KAMALIKA PIERIS

GAS TERMINALS (1)

The electricity generation is moving in the direction the saboteurs wanted it to, towards oil, announced a critic in March 2019. Yahapalana government favors gas terminals. The share of electricity produced from oil reached a 20-year low of 18%, in 2015, and now it has risen back to 34% by 2017, and will surely exceed 50% by 2020.

The retired oil power plants are been revived. Companies are writing reports on how one oil power plant is more expensive than the other. The PUCSL is not approving contracts as regards oil power plants. There are accusations and counter-accusations against oil power plants. In the end, it is oil and more oil, he exclaimed.  Gas costs more than coal and renewables.

India so far has only four gas terminals; three of them hardly used, owing to the higher costs of gas compared with coal and renewables. However, politicians in tiny Sri Lanka are toying with nine gas terminal proposals.

Are we really building a gas terminal asked one critic.  The number of gas terminals being contemplated by various arms and individuals of the government is nine, but none has reached the construction phase. All proposals and their hidden sponsors within various government committees try to evade the competitive bidding process. The spoils too attractive to share. One LNG power plant was to come up by 2021 but the government hasn’t even called for tenders for the second power plant.

One advertisement for an LNG terminal said that the government had got a proposal for an LNG terminal, and anyone could match that could send counterproposals within five weeks. The terminal is at least a 300-million-dollar investment. Surely, no company of repute would even attempt to send a counter-proposal to finance and build a 300-million-dollar asset in five weeks. Even a building contractor takes two weeks to send his pricing to build a 10-million-rupee house! Here, we have a government that has received a proposal from an interested party, which was not solicited (meaning there was no tender process in the first place) now trying to rush the proposal through by inviting counter-proposals in five weeks so that there will be no counter-proposals.

One investor had submitted a proposal to build an LNG receiving terminal at the Hambantota Port along with a 1200 MW natural gas-fired power plant in the Port premises, which has been accepted by the SLPA.  He had submitted a proposal in response to a call for proposals published in the press by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) for setting up business ventures at Hambantota Port.

After evaluating the proposals and short-listing them, which took about one and a half years, the said proposal was recommended to the Cabinet by the then Minister of Ports and Shipping in March 2014 and was taken up at the Cabinet meeting in April. The Cabinet memorandum has recommended the construction of a 1200 MW of LNG power plants phased out over a period of eight years, subject to the investor entering into a Joint Venture Company (JVC) with the CEB and BOI and 10% shares issued to the Treasury. The power purchase agreement was to be entered by CEB with the JVC.

The investor gave the assurance that he could supply uninterrupted power as required and build an LNG terminal hub, which meant the re-exporting of LNG as well as extending its use in other sectors locally in transport. The Investor agreed to form a JVC as suggested and the SLPA agreed to lease out the necessary extent of land within the Port premises to set up the LNG storage tanks and the power plant.

Cabinet approved the project and Secretary to the Ministry of Ports & Shipping SLPA wrote to him, releasing 30 ha of land within the Port premises requesting him to take necessary follow up action. The Investor commenced preliminaries such as getting the environment impact assessment report prepared. Then to his surprise, he received a copy of a letter dated June 2016, from the Chairman of SLPA, addressed to the Secretary to the President, informing him that the project had been disallowed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) at a meeting in May. The reason given was that the CCEM had decided to put on hold all the projects planned under the RFPs because the government had decided to hand over the Hambantota Port to the Chinese.

Had the project not been aborted by the government, it would have commenced in mid-2016 after completing the EIA within one year. With the fuel being natural gas, there would not have been any pollution unlike in the case of a coal-fired power plant, and the location has already been set up, EIA approval would not have taken much time. With the construction of the plant to be undertaken by the investor, there would not have been any ministry tender procedures which could have delayed the process. The time span could have been further reduced if the proposal had not been referred to the Cabinet twice.

If this project was not canceled, the first phase of simple cycle operation generating 200 MW of power could have been completed by the end of 2017 and the balance work generating an additional 100 MW of power generation by the end of 2018, generating a total of 300 MW of clean power in 2019 at a cost of LKR 12.25 a unit (@ LKR 175 per USD). There wouldn’t be any external costs as there is no pollution caused by natural gas. This proposed LNG-operated power plant, expected to generate about 2000 GWh annually, would have greatly helped CEB, helping it save around LKR 15 Billion annually? This is the loss to the country by canceling the proposed LNG project, concluded critics.

GAS TERMINALS (2)

In February 2019 Cabinet of Ministers has appointed a committee to look into the government decision to award a tender to a Sri Lankan-Chinese joint venture for the construction of a 300 MW LNG power plant at Kerawalapitiya. The appointment of the committee will further delay the construction of the LNG power plant, which should have been operational by now, said critics. This power plant should have been up and running by 2019.

The tender opening was in January 2017 and the contract was to be awarded later that year, but due to a tug of war between Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) affiliated LTL Holdings and China’s Golden Concord Holdings with its local partner WindForce and RenewGen caused the tender process to be delayed.

The country will lose Rs. 90 billion within the next 20 years if the government awarded the construction for the construction of a 300 MW LNG power plant at Kerawalapitiya to any company other than Lanka Transformers Ltd (LTL),  said the LTL unions, addressing the Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating corruption in the current administration.

LTL was one of the main contenders for the construction of the plant. LTL had been recommended by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) on the power plant on four separate occasions. However, various parties with vested interests had attempted to ensure that they didn’t get the contract.

“In November 2016, the tender was called for the construction of the power plant and we submitted our bid on April 21, 2017. It was a two-envelope system, where technical and financial bids are submitted separately and the financial bids of those who have been successful in their technical bids are opened. On June 06, 2017, the TEC decided that financial bids of six companies should be opened, but the Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee only opened the bid of one Company, Samsung C & T. But because they had not submitted a hard copy of an important document their financial bid was rejected.

“At a meeting held on June 13, 2017, Secretary to the Ministry of Power, had told Chairperson of LTL, to withdraw the LTL’s bid. It raised suspicions that there would be deliberate attempts to scuttle their bid. “We had the least cost––the price of a unit of power was Rs. 14.98. The second best price by WindForce was Rs. 15.97. The TEC approved our bid and sent us some details for us to clarify. On November 22, 2017, we provided the necessary information. The Ministry obtained a letter from the Ministry of Finance stating that the equipment LTL wanted to import was not exempt from VAT. LTL again inquired about this from the Finance Ministry as the VAT Act had not been amended.

We were informed that such concessions had been suspended from November 2016. But still, even if we added VAT our price was 80 cents lower than the second closest bidder’s. The TEC considered that and recommended that be consulted to see if we were ready to provide a unit of power at the same price, even without the VAT exemption. We agreed. So far we have been chosen by TEC on four separate occasions but the Ministry of Power hasn’t even given us an appointment.”

SOLAR POWER (1)

In April 2019, Solar Industries Association (SIA)   presented their ‘Least cost long term solar PV generation plan 2019 – 2025’   The electricity demand for 2019 was estimated to be about 16 000 gigawatt-hours with a 5% annual demand growth, around 800 gigawatt-hours, in the coming years, the SIA said. The Minister of Power says that we have a gap of around 700 megawatts daily.

The CEB has no plan to meet this increase .and it is unlikely that a large power plan will come up until 2025. The only plan they have is to purchase emergency power as a stop-gap measure. This will be a massive financial cost to the CEB and the people. The estimated cost of purchasing emergency power in 2019 alone is estimated to be Rs. 101 and the accumulated cost over the next seven years would be Rs. 1187 billion, most of which will be paid for fuel imports.

Sri Lanka could have saved up to Rs. 266 billion between 2019 and 2025 if it had met the electricity demand that increased by around 800 Gigawatt hours annually by using solar power, SIA  said. The process of constructing large fossil fuel power plants was long, but solar power units could be established very quickly. Unlike highly polluting private power plants running on diesel and furnace oil, solar power causes no pollution at all.

SIA said that Sri Lanka lost Rs. 1 billion a day due to the four-hour power cut. Things would have been much more difficult if not for the 230 megawatts of power added to the grid by solar power units in the last four years. If the 230 megawatts weren’t there the power cuts would have started on February 2019.

The Solar industry proposes that the government purchase that power at Rs. 23.10 per unit with battery storage and rooftop conversions at Rs. 22. Battery storage would resolve one of the most popular criticisms against solar, i.e. that it can’t be stored. “This will have zero investment cost to the government and solar power can be connected to the national grid within six months.  Awarding these contracts to local entrepreneurs will prevent heavy foreign currency outflows, generate a large number of jobs and create a positive effect on the economy,” Fernando said.

SIA said that there were over 650 applications for generating 1,500 megawatts of electricity using solar power, piled up at the Sustainable Energy Authority since 2016. If those applications had been processed Sri Lanka would not have been undergoing any electricity shortages and there would have been no need for the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to purchase emergency power at a high cost.

SOLAR POWER (2)

The Solar Industry Association expressed its dissatisfaction in June 2019 over the sudden decision taken by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ministry of Power and Energy to stop the installation of country’s future solar power projects that could add 200 MW to the national grid other than small size solar power projects.

Surya Bala Sangramaya program was launched in 2016 with the sole objective of producing energy using solar power and over 17,000 solar power installations have so far been successfully carried out in all parts of the country. The program has been a resounding success with over 17,000 installations and a combined energy capacity of nearly 200 MW added to the national grid.

The decision, taken to stop the installation of solar power projects will also lead to the complete destruction of the solar industry in Sri Lanka. In June 2019, Solar Industry Association (SIA) alleges that the ‘Surya Bala Sangraamaya’ program, is on the verge of collapse and it will also lead to the loss of over 10,000 employment opportunities.

SOLAR POWER (3)

On 28 May 2019, CEB had stopped accepting applications for solar power projects over 50 kW in size.”They informed us that Net Metering Systems (carry forward of excess energy produced by solar projects in homes) and Net Accounting Systems (sale of extra energy produced by solar projects in homes to the CEB) will be canceled. Meanwhile, Net Plus Tariffs (CEB buys all energy produced by solar projects) are to be drastically reduced rendering the scheme commercially unviable.”These steps would lead to the collapse of the solar industry in Sri Lanka. When the solar power industry collapses, the CEB would have to purchase more power from private thermal power producers at higher prices.

However, In July 2019, Power, Energy, and Business Development Minister Ravi Karunanayake announced that the government is calling for tenders to build 90 Solar Power Plants with a capacity of 1 MW each. Already 76 projects have been awarded procurement approval under this program. Questioned as to why there was no standardization applied to imports of solar panels, he replied The reason why we have not introduced specific standardization to solar panels is that if we do so, some businessmen may accuse us of favoring one country over the other. So we have given the consumers the power to choose their preferred equipment. This is more or less why we have not implemented an official standardization,” he explained.    End of  Pt 11 ( continued)

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu

The former President’s reaction is among the first from Sri Lankan political leaders after New Delhi ended Jammu & Kashmir’s special status.

Commenting on the prospects for power devolution to Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils, Leader of Opposition and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made a reference to the current situation in Kashmir.”

Leading Sri Lankan Tamil daily Virakesari on Saturday published a wide-ranging interview with Mr. Rajapaksa. To a question on his future plans for evolving a political solution to the island’s long-pending Tamil question, Mr. Rajapakasa is quoted as saying: There are two strands of opinion now. Some want a new constitution. Some want a federal arrangement. And some say that a political solution based on the 13th Amendment would suffice. But a solution should not be one that divides the country. Look at what has just happened in Kashmir. We need to take steps keeping all these in mind. We have to understand these factors while we pursue a political solution.”

His reaction is among the first from Sri Lankan political leaders after New Delhi ended Jammu & Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. Earlier, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called it India’s internal matter” in a tweet, in which he said Ladakh would become the first Indian state with a Buddhist-majority” — a claim that was subsequently challenged on social media, for its factual accuracy.

Mr. Rajapaksa’s interview, appearing on the eve of the scheduled announcement of the presidential candidate to be fielded by the political front backing him, gives a glimpse into the leader’s thinking, in the run-up to the presidential polls to be held before the end of the year.

Noting that he had five candidates, Mr. Rajapaksa said in the interview: Tomorrow I will name the best of them, the one who will strengthen national security.”

While his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a powerful war-time defence secretary, is widely expected to be named presidential candidate on Sunday, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa will take over the leadership of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Front) officially, after being its de facto leader for nearly three years since it was launched as a platform backing him.

Amid much speculation and questions, especially over Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s renunciation of his U.S. citizenship — Sri Lankan laws prohibit dual citizens from contesting — minority Tamil and Muslim parties are closely following developments. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is accused of committing war crimes and was also linked to hard-line Sinhala Buddhist groups known for inciting violence targeting the Muslims. He has denied the allegations.

To Virakesari’s question on the minorities’ discomfort with Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidature, the Leader of Opposition said: I don’t think there is truth in that. In reality, further to the [19th] constitutional amendment, the Prime Minister has more powers. I am the Prime Ministerial candidate [general elections are due next year], so we have to work together.”

On his views of LTTE chief Prabakaran, in the context of the Easter terror attacks in April, Mr. Rajapaksa said: He had an objective, he had direction and discipline. The path Prabakaran took was wrong, but there was discipline and restraint in his actions. He would strike when he wanted to and choose not to at other times. But the Easter attacks were not like that. They [terrorists] could attack at any time, and they are even willing to die for that.”

R BHAGWAN SINGH Courtesy DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Gotabaya is not a bad man as they (opposition) project, he is a man of action and he is not of many words, operates quietly.

 Mahinda Rajapaksa (Photo: AP)

In an exclusive interview to R. Bhagwan Singh just an hour before his scheduled meeting with the leaders of Opposition alliance late Saturday evening at his residence in Colombo, where he was expected to break his silence on the Presidential candidate for his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-means Sri Lanka Peoples’ Front-former President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa insists the fears in India about him being pro-China are unfounded” and he is the best friend India can ever have in Sri Lanka”. Asked to comment on the Kashmir developments, he said the two nuclear powers should sit down and talk, aided by a third party both would trust, such as the Secretary General of the United Nations. Excerpts from the interview:

Q Everyone seems to know who your candidate is; they are saying it will be your brother and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa taking on SLFP’s nominee in the Presidential election in November? And you have gone on record saying you would be the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka when PM election are held next year?

Mahinda Rajapaksa: (laughs) Yes and No. We have not decided yet (on Gotabaya being the candidate), but the people have decided I think (that it should be Gotabaya).

Q There were allegations from the Opposition side even last time that you are heading a dynastic rule with you as the President and your brothers in powerful positions in the government. And people appeared to have agreed with that when the results came and you lost. Won’t that happen again now?

MR: Those charges are political and not real. The talk of dynastic rule is not relevant anymore since the people want it for their own sake. They want safety, security. They want development, they want jobs. We will deliver that. Gotabaya is not a bad man as they (opposition) project, he is a man of action and he is not of many words, operates quietly. With him as the President and I, being the elder political leader with vast experience as the Prime Minister, we can together deliver to the people what they badly need now. And people are aware of that. Now there is no law & order, no democracy, no elections to provincial councils despite the 13th Amendment. The present government had been only busy indulging in persecution and prosecution, and taking revenge of people associated with my government. Delhi knows that we will deliver security and development to Sri Lanka and also ensure good relations with India.

Q And that attack on Muslims that they attributed to Gotabaya?

MR: That was a lie spread by them. They would go and attack Muslim villages and say loudly, ‘Vote for Rajapaksa’, so the blame would be on us. It was an organised planned campaign against us. But now the Muslim people know who was really responsible, they are intelligent and educated.

Q That there have been war crime charges against Mr Gotabaya..

MR: They were all political (charges). If the TNA could back Fonseka who actually led the war and Tamil people then accepted the TNA, why will they not support us now, seeing the manner in which the TNA failed them.

Q So you are confident the minorities will vote for you?

MR: Yes. Even the Tamil people are seeing what happened. At least the Muslim ministers in the Cabinet are doing something but the TNA MPs are doing nothing for people; they are only taking care of themselves. The Chief Minister in the Northern Province (former Supreme Court judge CV Vigneswaran) at least opposes the government whereas the TNA MPs and leaders like Sampanthan and Sumanthiran, are supporting the government but they are not getting anything for the people. They are getting for themselves. When we come to power, I will ensure the Tamils have a settlement acceptable to all within two years.

Q How are your equations with the Narendra Modi Government, because I remember in 2015 you were very unhappy and even blamed Indian RAW for causing your defeat in the Presidential election?

MR: Past is past. We have forgotten it. Now we understand each other better than ever before. India understands that only we can deliver security and development in Sri Lanka whereas the present dispensation is ridden with conflict between President Maithripala and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe which was one of the reasons why the Easter blasts happened. I went to meet him (Modi) in May. In the past (2015), they were worried because two (Chinese) submarines came here (Colombo port) and went back. But now what has happened? They have come and they have stayed. They are very much here all the time since Hambantotta port has been sold to the Chinese, who have been given many other assets and projects, such as 200-year-lease for the Colombo Port City, and so on. They (Chinese) are permanently here now.

Q Will you be able to change this situation if you come to power, to change the ratio of Chinese presence compared to Indian projects here?

MR: We have to negotiate these things; when you sign agreement with another country we are bound by that. But India can step up (involvement, investment), such as the airports at Palaly and Mattala, and the petroleum tanks in Trincomallee. Our policy is that we are against privatisation.

Q Do you concede that India is a critically important ally to you, particularly after the Easter bombings? India had sent your government alerts but they went ignored?

MR: For Sri Lanka, India is the closest neighbour and their influence is very much felt here. And as far as I am concerned, India’s best friend will be Mahinda Rajapaksa. And yes, India alerted us about the bombing danger but
that went unheeded because they (President Maithripala and PM Ranil) were fighting among themselves. A country cannot be run effectively by two power-centres.

Q How do you look at the situation in Kashmir, and the action taken by the Modi government?

MR: What was done there was an internal matter of India, no? But still, I would say that being nuclear powers and neighbours, they (India and Pakistan) could sit together and talk. Perhaps a third party trusted by both could bring them both to the table, someone like the UN Secretary General.

Raul Dancel  Philippines Correspondent In Manila Courtesy The Straits Times

Philippine security officials said yesterday they were checking reports that at least two Sri Lankans had slipped into the country to train local militants on bomb-making, even as one of them claimed a family feud had led to false accusations against her.

Mr Rommel Banlaoi, head of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, told The Sunday Times that one of the Sri Lankans, Ms Victoria Sophia Sto Domingo, had met agents from the National Bureau of Investigation “to deny everything”.

But the military’s spokesman, Brigadier-General Edgard Arevalo, said security officials were still trying to verify the information.

Pending that, the case remains under investigation.

“The information immediately available are reports coming from media. We already have some information that we are checking with another agency,” he added.

Mr Banlaoi said Ms Sto Domingo had met government agents and had issued an affidavit saying that she, her fiance Mark Kevin Samhoon and her mother Anarkalie Dulara Palliyaguruge were being framed by an estranged relative over a grudge.

In the affidavit, a copy of which was obtained by The Sunday Times, Ms Sto Domingo said the kin had told the Philippine Bureau of Immigration that the three of them had ties to the National Thowheed Jama’ath, the terrorist group accused of carrying out the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka in April that killed at least 250 people.

Acting on that tip, the bureau issued advisories to airport officials flagging Ms Sto Domingo and Mr Samhoon as “suicide bombers”, and Ms Palliyaguruge as their “financier”. The advisories stated that Ms Sto Domingo arrived in the Philippines in November last year.

In an e-mail to The Sunday Times, Ms Sto Domingo said the false accusations were “a form of harassment towards me, my mother and my fiance due to a family feud”.

She said she has been estranged from the relative since 2002.

“This is not the first time he has harassed or caused trouble in our lives using social media to bully me and my family,” she added.

She clarified that she went to the Philippines to give birth, and Mr Samhoon, whose mother was said to be a Filipino maid in Dubai, is still in Sri Lanka and has never been to the Philippines.

She also denied claims that she was involved in the suicide attack in January on a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu province. The attack killed 23 people and wounded at least 100.

In her affidavit, Ms Sto Domingo said she and Mr Samhoon are “born-again Christians”, and her mother is Buddhist. “None of us have any connections with any terrorist group or terrorist activity.”

Online news site BenarNews, citing military sources, had reported that two Sri Lankans were with a faction of Filipino militants on the main island of Luzon, purportedly planning to attack churches.

Pro-ISIS extremists from abroad had reportedly been sneaking into the Philippines to help militants mount attacks in densely populated cities far from their strongholds in the war-torn southern island of Mindanao.

Courtesy London South East

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankans, angered by the government’s inability to prevent the Easter Sunday terror attacks that killed more than 250 people, want a strongman back in power who can guarantee their safety and bring back economic growth.

Many are rooting for Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who despite fighting allegations of war crimes, is expected to be announced as the presidential candidate of the opposition nationalist Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, as early as Sunday.

The Rajapaksa brothers, Gotabaya and Mahinda, were credited with bringing peace to Sri Lanka in 2009 by defeating the Tamil Tigers in a brutal end to the 26-year-long civil war between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and minority Tamil groups. Gotabaya was the defence secretary at the time and Mahinda the nation’s president.

“The people have requested a leader who can ensure their security,” Basil Rajapaksa, founder of the SLPP and youngest brother of Gotabaya and Mahinda told reporters on Thursday.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States for instigating and authorising the extrajudicial killing of a journalist and of war crimes against the Tamils during his time as defence secretary.

He has denied the allegations and said the lawsuits, brought by torture survivors and the daughter of the slain journalist, were timed to thwart his possible presidential run. A final date for the presidential elections has not been decided but must be held before Dec 9.

IGNORED WARNINGS

Sri Lanka’s constitution is modelled on the French system of government where the president has executive powers while the prime minister heads the parliament.

The current government is headed by President Maithripala Sirisena, the leader of centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is from the centre-right United National Party (UNP), which has a majority in the parliament.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, who have been at loggerheads since last October, have blamed one another for ignoring warnings from India and failing to stop the attacks. Calls for a nationalist leader like Gotabaya, who has strong support from within Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese Buddhist community, echo similar choices made by voters in other Asian nations including India and Bangladesh.

In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was elected for a second term in May in a landslide victory, rallied his Hindu nationalist base and turned the campaign into a fight for national security and an aggressive stance against Pakistan.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won a third straight term in an election last December, has been criticised for suppressing dissent and jailing critics.

ECHOES OF DUTERTE

Reuters spoke to about 60 people, many of whom were victims of the terror attacks or affected by communal violence over the past year, and while some plan to abstain from voting, many of those who will vote say they want a more authoritarian figure.

Many Sri Lankan Catholics will not vote for Sirisena if he stands, said a senior Sri Lankan priest.

He is looking at Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs as an example of the kind of behaviour that is required despite evidence that it involved extrajudicial killings by police.

“A third world country like us needs a tough leader like Duterte – he is doing whatever is needed to rid his country of evils,” said the priest who did not wanted to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

“Gotabaya is accused of crimes but he is tough and that is what we need right now to bring back some order,” he said.

The Catholic Church did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

MINORITIES DIVIDED

A country of 21 million, Sri Lanka has been a tinder box of sectarian and ethnic tensions, first between the majority Sinhalese Buddhist population and Tamil groups, and in recent years between the Sinhalese Buddhists and the Muslim minority.

While most Tamils are unlikely to vote for Gotabaya, the Muslim community may be divided.

S.H.M. Thameem, a government employee who is a Muslim, said he will vote for Gotabaya because the current government has failed to deliver.

“When there were anti-Muslim riots when he was the defence secretary, they were controlled within a day or two but Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have failed to control it. That adversely impacted the Muslim businesses and overall economy,” said Thameem who lives in the north-central district of Anuradhapura.

J.M. Faleel, a Muslim autorickshaw driver in Colombo feels differently.

“We need a dictator, but I will not vote for Gotabaya as he is partially responsible for most of the suffering we see today,” said Faleel, referring to anti-Muslim riots and alleged abuses against the Tamils.

Keheliya Rambukwella, a spokesman for SLPP, said Gotabaya was out of the country when the worst violence against Muslims took place.

“But still he was able to prevent it within a day. This government could not control the spreading of anti-Muslim riots for a week last,” he told Reuters.

The lawsuit allegations in the United States may not hurt Gotabaya’s chances of winning because he has the overwhelming support of the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, said Kusal Perera, a political columnist in Sri Lanka.

“This election will be decided by the large majority of Sinhalese Buddhists who believe they need a hardline president to put things right. The Tamils and Muslims will be left out in deciding the president,” said Perera.

Courtesy Adaderana

An article published by the Singaporean media outlet, The Strait Times, said yesterday (09) that at least two terrorists from Sri Lanka have allegedly sneaked into the Philippines to train local militants on making bombs and attacking churches and other soft targets north of the country. 

It is alleged that the two terrorists, who had links to the National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ), sneaked into the Philippines with a third terrorist acting as a financier.

The article went on to provide the names of the alleged suspects and quoted the spokesperson of the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, Salvador Panelo, as saying that the security forces in Luzon were on high alert to thwart such attacks.

It, however, transpires that the report is baseless putting the name persons at a severe disadvantage also making a resounding case for a crackdown on fake news.

Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, the Co-Author of Three Pillars of Radicalization: Needs, Narratives and Networks, speaking to Ada Derana, said the article in question has no basis and that the two individuals mentioned there are victims of fake news.

He stated that the government of the Philippines has verified that this article is fake. It is highly likely that the Philippines would issue in this regard in the coming days, he added.

Prof. Gunaratna highlighted the importance of the Sri Lankan government making an announcement stating that these two individuals are not linked to terrorism.

The government must take measures to introduce legislation to counter fake news while emphasizing on the importance of responsible reporting.

When US pivots to Asia as a strategy it means Americas political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural focus is all shifted to Asia, it also means, its associated alliances, partners, its covert/overt teams will all come with them. How prepared is Asia and in particular is India for this & what ramifications will India be subject to?

Who are America’s Western partners – all of the EU countries, NATO partners, Israel, Australia – in short the Western liberal white nations

Who are America’s Other partner countries – pro-US Islamic countries headed by Saudi, Japan & unfortunately India as well as smaller nations that think it a pride to be plugged with the West inspite of its horrific checklist of crimes.

