Courtesy The Straits Times

COLOMBO (Reuters) – After coming under fire for not acting on warnings about Easter bombings that killed more than 250 people, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena is now facing criticism over his leadership in the aftermath of the Islamist attacks.Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena walks inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 15, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee/Pool

On Monday last week, just as anti-Muslim riots were spreading in apparent reprisal for the attacks, Sirisena embarked on a three-day trip to key financier China, leaving some Sri Lankans feeling abandoned.

Going ahead with his son’s wedding on May 9 also struck some as an affront to families still in mourning after the April 21 bombings, claimed by Islamic State, which struck churches and hotels.

That leaves Sirisena in a weak position ahead of this year’s presidential election, voters and analysts say, potentially paving the way for former wartime defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take over.

Sirisena’s allies say he did the best he could in a volatile situation, citing measures like temporarily shutting down social media and deploying the army to stem violence in the multi-ethnic, Buddhist-majority island.

But that rings hollow to voters like 56-year-old construction worker Sunil, who voted for Sirisena in 2015 amid hopes the career politician would combat corruption but now feels the president has not focused on governing.

The president has no time for this because he is busy going all over the place,” said Sunil on a recent morning in Colombo, vowing never to vote for Sirisena again.

Sirisena’s trip to China, where he met President Xi Jinping, was pre-planned and beneficial to the nation, coordinating secretary Shiral Lakthilaka told Reuters.

Sirisena returned to Sri Lanka on Thursday and only addressed attacks on Muslim homes and shops on Friday, five days after the violence erupted.

Some disgruntled Sri Lankans were also frustrated that Sirisena’s son’s wedding went ahead. It was originally scheduled to be held in the Shangri-La, which was bombed, and ultimately celebrated at the Hilton Colombo.

Sirisena, one user identified as @sankadon tweeted, cant even postpone the extravagant wedding at least (for) the tears and blood of the people who lost their lives due to his inability”.

Spokesman Ekanayake pushed back at the criticism, saying the wedding was scaled down and that Sirisena did not attend all the festivities.

ELECTION YEAR

The criticism comes on top of accusations that government paralysis due to a feud between Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe prevented warnings about the attacks from being disseminated.

Both men, who fell out after a political crisis in October, say they were not privy to the warnings.

Sirisena was in Singapore with family when the attackers struck. He returned to Colombo 15 hours later, appointed a panel to probe defense lapses and replaced both the police chief and the defense secretary.

There are no political polls in Sri Lanka, but analysts said Sirisena was on the back foot in elections that must be held by December.

President Sirisena does not have a fighting chance,” said Eurasia analyst Akhil Bery.

Wickremesinghe is also seen as a lame duck due to disappointment over the economy under his watch. His allies say two more popular politicians from the United National Party, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya or Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa, could run instead.

To be sure, Sirisena’s chances of re-election prior to the attack were also seen as slim, but he had been vying for an alliance with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

That now seems impossible, with Rajapaksa’s brother, Gotabaya, who is running for office, doubling down on criticism that the attacks happened because the government dismantled intelligence networks he built up during Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war with Tamil rebels.

Sirisena had the idea of contesting, but there is no chance at all (of winning), especially after the attack,” said political commentator Kusal Perera.

Auto rickshaw driver Shantha, who did not provide a surname, has switched from supporting Sirisena to backing Rajapaksa.

We did not see quick decisions to bring the situation in the country back under control,” Shantha, 37, said of the government. I will vote only if Gotabaya Rajapaksa contests.”

By P.K.Balachandran/Ceylon Today

Colombo, May 20: The Sri Lankan government has announced the proscription of three Islamic State (IS) affiliates, namely, the National Tawheed Jamaath (NTJ), the Jamaathei Millathu Ibrahimee Seylani (JIMS) and the Wilayath as Seylani (WAS).

The first two were publically identified soon after the April 21 Easter Sunday suicide attacks which resulted in 253 deaths. But the Wilayath as Seylani (WAS) was named only on recently, perhaps because it was discovered during the investigations into the multiple suicide bombings. The government is yet to give details of the Wilayat as Seylani and its operations in Sri Lanka.

