උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳ සොයා බැලීමට පත් කළ පාර්ලිමේන්තු විශේෂ තේරීම් කාරක සභාව පිළිබඳවයි අද ජනතා මතය විමසා බැලෙන්නේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

පොලිස් මූල්‍ය අපරාධ විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසයේ කටයුතු සඳහා දේශපාලන බලපෑම් එල්ල වූ බවට එහි හිටපු ප්‍රධානී විශ්‍රාමික ජ්‍යෙෂඨ නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති රවී විද්‍යාලංකාර මහතා ඊයේ සිදුකළ ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ දේශපාලනඥයින් අද මෙලෙස අදහස් පළ කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ජනාධිපතිවරණය ජයගතහොත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස පත්කරන්නේ කවුරුන්ද යන්න පිළිබඳ දේශපාලන කරලියේ මේ වනවිට කතාබහක් මතුව තිබෙනවා.

ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ සභාපති අමාත්‍ය කබීර් හෂීම් සහ උපනායක අමාත්‍ය රවී කරුණානායක යන මහත්වරුන් අද පරස්පර අදහස් පළ කළා.

මේ අතර කැබිනට් නොවන අමාත්‍ය හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා මහතා අද පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී ප්‍රකාශ කලේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශයේ ආර්ථිකය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉෂ්ඨ කළ නොහැකි පොරොන්දු ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති බවයි.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa today (25) vowed far-reaching tax removals including Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Withholding taxes.

This was announced at the ceremony held to unveil Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election manifesto, The Ten Principles of Inclusive Government”, at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre this morning (25).

Marking the launch of the manifesto, Gotabaya Rajapaksa presented the proclamation to the religious leaders headed by Maha Sangha and then to Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was then handed over to the state officials and politicians who were present at the event. The manifesto was delivered to the youth ceremoniously through the launch of the mobile application Vision GR”.

SLPP presidential candidate’s manifesto for the next five years has given prominence to national security while focusing on following a friendly, non-aligned foreign policy, maintaining untainted governance, bringing forth constitutional reforms that are responsible for the people, creating productive citizens, establishing a people-centred economy, creating a technology-based society, development of tangible resources, sustainable environmental management and establishing law-abiding, quality society.

Delivering his speech at the event, Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to amend the existing Inland Revenue Act in order to remove the heavy tax burden imposed on the general public.

He also pledged to reduce the income taxes for the manufacturing sector and to remove the Economic Service Charge (ESC) as well as the withholding tax.

Rajapaksa also vowed to slash the VAT rate to 8 percent and to revoke the levies on religious places.

If elected, he intends to streamline the operations of the Inland Revenue Department, Sri Lanka Customs and Excise Department by introducing the use of technology.

In our future developmental plans, we look forward to great growth in the service economy,” Gotabaya Rajapaksa said.

GR Media

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ජනාධීපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශණය එළි දැක්වීමේ උත්සවය අවස්ථාවේ ඒ මහතා කළ කතාව

• ලංකාව ඒකීය රටක්.  එය බෙදා වෙන් කරන්නට අපි කිසිවිටක ඉඩ දෙන්නේ  නැහැ.
• ස්වෛරී රටක් වන ලංකාවට අනවශ්‍ය අතපෙවීම් කරන්නට කිසිදු විදේශ බලවේගයකට ඉඩ තබන්නේ නැහැ.
• මව්බිම ත්‍රස්ථවාදයෙන්, පාතාල ක්‍රියාකාරකම් වලින්, සොර බියෙන්, කප්පම් කරුවන්ගෙන්, මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය උවදුරින් හා හිංසනයෙන් මෙන්ම විදේශ තර්ජනයන්ගෙන්ද සුරක්ෂිත කරනවා.
• ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ, පොලීසියේ හා සිවිල් ආරක්ෂක බලකායේ  රණවිරුවන්වත් ආරක්ෂා කරණවා.
• ජීවන බර හා  එදිනෙදා  වියදම් අඩු කිරිම් සඳහා කඩිනම්  ජනතා සහන පැකේජයක්
• හෙද පාසැල් වල පාඨපාලා වසර 4ට දීර්ඝ කොට විදේශ රැකියා සඳහා පිලිගන්නා උපාධියක්
• ගුරු විද්‍යාල උපාධි ප්‍රධානය කල හැකි මට්ටමට
• ව්‍යාපාර කරගෙන යාමට හිරිහැරයක් වී ඇති කල් පැනගිය නීති රීති යාවත්කාලීන කෙරේ
• ආර්ථික සේවා ගාස්තු හා රඳවා ගැනීමේ බදු අහෝසි කරනවා
• වැට් බදු 8% දක්වා අඩුකරනවා
• ආගමික ස්ථාන මත පනවා ඇති  විවිධ බදු අහෝසි කරනවා
• වාහන සම්බන්ධයෙන් පනවා ඇති විවිධ බදු වෙනුවට  එක් සරල  බදු ක්‍රමවේදයක් හඳුන්වා දෙනවා
• රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සහ පෞද්ගලික අංශ සේවකයන්ගේ වැටුප මත පනවා ඇති  උපයන විට බද්ද ( Paye Tax ) අහෝසි කරනවා
• ඉදිරි වසර 5 තුල  රැකියා අවස්ථා  ලක්ෂ 10 කට වඩා උත්පාදනය  කරන්නට
•  කෘෂි සම්පත් කිසිවක් අගය එකතු කිරීමකින් තොරව අපනයන කරන්නේ නැහැ
• පොහොර සහනාධාරය නොමිලේ
• කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සඳහා ක්‍රමයෙන්  කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතය දිරිමත්  කෙරේ
•  රටට අවශ්‍ය පොහොර රට තුලම නිශ්පාදනය කර, වසර කිහිපයක් තුල මුළුමනින්ම කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතයට යොමු කෙරේ
• කෘෂි නිශ්පාදන ප්‍රති  අපනයනය අපි සම්පූර්නයෙන්ම තහනම්
•  ගොවි ණය කපා හැරේ.
• වාරිමාර්ග හා ලොකු කුඩා වැව් කඩිනමින් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය කෙරේ.
• වතු කම්කරු ජනතාවට රුපියල් 1000 ක වැටුපක්
• ධිවර කර්මාන්තය සඳහා තාක්ෂණය භාවිතය විධිමත් කොට එම ක්ෂේත්‍රය සංවර්ධනය
• ගොවියාට, කිරි ගොවියාට මෙන්ම ධිවරයාටත් තම ක්ෂේත්‍ර තුල ව්‍යවසායකයන්  බවට පත්වීමට අවශ්‍ය තාක්ෂණය හා පුහුනුව
• බල ශක්තී ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල හා ප්‍රවාහණ ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල හැකි තාක් දුරට පුනර්ජීව බල ශක්තී  භාවිතය දිරිගැන්වීමට
• විද්‍යාත්මක ලෙස කසල කලමණාකරණය
• කුඩා දරුවන් සිටිනා කාන්තාවන්ට යම් කිසි කාලයක්  නිවසේ සිට රැකියා වේ යෙදීමේ අවස්ථාව
• මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ජාවාරම කෙටි කලක් තුල  අවසන් කරන්නට  අපි කටයුතු කරනවා
• දූෂණය වැලැක්වීමට මෙන්ම දූෂිතයන්ට කඩිනමින් දඩුවම් දීමටත් නව යාන්ත්‍රනයන්
• දූෂණයට කිසිම ඉඩක් නැහැ.

අද මේ රටේ ජනතාවගේ අපේක්ෂාව වී තිබෙන්නේ  ධර්මානුකූල වූ රාජ්‍යයක්. සියලූම ආගමිකයන්ට, සියලුම ජාතිකයන්ට ක්ෂේම භූමියක් වූ පාලන තන්ත්‍රයක්. එහි පදනම වන්නේ බුදු රජානන් වහන්සේගේ ධර්මයයි. දකුණේ  සිංහල බෞද්ධ පවුලකින් පැවතගෙන එන  මම අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබුවේත් ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධාන පෙලේ බෞද්ධ පාසලක් වන කොළඹ ආනන්ද විදයාලයේයි. ඒ නිසා බෞද්ධ දර්ශණය හැම විටම මගේ සිතුවිලි වලට හා ගතිපැවතුම් වලට එක් වී තිබෙනවා

අද අප විසින් ජනගත කරන ‘ සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ‘ නැමති ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය  සකස් කිරීමේදී රාජ්‍ය පාලනය පිලිබඳ ආගමික සංකල්පයන්ට විශේෂ අවධානයක් යොමු කල බව ආරම්බයේදීම මම ඔබට කියන්නට කැමතියි.

සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම‘ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය   ‘ජනතාව විසින්ම – ජනතාව උදෙසාම‘  සකස් කරනා ලද ‘ජනතා ප්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාවක්. මේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාව හරහා ඉදිරිපත් කොට තිබෙන්නේ රටේ ස්වෛරීත්වය සුරකින, දේශීයත්වයට ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දෙන, සියලු පුරවැසියන්ගේ සුභසිද්ධිය වෙනුවෙන් කැප වුන , තාරුණ්‍යය මත විශ්වාසය තබන වැඩපිලිවෙලක්

ගෝලීය ප්‍රවණතාවන්ගෙන් උපරිම ඵල නෙලාගෙන, ශක්තිමත් ආර්ථිකයකට හිමිකම් කියන, අභිමානවත් ස්වෛරී ජාතියක් ලෙස නැගී සිටින්නට අවශ්‍ය කරන මූලික සංකල්ප මෙහි අඩංගුව තිබෙනවා. ලංකාව ඒකීය රටක්.  එය බෙදා වෙන් කරන්නට අපි කිසිවිටක ඉඩ දෙන්නේ  නැහැ.

ස්වෛරී රටක් වන ලංකාවට අනවශ්‍ය අතපෙවීම් කරන්නට කිසිදු විදේශ බලවේගයකට අපි ඉඩ තබන්නේත් නැහැ. අපි ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව රජයේ මූලික වගකීමක් ලෙස දකිනවා.  අපේ  මව්බිම ත්‍රස්ථවාදයෙන්, පාතාල ක්‍රියාකාරකම් වලින්, සොර බියෙන්, කප්පම් කරුවන්ගෙන්, මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය උවදුරින් හා හිංසනයෙන් මෙන්ම විදේශ තර්ජනයන්ගෙන්ද සුරක්ෂිත රටක් කරන්නට අවශ්‍ය රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂක යාන්ත්‍රණය අපි යලිත් ශක්තිමත්ව ගොඩනංවනවා.

මේ රටට  ආරක්ෂාව සපයන, ඒ වගේම  අතීතයේ ආරක්ෂාව සැපයූ, ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ, පොලීසියේ හා සිවිල් ආරක්ෂක බලකායේ  රණවිරුවන්වත් අපි ආරක්ෂා කරණවා. නොවිසඳි ඇති  ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් දී ඔවුන්ගේ අභිමානය රකිනවා. අපි සියලු දෙනාම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට ගරු කරනවා. ඒ නිසා සර්ව බල චන්දයට ගරු කරන , මහජන මතයට හිස නමන , නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය වචනයට සීමා නොවී සැබැවින්ම ක්‍රියාත්මක වන පාලන තන්ත්‍රයක් අපි ඇති කරනවා. එක රටක් තුල ක්‍රියාත්මක විය හැක්කේ එක නීතියක් පමනයි. ලොකු පොඩි බේදයකින් තොරව නීතිය හැමට සමානව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නට අපි වග බලා ගන්නවා.

