SL 360 TV

Ada Derana

Ada Derana

Ada Derana

Courtesy NewsIn,Asia

Colombo, December 24 (News 1st): General Daya Ratnayake has been appointed as the Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA). The Ministry of Ports and Shipping stated that the appointment letter has already been given to Gen.

General Daya Ratnayake was the 20th Sri Lanka Army Commander. The appointment of a former army man as the SLPA chairman indicates President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s concern for national security.

He won the November 16, Lankan Presidential election ensuring scurity in the aftermath of the April 21, 2019 Easter Sunday blasts set off by a Jehadi suicide squad to kill nearly 300 civilians in hotels and churches in various parts of the island including Colombo..

Recently, the President had expressed concern over some security issues in the Hambantota port which is a joint venture with a Chinese state owned company.

By Tang Lu, Shiran Illanperuma and Chen Jian Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, December 24 (Xinhua): It was early in the morning as 25-year-old Harshana Tennekoon zipped across southern Sri Lanka’s Hambantota International Port (HIP) in his hatchback to welcome the first roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ship of the day.

The massive vessel, carrying automobiles manufactured in India and destined for markets as far off as South Africa and Cuba, dwarfed Tennekoon.

Armed with a walkie talkie, hardhat and reflective vest, the young duty manager-in-training must oversee a team of around 90, who would spend the next few hours discharging the ship’s load and preparing it for the next leg of the journey.

It was a painstaking process, requiring precision, coordination and collective effort. But under Tennekoon’s supervision, the team worked like a well-oiled machine, able to discharge over 120 vehicles in an hour.

This is Tennekoon’s first job, of which his parents are quite proud. He joined the HIP in December 2017, shortly after the management of the port was transferred to the Hambantota International Ports Group (HIPG), a joint-venture between the China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).

For Tennekoon, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I love this job,” he told Xinhua in mid-December when the Hambantota Port was celebrating the second anniversary since its operations were given on a 99-year lease to the HIPG.

My aim is to go as far as I can in this industry,” he said.

Catalyst For Local Development

A master plan for developing industries around the Hambantota Port, undertaken by an international group of companies, has almost been finalized, said Ravindra Jayawickrema, CEO of HIPG subsidiary Hambantota International Port Services.

Once the plan is finalized, the port operator HIPG will go to the market to attract investors to set up export-oriented manufacturing to take advantage of the Hambantota Port’s free port policy and strategic access to an international shipping lane in the Indian Ocean located just 10 nautical miles (18.5 km) south of the port.

Along with industrial development, the port operator hoped to catch the container overflow from the congested Port of Colombo and develop Hambantota’s bunkering and fuel supply operations once the tank farm comes into operation early next year, Jayawickrema said.

Sri Lanka lies between Singapore and Fujairah, two of the largest fuel depots in the world that supply over 60 million tonnes of fuel per year. We are trying to tap into that market to a certain extent,” he said.
He came to work in a relatively underdeveloped Hambantota just four months ago after quitting a job in the capital Colombo. Thanks to the port I now have a good income in my hometown and I can stay with my family,” said Kumara.

Kumara’s story is not unusual at the Hambantota Port. According to HIPG General Manager Human Resources Jeevan Premasara, 97 percent of the staff at the port are Sri Lankans, and 67 percent are recruited from Hambantota and surrounding districts.

The HIPG has been working closely with Sri Lanka’s National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) to upgrade facilities and provide training in port operations.

HIPG CEO Ray Ren, who worked at CMPH flagship port in south China’s Shenzhen for 10 years before coming to Sri Lanka, said the company is committed to providing training and skill transfer to local young workers.

There are a lot of talents and potential in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Giving Back To Local Communities

Thero Karunasena, a monk from the Samudraramaya Buddhist temple located just a few meters away from the entrance of Hambantota Port, rested under a sacred bodhi tree after conducting weekly religious classes for some 100 local children.

Two years ago, I received less than half that number of students, but things changed when the HIPG began providing us with free breakfasts for children,” Karunasena said.

Hambantota used to be one of the poorest regions in Sri Lanka, with economic activity restricted to artisanal fishing and seasonal agriculture. But the emergence of Hambantota Port has provided many opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

In the past there were no jobs and no infrastructure, but today locals employed at the port benefit from a steady monthly income and their hard earned money circulates in the village,” said Karunasena.

Thanks to automobile imports from the port, vehicle repair shops have mushroomed in the area. In Ambalantota, the closest town to the port, locals supplement their income by renting rooms to workers and starting restaurants to feed new visitors.

In October, the China Merchants Charity Foundation donated a two-story building equipped with a computer room, music room and library to the Tissapura Junior School in Weerawila.

The project was the result of consultations between school principal A. H. Weerakeerthi and HIPG CEO Ren.

A young girl named Nethma declared the inauguration of the building as her happiest day”, saying that the new environment would make her studies more productive.

The company has donated supplies to locals displaced by heavy floods and supported local healthcare initiatives, including paying for free cataract surgeries. It also offered financial assistance to beach clean-ups and elephant and turtle conservation.

At first people were misled by rumors about losing their land, but now their attitude is more positive. They see how this port benefits them and their children,” Karunasena said, reflecting on HIPG’s contribution to local communities since 2017.

Debt Trap” Hype Dismissed

The Hambantota Port has witnessed remarkable growth since operations were leased to the HIPG and received steady support and praise from Sri Lankan leaders.

In December 2017 when the management was transferred to the HIPG, then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the port fits in with Sri Lanka’s own vision of transforming into a hub in the Indian Ocean.”

More recently, new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa dismissed a debt trap” hyped up by some Western media, saying that Sri Lanka is committed to strengthening ties with China for mutual benefit.

We are very confident that Sri Lanka can very clearly repay the loans for the Hambantota Port and other development projects. Today, the economy has collapsed but when we rebuild it, paying back loans won’t be a question,” Rajapaksa told Xinhua in an interview earlier this month.

Sri Lanka’s debt problem was not created by China, said Local scholar Dushni Weerakoon and Sisira Jayasuriya, professor of economics at Australia’s Monash University. Chinese loans comprise merely about 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt, they said in a co-authored article.

As for the 99-year lease of the Hambantota Port, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa clarified on Thursday that he would not renegotiate the commercial agreement of the project that had already been signed.

According to data gathered by the HIPG, the port has seen a 60-percent growth in volumes from 2018 and a threefold increase from 2017.

For CEO of HIPG subsidiary Hambantota International Port Services Jayawickrema, the outlook is positive.
We see the future to be very promising,” he said.

(Video reporter: Tang Lu; Video editor: Liu Xiaorui)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Vega is powered by a 300 kw battery pack which gives it a range of 240 kilometers

Colombo, December 23 (HTAuto) – Beautiful beaches, mild weather and rich cultural legacy are what are synonymous with Sri Lanka. Having its very own supercar then, is quite the contrasting picture that a company called CodeGen is trying to paint.

CodeGen is a Sri Lankan company that is in the final stages of preparing its very own electric luxury supercar called Vega that promises to put not just the island nation but south Asia firmly on the global automotive map. And on paper at least, the car has a lot working for it to make it a serious rival to anything that the competition has in its arsenal.

According to the company’s website, Vega is world-class high-performance electric vehicle that is a ‘pioneering venture’ that would be the first-ever such vehicle to be developed and manufactured in Sri Lanka. Harsha Subasinghe, chief executive of CodeGen, was recently quoted in a report by Xinhua as saying that the project was taken up as a way of giving an opportunity to young Sri Lankans who are keen to have ingeniously made supercars in the country. We are ready to do something new for our country. I am sure it will be a product that will make all Sri Lankans really proud,” he said.

Harsha further claimed that the Vega is powered by a 300 kw battery pack which gives it a range of 240 kilometers. It reportedly does zero to 100 kmph in just 3.1 seconds and produces 900 bhp of peak power figures. The car is being developed in Sri Lanka with the help of numerous partners.

CodeGen says the car is currently in the final stages of testing and could be showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in April of 2020.

While Vega could be a strong statement from CodeGen and Sri Lanka about the prowess of south Asian companies and entrepreneurs, the challenge of providing supporting infrastructure to electric cars remains clear and present in many countries in the region.

A number of established car companies, with all their expertise and resources, are only now taking up the task of adding electric cars to their product portfolios. While China remains the largest market, Europe and the United States too is slowly catching up. India has also given impetus to electric mobility with a number of manufacturers now gearing up to drive in their electric offerings.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකාසීනිවුස්

හිටපු ඇමැති රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා මේ වන විට කොළඹ පෞද්ගලික රෝහලකට ඇතුළත් වන්නැයි නීති උපදෙස් ලැබී ඇතැයි වාර්තා වෙයි.

වහා අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස වරෙන්තු නිකුත්කර තිබියදී සේනාරත්න මහතාට මෙසේ පුද්ගලික රෝහලට ඇතුළත් වන්නැයි උපදෙස් ලැබී ඇත්තේ සිය හෘද රෝගී තත්වය මූලික කරගෙන ය.

රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා පත් පසුගිය කාලයේදී සිංගප්පූරුවේ දී හෘද සැත්කමකට භාජනය වූ අතර දීර්ඝ කාලීන ඖෂධ භාවිතා කරන්නෙක්ද වෙයි.

සාමාන්‍යයෙන් හෘද සැත්කමකින් පසු ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන වෛද්‍ය පරීක්ෂණ හා ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහාද පෙර වෛද්‍යවරයා වෙත යොමුවීම සාමාන්‍ය ලෙස සිදුවන්නකි.

ඒ අනුව නැවතත් රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා සිංගප්පූරු යෑම සඳහා අධිකරන අවසරයක් ලබා ගැනීමට ද අවස්ථාවක් නිර්මාණය කර ගැනීම අදහස වී ඇත.

මේ වනවිට ඔහුට විදෙස් ගමන් තහනම් කරමින් අධිකරණය විසින් නියෝග පනවා ඇත.

ජනාධිපතිවරණයට පෙර ආන්දෝලනාත්මක සුදු වෑන් මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔහුව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නැයි අධිකරණයෙන් නියෝග නිකුත් කර තිබේ.

