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පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ආචාර්ය විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ මාධ්ය හමුවේ ඊයේ සිදුකළ ප්රකාශ පිළිබඳව නව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස පිිළිතුරු ලබාදිය යුතු බව ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ පවසනවා.
එම පෙරමුණේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ලක්ෂ්මන් යාපා අබේවර්ධන මේ බව කියා සිටියේ නෙළුම් මාවත පක්ෂ කාර්යාලයේ අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්
පොදුජන පැතුම ඉටු කිරීමට තමන් ඇප කැප වන බව නව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස පවසනවා.
ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ මාතලේ – ලග්ගල – නව නගරයේ අද පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.
මෙම ජන හමුවට සහභාගි වීම සඳහා අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ පැමිණීමට පෙර එක්සත් ජාතික පාක්ෂිකයෙකු සිය විරෝධය පළ කළා.
අනතුරුව එම ජන හමුවට අග්රාමාත්යවරයා සහ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්රේමදාස සහභාගි වුණා.
සජිත් ප්රේමදාස අමාත්යවරයා පිටව ගිය පසු අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ජන හමුව ඇමතූ අතර, එහිදී නැවතත් ඊට එක්වූ පාක්ෂිකයන් පිරිසකගෙන් විරෝධය එල්ල වුණා. කෙසේ වෙතත්, එම විරෝධය මධ්යයේ අග්රාමාත්යවරයා සිය කතාව සිදුකළා.
පසුව මාතලේ – රත්තොට බස්නැවතුම්පොලේ පැවති ජන හමුවකට ද ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස එක්වුණා.
තරුණ තරුණියන්ට වැඩි අවස්ථාවක් ලබාදෙන දැනුම මූලික කර ගත් ආර්ථිකයක් ඔස්සේ රට සංවර්ධනය කරන සැලැස්මක් සකස් කර ඇති බව ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.
ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ කිරිබත්ගොඩ නගරයේ අද පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.
එළැඹෙන ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ දෙමළ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ 10 ක සහය ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ලබාදීමට තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා.
මීට අමතරව රජයේ වෛද්ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය සහ කලාකරුවන් රැසකගේ ද සහය ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ලබාදීමට තීරණය කළ බව එම සංවිධාන සදහන් කළා.
හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ සිදුකළ සංවර්ධනය හේතුවෙන් ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී තමන් ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප්රමුඛ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට සහය පළ කිරීමට තිරණය කළ බව මඩකලපුව දිස්ත්රික්
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රි එස්ග වියාලේන්ද්රන් මහතා පසුගියදා ප්රකාශ කළා.
>මේ අතර, කරුණු 3 ක් මත පදනම්ව නැගෙනහිර තවත් දෙමළ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ 10 ක සහය ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ලබාදෙන බව අද පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී සඳහන් කළා.
රජයේ වෛද්ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය සෞඛ්ය ක්ෂේත්රය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ කරුණු 20 කින් සමන්විත යෝජනාවලිය ඊයේ පස්වරුවේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත භාරදීමෙන් අනතුරුව එම සංගමයේ නිලධාරීන් මාධ්ය වෙත අදහස් පළ කළා.
පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත පළ කරන බව ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ කලාශිල්පීන් රැසක් ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හමුවී ප්රකාශ කළා.
මේ අතර, පොදුජන කලා සන්ධානය සහ නිදහස් කලා සන්ධානය එක්ව පැවැත්වූ විජයග්රහණයේ පෙරවදන සමුළුව කොළඹදී පැවැත්වුණු අතර, ඊට කලාකරුවන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියා
ඕනෑම පාවාදීමක් සිදුකර බලය රැකගැනීම සඳහා වත්මන් රජය සූදානමින් සිටින බව නාගදීප විහාරාධිපති පූජ්ය නවදගල පදුමකිත්ති තිස්ස හිමි පවසනවා.
උන්වහන්සේ පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ පලාලි ගුවන් තොටුපොළ විවෘත කිරීමේ උත්සවයේදී අතැමුන් සිංහල බසින් ජාතික ගීය ගැයීමට විරුද්ධවීම හේතුවෙන් ජාතික ගීය වාදනය කිරීම පමණක් සිදුකළ බවයි.
