By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

Daya Gamage worked at the American Embassy in Colombo, as the Sole Foreign Service National and a Political Specialist. He retired in 1994 and has been living in Las Vegas since retirement. After two years of concentration, he has been able to share his knowledge, understanding and his intimate professional association with the US Department of State in the form of a book – Tamil Tigers’ Debt to America. Being aware of how America’s foreign policy worked- sometimes in a strange manner, he has come out with an unbiased text full of data in his book nowhere else is contained. Daya Gamage has authorised the writer ” to quote anything from his book” so that the readers will get a clear picture of America’s Foreign Policy, Sri Lanka’s National Issues and the LTTE struggle in depth. 

Gamage handles the United States Bureau of the Online daily newspaper Asian Tribune constantly making the readers knowledgeable of the US foreign policy towards Third World Nations works. His book is available at Amazon.

In the event of a failure to salvage the top Tamil Tiger leadership, Owens, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, spelt out the United States Government/State Department policy objective in a post-LTTE scenario, which Daya Gamage has noted as point 4 of the previous episode – i.e.: ‘Using countability and openness  regarding  the incidents that occurred from April throughout  18 May, 2009, which have been variously described as violation of International Humanitarian Laws (IHL)- crimes against humanity,  war crimes, and genocide. These lines of emphasis were designed to forcibly push the political agenda professed by the FP,TULF, and the LTTE relating to Tamil grievances, thereby bringing pressure to bear on the Government of Sri Lanka to implement more than what is in the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, which talks of devolution of Administrative and political power to the periphery.

Mike Owens’ Statement

“I think it is important that Sri Lanka move towards a really strong democratic governance in a multi-ethnic society, in which all groups have a voice in the society. So, the devolution of power to the provinces, as enshrined in the 13th Amendment, that’s something that we feel is very important as the first step, but it needs to go beyond that. There are going to be a lot of civil society challenges in the next several years in dealing with the aftermath of this conflict and making sure that the conflict doesn’t reignite as a result of mistakes that are made now. So, we want to work closely with the Sri Lankan Government in that way (emphasis is by Daya Gamage).

“And we are going to press for and hope that the GoSL will agree to implement the 13th Amendment as envisioned as quickly as possible. About consequences, if the Government of Sri Lanka does attack the safe zone and large numbers of civilians are killed: certainly, there would be consequences, and we have made it very clear to the leadership of the Government of Sri Lanka if that occurred. I would not want to tie our hands in terms of specifying exactly what those consequences would be, but we would certainly hold the Government of Sri Lanka responsible for the death of a lot of civilians, and we have made that very clear to the leadership.

‘We hope to see the rise of maybe some new voices in the Tamil community, moderate voices in the North. We think that is very important and we want to work with the Tamil community, and I think here, especially the Diaspora has a very important role to play in helping building moderate Tamil voices in the North.
“And we are going to press for, and hope that the Sri Lankan Government will agree to implement the 13th Amendment as envisioned as quickly as possible.  I would emphasise that we believe the Diaspora, the Sri Lankan Diaspora, and particularly the Tamil Diaspora in North America, in Europe, elsewhere, has a very important role to play in this. They should, I hope, be speaking out in terms of what they envisioned for Sri Lanka in a post-conflict scenario. They have an important voice in that process.

Thus, at a media briefing on 4 May, 2011, at the American Embassy in Colombo, in his capacity as the Assistant Secretary for South Asia, Robert Blake exerted pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to move towards a sustainable political solution by reiterating the importance of accountability. That is the trajectory the United States at present takes to resolve the Sinhala-Tamil conflict. Take note of these aspects of Blake’s announcement.

Robert Blake’s Announcement

“The United States has continually expressed to the Government of Sri Lanka the importance of implementing a credible and independent process to safeguard accountability. Domestic authorities have the responsibility to ensure that those responsible for violations of International Humanitarian Law are held accountable. International mechanisms can become appropriate in cases where States are either unable or unwilling to meet their obligations.” Thereafter, he outlined what the United States would like to see:

“United States attaches great importance to the dialogue that is now taking place between the Sri Lankan Government and the  Tamil National Alliance. And, as I said in my statement, we hope that the issue of concerns to the Tamils. That includes not only the very important issues regarding devolution, but also very sensitive issues like all of those who remain in detention, and a full accounting of who are in detention, but also a full accounting of the missing, the issuance of death certificates for those who may have died, so that there really can be a closure for the families. It involves such issues as land tenure and setting up a process to ensure that there can be fair arbitration for many disputes about who owns some of the lands up in the North.

“So, I think there are a great many issues that still need to be addressed, and from what I heard today the government is committed to doing that, and is committed to a sincere dialogue with the TNA. But again, the proof will be in results, not promises. So, we very much hope, again, that this will result in a concrete process towards the issues that I just discussed and the others that are of concern to the Tamils. So, this will remain a very high priority for the United States and I hope for the Government as well.’

Having lost the  “pressure group” that was a pillar in its original plans, namely, the LTTE in May 2009, the United States in 2013/14 exerted pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to bring a political package that would resolve Tamil grievances. It was strategically forcing the South Asian Nation to have accountability and openness. When Blake pronounced that in the absence of domestic accountability the International community may be forced to initiate an accountability process from outside, he is wielding a bargaining hammer. For the United States, “accountability” and ” reconciliation” are a combined package, but the emphasis was more on reconciliation. Because this idea included a political solution that would meet Tamil grievances and aspirations.

LLRC

The persons who have been commissioned by the Government of Sri Lanka to produce the final document for the ‘Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) were entrusted with the task of guiding the process of reconciliation. They should have been erudite enough to take note of this historic development outlined here, which has culminated in the final strategy of UNHRC resolutions serving as a tool of the West. The contention is that neither the LLRC nor the Rajapaksa Foreign Ministry has comprehended this line of the United States-led Policy. They have, therefore, not worked out how to proceed with the whole issue of reconciliation by incorporating “accountability” into their framework of action. This should be the focus if Sri Lanka wishes to work through this difficult time and desires to get the US-Sri Lanka relations unto a footing that will benefit both nations.

Violating the IHL, committing war crimes and genocide allegations have been combined with the reconciliation call  and it was up to the Government of Sri Lanka’s wise counsels to carefully manoeuvre how to move away from possible pitfalls. The former Rajapaksa administration failed in this attempt, and the new Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime has set forth to appease the United States- and the West- in an attempt to take the burden off its shoulders.

Daya Gamage, the author of the Book Tamil Tigers’ Debt to America, quotes from Kai Ambos, an internationally renowned  expert on International  Law and Human Rights, who is also a professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, International Law and Comparative Law at the University of Gottingen.

Kai Ambos’ version

“War is an armed conflict under International Humanitarian Law, which presents a different legal situation. In such circumstances, people can be killed when they directly participate in hostilities. The prohibition on killing is suspended in international armed conflicts for combatants and non-international armed conflicts for so-called fighters or de facto combatants.

These actors can, under specific conditions, also be the targeted killings. The most important condition is that the principle of proportionality is coupled with the less severe measures (such as arrests)  are to be preferred and the unnecessary civilians must be avoided. If a targeted killing occurs in a foreign country, the territorial State must consent to the operation; otherwise, the action amounts to a violation of State sovereignty, prohibited by Public International Law.

A loose and decentralised terrorist network does not fulfil the criteria for classification as a party to a conflict within the context of International Humanitarian Law. It lacks, above all, a cetntralised and hierarchical military command structure and the control of a defined territory.”

tilakfernand@gmail.com

Courtesy: Daya Gamage, Author of  Tamil Tigers’ Debt to America.
To be continued: ‘ The American Agenda through Foreign Service Officers’ eyes’.

Courtesy Adaderana

A Gazette notification has been issued prohibiting the re-export of key spices and allies products from Sri Lanka, with immediate effect.

The Ministry of Finance, issuing a release yesterday (05), said no approval will be granted under the Finance Act-Commercial Hub Regulations of Sri Lanka to engage in entrepot and provision of logistic services to any re-export business or transshipment related to key local spices and allied products.

Accordingly re-export of pepper, areca-nut, nutmeg/mace, tamarind, cinnamon, clove, ginger, turmeric and cardamom will be barred hereafter.

The Ministry’s release further mentioned that the re-export of garbage, processing of garbage or recourse recycling business will also be prohibited by a Gazette notification.

Courtesy Adaderana

Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith left the Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating into Easter Sunday attacks, a short while ago, after giving a nearly 4-hour statement.

Cardinal Ranjith had arrived at the commission’s office located at BMICH premises at around 2.00 p.m. today (6) for the evidence hearing.

He left the premises after providing a nearly 4-hour long statement to the commission, Ada Derana reporter said.

The commission, headed by Court of Appeal Judge Janak de Silva, comprises Court of Appeal Judge Nissanka Bandula Karunarathna and retired Court of Appeal Judge Nihal Sunil Rajapaksa and retired High Court judge Bandula Kumara Atapattu. Retired Ministry Secretary W.M.M. Adikari and retired Ministry Secretary Chandrani Senaratne will also serve the commission.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena appointed the five-member Commission on September 21st, to look into the catastrophic series of events that claimed the lives of more than 250 on Easter Sunday.

Courtesy Adaderana

The ‘War Heroes for Motherland’ Organisation today claimed that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had pressured several former navy officers and a former LTTE member to give false evidence in the case over the abduction of 11 youths in 2008.

Convenor of the organization, Major (Retired) and Attorney-at-Law Ajith Prasanna, holding a press conference made these allegations which were corroborated by ex-navy officers and a former LTTE member who also addressed the media.

They alleged that several former high-ranking officers of the CID had pressured them to give false testimonies against incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Navy Chief Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda and other top officers of the navy. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Westminster Magistrate’s Court in London today (06) imposed a fine of Sterling Pounds (GBP) 2,400 on former Defence Attaché at Sri Lanka High Commission in London Brigadier Priyanka Fernando who was charged for making a threatening gesture towards a group of L.T.T.E. supporters back in 2018.

The hearing of the case was taken up before Senior District Judge (Chief Magistrate) Emma Arbuthnot, who found Brigadier Fernando guilty of violating Section 4(A) of the Public Order Act.

The chief magistrate, delivering her ruling said: I have no doubt he intended to cause at the alarm. They were purposeful gestures, made as the Brigadier was staring at these protesters. The Brigadier was a senior officer in uniform wearing medals. Unlike the other senior officer there, his body language appeared to be arrogant and intimidating. There were three gestures and not just one. In the context of the relationship between Sri Lanka and Tamil Elam protesters he must have known that it would have been alarming at the very least to the protesters who saw him do this.”

The court upheld a previous ruling that the defendant is not protected by diplomatic immunity. I see no reason to re-visit that ruling,” the chief magistrate said. She went on to say: I find that a valid information was laid on 6th February 2018 and valid summonses were issued by this court on 22nd February and 9th August 2018. The information was laid within the period of six months.”

However, the government of Sri Lanka had previously reiterated that it maintains that Brigadier Priyanka Fernando as a diplomat, who was attached to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, is entitled to diplomatic immunity as per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.

On October 18, a fresh trial was commenced against Brigadier Priyank Fernando, charged for making repeated cut-throat gestures towards a group of L.T.T.E. supporters who had been conducting a protest in front of the Sri Lanka High Commission in London on the 4th of February 2018.

A three-member British judge bench, headed by the Chief Magistrate Ms Sonia Henley, who found Brigadier Fernando guilty of causing harassment, alarm and distress to Tamil protesters with his gestures, had issued an Arrest Warrant on him at a previous trial.

The warrant was later withdrawn following the intervention of the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka.

Malinda Seneviratne

It is not advisable to believe one’s own propaganda. That’s a basic rule in political engagement. Blurs vision. Flaws calculation. Usually results in egg on the face.

Now consider an article by Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu published last Sunday titled ‘And so it has already begun.’ Here’s the intro:
‘And so it has happened already. The first white van abduction. An official of the Swiss Embassy, on her way to work, taken in for two hours. She apparently was involved in the handling of the visa for Nishantha Silva – the CID officer investigating politically sensitive cases who left the country sometime last week.’

I am surprised that he didn’t say ‘fled the country’ along with a bit of lunu-ambul. The crystal-gazing author paints dark portents. That’s normal. We heard lots of ‘dark’ stories about Gotabaya Rajapaksa long before he announced his candidacy. Fear-mongering was the order of the day as far as the United National Party (UNP) and those allied with it — Funded Voices, Candlelight Ladies, Colombots and Born Again Democrats. Saravanamuttu moves in such circles and offers accented voice to the whines.  

Hot on the heels of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory came the voices of concern (in diplo-speak) and cries of horror. Democracy at peril on account of a democratic exercise, elections, we were told. And so, Saravanamuttu rushes to judgment.

White vans. Abduction. Detention against will. All on account of a description from two websites, lankaenews and lankanewsweb, both operated by minions of the UNP’s spin-doctoring mafia. Naturally, Saravanamuttu and his ilk are persuaded to treat such fake news as biblical truth. It’s worth mentioning that many who read, liked and shared the ‘news’ dished out by such propagandists actually believed that Sajith Premadasa would defeat Gotabaya Rajapaksa. They were duly shocked.

You tell yourself horror stories all the time and after a while you start believing there are monsters under your bed, like Calvin (in Calvin and Hobbes).

What of the Swiss Embassy, though? Their story is full of holes. First they claimed, ‘contrary to news reports, a complaint was made.’ That’s a half-truth. They did not lodge a complaint with the police. They just told someone. They mentioned that people had seen this woman being abducted. So far, no witnesses. The CCTC evidence refutes the entire story. There’s other evidence which compromise the Swiss narrative. In other words, in all likelihood, a story was fabricated and the Swiss Embassy went along with it, either because it was party to the fabrication or because, like Saravanamuttu, had revved itself up to believing the unbelievable.  

