Courtesy Ceylon Today

Power outages due to the adverse weather conditions have been reported from several areas in the island including Matara, Galle and Ratnapura today (18).

Deputy Director of theDisaster Management Centre (DMC), Pradeep Kodippili advised the public not to proceed to the sea and to avoid travelling to the mountain areas due to the current adverse weather. 

Also, as a result of the torrential rains in the mountain areas, the water levels of the Laxapana, Maussakelle and Castlereagh reservoirs have been risen and due to this situation two spill gates of the Laxapana reservoir have been opened today (18) morning. 

The DMC has issued a red notice to all the residents living down-stream close to the Kelani River to evacuate from the area.

By Hansi Nanayakkara Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) yesterday (18), informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratna that they were currently probing how a sum of over US$ 100 million had been sent from Saudi Arabia to the Batticaloa Campus Private Limited and the Bank accounts from which that sum had been withdrawn, to construct a University in the Poonani area of Batticaloa.

 They said, Parliamentarian Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera had lodged a complaint in this connection at the IGP’s office on 12 July, after which the complaint had been handed over to them by the Acting IGP.

They added that after receiving the complaint, they had summoned the monk to record a statement from him.

 The FCID informed the Court that in the complaint, the monk had claimed that the land which had been provided for the construction of the University had belonged to the Maheweli Development Authority (MDA).

They added, the monk had stated that the MDA had given the land to the Hira Foundation for the construction of a technical college and the Hira Foundation had been registered with the Social Services Department.

The FCID told Magistrate Jayaratna, the monk had further mentioned in his statement that after obtaining the land, the Foundation had used it for other activities.

They added that the monk had stated in his complaint that a sum of over US$ 100 million had been sent from overseas to this University and that the sending of such a staggering amount of money had been suspicious.

They also told the Magistrate that Ven. Rathana Thera had stated that 24 hours after the 21 April Easter Sunday terror attack, former Eastern Province Governor Hizbullah had gone to meet three Muslims residing at the Karmy Hotel situated in Passikuda, despite a curfew being imposed throughout the country.

The FCID informed the Court that the monk, in his complaint, had stated that it was suspicious as to why Hizbullah had gone to meet the three Muslims who were residing in the country sans visas and such incidents have to be probed for the safety of the public here.

The FCID said that they had also recorded a statement from Nagaraja Kanthan, a resident of Valachchanai connected to the same incident.

They added that in his statement to them Nagaraja has stated that development work was being carried out on a land owned by the State in this area and upon further inquiries it had come to light that a 35-acre block, owned by the MDA, had been provided to the Sri Lanka Hira Foundation.

 CT Web 02:00 AM Jul 19 2019

By Sumanasiri Liyanage Courtesy Ceylon Today

In spite of the ambiguities embedded in the Constitution over the next date of the Presidential Poll, there is no doubt that it should be held prior to May 2020, the latest. From the perspective of the people in the country, it is pertinent to rethink about the decision that they made on 8 January 2015.

As 6.2 million people voted on 8 January 2015 to oust the existing regime and to elect a new Government, it is not unfair to assume that these voters might have done although unconsciously some kind of scenario development for next five years on the performance of the new regime. 

Scenario development and planning is a scientific exercise deployed by actors such as business firms, environmental organisations. However, we laymen also engage in the same exercise in our day-to-day lives. It is neither a prediction nor a projection, but a more flexible reading of the future that is unvaryingly uncertain.

The 6.2 million people who voted on 8 January 2015 to oust the existing regime might have had compared two scenarios prior to casting their vote. The first would have been the envisioned situation that would be created in case the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa got elected. 

The second would have been Sri Lanka in 2020 under Wickremesinghe-Sirisena regime. The 6.2 million people would have thought that the second was the better option even though it was not one hundred per cent perfect.

 Nonetheless, now it is clear that the scenario that had been developed with regard to the second option is incorrect and the Wickremesinghe-Sirisena regime has finally ended up being the worst regime in the seventy years since Independence. Let us first see how this mental exercise is performed.

Scenario Development

What is meant by scenario development? Philip van Notten defines scenarios” 

as: consistent and coherent descriptions of alternative hypothetical futures that reflect different perspectives on past, present, and future developments, which can serve as a basis for action.” Hence, the method of scenario development and planning combines known facts about the present and the future with key driving forces identified by considering social, technical, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP) trends. As adequate information is available with regard to the present situation, it is much easier to develop scenarios because the drivers that would determine the future may easily be recognised.

By 2015, Mahinda Rajapaksa had been in power for ten years. Under his leadership, the internal armed conflict came to an end when security forces were able to defeat the LTTE comprehensively, decimating its principal leadership. 

This helped him to come to power for the second time in 2010. The steps taken after the election were hard to be defended. The 18th Amendment was added to the Constitution repealing the constitutional limit of presidential tenure to two terms and placing the independent commissions set up by the 17th Amendment under virtual presidential control. 

There were allegations about the regime’s involvement in killing and harassing its opponents and corruption associated with huge infra-structure projects. There appeared to be multiple drivers working towards more and more authoritarian rule. In spite of some positive results in the economic front, for a citizen who preferred more democratic and corruption free country the argument that the existing regime should go was a convincing one.

What Went Wrong?

The academics, professionals and the Colombo civil society who led the campaign against the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime prior to the 2015 Presidential Poll had presented a convincing argument over the necessity of regime change. Of course, some of these groups did not base their action on situational analysis but based on their own political agenda. 

Many Colombo civil society organisations are heavily depended on the contributions by Western nations. 

In a context when the USA and its allies and India, badly, wanted to oust Mahinda Rajapaksa, for its close links with China, they used Colombo civil society organisations to lead the campaign not specifically on the issue of Chinese involvement but on the issue of democracy and human rights. In the present world context both democracy and human rights are being used as what Michael Foucault said, the technology of governance by the imperialist powers.

In my view, the Government that came to power in January 2015 may be described as the worst Government in the last 70 years whatever the measure being used. In other words, Sri Lanka is experiencing today its first generalised crisis since independence. A generalised crisis is a crisis that occurrs simultaneously in every field, economic, political, social, and cultural. Both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are being steered by visible and invisible foreign hands. Human security is at its lowest. This has extended even to the field of sports.  

Let us confine ourselves to people who were really concerned about democracy, human rights and all those goodies and followed wittingly or unwittingly the Western plan of regime change in 2015. I must emphasise I do not put all those people into one basket. What went wrong as far as they were concerned? If they make a retrospective assessment of the 2015 decision, what would be their verdict?

Scenario Development, Test 2

As I argued above, these multifarious groups had correctly understood the prevailing situation and the drivers that would be in operation under a future Rajapaksa regime, namely Test 1. Nonetheless, they have failed in scenario development Test 2. Their situation analysis was incomplete and inadequate, and they failed totally to understand the drivers that would be at work after the election. A critical point they missed in the situation analysis is the developing tension in the Indian Ocean region. Secondly, the coalition that was formed was not more than a hotchpotch with opposing intentions and conflicting policies. 

When the honeymoon is over, and the issue of succession of power comes to the fore, such a coalition may not be maintained. The neoliberalist economic policies and the Western leanings of the main partners of the coalition drove the country eventually for an economic collapse on the one hand and the security collapse on the other. Hence, scenarios” as consistent and coherent descriptions of alternative hypothetical futures that reflect different perspectives on past, present, and future developments, which can serve as a basis for action” were developed with wrong assessment of the situation and the failure to identify the drivers and their directionality. The outcome is the first generalised crisis in the country since its Independence.

(The writer is a retired teacher of political economy at the University of Peradeniya.

E-mail: sumane_l@yahoo.com)

 CT Web 02:00 AM Jul 19 2019

කතු වැකිය ලංකාදීප

යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය පදවියක් හොබවන රන්ජන් රාමනායක භික්ෂු සමාජය ගැන කරන ලදැයි කියන ප්‍රකාශයක් පිළිබඳව ලොකු කලබගෑනියක් හටගෙන තිබේ. ඔහු එම ප්‍රකාශය මගින් මෙරට භික්ෂු සමාජය දැඩි විවේචනයට ලක්කර ඇත. යූ ටියුබ්” මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ සාකච්ඡාවකට සහභාගී වෙමින් රන්ජන් රාමනායක විසින් කරන ලද ප්‍රකාශය වැරැදීමක් හෝ වැරදි අර්ථ දැක්වීමක් නොව ඔහු විසින්  පුවත් මැවීමට හෝ පොරක් වීම” සඳහා කරන ලද්දක් සේ සමාජයේ කතාබහට ලක්ව ඇත.

ඔහු මහජන  නියෝජිතයෙකි. මහජන නියෝජිතයකු වන්නට පෙර හෙතෙම ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සමාජයේ සාමාජිකයෙකි. නළුවෙකි. ප්‍රකට චරිතයකි. මෙවන් අයට සමහරුන් කියන්නේ ජනමත ප්‍රධානීන් කියාය. ජනමත ප්‍රධානියකු මහජන නියෝජිතයකු වනවිට ඔහු හැසිරිය යුත්තේ සංයමයෙනි. එහෙත් රන්ජන් රාමනායක තවත් වරක් හැසිරී ඇත්තේ සමාජයේ විවේචනයට ලක්වන ආකාරයටය.

මෙවන් සංඝයාවහන්සේලාගෙන් ආණ්ඩුව කරන හැටි ගැන දේශපාලන ලොක්කන් උපදෙස් ගන්නේ ඇයිදැයි ඔහු ප්‍රශ්න කර ඇත. මේ කතාවට මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රචාරයක් ලැබීමෙන් රන්ජන් තෙමේගේ ප්‍රචාරක අරමුණ නම් ඉටු වී ඇත. එහෙත් දේශපාලනඥයකු වශයෙන් මෙන්ම මෙරට සමාජයේ සාමාජිකයකු ලෙස රන්ජන් මෙරට බහුතර දේශපාලනඥයන්ගේත් බෞද්ධ අබෞද්ධ යහපත් සමාජයේත් විවේචනයට පාත්‍රවී තිබේ. ඔහුට ඒ ගැන සතුටක් තිබෙන්නට පිළිවන. මෙම ප්‍රකාශයෙන් අපහසුතාවට පත් රන්ජන් නියෝජනය කරන එ.ජා.පයේ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ඔහුගෙන් කරුණු විමසූ විට සහ අමාත්‍යවරුන් ගණනාවක්ම ඔහුට භික්ෂූන්වහන්සේලාගෙන් සමාව ගන්නා ලෙස දැන්වූ විට ලබාදුන් පිළිතුරෙන් පෙනී යන්නේ රන්ජන් තමාගේ ප්‍රකාශය ගැන එතරම් තැකීමක් නොකරන බවයි.

භික්ෂූන්වහන්සේගෙන් සමාව ගන්නැයි කී අයට රන්ජන් දුන් පිළිතුර අනුව ඔහු කළ දේ ගැන සමාව නොගත යුතු බව පවසමින් කියා ඇත්තේ තමන් ගරුතර මහා සංඝරත්නය අපහාසයටත් නින්දාවටත් ලක්කර නොමැති බවයි. ඒ නිසා සමාව ගැනීමක් අවශ්‍ය නොවන බවද හෙතෙම ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත. එහෙත් ඔහුගේ පක්ෂයේ නායක හා අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා රන්ජන් රාමනායකගේ අදහස තරයේම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන බවට විශේෂ ප්‍රකාශයක් කර තිබේ. මහා සංඝරත්නය ගැන සැමවිටම ගෞරව සම්ප්‍රයුක්තව ක්‍රියා කරන තමන්ගේත් තම පක්ෂයේත් මතය එය නොවන බවට අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා කර ඇති ප්‍රකාශයෙන් ද එය ඉතා පැහැදිලිය. මේ අතර තමන් එවැනි ප්‍රකාශයක් නොකළ බවත් එම වෙබ් අඩවියට විරුද්ධව නඩු මගට යන බවත් රන්ජන් රාමනායක කියයි.

දේශපාලනඥයෝ පුවත් මවති. අතීතයේ ගාල්ලේ ඩබ්. දහනායක, පිලිප් ගුණවර්ධන, සෝමවීර චන්ද්‍රසිරි, ඒ. ජේ. රණසිංහ ආදීහු විවිධාකාරයේ පුවත් මවා ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් වූහ. එහෙත් ඒ කිසිවෙක් අපේ සංස්කෘතික උරුමයට හා සමාජ සම්මතයට විකෘති ලෙස අභියෝග කළේ නැත. කට තිබෙන ඕනෑම කෙනකුට නිෂ්ඵල වචන කතා කරන්නත් අවශ්‍යනම් කුණුහරුප කියන්නටත් පිළිවන. එහෙත් ජනමත ප්‍රධානියකු වනවිට පුවත් මවන්නට ගොස් හත්පොළේ ගාගත යුතු නැත. අතීතයේ එක් වතාවක අගමැති ධුරය දැරූ සර් ජෝන් කොතලාවල මහතා භික්ෂූන්වහන්සේගේ තට්ටයේ තාර ගාන්නට ඕනෑ යැයි කියා කරගත් හරිය දන්නෝ දනිති. ඔහු තනිවම එහි ප්‍රතිඵල භුක්ති වින්දා නම් කමක් නැත. රටට මහත් සේවාවක් කළ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ද ආසන අටට බස්සවා ආණ්ඩුව ද නැතිකර ගත්තේය. සර් ජෝන් සමඟ සසඳන විට රන්ජන් යනු දේශපාලන පැංචෙකි. එහෙත් මෙවන් දේශපාලන පැංචන්ගේ කතා නිසා බහුතර සංඝ සමාජය එ.ජා.පය ගැන ද වපර ඇසින් බලන්නට ඉඩ තිබේ. අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ද ඔහුගෙන් මේ ගැන පැහැදිලි කිරීමක් ඉල්ලා තිබේ. ඔහු මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අගමැතිවරයා හමුවී සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට නියමිත බව ද වාර්තා විය.

රන්ජන් මේ ආකාරයට අධිකරණය ගැන ද පණ්ඩිත කතා කියන්නට ගොස් ප්‍රශ්න මතුකරගෙන තිබේ. නීතිය හමුවේ දැන් ඔහු පරීක්ෂාවට ලක්වෙමින් සිටී. එසේ නීතිය හමුවේ පරීක්ෂාවට ලක්වෙද්දීත් ඔහු එයින් පාඩමක් ඉගෙන ගන්නේ නැතුව සමාජය ඉදිරියේ පරීක්ෂාවට භාජන වන තැනට කරුණු සලසාගෙන ඇත. ඔහු හැප්පුණේ සමාජයේ වැරැදි පිරිසක් සමඟය. හොඳ බෞද්ධයකුවත් හොඳ කතෝලිකයකුවත් හොඳ ඉස්ලාම් භක්තිකයකුවත් අන්‍යාගමිකයකුවත් තමන්ගේ ආගමික නායකයන්ට අපහාස උපහාස කරනවා දකින්නට අසන්නට කැමති නැත. ඒ අයට සමාජ සම්මත ගෞරවයක් තිබේ. ඒ ගෞරවය හා භක්තිය ප්‍රශ්න කරන්නට යායුතු නැත.
තමන් මහජන සේවකයකු යැයි ද කියන රන්ජන් රාමනායක තෙමේ නළුවකු ලෙස කිසියම් නමක් දිනා සිටින්නෙකි. එහෙත් අන්‍යයන්ට අපහාස උපහාස කර රටේ ගෞරවපූර්වක සංස්ථාවක් සමච්චලයට ලක්කොට කැපී පෙනෙන්නට ගියහොත් රන්ජන්ට ඇඩ්‍රස් නැතිවන බව කියනුම වටී. දැනටමත් ඒ සීමාවට ඔහු පැමිණ තිබේ. එක් පැත්තකින් ඔහු අධිකරණය හමුවේද ගැටලුකාරී තත්ත්වයකට මුහුණ දී සිටී. අනෙක් පසින් මහා සංඝරත්නය ගැන කළැයි කියන ප්‍රකාශයකින් අවැඩක් කරගෙන තිබේ.

රන්ජන් රාමනායක දේශපාලකයකු වශයෙන් කරන කියන කතාවලදී පරිස්සම් විය යුතුය. ඔහු දේශපාලන වශයෙන් අමාරුවේ වැටුණාට කාටවත් කම් නැත. එහෙත් ඔහු නියෝජනය කරන පක්ෂයට ද ඔහුගේ මේ කතා වාතයක් වී ඇති බව අගමැතිතුමාටම රන්ජන්ගේ කතාව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන්නට සිදුවීමෙන් පෙනේ. ඒ ගැන රන්ජන්ට දැන් කළ හැකි කාරණා කිහිපයක් සිහිපත් කර දෙනු කැමැත්තෙමු. ඉන් පළමුවැන්න දැන්වත් කට පරිස්සම් කර ගැනීමයි. දෙවැන්න ඔහු අදහන ආගමේ හැටියට පව් සමාකර ගැනීමයි. යමෙකු අතින් වරදක් සිදු වූ විට එයට සමාව භජනය කරන්නේ නම් සමාව දීම බෞද්ධයන්ගේ උතුම් ගතියකි. ඒ නිසා රන්ජන් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය තෙමේ නිහතමානීවී දැන්වත් ඔහු අතින් සිදු වූ වරදට සමාව භජනය කළ යුතුය. නොඑසේව ඔහු කියන ලද කතාව තහවුරු කරන්නට තව තවත් උත්සාහ කළහොත් සිදුවන්නේ සමාජ අගෞරවයට පාත්‍රව දේශපාලනයේ අවලංගු කාසියක් වීමටයි. ඒ සඳහා ඉඩහසර ලැබෙන ලබන වසර මහා මැතිවරණ වසර බව ද සිහිකටයුතුය.

Courtesy Adaderana

It is apt to revise the indictments filed against former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa if they are in a state of being revised, the Supreme Court told the Attorney General.

The Attorney General had filed indictments with the Permanent High Court-at-Bar against Gotabaya Rajapaksa, accusing him of misusing state funds when constructing the D.A. Rajapakse museum in Hambantota.

Rajapaksa’s attorneys had submitted an appeal to Permanent High Court-At-Bar seeking to amend the indictments against their client, however, it was rejected by the court.

Meanwhile, the former Defence Secretary’s attorneys once again filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against it.

The appeal was taken up before the Supreme Court judge bench consisting of Justices Sisira de Abrew, Priyantha Jayawardene, Prasanna Jayawardene, Vijith Malalgoda and L.T.B. Dehideniya today (18).

Speaking on behalf of the former Defence Secretary, President’s Counsel Ali Sabry told the court that two of conspiracy charges are in the indictment filed against his client and that it is against the law.