However, according to Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, a co-author of The Three Pillars of Radicalization” (Oxford University Press 2019), the Islamic State’s Caliphate has not formally declared the formation of WAS though its formation is being discussed at the highest level in the organization and its establishment is very much on the cards.

The Islamic State’s plan may be to declare WAS’s formation if anti-Muslim violence continues in Sri Lanka and an excuse can be given for the formation of a separate Wilayath for Sri Lanka,” he said.

The term Wilayath refers to a province”. Since 2014, the IS has set up Wilayaths or provinces in various parts of the world. These Wilayaths are not conventional provinces but fields of IS operation. Among the IS’s Wilayaths in South Asia are Wilayath Khorasan (covering Afghnaistan and Pakistan) and Wilayath al Hind (covering India with the nerve center being located in Kashmir). To this has been added Wilayath as Seylani ( Seylan is the Arabic name for Sri Lanka).

According to Dr.Gunaratna, Mohammad Zahran, the leader of the NTJ, who carried out the suicide bombing of Shangri- La hotel in Colombo, had been wanting to set up an IS Willayath in Sri Lanka.

The Lankan government was probably aware of the discussions going on at the highest levels in the IS Caliphate about forming WAS and had banned it in anticipation.

Communal clashes, with the majority community staging mob attacks against Muslims, would have paved the way for the realization of terrorist Zahran’s dream.

It is therefore very important for the government of Sri Lanka to ensure that there are no communal clashes and that Buddhists, Christians and Muslims live harmoniously and side by side in safety and security. If need be, government should issue shoot at sight orders to quell mobs on the rampage,” Dr. Gunaratna said.

In his paper entitled Islamic State’s Financing: Sources, Methods and Utilization” in the booklet Counter terrorism- trends and analyses,” brought out in 2017 by the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, Patrick Blannin says that the Islamic State is a multi-million dollar organization, which can throw money in many parts of the world to recruit, train, retain cadres and carry out its operations.

If Sri Lanka becomes a hub or a Wilayath of the IS , it would be exposed to the dangers other parts of the world with Wilayaths face now.

According Blannin, the IS is a self-sufficient organization not depending upon any State or individual for its funds. He quotes Patrick Johnson to say that in 2008, before Abu Bakr al Baghdadi became leader of the IS, the organization was financing itself by running smuggling rackets.

Looking at the financial muscle of the IS, it comes as no surprise that Zahran’s small group in Sri Lanka had as much as Rs. 7 billion worth of assets and Rs.140 million in cash.

Baghdadi’s predecessor, and IS founder, Abu Mu’sab al Zarkawi, had earned US$ 70 million to US$ 200 million annually through oil smuggling. Kidnapping for ransom got the IS another US$ 36 million. Keith Crane from RAND Corporation told a US Senate Committee that the IS made about US$ 1.2 billion in 2015 alone by various, mostly illegal, activities.

Oil Smuggling

According to a 2015 study, the IS earned money from the oil business by attacking, holding, and operating oil infrastructure facilities in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt. Sale of oil and petroleum products fetched it US$ 40 million per month in 2015. IS also operated refineries.

Anyone could buy oil from the IS. It sold at a competitive rate, and therefore sales were good. According to one estimate it charged US$ 20 per barrel in 2015. One report said that it made US$ 1.5 million a day on oil sales. However, US strikes against IS oil facilities in 2016 brought down revenues from oil rackets by 33%.

Interestingly, the many anti-IS groups in the Middle East were using the same methods to earn money to carry out their anti-IS operations.

Human Smuggling

Human smuggling is another racket which the IS had been running. It ran such rackets in Nigeria, Sahel, Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Syria. Prior to Libya’s action in 2016, the IS had a free run of 260 km of the Mediterranean Coast. It is said to have taxed agents involved in the smuggling 250,000 people to Europe across the Mediterranean.

It is alleged that the IS would attack refugee camps, forcing the refugees to flee and then made them pay to get across to Europe.

