By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

The latest news about a haul of weapons and explosives by Kilinochchi Police, hidden in a former LTTE member’s house and two claymore bombs later, has made national security officials to seriously think whether the LTTE is attempting to raise its ugly head once again. 

On 18 May 2009, Sri Lankan Security Forces decimated the entire LTTE terrorist unit. However, after a decade, does the latest arrest of Joseph Peter Robinson (alias Theepan) in Kilinochchi confirm the saying “The Tiger never changes its spots”.

Defunct

Although the entire LTTE team was thought to be defunct, yet this latest incident along with an Asian Tribune article on 25 June, by Journalist Glen Genvey and his exposure on Adele Balasingham has managed to disturb a hornet’s nest. Adele Balasingham is the wife of LTTE theoretician, who conscripted young children as soldiers and sent them to the battlefield as cannon fodder. She has been found to be living in London, leading a millionaire’s life by occupying a £1,169,000  (Rs 252,504,000) mansion out of funds extorted from Tamils, who still struggle in dire poverty.

Husband

Her husband, Anton Balasingham, was known the world over as the ‘Theoretician and the Chief spokesman for the LTTE, who executed terrorist activities from London. He started his career initially as a sub-editor at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon (Lake House Group) during the 1960s, translating Reuters English News to Tamil along with other articles for the ‘Virakesari’ – the Tamil newspaper published by Lake House. Finally, he joined the British High Commission in Colombo as an official Tamil translator.

Anton married his first wife, Pearl Rasaratnam, in1968. She too was attached to the British Council in Colombo. Pearl was perpetually a sick woman, and that made the couple to decide to emigrate to the UK for medical treatment.  The British High Commission in Colombo helped them in this regard.

In London

The Balasingham couple settled down in a town in South London called Camberwell. Anton found employment at the Inner London Executive Council, while Pearl’s health deteriorated with renal failure and she died in November 1976.  Anton Balasingham brought his wife’s remains to Sri Lanka and the burial took place at the Kanatte, General Cemetery in Borella. After attending to funeral activities, Anton Balasingham returned to England. At a Camberwell Pub (Public House) he befriended  Adele Ann Wilby, an Australian nurse who worked at the Pub at the time. The friendship led to the couple getting married on 1 September  1978. 

Anton and Adele could travel to India frequently (Tamil Nadu)  as they both held  British passports. In India, they met the LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and seemingly became the Chief  Adviser cum confidante of Prabhakaran. He was finally known as the ‘Theoretician and Chief Spokesman’ for the LTTE. 

British attitude

What startles is how the British Government turned a blind eye to Anton Balasingham’s terrorist activities from London when the LTTE was officially proscribed by the British as an illegal, notorious and a ruthless terrorist organisation. Many other western countries had by then banned the LTTE along with a few Asian countries.  Ironically, vacillating nature on the part of the Sri Lankan Government for a long time for not proscribing the LTTE gave  the UK to take the upper hand, so to speak, and come out with unconvincingly feeble excuses such as “Anton Balasingham had not done any criminal activities officially  in the UK, as such, no action could be taken against him!”

There  is no need to be more eloquent about the British Government’s attitude, during that era, than the indecorous President R. Premadasa committed by expelling the then British High Commissioner, David Gladstone, CMG (Most Distinguished Order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later King George IV), from Colombo causing much embarrassment to the decorated diplomat himself, who was a descendant of one-time  British Prime Minister, William Gladstone. 

In 1990s Britain was considered as one of the biggest aid donors to Sri Lanka. Thus,  the expulsion and the declaration of persona non grata on the  Diplomat made the British to adopt a sangfroid attitude overtly but causing much damage to Sri Lanka covertly. Simultaneously, the British turned a blind eye to whatever terrorist activities Balasingham organised and executed from London. Finally, Anton Balasingham died on 14 December 2006 at his home in South London.

Adele Balasingham

Adele Balasingham was known as ‘The White Tiger’, the only ‘white-skinned person’ directly involved and helped the LTTE in Sri Lanka. After her husband’s demise, she has moved to New Malden, Surrey to a four-bedroom luxury house with the proceeds of the LTTE’s ‘ill-gotten gains’. 

She was publicly known to be recruiting child soldiers, as young as nine-year-old, and sent before the Sri Lankan Security Forces as cannon fodder, after supplying a cyanide capsule in case of an emergency to commit suicide. Finally, Adele became the advisor to the women’s wing of the LTTE and conducted many a suicide attack. Some observers believe she was responsible for the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa. 

The Asian Tribune once before exposing her quoting the London’s popular Evening Standard tabloid in June 2007 with her photograph. She had been careful not to associate her aname or address online with any of UK’s public records.  The cat was let out of the bag when “she accidentally used her email address with a domain belonging to the University of Surrey, to participate in a British event that celebrated ‘Women of War.’

The Evening Standard’s report in 2007 also quoted “A senior diplomat attached to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London confirming Adele Balasingham as having had connections with senior ranks of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. According to emerging records, she has been labelled, as the only survivor of the upper echelons of the  LTTE  and had regarded her as a ‘Security risk for Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom’. The tabloid article had demanded an international arrest warrant to be issued by India and Sri Lanka, as she was responsible for murdering hundreds of men, women, children as well as maiming thousands of innocent people with suicide bombings over 30-years. The Evening Standard had mentioned how “Adele Balasingham rarely leaves her mansion and made a request to both Sri Lanka and India to work hand in glove and expose this murderer and send her to prison for life”. 

Private investigations  

Jane’s Information Group’s investigations into LTTE activities in Sri Lanka between 1980 and 2000, have revealed the popular tactics of the Liberation of Tamil Eelam as the introduction of suicide bombs to the world at large. The LTTE had carried out 168 suicide attacks causing heavy damage to civilians, killing and maiming thousands of innocent people who had nothing to do with the war. 

In 1998, the LTTE attacked one of the UNESCO’s world heritage sites in Sri Lanka, Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy slaughtering worshippers and Buddhist priests who were piously engaged in prayer. The LTTE also managed to destroy Sri Lanka’s economic targets including the blowing up of aero Planes at the Bandaranaike International Airport in 2001. 

 The list of the LTTE atrocities is endless. Their main aim was to eliminate every senior Army officer who was seen as an obstruction to them. In this respect, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, at the time, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, escaped death miraculously when a suicide bomber’s attempt ripped his bullet-proof vehicle in Colombo but escaped death. Another miraculous escape from death was the then Army Commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka who displayed his courageous nature by carrying his internal organs in his hand after a woman suicide bomber blew herself up but the Army Commander escaped death. The courageous Army Commander was heard vouching to decimate the entire terrorist organisation, which he managed to destroy into smithereens.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy Adaderana

The ‘Organisation for the Protection of Muslim Rights’ today lodged a complaint with the Police Headquarters calling for the arrest Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader and Minister Rauff Hakeem, over his alleged ties to the ringleader of Easter Sunday terror attacks Zahran Hashim.

