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Economists in Sri Lanka: Bribed in Printed US$s

e-Con e-News 16-22 March 2025

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Minister Sirisena alleged that Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC)

had offered him money ‘sufficient for 14 generations

 to live in a first world country’

(see ee Random Notes)

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• Dear Julie: We’re sure, you consider yourself a true-red-blooded yankee – yet you act like one of them East Asian comfort women cruelly forced into servitude by the Japanese imperialists. Even as you appear a most willing source of comfort, blowing them horizontal and genuflective relief midst all their incessant warring. Last week, your latest master massacred Yemeni women & children to engorge his flaccid polls. We imagine that killing women en masse is a form of gender equality. And a turn-on too.

     All your latest leaders seem to have a yen for the East in choosing their bedrests. Some of their trophy wives are East Europeans, some are B1 visa Indians (the next wannabe Canadian PM has even gone northeast-South American to marry a blanco gusano Venezuelan). This week your Vice President suggested his migrant Indian wife was ‘cheap labor’. JD Vance claimed: ‘importing cheap labor through our immigration system, cheap labor became the drug of Western economies’ (Though no labour is ‘cheap’ – only ‘cheapened’ perhaps!).

     Really! However your leaders are still all woke, in terms of who they wake up next to. But, it’s no more woke talk – it’s all sleep talk. All that woke talk about gender & diversity has gone fast-asleep or been put to sleep – along with all that chatter about multiculturalism & POC (people-of-color). POC em!

     You’ve already been replaced and yet still keep exercising your overactive knees, north, south, east & west (well, mostly north & east). It seems your political kanganies are making you work overtime-&-a-half to keep your job – like all those other migrant wannabes have to do. Maybe you’ have’ll get immunity from karma too – but for how long we don’t know. There you were again last week recruiting students in Sri Lanka to pay exorbitant foreign student fees. For whom? Every self-styled US bounty hunter is picking up people off the streets. They used to deport so-called illegals only after they brought in California’s abundant harvests, so that your industrial bosses wouldn’t have to pay their coolie wages. But now it’s a free-for-all!

     Maybe that’s why after you are replaced here (by another skirt!), they may hold on to you tighter. Sic em, girl, sic em! Yet you have so far failed to kill our last President and his family. Is that why you got your BBC Qatari camel caravan to go after Ranil, who supposedly protected them? Anyway, it’s not about the Rajapakses per se but about teaching any national leader a lesson! You were seen as something of an expert sicario, sent here so far from that Caribbean crime scene where you helped arrange the eviction and assassination of yet another Haitian leader. After pushing (the once ‘fabulous’ sugar plantation) Haiti into greater turmoil, your current leader now accuses Haitians emigres of eating Minnesotan pets! But surely that diet is better than that of the cannibalistic colonial Europeans who’ve eaten Haitians for 200 years and more! Perhaps you’ll be kicked upstairs just as you were kicked up here or down here or sideways, to retire our last leader, whose pension and security you also wish to downgrade. Anyway, just thinking of your knees has sent us far off topic. So sayonara (or, ‘Anneyong‘ in Korean, but you southerners are still ruled by those Japanese who colonized you, who themselves are also colonized). So, until we meet again, perhaps in some comfortable chamber of commerce… Dear, dear Julie, we’re yours, truly, truly….’

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This ee recalls the now-erased controversies around Ceylon Tobacco’s (CTC)’s bribing of politicians, apparently over labeling. Maithripala Sirisena as Health Minister also highlighted that over 20,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka by cigarette smoking every year (see ee Random Notes), with many more diseased. ee therefore continues snippeting from Maurice Corina’s Trust in Tobacco: the Anglo-American Struggle for Power, about the formation of CTC’s parent the British American Tobacco (BAT) monopoly. This week’s adaptation recalls how the BAT diverted the media, and England & the US’ politicians into label-composing: about how smoking ‘may’ damage your health. The tobacco monopoly pours millions into promotions of the ‘independent’ brands, bankrolling the advertising industry (with lesser but substantial funding of ‘Medical Research’). BAT sought to befog the link between cigarette smoking & ‘cancers of the throat, mouth & respiratory tract’. Their PR firms promoted campaigns to claim that woman could become thin by smoking, thereby promoting anorexic culture, as well as promising boys they would be more manly if they smoked. Corina looks at the power of the tobacco lobby, since tobacco was the top non-food cash crop for farmers. Interestingly, for students of ethereal philosophy, BAT was also one of the funders of the philosophy of ‘libertarianism’, which claimed that government has no right to tell people what they did with their bodies, which would include dangerous drugs & chemicals, and suicide. The US government now is being fronted by such ‘tech bros’ as Paypal’s Peter Thiel & Twitter‘s Elon Musk, who were themselves birthed by the white supremacist settler colonies in Southern Africa. Libertarianism & liberalism we may recall have their origins in justifying the right to own property, including slaves…

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‘We invited the then-chief of US Indo Pacific Command Admiral

[Japanese-American Harry B] Harris as chief guest to Galle Dialogue.

In his speech he pointed out 3 reasons why Sri Lanka is important to the USA.

They are Location, location, location. The place where Sri Lanka is situated

is most important for them. Even India’s one-time National Security advisor

Shiv Shankar Menon’s book noted that Sri Lanka is a permanent aircraft carrier

in the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean can be easily controlled from Sri Lanka.’

– Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne (2019)

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With the USA and their English & European killer poodles playing ‘good cop / bad cop’ attempting a quieting on Russia’s Wesrtern Front while opening a more bellicose Eastern front against China, US envoy Chung welcomed this week Indo-Pacific Commander Samuel Paparo & his band to ‘Reaffirm our bilateral defense partnership with Sri Lanka’. Does Sri Lanka have a bilateral defense partnership with the US? As far as we know, President Gotabhaya Rajapakse signed the Acquisition & Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA), with the US, at the height of the LTTE war against the government of Sri Lanka, in 2007. It was ‘only 8 pages including the cover’. In 2017 the Sirisena government renewed ACSA, with ‘voluminous annexes giving the names & addresses of almost all US military establishments that could have a footprint or boots on the ground in Sri Lanka’. With such a crime committed, the next step was to ensure that the economy was to be crippled to prevent any nationalist government from abrogating the ACSA agreement. Sirisena refused to sign the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which directly led to the so-called sacking of Ranil Wickremasinghe and what the poodle-media called a ’Constitutional Coup’ in October 2018.

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• Economists are against money printing. At least those published in the ‘soapy’ media sponsored by Unilever et al. These economists are not against selling themselves to the dollars printed by the US Federal Reserve. A ‘meme’ doing the rounds this week named those economists we hear from every day in the media. Well paid in those green dollars, in particular by USAID, we are sure, it is not just them (see ee Who’s Who). Those Sanderatnes & Abeyratnes & de Mels & Coomarawamys etc. They who sing the praises of the US-controlled IMF & World Bank and incessantly repeat their talking points (see ee Random Notes for another house-economist WA Wijewardena’s listing of the ‘talking points’ of the Washington Consensus that he claims has now been thrown overboard, but are still parroted by the IMF lip services. And as for corruption, the Trump administration just legalized bribery of foreign leaders! See ee Quotes).

     Oh yes, Indrajith Coomaraswamy, who is constantly mumbling how post-Independence (now there’s an interesting coinage) leaders have promoted ‘populism’ & ‘protectionism’ etc. As SBD always asked: Was it ‘populism’ to maintain the colonial import-export plantation fraud after 1948?

     Indeed, a long line of Coomaraswamys have laid down, horizontal and genuflective, prostrate and prone, before their colonial masters – as interpreters, mudaliyars, knights, unofficial ‘native’ members of non-representative white legislative councils, and in these times, as unelected but chosen UN rapporteurs and economists.

     The economist Coomaraswamy (who appears to be increasingly eclipsing the shining star of present CBSL governor G Weerasinghe) confessed this week that putting the country in thrall by buying Wall Street’s ‘international’ sovereign bonds (ISBs, while blaming China for throwing the country into debt) was as inevitable as going to the IMF.

Pushing back against claims that large-scale bond issuances

were primarily responsible for Sri Lanka’s 2022 debt default,

Dr Coomaraswamy argued that these borrowings actually helped

delay an otherwise inevitable default. ‘If we hadn’t continued

to borrow or issue ISBs, we would have defaulted much earlier

because we were literally borrowing to repay the debt,’ he stressed.

(see ee Economists, SL must return to int’l capital markets)

Former Central Bank (CBSL) Governor Coomaraswamy is on the Board of Directors of Tokyo Cement, along with the Gnanam oligarchy. A possible Japan Cement front is ‘Siam City Cement’ which grabbed land and mineral rights for 50 years from the crippled Sri Lanka Cement Corporation (SLCC)’s land to extract mineral sands in the infamous Aruwakkalu area in Puttalam (where the April 2019 terrorists conducted training).

     Coomaraswamy is also a Principal Research Fellow & Director of England’s Overseas Development Institute’s International Economic Development Group, ODI Global. One Coomaraswamy ancestor was an interpreter for the English who betrayed the ‘doomed’ King Sri Vickrama Rajasinghe of Sinhale. No wonder he yearns for his ancestor’s earnest patrimony…

     As has long been noted of Coomaraswamy:

‘If China followed Coomaraswamy’s advice they’d be still exporting rice, no? Anyway,

I don’t think Indrajith Coomaraswamy, the honourable & well educated gentleman

that he is, can help the NPP government or Sri Lanka; he could be an excellent rugby

coach for SL but has been useless as an economist to find a way out of our debt crisis,

which has been in the making for a long time, from the English colonial conversion

of the country into a plantation and the subsequent failure to industrialise in

post-colonial times, especially in the post-1977 era of neoliberalism – which was all

about banking on the so-called open economy to bring back the old colonial masters

in the guise of investor-saviours to somehow help us produce profitable things for export,

as if these capitalists would have any interest in helping a small economy like SL

to industrialise and compete with them in the world market.

The prevention of industrialisation & economic autonomy for countries such as SL

has been the prime objective of the IMF, which is ultimately and immediately ruled

by the creditors hell bent on sucking everything they can out of our indebted people.

It is a pity that textbook neoliberals like IC – who are more IMF than the IMF and

must bear the responsibility for ruining our economy by peddling the perennial problem

as the solution – are still seen as good for the country. If the NPP is so naive as to think

so too, then not much is to be expected of them either. When people speak of

the IMF ‘bailout’, they should be required to ask: who is bailing out whom?

It is certainly not the people of SL – who voted for AKD because they just

cannot bear the consequences of the IMF/IC ‘bailout’. The real question is:

who can bail us out of one damn ‘bailout’ after another?’

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Meanwhile, economists in the drag of ‘House Marxists’ exported to Sri Lanka, who wax in such colonial lipservices as the Commonwealth Journal for International Affairs – that kneegrow division of England’s Chatham House – are calling for ‘a new alliance of liberal democratic regimes that can confront US, Russian & Chinese authoritarianism.’ We wonder who these ‘liberal democratic regimes’ would be? The US colonies of England, Germany, France, Japan? England imposed plantations on much of the incessantly developing but always ‘undeveloped’ world.

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The plantations had an inherent technological backwardness

which went hand in hand with a low wage structure.

–SBD de Silva

SBD de Silva was no House-Marxist, and no colonial lapdog. This ee reproduces a valuable find, since SBD published so rarely beyond his classic The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. In one of the his last published dissertations, in the volume Capital & Peasant Production: Studies in the Continuity & Discontinuity of Agrarian Structures in Sri Lanka (1985), SB explains clearly, in ‘Plantations & Underdevelopment’, how the plantation system has come to impose a low-waged low-tech economy on Sri Lanka. SB (to whom ee is dedicated, though often reminded how far we have strayed from his sharp analyses of the roots of our discontent) examines this non-settler colonial economy’s gestation in the white settler colonies of the Americas.

    In this ee Focus, SBD’s ‘Plantations & Underdevelopment’ recalls how white servants were first ‘indentured’ but then were able to buy their freedom and escape into cultivating their own ‘god’s little acres’ of stolen land. The only way a large ‘labour force’ could be created on land stolen in all its abundance was by state-sponsored slavery – at first the original ‘native’ Americans, who knew the terrain and resisted the swindles of the plantation economy like the Sinhala, and then the Africans. Chattel slavery stagnated the use of technology and promoted backward relations of labour. In fact, SB argues, ‘plantation crops could have been grown on smallholdings as cheaply and effectively as on the plantations’. He also shows how a hierarchy of commissions (ah! the high commissioner!) came to dominate the search for profits rather than investment in modern productivity. How’s that, for the original authoritarian & despotic occidental arts?

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Contents:

Economists in Sri Lanka: Bribed in Printed US$s

Dilrook Kannangara

The world is heading into WW3. It is a matter of when. The only way it can be avoided is if the debt trap trounces them first. It is not the fault of an individual, a nation or a few of them. It is a clash of competing priorities, access to scarce resources, changing world order and resistance to change and the continuation of same old European colonialism. And it did not happen suddenly. It gradually grew into this situation.

Despite the end of the Cold War, the world was not peaceful. In fact, the world was far more violent after the Cold War. Instead of the Soviet Union, the West found new enemies in China, Muslim majority nations/territories and in each other. Despite USA promising not an inch forward” referring to the threat of NATO expansion where this promise was given to the Soviet Union during discussions to unify Germany, this promise was never kept. Nuclear armed NATO has crept to the doorstep of Russia and looks to expand even further. US military bases have encircled China. Russia has also indulged in territorial ambitions in Georgia and Ukraine and did not keep its promise to respect their sovereignty. Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Georgia gave up their nuclear weapons in exchange of a guarantee from Russia and others to respect their borders but the promise fell apart. South Africa also gave up their nuclear weapons as a mark of peace and symbolizing the fall of Apartheid but western meddling in South Africa only grew worse following the giving up of nuclear weapons. All these countries that gave up nuclear weapons now regret the decision.

Meanwhile France and the UK are rapidly expanding their nuclear weapons targeting Russia. USA, Israel, Australia, Poland, Turkey are either expanding their own or proliferating US nuclear weapons beyond what was deployed a few years ago. In response China is rapidly adding new nuclear warheads to its arsenal which stood at just less than 300 five years ago and is now racing to match USA in active nuclear warheads of 1,500 by 2035. North Korea and Iran are also pursuing nuclear weapons. If the trend continues both will have deployed nuclear weapons within the next 5 years capable of causing destruction in pro-US countries in their vicinity. India and Pakistan despite being 30 of the world’s poorest countries by per capita income spend enormous amounts of money in weapons and they too expand their nuclear weapons. India has become the world’s largest weapons importer of all time.

At the same time previous weapons reduction treaties are collapsing. USA and Europe have gone back on conventions that banned cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines. Other weapons conventions are also almost in tatters including the convention against biological weapons, intermediate range nuclear missiles, laws governing nuclear power plants, reciprocal weapons inspection and a few more. Biological weapons capable laboratories have grown by 7 times since the turn of the century as biological weapons are now very attractive after COVID-19 and is now seen as poor man’s nuclear weapons. Its other attraction is it causes no environmental destruction compared to nuclear and conventional weapons. In fact, biological weapons usage can save the environment from its biggest polluters. It’s a matter of time since aggrieved people in the middle east and their sympathizers elsewhere laid their hands on biological weapons and the consequences will be catastrophic.

Proliferation of drones is another major security threat to all nations. They are individual weapons capable of causing national level tragedies.

All pro-US military allies are trying to increase their defense spending by up to 5% of the GDP. This is more than double their current average of 2%. Almost all pro-US military allies are in debt traps. Their debt is more than 100% of their economy. Debt interest payments are either their largest government expenditure or will soon be the largest. Debt is another indicator of excessive greed where nations consume far more they can afford. They all have a fast-ageing population and have cut down their welfare schemes under austerity measures. This massive expansion of military spend is unsustainable for their debt-ridden economies. Their relative spend on education and healthcare systems is crashing. For the first time in history infant mortality of USA, UK and France rose a couple of years ago indicating the deterioration of their healthcare systems.

Climate change is another casualty of this weapons craze. Out of 194 countries that agreed to the Paris Convention on climate change only 15 countries (mostly very small countries) have submitted concrete plans to reduce emissions from their 2005 levels. As military expenditure increases, there is no way a country can meet climate change demands.

Blaming one another is not going to fix any problem. It is part of the problem. Instead, every nation should recognize the right of others to develop peacefully and respect existing borders whether they are acceptable or not. However, war is a better approach for superpowers as they are confident of prevailing over others in a major war. After such a war they will divide the rest of the world between them and enjoy their resources and slave labor at will. As the universal law goes, the fittest survives better and at the expense of weaker ones. Effects of ageing population, climate change, hunger, poverty and mental health of the population will further worsen if actual war occurs. Every country should have a plan to survive WW3 as much as they can. Superpower clashes will lead to clashes everywhere as regional powers will do the same to their weaker neighbors.

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන. දුරකථන 0712063394

1971 ඉපදුනු තෙන්නකෝන් පොලිස්පතිට, රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කිරීමෙන් පසු පොලිස්පති වීමට ඉඩ තිබේද යන්න කාලය විසින් විසඳිය යුතු ප්‍රශ්නයකි…!

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ජනරජයක් වුණේ 1972 මැයි 22 දිනය. ඒ 1970 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයෙන් බලයට පැමිණි සමඟි පෙරමුණු ආණ්ඩුවේ ගරු සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණියගේ නායකත්වයෙන්‍ රාජකීය විදුහලේ නවරඟහලේදී කෙටුම්පත් කළ 1වන ජනරජ ව්‍යවස්ථාව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් සම්මත කරමින් එතෙක් ඩොමීනියන් නිදහසක්ව තිබූ 1947 සෝල්බරී ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව අහෝසි කරවීමෙනි. එවැනි සේවයක් කළ  ගරු සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණියගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය අහෝසි කරවූ අතර පසුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නැවත එකී ප්‍රජාඅයිතිය අහෝසි කරවීම වැරදි බවට යෝජනා සම්මත කරවූයේ කාලයේ ඇවෑමෙන් ය. එයට මුල් වූයේ නීති මහාචාර්ය ජී. ඇල්. පීරිස් ය.

වසර 26ක් පැවති ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනරජය සහ කොටි සංවිධානය අතර උතුරු නැගෙනහිර සන්නද්ධ ගැටුම 2009 මැයි 18 දින අවසන් කෙරුණේ බෙදුම්වාදයද අවසන් කරමින් ය.

1971 ඉපදුනු තෙන්නකෝන් පොලිස් නිලධාරියා එකී සන්නද්ධ ගැටුමේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනරජය වෙනුවෙන් විසල් රාජකාරියක් කළ බවට සැකයක් තිබිය නොහැකිය.

උතුරු නැගෙනහිර සන්නද්ධ ගැටුම 2009 මැයි 18 දින අවසන් කෙරුණද යුද්ධයට නායකත්වය දුන්නෝ යුධ අපරාධ චෝදනාවලට හසු කරවීමේ දේශීය සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර න්‍යාය පත්‍රයෝ විගසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ අතර, ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් යාන්ත්‍රණය මුල් කරගනිමින් ඒවා ක්‍රියාත්මක විය.

උතුරු නැගෙනහිර සන්නද්ධ ගැටුම 2009 මැයි 18 දින අවසන් කෙරුණද එයට නායකත්වය දුන් එවකට ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්ව සිටි ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත්වුවද ජනඅරගලයක් මගින් රට හැරදා යාමට සළස්වා ජනාධිපති ධූරයද අහිමි කරවනු ලැබීය.

කිහිප දෙනෙකු ඇති කරන තත්ත්වයන්
කාලය විසින් විසඳීම ස්වභාවයකි.

1965ට පෙර ඉපදී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය කිරීටය යටතේ චින්තනය නිර්මාණය කරගත් අය වෙනුවට,1965න් පසු ඉපදී
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනරජය යටතේ චින්තනය නිර්මාණය කරගත් අය විධායක, ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සහ අධිකරණ පුටුවලට පැමිණීම මේ වන විට ආරම්භ වී ඇත. 1965 ට පෙර ඉපදී ඇති අයගේ චින්තනය නිර්මාණය වී ඇත්තේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය කිරීටයේ අවශ්‍යතා සහ පාලනය අනුව සෝල්බරි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුවය. 1965 ට පසු ඉපදී ඇති අයගේ චින්තනය නිර්මාණය වී ඇත්තේ 1972 සහ 1978 ජනරජ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා අනුවය.

තෙන්නකෝන් පොලිස්පතිවරයා 1971 ඉපදී ඇති අතර ඔහුගේ චින්තනය නිර්මාණය වී ඇත්තේ 1972 සහ 1978 ජනරජ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා අනුව මිස 1947 සෝල්බරි ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව නොවේ.


තෙන්නකෝන් පොලිස්පතිවරයා විශ්‍රාම යා යුත්තේ 2032 දීය. මේ 2025 වර්ෂයයි.
ඔහුට විශ්‍රාම යාමට තවත් වසර 8 ක් ඇත. මේ වන විට රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කර සිටින ඔහුට එරෙහිව පවතින නීති කෘත්‍යයන් ඊළග ජනාධිපතිවරණය හෝ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයට පෙර අවසන් කර ගත හැකිද යන්නත් කාලය විසින්ම විසඳිය යුතු තත්ත්වයකි. එසේ අවසන් කළද එවැනි මැතිවරණයකින් පසු තත්ත්වය කෙසේ විය හැකිද යන්න අද තීරණය කළ හැකි තත්ත්වයක් නොවේ. එයද කාලය විසින් මිස නීතිය විසින් විසඳිය හැකි තත්ත්වයක් නොවේ.

එසේ හෙයින් 1971 ඉපදුනු තෙන්නකෝන් පොලිස්පතිට, රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කිරීමෙන් පසු පොලිස්පති වීමට ඉඩ තිබේද යන්න කාලය විසින් විසඳිය යුතු ප්‍රශ්නයකි…!

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2025/03/1971.html?m=1

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන. දුරකථන 0712063394 (2025.03.20)

By Afridi Ahmed Courtesy Modern Diplomacy.

Tata Motors, India’s leading automobile family, along with DIMO, launched a new range of passenger vehicles (Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles and Electric Vehicles in the country.

On 12 March 2025, Tata Motors, India’s leading automobile family, along with DIMO, a Sri Lankan conglomerate and the only authorised distributor of Tata Motors in Sri Lanka, launched a new range of passenger vehicles (Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles and Electric Vehicles (EV)) in the country. In the launch event, Tata Motors successfully introduced a range of SUVs – the Tata Punch, Tata Nexon, and Tata Curvv. The highlight of the launch event was Tiago.ev, an electric hatchback, already available in the markets of India, Nepal and Bhutan, with various variants and plans to expand in other countries.

This strategic move aligns with Tata Motors’ commitment to sustainable electric mobility accessible to Sri Lankan customers, revolutionising EV vehicles in the island nation. After the economic crisis the re-entry of Tata Motors, provides Sri Lanka with a fresh inflow of trade and investment, supporting its auto sector.

Historically, before Tata Motors’ investment in 2025, providing reliable transportation in Sri Lankan markets. India and Sri Lanka have already engaged in various partnerships or collaborations within the automobile sector, especially through Ashok Leyland and CEAT Kelani Holdings, a joint venture between India’s CEAT and Sri Lanka’s Kelani Tyres, formed CEAT Kelani Holdings.

Ashoka Leyland, through its subsidiary Lanka Ashok Leyland (LAL) 1983, a joint venture between Ashok Leyland of India and the Lankan public sector company, Lanka Leyland Ltd. The company assembles and distributes commercial vehicles including trucks and buses strengthening public transport infrastructure in the country. In 2023, Ashok Leyland signed a pact with the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB), a state-owned single-largest bus transport provider to deliver 500 buses. 

Tata Motor’s EV launch in Sri Lanka in partnership with DIMO is more than a business decision—a strategic step to strengthen India’s Economic Diplomacy. This expansion strengthens India-Sri Lanka trade ties, counters China’s growing influence in the region and positions India as a key player in EV markets in South Asia.

India-Sri Lanka Economic Ties: A Strategic Reset?

After the economic crisis, this partnership Tata Motors and DIMO, appears to match India’s broader strategic goals in South Asia, especially in Sri Lanka. In the recovery efforts, India was among the major creditors, stabilising the economy through financial aid, reflecting the change in regional dynamics. India played a constructive role and extended humanitarian support worth USD 4 billion to Sri Lanka in line with its ‘India’s Neighbourhood First’ policy. 

New Delhi focused more on strengthening economic ties with Sri Lanka after the presidential election in the country under the Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) leadership to deepen its influence and reduce dependency on China. PM Modi held bilateral talks with President Dissanayake on December 16, where the two leaders discussed diverse issues. The joint statement released indicated a comprehensive discussion strengthening the bilateral relationship between India and Sri Lanka, and it highlighted the commitment to work in a direction to renew bilateral cooperation across multiple sectors including energy, capacity building, connectivity and defence.

Similarly, PM Modi announced that both nations would conclude a defence cooperation agreement on hydrography, giving relevance to the role of the Colombo Security Conclave, a major platform for regional peace, security and development. This cooperation will enhance maritime security, counter-terrorism, cyber security, fight against smuggling and organised crime, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The number of agreements signed between New Delhi and Colombo was limited Yet, significant progress was made to work on connecting the power grids between both, India and Sri Lanka and supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to Sri Lanka’s power plants.

The recent, Tata Motors re-entry reflects positive moods in the economic strategy of the newly formed Sri Lankan AKD-led government after the 2024 presidential elections, further intensifying India’s economic re-engagement, following investments in major sectors, including energy, ports and infrastructure.

The China Question: Economic Competition and Strategic Balancing

Sri Lanka appears strategically important to China for trade and infrastructure connectivity in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) under China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) after India refused to endorse the BRI considering territorial integrity.

China’s involvement in Sri Lanka has drastically grown after the Hambantota Port incident in 2017, when a Chinese company acquired the port on a 99-year lease for USD 1.12 billion, providing access to the Indian Ocean. Although the same year, clashes broke out in southern Sri Lanka between protestors and government supporters, rallying against the port deal with a Chinese company. Local leaders and Buddhist clergy also voiced against the deal, urging the government to stop leasing the port. However, then-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe defended the port deal citing debt burden and blaming the previous administration. From then, Chinese companies heavily entered and invested in the Sri Lankan Markets particularly in the electric vehicle sector.

In 2017, Sri Lanka’s Micro Cars signed a joint venture with China’s Beijing Automobile International Corporation (BAIC) to assemble electric vehicles in the country, marking the beginning of a Chinese EV expansion in Sri Lanka.

In 2023, John Keells Holdings (JKH), a Sri Lankan conglomerate, partnered with BYD, a Chinese leading manufacturer of new energy vehicles having a presence in over 70 countries, for the New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in the Sri Lankan markets. These strategic collaborations and Chinese EV companies setting a foothold in advancing sustainable mobility and transportation in Sri Lanka. The reason behind the market reach expansion of BYD in the Lankan Markets is that it offers a range of EVs tailored to consumer needs, from a budget-friendly to a luxurious lineup, taking special steps on advanced safety features including proprietary blade battery techniques vehicle safety and efficiency–offering a competitive edge in battery performance.

Tata Motors’, in its recent launch, introduced EV models like the Tata Punch, the Tata Nexon, and the Tata Curvv, focusing on sustainable electric mobility and accessibility to Sri Lankan customers. As an established brand in South Asian markets, Tata Motors benefits from its reliable services and existing customer base in the Lankan markets. While Chinese EV companies like BYD stand strong and tall in Sri Lankan EV markets, catering to the diverse market customers, a luxury sedan to the BYD Ais TTO 3, a versatile and family-friendly SUV. Where Tata Motors entered the EV market with more limited models targeting mid-range consumers.

The market strategy of Tata Motors primarily appears less local while BYD enjoys a partnership with JKH, provides robust local market access and infrastructure support. Although Tata Motors’ entry can be seen as a part of broader Indian corporate push to Chinese market dominance.

Why do Sri Lankan markets matter?

The recent State visit of Sri Lankan President AKD shows an inclination towards Chinese companies and deepens the friendship between the two nations, and the highlight of the meeting was a discussion with BYD representatives signifying inclination towards Chinese EV companies for sustainable mobility and transportation. Lankan President in a dialogue discussed lifting import restrictions, BYD will export NEVs to Sri Lanka, providing them with net zero-emissions technologies and strengthening their commitment to sustainable economic recovery for all Sri Lankans in post-restriction.

The island nation, Sri Lanka, sits in the Indian Ocean making it an important player in regional power dynamics, especially for India. In the Indian Ocean, China remains contentious over issues like ports, infrastructure, and trade, having economic and political influence in the country, further intensifying the India-China rivalry mainly due to Sri Lanka’s balancing act between the two, taking opportunities of financial aid and trade benefits.

The Colombo Security Conclave (CSC) – a much needed security group in the region, already reflected India’s strategic push in the Indian Ocean. As China’s aggressive actions are growing, as seen against the Philippines, clearly state its coercive intentions to seek control in the Indo-Pacific. By expanding Indian businesses like Tata Motors, New Delhi strengthens economic ties with Sri Lanka.

The diversified geopolitical strategy, under the leadership of AKD, shows a policy balancing act that clearly wants Indian economic investments for recovery but cannot afford to corner a major creditor and investor, China.

In a strategic way, by boosting Indian business presence in Lankan markets, india aims to reduce dependency on Chinese investments and engagement in the region. Hence, the auto industry, particularly EV vehicles, the emerging EV trends in the global markets, can open a new front in India-China Economic competition like telecom and electronics.

India’s Soft Power Vs. China’s Debt-Driven Model

China’s influence in Sri Lankan markets often reflects its unsustainable loans for infrastructural projects, gaining strategic and military influence, while India’s approach is to promote business investments, trade agreements and sustainable partnerships. India strongly opposes any coercive activity in its immediate neighbourhood and pursues soft economic power with the intention of mutual development rather than coercive financial strategies, Tata Motors’ entry is the classic example of pure economic engagement creating a sustainable transport environment in Sri Lanka.

However, there are many challenges for Tata Motors and competition from already well-established Chinese auto companies in the Lankan markets. The major challenge is Sri Lankan taxation policies and economic uncertainty, especially after the recent economic crisis. In February 2025, the AKD government proposed to withdraw the tax exemption previously granted to profits and income derived by companies from the export of services and foreign sources, subjecting them to a concessionary tax rate of 15%. Increasing tax revenue would probably be the government’s strategy to recover from the economic downturn, which may affect foreign business and the inflow of investments.

If India is successful in sustaining this competition and economic uncertainties in the EV sector, it can dominate Sri Lanka’s clean mobility market, it will gain long-term leverage in the industry. If Tata Motors is successful, will other Indian Businesses follow? Will China respond with aggressive investments in Sri Lanka?

Lastly, Tata Motors’ expansion is no longer merely a business decision but a part of India’s strategy in setting up an economic foothold in Sri Lanka, reshaping economic dynamics in South Asia and giving India leverage in regional trade. The Indo-Pacific is witnessing a transition where economic investments are as strategic as military alliances, even more than that, in this emerging sustainable energy-oriented world.

Reported by Prof Manouri Senanayake President, Servants of the Buddha

Audience at Maithriya Hall

(Based on an oration by Mr Don de Silva to the Servants of the Buddha)

The Servants of the Buddha, an organisation that discussed the Buddha’s Teachings on a weekly basis for 104 years, staged its second Annual Oration on Saturday March 15, 2025. This summary of the oration is prepared with the Orator’s approval.

The audience that filled the historic and beautiful Maitriya Hall to capacity. were glued to their seats” as the orator, Mr. Don de Silva, a former Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and of the International Institute for Environment and Development, focussed attention on Dhammic Diplomacy and applying Buddha’s Teachings for Sustainability.

Heading the assemblage were erudite Bhikkhus that included the Society’s Patron Ven. Vajiraramaye Nanasiha Thero, Co-Patron Olande Ananda Mahathero, Adviser Ven Dr. Pelenwatte Dhammarakhita Thero together with Senior Venerables Waligepola Seelawamsa Mahathero, Madihe Chandananda Mahathero, and Denmakaye Mettavihari Mahathero.

Orator Don de Silva is a keen researcher into the authentic words of the Buddha as recorded in the Tripitaka (Early Buddhist Texts); with a passionate interest in environmental issues. His latest book is on How Buddhism Empowers Personal and Social Change”. Having arrived from the UK he delivered this oration with clarity and eloquence to the rich tapestry of listeners and innovative thinkers. Aming them were Buddhist leaders and scholars; and distinguished guests from the Royal Thai Embassy, SAARC Cultural Centre, UN Agencies, state departments and academia scientists, environmentalists, historians, journalists, experts in international relations and occupational health and other invitees.

The Middle Way the Buddha expounded and its great value for conflict resolution was presented, making mention of today’s background of disruptive governance, foreign policies and debilitating tariffs. The ending of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 was cited as an awesome example that drew on the Buddha’s wisdom in recent times.

The then UN Secretary General U Thant, a practising Buddhist; averted nuclear warfare and a potential world war by finding the middle ground” after intense negotiations between two superpowers and a third country. In the time of the Buddha, when war broke out between the Sakyans and Koliyans disputing over the waters of the River Rohini, the Buddha himself negotiated with boundless compassion – yet another example of Dhammic Diplomacy. It is noteworthy that it was as far back as 2,600 years ago, that the Buddha clarified duality vs non duality in thinking. The Middle Way or Path is the recommended Buddhist practice that ensures peace and harmony; at all levels – domestic, societal and even international level.

The UNEP defined Sustainable Development as ” Development that meets the needs of the present, without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet theirs The primary goal of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs) is the welfare of people. This sentiment is echoed as Digharattam hitaya sukhaya or for the lasting welfare and happiness” by the Buddha. We are familiar with the utterance of Arahant Mahinda, who on encountering the Lankan King on a deer hunt said O King, You are not the owner of this land. You are only the custodian” – supporting conservation and sustainability by safeguarding resources for future generations; the Arahant’s first lesson on arrival in Lanka.

The orator, Don de Silva

Buddha’s seminal teaching, ‘Dependent Origination’ states that all phenomena arise due to a cause. Its cessation is when the cause ceases. Applying this to the environment we come to the Ecological Framework that all elements within an ecosystem are interconnected and influence each other. A change in one part of the environment will inevitably impact other parts, creating a web of cause and effects; as stated in Dependent Origination; and nothing exists independently. We should not forget that interconnectedness involves living beings AND the environment plus the cosmos.

Several discourses including the Adhammika (Unprincipled) Sutta illustrated how Unprincipled governance leads downwards step by step to affect the economy and human behaviour”, with arising of corruption and hardships, starvation and sickness. Hunger is the worst disease” said the Buddha who stood for zero hunger. The Buddha never praised poverty.

Constraints with time and space require brevity- but I would like to place before the reader two other modern SDGs that were stressed. Responsible Consumption, and Gender Equality. A superb example of recycling as extolled by Venerable Ananda the Buddha’ attendant bhikkhu. When asked by King Udena, a thrifty ruler, What the bhikkhus do with old robes when new ones are received” the answer as found in Cullavagga, is that Nothing was wasted”.

This is evidenced by the reply Old robes are used as coverlets, old coverlets are used as mattress covers, old mattress covers as rugs, old rugs as dusters and old and tattered dusters are torn into pieces, mixed with clay and used to repair cracks and crevices in walls and flooring”.

Buddha’s stance on reducing inequalities of caste, race and other inequalities need no new elaboration. Establishment of the Bhikkhuni Sangha was a revolutionary act toward gender equality, realised through the initiatives of determined women led by the Buddha’s own stepmother who had nurtured him from his newborn period. It was a historic moment for women’s spiritual empowerment and the Status of Woman. An event unparalleled in World History. Bhikkhunis excelled in the Dhamma.

In Saranadassa sutta the Buddha’s comments on His strong stance against trafficking of women is crystal clear. The Speaker stated that at least twelve suttas are present on trafficking of women; and expressed his surprise that these suttas receive scant publicity. To political leaders of the Vajji Confederation, the Buddha said As long as the Vajjis’ do not forcibly abduct women or girls they can expect growth, not decline” .

On the arrival of Sangamitta Therani, this young bhikkhuni was admired in no uncertain terms as a stateswoman of steely determination, selflessness and spiritual focus. Her arrival in Sri Lanka in 245 BCE was a result of Dhammic diplomacy at its best; between the rulers of India and Lanka. The role of female Dhamma leaders was further prized and revered when mentioning the first Lankan lady to be ordained, Princess Anula of the royal household. She ordained as the first Buddhist nun outside of Jambhudvipa (India). The Dipavamsa states the great work and contributions to the Sasana by the 16 bhikkhunis who accompanied Sangamitta Therani. Their arrival saw the Bhikkhuni Sasana thrive in Lanka.

In 429 CE a Lankan bhikkhuni by the name of Devasara Therani travelled to China to help establish a proper Bhikkhuni lineage because the Buddhist nuns in China were not considered fully ordained according to the Vinaya rules. Due to needing a greater number of bhikkhunis, Devasara Bhikkhuni returned to Sri Lanka and made a second journey in 433 CE leading a further 11 nuns.

These details were translated from Chinese from Biographies of Buddhist Nuns, by Li Rongxi. The first full ordination of a Chinese bhikkhuni was by Devasara Bhikkhuni and Bhikkhu Sanghavarman a fully ordained Bhikkhu, from India. This was another historic collaboration between Sri Lanka, India and China and an unparalleled example of yet another Sri Lankan female Dhamma leader who had once again shattered glass ceilings”.

The oration ended reflecting on the Buddha’s Global Vision of The Welfare and Happiness of the many” – which is the basis for His dispensation.

KELUM BANDARA  Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• New government wouldn’t authorize services without right for data interception ensured
• There may be instances in which Starlink satellite communication services being used for any unlawful act by some individuals
• Discussion is still at preliminary stage
• Defence Ministry and TRCSL involved in discussions with Starlink

Colombo, March 24 (Daily Mirror) – Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband services will be on hold in Sri Lanka until it guarantees the right for the government agencies to secure data or communication details in case of issues related to national security, Daily Mirror learns.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, the telecommunications regulator. issued a licence to Elon Musk’s Starlink, the satellite unit of SpaceX, to provide the country with satellite broadband services, during the time of the last government in 2024.

Sri Lanka’s parliament also passed a new telecommunications bill at that time. It was done in the form of an amendment to the relavent law for the first time in 28 years. It paved the way for Starlink to enter the country.

Musk’s Starlink approached Sri Lanka in March, 2024 with a proposal to set up operations. Under the current government, the TRCSL also approved the tariff plans for ‘Starlink’ satellite broadband services to be implemented through ‘Starlink’ Lanka (Private) Ltd.

TRCSL has granted approval for five ‘Starlink’ packages ranging from Rs. 9,200 per month to Rs. 1.8 million per month.

Asked about the current status, Deputy Minister of Information Technology Eranga Weeraratne told Daily Mirror that the services could be operational only after Starlink assures right for legal interception of data or access to communication details in the event of a legal requirement.

“There were no provisions for this facility guaranteed when the licence was issued originally,” he said.

“There may be instances in which Starlink satellite communication services being used for any unlawful act by some individuals. Then, the Sri Lankan security apparatus should have the right to obtain data related to such communication for legal action,” he said.

He said the new government wouldn’t authorize the services without right for data interception ensured. Discussion is still at the preliminary stage. The Defence Ministry and TRCSL are involved in discussions with Starlink, according to him.

Dr Sudath Gunasekara. Ex -Secretary to Prime Miniter Sirimavo Bandaranayaka and President Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association (1991-1994)

The writer of the attached letter Mr. L.K.N. Perera, a lawyer and a retired judge by profession, is an authority on the subject of Tamil and Missionary activities in this country from 1505 onwards. I don’t see a single Sinhala politician, in this country, from the President down ward, including the so-called Parliament that is supposed to be in charge of the governance of this land of the Sinhala Nation, or at the provincial or divisional level who has the head to understand this imminent national disaster this country will have to face as a result of their unpatriotic irresponsible cand utterly treacherous political decisions they have taken on the tree issues LKN has raised in his letter.  

If the government  implement their policies, of accepting the  Indian estate Tamils as ‘Malayaham Tamils” and carry on the construction of  the estate village development  programme that is being   presently  implemented in the plantation  areas this country (both of which are utter treacherous betrayals of the land of the Sinhalese) will first get converted to a mono Indian Tamil enclave and the government of this country will  lose control over the entire hill country and its  buffer zone consisting about 1/3 the area of the country. Thereafter it will be controlled by India, as if that is a part of India. Most probably they will open up an airport in Nuwara Eliya so that India can have direct air connection with the Malayanaduwa. This will be followed by declaring the Northern and Eastern Provinces also probably   as the historical Tamil home lands This will be followed by the third step of merging the central Malayanaduwa with the NP and EP Tamil Homeland making use of the Rajiv/JR Accord.

With the completion of the formation of the Malayaha Tamil country at the center all Kanyan Sinhalese will be first marginalized and probably chased out of the traditional home land. Kandyan Sinhala people who owned this land from the inception of history up to 1815 the  will have to either mere with the Tamils or jump in to the Indian ocean thereby drawing the  curtain over th2566 year old Sinhala Buddhist civilization on this Island.

I am pausing this question to the President of this Government and all its MPP and all other political leaders of this country including Ranil, Sajith , Mahinda and Dhilip and all the rest of Sinhala politicians. Is this what you al are trying to do the Sinaha Bauddha nation 

Now that you have accepted Rohingyas also as refugees are you all trying to make this country a part of Indian Tamils and Muslims to remain in power Do you think you will have a place on earth once this vicious circle is complete?

Meanwhile I am pausing this question to the Mahaanaayaka Theras of the Three nikayas and the entire brotherhood of Sanga in this country , the Muradevathaavas of the Sinhala dhesaya, the Sihana Jaathiya and the Theravaada  Buhddha sasna, are going to keep your eyes and closed and remain deaf and blind while these politicians are all up  in arms to  ruin this country, the sinhala nationand theBudhdha sasnana,

Isn’t it tragedy that none of the present- day politicians have a wee bit concern on this very serious national issue. I don’t call any one of them Sinhalese Buddhist, the way they talk, behave and act. LKN is the author of the book EELAM Exposed 2020, a master compendium on the Tamil problem in this country. I have been trying to get this Book tabled in the House, by a MP at his request for the last one year. But sadly, I have not been able

to get anyone who has the guts to do it. One MP to whom I gave the book and made the request kept the book for two weeks with him. But he didn’t have the courage to do it. So, I presume there isn’t a single Sinhala patriotic politician among the 225 in the present parliamento take up an issue that decide the fate of the Sinhala nation on this planet. What a tragic political culture we have inherited from the colonial British. LKN also has brought to light many original aspects of the true history of this country: professional historians of universities have either failed to find or deliberately avoided to do so and they have presented a Western Church biased version, which is not the true history of this country. Apart from true historians, unfortunately this country also never had a patriotic politician who had a vision and a mission to restore the true image of the lost human rights of the 2566-year-old native Sinhalese due to western colonial  depredation from 1505 to date and Indian invasions and expansionism from 1948 to date.

The only one who had such a vision anmission in the post Intendance period, as I have come across is late R.G. Senanaayka, the son of FR the patriot, who had written a 23-page book which I consider as his Election manifesto in 1968 under the caption ඔබ සින්හලයෙක්ද”? as the leader of the Sinhala Mahajana Pakshaya; Dr Sudath Gunasekara. Ex -Secretary to Prime Miniter Sirimavo Bandaranayaka and President Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association (1991-1994) printed by a person called Jayampathi Herath of Jayantha Weerasekara Mavatha, Maradhana, Art Printers.This is a book worth Printing and distributing among all Sinhalese in the country, with copies to all schools, Pirivenas and Universities and every house hold. Fortunately for me I found a copy of that publication in my library. Havin gone through it, I find that it is the best and the most ideal election manifesto ever produced by any politician in the post Independent Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, his untimely death in 1970 made Sri Lanka the poorer and this country lost the services of the best Sinhala Political leader who could have been the best Statesman in modern times, perhaps the incarnation of the legendary Diyasena Kumaraya. When I talk about Statemen, in my view, this country had only five statesmen and one State woman in the post- Independence era who were genuinely concerned about the serious threat of the presence of the Indian labour force in the plantations, right at the center o this country. Those were the first Prime Minister DS who disenfranchised these Indian plantation labour in 1949 and Sir John Kotalawala Pm, who succeeded in enacting the Nehru/Kotelawala Agreement of 1953 and R.G. Senanayaka who formed the Sinhala Mahjana Pakshayain 1968. (The best and the ideal election manifesto, I have ever seen in contemporary politics in this country and S.W.R.D. who ushered in a socio-cultural revolution in this country in1956. Mrs Sirimavo Bandarnayaka, the only statewoman, who made a genuine attempt to solve this problem by entering in to an agreement with PM Sasthri of India which was also never implemented fully.

But sadly, none of the successive Governments has implemented theN/K Pact. Had that agreement been implemented by the governments that followed, definitely that would have been the end of the now cancerous Indian estate labour problem. Unfortunately, none of the Governments that came to power since then up to date, had taken any action to implement the Nehru//Kotalaawala Agreement although, it is still a valid document. If there is any Sinhala Buddhist politician in the Parliament by chance, I call upon him/her to move a motion to present this Agreement and to Parliament immediately, after abolishing all other subsequent agreements on this subject including the now defunct Raji/JR Accord of July1987. The one who does this will go down in history as the second DutuGamunu in the annals of history in this country, who saved Sinhale Kingdom from been treacherously betrayed and converted to be the29th State of India by all other present-day politicians, who are a disgrace and a curse to my motherland.

The much-hyped Sirima Sastri Pact of 1962 as a landmark, also had its tragic death due to political and Administrative bungling. Even the 550,000 India agreed to take back never went to India. Instead of going to India, having got the compensation from the government of this country and the railway warrants too to go to India they were made to get down from the Vavuniya railway station on their way to India and they were settled on crown land by the norther Tamil politicians in the North, while the Government in the Soth turned a blind eye on it. There by they became the most fortunate lot, to get compensation from Sri Lanka government to leave to India plus new land in the north to open up Tamil colonization there.

None of the successive governments took any action to send at least that 500,000 to India. There ended the Sirima Shastri Agreement of 1962. Isn't it a historic political tragedy, that no government took any steps to correct this treacherous tragedy? I am lost to understand as to whether there was a single Sinhala politician, descending from the great Sinhala nation of the past, in any one of the successive Parliaments. Instead of addressing this issue in a favorable manner to this country and its native Sinha people the Bhumiputhras of this land, they all have bungled and messed it up furtheras none had the brain to understand the dimension of this problem. J.R. Jayawardhana who had been in Srii Lanka politics since the State Council days who had once made a proposal in parliament to convert this Island as a part of Federal India and having come to power at his last days, at last, gave Sri Lanka citizenship to all Tamils of Indian Origin who presented a certificate signed before a JP? on a RS 1= stamp, using a method of giving citizenship to non-citizens, never found anywhere else on this earth. This included even the gypsies in the countryside who were supposed to be people of Indian origin. All this was done under the Rajiv/J. R Indo-Lanka Accord of 29th July1987, he was forced to sing under Indian pressure. Thereb he committed the greatest treacherous betrayal of the Sinhala nation in the history of this country. As for me I have not heard or read of an incident like this, of awarding en-masse citizenship to foreigners anywhere else in the world. Chandrika who followed JR and Premadasa attempted to pass even worse legislations under the famous 'Package” in 1997. But that treachery was defeated by a protest organized by me in Mahanuwara under the leadership of the two Mahanayaka Theras of Asgiriya and Malwatta (Ven Palipaana Chandananda and Ven Rambuwelle DharmarakkithaTheras).

Among the Rev Monks who participated in this historic meeting were Ven Madihe Pannassiaha, Weweldheniya Mahanayaka Thera and Maduluwawe Sobhhitha Thera.

Among the lay participants were Sup court Judge Raja Wanasundara, S.J Walpita (Chairman Sinhala Bala Mandalaya), HNS Karunatilaka Ex Governor CB, Leel Gunasekara, Prof C.Madduma Bandara and Disanaayka Secretary of the Sinhala Sinhala Bala Mandalaya. The meeting was held at the Chandanaanda Hall Asgiriya and Dane and Lunch and refreshments for all participants were provided by The Mahanayaka Thera Asgiriya. It was a full day session. The final document sent to Chandrika was edited by me. That enabled Chandrika to drop the"POTTANIYA" as it was nicknamed by JR. Since then, the only notable event of protecting the country, in recent history was the historic defeat of the LTTE in 2009 By Mahinda. That was indeed a landmark in the history of this country. But unfortunately, Mahinda messed it up after the 2010 election. (You may read my following article in Lankaweb, if you are interested to see what I had said in 2010 about his messing up in the years that followed2010 Presidential elections. Where President Mahinda Rajapaksa went wrong?

LankaWeb

https://www.lankaweb.com › news ›items › 2016/02/25

Feb 25, 201

All what happened thereafter up to date is a first-class tragedy as you all know. Just to mention few highlights, the Sirisena Ranil duo messed up the country, quarreling against each other. The CB Scam manipulated by Ranil and the unprecedented heap of foreign debt was followed by Gotabhaya getting elected with 6.5+ million votes which I stated in an email I sent to him two days before the election, where I said "Gota your victory is a forgoneconclusion. You don't have to have any doubt about it .You will definitely poll more than 6.9 m votes and you should not be surprised, even if you get 7million" Unfortunately, when the nation was looking forward to a complete resurrection of the country and the Sinhala Buddhist Nation, he too messed it up miserably, probably due to his amateurish politics and incompetent and immature advicefrom his self-centered advisers not worth of that designation. As a result, he had to run away at midnight to China to save his life, by putting mother Lanka and the Sinhala Buddhist nation in to an abysmal depth for which crime the Sinhala natin will never forgive him. His decision in nominating Ranil, a total misfit, violating the parliamentary democratic norms as the PM bypassing the Leader of the House being nominated as the Prime Minister, when Mahinda resigned, I think is the biggest blunder he made in his life. What happened thereafter and the latest miraculous victory of Anura rising from the dust with only some 2-5 % to 57%, I attribute firstly to Gota’s blundering and second infighting in the UNP where Ranil waisted 17% of UNP votes and paved the way to Sajith’s defeat. Had Ranil not contested most probably that 17% would have most probably voted Sajith. By this assertion, I don't want to suggest at all, that Sajith would have been better than Anura. Any how now that Anura haswon, let and time decides as to what is going to be next. Nevertheless, with aspersions to none, I still maintain my original conviction, I expressed in my article "රනිල්,සජිත් සහ අනුර යන තුන්නාගෙන් කිසිවෙකු මේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ රටේ ජනාධිපති වීමට කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නැත ලන්කවෙබ් 24 ජූනි 25 2024

සුදත් ගුනසේකර

That is my conviction, I am entitled to hold for the following reasons I had given in that letter. All three of them, as almost all the politicians in this country do, hold the view that this country is a multi-ethnic, multinational, multi linguistic and multi religious country. All three of them have promised to accept the estate Tamils as a nation. They also have promised to  give them the land in the hill country presently covered with Tea and provide them with houses and all other facilities without knowing that all thi land was owned by the Kandyan Sinhalese, before they were illegally plundered by the British after 1840 and it constituted the Heartland of the Sinhale Kingdom from 543 BC.

None of our politicians admit that these estate labours were only slave labour brought from South India in the latter part of the 19th century and who had no continuous permanent residence on these lands thereafter for more than 50 to 60 years. Th disfranchised lot in 1949. They were made citizens only by JR under the Raviv /JR Accord of 29th July 1987.All these politicians have publicly accepted that the name Malayaha invented by these Indian elements pretending to have prescriptive rights over these lands. Thereby these crazy politicians have erased the 2500-year-old history of this Island nation.

All this was done by the Sinhalese politicians, elected by the Sinhala voters, just to get the vote of these estate laborers. This proves beyond any reasonable doubt that none of these politicians can be called the descendants of the Great Sinhalese race. As such none of the present-day Sinhala politicians don’t know their country; they don't know their history and none of them love the motherland or the Sinhala nation or their invaluable civilization.

None of them are patriotic either. I don’t think even the hell will have any space for these treacherous betrayers. None of these politicians accept that this had been the motherland of the Sinhalese from the beginning of civilization that had been protected by our ancestors at very high cost over millennia. This is why I maintain that none of our present-day politicians are fit to rule this land of the Great Sinhalese Buddhists, sanctified by the sacred foot print and thrice blessed by the Buddha and thrice offered to him by our ancient Kings, where only a Sinhala Buddhist who dedicate himself to protect the Saasana and the noble Sacred Dalada was accepted as a person fit to rule this land. I wonder whether any one of these politicians know, what the ancient Kings had said about the king and the subjects of this country when they said that The king, people and the religion of Buddhism in this county is one” (Mahavamsa) I apologize my readers for the long and somewhat tiresome introduction. I hope they will bear with me.

Why I wrote this fairly long introduction in introducing Mr. Perera's letter, addressed to the President (The main subject of this write up) of this country and other important persons holding prestigious positions in our society is to emphasize and highlight the critical national importance of his contribution to the worthy cause of protecting our motherland, the Sinhala nations buddha sasana and that great Sinhala Buddhist civilization, once stood in par with those greatest other world civilization in the East as well as the West.

It is really disgusting that no positive action has been taken by any post independent government, firstly, to restore the free and full ownership of the motherland of the Sinhala nation, who were de facto and de jure owners of the land, free from any encumbrances as it existed prior to 1815 and secondly, to rectify the historical injustices done to the Sinhala nation by the British colonial invaders, such as flooding this country with Indian laborers and leaving the behind as a cancerous political, economic and social burden and a virtual national cancer, after political freedom was gained in1948. All post independent governments and politicians have miserably failed in these two all- important national missions.

The present-day politicians in Parliament are even worse. All the three main Presidential candidates at the last Presidential election, Ranil, Sajith and Anura, the Present President, have openly accepted all these Indians as citizens of this country and promised to give all the estate lands to these Indian laborers and also give them housing and all other infrastructure facilities, at the last Presidential and General elections, had no mandate to make such promises to hand over the lands of the native Sinhalese who are the real legal owners of these lands. Meanwhile all three candidates have ignored the fact that this land belonged to the native Kandyan Sinhalese from the inception of history up to 1840 and as such they cannot make promises to give their hereditary lands to a pack of foreign people who have been made citizens illegally under the Rajiv/JR Accord that had been totally rejected long time ago while India who had forced it on us and furthermore it has also violated the Accord unilaterally. This is why I said that none of thesethree candidates is suitable to be the President of this Sinhala Buddhist Country in my letter to the Lanka web news forum in June 2024.

                                 රනිල්,සජිත් සහ අනුර යන තුන්දෙනාගෙන් කිසිවෙකු මේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ රටේ

ජනාධිපති වීමට සුදුසු නැත”

Lanka web

June 2024.

I still maintain the same stand although Anura has become the President All these three persons with their ignorance have openly accepted the bogus and illegal claim made by these estate labour gang of having a 200-year continuous residence’ in this country, made under the much-hyped caption Nam 200 years” which is all blatant humbug. They also have accepted these Tamils being called Malayaha Tamils” (Kandyan Tamils) where as they all are only Indian Tamils for all intent and purposes, both in heart and mind.

As Mr. Perera, the writer of the following letter has clearly disproved all these blatant lies that amounts to  treason on the part of both parties, the estate Tamils as well as our own headless unpatriotic poly ticks. The author also has very clearly shown as to how these Malabar coolies brought to this country by the Dutch (after 1665) and the British (after 1840) inhabiting the North and East coastal belts and the Central hill country of this Sinhale Kingdom have been made Ceylon Tamils (N&E) by the British by conspiracy using Arunaachalam Ponnambalan their own first Registrar General in 1901. I may point out here that JR did the same treacherous crime illegally on a simple affidavit singed on a Rs1 stamp before a JP in 1987 under the, now defunct, Rajiv/JR Accord by awarding citizenship to all Tamil living all over this country including even the kallathoni and gypsies loitering in the country side. This was the second treacherous betrayal committed by JR (a descendant of a South Indian Muslim called Tambi mudiyanse) after he mad his first criminal and treacherous betrayal of destroying the foundation of the sound national agricultural and the industrial renaissance built up by D.S. and Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranayaka up to 1977, together with the Sinhala Buddhist resurgence brought about by S.W.R.D. in 1956.

This is the gist of the classic letter, given below, by Mr. Perera has addressed to the President of this country. I request all patriotic Sinhala Buddhists of not only this county but also the world over to rally round LNKs struggle to fight against all these unpatriotic Sri Lankan poly-Ticks and rally round a true Sinhala Buddhist Leadership, to once again restore and rebuilt the lost great Sinhala Buddhist Kingdom of the yore to ensure that this land of the Buddha, thrice blessed by him and made eternally sacred by His supreme Dhamma and His foot prints. Over to you my dear true Sinhala Buddhist friends at Home, and the world over, to support LNK’s struggle to save this country, the Sinhala nation and the supreme Buddha sasana from the present genre of denationalized anti -Sinha, anti-Buddhist, unpatriotic and treacherous political ticks before they fix the last nail to the coffin of the 2566 year old Sinhala Buddhist Nation on this land of the Buddha sanctified with his sacred foot print, to satisfy their temporary political greed, by handing over the Northern and Eastern provinces (1/3 of the country’s land area) together with the entire Central Province with its buffer zone comprising parts of the NWP, SAP, SP and UVAP (about another 1/3 the area of the land of the Sinhala nation) to Tamils and Ampare, Batticaloa, Panamapattu and Potuwil to Muslims. Please don’t forget that the entire Western world, (including Australia and New Zealand and surprisingly Japan too) the Catholic Church the whole Muslim world and Modi’s India, with all their so-called international organizations like the WB, IMF, ADB, UNO and all its branches such as the UNHCR have already finalized the blue print for the completion of final rituals of this betrayal. It is a well-known fact that the present government of this country is only implementing their agenda that was set by Ranil in his last days. This right Royal betrayal will complete the disappearance of the Sinhala Buddhist civilization from thesurface of this planet. This treacherous disaster could be avoided only by a united struggle by all patriotic Sinhala Buddhist all over the world, as one formidable force ofroaring lions, as it was always done in the past history by our ancestors who knew the real value of their motherland and its heritage.

Unfortunately, none of the present-day political ticks a has any idea about this country or its history or its heritage.

This is the only way open to defend and protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty, freedom and independence from the extremist separatist Tamils, and Muslims who dream an eelam and a want to make it an extremist jihadist Muslims country.

All the leaders of major and dying political parties like Ranil, Sajit and Anura have already openly promised to grant their requests at the past elections. That is why have already saidthat none of them are suitable to be the leaders of this country, as I have even said before.

Therefore, the crying need for a new political organization who can full fil the aspirations of the Sinhala Buddhist nation of this country. I am of the opinion that the content of the letter by LKN to the President will serve as the starting point of this national resurgence. Therefore, I appeal to all those who read this letter,first to demand the President to comply with the requests made by LKN to immediately initiate some action, to form such an organization ASAP. I also request you all to Demand the President to immediately comply with the following request made by LNK

1) Appeal to revoke the name change of Estate Tamils as

2) Request to treat Rohingia immigrants not as refugees but as illegal immigrants and deport the immediately without creating new problems as we already have enough problems

3) Request to adopt Boomiputra Policy to protect interests of Sinhala Nation. (Take action to pass a law to this effect in Parliament immediately without further delay.) This law should have been passed in the first Parliament after Independence

4 Also demand the President to withdraw his illegal statement of making these Indian Tamil Malayam Tamils)

5 Also demand the return of all lands where there are Tea plantation to their original owner by 1 Either transferring them to their original owners or 2 If that is not possible convert all them to State owned or privately owned (only Sinhala Companies preferably with Kandyans ownership)

6 Abolish all Ministries such as The Ministry of Hill Country Village and Infra Structure Development and institutions presently catering only to Estate Tamil labour only

7 Immediately to stop giving these lands to Estate Tamils and constructing  Housing schemes with Indian assistance as these housing schemes pause big threat to the physical stability of the Central watersheds from where all the 103 main river begins.

8 Stop all construction works on land above 3500 ft msl in the hill country immediately until a more scientific system of settlement is formulated for all those who are presently living on land above 3500 ft msl

9 To prohibit all foreigners including Diplomats (like the American Ambassador) and agents of various foreign institutions including Indian Politicians visiting these plantation areas without permission from the Government as their activities pause a big threat to the sovereignty and independence of this county as such actions invariably tantamount to foreign interference with the internal governance of an independent country, as past experience has aptly proved.

by A. Abdul Aziz

(Given below is an excerpt of the Friday Sermon delivered by Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Supreme Head of the world-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam, on 21 March, 2025, gave a discourse on ‘True Significance of the Promised Messiah Day’

After reciting first part of the sermon with first chapter of Holy Qurán (Surah al-Fatihah), His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah be his Helper) said that in two days, it will be 23 March, a date which holds special significance in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. This is because on 23 March 1889, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, peace be on him, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Promised Messiah, took the first pledge of allegiance, thus initiating the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

His Holinesssaid that the advent of the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, was in accordance with the promises of the God Almighty and the prophecies of Prophet of Islam Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. At the time of his advent, the ship of Islam was in tumultuous waters. Even today, from a religious, political and worldly sense, the Muslim world is in a pitiable state. Despite having wealth, they do not bear importance and dignity. The Promised Messiahhad great pain in his heart for the sake of Islam. There was no one at the time to defend Islam against the onslaughts, especially by the Christians. Many Muslims were abandoning their faith and leaving for Christianity. At that time, it was none other than Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian who stood like a soldier for the defense of Islam against all attacks.

Defending Islam Against the Onslaughts

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said that even before taking the pledge of allegiance from others, the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, peace be on him, penned a magnificent work titled Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya, which became quite renowned. It initially comprised four volumes in which he provided irrefutable responses to the opponents of Islam. These volumes were written in 1880, 1882 and 1884. He proved the Holy Qur’an to be the Word of God, to be unmatched, and he provided irrefutable evidence for the truthfulness of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). In fact, he gave a challenge and said that if someone could provide even a third or fourth of the arguments he presented to refute him, then he would give them 10,000 rupees as a reward – a large sum at the time. Effectively, Ahmadiyya Founder the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, proved the truthfulness of Islam.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said: at that time there were those who requested Promised Messiah that he accept their pledge of allegiance, however he replied saying that he had not been instructed by God to do so at that time. Later, when he was commanded by God, then he accepted the pledge of allegiance. Later, God also told Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad , the Promised Messiahto announce that he was the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.

His Holiness said that before accepting the pledge of allegiance, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, peace be on him, published an announcement titled Tabligh in which he said,

‘Another message that I wish to convey to the people at large, and to my Muslim brothers in particular, is that I have been commanded to receive an oath of allegiance (Bai‘at) from seekers after truth who wish to acquire true faith and purity, and yearn to find the path to Allah’s love, and want to give up their foul, slothful and false existence. Whosoever finds in himself the willingness to do this must come to me. I will be their comforter and will do my best to ease their burden. God will bless them through my prayers and my attention, provided they are ready heart and soul to abide by His conditions. This is a Divine command which I have hereby conveyed. The actual words of the revelation in Arabic are as follows:

[Translation] When thou hast determined a matter then trust in Allah and build the Ark under Our eyes and according to Our instructions. Those who enter into covenant with thee enter into a covenant with Allah. Allah’s Hand is above their hands.”’

Celestial Signs of His Truthfulness

Ahmadiyya Supreme Head said that thereafter, God manifested many worldly and heavenly signs. One of those signs was of the solar and lunar eclipse, which the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had identified as a sign for his Mahdi – the manifesting of a solar and lunar eclipse in the month of Ramadan. His Holinessnoted that during this Ramadan as well, a lunar eclipse (which has already happened) and a solar eclipse will happen on the same days. However, this cannot be regarded as having the same veracity, as the eclipses at the time of the Promised Messiah took place in both the East and the West, whereas the eclipses happening now are manifesting mostly in the West.

Announcement of the Ten Conditions of Bai’at

His Holiness continued to say that on 12 January 1889, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmadannounced the ten conditions of allegiance, which every person entering into the allegiance of the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, must fulfil and adhere to. These include avoiding associating partners with God (Shirk), abstaining from falsehood, fornication, debauchery, injustice, rebellion etc., not succumbing to one’s’ passions, giving full attention to the offering of prayers, offering pre-dawn voluntary prayers (tahajjud), seeking forgiveness, avoiding harming others, remaining loyal to God and content with His will, adhering to the commandments of the Holy Qur’an. These conditions also call for humility, generosity, meekness, and kindness while avoiding pride and haughtiness, giving precedence to faith over one’s own wealth and life and serving the faith. Furthermore, it is a pledge to honour this vow to the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, until one’s last breath and adhering to the teachings of the Promised Messiah, which are all in accordance with the Shari’ah or law of Islam as taught by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

True Love & Devotion to the Holy Prophet (PBUH)

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said that today, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community pledges allegiance to the same conditions and strives to spread the true message of Islam Ahmadiyyat to the world while establishing and maintaining true love for the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

His Holiness said that Ahmadiyya Founder, the Promised Messiah’slove for the Holy Prophet (PBUH) can be seen through the following excerpt:

‘I always wonder how high was the status of this Arabian Prophet, whose name was Muhammad, (thousands of blessings and peace be upon him). One cannot reach the limit of his high status and it is not given to man to estimate correctly his spiritual effectiveness. It is a pity that his rank has not been recognised as it should have been. He was the champion who restored to the world the Unity of God which had disappeared from the world; he loved God in the extreme and his soul melted out of sympathy for mankind. Therefore, God, Who knew the secret of his heart, exalted him above all the Prophets and all the first ones and the last ones and bestowed upon him in his lifetime all that he desired. He is the fountainhead of every grace and a person who claims any superiority without acknowledging his grace is not a man but is the spawn of Satan, because the Holy Prophet has been bestowed the key to every exaltation and he has been given the treasury of every understanding.’

His Holiness^(aba) said that in a similar manner, the Promised Messiah^(as) has expressed his love and devotion to the Holy Prophet^(sa) on numerous occasions. For example, at another instance, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^(as) said:

‘The man who in his being and his attributes and his actions and through his spiritual and holy faculties set an example of perfection, in knowledge and action and in sincerity and steadfastness, and was called the perfect man was Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allah be on him]…The man who was most perfect as man and as Prophet, and came with full blessings, and who through a spiritual revival and resurrection manifested the first Judgement in the world and revived the dead world, that blessed Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, the leader of the righteous ones, the pride of the Prophets, was Muhammad, the Chosen One [peace and blessings of Allah be on him]. Our Lord, send down on that beloved Prophet that mercy and blessing that Thou hast not sent down on anyone since the beginning of the world.’

His Holiness said that this is a glimpse into the love that Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^(as) had for the Holy Prophet^(sa), as a result of which he was commissioned by God as the Promised Messiah and Mahdi tasked with the revival of Islam in the latter days as promised by God.

A Reflection of the Companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said that the Promised Messiah^, peace be on him, said to those who pledged allegiance to him that they should bear in mind that God said those who pledge allegiance to the Promised Messiah would resemble the companions of the Holy Prophet(PBUH), and so their examples must be adopted. The Promised Messiah, peace be on him, explained:

‘Reflect over the sacrifices made by the companions of our Perfect Guide, for the sake of their God and Messenger. They were exiled, persecuted, made to bear all sorts of misfortune and gave their lives. However, they continued to advance with sincerity and devotion. So what was it that made them so truly devoted? It was the ray of the fervour of that true divine love which had penetrated their hearts. Therefore, no matter which Prophet one compares him to, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) cannot be matched, whether it be with respect of his teaching, his purification of souls, turning the hearts of his followers cold to the world, or valiantly sacrificing blood for the sake of truth. This is the rank of the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

His Holiness further quoted the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, who states:

‘God says that the people who will accompany the Promised Messiah would stand shoulder to shoulder with the companions. The companions were those who sacrificed their wealth and homeland in the way of truth. They abandoned everything………………”

Establishing the Superiority of Islam

Ahmadiyya Supreme Head said that God was to send the Promised Messiah, peace be on him, to combat the disorders of the time and establish the superiority of Islam. It was thus in the narrations of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), the coming Messiah and Mahdi was called the ‘breaker of the cross’. Christianity was at its strength at the time and Muslims were also going over to Christianity. It was to combat this that God sent the Promised Messiah.

Appeal for Prayers

His Holiness Ahmadiyya Khalifa in conclusion urged prayers for the Muslim world in general, that Allah may grant them wisdom and understanding, improve their conditions and have mercy on them.

His Holinessadded that a new wave of injustices against Palestinians has begun. May Allah the Almighty protect them against this cruelty and have mercy on them.

Source: www.alislam.org

Full text of the Sermon (English) the link of which:

https://www.alislam.org/friday-sermon/2025-03-21.html

(Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaát was established in the year 1889, March 23, in Qadian (Punjab, India) by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imaam-al-Mahdi, under Divine Command. To mark the Ahmadiyya Founder’s Day – (Promised Messiah Day), special events are held today in all Chapters of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Sri Lanka.)

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජනාධිපති අනුර දිසානායක මහතාගේ ආණ්ඩුවේ වියදමක් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහන ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ගේ ආණ්ඩු වලට වඩා කෝටි ලක්ෂයක් වියදම වැඩි බව හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී චම්පික රණවක මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

ඉදිරි පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණය වෙනුවෙන් පැවැති ජන හමුවකදී ඔහු මේ බව පැවසුවේය.

ලොකු වාහන පෙළපාලි නෑ කිව්වත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් කෑම නොගන්නා බව කිව්වද ඇතැම් දේශපාලඥයන්ගේ බොරු අල්පේච්ඡතාවය රැකීමට පෙරටත් වඩා වියදම් යන බවත් ඔහු පැවසුවේය.

මෑතකදී ජනාධිපතිවරයාත් මහනුවර දළදා මාලිගාවට ගිය අවස්ථාවේ මාධ්‍යය පෙන්වුයේ ඔහු සමග පරිවාර එක් රථයක් පමණක් යනු වුවද දස දහසකට වැඩි පොලිස් බලඇණියක් සමග පාරක්ෂක වාහන සිය ගණනක් ඔහුගේ ආරක්ෂාව වෙනුවෙන් අවට සියලු මාර්ගයන් වෙත යොදා තිබූ බවද හෙතෙම කියා සිටියේය.

Courtesy Hindustan Times

Health minister Nalinda Jayathissa said that Sri Lanka and India reached an agreement last month to establish solar power plants in the island nation. 

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced on Friday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the country on April 5.

The announcement was made during his statement in Parliament, according to the news portal Adaderana.lk.

While speaking in Parliament, President Dissanayake also said that Modi will finalise agreements made during his visit to Delhi last year. He also confirmed that the construction of the Sampur power plant in Trincomalee will begin during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit.

Health minister Nalinda Jayathissa said that Sri Lanka and India reached an agreement last month to establish solar power plants in the island nation.

Consensus has been reached between the government of Sri Lanka and the government of India to establish solar power plants capacity of 50 Megawatt (stage 1) and 70 Megawatt (stage 2) at Sampur in Trincomalee on the basis of construction, ownership, and operation by the Ceylon Electricity Board and National Thermal Power Corporation of India as a joint venture between two governments,” Jayathissa said.

Earlier, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India was set to build a coal power plant at the same location. However, the new joint venture will now convert the site into a solar power station.

After assuming office in September 2024,Dissanayake visited New Delhi in December 2024. During the visit, he was hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the two leaders discussed strengthening ties, particularly in light of growing concerns over China’s influence in the region.

Modi said that India and Sri Lanka would establish electricity grid connectivity and a multi-product petroleum pipeline to enhance investment and commercial relations.

Dissanayake also met with external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval. At a press briefing, he assured that Sri Lanka would not be used in any way that could harm India’s interests.

Courtesy The Island

Matale Dirstrict SJB MP Rohini Kumari Wijerathna yesterday tabled a list in Parliament naming 1,300 members, leaders, trade unionists, and activists of the UNP, who were allegedly assassinated by the JVP. The list was submitted during a parliamentary session as part of the government’s ongoing effort to document victims of political violence.

Along with the names of the victims, MP Wijerathna also introduced over 900 family members of the alleged victims, providing further context to the extent of the violence.

Speaking during the session, MP Wijerathna stated, Child soldiers were recruited by the JVP even before the LTTE. ‘Kantale Bonikki,’ a 13-year-old child was used to murder a 70-year-old female UNP supporter.” She accused the JVP of using children to kill numerous UNP members during the JVP’s second insurgency.

The MP said that names not included in the current list would be submitted during the upcoming Batalanda Debate” in April.

MP Wijerathna invited the public, via her Facebook page to submit further details on family members affected by political violence to ensure their inclusion in the extended record.

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උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

විවිධ ආණ්ඩු විසින් පසුගිය වසර දහයක පමණ කාලයේදී වරින් වර  පත් කෙරුණු ජනාධිපති  කොමිෂන් සභා විස්සක පමණ   වාර්තා තවමත්  ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවී  හමස් පෙට්ටියේ පවතින  බව මහාචාර්ය නීතිඥ ප්‍රතිභා මහනාම හේවා මහතා  ලංකාදීපයට පැවසීය.

උදුලාගම කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව මැක්ස්වල් පරණගම කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව,ලලිත් ඇතුලත්මුදලි ඝාතන කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව,  විජය කුමාරතුංග ඝාතන කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව, ජනරාල් ඩෙන්සිල් කොබ්බෑකඩුව ඝාතන කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව  එසේ ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවුණු වාර්තා කිහිපයක් බවද  ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

ප්‍රමාණවත් සාක්ෂි පවතී නම් මෙම  කමිටු  නිර්දේශ ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට හැකියාව ඇති බවද මහානාම හේවා මහතා පැවසීය.

මේ අතර මෙම කොමිෂන් සභාවල කටයුතු  වෙනුවෙන්  රුපියල්  කෝටි දෙසීයකට  වැඩි මුදලක්  පසුගිය කාලයේදී  වැය කර ඇති බව  ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට  ඉකුත්දා ඉදිරිපත් කෙරුණු බටලන්ද කොමිෂන්  සභා වාර්තාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් දෙදින විවාදයක් පැවැත්වීමට පාර්ලිමේන්තු කටයුතු පිළිබඳ කාරක සභාව තීරණය කර ඇත.

මේ අනුව එම වාර්තාව පිළිබඳ  පළමු විවාදය අප්‍රේල් මස  10 වැනිදා පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතය..

දෙවෙනි විවාදය ඊට පසු  මැයි මාසයේ දිනයක පැවැත්වීමට  තීරණය කර ඇත.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

පසුගියදා මාතර මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වූ පොලිස්පතිවරයා සම්බන්ධයෙන් මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා ඉදිරියේ ඔහුට ඇප ලබා දීමට විරුද්ධ වීමට කරුණු දක්වමින් අතිරේක සොලිස්ටර් ජනරාල්වරයා වෘත්තීමය නොවන ග්‍රාම්‍ය වචන භාවිත කරමින් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් සැකකරුවෙකුට හිමි අයිතීන් නොසලකා හරිමින් කටයුතු කර ඇති බව විවිධ පිරිස් විසින් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය තුළ අදහස් දක්වා තිබුණි. අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල්වරයාගේ හැසිරීම විවිධ පිරිස් හෙලා දකිමින් අප වෙතද අදහස් දැක්වූ අතර සිවිල් ක්‍රියාකාරිණියක වන ජෙහාන් හමීඩ් මහත්මිය නීතිපතිවරය වෙත සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප්‍රසාදය පළකරමින් යැවූ ලිපියක් මාධ්‍ය වෙත යොමු කර ඇත. ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් ලියා ඇති එම ලිපියෙහි සිංහල පරිවර්තනය පහතින් පළවේ.

ගරු නීතිපතිතුමා,

නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව.

ගරු නීතිපතිතුමනි,

අධිකරණ කටයුතුවලදී වැරදි හැසිරීම සහ නීතිමය වරප්‍රසාද අනිසි ලෙස භාවිතා කිරීම පිළිබඳව අප්‍රසාදය පල කිරීමයි

නීතිය ඉදිරියේ සැකකරුවකු බවට පත්වී සිටින  පොලිස්පතිවරයා සම්බන්ධ මෑත කාලීන අධිකරණ කටයුතුවලදී අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල්වරයාගේ හැසිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් මගේ බරපතල කනස්සල්ල ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම පිණිස මෙම ලිපිය ඔබ වෙත යොමු කරමි. දෝෂ සහිත වරෙන්තුවක් නිකුත් කර ඇතැයි හැඟී යාමා හේතුවෙන් පොලිස්පතිවරයා සහන ඉල්ලා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කළ නමුත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ධිකරණය මාතර මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ තීන්දුව අනුමත කිරීම හේතුවෙන්  පොලිස්පතිවරයා මාතර මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් විය. කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඉන් පසුව මාතර මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය තුළ අතිරේක සොලිස්ටර් ජනරාල්වරයා කළ ප්‍රකාශ අධිකරණය තුළ භාවිතයට නුසුදුසු වචන වලින් පිරී පැවැති වූවා මෙන්ම ශිෂ්ඨ සමාජයට  පිළිගත නොහැකි තත්වයේ විය.

අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල්වරයා ඔබේ සැකකාර පොලිස්පතිවරයා පාතාල අපරාධකරුවෙකුට වඩා වෙනස් නොවේ.” ලෙස කළ ප්‍රකාශය,වෘත්තීය මට්ටමේ නොවන එකක් පමණක් නොව, ව්‍යවස්ථාමය මූලධර්ම සහ මෑත කාලීන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීන්දු පවා සෘජුවම උල්ලංඝනය කරනු ලබන්නේය.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සැකකරුවන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් පැහැදිලිවම තහවුරු කරන අතර, සෑම පුද්ගලයෙකුටම නීතිය යටතේ සාධාරණ සැලකිලි ලැබීමට අයිතියක් ඇති බව සහතික කරයි. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 13(3) වගන්තියේ මෙසේ සඳහන් වේ.

වරදක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා ලැබ සිටින ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයෙකුට නිසි අධිකරණයක් විසින් පවත්වනු ලබන සාධාරණ නඩු විභාගයකදී, පුද්ගලිකව හෝ නීතිඥයෙකු විසින් කරුණු දැක්වීමට අයිතියක් ඇත.”

එලෙසම ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 13(5) වගන්තිය තවදුරටත් සහතික කරන්නේ,වැරදිකරු බව ඔප්පු වන තුරු සෑම පුද්ගලයෙකුම නිර්දෝෂී යැයි උපකල්පනය කළ යුතුය.” කියායි.

මීට අමතරව, මෑත කාලීන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය ලබා දුන් තීන්දුවක් මගින් සැකකරුවන්ට පවා වෙනස්කම් කිරීමකින් තොරව එකම මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් සඳහා හිමිකම් ඇති බව නැවත තහවුරු කරන ලදී. අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජෙනරාල්වරයාගේ ප්‍රකාශ මෙම නීතිමය ආරක්ෂාවන්ට සෘජුවම පටහැනි වන අතර, ව්‍යවස්ථාමය ආරක්ෂාවන් සහ අධිකරණ පූර්වාදර්ශ යන දෙකම නොසලකා හැරීමක් බව බැලූ බැල්මටම පෙනීයයි.

ඒ අනුව අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල්වරයාගේ හැසිරීමට එරෙහිව ක්ෂණික ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා ලෙස ඔබ තුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින අතර එහිදී පහත සඳහන් ප්‍රධාන කරුණු කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

1. අධිකාරිය සහ නීතිමය වරප්‍රසාද අනිසි ලෙස භාවිතා කිරීම

• නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට වඩා ඉහළින් නොසිටින අතර, එහි නියෝජිතයන් අධිකරණ කටයුතුවලදී නීතිමය සහ සදාචාරාත්මක ප්‍රමිතීන්ට අනුකූල විය යුතුය.

• අධිකරණයකදි පුද්ගලික ප්‍රහාර සහ ගිනි අවුලුවන වාචාල කතා භාවිතා කිරීම අධිකාරියේ සීමාව ඉක්මවා යන  භයානක තත්වයක් බව අවධාරණය කළ යුතුය.

2. අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය කෙරෙහි මහජන විශ්වාසය බිඳ වැටීම

• අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය අපක්ෂපාතී විය යුතුය. නීති නිලධාරීන්ට ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ව්‍යවස්ථාපිත මූලධර්ම උල්ලංඝනය කළ හැකි නම්, එය නඩු පැවරීම්වල සාධාරණත්වය සහ පද්ධතියේ අඛණ්ඩතාව පිළිබඳ බරපතල ගැටළු මතු කරයි.

• අභියෝගවලට මුහුණ දුන්නද, පොලිස් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෘත්තීයමය වශයෙන් කටයුතු කර ඇත. ඊට ව්‍යතිරේඛව, නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි නිළධාරින්ගේ උසාවිය තුළ වන වෘත්තීය නොවන හැසිරීම් ප්‍රධාන තැනක් ගැනීමට ඉඩ දී ඇත.

3. තෝරාගත් පුද්ගලයන් ඉලක්ක කිරීම සහ එමගින් සමාජයට ලබා දෙන පණිවිඩය

• නීතිය බලාත්මක කරන නිලධාරීන් පුද්ගලික ප්‍රහාරවලට ලක්වන විට, වැඩිවන අපරාධ සහ තුවක්කු ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය පාලනයකින් තොරව සිදුවන විට, මෙමගින් අපරාධකරුවන්ට යවන පණිවිඩය කුමක්ද?

• අධිකරණය තුළ නාට්‍යමය රංගනයන්හි යෙදීම නොව, නීතිය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සහ ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව සහතික කිරීම කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු කළ යුතුය.

වහාම ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනිමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය

මෙම ගැටළුව විසඳීම සඳහා පහත සඳහන්  නිවැරදි කිරීමේ පියවරයන් වහාම ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමි:

1. අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජෙනරාල්වරයාගේ හැසිරීම පිළිබඳ විධිමත් පරීක්ෂණයක් පැවැත්වීම මගින් නීති ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ නියෝජිතයින් සදාචාරාත්මක සහ වෘත්තීය ප්‍රමිතීන්ට අනුකූල විය යුතු බව සහතික කිරීම.

2. තරාතිරම නොසලකා සියලුම සැකකරුවන්ට ව්‍යවස්ථාමය ආරක්ෂාවන් සඳහා හිමිකම් ඇති බවත් නීතිමය ක්‍රියාමාර්ගවලදී ඒ අනුව සලකනු ලබන බවත් නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ නැවත තහවුරු කිරීම.

3. අධිකරණ කටයුතුවලදී නීතිමය වරප්‍රසාද තවදුරටත් අනිසි ලෙස භාවිතා කිරීම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා දැඩි නියෝග පැනවීම සහ ඉදිරිපත් කරන තර්ක නීතිමය රාමු තුළ පවතින බව සහතික කිරීම මගින් පුද්ගලික ප්‍රහාරවලට එළඹීමට වඩා නීතිමය රාමුව තුළ කටයුතු කළ යුතු බව සහතික කිරීම.

නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ කාර්යභාරය වන්නේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම නොව එය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමයි. මෙම කාරණය වහාම විසඳා නොගතහොත්, අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය කෙරෙහි මහජන විශ්වාසය තවදුරටත් ඛාදනය වන අතර, මේ රටේ නීතිමය සාධාරණත්වයේ පදනමම අවදානමට ලක් වනු ඇත.

අප විසින් පෙන්වා දෙන මෙම ගැටලුවේ බරපතලකම ඔබ තුමා හඳුනාගෙන කඩිනම්, තීරණාත්මක පියවර ගනු ඇතැයි මම විශ්වාස කරමි.

මෙයට විශ්වාසී,

ජිහාන් හමීඩ්

Courtesy Adaderana

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has officially nominated Dr. Ruvaiz Haniffa as its candidate for the position of Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). 

The party emphasized that the nomination reflects its vision for a super developed city” and aims to uplift the lives of all residents within the Colombo Municipal Council area.

In a statement, the SJB highlighted that the hope of the people in Colombo is to transform the city into a modern, thriving hub of development. Dr. Haniffa’s nomination marks the beginning of what the party described as a journey toward this vision of progress.”

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa expressed confidence in Dr. Haniffa’s capabilities, calling him a public-spirited professional” with the necessary qualities to drive the city’s growth. He described Dr. Hanifa as possessing the right mix of talent, skill, ability, courage, and determination” to lead the CMC and fulfill the aspirations of its citizens.

Courtesy Adaderana

Hassan Alaldeen has been officially nominated as the mayoral candidate for the Colombo Municipal Council by the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance. 

This announcement was made following an Iftar ceremony for Muslim devotees held in Dehiwala yesterday afternoon (March 21).

Alaldeen, has previously served as a member of the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance’s Executive Council, as well as the party’s Media Secretary.

The announcement was made by the leader of the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance, MP Dilith Jayaweera, who was accompanied by several party members and supporters at the event.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has welcomed the 2025 Budget, stating that it offers a favorable resolution to concerns over payments for doctors’ additional duties.  

Addressing a press conference today (March 22), GMOA Media Spokesperson Dr. Chamil Wijesinghe said the budgetary provisions have addressed a key issue that had sparked widespread concern within the health sector in recent weeks.  

There had been speculation that allowances for health professionals would be slashed under the new budget proposals, leading to unrest within the sector. 

Several health trade unions had even resorted to strike action, demanding clarity and favorable adjustments.  

Following discussions with authorities, the GMOA now expresses optimism that the measures introduced in the budget will ensure fair compensation for medical professionals undertaking additional duties.

By an Anonymous Contributor

For decades, Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector has teetered on the edge of uncertainty, shackled by inconsistent policies and a lack of decisive action. Recognizing the urgent need for reform, agriculture professionals and university academics, with significant financial support from international contributors, undertook the monumental task of drafting two transformative documents: the Overarching Agriculture Policy and the National Agriculture Policy. These blueprints were meticulously designed to tackle critical issues such as food security, climate resilience, sustainability, and farmer welfare.

Yet, despite the monumental effort and expertise poured into this initiative, successive governments have failed to fulfil their national duty. The final step—securing Cabinet approval—remains inexplicably stalled. This inaction has plunged Sri Lanka’s agriculture sector into a state of policy paralysis, squandering not only the hard work of experts but also vast amounts of international funding, which represents the hard-earned money of foreign taxpayers entrusted to support Sri Lanka’s agricultural future.

The Ethical Responsibility of Policy Contributors

This glaring failure raises a pressing question: What is the ethical obligation of those who contributed to these policies? Agriculture experts, academics, and policymakers who dedicated their time and knowledge cannot afford to remain passive observers as their work gathers dust.

These stakeholders must now demand accountability from the newly elected government. Their insights were sought, their expertise was utilized, and their recommendations were compiled—yet the policies they shaped remain in limbo. Is it not their moral duty to ensure that their efforts bear fruit?

A Government’s Broken Promise

Before assuming power, the current government proudly proclaimed that it had assembled an expert panel to draft a ready-to-implement agriculture policy. They promised a clear, actionable plan that would be set in motion immediately upon taking office.

Now, with a commanding majority in Parliament, the government has no excuse for its inaction. Months have passed, and not a single official has stepped forward with a concrete agriculture policy or strategy. Farmers, stakeholders, and the public are left in the dark, questioning whether these pre-election promises were genuine or mere political theater.

A Call to Action for the New Government

With a new administration in place, the time to rectify past failures is now. Agriculture is the backbone of Sri Lanka’s economy, and without a robust policy framework, the nation remains vulnerable to food crises, economic instability, and environmental degradation. The government must act decisively by:

• Immediate Review and Approval: Expedite the presentation of the drafted policies to the Cabinet for swift endorsement.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with farmers, experts, and other key stakeholders to ensure the policies address current challenges and realities.
• Legislative Safeguards: Institutionalize these policies into law to protect them from future political disruptions and ensure long-term agricultural development.
• Transparent Communication: Publicly outline a clear strategy and timeline for policy implementation, fostering trust and accountability.

This is not merely a bureaucratic formality—it is a moral and national imperative. Sri Lanka’s farmers and rural communities deserve a stable, government-approved agriculture policy to secure their livelihoods and the nation’s food security.

Conclusion

Sri Lanka cannot afford another cycle of political delays and policy stagnation. The agriculture sector’s future must not be sacrificed at the altar of bureaucratic inertia. It is time for those who shaped these policies—experts, academics, and civil society—to hold the government accountable and ensure these long-awaited policies are finalized and implemented.

The people of Sri Lanka demand action, not excuses. The time to act is now.

Iraj Show

By Rohana R. Wasala

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them;

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar…….

• Mark Antony speaking at the funeral of  his assassinated friend Julius Caesar in the Shakespeare play by the same name

My readers, alert as usual, may be wondering why this essay is entitled ‘The Case of Karu Jayasuriya’ instead of just ‘Karu Jayasuriya’. Well there’s a reason. Please read on. 

Former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya has an aura of quiet dignity about him as an MP and senior politician, equally respected by both his UNP and non-UNP colleagues. So, I was not surprised when he was unanimously elected as chairman of the Former Parliamentarians’ Caucus at its first meeting in early July 2024. Jayasuriya launched his own NGO, the Institute of Democracy and Good Governance (IDAG) three months later, on September 30, 2024, as stated before. The Daily FT reported a day later (on October 1): ‘Karu Jayasuriya calls for return to good governance’. Was he expecting a revival of the dysfunctional 2015-2020 Yahapalanaya (Good Governance) project, which had been overwhelmingly rejected by the people in 2019? This is unthinkable. But, as I see it, Jayasuriya himself seems to have changed his long held political perspectives before choosing to or being chosen to catalyse the country’s attitudinal transformation that the Yahapalanaya attempted as required by the global interventionist forces behind the 2015 regime change operation.

Caveat: What I am saying here is what I perceive according to my lights. It is not meant to be an attack on Hon Karu Jayasuriya whose personal freedom to change his opinions about anything and everything I recognise with deep respect. My admiration for him as an honourable senior political personality remains intact, despite holding contrary opinions myself.  As for ‘global interventionist forces’, could they feel so insecure and mean as to kill a mockingbird? 

It would be appropriate, at this point, to make a  brief review of Karu Jayasuriya’s life journey, which involved a holistic school education followed by an initial stint in the army, preparation for business underpinned by sound academic and professional qualifications, his actual business career, and his subsequent initiation into politics. He had a long period of maturation as a strategic  manager of human and material resources before he started holding political office. Jayasuriya completed his preparatory and secondary education at Ananda College, Colombo. The characteristic Buddhist school tone at Ananda helped mould his character as a patriotic young man devoted to the service of his Motherland.

 A few years after completing his school education, Jayasuriya  joined the Ceylon Army Volunteer Force in 1965. After training, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Ceylon National Guard. He remained in the military from 1965 to 1972, which means he was mobilised during the first JVP Insurrection of 1971 (and probably even had some experience in live combat). The next quarter century of his life saw him devoting himself to intensive theoretical and practical self development in the business field, while successfully engaging in his own business enterprises. 

The discipline he acquired at Ananda and in the military must have stood him in good stead in his business life, and later in active politics, which he embarked on in 1997 at the ripe age of 57. Jayasuriya was elected as Mayor of Colombo in that year and served in the post for two years 1997-99. In 2000, he entered parliament as a National List MP from the UNP, representing the Gampaha District and between 2000 – 2015 he held important ministerial positions, mostly under Ranil Wickremasinghe as PM during the presidencies of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Maithripala Sirisena, and for a little over one year (2007-08) under  D.M. Jayarathne as PM during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s  pre-2009 first term as president. Following the foreign engineered regime change/the ouster of the last named in 2015, in which he played a leading role, Jayasuriya became the 20th Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament (September 1, 2015 – March 3, 2020). As a cabinet minister, he handled the subjects of public administration, home affairs, and power and energy at various times. He was sworn in as the minister of public administration, democratic rule and Buddha Sasana at the beginning of Yahapalanaya and held the post for about eight months from January 12 to August 17, 2015 before being elected as Speaker on September 1. (Source for information about Karu Jayasuriya’s life and work: Wikipedia)

There is a natural relationship between him and Buddhist monks. The latter have been expressing alarm at what they perceive as increasing threats to Buddha Sasana from proliferating religious fundamentalist sects funded from abroad: problematic acts such as conducting unethical conversions, erecting or opening unauthorised places of worship disturbing the peace of predominantly Buddhist neighbourhoods, and generally encroaching on the traditional Buddhist religious space. Tamil Hindus are also subject to such unethically aggressive proselytisation projects. Peaceful mainstream Christians and Muslims have disowned troublemakers perpetrating these acts. They have often expressed solidarity with the monks about this issue. 

Another big nasty problem that Buddhist monks are trying to raise awareness about among politicians, government authorities and the general public, as the traditional Guardians of the Nation, is the systematic destruction by a handful of racist Tamil politicians  of the extensive archaeological sites in the North and East, almost all of which have been scientifically identified as ancient Buddhist shrines and monasteries dating back to pre-Christian times, such as Kurundi Viharaya in the Mulativ district in the North and the Muhudu Maha Viharaya in Pottuvil in the East. These monks won’t have to agitate asking for  solutions to these issues, subjecting themselves to unjust criticism and defamation by ignorant outsiders as religious fanatics, racists, chauvinists, etc., if politicians, whether in power or out of power, have the courage to approach the issues legally and democratically through the existing Sri Lankan Constitution, where, according to AI Overview 

Article 9 states that the Republic of Sri Lanka shall give Buddhism the foremost place, making it the duty of the state to protect and foster it, while also ensuring all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e). 

For the protection of the archaeological aspect of our Buddhist heritage, the powerful Antiquities Ordinance (1940) (enacted during British colonial times) can be invoked. This ordinance

…… .aimed to better preserve the country’s antiquities by establishing the Crown’s (today, State’s) ownership of undiscovered antiquities, except ancient monuments, and granting the Archaeological Commissioner custody and possession of discovered antiquities.

Successive recent governments have carefully avoided having to tackle these problems buckling under the coercive pressure exerted by communalist politicians of the respective areas.. A number of  other main party politicians including ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa have functioned in the capacity of minister responsible for the Buddha Sasana, but equally ineffectively for the same reason. So, Jayasuriya should not be singled out for criticism in this regard. All Buddha Sasana ministers to date have failed to fulfill their obligations, leaving the genuine protectors of our incomparable Buddhist civilizational heritage, none other than the Guardians of the Nation, the Buddhist bhikshus/monks, to fend for themselves. But, fortunately, they remain assured of the unstinted support of ordinary Buddhists living in Sri Lanka and around the world outside. 

Abysmal ignorance and sheer inaction  prompted by narrow self-interest and a lack of responsibility on the part of the rulers and the civil authorities under them are usually at the root of these chronic issues. I have always believed that only patriotic politicians of Karu Jayasuriya’s calibre can help eliminate threats to the Buddha Sasana through democratic dialogue, without allowing violence to be ignited by ill-disposed extraneous elements between Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus, who together account for 90% of the Sri Lankan population. These evil doers try their best to keep the two naturally and culturally closest communities divided. But their evil schemes will fail. Let’s hope president Anura Kumara Dissanayake will realise this soon and take advantage of his decent Buddhist upbringing to do the needful (which means a great deal). We will urge him to take counsel, especially, with his well meaning critics, in charting his Punarudaya (New Dawn) path so that it will lead to ‘A RICH COUNTRY AND A BEAUTIFUL LIFE’ that he is envisioning for the common people. AKD should remember why the JVP/NPP he leads adopted that campaign slogan which answers to the ‘sassa sampatti hetucha – peeto bhavatu lokocha’ of the verse of blessing heard at the end of the daily ritual of ‘Seth pirith’ chanting broadcast every morning over the SLBC radio. That tradition is still maintained, I guess. KJ knows, probably even better than AKD does, the benign psychic influence of that daily blessing on all Sri Lankans. 

Jayasuriya was among the distinguished invitees (former presidents Chandrika, Gotabaya and Ranil among them) at the Act of Appointment bestowal ceremony of the Amarapura Nikaya held under state sponsorship led by the president at the BMICH, Colombo on March 10, 2024. This reminded me of the same Nikaya conferring on Karu Jayasuriya, then Speaker of Parliament, an honorary title, as reported in the Sunday Times of April 21, 2019. The piece of news stuck in my mind probably because of the deadly memories associated with that fateful Sunday, six years ago. The honorary title had been conferred on Jayasuriya a day or two previously in appreciation of his integrity as a politician, his commitment to the advancement of the Buddha Sasana, and his tireless efforts in promoting unity among the Sangha.

Perhaps, the still untested green horns in the current parliament have something to learn from Karu Jayasuriya. But are they ready to respond to his message without being misled by other propaganda, I wonder? They will find that listening to a gracious senior like Karu Jayasuriya is worth their while. 

KJ’s vision has been focused on nurturing leaders who are driven by conscience, not self-interest”, says Lanka Jayasuriya, Karu Jayasuriya’s daughter whom I quoted earlier, This idea is captured powerfully in his own words:

One day, we will all face a trial where no witnesses will testify, and no counsel will appear on our behalf. The only account the judge – Mother Nature in disguise – will hear is from our conscience. My vision has always been to live as a guiltless person, so that on that fateful day, my conscience will not speak against me.”  

That is the essence of Jayasuriya’s life and work according to his daughter: ‘a leader whose conscience has guided his decisions, and whose vision for Sri Lanka is built on the foundation of integrity and moral responsibility. It is this philosophy that underpins the creation of IDAG.’

However, Jayasuriya’s words Oneday, we will all face…………will not speak against me” from his Buddhist mouth or heart are problematic. Those words belong to someone who believes in a Day of Judgement. But he immediately substitutes ‘Mother Nature in disguise’ for  the Abrahamic God. His resolve to live and die as a guiltless person fits Buddhism, as it does any theistic religion. Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-77) conceived Nature around us and in us as an impersonal divine power. Albert Einstein (1879-1955), considered as the greatest scientist of the 20th century, is said to have accepted Spinoza’s God. That is compatible with Buddhism, too. And Einstein was full of praise for the Buddha’s teachings, as is well known.

To his great grief, his younger daughter Sanjeewani Indira, married and settled in London, died suddenly in 2016 at the young age of 40. That tragic loss must have taken its toll on him. There may have been some spiritual confusion in his mind. Even if he has changed his original religious beliefs and embraced new ones out of personal conviction, that is no harm, it is not wrong. That is in accordance with what the Buddha taught the young Kalamas in the Kalama Sutta. He told them that they should not accept anything because it is found in the sacred texts, or because it agrees with tradition, or because it is taught by a respected teacher, etc., and instructed them: …….when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome (kusala) and good, then accept them and follow them” (Source; pp 2-3, What the Buddha Taught/Walpola Rahula). 

Realising the Ultimate Truth (Nibbana) is a voluntary undertaking to be fulfilled within oneself, it goes without saying, in the absence of witnesses. The important thing is that Karu Jayasuriya remains true to his moral and ethical principles (which he originally imbibed from Buddhism) in which he is firmly anchored. 

Concluded

Sasanka De Silva. Pannipitiya

As the world progresses, the voice of senior citizens has become increasingly pivotal, particularly in shaping the future of our communities and countries. An impressive 12% of a nation’s population is composed of seniors—an influential demographic that, when mobilized, can wield significant power at the ballot box. Yet, the question remains: how can we effectively rally this crucial voter base?

The answer lies in recognizing the inherent value of our collective experience and wisdom. Seniors have a unique perspective shaped by years of struggle, resilience, and triumph. This depth of understanding can be a powerful tool in encouraging our children and even our grandchildren to engage in the electoral process. By sharing our stories and experiences, we can inspire the younger generation to recognize the importance of their vote, fostering a sense of responsibility that transcends political affiliations.

Furthermore, our efforts must be focused on unity. In a time when political divisions seem to grow wider, we must approach this initiative with a non-partisan spirit. The goal is not to advance a particular political agenda, but rather to emphasize the significance of participation in democracy itself. When we come together as seniors—regardless of our individual beliefs—we amplify our message: our voices matter, and they deserve to be heard.

This collective action can have profound implications. When senior voters stand together, our numbers become undeniable. Political leaders cannot afford to overlook a demographic that makes up such a significant portion of their constituency. By ensuring that our voices resonate through the halls of power, we can influence policies that not only benefit seniors but also create a better future for all generations.

To achieve this, we must invest time and effort into organizing initiatives that foster awareness and engagement within our community. Community gatherings, informational workshops, and intergenerational discussions can serve as vital platforms for sharing knowledge and encouraging political participation. Additionally, leveraging social media and local news outlets can help broaden our reach, allowing us to engage even those who may feel disenfranchised.

In conclusion, as seniors, we possess the ability to shape the future of our society. By mustering our collective strength and encouraging the younger generations to follow suit, we can make an indelible mark on the democratic process. Let us move forward with purpose—together, without political bias—and demonstrate the power of unity in action. When we unite our voices as a significant force, we ensure that no one can afford to ignore us. 

Our moment is now.

Sasanka De Silva.

Pannipitiya.

The Pathfinder Foundation

Rear Admiral (Ret) Hiroyuki Terada, Director of Defence Cooperation of the Indo-Pacific Region (Indo-Pacific Regional Policy Division), Ministry of Defence of Japan, visited the Pathfinder Foundation headquarters at Riverpoint in Peheliyagoda to meet with Founder Milinda Moragoda and other senior members of the Foundation.

He was accompanied by Ms. Ayuka Horikawa, Officer of the Indo-Pacific Regional Policy Division of the Ministry of Defence and Captain Yuki Yokohari, Defence and Security Advisor of the Embassy of Japan, Colombo.

This visit was a continuation of the regular interactions between the Japanese Defence Ministry and the Pathfinder Foundation.

Rear Admiral Terada provided a detailed overview of Japan’s vision and policy towards the Indo-Pacific Region and emphasised Sri Lanka’s importance within this strategy.

The Pathfinder Foundation team provided details of the research and other activities that the organisation was carrying out related to the Indian Ocean Region. These included the biannual Pathfinder Indian Ocean Security Conference and the annual Bay of Bengal Maritime Dialogue.

Collaborations launched by the Pathfinder Foundation, including the India, Japan, and Sri Lanka trilateral project and other possible multi-country cooperation initiatives, were also discussed.

Mr. Moragoda also thanked the delegation for the support and encouragement the Japanese Government had always provided for the work of the Foundation.

දේශමාන්‍ය ආචාර්‍ය සුදත් ගුණසේකර (ශ්‍රී.ලං.ප.සේ.) අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ හිටපු ලේකම් සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිපාලන සේවා සන්ගමයේ හිටපු සභාපති. (1991-94)

(දැන් යලිත් ප්‍රාදේෂීය සභා  මැතිවරණයකට  නම් දී   ඇති බැවින් මෙම අදහස් කාලෝචිත නිසා මෙය නැවත පළකිරීමකී.)

සින්හල ජාතියේ උපත පිළිබඳ නව මතයක්; ඓතිහාසික යථාර්ථයන්

පාලි මහාවන්ශය ලිවිමටත් සියවස් එක හමාරකට දෙකකට පමණ පෙර ලියනලද කරන්ඩව්‍යුහ. දිව්‍යාවදාන ආදී සන්කෘත ග්‍රන්ථ වල සඳහන්වණුයේ බටහිර ඉන්දියානු ඉන්දුනිම්න ප්‍රදේශයෙන් ලක්දිවට පැමිණි සින්හ නැමැති වෙළඳ සිටුවරයාගේ පුත්‍රයාවන සින්හළ” නමැති (ගෞතම) බෝධි සත්වයන් වහන්සේ විසින්  මේරට මනුෂ්‍යවාස කොට සින්හල ජාතිය පටන්ගන්නාලද බවයි. සින්ධු නදී නිම්නයෙහි පොලව යට වැලලී තිබුණ අති පුරාණ මොහෙන් ජෝදාරෝ හරප්පා නාගරික ශිෂ්ඨාචරයක් මතුකර ගැනීමෙන්පසු ඉහත කී බෞධ සන්ස්කෘත  ග්‍රන්ථවල එන ප්‍රවුර්තිය සත්‍ය සිධියක් ලෙස ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ පුරාවිද්‍යඥයින් හා ඉතිහාසයඥයන් විසින් විවිධ සමීක්ෂණ මාර්ගයෙන් තහවුරුකොට ඇත.

සින්හල ජාතියේ සමාරම්භය පිළිබඳ වාර්තාවන දිව්‍යාවදානයෙහි සටහන් කර ඇත්තේ මෙසේය

සින්හලේන රාඥා ආවාසිතමිති සින්හල ද්වීප: සින්හල ද්වීප ඉති සඥාසන්වෘත්තාකින් මන්‍යධිවේ, භික්ෂවා යෝ සෞ සින්හලහ්. අහමේව තේන සමයේන”

(සින්හල රජු වීසින් ජනාවස කරණ ලද්දේ නුයි සින්හල ද්වීප යන නම හට ගත්තේය. මහනෙනි ඒ සින්හලයා නම් කවරෙක්දැයි තොපි සිතව්ද? මහණෙනි ඒ බෝධිසත්ව කාලයෙහි මම් මෑ වෙමි)

(පිරුවානා පොත් වහන්සේ: බෞද්ධ් සන්ස්කෘතික මධ්‍යස්ථානය.)

මෙම අදහස මේ රටේ සින්හල බෞඩ්ධයින්ට වඩා ආකර්ෂනීය  මෙන්ම නවපනක් දෙන සාඩම්බර මතයකිඑසේම සින්හල ජාතියේ උපත බුධෝත්පාදය සිදු වූ ක්‍රි.ව 643 ටත් අනාදිමත්  කළකට පෙර  සිදුවූවක් බැව් කියවේ.

එහෙත් මහාවන්ශයේ සඳන්වන පරිදි සින්හල ජාතිය මෙන්ම සින්හලේ රාජ්‍ය ආරම්භ වන්නේ ක්‍රි. පූ. 543 ය. ඒ උත්‍ර භාරථයෙන් පැමිණි සින්හ වන්ශික විජය නම්වූ කුමාරයෙක් සහ ඔහුගේ 700 ක් පිරිස, ඊට වසර දහස්ගනකට පෙර මේ ලක්බිමේ සිටි යක්ෂ, රාක්ෂ,දේව සහ නාග යන මුල් සිව්හෙළයන් සමඟ එක් වීමෙණැයි පිළි ගැනේ.

 එතැන් සිට ක්‍රි.ව.1815 මාර් 2 දා ගිවිසුමකින් බ්‍රතාන්‍ය කිරීටයට මේ රට භාර දෙන තුරුම වසර 2358, ස්වාධීන, ස්වෛරී සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යක් වශයෙන් එය පැවතින.1815 සිට බ්‍රතාන්‍ය යටත් විජිත පාලනය යටතේ තිබුණු මේ රටට 1948 දී ඔවුන් විසින්ම මනස් සෝදා මනාසේ පුහුණු කරනළද කලු සුද්දන් පිරිසකට මේ රටේ අභ්‍යන්තර පාලනය, ඔවුන් වෙණුවෙන් තව දුරටත් පවත්වාගෙන යාම සඳහා භාරදී ගියහ. ඔවුන් එදා නිදහසයයි කීවේ රටක් නිදහස්යයි කීමට අනිවාර්‍යෙන්ම තිබිය යුතු මූලික අන්ගවන, පූර්ණ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක,විධායක සහ අධිකරණ  යන බලකණු තුනම නැතිව, එසේම එන්ගලන්තයේ රැජින මේ රටේ රැජින වශයෙන් තවදුරටත් පිලිගත්, රැජිනගේ නමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නීති සම්පාදනය කළ බ්‍රතාන්‍ය පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්ඩලය තුල වූ අර්ධ නිදහසකි. නමුත් ඇත්තවශයෙන්ම 1972 මැයි 22 වනතුරුම, මේ රටේ තිබුණේ. සුද්දාගේ එම උගුල භාරගත් මෙරට මිනිරන් පතල්, පොල් වතු, අරක්කු රේණ්දකාරයින්, ව්‍යාපාරකයින් සහ,සිවිල් සේවකයින් ඇතුළු  රට භාරගත් ප්‍රභූහු එයට නිදහස යයි කී නිදහසක් නැති නිදහසක් පමණි.

මේ අතර බටහිර අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ගේ බෙදා පාලනය කිරීමේ සහ සින්හල බෞද්ධයින් ජාතියක් වශයෙන් විනාශ කිරීමේ පළමු පියවර වශයෙන් 1670 පමණ සිට ඕලන්ද කාරයින් විසින්ද 1815 න් පසු ඉන්ග්‍රීසින් විසින්ද උතුරු නැගෙනහිර ඔවුන්ගේ දුන්කල වගාව සහ තල් රා මැඳීම ඇතුළු කුළී වැඩ සඳහා දකුණු ඉන්දීය මලබා කාරයින් දහස් ගණනින් ගෙන්වා 12 වන සියවසේ මාඝ ආක්‍රමණයෙන් විනාශවීම නිසා මනුස්සාවාශයෙන් තොර වනගහනයෙන් වැසී තිබුණු උ.නැ. ප්‍රදේශවල පදින්චි කරණලදී.

දෙවන පියවර වශයෙන් 1840 න් පසු උඩරට කෝපි සහ තේ වගාවටද දකුණු ඉන්දියා තමිල්නාඩු ප්‍රදේශයෙන් සුද්දන්ගේ වහළුන් මෙන් ලක්ෂ12ක් පමණ කම්කරුපිරිසක් ගෙනවිත් මධ්‍යයම කඳුකරයේ පදින්චි කලහ.

තෙවන පියවර වශයෙන් සුද්දන් මේ රටේ ප්‍රථම ජනගහන සහ සන්ක්‍යාලේඛන අධ්‍යක්ෂ වරයා වශයෙන් පොන්නම්බලන් අරුණාචලම් පත්කොට ඔවුන්ගේම උපදෙස් අනුව 1901 දී, ඔහු උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර මලබා කම්කරු හමුදාව මේ රටේ ලන්කා දෙමළ ජාතිය වශයෙන් නම් කරණලදී. ඒ අනුව කෝටි 7 ක් සිටින ඉන්දියාවේවත් නැති දෙමළ නමැති ජාතියක් මේ සිහල රටේ බිහි කකළේය.මෙම තනතුරට මලබා ජාතිකයකුවූ අරුණචලම් පත්කිරීමද සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතිය දුර්වල කිරීමට මනාසේ සැළසුම්කොට සුද්දන් විසින් දියත් කළ කුමණ්ත්‍රණයේම කොටසකි.

සිව්වණුව මේ රටේ භූගෝලීය හදබිම වන මධ්‍යම කඳුකරයේ සුද්දන්ගේ තේ වතුවල වහල් මෙහෙයට දකුණු ඉන්දියාවෙන් ගෙන ආ ලක්ෂ 12 කට අධික, එවකට බ්‍රතාන්‍ය පුරවැසියන් වූ කම්කරු හමුදාවක්ද 1948 දී මෙහි දමා ගියේද මතු දිනක ලන්කාවේ මධ්‍යම කඳුකරයද ඉන්දියාවේ ප්‍රාන්තක් වූ මලයනාඩුවක් කොට සින්හල බෞද්ධ රට සහ ජාතිය ව්නාශකිරීම සහ ඉන්දියාව සහ ලන්කාව අතර අනාගතයේදී දරුණු අර්භුධ ඇති කිරීමටය.  ඔවුන් දැනටමත්  මධ්‍යම කඳුකරය මලයහ (මලය නාඩූ) නමින් නම්කොට  “නාම් 200” යන වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් යටතේ තමන් මෙම ප්‍රදේශයේ අවුරුදු 200 සිටි බව  ඉන්දියාවේ සහ බටහිර රටවල මෙන්ම මේ රටේම ජාතියක් ,ජන්මයක් හෝ ආගමක් නැති දෙමළ චන්දය නමැති එලු අණ්ඩ කෝෂය පසුපසම දුවන ජාති ද්‍රෝහී දේශ ද්‍රෝහි සින්හල දේශපාලන කිනිතුල්ලන්ගේ සහායද ඇතිව එම ප්‍රදේශයට උරුමකම් කීමට පටන්ගෙන ඇත.පසුගිය දිනක නාම් 200” යටතේ කොලඹ පැවැති වැඩ සටහනකට රනිල් වික්‍රමසින්හ ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙන්ම අගමැති වරයාද සාභාගී වී එම රට බෙදීමේ ව්‍යාපාරයට රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහය දීමෙන් ඔවුන් දෙදෙනාම මේ සින්හල රට සහ ජාතිය ද්‍රෝහී අන්දමින් පාවාදී ඇත. වතු දෙමළු ‘මළයහ” නමින් දැන් හඳුන්වන්නේ දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ මලයනාඩුවේ අනු පිටපතය.

පස්වණුව ඊට පසු. ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන්ගේ දීර්ගකාළීන අරමුණ වූයේ උ.නැ සහ මධ්‍යම සහ ඊට යාබද ඉන්දීය කම්කරුවන් සිටින  මාතලේ,කුරුනෑගල, කෑගල්ල,රත්නපුරය, මහනුවර, බදුල්ල සහ මාතර යන සියලුම ප්‍රදේශ එකතු කොට  පුත්තලමේ සිට, යාපනය, ත්‍රිකුනාමලේ හරහා ගාල්ල දක්වාම දෙමළ ඊලම නිර්මාණය කිරිමය.

ක්‍රි. පූ. 543 සිටම 1901 වනතුරු මේ ලන්කාවේ කිසිම අවස්ථාවක දෙමළ නමින් ජාතීයක් සිටියේ නැත. මුළු දිවයින පුරාම සිටියේ සින්හල ජාතිය පමණි. සින්හලයෝ මේ භූමියේ මෙන්ම හාත්පසින් වූ මහසයුරේ පරම අයිතිකරුවෝ වූහ.

මෙම සාපරාධී කුමන්ත්‍රණයට හේතුව

සුද්දන්ගේ මෙම වෛරී කුමණ්ත්‍රණයට ප්‍රධාන හේතුව වූයේ හිරු නොබසින අධිරාජ්‍යය, ලෝකයේ කිසිම රටකදි ඔවුන් නොලැබු පරිදි නින්දාසහගත සහ අන්ත පරාජයට පත්කළ උඩරට රාජධානියේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතියෙන් පළි ගැනීමක් වෂයෙනි. ඒ වනවිට මුළු ලොව පුරාම අපරාජිතව සිටි අවිබලයෙන් සහ යුද්ධෝපක්‍රමයන්ගෙන් අනූන ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන්ට 1803 දි උඩරට සින්හල රාජධානියේදි ලත් ලජ්ජාසහගත පරාජයෙන් වෛර බැඳගත් ඉන්ග්‍රීසින් උපායසීලීව සින්හලේ ඇහැලේපොල වැනි නායකයින්ගේ සහායෙන් 1815 මර්තු 2 ගිවිසුම අත්සන්කොට එහි තීන්ත වේළීමටත් පෙර 1818 නොවැම් 21 දරණ රාජ ආඥාවෙන් ගිවිසුම පසෙකටදමා සින්හලයින්ගෙන් පළිගැනීම ආරම්භ කරණ ලදී. 1818 ඌව සහ 1848 මාතලේ නිදස් සටන් වලදී, ලෝකයේ ම්ලේච්චතම මර්ධන මඟින් දස දහස් ගණන් මරා සින්හල බෞද්ධයින් මර්ධනයකොට, උඩරට සින්හලයින්ගෙන් පලිගැනීමට වඩාම සුදුසු ක්‍රමය උඩරට කඳුකරය පුරා දෙමළුන් පදින්චි කොට සින්හලයින්ට ඔවුන්ගේ රට අහිමිකිරීමේ දැඩි අධිස්ඨානයක් ඇතිකරගත්හ. මේ අනුව 1948 ඔවුන් මේ රටින් පිටව යනවිට ඔවුන්ගේ වහළුන් වූ ඉන්දියානු මළබා දෙමළුන් ලක්ෂ 12ක් පමණ මෙහි රඳවා ගියේ කන්ද උඩරට සහ යාබද ප්‍රදේශ සියල්ල සින්හලයින්ට සදාකාලිකව අහිමිකිරීමටය.

මෙම ජාතික ව්‍යශනය තේරුම ගැනීමට තරම් බුද්ධියක් ඇති එසේම ඉන් රට ජාතිය බේරාගත හැකි සින්හල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය නායකයෙක් 1948 සිට  අද වනතුරුම මේ රටේ ඉපදී නැත. මේ මහා ජාතික ව්‍යශනයට පිළියමක් සෙවීමට උත්සාහයක් දරා ඇත්තේ   ඪී.ඇස් ගේ 1949 ඉන්දු පකිස්ථානු පුරවැසි පනත සහ ජෝන් කොතලාවලගේ 1953 නේරු /කොතලාවල ගිවිසුම පමණි.ඊට ප්සු පත්වූ සෑම රාජ්‍ය නායකයෙක් මෙන්ම නිතරම කටයුතු කළේ වතුකරයේ සහ රටේ අනෙකුත් ප්‍රදේසවල  දෙමල චන්දය ලබාගැනීම මුල්කොටගෙනය. තමන්ගේ මව්බිම ගැන හෝ තම ජාතිය  මේ අන්දමින් නොසලකා හරින පාලකයින් පිරිසක් සිටින කිසිම රටක් මේ ලෝකයේ කිසිම තැනක මා දැක හෝ අසා නැත.

එමනිසා දැන්වත් මෙම ව්‍යෂනයේ දිග පලල හරියාකාරව තෙරුම්ගෙන, ඊට අව්ශ්‍ය පිළියම් නොපමාව යොදා මේ සින්හල රටත් සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතියත්, ඉතිහාශය පුරා සිදුවූ ඵරිදි බේරාගත හැකි සින්හල බෞද්ධ නායකයෙකු  අපි සොයාගත යුතුය.

මෙම අයිතිහාසික පසුබිම තුල එවැනි ජාතික නායකයෙකු සොයා ගැනීම සඳහා උපකාර විය හැකි ප්‍රශ්න මාලාවක් මම පහතින් දක්වමි.

