its candidate, Sajith Premadasa, in the November 16 2019 Sri Lankan Presidential election.
The winner of the election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the nationalist Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), decided to tell the West that resolution 30/1 of 2015 was unacceptable at least in parts as the mechanisms demanded had no place in the Lankan constitution. He said that government will try to amend it.
US Arm-Twisting on MCC and SOFA
However, with the US and the West piling pressure on him, and the US trying every trick in the book to get his government to agree to the controversial Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact and the sovereignty-damaging Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the President’s attitude hardened.
The last straw on the camel’s back was the designation of Lankan Army Chief Lt.Gen.Shavendra Silva last week. The General, who is seen by the majority Sinhalese community as a war hero” and his family were barred from entering the US.
The Foreign Office and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena issued statements to express strong objections” to the designation of a war hero like Gen.Silva who had led the campaign to rid Sri Lanka of the scourge of separatism and terrorism.
The Gotabaya government (like the previous government) had vowed that it would not allow its brave soldiers to be dragged before an international tribunal on allegations of war crimes, not based on an independent and impartial inquiry. As Foreign Minister Gunawardena put it, the allegations of indiscriminate killings and extra-judicial killings against Gen.Silva were unproven. He asked the US to conduct a proper inquiry before accepting the allegations made against Gen.Silva and lift the ban on him. He appealed to the US not to create complications in US-Lanka relations.
But the US will not give up its bid to impose the MCC and SOFA on Sri Lanka since it considers both as being essential for containing China within Sri Lanka and in the Indian Ocean. Equally determinedly, the opinion of the majority Sinhalese community is resolutely against entering into the two pacts. The Gotabaya regime, which is sensitive to the opinion of the majority Sinhalese community, has set its face against the two pacts. Therefore the US and Lanka are on a confrontational course.
Search For Common Ground
However, there are faint signs of a search for a meeting ground between the US and Lanka. The US embassy told a local Sunday paper that Gen.Silva’s designation will not hamper US-Lanka military cooperation. This is to keep the door open to SOFA, which is meant to secure for visiting US troops a free run in Sri Lanka with the added privilege of being governed by US and not Sri Lankan laws. And Foreign Minister Gunawardena told American Ambassador Alaina Teplitz that the designation of Gen.Silva should be rescinded to avoid unnecessary complications in Lanka-US relations. Gunawardena was giving the impression that Lanka wants an amicable settlement of the dispute.
These utterances by the two countries keep the door open for settlement. Neither country actually wants an open and prolonged confrontation because they need each other.
Commenting on this, a top Lankan security official said: The US will be more eager to seek a settlement with Sri Lanka than vice versa. In fact the US needs Sri Lanka more than Sri Lanka needs the US.”
As the former Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon put it: Sri Lanka is like a stationary aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean, control over which is necessary for controlling the ocean. The US needs the stationary aircraft carrier to control check China in the region.
Economic Sanctions
As for Sri Lanka, it needs the US to keep its balance of payments position healthy. Europe accounts for 32% of Lanka’s exports and the US and Canada account for 28.1%. Sri Lanka has a huge US$ 2.35 billion trade surplus with the US. With the EU, which is an US ally, Sri Lanka has a trade surplus of US$ 1.4 billion. The US and EU are the topmost markets for Lanka’s small basket of exportable goods. The US and EU together take 86% of Lanka’s apparel exports.
Both the US and EU give duty concessions under GSP and their withdrawal for human rights violations can cost Lanka quite a sum. In 2010, the EU withdrew the GSP Plus concessions from Sri Lanka on human rights grounds but they were restored in 2017 when the situation supposedly improved. This EU facility will be in place till 2023. The US GSP will be in place till the end of 2020.
However, both the US and the EU can withdraw the facility on human rights grounds to twist Colombo’s arms in order to gain some strategic advantage.
However, while withdrawal of the EU GSP Plus will be harmful for Sri Lanka, withdrawal of the US GSP will not have a very adverse impact. 70% Sri Lanka’s total exports to USA, including apparels, is not covered by US GSP facility anyway.
(The featured image at the top shows the UNHRC in session in Geneva)
The government was yesterday urged to investigate what happened to the luxury vehicles purchased by the previous government at a cost of Rs. 2.8 billon when several MPs who were alleged to have used them while they were ministers in the previous administration claimed that they had not used them.
Minister of Power, Mahinda Amaraweera and former ministers Ranjith Aluwihare, Gayantha Karunathilaka, Lucky Jayawardena, Harin Fernando and J. C. Alawathuwala denied that they had got luxury vehicles during the previous government.
Amaraweera said: “The Chief Government Whip Minister Johnston Fernando read only the names of ministries that had purchased the vehicles. I am also accused of having purchased a Mercedes Benz because I headed a Ministry. However I didn’t use any such vehicle and I have already lodged a complaint with the CID, calling for a probe.”
Meanwhile, former minister Mano Ganesan said that 60% of the value of the imported vehicle had gone back to the Treasury. “This too must be considered when valuing these vehicles. The imported vehicles are being used by current ministers.”
JVP MP Nalinda Jayatissa, who raised the oral question that Fernando responded to, said that the government should investigate and find out what had happened to those vehicles. “We urge the Chief Government Whip to reveal the name of the ministers who have ordered these vehicles, the prices and the dates of the purchase.”
A special discussion between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former President Maithripala Sirisena was held this evening at Temple Trees.
The meeting was also attended by senior members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
The prevailing political situation in the country and the forthcoming General Election were among the topics of today’s discussion, according to sources.
SLPP led by Rajapaksa and Sirisena’s SLFP have decided to contest the general election under the alliance – Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya”.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has been named as the Leader of the alliance while former President Maithripala Sirisena will serve as its Chairman.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that his resolution is to transform Sri Lanka as the most favourable country for investments.
Addressing a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat with officials attached to the Ministry of Environment and Wildlife this morning (18), the President declared that Sri Lanka needs to form a legal framework that would safeguard the environment and lead to the development of the country simultaneously.