Members of the organization also handed over to police a CD containing footage and images from a discussion allegedly attended by both Hakeem and Zahran. The organization also released the controversial video to the media today (18).

Members of the ‘Organisation for the Protection of Muslim Rights’ had also staged a silent protest in front of the Police Headquarters this morning, demanding the arrest of Minister Rauff Hakeem.

The group claims that Hakeem had met with the leader of the now-banned National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) organization, Zahran Hashim, who has been identified as the alleged ringleader behind the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, at the NTJ’s office in Kattankudy during the 2015 general election period.

Courtesy Adaderana

Parliamentarian of the United National Party (UNP) Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says he would support the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Election 2019.

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe revealed this holding a press conference along with the members of the SLPP, which took place at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

The media briefing is chaired by MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, SLPP chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris and Parliamentarians Dayasiri Jayasekara, Udaya Gammanpila, Wimal Weerawansa, Bandula Gunawardena, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Nimal Siripala de Silva.

The responsibility of every citizen is to protect the country, he said further highlighting that people should make the correct decision at the Presidential Election.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe exercised presidential powers ever since President Maithripala Sirisena assumed power, he claims. Wickremesinghe included the Central Bank of Sri Lanka into his subject scope, Rajapakshe said further.

Commenting on the recently declared open international airport in Jaffna, Rajapakshe claimed the government is using the perfectly-built Mattala International Airport to store paddy while holding ceremonies to declare open a partially established airport.

He said the only alternative is to help Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the Presidential Election so that the country does not fall into the hands of foreign forces.

Prior to the press conference, the SLPP and the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the upcoming Presidential Election.

The MoU was inked by the SLPP chairman and the CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa says every student who passes the G.C.E. Advanced Level examination will be given the opportunity to pursue higher education at universities.

Addressing a public meeting at Warakapola in Kegalle, he also spoke of implementing a program to provide employment to intelligent youths.

Meanwhile, speaking at a public meeting held at Aranayaka area lat evening (16), Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to establish a secure, developed country.

He said he will boost Sri Lanka’s economy by stabilizing the country and ensuring its security.

Courtesy Adaderana

Minister of Primary Industries and Social Empowerment Daya Gamage today recorded his statement with the Presidential Commission of Inquiry over the probes into the alleged loss incurred to the government during the paddy storage at the Mattala International Airport.

Minister Gamage today (18) arrived at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the serious acts of fraud, corruption, and abuse of power, state resources, and privileges from 2015 to 2018.

Responding to the questions raised by the media persons after recording his statement with the Commission, the Minister said the prices of local paddy went down in 2015 as then-government had largely imported paddy by the end of 2014.

Owing to this situation, the incumbent government had to purchase paddy from local farmers as private buyers did not come forward to purchase the paddy stocks and these were later stored at the Mattala International Airport, he added.

This decision was taken by the committee appointed to look into the issue concerning paddy purchase, the Minister said stressing that there had been no need to damage the paddy storage at the Airport.

Meanwhile, the former Chairman of the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) Mr. M. Bandara recently told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that storing paddy at the Mattala International Airport was discussed with the relevant authorities as there had been limited facilities to store paddy back in 2015.

However, the authorities of the Airport had strictly rejected the idea, Mr. Bandara further told the Commission.

He also stated that this was discussed at length with Minister Daya Gamage and as a decision was taken at the time to store paddy at the Airport due to the promises given during election campaigns, nearly 4000 metric tonnes of paddy was stored at the Airport.Disclaimer: All the comments will be moderated by the AD editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or slanderous. Please avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment and avoid typing all capitalized comments. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by flagging them(mouse over a comment and click the flag icon on the right side). Do use these forums to voice your opinions and create healthy discourse.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

වතු කම්කරුවන්ගේ දෛනික වැටුප රුපියල් 1000 දක්වා ඉහළ නංවන බවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ලබාදී ඇත්තේ ප්‍රායෝගික ප්‍රතිඥාවක් බව එම පෙරමුණේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජී.එල්.පීරිස් ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට සහය පළ කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ සහ ලංකා කම්කරු කොංග්‍රසය අතර, අද අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් තැබීමේ අවස්ථාවට එක්වෙමින්.

එම අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුම කොළඹ පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකා පදනම් ආයතනයේදී අත්සන් තැබුණු අතර, ඊට ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ නියෝජනය කරමින් එහි සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජී.එල්.පීරිස් සහ ලංකා කම්කරු කොංග්‍රසය නියෝජනය කරමින් එහි නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ආරුමුගම් තොණ්ඩමන් අත්සන් තැබුවා.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මෙන්ම, ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට සහය පළ කරන ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ඇතුළු සෙසු පක්ෂවල නියෝජිතයින් ද එක්ව සිටියා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මත්තල ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩා කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අමාත්‍ය දයා ගමගේ ගෙන් වංචා හා දූෂණ සෙවීමේ ජනාධිපති පරික්ෂණ කොමිෂන් සභාව අද පැය එකහමාරක් පමණ ප්‍රශ්න කළා.

එම සිද්ධියට අදාළව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහට කොමිසම හමුවේ අද දිනයේ පෙනී සිටීමට දැනුම්දී තිබුණ ද, අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා දැනුම්දී තිබුණේ ලබන 23 වනදා කොමිසම හමුවට පැමිණෙන බවයි.

මැතිවරණ වේදිකාවේ ලබාදුන් පොරොන්දුවකට අනුව මත්තල ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩා කිරීමට තීරණය කළ බව පසුගියදා ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ අනාවරණ වුණා.

ඒ වී අලෙවි මණ්ඩලයේ හිටපු සභාපති බණ්ඩාර දිසානායක ලබාදුන් සාක්ෂි අනුවයි. මෙම සිද්ධියට අදාළ සාක්ෂි ලබාදීමට අමාත්‍ය දයා ගමගේ අද පෙරවරු 9.30ට පමණ කොමිසම වෙත පැමිණියා.

එහිදී අමාත්‍යවරයාට නිලධාරින් යොමුකළ ප්‍රශ්නවලට නිසිලෙස පිළිතුරු දීමට නොහැකිවූ හෙයින් නිලධාරින් අමාත්‍යවරයාට දැනුම්දී සිටියේ පදනම් විරහිතව නොව සාක්ෂි මගින් ඔප්පු කල හැකි තොරතුරු පමණක් කොමිසම හමුවේ ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙසයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

උසස් පෙළ සමත් සියලු ශිෂ්‍ය ශිෂ්‍යාවන්ට විශ්වවිද්‍යාල අධ්‍යාපනය ලබාදීමට අවස්ථාවක් හිමිකර දෙන බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

ඒ වරකාපොල ප්‍රදේශයේ ඊයේ පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.