Though the Salafi Islam it propagates is against idols, the IS has had no compunction about stealing and trading in idols illegally. And the business was booming when it had many parts of Iraq under its control. As many as 4500 archaeological sites including some in the UNESCO World Heritage List, were under its control enabling it to vandalize the sites and sell priceless artefacts. This raised concerns in the UN and the Security Council passed a resolution in 2015 criminalizing this activity.

Taxation Cum Extortion

Taxation is another method of making money. The IS reportedly collected not less than US$300 million annually by taxing business and levying religious taxes. The religious tax on business was as high as 20%. Agriculture too was a source of income because at one time the IS-controlled 40% of the agricultural land in Iraq.

Cyber Crime

IS’s cyber jihadis” openly advise their online supporters how to use Dark Wallet, an anonymous bitcoin transfer application, as well as how to set up an anonymous donations system to send money, using bitcoin, to the mujahedeen, says Patrick Blannin.‖

Whilst providing a communication channel with mass reach, IS online forums serve as virtual marketplaces for cybercrime tools such as malware and ransom-ware, as well as for skilled hackers, who can be hired for criminal services.”

The Internet has globalized fraudulent schemes, giving fraudsters access to millions of potential victims. British IS supporters committed a large-scale fraud by pretending to be police officers and targeting the UK pensioners for their bank details, earning more than US$1.8 million.”

Magnus Ranstorp has found that IS operatives have used fake identities and payslips to apply for funds through online applications. They have used these identities to secure soft bank loans, quick loans (SMS loans), government and private welfare schemes as well as lease motor vehicles.”

By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Courtesy Ceylon Today

I was astonished by a news item that appeared a couple of weeks back, to the effect that the Presidential Secretariat was to appeal against the order of the Right to Information Commission that it reveals the Assets Declaration of the Prime Minister. Given what seems to be continuing bad blood between the President and Ranil, this seems odd.

Several possible explanations come to mind. One is that the hostility is an elaborate hoax, designed to fool the country and the Opposition. If Ranil is not nominated by his party for the Presidency, or if it is clear he has no chance of winning, as was the case last time round, he will ensure that Sirisena is nominated. The man is obviously more malleable than anyone else, so Ranil and his poodles, having shut out Sajith, can continue to enjoy the fruits of office for another five years.

The second is that Sirisena thinks revealing Ranil’s assets will bring Ranil credit, since he has so little. I have previously pointed out that I do not think Ranil’s declaration will reveal any ill-gotten gains, for the simple reason that Ranil’s schemes for making money are not for himself, but rather for his party. This is a simple mechanism to ensure that his less perceptive supporters continue to think of him as clean, while he enjoys the fruits of his nefarious activities (and those of his chums) because all his expenses are met by the party. After all, though luckily unlike other influential spouses, his wife does not revel in jewellery and vulgar show, she like him and his acolytes, enjoys luxurious hotels, and someone has got to fund them.

My view is that what will emerge as the paucity of Ranil’s actual assets will make it clear why he has clung so desperately to the leadership of the party, namely that without that he could not continue to enjoy the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed. But such an argument would be beyond Sirisena, so, he thinks it best to conceal what he sees as Ranil’s impressive record in not having acquired excess assets during his over 20 years in power.

Forward defence line

Related to this may be Sirisena’s view that Ranil is his best forward defence line. If Ranil’s Assets Declaration is made public, it would be even more difficult for Sirisena to hide behind his right to conceal his own assets. After all, the Commission, while registering that the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law does not include the position of President” noted that the increasing trend among Heads of State is to proactively disclose their assets and liabilities to foster a practice of transparency and public accountability.”

Unfortunately, the President is in a position to play games with the People’s Right to Information because the Act itself is designed to suppress information when the Government wants to be secretive, rather than fulfil the purpose of transparency for which it was conceived. A Right to Information Bill was prominently featured in the 100-day manifesto, with a commitment to introduce it on 20 February 2015 and pass it in three weeks.

Of course, nothing of the sort happened. With Ranil only anxious to take over presidential powers, and Sirisena actively subservient to him – as opposed to passively, which is the case now, except when it comes to his own position – hardly any promises were kept, and none on schedule. The draft Right to Information Bill, prepared by Ranil’s little coterie of loyalists, was circulated only in April, and there was no opportunity given to discuss it before Sirisena’s hasty dissolution of Parliament in June.