Palitha Kohona, former Secretary to the Foreign Ministry, subsequently referred to a similar incident during the war, when another employee of the Swiss Embassy feigned an abduction to make a case for emigration as ‘a refugee’. So they knew the script, only they forgot the lines, forgot the cues and ended up under the spotlight without a fig leaf to shield themselves from embarrassment. Perhaps that’s what happened. 
The Embassy citing the woman’s ‘deteriorating health condition’ refuses to let her make a statement to the law enforcement authorities. Now, are we supposed to believe the Embassy after playing hora-hora (robber-robber), which is a perverted version of the kids’ game cops-and-robbers (hora-polees)? Absolutely not. Of course, the Swiss have a perverted notion of criminality, from safe-keeping loot to the more recent determination that terrorists are not criminals. We should keep that in mind.

So this is where we are as of now. The Swiss Embassy is holding a Sri Lankan citizen, with or without permission, for we only have the Swiss-Word for it and that’s a joke. The Swiss are long on claims, dead short on substantiation. It is not hard to imagine how things would be if the boot was on the other foot, i.e. some individual (say a US citizen) with a tall story that amounts to vilification of the US Government taking refuge in a Sri Lankan Embassy. 

And they want to circumvent immigration laws to airlift her out of the country!  

Anyway, now the unofficial travel ban on the lady has been formalized by the Chief Magistrate, Colombo. Now, if the lady’s health condition is as bad as the Swiss have made it out to be, then she does require medical attention. Unless there’s a fully-equipped mini-hospital in the precincts of the Swiss Embassy, the Ambassador has to allow doctors to attend on her or allow her to be taken to a hospital. Perhaps they are scared, following self-fulfilling prophesies that the Kolombian Twitterati are particularly fond of. Here are the possible scenarios we can expect. The woman, if in fact her health condition is bad, could recover. The woman’s condition could get worse. She could die (or be made to die just so the Swiss can save face — I wouldn’t put such things past any Government, for credibility is often considered more important than eating humble pie).

The Swiss could actually cooperate with the Sri Lankan Government and help everyone get to the bottom of this sordid affair.  There’s no shame in admitting one was hoodwinked, if indeed that was the case. If they were right all along and the Government was trying to make the best of a bad situation, there are many ways to ensure that the lady (now a high-profile ‘victim’ remember?) does not get harassed. If that’s the case, it would be in the interest of the Government to let justice take its course.
As things stand, there’s no evidence of white vans, no evidence of an abduction, no evidence of being held against will; just stories, half-truths, holes and the use of diplomatic privileges to keep the justice system at bay. As things stand though, Switzerland is flat. Flat on the face, that is. 

This article was first published in the Daily Mirror [December 5, 2019] malindasenevi@gmail.com. www.malindawords.blogspot.com

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada 

4 December 2019

Ambassador  Hanspeter Mock
Ambassador for Switzerland  in Sri Lanka
63 Gregory’s Road
Colombo 7
Sri Lanka

Dear Ambassador HansPeter Mock:

While your beautiful country is getting ready with mulled wine, Christmas Music, twinkling lights decking almost every tree around the country, and letting the aroma of baking Swiss Christmas cookies waft out of the slightly opened windows, and there is nothing more special than anticipating the magical run up to Christmas.  But you, this Swiss-man in Colombo got the tropical heat-it perhaps, that kept bothering you, so I see that you wanting to get your mind off the itch you got involved with Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya with the Swiss diplomat’s parlour game – You Mock Me, and I Mock You, We both Mock…Mock..to see who will drop his pants first to the Sock…Socks!”  Right?

It is a game of  diplomatic strategy, isn’t it?  But it is unfortunate that your choice of the plot was weak and silly to the point being stupid.  From your very first Mock-ing move, Ambassador you were doomed with a lie and I noticed your pants slipping down a little bit.  President Gotabaya’s Foreign Ministry officials have told in plain English which I hope you understood,  that the alleged abduction of a local Swiss embassy staff member on December 1, accused you, Ambassador HansPeter Mock of lying.

 Wow! That was embarrassing and that was heavy and that was a diplomatic bombshell!   You called for it, Ambassador Mock, for being cunning, cloaked under the word immunity”.

 Did I notice that your pants had slipped down a little more in your Swiss Game of diplomatic strategy -”You Mock Me, and I Mock You, We both Mock…Mock…to see who will drop his pants first to the Sock…Socks.”

Ambassador Mock, I’d like  to ask you as would a British village Bobby ‘
Allo..Allo…Allo, Cor Blimey Mite, what is going on…”  What is indeed going on

Was it that you Swiss wanted to undermine and discredit President Gotabaya and his new government.  Oops! I see your pants slipping down from your waist a little bit more.

Bad strategy.  Bad Karma,   Got the wrong guy to discredit.  This is the guy who gave back 20.5 million of his people their most paramount human right, their right-to-life which was hijacked by your now non-terrorist  gang, the Tamil Tigers” for 30 bloody years.

Ambassador Mock, you nor your Swiss Government lacked the decency, guts or honesty to acknowledge this textbook classic, how a puny island cleaned  up the most ruthless terrorists in the world, the Tamil Tigers, according to the UN, who perfected the suicide body-pack for human bombs, by kicking their butts.  You didn’t like that annihilation, did you, on May 19, 2009, HansPeter Mock.  Now you know how the diplomatic cookie crumbles.  But what you did not know is that Sri Lanka does not like outsiders who think that- We are Holier than Thou”Bullies.

Having unravelled the lie by the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry personnel, we are told that, it has been proven that the complete story of the Swiss Embassy incident is a lie.” This has been based on CCTV footage and other technology evidence,

The female embassy staffer in question had never been at the location where they claimed she had been at that time and that it has now been proven that There is absolutely no truth to the story.” Wow!

T H U M P” Oops, Ambassador HansPeter Mock, did I hear that sound, Did you? That was your pants falling by your socks. So, you lost a Swiss Strategy game  to discredit President Gotabaya’s Government– You Mock Me, and I Mock You, we both Mock, Mock, to see who will drop his pants first to the Sock…Socks.”  This is undiplomatic, and pathetic.

So you lost  the Swiss  Diplomatic strategy Game Ambassador Mock.  There is one thing this incident brings to the forefront.  Is that Switzerland is no friend of Sri Lanka.  Nor should Ambassador HansPeter Mock be allowed to remain in Sri Lanka to represent his country, Switzerland  I really don’t see how you could continue your posting in Sri Lanka now that you have been called a Liar.

So for God’s sake Go.

Sincerely

Asoka Weerasinghe

I. de Silva London, Ontario Canada

Hon. HansPeter Mick
Ambassador for Switzerland in Sri Lanka 63 Gregory’s Road Colombo 7 Sri Lanka

Dear Sir:   

                      Reference Your Action to Fly a Sri Lankan Citizen and Her Family to Switzerland

News reports claim that you have intervened to request the Sri Lankan Government to assist you in flying a Sri Lankan citizen and her family to Switzerland. Apparently this individual was stopped on the road, outside the embassy.  You claim that this individual is a staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo. You have not indicated what this sudden “illness” is. It is strange that she had no “illness” when she was in your embassy but suddenly became ill on the road outside the embassy and that this sudden illness requires and ambulance aircraft to fly her out of Sri Lanka. 

It is essential that you provide the following information to protect the general public from this sudden illness.

Did you seek a medical opinion on her illness while she was in the embassy?

Is the illness contagious that it requires her family to also be flown to Switzerland?
What about all the others with whom she had contact both in the embassy and outside?  Do they not need to be advised what the illness is so that they could get  medical treatment?
It is your responsibility to advise the general public immediately.  When are you going to provide the Sri Lankan Government and the general public in Sri Lanka the information on this sudden and grave illness that requires treatment in Switzerland? 
  Please advise the Sri Lankan public immediately.  Based on the information you provide, the Sri Lankan Government should decide whether this act was genuine or a hoax. If it was genuine, you are to be commended. If it is a “hoax” then it is imperative that the Sri Lankan Government request the Government of Switzerland to recall you immediately.
Yours truly,
I. de Silva London, Ontario Canada

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

            වර්තමාන ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නරේන්ද්‍ර මෝඩි අගමැති තුමාගේ  ආරාධනයෙන් ඉන්දියාවට සැපත් වූ අවස්ථාව දෙරට අතර රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික සබඳතා ශක්තිමත් කිරීමක් වෙයි. එහෙත් එම සංචාරයේ දී මෝඩි ජනාධිපතිවරයා කළ කතාවෙන් ගම්‍ය වනුයේ ඔවුන් තවදුරටත් අන්‍යාකාරයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනයට ඇඟිලි ගසන ආකාරයයි. මෙය දීර්ඝ කාලීනව හිතකර තත්ත්වයක් නොවේ. වසර හතරහමාරක් තිස්සේ රට තුළ පැවති අස්ථාවර තත්වයත් ව්‍යවස්ථා අර්බුදයත් නිසා එළඹෙන මැතිවරණය තෙක් මේ රටේ ශක්තිමත් පාලනයක් ස්ථාපිත වීම පමා වීමට තියෙන ඉඩකඩ වැඩිය. එවැනි අවස්ථාවක ඉන්දීය සබඳතා නිවරදී කර ගැනීම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය කරුණකි. මෙහිදී අපට සිහිපත් වන්නේ හිටපු අගමැතිණියක වන සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණිය ගේ දේශපාලන ධූර කාල වලදී ඇය එඩිතරව ගත් තීරණයන් සහ ඉන්දු ලංකා සබඳතා නිවරදි ආකාරයටඉ කළමනකරණය කර ගත් ආකායයි.

            1960 වසරේ ඇය මේ රටේ අගමැති ලෙස පත්වූ පසු එම රජය ඉදිරියේ තිබූ බලවත් ප්‍රශ්ණයක් වූයේ ඉන්දියානු පුරවැසි ගැටළුවයි. අනෙක කම් කච්චතිවු දූපත පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්ණයයි.මේ ප්‍රශ්ණ දෙක සමථයට පත් කිරීම පිණිස ඇය සිය රාජතාන්ත්‍රික ඥානය යොදවමින් රාජ දූතයන් මගින් අදහස් හුවමාරු කරගත් බව පැවසේ. එහිදී වැදගත් වනුයේ සිරිමා මැතිණිය ස්වොත්සාහයෙන් යටගිය කරුණු අධ්‍යනය  කර ගත් ආකාරයයි. මෙහි ප්‍රතිඵලය වූයේ ඉන්දියානු පුරවැසියන් රැසක් ආපසු ඉන්දියාවට පිටත් කර යැවීමට හැකි වීමයි. ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක රජය මේ ප්‍රශ්ණය අවුල් කර තිබුණද සිරිමා මැතිණිය එය යළි නිවැරදි තනට තල්ලු තර  ගනිමින් එසේම උඩරට ජීවත් වූ සිංහල වැසියන්ට අසාධාරණයක් නොවන පරිද්දෙන් විසඳීමට උත්සාහ ගත් ආකාරය දැක්විය හැකිය. ඇය මේ ප්‍රයත්නය පිළිබව එදා ජාතික රජ්‍ය සභාවේ දී විශිෂ්ට කතාවක් කළේය. එය මෙලෙස දැක්විය හැකිය.

      මේ ප්‍රශ්ණය පිළිබඳව අභවප්‍රාප්ත ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා විසින් 1968 සහ 1969 යන වර්ෂ වලදී ඉන්දීය අගමැති සමග සකච්ඡා පවත්වන ලද නමුත් කිසියම් සම්මුතියකට එළඹිමට අපොහොසත් වුණා. මේ ප්‍රශ්ණය පළබඳ මා සාකච්ඡා ආරම්භ කලේ 1973 අප්‍රි යෙල් මාසයේ දී ඉන්දිරා ගාන්ධි මැතිණිය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණි අවස්ථාවේ දී යි.මේ සාකච්ඡා වල ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන් අප රටවල් දෙකේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ට නිළධාරීන් ලවා මේ ප්‍රශ්ණයට අදාල කරුණු ගැන විමසා බලවා වාර්තාවක් ලබා ගැනීමට තීරණයක් ගත්තා. ලබා ගත් සියලුම ඓතිහාසික හා වෙනත් සාධක සාක්ෂි නීතිමය කරුණු ආදිය ගැන ඉතා හොඳින් විමසා බලන ලෙස නිළධාරීන්ට නියෝග කලා.මේ නිළධාරීන් කොළඹදී සහ නව දිල්ලියේ දීත් සාකච්ඡා මාලාවක් පවත්වා අදාල කරුණු ගැන ඉතා හොඳින් සලකා බලා  වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කලා. මේ සාකච්ඡා වලදී අප කච්චතිවු දූපත ගැන පමණක් වෙන්කොට ගෙන සලකා බැලුවේ නැහැ.පොක් සමුදු සන්ධීයේ සිට ආදම්ගේ පාළම -ඇඩම්ස් බ්‍රිජ් දක්වා ඇති මුහුදු මායිම් සළකුණු කර ගැනීමට තීරණය කලා.එසේ කිරීම මේ ප්‍රදේශයේ  අපේ ඛනිජ සම්පත් සොයා ගැනීමට හා සංවර්ධනය කිරීමට දීර්ඝ කාලීනව අපට වාසියක් හා වැඩි ප්‍රයෝජනයක් ගෙන දෙන ක්‍රියා පිළිවෙලක් වන බව පැහැදිළියි.