උසාවි වල ගොඩ ගැසී තිබෙන නඩු ඉක්මනින් විසදීම  සඳහා  යටිතල පහසුකම් වැඩි දියුණු කිරීමටත්, විනිසුරුවන් ප්‍රමාණය වැඩිකිරීමටත්,  එමෙන්ම වැඩි කාර්යක්ෂමතාවක් සඳහා  නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට සහය වන ආයතන ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහ ගත කිරීමටත් අප සැලසුම් කර තිබෙනවා. මේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය අපේ මුලු රාජ්‍ය පාලන කාලයටම බලපානවා.

නමුත් අපිට කඩිනමින් විසඳිය යුතු ගැටලු කිහිපයක් තිබෙනවා.  විශාල ජීවන බරකින් මිරිකී සිටින සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට කඩිනමින් සහන සැලසීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවක් අද මතුව තිබෙනවා. ඒ නිසා ජනතාවගේ ජීවන බර හා  එදිනෙදා  වියදම් අඩු කිරිම් සඳහා කඩිනම්  ජනතා සහන පැකේජයක් අපි තව නොබෝ දිනකින්  හඳුන්වාදෙනවා.

අප හඳුන්වාදෙන්නට බලා පොරොත්තු වන  ජනතා කේන්ද්‍රීය ආර්ථික ක්‍රමය තුලින් මේ රටේ ජීවත් වන සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුටම ආර්ථික ස්ථාවරත්වයක් ලබා දීම අපේ අරමුණයි.  අසරණ මිනිසුන්ගේ  දුප්පත්කම දේශපාලන වාසියට යොදා ගැනීමට තිත තබා  මේ රටේ දුප්පත්කම සහමුලින්ම නැතිකරන්නට අපි කටයුතු කරනවා. අපට අවශ්‍යයි අපේ අනාගත පරපුර කාටවත් අතනොපා ජීවත්වන ඵලදායී පුරවැසියන් බවට පත් කරන්නට.

21 වන සියවස හඳුන්වනු ලබන්නේ දැනුම කේන්ද්‍ර වූ ශතවර්ෂයක් ලෙසයි.  වර්ථමානයේ  ලෝක ආර්ථික කේන්ද්‍රය  ආසියාව වෙත නැඹුරු වෙමින් තිබීම අනාගත සැලසුම් සඳහා අපට ඉතාමත් වැදගත් වෙනවා.  ගෝලීය ආර්ථිකයේ නව ප්‍රවණතාවලින් උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජන ගැනීම සඳහා දැනුමින් සන්නද්ධ තරුණ පරපුරක් අපි බිහි කල යුතුයි.   හොඳ  රැකියාවක් කිරීමට එසේත් නැත්නම් සාර්ථක ව්‍යවසායකයෙක් වීමට හැකියාව ඇති,  පලදායී පුරවැසියෙක් බිහිකරන්නට අධ්‍යාපනය අතිශයින් වැදගත් වෙනවා.

දේශීය මෙන්ම ගෝලීය රැකියා වෙළඳපොල තුල ඉහල ඉල්ලුමක් අපේ තරුණ තරුණියන්ට ලැබෙන ආකාරයට අවශ්‍ය අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කරන්නට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. අපේ තරුණ තරුණියන්ට අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල අතරමං වන්නට ඉඩ නොදී උසස් පෙල සමත්වන සෑම සිසුවෙකුටම විශ්ව විද්‍යාල  උපාධියක් දක්වා ඉගෙන ගන්නට අවස්ථාව සැලසීමට අවශ්‍ය කරන ආයොජන ප්‍රථම වසර තුලම කරනවා. දැනට වසර 3ක ඩිප්ලෝමාවක් පමණක් ලබාදෙන හෙද පාසැල් වල පාඨපාලා වසර 4ට දීර්ඝ කොට විදේශ රැකියා සඳහා පිලිගන්නා උපාධියක් ලබා දෙන්නට අපි කටයුතු කරනවා.

ඒ වගේම සියලූම ගුරු විද්‍යාල උපාධි ප්‍රධානය කල හැකි මට්ටමට උසස් කරනවා. විශය දැනුමට අමතරව සමස්ථයක් වශයෙන් අපේ දරුවන්ගේ නිර්මාණශීලිත්වය වැඩි කිරීම, ඉංග්‍රීසි හා ගනිත දැනුම වර්ධනය කිරීම මෙන්ම,  නිපුනතා වර්ධනයත් ඉතා වැදගත් වෙනවා. කඩා වැටී තිබෙන මේ ආර්ථිකය යලි ගොඩ නැගීමේදී විශාලතම කාර්ය භාරයක් අපේක්ෂා කෙරෙන්නේ දේශීය ව්‍යාපාරික ප්‍රජාවගෙන්.

අපි මේ ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ට ව්‍යාපාර කරන්නට පහසු පරිසරයක් නිර්මාණය කරනවා. ව්‍යාපාර කරගෙන යාමට හිරිහැරයක් වී ඇති කල් පැනගිය නීති රීති යාවත්කාලීන කරනවා. අද ජනතාව ඉන්නේ අධික බදු බරකින් මිරිකිලා. මෙය ව්‍යාපාරවලත් ජනතාවගේත් ඵලදායීතාවට බලපානවා. ඒ නිසා  අප රටට නොගැලපෙන වර්ථමාන ආදායම් බදු පනත වෙනස් කොට  ජනතාව මත බදු බර අඩු කරන්නට  බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. නිශ්පාදන කර්මාන්ත සදහා  අය කරන ආදායම් බදු අඩු කරනවා

ආර්ථික සේවා ගාස්තු හා රඳවා ගැනීමේ බදු අහෝසි කරනවා. වැට් බදු 8 % දක්වා අඩුකරනවා. ආගමික ස්ථාන මත පනවා ඇති  විවිධ බදු අහෝසි කරනවා. වාහන සම්බන්ධයෙන් පනවා ඇති විවිධ බදු වෙනුවට  එක් සරල  බදු ක්‍රමවේදයක් හඳුන්වා දෙනවා. මීට අමතරව  රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සහ පෞද්ගලික අංශ සේවකයන්ගේ වැටුප මත පනවා ඇති  උපයන විට බද්ද  ^ Paye Tax ) අහෝසි කරනවා. මේ සමගම අපි  ආදායම් බදු දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව තුල, රේගුව තුල  හා සුරාබදු දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව තුල  තාක්ෂණය භාවිතය විධිමත් කොට බදු අයකරගැනීමේ ඇති විශමතා වලට විසඳුම් සපයන්නට ක්‍රියාකරනවා.    අපේ අනාගත සංවර්ධන සැලසුම් තුල සේවා ආර්ථිකයේ විශාල වර්ධනයක් අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.

විශේෂයෙන්ම සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය වසරකට ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන10 ක  ආදායමක් උපයන කර්මාන්තයක් බවට පත්කිරිමේ සැලස්මක් අපි සකස් කොට තිබෙනවා. ඒ වගේම ප්‍රවාහණ සේවා, ගුදම් සේවා, වරාය හා ගුවන්තොටුපොල සේවා වැනි අපේ රටේ භූගෝලීය පිහිටීමෙන් ප්‍රයෝජන ගත හැකි ව්‍යාපාර රාශියක් අපට ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමට දියුණු  කරන්නට පුලුවන්.

මේ අනුව  සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය, තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ ක්ෂේත්‍රය, ඉදි කිරීම් කර්මාන්තය, ප්‍රවාහන ක්ෂේත්‍රය, ඇසුරුම් හා නිමැවුම් කර්මාන්ත, කෘෂි හා ධිවර කර්මාන්ත , සෞඛ්‍ය ක්ෂේත්‍රය, අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රය, ක්‍රීඩා ක්ෂේත්‍රය යන අංශ ගනනාවක ඇතිකරන දියුණුව  හරහා ඉදිරි වසර 5 තුල  රැකියා අවස්ථා  ලක්ෂ 10 කට වඩා උත්පාදනය  කරන්නට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. අපේ බලාපොරොත්තුව  ලංකාව  දකුණු ආසියාවේ ව්‍යාපාර කේන්ද්‍රස්ථානය වනවා දකින්නටයි.

කර්මාන්ත ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල අපේ  අවධානය මුලින්ම යොමු විය යුත්තේ අගය එකතු කිරීමටයි. ලංකාවේ සම්පත් කිසිවක් අගය එකතු කිරීමකින් තොරව අපනයන නොකල යුතුයි. ඒ වගේම නව නිර්මාණ වෙළඳපොලට හඳුන්වාදීම සඳහා අපේ ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් දිරිමත් කල යුතුයි. ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාව අද ලෝකයේ සෑම රටකටම වැදගත්. ලංකාව තුලත් ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාව ඇති කරගැනීම සඳහා අපි විධිමත් වැඩපිලිවෙලක් සැලසුම් කර තිබෙනවා. එහි අංගයක් ලෙස අපේ රජයක් යටතේ  පොහොර සහනාධාරය නොමිලේ  ලබා දෙන්න අපි තීරණය කොට තිබෙනවා

ඒ සමඟම අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා  කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සඳහා ක්‍රමයෙන්  කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතය දිරිමත්  කිරීමට. රටට අවශ්‍ය පොහොර රට තුලම නිශ්පාදනය කරන්නටත්   වසර කිහිපයක් තුල මුළුමනින්ම කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතයට ගොවියන් පුරුදු කරන්නටත් අපි  බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. අපේ අනාගත  අරමුණ  කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතයෙන් කෙරෙනා කෘෂි නිශ්පාදන සඳහා ලෝකයේ නමක් දිනා ගැනීමටයි.

ලංකාවේ ගොවියන්ට විශාල ගැටලුවක්ව තිබෙන කෘෂි නිශ්පාදන ප්‍රති  අපනයනය අපි සම්පූර්නයෙන්ම තහනම් කරනවා. අපේ කෘෂි නිශ්පාදන වලට වැඩි ඉල්ලුමක් හා වැඩි මිලක් ලබා ගත හැක්කේ එවිටයි. ආපදාවන්ට පත් ගොවි ජනතාවට සහනයක් ලෙස ඔවුන්ගේ  ගොවි ණය කපා හැරීමටත් අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. වියලි කලාපයේ ගොවියන්ට අද  විශාල ප්‍රශ්නයක් වී තිබෙන ජල හිඟයට පිලියමක් ලෙස ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගත හැකි වාරිමාර්ග හා ලොකු කුඩා වැව් කඩිනමින් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීමේ  වැඩපිළිවෙළක් අපි සැලසුම් කොට තිබෙනවා.

ජලය නිසි ලෙස කලමණාකරනය  කරමින්, භූමියෙන් උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජන ගනිමින්,  ගුණාත්මක  බාවයෙන් ඉහල,  වැඩි අස්වැන්නක් ලබාගැනීම සඳහා  නවීන තාක්ෂණය හඳුන්වා දීමේ ජාතික වැඩපිලිවෙලක් අපි ආරම්බ කරනවා. වැවිලි ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල වැදගත් සේවයක් කරන වතු කම්කරු ජනතාවට රුපියල් 1000 ක වැටුප ලබා දීමට අපි දැනටමත් එකඟ වී තිබෙනවා.

ඒ වගේම මුහුදින් වටවී තිබෙනා මේ රටේ සාගර සම්පත් වලින් උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජන ගන්නට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා. ධිවර කර්මාන්තය සඳහා තාක්ෂණය භාවිතය විධිමත් කොට එම ක්ෂේත්‍රය සංවර්ධනය කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා.