Who are America’s silent partners – the Mainstream media, the NGOs, faith-based organizations steered by the Church & other Evangelical/Born Again groups, INGOs, the UN, local NGOs/CSOs funded by Western Governments, Human Rights Organizations & their activists, lawyers, diaspora groups operating from western climes etc

Who are America’s terror partners – Al Qaeda, ISIS and other groups that have direct or indirect links to US via its intel organizations. Wherever US pivots too Islamic terror follows, or wherever Islamic terror strikes US pivots to, as a crusader to ‘end terror’ – well that’s the excuse given.

We all know that Tamil youth were taken and trained in India but was this India’s strategy or did the West encourage this as part of a bigger plan? Let’s assume that upto Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination LTTE were steered by India, then it is safe to assume thereafter LTTE was manipulated by West for its gains through NGOs, the Church (Father Emmanuel, Bishop Rayappu Joseph, and many other Church heads were openly canvasing for LTTE)

LTTE had opened offices in the West, its Diaspora heads were manipulating charity systems in the West & the Western govts did nothing about it, LTTE lobbies were openly campaigning for LTTE and foreign governments had no qualms about their parliamentarians even attending LTTE functions  – but they did ban LTTE and they did carry out a few cosmetic arrests but nothing close to what they could have done and should have done to end terror using their own country laws against terror. Aunty Adele is happily living in UK enjoying all the wealth of the LTTE kitty and this is the woman who trained children to kill people and commit suicide if caught!

All throughout Sri Lanka’s conflict a barrage of players sponsored by the West were not only entering Sri Lanka but India as well – they came as conflict resolutionists, helping to build homes, helping women & children, helping to put up water & other utilities, helping to provide livelihoods – you name it they had a program designed for it & plenty of money to throw around. Is it a surprise that while all this was happening, Hindus were getting converted as most of the NGOs operating were proud ‘Christian’ organizations? They claim to promote equality and anti-discrimination but their Vision, Mission & Objectives clearly stated them to be ‘Christian’ NGOs/organizations.

All of these entities we know were undercover operations – on the surface they present themselves as doing a great service to society but those that fund them use the staff for undisclosed purposes and the data they gather and information they give is tactfully used for other bigger plans which staff are clueless about.

Buying over media personalities & other local heads & personalities moving in the public domain has been easy – money, position & bribery using age old never failed tricks have worked wonders to lure them.

What has been happening in Sri Lanka has been happening parallel in India and India is well aware of it as unlike Sri Lanka, it has taken some strong steps to curtain NGO/faith-based operations but rather late in the day. The manner that conversions have penetrated deep into rural India is seen by statistics alone.

All these operations are aligned to time-tested success ploy of divide and rule and it has worked well to demonize the majority in both India and Sri Lanka by the UN, associate NGOs/INGOs, foreign media partnering with local media, local stooges, purchased politicians and minority leaders & their representative bodies. The modus operandi has been to place the minority in powerful positions and use them to bring legislative and legal changes that stir the nerves of the majority – in India, the Hindus, in Sri Lanka the Sinhala Buddhists. The world is given no balanced version of things as UN & its associate entities, human rights activists etc are quick to jump to the scene and condemn the REACTION but totally IGNORE mentioning the ACTIONS that led to the reactions.

Putting all this into the current context – India must realize that India has been taken up the garden path playing on India’s aspirations to be a permanent member of the UNSC, thinking India to be on par with the powerful nations and in exchange becoming the bully of Asia on behalf of the West against all of India’s neighbors. It is no surprise that none of India’s neighbors will shed any tears if India is balkanized. However, balkanization of India is not good for India nor is it beneficial to South Asia or the Asian continent especially when we know the record sheet of the players that push for creation of micro states – Kosovo and South Sudan and two perfect examples of what Sri Lanka or India should not become.

LTTE enabled the West to discretely set up in both Tamil Nadu & Sri Lanka, with US pivot to Asia, India should wake up to the fact that Kashmir and Sikh separatism now coming to the open is no coincidence. True enough the self-determination in Sri Lanka for Tamils was only to mark time until the West was ready to play its cards on India, but we all know the real self-determination is meant for Tamil Nadu (either annexing Sri Lanka or separate)

This is why it is to India’s benefit that India agrees to repeal 13^th amendment where the provisions will be beneficial to the West if it does balkanize India while manipulating its benefits in Sri Lanka to its advantage, which was something we all predicted but India chose to ignore.

It is to India’s advantage that India shifts its big bully policy on Sri Lanka as well as other bordering nations and quickly devise means to handle the Western interventions/interferences in Asia.

India should take seriously the MCC agreement together with ACSA & SOFA and the detrimental ACTs/Statutes being drafted and passed in Sri Lanka by foreigners. The regime change India helped take place in Sri Lanka in January 2015 has enabled West to place their stooges in all important roles that are making drastic and dangerous changes to Sri Lanka’s entire administrative and security systems. All of these changes will soon impact on India as well.

If Sri Lanka becomes a Western base in lieu of Diego Garcia it is only a matter of time that what happened to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia will happen to India. As India will have to grudgingly agree – India was kept clueless about ACSA, SOFA, MCC, Land Privatization Act, Land Bank and many other dangerous ACTS that have been passed.

India’s intel warnings on Islamic terror is a tad bit late because the operatives are now either in sleeper cells or moving about freely with the assistance of its masters and we all know the countries that nurture them. Islamic terror is going to be the latest ploy used in the West’s pivot to Asia – let us not forget Asia holds the highest number of Muslims and the spread of Wahhabism is another tool that facilitates West’s pivot to Asia for terror comes aligned to West’s ‘war on terror’.

We in Sri Lanka have cultural ties with India. True India has been a bully, but we are all intelligent enough to realize that India should not become the first domino in the neocolonial agenda of the West via transnational corporations & profit-hungry politicians linked to them.

If we see the larger picture of what is likely to happen to India, it is for India to now realize that it is in India’s best interest to link up with Sri Lanka, not with hidden intent to bully or influence it, but to help each other safeguard the sovereignty of both India & Sri Lanka.

The West may be able to buy a miniscule number of unrepresentative people who are propped up only by the power of the funding they receive based on the importance given to them via the West. These roles need to now be reversed and these anti-India/Sri Lanka lobby displaced and in their place a new team of people to take over. With elections forthcoming in Sri Lanka, it is to India’s advantage to offer a handshake of proper diplomacy instead of one hand of goodwill and a knife in the other. For starters, 13a must go & India must help remove this.

Shenali D Waduge

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

අප මේ ගතකරමින් සිටින වර්තමානය ඉතා තීරණාත්මකය. මෙරට ජනතාව සිතන කරන කියන සෑම ක්‍රියාවලියක් තුලම මනාව සැලසුම කරන ලද දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාදාමයක් ඇත. කන්නේ මොනවාද? අදින්නේ මොනවාද? කියන්නේ මොනවාද? යන හැම දෙයක් තුලින්ම අප යම්කිසි දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාවලියකට බද්ධව කටයුතු කරන්නෝ බවට පත්ව ඇත. අපට මේ උරුමව ඇත්තේ කුමක්දැයි අවබෝධ කරගත යුතුයම, අවධියකට සමාජයම අවතීර්ණව සිටි. තමන්ට තමන් අයිති නැති, තමන්ගේ බිරිදැවරුන්ව අරාබියේ මිනිසුන්ට හිමිව ඇති මේ සමාජය, අපට උරුම කරදුන්නේ කවුරුන්ද? යන්න සම්බන්ධව ගවේෂණය කලයුතුය.

මේ තත්වය දිනකින් දෙකකින් මසකින් හෝ වසරකින් අප වෙත ළඟාවූ තත්වයක් නොවේ. ඊට දිගු ඉතිහාසයක් ඇත. ඒ අප පැමිණි මාවතේ සිදුවුනේ කුමක්දැයි අප දැනගත යුතුමය. වර්තමානය යනු හරසුන් බොල් වචන එහාට මෙහාට පාකර හරිමින් මුළු සමාජයම වල්මත් කරවන යුගයකි. මේ වනවිට ජනතාව අපේක්ෂිත මැතිවරණයකට  ලගා වෙමින් සිටි. අප මැතිවරණයක් තබන සමාජයකට හෝ මැතිවරණයක් නොපවත්වා ඉදිරියට තම බලය පවත්වාගෙන යාමට වෙර දරන සමාජයකට අවතීර්ණය වීමට නියමිතය. ඒ සදහා අපි සමාජය සුදානම් කල යුතුය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පාලනය කරන රාජ්‍යය පද්ධතීන් දෙකැකි. ඒ

1.අදෘෂ්‍යමාන මහා රාජ්‍යය හා

2.නිර්මාණිත ව්‍යස්ථාවකට අනුව ස්ථාපිත දෘෂ්‍යමාන රාජ්‍යය වශයෙනි.

මේ රටේ අති බහුතරයක් කර්යයන් පාලනය කරනු ලබන්නේ, අදෘෂ්‍යමාන රාජ්‍යයයි. මෙම යාන්ත්‍රණය ගෝලීයව නිර්මාණය වුවක් වන අතර, වර්තමානයේ ගෝලීය අස්ථාවරත්වයට මුලික හේතුව මේ අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වයයි.  මෙම යාන්ත්‍රණය අති බලවත්ය. ලෝකයේ සෑම රටක්ම මෙම ග්‍රහණයෙන් පිඩා විදිමින් සිටි. කිසිදූ රටකට හෝ රාජ්‍ය නායකයකුට ස්වාධීනව කටයුතු කිරීමට ඔවුන් ඉඩ නොතයි. මෙම අදිසි බලවේගය, ලොවෙහි ඇති සෑම රාජ්‍යයක්ම, ඔවුන් විසින් සකස් කරන ලද ව්‍යාපෘතියකට අනුව මෙහෙයවයි. ඒ සදහා ලොව පුරා විහිදුනු ආයතන ගණනාවක්ද  නිර්මාණය කර ඇති අතර, මෙම මෙහෙයවීමේ ක්‍රියාදාමයට, අධිකරණය හා විනිසුරුවරුන්, බන්ධනාගාර හා බන්ධනාගාර නිලධාරින්,  රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්, ‍සෑම දේශපාලන පක්ෂයකම සිටින දේශපාලඥයින්, වෘත්තීය සමිති ක්‍රියාකාරකයින්, සියලුම ශිෂ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාර හා ශිෂ්‍ය ක්රියාකාරකයින්,කලාකරුවන් හා පාතාල සාමාජිකයින් සෘජුවම යොදා ගන්නා අතර, ඒ සදහා ඔවුනට ඉතා ඉහල මට්ටමේ වරදාන ප්‍රධානය කරයි.

අපේ මාතෘ භූමියට නිදහසද, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයද, උරුම කර දෙන ලදී. ඒ වර්ෂ 1948 පෙබරවාරි මස 4 වෙනිදායි. මේ නිදහස හා බද්ධව, උරුම කල ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට එහා ගිය කිසිවක් ගැන සිතීමට, කථා කිරීමට හෝ ගොඩනැංවීයට උත්සහ කිරීමට අපට අයිතියක් නැතිවීම විශේෂිතය. ඒ පදනම යටතේ අපට හිමි වූ ඒ පාලන ක්‍රමයට මේ වන විට වසර 71කි. අපි නිදහසේ යන්නට වෙර දරණ මේ ගමනට, අදෘෂ්‍යමාන රාජ්‍ය කල ක්‍රියාකාර කම් මොනවාදැයි යන්න, විග්‍රහත්මකව ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකන්ගේ අවධානයට ලක්කිරීම අපගේ  අරමුණයි.

වර්ෂ 1762දි මදුරාසියේ සිටි ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩුකාරයා විසින් මෙරට රජු මුණ ගැසීමට ජෝන් ෆිබස් නම් නියෝජිතයෙක් මෙරටට එවන ලදී. ඔහුගේ මුලික අරමුණ වුයේ, ත්‍රිකුනාමල වරාය හෝ එය නොහැකිනම් ඊට සමාන වෙනත් වරායක් කිර්ති ශ්‍රී රාජසිංහ රජතුමා හරහා ලබාගැනීම විය. ඒ ව්‍යායාමය අසාර්ථක විය. නමුත් වර්ෂ 1796දි ලංකාවේ මුහුදුබඩ පළාත් අල්ලාගත් ඉංග්‍රීසින් වර්ෂ 1801 මාර්තු මස පළමුවන අග්‍ර විනිශ්චයකාරයා වශයෙන් එංගලන්ත ජාතිකයෙකු වූ කොඩ්රින්ටන් එඩ්මන්ඩ් කරින්ටන් මහතාව පත් කිරීමත් සමග නව බලවේගයක ආරම්භය මේ බිමේ සනිටුහන් විය. එය මේ රටේ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍ය නමින් බිහිකළ ජාතික සටන් හා විමුක්ති ව්‍යාපාරයන් මර්ධනය කිරීමේ යාන්ත්‍රණයයි..

මේ නිතිය අවිගත් සතුරාට වඩා භයානක වූ අතර, එය විසින් මිනීමරුවන් සුරක්ෂිත කොට තම දේශයේ, විමුක්තිය උදෙසා සටන් කලවුන්ට මරණය උරුම කර දුන්හ. මේ නිතිය මේ රට පාලනය කරන අදෘශ්‍යමාන බලවේගයේ ආරක්ෂකයා බවට පත්ව එය සුරක්ෂිත කිරීම සදහා, නිතිය දිගහරිමින් හා නවමින් කටයුතු කිරීම ඉතිහාසය පුරාම අපි දකිමින් සිටින්නෙමු.

සැබෑ නිදහස් මේ රට තුල ස්ථාපිත කිරීමට අවැසි නම් පළමුව, පරදේශක්කාරයින් විසින් මෙරට ස්ථාපිත කර ඇති නිතිය හා අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය අහෝසිකළ යුතුය. රටට ගැලපෙන නව නීති  පද්ධතියක් ස්ථාපිත කලයුතුය. මේ රටේ ලොකුම විනාශය කල ආයතනය, සුද්දා විසින් ස්ථාපිත අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය බව කිව යුතුමය.

1818, හා 1848 විමුක්ති අරගලයන් මර්ධනය කිරීමේදී, සිදුකල ජන සංහාරයන්, සාධාරණ යුක්තියේ නාමයෙන් නහවා පිරිසිදු කිරීමට පරයින්ගේ  නිතිය යොදාගන්නා ලදී.

මේ නිතිය වර්ෂ 1915දි එදා විධායකයේ, නියෝගයන්ට අනුව යමින්, මුස්ලිම් සිංහල කෝලහාලයේදී සිංහල ජන නායකයින් සිරගත කිරීම හා ඝාතනය කිරීම සිදුකල අතර, එම නීතියම වර්ෂ 1937දි විධායකයේ නියෝගයන්ට එරෙහිව සිටගනිමින්, බ්රෙස්ගර්ඩල් සිද්ධියේදී, ආණ්ඩුකාරයාව රටින් පන්නා දැමීමද සිදුකළහ.

සුද්දාගේ නිතිය සුදු ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයෙකු පන්නා දැමීම, බැලු බැල්මට ප්‍රාතිහාර්යක් පෑමක් සේ ජනතාවට දිස්විය. නමුත් එදා ඒ නිතිය විසින් සිදුකලේ, ද්‍රවිඩ වතුකම්කරු බලය මෙරට තුල ස්ථාපනය කිරීමේ ඉතා වැදගත්ම පියවරයි. එය ඔවුනට ඉතා වැදගත් දේශපාලනමය කාර්යයක් විය. අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ට ඉතා වැදගත්ම වූ කටයුත්ත වුයේ මෙරට ස්වදේශිකයින් තුලවූ බලය මොට කිරීමයි. නිතිය රටට එරෙහිව හා ජනතාවට එරෙහිව කටයුතු කරන ලද්දේ එසේය. එම අවස්ථාවේදී, මෙරට ජනතාවට එරෙහි බලය රටතුල ස්ථාපනය කලේ, සුදු ආණ්ඩුකාරයාට එරෙහි සුදු ජාතිකයෙකුම යෙදවීම තුලිනි. මේ තුලින් ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂයට හා දෙමල වතුකම්කරුවන්ට මෙරට ස්ථාවර බාවයක් ලබාදෙන ලදී.

පළමුවන රාජ්‍ය පරිච්චේදය

වර්ෂ 1948 මෙරටට වැදගත් වසරක් විය. නිදහස ප්‍රධානයේදී ඉදිරියෙන්ම සිටි පුද්ගලයා, අතිගරු ඩි. එස්. සේනානායක මහතා විය.  අදෘෂ්‍යමාන මහා රාජ්‍ය මෙතුමා හිතවාදී නොවුනත් පැවතී ඓතිහාසික තත්වයන්ට අනුව එතුමාට රාජ්‍ය නායකත්වය උරුම කිරීමට සිදුවිය. ඩි. එස්. සේනානායක මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ රජය හා එහි පාලකයින්ද, තමන් පූර්ණ වශයෙන් නිදහස්ය යන විශ්වාශයෙන් යුක්තව රට පාලනය කරන්නට ආරම්භ කලද,  අදිසි රජය, ඩී. එස් සේනානායක මහතාව, ඔවුන්ගේ නියෝජිතයෙක් ලෙස පිලි නොගත්හ. තමන් විසින් ඉතා උසස් පදවියක් ලෙස සලකන ලද නයිට් පදවිය, පිරිනැමූ අවස්ථාවේ, ඩි. එස්. විසින් එය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම, “මම උඹලාගේ සම්මානනීය මිනිසෙකු වීමට සුදානම් නැත” යන පණිවුඩය ගැබ්ව තිබුණි. තවද පුරවැසි පනත මගින් නොරටුන්ට මේ රටේ චන්දයදීමේ බලය අහිමි කිරීම, මගින් අදිසි හස්තය සුදු ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයෙකු පන්නා දමා මෙරට ස්ථාපිත කල ස්වදේශික ජනවිරෝධි කාල බෝම්බය දෙදරවිමක් විය.  ඔහුගේ ජාතික සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතීන් තුලින්, උතුරු නැගෙනහිර ජනාවාස බිහිකිරීම සිංහලයින් පදිංචි කිරීමද, අද මෙන්ම එදාද අදිසි හස්තය නොරිස්සුහ. මෙම කාර්යයන් සිදුකිරීම මෙරට ජාතික ධනපති පන්තියේ හිතුවක්කාර ක්‍රියාකලාපයන්සේ සැලකූ අදිසි රජුන්, මෙරට ජනතාව තුලින්ම ඩි. එස්. සේනානායක රජයට එරෙහිව හඩක් නැංවීම සදහා වාමාංශික දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරයන් උපයෝගී කර ගත්හ. නමුත් මහාමාන්‍ය ඩි. එස් සේනානායකයන් නිවටයෙකු සේ ක්‍රියා නොකරන්නෙක් වූ බැවින් සිය කාර්යයන් අඛණ්ඩව කරගෙන ගියහ. එහි පලය වුයේ,”හොදින් බැරිනම් නරකින්” යන තේමාව මත ක්‍රියා කරන අදිසි රාජ්‍යය, මහා වේගයෙන් හඹා යන තුරගුන් මතින් වැටී සියදහස් ගනනක් හොදින් ජීවත් වෙන ලෝකයේ, සාමාන්‍ය තුරගකු මතින් වැටී මියයාමේ තත්වයක් ගරු ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක මහතාට උරුම කර දීමයි. ඔහුට සිය ධුර කාලය නිම කිරීමට පෙර මරු වැලද ගන්නට සිදුවිය. නිදහස ලබාගත් පසු පළමු අගමැතිවරයා වසර 4ක කාලයකින් ධුරයෙන් පමණක් නොව දිවියෙන්ද තොර කිරීමට අදිසි රජයට හැකිවිය.

ඒ මහාතාගේ මරණින් පසු ජනබලයෙන් බලයට පත් ඒ මහතාගේ පුත් ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා සිය පියාණන්ගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලට අනුව යමින් කටයුතු කරන්නට වූ අතර, කිසිදාක සේනානායකවරු නොරිස්සු අදිසි රජය, වහාම ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායකාවද බලයෙන් පහකරදමිමට තීරණය කළහ. ඒ සදහා පක්ෂයේ අභ්‍යන්තර සතුරන්ද බාහිර සතුරන්ද සන්ධානගත කල අදිසි බලවේගය, එවකට මුදල් අමතිවූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා සහ පුරවැසි පනත මගින් වතු දෙමල කම්කරුවන්ගේ චන්ද බලය අහිමි කිරීම හේතුවෙන් උරණව සිටි වාමාන්ෂික ව්‍යාපාරය යොදාගෙන ඉතා පහසුවෙන් ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා බලයෙන් පහකර දැමුහ. මේ අවස්තාව ලංකා දේශපාලනයේ සුවිශේෂී අවස්තාවක් නිරුපනය කරයි. අභ්‍යන්තර සතුරාවන ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන සහල් මිල 100%කින් ඉහල දමා බාහිර සතුරාගේ කාරයන්ට උත්තේජනයක් ලබාදීම තුලින්, වාමාංශික ව්‍යාපාරයට සටන දියත් කිරීමට මාවත විවර කල අතර, අපේක්ෂා කළාටත් වඩා ප්‍රබලවූ මහජනතාව, සටන රාජ්‍ය බලය අල්ලාගන්නා තත්වය තෙක් ගමන් කිරීමට කල උත්සාහය වලකා ලනු ලැබුවේද, වාමාංශික නායකයින්ම වීම මෙහි ඇති විශේෂයයිනැවකට ගෙන්වා ගත් අගමැතිතුමාට, උපදේශක සුද්දන් කියා සිටියේ, ඉල්ලා අස්වෙන ලෙසය. එය අදිසි බලයට අවැසි විදියටම සිදුවිය. ඉන්පසුව බලයට පත් සර් ජෝන් කොතලාවල මහතා කෙටිකලක් අගමැති ධුරයේ දරා, 1956 පරාජයෙන් පසු දේශපාලනයෙන් සමු ගත්හ,

දෙවන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය.

වසර ගණනාවක් විදේශීන්ට යටත්ව සිටියේ සිංහලයින්ය. ජාතියක් වශයෙන් පිඩා වින්දේ සිංහලයින්ය. ඔවුනට නිදහස හා විමුක්තිය අවශ්‍ය විය. එය ලබාදීමට වලිකෑ ඩි. එස්ට මරණය උරුම විය. මිලගය සිංහලයට නිදහස හා විමුක්තිය ලබාදීමට ඉදිරිපත්වුයේ එස්. ඩබ්ලිව්. ආර්. ඩි. බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාය. එතුමා 1956දි බලයට පත්විය. බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතා බලයට පත්වීමත් සමගම, රටතුල ඇතිවූ නව ප්‍රබෝධය හා සිංහල ජාතියේ නැගිටීම නොරිස්සු, අදිසි රාජ්‍ය, තමන් වර්ෂ 1935 සිට ක්‍රමානුකුලව ප්‍රබල කල වාමාංශික වෘත්තීය සමිති බලමුලු උපයෝගී කරගෙන බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාට එරෙහිව, වැඩ වර්ජන මාලාවක් දියත් කළහ. බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාගේ මේ ළදරු දේශප්‍රේමී රාජ්‍ය වෙත, අඛණ්ඩ තර්ජන මාලාවක් එල්ල කලහ. ඊට අමතරව තමන්ගේ ඊලග බලවත් ආයුධය වූ ජාතිවාදය උත්සන්න කරවීම සදහා ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිවාදය චෙල්වනායගම්ලා හරහාද, සිංහල ජාතිවාදය ඔවුනගේ විශ්වාශීම ඒජන්තයාවූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මාර්ගයෙන් උත්සන්න කලහ. මේ පාර්ශවයන් දෙකටම සියලුම පහසු කම් සපයන්නාවුයේ බටහිර නිර්මාණයක් වූ සුදු අදිසි හස්තයයි. නමුත් බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාද බලවතුන් ඉදිරියේ කොන්ද නමන්නෙක් නොවූ අතර, සිංහල රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව බවට පත් කිරීම, ත්‍රිකුණාමල බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය හමුදා කදවුර හා කටුනායක බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය හමුදා කදවුරද ඉවත්කර ගැනීම, කොළඹ වරාය ජනසතු කිරීම, එතුමාගේ කෙටි පාලන කාලය තුලදී කල විශිෂ්ඨතම කාර්යයන් විය. එය මෙරට ජනතාව ලද තවත් එක්  විජග්‍රහණයක් විය. මේ සියල්ලන්ගේම ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන්, බණඩාරණායක මහතාව දේශපාලන වශයෙන් පමණක් නොව මෙලොවින්ද ඉවත් කිරීමට අදෘෂ්‍යමාන බලවේගය තීරණය කරන ලදී. මේ සදහා, ඔවුන් විසින් මනාව සංවිධානය කොට පවත්වාගෙන යනු ලබන පාතාල බලමුලුවල  උපකාරිත්වයෙන්, ජාතික බලවේගයේ ප්‍රධාන බලමුලු දෙක වන සඟ හා වෙද යන පරපුරු දෙකේ සුසංයෝගය උපයෝගී කරගෙන, අගමැති බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතා ඝාතනයට කළහ. බලයට පත්ව වසර තුනකින් ඩි. එස්. සේනානායක මහතාව මරණයට පත්කළ, බලයට පත්ව වසර දෙකකින් ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතාව බලයෙන් පහකළ අදිසි රාජ්‍ය විසින් මෙවර, බලයට පත්වූ එස්. ඩබ්ලිව්. ආර්, ඩි. බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාව ඝාතනය කර බලයෙන් ඉවත් කලේද වසර තුනක් තරම්වූ කෙටි කාලයකිනි.