මේ අතර වාර්තා වන්නේ තමන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත ඔහු ගත කළ හොත් බන්ධනාගාරයට නොයා වහාම රෝහල් ගත වීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සියලු වෛද්‍ය සහතික මේ වන විටත් සේනාරත්න මහතා විසින් නීතීඥයන් හරහා සූදානම් කර ඇති බවයි. හෘද සැත්කමකට ඔහු භාජනය කර ඇති නිසා ඔහුට ඒ සඳහා වැඩි අවස්ථාවක් ලැබෙනු ඇති බව නීතිඥයන් ගේ අදහසයි.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

December 24, 2019, 8:45 pm

Leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) and UPFA parliamentarian Dinesh Gunawardena receiving his letter of appointment as the minister of foreign relations from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Pic courtesy President’s media)

One-time Sri Lankan Ambassador in Qatar, A.S.P. Liyanage, was among those who contested the 2019 presidential election. Of the 35 contestants, Liyanage polled 6,447 votes (0.05 per cent). The Sri Lanka Labour Party leader secured the 20th position and was among 33 out of 35 contestants who failed to save their deposits. A section of the media ridiculed Liyanage after he was pictured, in Oct 2018, welcoming Yoshitha Rajapaksa and Rohitha Rajapaksa at the Hamad International Airport, Qatar, and carrying their bags. The former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sons were there with the CH and FC rugby team for a match. Another political appointee, Ruwan Danansooriya, on the Qatar Embassy staff was pictured pushing a trolley, loaded with visitors’ bags.

The entrepreneur received important diplomatic posting, in early March 2017, courtesy of the then President Maithripala Sirisena. During the Rajapaksa administration, Liyanage served as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Nigeria.

Previously Chairman/MD of the ASP Group, Liyanage contested the presidential polls, in 2010 and 2015. The chubby businessman received 0.14 and 0.12 per cent, of the votes, respectively.

Liyanage was just one political appointee cleared by the so called High Posts Committee of Parliament. Successive governments packed Lankan overseas missions with political appointees. It would be pertinent to mention that President Sirisena gave Liyanage a top diplomatic posting, though the man actually pleaded for a Governorship.

Diplomatic appointments, received by Liyanage, reflected the crisis in the Foreign Service, struggling to cope up with growing challenges. Obviously, in this land like no other, anyone can not only secure a top diplomatic posting, but also seek the highest office in the country.

Passenger Transport and Power and Energy Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, on Dec 19, declared that they couldn’t be satisfied with services rendered by those serving our diplomatic service overseas. Amaraweera found fault with successive governments for accommodating defeated candidates and retired public servants in the Foreign Service. Alleging that the Foreign Service had pathetically failed to serve Sri Lanka’s interests abroad, the SLFPer expressed confidence that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would uplift the Foreign Service.

Hambantota District lawmaker Amaraweera owed an explanation as to why he waited so long to take up the contentious issue. Amaraweera cannot be unaware that all heads of missions are cleared by the Parliamentary High Posts Committee. Did Amaraweera ever oppose a political appointment made at the expense of career diplomats? In fact, the then President Sirisena cleared the way for A.S.P. Liyanage to take over the Qatar mission when Amaraweera was serving the UNP-UPFA yahapalana coalition, which betrayed the Sri Lankan military at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Oct 2015.

Post-Swiss Embassy incident study

on challenges

The writer recently had an opportunity to examine failures on the part of successive governments, regarding high profile accusations, with the focus on the Foreign Ministry. Touchy issues were discussed against the backdrop of two recent incidents, involving the Swiss Embassy, in Colombo. The Swiss accommodating Inspector Nishantha Silva on its political asylum programme and Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock alleging on behalf of Embassy worker Garnia Banister Francis, that she was abducted on Nov 25, the day after Inspector Silva left the country.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government acted swiftly, and decisively, to counter the high profile Western project. Veteran politician Dinesh Gunawardena, who had never held the foreign affairs portfolio, handled the situation well, with Foreign Secretary Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha playing a significant role. There had never been a previous instance of Sri Lanka successfully countering such a high profile propaganda project meant to undermine the government.

The Swiss operation took President Gotabaya Rajapaksa government by surprise though the new administration responded admirably. Had the government succumbed to Western pressure, the country would have been in serious trouble. Instead, Ambassador Aryasinha, accompanied by Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne, on Dec 01, 2019, set the record straight at a meeting with Ambassador Mock. Whatever the Swiss say, their project has been exposed.

Foreign Relations Minister Gunawardena can be quite rightly satisfied with the ministry’s performance. President Rajapaksa appointed attorney-at-law Susil Premajayantha as State Minister for International Cooperation. In the absence of a deputy minister, Premajayantha functions as the deputy minister while being called State Minister for International Cooperation. Interestingly, there are no deputy ministers in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government. In addition to 16 cabinet ministers, including Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa, there are 39 State Ministers. The government owed public/media an explanation as to why there are two ministers to handle the vital subject split into Foreign Relations and International Cooperation. Let there be no confusion.

At the onset of Eelam War IV, in August 2006, top SLFPer Mangala Samaraweera handled the subject. In early 2007, Rohitha Bogollagama replaced Samaraweera. After the conclusion of the war, in May 2009, and following the April 2010 general election, Prof. G.L. Peiris took over the ministry. One-time UNPer Bogollagama, couldn’t secure a place in parliament, at the first general election, after the end of the war. Prof. Peiris, who functioned as the leader of the then Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’s delegation for talks with the LTTE in terms of the CFA, finalized in Feb 2002, served as the external affairs minister till the change of government, in January 2015.

The 2015 change of government brought Mangala Samaraweera back to the Foreign Ministry. Having received the backing of the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to install Maithripala Sirisena as the President, the UNP-SLFP combine, aka yahapalana government, co-sponsored the accountability resolution at the UNHRC, on Oct 01, 2015. In spite of President Sirisena repeatedly claiming that his approval hadn’t been obtained for the controversial move, he did nothing during his five-year term to reverse the process.

The Foreign Relations Ministry should at least now undertake a thorough examination of past events/disputed policy decisions. Although President Sirisena and many others blamed Samaraweera for the Geneva betrayal, the then minister couldn’t be faulted for implementing yahapalana policies. Had Samaraweera acted unilaterally, President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe should have had the guts to thwart his plans. Sri Lanka suffered for the failure on the part of the top political leadership. Sri Lanka endorsed the Geneva resolution in spite of the then Sri Lanka Permanent Representative in Geneva Ambassador Aryasinha strongly objecting to it at an informal session attended by Western governments. Samaraweera dismissed Aryasinha’s concerns and was instructed to finalize the resolution. Samaraweera couldn’t be faulted for the Geneva co-sponsorship. Instead, the yahapalana administration, led by President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe, should accept responsibility for the Geneva betrayal.

During Sirisena’s presidency, four held the foreign ministry portfolio: Ravi Karunanayake succeeded Samaraweera, in May 2017, before him being removed in early August 2017 amidst the media furor over Treasury bond scams perpetrated in Feb 2015 and March 2016. One time Attorney General Tilak Marapana succeeded Karunanayake, in early August 2017. Having sacked the cabinet in late Oct 2018, President Sirisena placed the foreign ministry under Dr. Sarath Amunugama during what is dubbed as a 51-day government. Thanks to the judicial intervention, Marapana regained the foreign ministry in Dec 2018. The top lawyer held the ministry until one-time Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa convincingly defeated UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa who contested the 2019 presidential poll on the New Democratic Front (NDF), under the ‘swan’ symbol.

Had Premadasa won the presidency, Nishantha Silva, along with his wife and children, wouldn’t have sought political asylum in Switzerland and there was no requirement for the Swiss Embassy drama, orchestrated by interested parties. The UNP, too, had a role to play. No less a person than President Gotabaya Rajapaksa referred to a statement issued by defeated presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa as well as Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. Dr. Senaratne caused media furor by declaring that the abducted Swiss Embassy worker had a pistol trusted in her mouth.

President Rajapaksa assured Ambassador Mock, on Dec 16, that the alleged incident never took place. The President repeated what Ambassador Aryasinha told Mock on Dec 01 when he presented the findings of high profile investigation to the Swiss envoy.

The government earned the wrath of Western powers for its handling of the Swiss issue. Having conveniently forgotten the Swiss, accommodating Inspector Nishantha, they blamed President Rajapaksa’s administration going public with the Francis issue. President Rajapaksa didn’t mince his words when he pointed out to those who expressed concern over the media coverage as to how Garnia’s unsubstantiated allegations ended up in the New York Times as if it was the factual truth, even before Ambassador Mock complained, in writing, having met Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. US President Trump appears to be quite justified in accusing the NYT of repeatedly publishing fake news.

In fact, high profile international media coverage exposed the Swiss project. The Foreign Relations Ministry addressed the Swiss issue commendably, amidst another serious matter caused by the Conservative Party ahead of the UK general election, on Dec 12, 2019. On the instructions from Colombo, High Commissioner Manisha Gunasekera strongly reacted to the Conservative proposal for a two-state solution in Sri Lanka. The HC objected to the Conservative declaration: “We will continue to support international initiatives to achieve reconciliation, stability and justice across the world, and in the former conflict zones such Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, where we maintain our support for the two-state solution. The Conservatives made their move at the same time Westminster Magistrate’s court delivered a ruling against Brigadier Priyanka Fernando in respect of him allegedly making a threatening gesture at LTTE supporters, who were shouting abuse against the country in front of our London High Commission, while openly waving Tiger flags. The Foreign Relations Ministry, in a statement issued on Dec 07, 2019, titled ‘Foreign Ministry comments on the judgment in the case of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando,’ without hesitation pointed out the ruling was given on the eve of the UK election general election.

It would have been better if the statement was aptly titled ‘Foreign Relations Ministry comments on the judgment in the case of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando.’ There shouldn’t be confusion over how the ministry is named and a State Minister under a different title.

Negligence on the part of past governments

The failed Swiss move, and Sri Lanka’s spirited response, should be examined against the backdrop of past Foreign/External Affairs Ministry failures. The sharp change in Sri Lanka’s response can be safely attributed to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s policy.

The writer, attending the workshop at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism, on Dec 21, 2019, briefly discussed as to how Sri Lanka pathetically failed to exploit Lord Naseby’s contradiction of the UN war crimes charges in Oct 2017, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) bid to deceive the public, in 2007, with regard to war casualties (2002-2007), exposure of those propagating lies over Mannar mass graves early this year, soon after Geneva alleged there could be more secret graves, appearance of a man in Tamil Nadu alleged to have been killed by the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), in late 2009, Australia providing a new identity to one-time leading JVP activist, Kumar Gunaratnam and a missing LTTE child soldier appearing in an award-winning French movie, the then Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran accusing the army of poisoning 104 ex-LTTE cadres in government custody and wartime accusations directed at the Navy over what was dubbed as Kanyakumari killings (in Indian waters).