අපිට අවශ්‍යයි ගොවියාට, කිරි ගොවියාට මෙන්ම ධිවරයාටත් තම ක්ෂේත්‍ර තුල ව්‍යවසායකයන්  බවට පත්වීමට අවශ්‍ය තාක්ෂණය හා පුහුනුව ලබා දෙන්නට.  අපේ තරුණ පරපුර යලි කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයට හා ධිවර කර්මාන්තයන්ට ආකර්ෂණය කරගත හැක්කේ එවිටයි. අනාගත පරපුර වෙනුවෙන් පරිසරය සුරැකීම අපේ මූලික වගකීමක්.  ඒ නිසා බල ශක්තී ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල හා ප්‍රවාහණ ක්ෂේත්‍රය තුල හැකි තාක් දුරට පුනර්ජීව බල ශක්තී  භාවිතය දිරිගැන්වීමට අපි කටයුතු කරනවා. කාබනික පොහොර භාවිතය ප්‍රචලිත කිරීම මෙන්ම විද්‍යාත්මක ලෙස කසල කලමණාකරණය අපේ ප්‍රමුකතා වලට අයත් වෙනවා.

රැකියා වෙළඳපොල තුල පමනක් නෙමෙයි පුද්ගලික ව්‍යවසායකයන් වශයෙනුත් කාන්තාවන්ගේ දායකත්වය අපේ ආර්ථිකයට වැදගත්. කුඩා දරුවන් සිටිනා කාන්තාවන්ට යම් කිසි කාලයක්  නිවසේ සිට රැකියා කිරීමට ඇති අවස්ථා වැඩි කිරීමට අපි රාජ්‍ය හා පෞද්ගලික  අංශය දිරිමත් කරනවා.

කාන්තා ව්‍යවසායකයන්ට අවශ්‍ය ණය පහසුකම් හා පුහුණුව සපයා ඔවුන් බල ගැන්වීමට අනාගත රජය තුල විශාල අවධානයක් යොමුකරනවා. අද විශාල ජාතික උවදුරක්  බවට පත් වී ඇති  මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ජාවාරම කෙටි කලක් තුල  අවසන් කරන්නට  අපි කටයුතු කරනවා.  ඔබේ දූ දරුවන් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය වලට ගොදුරු වේ යැයි බියෙන් සිටිනා යුගය අවසන් කරන්නට අපි පොරොන්දු වෙනවා.

අනාගත රජයක් තුල දේශපාලනික මෙන්ම ආයතිනක දූෂණය වැලැක්වීමේ ක්‍රමවත් වැඩපිලිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.දූෂණය වැලැක්වීමට මෙන්ම දූෂිතයන්ට කඩිනමින් දඩුවම් දීමටත් අවශ්‍ය යාන්ත්‍රනයන් අපි ශක්තිමත් කරනවා. මා නායකත්වය දෙන රජයක් තුල දූෂණයට කිසිම ඉඩක් නොතබන  බව මම වගකීමෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කරණවා

සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම ‘ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය තුල ඇති කිසිදු අදහසක් දේශපාලන හිස් පොරොන්දුවක් නොවන බව මම ඉතා වගකීමෙන්  ප්‍රකාශ කරනවා.

හැමදාමත් බාර දුන්න සෑම වගකීමක්ම ඉටු කල මම, මෙවර බාරදී ඇති වගකීමත් ඉතාමත්ම ඉහලින් ඉටුකරනවා. රට ගොඩනැගීමේ වගකීම ඉටුකිරීමේදී මම ඔබ සියලු දෙනාගේ සහාය හා සහභාගීත්වය අපේක්ෂා කරනවා. ඔබ මොන පක්ෂයේද, මොන වර්ගයේද, මොන ආගමේද යන්න අපට වැදගත් නැහැ. එකම කොන්දේසිය    ඔබ සැබවින්ම  රටට ආදරය කරන පුරවැසියෙක්. විය යුතුය යන්න පමනයි. අපි එක අධිෂ්ටානයකින් වැඩකලොත්  ආර්ථික වශයෙන් දුර්වල  පසුගාමී රටක් වෙනුවට ප්‍රබල ආර්ථිකයකට හිමිකම් කියන ලෝකයේ ගෞරවය දිනාගත හැකි රටක් බවට ලංකාව පත් කරන්නට අපට පුලුවන්. මිනිසුන් හැර යන රටක් වෙනුවට –  ගිය අය ආපසු එන  සෞභාග්‍යමත් දේශයක්  ගොඩනගමු. නොවැම්බර් 16 වෙනිදාට අපි සියලු දෙනාම එක්වී ඒ සඳහා පලමු පියවර තබමු.

lanka C news

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණය වෙනුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදු ජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය අද එළි දැක්විණි.

පිට 82 දෙකකින් සමන්විත මෙම ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය ‘ගෝටාභය රටහදන සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම’ ලෙස නම් කර ඇත.

කොළඹ නෙළුම් පොකුණ නෙළුම් පොකුණ යෙදී මෙම උත්සවය අද පෙරවරුවේ දී පැවැත්විණි.

සම්පුර්ණ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය මෙතැනින්

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Uat52KNcXqYRBoufwNz

Without a doubt this is a crucial election. Sri Lanka is going to elect its 7^th President who is also the Head of State and the Head of the Armed Forces. The President has a humongous task ahead of him. While we cannot expect him to satisfy all of our individual aspirations there are some common pledges that he must pledge to uphold with responsibility & accountability. It is the role of the citizen voter to work out the common themes applicable to all that cannot be compromised – national security / law & order / equal rights under one law are just a handful of themes that all voters must agree on whatever political colour they are aligned to.

It is imperative that the country accepts that fielding common candidates with political motives endangers the pillar of the Presidency and that is an aspect we have seen via the 6^th President secretly promoted to contest by an alliance that had individual political aspirations to advance through the elected candidate. Are voters aware of proxy candidates? Should voters give their vote to such proxy candidates?

As a result, we have seen the tweaking of the constitution, the shocking interference in the judiciary & judicial system, the administrative apparatus, law & order network and detrimental Acts/Bills passed often without debate, without majority vote, without being made public and drafted by foreigners. The magnitude of the damage will be felt with a change of government which is why voters need to elect the correct person who can provide leadership & authority taking responsibility for the tasks delegated.

No doubt, elections are times when campaign teams use every mode of communication to promote a candidate. However, this Presidential Election is no talent show – we should not be diverted by how best the candidate speaks, looks, plays cricket, sings, its not the colourful propaganda that should count but the content of the message the candidate is conveying. Voters must take interest in his vision and it must be consistent with one’s own or his vision must be one that will inspire voters to look forward to the future, voters must wonder what the candidate’s action plan for our future is. We should not be fooled to accept freebies and promises and a candidate who in desperation is promising the sun and moon should never be taken seriously. Governing a country with over 20million people and taking care of the country’s assets, resources, flora, fauna etc is far more serious than the theatrics displayed on stages or silly statements made to make audience clap & laugh.

By now VOTERS should be asking of any candidate HOW” he proposes to make his vision happen not simply accept WHAT” his vision is.

By now VOTERS should question his ‘ABILITY’ against his promises. Here is the most important stage of testing credibility. We must pause at this stage to recollect decades of LTTE terror which started under the 1^st President and continued under 4 Presidents and it took the 5^th President to have the courage to take a decision against tremendous diplomatic/international & local pressure demanding he does not militarily defeat the LTTE. His decision not to listen to them but to listen to the victims will enter history books because none of the previous leaders did not have pluck to take the decision that the 5^th President did.

We have over 30 candidates contesting – most are not even known by majority of the populace but there are 4 contenders that we can turn our attention to.

We have a contender who represents a party that has been responsible for 2 insurgencies and deaths of thousands of Sinhalese and armed forces personnel. His party is the richest political party in Sri Lanka. Sometimes many of us have wondered what party his partymen are supporting – their own or others. The third candidate is another who left the country, worked on a US military base, returned to command the army and a month after retirement announces Presidential bid angering a contender who had been groomed a couple of years’ back as an ‘alternative’ candidate. Needless to say, it was clear that the ‘common candidate’ tamasha had not gone down too well with the masses and there was need to find a different name for the backers of the ‘common candidate’ – ‘alternative’ was the name and it was easy to tap into various civil groups who were angry with the political system, get them all pumped up to promote slogans that was subtly meant to say ‘Don’t’ Vote X’ – by now many people had picked up on the plan and ironically the disgruntled voters of the party laying the plot are now likely voters of the ‘alternative’ candidate’ we may see some drastic changes happening to change this status quo in days to come. Then we come to one of the two main candidates whose father managed to break the uncle-nephew party and not only become its leader but by a whisker win the Presidential elections. His tenure in power has been marred by many controversies overshadowing his achievements against a massive onslaught of rumors probably by those who think that the uncle-nephew party should not have gone to a classless head. Be that as it may one credit to this 2^nd President is the spick and span manner in which he kept the Public Service administrative system who was always kept on attention with strict discipline. His son ironically faced the same obstacle in being nominated but has not been lucky enough to contest from the party that he remains deputy head. Instead he has had to contend with an bird emblem while struggling to rally his party’s supporters to once again vote for the same emblem that this grand old party had no choice but to vote for in 2010, 2015 and now 2019. Judging by the stage talk we realize that he is only appealing to the lowest 30% class of supporters and thus there is no vision – no mission – no action plan and no strategy that wows the rest of the vote base. Will the 70% of its supporters decide to vote the alternative, not to vote or give a chance to the most popular candidate will be seen as campaigning progresses. But certainly there is a good 40% capable of being won over for they too want to look forward to a future.

Then we come to the final candidate who has been brandished by names that has shown tarnishing his image is the only way to downplay his rising popularity. We must learn to give credit where credit is due irrespective of the party. We all appreciate JVP role in de-merging the north & eastern provinces and that appreciation will remain. Similarly, it is necessary to benchmark his role firstly since he’s been compared against politicians, secondly because he’s related to a political family, thirdly because there is a coordinated attack to keep him away from becoming a people’s representative. This candidate served a good number of years in the military, was overseas and returned to take over a position that previous takers had failed to deliver. His coordination capabilities together with other traits surfaced for the public to notice him as a future leader. Regime change afforded him a golden opportunity to build his base among professionals, academics, youth and across the expat communities. It is no exaggeration to say that the people chose him and the political party had no choice other than to nominate him. His post-conflict development and other programs raised his scorecard further. Against the other main contender’s single achievement of building houses that the poor have to pay for the fourth contender has given people not the fishing rod but teaching how to fish.

One of the most important signs in a leader is not just to claim to be the leader but to have people’s acceptance and the best example of this can be shown in the manner the most popular contender declared his campaign would be poster-less and his rallies have had no posters even the one’s who would have loved to show their support by printing massive cut-outs desisted honoring his wish. Now this is an amazing example of people listening to him & following his instructions and this shows that he is ready to take the mantle of head.

The country needs a quality statesman not a farcical character. The Nation must be able to look up to the President. His plan must be our plan. His vision must be our vision. Just as he has to do his duty we must also do our duty by the nation. We cannot be spectators finding fault. We must be equal participants.

Vote wisely – we cannot have the kind of weak leadership we suffered since 2015. A Leader is one who can motivate people towards a common goal – our goal is to uplift Sri Lanka & its people, protect and foster it for future generations.

Who can take up that challenge to lead & motivate us … he is the person whom you should vote for!