I do not think anyone else bothered to respond to the draft, but early in April I sent several suggestions to Ranil, and also copied these to Nimal Siripala de Silva, the then Leader of the Opposition. Needless to say, there was no response from either. And of course, despite the hype in the manifesto about the strengthening of Parliament, there was no question at this stage of the Bill being discussed in a parliamentary committee.

What the Prime Minister was up to, in fact, seemed clear enough, now that he had got ready to present to Parliament what was, despite the Supreme Court verdict, largely his version of the 19th Amendment. I concluded the letter I sent him about the Bill with the hope that he would not forget what the country had been promised, once he had had his way about bringing the President under his control – I hope other Members of Parliament also respond. However, it would be best, to ensure adherence to the norms of Parliament, that this draft be submitted to the relevant Consultative Committee of Parliament. It is sad that only a couple of Consultative Committees have thus far met, even though the Cabinet was constituted three months ago. Also I trust your Party will not exercise undue pressure with regard to immediate dissolution of Parliament, since it is important that this Act and the Act on strengthening accountability are passed.”

Premature dissolution of Parliament

Nothing more was heard about the Bill in the next couple of months, and Ranil got his way in June about the premature dissolution of Parliament, Sirisena breaking his promise to the UPFA Parliamentary group in soliciting their support for the 19th Amendment, that he would not dissolve Parliament until the electoral system had been changed. Obviously, the commitment in the manifesto that I guarantee the abolition of the preferential system and will ensure that every electorate will have a Member of Parliament of its own” meant nothing to him. And though earlier I thought he meant what he said, but allowed himself to be swayed by those who pressurised him, I have now realised after his antics with regard to the terrorism we have suffered from recently that he lies like a Trojan for his own benefit.  

One of the basic principles I wanted incorporated in the proposed Act was that information should be a right the public enjoyed, not a privilege bestowed by those in authority. Thus, I wanted the reports that the Act enjoined every Ministry to prepare to incorporate at 8 (2) b (vii) the Declarations of Assets of Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Secretaries of Ministries, Chairs of Public Authorities and all officials responsible for contracts or expenditure over the value of Rs 1 million. Such declarations should be posted electronically. Gifts over the value of Rs 500,000 received by such individuals should also be recorded.

I had put a similar suggestion to Karu Jayasuriya, who was then the Minister for Democratic Governance as well as Public Administration, believing then that he was actually committed to transparency and the eradication of corruption. I proposed to him that:

1. The Assets Declarations of Ministers, Parliamentarians, Provincial Councillors and those heading government institutions that have entered into contracts of above a particular value should be made public. They should be uploaded on institutional websites within two weeks of laws/regulations to such effect being introduced.

I am aware that there may be some diffidence about this inasmuch as some Members of the Government may not have declared their assets as required. The law/regulation should specify that no action will be taken with regard to such, provided the declaration is made available to be made public at the due date. They will also be requested to make declarations for each of the last five years.

2.  A Commission should be empowered to go into these declarations, and institute investigations if the assets of any individual have grown disproportionately in the last five years.

The Thai concept of people being ‘unusually rich’ could be brought into play. The Public should be invited to provide information if there is reason to suspect inaccuracies in the declaration of assets. Such information should be investigated, with provision that assets not declared may be frozen, and confiscated if legitimate acquisition cannot be proved.

3. Individuals who hand over assets which they cannot prove were legitimately acquired may be given an amnesty, on condition of taking no part in public life for a specific period.

It could be argued that this is a form of impunity, but we should not engage in what could be perceived as witch hunts. Regaining for the country anything that has been plundered, and debarring further such activities for a fixed period, should be enough.

4. Any information provided by the public about inflated tenders, undue costs for contracts with national and international suppliers, acceptance of shoddy construction work or equipment supplied, should be investigated. 

