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. 

By Mirudhula Thambiah Courtesy Ceylon Today

Rejecting allegations that the Government had damaged the reputation of the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport by storing paddy in some of its storage buildings in 2015, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said  the Mattala Airport was a white elephant.

He was testifying before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) to investigate into alleged corruption of the current administration yesterday (23).
The Premier said, “What reputation? It has no prestige. It is known as  the world’s emptiest Airport. The unnecessary construction of the Airport is a massive misuse of public funds.”

Premier Wickremesinghe went on to say that inquiries by the Auditor General’s Department and the Committee on Public Enterprises had proved that the decision to build an Airport in Mattala was a disaster. “A PCoI on the SriLankan Airlines also made similar observations in its report,” he said.

He noted that moreover in 2014, the then Government under President Mahinda Rajapaksa had forced the SriLankan Airlines and other airlines to use the Mattala Airport.

“Thus, there were over 2,900 flights to the Airport in that year but once the Government stopped forcing airlines, they stopped using the Airport altogether. SriLankan Airlines incurred a loss of Rs 740 million during the use of the Mattala Airport. We are not preventing people from using the Airport. In fact, we have been trying to encourage people to use it,” he said. He added that the Mattala Airport was built at a cost of USD 209 million and that the Government pays around Rs 2.95 billion per year as loan payments. “This is a big loss and if this was not carried out, the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake could have been well developed.”

Denying any personal involvement in the storing of paddy, he said that a committee comprising of Ministry Secretaries in 2015 was appointed to deal with a high paddy yield from the Yala season.

“These committees are appointed at times when such incidents occur because even in the past, Sri Lankan Governments have tried to protect the farmers by preventing a drop in prices,” he added.

Meanwhile, State Counsel representing the Attorney General’s Department questioned Premier Wickremesinghe whether he was aware that two of his senior Advisors, Charitha Ratwatte and R. Paskaralingam, had participated in some of the meetings of the said committee.

Wickremesinghe replied: “I’m unaware. The committee might have asked them to come in and help. They don’t need my authorisation to take part in Government meetings.”

At an earlier occasion, former Chairman of the SriLankan Airlines, Ajith Dias told the PCoI that Ratwatte had called him and requested permission to store paddy at the Mattala Airport. However, Premier Wickremesinghe noted that he was not aware of this, adding that Ratwatte probably was acting on behalf of the said committee.

“I went through the reports and there were damages of Rs 600,000 to the equipment, and Rs 500,000 was spent on cleaning and another Rs 20,000 was spent on an air compressor.

It had cost Rs 60,000 to transport this compressor. The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) had informed officials at the Mattala Airport to remove any valuable items from the storage units.  If they now claim that there was valuable equipment, they should have told the PMB that they won’t allow the storage of paddy,” he said.

 Wickremesinghe also said: “This shows the way they do things there. A whole bunch of people responsible for the construction of this vanity project and running the Mattala Airport down, are now trying to blame us.

Please get these people back so that my lawyers too can cross examine them.”
Accordingly, over 4,000 metric tons of rice was stored at the Mattala Airport in 2015 by the PMB.

Recently, former Head of the PMB, Bandara Dissanayake stressed that Premier Wickremesinghe personally instructed him to store paddy at the Mattala Airport.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්‍ය සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස සහභාගිවූ ජන රැළියකදී අමාත්‍ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක, එම රැළිය අමතන අවස්ථාවේ එහි සිටි තරුණයෙකු නැගී සිට යම් ප්‍රකාශයක් කිරීමත් සමඟ පාක්ෂිකයින් ඔහුට පහරදී තිබෙනවා.