The President advised all institutions to cooperate with each other in order to amend the acts, rules and regulations that would address the needs of the present day, the PMD reported.
President Rajapaksa added that it was the responsibility of all the state officials to preserve the environment and propose convenient procedures and methodologies for the general public.
The President instructed the officials to be efficient in the issuance of licenses which in return would motivate both local and foreign entrepreneurs and investors.
President Rajapaksa reflected that license sought several years ago for aqua parks in the Northern Province had not been approved even for today. He urged the officials to immediately follow through the procedure to implement these projects without harming the biodiversity.
President stated that the implementation of those aqua parks would create employment opportunities for many and assist in promoting reconciliation among communities.
The President emphasized the importance of establishing laws which would equally preserve the environment and promote the living standards of the people.
Minister M. Chandrasena, State Minister Jayantha Samaraweera, Secretary to the President Dr. P.B. Jayasundara and several other officials were present at the discussion.
There
are 3 pillars of governance in Sri Lanka while the constitution is very clear
that the sovereignty is inalienable from the People of the Country. Therefore,
the President, Parliament & Judiciary all are empowered by the people and
they only enjoy powers delegated to them by the People to function on behalf of
the People and not in their personal interest or their political party
interests. In short it means that the decisions by the 3 pillars must conform
to the interests of the Nation and the Majority of People who live in the
Nation. Several times the previous government made attempts to pass the Land
Special Provisions Act and FR petitions to Supreme Court resulted in verdict
claiming that the consent of the Provincial Councils was required. MCC Review
Committee is restricted by this Court verdict because MCC Agreement 1-33 states
that MCC funding is subject to privatizing State land.
On
28 June 2019 State Lands (Special Provisions) Bill was tabled in Parliament.
Petitions
were filed in the Supreme Court challenging that
the Bill violated provisions of Article 12 (1) of the Constitution
The
Supreme Court determined that State Land (Special Provisions) Bill should be included
in the Order Paper ONLY AFTER the President has sought opinion from the
Provincial Councils as per provisions of Article 154. However the
Wickremasinghe Govt had violated Article 154 by including Bill in Order Paper
without seeking consent of Provincial Councils.
Respecting
the court decision, in August 2019 GoSL withdrew the controversial State Land
(Special Provisions) Bill in Parliament citing that Annex 1-34 could not be
followed.
The
Wickremasinghe Govt said that it intended to give 2.5m land deeds to people
privatizing state land. 2.5m owners cannot take the rights away from 21million
people plus future generations.
Failing
to pass the State Land (Special Provisions) Bill the Wickremasinghe Govt tried
another stunt by bringing Ruhunu
Development Corporation Bill which too was included in the Order Paper. The
Bill proposes to vest the PM with powers to declare any extent of land in districts
of Moneragala, Hambantota, Matara & Galle as economic development zones
through a simple gazette notification and allowed the Ruhunu Economic
Development Corporation the powers to lease or rent the lands to any person or
company for economic development projects. The subtle manner that the Bill was
trying to usurp state land was obvious.
In November 2019 the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) filed a
Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking an interim order
staying all approvals and decisions issued by anyone in respect of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, Status of Forces Agreement
(SOFA) and, Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA).
GMOA claimed
its FR guaranteed under Articles 12(1) and/or 14(1)(h) of the Constitution had
been infringed & continued to be infringed by the Cabinet of Ministers
granting approval for MCC USA.
The
GMOA further said that if the MCC is signed or executed in Sri Lanka it would
erode & impinge the fundamental tenet of Sovereignty of Sri Lanka which the
constitution provides Free, Sovereign & Independent’.
Usurping
Judicial Powers
Unconstitutionality
in removal of judicial powers under Section 6.8 (page 16) of the MCC Agreement for
6years.
Judiciary will
have no powers to adjudicate too – Since MCC is going forward with Bim Saviya
the provision in the Bim Saviya Act No. 21 of 1998 Section 33 says – Entries in the land registry (digital
register) – shall not be questioned by a court of law.
Who will
shoulder legal & economic burden of new Assurance Fund replacing judicial
remedies in event fraudulent deed is entered into digital land registry and
fraudulent owner becomes owner as per digital land registry & real owner is
to get compensation from Government while the nothing happens to the fraudulent
owner who can even sell fraudulently obtained land while tax payers has to
unnecessarily pay an original owner simply because the Govt had foolishly
removed judicial role in remedy.
Usurping
Parliament’s Powers
The peoples‟ power
vested in Parliament being handed over to a private company to act as ‘primary
agent’ – MCA – Sri Lanka for 6 years. MCC Sri Lanka will be created ONLY after signing
MCC (Annex 1 page 34 of MCC) with
legal independence & full decision making autonomy exercising role played
by GoSL & will oversee/manage Bim Saviya & digitalization in targeted
districts.
MCA Sri Lanka is
to be given immunity on par with UN/Diplomats by GoSL for loss, damage, injury
or death (Section 6.8 – page 16 MCC
Agreement)
Land is a key component of a nation’s sovereignty
& national security – how can a
govt privatize land leaving room for foreign ownership, dictated by foreign
laws & immunities to foreigners & even locals on account of judiciary’s
powers getting clipped
MCC Annex 111 even has provision to evaluate how much lands had been sold &
mortgaged – is Sri Lanka’s success being measured on how soon it has privatized
& sold its land?
National
Security Issues related to MCC agreement
To get foreign funding Sri Lanka is
asked to privatize all state land
Disbursement of
MCC funds for land depends on enactment of Land Special Provision Act (LSPA)
All state land
to be registered with absolute land grants completed under a foreign title
registration system (Bim Saviya) passed secretly in 1998 repealing Roman Dutch
law & Common Law practiced for over 100 years.
All lands to be
electronically available via e-registrar.