මෙරට ජනතාවට බලවත්ව නායකයෙක් අහිමි වීමෙන්, ඇතිවූ පිඩාව බලවත් විය. ඔවුනට නායකයෙකුගේ අවශ්‍යතාවය තදින් දැනෙන්නට විය. නායකයෙකු නොමැති වුවද, ජාතික බලවේගය එක පෙලට සිටගත්හ. එවන් තත්වයක් තුලදී, අදිසි රාජ්‍ය බණ්ඩාරනායක රජයේ අධ්‍යාපන ඇමති  ඩබ්ලිව්. දහනායක මහතාගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් යුත් රජයක් බිහිකර, බණ්ඩාරනායක ඝාතන පරීක්ෂණ අඩාල කිරීමටත් රාජ්‍යපාලනය ඔවුනට අවැසි ආකාරයටත් ගෙන යාමට වෙර දැරුහ. අගමැති ඝාතනය සම්බන්ධව පරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු අඩාල කිරීම සදහා පොලිසියේ සිටි උසස් නිලධාරින් උපයෝගී කරගත්තද නැගී එන බලවත් ජනතා බලය ඉදිරියේ, එම නිලධාරීන්ව පොලිසියෙන් ඉවත්කර පරික්ෂණයන් යම්කිසි තත්වයකට ගෙනයාමට හැකිවිය. අදිසි රජය ඉතා ඉක්මනින් තම හිතවාදී රාජ්‍යයක් බිහිකර ගත්තද, එයට පැවතීමට පදනමක් සකස්ව නොතිබිණි. එබැවින් දහානායක සහිත ප්‍රතිගාමින්ගේ රජය විසුරුවාලීම සිදුවිය.

1960 මාර්තු  මහා මැතිවරණයේදී, සතුරාට සතුරා අපේක්ෂා කරන පුද්ගලයා නායකයා වශයෙන් ඉස්මතු කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි විය. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ, ජේෂ්ඨයෙකු වූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා නායකයකු ලෙස පොදු ජන මනස තුල ලැගුම් ගෙන සිටියේ නැත. එබැවින්, අදිසි රජය විසින්ම එළවා දමා තිබු ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායකයන්ව යලි අගමැති බවට පත් කිරීමට ඔවුනට සහයදීමට සිදුවිය. මැතිවරණයෙන් එක්ෂත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ජයගත්තද, මාස තුනකට පමණක් රජවූ ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක රජයට යලි එම වසරේදීම මැතිවරණයකට මුහුණදීමට සිදුවිය. එහිදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයට නායකත්වදීමට සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනිය ඉදිරිපත්වූ අතර එතුමිය එහිදී විශිෂ්ඨ ජයක් ලබා ගත්හ, සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක යනු,  ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ හා ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයින්ගේ, දැඩි අවධානයට ලක්වූ පුද්ගල චරිතයක් විය. ඇය අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ට ප්‍රබලම තර්ජනයක්ද විය.

සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මහත්මිය බලයට පත්වූ මොහොතේ සිටම,  අදිසි රාජ්‍යයය, දිවා රෑ අඛණ්ඩව, මෙරටේ හමුදාවන් හා පොලීසි තුලට කිදාබැස, මහා අපරාධයකට සූදානම් වූහ. අදිසි රාජ්‍ය මෙවර වසර දෙකක් තරම් කෙටිකාලයකින් ය පන්නා දැමීමේ කර්තව්‍ය ඉටුකිරීමට ලහි ලහියේ සුදානම් විය. එය 1962 දී, සියලුම හමුදාවන් තුල ප්‍රධානින් හරහා සිදුකිරීමට සැලසුම් කර තිබුනද, එය හෙළිවීමත් සමගම හමුදා රජයක් පිහිටුවා ගැනීමට කල කුමන්ත්‍රණයේ සියලුම තොරතුරු හෙලිවූ අතර, බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාව ඝාතනය කර වසර 3ක් සම්පූර්ණවීමටත් පෙර බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියව ඝාතනය කර බලය ගැනීමට සැලසුම් කිරීමට තරම්ම, ඔවුන් තුල ඝාතන සංස්කෘතිය කිදා බැස තිබිණ. ඔවුනගේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ගැන මහත් උජාරුවෙන් නන් දොඩන මේ අදිසි රාජ්‍යය තුල, සැබෑලෙසම පවතින්නේ ආඥාදායකත්වයයි. තමන් විසින් නිර්මානය කරන ලද ව්‍යාවස්ථාවට අනුව වසර පහක පාලන කාලයක් රජයකට උරැම වුවද, එම කාලය සැබෑ ලෙසම තීරණය කරනු ලැබුයේ මෙම අදිසි රාජ්‍යය විසිනි.

හමුදාවන් තුල වූ ඔවුනට හිතවාදීන් ලවා කිරීමට උත්සහ කල කුමන්ත්‍රණය අසාර්ථක වුවද, මෙරට සියලූම ක්‍රිස්තියාණි හා කතෝලික සභා වලින් පාලනය වන පාසල් දරු දැරියන් හා දෙමව්පියන් රජයට විරුද්ධව පාරට බස්සවා, ඉතිහාසයේ පලමුවරට නොදරුවන් රජයට විරැද්ධව පෙලිපාලි ගෙන ගොස් රජය පීඩාකාරී මාවතකට තල්ලු කරන ලද්දේ, මෙම අදිසි රාජ්‍යයයි.
මෙරට විදේශීය තානාපති කාර්යාල හරහා රජයට බලපෑම් කර, 1962 කුමන්ත්‍රණ කරුවන්ට සිරගෙදරදී ලබාදිය හැකි ඉහලම පහසුකම් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු සංවිධානය කල අදිසි රාජ්‍යය, 1964 දෙසැම්බරයේදී, දෘෂ්‍යමාන රජය, පවතින රජයේ, මැති ඇමතිවරු වරදාන උදෙසා, තමන් වෙත දිනාගෙන එම රජය පෙරලා දමන ලදී.

තෙවන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡෙදය.
1965 මැතිවරණයෙන්, අදිසි රජය අපේක්ෂිත පිල ජයගත්හ. ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා නායකත්වය යටතේ, මේ  රජය බිහි කලද, එතුමා ඔවුනගේ රූකඩයක්  නොවුහ. එවන් නායෙකයකුට ඔවුන් තුල එතරම් කැමැත්තක් නැත. කෙසේ නමුත් ඔවුනගේ පළමු කර්තව්‍ය වුයේ, එම ජාතික නායකයාව ඔවුනට මහත් හිසරදයක් විය.නමුත් ඔවුනගේ පලමු කටයුත්ත වූයේ 1962 කුමන්ත්‍රණ කරුවන් නිදහස් කිරීම විය. එය එසේම සිදුකල අතර, නිදහස ලද සියලුම කුමන්ත්‍රණකරුවන්ට රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහයෙන් යුතුව ඉහල වගකිව යුතු තනතුරු ප්‍රධානය කරන ලදී. මෙය ජනතාවට ප්‍රශ්නාර්ථයක් විය. මේ ප්‍රශ්නාර්ථය විසින් මෙරට තුල නව බීජයක් රෝපණය කරන ලදී. බිජයට ඉතා සරුලෙස වැඩෙන්නට මෙරට දේශපාලන භුමිය සකස්වුයේ කිසිවෙකුත් නොසිතු ආකාරයෙනි. කුමන්ත්‍රණයකින් බලය අල්ලන්නෝ මැතිවරණ නොතියන්නෝය. මේ රජය යලි කිසිදා මැතිවරණයක් නොතබන මතය ජනතාව තුල ජනිත විනි. මැතිවරණයක් නොතබන පාලකයින්ගෙන් රටයලි ජනතාව අතට ගත හැක්කේ කෙසේද යන සාකච්චාව යටිබිම් තලයේ ප්‍රධාන දේශපාලන සාකච්චාව බවට පත්ව තිබුණි. එය ගත හැක්කේ විප්ලවයක් තුලින් පමණක්ය යන මතය වැඩෙන්නට වූ අතර, තරුණ කොටස් ඒ සදහා වහා වහා සුදානම් වන්නට විය. මෙය කොතෙක් සරු ලෙස වැඩුනාද යත් විප්ලවයක් සදහාම සුදානම්වූ තරුණ කණ්ඩායම් ගණනාවක්ම මෙරට බිහිව කිසිදු අන්‍යයෝන්‍යා සම්බන්ධතාවයකින් තොරව වැඩෙන්නට විය. සමාජ දේහය තුල පිළිකාවක් ලෙස ඔඩුදුවා තිබු අදිසි හස්තයේ, දරදඩු ක්‍රියාවන්ට එරෙහිව ප්‍රතිදෙහයන්ලෙස විප්ලවවාදී දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායම් නිර්මාණය කිරීම සිදුකරන්නේ ස්වභාවය විසින් බව තේරුම් ගැනීමට ඉතා පහසු තත්වයක් එදා බිම් මට්ටමේ දේශපාලකයින් දුටුහ. මේ කිසිත් හදුනා නොගත්, අදිසි රාජ්‍ය සිය සුපුරුදු උඩු දේශපාලනයේ යෙදෙන්නන් හසුරවමින් සිදුකරගෙන ගියහ. එහි පලයක් වශයෙන්, දිනපතාම, රටවැසියා ප්‍රකෝප කරන සිදුවීම් සිදුවිය. එදා ලෝකය පුරාම ගිනි අවුලවාගෙන යකා නටමින් සිටි අදිසි රජය, මෙරට ගිනි ඇවිලවීම සදහා, යලි යලිත් ජාතිවආදයම උපයෝගී කර ගත්හ. ඒ අනුව, 1966 ජනවාරි 8 වෙනිදා අපූරු කාර්යයක් නිර්මාණය කලහ. රජය දෙමල භාෂා විශේෂ විධි විධාන පනත ඉදිරිපත් කරන අවස්ථාවේදීම, ඉතිහාසය පුරාම දෙමල භාෂාවට සමතැන දිය යුතුයි යයි ප්‍රබල හඬක් නගන වාමාංශික දේශපාලන පක්ෂ, මේ පනතට එරෙහිව මහා මෙහෙයුමක් දියත් කිරීම දේශපාලන විකෘතියක් බව පැහැදිලිය. තවද 1953දී ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතාව පලවා හැරීමේ කටයුත්තට  දායක වූ ඒ වාමාංශික ව්‍යාපාරය, තම ප්‍රතිපත්තියවූ සිංහල භාෂාවට හා දෙමල භාෂාවට සම තැන යන ප්‍රතිපත්තියට එරෙහිව යමින්, මේ දෙමළ භාෂා විශේෂ විධි විධාන පනතට එරෙහිව මහා අරගලයක් කිරීම අදිසි රජය සමග එකතුව කල තවත් ගනුදෙනුවක් වුවද, 1953 හර්තාලයට සමාන්තර කාර්යභාරයක් මෙදාද ඉටු කිරීමට තැත් කල බවක් පැහැදිලිව දිස්විණි. එම ජනතා විරෝධයන්ට 1953දී දක්වන ලද ආකාරයටම, මහා දහවල් කොල්ලුපිටියේදී, මැරයන්ගේ වාහන වලට මිනිසුන්ව යටකර මරා දමනවාට අමතරව, ඒ හේතුවෙන් කුපිත වූ ජනතාවට වෙඩිතබා ඝාතනය කර දමන ලදී. මෙම ක්‍රියාදාමයේදී ඉතාමත් පහත් ක්‍රියාන්විතයේ නිරත වූයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වාමාංශික ව්‍යාපාරය වූ අතර, ඔවුන්ව සුවිශේෂී දේශපාලන රංගනයක යොදවමින්; ඉතිහාසය පුරාම දෙමල ජනතාවට සම තැන ඉල්ලා කල සටන, ක්ෂණයකින් අමතක කරවා, දෙමල භාෂා විශේෂ විධි විධාන පනතට විරුද්ධ කැරලි ගසන තත්වයකට පත්කරවීමට මෙම අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට හැකිවිය. මෙවර 1953දී ලැබූ ප්‍රතිපලය අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට උරුම නොවිණ. ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා සසල වුවද, පලා නොගියහ.
මේ සමගම සමාජය අභ්‍යන්තරයේ නව සංස්කෘතියකින් යුත් දේශපාලනයක්, ජාතික බලවේගය විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලදී. අදිසි රජයේ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය නිවැරදිව හදුනාගත් එවකට සිටි තරුණ පරම්පරාව, තමන් සිටින්නේ 1962 හමුදා කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් මාර්ගයෙන් ආඥාදායක රජයක් බිහි කිරීමට උත්සහ කල කල්ලියකගේ රජයක් යටතේ බව මනාව වටහා ගෙන සිටියහ. ඔවුහු ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය විප්ලවය අරමුණු කරගත් දේශපාලන සංවිධානයක් බිහිකිරීමට පෙරමුණ ගත්හ. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන් විප්ලව වාදී සංවිධාන ගනනාවක් රටතුල බිහි කරන ලදී. මතුපිට සමාජය මෙම ක්‍රියාදාමය දුටුවේම නැත.

අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට ලංකාව තුල ඉහල පහසුකම් ඇති සංචාරක කර්මාන්තයක් ගොඩනැංවීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය තදින්ම දැනී තිබිණ. එම කාර්යය සදහා තම නියෝජිතයින් උපයෝගී කරගනිමින් හෝටල් සංස්ථාව නම් වූ ආයතනය ගොඩනංවා රටේ අතිවැදගත් මර්මස්ථාන වල හෝටල් ඉදිකිරීම ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. බොහෝමයක් මෙවන් ආයතනවල ප්‍රධානීන් බවට පත්කරන ලද්දේ 1962 රාජ්‍ය විරෝධී කුමන්ත්‍රනයේ ප්‍රධාන සැකකරුවන්වය. රටපුරා වසංගතයක් මෙන් “හිපියෝ” නමින් හදුන්වන බටහිර අහිකුණ්ඨක සංචාරක කණ්ඩායම් ව්‍යාප්ත විය.

රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ ගලාගිය දේශපාලන ධාරාව, මේ සිදුවන සෑම ක්‍රියාදාමයක් දෙසම ඉතා විමසිලිමත්ව බලා සිටියහ. ජාත්‍යන්තරව ලොව පුරා සිදුකරන ලද හා සිදුකරමින් සිටින හමුදා කුමන්ත්‍රණ සම්බන්ධව ඔවුනට ඉතා හොද දැනුමක්ද තිබිණ. 1962 හමුදා කුමන්ත්‍රණය සාර්ථක වූණි නම්, උදාවන තත්වය ඉතා හොදින් දැන සිටි මේ දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායම්; මේ වනවිට රජයේ ඉහල තනතුරු වලට 1962 කුමන්ත්‍රණකරුවන් ස්ථාපනය කිරීමත් සමගම අදිසි රජය මේ සැරසෙන්නේ මෙරට ජනතාවගෙන් රජයක් බලයට පත්කර ගැනීමට තිබූ අයිතිය උදුරා ගෙන ඒකාධිපති රාජ්‍යයක් ස්ථාපනය කිරීමට බව අවබෝධ කරගත්හ. ඒ අණුව එම ඒකාධිපති රාජ්‍යයට එරෙහිව සටන් වැද නිර්ධන පාංතික සමාජවාදී රජයක් ගොඩනැංවීම අරමුණ කරගෙන සංවිධානය වීම ආරම්භ කලහ.
අදිසි රජයේ ඒකාධිපති රාජ්‍ය සැලැස්මට ප්‍රධාන බාධාවන් තුනක් පැවතින. ඒ එවකට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධූරය දැරූ ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා, හමුදාවන් තුල සිටි ජාතික හිතවාදී නිලධාරීන් හා රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ ගලාගිය විප්ලවවාදී දේශපාලන දහරාවයි. ඒ වනවිට විප්ලවවාදී දේශපාලන දහරාව සම්බන්ධව රාජ්‍ය පාලකයින් දැන නොසිටි නිසා, අදිසි රාජ්‍යය මෙහෙයවන වන බලවේග ජාතික හිතවාදී හමුදා නිලධාරීන්ව ඒවායින් නෙරපා දැමීමේ කටයුත්තට අත ගැසුහ. නිර්මාණිත ව්‍යාජ හමුදා කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් මගින් හමුදාව, ඔවුනට ඇවැසි විදියට සකස් කරගත්තද, මෙම වකවානුවේදී, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය හා රජය තුලවූ ජාතික හිතවාදී බලවේග ප්‍රබල තත්වයක පසුවූ බැවින්, අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය මන්දගාමී විය. මෙය නොරිස්සු අදිසි රාජ්‍ය, ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතාට එරෙහිව, ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා මෙහෙයවීම ආරම්භ කළහ. ඔවුන් අතර මත ගැටුම් උග්‍ර තත්වයට පත්විය.

මතුපිට දේශපාලනය ඒ ආකාරයට ගලයනවිට, රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ ගලා ගිය දේශපාලන දහරාව තුලද මත ගැටීම හා කණ්ඩායම් සන්ධාන ගතවිමද සිදුවෙමින් වැඩෙමින් යන බව අදෘශ්‍ය මාන රාජයේ අතකොලුවන් බවට පත්ව සිටි, පැරණි වාමාංශික ව්‍යාපාරයට වැටහෙන්නට විය. මෙය ඔවුන්ට තර්ජනයක් වූ බැවින්, පිටතට අනාවරනය කිරීමට  අදෘෂ්‍යමාන බලවේගයේ වරප්‍රසාද ලබන වාමාංශික දේශපාලඥයින් විසින් තීරණය කොට එම කාර්යය සාර්ථකව  ඉටු කරන ලදී.

පවතින ජාතික හා ජාත්‍යන්තර තත්වය හමුවේ, අදිසි රජය අර්බුද ගණනාවකට මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටියහ. තවද එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ජාතික බලවේග ප්‍රබලව සිටීම, රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ ආයුධ සන්නද්ධ අරගලයකට සූදානම් වන බලවේගයක් සිටීම, හා එම යුගයට සාපේක්ෂව ජාත්‍යන්තරව වියට්නාමය, ලාවෝසය, හා කාම්බෝජයේදී අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ බලවේගයන් අන්ත පරාජයන් ලබමින් සිටීම යන හේතූන් මත, තාවකාලිකව අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ ඒකාධීපති භූමිකාව හකුලා ගෙන 1970 දී මහා මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වන ලදී.

මෙම මැතිවරණයේදී රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ ගලාගිය සියලුම දේශපාලන ප්‍රවාහයන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ප්‍රමුඛ සමගි පෙරමුණහි ජයග්‍රහණය උදෙසාම වැඩ කලහ. අදිසි රාජ්‍යට තාවකාලිකව පසුබැස, දිගු කාලීන සැලසුමක නිරත වීමට සිදුවිය. පලමුව එක්ෂත් ජාතික පක්ෂය පවිත්‍ර කර ඔවුනගේ බලවේගයන් අතට පක්ෂයේ බලය ලබා ගැනීම අත්‍යවශව පැවතින. දෙවනුව රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ සිටින වාමාංශික විප්ලව වාදී බලවේග විනාශ කර සුද්ධ පවිත්‍ර කල රටක් ඔවුනට අවශ්‍ය විය. මේ කරුණු දෙකම ඉටු කර ගැනීම උදෙසා උපක්‍රමිකව, පසු බැසීමකට සූදානම් වූහ. තමන්ගේ ප්‍රබලම බල මුලුව වූ රාජ්‍යයේ නිලධාරී පැලන්තිය නිසි ලෙස ස්ථාන ගත කොට, ඔවුහු පසු බැස්සහ.

සිව්වන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය
සියලුම දෙනාගේම අපේක්ෂාවන් ඉටුකරමින් සමගි පෙරමුණ නම් වූ, සිරිමා බණඩාරනායක මහත්මියගේ නායකත්වයෙන් සමගි සන්ධානය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3 බලයක් සහිත ප්‍රබල රජයක් ගොඩනැංවිණි.

මෙම මැතිවරණයේදී, මතුපිට දේශපාලන තලයේවූ සමගි පෙරමුණ විශිෂඨ ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලද අතර, අභ්‍යන්තර දේශපාලන තලයේ වූ අදිසි රාජ්‍යයද, තමන් අපේක්ෂා කල ආකාරයේම විශිෂ්ඨ ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලදහ. මේ අතර අනාවරණය වූ විප්ලවවාදී සංවිධානයට තවදුරටත් යටි දේශපාලනයේ නිරතව සිටීමට නොහැකි තත්වයක් උදාවිය.1969දී ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ නමින් නම් කරන ලද දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරය ඉතා ගැටලු කාරී සන්ධිස්ථානයකට අවතීර්ණ විය. 1965 පිහිටවූ එක්ෂත් ජාතික පාක්ෂික රජයේ ඒකාධිපති ආඥාදායක තත්වය ඉලක්ක කරගෙන සිය සාමාජිකයින් සන්නද්ධ අරගලයකට පෙල ගැස්සූ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ එම ඉලක්කය අහෝසි වීම හරහා බරපතලව, අභ්‍යන්තරව හා බාහිරව අර්බූද ගනනාවකට මුහුණ පෑවාය.

අදිසි රාජ්‍යය, තමන්ට එරෙහිව මේ වනවිට බලවේගයක් ඉස්මතුවෙමින් පවතින බව වටහා ගත්හ. ඒ ලාබාල ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණයි. එය මැතිවරණ ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ගොඩනංවා තිබු දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් නොවීම ඔවුනට අහිමත පරිදි හැසිරවීමට බාදාවක් විය. මේ පක්ෂය ළදරු අවදියේදීම විනාශ කරදමිමට ඔවුන් තීරණය කළහ. ඒ අනුව ඒ ගොඩනැගෙමින් තිබු දේශපාලන දහරාවට තම නියෝජිතයින් ඇතුල් කර එයට මහා බලයක් ඇති බව උලුප්පා පෙන්වීමත්, පොලිසිය එම සංවිධානයට එරෙහිව මෙහෙයවමින් විශාල පීඩනයක් එහි සාමාජිකයින් වෙත මුදාහරින ලදී. පීඩනය දරාගත නොහැකිවූ සාමාජිකයෝ විප්ලවය ඉල්ලා නායකත්වයට බලකරන්නට විය. එවන්තත්වයක් තුල  පක්ෂ නායක රෝහණ විජේවිරයන්ව අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලදී. කිසිවෙකුත් මේ වන තෙක් හදුනා නොගත් බලවේගයක් විප්ලවයට දිනයක් තීරණය කර කිසිදු පදනමක් නැති තත්වයක් යටතේ පොලිසිවලට පහර දීමට අණක් නිකුත් කර, ඒ පහරදීමත් සමග අදිසි රාජ්‍යට තිබු බලවත් තර්ජනයක් මෙල්ල කරන ලදී.

මීලගට අදිසි රජයට තිබු බලවත් තර්ජනය වුයේ, එවකට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ නායක ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතා වූ අතර, ඩඩ්ලි ජේ.ආර්. මත ගැටුම උග්‍ර තත්වයක් තුලදී, සුළු අසනීපයක් සදහා රෝහල් ගතව සිටි ඒ මහතාට හිතවතෙක්  විසින් ලබාදෙන ලද පුඩිමක් රසවිදිමෙන් පසු මරණය සිදුවීම තුලින් පක්ෂ නායකත්ව ගැටුම නිමවී. අදිසි රජය අපේක්ෂිත ආකාරයට ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා පක්ෂ නායකත්වයට පත්විය.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායකට පක්ෂ අයගෙන් තොර පක්ෂයක් බවට නිර්මාණය කිරීම ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධනයන්ගේ අපේක්ෂාව විය. එය අදිසි රජයේ අපේක්ෂාවද විය.

අදිසි රජයේ ඉතා ප්‍රකට හා බලවත් උපක්‍රමයක් වුයේ, රජය අභ්‍යන්තරයේ සිටින සිය සගයන් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ජනතාවට එරෙහිව කටයුතුකර, ජනතා අප්‍රසාදය වැඩි වැඩියෙන් රජයට පිරි නමිමයි. අභ්‍යන්තර සගයන් ජනතා විරෝධී පාහර වැඩ සිදුකරන අතරවාරයේ, බාහිර සගයන් ඒවාට එරෙහිව දැවැන්ත පෙළපාලි, සත්‍යග්‍රහ හා මඩ හා පච ප්‍රචාරයන්   හරහා අපකීර්තියට පත් කල රජය 1977 මැතිවරණයේදී අන්ත පරාජයකට පත්වීමට ඉඩහරින ලදී

පස්වන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය.

1977 මැතිවරණය හරහා පූර්ණ බලැති අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ බලයට නතු රජයක් මේ රටතුල ස්ථාපිත විය. කිසිවෙක් නොසිතු ආකාරයට සිරගතව සිටි ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ සියලුම සාමාජිකයින් නිදහස් කොට දේශපාලන කිරීමට පුර්ණ සය ලබාදෙන ලද්දේ, ඒ තුලින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය අර්බුදයකට තල්ලු කිරීමටය. ඒ කාර්යය ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම ඉටුවිණි. අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට අවශ්‍ය කාර්යයන් රාශියක් මෙරට ජනතාව ඔවුනට අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රමාණයටත් වඩා සපයා ශක්තිමත් කර තිබුණි. මැතිවරණ ‍තේමාව වූ ධර්මිෂ්ධ සමාජය, දසරාජ ධර්මය හා සතියකට ජනතාවට ලබා දෙනවා යයි දිවුරා පොරොන්දු වූ ධාන්‍ය රාත්තල් 8 ජාතික විහිලු බවට පත්විය. අදිසි රාජ්‍යය ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධනගේ සහය ඇතිවත්; ඔහුගේ ආධාර නැතිවත් ඔවුනගේ ව්‍යාපෘතීන් මනාව කලමනා කරගෙන ගියහ. ජයග්‍රහණය අති ප්‍රබල විය. ඔවුනට දරා ගැනීමට තරම් අපහසු වූ මේ ජයග්‍රහණය පරාජිතයින් හඹා යන්නට විය. රට සංවර්ධනය උදෙසා යන ගමනක් වෙනුවට ම්ලේච්ඡත්වය රජ කරන සති දෙකක් තම පාක්ෂිකයින්ට ලබා දෙන ලදී. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ සැබෑ නිරුවත රග දැක්විණ. පරාජිත දේශපාලන පාක්ෂිකයින් මරා දැමිණ. පහරදීම් වලට ලක්විණ, දූෂණ කිරීම් වලට ලක්විණ. මේ සකලවිද සිදුවීම්, ගමක් ගමක් ගානේ, නගරයක් නගරයක් ගානේ, වැඩබිමක් වැඩබිමක් ගානේ විවෘතව සති දෙකක් පුරා එක දිගටම සිදුවිය. ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන නම් වූ අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ නියමුවා මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය ජයග්‍රහණය බුක්ති විදීම යනුවෙන් නම් කරන ලදී. අදිසි රාජ්‍යය තමන් ඉලක්ක කරගත් කාර්යයන් හඹා යන්නට විය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව රාජ්‍යයන් තුනකට බෙදීමට පිඹුරු පත් සකස් කෙරිණ.