The writer also compared the handling of the situation caused by the Swiss and Sri Lanka’s failure to exploit disclosure of secret talks the UN mission in Colombo had with the LTTE in 2007. Had the Rajapaksa government bothered to examine what was happening on the ground, the country would be in a much better position to counter propaganda offensives directed against our political and military leadership. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been any effort on Sri Lanka’s part to inquire into /oppose Labour Party MP, Siobhain McDonagh’s declaration, in the UK parliament in Sept. 2011, that the Sri Lankan military killed 100,000 Tamils, including 60,000 civilians, in the final phase of the war.

Another Labour Party MP Joan Ryan once functioned as former Chief Executive and Policy Advisor of UK headquartered Global Tamil Forum (GTF). The LTTE enjoyed an extremely close relationship with the GTF. Tiger ideologue/advisor Anton Balasingham lived in the UK. Having bestowed UK citizenship on Balasingham, one-time Veerakesari staffer and British High Commission employee, the British provided the terrorist leader protection, until his death in Dec 2006. Balasingham’s murderous outfit had its International Secretariat in London without impediment. Even after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, in early August 2005, the UK allowed Balasingham and his Australian-born wife, Adele, to conduct talks on behalf of the LTTE. Thanks to Wiki Leaks, the secret talks a high level Norwegian delegation had with Balasingham in the immediate aftermath of the Kadirgamar assassination is in the public domain.

Mrs. Balasingham, who participated in the LTTE passing out parades and even presented cyanide capsules to terrorists, lives in the UK. Those who moved court against Brigadier Fernando for allegedly making a threatening gesture never challenged the British over Adele, who nurtured the female Tiger cadres with cyanide capsules, living there.

Sri Lanka paid a very high price for ignoring Lord Naseby’s Oct 2017 disclosure made possible by the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000. The revelation could have been effectively used to counter the primary UN allegation that over 40,000 civilians perished as a result of the Vanni offensive. In an exclusive interview with the writer, in September 2019, in Colombo, Lord Naseby said that he was deeply disappointed by Sri Lanka’s failure to use his disclosure, based on wartime dispatches sent from British High Commission in Colombo to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, to defend her armed forces.

The writer also asserted that the war-winning Rajapaksa administration owed the public an explanation as to why US defence attaché Lt. Colonel Lawrence Smith’s far reaching comments, at the inaugural Colombo Defence Seminar, in respect of what was dubbed as white flag killings and other accusations, were never properly used. Instead the Rajapaksa administration squandered millions of USD on PR firms under questionable circumstances. Such hare brained projects never brought any benefit to Sri Lanka. The political leadership bypassed the Foreign Ministry. Actually an inquiry is required to establish the amount of funds spent on costly foreign PR firms and to find out the truth.

The US sustained the project against Sri Lanka until the yahapalana lot betrayed the military, in Geneva, in Oct 2015. In spite of the US quitting the UNHRC, in June 2018, calling the Geneva body ‘a cesspool of political bias’ Sri Lanka remained committed to the process initiated by the US on behalf of the British, Norway et al.

The circumstances under which the US got involved in the Geneva process, having backed the then General Sarath Fonseka at the 2010 presidential election, should be examined against the backdrop of Western and Indian concerns over the Rajapaksas’ relationship with China.

With the US-Japan-India coalition taking on China, Sri Lanka should be mindful of the previous Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government entering into a Comprehensive Partnership with Japan, in Oct 2015. Stepped up Japanese diplomatic initiatives should be viewed in the right context. It would be relevant to mention President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently received an invitation from Tokyo for an official visit.

A thorough examination of all bilateral agreements, entered into and to be signed, is necessary without further delay. There is no point in denying that Sri Lanka had entered into ACSA (Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement) during Sirisena’s presidency and the change of government took place in Nov 2019 when the previous government was having talks with the US on MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) and SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement).

Having played politics with the US issue, the new government finds itself in an unenviable situation. Defeated presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa recently called for the abrogation of ACSA and doing away with talks on MCC and SOFA. It would be the responsibility of the government of the day to take decisions in consultations with political parties represented in the parliament.

Foreign relations should not be undermined by party politics. During the workshop, the writer also recalled the presence of the then Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington, top career diplomat Prasad Kariyawasam, at an event in June 2016 when TNA lawmaker Sumanthiran disclosed the reaching of an agreement on foreign judges in terms of the Geneva resolution. The head of mission cannot be faulted for following the government policy. Jaffna District MP Sumanthiran wouldn’t have made such a declaration without having specific guarantee from the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration with regard to foreign judges. Although we are being repeatedly told foreign judges, as well as security sector reforms, insisted by the so-called international community, wouldn’t be implemented, the Geneva resolution remains unchanged.

It would be the responsibility of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration with Minister Gunawardena’s ministry to set the record straight. The writer believes Sri Lanka should seek a comprehensive review of the Geneva resolution on the basis of Lord Naseby’s disclosure, Wiki Leaks revelations, pertaining to the war, June 2011, the US statement, as well as a still confidential UN report, prepared by the UN during the Vanni offensive. It placed the number of deaths (both LTTE and civilians) at 7,721 and the wounded at 18,479 during the period Aug 2008 to May 13, 2009. Sri Lanka never pushed the UN to examine its own report, based on information provided by those who lived in the North. Instead, the June 2011 report, released by a three-member Panel of Experts (PoE), which prohibited examination of accusations made by unknown persons was accepted. Based on that report, not open to any form of scrutiny, till 2031, Sri Lanka was blamed for deliberately killing 40,000. Lord Naseby convincingly countered these accusations. Let us hope the new government makes a comprehensive presentation in Geneva, next March 2020, to clear its name.

Let me end this piece by inviting those concerned to peruse career diplomat Chanaka Talpahewa’s ‘Peaceful Intervention in intra-State conflicts: Norwegian involvement in the Sri Lanka peace process’ to understand as to how foreign ‘interventions’ could jeopardize a country. Sri Lanka is a case in point.

(To be continued on January 01, 2020)

by Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island

Having terminated Enterprise Sri Lanka loan scheme and Gamperaliya launched by the previous UNP-led coalition to spur economic growth at electorate level, the new government announced a new initiative to develop villages.

In accordance with the latest development initiate, the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government will allocate Rs. 2 mn each to 14,021 villages next year, whereas in terms of the Gamperaliya project, the previous government provided Rs 300 mn apiece to electorates.

The UNP launched Enterprise Sri Lanka and Gamparaliya in August and September 2018, respectively, in the wake of the debilitating setback it suffered at the Feb 2018 Local Government polls.

Responding to a query, sources said that a thorough assessment of Gamperaliya and Enterprise Sri Lanka was yet to be made.

Both projects were suspended immediately after the then President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNP resumed both projects after Wickremesinghe regained the premiership in Dec, 2018.

According to the Finance Ministry, the cabinet recently approved funds amounting Rs 28,042 mn for the project. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the minister of finance, economy and policy development has proposed the project.

The Finance ministry said that the project would be subjected to government procurement procedures and financial regulations.

The government intends to launch village-level projects in January 2020 and complete them before end of Nov, same year.

The government has directed the formation of civil committees at village level with the relevant development officer as the convener to spearhead the projects.

The Finance Ministry has set Dec 27 deadline for formation of committees and handing over of project proposals were to be completed by Dec 31, 2019, the ministry said.

Economic and Policy Development State Minister W.D.J. Seneviratne briefed local government representatives of the new development initiative. Minister Seneviratne advised those responsible not to undertake projects which required approval from various state institutions such as the Wildlife Department. The minister said that four villages could get together to implement a project if all committees could agree on a desired project.

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy Daily Mirror

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila said today former minister Patali Champika Ranawaka was not arrested in connection with a mere traffic offence as claimed by UNP MPs but over several allegations.

He told a news briefing that UNP MPs Ajith P Perera and Nalin Bandara had said Mr. Ranawaka was remanded over a minor traffic offence which could have ended up in a fine.

“According to what transpired in Court, Mr. Ranawaka was arrested for reckless driving and other serious allegations levelled against him. Fleeing the scene of the accident, misguiding the Court by producing someone else as the one who drove the car at the time of the accident, threatening the witnesses, destroying evidence and obstructing the duties of the police personnel are other allegations against him. That’s why he was remanded,” Mr. Gammanpila said.

He said attempts were being made to intimidate the friends of the victim of the Rajagiriya accident to prevent them from giving evidence in Court.

That is why a complaint was lodged at the police station that the youth, including the victim, involved in the Rajagiriya accident was riding motorcycles with engine capacity exceeding 1000 CC. If there is no ulterior motive, why make a complaint after four years of silence. Police should take action against the bogus complainants for intimidating the witnesses,” the MP said.

He said the conduct of the Speaker in the aftermath of Mr. Ranawaka’s arrest was biased and that no law, circular or tradition had been violated when carrying out the arrest.

The Speaker has visited the MP in prison. Eleven of our MPs were remanded but he never visited any of them or issued a statement. The Speaker says that Mr. Ranawaka’s arrest was erroneous. However, according to the circular issued by IGP on April 10, 2015, the Speaker should be informed immediately after or before the arrest of an MP. I repeat it says ‘immediately after or before the arrest.’ This means the Speaker can be informed after an arrest is made. The police have however informed the Deputy Speaker about an hour prior to the arrest,” the MP said. 

Courtesy Hiru News

TNA media spokesman parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran said that the reports stating that the TNA will be supporting the UNP to form a UNP government at the next general election are completely false

He stated that his party has not taken such a decision so far.

The media had reported stating that the MP made a statement in this regard after a meeting held at the TNA office in Kayts last Sunday.

However, he said that he was not in the Northern Province on that day.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya states that MP Patali Champika Ranawaka’s supporters should be arrested for making false complaints to intimidate the youth that was seriously injured in the Rajagiriya accident that took place in 2016, and his friends

The Leader of the party MP Udaya Gammanpila made this statement participating at a media briefing held in Colombo today.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කර සිටි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක ඇප මත මුදාහැරීමට කොළඹ අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත් කාංචනා නෙරංජනී සිල්වා අද නියම කළා.