Foolishly
entering foreign agreements committing to rolling out foreign laws relating to
land simply because it comes with a grant & bogus claims to eliminate
poverty when in reality it will cause bigger problems that GoSL cannot solve as
it has abdicated its powers into foreign hands.
The MCC clauses and other
undisclosed letters mentioned in the agreement cannot be taken lightly or given
to a Committee to determine on behalf of the entire nation & future
generations. We are talking about an agreement with a country that has
militarily intervened in nations, dropped atomic bombs, cluster munitions,
carried out regime change and interfered even in sovereign elections and is
bulldozing their way into countries to grab land & resources. No Committee
can simply stick to the wording of an agreement completely ignoring the
background of the signatory party.
Even in giving a house on rent, the house owner does a thorough background check on the person he/she is leasing his premise to.
There
is much talk of late about Sri Lanka’s education system. It is definitely a
prudent subject as the country’s assets are its citizens and it is the citizens
that must protect and preserve the country & all that it stands for. In
discussing the subject we first need to be aware of some ground realities and
fundamentals.
The
education system we follow today is what we have inherited from colonial rule.
Essentially, it was a system aimed to usurp the nationalist feelings of the
people and align them towards western values and create groups of brown sahibs
to take over once colonials left. With all that it is a wonder that we have
managed to preserve the Sinhala identity, cultures and traditions all these
years and there are still youngsters amongst us who feel proud to continue it
to the next generations.
Education cannot remove Sri Lanka’s
History
This
trait of pride in one’s nation, one’s history & heritage must be embedded
into the education system as the older generations that passed on their tales
of pride are departing leaving only what is written to carry the beacon
forward. Which is why the education system must ensure that the proud history
& heritage of Sri Lanka must be rolled out to all types of schools
(public/international/semiprivate) in any medium of education (Sinhala, Tamil,
English)
Is
this being addressed by the current text books. Hardly so, there are
inconsistencies in the history texts, governments and officials have been
tweaking history to their advantage, committees have not monitored and
corrected the mistakes. Therefore, a patriotic panel must first be appointed to
take history books from all grades in all mediums and ensure the correct
history is printed and circulated and not the history to satisfy the fairy
tales of some or their political agendas.
What ails Sri Lanka’s present
education system?
Memorizing not Learning: Should we continue this form of education system or
should we phase out a change at all grades?
Every change of govt results in change of education
system: every minority alliance
deems it their right to change education system. Every minister changes system
to his/her whims & fancies – this must stop.
How updated are textbooks & teachers? Is school syllabus regularly updated and in keeping
with the changes happening locally & globally?
School standards: Do all schools have the basic standards? No changes to education
system can be rolled out if fundamentals in all schools are not equal.
How equipped are schools? Do all schools have similar lab facilities /
computers or is it true some schools lack even a basic school building/clean
toilets/chairs and desks in good condition/electricity and electric systems to
use multimedia etc
Quality of Teachers: How many of todays’ teachers be they in
public/private/international schools are trained to teach and love to teach or
are they only teachers for a job? How many teachers are actually qualified to
teach / how many teachers enjoy teaching/how many teachers are able to uplift
the students, guide, counsel & motivate them?
What do exams aim at? Are exams structured to test the knowledge or do
examiners want to ensure students fail because governments cannot afford to
have students qualifying beyond a number?
Lack of essential life skills (handiwork/first aid/basics for everyday/hygiene
expanded to teaching how to grow plants/love animals etc depending on the
grade) these essential life skills must be included to school learning hours.
Teach them basic everyday conversation skills – Tamil
for Sinhalese & Muslims / Sinhalese for Tamils & Muslims. Leave out heavy writing and reading. Stick to basic
conversational skills so all can communicate and there onwards leave it to them
to advance what they know.
Grooming sessions – how to dress/ eat / cultural values / respect for
elders etc
English language basics to write / read / understand
/ habit of reading newspapers & referring dictionary & practical
sessions to regularly practice as this is more than sufficient to carry forward
to world of work – this is more than
enough for any child to build up their English to higher levels.
Study education systems of countries but don’t just
cut & paste it to Sri Lanka – fine tune it to suit Sri Lanka
Why do parents want a good education
for their children?
Every
parent wants their child to pass at least the minimum level to qualify them to
do a job, to continue further studies or engage in any entrepreneurial activity
to suit their talent.
With
that education the parents expect the child to learn his/her mother tongue, an
additional language that will assist their job and the ability to excel in a
subject that can help them rise in life. This is why it is important that the
syllabus of important subjects like Maths, Science, Commerce etc be updated so
that students are learning areas that are not outdated.
Why does a
Govt need an educated society?
Sri Lanka has 10,194 government schools
with 4.1million children and 241,591 teachers. 167,907
qualified to gain admission to university in 2018 but only 31,451 students were
admitted.
4.1million children attend school
(3million
Sinhala / 1million Tamil / 84,720 in English)
National schools represent a mere 3.5% of all schools, but
almost 19.5% of students are in national schools.
9% of schools have less than 5 teachers
14.6% of schools have less than 50 students & just over 5000
have less than 200 students.
Medium of instruction in Schools –
Sinhala only 6,332 (62%)
Tamil only 3,009
Sinhala & Tamil 75
Sinhala & English 558
Tamil & English 173
Sinhala, Tamil & English 47
There are 241,591 teachers
Graduate teachers 106,756
Trained teachers 129,638 – Teachers qualified with teacher Training colleges/ National Colleges of Education certificates and teachers having 2 years’ diploma in Science/Mathematics
Untrained teachers 3,311 – 2-3 years’ diploma holders (absorbed to Sri Lanka Teacher Service)
Trainee teachers 1,293 – Teachers not absorbed to Sri Lanka Teacher Service
Other teachers 593 – Teachers paid by other government institutes and teachers paid by nongovernment institutes / organizations.
About 97.9 % of the teachers in government schools are either graduates or trained teachers.
Only 1.8% students in Sri
Lanka study in English medium & 30% live in Western province.
