Insight By Sunil Kumar

The events of the not too distant past relative to regime change seems to be of little or no  avail relative to Law Enforcement when it comes to the circumstances which forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country. Rajapaksa, long implicated in corruption and draconian measures when he was defense secretary, is also purported to have presided over an economic catastrophe amid allegations of widespread corruption with impunity and the Rajapaksas collectively over periods of political power are accused of bringing the country to her knees economically which appears to have been at least partially set right by present President Ranil Wickremasinghe for which there is much to be thankful for.

However a year later a recent media report suggests that  ” despite some superficial changes, there is no sustained improvement in the country’s economic situation as well as law enforcement that impinges many people’s human rights. The acute shortage of fuel that was the most visible feature of the economic crisis has eased. But more than six million people – nearly 30 percent of the population – are food-insecure and require humanitarian assistance and issues of law enforcement excessively applied in certain parts of the country causing some turmoil which suggest careful addressing by the present administration towards restitution relative to accuracy and verification.

A curious reality has presented itself where the new president, Ranil Wickremesinghe is accused of using the police and military to crack down on protests by some disgruntled citizens which brings to bear many unanswered questions about justification. While the previous government had announced a moratorium on the use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, to the contrary the present administration is alleged to be using the law to detain student protest leaders and curb unrest which appears to be gathering storm clouds on the horizon where the now dormant Aragalaya is said to be mulling their next moved based on related realities which if accurate does not augur well and cautionary measures by the Administratioin in all probabilities is well advised.

There are talks being conducted presently about variations to the Prevention of Terrorism Act and its replacement which could be purposeful towards a viable change in the country’s climate towards unrest and perhaps a welcome one.

Furthermore a revised counter terrorism law proposed by the new administration which would have handed sweeping powers to the police, the military, and the president and created a set of new speech-related offenses has been put on hold where the administration was forced to pause the legislation amid widespread outrage, but the news is that authorities are nevertheless using other laws to clamp down on free speech which could once again throw the Nation into unnecessary turmoil considering the recent past.

Democracy and the freedom of expression which go hand in hand cannot be compromised towards the continuity of an Administration which has done well towards the recovery of the country where its leaders need to consider the importance of the related freedoms that have resulted in the restoration of a normal order which Sri Lanka is veritably enjoying today that should never be put into jeopardy based on infertile insecurities if they exist and the power of the armed forces to fortify them.

The media report referred to previously also alludes to ” The government also continuing to pursue abusive policies against minorities, such as ‘land grabs’ in the North and East, targeting Tamil and Muslim-owned land, including places of worship, on a variety of pretexts” which if verifiable and accurate needs to be seriously looked into towards restitution and correction as once again there appears to be inalienable democratic rights of citizens being impeded although these accusations may not necessarily bear accuracy relative to the true policies of the President known to have a compassionate view on such matters and someone who acts in conventional wisdom in a professional manner.

Sri Lanka remains tentatively in an economic and cost of living crisis affecting many people  especially the impoverished and the high crimes and misdemeanors in the country rife and excessive  where until complete resolution the Administration needs to recognize that upholding rights and pursuing accountability for grave crimes too is essential towards addressing the country’s problems albeit strong arm tactics never the solution .

Anup Sinha

The United States is often referred to as the ‘champion of democracy and human rights’. But over the past two decades, as it has transformed into a multicultural society, the United States has faced numerous domestic human rights problems, including institutionalized racism, hate crimes, and extrajudicial killings by criminals and law enforcement.

Numerous statistics show an alarming increase in gun-related violence, including extrajudicial executions and hate crimes, as well as systematic violations of human rights. Hate crimes, extrajudicial killings, and police violence are daily problems in American society. Additionally, the government is failing to introduce or formulate effective policies. There is a pervasive culture of impunity for extrajudicial killings. The ‘champion’ is seen struggling at home lately.

The concerns of the US and its Western allies about global human rights are well known. The United States has recently raised concerns about human rights, extrajudicial killings and political disappearances in Bangladesh. Among these, it is important to keep the news of the US house. A Bangladeshi man was shot dead by miscreants in the Missouri state of United States of America (USA) early Wednesday.  This is not the first-time armed men have attacked the United States.  The incident took place at 3:30am (Bangladesh time) and it is believed that the motive behind the crime was to rob the victim’s car and cash. The deceased was identified as Romim Uddin Ahmed, aged 22, originally from the Mirsarai upazila in Chittagong district.

According to media report, Romim was working at the gas station when a group of miscreants tried to break into his parked car.  When Romim intervened, a gunman targeted him and fired. He was later taken to the hospital by the police, where he was declared dead, he said. The police are currently looking for a 19-year-old suspect named Jatavian Scott in connection with the incident, he added. However, Romim Uddin Ahmed can be represented as a symbol of the sufferers of the US dire law and security situation disorder.  

Earlier in this year, a young man from the Bangladeshi community, Arif Saeed Faisal living abroad was shot dead by the police in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Then, many termed the death of Faisal, the family’s only child, as a ‘racist act by white police officers’.

On May 24 last year, blood was shed once again in the United States. An 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos killed 19 children and two teachers. After the incident at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Border Patrol agents shot and killed the teenager before police arrived. In other words, another extrajudicial killing took place. A gunman has been shot dead by police near a school in Toronto, Canada, shortly after a shooting at an elementary school in Texas. These are examples of extrajudicial executions that have taken place in the United States and Canada. Both countries are known in the world for their advanced human rights laws.

Such incidents often occur in the United States. Ten people were killed in a shooting at a superstore in Buffalo, New York in May last year, the BBC and AFP reported. In 2012, a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, killing 20 children and six others. Last year, there were 26 such shootings in the United States. In 2020, shootings will surpass road accidents as the leading cause of death for children and teenagers.

According to the Washington Post, an average of 1,000 people is killed by the police in the United States every year. In 2022 alone, the number of police killings in the United States was 1,944, which is one of the top 10 countries in the world. In addition, according to the police violence report, the number of people killed by the police in the United States in 2020 is 1 thousand 124. However, only 16 officers have been registered in the case of these murders. The US think tank ‘Mapping Police’ has shown in a report that international human rights law includes obligations to investigate, prosecute and provide reparations in cases of unlawful use of force by state agencies. But from 2013 to 2020, nearly 99 percent of the killings committed by the police were not held accountable.

This US concern about human rights and democracy is certainly positive for the consolidation of human rights of people in third world countries. But is there a chance to see this struggle of the United States in the establishment of democracy and human rights from a neutral point of view? On the opposite side of the headache of the United States in protecting human rights, the United States has its own interests and various strategies to fulfill them.

For decades, the US has killed thousands of civilians in bloody wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan to fight terrorism, protect human rights and establish democracy. In addition, there are numerous accusations against the US of white supremacy, gun violence and serious human rights violations.

For years, the United States has waged wars in various countries around the world in the name of fighting terrorism. It has killed more civilians than counter-terrorism, increased the number of refugees, created new factions and continued civil war for years. According to Brown University’s Cost of War Project’s ground-breaking report, the US has spent an estimated eight trillion dollars on the ‘War on Terror’ project, killing more than 900,000 people and displacing millions. The enormous burden imposed on people’s lives and economy has led to the creation of new militant organizations every year, in addition to the reorganization of various armed organizations, including Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Taliban, instead of eradicating terrorism. In the name of national security and the war on terror, the United States has spread a web of global human rights abuses for decades.

The United States continues to kill suspected terrorists in these countries, including Yemen and Somalia, many of them through drone strikes. On September 30, 2011, an Obama-ordered drone strike in Yemen killed radical religious leader and al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki. The man was the first US citizen to be the victim of ‘target killing’ in US drone strikes. That day the man was ‘extrajudicially killed’ in defiance of all constitutional processes. At least 10 civilians, including women and children, were killed in a drone attack in Kabul in September 2021. From 2010 to 2020, drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia have killed at least 16,000 people, including more than 2,000 civilians.

Racial and racial discrimination is an inherent feature of American society. Black citizens in the country have been victims of terrible discrimination for a long time. Black African Americans are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white Americans, according to the Washington Post. However, the number of blacks in the United States is less than 14 percent of the total population. The United Nations cited it as an ‘example of slavery and racial segregation’.

The United States has always been vocal about free press and freedom of expression. But everyone knows about the cruel fate of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks in the country. The US crackdown on Assange has hampered free journalism and the free flow of information there.

The killing of Bangladeshi Ramim and Faisal by police after the suffocation of black man George Floyd—sets a precedent for extrajudicial killings and human rights violations in the United States. The time has come for the United States to focus on improving its own internal law and order rather than worrying about the protection of democracy and human rights in other countries.

Any extrajudicial execution is wrong. Such extrajudicial killings occur in many countries. But the US lacks the courage to take such steps there. It is right to argue that countries like the US or Canada should now examine themselves in the light of recent events. It is past time to change the lens through which they see the human rights situation in Bangladesh. When the United States itself violates human rights, it loses its ability to supervise others in the same way.

Anup Sinha is a researcher and freelance columnist specializing in South Asian Affairs with a particular focus on the Rohingya issue, India-Bangladesh relations, water sharing, etc. He has an MSS degree in International Relations from the University of Dhaka.

Pathik Hasan  Dhaka based security and strategic affairs analyst

Foreign diplomats become active when the election time approaches. Their activity becomes like a political party. While the ruling party protested this breach of etiquette, the opposition parties rightly took their word for it. Sometimes prompting them to be more active. They are also seen going to the embassy and paying some things.

Analysts say that according to the Vienna Convention friendly relations are developed between different countries by following certain rules. which is universal. But various influential countries ignore these rules. The activities of the diplomats of these countries involve interference in the internal affairs of a country. It is a question to the activist diplomats – people are being killed in America every now and then. Do they ever make statements? Has the United Nations ever issued a statement? Why do people die in America? A Bangladeshi boy named Faisal was killed in Cambridge, did they say how far the boy’s investigation has gone? Or have the ambassadors teamed up to make a statement? Why don’t you ask them?’

Diplomats in Bangladesh are not paying attention to the Vienna Convention

The activities being carried out by the diplomats of different countries in Bangladesh do not fall under the Vienna Convention. Their activities are not within the Vienna Convention. They do not follow any convention in their activities in Bangladesh. There is an embassy of Bangladesh where the movement is going on in France. But they did not make any statement. I don’t understand one thing, how many people have lost their lives, how many people have been arrested, what is the dire situation, there is no statement from any embassy. We have never made any statement on their internal affairs. Even the US and European embassies have not made any statement on the French incident.

But why this is happening in the case of Bangladesh, we dance on their (foreign diplomats) heads. It is our fault that they dare to do these things. for us We have destroyed our own self-respect. They have no personality. Politicians have destroyed the dignity of our country. We felt extremely bad after seeing these things and “How dare they do these things?” They make statements as if our country runs under them. Today, if we were a strong country like the United States, they would not have dared to do these things. The activities of foreign diplomats in Bangladesh are clearly a violation of the Vienna Convention. Diplomats have no place for activism. In any country in the world, they cannot and do not use it like this. Maybe they do in Africa, I don’t know for sure. Earlier they colonized there, plundered. White Europeans looted Africa. Even if they cannot loot now, they want to show that they are better than us. what foreign diplomats are doing or saying here, they should not. We are very cautious and DIPLOMATS have not taken inconsideration OF MORAL OBLIGATION OF MAINTING THE POLICY oof ‘noninterference’ And this is the primary mistake. They should not be allowed to do this.

What the Vienna Convention says

But not only the last election, but foreign diplomats are seen to be active when there is a political crisis in Bangladesh. The government party did not pay much attention to these activities. But the opposition has always been supportive. Section 1 of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention states that persons who enjoy diplomatic status and privileges in another country shall be bound by the laws and policies of that country. Besides, they cannot interfere in any internal affairs of that country.

This section has two more sub-sections. For example, it is stated in subsection number two of the article, all types of office work of diplomats, which the sending country will assign to the diplomatic mission, must be done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the receiving country or related ministries. And in subsection number three, diplomats cannot use the premises of their mission office for any purpose not related to their activities. The agreement further states that diplomatic relations shall be based on mutual consent between the countries. In addition, one of the most important clauses of the Vienna Convention, or Article 9, states that any country can declare a diplomat of another country employed in that country as ‘persona non grata’ or inadmissible without giving any reason. The diplomat can be declared inadmissible before he reaches the country concerned. Any person serving in a country’s diplomatic mission, including the head of that mission, can be declared inadmissible. In this case, the sending country will either dismiss or withdraw the appointed diplomat. If the country fails to withdraw its diplomat in due time, the receiving country can deny the diplomat its special status and security.

Romim Uddin Ahmed and Faisal’s assassination and the politics of human rights

In the early hours of Wednesday, criminals in the Missouri state of the United States of America (USA) shot and killed Romim Uddin Ahmed, a Bangladeshi man. On December 4, Bangladeshi student Syed Faisal Arif was shot dead by the police in Boston, USA. In this incident, new questions have been raised about the country’s human rights situation. In the country which is concerned about the human rights of different countries of the world, and imposes various restrictions as a punishment, innocent people are being killed by the police in that country; But there is no trial for him. Every year in the United States, an average of 1,000 people lose their lives at the hands of the police.” This is Washington Post news, not mine. So, when their own country is in such a situation, how can they say that Bangladesh does not have human rights. why the number of police brutality in Bangladesh is so high, it is not even close to it. Just one or two makes a big stir. But every year in the United States, thousands of people are victims of gun violence. because there are not so many barriers to obtaining a gun permit in the US, people are easily killed there. Recently, a six-year-old child shot and killed a teacher. 98.1 percent of those killed by the police in the country do not face any trial. No one has to stand in court for this. Apart from the number of people who are dying on average, thousands of people are being murdered and murdered.

‘Would the United States allow meddling in internal affairs?’

No country in the world is completely accurate. But will the United States allow diplomats from other countries to comment on their internal affairs?’. diplomats are able to speak because of this; As they are being given a platform. They are holding a press conference of their own accord, not like that. They are speaking because they are given the opportunity. It may also be that the politics of this division serves their interests. the opposition party also went to the elections with the blessings of foreigners. So, their interference has increased unexpectedly. We saw in 2018 when Barnicutt said, BNP should participate in elections without a caretaker government; Then BNP went to the election. The issue of political fuel in the unethical speech of the diplomats cannot be completely ruled out. But a diplomat has to carry out his activities outside the country according to the Vienna Convention even if he has political motivation. We invite them to different places, when they meet the leaders of the government and opposition parties, it is also promoted. Our people are more interested in this campaign than diplomats. For these reasons, we ourselves cannot avoid responsibility. when diplomats work in different countries, they work silently. when they (diplomats) meet a political leader in different countries, it is not publicized. Because it is their routine work. But we bring them into the campaign for our own sake. when ambassadors meet political leaders in India, there is no news. we think that diplomats should comment more consciously when there are questions about the internal affairs of other countries.