මෙය සිදුව ඇත්තේ ඊයේ මාළඹේ නගරයේදි පැවති ජන හමුවකදියි. එහිදී තරුණයෙකු නැගී සිට යම් කිසි ප්‍රකාශයක් සිදුකිරීමත් සමඟ එහි සිටි පාක්ෂිකයින් ඔහුට පහරදී ඇති අතර, එහිදී උණුසුම් තත්ත්වයක් ද හටගත් බවයි හිරු වාර්තාකරු කියා සිටියේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

යතුරුපැදිවලින් පැමිණි පුද්ගලයින් දෙදෙනෙකු කළ පහරදීමකින් පො‍ළොන්නරුව – ගිරිතලේ ප්‍රදේශයේ ආබාධිත රණවිරුවෙකු තුවාල ලබා රෝහල් ගතකර තිබෙනවා.

ආබාධිත හා විශ්‍රාමික රණවිරු සංවිධානය අද ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් කැඳවමින් සඳහන් කළේ රණවිරුවන්ට දිගින් දිගටම සිදුකරන මෙම පහරදීම් රාජ්‍ය දැනුවත් වීමෙන් සිදුකරන ඒවා බවයි.

පොළොන්නරුව ගිරිතලේ නිල් මානෙල් මල්විල ප්‍රදේශයේදී මෙම පහරදීම සිදුකර ඇත්තේ ඊයේ පස්වරු 6.30ට පමණයි.

යතුරුපැදි දෙකකින් පැමිණි පුද්ගලයන් දෙදෙනෙකු මාර්ගය හරස්කර මෙම ආබාධිත රණවිරුවාට පහරදී පලාගොස් තිබෙනවා.

පහරකෑමෙන් තුවාල ලැබූ දෙදරු පියෙක් වන එම්ගජීගඒග ජයවර්ධන මහතා 42 හැවිරිදි වියේ පසුවන ආබාධිත රණවිරුවෙක්.

පසුව ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් තුවාලකරු දියබෙදුම රෝහලට ඇතුලත් කර ඇති අතර, පසුව පොළොන්නරුව මහ රෝහල වෙත වැඩිදුර ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා යොමුකර තිබෙනවා.

මෙම පහරදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා, පොලිස් දිවිපිදු ආබාධිත හා විශ්‍රාමික රණවිරුවෝ සංවිධානය අද පෙරවරුවේ මාතරදී ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් කැඳවා තිබුණා.

මේ අතර, හිටපු හමුදා සෙබළුන්ගේ බිරින්දෑවරුන්ගේ සහ රණවිරු සෙබළියන්ගේ සංවිධානය අද කොළඹදී ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් කැඳවා තිබුණා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

පාස්කු ඉරිදා ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරයට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්‍රසයේ නායක අමාත්‍ය රවුෆ් හකීම් මහතා සෘජුවම වගකිව යුතු හෙයින් ඔහුට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතු බවට විවිධ පාර්ශ්ව චෝදනා එල්ල කරනවා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඊ.ටී.අයි. තැන්පත්කරුවන්ගේ ගැටලුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් එළැඹෙන 16 වැනිදාට පෙර විසඳුමක් ලබා නොදුනහොත් ජනාධිපති අපේකෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ඡන්දය ලබා දෙන බව ඊ.ටී.අයි. තැන්පත්කරුවන් සුරැකීමේ ස්වාධීන සංවිධානය පවසනවා.

එහි සාමාජිකයින් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ කළේ කොළඹ පැවති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

රට තුළ යළි ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කර සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සිදුකළ හැක්කේ තම රජයක් යටතේ පමණක් බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.

ගම්පොල ප්‍රදේශයේ අද පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමිනුයි ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ.

එම ජන හමුවට එක්වෙමින් අදහස් දැක්වූ ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ ඇතුලු පිරිසක් විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ද එක්ව සිටියා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව සමයේ රාජ්‍ය ආයතන වල සිදුවු දුෂන සහ වංචා සෙවීමට පත්කළ ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාව හමුවේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අද දෙවන දිනටත් පෙනී සිටියා.

ඒ මත්තල ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළේ වී ගබඩා කිරීමෙන් රජයට පාඩු සිදුවු බවට වූ පැමිණිල්ලකට අදාළව ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාව හමුවේ සාක්ෂි ලබාදිම සදහායි.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අද පෙගව 10.30ට පමණ ජනාධිපති කොමිසම වෙත පැමිණියා.