         පේදුරු තුඩුවේ සිට වයඹ දෙසට නාවක සැතපුම් 18 ක් පමණ ඈතින් පිහිටි ලක්ෂයක සිට ආදම්ගේ පාලම දක්වා නාවික සැතපුම් 80 ක් ක් පමණ දිගට වැටෙන මුහුදු මායිමත් මේ ගිවිසුමෙන් සලකුණු කෙරෙනවා. මේ මුහුදු මායිම කච්චතිවු දූපතේ සිට බටහිරින් නාවුක සැතැප්මකට ඈතින් වැටී ඇති බැවින් එම දූපතේ අයිතිය එහි ආධිපත්‍ය ගැන මතභේදයක් හෝ අර්බුදයක් මින් ඉදිරියට කිසි කලෙක උද්ගත වන්නේ නැහැ. මුහුදු මායිමෙන් තම රට පැත්තට වැටෙන මුහුදු තීරය හා ගොඩබිම පිළිබඳ පරමාධිපත්‍ය සහ සම්පූර්ණ අධිකරණ බලය ඒ ඒ රටට අයිති වනවා.රටවල් දෙකේම ධීවරයන් මසුන් අල්ලන වාරයන් තුළදී සහ වන්දනා කරුවන් ආගමික උත්සව පවත්වන මාර්තු මාසයේ දී මේ දිවයිනට පැමිණෙනවා. ඉන්දියානු  වන්දනා කරුවන්ට ගමන් බලපත්‍ර හෝ වීසා නැතිව දිවයිනට පැමිණීමට ඉඩ සැලසෙනවා.

       එක් එක් රටට අයිති මුහුදු තීරයේ අනිත් රටේ මුහුදු යාත්‍රා විසින් අතීතයේ සිට සිරිත් පරිදි යාත්‍රා කිරීමට ලබා තිබුණු අයිතිවාසිකම් එසේම පවතීවි. මුහුදු මායිමේ සිට තම රට දෙසට වැටෙන ප්‍රදේශයේ ඛනිජ තෙල් ඇතුලු සියලුම ඛනිජ සම්පත් සොයා ගැනීමට සංවර්ධනය කිරීමට හා ප්‍රයෝජනය ගැනීමට එක් එක් රටට සම්පූර්ණ නිදහස හා අයිතිය ලැබෙන අතර සමුද්‍ර දේශ සිමාවෙන් එහා පැත්තක සිට අනෙක් පැත්තට විහිදී  පිහිටා ඇති ඛනිජ ඉල්ලම් ආදිය වඩාත්ම ප්‍රයෝජනවත් හා ඵලදායි ලෙස හාරා ගැනීම ගැන දෙරට අතර සම්මුතියක් ඇති කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය විධි විධාන සලසා දී තිබෙනවා.

        සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණියත් ඉන්දිරා ගාන්ධි මැතිණියත් අතර අත්සන් කරන්නට යෙදුණු මේ දේශ සීමා ගිවිසුම  වගන්ති අටකින් සමන් විත වන අතර  එහි පළමුවන වගන්තියෙන් දැක්වෙන්නේ මේ දෙශ සීමාවේ අක්ෂාංශ සහ දේශාංෂයන්ය. එහි තෙවනි වගන්තියෙන් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ ඉන්දියානු ධීවරයන්ට සහ වන්දනා කරුවන්ට ආගමික උත්සව අවස්ථාවලදී කච්චතිවු දූපතට පැමිණීමට ඉඩ සැලැස්වීමයි. 1974  ජූනි මස 24  දින අත්සන් කරන්නට යෙදුණු මෙම ගිවිසුම  කියවා බැලූ කල්හි අද පවතින අර්බුදකාරී ප්‍රශ්ණයන්ට පැහැදිලි විසදුමක් සෙවිය හැකි වේ. ලංකාවේ නාවික හමුදාව විසින් අත්අඩංගුවට පත් ඉන්දියානු ධීවරයන් සහ යාත්‍රා නිදහස් කර ගැනීමක් ගැන ගෝඨාබය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඉන්දියාවට පිවිස කල්හි කතා බහක් ඇති විය. එම සාකච්ඡාවට වඩා වැදගත් වන්නේ මෙම ගිවිසුමයි. මේ ගිවිසුම ගැන නොදැන එකිනෙකාගේ බලවත් කම අනුව මේ ප්‍රශ්ණයන් විසදීමට හැකි නොවේ.

      අනෙක් ගිවිසුම නම් ඉන්දියානු පුරවැසියන් සඳහා වූ ගිවිසුමයි. 1964 වසරේ ලාල් බහාදූර් ශාස්ත්‍රී මහතා සමග එළඹ ගත් මේ ගිවිසුම අනුව ලංකාවේ වතු කම්කරුවන් 825000 න් පන්ලක්ෂ විසිපන්දාහක් ඉන්දියාවට යැවිය යුතු විය. එයින් ලංකාවේ පුරවැසි කම් හිමි විය යුතුව තිබුණේ 125000 කට පමණකි. නමුත් සිරිමා මැතිණියගේ  පාලනය බිඳ වැටීමෙන් පසු ඇති වූ තත්ත්වය මත ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක රජය මේ වතු කම්කරුවන් ඉන්දියාවට යැවීම ගැන බලවත් උත්සායක නිරත වූයේ නැත. ඒ වෙනුවට ගිවිසුමේ සඳහන් කර්යයන් අවුල් කළහ. පසුව  සමගි පෙරමුණ රජය සිරිමා මැතිණියගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් බලයට පත් වූ පසු කළ මුල්ම කාර්යයන් අතර මේ ඉන්දියානු පුරවැසි ප්‍රශ්ණය විසඳීමට කාලය ගත කිරීම විය. මේ සම්බන්ධව සිරිමා මැතිණිය 1974 ජූලි මස 23 දින ජාතික රාජ්‍ය සභාවේ දී පළ කළ අදහස් මෙසේය.

              1970 ද මා නැවත අගමැති පදවිය භාරගත් පසු පළමුවෙන්ම කලේ මා අත්සන් කළ ගිවිසුමේ කොන්දේසිත් පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව විසින් සම්පාදනය කල ව්‍යවස්ථාවත් අතර තිබුණු මූලික වෙනස නැති කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් සම්මත කිරීමයි. ඒ වාගේම මම පියවර ගත්තා ගිවිසුම සාර්ථක ලෙසත් වඩා වේගයෙනුත් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට.මේ සඳහා අර්ථසාධක අරමුදල් ආපසු ගෙවීමේ ක්‍රියා පටිපාටිය සහ වත්කම් එතෙර ගෙන යෑමට අවශ්‍යබලපත්‍ර නිකුත් කිරීමෙ වැඩ පිළවෙල වඩා ලිහිල් සහ ඉක්මනින් නිම කළ හැකිවන අයුරු සකස් කලා. ඉන්දියානු පුරවැසියන් ලෙස භාරගන්නා ලද අය ඉක්මනින් ආපසු ඉන්දියාවට පිටතකර යැවීම සඳහා වතු පාලකයන්ගේ උනන්දුව සහ ක්‍රියාකාරි සහයෝගය ලබා ගත්තා. මුල් අවධියේ දී ඇති වූ පූමාදය නිසා ගතවූ කාලය තුල ඇතිවූ අඩුපාඩුව පිරිමසා ගැනීම සඳහා  ඉන්දියානු පුරවැසිකම් ලැබූ අය ආපසු ඉන්දියාවට පිටත්කර යැවීමේ වැඩ පිළවෙල වඩාත් වේගවත් කිරීම සඳහා ගත හැකි ක්‍රියා මාර්ග සහ ක්‍රම ගැන ඉන්දරා ගාන්ධි මැතිණීය සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට එතුමිය 1973 අප්‍රියෙල් මාසයේ දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණ අවස්ථාව උපයෝගී කර ගත්තා. ඉන්දියාවට ආපසු පිටත්කර යවනු ලබන්නවුන් ගේ සංඛ්‍යාව වර්ෂයක් පාසා සියයට දහයකින් වැඩි කිරීමට එතුමිය එකඟ වුණා. ඒ ක්‍රමය අනුව පන්ලක්ෂ විසිපන්දාහක් ආපසු ඉන්දියාවට පිටත් කර යැවීම 1981 වන විට සම්පූර්ණ කර අවසාන කිරීමට හැකිවනාවඇති. ඉතිරි හැත්තෑපන්දාහ ආපසු යැවීම 1983  ජූනි මාසය වන විට අවසන් කළ හැකි වනවා.

         සිරිමා මැතිණිය සද් භාවයෙන් කළ මේ කටයුත්ත සම්පූර්ණ වූවානම් අද මලය කඳුකරයේ දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී ප්‍රවණතාවන් දේශපලඥයන් හරහා සුදු වන්නේ නැත. එහෙත් එම රජය බිඳි වැටීමෙන් පසු 1977 පත් වූ ජේ.ආර්. ජයවර්ධන රජය මේ ඉන්දියානු පුද්ගලයන් ආපසු නොයවා ඔවුන්ට දිව්රුම් පෙත්සමක් මගින් පුරවැසි කම ප්‍රදානය කළහ. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන්  කඳුකරයේ දෙශපාලඥයන්ට අද සිය පිරිස වන වතු කම්කරුවන් ගේ චන්දය වෙන්දේසි කිරීමේ හැකියාව ලැබී තිබේ. කෙසේ වෙතත් එදා සිරිමා මැතිණිය ගත් දූරදර්ශී තීරණ ආදර්ශයට ගැනීම අදට ඉතාමත් කාලෝචිය.   13 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතුය යන්නෙන්  සිහින් තරවටුවක් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට කරන්නේ ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුමක් එද අත්සන් කර ඇති බැවිනි. නමුත් එයටත් පෙර ඉන්දියානු ලංකා ගිවිසුමක් ඇති බවද ඉන්දියාවට මතක් කර දිය යුතුය. පසුගිය කාලයේ දී මෝඩි අගමැති වරයා මලය කඳුකරයට විත් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ සහ මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනට මැද්දනේ සිට ගෙන රටට රජයට කළ බල පෑම කාහටත් අමතක වී නැතිවාට නිසැකය. ඒ බල පෑම නිසා අඹ ගමුව ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාව  තුනකට කැඩීමට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ යොමු විය. නෝර්වුඩ් හා මස් කෙළිය යනුවෙන් දෙමළ දේශපාලඥයන්ට ඇරුණු පළාත් පාලනයක් ඇති කිරීම කළ මේ බලහත්කාරය කිසි සේත් නීත්‍යානුකූල නැත. එම ප්‍රයත්නය පරාජයට පත් කරලීමට මහින්දරජපක්ෂ යන්  ද කිසිම උත්සාහයක නිරත වූයේ නැත.. 2019 ජනපතිවරණයෙන් ඔප්පු වූයේ ඒ චන්ද වෙන්දේසිය පුස්සක් බවයි. මෙවැනි කරුණු  ආදර්ශයට ගැනීම මගින් 2019 දේශප්‍රේමී ජනතා ජයග්‍රහණය ශක්තිමත් කළ හැකිය. ද හින්දු පුවත්පතට ගේඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ දුන් සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවේ දී 13 ගැන දැක්වූ අදහස් වඩා ප්‍රතිඵලදායක කරගන්නට නම් ඉන්දියානු සීමාව ගැන තර්කානුකූලව අදහස් දැක්වීමට සමත් විය යුතුය. සිරිමා මැතිණියගේ විශිෂ්ට ආදර්ශය එයට හොඳින්ම ප්‍රමාණවත්ය.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

Sri Lanka Study Circle

By Stanley Perera, Melbourne, Australia..

My dear Ambassador, Your recent larrikinish behaviour is looked upon down by the decent and civilized society.  In other words it is a shame on Swiss people.  To begin with, I must politely tell you to leave my country and go back to where you came from without creating disharmony amongst the Sri Lankan communities.  Your fabricated and larrririnish lies about the abduction and sexually abused staffer is seen as the lowest of the low which is also not up to a civilised ambassador.  Ambassador, please note that you are only an ambassador who should play diplomacy without hurting the host country.  In the past during the time of war against Tamil Tiger Terrorists your biased against the democratically elected government in siding with the Tamil Terroists was also not an acceptable behaviour.  You smuggled out of Sri Lanka truck loads of racists and terrorist Tamils to fill your ballot boxes in conniving with other western countries who followed your foot steps.  In that scenario, the western countries built up a strong media machinery to campaign against Buddhist Sri Lankan country.  You were seen in and out of the former Prime Minister’s office when the President dissolved the Ranil Wickremasinghe’s government.  Furthermore you were also seen in the parliament gallery applauding and cheering for Ramil Wickremasinghe playing a role of a corrupt politition.  Ambassador, what is your problem with Rajapakse government?   May I please re-iterate here once again, you need not  hang around in my country if you don’t like the way of the host country, you are free to leave at anytime you like.  Nobody wants you here in Colombo to bullshit and tarnish the image of Sri Lanka.  You abducted  out of Sri Lanka that Police Officer Silva and gave political assylum in Switzerland knowingly very well Silva was a wanted criminal by Sri Lanka government.  That proved beyond any reasonable doubt thata this local staffer of yours and youself cooked up a false story of abduction deliberately to cover up your scullduggery of abduction of criminal police officer Silva out of Sri Lanka.  You and your local staffer are liars.  We Sri Lankans want to know who is behind this scullduggery?  How much you were paid to fabricate lies about the abduction of your local staffer? Have you got the power to detain the local staffer and prohibit her to be investigated by the Sri Lankan Authorities?  Why don’t you reveal the full name and nationality of the local staffer?  Does the local staffer entitiled to diplomatic immunity?  Reveal the full name of that criminal police officer Silva?  What is the relationship between the local staffer and Silva?  You are a bull shitting diplomat who has no honesty and inetegrity.  You leave me no alternative other than to call you disgraceful liar.  You walked all over my soverign country.  If I have the power, I will deport you back to where you came from with one way ticket on a deck cargo submarine.
Yours Truly,
Stanley Perera Melbourne, Australia.  

