Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) today called upon the government not to proceed with the signing of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and urged the President to inform the MCC and the US government that it will be rescinded with immediate effect.

Issuing a statement, the BASL says it has been reliably informed that the Finance Ministry is in the process of making arrangements to sign the MCC today. 

In our opinion the Finance Ministry has no legal authority to sign the MCC Agreement which contains many more matters other than a simple agreement to borrow money from the lender.”

As explained to the Prime Minister by the BASL in August 2019, the proposed agreement goes much beyond a simple loan/ grant and contains many clauses dealing with land and jurisdiction,” it said. 

These are matters clearly outside the purview of the Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet could not have authorized the Minister of Finance to proceed with the MCC, the association said.
 
It is rather unfortunate that the basic concepts of Governance such as collective responsibility and Constitutional assignment of subjects are not considered at all in arriving at such decisions which have a serious impact on the sovereignty of the Nation,” the statement said.

The BASL said it vehemently opposes such a move by the Ministry of Finance and called upon the Prime Minister to honour the undertaking given to them in July/August 2019 that the MCC would not be signed without taking into consideration the observations of the Bar. 

The association said it is totally misleading for certain persons holding responsible positions to maintain that the MCC will be placed before Parliament after it is signed. Such a course of action is meaningless and once signed the Agreement will have a binding effect.” 

BASL called upon the PM who is a very senior politician on this country to refrain from proceeding with this move unless sufficient discussion takes place. 

We also urge the President to immediately inform the MCC and the US Government that even of the Agreement is signed it would be rescinded with immediate effect if the signing is done without playing the Agreement before Parliament,” it said.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa has requested Venerable Ven. Ududumbara Kashyapa Thera to call a halt to the protest fast that he commenced against the signing of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement this morning (05).

The former Defence Secretary has addressed a letter to Ududumbara Kashyapa Thera making the said request.

Rajapaksa says, from the time the Presidential Election was announced until its results are released, he would scrutinize the agreements so far signed by the government and to take measures to revoke them if they are contrary to national interests.

Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardena visited Ududumbara Kashyapa Thera to deliver Rajapaksa’s letter to him.

Ududumbara Kashyapa Thera, addressing a three-paged letter to the government, resorted to a protest fast this morning, stressing that he cannot silently watch the motherland being ‘betrayed’ to a foreign country.

He urged the government to halt the signing of the MCC agreement with the United States.

The letter issued by SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa is as follows:

Courtesy Adaderana

The presidential front-runner of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he would not allow the importation of eggs and poultry products under his administration.

Rajapaksa made this remark while addressing a rally at Hettipola area, which was held as a part of his election campaign last evening (04).

The rally took place with the auspices of former President and Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and SLPP’s presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa also vowed to slash the cost of production of poultry farming.

If elected, Rajapaksa says he would boost the poultry farming so that the farmers can acquire an increased income.

Under his administration, Rajapaksa intends to take governmental measures to protect the local farmer.
 

Addressing the event, the Opposition Leader said the incumbent government has failed to guarantee uninterrupted gas supply to the citizens but continues to give false promises to the public.

Courtesy Adaderana

President’s Counsel Ali Sabry says that the manifesto of New Democratic Front (NDF) Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa contains ideas from the interim report complied with inputs from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

Speaking at the 360° political program on TV Derana last night (04), Sabry said that there are grave and serious issues in the manifesto of Sajith Premadasa.

He points out that that the interim report of the Steering Committee on the Constitution submitted to the parliament was made by the Prime Minister and TNA Spokesperson MP M. A. Sumanthiran. 

These ideas and proposals are contained in the recently published manifesto of Premadasa, he added.

According to Sabry, the manifesto read, Sri Lanka shall be a union of provinces and states. Sri Lanka shall be a federal state within the framework of the united and undivided and indivisible country”.

President’s Counsel Ali Sabry says that there was no chance of defeating the LTTE without Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Responding to a query on defending a person who has corruption charges against him, Sabry says that anyone can accuse anyone and all the charges against Gotabaya Rajapaksa are false accusations made with political intentions. That is why we represent his without any doubt or hesitation, he added.

He said, We need a motherland to live and work. We need leaders who can protect the country. Among the few leaders, we have Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the best leader we have at this moment. Therefore, it is our duty to protect him.”

Speaking on the allegations that Gotabaya Rajapaksa won all his cases through the loopholes of the law, Sabry said that they have only won through the fairness of the law. 

He says the judges who had given the verdicts in these cases are unblemished great judges and that these same judges have rejected cases of Gotabaya at other instances. However, no one talks when a case is rejected, but when a case is won, it is criticized through websites registered abroad, he added.

Sabry says that accusing one person or one government for racial conflicts is unfair. Although it was wrong to not have punished the perpetrators, Mahinda Rajapaksa or Gotabaya Rajapaksa never fled from issues, he said. 

They took the responsibility of the incident which happened during their regime and did what had to be done. However, this government, instead of taking responsibility for the situation, blamed someone else and let the issue grow worse. They had nicely managed it and pushed the blame on the Rajapaksas to show that it was a creation of them. This is a lie. This is a common challenge for us as a nation. These happened under the Bandaranaike era, J. R. Jayawardena era, R. Premadasa era, Chandrika Bandaranaike era, Mahinda era and even now.”

Commenting on the Easter Sunday terror attacks, the President’s Counsel says that he agrees although there were some deviations from the mainstream within the Muslim community, it is unfair to blame the whole Muslim society for this incident. 

Blaming the whole Muslim community over the act Zahran Hashim is wrong. Because Hashim had been chased away from his mosque in Kattankudy. The trustees there had carried out Satyagrahas. Fifteen complaints had been lodged at the police. Arrest warrants had been issued. You cannot push this on Muslim people. 

I think the government is completely responsible for this incident. Nearly 97 intelligence reports had been submitted. It seemed as the government just waited for this to happen. 

It is fair to have suspicion against Muslims after the incident. But it is not fair to claim that the Muslim community is connected to this act because the Muslim community doesn’t have a reason to do so. LTTE terrorism had a goal. To gain an Eelam, separate land and a separate state. But Muslims do not have such a goal. 

The people who attacked had no issue with Sri Lanka. They just wanted to create mayhem over the issues with the West. Therefore there is no connection between the Muslim society and the Easter Sunday attacks.”

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

හිටපු ජනාධිතිනී චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග මහත්මියගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අද පැවැති සමුළුවට සහභාගී වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ ආසන සංවිධායකවරුන්ට එරෙහිව විනය පියවර ගැනීමට පක්ෂය තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා.

එම තිරණය ගෙන ඇත්තේ අද පැවැති පක්ෂ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාවේදී.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාව අද පස්වරු 7.30ට පමණ ආරම්භ වුණා.

එය පැවැත්වුණේ පක්ෂයේ සභාපති ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන්.

මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාවට සහභාගී වූ පක්ෂ නියෝජිතයින් කිහිප දෙනෙකු අනතුරුව අදහස් පළ කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

ලෝකයේ නව තාක්ෂණික ප්‍රවණතා පිළිබඳ අවධානය යොමු කරමින් ඉදිරි නගර සංවර්ධන සැළසුම් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට තමන් කටයුතු කරන බව ශ්‍රී  ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

අද පෙරවරුවේ මහියංගණය හසලක ප්‍රදේශයේ පැවති ජන රැළියකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ සහ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂය නියෝජනය කරන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ඇතුලු විශාල පිරිසක් ඊට එක්ව සිටියා.

Location, Location, Location” is reason why Sri Lanka is important and it is the reason why nations adopt numerous approaches to ensure stakes in potentially any corner of the island all of which bring immeasurable value to them. Why can’t Sri Lankan leaders & citizens understand the country’s geopolitical potential as much as external parties/players? It is in the inability to understand and maximize this potential to Sri Lanka’s benefit that has enabled external parties to use cunning methods to wriggle their way into tapping what ideally should be a strategic wealth asset to Sri Lanka & held by Sri Lankans.

With global focus shifted to Asia, it is imperative that Sri Lankans come to terms with how global players will turn to Sri Lanka for geopolitical, military & trade perspectives. It is in the light of this understand that we can be better positioned to understand the developments since the end of LTTE in May 2009, the US pivot to Asia, US Air-Sea Battle doctrine, China’s announcement of Belt & Road Initiative in 2013 prior to which in 2010 Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port was launched are in some ways connected to the successive UNHRC Resolutions drafted by US & supported by its allies against Sri Lanka to weaken and diplomatically pressurize Sri Lanka into opening its systems for the perusal of ‘foreigners’ who had bigger plans up their sleeves.

This culminated in 2015 regime change, placing a puppet government in power, psychologically hypnotizing citizens into being mesmerized by yahapalana good governance until faux pas came to such appalling levels that even the regime changers had no damage control for. However, while the nation was kept busy dealing with countless faux pas perhaps purposely planted to keep the nation busy & diverted, strategic changes were taking place.

Now we come to a point where we can view these changes from a perspective of what benefits Sri Lanka or what benefits those funding the changes. It is left to the reader to decide.

However, this is being written from the point of view of the country & the citizens and future generations.

US says it is giving $480m as a non-refundable grant. WHY?

US says MCC has no conditions, if so why produce a Constraints Analysis which names

• Lack of Assess to Land
• Policy Uncertainty
• Inadequate overland transport as root causes for investment impediments while also highlighting ‘shortage of skills in science, technology, engineering & math(STEM) as another impediment which means it is highly likely that foreigners will be employed in MCC investment ‘economic corridor’ and elsewhere too.

If MCC is coming to help Sri Lanka’s poor why does MCC want access to land?

MCC Constraints Analysis makes clear that MCC wants to buy land for ‘investment purposes’.

How do we know what MCC conditions are?

MCC official Steve Lovic on 25 September 2018 in Temple Trees handed out a MCC document which had a list of very interesting details that would open our eyes to understanding what MCC is really about.