එම ජන රැළියට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල ද එක්ව සිටියා.

මේ අතර, සාර්ථක දැක්මක් – වැඩකරන රටක් තේමාව යටතේ ජනාධිපතිවරණය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ සංවිධාන කරන ලද තවත් ජන රැළියක් ගලිගමුව නගරයේදී ඊයේ පැවැත්වුණා.

එමෙන්ම, කුලියාපිටිය නගරයේදී ද ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ තවත් ජන රැළියක් සංවිධානය කර තිබුණා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධූර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂගේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් රට වටා යෑමට තමා සූදානම් බව හිටපු අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ පක්ෂ නායකයින්ගේ සහභාගිත්වයෙන් කොළඹ අද පැවති විශේෂ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු කියා සිටියේ ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී තම සහය ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට ලබාදෙන බවයි.

එහිදී මාධ්‍යවේදීන් නැගූ ප්‍රශ්ණවලට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධූර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මෙලෙස පිළිතුරු ලබාදුන්නා

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ජනාධිපති වුවහොත් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වන්නේ කවුරුන්ද යන්න, පක්ෂයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨයින් එක්ව සාකච්ඡා කර තීරණය කරනු ඇති බව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මුජිබර් රහුමාන් මහතා පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ අද අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවකින් අනතුරුව මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් දක්වමින්.

ඉදිරි මැතිවරණ කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ආසන සංවිධායකවරුන්ගේ හා එක්සත් ජාතික පෙරමුණේ පක්ෂ නායකයින් අතර විශේෂ සකච්ඡා දෙකක් අද පෙරවරුවේ පක්ෂනායක අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් විකමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැත්වුණා.

මේ අතර එක්සත් ජාතික පෙරමුණේ නියෝජිතයින් අද පැවති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡා කිහිපයකදී වත්මන් දේශපාලන තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ අදහස් පළ කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

>මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණ අපේක්ෂකයින් සමග ගිවිසුම් ගත වීමේ අරමුණින් දෙමළ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ 5ක් එක්ව ඉදිරිපත් කල යෝජනාවලියට සහය පළ කරන කිසිදු ජනාධිපතිවරණ අපේක්ෂකයෙකුට ඡන්දය ලබානොදෙන ලෙස උතුරු නැගෙනහිර සර්ව ආගමික පදනම මෙරට ජනතාවගෙන්ඉල්ලීමක් කරනවා.

මහා සංඝරත්නය ප්‍රමුඛ අන්‍යාගමික නායකයින් ද ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේදී අද පැවති මෙම ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවට එක්ව සිටියා.

මේ අතර, පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ දේශපාලනඥයින් ද මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ජනාධිපතිධුර අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා නිවාස හා ඉදිකිරීම් අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක පත්වීම් ලිපි නිකුත් කිරීමට වාචිකව හෝ ලිඛිතව උපදෙස් ලබාදී නැති බව ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ සභාපති ලක්විජය සාගර පලන්සූරිය මහතා පවසනවා.

අද පැවති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී සභාපතිවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළා.

ජනාධිපතිධුර අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ උපදෙස් මත සේවකයන් විශාල පිරිසක් ස්ථිර කිරීමට පත්වීම් ලිපි සකස් කරන බවට ලද පැමිණිල්ලක් අනුව මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවේ නිලධාරීන් ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලය පරීක්ෂාවට ලක්කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පුවතක් අප පසුගිය දෙදින තුළ විකාශය කළා.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් කරුණු පැහැදිලි කිරීම සඳහා ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ සභාපති ලක්විජය සාගර පලන්සූරිය මහතා අද ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් කැඳවා තිබුණා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

අමාත්‍ය රවුෆ් හකීම් මහතා වහාම අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලමින් සිවිල් පුරවැසියන් පිරිසක් අද පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයට පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කළා

ඒ, මේ දිනවල සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ ප්‍රචාරයවන අමාත්‍ය රවුෆ් හකීම් මහතා සහ අප්‍රේල් 21 ප්‍රහාරයේ මහ මොළකරු ලෙස සැලකෙන සහරාන් හෂීම් නැමැත්තා අතර සිදු වූ සාකච්ඡාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් තොරතුරු ඉදිරිපත් කරමින්.

අදාළ සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මිෆ්ලාන් මව්ලවිතුමන් සහ රිෂාම් මරුස් ඇතුළු පිරිසක් අද පෙරවරුවේ පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයට පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කළා.

අනතුරුව ඔවුන් එම ස්ථානයේදී අමාත්‍ය රවුෆ් හකීම් මහතා අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලමින් විරෝධතාවකද නිරත වුණා.

කෙසේ වෙතත් අදාළ පිරිස පැමිණිලි ඉදිරිපත් කර යළි නිවසට පැමිණෙන අවස්ථාවේ මිෆ්ලාන් මවුලවිතුමන්ගේ මාලිගාවත්තේ පිහිටි නිවස මාලිගාවත්ත<br />පොලිසිය විසින් සෝදිසියට ලක්කර තිබුණා.

ඒ, අදාළ මවුලවිවරයාගේ නිවසේ පත්‍රිකා තොගයක් ඇති බවට ලද තොරතුරක් අනුවයි.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

Elections Commission (EC) Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya is reported to have banned politicians from using the war victory in election-related propaganda. The war victory does not belong to any particular political party, he has reportedly said, adding that it belongs to all Sri Lankans alike. What is the law the Polls Chief has invoked to declare the war victory a public property, as it were?

Are we to gather that the war victory also belongs to those who opposed the military campaign against the LTTE and ridiculed the armed forces’ achievements on the battlefront? One may recall that at the height of the war, a UNP heavyweight, then in the Opposition, went so far as to claim, in Parliament, that any bovine could wage war. Another UNP grandee said the army had got so confused due to LTTE attacks that it did not know Kilinochchi from Medawachchi and Alimankda from Pamankada. In 2008, the then Opposition made a determined bid to defeat the national budget and derail the war. Had they succeeded in their endeavour, the war would have dragged on. Does the EC Chief think the war victory belongs to these elements as well?

Some politicians and civil society activists have chosen to condemn the war, at international fora, and they will not take kindly to the EC Chief’s claim that the credit for the war victory should go to all Sri Lankans, who include them as well.

One cannot but agree with Deshapriya that political parties must not be allowed to gain propaganda mileage from what really belongs to the people to win elections. All governments spend public funds on development projects, whose owners are the people. Therefore, the EC should prevent political parties from taking the credit for the completion of such projects to gain political mileage during elections. Politicians in power should be banned from opening development projects after elections are announced.