Of the 10,194 government schools only 5,643 schools have
computer facility (55%) – 69% of this 5643 schools is in the Western Province.
There are 10,194 government schools
241,591 teachers & 416,5964 students.
There are 80 private schools of which
36 are fee-levying with 6555 teachers & 136,462 students.
There
are 265 international schools with 56,919 students & 4927 teachers.
Now let’s look at the results: 2018
518,184
sat for O/L – 71.66% qualified to do A/L
9413
students scored 9As for O/L
321,469 sat
for A/L – 167,907 students gained admission to university
No. of Universities – 15
No.
of Other Higher Educational Institutions – 19
No. of Students (Undergraduates) 2018
Universities
– 94,681
Institutes
– 3,633
Open
University – 24,453
No.
of Students (Postgraduate) – 32,849
New admissions for degree – 31,451
students
No.
of Lecturers – 5,940
Only
1,176 enter to do medicine
Only
1,713 enter to do engineering
In 2018, 167,907 qualified to gain admission to university but only 31,451
students entered – what was left for 136,456 to do? Some would have gone
overseas, some would have followed a private course, some would have given up
studies and gone into employment etc.
EMPLOYMENT
5million
in private sector & according to World Bank contributes more than 60% to
Sri Lanka’s GDP of which 20% comes from the service sector.
437,797 unemployed in 2019 – about 45,000-50,000 unemployed graduates.
Public and semi government sector employees, exceeds 1.3 million (government ministries, departments, provincial councils,
and local government institutions as well as other public enterprises,
government-owned institutions, and state banks – 2017)
(5.5% of total population)
This excludes uniformed
staff of the three forces: Army, Navy and air Force)
84,000 public sector employees are above 55 years out of which
about 61,000 are currently employed in either the state or the Provincial
Public Sector.
190,498 public sector employees or 17
percent employees have not passed the GCE (O/L) examination.
290,378 graduates employed in public
and semi government sectors.
A
total of 225,000 or one out of five are working in the Colombo district.
More
than 60% of public and semi government employees report the ability to use a
computer but only 36% use computers to perform their official duties.
The difference in English education
& Education in English
Census of Population and Housing data indicate that English
literacy is just 22% among Sri Lanka’s population above 15 years of age.
When there is not sufficient English teachers to teach in all of
the national schools and when the standard of that English is also not up to
mark in what context are some proposing to conduct all subjects in the English
medium? What is the standard of the 35,000 English teachers already
teaching in English across Sri Lanka?
Are all public schools on par in terms of facilities
(infrastructure / facilities / teachers etc)
Are economic conditions of students/parents able to pay for
additional English education books etc?
Do we really need all subjects to be in English or should the
English subject taught be taught well so that by end of O/L or at least grade 8
a child knows to read, write and understand English well enough to improve as
he/she progresses?
What authorities cannot do is to remove the status given to the
mother tongue – Sinhalese and Tamil language must remain first medium of
language for all children & compulsory learning. No system change or
English proposal can change or remove the mother language status.
Is this proposal for English education in all subjects one that
subtly intends to import foreigners to teach English and draft their own
syllabus and completely culturally change our children returning to the
education format of colonial rule? Given the impossibility of rolling such a
proposal across Sri Lanka given the lack of facilities and basic standards in
schools, is this not going to create a social divide with the have’s on a
higher pedestal to have nots and causing more social stigma and divisions
resulting in more chaos?
What is obvious in the reaction of the Tamils against the army chief is that they recognize his role in the defeat of the Tamil terrorist group the LTTE, which they identified with and supported and resent him for the military defeat of the LTTE. To them, he is a villain, to those who oppose the LTTE he is a hero. Non-LTTE supporters in Sri Lanka should express their opinion that they recognise the great service he gave Sri Lanka. That should be the reaction of all Sri Lankans who did not and do not support the LTTE and they are the majority of Sri Lankans.
The current leadership of the Tamils were the spokespersons for the LTTE during the thirty years of terrorist activity and continue to work towards their goal of dividing Sri Lanka to create their fascist, Tamil only state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. They continue to collect funds and are politically active overseas to get the countries they live in to pressure Sri Lanka to create Eelam. Based on the current statements of the Tamil leadership in Sri Lanka, it is clear that they continue to push for their goal of dividing Sri Lanka. The LTTE supporters in Sri Lanka and overseas have not given up on their goal to create Eelam.
For Sri Lankans who do not want Tamil Eelam, they should support military leaders such as Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and commend the current government for continuing to give him a leadership role in defending the country.
Wigneswaran is happy and openly commented that he is happy as the U.S banned our Army Commander and his family to United State soil. Wigneswaran’s behavior at this moment needs to be deeply studied and find out more about his comment and behavior. He is has a political road map which is to gain control of the north as a separate land from the country and make it as their homeland for Tamils. It is only a dream which will never come true and the reason for that is quite clear. In terms of releasing that land from the terror groups, our soldiers sacrificed their lives, politicians, religious leaders and many. So we have buried many lives for the sovereignty of this country and its territorial integrity. So Mr. Wigneswaran, you need to understand the importance of being a patriot to our motherland rather than a traitor. Mr. Wigneswaran himself and his allies work hard on many fronts. they as such
Calling United Nations to intervene
Invite United Stated to intervene
Igniting Tamil diaspora protest against the country
Bribing western politicians by Tamil voters of their countries e.g. Canada, England, the United States, France, etc.
Influence Tamil people of the country through political influences
Make every effort and plotting to undermine national security and promote democracy and religious harmony through and to maintain political mileage.
Try to bring United National Party into power to gain their political/separatist formula
Doing nothing to uplift poor Tamil people’s livelihood and refrain from the development effort of north and east.
Out of all behaving and acting like a person not belong to Sri Lanka while enjoying all the benefits of Tax money of poor people of the country.
Mr. Wigneswarn thinks that the people of this country not aware of all of the above.