1. දෙමළ ඊලම.
2. උඩරට සිංහල
3. පහතරට සිංහල
වශයෙන් නම් කර තිබූ මේ බෙදා වෙන් කිරීමේ යටි අරමුණු ගනනාවක් දෘශ්‍යමාන විය. පහතරට සිංහල වශයෙන් නම් කල රාජ්‍ය රටේ බටහිරින් දෙමළ ඊලමට මායිම්ව පුත්තලම දෙසින් ආරම්භ වී මුහුදු තීරය ආවරණය කර රටේ ගිණිකොන දෙසින් ඊලමට මායිම් කර තිබිණ. මෙම පහතරට සිංහල වශයෙන් බෙදා තිබුන රාජ්‍යය සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම බෙදීම පදනම් කරගෙන තිබුණේ ආගමික පදනමින් වන අතර, ටිමෝරයේ මෙන් ආගමික පදනමින් ජනතාව වෙන් කිරීම මෙහි අරමුණ විය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ප්‍රධාන රාජ්‍යයන් තුනකට බෙදීමේ අරමුණ ජය ගැනීම සදහා වටා පිටාවන් සකස් කිරිම ආරම්භ විය. ඒ සදහා,
1. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය තමන්ට ගැති පක්ෂයක් බවට පරිවර්තනය කිරීම.
2.ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධනට හැකි උපරිම කාල පාරාසයක් පාලන බලය උරුම කරදීම.
3.ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය විනාශකර දෑමීම.
4.ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නොබැදි ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය බේද කරන්නෙකුගේ තත්වයට පමුණුවා ලීම.
5.ඉන්දියාව හා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පැහැදිලිවම සතුරු රාජ්‍යයන් දෙකක් බවට පත් කිරීම.
6.රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ සිංහල- දෙමල ජාතිවාදය අවුලුවාලීම.
යන කරුණු කාරනා මේ රට තුල සිදුකල යුතුව තිබිණ. ඒ සදහා අපූරු ක්‍රමවේදයන් බටහිර රාජ්‍යයන් තුලදී හා මෙරට බටහිර තානාපති කාර්යාල තුල නිර්මාණය වෙමින් තිබිණ.
එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය දිගුකාලීනව ඔවුනට යටත් දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් බවට පත්කර ගැනීම සදහා ජයග්‍රාහී මන්ත්‍රී වරුනට ඔවුනගේ කථා කිරීමේ හා නිදහස්ව සිතා කටයුතු කිරීමේ නිදහස බටහිර ජාතීන්ගේ උපදෙස් වලට අනුකූලව දිනයක් නොදැමූ ඉල්ලා අස්වීමේ ලිපියකට අත්සන් කිරීම හරහා ඔවුනට උකසට තැබීමට සිදුවිය. මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය හරහා අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ සුපිරි ඒජන්තයා වූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතාට දිගු කාලයක් රට පාලනය කිරීමට උපරීම මන්ත්‍රී සහය ලබා ගැනීමට අවකාශ ලැබිණ. පරාජිත ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයට විපක්ෂ නායක කමවත් ජනතාව හිමිකර නොදීම, අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට මහත් අස්වැසිල්ලක් විය. අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක හා මෛත්‍රිපාල සේනානායක යන මහත්වරු මගින් එම පක්ෂය තුල අභ්‍යන්තර ආරවුල් ගනනාවක් නිර්මාණය කර පක්ෂය අකර්නම්‍ය කරන ලදී. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නොබැදි ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය තුල ක්‍රියාකරන බටහිර ජාතීන්ගේ ඒජන්තයා බවට පමුණවන ලදී. ඒ හරහා රටේ ගෞරවය ලෝකයා ඉදිරියේ මහත් හෑල්ලුවකට පත්කරන ලදී. ඉන්දියාව ඉලක්ක කරගෙන එම රටට හා එහි නායක නායිකාවන්ට අපහස කර ප්‍රකෝප කරවන ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කිරීමට ඇමතිවරු කීප දෙනෙකු යොදවා තිබිණ. ඒ හරහා ඉන්දියාව හා ලංකාව ප්‍රබල සතුරු රටවල් දෙකක් බවට පරිවර්තනය කරන ලදී.

මී ලගට ඔවුනගේ අවශ්‍යතාවය වුයේ කෙලෙසක හෝ රටපුරාම සිංහල හා දෙමල වශයෙන් බෙදුන ජනතාව වාර්ගික අරගලයක යෙදෙනවා දැකීමයි. මේ සදහා සුදුසු පසුබිම උතුරේ ජනතාවගේ මනස තුල අපූරුවට නිර්මාණය කර තිබුනද; දකුණ එසේ නොවීය. ඒ වනවිට දකුණෙහි දේශපාලන දහරාව තුල වූයේ; එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය හා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ පමණි.
ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය තුල අභ්‍යන්තර අර්බූද ගනනාවක් නිර්මානය කර පසුව සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මහත්මියගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය 1980 දී අහෝසි කරන ලදී. ඒ සමගම ඒ පක්ෂය අකර්මන්‍ය පක්ෂයක් වූ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකා දේශපාලන පොරපිටියේ ඉතිරි වූයේ; එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හා ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිවාදී දේශපාලන පක්ෂ පමණි.
අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ මීලග පියවර වූයේ කෙලෙසක හෝ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ සිය අණ සකට යටත් කොට, ඔවුන් හරහා ව්‍යාජ විපක්ෂයක් නිර්මාණය කොට මුලු රටම සිය අභිමතයට පරිදි පාලනය කිරීම විය. රෝහණ විජේවීර නම් වූ පුද්ගලයා ඔවුන් අපේක්ෂා කල ආකාරයේ දේශපාලන නරුමයකු නොවූ අතර ඔහු එදා පැවති රජයට එරෙහිව සියලුම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී මාර්ග බාවිතා කරමින් ඉදිරියටම ඇදෙන්නට විය. මෙය ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය මෙන් ඊළග මැතිවරණය එනතෙක්  ඔහේ බලා සිටින පක්ෂයක් නොවී සැඩ පහරක් මෙන් ගලා යන දේශපාලන ප්‍රවාහයක් වීම නිර්මාණිත ධර්මිෂ්ඨ රාජ්‍යට බලා සිටිය හැකි කරුණක් නොවිය. තීරණය ගැනිණි. එය ඔවුනට එරෙහිව කටයුතුකරන රෝහණ විජේවීර ප්‍රමුඛ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ සදාකාලිකව දේශපාලන පොරපිටියෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට ගත්  තීරණයක් බවට පත්විය.
මේ වන විටත් අදිසි රාජ්‍යය සිරිල් මැතිව් මහතාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුත් සිංහල ජාතිවාදී පෙරමුණක් ගොඩනංවා තිබිණ. තවද ජනාධිපති සමාව යටතේ නිදහස ලද පාතාල නායකයින්ගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ගොඩනංවා තිබූ මැර හමුදාවක්ද සූදානම්ව තිබිණ. උතුරේ උග්‍ර සිංහල විරෝධී ද්‍රවිඩ බලකායක්ද සූදානම් කොට තිබිණ. ඊට අමතරව බටහිර මුහුදු බඩ ප්‍රදේශ හා දකුණෙ මුහුදු බඩ පලාත්වල ජනතාව, සම්ප්‍රදායික රෝමානු කතෝලික, ඇන්ග්ලිකානු, මෙතෝදිස්ත හා රෙපරමාදු සභාවන්ට අමතරව ආගමික ගැටුම් නිර්මාණය කිරීමේ අරම්ණින්ම ගොඩනංවන ලද, ඇමරිකානු මූලධර්ම වාදී ආගමික නිකායික බලකායන් ගනනාවක් රටෙහි ජනතාව එම ව්‍යාපාරයන්ට බදවා ගැනීමේ මහා ක්‍රියාදාමයන්ද දියත් කර තිබිණ.

අදිසි රාජ්‍යය නිසි අවස්ථාවේදී සේව නූල පත්තු කරන ලදී. තමන්ගේම වූ උතුරේ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිවාදී බලකාය ලවා 1983 ජූලි මාසයේදී යුධ හමුදා සෙබලුන් 13 දෙනෙකු ඝාතනය කරවා; තමන්ගේම වූ රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහය ලද ‍සිංහල ජාතිවාදීන් හා මැරකණ්ඩායම් යොදවා අපූරුවට කළු ජූලිය නිර්මාණය කරන ලදී.

මේ ක්‍රියාදාමය හරහා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ තහනම් කිරීම, කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ට ඇවසි පිරිස් බලය, ධන බලය, ආයුධ ලබා ගැනීමට මංමාවත් විවර කර ගැනීමට අමතරව අදිසි රාජ්‍යය අපේක්ෂා නොකල විශාලම වාසි දායක තත්වය වූයේ, ඉන්දියාව විසින් සෘජුවම කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ට ආයුධ පුහුණුව ලබාදීමට ඉදිරිපත් වීමයි.
අනපේක්ෂිතව උදාවූ මේ වරමින් උපරිම පල ලබාගැනීමට අදිසි රජය තීරණය කලහ. එමෙන්ම අදිසි රජයේම දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපෘතියක්වූ කලාපය හා ඉන්දියාව කැබලි කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියට අනුව 1984 ඔක්තෝම්බර් මස 31 වෙනිදා ඉන්දිරා ගාන්ධි මහත්මියව ඝාතනය කිරීමද අති සාර්ථකව ඔවුන් සිදු කළහ. ඉන්දිරා ඝාන්ධි මැතිනියව ඝාතනය කිරීම ඔවුන් ලද විශාල ජයග්‍රහණයක් විය. කලාපයේ රජකරන්නට අදිසි රාජ්‍යට මේ තුලින් මනා පිටුවහලක් නිර්මාණය විය.
නිදහසින් පසු මෙරට පාලනය කල සෑම රාජ්‍ය නායකයෙකුම ඉතා කෙටිකලකින් ඉවත් කිරීම සිදුකල අදිසි රාජ්‍ය, ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතාගේ පාලන කාලය දිගු කිරීමට තීරණය කර තිබු අතර, එය ව්‍යාස්තාපිත ධුර කාලය ඉක්මවා ගිය කාලයක් බවට පත් කිරීමට ඔවුනට අවශ්‍ය විය. ඒ සදහා මේ වනවිට මෙරට දේශපාලන පිටිය, අදිසි රාජය උපදෙස් අනුව, ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා විසින් සතුරන් රහිත රාජ්‍යය තත්වයක් ගොඩනංවා තිබිණ.
හීලෑ කරගත් මහජන පක්ෂයට නියමිත කාර්යය භාරය වූයේ, රාජ්‍ය විරෝධී වාමාංශික දේශපාලකයින්ට දේශපාලන නවාතැන් පලක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමයි.
අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ නිශ්පාදනයන් දෙකක්වූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන පාලනය හා කොටි සංවිධානය; කලාපයේ දේශපාලන බලවතා පමණක් නොව, ජේ. ආර් ජයවර්ධන මහතාගේ රජයත්; දෙමල බෙදුම්වාදී සංවිධානයන්ද, නිවැරදිව හදුනා නොගත්හ.
බටහිර ප්‍රජාව තමන්ගේ රජයේ ආරක්ෂකයින් සේ ඇදහූ එවකට සිටි ජනාධිපතිතුමා, ඇමරිකානු ජනාධිපති රේගන් වෙත ගොස් ඇමරිකානු රාජ්‍ය තුල සිදුකරන කොටි හිතවාදී ක්‍රියාකාරකම් නවතා දෙන මෙන් අයද සිටියේය. තම රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී රජයක් බැවින් එවැන්නක් කිරීම කල නොහැකි බව පලකල රේගන් ජනාධිපතිතුමා, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපතිතුමා යනු කිසිදු ජනාධිපතිවරයකුට වඩා බලතල ඇති කලාපයේ අතරමංවූ රාජ්‍ය පාලකයකුගේ තත්වයට පත් කලහ. කෙසේ හෝ කොටි පරාජය කරමියි යන අධිෂඨානයෙන් ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා කටයුතු කිරීම ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන් ප්‍රභාකරන්ව වදමාරච්චි සටනේදී කොටුකර ගන්නා ලදී.
ඉන්දියාව තමන්ගේ මිතුරා කොටි සංවිධානය යන මිත්‍යාවේ එල්බගෙන කොටි සංවිධානය ආරක්ෂා කර ගත්හ. මේ නිසා සැබෑ සතුරා වසං වූ අතර, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඒ අවස්ථාවේදී අපේක්ෂා කල ඇමරිකානු ආධාර නොලැබිණි.

මේ වනවිට ජේ. ආර් ජයවර්ධන මහතා, තමන් දශක තුනකට අධික කාලයක් ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය වෙනුවෙන් මේ රටතුලදී කල සේවාවන්ට නිසි ඇගයීමක් නොලබන බව වටහා ගෙන දැඩි කලකිරීමකින් පසුවී සිටි අතර, ඉන්දීය රූකඩයක් බවට පරිවර්තනය වීම ඔහු නුරුස්සන කාර්යයක් විය.

අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ මීලග අවශ්‍යතාවයන් වූයේ, අඛණ්ඩව ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා ජනාධිපති ලෙස තබා ගැනීම, ‍තමන්ගේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය වූ මේ රට තුනට කැඩීමේ කාර්යයට ඉතා වැදගත් ඒකකයක් වූ කොටි සංවිධානය බලවත් කිරීම හා තමන්ගේ කාර්යයන්ට මහත් බාධාවක්ව පවතින තහනම් කරන ලද ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ සාමාජිකයින් සමූල ඝාතනය කරවීමයි. මේ සදහා අවශ්‍ය සියලූම ජාත්‍යන්තර තාක්ෂණික රජයට ලබා දුන්හ.
කොටි සංවිධානය, ඉන්දියාව, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හා තමන් වටා සිටින කපටි ජාත්‍යන්තර මිතුරන් අතර හිරවී සිටි ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා අවසානයේදී දේශපාලනයෙන් විශ්‍රාම ගත්හ.

හයවන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය.
මීලගට බලයට පත් ජනාධිපති ආර් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ඉන්දීය විරෝධීයකු බවට ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්ව සිටියහ. අදිසි රාජ්‍යය සැබෑලෙසම ආර් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාට පක්ෂපාතිත්වයක් දැක්වූයේම නැත. නමුත් තම ව්‍යාපෘතිය අංක එක සේ සලකන ඔවුහු ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ ඉන්දීය විරෝධය හරහාම එතුමාට ලගා වූහ. උත්සහය සාර්ථක විය. ඉන්දීය හමුදාව පලවා හැරීමට කොටි සංවිධානයට උදව් කල යුතුයි යන සංකල්පය යටතේ කොටින්ට අවි ආයුධ හා මුදල් ලබාදී ප්‍රබල තත්වයකට ඔසවා තබන ලදී. මෙම අවධිය කොටි සංවිධානයට අපූරු සන්ධිස්ථානයක් විය. තමන්ගේ සතුරායයි සැලකූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍යය මිතුරා වී; තමන්ව රැකගෙන සියලූම යුධ පුහුණුව හා රැකවරණය ලබාදුන් ඉන්දියාව සතුරු රාජ්‍යයක් ලෙස අපහසුවෙන් වුවද සැලකීමට ඔවුනට සිදුවිය. (මෙය වර්තමානයේදී ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට අදිසි රාජ්‍ය විසින් උරුම කර ඇති තත්වයට සමාන තත්වයකි.).
ඔහුගේ වකවානුවේදී ඉන්දීය හමුදා මෙරටින් පිටව ගිය අතරම ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ සමුල ඝාතනයකට ලක් කලහ.

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ සංහාරය කිරීමට හැකිවීම, අදිසි රාජ්‍ය ලද විශාලම ජයග්‍රහණය විය. එසේ කිරීමත් සමගම නව අභියෝගයන්ට මුහුණ දීමට අදිසි රජයට සිදුවිය.
(අ) ඝාතකාගාරවල ප්‍රබලව ක්‍රියාකල ඝාතකයින්ට රැකවරණය සැලසීම.
(ආ) මෙරට සිදුවූ අති ප්‍රබල ඝාතනයන් දන්නා ප්‍රබල සාක්ෂි මෙරට සමාජයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම.
(ඇ) ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ නම් වූ දේශපාලන දහරාවේ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය නවතා දැමීම. කලයුතු අවශ්‍යම කාර්යන්සේ හදුනාගන්නා ලදී.
මේ අනුව, ඝාතකාගාර වල ප්‍රබලව ක්‍රියාකල ඝාතකයින් හා මෙතෙක් කල් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ තුලට රිංගා බුද්ධි තොරතුරු සැපයූ අයව.ඕස්ට්‍රෙලියාව, බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය, ප්‍රංශය, ඇමරිකාව හා ජර්මනිය යන රාජ්‍යයන්හි ආරක්ෂිතව ජීවත්වීමට අවශ්‍ය වාතාවරණය සූදානම් කර දෙන ලදී.

ප්‍රධාන සාක්ෂිකරුවන් වන්නේ ක්‍රියාකාරීව ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ කටයුතු කල අය බැවින් ඔවුන්ව හා ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල්වල අයටද, දේශපාලන රැකවරණය ලබාදීම යන පදනම යටතේ,ඕස්ට්‍රෙලියාව, බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය, ප්‍රංශය, ඇමරිකාව හා ජර්මනිය යන රාජ්‍යයන්හි ආරක්ෂිතව ජීවත්වීමට අවශ්‍ය වාතාවරණය සූදානම් කර දෙන ලදී.
දැන් ඝාතකයෝ හා ඝාතනයන්ට භාජනය වූවන්ගේ පවුල්වල අය හා ඝාතනයන්ට භාජනය වීමට නිර්දේශිතව සිටි අයට විදේශගතව එකම රාජ්‍ය පද්ධතියක ජීවත්වීමට ඉඩකඩ සලසා (අ) හා (ආ) වලින්, අදිසි රාජ්‍ය හිතවාදීන්ට සිදුවිය හැකිව තිබූ තර්ජනයන් අවම කර දමන ලදී.
මීලගට කලයුතු වූ කාර්යය භාරය වූජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ නම් වූ දේශපාලන දහරාවේ ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය නවතා දැමීම සදහා තමන්ට සුපුරුදු ජාත්‍යන්තරව අත්හදා බලා ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂම ලෙස අති සාර්ථකවූ ක්‍රමය මෙරට සදහාද ආදේශ කිරීමට තීරණය කරන ලදී.

මේ අනුව රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ සිදුවෙන දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වයන් හදුනා ගැනීම සදහා රටතුල සමීක්ෂණයක් සිදුකරණ ලදී. ඉතා අවංකව ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ ගොඩනංවන්නට උත්සහ කරන අයව හදුනා ගන්නා ලදී. ඊට අමතරව තමන් විසින් ගොඩනංවන ලද නව ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණු කණ්ඩායම් දෙකක්ද සමාජගත කරන ලදී. මෙම කණ්ඩායම් දෙකෙන් කුමන කණ්ඩායම ජය ගත්තද එය ඔවුනට අභියෝගයක් නොවීය.

මේ අතර අදිසි රාජ්‍ය කිසි විටෙකත් අපේක්ෂා නොකල සිදුවීමක් සිදුවිය. ඒ 1991 මාර්තු මස 2 වෙනිදා රංජන් විජේරත්න මහතාව ඝාතනය කිරීමයි.

මේ වන විට ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය දේශපාලන පොරපිටියේ ඉතිරි වූයේ ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස ප්‍රමුඛ රජයත්, කොටි සංවිධානයත් පමණි.
ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා හා කොටි සංවිධානය අතර දැඩි මිත්‍රත්‍වයක් ඇති බව ලොව පුරා ප්‍රචලිත කෙරිණ. තත්වය මෙසේ පවතිත්දී අදිසි රජය විසින් ඉතා වැදගත් ඉලක්කයක් ගැනීමට ප්‍රභාකරන්ට බලකෙරිණ. ඔහු ගිරයට අසුවූ පුවකක් මෙන්විය.1991 මැයි මස 21 වෙනිදා ඉලක්කය ගැනිණ. ඉන්දීය අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රජිව් ගාන්ධි මහතාව බටහිර බලවේග විසින් මෙහෙය වන අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවකට අනුව කොටි සංවිධානය විසින් ඝාතනය කරන ලදී.
කලාපයේ බලවතා අස්ථාවර කෙරිණ. ඒ හරහා කලාපයම අස්ථාවර කිරීම අරමුණ විය.
තවද ආර් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා බටහිර බලවේග වලට අනුව ක්‍රියා කරන්නෙක් නොවූහ. ඔහු සතුව ඔහුටම සුවිශේෂී වූ ව්‍යාපෘති ගනනාවක්ම තිබිණ. මේ වකවානුවේදී ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා හා බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මහකොමසාරිස්තුමා අතර වූ ඝට්ඨනයද අදිසි රාජ්‍යය නොරිස්සූහ. අදිසි රාජ්‍යය වර්ෂ 1993 මැයි මස පලවෙනිදා තමන්ගේ කලාපීය චණ්ඩියා වූ කොටි සංවිධානය හරහා ඒ මහතාවද ඝාතනය කර දමන ලදී.
කලාපයේ අස්ථාවර භාවය තවත් තීව්‍ර විය. කොටි සංවිධානය කලාපයේ බලවත් තත්වයකට පත්විණ.

හත්වන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය.
රටේ පවතින තත්වය මනාව අවබෝධ කරගෙන සිටි ඩී. බී. විජේතුංග මහතා වහාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වී රාජ්‍ය බලය තමන්ගේ අතට ගත් අතර, ඔහු කාලාන්තරයක් මුලුල්ලේ දැක තිබූ අප්‍රසන්න පාලන සංස්කෘතිය වෙනස් කර 1994 නොවැම්බර් මස 12 වෙනිදා ජනාධිපතිවරණයක් පැවත්වීමට සූදානම් කරන ලදී.
මේ වනවිට අපකීර්තිමත් අදිසි රාජ්‍ය හිතවාදී පාලනයට හරියටම වසර 17ක් ගතව ජනතාව හෙම්බත්ව සිටියහ. ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයකුට පවා තමන්ගේ චන්දය පාවිච්චි කිරීමට ඉඩ ලබා නුදුන් පාලන ක්‍රමය විනාශ කර දමා, රට කරවූ දූෂිතයන්ට ඒ දූෂණයන් සදහා නිසි දඩුවම් ලබාදීම පොදු ජන අපේක්ෂාව විය.
ඔවුන් තුල ඒ දූෂිත රජයට විරූද්ධව සටන් වැදී මියගිය තරුණ පරම්පරාව සම්බන්ධව මහත් ගෞරවයක් හා භක්තියක් පැවතින. මීලගට මැතිවරණයට ජයග්‍රහණය අපේක්ෂා කරන්නා, මරා දමන ලද තරුණ තරුණියන් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින අයෙකු විය යුතුම විය. මනා පෙර දැක්මක් ඇති අදිසි රාජ්‍යය ඒ සදහා පෙර සිටම චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග මහත්මියව සූදානම් කර තිබිණ.
රටේ පැවති තත්වයට අනුව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ අඛණ්ඩ ගමනට ඇවැසි ආකාරයට නොතිබිණ. එය තුල තමනට හිතවාදී නායකත්වයක් ගොඩනංවා ප්‍රතිසංවිධානය කරන තුරු, තමන්ගේම වූ අලුත්ම නිර්මාණය වන චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරණතුංග මහත්මියගේ පොදු පෙරමුණ නම් වූ දේශපාලන උපාංගය පාවිච්චි කිරීමට අදිසි රාජ්‍ය තීරණය කලාය.

අට වන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය.
අති විශිෂ්ඨ ලෙස චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරණතුංග මහත්මිය ජය ගත්තාය. ඇගේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තිබුණේ එක වැඩි චන්දයක් පමණි. මෙරට දේශපාලනයේ සෑම අංගයක්ම සොයා බලා තීරණය ගන්නා අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට; එම රජය සුරැකීමට තීරණය කර ගත්තාය.