ඔහුට සෑම මසකම අවසන් ඉරු දින කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාශය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටින ලෙසටයි මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය නියෝග කළේ

2016 වසරේ රාජගිරිය ප්‍රදේශයේදී රිය අනතුරක් සිදුකර පළා යෑම සහ ඒ පිළිබඳව සාක්ෂි වසන් කිරීම යන චෝදනා යටතේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාශය පසුගිය 18 වැනිදා අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබුවා.

එදිනම රාත්‍රියේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කොළඹ මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා හමුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ අතර, එහිදී අධිකරණය නියෝග කළේ පසුදින දක්වා රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කිරීමටයි.

එම නඩුව පසුගිය 19 වැනිදා යළි කැඳවූ අවස්ථාවේදී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මන්ත්‍රීවරයා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි නීතිඥයින් ඇප අයැදුමක් ඉදිරිපත් කළද එය සලකා බැලීම අද දිනය දක්වා කල් තැබූ අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය, මන්ත්‍රීවරයා අද දිනය දක්වා රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කරන ලෙසද නියෝග කළා.

ඇප අයැදුම සලකා බැලූණු අද දින කොළඹ ප්‍රධාන මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය අවට වෙනත් දිනවලට සාපේක්ෂව පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් වැඩි පිරිසක් යොදවා තිබෙනු දක්නට ලැබුණු බවයි ෂා  අධිකරණ වාර්තාකරු සඳහන් කළේ.

රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කර සිටි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක බන්ධනාගාර නිලධාරීන් විසින් පෙරවරු 9.30 ට පමණ අධිකරණ පරිශ්‍රය වෙත රැගෙන එනු ලැබුවා.

නඩුව කැඳවූ අවස්ථාවේදී අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත් කාංචනා නෙරංජනී සිල්වා විවෘත අධිකරණය හමුවේ සඳහන් කළේ මීට පෙර නඩු වාරයේදී මන්ත්‍රීවරයා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි නීතිඥවරුන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ඇප අයැදුමද ඊට පැමිණිල්ල දැක්වූ විරෝධයද සලකා බලා ඇප ලබාදීම පිළිබඳ නියෝගය නිකුත් කරන බවයි.

පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මන්ත්‍රීවරයාට විරුද්ධව පැමිණිල්ල විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්‍රහය සහ මෝටර් රථ වාහන ආඥා පනත යටතට ගැනෙන චෝදනා ඇප ලබාදිය හැකි චෝදනා බව අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය පෙන්වා දුන්නා.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, අදාළ අනතුර සිදුකර ඇති කේ.පී. 7545 දරන ජීප් රථය රජයේ දේපළක් වන බැවින් එම රථයට සිදුවී ඇති අලාභය රුපියල් නවලක්ෂ 17,244 ක් ලෙස පොලීසිය විසින් පොදු දේපළ පනත යටතේ කරුණු වාර්තා කර ඇති බවද අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය විවෘත අධිකරණයේදී දැනුම් දුන්නා.

පොලිසිය පොදු දේපළ පනත යටතේ කරුණු ගොනුකර ඇත්තේ නීතිපතිවරයාගේ උපදෙස් ලබාගැනීමකින් තොරව බැවින් ඇප ඉල්ලීම පිළිබඳව සලකා බැලීමේදී එම කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සලකා නොබලන බවද අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය සිය නියෝගයේදී සඳහන් කළා.

ඇප ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමට තරම් ප්‍රමාණවත් චෝදනා සැකකරුට විරුද්ධව ඉදිරිපත් වී නොමැති බැවින් සැකකාර පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මන්ත්‍රීවරයා රුපියල් 25,000 ක මුදල් ඇපයක් සහ රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 05 බැගින් වූ ශරීර ඇප දෙකක් මත මුදාහැරීමටයි කොළඹ අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය මෙහිදී නියම කළේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක වෙත අධිකරණය විසින් පනවා ඇති විදෙස් ගමන් තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමක් අද දින සිදු නොවූ අතර, එය තවදුරටත් බලපැවැත්වෙනු ඇති

කෙසේ වෙතත්, මෙම නඩුවේ දෙවන සැකකරු ලෙස නම් කර සිටින පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවකගේ රියදුරු ලෙස පෙනී සිටි දිලූම් තුසිත කුමාර නැමැත්තාද නීතිඥවරුන් මාර්ගයෙන් අද අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටියා.

මෙහිදී රජයේ නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් දිලීප පීරිස් අධිකරණයෙන් ඉල්ලා තිබුණේ සැකකරු මෙපමණ කාලයක් අධිකරණය මඟහැර සිට ඇති බැවින් විමර්ශනවලට සහය දැක්වීමක් ලෙස ඔහු රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කරන ලෙසටයි.

ඒ අනුව සැකකාර දිලූම් තුසිත කුමාර නැමැත්තා ලබන ජනවාරි 06 වැනිදා දක්වා රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කිරීමට නියම කළ අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය දෙසැම්බර් 26 වැනිදා බන්ධනාගාරයේදී ඔහුගෙන් ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබාගන්නා ලෙසටද නියෝග කළා.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, අධිකරණයෙන් විශේෂ කරුණු දැක්වීමක් සඳහා අවසර ඉල්ලා සිටිමින් රජයේ නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් දිලීප පීරිස් සඳහන් කළේ අද දින මෙම නඩුව විභාග වන අවස්ථාවේදී අධිකරණ සංකීර්ණය ඉදිරිපිටට අනවශ්‍ය ලෙස පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් ආරක්ෂාවට යොදවා සිටි බවයි.

එමඟින් අධිකරණයට පැමිණෙන නීතිඥවරුන් මෙන්ම අධිකරණ කටයුතු ආවරණය කරන මාධ්‍යවේදීන් අපහසුතාවට පත්වන බැවින් ඒ පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමුකරන ලෙස නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල්වරයා ඉල්ලා සිටියා.

එම කරුණු දැක්වීම සනාථ කරමින් විත්තියේ නීතිඥයින් වන ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ අනුජ ප්‍රේමරත්න සහ නීතිඥ ගුණරත්න වන්නිනායකද සඳහන් කළේ මහා සංඝරත්නය අධිකරණයට ඇතුල්වීම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා කාන්තා පොලිස් නිලධාරිනියන් පවා යොදවා තිබූ බවයි.

එම කරුණු ප්‍රධාන මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරියගේ අවධානයට යොමු කරන බව දන්වා සිටි අතිරේක මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරිය මෙම නඩුව ලබන ජනවාරි මස 06 වැනිදා යළි කැඳවීමට නියෝග කළා.<

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට, රට ගොඩගැනීමට කාලයක් ලබාදිය යුතු බව පූජ්‍ය ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හිමියන් ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

උන්වහන්සේ මේ බව කියා සිටියේ හෙටට යෙදෙන නත්තල් දිනයට සමගාමීව පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයෙන් විපතට පත් දරු දැරියන් පිරිසකට ත්‍යාග පිරිනැමීමේ අවස්ථාවකට කොළඹ අගරදගුරු නිල නිවසේදී අද (24) එක්වෙමින්.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

ඉදිරි උත්සව සමයේදී හිඟයකින් තොරව සහ සහන මිලට ජනතාවට ආහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය ලබාදීම පිළිබඳව ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද පැවති ජීවන වියදම් කැබිනට් අනු කමිටුවේදී උපදෙස් දී තිබෙනවා.

ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අදාළ අනු කමිටුව අද පස්වරුවේ රැස්වුණේ ප්‍රථමවරයි.

ජීවන වියදම් කැබිනට් අනු කමිටුව ප්‍රථමවරට ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගෙන් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේදී රැස් වුණා.

ඊට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා,  ඇමතිවරුන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු සහ නිලධාරීන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු එක්ව සිටියා.

ඉදිරි උත්සව සමයේදී හිඟයකින් තොරව සහ සහන මිලට ජනතාවට ආහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය ලබාදීම පිළිබඳ මෙහිදී විශේෂ අවධානය යොමුව ඇති බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය සඳහන් කළා.

දිවයින පුරා ගබඩා පහසුකම් පුළුල් කිරීම පිළිබඳවද මෙහිදී අවධානය යොමුව ඇති අතර ඉදිරි කන්නයේ සිට අස්වනු මිලදී ගැනීමේදී විද්‍යානුකූල ක්‍රමවේදයක් අනුගමනය කිරීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙහිදී නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් ලබාදී තිබෙනවා.

තිරිඟු පිටි මිල පාලනයට රජය ගත් පියවර මෙන්ම අනෙකුත් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ සඳහා ලබා දුන් බදු සහන ප්‍රතිලාභ පිළිබඳවද මෙහිදී සමාලෝචනයට ලක් කෙරුණු බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනයේ සඳහන්.

මේ අතර ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ කලාකරුවන් අතර සුහද හමුවක් ඊයේ පස්වරුවේ පැවැත්වුණේ ජනාධිපති මන්දිරයේදී.

ජනාධිපතිවරණ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් කැපවුණු කලාකරුවන්ට ස්තූතිය පුද කිරීම උදෙසා මෙම හමුව සංවිධාන කර තිබුණා.

මේ අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහබැංකුවේ නව අධිපතිවරයා ලෙස දේශමාන්‍ය මහාචාර්ය ඩබ්ලිව්.ඩී. ලක්ෂ්මන් මහතා පත් කර තිබෙනවා.

නව මහබැංකු අධිපතිවරයා අද දහවල් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයේදී සිය පත්වීම් ලිපිය භාරගත්තා.

අනතුරුව නව අධිපතිවරයා මහ බැංකුවේදී සිය ධුරයේ රාජකාරී ආරම්භ කළා.

මෙරට ප්‍රකට ආර්ථික විද්‍යාඥයෙක් වන ඔහු 1994 සිට 1999 දක්වා කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ උප කුලපතිවරයා ලෙසද කටයුතු කළා.

මහාචාර්ය ඩබ්ලිව්.ඩී ලක්ෂ්මන් මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ 15 වන අධිපතිවරයායි

Courtesy Hiru News

Colombo Additional Magistrate Bandara Nelumdeniya issued an arrest warrant for the arrest of MP Rajitha Senaratne, today.