1.මේ රටේ නම් කුමක්ද? ක්‍රි.පූ. 543 සිටම එය සිංහලේ/ ලන්කාදීප /ශ්‍රී ලන්කාව බව ඔබ රජය දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ රජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

2 මේ රටේ ජාතිය කුමක්ද? එය යටත් පිරිසෙයින් කි.පූ. 543 සිටම සිංහල බව ඔබ රජය දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

3.මේ රටේ සුළු ජාතීන් කියා පිරිසක් නැති බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

4. දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් යනු මේ රටේ ආගන්තුක සුළුජන කොටස් දෙකක් පමණක් බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

5.ඔවුන් 1815 ට පෙරහෝ අද දක්වාම මේ රටේ ජාතීන් නොවන බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/ පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

6.1815වනවිට මේ රටේ සිටියේ එක් ජාතියක් පමණි. ඒ සින්හල ජාතියයි. ඒ වනවිට මේ රටේ සිටි දෙමළ මුස්ලිම් සියළු දෙනාමද හැඳින්වූයේ සින්හලේ වැසියන් යන අර්ථයෙන් සින්හලයින් වශයෙන් බව ඔබ දන්නවාද?  පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

(දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් මෙන්ම බර්ගර් ජනවර්ග,ජාතීන් වශයෙන් නම්කළේ ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන් විසිනි. මෙම කුමන්ත්‍රණය ආරම්භ වූයේ 1799 ක්ලෙඝෝන් රිපෝට් නැමති ලිපියෙනි. ඒ සමඟම වෙස්ලියන් කතෝලික ධර්ම ප්‍රචාරකයින්ද, මේ රටේ සින්හල සහ දෙමළ නමින් ජාතීන් දෙකක් ඇති බවද,රටවල් දෙකක් ඇති බවද, ඉන් දෙමළ රට පුත්තලමේ සිට යාපනය,ත්‍රිකුණාමලය, මඩකලපුව හරහා වලවේගඟ දක්වාද රටේ අභ්‍යන්ත්‍රය සහ බටහිර කොටස සින්හල ජාතියේ බවද,එසේම ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ මෙම තත්වය තහවුරු කිරීම බවද 1818  දි ගාල්ලේ පැවති ඔවුන්ගේ අග්නිදිග ආසියාතික සම්මේලනයකදී ප්‍රකාශකොට ඇත.කෙසේ වුවද ඔවුන්ගේ වාර්තාවලද සින්හලයින් මේ රටේ ස්වදෙශකයින් වශයෙන් නම්කොට ඇත. දෙමළුන් මේ රටේ ජාතියක් යන සන්කළ්පය ඇතිවූයේ කෙසේදැයිද, කවදා සිටදැයිද දැන් ඔබට පැහැදිලියයි සිතමි)

මුස්ලිම් වරුන්ද කලින් කළ වෙළඳාමට අරාබිකරයෙන් මේ රට ආ සහ ඉන්දියාවෙන් පැමිණි වශයෙන් කොටස් දෙකකි.  ඔවුන් කුමන වර්ගයට අයිති උනත් පහත සඳහන් වැකි කාන්ඩයෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ ආක්‍රමණික ආකල්පයන්ද පැහැදිළි වේ.

එදා රජු ගෙන් ගෙරිහමක් එලා ගැනීමට බිම්කඩක් ඉල්ලාගත් මුස්ලිම් වරුන්ද, කලින් කල වෙළඳාමට අරාබිකරයෙන් මේ රට ආ සහ ඉන්දියාවෙන් පැමිණි වශයෙන් කොටස් දෙකකි.  ඔවුන් කුමන වර්ගයට අයිති උනත් පහත සඳහන් වැකි කාන්ඩයෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ ආක්‍රමණික ආකල්පයන්ද පැහැදිළි වේ. ගෙරිහමක වපසරියක් තම පැවැත්ම වෙනුවෙන් ලබාදෙන ලෙස සින්හලේ රජුගෙන් කළ ඉල්ලීම අනුව, ආගන්තුක සත්කාර්යක් වශයෙන් එදා රජු කල ක්‍රියාව නිසා දිනෙක තම හතර වරිගයටම ගෙරිහමක වපසරියක් හෝ ඉතිරි නොවන ආකාරයේ දීමක් වේ යයි ඔහු කිසිදා නොසිතන්නට ඇත.  ඔහු එදා කල වැඩෙන් අද රටේ අයිතිකාරයාට ගෙරිහමක වපසරියක් ඉල්ලීමට සිදු වී තිබේ.

එදා උරුමය අද අප සතුව නැත. එදා බිම අද අප සතුව නැත. එදා වරිගය අද අප සතුව නැත.)

(.මා මෙම ප්‍රශ්නය නගන්නේ ඔබ සියලු දෙනාම, නිතරම සියළුම ජාතීන්ට, ජාති භේදයක් නැතිව ආදි වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කරන බැවිනි.2500 ක ඉතිහාසයේ කිසිම දිනක ඔවුන් මේ රටේ ජාතීන් වශයෙන්ද හඳුන්වා නැත.  ඔවුන් මේ රටේ ජාතීන් වශයෙන් පළමුවරට හැඳින්වූයේ ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන් විසිනි. ඒ මේ රටේ සින්හල බෞද්ධ පදනම විනාශකිරීම සඳහාය ).

වෙනම රාජ්‍යක් ඉල්ලන වර්තමානයේ උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර සිටින දෙමළ ජනයා 1665 න් පසු ඕලන්දයින් සහ 1840 න් පසූ ඉන්ග්‍රීසින් විසින් මේ රටට ගෙන ආ මලබා වහල් කුලීකරුවන්ගෙන් පැවත එන අයය. ඔවුන්ගේ මේ රටේ පදින්චිය වසර 300 කට වඩා අඩුය. (පෙරේරා 2020 සහ රොබට් පර්සිවල් 1803).

 ලන්කා භූමිය බෙදීමේ පළමු පියවර වශයෙන් 1833 කෝල්බෲක් කොමිෂමෙන් උ.ද.බ. නැ සහ ම. වශයෙන් පලාත් 5 කට බෙදා උ. සහ නැ. දෙමළ පලාත් වශයෙන් නම්කළේ සුද්දන් විසින්ය.

වතුකරයේ දෙමලුන්, 1870න් පසු ඉන්ග්‍රීසින් විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ තේ වතුවල වැඩට දකුණු ඉන්දියාවෙන් වරින් වර ගෙනවිත් වහලුන්ගෙන් මෙන් වැඩ ගෙන 1948 දී මෙහි අතරමන්කොට දමා ගිය මලබාර් වරුන්ය. බුරුමය, මැලේසියාව සහ ටැන්ගනිකාව රජයන් විසින් ඒ රට්වල් සිටි සියළුම ඉන්දීය කුළී කරුවන්  එළවාගත්හ.මේ අනුව උ.නැ. මෙන්ම උඩරට සිටින සියළුම දෙමළුන්, 1948 වනතුරුම ඔවුන් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පුරවැසියන් වූ බැවින් ඔවුන්ටද මේ රටින් පිටවනමෙන් කිවයුතුතුව තිබිණ එහෙත් අපේ පණ්ඩිතයෝ එසේ නොකලහ.

 මේ නිසා 1901 දී රෙජිස්ට්‍රා ජෙනෙරල් අරුනාසලම් පොන්නම්බලන් ලන්කා දෙමලුන් වශයෙන් නම්කල උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දෙමළුන්ගේද මේ රටේ ස්ථිර පදින්චිය වලන්ගුවන්නේ 1948 සිටය. වතු කම්කරුවන්ගේ පදින්චිය වලන්ගුවන්නේ 1987 ජේ ආර්/රජිව් ගිවිසුමේ  සිටය. එයද නීතිවිරෝධි ගිවිසුමකි.

මේ අනුව මොවුන් සියළු දෙනාම සුද්දන් රට හැර යනවිට මෙහි අතරමන්කොට දමාගිය බ්‍රතාන්‍ය පුරවැසියන්වූ ඉන්දීය වහල් කම්කරුවන්ය.  ඔවුන් ගතින් මෙහි සිටියද, මේ රටෙන් යැපුනද, මේරටේ හිරුඑලියෙන්, සුළඟින් සහ ජලයෙන් පණනළ රැකගත්තද උතුරු නැගෙනහිර දෙමළුන් මෙන්ම, සිතින් සහ මනසින් පූර්ණ වෂයෙන්ම ඉන්දීය කාරයින් බවද කිවයුතුය. මේ අනුව මොවුන් කිසිවෙකු මේ සිංහල රටේ සැබෑ රටවැසියන් නොවන බව පැහැදිළිවම කිව යුතුය. එම නිසා මොවුන් සියළු දෙනාම දකුණු ඉන්දියාවෙන් සුද්දන්ගේ වහලුන් මෙන් මෙහි පැමිණි ඉන්දීය ජාතිකයින් බව මොවුන් මෙන්ම ලංකාවේ දේශපාලකයින්ද දැන්වත් තේරුම්ගත යුතුය.

ඇත්ත වෂයෙන්ම 1948 දී මොවුන් සියළු දෙනාම ඉන්දියාවට හෝ එන්ගලන්තයට ගෙනියන මෙන්, බුරුමයේ සහ අප්‍රිකානු රටවල සිදුකළ පරිදි, මේ රටේ පාලනය භාරගත් අය ඉල්ලිය යුතුව තිබිණ.එසේ ඉල්ලීමෙන් පසු සුද්දන් තම යුතුකම ඉටු නොකෙළේනම් මොවුන් සියළු දෙනාම 1949 දීම පිටුවහල් කළයුතුව තිබිණ.

එමනිසා දැන්වත් මොවුන් කළයුත්තේ සුද්දන්ගේ කුළියට ඇවිත් සින්හල අපේ රටට අයිතිවාසිකම් කිමට පෙර, පළමුව තමන්ගේ රටේම සින්හලයින්ට අහිමිවූ අයිතිවාසිකම් ඔවුන් ලබා ගැනීමය. උදාහරණයකට ලංකාවේ සිටින දෙමලුන්, මේ සිංහලයින්ගේ රටෙන් නිජබිම් කොටස් ඉල්ලා සටන් කිරීමට පෙර ඔවුන් පළමුව කළ යුහ්ත්තේ නේරු විසින් දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ ද්‍රවිඩ බෙදුම් වාදයට එරෙහිවව 1963 පැනවූ පනතට එරෙහිව සටන්කොට ඔවුන්ගේම මව්බිමේ තමන්ට අහිමිවූ අයිතිවාසිකම් ලබා ගැනීමය.

අනෙක් අතින් ඊළම කියන්නේ සිංහලයින්ගේ දේශය යන්නමය. දකුනු ඉන්දියාවේ  සින්හල දේශය හඳුන්වා ඇතේත් ඊලම් යන නමිනි. ක්‍රි. පූ.543 සිටම එය මෙහි තිඹුණ නිසාත් අද වනතුරුම තිබෙණ නිසාත්, තවත් ඊළමක් (සිංහල දේශයක්) මෙහි පිහිටුවීමට අවශ්‍ය නැති බව මොවුන් දැන්වත් තේරුම්ගත යුතුය. ඒ වෙනුවට ඔවුන් කළයුත්තේ ඉන්දියාවේ තමිල්නාඩුව පිහිටුවා ගැනීම නොවේද?)

7.ක්‍රි.පූ. 543 සිටම 1815 දක්වා මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව වූයේ සිංහලය එමනිසා දැනුදු මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව වියයුත්තේ රටේ මුළු ජනගහනයෙන් 75% ක් තවමත් සිංහලයින් වන නිසාය. එමෙන්ම රටේ මුළු ජනගහනයන් 99% ක්ම සිංහල දන්න නිසාය. එමනිසා මේ රටේ  රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව සිංහල වියයුතු බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිලිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් 1987 තේ ජේ. ආර්/රජිව් ගිසුම අහෝසිකොට එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට ඔබ ප්‍රතිඥා දෙනවාද?

වසර 2566 ක් අඛණ්ඩව සිංහලයින් යින්ගේ රට වූ සිංහලේ රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව සිංහල නොවන්නේනම් සිංහලයින් රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව වන්නේ කුමන රටේදැයි මේ දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් මම අසමි.

8.එමනිසා සිංහල මේ රටේ එකම රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව විය යුතු බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/ පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට ඔබ පොරුන්දු වනවාද? ක්‍රි.පූ. 307 සිටම පැවති පරිදි

9.මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය ආගම කුමක්ද-?  ක්‍රි.පූ. 307 සිටම පැවති පරිදි එය බුද්ධාගම වියයුතු බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිලිගන්නවාද? එසේම වසර 2260 ක් බුද්ධාගම මේරටේ රාජ්‍ය ආගමවූ බව ඔබ දන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

10.මේ රට ක්‍රි.පූ 543 සිටම ඒකච්ඡත්‍ර සිංහල රාජ්‍යක් බවද ක්‍රි පූ. 236 සිට  සිංහල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යක් බවද ඔබ දන්නවාද/ පිළිගන්නවාද[S1] ? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

11. මේ රට සින්හලයින්ගේ රට බැවින් සිංහලයෙකුට මේ රටේ ඕනෑම තැනක පදින්චිවීමට අයිතියක්   ඇති බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

12. මේ රට මව්බිම වන්නේත් එසේ සිතන්නේත් සිංහලයින් පමණක් බව ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

13 දෙමළුන්ගේ මව්බිම දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේද, මුස්ලිම් වරුන්ගේ මව් බිම් දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ හෝ මෙහි සන්ක්‍රමණයවීමට පෙර ඔවුන් සිටි රටවල් බවද ඔබ දන්නවාද/ පිළිගන්නවාද?

14. එම නිසාම දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් කිසිවෙකුට මේ රටේ රාජ්‍යයන් හෝ වෙනම පාලන ප්‍රදේශ ඉල්ලීමට කිසිම අයිතියක් නැතිබවද එසේ ඉල්ලීම හෝ ප්‍රකාශකිරීම මේ රටින් පිටුවහල් කළහැකී වරදක් බවද ඔබ දන්නවාද/ පිළිගන්නවාද?  එසේ ඉල්ලිමෙන් ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ සඳහන් ඒකීය භාවය උල්ලන්ඝය වන බව ඔබ දන්නවාද /පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට ඔබ පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

15.සියළුම දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් මිනිසුන් ඉහත සඳහන් යථාර්තයන් පිළිගෙන 1815 ට පෙර සිටි ආකාරයට සිංහලයින්/ලාන්කිකයින් සමඟ රටේ භූමිපුත්‍රයින් වන සිංහල සමාජයට අනුගතවී මෙහි සිටීමට නොහැකිනම් ඔවුන් සියළු දෙනාම ඔවුන්ගේ මව් රටවලට ආපසු යායුතු බව ඔබ පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එම නීතිය ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට ඔබ පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

16.ඉහත සඳහන් අන්ක 1 සිට 15 දක්වා ඔව් කියා කිව නොහැකි කිසිම  කිසිම පුද්ගලයෙකු මේ රටේ රටවැසිකම ලබා ගැනීමට, දේශපාලනය කිරීමට හෝ පක්ෂ නායකයකු වීමට සුදුසු නොවන අතර එවැන්නෙකුට දේශපාලනයට ඇතුලත් වීමද සපුරා තහනම් කළ යුතුය. ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට ඔබ පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

17.ඉතිහාශය පුරාම පැවති පරිදි සිංහල නොවන වෙනත් රටක වැසියෙකුට මේ රටේ පූර්ණ රටවැසියෙක් වීමට හැකිවන්නේ පළමුව ඔහුගේ හෝ ඇයගේ මුල් රටේ රටවැසි භාවය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අත්හැර සිංහල භාෂාව ඉගෙනගෙන, සිංහල නමක් ගෙන, බෞද්ධ ආගම වැළඳගෙන මේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ රටට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම පක්ෂපාතී වන බවට රජය විසින් නියම කරණ පරිදි ප්‍රතිඥාදී දිවුරුම් දීමෙන් පසුවය.

18.මෙම කොන්දේශි පිළිනොගන්නා කිසිවෙකුට මේ රටේ රටවැසි භාවය නොදිය යුතු අතර දේශපාලනය හෝ රජයේ රැකියා කිරීමද, ඉඩකඩම් මිළදී ගැනීම, ව්‍යාපාරවල යෙදීම හෝ රටේ රැඳී සිටීම නීතියෙන් තහනම් කළ යුතුය.එවැනි පුද්ගලයින් වහාම රටින් පිටුවහල් කළයුතුය. ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ කරනවාද?

.සියළුම ඉන්දීය දෙමළුන්ට මේ රටේ පුරවැසිභාවය දිය යුත්තේ 1953 නේරු/කොතලාවල ගිවිසුම අනුව පමණි. ඉන් බැහැරව දී ඇති සියළුම පුරවැසිකම් අහෝසිකළ යුතුය.

19..1815 දී උඩරට ගිවිසුමෙන් ඉන්ග්‍රීසීන්ට භාරදුන්නේ සිංහලේ රාජධානියයි, 1948 මේ රටේ පාලකයින්ට ආපසු භාරදුන්නේද සිංහලේමය. ශ්‍රී ලන්කාව,(සිලෝන් කීවේද සිංහල මිනිසුන්ගේ රට යන්නමය) ඔබ දන්නවාද/පිළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

මේ රටේ සභ්‍යත්වය පදනම් කරගෙන නිර්මාණය කෙරෙන නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ මෙම සියළුම ප්‍රතිපාධනයන් ඇතුලත් කළයුතුය.

20.1799 ක්ලෙග් හෝන්ගේ සිට බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය පාලකයින් සහ කතෝලික පල්ලිය එක්ව මේ රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය විනාශකිරීම සඳහා වැපුරූ බහුජාතික,බහු ආගමික, බහුවාර්‍රගික සහ බහුභාසික සන්කල්පයන් තව දුරටත් ප්‍රචලිත කිරීම වහාම නතරකොට 1815 ට පෙර මෙහි තිබුණු ස්වෛරී, ස්වාධීන, නිදහස් සහ අභිමානවත් සිංහල ජාතිය නැවත ව්‍යවස්ථාගතකොට සුද්දන් විසින් පැලකරණ ලද බහු ජාතික,බහු ආගමික, බහුවාර්‍රගික සහ බහුභාසික සන්කල්පය සියළුම ලේඛණවලින් සහ භාවිතයෙන් වහාම ඉවත්කොට  එසේ ප්‍රකාශකිරීම හෝ ලිවිම නීතියෙන් දඬුවම් කළහැකි අපරාධයක් වශයෙන් නම්කළ යුතුය. . ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ කරනවාද?

21.ක්‍රි.පූ. 2 වන සියවසේ සිට මේ රට රුහුණු,පිහිටි සහ මායා නමින්, රටේ භූවිෂමතාව අනුව යථාර්තවාදී තුන් හෙළයකින් සමන්විත වූ බවද එම යථාරූපී  සින්හලේ රාජ්‍ය 1833 දී උතුරු,නැගෙනහිර,දකුණු.බස්නාහිර, සහ මධ්‍යම වශයෙන් පලාත් 5 කට බෙදා විනාශකළ බව ඔබ දන්නවාද. එය නැවතත්. සුද්දාගේ පලාත් අහෝසිකොට පෙර තිබුණු පරිදි රුහුණු ,පිහිටි,මායා සහ ඊට අමතරව කන්ද උඩරට යනුවෙන් සිව් හෙලයකට බෙදීමට ඔබ එකඟ වෙනවාද?ඔබ බලයට ආවොත් එම සිව්හෙළය ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කරනවාද?

 සින්හල [S2] ජාතියේ වසර 2566 ක සියළු උරුමයන් සහ අයිතිවාසිකම් සියල්ල ඉන්දියාවට පාවාදී විනාශකළ, රටේ ඒකීය භාවය නැතිකොට මේ රට දෙකට කඩා උතුරු නැගෙනහිර වෙනම ස්වාධීන දෙමල ඊළම් රාජ්‍යකට මඟ පෑදූ, දැනටමත් ඉන්දියාව ඒකපාක්ෂිකව උල්ලන්ඝණය කොට ඇති, 1987 ජූලි 30 ජේ.ආර්,රජිව් ගිවිසුම වහාම අහෝසි කරනවාද

2. මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය පාලනය අවුලෙන් අවුලට පත්කළ රටට මහා හූනියමක් වූ ආණ්ඩුකාරයින් 9 දෙනෙක් ඇතුළු අමතර සහ අනවශ්‍ය දේශපාලකයින් 1000 ක් පමණද අතිරේක නිලධාරීන් දහස් ගානක් සහ ගොඩ නැගිලි යාන වාහන ආදිය සඳහා ජාතික ධනය බිලියන ගණනක් වාර්ෂිකව නාස්තිකරණ, රට හා ජනතාවට කිසිදු ප්‍රයෝජනයක් නැති 13 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව සහ පලාත් සභා වහාම අහෝසිකිරීම

3මේරටට මහත් ශාපයක්වී ඇති විධායක ජනාධිපති තනතුර වහාම අහෝසිකිරීම

4 1978 ව්‍යවස්ථා අහෝසිකොට මේ රටේ සභ්‍යත්වයට මත පදනම්වූ ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සකස්කරණ තුරු 1972 ජනරජ ව්‍යවථාව වහාම බලගැන්වීම

5 චන්දයෙන් පරදින, කිසිම දවසක මහජන චන්දයකින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට එන්ට බැරි, පක්ෂ නායකයින්ගේ ගජ මිතුරන් සහ නෑදෑයන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගැනීම සඳහා කපටි දේශපාලකයින් විසින් නිර්මාණය කොට ඇති  ජාතික ලැයිස්තුව වහාම අහෝසිකිරීම

6. නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය විහිලුවක් බවට පත්කොට ඇති දිස්ත්‍රික් මන්ත්‍රී ක්‍රමය වහාම අහෝසිකොට පැරණි ආසන මන්ත්‍රීක්‍රමය නැවත ඇතිකිරීම

7 පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේ ආසන සන්ක්‍යාව 1977 තිබුණු 168 ට වහාම අඩු කිරීම

8 මැති ඇමතිවරුන්ගේ අවුරුදු 5 න් විශ්‍රාමවැටුප් ක්‍රමය ඇතුළු අසීමිත වරප්‍රසාධ වහාම අහෝසිකිරීම

9රාජ්‍යසේවය දේශපාලන ග්‍රහණයෙන් නිදහස්කොට ස්වාධීන ජනතා සේවයක් බවට පත් කිරීම

10.1815 අපට අහිමිවූ සිංහල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය නැවත ලක්පොලවේ ප්‍රතිෂ්ඨාපණය කිරීම.

12.මේ රටේ සුවිෂේශී භූ දේශපාලන පිහිටීම සහ අසීමිත ස්වාභාවික සම්පත් සහ මානව සම්පත් වලින් රටේ ආර්ථිකය නගා සිටුවීමට උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජනය ගැනීම

13.ඒ සඳහා ලෝකය පුරා විසිරී සිටින සියළුම ලාන්කික විද්වතුන්ට  ජාතිය ගොඩගැනීම සඳහා මව්බිමට එන මෙන් ආරාධනය කිරීම

14.දේශීය නිශ්පාදනය සහ  රැකියා අවස්ථා නැන්වීම, අපනයන  ඉහල නැන්වීම සහ ආනයන සීමාකිරීම

15. දේශපාලකයින්ගේ සහ දේශපාලන පක්ෂවල සුභසෙතට වඩා රටේ හා ජනතාවගේ සුභසෙතට මුල් තැන දීම

16 මෙකී කරුණු පිළිනොගන්නා කිසිවෙකුට මේ රටේ රටවැසිකම ලැබීම,දේශපාලනය කිරීම හෝ රාජ්‍යසේවයේ යෙදීම තනම් කළයුතුය.

ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

17.වසර 2600 කට ආසන්න ප්‍රෞඩ ඉතිහාශයකට හා සන්ස්කෘතියකට උරුම කියන ජාතියක් වශයෙන් අප රටේත් ජාතියේත් අනන්‍යතාව රැක ගැනීම සඳහා ජාතියක් වෂයෙන් මෙකී  නිර්නායකයන් අපි දිවිහිමියෙන් ආරක්ෂාකළ යුතුය. ඒ බව ඔබ ළිගන්නවාද? ඔබ ජය ගතහොත් එසේ ව්‍යවස්ථාගත කිරීමට පොරුන්දු වනවාද?

18 මේ රටේ සියළුම පාසැල්,පන්සල් සහ රාජ්‍ය සහ පුද්ගලික ආයතනතුල දේශප්‍රේමය සහ ජාත්‍යාලය වඩවන වැඩපිළිවෙලක් වහාම ක්‍රියාවට නැන්වීම

19. සියළුම පාසැල්, විශ්ව විද්‍යාල සහ පිරිවෙන් වල ලන්කාවේ සැබෑ ඉතිහාසය උගැන්වීමේ වැඩපිලිවෙලක් වහාම ආරම්භකිරීම.

ලිඛිථව ජාතියට එසේ කරණ බවට පොරොන්දු නොවන කිසිවෙකු මේ රටේ නායකයෙකු වීමට හෝ දෙශපාලනයට කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නොවේ. එමනිසා එසේ ජාතියට පොරොන්දු නොවන කිසිවෙකුට කිසි දිනක මේ රටේ කිසිම සින්හලයෙකු කිසි දිනක තම චන්දය නොදිය යුතුය.

20. මේ රටේ සමස්ථ ජීවී පද්ධතිය සහ ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය රඳා පවතින්නේ මධ්‍යම කඳුකරයෙන් ගලාබස්නා ගන්ගා මත බැවින් එම කඳුකරයේ (රටේ භූගෝලීය හදබිමේ) භෞතික ස්ථාවරත්වය සිය පණ මෙන් අප ආරක්ෂාකළ යුතුය.

ඒ සඳහා පහත සඳහන් වැඩපිළිවෙල ක්‍රියාත්මක කළයුතුය

1, මූ.ම. අඩි 5000 ට ඉහල සියළුම ප්‍රදේශ සින්හල රජකාලේ මෙන්  අධි රක්ෂිත වනාන්තර හා ආරක්ෂිත කලාපයක් වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශකිරිම

2, මූ.ම, අඩි 3500 -5000 අතර කළාපයෙන් සියළු ජනාවාශ ඉවත් කිරීම

3 කඳු රටේ සියළුම ජනාවාශ මු.ම. අඩි 3500 න් පහල කොටසට සීමාකිරීම. ඉහත අන්ක 2 යටතේ ඉවත් කෙරෙන නීත්‍යාණුකූළ රට වැසියන් වන පුද්ගලයින්ද මෙම කලාපයේ පදින්චි කිරීමට යෝජනා කෙරේ..

21මෙකී සියළුම ප්‍රතිඥාවන් ජාතිය ඉදිරියේ පොරොන්දු නොවන කිසිවෙකු මේ රටේ ජනපති, අගමැති වීමට හෝ කිසිම මට්ටමක දෙශපාලනයට කිසිසේත්ම නුසුදුසු බවට ව්‍යවස්ථා ගතකළ යුතුය

මෙසේ කිරීමෙන්

දැනට මහා පාරිසරික විනාශයක් සිදු කරමින් 3500 න් ඉහල  ප්‍රදේශවල සාදා ඇති පහත සඳහන් නිවාශ ක්‍රමය වැනි සියළුම නිවාශ ඉවත්කළ යුතුය.

බොගවන්තලාවේ  වතු නිවාස  මු.ම..අඩි 4800.

ඉහත සඳහන් පොරුන්දු නොවන සියළුම අපේක්ෂකයින් ප්‍රතික්ශේප කොට, එසේ පොරොන්දුවන කිසිම අපේක්ෂකයෙකු නැතිනම් මේ රටේ සියළුම සින්හලයින් ලබන ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණය වර්ජනය කළ යුතුයයි මම යෝජනා කරමි.

මන්ද එවැනි අයට චන්දය දීමෙන්, 1948 සිට ඔබ කළ වරද නැවතත් සිදුකරණ නිසාය.

මෙවැනි වැඩපිලිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක නොකොට 1815 ට පෙර මේ රටේ තිබුණ සින්හල බෞධ රාජ්‍ය යළි කිසි දිනක ගොඩ නැගිය නොහැක.

මේ සින්හල රට හා සින්හල බෞද්ධ ජාතියට සියපණ දෙවැනි කොට ආදරය කරණ සින්හල බෞද්ධයෙකු වශයෙන් මම මෙම යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කරමි.

                                                      XXXX

අපි ජාතියක් වශයෙන් සිංහල බෞද්ධයෝ වෙමු. සිංහල බෞද්ධයින් යනු මනුස්සයින්ට පමණක් නොව අපා,දෙපා,සිව්පා සහ භූපා යන සියළුම සතුන්ටද මෛත්‍රී කරණ, හින්සා නොකරණ, සියළුම මිනිසුන් සහ සත්වයන් පවා කල්‍යාණ මිත්‍රයින් වශයෙන් දකින, පන්සිල්පද 5 රකින අහින්සාවාදී මනුස්ස කොට්ඨාෂයකි ඒ අණුව දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් කියා අපගේ කිසිදු විරසකයක් නැත. අපගේ එකම පැමිනිල්ල ඔවුන් මේ රටේ දෙමළ සහ  මුස්ලිම් ජාතීන් වශයෙන් පෙනී සිටීමටත් මේ සින්හල රටෙන් දෙමළ මුස්ලිම් වශයෙන් වෙනම රාජ්‍යන් ඉල්ලා සටන් වැදීමත් සහ බෝම්බ පිපිරවීමත් පිළිබඳවය.

ඉහතින් දැක්වූ පරිදි මේ රට සින්හලයින්ගේ රට බව පිළිගෙන, තමන් එහි සුළු ජනකොටස් පමණක් බව තෙරුම් ගෙන ස්වදේසීන් වන සින්හල සමාජයට අන්තර්ග්‍රහනය වී, වෙනම ඊළාම්, කලිස්තාන් නොඉල්ලා සිටින තාක් කල් ඔවුන්ටද මෙහි සිටිය හැක. කෙසේ වුවද එසේ කිරීමට නොහැකිනම්, බුරුමයේ සහ ඇතැම් අප්‍රිකාණු රටවල සිදුවූ පරිදි තම තමන්ගේ මව් රටවලට ඔවුන් වහාම ආපසු යා යුතුය.

මීට අමතරව

වසර 2600 කට ආසන්න ඉතිහාශය පුරාම අඛන්ඩව සිදුවි ඇති පරිදි අසල්වැසි දකුණු භාරතයෙන් මෙන්ම බටහිර අධිරාජ්‍යවාදින් ඇතුළු කුමණ දේශයකින් වුවද පැමිණි සියළුම සතුරන්, කේසර සිංහයින්  මෙන් පරාජයකොට පලවාහැර ඇත. ක්‍රි පූ 588 සිට තෙවරක් බුදු රජුන් වැඩි, තෙවරක්  බුදුන්ට පූජාකොට ඇති, මේ ලක්බිමේ උන්වහන්සේගේ සාශනය මතු අවුරුදු 5000 ක් ආරක්ෂාවන බවට දිවැසින් දැක ඒ බව අනුදැන වදාරා සක් දෙවිඳුන්ට භාර දුන් බුදුන්ගේ දේශය යන නාමෝපලක්ෂිත භාරතීය පුරාණ සාහිත්‍යයේ  “භූමධ්‍යයේ අන්කීයතිති ලන්කා” (ලෝකයේ හරිමැද පිහිටිහෙයින් ලංකා නම්වූ”)  නමින් ලෝකප්‍රකටව ඇති  මේ සිංහල දේශය සිංහවන්ශික සිංහලයින් විසින් කේශර සින්හයින් මෙන් ඉතිහාශය පුරා පරසතුරන්ගෙන් ආරක්ෂකොට ගෙන ඇති බව දෙමළ මුස්ලිම් සියළු දෙනාම දැන්වත් දැනගත යුතුය.

එසේ තේරුම් ගෙන රටේ භූමිපුත්‍රයින් වන සින්හලයින් සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් සිටීමට ඔවුන් දැන්වත් පුරුදු විය යුතුය. එසේ නැතිව 1799 සිටම අධිරාජ්‍යාය වාදීන් විසින්, ඔවුන්ද මේ රටේ ජාතීන්වන බව සහ ඔවුන්ටද ස්වයන් නිර්ණයේ අයිතියක් මේ රට තුළ ඇතැයි වැපුරූ   විෂබීජ්ය ඔවුන්ගේ හිසින් දැන්වත් ඉවත්කොට ගෙන  මේ සින්හලයින්ගේ රටේ, සින්හලයින් සමඟ ජීවත්විමට සූදානම් විය යුතුය.

එසේ කිරීමට නොහැකිනම් ඔවුනොවුන්ගේ රට වලට ආපසුයාම හැර වෙන විකල්පයක් ඔවුන්ට නැත.   

තුන්ලෝකාග්‍ර බුදුරජානන් වහන්සේගේ සරණින්, ශ්‍රී දලදා වහන්සේගේ අනුහසින් එසේම රුවන්වැලිසෑය ඇතුලු බුදු පා පහසින් පුජනීය වූ සොලොස්මස්ථානයේ අනුහසින් සහ සතරවරම් දෙවිවරුන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාවෙන් සියලු සතුරු උපද්‍රව ජයගෙන ඉර හඳ පවතිනාතුරු මේ පුණ්‍යභූමිය රැකේවා යි ලක්වැසි අපි සියළුදෙනාම එකාවන්ව එක හඬින් ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමු.

1.මේ රට ඉන්දියාවේ ප්‍රාන්තයක් වෂයෙන් සිතාගෙන අප රටේ සියළුම අභ්‍යන්තර ප්‍රශ්නවලට මැදිහත්වීම

මෙහි සිටින දෙමළ ජනතාව ඉන්දීය සම්භවයක් ඇති පිරිසක් බැවින් ඔවුන් තමන්ගේ වගකීම යයි සිතා ඉන්දියාව කටයුතු කිරීම, අප දෙරටේ සුහද භාවයට භාධාවකි. එසේම එය පිළිගත් සියළුම ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුති වලටද පටහැණිය.එබැවින් ලන්කාවේ සිටින දෙමළුන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්නවලට ඉන්දියාව ඇඟිළි ගැසීම වහාම නතර කළයුතුයි. මන්ද එසේ කළ විට ඔවුන් තමන් ජීවත්වන එසේම මුළුමනින්ම යැපෙන රටට වඩා ඉන්දියාවේ පුරවැසියන් මෙන් සිතාගෙන කටයුතු කරණ බැවිනි. ඒ අනුව ඔවුන් ලන්කා රට්වැසින් නොව ඉන්දීය පුර වසියන් වශයෙන් හැසිරීම මේ රටේ ස්වාධීනත්වයට ඉමහත් භාධාවකි. ඔවුන් ලාන්කාවේ රට වැසියන් මිස ඉන්දියාවේ රට්වැසියන් නොවේ. සින්හලයින්න්ද ඉන්දීය සම්භවයක් ඇති ජාතියක් වුවද ඔවුන්ට ඉන්දියාව සළකන්නේ වෙනත් ආකාරයකටය.ඒ සම්භන්ධයෙන් අපගේ දැඩි විරෝධය පළකරන අතරම  ඉන්දියාවේ මෙම අසීලාචාර ප්‍රතිපත්තියද  අපි දැඩිසේ හෙලාදකිමු.

 මේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර විරෝධි සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර නීති උල්ලන්ඝනය කෙරෙන ක්‍රියා නතර කිරීමට නොහැකිනම් ඉන්දියාව කළයුත්තේ මෙහි සිටින ඉන්දීය සම්භවයක් ඇති සියළුම දෙමලුන් ඉන්දියාවට ගෙන්වා ගෙන තමන්ට රිසි පරිදි ඔවුන්ට සැළකීමයි.

 2 මෙහි සිටින දෙමළ ජනතාව ඉන්දීය සම්භවයක් ඇති පිරිසක් බැවින් ඔවුන් තමන්ගේ වගකීම යයි සිතා ඉන්දියාව කටයුතු කිරීම අප දෙරටේ සුහද භාවයට මහත් භාධාවකි. එබැවින් මේ ක්‍රියාදාමය ඉන්දියාව වහාම නතර කළයුතුයි. මන්ද එසේ නොකළහොත්, මෙහි සිටින දෙමළුන් තම සිව්පසය සපයා ගන්නා එසේම තමන් ජීවත්වන රටට වඩා ඉන්දියාවේ පුරවැසියන් මෙන් සිතාගෙන කටයුතු කරණ බැවිනි. ඒ අනුව ඔවුන් ලන්කා රටවැසින් නොව ලන්කාව තුල ඉන්දීය පුරවැසියන් වශයෙන් හැසිරීම මේ රටේ ස්වාධීනත්වයට මෙන්ම ස්වෛරී භාවයට ඉමහත් භාධාවකි. ඔවුන් ලාන්කාවේ රට වැසියන් මිස ඉන්දියාවේ රට්වැසියන් නොවේ. ඉන්දියාව දැන්වත් ඒ බව තේරුම්ගත යුතුය

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 [S1]

 [S2]

Dr. Alexandr Dovgan & Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge 

Complex traumatic events are associated with armed conflict (Coventry et al., 2020), and it has a possible impact on mental health. These conflicts can cause physical, psychological, mental, and spiritual consequences for people (Moreno-Chaparro et al., 2022). Armed conflicts extinguish the social fabric and cause economic and cultural repercussions.  Moreno-Chaparro and team report (2022) that a high prevalence of mental disorders has been reported in areas affected by armed conflicts. As indicated by Carpiniello (2023), women and children are the most vulnerable to the outcome of armed conflicts. 

The Ukrainian War began in February 2014.  War in Ukraine has caused drastic negative consequences on physical and mental health with devastating effects at the individual and community level.  People living in war-torn regions of Ukraine are at a mental health risk. Many of them have witnessed deaths, suffered property losses, and some of them have become direct victims of war-related violence such as rape and torture. These events have caused negative outcomes for their mental health and social functioning. The war has become a collective trauma for the Ukrainians.

War-related anxiety, stress, and trauma have become the perilous factors in Ukraine.  A large number of Ukrainians have become refugees across Europe, and one-third of the population has been displaced within Ukraine as internal refugees (Vintilă et al., 2023). According to Kurapov and colleagues (2022), war in Ukraine has caused many mental health problems. People are experiencing multiple traumas and other cumulative stresses on a daily basis.  Osokina and team (2023) point out that war trauma has caused psychological distress in adolescents living in a war-torn region in Ukraine. As described by Fel and team (2022) women living in the war-torn areas in Ukraine are at a higher risk of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  

People affected by war trauma often show mistrust, social withdrawal, and feelings of emptiness and hopelessness. In some instances, drastic personality changes can be identified. They can experience depression, anxiety, complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), somatic complaints, pain-related problems, panic attacks, insomnia, etc. Some go into negative stress coping methods such as heavy alcohol abuse or substance abuse. War victims who exhibit social isolation, suicidal attempts, rage, agitation, extreme confusion, dissociation, and psychotic symptoms urgently need professional help.

Culturally sensitive mental health care efforts are essential to heal the war trauma in Ukraine.  In this context, an interdisciplinary approach to trauma healing is imperative. Immediate and long-term robust psychosocial interventions should be established with psychosocial interventions. A range of psychotherapeutic interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), and narrative exposure therapy (NET) can be used to treat the war victims. 

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) indicate the emotion-focused coping strategies to reduce or control negative emotions, such as anxiety. These interventions foster healing and posttraumatic growth. Existential therapy is also an important intervention in war trauma, and it acknowledges the intangible impacts of trauma on meaning, mortality, and identity. The therapists can use mindfulness techniques to improve outcomes after war trauma.

In war situations, creating a sense of safety is highly vital (Hobfoll et al. 2007). Almoshmosh and colleagues (2016) highlight that social connectedness is important to restore normal interaction and well-being. Moreover, community solidarity activities can curb further damage from war trauma (Anjum et al., 2023). Providing hope for the war victims can reduce their emotional suffering, and it enhances self-efficacy, resilience, personal growth, and mental well-being (Snyder, 2002). 

Ukrainian war victims are experiencing psychological distress and emotional suffering.  These psychological scars take a long time to heal. Moreover, trauma can be handed down from generation to generation. Therefore, trauma healing and building resilience are crucial for the Ukrainian war victims.

References

Almoshmosh N. (2016). The role of war trauma survivors in managing their own mental conditions, Syria civil war as an example. Avicenna j. med. 6, 54–59. doi: 10.4103/2231-0770.179554, PMID.

Anjum G, Aziz M, Hamid HK. Life and mental health in limbo of the Ukraine war: How can helpers assist civilians, asylum seekers and refugees affected by the war? Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 17;14:1129299. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129299. PMID: 36874809; PMCID: PMC9983366.

Carpiniello B. The Mental Health Costs of Armed Conflicts-A Review of Systematic Reviews Conducted on Refugees, Asylum-Seekers and People Living in War Zones. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 6;20(4):2840. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042840. PMID: 36833537; PMCID: PMC9957523.

Coventry PA, Meader N, Melton H, Temple M, Dale H, Wright K, Cloitre M, Karatzias T, Bisson J, Roberts NP, Brown JVE, Barbui C, Churchill R, Lovell K, McMillan D, Gilbody S. Psychological and pharmacological interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder and comorbid mental health problems following complex traumatic events: Systematic review and component network meta-analysis. PLoS Med. 2020 Aug 19;17(8):e1003262. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003262. PMID: 32813696; PMCID: PMC7446790.

Fel S., Jurek K., Lenart-Kłoś K. (2022). Relationship between socio-demographic factors and posttraumatic stress disorder: a cross sectional study among civilian participants’ hostilities in Ukraine. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 19:2720. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19052720, PMID:

Hobfoll S. E., Watson P., Bell C. C., Bryant R., Brymer M. J., Friedman M. J., et al. (2007). Five essential elements of immediate and mid-term mass trauma intervention: empirical evidence. Psychiatry 70, 283–315. doi: 10.1521/psyc.2007.70.4.283, PMID.

Kurapov A., Pavlenko V., Drozdov A., Bezliudna V., Reznik A., Isralowitz R. (2022). Toward an understanding of the Russian-Ukrainian war impact on university students and personnel. J. Loss Trauma. 28, 167–174. 10.1080/15325024.2022.2084838.

Lazarus R., Folkman S. Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Springer Publishing Company; New York, NY, USA: 1984.

Moreno-Chaparro J, Piñeros-Ortiz S, Rodríguez-Ramírez L, Urrego-Mendoza Z, Garzón-Orjuela N, Eslava-Schmalbach J. Mental health consequences of armed conflicts in adults: an overview. Actas Esp Psiquiatr. 2022 Mar;50(2):68-91. Epub 2022 Mar 1. PMID: 35312994; PMCID: PMC10803861.

Osokina O, Silwal S, Bohdanova T, Hodes M, Sourander A, Skokauskas N. Impact of the Russian Invasion on Mental Health of Adolescents in Ukraine. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2023 Mar;62(3):335-343. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.07.845. Epub 2022 Oct 29. PMID: 36441074.

Snyder C. R. (2002). Hope theory: rainbows in the mind. Psychol. Inq. 13, 249–275. doi: 10.1207/S15327965PLI1304_01.

Vintilă M, Kalaitzaki A, Turliuc MN, Goian C, Tudorel OI. Editorial: The war in Ukraine: impact on mental health on a global level. Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 25;14:1226184. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1226184. PMID: 37564318; PMCID: PMC10409641.

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), Admiral Samuel Paparo called on the Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd) Thursday (Mar 20) at the Deputy Minister’s office.

During the meeting, Admiral Paparo and Major General Jayasekara (Retd) engaged in discussions on a range of bilateral defence and security matters. Both parties emphasized the importance of strengthening defence cooperation to promote regional stability.

Admiral Paparo emphasized the enduring security partnership between the U.S. and Sri Lanka while outlining the U.S. vision for promoting regional stability and security in the Indo-Pacific. He reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to supporting Sri Lanka, highlighting the significance of people-to-people ties, providing assistance in maritime domain awareness (MDA) to address non-traditional security threats, offering technical know how and sharing expertise assistance for the development of the Maritime Security Strategy.

Admiral Paparo’s visit underscores the United States’ on-going commitment to enhancing security cooperation with Sri Lanka and addressing shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

The Defence Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Nelson, Executive Assistant, Captain Toraason, Political Advisor, Mr. David Ranz and Commander Rama Mutyala also joined the discussion with the Deputy Minister.

Property Show 2025

Industry experts at the Lanka Property Show 2025 expressed confidence in Sri Lanka’s real estate sector, highlighting its potential for growth despite past economic challenges. While factors such as rising interest rates, currency depreciation, and fluctuating taxes previously impacted the market, experts were optimistic that stabilizing interest rates, exchange rates, and tax policies will foster a more predictable and business-friendly environment for investors and homebuyers alike.

Building on this positive outlook, the Lanka Property Show 2025 reinforced the sector’s resilience and promising future. The event featured 25+ premier projects, including highly anticipated new launches, attracting a diverse audience of over 17,000 visitors both in person and virtually. The live stream on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube also garnered an impressive 59,721 views, further cementing the show’s success. The strong turnout and enthusiastic engagement from buyers, investors, and industry professionals underscored the sustained demand for real estate in Sri Lanka.

Now in its 9th edition, the Lanka Property Show (LPS)—the country’s largest property expo—was held on February 15th and 16th at the Kingsbury Hotel. Since its inception in 2017, the event has grown significantly, and in recent years, it has evolved into a hybrid physical and virtual show. This year saw an increase in visitors and exhibitors, reaffirming that buyers are actively returning to the market after the pandemic and economic downturn.

As in past editions, the Lanka Property Show 2025 hosted two engaging panel discussions, offering valuable industry insights. The first session delved into the growth and future of Sri Lanka’s property sector, examining key trends and market projections.

Kicking off the discussion, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, former Governor of the Central Bank, shared his perspective on the evolving economic landscape. He noted that, unlike in the past, challenges such as high interest rates, currency depreciation, and tax instability are expected to stabilize. This shift, driven by stricter fiscal policies introduced through the Public Finance Management Act and the Central Bank Act, is set to create a more predictable and investment-friendly environment.

Discussing the current market landscape for developers, Prime Group Chairman, Mr. Premalal Brahmanage, highlighted that Sri Lanka has the highest construction costs in South Asia, making property development more expensive and limiting the supply of affordable housing. He emphasized the financial burden on developers, stating that  from the first bag of cement to the final sale, direct and indirect taxes can account for up to 40% of each property transaction.

With the real estate industry contributing around 7% to the country’s GDP and generating substantial tax revenue, he urged the government to provide greater support to the sector to ensure its sustained growth and affordability for buyers.

To address these challenges, the industry is actively exploring innovative solutions such as cheaper financing options, enhanced supply chains, and advanced construction techniques to improve affordability and sustainability in the market, added Mr. Brahmanage.

In summary of Mr. Brahmanage’s comments, the moderator, Mr. Dhananath Fernando, remarked, it sounds to me like you’re in the business of paying taxes and in the middle of it building some property”.

Addressing the challenges developers face in attracting foreign buyers, Mr. Kishore Reddy, Managing Director of Platinum Realty Investments urged the government to expedite the implementation of investor visas. Despite being gazetted, these visas remain difficult to obtain, posing a barrier to international investment in Sri Lanka’s property market. He highlighted the need to make housing more affordable by addressing import barriers on essential building materials such as tiles, aluminium, and other construction materials. The imposition of cess and high duties on these imports increases construction costs, ultimately impacting both developers and buyers. By reducing such restrictions, the government can facilitate more cost-effective development. He also noted that while the rupee has depreciated against the dollar, property values have risen proportionally, ensuring that investors have not faced losses. This natural market adjustment, he emphasized, reinforces the view that real estate remains a secure and reliable investment option.

