H. L. D. Mahindapala

Kusal Perera (KP), a Senior  Journalist writing a Friday Colum to the Daily Mirror and Jehan Perera, CEO of the National Peace Council. are two underdeveloped peas of the same anti-Sinhala-Buddhist pod. They can be categorised as minoritarians because they believe that the most  evil force in Sri Lanka is the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. Jehan Perera’s minoritarianism is somewhat subtle and subdued because it helps him to mask his anti-Sinhala-Buddhist stance. On the other hand, Kusal Perera’s (KP) anti-majority sloganeering  is somewhat loud and raucous.

His latest tirade against Sinhala-Buddhist majority (Daily Mirror – 4/10/2019) was over the top. He thinks  that everything  has gone wrong in Sri Lanka because of Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism. But if he had a better education to grasp the diverse dimensions and the multifarious factors that interact and mesh to determine the winding, zig-zagging course of history in time, he would not have written the bilge he wrote last Friday (DM – 4/10/19) blaming only the Sinhala-Buddhists for everything that has gone wrong and goes wrong in Sri Lanka. For instance, he argues that only the Sinhala-Buddhists would idolise military heroes and pick them as presidential candidates. So can he tell us how many Sinhala-Buddhists voted to elect General Eisenhower as President of Amereica after World War II? And how many Sinhala-Buddhists voted for General Sarath Fonseka in the North when he fronted up us as the presidential candidate in the election of 2005?

His piece also makes it clear that his knowledge of history is limited to what the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist propagandists had broadcast loudly before. In it he pontificates as if he is the sociological Einstein of Sri Lanka revealing profundities never uttered before. In short, to believe in a mono-causal history is to believe that a fish curry is made of only fish with no other ingredients added to it, not even a drop of water.. Obviously, he plugs the mono-causal theory because that is the only way he can demonise the majority in order to white-wash the subhuman and criminal politics of the minorities.

The spectre that is haunting contemporary global politics is the ideological and the violent conflicts between the majorities and the minorities. The rise of aggressive minorities challenging the traditional rights of the majorities is the new phenomenon that has replaced the reds-under-the-bed ideology that dominated the Cold War phase. At one end of this spectrum is Donald Trump saying that the future is with patriots and not with the globalists”. At the other end are the Kusal and Jehan Pereras, the self-proclaimed human rights activists, trying to rewrite history and the boundaries of geography for the benefit of minoritarian heroes like Prabhakarans and Zaharans. The main objective of these half-baked ideologues is to manufacture a revised political morality that would glorify and justify minority racism as an inviolable human and political right. In this whacky morality the majority is always wrong and the minority, however brutal and violative they are of the larger interests of human rights, and peaceful coexistence, is always right.

KP and his anti-Sinhala-Buddhist gang of Friday freaks who rule the Friday forums revel in trumpeting minoritarianism, however evil it may be, as a secular soteriological force. Contemporary history has  proved that minoritarianism has surfaced as the most destructive ideological perversion that has generated violence to end centuries of peaceful co-existence  The Sri Lankan experience provides existential proof of the failure of violent minoritarianism glorified to pursue elusive goals of the brutal megalomaniacs. Glorified minoritarianism is the oxygen that sustained and energised Prabhakarans and Zaharans. Kusal and Jehan Pereras lived off the misery caused by the minoritarian heroes. Counting cadavers left behind by the minoritarian megalomaniacs was the sole means of buttering both sides of the Pereras’ daily bread. They shed crocodile tears for the victims  of minoritarian violence that failed to bring  the salvation promised by Prabhakaran and Zaharan. The Eelam promised by Prabhakaran was as realistic as the 72 virgins promised to Zaharan.

It is the rationalising and  the sloganeering of the Pereras that helped to prolong  the war declared by the Tamil leadership in Vadukoddai in May 1976. It could  have been  finished earlier and saved the lives of tens of thousands if the Pereras knew how to read history and  its impact on contemporary times. But they undermined their own cause and prolonged the futile war by distorting reality, or wallowing in half-truth or outright lies, or glorifying racist minoritarianism as a human right.

This also leads to another question: If racist minoritarianism is a valid right for Prabhakaran and Zaharan to pursue their violence in the hope of establishing their mono-ethnic  or mono-religious enclaves why  isn’t it valid for racist majoritarianism to maintain and preserve a pluralistic and democratic Sinhala-Buddhist nation with all its infirmities, of course? But the Pereras believe that human rights are only on the side of racist minoritarianism and not on racist majoritarianism, however conducive it has been to maintain a cohesive nation with diversity and pluralism throughout  the  greater part of its history, until G.G. Ponnambalam unleashed aggressive and provocative racism which caused the very first Sinhala-Tamil riots in Navalapitiya and neighbouring  towns in June 1939. The Pereras tend  to  withdraw into a state of denial when  it comes to facing the living proof under  their noses. More than ever, in the current state of affairs, truth telling is a sine-qua-non for us to escape the prevailing despondency and find new directions. It is also vital for us to attain the highest ideals prioritised in today’s political agenda: peace and reconciliation.

Those who violate the fourth precept in the Buddhist panchseela are the enemies of peace who will drag us down further into depths of despair. After reading KP’s punditry (DM – 4/10/19) in which he liberally prescribes his kokathat thailya for the ills of the nation I could not help but come to the conclusion that his penchant for musavadas takes away the goodness and the value in his first name ”Kusal” (meritorious). He is more entitled to be called Akusal” than Kusal. (KP will agree to this, no?)

Though he pretends to be an ideological maestro firing devastating salvos against the Sinhala-Buddhists he is merely expectorating the usual anti-Sinhala-Buddhist venom that has ruined inter-ethnic relations ever since G. G. Ponnambalam triggered the first ever Sinhala-Tamil riots in Navalapitiya in June 1939 by attacking the Mahavamsa and the history of the Sinhala-Buddhists. The rest, of course, is history. There isn’t a single original thought in his tirade against the Sinhala-Buddhists that has not been bruited by the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist lobbies before

KP poses as a champion of minority rights. His idea of defending minority rights is to demonise the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. In the current new phase where reconciliation is raised to the highest level in the national political agenda KP’s cheap and threadbare tactic is disgustingly repulsive. Nor will it be a viable means of calming the shattered nerves of a traumatised nation. In the post-Prabhakaran period where the emphasis is on reconciliation, on forgiving and forgetting to pave the path for a new future, the strategy should be to move away from demonising one community to appease another.

Besides, exonerating one ethnic community and blaming the other is counter-productive for peace and reconciliation. At this stage when committed peace-makers are moving away from the dreadful past, he will have to explain how his brand of demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists can promote reconciliation. Is it not this kind of demonization that hardened the racial prejudices that exacerbated inter-ethnic relations in the past? Was it not the bloody political tactic that led to Nandikadal, via Vadukoddai? His pretentious claim to be a righteous human rights defender is exposed by his visceral bitterness against the Sinhala-Buddhist, all of which is wrapped in distorted human rights and other values.

The need of the hour is to analyse the available facts as objectively as one can in the hope of arriving at rational conclusions, however unpalatable they may be to both sides of the divide.  Most of all, he must explain how he could exclude the multifarious factors that interacted with each other in a complex history, often colliding with each other, and blame only the Sinhala-Buddhists for the futile Vadukoddai War which lasted for 33 years (from 1976 declaration of War in Vadukoddai to the humiliating  defeat in Nandikadal in 2009). The Vadukoddai War (aka Eelam War) was the ultimate expression of futile and fascist violence initiated by Tamil extremism. 

At the root of the failure to co-exist in peace has been the mono-causal theory of blaming the Sinhala-Buddhists only when, in reality, all parties should accept responsibility for the breakdown of inter-ethnic relations. But the ideological blinkers worn by KP prevent him from viewing the broader picture in all its inter-twining complexities. Neither his fundamentals nor his arguments differ from that of C. V. Wigneswaran, the former Chief Minister of Jaffna, or Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the legal advisor of Prabhakaran, now the fake prime minister of a non-existent Tamil government in exile. The least I can say for KP is that he seems to be somewhat of a good man fallen among a bunch of unredeemable Wigneswarans and Rudrakumarans.

I must also concede that his ability to parrot the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist jargon is excellent. If there wasn’t this thing called Sinhala-Buddhism” someone would have had to invent one for him to keep his adrenalin flowing. This obsession has obviously reduced his cognitive powers to observe faithfully the fourth principle in the panchaseela. Now let us consider a few of Kusal’s akusals (sins) one by one.

Musavada 1: He rails against Sinhala-Buddhists picking their heroes  in military uniforms as presidential candidates. He says (T)his craze for ‘war heroes” …….runs deep into the primitive mindset of the urban middle-class more than into rural polity.” Is this true? What are the facts? Every rural school girl or boy walking across miles of paddy field hero-worshipped their rana viruvos” because those in the front lines consisted of their brothers and sisters, or their fellow village lads and lasses. Thousands joined the front lines from the villages and not from the urban middle-class. The urban middle-class either migrated into greener pastures abroad or stuck to safer white-collar jobs in the cities.

The urban middle-class dominated the security forces from the beginning (1949) to roughly 1970 when they were basically a ceremonial force, saluting and marching to the drum beat of Sandhurst. Besides, the urban-middle class cadres were drawn from Royal, St. Thomas’, St. Joseph’s, St. Peter’s colleges. They were accustomed more to imitate the elitist rituals of the British colonial army than fight the bloody wars in Mullativu. The war was won by the rural cadres with officers drawn from Ambalangoda  and Ibbagamuwa central colleges and not  from Royal, St. Thomas and Trinity colleges,  In fact,  the Royalists (e.g., Ranil Wickremesinghe) ridiculed the achievements of the village lads who liberated the nation from the brutalities of Tamil terrorism.

The heroic psyche generated by winning wars against enemies of the Sinhala-Buddhist state was instilled genetically in the minds of the rural polity from time immemorial The Colombian-type (like Akusal”) were happy only when our rana viruvos” were sacrificed on the human rights guillotine at Geneva. They refused to accept that ending the beastly war, under the courageous and war-winning leadership of commanders like Shavindra de Silva was, by far, the optimum means available to protect, promote and serve human rights. War was the only strategy available to those engaged pragmatically and constructively in saving human rights and peace from an intransigent war-monger like Prabhakaran. His elimination was a primary necessity for the Tamils to escape the tyrannical and fascist brutalities of the Tamil Pol Pot. Gen. Shavindra de Silva turned out to be the greatest saviour of human rights by ending the war swiftly, with the least amount of casualties, as revealed by Lord Naseby.

