The Supreme Court has appointed a five-judge bench to consider the fundamental rights petitions filed seeking for an injunction order against the signing of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement with the United States.
The five-judge bench appointed by the Chief Justice is to be chaired by the Supreme Court Judge Buwaneka Aluvihare.
Accordingly, the judge-bench is comprised of Supreme Court Justices Buwaneka Aluvihare, L. T B. Dehideniya, Murdu Fernando, S. Thurairajah, and Gamini Amarasekera.
The petitions are to be considered on the 13th of November.
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), Attorney-at-Law Dharshana Weeraduwa and Ven. Anguruwelle Jinananda Thero had filed fundamental rights petitions against the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement with the US.
The Attorney General, President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana, and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera have been named the respondents of the petitions.
The petitioners claim that the MCC agreement, which is to be signed without the consent of the parliament and the public, could seriously harm the national security and sovereignty of the country.
Therefore, the petitioners have requested the Supreme Court to issue a ruling that the government’s decision to enter into this agreement violates the Constitution and to issue an interim injunction preventing the signing of the agreement.
The Sinhale Organization filed a complaint with the CID demanding an investigation on the media briefing organized by Minister Rajitha Senarathna yesterday and to arrest the minister and the other speakers.
In addition, the organization filed another complaint seeking an investigation over the mudslinging distribution by a secretary of non-cabinet minister Harsha de Silva in Mirihana yesterday.
Meanwhile, police media spokesman, SP Ruwan Gunesekera said that an investigation has been initiated on the matter.
Another stock of mudslinging leaflets against SLPP Presidential Candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were discovered from Magammana in Ruwanwella today.
Police have initiated an investigation after seizing the leaflets.
At the same time, the two suspects including a secretary of non-cabinet minister Harsha de Silva have been further remanded until November 14
They were arrested while distributing mudslinging leaflets against SLPP candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday
The two persons who were arrested while distributing mud-leaflets against Presidential Candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna have been remanded until 14 of this month.
This was subsequent to the suspects being produced before the Nugegoda Magistrate’s Court today.
These two individuals were taken into custody, in Mirihana yesterday and one of them is a Secretary of Non-Cabinet Minister Harsha De Silva.
Selling the Motherland
crept into our leaders only after the General Election of 1977. In my
working life from 1955 to 1973 in Sri Lanka
I have kept close
association with ,many of our leaders- Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake, ,
Ministers P.C.Imbulana, Vimala Kannangara, Dr N.M. Perera, P.G.B
Kalugalle, T.B. Subasinghe, NH
Karunaratne , Dr Colvin R de Silva. I am certain that none of them had the idea of Selling the Motherland even in their remotest
dreams It is sad to note
that the deeds of the leaders of the United National Party from 1977 onwards
have proved beyond all doubt that they all belong to the
group that would Sell the Motherland. In 1978, President Jayawardena caved in to the IMF which insisted that if he needed
Financial Aid, he had to invariably follow the IMF’s Structural Adjustment
Programme. (SAP) The main condition was that the Government could
not handle any commercial undertaking. Everything that the earlier Governments
had done in the name of commercial undertakings, to create employment and bring
about development had to be totally abolished. The industries and farms established under
the Divisional Development Councils Programme (DDCP) 1970-1977)were totally
abolished and the youths- 32,000 were inevitably
consigned to the scrap heap of unemployment and poverty. . In detail, . The Boatyard
at Matara where youths built 30 ft long inboard motor boats- some 40 every year
and earned good incomes was scrapped and the valuable machinery was neglected,
sold and also left in a scrap heap. Coop Crayon, established by me and Member
of Parliament Sumanapala Dahanayake, which had islandwide sales was stopped. All other industries and agricultural
farms were stopped and a few hundred youths lost their jobs. This is what
happened in the Matara District In an earlier paper of mine in Lanka Web:(Sri Lanka:
Development and Pitfalls:Agricultural
marketing) (
) I have detailed what happened when the Paddy Purchasing Scheme, Rice Milling,
The Vegetable & Fruit Marketing Scheme, The Cannery and
the Fair Price Shops of the Marketing Department were also axed by the UNP government of President
Jayawardena. Easily tens of thousands of farmers were destined to get lower
incomes as the Marketing Department Scheme of purchasing vegetables and paddy
was scrapped overnight. It is important to note that by following the advice of the
IMF to liberalize spending
foreign exchange and agreeing to meet the
shortfall with loans the Government was creating a situation where Sri lanka
will be building up a colossal foreign debt- which is today around $ 56 to $ 60
billion. Before 1977 Sri Lanka had liitle
or no foreign debt. Today the
Presidential Election of 16/11 is to be held in a
few days and the stalvarts of the UNP have declared that if victorious at the
presidential election they will ink the Millennium Challenge Corporation(MCC
)Compact agreement. The MCC Project brings in a grant of $ 480 million to attend to some minor
transport fixtures– busstands, zebra crossings, traffic lights, advanced trafic management systems”. and also there is a Land Component to address “the
lack of access to State lands and private lands for investment Purposes”. The
cat is out of the bag when the document states: Lack of access to State lands and private Lands for investment purposes is a
significant deterrent to both foreign and domestic investment” The
idea is to create a dynamic market for land.”. It is said to involve 28% of the land mass of our island. The idea is to “convert
permits and grants in State lands to absolute land grants”. It would be of interest to note that the
UNP of today is going against the development infrastructure of peasant
colonization that was laid down by no less a person than Prime Minister DS
Senanayake. I quote from one of my earlier writings:(Betraying our Visionary
Leader DS Senanayake-(LankaWeb:16/07/2019) The vast colonization schemes of the Dry
Zone, the peasantry, in thousands that enjoyed the land, earning
bountiful crops were all due to the great achievement of our Leader, DS
Senanayake, all achieved during his days as the Minister for Agriculture and
Lands. It was his dream to uplift the life of the rural masses and for that
purpose he initiated a policy of granting land to the landless poor,
making them partners in production and national development. His avowed aim was
not only to see that they are
free from hunger and starvation but to see that they are established on land
and become self reliant and selfdependent” (Hansard: 26/2/1932:State
Council of Ceylon)His plan was not the haphazard
alienation of Crown land. He went to the extent of appointing a Select
Committee of the State Council, to make any recommendations which they consider expedient and
practical for the establishment of a Scheme whereby land may be
settled on villagers and small holders and Crown land alienation or
leased to villagers or small holders can be prevented from passing into
the hands of persons other than villagers or small holders”(Hansard:
14/03/1933:Land Development Ordinance). A Committee was duly appointed . The Committee had sittings
for two years and made submissions to the Council which were accepted.
Referring to the Land Development Ordinance provisions he said that in this Ordinance we have made provision for
the protection of holdings that is we have considered it necessary.. that
when land is alienated to a class of people to see that the land is
possessed and it is very necessary that protection should be continued
for all time. It was necessary to see that not only in the first instance
the person who got the land belonged to the class to which we
want the lands to go , but that the successors too belonged to that class. We
felt that if we gave out right transfers it will not be possible to
protect such lands.”(Hansard: 14/3/1933” State Council of Ceylon)He said that it was necessary to avoid what
happened when freehold land was given out under British rule:”But what happened
to the jungle land up country under the British Government with its
unfortunate laws and practices. Today owing to the freehold given by the
Government … all that land has passed out of the possession of the people
of this country.”(Statement in the State Council of Ceylon:(19/10/1933:
Hansard)Today we are seeing in progress the death knell of the colonization
schemes and the bold peasantry that was built up by our leader DS
Senanayake.Reading through the MCCCompact agreement I find the present document
states in no uncertain terms that the intention is to create a dynamic market
for land” by converting permits and grants in State lands to absolute land
grants.”. This aim of the MCC Compact is totally opposed to Prime Minister DS
Senanayake’s intention of creating a bold peasantry.It is clearly evident that
the intention is to create a situation where State
lands will be saleable to multinationals. This will create poverty as the
peasantry will spend what they get out of the sale and will eventually get into
the homeless and poverty fold. It is a well known practice in developed
countries for multinationals to retain firms that pressurize people to sell
their land. It is also important to note
that our founding father DS Senanayake was also the person who created the
Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing with its Guaranteed Price
for Paddy, its Rice Mills, its Vegetable & Fruit Marketing Scheme and
Cannery which enabled the march of farmers to productivity and out of poverty.
This agricultural marketing infrastructure was totally abolished by President
JR Jayawardena. The CWE was also established by Prime Minister DS Senanayake.
Thus it is found that President JR Jayawardena as well as the present leaders
including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe are not
concerned with helping the people of Sri lanka. Their aim to to follow what the
IMF and other foreign powers like the USA, in its MCCCompact tells them to do.