The 13 demands put forward by five Tamil political parties in the north want marks a watershed in northern Tamil politics. The five political parties involved in the process were the Ilangei Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) ), the Eelam Peoples’ Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) faction led by Suresh Premachandran and the Thamil Makkal Koottani led by C.V.Vigneswaran. A sixth political party, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam participated in the process but did not sign the final document. Nevertheless the political parties that released the 13 demands represents the majority of the Tamil voters of the north and east at this moment and this list of demands can be said to mark a turning point in the Tamil politics of the north. The 13 demands translated into English by Tamilnet, are as follows:
=New constitutional processes that uphold unitary system of rule should be rejected. The Tamil national question of Ilangkai [Ceylon] must be resolved through a federal framework with the realisation that Tamils constitute a nation with distinct sovereignty and that nation is entitled to the Right of Self-Determination under International Law
=Comprehensive and independent investigations must be carried out through the International Criminal Court/ Criminal Tribunal on the allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the final war
=The Prevention of Terrorism Act must be repealed
=Unconditional release of all Tamil Political Prisoners
=Justice must be accorded through international mechanisms to those who have suffered due to enforced disappearances of their kith and kin
=The state forces stationed in the Northern and Eastern provinces must be evicted from the private and crown lands which were utilized by the Tamil people before the war; those areas must be released; and the resettlement process should be accelerated
=The ongoing state-sponsored ‘Sinhalisation’, ‘Buddhicisation’ and Sinhala colonisation in the Northern and Eastern provinces must be stopped forthwith
=The jurisdiction of Mahaweli Authority, which is functioning as an authority to create Sinhala only colonies in the Northern province under cover of diverting the Mahaweli river towards the North, must be abolished. Furthermore, all Sinhala colonization schemes being taken forward in the Eastern Province under the so-called Mahaweli Development Programme must be terminated
=All the recently introduced Sinhala colonization schemes under the Moragahakanda Irrigation Programme in Vanni must be stopped forthwith
=Encroachment of lands and places of worships through government departments including the Archaeology, Forest and Wildlife conservation departments must be immediately stopped. The lands, which were appropriated through Gazette notifications by the above-mentioned departments, must be de-gazetted
=The legal impediments faced by the Ceylonese living abroad in making direct investments and obtaining lands to develop the war-affected Northern and Eastern provinces and to provide job opportunities to the youth, must be removed
=Preference must be accorded to those who hail from the Northern and Eastern provinces in public and private sector employment in the North-East
=Declare North-East as War-Ravaged Region and create a Joint Mechanism, which should handle the development assistance and place it under the guidance and disposal of the elected representatives of the people in the North-East
Sheep’s clothing abandoned
Tamilnet had its own take on these 13 demands. According to them, the original document in Tamil had the further proviso that those among the above the demands, which must be immediately addressed, should be resolved within three months from the day the new president assumes office. One weakness in the 13 demands noted by Tamilnet was that it fails to specify the mid-term and long-term demands and that it was unclear which issues should be addressed first by the future SL President. Similarly, they said that the lack of clearly stated conditions creates the loophole for meaningless promises such as a presidential candidate coming up with the vague assurance of setting up a Presidential Commission to look into the demands within three months and the TNA could ask Tamils to vote for a particular candidate based on the meaningless promise of looking into the ‘consensus’ document of the Tamil parties.
However, Tamilnet stated that the process was a good starter and educative, especially to the new generation of Tamil students in the North and East. The process of formulating these 13 demands had been initiated by the university student community in the North and the East. The fact that the younger generation had a hand in getting the political parties together may have far reaching consequences for the future. We seem to have returned once again to the situation in the early 1970s, when young activists began driving the nothern political agenda and the Tamil politicians became mere passengers at first and later victims of the political trends they themselves had started. It is now 10 years since the war ended and even after a gargantuan tragedy of that magnitude, the Tamil politicians of the north were not able to change track.
If the agenda before 2009 was Eelam through war, the agenda after 2009 became Eelam through politics. It is remarkable how quickly the Tamil National Alliance moved into the new phase. The war ended in May 2009 and by the end of that year, the TNA had embarked on its new project in collaboration with other political parties. The strategy of winning Eelam through politics was to help a southern political party to capture power and through that southern political party to usher in a new constitution which divides the country in the manner required by the TNA. Of course in a situation where this will have to be done with the cooperation of the southern political parties, the ultimate aim will have to be appropriately disguised to make it palatable to the other parties in the endeavor. This was why the TNA pretended to give up their call to do away with the unitary state. This was why they suddenly began to show an interest in constitutional issues such as the abolition of the executive presidency that evoke interest in the south.
Just last month, M.A.Sumanthiran was tweeting in favour of abolishing the executive presidency. The only hope the TNA had of making the southern political parties and constituents swallow their federal constitutional proposals was if they were adequately sugar-coated in long standing constitutional demands among the southern constituency such as the abolition of the executive presidency and electoral reform. Less than four weeks ago, the TNA was still wearing this constitutional sheepskin of not being opposed to the unitary state and being interested in abolishing the executive presidency until they suddenly discarded it for the usual stripes last Monday with the publishing of these 13 demands. It may be the case that events in the north and east have started moving with a momentum not of the TNA’s making.
The TNA’s claim to be unopposed to the unitary state was always a canard. What they were trying to pull off was to leave the label of unitary intact while having a federal state in substance. The constitutional proposals that were tabled in Parliament by the Prime Minister in January this year were in actual fact drafted by the TNA. What this draft constitution would have created would have been nine semi-independent states. The President in Colombo regardless of whether he was the executive president or a nominal president, would have been irrelevant to the TNA because they would be having a virtually independent state in the north and east. The draft constitution even had a provision to merge the north and east which meant that at the end of the constitutional reform process, the Tamils of the north and east would have a unitary state while the Sinhalese would have a federal state!
Eelam through a pliable
Sinhala puppet
The demand to create a federal state through reform of the constitution, was just a feint to create a separate Tamil state in the north and east. Earlier, the demand for a separate state was direct and violent. After 2009 it became non-violent and gradual. But the ultimate objective was always the same. No one can blame the TNA for not being consistent. The TNA’s strategy of helping a southern political party to capture power and then obtaining their constitutional demands as a quid pro quo began working only in 2015, but it worked only up to a point. A tame government was brought into power and a federal constitution was drafted and even tabled in Parliament. But nothing happened after that. After five years, the TNA has nothing to show for their pains. Today the Tamil people of the north and east do not have even the development and material assiatance that they got from the Rajapaksa government.
As a consequence, between the Parliamentary election of 2015 and the local government election of 2018, the TNA has suffered huge reversals electorally. As we pointed out last week, at the 2015 Parliamentary election, the TNA got 207,577 votes in the Jaffna electoral district on a 61% total voter turnout and 127,185 votes in the Batticaloa district on a 69% voter turnout. But at the 2018 local government election, the TNA’s vote in the Jaffna electoral district had gone down to 136,152 and to 80,622 in the Batticaloa district in a situation where the voter turnout had increased to 70% in the Jaffna electoral district and 76% in the Batticaloa district. In other words, more people had turned up at the polling booth, but less were voting for the TNA.