මේ වනවිට අදිසි රජයට ඇවැසි රජයක් බලයට පත්ව තිබිණ. ඔවුනගේ රට කැබලි තුනකට කැඩීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය තවත් ඉදිරියට විත් තිබිණ. කොටි සංවිධානය විශාල ප්‍රගතියක් අත්පත් කරගෙන තිබිණ. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ එක කණ්ඩායමක් පරයා තව කණ්ඩායමක් අතට පත්ව තිබිණ. එම කණ්ඩායමේ නායකත්වය අදිසි රාජ්‍ය හිතවාදී විය. මේ අනුව පෙර කිසි කලෙකටත් වඩා අදිසි රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රබල තත්වයක පැවතින. ඇත්තවශයෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන ඒකාධිකාරීත්වයක් ඔවුනට හිමිවිය.
මේ කාලය තුලදී ඔවුන් විශාල ජයග්‍රහණයන් රාශියක් හිමිකරගෙන සිටියහ. මේ රටතුල සිදුකරන ලද මිනිස් ඝාතන සම්බන්ධව මහා හඩක් නගා වරදකරුවන්ට හිමිකලයුතුවූ දඩුවම් වලින් ඔවුනව අපූරුවට නිදහස් කර ගැනීමට අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට හැකිවිය. ඒ සදහා ඔවුනට ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ විශාල සහයක්ද ලැබීණ. අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ කොන්දේසි හා උපදෙස් අණුව කටයුතු කල ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ තමන්ගේ දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපෘතිය හේතුවෙන් ඝාතනයට ලක්වූ 60,000 ක සහෝදරයින්, ඒ හේතුවෙන් අතරමංවූ එම පවුල් වල උදවිය හා රාජ්‍ය ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් විසින් විනාශකර දමන ලද එම පවුල් වල දේපල සදහා වන්දි මුදලක් ලබා ගැනීමේ මහා සටනක් ආරම්භ කල යුතු වුවද, අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ උපදෙස් මත ඒවා රට වෙනුවෙන් කරන කැපකිරීම් බවත්; කැප කිරීම් සදහා වන්දි අවශ්‍ය නොවන බව පවසා සැබෑ පාක්ෂික උවමනාවන් යට ගැසුවේය.
එම පක්ෂයට දේශපාලනය කිරීමට සිදුවූයේ කොන්දේසි ගනනාවකට යටත්වය. ඒවා නම්,
(අ). “අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයට විනාශය- ජනතාවට විමුක්තිය”
“ධනවාදයට විනාශය- ජනතාවට සමාජවාද” නම් වූ සටන් පාඨ ඔවුනට තහනම් විය.
(ආ). සෑම අවස්ථාවකදීම ධනේශ්වර ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සම්බන්ධව දිව්‍ය මන්ත්‍රයක් සේ මිමිනීම කලයුතු විය.
(ඇ). මරා දමන ලද තම නායකයින්ගේ හෝ පාක්ෂිකයින්ගේ මරණයන් සම්බන්ධව පරීක්ෂණ ඉල්ලා සිටීම ඔවුනට තහනම් විනි.
(ඈ). විනාශකර දමන ලද ඔවුනගේ පාක්ෂිකයින්ගේ දේපල වලට වන්දි ඉල්ලා සිටීම ඔවුනට තහනම් විය.
(ඉ) විධායක ජනාධිපතිකම ඉවත් කලයුතු බවට වූ අදිසි රාජ්‍ය ඉල්ලීම රටේ අංක එකේ ඉල්ලීම බවට පරිවර්තනය කරන ලදී.

වර්ෂ 1999 වනවිට අදිසි රාජ්‍යය තමන් සැබෑ ලෙසම ඇලුම් කරන පක්ෂය වූ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට තමන්ගේම වූ නායකත්වයක් ලගා කරගෙන තිබිණ. දැන් චන්ද්‍රිකා කමාරණතුංග මහත්මියව බලයෙන් පහකර දැමීම ඔවුනගේ අවශ්‍යතාවය විය. කලාපයේ ඔවුනගේ ක්‍රීඩාවක් බදුවූ ත්‍රස්තවාදය උපයෝගී කරගෙනම ඇයව බලයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට වෙරදැරුවාය. එය අසාර්ථක වූ විට කුපිතවූ අදිසි රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව හරහා ඇයගේ රජය පෙරලා දැමුවාය.
නැවත වරක් ඉතිහාසය තුල එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ රජයකට ඉඩක් හිමිවිණ. සටන් විරාම ගිවිසුමක් හරහා තමන්ගේ දකුණු ආසියාව පාලනය කිරීමට බාවිතා කොට බලගැන්වූ සන්නද්ධ ඒකකය වූ කොටි සංවිධානය ප්‍රබල කරවන ලදී.
ඒ වනවිටත් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ, අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ, බලපෑමට නැතුව තිබු දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් වුවද, විප්ලවවාදී දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතියක් යටතේ ගොඩනැංවුන පක්ෂයක් තුල සතුරු බලවේගයකට නිදහසේ ගමනක් යා නොහැක. එබැවින් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණහි සිටි සැබෑ දේශප්‍රේමී බලවේග වලට විශාල කාර්යය භාරයක් සිදු කිරීමට අවකාශ ලැබිණ. ඊට අමතරව ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ නායකයා විදේශ ගතව සිටි නිසා දේශප්‍රේමී බලමුළු එම පක්ෂය රටට වැඩදායක ආකාරයට මෙහෙයවන ලදී. ජනතාව එම පක්ෂය වටා එක් රොක්වීම අති ප්‍රබල විය. මෙය අදිසි රාජ්‍යය නොරිස්සූ කරුණක් විය.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ තුල වූ දේශප්‍රේමී බලමුළු, ඉදිරියට පැමිණීම ඉදිරියේ, එතුල වූ අදිසි රාජ්‍ය ඒජන්තයින්ට නිරුත්තරව නිහඩව සිටින්නට සිදුවිය. ඉතිහාසයේ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණෙ ඉහලම ජනතා ප්‍රතිචාර ලැබූ අවධිය ලගාවී තිබිණ.
එම පක්ෂයේ දේශප්‍රේමී බලකාය ඉදිරියට පැන අදිසි රාජ්‍ය ජනපති ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා මගින් බලගැන්වූ විධායක ජනාධිපතිකම උපයෝගී කරගෙනම, අදිසි රාජ්‍ය හිතවාදී රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ රජය පෙරලා දැමුවාය.
මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය අදිසි රාජ්‍යයට ගැසූ අතුල් පාරක් විය.
තමන් ගේ දේශපාලන පක්ෂය පෙර වකවානු වලදී මෙන් කිසිදු අතුරු ආන්තරාවක් නැතිව දේශපාලනය කිරීමට ඉඩ ලැබී ඇත්තේ තම පක්ෂයද අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේම ඒකකයක් නිසා බව අවංක ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණහි සාමාජිකයින් කවදාවත් නොසිතුවේය. ඊලග මැතිවරණයේදී පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආසන 41ක් දිනා ගත් එම පෙරමුණ රටේ ජනතාවගේ හද පත්ල තුල මුල් බැසගත් දේශපාලන පක්ෂය බව මුලු ලොවම අවබෝධ කරගත්හ.
සුනාමිය සමගම සන්ධාන රජය තුලටද එම සුනාමි රල පහර එවා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ පැවති එම රජයෙන් ගසාගෙන යන්නට ඉඩ සලසන ලදී.
එසේ ගසාගෙන ගියද එය රටතුල හා ජනතාව අතර තව තවත් මුල් බැස ගන්නට විය.
මේ සෑම ක්‍රියාවක් දෙසම නිහඩව බලා සිටි අදිසි රාජ්‍යය තමන් අතින් ගිලිහෙන ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණෙ බලය තව දුරටත් තමන් අතම තබා ගැනීමට අදිටන් කලහ.
මේ වනවිට ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සමග සන්ධාන ගතව 2005 ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණය සදහා සූදානම් වෙමින් සිටියහ.
අදිසි රාජ්‍යය වහාම ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණෙ නායකයාව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පිටත් කර එවන ලදී. ඒ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ මහින්දගෙන් වෙන්කිරීම අරමුණු කරගෙනය.

නව වන රාජ්‍ය කාල පරිච්ඡේදය.
විශ්මිතම සිදුවීම 2005 ජනාධිපතිවරණය නිමවීමත් සමගම සිදුවිය. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ, මහා බලාපොරොත්තු කන්දරාවක් සහිතව, සිය ධනය සහ ශ්‍රමය වැයකරමින් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ‍ මහතාගේ ජයග්‍රහණය වෙනුවෙන් මහා කැපකිරීමක් කල සාමාජිකයින්ට ව්‍යාජ හේතු පෙන්නා අතරමං කලහ. මෙය පක්ෂයේ පලමු ඉරිතැලීම විය.

අදිසි රාජ්‍ය විසින් පවරන ලද න්‍යාය පත්‍රයට අනුව වැඩකිරීමට ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට සිදුවීම මෙයට හේතු විය. අදිසි රාජ්‍යය සිය ප්‍රබලම අවිය වූ කොටි සංවිධානය මගින් ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව හා රජය විනාශ කිරීමට වෙර දැරුවද. අවසානයේදී ලාංකීය ජාතික විමුක්ති අරගලය ජයග්‍රහණය කළහ. ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය විමුක්ති අරගලය විමුක්තිය ලබාදුන්නේ, ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය ජනතාවට පමණක් නොව මුළු මහත් ඉන්දියාවේ තිබුන සියලුම ත්‍රස්තවාදී කටයුතුද මේ සමගම නිමාවට පත්විය.

සතුරා පරාජය බාරගෙන නිහඬ වන්නෙක් නොවේ. සිය මිනීමරු ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නිර්ලජ්ජිතව වුවද දියත් කරන්නෙක් බැවින්, ඒ වන විට මෙරට තුල පිහිටි අදිසි රාජ්‍ය හිතවාදී තානාපති කාර්යාල තුල සිදු කරන ප්‍රධාන කාර්යය වුයේ, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හා එම පවුල ඝාතනය කරන ආකාරය සැලසුම් කිරීමේ කාර්‍යා සම්බන්ධවයි. අපගේ මනස මෙවැනි කාර්යයක් සම්බන්ධව සිතීමට පවා සූදානම් නැති වුවද, මෙම සිදුවීම, කලක පටන් සිදුවන බව මනාව වටහා ගත යුතුය.

වසර ගනනාවක් පුරා ඩොලර් බිලියන ගනනාවක් වැය කර ඉතා සූක්ෂමව ගොඩනැංවූ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කොටස් තුනකට කැඩීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියවත් දකුණු ආසියානු කලාපය පාලනය කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියවත් ඉවත්කර නොගත් සතුරා, ලෝකයේ දුෂිතම හා ලෝකයම අදිසි රාජ්‍යයේ පදයට මෙහෙයවීමට නිර්මාණය කොට ඇති එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය උපයෝගීකරගෙන මෙරට රාජ්‍යට බල පිඩනයට ලක් කිරීමට තරම් නිවට නියාලු තත්වයකට අද වැටිණි. ඉන් නොනැවතුන සතුරා, තමන් තව දුරටත් අදිසි සතුරෙක් නොවන බව පසක් කරමින්, ලෝකයේ බලවත්ම රාජ්‍ය මේ කුඩා රාජ්‍ය ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් මුදාගැනීම මානව හිමිකම් කඩකිරීමක් බව කියා පෑමට තරම් නිරුවත් බාවයට පත්විය. මානසිකව ඇදවැටී වියරු වුන සතුරාට, රැකගත යුතු තම අභිමානය සම්බන්ධව ඇති සීමාව ඉක්මවා ගොස්, 2010 ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට හා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට සෘජුවම් බලපෑම් කරමින්, ඒ පක්ෂවලට ඇති ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයින් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ අයිතිය වලකාලුහ. මේ පක්ෂ දෙකම, සතුරා විසින් නම් කරන අපේක්ෂකයාට සහය දැක්වීමට එකඟ කරවා ගත්හ. මේ සන්ධානය ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ, හිට්ලර් හා යුදෙව්වන් අතර ඇති කරගන්නා ආකාරයේ අසාමාන්‍ය සන්ධානයක් වුවද, ඒ තුලින් එම පක්ෂ වලට සිදුවන හානිය කොතරම් ප්‍රබල වුවද, සතුරාට එය එතරම් වැදගත් කමක් නැත. ඔහු කියන ආකාරයට ඔහුට සදාකාලික සතුරෙක්වත් මිතුරෙක්වත් නැත. ඇත්තේ තම අවශ්‍යතාවයන් පමණි. ඝාතකයන් හා ඝාතනයට ලක්වුවන් හා ලක්වීමට සිටින්නන් සන්ධාන ගත කොට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂයන්ට එරෙහිව, ලංකාවේ සිටි අග්‍ර ගනයේ  රණවිරයෙකු වූ සරත් ෆොන්සේකා ජනාධිපතිවරණය ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම තුලින් එතුමාවද අමු අමුවේ ඝාතනය කර දැමු සතුරා. ඔහුට ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පසු අත්විදින්නට වූ සියලු දේවල්ම උරුම කලේද අදිසි සතුරු නියෝජිතයින් තුලින්මය.

2010 මැතිවරණයේදී බලය දිනාගත් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂයන් සමග ෆොන්සේකා මහතාට යටින් වැඩකළ මැති ඇමතිවරු රාශියක් ස්ථානගතව අදිසි සතුරාගේ සැලසුම් වලට අනුව යමින් කටයුතු කරමින් ජනතාව හා රජය අතර ඇති වෙනස පුළුල් කරමින් ජනතාව ගස් බදිමින්, ජනතාවට උසුළු විසුළු කරමින් සිටියහ. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂයන්ද ඒවා දකිමින් කිසිදු පියවරක් නොගනිමින් සිදුවෙන දෙවල් නොදෑක්කාසේ කාලය ගත කළහ.

2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණය, සදහා සතුරා, ජනතාවට වඩා මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්තුමා, පවතින රජයේ, අගමැති හා මැති ඇමතිවරු කෙරෙහි විශ්වාසය තබා, කටයුතු කළහ. සතුරා ජය ගත්හ. මේ වනවිට ඒ සතුරා විසින් අපට ප්‍රධානය කල වෙනසේ පලයන් බුක්ති විදිමින් සිටිමු. මේ වනවිට ත්‍රස්තප්‍රේමි සතුරා තමන්ට අහිමිවූ කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදය වෙනුවට ඔටු ත්‍රස්තවාදය මෙරට තුල ස්ථාපිත කොට ඇත. එකල කොටියන්ට මෙන්ම මෙකල ඔටුවන්ටද කැවිම පෙවීම නැහැවීම සිදුකරනුයේ රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහයෙන් යුතුව ජනපති, අගමැති, මැති ඇමති මුලිකත්වයෙන්මය.

මෙතෙක් අප කතා කලේ මෙරට දේශපාලනාවලියයි.  මෙය මෙරට දේශපාලන සමිකරණය කීවද වරදක් නැත. මෙය අපට මේ රට තුල පක්ෂ පාට බේදයක් නැති බව ඉතා හොදා කාරව පෙන්වයි. ඇත්තේ හොද හා නරකය, ප්‍රගතිශිලියා හා ප්‍රතිගාමියාය හෝ අවංකත්වය හා දුෂිතත්වය බව වැටහේ. මේ වනවිට ඩි. එස්. සේනානායක පරපුර පිහිටවූ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය නැත. එස්. ඩබ්ලිව්. ආර්. ඩි. බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතා පිහිටවූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයද නැත. තවද රෝහණ විජේවීර මහතා බිහිකළ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුනක්ද නැත. ඇත්තේ මේ පක්ෂ තුනම එක්කොට සතුරාට අවැසි ආකාරයට හැසිරවිය හැකි යාන්ත්‍රණයකි. එබැවින් හොඳ, ප්‍රගතිශිලිත්වය, අවංකත්වය උදෙසා නව පක්ෂයක අවශ්‍යතාවය සමාජය තුල පැන නැගිණි. එහි පලයක් වශයෙන් පොදු ජන පෙරමුණ නිර්මාණය වී ඇත. එය ස්වභාවය විසින් කරනු ලබන උත්තුංග කාර්යයක පලයකි. මේ අතරම දැන් තවත් ජනාධිපතිවරණයක් ලඟාවි තිබේ. මේ පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත මැතිවරණය, පැවැත්වීම හෝ නොපැවැත්වීම රදා පවතින්නේ අප දකින ජනාධිපති, අගමැති හෝ මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් අත නොව, අප නොදකින රාජ්‍යයේ, අධිපතිකම් කරන මෙරට විදේශීය තානාපති ජාලයයි. ඇත්තටම සටන ඇත්තේ විදේශීය තානාපති ජාලය හා මෙරට ජනතාව අතර බව අපට ඉතිහාසය ඉතා පැහැදිලිව පෙන්වා දෙයි.

සතුරා වඩාත් කැමති පවතින බලය, මැතිවරණයක් නොතබා දිගටම ගෙන යාමටය. මැතිවරණයක් නොතැබීමට ප්‍රබල හේතුවක් තිබිය යුතුය. හේතුවක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට සිටි ඔටු ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් ඉක්මන්වීම හේතුවෙන්, ඔවුන්ගේ යම්කිසි පසුබෑමක් සිදුවිය. තවද ඉතා බුද්ධිමත් අගරදගුරු තුමෙක් සිටි නිසා, සතුරා අපේක්ෂිත කිසිදු දෙයක් කරගැනීමට අපහසු විය. නමුත් සතුරා බලවත් බව අප වටහා ගත යුතුය. මේ අවස්ථාවේදී නිදහසේ විසා නොමැතිව මෙරටට යම් යම් රටවල යට ඒමට ඇති හැකියාව නිර්මාණය කර ඇත. මේ මැතිවරණයක් ආසන්න කාලයේ මෙය සිදුකලේ විදේශීය ත්‍රස්තයින් ආනයනය කරගැනීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය නිසා යයි අපට අනුමාන කල හැක. එසේ කිරීමට අපට අයිතියක් ඇත. ඒ අපේ ආරක්ෂාව අප විසින්ම ගොඩනගා ගත යුතු බැවිනි. ඉදිරියෙදී යම් යම් ත්‍රස්ත කටයතු සීග්‍රයෙන් සිදුවීමට ඉඩ තිබේ. ඒ මැතිවරණය කල් දමා ගැනීමේ අරමුණෙනි. එය සාර්ථක නොවුනොත් උතුරු නැගෙනහිර හා වතුකරයේ හොර චන්ද ගුබ්බායම් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ඇත. ඉන් නොනැවතී මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්කාර්යාලයේද පසුගිය පලාත්පාලන මැතිවරණයේදී මෙන් කොම්පියුටර් ජිල්මාට් ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමට ඉඩ තිබේ. මේ සියල්ලක්ම සිදුවීමට ඉඩ ඇති කරුණුය. 2015 මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිපලය විශ්වාස නොකරන අප එම අවිශ්වාසයම ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම තබාගෙන සිටිමු.

දැන් අපට හොද ශක්තිමත් නායෙකයෙකු ඇත. අප ඔහු වටා එකතුවෙමු. ඔහුගේ ජයග්‍රහණයට උරදෙමු.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ යනු ඉතිහාසය විසින් මේ යුගය උදෙසා නම් කල මිනිසාය.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂයන්ට ජයවේවා!

ශ්‍රී ලාංකීයජනතාවට ජයවේවා!

මාතෘ භූමියට ජයවේවා!

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

Kanthar Balanathan, Australia  DipEE(UK), GradCert(RelEng-Monash), DipBus&Adm(Finance-Massey), CEng. MIEE

Before we step into analyzing and advocating National Problem, we have to define what Nation” and National Problem” means.

The nation is a body or group of masses of a country, cohesive under an autonomous government of their own. It does not define race/races or group of races or ethnicity. The word cohesive means organized and interconnected socially. National Problem is therefore not restricted to only one single or multiple races (s). It is National”. However, people with low intelligence of the different ethnic group define National problem as According to Sinhalese/Tamil/Muslims/Burghers”

Any issues raised by any race in a multicultural society can convert itself into a national problem. Social Problems can also transform itself into a national problem. E.g. Bribery, Corruption, Sex scandal, drugs, absence of Law & Order, racial violence, political activities that inhibit economic and technological growth.

What the Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims, Burghers think and advocate as a National Problem is not a National Problem at all. It is their race and inferiority complex problem.

Of course, the Burghers in SL live peacefully with no racial conscious. To the Burghers in SL, everyone is the same (equality) and equal and they live in cohesion.

SriLanka is a Nation of a group of inhabitants of a country, cohesively living under an autonomous government of their own. SriLanka is a Republic practicing Democracy”. We have to educate our self to learn about Democracy”. Democracy is the institutionalization of freedom. It is also quoted; 1: the rule of the majority. 2: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections. 3: a political unit that has a democratic government. (Refer SriLanka, Sovereignty, Democracy and Terrorism-ISBN 978-0-646-94127-1)

History of Tamils:

King Elara (204 BC – 164 BC)

After capturing the throne of Lanka, Elara ruled the country justly. He ruled the country for 44 years. King Elara had a bell hanging near his bed. If someone feels that injustice was done to him, that person could ring this bell.

Story of a young calf:

While King Elara’s son was going to Tissa reservoir in a chariot, he accidentally went over a calf. The cow, (mother of the calf) went and rang the bell. King Elara found out that his son had killed a calf, ordered him to death the same exact way the calf died. Ref: http://mahavamsa.org/mahavamsa/simplified-version/king-elara/)

Who was this Tamil king? Was he a citizen of SriLanka? No. They were invaders from India. When they are been beaten by their enemies they run to the South and invade SriLanka. The story of the young calf should be considered lies propagated by the then people to show magnificence and triumph of Tamil Kings. It’s nothing but Bull Shit”. The truth is if Elara was a just king, why did he invade SriLanka, kill many Sinhala people and capture Anuradhapura?

DS Senanayake (21 October 1883 – 22 March 1952).

DS Senanayaka was an uneducated man with maybe sixth standard education. Quote: Wikipedia. The UNP was founded on 6 September 1946 by amalgamating three right-leaning pro-dominion parties from the majority Sinhalese community and minority Tamil and Muslim communities. It was founded by Don Stephen Senanayake, who was in the forefront in the struggle for independence from the United Kingdom, having resigned from the Ceylon National Congress because he disagreed with its revised aim of ‘the achieving of freedom’ from the British Empire.

The mistake he (DSS) made was to handover the leadership to his son in 1952 being the leadership dynasty. This resulted in the resignation of SWRD Bandaranaike, formed the new party SLFP, who then became the prime minister of Ceylon in 1956 and carried out left-wing reforms such as nationalizing bus services and introducing legalization to prohibit caste-based discrimination. The second mistake was disfranchising the estate Tamils which was planned before independence in 1948.

A National Problem             -Believe in the dynasty and promote family politics and nepotism.

The beauty here is that the party UNP, United National Party reflects Nationalism. It was a coalition of the races in SL. However, their policies and politics destroyed SL since independence.

It is not a question of who decides on the National Problem. The government is elected by the people, of the people, and for the people. Majority rules. Then why do we raise the question of who decides on the national problem?

Let us discuss the major national problems:

The racial conflict in 1915 & 1974 between Muslims and Sinhalese was a national problem. Muslims are minority migrants, while the Sinhalese were the sons of the soil. The mental state of the jihadis tic Muslims has not changed even now. Every country they are in, they want to conquer and rule, making the country an Islamic state. Muslims want every piece of land for their kith and kin. Muslims want their own Sharia Law which hurts other races. Therefore, it strongly denotes that this is a national problem for the state as it leads to violence and destruction making the state volatile economically and technologically. Now, Muslims have become an international problem.

Tamils: Just after independence, SJVC left Congress and formed his own party called, Tamil Arasu Katchi”, meaning Federal Party. The English translation for the Tamil word is Tamil Government Party. Although SJVC was from Malaysia, he was able to rise up to popularity because of the racial confrontation. Since 1949, Tamils have been at loggerhead with the Sinhala government which is a National Problem. Tamils, like the Muslims, want every piece of land and rule SriLanka. The 70 million Tamils in India inherently give them the majority complex. The Tamils think that the UN can rule SL to satisfy the Tamils. This is where Tamil politicians and people have not understood Democracy”. The terrorist activity from 1970 to 2009 destroyed SL. This denotes that Tamils acts and objective is a national problem. Why? It causes insecurity and restrains growth. Tamil politicians running to the UN is a National Problem. UN does not govern SL. Therefore, Tamil political and terrorist activities have been a severe National Problem in SL since independence.

The social and caste problems in the North have become a National Problem for SL now. Drugs, Sex Scandals in schools, Ava group. These have been smuggled into the South. The important fact is that the Tamil Politicians have congregated and converged into a National Problem now.

Sinhala Issues

History states that the Indians invaded SriLanka and the Sinhalas were oppressed, discriminated and slaughtered at times, which horrified the Sinhala race. The incidents have deeply rooted in the minds of the Sinhalas and overtime generated hatred against the Muslims and Tamils. The Sinhalese community in the South were mixed with SE Asian races like Cambodians, Indonesians, etc which can be seen from the outlook in the South of the present time Sinhala race. The people were brought in by the Indian kings after invading South East Asian countries when they marched into the South of SL.

e.g. For years in books, a chapter was taught as follows: The mother of Dutugamunu asked her son as to why he was sleeping like a worm. To which Dutugamunu replied: I cannot Amma cos on one side it is the sea and the other side is full of Tamils. Therefore, I cannot sleep straight. This injected deep-rooted into the minds of the Sinhalese as a National Problem as hatred.

The Sinhalese-Tamils riots were an indication of the mind-set of the Sinhalas. In a democratic environment, the majority of people should not take up arms and kill the minority race. Police and Military are there to discipline them. When such acts step in as a mind-set in the majority’s mind then it is a National Problem. The acts repeated in 1977 and 1983 with devastating killing and raping. When Buddhism creeps into the minds of the Sinhalese as a superior religion, then it is a National Problem as it inflicts a deep-rooted mindset in the minds of the people. Buddhism is not a religion, but a Philosophy. Readers should look back at what happened in Burma when thousands of Muslims were massacred and the influx of Muslims into Bangladesh and other countries increased. It becomes a national Problem to the receiving countries. Some Sinhala people seem to hate Tamils even in foreign countries. The writer has experienced such acts.

Every minor incident seems to convert itself into a National Problem. The races in SL shall rid of xenophobic mind and free themselves. Bribery has now become a national problem by even the GOSL trying to bribe MPs with cars to get votes. Bribery has now become a national problem by even the GOSL trying to bribe MPs with money to get votes to sustain their power. The author’s book titled Psychology in Governance” will enhance more knowledge to readers. This book may be released in October 2019. What is required now for SL is to elect one good honest dedicated leader to be the President. This leader shall have knowledge in Psychology, management, discipline and will come forward to serve the people (society). One such person in SriLanka is no one else but Mr. GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA (GR), former Defence Secretary. There shall be no comedians (Beans) attempt to split the votes by joining the different party and disturb the equilibrium, peace, and tranquillity. Mr. GR will reshape the country’s economy, harmony, cohesiveness, unity, and equilibrium. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa can give his moral democratic support to Mr. GR and be the Prime Minister. Messrs MR and GR are loved by the people of SL and especially the North and East. It is an appeal, being a Tamil that all Sri Lankans shall support Mr. GR and vote. All Tamils should vote for GR.

UNP and its party members, particularly Mr. Ranil W have done enough damage to the economy to SriLanka. The country has gone to the brim of debt and will be submerged in debt or become another Hawaii to the USA or Andaman Island to India.