In fact, the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist lobbyists refused to accept that it was the ONLY means of saving human rights from a tin-pot Tamil Pol Pot who intransigently rejected all peace offers, including those with international guarantees. These theoretical humbugs posed pompously as a new breed of pundits who believed that they were superior moralists by appeasing an armed tyrant who was guilty of killing more of his own people than the others put together. When the futile palliatives of peace-mudalalis in NGOs failed to cure the evils of violent fascism of the Tamil minority the only option was a surgical operations to save human rights by restoring peace. Gen. Shavindra de Silva’s surgical operation that cut across the broad terrain from the West to the East was a brilliant tactical manoeuvre that liberated the nation, particularly the Tamils from oppressive, Pol Potists fascism

Musavada 2: KP accuses the Sinhala Buddhists of dressing up ‘patriotism’ in military uniform to win elections. In short,” he concludes, the UNP and the JVP helped militarise the social mindset within Sinhala Buddhist ‘patriotism.” According to the logic of Akusal”, it is ingrained in the Sinhala-Buddhist mindset to go for Sinhala-Buddhist militarism. They can think of no other alternative, according to him. But the historical facts prove that the intransigent and arrogant Tamil leadership rejected offers for peaceful co-existence from the thirties. When G. G. Ponnambalam demanded 50 – 50 the Sinhala-Buddhist government of the day offered him 46 – 54. Twelve per cent minority of Tamils getting a power share of 46 from a Sinhala-Buddhist population (75%) is a unique gift that the Tamils never gave their oppressed minority who were refused even water from their upper-caste wells. Ponnambalam rejected it like the way Prabhakaran rejected Chandrika Kumaratunga’s and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s offers to appease him.

Besides.TNA and the other minorities backed Sarath Fonseka to the hilt in the 2005 election. So in voting for Sarath Fonseka was the TNA dressing up Tamil nationalism in Sinhala-Buddhist uniform? Most of all, when the Jaffna Tamils were crawling before Prabhakaran, without any right to dissent, weren’t they dressing up their patriotism in Tamil military uniform?

So how and where would the wonky theories and logic of KP fit into the historical realities? Does he think that he can serve the minority rights by demonising the Sinhala-Buddhists? Does he think that he can serve human rights with his musavadas? 

I don’t want to exceed the space limit by going into his other musavadas on 3. devolution, 4. the private sector and 5. his bleeding concerns for the Sinhala-Buddhist peasantry. I shall stop at this point  hoping  that  the Editor, Daily Mirror will give us space to continue the debate under the vaunted principle of the right of reply pursued religiously by the Times Group.

By Rohana R. Wasala

You take a country like Cuba. For us to test the possibility that engagement leads to a better outcome for the Cuban people, there aren’t that many risks for us. It’s a tiny little country. It’s not one that threatens our core security interests, and so [there’s no reason not] to test the proposition. And if it turns out that it doesn’t lead to better outcomes, we can adjust our policies.

• (Former) President Obama explaining the ‘Obama Doctrine’ (of ‘engagement’, combined with meeting with core strategic needs”), as quoted in Noam Chomsky’s  ‘Who Rules the World?’ (Penguin, 2017)

(Views expressed in this article are those of the author, who offers them to the intelligent reader for what they are worth. Constructive feedback, signifying praise or blame, will be appreciated. Trolls who habitually make misleading comments out of malice or mischief without reading the text with adequate attention, please keep off if you can.) 

A communiqué issued by Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs ministry (‘Sri Lanka condemns drone attacks in Saudi Arabia’/The Island of September 25, 2019) has expressed disapproval of the recent drone attacks on two large oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. The foreign ministry statement goes: As a country that has suffered from terrorism for thirty years, Sri Lanka remains committed to addressing this scourge in all its forms and manifestations. Stability in West Asia is pivotal for the global economy and Sri Lanka hopes that the parties concerned would soon resolve their issues through peaceful negotiations and dialogue.” 

The ostensibly routine diplomatic communication is, no doubt, intended to look like a sincere expression of solidarity with Saudi Arabia after the September 14 drone attacks on its two most important oil installations. The document implicitly identifies the rich Saudi Arabia as the victim and its poor southern neighbour and blood relative Yemen as the villain. But  to average Sri Lankan observers with at least a rudimentary knowledge about the background to the Saudi-Yemen conflict that has raged since 2015, and with enough familiarity with the deliberate unravelling under the Yahapalanaya of the national security, social, and economic gains made during the 2009-2014 period in Sri Lanka, it could amount to no more than a diplomatically necessary perfunctory gesture that could be a bit embarrassing for the government if it is revealed that the September 14 attacks on the Saudi oil fields were actually carried out by some other actors and from another direction than those originally named. (As explained below, Peter Koenig of Global Research suggests that the attacks were not launched from Yemen.) The awkward  foreign ministry gesture, for all its feigned diplomacy, might be viewed as a tactless move in respect of a highly complicated and treacherous situation in that region that, after all, hardly concerns the government or the people of Sri Lanka. However, to any Sri Lankan who visits the news website of the Global Research – Centre for Research on Globalization – it may appear that the same mastermind is probably behind the Saudi-Yemeni incident and the Islamist terror bombings in Sri Lanka on April 21. Both cases could be false flag operations with twisted ends. The tragic, nay, fatal irony of the awkward message could be lost on most members of the government, except the crooked and the cruel few at the top (who must be chuckling to themselves), who are implicitly wearing, in the public eye, a badge of shame over their betrayal of Sri Lanka’s war heroes by timidly accepting guilt on their behalf, under ‘ínternational’ pressure from what Noam Chomsky calls a ‘Leading Terrorist State’, at Geneva over war crimes uncommitted.  

A hint of background information is appropriate here. Ali Abdullah Saleh, the first president of Yemen, known to be a friend of Iran, resigned in February 2012 after almost twenty-two years (1990-2012) in office. This was following the Yemeni Revolution of 2011, which was simultaneous with the so-called  ‘Arab Spring’ upheavals in other Arab countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. The pro-Saudi Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, former Field Marshall turned politician, who had been vice-president under Saleh from 1994 to 2012, succeeded Saleh on his ouster. Hadi himself was toppled by the Houthi rebels (led by the Houthi tribe, hence the name) on January 22, 2015. The Houthis are Yemeni Shiites. Iranians are predominantly Shiite, and Saudi Arabia’s state religion is Sunni Islam. In the current civil war in Yemen, the fighters of the Houthi Movement, who are now in control of Sanaá the capital, are allied with those loyal to the former president Saleh. Saleh loyalists have clashed with forces supportive of Hadi who are based in Aden. 

When Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi was overthrown by the Houthi revolutionaries in January 2015 over political and economic issues, he fled to Saudi Arabia. Now, Saudi Arabia is America’s  most important ally in the region. The ‘ínternational community’ recognises the government of the fugitive president. In 2015, Hadi appealed for military support against the revolutionaries and Saudi Arabia responded by forming a coalition of nine countries from the Middle East and Africa, and launched an invasion into Yemen. They conducted it as a UN operation that is in compliance with Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter. But some scholars dispute the claim that the said article of the UN Charter allows it. Anyway, neutral observers suspect that Uncle Sam was the real power behind the invasion, which began with air strikes at Houthi positions in early 2015. In the actually unwarranted military conflict that followed, tens of thousands of innocent Yemenis have died, including thousands upon thousands of children, caught up in bombing raids or starved to death in famine; diarrhoeal diseases including widespread cholera epidemics have claimed many lives.  Economist and geopolitical analyst Peter Koenig, in a recent article in globalresearch.ca (September 24), charges that this unjust war is …. carried out by Saudis as a proxy for the Washington and Pentagon handlers.” Responsibility for the alleged drone attacks on the Khurais oil field and the Abqaiq oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia was promptly claimed by the Houthis, who said that they sent some ten ‘suicide drones’ for the attack. However, Koenig casts doubt on this claim.

Quoting ‘Asia Times’ reports, Koenig suggests that the attacks were probably launched from Southern Iraq, and not from Yemen or by the Houthis. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had clearly said: There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen”.  Koenig writes: If it all sounds like a big fabricated confusion, it’s because it is a big fabricated confusion. Iran is singled out; fingers pointing to Iran (except, miraculously those of Saudi Arabia), like a sledgehammer hitting Iran, again and again. – The mainstream media loves it. Today, a week after the attack, most nobody remembers the Houthis claiming responsibility – it was Iran. Period. The media blitz won”.  

Immediately after the Houthis purported suicide drone” attacks, it was claimed that they knocked out 50% of Saudi’s crude oil production (but Koenig downplays the significance of this claim by pointing out that, in terms of global production, it is a mere 5%, and that Saudi crude oil production was returned to pre-attack levels in no time). In what must be a  pretended knee-jerk reaction to the Houthi claim, Mark Pompeo, without any evidence whatsoever, blamed Iran for the drone strikes. Donald Trump, with the characteristic promptness that he displays in such situations, imposed additional economic sanctions on Iran, boasting that they were the most severe ones imposed on a country! Most surprisingly, meanwhile, the ‘victim’ Saudi Arabia, as if confused by the absurd claim (that Iranians were behind the oil attacks), refrained from accusing Iran, though the latter is its sworn enemy, a circumstance that would make such a claim (of supposed Iranian aggression) highly plausible to Saudi Arabia and would have prompted it to immediately make some noise against Iran.

A high official in the Iraqi government confirmed that the attack was launched from Iraqi soil, though other officials vehemently denied that they had anything to do with the attacks. What the Iraqi government official said must be viewed against the fact that there is a heavy US military presence with twelve bases in that country. 

‘So, the tables are turning’, Koenig sardonically observes, ‘and the Houthis are winning’. This, though, was at a heavy cost as suggested above (incurred by unjust war inflicted on the hapless Yemenis through Saudi Arabia as an agent of the US). Much of the debris of weapons lying on the ground in Yemen carries the logo ‘Made in USA’, and would lead one to conclude that America, not Saudi Arabia, is at war with Yemen.  Koenig clarifies this absurdity by inferring what must be passing through the masterminds in Washington: ‘Yemen occupies a strategic geographic and geopolitical location and must not be ruled by a people-friendly government, let alone by a socialist leaning government, as the Houthis are. Besides, Yemen may have huge deep off-shore oil reserves’. With this he explains his conclusion that the biggest winner may be Washington: ‘They have a new devastating blame on Iran – more sanctions, more justification to launch a direct confrontation against Iran – possibly through Israel, or the NATO forces; the neutral” international killing machine – an amalgam of spineless Europeans and Canada, who love to dance to the tunes of Washington – hoping to get some crumbs of the loot at the end of the day, before the empires falls.’ 

One can argue, as Koenig does, that it is quite logical that the Houthis hit back in a decisive attempt to reach an end to the costly war and its unspeakable excesses.  (They probably did not do the hitting back in the present case; it was not done for them by someone else.) Koenig takes a critical look at the conduct of the mainstream Western media in this context: ‘Isn’t it weird that the misery and tens of thousands of Yemeni deaths in an unjust and purely criminal aggression instigated by the US, carried out by Riyadh and lasting already for more than 4 years, that this monstrous aggression pales in the mainstream media, as compared to two blazing Saudi oil fields?  Doesn’t that say a lot about our programed to the core western brains, our sense of humanity, what’s left of it?’