They do not care about the poverty that will be created by the implementation
of the MCCCompact provisions. The
aims of the MCCCompact is totally impractical . It talks of fixing a few zebra
crossings, making a few changes to transport networks and projects that it will
benefit 7million people and similarly it projects that the land Project will
benefit as much as 5 million people. Having
played a major role in the development field in Sri Lanka for 18 years as a
senior administrator and having served as an International Consultant in
Bangladesh and the Bahamas for four years and having bagged the Ph.D. in Ag
Econ and Non Formal Education from Michigan State University, my knowledge and
expertise tells me that the MCCCompact project will if implemented create an
insignificant progress to public transport while
definitely consigning millions of prosperous
peasants on colonization schemes and state land projects to
become landless, destitute and to utter poverty. The
MCCCompact Agreement currently in circulation, perhaps the version submitted
for signature now, does not refer to the
200 mile corridor from Colombo to Trincomalee, with an electric train, to be
installed under the Transport Section and an electrified fence dividing the
North and South of Sri lanka that was submitted, drawn on a map of Sri Lanka to
bank managers and the Bar Chief URL de Silva at a meeting at Temple Trees on
25/11/2018 by MCC Team Leader Steve
Dobrilovic , referred to in Sarojini Dutt’s article in the Lanka Web of
6/11/2019.(Sri Lanka Cabinet Surrenders the country to the Americans). It is sad that our present UNP leaders
are selling the Motherland to
foreigners. They do not care for the welfare of our people.The damage that the rule of President
jayawardena did to Sri lanka is
irrepairable. Sri Lanka has lost its development inrastructure that enabled the
people and the country to march from colonial rule to prosperity. It was with
this development infrastructure that we became self sufficient in paddy, the
staple crop under the reign of Premier Dudley Senanayake.The present leaders have forsaken the great
achievements of leaders like DS Senanayake and Dudley Senanayake. I have happened
to work closely with Premier Dudley when I was Additional GA at Kegalla in 1978
and 1979 and can vouch for the sincerity of purpose he had in alleviating
poverty which he did achieve. I am sad that the present leaders of the UNP are
moving in the opposite direction to sacrifice the peasantry and the people of
Sri lanka. I am certain that the combination of
leaders- former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya and former Premier Mahinda can effectively strategize a programme to end
poverty and unemployment in Sri lanka. The experience that all other
presidential aspirants hold is insignificant and not of the caliber of
achieving development. The voters have a clear
choice before them- whether our Motherland is for sale to
foreigners. Leaders Gotabhaya and Mahinda with their achievement of freeing the
country once from the LTTE terrorism that ruled us for three decades tells me
that they will be the only hope for our Motherland.These words come to you from a Sri Lankan administrator who once in 1982 and 1983 was working
as the Commonwealth Fund Advisoir to the Ministrry of Labour and Manpower in
Bangladesh, when I was able to obtain approval to
establish a Youth Self Employment Programme, a task that the ILO had miserably
failed in the earlier three years and who within two years did create the
Programme and trained Bangadeshi staff to continue it- a programme that has
guided two million youths upto
2011 into self employment, an achievement beyond par in the annals of
development history. This is today the premier employment creation programme
the world has known that has withstood the sands of time.
Garvin Karunaratne, Ph
D. Michigan State UniversityAuthor of:How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and
Alternative Programmes of Success(Godages) 2006)How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (Kindle/Godages:2017)09/11/2019
The Ministry of Finance published an announcement on the treasury.gov.lk website on November 1, 2019
to the effect that the ‘MCC agreement drafted with the consent of AG will be
presented in parliament’. The self-explanatory first paragraph mentions what
the Millennium Challenge Corporation means and what projects it is going to
execute in Sri Lanka:
‘The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a bilateral United
States Foreign Aid Agency established by the United States Congress in 2004,
applying a new philosophy towards foreign aid. It provides time limited grants
and assistance to developing countries that meet rigorous standard (sic) for good
governance, from fighting corruption to respecting democratic rights. On the
request of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), the MCC undertook a constraints
to economic growth analysis” in year 2016. MCC and the GOSL subsequently
decided to focus on the land and transport sectors, which were identified as
binding constraints to growth. The constraints analysis concluded that traffic
congestion in the Colombo Metropolitan Region, poor transport connectivity
between Provinces, and weakness in land administration constrain economic
growth. Accordingly, the MCC agreed to grant USD 480 million for financing the
above projects.’
The short middle paragraphs explain that the final discussions
were conducted in October 2018 between the MCC and some Cabinet-approved
government officials from the relevant ministries, the legal aspect of the
whole process being okayed by the Attorney General. The final paragraph
runs:
‘The Compact Agreement and the
Program Implementation Agreement will be submitted to and enacted by Parliament
of Sri Lanka once it is signed and before its entry into force and will be
published in the Government Gazette before submitted to Parliament’.
This gives us the impression that
discussion in Parliament will just be a formality and that the MPs and the
general public are going to be presented with a fait accompli with no chance to
refuse it if not acceptable. There is a strong element of unexplained hurry,
secrecy, and surprise (for no date is given in this announcement for presenting
the draft agreement in parliament). It is extremely intriguing why an
international agreement with such grave implications as we now know for Sri
Lanka’s future should be rushed by the worst and the most corrupt government
Sri Lanka has ever had since independence, struggling in its deathbed for its
last gasp.
The contents of the 84 page draft agreement released on the same
day (November 1, 2019) by the Ministry of Finance under the title:
‘Millennium Challenge Compact between the United States of America acting
through the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka acting through the Ministry of Finance’ imply elements of
an entrapment rather than features of a plan for empowerment which is its
ostensible purpose and promise. For example, terms stipulated relating to
Termination, Suspension, or Expiration as spelt out in Articles 5, 6 and 7/pp.
10-14 are highly unfavourable to Sri Lanka. One is left with the impression
that America’s interests have received more attention from the architects of
the ‘aid’ project than those of its unequal partner that supposedly needs help.
Sri Lankans have been undergoing untold suffering over the past
seventy years in their legitimate struggle to stand on their own feet as an
independent nation after the ravages of four and a half centuries of Western
colonial domination. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the whole
post-independence period has been totally wasted because of the relaxed but
still strong stranglehold of colonialism, now metamorphosed as neoliberal
globalization. We have made some significant headway in terms of national
independence, education, economic development, and other parameters of nation
building, but it falls far short of what might have been actually achieved but
for such perennial issues as racist minority politics and the lingering
colonial impact on governance. From 1948 to date, undue external influence has
persisted over key aspects of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and national identity
including governance, economy, inter-communal unity, national security,
international relations, and the country’s image abroad.This unwelcome foreign
sway over local affairs has been in the form of sometimes unsolicited
intervention in these matters, which today has further degenerated into brazen
interference. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact is the latest
and the worst instance of this neocolonial aggression from the point of view of
well informed patriotic citizens including Buddhist monks and the clergy of
other religions, who would never politicize vital national issues. The proposed
‘Compact’ between the mighty USA and the tiny Sri Lanka, which came within
hours of being signed into law in secrecy has just been pipped at the post by a
sudden surge of public awareness of and just opposition to the treacherous
scheme.
Sri Lanka’s geopolitical importance for the two global superpowers
America and China, and for the dominant regional power India, has always
meant trouble for the Sri Lankan people. The faintly resurrected Tamil
separatist problem and the emergent threat to the traditionally existing
religious harmony posed by the recent advent of a large number of small foreign
funded Christian and Muslim extremist groups (outside the pale of mainstream
Christian and Muslim communities) are probably being exploited by the powers
that be to destabilize the country in pursuit of their strategic
geopolitical ends in the region.
The success achieved in political, economic, and national security
terms by the previous government in the years 2005 – 2014 was apparently not to
the liking of Sri Lanka’s American ‘well-wishers’. The achievements of those
years demonstrated that Sri Lankans, when united, can independently exploit the
country’s rich natural and human resources without having to enslave themselves
once again to other nations, whose ancestors plundered their country before. But
foreign intervention put paid to that short spell of fast post-war recovery.
Consequent to five years of Yahapalanaya, Sri Lanka’s survival as a sovereign
nation is hanging in the balance.This is most unfortunate. The external forces
and their local lackeys that reversed the gains of 2009 are behind the MCC,
pursuing the same agenda, with even more determination. Worrisome foreign
involvement in its affairs is the biggest problem that the country is facing at
the moment. However, encouragingly enough, the clear frontrunner in the
presidential race has already repeatedly assured the people that, if elected,
he will never compromise national security or surrender the country’s
independence to any other country however powerful it may be.
Ven. Ududumbara Kashyapa Thera, an educated young monk staged
a fast-unto-death against the signing of the MCC agreement in a hurried
hush-hush illegitimate manner with only two weeks to go before the presidential
election. Ven. Kashyapa is the Chief Incumbent of the Vipassana Meditation
Centre, Colombo. He is not an aged Mahanayake Thera, but among ordinary
Buddhists, he is venerated as a virtuous monk; he is not a politician or a
supporter of any presidential candidate. He was only trying to apply pressure
on the powers that be stop the great harm that he believed was about to befall
the Country, the Nation, that is, all Sri Lankans, and the nonviolent,
non-sectarian, inclusive and generously accommodating traditional Buddhist
cultural foundation, which is the lynchpin of the peaceful coexistence of
diverse communities and religions in the beautiful Island of Sri Lanka.
Both the principal presidential contenders sent messengers to him
each assuring him that the matter would be resolved in a manner not detrimental
to the country after the election is over, and appealed to him to give up the
fast. But he refused to do so, repeating his original demand that either the
president or the prime minister give him a written pledge that the MCC
Agreement would not be pushed through and made irrevocable before November 16,
the day of the presidential election. The monk gave up his fast on the prime
minister meeting this demand. In his letter, prime minister Ranil
Wickremasinghe assured the monk that the MCC compact will not be signed before
the presidential election, and that the matter will be pursued only after
consulting all stakeholders and after parliamentary discussion of the draft
bill. Ven. Kashyapa ended the fast because, he said, he achieved his purpose
(i.e. preventing the compact from being rushed through before November 16). But
he expressed scepticism of the pm’s words: ‘I don’t believe any of this’, and
he warned that if any program is attempted that is harmful to the nation, the
monks will come forward against it in a larger and more organized scale.