We urge president Excellency Gotabhaya to understand this man’s behavior and do as much as possible to develop north and east and uplift the livelihood of Tamil people and their living. The president of this country is responsible for the public and improving their lives. We all lucky to have him as the president of this country. Sri Lanka is a beautiful country with much potential to have balance development ( I mean considering environment ) comparing to other countries in the region.
If we allow the Law and Order to flourish and where people
starting to obey the law, we would have a much disciplined and developed Sri
Lanka.
We need to have road speed limits and road signs to implement vigorously to minimize road accidents.
I penned these few
humorous (hope so) verses in the hope that they would take your mind away, at
least for a few moments, from ‘the maddening, never-ending chronicles of conspiracy
and corruption’ in present-day Sri Lanka.
Once upon a time in hell, There was this devil, Who being a unique model, Liked to play it a bit level.
One day he hopped on a gale, And set sail, Seeing the world at will, With glee and smile.
Then he saw a small isle, Sitting in the middle, Of a vast pool of blue, And green, yet, a little pale.
Down he landed with a chuckle, And now in disguise like a local, Started walking the isle, Enjoying the vile and beaming at the evil.
Now he came upon a small castle, Standing by this beautiful canal, And saw many, in the white national, Going in, some old, some young and agile.
Intrigued entered the king of evil, Whispering to the men at the door ‘I am the devil’, And showed some of his tail, Adding a vicious snarl.
They were scared like hell, Caught in a hypnotic spell, And let His Majesty the evil, Walk in with no hassle.
Looking down many an aisle, He went to the end of the hall, Sat down with a chuckle, And listened to all that babble and cackle.
Suddenly broke loose all hell, Men young and old running pell-mell, And as they began to whistle and wrestle, Stood up our devil saying ‘what the hell’.
He jumped in the middle, Bellowing ‘I am the Devil’, Yelling ‘stop the tussle, Behave you demons well’.
Then he felt the tickle and the tugging, And nervously felt for his tail, Suddenly turning very pale, Looking like a chalk-white devil.
For there was only a hole, And finding no sign of his tail, He ran out letting out a devilish howl, And a mournful wail.
No one heard him yell, For the ruckus was still going well, And for the one with the devils’ tail, It was a talisman to keep away the Devil.
Now on his way back to the hell, The one who was, once a fair devil, Lost his devilish cool, Screamed, ‘never again to this bloody isle’.
So here ends the tale, Of the poor devil, Who went back to hell, Without his thorny tail.
The message – Even
‘the Devil’ is not safe in this ‘land like no other’!
By Daya Dissanayake/DailyFT-Harmony Page Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Man has become the most harmful invasive species in the world
Going back to the worship of nature could be the best solution to bring about real peace and harmony among all life on earth. We can worship nature, not in the way it was interpreted by our early anthropologists, based on their education and experience of a creative omnipotent god. We should worship nature the way we worship our parents and our gurus. Then we can still adhere to our faith, be it Buddha, Hindu, Jaina Dharma, Christianity, Islam or Judaism.
In the beginning, there would have been only nature worship, with Mother Earth as the Mother Goddess. The Great Mother was the Mother of all life in the multiverse. Human beings would have been totally non-violent, as they would have gathered their fruits and vegetables without hurting any living creature.
The new religions, even though all of them professed peace and co-existence, and the gods were all benevolent, they created conflicts and competition and the ruling classes exploited them to gain more and more power and wealth, by inciting man against nature and his own brother.
It is time to go back to the worship of our environment. When we worship the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars, when we worship rain and the rivers, the trees and the mountains, we do not have to fight with each other because all nature belongs to all of us and we belong to nature. We are all children of Mother Earth. We are still worshipping many trees, rivers and mountains and rocks as sacred. Nature worship is not new or alien to us.
All our worries, our concerns about the ecosystem, eco-destruction and eco-criticism are all because in our anthropocentric arrogance we believe that we, human beings, are omnipotent, omniscient and the entire universe is there to serve us because we believe that we created god in our own image. It is time we realised that we are only predatory parasites on the skin of Mother Earth. Predatory as we prey on each other, and parasitic as we feed on Mother Earth
Mother Earth
Please listen to my ramblings here with an open mind. I respect all life on Mother Earth, including the seven billion human beings and all other animal beings. I also respect and accept that all beings have a right to believe in and practice their religions and traditions. Intentionally I will not insult or hurt the feelings of anyone.
We are all children of Mother Earth. Mother Earth gave us life. She nourishes us, provides all our needs while we are alive, and receives our bodies back into her. We come from her and go back into her. It is our life cycle, which may have given rise to a belief in rebirth and samsara.
That is why our ancestors worshipped Mother Earth as Mother Goddess, and held her as most sacred. Our biological Mother is the next most sacred. She is our Mother Earth at home. We all worship Mother Earth and thus all Nature. We call our land of birth as Motherland. You call her Bharath Mata. Worship of Mother Goddess goes back to the Harappan civilisation or even further back. Buddhists call Mother as the Buddha at home. There is Mother worship in almost all other religions, because She is the life-giver. Among the Jains we find Padmavathi, Ambika and even Thrishala Devi. Christians worship, Holy Mary, Mother of Jesus. In Sri Lanka we also worship Kannaki as goddess Pattini.
When we worship Mother Earth, we have to realise and accept that all that is on Earth is part of her, and belongs to her. She is the Mother of all life. Thus all our environment, our entire eco-system is Mother Earth, Gaia, the living earth.
Predatory Parasites
All our worries, our concerns about the ecosystem, eco-destruction and eco-criticism are all because in our anthropocentric arrogance we believe that we, human beings, are omnipotent, omniscient and the entire universe is there to serve us, because we believe that we created god in our own image. It is time we realised that we are only predatory parasites on the skin of Mother Earth. Predatory as we prey on each other, and parasitic as we feed on Mother Earth.