The EC tells us that it is a punishable offence to abuse state assets for election purposes. The President, the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader, ministers and the ordinary MPs use their official residences, vehicles and officials for election work. Monstrous, bulletproof vehicles that political leaders use don’t do more than a couple of kilometres to a litre of gasoline, and their travel during election campaigns must be costing the public enormous amounts of money. Isn’t there anything that the EC can do to prevent the abuse of these public assets?

A provincial Governor has gone on record as saying that elections to the provincial councils won’t be held for another two years. This is a very serious situation which warrants the attention of the EC knights in shining armour on a mission to protect the people’s franchise.

The government has denied the people their right to elect their representatives to the provincial councils (PCs). Not that the PCs serve any useful purpose, but so long as they are there elections thereto have to be held. Or, they should be abolished. Worryingly, the EC, which goes out of its way to take on soft targets, has refrained from bringing sufficient pressure to bear on the government to hold the much-delayed PC polls.

We thought the EC was serious about safeguarding the people’s franchise when Deshapriya declared that he would resign as the EC head if the PC polls were not held before the presidential election. It looked as if he had finally decided to get tough with the yahapalana leaders. But the government did not care two hoots about his threat to resign, and he reneged on his pledge. Luckily, the President and the government have failed to find loopholes in the presidential election laws, otherwise, there would have been no election next month.

By : A.A.N.MIZAM – MATARA.

Reliable sources indicate that the old hag and the symbol of jealousy bandit queen Chandrika will be getting into Sajith Premadasa’s stages in a bid to make the UNP win the forthcoming presidential election. 

She fled from Sri Lanka in an utterly dejected mood, probably after emptying her bottle of night companion, on the night of 11th October when then the Elpitiya election results were announced.

Already she has issued several press statements condemning SLFP’s union with the SLPP, particularly to social media sites operated by Ton Pacha groups of the UNP.

A massive blow to President Maithreepala Sirisena from Chandrika

Chandrika Kumaratunga has objected the stance taken by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in the forthcoming presidential election, 

Given below is a note published by her strongly criticising the current Sri Lanka Freedom Party leadership. 

Quote:

My dear Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s genuine supporters! Friends!

I consider it is my bounden duty and a great responsibility to address you, who had made immense dedications on behalf of the party, at a time the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the party supporters have been put to inconvenience and dismay by the present myopic leadership of the party.  It is because you are keen to know my stance since I have for several decades worked enthusiastically to safeguarded the party

Our beloved party is a political party that has inherited a proud history of 68 years. It was a party that after the independence not only ruled the country for a long time, but it was the political party that gave leadership to liberate the peoples from the shackles and bonds to which they were tied up to by the imperialist servile politicians of this country.

Our party was able to rule this country for the longest period because our party stood for democracy, human freedom and equality.  When our party was under Bandaranaikes for 54 years never there were manslaughters.  They never robbed the wealth of the people.  They were committed to carrying out their rule transparently. 

It was the Sri Lanka Freedom Party governments that adopted people-friendly economic policies and uplifted the indigenous economy.  We created Prime ministers.  We created Presidents and we created populist leaders.  We also dedicated to strengthening the underprivileged common masses economically, politically and educationally.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party that fulfilled such a mammoth task contested all elections in the post-independent period.  But sadly our party has become unable to nominate a candidate for the forthcoming presidential election.

Our party was successful in directly winning four elections in the seven presidential elections held in this country. In the third presidential election held in 1994, the party gained ruling power after 17 years and our beloved party was able to select one of the two presidents who have obtained the highest percentage of votes in presidential elections in the world.  The other leader who won such a highest percentage was Nelson Mandela of South Africa. 

In the three elections, our party was unable to win one was the presidential election held in 2015.  In that election, the main two Contenders were the President of our party and the then General Secretary of our party.  In that election, the party symbol was with the President of the party and the party policies were with the General Secretary. In that sense, it was only in two presidential elections our party has lost.

In the 2015 presidential election, the common masses of this country risking their own lives defeated the tyrant leader who had taken the leadership of our party. But the leader who came to power with a mandate of 6.2 million votes has betrayed the party to conspirators in a bid to achieve his personal requirements. 

From the founder of the party onwards to the grass-root level member of the party, and millions of members who nourished the party through sacrifices of their lives, limbs, sweat and tears to protect the party lament when they focus their attention on the disaster that has befallen on the party and I to join with you bemoaning.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is not a party of cheats, murderers, and barterers. It is a party of toiling and oppressed masses of this country.  I am well aware that a SLFPer is not prepared to push the country again towards racism, tyranny, oppression, robbery, and lawlessness.  

Our party highly respected democracy from its very inception. It was for safeguarding democracy the founder of the party sacrificed his life, Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike endured immense humiliation, chagrin and ignominy and thousands of numerous innocent party cadres like you sacrificed and risked your l.ives for protection of the party and democracy. 

Under these circumstances, in order to get the power greedy passions of a handful of opportunist leaders, despite objections by 95%of the electoral organizers, took steps to betray the party through an agreement to a group of conspirators on the very day of the 29th death anniversary of Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike on 10th October. We should not allow this exercise to become successful.  Therefore, I request all of you to act wisely at the forthcoming presidential election.    

Similar to the leadership I undertook to liberate all of you in 1994 from the 17 years of immense misery, oppression, and dejection, I solemnly pledge that I would commit to dedicate myself to support you in the struggle you have started in this decisive moment to safeguard party policies and protect the party. 

May Sri Lanka Freedom Party be victorious!
May you be victorious!
May the future generations of our country be victorious!
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
An ardent lover of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
(Translated by the writer of this article)

Dear Mrs. Chandrika,

It was a surprise to find that you have shown a keen interest in Sri Lanka Freedom Party policies and the need to protect and safeguard the party.  As a former vice president of the central committee of an electorate, I would like to mention that it was you who betrayed and endeavored to betray and destroy the SLFP after the damage caused to it by the C.P.de Silva/Mahanama Samaraweera treacherous gang.  You made every effort to split and weaken the party because the party-appointed your own brother Mr. Anura Bandaranaike as the NationalOrganiser and you lost the hope of getting the party presidency to your husband. He was an innocent and straight forward man and not vicious like you.

As a result of this, you formed a party called Sei LankaMahajana Pakshaya with your husband and this party was housed at a building belonging to Mr. Izzet of Borella.  I have the experience of visiting this office with my relation Mr. Akram Sufiyan and when I went there I found the people in that office were highly critical of Anura and Madam Sirimavo and also were highly critical of the SLFP.  Then after your husband’s assassination by the JVP you formed another party named United Socialist Alliance (U.S.A) with left politicians and this party did not last long as you were not compatible with the principles of the left leaders.  After that, you formed another Bahubootha party called Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna (Banipe) with the political chameleon Rajitha Senaratne. Forming and breaking political parties seemed to be a craze haunting you.  So, you cannot claim that you were a SLFPer right throughout and since you have functioned against the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and party policies.   