Hence, Justice Sisira de Abrew told Additional Solicitor General Priyantha Nawana, who appeared on behalf of the Attorney General, that it is apt to revise the indictment filed with the Special High Court, if necessary.

Justice Sisira de Abrew pointed out that the defendant of a case should have a comprehensive understanding of the charges laid against him.

The five-judge bench subsequently moved considering the appeal to November 9th and ordered the prosecution and the defence to present submissions in this regard on that day.

The case was filed by the Attorney General alleging that former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and six others for misappropriating state funds accumulating to Rs 33.9 million during the construction of D.A. Rajapaksa Museum at Medamulana area in Hambantota.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General today filed a revision application before the Colombo High Court against the Colombo chief magistrate’s order granting bail to IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando.

The appeal requests the Colombo High Court to issue an interim order against the granting of bail by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to the suspects, who were arrested for their failure to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks.

Jayasundara and Fernando were informed to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on July 02. However, the IGP was admitted to the Police Hospital in Narahenpita while the former Defence Secretary was admitted to the Coronary-Care Unit (CCU) at the National Hospital Colombo that morning over sudden illnesses.

A group of CID officers visited both hospitals later and arrested the duo in the evening of the same day while they were placed in remand custody.

Jayasundara and Fernando were released on bail by the Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne on July 09.

Announcing the bail order, the chief magistrate stated that the information presented at the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the terror attacks on Easter Sunday cannot be considered at the magistrate’s court proceedings.

Courtesy Adaderana

Secretary of the National Police Commission Saman Dissanayake has been arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in connection with the Avant-Garde floating armoury case.

The NPC Secretary was reportedly arrested while he was at the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital.

The Colombo Fort Magistrate yesterday rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by Dissanayake, requesting to release him on bail if he was arrested over the Avant-Garde floating armoury case.

Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake said that the court has no jurisdiction to grant bail to Dissanayake, who was named as a suspect in the Avant-Garde floating armoury case, as indictments are to be filed against him under the Firearms Ordinance.

On July 05, the Attorney General had instructed the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) to immediately arrest Chairman of Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Ltd Nissanka Senadhipathi and 7 others including the secretary of the NPC. 

The Acting IGP was further instructed to file charges against them under the Firearms Ordinance and to produce them before the court.

The Acting IGP has later directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to act on the instructions of the Attorney General.

On the 8th of July, the secretary of the NPC had filed an anticipatory bail order seeking the Colombo Fort Magistrate to release him on bail if the CID arrests him over the Avant-Garde floating armoury case.

Courtesy Adaderana

The World Bank will increase assistance to Sri Lanka under three of its new operations, the World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer said today (18).

The three World Bank operations include assisting the agriculture sector faced with climatic vagaries, irrigation, renewable energy, climate resilience operations and renovation of tanks in rural areas.

Mr Schafer stated this when he called on President Maithripala Sirisena at the President’s Office today. Referring to the Easter Sunday terror attack and its impact on the economy, he has said that the World Bank would provide monetary assistance to reduce the budget gap so that Sri Lanka could continue global borrowings with a sound economic footing, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported. 

President Sirisena has expressed his gratitude to the World Bank for the long-standing financial support given to Sri Lanka. He has made a special mention about the World Bank’s support extended to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the challenges faced due to the April 21 terrorist attack, the PMD said.

Expressing his pleasure over the quick recovery made by Sri Lanka after the terrorist attack, the WB Vice President commented that the global community stands by Sri Lanka at this moment of need.

Mr Schafer, who is in Colombo to chair the World Bank Senior Regional Managers Meeting, stated that the World Bank decided to hold its annual session in Colombo to show solidarity with Sri Lanka as the country is trying to restore normalcy after the terrible terrorist attack on Easter Sunday.

He congratulated Sri Lanka for rising to the level of Upper Middle Income Country and said it is a testimony of country’s resilience.

WB Country Director Idah Z Pswarayi-Riddihough, IFC Country Manager Amena Arif, Senior Operations Officer Anne-Kartin Arnold and Additional Secretary to the President, Esala Weerakoon also took part in the discussion.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

ගෙන ඒමට යෝජිත ඉඩම් පනත් වලින්  මෙරට ජනතාවට භූමියේ හිමිකම් ලැබෙන බව අගමැති වරයා පවසයි. මෙම අයිතිය වලක්වාලන්නට මෙරට සංවිධාන දෙකක් වැඩ කරන බවද ඒවාට නොරැවටී ජනතාවගේ ඉඩම් අයිතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවද ඔහු  වැඩිදුරටත් ප්‍රකාශයක් නිකුත් කර තිබේ.මෙතෙක් කල් බලපත්‍ර හිමිව සිටි ස්වර්ණ භූමි සහ ජයභූමි ඔප්පු හිමිව සිටි ලංකාවාසී ජනතාවට සින්නක්කරවම ඔප්පු ලැබෙන්නේ යැයි කියන මේ ප්‍රකාශයෙහි සත්‍යතාවයක් තිබේද. දැනට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙන ඉඩම් විශේෂ විධි විධාන පනත යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වන පනත ට කැබිනට් අනුමැති හිමිව නැතිබවද දයාසිරි ජයසේකර මන්ත්‍රීවරයා පවසා ඇත. එසේම මෙම ඉඩම් පනත ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවසථාවට පටහැනි බවට අධිකරණයට පෙත්සම් කීපයක් ද ඉදිරිපත්ව තිබේ.එසේම ඉඩම් බැංකු පනත නමින් තවත් පනතක් ඉදිරිපත් කරලීමට  ද යෝජිතව තිබේ.

        වර්ෂ 1840 දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් විසින් ගෙන ආ අනවසර ඉඩම් ආඥා පනත මගින් සිංහල ජනතාව සතුව තිබූ උඩරට සහ පහතරට සාරවත් ඉඩම් අක්කර ලක්ෂ ගණනාවක් රජයට පවරාගත් හැටි අපට මේ අවස්ථාවේ දී මතකට නැගේ . යම් අයිතිවාසිකමක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට නොහැකි වූ සෑම බිම් අඟලක්ම බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් අතපත් කරගෙන ඒවා හෙළි පෙහෙළි කොට කෝපි තේ සහ රබර් වවන්නට කටයුතු කළහ. මේ සඳහා 1897 අංක 01 මුඩුබිම් පනත ගෙන එන ලදී.ලංකාවේ වර්තමානයේ පවතින ඉඩම් පනත් වල මූලාරම්භය සනිටුහන් වන්නේ මේ පනත් වලින් සහ 1800 සිට නිකුත් කරන ලද ඉඩම් නිවේදන මගිනි.  1903 වර්ෂයේ දී ඉඩම් නිරවුල් කිරීමේ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පිහිටුවා 1931 අංක 20 පනත මගින් ප්‍රථම වරට ජනතාවට ඉඩම් ලබා දීමට කටයුතු සිදු කර ඇත. වර්තමානය වන විට මේ රටේ ඉඩම් කොමසාරිස් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව හරහා ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ 1935 අංක 19 දරණ පනත සහ එහි සංශෝධන අවස්ථාවන්ය.

      එහෙත්  මෙම පනත් මගින් සැබෑ ලෙසටම එදා පැහර ගත් ඉඩම් වල අයිතිය සිංහලයන්ට ලැබී තිබෙන්නේ දැයි මොහොතක් කල්පනා කළ යුතුය. සැබෑ ලෙසටම එසේ ලැබී නොමැත. ඒ වෙනුවට ඉඩම් නිරවුල් කරලීමේ ආඥා පනත මගින් නින්දගම් ඉඩම් පරවේණී ඉඩම් ආදී සියල්ල රජයට පවරා ගැනිණ. මේ මෑත කාලයේ දී සංචාරක හෝටල් වලට අතයට විකුණා දමන්නට කටයුතු යෙදුණේ මෙලෙස පවරා ගත් ඉඩම්ය. එසේම විහාර දේවාලගම් සතුව පැවති ඉඩම් සෑහෙන ප්‍රමාණයක් මෙලෙස අන්සතු කර තිබෙන බව දකින්නට හැකිය. විශේෂයෙන්ම උතුරු පළාත උතුරු මැද සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් වල තිබෙන පැරණි සිද්ධස්ථාන සතු ඉඩම් ( දීඝවාපිය සෙරුවිල  මෙන්ම මුහුදු මහා විහාරය ) රාශියක් එක්කෝ පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මගින් රක්ෂිත ලෙසට වෙන්කර ගෙන ඇත. නැතිනම් ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසින් ප්‍රසිද්ධ වෙන්දේසියේ විකුණා ඇත. කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ගතහොත් පැපිලියානේ සුනේත්‍රා දේවි පිරිවෙනටත් කලුතර දිසුත්‍රික්කයේ විද්‍යාරත්න පිරිවෙනටත්  අදාල ඉඩම්  දෙකට මැද්දෙන් දෙබෑ වන ලෙසට මහපාරවල් දමා මේ ඉඩම් රජය සතු කරගෙන තිබේ.මෙවැනි අවාසානාවන්ත අසරණ තත්ත්වයකට සිංහල ජනතාව මෙන්ම බුද්ධ ශාසනයත් ඇද දමා තිබෙන්නේ ඉංග්‍රීසීන් ගේ ඉඩම් ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සහ වර්තමානයේ විශේෂයෙන්ම 1948 සිට ලංකාව පාලනය කළ දේශපාලඥයන් ගේ බටහිර ගැති ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නිසා බව නොකියා බැරිය. විවිධ සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපාර මගින් නැවත ඉඩකඩම් ලැබුණද ඒ ලැබෙන්නේ  අක්කර පහක් වර්තමානයේ නම් හෙක්ටයාර් දෙකහමාරක වපසරියක් පමණි. මහවැලියට යටවුණු අක්කර පහ දහය ඉඩම් හිමිව තිබූ භූමිපුත්‍රයන් ගේ නව පරම්පරාව ඉඩම් නොමැතිව නගරයට සංක්‍රමණය වන්නේ එහෙයිනි.

        මෙවැනි පසුබිමක් මැද ඉඩම් විශේෂ විධි විධාන පනත නමින් නව පනතක් ගෙන ඒමට වර්තමාන රජයේ කැබිනට්ටුව පවා අවසර නොදී තිබෙන පසුබිමක  ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර විරෝධීව ඒවා සම්මත කර ගන්නට උත්සාහ කරන්නේ ඇයිද යන්න විමසිය යුතුය. මෙම පනත් මගින් රජයේ ඉඩම් පදාන පත්‍ර මගින් ජනතාව සතු කර ඇති ඉඩම් වල පරම අයිතිය ප්‍රදානය කරලීමට නීති සැකසේ .  මෙම ඉඩම් ගොවි පන්තියේ ඉඩම් කියාද හඳුන්වා දී ඇත. ගොවි පන්තියේ ඉඩම් බෙදා දීමට කටයුතු කරන ලද්දේ ජනපද කරණයත් සමගිනි. ඔවුන් එම ඉඩම් අස්වැදදීමකින් තොරව විකුණා දැමීම නවත්වාලීමට දිසාපති ගේ අවසරය මත පමණක් තම පසු අයිතිය දරුවන්ට හිමිවන පැවරුමක් කරලන්නට මෙහිදී ඉඩක් ලබා දී ඇත. දැන් ජනපද වල ට දිගු අතීතයක් තිබේ. ඒවායේ දෙවනි හෝ තුන්වන පරම්පරාවන් ද  ඒවා භුක්ති විඳිති. වර්තමාන නාගරීකරණය මත ඒවායින් ඉවත් වීමටද ඉඩම් විකිණීමටද අවශ්‍යතාවය තරුණ පරම්පරාවට ඇත. එයට හේතුව මෑතකදී සිට ගොවිතැන දිගින් දිගටම අ‍ධෛර්ය කරලීමට රජය මගින් කටයුතු කරලීමයි. වී වලට නිසි මිලක් නොමැති වීම. අතර මැදියන් විසින් ගසා කෑම රසායනික වස විස මගින් ඉඩම් නිසරු වීම ජලය හිඟ වීම මෙන්ම වකුගඩු රෝග සහ වෙනත් මාරාන්තික රෝග නිසා ගොවිතැන අත් හැරීමේ ප්‍රවණතාවය සීදු වී තිබේ. බස්නාහිර පළාතේ කුරණෑගල දිසිත්‍රික්කයේ මහනුවර මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික්කවලද ඒ තත්ත්වය සීඝ්‍රයෙන් වර්ධනය වේ. මෙවැනි සුබිමක් තුළ ඉඩම් වල පරම අයිතිය ප්‍රදානය කරලීම පිළිබඳව විශ්ලේෂණාත්මකව සිතා බැලිය යුතුය.

        මේ අතර ඇමරිකාව විසින් වර්තමාන රජය සමග අත්සන් කලීමට යෝජිත සෝෆා සහ මිලේනියම් චැලේන්ජ් ගිවිසුම් හරහා කොළඹ සිට ත්‍රිකුණාමලයටත් කොළඹ සිට හම්බන්තොටත් විශාල ආර්ථික කොරිඩෝවක් නිර්මාණය කරලීමේ අභිප්‍රායෙන් පසු වේ. මේ  කොරිඩෝව සදහා ඉඩම් ලබා ගැනීමට සිදු වන්නේ ජනතාවගෙනි. ඉඩම් වලින් නිදහස් වී නාගරීකරණයට ලොල් වන ගමේ තරුණයාට මෙය හොඳ අවස්ථාවකි. ඔහු තම පියාට ලැබුණු  ගොවි පන්තියේ ඉඩම් විකුණා දමනු ඇත. එවිට ගොවිතැනත් ඉඩමත් දෙකම මෙම භූමිපුත්‍රයන්ට  නැති වේ. මේ උප්පපරවැට්ටිය අලුත පැමිණී දෙයක් නොවේ. විහාරගම් දේවාලගම් ආඥ පනත ගෙනවුත් රජයේ මැදිහත් වීම එයට ඇති කල  ඉංග්‍රීසි ආණ්ඩුව 1870 අංක 04 සේවා භුක්ති ආඥා පනත හඳුන්වා දුන්හ. එය ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබූවේ විහාරගම් වල ඉඩම් අස්වැද්දූ ගොවියන් ඉන් නිදහස් කරලීමටයි. ඉඩමෙන් නිදහස් වීමේ ප්‍රීතිය නිසා සුද්දන්ගේ මේ පනතට කිසිවෙක් විරුද්ධ නොවූහ. නමුත් අවසානයේ දී සිදු වූයේ දහස් ගණන් ඉඩම් කැලෑවට යට වීමයි. එසේම දළදා මාළිගය නාථ දේවාලය  මල්වතු අස්ගිරි මහා විහාරය සතු ඉඩකඩම් රාශියක් මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව විසින් බදු වශයෙන් ලබා ගෙන පසුව සින්නක්කරවම අයිති කර ගැනීමයි.සේවා භුක්තිකයන් ගේ මේ තත්ත්වය නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපන පනතින් පසු නිවරදි කිරීමට ඉඩ තිබුණු නමුත් එලෙස සිදු නොවුණි.

        ඉඩම් විශේෂ පනතේ මුල් කොටුම්පත් බිහි වන්නේ අද ඊයේ නොවේ 1996 වැනි ඈත කාලයකදී බව මතක් කළ යුතුය .1996 මාර්තු මාසයේ දී ලෝක බැංකුව විසින් ලංකා ආණ්ඩුව වෙත වැවිලි නොවන භෝග ක්ෂේත්‍රය සඳහා ප්‍රතිපත්ති විකල්ප නමින් නිර්දේශ වාර්තාවක් ඉදරිපත් කර තිබුණි.එම වාර්තාවේ අර්ථය වූයේ ලංකාවේ ගොවීන් කුඩා ඉඩම් කැබලි වල වී වගාව වැනි මිල අඩු භෝග වගා කරමින් සිටින අතර මිල වැඩි අපනයන භෝග කරා වහා මාරු විය යුතු බවත්ය. එයට සුදුසු පියවර වන්නේ ඉඩම් වෙළෙද පළ නිදහස් කිරීම යනුවෙන් එහි දක්වා තිබුණි.නිදහස් ඉඩම් වෙළෙඳ පළක් බිහි කරලනු වස් දැනට මෙම ඉඩම් විකිණීමට ඇති සියලු බාධක ඉවත් කළ යුතු බවට එහි කියා තිබුණී.ඉන්පසු පැවති කාල වකවානුවේ දී ලෝක බැංකුවේ විශේෂඥ කණ්ඩායමක් ජෙසිකා මොට් නම් කාන්තාවගේ නායකත්වය යටතේ ලංකාව තුළ සිටිමින් සැලසුම් සකස් කළහ. චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක ජනාපතිනිය අවදියේ දී  රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අගමැති වූ කාල වකවානුවේ දී ලෝක බැංකුව විසින් තම ණය කෙන්දේසි පිට මේ පනත් ගෙන ආ යුතු යැයි රජයට බලපෑම කළහ. එම කාලයේ දී පැවති සංවර්ධන සමුලුවෙන් පසුව  එම රජය යලි පුබුදමු ශ්‍රී ලංකා නමින් සැලැස්මක් සකස් කළහ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දිළිඳු භාවය අඩු කිරීම සඳහා උපාය මාර්ගයන් වර්ධනය කිරීම සමග සම්බන්ධ කිරීමව මෙහි අරමුණ බව එහි සඳහන් වෙයි. ඉඩම් හිමිකම් පනත මතුව ආයේ එලෙසිනි.කෙසේ වතත් එම අවදියේ දී එවැනි පනත් සම්මත කර ලීමට ආණ්ඩුවට නොහැකි විය.