Man has become the most harmful invasive species in the world, from the time our ancestors began walking on their hind legs, using the forelegs for destruction and started migrating all over the world. Man became Bhasmasura. We try to deceive ourselves that Vishnu made him destroy himself. But he keeps coming back and will destroy Brahma and Mother Earth before he finally destroys himself.
Earthquakes are really Mother Earth writhing in pain as we keep on molesting her. Lava flowing from volcanoes is her blood from her injuries. We have to stop molesting her, and go back to worshipping her.
Dr. Shruti Das, tells us in her poem, ‘Of Mountains’:
I bled
when you tore my skin
and broke deeper.
The kind wind sucked away my blood
and your angry tools drowned my agony.
Yes, you could not reach up.
So you pulled me down.”
Worship Nature
We can worship nature, not in the way it was interpreted by our early ethno-centric anthropologists, but the way we worship our religious leaders, our parents, our teachers and our elders. Then we can still adhere to our faith, whether it be Hindu Dhamma, Buddha Dhamma, Islam or Sufi Dhamma, or Christu Dhamma.
We are all worshipping nature and Mother Earth, unconsciously or unintentionally, when we worship a statue, a building, a mountain or a rock, because they are all a part of nature, all made of what belongs to Mother Earth. All we have to do now, is to worship them intentionally.
In the beginning there would have been only nature worship, with Mother Earth as the Mother Goddess. Human beings would have been totally non-violent, as they would have gathered their fruits and vegetables without hurting any living creature. They would have been like the butterfly who taps the nectar from a flower without hurting the flower in any way. Early man, like all animals would have plucked a fruit or two to feed his hunger, but would not have shaken the tree down to make all the fruits fall, or cut down the tree for easy plucking of a few fruits.
Nature developed a really well-balanced ecosystem, which would always be in equilibrium, except for any geographical, climatic or biological changes, but getting back to a stable state very soon. Nature too follows Patticca samuppada, variously translated as Dependent co-arising, dependent origination or interdependent origination. In nature studies they are called cycles. Rain cycle, oxygen cycle and carbon dioxide cycle. All three cycles depend on trees. Trees depend on water, sunlight and carbon dioxide. Thus the trees depend on animals for the carbon dioxide, and the sun for energy and operating the water cycle. In India the worship of trees go back at least for 5,000 years, based on the evidence of the seals found at the Harappan sites. We still worship the same tree, as Asvattha or the Bodhi tree.
Bodhgaya, had been a sacred grove, long before Buddha attained enlightenment there. And Sujatha would have offered khir to Siddhartha Goutama, beliving him to be a tree deity. Recent archaeological excavations revealed that Lumbini too had been a sacred grove, where deep under the Maya Devi temple they have found probable evidence of pre-Buddhist tree worship.
It could have been a place of worship of a tree goddess or a Mother goddess, a symbol of Motherhood, for fertility and safe childbirth, and the sacred tree could have been a Sal or Asoka. In that case the space would have been appropriated at a later date, as a Buddhist sacred space with Buddha’s mother, Maya Devi as a Mother goddess, or a symbol of Motherhood.
Cosmic Tree
This sacred Asvattha tree is also called the ‘Cosmic Tree’, the axis mundi.
The rishis know of the tree Ashvattha
Rooted in heaven, its trunk growing earthwards,
Its leaves, each one, bringing forth the Vedas,
he who knows this, knows all.
(Bhagavad Gita XV, verse 1)
Krishna said, Ashvattha sarva-vrksanam..” (of all trees, I am the Ashvattha), (text 26, Chap. 10 Vibhuti-yoga, Bhagavad Gita)
Ashvattha is Vishnu. They are not two but one. The roots growing upwards is Parameshwara, the branches growing down is Maha Brahma, the leaves are the Vedas, and the trunk is the Samsara. Thus it is also called the Samsaravruksha and also Brahmavruksha’.
Mahabharata, Yea! for its leaves – Are green and waving hymns which whisper Truth! – Who knows the Asvatta, knows Vedas, and all”.
The Bo tree would have been held in high esteem because of its medicinal and life-giving powers, which were known in all countries where the tree was found. In our country, where herbal medicine had been in use for several thousand years, its value would have been known to our ancient physicians, like Ravana. When the bark, the leaves or the roots of a majestic ‘vanaspathi’ heals an illness, or saves a life, people would show their gratitude and respect for it.
Trees absorb carbon dioxide exhaled by animals, and also by man’s destructive acts. Trees release oxygen, which is needed by all living beings. Trees play a major role in the water cycle. We are totally dependent on plant life, even if we consider ourselves carnivores.
Plants Deserve To Be Worshipped
Often the Buddhists today do not practice what they believe in. Even the Theravada Buddhists today believe there had been 27 previous Buddhas, and that they had all attained enlightenment under a particular tree. If the Asvatta is sacred because Gautama Buddha sat under this tree, then the other 21 different trees should also be sacred, and should be respected and worshipped. They should never be cut down or destroyed. That could save half the forest cover in Buddhist countries.
There is a custom among the Hindu community in Sri Lanka, to plant a tree when a person dies. In our villages we had a custom of planting a tree when a child is born. These customs would have developed because a tree is a very prominent and a more permanent symbol of life.
In India we had three types of forests: Shrivan, Tapovan and Mahavan. Today we think that it is man-made plantations that gives us wealth and prosperity. There is no Shrivan around our villages to give us sustenance. We destroyed our ancient Tapovan and built concrete ashrams for meditation. Mahavan has been replaced by megacities and mega industries.
Let me quote a poem by a Sri Lankan Tamil poet, Karunakaran, translated by Somasunderampillai Pathmanathan:
The children
who used to scare parrots
that steal corn
are now toiling
with cement and metal
building a concrete desert
on the one-time paddy land…..”
I have always believed that there is a lot we can learn from King Asoka. Aśoka’s concern about the nature, the environment and natural resources is seen in the Delhi-Topra Pillar Edict. dāve anathāyq vā vihisāye vā no jhāpetaviye” forests must not be burnt either uselessly or in order to destroy (living beings).
It is only when at some time in history man tasted carrion, probably during a famine, that he got a liking for it and began to kill animals for his food. The killing brought out the violence and sadistic nature in man. Animal breeding caused a greater demand for animal feed, causing greater forest clearing and monoculture plantations.
(To be continued in the 22 February edition of the Harmony page.)
(The above was a plenary paper presented by the writer, at the International Conference on Language, Literature and the Anthropocene, held at the Berhampur University, India, in December 2019.The writer is an award-winning bilingual Sri Lankan novelist, poet and blogger. His work spans a critical study of King Ashoka, nine novels in English, six novels in Sinhala and a collection of poems, and numerous articles in newspapers, journals and magazines. He is the author of the first e-novel in Asia, ‘The Saadhu Testament’ (1998), and the first e-novel in Sinhala, ‘Vessan Novu Wedun’ (2003). He is the only Sri Lankan writer to receive the Sri Lankan State Literary Award for the best English novel thrice and was awarded the SAARC Literary Award in 2013. He considers himself a student of history and is currently working on a series of writings on the worship of trees, mountains and rivers.)
Exam results are excellent but teacher R.M.Vasanthi feels the absence of financial rewards and job security.
Kotagala, February 15 (DailyFt.Harmony Page): R.M. Vasanthi is a Sinhalese lady who has very successfully taught Sinhala language to Tamil school kids in Kotagala, a plantation area in Central Sri Lanka for 13 years.
Here is Vasanthi’s story in her own words: I am a Sinhalese. I teach Sinhala as a volunteer teacher at the Kotagala Tamil Maha Vidyalaya. I have been the Sinhala teacher of this school for the past three years. These Tamil children are keen learners of Sinhala as their second language and this school currently has a 100% pass out rate for Sinhala for O/L exams.”
The Kotagala Tamil Maha Vidyalaya has got the best pass rate for Sinhala in the entire Nuwara Eliya district. Our students get As and Bs for Sinhala. Only around one student per year gets C which is the lowest grade we have got for Sinhala. I am employed and paid Rs. 10,000 per month for my teaching by the School Development Society. I hardly take the two days of leave that are allocated to me per month. But if I take more than two days of leave I have to take a salary cut.”
My whole teaching experience so far is 26 years. Before being assigned to the Kotagala TMV as the Sinhala teacher, I taught Sinhala at a tea plantation estate primary school in Kotagala for 13 years. I also teach Buddhism for Sinhala Buddhist students of all grades, at the C. Sariputhra Daham Pasala in Kotagala as a volunteer teacher. I am paid Rs. 5,000 a year for this service, and given an official uniform.”
I have three children. The oldest is doing her O/L’s. My husband is a security guard at the Rosita farm in Kotagala. We do not have a house of our own. My husband works for just Rs. 600 a day just so we can stay at the small quarters given by this workplace. If he is asked to leave this job at any point, we will have to go to the streets. Who can we tell all these troubles to?”
I am trying hard to be a permanent teacher with a better salary for the work I do. I love teaching Sinhala as a second language for Tamil students and I have proven my skills as a teacher where the lowest mark the children get is a C.”
When I did my A/L in the arts stream at the St. Gabriel Balika Vidyalaya in Hatton I had to walk over eight kilometres to and from school. These are arduous plantation areas. It was with utmost difficulty that I did my schooling and as a result I could pass only one subject. My parents were labourers in the tea estates. We struggled terribly with poverty and hunger. All I want now is to be a full-time teacher with a reasonable salary.”
Over 10 years ago I sat for the competitive exam for those who want to get a permanent job as teachers. The prerequisites were that the applicant had to have a degree or be associated with a Government-related job, which I was. I passed that exam. But when I faced the final interview I did not get a permanent teaching post. I do not know why. I have made appeals to the former Government.”
I hope someone answers the pleas of people such as us. It is after braving incredible odds in life that we do our service as Sri Lankans.”
It is with great joy that I teach these Tamil children who show such a great keenness to learn the Sinhala language. I know the value of learning the languages of this country. I have studied Tamil and I interact well with these Tamil children who are committed to braving life through education.”
The US move is seen as arm twisting to get Sri Lanka to sign into the MCC compact and SOFA
Colombo, February 17: It is an indisputable fact that the United States uses human rights not for humanity’s sake but to further its strategic interests across the world. It’s recognition of human rights violations or its blindness to them is determined by its strategic needs.
For example, to retain India as a strategic partner in its fight against emerging eastern power China, the US is turning a blind eye to Narendra Modi’s oppression of the Kashmiris, the lynching of Muslims and the anti-Muslim citizenship law in India. Modi, who was barred from the US after the Gujarat anti-Muslim carnage in 2002, was white washed after he became India’s Prime Minister and signaled a pro-US tilt. The US ignored the 2002 carnage and lifted the ban on him. That the US is highly biased in its application of human rights principles is evident in the way it tolerates gross violations by the Saudi and Israeli governments.
On Thursday, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo banned the entry of the Sri Lankan army chief Lt.Gen.Shavendra Silva into the US, for allegedly committing war crimes” when he was one of the frontline commanders of the army in the last phase of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.
It is noteworthy that the ban should come eleven years after the war and when there is a government in Colombo which is branded in the West as pro-China”.
Though the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva was seized of the issue of war crimes” in Lanka from 2009, there was no punitive action against Lanka between 2015 and 2019 when there was a pro-West government in Colombo headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. In fact, between 20015 and 2019, the annual resolutions of the UNHRC on Lanka became progressively mild.
MCC and SOFA
The US got the Wickremesinghe regime to seriously consider entering the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) to digitalize land records with the ultimate aim of making private land saleable to foreigners. But this was bitterly opposed by Lankan nationalists. Despite opposition, the Wickremesinghe government got cabinet approval for the MCC. However, it could not implement the decision because it lost the November 2019 Presidential election to the nationalist candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Gotabaya government put the decision on hold and set up a committee to study the MCC’s compact from the Sri Lankan angle and also its performance in other countries.
The other pact which the US tried to push down Lankan throats was the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and an expanded version of the already existing Access and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA). When the details came out, Sri Lankan nationalists were up and arms. SOFA and the new ACSA severely abridged Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. US troops coming to and operating in the island were to be governed by US and not Sri Lankan laws. The Gotabaya government completely rejected SOFA leaving the US peeved.
Pressure To Sign MCC and SOFA
The US State Department then sent Alice Wells to apply pressure on President Gotabaya to accede to the MCC and SOFA in toto, but the Lankan President stuck to his guns.
With the UNHRC to begin its session in late February, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thought the moment was opportune to manifestly and tellingly twist Colombo’s arm by announcing the designation of Lt.Gen Shavendra Silva.
Tamils Welcome Ban
While the majority Sinhalese are irked by the ban on a war hero” who rid the country of terrorism, the minority Tamils have welcomed it. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) issued a statement recalling that it had, in August 2019 itself, condemned Lt. Gen. Silva’s appointment as Army Commander due to allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations against him.
The TNA said that it hopes that the ban will open the eyes of the Lankan Government, which had opposed taking accountability measures even ten years after the war. We consider this as a minor improvement as a result of continuous protests by the war-affected Tamil people,” the TNA said
Hostility in Colombo
However, the majority Sinhalese and the government deplored the ban as a violation of Lankan sovereignty and that too on specious grounds. US Ambassador Allaina B. Teplitz was summoned by Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on Sunday to be told about Lanka’s displeasure.
A press release from the Foreign Ministry said: The Government reiterates that Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva was appointed as the Commander of the Army by the then Head of State, taking into account his seniority and that there were no substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him. His elevation as the Acting Chief of Defense Staff by the current Head of State President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was on account of his being the senior most serving military officer.”
While the timing of the imposition of this travel restriction 6 months after Lt. Gen. Silva’s appointment as Army Commander is of concern, it is disappointing that a foreign government should question the prerogative of the democratically elected President to call upon persons with proven expertise to hold key positions on national security related matters.”
The Government of Sri Lanka requests the United States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information and to review its decision,” it added.
UNHRC Session
The Sunday Times said that it was significant that the ban should come days before the UNHRC was to issue its report on Sri Lanka. The UNHRC report is expected to call for an International Court of Inquiry” to probe alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
The US had designated Gen. Silva on the basis of credible information” of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial killings, by the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s Civil War in 2009. Pompeo made the declaration under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.
But the Lankan Foreign Ministry said the charges against Gen.Silva were based not on independently verified information but on unverified” information.
They had been compiled, not on the basis of a filed study by independent observers, but on accounts of refugees and Tamil politicians with a vested interest. While the UN and Western agencies had said that 40,000 to 70,000 had been killed in the last phase of the war, government censuses commissions of inquiry put the death toll at around 8000. The latter estimate is more or less borne out by the fact that out of the population of 300,000 in the war zone, 290,000 had been evacuated and housed in camps on the border of the war zone.
Meanwhile, in the UN Security Council, Lankan Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne said that the actions of the Sri Lankan security forces during the conflict were against a group designated as a terrorist organization by many countries (including the US), and even described as ruthless by some. They were not aimed at any community in the country.
She spoke about the modus operandi of suicide attacks adopted by the LTTE, which for the first time in history, deliberately targeted civilians using its human bombs.
Consequences
In an email to the Sunday Times the US embassy in Colombo said the ban on Gen.Silva does not place additional restrictions on security assistance or military engagement in Sri Lanka nor does it represent a shift in policy or desire to limit engagement more broadly with the government and people of Sri Lanka”.
It will not have any impact on military-to-military cooperation such as training and joint operations, economic/technical assistance and trade, the embassy added. But Sri Lankans wonder how cooperation is possible if their army chief was humiliatingly designated?
Advantage For China
The designation of the Lankan army chief, who is considered a war hero in the 30 year battle against Tamil terrorism, will gravely damage America’s relations with Sri Lanka, where no political party of the majority Sinhalese community will support a measure which will harm their interests.
Deemed as a hostile act, the designation will nullify any prospect of the US succeeding in getting the Sri Lankan government to sign the MCC SOFA pacts, which the US has been very keen on to get control over Sri Lanka’s land and security.
The designation will be counterproductive also on account of the fact that it will drive Sri Lanka further into the hands of China which is America’s Number One enemy in the Indian and the Pacific Ocean region. And when Sri Lanka veers more towards China, it will be disadvantageous to India also given its deep strategic interest in the island nation.
(The featured picture above shows Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena talking to US Ambassador Alaina Tiplitz)
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will contest the upcoming general election under the alliance – Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya”.
SLPP General Secretary Attorney-at-Law Sagara Kariyawasam stated that the alliance will contest the election under the symbol of the ‘flower bud’ (Pohottuwa).
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has been named as the Leader of the alliance while former President Maithripala Sirisena will serve as its Chairman.
Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa has been named as the General Secretary of the new alliance while minister Dinesh Gunawardena has been named as Deputy Chairman.
Minister Wimal Weerawansa and State Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara have been named as the National Organisers of the alliance with MP Udaya Gammanpila serving as Vice Secretary and Mahinda Amaraweera and Deputy Secretary.
Tissa Vitharana, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and D.E.W. Gunasekara have been named as Vice Chairmen of the alliance.
Speaking to reporters outside the Elections Secretariat in Colombo, Kariyawasam stated that they handed over the relevant documents to the Elections Commission today (17) in order to register the political alliance.
He said the alliance will be named ‘Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya’ and confirmed that it will contest under the symbol of the ‘flower bud’, which is the symbol of the SLPP.
SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara stated that the alliance is formed by the SLPP, SLFP and 9 other political parties.
He said that SLPP will be the main constituent party of the alliance and that the SLFP signed as the second political party.