විදෙස් බලය සංවිධානයෙන් නිවේදනයක් 

උතුර සහ දකුණ අතර පවතින දුරස්ථභාවය නැති කිරීම සදහා විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඇතුළු සියලුම ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කළ යුතු බවට අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර යාපනයට ගොස් කළ ප්‍රකාශය අගය කැන නමුත්, ඩිජිටල්කරණ ක්‍රියාවලිය ප්‍රායෝගිකව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට කිසිදු පියවරක් නොගැනීම කණගාටුවට කරුණක් බව විදෙස් බලය සංවිධානය අවධාරණය කරයි.

විදෙස් බලය සංවිධානයේ කැදවුම්කරු ජනක බලල්ල මහතා මාධ්‍යයට ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබාදෙමින් මේ බව සදහන් කර තිබේ.

වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වන ඒ මහතා මෙසේද ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටී.

විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ පවතින ජාවාරම් වලක්වන්න, මේ ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ කටයුතු ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කරන්න කියලා අපි මාස ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. අපි දිගින් දිගටම කරන බලපෑම නිසාදෝ ඇමැතිවරයා යාපනයට ගිහින් උතුර දකුණ අතර තියෙන දුරස්ථභාවය අඩු කරන්න විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඇතුළු සියලුම ක්ෂේත්‍රයන් ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කරනවා කියලා තියෙනවා

ආණ්ඩුව පැත්තෙනුත් මේ වන විට ඩිජිටල්කරණ ක්‍රියාවලිය වේගවත් කිරීම සදහා වැඩපිළිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අදහස් කරන බව ප්‍රකාශ කර තිනෙවා. ඒක හොද තත්වයක්. හැබැයි අපිට ඒ ප්‍රකාශ දිහා බලාගෙන සතුටු වෙන්න බැහැ. මොකද මේවා ප්‍රායෝගිකව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න වැඩපිළිවෙලක් අවශ්‍ය වෙනවා. ඒ වැඩපිළිවෙල ආරමභ කරන්නේ නැතිව, නිකම් වචනවලට පමණක් මේවා සීමා කිරීමෙන් කිසිම අයෙක්ට සෙතක් වෙන්නේ නෑ. අන්තිමේදී අපි හැමෝම රැවටීමට ලක්වීම පමණයි සිදුවන්නේ. මේ නිසා තමයි අපි දිගින් දිගටම ඉල්ලන්නේ මේ විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කිරීම සදහා ප්‍රායෝගික වැඩපිලිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න කියලා.

මේ වෙලාවේ මිනිස් ජාවාරම්වලට සම්බන්ධ පුද්ගලයින් කලබල වෙලා තියෙනවා. විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කරන්න කියලා අපි දිගින් දිගටම කරන බලපෑම සමහරුන්ට හිසරදයක් බවට පත්වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. මොකද මේ ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කළොත් ජාවරම්කරුවන්ට යන එන මං නැතිවෙනවා. ඒ නිසාද කොහෙද අපිටත් නොයෙක් චෝදනා කරන්න සමහරු අසාර්ථක උත්සාහයන්වල නිරතවෙනවා

මොනවා වුනත් විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කරන්න කියන බලපෑම අපි අඛණ්ඩව සිදු කරනවා. අපි ජාවාරම්කරුවන්ටවත්, ආණ්ඩුවේ මර්දන හස්තයන්ටවත් බය නෑ. ඒ නිසා විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්‍රය ඩිජිටල්කරණයට ලක් කරන තෙක් අපි අපේ බලපෑම අඛණ්ඩව කරගෙන යනවා. 

Dr. Ibrahim Islam

Violence, hatred, division – these are unpleasant words. Its meaning can be found in the dictionary. Synonyms of those words can be found in the dictionaries of other languages of the world. The meaning of those words is the same in the dictionary of all languages of the world. When students and teachers go to the interpretation of those words, they realize that there should not be an environment of violence, hatred and division in human society. But the question is, should we all be involved in action? The atmosphere of hatred and division can still be observed in the world because of the absence. Due to such an environment, not only poor countries but also developed countries are getting polluted. Society with few people, country with many people. That is to say, if people are not free from the smallness of hatred and division, how will the society and the country be suitable for people to live in? We know that politicians are very influential among people. But if the politicians for the sake of power incite hatred and division among the people, then where will the situation stand? Society and the country will be suitable for people to live? In the machinations of unscrupulous politicians, minorities are persecuted due to differences in language, caste or religion. A similar phenomenon can be observed in our neighboring country India. The architects of the country wanted to build India as a democratic and secular state. For this reason, the constitution of the country of many religions, castes and languages has spoken about the philosophy of unity in diversity. But now a different picture is being observed under BJP rule. The politics of hate and division are now being given priority. As a result, the plight of minorities is now in India.

In Assam, India, some complaints have been lodged against the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma for making ‘hateful’ statements against Bengali-speaking Muslims. On Monday July 17, the first-line opposition parties of Assam made those allegations. However, Congress has not yet opened its mouth on this. Note that the Muslims of Assam are referred to as ‘Miya’ in contempt. Chief Minister Vishwasharma ‘Miya’ issued a statement last week blaming the monopoly of farmers and traders for the rise in prices of vegetables. Vishwa Sharma urged the youth to engage in agriculture and other commercial activities by dismissing the ‘Miya’ Muslims. Minority organization ‘Assam Minority Struggle Parishad’ filed the first complaint against the Chief Minister in Central Assam’s Nagaon Sadar Police Station. He was accused of creating discord and enmity between the ‘Miya’ and Assamese communities. Independent member of Assam Rajya Sabha Ajit Kumar Bhuiyan also filed a complaint against the Chief Minister at Dispur police station. In the complaint, he said, the Chief Minister has spread tension in the society by targeting a particular community. He also demanded the arrest of the Chief Minister citing specific laws of the Supreme Court to prevent such communal speech and tension. Meanwhile, the Assam State Committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) has lodged a complaint against the Chief Minister with the Latasil police station in the capital Guwahati. The party’s state secretary Suprakash Talukder and central committee member Isfakur Rahman complained. The two Left leaders alleged that the Chief Minister had made communal and hate speech aimed at creating division and tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Besides, the Assam branch of Trinamool Congress has written to the Chief Justice about this. Trinamool Congress State President Ripun Borar said the Chief Minister’s statement about the ‘Miya’ community shows that the failure to stop the rise in the price of essential commodities in Assam and the attempt to blame the Muslim community and dismiss the Assamese youth for it proves that the BJP and its leaders are completely dependent on the politics of division. It should be noted that Mehbub Mufti, the leader of the Democratic Party, gave his first speech on Sunday opposing the comments of the Chief Minister of Assam about Muslims. Hyderabad lawmaker Asaduddin Wai also expressed anger at Biswa Sharma’s statement. Some leaders of India’s opposition parties even complained against Biswa Sharma’s communal and hate speech. Now it remains to be seen how much it can be remedied.

Sectarianism and hate speech are emerging as a major crisis for India. The Muslim community has largely been excluded from the cattle trade in India’s Uttar Pradesh and the family leather trade in the state’s Kanpur district. Many of them came to West Bengal and started business. But this is the first time that the Chief Minister of an East Indian state has announced an ‘economic boycott’. Observers believe that the business and life of the minority Muslim community may be affected after such an announcement by Bish Sharma. Realizing how damaging the politics of communal hatred and division can be to the minority citizens of a country. Such a picture of a supposedly large democratic and secular state like India tells us how far people are still from humane society! Being a ‘real man’ has become the greatest task for the human race in the current civilization. But the big people of big countries are now busy building big weapons. Where do they have time to think about being human?

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The suspect Roshan Dissanayaka was produced before the Naula (Paldeniya) Magistrate’s Court on charges of threatening a Member of Parliament, breaching Parliamentary privileges and criminal intimidation.

Senior State Counsel Shaminda Wickrema appearing for the prosecution submitted to Court that the suspect had sent threatening messages to the mobile phone of State Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon on May 10, 2022, immediately after the death of MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security officer and the aftermath of the 9th of May when the State Minister’s house had already been burned to the ground. He further said the suspect had also posted threatening facebook posts even after his statement was recorded by police.

The Senior State Counsel further submitted that the constitutional right to freedom of speech does not extend to illegal conduct and objected to granting bail to the suspect. He further argued that the suspect had violated all four conditions set out in the Bail Act. He argued that breach of Parliamentary privileges could also be tried in parallel by the Supreme Court.

Defence Counsel who appeared on behalf of the suspect argued that the incident happened over a dispute between the Minister and the suspect and that the suspect was not part of the Aragalaya.

After considering the submissions made by the both parties, Magistrate Nishadi Chandrawansa refused to grant bail to the suspect and remanded him till August 3.

Senior State Counsel Shaminda Wickrema appeared for the prosecution.

Attorney-at-law Indika Senevirathna appeared for the suspect. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

Courtesy Adaderana

Restrictions imposed on imported goods will be further relaxed later today (July 20), State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says.

Thereby, import restrictions on 328 more items will be eased.

The lawmaker said the gazette notification announcing the import restriction relaxation would be published tonight.

The announcement comes a month after the government relaxed import restrictions on 300 other items including electronic equipment, sanitaryware and food items with effect from June 09.

However, import restrictions on vehicles are unlikely to be lifted anytime soon. Speaking on the matter last month, Siyambalapitiya had said vehicle imports could not be allowed yet under the existing economic conditions.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Customs recently raised concerns with the Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Economic & Physical Plans about reaching its target revenue as the task would prove difficult as long as the import restrictions on vehicles are in place.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Arindam Bagchi, has revealed India’s willingness to further expand financial economic relations between Sri Lanka and India.

Speaking on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India, Bagchi said We would like to steepen this financial economic connection, but I think it’ll be premature for me to say when the visit is tomorrow”.

Bagchi made these remarks while commenting on trading in national currencies between India and Sri Lanka at a media briefing held on Thursday (20 July), and commended the fact that Sri Lanka has already notified the Indian Rupee as a designated foreign currency in its system.

The Ministry Spokesman noted, however, that how India, as a nation, deals with the concerned matter in the future, and how they take it forward, depends on those involved in India’s private and trade sectors.

In terms of trading in national currencies, Sri Lanka has already notified Indian Rupee as a designated foreign currency in their system. How we take that forward depends on our private sector and people who engage in the trade sector. We would like to of course steepen this kind of financially economic connections, but I think it’ll be premature for me to say when the visit is tomorrow”.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will conduct training programmes for 300 Agriculture Extension Officers in Sri Lanka under an European Union (EU) funded project in order to boost Sri Lanka’s rice sector, the FAO announced.

The programme comes as part of an innovative project titled RiceUP, launched by the FAO in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Mahaweli Authority in Sri Lanka (MASL), with funding of €4 million from the European Union (EU).

The project aims at addressing the threat to food security caused by two consecutive seasons of poor harvests in 2021-2022. With a nearly 40% drop in paddy production in 2022, Sri Lanka’s rice ecosystem is vulnerable and requires immediate attention, the FAO mentioned.

Accordingly, the FAO and its partners will conduct training programmes for Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs) on Integrated Plant Nutrient Management (IPNM) in four districts: Ampara, Badulla, Hambantota, and Polonnaruwa. 

The training will equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to guide paddy farmers on soil management and the optimal use of organic and chemical fertilizers to enhance crop yield while reducing chemical dependency.

The initial training session for Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs) on IPNM practices was launched today (20), at the Rice Research and Development Institute in Batalagoda, according to the FAO.

This session marks the beginning of a series of five training programs, aiming to train a total of 300 AEOs from the selected districts. The Training Manual, developed collaboratively with international and national consultants, the Department of Agriculture, MASL, and the University of Peradeniya will serve as the cornerstone of these training sessions.

IPNM is a sustainable land management practice that ensures soil quality, prevents degradation, and maximizes crop productivity while safeguarding the environment, it added, highlighting that the FAO’s induction of IPNM, coupled with the provision of urea fertilizer to smallholder farmers in selected districts, is a response to the challenges faced by farmers in accessing essential fertilizers and maintaining food security.
 
By adopting IPNM and accessing urea fertilizer, smallholder paddy farmers can reduce costs and improve productivity, leading to better profitability and resilience to future shocks”, it said.

Through the implementation of sustainable farming practices, including the safe and efficient use of fertilizer and quality seed, RiceUP aims to enhance productivity, food security, and livelihoods in Sri Lanka’s paddy farming sector, according to the FAO.

Furthermore, FAO remains dedicated to ensuring the long-term sustainability and resilience of Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector together with its partners, it added.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Tamil Seperatist Movement alleges that    there was an ancient kovil at Kurundi called Kurundumale Aadi Sivan Aiyanar Kovil.  Tamil Separatist Movement complained    on 1 July 2021, that they found the lingam   missing from the site and that a trident  had been damaged.Sivan Aiyanar Kovil Society Chief Weerasingham Kaleichelwan, told the newspaper, The Morning on 26.6.2022 that villagers had long worshipped at this kovil but they were not allowed to enter the site after the war ended.

In the same month TNA MP Sumanthiran filed a fundamental rights petition in Supreme Court saying that the Tamil devotes had been prevented from worshiping at the kovil and also that damage had been done to the kovil. A trident had been broken and thrown away.   

Santhabodhi was asked, was there any such kovil. This is a new story, he replied, but   the pilimage has been turned into a kovil.  When conservation started at Kurundi    TNA had held a puja at Kurundi and sent   photos to the media, pretending that they were old photographs.

 During the excavation an exquisitely carved octagonal Yupa Gala, the central pillar of the early stupas, was found. Tamil politicians had leapt on this discovery stating that a Siva Linga had been found at the Kurundumale site. Yupa Gal are found all over the country, they are well known, observed the amused Ven. Santhabodhi.The Tamil Separatist Movement   had also attempted to build another kovil near Kurundi in 1981.

The tussle between the Tamil Separatist Movement and the Kurundi Buddhist Movement is continuing. The attempt to enshrine relics at Kurundi in June 2023 was blocked by Tamil disruptors. The Buddhist group are seen on camera, passively standing by.  They did not proceed with the ceremony, probably because they needed a tranquil atmosphere for enshrining relics.  But it looked like a defeat for the Buddhists.

Realizing this, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya announced that a 50-member group led by its leader Udaya Gammanpila would visit the Kurundi temple. they would also visit Nedunkerni viharaya, also targeted .Shanthibodhi thera had come under tremendous pressure  after the utterances of the Presidnet. On 21.6.2023, they went to Kurundi in a large group, accompanied by the Maha Sangha. They circled the stupa, carrying flowers, chanting pirit and looking purposeful.

The Tamil Separatist Movement remained undeterred. They knew they had the President on their side. On July 7, 2023 Viharadhipathi Santhabodhi   was informed that Tamil MPs   planned to celebrate Pongal   at Kurundi.  He informed the police.  Police had asked for an order from the Magistrate to stop this. Magistrate refused.