This was why the TNA was waffling at this presidential election without declaring their support for any candidate before getting a written pledge that their demands would be met. They would not be able to justify asking the Tamil people to vote for another presidential candidate without guarantees that their demands would be met. It was then that the northern Tamil students came up with with this joint declaration which the main constituent party of the TNA, the ITAK has also signed. The 13 demands are such that no southern political party can accede to them. The TNA’s policy up to now was to keep their ulterior motives hidden and to try and achieve their objectives through stealth and strategy. As it turns out, the TNA was free to drive policy in the north and east for a period of less than a decade. Before 2009, they were being instructed on what to do by Tamilselvam. Now they are being instructed on what to do by nameless, faceless students.
One cannot blame the Tamil students either. On the one hand organizations like the TNA hold out certain hopes to the Tamil people and then prove themselves to be completely inept at achieving those aims. The TNA brought President Sirisena into power and drafted a new constitution. But when the Prime Minister presented the draft of this constitution to Parliament, he promptly disowned it saying that it was not his draft but one prepared by a panel of experts. When this draft was taken up for debate in Parliament this July, there was scant interest in it on both sides of the political divide. The TNA parliamentaians ended up talking more to themselves than to anyone else. The federal constitution making process was a complete fiasco.
Even though the constitution making process had failed, the TNA continued to be supportive of the UNP because they did not want to see the Rajapaksas returning to power. If Ranil Wickremesinghe had been the candidate, the chances are that the TNA would have continued to back the UNP on the grounds that their 2015 experiment failed because Sirisena was the President and that if RW had been the President, they would have been more successful. However, when Sajith became the candidate, the TNA wanted a written guarantee that their demands would be met. Without such a written guarantee it would not have been possible to market Sajith in the north as the Sinhala politician who was going to meet Tamil aspirations.
By publicly announcing the fact that they want a written pledge from whoever they are going to back at this election, the TNA has made it virtually impossible for anybody to give that pledge. Electoral dynamics will ensure that the moment the TNA announces that they have entered into a written agreement with a candidate, that candidate is going to lose votes in the South.
It was in this situation of stalemate that the several constituent parties of the TNA and the Vigneswaran group joined up to issue the 13 demands at the behest of the students. The issuance of the 13 demands marks the unraveling of the dream of appointing a Sinhala puppet who will deliver Eelam to the Tamils. This is now a new situation. The only political parties in the north which will be able to openly back a Presidential candidate in the south will be the groups and political parties that have already announced their support for Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP, because they have not subscribed to the 13 demands. The parties that have endorsed the 13 demands will have to ask the Tamil people of the north and east to vote according to their conscience. The TNA has already created anti-Rajapaksa feeling in the north and east. Besides, the swan symbol is familiar to the Tamil people as the symbol of the anti-Rajapaksa camp. It will be interesting to observe the dynamics of the northern and eastern Tamil vote in a situation where the TNA and its offshoots are not canvassing openly for the UNP candidate but the groups associated with the SLPP are openly backing Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
Keeping the Rajapaksas out
Its not that the TNA will remain neutral at this election. The TNA’s aloofness at the presidential elections in 2019, is very similar to that of the JVP’s aloofness in 2015. They may refuse to openly endorse a candidate but they will support a candidate on the sly nevertheless. There is little doubt that at this election, the preferred candidate of the TNA and even its offshoot the Vigneswaran group, is Sajith Premadasa. Pictures have already emerged of TNA Parliamentarian S.Sritharan distributing leaflets promoting Sajith Premadasa. However, there is an issue that both the TNA and the Vigneswaran group will have to think over carefully. If the people of the north and east overwhelmingly vote for a southern presidential candidate and the latter gets elected on the basis of the Tamil voters of the north and east, how is that to be turned into the advantage of the TNA and the Vigneswaran group in a situation where neither group has endorsed the winning candidate?
The UNP candidate can always turn around and say that the Tamil people voted for him unconditionally because they had confidence in him and that he owes nothing to the Tamil political parties in the north. In fact such a vote will buttress claims that are already being made that while the Tamil politicians in the north demand Eelam and devolution, the Tamil people in the north do not desire any such thing. What they want is to lead normal lives like the other communities in the country. If the TNA and the Vigneswaran group abdicate their position as the self appointed leaders of the Tamil people and allow the people to do as they like, that will also undermine their already wobbly position further. If they fail to openly express support for a southern candidate and are therefore in no position to make demands on that candidate if he gets elected, the TNA’s power over the center would be seriously undermined. They will have to support the candidate of their choice at least on the sly as the JVP did, if they are to wield any kind on influence over the candidate who receives the majority of the northern Tamil vote.
If the TNA supports Sajith on the sly without getting any commitment from him or endorsing his candidacy publicly, and see that he is elected, Sajith will be President for five years and the TNA will for five years be able to savour the joy of keeping Gotabhaya Rajapaksa out, but will not be able to make any demands on Sajith and will be stuck in a permanent limbo. That is the conundrum that the TNA and its offshoots are faced with. The question here is: what is the TNA’s agenda? Is it keeping the Rajapaksas out or meeting the aspirations of the Tamil people? Even in a situation where the TNA openly canvassed for President Sirisena at the 2015 presidential elections and helped the UNP government to maintain a majority in Parliament, the TNA could not get Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to endorse their draft constitution.
How then are they to have any influence on Sajith or get him to even look at their draft constitution if they passively allow the Tamil people to vote for Sajith of their own accord and without any guidance from the TNA? In contrast to the TNA and its offshoots, the Tamil political parties of the north and east that are supporting Gota, do so openly and are canvassing for him and will be able to claim the reward they expect if he gets elected. If the TNA’s rivals are active while the TNA is paralyzed and unable to decide either way, it will confirm the accusation made by their rivals that the TNA had led the Tamil people into a cul de sac. So this election has made it imperative for the TNA and its offshoots to think hard and to ask themselves the existential question, – what are we, and what are we doing?