The national problem is the collateral of buying votes to win. This is considered the dirtiest politics in the world. The current government rip off the Central Bank and the man who ripped is still on the run. It is a good lesson for the people of SL. Peoples money has been ripped off. There are people who cannot afford to have one good meal a day. However, politicians and Muslims enjoy rich food and Muslims attempt to curtail the birth rate of Sinhalese and Tamils.

WE NEED LEADERS TO SERVE THE PEOPLE NOT EARN AND FILL THEIR COFFER.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

Watching the TV news make people disgusted when they see the Commissioner of CMC sitting in an Air-Conditioned office wearing a spotless attire talking about garbage removal

Mayoress wearing clothes of a model riding a bicycle  thru Colombo 7 with Dutch Ambassador should be riding these areas and feel the smell

Then the minister of Megapolis wearing similar bright white national dress keep complaining about CMC managed and run by the ruling party.  unable to solve the problem

People may soon hear the news that one of these nicely dressed people trying to contest to run for Presidency

If any of these politicians in the government think that they can contest for the presidency, and run the country  one will wonder how can they perform as head of state if they cannot solve a simple Garbage Problem

Passing the buck is the word to use but the issue is that where would this BUCK STOPS 

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන BSc(Col), PGDC(Col) (සමායෝජක) 

රට අවුල් කරන NGO සංවිධානවල සහ දෙමළ ඩයස්ෆෝරාවේ බලපෑම් පාලනය කිරීමට රටේ බහුතර ජනතාව නීතිය පිළිබද අවබෝධය ලබා ගත යුතුය.නීතිය නොදැනීම සමාවට කාරණාවක්ද නොවේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පනත් සම්මත කිරීමේදී  පමණක් නොව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණය ලබා ලබා දෙන සෑම නඩු තීන්දුවකින්ම නීති සාදන බව රටේ ඇතැම් පිරිස් දන්නේ නැත.

රට පාලනය කරන පාලකයන්ද ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණය නඩු තීන්දු මගින් නීති සාදන බවත් ජනතාවගෙන් සගවන අතර ඒ සදහා ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාව ජනතාව නීතියෙන් ඈත් කරන මෙවෙලමක් ලෙසද යොදා ගනිති. 

මෙරට විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල ඇතැම් උගතුන්ද ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු නීති ලෙස සළකන බවත් එකී නඩු තීන්දු රටේ සියලුම ජනතාවට අදාලවන බවත්, සියලු පුරවැසියන් එම නඩු තීන්දු මගින් බැද තබන බවත් අවබෝධයෙන් තොරව සිටී. රටේත් සිංහල ජාතියේත් අවාසනාව එයයි. 

මෙහි ප්‍රතිඵලය වන්නේ NGO සංවිධාන සහ රටට එරෙහි ජාත්‍යන්තර සංවිධානවලට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණය හරහා රටේ  බහුතර සිංහල ජනතාවට නොවැටහෙන ලෙස නඩු තීන්දු මගින් නීති සාදාගෙන ලංකාව දිගින් දිගටම යටත් විජිත කොළණියක් ලෙස පවත්වාගෙන යාමට අවස්ථාව ලැබීමයි.

මේ තත්ත්වය නිවැරදි නොවුණහොත් ජාත්‍යන්තර විනිසුරන්ට පමණක් නොව රටට එරෙහි ඕනෑම ආයෙකුට වඩා පහසුවෙන් ලංකාවේ ජනතාවට අදාල නීතිය හැසිරවීමට අවස්ථාව ලැබේ.

ජපානයේ, චීනයේ, කොරියාවේ, ජර්මනියේ,ප්‍රංශයේ හෝ වෙනත් දියුණු රටවල් කිසිවක බහුතර ජනතාවට කියවා තේරුම් ගත නොහැකි භාෂාවෙන් ඉහළ අධිකරණ තීන්දු ලබා දෙන්නේ හෝ නඩු විභාග කරන්නේ නැත. ලංකාවේ ඉහළ අධිකරණවල නඩු විභාග කිරීම හෝ ලබා දෙන නඩු තීන්දු රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට වැටහෙන්නේ නැත. ජනතාව නීතියේ පාලනයෙන් ඈත්කර තිබීමටත්, ව්නයගරුක පුරවැසියන්ගෙන් යුත් සමාජයක් ඇතිකර ගැනීමටත් බාධා වී ඇත්තේ මේ හේතුවයි.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ  සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට කියවිය හැකි පරිදි සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වන වැඩසටහන මගින් මේ තත්ත්වය වෙනස් කරගැනීමට ප්‍රායෝගික පියවර ගෙන ඇත.

පුරවැසියන්ගේ අත්සන් ලක්ෂයක් මගින් ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අවධානයට මෙම අසාධාරණ නීති පැන්වීමේ ක්‍රමය යොමු කර ජනමතයට අනුව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු ලබාදීම සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් විය යුතුද? යන්න ජනතාවගෙන් විමසීමට අදාල ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගෙනෙ ඇත. 

නීතිඥවරු වෘතිකයන් ඇතුලු සමාජයේ බොහෝ පිරිස් මේ සදහා සිය අත්සන ලබාදෙමින් සහාය පළකරමින් සිට්ති. මේ වනවිට පුරවැසියන් හතලිස් දහසකට වැඩි ප්‍රමණයක් මේ ඉල්ලීමට සහාය ප්‍රකශ කර සිය අත්සන ලබා දී ඇත.

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන

BSc(Col), PGDC(Col)

(සමායෝජක) 

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ  සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට කියවිය හැකි පරිදි සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වන වැඩසටහන 

දුරකථන 0712063394

Embassy of Sri Lanka Bangkok

The Ambassador-designate to the Kingdom of Thailand Mrs. Samantha K. Jayasuriya assumed duties at the Sri Lanka Embassy on 8 August 2019. Addressing the staff members, the Ambassador-designate shared her vision and plans for the Embassy aiming at furthering the ongoing cordial bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Thailand. She further highlighted the need to build upon the longstanding rich cultural and religious ties, as well as on further strengthening trade, investment, tourism and partnering in technical cooperation in areas of mutual interest for the betterment of both countries and peoples.

 
Ambassador-designate Jayasuriya is a career diplomatic officer with 21 years of experience. Since joining the Sri Lanka Foreign Service in 1998, she has held positions in various capacities both at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo and its overseas Missions. Immediately prior to been appointed as the Ambassador-Designate to Thailand, she served as the Deputy Permanent  Representative of Sri Lanka at the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office in Geneva. Her professional service at Sri Lanka’s overseas Missions includes Sri Lanka Embassy to Belgium, Luxemburg & European Union as Minister, the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York as Minister Counsellor and Counsellor, and Third Secretary of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Stockholm-Sweden.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, she held the positions of Director ( 2010-2012) and Deputy Director (2005-2006) of the United Nations, Multilateral Affairs, Human Rights and Conferences Division, Deputy Director of the Public Communications Division, and Assistant Director of South Asia and SAARC Division.

She holds a Masters of Arts Degree from the University of Japan (IUJ) on an ADB  Scholarship. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mrs. Jaysuriya served in the Economic Affairs Department of the Faculty of Agriculture, the University of Peradeniya, as an Assistant Lecturer, pursuant to her graduation from the Faculty with BSc (Hons) degree in Agriculture with specialization in Agricultural Economics. Having obtained a Diploma in Journalism, Ambassador-designate Jayasuriya also practiced briefly as a freelance journalist.

Mrs. Jayasuriya is a past pupil of Devi Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo and Kottawa Dharmapala Vidyalaya.

Embassy of Sri Lanka

Bangkok

8 August 2019.

Embassy of Sri Lanka Washington D.C.

The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington D.C. hosted the Sri Lankan Scout Contingent of about 150 participated at the 24^th World Scout Jamboree held in West Virginia, the United States from 22 July 2019 – 02 August 2019, at the Mission premises.

Warmly welcoming the Sri Lankan scout contingent, Ambassador Rodney Perera appreciated the honorary services extended by the Sri Lankan scout contingent during the Jamboree, by way of promoting Sri Lankan identity, heritage and cultural values as well as Ceylon tea and tourism among over 45,000 members of the World Scout Movement.

Committee Member of the World Scout Movement and Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Sri Lanka Scout Association, Mr. Janaprith Fernando; International Commissioner and Team Leader, Mr. Kapila Perera; Commissioner, Media and Public Relations, Mr. Prabath Kularathne; and International Service Team member, Mr. Kandasamy Jeyanathan expressed their views on activities involved with the Sri Lankan scout contingent during the Jamboree, and in particular the effort exerted to promote the trademark Sri Lankan product, tea among a large number of participants.

Master Hewa Gallage Hasiru Damsara, the youngest member of the Sri Lankan scout contingent at the age of fourteen, shared his valuable experiences gained during the Jamboree with the audience.

Following the welcoming ceremony, a dinner was served to the scouting contingent prepared by the staff of the Embassy.


Embassy of Sri Lanka
Washington D.C.

Embassy of Sri Lanka Washington D.C.

A group of Sri Lankan descent American youth performed a traditional Kandyan Drums Orchestra at the 10^th Annual Cultural Celebration organized by the South Asian American Employee Association of the U.S. Department of State on 01^st of August 2019.

Performances by youth from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan also added glimmer to this annual South Asian cultural celebrations.

The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the U.S. Rodney Perera and Embassy officials participated at this event, while Ambassador Alice Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs and Ambassador Atul Keshap, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs were also present.

The youth Kandyan drummers were trained by Mr. Indika Aththanayake, founder of Sri Lanka Bera” in Maryland, U.S.

Embassy of Sri Lanka
Washington D.C. 

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

13A -SL never got what India has

President J. R. Jayewardene and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi after signing the Indo-Lanka Accord, which paved the way for the provincial council system.

“Upon the making of a proclamation under the Public Security Ordinance or the law for the time being in force relating to public security, bringing the provisions of such Ordinance or law into operation on the ground that the maintenance of essential supplies and services is, threatened or that the security of Sri Lanka is threatened by war or external aggression or armed rebellion, the President may give directions to any Governor as to the manner in which the executive power exercisable by the Governor is to be exercised …” 

(The previous article titled ‘The totally inadequate Sixth Amendment’ was published in The Island on Friday the 12th July)

If one continues the study of the amendments to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka, the 7th Amendment was brought to make provision for increasing the number of administrative and electoral districts. The 8th Amendment was about the appointment of President’s Counsel. The 9th Amendment was to adjust the salary scales of public servants who are not qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament. The 10th Amendment was brought to remove the requirement of a two-thirds majority in Parliament to maintain a state of emergency beyond a stipulated period. The 11th Amendment was about the jurisdiction of the High Court and the authority of the Judicial Services Commission and the number of judges who shall constitute a bench etc. The 12th Amendment was not enacted. Thus we see that Amendments 7 to 12 were largely on housekeeping matters.

It is noteworthy that when the 1978 Constitution was first enacted, under the original Article 155, if a state of emergency had been in operation for a period of ninety consecutive days or a period of ninety days in total during six consecutive months, no declaration of a state of emergency made during the ensuing six months could be maintained for more than ten days unless such Proclamation was approved by Parliament by a two-thirds majority of the whole number of Members of Parliament. It should be noted that this was not just two thirds of the number of MPs who may be present on that day in Parliament, but two thirds of the whole number of MPs in Parliament – a requirement which substantially ups the ante.

In the context of the late 1970s, this provision may have been a knee-jerk reaction to the emergency rule that took place under the Sirima Bandaranaike government. However as the northern terrorist threat grew, wiser counsel prevailed and the Constitution was amended accordingly. Of all the housekeeping Constitutional Amendments, the most useful and important one was arguably the Tenth Amendment, which removed the requirement for a two thirds majority of the whole number of MPs in Parliament to maintain a state of emergency beyond a certain period.

Look-alikes that are not alike

The Thirteenth Amendment was not something that grew out of our soil but was imposed on Sri Lanka by India, which thought it was a suitable compromise solution to the demand for a separate state. The Indian central government at that time saw itself as the champion of Tamil rights in Sri Lanka. So it imposed on Sri Lanka what was supposed to be a replica of the system of devolution that was in practice in India in a ‘one size fits all’ kind of solution. The J. R. Jayewardene government was forced to accept what the Indians imposed on Sri Lanka under threat of a fully-fledged invasion of this country. In the late 1980s, the situation was such that the Indians would have followed through with such a threat. They had at that time not yet tasted the bitter fruit that was to result from this intervention. Hence this particular Constitutional Amendment is the one exception where the folly cannot be blamed on a Sri Lankan government or Sri Lankan political parties. The system of devolution that was imposed on Sri Lanka by the Indians superficially looks like the system in operation in India.

Each Province in Sri Lanka like the States in India, has an elected legislative body which can make statutes applicable within that province in relation to the subjects coming under the purview of the provinces. The powers of the elected provincial councils are, more or less, the same as the powers devolved on the Indian states. The three lists of powers which stipulate the powers of the central government, the powers devolved to the provinces and the concurrent powers that can be wielded by both the center and the provinces are modeled on the three lists in the Indian Constitution. The powers of the provincial governors are the same as those of the state governors in India. As in the Indian states, each province was to have a separate police force with the same powers as the Indian state police forces. The powers over land devolved to the provinces in Sri Lanka and India are, more or less, the same.

There is even a provision in the 13th Amendment incorporated into the Constitution as Article 154L for ‘President’s rule’ like in India. Even the wording of this provision in the 13th Amendment is very similar to Article 356 of the Indian Constitution. If the President, on receipt of a report from the Governor of the Province or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the administration of the Province cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the President may by Proclamation- (a) assume to himself all or any of the functions of the administration of the Province and all or any of the powers vested in, or exercisable by, the Governor. (b) declare that the powers of the Provincial Council shall be exercisable by, or under the authority of, Parliament.

Article 353 of the Indian Constitution has a provision which states that while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to any State as to the manner in which the executive power thereof is to be exercised. A similar provision can be seen in the Thirteenth Amendment which has been incorporated into the Sri Lankan

Constitution as Article 154J which goes as follows: “Upon the making of a proclamation under the Public Security Ordinance or the law for the time being in force relating to public security, bringing the provisions of such Ordinance or law into operation on the ground that the maintenance of essential supplies and services is, threatened or that the security of Sri Lanka is threatened by war or external aggression or armed rebellion, the President may give directions to any Governor as to the manner in which the executive power exercisable by the Governor is to be exercised …”

Despite the superficial similarity of the systems of devolution in practice in Sri Lanka and India, Sri Lanka has been deprived of all the most important safeguards that the central government in India has vis-a-vis the states. The shortchanging starts with the safeguard that has grudgingly been given to the Sri Lankan center vis-a-vis the provinces. In Sri Lanka, President’s rule can last only for a maximum of one year whereas in India, President’s rule can last for up to three years. The important safeguards that are available to the Indian centre but unavailable to the Sri Lankan center are as follows:

Safeguards available to the Indian Centre

Article 201 of the Indian Constitution: When a Bill has been passed by a state legislature, it is presented to the Governor. The Governor can either assent to the Bill or reserve it for the consideration of the President. When a Bill is reserved by a Governor for the consideration of the President, the President can either assent to the Bill or withhold assent. The President may direct the Governor to return the Bill to the relevant state legislature with his observations and the state legislature can reconsider it within a period of six months. If it is once again passed by the state legislature with or without amendment, it shall be presented again to the President for his consideration. There is nothing in the Indian Constitution to say that the President is mandatorily required to assent to a Bill from a state legislature even when it is sent to him after being passed for a second time. All that a State can do through its Governor is to present a Bill to the President for his ‘consideration’. Assenting to it or not will be entirely at the discretion of the President. Article 201 gives the Indian President the power to effectively veto Bills of state legislatures.

Some Indian states are much bigger than most nation states in the world and many are far bigger than Sri Lanka both in terms of population and land mass. Yet the Indian President has the power to veto Bills coming from such large sub-national entities. In Sri Lanka however, when a Provincial Governor reserves a statute for reference to the President, all that the Sri Lankan President is empowered to do is to refer it to the Supreme Court for a determination that it is not inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution. If the Supreme Court determines that the statute is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution, the Governor on receipt of the Court’s determination is mandatorily required to assent to the statute. Thus, we see that when it comes to assenting or not assenting to provincial statutes, the Sri Lankan President is, at best, only a post box.

Article 249 of the Indian Constitution: If the Indian upper house of Parliament the Rajya Sabha has declared by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest that Parliament should make laws with respect to any matter enumerated in the State List specified in the resolution, it shall be lawful for Parliament to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India with respect to that matter while the resolution remains in force. Such a resolution shall remain in force for a period not exceeding one year. It can continue to be in force for as many years as is necessary provided the Rajya Sabha keeps renewing the resolution annually. It should be noted that this resolution needs to be passed only in the upper house and not in the Lok Sabha. The 245 member Rajya Sabha is made up of representatives of the Indian states with the number of representatives depending on the size and population of the state.

It should be noted that the majority required to pass such a resolution is only two thirds of the Members present on that day and not two thirds of the whole number of Members of the Rajya sabha. This provision gives the representatives of other states of the Indian union sweeping powers to resolutely intervene to bring a separatist state under control. The Rajya Sabha has the power to apply this provision to a part of India or even the entire country if necessary and there is no limit to the number of years it can be in operation provided the resolution is renewed annually. Article 250 of the Indian Constitution: Parliament has the power to legislate with respect to any matter in the State List whenever a state of emergency is in operation. This power may extend to the whole of India or to just one state according to requirement. Article 251 of the Indian Constitution stipulates that whenever the Indian Parliament makes laws relating to subjects coming under the states in terms of Articles 249 and 250, the law made by Parliament so long as it is in force, will override any law on the same matter made by the state legislatures. In Sri Lanka, if Parliament is to legislate on a matter coming under the purview of the PCs without the consent of each and every provincial council, it will have to be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. In Sri Lanka this requirement does not change even when an emergency is in operation.

Article 354 of the Indian Constitution: When a state of emergency is in operation, the Indian President has complete power over the powers of taxation of the Indian states. Thus. he can suspend or modify the powers of taxation given to the states by Articles 268 to 279 of the Indian Constitution. Such a provision gives the central authorities a very strong hold over the states. The Sri Lankan President has no such powers under the 13th Amendment.

There is no gainsaying the fact that Articles 201, 249, 250, 251 and 354 of the Indian Constitution make a world of a difference. If the Sri Lankan President was able to veto any statute passed by the Provincial Councils, if all the Provincial Council Members in Sri Lanka sitting as a formal body (in lieu of a Rajya Sabha) was able to with a two-thirds majority authorise the Parliament to take over all the functions of a provincial council in the national interest and continue for an indefinite period, if the declaration of a state of emergency automatically vested Parliament with the power to make laws with regard to any subject coming under the provincial councils by a simple majority, and the powers of taxation of the provincial councils can be automatically taken over by the center whenever a state of emergency is in operation, the whole game would be different. The attitude of the people towards the devolution of power itself would be different.

What we have now is a situation where Sri Lanka is expected to implement the devolution part of the Indian system including having separate police forces for each province, but without any of the above mentioned safeguards. During the last years of the Congress Party government, the full implementation of the 13th Amendment was a constant demand made on Sri Lanka. That demand should have been accompanied by an invitation to adopt Articles 201, 249, 250, 251 and 354 of the Indian Constitution as well. If a country like India needs such safeguards, how is anybody to argue that Sri Lanka can do without them? The above mentioned Articles of the Indian Constitution are just key examples of what is lacking in Sri Lanka’s 13th Amendment. There is much more. In the previous article, we have pointed out how lacking the Sri Lankan Sixth Amendment is when compared to the Indian 16th Amendment. All these things finally add up to a massive Constitutional failure in SL.

Playing ducks and drakes with electoral system

August 8, 2019, 12:00 pm 

By C.A.Chandraprema

(The previous article in this series of self-contained pieces on the Constitution was published on Monday the 22nd July.)

The electoral system as regards Parliament originally laid out in the 1978 Constitution was very different to what we have today. Before the Fourteenth Amendment, there were to be only 196 MPs and not 225. There was no National List. There was no preferential vote system. Some features of the elections system were the same as what we have today. Each Province was to have four seats distributed among the electoral districts in that Province. The total number of seats to be allocated in this manner was 36 (4 X 9 Provinces). Each province got four seats irrespective of its population, land mass, and number of electoral districts.

Then, as now, 160 seats were to be apportioned among the various electoral districts in accordance with the number of registered voters in each of them. The total number of voters registered in the Electoral Register of the country was divided by 160 to arrive at the ‘qualifying number’. The total number of voters registered in each of the electoral districts was then divided by this qualifying number to arrive at the number of MPs that each electoral district was entitled to return. Any leftover seats would be allocated to the districts with the highest number of residual votes. (It should be noted that seats are not allocated to the districts on the basis of their population but on the number of registered voters.)

The original Parliamentary elections system in the1978 Constitution did not have a preferential vote system. Each political party or independent group was to submit one nomination paper for each electoral district setting out the names in the order of priority that the candidates should be elected. The number of nominees on each nomination paper would be equal to the number of Members to be elected for that electoral district, increased by one-third. The party or group that gets the highest number of votes in that electoral district was to have the candidate whose name appears first in the nomination paper declared elected.

Thereafter, the parties or independent groups that polled less than one-eighth (12.5%) of the total votes polled in that electoral district were to be taken out of the race. The votes polled by these disqualified parties and independent groups, would then be deducted from the total votes polled in that electoral district to arrive at the ‘relevant number of votes’. The ‘relevant number of votes’ was then to be divided by the number of members to be elected for that electoral district reduced by one. (The reduction of one seat being the one that was allocated to the party that got the highest number of votes.) The number resulting from the division of the ‘relevant number of votes’ by the number of members to be elected for that electoral district reduced by one, is the ‘resulting number’.

The number of votes polled by each party and independent group that got more than 12.5% of the votes in that district beginning with the party or group which polled the highest number of votes, is then divided by the resulting number to arrive at the number of MPs each such party or group was entitled to in that district.

Under the original system laid down in the 1978 Constitution, political parties were to have the right to change the order of priority of the names in the nomination paper even after they had been declared elected and to substitute the names of other persons in place of those who have died or ceased to be members of such party. Thus, this was a system that gave the political party complete power over its MPs. This system was never implemented.

The 14th & 15th Amendments

The Fourteenth Amendment, which was introduced, in May 1988, before any Parliamentary election was ever held under the 1978 Constitution, introduced the preferential vote system whereby voters were entitled to indicate up to three preferences for candidates of the party they voted for. Thus, it was not the political party hierarchy that would decide who would get a seat in Parliament but the voters themselves. This was undoubtedly a more democratic way of doing things, but the preferential vote system gave rise to a number of other problems such as candidates having to canvass for preferential votes across an entire district, some constituencies ending up without an identifiable representative in Parliament, big spenders unsuited to hold public office being able to skim preferential votes off the entire district to get into Parliament, and the institutionalization of corruption due to the heavy expenditure involved in getting elected.

The Fourteenth Amendment also increased the number of MPs in Parliament from 196 to 225 by the addition of the National List of 29 seats, which were to be apportioned among the parties contesting the election on the basis of the proportion of votes they polled nationwide.

Perhaps, in recognition of the difficulties involved in obtaining preferential votes from all over an electoral district, the 14th Amendment, provided for electoral districts entitled to return more than 10 members to be divided into two zones and those entitled to return more than 20 MPs to be divided into 3 zones. Since there are no districts entitled to return more than 20 MPs, two zones would have been the maximum per district. Many districts would not have had zones at all because they were not entitled to return more than ten MPs. Each zone was to be a combination of two or more of polling divisions (constituencies/electorates). The number of MPs each zone was entitled to return was to be determined on the same basis as apportioning seats to each electoral district as outlined earlier.

In December 1988, the Fifteenth Amendment changed the system of elections yet again and the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to divide some districts into zones, was abolished. The most far reaching and damaging change in the elections system introduced by the Fifteenth Amendment was the reduction of the district cut off point from 12.5% to 5%.

This enabled many small ethnicity and religion-based political parties to proliferate and has undermined the ability of the national political parties to form stable governments. The reduction of the cut-off point was not a well thought out matter of policy but a part of the political horse trading that went on before the 1988 December Presidential elections.

The Fifteenth Amendment was signed into law just 48 hours before the Presidential election of 19 December 1988 so that President Premadasa could obtain the votes of the then newly formed Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

In the 30 years that has passed since this system of elections came into operation in 1989, it has given the party that wins the Parliamentary election a clear majority only on two occasions in 1989 and 2010. There have been calls for electoral reform including the reintroduction of a constituency based system so that each constituency will have an identifiable representative in Parliament and for the abolishing of the preference vote system. The need to canvass throughout a district in order to get elected has also come in for much criticism as this has increased the costs associated with an election campaign and the costs associated with maintaining the MP’s presence among the constituents and given rise to endemic corruption.

The best thought out proposal for reform of this electoral system was put forward by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform headed by Dinesh Gunawardene in 2007 after several years of deliberations. This PSC was first set up under the UNP government in 2002. According to the proposal put forward by the Dinesh Gunawardene Committee, Parliament was to have a total 225 MPs as at present. Of this, 140 MPs were to be elected directly from constituencies on the first past the post system. Another 70 MPs were to be elected on the district proportional representation system as follows: Firstly, the votes polled by the winning candidates in the constituencies within the district will be eliminated. Then the votes polled by the ‘other candidates’ of all the electorates within the district were to be totaled and divided by the number of proportional representation seats allocated for that district to arrive at the ‘qualifying number’. The number of votes received by each party for that district through the ‘other candidates’ would be divided by the ‘qualifying number’ to arrive at the number of seats that party was entitled to on the proportional representation quota. The candidate to be elected to Parliament under the district proportional representation system would be the ‘other candidate’ who has received the highest percentage of votes from his electorate (the best losers among those who contested the constituencies).

*Dinesh Gunawardene PSC recommendations

* The 15 National List seats were to be allocated as follows: Five seats would go to the party securing the highest number of valid votes at the election as bonus seats. Out of the balance, three seats were to be reserved for unrepresented minor parties that polled more than 5% nationwide but have not qualified for a seat. If there are no such parties, these three seats will be allocated in the same manner as other national list seats on the basis of the number of votes polled by each party at the national level. This is the best proposal for electoral reform that we have on the table at present. The only drawback is that this system requires a new demarcation of constituencies/ electorates to reduce the present number of 160 constituencies to 140.