Individuals handing over assets obtained improperly through such instances may be given an amnesty, on condition of taking no part in public life. I would urge in particular that attention be paid to the information supplied by Mr. Kodituwakku, formerly of the Customs, who had to flee the country because of threats against him arising from his outstanding integrity and efficiency.

5. Officials who felt obliged to acquiesce in abuses should be given impunity for the provision of information with regard to such matters. Provision should be made for such information to be given in confidence.  

Karu did try to have a meeting with other parliamentarians he thought keen on public decency, but no one came and he gave up. He told me that his hands were tied, as the Prime Minister did not trust him. Sadly, he spent the next four years trying to win back the Prime Minister’s trust, at the expense of the country.

By Methmalie Dissanayake Courtesy Ceylon Today

Chairman of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Professor G.L. Peiris yesterday (20) said, they would go before the Supreme Court (SC) if President Maithripala Sirisena and his supporters try to extend the President’s term in office.

Speaking at a media briefing, Prof. Peiris said, many Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Members, including its General Secretary, Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara, had indicated that the President was considering seeking the SC’s opinion on the dates of his term of office.

Jayasekara said, the Speaker had signed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution Bill on 22 June 2015.  Based on this, they argue the President’s team seems to believe that his term ends in May 2020, not January 2020. Jayasekara had said, they hoped to seek the SC opinion after 30 April.

By that time a new Chief Justice would be appointed. It seems that the SLFP is trying to check whether this new Chief Justice will extend the Presidential term. You can’t do things like that. The SC is not a place for such kind of gambling.”

Speaking further, he said that Lecturer in Public Law at the School of Law, University of Edinburgh, Dr. Asanga Welikala had said that the President has already made a reference to the SC about his term.

The SC clearly stated that President has only five years in the office, not six years. According to Dr. Welikala, seeking the opinion of the SC once again on the same matter is a waste of the time of the Court. The last thing the people need at this moment is postponing Elections. We do not need that. Therefore, if anyone tries to extend the Presidential term we would also intervene in the SC to stop that. We would also form a strong public opinion against it as well. We would do everything possible for us to stop postponing the Polls,” he observed.

Meanwhile, the National University Teachers’ Association (NUTA) said that any move to seek the Supreme Court’s opinion regarding the date on which President Sirisena’s term will expire is inappropriate and unnecessary.

Professor Channa Jayasumana, Secretary of the NUTA, has informed the President in writing, that they are aware that the President is hoping to get a renewed opinion on Article 129 of the Constitution. With regard to the tenure of the Presidency, would it terminate within the five years from 8 January 2015 after the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed, or five years from the date when Speaker Karu Jayasuriya signed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution into law on 15 May 2015?

Prof. Jayasumana has said that after the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the Supreme Court gave their verdict stating that the Presidential term is not six years but limited to five. Moreover, according to the verdict given in November 2018, the de facto and de jure President before the 19th Amendment to the Constitution is President Sirisena.

General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara has mentioned that after appointing a new Chief Justice they will again seek the Supreme Court’s opinion on the term of the President. So there is a reasonable doubt among the people about the credibility of justice,” he added.

Further, Prof. Jayasumana urged that a Presidential Election be called after the Presidential term is over and to thereby fulfil Sri Lankans right to vote.

Courtesy Adaderana

Six persons have been arrested by the Kurunegala Police over connections to the Easter Day attacks and enabling terror acts, stated Police Media Spokesperson.

Among the arrestees, three have been remanded after being produced at the courts and the remaining 3 are currently investigated on under the custody of the Kurunegala Police.

Reportedly, Kurunegala Police had received a tip-off that a group of persons had been conducting a training camp at a coconut estate in the Alakoladeniya area, Kurunegala.

Accordingly, on 9th May, the police had arrested three persons following investigations; the owner of the coconut cultivation, the coordinator of the training programs and a lecturer at the training programs. They are currently under remand until the 24th of May.

Further investigations had led to the arrest of two more suspects on May 11, stated Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara.

An employee of the Kurunegala hospital, from Ambakote, Mawathagama has been arrested in this manner. Reportedly, a large sum of money had been deposited to this person’s bank account, from time to time. He is currently under interrogation at the Kurunegala Police.

The second suspect is also from Ambakote and the police had managed to find many bank cheques on him.

Meanwhile, the Kurunegala Police has also arrested a parliamentary official over connections with the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) organization. He had been serving as a translator at the parliament for a period of 12 years.

The Defense Ministry has permitted Kurunegala Police to detain and question him for 90 days.

However, 89 persons have been arrested over various links to the Easter Sunday bomb attacks. Sixty-eight of them are under the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) while the remaining 20 are interrogated under the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).

Courtesy Adaderana

Easter Attack ringleader Zahran Hashim’s main organizer, ‘Kalmunai Siam’, has been arrested by officials of the State Intelligence Service.

The officials from the Ampara division of the State Intelligence Service had arrested the called ‘Kalmunai Siam’ last evening (19), based on investigations carried out by them following the Easter attacks.

Following interrogations of ‘Siam’, four more suspects were also arrested yesterday (19).

Additionally, 31 CDs have also been discovered hidden buried in the Palamunai area.

Investigations have revealed that ‘Kalmunai Siam’ had assisted the close accomplice of Zahran, Niaz, to find accommodation for Zahran’s supporters in Samanthurai, Nindavur and Sainthamarudu areas.

Officials of the State Intelligence Service have uncovered that ‘Siam’ had escorted the group including Niaz, who blasted themselves in Sainthamarudu, from Nindavur to Sainthamarudu via a coastal route.

Security forces have confirmed that ‘Kalmunai Siam’ had trained in Hambantota area and that he is a powerful member of the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) organization.

The suspects are currently under interrogation.

Courtesy Adaderana

Three more suspects linked to the Easter Day attacks have been arrested this evening (20), stated Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara.

Reportedly, the arrest has been made at Kalmunai area in Ampara, Police Media Division stated.

Security forces are carrying out further investigations on the matter.

Courtesy Adaderana

United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Shehan Semasinghe says that he believes that the no-confidence motion brought against Minister Rishad Bathiudeen will receive the support of all those who love the country and condemn extremism and racism.

He mentioned this to the media at a press conference held yesterday (19).

He stated that the relevant no-confidence motion has been included in the agenda of the Parliament.

According to Semasinghe, party differences should not apply when voting favor of this no-confidence motion.

He further stated that, based on who would vote for this motion, one can determine who loves the country and who are friends of terrorism.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ministry of Defense has granted Kurunegala police permission to detain a translator at the parliament who was arrested over involvement with the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ).

Accordingly, the suspect will be detained for a period of 90 days for purpose of interrogation, stated Police Media Spokesperson.

Reportedly, the official has been arrested by a special team of the Kurunegala Police.

It has been revealed that the suspected translating officer at the parliament has been a longstanding member of NTJ.

He is also reported to be a key speaker in the series of lectures conducted island-wide by the NTJ.

A spokesman of the parliament stated that the relevant officer has been serving as a translator at the parliament for a period of 12 years.

Adaderana

Courtesy Adaderana

The Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa says that the factors which led to the new terrorism in the country must be resolved immediately.

The hunt on war heroes, weakening the intelligence are the major factors behind this terrorism, he said.

If the government doesn’t accept these facts and finds solutions, the situation might get even worse, said Rajapaksa.

The international interference has become severe; foreign influences are in the play when appointing persons to some posts, he pointed out.

The Opposition Leader mentioned this to the media following a religious event held at Abayarama VIharaya in Narahenpita

By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 17: There have been four very disturbing developments in Sri Lanka in the past few days, which, if not recognized and attended to immediately, could pave the way for more attacks by the local affiliates of the Islamic State (IS).

In fact, the vitiated political and communal atmosphere could be used by any group, local or foreign, wanting to destabilize Sri Lanka. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the leader of the Lankan Catholic community, has warned about this eventuality.

The first disturbing factor is the spate of attacks by politicized elements of the majority-Sinhalese Buddhist community against Muslim businesses, mosques and houses in several small towns in the politically sensitive North Western Province.