MPs Selvarajah Gajendran and Dharmalingam Siddharthan with a large group went to Kurundi on     14.7.2023 and started pongal preparations. The police intervened and stopped the puja. The   Hindu group turned aggressive and threatened the police, who remained firm. The Hindu   group chanted prayers, smashed many coconuts, offered flowers and left.

Santhabodhi sees the Tamil opposition to Kurundi as a part of the Eelam strategy. Their interest in Kurundi is political. He stated that not only the MPs, but the Tamil officials in the area are also working toward Eelam.  At the start the villagers were friendly and sociable with us later the Tamil politicians turned them against us.  Unlike the Sinhala public, the Tamil public is very, very   scared of the Tamil officials and   politicians. They never oppose them. They obey them implicitly.

The villagers living around Kurundi are not against Kurundi conservation,  said Santhabodhi. We have no problem with the villagers.I can definitely say that we have had no clash with the villagers. They come to Kurundi. They provide   Gokkola and plantain leaves for our functions. They know a little Sinhala.  Villagers respect Buddhism.     Before there war there has been a monk resident at Kurundi .They have given Dana to him.

Government officials, army and police working in Mullativu, come to Kurundi when they are free and have a bath and a chat. Tamil boys also come. We all meet at Kurundi, said Santhabodhi.   But after Tamil Separatist Movement   came on the scene, things changed.

The pro-Tamil anti Kurundi cause   was supported in Colombo too. Spectator” writing in Talk at the café” in Sunday Times, ridiculedSarath Weerasekera. He reported that Sarath Weerasekera and a group of his supporters had      attempted to intrude into the   inquiry held by the Mullativu Magistrate at the Kurundi site. Sarath attempted to make representations   .The judge refused to accept his representation, pointing out that it was a judicial inquiry. Sarath and his group then left the scene, said Spectator.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka also publicly criticized Sarath Weerasekera on the Kurundi matter. The BASL said in a media statement, that the statement made by MP Sarath Weerasekera in Parliament, on 07 July 2023 on the Kurundi matter was an unfounded, brazen attack on the judiciary.

The Buddhist Lawyers Association, after some delay, came to the support of Weerasekera .they issued a statement saying we note with disgust that the BASL was prompt in issuing a statement with regard to a speech made by Parliamentarian Sarath Weerasekera, calling it a brazen attack on the judiciary, when he was expressing his views on Kurundi Vihara.

BASL did not respond in the same manner when MP Sumanthiran, speaking during the debate on the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution Bill in the Parliament, had stated: It’s not only the parliament that swings like a pendulum, so does the Supreme Court.  Change that Supreme Court also. Ask them to go home.”  The BASL did not complain about this said the Buddhist lawyers.  

 Sarath Weerasekera also responded. He rejected the allegation that his speech in Parliament on 07 July was a brazen attack on the judiciary. I know how to conduct myself in Parliament, he said. I think your press release was to show your solidarity with the lawyers in Mullativu. Why didn’t BASL issue a statement condemning TNA MP Sumanthiran when he in parliament, accused the Supreme Court of swinging like a pendulum, continued Sarath.

UN special rapporteur Monica Pinto submitted a paper on Sri Lankan judiciary to the UNHRC where she leveled many charges at the judiciary. The BASL has not made any statement against this derogatory report.  BASL should visit the North and observe how the Buddhist ruins are destroyed and Chaithyas razed to the ground. The archaeological officers are threatened with death. Court cases filed, with the help of Mullativu lawyers to delay renovations and then destroy what has been already done, concluded Sarath.   (Continued)

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

I believe I’m alone in receiving unsolicited electronic mail and text communications often.

Despite internet service providers’ best efforts to keep spammers out of their customers’ accounts, some unscrupulous people manage to slip through the cracks.

On this basis, internet service providers’ efforts should be lauded.

On the same point, despite the users’ protests and dismay, mobile telephone service providers use the facility to increase income in their coffers while being a pain to the customers.

And the authorities’ failure to take steps to prevent subscribers from receiving unsolicited short messages is perplexing.

I’m sure many people, like me, keep their phones on 24 hours a day, seven days a week for numerous reasons, but not necessarily to get unsolicited texts at an obscene hour.

As a result, I believe that the government must investigate this matter thoroughly to find a solution to the problem of mobile phone service companies spamming their clients without their consent while profiting from it.

One reasonable solution to this problem would be to require mobile phone service providers to share their profits with their consumers, as many social media companies do these days.

Each time an If an unwanted short message is received, his or her account will be credited with a particular amount of credit, either based on the number of characters in the message or a flat but reasonable credit amount.

Many other parts of the world already have such regulatory structures in place, so why not Sri Lanka, too?

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.

MOD  Media Centre

Deputy High Commissioner of the Indian High Commission in Colombo Vinod Kurian Jacob paid a farewell call on the State Minister of Defence, Hon. Pramitha Bandara Thennakoon at the State Minister’s Office today (Jul 18).

The State Minister extended a warm welcome to the Indian Deputy High Commissioner and later had a cordial discussion with him.

The outgoing Indian diplomat conveyed his gratitude to the State Minister for his cooperation and assistance in maintaining the existing cordial bilateral military diplomacy.

During the occasion, State Minister presented a memento to the outgoing Deputy High Commissioner of India.

Assistant Defence Advisor of the Indian HC Lt. Col. Puneet Sushil was also present at the occasion.

Manusha Media

විදේශ රැකියා සදහා පිටත්වීටම අපේක්ෂිත ශ්‍රමිකයින්ගේ සුදුසුකම්, රැකියා අවස්ථාවන් එකිනෙකට සම්බන්ධ කරනු ලබන අන්තර්ජාලය පදනම් කරගත් වැඩසටහනක්  (IGRS) සංක්‍රමණය පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතනයේ සහාය ඇතිව ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබූ අතර කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා සහ සංක්‍රමණය පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතනයේ ආසියානු පැසිපික් කලාපීය අධ්‍යක්ෂ Sarah Lou Arriola අතින් එම වැඩසටහන යාපනය මුට්‍රවේලි ක්‍රීඩාංගනයේදී පැවති ග්ලෝකල් ෆෙයාර් 2023 දී එය එළි දක්වනු ලැබීය
කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍යාංශය, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශය සහ සංක්‍රමණය පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතනය එක්ව අන්තර්ජාලය පදනම් කරගත් මෙ වැඩසටහන සකස් කර තිබේ.

මෙම වැඩසටහන අනුව විදේශ රැකියා සදහා පිටත්ව යාමට අපේක්ෂිත ශ්‍රමිකියන්ගේ සුදුසුකම් සහ විදේශ රැකියා අවස්ථාවන් සදහා අවශ්‍ය කරනු ලබන සුදුසුකම් සමපාත කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනු ලබන අතර, රැකියාවක් සදහා අවශ්‍ය සුදුසුකම් සම්පූර්ණ කර නොමැති රැකියා අපේක්ෂිතයින් වෘත්තීය පුහුණු ආයතනවලට යොමු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගැනීමටද නියමිතය.

ලෝකයේ වැඩිම ශ්‍රමික ඉල්ලුමක් සහිත ක්ෂේත්‍ර විස්සක් මූලික අදියරේදී මේ යටතට ඇතුළත් කරනු ලැබ ඇත. ඒ අතරම පළමු අදියරේදී විදේශ රැකියා අපේක්ෂිත රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සේවකයින්ට රැකියාවක් සදහා අවශ්‍ය කරනු ලබන සුදුසුකම් සම්පූර්ණ කරගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය මගපෙන්වීම ලබාදීමට නියමිතය.

මෙම වැඩසටහන ජනගත කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට සංක්‍රමණය පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතනයේ මෙරට ප්‍රධානී සරත් දාස් මහතාද එක්ව සිටියේය.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Dhaka, July 12: Bangladesh is not in a Chinese debt trap, says its  Foreign Minister A.K.Abdul Momen. In an article in Daily Sun, Momen said that the single-biggest bilateral lender is Japan.

Unfortunately, there is a wrong perception among few US lawmakers and officials regarding Bangladesh. They believe that Bangladesh is moving towards the Chinese debt-trap as a few Chinese companies are engaged in constructing a few mega projects in Bangladesh. Since the Chinese companies were lowest in price in submitting international public tenders, they got the job. For example, they got the job of constructing the railway line over the Padma Bridge. Bangladesh government is constructing it with its own money, but engaged a Chinese company to do the job,” Momen said.

The same is the case with the Bangabandhu Tunnel in Chittagong. Unfortunately, nobody mentions about Japan, South Korea or India who are also involved in constructing projects in Bangladesh. Japan is constructing the 3^rd terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka and also the Dhaka Metro Rail Project plus constructing a few dedicated highways and byways.”

Till to-date, as a single country, Bangladesh borrowed maximum loans from the international agencies like the World Bank, ADB, IMF etc. amounting to 61%. It borrowed 17% from a single country and it is Japan. In fact, the total loan received from China is around 4.0 billion, which is less than 1% of its GDP.”

Till today American investment in Bangladesh is the highest and it is around 21%, followed by Japan, South Korea, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Recently many more countries showed interest in investing in Bangladesh and among them Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Qatar, Australia and China are major ones.”

Foreign Policy

On foreign policy Momen said: A few countries namely the USA, India, Japan, Australia and EU countries are trying to contain the rise and spread of China. Bangladesh is very strategically located, in between China and India, and it maintains a very balanced and non-aligned foreign policy. The cardinal principle of its foreign policy is friendship to all, malice towards none”, and that  was laid down by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.”

Recently Bangladesh announced its Indo-Pacific Outlook in which it proposes to have open, free, secure, inclusive, and rules-based navigation for all. Both India and Japan have similar views.”

Non-Communal

Bangladesh maintains absolute religious harmony and tolerance, and it has thousands of media, and its press is very vibrant and free,” the Foreign Minister said.

The population size of Bangladesh is half of that of USA, yet it has almost equal number of dailies in Bangladesh, and its media and social media are hyperactive. Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world (3,300 people per square miles) and is a Least Developed (LDC) country; yet its labor force maintains a comfortable life, much better vis-à-vis that of other LDCs.”

Human Rights

On human rights, he said: When the UN Special Rapporteur reported that few NGOs of Bangladesh claimed that 76 people were kidnapped or subjected to enforced disappearance in Bangladesh. The government took it seriously. On investigation it was found that out of these 76 persons, 8 are living in their own homes with their families, two are Indian nationals living in their own country, and 28 are absconding from justice. Unfortunately, police don’t have any complaints from the rest of 38 persons. Neither the Civil Society nor the Human Rights organizations could provide any information about the rest.”

When their contacts of the family members were asked to submit more detail information, they failed to do it. Instead, they claimed that the government is harassing them. Therefore, police have stopped going to their homes, and instead, it sent them letters with a request to submit more details about their whereabouts at the time of missing.”

It is reported that many may leave their homes or family due to family squabbles, few may be for financial and work pressures, joblessness, etc. Bangladesh government does not like to see any of its citizens to be missing or killed extra judicially.”

Killings in the US

Alluding to conditions in the US, Momen said: It is unfortunate that each year almost a thousand people are killed in USA without due process of law by security personnel in their line of duty. No one in the USA would like to see gun violence in schools, malls, clubs, parks or open spaces; yet it happens. Similarly, no one in Bangladesh wants to see any of its citizens getting kidnapped, yet it happens. Whenever such happens, government immediately takes all necessary corrective measures.”

Free and Fair Elections  

Assuring free and fair parliamentary elections, he said: The current government of Sheikh Hasina is the crusader of democracy, human rights and justice. In 1971, when majority party of Pakistan was denied to form the government, the Bangladeshi people sacrificed 3 million lives to uphold democracy, justice, and Human Rights.”

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation suffered imprisonment intermittently over 14 years to establish democracy, people’s right to vote, right to food and shelter, and he spearheaded a campaign against corruption, extremism, and terrorism. Following the footsteps of her father, Sheikh Hasina has also suffered pains to establish right to vote, right to food and shelter, right to freedom of Press and media. In fact, she is currently the only head of the government in the world who suffered so much to establish democracy, Human Rights and Justice. She lost her entire family, her father, her mother, her 3 brothers, including a 10-year old brother; totalling 18 members were assassinated mercilessly in a military quo in 1975.”

It is Sheikh Hasina who endured prison, harassment and deprivation to restore multiparty democracy in Bangladesh. Democracy is in her blood and in the vein of her party, the largest party of Bangladesh – the Bangladesh Awami League (AL). The AL is always voted to power with people’s mandate, not through backdoor like few other parties of Bangladesh.”

She is committed to a free and fair” election and in order to have a free and fair election, she has instituted (1) biometric photo voter ID (to avoid fake votes), (2) transparent ballot boxes so that no one can stuff ballots before the voting starts, and (3) she established a very powerful, and highly independent Bangladesh Election Commission. It has broad power and it is responsible to conduct elections without favor or fear. They have the authority to suspend, transfer or terminate any officials both civilian and security if they find any interference or partisanship. More importantly, they have the power to cancel election in any centre if they are convinced that fraud or muscle power is used and vote rigging occurred.”

Over the last 15 years, AL conducted thousands of elections and except a microscopic few, by and large, elections were free and fair. Only recently, Mayoral elections in five cities were conducted and each of these elections was free, fair and even non-violent. The Election Commission deserves thanks for a splendid job. However, it is a fact that even if the Election Commission, or the government of Bangladesh are committed for a free, fair, and non-violent election, without sincere commitment of all political parties, one cannot guarantee a non-violent election in Bangladesh.”

If the opposition parties like the BNP or the Jamaat boycott the election, or burn down the election centers, ransack the ballot boxes, create roadblocks to voters, burn-down public and private buses, trains, boats, vehicles as they did in 2014 and 2018, you cannot expect a non-violent election.”

Therefore, it is imperative that all parties participate and sincerely commit for a free, fair and non-violent election.”

Relations with US

Despite ups and downs, Momen was happy with Bangla-US relations.

Over the last 52 years, the relationship between USA and Bangladesh has been great and during the last year, both President Biden and Secretary Blinken wanted to strengthen it further. No wonder, the US administration has been sending one after another teams to Bangladesh to explore ways of strengthening our relationship.”

Currently Bangladesh and USA are working together in collaboration and partnership on a number of multifaceted issues such as climate change, Rohingya issue, women’s empowerment, UN peacekeeping, health and labor issues, trade and investment, energy and renewable energy sector, economic development, people’s empowerment, education, skill training and digital innovations. In addition, USA is engaged with us to help improve the democratic process, rule of law, freedom of press and media, etc.”

Bangladesh is also trying to establish rule of law, that is, no one is above law and it abrogated the infamous ‘’indemnity laws” in order to strengthen ‘rule of law’ and good governance; it requested the US government to handover fugitive killer of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Mr. Rashed Chowdhury to Bangladesh. Since USA is committed to rule law, hopefully they will prove their commitment by deporting him to Bangladesh soon,” Momen said.