Another Global Research scholar, investigative historian Eric Zuesse (The Sickness of American Foreign Policy’’/September 30, 2019), comments on the behaviour of the American mainstream media: ‘America’s media were merely passive megaphones for the regime’s lies’ (Here he is referring to George Bush Jr’s and his coterie of officials’ lies in 2003 about Sadam Hussein’s Iraq possessing WMD.) Zuesse claims that, between 2003 and now, the US has invaded ‘Libya and Syria and Yemen, on the basis of lies that in some respects were even more blatant’ (than the Iraqi WMD lies). Let me quote Zuesse at some length: 

‘The same groups of billionaires control the US ‘news’ media today as controlled the media in 2003; and they continue, in their ‘news’-media, the same stenographic ‘reporting’ — propaganda by their Government, regarding which nations are the latest targets, for the masses to hate and fear, as being our nation’s ‘enemies’.

‘These are the lands suitable for US weapons and bombs to destroy. These ‘news’-media simply ‘justify’ what are, in fact, international war-crimes: US-and-allied invasions, of nations that never had invaded the US.

‘There’s always the Big Lie that the hate-target is only ‘the tyrant’, and not the nation. But it is the targeted nation that gets strangulated by America and its allies imposing ‘sanctions’ that are really economic blockades (such as against Venezuela and Iran today, but formerly against Iraq before we invaded it and destroyed it); and, then, if that doesn’t bring down the targeted Government, a coup is attempted; and then (if no coup results), paying and arming ‘rebels’ (such as Al Qaeda in Syria) to overthrow the targeted nation’s Government; and, then, missiles and bombers are used, in order to destroy the infrastructure.’

In many respects Sri Lanka is poles apart from any of the countries that American intervention has messed up including Libya, Syria, and Yemen, but it may be safely  included among Zuesse’s ‘targeted nations’. The above descriptions might echo, in the minds of those of us who are informed enough, aspects of Sri Lanka’s current predicament. Its strategic geographic location (enhanced by the recent discovery of substantial offshore mineral resources in the north, northwest, and northeast territorial waters) is its misfortune. The country will remain vulnerable to potential  ‘strangulation’ through superpower involvement in its affairs to an intolerable degree unless Sri Lankans are allowed by the powers that be to enjoy in peace all the basic human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of the UN of which Sri Lanka is a member.

Intervention by friends when two persons or groups or countries are at loggerheads with each other concerning some issue is not a bad thing, as we all know, is not a bad thing, when it is done in a fair and friendly spirit. Willful interference in a country’s internal affairs with ulterior motives is not the same as altruistic intervention. An independent sovereign nation with a sense of national dignity like Sri Lanka cannot docilely accept interference from another country however powerful that country may be. The above descriptions  are likely to strike a chord with all average Sri Lankans who are cognizant of the disastrous consequences of brazen superpower interference particularly over the past five years that operates through local agents who are programmed to do their foreign sponsors’ bidding. A recent wisecrack among common people was: rusiyawa palanaya karanne putin – lankawa palanaya karanne pitin” lit. Russia is ruled by Putin – Sri Lanka is ruled from outside”. Russian president Vladimir Putin has made a great impression on the currently leaderless Sri Lankans. It is hoped that Sri Lankans will be allowed to elect a proper leader of their choice without let or hindrance on November 16. 

The drone or missile attacks on the Saudi oil fields must have left ordinary Sri Lankans cold because they would hardly think of the rich and powerful Saudi Arabia (source of violent Islamic extremism) as a victim of Yemeni terrorism. However, considering the the death and destruction that Saudi Arabia inflicted on Yemen over the past four years, Sri Lankans would have stood with the latter rather than the former in their Saudi caused misery. On the other hand, the people of Sri Lanka are aware and intelligent enough to understand when false flag operations are carried out to deceive them.  Both Koenig and Zuesse criticise the biased media that support the despicable agendas of the powerful rulers. Sri Lankans are required to beware of media firewalls that try to leave them in the dark while they are being robbed of their freedom and sovereignty. 

Former US president Barak Obama’s definition of the so-called Obama Doctrine which forms the epigraph to this essay reflects the nature of America’s foreign policy stand. Whichever party (Obama’s Democratic or Trump’s Republican Party) is in power, America’s broad national interest is not sacrificed out of concern for other nations. No doubt, geopolitically, Sri Lanka is of much greater importance for America than its tiny neighbour Cuba in terms of its ‘core security interests’.  However, let us hope that America, in the name of humanity, decide to adjust its policies in meeting those strategic needs without inflicting too much pain on other countries including tiny little Sri Lanka. 

Lahiru Pothmulla reporting from Anuradhapura Courtesy The Daily Mirror

SLFP stalwart MP Duminda Dissanayake, who joined SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the latter’s political stage in Anuradhapura along with several other SLFP MPs said the victory was with Gotabaya and invited all SLFPers to back him at the upcoming presidential election.

Speaking to the first-ever political campaign of Mr. Rajapaksa, MP Dissanayake said he was on the stage bearing well wishes from the SLFP to Mr. Rajapaksa.

“We will back Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the SLFP. We decided to do so because both of our parties represent the left politics. We saw Gotabaya’s proposals for the future and we are optimistic that we can form a strong country with restored democracy, national security and economy,” he said.

He said the SLFP, from the beginning treated all ethnic groups fairly and was a safe home for all communities including Tamils and Muslims.

“Tamils and Muslims enjoy unity in SLFP. We hope with that unity, people from Muslim and Tamil community will back Gotabaya just as they have placed their faith in SLFP. Because SLFP is with the Tamil and Muslim people. We request all SLFPers, all organisers to join us, rally behind Gotabaya to make him the National leader we deserve. The SLFP endorses this entirely,” MP Dissanayake said.

He said the SLFP was expected to sign two agreements in future with Gotabaya camp.

“If anyone had any doubt as of Tuesday night, they shouldn’t anymore for the SLFP has joined the SLPP ensuring the victory of Mr. Rajapaksa’ he said.

While thanking the SLFP Mr. Dissnayake said that he never betrayed the party. 

Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will hold talks with the presidential candidate of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Gotabaya Rajapaksa shortly, a party official said today.

Jaffna district TNA parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran told Daily Mirror yesterday that Mr. Rajapaksa had sought a meeting with him. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will be accompanied by Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and SLPP National Organizer Basil Rajapaksa.

Mr. Sumanthiran said the TNA had held talks with UNP candidate Sajith Premadasa and briefed him about the party’s position.

We will inform him of our position. We want the constitution-making process to be taken forward. Also, we have a number of other issues such as the release of land and those held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. We will look at Mr. Premadasa’s election manifesto and decide,” he said. 

Courtesy Adaderana

SLPP Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa says his duty is to make Sri Lanka a safe country once again and also promised to release all war heroes who have been imprisoned over ‘false’ charges.

He made these comments while addressing the maiden election rally of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in Anuradhapura today (9).

He expressed his immense gratitude to all members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) for the historic decision” taken by the party to support him at the election. 

The former Defence Secretary charged that within 5 years of coming to power, the incumbent government has taken away the people’s freedom to visit a church without being afraid of a bomb attack.

For you all to fulfill your duty on November 16th, my duty is to make this country a safe country once again,” he pledged.

He also vowed that once their government comes to power farmers will be given their fertilizer subsidy free of charge and also that all micro finance debt and the debt of the farmers will be waived-off.

He promised that all imprisoned war heroes will be released by the morning of the day after the presidential poll. 

A large number of war heroes are languishing in prisons over false charges and cases. I would like to declare at this moment that they will all be released by November 17th morning,” Rajapaksa said.

He also promised that all personnel in the civil security service who have completed 22 years of service will get a pension under their government.

Courtesy Adaderana

Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando have been remanded till October 23.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate delivered the order the when the case the duo as taken up today (09).

The Colombo High Court today (09) dismissed the previous order issued by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court granting bail to the IGP and former Defence Secretary, who have been charged with failing to prevent the Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The IGP and the former Defence Secretary were produced before the Colombo High Court earlier today. Accordingly, the HC Judge revised the magistrate’s bail order and ordered to place the defendants, IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, in remand custody.

They were later produced before the Colombo Chief Magistrate by the prison officers.

Considering the submissions, the Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne ordered to remand the duo until the 23rd of October.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Maithripala Sirisena has decided to remain neutral at the Presidential election scheduled next month even as his party will support former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse at the elections. 

Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera said that President will not take the stage and support any candidate at the election. 

Jayasekera said that President is Minister in charge of the Police and security forces and so will put his political party aside and be independent to ensure a free and fair election.

Meanwhile, SLFP has decided to support Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election campaign with conditions.

The SLFP will sign two Memorandums of Understanding to form a new alliance called Sri Lanka Freedom People’s Alliance. 

SLFP MP Nimal Siripala de Silva that the SLFP is firmly working on the democratic framework and national unity that prevails in the country at present. He also noted that protecting the identity of the SLFP is a top priority.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මධ්‍යම සංස්කෘතික අරමුදලට අයත් සීගිරිය ව්‍යාපෘති කාර්යාලයේ සේවය කරන සේවකයින් සියලු දෙනා බලහත්කාරයෙන් හෙට කොළඹදී පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත දේශපාලන රැළියකට සහභාගී කරවීමට එහි ව්‍යාපෘති කළමණාකාරවරයා බලපෑම් කරන බව හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ අදහස් පළකළේ දඹුල්ල ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කාර්යාලයට මැතිවරණ පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කරමින්.

හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ජනක බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන්, හිටපු පළාත් සභා අමාත්‍ය ප්‍රමිත බණ්ඩාර තෙන්නකෝන් යන මහත්වරුන් මෙම පැමිණිල්ල සිදුකළේ අද පස්වරුවේයි.

මේ අතර පාරිභොගික අයිතීන් සුරැකීමේ ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරයේ සභාපති රංජිත් විතානගේ මහතා අද විදුලි සංදේශ නියාමන කොමිෂන් සභාවට පැමිණිල්ලක් ඉදිරිපත් කළේ පෞද්ගලික සමාගමකට ලබා දී ඇති කෙටි දුරකථන අංකයක් නීති විරෝධී අයුරින් ජනාධිපතිධුර අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ මැතිවරණ කටයුතු සඳහා යොදා ගෙන ඇති බවට පවසමින්.