The Attorney General’s Coordinator, State Counsel Nisara Jayaratne stated that the order was issued by court after considering the submissions made by the Criminal Investigation Department and the Attorney General’s Department.

The Attorney General had instructed the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department to obtain a warrant pertaining to the White Van media conference investigations and to arrest the Member of Parliament

Attorney General instructs CID to arrest MP Rajitha Senaratne

Attorney General’s Coordinating Officer, State Counsel Nisara Jayaratne stated that Attorney General Dappula de Livera has instructed the Director of the CID to obtain a warrant and arrest Parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne.

This is in relation to the investigation of the White Van press conference

Rudra de Zoysa.

The Swiss have contributed only 2 things to human civilisation – cuckoo clocks and secret bank accounts.

The abduction of Garnia Bannister Francis is a total fabrication similar to the story of William Tell. Tell was a farmer who lived about 700 years ago and was supposed to be good at shooting his cross -bow. He shot an apple off his young son`s head and became a national hero. The fake legend of Tell extols his marksmanship and fight against Albrecht Gessler a dictator, but hardly any mention is made of his son’s bravery to keep the apple on the head. Even Rossini composed an overture for William Tell. Tell’s son kept an apple on his head on November 19, 1307. Apparently Tell killed Gessler on 25 November 1307 and so, Tell, the national hero, is sculpted in stone, in bronze, in wax, in wood and in chocolate.  In 2019 Garnia made up her story on 25 November. What a coincidence! Garnia’s story is like Swiss cheese – full of holes.

Now, the Swiss Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Mock (what an unfortunate name!) was gullible enough to believe Garnier and thought this was a fantastic story to censure our newly elected President, his government and Sri Lanka in general. So, what did Mock do? He started to lie about Garnier’s health and asked Sri Lanka to follow due process. He fired several shots at our government, but all of them missed the target – the bullets ricochet off one of the mara trees that line Gregory’s Road (R G Senanayake Mawatha) and hit the organ that defines Mock’s manhood. Now Mock thought he was fully conversant with all the finer points of diplomatic protocol. However, President Rajapaksa gave Mock a dressing down. We now have a special emissary to patch up the Swiss f… up in Colombo.  Mock is a charlatan. Actually, I do not blame him all together but I do blame his mother for conceiving such an imposter.

Our President did the right thing and handled the fracas skilfully. I recommend that we make sculptures of our President in marble and in Swiss chocolate and place them opposite the Swiss Embassy on R G Senanayake Mawatha. President Rajapaksa protected our international dignity and integrity.  As for me, I will shun all Swiss products till such time as the lying Swiss ambassador formally apologises to our President and the people of Sri Lanka for the sham orchestrated by him. When he does apologise make him persona non grata and send him home. I urge all national minded persons to boycott all imported Swiss products till this formal apology is given by Mock or his surrogate. As a first step I applied some disinfectant to my Swiss watch and threw in to the rubbish bin.  Mr. Mock, I have no Swiss bank account (covert or overt) but listen carefully – the cuckoo clock is ticking.
—
Rudra de Zoysa

Wimal Senanayake

There are now good evidence about the complicity of the swiss embassy in the alleged abduction of its employee. While they are being investigated one other factor that has been reported is the political advisor to the swiss embassy is a son of the infamous Nimalka Fernando, the so called right woman activitist & the NGO supporter.

Nimalka is the one who took a campaign against Sri Lanka supporting Geneva resolutions.
In an interview given to CH4 she describes about death threats by the previous Rajapaksha government and Jesus Christ being her only strength.

Therefore are we naïve not to believe how a set up can be staged by these NGO groups who were severely hurt following the victory by the large Sinhala Buddhist majority and why swiss insist on objecting to the government investigations?

It is reported she is the partner of Vasudeva Nananayakkara over thirty years in an interview given in 2005. It is also well known a daughter or daughters of Vasudeva is or are married to the ex Jaffana governor who has recently reinvigorated a campaign to denounce Sinhala Buddhists.

With these facts coming to light now how with these NGOs supported groups at the right places in action, is such a Swiss saga being staged a surprise at all?

The government should openly declare these facts for the public to understand the inimical forces behind the coup.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

On May 17, 2009, the LTTE accepted defeat and formally surrendered to the army. These LTTE cadres had engaged in high treason. They had taken arms against a sovereign state. They had conducted a protracted civil war, lasting over 30 years. Such treason would lead to severe punishment in any country.

In Sri Lanka too, the LTTE cadres were scrutinized and the hard core separated from the rest. The cadres were divided into categories, such as leaders, staunch combatants, fetchers and carriers and so on. It was found that about 15-20% were considered hardline LTTE. This group was taken into custody and put into prison. The rest of the LTTE cadres were rehabilitated. Stephen J Rapp,  US Ambassador at large, had told President Mahinda Rajapaksa  in 2014,  instead of rehabilitating terrorists you should have prosecuted them”.

However, the government of Sri Lanka preferred rehabilitation. 24 Protective Accommodation and Rehabilitation Centers (PARC) were established. 11, 600 LTTE cadres were held in these camps,   there were  594 children and 11,406 adults, 9374 male , 2032 female.  There were separate  PARC centers for males, females and children.  There were four centers for females.

Family could visit the inmates . Parents and children were  re-united. Married ex- combatants re-joined their spouses. A dedicated PARC was established at Kaithady  to cater to the reunification of married male and female ex-combatants who were undergoing rehabilitation separately at different rehabilitation centres.

A mass marriage ceremony was held on 13 June 2010 where 53 couples (ex – combatants) were formally given in marriage with the consent of their parents/families. Parents and well-wishers attended the Ceremony. Clothes, bridal dressing, wedding photographs were provided by the army. They were also given  Rs 5000 each. In the case of one orphan with nowhere to go, army found him a partner and married him off. So he had a family.

Tigers who were university students were sent back to University of Jaffna, as soon as possible. Others were permitted to study and sit for either the O-Level or A-Level examinations.  According to the media, 175 sat for the GCE O/L examination in 2010 and 38 passed in all the subjects. 361 sat the GCE A/L examination and 222 passed.

Primary Healthcare Centers were established at each PARC with regular  health screening, health education and hygiene promotion programmes were conducted regularly. A health education booklet was provided. The inmates were helped  to get documents  such as  IDs and birth certificates. There was a comprehensive Counseling Programme to  correct the distorted thinking of  the  former LTTE cadres. There were cultural activities  as well.

The government then launched a five-year strategic plan of rehabilitation, 2008- –2012.  It was Initiated, designed and implemented the Sri Lanka army.  It had six components:  Spiritual, Vocational, Educational, Sports, Social/ cultural and Psychological.  Much of the training was in the hands of the National Cadet Corps, many of whom were teachers by profession.

Using these components, the inmates were introduced to meditation, spiritual development,   aesthetics and drama therapy, sports, language training in Sinhala, Tamil and English,   leadership and personal development training, counseling and mentorship, including a pre-reintegration mentorship program.  

Drama and Music workshops conducted with the assistance of specialists in the fields of Aesthetics, Drama and Music, were very effective as therapeutic programmes. Michael Roberts observed that ‘In an imaginative leap ‘ the  Rehabilitation Bureau had provided training in dance and drama for some of the former Tigers with the result that a dancing troupe was created which was in great demand.

Those who were good in sports were given encouragement. 135 inmates were brought to the Ministry of Sports in Colombo for testing and a few were selected for cricket, swimming and karate. Three were trained in shooting. They had the potential to participate in international events.

The inmates were taken around Sri Lanka, to Hambantota harbor, to Hakgala gardens in Nuwara Eliya. They were brought to Colombo where they visited Parliament. They were shown the large number of Hindu temples in the south. They were   shown the desire of the Sinhalese to live with Tamils peacefully and harmoniously. At Deniyaya and   Narampanawa they were given lunch prepared by the villagers.

Vocational training, for males,  consisted of plumbing, aluminum work,  electrical wiring, leather work, tailoring, carpentry, masonry, welding, driving, heavy machinery training ( bulldozer)  three wheel driving, three wheel and two wheel repairs, vehicle tinker course, outboard motor engine course, coconut cultivation, mushroom cultivation, sugar cane cultivation,  use of chemical  fertilizers, , handicrafts  using Palmyra  and paper work, 

For females there was bridal dressing, hair dressing, make up, nursery management, cookery , bakery , preschool training , Juki machine operator training programme  ( given at Link Apparel, and Tri star apparel,) tailoring, sugar cane cultivation,  aquarium fish rearing, typing and  shorthand.

There were IT related vocational training programmes in the fields of Agribusiness, Garment industry and Hotel industry.There was also training for Computer aided design and 3D Design. A fully equipped mini computer lab with 30 computers was set up in 2010, with a capacity to train over 100 persons at one time. 

Here are some specific programmes.

• Learning Basic Principles of Entrepreneurship development and training at Pampemadu by Survivors Association for 40 Rehabilitants
• Palmyra leaves related Handicrafts creations training course at Poonthottam PARC facilitated by Survivors Association for 35 Rehabilitants
• Leather work training course from 28th February to 10th June 2011 at Thelippalai PARC’
• IDM Computer Training Program at Maradamadu Tamil Primary, Technical College.
• 5th batch of David Peris motor mechanic training course
• Masonry related vocational training program at Dharmapuram PARC for 200 beneficiaries for 15 days. Facilitated by National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) and Sponsored by Holcim Cement
• Vocational training course held at Handwork Vocational Training Centre, Payagala, facilitated by FCCISL for 60 attendees.

Michael Roberts said, what is praiseworthy in this policy has been the emphasis on vocational and technical education rather than the standard clerical streams.  Also the  involvement of mercantile companies in the training programme  such as Abans, Holcim, David Pieris Motor Company, Ventura, Virtusa, and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

The LTTE cadres included 594 children aged between 12 and 18. These child soldiers were not put through the rehabilitation programme and instead were given catch-up education. We felt that it was better to put them through a learning programme instead of sending them for rehabilitation. Hence, we gave them a chance to learn languages, while those who could not sit for their O/L and A/L exams were given the opportunity to complete their studies, said the Rehabilitation Bureau. They were given formal education for GCE O/L and GCE A/L examinations.  132 were selected f or University in 2012. ‘There were scholarships for higher studies.

With the help of  the Ministry of Sports and Public Recreation, Sri Lanka Cricket Board, International Cricket Council and the Cricket for Change (U.K based charity organization)  the Rehabilitation Bureau promoted Cricket for the child inmates.