 Lanka Lead News

පසුගියදා වන සංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව, මහවැලිය සහ පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තුමෙන්තු විසින් මායිම් යොදා වෙන් කර තිබූ මුලතිව් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ රක්ෂිත වනාන්තර ඉඩම් අක්කර 29,000ක් ඔවුන්ගේ භාරයෙන් නිදහස් කොට දෙමළ ජනතාව වෙත පවරන ලෙස ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය විසින් දැනුම්දී ඇති බවත්, ඊයේ දිනයේ (18) දෙමළ සන්ධානයේ ජාතිවාදී දේශපාලනික අරමුණු ඉටුකිරීම උදෙසා වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා (පොලිස් බලතල පමණක් රහිතව) 13 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය බලාත්මක කරමින් උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල ඉඩම් බලතල ලබා දීමට සුදානම් වෙමින් සිටින බවත් පවසමින් හිටපු නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර අනුරාධා යහම්පත් මහත්මිය මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් යොමුකර තිබේ.

මෙවන් තත්වයක් යටතේ, ඊට සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම පරස්පර විරෝධී ක්‍රියා පිළිවෙතක් අනුගමනය කරමින් වසර ගණනාවක් පුරාවට මඩකලපු දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මෙම ප්‍රදේශවල පාරම්පරිකව වගා කටයුතු සිදුකල සිංහල ගොවිජනතාව එළවා දමා ජාතිවාදී පටු අරමුණු මුල් කරගනිමින්, දෙස්/ විදෙස් ආයෝජනයැයි පවසමින් අක්කර දහස් ගණනින් උතුරු නැගෙනහිර මහවැලි ඉඩම් වලින් සිංහල ගොවීන් පමණක් ඉවත් කිරීම හරහා රටේ ඒකීයභාවය අභියෝගයට ලක්කිරීම තරයේ හෙළාදකින බවත් ඇය සඳහන් කරයි.

අදාළ මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය පහළින්…

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Refuting claims that nuts and bolts worth millions of rupees had been removed and stolen from the New Kelani Bridge, Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardane said these nuts and bolts cannot be removed so easily as special tools are needed to do so.

The Minister told Parliament that no nuts and bolts had been removed from the bridge and that only the relevant engineering companies were in possession of the special tools required to remove them.

Responding to a question by MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, he said only some GI pipes PVC pipes of the drainage system, some parts of the air conditioning system of the communication room connected to the bridge and colour bulbs fixed along the bridge have been stolen.

The Minister said the total value of the stolen items from the bridge was Rs. 5.9 million. 

He said Rs. 294.4 million worth of items such as brass wire, GI pipes and lamp posts of the Colombo Katunayake Expressway had been stolen.

He said brass wires of the electric cable system of the Katunayake Expressway had been stolen during the power crisis and Covid-19 lockdown period between September, 2021 and July 2023.(Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Hiru News

Sri Lanka’s forthcoming review of the USD 3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package “should go through” given the falling inflation, appreciation of the rupee and build-up of foreign reserves says Prof. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, representative at the IMF Executive Board for Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Sri Lanka stands a strong chance of passing the first review of its $3 billion bailout given falling interest rates and a build-up of foreign reserves, according to the nation’s representative on the International Monetary Fund executive board.

Sri Lanka’s efforts to achieve debt sustainability in line with IMF stipulations are also progressing smoothly, said Krishnamurthy Subramanian, who also represents India, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

IMF officials will visit Sri Lanka in September to take stock of the situation, added Subramanian, one of 24 executive directors on the board.

Loan disbursement decisions like the upcoming one for Sri Lanka require a majority of voting shares at the board, a governing body for the IMF that tries to operate by consensus. Subramanian made clear that his views are his own, and that he couldn’t speak for the overall view of the board.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka stands a strong chance of passing the first review of its $3 billion bailout given falling interest rates and a build-up of foreign reserves, according to the nation’s representative on the International Monetary Fund executive board.

The South Asian country’s efforts to achieve debt sustainability in line with IMF stipulations are also progressing smoothly, said Krishnamurthy Subramanian, who also represents India, Bangladesh and Bhutan. IMF officials will visit Sri Lanka in September to take stock of the situation,” added Subramanian, one of 24 executive directors on the board.

Loan disbursement decisions like the upcoming one for Sri Lanka require a majority of voting shares at the board, a governing body for the IMF that tries to operate by consensus. Subramanian made clear that his views are his own, and that he couldn’t speak for the overall view of the board.

Source – Bloomberg

-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

The European Commission has suggested that the current GSP+ (Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus) scheme be extended by 04 years, amidst the ongoing negotiations for the EU’s new GSP+ arrangement.

Taking to Twitter, the Delegation of European Union (EU) to Sri Lanka has mentioned that as one of Sri Lanka’s largest trading partners with nearly EUR 3.2 billion worth of Sri Lankan exports to the European Union in 2022 alone, it recognises the importance of GSP+ scheme for Sri Lankan exporters.

Accordingly, the European Commission has proposed a 4-year extension to the current scheme to be in effect until 31 Dec 2027.

As negotiations for our new GSP+ arrangement are still ongoing between the EU’s co-legislators, the European Commission has proposed a 4-year extension to the current scheme until 31 Dec 2027 so that countries like Sri Lanka don’t lose their preferential access in the interim”, the EU delegation tweeted.

Furthermore, the EU delegation noted that for Sri Lanka, the GSP+ extension proposal means that, for now, nothing changes, and that it will provide the same access to European Union’s market and the same obligation to comply with the 27 international conventions, which are key to ensuring that the country’s economic recovery is not just fast, but also fair, just, and green.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Anti-Corruption Bill was passed in Parliament on Wednesday (19 July) with amendments. The Bill which was presented before the House on 06 July, was passed in Parliament this morning without a vote.

The Bill was presented before the Parliament, with amendments, today, for the Committee Stage. Amendments proposed by the Minister and certain amendments proposed the opposition incorporated during the Committee Stage of the Bill today.

The Second Reading debate of this Bill, which was presented to the Parliament on 27th April 2023 by the Minister of Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, was held on 21st June and 6th July.

The Bill was surrounded by much controversy, however, as several parties, including Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), had highlighted key concerns within the clauses of the Bill, stating that certain provision of the Bill in question are ‘unconstitutional’.

Filing a petition in this regard, TISL challenged 37 clauses of the Anti-Corruption Bill in total, including clauses 28(3), 161 and 119, stating that they were disproportionate and could have a chilling effect on whistleblowing, the right to information and the freedom of expression, and could affect the concepts of transparency and accountability.  

Meanwhile, the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus (WPC) also submitted proposals to amend the Anti-Corruption Bill.

The Supreme Court had also determined that certain clauses of the Bill were inconsistent with the Constitution and therefore should be tabled after amendments.

Delivering the Supreme Court determination, however, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena stated that the said inconsistencies cease, if the amendments, as set out in the determination of the Supreme Court, are made to the Bill.

The Additional Solicitor General also informed the Supreme Court that amendments to clauses 8 (3), 136, 141, 142 and 156 of the Bill, as set out in the determination, would be made in a bid to address several concerns raised by the petitioners.

The determination of the Supreme Court was then printed in the Hansard report of the parliamentary proceedings on 06 June.

Shenali D Waduge

Rajavarothiam Sampanthan is a Vellala MP and the oldest MP in Sri Lanka’s Parliament. There are not many nonagenarian MPs but Sampanthan is likely to take his Eelam dream to his grave & beyond coupled with the hate, racism, vengeance & revenge that will follow him for many births. Having lived through insurrections, terror, watched his fellow comrades gunned down by those he referred to as sole representative”, Sampanthan chooses not to retire but to drum lies and racism. No wonder the youth continue to go astray when the leaders are taking them astray.

Born : 5 February 1933 (turned 90 years)

Father Superintendent of Stores at the Gal Oya Project

Education: St. Patricks College, Jaffna, St. Anne’s College Kurunegala, St. Josephs College, Trincomalee, St. Sebastians College, Moratuwa

Profession: Lawyer graduating from Ceylon Law College & began practice in Trincomalee

Marriage: Leeladevi (daughter P. K. Rudra)

Children: 2 sons (Sanjeevan & Senthuran & daughter Krishanthini

Leader of : Tamil National Alliance since 2001

MP since 2001

MP from 1977 – 1983

MP from 1997 – 2000

Leader of the Opposition : Sept 2015-Dec2018 (controversial appointment)

Political Career

• Joined ITAK in 1956 (7 years after ITAK formed in 1949 – Sampanthan was 23years)
• Offered ITAK nomination in 1963 & 1970 – but Sampanthan declined
• ITAK, ACTC, CWC formed Tamil United Front and renamed it TULF on 14 May 1972 (days before Republican Constitution on 22 May 1972)
• Sampanthan was TULF joint treasurer, Vice President & General Secretary.
• 1977 General Election – Sampanthan was TULF candidate in Trincomalee & won
• July 1983 Sampanthan & TULF MPs boycotted Parliament & refused to take oath of allegiance & denounce separatism as per 6^th amendment
• Sept 1983 Sampantha & TULF MPs lost their seats in Parliament due to 3 months absence
• 1989 General Elections – Sampanthan was ENDLF/EPRLF/TELO/TULF alliance candidate for Trincomalee – alliance did not win a single seat in Trincomalee
• 1994 General Elections – Sampanthan contested under TULF in Trincomalee but failed to win seat
• 1997 entered Parliament as a result of assassination of A. Thangathurai on 5 July 1997.
• 2000 General Election – Sampanthan contested under TULF in Trincomalee but failed to win a seat.
• 20 Oct 2001 – ACTC, EPRLF, TELO & TULF formed Tamil National Alliance – Sampanthan made leader of TNA (at 68 years) contested & entered Parliament
• 2001 onwards TNA was pro-LTTE with election manifesto declaring LTTE to be the ‘sole representative of the Tamil people’. – this stand resulted in TULF leader V Anandasangaree leaving TNA alliance with some members of TULF https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=6844 LTTE-TNA decide to work united”-Sampanthan
• 2004 TULF distanced itself from TNA due to pro-LTTE stand – this resulted in ITAK re-emerging as a political party with Sampanthan leading ITAK & TNA
• Sampanthan re-entered Parliament in 2004, 2010, 2015 & 2020.
• 2010 Presidential Elections – India ordered TNA to back Sarath Fonseka for Presidenthttps://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/wikileaks-sampanthan-fonseka-secret-pact-revealed/

• 2015 Presidential Elections – TNA backed Maithripala Sirisena as President
• With just 16 seats in Parliament to the shock of all TNA was announced Main Opposition in a 225 seat Parliament & Sampanthan named Leader of the Opposition. Amirthalingam became Leader of the Opposition in 1988.

The high number of seats is attributed to the unfair & disproportionate representation given to the North which must be corrected. The contestants hardly get any votes but end up in Parliament due to the proportional representation system. The years where TNA has direct LTTE support have given large representation to Parliament while 2015 is due to TNA role in the regime change.

2014 – ITAK Central Committee on 26 Jan 2014 in Trincomalee under ITAK chairmanship /Presidency of Sampanthan commended attendees for victory at the PC elections & unanimously resolved 6 issues related to the North & East Sri Lanka.

1. LAND – claiming displaced were not settled on lands in Vallikamam, Jaffna & Sampur in Trinco
2. MISSING PERSONS – fate of persons no addressed
3. MILITARY PRESENCE – adverse impact on lives of Tamil civilians (is the military good enough to rescue them & build them homes & toilets & did Tamils have free movement under LTTE)
4. INDEPENDENT & IMPARTIAL INVESTIGATION ON HUMAN RIGHTS & INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAWS RESULTING IN OVER 40,000 civilian deaths (action should have been taken against this allegation sans any evidence)
5. COMMITMENT BY GOSL TO TNA – implementation of 13A
6. FUNCTIONING OF NPC – while ITAK accuses the Centre the reality is that the funds requested by the NPC has never been spent on the Tamil people by the provincial council due to caste differences

Exactly what did TNA do when LTTE was carting 300,000 Tamils with them to keep as hostages/human shields? Did TNA issue a single statement to free them? Did TNA raise a single penny to send them food?

Jan 2023 – Talks between TNA initiated by President Ranil following all party conference on 13 Dec 2022 with 3 point plan

1. Release of political prisoners (LTTE), release of private lands in NE, enforced disappearances & missing persons
2. Full implementation of 13A (though even LTTE was against it)
3. Constitutional reform for power sharing (TNA has hardly 350,000 votes & just 10 seats)

It was a consequence of this meeting that President Ranil attending Thai Pongal celebrations in Jaffna on 15 Jan 2023 declared he would implement 13A in the near future.

ITAK election history

1. 1952 General Elections – ITAK won 1.9% & 2 seats out of 95. ACTC won 4 seats.
2. 1956 General Elections – ITAK won 5.3% & 10 seats out of 95. ACTC won 1 seat.

ITAK was blamed for 1958 riots & banned briefly

ITAK accepted 1958 Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act in accordance with BC Pact.

• 1960 General Elections (July) – ITAK won 7% & 16 seats out of 151 Parliament
• 1965 General Elections – ITAK won 5.3% & 14 seats out of 151 Parliament
• 1970 General Elections – ITAK won 4.92% & 13 seats out of 151 Parliament
• 1977 General Elections – TULF won 6.4% & 18 seats out of 168 Parliament (14 seats in North)

TNA & pro-LTTE have won the Gobbelsian propaganda campaign using the ‘victim’ card. The GoSL apparatus has failed for lack of will to use the truth at all levels. Tamil leaders were never afraid to lie while Sinhala leaders were always afraid to tell the truth & challenge the lies. As a result the international community are ready to accept” the lies as it falls within their geopolitical strategy. Confounding matters is when Sinhalese are also joining the lying brigade.

Prabakaran was not even born when Tamil leaders made racist demands & formed ethno-religious political parties aspiring to create a separate state (50-50 / ITAK in 1949) Prabakaran was just a 2 year old when the Official Language Act was passed in 1956. Prabakaran was only a 5year old when SWRD was assassinated in 1959. Prabakaran was hardly of an age to know the disproportionate number of positions held by Tamils due to the education & employment biases of the colonial rulers.

Sampanthan screams victimization” while he lives in a house paid for by majority Sinhalese taxpayers, surrounded by Sinhalese bodyguards and living in Sinhala areas when he should be living in Trincomalee.

The Sampanthan that screams victimization” has done nothing against caste victimization by his own people where even entering a Hindu temple has been taboo. Name a single TNA leader who has said a word against CASTE DISCRIMINATION AMONGST TAMILS an inhumane trait in 21^st century. Thesalamai law itself is a discrimination against Tamils. When the Social Disabilities Act was passed in 1957 Tamil leaders even travelled to London to oppose allowing low caste Tamils to enter school. If the Language Act was considered worse, why didn’t they travel to London against the language issue.