Finance minister Mangala Samaraweera scoffed at the fasting
Ven. Kashyapa, in a Twitter post, calling him a stooge of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,
who ate Lemon Puff (biscuits) in secret during his fast. The monk
commented that he did not care for people who responded to his hunger-strike in
perverted ways. However, the finance ministry sent the monk a copy of the MCC
document after he had ended the fast. The monk said that pages 12 to 14 had
been deleted (the same mentioned above in this article containing controversial
clauses – rrw), but he said he had already studied the MCC Compact draft
in full before he sat down for the fast. Ven. Kashyapa describes the MCC
agreement as a tragedy, but a tragedy that it is avoidable. To keep these
menacing meddling powers the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and the minorities
living with them in peace and equality must unite in brotherhood, the monk
admonishes.
The clearest, the most prompt, and the most credible response to
the monk’s fasting came from the leading candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. During
a massive rally at Harispattuwa near Kandy on November 5, the day the monk
started his fast-unto-death, having got news about the fasting monk, GR assured
that he will not allow any agreement with a foreign country that was inimical
to Sri Lanka. This was before he sent the fasting monk a letter begging him to
end the fast. In the letter, he promised that all agreements entered into by
the current government after the declaration of the presidential election will
be reviewed subject to the demands of national security, sovereignty,
independence, and the broad national interest.
Ven. Kashyapa points out that it has become clearly evident
over the past years, particularly in the past five years, that Buddhism that
empowers the people morally and intellectually is being obstructed in various
ways. The land in the designated economic corridor is going to be sold, in his
opinion, at the ridiculously low price of 180 rupees per perch. Sri Lankans need
not succumb to the enslaving schemes of foreign powers. The country has the
necessary natural resources and quality human resources. The outspoken
monk finally said he performed his historical obligation of helping the country
out in adversity through his moral power as a Buddhist monk, and that his work
ended there for the moment; he will offer the same assistance in the future if
need be.
The cabinet of ministers approved the Millennium Challenge
Corporation Compact, but it may be assumed that not even the MPs had seen the
original draft, and if they had, they might not have been shown the authentic
version in Sinhala or Tamil. It looks like that not all of them know enough
English to understand the document in terms of its real implications for the
Nation. This sort of thing should not be allowed to happen to the most
peaceful, nonviolent, kindhearted ordinary people of Sri Lanka, cultured and
humanized under the influence of the compassionate teachings of the Buddha. It
is the responsibility of the civilized world to look into why there is so much
public opposition across the country, irrespective of distinctions of
ethnicity, religion, language, etc., among the communities, to this so-called
Compact that was said to be on the verge of being signed without the knowledge
and approval of the Sovereign People of Sri Lanka.
We now enter the last week of the election
in which frauds, intimidation and other malpractices reign supreme. Before proceeding to comment about the
current situation I think it is pertinent to remind the voters how Maithripala
Sirisena, finding that United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has all the chances
to win the August 17th 2015 General Election acted indecently and
made a harsh and unpardonable statement that even if the UPFA wins the election
he will not appoint Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister of the country.
This made a large percentage of voters to refrain voting and despite that that
the UNP, Sirisena’s favourite was able
to get only 11 seats more than the UNP and what Sirisena did next was appoint a
number of unsuccessful UPFA candidates as MPs through the national list and
facilitate the reactionary UNP to form a government in coalition with some
Sirisena loyalist UPFA MPs.
This was said to warn the voters that various mud-slinging activities have been starting and distribution of pamphlets through electronic and print media, through d numerous pro-UNP websites, social media, paid advertisements in electronic and print media, through distribution of pamphlets and spread of rumours to mislead the voters against Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa despite intelligence reports predicting a tremendous victory for Mr Gotabhaya.
The Lanka E-News, which is a pro-UNP website operated from London and access to which is barred from Sri Lanka due to a personal dispute with Sirisena and the Lanka News Web sites are alle3gted to be financed and operated by quisling Mangala Samaraweera has started publishing a smear campaign directly targeting Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa connecting him with various allegations.
As in what was done in the campaign period for the 2015elections, CIA/, 16/ RAW agents are reported to be operating through their embassies and their friendly embassies and various UN Agencies and their sole objective is to prevent a Gota victory since they will not be able to manipulate things and affairs in this country under a Gota regime. Already there were reports that some RAW Agents were in attendance at Gota’s meetings and recording his speeches.
The treacherous made a big fuss today saying that Mr Gotabhayq Rajapaksa is still a U.S.citizen and hence Sri Lankans should not vote for him. They give wide publicity to this concocted rumour and even made a hitherto unknown Buddhist priest start a fast against Mr Gotabha.
Following this several legal-luminaries lead by Mr Ali Sabri PC held a media conference and displayed the following documents to counter the UNP’s malicious rumour:
Copy of application of Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa requesting for relinquishing his U.S. citizenship;
Copy of acknowledgement from the U.S.Embassy on the receipt of Gota’s application;
Copy of certificate issued the U.S.State Department on the cancellation of the citizenship;
Photocopy of Gota’s U.S.Passport stamped with the CANCELLED£ seal.
In addition to this, these legal-luminaries pointed that in the case filed against Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by the NGO activists Dr Chandragupta Thenuwara and Gamini Uyangoda there was no argument about Mr Gotabhaya relinquishing his U.S.Citizenship and their argument was that the Sri Lankan citizenship that had been granted to him has been done in an irregular manner.
The political chameleon and the alleged PRRAA contract killer for Rs. 50,000 per head of a Southern JVPer Dentist Rajitha Senaratne realising that his political misdeeds will be over with the imminent victory of Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has started operating a fake info squad to bring to the fore some paid fellows as informants and narrate various funny stories accusing Gota’s involvement in those activities. Pa.Cha.Ranawaka is also reported to be organising such a squad to make use of the experiences he gained in Ampara and Digana.
Gotabhaya becomes the No.1 richest man in the world by stealing 7 million kilos of Gold that belonged to Tigers. This is the biggest lie uttered by Rajitha.
Two men who accompanied Rajitha for a media conference in Colombo said that Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. When he was the Defence Secretary in the North stole a huge amount of gold from there. One man said that there was a dispute with him on sharing the values of this gold. Rajitha interfering at this moment that about 7000 tons of gold belonging to Prabhakaran had been stolen. 7,000 tons has a huge value.
He said that at present the
market value of gold kilo is about Rs. 8 million.
Accordingly 1 kilo of gold
value os = Rs. 8 million.
Y7,000 tons = 7.000,000
kilos.
The total value = Rs.
56,000,000,000,000
The value in U.S.DOLLARS 311,111,111,111 (Billion 311)
The bluff master Rajitha said that this amount even exceeds the value of the wealth of the world’s three richest persons.
If what this bluff-master Rajitha (who once said that saw with his own eyes Namal carrying on his shoulders the 18.5 Billion U.S.Dollars alleged to have been stolen by Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa to a Bank in Dubai, Addressing weekly media conferences this bluff master claimed that Mahinda will be arrested for this crime) 250 investments equivalent 1.4 billion $ investment of Hambantota harbour could have been made.
In 2012 the population in the North was one million. Hence it could have been possible for Prabhakaran to distribute even 7 kilos of gold to each person.
It is the United States that has the highest gold reserve in the world and it amounts to 8000 tons. Germany is in second place with 3,300 tons. Hence this alleged stolen quantity amounts to second place in the world.
Meanwhile, the real identity of the man who came with Rajitha claiming that he was the white van driver has been discovered. This man told at Rajitha’s media conference that he served as a white van driver of Mr Rajapaksa and was involved in abductions. He has attended the said media conference with a false beard and wearing spectacles. It has been found that this person has been working as a driver in the Ministry of Home Affairs for several years. His real name is also not Fernando as he mentioned at the media conference. He has spent the previous night at the house of a Secretary of Rahitha and joined Rajitha to attend the media conference on the following day.
United States Arleigh Burke-class destroyers docked in Sri Lanka. Included in the task-force were the USS Howard (DDG 83), USS Shoup (DDG 86), USS Pinckney (DDG 91) and the USS Kidd (DDG 100). (October 28-31, 2017) [Credit: Sri Lanka News / Ada Derana via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVVKAKSz1rU]
The Indian Ocean is one of the most contested regions in the world today. China, the United States, India, and also Japan, Saudi Arabia and other rich and powerful states are struggling for influence over Sri Lanka, located in the geographical heart of the Indian Ocean. Sea lanes of the Indian Ocean are considered to be the busiest in the world with more than 80% of global seaborne oil trade estimated to be passing through them.
Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka and the joint UK/U.S. Diego Garcia Naval and Military Base
Sri Lanka is a participant in the Maritime Belt and Silk Road Initiative, China’s extensive network of ports and maritime facilities connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In a controversial move in January 2017, the Sri Lankan government granted China a 99-year lease of Hambantota Port in exchange for U.S. $1.1 billion in debt relief. China is also developing other projects in Sri Lanka, such as, the U.S. $1.4 billion ‘Port City’ in Colombo, on land reclaimed from the Indian Ocean.
To curtail Chinese expansion across Asia, the U.S. is turning strategically located Sri Lanka into a ‘Military Logistics Hub’, and the center of its ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region Policy.’ Moreover, the U.S.-Japan-Australia-India alliance is seeking to involve Sri Lanka in taking on the Chinese challenge.
Control of Sri Lanka has become more urgent for the U.S. since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in February 2019 that U.S. occupation of the Indian Ocean Chagos islands is illegal, and that the islands be handed back to Mauritius ‘as rapidly as possible.’ The Diego Garcia military base was established there after Britain—which ‘owns’ Chagos—forcibly removed its inhabitants between 1968 and 1973. Diego Garcia is one of America’s ‘most important and secretive’ military bases, and has been central to launching invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan and flying missions across Asia, including over the South China Sea. If the islands go back to Mauritius, and the Chagossians who sued for their right to return are allowed back, the U.S. will require an alternative base. This could be Sri Lanka.
In January 2015, a U.S.-backed Sri Lankan government replaced the former Mahinda Rajapaksa government, who had defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the separatist conflict. Soon thereafter, the new government and the U.S. co-sponsored a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution in Geneva. Calling for accountability for alleged war crimes and missing persons in the final stages of the war against the LTTE, the UNHRC resolution pressured the Sri Lankan government to make significant changes, including the dismissal and imprisonment of its intelligence officers and army personnel. These measures weakened Sri Lankan intelligence and security, paving the way for the Easter Sunday carnage by Islamic terrorists.
The same Easter attacks are now being used to justify acceleration of U.S. intervention in Sri Lanka, which had already been increasing over the last few years. However, the three main bilateral agreements the U.S. has deployed to assert its political, economic and military control over Sri Lanka—the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact, the Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA) and the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)—are facing massive local opposition.
The MCC, a United States foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress, is pressuring to sign a ‘Compact’ with Sri Lanka to facilitate private sector investment and economic growth. Based on a ‘constraints analysis’ completed by the Center for International Development at Harvard University, the Compact identifies three binding constraints to growth in Sri Lanka: policy uncertainty; poor transportation and logistics and inadequate access to land, especially the difficulty of the private sector in accessing state land for commercial purposes.”
The MCC Compact would undertake transportation and land management in return for a grant of U.S. $480 million to Sri Lanka. The Transport Project will include advanced traffic management, bus transportation modernization and a central ring road network connecting the Central, Sabaragamuwa and the Eastern Provinces to the Western Provinces. The Land Project would include a state land inventory, deeds registration improvement, land valuation improvement, land grants registration and deed conversion and land policy and legal governance.
Two new laws, the State Land Bank Bill and a Land (Special Provisions) Bill, are to be enacted in conjunction with the MCC Compact. The proposed Land Bank would bring all publicly owned land under a single entity, making it available to private investors, including foreign parties. The proposed Land (Special Provisions) Bill would grant absolute title to state lands held by citizens holding land grants, with validity for seven years. Proponents claim that the distribution of one million deeds granting outright ownership is a poverty-alleviation measure. However, critics—such as the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR)—see a set up for a massive land grab, displacement and pauperization:
… large multinational companies have made small time farmers bankrupt and are buying off their agricultural land. …By giving desperate people an asset that they can sell, the government has ensured that these lands will be sold off.”
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry is attempting to hand over the task of drawing land survey maps, and creating a streamlined database of 3.6 million parcels of state owned land, to a U.S.-based geological information system and mapping firm, Trimble Inc., in a fifteen year contract. Survey Department trade unions have gone on strike opposing this move, which the local surveyors see as a threat to their employment and national security, and also a wasteful expenditure.
Sri Lankan resistance to MCC
Neither the MCC Compact, nor the new Sri Lanka Physical Plan (2018-2050) associated with the Compact have yet to be made public. The State Land (Special Provisions) Bill, due to its alleged connection to the Compact, has also not been submitted to Cabinet for approval. This lack of transparency has raised grave concerns and fears among the Sri Lankan public and the diaspora regarding U.S. control of vital resources, land and transportation and its ‘impact on the local economy, the environment, and social and cultural norms’.
This lack of transparency has raised grave concerns and fears among the Sri Lankan public and the diaspora regarding U.S. control of vital resources, land and transportation and its ‘impact on the local economy, the environment, and social and cultural norms’.”
A projected Physical Spatial Structure Map for 2050 and details leaked to the public have raised alarm that the ‘economic corridor ’proposed by the Compact and the Trincomalee-Colombo highway could ‘splinter Sri Lanka into two separate entities under the control of the United States resulting in the loss of sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka
The U.S.-backed Sri Lankan Prime Minster Ranil Wickremesinghe has reportedly signed the MCC Compact, but President Maithripala Sirisena has refused to do so. The U.S. Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, has written to the president urging him to sign. The U.S. seems to be in a hurry to seal the deal before a new government that is less-friendly towards the U.S. might come into office by 2020.
Meanwhile, local activist groups, such as the National Joint Committee and Sri Lanka diaspora activist groups, and the Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR) are demanding that the government immediately reveal the contents of the agreement without any redactions to the general public”. They are encouraged by the July 2019 decision of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court that the State Lands (Special Provisions) Bill be referred to provincial councils. As the coalition of expatriate groups ‘Sri Lankans in USA / Amerikawe Api’, put it:
We welcome the Supreme Court decision, as it will put a hold on the land project of the Millennium contract.…The American public is not even aware of how our [U.S.] Government is using our tax dollars to benefit large corporations under the guise of foreign aid to developing countries. We would like to see the entire compact terminated …. We are calling for full transparency and debate, both in Sri Lanka and here in the U.S., about the impact of MCC as well as SOFA and ACSA.” [Emphasis added]
Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) [Credit: US Navy]
The Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA)
The previous Sri Lankan government signed an ACSA with the United States, without parliamentary approval, during its armed conflict with the LTTE. The U.S. Defense Department and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense entered into another ACSA on August 4, 2017. While the 2007 ACSA was valid only for seven years, the new agreement is open-ended. While the 2007 ACSA permitted U.S. military vessels to enter Sri Lanka ports on a ‘one-off’ basis, the 2017 ACSA appears to be open-ended. Whereas the 2007 ACSA was only eight pages, the 2017 ACSA is said to be 83 pages long with over 50 annexures listing U.S. commands and military establishments allowed to use Sri Lanka’s airports and sea ports.
Whereas the 2007 ACSA was only eight pages, the 2017 ACSA is said to be 83 pages long with over 50 annexures listing U.S. commands and military establishments allowed to use Sri Lanka’s airports and sea ports.”
Sailors man the rails of Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Rushmore (LSD 47) as the ship departs Colombo, Sri Lanka during a deployment of the Essex Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). (December 26, 2018) [Credit: U.S. Navy]
The 2017 Agreement is designed to facilitate reciprocal logistic support between the U.S. and Sri Lanka for use during combined exercises, training, deployments, port calls, operations, or other co-operative efforts, or for unforeseen circumstances or exigencies in which one of the parties may have a need for Logistic Support, Supplies and Services.”It is reported to allow every single security or military apparatus in the United States access to Sri Lanka”, making Sri Lanka the main supply hub for U.S. armed forces in the Indo-Pacific region.” Analysts argue that, if fully implemented it will effectively undermine the Chinese share of geopolitical control in Sri Lanka, by way of [U.S.] military presence in the country”.
The Cabinet hastily approved ACSA 2017 without careful examination or discussion, under pressure from U.S.-backed Sri Lankan officials. It was approved without thorough study by armed forces commanders and officials, who have expressed serious reservations over some of its provisions. ACSA was also not presented to the Sri Lankan Parliament. President Sirisena’s Cabinet memorandum of June 30, 2017 in Sinhala had only a brief nine pages, and no annexures. Having signed it, President Sirisena is now opposed to ACSA—in addition to his opposition to SOFA and the MCC Compact—and claims that he did not know the difference between the 2017 and 2007 agreements when he signed it.
The signing of ACSA 2017 was shrouded in secrecy, without media coverage or publicity, reportedly as directed by Atul Keshap, U.S. Ambassador in Sri Lanka at the time. It has not been made public, despite requests for transparency by opposition political parties, the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), amongst others. The Joint Opposition in Parliament, the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) and Yuthukama civil society organization strongly protested against the signing of…ACSA.”
The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)
The third currently contested agreement, SOFA, was originally signed by the Sri Lankan and U.S. governments in 1995, to facilitate training of Sri Lankan security forces by U.S. officials. The United States has requested a new SOFA, expanding the original with an annexure, Annex B. Unlike the already signed ACSA, the newSOFA will not be limited to purchases of goods and services, but will include rules governing U.S. military personnel in Sri Lanka.
The Sunday Times published the draft SOFA on June 30, 2019, revealing that it would provide full diplomatic immunity, not only to any member of U.S. armed forces, but also to its contractors and employees, operating in Sri Lanka. SOFA, as drafted, would allow U.S. army personnel the right to:
Be in any part of Sri Lanka, without restriction;
Carry arms in uniform;
Only need U.S. identification to enter and leave Sri Lanka; i.e. do not need passports or visas;
Exemption from Sri Lankan law, andnotliable for criminal offenses in the country;
Exemption from all taxes; and
Exemption from customs checking at ports of entry and exit to the island.
SOFA also decrees that the U.S. Department of Defense may not be subject to any local taxes for any material, supplies, equipment and services (including construction) they contract in Sri Lanka. They would also be allowed to operate their own telecommunication systems in Sri Lanka, without cost to the U.S. Government.
The Draft SOFA, sent by the U.S. Embassy on August 28, 2018 to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, stated that the acceptance of the draft ”shall constitute an agreement between the two Governments, which shall enter into force on the date of Ministry’s reply.” This meant that the agreement is effective as soon as the Sri Lanka’s Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says ‘yes’.
This leaves no room for SOFA to be discussed by Sri Lanka’s defense officials or debated in the parliament. Currently, the agreement is temporarily stayed (i.e. postponed) by the Sri Lankan President. With ACSA already signed and SOFA pending, U.S. security companies, notably Sallyport Global, are already advertising to recruit U.S. citizens with active TOP secret clearance” to work for U.S. defense operations in Sri Lanka.