The Commissioner General of Rehabilitation told the media in 2019 that around 12,191 ex-LTTE combatants had been rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. There is just one more ex-LTTE member left to be released.

He said initially we got around 10,000 male, female and child soldiers who had surrendered to the Security Forces and immediately we started the rehabilitation programme’.Others who were subsequently arrested were sent for rehabilitation later. Of those who joined us initially in 2009, by around 2010, we had completed their rehabilitation and reintegrated them into society. Thereafter, the others who were placed for rehabilitation by the courts underwent the rehabilitation programme.

The highest number of those rehabilitated and reintegrated into society were those from the Kilinochchi district. The government had rehabilitated 3,242 ex-combatants from the Kilinochchi district, (2,624 males 618 females), 3,097 ex-combatants from the Jaffna district, (2452, 647) 2,707 ex-combatants from Mullaitivu (2227, 477), 801 ex-combatants from Mannar (637, 164) 1,145 ex-combatants from Vavuniya (944,201) have been rehabilitated and reintegrated so far.

In addition, 529 ex-combatants including 447 males and 83 females from the Trincomalee district, 83 from Ampara including 73 males and 10 females, 476 from Batticaloa district, including 415 males and 61 females, 11 males from Polonnaruwa, five males from Badulla, nine males from Colombo, two males from Galle, nine from Gampaha including eight males and one female, five from Kandy including four males and one female, two each from Kurunegala and Matale, 14 from Nuwara Eliya, four from Puttalam and 44 others who have no specific hometown were among those rehabilitated and reintegrated among the total 12,191. In total those rehabilitated were 9,878 males and 2,269 females.

The government had allocated Rs.100 million for the Rehabilitation Bureau for rehabilitation in 2017, while Rs. 50 million was allocated for 2018. In accordance with international norms, statements and letters of consent were obtained from the inmates for follow-up of the rehabilitation programme.

The Commissioner General of Rehabilitation said that the rehabilitation programme carried out was very successful and that none of the rehabilitated ex-LTTE members have got involved in any major anti-social or terrorist activity after being reintegrated.

However, some of the inmates did not agree. They said they cannot see how they can earn a living by making Palmyra products or ornamental fish. Rehabilitation was worse than prison said another. I was supposed o be trained in carpentry for 6 months but  I was given training only for 60 days and I was asked to sign to say it was  six months.  (Continued)

කීර්ති වර්ණකුලසූරිය

මෙරට නීතිය උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් කොළඹ ස්විස් තානාපති කාර්යාලය හිටපු කොටි 200 කට ස්විස්ටර්ලන්තයට යෑමට සංක‍්‍රමණික වීසා ලබාදී ඇත.
 
 ඇව්රෝ ගුවන් යානාව පිපිරවූ කුලම්ගේ සිට ත‍්‍රිකුණාමල කොටි හමුදා නායක දයා මෝහන් සහ වත්මන් කොටි නායක ජෙයපාලන් චෙල්ලයියාටත් ස්විස්ටර්ලන්තයට යෑමට ස්විස් තානාපති කාර්යාලය සහාය වුණා යැයි ඉහළ පෙළේ ආරංචිමාර්ග පැවසීය.
 
 මෙලෙස සංක‍්‍රමණික වීසා ලත් හිටපු කොටි කවුරුන්දැයි ස්විස් රජය එරට නීතිය හමුවේ අනාවරණය කර නැත. මේ පිරිස ස්විස් යෑමට පෙර තානාපති කාර්යාලය ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා රජයට දන්වා නැත.
 
 වන්නි මෙහෙයුමින් පසු යළි මෙරට කොටි සංවිධානය න`ගාසිටුවීමට පැමිණ හමුදා ප‍්‍රහාරයකින් මියගිය ස්විස් කොටි ක‍්‍රියාකාරී ගෝපිගේ බිරිය වූ ෂර්මිලාටද ස්විස් තානාපති කාර්යාලය වීසා ලබාදී තිබේ

ලංකා කාර්මික සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය

ලංකා කාර්මික සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලයට වසර 50 ක් පිරීම නිමිත්තෙන් ලංකාවේ සුළු හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ කර්මාන්ත ඇගැයීම හා දිරි ගැන්වීම සඳහා දිවයිනේ සියළුම පළාත් ආවරණය කරමින් ක්ෂේත්‍ර 14 ක සුළු හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ කර්මාන්ත ඇගයීමට ලක්කර, සම්මාන ප්‍රදානය කිරීම 2019.12.20 වැනි දින ප.ව. 2:00 ට බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මන්ත්‍රණ ශාලාවේ දී කර්මාන්ත හා සැපයුම් කළමනාකරණ ගරු අමාත්‍ය විමල් වීරවංශ මැතිතුමාගේ ප්‍රදානත්වයෙන් පැවැත්විය. මෙහිදී පළාත් හා ජාතික මට්ටමින් විශිෂ්ඨ ව්‍යාවසායකයාන් සඳහා සම්මාන ප්‍රදාන කිරීම සිදුවිය.

මෙම සම්මාන උළෙලේ දී කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික්කය සඳහා වැඩි වටිනාකමින් යුත් ජාතික සම්මාන හා පලාත් සම්මාන වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකියාව ලැබුණි.

ලංකාවේ විශිෂ්ඨතම සුළු හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ කර්මාන්තය ලෙස ප්ලැටිනම් ජාතික සම්මානය කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ලංකා ස්පයිස් පුද්ගලික  සමාගම (Mac Curry) විසින් හිමිකරගන්නා ලදී.

තවද ලුහු ඉංජිනේරු ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ජාතික ස්වර්ණ සම්මානය තොටවත්ත ඉංජිනියරිං වර්ක්ස් ආයතනයද, රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍ය ආශ්‍රිත නිෂ්පාදන කර්මාන්ත යටතේ ජාතික ස්වර්ණ සම්මානය ලේටෙක්ස් ලංකා පුද්ගලික සමාගම (WAPP), ආහාර පාන නිෂ්පාදන කර්මාන්ත ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ජාතික  ස්වර්ණ සම්මානය ලංකා ස්පයිස් පුද්ගලික  සමාගම හිමිකරගන්නා ලදී.

මේ අතර සෙව්කො පේපර් කෝපරේෂන් පුද්ගලික සමාගම හා ජවානා ග්‍රැ‍ෆික් (Panther) පුද්ගලික සමාගමද  ජාතික රිදී සම්මානයෙන් පිදුම් ලැබීය.

මීට අමතරව පළාත් සම්මාන 5ක් දිනා ගැනීමට කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ කර්මාන්තවලට හැකිවිය.

චන්දන සූරියආරච්චි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවා සංගමය.

ගරු ජනාධිපති,
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ 01

ගරු ජනාධිපති තුමනි,

රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ ‘‘විශේෂ දීමනාව’’ ආශ‍්‍රිත සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් ඇතුළු ද්විතීය හා තෘතීය මට්ටමේ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් සඳහා ද ලබා දෙන මෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ විධායක සේවා ගණයේ නිලධරයන්ට රු. 15 000/- ක දීමනාවක් 2020 ජනවාරී 01 දින සිට ගෙවීමට පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස නියෝග කරමින් 18/2015 (iii) අංක සහිත චක‍්‍රලේඛය 2019.12.07 දින රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් එස්.හෙට්ටිආරච්චි මහතාගේ අත්සනින් යුතුව නිකුත් කර ඇත.

පසුගිය රජය ද රු.15 000/- ක දීමනාවක් විධායක සේවා ගණයේ නිලධාරීන්ට පමණක් ලබාදීම සඳහා කටයුතු සිදුකිරීමට සූදානම් වුණි. නමුත් ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ අනෙකුත් සේවාවන් වල පැවති ඉල්ලීම් හා 2019.09.23 දින දීප ව්‍යාප්ත එක්දින වැඩවර්ජනය ඇතුළු රාජ්‍ය හා පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවක ඉල්ලීම් හමුවේ එක් සේවාවකට පමණක් දීමනාවක් ලබාදීම වෙනුවට සියලූු රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් සඳහා සාධාරණ දීමනාවක් ලබා දීමට 2019.09.23 දින රජය සමඟ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවේදී තීරණය වුණි.

නමුත් සියලූ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් සඳහා අදාළ නොවන පරිදි පැවති රජය ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට සූදානම් කර තිබූ විශේෂ දීමනා චක‍්‍රලේකය ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම 2019.12.07 දිනැති ව නිකුත් කර ඇත.

රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ විධායක සේවාවන්හි සේවයේ නියුතු රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් සඳහා රු.15 000/- හෝ ඊට වැඩි දීමනාවක් හෝ ලබාදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප වෘත්තීය සමිතියේ කිසිදු විරෝධතාවයක් කිසිදු මොහොතක නොමැති බවද වගකීමෙන් දන්වා සිටිමු.

රාජ්‍ය හා පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ ඵභ04 වැටුප් තලයට අයත් ආශ‍්‍රිත සේවාව නියෝජනය කරන සියලූම දෙනා උපාධිධාරීන් ය. සංවර්ධන සහකාර ඇතුළු සහකාර තනතුරු යටතේ මෙන්ම සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී තනතුරු යටතේ ඔවුන් ක්ෂේත‍්‍රගත හා කාර්යාලගත විශාල රාජකාරී ප‍්‍රමාණයක් ඉටු කරනු ලබන බවද දන්වා සිටිමු.

රජයේ සියලූ සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති ඇතුළු සියලූ ව්‍යාපෘති ග‍්‍රාමීය මට්ටමින් ක‍්‍රියාවට නැංවීම, රජයට අවශ්‍ය සියලූම දත්ත හා තොරතුරු ලබාදීම, රජයට අවශ්‍ය සියලූම වාර්ථා සකස් කිරීම, සියලූ හදිසි හා ආපදා තත්වයන් වලදී අනෙකුත් සේවාවන්ට අයත් නිලධාරීන් සමඟ එක්ව උපරිම අයුරින් ඒ සඳහා රජයේ වගකීම ඉටු කිරීම ආදී සුවිශේෂී කාර්යභාර්යයක් ඔවුහූ උසුලන බවද වැඩිදුරටත් සිහිපත් කරමු.