     ඇමරිකානු ආධාර යටතේ කොටි ත්‍රස්ත ව්‍යාපාර ශක්තිමත් වූයේ මෙවැනි යටත් විජිත ප්‍රවණතාවයන් හි මූල බීජ වැපිරීමටයි. 2009 දී කොටි ව්‍යාපාරය අවසන් වූවායනි පසුව  ඇමරිකාවේ යටත් විජිත න්‍යාය පත්‍රය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යෑම ප්‍රශ්ණයක්  විය. රට තුල දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය වැපිරීමට අවස්ථාව නැති වය. මහින්ද රජපක්ෂ රජය තුළ කෙතරම් අඩුපාඩු තිබුණද මේ දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය  විශේෂයෙන්ම දෙමළ දෙශපාලඥයන්ගේ ජාතිවාදය ඉස්මතු කරලීමට අවස්ථාව හීන විය. ඒ නිසා තමන්ගේ ඒජන්තයා වන රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ලවා කළ කුමන්ත්‍රණයකින් පසු ඇමරිකා ඔත්තු සේවාවන් විසින් එම රජය පෙරළා දැමිණි. එසේම ජිනීවා වලදී බොරු යුධ අපරාධ චෝදනා ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද්දේ ද ඇමරිකාවයි.ඒ මගින් ලක් රජයේ අත කරකවා ඇමරිකන් අවශ්‍යතාව ඉෂ්ට සිද්ධ කරගැනීමට මාන බැලීය නමුත් දිනෙන් දින වර්ධනය වූ මහජන විරෝධය මත යහපාලන රජය අසාර්ථක අඩියට පත් වී තිබේ. ජනතාව වෙනසක් බලාපොරෙත්තු වෙමින් සිටී. සහරාන් වැනි මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදීන් ලවා පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය ඇමරිකාව විසින් සැලසුම් කරන්නට ඇත්තේ මේ නිසාය. එය සුලු සිද්දියකින් නිමා කරන්නට සැලසුම් කළද විශාල සිද්දියක් බවට පත් විය. වර්තමාන ඇමරිකන් තානාපතිනිය මේවාට සෘජුව සම්බන්ධ බවට තිබෙන කටකතා බොරුවක් වන්නට බැරිය.ඉතා සුලු සිද්දියක් බලාපොරොත්තු වූ බව හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ගේ කටින් පිටවූයේ මේ පසුබිම මත්තේය.මේ සියල්ලගේ ම අරමුණ වූයේ ඇමරිකන් නව යටත් විජිත කරණයට අවශ්‍ය පනත් කීපයක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව මගින් සම්මත කර ගැනීමයි.ඒ සඳහා අද රජයේ භෞතික සැලසුම් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වක්‍ර ආකාරයෙන් සම්බන්ධ කර ගෙන තිබේ. එම ආයතනය හරහා ආර්ථික කොරිඩෝ න්‍යාය ගැසට් කරගන්නට සූදානම් වෙමින් පවතී.

      මේ අතර ඇමරිකන් හමුදාවලට ලක් පොලවේ රිසි ලෙස හැදිරීමට හැකි ඇක්සා නමින් ගිවිසුමත් පිලිබඳ අපට අසන්නට ලැබේ. එසේම ලංකාවේ විශ්‍රාමික හමුදා නිළධාරින්ට මෙන්ම ශක්තිමත් හොඳ තරුණයන්ට මේ ඇමරිකන් හමුදා මගින් කරන ඉඳි කිරීම් ව්‍යපෘති වල සිකුරිට සහ කම්කරු කම් ලබාදෙන්නටද අන්තර් ජාලය හරහා ඇප් එකක් විවෘත කර තිබේ.ඇමරිකන් ගාඩ් නමින් ඒ සඳහා සමාගමක්ද හෝර්ටන් පෙදෙසේ පිහිටුවා තිබෙන බව අන්තර්ජාලයේ දක්වා තිබේ. මෙයින් අපට පොනී යන්නේ මේ රට බියකුරු අගාධයකට ඇදගෙන යෑමට වර්තමාන පාලකයන් අවශ්‍ය සෑම දෙයක්ම කිරීමට පසුබට නොවන බවයි. මෙරට භූමිපුත්‍රයන්ට සැබෑ ලෙසටම ඉඩම් හිමිකම් තහවුරු කරලිය හැක්කේ වර්ෂ 1800 පමණ සිට පැවතගෙන පැමිණි යටත් විජිත පනත් විමර්ශනාත්මකව වෙනස් කරලීමෙන් පසුවයි. එසේ නොමැතිව ඇමරිකන් න්‍යාය පත්‍ර වලට මෙරට ඉඩම් වෙළෙඳ පළ සක්‍රීය කරලීමට ඉඩ හැරීම භයානක ප්‍රතිඵල ලබා දෙන්නකි.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

It has been reported that the State Land (Special Provisions) Bill, tabled in Parliament on 28 June, sought approval for passing necessary provisions for awarding the sole right to state land held by citizens.

The government is reported to have said that the Bill will benefit the people who have only been residing in lands with a permit and unable to submit it as collateral in obtaining a bank loan. The Bill also aims at allowing the people have been living on permit lands since the 1920s to obtain the absolute right to their lands and also to pass them to their children”. 

Changes to Sri Lanka’s land laws introduced through the State Land (Special Provisions) Bill is one of the key programms conducted by the grant of $480 million given through the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC)”.

THE BILL

The Bill is “AN ACT TO GRANT ABSOLUTE TITLE TO STATE LAND HELD BY CITIZENS WHO ARE HOLDERS OF GRANTS OR INSTRUMENTS OF DISPOSITION; AND TO PROVIDE FOR MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH OR INCIDENTAL THERETO”.

The Act is to be in operation for seven years.

According Part I Section 3, the provisions of the Act shall apply to persons who are holders of (i) a grant under the Land Development Ordinance; (ii) an instrument of disposition under Land Grants (Special Provisions) Act; (iii) an instrument of disposition under Crown Lands Ordinance for agricultural purposes provided that they have held the Land “for more than ten years immediately prior to the appointed date of this Act.

However, according to Section 4, the Act shall not apply to Land (i) over one thousand five hundred and twenty-four meters above mean sea level; (ii) declared as development areas; (iii) within reservations or protected areas; (iv) vested in any Local Authority; (v) declared by the Minister; (vi) any settlement programme.

According to Part II, applications for eligibility would be reviewed by a Committee made up of fifteen Secretaries of related Ministries and five ex-officio Members such as the Land Commissioner who shall be the Chairman of the Committee, the Surveyor General, the Registrar General of Lands and nominees of the President and the Prime Minister. The Committee would be assisted by administrative arrangements such as Sub-Committees and Boards to review objections that are normal to finalizing the report of the Committee for submission to the Minister for Lands who in turn is expected to forward it to the President for issuance of the Absolute Land Grants.

IMPACT of the BILL

The procedure outlined above enables the identification of persons who are entitled to receive Absolute Land Grants. Since it applies only to recipients of Lands already granted under existing provisions of Land Development Ordinance, Land Grants (Special Provisions) Act and Crown Lands Ordinance, records as to how many would be eligible to apply for Absolute Land Grants are available to the government.

Of this total, a certain proportion would have benefitted from existing schemes, while others could find the asset a burden due to personal reasons. Therefore, while the proposed Bill would benefit both groups, the latter group would likely be inclined to sell the asset and be relieved of the burden. Since such an opportunity does not exist under existing provisions, the Bill would prove to be a pleasant windfall to the latter group because an Absolute Land Grant would now entitle them to use the Land Grant as collateral to raise a loan or sell it outright.

Of the two groups, if the group that finds the asset a burden is proportionately larger than the group that benefitted from the asset, there is a strong possibility for investors to exploit the situation. The argument advanced in favour of the Bill is that access to Land by investors would enable hitherto unproductive Land to be made productive. However, a counter argument that is compelling is that since State Land belongs to the Republic and therefore to the People, the Bill would privilege those that are granted Absolute Title at the expense of others and therefore would be discriminatory (Article 12). However, the most compelling counter argument is that it would violate the sovereignty of the People (Article 3; an entrenched Article whose amendment requires a special majority) because ALL LAND and ALL its RESOURCES BELONG to ALL the PEOPLE of SRI LANKA as part of their sovereignty that is inalienable, and that governments hold Land in TRUST as determined by the Supreme Court in several instances.

Therefore, Land cannot be granted to anyone outright without a two-third approval of Parliament and approval by the People at a Referendum. Until such approvals are secured it is imperative that unproductive Land is leased to investors on the same basis that currently exists.

SUPREME COURT JUDGMENTS RELATING to LAND

S.C. 884/99 BULANKULAMA AND OTHERS v. SECRETARY, MINISTRY OFINDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND OTHERS (EPPAWELA CASE

AMERASINGHE. J.

Jurisdiction

“The Constitution declares that sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable. (Article 3). Being a representative democracy, the powers of the People are exercised through persons who are for the time being entrusted with certain functions. The Constitution states that the legislative power of the People shall be exercised by Parliament, the executive power of the People shall be exercised by the P resident of Sri Lanka, and the judicial power of the People shall be exercised, inter alia, through the Courts created and established by the Constitution (Article 4)”.

“The organs of State are guardians to whom the people have committed the care and preservation of the resources of the people. This accords not only with the scheme of government set out in the Constitution but also with the high and enlightened conceptions of the duties of our rulers, in the efficient management of resources in the process of development, which the Mahavamsa, 68.8-13, set forth”.

S.C. Appeal No. 21/13 S.C. Spl. LA 203/12 CA/PHC/Appeal No. 37/2001 HC/CP Certi. 42/97

SRIPAVAN. J.

“Paragraph 1.3 above, deals with alienation or disposition of “State Land” within a province upon an advice made by such Provincial Council. It cannot be construed that the advice tendered by the Provincial Council binds the President. However, it must be emphasized that if the President after an opinion or advice given, decides to dispose of the State Land, such disposal has to be in compliance with the laws enacted by Parliament” (p. 10).

“Shirani A. Bandaranayake, J. too in the Determination of the Bill titled “Land Ownership” [S.D. No. 26/2003 – 36/2003 Determination dated10th December 2003] noted as follows: “With the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, such Constitutional power vested with the President was qualified by virtue of paragraph 1:3 of Appendix II to the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution. By such provision the authority for alienation or disposition of the State land within a province to any citizen or to any organization was yet vested with the President…….. In effect, even after the establishment of Provincial Councils in 1987, State land continued to be vested in the Republic and disposition could be carried out only in accordance with Article 33(d) of the Constitution read with 1:3 of Appendix II to the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution” (p. 11).

CONCLUSION

If, as stated by Amerasinghe. J. “The organs of State are guardians to whom the people have committed the care and preservation of the resources of the people…” and State Land is vested in the Republic as determined by other Justices cited above, it is crystal clear that State Land is an inalienable right of the sovereignty of the People. In view of this undeniable and uncontestable fact, it is a violation of the inalienable rights of all the People for any government to legislate granting Absolute Land Grants to some of the People, an asset that belongs to all without due process of two-third approval of Parliament and approval of the People at a Referendum.

Whether the need to initiate a Bill for approval by Parliament was motivated by the agenda of the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact or not, is not the issue. The issue is that an Act that affects an asset that is an integral part of the sovereignty of ALL the People and held in trust by elected representatives of governments should not be passed by a simple majority but ONLY by a special majority of two-third approval of Parliament and approval by the People at a Referendum.

Neville Ladduwahetty

July 16, 2019.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි

ගුරු-විදුහල්පති වෘත්තීය සමිති සන්ධානය නමින් සමාජ ජාලවල හා දිවයිනේ පාසල් කිහිපයක අත් පති‍්‍රකා බෙදාහරිමින් 2019 ජුලි 18/19 දෙදින ගුරු-විදුහල්පතිවරුන්ගේ අසනීප නිවාඩු වාර්තා කිරීමේ කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයක් පිළිබඳව ප‍්‍රචාරය කරමින් සිටී. එම වෘත්තීය කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයට පහත සඳහන් වෘත්තීය සමිති කිසිවක් සම්බන්ධ නොවන බව දැනුම් දෙමු.

මාර්තු 13 දින අප සියලූ සංගම් එක්ව සාර්ථක එක්දින වැඩ වර්ජනයක් කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කළ අතර, එහි ඊ ළඟ පියවර ලෙස මැයි 9, 10 දෙදින වැඩ වර්ජනයක් ප‍්‍රකාශ කළ ද රටේ පැවති අර්බුදකාරී තත්වය තුළ එය අත්හිටුවීමට සිදු විය. එහෙත් ගුරු-විදුහල්පති වැටුප් විෂමතා ඉවත් කර ගැනීම ඇතුළු ඉල්ලීම් මුල්කරගත් අපගේ අරගලය ඉදිරියට ගෙනයාම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කටයුතු කරමින් තිබියදී එය කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමට මෙලෙස කිසියම් කණ්ඩායමක් හිටිහැටියේ වෘත්තීය කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයක් ප‍්‍රකාශ කර තිබීම කනගාටුදායක තත්වයකි.

ගුරු-විදුහල්පති වැටුප් විෂමතා ඉවත් කර ගැනීම ඇතුළු ඉල්ලීම් දිනා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වූ අරගලයේ ඉදිරි කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ග ජුලි 21 දින අප සියලූ සංගම් ඒකාබද්ධව ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන බව වැඩදුරටත් ප‍්‍රකාශ කරමු.

* මහින්ද ජයසිංහ – ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය
* වසන්ත ධර්මසිරි – අධ්‍යාපන වෘත්තිකයින්ගේ සංගමය
* එස්. ජී. එම්. සමරකෝන් – සමස්ත ලංකා ගුරු උපදේශකවරුන්ගේ සංගමය
* දයාරත්න පටබැදි – පොදු ගුරු වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ සංගමය
* පියසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු – ලංකා විදුහල්පති සංගමය
* සුනිල් පේ‍්‍රමතිලක – විදුහල්පති සේවා සංගමය  
* සරත් කහගල්ල – ස්වාධින ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය
* ඩබ්. ඩබ්. ජේ. එල්. එච්. රොවෙල් – පුහුණු විද්‍යාපීඨ හා උපාධිධාරි ගුරු සංධානය
* නිර්මලා ගමගේ – කතෝලික ගුරු සංගමය
* ඒ. ඩී. කමල්ඩීන් – ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ප‍්‍රජාත‍්‍රන්තවාදී ගුරු සංගමය
* මීගහජඳුරේ සීලානන්‍ද හිමි – පිරිවෙන් ගුරුසේවා සංගමය
* එස්. ජේයරාජ් – නැගෙනහිර පළාත් දෙමළ ගුරු සංගමය
* ජෝෂප් ස්ටාලින් – ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය
* යල්වෙල පක්‍ඤ්ඤාසේකර හිමි – සමස්ථ ලංකා එක්සත් ගුරුසංගමය
* මයුර සේනානායක – ලංකා ප‍්‍රගති ගුරු සංගමය
* චන්දිමාල් විජේරත්න – ලංකා ස්වාධීන ගුරු සේවා සංගමය
* මොහාන් පී. වීරසිංහ – ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික විදුහල්පති සංගමය
* ජගත් ආනන්ද ද සිල්වා – ස්වාධින අධ්‍යාපන සේවක සංගමය
* වසන්ත වීරක්කොඩි – විදුහල්පති වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ සංගමය  
* එන්. ටී. එස්. නාදන් – ගුරු විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ  
* එස්. රවින්ද්‍රන් – කදුරට ගුරු පෙරමුණ
* ආර්. සංකර් මණිවන්නන් – ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා අධ්‍යාපන සමාජ සම්මේලනය  
* ජී. අයි. එන්. බණ්ඩාර – ජාතික ගුරු සභාව
* ඩී. එන්.  ඕපාත – ශ්‍රේණිධාරි විදුහල්පති සේවා සංගමය
* ආර්. එම්. චුලරත්න – කෘෂි විද්‍යා, ගෘහ විද්‍යා, ඩිප්ලෝමාධාරි සංගමය
* ආර්. නෙල්සන් මෝහන්රාජ් – ජනතා ගුරු සංගමය

සම්බන්ධීකරණය – මහින්ද ජයසිංහ 071 8297022 – 0777 685038
ජෝශප් ස්ටාලින් – 071 8148868
Contact – Mahinda Jayasinghe +9471 8297022 – +94777 685038
Joseph Stalin – +9471 8148868

බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දු the Asian Human Rights Commission

මරණීය දණ්ඩනය අහෝසි කිරීම පිළිබඳව නීති කෙටුම්පතක් ගැසට් කරන බවට ඇති අනාවරණය සතුටට කරුණකි. එය ලෝකයේ බොහෝ රටවල් අශිෂ්ඨ යැයි පිළිගන්නා කරටි මවේදයක් ලංකාව තුළද පිළිගැනෙන බවට පරරී කාශයකි. ඒ නිසා මෙය ලංකාවේ නීති කරි් මය සම්බන්ධයෙන් තීරණාත්මක වෙනසක් ඇති කළ හැකි අවස්ථාවකි.

එහෙත් මෙම අවස්ථාවේදී සලකා බලා පිළියම් යෙදිය යුතු තවත් බරපතල පරලී ශ්නයක් ඇත. එනම් අපරාධ කිරීම පිළිබඳව සමාජය තුළ බියක් හා අකමැත්තක් වර්ධනය කරන්නේ කෙසේද යන පරරා ශ්නයයි. මරණීය දණ්ඩනයට පක්ෂව ගෙන ගිය වංක සිතිවිලි ධාරාව පදනම් වී තිබුනේ එය බරපතල අපරාධ සම්බන්ධයෙන් බියක් ඇති කළ හැකිය යන මතයයි. එහෙත් එම මතය පදනම් විරහිත බව දැන් ලෝකයේ බොහෝ රටවල පිළිගෙන හමාරය. එහෙත් මේ රටවල් හා ලංකාව අතර ඇති පර්බ ධාන වෙනස නම් අපරාධය පිළිබඳව බයක් ඇති කරන හා අකමැත්තක් ඇති කරන නෛතික විධිකර්න මයක් රටතුළ තවම පැළපදියම් කර නොමැති බවය. මේ නිසා මහා අපරාධ කිරීම කෙරෙහි පවා බොහෝ දෙනා යොමු වන්නේ ඒවායින් අනිසි පරයය තිපලයක් නොලැබෙන්නේය යන පූර්ව නිගමනය මතය. මෙසේ මහා අපරාධ ගණයට ඉතා පළල්ව පැතුරුනු කුඩු වෙළදාම ද, දරුණු තරර් ස්තවාදය ද, එම තරාි ස්තවාදයන් මර්දනය කිරීමේදී ඊටත් වඩා දරුණු ආකාරයෙන් හැසිරීම ද, රාජ්යස නිළධාරීන්ගේ සිරිත් විරිත් ද, වංචාව සහ දූෂණය යන දෙකේදී දේශපාලනඥයන් පවා කිසිදු පැකිලීමකින් තොරව කිරීමද ආදී සියල්ල බැඳී පවතී.