There is increasing outrage over, and opposition to, the blatant violation of Sri Lanka’s independence and sovereignty that SOFA, ACSA and the MCC Compact represent. It comes from all strata and sectors of Sri Lankan society; for example, the Chief of Defense Staff, the Chamber of Commerce, and the President of the BASL, have all warned of the dangers SOFA poses to national interests. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party and the newly formed STOP USA Campaign are organizing media briefings and mass rallies calling for transparency and accountability in making international agreements.
…the Chief of Defense Staff, the Chamber of Commerce, and the President of the BASL, have all warned of the dangers SOFA poses to national interests.”
In response to the rising opposition, the U.S. has attempted to ‘rebrand’ SOFA as a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Engaged in a social media campaign to protect the Agreements, U.S. Ambassador Teplitz has stated that the U.S. has no intention to build a military base or establish a permanent military presence in Sri Lanka.” However, as Sri Lankan President’s Counsel M.M. Zuhair warns: With SOFA in hand, the Americans do not require a military ‘base’ in Sri Lanka…, because the whole island will be a U.S.-controlled super-state operating above the Sri Lankan laws and state…
The Way Forward
While the U.S. expects future Sri Lankan governments to respect international obligations taken on by the current U.S.-backed government, the very legitimacy of the MCC Compact, ACSA and SOFA is widely questioned. As eminent analyst Neville Ladduwahetty argues: the Supreme Court must rule on procedures to be followed when agreeing to bilateral treaties determining if the procedures adopted are consistent or not with the hard core principles of the Constitution”, regardless of the contents, or with whom the agreements are made. Laduwahetty also strongly believes that all agreements must have the consent of parliament:
…any agreement/treaty signed in the name of the People by the executive, i.e. the President or the Cabinet, without the consent of Parliament amounts to a violation of the sovereignty of the people. …such agreements/treaties have no legitimacy vis-a-vis international law as determined by the Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties of 1969 ……”
…there are calls to reassert the policy of non-alignment that the small nation of Sri Lanka championed during the Cold War.”
Notwithstanding the violation of people’s rights and illegitimacy of the proposed amendments, Sri Lankans recognize the importance of maintaining good relations with the USA, China, India and other countries. However, they do not wish to sacrifice sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law in doing so. In light of the dangers, there are calls to reassert the policy of non-alignment that the small nation of Sri Lanka championed during the Cold War. The National Joint Committee expresses this call in a letter it has written to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister regarding the MCC Compact:
[We are] committed to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our nation. We believe that Sri Lanka should follow a foreign policy of nonalignment. Due to the fact that Sri Lanka is strategically located in the Indian Ocean the country needs to remain nonaligned and refrain from getting involved in the geopolitical confrontation that is developing between America and China, through agreements that would enable these countries to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka.”
External aggression—and internal resistance to that aggression—are embedded in Sri Lanka’s historical trajectory. Transcending party politics and ethnoreligious ‘divide and conquer’ policies promoted by external interests, Sri Lankans have to come together at this critical juncture to protect our precious, beautiful island home.
[Asoka Bandarage was educated at the University of Sri Lanka, Bryn Mawr College and at Yale University where she received a Ph.D. in Sociology. Ms. Bandarage has served on the faculties of Brandeis University, Georgetown University and Mount Holyoke College. Dr. Bandarage is the author of the books, Colonialism in Sri Lanka, Women, Population and Global Crisis, The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Sustainability and Well-Being: The Middle Path to Environment, Society and the Economy and numerous other publications. Asoka has given hundreds of presentations, including keynote lectures at South Asian Studies Conferences. She has also given numerous media interviews on CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, NPR and Bloomberg News. In addition to her columns in the Huffington Post, Asoka serves on the boards of a number of publications and organizations including Critical Asian Studies and Interfaith Moral Action on Climate. See her website for more information.]
Thanks
to the report published in the Lankaweb on November 6, 2019, by the Indian
investigative journalist Sarojini Dutt, we are now able to see the foolish and
dangerous steps taken by the present government to sacrifice our independence
and sovereignty to the USA for a mere handful of dollars ($480 million)
promised as a grant, which too would go directly to US contractors engaged to
carry out the work involving land surveys and converting the land grants given
to landless farmers into freely marketable units to be registered in a
digitized land bank system. This no doubt would make the land holders in the
not too distant future, rootless and landless, selling off their land that
provided them their livelihoods to the highest bidders including foreigners as
provided in the new State Land Bank Act and the Land (Special Provisions) Act
replacing the LRC Act which guaranteed them tenure over their lands.
Her expose’ reveals some of the hidden areas in the Millenium Challenge
Corporation’s Compact under negotiation which was inadvertently distributed to
invited participants by the MCC team leader Steve Dobrilovic during a briefing
to senior legal officers of Sri Lankan banks and the then President of the Bar
Association in September 2018. The documents released included a map of Sri
Lanka as envisaged in the year 2050 following implementation of the Compact
which the present Cabinet of Minister approved for acceptance and nominated the
Finance Minister, Mangala Samaraweera to sign it on behalf of the country while
the people were focusing their attention on the Presidential Election scheduled
to be held on November 16, 2019. The map in question also showed a 200
mile corridor between Colombo and Trincomalee to be awarded to the US
authorities coming under US jurisdiction where an electric rail track was to be
built effectively dividing Sri Lanka into a southern and northern region. These
negotiations took place in absolute secrecy between representatives of the
government and the MCC team from the USA housed within the Temple Trees complex
used by the Prime Minister. Due to the lack of openness and secrecy
involved, the concerned citizens were jolted into shock and dismay, leading to
the Most Venerable Ududumbara Kasyapa Thero to undertake a fast unto death at
the Independence Hall demanding that the President, Prime Minister and Leader
of the Opposition commit themselves in writing not to proceed with the signing
of the Compact Agreement prior to same being discussed in Parliament and a
decision taken in a democratic manner. With opposition mounting and the fast of
the monk going into the second day, the key officials of the government
provided the written assurance enabling the venerable monk to call off his
fast.
The USA which operated a major military base in the island of Diego Garcia from
which they carried out hostilities in the Middle East, Afghanistan, etc.
obtaining a 50 year lease of the territory from the UK which expired in 2016,
having tricked and cheated the indigenous Chagossian people of a place to live
by instilling fear in them about a life threatening disease that would strike
them if they continued to remain, and thereby expelling them from Diego Garcia
and moving them away to live in Mauritius. The Chagossians have since appealed
to the UK Supreme Court and the UNGA which have ruled in their favour which
will allow them to get back to their island homeland soon with Britain being
compelled to hand back the island to Mauritius in whom sovereignty rests.
No wonder the USA is eyeing Sri Lanka as a logistics hub and potential military
base to replace Diego Garcia for which they were willing to make a grant of
$480 million to the political party whom they helped to install in the year
2015. Please click on the LINK below to access the article: https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/11/06/sri-lanka-cabinet-surrenders-the-country-to-the-americans/
It is unimaginable that the politicians elected for just a five year term had
the audacity to secretly negotiate the break up of our sovereign country for a
bundle of $480 million, overturning our Non-Alligned policy, and tie up our
country with the military industrial complex of the USA which has evolved a
policy of continuous war necessary to profit from the sale of weapons and war
material and impose their will on other nations. Having co-sponsored a
resolution at the UNHRC along with the USA, UK and other western powers to put on
trial our heroic security forces personnel that sacrificed their life and limb
to regain the country after three decades of Tamil Tiger terrorism, it
was still not expected of them to drive their dagger into the heart of this
country ending the independence, freedom and sovereign status enjoyed by the
people from time immemorial over many millennia.
Looking
back to the history, during the 1947 partition of India, the region where the
holy Dera Baba Nanak Sahib and Gurdwara Baba Guru Nanak situated was divided
between India and Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line awarded the Shakargarh tehsil on
the right bank of the Ravi River, including Kartarpur, to Pakistan, and the
Gurdaspur tehsil on the left bank of Ravi to India. For many years after
partition, Indian Sikhs had been using a bridge on the Ravi River to reach
Kartarpur. This bridge was eventually destroyed in the Indo-Pakistan war of
1965 and this destruction added a lot to the troubles of the religious devotees
desirous of going to Kartarpur. Now opening of the Kartarpur Corridor has made
things very simple and convenient for them. It is no doubt an achievement of
Pakistan that the Sikh community all over the world is expressing its joy and
jubilance, thrill and excitement over getting an easy access to the shrine of Gurdwara
Darbar Sahib near Narowal, in Punjab, Pakistan. Before opening of the Kartarpur
Corridor, the Sikh pilgrims had to cover a long distance to reach this shrine
but now this distance has been reduced to just 4.7 Kilometers. Though
apparently the Indian authorities are expressing their happiness on opening of
this corridor but inwardly they are not comfortable with it. They think that
this is not a corridor linking the two shrines but a corridor providing
Pakistan an access to the hearts of the Indian Sikh Community.
The
inauguration ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor was attended by thousands of
people from Pakistan and India including Bollywood actor Sunny Deol, Former
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Indian Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder
Singh, cricketer Navjot Sidhu and so many others. During the sacred ceremony,
Mr. Amarinder Singh the Chief Minister of the Indian Punjab would certainly be
thinking of his recent interview with India Today in which he has said that he
feels Pakistan has a hidden agenda behind the opening of the Kartarpur
corridor. He alleged that the Pakistan Army and the ISI are behind the opening
of the Kartarpur Corridor. He said, I look at it in two ways -As a Sikh, I am
happy it happened, this will be like a pilgrimage back to history for me. But
at the same time I feel like opening of this corridor is an ISI operation. I
say this because the day that Imran Khan was sworn in as Pakistan PM, Navjot
Singh Sidhu was invited to grace the occasion where General Bajwa told him that
‘you will be happy to know that we are opening the corridor’.