MCC document given in 2018, creates a Millennium Challenge Authority  

Unbelievable that in a sovereign country a government ministry is placed subordinate a US MCC authority board. Where have you heard of a government Ministry below a corporate body?

Sri Lankans have access to land – who doesn’t have access? It is the foreigners

When MCC speaks about lack access to land it is MCC that is seeking land for investment.

When MCC speaks about policy uncertainty, it is MCC that is seeking legislative changes advantageous to MCC investors

When MCC speaks about inadequate overland transport, it is for MCC investors.

So for this non-refundable $480m GRANT to be given, the GOSL has to first make the following changes

(if STATE LAND IS NOT PRIVATIZED MCC COMPACT-Economic Corridor CANNOT take place)

MCC Condition – Issue land grants to people – giving them all rights of private ownership (this nullifies Sri Lanka’s control over its territory exercised by the Centre)

Preparation of parcel fabric map / cadastral map is being done   

MCC Condition – Legislative change 1 – Land Special Provisions Bill (drafted by US) repeal State Lands Ordinances of 1947 & removes powers of the President over Land & confers those powers to Provinces (13a – Land Powers given & US/Allies will be buying land directly from the Provinces)

Shockingly this Act is ONLY VALID for 7 years.

Which means that the idea behind privatizing 84% of state land in Sri Lanka, is to within 7 years enable the sale of State land held by grantees to foreign investors.

The obvious plan via the Land Special Provisions Bill was to remove obstacle where 84% of state land was held by farmers. The only way to do that was to give outright ownership to grantees of state land by privatizing state land. Once grantee land owners had title deeds to land they are on their own.

The Land Special Provisions Bill Section 29 claims that state land privatized can be mortgaged to any financial institution or any purchaser (that means even foreigners can buy land as the cap to prevent foreigners owning land was removed after this government came into power in 2015)

MCC Condition – Legislative change 2 – Inventory of State Land – Land Bank Bill (drafted by US)

State Land Bank Act is passed by legal draftsman & signed by Attorney General and copied to Charitha Ratwatte & attorney Ms Bimba Tilakaratne (legal advisor to PM Ranil) but has not been presented YET to Cabinet or Parliament.

The preamble to this Act is to compile all state land owned or vested with public institutions (land used by schools, libraries, armed forces, police, nature parks etc) and enable these public institutions to sell. There is no criteria/restrictions or scope for such sale even.

Section 33 of this Act aspires to repeal land reform law of 1972 that limits ownership to 50 acres.

Vesting powers all go to the State Land Bank.

State Land Bank can even be sued by corporations – so where is Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.

The State Land Bank organization board is to comprise of 19 Additional Secretaries and 5 members of the Constitutional Council (you can imagine what we are in store for)

Section 28 of the Act gives a virtual carte blanche to the Minister to dispose of land simply by a letter. By vesting powers to the State Land Bank/Minister Sri Lanka can even be sued by corporations – so where is Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.

• Privatizing of 84% of State Land via Land Special Provisions Bill
• Loophole penetrated is Land issued by President is conclusive proof of absolute title.

MCC Condition – Registration of grants into the title system

MCC Condition – Conversion of deeds to title system

MCC Condition – Establish a Land Policy Body under Ministry of Lands

The MCC 2018 document also gives a map of geographic areas of focus for MCC Land Investment. Again you must ask yourself – were we not told that this $480m was simply a grant to help Sri Lanka’s poor, then what is this MCC land investment?

Is it not clear that MCC is actually planning to buy our land and buy our land cheap by getting the government to re-survey our land and that is why a new valuation system is being designed with foreign inputs & advice.

Those that are saying why are people making a fuss over the ‘gift’ of $480m seem to totally ignore the loans that the GOSL is taking to give US firms to iron out areas that would quicken the process for US investors to land & buy over our land & even cheap labor as ILO are already redrafting our labor laws.

How many know that GOSL has given US firm Trimble Navigation to prepare land survey maps & create a database of 3.6m parcels of state owned land? Trimble is doing what Survey Dept should be doing and the dangers of Sri Lanka signing the US Tropic Forest Act which was rejected in 2004 is highly likely to occur. GOSL has taken a loan of $154m to pay Trimble to survey our land and 400 public surveyors & 200 additional private surveyors with crews will all be serving under Trimble. Trimble would take control of Sri Lanka’s electronic land register & details of lands – isn’t this a threat to National Security when a private company is given access to all land details of a sovereign country & the government takes a loan to pay them for it? This $154m is not part of the $480m grant!

Now please remove your pro-foreign lens and imagine what all these changes will mean to Sri Lanka & its citizens?

Why is US asking for changes to our administrative systems – privatizing state land, giving title deeds, removing cap on foreign ownership of land – what is their bigger plan?

What happens when all State land is privatized?

Political power over land passes from Centre to the provinces.

Isn’t this what TNA & LTTE had been fighting & demanding for 30 years?  

By now you should have understood that Land Special Provisions Act & Land Bank Act are integral parts of the MCC conditions   

All this means – the GOSL has privatized all state land, given title deeds to people living on state land as grantees by an Act that is valid for only 7 years while allowing title deed holders to sell their land to anyone including foreigners the intent of which is for foreigners/foreign investors to buy land within 7 years. While the Act also allows foreigners to even sue the country.

This happened in Peru where secret land deals with a foreign company resulted in its cancellation & foreign company took issue with international tribunal resulting in Peruvians paying $24m for a deal done in secret by their government – https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/trade-agreements-pre-empt-dissent-an-interview-with-aftinets-dr-patricia-ranald/?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=View-Original

However, there are 2 impediments –

First is the FR case filed in the Supreme Court against the Land Special Provisions Bill which prevents MCC signing and any MCC signing must be regarded as a contempt of court.

Second is the Supreme Court Judgement (Bulankulame vs the State) famously known as the Eppawela Case where the Court determined that Sri Lanka’s Constitution secures the fundamental rights of even our unborn generations to our land. The right to private property is not a human right.

1 million deeds have already been distributed by President Sirisena-Prime Minister Ranil especially aligned to those living along this ‘economic corridor’ – against these two judgements how valid are these deeds?

MCC economic corridor cannot be created without privatizing state land to enable private owners to sell and selling state land used by schools/libraries/forces etc. Both scenarios will create incremental displacement of people and public utilized buildings.

Now let’s ask some questions?

• What happens if farmers who now have private title deeds mortgage their land to a financial institution & the bank takes over their land for non-payment?
• What happens if farmers sell their land because foreigners offer a price they cannot refuse?
• What if private land title owners end up selling their land & have no livelihood or even place to live?
• How can a government survive when a government forfeits all State land & loses its ability to collect revenue from taxes? How can a government survive without taxes & revenue?
• What is the jurisdiction of a government & politicians over land that belongs to private citizens or foreigners? These are incremental scenarios likely to happen
• Is there any use in having a Parliament or a Government? Will Politicians be jobless?

Now let’s look at other scenarios

• If MCC goes through, the other agreements ACSA & SOFA will only strengthen US/transnational corporate presence in Sri Lanka – US military/civil contractors armed, with weapons, bringing unchecked equipment without paying any duties can enter Sri Lanka & go anywhere.
• Palaly international airport means that India has been given air capacity to bring any military hardware from air into Sri Lanka.
• TNA 13 demands and the partnership with the NDF candidate means that there is more than room for another unilateral declaration of independence – with a corridor and rail preventing Sri Lankan Armed Forces using ground-naval-air to defend itself, the Eelam gift is given on paper but under Indo-US control and Tamils will realize too late they have sold Sri Lanka and themselves. https://www.tamilguardian.com/sites/default/files/File/Tamil%20orgs/1.Translation%20of%20the%20Five%20Party%20Document-%20Issued%20by%20Jaffna%20Unniversity%20Stduents%20-%2014.10.2019.pdf
• What powers will our National Army & Police have to carry out their national duties? Not much!
• Economic Electric Rail Corridor vests US 1.2million acres for 200 years dividing Sri Lanka into 2 and taking part of Sacred Anuradhapura as well. Will Sri Lankans need visa to go & pray?
• Then we come to the East terrain – the Batticoloa university is also part of the MCC map where US envoy is opening buildings in the very area that the Easter Sunday suicide bombers resided and paid for by the US Pacific Command funds? Why? This is linked to the Caliphate in Sri Lanka and we cannot ignore who jihadi terrorists best friend is and it is a factor that the Muslims of Sri Lanka cannot ignore too.

Sadly, the minorities of Sri Lanka have been ready proxies to weaken Sri Lanka.

Tamils & LTTE terrorists were used for 30 years to weaken Sri Lanka and now simultaneously a proxy political Tamil alliance together with proxy Muslim militant/political synergy is now being used to further weaken Sri Lanka tapping into the weaknesses of the political system and the ignorance of the masses.

We can only hope that people can see the larger picture. All of the 3 foreign agreements must be taken together with the legislative changes that have taken place by a weak and spineless government put into the saddle by the parties aspiring to grab Sri Lanka geopolitically, economically & militarily. Will this end Sri Lanka’s 2500 proud history and heritage will be seen in days to come?

Shenali D Waduge

S. AKURUGODA Courtesy The Island

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe hands over CFA document to then Norwegian Ambassador Jon Westborg

According to media reports, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that the agreement on the implementation of a US$ 480 million MCC grant would be signed before the presidential election, and asked why should it be rejected when government was receiving US$ 480 million under the grant?   His Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has said that the agreement will be presented to Parliament after signing it. 

UNP leaders are well known for signing notorious agreements, detrimental to the country in many ways, with foreign powers or with their involvements, without going through the parliament or briefing the contents of the agreements to the opposition political parties or the general public. 