Dr. Sudantha Liyanage, who designed the system that was modified and adopted by the Dinesh Gunawardene PSC, is skeptical that the delimitation process would be able to go off without a hitch, because some districts would have to bear the brunt of the reduction in the number of seats. Even though there is around one year till the next Parliamentary election, nobody is recommending electoral reform at the Parliamentary level at this stage due to the fear that the delimitation process may not be completed in time. The only real chance for the implementation of this system is if the political parties manage to come to an agreement on the delimitation of constituencies before the Bill to amend the section on Parliamentary elections in the Constitution is introduced. Not that this is impossible. An agreement between the two main political parties will suffice for that purpose. The two main political parties did cooperate with one another when the Dinesh Gunawardene Committee recommendations were passed into law for the local government level in November 2012.

The system that was put into place in 2012 for the local government institutions was never implemented. In 2017, it was changed again by the present government, introducing a pure proportional representation system which is now reviled by everybody including the political parties that promoted it. The 2018 local government election was held under this new system leaving everyone disgruntled. The UNP government of the late 1980s played ducks and drakes with the system of elections and, today, we have another UNP government doing the same thing. The next government will have to take up electoral reform as a matter of priority. Nobody wants the long delayed provincial council elections held under the elections system introduced in 2017.

Electoral system: No option but patchwork solutions?

August 9, 2019, 8:59 pm 

By C. A. Chandraprema

(Continued from yesterday)

Due to the difficulties anticipated in the delimitation process if the Dinesh Gunewardene PSC recommendations are to be implemented, some including Dr. Sudantha Liyanage, who designed that system, have given thought to an alternative proposal which will retain the present proportional representation system but still provide the party that wins a parliamentary election a working majority. This is based on the logic that if we can’t have proper electoral reform we must at least ensure that stable governments will be formed until a proper electoral reform process takes place. Most importantly, the alternative proposal would not require a fresh delimitation. One such proposal is to take about 12 seats out of the National List and to give them to the winning party as bonus seats. (As we saw in yesterday’s article, the system proposed by the Dinesh Gunawardene Committee also had five bonus seats from the National List allocated to the winning party).

At the parliamentary elections of 1994, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2015 the winning parties got 105, 107, 109, 105 and 106 seats respectively inclusive of the national list seats. So it was a case of being short of anything between 4 to 8 seats to have the 113 seats that will provide a working majority. At the elections mentioned above, the number of national list seats that the winning party was entitled to was 14, 13, 13, 13, and 13 respectively. Even if 12 seats are taken out of the national list and given to the winning party as bonus seats, that number would include about 6 to 7 seats that the winning party was entitled to anyway and the number of seats the winning party finally gets as actual bonus seats, could be as low as five or six. This could lead to a situation where even after getting the 12 bonus seats, the winning party may still not get a working majority of 113 seats – a frightening thought.

Abolish the national list

In this context, there is perhaps a solution of sorts, which this writer would like to suggest. As pointed out earlier, the national list was only an afterthought which came with the Fourteenth Amendment. Originally, there were supposed to be only 196 MPs in Parliament, and no national list. My suggestion is that the national list be abolished altogether leaving only 12 bonus seats for the winning party after the fashion of the 1948 Constitution, which had provision for the appointment of six MPs by the party that forms a government after an election. That would reduce the number of MPs in Parliament from the present 225 to 208 (196 elected MPs + 12 appointed MPs). A reduction in the number of MPs will always be welcomed by the general public.

In today’s context, it is important to specify that the 12 bonus seats will be given to the party that wins the most number of seats at the election, and not to the party that manages through various horse deals to cobble together a government after an election. The 1948 Constitution assumed that it would be the party that wins the most number of seats that would form a government. That assumption will not work with today’s conspiratorial and interest group driven politics and it is absolutely essential to specify that it is only the party that wins the most number of seats that will get the 12 bonus seats.

The 1948 Constitution, with only 101 MPs in Parliament, gave the party that forms a government six bonus seats. So to have 12 bonus seats in a Parliament of 208, is not excessive at all. If the number of MPs is reduced to 208, the number of MPs necessary to form a stable government will be 105. An examination of the election results of the past 30 years will show that after 196 MPs are elected from the districts, an additional 12 bonus seats would enable the winning party to have a working majority. It is, of course, impossible to totally eliminate the possibility of the winning party falling just short of a working majority. The idea would be to ensure that hung Parliaments are the exception rather than the norm. As things stand today, winning parties without a working majority is the norm. The two exceptions to that in the past 30 years being the Parliaments of 1989 and 2010.

The National List has earned a bad name and abolishing it will be welcomed by the public and even by elected MPs. One difficulty in abolishing it is that over the years, every political party has got accustomed to nominating a few critically important people to Parliament through it. In the case of the winning party, this will be no issue because there will be the 12 bonus seats to which they can be appointed. However, the parties in the Opposition will have no way of appointing people they believe to be of importance to the party, to Parliament. Perhaps, the way to deal with this may be to take a leaf from the original 1978 Constitution and give the political parties unfettered authority to appoint whoever they like to one or two seats won by that party in each province.

Each province is allocated four seats in Parliament. When these seats are apportioned to the various electoral districts in the province, they become the district bonus seats that everyone is familiar with. Even though the popular belief is that each district has only one bonus seat, some districts have two bonus seats. If a Province has three electoral districts, two electoral districts will get one bonus seat each and the remaining district will get two bonus seats. To illustrate this by way of an example, the Colombo district is entitled to17 seats going by the number of registered voters in the district. With the bonus seat, the Colombo district should have 18 seats. But it actually has 19 seats because it has got the left over seat in the Western Province.

One seat for the political party

Going by its number of registered voters, the Gampaha district should have 17 seats. With the bonus seat that it is entitled to, the Gampha district has got 18 seats and no extra seats. In the Central Province, after Matale and Kandy have been allocated one bonus seat each, the Nuwara Eliya district has got the extra seat. Likewise, the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa electoral districts in the North Central Province have two bonus seats each because the NCP has only two electoral districts. If each electoral district was to have only one bonus seat, there would be only 22 bonus seats for the 22 electoral districts in the country. But in reality there are 36 bonus seats. Though many people in the Colombo district may believe that they have only one bonus seat, they have two, and this extra seat passes off even among politicians as a seat that the Colombo district is entitled to on the basis of its number of registered voters under Article 98 of the Constitution.

The Colombo district is entitled to only 17 seats under Article 98 but they have 19 with the two bonus seats. Countrywide, these extra seats add up to 14 of the 36 seats allocated to the provinces. If one goes by the principle that each district should have only one bonus seat, we see that some Provinces have one or even two seats over and above the bonus seat and the seats that the electoral districts in that Province would be entitled to on the basis of the number of registered voters. The Western Province will have one such special seat, the Central Province one, the North Central Province two and so on. If the political parties contesting in those provinces are allowed to fill one or two seats they win as the party deems fit, that may meet the need of political parties to accommodate politically important individuals in Parliament.

Of course such dignitaries may have to make themselves useful in the election campaign in the relevant province and especially in the district which has this extra seat so as to pacify those at the ground level and to justify his appointment to Parliament. It may of course be a bit difficult at first to convince the ground level politicians that some districts have one extra seat. If J.R.Jayewardene’s original plan was to give the political party complete authority over appointing MPs to Parliament after an election, surely there is nothing wrong in allowing political parties to appoint just one MP at their discretion and that too only in the districts that have this extra seat?

Appointing constituency organisers as MPs

If we are constrained to apply a patch work solution to the problem of not being able to implement the Dinesh Gunawardene Committee recommendations due to anticipated delimitation issues, then we will have to seek a patchwork solution to the issue of having constituency based representation as well. One solution could be to take the responsibility for appointing representatives for the constituencies out of the ambit of the Constitution and hand it over to the political parties.

All political parties still appoint their electoral organisers on the basis of the existing 160 electorates or constituencies. The appointment of an electoral organizer by a political party could become a more formal affair where the letter appointing a person as an electoral organizer is accorded some legal validity while political parties retain the entitlement to change their organisers at any time as they deem fit. When an election comes along, these organisers become the candidates with their names appearing on the party nominations list. If the preference vote is done away with, candidates can be declared elected to Parliament by their party on the basis of the percentage of votes that each electoral organizer/candidate obtains within his constituency to bolster the overall performance of his party in that district.

This will eliminate the need for the preference voting system and the need for candidates to canvas for votes throughout an entire district with all the concomitant problems of such a system. Since the number of MPs that a political party will get in a district will be decided on the basis of the proportion of votes it polls, and not on the number of constituencies it wins, every electoral organizer will have to be given constituencies of a regular size with a specified minimum number of registered votes so as to give him a fair chance to obtain a proportion of votes that would get him a seat in Parliament. This way, the responsibility of bringing down the size of the electoral unit from a district to a single constituency or a combination of small constituencies will be shifted from the Constitution to the political parties.

Under such a system, it could well be that a candidate who has won the constituency allocated to him by his party may not be elected an MP if his party’s allocation of seats according to the proportion of votes won in the district runs out before it comes to his turn. He would then be the next on the list to be appointed to Parliament on the death or resignation or expulsion of an MP elected on his list. This kind of thing happens even now. All political parties have electoral organisers who regularly win the electorates they have been assigned by their party but who never get into Parliament because they have not been able to obtain the required number of preference votes. In any event, electoral reform is an urgent need in this country and even a patchwork solution will be better than nothing.

(Part 3 Concluded)

Editorial Courtesy The Island

UPFA MP Nimal Lanza, of all people, on Thursday, complained to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya that MP Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe had called Parliament the most corrupt institution in the country. The Speaker’s position was that Wijeyadasa should leave Parliament if the latter had so low an opinion of it.

Dr. Rajapakshe, being a senior lawyer, may not have said so without evidence to support his claim. If only the Speaker had asked Wijeyadasa to substantiate that allegation. No less a person than President Maithripala Sirisena has said that it costs about Rs. 500 mn to engineer a single crossover in Parliament. One wonders whether that was the amount paid to those who defected to the 52-day government, forcibly formed by Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa. There have been many crossovers in Parliament during the last three decades or so and, going by the President’s claim, billions of rupees must have changed hands. Will anyone ask the President not to attend Parliament over that statement?

Dr. Rajapakshe has drawn heavy flak from some of his parliamentary colleagues for criticising Parliament for having received free computers from a foreign government. It is popularly said in this country that one should not reject even a headache given free of charge. But there are situations where gift horses have to be looked not only in the mouth but also in the belly if trouble is to be averted. One may recall that the installation of free Chinese computers in Parliament coincided with a debate on the leasing of the Hambantota Port to China! It is said that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Can’t Parliament afford new computers? Is the country so broke? If so, how come, according to the JVP, two cars, costing Rs. 300 million each, were once ordered for the Prime Minister? President Sirisena has reportedly shot down a Cabinet paper seeking approval for importing a highly expensive car for the Opposition Leader. He also scuttled a recent government move to grant a 200,000-rupee pay hike to MPs. The Agriculture Ministry paid a huge rent for a building for several years without occupying it. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry, probing corruption in the present administration, was informed, the other day, that the Education Ministry had sought to pay about Rs. 2 billion in excess of the budgeted amount for table computers to be distributed among the GCE A/L students and their teachers in some schools. If the government cares to curtail the criminal waste of state resources, it may be able to give a free tab computer to each and every Sri Lankan.

The national legislature should not be like a pavement near the Colombo Town Hall, where panhandlers seek alms. It should be able to manage its finances frugally without undertaking projects it cannot afford. We often hear MPs complain to the Speaker about what they call affronts to the dignity of Parliament. Accepting pin (free) computers, etc., from other countries is not the way to preserve the dignity of the House. Wijeyadasa says he has got the pin computer removed from his table; he deserves praise and not barbs for doing so.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was quoted by this newspaper, last Saturday, as having said that the people were disgusted with all 225 MPs. His detractors say he does not feel the pulse of the people. He has proved them wrong for once! The PM is lucky that he is too big to be taken to task in Parliament over his statement, which, in our book, is commendable and has struck a responsive chord with the public.

Those who are critical of corruption in the institutions they belong to must not be asked to leave or smoked out lest those places should lose the few good people they are left with and end up being havens for the corrupt. Heads of those institutions had not better tell their critics to conform or depart.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

August 9, 2019, 9:27 pm 

Basil

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), on Thursday (8), assured that it wouldn’t, under any circumstances, enter into electoral pacts with political parties or groups blamed for the Easter Sunday attacks or responsible for promoting extremism.

SLPP strategist Basil Rajapaksa gave that assurance in response to media queries at a special press conference called by the party at Kingsbury to announce the party convention on Aug 11 at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium.

Flanked by SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris and its Secretary, attorney-at-law Sagara Kariyawasam, Rajapaksa explained how a section of the media had inadvertently described a Muslim organization affiliated to the UPFA/SLPP at the 2010 and 2015 polls as the one allegedly involved in extremist activities.

Asked whether the SLPP would seek an alliance with M. L. A. M. Hizbullah,who had represented more than one political party in parliament, Rajapaksa said that the Batticaloa District-based politician represented the SLFP. He, however, pointed out the role played by Hizbullah in the last SLFP Local Government election campaign at Kattankudy and Eravur.

Rajapaksa reconfirmed that his brother, Gotabaya, had renounced his US citizenship though he Basil had retained it.

In terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, enacted in 2015, dual citizens cannot contest either presidential or parliamentary elections. Gotabaya in April this year gave up his US citizenship to contest the presidential poll on the SLPP ticket.

Asked whether the SLPP could win the 2019 contest without the SLFP’s support, a smiling Basil Rajapaksa pointed out that the UPFA had lost the last parliamentary election though there was no division at that time. He pointed out how the UPFA had suffered the loss of one million votes in August 2015 after Mahinda Rajapaksa had polled 5.8 mn votes at the presidential election. The bottom line was that though a victory seemed assured in case the SLPP and the SLFP teamed up, the actual situation could be different, Rajapaksa said.

Commenting on the JVP declaration that it would field a candidate on its own for the 2019 presidential poll, Rajapaksa pointed out that there were occasions when the JVP changed its decision at the last moment.

Rajapaksa said that anything could happen before the election.

Asked whether the SLPP was ready to receive former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s backing, Rajapaksa said there wouldn’t be any issue.

Raul Dancel Courtesy The Straits Times

MANILA – At least two terrorists from Sri Lanka have sneaked into the Philippines to train local militants on making bombs and attacking churches and other soft targets north of the country.

A watch list from the Manila International Airport Authority identified the two as Mark Kevin Samhoon and Victoria Sophia Sto Domingo. Both were tagged as “suicide bombers”, with kin in the Philippines.

Samhoon has ties to the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), the terrorist group accused of carrying out the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka in April this year that killed at least 250 people, according to the watch list. His mother is a Filipino working as a maid in Dubai.

Samhoon is said to be “connected” to Sto Domingo, though it is unclear what is the link between them.

Sto. Domingo is described as a “black-belter” who had trained children and women in bomb-making. She holds a Philippine and a Sri Lanka passport.

She arrived in the Philippines in November 2018. Samhoon followed her, possibly in June this year.

Mr Rommel Banlaoi, head of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, told The Straits Times that Sto Domingo was involved in plotting the suicide attack in January this year on a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu province, that killed 23 people and wounded at least 100. Indonesian police tagged Indonesians Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani as the bombers.

BenarNews reported that Samhoon and Sto Domingo were already with a faction of Filipino militants in the main Philippine island of Luzon, some 1,000km north of where most extremist groups linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) normally operate.

A group called Suyuful Khilafa Fi Luzon, formed by remnants of the Rajah Sulaiman Islamic Movement, is purportedly planning to bomb churches in Luzon, with help from Samhoon and Sto Domingo.

The capital Manila and other densely populated cities are in Luzon.

Militants are seeking to bomb targets in Luzon to send a message that their influence is spreading in places far from their strongholds, security officials said.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo on Tuesday (Aug 6) confirmed that security forces in Luzon were on heightened alert to thwart such attacks.

According to Mr Banlaoi, a third Sri Lankan, Anarkalie Dulara Palliyaguruge, was also involved in these plots. “Anarkalie is the financier,” he said.

The Sri Lankan has so far been unable to sneak into the Philippines.

Besides the Sri Lankans, an Egyptian couple, both veterans of the fighting in Syria and Afghanistan, were also reported to be in the Philippines to train a younger crop of militants on suicide bombing.

Some 200 Indonesians had also made their way to jungle camps of ISIS-linked groups in war-torn Mindanao island.

“There are dangers ahead. I share the apprehensions of President Duterte,” said Mr Banlaoi.

The President on Monday (Aug 5) voiced concerns over possible ISIS-inspired attacks in Luzon.

“I have ISIS, and this is what I am most afraid of,” he said in a speech. “I am praying, really praying, kneeling before God, to spare us the kind of brutality and cruelty (ISIS brings) because it will really be bloody, bloody as it can be.”

Mr Duterte said he was looking at recruiting thousands more to augment the military’s special forces units.

“We are facing so many fronts. I need more soldiers,” he added.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

Sri Lankans born after 1948 must be the most unfortunate folk living on this planet, despite many narrations indicating, according to Buddhist belief that, Sri Lanka is a blessed country and several Gods have sanctified this nation”. Could it be the reason why this Island was once known as the Dharma Deepa?

When the Portuguese arrived in Ceylon in 1505, they introduced beef eating to the natives which then became a common habit, even among Buddhists, mostly influenced by Christians and later backed by the Colonial rulers. Anagarika Dharmapala, as a defender of the Buddhist faith, cautioned  people by going from place to place and displaying a prominent  banner,  Gavamas nokan (don’t eat beef), when consumption of beef had become a habit,  because a pound of beef at that time was thirty cents.  

(Aryadasa) Ratnasinghe- 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd).

Harmony

During the colonial regime (prior to 1948), there were campaigns calling upon the public not to eat beef. It is often said that our forefathers lived in complete harmony and being kind to each other. During foreign reign and even during Colonial rule what was remarkable, as we read in history books today, is how even Indian kings who ruled this nation and later the British rulers respected Sinhala culture and showed reverence to Buddhism. The British specifically had refrained from consuming beef at public ceremonies as a mark of respect to Buddhism as well as to the pious people of the land. It was a time when the late Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, after visiting Ceylon, commented how he wished to emulate the Ceylon module to Transform Singapore into self-sufficient standards, akin to  Ceylon!”

Complete

But today, can we say the same? Perhaps it would be complete harmony to quote what he later uttered:   There were two options for me, either I got corrupted and place my family in the Forbes List of the richest people in the world, or leave my people (for which I was elected the Prime Minister) among the countries listed in the list of the best ten economies in the world! I hasten to say that I chose the second option.”

If the same questions were to be posed to our current crop of politicians in Sri Lanka, probably they would come with: ‘There were two options for us too, but the second option was already taken by the Singapore Prime Minister, so we had no other alternative but to seek the first option!”   Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore’s first Prime Minister and architect of the tiny city that he converted into a global trade and financial centre.

This obviously summarises the citation that, Sri Lankans must be the most unfortunate folk living on this planet”, because from the time the British left good old Ceylon, after handing over the responsibilities of running the country’s affairs to locals, Lord Solebury, who headed the Soulbery Commission, had this to say:  Sri ‘Lankans are not ready to govern their country.”

Sri Lanka was known as Dharma Deepa once, but it has turned 360 Degrees today to be explicitly called as ‘Adarma Deepa’ (a perfidious nation), because of rampant corruption that takes place from top to bottom in society.

Politics has transformed into a modern industry and parliamentarians and administrators equally, who are being elected and selected to serve the nation, have become corrupt and corrugated to the level of stinking to high heaven.
After achieving independence from the British, a few of Sri Lanka’s elite, who appeared in tail coats and top hats, began to emulate the British, rather than adopting a suitable policy that suited the local culture  that  any future Government could work on the basis of a structured policy.

Divide and Rule concept

By imitating and adapting British policies and behaviour, the new batch of politicians in Ceylon, automatically became accustomed to the British style of ‘divide and rule’ that gave rise to the formation of different political parties, under diverse hues, marking a division in society. Naive persons began to split into such groups, for their personal gains, akin to chewing gum adherence, with emotional affirmations such as ‘Kapuwath Api’ UNP, SLFP or Communist and LSSP supporters!

This trend transformed into a contagious state when the head of the family supported any particular Party, the rest of the family too blindly followed suit.
Society automatically became segregated due to various boons offered to the people such as giving employment opportunities to party members, while ignoring the other members of society; similarly, entrepreneurs contributed to both parties – the ruling as well as the opposition – playing it safe.

Exposure

This trend continued for 71 long years, until the public began to recognise politicians’ nudity in many a form, including politicians of the ruling and ruled parties and how they have allowed the country to go downhill economically, industrially, scholastically, educationally and scientifically, leaving the poor villages and villagers to suffer immensely. What the politicians should have done all these years are now being done  by various TV companies as humanitarian campaigns.

Sad situation

It is such a, therefore, the word ‘politics’ today has turned into a ‘play game’ where  some of the prominent members of the Government display egocentric tendencies rather than serving the people who have elected them to serve the country. Sri Lanka is on record as the only country where a politician, after ‘hanging on to his parliamentary seat’ for five years, qualifies for a pension for life whereas the hard-working people have to sweat for 30 to 40 years to qualify for such a privilege and at the end of the day they are shocked to find that their EPF money too had been expended on the Government on massive frauds such as the scandalous Central Bank scam!

Despite all the perks by politicians and qualifying themselves for a special allowance to attend parliamentary sessions, most of the time Parliament has had to abandon its sittings due to the absence of a quorum! Even if they were to be present, some Ministers, akin to kindergarten children, are seen coming out with flippant answers to questions raised by members of the Opposition to purposely transform the August assembly into a clowning gallery; some keep on nodding and were seen falling asleep in their comfortable chairs as if they hadn’t had a wink of sleep the night before! What a comedy!

It may be God’s grace that people in this country have awoken to find what a mockery politicians are upto at last and the word ‘politician’ has become the most despicable word spoken, as they have been manipulating the masses with all kinds of bull during election time in order to come to power and once elected are hell bent on seeking luxuries in life such as getting tax free car permits, duty free petrol and all kinds of allowances. Sri Lanka has to be the only country on this planet where an ordinary citizen has to pay millions just to buy a family car!  
Today this Island, has become a ‘debt-den’ according to political connoisseurs, who state that even our future generations will have to pay millions in the form of taxes! Politicians and rulers have had their heyday for 71 long years, taking the ordinary folks, who they consider to be naïve, stupid and mere idiots, for a ride, but the upcoming elections, which are around the corner, could see the suffering masses give a positive verdict, to send the so-called ‘old age pensioners’ home and bring new blood into Parliament as they offer a fresh start and will serve as patriots.

Inferiority complex

The major drawback for the past 71 years has been the citizenry’s inferiority complex that was carried forward from the Colonial time by calling the very representatives they elect to serve them ‘honourable members’ and worshiping them by bending into two when approaching them as if they are descended Gods, but what people forget is the fact that MPs have been appointed by the people to serve people and they are ‘technically servants’ of the people.

The  mentality of Sri Lankans was (and  still is) that they  seem to consider themselves inferior due to their mediocracy, because unlike any other developed country Sri Lankan mentality has been to look down upon the job one does for a living, due to the division of labour introduced by the Chinese from time immemorial. So, they automatically seem to think they are ‘inferior,’ without understanding the fact that there is no difference in any job one does except the variation of the responsibility one carries!  After all, human rights are given a prominent place in the world, and there are international institutions to deal with human rights violations. Therefore, it is high time that every Sri Lankan begins to think in terms of a human being who has an equal right in society and not to be discarded as a mass of human flesh!

Think sensibly

The time has come for every citizen to think sensibly as the elections are around the corner to identify and elect those who are educated, selfless, and compassionate and only those who feel the pulse of the people and not to send businessmen, thugs or rapists to Parliament.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy Adaderana

Leader of Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised that he would not allow any injustice to be inflicted on the parliamentarians of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

He stated this during a meeting held with a group of SLFP members today (09).

A group of SLFP local government representatives for Kandy met the Opposition Leader at his official residence.

Meanwhile, another group of SLFP members representing the Batticaloa district also held discussions with the Opposition Leader.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Supreme Court today (09) dismissed three petitions filed in favour of the Private Member’s Bill submitted in Parliament seeking to abolish the death penalty.

The dismissal order was delivered by a three-judge bench consisting of Supreme Court Justices L.T.B. Dehideniya, Murdu Fernando and Gamini Amarasekara.

The petitions were filed by Prof. C. Gunaratne from Nugegoda and two other parties citing the Attorney General as the respondent.

When the petitions were taken up before the Supreme Court, State Counsel appearing on behalf of the Attorney General told the judge bench that the Parliament has already sought the Attorney General’s advice on the Bill in question.

The State Counsel further stated that the judiciary has no jurisdiction to conduct a hearing on this parliamentary proceeding.

Considering the submissions, the Supreme Court judge bench ordered to dismiss the three petitions.

The petitioners claim that Parliamentarian Bandula Lal Bandarigoda had recently included a proposal for the abolition of the death penalty to the Parliament’s agenda.

They have pointed out that any of the provisions of this proposal do not violate the Constitution.

The petitioners hence request the Supreme Court to deliver an order stating that this proposal can be passed with a simple majority in the Parliament.

Courtesy Adaderana

UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa says that the United National Party (UNP) should form an alliance only after naming its Presidential Candidate. 

Issuing a statement, the Minister of Housing, Construction and Cultural Affairs stated that certain newspapers had reported today that both he and the Prime Minister had agreed that a UNP-led Democratic National Front (DNF) alliance should be formed as immediately as possible.

Premadasa said that he 100,000%” agrees with the forming of such an alliance. 

However, it should be done according to the stance of the majority of the UNP parliamentarians as well as the major parties who have expressed willingness to join the alliance, after naming the Presidential Candidate,” he said.

The minister said that his personal opinion is also the same. He said that doing so would not only help create the proposed alliance, but it would also no doubt lead to numerous other parties and individuals joining together to turn it into a victorious alliance.