The Tamil problem is not with the Sinhalese it is amongst themselves. It is a Vellala vs Non-Vellala problem. The Thesavalamai law is for Malabar (Indian) Vellalars & not applicable to all Tamils. Vellala Tamil leaders even appealed to the British to codify caste system. It was this Vellala high caste/class that declared Vadukoddai Resolution in 1976 calling for youth to take up arms to create a separate state. Was the call to arms serving a dual purpose? The majority of armed militant youths were low caste & who perished for a cause they would have been anyway slaves of. The living former LTTE have found out too late that the caste factor will never place them on par with the Vellala’s whether they won or lost the separatist war. The war against the Vellala caste is what the UN is now toying with probably to hand over the baton away from Vellala’s to the low caste who are mostly now under control of the Church. See how artfully the conflict has played with people’s lives.

Sampanthan is a Dravidian Vellala. He does not voice a word against Indian-imported caste system. While he takes pains to howl ‘discrimination by Sinhalese’ he conveniently ignores the oppression, suppression and persecution suffered by Tamils by Tamils. Does Sampanthan bring the caste issue to the attention of the international community? No, neither does any of the other Dravida Vellalas.

Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972 – LTTE was running a defacto state since 1983 till 2009 (37 years of becoming a republic – 26 years LTTE ruled its own people) So what relief did LTTE provide Tamils in an area where there were no Sinhalese? Those who travelled to the North after the war would have seen the pitiful state of the people & what North looks like today after the development undertaken by the Government that eliminated the LTTE. While Tamils that lived amongst LTTE had no freedom or rights, Tamils who were living amongst the Sinhalese grew from strength to strength, studied got employed, bought land in the South & even travelled overseas. The best example is Wigneswaran – went to Royal College, lived in Colombo, became a Supreme Court judge and then went to the North only after 70 plus years to continue to racist Goebbels lies.

Sampanthan’s ITAK 14^th Convention speech in May 2012 exposes who Sampanthan is & how he thinks

Shenali D Waduge

By Dr Tilak S. Fernando

Since Sri Wickremara Ranasinghe became King of Senkadagala (Kandy), many conflicts existed between the elite and society. When it became so aggressive to take revenge in April 1802, there was an incident in British-occupied Puttalam, where a Muslim group was battered, and their belongings were seized with the help of Pilimathala Chief Adikam using Ceylonese lots.

During the 18^th Century, the British Indian Trading Company owned many parts of India. Meantime, The United States of America had a battle with the British. Simultaneously, the Dutch were fighting for their independence against the British.

On January 05, 1782, Under Admiral Sir Edmond Fuse of the Navy sent a contingent and a walking platoon, to the up-county, with the help of Commander Lord Hector Senadipathy (Admiral), who held the position of the Governor of Madras. During this struggle, the Dutch had neglected entirely the Northern coastal area, which made the British quickly occupy Trincomalee. As things were happening smoothly, the British decided, with the blessings of Lord McCarthy Hugh Boyed, to send an Ambassadoup-country to meet up with the King and to come to an agreement with the King. But Hugh Boyed had had to leave Kandy as a disappointed man. Meanwhile, a French Admiral, Belly de Supfriend, recovered Trincomalee with a contingent of Naval Officers.

1787 Paris Agreement

In 1787 according to Paris Agreement, the British, French, and Dutch agreed to hand over Trincomalee to the three countries. In 1794, with special permission from the Dutch, a peoples’ government was established, resulting in the chase of King William, who returned to England. Meanwhile, the British cunningly sent a notice to the Management Committee of the Dutch (but not to King William), stating that they requested to hand over Colombo and other parts to the British rulership. The letter said the British would forcefully take over the areas even if the Dutch Committee did not accept it. After a while, the Dutch Committee decided to hand over Colombo Fort etc. In August 1795, two British higher-ups from the British Army, Peter Rayner and George Stuart, arrived in Ceylon and issued a notice to the authorities of the Dutch in this respect. As a result, the Dutch left within half an hour of the notice of the Colombo Fort. Accordingly, the British occupied the following areas on the dates mentioned on the following dates: September 18, Batticaloa, September 27, Point Pedro, September 28, Jaffna,1^st of October, Mullaitivu, October 05, Mannar and November 13, Kalpitiya.

On February 16 1796, an agreement between the British and the Dutch allowed the Dutch to give leave to live in Ceylon for 18 months so that   Dutch officials would hand over debts and accept the Dutch currency. It would enable peacefully coming to a settlement and handing over to a Dutch Indian company in Ceylon owned all lands to be acquired by the Indian company in Ceylon. Because of the war in Europe, the British firms knew that acquired lands had to be returned to the Dutch after the war. Therefore, they were aware of the welfare of the landowners.

By this time, as the Indian Trading company were doing well in Madras, they attempted to introduce the same technique in Ceylon. The Vidanes objected to this. Therefore, the British sacked all of them and appointed Tamil officers from Madras. Officials from Madras were rude to the public. Indian British Company introduced a ‘tax auction’ procedure. Accordingly, the collection of tax was auctioned was held. In 1796, from September 01 introduced, a new tax on a coconut tree known as the ‘Panama’, and the new tax should be paid in coins. The coconut estate owners were astonished that even those coconut trees which did not bear any coconuts had to pay this new tax. In 1800, April Governor North introduced a new ornamental tax. It meant those who wore (both Men & women) who wore expensive Gold, Silver or Gem studded rings or pendants had to pay this new tax. Men had to pay $1/- and women had to pay ½ a dollar. In 1799 by mining pearls, the Ceylon government received 3800 sovereigns. Later they divided Mannar, Trincomalee – Batticaloa and Mullaitivu into one section and Mannar into another section and Jaffna into a different area and Chilaw and Colombo into another area. The British set up offices in each area under the Kacheri.

Succeeding from Governor North, a New Governor, Maitland, aimed to improve people’s cost of living, camaraderie, and governing style. His first aim was to ensure every farmer got a plot of land for cultivation. Secondly, he realised that a set of civil servants are required to run the governance efficiently, and he increased their salaries and made a three-tier programme for promotions. Thirdly, he attempted to get close to the people by enquiring about their welfare and requesting regular reports. After reading the reports, he ordered villagers and farmers about their economic situations. To curb corrupt practices in his governance, Governor Maitland ensured that his approval was obtained before every payment was made. 

In 1802, all areas of Ceylon’s English Oriental Company, which owned lands, were taken over by British Governance. For purposes of governance, the areas that belonged to the British were divided into various regions. For each area, a cashier (British Civil Servant) was appointed. These appointees were those in charge of Korale as Athukorala, and civil servants who were in order of the villagers were called Vidane.

Meanwhile, for ease and peacefully for trading purposes, the British attempted to agree with the up-country regime, but in 1762, before the Dutch occupied the coastal area, an Englishman called Phybus arrived as a missionary tried to meet up with the King for an agreement as follows:

• They sought permission in Chilaw or Batticaloa coastal area to have Janapadaya (people set feet and settled down) in Ceylon’s English Oriental Company’s territory.
• To sell Cinnamon at the rate sold to the Dutch to the British.
• To sell erca-nuts and peppercorns only to Britain only.
• Produce from other areas to deal with the British only.
• To companies on the Island, only British Law is applicable.
• When necessary British soldiers be applied, and the expenses incurred in such operations, the King has to bear the costs.
• As it was expensive to build a fort & maintain a platoon, the King should hand over some areas to the British

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy: The writer translated into English from the text of the late Prasad Milinda Siriwardena, Ceylon Economic Analysis between BC 543 to 1832. Only relevant parts were taken into consideration.

Dr. Ibrahim Islam

Al-Qur’an is the book of guidance sent by Allah Ta’ala. In this Quran, there are all the guidelines for managing the life of mankind. From the beginning of creation, Allah Ta’ala has described the words of all the Prophets and Messengers and the descriptions of various heavenly books and in the Qur’an. This Qur’an is the emancipation document of mankind and was revealed during the 23 years of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) prophet’s life. Even when this Quran was revealed, some people opposed it. But a holy book like the Qur’an is a far cry! No one could make even a small surah. But some people tried in that era. But did not succeed. Because the one who revealed this Quran for the guidance of people declared, I (Allah) revealed the Quran. And of course, I am its protector.” (Surah Hijr-Ayat 9) We have not heard of any other book making such a declaration. I will not listen in the future. Does it not prove that the Qur’an is the word of God?

Recently, two people set fire to a copy of the Holy Quran on the holy day of Eid-ul-Azha outside the Central Mosque in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. We do not have the language to condemn this incident. No one can give an example of a Muslim making ugly comments or insults against other religions’ deities or religious books. But thousands of examples can be presented of their ugly statements and derision against Islam. Some anthropomorphic inhumans who hate Islam are sometimes doing the worst thing like setting fire to the pages of the Quran, sometimes with Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). Today in Sweden, tomorrow in Denmark, such painful events are happening. But they are not being judged. As a result, they are being careless and are going against Islam. This Quran is not only read by Muslims, but cherished in their hearts. The hearts of Muslims have been severely hurt by setting fire to the pages of the Quran. When Muslims tear a page from the Quran and fall on the ground, they pick it up and kiss it repeatedly.

It is not pleasant to insult the Quran. But the Swedish court has given permission to do this crime, which is not acceptable in any way. A miscreant named Salwan Momika set fire to pages of the Quran in front of Stockholm’s largest mosque on Eid al-Adha on June 28. This incident has burned the hearts of all peace-loving people of the world. The reason why Salwan Momika, a refugee from Iraq, became angry with the Quran needs to be investigated. It remains to be seen whether he did it out of his own intelligence or to fulfill someone else’s agenda. Salwan Momika once again announced to burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm in the next 10 days to not dry up the wounds of this incident. It is unfathomable how much ignorance a person can set the Quran on fire and declare to set it on fire again! We think that in the interests of world peace, the Swedish government should ensure the punishment of this murderer as soon as possible.

No one applauded the burning of the Quran; Rather, heads of government of different countries and heads of religious political parties and people of different religions have also strongly condemned this incident. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) strongly condemned the burning of copies of the Quran. The agency said such acts by extremists are unacceptable and called on governments worldwide to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such acts. Like other countries of the world, Bangladesh government strongly condemned this incident. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Bangladesh is deeply concerned about the insulting of the sacred values of Muslims all over the world in the name of freedom of speech. All the religious and political parties of Bangladesh strongly condemned the incident of Quran burning. Especially Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami acting Ameer and former MP Professor Mujibur Rahman strongly condemned and protested the incident of Quran burning. He said in Bibi – this incident is very disgusting, dishonorable and provocative. This incident has hit the hearts of Muslims all over the world. Such senseless actions not only create hatred and hatred in the society, but also give rise to violence.

The history of the early period of Islam is more or less known to everyone. Once Muslims ruled half the world. Epistemology and justice were role models. Everyone was respectful of freedom of speech, equal rights of expression, other religions or opinions. No one was oppressed at all. Because they thought that everyone was created by the same God. But looking at today’s world, it seems that the world has turned into a hell. No one can say that all the religious books in the world contain the welfare of all people, the management of life or the solution of all problems. But the Qur’an has repeatedly described the welfare of all people. All books have some mistakes. But there is no mistake in the Quran. Many people converted to Islam after finding fault in the Qur’an. Many examples can be given. Incidentally, I mentioned former Christian preacher Professor Dr. Gary Miller of Canada. He tried to find mistakes in the Holy Quran to make it easier to campaign against Islam and the Quran. But after reading the Quran, he accepted Islam and became a Muslim. He said, after reading the Quran, I realized that my idea was not correct. Verse 82 of Surah Nisa plunged me into deep thought. There Allah Ta’ala says, what do they not pay attention to the Qur’an? If it had been revealed by anyone other than Allah, it would have seen many contradictions.

Muslims are a nation that believes in peace. If you look at the history of the golden past of the world, it will be seen that the most beautiful and golden age was during the Muslim rule. There was a Golden Age of Islam, excluding the Caliphate period of the four Caliphs. So if someone thinks that Muslims don’t have that golden age, why burn the Quran and tear the Quran or what? No one can protest. This idea is wrong. The Muslim nation will not sit in an orderly manner if anyone insults or insults the name of the Quran or the name of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Will resist. What happened in Sweden is not just an attack on the Quran and Muslims; Rather, this attack is an attack on humanity, morals and values. No sane person can insult religious books of any religion. A sane person should not do the work of a sane person or a mad person. Insulting religious texts or religion cannot be freedom of expression in any way.

Blaspheming God in the name of freedom of expression is just as inappropriate as it is a heinous crime to burn the Quran, the religious book of Muslims. Burning this book is an insult and insult to all Muslim communities in the world. The emergence of such events is a threat to any religion. Burning the Quran in the name of freedom of expression has become their instinct. It needs to be stopped.

Islam is a religion of peace. Islam talks about humanity. Talk about human rights. People of all professions and followers of different religions are safe in Islam. It should be noted that in the great book Al-Qur’an, not only Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is mentioned, but other prophets and messengers are also described. Twenty-five prophets including Hazrat Musa (a.s.) and Hazrat Isa (a.s.) are mentioned. So, when this Quran is burned, they are also burned. When paper is burned, it becomes ash. If the Qur’an is burnt, it also turns to ashes. But the words of the Quran do not become ashes even if they are burned. Because Allah Ta’ala himself has taken the responsibility of safeguarding it. If you look at the history of Islam, you will find many examples of this. Whether the incident in Sweden is just an insult or there is a deep conspiracy behind it, the leadership of the Muslim Ummah needs to look into it.

All those who sided against the Quran are zero. And those who have sided with the Quran have become heroes from zero. Allah Ta’ala has increased their status. But those who disrespected this Quran could not live in peace. Many have been punished in this world. Hazrat Umar (ra) was zero before accepting Islam. And after accepting Islam, he came into contact with the Quran and became a hero from zero. So burning the Quran will not end the matter. One shuddered to think how those who presented themselves as civilized were attacking the fundamental beliefs of others. This is not the only time the Quran was burned in Sweden! Earlier in 2020 and 2022 Quran was desecrated. As a result, many people have died in violence in different countries of the world. On March 15, 2019, 49 people were killed in the attacks on Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

This incident has wounded the hearts of conscientious people all over the world. New Zealand’s Christchurch made headlines around the world. But no loud words were heard about this incident. Attributing violence to its source is not pleasant at all. This despicable act has struck a chord in every Muslim’s heart. The question is why they burn the Quran? The direct answer is that it is their innate nature. First of all, some do the despicable thing for viral or fame. Secondly, this work can be done for the sake of spreading violence among the followers of Islam. Islam never believes in terrorism; Rather, the view of Islam is that there is no superiority of white over black, no superiority of black over white, no superiority of non-Arab over Arab, and no superiority of Arab over non-Arab. Among the people of all religions in the world, Muslims are the most oppressed oppressed people. If Muslims struggle for their rightful freedom in any part of the world, then they are called extremists, terrorists, fundamentalists. When countries like Israel, America, Russia or Myanmar indulge in Holi game of occupying independent land and blood of innocent people, no one calls them terrorists or radical Hindus or fundamentalists. But why? It is important to find the answer to that question. Whoever is involved in creating violence or religious frenzy needs to be brought to book and stop such heinous acts.