ආශ‍්‍රිත සේවයේ මෙන්ම සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවය, රාජ්‍ය කළමනාකරණ නිලධාරී සේවය, තාක්ෂණ සේවය, ග‍්‍රාම නිලධාරී සේවය ඇතුළු සේවාවන් හා ශ්‍රේණීන් ගණනාවක රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් විසින් ඉටු කරනු ලබන රාජකාරී පිළිබඳ විශේෂ අවධානය යොමු කරමින් විශේෂ දීමනාවක් ලබා දීම සාධාරණ බව අප විසින් පෙන්වා දෙන්නෙමු.

2020.01.01 දින සිට විධායක සේවයේ නිලධාරීන් සඳහා රු.15 000/- ක විශේෂ දීමනාව ලබා දීමට කිසිදු බාධාවක් නොවන අයුරින් ඵභ04 ආශ‍්‍රිත සේවාවට අයත් රාජ්‍ය හා පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවා උපාධිධාරීන් ඇතුළු ද්විතීය හා තෘතීය මට්ටමේ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් සඳහා ද පිළිගත හැකි සාධාරණ විශේෂ දීමනාවක් ලබා දීමට පියවර ගන්නා මෙන් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තුතියි.

මෙයට,
චන්දන සූරියආරච්චි

සම්බන්ධීකරණය – 071 8178268
Coordinating –  9471 8178268

පිටපත් –
1. ගරු අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය, මුදල් අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මැතිතුමා (දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)
2. ගරු රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන හා ස්වදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන් මැතිතුමා (දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)
3. ගරු රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන හා ස්වදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද සමරසිංහ මැතිතුමා(දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)
4. ලේකම් එස්. හෙට්ටිආරච්චි මහතා -රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන හා ස්වදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය(දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)
5. ලේකම් – මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය (දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)
6. සභාපති – රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාව (දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)
7. සභාපති – වැටුප් හා සේවක සංඛ්‍යා කොමිෂන් සභාව (දැ.ගැ.පි./අ.ක.ස.)

By Senaka Weeraratna

Christmas is a religion-based festival that promotes peace and kindness. Love thy neighbor is a key utterance of Jesus Christ. But can these values be sustained if we fail to extend them to all living beings. Are animals also not our neighbours? Morally entitled to our love and affection?

This moral issue arises every time Christmas dawns for celebration. Innocent animals in their millions are put to death to celebrate the birth anniversary of one man, renowned as the ‘Prince of Peace’. Can this be morally justified?

Some say that Christ was a vegetarian. If so, he will be turning in his grave, if he was aware of the pain and suffering caused to animals by man’s inhumanity to celebrate his birth anniversary.

If animals can speak they will call Christmas a ‘day of infamy’ as they are forced to sacrifice their lives for a human feast on a colossal mind boggling scale all over the world. 

In every sense of the word Christmas celebration generates an Animal Holocaust, not much different to the Holocaust of the Jews during World War Two.

The moral challenge is to celebrate Christmas on the footing of Ahimsa which means non – violence and peace. Reject merry making through causing death to millions of innocent animals. Strive for peaceful co – existence between humans and animals. Meat is murder. Strive for a meat free Christmas and save the lives of innocent animals.

We must remember that the vast majority of animals killed to sustain ‘feasts’ and celebrations on religious occasions are products of intense factory farming. On factory farms, baby animals are routinely subject to invasive surgical procedures without the mercy of pain relief. Millions of ‘meat’ chickens are concealed in industrial sheds, never to see daylight or feel the earth beneath their feet. In commercial hatcheries, economically ‘worthless’ day-old male chicks are crushed to death as ‘waste products’ of the egg industry. Even the dairy industry is not free from heinous cruelty towards new-born male calves. They are dispatched for slaughter no sooner they are born while their mother cows weep for them.

Civilizational Values 

Christmas is an apt time for reflection on our civilizational values because it is the season where hundreds of thousands of innocent animals undergo extreme suffering, exploitation, and death. Millions of turkeys are slaughtered for Christmas dinner, along with ducks, geese, pigs, lambs and chickens. In western countries, puppies and kittens are given away as presents, then often neglected or discarded by new owners when the novelty has worn off.  Rabbits and foxes have their fur stripped from them to be turned into clothing and accessories.

The undeclared war that is being waged everyday against countless millions of non-human animals all over the world takes on an aggravated turn during the Christmas season. These practices are deeply unsettling to anyone who values compassion and respect for the life of others. We cannot remain silent.

Vesak

In contrast, Vesak, the Buddhist festival celebrating the birth anniversary of the Buddha is free of violence towards any living being.

Humans dread violence and death. Likewise, all living beings including the so – called food animals dread violence and death.

Compassion means sympathizing with the suffering in other beings because one sees suffering in oneself, and wishes every sentient being, including oneself, to be free from suffering and be happy. If there is a single definition of what makes one a true Buddhist, it is whether you endeavor to practice compassion or not.

This is clearly spelt out in the Karaniya Metta Sutta.

May all cultivate mettā (loving – kindess) towards all beings on an equal footing, those who live above, below, or across. May all be unhindered and without enmity.

Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, may this protection affect all beings on an equal footing.

Whether standing, walking, sitting or lying down, may all sustain this mettā mindset (what the Buddha called Brahma Vihāra)”.

Any true celebration of peace and goodwill related to religion must be based on unimpeachable non-violence and respect for the lives of all living beings including non-human sentient beings.

An invaluable precedent from Sri Lanka 

There is an invaluable precedent in Sri Lanka i.e. Vesak, where reverence and compassion for all forms of life is stressed and consequently on Vesak day an age-old custom is legally enforced – closure of slaughter houses and ban on sale of meat. A majority of the people abstain from flesh food consumption as part of the Buddhist religious tradition and practice on that occasion.

We can set an example to the rest of the world by doing likewise on Christmas day. The biggest beneficiaries would be the innocent animals. It is time that due consideration is given to their paramount interest in living until their natural life span ends just as much as we humans do to each other.

Christians in Sri Lanka should strongly consider commencing a new tradition of kindness and goodwill to all living beings by leaving meat off their plate on Christmas day. Instead of blindly aping western traditions mired in killing and bloodshed during Christmas, why not follow a more distinctive Buddhist tradition of total non-violence when celebrating the anniversary of the birthday of the founder of a world religion.

Justice for Animals Sri Lanka was formed in 2019 under the auspices of Sri Bodhiraja Foundation led by Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera to give voice to the suffering of animals, because they cannot articulate their suffering. The cause of animals has to be highlighted loud and clear not only for their sake but also for our sake because it reflects on ourselves. Our sense of justice, compassion and sharing the planet earth with all those who inhabit it. 

Environmental damage 

Becoming a vegetarian or vegan has countless benefits. Studies have shown that meat eating takes a heavy toll on the environment. A person who consumes a diet high in meat is responsible for almost twice the climate-killing carbon dioxide emissions of a dedicated vegetarian.

In respect to the environmental cost per calorie, the effect of beef consumption, for example, is horrific. The rearing of beef cattle necessitates 160 times more land and leads to 11 times more greenhouse gas emissions vis-à-vis crops like wheat, rice or potatoes. 

Perhaps the most compelling argument for choosing a vegetarian lifestyle is that abundant studies have shown that vegetarians have lower incidences of heart disease, lower BMI and lower blood pressure than their meat-eating colleagues. Colon cancer is directly associated, according to the latest medical research, with eating red meat, much as cigarettes are with lung cancer.

Around 5 million Brits in UK will have a meat-free Christmas dinner for the first time ever. This is according to new research released by The Vegan Society.

According to the study, more British people are open to the idea of having a vegetarian Christmas than they’ve ever been. Eight percent of respondents said this year will be their first meat-free holiday dinner.

It is never too late to start such a fresh endeavor this season. It will save lives.  What can be more holy and noble than that?

https://www.livekindly.co/5-million-brits-first-meatless-christmas-dinner/

Extend the spirit of goodwill to animals this Christmas by avoiding meat altogether on Christmas Day. That will be an unique and truly noble gesture. Senaka Weeraratna

උපුටා ගැන්ම   මුහුනු පොත

හිතවත් රාජිත මංත්‍රිතුමනි..,

2015 දි ඔබ කුඩුකාරයන්ගෙන් හොදට හම්බු කළ ජේලර් කෙනෙක් ,කොලොඹ පාසල් ලමුන්ට බෝම්බ ගැසු සිංහල කොටියෙකු හා මරණ දඩුවමෙන් බේරා ගන්නා බවට පොරොන්දු දි කුඩු කාරයන් කිහිපදෙනෙක් එකතු කරගෙන නියම ප්‍රකාශ සගවා අලුත් ප්‍රකාශ එකතු කර දඩයම් තලාවක් නිර්මාණය කරවිය .
කුඩු කාරයන් අල්ලන්න ගිහින් වෙඩි උන්ඩ නවයක් වැදිලා පපුවේ උන්ඩ තුනක් සහිතව හිස ද තුවාල වී මම නිවසේ සිටින විට අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනිමට ඔබේ දඩයම් බල්ලා වන රවිට උපදෙස් දුන්නා මතකද? ඔබ අද වගේ මමත් එදා නිතිපතිට කරුණු දැක්විම කලා එත් ඔබ ඒක වැලැක්වුවා මතකද ?
අද ඔබ උසාවියෙන් සාදාරණයක් ඉල්ලනවා සේම මමත් උසාවි ගියා එකත් ඔබ එදා එකත් වැලැක්වුවා මතකද ? ඒ තීන්දුව දී පැය දෙකක් යනකොට රවි එව්වා මාව අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනිමට .
තුවාල සහිතව රිමාන්ඩ් කලා මතකද ? මම සෑම රාත්‍රියේ දිම නින්දා ගත්තේ නැහැ මංත්‍රි තුමා තුවාල පරිස්සම් කලා මකුනන් ගෙන්. අතේ තිබුන හැම සතේම වියදම් කරලා ඇප අයදුම්පතක් දැම්මා එකටත් ඔබ හරස් වුනා මතකද ?
මම අල්ලපු කුඩු කාරයන් එක්ක එක සිර මැදිරියේ ඉන්න කොට දැනෙන හැගීම ඔබ දන්නවා ද
මාස හයක් ඉදලා නැවත එලියට ඇවිත් නාකොටික් එකේ ඉන්න විට ඔබේ මිතුරා රූමි ගේඋවමනාට මාව පොලිස් ඩිපෝ වේ පුස්තකාලයට දාලා ඔබ සතුටු වුනා මතකද ?
නැවතත් සේවය නැති කර දැන් මම ගෙදර ය.
දැන් ඔබ උදේ ඉදන් උසාවියේ ඉන්න කොට කරපු දේවල් මතක් වෙනවා ඇති.
මංත්‍රි තුමා ඔහොම පිච්චී පිච්චී ඉන්නවා ට වඩා හොදයි නේද පිරිමියකු වසයෙන් ඇතුළට යන එක මොකද මට වගේ තරහකාරයෝ රිමාන්ඩ් එකේ ඔබට නැහැනෙ කුඩු කාරයන් ,පාතාලයේ එවුන් ඔබගේ මිතුරන් නිසා .
මොනවා එකතු කරත් දවසක හෙලුවෙන් කනත්තට යන්න වෙනවා යන්න මතක් කිරිමට කැමති
මීට
—-නාකොටික් රංගජිව ——

උපුටා ගැන්ම   KUBIYO NEWS

අනතුරක් සිදු කර සිය බලය භාවිතා කර සාක්ෂී මකා දැමීමේ චෝදනාවට අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන සිටිනා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී‍්‍ර පාඨලී චම්පික රණවකට රජයේ මුදල් අවභාවිතා කිරීමේ චෝදනාව පිළිබඳවද කරුණු හෙළිවී ඇත.

ඒ, රාජගිරියේ සිදුවූ ආන්දෝලනාත්මක රියඅනතුරට සම්බන්ධව මේ වනවිට සිදුකෙරෙන වැඩිදුර විමර්ශනවලදීය.

රිය අනතුරෙන් පසුව පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මන්තී‍්‍රවරයා මහා නගර සහ බස්නාහිර සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙසයි පත්ව ඇත්තේ. මෙම අනතුරට පත්ව ඇත්තේ ඔහු විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කළ සමයේ භාවිත කළ ජීප්රථයක්.

විදුලි බල හා බලශක්ති අමාත්‍යංශය විසින් අදාළ වාහනය සිය අමාත්‍යංශයට භාරදෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලීමක් කර ඇතත්, පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මන්තී‍්‍රවරයා එය ලබාදී නැහැ.

පසුව අදාළ රිය අනතුර සම්බන්ධයෙන් මහා නගර සහ බස්නාහිර සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යංශය විසින් එම ජීප් රථයට රුපියල් මිලියනයක රක්ෂණ මුදලක් ද ලබාගෙන තිබේ.

මෙම මුදල අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් ලබා ගෙන තිබෙනවා.

මෙම රියඅනතුර සම්බන්ධයෙන් කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාශය ද විශේෂ විමර්ශනයක් සිදු කරනවා.

ඒ, අනතුරෙන් තුවාල ලැබූ තරුණයාගේ පියා පොලිස්පතිවරයාට කළ පැමිණිල්ලකට අනුවයි. සත්‍ය කරුණු විකෘති කර අසත්‍ය නඩුවක් ගොනුකිරීම ඇතුළු කරුණු කිහිපයකට අදාළවයි එම පරීක්ෂණය සිදුවන්නේ.

එහි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ ප‍්‍රකාශකයෙකු පැවසුවේ මෙය හුදෙක් රථවාහන නඩුවක් පමණක් නොවන බවයි. අනතුර සිදුවූ ස්ථානය සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී‍්‍ර පාඨලී චම්පික රණවකගේ දුරකතන සංඥා ද ගැලපී ඇති බව ද පරීක්ෂණවලදී අනාවරණ වී තිබෙනවා.

සංඥා කුළුණුවලින් ලබාගත් දත්තවලදී මන්ති‍්‍රවරයාගේ දුරකතනය රාජගිරිය ප‍්‍රදේශයේ තිබෙන බවටත්, අනතුර සිදුවන අවස්ථාවේ වාහනයේ සිටි බව කියන රියදුරාගේ දුරකතනය කොස්වත්ත ප‍්‍රදේශයේ තිබූ බවටත් අනාවරණ වී ඇතැයි සඳහන්.

මේ අතර අනතුරට පත් තරුණයා පැදවූ යතුරු පැදිය, මෝටර් රථ ප‍්‍රවාහන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ලියාපදිංචි කළ යතුරු පැදියක් බව ද හෙළිවී තිබෙනවා.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

The prices of rice and vegetables have gone into the stratosphere, nay mesosphere, and sent both Citizen Perera and the newly formed caretaker government reeling. Inclement weather, which has wreaked havoc on farming areas and caused disruptions to the transport network have also led to sharp increases in the prices of the locally produced food items. Such price hikes are also seasonal. But they are mostly due to deplorable market manipulations and the absence of storage facilities and an efficient distribution network. This situation, which has come about due to lack of government interventions, has enabled unscrupulous traders to fleece both the producer and the consumer alike.

One may recall that about 10 years ago, the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa revealed that vegetables, grown in Ranna, reached nearby Tangalle, after being taken all the way to Dambulla, which is about 300 km away. This is how big-time traders controlled the vegetable prices, he said. But his government did precious little to protect producers and consumers. The same goes for all other food items whose prices are jacked up by wholesalers who manipulate the market to make unconscionable profits. Even the price of an egg laid by a hen in a far-flung area is said to be determined by traders in Pettah.

There are some varieties of vegetables, which perish where they grow without being harvested. Murunga is a case in point; owing to extremely low prices it fetches in the areas where it grows freely, especially in the dry zone, it almost goes unharvested, though it is expensive elsewhere. If such vegetables can be transported where there is a market for them, the public will benefit.

There has been a proposal for setting up solar powered cold storage facilities, in the vegetable producing areas, to prevent the farmers’ produce from decaying in the event of surpluses or adverse weather conditions or other such problems. It has gone unheeded. Bumper harvests which should be a blessing to farmers become a curse for them because they cannot dispose of their produce at reasonable prices. It is not seldom that we witness protests where irate farmers destroy colossal amounts of pumpkins, etc., on the roadside.

A left-wing firebrand in the SLPP-led government has reportedly revealed how to bring down vegetable prices; he wants the public to stop buying them so that a decrease in demand for them will result in a drop in their prices! We are reminded of the popular local saying, ‘bale thiyanakota mole ne, mole thiyanakota bale ne,’ (when one has power one has no brains, and when one has brains one has no power.)

The people have already reduced the consumption of vegetables to a bare minimum, but the prices still remain very high. We are not short of contortionists in the garb of ministers, blessed with hypermobility, which enables their feet to get into their big mouths easily. Another such double-jointed ministerial potentate once claimed that a family of three could live on a monthly income of Rs. 7,500 if it managed its resources frugally!

Meanwhile, attempts are being made to control the prices of rice. However welcome such measures may be, the government is barking up the wrong tree. The general consensus is that the country has enough stocks of paddy, but the big-time mill owners with political connections are not releasing them to the market so as to prevent the prices of rice from dropping. Raids are being conducted on business places in Colombo, but sprawling warehouse complexes wherein paddy is hoarded, in areas such as Polonnaruwa, have been spared. Our money is on the Millers’ Mafia having the last laugh, for the new government, in spite of its rhetoric, has stopped short of conducting raids on the godowns in the North Central Province in search of hoarded paddy. The will of the government seems to stop where the interests of the big-time businesses begin! Governments don’t hesitate to subjugate the interests of the public to their political compulsions. The SLPP-led caretaker government is no exception.

The Paddy Marketing Board (PMD) suffered a crippling blow at the hands of the JRJ government, which sacrificed vital state ventures at the altar of economic liberalisation. It has been revived but cannot compete with the buccaneering private millers. It allegedly buys the paddy stocks that private traders reject. That the PMD has a pivotal role to play in protecting the rice growers and consumers by making market interventions where necessary cannot be overemphasised. A prerequisite for making it work efficiently is to ensure that it is properly managed.

Some big-time rice mill owners have offered to co-operate with the government and release some of their stocks to the market to help maintain rice prices at the stipulated levels. Their offer smacks of a tactical manoeuvre to prevent the government from getting into a desperate situation where it will be forced to act against the Millers’ Mafia.

The government will have to get tough with the paddy hoarders if the problem of market manipulation is to be solved once and for all.

Courtesy Ada Derana

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court has fixed the 30th December as the date of inquiry for former Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s anticipatory bail application preventing his arrest.

Senaratne’s second anticipatory bail application was taken up for consideration before the Colombo Chief Magistrate today (23).

Meanwhile, the former Minister filed a newly amended affidavit with regard to anticipatory bail application along with new documents related to the relevant incident.

Senaratne on Thursday (19) lodged his first anticipatory bail application, stating that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is planning to arrest him over the white van” media briefing that he held several days before the presidential election last month. The Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and several other officials were named as the respondents of this bail application.

However, the Colombo Chief Magistrate had rejected Senaratne’s anticipatory bail application when it was taken up for consideration Thursday morning (19).

Senaratne went on to file another anticipatory bail application on Friday (20) requesting the court to release him on anticipatory bail before the CID takes him into custody.

Courtesy Ada Derana

Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) has been granted permission by the court to record a statement from Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara regarding the road accident involving former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka.

IGP Pujith Jayasundara is currently under remand custody over a case on the Easter Sunday attacks.

This order has been issued by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court considering a request made to the court by the CCD.

The request by the CCD stated that the name of IGP Jayasundara was revealed during the investigations on the alleged hit-and-run case involving MP Patali Champika Ranawaka.

Therefore, Officer-in-Charge of the Colombo Crimes Division Chief Inspector Neville Silva requested permission to record a statement from the remanded IGP on the incident.

Accordingly, Colombo Additional Magistrate Lochani Abeywickrama ordered the Prison Superintendent to allow the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to record a statement from the IGP at the Prison premises between the 26th and 30th December.

Further, the Additional Magistrate ordered several telecommunication companies to provide a report to the CCD on call details of 20 mobile phone SIM cards found during the investigation on the case.

Meanwhile, former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka is currently under remand over an alleged hit-and-run case in 2016.

Courtesy Ada Derana

The security forces including the Army are working on providing maximum security for the Christmas season, says Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva.

Speaking to the media following an event held in Colombo, the Army Chief said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, has given instructions to the Police and the Tri-forces in this regard.

He commented that security measures have been implemented to ensure the safety of the general public during the festive season.