Be
it the freedom movement in Jammu and Kashmir or in Nagaland, Assam, Tripura or
the Khalistan movement and above all the Kartarpur Corridor Project, the Indian
agencies and the politicians always try their best to frame the ISI in all such
movements. Surprisingly, the ISI always seems haunting the nerves of Indian
rulers, politicians, and even of the nerves of the Indian intelligence
agencies. Dragging the ISI into the internal matters of India and blaming it
for all that goes wrong in India is not a new tradition. Certainly this
tradition will be followed now after the prejudiced and partially narrow-minded
decision of the Indian Supreme Court on Babri Mosque. A very harsh reaction
from the Indian Muslims is expected at some later stage as the Muslims there
are in a state of fear and horror at present. The statement of Asaduddin
Owaisi, the president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen very clearly
reflects the hidden anger and anxiety of the Indian Muslims over the decision.
He said talking to media, If the Babri Masjid wasn’t demolished that day, what
would the judgment have been today?
There has been discrimination against Muslims and no one can deny it. We
are fighting for our legal rights.” In short, sooner or later, the Muslims
would certainly protest over this injustice but unfortunately the Modi sarkar,
instead of pacifying the Muslims, would start blaming the ISI for all their
protest.
This
blame-story is not a new one; from the Mumbai Blasts to the Pulwama Attacks,
the same story has been repeated so many times. Now, Pakistan’s efforts for
materializing the Kartarpur Corridor have become a very strong proof of the
fact that Pakistan is a peace loving country; it gives very much importance to
the basic rights of the minorities and it can play a very vital role in
bringing the regional hostile communities and nations closer. This exemplary
role of Pakistan had already won a lot of appreciation with reference to its
peace-efforts in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka too. Some mouth-pieces of the Modi
sarkar are trying to convince the world that Pakistan’s eagerness to open the
Kartarpur Corridor is in fact a tactic of instigating the Sikh community
against the government of India. They say that through this corridor Pakistan
would try to bring the Khalistan leaders in close contact and this contact
shall lead to the achievement of Khalistan, an independent land for the Sikh
community. Let us wait and see what happens next.
Rohan Abeygunawardena Nugegoda Courtesy: Sunday Times (November 10, 2019)
Senaka
Weeraratna the Sri Lankan Lawyer who came out with the suggestion to introduce
a Decision Review System (DRS) to minimise umpiring errors in the middle, as
far back as 1997, has been fighting for due recognition for his contribution to
the game, for over 20 years. However, in spite of many requests and appeals
made by him to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) and the International Cricket Conference
(ICC), he has not been successful in receiving the kind of acknowledgment that
Duckworth and Lewis got for their contribution towards deciding the result on
rain-affected Limited-Over games.
According to a recent news item, he has appealed to one of the
greatest cricketers produced in this part of the world, Kumar Sangakkara, to
help him on this matter. I am sure Kumar, being a 100% Sri Lankan, who knows
the benefits that would accrue to his country, would do everything possible as
the President of MCC, to help recognise this claim by Senaka.
Senaka has also made representations to Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe, who has directed the Secretary of the Ministry of Sports (MoS),
to take appropriate action, to get recognition for his work.
Cricket is the most popular sport in Sri Lanka. This is the only
sport in which Sri Lanka became World champs twice- Winning ODI World Cup in
1996 and T20 World Cup in 2014. The only other sport Sri Lanka produced a world
champion is in Billiards, when M.J.M. Lafir became World Champion in December
1973, at World Amateur Billiards Championship held in Mumbai.
In 1982, Sri Lanka was admitted to full membership of the ICC
and awarded Test status, thanks to the efforts of then President of the Board
of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL), late Gamini Dissanayake. His
efforts and how he set about achieving this task was vividly explained in an
article written by Sunil Thenabadu, published in the Sunday Times of October
21, 2018.
The inaugural Test was played at the Colombo Oval in February
1982, against England, which Sri Lanka lost by 8 wickets. Sri Lanka toured
Pakistan in March 1982 and played 3 Test matches, of which Pakistan won 2 and 1
was drawn. Again in October 1985, Sri Lanka toured Pakistan, with the same
results. In the absence of neutral umpiring and/or Senaka’s DRS, there had been
quite a few bad decisions by Pakistan umpires that went against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan’s 1st tour of Sri Lanka, after the latter attained Test
Status, was in February 1986. This tour was nearly disrupted due to bad
umpiring by the Sri Lankan umpires. Imran Khan wrote in his book All Round
View” about this tour. He said, The result was an ugly series, where the main
bone of contention was the quality of the umpiring.”
Interviewed by Sidharth Monga, Imran said, We all agreed that
there was no point in continuing the tour. We drafted a statement to this
effect, but General Zia [President of Pakistan] called me up and told me to
persuade the boys to complete the tour.’’
At the time of this tour, the late Gamini Dissanayake was the
President and the late P.I. Peiris (Cambridge Blue in cricket) was the Vice
President of the BCCSL. When the captain and the players were agitating
for a cancellation of the tour, the Pakistan manager contacted the officials of
their Cricket Board. A senior official was sent to discuss with the Sri Lankan
officials to pullout the Pakistan team from the tour, of course,
diplomatically.
The Pakistani official, initially, discussed the matter with P.I.
Peiris, and thereafter with the President. Nearly 3 hours of discussion did not
provide a favourable result. Gamini Dissanayake then called President J.R.
Jayewardene (JRJ) and briefed him on the situation and JRJ, himself a lover of
cricket, invited them to his Ward Place residence.
JRJ listened to both parties. And then quietly walked to the
phone and dialed. When someone answered he said, Your Excellency, these 22
fools in flannels, are trying to disrupt the good relations between our
countries. Therefore, I am ordering the Pakistan team to stay and get on with
the game.”
JRJ spoke for few more minutes and laughed. Then he turned to
the Pakistan Official and said Your President wishes to speak with you”.
He went over to the phone and only said Yes your excellency,
Yes,….yes”, then came back and informed President JRJ that they will continue
with the tour.
This is a typical example of how bad decisions by the person of
authority, who is responsible for presiding over the game, from a neutral point
of view, and making on-the-fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport,
including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection, make mistakes or biased
decisions, leading to unpleasant situations among the players and sport lovers.
There is very little room now for such bad decisions, thanks to
Senaka Weeraratna’s brilliant idea of the players and field umpires appealing
to the 3rd umpire when in doubt. As Sri Lankans, we should be proud of his
contribution to Cricket, which is like a second religion to a majority of Sri
Lankans. Besides, even in other sports, this concept is now practised. For
example, in Rugby, which is a very fast body contact game, where the chances of
wrong decisions by the on field referee is extremely high, this concept is
being practised since 2001. They call it Television Match Official (TMO). Many
decisions were changed by the TMO at the Rugby world cup this year and, as a
result, the best teams came to the semis and finals, without creating any doubt
in the minds of the loyal supporters, spectators and those millions of Rugby
fans watching on TV.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has failed so far to make representation
to the ICC and obtain recognition for Senaka’s concept, in spite of many
appeals made by him. May I therefore, suggest that the SLC and the MoS
Secretary work hand in hand with Kumar Sangakkara and help obtain the due
recognition for Senaka. This is an honour for Sri Lanka and will be a feather
in SLC’s cap!
The veteran journalist H.L.D.Mahindapala, who was the Chief Editor of ‘Observer’ and now resides in Australia has said that watching the video of the launch of the UNP manifesto, one of the factors that surprised him most was the performance of Sajith Premadasa. He says that he had never seen him so stiff in delivering his public speeches and he was speaking more like a ventriloquist (a comedian) than as a fired-up, rabble-rousing politician gesticulating frenetically, or beating his chest on public stages. He stood there at the launch as stiff as a statue made of clay and only his tongue was moving to make noises.
Mahindapala says that somebody must
have told him that to look presidential he must not throw his hands around and
blast his opponents at the top of his voice. So he was as solemn and stiff as
he could be, cutting a very poor image of a want-to-be president. The image he
projected was that of defrocked priest delivering a Sunday sermon from his
pulpit which is about to come apart.
However, it must be conceded that the flow of
his verbal gymnastic was flawless. But it was all puffery. It was all sound and
no substance. Sajith is a man in a hurry to make an impression. He is trying to
cover his immaturity and inexperience with sounds of empty phrases. But all his
rhetoric so far comes down to offering freebies, ranging from gewgaws,
lollipops and tampons. His offering of tampons to villagers is the equivalent
of Ranil offering computers to farmers in previous election campaigns. I was
wondering whether Sajith got this idea of distributing free sanitary pads from
Prince Charles who once wrote endearingly to his mistress, Camilla Parker
Bowles, saying that his ambition in life was to be her tampon!
All his sound and fury can be reduced
to one simple argument: he is going to be the new broom that will sweep all
evils away in one swipe and bathe Sri Lanka in milk and honey. There is nothing
new in this. He is repeating what Ranil and Sirisena promised in 2015
Mahindapala asks did he lift a finger, or raise a whisper to stop the daylight robbery of his leader, Ranil?0r when Ravi Karunayake found guilty by the courts, was reappointed as a Cabinet minister, sitting next to him? Or when his leader failed to honour his promise of bringing back from Singapore the crook who steered the robbery on the floor of the Central Bank? Etc? Etc? If he did nothing then how can we trust him to do something now?
Premadasa is telecasting a TV ad in which he says that upon his election as President, he would appoint a new Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers and repeats his ear claim that he will not appoint anyone with allegations of corruption, bribery, wasting public funds, and allegations of malpractices. Under this utopian dream will he guarantee the following to fulfil this promise in order to clean the political frauds in the UNP and its allied partners?
Will Sajith Premadasa, first of all, surrender to the authorities for the lapses on his part which include :
Distribution and driven by himself of several luxury buses each valued @
Rs. 45 Million to several schools; Can the public know who was/were the donor
of these buses and for what reason these donations have been and what the donor
will get in return.
Allegedly keeping over 1,000 persons on his Ministry payroll without any
employment;
Spending huge sums on advertisements to chicken pen houses projects at
the times of foundation laying and at the times of opening;
Distribution of building materials and 15 bags of cement to each from
the Hambantota district;
Distribution of money to incumbent priests of some temples as political
bribes etc.
Misuse of funds belonging to the Central Cultural for his personal image
building;
Ranil Wickremasinghe (Alleged
architect of TreasuryBonnd Scam and commission agent for the sale of state
properties and making the country liable to pay damages to China for suspending
Port City, Lotus Tower and some other projects) )
Ravi Karunanayake (Alleged
beneficiary of a residential flat and commission agent for power purchases)
Mangala Samaraweera (alleged money
launderer for Tamil diaspora and commission agent for large scale government
projects and for promoting MCC and other American projects)
Pa.Cha.Ranawaka (accused in a court
verdict on malpractices in a coal tender award etc, and for promoting MCC and
other American projects)
Malik Samarawickrema (alleged
involvement in a railway coach project and promoter of the Singapore FT etc)
Lakshman Kiriella (alleged recipient
of commissions from Kandy expressway project and misusing his Ministry funds to
make monthly payments to over 75 persons)
Kabir Hashim (allegedly making the
country liable to pay millions of Dollars as a breach of agreement in respect
of aircraft orders)
Sarath Fonseka (self-confession relating to the receipt of several million rupees from Arjun Aloysius. Another 118 persons including government MPs have received several hundred million rupees from Arjun Aloysius
P.Harrison (causing several Million
Rs. Loss to Mattala airport by using it for storing paddy)
Rajitha Senaratne(alleged import of
sub-standard drugs and malpractices related to Neville Fernando Hospital and
becoming a shipowner during the last government. A complaint in this
connection with documentary evidence was made to Bribery Commission by the
Matara district MP Niroshan Premaratne but no action was taken))
Sujeewa Senasinghe (an alleged
receipt of Millions from Arjun Aloysius for writing a book to clear him from
Treasury Bond Scam allegations )
John Ameratunga (demolition of a
walking track built at a cost of Rs. Several million to facilitate one of his
friends to take lorries to his property )
Mano Ganneshan (allegations related
to multiple frauds and malpractices)
RaufHakeem (allegations related to multiple frauds and malpractices including 200 million US$ believed to have received for the toilet )
Rishad Bathiudeen (allegations
related to multiple frauds and malpractices including drug peddling through
Sathosa imports and frauds related to re-exports)
Harin Fernando (Allegations related to WI-FI project and Google Baloon mishap)
Arjuna Ranatunga (Allegations related
to nepotism and frauds in the railways)
Palani Digambaram (an alleged receipt of funds from India in the name of various projects)
Ajith P.Perera(Acting as a footnote
man of Arjun Aloysium}
Harsha de Silva (Acting as a footnote
man of Arjun Aloysius)
The Galle district MP
Wijepala Hettiarachchi has sent letters to his supporters in Akmeemana saying
they will be given Rs. 50,000 each Gamperaliya housing loans when they come to
attend the UNP Balamandala meeting.
The inter-party conflict in the UNP is reported to have increased with each group attempting to form themselves as the dominant group and to become future stakeholders. SeveralUNP Ministers have been heckled by their own party supporters in their own areas. The latest was heckling received Minister Daya Perera at a UNP meeting in Ampara.
Many Sri Lankans resident in overseas countries is coming back to vote for their favourite candidate Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The flood gates were opened today with groups arriving from Australia, England, UAE, Kuwait, They told media that this is the last chance they can offer to save the country. They said that over 2million Sri Lankans resident will be arriving to vote for Gota and the will come until 15th night.
Meanwhile, Ministry sources indicate that several Ministers were clearing their desks at their Ministries. They say Rajitha has taken away some files and Pa.Cha.Ranawaka has set fire to some files
The indecent and inhuman Sarath Fonseka reputed as Kalawedda (wild cat) extremely disappointed by the Ill-prospects of Sajith has once again started his wild talks. A few days ago he said that all Rajapaksas will be hanged at Medamulana. He has now said that Gotabhaya will become a worm in his rebirth and when it happens that worm will be killed by striking with a mammoty.
MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday claimed that Sri Lanka would not benefit from the Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) pact and that not even a cent would be received by the Treasury.
He told a news conference that the US$480 million would be received by the particular US company which would undertake the project in Sri Lanka and according to the MCC pact, the Treasury will not receive a cent.
The MP said neither the Auditor General nor the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) would be able to mediate in any of the transactions involving the MCC funds.
He said the government had agreed to sign three agreements with the US namely SOFA, ACSA and MCC and the government had given priority to the MCC agreement which sets the background to the other two agreements.
The MP said the government had passed several laws and acts in preparation to the signing of MCC such as amending the Foreign Exchange Bill, privatising the clearing department of the Central Bank, the Land Bank Act and the Counter-Terrorism Bill. (Ajith Siriwardana)
The Island editorial today (7th November, 2019) points out that “there should be sufficient time for independent legal experts and other knowledgeable persons to go through such agreements with a fine tooth comb and challenge them in court if necessary.”
What is being touted here is a serial violation of that fundamental premise – violations that are to be, by the said agreement, immune to any and all forms of challenge under our laws.
Set out below for the information of the public (including such Members of this Parliament as are, at the least, literate) are a sample of the provisions therein. Am constrained to note also that the foreign lawyers picked by the true beneficiary of this project, the Millennium Challenge Corporation headed as of now by, yes, Mike Pompeo, to secure ’good governance’ laboured for three years in the all-encompassing security of ‘Temple Trees’ to draft this document away from prying eyes. The care taken to exclude any and all Sri Lankans knowledgeable in the law was way above the Security Clearance required of Presidential Advisers in the ‘White House’.
Land laws prepared under the instructions of the MCC ignores Article 76 (1) of our Constitution: “Parliament shall not abdicate or in any manner alienate its legislative power and shall not set up any authority with any legislative power”.
They say all laws are referred to AG under Article 77 and 82 —As your editorial points out (and this agreement specifies) AG would have no power to look into the legality of laws.
Article 78– effectively the public have no power: “Every Bill shall be published in the Gazette at least seven days before it is placed on the Order Paper of Parliament”. Yup, seven days is all the time allowed for the public and the judiciary to intervene.
In any case, Article 80[3] ensures that the Judiciary has no power where “a Bill becomes law upon the certificate of the President or the Speaker, as the case may be being endorsed thereon, no court or tribunal shall inquire into, pronounce upon or in any manner call in question, the validity of such Act on any ground whatsoever”. Well!
It would be necessary for the new administration to dismantle some other initiatives of USAID and related agencies.
They include “Bim Saviya” and an “Electronic Hub for a National Land Titling program” in Sri Lanka.
As so happens, I was Commissioner of Title Settlement some 30 years ago, and can certify that this Yankee go at our country would be far worse in its operation than even the Brits’ instruments of theft – the Waste Lands Ordinance and the Crown Lands Ordinance.
Convicted killer Jude Jayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, walked out of Welikada prison Saturday following the highly unusual amnesty granted by President Maithripala Sirisena.
Sri Lanka’s president has pardoned a death-row prisoner who murdered a Swedish teenager just a week before he leaves office, officials said Sunday, in a move that sparked national outrage.
Convicted killer Jude Jayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, walked out of Welikada prison Saturday following the highly unusual amnesty granted by President Maithripala Sirisena.
Sirisena, who is stepping down after Saturday’s presidential election at which he is not a candidate, announced last month he was considering a request to grant Jayamaha a pardon.
Victim Yvonne Jonsson, who was holidaying in Sri Lanka, was beaten to death at a high-rise apartment in Colombo in 2005 after she and Jayamaha had an argument.
The court had been told her skull was fractured into 64 pieces.
Jayamaha was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison. He appealed to a higher court, which rejected his plea and instead sentenced him to death, which was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2014.
Jonsson’s sister Caroline wrote in a Facebook post about her concerns over Jayamaha’s pardon before the amnesty announcement.
He showed and continues to show absolutely no remorse for what he has done,” she wrote.
We’ve worked hard to rebuild our lives and here we are, going into 15 years, still fighting for justice. Unfortunately, we now have to prepare ourselves for the worst possible outcome, the pardon of my sister’s murderer.”
Many Sri Lankans took to social media to condemn Sirisena.
Monstrous act by a failed president,” said a Twitter user identified as Thass.
This news makes me sick,” added Shamila Cooray.
Others speculated Sirisena may have pardoned Jayamaha to test the water ahead of possibly pardoning another high-profile death-row inmate whose family owns radio and television stations that support him.
Sirisena failed to secure support from his own party to contest the November 16 election and must leave soon after results are declared, a day or two after the polls.
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has pardoned a death-row prisoner who murdered a Swedish teenager just a week before he leaves office, officials said on Sunday (Nov 10), in a move that sparked national outrage.
Convicted killer Jude Jayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, walked out of Welikada prison last Saturday following the highly unusual amnesty granted by President Maithripala Sirisena.
Sirisena, who is stepping down after this Saturday’s presidential election at which he is not a candidate, announced last month he was considering a request to grant Jayamaha a pardon.