අපරාධ නීතිය මගින් අපරාධ කිරීම පිළිබඳව බියක් හා අකමැත්තක් ඇති කිරීම මූලික සමාජ පරරා තිපත්තියකි. අපරාධ නීතියත් එය කිරට රයාත්මක කරන විධිකරනඥ මයත් යන සියල්ල සැලසුම් කර ඇත්තේ මෙම අවසාන අරමුණ ඉටු කර ගැනීම සඳහාය. මේ නිසා මෙම අවසාන අරමුණ වෙනුවට එයට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් තත්වයක් නිර්මාණය වී තිබේ නම් ඒ පිළිබඳව වහාම සොයා බලා එය නැති කර දැමීමට කිරාතතයා කිරීම සමාජයේ පැවැත්ම පිළිබඳව බලපාන පරළ් ධාන කරුණකි. අපරාධය පිළිබඳව බිය හා අකමැත්ත නැති සමාජය තුළ ඕනෑම වර්ගයක කුරිරු හා දූෂිත කරි් යාමාර්ගයක් ඇති වීමට පමනක් නොව ඒ මගින් සකල සමාජයම විශාල විනාශයකට භාජනය කළ හැකිය. බොහෝ දුරට දැනටමත් එය සිදු වී හමාරය. මේ නිසා අපරාධ නීතියේ දී හා එය කරිා යාත්මක කිරීමේදී වෙනස් කර ගත යුත්තේ කුමක්ද යන්න පිළිබඳව සමාජ කතිකාවක්ද පාලකයන් අතර එකඟත්වයක් ද අත්යාරවශ්යම වේ. එම වෙනස ඇති ගතහොත් එය සමාජයේ ආරක්ෂාව, සුභසාධනය පමනක් නොව ආර්ථික දියුණුව කෙරෙහිද විශාල වශයෙන් බලපාන සාධකයක් වනු ඇත.

අපරාධය පිළිබඳව බියක් හා අකමැත්තක් ඇති කිරීම පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡුාව අතිශයින්ම දීර්ඝ වුවකි. ඒ පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡුා කළ යුතු කරුණු විශාල පරබේ මානයක් පවතී. නීති කරකි මය තුළම පැතිරී පවතින විශාල අඩුපාඩුකම් පිළිබඳ සාකච්ඡුාවක් මේ සඳහා අවශ්යි වේ.

එවැනි ගමනක මූලාරම්භය සඳහා පූර්වෝපාය දර්ශනයක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම මෙම ලිපියේ අරමුණ වේ. මෙම මූලෝපායාත්මක කරිි යාමාර්ගයේ පර්ශ ධානම කටයුත්ත විය යුතු වන්නේ ඉතා බරපතල සමාජ විනාශයක් ඇති කරන නඩු පමාව පිළිබඳ පරහා ශ්නය නිරාකරණය කර ගැනීමය. මේ පරමත ශ්නය නිරාකරණය වුවහොත් නීතිය කඩන්නන්ට අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ද`ඩුවම් පැමිණවීම ඉතා කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ කෙරෙන බව පිළිබඳ විශ්වාසය සමාජය තුළ ධාරණය වනු ඇත.

මේ පිළිබඳව විශාල දාර්ශනික සාකච්ඡුාවක් යුරෝපය පුරා 18 වන ශත වර්ෂයේ පැතිර ගොස් තිබුණි. එයට පදනම සැලසුනේ විද්යා්වේ දියුණුවත්, විද්යාමවේ දියුණුව මත සමාජයේ බොහෝ කරුණු නැවත සලකා බලා ඒවා වෙනස් කර ගැනීමට තිබුණු වාතාවරණයකදීය. මෙහිදී විචාරකයන් පෙන්වා දුන්නේ සමාජය පුරාම බුද්ධිය පදනම් වී හා විද්යායව පදනම් වී සියලූ කටයුතු සිදු වන නමුත් අධිකරණ කිර් ායාවලිය තුළ ඒ වනවිටත් පැවතියේ ඉතා පසුගාමී වූ දර්ශනවාදයක් හා කිරුරකයාකාරිත්වයක් බවය. 

එම සාකච්ඡුා වූ කරුණු අතර පර්ි බලව පැන නැගුණු මතයක් නම් අපරාධ මර්දනයට හේතු වන්නේ දඩුවම් වල බරපතලකම නොව අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම කරන සෑම වැරැුද්දකටම, අනිවාර්ය දඩුවමක් කෙටි කාලයක් තුළ ලැබෙන බව පිළිබඳව මහජන මතයක් ඇති වීම මගින් බවය. මහජන මත හුදු කතා වලින් ඇති නොවේ. එය ඇති වන්නේ පරාම යෝගිකව සමාජය තුළ කෙරෙන දේවල් බලා එම අත්දැකීම් තුළ කොපමන සාර්ථකව අපරාධ කරුවන් හඳුනාගැනීම හා ඔවුන්ට ද`ඩුවම් දීම කාර්්යීක්ෂම ආකාරයකින් කෙරෙනවාද යන්න පිළිබඳව ඇති අත්දැකීම් මතය. අත්දැකීම් තුළින් ඇති වන මානසික තත්ත්වය තුළින් අපරාධය පිළිබඳව බයක් හා අකමැත්තක් ඇති වුවහොත් එය පරම්පරාවෙන් පරම්පරාවට එම සමාජය තුළ වඩ වඩාත් මුල් බැස ගනී.

දැනට සිදු වන්නේ අපරාධයට දඩුවම් දීම සිදු නොවන්නට බොහෝ දුරට ඉඩ ඇති බව, එසේ දඩුවම් දෙන අවස්ථාවක් ඇති වුවත් එසේ සිදු වන්නේ අපරාධය සිදු වී දශකයන් දෙකකට ආසන්න කාලයක් තුළ බවත්ය යන අත්දැකීමෙනි. නඩුවක් නඩුවක් පාසා මෙම පණිවිඩය සමාජ ගත වෙයි. හෙට අනිද්දාට වරදට ද`ඩුවමක් බලාපොරොත්තු නොවිය යුතුය යන අදහස වඩාත් ජනතාවගේ සිත් වලට කිඳා බසී. යම් අපරාධයක් පිළිබඳව අධිකරණයට යාම ඔහු දන්නා අය අතර ඉතා ඉක්මනින් පතලව යයි. එසේ ඔවුන් දන්නා අය අතර ඇති වන දැනගැනීම තව විශාල කණ්ඩායම් අතරට යයි. මේ ආකාරයෙන් සමස්ථ සමාජය පුරාම පැතිර පවතින මූලික අදහස වී ඇත්තේ අපරාධයට දඩුවම අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම සිදු නොවිය හැකි බවත් හා එසේ දඩුවමක් පැමිණ වෙන්නේ නම් එය කලකට පසුව පමනක් සිදුවන බවත්ය. ඒ වන විට එසේ අපරාධය පිළිබඳව පවතින මතය පවා බොහෝ අවස්ථා වලදී අමතක වී ගොස්ය. මේ නිසා අපරාධයට දෙන ද`ඩුවම මගින් ඇතිකළ හැකි මානසික බලපෑම අතිශයින් අල්පය.

මෙයම දැනට පරස් කාශයට පත් කර ඇති තවත් නීති කෙටුම්පතක් නම් නඩු ඉක්මන් කිරීමට පනතක් යැයි රජයේ පරස් කාශකයන් පර්ප කාශ කර ඇතත් එම පනතේ අඩංගු වී ඇත්තේ මොනවාද , මෙසේ නඩු ඉක්මනින් අසා අවසන් කිරීමට ගෙන ඇති පියවරයන් මොනවාද යන්න මහජනතාව විසින් ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් අසා දැන ගත යුතුව ඇත. එසේ අසා දැන ගැනීම තුළින් යෝජිත කිරතේකයාමාර්ගයන් යෝජිත අරමුණු සමඟ ගැලපෙනවාද නැද්ද යන්න පිළිබඳව මහජන මතය පරතේ කාශයට පත් කිරීමට මෙය අවස්ථාවක් කර ගත හැකිය. නඩු පමාව නැති කිරීම විසඳන්නට යන්නේ හුදෙක්ම පරිපාලන බලපෑම් ඔස්සේ නම් එය සාර්ථක කිරන. යාමාර්ගයක් නොවනු ඇත. පනතක් නැති වුවත් මේ ආකාරයෙන් නඩු ඉක්මන් කිරීම පිළිබඳ විශාල බලපෑම් දැන් කාලයක් පුරාම පවතී. එහෙත් ඒවායින් ලැබී ඇති පරලප තිඵල තිබුණු තත්ත්වයටත් වඩා නරක ඒවා මිස ඇති සැබෑ ගැටලූ විසඳීම කරා යොමු වී නැත. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් පරිපාලන බලපෑම් ඔස්සේ නඩු ඉක්මන් කිරීම පිළිබඳ පරාය ශ්නය නිසා බොහෝ විට අපරාධයකට දිය යුතු ද`ඩුවම වෙනුවට ඊට වඩා අඩු දඩුවමක් හෝ දඩුවමක් නැති ආකාරයකින් නඩුවක් අවසාන කිරීම සම්බන්ධව පළපුරුදු ගණනාවක් දැන් නීති පද්ධතියට ඇතුල් වී ඇත. බරපතල මිනිමැරීම් නඩු වලදී පවා වරද පිළිගැනීම යන පර්ධ ශ්නය සලකා අතිශයින් අඩු දඩුවම් පැමිණවීමේ පොරොන්දු දීම සිදුවන්නේ් අල්ප වශයෙන් නොවේ. මෙහි පරිශ තිඵලය වන්නේ වංචාකාරයාට එයින් ගැලවීමට මාවතක් සාදා දීම මතය.

තමන් කරන ලද අපරාධයේ බරපතලකම අනුව උපරිම දඩුවමක් ලැබේය යන බයෙන් අධිකරණයට පැමිණෙන අපරාධ කරුවෙක් එම තත්වයෙන් ගැලවීම සඳහා ඔහුට අත්හිටවූ ද`ඩුවමක් හෝ ඔහුට සුළු දඩුවමක් දීමේ පොරොන්දුව මත නඩුවට වැරදි කරුවෙකු වීමට හෝ වෙනත් ආකාරයකින් සමථයකට පත් වීමට යෝජනා කළ විට ඔහු එය දකින්නේ තමුන්ට ලැබුනු මහඟු තෑග්ගක් ලෙසය. ඉන්පසු අවස්ථාවකදී ඔහු එවැනිම අපරාධයක් කිරීමට පෙළඹීම නතර වන්නේ නැත. මන්දයත් එසේ කිරීමෙන් පසු ඒවායෙන් ගැලවීම සඳහා ඇති මාවත් ඔහු හොඳින් හඳුනාගන්නා නිසාය.

මේ නිසා හුදු පරිපාලනමය බලපෑම් කිරීමේ කරාය මය වෙනුවට නඩු පමාවට හේතු වන පරඟු ධාන කරුණු රාශියක් විසඳිය යුතුව ඇත. මේ අතර ඉතා පර්ත ධානම තැනක් ගත යුතු වන්නේ සෑම අධිකරණයක් තුළම අද පවතින තාක්ෂණික පහසුකම් උපරිම මට්ටමින් පවත්වා ගෙන යාමට දැරිය යුතු වියදම් දරා ඒ තුළ ඇති කරන කර්ී මයකිනි. එවැනි කරුා මයක් පිළිගැනීම මුලින් පරඳි තික්ෂේප විය හැකි නමුත් නීතියක් මගින් එය කිරකකරයාත්මක කරවන්නේ නම් එම අලූත් අත්දැකීමට ඊට අදාළ සියල්ලෝම පුරුදු වනු ඇත. මෙම කරුණට අතනොගසා වෙනත් ආකාර වලින් නඩු පමාව නැති කරන්නේය යන මතයක් ඇති කළහොත් එය බොරුවකි.

අලූත් පනත් මගින් ඒ පනතේ ඇති තේමාව වෙනුවට ඊට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් තේමාවන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමද ලංකාවේ පුරුද්දක් බවට පත් වී ඇත. ජාත්යඩන්තර සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතිවාසිකම් පිළිබඳ පනත එනම් ICCPR යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වනු ලබන පනත මෙයට ඉතා කදිම උදාහරණයකි. එම පනත මගින් ICCPR ජාත්යනන්තර සම්මුතියේ අදාළ පරවි ධානම කරුණු අපරාධ වශයෙන් පරළි කාශයට පත් කොට ලංකාවේ නීතියට ඇතුල් කිරීමක් සිදු නොවේ. ඒ වෙනුවට කර ඇත්තේ හුදෙක්ම යම් පරම් කාශන ආගමකට හෝ ජාතියකට විරුද්ධව කෙරුනා යැයි නිගමනය කොට මිනිසුන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන බොහෝ කාලයක් රඳවා තැබීම සඳහා මාවත සකස් කර ගැනීම පමණි.

අපරාධය ඔප්පු කිරීමෙන් පසු දඩුවම් කිරීම වෙනුවට දැන් ලංකාවේ බොහෝ දුරට සිදුවන්නේ අපරාධයට සැක කළ පමනින් මිනිස්සුන්ට දඩුවම් කිරීමය. මෙය සිදුවන්නේ දීර්ඝ කාලීනව ඇප දීම පමා කිරීම තුළය. එසේ ඇප දීම පමා වූ විට මෙම සැක කරුවන්ට දීර්ඝ කාලීනව රිමාන්ඞ් භාරයේ සිටීමට සිදුවේ. ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවන රටාව මුලූමනින්ම නැති කරනවා පමනක් නොව ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල් සම්බන්ධකම් ආදී සියල්ල නැති කරනු ලබන්නේ අපරාධයකට ඔවුන් වැරදිකරුවන් වෙන්නට පර්බ ථමය. මේ ආකාරයෙන් අපරාධ වැළැක්විය නොහැකි බව අතීත කාලය පුරාම දීර්ඝ කාලීනව ඇප නැතිව පුද්ගලයන් රඳවා ගැනීම තුළින් එවැනි පරින තිඵලයක් ඇති නොවීමෙන්ම ඔප්පු වේ.

lanka C news

මුදල් ඇමති මංගල සමරවීර මහතා මෙරට මහ ජනතාවගේ දේපල සුවිශාල වශයෙන් ගසා කෑ දරුණුතම අපරාධකරුවෙක් බව ජාතික සමගියෙන් බලවේගය කැඳවුම්කරු පූජ්‍ය තීනියාවල පාලිත හිමියෝ සඳහන් කරති.

කොළඹදී පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් අමතමින් උන් වහන්සේ මේ බව සඳහන් කළහ.

මංගල සමරවීර ඇමතිවරයා විසින් සිදුකරන ලද අයථා කොමිස් ගනුදෙනුවලින් පමණක් ලන්ඩනයේ නිවාස 06ක් මිලට ගෙන ඇති බවද සඳහන් කළ උන්වහන්සේ ඉන් එකෙක වටිනාකම පවුම් මිලියන 03 සිට පවුම් මිලියන 18 දක්වා ඉතා ඉහල අගයන් වන බවද කියා සිටියහ.

සමහර දේපල ඇමති මංගල නමින් නොතිබුණද ඒවා ඔහුගේ යැයි ඔප්පු කිරීමට සාධක තමන් සතුව ඇතැයි ද උන්වහන්සේ පැවසූහ.

මීට අමතරව මංගල සමරවීර ඇමතිවරයාගේ සමීපතම ගෝලයන් දෙදෙනකු වන තුසිත හල්ඔලුව සහ සමීර මනහර සියළු හොරකම්වලට සම්බන්ධ නීල මදන හොරුන් බවද උන්වහන්සේ පැවසූහ.

කරුංකා කන්ටේනර් සිය ගානක් හා ගම්ස්මිරිස් කන්ටේනර් සිය ගණනක් ගෙනවිත් ප්‍රතිඅපනය කිරීම් හරහා ඇමති මංගප අයථා මුදල් ඉපයූ බව ද උන්වහන්සේ චෝදනා කළහ.

එතනෝල් කන්ටේනර හයක් කිසිදු බද්දක් නොගෙවා වරායෙන් නිදහස් කරගත් බවද උවන් වහන්සේ කීහ.

මංගල සමරවීර ඇමැතිවරයා විසින් මෙසේ වංචනික ලෙස උපයන ලද මුදල ඩොලර් කෝටි 600ට වඩා වැඩි බවත් කී උන්වහන්සේ තමන් අද පහර දුන්නේ සිල්ලර කාසි වලින් පමණක් බවත් ඉදරියේදී 1000, 5000 කොලවලින් පහර දෙන බවද සදහන් කලහ.

මහජන දේපල මේතරම් ගසා කෑ ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ දරුණුතම අපරාධකාරයා ඇමැති මංගල සමරවීර බවද උන්වහන්සේ දැඩිව චෝදනා කළහ.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

The yahapalana government is a contradiction in terms in that it consists of politicians who have a history of practising the very antithesis of good governance. Some of the recent utterances of its leaders and their soul mates show how fraught it is with internal contradictions.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has gone on record as saying that the armed forces and the police, acting on his instructions, in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Sunday disaster, eliminated the local agents of the ISIS root and branch, in record time, much to the astonishment of the entire world. All the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) cadres have been either killed or taken into custody, he says. He would have us believe that the credit for the jaw-dropping performance of the police and the military should accrue to him, for President Maithripala Sirisena was not in the country, at that time.

Not to be outdone, President Sirisena insists that he ordered the anti-terror operations, from Singapore, where he was holidaying, at the time of the carnage, the implication of his claim being that he alone deserves the credit for the success of the blitzkrieg, as it were, which brought the situation under control. Both these yahapalana leaders, however, deny the responsibility for the government’s failure to act on an intelligence warning of impending terror strikes. Success has two fathers and failure is an orphan!

Former war-winning Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has struck a discordant note. He insists that the new form of terror is far from over. The ongoing operations to prevent further terror strikes will take at least two to three years, and a campaign to wipe out the entire terror network will last about eight years, he says. His statement runs counter to the claims made by the President and the PM. His detractors accuse him of raising a bogey in a bid to secure the Law and Order Ministry, but the fact remains that he is au fait with anti-terror operations and national security.

The Prime Minister has declared that the State Intelligence has cleared former Minister Rishard Bathiudeen of any wrongdoing as regards the Easter Sunday terror attacks. He is flaunting a police investigation report in support of contention. But the UNP backbenchers have opposed moves to reappoint Bathiudeen a minister. They seem to have doubts about their leader’s claim of Bathiudeen’s innocence. Has the government failed to sell the police reports concerned to its ginger group? It wants police investigations and reports taken seriously lest the people should lose faith in the long arm of the law, but its leaders challenged the results of police investigations into Thajudeen’s death, under the previous government, and subsequent probes proved that it was a murder. So much for the accuracy and credibility of police investigations!

TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, explaining why his party had leapt to the defence of the government when a no-confidence motion was moved against it, the other day, has said that if the UNF administration had fallen, a dictatorship, led by those who committed war crimes, would have emerged. This statement may be considered a damning indictment of the JVP, which moved the no-faith motion. It may be recalled that the JVP joined the TNA in thwarting an attempt to dislodge the present dispensation, last year. The TNA’s latest claim implies that the JVP sought to pave the way for a dictatorship by moving a no-confidence motion against the government, albeit in vain.

The JVP says it will never allow the SLPP to capture power. If its no-confidence motion had been passed, the government would have collapsed or a situation favourable to the SLPP would have arisen much to the detriment of the yahapalana camp. Are the critics of the JVP justified in claiming that it moved that no-faith motion as it wanted to provide the government, divided on the issue of the Easter attacks, with a rallying point?

Meanwhile, the TNA has contradicted itself on the question of war crimes. It says that it is all out to prevent those who are alleged to have committed war crimes from capturing power. But while accusing the army of having harmed civilians intentionally during the closing stages of the Vanni war in 2009, it threw in its lot with wartime Army Commander Fonseka in the presidential fray, in 2010. It had no qualms about trying to make him the President while calling for action against the perpetrators of war crimes! It either acted out of expediency and not principle or did not believe in its own allegation that the army had committed war crimes under Fonseka’s command.

Garvin Karunaratne Former Government Agent

The vast colonization schemes of the Dry Zone, the peasantry, in thousands  that enjoyed the land,  earning bountiful crops were all due to the great achievement of our Leader, DS Senanayake, all achieved during his days as the Minister for Agriculture and Lands. It was his dream to uplift the life of the rural masses and for that purpose  he initiated a policy of granting land to the landless poor, making them partners in production and national development. His avowed aim was “not only to see that they are free from hunger an starvation but to see that they are established on land and  become self reliant and selfdependant”(Hansard: 26/2/1932:State Council of Ceylon)

His plan was not the haphazard alienation of Crown land.  He went to the extent of appointing a Select Committee of the State Council, to make any recommendations which they consider expedient and practical  for the establishment of a Scheme whereby land may be settled  on villagers and small holders and Crown land alienation or leased to villagers or small holders can be prevented  from passing into the hands of persons  other than villagers or small holders”(Hansard: 14/03/1933:Land Development Ordinance).  A Committee was duly appointed . The Committee had sittings for two years  and made submissions to the Council which were accepted. Referring to the Land Development ordinance provisions  he said that in this Ordinance we have made provision for  the protection of holdings  that is we have considered it necessary.. that when   land is alienated to a class of people to see that the land is possessed and it is very necessary that  protection should be continued for all time. It was necessary to see  that not only in the first instance  the person who got  the land  belonged to the class  to which we want the lands to go , but that the successors too belonged to that class. We felt that if we gave out right transfers  it will not be possible to protect such lands.”(Hansard: 14/3/1933” State Council of Ceylon)

He said that it was necessary to avoid what happened when freehold land was given out under British rule:”

But what happened to the jungle land up country  under the British Government  with its unfortunate laws and practices. Today  owing to the freehold given by the Government … all that land has  passed out of the possession of the people of this country.”(Statement in the State Council of Ceylon:(19/10/1933: Hansard)

He not only provided them with land, but also created the development infrastructure to enable the peasants to sell their produce by creating the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing, which implemented  the Vegetable and Fruit Marketing Scheme and the Guaranteed Price Scheme which offered  a premium price for paddy and other cereals in short supply. The aim was to make Sri Lanka self sufficient.

It is sad that our present leaders have due to the influence of the IMF and other foreign advisors have abolished the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing, thus depriving the peasant farmers the chance to obtain a premium price for the vegetables produced. The Guaranteed Price Scheme run first by the Marketing Department was later enlarged to the Paddy Marketing Board. The Government today purchases paddy from anyone- mainly traders, while in its heyday till 1977 purchases were made only from genuine producers. Today, the premium price offered go to the traders and not to the genuine producers.  The entire purpose of offering a premium price is lost.

Today we are seeing in progress the death knell of the colonization schemes and the bold peasantry that was built up by our leader DS Senanayake.

Our Prime Minister has come up with a programme to give freehold  on State lands that will enable the holders of the land to sell as they wish.

This is an area that was carefully looked into by Leader DS Senanayake. as quoted above.

I hope that the ideas of our founding father DS Senanayake will be kindly considered by our current leaders.  His intention was to build up a bold prosperous peasantry and having worked in the agriculture sector from 1955 to 1973 I can assure anyone that a bold peasantry was born, mainly on State colonization schemes.

Let us not destroy what we have achieved. Let not  the dreams of our founding father DS Senanayake, which brought about prosperity to the peasantry and to our country be sacrificed. This involves  the vast extents in the colonization schemes as well as allotments alienated to the landless in every district..

The problem of today is that with the abolition of the Marketing Department producers cannot get a good price for their produce. In the paddy producing areas it is the traders who collect paddy that hand over to the State under the Paddy Purchasing Scheme. Farmers have to face heavy costs for tractor ploughing and for harvesting machinery. Due to these constraints paddy producers hardly make a profit. Further there are very few avenues open for employment to the young and if freeholds are granted the holders will opt to sell their allotments. Then they will move to the shanties in the cities and become daily wage employees. There will inevitably be large scale displacement of people and ultimately a tremendous increase in poverty.

Instead  our leaders should consider the copious reasons why our founding father DS did not give freeholds on crown land. Our leaders will gain great credit if they can re establish the Marketing Department(MD) with its vegetable and fruit purchasing scheme and its Cannery. This will be a boon to the producers as well as the city dwellers because the MD had small retail shops in the cities where the vegetables were sold at rock bottom prices and thus inflation was stopped effectively. The MD Cannery even built up a trade exporting pineapple.The author was in charge of the Vegetable & Fruit Marketing Scheme for a full year based at the Tripoli Market.  In addition using the existing staff in the Land & Agricultural Deparments and the katcheris a production aimed programme can easily be implemented to produce and make what is being imported. This is something that can easily be done and this will bring great credit to the Government.

It is in the interests of the Developed Countries specially the USA to destroy our agriculture so that we will be caught in the bread trap and have to buy wheat from them. The land issue- giving freehold so that ultimately international multinationals may get hold of our productive land is another similar  trap. .Let our leaders not fall into this trap. This trap will create immense poverty in Sri Lanka. Our country is caught in a debt trap created by the IMF  which advised us to import freely, spend foreign exchange freely and fill the gap with loaned money. My publication: How the IMF Sabotahged Third World Development  details what happened. We were unknowingly led to become indebted.  If we give out freeholds on State alienated land we will be inevitably caught in a poverty trap. . 

It is reported that the freehold system has had the vision of foreign specialists. I have quoted ideas from our founding father DS Senanayake, the personage who created the United National Party. Reading through the speeches in the Hansard I find that he had done painstaking work to care for the poor. If further details are required the Government can call on the services of Government Agents who earlier worked as District Land Officers and they hold a wealth of expertise.

Let our leaders kindly think again  before it is too late.

Garvin Karunaratne
Former Government Agent
Ph.D. Michigan State University

13/07/2019

Author of:How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka(Godagfes:2006)  & How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (2017: Godages/Kindle)

පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න වැසිවනාන්තර සුරකින්නෝ සංවිධානය

යුනෙස්කෝ ලෝක උරුම තෙත් කලාපීය වැසි වනාන්තරයක් වන සිංහරාජ රක්ෂියේ නැගෙනහිර රක්වාන කඳුවැටිය හා ඒ ආශ්‍රිතව පවතින්නා වූ වනාන්තර පද්ධතිය සූවිශේෂි ජෛව විවිධත්වයකින් යුක්ත වන අතර සිංහරාජයේ වෙසෙන අවසාන දැවන්තයන් දෙදෙනා වසරේ වැඩි කාලයක් සක්‍රීය වන ප්‍රදේශයකි. මානික්වත්ත, බෝටියතැන්න ප්‍රදේශය ආශ්‍රිත කලාපය සිංහාරජ අලි සංක්‍රමණ කලාපයක් ලෙසටද ලෙස නම් කර ඇත.

සීඝ්‍රයෙන් විනාශවෙමින් පවතින මෙම හඳපාන්ඇල්ල, සිංහරාජ අලි සංක්‍රමණ භූමියේ (අලිමංකඩ) බෝටියතැන්න ප්‍රදේශයේ අක්කර 8ක පමණ ඉඩමක් මේ වන විට අනවසරයෙන් කපා දමා ගිනිතබමින් සිටී. වැසිවනාන්තර සුරකින්නෝ සංවිධානය මේ පිළිබඳව සොයා බැලීමේදී දැන ගැනීමට හැකි වූයේ විශ්‍රාමික කර්නල්වරයෙකු යැයි කියාගන්නා අයකු විසින් මෙම විනාශය සිදු කරන බවත් මෙම භූමිය තුල ජලය බෝතල් කිරීමේ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවක් ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා මෙම විනාශය සිදුකරන බවත්ය. මේ වන විට වටිනා දේශීය ශාක ඇතුළු විශල ශාක ප්‍රමාණයක්  බැකෝ යන්ත්‍ර යොදාගනිමින් ගලවා දමා ගිනිතබා ඇත. මෙම ගිනි තැබීම නිසාවෙන් මුළු ප්‍රදේශයම අධික දූමාරයකින් වැසී ඇත.

අදාළ පුද්ගලයා වැසිවනාන්තර සුරකින්නෝ සංවිධානය විසින් දුරකතනයෙන් සම්බන්ධ කර ගත් අවස්ථාවේදී දැන ගැනීමට හැකි වූයේ මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය සඳහා හෝ වන හායනය සම්බන්ධව කිිසිඳු අවසරයක් ලබා නොමැති බව සහ ජල පෝෂක ප්‍රදේශයක් වන මෙම ප්‍රදේශය පාංශු සංරක්ෂණ කලාපයක් වන බැවින් බැකෝ යන්ත්‍ර යොදා ස්භාවිකව පවත්නා ගස්,ගල් ගලවා ඉවත් කිරීමට කිසිඳු අවසරයක් ලබාගෙන නොමැති බවත්ය.

මෙම ප්‍රදේශය සිංහරාජ පරිවාර වනාන්තරයක් වන හඳපාන්ඇල්ලෙන් ආරම්භ වන ඉතා වටිනා දොළ මාර්ගයකට මායිම් වන අතර එම දොළ මාර්ගයේ ජල පෝෂක කලාපයක්ද වේ. මෙම වන පියස සිංහාරජ දැවන්තයන් වන හස්තීන් දෙදෙනා සිංහාරාජයත් දෙල්වල, වලංකන්ද රක්ෂිත දෙසටත්, පන්නිල දෙසටත් සංක්‍රමණය වීමේදි භාවිත කරන ප්‍රධාන අලිමංකඩ ලෙසටද හඳුනාගෙන ඇති වටිනා වනාන්තර ප්‍රදේශයක් වන අතර පතන (මාන) වලින් ගහණ භූමියකි.   

මේ පිළිබඳව දැනුවත් කරමින් අප සංවිධානය විසින් පරිසර අමාත්‍යාංශය ප්‍රමුඛ ආයතන ගණනාවකකට ලිපි මඟින් දැනුවත් කර ඇත. එහිදී මූලික වශයෙන් මෙම කර්මාන්තශාලාව ඉදිකිරීමෙන් මෙම සංවේදී පරිසර පද්ධතිය විනාශ වී කර්මාන්ත පුරයක ආරම්භය විය හැකි බැවින් එම කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවට සහ වන විනාසයට අවසර නොදෙන ලෙසටත්, දිගින් දිගටම මෙම පරිසර කලාපයට එල්ල වන බලපෑම් අවම කර ගැනීම සඳහා එම කලාපය පරිසර සංවේදී කලාපයක් ලෙස නම් කිරීමට කඩිනම් පියවර ගන්නා ලෙසටත්, මෙම විනාශය සිදුකල අයට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙසටත් දන්වා ඇත.

මෙම වටිනා සංවේදී කලාපය රැක ගැනීම මෙන්ම දැනට ඉතිරි වී ඇති තෙත් කලාපීය අලි දෙදෙනාගේ අනාගත ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීමද අප සියළු දෙනාගේම වගකීම වේ. එබැවින් මේ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පියවර කඩිනමින් ගත යුතු අතර ඒ සඳහා සියළු දෙනා එක්විය යුතුය.

මේ පිළිබඳ වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු  0777771348 (ජයන්ත විජේසිංහ, කැඳවුම්කරු, වැසිවනාන්තර සුරකින්නෝ සංවිධානය) ඇමතීමෙන් ලබාගත හැක.

පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න

මාධ්‍ය සම්බන්ධීකාරක

වැසිවනාන්තර සුරකින්නෝ සංවිධානය

Mahinda Gunasekera

His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena
President of Sri Lanka

Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister of Sri Lanka

Your Excellency Maithripala Sirisena and Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe,

Please see the annexed video discussion with two representatives of the GMOA with one Chapa Bandara relating to serious wrongdoings in procedure and harm done to the health of the people through the corrupt practices of the current Minister of Health, and corrupt deals incurring huge losses to the state by the same person, namely Rajitha Senaratne, when he held the post of Minister of Fisheries.

Such corrupt activities cannot be pushed under the rug and forgotten as a colossal amount of public funds have been misappropriated and wasted under the direction of this individual who is currently the Minister of Health in your government.

Please take some positive steps to investigate the alleged wrongdoings and take appropriate action at least at the present stage to penalize those responsible for the high handed acts of corruption causing immense losses to the public purse.

Yours sincerely,

Mahinda Gunasekera
Dated: July 16, 2019

Please watch this very interesting discussion with two GMOA representatives where they talk of importation of outdated drugs by the Ministry of Health which are outside the approved list and proven to be less effective.  They spoke of harm done to pregnant mothers, new mothers and new born babies by providing them with outdated and less effective iron pills and folic acid, plus several other drugs at exorbitant prices.  They quoted from the Auditor General’s Report on the wilful actions of the ministry that failed to carry three months buffer stock as required, and thereafter proceeding to bypass the normal tender process and order unknown drugs outside the approved list as an emergency measure, costing in some cases 100 times more.  The Minister of Health and responsible officials should be taken to task for the waste of funds and serious harm done to the people’s health.  They placed the losses to the country well above that of the Central Bank fraud.

It appears as though a Presidential Commission of Inquiry has been established to look into the irresponsible and fraudulent acts of the Minister and high officials.  The LINK to the discussion is given below.

Nilantha Jayawardena <nilantha.jayawardena@gmail.com>

If funds are required to duly proceed with the investigation and court trial, we should willingly contribute towards the costs in order that justice may prevail.

Mahinda Gunasekera

Rajitha Off The Hook In Fishy Deals
Posted on May 23rd, 2016

by Camelia Nathaniel Courtesy The Sunday Leader

Evidence has surfaced that a prominent minister and former fisheries minister had been engaged in bribery and corruption during his tenure at the fisheries ministry depriving the country of millions of rupees in tax revenue and depriving the fishing community of many opportunities.

Despite his tarnished track record, this minister jumped ship from the Rajapaksa camp and joined the Maithri-Ranil bandwagon in order to safeguard himself and avoid being taken to task over the corrupt activities he had been engaged in.

During his tenure, a Chinese firm which wanted to engage in fishing within Sri Lankan waters had approached the minister through its local arm Arugambay Fishery (Pvt) Ltd. Under the pretext of having further discussions on the matter, the then Fisheries Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne visited China on two occasions at the expense of the Chinese company. He left Sri Lanka aboard a Sri Lankan Airlines flight on sixth June, 2013 and returned on June 12,2013.

As a result of this visit, the minister laid down conditions that the deal could go through only if the local company Arugambay Fishery (Pvt) Ltd, would be replaced by a company that would be created with his secretary Don Lalith Anuradha Seneviratne as the major shareholder. Subsequently Blue Ocean Fishery (Pvt) Ltd was registered under N/A 176433 with his secretary Don Lalith Anuradha Seneviratne holding 60 per cent of shares. Misusing his privileges as a minister, Rajitha Senaratane set up this company knowing full well that it was illegal and appointed his secretary as the major shareholder in a bid to hoodwink the people. In addition, Blue Ocean Fishery (Pvt) Ltd, imported eight ships worth Rs. 400 million, but to date there is no mention of the duty that was or was not paid to the country. To date the investment of Blue Ocean Fishery (Pvt) Ltd is around Rs. 1000 million and the investment of Anuradha Seneviratne would have to be around Rs. 600 million. How a minister’s secretary could invest such a colossal figure is still a mystery.

According to the agreement between Blue Ocean Fishery (Pvt) Ltd and the fisheries ministry, 10 per cent of the catch of the eight vessels should be sold to the fisheries ministry at $ 1 per kilo, before the rest can be exported.

The Chinese company was earlier granted permission to engage in fishing under the Sri Lankan flag beyond the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Sri Lanka. The company had entered into an agreement with the Board of Investment to carry out fishing in international waters. According to an official of the Ministry of Investment Promotion, although the Dikovita Port was constructed as the biggest port in Asia, it was the minister’s son who got the contractors and handled the construction and the expenditure incurred for the construction of this port should be investigated separately.

However although the previous regime and Minister Senaratne claimed that this was the biggest port in Asia, the depth of it is just 5 metres.

Let alone accommodating large commercial vessels, even the Chinese trawlers could not be berthed there as it was not deep enough.Under the agreement, 90 per cent of the catch would be exported to China and 10 per cent given to the fisheries corporation at one dollar a kilo, the official said. The Chinese vessels were to be docked at the Dikovita fisheries harbour where the processing for exports would be carried out.

The operation was expected to generate  US$ 11 million (Rs. 1.3 billion)  in the first year. According to the official, the company started operations with four vessels and thereafter deployed 16 more 150 ft vessels.

However in spite of the profits made by this company, the minister had used his powers and obtained nine years of tax exemption for Blue Ocean Fishery (Pvt) Ltd. Moreover there is no declaration as to how this company obtained the funds to start up this investment.

This company has also not made any payment to the fisheries harbour corporation for the use of the Colombo or Dokovita harbours. Further, it is leant that in spite of a clause that has been inserted to the agreement with the cunning intention of obtaining tax concessions, that 10 per cent of the catch of these vessels will be sold to the Fisheries Corporation at $ 1 per kilo, this company had not supplied any fish to the fisheries corporation. This corrupt minister also used his powers in order to silence any official who dared to raise this issue.

According to the official, unsuitable appointments were made during the minister’s tenure further aggravating the situation at the fisheries corporation and contributed to its ruin.

According to fisheries ministry sources, During Senaratne’s tenure as the Minister of Fisheries, the younger brother of Rajitha Senaratne, Mahil Senaratne was appointed as the chairman of the fisheries corporation.