කන්දප්පා පැනගිය පසු  කරළියට ගෙන ආ  ස්විස් නාටකය -උපුටාගැනීම දිවයින

පසුගිය කාලයේ බුද්ධි අංශවලට එරෙහි සීඅයිඞී විමර්ශනවලදී වධකයාගේ චරිතයට පණ දුන් ඒඩි‍්‍රයන් නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා නව රජය බලයට ඒමත් සම`ග ඉකුත් 24 වැනිදා හොර රහසේම ස්විට්සර්ලනත්යට පලා ගියේ ය.

 සිය දරු පවුලද සම`ග එසේ පලා ගිය නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා පසුව එරට සිට විදේශ මාධ්‍යයකට ප‍්‍රකාශයක් කරමින් පවසා තිබුණේ තමන්ට මරණීය තර්ජන එල්ල වීම නිසා ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයට පලා ආ බවකි.

 මෙකී මරණීය තර්ජන කතාව වෙනුවට රාජිත සේනාරත්න ප‍්‍රමුඛ නඩය පසුගිය කාලයේ නීතිය නවමින් සිදු කළ දඩයම හමුවේ තමන්ට වැලිකඩ බෝඩිමේ යකඩ කූරු සහ ජම්පර සිහිනෙන් පෙනුන නිසා ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයට පැන ආ බව නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පා කීවේ නම් අපටද ඒ කතාව පිළිගත හැකිව තිබිණි.

 එහෙත් ඔහු කීවේ වෙනනකි. නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පා එසේ මරණීය තර්ජන කතාවක් කියද්දී මාතෘ භූමියට ද්‍රෝහී වූ ඔහුව අත්පොළසන් දෙමින් වැළ`ද ගත්තේ කොටි හිතවාදී දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව සහ විජාතික ක`දවුරය.

 නීතියේ දෙව`ගන සතුව ඇති තරාදිය ගෙන පංචිකාවත්තට විකුණන ආකාරයෙන් බුද්ධි අංශවලට එරෙහි විමර්ශන සිදු කළ ඔහු ද්‍රෝහීන්ගේ වීරයා බවට පත්විය.

 මෙහිදී ද්‍රෝහීන් වෙතට කන්දප්පා යැවීමේ වගකීම මුළුමනින්ම වත්මන් වැඩබලන පොලිස්පතිවරයා ඇතුළු පොලිස් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව භාරගත යුතුව ඇත.

 එයට හේතුව වන්නේ අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව භාර ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති රවි සෙනවිරත්න සහ හිටපු ඒඑස්පී තිසේරා විසින් නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පා පැන්නීමේ මෙහෙයුම දියත් කළ බව මේ මොහොත වන විට අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව තුළින්ම හෙළිවෙමින් තිබීමය.

 කෙසේ වෙතත් නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා මෙසේ ස්විට්සර්ලනතයට පැන යෑමත් සම`ග තවත් පැත්තකින් සිදුවූ දෙයක්ද තිබිණි. නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පාගේ පලා යෑම මෙරට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ පූර්ණ අනුග‍්‍රහය සහිතව සිදුව තිබුණකි.

 ඒ අනුව ඔහුගේ පලා යෑමත් සම`ග එම සිද්ධිය ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාව පාර්ශ්වයෙන් ආන්දෝලනාත්මක එකක් බවට පත්වීම හේතුවෙන් අවසානයේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත රජයේ ඇ`දිවත ගැලවී නිරුවත ලෝකයට හෙළිවන සිදුවීමක් බවට එය පත්වූයේ මෙරට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරයා ඇතුළු කිසිවෙක් නොසිතූ පරිදිය.

 මෙහිදී රාජ්‍ය තාන්ති‍්‍රක විශ්වසනීයත්වය අවභාවිත කර තිබීම හේතුවෙන් මෙරට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරයාද සිටියේ බරපතළ උභතෝකෝටිකයකට මැදිවය. මුලදී සරල තැනක තිබුණද නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පාගේ පලා යෑම මොහොතින් මොහොත සංකීර්ණ කරුණක් බවට පත් වෙමින් තිබිණි.

 නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා යනු මෙරට ජනතාවගේ මානව අයිතීන් කඩ කළ බවට චෝදනා එල්ල වී

 ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයෙන් වරදකරු වූවෙකි. එසේම ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයට පැන යන මොහොත දක්වාම ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ නීතිය අවභාවිත කරමින් ආන්දෝලනාත්මක විමර්ශන ගණනාවක් සිදු කළ අයකු බවටද ඔහුට චෝදනා එල්ල වී තිබිණි. නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා මෙරට අධිකරණයක් හමුවේ මිනී මැරුම් චෝදනා එල්ල වූ චූදිතයකුද වේ.

 එවන් තත්ත්වයක් තුළ ඉහළින් මානව හිමිකම් කතා කරන ස්විට්සර්ලන්තය වැනි රාජ්‍යයක් නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා වැන්නකුට දේශපාලන රැුකවරණ දෙන්නට තරම් ළ`ද බොළ`ද තැනකට ඇදවැටීම ලෝකය ඉදිරියේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ රෙදි ගැලවී යන කරුණක් වීමටත් සියල්ල මෙරට ස්විස් තානාපතිවරයා වන හාන්ස් පීටර් මොක් මහතාගේ නහයට උඩින් යෑමටත් හේතු විය.

 ඇතිවූ මේ තත්ත්වය තුළ ඊළ`ගට සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද? හෙළිවූ නිරුවත වසා ගනු වෙනුවට ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ ස්විස් තානාපතිවරයා කරනු ලැබුවේ තවත් නාටකයක් කරළියට ගෙන ඒමය. ඒ අනුව නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පා මෙරටින් පලා ගොස් දෙදිනකට පසුව තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ සේවය කරන ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකික කාන්තාවක පැහැරගෙන ගොස් ඇතැයි කියමින් රාජ්‍ය තාන්ති‍්‍රක මට්ටමින් ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයට පැමිණිලි කිරීමට ස්විස් තානාපතිවරයා කි‍්‍රයාකරනු ලැබීය.

 මෙහිදී අදාළ කාන්තාව සුදු වෑන් රථයකින් පැහැරගෙන ගොස් ඇතැයි මුලදී කී ස්විස් තානාපති හාන්ස් පීටර් මහතා පසුව එය බැහැරකර ඇයව සුදු කාර් රථයකින් පැහැරගෙන ගොස් නිශාන්ත කන්දප්පාට වීසා ලබා දීම සහ තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ අභ්‍යන්තර කටයුතු පිළිබ`ද ප‍්‍රශ්න කර ඇති බවත් ඇයට දැඩි ලෙස තර්ජනය කර ඇති බවත් විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයට කළ පැමිණිල්ලේ ස`දහන් කර තිබිණි.

 මෙසේ පැහැර ගැනීමට ලක්වූ බවට ස`දහන් කර තිබුණේ ගාලියා බැරිස්ටර් ප‍්‍රැන්සිස් නමැති ස්විස් තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ සේවය කළ මෙරට නිලධාරිනියකි. ඇය ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකික දෙමළ කාන්තාවකි.

 නව රජය බලයට පැමිණීමත් සම`ග එල්ලවූ මෙම චෝදනාව ඉතා බරපතළ එකක් විය. එසේම එමගින්

 ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවට ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් විශාල කළුපැල්ලමක් ඇතිවීම ද සැලකිල්ලට ගත් රජය කළේ ස්විස් තානාපතිවරයාගේ එම පැමිණිල්ල ලද විගස ඒ පිළිබ`ද වහාම විධිමත් විමර්ශනයක් ඇරඹීමය.

 අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ විශේෂ කණ්ඩායමක්, සීසීටීවී තාක්‍ෂණය පිළිබ`ද විශේෂ පොලිස් කණ්ඩායමක් සහ අපරාධ විමර්ශනයෙහිලා පුහුණුව ලැබූ පොලිස් කණ්ඩායමක් එම විමර්ශනයට එක්ව තිබිණි. මෙහිදී සිද්ධියට මුහුණ දුන් තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ කාන්තාවගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයක් නොමැතිව සියල්ල සිදු කිරීමට වීම විමර්ශකයෝ මුහුණු දුන් බරපතළ තත්ත්වයක් වූහ.

 එහෙත් අවසානයේ ඔවුහු පැය විසිහතරක් තුළ සිද්ධිය වූ බව කී ප‍්‍රදේශය අවට ඇති සියලූම සීසීටීවී කැමරා නිරීක්‍ෂණය කරමින් දුරකථන දත්ත විශ්ලේෂණ සහ ජීපීඑස් දත්ත ඔස්සේ පුළුල් විමර්ශනයක යෙදී විද්‍යාත්මක කරුණු රාශියක්

 එක්රැුස්කර තානාපති කාර්යාලය කියන ආකාරයේ

 පැහැරගැනීමක් සිදුව නොමැති බවට තහවුරු කරනු ලැබූහ.

 තානාපතිවරයා කළ අදාළ පැමිණිල්ලේ ස`දහන්ව තිබුණේ සිය කාර්යාල නිලධාරිනිය පාසලකට යන අතරතුර පැහැරගැනීමට ලක්ව තිබූ බවය. එහෙත් විද්‍යාත්මක දත්ත මත සිදු කළ විමර්ශනවලදී අනාවරණය වී තිබුණේ තානාපති කාර්යාල සේවිකාවට අදාළ පාසලට යෑමට කිසිදු හේතුවක් තිබී නොමැති අතර ඇය පැය දෙකක පමණ කාලයක් සිය මිතුරියකගේ නිවසක රැු`දී සිට ඇති බවය. ඇය එසේ මිතුරියගේ නිවසේ රැු`දී සිට ඇත්තේ පැහැර ගැනීම සිදුවූ බව කියන කාලපරාසය තුළය.

 මේ තත්ත්වයත් සම`ග විමර්ශන කණ්ඩායමේ ඊළ`ග නිගමනය වූයේ පරීක්‍ෂණ ඉදිරියට ගෙන යෑමට නම් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම පැහැරගැනීමට ලක් වූ බව කියන කාන්තාවගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයක් ලබාගත යුතුයැයි යන්නය.

 පසුව මෙම විමර්ශනයෙන් හෙළිකරගත් තොරතුරුද සම`ග මෙරට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති හාන්ස් පීටර් මහතා හමුවූ විදේශ ලේකම් රවිනාථ ආරියසිංහ මහතා සහ ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් මේජර් ජෙනරාල් කමල් ගුණරත්න පවතින

 සත්‍ය තත්ත්වය පිළිබ`ද තානාපතිවරයා දැනුවත් කරමින් ඉදිරි විමර්ශන ස`දහා වහාම පැහැර ගැනීමට ලක්වූ

 කාන්තාවගෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් ලබාගත යුතු ඇතැයි තානාපතිවරයාට දැනුම් දෙනු ලැබිණි.

 එහෙත් ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්වරයා සහ විදේශ ලේකම්වරයා එසේ පවසද්දී ගැසු තුරුම්පුව වැරදී සියල්ල හත්පොළේ ගෑවී ඇති බව වටහා ගත් ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරයාගේ ප‍්‍රතිචාරය වූයේ අදාළ කාන්තාව දැඩි මානසික පීඩනය නිසා ප‍්‍රකාශයක් ලබාදිය නොහැකි තත්ත්වයට රෝගීව සිටින බැවින් ඇය සහ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් සියලූ දෙනා ගිලන් සේවා ගුවන් යානයකින් ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ

 රැුකවරණ ස`දහා රැුගෙන යා යුතුව තිබෙන බවය.

 ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවට විශාල අපකීර්තියක් ගෙන දෙමින් ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති කාර්යාලයෙන් එල්ල වූ මෙකී චෝදනාවේදී යම් අපරාධයක් සිදු තිබේ නම් ඒ පිළිබ`ද අනාවරණය කරගැනීමකින් තොරව මෙසේ වින්දිතයා රැුගෙන යෑම ස`දහා ඉල්ලීමක් කිරීමට තරම් ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති හාන්ස් පීටර් මහතා ඒ වන විට අන්තයටම ඇදවැටී හාන්සි වී සිටියේ එසේය.

 සැබැවින්ම ලොව රාජ්‍යතාන්ති‍්‍රක නියෝජිතයකු මෙතරම් කො`දු බි`දගත් අවස්ථාවක් අපි දැක නැත්තෙමු. මෙරට ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති හාන්ස් පීටර් මහතා මෙවන් පහත් තත්වයකට ඇද වැටුණේ ඇයි?

 කෙසේ වුවත් තානාපතිවරයාගේ ඉල්ලීමට අනුව අදාළ කාන්තාව සහ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයට රැුගෙන යෑම ස`දහා අවසර දීමට

 ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා රජය සූදානම් නොවිණි. රජයේ මතය වූයේ යම් අපරාධයක් සිදුව තිබේනම් ඒ පිළිබ`ද සත්‍ය අනාවරණය කර ගැනීමකින් තොරව ඇයට රටින් පිටව යෑමට අවස්ථාව දිය නොහැකි බවය.

 ඒ අනුව සිය තානාපති කාර්යාල නිලධාරිනිය සහ ඇගේ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති කාර්යාලය තුළ ර`දවා තබා ගැනීමට මේ වන විට තානාපතිවරයා පියවර ගෙන ඇත. ඒ හේතුවෙන් මේ දක්වා ඇගෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් ගැනීමට නොහැකි වීම නිසා අදාළ නිලධාරිනියට රටින් පිටව යෑම තහනම් කරමින් අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට ප‍්‍රකාශයක් ලබා දෙන ලෙසට අධිකරණ නියෝගයක් ලබා ගැනීමටද පොලිසිය ඊයේ (3 වැනිදා* කටයුතු කළේය.