එහිදී මත්තල, ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩා කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය තුළින් රජයට පාඩු සිදුවුයේ යැයි සැලකෙන පැමිණිල්ලට අදාළව නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් යුරේෂා ද සිල්වා මහත්මිය සහ ජනාධිපති කොමිසමේ සමාජිකයින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කර තිබෙනවා.

මෙහිදි අග්‍රාමාතයවරයා ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත්තේ මත්තල ජත්‍යාන්තර ගුවන් තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩා කිරිමට අදාළ තීරණය ගනු ලැබුවේ ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පත්කළ කැබිනට් අනුකමිටුවක් විසින් බවයි.

එබැවින් එම තීරණය සම්බන්දයෙන් තමන්ගේ කිසිදු සම්බන්ධයක් නොමැති බවද අග්‍රාමාතයවරයා ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ සඳහන් කර තිබෙනවා.

හදිස්සි අවස්ථාවකදි භාණ්ඩ ගබඩා කිරීම සඳහා ගුවන්තොටුපලවල්හි පහසුකම් සලසා ඇති බව සඳහන් කළ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා කොමිසම හමුවේ පෙන්වා දුන්නේ සුනාමි අවස්ථාවේදි කටුනායක ගුවන් තොටුපලේද භාණ්ඩ ගබඩා කර තිබු බවයි.

එසේම මෙම වී ගබඩා කිරීමේ කටයුතු සිදුකර ඇත්තේ ගුවන්තොටුපළ අධිකාරිය සහ වී අලෙවි මණ්ඩලය යන රාජ්‍ය ආයතන දෙකෙහිම මැදිහත්වීමෙන් බව පෙන්වා දුන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් සදහන් කළේ වී ගබඩා කිරීම තුළින් යම් පාඩුවක් සිදුවී ඇත්නම් එය ගුවන්තොටුපළ අධිකාරියට වී අලෙවි මණ්ඩලයෙන් අයකරගත හැකි බවයි.

පැයකට අධික කාලයක් ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබාදිමෙන් පසු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මධ්‍යන 12ට පමණ ජනාධිපති කොමිසමෙන් පිටව ගියා.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ පෙනීසිටි දෙවන අවස්ථාව මෙය වන අතර කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍යංශය බත්තරමුල්ල ඩීගපී ජයසිංහ ගොඩනැගිල්ලට රැගෙන ගොස් මාසිකව රුපියල් මිලියන 24.6ක කුලියක් ගෙවීම තුළ රජයට පාඩුවක් සිදුවුයේ යැයි ගොනුකර තිබු පැමිණිල්ලක අදාළවද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ඉකුත් සැප්තැම්බර් මස 16 වන දින ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ සක්ෂි ලබාදුන්නා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරණතුංග ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය සහ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය එක් කිරීමේ උත්සහයක නිරතවන බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඩලස් අලහප්පෙරුම පවසනවා. 

ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ කොළඹ අද පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.

එම මාධ්‍ය හමුවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වීරකුමාර දිසානායක ද එක්ව සිටියා.

මේ අතර නව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරය සම්පූර්ණ අසත්‍ය ප්‍රචාරවලින් සමන්විත වන බවට ද පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඩලස් අලහප්පෙරුම මහතා චෝදනා කළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

පාස්කු ඉරිදා එල්ල වූ ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරයේදී ඇතැම් පුද්ගලයින් ප්‍රහාරය වැළැක්වීම සඳහා වන, සිය වගකීම් ඉටු කිරීමට අසමත් වී ඇති බව පාස්කු ඉරිදා එල්ල වූ ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සොයාබැලීමට පත් කළ පාර්ලිමේන්තු විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ අවසන් වාර්තාව මගින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කර තිබෙනවා.