Manusha Media

සිල්ලර දේශපාලනය වෙනුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ න්‍යායපත්‍රය අවභාවිතා නොකරන ලෙස කම්කරු සහ විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා කතානායකවරයාගෙන් අද (18) උදෑසන කතානායකවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

අද පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස්වූ අවස්ථාවේදී විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස පාර්ලිමේන්තු න්‍යායපත්‍රයෙන් ඔබ්බට ගොස් විවිධ ප්‍රශ්න මතු කළ අතර ඉන් පසුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ ඉල්ලීම කළේය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේද කීවේය.

මේ සිල්ලර දේශපාලනය වෙනුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ න්‍යායපත්‍රය භාවිතා කිරීම වලක්වන්න කටයුතු කරන්න කියලා කතානායකතුමාගෙන් මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. පාර්ලිමේන්තු න්‍යායපත්‍රයෙන් පස්සේ මේ දේවල් කතා කරන්න කියලා මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විනය ගැන කතා කරාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ න්‍යාපත්‍රය අවභාවිතා කරලා, විනය කඩනවා. කිසිම ක්‍රමවේදයක්, කිසිම පිළිවෙලක් නැතිව තමයි මේ දේවල් කරන්නේ. ජාතික කාර්යයක් කරන වෙලාවක, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නැවත නැවත හෑල්ලු කරනවා.

මේ වගේ දේවල් කතා කර්න නියමිත වෙලාවක් ලබාදීලා තියෙනවා. නියමිත ක්‍රමවේදයක් තියෙනවා. හැමදාම විසිහත දෙක යටතේ හරි වෙන මොකක් හරි දෙයක් යටතේ හරි වෙන මොකක් හරි දෙයක් යටතේ හරි කෑ ගහලා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කාලය කා දමන්න එපා කියලා ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය.

ජාත්‍යන්තර බොක්සිං සංගමයේ (IBA) සභාපති උමාර් ක්‍රෙම්ලෙව් මහතා 2023.07.18 දින  අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා හමුවිය.

ජාත්‍යන්තර බොක්සිං සංගමයේ (IBA) සභාපතිවරයා  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බොක්සිං සහ අනෙකුත් ක්‍රීඩා දියුණු කිරීමට අඛණ්ඩව ගන්නා උත්සාහයන් පිළිබඳව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාට සහ ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයට මෙහිදී ස්තූතිය පුද කළ අතර  රුසියානු බොක්සිං සම්මේලනය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බොක්සිං ක්‍රීඩාව ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීමට සහාය වන බව සහතික කළේය.

 රුසියානු  බොක්සිං සංගමය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාසල් සඳහා බොක්සිං අත්වැසුම් විශාල තොගයක් පරිත්‍යාග කර ඇති අතර ඒවා ශ්‍රී ලංකා බොක්සිං සම්මේලනය හරහා බෙදා හැරීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

 මීට අමතරව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බොක්සිං ක්‍රීඩකයින්ට ජාත්‍යන්තර ඉසව්වලට සහභාගී වීමට පුහුණුව සහ මූල්‍ය ආධාර ලබා දීම සඳහා රුසියානු බොක්සිං සංගමය  සහාය වනු ඇති අතර  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කාන්තා බොක්සිං ක්‍රීඩිකාවන්ට ඉන්දියාවේ කාන්තා බොක්සිං ශූරතාවලියට සහභාගී වීමට අරමුදල් සැපයීමත්  මීළඟ ජාත්‍යන්තර ශූරතාවලිය සඳහා උස්බෙකිස්තානයේ කාන්තා බොක්සිං ක්‍රීඩිකාවන් පුහුණු කිරීමටත් පහසුකම් සපයනු ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බොක්සිං ක්‍රීඩාව දියුණු කිරීමට ලබාදුන් සහය පිළිබඳව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ක්‍රෙම්ලෙව් මහතා ඇතුළු නියෝජිත පිරිසට මෙහිදී ස්තුතිය පුද කළේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක, ක්‍රීඩා රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය රෝහණ දිසානායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන, ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ IBA නිලධාරීන්, හිටපු ලෝක හෙවිවේට් බොක්සිං ශූර Roy Jones JR සහ Barna Zsolt, RBA නිලධාරීන් වන Krishanov Alexander සහ Alisa Shcherbachenya සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා බොක්සිං සම්මේලනයේ සභාපති ඩයන් ගෝමස් ද මෙම රැස්වීමට සහභාගි විය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය.

සෞඛ්‍ය වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ විද්වත් සංගමය 

“විශ්ලේෂණ රසායනාගාරයක් හදන වගකීම අපිට දෙන්න, වසරකින් ඇමතිවරයාට ආඩම්බරයෙන් නිදර්ශක එවන්න රසායනාගාරයක් හදලා දෙනවා කියලා සහතික වෙන්නම්’

ඖෂධ තත්ව පාළණයට ලංකාවේ රසායනාගාරයක් හැදුවේ 1990දී. ඒකාලේ ඒකේ පරීක්ෂණ කරන්න අවම වශයෙන් වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ 67ක් ඕනේ කියලා තීරණය කලේ රේණුකා හේරත් සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමති තුමයගේ කාලේ. අද වෙනකොට ඒකේ ඉන්නේ 10දෙනයි. ගෙනල්ලා දාපු උපකරණ වලින් 50%ක් අවුට් ඔෆ් ඕඩර්. දවසින් දවස අපු ඇවිල්ලා තියෙන්නේ පසු පස්සට. අපිත් එක්ක සමාන්තරව ඖෂධ තත්වපාළණ රාසායනාගාර හදපු හැම රටක්ම වාගේ අද වෙනකොට සෑම ඖෂධයක්ම රෝගීන්ට දෙන්නට පෙර තුන් පාරක් රසායනාගාර පරීක්ෂණ වලට ලක් කරලා තවුරු කරනවා. ඖෂධ නියාමන අධිකාරියේ හදපු 2015 වර්ෂයේදී, ජපන් රජය විෂ්ලේශණ රසායනාගාරකට සම්පූර්ණ ආධාරයක් දෙන්න පවා සූදානම් වුණා. ලංකාවේ රසායනාගාර සේවාව එංගලන්තයර සාමාන්තර, ශතවර්ෂයකට වඩා පරණ එකක්. ඒ නිසා සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිතුමාට අපිට අපි කියන්නේ “කුමුදේශ් රසායනාගාරයට” නිදර්ශක එවන්න කලින්, තියන රසායනාගාරය බංකොලොත් කරපු අයට, ඒක බිම දාලා පාගාගෙන ඉන්න අයට දඬුවම් දීලා, ඒ වගකීම අපිට දෙන්න කියලයි. එහෙම දුන්නොත් අපි අවුරුද්දක් ඇතුලත ඇමතිවරයාට ආඩම්බරයෙන් නිදර්ශක එවන්න රසායනාගාරක් හදලා දෙනවා.

“ලංකාවේ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවාවේ ප්‍රශ්ණය අසාත්මිකතාවය නෙවේ’

ආසාතිමිකතාවය නිසා අනපේක්ෂිත මරණ ඇති වීම සහා අපේක්ෂා නොකල සංකූලතා ඇතිවීම,  ලංකාවේ වර්ථමාණ සෞඛ්‍ය ප්‍රශ්ණයෙහි එක් ඉතා කුඩා ප්‍රකාශණයක් විතරයි. ඒ නිසා අසාත්මිකතාවය ගැන හොයන්න කමිටුවක් දාලා, සෞඛ්‍ය සේවයේ සමස්ත ප්‍රශ්ණය විසඳන්නවත්, යට ගහන්නවත් බෑ.

අක්ෂි දියර නිසා මිනිස්සුන්ගේ ඇස් අන්ධ වුණා. විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක්  ඇස් වල ස්ථිර සංකූලතාවයන් ලක් වුණා. මහනුවර රෝහලේ වකුගඩු කාන්දු පෙරණ දියරයේ අපිරිසිදු වීමක් නිසා රෝගීන් දස දෙනෙකු මරණයට පත්වුණා කියලා පැමිණිලි තිබෙනවා. ඒවා අසාත්මකතා ගැටළු නෙවේ.

ලංකාවේම රෝගීන්ට තියන CT ස්කෑන් යන්ත්‍ර 44න් 12ක් කැඩිලා. ලීනිය ඇක්සලේටර යන්ත්‍ර 10න් දෙකක් වැඩ නෑ. කැතීටර් රසායනාගාර දෙකක් වැඩ නෑ. වෛද්‍ය රසායනාගාර පරීක්ෂණ 70ක් විතර කරන්නේ නෑ. සමාගම් වලින් ගත්ත ප්‍රතික්‍රීයක වලට බිලියන 50ක් විතර ගෙවලා නෑ. අඩු ගානේ කොච්චර ණය වෙලාද කියලා සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය හරියටම දන්නේ නෑ. ඒවා අසාත්මිකාතාවය.පිළිබඳ විශේෂඥයින්ට විසඳන්න පුළුවන් ගැටළු නෙවේ.

ඖෂධ 270ක් හිඟයි කියලා සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයම කියනවා. ලියාපදිංචියෙන් තොරව ඖෂධ ගෙන්න 2022 අවුරුද්දේ 164 වාතාවක් අවසර දීලා තියනනවා. 2023 ගෙවුණු අවුරුද්දේ විතරක් ලියාපදිංචිය නැති ඖෂධ වර්ග 500කට වඩා, රටට ගෙන්වන්න ඖෂධ නියාමන අධිකාරිය අනුමැතිය දීලා තියනවා. මේවා අසාත්මිකතාවය නිසා සිදු වෙච්ච දේවල් නෙවේ.

ඖෂධ තත්වපාළණ රසායනාගාරය අද බෝඩ් ලෑල්ලකට සීමා වෙලා. ලෙඩෙක් මැරුණොත් හරි, මාධ්‍යයෙන් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයට බැන්නොත් හරි විතරයි ඒකේ ඖෂධ හෝ උපකරණවල ගුණාත්මක තත්වය ගැන පරීක්ෂණ කරන්නනේ. රසානාගාර සේවාවේ ප්‍රතික්‍රීයක වලට තුන් ගුණයකට වඩා විශාල මුදලක් ගෙවනවා. වෙළදපලේ තරගකාරී මිලට ප්‍රතික්‍රීයක ගන්න ක්‍රම වේදය හදන්න අවුරුදු 3ක් තිස්සේ බැරිවෙලා තියනවා. රෝහල්වල සාමාන්‍ය ප්‍රශ්ණ විසඳා ගන්න සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ඇහුම්කන් දෙන්න කෙනෙක් නෑ. නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂක ජනරාල්ලට ඒ ඒ අංශ කඩා වැටීම පිලිබඳ, ගැටළු නිරාකරණය කිරීමට කිසි වුවමණාවක් නෑ. සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරයාට සෞඛ්‍ය සේවයේ සාමාන්‍ය ප්‍රශ්ණ පේන්නේවත් නෑ. ආසාත්මිකතාවයට බෙහෙත් දීලා ඒවා විසඳන්න බෑ.

මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය බඳවා ගැනීම් නවත්තලා. උග්‍ර වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ හිඟයක් තියෙද්දී, 3000ක් පමණ පරිපූරක වෛද්‍ය, හෙද සහ අතුරු වෛද්‍ය උපාධිධාරීන් සහ ඩිප්ලෝමාධාරීන් රැකිවිරහිත පොලිම්වල තියලා කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය වගේ වගක් නැතුව ඉන්නව. මේ සේරම අසාත්මිකතාවය හදා ගත්තා කියලා නිවැරදි වෙන්නේ නෑ.

ඒ නිසා සමස්ථ සෞඛ්‍ය ප්‍රශ්ණය අසාත්මිකතාවයට යට කරලා, දාන්න හදන්න එපා කියලා අපි සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමතිවරයාගෙන් සහ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

රවී කුමුදේශ් 

සභාපති 

සෞඛ්‍ය වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ විද්වත් සංගමය 

By Basil Fernando The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Over a long period, many erudite scholars and critics have engaged with the issue of the extent to which caste remained a relevant factor in understanding social development in Sri Lanka. One could sum up broadly the overwhelming view among such writers as being that while caste influences still remain in some way or the other, the predominant factor relating to changes in Sri Lanka is not caste but class. 

The starting point of this article is that while purely on theoretical considerations about the new economic relationships that were introduced in Sri Lanka, particularly since the occupation of coastal areas by the Dutch, and then, particularly during the period of British rule, this assessment about class becoming a more important factor than caste may seem possible, yet, in actual fact, caste still plays a far more predominant role in all the affairs of Sri Lanka than the class factor. To clarify the differences of views it may be useful to re-state what in most previous writings was considered as caste. The general approach to caste has been the classification of people into various caste groupings which were mostly named in terms of occupations. For example, following two tables give the classification of caste amongst the Sinhala community and the Tamil community as follows:-

*In the 1824 census, Hinna, Hunu and Oli being numerically small castes were classed with “others” to form 2.7%

(The above tables have been taken from K. Jayawardena’s Nobodies to Somebodies: The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka, 2000, Social Scientists’ Association and Sanjiva Books, Colombo, pages 164-165)

Trying to describe caste in terms of caste groupings as shown above does not reveal the principles on which the entire caste system was based. These principles were universal and apply to all the affairs of society. They also apply to all different caste groupings whether some castes were considered superior or others inferior. Both of these groups were held together by a set of common universal principles. The universal principles on which the caste system is based are what need to be discussed in understanding caste as a worldview that applies to everything and everyone who lived in caste based societies. 

It is also necessary to understand these universal principles because when such principles have been the foundation of a social order for a very long period of time, that worldview also enters into the minds and psyches of the people of such a society. Over a long period of repetitious behaviours, these principles go on to create the deep seated attitudes that govern not only the external behaviour of the people but also their interior make up. It is this aspect of the interior make up of a caste based society that has not been studied to this author’s knowledge in Sri Lanka. Thus, the justification of this paper is to initiate an approach to the study of the influence of caste in Sri Lanka, which is relevant not only to understanding the long period of caste history but also the present and for quite some time, even what is likely to happen in the future. 
 

Interiorisation of caste principles
 

Caste is rooted on two main premises or principles. The first of these principles is the prohibition against social mobility. The second principle is disproportionate and unequal punishments. Both of these principles are based on the apriori notion of the validity of inequality over equality. From around 8^th Century Anno Domini to the arrival of western influences, the principle against social mobility remained sacrosanct in Sri Lanka. It took the form of fixing the social position of a person on the basis of his or her birth. That the social position to which one was born into in terms of the occupation of the patriarch was an unalterable principle. Thus, the whole idea of individual talent, individual achievements, and the acquisition of special knowledge or skills, all had to be confined to and limited to the operation of this principle of the inalterability of the status or position. 