 එහෙත් සත්‍ය මෙසේ වෙද්දී පෙරේදා (2 වැනිදා* සුපුරුදු ලෙස පච මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් පැවත්වූ හිටපු ඇමැති රාජිත සේනාරත්න රටට කීවේ කුමක්ද?

 තානාපති කාර්යාල නිලධාරිනිය පැහැරගත් කණ්ඩායමේ සිටි එක් අපරාධකරුවකු ලෙස මාධ්‍යයට අදහස් දැක්වූ රාජිත ස්විස් තානාපති නිලධාරිනියගේ කටට පිස්තෝලයක් ඔබා තර්ජනය කර ප‍්‍රකාශ ලබාගෙන ඇති බව කිසිම විලිලැජ්ජාවක් නැතිව පැවසීය.

 මේ හේතුවෙන් භීතියට පත්වූ එම නිලධාරිනිය නිවසට ගොස් මේ දක්වා සිය පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් සමග පවා කතාබහ කර නොමැති බවද කට උල් කරමින් රාජිත සේනාරත්න රට හමුවේ ස`දහන් කළේය. එසේම පරාජිත ජනාධිපතිවරණ අපේක්‍ෂක සජිත් පේ‍්‍රමදාස මහතාද යළිත් දුවන කෝච්චියට බෙල්ල තැබුවාක් මෙන් මෙම සිද්ධිය පිළිබඳ ප‍්‍රකාශයක් කරමින් කියා සිටියේ තානාපති නිලධාරිනිය පැහැර ගැනීම ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් ශී‍්‍ර ලංකවට විශාල අපකීර්තියක් බවය.

 පසුගිය කාලයේ කිඹුල් රැුවුලා මාධ්‍ය ඉදිරියට

 රැුගෙනවිත් මේ වනවිට පඹගාලක පැටලී සිටින රාජිත මෙන්ම අපේකමට එරෙහිවන සජිත්ගේ දේශපාලනයේ ඇති කුහක බව පෙන්වා දීමට ඔවුන් කරනු ලැබූ මේ ප‍්‍රකාශම ප‍්‍රමාණවත්ය.

 රාජිතලාගේ දේශපාලන හැසිරීම මෙසේ වෙද්දී යම් අන්දමකින් මේ කියන තානාපති නිලධාරිනිය අදාළ චෝදනාව කිරීමෙන් පසු ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ රැුකවරණ මැද විදේශගත වූයේ නම් මේ රටට අත්වන ඉරණම කෙසේ විය හැකිව තිබිණිද?

 එසේ වූයේ නම් ලබන මාර්තු මාසයේ මේ රට තුළ මැතිවරණ උණුසුම පවතිද්දී ජීනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඇතුළු රජයට එරෙහිව නැගී සිටින ප‍්‍රධාන චරිත දෙකක් බවට රටින් පැන ගිය නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා සහ ගාලියා බැරිස්ටර් ෆ‍්‍රැන්සිස් නමැති මෙම තානාපති නිලධාරිනිය මතුවීම කිසිවකුටත් වැළැක්විය නොහැකි වනු ඇත.

 මෙතෙක් කලක් ජීනිවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවට එරෙහිව කරන ලද චෝදනාවලට ද්‍රෝහීහු සාධක කරගනු ලැබුවේද මෙවන් නාටක වූහ. ඒ සියල්ලෙහි නිසි සාක්‍ෂි කිසිත් නොවුණද චෝදනා බොහෝ තිබිණි.

 යම් ලෙසකින් මේ කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය සාර්ථක වූයේ නම් එළැඹෙන මැතිවරණ සමයේ රාජිත සේනාරත්න වැන්නවුන් ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඇතුළු වත්මන් රජයට එරෙහිව ඊළ`ග මඩ ව්‍යාපාරය දියත් කිරීමේ මෙවලම බවට එය තෝරාගෙන තිබුණාද විය හැකිය. එහෙත් වත්මන් රජයේ ¥රදර්ශී කි‍්‍රයාදාමය හමුවේ මේ මොහොත වන විට සියල්ල ඇත්තේ ව්‍යර්ථව ගොසිනි.

 හන්සයෝ පැන්ස දෙකට වැටී ඇති අවස්ථාවක මතුවී සිටින සැබෑ රාජ්‍ය නායකයකු ඉදිරියේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරයා සම`ග මේ වන විට රාජිත සජිත් වැන්නවුන්ද කුජීතවී අවසන්ය. සැබැවින්ම නිශාන්ත සිල්වා කන්දප්පා මෙරටින් පලා යෑමත් සම`ග ස්විට්සර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරයා කරළියට ගෙන ආ මේ නාටකයේ පිටපත නම් හරිම අපූරුය.

 එහෙත් රංගනය ගොබ්බ එකක්ම වූ වග මේ මොහොත වන විට ලෝකයට හෙළිවෙමින් ඇත.

 සමන් ගමගේ

Sri Lanka has elected a new President. The victory is nothing that the international community are too gaga over as seen by the manner they have chosen not to even extend congratulations as common courtesy & diplomacy dictates. The surge in popularity of the new leader increasing among those who did not vote for him must be also a thorn to digest to these destabilizing elements. Do the new policy makers understand the threats that exist as well as the new threats likely to increase using every apparatus the international community have under their control? What are the weapons that the international community have under their control? How will they use them and what strategies can Sri Lanka adopt are some of the challenges Sri Lanka, its leaders and even its citizens will immediately have to address.

US is on a pivot to Asia having besieged all other continents round the world. The military apparatus of the US is now engulfing the seas with marine presence, while it is using its other soft weapons both covertly & overtly. Transnational corporations have entered the scene & produced MCC project with a carrot of developing Sri Lanka’s road & rail a camouflage to entice and market it via a $480m grant already spent on numerous legislative changes rolled out as part of the proposals’ pre-conditions. The ACSA and SOFA compliment the MCC and anyone promoting it should well study the impact of implementing all 3 together with the US Peace Corps presence to realize the likelihood of Sri Lanka being transformed into the next Diego Garcia in Asia. This danger should be read with the verdict demanding UK hand over Diego Garcia to the Chagosians and UK’s main political parties carrying opposing views simply as a smokescreen to fool the masses. This US pivot is impacting other countries of Asia too. Has Sri Lanka taking stock of the US pivots taking place in other countries of Asia? Are the issues faced by these countries similar to Sri Lanka? How far does India realize who is a bigger threat eventually – US or China? What risks are India taking that will impact entire Asia? How else will these destabilizing elements try to upset Sri Lanka’s governance? Have we taken stock of the players and the likely scenarios to be launched as well as the likely baits to be used? Have Sri Lanka’s leaders placed these risks and dangers likely to impact Sri Lanka as well as in South Asia, regionally and across entire continent? Do we want to end up like Middle East?

We have told ourselves a nice story about the economy. As we adopted the Manchester School and made it into the 20th-century model, the market became central. We renamed it into the neoliberal model. We forgot that the economy is far more than just the work sphere, or the business cycle.

I have written about this in the past because part of this is ideology.

We ignored the centrality of home life to economic life. Why we have stopped investing in those things that keep home life going.

We see it with education, which we continue to shortchange. It was not always this way. The launch of Sputnik led to a generalized panic. The United States lost its technological edge. We had to do something! Part of that something was a massive investment in public education. We needed to get our children and young adults ready for what these days is called science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; STEM for short.

The Russians launched Yury Gagarin soon after Sputnik; we knew we were falling behind. Not only was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told, even ordered, to catch up. We started to do something else. Basic and secondary education was prioritized, and budgets grew.

But it was in the area of education that the impact of the Sputnik Crisis was to be most felt. In 1958, the U.S. Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in an effort to ensure that the highly trained individuals would be available to help America compete with the Soviet Union in scientific and technical fields.” In order to achieve this goal, the act made provisions for loans and grants to institutions of higher learning who wanted to improve their mathematics, science and foreign language programs. Of course this made perfect sense; there was no point setting up research and development bodies if there would be no trained personnel to run them.

Consequently, the National Science Foundation (NSF) was revamped and its budget drastically increased. In 1959, Congress appropriated 134 million dollars for the Foundation, almost a hundred million dollars more than the previous year. By 1968, the Foundation was receiving about half a billion dollars a year in federal funds; in fiscal 2012, the NSF had a budget of some 7 billion dollars and provides the funds for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted in colleges and universities throughout America. In some fields, such as mathematics and computer science, the NSF is the major provider of federal support. At all events, in the decade between 1955 and 1965, federal expenditure on research and development rose from 2.7 billion dollars to more than 15 billion dollars, as old bodies, such as the NSF, and new ones, such as NASA, competed to fund research of one kind or another.

But it was not just the government that was putting in new resources into education. The system itself was enthusiastic in its determination to take a giant leap forward, for practitioners of education in America were by no means sanguine at the thought of being left behind by their Soviet counterparts. James B Conant, a former President of Harvard University carried out a detailed two year study of American high schools with the support of the Carnegie Foundation in order to ensure that all gifted children were being properly motivated to pursue higher education; and in 1960 Harvard embarked on its biggest fund-raising up till then for the purpose of reforming its whole approach to education. The campaign raised 82.5 million dollars.

Less than a decade later subsidies went to public colleges and universities. This is the origin of well-funded systems like the University of California, and the California State system. These subsidies allowed students to attend colleges, and not go into massive debts. In fact, most students who graduated from college did so without debt or very little debt.

Compare this to the present. We are in the midst of a planetary emergency. We need people trained in the STEM fields. This is not because the Russians launched a satellite into space, or beat us into manned. No, the planet is in the midst of a crisis. And we may face extinction.

However, we are cutting educational budgets at all levels, from pre-K to graduate schools. States and the federal government have a problem finding the money. Teachers are facing pay cuts and benefit cuts across the board. The crisis is worse in some states than others, but it’s a crisis.

As a society, we decided that the market should take care of this. Why many charter schools (who can choose their student body) are financed with public funds but are run as private organizations. These schools also lack in the area of certified teachers.

It gets worst. The current administration is taking this effort to epic levels. Why? Science could impinge on the market and its instincts. The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a new measure that will exclude science from its rulemaking. According to the New York Times:

The measure would make it more difficult to enact new clean air and water rules because many studies detailing the links between pollution and disease rely on personal health information gathered under confidentiality agreements. And, unlike a version of the proposal that surfaced in early 2018, this one could apply retroactively to public health regulations already in place.

In the final analysis, it is coming from our faith in the market, no matter what. It is also a retreat from the role of government, which is also part of the economy. Ultimately it is a product of corporate capture.

It is a rejection of the science that allowed us to clean this country’s waterways. It is part of a pattern, which also doubts the existence of the climate emergency. It is a complete surrender to the market.

So what happens when we ignore the core economy? For starters, we see increased insecurity and the costs of certain core services have gone up.

The transformation of the American economy into a market-centric system where education was commoditized happened in the last forty years. It creates not just distrust, but also insecurity. It is one of the reasons behind the precariat.

Then we have other issues that are part of this, the efforts to reduce the already paltry safety net is not just an attack on good government. It is also a direct affront to the core economy. If the elderly, for example, have no means to take care of themselves, it will have a direct effect on the rest of society. Just as we have some of the most expensive pre-K in the world, we have a safety net that is dissolving in the name of the market. This takes away from the efficiency of workers in the private sector.

The inequality in pre-k also keeps poor parents at home, or children are placed with relatives. While children of well to do parents go to schools that could cost as much as college. This deepens inequality and handicaps most. This is problematic because those children show up to school not ready to learn. They already are attending substandard schools. This is a cost we all pay. It is also an early indicator of the school to prison pipeline.

We also see this with health care. We have the most expensive, least efficient system in the world. People stay at a job to keep their insurance, as good or bad as it may be. People fear to go to the hospital, because there will be a bill to pay, and perhaps lose all they have worked for in their lives. This makes society sicker and less able to function. Some in the market charging as much as they can get away with, and lobbying politicians to prevent them from imposing measures that would slow down, or reverse trends. They include things like a maximum price for drugs, or being able to negotiate for lower costs on all services.

We have monetized and put in the hands of the market higher education, healthcare, basic research. We forgot that our success in the 1950s and 60s came from a heavy investment in these areas by the government. No, the private sector did not build the internet, which you are using right now to read this piece. That was the Department of Defense. Granted, ARPANET came from a need to survive a first, even second nuclear strike. But it is the origin of the internet and the information economy.

Nor did the GPS system we all use came from the private sector. In fact, it is still a military system that we civilians use. It was the government that invested in the basic science and technology needed to develop this. Many of the medicines we use today started with basic research at the National Institutes of Health. It was not the private sector that did that, so when we are told by the industry that it costs a lot of money to bring new medicines and procedures to market, they are correct, but a lot of it came from the taxpayer.

Over the last few decades, our investment in basic research has gone down. These are the trends:

For the first time in the post–World War II era, the federal government no longer funds a majority of the basic research carried out in the United States. Data from ongoing surveys by the National Science Foundation (NSF) show that federal agencies provided only 44% of the $86 billion spent on basic research in 2015. The federal share, which topped 70% throughout the 1960s and ’70s, stood at 61% as recently as 2004 before falling below 50% in 2013.

The sharp drop in recent years is the result of two contrasting trends — a flattening of federal spending on basic research over the past decade and a significant rise in corporate funding of fundamental science since 2012. The first is a familiar story to most academic scientists, who face stiffening competition for federal grants.

This rise is coming from the pharmaceutical industry. It is not just because they can get great profits from new drugs. But they can impose intellectual property rights on these, avoiding the need to share. This makes medicines that much more expensive for much longer.

When combined with a lack of price controls in the United States this makes it a very good business. And we are seeing it with old drugs, such as insulin. Small changes in the drug allow them to patent the drug anew. This is one reason insulin continues to rise in cost. Also, things like the Epipen, originally developed by DoD scientists to treat troops during a chemical attack, have gone into the stratosphere when it comes to price.

When Americans say that this is capitalism gone astray, they have a point. This is a system where the regulatory bodies were captured. It is also a system where profit is put ahead of human life affecting all spheres. In particular the core, or household economy.

Basic services are not there. Labor rights are under attack. Ultimately, because of this, the planet is under attack. However, some people are getting insanely rich. This will have negative effects on the overall economy, as well as political stability.

Yes, when Senator Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders raised the issue of a wealth tax, this is partially what they are addressing. We need to rebalance our economy in ways that will redistribute wealth. But that will also strengthen the role of government and re-regulate industries towards the common good and away from pure profit-making. We also need deep investment in green economies, meaning that subsidies to mature industries (the fossil fuel industry) will need to go to the green industries we need to survive as a species.

This is precisely why those who benefited greatly from the centrality of the market above all else are not happy. If you made a few billion under the current system, higher taxation may cut your wealth growth curve. It will not stop under either model but will slow it down.

Think about this. How many cars, planes and homes can you own? How much material stuff can you acquire? Psychologists have found that people who are extremely wealthy have distorted views.

Several studies have shown that wealth may be at odds with empathy and compassion. Research published in the journal Psychological Science found that people of lower economic status were better at reading others’ facial expressions — an important marker of empathy — than wealthier people.

A lot of what we see is a baseline orientation for the lower class to be more empathetic and the upper class to be less [so],” study co-author Michael Kraus told Time. Lower-class environments are much different from upper-class environments. Lower-class individuals have to respond chronically to a number of vulnerabilities and social threats. You really need to depend on others so they will tell you if a social threat or opportunity is coming, and that makes you more perceptive of emotions.”

They may also develop an addiction to accumulating more money, which is a problem. One reason why they may feel threatened by a wealth tax. It will reduce the speed at which they get that money. Why they will fight against this. Maybe even, run for office themselves.

We need to recalibrate and re-regulate the economy to make it work better. And by regulation I mean change how it works. Not just who is regulated. But we also need to expand government investment in public services, including education and healthcare. Chiefly, we must move away from the market as the only way to run the economy.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Clarifying the UK’s Conservative Party’s stance with regard to its reference to Sri Lanka in its election manifesto, senior party officials said the reference is applicable only to the Middle East but not to Cyprus or Sri Lanka.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that its attention had been drawn to remarks made by a member of parliament, Udaya Gammanpila, over media yesterday in connection with the reference to Sri Lanka in the election manifesto of the Conservative Party in the run-up to the general election in the United Kingdom scheduled for December 12, 2019.

The full statement is as follows:

In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Relations wishes to state that a paragraph on page 53 of the Conservative Party manifesto which refers to Sri Lanka is worded as follows:

‘We will continue to support international initiatives to achieve reconciliation, stability and justice across the world, and in the former conflict zones such as Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, where we maintain our support for a two-state solution;’

Following the publication of the manifesto, the High Commission of Sri Lanka in the UK in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Relations took immediate steps to make strong representation to the Co-Chair of the Conservative Party The Rt. Hon. James Cleverly with regard to the distortion contained in the manifesto in its reference to Sri Lanka.

This was conveyed through a letter by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in the UK Manisha Gunasekera on 27 November 2019 addressed to the Co-Chair of the Conservative party.

The High Commissioner affirmed that the reference to Sri Lanka as a country which requires a two-state solution is unacceptable, and has never been the position of any party in the UK. She reaffirmed that successive British governments led by all parties have always supported peace and reconciliation in a united Sri Lanka. The High Commissioner, therefore, requested that the paragraph be suitably amended to accurately reflect the Conservative party position on Sri Lanka.  A copy of the letter is annexed herewith for perusal (Annex I)

Subsequent to representation by the High Commissioner through the above submission as well as through outreach to senior representatives of the Conservative Party, the Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Paul Scully issued the following clarification on the subject to the High Commissioner by his email communication of 27 November 2019:

‘The party’s position regarding Sri Lanka has not changed. To be absolutely clear, the two-state line in the section was intended to refer only to the Israel-Palestine situation in the Middle East (as is stated policy).  The commitments to Sri Lanka and Cyprus were simply about continuing existing efforts to support peace and reconciliation in divided societies.’

The above position has also been reiterated by The Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the UK through her public post on social media (Facebook) of 30 November where she has further added the following:

‘The subsequent reference to a two-state solution refers to the Middle East, NOT to Cyprus or Sri Lanka.  I have been in contact with Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, and he has confirmed this. ‘

Conservative party Deputy Chair Paul Scully has in his twitter message of 3 December 2019 once again reiterated the above position of the Conservative party, stating the following:

‘There is no Conservative manifesto commitment relating to the makeup of governance of Sri Lanka. … two-state relate only to the Middle East.’

The Ministry of Foreign Relations is of the view that the above would clarify the position of the Conservative Party on the issue as well as action taken by the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the High Commission in London to correct the distortion.  

Courtesy Ada Derana

Sri Lanka’s former foreign minister Prof. G.L. Peiris claims that the incident involving a local staff member of the Swiss Embassy in Colombo is a conspiracy aimed at discrediting the incumbent government. 

It has been clearly proven that the complete story of the Swiss Embassy incident is a lie,” he said, speaking to reporters. 

He stated that based on the CCTV footage and other technological evidence, the female embassy staffer in question had never been at the location where they claimed she had been at that time and that it has now been proven that there is absolutely no truth to the story”.

Peiris, who is the Chairman of the Sri Lank Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the main constituent party of the ruling alliance, alleged that this was an attempt to discredit the government as soon as it started work.

Especially as the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva is scheduled to meet in March 2020 serious allegations could be leveled against Sri Lanka, he charged while adding that they see this as a secret plot to obstruct the government’s path at the get go.

He said the current government has the strength to defeat all these obstacles and move forward. 

Courtesy Ada Derana

The Foreign Ministry of Switzerland and the Swiss Ambassador in Sri Lanka has requested permission to take the Swiss embassy staffer, who allegedly was involved in an abduction incident, to Switzerland, revealed Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Speaking at a press conference today (04), Gunawardena stated that the Swiss government has requested permission to fly the alleged victim and her family to Switzerland on an ambulance aircraft, citing health issues.

However, the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court has already issued an order preventing the said staffer from leaving the country.

Gunawardena stated that a Sri Lankan, who hasn’t verified their identity using either NIC or a passport, cannot be allowed to leave the country, especially without even obtaining a statement. This was relayed to the Ambassador, he added.

The press conference was also participated by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Ariyasinghe and State Minister of International Cooperation Susil Premajayantha.

උපුටාගැනීම Hiru

පසුගිය රජය සමයේ දක්ෂිණ  අධිවේගී මාර්ගයේ වැඩකටයුතු අවසන් කර නොමැතිව අනාරක්ෂිතව විවෘත කිරීමට අනුබල දුන් පුද්ගලයන්ට දඞුවම් ලබාදිය යුතු බව සත්‍ය ගවේෂකයෝ සංවිධානය පවසනවා.

All rational thinking people are stupefied as to why the Swiss embassy is keeping a Sri Lankan National inside the embassy compound but asking the GOSL to conclude the investigation into an alleged abduction which has not been officially made by the victim. This is a strange situation. We have been reading statements by everyone but the victim. What if the version of the victim is completely different! We can only know what her version is if the embassy simply allows her to leave the embassy. Why are they keeping her inside an office since 25^th November? It is now over a week that this lady has not seen her family. This is very awkward behavior for a country eternally preaching about human rights!

Amidst all this Sri Lanka’s ambassador is summoned to Berne to explain the factual dispute.

Let’s get something very clear first:

It was the Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman Pierre-Alain Eltschinger on 27^th November 2019 about an incident. All that he said was: the female local recruit was threatened” in order to force her to disclose embassy-related information” – detained ‘against her will’ ‘on the street’

“Switzerland views the incident as a very grave and unacceptable attack on one of its diplomatic missions and their employees,” spokesman says  

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/swiss-raise-alarm-attack-sri-lanka-embassy-employee-191128061621424.html

That statement did not disclose any detail about her being abducted in a vehicle by unidentified persons which was only included in the statement by the Swiss Embassy Colombo. (pl refer what the Swiss Ministry said and what the Swiss Embassy has said in its official statement)

So if authorities go by only the Swiss Foreign Ministry statement – she was never abducted.

This means the Swiss Embassy must explain how they included a version that the Swiss Foreign Ministry did not include!

Obviously the Swiss Mission in Colombo has given various other details and Sri Lankan authorities investigating these have claimed that the timeline and sequence do not match against the details they gave. This was after going through witness accounts, technical evidence, Uber records, CCTV footage, telephone records and GPS data.

So when State Secretary Pascale Baeriswyl questions Sri Lanka’s envoy K. Hettiarachchi & asks him to explain how Sri Lanka’s evidence contradicts Switzerland’s version we should be asking is it the first version that she was threatened on the street or the additional versions given by the Swiss Embassy or the coterie of other third party versions that Sri Lanka has to investigate?

If Switzerland has no interest in delaying the investigations why are they not releasing this Sri Lankan National – first to be medically examined and next to help file complaint and expedite investigations based on her direct complaint and not those of third or fourth parties making statements on behalf of her.

If Switzerland is supporting to settle the matter by due process of law, then why is a person kept virtually hostage inside an embassy compound. Not only is this a mental torture for her having to be stuck inside a small office but she must be traumatized by not seeing her family for over 1 week now.

This is quite inhuman of the Swiss authorities who claim her health is deteriorating but will not allow any Sri Lankan doctors to examine her?

If she was well enough to come to work how can her health fail so suddenly?

What has happened to her inside the embassy that the Swiss do not wish to tell the world about.

This suspense is only allowing many people to create their own versions which is confusing the investigations further and which is why it requires authorities to get her version directly.

The Swiss Embassy Colombo is behaving very childishly regarding this entire incident.

The key to this is that there is a major variance in what the Swiss Foreign Ministry originally said on 27^th November 2019 and the official statement issued by the Swiss Embassy Colombo on 29^th November 2019 (5 days after the incident) while keeping the local recruit boxed up inside the embassy compound.

If the Swiss authorities are not allowing any doctors to see her at least they should allow the Cardinal to visit her and bless her.

But the behavior of the embassy is bordering the ridiculous and it is more like a hostage situation which is far more worrying than an alleged threatening on the street.

A Sri Lankan National is being kept inside an embassy compound since 25^th November and the embassy is refusing to release her and we all want to know why.

Leave aside filing complaint or being questioned, shouldn’t she deserve medical attention and to return to her family? Why is the Swiss denying this – her fundamental right?

More than concluding any investigations, she should get medical assistance and return to the comfort of her home and family.

Shenali D Waduge

A Sri Lankan Citizen

Its 3^rd December 2019 exactly 8 days since a Sri Lankan National is being kept inside your embassy compound and we want to know why. We do not buy your stories that she is refusing to make a statement which later was turned into she is too ill to make a statement. We are not buying any of the stories you claim she said either. We want her out of that embassy and shown to our doctors but most of all she must return to her family. Your embassy is denying her fundamental right of freedom. Where is that Sri Lanka Human Rights head, why is she not demanding the embassy release our national?

Every bit of news since 25^th November has been what the Swiss media, the international media & the Swiss embassy is claiming.

NOTHING has been said by our Sri Lankan National.

How do we know what the Swiss embassy is telling is the truth?

What if they have done some mischief to her?

Is she safe, is she really ill, is she really inside the embassy, is she alive are some of the questions now entering our minds.

If the embassy does not wish to show her, the embassy must at least release a voice recording of hers to show the Sri Lankan citizens and in particular her family that she is alive.

We are very worried about our national.

Why should the Swiss embassy keep her inside so long?

Why should the Swiss embassy insist on transporting her and her family away?

What is the Swiss embassy trying to hide?

We have had enough of Swiss Embassy drama. Come clean on what you have done to our national. The entire local staff are now scared to even open their mouths. Is this the big freedom, human right that you people are boasting to the world about.

Enough of your lies.

Release her.

Have you people scared her family too. Is that why they are not coming forward to ask her release? Is the Swiss Embassy holding this family to ransom? Is that why no family members or relations are even lodging a complaint that their family member is missing? Otherwise this woman’s family must be wondering where the hell she is. What about her child, the child your embassy said she dropped, have you not thought of the agony this child must be going through not knowing what has happened to the mother?

You wanted to pull off a stunt to embarrass the Govt but now the whole country is asking why your embassy is not releasing our Sri Lankan National. There are enough of abduction cases across the world, all of them lodge complaints with police and police investigate and try to find the culprit. So why is your embassy not cooperating if there was actually an abduction. We hope this is something not made up by you and that is why you cannot produce this woman whom you used to create a story. But how long can you keep a Sri Lankan National inside the embassy compound?  

Release our Sri Lankan National whom your embassy is keeping as hostage.

Time someone filed a fundamental rights case and lodged a complaint with the human rights commission against the Swiss embassy and lodged a complaint with the UN regarding this hostage taking situation.

Sri Lankan Citizen

Lt Col. A.S. Amarasekera (Rtd,) H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya (Senior D.I.G. Rtd,)
Co-President Co-President  The National Joint Committee

The National Joint Committee condemn the action taken by the Embassy of Switzerland and their Government to facilitate the travel of a public official attached to the CID by the name of Nishantha out of Sri Lanka and the subsequent grant of asylum in Switzerland to the said Nishantha. Soon after it was revealed that the Government of Switzerland was behind this high handed and illegal act, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland issued a statement that an official of the Embassy of Switzerland in Sri Lanka had been abducted and detained for two hours by an unidentified group. It is in this situation that the Government had requested the identity of this official who is said to be a local employee and a citizen of Sri Lanka for the purpose of investigating the alleged abduction. The Government of Switzerland has refused to divulge the identity of this official or any access to her although they falsely claim that they are cooperating with the investigation. This is obviously because such investigation would reveal the illegal conduct on the part of the Government of Switzerland.