At the time Mahil Senaratne was appointed as chairman, he did not even own a house, but shortly after, he had constructed a luxury house in Nugegoda and also purchased a BMW motor vehicle. Workers claim that this was due to the fact that he was importing fish to the country at high commissions.

He was said to be receiving commissions from everything that was purchased for the fisheries corporation including the shopping bags that were used.

They claim that having worked as a store keeper at Bata, Mahil Senaratne had no knowledge on how to run the fisheries corporation and as a result the institution was ruined.

The workers also claim that a former police officer Ruwan Lankeshwara was appointed as the managing director and he too joined the minister and his brother in destroying the fisheries corporation. Hundreds of thousands of rupees were also taken claiming that the money was for the minister’s bodhi poojas. Further the workers claim that during the period under Minister Rajitha, the staff of the fisheries department was set at 745, of which 600 were permanent employees. However the workers charge that Rajitha Senaratne and his group had recruited a further 700 workers on contract basis and this had put a huge strain on the institution. In addition these workers were obliged to agree and cater to all the demands of the management.The workers also charge that around 20 kilos of small fish had to be delivered to Minister Senaratne’s residence supposedly to feed the dogs and cats. There were no bills or payments for this. According to the regulations of the fisheries department all goods purchased should be done after calling for tenders. But in spite of these regulations, the minister and his group had purchased used furniture and utensils for the main office from a hotel in Beruwela and these items were subsequently discarded due to being unusable.  Part of these items have also ended up at the residence of the chairman, managing director and the trade union president, it is alleged.Meanwhile, the cleaning contract for the Peliyagoda Fish Market at the time was given to one of Senaratne’s friends, one Kabir from the Minuwangoda without following any tender procedure. The contract was granted at Rs. 1.5 million monthly and of this, around Rs. 500,000 was the minister’s commission.

In addition, the manufacturing of life jackets was also given to another friend of the minister. The workers also claimed that in addition to their wages, special allowances ranging from Rs. 5000 to 25,000 were paid as allowances to the management friends of the minister. Moreover while practically all ice machine plants were in a dilapidated state, these too were sold as scrap metal with commissions.

Further, former Chairman of the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation branch in the SLFP affiliated Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, T.W. K. Dhammika who was accused of fraud of 2.8 million of NSS funds, imprisoned and later released on bail, was then reinstated by the minister without any proper investigation regarding the fraud.

While many crooks of the previous regime are being carted before commissions of inquiry and the bribery commission, those such as Rajitha Senaratne have cleverly switched allegiances and managed to avoid these investigations. According to the former president himself, Senaratne had made billions together with the Chinese and they too were unable to do anything about it because of their close relations with China. The JVP had filed a complaint at the Bribery Commission through the fisheries ministry regarding the misdeeds of Minister Senaratne, but since the minister has now switched sides and joined the Good Governance regime, so far no action has been taken. Voice Against Corruption (VOC) Convener and JVP North Central Provincial Councilor Wasantha Samarasinghe who was instrumental in filing this complaint said that as far as he knew no action was taken against the minister.

When contacted by The Sunday Leader Minister Rajitha Senaratne refuting these allegations said that although there had been a complaint that had been lodged against him at the Bribery commission, so far he had not been called for any investigation.

This is done by Wimal Weerawansa’s people and although I heard about it, so far I have not been informed of any investigation that has been initiated.”

With regard to the allegations that then minister had engaged Chinese vessels illegally to fish in local waters he said it is not only the Chinese but Japanese vessels were also used. If we had not met our target of 362 metric tons we would have lost our quota.”

The EU is taking 52% while the other states only take 48%, but no one is talking about that,” said the minister.He further said that it was only a temporary measure and in order to meet the quota, we need to have larger vessels. Pointing to Thailand as an example the minister said that they had engaged around 100 foreign vessels, and we would need to consider that option in the future too. The minister also said that this is not being highlighted by the media and it was not something that could be understood by everyone.

This is something to do with international affairs and ordinary people don’t understand this situation,” added minister Senaratne.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

මේ මාසය අවසන් වනවිට බැංකුණය පොලිය 12% සිට 10% දක්වා අඩු කරන බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ දී පැවසීය. පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයෙන් කඩා වැටුණු සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය කෙටි කලක් ඇතුළත යථාතත්වයට පත්වනු ඇති බවද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේය.

Need of the hour is not reducing existing interest rates ,but imposing rules on all private and public banks to write off loans or postpone repayment and servicing interest for at  least four years ,to overcome the difficulties of  hotel owners ,industrialists ,caused by the Easter bomb blast.

I am in a boutique hotel for the holiday  generally patronised by upmarket clientele at about 40 000 rs per night ,sold at less than 1/4th of the pice,

They are unable to service loans taken from banks .Staff is reduced to only a few .Place is deserted.

Staff is reduced and chef doubles as front office manager,waiter doubles as bell boy to cut costs .

Only one Austrian young couple who have braved to come to this country who stayed in the hotel.

Occupancy 10 % 

I thanked them for coming to our country in these difficult times.

Such an industry ruined by the short sighted rulers ,who had no sense of the danger faced by the country and let the unimaginable happen.

This  is worse than the times during 30 years of war.

Banks declare hefty profits and  toprung mangers drawing thumping salaries.

GOVERNMENT SHOULD ENFORCE SOME EXTRAORDINARY LAW AND FORCE BANKS TO FREEZE PAYMENTS FOR AT LEAST FOUR YEARS UNTIL THE INDUSTRY RAISE THEIR HEADS .

 (නිර්මාණය – ඩබ්.කේ. එස්. ජයතිලක)

සිංහල ඔබගෙ අයිතිය වෙයි මේක
පාට බේද නොබලව් ඔබ කිසි දාක
පෑන අතින් ගෙන නොබියව කිසි දාක
තබනු තබනු එහි අත්සන සැබෑ දැක

උගනිව් ඉගෙනගව් සැමගේ භාෂාව
පෙරමුණ දියව් තමගේ මව් භාෂාව
කෙළෙසන්නට එපා කිසිවිට මව් භාෂාව
සමතැන නොවේ නිසි තැන තබව් මව් භාෂාව

නීති පනත් ගෙනෙනා ඒ මිනිස්සූ
දුගී ජනයා තලනා ඒ මිනිස්සූ
නීති කඩන ඒ ගෙම්බර මිනිස්සූ
මිනිස් කමට සුදුසුද ඒ මිනිස්සු

 (නිර්මාණය – ඩබ්.කේ. එස්. ජයතිලක)

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා දිය යුතු භාෂාව සිංහල භාෂාව විය යුතුද?

යන කාරණය ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් විසදන ලෙස ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලන අත්සන් ලක්ෂයේ එකතුව

මේ ඉල්ලීමට එකගනම් අදාල ලේඛන මත ඔබේ අත්සනත් තබන්න.

දුරකථන 0342256066,0432256067,0712063394

By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has mastered the art of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. The party successfully carried out the well-planned strategy to save the United National Party (UNP) from the embarrassment of a defeat at a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against Rishad Bathiudeen, by tabling an NCM against the Government, and at the same time managed to convince its cadres that the Party still considers the capitalist UNP as enemy number one.

The JVP has deviated from the position of anti-capitalist (read: anti-UNP), and became the most trusted supporter of Ranil Wickremesinghe. While voting with the UNP in all previous No-Confidence Motions against the Government, the JVP suddenly found that the party cadres, especially the young radicals, were not happy about the pro-UNP stance of the Marxist party. As there is a good possibility of JVP cadres crossing over to the more radical Forward Party (Peratugami), the JVP now wants to attack the UNP too, at least in public.

After the Easter Sunday Explosions, JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake decided to attack the UNP and Ranil Wickremesinghe for the ills of the country. At the same time, the party obviously have an understanding with the UNP. The moment the Opposition tabled a No-Confidence Motion against Minister Rishad Bathiudeen in Parliament, for his alleged links with Islamist terrorists, the JVP came out with another NCM, this time against the Government. This was a clear tactic to confuse the issue.

The vote of the No-Confidence Motion, tabled by the JVP against the Government, was taken up last Thursday, and defeated by 27 votes. Some of the ardent critics of the Government were among the absentees in Parliament, including Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Duminda Dissanayake, S.B. 

Nawinna, Dunesh Gankanda, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Ashoka Priyantha, Douglas Devananda, Shivashakthi Anandan, and V. Radhakrishnan.
The NCM was tabled against the Government for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday Bombings. The UNP and TNA voted against the NCM, accumulating a total of 119 votes, while the Joint Opposition and JVP voted in favour of the motion, reaching 92 votes in total.

Last-minute bribery tactic

The JVP Leader said Premier Wickremesinghe deployed his usual last-minute bribery tactic on the TNA, in order to save face, and defeat the No-Confidence Motion brought against his government. According to him, the bribe was the promise to form a separate District Council for Kalmunai. Dissanayake alleged that Minister Mangala Samaraweera has even done the needful, including approving the necessary cadre, in order to set the procedures in motion, to realise the promise made to the TNA, in exchange for their votes.If Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sampanthan took the right decision, this NCM could have been defeated because the Government had only 105 against the motion even by this morning,” Dissanayake said after the NCM defeat.

When President Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in October 2018, the JVP came out openly in support of the UNP Leader. The JVP Leader’s argument was, his party did not care who will be the Prime Minister, but were troubled about the unconstitutional method used to get rid of Wickremesinghe and appoint Rajapaksa. Without giving a chance to explain the policies of the new Prime Minister, the JVP Leader jumped to the conclusion that this person will not be able to come up with a new plan to initiate a good political culture, or a good economic policy for this country. We do not have faith in any person from either side.”

After extending support to the Government to defeat the NCM, the TNA has proved that it was an ally of the UNP. Thus, TNA Leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan indirectly acknowledged that his appointment as Opposition Leader earlier was wrong. All the TNA MPs – barring Shivashakthi Anandan, who abstained – voted against the NCM.

The TNA is using the current political developments to its advantage, with its dual principle of supporting Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNF, while criticising the Government, to appease the North and the East vote base.
The JVP-sponsored NCM against the Government was doomed to be defeated, because it was tabled with the intention of safeguarding Rishad Bathiudeen. If there was a vote on the NCM against Bathiudeen, there was a strong possibility of victory, as, in addition to the Joint Opposition members and SLFP members, a fair section of the UNF, TNA and JVP would have voted for the NCM.

UNP and TNA
Christian MPs

The UNP and TNA Christian MPs were planning to vote against Rishad Bathiudeen at that time. The NCM against Bathiudeen lapsed with his resignation from the Cabinet. Those UNP and TNA members, who openly said that they would vote for the NCM against Bathiudeen, could not vote for the JVP-sponsored NCM, as it was against the Government.
In the debate, the JVP Leader said the Government has failed to ensure the security of the country’s people, as evidenced by the Easter Sunday Terror Attacks. Moreover, it has now been clearly established that the Government failed to heed numerous warnings about an impending terrorist attack by Zahran Hashim and his associates.”  

Accordingly, the Government has no moral right to be in charge of the security of the country or its people,” he said, and pointed out that what was in power now was a minority Government, with just 106 MPs sitting on the Government side, while 118 MPs were in the Opposition. He called on Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa to ensure that all UPFA MPs were present in Parliament, to vote for the NCM. He also called on TNA Leader R. Sampanthan to ensure that the TNA votes in support of the NCM.

After the NCM is approved, this Parliament has a duty to pass another resolution by a 2/3 majority, dissolving this Parliament, and paving the way for an early General Election, so that the people can elect a new Government. It is what the people deserve,” Dissanayake said.

Now that the NCM is defeated, one anxiously awaits to see if the JVP would vote against Rishad Bathiudeen, if he becomes a Minister once again, and an NCM was brought against him by the Opposition.

 CT Web 02:00 AM Jul 15 2019

By Kamal Siddiqi Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Karachi, July 16 (The Express Tribune): This month a teenage Hindu girl, Payal Kumari, was abducted by her teacher from district Thatta. Police looked the other way as Payal went missing for several days before appearing to record her statement at a madrassa.

Payal joins the thousands of Hindu girls in Pakistan who are either abducted or leave of their own accord and end up converting to Islam and marrying a Muslim man. Human rights groups estimate that 20 or more Hindu girls are abducted every month in Pakistan.

Krishan Sharma, Chairman of the Minority Rights Commission, tells me that there is institutional support for these conversions. What we see is that the recurring cases of forced conversion continue to make headlines. But nothing else.

This goes against Article 20 of the Pakistan Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion. The government is under obligation to safeguard the fundamental rights of all without discrimination based on religion, faith, or belief.

Sharma concedes that not all such cases are of abductions and in some instances the girl elopes with the man. This was not the case with Payal, says her family. Her brother Rakesh says if that was the case, his sister would have not left her gold ornaments and her savings. She would also have carried her dresses and they would have produced themselves in the court on the very same day. But she left home wearing ordinary clothes and chappals.

But as Sharma points out, even when it is done out of their freewill, one can only wonder how underage girls convert and marry. Both the lower and higher courts of Pakistan have failed to follow proper procedures in cases that involve accusations of forced marriage and forced conversions. The Islamabad High Court, for instance, declared in April 2019 that it was within the law for Hindu sisters Reena and Raveena to convert to Islam and stay with their husbands even though they were under-age.

The two underage sisters – Raveena aged 13 and Reena aged 15 – were kidnapped by a group of men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. The authorities did nothing for their recovery. Instead, the local police said such cases are common and advised the family to wait and see.

And sure enough, after days of their disappearance, these girls appeared before a madrassa that converted them and solemnised their marriage.

For all practical purposes, Pakistan has failed to fulfil its obligations under Constitutional provision and international treaties to protect the rights of vulnerable minorities from forced conversions and forced marriages. Things would be different if a bill was proposed by members of the minority community.

The Sindh Criminal Law (Protection of Minorities) Bill has failed to become a law. The Sindh Assembly passed the bill moved by PML-F lawmaker Nand Kumar against forced conversions in November 2016 but the then PPP-led Sindh government asked the-then governor, Justice (retd) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui not to ratify it and send it back for reconsideration following concerns shown by some religious quarters. The bill was, however, never re-assessed or discussed in the Assembly, despite the fact that the ruling party counted it among its achievements towards safeguarding minorities’ rights.

Since then, the bill has been kept blocked by the mobilisation of rightist groups and parties. A group of religious scholars, as well as the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), termed the bill against the basic principles of Islam. Religious parties in Karachi launched a campaign against the bill in order to pressurise the Sindh government into repealing it. The Jamaat-e-Islami argues that there could be no age limit on people converting to Islam.

Thus far women rights groups have been focusing on how the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 puts the legal age of wedlock at 18 years. This is a good place to start. In fact, adopting a purely legal perspective serves to take some of the pressure off the Hindu community; which increasingly lives in fear of reprisals or worse.

The way forward must see a concerted effort – led by the political set-up but in collaboration with civil society and right groups as well as moderate clerics — to frame forced conversion within the context of child marriage as not only statutory rape but also ethnic cleansing. It is time the government took a stand.

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express

As troubled Afghanistan moves towards a partial withdrawal of American troops; an end to violence; and a political solution, the presence or influence of China, Russia and Pakistan in that country has increased perceptibly.

Despite its accusation that Pakistan is not doing enough to contain terrorism on its soil and also in Afghanistan; despite its trade and strategic conflict with China; and its stand-off with Russia over issues relating to the Middle East, the US has roped in these very countries to help it get out of the mess in Afghanistan.

Hundreds of Afghan troops, militants, and civilians have died every year in the last 18 years of US involvement. Even today, there are 14,000 US troops stationed in Afghanistan either training government troops or participating in commando operations against the Taliban.

US Ropes in Pakistan

The US has roped in Pakistan to help it settle issues with the Taliban because Pakistan and the Taliban have had close historical ties.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will be meeting President Donald Trump in Washington on July 22 to discuss a wide range of issues including Pakistan’s present and future role in Afghanistan.

The meeting comes after the seventh round of US-Taliban talks in Doha in which the two sides had reached a draft agreement on four basic issues: counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, a ceasefire, and intra-Afghan talks.

Pakistan won a place in the high table on Afghanistan by being an intermediary between the Taliban and external parties such as Beijing, Moscow and Washington. This, it had been able to do without diluting its basic stand that there could be no lasting peace in Afghanistan unless the primacy of Taliban is recognized and guaranteed by all parties. It took the regional and global powers-that-be a long time to realize this simple truth.

According to former Indian Ambassador, M.K.Bhadrakumar, the US has assigned to Pakistan the role of ensuring that Afghanistan does not again become a lab of terrorists” as President Donald Trump put it.

According to the White House, the Trump-Imran talks will focus on strengthening cooperation between the United States and Pakistan to bring peace, stability, and economic prosperity to a region that has seen far too much conflict.” This must be music to the ears of Imran Khan because Pakistan is facing severe financial problems.

It is difficult to say what exactly the White House statement meant when it said that the US will keep in sight the goal of creating the conditions for a peaceful South Asia and an enduring partnership between our two countries.”

Perhaps it means that the US will restrain India if the latter becomes belligerent towards Pakistan and intensifies its policy of isolating Pakistan globally on the plea that Pakistan is the launching pad for cross-border terrorism.

However, what is likely is that the US might step up military aid to Pakistan. Gen Mark Milley, who is Chief of Staff of the US army, told the Senate Armed Forces Committee recently, that Trump had recognized Pakistan as a key partner in achieving US interests in South Asia, including developing a political settlement in Afghanistan; defeating Al Qaeda and ISIS-Khorasan; providing logistical access for US forces; and enhancing regional stability”.

Gen.Milley argued for closer military ties with Pakistan. Former US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, told a gathering in Colombo recently that the Obama Administration under which he worked, had erred by cutting off military ties with Pakistan. As a result of this, the US lost touch with a whole generation of Pakistani military officers,” Blake said.

Accommodating China

In a move welcomed by Islamabad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has kept China in the loop on the Doha talks with the Taliban. Last month, Beijing itself had hosted Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Prior to this, in 2018, China had met Taliban leaders on several occasions.

China’s Economic Route To Afghanistan

China has only recently begun playing a role in bringing about peace in Afghanistan. But it had been quietly making economic inroads into that country since 2006.

According to the latest report of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Afghanistan done by the Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS), a Kabul-based think tank, China is now Afghanistan’s largest business investor. Chinese companies have been involved in construction projects.

Beijing has an interest in Afghanistan’s vast deposits of essential minerals such as lithium (used in mobile phone batteries). China has won rights to the Amu Darya Basin oil in the north and the massive Mes Aynak copper mine near Kabul, though work on these projects has suffered because of the bad security situation.