The panel discussion, moderated by Dhananath Fernando, (CEO of the Advocata Institute) also featured Nadeem Shums, (Vice President at John Keells Holdings PLC) and Saminda Jayasekara, (Chairman, Sri Lanka Atomic Energy Regulatory Council and Property Law Consultant) providing an in-depth and balanced view of the future trajectory of the market.

Continuing with the theme of real estate and construction, the second panel discussion centered on the affordable construction of individual homes. Moderated by Dr. Prathap Kaluthanthri (MRICS, Head of the Department of Estate Management and Valuation, University of Sri Jayewardenepura), the panel featured Dr. Janaka Fernando (Head of the Department of Business Economics, University of Sri Jayewardenepura), Dr. Yasas Pathiranage (Business Consultant), Plnr. E.A.C. Piyashantha (Deputy Director General, Urban Development Authority), and Chartered Architect Tharangika Ranathungarachchi (Partner, Makevita and Ranathungarachchi Architects). The discussion covered vital themes for those looking to build houses, including passive design, locally sourced materials, adaptive design, green roofs and living walls, all aimed at reducing costs, improving efficiency, and enhancing affordability and sustainability of houses.

Concluding the discussions, Industry experts emphasized the need for policy stability, affordable housing solutions, and streamlined investment processes to drive growth. With strong buyer interest, increased investor confidence, and ongoing discussions on key industry challenges, the event highlighted a promising path forward for the sector. As Sri Lanka’s property market continues to evolve, collaborative efforts between stakeholders and policymakers will be crucial in ensuring sustainable growth and greater accessibility for both local and foreign buyers.

This year’s event truly embodied its theme, “Everything Under One Roof for Property Buyers,” by bringing together a comprehensive range of real estate opportunities and services. Exhibitors showcased a diverse selection of apartments, houses, and land projects across the country, while four leading banks offered home loans starting from 11.5%. Attendees also had access to house builders, solar providers, free legal consultations, and expert advisory services on buying and selling—all conveniently available under one roof throughout the two-day event to fulfil their property buying process in the same location.

It was made possible with the support of its esteemed sponsors and partners. Platinum sponsors included Marina Square, John Keells Properties and Iconic Galaxy, while Gold sponsors included  Baili Investment and Prime Group. The event was further supported by its Banking Partner, Commercial Bank along with the media partnership of Sirasa Media Network, Outdoor Media Partner Storm Media and Communication Partner Textware. For more details on the event, visit www.lankapropertyweb.com/events

by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy PIME AsiaNews

Government action has so far not stabilised markets. Lower production is causing negative effects on inflation and the availability of products in stores. Some rice varieties have been unavailable for months. Signs of growth are visible only in rubber and some export crops.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector is going through a severe crisis, with a significant drop in the production of major crops such as rice, tea and coconut. This is driving up inflation and contributing to higher food prices, worrying consumers and policymakers alike.

According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), the drop in paddy rice production (the country’s staple crop) has been particularly pronounced, affecting the overall price of rice.

Paddy rice production from September 2024 to March 2025 is estimated at around 2.57 million tonnes, a 5.7 per cent decrease over the previous season, causing a shortage of rice in retail markets. The most popular varieties, like “nadu” and “samba”, have been out of stock in stores for months, while supermarkets are allowing customers to buy only three kilos at a time.

Government control measures on paddy rice and prices have had limited results so far.

The tea sector has also suffered a sharp slowdown. After a temporary rise in December 2024 and January 2025, by 9.6 per cent and 14.6 per cent respectively, production fell by 22 per cent in February, stopping at 15.59 million kilos.

The same goes for coconut production, which saw a decline of 33.1 per cent in December 2024 and 32.2 per cent in January 2025, driving up prices, with households forced to pay between 250 and 300 rupees (between US$ 0.85 and US$ 1.00) per nut.

The situation of the rubber sector is a bit different. In December 2024 production rose by 32.4 per cent, but then declined a month later. In 2023, Sri Lanka earned US$ 930 million from the export of natural rubber and rubber products.

In January this year, market prices of several export crops such as pepper, cocoa, cardamom, nutmeg, coffee, cinnamon, and turmeric went up, while prices of clove and ginger went down,” this according to experts Shirantha Mayadunne and Lakmali Wijesinghe speaking to AsiaNews.

According to the Department of Census and Statistics, the country’s economy recorded 5.4 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, with an estimated annual growth of around 5 per cent, thanks to lower inflation and exchange rate stability.

However, the CBSL failed to maintain its 5 per cent inflation target, which triggered serial currency crises between 2012 and 2022.

In fact, Sri Lanka is still trying to recover from the severe financial crisis that culminated in the 2022 sovereign debt default, caused by aggressive fiscal and monetary policies.

For now, interest rates are low and private sector credit has expanded.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

John Keells CG Auto marks a new era in green mobility

In a momentous event for Sri Lanka’s automotive landscape, the first shipment of BYD’s cutting-edge new energy vehicles (NEVs) has arrived at the Hambantota Port. 

This historic milestone, facilitated by John Keells CG Auto (JKCG Auto)—the authorised distributor for the BYD vehicles in Sri Lanka—ushers in a new era of sustainable mobility and innovation. 

The shipment includes a brand-new range of BYD’s most popular global models such as BYD SEALION 6, BYD ATTO 3, BYD DOLPHIN and several other advanced NEVs. These state-of-the-art NEVs have been hotly anticipated by local auto enthusiasts, marking BYD’s re-entry into the Sri Lankan market after over five years of import restrictions, with first deliveries to pre-booking customers commencing over the 

coming weeks.  

Our partnership with BYD highlights our commitment to driving a green mobility revolution that will help to build Sri Lanka’s dream of an empowered, cleaner, more sustainable nation,” JKCG Auto General Manager Charith Panditharatne said. 

We are proud to be the first to bring these brand-new BYDs to Sri Lanka, following the removal of import restrictions. Leveraging on the synergies within the John Keells group, we aim to catalyse a broader evolution in mobility for Sri Lanka, that offers the highest quality vehicles, infrastructure and after-sales services to ensure to sustainably power this critical transition for our nation.”   

JKCG Auto plans to deliver the vehicles to its Sri Lankan customers in the coming weeks, ensuring a seamless introduction of BYD’s innovative technology and superior performance to local roads. With additional shipments underway, the company is poised to meet the expectations of an increasingly eco-conscious customer base and further strengthen its reputation as a leading force in the country’s green mobility revolution.

SHEAIN FERNANDOPULLE  Courtesy The Daily Mirror

 

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• Joint pain lasts at least a month
• The disease is not spread directly from person to person—only through mosquito bites
• Main symptoms include sudden high fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headache, nausea, fatigue, and skin rashes
• These mosquitoes are most active during the early morning and late afternoon
• Eliminating mosquito breeding sites is the most effective way to control the outbreak

Colombo, March 21 (Daily Mirror) – Sri Lanka is experiencing a rapid spread of Chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral disease, with cases reported from various parts of the country.

Speaking to Daily Mirror, Consultant Physician Dr Achala Balasuriya said Chikungunya is spread through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes, primarily Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These mosquitoes become infected when they bite a person who already has the virus. After an incubation period of about 4 to 7 days, the infected mosquito can then transmit the virus to other people through bites,”

These mosquitoes are most active during the early morning and late afternoon, and they breed in stagnant water found in containers like flower pots, tires, buckets, and clogged drains. The disease is not spread directly from person to person—only through mosquito bites,”

We have seen a spike in Chikungunya cases these days. What we see different here is that the joint pain lasts at least one month after initial recovery,” she said.

The main symptoms include sudden high fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headache, nausea, fatigue, and skin rashes. While most patients recover within a week, joint pain can persist for months or even years in some cases, particularly among older individuals,”

She warned that eliminating mosquito breeding sites is the most effective way to control the outbreak.

Chikungunya symptoms: What to watch forWith the recent surge in Chikungunya cases across Sri Lanka, health experts are urging the public to be aware of its symptoms.According to experts, the disease typically begins with a sudden high fever, followed by severe joint pain that can last for at least a month.Other common symptoms include muscle aches, headaches, nausea, fatigue, and skin rashes.While most patients recover within a week, lingering joint pain can persist for months or even years, particularly among older individuals.The expert emphasizes that eliminating mosquito breeding sites remains the most effective way to control the outbreak.

Shenali D Waduge

South Africa’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission was NOT a tribunal & therefore had no powers to prosecute individuals as there were no judges, no lawyers & no intention to declare who was guilty & who was innocent. It was nothing but Restorative Justice created in 1995 by the Nelson Mandela govt claiming it would heal” the trauma of apartheid. Nothing of the sort happened. We don’t need new healing, restorative justice, reconciliation 16 years after Sri Lanka’s conflict ended. Yes, we need truth – but that truth must name all the individuals (local & foreign) who supported LTTE over the years, all the organizations, officials, governments, NGOs (local & foreign) especially the Church who funded & supported LTTE over the years. If none of these truths are going to be put into the open, there is no point in holding any TRC in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces must not fall for this trap of story-telling & confessions for compensation!

Traditional tribunals punish wrongdoers through trials. The TRC was a crafty means to get people to confess to guilt & be given amnesty for doing so. This is exactly what Sri Lanka’s TRC is aiming to do. With LTTE ground force leaders all dead, the aim is to fool Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces to confess & get amnesty probably holding a carrot that their travel bans etc would be lifted. Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces should not fall for this trap! Sri Lanka does not need ad hoc Christian-based forgiveness” tribunals based on a bogus healing, reconciliation, truth-telling”. Sri Lanka has been pumped reconciliation since 2009 while the LTTE cohorts are happily screaming separate state & eelam! Anyone short of listening to fairytales or horror stories these TRC are ideal!

While pro-LTTE lobbyists claim 40,000 dead they have not produced the names of the dead, there are no dead bodies, no skeletons & no habeas corpus or police complaints by families to claim the dead even lived. Without proving this there is no case against the armed forces for war crimes/genocide.

Nevertheless, entire villages were massacred by LTTE since 1980s over 30 years – are these victims alive to tell their story? What about the hundreds that LTTE gunned down & killed in premeditated murder – these people comprised Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils & even foreigners. Can compensation bring back these people who were gunned down for no reason? Who in the LTTE will come forward & admit to these crimes today?’

There is nothing to educate the Sri Lankan public, everyone who lived under LTTE rule are well aware of what LTTE did. There is no reason to return to that sordid past simple for storytelling. There are enough of documents of LTTE’s crimes. Moreover, the people have moved on. People have bigger problems than revisiting terrorist’s tales. That terror chapter is now over. People have economic & social issues to deal with. There is no requirement to dig the past because Prabakaran cannot be brought to life to answer to all his crimes.

The people placed trust in the then Govt to end terrorism & liberate the Nation from terrorism. The President as Commander in Chief ordered his troops & they did the needful in 2009 with one flag hoisted across the Nation. This was an occasion where the trust of the people was fulfilled.

What is baffling is why a National Army is being kept in par with an internationally banned terrorist group. Why should terrorists be given any status other than holding them to account for the violation of pre-meditated murder across 30 years. Simply because the terrorist group was defeated & thus defeated those who were indirectly & directly backing the terrorists over the years. Thus, all of these justice” accountability” attempts are nothing but a means of revenge against all those who contributed to the defeat of the LTTE.

Immediately after the conflict ended the 12000 LTTE who surrendered to the National Army were all put through rehabilitation, the 594 LTTE child soldiers were returned to school & were given opportunities to learn. This was the healing given immediately after the conflict. We don’t need new healing, restorative justice, reconciliation 16 years after the conflict ended.

Yes, we need truth – but that truth must name all the individuals (local & foreign) who supported LTTE over the years, all the organizations, officials, governments, NGOs (local & foreign) who funded & supported LTTE over the years.

If none of these truths are going to be put into the open, there is no point in holding any TRC in Sri Lanka.

South Africa’s TRC received testimonies from 21,000 victims in over 70 public hearings. 7112 amnesty applications were received. However, less than 1000 were whites. 849 were given amnesty after they disclosed their involvement in the crimes. If the TRC was not a legal tribunal, how valid were these amnesties.

With no legal ramifications for those who confessed to crimes does this not open more wounds than heal? Moreover, anyone can confess to claim a reparation.

The South African TRC gave $3000 per victim.

How can a loss of life in Sri Lanka be compared to this measly amount & have the case closed after digging up the trauma 16 years after it ended?

How far has racial tensions been solved in South Africa post-TRC? None of the Black South Africans got the lands taken from them back!

Apartheid ended in 1994. But Blacks continue to suffer even in 2025!

Economic Inequality

Wealth Distribution – 2020 report by South African Institute of Race Relations – 70% of whites hold South Africa’s wealth though they make up only 8% of the population.

Unemployment – 2024 – overall unemployment about 33.9%. Unemployment amongst Blacks was higher.

In 2022 Black youth unemployment stood at 46.6% – white unemployment was 10.4%

Land ownership – As per South African Govts Dept of Rural Development & Land Reform about 72% agricultural land is still owned by whites who comprise 8% of the population.

Housing –

13.7m Blacks were still living in poor quality housing as per 2019 report from Statistics South Africa. 56% of South African households still live in poverty.

Education – As per South African Education Department Black South Africans made up 80% of student population with the lowest graduation rates. 77% whites students graduate as against 49% blacks.

Income & Wealth

In 2020 white South Africans had a median income of around R120,000 per year compared to black South Africans whose median income was about R60,000 per year (SAIRR)

World Bank 2019 claims Black South Africans are still 8 times more likely to live in poverty than white South Africans. Poverty rate for blacks was 42% against 5% for whites.

Racial Tensions & Hate Crimes

2020 report of South African Human Sciences Research Council says racial discrimination still exists. 30% blacks report experiencing racial discrimination in public spaces & 12% say they experience racial discrimination in the workplace.

South African police recorded more than 1000 hate crimes in 2019 related to race.

What are the lessons Sri Lanka must take from the South African TRC (1996-2002)

• Amnesty followed Christian principles of forgive & forget without anyone actually meaning it as it came with a carrot of compensation.
• Amnesty was given to individuals who confessed with full disclosure of crimes – people confessed to get amnesty & compensation & because they were told there was no legal ramifications for confessing guilt. This is likely to be a trick to only frame Sri Lankan Armed Forces as LTTE ground force are no more.
• There was no national healing nor reconciliation – only a bogus truth-telling” which meant more than 6000 blacks confessing to less than 1000 whites confessing. Apartheid was about white discrimination against blacks.
• The catch came with the fact that the TRC had no legal power to prosecute but they could recommend prosecution
• Some of those who confessed faced public backlash & criticism from victim families & society.
• However, some of the perpetrators who received amnesty have been held accountable & faced legal action.
• New Truth & Justice Movements were formulated demanding legal action against those who confessed resulting in new issues & forming more controversies. We can see how this will materialize in Sri Lanka via the LTTE Diaspora and the usual hired NGO culprits.
• Though the TRC claims to give amnesty for confessions there is nothing stopping individuals using information revealed in the TRC to file in civil courts against the perpetrators.
• There is a major difference in TRC giving amnesty & immunity. TRC did not grant immunity from civil legal action. A victim / family of victim could use confessions to demand compensation/damages in civil court.

Therefore, Sri Lanka does not require to be copying & pasting what other countries do.

Our situation was different to South Africa’s. South African TRC was nothing but a failure. It only gave a handsome remuneration for the 300 staff who were involved in the TRC.

16 years have passed since the end of Sri Lanka’s conflict. LTTE ground force is no more. Majority of other LTTE have fled to other countries & made a home there. The rehabilitated LTTE have married & LTTE child soldiers are also now adults & getting about their lives. We do not hold grudges as there are no more killings.

If Tamils have a problem that needs to be healed & solved it is none other than their caste issues while the majority Hindu practicing Tamils need to now wonder why the Church was instrumental in always becoming the mouthpiece for Tamils & LTTE. These are questions that are yet to be solved but unlikely to be solved as these truths will never get to any TRUTH table.

What was never admitted in South Africa’s TRC was the role of the Church in apartheid. Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) was the mainline church of white Afrikaners, who played a central role in supporting apartheid. Let us not forget, Desmond Tutu was a signatory in some of the pro-LTTE letters sent to the UNHRC against Sri Lanka. Thus, the TRC’s forgiveness” is plucked from the Church which continues to dictate who is guilty & who is not based on what is advantageous to their political agenda.

It is obvious that not only past governments but this government & all of their advisors are clueless about Sri Lanka & the terrorist conflict we faced alongside the players that were involved directly & indirectly & are happy to play poodle to any proposals that come from those who want to seek revenge against those who ended terrorism.

Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces must not fall for this trap of story-telling & confessions for compensation!

Shenali D Waduge

By Palitha Ariyarathna

The characterization of Theravāda Buddhism, particularly in Sri Lanka, as militant is a distortion of its historical trajectory and core philosophy. Charles Keyes, in his article Political Crisis and Militant Buddhism in Contemporary Thailand (rev 1999), projects a generalized narrative of “militant Buddhism” that fails to account for the unique cultural, ethical, and historical context of Sri Lanka. His misinterpretation of the Mahāvaṃsa undermines the profound commitment of Sri Lankan Buddhists to ahimsa (non-violence), compassion, and coexistence.

Charles Keyes is a well-known scholar who, since the 1960s, has conducted extensive research in Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations. His work has contributed significantly to the understanding of the socio-political and cultural dynamics of the region, with a focus on Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and southern China. While his scholarship is commendable, his interpretation of “militant Buddhism” fails to contextualize the Sri Lankan case and risks promoting a biased narrative.

Buddhism occupies a central place in Sri Lanka’s constitution, reflecting its historical role as the spiritual foundation of the nation. This protection is not an assertion of dominance but a framework to preserve the ethical and cultural identity of the country. Roles of Upāsaka (lay male followers), Upāsikā (lay female followers), Bhikkhu (monks), and Bhikkhunī (nuns) embody a collective responsibility to uphold peace, harmony, and moral conduct. This constitutional safeguard ensures that Buddhist principles guide society, fostering coexistence and resilience. It aligns Sri Lanka’s governance with the principles of mettā (loving-kindness), karunā (compassion), and upekkhā (equanimity), and stands in stark contrast to the claims of militant intentions.

Buddhism in Sri Lanka is deeply rooted in the teachings of the Buddha, which emphasize non-violence and moral discipline. Historically, Sri Lanka has demonstrated unwavering adherence to practices that serve as the moral backbone of the nation and unequivocally reject violence or militancy as methods for achieving objectives. Central to these practices are mettā (extending loving-kindness to all beings), karunā (showing compassion for the suffering), muditā (rejoicing in others’ happiness), and upekkhā (practicing equanimity in the face of challenges).

Charles Keyes references the Mahāvaṃsa’s portrayal of King Dutugemunu’s campaign against Tamil invaders, suggesting it is “the nearest approximation to a holy war” within Theravāda Buddhism. This interpretation misrepresents the text’s intent and Sri Lanka’s historical circumstances. The Mahāvaṃsa is a literary chronicle that blends history with moral and spiritual teachings, emphasizing the preservation of Buddhism amid external threats. Dutugemunu’s campaign is a narrative of defense—protecting sovereignty and ensuring the survival of the Dharma—not one of conquest or aggression. His profound remorse over the loss of life further highlights adherence to Buddhist ethics, reinforcing that violence is never taken lightly.

According to Buddhist principles, for an action to be sinful, four conditions must be met:

1. Identifying a being – Recognizing a living being confirms the awareness required for the act.
2. Intending harm – Formulating harmful intent introduces a deliberate decision to cause suffering.
3. Making efforts to cause harm – Taking actionable steps signifies the effort made.
4. Successfully harming – Achieving the harmful result completes the unethical act.

Dutugemunu’s actions were driven by duty and necessity, not malice or religious zeal. Viewing these defensive efforts as militant not only misrepresents the historical context but also undermines the ethical foundation of Sri Lankan Buddhism. Keyes misapplies the concept of militant Buddhism by equating defensive strategies with holy wars. He states, “The war that Duṭṭhagāmaṇi waged against the Tamils is portrayed in the Mahāvamsa in terms that make it the nearest approximation to a holy war that can be found anywhere in the literature of Theravāda Buddhism.” This claim overlooks the broader ethical and cultural framework underpinning the Mahāvaṃsa.

Throughout history, many religious traditions have engaged in violent conquests, crusades, and campaigns of forced conversion. For example, the Crusades (1095–1291) resulted in mass violence and the deaths of millions, religious inquisitions forced conversions through persecution, and empires expanded territory by imposing faith through military force. Sri Lanka’s history, by contrast, has no record of initiating religious wars or forcing others into Buddhism. Sri Lankan Buddhists have maintained a steadfast commitment to moral principles, even when faced with existential threats.

During this same period, Sri Lanka was governed by a series of monarchs who upheld Buddhist values and prioritized the well-being of the people. Their efforts stand in stark contrast to the violent campaigns observed elsewhere. The following comparison highlights the rulers of the time and their humanitarian contributions:

Crusade Period	Kingdom	Ruler	Reign	Key Achievements	Humanitarian Aspects
Early Crusades	Polonnaruwa Kingdom	Vijayabahu I	1055–1110	Reunited Sri Lanka after defeating Chola invaders. Restored Buddhist traditions and rebuilt temples.	Focused on healing and uniting a fractured nation, demonstrating justice, compassion, and a commitment to peace.
Middle Crusades	Polonnaruwa Kingdom	Parakramabahu I	1153–1186	Promoted Buddhism, developed massive irrigation projects like Parakrama Samudra, and secured sovereignty.	Known for his focus on sustainability and people’s well-being, with policies benefiting livelihoods and the environment.
Middle Crusades	Polonnaruwa Kingdom	Nissanka Malla	1187–1196	Declared himself the protector of Buddhism, emphasized piety in inscriptions, and supported social order.	Acted as a stabilizing force; however, his focus on grandeur sometimes overshadowed practical humanitarian efforts.
Late Crusades	Dambadeniya Kingdom	Vijayabahu III	1232–1254	Founded the Dambadeniya Kingdom to protect Buddhism; promoted societal harmony during political unrest.	Displayed care for societal stability and preservation of Buddhist values amidst a time of instability.

This comparison illuminates the significant difference between the violent practices of the Crusades and the peaceful, humanitarian approaches of Sri Lanka’s rulers, guided by Buddhist principles. Their focus on compassion, cultural preservation, and societal well-being underscores the deep contrast.

Charles Keyes’ characterization of Buddhism in Sri Lanka as militant is deeply flawed and fails to appreciate the ethical and historical nuances of the tradition. Sri Lanka’s Buddhist philosophy is one of compassion, non-violence, and harmony, reflected in its constitutional framework and cultural ethos. When faced with threats, Sri Lanka has defended its sovereignty and heritage responsibly, without compromising Buddhist principles.

It is essential to challenge these misrepresentations and illuminate the true legacy of Sri Lankan Buddhism—a legacy rooted in peace, resilience, and moral integrity.

“When certain acclaimed individuals distort history by masking the violence of their own religion while misrepresenting the actions of nations defending their lands and territories, they undermine the truth. Furthermore, academic attempts to target Buddhism by unfairly portraying it as a militant religion are not only incorrect but also deeply unjust, violating the principles of fair and honest scholarship.”

By Palitha Ariyarathna

References

• Keyes, Charles F. Political Crisis and Militant Buddhism in Contemporary Thailand (Revised 1999).
• The Mahāvaṃsa. A primary literary and historical source of Sri Lankan Buddhism.
• The Constitution of Sri Lanka. Emphasizing protections for Buddhism within the national framework.
• Theravāda Buddhist Teachings. Ethical principles such as mettā (loving-kindness) and ahimsa (non-violence).
• Deegalle, Mahinda. Buddhism, Conflict and Violence in Modern Sri Lanka