We remember how the UNP leader J.R. Jayewardene (JRJ) signed the Indo-Lanka Pact in 1987 amidst curfew.  JRJ signed the hurriedly prepared document endorsed by the Tamil separatist groups including the LTTE. The opposition to the treacherous agreement was notable and the extent of the opposition to it was seen when a sailor attacked the Indian PM while the latter was receiving the guard of honour. The agreement didn’t serve the desired expectation at all.  The Provincial Councils (PCs) set up under Indo- Lanka Agreement are mere white elephants. According to available records, the government’s allocation for maintaining PCs had gone up from Rs. 90m (1989) to Rs. 60,000m in 2010. Fortunately, no government has yet devolved the police and land powers as per the said agreement, based along ethnic lines. If fully implemented, it will be irreversible and, if an attempt is made to reverse them, the consequences will be disastrous. 

Similarly, the CFA arranged by the Norwegians and signed by the UNP leader Ranil and the terrorist leader Prabhakaran in 2002 was not transparent and didn’t serve any purpose to the country. Its legality is questionable since the agreement was signed by the PM who was neither the Head of the Executive nor the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Ranil, via the agreement, blindly gave some areas of the North and Eastern Provinces to the LTTE under so-called “LTTE territories”, without the knowledge or the approval of the country. Unless this foolish agreement was abrogated and LTTE defeated militarily to remove the so-called “LTTE territories”, the situation of the country would be entirely different today. 

Thus signing any form of treacherous agreement by a UNP leader like Ranil, behind closed doors disregarding its consequences, is not a surprise at all. 

S. AKURUGODA

N.A.DE S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island

In the 2500 long history of this country there have been several betrayals that had adversely changed its destiny. Some of them were forced on the rulers and some engineered by them. And some could have been avoided. An act by a ruler that compromises the independence and sovereignty of the country could be considered a betrayal of its people. Legend has it that Kuveni and her people were betrayed by Vijaya. However, the first major betrayal is perhaps by King Don Juan Dharmapala, who in 1580 after listening to Franciscan monks wrote his last will naming the king of Portugal as the claimant to the throne of Kotte after the demise of the king, as he had no son to succeed him. Then comes the often quoted gross betrayal in 1815, the Kandyan Convention which handed over the hitherto unconquered Kandyan Kingdom to the British. Though conditions were included in this agreement they were breached with impunity by the British. Since then a similar betrayal cannot be found until 2016 when the ‘yahapalana’ government co-sponsored the UNHRC Resolution against its own country, which is unprecedented in UN history, and which enabled the western powers to encroach on our independence and take this country in its grip, opened the doors for a new constitution which eventually if adopted would establish a federal/separate state in the North and East, and also made unsubstantiated charges against the war wining armed forces of war crimes, which were to be investigated by a foreign judiciary.

Perhaps this little country is prone to periodical betrayals, but now it seems they are coming on us at rapid succession. The same government which co-sponsored the UNHRC Resolution is going tooth and nail to sign three agreements with the USA before its tenure ends. One has already been entered into; the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA). This was originally intended for NATO countries and other pro-US submissive states. The agreement provides for logistic support for US forces by Sri Lanka, in case there is a need for their forces to be stationed in the region. This obviously is a military agreement which grossly compromises our claims for non-alignment. It could either discourage economic aid from countries like China, Russia and Iran, or make them pressure the government for similar military arrangements in order to counter the aggressive moves by the US.

ACSA has to be considered with the other proposed military agreement the State of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which aims to establish Rights and Privileges of US forces, particularly with regard to visa-less entry, freedom of movement, and civil and criminal jurisdiction. These two agreements together would enable the US forces to enter into Sri Lanka, get logistic support and even launch a military base and a campaign against its enemies using our soil for the purpose, without prior permission from the government. The US personnel would not come under our law and if they commit an offense our police and courts will not be able to take any action. For instance in 2011 in South Korea, which has a SOFA,  three brutal rape and arson cases were committed by US soldiers and a curfew had to be enforced to control the riots. The other relevant fact is most countries who have entered into SOFA with the US have US military bases on their land. Therefore the argument that the US which has huge aircraft carriers in the oceans doesn’t need to have bases on land like Sri Lanka may not hold water.

The other wicked betrayal that may befall us is the Millennium Challenge Corporation Agreement (MCC). It was started by President George Bush purportedly to streamline aid, and it is supposed to be independent of the State Department and USAID, though its chair is the Secretary of State. More than 23 countries have entered into the compact, most of them are US allies in Africa and South America, with only Indonesia and Philippines being the Asian countries to have entered into it. Indonesia and Philippines had MCC compacts for five years and the projects pertained uncontroversial areas like prevention of corruption, revenue, immunization, transportation. Once these projects are completed the US or its companies have no hold or presence in those countries. In some others, however the compact had a facade of innocence but core projects were designed for the pursuit of an imperial agenda. The proposed MCC compact for Sri Lanka is also for five years, but according to the terms and conditions of the compact and the areas they cover, there may be provision for US and its companies to have a hold on land and other national assets for a long period of time.

Researchers like Emma Mawdsley (2007), Mark Engler (2006), Susanne Soederberg (2004) have commented on the real intentions of the US in pushing countries to accept MCC on their terms. For instance Mawdsley says that the first five MCC compacts in Cape Verde, Honduras, Madagascar, and Georgia is using a new security development paradigm to legitimate more spending on “development” programmes, which are primarily intended to serve the interests of US consumers, manufacturers and investors, and that poverty reduction at best is a secondary objective. These researchers say that security improvement projects in recipient countries are really intended to serve US defense and military goals. Further they reveal how the World Bank contrives to show bad business of these projects as good business.

The proposed five year MCC compact for Sri Lanka has programmes for transportation improvement and land registration, ownership, and utilization aimed at poverty alleviation. There are 17 Eligibility Criteria for US MCC agreements and one of them is termed Land Rights and Access Indicator and items under this include suitability of land to buy. Under the latter the lands that are suitable for purchase by companies are given in detail, for example it is stated there should not be title disputes. The Land Acts that were proposed by the government recently are obviously for the purpose of meeting these criteria. The titles of a substantial extent of land that lies in the area identified for these projects, are in the form of permits and not in deeds, this needs to be corrected to meet MCC conditions, hence the need for new Land Acts. The Land (Restrictions on Alienation) Act No. 38 of 2014 which prevented companies with foreign ownership of shares in excess of 50% purchasing land has been amended to remove that restriction. Further a Task Force is being put in place to establish Land Banks which are essential for the MCC.

Obviously the ground work is being done for the US to take complete control of the economy of the country supported by a military presence. It is part of their geopolitical anti-Chinese agenda in the Indian Ocean region. The US is pressuring the Government to sign the ACSA, SOFA and MCC as a matter of urgency before the presidential election. An item in the Eligibility Criteria for MCC is Government Effectiveness Indicator, under which policy consistency and continuity is stressed so that the MCC could continue even after a change of government.

 Because of these several betrayals by the government the people, their land, economy, independence and sovereignty are in great peril. Unwavering vigilance and a concerted resolute effort by the people to thwart these treacherous deeds are needed at this critical hour.  

N.A.DE S. AMARATUNGA

FR. J. C. PEIRIS Galle Courtesy The Island

It is most likely that Ali Baba and the 225 thieves will creep back into the den of Diyawannawa yet again for five years of robbing and pillaging the country; another five years of selling our women to slavery and our resources for paltry commissions; another five years of alienating our harbours, airports and land for 99 years or for good. This time not even god Sakra will be able to protect our Central Bank and our Employees Provident Fund. There will be taxes on taxes on taxes and the price of basic food items will rocket into the stratosphere. The boot licking civil administration will morph into a brood of human jellyfish; again there will be a few women and men of integrity, in the pool, wasting away their life. Rampant trafficking of drugs, prostitution, thuggery and lawlessness will be the order of the day. Breakdown of education, health care and public transport will be inevitable. Freedom of speech and of the media will deteriorate. Finally my country will be divided between America, China and India and we will be strangers in our own motherland.      

I am neither a soothsayer nor a prophet of doom. I am deducing the above from what has gone before for the last 71 years, and especially what happened after the seventies. The two leading candidates from the UNP and the SLFP (SLPP is an offshoot of SLFP) are screaming in competition, to grant people everything under the sun and the moon; lies, lies and damn lies. But there are plenty of morons in this country who believe them! Look at their rallies; how expensive to organize them and where is the money? I suppose Aloysius and drug lords are generously spending. The average low IQ of the country, and the still extant feudal mentality, are no help to put this country on the right track to eliminate poverty with its sovereignty intact and independence guaranteed. 

And that is what we hoped for and worked for promoting the Autochthonous Constitution and the non-violent system revolution. But it was blocked by the powers that are and their cats’ paws. They are deadly in fear of it. The so called alternative groups and their candidates are each going their own way to oblivion. The JVP, the safety valve of the corrupt system, carries on faithful to its services to the powers that are. Nothing has changed; everything is working according to the evil designs of the kleptocracy.  

Is there still a possibility of a miracle? Will some candidate carry the Autochthonous Constitution to implementation even at this eleventh hour? I wonder.

The ordinary, free and honest citizen of this country is in a dilemma. What is s/he supposed to do on the 16th? S/he is supposed to vote for somebody to govern this country. There are 35 candidates. Only three of them matter. The rest are going to lose their deposits. But of the three the red one is of no consequence. They are in the race out of habit and just to safeguard their four seats in the den. Two seats are illegal! So there are only two candidates left and what difference does it make who wins?

As a Sri Lankan and a Catholic I cannot take the decision whom to vote for without taking into consideration what happened on Easter Sunday. The ‘insects’ who were responsible for the safety of this country had foreknowledge of the attack. They knew who was going to do what and where. With the connivance of a global power they looked aside and waited for it to happen. The defense establishment said: “We did not expect it to be so big, so horrible.” One of the 225 thieves whined: “Papa told me not to attend the Easter Sunday main mass.” The ‘insects’ began to point fingers at one another and finally, as usual, nobody took responsibility. For them it is Karma, it just happened like the Tsunami, the floods and the droughts. I accuse the entire governing apparatus of Ali Baba and the 225 thieves for the massacre of hundreds of mainly Catholics, but also of Christians, tourists and hotel staff. Immediately after the terrible tragedy the finance minister crowed that they got US$ 480 million. They are still crowing about it. Don’t the ‘insects’ realize it is blood money? Don’t touch that money and to hell with the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact. It is the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas! 