Shenali D Waduge

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Sri Lanka’s Muslim community was credited in the past with a plethora of trustworthy and patriotic politicians such as Sir Macan Markar, Sir RazikFareed.Dr. Y.B.Jayah, Dr., Badiuddin Mahmoud, C.A.S.Marikkar (Sinhala Marikkar) A.C.S.Haneed, M.H.Mohamed to name a few. They always remained sternly faithful to the motherland while serving their political parties. They were not parochial or sectarian but always broad-minded.

When the father of separatism Malaysian bornS.J.V.Chelvanayagam attempted to moot the idea of separatism  in the State Council in 1931 saying that if Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) is to be granted Tamils should be given the right to self-rule in their homeland North and East as they are a superior race than Sinhalese, it was Sir Marcan Markar who vehemently opposed Chelvanayagam and told him that this country belongs to the Sinhalese and they have every right to rule this country and Muslims will be pleased to work with them.

 Sir Razik Fareed too fought and argued with Chelvanayagam on many occasions when he attempted to refer to Muslims as a Tamil speaking community just to get a numerical advantage for Tamils at the expense of Muslims.  He always sternly maintained that Muslims in Sri Lanka as a separate community with their own cultural and religious ethics entirely different from mythical beliefs and behaviors of Tamils.

It was Dr. Badiuddeen Mahmoud who took the initiative of appointing Daham Paasal teachers, teachers to teach Buddhism in government schools and Pirivena schools and Mt. A.C.S.Hameed risked his life on a peace mission to negotiate with tiger terrorists.  

The Sinhala community too highly respected the Muslims and they elected Muslims as their members of parliament defeating their own community candidates opposing the Muslim candidate.  Mr. Aboosally always got elected from a strong Sinhala majority electorate. There were 95%Sinhala voters in the Borella electorate but they always elected Mr. M.H.Mohamed as their MP except in 1970 in which he lost narrowly to LSSP’s Mrs. Kusala Abeywardene. He was one of the several Ministers of the UNP government who lost in t    his election and prominent among them was the well-known Philip Gunawardene. 

The Muslim leaders in the past vehemently opposed the Tamil separatists but the  despicable and shameless Rauf Hakeem was the first Muslim politician who went tio Kilinochchi and held discussions with the megalomaniac terrorist leader Prabhakaran, but political sources said that rather it was a listening session to Prabhakaran’s dictates.  This  lewd fellow undertook this trip on the instructions of Ranil Wickremasinghe despite all Muslims in the country hated the KTTE maniac for his massacre of over 100  Muslims who were performing night prayers ar the Kattankudi Jumma mosque, killing and maiming several hundred Muslims in Polonnaruwa and other places in the Eastern province and and expulsion of Muslims from the Northern province.  We do not know actually what happened but the LTTE released a photograph showing this fellow seated in a table opposite the maniac.

Subsequent to the meeting Hakeem told the media he profusely praising the LTTE maniac that they signed mutual cooperation and unashamedly urged the Muslim youth in the Eastern province to emulate Prabhakaran.

This was the first and the unpardonable betrayal of the Muslim community by this vendor of the Muslim community.  Thereafter he not only pawned the community for petty personal gains but also brought ignominy to the Muslim community.  Knowing the possibility of blackmailing this fellow when the budget voting was due and to force him to vote for the budget  Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathy Suriaratchi brought his concubime Mary Cooray to the parliament gallery and threatened him that his relationship with Mary Cooray will be exposed if he failed to vote in favour the budget.  Hakeem was keeping this woman, the daughter of the former Moratuwa MP, in a house somewhere in Dehiwala and had promised her to provide her an overseas employment. When she realised that this man was cheating her to get sexual lusts fulfilled one early morning she came with a can of kerosene oil, jumped over the wall of his residence in Kollupitiya and immolated herself kissing goodbye to this swindler.

Now let us come to the contemporary issues. When questioned by media personnel Hakeem has said that he does not know Zahran Hashim, the mastermind of the Easter Sunday terrorist attack and he cannot recollect meeting him ever.  However,Hakeem has been found to have had a close and intimate friendship or relationship with Zahran Hashim. He has held several meetings with him during the course time since the 2015 elections.   Several video clips of Hakeem’s discussions with this terrorist Zahran has become available and they are in several social media sites.

People all over the country have become furious seeing these video clips and demanded to arrest Hakeem and subject him to a thorough investigation. The funny thing was Hakeem was also a member of the deceptive Parliamentary Select Committee which the government appoint to mislead the public to overcome its severe criticisms on its failure to prevent the carnage despite having early warnings of its occurrence and taking action only to prevent its Catholic Ministers and MPs from attending Church on that day.  The government did not even question minister Fernando’s father who has told his son not to Church on that day as how he came to know about the impending terrorist attacks,  Now there is no use of it because the man is no more and he passed away last week,

The Daily Mirror Editorial today (25^th October, Friday) said that Hakeem is haunted by Zahran’s past. It said that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report which gives its final findings of the Easter Sunday Bombings is viewed with raised eyebrows. This is

Picture : courtesy Daily Mirror

because the PSC consists of a member in Rauff Hakeem who is at present bombarded with allegations that he had links with the extremist terror organisation which carried out the bombings.
The reason for Hakeem coming under fire, it said, is a video that went viral showing the minister in the company of hate preacher Zaharan Hashim who masterminded the series of bomb attacks which claimed the lives of 258 people. Hakeem squashes public opinion that he had close dealings with the late Hashim; the minister defending his presence in the company of this suicide bomber and remarking that it was natural for a lawmaker to mingle with members of the public.

The video and some photographs confirming the meeting between the two has stirred a hornet’s nest in the run up to the presidential elections. Hakeem is said to be backing presidential hopeful Sajith Premadasa. In this context it is important that Hakeem clears himself of these allegations before the Presidential Elections, which are around the corner.
The editorial states that when one studies the fresh development associated with Hakeem it must be first viewed from a national interest perspective and not from a political angle. The PSC has in the report blamed the State Intelligence Services for failing to prevent the disaster, stating that prior warnings were ignored.
But secondarily Hakeem’s credibility is now at stake unless he clears himself of the allegations levelled against him. This video and pictures suffice for the opposition to start agitating. UPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena has taken the matter up in parliament and called for a debate regarding the PSC report.  

The PSC also comprises a controversial figure in Minister Ravi Karunanayake. If citizens in this country want all members of the PSC to be clean as snow then there are question marks associated with Karunanayake being in the committee. We can remember how Karunanayake, the present Minister of Power, Energy and Business Development, being forced to resign as Foreign Minister following the allegations levelled against him. This was regarding a controversial Penthouse issue with which his name was associated. The latest regarding Karunanayake is that he has been ordered by the Colombo Court to appear before the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to provide a full statement over the alleged false evidence given before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank Bond Scam.

The editorial further states that this is a nation where even the present Prime Minister was summoned before the PSC to give evidence regarding the Easter Sunday bombings. For the record, the PSC report on the Easter Sunday bombings issue has also named President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe among others who failed to discharge their duties to some extent. In this sense one sees a breakdown of a chain that takes responsibility from top to bottom in this present government.

Minister Rauff Hakeem yesterday rejected allegations that he had connections with the terrorists involved in the Easter Sunday attack as reported in media.

He said it was a mud-sling campaign launched by political opponents ahead of the presidential election.

This is a politically motivated conspiracy to tarnish my image and to take political advantage ahead of the presidential election. I have been in parliament as an MP for 25 years and had represented various committees in parliament. There has been no allegation against me,” he said.

Another report published in the same nrespaper yesterday (24^th October)Hakeem said he had acted impartially in the activities of the PSC on the Easter Sunday attack and had never influenced any committee member or a witness who testified before the committee.

He has accused that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna was behind this mud-slinging campaign and was trying to provoke Buddhist and Islamic people against him to obtain votes.

He has said the SLPP Batticaloa District Muslim Division Organiser M.S.M. Ziyad,  was behind these false accusations.

Clarifying the photos being shared on media  which shows Hakeem with a terrorist of the Easter Sunday attack in a hospital, he has said he only bumped into him when he visited another patient in the hospital. Questions have been asked how was it possible for him to meet this man when his visit to the hospital was to see a woman patient in a women’s ward. He has said that it was unfair to level allegations only against him and said the terrorists involved in the April 21 attack had not been identified as terrorists in 2015 and added that it was normal for politicians to meet with different people.

Meanwhile, the Island editorial of 23th October has requested for a fresh probe on the Easter carnage.

The Joint Opposition has refused to accept the PSC report on the grounds that Minister Rauff Hakeem, one of its members, has held discussions with Zahran and hence the PSC lacked credibility. One may not accuse Hakeem of promoting terrorism or having links to terrorists, but before joining the PSC, he should have revealed that he had met Zahran and held political discussions with the latter. The joint opposition has also stated that the JVP should not have been represented on the PSC, at all, because the father of two NTJ bombers was one of its National List nominees, at the last general election.

In the meantime, the Chairman of an organization called New People’s Service organization, Mawa Mahajana Seva Sanvidanaya, Rishan Mahroof has said that Rauf Has held discussions with the terrorist leader Zahran Hashim and he has video clips related to these discussions, and has called for Hakeem’s arrest immediately and question him thoroughly.  Addressing a media conference he has said he has further proof related to Hakeem’s links with the terrorists.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

පොලිස් මූල්‍ය අපරාධ විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසයේ කටයුතු සඳහා දේශපාලන බලපෑම් එල්ල වූ බවට එහි හිටපු ප්‍රධානී විශ්‍රාමික ජ්‍යෙෂඨ නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති රවී විද්‍යාලංකාර මහතා පවසනවා.

කොළඹදී මාධ්‍ය වෙත විශේෂ අනාවරණයක් කරමින් ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළා.

පැවති රජයේ වංචා දූෂණ සොයා බැලීමට 2015 වසරේදී ආරම්භ කළ පොලිස් මූල්‍ය අපරාධ විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසය හෙවත් FCID යේ වසර 4කට ආසන්න කාලයක් ප්‍රධානියා ලෙස කටයුතු කළේ විශ්‍රාමික ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති රවී විද්‍යාලංකාර මහතායි.

Lanka Sri Lanka

Lanka Sri Lanka

මේක බැලුවනම්,තේරෙනව කව්ද ජනාධිපති විය යුත්තේ කියල

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Archaeological officers in Vavuniya have complained to the Omanthai police in October to carry out an inquiry about the building of a Kovil in the Maligai area in Omanthai, in Vavuniya by a certain group of people by bulldozing a place with archaeological memorials and ruins that belonged to Anuradhapura period.

All archaeological memorials including ancient ‘stupa’ bases, Sri Pada (Feet), bases of buildings, stone pillars, bricks, and tiles had been bulldozed by this unidentified group and Statues of Gods have been placed on an ancient Moonstone Lamp according to the complaint made by the officer concerned.

In the meantime, the area, in question, with seven acres in extent including archaeological ruins and memorials has been enclosed as private land and arrangements have been made to build a Kovil on that land.

In spite of the fact that no action has been taken by the Police to stop this destruction even after the lapse of several weeks of making a complaint, a top officer, in response to a query, said that an investigation has been launched in this connection. (Sithum Chathuranga)

Pix by Sithum Chathuranga

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Legal Officer’s Association of the State Legal Advisor- the Attorney General’s Department, which is bound to be an impartial body, has now come under criticism for obtaining advertisements from private organisations and state institutions for a souvenir they are going to publish.

A WhatsApp message that had been circulated by the Legal Officer’s Association of the Attorney General’s (AG) Department requesting advertisements from private organisations or state institutions for this souvenir has raised several questions within the department. They are of the view that this course of action compromise the independence of the AG’s Department and also will not be able to take legal decisions if the advertisers are under probe.