The second is the alleged inaction of the army and the police in the face of mayhem, which has weakened public trust in the law enforcement and government machinery mandated to maintain peace while unravelling the network behind the unprecedented multiple suicide bombings by affiliates of the Islamic State on April 21 which claimed 253 lives.

The third is the cynical way in which the country’s political parties and individual politicians are using the April 21 terrorist attacks to expose” their rivals and destroy them politically.

These political diversions are adversely affecting the government’s capacity to concentrate on and get at the real perpetrators of the Easter Sunday carnage.

The fourth is the frightening revelation that the Islamic State has designated Sri Lanka as Wilayath as Seylani” or the Sri Lankan province of the Islamic State’s Caliphate, thereby making Sri Lanka a hub and a theatre of its grisly operations in the region.

Attacks on Muslims

All Muslim organizations from the All Ceylon Jamiyath Ulema (ACJU) downwards, and all Muslim political parties have issued strong statements condemning the suicide attacks against hotels and churches. They have said that the perpetrators did not even deserve a Muslim burial for their utterly un-Islamic act. It is a fact that the most of crucial arrests were made with tip offs provided by Muslims themselves.

But despite all this, politically motivated Sinhalese-Buddhist mobs attacked Muslim businesses, houses, factories and mosques in a number of small towns in North West Sri Lanka from May 13 onwards for about three days.

Initially, international news agencies went to town saying that the attacks were Christian-led” because Christians took the brunt of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings. The attackers’ targets were churches during Mass.

But Christian involvement was found to be untrue because the towns in which the anti-Muslim attacks took place had very few Christians. Moreover, the Christians had been quiet since April 21 following Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s plea for non-retaliation on the grounds that a communal clash will land Sri Lanka in a big mess.

And as Fr.Edmund Tillekaratne put it, if the Christians were seething for revenge, they would have attacked the Muslims within a day or two of the suicide attacks on churches.

The recent cases of violence took place three weeks after the suicide attacks. They are the handiwork of political elements wanting to exploit the communal situation precipitated by the terrorist act,” Tillekaratne said.

Cardinal Ranjith also said that there was no religious nuance” to the attacks. The attacks were staged by out of control political elements, ” he said while urging political parties to keep their bottom level cadres in check. He pointed out that the attackers had been plied with liquor and demanded the closure of liquor shops in the affected districts.

Among those arrested in relation to the anti-Muslim violence were Sinhala-Buddhist extremists, Amith Weerasinghe of the Mahason Balakaya organization, Dan Priyasad and Namal Kumara who were involved in previous riots.

The political reason for the anti-Muslim rioting lay in the coming elections to the Sri Lankan Presidency and parliament. While the Presidential election is due in December 2019, parliamentary elections are due in the first half of 2020.

Communal strife would help political parties which depend heavily on the majority Sinhalese-Buddhist community, like the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and its allies in the Joint Opposition.

Though the leaders of these political parties have appealed for peace, there is no certainty that their cadres have taken their advice, which is why Cardinal Ranjith has pleaded with political parties to keep their lower rung supporters in check.

Tamil National Alliance leader M.A.Sumanthiran said that the Sinhala-Buddhist elements expected the Christians to retaliate against the Muslims but when they did not, they took the cudgels, exploiting the anti-Muslim sentiment in Sri Lanka after the April 21 terror strikes.

The anti-Muslim riots and the intensification of communal politics and communal feelings among the people, are seen as a greater danger to Sri Lanka than the terrorism the country saw on April 21.

It is easier to tackle the aftermath of a terrorist attack, than the aftermath of a communal riot,” said junior Minister Dr.Harsha de Silva. Communal riots create deep wounds and lasting memories.

Sri Lanka has almost crushed the gang which staged the April 21 terror attacks. Therefore there is no immediate danger of another such attack. But the greatest threat is from communalism with its deep and vast impact,” said Dr.Rohan Gunaratna an expert on terrorism and political violence.

The Sinhalese-Tamil conflict got exacerbated not by the LTTE’s terrorist act in 1983, but by the anti-Tamil riots in July that year. The riots prolonged the conflict, globalized it and triggered a war which lasted three decades.