The three towns, Colombo-Kochchikade, Negombo-Katuwapitiya and Batticaloa sank to the depths of anguish and bereavement. Some little ones were simply vaporized and the people have not got over the enormity of the ‘Holocaust’. The relatives of the victims and the residents of those three localities were emotionally shattered and traumatized. They are still trying to cope with it and get back to normal life. And these ‘insects’ dare to come with their begging bowls seeking our vote. 

And so, to conclude, what shall we do on the 16th? People ask me what they should do on the 16th. Since there is no Autochthonous Constitution to vote for I do not know what to tell them. My personal problem as a Catholic, the dilemma, is how to vote for one of the two betraying my co-religionists and brethren, whose lives were extinguished in vain and so many remaining maimed? However ugly, rotten and stinking the current political reality is, we have to face it. We have to go to the polling booth; otherwise some ‘insect’ will steal our vote. These are the options: Tear the voting card and stuff the box with the pieces (Probably a useless exercise. At least it will not be stolen.) Or scratch out the card from top to bottom and write a few choice words of disgust (Since there will not be a None of the Above box to tick off.) or vote for the lesser evil. I still do not know what I would do on the 16th. I try to discern.

My discernment doesn’t seem to be getting anywhere. Look around the world. Many countries are not waiting for elections to get rid of their rotten, corrupt and evil governments. In South America, Africa, Middle East and Far East people are on the streets in huge mass protests day after day, month after month, forcing their governments to resign. Shall we learn a lesson from them? Is there no other way to get rid of Ali Baba and the 225 thieves and send them home, or to exile or to jail or to gallows? 

FR. J. C. PEIRIS

Galle

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara 

I draw the serious and prompt attention of the Government to the following news item and take immediate action first, to stop this subversive interference on the part of the Indian Government in our domestic affairs and second, to disband the Indian Sub-Office immediately before their activities become a headache to us.

News item

Divaina 11.3 reports the Raw is spying on the Election programmes of Gota and Sajit. It is said that this is being done by Indian Consular Offices in Jaffna and Hambantota

This is clear interference uncalled for on our internal matters and sovereignty by a foreign country.  In this context I suggest the Government take immediate action not only to stop this interference immediately but also simultaneously close down these two consular Offices forthwith. I also suggest that the Government also take action to close down the Indian assistant Commissioners Office in Kandy as well, as it also has ceased to serve the objectives for which it was opened in 1949, as I have pointed out previously as well that there is no point of having so many Indian Embassy offices all over the country, unless India has some subversive design behind it. The danger of having so many Indian Embassy Offices in this small Island which I pointed out long ago is now clearly confirmed by this action of the Raw reported in tomorrow’s Divaina.

Therefore taking this incident as a proof of what I said before I urge the Government immediately disband the regional Offices before India creates more problems to u

I am sure the Indian Embassy in Colombo can attend to diplomatic activities between the two countries without these appendages all over the country.     

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The SLPP today said the ITAK’s decision to support New Democratic Front presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa, indicated that the latter has accepted the conditions put forward by the TNA.

Addressing a news briefing, SLPP Chairman Professor G.L. Peiris said the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) was the main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which made public 13 conditions to candidates of the presidential election.

“The TNA said they would only support the presidential candidate who would accept their conditions. Removal of the unitary state of the nation, merging of the North and East Provinces and repealing of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are some of their conditions. Had we not had the PTA in force, we would have been in great trouble in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attack while launching investigations. SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa clearly said that he was rejecting their conditions,” he said.

However, Mr.Peiris said that Mr. Premadasa kept mum over the conditions made by the TNA and the ITAK supporting him, only implied that he had accepted those conditions. “This shows the duplicity of uttering two different stories to the North and South. People reject such political culture with disgust,” he said. 

Courtesy Adaderana

SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that the former government used the TID and the CID of the Police to find terrorists, but the incumbent government is using those agencies to ‘chase after political opponents’. 

Speaking during a rally in Chilaw, the former Defence Secretary claimed that the government even attempted to arrest and imprison him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). 

How can you get the person who ended terrorism under the Prevention of Terrorism Act?” he questioned.

Rajapaksa stated that if investigation into the murder of police officers in Batticaloa had been carried out properly, the Easter Sunday attacks could have been prevented. Those are the things that the commission should have looked into,” he said.

He said that they had set up a special unit to probe extremist elements with specially trained officers, however those officers had been removed and transferred to different positions overseas by the current government.

Rajapaksa said that if elected they will once again strengthen the intelligence service in the country, give intelligence officers the required powers and complete legal protection” to act for the country and ensure its safety. 

Courtesy Adaderana

NDF presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa says that his first task as President will be to hold two international aid conferences for the North and the East as well as establish special presidential task forces for the war-torn provinces.

Addressing an election rally in Mullaitivu, the minister said that he also said that he will ensure a ‘golden era’ for every community in the country.

Premadasa also spoke during an election rally held at Ratgama.

He stated that presidential units will be established in every divisional secretariat allowing the public with an opportunity to come forward with their common and personal issues and that thus far there has not been such a system in place. 

This is my best time,” he said, before adding that he intends to work tirelessly and with utmost diligence to provide a matured service to the public. 

Premadasa said that the plan he will execute to develop the country is in his ‘head’ and that he is in no need of ‘tuition classes’ from anyone as he is with a sound knowledge and a clear vision.

Courtesy Adaderana

Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that, with the aim of boosting the tea industry once again, measures will be taken to halt the importing of substandard tea and mixing it with Sri Lankan tea.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential Candidate mentioned this addressing a public rally held in Bulathsinhala.

According to Rajapaksa, the current government is ignorant about the agriculture and plantation industries. Therefore, all sectors in plantation have collapsed, he added.

Everyone from the laborer till small to medium scale and large scale industries has collapsed, he said.

Exporting good-quality Sri Lankan tea with substandard imported tea has lowered the market for Sri Lankan tea, Rajapaksa pointed out.

He said that he will act to aid tea cultivators to continue their trade by completely halting the import of substandard tea for cultivation.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා සිහිනෙන් හෝ ආණ්ඩුවක් සාදන්නේ නම් එහි අගමැතිවරයා කවුද යන්න පිළිබඳ රටට හෙළි කළ යුතු බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසනවා.

මන්ත්‍රිවරයා මේ අදහස් පළ කළේ අද කොළඹදී පැවති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

ජනාධිපතිවරයා පත්කර ගැනීමෙන් පසු සිදු කරන පළමු කාර්ය වන්නේ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සම්මත කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු සිදුකිරීම බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පවසනවා.

යාපනය මානිපායි ප්‍රදේශයේ පැවති ජන හමුවකදී ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළා.

නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපතිධුර  අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාට සහය පළ කරමින් යාපනය මානිපායි සෙල්ලමුත්තු ක්‍රීඩාංගණයේ මෙම ජන හමුව පැවැත්වුණේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන්.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

තම ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනයේ අඩංගු කරුණු ජනතාවට ඉටු කර පෙන්විය හැකි යථාර්ථවාදී පොරොන්දු බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප්‍රමුඛ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

බලපිටිය ප්‍රදේශයේ ඊයේ පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ සියයට 65ක ඡන්ද පදනමක් ලබා ගනු ඇති බව එම පක්ෂයේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජී.එල්. පීරිස් පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ කොළඹ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණු කාර්යාලයේ අද කැදවා තිබූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.<

මේ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය කොළඹ අද කැදවූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් එහි උප සභාපති පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මහින්ද සමරසිංහ කියා සිටියේ  පක්ෂයේ තීරණවලට එරෙහිව කටයුතු කරන සාමාජිකයින් සම්බන්ධයෙන් හෙට රැස්වන මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාවේදී තීරණයක් ගන්නා බවයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය, නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසට සහය පළ කිරීමට තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා. <br /><br />එම සන්ධානයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ආර්. සම්බන්ධන් හිරු ප්‍රවෘත්ති අංශයට ප්‍රකාශ කළේ එම තීරණය ඉදිරියේදී නිළ වශයෙන් දැනුම් දීමට කටයුතු කරන බවයි.

දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය, ඉලංගෙයි තමිල් අරසු පක්ෂය, ටෙලෝ සහ ප්ලොට් යන පක්ෂවලින් සැදුම් ලබන අතර, ඉලංගෙයි තමිල් අරසු පක්ෂය ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසට සහය පළ කරන බව ඊයේ නිවේදනය කළා

දෙමළ සන්ධානයේ තීරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිරු ප්‍රවෘත්ති අංශයට කරුණු පැහැදිලි කරන එහි නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ආර්. සම්බන්ධන් පළ කළේ මෙවන් අදහසක්.

‘‘ ඉලංගෙයි තමිල් අරසු පක්ෂය ඊයේ තීන්දුවක් අරගත්තා, නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාසට සහයෝගය දෙන්න. දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය විදියට අපිත් ඒ තීන්දුව පිළිගන්නවා. අපේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගේ සාකච්ඡාවකදී මේ තීරණයම අපි ගත්තා.

අපි ගත්ත තීරණය හරි. නමුත් අපි යළි රැස්වනවා. අපේ මේ, තීරණය ඉදිරියේදී නිළ වශයෙන් දැනුම් දෙනවා. ’’

කෙසේ වෙතත්, විපක්ෂය චෝදනා කරන්නේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්‍ය සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස දෙමළ පක්ෂවල කොන්දේසි වලට එකඟත්වය පළ කිරීම නිසා සහය පළ කිරීමට තීරණය කර ඇති බවයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂයට සහය දැක්වීම සඳහා තවත් දේශපාලන පක්ෂ 14ක් අද ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ සමඟ සන්ධානගත වුණා.

ඊට උතුරු – නැගෙනහිර නියෝජනය කරන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ රැසක් ඇතුළත් වීම ද විශේෂත්වයක්.

හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ප්‍රභා ගනේෂන්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුත් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජනතා කොංග්‍රසය, අකිල ඉලංගෙයි ද්‍රවිඩ මහා සභාව, ශ්‍රී ටෙලෝ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනතා ජාතික පක්ෂය යන ලියාපදිංචි දේශපාලන පක්ෂයි මෙම ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් තබනු ලැබුවේ.

මීට අමතරව  ජනතා සේවක පක්ෂය, දේශප්‍රේමී එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදි ජනතා පෙරමුණ ඇතුලූ ලියාපදිංචි නොවූ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ 10 ක්ද අද අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් තැබුවා.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ද එක්ව සිටියා.

RANJITH SOYSA

We would like to request the President in connection with the highly irregular and  ‘unethical’ manner in which the Prime Minister and the ministers have approved the above bill when the country is facing an election to choose the President to take over the affairs of the country.

According to section 42 of the Constitution, the President is the head of the Cabinet and hence we believe that you have the power to reject approval of the above bill which is being rushed before the pending Presidential election. Besides, for all intentions and purposes the present Government is functioning in the mode of Caretaker Government and we firmly believe that such a legislative assembly cannot take action on a bill such as MCC which will have far-reaching impact on the economy as well as the social, defense and security-related areas of the country’s governance.

The basic question is should the country be ‘sold’ for $480 million especially affecting the administration and control over 1/3 of the country’s land area including the millions of members of the peasantry who will be bought over by the multi-national companies like what happened in the Latin America countries reducing the peasantry to indentured labor. Further, the area demarcated for MCC control includes the priceless Cultural Triangle which encompasses  the ancient institutions of Sri Lanka’s civilization,

We also request the general public to promote and to convert the coming election to a referendum on the MCC Bill and REJECT  the proponents and the objectives of the MCC

By Charles.S.Perera

Before there was peace. We had left behind the fear psychosis of a few years back, the claymore bombs, suicide bombers, and even the rickety homemade planes that bombed the Colombo city.  Instead, we saw and heard development in progress. The massive construction sites,  trucks, tractors. waste haulers were common sights. There were armies of construction workers in their hard yellow hats,  trying as it seemed to do an impossible job to fill the sea to extend the land to construct the  Colombo Port City.

The President of China  His Excellency Mr.Xi Jinping had visited Sri Lanka to inaugurate the construction of the Colombo Port City. He laid the foundation stone with all ceremonial elegance and splendor. 

Development was not confined to Colombo, New railway tracks were laid, railway stations were renovated,  and now a long time after, there are trains from Colombo to Jaffna. The first time in the history of Sri Lanka, ancient potholed macadamized roads were carpeted, new bridges were built, modern highways were being constructed. All this and a new airport and a harbor saw  Sri Lanka stepping into a new era of development and modernization. Buildings of different shapes and heights were being constructed for schools, hospitals, hotels, and homes.  

At the Bandaranayake International Airport,  huge planes carrying hundreds of tourists in their bellies were vomiting them out into sun and heat to be driven away to fleets of waiting for luxury coaches outside to take them to their Hotels.  Colombo was at last clean and tourists seem to enjoy the change. There were clean restaurants and eateries serving fresh food. The business was booming.  Service was brisk and efficient everywhere. The three-wheelers and cab drivers had a steady income. Super Markets were popping up in every town. The people were happy, satisfied and peaceful.

But yet there are those that grumbled ready to find fault. The opponents of the Government complained of a white van culture, lack of press freedom, dictatorship,  Impeachment of the Chief Justice seemed to them an interference into the judiciary.  The West liked developing countries left in poverty,  and dependent on their generosity. Therefore, the West which did not expect Sri Lanka to have ended terrorism and enter into a fast track development,  joined with the Tamil diaspora to encourage the Tamil Politicians in Sri Lanka to step up their demands for devolution of political power and territorial separation.  

The USA  which had changed tactics for regime change in developing countries has now resorted to NGO funded locals recruited for the purpose. Those in the West who have found a vocation in human rights are in International Forums backed by terrorist supporting Tamils in the diaspora, accusing  Sri Lanka Armed Forces of violation of human rights.

USA brought a resolution against the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. for violation of human rights and war crimes.

After eliminating terrorism, after 30 years of suffering, while at last Sri Lanka found peace and security , and the people regained their smiles,  the Government  of President Mahinda Rajapakse  had to face the Western forces backed by the Tamil Diaspora which had begun  to create new problems and dissension among communities, calling  for reconciliation measures.

Despite whatever accusations the interested parties in Colombo make against   President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government,  one cannot deny that President  Mahinda Rajapakse had the foresight  and a definite plan for the development of the country that no Presidents before him had.  It was appreciated by the masses of people who suffered most under terrorism whether they were in the North or in the south.  The virulent critics of Rajapakse and his government  came from among the English Educated  Colombians, with an  outlook and aspirations different from the ordinary mass of people outside

The President Mahinda Rajapakse who in 2014 had two more years for the end of his term of office, decided to call for a Presidential election two years before his term ended, probably because he thought that if he were to win,  he would have five full years to complete the projects he had planned. But that turned out to be an unfortunate decision.

His defeat at that Presidential election in January 2015 was assured by a plethora of foreign governments spending millions of Dollars with their secret service personnel working from within the country for the change of regime. After the defeat of President Mahinda Rajapakse, the US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that the American State Department spent 585 million US Dollars to establish democracy in  Burma, Nigeria and Sri Lanka  (https://www.sott.net/article/334209-US-spent-585mn-on-promoting-democracy-worldwide-in-past-year-and-proud-of-it).

This shows how frightful was the involvement of the USA in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, for their own benefit and not at all for the establishment of Democracy. The proof of this comes from the ACSA, SOFA and MCC agreements the signing of which are demanded by the US State Department. The benefits of these agreements are for the USA Armed Forces. The stupid Minister Mangala Samaraweera is gullible to swallow whatever rope given by America.

These agreements presented to Ranil Wickramasinghe brings to mind the CFA Ranil Wickramasinghe signed with the terrorist leader Prabhakaran without even consulting the President of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.   The American Embassy has informed that the MCC agreement after being signed will be presented to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Of what use will it be debated in Parliament if it has already been signed by the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka?

The events that followed  after the election of  Maithripala Sirisena as the President  and his  unconstitutional swearing-in of Ranil Wickramasinghe the leader of the UNP as the Prime Minister , and setting up a 100 day government of the UNP and SLFP which they called the Yahapalanaya, was the beginning of the fall of a country that was secured  from terrorism  and developed to a middle income status, with a fast-developing economy.

The Yahapalanaya Government of Ranil Wickramasinghe and UNP started off by the biggest Bond Scam- the robbery of the Central Bank by the government itself,  which had never been heard of before anywhere in the World. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe had evidently planned it by conveniently appointing a citizen of Singapore Arjun Mahendran who was his school friend at Royal College Colombo and a  friend of his  Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake, as the Governor of the Central Bank. 

Despite the scandal that followed and the accusations and the call for the arrest of the perpetrators, another bond scam was repeated the following year. Committees and Commissions were appointed to inquire into the robberies but little happened thereafter to punish the thieves”, the first accused the ex-Governor of the Central Bank,  the Citizen of Singapore had fled the country.

After the general elections the SLFP of President Maithreepala Sirisena and the UNP and its alliance of political parties- the Yahapalanaya,  wanted to change all development projects started by the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Prime Minister set up a special police FCID under him to arrest and take into custody the former President, his family and his supporters for theft and corruption. 

It was a wild goose chase which even after an hour and a half years could not find a single theft or file a valid charge against any one of the previous government, accept harassing them continuously taking them to courts and then to prison and releasing them as the accusations were not substantiated. That had been the major pre-occupation of the Yahapalanaya government throughout the past four and a half years.

The Yahapalanaya believed that the USA and the West will support them financially for the development of the country instead of the Chinese on whose financial support Mahinda Rajapakse had depended on the development of the country. They severed connections with China first by stopping the work of the Colombo Port City financed by China. The Foundation stone laid by the President of China His Excellency Xi Jinping was remùoved and thrown away with the other debris. They renamed the site the Colombo Financial City”.

It was only later that they found to their deception and chagrin that America had other interests in Sri Lanka than financing any development projects.

Today four and a half years after Yahapalanaya,  Sri Lanka is economically at the brink of bankruptcy. There is a resurgence of different terrorism worse than what Sri Lanka had seen before, which President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse had led its Armed Forces to eliminated successfully in  May 2009. The people are poorer. The new harbor at Hambanthota has been given on a renewable 99-year lease to China, and the Hambanthota Airport is to be sold to India.

However, there is, at last, some hope to stop Ranil Wickramasinghe led Yahapaalanaya causing further damage to the country and the people by changing the President at the presidential election scheduled to be held on the 16 November 2019. 

Ranil Wickramasinghe was determined to contest the Presidential elections from UNP led alliance of several Political parties.  But  Ranil Wickramasinghe’s Presidential candidacy was vehemently protested within the party, and his deputy leader Sajith Premadasa has been put forward as the Presidential Candidate of the UNP led alliance.  Sajith Premadasa is a vociferous man. He carries the mantle of his s father’s criminal conduct to thwart a rising of Sinhala youth in the country. The people have not lost the memory of at least one member of the family  burnt or tortured by his men

Even though Sajith  has been able to draw crowds for his meetings he does not speak against any wrongs of his leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, and has not spoken a word against the Bond Scam, selling of the Hambantota Harbour, of ACSA, SOFA and MCC Agreements Ranil Wickramasinghe is seen determined to sign with USA,  for  480 million Dollars offered  by USA  for the signing of the  MCC.  Why does the USA pay 480 million dollars for signing the MCC, if it is not for their benefit?

Sajith Premadasa the Presidential Candidate of the UNP led alliance is submissive to Ranil Wickramasinghe,  his leader.  Ranil Wickramasinghe is a stubborn leader who would not like to play the second fiddle to anyone else and would continue his authoritative disastrous path even if Sajith Premadasa were to be elected President. , Ranil Wickramasinghe allowed Sajith Premadasa to contest the Presidential election on condition that he would be the Prime Minister with some of the executive powers of the President which he manipulated to transfer to the Prime Minister under  19^th Amendment to the Constitution.

Sajith Premadasa at his political meetings shouts to demonstrates his youthful vigour and promises numerous things which he could have done while being a Minister in the Cabinet of the Yahapalanaya government. Sajith Premadasa has apparently done nothing in the Government except constructing poor houses, for poor people. 

The TNA  of the Tamil politicians has presented a  very racist and separatist 13 point demand as a condition to support the  Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa. But Sajith Premadasa has still not stated whether he accepts the 13 points or reject them. He is a deceptive candidate the large crowds at his meetings are no guarantee that they will all vote for him. The danger with Sajith Premadasa is that if he becomes the President it would again be Ranil Wickramasinghe with Paskaralingam and Charitha Ratwatte who will be running the Government, with Ranil as the Prime Minister.

When Sri Lanka was battered by terrorism and everybody around, foreign diplomats and Ministers of foreign Governments said that the terrorists were a strong-armed force and advised that there was no military solution to terrorism,  but a political settlement. But fortunately in 2005 at that decisive time in the history of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse was elected the  President. He turned out to be the savior – the legendary Diyasena. Mahinda Rajapaksa was a determined politician who had one thought at that time. It was to do or die. He wanted to end terrorism for good.

Today Sri Lanka is facing a different type of terrorism and the people are desperate having lost confidence in the government and seeing no immediate solution to their suffering. The situation is as it was in  2005. It was then a miracle that Mahinda Rajapakse was elected President. If he had not been elected President in 2005, we would still have terrorism and perhaps the country territorially divided and Communities separated.

Today nearly  15 years after the election of Mahinda Rajapakse as the President in 2005, Sri Lanka is again facing a situation worse than it was in 2005.  The country has lost everything it had achieved since the elimination of terrorism in May 2009.  The economy is in shatters. The development projects are grinding to a halt. The country is being forced to enter into doubtful agreements dividing the country selling its sovereignty to the USA for 480 million dollars and deprive the future generation of its ancient motherland as it had been for over 2600 years, its culture, its identity, and its valued heritage.

But as it was 15 years ago, today nearly  15 years after 2005,   once again to save the country from the  dangers it is facing , and rescue it from slipping into  disappearance Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been presented  as a Presidential Candidate by  the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna to challenge the evil and wrench our country from the jaws of disaster,  and bring back its losing shine and glory , to place it  back among  the people who hold it sacred.    . 

Gotabhaya Rajapakse had given his youth to the service in the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. He walked the rough soil in rain or sunshine. He was a fearless worrier who faced the ruthless terrorists face to face. He walked besides death as his companion, to win a war against terrorism to save the country from being divided.  He fought to eliminate the enemies of the country to bring peace and security to everyone-  Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim. 

Gotabhaya Rajapakse did not run away from the battlefield, but retired and lived with civilians and worked with foreigners. He came back to organize and coordinate the three Armed Forces the Army, Navy and Air Force as the Defence Secretary. He stood beside the President and worked alongside the Armed Forces to allow the respective Commanders to conduct the war with the soldiers of the Army, sailors of the Navy and the airmen of the Airforce,  to conduct a successful war to eliminate terrorism.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse has experience in the battlefield as much in the administration. He has a sharp intellect. He organized the Army personnel for their life after the war. They were trained in different fields,  as farmers to run farms, to help in natural disasters, cope with serious accidents. He got them trained in construction work, road building, landscaping, beautifying towns, parks, and gardens. He was able to get together specialists in different professions and knew how to work them, and prepare them to serve the country and successfully organize and complete projects.

Sajith Premadasa talks as he is a politician, but has not experienced real life. Sajith Premadasa talks to amuse people. He makes promises as if he had never been in the Government.  What he now promises to the people from the stage could have been done when he was a Minister in the Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. Even as a politician we have not seen him participating in debates in the Parliament.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse is not a politician but a man loaded with experience. He is not an empty vessel that makes a noise, but a person who knows what he is doing, where he is going and what is expected of him.

Gotabhaya is the most qualified and the most suitable Presidential Candidate who when elected will glorify the Office of President as no office can glorify him.  Sri Lanka is fortunate to have a man like Gotabhaya Rajapakse to lead the Country, protect the country and the people and bring peace and security and have a nation of smiling satisfied people.   

Dr. Sudath Gunaekara

I am appealing to all Sinhalese to awake, arise and vote the correct person on the 16^th  if you want to save this nation and our beloved motherland.

Now that today the TNA and its allies have at last declared they have decided to support Sajit Premadasa and Sajit has not said anything up to now on the 23 demands Tamil Parties have made has confirmed this underhand deal. Ranil and Rajitha Senaratna have been almost residing there for the past one week addressing meetings and meeting Tamil politicians wooing the Tamils on behalf of Sajith. Probably they must have already signed the agreement betraying the Sinhala nation and the motherland as they all ways do.

I appeal to all UNP Sinhalese to take this very seriously and refrain from voting Sajit, if you want to save the Sinhala nation and the Motherland for your children and posterity. Please remember if you vote Sajit and he wins by any chance that is the end of the Sinhala nation and the motherland protected from all enemies to us by our ancestors for the past 2500 years. Thereafter you and your children have no country of your own to live.  It is not a question of SLFP vs UNP or Rajapaksa vs Premadasa. It is a struggle between life and death and a matter of survival for a nation. Therefore please go to the polling station early morning on the 16^th and cast you to vote for Gotabhaya Rajapaksa if you want a country to live forgetting all your political differences.

 I also want all my readers to read the following news item immediately and look at the names of the key persons rallied round in the South to support Sajit to become the President of this country in order to support these extremist Tamil conspirators to wipe out the Sinhala nation and Buddhism from the surface of this planet.

Chandrika Kumaratunga,

Ranil Wickramasingha.

Wikramabahu Karunaratna,

Rajita senaratna

Chatura Senaratna

Champika Ranawaka 

Rauf Hakeem,

Rishars Badurdeen,

Prof Chandragupa Thenuwara

Saman Ratnapriya

Dambara  Amila

 Asad Sali”.

(I am surprised that the names of people like Gamini Viyangoda, Victor Ivan, Sumantiram, Pro Ratnajeevan Hoole, Hisbulla, Savul Hameed, Digambaran, Mervin Silva and Vignesvaran are not given in the list. Nevertheless, they must be there somewhere at least providing the background music and funds). It is noteworthy that almost all these people are already there in the UNP led by Ranil Wickramasinha).

I don’t think I need to say anything about each of these Dignitaries” as perhaps you know better and the whole country also know them from Adam

Nevertheless, I would just highlight a few among them who play a leading role in this treachery and national crime.

Chanrika Badaranayaka alias Kumaratunga.

She is the woman who first broke away from SLFP and formed Mahajana Paksaya against the SLFP with her husband Vijaya Kumaratunga and later joined the SLFP in 1993 to oust her own brother Anura. Then she betrayed her own great parents and the whole nation and the country during her 11 years in office as the President both in her speeches and actions. She is also the one who wanted to hand over the North and the East to Prabhakaran for 10 years. Then she tried to introduce a New Constitution called the Package in 1997, popularly known as Pottaniya, as JR named it. During her tenure she criticized all the SLFP policies like the Sinhala only policy of her own Father, giving foremost place to Buddhism which her mother did and who publicly said the problems of this country could never be solved until the Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian mindset is finally defeated.  She also said that she feels sad that she was born a Sinhalese as her son once said and finally instigated Maitripala Sirisena quit SLFP and join the UNP as the Common candidate in Nov 2014 to defeat the Sinhala Buddhist forces lead by Mahinda Rajapaksa  and committed the biggest treachery against this country and the nation by Installing Ranil and his rogue clique. What happened thereafter you all know, for which the patriotic people of this country will never forgive her.

I quote here the best testimonial ever said on her by none other than her own Mother, to me when I was working as her (Mrs B) Secretary in 1994. Sudath Chandrika kelinne okkoma pissu, man kiyana kisideyak ahanne ne” and now I think this perhaps is the last of that long list of Pissukeli by her in her last days of political rejection and oblivion.

Ranil Wickramasingha

About Ranil I don’t think I need to say a word as any tiny tot in this country will know his long list of political bungling ever since his illegal appointment as PM by an exited President Sirisena on Jan 8^th, 2015. But I am compelled to say that he is the only Prime Minister in the whole world who has gone down in history as the one who robbed the nation’s Central Bank by conspiring, aiding and abetting and yet continues as the PM with Impunity and he is also the man who destroyed that Grand Old Political Party, the UNP by misleading it for 25 long years without allowing anyone to emerge as a second rank leader to take over the Party and finally cleverly put the poor Sajit to the political guillotine which the poor man driven by pride self -conceit and ignorance, swallowed it with hook, line, and sinker and got destroyed himself. Even if Sajit win by some miracle Ranil says he is the PM. But Sajit says otherwise

About the rest in the list, and all those behind this treacherous move I leave it for you to do your homework. The gospel truth I can say about this whole bunch is that all these people including the man appearing as a Buddhist monk is that they all are anti-Sinhala, anti-Buddhist and anti-national conspirators working on an agenda on extremism, communalism, separatism and foreign money pumped in to NGOO to destabilize and destroy this 2500-year-old Sinhala Buddhist civilization in this country.

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

Massive publicity has been given that a large number of Gota friendly Sri Lankans living overseas have already reached or arriving within the next few days before Presidential Election.

However, there is no publicity given of the number of Tamil Diaspora and ISIS members already reached or arriving within the next few days. New land mines, Sniper attacks could be on their navigation kits, inter-alia.

The number of travelers of non-friendly Gota groups consisting of Tamil Diaspora and ISIS trained attackers is minimum in numbers, but they have a diagonally opposite target to achieve.  Above all, the Anti-Gota travelers have the blessings of the corrupt Sri Lankan Government.

Therefore, let Douglas, Karuna, Reginald Cooray, etc.  do the hard work, for 400,000 votes, otherwise, it could be a very costly journey.

Gota’s Victory will not depend on the votes of  N/E, Tamil Leaders would like to see  the end of Gota than Mahinda. Gota will score the highest number of votes of N/E voters for the first time in a Presidential Election, sensing the danger for Tamil Leaders, they are ready.

Therefore, I appeal to SLPP to re-schedule remaining campaigning in N/E  and continue the aggressive campaign in Sinhala dominated regions, as Sajith will unveil massive financial package next week including Rs 25,000 pay rise per month to win votes of our foolish Sinhalese!

Please protect our next President, at any cost. King is not just a King, but a Guardian”!

උපුටාගැණීම ලංකාදීප

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ ඉහළ තනතුරක් ලබා ගැනීමේ අරමුණින් මුදල් අමාත්‍ය මංගල සමරවීර මහතා දිගින් දිගටම රණවිරුවන් සහ රට පාවාදෙමින් සිටින බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී එස්. බී. දිසානායක මහතා කොළඹදී පැවසීය.

මංගල සමරවීර මහතා අයවැය මගින් සිදුකළ වංචාවන්ට සහ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයට රට පාවාදීමට ගත් උත්සාහයන්ට විරුද්ධව ඉදිරියේදී දැඩි ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා බවද දිසානායක මහතා කියා සිටියේය.

පුංචි බොරැල්ලේ පිහිටි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී තිලංග සුමතිපාල මහතාගේ නිවසේ පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා මේ බව පැවසීය.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී එස් බී දිසානායක මහතා මෙසේද කීවේය.

‘‘මෙවර අයවැය ලේඛනයේන් පෙන්වලා තියෙන ආදායම සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වැරදියි. ඒක ව්‍යාජයි. එක පැත්තකින් බොරු ගොතලා තියෙනවා. අනික් පැත්තෙන් වැරදි දත්ත ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙනවා.

කැෂිනෝ ක‍්‍රිඩාව එක්ක යන රුචිනෝ ක‍්‍රීඩාවට මිලියන 200ක වාර්ෂික බද්දක් තිබුනා. මෙවර අයවැයෙන් එය මිලියන එකක බද්දක් පනවනු ලැබේ කියලා සදහන් කර තිබෙනවා. මෙතන කරලා තියෙන්නේ මිලියන 200 මිලියන එකකට අඩුකිරිමක්. මෙමගින් මිලියන 10ක අලූත් ආදායමක් උපයනවා කියලා සඳහන් වෙනවා. මේක සම්පූර්ණ වංචා කිරීමක්.

කැසිනෝ ක‍්‍රීඩාවට ඇතුළු වෙන සියලූදෙනාගෙන් ඩොලර් 50ක ගාස්තුවක් අයකරන බව සදහන් කරලා තියෙනවා. හැබැයි මෙයට ඩොලර් සියයක ගාස්තුවක් අය කිරීමට තිබුනා. අයවැය මගින් පෙන්වනවා ඩොලර් 50 දැමීම මගින් මිලියන 980ක අමතර ආදායමක් උපයනවා කියළා.

මෙහෙම බදු අයකිරිම් අඩුකිරීම් කරහම අයවැය ලේඛනයේ ආදායම් ලේඛනයෙන් මෙච්චර මෙච්චර අඩුවෙනවා කියලා සදහන් වෙනවා. හැබැයි ඒ මොකවතත් මේ සැරේ කරලා නැහැ. ආදායම මෙච්චරයි වියදම මෙච්චරයි කියළා පමණයි එහි දක්වලා තියෙන්නේ.

මේකේ ගණන් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වැරදියි. ඒ නිසා මේ ගැන සවිස්තර වාර්ථාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියලා ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහබැංකුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ.

විදේශ අමාත්‍යවරයා විදියට මංගල සමරවිර මහතා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ තිහයි එක යෝජනකාවට එකඟ වුනේ නැත්නම් අද අපිට කිසිදු චෝදනාවක් නැහැ. එහෙනම් අපි අද මේ කාරනාවෙන් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නිදහස් වෙනවා. දැන් මේ යෝජනාව අවුරුදු දෙකකින් නැවත සලකා බැලිමට නියමිතයි

මේ රටට බේරේන්න තිබුණ අවස්ථාව අහිමිකරගෙන රට පාවාලා දීලා, රණවිරුවන් පාවාලාදීලා මේ සියල්ලම මංගල සමරවිර මහතා සිදුකලේ 2025 වසරෙන් පස්සේ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ තනතුරකට යන්නයි’’ යැයිද එස්. බී. දිසානායක මහතා එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසීය.

– lankadeepa

උපුටාගැණීම අද දෙරණ

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn Courtesy quora.com

And do those who had committed these crimes, and who have been enriched by the proceeds of these crimes, have a reparatory case to answer?

How Reparations Can Help Eradicate Poverty and Secure SDGs

Photo: Mother in shreds of clothing with child begging on the streets of Calcutta during the Bengal famine of 1943 (left), and a family on the sidewalk in Calcutta during the Bengal famine of 1943 (right). Source: Wikipedia  

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Dealing with numbers can take a toll and might make one seek fulfillment in other spheres. No wonder the most influential poet of the last Century penned The Waste Land in 1922 when he was dutifully employed with the foreign transactions department of Lloyd’s, an austere English bank in London.

Another case that one can think of is of Peter Bone, an accountant by training and Conservative party Member of Parliament in England from Wellingborough and Rushden who in November 2018 found glee when he made no bones about how and where the Republic of India should spend its resources. The latter reminds one of the famous aphorism Par Updesh Kushal Bahutere.

With immense challenges to meet in the sphere of development especially in developing countries, and many policy options and opinions available, one is but tempted to explore the issue a bit more diligently as one has finite resources and limited avenues to generate them.

In 2015, world leaders agreed to the Global Goals for Sustainable Development, a set of 17 goals for a better world by 2030. These goals aim to end poverty, fight inequality and address the urgency of climate change among others, and seek the participation of governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone.

It seems like the typical case of old wine with a new label. Following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000 and the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, all 191 United Nations member states at the time, and at least 22 international organizations, committed to help achieve the eight UN Millennium Development Goals by the year 2015. Each goal had specific targets, and dates for achieving those targets but unfortunately could not be met.

Critics of the MDGs complained of a lack of analysis and justification behind the chosen objectives, and the difficulty or lack of measurements for some goals and uneven progress, among others. Anyway through Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2015, that has the 2030 Development Agenda titled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the eight UN MDGs transformed into seventeen SDGs and 169 targets.

However, the learning from MDGs experience was also typical in many ways especially in terms of the utilisation of development aid. It is interesting to note that the aid from the developed countries to secure the MDGs, more than half went for debt relief, and most of the remainder toward disaster relief and military aid, rather than to further development.

During the launch of the Human Development Report (HDR) for 2014 by the United Nations which for the first time considered the concepts of vulnerability and resilience in assessing human development progress, Helen Clarke, Administrator of the UNDP had noted that while every society is vulnerable to risk, some suffer far less harm and recover more quickly than others when adversity strikes.

A society is all about its experiences. Colonization by the European countries had an extremely deleterious effect on societies of Africa and Asia. Its pernicious impact can be witnessed even in the contemporary times and judged by the development indices.

When the SDGs were announced in 2015, it was understandable that success on global goal no. 1—eradication of extreme poverty—depended on Africa’s performance. However, recent forecasts from the United Nations and the World Bank suggest that Africa is not going to make it.

Why has poverty in Africa stayed so stubbornly high despite record economic growth and what role has its historical experience to play would be an interesting study?

According to the World Bank report, three main reasons:

(i) less of Africa’s growth translates into poverty reduction because of high initial poverty, including low asset levels and limited access to public services, which prevent households from taking advantage of opportunities;

(ii) Africa’s increasing reliance on natural resources for income growth rather than agricultural – and rural development excludes the 85 percent of the poor population living in rural areas; and

(iii) Africa’s high fertility and resulting high population growth mean that even high growth translates into less income per person—a point too often ignored in discussions on the sub-continent and in Washington.

It is not difficult to infer that high initial poverty and reliance on natural resources and lack of agricultural development have a direct link to European colonization.

Regarding Asia, the famed British economic historian Angus Maddison had calculated that in 1600, of the world GDP (GDP being computed in 1990 dollars and in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms) total share of China and India was 51.4%, with China accounting for 29% and India 22.4% of world GDP.

A hundred years later, China’s GDP had fallen but India’s went up to 24.4% of world output. By 1820, however, India’s share had fallen to 16.1%. By 1870, it further went down to 12.2%.

Noted economist Utsa Patnaik has calculated that over roughly 200 years, the East India Company and the British Raj siphoned out at least GBP 9.2 Trillion (or USD 44.6 Trillion; since the exchange rate was USD 4.8 per GBP sterling during much of the colonial period) from India.

In the colonial era, most of India’s sizeable foreign exchange earnings went straight to London—severely hampering the country’s ability to import machinery and technology in order to embark on a modernisation path similar to what Japan did in the 1870s. 

Harvard educated renowned statistician-economist and Indian Member of Parliament Dr. Subarmanian Swamy who has worked with Nobel laureates like Simon Kuznets and Paul Samuelson calculates the amount looted by the British from India to be USD 71 Trillion.