මැතිවරණය ප්‍රකාශයට පත්විමේ දින සිට මේ දක්වා කාලය තුළ මැතිවරණ නීති උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමේ සිද්ධීන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැෆරල් සංවිධානයේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ රෝහණ හෙට්ටිආරච්චි මහතා මාධ්‍යට අදහස් පළකළා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

තුර්කි නැවකින් විදුලිය මිලදී ගැනීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැවැත්වූ රැස්වීම් පිළිබඳව තමන්ට කිසිදු මතකයක් නොමැති බව විදුලිබල අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් ආචාර්ය සුරෙන් බටගොඩ මහතා පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ කෝප් කමිටුව වෙත විදුලිබල අමාත්‍යාංශ නිලධාරීන් ඊයේ කැඳවූ අවස්ථාවේදී

Hiru News

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

There is a valid suspicion that NGO vultures Chandragupta Thenuvara and Gamini Viyangoda will go underground or clandestinely leave for an overseas hideout or may even be killed for the Sajih/JVP axis to carry out propaganda assaults against Pohottuwa election campaign saying that is just the beginning of a white van culture.  Mr. Ranil Wikremasimghe used to speak in parliament and wherever he gets an opportunity to address a meeting about the so-called white van culture and a permanent seize was made to this subject by a questioned by MP Udaya Gammanpila in the Parliament.  He asked a question as to how many people are reported to have been taken by the so-called white vans and requested to provide details of names and addresses of those persons and their current status.  After dodging the issue for several sittings and being unable to avoid this persistent question theMinister of Parliamentary Affairs Gayantha Karunatilleke responded saying that there had been no white van abductions and the other questions become irrelevant. 

The white van issue was an invention of the pro tiger terrorist Kallathoni Minister Mano Ganeshan who stated several times during the war period that the Tamil youth coming to Colombo for various purposes were being abducted in white vans. He invented this canard to appease the megalomaniac terrorist leader with whom he used to share a swimming pool in Kilinochchi. 

The fact that Sajith Premadasa is not a Buddhist and he belongs to the ‘Borm Again Christians’ was proved today in handing over nominations.  All Buddhist candidates received blessings from Buddhist priests before proceeding to the Election Commission office to handover their nominations.  But this man ‘the son of the notorious father’ who was responsible for the untimely death of 60,000 southern you h (two sons of a neighbour of mine went missing and after searching for them for several months this man died ending up like a maniac), majority of them were burnt alive in tyre pyres,  more than the number of war heroes died in the 30 years of war against the terrorists, over 600 Police officers who had to sacrifice their lives to terrorists on a call to surrender made by ‘the notorious father’ and who supplied a large amount of weapons and money to terrorists who used these very weapons to kill our gallant soldiers, who perished on the roads like a dog on the road killed by a terrorist suicide bomber cuddled in his own residence, went his wife and mother to offer flowers to a statue of his father and get blessings.

It was surprising to find that none of the UNP leaders was present when Sajith Premadasa handed over the nominations on Monday.  Even the General Secretary of the party Akila Viraj Kariyawasam was not present.

The leader of the National Freedom Front Mr. Wimal Weerawansa said that that there is a conspiracy within the UNP itself to defeat Sajith Premadasa under a master plan of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe..  He said the auspicious time of ending the curse of this government is scheduled for the morning of November 16^th and pointed out that even in the midst of the terrorist war the growth of this country was over 6.5% and under this government, it has fallen to 2.7%. He said that our foreign exchange earnings have hit the rock bottom level due to strangling of our export crop producers and the government only promoted high scale robberies. Commenting on the loser jockey he said that Ranil Wickremasinghe was convinced about the imminent defeat they would face and that was why he safeguarded his party leadership position and entrusted the facing the election to a losing jockey.  

Mr.Weerawansa further stated that in the next General Election Ranil will also get the post of the Opposition Leader. He also cited TNL TV of Ranil’s brother keeping away from promotingSajith as a further proof of the UNP leadership working against Sajith.  Mr. Weerawansa also severely criticized the stupid and anti-Buddhist utterances being made by Sajith Premadasa and further stated that UMP leader will dismiss Sajith Premadasa from the party upon his imminent defeat and appoint one of the confidantes as the Deputy Leader of the Party. 

If what Mr. Weerawansa has said last is true many UNPers will be happy as it would get rid of the one who was an intolerable pest and it would uphold the adage Kala Kala de Pala Pala de”, and Ranil Wickremasinghe would have been waiting for this day. SajithPremadasa recently said that he will not stay in the Presidential houses and he will be on the road with the people.  As things being said he will have to be on the road without people holding a begging bowl.

The veteran journalist, Attorney at Law and the Sunday Island political columnist Mr. C.A.Chandraprema (CAC) in his political column this week has said that the Appeal Court over three days throwing the entire opposition election campaign into a state of uncertainty dismissed the petition filed by two yahapalana activists Chandragupta Thenuwara and Gamini Viyangoda seeking an interim order prohibiting the recognition of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as a citizen of Sri Lanka. CAC explained as things turn out, Thenuwara and Viyangoda have unwittingly done Gotabhaya Rajapaksa favor by filing that petition and enabling the latter to prove conclusively that there is no issue with regard to his present Sri Lankan citizenship.

He reminds that he warned in two full-page articles published some weeks ago, of the power that the Elections Commission assumes in the event an objection is received regarding a candidate’s qualifications to contest a presidential election and the need to take precautions. He says that now Thenuwara and Viyangoda have served up the best possible precaution on a platter. This is not something that the Gota camp could have done by themselves even if they had tried!

Presenting the legal tenets Chabdraprema says that according to the Presidential Elections Act, there are only three grounds on which objections can be raised to a nomination. Firstly, ‘that it is apparent from the contents of the nomination paper’ that the candidate is not qualified to be elected as President; secondly that the candidate is disqualified by reason of conviction by a court of law for a corrupt or illegal practice or an election malpractice; and thirdly, that civic disability has been imposed on the candidate by Parliament.

When it comes to objections raised on the second and third instances, the Elections Commission cannot decide on its own but has to refer such objections to the Supreme Court within three days after the day of nomination. Such petitions have to be heard by a five-member bench of the Supreme Court within a period of seven days. Unless and until the Supreme Court decides to uphold the objection the candidate concerned will stand nominated. But when it comes to objections based on a candidate’s qualifications, the Elections Commission assumes unbridled power. The Elections Commission itself will decide what the term ‘apparent from the contents of the nomination paper’ means in a context where the nominations paper is directly connected to the Constitutional provisions listing the qualifications of a presidential candidate through the declaration that the candidate signs.

The power of the Elections Commission in this regard was hanging like a sword of Damocles over Gota’s candidacy and one never knew what would happen on the 7th after nominations closed.  The Appeal Court decision now eliminates that uncertainty, and also precludes other candidates from carrying on a negative campaign against Gota by casting doubts about his citizenship. Gota is personally indebted to Thenuwara and Viyangoda for having got this matter cleared up once and for all. This unequivocal decision of the Appeal Court will no doubt give the SLPP campaign a boost. Next Friday there will be the Elpitiya PS election which the SLPP is tipped to win by a comfortable margin – which will give the SLPP campaign yet another boost.

Chandraprema points out that last week, Sajith Premadasa tried to get Maithripala Sirisena’s support for his Presidential bid. However, he has not yet approached the JVP, which is very surprising because the single most important factor that will decide the fate of the Yahapalana camp at this election is not really the SLFP or Maithripala Sirisena but the JVP. Even if Maithripala Sirisena personally joins the UNP campaign, it is very unlikely that he will be able to carry the SLFP rank and file with him into the UNP. Unlike the SLFP, the JVP voters are an integral part of the Yahapalana camp. If not for the JVP votes at the 2015 Presidential election, Maithripala Sirisena would have lost. This time, for the first time since Rohana Wijweera contested the Presidency, the JVP has put forward their own leader as the Presidential candidate and will be compelled to put their best foot forward and to win the maximum number of votes possible.

In 1982, Rohana Wijweera contested the Presidency as a Marxist candidate and fared poorly. This time the JVP has shed all such encumbrances and are going to win votes from all and sundry, Marxists and non-Marxists alike. The columnist states that every vote the JVP takes will be from the Yahapalana camp. The differences between the JVP and the Pohottuwa types have built up over nearly a decade and no Pophottuwa votes will go to the JVP. The agenda that the JVP has espoused also appeals to a yahapalana constituency and not to the pohottuwa constituency. The JVP has been with the yahapalana crowd for a decade and hence the likelihood of the UNP candidate being able to get the JVP vote is much higher than him being able to get the SLFP vote. So Sajith would have been better off wooing the JVP rather than Sirisena, he says.

CAC adds that almost all the other ‘also ran’ candidates are those who would have been with the yahapalana camp in 2015, including former Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake. The latter was among the officers sent on compulsory retirement in 2010 in what was described as a ‘military purge’ by the Rajapaksa Government against officers deemed loyal to the fomer Army Commander Sarath Fonseka. Mahesh Senanayake returned to the country after the change of government in 2015 and was reinstated in the Army. Mahesh Senanayake’s motivation to contest the presidential election had come from his bitter experiences of 2010 and perhaps a need to get his own back on the Rajapaksas by siphoning off some military votes from Gotabhaya. The organization supporting Senanayake,  are clearly yahapalanites.

So it appears that virtually all the ‘also rans’ will be eating into the yahapalana vote bank instead of the SLPP vote bank. The appeal of the also rans are also pitched at the disappointed yahaplana voter of 2015 rather than the pro-Rajapaksa voter. It’s a moot point as to whether the also rans would be able to appeal even to the new voters who have come of age during the past five years.

The Indian journalist P.K.Balachandran(PKB) writing an article for Newsin.Asia website states that the political situation in Sri Lanka returned to normal on Friday, after the Court of Appeal rejected a petition by two NGO activists to bar Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), from contesting the Lankan Presidential election set for November 16. The petition, filed just a few days before the date set for the filing of nominations (October 6), charged that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had unlawfully obtained a Dual Citizenship Certificate. Therefore he had no right to contest the forthcoming election.

Petitioners Prof.Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Gamini Viyangoda, had sought the cancellation of the Dual Citizenship Certificate issued to Gotabaya Rajapaksa on November 21, 2005, and the Sri Lankan passport and National Identity Card (NIC) issued to him thereafter.

A three-judge Court of Appeal, headed by Yasantha Kodagoda, heard both sides for nearly four days and finally threw out the petition Friday evening, without granting the petitioners leave to proceed. If the petition had been allowed and leave to proceed was granted, [KB says Gotabaya Rajapaksa would not have been able to contest the election. In that case, the entire complexion of the election would have changed and Sajith Premadasa, the candidate of the ruling United National Paty(UNP) would have had the best chance of winning the Presidency as none of the other candidates in the field, including Anrua Kumara Dissanayaka of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP), has the capability of Sajith Premadasa. The UNP has the largest voter base among the non-SLPP parties. The UNP is also exceptionally united and charged up now because it has, at long last, found a candidate with a common touch” after putting up with an elitist and distant leader like Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current Prime Minister PKB says.

Right from the start, political pundits had been considering Gotabaya of the SLPP (founded and led by the charismatic former President Mahinda Rajapaksa) as the front-runner in the Presidential race. As Defense Secretary and also as the Urban Development Secretary, Gotabaya had distinguished himself as a dynamic official and a creative leader, though he also had a reputation for using strong-arm methods to quell The separatist terrorists. 