Reference to the 54 years of Bandaranaike rule you cannot qualify for these achievements because there had been numerous misdeeds under you as it has been described in length in the book titled Choura Rejini (Bandit Queen) written by Ravaya Managing Editor Victor Ivan divulging the horrendous activities that took place under you.  Also, you are the only President who had been fined by a Court and that was regarding a land deal at Waters Edge.

You claim that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party contested all elections in the post-independent period.  Here too you are wrong and were trying to mislead the people.  The Sri Lanka Freedom Party contested all elections EXCEPT the first Provincial Council elections held after India forcibly imposed the Indo Sri Lanka Accord on us.  We boycotted that election and only your party U.S.A at that time and the UNP contested.

Our party was successful in directly winning four elections in the seven presidential elections held in this country. In the fifth presidential election, you were forced to nominate Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa due to popular demands and you attempted to indirectly defeat him with not issuing even a single pamphlet on behalf of the party and restricting some of your proxies either to work against him or to refrain from taking part in campaign activities.

Speaking about presidential elections you state that the party was unable to win the2015election in which the party President Mr. Mahinda contested.  It is you who should take full responsibility for the party’s failure to win that election because you were one of the opposition strategists.  You along with Ranil Wickremasinghe made all plans and moves to defeat the SLFP candidate Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa.  After the election, you told Indian media in an interview that you were responsible for getting Sirisena persuaded to contest against Mahinda and you communicated with him using Viber technology to avoid Mahinda camp getting a clue about what was going on.

The former General Secretary of the SLFP Mr. S.B.Dissanayake has said that that the worst presidency in this country was your presidency of 11 years and during which the country experienced a minus economic growth for the first time in its history.  It was the reason for several talented Ministers such as S.B. and Mahinda Wijesekera to leave the government. 

We have found you to be anti-Sinhala and extremely pro-Tamil. It was because of these sentiments you attempted to impose NAeelan Thiruchelvam’s 2000 package to replace the constitution which you named as a Bahubootha (absurd) constitution and fortunately, Mr. Mahinda had a night to dawn meeting with you and became successful in o

persuading you to abandon the move.  Another matter worthy to mention was the attempt to introduce P-Tom which was a mechanism to entrust to LTTE all foreign and local funds for Tsunami reconstruction work in the North and East.  This measure had to be abandoned because the JVP left the government in protest.  Speaking about Tsunami we would like to take this opportunity to ask you as to what happened to the promise you made to provide a modern city to Galle and where is that orphan Tamil girl with so much publicity you said you were going to adopt her as a child of yours?

You are speaking about 95% of SLFP electorate organizers are with you and they oppose SLFP getting into an alliance with SLPP.  It is ideal for you to write fancy tales like Arabian nights.  As far as we know all well known and popular electoral organizers, as well as party office bears of the SLFP, are now working for Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa day and night organizing meeting by themselves.  Who are these 95% gang you are talking about? Can you at least publish the names of five of them? What we understand is that five or six SLFP MPs whose political life is over and who can never get elected again are negotiating with the UNP hierarchy to crossover for payment of unimaginable amounts of money.  One is reported to have already closed the deal for Rs, 400 million.  Deals related to the other four or five are reported to be ongoing with offers ranging from 250 – 300 million rupees. 

You sometimes make funny statements that render people to wonder whether such statements have been made in your proper senses.  One such statement said several times was that it was you who completed 75% of the terrorist war. If that was so, how we experienced the worst war debacle during your reign? As per historical records the country experienced the worst war debacle, including 40,, 000 soldiers getting entrapped to LTTE in Jaffna forcing the government to seek Indian assistance to get them transported out of Jaffna by sea, the fall of Elephant Pass with a loss over 1,000 soldiers and arms and ammunition, fall of Pooneryn camp with a loss over 600 soldiers and arms and ammunition, attack on Katunayake airport and destruction of several passenger aircrafts, and the attack on Sri Daladawa, a place of worship venerated by Buddhists all over the world.  These are only a few setbacks we have suffered under your reign and the list is very long. 

While writing this information was received that this old hag Chandrika bursting with jealousy over reports favorable being received by her will be returning to Sri Lanka on Saturday or Sunday and upon arrival, she will hold a meeting with the few proxies she has in the SLFP and make them join the enemy camp.  It is also reported that she is also seriously contemplating to address meetings of Sajith which is not even addressed by Ranil at present. 

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Mt. Dayasiri Jayasekera has said that Chandrika is opposed to the party supporting Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa because of her personal animosity against the Rajapaksa family. Addressing a media conference, he said that they respected Kumaratunga for her past services to the party. But however, her actions in the current context couldn’t be countenanced. Mr. Jayasekera said that Chandrika has a personal issue with the other party patron and former president, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa and they can’t allow the party to be affected by this animosity and the SLFP has weakened enough already due to her animosity.

Speaking about the Central Committee meeting, Mr. Dayasiri said that during a debate on what the party should do in the coming election, most SLFP representatives, at all levels, wanted President Maithripala Sirisena to contest the election. However, it didn’t mean that the majority in the party was against supporting Gotabhaya, and some SLFP organizers wanted the SLFP to contest separately as that would help the UNP indirectly. Taking all the matters into consideration the decision to support Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had been taken by the party’s Central Committee and it was his duty to respect that decision.  He further stated that this decision was taken in a very democratic manner after weeks of discussions with the party’s elected representatives and added that some people are misinterpreting this as a betrayal of the party’s principles. He said that they are only advancing the agenda of the UNP.

Sugath Samarasinghe

We know that JVP has submitted a Private Members’ Bill for a 20^th Amendment to the Constitution proposing the Executive Presidency to be abolished. Then why have they nominated a candidate for the forthcoming Presidential Elections? That begs for an answer, in my mind. Isn’t there a contradiction? What is their logic here?

I would imagine, if they were really genuine in their intention, they should rather concentrate their energies on winning sufficient no of seats in the next Parliamentary elections, as the immediate need to achieve such an objective will be to secure a two third’s majority in Parliament, to carry through such a proposal there, as a first step.

Thereafter, they may have to work hard to convince the people on the need to have the Presidential system done away with, to succeed at a Referendum. It may be quite a formidable task because it seems to be that it is the politicians of the different Parties that are keen on it. At the moment the people do not seem to consider it to be a priority for them.

Their concern appears to be more on the politicization of the System, the inefficiency of the Administration, lack of integrity and accountability and of curse downright corruption

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Geneva

Addressing the WHO Metal Health Forum held in Geneva on 14 October 2019, Sri Lanka updated the global healthcare community, which comprised policy experts and representatives of Member States and international organisations, on progress achieved in advancing mental health, providing healthcare support and improving the working environment that could foster good health and wellbeing among the Sri Lankan population.

The intervention made by Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka in Geneva at the Forum dealt with three main points namely, the need for mental healthcare and delivery of assistance to be holistic; the importance of an inclusive approach that ensured availability of mental healthcare coverage throughout the entire cycle of vulnerability; and the sustainment of a supportive environment that assured security, empathy and care for at-risk individuals.

The Sri Lankan envoy called upon mental health policy makers and experts to attune themselves to the urgency of addressing this growing global health concern as the international community actively pursued the UN Development Agenda 2030 and SDG 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing. If the policy of ‘Leave No One Behind’ is to have any practical meaning” Ambassador Azeez said it was important the message should resonate with people at all levels”.

A proper assessment of all risk factors is in order if comprehensive mental healthcare is to be effectively ensured, added Ambassador Azeez, emphasising further that such an assessment would help countries find innovative solutions as well as  scale their efforts towards the implementation of  comprehensive multi-sectoral mental healthcare prevention strategies.

Sri Lanka also referred to the Presidential Task Force on Suicide Prevention, stressing that a number of multi-faceted and multi-sectoral recommendations of the Task Force continued to be followed up at the national level.  Among pro-active prevention measures taken by the government, remained media guidelines reporting; mental health promotion in schools; training programmes for healthcare providers on mental health; programmes on prevention and rehabilitation for alcohol and substance abuse; and operationalisation of helplines.

Sri Lanka further informed the Forum that a national mental healthcare survey is due to begin in the year 2020, adding that it would help identify treatment gap, healthcare seeking pattern and impact of mental health vulnerability.  The pivotal role of media in educating the public, creating dialogue and working towards the elimination of stigma around mental health challenges was also highlighted as was the importance of WHO using international sports events as platforms to increase awareness of the importance of addressing mental healthcare challenges and the related stigma surrounding it.

The 2019 edition of the Mental Health Forum convened by WHO focused on a specific theme ‘Enhancing country action on Mental Health’ as part of its policy dialogue in advancing the WHO Special Initiatives for Mental Health 2019-2020.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka

Geneva

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Opposition MP Dr. Bandula Gunawardana today asked under what laws the Elections Commission has said that it was prohibited to use war victory and slogans in the election campaigns.

He said as a member of the Constitutionality, he cannot figure out under what laws or regulations that the EC has said campaigners can’t use war victory.

Addressing a news briefing, Dr. Gunawardana said the LTTE could not be defeated by any of the previous Commandants-in-Chief because they did not have a defence secretary like Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

None of the previous Presidents were able to defeat the LTTE since no defence secretary was able to strategies the war properly. Without Gotabaya’s efficient strategies, the LTTE could not have been defeated. That’s why we request the people to rally behind him when there is a terror threat again. No one is committed to national security like Gotabaya. If the Elections Commission is prohibiting to use war victory in campaigns, maybe we can talk about reasons led to military defeats during the war,” he said.

He said under President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s era, tax payer’s money were sent to fund the LTTE through the government. We have receipts to prove this. If false, anyone can file a case against us for forgery. At one point, two UNP leaders Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake brought an impeachment motion against President Premadasa for funding the LTTE,” he said. 

 Mirudhula Thambiah Courtesy Ceylon Today

Summons have been sent to former Chairman of the People’s Bank Hemasiri Fernando yesterday (14) to appear before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating corruption in the current administration on 18 October.

The PCoI yesterday (14) investigated an allegation that the People’s Bank had lost a significant sum of money during its attempt to digitise operations in 2016.

Testifying before the PCoI, an official of the Auditor’s General Department, Chamali Indika, who examined an audit query on the digitisation operation said that they had raised a number of issues about the procurement process.

To which the Chairman of the PCoI, retired Supreme Court Judge, Upali Abeyrathne queried from the witness whether the Bank has to follow Government procurement guidelines during such a project.

The witness said that the Bank provided them with an April 1992 circular which stated that the Bank can come up with its own guidelines with regard to the procurement of goods and services.

To which, Abeyrathne said.”But is this a procurement of goods and services? This falls under the execution of works category. The April 1992 circular does not exempt the Bank from this category. Therefore, the Bank has to adhere to the Government’s procurement guidelines.”

The witness clarified: “For example, they initially decided that a five member Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) must be appointed and that two of its members must come from outside the Bank.

However, later, they decided that all five members must come from the Bank. When we asked them why this decision was taken, they said that the decision was changed as specifications were set by the Bank.

Then, we asked them as to who had formulated these specifications and when, and they informed us that the specifications were given by the Silver Lake Company that was already working with the Bank on Information Technology matters. However, they failed to provide documents that were sent by Silver Lake,”

Accordingly, the PCoI was informed that decisions on the digitisation process were taken by the Executive Officers Committee (EOC) and that the EOC had changed a number of initial decisions as the process went on.

 Mirudhula Thambiah

Pahan Wijesekera and Udayanthi Munasingha Courtesy Ceylon Today

President’s Counsel Shamil J. Perera, the private lawyer for Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, yesterday (14), submitted 34 documents along with affidavits which had been signed with witness statements by the Cardinal to the new five-member Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the Easter Sunday carnage.

Sources said that the documents submitted to the Commission by the private lawyer for the Cardinal had included information that was not in possession of the Government in connection with the Easter Sunday carnage.

The documents had contained information regarding the exact number of victims that perished in the attacks that took place at the Katuwapitiya and Kochchikade Churches, the exact number of victims injured in the blasts and the exact number of victims rendered disabled by the bombings.

This information had been compiled by Priest Director of the ‘Sethsarana’ Social Service Institute which is under the purview of Cardinal Ranjith.

Also included in the documents had been written information, known to the Cardinal in connection with the basis for the incidents that took place on 21 April.

Furthermore, the details regarding children who had lost their parents in the terror attacks and pregnant women who had lost their husbands had also been included in the documents that had been submitted to the Commission.

Among the other details affixed to the documents by the Parish Priests of the two aforesaid Churches, had been photos of all victims from the carnage, including written proof and around 250 affidavits from those who had been wounded in the blasts.

Furthermore, also included in the documents had been the affidavits containing eight pages and a lengthy description about links between the damages caused to the Buddha Statues in Mawanella and a report filed in that connection by DIG Palitha Siriwardena who had functioned as the DIG of the Kegalla Division last year, on the maintenance of a terrorist camp at Wanathawilluwa by Islamic terrorists and the carrying out of the bombings on 21 April.

The Archbishop of Colombo had urged the Commission to conduct a probe where all citizens in the country could place their trust and confidence in them to get to the root cause of the Easter Sunday carnage and to carry out their duties sans any kind of political affiliations whatsoever.

 Pahan Wijesekera and Udayanthi Munasingha 08:09 AM Oct 15 2019  0   

Courtesy Ceylon Today

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) probing the corruption of the current administration yesterday (16) that he could not appear before the PCoI until the Presidential Election is over.

Wickremesinghe was to appear before the Commission on 18 October to testify over the decision to store paddy at the Mattala Airport in 2015.

Summons for the Prime Minister to appear before the PCoI was issued on 14 October. 

The Police officers attached to the PCoI visited the Mattala Airport and observed approximately five million rupees worth of damages which have been sustained to the buildings by the storing of paddy.

Courtesy Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

Members of the National People’s Party charge that the party’s presidential candidate former Army Commander General Mahesh Senanayake was nominated for the candidature without the consent of the party members.

Local Government members of the party mentioned this holding a press conference today (17).

The Executive Committee Member of the Party Pradeep Panagoda expressed following views:

This is a decision taken by a group claiming to be civil organizations through receiving money by embassies and foreign institutions.

This is not a people’s movement, it is a betrayal of the nation.

There were only 110 persons at the Gampaha meeting. But over a Rs 1 million was spent on that.

Clearly this has a foreign intervention.

He did not address any social issues beyond the mainstream.

Party General Secretary Srinath Perera should be held responsible if the country is harmed.”

Meanwhile, Jana Setha Peramuna Presidential Candidate Ven. Battaramulla Seelarathana Thera has appointed Attorney-at-Law Nagananda Kodituwakku as his elections representative.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  අරුණ පුවත්

රට කඩන යෝජනාවලිය සමග දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය නතර වෙන්නේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වීරකුමාර දිසානායක පැවැසීය.

පසුගිය කාලයේ ආණ්ඩුව ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහා දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය කොන්දේසි වශයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාවලියට මේ වන විට යළිත් වෙන්දේසි කිරීමට පටන්ගෙන ඇතැයිද මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කීවේය.

වීරකුමාර දිසානායක මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ ඊයේ (16 වැනිදා) පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදීය.

‘සම්බන්ධන්ලාගේ බලය බෙදීමේ යෝජනාවලිය ඉදිරියට ඇවිල්ලා. දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රශ්නවලට විසඳුම් දිය යුතුයි. හැබැයි ඒ රට බෙදලා නෙමෙයි. ඒකීය භාවය ආරක්ෂා කරගෙනයි විසඳුම් දිය යුත්තේ. පසුගිය කාලයේදී එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි සම්බන්ධන්ලා කොන්දේසි වශයෙන් සකස් කළ යෝජනාවලියම තමයි මේ යළිත් ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තිබෙන්නේ’ යැයිද මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කීවේය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී සහය දැක්වීමට දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති යෝජනාවලියේ අතිශය භයානක කරුණු 13 ක් අන්තර්ගත බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ පවසනවා.

කොළඹ අද පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මේ බව කියා සිටියා.

එම අවස්ථාවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පියල් නිශාන්ත ද එක්වුණා.

මේ අතර, දෙමළ සමාජ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පක්ෂයේ ජාතික සංවිධායක, උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පළාත් හිටපු ප්‍රධාන අමාත්‍ය වර්ධරාජා පෙරුමාල් ඇතුළු එම පක්ෂයේ නියෝජිතයන් පිරිසක් සහ විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ අතර හමුවක් ඊයේ කොළඹදී සිදුවුණා.

ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂගේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් තම පක්ෂය කටයුතු කරන බවයි එහිදී වර්ධරාජා පෙරුමාල් ප්‍රකාශ කළේ.

එමෙන්ම, මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචාරක කටයුතුවලට යුධ ජයග්‍රහණය යොදා ගැනීම තහනම් කිරීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ සභාපතිවරයා නියෝග කළේ කුමන නීතියක කවර ප්‍රතිපාදනයක් යටතේ ද යන්න තමන් නොදන්නා බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන අද කොළඹ පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී සඳහන් කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

පැහැදිලි ආර්ථික සැලස්මක් සමග සෘජු නායකත්වයක් යටතේ 2015 සිට නැවතුනු සංවර්ධනය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යාමට කටයුතු කරන බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව සදහන් කළේ් රඹුක්කන අද පැවති ජනරැලියට එක්වෙමින්.

මේ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ කැගල්ල දිස්ත්‍රික් බල මණ්ඩල රැස්විමට අද ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ එක් වුණා.

එම රැස්වීමට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් වන රංජිත් සියඹලාපිටිය සහ මහින්දානන්ද අලූත්ගමගේ  ද එක්ව සිටියා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණ අපේක්ෂකයින් සමග ගිවිසුම් ගත වීමේ අරමුණින් දෙමළ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ 5ක් එක්ව ඉදිරිපත් කල ඒකීය රාජ්‍ය සංකල්පය ඉවත් කිරීම ඇතුලු ඉල්ලීම් 13ක යෝජනාවලිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදත් මහා සංඝරත්නය ඇතුළු විවිධ පාර්ශ්ව අදහස් පළ කලා.

මේ අතර උහන ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් මෙම යෝජනාවලියට විරෝධය පළ කරමින් එය ගිනි තබා විනාශ කළා.

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.

Clearing my RV at Baltimore Docks reminded me of my Marketing Departments days in 1955 when we worked from sheds and temporarily built structures. Today our plan to bring down the Cost of Living needs brand new shops to house the Coop and CWE Outlets.

 I was told that I could clear my RV at the Mid Atlantic Terminal (the Docks) on Broening Highway and when I phoned in I was told that I had to get an Escort to the Docks and the escort was to be met at another office at Broening Highway. When I went to that number by taxi, we found a lone jeep with two cars. There was no building. An officer working in the jeep hailed us and she checked my papers. Finding them in order she said that I had to pay $ 40.00 for the escort and told me to go in one car with the driver as my escort. Other lorries came in and the lady officer in the jeep barked out orders to them. This was Homeland Security at work. Had it been in Sri Lanka today a building would have to be put up for the officers to work. Not so in 1955 when we in the Marketing Department worked out of wooden sheds. Wilfred Saparamadu the Assistant Commissioner at Kandy worked in a wooden shed and so was my office at Ratnapura. The work was all-important; we did not care about the accommodation.