Under the British Raj, India suffered countless famines. The worst hit was Bengal in 1770, followed by severe ones in 1783, 1866, 1873, 1892, 1897 and lastly 1943-44. Earlier when famines had hit the country, indigenous rulers were quick with useful responses to avert major disasters. But not only a ruthless economic agenda but also a total lack of empathy for native citizens was a prominent trait of the European colonization.

The famine of 1770 alone killed approximately 10 million people, millions more than the Jewish holocaust during the Second World War or the Belgian genocide in the Congo. It wiped out one-third the population of Bengal. John Fiske, in his book The Unseen World, wrote that the famine of 1770 in Bengal was far deadlier than the Black Plague that terrorised Europe in the fourteenth century.

We should all be concerned, but what can be done? The recent World Bank study, Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa, offers governments and stakeholders both new suggestions as well as new takes on old recommendations. It should also have considered reparations to the colonized countries by the European colonizers, and the important role reparations can play to accelerate the process of development and secure the UN Global Goals.

In 2013 Caribbean Heads of Governments established the Caricom Reparations Commission (CRC) with a mandate to prepare the case for reparatory justice for the region’s indigenous and African descendant communities who are the victims of Crimes against Humanity (CAH) in the forms of genocide, slavery, slave trading, and racial apartheid.

The CRC asserts that victims and descendants of these CAH have a legal right to reparatory justice, and that those who committed these crimes, and who have been enriched by the proceeds of these crimes, have a reparatory case to answer.

One can only speculate what a developing country like India currently ranked at number 130 in HDI with its 46.6 million children who are stunted because of malnutrition can achieve if it manages to secure USD 71 Trillion from Britain as reparation.

Monetary inputs have the capability to initiate virtuous economic and development processes in a society. A good example of it is the 1948 Marshall Plan or the European Recovery Program. More than USD 13 billion under the Marshall Plan helped to facilitate the recovery of Europe’s national economies and helped build a ‘new Europe’ with a political economy that was based on open markets and free trade, rather than protectionism and self-interest. It was a stimulus that set off a chain of events leading to a range of accomplishments.  However, aid is always conditional where terms are dictated by the donor.

Therefore the CRC sets a wonderful precedent to establish the moral, ethical and legal case for the payment of Reparations by the Governments of all the former colonial powers and the relevant institutions of those countries, to the nations that were colonized.

In fact, it is far a better alternative than the same old clarion call to mobilize resources for the poor” made to the Asian and African governments to raise taxes as a share of GDP or the strings that come attached with overseas aid.

It’s November 2019. Would Right Honourable Peter Bone and others including international institutions help set a continuing historical wrong right, and kindly pay heed to make reparations play a mainstreamed role to eradicate poverty and secure UN Global Goals, and pave way for a more just and humane world?

* Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. is an ex-diplomat and Jainendra Karn is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). [IDN-InDepthNews – 01 November 2019]

Photo: Mother in shreds of clothing with child begging on the streets of Calcutta during the Bengal famine of 1943 (left), and a family on the sidewalk in Calcutta during the Bengal famine of 1943  (right). Source: Wikipedia

IDN is flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate.

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

Last week, in typical Yahapalana style, the Cabinet approved the USD 480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact project (MCCC). The US Embassy did not lose any time to express their happiness.

 However, it appears that it is only the US Embassy that is happy about it. Until that moment, with the Presidential elections just round the corner, the MCCC was the furthest in people’s minds. Therefore, the approval comes as a complete shock to the nationalists. 

On the whole, though, many do not know about the MCCC or its implications. This in a nutshell sums up the West imported democracy we got since 2015 in the form of Yahapalana Government.

These five years of the Yahapalana Government are marked with the numerous controversial commitments that Sri Lanka had been roped into agreeing.

 In every one of these instances – from co-sponsoring the infamous Geneva Resolution 30/1 to the Yahapalana presidential candidate’s manifesto – the Yahapalana Government had taken great care to keep the details wrapped and away from the people.

In 2015, it may be recalled that soon after the general elections, the Yahapalana Government prioritised appointing the Foreign Minister than the cabinet.

 Appointing the Cabinet itself was unprecedentedly delayed by weeks. Thus, newly appointed Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera went to Geneva on Sri Lanka tax payers’ account and at the UNHRC co-sponsored the Resolution 30/1 that was brought against Sri Lanka.

He did so without the Cabinet approval and without the knowledge of the people.

 He did so even though the conditions stipulated in the Resolution contravened the Constitution of Sri Lanka. He did so when he did not have the authority to thus commit the Parliament.

 The reason being, he participated at the UNHRC session in the capacity of a Minister, which is essentially the executive arm. 

However, he undertook the commitments to be fulfilled by the Parliament, which is the legislator. The Executive and the legislature are two separate, exclusive bodies in Sri Lanka. Therefore, he undertook a commitment that he was not allowed by the Constitution.

The Yahapalana Government had to resort to very creative means to fulfil the conditions that came with co-sponsoring the Resolution. They provoked the then Joint Opposition into invading the well of the Parliament. 

Taking advantage of that commotion, they passed the OMP Bill. The Enforced Disappearance Act was passed during the days of the Digana riots. 

The entire country’s attention was on the riots and certain entities were insinuated that the Buddhist monks were behind the attacks on the Muslims. The Act was passed whilst the monks were busy defending themselves from the unfounded allegations.

The MCCC was first sprung on us just days after the Easter Sunday Massacres. Tourism, which was one of our most lucrative and rising industries, took a hit as never before. 

Even during the days of the LTTE, Sri Lanka was a relatively safe destination for the tourists as they were never a target. The Easter Sunday bombers on the other hand zeroed in on the tourist hotspots.

The economy was already in dire straits due to the mismanagement of the Yahapalana Government. At such a time for a rising industry to fall as it did with the Easter Sunday massacres was a matter that concerned many. 

It was at such a time where all were reeling with the shock of losing so many lives and the meaningless destruction that Mangala Samaraweera as the Finance Minister, announced with an ear-to-ear grin that something good had come out of tragedy.

He spoke of receiving USD 480 million from MCCC. However, in true Mangala fashion he omitted to mention that this would be for a project that would engulf 28% of our land for a so-called economic corridor. Considering 

the expanse of land under consideration, which is around 1.2 million acres, it is not clear if Sri Lanka is getting its lands’ value. 

There is no dispute that USD 480 million is a large sum of money. However, this money is to come on the form of mega projects to reduce traffic congestion in Colombo and improve interprovincial connectivity. This is to be a five-year project.

However, the many questions and gray areas that surround this project are yet to be answered. 

The economic corridor that the American Ambassador assured was a gift from the American people to Sri Lankan people would effectively cut right across the country. 

The plan is to construct an electric railway line connecting the Trincomalee port with the Colombo Port.

 This will cut through our historic places such as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. It is being said that there will be an electric fence to guard the railway lines.

 That area thus protected by the electric fence would be for international conglomerates to establish their factories. It is also being said that this area would not be subjected to Sri Lankan Law.

Apart from these questions, there is also a question on the guarantee. It is not clear if there would be a binding clause to complete the project once started. 

Otherwise, we would be left with incomplete infrastructural developments that would eventually fall on the government of the day to complete.

 It is also not clear on our obligations that we must fulfil for these projects to proceed unhindered.

 We must take into account America’s history and present attitude of the American High Commissioner Alaina Teplitz, who has violated her mandate by interfering in our internal matters.

Time before also MCCC had approached Sri Lanka somewhere in 2006-7. However, just as suddenly they had appeared, they had shut the door. 

Their only explanation had been that the human rights violations in the country. 

With the war against terrorism reaching its peak during that time, it is really surprising that they expected a different scenario.

 The point of lesson for us however is not to allow a group of people who do not have a grasp of ground reality from forcing themselves as our moral compass.

 The last thing we need is this economic corridor and the USD $ 480 million to be used as a carrot stick to get us into directions we do not want to go.

We need to also understand the overall picture once the SOFA and ACSA comes, into force. This Yahapalana Government came into life by discrediting our political leaders. It started its journey by persecuting our war heroes.

 Hundreds of our military leaders and intelligent units have been questioned and even incarcerated.

 This persecution had been extended to the Buddhist monks as well and over various allegations as many as 50 monks have been incarcerated by this Yahapalana Government.

Thus if ACSA and SOFA comes, into effect, it will do so when our leadership from all three fronts have been decisively attacked and weakened.

  In such a situation, can we safeguard our natural resources, with American soldiers and contractors in and out of Sri Lanka, carrying any weapon or equipment of their choice, enjoying diplomatic immunity is a very serious question that needs to be answered with clarity.

If true democracy exists, these questions would have been discussed and clarified before the Cabinet gives its approval. When the above questions and concerns were voiced, the MCCC disappeared as quickly as it 

appeared. However, making use of the upcoming elections to which everyone’s attention is fixed, the MCCC has surfaced in the most unexpected manner. This very sequence of events questions the intention and integrity of the MCCC.

One would have expected Sajith Premadasa, a powerful member of the Cabinet, deputy leader of the ruling political party, presidential candidate of the Yahapalana Government to speak up about the MCCC. At the time of writing this, he had not articulated his opinion – for or against – the MCCC. 

The fact that his voter would need a direction from him and the floating voter would need to understand his stance is apparently lost on him.

Most unfortunately, it is not only on MCCC that Sajith Premadasa is being quiet. 

The first postal vote was held on 31 October. However, even by that time Premadasa had not presented his manifesto. He is clearly expecting people to vote for him in blind faith and the absurd promises he makes on his platforms.

 It is being said that his ridiculous statements are only absurd to the educated for he strikes a chord with the rural and the uneducated.

If that is indeed the case and if he does win the presidential election, then it would be a very sad reflection of the intellectual capacity of us as a nation. In the meantime, the seriousness that the MCCC poses must not be underestimated.

If we do not manage this “gift” America is giving us unsolicited, we might find ourselves in a situation similar to a foreign invasion without a single shot being fired in our defense.

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com