That principle was by extension applied also to relationships. All blood relationships had to be kept within the caste fixed boundaries. Thus, interchanges which affect not only the psychological make-up of the people but also genetically, were entrenched in terms of these caste based limitations. 

Perhaps the most important lasting impact of these limitations was the psychological and social habits that got formed under this system and which got embedded due to long years of the repeated practice of habits, repeated affirmations of threats, and repeated reminders of the social boundaries, thus becoming part of the psyche of the Sri Lankan people as a whole. Such psychological rooting does not get removed purely due to certain changes that may occur in social relationships due to commercial and other considerations unless a large scale assault on such past psychological habits have been made over a long period of time which are of superior vitality. Because the western influences and the beginning of mercantile, commercial and other limited capital developments that have taken place in Sri Lanka, remained of a superficial nature, they lacked the vitality of an economic, social and cultural revolution that would be able to fundamentally alter the nature of the attitudes formed on the basis of the practices rooted in the prohibition against social mobility.
 

The second most important universal principle on which the caste system and the social organisation based on caste is founded is the uneven and disproportionate use of punishment.
 

This principle simply means that if a person belongs to a caste group graded as “inferior” in law, the punishment meted out to him or her for a transgression which may even seem small can be the highest punishment, meaning, death itself. And, this punishment can not only be meted out to the particular transgressor but also to his or her clan or the caste group. On the other hand, if a person is graded “superior” within the caste hierarchy, even the gravest crime can go unpunished or the person may be exposed only for some types of ritual purifications as punishment. Besides, while those who were considered superior had the unlimited right to punish those considered inferior, the inferiors did not have any such right to make any such claims of having being wronged by their “superiors”. This in short, is the principle on which the entire criminology was based during the period that the Sri Lankan society was organised in terms of caste. 

In the application of the principle of uneven and disproportionate punishment, those considered superior had the absolute right to lay down all the rules that will be observed by those who were considered inferiors. This went on to the issues about what work they do, what exchanges they could engage in and to what extent the superiors could exploit labour and services and the right to determine as they wished what reward or punishment that the inferiors deserved. The superior’s right of property extended to everything and this included inhabitants of the houses of the so called inferiors. Absolute obedience was the price to be paid if one were to escape from extraordinary punishments. The superiors could determine even the manner in which the so called inferiors had to dress. For example, it was a widespread habit that the males and in some places even women were not allowed to wear anything above their waists. 

Prohibition against education, which followed from the principle of prohibition against social mobility, was enforced through the application of the principle of uneven and disproportionate punishment. Education was seen as an attempt by those who were considered inferiors to acquire habits through which they may equal or even surpass their superiors. 
 

The creation of a permanent condition of a fear psychosis
 

The caste society could assure its permanence only through a persistent use of disproportionate punishment over a long period of time, long enough to create the fear embedded into all aspects of the mind and soul of those considered inferiors so that they would voluntarily submit themselves to whatever conditions of depravation or limitations prescribed for them by their superiors. 

It is this factor that needs to be understood in the loss of power of resistance that has over and over again manifested itself in Sri Lanka over a long period of time. On the other hand, whenever there is a manifestation of a resistance and protest, those who hold authority in Sri Lanka, even after Independence, have shown a capacity for the use of extraordinary forms of cruelty against its own people. For example, in recent decades, Sri Lanka is nearly at the top of the list of countries where enforced disappearances have been used as a punishment directly or indirectly authorised by the State itself. Enforced disappearances mean, as the studies have revealed in Sri Lanka, in overwhelmingly most of the cases, the killing of people after arrest. Though the killing of a prisoner or a person taken into State custody is considered in modern international law as a heinous crime, there is no strong condemnation of this practice by the Sri Lankan State despite global and local condemnations. Torture and cruel and inhuman treatment are very much an integral part of the policing in Sri Lanka. Though vast bodies of documentation has been done on these matters, there is no change of this practice and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka had to declare many times about the frequency of the practice of torture and also about repeated practice of extrajudicial killings. 

Thus, the idea of uneven and disproportionate punishment is one of the major characteristics of Sri Lanka’s system of justice even to date. There is no indication at all that there would be any change about this matter in the near future. 

The caste based society rooted in the two principles mentioned above has absolutely rejected any foundational notion of justice. In the caste based culture of Sri Lanka, there is no room for the idea of justice. Today, more than ever, there is almost universal consensus of a completely failed system of justice in Sri Lanka. The policing system has come under the severest forms of criticism, from among the people, even from the Parliament and this criticism has got expressed even through the Inspector General of Police himself. Without doubt, this is an atrocious system. In many parts of the country, some Police officers are considered as being part and parcel of serious criminal activity in the country. Even in the debate about the selection of an IGP, the question that has come to the forefront is about the alleged criminal records of some of the contenders to this position. On the other hand, the once prestigious Attorney General’s Department has lost much of its prestige. There are public criticisms of it being driven by extraneous factors. The Constitution itself has undermined the independent role of the Judiciary and many statutory laws have been used in order to deprive the Judiciary of certain powers to intervene to protect the liberty of the individual. It is not the purpose here to go into a detailed statement of the present state of the justice system in Sri Lanka. The purpose of the reference to the present is only to demonstrate that the principles on which the caste system was based still operate powerfully within the present circumstances. The universal notions of justice find very little expression in Sri Lanka even despite over 200 years of attempts to introduce such a universally valid principle. The caste habits and caste consciousness have prevailed despite of all such attempts. 

The idea of the freedom of speech simply could not exist in a society which was founded on the principles of prohibition against social mobility and where uneven and disproportionate punishment prevailed. In the graded humanity that is called the caste system, there was no room at all for those who were considered lesser grades to speak back to that small minority of people who considered themselves as superiors. Any attempt to transgress this rule against the freedom of speech resulted in death or other severe punishments. This habit has been continued by so called “big families” even till very recently. Now, this practice is continued by the State itself utilising the Police and security for this purpose. This aspect of the continuity of caste habits in the attempts to suppress the freedoms of expression, association and assembly could itself constitute a voluminous study. 

The caste based society on the same basis of the two principles mentioned above did not have any notion of corruption. Whatever “superiors” wanted, they could take and there was no way to oppose this. Any opposition would have led to more serious forms of punishments. Thus, culturally speaking, from the time the caste system was introduced into Sri Lanka, there has been no notion of corruption as a socially condemnable offence. In the interior mind and psyche of the Sri Lankan people in general (with limited exceptions), the tolerance of corruption is deep rooted. That is the reason why within a short period after Independence, corruption crept back into the State apparatus as well as to other aspects of society which by now has created the worst economic and social catastrophe in Sri Lanka. While fair minded and liberal persons may be shocked and angry about the extent of corruption that has spread like a malignant cancer, those in powerful positions pay only lip service against corruption. It is most unlikely that there will be a determined attempt to minimise if not eliminate corruption despite this being one of the demands of the International Monetary Fund in its recent negotiations. Simply, the will and the psychological make-up necessary to take up such a position do not exist in Sri Lanka. 

Above all, the greatest barrier to the development of the adoption of rational principles, the development of democracy, the rule of law and fair and humane relationships between the people in Sri Lanka is the persistent influence of caste consciousness which is a severe hindrance. There is also the influence of a long history of habits based on and influenced by caste based principles.

This paper is only just a beginning. It is an attempt to direct attention to a factor that is missed in the discussion in understanding the catastrophe that Sri Lanka is in today. 

Lanka Lead News

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිධූරය දෙවරක් දැරූ මහ බැංකුවේ හිටපු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් මහතා තමාට එල්ලවන චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලංකා ලීඩ් වෙබ් අඩවියට සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක් ලබාදෙමින් ආන්දෝලනාත්මක කරුණු රැසක් හෙළිදරව් කළේය.

වත්මන් මහ බැංකු අධිපති නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ මහතා දැවැන්ත ලෙස මුදල් නෝට්ටු අච්චු ගැසීම මෙන්ම හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි මහතා මහ භාණ්ඩාගාර්ය ඩොලර් බිලියන සෘන 7.4කට වැට්ට වූ අයුරුද ඒ මහතා තම සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාව තුල විධිමත්ව හෙළිදරව් කරයි.

සම්පූර්ණ සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාව පහතින්…

නන්දලාල් 2022 ජූනි 20 දක්වා කාලය තුළ දිනකට රුපියල් බිලියන 4.5 බැගින් අච්චු ගැහුවා…කුමාරස්වාමි භාණ්ඩාගාරය ඩොලර් බිලියන සෘන 7.4ක අගයකට වැට්ටුවා – හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල්

 Lanka Lead News

හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයෙකු වන අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් මහතා මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයෙකු ලෙස බරපතල චෝදනා වලට ලක්වූ පුද්ගලයෙක්. ඔහු විසින් මහ බැංකු අධිපති තනතුර දෙවරක් දරා ඇති අතර ඔහුගේ එම දූර කාල දෙක තුලදීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආර්ථිකයට බරපතල හානි සිදු කළ බවට එල්ල වන චෝදනා තවමත් අවසන් නැහැ. කෙසේ වුවද අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් මහතා 2022 වර්ෂයේදී ‘ආර්ථික ඝාතකයන් මැද’ නමින් ග්‍රන්ථයක් ලියා තමා වෙත එල්ල වන චෝදනා වලට පිළිතුරු දීමට උත්සහා කරනු ලැබුවා. කෙසේ වුවද තමා වෙත එල්ල වන චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් මෑත කාලයේදී ජන මාධ්‍ය ආයතනයකට සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡා ලබා දීමට කබ්‍රාල් මහතා කටයුතු නොකළේය.

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ප්‍රශ්නය:ඔබ විසින් 2010 වර්ෂයේදි ග්‍රීක බැඳුම්කර වල ආයෝජනය කිරීම හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට දැවැන්ත මුල්‍යමය පාඩුවක් සිදු කළා යන චෝදනාවෙන් ඔබට ගැලවීයා හැකිද ?

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල්: 2010 දී ග්‍රීක බැඳුම්කරවල මහ බැංකුව ආයෝජනය කිරීම මගේ පෞද්ගලික තීරණයක් මත සිදු වූවක් නොවෙයි. එය මහ බැංකුවේ ජාත්‍යන්තර මෙහෙයුම් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තීරණයක්.නමුත් එම ආයෝජනයේදි කිසිදු අක්‍රමිකතාවක් සිදුවී නොමැති බව මේ වන විට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය තීරණය කර තිබෙනවා.

Writ Against Ajith Nivard Cabral Finalized

ප්‍රශ්නය: 2009 සහ 2010 කාලය අතරතුරදී සිදුවූ කුප්‍රකට හෙජින් ගනු දෙනුවේදී ජාත්‍යන්තර බැංකු වලට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට ගෙවීමට සිදූ වූ මුදල ඩොලර් මිලියන 460 ක් බවයි වාර්තා වන්නේ. මෙම පාඩුවත් මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා ලෙස ඔබ ගත් අදූරදර්ශී ක්‍රියා හේතු නිසා සිදුවූවක්ය යන්න ඔබට බැහැර කළ හැකිද ?

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල්: 2009/10 හෙජින්” ගණුදෙණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලංකා ඛනිජ තෙල් නීතිගත සංස්ථාවට එරෙහිව නීතිමය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීම හේතුවෙන් ජාත්‍යන්තර බැංකුවලට සිදු කර ඇති පියවීම් ඩොලර් මිලියන 89 ක් පමණයි. නමුත් ඇතැම් පුද්ගලයන් විසින් චෝදනා කරන පරිදි ජාත්‍යන්තර බැංකු වලට ගෙවූ මුදල ඩොලර් මිලියන 460 ක්ය යන්න සත්‍යක් නොවෙයි. ඒවගේම ඛනිජ තෙල් මිලදී ගැනීම් හෙජින්” ක්‍රමයට ගත් තීරණය ඛනිජ තෙල් නීතිගත සංස්ථාව විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලද කැබිනට් තීරණයක් මිස මගේ පුද්ගලික තීරණයක් හෝ මහ බැංකුව ගත් තීරණයක් නොවෙයි.

ප්‍රශ්නය : ඔබට ඇති තවත් චෝදනාවක් වන්නේ ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ සන්නිවේදන වැඩසටහනක් සඳහා Zuberi ආයතනය වෙත ඇ.ඩො. මිලියන 6.5ක් ගෙවීම නිවැරදි ක්‍රමවේද අනුගමනය කරමින් කළ එකක් නොවන බව යන්නයි.

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් : එය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වැරදියි ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ සන්නිවේදන වැඩසටහනක් වන Zuberi වෙත ඇ.ඩො. මිලියන 6.5ක් ගෙවීම, නිසි ගෙවීම් නිවැරදි ක්‍රමවේද අනුගමනය කරමින්, රජයේ නිශ්චිත ලිඛිත උපදෙස් මත මහ බැංකුව විසින් කරන ලද ගෙවීමක් මිස මගේ පෞද්ගලික තීරණයක් මත හෝ මහ බැංකුවේ තීරණයක් මත සිදු කළ එකක් නොවෙයි. එපමණක් නොවෙයි මෙම සම්බන්ධව මුදල් මණ්ඩලයේ තීරණයක් මත මගේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ විශේෂඥ වාර්තා 7ක් පිළියෙල කිරීමට මම සම්බන්ධීකරණ කටයුතු මෙහෙයවනු ලැබුවා.

ප්‍රශ්නය: 2015 වර්ෂයේදී ඔබ මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති ධූරයෙන් සමු ගන්නා විට විදේශ විනිමය සංචිත අඩියටම හින්දවා තිබුනා. ඔබ එයට සෘජුව වගකිව යුතුයි නේද?

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් :ඔබගේ ප්‍රශ්නය වැරදි තොරතුරු මත පදනම් වූවක්. 2015 ජනවාරි මාසයේදී මම මහබැංකුවේ අධිපති ධුරයෙන් සමුගන්නා විට විදේශ විනිමය සංචිතය ඩොලර් බිලියන 8.2 ක් වූවා. එලෙසම ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වලට ගෙවීමට තිබූ හිඟ මුදල ඩොලර් බිලියන 5.0 යි. ඒ කියන්නේ ශුද්ධ විදේශ විනිමය සංචිතය ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 3.2ක ධන අගයක තිබුණා. එහෙත්, 2019 අවසානය වන එනම් ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයාගේ ධූර කාලය අවසන් වන විට, විදේශ විනිමය සංචිතය ඩොලර් බිලියන 7.6 ක් පමණ වන අගයක තිබූ අතර, ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වල හිඟය ඩොලර් බිලියන 15 ක් තරම් ඉහළ අගයක තිබීම කැපී පෙනෙන සිද්ධියක් වූවා. එනම් ඉන්ද්‍රජිත් කුමාරස්වාමි මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිවරයාගේ කාලයේ මහභාන්ඩාගාරයේ ශුද්ධ සංචිතය අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 7.4ක සෘන අගයකට කැපී පෙනෙන ලෙස පහත ගොස් තිබුණා.