There are so many heads of state institutions and private companies presently under probe. By requesting their officers to obtain advertisements to raise sponsorship money either from private or state institutions, the prosecutors do not know the advertisers’ background and the advertisers will take this opportunity to obtain undue influence,” a senior official at the AG’s Department who wished to remain anonymous told the Daily Mirror.

The Legal Officers Association has organized a fundraiser to mark the 135th Anniversary of the Attorney General’s Department a musical extravaganza for destitute children of the Easter Sunday bomb attack featuring popular music artists Rukantha, Chandralekha, Lanthra, Sanuka and Raini backed by the band Daddy at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo on Saturday, October 26, from 6.30 pm onwards followed by dinner and the tickets are priced at Rs.12,000 and Rs. 7, 500. The 60 orphaned child victims of the Easter attacks too are said to have been invited for the event.

Meanwhile, highly reliable sources from the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo told the Daily Mirror that a booking had been made by a Senior Official at the AG’s Department for the event Ray of Hope” for 700 guests and the hotel charges per head was Rs.6,000. Hence the total cost for the hotel would be Rs.4.2 million.

In another message sent to all officials of the AG’s Department, the Chairman of the Souvenir Committee, Additional Solicitor General, N.R. Abeysuriya has requested all his colleagues to assist him to obtain at least one advertisement, for the souvenir be it from private or state institutions.

The message read as, ‘Dear Colleagues, Please be kind enough to assist our Souvenir Committee by securing at least one advertisement each for the souvenir to be published on the occasion of the fundraising event at Shangri La on October 26. As you are aware every cent raised by us would be utilized to provide scholarships to the 60 children who lost both or one parent due to the Easter Sunday bomb explosion. The advertisement may be from a private organisation or a state institution. A full-page advertisement is Rs.50, 000 and a half page is Rs.25, 000’.

Although this has been organised by the Legal Officers’ association they have to obtain permission from the Attorney General to hold such an event and he as the country’s Chief Legal Officer should have advised the organisers to stick to the standard practices of the Department. Hence those who are responsible for organising this event should have acted dutifully without compromising the integrity of the Department. When advertisements are obtained from accused parties with or without the knowledge of their identity, it gives these parties an opportunity to get closer to these legal officers who represent the AG. In such a background, how can the Department hold the Scale of Justice evenly?,” the senior prosecutor contended.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Bar Association Sri Lanka (BASL) who was granted anonymity to discuss matters connected to the official bar said that raising sponsorship money from entities under investigations or who are witnesses in investigations tantamount to conflict of interest.

The AG’s Department sources further said that if the officials in the department is so keen to help out the children who have lost either both or single parent due to the bomb attack, the officials could have requested each State Counsel and Senior higher officials to contribute one or two days salary towards this worthy cause which could have easily collected few millions of rupees.

There are around 200 officials- State Counsels and other senior higher officials who draw handsome salaries which amount to few hundred thousand rupees per month which are higher than any government official in other state institutions. The AG’s Department could have easily collected Rs.5 million and give away scholarships to these affected children. By holding a tamasha- spending millions to Shangri-La Hotel and another few millions for costumes, event managers and singers the Department is trying to show that this is a worthy cause although we as seniors in the Department are totally against this unnecessary expenditure,” sources added.

Meanwhile, it is alleged that all officers of this Department are under tremendous pressure to sell tickets to raise the sponsorship money and according to them, the Department will not be able to give each of these children more than Rs.100, 000 due to the high cost involved in this fundraiser.

It is alleged, the Event Management Company is to be paid around Rs.2 million, for the 14 ushering costumes the prices are said to be Rs.700,000, for Shangri-La dinner Rs.4.2 million, for the artists another several hundred thousands of rupees and the musical band another few hundred thousand rupees. It is estimated that the total budget is around Rs.8 million. With all these expenses, if the Department can give more than a hundred thousand rupees per destitute child, it will be good, but this is impossible,” the sources said.

When contacted the President of the Legal Officers’ Association of the AG’s Department Additional Solicitor General (ASG), Sumathi Dharmawardena, P.C. who has organized the event, to find out as to what the AG’s Department’s position to raise funds from private and state institutions which is conflict of interest, the ASG wanted this newspaper to send the questions via an email. Hence the following questions were sent to ASG Dharmawardena on Tuesday October 22.

What is the Attorney– General’s Department’s position on the conflict of interest in raising sponsorship money from entities under investigations or from individuals who are witnesses in the cases the Department is involved?, What is the total budget for the event and what is the source of funds?, How much money will be given to each child?, Who are the external contractors (Event Managers) managing the event? What is the procedure that was followed to select them and how much will they be paid? Is it true that the AG’s officials are under pressure to sell tickets and raise sponsorship money for the event?, How many will be there to usher the guests and how much will it cost for their costume?, What is the total cost for the hotel, the singers and the band?, Although the AG’s Department has to be impartial at any lawsuit, in regard to the Easter bomb case, once charges are filed against those who were involved, how can the Department play a neutral role when the Department has showed empathy towards the victims’ families?

However, ASG Dharmawardena in his reply on Thursday October 24, states that he cannot answer any of the questions raised as it does not warrant any response from the Legal Officers’ Association of the AG’s Department.

The reply he further states, ‘At the very outset, I wish to inform you that I am the President of the Legal Officers’ Association of the Attorney General’s Department and not the President of any Organizing Committee. I also wish to observe that the said email of yours is bereft of details with regard to any specific event.

In response, I wish to inform you that the Legal Officers’ Association of the Attorney General’s Department was established for the welfare of the Legal Officers and it is duly registered under the Trade Unions Ordinance.

In the circumstances, I regret that it does not warrant any response from the Legal Officers’ Association of the Attorney General’s Department. Sumathi Dharmawardena, P.C. Addl. Solicitor General, President Legal Officers’ Association. (Nirmala Kannangara)

Courtesy Adaderana

Presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa says he would make use of latest technology to wipe out corruption from state institutions.

He made this remark addressing a public meeting held at Pathadumbara area today (24).

Rajapaksa, addressing the mass, said that the United National Party is spreading false rumours between the Tamil and Muslim communities.

More rallies organized by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna under the theme ‘Successful Vision-Functioning Country’ took place at Pathadumbara and Gampola areas.

Courtesy Adaderana

Parliamentarian Anura Priyadarshana Yapa says the manifesto of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s presidential candidate will be launched tomorrow (25).

Accordingly, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s manifesto will be unveiled at 9.30 tomorrow during a ceremony at Nelum Pokuna Theatre, the parliamentarian said speaking at a press conference.

This manifesto was prepared after lengthy discussions with the people in rural areas and identifying their needs according to him.

Through surveys conducted by Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ‘Viyath Maga’ organization, it has been shown how the country’s economy must be established, he said. We have also incorporated these facts into this manifesto.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The youth in North call for development from the Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa instead of an Eelam, according to a group of Tamil intellectuals.

They expressed these views at a press conference held at the office of the ‘Wiyath Maga’ in Colombo, today (24).

They stated that they believe in the vision of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, 10 minor parties in the Eastern Province, speaking at a press conference in Batticaloa today, expressed their support for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at the upcoming Presidential election.

They stated that they have come to this decision because the United National Party (UNP) government, for the past 5 years, had not made any progress – whether in economic terms or a political solution – for the Tamil people.

Arun Thambimuttu, Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, said, The Sri Lankan people need to realize that our economy comes first. We need political stability. We need security stability. We need economic stability.

To give that economic stability we feel that Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the right person.”

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ජනතාවට වග කියන ක්‍රියාශීලි ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවන බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප්‍රමුඛ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති ධූර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

මහනුවර – වත්තේගම ප්‍රදේශයේ අද පැවති ජනහමුවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මනුෂ්‍යත්වය, කාර්ය ශූරත්වය සහ බුද්ධිය එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයෙන් බොහෝ දුරට ගිලීහි ඇති බව එහි ජාතික සංවිධායක, අමාත්‍ය නවීන් දිසානායක ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

ගාමිණී දිසානායක 25 වන ගුණානුස්මරණ උත්සවයට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු කියා සිටියේ එය යළි ගොඩනැගිය යුතු බවයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්‍රසය සහරාන් හෂීම් ඇතුළු ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමග සබඳතා පැවැත්වූ බවත් එය තහවුරු කළ හැකි සාක්ෂි තමන් සතුව ඇති බවත් අමාත්‍ය රාවුෆ් හකීම් මහතාට එරෙහිව පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයට පැමිණිලි ඉදිරිපත් කළ නව මහජන සේවා සංවිධානයේ සභාපති රිෂාන් මරූස් මහතා පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව සදහන් කළේ අද කොළඹදී විශේෂ ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වමින්.

මේ අතර පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධ පාර්ලිමේන්තු තේරීම් කාරක සභාවේ වාර්තාව සහ එහි සාමාජිකයන් සම්බන්ධව අද විවිධ පාර්ශ්ව අදහස් පළ කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මුලතිව් – නායාරු – ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරස්ථානයේ වත්මන් තත්ත්වය නිරීක්ෂණය සඳහා අද මහා සංඝරත්නය එහි නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවක නිරත වුණා.

මෙම ගැටලුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අද පැවති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී අදහස් දැක්වූ පුජ්‍ය බෙංගමුවේ නාලක හිමියන් සඳහන් කළේ බෙදුම්වාදය පදනම් කර ගනිමින් සිය දේශපාලන බලය ලබාගැනීමට ක්‍රියාත්මක වන ඇතැම් දේශපාලනඥයින් සහ මෙම ආණ්ඩුව ඉවත් කිරීමෙන් පසු මෙම අර්බුදය විසදෙනු ඇති බවයි.

උතුරු මැද සහ කොළඹ ප්‍රධාන විහාරස්ථාන ගණනාවක් නියෝජනය කරමින් මහා සංඝරත්නය මුලතිව් නයාරු ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරස්ථානය වෙත අද වැඩම කළේ එහි ඓතිහාසික නටඹුන් සහ වත්මන් තත්ත්වය නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීම සඳහායි.

එම විහාරස්ථානයේ නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවෙන් අනතුරුව භික්ෂූන්වහන්සේ වත්මන් ගැටලුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ කළා.

මෙම විහාරස්ථානයේ තත්ත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අද පැවැති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡා කිහිපයකදී භික්ෂූන්වහන්සේ අදහස් පළ කළා.

මේ අතර, වවුනියාව – ඕමන්ත මාලිගෙයි ප්‍රදේශයේ අනුරාධපුර යුගයට අයත් පුරා විද්‍යා ස්මාරක හා නටඹුන් සහිත භූමියක් කිසියම් පිරිසක් විසින් ඩෝසර් කර ඉදිකිරීම් සිදුකිරීමේ සූදානමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් වවුනියාව පුරා විද්‍යා නිලධාරීන් පොලිසියට පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙනවා.

අප මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් කළ විමසීමකදී ඕමන්ත පොලිසිය සදහන් කළේ අදාළ පුරා විද්‍යා භූමියේ ඉදිකිරීම් සිදුකිරීමට තැත් කරන පුද්ගලයින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම සදහා අධිකරණයට කරුණු වාර්තා කර ඇති බවයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

තම රජයෙන් අඩුපාඩු සිදුවී ඇති බව පිළිගන්නා බව අග්‍රමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පවසනවා.

කොළඹ තොටලඟ ප්‍රදේශයේ පැවති උත්සවයකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළ අතර එම අවස්ථාවට එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඒ.එච්.එම්. ෆවුසි මහතාද එක්ව සිටියා.