Victim Yvonne Jonsson, who was holidaying in Sri Lanka, was beaten to death at a high-rise apartment in Colombo in 2005 after she and Jayamaha had an argument.
The court had been told her skull was fractured into 64 pieces.
Jayamaha was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison. He appealed to a higher court, which rejected his plea and instead sentenced him to death, which was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in 2014.
Jonsson’s sister Caroline wrote in a Facebook post about her concerns over Jayamaha’s pardon before the amnesty announcement.
“He showed and continues to show absolutely no remorse for what he has done,” she wrote.
“We’ve worked hard to rebuild our lives and here we are, going into 15 years, still fighting for justice. Unfortunately, we now have to prepare ourselves for the worst possible outcome, the pardon of my sister’s murderer.”Related Story
Many Sri Lankans took to social media to condemn Sirisena.
“Monstrous act by a failed president,” said a Twitter user identified as Thass.
“This news makes me sick,” added Shamila Cooray.
Others speculated Sirisena may have pardoned Jayamaha to test the water ahead of possibly pardoning another high-profile death-row inmate whose family owns radio and television stations that support him.
Sirisena failed to secure support from his own party to contest the Nov 16 election and must leave soon after results are declared, a day or two after the polls.
In his final week in office, Sri Lanka’s outgoing president has pardoned a death row killer who murdered a Swedish teenager in 2005. The girl’s skull was smashed into 64 pieces during the horrific attack.
Yvonne Jonsson, who had dual Sri Lankan and Swedish nationality, was killed in the stairwell of the Colombo apartment building her family was living in at the time. The attack had come after an argument between the teenager and killer Jude Jayamaha, then aged 19, who reportedly hails from an influential family.
Jayamaha was initially sentenced to 12 years, but his appeal ended in him being sentenced to death. Confirming the decision to pardon and release him, President Maithripala Sirisena said Jayamaha was imprisoned over an incident of impatience” and had served his term with good behavior.
President Sirisena in his final week in the office has granted a Presidential Pardon to Shramantha Jayamaha imprisoned for murdering a 19 year old girl at Royal Park apartment in 2005. The court imposed the death sentence on Shramantha in 2012.
In a Facebook post, Jonsson’s sister wrote in detail about her family’s heartbreak over news of the killer’s pardon and release, rejecting any claims the murder was an accident or minor incident. Instead she insisted Jayamaha had planned the attack, waiting outside the apartment for his victim and chasing her down in the brutal assault.
Caroline Jonsson-Bradley also said the attacker had taken pains to try to destroy evidence of his involvement and evade justice, and the family will never overcome the pain and distress” he caused by murdering Yvonne.
He showed and continues to show absolutely no remorse for what he has done,” she wrote. To say my sister’s brutal killing has turned our world upside down is an understatement.”
Sri Lankans commenting online shared their disgust over news of the release, sending fresh condolences to the bereaved family and calling the president an idiot” for the senseless and meaningless” pardon.
Lo! The main contenders with gusto swing into full stride
With today begins the election week. Unless another Zaharan-style attack befalls us between now and the 16 November, our entire focus would be dominated on the upcoming Presidential Election.
The key question we as a nation would be trying to solve this week is who would be the correct leader for our country for the next five years. Though over 30 nominates have come forward, only two can be considered as serious contenders: Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa.
Interestingly, the rebellious voter who does not want to support either one of these two main candidates are gravitating more towards General Mahesh Senanayake than Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The JVP politburo had better make note of this phenomenon.
Voter would rather waste his vote on a candidate who neither has a chance at winning the election, nor a presence in Parliament than one who had been a member of the Parliament since 2004 and has apolitical presence in Parliament. The reason being is that apart from the die-hard JVP block vote, both the rebellious and the floating voter has identified Dissanayake as an UNP stooge.
This voter is clearly rejecting both the main candidates – despite one of them will become the President of our country and the other will have a political representation in the Parliament to weigh policies adopted against his policies.
Considering this election is also a mandate for the incumbent Government to continue its tenure for the next five years, the rebellious voter is one who is clearly disenchanted by the Yahapalana Government. The fact that he does not want to consider Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the other winning possibility, indicates that he also has issues with the previous administration, which is the Rajapaksa Administration.
Therefore, it is safe to deduce that those who are gravitating towards General Senanayake are those who voted for Yahapalana Government and got their fingers burnt.
Almost from the beginning of the Yahapalana Government, it has been exposed that most of the issues they levelled against the Rajapaksa Administration had been fabricated for political gain. Still, the rebellious voter would rather take his chances again on yet another unknown candidate as he did in 2015 than someone who has been exonerated from allegations.
The floating voter is the other factor that can tilt the balance between the two main candidates. There is actually very little difference between the rebellious and the floating voter. Both are too lazy to do their homework.
They would rather latch on to real or imagined misdeeds of all political entities and yap about it, than make an informed decision to use their vote effectively. Within an imperfect system, they are expecting all politicians to be just like Julius Caesars’ wife.
Vaddukkoddai Resolution
However, this Presidential Election is significant perhaps more than any other in the past because the sovereignty of the nation is backed right up against the wall. From one end, the economy is fast crumbling.
From the other end, we are facing a rise in both Tamil and Islamist extremism. TNA attempts to push their Vaddukkoddai Resolution, albeit with different names must be carefully observed for it is far more subtle than the rise of Islamist extremism for which to date a reason does not exist.
Both candidates had pledged to prioritise national security. However, two extreme elements have voiced support to the two candidates. Hizbullah had pledged his support to Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR) and had even called upon his voters to cast their second preference to GR. Premadasa has been promised the support of TNA. The two candidates’ reaction could not have been more different.
GR did not waste any time to disown Hizbullah. He categorically stated that extremists would not be entertained in his camp, even if it cost him the election. Undeterred, Hizbullah like a prospective suitor keeps expressing his support, but to no effect.
The TNA made a huge drama for weeks to show that they had not yet decided on the candidate to support. Perhaps TNA was the only ones fooled by the drama. The Yahapalana Government could not have come to power in 2015 without TNA’s support.
Throughout these five years, the Yahapalana Government and the TNA had only pretended to be in the opposite side of the fence, when in reality both had been partners for all practical purposes. In fact, the Yahapalana Government could not have made it this far either had it not been for TNA’s support.
Having promised their constituents to win Eelam through the pen, the TNA cannot afford to part ways from the UNP. Therefore, their support to the Yahapalana candidate is a given.
The show was only for the benefit of those who can still be hoodwinked into thinking that the TNA and the UNP are two separate entities. Yet, once again by extending their support for the incumbent Government to continue along its current path, TNA exposed themselves as being in cahoots with the UNP than not.
TNA’s 13 demands
Just over a week before the much delayed Yahapalana candidate’s manifesto was released, the TNA released 13 demands. These 13 demands are actually a rewording of the 1976 Vaddukkoddai Resolution that calls upon the rejection of the unitary status of the country and introduce a federal system. Furthermore, it is being demanded that Tamils must be recognised as a nation with a distinct sovereignty. Therefore, Tamils must be recognised as a nation with the right to self determination.
It was TNA’s stipulation that their support is only to the candidate who accepts their demands. Gotabaya Rajapaksa outrightly rejected all 13 demands, without even indicating a space to negotiate any of these demands.
Premadasa’s camp on the other hand remained very silent. They appeared to be having trouble with their own manifesto for they could not even release it before the postal vote began. Therefore, those who cast a postal vote on the first and second days did so without knowing the Yahapalana plan for the next five years of our country. It was speculated that the delay must be to plagiarise content from the Pohottuwa manifesto, for in the campaign Premadasa has become noted for copying speech notes from GR.
However, when finally Premadasa’s manifesto was released it was obvious that his manifesto is a rewording of the draft Constitution that was presented earlier this year by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe.
As political analyst C.A. Chandraprema had noted, not even Maithripala Sirisena toed the TNA line as blatantly as Premadasa has done. He had resorted to the same manipulation of words to create confusion over the unitary status as the draft Constitution did. Though Premadasa referred to an “ekeeyarajya” when he presented his manifesto to the Prelates, his manifesto does not make any reference to a Unitary State.
In his manifesto he has explicitly outlined a second tier where the Provincial Councils will have control over policies passed in Parliament. In effect, the supremacy of the Parliament would no longer count, instead would be subjugated to the will of the Provincial Councils. Furthermore, it will be Constitutional Court and not Supreme Court that will hold constitutional jurisdiction to resolve any dispute between Parliament and Provincial Council.
If, Premadasa’s manifesto is implemented, then we would end up with a very weak central government.
How such a Government could handle foreign Agreements such as the MCC or even the foreign Trade Agreements such as the one signed with Singapore becomes a matter of great concern. The fact that the MCC was almost signed when everyone’s attention was on election signifies that Premadasa does not share the same concerns that the GR camp does. Hence, he does not believe that the MCC needs a revisit and a renegotiation that GR had pledged to do.
The main question in GR’s manifesto is whether he can achieve all he plans within five years. The fact that he comes with a plan and a capable team, with achievements such as winning a war that dragged on for 30 years in just under three years and revolutionising the urban landscape gives hope that he can achieve all he has set to do. Premadasa’s achievements despite being a Member of Parliament for 20 years cannot hold a candle to GR’s list.
There are undesirables in both candidates’ camps. They will need to be managed firmly. As the idiom goes, a pack of dogs led by a lion will behave like lions, but a pride of lions led by a dog will cower like dogs. At the end of the day, what matters is leadership.
Our job as the voter is to decide which of the two candidates – Gotabaya Rajapaksa or Sajith Premadasa – would be the lion to lead the country forward. ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com