ඒ අනුව වරදක් සිදුකිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්‍රමාණවත් සාක්ෂි රැස්කර ගැනීමට හැකිවන අවස්ථාවලදී අධිචෝදනා ගොනුකිරීම සහ නඩු පැවරීම සිදුකළ යුතු බවටයි විශේෂ කාරක සභා වාර්තාව මගින් නිර්දේශ කර ඇත්තේ.

අප්‍රේල් 21 වැනිදා එල්ල වූ ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සොයාබැලීමට පත්කරන ලද පාර්ලිමේන්තු විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ අවසන් වාර්තාව අද පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබුවේ කමිටු සාමාජික පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ආචාර්ය ජයම්පති වික්‍රමරත්නයි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් තේරීම් කාරක සභාවේ අවසන් වාර්තාව ඉදිරිපත් කිරිමට ප්‍රථම ඊට විපක්ෂයෙන් විරෝධතා එල්ල වුණා.

ඔවුන් කියා සිටියේ ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ සහරාන් හෂීම් සමග අමාත්‍ය රවුෆ් හකීම් සාකච්ජා පවත්වා ඇති බවට චෝදනා එල්ල වී ඇති බැවින් ඔහු සමාජිකත්වය දරන විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ වාර්තාව පිළිගත නොහැකි බවයි.

පාස්කු ඉරු දින පල්ලි 03 ක සහ හෝටල් 03 ක සිදුවූ මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරවලින් පුද්ගලයින් 277 දෙනෙකු මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බකරුවන්ද ඇතුළුව ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත්ව ඇති අතර, 400 කට වැඩි පිරිසක් තුවාල ලබා ඇති බව විශේෂ කාරක සභාව පවසනවා.

මරණයට පත්වූවන් අතර අවම වශයෙන් විදේශිකයින් 40 ක් සහ ළමයින් 45 ක් සිටි බව වාර්තා වූ බවයි කාරක සභා වාර්තාවේ දැක්වෙන්නේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු විශේෂ කාරක සභාව 24 වතාවක් රැස්වී පුද්ගලයින් 55 දෙනෙකුගෙන් සාක්ෂි සටහන් කරගෙන තිබෙනවා.

පිටු 242 කින් සමන්විත විශේෂ කාරක සභා වාර්තාවෙන් දක්වා ඇත්තේ බුද්ධි අංශ යාන්ත්‍රණය තුළ රාජ්‍ය බුද්ධි අංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයාගේ අති විශේෂ භූමිකාව සලකා බැලීමේදී ඔහුට බරපතල වගකීමක් පැවරී ඇති බව අවධානයට ලක්වූ බවයි.

අප්‍රේල් මස 04 වැනිදා ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව බුද්ධි තොරතුරු පළමුව ලැබුණු පුද්ගලයා වූ රාජ්‍ය බුද්ධි අංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා ඇතිවිය හැකි තර්ජන අවම කිරීමට සහ වැළැක්වීමටත් සියළු පියවර ගත යුතුව තිබූ බව වාර්තාව මගින් සඳහන් කර ඇති අතර, එම සියළු අංශවලින් ඔහු අසාර්ථක වී ඇති බව එහි දක්වා තිබෙනවා.

එසේම ජාතික ආරක්ෂක මණ්ඩලයේ රැස්වීම් පිලිවෙලකට පැවැත්වීම ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයා විසින් වගබලා ගත යුතු බව සඳහන් කරන, විශේෂ කාරක සභාව රැස්වීම් කැඳවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා මත රැඳී නොසිටිය යුතු බව පවසනවා.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරුන් වන කපිල වෛද්‍යරත්න සහ හේමසිරි ප්‍රනාන්දු යන දෙපලම වරදක් සිදුකර ඇති බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු විශේෂ කාරක සභාව ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබෙනවා.

පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව ලද බුද්ධි තොරතුරු දේශපාලන නායකත්වය සහ ආරක්ෂක හමුදා දැනුවත් කිරීමට හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් හේමසිරි ප්‍රනාන්දු අවශ්‍ය පියවර නොගැනීම බරපතල අඩුපාඩුවක් බවයි එහි දැක්වෙන්නේ.