එක්සත් ජාතික පෙරමුණේ කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික් මැතිවරණ මෙහෙයුම් කාර්යාලය අද පෙරවරුවේ විවෘත කෙරුණේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන්.

එහිදී එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඒ.එච්.එම්. ෆවුසි මහතා අදහස් පළ කළා.

By Rohana R. Wasala

‘Sri Lanka 2020 and Beyond is a forum that will provide Sri Lankans living in Australia with an opportunity to engage in a dialog with the intent of shaping the future blueprint of Sri Lanka. This forum will provide with an opportunity to directly interact with the panel of experts on specific topics and provide valuable feedback in shaping the future of Sri Lanka.’ – from the ‘Sri Lanka 2020 and Beyond’ forum’s website. 

A Lecture and Q &A programme on the theme ‘Awakening the Nation’ hosted by Sri Lanka 2020 and Beyond forum was conducted at the Rudsen lecture theatre of the Melbourne Burwood Campus of Deakin University, Victoria on October 20, 2019. Though it had been scheduled to begin at 2:30 and close at 5:00 p.m. local time, it went on till around 6:30 p.m. The hall was filled to capacity, with an audience estimated by one speaker at over 600. They were all professionals living and working in Australia. It was a very well organized promotion event in support of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s presidential candidacy. There was a pre-recorded video statement of the candidate (GR) welcoming the guests to the session and thanking them for their presence. As always, in the terse few words he spoke, there was this sincere tone of ‘I mean business. Here is the reason why you may trust me’. He appealed to the voters to do their duty and pledged to do his duty on election as president. 

Gotabhaya is a decorated war hero,who voluntarily retired from the military in 1990, as a lieutenant colonel, for private reasons, and who later worked as a highly qualified computer professional  in America, and finally as a prominent civilian state functionary in Sri Lanka during his brother Mahinda’s presidency. The panel of speakers/experts, who are definitely worthy of Gotabhaya, comprised the following four (in the order in which they appeared in the advertisement): Attorney at Law Udaya Gammanpila MP, Gotabhaya’s legal adviser Ali Sabry  PC, a distinguished former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivaad Cabral, and former UPFA MP Rear Admiral (Retd) Dr Sarath Weerasekera, who made a name for himself by upgrading, under Defence Secretary GR’s instructions, an earlier sparse, ragtag, hardly recognized, home guard brigade of uneducated rustic young men into a properly trained 41,000 strong Civil Defence Force, which earned respect as an adjunct to the regular army. 

The speakers were, no doubt, the best available for the Sri Lanka 2020 and Beyond forum (in fact, for any similarly serious conference for that matter) for providing an opportunity for the participants to listen to and to directly interact with them on the topics they had been assigned that related broadly to the fourfold domain, where the Yahapalanaya’s abysmal performance is now well known, of national security, economic development, political administration, and matters of justice. 

The compere made it clear that while only a very few questions could be entertained during the short period at the seminar’s disposal, further questions could be uploaded to a given email address and the panelists would use these for improving and streamlining the ‘Blueprint’ (Gotabhaya’s plan) for reactivating and modernizing the nation-building process that the Yahapalanaya suddenly aborted in 2015. It refers to the Blueprint, the writer feels, that Gotabhaya’s Viyath Maga (Professionals for a Better Future) organization has developed over the past 4+ years, working with experts including his fellow technocrats with whose assistance he made remarkable achievements in rebuilding the country after decades of devastating civil unrest. 

The organizers had boiled down questions previously emailed from participants into  a few representative ones flashed on the overhead screen, such as ‘What are the strategies that will be employed to counter 

• false propaganda being spread within and outside Sri Lanka and in the UNHRC against the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, alleging that they have committed war crimes and genocide against the Tamil community,
• threats posed by powerful countries directly and through their proxies to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka and
• extremism  

Two or three impromptu questions were also put to them, for example, ‘Were they going to accommodate in the new administration the dishonest characters (called by an insulting sobriquet which would literally translate into English as ‘rice ferriers’) who were close to Mahinda Rajapaksa and brought about his downfall?’ The answer was too obvious to be articulated. Udaya Gammanpila reminded the audience of how Gotabhaya, with the Urban 

Development Authority under the Defence  Ministry of which he was Secretary, ordered the pulling down  of an unauthorized three-storeyed building in Colombo alleged to have been built by a government minister, something a less conscientious person yielding to ‘same party’ favouritism would not have done. 

Gotabhaya with his unique administrative abilities, personal probity and strict discipline will be a godsend for the country in the current dire straits. He has a clear vision and a coherent plan for national regeneration drawn up with expert help from a wide range of patriotic intellectuals and professionals. Gotabhaya is not a politician or a party man. That is probably his greatest qualification for the job. The Yahapalanaya has tarred politicians of all periods with the same brush, a great injustice to the genuinely sincere few of them of the past and the present. Gotabhaya’s proven track record cannot be matched or challenged by his rival/s. Could we think of a better champion to pull the country back from the brink of absolute ruin, where it is now teetering?    

Of course, Gotabhaya’s blueprint will not be a return to the past. In fact, it is more likely to be a ‘springy frog leap’ (to invent a new expression) into an essentially knowledge driven future. The idea of forging ahead through strategies based on knowledge is reminiscent of the ADB sponsored Knowledge Society project of 2010-2014, forgotten since. This will at least partly compensate for the contrived disincentive of the dark period of failed ‘good governance’ of the past five years. Gotabhaya has been stressing the need for giving the highest priority to the education of the young under his future administration (which is a certainty now). As in other areas, Gotabhaya is likely to be interested in developing bipartisan policies in education, so that programs started by a government led by one party will not be disrupted by another led by its rival, as has happened to date with disastrous consequences for the nation (particularly during periods of UNP rule).  

On reflecting back on the meeting, the writer feels that had this level of attention been paid to the FB savvy young  floating voter component (particularly, the millennial section – 18 to 40 year olds) of the electorate (including Sri Lankan workers abroad), the narrow margin by which Mahinda Rajapaksa lost in 2015 would probably have been more than cancelled, and the rigours of the past five years avoided. Social media suggest at least 200,000 expatriate Sri Lankans working across the world will be coming to Sri Lanka to vote at this most crucial presidential election ever in its forty one year history. This Australian program is most likely to be repeated in other global centres. Participants who do not travel home to vote will urge and encourage their near and dear ones there to go and cast their vote without fail as this will be the last chance available for the Sri Lankan nation to survive as an independent unitary sovereign state.  

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The inevitable victory of the legendary lady Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike in the 1988 Presidential Election was thwarted based on a prediction made by one of the then political visionaries the late Mr.Lalith Athulathmudali. He said that Mr. Premadasa could win that election only if voting in the villages could be minimized or halted.  On this advice, Premadasa deployed his rearguard sordid JVP hooligans to undertake the andthey issued death threats that anyone proceeding to vote will be killed without any mercy.  Accordingly, certain people who went to vote in the villages were shot and killed and that ceased all voting village and suburban areas resulting in a narrow victory for Premadasa.  The results were as follows:

Electorates won by Premadasa in Green, Mrs. Bandaranaike in Blue and Ossoe Abeygunasekera in Red

Similarly, it was a forgone conclusion that Mr. Gotabhjaya Rajapaksa comes forward as a candidate there is no power that can prevent him from becoming the winner.  The first hint on this possibility was given by the former U.S.Ambassador AtulKeshap who urged in his farewell meeting with Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa requesting him not to file Mr. Gotabhjaya Rajapaksa as a candidate for the presidential election as the U.S.Embassy, he felt most probably, will not be able to keep him under their cognizance. This was the beginning of the Gota phobia. 

When the election was approaching and it became quite clear that Gota will be the common national candidate, the government and its proxies including NGO vultures and the anti-Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora became so worried and explored all avenues available to discredit and using obstacles to the candidacy Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.  Some branded him as a reincarnation of Hitler and Ranil Wickremasinghe warned that if he happens to come to power Sri Lanka will once again be threatened with white van culture which was a vicious concept floated by the Kallathoni descendent Mano Ganeshan who was also an intimate machan of megalomaniac Prabhakaran to appraise the westerners that Northern Tamils who visit Colombo was being abducted by a fleet of white vans under Gota’s command.  Questions were raised by the joint members of parliament to give details relating to identity of ich persons with date and time of alleged abductions and the white van numbers were ignored by the government several times and following persistence of this question the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Gayantha Karnatilleke finally answered saying that there had been no such abductions and hence answers to other questions become irrelevant.

This Indian Origin Ganesdhan who proudly calls himself as an Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) has vowed that in the next ewlection there will be 14 IOT MPs including him.  His prime objective is to agitate for a Malai Nadu embracing Bafulla and NuwaeaEliya districts and parts of adjoining Matale, Kandy, Ratnapura, and Monaragala districts.  It is because that stupid J.R.Jayawardene conceded to Thondaman’s request and granted them Sri Lanka citizenship to the IOTs who were destined to be repatriated to India under the Sirima-Shastri agreement that they have become so bold to speak about a future Malai Nadu.  However, yet this move can be thwarted if Sinhalese and Muslims of these threatened districts make a firm determination devoid of party politics to minimize the number of IOT members getting elected,

Several baseless Court cases were filed as a means to keep Gota held up in Cort premises (in Hultsdorf) and thereby prevent him attending to his election campaign work, and traveling to outstation areas to address meetings.  One such case dismissed by the Court of Appeal recently was a case filed by two notorious NGO vultures named Chandragupta Thenuvara and Gamini Viyangoda relating to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s dual citizenship issue, Romesh de Silva PC who appeared on behalf of Gota convinced the panel of judges the petition was a mala fide (not in good faith) application filed for pure political vengeance and it should be dismissed straight away as there is no right to invoke writ jurisdiction on technicality according to the decided law.

He made these remarks pointing out several factors which were relating to the petition.

Another such bogus case was the Avante Garde case in which case also the Court acquitted Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and seven others.  Another one was the D.A.Rajapaksa museum construction case which has been postponed to be taken for trial in December. In addition to this the tiger terrorists in the U.S.A calling themselves as Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) also filed 3 cases in theUnited States in an apparent bid to prevent Gota contesting in the Presidential election.  These attempts were also ended in failure. 

by Garvin Karunaratne, former Government Agent, Matara

I am prompted to write about what was achieved in development since Sri Lanka achieved independence because some of our presidential aspirants have said that Sri Lanka had no development whatsoever since gaining independence 71 years ago. It is sad to note that some of our presidential aspirants happen to be that ignorant.

It is important to note that we made strides in development, in increasing agricultural production, poverty alleviation and industry. Of course there were pitfalls due to political interference at times and finally, in 1978 we caved into the International Monetary Fund(IMF) which decimated most development work done by us by imposing its Structural Adjustment Programme on us.

I assumed duties as an Assistant Commissioner for the Development of Agricultural Marketing in 1955. At that time we staff officers were some 400 in number and worked in a few departments that were specially established to deal with development. Above us were the members of the Civil Service, about 125 in the number  who held the senior positions in the Departments and also worked as Permanent Secretaries in charge of the Ministries. There were some twelve Ministries and a few Departments and let me assure anyone that we did work. We never left a stone unturned. The Ministers decided the policies and it was left to us to implement them. There was no stopping us. We even clashed with local Ministers, Members of Parliament and Trade Unions. The maximum punishment was to transfer us. We were happy to pick up our bag and baggage and move to start working in another district. Though not officially members of leftist parties we were influenced by savants, leaders like Dr. N.M., S. A. Wickremasinghe and Philip Gunawardena. It was to uplift the downtrodden masses and alleviate them from the depths of poverty. Of course, there were pitfalls, but we knew to surmount them all.