Appearing for the petitioners, Suren Fernando recalled that before 2003, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a citizen of Sri Lanka by descent. Thereafter, on or around January 31, 2003, he had become a citizen of the United States of America. From that day onwards, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had ceased to be a citizen of Sri Lanka under the country’s Citizenship Act. He said that subsequently, in November 2005, when his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, won the Lankan Presidential election, Mahinda wanted to make Gotabaya Defense Secretary to help him prosecute the war against the Tamil separatist terrorist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. For this purpose, Gotabaya, who was a US citizen at that time, had to be given Dual Citizenship.

Appearing on behalf of the Attorney General, Controller General for Immigration and the Registrar of Persons, Senior Deputy Solicitor General (SDSG) Nerin Pulle told the court that the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had signed the Dual Citizenship Certificate of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2005, had the power to do so as the relevant Minister. He explained that after the Presidential election, the cabinet stood dissolved and Secretaries to the Ministries had also quit. But as per the 1978 constitution, all executive powers were vested with the President during that period and as such, the President could sign any document that a Minister would have signed exercising his plenary powers” to take decisions of Ministers in the absence of Ministers. Pulle also argued that the subject Minister’s recommendation was enough and the Ministerial Secretary’s signature was not needed. And the subject Minister at that time, in the absence of a cabinet, was the President himself.

Counsel for Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Romesh de Silva, said that the litigation against his client had been brought by political opponents to prevent him from standing for the Presidential election. This was tantamount to breaching the right of people to vote for the candidate of their choice. The petition had been drafted in cahoots with the leaders of the UNP, he charged.

De Silva also took objection to the fact that the writ application had been filed while an investigation into the same facts was taking place under the supervision of the Colombo Magistrate.

The counsel for Gotabaya further stated that the petitioners had not included in their plaint, 21 others who were given Dual Citizenship Certificates on November 21, 2005, the day on which Gotabaya was given the certificate. On this technicality alone, the petition should be dismissed, he said.

The Political Editor (PE)of Sunday Times in his weekly column dated 6^th October stated that President Sirisena’s latest overt and covert moves  to join the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Sri Lanka People’s Alliance (SLPA) failed miserably.,The PE said that President Sirisena and the SLPP’s National Organiser cum architect, Basil Rajapaksa, had been engaged in consultations for two hours of talks on Monday and the Rajapaksa trio (Mahinda, Gota, and Basil) declined to accept Sirisena’s requrst to change the symbol.  They have insisted that it is not possible for the forthcoming presidential election for political and legal reasons. 

Sirisena in the meanwhile has won the Central Committee approval last Monday (September 30) to seof 3  MOUs to the SLPP leadership which had been prepared by the SLFP’s Senior Deputy Chairman Nimal Siripala de Silva. One was to be signed between the SLFP and candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the second MoU between the two parties and the third between leaders agreeing to the SLPA Constitution.

Chairing the CC meeting, Sirisena sounded out members on the party’s next move and said those gathered that the SLPP had so far shown disfavour to their request for a change of symbol and he suggested that they meet again on October 11 (Friday) evening to take a decision on the SLFP role at the presidential election. It is said that he had in mind the results of the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha elections on October 11 and to take that too into consideration and he had also hoped that the Court of Appeal (CA) verdict in the case where the issue of a National Identity Card and a Dual Citizenship of Sri Lanka to Gotabaya Rajapaksa was challenged would not go in Dota’sfavour. An ‘advisor’ is reported to have told that the CA would disqualify Gotabaya Rajapaksa and have believed it, and wanted to exploit the advantages coming his way and has even based some of his strategies on it. T

However, the Court unanimously dismissed the case, which had generated considerable public attention during the week which turned out to be a clear political victory for opposition candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose counsel claimed that the two NGOs activists had filed the petition for political revenge. It was pointed out by participants of the SLFP CC that the date Sirisena suggested would fall only after the nominations on Monday and hence, it was agreed that the CC meets on Saturday (October 5). That was a crucial day for Sirisena who has been shunting between the SLPP and the UNP (Sajith faction) to obtain a good political deal.

 As a result of behind-the-scene moves by a front-line group of Sajith Premadasa loyalists, UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam received a call from Premadasa asking him to arrange a meeting with SLFP leaders to discuss current political developments. Kariyawasam has written to his counterpart Dayasiri Jayasekera on September 28 asking for a date and time and it had been with the approval of his leader Premier Wickremesinghe.

It was reported that the meeting Premadasa loyalists sought was with President Sirisena and his close allies. Contacts thereafter via telephone made this clear. This was on the grounds that it is Sirisena who could take up a position on behalf of the SLFP and not other party officials.  Playing a key role in this exercise was Krishantha Prasad Cooray, now a close confidant of President Sirisena and staunch supporter of Premadasa. He is the Chairman of Lake House newspapers and Hotel Developers Ltd., the owning company of Colombo Hilton. Later, he sat at the discussion together with Kabir Hashim, Mangala Samaraweera, Malik Samarawickrema and Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. On the SLFP side were Dayasiri Jayasekera, Mahinda Ameraweera, and Lasantha Alagiyawanna.

At the meeting, Premadasa’s remarks appeared to be an apology of sorts. He was referring to the many mistakes made by the UNP in four and a half years of governance. He was alluding to the bad air between President Sirisena and the UNP leadership. I will assure you that such mistakes are not repeated,” he declared. Premadasa noted that the support of the SLFP was very essential” and would be a welcome addition to his victory. If there was a suggestion during the dialogue for Sirisena to join the Premadasa campaign in some way, it did not work out. Mata Ranil ekka yanna behe mey gamana,” or I cannot go on this journey with Ranil,” he declared. Therefore, he said, his party would have to oppose the UNP. That effectively ruled out a formal tie-up. Sirisena was making clear that he could not be on the same campaign platform as Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sirisena declared that he had not done politics with the UNP. He has said that he had only been a partner in governance and has added that his party had a very difficult decision to make. and hehas briefly referred to his talks with the SLPP but has not givem any indication of what he had in mind.

What Sirisena was planning next surfaced only thereafter.he has summoned SLFP organisers countrywide for a meeting in Colombo on Friday afternoon. The reason – having failed in his multiple efforts to join the Sri Lanka People’s Alliance (SLPA), or come toa deal with the UNP (Sajith faction) – he wanted to contest the presidential election as the SLFP candidate. For this purpose, he wanted to sound them out. Thereafter, he expected the party’s Central Committee to approve it when it met Saturday night. .Sirisena’s illusopry game plans are reported to be going on yet and now he is scheduled to announce the final decision of the SLFP on 9^th October Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the latest posting in the LankaCNews.lk said that international media has reported that Sirisena has resigned from the SLFP and MP Mahinda Amaraweera has assumed the SLFP leadership. 

ආචාර්ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර  

මේ කෝටි 30 කියන්නේ මන්ත්‍රිවරුන් සහ ඇමතිවරුන් සඳහා වියදම පමණි.පලාත් සභාව විසුරුවා ඇතත් ආණ්ඩුකාරයා මෙන්ම කාර්යාල සහ නිළධාරීන්ද තවමත් එසේම පවත්වාගෙන යයි.  එබැවින් මේ ආයතන පවත්වාගෙන යාම සහ නිලධාරින් සඳහා යන වියදම්ද මීට එකතු කළ විට තවත් අඩුමගානේ කෝටි 70 වක්වත් මේ ගානට එකතු විය යුතුය.එසේවූ විට මාස 10 ට  මේ පලාත් සභාවෙන් පමණක් දේසපාලකයින් සහ නිලධාරීන් සඳහා යන වියදම පමනක් කෝටි 100ක් වත් ඉතිරිවනු ඇත. එය වසරකට කෝටි 120 කි. මේ අනුව දිවයින පුරා ඇති පලාත් සභා නමයේම එකතුව රුපියල් කෝටි  1080 කි. දේශපාලකයින් හා නිලධාරීන් සඳහා විදේශ සන්චාර, අනවස්ය සම්මන්ත්‍රන සහ නාස්තිකිරීම් මෙන්ම හොරකම් කිරීම් ආදිය සඳහා වැයවන මුදල්ද මීට එකතු විය යුතුය. එවිට පලාත් සභා නඩත්තුව සඳහා පමණක් අඩුම ගණනේ වසකට කෝටි 5000 ක් වත් වැය වනු නොඅනුමානය.මේ සඳහා වැය වන නියම මුදල පලාත්සභා අමාත්යාන්ශයෙන් ලබාගාත් හැක.

මේ රටේ පලාත් සභා නොතිබුණානම් වසරකට මෙම කෝටි 2000 ම රටට ඉතිරිවෙයි. එක් වසරකට කෝටි 2000 ගානේ වසර 32 කක් පුරා රටට හා ජාතියට සිදුවී ඇති විනාශය කොපමණැදැයි ඔබට දැන් සිතා ගත හැක.
මීට අමතරව මෙන්ම පලාත් සභා සඳහා අලුතෙන් සාදා ඇති ගොඩනැගිලි, මිලදිගෙන ඇති යාන වාහන,  උපකරණ සහ වෙනත් කාර්යාල අවස්යතා ආදියද වෙනුවෙන් කෙරෙන වියදම්ද  මීට එකතු කළ විට අඩුගානේ වසරකට කෝටි 5000 ක් වත් ජාතික ධනය විනාශ වනු ඇත.වනු ඇත
.
පසුගිය වසර 32 ක් පුරා පක්ශ දේශපාලනය පවත්වාගෙන යාම සඳහාද, පරපුටු දේශපාලකයින්ට රැකියා සැපයීම ඔවුන්ගේ නෑදෑයින් සහ හෙන්චයින්ට  රැකියා සැපයීම සහ මැතිවරණවලදී චන්ද එකතු කිරීම හැර මේ පලාත් සභාවලින් රටට සිදුවූ සේවය කුමක්ද.
රටේ  පාලනය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අවුල්කොට විනාශකිරීම, දේශපාලන අනාථයින්ට මැති ඇමතිකම් සහ ආණ්ඩුකාරකම් ලබා දී මුලු රටටම මහාබරක් හා හූනියමක් බවත බවට පත්කොට ඇති ඊටත් වඩා මේ රට කොටස්වලට කඩා විනාශකිරීමට ඉන්දියාව විසින් අප හිස මත පැටවූ මෙම හූනියම දන්වත් වහාම අහෝසි නොකරන්නේ ඇයි.
 ඇතම් පලාත් සභා විසුරුවා හැර දැනට වසර දෙකකටත් ආසන්න කාලයක් ගතව ඇත. ඒ නිසා රටේ පාලනයට වාසියක් මිස පාඩුවක් සිදුවී නොමැතිවීමම  මේ සා මහා ධනස්කන්ධයක් තව දුරටත් මාරු කටට නොයවා වහාම වසදැමිය යුතුය

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Russia and China are now emerging as world powers. They are challenging USA. Sri Lanka is associating with both while continuing its links with USA. This essay looks at Yahapalana links with Russia and China, with particular reference to USA.

After a lapse of a few decades when it was battling with Glastnost, Russia is now coming back onto the international scene. Russia    plans to become a world power. Russia started by complaining, at the start of the 74^th UN General Assembly sessions in September 2019, that Russia’s role in defeating Hitler is ignored in the west. The sole credit for winning World War II was given to America and Britain, when in reality, Britain and America moved in only after Russia had weakened Germany in the east and the Russian army had arrived in Berlin. 

Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, wrote, Expunging from memory the Soviet Union’s role in the defeat of Nazism, belittling the Soviet contribution to the victory, but also   retrospectively strip our country of its historic role as an architect and guarantor of the post-war world order”. (‘Russia in Global Affairs’, 20 September 2019)

Russia has now established significant links with other countries. Putin was shown standing next to President Ji at China’s 70^th anniversary celebrations in Beijing. Russia sent an army contingent for the parade. In the float parade, the second float silently recognized the Russian Revolution.

Putin and North Korea’s Kim met for their first-ever summit in April 2019. Putin, known for delaying meetings with international guests, was waiting for Kim when he emerged from his limousine. The two leaders greeted each other warmly, shaking hands and smiling. The meeting lasted nearly five hours, reported the media.

At least 18 governments have signed military cooperation deals with   Russia since 2015, said TIME. Two Russian warships docked in the Philippines. Philippines is a US treaty ally. In 2019 India signed a $3 billion deal to lease a third Russian nuclear-powered submarine. Russia remains a major supplier of arms to India, despite the fact that the United States has imposed sanctions on nations buying military hardware from Moscow. 

Russia is specifically targeting countries which have a toxic relationship with USA, observed TIME. Russia is intervening wherever USA is active. Maduro in Venezuela has survived USA sanctions thanks to Russian cash and political cover. In Syria Russia rescued Bashar Assad with a militia campaign that force the US to abandon hopes of ousting him. Russia is also wooing the elites in Africa, said TIME. 

Russia participated in Cormorant Strike 2019”, the combined forces field training exercise   organized by Sri Lanka army.  Sri Lanka is taking steps to enhance naval cooperation with Russia announced the Foreign Ministry. Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, made an official trip to Russia in July 2019 at the invitation of Russia. This was the first visit by a Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy to Russian Navy Headquarters Saint Petersburg.

Sri Lanka participated at the Main Naval Parade, Russia’s largest-scale international ceremonial event at sea. Vice Admiral De Silva also called on the Commander in Chief of the Russian Navy. He participated in a working meeting with high level specialists in military technical cooperation and was given a detailed tour of a Russian patrol corvette.

Representatives from Sri Lanka embassy in Moscow, had met with Russian Navy Headquarters’ International Relations officers to discuss upcoming visits which aim at advancing cooperation between Sri Lanka and Russia Naval educational institutions, the first exchange visits between the Naval & Maritime Academy, Trincomalee, and Admiral Kuznetsov Naval Academy, Saint Petersburg, the principal education & research centre of the Russian Navy.

President Sirisena had spoken with President Putin at Fifth Summit of Heads of State of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in June 2019. He had told Putin about the difficulties in buying defense equipment from Russia due  to a US directive prohibiting his government from dealing with some Russian enterprises. This prevented Sri Lanka from using a credit line made available by Russia. Sirisena had sought advice from President Putin as to how ‘the problem could be tackled’. He told Putin that that the three MIGs given by Russia in 1972 to fight an insurgency are still in service.  President Sirisena spoke warmly about his interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reported the media.

Economists agree that China has made a spectacular rise from a very poor nation in 1949 to very rich one in 2019. The country has improved in all aspects and made several advances.  Here is one. China now has the world’s largest high-speed rail network of 29,000 kilometres. This is about two thirds of the world’s total high-speed rail network. China’s high speed trains travel at a maximum speed of 300-350 kilometres an hour.    Internationally, too there are express   freight trains from China to Europe which send   goods faster than by ship. There is a China- Europe express train from Hamburg to Wuhan.

China’s economy is now very strong.  USA recognizes this. In 2008,  Berkshire Hathaway,  a leading American multinational conglomerate holding company”  invested USD 232 million in BYD, a Chinese  energy products company (Economist  21.9.19 p 67).  Chinese banks are among the largest cross border lenders in Asia. Seven of the top 20 equity underwriters in Asia In 2018 were Chinese. America still controls the dollar payments system but that could change too, said Economist. China is now due to become the biggest economy in the world, ousting the US from that position.  By 2030 China will be the leading economy, said analysts. By 2030 China will also have the largest navy and the most powerful aircraft carrier, they said.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a massive global network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, with trillions invested in new infrastructure.  China’s B&R is supported by a bank, unlike other similar ventures. The  B&R is  looked at with suspicion by Washington, which sees it as an attempt by China to  increase its influence in the world. But more countries are joining it.

 Iraq announced in September 2019 that Iraq will join China’s “Belt and Road” project.  Iraq is grateful to China for its valuable support  and is willing to work together in the ‘One Belt, One Road’ framework,”  said the Prime Minister of Iraq during a state visit  to China. The two countries would cooperate on oil and infrastructure projects. Beijing is Baghdad’s biggest trade partner, while Iraq is China’s second biggest oil supplier.

The Republic of China celebrated  its   70^th  anniversary with a very impressive ,very long parade which included an ‘awesome display’ of military equipment. In the  military parade in 1949, only 70 planes could be found so they had been ordered to fly past twice. In 2019 there were 160 aircraft and 580 pieces of military equipment on display., China has developed military abilities that can reach potential adversaries across the globe, said experts. 

The military parade was broadcast live, so everybody  now knows that the China has invented powerful new weapons . China has no recent  experience in  sea or air battles, observed critics,  but they are developing [effective] missiles and asymmetric systems.

The military  parade showed off China’s most advanced weapons, some being shown for the first time.  They included the following.  The J-20 supersonic stealth fighters,  the H-6N with an aerial refueling probe added,  that could be used to deter US aircraft carriers venturing into the South China Sea  and the DF-26 ballistic missile which, fired from land bases, is believed to have the accuracy to strike at US Navy’s aircraft carriers.

Also on display was the DR-8 or WZ-8 supersonic drone,  a reconnaissance drone that that could potentially be deployed by aircraft, to infiltrate enemy airspace and gather intelligenceincluding determining the damage done by China’s missiles.It could be used to spot distant targets on very short notice and hit them with a conventional ballistic strike.

The Dong Feng  41 is an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 15,000 kilometers, allowing it to reach anywhere in the United States in about 30 minutes.  It is capable of hurling multiple nuclear warheads  all over the United States, said experts. It could be moved around by road and fired quickly. It’s range of up to 15,000 kilometers  would make it the  world’s longest-range military missile. Some analysts  say it can travel up to 25 times the speed of sound. It could carry as many as 10  independent warheads,  which can  hit 10 different targets over a wide area.

One of the most closely-watched weapons was the Dongfeng-17,  a new hypersonic ballistic nuclear missile believed capable of breaching all existing anti-missile shields deployed by the U.S. and its allies. Experts  say it can breach any defence system.  The DF-17 missile is thought to be able to travel at more than five times the speed of sound. It’s designed to bypass enemy missile defense systems by traveling at speeds more than 3,400 miles per hour at low altitudes. 

DF-17  is a nuclear-capable glider that is designed to maneuver at high speed to evade anti-missile defenses. The glider is believed to be able to carry conventional and nuclear devices. The emergence of such a system would have a considerable impact, highlighting China’s progress in designing hypersonic non-strategic gliders, a segment in which Russians and Americans are lagging behind, said experts.

If  Mahinda Rajapaksa  was the President, he would have been invited to this display and Sri Lanka would have sent a contingent to march smartly  in the parade. I know  that  the Sri Lanka navy has gone  to China for training, I do not know about the army. But Rajapaksa is not the President today. It is Yahapalana that is ruling.

 Under Yahapalana , Sri Lanka’s relations with China swing from sensible to ludicrous. All countries in the world are falling over themselves to woo China and to attract Chinese investment, but Sri Lanka has been  insulting and demeaning China almost as a matter of habit over the past five years. No country has insulted China the way Sri Lanka has  under Yahapalana, said Chandraprema.

At the opening of the China financed Lotus Tower, in September 2019, President Sirisena said in the presence  of the Chinese ambassador , that the Chinese firm ALIT had taken Sri Lanka ‘s money and vanished, without building the Tower. This was absurd, said Chandraprema. ALIT is a  highly respected Chinese company producing  advanced missile weapons systems, and it is still there. No money was paid to it for the Lotus Tower.

But China is not angry. President Sirisena  went to China in May 2018, to attend Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations”. This was described by the media as  a move that has surprised both political and diplomatic circles over its urgency. At this conference, President Sirisena met Chinese President Xi Jinping in a one-on-one meeting. He also met with Prime Minister Le Keqiang in a similar meeting.

Discussions  had  focused on strengthening cooperation in the defence sector and sharing intelligence between the two countries, said the media. This is a new development in the relationship, said Lasanda  Kurukulasuriya. Sunday Times says Sirisena had also signed a defence pact. The details of that agreement are not known even to his  Cabinet said Sunday Times.

Sirisena  also  took along a  catalogue of projects for which he is seeking Chinese assistance, said  the media. At President Sirisena’s request, China has given a generous grant to help combat terrorism, and said that a Chinese technical team will be sent to Sri Lanka soon, the media reported. China has  donated high tech bomb detecting equipment, including bomb detecting robots, to Sri Lanka. This donation was made on a request made by President Sirisena, China said.

The donation  included three explosive detectors worth Rs. 90.5 million, designed to sense explosives and weapons hidden in the human body.50 X-ray Security Inspection systems to search parcels and luggage. Three bomb detecting robots which can detect explosives and drugs within a range of 3km valued at Rs. 85.5 million each. 25 Walk Through Safety Inspection Gates worth Rs. 6.5 million to detect weapons. 25 Hand Held Vehicle Scanners worth Rs. 3.2 million and 500 Hand Held Metal Detectors worth Rs. 2.75 million to be used by the Security Forces to detect automatic weapons carried by individuals. The total value stands at Rs. 210.5 million.

We have always had excellent relations with China, said local analysts.  Sri Lanka relations with China is mainly economic, observed Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at an interview. The docking of Chinese submarines in Colombo harbor, some time ago,  was only for re-supplying and not for any military purpose, he said. China has not sought to project its military might in  Sri Lanka, said analysts.  In March 2019    C.A. Chandraprema, in his weekly column in the Island,  called for a defence pact with China. He said  Trincomalee and Hambantota should be full of Chinese warships. ( Continued)

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

The historic Kelani Raja Maha Viharaya situated in the outskirts of Colombo is a Buddhist shrine of utmost significance. As recorded in the Mahavamsa, Kelaniya is a place visited by the Buddha in the early 5^th century BCE. (Mahawamsa alsoreferred top as the Great Chronicle, is the single most important historic work of Sri Lankan origin, written originally in the Pali language, describing the life and times of the Sinhala Buddhist island nation). Many Sinhala kings, from the 3rd century BCE onwards, have patronized this historic temple and repeatedly effected restorations when it was damaged or destroyed by foreign invaders.  In the early 13^th century, it was destroyed ruthlessly by the South Indian Dravidian invader Kalinga Maaga. After reconstruction, it suffered damage again in the 16^th to 18^th century period when the Portuguese and subsequently the Dutch set fire to the shrine and destroyed it.  It was rebuilt again in the mid 18^th century, King Kirthi Sri Rajasinghe.

The existing new Kelani vihara building was constructed in 1946, on the initiative of Mrs. Helena Wijayawardane. It added much glory to this ancient site believed to have been visited by the Buddha   She obtained the services of young Soilis Mendis in the early 20^th century,to create a magnificent Buddhist edifice featuring the nation’s unique traditional architecture and sculpture and outstanding wall murals.  This new Kelaniya viharaya building has incorporated some of the walls and ceilings of the old shrine in addition to new developments. This older section contains wall and ceiling paintings that belong to the Mahanuwara period whereas the newly added section is adorned with paintings of Soilis Mendis which belong to the Modern period. On a greater part of the walls of the older part of Kelaniya which includes the vestibule and the shine hall with the large recumbent Buddha statue, are the older paintings that belong to the Mahanuvara period, which are mostly depictions of Jataka tales. The paintings on walls and ceilings of the remainder of the shrine are the work of Soilis Mendis With his Kelaniya paintings and sculpture, which took him about twenty years to complete (1927-1947), Soilis Mendis has risen to an unparalleled position as one of the most ingenious artists of modern times.

Kelani Viharaya is one of the most picturesque and imposing Buddhist structural complexes in the country with some exceptionally impressive sculpture and wall murals of irresistible charm. Kelaniya paintings are pre-eminent among Buddhist vihara paintings. They are a class by themselves being the most aesthetically pleasing and spiritually inspiring paintings seen in a Buddhist shrine in contemporary Sri Lanka. They

have greatly enhanced the splendor of Kelaniya as one of the most outstanding Buddhist shrines of Sri Lanka.

Soilis Mendis deviated from the focus on Jataka tales and focused on events of the Buddha’s life. He also deviated from the common Mahanuwara tradition of painting in horizontal columns or stripes.  Instead, he used the entire wall to portray a single theme or event. Often, a three-dimensional effect was obtained in his paintings by the skillful use of a complex of lines, shades and shadows.

Themes of prominent paintings of Soilis Mendis’s in Kelaniya viharaya are:

• Arrival of the Buddha in Kelaniya, Mahiyangana, Nagadeepa,
• Arrival of Vijaya in Sri Lanka,
• Bringing the Tooth relic to Sri Lanka by Hemamala and Dantha,
• Bringing of the Bo sapling by Sangamitta Meheni,
• Ceremonial offering of the Mahavihara,
• Writing of the Visuddhi Magga by Buddhagosha Thera,
• The ceremony bestowing the Sangaraja position.
•  

Among characteristic features of Kelani paintings is the excellent artistic depiction of the human figure with detailed facial expressions. Evoking sensual and passionate feelings was not attempted in his paintings; instead, these paintings reflect restraint and evoke a sense of serene joy. The motifs, designs and decorations used in paintings are of exceptional aesthetic appeal.

The Kelaniya painting have their own characteristic use and blending of colours.  Only a limited number of colours have been used. Basic colours are rarely used. Black has been mixed with bright colours to obtain lovely colour blends and pleasing shades. There appears to be a common shade that pervades all paintings giving a special or common character to all paintings.  It is pleasing to the eye and helps to provide a serene spiritual outlook to these paintings.  This shade falls between yellow and brown.

Kelani paintings are unique and generally considered by art critics as the best Buddhist paintings done in Sri Lanka since the Polonnaruwa period. Professor Albert Dharmasiri commenting on Kelani paintings says that it was an attempt to revitalize the Sinhala classical art tradition of Anuradhapura. The result however is not a reinvention of the classical tradition but an amalgamation of several Indian, and European visual idioms into a style that recalls the classical naturalism of Anuradhapura. Mr. D. B. Dhanapala writing on Soilis Mendis states “If genius means untutored natural, instinctive, but extraordinary talent, imaginative or inventive, modern Ceylon has produced at least one real genius.”  “A simple peasant, Mendis is. But he is the only genius we have produced who could not only create something new of his own but who could also give away in a spirit of self sacrifice all that he had made in the attempt”.

The greatness of the Kelaniya paintings of Soilis Mendis should be judged against the situation that prevailed during the period he was exposed to and trained as an artist of Buddhist vihara paintings. Basically it was the colonial period when our nation was subject to strong influence of various aspects of European culture. This was well evident in the changes observed in the cultural environment of our country. Both tangible and intangible aspects of our traditional culture was subject to this trend of European influence. Our visual arts, especially temple paintings did not escape this trend. There was a tendency at that time for poor and careless imitation of western forms of art, especially realism in art, and excessive sensuality that was characteristic of western art at that time. Most temple murals produced during the colonial period, especially during the British colonial times reflected this new tendency in terms of approach to and style adopted in paintings, well evident in paintings of the well-known S.P. Charles and M. Sarlis of colonial times.

In this light, the Kelaniya paintings show a magnanimous and commendable revival of, or for that matter an enhancement of, the classical form of art in our nation, where aesthetics and spirituality form the basis or the founding principles. Kelani paintings are artistic expressions of overflowing aesthetic appeal that spectacularly reveal the intense inspiration drawn by the artist from Buddhist spirituality. 

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

දයා හේවාපතිරණ

මාධ්‍ය ඒ්කකය කැ‍ෆේ සංවිධානය

මැතිවරණය ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ දිනයේ සිට මේ දක්වා  පැමිණිලි 103ක් වාර්තා වී ඇති බව කැෆේ සංවිධානය කියයි. මේ අතරින් වැඩිම පැමිණිලි සංඛ්‍යාව වන පැමිණිලි 96ක්  නාම යෝජනා භාර දුන් ඊයේ දිනයේ වාර්තා වීම විශේෂත්වයක් බව එම සංවිධානයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂිකා සුරංගි ආරියවංශ මහත්මිය පවසයි. පූර්ව නාම යෝජනා සමය තුළ වාර්තා වී ඇති සිදුවීම් ප්‍රමාණය 7ක් වන අතර එවා මැතිවරණ නීති රීති උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම් පිළිබඳව පැමිණිලි වන බව ඇය පෙන්වා දෙයි.

මීට අමතරව දිවයිනේ සෑම ප්‍රදේශයකම මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචාරක පෝස්ටර් දක්නට ලැබුණු බව සඳහන් කරන සුරංගි අරියවංශ මහත්මිය පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ අපේක්ෂකයින් තිදෙනෙකු ගේ පෝස්ටර් බහුල වශයෙන් දක්නට ලැබුණු බවයි. මීට අමතරව අපේක්ෂිකයින් ට සුභ පැතුම් එක් කරමින් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයේ කටවුට් ප්‍රදේශ රැසක ඉදිකර තිබූ බවත් ඒවා පිළිබඳව මැතිවරණ කොමිසම වෙත පැමිණිලි කර ඇති බවත් ඇය පෙන්වා දුන්නාය. කල්මුණේ සයින්දමරුදු ප්‍රදේශයේ එක් අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ගේ  දැන්වීම් වෙත කළුතෙල් ප්‍රහාරයක් එල්ල කිරීමේ සිදුවීමක් වාර්තා වන බව ඇය සදහන් කළාය.

මෙවර මැතිවරණය සඳහා කැෆේ සංවිධානය දීප ව්‍යාප්ත මට්ටමින් නිරීක්ෂකයින් 7500ක් යොදා ගැනීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇති අතර විශේෂයෙන් ඡන්ද දායකයින් වෙත අල්ලස් ලබාදීම් සහ විවිධ වරප්‍රසාද ලබාදීම් පිළිබඳ වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කරමින් කටයුතු කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇති බව අය කියා සිටියාය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒ්කකය කැ‍ෆේ සංවිධානය

 lanka C news

ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයෙකුගේ අඩුපාඩු ඇති බවත් කතාබහ කරද්දී අඩුපාඩුකම් සිදුවන බවත් එනිසා බයක් නැතුව සමාව ගන්නැයි උඩරට අමරපුර මහා නිකායේ වැඩබලන මහා නායක පූජ්‍ය යාලේගම ධම්මිස්සර හිමියෝ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියහ.

සමාව ගැනීම ගැන ලැජ්ජා විය යුතු නැති බවත් එය නිහතමානි නායකයෙකුගේ ලක්‍ෂණයක් බවත් උන්වහන්සේ සඳහන් කළහ.

නාමයෝජනාවලට අත්සන් තැබීමෙන් පසු දලදා මාලිගාව වැද පුදාගෙන මල්වතු අස්ගිරි මහ නා හිමියන්ගේ ආශිර්වාදය ලබාගෙන ආපසු ගනනේදී එම විහාරස්ථානයට ගිය අවස්ථාවේදී උන්වහන්සේ එම අදහස් පළ කළහ.

පසුව මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් පල කල සජිත් පේ‍්‍රමදාස මහතා කියා සිටියේ තමන්ද පෘථග්ජන පුද්ගලයෙක් නිසා තමන් තුළ ද අඩුපාඩුකම් ඌනතාවයන් ඕනෑතරම් ඇති බවත්ය.

කෙසේ නමුත් තමන්ට එල්ලවන නිර්දය විවේචන හොඳ දෙයක් බව ද එමගින් මෙරට මාධ්‍ය නිදහස ඇති බව තහවුරු වූ බවද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said today the people had already decided to whom they would vote at the upcoming presidential election and those defeated should allow the person elected to rule the country.

He said this at a Sunday school ceremony held at the Asokarama Temple in Kalutara South.

The people know how to use their votes. Mere shouting and running down their rivals others will not attract voters,” the Cardinal said and recalled a reply given by former president D.B. Wijethunga when he was asked whether he would contest again.

I have had enough of politics,” he said.

The Cardinal said those who lose should accept defeat.

We must help create a beautiful country. Some politicians level false allegations against their rivals. Some contestants take presidential election as an opportunity to hinder others mentally or disgrace them with false allegations. They should not act in this manner,” the Cardinal said. (Sunil S. Thanthriarachchi)

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Responding to the New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa’s pledge to forgo the president’s salary, if elected, so as to help the poor, the Opposition said yesterday such ‘trivial’ solutions won’t help resolve national issues such as poverty.

MP Dr. Bandula Gunawardana told a news conference Minister Premadasa was making statements to please the gallery instead of coming up with a proper mechanism to address poverty.

The president giving up his salary and other privileges to help the needy will not be a sustainable measure to eradicate poverty. No one believes in these fables. To eradicate poverty, productions and investments should be increased creating employment opportunities. A candidate should forward a national level economic plan to solve the issues of the country. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has already forwarded a draft of his economic plan,” he said and added that a presidential candidate should comment on national level challenges such as national security, the value of the currency and environmental issues and how to face them successfully.

Dr. Gunawardena said the UNP had already said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would continue to serve as the PM if Minister Premadasa was elected president.

Premier Wickremesinghe served for over four years but was not successful in eradicating poverty. How can they achieve something which they couldn’t do over the past four and a half years,” he asked.

Courtesy Adaderana

People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi says certain candidates have are contesting at the presidential election to gain other privileges.

Thirty-five candidates submitted nominations for the Presidential Election 2019, yesterday (07). Owing to the long list of candidates who are running for the presidency this year, the ballot paper could be approximately 2 feet long, according to the Elections Commission.

Commenting on the matter Hettiarachchi pointed out that presidential candidates receive many privileges once they have submitted nominations.

As soon as nominations are submitted, every candidate will receive equal air time on state media free of charge, he said.

Further, every candidate receives free postal service as a privilege as well, he added.

Hettiarachchi states that some candidates take advantage of these privileges to canvass for another candidate.

He stressed that these actions are a misuse of public money and cause major economic disadvantage for the country.

Therefore, it is necessary to be further care should be taken when giving the presidential candidacy to people who have no public base or a political vision, he said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The General Secretary of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Dayasiri Jayasekara says the party will render its support for presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa, not Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

He stated this speaking to the media today (08) following the party’s discussions chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena concerning the upcoming Presidential Election.

The discussions were held at the Presidential Secretariat this morning to talk over which candidate the SLFP would be supporting in the election.

Another discussion took place this evening at the official residence of the General Secretary of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

Following the discussion, he said the President would be announcing the SLFP’s final decision tomorrow (09).Disclaimer: All the comments will be moderated by the AD editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or slanderous. Please avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment and avoid typing all capitalized comments. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by flagging them(mouse over a comment and click the flag icon on the right side). Do use these forums to voice your opinions and create healthy discourse.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප්‍රමුඛ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට සහය දැක්වීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය තීරණය කළ බව, එහි මහලේකම් දයාසිරි ජයසේකර මහතා පවසනවා.

ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන මහලේකම් මහින්ද අමරවීර මහතාගේ නිවසේ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවකින් අනතුරුවයි.

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී සහය දිය යුතු අපේක්ෂකයා තීන්දු කිරීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ විශේෂ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභා රැස්වීමක් පසුගිය 5 වැනිදා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ නිල නිවසේදී පැවති අතර අදාළ තීන්දුව ඊට පසුදින ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කරන සන්ධාන මහලේකම්වරයා ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, අද දක්වා එම තීරණය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් වුණේ නැහැ.

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මන්ත්‍රී කණ්ඩායමේ විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේදී අද දහවල් පැවැත්වුණේ එවන් පසුබිමක් තුළයි.

එම සාකච්ඡාවට මහින්ද අමරවීර, දයාසිරි ජයසේකර, දුමින්ද දිසානායක යන මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වී තිබෙනවා.

ඉන් අනතුරුව එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන මහලේකම් මහින්ද අමරවීර මහතාගේ නිල නිවසේදීද විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවැත්වුණා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ජනතාව කළ යුත්තේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ පාලනය අවසන් කිරීම බව ජාතික සංවිධාන එකමුතුව පවසනවා.

එහි නියෝජිතයින් මේ බව සදහන් කළේ කොළඹ අද පැවැති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින්.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

තමන් ජනාධිපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු මහතා එල්ල කරන චෝදනා ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන බව හිටපු යුද හමුදාපති මහේෂ් සේනානායක මහතා පවසනවා.

කොළඹ අද පැවැති ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළා.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

Tuesday 8th October, 2019

UNP General Secretary and Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has drawn heavy flak over a deplorable statement he happened to make, at the recent UNP convention, where the party’s presidential candidate, Sajith Premadasa, was officially named. Stressing that the UNP had to spare no pains to win the presidential election, Kariyawasam lamented that his party had not been able to take revenge, the way it wanted. His statement was the proverbial smidgeon of dung that spoils a pot of milk. What may be described as a Freudian slip, on his part, took the shine off the event.

Kariyawasam may not be of a violent disposition, but as the General Secretary of a major political party and, most of all, Minister of Education, he must exercise control over his tongue. What if the UNP activists take his statement as a call to arms? There is also the danger of Opposition supporters using it as an excuse to turn on their rivals in case of their victory.

Minister Kariyawasam’s statement evoked our memories of the shocking spree of violence following the 1977 regime change. A graphic description of how savage political violence can get, in this country, which prides itself on being home to four great religions, finds itself in the report of the late Justice T. A. D. Wijesundera Commission, appointed by the Kumaratunga government to probe incidents of political violence, from 1977 to 1994, and make recommendations for the payment of compensation to the victims.

The 1977 general election saw the advent of a UNP government with a steamroller majority, which it abused in every conceivable manner to suppress democratic rights of the Opposition. Its leaders turned a blind eye to the spate of post-election violence unleashed by their supporters, who were given free rein.

Following the 1977 regime change, an estate worker, affiliated to the SLFP-led Opposition, his wife and their young daughter had stones hailing down on their tin-roofed hut. The man went out to see what was happening. A group of sword-wielding pro-government thugs set upon him and severed his head. His wife and daughter rushed out and held his headless corpse, weeping. The mob doused them with petrol and set them on fire. Both suffered serious burn injuries, and only the mother survived to tell the story. There was not a dry eye in the house when she described, before the Wijesundera Commission, her agony.

Opposition activists underwent untold suffering under three UNP governments (1977-1994) and, therefore, it was feared that the change of government would lead to a bloodbath. But newly elected Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga, to her credit, handled the situation well. She transformed all SLFP organisations at the grassroots level into peace committees and ordered them to prevent political violence. Her effort yielded the desired results.

Sajith’s late father, Ranasinghe Premadasa, served as a senior minister, the Prime Minister and the President during the 1977-1994 period, characterised by unprecedented political violence, which the UNP will never be able to live down. Kariyawasam’s aforesaid statement will surely be grist for the mill of the political rivals of Sajith, who cannot be unaware that such irresponsible utterances by party heavyweights are likely to be the kiss of death for his presidential bid. One of his trusted lieutenants has already threatened to put the main Opposition candidate in a ‘jumper’ in case of his victory. With friends like that who needs enemies?

The present government came to power, promising a new political culture. The people voted for it because they detested the suppression of democratic rights of the Opposition under the previous regime. The UNP owes an explanation to the public as regards its General Secretary’s veiled call to arms.

Courtesy The Island

The SLFP would back the SLPP at the upcoming presidential election, but it would be a few days before a final decision in that regard was taken, SLFP Spokesman Weerakumara Dissananayake said, yesterday.

The SLFP was to announce its decision yesterday but it was postponed further following a five-hour-long discussion among UPFA leaders at UPFA General Secretary, Mahinda Amaraweera’s official residence.

Weerakumara said that there were still loose ends and the support of each and every organiser mattered; all differences had to be ironed out before the SLFP’s decision was announced.

Meanwhile, UPFA MP Thilanga Sumathipala said the SLFP would never support the UNP, which was in alliance with the TNA and extremists. There was no way the SLFP would close ranks with the likes of Rishad Bathiudeen.

The SLFP Central Committee, which met on Saturday, authorised President Maithripala Sirisena to decide whom to support.

Weerakumara said that the President had chosen to consult all stakeholders before arriving at a final decision.

President Sirisena and Opposition Leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa have had several rounds of talks in a bid to forge an alliance for the presidential election.

Courtesy HERTS ADVERTISER

Four Sri Lankan nationals have been arrested at Luton Airport under suspicion of ‘being a member of a proscribed organisation’.

A 35-year-old woman, a 39-year-old man, a 35-year-old man and a 41-year-old man were arrested under section 11 of the Terrorism Act after they arrived at London Luton Airport over the weekend.

All four were arrested by counter-terrorism policing officers from Eastern Region Specialist Operation Unit (ERSOU), and the investigation is now being led by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

The woman has since been bailed to a date in early November, pending further enquiries, and the three men remain in custody at a south London police station.

Enquiries into the circumstances are continuing.

Courtesy Adaderana

The railway trade unions have decided to call off their trade union action, this evening (07), stated railway trade unions.

According to the trade unions, the discussions held between President Maithripala Sirisena and representatives of the railway trade unions have been successful.

Reportedly, the President had agreed to intervene to resolve the issues faced by the railway employees.

Accordingly, the strike will be called off this evening.

The railway strike, which commenced on the 25th of September based on several issues, entered its 12th consecutive day today (07).

Subsequently, an Extraordinary Gazette notification was issued declaring the railways an Essential Service was issued with effect from the 4th of October and all leave of railway employees were canceled.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී කුමන පක්ෂයකට සහය දෙන්නේ යන්න පිළිබඳව ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය තවමත් තීරණයක් ගෙන නැහැ.

ඒ පිළිබඳව අවසන් එකගතාවකට පැමිණීම සඳහා අද දිනයේදීත් සන්ධාන මහලේකම් – පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මහින්ද අමරවීරගේ කොළඹ පිහිටි නිවසේ සාකච්ඡා  වට කිහිපයක් පවත්වා තිබෙනවා.

සන්ධාන මහලේකම්වරයා ඊයේ කියා සිටියේ අද දින නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ තීරණය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන බවයි.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඒ පිළිබදව තීරණය තවදුරටත් කල් යනු ඇති බවයි එම පක්ෂ මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වීරකුමාර දිසානායක අද මාධ්‍ය වෙත සඳහන් කළේ.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

අභ්‍යාසලාභීන් ලෙස පත්වීම් ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා, රාජ්‍ය බැංකුවක ප්‍රාදේශීය ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයකට පැමිණි පිරිසකට ප්‍රදේශවාසීන්ගේ විරෝධය එල්ලවීමේ පුවතක් නාත්තන්ඩිය ප්‍රදේශයෙන් වාර්තා වනවා.

පත්වීම් ලබා ගැනීමට පැමිණ ඇත්තේ ගාල්ල, මාතර ඇතුළු ප්‍රදේශවල තරුණ තරුණයින් පිරිසක්.

පුත්තලම නාත්තන්ඩිය ප්‍රදේශයේ පිහිටි අදාළ රාජ්‍ය බැංකුවට පත්වීම් ලබා ගැනීමට පැමිණි පිරිසට ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් විරෝධය පළ කළේ මෙලෙසින්

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ දේශපාලනඥයින් මෙලෙස අදහස් පළ කළා.