පොලිස්පතිවරයා විසින් සිදුකර ඇති අඩුපාඩු කිහිපයක්ම පාස්කු ඉරුදින ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සොයා බැලීමට පත්කළ විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ වාර්තාව මගින් සඳහන් කර තිබීම විශේෂත්වයක්.

ඒ අනුව කාත්තන්කුඩි ප්‍රදේශයේ සිදුවූ පිපිරීම සහ ලැබුණු බුද්ධි තොරතුරු තිබියදීත් නැගෙනහිර පළාත භාර නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පතිවරයා දැනුවත් කිරීමට අපොහොසත් වීම, දේශපාලන නායකත්වය දැනුවත් නොකිරීම සහ ලැබුණු තොරතුරු සම්බන්ධයෙන් බිම් මට්ටමේදී ගත යුතු පියවර පිළිබඳව ප්‍රමාණවත් උපදෙස් යටත් නිලධාරීන්ට ලබාදී නොතිබීමද ඒ අතර වනවා.

පොලිස්පතිවරයා විසින් ක්ෂණික සහ ශක්තිමත් පියවර ගෙන බිම් මට්ටමේ සූදානම් වීම් සඳහා පැහැදිලි උපදෙස් ලබාදී තිබුණේ නම් ප්‍රහාරය වළක්වා ගැනීමට හෝ එහි තීව්‍රතාවය අවම කර ගැනීමට බොහෝ දෑ කළ හැකිව තිබූ බව විශේෂ කාරක සභාවේ අදහසයි.

ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් වහා අවධානය යොමුවිය යුතු නිර්දේශ කිහිපයක් විශේෂ කාරක සභාව මගින් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙනවා.

ඒවා අතර, ආරක්ෂක සහ බුද්ධි අංශයේ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ, ආගමික අන්තවාදයේ නැගීම පාලනය කිරීමේ සහ අධීක්ෂණය කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය, වහබ්වාදය සහ ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව යන කරුණු දක්නට ලැබීම විශේෂත්වයක්.

H. L. D. Mahindapala

Any lawyer who has made it to the peak of his profession carries with him the authoritative air of having achieved the highest intellectual capacity to build up a case on hard evidence and presenting it cogently, logically, rationally to persuade his audience, court, forum, etc., of the unshakeable truth on which the case is based. But there are, of course, exceptions to this rule. C. V. Wigneswaran,(CVW)  former Supreme Court Judge and later Chief Minister of Jaffna, is one of them.

After he left the bench and joined the Northern political class obsessed with Tamil extremism allied to Prabhakaran he has played a mean and vicious role of denigrating the Sinhala-Buddhist at every turn. Like most other Tamil politicians he is playing the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist card to the hilt for survival in Jaffna which has consistently and unreservedly rejected pluralism, diversity, peaceful inter-ethnic coexistence with the Sinhala majority, or even the Muslim minority. They have never considered the construction of an enlightened path for reconciliation, overriding the narrow and partisan interpretations of history for separatism. They have never sat down and revisited the failure of their post-independent politics that led them all the way to Nandikadal. As seen in the 13-point demands put to the leading presidential candidates they are going back only to revive the policies that dragged their hapless people into death, destruction and despair.

The only ideology that  was allowed to reign supreme in Jaffna by the Vellalar ruling class – they were in the majority– is anti-Sinhala-Buddhism. This  ideology has come down from the early decades of the twentieth century. It was honed, weaponised and unleashed as a deadly force against the Sinhala-Buddhists by G. G. Ponnambalam in the 1930s. Ever since then demonising  the Sinhala-Buddhists has  been the primary platform that dominated Jaffna politics. No  politician competing  for electoral votes could  survive without scapegoating the Sinhala-Buddhists. Following this  line, CVW is now performing to beat his  rivals in this game of demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists. After the defeat at Nandikadal CVW has stepped into the Northern political stage to revive and activate the failed bid by his predecessors to perpetuate the anti-nation building politics of the Jaffna political class.

The latest exhibition of this campaign surfaced in Colombo Telegraph of October 14, 2019. Consider, for instance, the following story taken out of a long list of complaints made against the Sinhala-Buddhist recently.( See Colombo Telegraph, — 14/10/2019).  In it CVW . spins his stories accusing the Sinhala-Buddhists and the state of victimising the Tamils and then says: . ”How far this is true I do not know. But we are told many families…….”  have been victimised. (In the last phrase I am summarising his numerous charges).

Imagine him presenting this case to a judge in a court of law and then concluding by saying: ” How far this is true I do not know. But we are told manyfamilies … etc., etc. Which judge is going to take him seriously? Will not his case be thrown out of court summarily without any further hearing? He goes to court without knowing whether there is any truth at all in his stories of Tamil claims of victimisation but he wants the whole world to believe that the victimisation of the Tamils is true.

If this is the best that a Tamil judge of the supreme court can produce how much truth can there be in most of the wild accusations made by the Tamils against other sources? This penchant for repeating second and third hand stories has been one of the main reasons that had warped the public discourse on the ethnic issue. Had they checked their facts and stuck to the stark realities the ethnic issue would not have gone so far as Nandikadal.  At the core of the ethnic issue is that deep craze to believe that the Tamils are the victims of the Sinhala-Buddhist state and any story is good enough to turbo -charge their imagined or rumoured stories of victimhood. For instance, in the dying days of the Vadukoddai War (aka Eelam war) a Tamil Christian priest in a church in Melbourne (where I live) was swearing that the Sinhala-Buddhist soldiers were throwing up Tamil babies up in the air and pinning them with bayonets as they come down!

Adding fuel to the fires of anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism has been the standard practice of the Tamil leadership. Just last month CVW led another anti-Sinhala-Buddhist rally in Jaffna, along with Suresh Premachandran and Jaffna University students and lecturers. The main objective of this Ezhuga Thamil rally was to turn back the Jaffna clock to the history concocted in the Batakotte (Tamilised as Vadukoddai) Resolution. That version of Tamil history ended in Nandikadal. Reports reveal that CVW’s Ezhuga Thamil rally was a flop. Considering all the failures of the Tamil leadership since independence the time has come for the Tamil people to seriously question the misleading and the disastrous role played on their behalf by the so-called brilliant Tamils. It is time for the Tamil people to rise up and ask CVW and his gang of University students and lecturers : Are you going to lead us down the path of Batakotte Resolution to Nandikadal again?

CVW’s swing to radical Tamilness is reflected, somewhat garishly, in his face which is plastered with Saivite strips of ritualistic ash in technicolour. These strips seem to be more symbolic of his anti-Sinhala-Buddhist hatred than any expression of his spiritual purity. What is objectionable is the aggressive political statement he makes through his face make-up. It is like the Sinhala-Buddhist politicians displaying their pirith noolas, sometimes thick as ropes strong enough to hang them up in the nearest tree. Which reminds me also of the cynic who told a Christian congregation that if Jesus was shot with a pistol then Christian devotees would be wearing canons round their necks now! Not surprisingly, kovils, churches, mosques and temples have become powerful centres of politics more than religion.

The political activity of CVW indicate that he is eager to ride on the back of Tamil youth into power like his predecessors in ITAK (example: S. J. V. Chelvanayakam) who urged the Tamil youth to take up arms against the nation. CVW has also jumped into the bandwagon of Tamil extremism with an eye to claim Tamil leadership in the North. Claiming to be the sole representatives of the Tamils” is an obsession with Tamil politicians. He is hoping to cash in on the prestige of his judicial background (thanks to the Sinhala-Buddhist state which he condemns) to be the only Tamil worthy of being a respected and hero-worshipped leader, now that Prabhakaran is no longer with them to be their  thalaivar”. As the head of the newly established Tamil Makkal Kootani (Tamil Peoples’ Congress) he is making a desperate bid to revive and retain Tamil politics at the same virulent and intransigent level defined and pursued by his predecessors, starting from G. G. Ponnambalam in the 1930s’ to Velupillai Prabhakaran.

In one sense he is, like all other Tamil politicians, a prisoner of the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist ideology. Jaffna never had a history of embracing any other ideology. The political fathers of Jaffna and their followers were, from birth to death, bound by two main ideologies : 1. Saivite casteism as defined by the Vellalar guru, Arumuka Navalar and 2. anti-Sinhala-Buddhist politics which demonised the Sinhala-Buddhists in the dying days of the British raj as their main enemy. They never took to socialism, liberalism, pluralism, humanism or any other ism” unlike the South which embraced all the ideologies that were sweeping the world, from Marxism, Maoism, Castroism to neo-liberalism.

However, for a brief period in the late twenties the Tamil youth embraced Gandhism and peaceful co-existence with the rest of the nation. But that was snuffed out swiftly by Ponnambalam’s anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism which became the ruling ideology that gripped the North. Ever since then Jaffna has been the permanent home of virulent Tamil racism, excluding all others as non-Tamil outsiders. Tamil ideologues tried to give it a shine by labelling Tamil racism as sub-nationalism, or Tamil nationalism. But historical events prove that it was a latter-day development that began with Ponnambalam raising Tamil racism in the  thirties to protect and  preserve the disproportionate Tamil power, privileges and  perks  in the British colonial regime. Tamil supremacist arrogance closed the minds of the Jaffnaites  to any other alternative. Tamil casteist arrogance went as far as dismissing its own low-caste people as pariahs who should not be allowed to walk in God-given sunlight. For instance, the Turumbas, the lowest of the low-castes, were allowed to walk only in the night to protect the purity of the eyes of the ruling Vellalars who might bump into them in day time. In this tight environment, dominated by Tamil casteism/racism, there was no space for CVW, particularly as a new comer to the political arena, to compete with any other rival ideology that would tend to be conciliatory and moving towards peaceful co-existence with the other communities.

Today he is facing similar (not identical) forces that confronted the young G. G. Ponnambalam when he arrived from UK, qualified as a lawyer. To make his name he had to compete with the established and elderly aristocracy consisting of Ramanathans, Arunachalams  and Mahavdevas. He had no constructive program to beat the turbaned aristocrats” (Jane Russell) entrenched in the colonial system. The only card he could play to stand out from the pack was anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism. So to cut his teeth in politics and to make a name for himself he embraced anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism in the colonial period. 

The racism he unleashed in the 1930s remained as the permanent norm for peninsular politics. He defined and propagated the aggressive and the intransigent political culture of Jaffna that ran all the way to Nandikadal – and beyond to Wigneswaran. He ruptured the inter-ethnic relations that had lasted for centuries. The most marketable slogan for competing and winning votes in peninsular politics was based on bashing Sinhala-Buddhists. This Tamil tactic was not labelled as racism. It was labelled as minority rights. But when the Sinhala-Buddhist reacted to it and defended their right to preserve and maintain their historical legacies they were called racists.

Ever since Ponnambalam unleashed anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism as the norm for peninsular politics his successors never deviated from it. It was suicidal for any Tamil to champion any other brand of politics that moved towards reconciliation, or peaceful co-existence.  Those deviating from this norm were condemned as collaborationists” or traitors to the Tamils, as seen in the time that Prabhakaran ruled Jaffna. Tamil extremism blocked all attempts at nation-building. Even the best deals offered with international guarantees were rejected by the Tamil leadership.  If the Jaffna electorate did not eliminate them with their votes then the guns of Tamil militants liquidated them. Examples: Lakshman Kadirgamar, Neelan Tiruchelvam, Appapillai Amirthalingam etc. Arrogant and relentless Tamil violence didn’t stop at that. Tamil violence went as far as assassinating Rajiv Gandhi who attempted to keep Sri Lanka united for his own self-interests, with powers devolved to the periphery to appease the Tamil separatists.

Clearly, there was no escape route for any new entrant to deviate from the entrenched political culture of Jaffna. In varying degrees of antagonism Tamil politicians had to conform to its anti-Sinhala-Buddhist ideology. The Jaffnaites were prisoners trapped tightly inside the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist straight jacket. They could move only within the perennial parameters   drawn by the cadjan curtains of Saivite casteism which morphed into virulent anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism. Whether CVW likes it or not he had to fall in line with the racism initiated by Ponnambalam and finally consolidated by Prabhakaran. For him to survive in the competitive electoral politics of Jaffa CVW is compelled to dance to the beat of nagasalam choreographed by Ponnambalam and Prabhakaran.

His ambition now is to grab the leadership of the Tamils to be the sole representative of the Tamils. To achieve this he has to kick out of his way the TNA ladder on which he climbed to seats of power in Jaffna. Having done that, he is now aiming to take over the Jaffna leadership by beating the TNA with his aggressive anti-Sinhala-Buddhist programmes, politics and pronouncements. As Chief Minister he did his damnedest to denigrate the Sinhala-Buddhists and paint them as the sworn enemies of the Tamils. He passed the notorious resolution in which he condemned all Sinhala leaders, from the time of independence, as killers of the Tamils. He was so obsessed with anti-Sinhala-Buddhist racism that he could not provide even a toilet at the Jaffna bus stand. Like most of the Tamil leaders he was obsessed with anti-Sinhala-Buddhist politics and not with the well-being of the Tamil people.

His latest gimmickry is to take up the 13-point demands put up by the Tamil University students in the North and the East universities. As M. Sumanthiram states, there is nothing new in it. It is the same old, same old – all 13 demands pointing to separatism. Clearly, we are back to square one. We are back to the time when S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and his band of fake Gandhians were ganging up to the draw the belligerent Batakotte (Tamilised as Vadukoddai ) Resolution.

It was a time when the Tamil leadership had pushed Tamil extremism to the bitter end and had nowhere to go except to declare war on the rest of the nation. It was time when the Gandhian Chelvanayakam was delighted with the placing on his forehead a red pottu, consisting of blood drawn from the vein of a Tamil militant. It was a time when the ageing Vellalar Tamil leadership was ready to sit back in their arm chairs and sacrifice the low-caste Tamil youth, hoping that they would win Eelam for them to take over as their permanent lords and  masters of the feudal days gone by. The educated Vellalars went overseas to enjoy the greener pastures, with two cars, one to take their children to universities and the other to take their wives shopping.

The sequence of events that happened tell the story of the utter failure of Tamil politics. The precise date was May 14, 1976. The place was Batakotte. The entire Tamil leadership collectively declared war on the rest of the nation and urged the Tamil youth to take up arms and never stop until they had achieved Eelam. They, of course, never expected to land in Nandikadal. That, in short, the failed history of Tamils.

The 13-point demands put up by the Northern and Eastern Universities seems to heading the way of the Batakotte Resolution. History seems to be getting ready to repeat itself, this time as a greater tragedy than before. The oldies are taking cover under the 13-points presented by the Tamil youth in the universities. The oldies are happy that the Tamil youth had taken up their demands, once again. The oldies, of course, have nothing to worry. If the worst comes to the worse, the Sampanthans, Sumanthirams, and the Wigneswarans would come rushing down to the South (which they hate) and take refuge with the Sinhala-Buddhist state providing police protection..The oldies expect the  Tamil youth to fight for the tall tales told in Tamil fiction. In relating these tales they will demonise the Sinhala-Buddhists and never mention a word about the miserable failure of the Tamil leadership to serve or save the Tamil people whom they oppressed throughout their history.

The more  I look into  Tamil politics the more  I am convinced of the value of the words of Prof. Kumar David which described the Tamil leadership as a bunch of congenital idiots”.

More of Tamil politics in the next article.