The main Departments of Irrigation, Agriculture, and surveys were already equipped with trained staff. Their work was exceptional. On the first day of my consultancy in Bangladesh, I called for the one-inch survey sheets of the country, the basic document from which we start work in Sri Lanka. They had no one-inch sheets. No surveys were ever done. I have known the Superintendents of Surveys in the Districts I worked in and their work was meticulous.

It is sad that the current Government had to call in the services of a Survey Company from the USA to do some surveys ignoring our Survey Department. That is a sad saga of the Americanisation we are going through in the last few years.

The Department of Agriculture and Irrigation did wonders. Suffice it to state that the Irrigation Department reconstructed the lost tanks in double quick time and this enabled the development of thousands of acres. In Agriculture, we achieved self-sufficiency in paddy by 1970 which no other country could achieve.

One main felt need was the lack of land for residence and development. During the days of the State Council, well before we gained independence, plans were laid for peasant colonization schemes, where lands were brought under cultivation under tanks that were restored by the Irrigation Department. This was a major task done very quickly.

The land had to be alienated to people and this task fell on the Government Agents in charge of the Districts.  A Land Commissioners Department was established and District Land Officers were posted to the Districts to work under the Government Agents.  There was a full cadre of officers- Supervisors of Land Development and Overseers appointed and their task was to help the peasant colonists in the newly cultivated colonization schemes.  Each District also had a Surveyor to attend to minor surveying. Major surveying was passed onto the Survey Department.

The Land Development Department was formed to make roads and buildings in the colonization areas and each unit had a labour force of hundreds. They were equipped with D8 and D4 land machines, graders and many lorries and theirs was a major task. Colonists were settled in the thousands and the Land Development Department had to attend to all their wants. There were many colonies and the work was so important that certain key areas like Anuradhapura had a member of the Civil Service specially tasked to ensure that the colonists were cared for.  It is important to note that the officers had to work in malaria-infested areas. Once it so happened that the colonists were fleeced by traders in Padaviya and when this was raised at the District Coordinating Committee meeting, I as the Assistant Commissioner for Marketing undertook to establish a Fair Price Shop. This was done within a week. We worked that fast.

In Districts where there were no major colonies crown land if available was apportioned among the landless and at times estates belonging to private owners were taken over on payment and allocated to landless people.

In all this land alienation utmost care was taken to ensure that the land will remain with the people. The land could be handed over to children and their kin but not sold outright. In fact, this system was arrived at after careful consideration by Prime Minister DS Senanayake. He appointed a Committee to make recommendations and it is on record that this Committee held deliberations for over a year. .. The current MCCCompact Proposal has tried to provide full sale rights of this land and if this had gone through and the land was made freely saleable the main aim of providing land to the landless would have been undermined. with multinationals coming in and this land could have ended in their lap. 

The Department of Local Government was established to ensure that the local government institutions that were elected by the people did function efficiently. Contracts were given for the councils to attend to the construction of roads and public utilities like water supply and the Assistant Commissioners were very strict to ensure that the work was done well. In an instance known to me, an Assistant Commissioner who did not approve the work done was obstructed by placing a tree across the road. Luckily, his car was a Peugeot 203, a hardy car that went over the tree.  He had to fight his way through firing a gun he had. His life was saved.

 Then if any council was found wanting the Assistant Commissioner took over and functioned as a Special Commissioner in charge. I can remember Sonny Gunawardena the Special Commissioiner at Anuradhhapura acting like a dictator serving the people, very efficiently,  without bending to influence.  The main function of any local council happens to be the collection of garbage and at that time there were never any garbage pile-ups to talk of. The current pile-ups of garbage commenced with politicians taking over power from officials- a trend from the Seventies. (later)

Very early after achieving independence it was felt that the rural areas need development. To attend to administrative work there were Village Headmen in every cluster of villages and they were under a Divisional Revenue Officer(DRO). Initially, the tasks were administrative,  but gradually they were handling rural development.

The people in rural areas had to be helped with employment- to create incomes and with this aim, a Rural Development and Cottage Industry Department was established to function under the Government Agents. A Rural Development Officer was posted to each Divisional Revenue Officer’s area.  In each village area, a Rural Development Society was formed- elected by the people. These RD Societies had to look into the needs of the village. To attend to small infrastructure development tasks like small roads. This was done on a self-help basis where the people also had to contribute their labour. The Rural Development  Societies were given charge of the work and generally, the members of the Rural Development Society organized the work.  Every District had an allocation of funds for infrastructure development work. Some districts could not spend the full allocation and in the two years I worked as Additional Government Agent at Kegalla I liaised with the Director of Rural Development my friend,  Mr. Ratnavira to obtain the unspent funds from other Districts.  He would scout to find the possible savings and inform me and I was ready with plans to commence projects at short notice. Those were the non-internet days and on the last day to close accounts I would turn up in Colombo to collect a cheque- the savings from other districts. Back at Kegalla I wrote out the cheques in payment and held them in my safe to be released when the work was completed in a few weeks. This was not in order but we got used to bending rules in the national interest. These details are given to show that we officers were very concerned with development.

Garvin Karunaratne

21/10/2019

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය කැෆේ සංවිධානය

ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරය තුළ අගමික අන්තවාදී තත්වයන් මතුකර දැක්වීමේ උත්සාහයක් පවතින බව කැෆේ සංවිධානය අවධාරණය කරයි. එම සංවිධානයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා සුරංගී අරියවංශ මහත්මිය සඳහන් කළේ මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන්  මැතිවරණ කොමිසම වෙත ලිඛිතව දැනුම් දී ඇති බවයි.   සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ඉතා සංවිධානාත්මකව අන්තවාදී තත්වයන් මතුකර දැක්වීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව ඇය පෙන්වා දුන්නාය. මීට අමතරව  ප්‍රසිද්ධ මැතිවරණ ජනහමු තුළ පවා ආගමික අන්තවාදය මතුකරන ආකාරයේ ප්‍රකාශ ඉස්මතු වෙමින් පවතින බව ද කැෆේ සංවිධානයේ නිරීක්ෂණය බව ආරියවංශ මහත්මිය සඳහන් කරයි.

තමන් කැමති අපේක්ෂකයෙකුට සහය දැක්වීම නිසා   ජන වර්ගය, ආගම,භාෂාව හෝ කුලය පදනම් කරගනිමින් යම් පුරවැසියෙකු, හෝ ජනකණ්ඩායමක්, වෙන්කොට සැලකීම ඔවුන්ගේ දේශපාලන අයිතිවාසිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමක් බව කැෆේ සංවිධානය මෙම ලිපිය මඟින් අවධාරණය  කර තිබේ.  එමෙන්ම  මෙම තත්වය ඉදිරියේදී වාර්ගික ගැටුමක්, දක්වා වූව වර්ධනය කරවිය හැකි අතර එය  නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයක් සදහා බාධා පමුණුවන බව ද එම ලිපියේ දැක්වෙයි.

මේ වනවිට මැතිවවරණ ව්‍යාපාරය තරමක ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී ස්වරූපයක් ගෙන ඇති බවත්  ගතවූ දින දෙක තුළ දිවයිනේ ප්‍රදේශ කිහිපයකින් ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී තත්වයන් වාර්තා වූ බවත් කැෆේ සංවිධානයේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂිකාව සඳහන් කළාය.   පවතින ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී තත්වය පාලනය කිරීම ප්‍රධාන අපේක්ෂකයින්ගේ වගකීමක් බවත් එය පාලනය නොකරන්නේ නම් ඉදිරියේදී මෙම් තත්වය වර්ධනය වීම බරපතල කරුණක් බවත් ඇය පෙන්වා දුන්නාය.

ජනාධිපතිවරණය ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ දින සිට මේ දක්වා කැෆේ සංවිධානය වෙත වාර්තා වී ඇති සිදුවීම් ප්‍රමාණය 286 ක් වන අතර ඒ අතර වැඩි වශයෙන් වාර්තා වන්නේ මැතිවරණ නීති උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම් සහ රාජ්‍ය දේපළ අවභාවිත කිරීම් වේ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය කැෆේ සංවිධානය

lanka C news

තමන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස තේරී පත් වූ පසු පරමාදර්ශී චරිතයක් ලෙස කටයුතු කරන බව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා පැවසීය.

එමෙන්ම තමන් ජනතාවගේ පයට පෑගෙන දූවිලි තරමට නිහතමානී ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු වන බවද ඔහු පැවසීය.

මෙරට යුධ විරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් සිරිසඟබෝ මෙන් බෙල්ල දීමට ද තමන් සූදානම් බව ඔහු පැවසුවේය.

ඇමතිවරයා මෙම අදහස් පල කරන ලද්දේ නාත්තන්ඩියේදී පැවති ජනාධිපතිවරණ ජනරැුලියන් අමතමිනි.

lanka C news

එජාප ජනාධිපති අපේක්‍ෂක සජිත් පේ‍්‍රමදාස මහතා වෙනුවෙන් පැවති මාළඹේ ජනරැළියකදී මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකුට අමානුෂික ලෙස පහර දීමක් සිදු කරනු ලැබීය.

ඊයේ දිනයේ පැවති මෙම රැළිය අමතමින් සිටි චම්පික රණවක මහතාට විරෝධය දැක්වූ තරුණයෙකුට මෙසේ කිහිප දෙනෙකු එක්ව දරුණු ලෙස පහර දුන්හ.

එම ප‍්‍රහාරයට පසු සජිත් පේ‍්‍රමදාස මහතා ජනරැලිය ආරම්භ කරන ලද්දේ ධම්ම පදයේ ගාථායක්ද කියමිනි.

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), which probed the Easter Sunday carnage, has, in its report, held the State Intelligence Service (SIS) responsible for bungling, which enabled terrorists to kill 270 persons on 21 April 2019.

Chairman of the Committee Deputy Speaker Ananada Kumarasiri said that if the SIS Chief Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena had conveyed the intelligence warnings it had received from foreign and local sources to the defence authorities, the disaster could have been averted, or at least mitigated. “For example, one of the suicide bombers went to the target site, but left that place after seeing some uniformed policemen detailed there for some other duty. That shows the attacks could have been prevented if the defence authorities had been alerted by the SIS.”

Kumarasiris said: “The first warning of the extremist activities in Sri Lanka was revealed to public by former Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana in 2011. Thereafter during the period 2013-14 several Islamic groups also brought the issue to the notice of the security authorities. Both the SIS and Terrorist Investigation Division had been operating in Kattankudy area separately and had links to the extremist group led by Zahran Hashim. In April 2018, the SIS requested the Defence Secretary to suspend the TID operations there and took the full responsibility for monitoring the Zahran’s group.

 “Soon after the attacks, an individual by the name of Army Mohideen was arrested. That shows that there had been prior knowledge of the persons responsible for the carnage. It has come to light during investigation that some extremist Muslim youth had been used by defence establishment as paid informants during the war. Thereafter, they were used for various other purposes. They were allowed to operate freely,” he said.

 Asked to name the single most culpable official or institution responsible for the mishap, PSC member MA Sumanthiran said it was the SIS Director. The SIS had the intelligence reports very close to the day of attack. In addition they shooed off TID from operations. And the arrest of Army Mohideen showed that they had links to the terror group. Thus, the SIS should be held responsible. The former Defence Secretary, IGP, Chief of National Intelligence too are responsible,” he said. 