ප්‍රශ්නය : ඔබ විසින් පෞද්ගලිකවම මාර්තු 31 වන දින අරගලය” නමින් හැඳින් වූ ප්‍රචන්ඩ සිද්ධි දාමය ආරම්භ වීමට සති තුනකට පමණ පෙර එනම් 2022 මාර්තු 7 දින රුපියල පා කිරීමේ තීන්දුව ගනු ලැබුවා. එලෙසම 2022 ජනවාරි මාසයේදී කල් පිරුණු ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වලට ඩොලර් මිලියන 500ක් ගෙවීමටත් ඔබ පෞද්ගලිකවම තීන්දු කරනු ලැබුවා.

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් : 2022 මාර්තු 7 වැනි දින රුපියල පා කිරීමේ” තීරණය මුදල් මණ්ඩලය විසින් ගනු ලැබුවේ මහ බැංකුවේ ඉහළ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයේ ලබා දුන් නිර්දේශය මතයි. එය මගේ පෞද්ගලික තීරණයක් නොවේ. රටේ මුදලේ අගය අවප්‍රමාණය වීමේ අවදානම සහ ප්‍රතිවිපාක පිළිබඳව මම බොහෝ අවස්ථාවල රට දැනුවත් කළා.
2022 ජනවාරි මාසයේදී කල් පිරුණු ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වලට අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 500 ක මුදලක් පියවීමට ගත් තීරණය රජය විසින් සිය ප්‍රතිපත්ති සහ බැඳීම්වලට අනුකූලව සිදුකරන ලද සාමාන්‍ය ණය ආපසු ගෙවීමක් බව මම අවධාරණය කරනවා. එසේ ගෙවීමට අවශ්‍ය මුදල් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් අයවැය මගින් වෙන්කර තිබුණා. ඇතැම් ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් සහ දේශපාලකයන් ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වල ණය පැහැර හැරීමක් ඉල්ලා කෑගසමින් සිටියද, එවැනි ගෙවීමක් මහ බැංකුවට හෝ මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා ලෙස මට නතර කළ හැකි වූවේ නැහැ. හාස්‍යට කාරණය නම් , ගෝලීය ආයෝජකයෙකු ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර පැහැර හැරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් රජයට එරෙහිව එක්සත් ජනපද ෆෙඩරල් උසාවියකදි නීතිමය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගෙන තිබෙන නමුත්, ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර පැහැර හැරීම වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් සහ දේශපාලනඥයන් මේවන විට බිහිරන් ලෙස නිහඬව සිටීමයි.

ප්‍රශ්නය : 2018 දී පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්ඩලීය ක්‍රීඩා උළෙල සඳහා ලංසු තබමින් මහ බැංකුවේ මුදල් වියදම් කිරීමට පවා ඔබ කටයුතු කළා නේද ?

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් : නැහැ එසේ වූවේ නැහැ. 2018 පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්ඩලීය ක්‍රීඩා උළෙල සඳහා ලංසුව ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද්දේ කැබිනට් තීරණයකට අනුව කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය විසින් පත් කරන ලද ලංසු කමිටුවක් විසිනුයි. එය මගේ තනි තීරණයක් මත පදනම් වූවක් නොවේ. ඒවගේම ලංසු තැබීමට මහ බැංකුවේ මුදල් වියදම් කළේත් නැහැ. ලංසුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදාළ මුල්‍ය ප්‍රකාශන විගණනය කර තිබූ අතර එකදු මූල්‍ය අක්‍රමිකතාවක් හෝ වාර්තා වී නොතිබුණු බව මම අවධාරණාත්මක පවසනවා.

ප්‍රශ්නය : මේ වන විට තිනියාවල පාලිත හිමියන් මෙන්ම සමාජ ක්‍රියාකරුවෙකු වන කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් ඔබට විරුද්ධව අධිකරණ ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගෙන තිබෙනවා. නඩු නිමිත්තක් නොමැතිව ඔවුන් අධිකරණය වෙත යා හැකියි කියා විශ්වාශ කළ හැකිද ?

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් : දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාකාරිකයෙකු වන පූජ්‍ය තීනියාවල පාලිත හිමියන් සහ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරික කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් විසින් මට එරෙහිව මෑතකදී ගනු ලැබූ නීතිමය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ කළ පුද්ගලික පැමිණිලි මිස නීතිපතිවරයාගේ අධිචෝදනා නොවේ. මම, මෙම පැමිණිලි වලට නිශ්චිතවම උසාවියේදී පිළිතුරු දෙනවා.

ප්‍රශ්නය : වෝහාරික විගණනයට අනුව ඔබ මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කරන සමයේදී භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීමේදි රුපියල් බිලියන 10ක අලාභයක් කර ඇති බව වෝහාරික විගණනයකට අනුව ඔප්පු වී තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව ඔබත් මහ බැංකුවට පාඩු කළ පුද්ගලයෙක් නේද ?.

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් : මම මිට පෙර මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කරන සමයේ ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කළ වෝහාරික විගණනයකට අනුව රුපියල් බිලියන 10 ක උපකල්පිත අලාභයක් සිදු වූ බවට කරන ලද චෝදනාව සාවද්‍ය චෝදනාවක්. එම උපකල්පන පදනම මත රුපියල් බිලියන 28 ක උපකල්පිත ලාභයක් සිදුවූවාය යන්න උවමනාවෙන්ම නොසලකා හැර තිබෙනවා. කෙසේ වෙතත්, මෙම සියලු භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීම රාජ්‍ය ණය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් සිදු කරන ලද වෝහාරික විගණනවලට අනුව සිදුකළ ඒවා මිස එවකට මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිවරයා වූ මගේ කිසිදු සම්බන්ධයක් තිබුණේ නැහැ. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මට එරෙහිව 2021 සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේදී රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරිකයෙකු වන කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් විසින් අභියාචනාධිකරණයට පැමිණිල්ලක් ගොනු කර තිබුණා. එම පැමිණිල්ලට අදාලව ගත් අධිකරණ ක්‍රියාමාර්ග වලට අනුව 2021 නොවැම්බර් 3 වන දින අභියාචනාධිකරණය විසින් පැමිණිල්ල නිෂ්ප්‍රභ කර තිබෙනවා.

scfr_application_457_2012_230717_150410

ප්‍රශ්නය : ඔබ විසින් අසාමාන්‍ය ලෙස මුදල් නෝට්ටු මුද්‍රණය කළ බවටත් විශාල චෝදනාවක් ඔබට එල්ල වෙනවා. එම චෝදනාවෙන් ඔබට ගැලවී යාමට නොහැකි තරම් ප්‍රභලයි. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබගේ පැහැදිලි කිරීම කෙසේ වන්නේද?

අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්‍රාල් : ජාත්‍යන්තර ස්වෛරී බැඳුම්කර වල ආයෝජනයේදී ම’විසින් වංචා කළායැයි කරන චෝදනා මෙන්ම මෙම චෝදනාද සාවද්‍යයයි. මම මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති ධූරය දරණ සමයේදී මහ බැංකුව විසින් භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් නිකුත් කිරීම් සියල්ල නීත්‍යානුකූලව සිදුවූ බව මම නැවත අවධාරණය කරනවා. එලෙසම මගේ තනි කැමැත්තට දැවැන්ත මුදල් ප්‍රමානය මුද්‍රණයක්” සිදු කළා යනුවෙන් කරන චෝදනාවද අසත්‍යයක්. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම සිදු වී තිබෙන්නේ වත්මන් මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති ආචාර්ය නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ 2022 ජූනි 20 දක්වා ධුර කාලය තුළ දිනකට සාමාන්‍යයෙන් රුපියල් බිලියන 4.5 ක් මුද්‍රණය කර” තිබීමයි. එය මගේ පාලන සමයේ මුද්‍රණය කළ මුදල මෙන් දෙගුණයක ප්‍රමාණයක්.

ඉහත කරුණු අනුව මට එරෙහිව සමාජ මාධ්‍ය තුළ පළවන සහ හුවමාරු වන චෝදනා අමූලික අසත්‍ය චෝදනා බවත්, ඒවායින් බොහොමයක් වසර 10 ඉක්මවූ චෝදනා බවත් මනාව පැහැදිලි වෙනවා. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම, පසුගිය රජය ද එම චෝදනාවලින් සමහරක් මගේ කර මත පැටවීමට උත්සාහ ගත් නමුත් කිසිදු වරදක් සිදු වූ බවට සාක්ෂි නොමැති නිසා ඔවුන්ට එය සාර්ථක කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි වූවා.

එසේ වුවද දිගින් දිගටම අසත්‍ය චෝදනා කරමින් ඒවා සමාජ මාධ්‍ය තුළ ප්‍රචාරය කරමින් මාව අපකීර්තියට පත් කිරීමට උත්සහා කරන සංවිධානාත්මක කණ්ඩායම් තවමත් සිටිනවා. එවැනි වෛරයෙන් පිරුණු, වල්මත් වූ සහ බොරු චෝදනා ද නිසැකවම අසාර්ථක වනු ඇති බව අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැහැ.

අපි හිටියා නම් සේරම ණය ගෙවනවා – අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් – ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ හිටපු අධිපති

සංවාද සටහන: ජීවන්ත ජයතිස්ස

By Dr Parakrama Waidyanatha Courtesy The Island

Various reports in the media yet claim that the Rajarata kidney disease, scientifically defined as the chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu), is caused by agrochemicals whereas the overwhelming evidence is that it is caused by hard water and fluoride prevalent in dug wells on high ground. Further it claimed that the number of patients is on the increase whereas published evidence is that it has been decreasing from 2016.

Agrochemicals are not the cause

An exhaustive study carried out by the World Health Organization under the aegis of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka (NSF)was published in 2013. Although it failed to bring out conclusive evidence as to the etiology, it suggested an involvement of pesticides in the causation of the disease in that residues of some pesticides were above reference levels in the urine of CKDu patients. However, the pesticides residues of subjects in a non CKDu, control area (Hambantota) were also measured but the report failed to quote that data. The writer was able to get the raw data of the urine pesticide residues of Hambantota from the NSF, and to his dismay it was found that the residue levels were far higher in the urine of non-CKDu subjects of Hambantota as seen in Table 1 .As per the grapevine, the draft Report did not come up with any firm conclusions but at the insistence of the then political authority they were compelled to make some conclusions. So, it was vaguely concluded that agrochemicals probably played a role in the etiology of the disease. It is probably why the data of the non-CKDu patients were not reported!

A report entitled Health effects of fertilis ers and pesticides” was submitted to the authorities on 22-October-2021 by none other than Dr S. H. Munasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of Health. Therein he has clearly stated that there is no evidence for a direct link between the kidney disease and agrochemicals. The report may be read at: https://dh-web.org/place.names/posts/Ministry of HealthReviewAgroChem2021.pdf. (See Table 1)

There have been various other unsubstantiated claims for a link between agrochemicals and the kidney disease. For example, a research paper in an open-access (fee levying) journal, titled ‘International Journal of Public Health, Prof. Channa Jayasumana and two other authors hypothesised that glyphosate forms complexes with heavy metals such as cadmium and arsenic in hard water causing the kidney disease. No evidence has been established to prove the formation of such complexes. However, the claim that glyphosate is a probable etiolating agent led to the then government to ban glyphosate which caused serious hardships in weed management in crops. The ban was finally lifted initially for tea and later for all crops!

The claim that agrochemicals are the cause of many health problems have let to the coining of the term wasa visa to agrochemicals. It has also been purported that Sri Lanka is the country that uses the highest quantities of fertilisers and pesticides in the world! However, the available evidence as shown in Table 2 clearly establishes that Sri Lanka is one of the countries using the least amounts of both fertilisers and pesticides. (See Table 2)

Hard water and fluoride are the key causes for the disease

Not agrochemicals but fluoride and hard water are the causes for the kidney disease have been now well established. Apartment from several quality publications, a dramatic study compared two adjacent villages in Girandurukotte, namely, Badulupura, on high ground where the people exclusively drank water from dug wells and Sarabhumi in the plain where the people drank water from the river, reservoir or wells dug close to their homes. The Badulupura people contracted the disease, while affecting virtually none from Sarabhumi. Analysis of the water in the wells in the Badulupura and Sarabhumi revealed that the Badulupura water was hard and heavily contaminated with fluoride, a highly nephrotoxic chemical. However, there was no evidence of any agrochemicals above safety limits in the Badulupura waters. Further evidence for a role for fluoride in the disease is that CKD patients also often have dental fluorosis.

That people living in the planes and consuming water from reservoirs and rivers do not contaminate the disease is further exemplified by the fact that people in the Anuradhapura city and consuming tap water from the reservoirs do not contaminate the disease.

Commencing in the mid 2010-decade, community-based reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plants were established as an interim measure for producing safe drinking water for the endemic areas of the kidney disease in the rural dry zone of Sri Lanka. It was reported that RO –treated water diminished progression of the disease. In addition, during the same period rain water harvesting and consumption were introduced to the Badulupura people, and it has now been reported there has been a diminution of the occurrence of the disease in the village. However, a formal study yet needs to be done to confirm this observation.

Moreover, a study published in the journal, Science of the Total Environment( Vol. 745, 2020) by a Japanese team of scientists in collaboration with some Sri Lankan scientists established that alkalinity, hardness and microbial parameters in the ground waters exceeded the maximum allowable limits(MAL) for drinking water in all disease affected study areas. Also, Magnesium exceeded the minimum allowable limit exclusively in the disease prevalent areas.

A further study involving feeding Wistar rats undertaken at the University of Peradeniya and reported in an issue of Ceylon Medical Journal in 2017 established that high fluoride, hard water and other undetected toxins in shallow dug wells may be the causative factor for renal and liver lesions that were detected in these rats. (Figure 01)

In vegetable growing areas of the upcountry and Puttalam where agrochemical use has been far more than in the Rajarata, no CKD has been reported. Moreover, in Mulaitive, a hard water area where no agrochemicals had been hardly used due to unavailability during the Tamil rebellion which lasted over two decades, no CKD has been reported.

Evidence is thus, overwhelming that the chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKD) is related to drinking hard water containing fluoride and magnesium. Some 176,000 such wells are reported to be present in the Rajarata.

The disease in the early stages of research towards detection of its etiology was referred to it as ‘the chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology’ (CKDu). But now with a firm understanding of the cause of the disease the ‘u’ has been dropped and the disease should be referred to as the chronic kidney disease (CKD).

However, there are also recent claims that the numbers of CKD patients are on the increase. On the other hand the Figure 1. Clearly shows that the numbers of new patients are on the decline after the introduction of RO filters and rainwater harvesting. Regrettably, it appears that the health authorities have not published the data after 2017.

Although adequate supplies of safe drinking water may not be available in all CKD endemic areas, the people are now amply aware that the disease is caused by the consumption of hard water from wells on high ground containing fluoride and magnesium, and they avoid drinking such water.