In 2016, China and Afghanistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding. In September 2016 the first direct freight train from China reached the Afghan border town of Hairatan. An air corridor linking Kabul and the Chinese city of Urumqi was also opened. In May 2017, Afghan officials attended the international Belt and Road Forum in China, and in October Afghanistan joined China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which funds BRI projects.

According to DROPS, China has pledged huge support” for building railways in Afghanistan. In 2017, China convened a trilateral dialogue with Pakistan and Afghanistan to discuss extending the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Afghanistan.

China’s Anxieties

However, all these ambitious economic plans would hinge on the assurance of safety and security, which have always been a question mark in Afghanistan. One of the main reasons for China’s increasing involvement in efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan is the fear that Afghanistan-based Islamic terror groups might infiltrate into Muslim-majority Xinjiang where there has been continuous resistance to Chinese domination.

Beijing’s anxiety about security started growing when the US began to scale down its military presence in Afghanistan in 2011. To protect itself, China built a base in Badakhshan Province and funded a Mounted Brigade. It launched the Quadrilateral Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism (QCCM) with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Since 2015, China has been involved in a number of multilateral peace initiatives, including the Quadrilateral Coordination Group and, more recently, the Moscow Format”.

Beijing has cultivated good ties with the Taliban, meeting them several times in 2018. It was in early 2015 that China began facilitating talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. But deteriorating relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the Taliban made these efforts ineffective.

Therefore, China arranged talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It set up a Trilateral Crisis Management Mechanism. In December 2017, China hosted trilateral talks where the three countries called on the Taliban to join the talks process.

Pakistan and China played a key role in brokering a ceasefire deal. Interestingly, the Taliban agreed to declare a ceasefire only if Pakistan and China became its guarantors.

Ties With Kabul Regime

While all this was going on, China maintained close ties with the Afghan government as well. It signed a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborly Relations with Kabul regime in 2006. Two years later, Chinese companies won a US$ 3 billion contract to extract copper from the Mes Aynak mines in Logar province. In September 2017, China gave US$ 90 million towards development projects in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province alone.

In the past three years, China has also extended more than US$70 million in military aid to Afghanistan, according to Ahmad Bilal Khalil, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies in Kabul.

In the telecommunications sector, China’s role has grown from supplying Afghanistan with telecom equipment in 2007 to the construction of fiber-optic link in 2017.

(The featured image at the top shows a Taliban delegation headed by Maulana Abdul Ghani Baradar in China for talks)

Dr D.Chandraratna

During the last so many years we have agonized over the unsatisfactory state of affairs in our body politic and the helplessness of its citizens. If we are to survive this madness, simply switching off or merely ridiculing the current crop of Parliamentarians will not deliver. We must actively canvass our good intentions to rectify the gross abuses of the so-called democracy that we are corralled into. Our reform agenda should be known to those around us and thereby encourage a vigorous debate about how we plan to see happen. After almost five years of disenfranchisement we must seize the upcoming opportunity to educate the public. Mere bleating will not give us the future we deserve.

Remember the famous words of the French lawyer and philosopher, Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821) that every nation gets the government it deserves. If we lose interest by giving lame excuses, or wash our hands off the whole enterprise of politics then we will get the sort of government that we deserve. It is understandable that many people of good intellect are disengaged right now because of the parlous state of politics but we are a resourceful people once and we can do better. The opportunity will come at the forthcoming elections and hence let us be prepared. To do nothing is to acquiesce.

What then are the steps to recovery? First, we need to understand current reality with clarity. It must be grasped that it is not the time to support candidates who are unable to garner a winnable proportion of votes. We need a candidate who has earned credits through past performance to be at the starting point. We will not find candidates who are totally unblemished. Even with certain misgivings we are duty bound to go for a candidate who has the potential to muster more than 50 precent of the votes, Therefore the mushrooming, inexperienced new faces have to be cleared out for the moment so as not to spoil the chances of one who can win.

Second, stated very briefly the need of the hour is a courageous leader with reasonable intellect, who is willing to work with professional opinion, who can work according to plans and policies, with the interests of the suffering people of this nation at heart.  That is real democracy at work. We need no new laws. Such claims are a chimera to dupe the masses. The country has all the laws necessary for good governance. But you must let the institutions that are there work without crass political interference. The bureaucracy must be made to work efficiently. Let not the legislators dictate terms to the bureaucrat. The heads of departments should set the example by not heeding the politician’s dictates. If they resign in disgust the whole working population must down the tools. Let the high end of the professions take the lead. We have seen how the 17th amendment made matters worse. The Parliament, the role of the Speaker, the procedures, and the opposition deserve their due place. Do not make the Parliament a sick joke by getting rejects through the back door. Killing off democratic institutions is one sure way for nations to fail and we are just standing at the edge. A law is a law, which has come through correct passage in the Parliament. Not one that has been crookedly altered half way through. We need a democracy in the spirit of the law and not in the form of the law. Do not allow our Nation to Fail

Third, we need to broaden democracy. The modern state is too complex and Parliament will not have the intelligence by itself to administer the nation. We cannot get experts to adorn the seats at Diyawanna Oya. We are not a successful democracy because we have not reached the kind of economic development coupled with high education and maturity to have a sizeable middle class. For sixty per cent of the people life is a fight for basic survival and elections are won through taxpayer’s money offered as bribes and the country is made poorer after every election.

Constitutional Councils and Police Commissions fail because they are manipulated to appoint cronies to important places to do the bidding of the corrupt politician. But broadening democracy means a senate or council of public men and women, experts not orators, a Council assisting the popularly elected President. It is given adequate powers to curb irresponsible talk and action. The one thing that our country, steeped in debt, needs is financial management by specialists. Britain set an example and precedent in 1997 when it transferred control over interest rates from politicians to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) whose advice cannot be ignored by the politicians. In that MPC are four from the Central bank, an economist, an academic and two others with specialized knowledge. Vital aspects of our nation must be given to such Council(s) of excellence. Others like power and energy, environment, come to my mind.

The Fourth is in the area of Defence and Foreign policy. A person who has the interest of the country is desperately needed. We need a patriot who can communicate with the world even without an interpreter standing in the middle. Sri Lanka’s location is becoming  a matter of concern but Sri Lanka need not build military alliances with new emerging powers. Without compromising our non-aligned stance we need to keep them all at arms length and stay neutral from a military perspective. Having the nation’s interest at heart let us pursue economic cooperation and technological collaboration and maintain multiple links for military training and joint exercises and be an independent friend in the Indian Ocean and not a power pawn of any super power.  We need a strong willed patriotic individual assisted by professionals to lead the nation at the forthcoming contest. Time is of the essence.

At a time when controversial secretly discussed and signed agreements are surfacing all posing national security risk and sovereignty threats to Sri Lanka, it only calls to mind a comparison of the modern day black princes to Don Juan Dharmapala who betrayed not only the Nation but Rata, Jathiya, Agama. The present black princes are betraying Sri Lanka with impunity and immunity and with no qualms about the damage being done to either the Nation or its People. How different is Don Juan Dharmapala from the bevy of black princes who are destroying a proud historical past.

Prince Dharmapala was baptize Dom Joao in 1557 & eventually came to be known Don Juan Dharmapala. He was the eldest grandson of the King of Kotte. Dharmapala’s youth and rule being divided gave Portuguese the upper hand which cannot be likened to the rule of present leadership who has over 40 years in politics. What eventually did happen was that the Portuguese did not respect the young King Dharmapala or his rule and the West/India is likely to be pooh poohing the present Government only until it gets this government to do all that it wants.

What young Dharmapala came to realize too late and what the present Government should realize before its too late, is that there was no rule in the country.

If the Portuguese did what they wanted without respecting the King, is it any different to the present foreign envoys flouting all Vienna diplomatic conventions entering state institutes, demanding to see state records, meeting every person they like without following diplomatic protocols, inspecting Sri Lanka’s lands, travelling all over the island without seeking permission first?

Eventually it came to a point where the king had to end up seeking support of the Portuguese as his own people disgusted with his rule was going against him – so the king had to reach out to the enemy for safety. Isn’t this what the present government is doing? Isn’t the West & India keeping this government alive, propping them up with cosmetic diplomatic statements applauding their ‘good governance’ that is fast becoming a laughing matter among the public? This government has been up to no good since day 1 of regime change but have you heard the West/India complain?

How different is Don Juan’s gifting mortis causa (Gift Deed) the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese on 12 August 1580 to the ACSA-SOFA-MCC deals being ventured into virtually 422 years later and an over 200mile economic corridor cutting Sri Lanka into 2 for 200 years? Bequeathing an entire island nation is an act of treachery both in 1580 and every secret agreement signed since 2015.

Don Juan not only betrayed his kingship by becoming a willing puppet which is exactly what the present Government is doing yet thinking they can continue to enjoy the perks of office after having bequeathed all control over governance & government in Sri Lanka virtually outsourcing all to foreign hands.

Even if we excuse Don Juan Dharmapala for forsaking his kingship, heritage of Lanka and virtually handing over Lanka to foreign hands, we can never forgive or forget the treacheries being done presently partnering with countries that have had no qualms about using atomic bombs, dropping drones killing civilians and public infrastructure, purposely destroying heritage sites out of jealousy, using chemical weapons in warfare and carrying out unethical warfare with countries that have not even declared war with them.

When Dharmapala forfeited Buddhism to become Catholic it kick-started the wave of anti-Buddhist programs that were rolled out by Portuguese-Dutch British & continued post-independence by INGOs, NGOs, faith-based organizations, foreign-funded media and other groups. Incrementally the damage has been happening since 1597.

Don Juan went overboard to please the Portuguese – Sri Lanka’s ancient temples were transferred to Franciscan Friars (Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, Kithsiri Mewan Viharaya at Kelaniya & Dalada Maligawa too) Don Juan simply watched them being destroyed. 12 Churches were built on top of them. Churches sprang up in Panadura, Maggona, Beruwela, Galle & Weligama. Don Juan watched as Portuguese men satisfied their lust for women – it reminds us about the 3000 Tamil women raped by IPKF soldiers and the same scenario likely to happen if US troops are allowed to enter Sri Lanka and have virtual barracks anywhere in Sri Lanka.

Every piece of legislation passed since 2015 is a threat to the nation for it is giving foreign hands a say in what happens in Sri Lanka as if these countries are virtuous, moral or even having good governance records. All of these nations today pointing fingers at Sri Lanka have blood on their hands and history is witness making no apology, accountability or even reparation for these crimes while they unashamedly demand crimes be investigated of other countries all of which are suffering conflicts indirectly engineered by them and by groups armed by them. Knowing the records of these countries – how can any country even consider venturing into such dangerous agreements with them?

In 1597 Don Juan Dharmpala did not think that when he forfeited his powers to the Portuguese he would not be able to ask it back, even if he did he did not realize that he would not have been returned the Kotte Kingdom.

Has the Govt that is now attempting to privatize all land, create an economic corridor where foreign law would apply which is over 200m long and is supposed to be valid for 200 years – thought about the repercussions of allowing this corridor? Once signed can we annul the agreement without paying billions in compensation. Why should the people have to pay for mistakes made by leaders who are refusing to see the dangers of these detrimental deals and going ahead to secretly sign them? The law should have a new clause that any secret deals ventured into in case of annulment because of national security risk, compensation should be paid by the politicians and public officials that helped secretly sign them.

Don Juan by forfeiting his Kingdom became a virtual slave & puppet of the Portuguese – he was even poisoned after being invited to dinner by Diogo de Melo and reminds us of the fate of – Osama, Saddam, Gaddafi, Milosevic who faced the same fate. Dharmapala didn’t die but ended up a stammerer for the rest of his life. Of course, the government must be getting untold inducements for their treacheries – we do not mind them forsaking their personal property but Sri Lanka is an island nation with a recorded history of over 2600 years, we have faced over 18 invasions from South India and 3 Western countries ruled for over 400 years not because they invaded us or conquered us but because we had traitors to hand over the nation to them. Traitors have handed Sri Lanka numerous other times and that is the sad story of Sri Lanka and we see this repeatedly happening. Probably treachery is in their genes. But we have also had great war heroes, great defenders of the Nation, proud people who have come forward to defend the Nation & their People and it is now time for them to rally again.

Sadly, when the white man descended first to Lanka, our people were innocent and welcomed them little knowing the evil they had in mind. However, over 400 years of atrocities done to us, recorded known by our people and the realization that the very countries guilty of colonial crimes are today venturing to commit neocolonial crimes should make our present day leaders more aware and not willing fall into their hands for various personal inducements made tapping their weaknesses but leaving the entire nation vulnerable.

The People’s Court will soon decide the fate of these traitors for their treacheries.

Shenali D Waduge

by Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan

What happened recently in Hong Kong Autonomous Region (SAR) of China has shocked the world. On 1 July, the 22^nd anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to mainland China, some riots with the dressed lie of democracy, acted like cruel extremists, broke into the Legislative Council building of Hong Kong, and vandalized various facilities. What enraged China and shocked the world further is British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s remarks on the second day. Mr. Hunt said that the UK stands behind people in Hong Kong in defence of the freedoms that Britain negotiated for them, and the Hong Kong authorities must not use demonstrators’ vandalism as a pretext for repression.

I would stress that China has resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong and the Chinese government started administering Hong Kong since 1997. The 150 years’ humiliating history of Hong Kong being a colony to UK since 1840s has gone. It seems that someone is still immersed in the faded glory of colonialism. Mr. Hunt is obsessed with condescendingly criticizing other countries and keeps lying without remorse.

First, after Hong Kong’s return to China, British rights and obligations as outlined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration were completed. The UK has no sovereignty or rights to rule and supervise Hong Kong after the handover. There is no room for Britain to claim any so-called responsibility over Hong Kong whatsoever. Claiming itself the guardian of Hong Kong is nothing more than self-entertaining.

Second, Mr Hunt says that the UK negotiated freedoms for Hong Kong. How brazen is that! Was there any democracy when the British governors were in Hong Kong? People in Hong Kong didn’t even have the right to take to the streets then. It is only after the return that Hong Kong residents started enjoying unprecedented democratic rights and freedoms. The Chinese Government strictly follows the Constitution and the Basic Law. It earnestly implements the one country, two systems” policy. It ensures that the people of Hong Kong govern Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy.

Third, the violent storming into the Legislative Council on July 1 is a grave illegal activity. It tramples on the rule of law and undermines social order. In total disregard of facts, Mr. Hunt called the SAR government’s response “repression”. That is entirely misleading. We want to ask Mr. Hunt, if it were the British Parliament that had been broken into and vandalized, what would the British government do? Will it sit by idly and let the protesters have their way? Will he call the British police’s handling of the August 2011 riot in London “repression”?

Those external forces who under the disguise of all self-boasting justice and human rights, are actually bullying other countries all the time while interfering with others’ internal affairs. In the colonial times, they exploited wealth and enslaved people from other countries. In the new ear, with the old mindset, they are making use of every opportunity to stick nose into others’ internal affairs and create chaos.

Countries like China and Sri Lanka, who shared a common history of being bullied and colonized by powers should always remain vigilant in terms of external interference. Such interference can never bring benefits, but only trouble, chaos and disasters. China, adhering to independent and peaceful diplomatic policies, will never interfere with others’ internal affairs and is strongly against such behavior. We should always insist on independence, fight against external interference and make their own decisions. Only in this way can we march toward the right direction and embrace a brighter future. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Four persons have been arrested while in possession of 290 electric detonators at Hedigama, Piliyandala, says the Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara.

They were taken into custody from a house in the Hedigama area acting on a tip-off was received by the Piliyandala Police on the matter, the police spokesperson said.

The arrest was made in a search jointly carried out by the Sri Lanka Army and the Police.

Accordingly, the arrestees were identified as the owner of the house, his two sons and the person who had given them the stock of detonators.

Piliyandala Police conducting further investigations into the incident. 

Courtesy Adaderana

President Maithripala Sirisena has said the people will have the opportunity to elect a new government within the next five months and that he expects them to use their franchise wisely to select honest individuals who love the country.

The only way to re-build this economically backward and the corrupted country is to elect a government with honest politicians, the President has stated attending a ceremony to declare open the newly-constructed District Hospital in Nuwara Eliya today (15), the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

Politicians, who love the country will instinctively work to uplift the public, the President has said.

He has pointed out that achieving development goals would not have become a challenge if the workforce of the government sector, the front runner of the forward march of the country with strong manpower of 1.6 million as well as the academics, carry out their due responsibilities.

During the last five years, the welfare programmes carried out for the benefit of the estate sector people is unparalleled, the President has said, adding that many steps have been taken to ensure free medical and education facilities of this important segment of the society.

Illegal drug trafficking is the simplest and the easiest way to destroy a country, the President has stressed. The country is unable to reap the real benefits of many progressive activities due to clandestine agendas of some political parties and their members, he has continued.

The President has also emphasized the importance of work beyond petty political gains.

The Nuwara Eliya district hospital, built with the financial assistance of the Kingdom of Netherlands, comprises a 600-bed ward complex, operation theatres with modern technology, Intensive Care Units, Outer Patients Clinics, pharmacies, dialysis units as well as quarters for doctors and nurses, the PMD reported.

The construction work of this hospital was commenced in 2012 when the President was holding the portfolio of the Health Minister and the hospital is expected to provide quality service to the tourists who are visiting the picturesque Nuwara Eliya city, the PMD said.

Following the unveiling of the plaque, President has reportedly engaged on an inspection tour.

President has registered the first three patients who came to the hospital for treatment, the PMD added. 

Ministers Rajitha Senaratne and Navin Dissanayake, Governor of the Central Province Maithri Gunaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Health Wasantha Perera, Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe, a delegation from the Netherlands and the Director of Nuwara Eliya Hospital Dr. Mahendra Seneviratne were among the gathering.

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.) Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada

11 July 2019

His Excellency David McKinnon
Canadian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka
Canadian High Commission
33A  5th Lane
Colpetty
Colombo 3
Sri Lanka.

Dear High Commissioner David McKinnon:

Re: Canada distorts the Truth about Tamil Genocide allegations in Sri Lanka

 I read with hurried interest the news item Canada to support conflict prevention in Sri Lanka , in The Island of July 4, reporting what you had said on Canada Day.

Reading it, one would have expected this expatriate Sinhalese-Sri Lankan-Canadian who has been domiciled in Canada, since 26 August 1968 (with a  hiatus between 29 May 1970, and October 16, 1970), first in St. John’s, Newfoundland and then in Ottawa since 16 October 16, 1970, to tell himself, O! Canada, you have finally seen the light about Sri Lanka.”