Article 38 (2) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which is codified as a law in Sri Lanka by the Diplomatic Privileges Act No. 9 of 1996 states,

Other members of the staff of the mission and private servants who are nationals of or permanently resident in the receiving State shall enjoy privileges and immunities only to the extent admitted by the receiving State.”

So far the Government of Sri Lanka has not extended diplomatic privileges to other staff members of diplomatic mission of other countries in Sri Lanka in terms of Section 2 (5) of the said Act. Thus this employee cannot claim diplomatic immunity. This high handed act on the part of the Government of Switzerland, denying access to one of their employees who has no diplomatic immunity is not only illegal but also an affront to the sovereignty of the Republic of Sri Lanka. According to the media reports which appeared today the Government of Switzerland has requested the Government of Sri Lanka to allow this employee to be flown out of Sri Lanka in an air-ambulance on the basis that there is rapid deterioration of her health.” The National Joint Committee wish to remind the Government of Switzerland that if there is rapid deterioration of health” of a citizen of Sri Lanka, it is the responsibility of the Government of Sri Lanka to provide urgent medical assistance to safeguard her life and not the Government of Switzerland. The Sri Lankan Government is fully capable of ensuring the safety of its citizens.
There is a serious doubt whether this employee is to be removed from Sri Lanka against her will for the needs of other interested parties.

Therefore before granting authorization by the Government of Sri Lanka it should be satisfied that this request to leave Sri Lanka is made at the request of this employee who is a citizen of Sri Lanka. We also wish to bring to the notice of the Government of Switzerland that obstructing police officers investigating a crime in itself is a violation of the criminal law of this country and the diplomatic immunity extended to the Diplomatic agents of the Embassy of Switzerland does not extend to engage in criminal activities in this country

The Government of Sri Lanka has a right to know from the Government of Switzerland the reason for suppressing the identity of this particular employee. It is necessary for the Government of Switzerland to make public whether they have any evidence that the Government of Sri Lanka was involved in the alleged abduction to suppress the identity of this employee. If such an allegation is made it is the duty of the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate such complaint. To deprive the Government of Sri Lanka in performing its obligation towards its citizens cannot be permitted for any reason.

It is obvious that this entire drama is to cover up the illegal act on part of the Government of Switzerland and to embarrass the Government of Sri Lanka especially at a time when Geneva session are due in March 2020.
The National Joint Committee note with much regret that even the notorious report of the OHCHR dated 16th September 2015 based its findings on the so called testimonies of witnesses whom the Commissioner withheld the identity. (Vide Paragraph 24 of Part 1 of the Report.) It is unfortunate that western governments with vested interests make use of the UN High Commission for Human Rights to harass and make false allegations on sovereign countries that are unwilling to comply with the dictates of these governments. Unable to find proof of these false allegations the latest is to withhold the identity of the ‘so called victims’ and to initiate action against countries based on false allegations. The Government of Sri Lanka needs to revisit whether it could any longer treat the Government of Switzerland as a friendly nation that it could extend diplomatic immunity. The Government of Sri Lanka should be mindful and take cognizance of the true friends of Sri Lanka without accommodating rogue states, hell bent on making false allegations for political reasons.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) Chief Dr. Deepika Udagama yesterday (03) said investigators should be given to access to the local employee of Switzerland Embassy allegedly abducted close to the diplomatic mission situated on the R.G. Senanayake Mawatha (formerly Gregory’s Road), molested and threatened by a group of unidentified persons on the evening of Nov 25.

Alleging that the assailants had sought information on Inspector Nishantha Silva of the Criminal Investigation Department, given political asylum in Switzerland, Swiss Ambassador Hanspeter Mock steadfastly refused either to hand over the victim to the police or allow the investigators to question her.

Asked whether the police could proceed with investigations without access to the alleged victim, Dr. Udagama said, “The HRCSL position is that an effective investigation required the cooperation and participation of all relevant parties – the victim, any witnesses etc.”

Asked whether she would request the Swiss Ambassador to cooperate/assist ongoing investigations, Dr. Udagama said the responsibilities on the part of the diplomatic mission towards the alleged victim, too, should be taken into consideration. “Recognizing the sensitivities involved including the embassy’s duty towards the safety of its employee, the authorities must provide full assurances of protection to the victim and any witnesses.”

The human rights chief called for a conducive and safe environment for the conducting of investigations so that all parties would be confident of the impartiality of the investigation.

Responding to another query, Dr. Udagama said that the HRCSL was yet to receive Acting IGP C.D. Wickramaratne’s response to her letter dated Nov 28, 2019. She urged the acting IGP to conduct an impartial investigation soon after Swiss Ambassador Mock had brought the alleged incident to the notice of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presence of his foreign affairs advisor former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris.

Dr. Udagama said that HRCSL lacked authority to investigate allegations of crime. She said: “The Commission’s mandate permits it to only exercise oversight over official investigations to ascertain whether or not such process is in compliance with constitutionally guaranteed rights, especially the guarantee of equal protection of the law to all parties concerned.”

Authoritative sources told The Island that the alleged victim couldn’t be allowed to leave the country without being subjected to investigations. The government expected the Swiss Ambassador Mock to provide access to the alleged victim without further delay.

Meanwhile, former Southern Provincial Council member retired Major. Ajith Prasanna, who conducted 12 hour peace protest opposite the Switzerland embassy on Monday told The Island that a deliberate attempt was being made to discredit Sri Lanka. Attorney-at-law Prasanna said that Switzerland was probably a cat’s paw of bigger powers bent on destabilizing the new administration. Switzerland certainly owed Sri Lanka an explanation as to why Inspector Nishan Silva of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), his wife and three children had been given political asylum within two weeks after the presidential poll. Switzerland fired the first salvo at Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration in the run up to the Geneva sessions in March 2020, Maj. Prasanna said. There could be other incidents over the next three months, the former Southern PC member asserted, urging the government to be vigilant. Maj. Prasanna flayed the UNP for backing Swiss claims without being bothered to verify accusations with the government.

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Swiss Ambassador in Sri Lanka has no right to keep a Sri Lankan employee inside the Embassy on the basis that local employees do not enjoy diplomatic privileges, the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) said today.

It leader MP Udaya Gammanpila said under the Clause 38 (2) of the Vienna Convention, locals employed at embassies do not enjoy diplomatic privileges.

The decision whether the employee should give a statement to the police or not should be decided by the Sri Lankan Government and not the Swiss Ambassador. There have been instances where statements have been recorded from those who have been shot and on the brink of death. The decision is up to the Judicial Medical Officer to decide whether this employee should be questioned,” the MP told a news briefing.

He said it was not certain whether she was being detained at the Embassy against her wishes or was staying there voluntarily.

It seems that the Swiss Ambassador is visualising a white van culture and not the Sri Lankan Government. The latest episode of the white van drama comes to light after being directed by the Swiss Ambassador. He says one of the Embassy employees has been abducted by a white van, she has taken ill now and the matter should be probed. However, the Embassy does not even reveal the name of the employee or allow a statement to be obtained from her but calls for action and an investigation on the matter,” the MP said.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Colombo Chief Magistrate Court, today, ordered Gallia Barrister Francis, the Swiss embassy local official, who was allegedly abducted, to give a statement to the CID before December 9.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayarathna also banned overseas travel on the Swiss Embassy female officer Gallia Barrister Francis until she gives a statement.

Appearing for the CID, IP Ranjith Munasinghe told the court that the Swiss Embassy rejected to reveal the whereabouts of the relevant female officer attached to the Embassy, and also her husband and their two children.

Meanwhile, Senior state counsel Janaka Bandara told the court that the incident would bring an impact on the country as well if it did not happen on a personal ground.

He further pointed out that a statement should be obtained from the particular female officer to investigate whether 100% of the content of the complaint is true and whether there is an invisible group operating behind the incident.

The senior counsel also informed the court that the opportunity to reveal the truth would be lost if the particular female officer leaves the island thereby leaving a black mark on the country.

Having considered the submission made by the Senior State counsel, the Magistrate imposed a travel ban on the female embassy officer and ordered her to appear before the CID and make a statement.

Courtesy Swissinfo

Lawyer Marcel Bosonet (in tie) surrounded by supporters of the accused at the Federal Criminal Court in June 2018

The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that the Tamil Tigers are not a criminal organisation and has acquitted 12 people of charges filed by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

In its indictment, the OAG had accused the people of violating the Swiss Penal Code by raising funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) between 1999 and 2009. After its nine-year investigation, the OAG suspected the accused of financially supporting the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC).

But in June 2018 the Federal Criminal Court found that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and WTCC could not be sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough proof to consider the LTTE a criminal group.

In April the OAG appealed against the verdict, insisting that the accused had supported a criminal group.

In a decision published on Tuesday the Federal Court upheld the previous ruling, noting that Article 260 in the Swiss Penal Code was designed to combat organised crime of a mafia nature. Since then it has also been applied to terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia. The LTTE was not regarded as a criminal organisation at the time of the fundraising, stated the Federal Court.

According to the court, those who procured money for the LTTE in Switzerland at that time could not assume that they would later violate the law. Even if it had carried out terrorist attacks, the LTTE’s primary objective was to be recognised as an independent ethnic community.

Around 50,000 people from Sri Lanka live in Switzerland, mostly ethnic Tamils who fled the island’s 30-year civil war that ended in 2009.

Sri Lanka has elected a new President. The victory is nothing that the international community are too gaga over as seen by the manner they have chosen not to even extend congratulations as common courtesy & diplomacy dictates. The surge in popularity of the new leader increasing among those who did not vote for him must be also a thorn to digest to these destabilizing elements. Do the new policy makers understand the threats that exist as well as the new threats likely to increase using every apparatus the international community have under their control? What are the weapons that the international community have under their control? How will they use them and what strategies can Sri Lanka adopt are some of the challenges Sri Lanka, its leaders and even its citizens will immediately have to address.

US is on a pivot to Asia having besieged all other continents round the world. The military apparatus of the US is now engulfing the seas with marine presence, while it is using its other soft weapons both covertly & overtly. Transnational corporations have entered the scene & produced MCC project with a carrot of developing Sri Lanka’s road & rail a camouflage to entice and market it via a $480m grant already spent on numerous legislative changes rolled out as part of the proposals’ pre-conditions. The ACSA and SOFA compliment the MCC and anyone promoting it should well study the impact of implementing all 3 together with the US Peace Corps presence to realize the likelihood of Sri Lanka being transformed into the next Diego Garcia in Asia. This danger should be read with the verdict demanding UK hand over Diego Garcia to the Chagosians and UK’s main political parties carrying opposing views simply as a smokescreen to fool the masses. This US pivot is impacting other countries of Asia too. Has Sri Lanka taking stock of the US pivots taking place in other countries of Asia? Are the issues faced by these countries similar to Sri Lanka? How far does India realize who is a bigger threat eventually – US or China? What risks are India taking that will impact entire Asia? How else will these destabilizing elements try to upset Sri Lanka’s governance? Have we taken stock of the players and the likely scenarios to be launched as well as the likely baits to be used? Have Sri Lanka’s leaders placed these risks and dangers likely to impact Sri Lanka as well as in South Asia, regionally and across entire continent? Do we want to end up like Middle East?

Handling India

Has India’s demands changed since 1970s (using Tamils/LTTE/Indo-Lanka Accord/13a/Trade Agreements etc) Does India foresee that some of the elements India initially used to its advantage are now working hand-in-glove with the West (LTTE diaspora/Eelam) in such a scenario what is the disadvantage to India do encouraging these elements play. Has Sri Lanka presented these dangers or is India simply pretending not to foresee dangers in an attempt to exert its own influence in Sri Lanka. Does Sri Lanka have a policy on India-US-China and other Asian nations as well as against EU-OIC nations etc? Have we not used our soft power tools to our own advantage? What is the real role of the foreign ministry and the nation’s think tank in this exercise?

Have policy makers devised means to guard Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, territorial integrity – our seas, land, resources, assets & our people, our heritage/history from international/external threats & incursions?

The media and NGO network/’civic society’ together with a plethora of faith-based organizations all of which are funded by western foreign governments are tasked to do what at one time the CIA did. Many of the locals co-opted into these units are not completely aware of the exact nature of their roles for they are simply asked to handle a seemingly innocent task as gathering information data (ex: a village – age groups/professions/religion/economic status etc) these put into a database and covering entire Sri Lanka will enable the foreign mischief makers on what type of destabilizing program can be launched in these areas to which the foreign-government funded organizations will be sent to do ‘community-development’ work while using that as a pretext and a cover the real plan gets slowly laid out. These plans are not something done over a month-year-or even years – these are well planned out generally to be effective during an election. It is the same groups of individuals who converge for candle lit vigils, carrying placards, carrying out well funded social media programs and well organized country-wide initiatives.

Media has been used to carry out numerous tarnishing campaigns internationally spreading false stories and rarely apologizing or correcting distorted versions and then repeating them during some international conference or session or adding the same distorted version as disclaimers to any story they write on Sri Lanka.

NGOs all being paid in dollars and loyal to their paymasters are ever ready to carry out and be mouthpiece for any initiative to discredit Sri Lanka or its rulers. At present they are making dossiers of threats to their lives and probably will create scenarios to justify these ‘threats’ and have them sent to UN or key foreign countries with the intent of using these documents to show Sri Lanka is a threat to free media – media outlets and NGOs. Why go to all this trouble – please give asylum to every person hating Sri Lanka. They would be happier and Sri Lanka would be happy without the headache of having to deal with their lies and the negative aura they pollute the country with.