 At the Baltimore Docks, I had to carry my release papers- the Delivery Order from the Customs Authorities to three offices and all three offices were in very old buildings, partly rusted because of the proximity to the sea. The officers sat in old chairs and old desks- just like the old unkempt furniture out of which we officers worked in the Marketing Department. The officers were very careful in checking my papers but what was prominent was that they were not working from offices that were streamlined like the Highways Buildings and the Agricultural Complexes at the various Payas at Battaramulla. There one would find the furniture all imported and even the partitions made of imported chipboard and plasterboard.

 Back in the Marketing Department, our aim was to buy from the producer and most of the purchases were done at the back of our lorry parked in a corner of the Producer’s fairs, where all the officers had to be on their feet for hours on end without a chair to sit on. We had a board displaying our purchasing prices and had to buy everything that was bought by the producers. At times Saranasiri or Clarence Delwala the assistants would hog around junctions where the producers were due to bring their produce. It reminded me of the improvised office of the lady officer working from the jeep.

 In the Marketing Department, the cost of living was kept down by selling to produce cheaply. There were at least fifty retail shops established in small buildings that were rented out which housed an officer and the vegetables, sugar, dhall and other essential items that were needed as essential food items. There were a large number of small vans running around replacing stocks that were sold and the Triploi Market, the hub of the system of which I was in charge was a hive of activity taking in calls every minute and ordering officers to take things to replenish stocks.

 I am not writing about any fantasy. That was the way we worked and worked fast to combat the cost of living.

 What is happening today is that there is no Marketing Department to buy the produce at the Fairs; So the traders in a gang work in collusion to get the producers to sell at cheap rates. The traders keep a hundred percent as their profit- transport the goods to Colombo and sell them at a high price. The tomatoes cannot fetch Rs. 30.00 a pound is retailed at Rs. 80.00 or more in Colombo. The Marketing Department purchased the tomatoes at over Rs. 30.00 giving the producer a fair price and sold to the consumer in Colombo at around Rs 40.00 a pound. We kept around ten to fifteen percent to cover handling and transport costs. Thus, in fact, the Marketing Department reduced the profits that the traders make today. In the process, the producer got a fair price and the consumers too got goods at a cheap price.

The full economics of this system is available in my Paper published in the Lanka Web: The Proven Sri Lankan Solution to the spiraling Cost of Living- the malady of UNP policies.(Monday, March 29th, 2010)

We have to act fast to reduce increases in the cost of living and this need not await the building of offices and sales outlets. Today instead of controlling inflation we are increasing the salaries. That will be a never-ending task. The Marketing Department mechanism has to be established at least as a cooperative enterprise to help both the producer as well as the consumer. Buildings should be improvised and established quickly like in the 1950 days of the Marketing Department or in the manner that Homeland Security works at the Baltimore Docks in the USA today.

 Garvin Karunaratne
Former Government Agent,
First written at  Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 19 th June 2010

Edited today 16/10/2019

M. Ravi Hewa

My dear Green Man,

I thought I must write to you, now that you are free from the burden of campaigning and being a candidate.

That must be a big change for you as you have been at the forefront of all the Green campaigns for the past twenty-five years, even if most of them were not very successful.

It would be interesting if you could let us know what prompted you to finally pass the baton on to young Sajith. After all, right until the last minute, you still wanted to contest and the chances are that if you put the decision to just the Green Working Committee, they would have endorsed you anyway.

Was it the possibility that even the Working Committee might have dumped you and opted for Sajith,

though it consists of people hand-picked by you? You do realize that people who you had helped in the Green party – like Mangala and Malik, for example – have switched loyalties to Sajith, don’t you?

Or, is it a feeling that Sajith may not make it in the end? We know you are quite clever at passing the buck when it suits you which is why you gave the then General the chance nine years ago and then chose Aiyo Sirisena to run the race four years ago, although that didn’t work out as planned.

Green Man, it was interesting to hear all those who backed you and worked against Sajith- those like Bond Ravi and the revengeful Akila- get on stage at Galle Face the other day and sing his praises. I hope they mean what they say and they are not secretly hoping that Sajith would lose the race.

If there is one man who shouldn’t complain about Sajith being given a chance, that is you, Green Man. You have had more than your fair share of chances in the past twenty-five years and in that decisive period for our country, you were unable to get the Greens to govern on their own even once.

You inherited a party that was ruling with a five-sixths majority from your uncle. Even when Sajith’s father died, the Greens were still strong although a little unpopular. Under your watch, however, you allowed first Satellite and then Mahinda maama to steal your stalwarts and gradually gain control.

You may have been unlucky every now and then – such as when Prabha ordered a boycott of the big election the first time Mahinda maama ran for office – but it is also true that whenever you had the chance, you didn’t make the most of it, allowingthe Blues to steal power away from the Greens.

Make no mistake, Green Man, the worst period under your leadership was the past four years when AiyoSirisena ran riot, behavingas if he was looking after a Grama Niladhari division instead of a country. You must take part of the blame for that because it was you who put him in that position.

That was not all. You also allowed those who were accused of corruption on a massive scale to go scot-free, without inquiring into their activities efficiently. Now, they are going around the country saying they have done nothing wrong, simply because you haven’t proved anything against them.

Adding insult to injury was the bond scam in the big bank a few months after you took over, hiring your Singaporean friend as the bank’s Governor. Bond Ravi is still an important person in the Green camp, so you can’t accuse others of corruption now. You have also lost your ‘Mr. Clean’ label.

There was a brief glimmer of hope for you when AiyoSirisena lost his marbles on the night in October last year, sacked you and appointed Mahinda maama as PM. People rallied against that move because it was undemocratic but you misinterpreted that, believing it was a massive vote of confidence in you.

Some people are still saying that regardless of who wins the big race in November, you will be PM because Parliament cannot be dissolved until next year. I hope you are not naïve enough to believe that. Whoever wins, MPs will ‘jump’ to the winning side and you might soon be out of a job!

Green Man, this week we heard you say that you, Sampanthan seeya and Mahinda maama are still in politics because there is no retirement age. You entered Parliament at the age of twenty-eight and have been there ever since so why are you saying this now? Ah, wisdom comes late to some people!

Despite those forty-two years in Parliament you have always been second best and never had the top job. Now that you have passed the baton to Sajith, the baby elephant, I hope you won’t try to take it back, regardless of what happens in November. That is the best you can do for the Greens.

Just as your uncle allowed Sajith’s father to prosper, and just as we saw you guiding Sajith’s mother at the convention the other day, we hope you will guide him too. If you really want to help him, you could also ask Maithree to give a few tips to Sajith’s better half about what to do and what not to do!

Yours truly, Punchi Putha

PS- The results at Elpitiya don’t look good for the ali petiya or baby elephant, but a lot can happen in the next thirty-five days. Also, as our cricketers showed us three times last week, sometimes the most unexpected things happen when those who have been sidelined are at last given a chance!

M. Ravi Hewa.