‘‘නීතිඥයෙක් විදිහට මම මහජන ප්රශ්න ගැන කතා කරනවා මම විතරයි මේ ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්යය වෙනුවෙන් නීතිපතිවරයාට විරුද්ධව” දුශන කොමිසමට විරුද්ධව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට විරුද්ධව” අගමැතිට විරුද්ධව ජනපතිට විරුද්ධව නීතිය ඉදිරියට ගිහිල්ලා තියෙන්නෙ ඒ විතරක් නෙමෙයි. මහජනතාවගේ අධිකරණ බලය පාවා දීපු විනිසුරුවරුන් හයදෙනෙක් මම චාජ් කරලා තියෙනවා දැන් ඉන්න විනිශ්චයකාරවරයාගේ ඉඳලා සරත් එන් සිල්වා දක්වා සියලූදෙනාම තමන්ගේ ධුරයේ ඉද්දී මහජනතාවගේ අධිකරණ බලය පාවාදීලා තියෙනවා සරත් සිල්වා බලන්න එයා ප්රසිද්ධියේම පිළිගත්තනේ තමන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂට වාසියක් ලබා දුන්නා කියලා ඒක ඇවිල්ලා දුශන නීතියේ 70 වන වගන්තිය ප්රකාරව වරදක්නෙ විශාල වරදක් ඉතින් මම ඒකට ඔහුට විරුද්ධව නඩු දාලා තියෙනවා නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට දුශන විමර්ශන කොමිසමට විරුද්ධව මම නඩු දාලා තියෙනවා මට පුද්ගලිකව මොනතරම් අවාසි වුණත් මම පෙනී ඉන්නේ මේ රටේ පරමාධිපත්යය ජනතාවගේ බලය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඒ වංචාව කරන තැනැත්තා විධායකයද” ජනාධිපතිද” නීතිපතිද” අධිකරණයද” දුශන කොමිසමද එකක්වත් අදාළ නෑ මට පුද්ගලිකව හානි වුණත් මම මේක කරනවා ඔබ කිව්වා හරි මේක මගේ විඳීමක් යහපත් දේ කිරීම ඒක මට විඳීමක් හොබි එකක් මට ඒක ආශ්වාදයක්” යනුවෙන් ප්රකාශ කර තිබුණේ නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු 2018 වසරේ රාවය පුවත්පතට සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡුාවක් ලබාදෙමිනි එකල දුශන වංචා විරෝධී සටනේ වීරයකු ලෙස සමාජ මාධ්ය ඔස්සේ පෙනී සිටිමින් මොහු ප්රකාශ කළේ ඉදිරි ජනපතිවරණයට තමා ඉදිරි පත් වන බවයි සියලූ දේශපාලකයින් විවේචනය කරන මෙරට පුරවැසියන්ට ඇති එකම විකල්පය තමා බව හඳුන්වා දුන්නේය එජාපයටත් පොහොට්ටුවත් හැරෙන්නට එකම ප්රධාන බලවේගය තමා බව හඳුන්වා දුන් නගානන්ද තමා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණටත් වඩා ඡුන්ද ගන්න බව කටමැත දොඩා තිබිණි‘ විනිසුරුවන්ටද එරෙහිව අභියෝග කරමින් මාධ්ය සංදර්ශන දැක්වූ නාගා මෙරට නීතිඥ සංගමය මාෆියා කල්ලියක් බවද පවසා තිබිණි‘ එහෙත් මොහුගේ නීතිඥ පට්ටම බිමට වැටිණි‘ නාගානන්දගේ නීතිඥ ධුරයේ කටයුතු කිරීම වසර තුනකට අත්හිටුවමින් ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ නියෝගයක් නිකුත් කළේ මේ වසරේ මාර්තු 18 වැනිදාය.
මහා පොරක් සේ රටම හදන්නට කටයුතු කළ මේ නාගානන්දට රැවටී ඇති පිරිස බොහෝ බව පෙනෙන්නේ ජනපතිවරණයට නාමයෝජනා ලබා දීම අවසන් වීමෙන් පසුය මේ කාඞ්බෝඞ් වීරයින් හෙළිවීම රටට හොඳය රටේ එකම සුදනා තමා යැයි වහසි බස් දෙඩු නාගානන්ද අවසානයේ ජනපතිවරණ සටන පවා මඟ හැරියේය මොහුට රැුවටුණු පිරිස” ලක්ෂ ගණනින් මුදල් ලබාදුන් අය දැන් තමන් බැර කළ මුදල් ඉල්ලා සිටිති නමුත් නාගා ප්රකාශ කරන්නේ අන් අය දුන් සල්ලි ජනපතිවරණයට පෙරම දැන්වීම් සඳහා වියදම් වී තමාත් ණයකාරයකු වී ඇති බවයි කෙසේ නමුත් ඉදිරියට තමාගේ සුරතල් බල්ලන් දෙදෙනා දක්කාගෙන පාරේ යන්නට නම් මේ පුද්ගලයාට නොහැකි වන බව සහතිකය මන්ද නාගානන්ද විරෝධියෙක් මේ පාරේම ගමන් කළහොත් ගැටුමක් ඇතිවන නිසාය 2001 දී සුපිරි ක්රිකට් තරු දෙකක් රේගුවේ සිදු කළ වංචාවක් හෙළි කළ නිසා එල්ලවූ මරණ තර්ජන නිසා ජීවිතාරක්ෂාව පතා 2009 එංගලන්තයට පැන ගිය නාගාට අද සිදුව ඇත්තේ කුමක්ද ? රට හමුවේ නිරුවත් වීම නොවේද ? මුහුණු පොතේ දුෂණ විරෝධියාගේ රෙද්ද ගැලවී ඇත එක දවසින් ව්යවස්ථා විප්ලවයක් කරන බව පැවසූ මොහුට බොහෝ පිරිසක් රැවටුණේ රටට ගැලපෙන එකම විකල්පය බව කියමිනි නමුත් මොහු ජනපතිවරණය ඇප තැන්පත් කළේ හෝ නැත මොහු මුල සිටම කිව්වේ නාගනන්ද ජන්දය ඉල්ලූවත් දිනුම් පැරදුනත් දිනුම් යනුවෙනි එය සැබෑවක් වී නැත්ද? මොහුගේ ‘‘විනිවිද පදනම” හරහා ලංකාවේ ජනයාට පෙන්නුම් කළ කටුක සත්ය කුමක්ද?
විනිවිද පදනම හරහා එළිදැක්වූ නාගාගේ යෝජිත ව්යවස්ථාවේ ඇතුළත් මූලික කරුණු වූයේ මොනවාද? මේ ඊනියා ව්යවස්ථාවට සමාජ මාධ්ය වල සැරිසරන්නන් කොටසක් අන්ධ විය එහි තිබුණේ කවරක්ද ? මහජනතාව අනුමත කළ ව්යවස්ථාවට ජයග්රහණයෙන් පසු තමා අත්සන් කිරීමත් සමග විධායක ජනාධිපති ධුරය අහෝසි වන අතර ඒ මොහොතේ සිට අග්රාමාත්යවරයා ලෙස ක්රියා කිරීම” පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී සංඛ්යාව 125කට සීමා කිරීම” ඇමතිවරු ගණන 15කි” තීරුබදු සහිත වාහන බලපත්ර ක්රමය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අහෝසි කිරීම” පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රීවරුන්ගේ විශ්රාම වැටුප අතීතයට බලපාන ලෙස අහෝසි කිරීම” පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කළ හැකි උපරිම වාර ගණන දෙකකට සීමා කිරීම” පළාත් සභා ක්රමය අහෝසි කෙරේ තේසවලාමේ නීතිය” මුස්ලිම් නීතිය හා උඩරට නීතිය අහෝසි කෙරෙන අතර එක රටක් තුළ එක නීතියක් බලාත්මක කිරීම” උප්පැන්න සහතිකයට ජාතිය ඇතුළත් කිරීම ඉවත් කිරීම” යුද ජයග්රහණ සැමරුම් අවලංගු කිරීම යනු එහි අඩංගු වූ කරුණුය.
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රීවරු දෙසිය විසි පහම ප්රතික්ෂේප කරමු යැයි නමුත් දියවන්නාවේ මන්ත්රීවරුන්ටත් වඩා මොහු තක්කඩියෙකි මන්ද මන්ත්රීවරු මහජනයාට වගකීමට බැඳී සිටියද මෙවන් පුද්ගලයන්ගේ උන්ගිටි තැන්වත් සොයා ගැනීම අපහසුවේ 2019 ජනපතිවරණයේ තරගය ඇත්තේ තමාත් එජාපයත් පොහොට්ටුවත් අතර යැයි කිවූ නමුත් අන්තිමේ මොහු අතුරුදහන්වී ඇත නාගානන්ද ගේ සාකච්ඡවක් යූ ටියුබ් හරහා නැරඹූ මෙරට පුරවැසියෙක් තබා තිබුණු සටහන කුමක්ද? ‘‘ මා හිතන්නේ ඔහු තමා මේ රට ගොඩදාන්න එන දියසෙන් කුමාරයා තෙරුවන් සරණයි ඔබට ජය” මෙයින් අපේ රටේ ජනයා මොහුට රැුවටී තිබූ අයුරු පැහැදිලි නොවන්නේද? මොහු අපේක්ෂා කළේ ජනපතිවරණයෙන් ලක්ෂ 15ක් ලබා ගැනීමය ඒ හරහා රට වෙනස් කරන්නටය ලක්ෂ 15ක් මෙරට ජනතාව අන්ධවී සිටීද? නමුත් දැන් සිදුව ඇත්තේ ලැබ්බ්රඩොර් බල්ලන් දෙදෙනා සමග සැඟවීමටය.
‘‘අපි ඔක්කොම වැසියෝ ඔක්කොම රජවරු” පක්ෂය අවසානයේ නාගානන්දට ද්රෝහී වී ඇත ජවිපෙටත් වඩා ඡන්ද ගැනීමට සිතා සිටි මොහු දැන් පවසන්නේ තමන් අනුර කුමාරට සහය දෙන බවය පක්ෂයක් සොයා ගැනීමට නොහැකි තැනැත්තා රට වෙනස් කරන්නේ කෙසේද? පසුගිය සඳුදා මැතිවරණ මහලේකම් කාර්යාලය අසලදී මාධ්යවේදීන් අමතමින් නාගා සඳහන් කළේ කුමක්ද?” පොරොන්දුව වුණේ මම එංගලන්ත පුරවැසි භාවය අහෝසි කළොත් මට ඡන්දය ඉල්ලන්න අවස්ථාව දෙනවා කියන දෙය මම අනිත් අය වගේ බොරු සාක්ෂි ඉදිරිපත් කළේ නෑ මම පුරවැසිභාවය අහෝසි කිරීමේ සත්ය තොරතුරු ඉදිරිපත් කළේ” මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ සභාපතිවරයාගේ සහතිකයත් ඇතිව නමුත් එම පක්ෂය එය පසෙකළා දිගින් දිගටම අපේක්ෂකත්වය නොදෙන්න කටයුතු කළා ඔවුන් කිව්වා සිකුරාදා 12 ට පැමිණ මා වෙනුවෙන් ඇප තැන්පත් කරනවා කියා පසුව එහි ලේකම්වරයා සවස 4 ට පැමිණ කිව්වා අපේ පක්ෂයෙන් ඔබට ඡුන්දය ඉල්ලන්න අවසර නෑ කියා” නාගානන්ද රටේම යහපත සාධාරණත්වය ඇතිකරන්නේට ජනපති පුටුවට වාඩිවෙන්නට උත්සහ කළේ පක්ෂයක් බද්දට ගෙනය අන්තිමේ ‘‘අපි ඔක්කොම වැසියෝ ඔක්කොම රජවරු” නාගාට කොකා පෙන්නුවේය හරියට පක්ෂයක් සොයාගැනීමට හැකියාවක් නමැති පුද්ගලයා ලංකාව වෙනස් කරන්නේ කෙසේද? මේවා මෙරට පුද්ගලයින්ට හොඳ පාඩම්ය බුදුන් ලංකාවේ ඉපදුණා යැයි ඒ බව කියන කණ්ඩායම් පසුපස යන පිරිස් බිහිව ඇති සමයක නාගාට රැවටීමත් මහා දෙයක් නොවේ නාගා ගේ මතකය මහවැලි ගඟට විසි කර දැමිය නොහැක්කේ බොහෝ දෙනෙකු ඔහුට යැවූ රුපියල් පන්දහස ඉල්ලමින් මුහුණු පොතේ පොස්ට් දමන නිසාය සක්විති රණසිංහගෙන් පසුව තවත් දේශපාලන සක්විත්තෙක් බිහිව ඇත සක්විති නම් ඉංග්රිසි භාෂාව ඉගැන්වූ නමුත් නාගා ලංකාවටම සුපිරිසිදු දේශපාලනය ඉගැන්වීමට වෙර දැරීය අවසානය ජනී ජනයා කියන්නේ කුමක්ද? නාගානන්ද අපේ සල්ලි දෙන්න යනුවෙන් නොවේද? ඇත්තටම නාගාට පක්ෂයක් නොමැතිවීමත් රටට යහපතකි මන්ද ඔහු ජනපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වූවානම් ඒ ඡුන්ද අපතේ යන නිසාය එය රටට අයහපතකි.
චතුර පමුණුව
Latheef Farook (‘Foreign power influence and impact on presidential election’/ The Island, October 16, 2019) asserts that a number of countries ‘including China, India, United States, its European allies especially United Kingdom and France, Russia and Israel’ ‘competing to control the Indian ocean’ (he identifies these countries collectively as a new global anti-Muslim ‘axis’) ‘have entered Sri Lanka in view of its strategic importance’. While his broad subject is what the title indicates, his specific thesis seems to me to imply a warning that the success of a pro-Mahinda Rajapaksa candidate at the forthcoming presidential election is going to be unfavourable to local Muslims because, in his opinion, what he calls the global campaign against Muslims made its entry into Sri Lanka under the previous MR government. This is a very simplistic generalization made on the basis of woefully inadequate evidence, hence devoid of meaning, to say the least!
The names of the countries and the order in which they are listed here reveal the writer’s pro-Islamist and anti-nationalist bias (something obvious to readers who are familiar with Sri Lanka’s current political scene and its relation to foreign power interests in the region). In my opinion, these countries may be safely described as economically and/or militarily powerful ones. But I don’t know whether all of them are equally interested in Sri Lanka for strategic reasons. Neither do I subscribe to the view that there is a global anti-Muslim campaign as such. It is a quixotic claim. Can Latheef suggest any convincing reason/s why global Muslims should attract special hostility from other nations as he seems to claim? Islamic extremists do excite disagreement, fear, and anger among people of other faiths and among moderate Muslims themselves through their dangerous fanaticism.. But not all Muslims – the overwhelming majority – are extremists. There certainly is this global problem of religious extremism involving Islam.
Be that as it may, three of the countries named are heavily involved in a partly cooperative and partly competitive or even adversarial regional engagement with each other that entails important economic and national security implications for themselves, and most critically of all, for Sri Lanka as a small independent sovereign state: these three powers are, of course, India, China, and America. It can be said in retrospect that Sri Lanka has been reaping both good and bad outcomes from its interactions with these powers. Probably, the greatest benefits have come from China over the seven decades since independence, and both good and bad results from America.
Meanwhile, a politically and economically stable and independent Sri Lanka that is secure from external aggression and internal division is a sine qua non for its close neighbour (and Big Brother) India’s own stability. An unwelcome offshoot of the inevitable interplay between Sri Sri Lanka and the superpower presence in its neighbourhood is the unnecessary foreign intervention (sometimes amounting to interference in its internal affairs) that transforms itself into a conducive background for the divisive and destabilizing forces of separatism and religious extremism, both drawing sustenance from abroad. These evils would be easily manageable for Sri Lanka but for the cover that forced mediation intentionally or unintentionally provides for them.
But here I would like to refute categorically two manifestly false claims that Farook makes in support of his main point. These are: (1) the alleged coming of ‘Islamophobia’ to Sri Lanka in the wake of the Easter Sunday attacks and (2) the establishment of relations with Israel and the permission of connections between the Hindutva Movement in India – as part of a global anti-Muslim ‘axis’ composed of the countries mentioned above -, and the so-called ‘racists’ in Sri Lanka (presumably, BBS monks) against Muslims, as Farook complains.
About (1), for want of time and space, I will not say more than the following: Latheef Farook may be unaware that the so-called Islamophobia has been well and truly debunked by both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. There are numerous books and articles written about the subject by Muslim, ex-Muslim, and non-Muslim researchers into the global Islamist problem. The internet provides an easily accessible interface for proponents and opponents of the construct of ‘Islamophobia’ to advance and exchange their arguments, and the rational minded have no difficulty in deciding which side to agree with. A phobia is an unhealthy fear, like agoraphobia (fear of being in places that cause unreasonable anxiety and panic in the sufferer) or claustrophobia (irrational fear of closed spaces). A person’s fear of a venomous snake is not a phobia, it is a healthy fear that can be sourced to our evolutionary history that causes the person to avoid contact with dangerous snakes. If there is any real Islamophobia (an unhealthy fear of Islam) at all, it has to be among non-Muslims. Isn’t it up to the Islamic scholars themselves to dispel this fear by explaining matters to them as they surely must be able to? Non-Muslims do not fear a non-literal peaceful interpretation of the Koran, but they do fear the literalist version of the fundamentalists (which is apparently not accepted even by moderate Muslims, who far outnumber extremists), and this is not a phobia. What Muslim fundamentalists actually attack as manifestations of Islamophobia are criticisms of extremist interpretations of Islam.
Latheef Farook claims that ‘……the global Islamophobia entered the island with all its ferocity in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings and killings on April 21’. This is a deliberate distortion of the true situation. The (alleged IS) terrorist bombings killed 270 people, worshippers in churches and others in hotels (bombs went off in eight places around the country) including men, women, and children, and injured over 500, some grievously. What does Farook imply when he asserts that ‘the global Islamophobia entered the island with all its ferocity…’? The uncountable noun ‘ferocity’ does not refer to the terrorist attacks. He actually suggests that there was a very violent (‘ferocious’) reaction to these attacks by the (newly created) local Islamophobes! But this is not at all what actually happened after the bombings. What Farook describes as ferocious seem to be the few isolated incidents in Kuliyapitiya and Minuwangoda – indiscriminate attacks on shops and houses of both Muslim and Buddhist residents by strangers (charged by some Opposition politicians to be agents provocateurs doing the bidding of some interested party close to the government for fomenting the communal conflagoration that they wanted to flare up after the bombings, but didn’t). It is also noteworthy that these incidents happened a week or more after the attacks on April 21. From that very day onwards, Opposition politicians pointed out, there was an sinister attempt in certain quarters to somehow suggest that Sri Lankan Buddhists were behind the Easter Sunday bombings, but later evidence showed that Islamic extremists were responsible. Ordinary Sinhala Buddhist citizens from the majority community led rescue operations immediately after the attacks. It was Buddhist Sinhalese residents who successfully prevented those incidents at Kuliyapitiya and Minuwandoda from escalating into major incidents. A young Sinhalese Buddhist gem businessman (owner of the commercial establishment ‘Priyan Manik’), Priyanga Pushpakumara, offered to rebuild one of the damaged churches at his own expense, but the Cardinal gracefully declined that offer.
There was no Islamophobia in Sri Lanka in the past, and there is none at present either. Buddhist monks have been turned into hate figures by anti-Sinhala Buddhist propagandists through misinformation. These monks have been protesting for many years now against the unacceptable activities of some Christian and Islamic extremist sects that are trying to make inroads into the country’s traditional Buddhist religious space. N. Arunkanthan, president of the All Ceylon Hindu Federation, a close ally of Bodu Bala Sena (which, in actuality, is not the violent extremist entity it is usually made out to be in the biased media), says Hindu Tamils have the same problems as Buddhist Sinhalese with these extremist groups. Actually, Sri Lankan Muslims are persecuted by Islamic extremists, not by fanatical Buddhist monks or lay Buddhists, as the fundamentalists and some Muslims sympathetic to them claim. Ordinary Muslims harrassed by them seek the help of monks to save them from the depredations of the extremist minority among themselves, who promote something different from the traditional Islam that they have been following for centuries in Sri Lanka in peaceful coexistence with the exceptionally tolerant Buddhist and Hindu religions. A Muslim resident from the Eastern Province has given a scholar monk, a well known Buddhist activist, as he publicly declared a weeks ago, a written claim that some twenty Muslims have been executed under Sharia in that province for such alleged offences as lending money at interest, adultery, being a member of Sri Lanka Army etc.
Concerning point (2), Farook writes: ‘This global anti-Muslim campaign entered the island under the Rajapaksa regime, when it opened the country to Israelis and India’s Hindutva forces who have established close ties with government backed local racist forces’. Spelling out fears of ‘growing’ Israeli connections being potentially detrimental to Sri Lanka’s minority Muslims, he says: ‘Sri Lanka’s growing ties with Israel have also become cause for serious concern among the Muslims, who always fear that this may spell disaster for communal harmony, in view of Israel’s extreme hostility towards Muslims.’ He makes a similar charge about alleged ties between Indian Hindutva and Sri Lankan Buddhist organizations: ‘Meanwhile, extreme right wing militant Hindus working tirelessly to eliminate Muslims in India, have also entered Sri Lanka with their Hindutva agendas during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime.’
Farook’s complaints are baseless and ridiculous. Ordinary Muslims do not share his concerns. Muslims of his mentality are a dwindling tribe in Sri Lanka today. All racial and religious communities are uniting against Islamic extremism, which seems to have grown particularly during the past five years with the connivance of the authorities despite the desperate warnings of the Buddhist monks, who were always held down as racists, lunatics, and intolerant religious extremists. The vast majority of Sri Lankans are waiting for the arrival of the leader who, they are sure, will be able to resolve the country’s numerous crises including nascent IS terrorism. It is the eagerly expected coming of this leader that Latheef Farook seems to have misgivings about.
It was indeed a source of hope and encouragement to hear the statement of Presidential candidate , Gotabaya Rajapakse that he intends to reject the UNHRC resolution co-sponsored by the Yahapalanay government in Oct 2015 which created a world record by sponsoring and adverse ruling on its own country.
The resolution was based on the Darusman report which was essentially mandated ONLY to appraise the Secretary-General of the UN. It was emphatically mentioned by UNSG’s then spokesperson as ‘ not a fact-finding mission,,,,, not, an investigation,, not an inquiry.,only a panel to advise the SG. The evidence of the OISL report was so weak that it failed to establish the primary claim that Sri Lanka had committed war crimes. Without questioning the scope of the UNHRC controlled by the UN charter and the resolution 60/25 of 2006 which created UNHRC, Yahapalnaya government opted slavishly to punish Sri Lanka and her armed forces in the hope of winning favours from the West and also to gain the support of the extremist Tamil political including the FNGOs.
We now await to hear the response of the other contenders to this critical issue
UPFA MP Thilanga Sumathipala yesterday said that abolition of the executive presidency shouldn’t be an issue at the Nov 16 presidential poll.
One-time Deputy Speaker Sumathipala emphasized that abolition of the executive presidency posed a grave danger to Sri Lanka’s unitary status.
The Colombo District lawmaker said so at the regular Friday morning briefing at his Ananda Rajakaruma Mawatha residence/office. The National List MP was flanked by attorney-at-law Keerthi Udawatte and Sumith Vijithamuni Zoysa, both former Provincial Council members.
MP Sumathipala said that the SLFP wouldn’t under any circumstances back the proposed abolition of the executive presidency especially against the backdrop of the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK)-led grouping declaring what he called a separatist agenda.
Referring to the controversial 13-point set of proposals meant to be discussed with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa and New Democratic Front(NDF) contender Sajith Premadasa, lawmaker Sumathipala said that those conditions could not be acceptable to anyone seeking the highest Office in the land.
Alleging that the UNPer Sajith Premadasa was yet to comment specifically on those proposals, lawmaker Sumathipala said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa rejected them. According to MP Sumathipala, the TNA’s backing was crucial for Premadasa in the presidential fray under the swan symbol.
Parliamentarian Sumathipala emphasized that those backing Gotabaya Rajapaksa wouldn’t depend on extremist elements such as Zahran Hashim, the alleged leader of the gang of suicide bombers responsible for the Easter Sunday carnage.
In spite of the eradication of the LTTE over a decade ago, the country faced an uncertain future due to some pursing a separatist agenda, MP Sumathipala said. He explained as to how the abolition of executive presidency could facilitate a Federal structure in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Sumathipala alleged that the proposed Federal structure would in fact be a separate State therefore decisions on such matters couldn’t be taken in isolation.
The MP said that the latest proposals finalized this week in Jaffna demanded a separate State by rejecting the unitary status.
The Island sought an explanation as to why the SLFP opposed the abolition of the executive presidency having voted for the 19th Amendment in 2015 to dilute President Maithripala Sirisena’s powers. The Island asked when the SLFP realized the abolition of executive powers threatened the country as President Sirisena, in his capacity as the leader of the SLFP compelled the then UPFA members to provide required two-thirds majority to enact the law.
One-time Navy Chief of Staff and UPFA MP Sarath Weerasekera was the only MP to vote against the 19th Amendment.
MP Sumathipala said that they backed the 19th Amendment as it paved the way for Independent Commissions and other positive developments though the grouping never adopted strategies inimical to the national interest.
Lawmaker Sumathipala side-stepped The Island query as to how they criticized the TNA after having received the backing of the then four-party grouping at the January 2015 presidential election. The Island pointed out that the UNP-led grouping including the JVP and the TNA backed General Sarath Fonseka and Maithripala Sirisena at 2010 and 2015 presidential polls, though the SLFP now found fault with the TNA.
Sumathipala asserted that the ITAK led grouping was taking a tough line pertaining to the national issue as part of its overall strategy for the forthcoming parliamentary polls. The MP expressed confidence that the Tamil electorate couldn’t be influenced by the TNA.
Responding to another query from the electronic media as regards the latest proposals, lawmaker Sumathipala said that SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa should respond to them.
MP Sumathipala said that in case the SLPP and the SLFP couldn’t reach consensus on Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidature, the NDF would have definitely won the Nov 16 poll, with the support of the TNA. Had that happened, the division of the country on ethnic lines would have been only a matter of time, the MP said.
Lawmaker Sumathipala flayed Premier Wickremesinghe for treasury bond scams. Asked whether the SLFP accepted the responsibility for the second much bigger treasury bond scam perpetrated in late March 2016 due to President Sirisena saving the UNP by dissolving parliament in June 2015 to thwart tabling COPE report on the first scam, MP Sumathipala claimed that the President was to dissolve the House after completion of his 100-day programme.
The Island pointed out that the then Chairman of COPE Dew Gunasekera had declared that the dissolution saved those responsible for the first bond scam.
MP Sumathipala alleged that the bond scams were the biggest financial frauds committed here.
The Island pointed out that the much touted Presidential Commission wasn’t appointed till January 2017 to investigate the transactions. The parliament never took up the presidential commission report on the bond scams though the House received it in early 2018.
While thanking the SLFP for supporting him at the presidential election, SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday pledged that he would steer his future government with the SLFP like brothers working hand in hand.
Addressing a rally organised by the SLFP in Kegalle, Mr. Rajapaksa said the SLFP and the SLPP had joined not only for the election but also to go ahead with a stable set of principles and policies to rebuild the country.
Though President Maithripala Sirisena allied with the UNP, I knew that the relationship won’t last long. Two different cultures and two different sets of policies cannot be made compatible. However, the SLPP and SLFP have similar people-friendly policies and therefore, we don’t have any other option but to join hands with each other,” he said.
He said they were able to introduce a new political culture to the country but said that everyone was fed up with politics today. The people are not interested in politics anymore. We should promote to serve based on polices. Otherwise, people will have no alternative to turn to,” he said.
Mr. Rajapaksa said his election manifesto would be launched with the input and consultation of the SLFP. I’m honoured to have met the SLFP leaders and supporters in Kegalle today. We should work together as one team to create a people-friendly government,” he said.
SLFP MP Ranjith Siyambalapitiya was also present at the event.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
>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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We know that JVP has submitted a Private Members’ Bill for a 20th 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
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