Closer to Geneva we are likely to see these two mischief makers carry out well-planned and executed kidnappings – threats and whatever else their fertile imaginations can come out with, have these videoed, coached to cry and have all documented and electronically archived and sent to the UNHRC to be produced and have the GOSL held responsible and become victim of another UN investigation or sanctions. Are these theatrics like the Swiss affair not drama enacted for Geneva with the foresight to use against Sri Lanka as a threat of sanctions unless elements of the UNHRC resolution or MCC are signed. Have Sri Lanka’s policy makers laid out these threats and challenges and drawn up political and diplomatic strategies to overcome them. Watch out for new youth movements and trends engulfing our youth too – all these have sinister plans too.

Do we know who among the media-NGOs-civil society are aligned to destabilizing Sri Lanka?

LTTE Diaspora/ Tamil grievance

We all know that the LTTE diaspora or foreign governments or for that matter India doesn’t care two hoots about the Tamils or their grievances but given that Tamils are a minority and that Tamils played a key role throughout colonial British divide and rule policy, the Tamils are perfect pawn in a ‘you scratch my back, I will scratch yours’ type scenario against successive Sri Lankan Governments. How else can LTTE diaspora fronts function with a carte blanche when LTTE is banned in 32 countries and terrorism financing is a criminal offence in these countries. Therefore, it is very clear that these elements are a complimentary feature to West’s and India’s political and diplomatic pressure for their geopolitical advances. Has Sri Lanka developed a counter strategy to this?

Do we know who amongst the Tamils are aligned to this project?

Islamic fundamentalism

Wherever US goes the Islamic jihadis follow is nothing we can be naïve not to acknowledge. All of the Islamic terrorist groups banned by the West are all funded and trained by western governments and their agents. The 21^stApril East Sunder Islamic terror didn’t happen without a plan and it is no coincidence that immediately after the attack the $480m ‘grant’ was announced as a ‘gift’. How prepared is Sri Lanka to handle the latest US pivot pawn in Sri Lanka and how far this element has bought over Muslim politicians, lawyers and others into their fold manipulating the ‘Islamic religion’ as a key strategy for allegiance.

Do we know who amongst the Muslims are secretly aligned to this project?

‘Invisible’ insider traitors

More harmful than any of the above pawns and puppets used by West/India is the possibility of many others implanted by them to be ‘innocent’ and harmless inner group functioning within close ranks of the decision makers to subtly push through the plans innocently with leaders overlooking the dangers or not been shown the dangers. These are the most dangerous of players which the current leadership will need to be watchful of.

We can all be happy with the meritorious changed taking place across the country. Youth are happily using their creativity to put some colour to Sri Lanka, islandwide cleaning campaigns are in place, major policy decisions have taken place but all of this cannot take the eyes and ears of decision makers from the real dangers being brewed slowly ahead of Geneva sessions and another crucial elections. Just as the citizens must be kept abreast of the likely dangers and the scenarios Sri Lanka will have to face, Sri Lanka’s think tanks must put together the pieces of destabilizing elements at play working presently in isolation and in silence but will gather steam and speed closer to Geneva sessions and elections.

How equipped is Sri Lanka’s President and new Government is something we will have to see. We sincerely hope that we can surprise these destabilizing elements with some surprises of our own.

Shenali D Waduge

We are somewhat puzzled. Do those that drafted the Labor & Conservative manifestos know where they are contesting elections and to whom their manifestos should addressed? Can both Labour & Conservative Parties explain why both wish to include in their manifestos assurance to divide Sri Lanka a sovereign & independent country into two if less than 100,000 Tamils votes for them – what about the interests of 56.1million British in UK & Wales? Instead of trying to please less than 100,000 Tamils living in UK how about offering something to the 48.2million White British too?

UK elections are to be held on 12 December 2019 

The Labour Party manifesto was launched  

Labour Leader Corbyn declared in the Labor Party Manifesto that his government

We will work through the UN and the Commonwealth to insist on the protection of human rights for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil and Muslim populations.”

Not to be outdone UK Conservative Party in their election manifesto is pledging to support a two-state solution for Sri Lanka.

We will continue to support international initiatives to achieve reconciliation, stability and justice across the world, and in current or former conflict zones such as Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, where we maintain our support for a two-state solution,”  

UK Population of 56.1million people

86% are White British (48.2million).

Asians comprise just 7.5%. Arabs 0.4% (this is according to the 2011 census)

Indians comprise 2.5% and Sri Lankans would fall into the Other Asian group that comprises 1.5% (excluding Bangladesh/Pakistan)

This 1.5% numbers 835,720 (though not all are Sri Lankans and will include other Asian nationalities other than Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistanis)

So how many are Tamils amongst this 835,720? The Tamil Information Centre had estimated that, as of 2007, 170,000 Sri Lankans were resident in the UK. IOM 2011 statistics put Sri Lankan Tamils at 100,000 to 200,000.

UK Jews number 275,000 but Labor seems to be not bothered about them?

Is it because Corbyn has a history with the LTTE terrorists – attending their bogus ‘genocide’ day and other functions? In 2015, Corby described Hamas and Hezbollah as friends” so is it a surprise Corbyn is pals with LTTE terrorists & their bid for a separate state?

Both Corbyn and John McDonnell opened a Tamil War Museum in May 2019. http://www.uktamilnews.com/?p=31370

Corbyn also spoke at the Tamil Genocide Conference in October 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AIiNywEP0I  

UK Labour & Conversative Parties should be addressing these issues suffered by UK population instead of putting lines into their manifestos just because UK Tamils are lavish in their funding for these parties. No funding can take over the interests that UK Political Parties have to serve the British electorate not go dividing countries abroad for money given to run their political campaigns. Is this the democracy Britain preaches to the world?

Without promising to divide Sri Lanka, UK Labor & Conservatives need to offer solutions to UK’s problems

• 14.3 million people are in poverty in the UK (22%)  
• 4.5 million in the UK are trapped in deep poverty – their income is 50% below the official breadline – a couple with two children would have an income of less than £211 a week after housing costs, and a single parent with one child would be on less than £101.50 a week. (Social Metrics Commission)
• Poverty in the UK is ‘systematic’ and ‘tragic’, says UN special rapporteur https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48354692
• 1.3m are unemployed in UK
• According to UK Telegraph there are 1.2million illegal immigrants in UK
• 8.4m face housing crisis in UK – 1.4 million are in poor quality homes. 400,000 are homeless
• 16,000 British war heroes are living on the streets or in prison (4% of homeless people are war heroes) https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9005954/16000-british-war-heroes-prison-homeless/

There are enough and more problems in the UK that the UK citizens are suffering. Spend time on resolving these without poking nose into issues in other countries.

UK saw the ramifications of turning a blind eye to terrorism resulting in the deaths of innocents just a few days back. Need we remind the UK that LTTE remains proscribed by UK since 2001 but UK allows LTTE fronts not only to operate freely but UK MPs are regular VIP guests to these LTTE front events and UK even allows its Parliament to be used by LTTE fronts for their meetings. UK sadly does not do anything about these LTTE fronts that make money from swindling Britishers via credit card scams, UK charity misuse/abuse and illegal asylum seekers and a host of other illegal acts happening right under the nose of the UK politicians and leaders.

UK Tamils number just 200,000 – why is UK Labor Party & UK Conservative Party promising these Tamils something in another country for their vote in UK?

We all know the failure of creating ethno-religious states – Kosovo and South Sudan are two fine examples of braindead decisions that were only for geopolitical purposes and people of these newly created states are suffering with living conditions deteriorating and none of the countries that helped them gain ‘independence’ coming forward to assist them. These are good lessons for Tamils who are flirting with these divisive powerful nations who are only thinking of their advantage and using Tamils as bait and pawns to achieve a footing in Sri Lanka.

Apparently the UK Conservative Party has withdrawn the inclusion of a two-state solution for Sri Lanka in its manifesto and this shows the shortsightedness of UK politicians where simply because some group forwards funding for their campaign they agree to print anything on their manifesto without looking into its geopolitical ramifications. This serves a lesson to all others falling prey to LTTE terrorist funding their political campaigns

Shenali D Waduge

Dilrook Kannangara

This is not supporting a politician but purely a prescriptive academic exercise in analysing election results which I do after every national election no matter who wins. Surprisingly this time there seems to be a dearth of post election analysts.

Gotabaya’s election victory (52.25%) is the highest in Lankan history. 
To be rephrased, the highest for any oncoming party. The highest for any challenger.

The historical significance of numbers did surprise me after comparing with past election results.
In 1994 Chandrika won 62.5% and in 2010 Mahinda won 58%. But those were not their primary election into power. By November 1994, CBK’s PA had won in August 1994. It was less than 50%. Mahinda first came to power with just 50.3%. Those high figures were their reaffirmations.
Even in 1977 UNP managed to win only 50.9%.
In 1956, SWRD Bandaranaike’s win was only 39.5%.
In 2015 Sirisena won 51.2% which is the second highest for any challenger.

To call a spade a spade, it must also be accepted that despite the highest ever real election win, the winner this time was humble enough to hold a low key ceremony in comparison to his predecessors. There were no large continuing celebrations and he got down to work almost immediately despite a hostile parliament.
Hopefully the list of good won’t end there though some signs are up that they might.

Media Unit  State Ministry of Technology and Innovation.

State Minister of Technology and Innovation, Thilanga Sumathipala sated that Scientific expertise would be made use of, in Steering his Ministry towards transforming  Sri Lanka in to a technology based developed nation.  He expressed these ideas on the occasion of assumption of office at his Ministry yesterday (02) with the blessing of the Maha Sanga. The Minister further elaborated thus,

In order to attain economic development based on technology and innovation, we will have to invest in higher education and advanced technologies, in place of cheap labour. Internationally renowned Scholars  of our own have always laid emphasis on the need to invest in technology related fields so as to ensure future economic development. Therefore, we should not limit ourselves to the traditional exports such as  tea, rubber and coconut, but embark on technologically competitive inventions utilizing intellectual labour.”

The Minister expressed his intention to work towards the creation of a technology based society, a prime objective of the government as envisaged in the policy Statement of H.E. the President, by creating the much needed platform, a task which would be performed by Ministry in the future. He also expressed his belief that through  investment necessary for the creation of a developed country based on technology the city of Colombo could be made the capital of Asia in the not too distance future.

Prof.  Sarath Gunapala an internationally renowned Sri Lankan NASA employee, and Prof.Tissa Vitharana, former Minister of Science and Technology took part in this event by delivering special lectures and both expressed their wish to extend unconditional support for the future initiatives of the Ministry of Technology and innovation.

Professor Tissa Vitharana said ,

 Even though a number of Advanced Technologies emerged globally in the recent past, we as a country didnot grasp them properly. If we are to move from the middle income level, that we are placed at present, to higher income level we definitely will have to grasp an advanced technology. Technological products of high end Technologies are essential to compete in the highly competitive world market. By utilizing such Technologies, we will be able to add more value to our raw materials. We will be able to overcome this challenge only by utilizing high end Technologies such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, Robotics, and Mechatronics, while also improving our human resources”

Professor Sarath Gunapala Said,

Countries like Taiwan and South Korea have achieved Rapid economic development within a relatively short period of time, through their investment made in human resources, Science and Technology sectors. This is a great opportunity for Sri Lanka too. If the future role of Technology and innovation in properly navigated utilizing high end Technologies through the intervention of the Ministry of Technology and Innovation, the economy of Sri Lanka could be elevated from its present status of being a developing economy to a developed economy”

This event was attended by political represantatives, Mr. Anura Dissanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, Mr. Chinthaka Lokuhetti, former Secretary to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research along with ScientistS, Technologists, scholars, artistes and more.

Media Unit

State Ministry of Technology and Innvation.

BODHI DHANAPALA

(This article was also submitted to the Island and published there as well on 2-12-2019)

I wish to congratulate the Editor of the Island for his editorial of 2nd December, which articulated exactly what many of us were thinking of, but didn’t quite know how to put in words.When I read those reports of the terrorist pinned down to the ground on the London bridge by several people, and of his being shot by London Police, I asked myself why he was not handcuffed and taken to jail for due process, as well as cross examination to ferret out more details of his terrorist actions? 

May be some journalist will point out that since the terrorist did not have a white flag in his hand, he could be legitimately shot! What has happened to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other highly concerned NGOs? Perhaps Sri Lanka’s Friday Forum itself will be writing Epistles to the British High Commissioner for this violation of Human Rights.  Is it likely that Good People like Ms. Nimalka Fernando and others would gather some of the Colombo Ladies and go on a whirl-wind tour of England to sensitize the natives on human rights, while stopping on the way to check on the health of Mr. Nishantha Silva who had to flee his country when faced with  a terminator!

Will the good folks of the Centre for Policy Alternatives present an alternative interpretation of the London Bridge events, taking the UK off the hook? The wrath of Dr. Deepika Udugama has already descended on the CID, while being very diplomatic with the Swiss Embassy, which wants the CID to cooperate with them without divulging names or showing the person involved. The good Doctor knows that the Swiss are merely doing all this because they are always “neutral” – neutral during Hitler’s Time, and neutral with respect to the LTTE, and neutral with respect to allowing gangsters to deposit  money in Swiss banks, because it is “not Swiss” to ask awkward questions. So, even the shooting of the alleged terrorist on London bridge is not something that concerns anyone who takes a “neutral policy”.Is it likely that the UK, in its own shame, withdraw its sponsorship of the human rights investigation that Ms. Samantha Powers and Mr. Mangala Samaraweera took  so much trouble to craft out? Will the latter  now grant that terrorists can be shot, because that was how it was done even within earshot of the Mother of Parliaments?

If the Australian “Aunti” who taught young Tamil girls how to use Cyanide Kuppi can live with impunity within the shadow of the British House of Parliament, it is clear that in the UK there are two classes of Terrorists, namely Bad Terrorists who should be shot as soon as they are captured, and  “Good Terrorists” that the British keep under their Sarong. Britain will one day regret the LTTE terrorists that it has harboured.