Sumanthiran said that the SIS should have informed the police stations in the Eastern Province but they had issued warnings only to some police officers in the Western Province. That was one mistake made by the SIS.

Asked whether political authorities had been named as being responsible, Chairman Kumarasiri said that the President, the Prime Minister, State Minister of Defence and former Eastern Province Governor Hizbullah had been named for failure in political responsibility.

 The PSC report could not be used as evidence to hold anyone liable for a civil or criminal case in a court of law as per Section 16 of the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act, Sumanthiran said. “But the evidence found here could be used to counter any testimonies by the same persons before a court of law,” he said. “PSC Member Minister Rauff Hakeem said that the post of CNI had been made redundant for some unknown reason. There seems to be reluctance on the part of intelligence and defence authorities to share intelligence.”

The PSC makes several recommendations that require urgent attention. These are broadly categorised as follows:

1. Essential reforms in the security and intelligence sector

2. Establishment of an enhanced financial supervisory mechanism

3. The need to control and monitor the rise of religious extremism

4. Addressing delays with justice: Reforming the Attorney General’s Department

5. Wahabism and the need for action

6. Media reporting, fake news and other areas of concern

7. Holding politicians/ people’s representatives accountable

8. Reforming the educational sector to counter growing extremism. 

The Executive Summary of the report follows:

On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, suicide terrorist bombings that took place in three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka killed around 277 people (including 8 suicide bombers) and wounded more than 400 people as per the information provided by Police Headquarters. At least 40 foreign nationals and at least 45 children were reported to be among the dead. Investigators identified Zahran Hashim, one-time leader of the National Thowheed Jamaath, as the main suspect behind the execution of these co-ordinated attacks. Subsequent to the attacks, incidents of ethnic violence and tension targeting the Muslim community occurred in several parts of the country. 40 Members of Parliament representing the UNP, UPFA, ITAK and JVP presented a resolution in Parliament requesting the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) with the resolution passed in Parliament on the 22nd of May 2019 without a division. The PSC held 24 sittings from May to October 2019 and heard evidence from 55 persons. The present report is endorsed by all members of the PSC. The PSC makes several findings and recommendations in the report.

 Below are key findings: Following the attacks, evidence emerged that prior intelligence information was available regarding the impending attack but that it was not acted upon. The PSC notes that intelligence information related to the attacks was first received by the Director, SIS on 4th April 2019 but there were delays from his end to share it with the relevant intelligence and security personnel. The Director, SIS was called by name by the then Secretary MOD to brief the ICM on 9th April 2019 but failed to do this by saying he would send a written update on the intelligence received. This, the PSC notes is a major failure from the Director SIS, the lead in the intelligence apparatus who had received pride of place at the ICM and NSC.

The PSC also notes the failure on the part of the SIS to act upon the subsequent intelligence information received after the explosion on 16th April 2019 in Kattankudy. The PSC notes that the Director SIS bears the greatest responsibility. This is compounded by the fact that since 8th April 2018, a full one year before the incident, he had in writing to the IGP requested for the shutting down of investigations by others into Zahran, which resulted in the SIS becoming the sole investigator into Zahran. PSC also observes that the SIS missed a series of events that should have alerted the state security apparatus to the impending attacks and demonstrated to them the importance of the intelligence information received. This was in the context of intelligence already known on Zahran and his allies including police reports on him and arrest warrants issued on him dated March 2017. Other incidents since 2018 (described in detail in the findings) demonstrate how the lead intelligence party should have been more vigilant and taken steps to keep the ICM, NSC and other relevant parties informed. This failure by the SIS has resulted in hundreds of deaths, many more injured and immeasurable devastation to Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans and that must not be treated lightly. The PSC makes this observation considering attempts made to shield the culpability of key individuals and the need to hold all individuals responsible without further delay.

The PSC further notes, that whilst the greatest responsibility remains with the Director SIS, others too failed in their duties. Within the security and intelligence apparatus, the Secretary MOD, IGP, CNI and DMI failed in their responsibilities. All were informed of the intelligence information prior to the Easter Sunday attacks but failed to take necessary steps to mitigate or prevent it. The PSC makes a very serious finding in terms of the status of the state intelligence apparatus, where intelligence information known to a few was not shared with relevant parties. The PSC also observes that further investigations will be needed to understand whether those with vested interests did not act on intelligence so as to create chaos and instill fear and uncertainty in the country in the lead up to the Presidential Election to be held later in the year. Such a situation would then lead to the call for a change of regime to contain such acts of terrorism. Coincidently or not so coincidentally, the security situation and fear would be unleashed months away from the Presidential Election. The PSC also notes that this occurred in the context of changes in the leadership in the Sri Lankan Army and DMI in 2019. These are extremely serious observations that can impact the democratic governance, electoral processes and security of Sri Lanka and must require urgent attention.

 In addition, the PSC observes that the President failed in numerous occasions to give leadership and also actively undermined government and systems including having ad hoc NSC meetings and leaving out key individuals from meetings. Whilst the fissures in Government were evident in 2018, amplified with the Constitutional Crisis, these also impacted the security apparatus. Several others are listed in the report as having failed in their duties including the Prime Minister and State Minister for Defence and the Attorney General’s Department. An important finding of the PSC is the need for structural and legislative reform which are discussed in detail in the report. A critical introduction would be an independent and robust National Security Council with a National Security Advisor, essential in addressing evolving security challenges.  

The PSC also highlights the need for legislative reforms in several areas such as initiatives to counter fake news and responsible reporting, work in the education sector, the need for greater Parliament oversight, among others. The PSC also makes note of the rising extremism in Sri Lanka. Evidence received by the PSC indicates that Zahran started a campaign to radicalise Muslim youth and motivate them to use violence to achieve their ends post March 2018 attacks on Muslims in Digana. However, investigations to date have not shown any evidence that Zahran had direct links with the ISIS.

 It observes that several people of Kattankudy and several local Muslim groups made complaints against Zahran as early as 2013/2014 to the authorities. Testimony also showed that investigations had commenced into some of his speeches and activities. The rise in extremism was also in the backdrop of increasing levels of Islamaphobia. The PSC also observes increasing levels of Wahabism and Arabization in parts of Sri Lanka in recent years. A physical change had taken place in recent years in Kattankudy town with the emergence of Date-Palm Trees and Arabic lettering on public sign boards. The Batticaloa campus buildings also prominently display Arabic architecture and landscape, making it drastically different to any university building in the country. Evidence received by the PSC indicates that Arabization commenced and was fostered in Kattankudy by M.L.A.M. Hizbullah.

 The PSC notes that the spread of Wahhabism and the Arabization of Kattankudy contributed to the growth of extremism in the Islamic community especially in the East and must be further investigated. The PSC also notes that several politicians made comments subsequent to the Easter Sunday attacks which were inflammatory and irresponsible. The PSC notes that speeches that incite hate and racism, by politicians, religious leaders and others, are extremely dangerous and must be independently investigated and individuals held to account. Inaction will only exacerbate the impunity and contribute to further hate and fear in Sri Lanka.

Yoshitha Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While asserting that the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) is a white elephant, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has today justified the current government’s decision to store paddy at the airport storage facilities in 2015.

He said this while providing the evidence at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) to investigate corruption of the current administration on the decision to store paddy at MRIA.

Accordingly, Commissioners questioned the losses that occurred through the damages to the equipment in the airport premisses.

Responding to the question Prime Minister said that former Paddy Marketing Board Chairman had instructed the Mattala Airport officials to remove the equipment which can be destroyed by the paddy dust.

However, the Presidential Commission observed that the PMB stored over 4000 metric tons of rice at Mattala Airport and the damages amounting to Rs.600,000 were incurred to equipment at the storage area.

Prime Minister denied the allegations that the present government had destroyed the glory of the airport by storing paddy in its stores in 2015.

Accordingly, Chairman of the Commission retired Supreme Court Judge, Upali Aberathne questioned the Prime Minister that as current leaders in the country whether it is the government’s responsibility to take such decisions to boost the glory of MRIA.

That airport has no glory to boost up. It’s called the world’s emptiest airport due to lack of flight operations,” Prime Minister responded to the PCoI Chairman’s question.

Providing evidence, Prime Minister said that he believes that it was a correct decision taken by the government to store paddy in the airport since the airport has the storage facilities.

In 2015, there was an excess of rice cultivation and also there was an election around, so we have to maintain the price level on the rice. Considering all these situations the government had appointed a committee to find suitable solutions for the matter,” he said.

Accordingly, the Commissioners questioned the Prime Minister whether he has appointed three members from his office to the particular committee. Responding to the question, Prime Minister said that he has not appointed any of his officers to the committee.

It is a normal practice to appoint a committee when there is an excess amount of yield and we followed that normal procedure. Line Minister had provided a cabinet memorandum regarding the excess amount of paddy harvest in 2015. Accordingly, I and the Finance Minister had provided observations to that memorandum,” Prime Minister informed the Commission.

The Attorney General’s Department representative asked the Prime Minister whether he was aware that two of his senior advisors, Charitha Ratwatte and R. Paskaralingam, have been taking part in some of the meetings at the particular committee.

Mr. Wicremesinghe said that he was not aware of such things and the committee might have asked his advisors to help to solve the matter.

Commissioners also questioned the Prime Minister about sending letters through the Prime Minister’s Office regarding the decision on storing paddy at Mattala Airport. However, the Prime Minister said that he was not aware of such letters sent to the Mattala Airport officials through his office.

Chairman of the Commission then questioned the Prime Minister on 16 warehouses in Hambantota which had the facility to store 8,131 metric tons of goods at the same time. I can’t say anything about the decisions taken by the PMB and other officials unless I see the papers,” Mr. Wikremesinghe informed the Chairman.

He also said that the Mattala Airport officials had been given permission to store paddy at the airport and if the airport officials were against that decision the government would have arrived at some other solution to store the paddy.

Mattala Airport is still incurring losses; no company has agreed to take this airport. Currently, we are having discussions with an Indian Company about handling the airport. All we need is to minimise the losses coming through this airport,” Prime Minister informed the Commission. 

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Foreign Affairs State Minister Wasantha Senanayake today said that he informed the UNP of his decision to withdraw from the party organiser post of Rambukkana and the presidential election campaign of Minister Sajith Premadasa.

Addressing a news briefing held in Colombo today, the State Minister said he sent a letter informing of the decision to UNP General Secretary Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam.

He said he also sent a letter to Minister Premadasa expressing displeasure over the way the presidential election campaign is being conducted and that his decision to withdraw from the campaign.

Those who defamed Minister Premadasa blamed not only him but also his parents and threatened to leave the party if he was given presidential candidacy have become the pioneers of Minister Premadasa’s campaign today. Those who fought beside Minister Premadasa to ensure his candidacy has been pushed to the side,” he said.

Also, he asked if Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would be reappointed in the post if Minister Premadasa was elected president.

If Ravi Karunanayake re-elected to parliament or named to be an MP, will he hold a cabinet minister post? Will Rishard Bathiudeen hold a cabinet post? Will Minister Rauff Hakeem, who is alleged to have maintained relations with extremists, play a major role in the election campaign? Minister Premadasa should answer these questions,” he said.

He said Minister Premadasa should also clarify whether he would reappoint old cronies, fraudsters, thieves, Central Bank bond scammers and ineffective elderly as ministers if elected president.

“I’m elated that Sajith Premadasa finally gets to contest the presidential election and hope for his victory. However, I have a doubt whether he has been caught in a trap. If Minister Premadasa give satisfactory answers to my questions, I will withdraw my resignation letters and back him completely in the election campaign,” he said.