If what you said should had excited the cockles of my heart and made me sit on a Roman Candle on Canada Day fire-works display, to shoot myself up into the indigo sky throwing multi-coloured fireballs on everyone down below,  shouting ”Yippee..yippee”  with joy  celebrating Canada Day,  but, Oops,  unfortunately it never happened.

Why not?” You may ask.  There was an undertone of bigotry in your statement”,I would say. Then what would have satisfied the cockles of your heart?” you may ask. And I would have responded,

That is easy.  If your statement had been – Canada to support conflict prevention in Sri Lanka as well as in Canada by reining the anti-Sri Lanka politicians who make the reconciliation process difficult by sustaining the Eelam rhetoric  with their questionable statements and Private Member Bills and voting to probe Tamil Genocide” in Sri Lanka which never happened, like a bunch of Tamil Blarney Curry-in-a-Hurry popsicle suckers.”  That would have delighted me and I would have said, Thank You, High Commissioner David McKinnon, you are one honest Canadian diplomat, much, much better than High Commissioner Nancy Stiles who had a soft spot for the Tamil Eelam cause.  Way to go Sir!”

Brampton City Council under its veteran Sri Lanka hater  Mayor Patrick Brown,  declaring May 18 as the City’s Remembrance Day of Tamil Genocide, only showed your bigotry, This is the MP for Barrie who bicycled around Parliament’s campus with NDP rookie Tamil MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan in October 2011 showing the Channel 4 questionable film,”Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” film, with John Argue of Amnesty International following them like a sick puppy to give their dubious act  legitimacy.

Do you know what High Commissioner? That declaration of the Brampton City Council,  kicked and woke up the sleeping Sinhalese lions and lionesses as over 600 of them demonstrated in front of Brampton City Council on May 21.  I believe the Council was sitting in its Chamber that evening and heard the  ‘lion and lioness’ roars of the angry demonstrators loud and clearly in protest shouting Patrick Brown you are a Clown.”   This is the same anti-Sri Lanka hating MP who lambasted the Sri Lanka Government  on TV in mid- 2009 for not giving him and his colleague Paul Calandra visas to enter Sri Lanka in mid-2009 to check on the Tamil refugee camps in the North.

 I thought it was an unfair demand when the Sri Lanka Government was involved in the horrendous logistics to provide comfortable accommodation to the 295,873 Tamil refugees that they rescued from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers and preparing a million hearty meals a day, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, than spend time to provide visas and security to Patrick Brown and Paul Calandra, when they were not even Junior Ministers of the Canadian Government.

 You bet,  these Sinhalese protesters won’t go to sleep again, as  they have had enough of this Tamil blarney from the separatist Tamils and their Canadian politician supporters, who have sold their souls for a Tamil vote.

The question to you High Commissioner is, what are you going to do about it?  Are you going to rein in these politicians of deceit, who have willfully broken the Human Rights Code of reconciliation, and introduced their Tamil Tiger Code of re-CON-ciliation, between the Sinhalease and the separatist-Tamils. Too bad!

Then there was ACT 2 of ‘Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka: The dishonest Play of Tamil Genocide Blarney’.

The City of Toronto under the Mayorship of John Tory  too proclaimed May 18 as the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.”  and so  pouffff went your statement , Canada to support conflict prevention in Sri Lanka, but Canada certainly keeps the banned Tamil Tiger flag flying with such Tamil Genocide Tamil Blarney proclamations.  So, High Commissioner David McKinnon,  your statement on Canada Day had lost its currency of diplomatic honesty.  So what are you going to do about it?  And the Tamil Tiger Code of re-CON-ciliation lives another day in Canada.

Then there was ACT 3 of ‘Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka: The dishonest Play of Tamil Genocide Blarney,’ which blew your statement ‘Canada to support conflict prevention in Sri Lanka’ into smithereens,   That was a cruel joke on the Sri Lankans.  How could you support conflict prevention when the pro-Eelam politicians keep  stirring the witches brew in an iron cauldron decorated with the Canadian red Maple leaf.  This is ‘Bigotry” I said, and I will say it again.  It is bigotry in the first order!

This was Act 3, when 59 members of the Ontario Legislature stood up in the Legislative-Chamber and said Aye”  pushing through the Second Reading of Tamil Genocide Bill 104.  This Bill 104 was drafted packed with indelible untruths, lies,  to proclaim a Tamil Genocide Education Week in Ontario.

My observation was, Are these 59  Moms and Dads, the majority who very likely have young families who are focused to bringing up their childen in an honest Global Village, trying not to pollute their young minds with the words Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka, when it never happened.  And mind you, the word Genocide” is twinned with the active word Hate”.  What?   A Canadian kid who wouldn’t recognize where the little speck of an island, a pimple in the Indian Ocean is in a world map, being taught  that there was Tamil-Genocide  in that remote island of Sri Lanka, and  thus hating the guilty, the Sinhalese-Canadian classmates.  This is surreal.   This is insane. This is poppycock-crazy!.

These 59 Aye” saying Councillors have to take that parental responsibility for distorting the truth, when Tamil-Genocide never happened.  Shish!  What nastiness.  I object to this Bill 104 which is a callous act of mockery of the word Truth”  It is an incipient act of divisiveness of the multi-ethnic Sri Lankan-Canadan community right across Canada, just not only in the Province of Ontario.  This Bill 104 insults the dignity of the Sri Lankan-Sinhalese Canadian community, which I happen to be one of them.

And that Bill 104 denies the validity of your statement in Colombo on Canada Day, High Commissioner McKinnon.  And that is a sad indictment of guilt of bigotry.  That is the rub.  And that’s how the cookie  crumbles, Mr. High Commissioner.  The question is, what are you going to do about it when it impacts on you and your statement on Canada Day?

And here is Act 4 of  Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka: The dishonest Play of Tamil Genocide Blarney”, and it is a doosey, showing that our Canada is a nation of putrid-arrogance, to promote ourselves as We are Holier than Thou.”  And that is an overkill, isn’t it High Commissioner David McKinnon?

Here is a perfect textbook example of a Canadian pot calling a Sri Lankan kettle black. Specially, when Canada is accused of Genocide” on Aboriginal women  in a voluminous Report, ‘Claim our Power and Our Place’ delivered on Monday, June 3, 2019, to the Canadian authorities which was written after two years of work by a specialized Commission – that thousands of indiginous women were murdered or missing in recent decades have been victims of ‘Genocide’; in our Canada,  and Lo behold, the NDP Motion was adopted in the House of Commons to investigate Sri Lanka’s actions to defeat Tamil Tiger Terrorism in the years 2006 to 2009 as an act of Genocide”. 

Mr. High Commissioner, all what I want to do is scream saying Give me a break, Canada.”  That Motion was proposed by NDP and was passed in the House with the consent of all parties on the 19th of June, 2019.  Wow!  What a colonial-type of arrogance!

Ha! All parties they said.   What?

 Let’s look at these parties clinically, and their interest in Sri Lanka, and their extraordinary interest in the separatist Tamil Movement, and warring with the Sri Lankan armed forces for 30-bloodying years, to carve out one-third of the prime real estate in the north and east to create their mono-ethnic, racist, separate Tamil State, Eelam for 12% of the population.

NDP’s support for the separatist Tamils  was exposed when their  late leader Jack Layton compared the  leader of the ruthless serial assassins, the Tamil Tiger terrorists, Velupillai Prabhakaran to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, in front of 10,000 Tamils at Queen’s Park.   Nelson Mandela would have turned in his grave, looked straight into Jack Layton’s eyes and told him, Stop insulting me man.  Are you an idiot or what!”

It was Jack Layton who called for an Emergency Meeting on Sri Lanka at the Parliamentary Chambers on 4th February 2009, which was a circus of clowns.  I watched them on CPAC and christened this event as the  Canadian Tamil Tiger Blarney Gong Show. 

So the NDPiers sold their souls to the Tamil Diaspora, to seek a favour from them – their bloc vote.  And they have the gall and temerity to pass a motion in parliament to investigate Sri Lanka’s action to defeat Tamil Tiger terrorism between 2006 and 2009 as an act of Genocide.”

And I wouldn’t hesitate to tell Ms.Salma Zahid, MP for Scarborough Center, to get off her high-horse and try not to embarrass herself, by trying to be smart to win the Tamil votes in her constituency.  And not to challenge the strategy and intelligence of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces for annihilating the Tamil Tiger terrorists to give back the  most coveted human right, the right-to-life to 21 million peoples which had been hijacked by the Tamil Tigers for 30 long years.  Come down from your high-horse Ms. Salma Zahid.”

Let’s look at the Liberals, clinically, why they looked aside when the separatist Tamil Diaspora collected 2 million dollars a month for 13 years under the leadership of

Prime Ministers Jean Chretian and Paul Martin, to stuff the Tamil Tiger War Chest to buy a sophisticated armoury of Kalashnikovs, bullets, land mines, claymore mines, et cetera, to help win their separatist war. Hmmmm!  In other words, Canada aided and abetted that Eelam war and prolonged it.  There is No ifs and buts.

It was the Liberals in 1994 who let a member of the Tamil Diaspora cut a cheque from a Bank in Vancouver to pay the Rubizone Chemical Factory in the Ukraine for the purchase of 10 tons of hexogen, plastic explosives like Semtex; 50 tons of TNT, and a large quantity of electric timing caps and detonator cord.  These were the explosives that were used in a truck bomb to bring down the Central Bank Building in Colombo, on January 31, 1996.  That truck bomb killed 114 people and  maimed 1,338 others for life.

And so the Liberal Party had the gall and temerity to support this brainless motion by the NDP to investigate Sri Lanka’s actions between 2006 and 2009 which they say was an act of Genocide.

It were the Liberal Terrible 5 – Robert Oliphant, Jim Karygiannis, Judy Sgro, Derek Lee and Albina Guanierri, who accused the Sri Lanka Government of Genocide during the Canadian Tamil Tiger Blarney Gong Show on 4 February 2009.  When questioned about Genocide”, this Liberal Terrible 5 choked.  They just could  not back up their allegation.  Your Excellency, at that point I fell on my knees  with my palms together and I asked , the Sweet Mother of Jesus, to help Sri Lanka from these moronic Canadian accusations.  All this for a Tamil vote. 

And finally, lets clinically analyse the Conservatives who supported this motion of the NDP.

It was the Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper who went into a hissy-fit and boycotted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference held in Colombo  in November 2013.  He was merely pandering to the Tamil voters in the Greater Toronto Area.  This was embarrassing as he expected the other Commonwealth Heads like the UK and Australia to file behind him in support.  There was not a snowball’s chance in hell for his silliness. He was snubbed as they all more or less told him, All right Stephen, if you want to stay back, go ahead and stay back but we are going to Colombo to attend the Summit.  If you want to go to the corner of your office, stick your thumb in your mouth and sulk, that is your business.  Good luck!”

So he sent his emissary  Minister Deepak Obhrai to represent him and Canada.  And he was another disaster. Another embarrassment and angered the majority of the Sri Lankan-Sinhalese Canadians across Canada.  He acted like a High School Bully.

When asked by a Sri Lankan Official, not to lay a wreath for the Tamils who died for their Eelam cause at Elephant Pass, he was rude and did it anyway,  He said that it was a neutral spot where he laid the wreath.  He obviously didn’t do his homework nor did your High Commission in Colombo.  I had to point it out in a letter that Elephant Pass was the war theatre for three major battles between the Tamil Tigers and the SriLankan Armed Forces.  So he returns to Canada, meets the Tamil separatists in Toronto to tell them what he did for them.  Thus wanting them to return the favour by giving the Conservatives their vote. 

All this for a Tamil vote and sustaining the separatist Tamils in Canada by providing them with enough oxygen to continue their War from the Canadian Legislature Chambers, to claim their mono-ethnic, racist, separate Tamil State, Eelam.

So what are you going to do about it Mr. High Commissioner?  You know as well as I know and so does the other Canadian Foeign Affairs diplomats know, that although the Tamil Tigers were militarily defeated on the shores of the Nandikadal lagoon on the east coast in Sri Lanka on 19 May 2009, that war continues in the legislative chambers of the Federal, Provincial and City Councils in Canada.  All for the Tamil votes using the Tamil Genocide bogey which never happened,  Shame on  the  Canadian politicians who support the allegations of Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka  And that is the rub.

Let me share my last observations which has pained me for the past decade. Why three events in Sri Lanka have missed the radar of Canadian political bleeding hearts of Human rights.  This amazes me, which proves that we are not squeaky clean and  live a lie that we are a bunch of Goody-two-shoes.

1. When the world patted the back of Sri Lanka after she annihilated the ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists on 19 May 2009, saying, Good Show, way to go Sri Lanka”, but Foreign Minister of Canada, Hon. Lawrence Cannon put out the most pathetic Press Release ignoring this classic event, when the world was fighting to eliminate terrorism, and Sri Lanka annahilated the ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists after a 30-year long war almost single handed, Canada had nothing congratulatory to say to the Sri Lanka Government.  That was pathetic.  Why?  I smell a rat here, High Commissioner;

1. When by the end of the Tamil Tiger terrorist War  on 19, May 2009, the Sri Lankan soldiers rescued 295,873, Tamil refugees from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers, who marched them for 30 months from the west coast to the east  coast, like unwashed cattle as a human shield  under a scorching hot  Jaffna-Killinochchi sun, which was  a historic classic textbook event of a Human rescue from terrorists, This did not show up on the Canadian Government’s bleeding heart radar. Not a word of acknowledgement.  Sick! Why? I smell another stinky Canadian rat here!

    3.  The amazing humanitarian effort of preparing a million hearty breakfasts  lunches and dinners every day to feed the 295,873 Tamil refugees  housed in temporary camps, to keep them alive, missed the Canadian Government’s bleeding heart Radar, again.  Not a hum…not a word by the Canadian Government so  far  And especially  when the Sri Lankan soldiers, mainly Sinhalese were part of the army of cooks who prepared these million meals. each day.

          Not a word.. not a hum from Canadian Government  bleeding hearts  Why?  I  suspect one more stinky rat again.  This classic humanitarian event didn’t  show up in the Canadian  Government’s Bleeding Heart radar.

           All this shows that there is a lack of honesty in all these Canadian shenanigans on Sri Lanka’s war against the most ruthless Tamil terrorists  who perfected the suicide bodyt pack which was used to assassinate    India’s Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lanka’s President Ranasinghe Premadasa. 

            Why?

            Do you know why, High Commissioner David McKinnon?   I wish you would   share this information with me.  I have suspicions but I need  a confirmation  from someone with authority that I can trust.  I like to believe that you are  not a Nancy Stiles.  A Canadian diplomat that I could trust   I hope we will meet someday, somewhere when we can exchange our   views on these issues which needs answers. I am not a happy camper, the  first Sinhelese-Sri Lankan Canadian together with my colleague  Asoka Yapa who was fearless and dismissed the Tamil serparatist intimidation, and went on National TV’s  evening 6 o’clock News, on 4 August 1983, to defend the good name of our Motherland Sri Lanka.  By then she had been bashed to  pulp, kicked and spat at by these separatist Canadian-Tamils day in and  day out for eight long days in the print and audio-visual media.

Enough was enough.  We took them on  to let the Canadians know   our side of the story.  Since 4 August 1983, I have been singing –  ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the Liar of them all.’ ever since.

Sincerely, 
Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)

Laksiri Warnakula

Introduction

I am exhausted. It’s not just physical. It stems from my incapability to take in and digest all of what is written on paper and spoken about, almost everywhere. The incessant barrage of peoples’ howling and protesting, talking and reporting colourfully (pun intended) and ruefully on moronic deals, deeds and a plethora of other adventures by the ‘Diyawanna Oya Outfit’ has risen to a crescendo, which most likely has never been heard before. The number of people asking, arguing, criticising and writing in newspapers and other social media sites has reached heights never reached before.

And I am sure that most of them like myself are truly exhausted too by trying to take on this onslaught of the thoughts of a people, who are angry and utterly tired of being taken for a ride. 

The never-ending bedlam, cheating, corruption lies and many other vices, of the governors as well as the governed that have now become the general order of the day of the ‘Republic of Sri Lanka aka ‘A land like no other’.

So I thought of writing something different from the familiar and the typical and instead opting for a wee bit of atypical. Even though it addresses the same social and political drama of today, the approach is different, speckled with grains of humour and seeds of sarcasm. At least, yours truly hopes so.

I am going to limit my essay to a very few only, even though you could probably write a voluminous treatise on the subject, of the antics of our politicians of past and present-day packed to the brim at times, with highhandedness, stupidity, thievery and tomfoolery, all present in various proportions in their packages containing, supposedly sensible, sustainable and sound solutions, presented to a malnourished nation and its maltreated people.

Oxymora

Agree to disagree – A familiar habit of many of them

Deceptively honest – In my opinion, there are quite a few, who could be under this category

Disgustingly-delicious – What some of them say!

Honest thief – Can some of them be called as such?

Loyal opposition – Who on earth can this be? Well, we have seen them barking, snapping and screaming in our ‘Hall-of-Shame’ around ‘The Oya’ in many an occasion

Shrewd dumbness – Guess, who could easily answer the description

Silent scream – You can hear the people’s ‘silent scream’ as they write in the newspapers of today; And mostly about the despicable and deplorable behaviour of many of our politicians, their antics and unfathomable logic, which they apply to solve serious problems facing the nation

Unbiased opinion – Aren’t they good at giving it?

Wise fool – I am sure we have few amongst them. What do you think? Even though, they choose to be foolish more often than be wise!

There are many more. I chose the ones that are less common, yet suit the topic of my essay. It would be fun to think about who could fall into each of these, despite the fact that there are some, who would instantly come to your mind.

Note 1 – The word ‘oxymoron’ is of Greek origin.

Note 2 – The examples of ‘Oxymora’ given here have been taken from few sources; Merriam-Webster, the Cambridge English Dictionary, et al.

Laksiri Warnakula

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

I was watching the greatest game ever last night.

After lifting the cup jubilant English players were holding the cup 

After holding the cup Champaign bottles were uncoked

I noted that two bearded Muslim players slowly and unnoticed creep away until Champaign is sprayed all over the players 

News.com .au of Australia published following already .

England World Cup stars Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid were forced to flee the team’s wild celebrations immediately following the World Cup trophy presentation in a culture clash for the new world champions. 

Ali and Rashid bolted from the middle of the trophy podium moments after England captain Eoin Morgan raised the ICC Cricket World Cup Trophy and confetti began to shoot from cannons alongside the champions” signage placed in front of the team.

As the team burst into cheers and flames exploded behind them, teammates were handed sponsored champagne bottles and a few short moments later began spraying them in all directions.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera