Dr. Mervyn D. De Silva Former Director, Plan Implementation Ministry and Ex SLFP National List MP
A few weeks ago a select group
of opposition academics sought a frank, analytical, constructively critical,
discussion with the author on the prevailing threats to democracy and its
tradition, the creaking edifices of our hallowed institutions, and the rapid
erosion of time honored codes and practices that ensures a vibrant democracy
and good governance.
Called upon to enlighten them
with a broad overview of the issues facing the country that have serious
consequences for the future and, the present as well, the focus got directed
towards the multiplicity of acts of omission and commission ever since the
country attained independence 65 years ago. Most of what was explained verbally
is incorporated into the content of this article, expanded, in the sincere hope
that it will throw some light and, will be of some use, in stimulating the
minds and hearts of politicians and the public in general.
Unmistakably, there is an
urgent need to look at the problems that have risen in practically every sector
of government and society clinically, and bring in a whole raft of reformatory
changes that are honest, rational, sincere, and radical in the
politico-socio-economic arena. Since the word radical” is used very much in
the rhetorical outburst, freely and loosely in fact, from many a political
platform, the need to define its context in which it is advocated and used
throughout this article, becomes necessary. The word ‘radical’ as both a noun
and an adjective, the derivative of which are radicalization, radicality, and
radicalise are relatively recent words. The word ‘radical’ itself is derived
from the word ‘radix’ which means the root, whose initial sense pertains to the
roots of a thing or a being.
Accepting this definition and
slant of the word, it is abundantly clear that our country, 65 years
independent requires radical reform and changes by approaching all the created
problems, and the issues, and the inconsistencies at their very source, making
a clean sweep of all skewed interpretations and irrational practices built into
the system. There has to be concurrently, a clean sweep of worn out strategies
and prejudices, habits, view points, and opinions in our programmed collective
minds and institutions. But, most importantly, attention must be focused on the
state of our democracy and, the three arms, the executive, the legislature, and
judiciary that jointly have been ordained to ensure that there is good, just,
and fair governance for the benefit of all the people.
Any keen student of
social-economics and politics who takes the troubles to feel the pulse of the
masses particularly, that of the skeptical and restless younger generation,
can’t escape admitting the fact that people have many unhealed wounds and woes
and that it is reaching the point where they can’t tolerate it any longer. They
are fed up with politicians, their arrogance, their life styles and indeed, how
they manage the government. As the task of putting into paper the whole gamut
of what transpired during the discussion and the litany of all the people’s
woes, demands, and frustrations, the author settled to put it down in a
summarized form as given below:
They, the people, are disillusioned or disaffected, by the old styled politics where political power is just what money can buy, and thus, the quality and calibre of those who come forward as candidates at every election is questionable.
They are fed up and suspicious of the manifestoes they offer and,
the policies there in, of the two major parties. They detest the manner in
which they relegate such manifestoes and promises to the limbo of forgotten
things in no time.
They are angry that the major parties have demonstrated an abysmal
lack of political morality and never attempted to control corruption at higher
echelons and of politicians.
They feel they have no control over their lives or, the laws
passed that affect them, and are applied selectively.
They have realized that politics is not working as promised in a
just manner, responding to the deeper needs of the majority of the lower
segment of the population.
They are alarmed and feel helpless at the almost complete
breakdown in discipline, law and order and that the principle that ‘might is
right’ has come to stay in all levels of the society today.
They are shocked how politics has become criminalized, the public
service politicized, and how politicians have usurped executive, administrative
and judicial power, steering the county to a state of chaos and disorder.
What do they want, and what do
they plead for
They want the politician, the silent majority, the intellectuals, the professionals, the businessmen, the scientists, the university professors, the legal fraternity and of course the heads of religious organizations to wake up, speak up, stand up and be counted.
They want them to pioneer a completely radical and rational change
in the political outlook and culture that has bedeviled our motherland for too
long.
They want a sea change in the style of governance that stimulates
a vibrant democratic society where all religious and ethnic communities live in
peace and harmony.
They want the sacred principle of public morality recognized and,
that power is neither a right nor, an entitlement but, a trust to be strictly
observed.
They want the whole management of government overhauled and a
comprehensive plan crafted and designed to steer the country toward a state of
balance economic development, social development and the development of civic
society.
They want absolutely free and fair elections at all times, at all
levels because, it is the corner stone of democracy. They fail to understand
why a foolproof system for elections with absolutely no room for rigging can’t
be implemented in this technologically advanced era.
They long for a socially responsible media which is completely
unfettered,, exposes corruptions, public mismanagement and, does not act as a
crude propaganda arm for any government.
They want a government that is honest, transparent, truthful,
dedicated, and that presents a vision that inspires people especially, the
youth.
This is not all, the woes and
demands of the people is an unending list and only some have been extracted out
from my mind. However, it has been written in the fervent hope that what
appears in this article will not fall on deaf ears or blind eyes of those
concern, especially, of those in the opposition. Whether, these changes for the
better can be brought out is difficult to guess because, we live in a world of
spiritual and moral crises, where extreme individualism is glorified, altruism
scorned, and the so called ‘rational self interest’ is propagated.
Nevertheless, hopes springs
externally in the human hearts.
Dr. Mervyn D. De Silva –
Former Director, Plan Implementation Ministry and Ex SLFP National
List MP
Sri Lanka Military Band At Russia Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival 2018 held in Moscow on Red Square. This International Music Festival Held from the 24th August to the 2nd Of September. This year festival participants came from over 40 Countries. The Band was Combination of Army , Navy , Air-Force . And Led By Captain Chandana Amarasinghe
After his official engagement in Delhi, Rajapaksa will travel to Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and Tirupati, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.
NEW DELHI: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will visit India from February 7-11 during which he will hold talks with the top leadership here to strengthen bilateral ties.
After his official engagement in Delhi, Rajapaksa will travel to Varanasi, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and Tirupati, the External Affairs Ministry said on Thursday.
Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Dinesh Gunawardena on a host of topics, including the sensitive fishermen issue
SDFR, SLFR cut by 50 bps each SRR left unchanged at 5% Inflation seen below 5% in 2020 (Updates with analyst comment, details)
MUMBAI, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s central bank cut both its key interest rates by 50 basis points in an unexpected move on Thursday, citing the need to support an economic recovery.
This is the third time in less than nine months that it has reduced rates, having first cut rates in May following the Easter bomb attacks that triggered a slump in investments and tourism in a blow to domestic growth.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) lowered the standing deposit facility rate (SDFR) and standing lending facility rate (SLFR) by 50 basis points (bps) each to 6.50% and 7.50%, respectively. The statutory reserve ratio (SRR) was, however, left unchanged at 5%.
Headline inflation, as measured by the year-on-year change in the Colombo Consumer Price index (CCPI), accelerated in December due to domestic supply disruptions.
“In spite of such short-term fluctuations, the near-term forecast suggests that inflation will hover below 5% in 2020, and stabilise between 4%-6% thereafter, assisted by appropriate policy measures and underpinned by well-anchored inflation expectations,” the CBSL said in its policy statement. (bit.ly/2O9GNMg)
Economists were sceptical about the central bank cutting rates at its first monetary policy meeting of 2020, especially after a slew of fiscal-loosening measures taken by the new government over the past two months.
Newly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to boost annual growth to 6.5% in his election manifesto. The economy grew 3.2% last year, the slowest pace in 17 years.
It grew at a slow pace of 2.6% in real terms in the first nine months of 2019. The rate of growth for the whole year is likely to be around 2.8%.
Given that credit growth has been picking up in absolute terms since around August/September and overall lending rates have moved lower, this cut may have come in too soon,” said Trisha Peries, product head of economic research at Frontier Research.
It is likely to increase pressures towards end-2020 and into 2021, if there is an excessive build-up in demand conditions.”
The national consumer price inflation rose 6.2% in December, compared with a 4.1% rise in the previous month.
With Thursday’s cut, the central bank has cumulatively reduced its benchmark rates by 150 bps and the SRR by 250 bps, releasing around 150 billion rupees ($832 million) of liquidity into the financial market.
As money market rates have continued to decline albeit at a slower pace, the CBSL said it felt it was essential that the rates should fall further to support a probable pickup in credit growth and economic activity.
The growth of money and credit aggregates is expected to accelerate with the envisaged continued decline in lending rates,” it said.
Analysts said the rate cuts would help growth but at the expense of stability in financial markets, as lower rates put pressure on the rupee and drive foreign funds out of domestic bonds.
The Monetary Board will stand ready to respond to any build-up of demand-driven price pressures in the foreseeable future,” the CBSL said. (Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Subhranshu Sahu)
Colombo, Jan. 30 – Sri Lanka has decided not to issue a formal travel advisory against visiting China as yet, however, Sri Lankan citizens have been encouraged to halt all non-essential trips to the Hubei Province, whose capital is Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus, a top government source told Daily Mirror yesterday.
The source said that the reason for not issuing a formal travel advisory is that flights will have to continue normal two way operations between Colombo and China, to pave way for local citizens in China to return back home and to allow Chinese travelers who wish to travel back, to return.
The source said that China had made commendable efforts to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus and they were confident that it will be controlled in due course.
Several countries, earlier this week raised their ‘alert levels’ for travel to China and is advising their citizens to reconsider travel to all Chinese cities” because of increased risk of the virus. The countries include US, Canada, UK, and India. British Airways yesterday stopped flights to Beijing and Shanghai in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak with no bookings possible until March at the earliest.
So far the deadly coronavirus has killed 132 people in China after 26 more died in the last 24 hours. And the number of confirmed cases has leaped to 5,974. Sri Lanka has so far reported one confirmed case.
Sri Lanka Podujana Eksath Peramuna has come into a decision to change its name to ‘Sri Lanka Podujana Sandhanaya’.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Eksath Peramuna –the alliance between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) – has agreed to change its party constitution in this manner, stated General Secretary of SLFP Dayasiri Jayasekara.
The decision has been made when the leaders of parties under the Sri Lanka Podujana Eksath Peramuna council convened today (30).
The meeting was held under the patronage of former President Maithripala Sirisena.
The United National Party’s Working Committee has decided to name Sajith Premadasa as the Leader of the UNP-led alliance and the Prime Ministerial candidate, MP Lakshman Kiriella said.
Meanwhile former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected to continue as the Leader of the UNP, he said.
Accordingly MP Sajith Premadasa will lead the election campaign of the UNP-led alliance at the upcoming General Election.
The Working Committee of the UNP convened a meeting today at party headquarters – Sirikotha to reach a final decision regarding the party leadership, after the previous meeting held on January 16 ended without a decision.
However, it was reported that around 35 members of the UNP Working Committee including Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa have decided to boycott the committee meeting.
Earlier today, it was revealed that MPs Ajith P. Perera, Sarath Fonseka, Colombo Mayoress Rosy Senanayake and former MP Imtiaz Baker Markar have not been included in the newly appointed Working Committee of the party.
MP Harsha de Silva, in a twitter message, had also stated that Sajith Premadasa ‘loyalists’ Ajith P. Perera, Sarath Fonseka, Rosy Senanayake and Imtiaz Bakeer Markar were ‘sacked’ from the working committee last night before today’s meeting to agree on ‘settlement’.
Accordingly the UNP Working Committee had convened at Sirikotha today with several members reportedly absent.
The Hadabima
Authority of Sri Lanka (Haritha Danav Bim Sanvardhana Madyama Adhikariya) was
founded by me in 1991 to implement a major national development Project within
the three badly neglected Provinces of Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa, covering
the entire three Provinces, as an extension of the former NADSA concept started
in 1978 to address three important objectives namely, a) Watershed management,
b) Agricultural Diversification and c) Settlement Development, that was started
to develop the area between 300-900 ft. MS of the hill country of this Island.
HADABIMA
Development concept was first conceived by me in late 1986s when I was appointed
to preside over the last rituals of NADSA, which was to be closed down by end
of 1986. It was proposed by me in 1991, with a view to replicate the NADSA
(National Agricultural Development and settlement Authority) experience as a pilot
Project to address the above objectives. I conceived it within a broader national perspective to
address, the alarming deforestation,
soil erosion, land degradation and acute landlessness among the Kandyan
peasants in the entire Central Hill Country and its fringe land around it focusing
on four important objectives namely,
a) Watershed conservation
b) Settlement
Development
c) Agricultural
Diversification
d) Addressing
the Indian Estate Tamil labour problem with a lasting socio-ethnic integration
through a mixed settlement programme under the provisions of the
Nehru/Kotalawala Agreement of 1954
Origin of the HADABIMA Concept
I named this Project as the HADABIMA Authority
on three grounds I perceived. Firstly its physiography that resembles a heart
flanked by two lungs m on eithersides, as shown in the diagram given below.
Second its geographical location right at the centre of the Island and third,
its functional correlation between that of a blood circulatory system. My perception was inspired by my familiarity
with its peculiar physiography and its relationship to the general lay out of
the Islands landscape and the peculiar radial drainage pattern that has a
commanding grip over the entire Island and its critical role in the
sustainability of the entire life system in the country. My baccalaureate
training in Geography at the University helped me to first visualize the
analogy between the broad physiography of the central hill country with its two
outliers, the Knuckles ranges on the North East and Rakwana Hills on the South
West one day as I turned the physiographic map of the central hill country 15
degrees clock vice. Actually one day this happened by accident. After that I
superimposed a drawing of the blood circulatory system to find a jig saw fit
between the two that enabled me to draw a close analogy between the overall morphology
of the central hill country to that of a heart flanked by two lungs on either
sides. Thereafter I visualized the Islands river system as the arteries that perform
the function of blood circulation in a living organism. In this case I
visualize the river system as the arteries that keep the hydrological cycle
going as I have pointed out in my original concept paper on this subject that
was published in the Island paper and Asian Tribune (29th Oct 2006)
and Lankaweb Dec. 2. 2017, with full details. As I have sated there, in closer
examination ”just as much as the beat of the heart decides the fate of a man,
similarly, the physical stability (beat) of the central hill country decides
the fate of the entire life system and the civilization of this country for the
following reasons. Therefore, the crying need
to protect the Sri Lanka’s Heartland at any cost.
All 103 rivers
of the Island that provide water to sustain the entire life system on this lands,
agriculture, industry and hydro power and human civilization have their sources
on these hills, supported by the forest cover that protects their physical
stability. If the forests are not there, there want be any rain and the rivers
will cease to flow. If the rivers go dry at their sources they will go dry in
their entirety and the whole country will end up as an uninhabitable sterile
desert. As much as the man dies when the heart stops, similarly on the day the
physical stability of the central hills is gone the entire life system of the
island will disappear from its surface. It is in this context I argued for the crying
need to protect the central hill country like the heart of our nation as this
is the only watershed that provides water for the whole Island. This is a
unique situation in the whole world. Therefore the need to protect it as the
nation’s heart, you will agree, is a matter between death and survival for this
nation.
It is with this broad national perspective I
called for the protection of the land above 5000 ft MSL as a strictly declared
reserved and protected forest and limit all human settlement strictly to land
below 3500 ft as it was done in the ancient times. If you look at Kotmale,
Welimanda and Mandaramnuwara settlements you will see the wisdom of our ancient
Kings. They never allowed any settlement above this level.
In this backdrop, Just imagine the scale of the danger
and the crime of Building 63,000 houses, as it is being done today, on this
HEARTLAND of the nation on the fragile steep slopes going up to 7700 ft MSL haphazardly
and settling an army of Indian Tamils who consider India as their motherland
and have both their hearts and minds in India, with no love what so ever for
this country and are scheming to build up a Malayanadu on the HEARTLAND OF THE
SINHALA NATION”, right at the center of this country. The latest reported in
the press is the decision to hand over 300 acres to squatters in the
Pidurutalagala reserve
MAP 1
Source : Sudath Gunasekara 1991
More than the
historical injustices caused thereby to the native people who lived here for
2500 years and who sacrificed everything they had inherited from their glorious
past within 500 years, from 1505-1948 to defend their Motherland in war
against three colonial invaders and the
impending devastative strategic, political, economic and social implications on
this Island nation that will follow due to this ongoing Internationally funded
neo colonization” programme headed by India and it was this primary concern
for a nation’s survival which made me to think about this comprehensive
development project way back in late 1980s, as a person who love this country
and deeply concerned with the destiny of the Sinhala nation at large.
As the man who
resurrected a once dead and buried project (NAdA) between 1986-1992 that was rejected, discarded, blacklisted and
money withdrawn in early 1980s by the World Bank and decided to close it down
by bend of 1986 for political and administrative failures, I am deeply
concerned and agitated by the present sad plight it has fallen in to. After
resurrecting it from its abysmal depths and scratches during a short
period of 3 years, I gave it a new lease
of life, even before the golden period of this Project emerged between
1989-1992 with WFP assistance. Lalith Atulathmudalai the then Minister of
Agriculture on his first visit in Dec 1991 to this Project described it as the
best small farm project in Sri Lanka at that time, incidentally which he
described as the best example in the whole world where the poor is made
poorer’ just one month before that date. The WFP followed suit by naming it as
the best small farm project in Asia in 1992.
Having
resurrected this dead Project from its grave by awakening a set of utterly
disappointed and dejected 35,000 farmers to a highly motivated group of farmers
with new hopes, I got 12.5 US$ million grant from the WFP and fed them three
meals a day for six years, (that is 2.5 billion meals) from 1991—1992, with the
slogan Food for development”. Coupled with a vigorous development plan I
uplifted the standard of living of these men and women amidst immense political
obstruction from the ruling UNP and got its area of authority expanded to cover
the entire CP, UVA and the Sabaragamuva
provinces in 1992, in spite of the objections by the Minister Dharmadasa Banda.
As the first man
who pointed out the crucial dependence of the Island’s entire life system and
its civilization on the physical stability of the Central Hill Country, as its
‘GEOGRAPHICAL HEARTLAND’, with the lessons learnt from large scale
deforestation done by the British, I am deeply grieved the way it had been
destroyed and vandalized by native politicians from 1992 to date for political
expediencies. They had no brain to understand the critical value of this
Project for the survival of a nation and the need to protect it for the next
generation. None of the Chairmen under both UNP and SLFP regimes during this
period had the brain to understand the value of this Great Project and none has
done a penny worth thing to protect it. All of them are either defeated
politicians or political bats who change their party affiliations with every
election and creep in in to these positions just to collect the money they
spend on candidates and rob these institutions. They all have only enjoyed the
benefits of office inherited from my perilous effort for six years. Beside
mismanaging it and enjoying the benefits at public expense they have killed a
hen laying golden eggs and also made it unmanageable and unrealistic by
expanding its activities to areas outside its legal operational area of the
three Provinces set by the Sri Lanka Hadabima Authority Act of 1991, which I
got passed in spite of Minister of Agriculture Dharmadasabanda objecting to it
openly. This illegal expansion they did by Gazette notification No. 2026/45
published on 07th July 2017 firstly, to cover up their gross financial
misappropriations done for 25 years since 1992 to 2017, running about all over
the country like Hambantota in the extreme South and Vavuniya in the North,
outside its legal area of operation and secondly, to justify new recruits
loaded to the cadre for political favouritism.
In my opinion
the importance of the protection of the Heartland should be inculcated to every
man and woman starting from the President of the Republic to every school going
child in this country if we want to preserve this beautiful land for posterity.
In that context the message of the value of this Project and its objectives
should be passed down to every man, woman and child. I strongly believe the
protection of the Hill Country, the geographical HEARTLAND of the nation, is
the golden key to the future survival and prosperity of this Island nation. It
should be taught to everybody to be observed as a RELIGION”, in this country, I
think.
As you will
agree, more trees on the Hill country means more rain, more water, less erosion
and less land degradation and better soil, better physical stability with their
anchoring root systems, more waterfalls, more hydroelectricity, more industries
and more agriculture, more bio diversity, more flowers and more fruits with
more birds and song, more people and more prosperity.
A brief history of the NADSA (now called HADABIMA
project (for the benefit of my readers).
In the wake of the newly emerged worldwide
development euphoria in the early 1970s based on environmental protection, land
reforms and equitable distribution of wealth and to achieve social justice
advocated by people like Gunnar Myrdal in his classic Asian Drama and the thought provoking concept of appropriate
technology (enunciated by Schumacher) as an alternative for modern technology
to face the challenges of sustainable development and the need for increased
production to avoid hunger and the dangers of blanket application of Western
technology to the so-called Third World countries, the attention of the then
Government (1970-1977) was drawn to the
following problems at Home.
1 Serious soil
erosion and land degradation in the hill Country and silting of the Islands
rivers in the lowlands and recurrent floods in downstream areas due to large
scale deforestation started by the British in 1830s and still continuing
un-arrested due to poor land management and inappropriate cultivation practices
followed by an utterly ineffective and inefficient plantation sector.
2 The problem of
serious landlessness and poverty and social injustice, particularly in the
Kandayn provinces due to loss of their ancestral land to the British and non-
implementation of the recommendations of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission of
1951 and lack of income generating opportunities among the peasant population
in the region.
3 The crying
need to diversify the plantation sector with a package of diversified crops
like pepper, Cloves and Coffee combined with other native home garden crops
like coconut, Arica, vegetable and fruits and animal husbandry to reduce
dependency on few mono crops like Tea and Rubber and also to avoid the vagaries
of recurrent price fluctuation in the world market to face balance of payment
problems
4 The need to
revisit the Kandyan Forest Garden concept that is as good as the natural forest
for environmental protection and to control soil erosion (with an annual soil loss rate of 0.1mt/ha/year) with a modified
mixed farm version to generate more income than from a traditional Kandyan
Forest Gardens. (Recent studies by Guido Kuchelmeister (1987) and Mahaweli
Authority of Sri Lanka (1995) have found the Kandyan Forest Garden model to be
the best ecosystem for this type of hilly terrain as it possess both ecological
and environmental characteristics that are ideal for such situations in a
tropical country- only second to the natural forests)
Subsequently on
a request by the Government World Bank carried out a comprehensive study on all
these aspects and finally they produced 97 excellent research documents that
remains a gold mine guideline for any development in this region of the country
for income generations.
First Phase
Based on the
findings of these studies the next Government that came to power in 1977 set up
the National Agricultural Diversification and Settlement Development Authority
(NADSA) in August 1978 to implement a pilot Project in few selected river
basins in the Kandy (Gampola and Nawalapitiya) and Kegalla (Mawanella and
Yatiyantota) Districts to be replicated in other hill country areas with
similar problems after the trial period. These Projects were confined to the
mid country (300-900m MSL).The new Government started with a bang contributing
2.5m US$ as GOSL component and the World Bank providing 4.5m US$. The Minister
of Agriculture E L Senanayaka vested few LRC marginal and neglected Tea and
Rubber lands from the two Districts and established the NADSA in August 1978
and as usual packed it with their political stooges who knew nothing next to
the objectives of the Project. They had no proper plan of development either.
They also had no vision or a mission on the implementation of this Project. The
Minister toured the area by helicopter with WB Chairman. Kapila Wimaladharma
Pathirana (SLAS) the General Manager was the only professional attached to this
Project. But before long the Minister chased him out as he had refused to carry
out some of the Ministers mad orders and put one of his supporters in that
place from Kandy kachcheri, a Surveyor by the name Wikramasuriya. In no time the Word Bank got disgusted with
mismanagement and poor Project performance and decided to withdraw from the
Project with the 4.5 Million Grant. They discarded and blacklisted it as a
failed Project.
Subsequently on
a Report by Ranjan Wijeratna, who knew only about Tea planting, the then
Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture the government decided to close down
the project. Thus conceptually one of the best development projects ever
conceived in the post Independent era in this country, finally the Government
decided to close it down by end of 1986, on his report. Thereafter productive
estates and good Bungalows were appropriated by politicians and sometimes even
by the officials. For example Kelli Estate with its Bungalow was given to
Deputy Minister Agriculture Imbulana. Part of Ovel Estate and its manager’s
bungalow in Gampola to a relation of Gamini Disanayaka and Wariyagala Bungalow
with few acres of Tea was appropriated by the successor to Kapila as Director
and part of the same state was given to the Administrative Officer of NADSA.
Meanwhile all the Tea factories were given for a song to one Karunaratna from
Colombo a close friend of JR. who dismantled them and made a fortune of
it. Immediately after I took over the Project,
I stopped all such nefarious activities and the left out assets were used for
development within the Project
The second phase that opened a new lease of life to
the NADSA Project (later named by me as HADABIMA Project) under my
administration
On April 1st
1986 I took over a Project that was to be closed down by end of the year. In
fact Minister Gamani Jayasuriya sent me there to preside over the last rituals
of NADSA, until he takes me as his Additional Secretary on Janu.1. 1987.
This appointment
came at a time when I was getting ready to leave public service in disgust, to
take up a Commonwealth assignment as an Expert in Handicrafts in Sierralyon, as
my appointment as Government Matale and Kandy had been blocked thrice and even
as the Registrar of Peradeniya University in spite of the fact that I had come
first at the Interview. On the day I met Minister Gamani Jayasuriyain this
backdrop in the company of Mahanaayaka Thero of Asgiriya, after going through
my Bio-data he said he will take me immediately as his Additional Secretary and
moreover there is no point in going to NADSA as it will be closed down by the
end of the year. Had I accepted his offer I could have been the Secretary Ministry
of Agriculture in no time since by that time I had completed more than six
years in Class1 and 21 years in SLAS. It also would have been a very big
promotion in my carrier. But since I opted to be in Kandy for personal reasons
till end of year he put me on this job on condition that I will come to the
Ministry of Agriculture as his Additional Secretary in Jan 1987. Objections by
the Chief Minister for my appointment CP were thwarted and I assumed duties as
its Director on April 2nd 1986.
I sat down and first
studied the project reports. The first I read among them in detail was a
comprehensive evaluation report of the Project made by Kapila the first
Director that gave me a bird’s eye view of the Project. This was followed by
few visits to the field and trying to understand the ground situation by
meeting the people and seeing the actual situation and trying to understand the
actual problems faced by the farmers. I met the Minister on Monday the next and
told him how I have understood the project by going through the reports and
seeing things on the ground coupled with my experience in District
Administration and my knowledge on the landscape as a student of Geography. I
told him that, in my opinion, NADSA is one of the best development concepts, if
not the best, as I see, that had ever been proposed in the post Independent era
in this country by any Government and therefore it should never be closed down
as long as this country exists on earth” he looked at me sharply and said.
”Sudath all the other fellows say just the opposite of what you say, either all
of them are mad or you are mad.’ He posed for a while and continued but having
listened to you, I too think there is lot of truth in what you say”
From next day I
started my mission by my country and the neglected Kandyan peasants with full
drive, determination and commitment to make this the best small farm
development Project in this country by the end of the year and to replicate it
to all areas with identical problems within three years as a model Agricultural
settlement Development Programme in South East Asia at least if not the whole
world.
But there were
serious limitations to achieving my goals such as
1 Lack of adequate
staff both in the Office as well as in the field
2 Lack of
sufficient funds, materials and equipment
3 An utterly
depressed and demotivated set of settlers
4 And above all
obstructions from the local politicians on personal grounds
For example the
office staff was limited to an Administrative officer, an Accountant (both
retired from public service), few clerks and 2 peons, three drivers and two
labourers. In the field there were about 6 Field officers to look after 15
settlements in two Districts. The rest had been discontinued pending the
closure of the project in December 1986. The vehicle flight consisted of 1
hacked Pajero jeep. 3 rackety small Daihatsu Jeeps, one Box model Mitsubishi
Lancer old car, 2 old Lorries, all that escaped the hammer. All development activities had come to a
standstill by that time.
The following
Monday I had a staff meeting of all officers and briefed them about the
situation and my proposed future plans in the backdrop of my understanding and what
the Minister indicated to me for my proposal to resurrect the Project and
sought their support for my future plans.
The first step
in this process was to motivate the staff and the settlers with new hopes and
then to find sufficient funds to continue. My first approach was the Treasury.
But point blank it said no as the Government has already taken a decision to
close down the Project by year end. The next major problem was to bring back
those settlers who had left the farm plots and look for a device to keep the
settlers on the farm lots. With my experience in problems of rural development
as a DRO, I met the WFP Country Director Mr Hersy in Colombo with a modest
Project proposal for 2.5 million US $ request. But he said the WFP will never
agree to reopen this as this project was rejected as a failed project due to
mismanagement and moreover grant money with drawn and it was blacklisted. I
insisted saying that I will give a guarantee that I can resurrect the project
since it is one of the best development concepts ever conceived in this country
since Independence. He again said WFP will never agree to come back. However as
I insisted he finally agreed to take my proposal to Rome the following week
when he goes there saying just to try your luck”.
To my surprise
on his return he rang me up to congratulate me saying that Rome has agreed to
reopen the Project under new management as they were highly convinced on my
reasoning and he wanted me to make it 5 Million as he as the country Director
can recommend up to 5 Million US $. In few seconds he rang me up again and said
‘Don’t worry Mr Gunasekara, I myself will adjust the figures and as from today
onwards I will treat it as one of my own Projects. That is the way I was able
to convince the WFP Country Director at that time.
In two months’
time came a Project appraisal mission to appraise it along with another proposal
for Kotmale requested by Minister Gamini Disanayaka. I did my homework got an
evaluative study done by Prof J.M. Gunadasa of the Peradeniya University
supporting my arguments on the economic viability in the Project proposal. I
submitted it to the appraisal team. I also got a 35 minute video film done on
the importance of the objectives of this Project and its future potentials in
nation building by Dharmasena Pathiraja
called’ Haritha Danavva” (Green Habitat) to be shown to them. (This
film was later awarded a merit certificate at the International Film festival
held that year in Praha-Checholovakia on
Environment). By the time the appraisal team arrived I had got the settlers to
clean up their farms and roads on Shramadana basis and also got them to start
on a vigorous programme of Development activities including planting, putting
up stone hedges for soil conservation and even giving a new outlook to their
temporary huts. Meanwhile I also provided pipe born water services where ever
possible. For all these activities I gave them only 50% of the cost including
material likes s-lon pipes. In order to get this work done. I organized the
settlers in to groups of 25 families called Pasvisi Sabaha’ where they took
all decisions and the officials playing the role of facilitators only using the
participatory management technique. (Incidentally one person did a study on the
success story of this first Highland Farmer Organization in Sri Lanka and got a
PhD from a USA University).
When the Appraisal team came, each member was
given a docket with reading material along with a copy of the Evaluative Study
followed by screening the video film Haritha Dannvva. By this time I also got
the Board of Directors reconstituted with the Directors of the Departments of Agriculture,
Minor Export Crops and the two Government Agents of Kandy and Kegalla with
senior representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Treasury. I
also had an advisory body formed with eminent men like Ray Wijewardhana and Dr
Waidyanatha of the University Peradeniya who were experts on appropriate
technology and planting and Kapila the first General Manager and Director and
also Prof J.M Gunadasa who compiled the Evaluative study. I also got them to
participate in field visits as facilitators to the Appraisal team. I got the
farmers to welcome the visitors with traditional Bulath hurulu and in some
places even by putting up traditional pandoles with local materials which they
procured from their own farms.
At the end of
the three day field visit I hosted the Appraisal Team for lunch at the Kegalla
Rest House. While thanking them for visiting to appraise my Project I told them
that it is a Herculean task to take this Project uphill. I also told them that
when I think of the constrains and difficulties of taking it uphill it reminds
me the famous Dover mail story that comes in Tales of Two Cities of Charles
Dickens. I also told them that there were two horses to pull the Dover mail
where as there is only one little horse here to pull the NADSA mail; the two
horses there had eight legs whereas this horse here has only two legs. The mud
on the Dover hill was only natural whereas here it is not only natural but also
political, administrative, financial and even psychological in which I am
already buried to the neck. However, I told them, I am determined to forge
ahead uphill nonstop until I reach the top even if I don’t get an ounce of
American flour or a grain of rice or an ounce of Sugar, dhal or Dry fish from
WfP. Team leader Arora got up and this is what he said in reply.
Mr Gunasekara
this is the fifth visit I made to this Project. What I have seen this time is
something entirely different from all what I have seen in my All previous
visits. I do not know what magic you have done to make this change and the
brimming enthusiasm and hearty laughs seen on the faces of the settlers. You
should not have any doubts about your goal. You are already at the top of the
NADSA hill and I declare on behalf of the whole team that last night we have
unanimously decided to approve your Project Proposal and more over it is not 5
million as you have requested but double that amount”.
At the end
instead of 5 Million for five years they gave 12.million for six years after
their second visit having seen my video film ‘The Miracle Basket” a short film
made by me showing what a Great Change’ the food basket has brought about. At
the end of that year my project was hailed as the best Small farm Development
Project in Asia funded by the WFP. By end of 1991 the assets of the project
went up by millions and the staff increased by hundreds as well as quality of
service they did to the people. The vehicle fleet rose up to about 50
including, 6 tractors, a mini bus to transport settles for training in
different places and 48 motor cycles for
field officers,.
Incidentally to
everybody’s surprise the request for WFP assistance for Kotmale made by
Minister Gamini Disanayaka was rejected by the WFP.
Phase three
Encouraged by this success I moved on to the
next step of my Dream, that is expanding the Project to all the three Provinces
around the hill country, Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa, under the New name Sri
Lanka Harita Danau Bim Sanwardhana Madyama Adikariya” (Sri Lanka Hadabima
Adikariya) from 1991 as they together form one physiographic unit and also
correspond with the area covered by the Kandyan Peasantry Commission Report of
1951.
I visualized
this expansion with a holistic perspective of development within a broader
geographical area covering the entire CP, UVA and the Sabargamuwa Provinces,
covering about 2/3 the area of this Island, with the dual objectives of,
Firstly, to
protect the Central Hill Country, the nation’s mother watershed which I named
as the The Geographical Heartland of Sri Lanka” or Bhuugoliya HADABIMA” of Sinhale to save the
entire life system in this country from its extinction and
Secondly, to
retain this land as the LAND of the SINHALA NATION as long as the sun and moon
shall last in this universe.
Meanwhile
President Premadasa summoned me for a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat
along with the Minister, Deputy and the chairman. At that meeting he asked me 3
questions. A) The present position of the Project b) What I propose to do next
and c) The assistance we need to implement the programme. After listening to me
he asked me Why are these Gampola side people so angry with you,” probably
referring to the continual objections by the CM Dissanayaka.
Thereafter he
explained the importance of this project to the committee as I had outlined in
my concept paper I had given to him earlier on The geographical heartland of
the country” where he quoted my statement that as much as the beat of the
heart decides the fate of the man similarly the physical stability of the
central hill Country decides the entire life system and the civilization in the
entire Island”. And finally he said
gentlemen, as Sudath says this is a very good Project and that is why I have
decided to support it.
This was
followed by another meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture at Peradeniya
presided over by him and attended by the Prime Minister, Minister of
Agriculture, Governors of the three Provinces and all the MPP and the GA A of
the new Project area. At that meeting after my briefing where I requested or 40
million for the expansion programme he after consulting Paskaralingam who was
also present gave me the 40 million over the counter, after I told him that I
am planning to settle 250 000 families under the proposed new Project area at
completion in all three Provinces covered by the Kandyan Peasantry Commission.
He then said ‘Sudath I have given you all what you asked for. Now I want you to
start a very vigorous publicity programme
This rang up the
alarming bells for the politicians of the area as the politicians of the ruling
UNP.They immediately started their war
against me perhaps fearing that I would be a political threat to them as they
always thought I was a SLFP man. The Chief Minister Dissanayaka CP rekindled
his torch as he had been gunning at me from the day I was appointed, as
Director of this Project and soon the doom phase of the Project began to raise
its ugly head.
I was taken by surprise when I found that I
had been transferred to the pool with immediate effect within a week after the
famous Peradeniya meeting where the President gave me 40 million over the counter
for the expansion I proposed without a blink.
This decision of Premadasa not only to put an end to
the golden period of the HADABIMA Project but it also drew the curtain over the
beginning of the dawn of a new era of physical stability, watershed management
for the HAERTLAND and a new chapter in socio-economic prosperity, meaningful
social integration and human contention and political stability for the whole
country.
(But having realized perhaps his mistake, within a
month President Premadasa appointed me as the State Secretary to the Ministry
of Health after I got him convinced of the dangers of a proposal before the
Cabinet for the amalgamation of the Divisional Secretariats and Pradesiyasabha,
as the President of the SLAS held at the BMCH in December 1992. On behalf of the general membership of the
SLAS I wanted the President to withdraw a) the Cabinet paper to be taken up
next day proposing to amalgamate the DSS and DCC, to appoint Divisional GAA as
Secretaries to the Pradesiya Sabha Chairmen and also to appoint All Island
Class 1 Officers as Divisional GAA by his Government. Those SLAS Officers who were there would
remember how profusely he thanked me for pointing out the dangers of the
proposal and he agreed to withdraw that death warrant on the SLAS. I hope all
will agree with me that if not for that timely intervention by me there would
have been no SLAS thereafter in this country, thanks to Jolly Somasundaram the
architect of that Cabinet paper. That is a different story altogether.)
To revert to the
original subject of HADABIMA story I will now give you how politicians again
killed a golden hen that would have laid even Diamond EGGS for this nation and
created a new chapter in scientific watershed management, water resource
development, economic and socio cultural renaissance and finally, brought about
lasting political stability to this Island nation by solving the canker that is
The Indian Estate Tamil Problem” forever in this country, had my proposal been
carried out to its logical conclusion.
Thirty years
after I left it, today sadly only the name HADABIMA I gave it is left. None of
the objectives of the original fathers of either the NADSA as envisaged in
early 1970s or that broad national vision I conceived and perceived in late
1980s on the enormous potentialities of this important Project are active there
now. Just like most other Projects, It also has got reduced to another semi-Government
Institution that provides lucrative and remunerative political jobs to satisfy
those who pretend to have helped the ruling party to come to power. All this is
done at public expense with no contribution at all to national development.
When are we going to save this country from this rut?
Even after I
left in 1992 this Authority functioned under the Ministry of Agriculture up to
2016 but sadly again it went back to the
pre-1986 situation and became a heaven for politicians their unscrupulous
henchmen who had no understanding of the basic objectives or the values of this all important national project. They
were only concerned in making a fast bug and reaping the harvest of what I had
planted enjoying the benefits of their official positions doing nothing for the
country or the people who pay their salaries.
It was assigned
to the Ministry of Regional Development from 18th March 2016. That enabled Minister
Fonseka’s b/in-law to function from Colombo as Chairman. Now it has been
converted to an all Island Project by the Gazette notification No. 2026/45
published on 07th July 2017. This was done firstly, to cover up financial
misappropriation committed by its Chairmen, Board members and even officials in
travelling all over the island, outside its area of authority between 1992 and
2017. Because as we know you can’t spend public funds for any work or
travelling outside the area of its legitimate operation unless one has the
approval of the Secretary of the Ministry concerned to travel or do any special
business outside the area of its legitimate authority. Doesn’t this display the
scale of corruption and abuse of authority by all those who have handled this
Project ever since 1992? These haphazard changes clearly evince the inability
to understand the basic objectives of the Project for which it was established
in 1978 as NADSA. Political objectives getting precedence over development and
creating unproductive jobs for their men and providing more facilities like
vehicles and enhanced travelling appear to have overtaken the development
objectives of the Project.
After it came under Minister Fonseka, he has
appointed one of his relatives as the Chairman and got an Office opened up in
Colombo, as said before to enable him to function from there, thereby reducing
the Peradeniya office to a Sub-office. They also created a post of Vice
Chairman and allowed him to function from Hambantota as he happened to be a
person from that area, I am told, that is how they have abused political power
and misappropriated public funds and ruined this Project over the past 28
years.
Gazette
notification No. 2026/45 published on 07th July
2017 enabling its functions to cover the whole island has brutally killed its
original objectives. I have narrated
this sad story to the country in order to bring this to the notice of the
President and the Prime Minister so that they will take suitable measures at
least now, before it is completely ruined by unscrupulous political appointees
for which the final responsibility will come on the President.
However I must
make it very clear here that I am not asking for a job by pointing out these
blunders. I am only requesting the President
to rescind the 2017 gazette and confine its activities to the project area
defined by the 1991 gazette and appoint someone who can understand the ABCD of
this Project. In the process if the President or the Prime Minister want me to
take over HADABIMA as its Head as the founding father of this wonderful
Project, I shall work WITHOUT a SALARY with full commitment, dedication and
determination until I put it back on its wheels as I had dreamt in late 1980s. Within 2 or 3 years
the most I shall make it the best development Project in this country by paving
the way to realize the following objectives within five years and make history
in the annals of post independent era of this country in people centered
development, for everyone to see as to how a public institution should be run
under Sinhala Buddhist ethos and perception for the benefit of the many and for
the happiness of the many.
1 Get all the land above 5000 ft. declared as a
strictly prohibited National Forest Reserve, a Thahanchi kele as it was done by our ancient Kings
2 Get the
HADABIMA (> 1000 ft. MSL) protected as the Nations Heart to guarantee that
the life system and Civilization in this country is not endangered and it will
last as the sun and moon shall rise over this land.
3 Get 250 000
self-sustained farmer families settled within the Project area on 2 ½ acre farm
lots
4 Obtain WFP
Food assistance for 6 years, under the motto, Food for Development” to sustain
these farm families, (as I did from 1991-1992) until they are on their own feet
5 Draw up a
programme to cover the entire HADAMIMA with natural forest and Agro forests
(Kandyan Forest gardens) to arrest soil erosion and land degradation endangering
biodiversity
6 Once again
restore the Central Hill Country as the nation’s biggest natural reservoir”,
and the best hideout in the country and make all the 103 rivers starting on
these hills perennial, increase water flow in all the rivers and minimize flood
and silting in downstream areas and make at least the major rivers like Kelani (up
to Yatiyantota rapids as it had been before 1815 and Mahaweli and Kalu ganga in
ancient times
7 Make Sri Lanka
self-sufficient in Hydro Electricity, minimizing dependency on thermal power
and if possible make it a Hydro Power exporting country.
8 Make Sri Lanka
a water exporting country in future as I have stated in my paper on Vision and
Mission on Water Management” in Sri Lanka I have already sent to you.
9 Rectify all
the historical injustices done to over 600 000 Kandyan peasants by the British
and all Governments since the so-called Independence in 1948
10 End the all-
important pestering Indian Tamil problem in the hill country by establishing
Sinhala-Tamil mixed settlement schemes below 3500 ft. MSL with the final goal
of integrating all of them under the Nehru/Kotalawala Agreement of 1954 with
the main stream, as full citizens of this country.
Sri Lanka’s historical narrative has been defined by geopolitical rivalry, external aggression and internal resistance to that aggression. The early historical era experienced successive waves of invasion from South Indian kingdoms. These were followed by European conquest and consecutive rule of the coastal lowlands by the Portuguese (1505-1666), the Dutch (1666-1796) and the British (1796-1815).
There have been numerous sea battles among rival powers to control Trincomalee, the second-deepest natural harbor in the world, situated on the island’s east coast. Of great strategic military value, it has been controlled in turn by the Portuguese, Dutch, French and English. Its capture by the British in 1782 paved the way for Britain’s colonization of the entire island after the usurpation of the Kandyan Kingdom in the Central Highlands in 1815. With deception and manipulation, the British conquered the land and built a class of native collaborators; native lords, commoners and Buddhist monks who rebelled were convicted of treason and banished, imprisoned or killed.
British colonial authority and associated capitalist development resulted in a fundamental political, economic and social transformation of the island. The authoritarian and coercive policies used to maintain law and order, land expropriation for plantations, harsh taxation of the local population and the import of indentured labor from South India and other measures had long-term detrimental effects on subsistence agriculture, peasant land rights and livelihood, and the island’s demographic distribution, communal harmony and ecological balance.
Although Sri Lanka’s period of classical colonialism” with direct political control by Britain ended with its independence in 1948, the socioeconomic and cultural forces set in place during the colonial period have continued to dominate the island’s development, particularly in terms of economic growth and social class and ethno-religious politics. Neocolonialism – a term introduced by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of independent Ghana, in the early 1960s – describes a post-colonial state that is in theory independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty,” but in reality, its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.” The concepts of neocolonialism and non-alignment in foreign policy that Nkrumah and other leaders of ex-colonial states championed in the 1950s and 1960s still have great relevance for Sri Lanka today.
Sri Lanka is at a decisive historical juncture, facing new forms of geopolitical rivalry and external military, political and economic as well as cultural intervention, primarily involving overt and covert expansionist efforts of the US, China and India. The small, beleaguered country is struggling to safeguard its sovereignty, its territorial integrity and its very ecological survival.
Politics is about propaganda, control of narratives and exploiting ignorance and fear. There is therefore a practical need for an understanding of the colonial experience that goes beyond academic interest.
Post-colonial developments
Since independence, Sri Lanka’s political, economic and cultural evolution has centered on a high level of tension between external intervention and local resistance.
In the early years, Sri Lankan governments, like those of many ex-colonial states, introduced policies to nationalize foreign-owned plantations and other private enterprises, to foster local industries and develop local culture and identities. The Constitution of 1972 replaced the island’s colonial name Ceylon with Sri Lanka, declaring the country to be a free, sovereign, independent and democratic socialist republic.” These designations remain on paper, but many of the nationalist policies backfired, giving rise to massive youth unemployment and violent social class and communal conflicts, specifically the 1971 Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Sinhala youth insurrection and Tamil militancy.
In 1977, urged on by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a newly elected Sri Lankan government introduced an open economy,” reversing autarkic economic policies, giving free rein to foreign investment and imports, and privatizing hitherto state-owned sectors. This economic liberalization” and associated dismantling of the welfare state, as well as the constitution adopted a year later, made 1977 a turning point in the modern economic and political history of the island. Still, it was not a radical departure, but rather an acceleration, of the capitalist development that had begun with the colonial plantation economy in the 1830s.
The central concern of the post-1977 period was the armed struggle for separatism by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In May 2009, the Sri Lankan government defeated the LTTE in what is considered one of the few instances in modern history in which a terrorist group had been defeated militarily.” Since the end of the armed conflict, both the political and ideological struggle demanding Tamil regional autonomy, as well as geopolitical intervention by external powers in Sri Lanka, have intensified. The convergence of these forces poses serious threats to the island’s peace, security and survival as a united and independent country.
Neocolonialism and geopolitical rivalry
Colonialism involves control of a less powerful country by a more powerful one, to exploit resources and increase the latter’s power and wealth. In essence, neocolonialism involves the same factors as classical colonialism: militarism, external expropriation of natural resources, deception and manipulation, collusion with local elites, incitement of ethnic and religious differences and local resistance to external aggression. Colonized people must recognize the history and methodology of exploitation and power in order to prevent continued manipulation, deception and domination and to protect the sovereignty and resources of their countries.
In the era of classical colonialism, a single external power, Britain, controlled Sri Lanka. Today, several powerful foreign countries, with China on the one side and the US, India, Japan, and others on the other side, are competing for control over the island, which is strategically located in the heart of the Indian Ocean in the ancient East-West maritime trade route. Sea lanes of the Indian Ocean are considered to be the busiest in the world today, with more than 80% of global seaborne oil trade estimated to be passing through the ocean’s chokepoints.
China has incorporated Sri Lanka within its US$4 trillion Belt and Road Initiative spanning the world and considered the most ambitious infrastructural investment effort in history.” China’s projects in Sri Lanka include the Hambantota Port taken over on a controversial 99-year lease and the massive Colombo International Financial City, built on 269 hectares of land reclaimed from the Indian Ocean.
In challenging China’s increasing military assertiveness in the region, the US is seeking to include Sri Lanka in its own grand strategy of a united military front between the US and India in the Indo-Pacific.” Concerned that Hambantota Port could become a Chinese military base, India is pursuing control over Sri Lanka’s other strategic seaports, developing the British-colonial-era oil-tank farm in Trincomalee and constructing a container terminal at the port in Colombo (in partnership with Japan), next to a Chinese terminal built as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
While there is antipathy in Sri Lanka toward Chinese and Indian intervention to grab local resources and control of ports and infrastructure, given the US military record, there is a much greater fear of US military intervention and interference in local governance. The United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution of October 1, 2015, co-sponsored by the United States and the former US-backed Sri Lankan government, in the name of peace and reconciliation could turn Sri Lanka into a client state where the US and the international community” can dictate terms for constitutional reform and internal governance including the security and judicial sectors. In effect, the resolution has echoes of the Proclamation of March 2, 1815 – the Kandyan Convention – signed by the British and a faction of the Kandyan aristocracy that turned Sri Lanka into a British colony.
There is a parallel between the UNHRC Resolution and the proposed Sri Lanka compact with the US Millennium Challenge Corporation, a component of US National Security Strategy linking economic development with defense and diplomacy. They both manipulate the Sri Lankan government to turn against itself, giving up its power and responsibilities over the most vital sectors of the state, the resources of the country and the rights of its people. The MCC Compact seeks to privatize and commoditize state land to make them readily available to investors including foreign corporations. It brings to mind the early stage of capitalist development in Sri Lanka, when the British colonial state introduced legislation, infrastructure and other measures to establish the plantation economy.
Military engagement with Sri Lanka is considered vital to achieving US objectives in the Indo-Pacific region. The Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA) provides the basis to set up a US ‘logistic hub’ in Sri Lanka to secure support, supplies and services at sea. If fully implemented, the ACSA would in effect undermine the Chinese share of geopolitical control in Sri Lanka, by way of military presence in the country.” Similarly, if Sri Lanka signs the proposed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the US, it would allow US Army personnel to operate in any part of Sri Lanka, without any restrictions. Sri Lankans fear that the SOFA would make the whole island … a US-controlled super state operating above the Sri Lankan laws and state….”
The way forward
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former defense secretary who led the armed victory over the LTTE in 2009, was elected president of Sri Lanka on November 16, 2019. His massive victory was a response to growing concern over national security and widespread opposition to external interventions.
The newly elected president and his administration are under pressure both from Sri Lanka’s nationalist forces that brought him into office and from external powers, especially India and the United States, who want to continue pursuing their own geo-strategic and economic interests in Sri Lanka. Local activists are continuing their demands to discard the MCC compact, military agreements and UNHRC Resolution, and also renegotiate better terms for Sri Lanka on the lease of Hambantota Port and environmental regulation of the Chinese Port City. The demands against Indian projects including the oil-tank farm in Trincomalee also persist.
Sri Lankan people recognize that these interventions together would thoroughly subordinate their country and turn the government into a mere shell of a state, leaving the island wide open for economic and military exploitation and a battleground for the geopolitical rivalry over the Indian Ocean.
It is not easy for a small country like Sri Lanka to forge a foreign policy that uses its geo-strategic position to its own advantage. While maintaining cordial relationships with the external powers, the principles of sovereignty, democracy and environmental sustainability must continue to be upheld. In light of the dangers posed by the recent bilateral agreements and the UNHRC Resolution, Sri Lanka has to join with other small countries in Asia and Africa to renew the policy of non-alignment that it championed valiantly during the Cold War.
It is also necessary to call on India to do the same. India, which was itself the victim of two centuries of British colonialism, needs to take on an enlightened leadership role in the region, independent of the China-US geopolitical rivalry. In fact, the term non-alignment” was coined by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru during a speech he made in 1954 in Colombo.
Sri Lanka’s National Joint Committee expressed the urgent call for the island’s non-alignment in a June 2019 letter written to the then Sri Lankan prime minister regarding the MCC Agreement:
[We are] committed to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our nation. We believe that Sri Lanka should follow a foreign policy of nonalignment. Due to the fact that Sri Lanka is strategically located in the Indian Ocean the country needs to remain nonaligned and refrain from getting involved in the geopolitical confrontation that is developing between America and China, through agreements that would enable these countries to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka.”
Indeed, it is urgent for all countries to uphold the principles of non-alignment and resist the polarization and militarization tearing the world apart. These principles – sovereignty and territorial integrity of states; independence from great power block influences and rivalries; the struggles against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism, foreign occupation and domination; disarmament; non-interference into the internal affairs of states; rejection of the use or threat of use of force in international relations; the restructuring of the international economic system; international cooperation on an equal footing – are more urgently needed than ever.
Sri Lanka’s historical trajectory – geopolitical rivalry, external aggression and internal resistance to that aggression – continues with great vigor in this current complex period. The tremendous suffering and destruction caused by this narrative calls for a shift in human relations from domination to partnership, from the exploitative and violent path of colonialism and neocolonialism to one of peace, justice and ecology. This is the transformational challenge facing both Sri Lanka and the world at this decisive time.
L.C.Arulpragasam’s (LCA) article which appeared in
three parts under three titles; Decolonization, Nationalism, the Nation State
and Democracy – Part I” (Sunday Island, 14.10.2018), Some Unchronicled
Consequences of the Colonial Period – Part II
(Sunday Island, 21.10.2018) and The ‘State Nation’ Versus the ‘Nation
State’ ” (Sunday Island, 28.10.2018) is
an obvious attempt to develop a case for the creation of a Tamil autonomous
state. His argument is that the British colonialist at the time of granting
independence to Ceylon had disregarded the national boundaries that had existed
for centuries in the country and brought together communities that had existed
as separate people with their own territories, language, religion and culture
and expected them to solve their differences by the democratic process that the
colonialists constructed. As a result today the majority, as decided by the
vote counted within colonially contrived boundaries, is being given power over
the other communities via a unitary constitution. Thus LCA attempts to
establish that Tamils had occupied the North and parts of East since the 13th
Century CE and that in fact there was a Tamil kingdom in this territory from
1215 until the Portuguese conquered it in 1624 (1619 ?). His argument is that bringing the Tamil
kingdom and the Sinhalese kingdoms that existed before foreign occupation
together and putting them into a democratic framework and expecting them to
solve their differences under a unitary constitution is to deny the Tamils of
their land and the right to self-determination. However, whether there were in
reality Tamil inhabitants in the North and the East of the Island during that
period who built a Tamil civilisation in those areas which resulted in the
creation of a Tamil Kingdom is very much in doubt and therefore whether
Arulpragasm’s contention would hold is in doubt too.
LCA says the Europeans solved their differences not by
democracy but by war and after their national boundaries were thus established
they could develop their nation-states but the Tamil nation, as were the many
African and Middle East nations, was denied their right to their homeland. He
says the African nations are still struggling against this colonial evil deed
and in the Middle East the Sunni-Shia conflict is still causing much violence.
But it must be said that these nations had well established historical
boundaries whereas whether the so called Tamil Kingdom was entitled to its
boundaries is in doubt. For instance the conflict between Cameroon and Nigeria
has been resolved on the basis of their historical border. There are about
twenty separatist movements in Africa but the African leaders have agreed to
honour the colonial boundaries and not try to redraw the map of Africa for good
reasons. In the case of the Middle East the struggle is not due to colonial
boundaries. On the contrary the Middle East conflict is kept in conflagration
and unresolved by the USA and the Europe for their advantage. It could be
resolved on the basis of historical boundaries between Palestine and Israel or
on the basis of the 1947 UN Resolution but USA will use its veto power to deny
the Palestinians a just solution. The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran is
exploited to further economic and political agendas of the West. The point here
is that all these people had their historically demarcated territories and
solutions could be arrived at on the basis of those borders but the Western
powers would not allow that to happen whereas Tamils never had national
boundaries of their own. LCA’s ideas do not tally with the reality in Africa or
the Middle East, nor Sri Lanka for that matter.
Now let us look at LCA’s claim that Tamils of Sri Lanka
are entitled to a land which they could exclusively call their own. In fact LCA
is trying to revive the Traditional Tamil Homeland concept which has been
debunked by several intellectuals in the calibre of K.M.de Silva, G.H.Peiris,
K.N.O. Dharmadasa, Gamini Irriyagolla and others. The claim made by the TULF in several of its
declarations including the one at Vadukodai in 1976 that Sri Lanka was occupied
by the Tamils and Sinhalese since early times and that Tamils exclusively
possessed the northern and eastern parts extending from Chilaw to Kumbukkan Oya
is based on flimsy and far fetched material like the Cleghorn Minutes.
K.Indrapala’s research work had shown that there is no evidence of Tamil
habitation in Sri Lanka before the 10th Century CE. The claim made
by some early Tamil writers that there are Tamil Brahami inscriptions in Sri
Lanka has been refuted by K.M. De Silva. G.H. Peiris has shown the fallibility
of TULF claims. Mudliyar Rasanayagam’s views on Tamil habitation in Sri Lanka
have been proved to be baseless and less than a scholarly discourse of the
matter by K.N.O.Dharmadasa. Moreover, there are no archaeological or
epigraphical evidence of ancient Tamil
presence anywhere in Sri Lanka. Epigraphic inscriptions are considered to be
one of the most reliable evidence of ancient habitation.
LCA in order to support his claim that Tamils were the
exclusive occupants in the North and East of Sri Lanka from the 13th
Century is relying mainly on the fact that there was a Tamil Kingdom in the
North from 1215 to 1624 (1619?) CE. This Tamil kingdom was started by the
Kalinga invader Magha who conquered Polonnaruwa which was ruled at that time by
Parakrama Pandyan from Pandyan Dynasty. Pandyan had defeated Leelawathie the
consort of Parakramabahu 1 and the ruler of Polonnaruwa at that time.
Polonnaruwa was liberated from Magha by Parakramabahu 11 ( from Dambadeniya
1236 – 1270). However, Magha who had been ruling Polonnaruwa from Jaffna
remained in the peninsula and started the Tamil Kingdom. This kingdom existed
as a tribute-paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in South India. It gained
independence in 1323 when the last Pandyan ruler in Madurai was defeated by
Malik Kafur the army general of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate.
During this time a Malay chieftain from Tambvalinga (
in modern Thailand) named Chandrabhanu
invaded the politically fragmented Sri Lanka. King Parakramabahu 11 was able to
repulse the attack. However, Chandrabhanu moved North and secured the peninsula
driving away Magha in 1255. Sandyavaranam Sundara Pandyan 1 invaded Sri Lanka
in the 13th Century and defeated Chandrabhanu. Later the North was
invaded for the third time by the Pandyan Dynasty under the leadership of
Aryachakravarthi. When the Pandyan Kingdom which occupied most of South India
and the North of Sri Lanka became weak due to Muslim invasion Aryachakravarthi
rulers made Jaffna Kingdom independent.
This kingdom had to contend with simultaneous confrontation from Vijayanagar
Empire which ruled South India and Kotte rulers. Prince Sapumal from Kotte
kingdom conquered Jaffna for a brief period from 1450 to 1467. Sapumal withdrew when the Kotte kingdom
declined in power. Later Jaffna kingdom was made a vassal of Vijayanagar Empire
and regained its independence when that empire disintegrated. Portugese arrived
in Sri Lanka in 1505 and took control of Jaffna in 1619.
All this go to
prove that the so called Tamil Kingdom was a creation of successive invaders from South India and also Thailand
and was for most of its existence a part of the Pandyan Empire in South India.
This historical event was not any different from such other events in Sri Lanka
caused by foreign invasions from South India and Europe. The so called Tamil
Kingdom for long periods was part of a South Indian Dynasty. But so was the
entire island of Sri Lanka when it was under British rule and considered part
of the British Empire and perhaps also similarly part of Portuguese and Dutch
Empires and also South Indian dynasties at different times in its history. Thus
the so called Tamil Kingdom was only a result of foreign invasion and not a
creation of ancient Tamil inhabitants. There are thousands of such happenings
in the history of the world but they do not lead to the the creation of a
separate state or a nation. The so called Tamil Kingdom therefore does not
qualify as a Kingdom of Tamils. There is no evidence of an ancient civilization
built by ancient Tamils living in the North or anywhere else in the country.
The kovils built by invaders cannot be considered as features of a
civilization. Tamils have not built, nurtured and protected a civilization in
Sri Lanka. On the other hand there is
evidence that Sinhalese built a civilization covering the entire Island
including the North and the East. Unless a group of people occupying an area of
land build, nurture and protect a civilization on that land they are not
entitled to that land. This fact is of paramount importance in the
consideration of a claim for exclusive ownership to any land in any part of Sri
Lanka.
Arulpragasam’s views on Nation-state and his idea of a
State-nation may not help his course either. He has said that at independence
the colonialist has put together different communities within arbitrary
boundaries drawn by them and called them a nation-state. He says instead they
should have been called state-nations for the state was created before the
nation. The term Nation has not been
clearly defined by the UN or any other authority or political scientist.
Political scientists have based their different definitions on different
social, political and cultural aspects such as demography, language, territory,
politics, psychology, common government, etc. Some social scientists recognize
two types of nations, civic nation eg. France, and ethnic nation eg. Germany.
Paradoxically the UN Charter includes a component of self governance and
ignores, within its definition of nation, concepts or units of
non-self-governing groups of people. More recently the international law has
evolved away from the term Nation as it was commonly known to represent
separate countries on the world map. Further the UN has no mechanism in place
to evaluate and award Nation status. On the other hand it has a process to
determine and recognize a State.
Thus there doesn’t seem to be consensus of opinion
about what constitutes a nation or its salient features or an international
mechanism to assess and determine whether a group of people constitute a
nation. The presence of such diverse views and the absence of clear objective
criteria to determine whether a group of people is a nation make the concept of Nation a less important
consideration when deciding on the political future of a people. In other words
nation status should not necessarily entitle a group of people to exclusive
ownership of land.
The term Nation-state is equally vague in meaning and
official recognition. Nevertheless Arulpragasm finds fault with the British for
creating a Nation-state within the Island of Sri Lanka with colonially contrived
boundaries. He means the British have disregarded the boundaries of the Tamil
Kingdom and the two Sinhalese Kingdoms that existed before colonialists
arrived. However the term nation-state has no significance for Tamils or
Sinhalese for that matter because although the term is widely used no such
entities exist. Nation-state has no UN or any other international definition.
It has been defined by political scientists and according to one such
definition a nation-state is one where the great majority are conscious of a
common identity and share the same culture (Davis, 1997). This definition might
suit Sri Lanka if the Tamils and Muslims agree to a common identity and
culture. Another definition says the nation-state is an area where the cultural
boundaries match up to with the political boundaries (Kazancigi L. 1986). It
becomes obvious that a nation-state would exist if nearly all the members of a
single nation were organized in a single state without any other national
communities being present (Halliday, 1997). Therefore it may be concluded that
no such entity exists.
LCA’s attempt to show that Tamils of Sri Lanka had
possession of a kingdom in the Northern part of the country during a period
when there were two other Sinhalese kingdoms in the South has the ultimate goal
of supporting the case for self determination for Tamils which could eventually
lead to a separate state. However, as mentioned above it is seen that the so
called Tamil kingdom does not qualify as a true kingdom with a civilization built
by Tamil inhabitants. The archaeological and epigraphical evidence available in
the North of Sri Lanka shows that the civilization that could be unearthed in
that part of the country is part of the
civilization that had been built, nurtured and protected by the
Sinhalese in the whole of the country. In the absence of official status for
nation or nation-state, ownership of a civilization must become the single most
important criteria and requirement for ownership of land.
Arulpragasm says
that at independence one community has been given powers over the other by the
democratic process” of voting , but under a unitary constitution within
colonially contrived boundaries which bear no relation to ethnic/sectarian or
national boundaries. This has had the effect of anointing” a particular ethnic
group to power with its communal agenda. This results in rival nationalism to
rise up and disunity and the ethnic divide will exacerbate. Firstly it must be
said that the Sinhalese have no communal agenda and sufficient space has been
provided for the minorities to participate in governing the country as a whole.
The Muslim Community and the Up-country Tamils make full use of this
opportunity. Unfortunately the Northern Provincial Council has not made use of
its powers for the benefit of the Tamils and instead has converted the Council
into a political platform to agitate for a separate state. Secondly there were
no national boundaries within the Island of Sri Lanka as the so called Tamil
Kingdom does not qualify as a kingdom built by Tamil inhabitants. Thirdly Tamil
nationalism and its aggressive development including the demand for a separate
country started well before independence as shown by several scholars like
Gamini Irriyagolla and K.N.O.Dharmadasa and is therefore not consequent of the
misdeeds of the colonialists.
Arulpragasm says it is desirable for all communities to
come together as one country but on terms of equality with a constitution that
did not let the unbridled nationalism of one community to trample on the rights
of others. Firstly Sinhalese nationalism is not unbridled and is not aggressive
and oppressive but is defensive and protective. It is sensitive to the threats
on its civilization and would rise up in its defense when ever there is a
threat to it as has happened through out its history including recent times
when the LTTE was a threat. Secondly the present constitution grants equality
to all communities and inhabitants of the country proving the fact that unitary
constitution could extend equality to everybody. Universal franchise guarantees
political equality. A federal constitution may grant better space to Tamils but
at the expense of other communities. It would also go against the principle
that the whole country belongs to everybody and no community could claim
exclusive ownership to any part of the country which is the ideal that
guarantees equality to every community and citizen. Thirdly the rights of
Tamils have not been trampled by the Sinhalese or the constitution. They enjoy equal
rights in every sphere; language, religion, economy, education, employment,
culture, sports, physical facilities, etc. This is why the Tamils in the North
have done equally well or better than the Sinhalese in all these areas in
recent times. If they had been discriminated they would not have achieved what
they have.
Gadek assemblyman G Saminathan fails in his bid for bail. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court today dismissed a bail application by Melaka executive councillor G Saminathan who is facing two charges for LTTE linked terrorism activities.
Judicial Commissioner Ahmad Shahrir Mohd Salleh said the government had classified the LTTE as a terrorist group.
The home minister has yet to de-list the LTTE from the gazette,” he said.
On Jan 20, Saminathan pleaded not guilty to the charge of possessing LTTE-related items and providing support for the LTTE terrorist group after the charges were read to him before Ahmad Shahrir.
The Gadek assemblyman was charged with supporting the terrorist group at an event held at the Dewan Kasturi Air Keroh, Jalan Utama, Taman Ayer Keroh Heights, Melaka, on Nov 28, 2018.
He was also charged with possessing items related to the group in his cellphone at the office of the Unity, Human Resources and Consumer Affairs exco, in the chief minister’s office, at Kompleks Seri Negeri, Melaka, on Oct 10, 2019.
The judge said he was aware that the offer of bail was at the court’s discretion and it was given to secure the attendance of accused persons during trial.
He said although Saminathan was facing charges under the Penal Code, his case is also liable under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act or Sosma.
Generally, bail is not given for those charged with an offence that carried the death penalty or life imprisonment. The exception is that the person is below the age of 18, women and those who are sick or infirm,” he said.
The judge said the accused was charged with a serious offence for allegedly giving support to LTTE, a terrorist group.
LTTE is gazetted as a terror organisation under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act and the minister has yet to revoke it,” he said.
He said it was for the minister to review the matter and until a decision was made, the LTTE would remain a terror organisation in Malaysia.
Ahmad Shahrir said he was not inclined to offer bail because the penalty for the charges faced by the accused is life imprisonment or a maximum of 30 years’ jail or a fine.
He said although there were affidavits to show that Saminathan had some medical conditions, he found the ailments not to be life-threatening or needing immediate treatment.
Lawyer Ramkarpal Singh urged Ahmad Shahrir to give an early trial date since his client would now be languishing in jail as a remand prisoner.
The judge fixed Feb 11 for case management.
Deputy public prosecutors Mohd Firdaus Abu Hanipah and Rohaiza Abdul Rahman conducted the prosecution.
Soon after the proceedings, Saminathan’s wife, V Umadevi, broke down and cried.
Ramkarpal later told reporters that he would consult Saminathan on the next course of action.
DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, DAP national chairman Tan Kok Wai, Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy and Klang MP Charles Santiago were among those present in court.
Former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka’s driver Thusitha Dilum Kumara has given an hour-long confidential statement to the Colombo Additional Magistrate.
He had provided the confidential statement before Colombo Additional Magistrate Kanchana Neranjana de Silva within the latter’s chamber today (29) while it had lasted for around one hour.
Kumara, who is the driver of parliamentarian Patali Champika Ranawaka, was arrested and remanded over an alleged hit-and-run accident involving the former minister in 2016. He is the second accused in the case.
He was granted bail by the court on January 06, 2020.
Kumara had previously sought the court’s permission to make a confidential statement before the Colombo Additional Magistrate.
The suspect surrendered before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on December 24, in connection with an accident that took place in 2016 where a youth was critically injured.
I
attempted to find a copy of the forensic audit report on the central bank bond
scam, but I could not find it, most probably, the speaker of parliament may want
to maintain confidentiality on the contents of the report. If it is opened to
the public different views would have aroused on the contents as there are
experts in Sri Lanka who have more knowledge of bond dealings and its dishonest
aspects in the process. We can see that there were considerable points, which
related to the deal. It was eventuated
with the knowledge of authorities who had obligation to exercise due care and
attention as bank executives when dealing with various transactions and the consent
of authorities who made the covering approval or originally authorized the deal
had a fidelity to exercise authority on good faith and discretion in term of
applicable administrative law of Sri Lanka. The deal was deemed to be cheating
and eventuated without good faith that they were doing the right thing. On this
basis, the bond scam was a crime against the government or people of Sri Lanka. Many mistakes happening in day to day banking
activities, but they don’t amount to treat as crimes.
The
following points are serious in the case and the public need knowing whether
the auditor considered the points. Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabral also made public
statements on this matter.
The borrowing to the
government at a higher rate of interest than the decided rate or prevailing
rate of the market by the government was cheating and as a result of this
action, additional cost incurred to the government and the responsible officers
who authorized the deal with knowing the consequences would be guilty on this
transaction.
The borrowing more than
the amount required at a higher rate was also cheating and the bank officers
were responding to question about this and without considering the problem,
authorized to borrow a large sum of money was dishonesty and what did the
government authorities do with such additional money. This action also amounts to a crime.
There was no consultation
of the ministers in charge, who were supposed to use borrowed funds and the
leader of the cabinet, the president of Sri Lanka on the rate of interest and
the volume of borrowing. The leader of
the cabinet should have questioned this abnormal transaction at the cabinet
meeting and would have taken remedial actions to indemnify the potential loss
to the government at first instance and to prevent a future repeat. The records
indicate that borrowing happened twice. It was amount to misleading and
misappropriation.
The government auditor
was responsible to advise the government about the transactions and advise the
government to take legal actions against the culprits. Did the auditor General at that time or after
that play the role? If the auditor
general did not play the role it could be treated as his negligence, which
could be treated as abetting to commit crimes and the auditor general also
would be an accuse of the case.
The issuer of Bonds
(Central Bank) and an investor of the bonds (EPF managed by the Central Bank)
is procedurally wrong according to banking procedures and reflect a conflict of
interest.
The government procedures
rules that the government cannot borrow funds without the approval of the
secretary to the treasury and did the central bank as a government-owned
organization obtain the approval of the treasury to borrow funds and to issue
bonds to the public for the borrowing purpose.
What was the treasury opinion on this matter?
I
don’t know whether forensic auditors considered above points when they
preparing the audit report. Lateral thinking on the forensic audit report is
essential and hiding the report from the public is not appropriate.
The
central bank bond scam indicate that the superannuation management in Sri Lanka
is in a crisis and my article since the year 2000 indicated that the central
bank is a regulatory authority of the financial system of Sri Lanka and the
management of superannuation, collecting premiums, insurance, and investments
of fund markets playing role, which is subject to regulations of the authority,
the central bank. Sri Lanka regulator
has become a market player and it is a disgraceful act in Sri Lanka’s financial
system. Since the year 2000, I have been
pointed out this issue and the government or the policy-makers have failed to
correct the problem giving the confidence in the financial system of Sri Lanka.
The
government needs to separate superannuation management from the central bank
and establish a separate organization to do it consolidating all super funds to
a single organization. The proposed
organization would be a large corporation, which lifts Sri Lanka’s economy and
provide more than 10000 jobs for educated youths. Such a new organization could
give a long-term solution to the unemployment problem of university graduates
and boost to the construction industry.
The
president, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa should investigate my suggestion and take
action to solve the economic issues of the country.
The
proposed new organization to manage super funds in Sri Lanka can open two
accounts in Bank of Ceylon and Peoples’ Bank for operation purpose and such
action will be a good solution to liquidity problem (Money base problems) in
two major government banks and the banks would not need to borrow from outside
for liquidity problem.
The
central bank of Sri Lanka can freely play its role especially regulation and
supervision of banks, non-bank finance companies and other market players such
as insurance, merchant banking, stock market dealing and many other market
dealings. The central bank also can
supervise the proposed super management organization. Then the monetary policy will successfully
implement in the country and the original purposes of the central could be
achieved.
The
world has gone through much. Heterosexual AIDS,
Ebola, the H1N1 swine flu and, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in
2003. We now have coronavirus. The death toll from the fast spreading
virus has not reached 106 with entire villages/towns being cordoned off by the
Chinese authorities. So far all deaths have been inside China. There are said
to be 1million foreigners working in China and 492,185
international
students studying in China. The virus is likely to impact the world
tremendously. Countries must now look into their internal systems and relying
on self-sustenance as much as possible.
According to Lancet science journal the virus spreading globally is unlikely to be originating from the Wuhan seafood market.
There
is much talk of attempts by the global elites with powerful governments and
entities of the UN to depopulate the world. Without brushing the concerns as ‘conspiracy
theories’ it is good to weigh the views and derive at one’s own conclusions
774 died of SARS about 650 of the deaths occurred just in
mainland China and Hong Kong. But the US Centre for Disease Control says over 8000
Americans have died of flu (2019-2020)
Jan2020 Johnson & Johnson advised
Coronavirus simulation and now stands to gain financially with new vaccine
Ironically
John Hopkins Centre for Health Security hosted an event on 18 Oct 2019 – BEFORE
the coronavirus outbreak and ran a simulation of EXACTLY what is now unfolding
in China & across the world before it actually happened. What a
coincidence!
This
Event201 was conducted in partnership with World Economic Forum & Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation and Johnson & Johnson was asked about the
coronavirus vaccine.
Jan2020 Did Bill Gates & World
Economic Forum Predict Coronavirus Outbreak?
A
pandemic simulation exercise for coronavirus took place on 18 Oct 2019 in New
York weeks before the first illness from coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China.
Bill
& Melinda Gates did not only partner the program they are actually funding
the group who owns the patent of the virus and working on a vaccine for it.
Jan2020 Congress Funding Controversial”
Geoengineering Plan B” to Spray Particles in the Sky to Cool Earth
A
top climate change scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration has received $4 million in funding from Congress along with
permission to study two highly controversial geoengineering methods in an
attempt to cool the Earth. Known as the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation
Experiment (SCoPEx), the experiment will spray calcium carbonate particles high
above the earth to mimic the effects of volcanic ash blocking out the sun to
produce a cooling effect. The plan was shown in 2019 Environmental Research
Letters and echoed what then-CIA director John Brennan said when addressing the
Council on Foreign Relations in 2016,
2019 – Rockefeller, Big Pharma Faces $1
Billion Lawsuit for Intentionally Infecting People With Syphilis
The $1billion lawsuit was approved by
US District Judge against John Hopkins University Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N) and the
Rockefeller Foundation & seeking damages for victims of syphilis during US
govt’s experiments in Guatemala during 1940s.
Guatemalan children, orphans and patients from mental hospitals
and prisoners were infected with syphilis to test ability of penicillin to
treat sexually transmitted diseases.
The experiments were kept secret until Dr. Susan Reverby of
Wellesley College uncovered the experiments in 2010 forcing President Obama to
apologize.
Johns
Hopkins expressedprofound
sympathy for individuals and families impacted by the deplorable 1940s syphilis
study funded and conducted by the U.S. government in Guatemala. We respect the
legal process, and we will continue to vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s headed up
to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines,
health care, reproductive health services, we lower that by perhaps 10 or 15
percent.” Said Gates to invitation only guests in California.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a founding member of the
GAVI Alliance (Global Alliance for Vaccinations and Immunization) in
partnership with the World Bank, WHO and the vaccine industry. The goal of GAVI
is to vaccinate every newborn child in the developing world. The vaccines are
accused of making people sicker and susceptible to disease and premature death.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, along with David
Rockefeller’s Rockefeller Foundation, are the creators of the GMO
biotechnology, & finance a project called The Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) headed by former UN chief, Kofi Annan. Monsanto,
DuPont, Dow, Syngenta and other major GMO agribusiness giants are reported at
the heart of AGRA, using it as a back-door to spread their patented GMO seeds
across Africa under the deceptive label, ‘bio-technology,’ Gates and Buffett
are major funders of global population reduction programs, as is Turner, whose
UN Foundation was created to funnel $1 billion of his tax-free stock option
earnings in AOL-Time-Warner into various birth reduction programs in the
developing world.
Amy Worthington
claims US is suffering from dangerous aerosol and electromagnetic operations
conducted by the U.S. government under the guise of national security. Both the
Pentagon’s aerosol operations and its limited nuclear wars are deeply
interconnected. The military’s aerosol operations have been climate altering to
the extreme. Pentagon has been involved for decades in the drastic manipulation
of weather, climate and atmospheric conditions. The U.S. used a chemical agent
dubbed Olive Oil during Operation Popeye to induce heavy rains in Vietnam 40
years ago. HAARP is not only capable of destabilizing agricultural and
ecological systems anywhere on the planet, but its effects can target select
regions to affect human physical, mental and emotional responses during
non-lethal warfare projects
A CIA chemist, mind control — and the
return of psychedelic drugs
Lincoln
Center is the new institute to promote use of psychedelic drugs. Sidney
Gottlieb CIA chief chemist brought the drug to US in 1950s and attributes to
the cultural revolutions of 1960s. In 1968 Congress made mind-altering drugs
illegal. But it was Albert Hofmann, the Swiss chemist who accidentally
discovered it in 1943.
In
September 2019, Johns Hopkins Medicine received $17 million in private and
foundation grants to open a Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.
Sidney
Gottlieb CIA chief chemist experimented in mind control which later CIA Chief
Allen Dulles named MK-ULTRA.
His
1972 book Survival of the Wisest” justified depopulation claiming man had to
regulate & control Mother Nature because though Nature keeps balance
through disease & death man needed to step in & increase the pace.
Chapter 7 advocates secret mutation through RNA viruses. Read the book and find
out and come to terms with how Salk’s polio vaccine sponsored by Rockefeller
& Carnegie Mellon Institutes in 1955 was put market inspite of cells from
Rhesus monkeys used in research containing Simian Virus 40 a carcinogenic
mutation which ended up giving cancer! Now you know why Salk didn’t patent the polio vaccine. Read about it – The Cutter
Incident.
GMOs – Planned Sterilization of
Humanity? – Peter Koenig (2016)
Henry
Kissinger said he ‘Who controls the food supply controls the people; who
controls the energy can control whole continents; and who controls money can
control the world’
He also
said ‘Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the
Third World.’ – he’s 96years and is one of the key names associated with
Bilderbergers, Council of Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, British
Chatham House, Economic Forum (Davos)!
According
to Peter Koenig GMO seeds are for insect resistance or herbicide resistance
(glyphosate tolerant – trade name Roundup”) Glyphosate absorbed into food has
devastating health effects – cancer, infertility, miscarriage, birth defects.
F.
William Engdahl’s 2007 book Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic
Manipulation” speaks of food control & depopulation as strategic objectives
of GMOs. Kissinger aspired for a less populated Third World enabling US &
world elite to have easier & cheaper access to raw materials & ensuring
their luxury lives continued unabated.
DRUG CARTEL EXPOSED CREATING PANDEMIC
H1N1 SWINE FLU VIRUSES AND VACCINES
The
twelve largest drug manufacturers and the eight largest drug delivery companies
(or otherwise known as the drug channels companies) that include drug
wholesalers, chain pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers (so called PBM’s)
consist in total only 20 ofthe top
500 global corporations in the world.
Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone lost more than 10,000 lives. Ebola in
the Democratic Republic of Congo occurred in 2016 close to an American
laboratory in Uganda near DRC border. The US Department of Defense (DoD) is
funding Ebola trials on humans https://www.thestandard.co.zw/2017/08/05/usa-epidemic-spreading-africa/
Khazarian mob using virus fear porn in desperate
attempt to keep control over its 200-plus nation states” – is this the reason
for coronavirus???
Stephen Hawkins said greed and stupidity will end the human race and sadly because of the greed and stupidity of a handful of evil and sadistic people the rest of the world and all humanity will suffer. Everything in its natural format has got contaminated or diluted so that people can make profit in wrongful ways. Right livelihood is never practiced – a short cut to power, stardom and profit has gotten us to living in a very vulnerable and frightening world.
Why
do the people of Pakistan observe the 5th February as a Black Day
every year; it is a frequently asked questions. The fact of the matter is that
it is not only the 5th February, but each and every day in that
month is a Black Day because every day of February has a new story of cruelty
and brutality to share with us. The cruel judicial murder of Afzal Guru, brutal
hanging of Maqbool Bhatt, burning of the innocent passengers of Samjhota
Express and above all the Massacre in Gujarat; February always proved very
callous.
Maqbool
Bhatt was the first victim to February’s brutality. He was one of the most
prominent leaders striving for freedom and liberty of the Indian Occupied
Kashmir. If today, the movement for the liberation of Kashmir is still alive,
it is because of Maqbool Bhatt’s fiery speeches, charismatic guidance and the
seed of desire for freedom he sowed in the hearts of Kashmiri youth. He was accused
of killing a CID officer Amar Chand and in 1968 was awarded the death sentence
by Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo. His punishment could not be acted upon for the next
16 years and ultimately he was hanged in Tihar Jail in New Delhi on 11 February
1984. The Indian authorities were so frightened of the Maqbool Bhatt’s dead
body that they buried him in the jail premises.
27th
February 2002 was the first day of the Gujarat massacre and the Muslim community living in that vicinity
was the basic target. The bloodshed ended
with 1,044 dead, 223 missing and 2,500 injured. According to an official
report, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were among the dead in the Gujarat Riots. The
Concerned Citizens Tribunal Report estimated that as many as 1,926 might have
been killed. Other sources estimated death tolls in excess of 2,000. Many
brutal killings and rapes were reported on as well as widespread looting and
destruction of property. The Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time and the
current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, was accused of initiating the
violence. Reports say that police and other government officials were involved
in giving instructions to the rioters and providing them lists of Muslim-owned
properties. Mr. Modi simply turned a blind eye to whatever was happening there
in the streets of Gujarat and his deliberate ignorance added a lot to the loss.
More
heart rending and more brutal story is of Samjhauta Express burning. That was somewhere around the midnight on
18 February 2007 when the Samjhauta Express was heading towards Pakistan. Just
after the train had passed Diwana near the Indian city of Panipat, bombs already
fixed in two carriages started exploding. Both carriages were over-loaded with
passengers. Blazing flames of fire engulfed the fast moving train. Some of the
passengers lost their lives in an attempt to jump out of the train; others who
could not jump out also had to meet the same fate but in a more agonizing way;
they were all burnt to ashes alive. There were reports that when the train
slowed down, some unknown people were witnessed pouring kerosene oil to the
already burning carriages. Most of those who lost their lives in the incident
were Pakistanis. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) charged eight
people in the terrorist attack, including Swami Aseemanand, a Hindu cleric
formerly affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) but he was very
soon released on bail. Three others charged in the case remained absconding. The
alleged mastermind, Sunil Joshi, was killed in 2007 by unknown killers. Overall
a Hindu fundamentalist group in India Abhinav Bharat was held responsible for
this brutal incident.
Mohammad
Afzal Guru was a very popular Kashmiri freedom-fighter. He was blamed of
planning and designing the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament in 2001. His
confession statement presented before the court became the basis of death
penalty sentenced to him. He was executed on 9 February 2013. Guru’s advocate Sushil Kumar later claimed
that Guru had written a letter to him in which he had told him that he had made
the confessions under compulsion as his family was being threatened. The same
thing Guru claimed in his interview with a journalist Vinod K. Jose in 2006. Guru
had said that he had been subjected to extreme torture which included electric
shocks in private parts and being beaten up for hours along with threats
regarding his family after his arrest. During the investigation he was
continuously warned that in case of his non-co-operation, his brother would
also be fixed in the same case as he was already in the custody of security
agencies. Recently, the Indian security agencies have arrested a DSP of J&K
police Davinder Singh on charges of having links with the freedom-fighters and
doing cooperation with them. Afzal Guru had told in his interview that the same
police-officer was the central character behind all that torture inflicted upon
him. It is something very astonishing that the same police officer involved in
torturing Afzal Guru was awarded National Police Medal for his gallantry a few
months back. Now he has been arrested for his links with freedom-fighters.
The
story starting from Maqbool Bhatt has reached the recent arrest of DSP Davinder
Singh of J&K police. There are so many hidden links among all these
incidents which certainly make the situation more complex and more complicated
but one thing is very much clear; life for Muslims in India was never a smooth
sailing and never would it be. Same is the situation with other minorities too.