Premadasa said what should happen today is not the spreading of false news through the media, but the naming of the presidential candidate and then the designing of an agreement for the new alliance.

By ASOKA BANDARAGE Courtesy  Asia Times

The Indian Ocean is one of the most contested regions in the world today. China, the US and India, and also Japan, Saudi Arabia and other rich and powerful states, are struggling for influence over Sri Lanka, which is in the geographic heart of the Indian Ocean. The sea lanes of the Indian Ocean are considered to be the busiest in the world, with more than 80% of global seaborne oil trade estimated to be passing through them.

Sri Lanka is a participant in the Maritime Belt and Silk Road Initiative, China’s extensive network of ports and maritime facilities connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In a controversial move in January 2017, the Sri Lankan government granted China a 99-year lease of Hambantota Port in exchange for US$1.1 billion in debt relief. China is also developing other projects in Sri Lanka, such as the $1.4 billion Port City” in Colombo on land reclaimed from the Indian Ocean.

To curtail Chinese expansion across Asia, the US is turning strategically located Sri Lanka into a military logistics hub” and the center of its Free and Open Indo-Pacific Region Policy.” Moreover, the US-Japan-Australia-India alliance is seeking to involve Sri Lanka in taking on the Chinese challenge.

Control of Sri Lanka has become more urgent for the US since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in February that US occupation of the Indian Ocean Chagos Islands is illegal and the islands be handed back to Mauritius as rapidly as possible.” The Diego Garcia military base was established after Britain, which owns” Chagos, forcibly removed its inhabitants between 1968 and 1973. Diego Garcia is one of America’s most important and secretive military bases. It has been central in launching invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan and flying missions across Asia, including over the South China Sea. If the islands go back to Mauritius and the Chagossians who sued for their right to return are allowed back, then the US will require an alternative base. That could be Sri Lanka.

In January 2015, a US-backed Sri Lankan government replaced the former Mahinda Rajapaksa government that defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Soon thereafter, the new government and the United States co-sponsored a United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution in Geneva. Calling for accountability for alleged war crimes and missing persons in the final stage of the war against the LTTE, the UNHRC Resolution pressured the Sri Lankan government to make significant changes, including the dismissal and imprisonment of its intelligence officers and army personnel. These measures weakened Sri Lankan intelligence and security, paving the way to the Easter Sunday carnage by Islamist terrorists.

The Easter attacks are now being used to justify the acceleration of US intervention in Sri Lanka, which had already been increasing over the last few years. However, the three main bilateral agreements the US has deployed to assert its political, economic and military control over Sri Lanka – MCC, ACSA and SOFA – are facing massive local opposition.

Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a foreign-aid agency established by the US Congress, is ready to sign a compact” with Sri Lanka to facilitate private-sector investment and economic growth. Based on a Constraints  Analysis” completed by the Center for International Development at Harvard University, the compact identifies three constraints to growth in Sri Lanka: policy uncertainty, poor transportation and logistics, and inadequate access to land, especially the difficulty of the private sector in accessing state land for commercial purposes.”

The MCC Compact would undertake transportation and land management in return for a grant of $480 million to Sri Lanka. The Transport Project will include advanced traffic management, bus transportation modernization and a central ring-road network connecting the Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provinces to the Western Province. The Land Project would include a state land inventory, deeds registration improvement, land valuation improvement, land grants registration and deed conversion, and land policy and legal governance.

Two new laws, the State Land Bank Bill and a Land (Special Provisions) Bill, are to be enacted in conjunction with the MCC Compact. The proposed Land Bank would bring all publicly owned land under a single entity, making it available to private investors including foreign parties. The proposed Land (Special Provisions) Bill would grant absolute title to state lands held by citizens holding land grants, with validity for seven years.

Proponents claim that the distribution of a million deeds granting outright ownership is a poverty-alleviation measure. However, critics such as MONLAR (Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform) see a setup for a massive land grab, displacement and pauperization: … large multinational companies have made small-time farmers bankrupt and are buying off their agricultural land…. By giving desperate people an asset that they can sell, the government has ensured that these lands will be sold off.”

The Foreign Ministry is attempting to hand over the task of drawing land survey maps and creating a streamlined database of 3.6 million parcels of state-owned land  to Trimble Inc, a US-based geological information system and mapping firm, for 15 years. Survey Department trade unions have gone on strike opposing this move, which local surveyors see as a threat to their employment and national security and a wasteful expenditure.

Neither the MCC Agreement nor the new Sri Lanka Physical Plan (2018-2050) associated with the compact have yet been made public. The State Land (Special Provisions) Bill too has not been submitted to cabinet approval because of its alleged connection to the MCC. This lack of transparency has raised grave concerns among the public and the Sri Lankan diaspora regarding US control over vital resources of land and transportation and its impact on the local economy, the environment, and social and cultural norms.

A projected Physical Spatial Structure Map for 2050, details of which have been leaked to the public, has sparked fears that the economic corridor” proposed by the compact for the Trincomalee-Colombo highway could splinter Sri Lanka into two separate entities under the control of the United States, resulting in the loss of sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

The US-backed Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe, has reportedly signed the MCC Agreement, but President Maithripala Sirisena has refused to do so. The US ambassador in Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, has written to the president urging him to sign. The US seems to be in a hurry to seal the deal before a new government that is less friendly toward Washington comes into office by 2020.

Meanwhile, local activist groups such as the National Joint Committee and Sri Lankan diaspora activist groups such as SPUR (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka) Australia are demanding that the government immediately reveal the contents of the agreement without any redactions to the general public. They are encouraged by the decision made by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on the State Lands (Special Provisions) Bill in last month referring the act to the provincial councils, as it would impact passage of land provisions envisaged in the MCC Compact. As the coalition of expatriate groups Sri Lankans in USA/Amerikawe Api put it:

We welcome the Supreme Court decision, as it will put a hold on the land project of the Millennium contract.… The American public is not even aware of how our government is using our tax dollars to benefit large corporations under the guise of foreign aid to developing countries. We would like to see the entire compact terminated… We are calling for full transparency and debate, both in Sri Lanka and here in the US, about the impact of MCC as well as SOFA and ACSA.”

Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement

The previous Sri Lankan government signed an Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA) with the United States, without parliamentary approval, during its armed conflict with the LTTE. The US Defense Department and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense entered another ACSA on August 4, 2017. While the 2007 ACSA was valid only for seven years, the new agreement is open-ended. While the 2007 ACSA permitted US military vessels to enter Sri Lanka ports on a one-off’ basis, the 2017 ACSA again appears to be open-ended. Whereas the 2007 ACSA was only eight pages, the 2017 ACSA is said to be 83 pages long with more than 50 annexes listing US commands and military establishments allowed to use Sri Lanka’s airports and seaports.

The 2017 agreement is designed to facilitate reciprocal logistic support between the US and Sri Lanka for use during combined exercises, training, deployments, port calls, operations, or other cooperative efforts, or for unforeseen circumstances or exigencies in which one of the parties may have a need for logistic support, supplies and services.” Reportedly, it allows every security or military apparatus in the US access to Sri Lanka, making the country the main supply hub for US armed forces in the Indo-Pacific region. Analysts argue that if it is fully implemented, it will effectively undermine the Chinese share of geopolitical control in Sri Lanka, by way of military presence in the country.”

The Sri Lankan cabinet approved ACSA 2017 hastily without careful examination or discussion under pressure from US-backed Sri Lankan officials. ACSA was approved without thorough study by armed forces commanders and officials who have serious reservations over some of its provisions. ACSA was not presented to Parliament. President Sirisena’s cabinet memorandum of June 30, 2017, in Sinhala had only a brief nine pages and no annexes. The president is now opposed to the ACSA and claims that he did not know the difference between new” and old” ACSA agreements at the time of signing.

The signing of ACSA was shrouded in secrecy without media coverage or publicity, reportedly as directed by Atul Keshap, US ambassador in Sri Lanka at the time. The renewed ACSA has not been made public despite requests for transparency by opposition political parties, the president of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), and others. The joint opposition in Parliament, the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) and Yuthukama civil-society organization, strongly protested against the signing of the ACSA.”

Status of Forces Agreement

The Sri Lankan government signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States in 1995 during the armed conflict to facilitate training of Sri Lankan security forces by US officials. The United States has requested that the Sri Lankan government accept a new SOFA expanding the 1995 SOFA by including an Annex B. Unlike the already signed ACSA, the new SOFA will not be limited to purchase of goods and services and will include rules governing US military personnel in Sri Lanka.

The Sunday Times published the draft SOFA on June 30, revealing that it would provide full diplomatic immunity not only to any member of the US armed forces, but also to contractors and employees of US armed forces operating in Sri Lanka. US army personnel could be present in any part of Sri Lanka without any restrictions and carry arms in uniform. They could enter and leave Sri Lanka with US identification, in other words, without passports or visas.

US army personnel could be present in any part of Sri Lanka without any restrictions and carry arms in uniform. They would be above Sri Lankan law and not be liable for criminal offenses in Sri Lanka

They would be above Sri Lankan law and not be liable for criminal offenses in Sri Lanka. They would be exempted from all taxes and checking at ports of entry and exit to the island. The US Department of Defense may not be subject to any local taxes for any material, supplies, equipment and services (including construction) they contract in Sri Lanka. The US Department of Defense would also be allowed to operate its own telecommunication systems in Sri Lanka without cost to the US government.

The draft SOFA sent on August 28, 2018, by the US Embassy to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry stated that acceptance of the draft ”shall constitute an agreement between the two governments, which shall enter into force on the date of [the] ministry’s reply.” This meant that once the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign affairs of Sri Lanka says Yes,” the agreement is effective. The US Embassy has said that once the Sri Lankan government agrees, it has to stick by it. In other words, there would be no room for the SOFA to be discussed by Sri Lanka’s defense officials or debated in the Sri Lankan Parliament.

The SOFA has been temporarily stayed by the Sri Lankan president. With ACSA already signed and SOFA pending, US security companies, notably Sallyport, are already running ads to recruit US citizens with active top secret clearance” to work for US defense operations in Sri Lanka.

Outrage over the blatant violation of Sri Lanka’s independence and sovereignty and opposition to the SOFA as well as the ACSA and MCC Compact are mounting across different strata and sectors of Sri Lanka society. The chief of defense staff, the Chamber of Commerce, and the president of the BASL have warned of the dangers SOFA poses to national interests. The political party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the newly formed STOP USA Campaign are organizing media briefings and mass rallies calling for transparency and accountability in making international agreements.

In response to the rising opposition, the US has rebranded” SOFA as a Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Engaged in a social-media campaign to protect the agreements, Ambassador Teplitz has stated that the US has no intention to build a military base or establish a permanent military presence in Sri Lanka.” However, as Sri Lankan President’s Counsel M M Zuhair warns, With SOFA in hand, the Americans do not require a military ‘base’ in Sri Lanka … because the whole island will be a US-controlled super-state operating above the Sri Lankan laws….”

Way forward

While the US expects future Sri Lankan governments to respect international obligations taken on by the current US-backed government, the very legitimacy of the MCC Compact, ACSA and SOFA is widely being questioned in Sri Lanka. As eminent analyst Neville Ladduwahetty argues the Supreme Court must rule on procedures to be followed when agreeing to bilateral treaties determining if the procedures adopted are consistent or not with the hard core principles of the constitution” regardless of the contents or with whom the agreements are made. Laduwahetty clearly states that all agreements must have the consent of the Parliament: Any agreement/treaty signed in the name of the people by the executive, ie the president or the cabinet, without the consent of Parliament amounts to a violation of the sovereignty of the people.… Such agreements/treaties have no legitimacy vis-a-vis international law as determined by the Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties of 1969…..”

Notwithstanding the violation of people’s rights and illegitimacy of the proposed amendments, Sri Lankans recognize the importance of maintaining good relationships with the US, China, India and other countries. However, they do not wish to sacrifice the principles of sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law in doing so. In light of the dangers posed by the agreements with the United States, there are calls to reassert the policy of non-alignment that the small nation of Sri Lanka so valiantly championed during the Cold War. The National Joint Committee expresses this call in a letter it has written to the Sri Lankan prime minister regarding the MCC Agreement:

[We are] committed to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our nation. We believe that Sri Lanka should follow a foreign policy of non-alignment. Due to the fact that Sri Lanka is strategically located in the Indian Ocean, the country needs to remain non-aligned and refrain from getting involved in the geopolitical confrontation that is developing between America and China, through agreements that would enable these countries to gain a foothold in Sri Lanka.”

External aggression and resistance have been Sri Lanka’s historical trajectory. Transcending ethno-religious divide and conquer” policies promoted by external interests, we Sri Lankans have to come together at this critical juncture to protect our precious, beautiful island home.

Courtesy London South East

COLOMBO, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a key politician in Sri Lanka’s civil war, has renounced U.S. citizenship, paving the way for him to make a bid on his country’s presidency.

Sri Lanka does not allow dual citizenship and foreign nationals cannot contest elections.

Gotabaya, a defence chief during the civil war that ended in 2009 and the younger brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced late April that he would run in the presidential election due later this year.

He is very popular among Sri Lanka’s politically powerful Sinhala Buddhist majority, which accounts for 70 percent of the country’s 21 million population.

“I can say Gotabaya Rajapaksa has renounced his U.S. citizenship,” Basil Rajapaksa, former economy minister and Gotabaya’s brother, told a news conference on Thursday.

Gotabaya, along with his then-president brother Mahinda, is credited with having crushed the Tamil Tiger insurgent group in 2009 but he has also been accused of human rights violations, especially in the closing stages of the 26-year war.

He is facing war-related lawsuits in the United States and the claims had earlier been expected to delay the process of him dropping U.S. citizenship.

Gotabaya has rejected the allegations of human rights abuse.

Basil Rajapaksa’s party, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, is widely expected to nominate Gotabaya as its candidate for the presidential election on August 11.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, the current opposition leader, will be named as party chief the same day, Basil said. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sankalp Phartiyal and Stephen Powell)

By Sumanasiri Liyanage Courtesy Ceylon Today

I borrow the title of Servaas Storm’s article that appeared in the ‘Institute of New Economic Thinking’ with slight changes for this week’s column. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is well-known for his statements, some of which are of special kind, on the economy. He might have made more than 10 in the last four and a half years. If someone reads his statements since 2015, she/he would find that they are logically consistent as the PM follows very closely the arguments of neo-liberal economists of international financial organisations. 

Neo-liberalism that has been practised by the two main parties in power has been transformed into a kind of fundamentalism under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s regime. Recently he has informed that his Government if reelected for another five years will build an economy that could fully pay off the loans it takes. 

He might have meant both the domestic and the foreign borrowings of the Government. This differs totally and qualitatively from the economic strategy that is aimed at creating an economy in which dependence on borrowing does not arise. Simultaneously, his Government has also announced that the rate of interest would be further reduced before the end of this month. It is a well-known fact that the increase in interest rate under the early part of his regime can be partially attributed to the Central Bank Bond Scam of which perpetrators are also well-known. This week’s column intends to discuss how an easy money policy be linked to build an economy that could fully pay off the loans it is supposed to take.”

Going back to the easy money policy at this moment may be attributed to three reasons. Let me list them first. As Michael Roberts in his Blog noted Interest rates globally hit a new low with negative rates (i.e. interest rates less than zero – so you get paid to borrow!), at their highest share of world Bonds ever.

 In Germany and Switzerland, Government Bond yields are negative.” So following this development initiated by the cuts of interest rate by the Federal Reserve System in the US, the economic advisers of the PM might have proposed to follow suit. FRS slashed its rate by 0.25 per cent last week. Secondly, the proposed reduction of interest rate may be a response to the forthcoming election. Interest cost is a significant portion of consumption and investment expenditure so that the Government that badly needs to come to power once again may see that the reduction of interest cost would be a plus factor. Third reason stems directly from the second. Neo-classical economic theory posits that the reduction of interest rate will have positive impact on investment as it tends to increase profitability.

Rate of Interest and Rate of Investment

We have witnessed this same policy of slashing interest rate and maintaining negative interest rate at least for some sectors of the economy was adopted in the last phase of Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. The policy makers lamented that in spite of the fact that the real interest rate (nominal interest rate – rate of inflation) was negative or closer to zero, there was no increase in investment. 

That low interest rate would increase investment and boost economic growth is a neoclassical myth. Of course, the decline of the interest rate may reflect the competitive position of the manufacturing bourgeoise over the bourgeoisie in the financial sector. As Michael Roberts has informed us, But will cutting interest rates avoid a recession in the ‘real’ economy?  Everywhere the ‘hard data’ are showing a sharp slowdown in economic growth, a collapse of the world car industry, and outright slumps in many large so-called emerging economies. 

 Above all, there is a significant contraction in world trade as the trade and technology war instigated by the US against China hots up.”

In spite of the presence of these hard data, the Prime Minister and his economic pundits expect that artificial manoeuvring of the interest rate using the Central Bank would boost economic growth and contribute to create a so-called creditable economy. This is a myth. However, it does not mean that it would have some positive effects over the sectors that experienced a noticeable decline as a result of 21 April terrorist attacks.  

The Political
Economy of Money

I wish to quote extensively Michael Roberts’ excellent diagnosis of the capitalistic system with regard to the behaviour of money and the real economy. He writes: We all have read articles in the newspapers ‘explaining’ that the Central Bank ‘sets’ the rate of interest. Yet the Central Bank controls neither the quantity of metallic money, the quantity of real capital, nor the rate of profit. Therefore, the ability of the Central Banks to influence interest rates is far less than, what the ‘lay’ public – as many economists – believe it to be.

What today’s Central Banks really control is not the rate of interest but the quantity of token money, measured not in terms of real money – gold – but in terms of dollars, pounds, euros and so on. As the bourgeois media ‘explains,’ they can create ‘any amount of money they wish’ in terms of dollars, pounds, euros and so on. But what good does that do if this money loses its purchasing power even faster than it is printed?

True, the Central Banks generally raise the interest rate during economic booms. But this is exactly the natural tendency of interest rates during economic upswings. Therefore, when they raise interest rates during a boom, they are simply following the tendency of the market, not determining it.”

So what the Prime Minister is proposing is that in the near future there would be an increase in money supply, both token money and credit money. Hence, money supply would increase and as a result, the fiscal deficit will boost up exceeding the limits of Mangala Samaraweera’s Second Budget. None of these policies will resolve the generalised economic crisis or the social, political and cultural crises associated with it. Rather the crisis would aggravate hitting the lives of the people hard, especially of the lower rung of society.

(The writer is a retired teacher of Political Economy at the University of Peradeniya.)
E-mail: sumane_l@yahoo.com)

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Commissioner General of Examinations recently announced the candidates not to sit for the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination wearing hijab due to the situation which prevailed in the country recently.

Yet, as reported, some students in several schools of the Eastern Province, have been seen wearing hijab during the examination.

Accordingly, some have complained that the rules and regulation of the examination have been violated by the above mentioned students who were wearing the hijab during the time of examination.

As reported, exam frauds have been committed by some of these students who were wearing the hijab. 

 CT Web 01:42 PM Aug 08 2019  0   

W.K. Prasad Manju Courtesy Ceylon Today

Decisive discussions between President Maithripala Sirisena and Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa to form a broad alliance, between the SLFP and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, to contest the next Presidential Poll were successfully concluded, informed sources said yesterday (06). These talks were held following stalled discussions in the recent past.

Talks had ended on a cordial note and both leaders decided to inform colleagues to continue ongoing discussions between the two Parties before forming a strong and viable political alliance to contest the upcoming Polls. Sources said they decided to instruct the Parliamentarians of both Parties on how to conduct further talks and formulate a future alliance. Discussions had taken place from 9.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. on 05 August at the former’s Malalasekera Mawatha residence.

Courtesy The Island

August 7, 2019, 9:20 pm 

Avocados are rich in antioxidants which can help prevent fine lines and wrinkles.

There are many great benefits of avocado – one is that it’s rich in good fats that moisturise your hair. It’s also well absorbed by the hair shafts and scalp.

Bananas are another natural moisturiser. The vitamin A content in bananas helps to restore lost moisture and repair damaged, dull, and dry skin.

Yes, bananas are packed with potassium – great for improving the natural elasticity of your hair and preventing breakage.

Olive oil not only acts as a hydrator but as a shield to lock in any moisture that the hair already has.

Ingredients:

* Half of an Avocado

* Half of a very ripe banana

* One tablespoon olive oil

* 2-3 drops essential oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Peel banana and avocado and place in bowl

2. Add olive oil.

3. Add essential oil (if desired).

4. Mash ingredients and mix well. You can mash with a wooden spoon, potato masher, or food processor.

Application:

1. Drape a towel over chest to absorb excess drips.

2. Rub the avocado face mask all over your face, avoiding your eyes.

3. Allow mixture to sit on your face for 10-15 minutes.

4. Pat face clean with a damp towel.

5. Follow up with your favorite moisturizer.

By A. Abdul Aziz, Press Secretary, 

 The 53^rd Jalsa Salana (Annual Convention) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the United Kingdom concluded on Sunday 04 August 2019 with faith inspiring addresses of his five speeches. by the World Head the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Fifth Khalifa (Caliph), His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. 

The Convention began on Friday with the traditional Friday Sermon and the first session started with raising of the black and white flag of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community alongside the Union Flag. On Saturday (the second day of the event), the Caliph conducted proceedings from the ladies marquee where 15,000 Muslim women witnessed.  His Holiness awarded prizes to women for academic achievements and delivered a speech highlighting the solution for peaceful married life based on the rights and empowerment Islam affords them.

More than 39,000 people from number of countries attended this three day Convention ( Jalsa Salana), which took place at Hadeeqatul Mahdi in Alton, Hampshire.

 Apart from the thousands of Ahmadi Muslims who participated, many non-Ahmadi and non-Muslim guests also attended.  The entire event was also broadcast live on MTA International and streamed online.

 One of the highlights of the three-day Convention was the pledge of allegiance, known as Bai’at that took place on Sunday afternoon, {last day of the event} where the participants pledged allegiance to Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad as the Fifth Khalifa (Caliph) of the Promised Messiah – Hazrat Mirza Ghlam Ahmad(peace be upon him).

 The participants formed a human chain leading to the Khalifa as they repeated the words of the pledge in unison.

 Prior to the ceremony, His Holiness announced that 668520 people had joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community during the past year representing 120 countries around the world. He also announced that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was now established in 213 countries. The event concluded with silent prayer led by His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිළධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය

ජනමාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි
ලේකම්,
ප‍්‍රාථමික කර්මාන්ත සහ සමාජ සවිබල ගැන්වීමේ අමාත්‍යාංශය.
සෙත්සිරිපාය,
බත්තරමුල්ල.

බඳවා ගැනීමේ පටිපටිය උල්ලංඝණය කරමින්, ජාතික සේවක සංගමයට සාමාජිකයින් බදවා දුන් සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් හට පමණක් වැඩබැලීමේ සමෘද්ධි කළමණාකරු පත්වීම ලබා දීම වහා අත්හිටවන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීම.

සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙත රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින් අනුමත කර එවන ලද සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් බඳවා ගැනීමේ හා උසස් කිරීමේ පටිපාටිය සම්බන්ව ඔබගේ විශේෂ අවධානය මෙයින් යොමු කරවමු.

02. උපාධිය සම්පුර්ණ කරන ලද සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් 146 ආසන්න පිරිසක් දිවයිනේ සෑම දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයකම සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී තනතුරෙහි දැනට සේවයේ නියුතුව ඇත.
 
03. විධිමත් උසස්වීමේ පටිපාටියක් අනුමත වී තිබියදීත් උපාධිය සම්පුර්ණ කරන ලද ඉහත සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු සියළු සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිළධාරීන් වෙත ආසන්න උසස්වීමේ අවස්ථාවක් සමෘද්ධි අධිකාරිය ස්ථාපිත කරන ලද 1995 සිට මේ වන තෙක් සිදු කර නොමැති අතර මෙයින් සියළු සමෘද්ධි සං.නිළධාරීන් දැඩි අසාධාරණයට ලක්ව ඇති බව කණාගාටුවෙන් වුවද අප මෙයින් දැනුම් දෙමු.

04. එසේ තිබියදී සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්ගේ අභිමතය පරිදි අනුමත බඳවා ගැනීමේ හා උසස් කිරීමේ පටිපාටිය මුළුමනින්ම උල්ලංඝණය කරමින් උපාධිය සම්පුර්ණ කරන ලද සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් වෙත පමණක් සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණයක් සිදු කර එයින් 45 දෙනෙකු වෙත පමණක් වැඩබලන සමෘද්ධි කළමණාකරු පත්වීම 2019.08.08 හෙට දින ලබා දීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇති බව අප වෙත තොරතුරු අනාවරණය වෙයි.

05. තවද වැඩබලන පත්වීමේ ලිපි ලබා ගැනීමට ප‍්‍රමුඛතාවය ලබා දීමට නම් ජාතික සේවක සංගමයට අනුයුක්ව සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව තුල ස්ථාපිත වෘත්තීය සමිතිය වෙත උපාධිය සමත් එක්  නිලධාරියෙකු විසින් සාමාජිකයින් 20 දෙනෙකු බඳවා ගත යතු බවට ඉලක්කයක් වාචිකව ලබා දී ඇති අතර අදාල ඉලක්ක සම්පුර්ණ කරන ලද අයට පමණක් මෙම පත්වීම ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කරන බව සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණය වෙත පෙනී සිටි අය චෝදනා කරති.

06. මේ පිළිබඳව ඔබගේ විශේෂ අවධානය යොමු කර අනුමත බඳවා ගැනීමේ හා උසස් කිරීමේ පටිපාටිය මුළුමනින්ම උල්ලංඝණය කරමින් දේශපාලන උවමනාව මත සිදු කරන මෙම පත්කිරීම වහා අවලංගු කර විධිමත් ක‍්‍රියාපටිපාටියකට අනුව සියළු සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිළධාරීන් වෙත උසස්වීමේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයක් කඩිනමින් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කර උසස්වීම ලබා දෙන ලෙසට අප සංගමය මෙයින් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
චාමර මද්දුම කළුගේ,
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්.

පිටපත – 01. සභාපති, රාජ්‍යසේවා කොමිෂන් සභාව – අ.ක.ස