Alleged Inaction of Security Forces

The Lankan government has vested a great deal of power in the Tri-forces and the police under Emergency Regulations. Army Commander Lt.Gen.Mahesh Senanayake has warned of the strongest action against law breakers. And yet there are widespread complaints that the forces were not only late in responding to calls for help, but had passively stood by as mobs went on a rampage. Reports said that mobs indulged in vandalism and arson even attacking protected mosques during curfew hours.

Although Sri Lanka has a big army, not all of that could be deployed in the North Western Province as anti-Muslim riots could take place anywhere in the island given the fact that Muslims are found all over the island. The police had only 5,500 men in the North Western Province.

Perhaps there were no firm commands from the top. According to Mano Ganeshan, while Army Commander Senanayake offered to open fire on trouble makers, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was in favor of caution concerned as he was about the political cost of killing a member of the majority community.

Political Use of Terrorism

Political parties and politicians are muddying the waters and polluting the air by cynically using the terrorist attack on April 21 to advance their political interests. They point accusing fingers at their opponents and rivals and even link some of them with the Islamic radicals and terrorists.

The first to do so was cabinet spokesman Dr.Rajitha Senaratne who said that terrorist leader Mohammad Zahran Hashim and several other members of the National Tawheed Jamaat (NTJ) were in the payroll of the intelligence wing of the Defense Ministry when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the opposition Presidential candidate-to-be, was Defense Secretary. Following Senaratne, the pro-government Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A.Sumanthiran said that the terror attacks could have a link to the Presidential election because soon after the attacks, Gotabaya had declared that he was a candidate and that he would give Sri Lanka a strong administration.

Sinhala-Buddhist parties and political leaders pointed accusing fingers at influential Muslim cabinet minister Rishad Bathiyudeen and Eastern Province Governor MLAM Hisbullah. They were accused of promoting Wahabism and even having links with Muslim extremists.

The opposition is going to move a motion of no-confidence against Bathiyudeen, and the so-called Shariah University” being set up by Governor Hisbullah, has been brought under the Ministry of Higher Education.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is under constant fire not only from the opposition but from the public with social media being used to make nasty comments.

Although there is unity now, when the terrorist attack took place on April 21, there was no unity. President Sirisena, who was in Singapore at that time, did not allow members of the National Security Council to meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who was desperately trying to meet them.

President Sirisena chose to fly to Beijing to attend a conference on Asian Civilizations, when anti-Muslim riots had broken out. This is widely criticized. It was only at the last minute that Sirisena appointed an Acting Defense Minister to be in charge while he is away. Police and the armed forces come under the Defense Ministry and the President is the Defense Minister.

Declaration of Lanka as Wilayath as Seylani

The Lankan government has proscribed the National Tawheed Jamaath, the Jamaathei Millathu Ibrahimee and the Wilayath as Seylani (WAS). The ban on WAS is significant because it means that the Islamic State has designated Sri Lanka (Seylan in Arabic) as a province” of the Caliphate of Iraq and Syria.

The naming of Sri Lanka as a province means that the island is to be a hub of IS activity and a field of its operations,” said Dr.Gunaratna, co-author of The Three Pillars of Radicalization” (Oxford University Press 2019).

According to Dr.Gunaratna, the IS has not formally announced the designation of Sri Lanka as Wilayath as Seylan”. It could do so if the anti-Muslim riots are not put down with a firm hand and if the violence spreads, he warned.

RIENZIE WIJETILLEKE Courtesy The Island

May 19, 2019, 7:19 pm 

It is very clear from the media reports that there have been attempts by two VIPs of the present government to obtain the release of suspects taken in by the CID on account of the 21st April Easter Sunday bombing.

It was shocking to see one of them participating in subsequent Cabinet meetings.

Have the two leaders, and those in authority, forgotten that over 300 lives were lost and causing injuries to several hundred on account of these terror acts. There are kith & kin still in a state of shock and trying to continue life facing the numerous problems. Most of them probably have issues to continue their basic livelihoods. Some of them are parents of young children, and others bread winners of those still living.

We read with disgust the attempts being made to interfere in the police investigations, and going to the extent of obtaining bail for nine of the suspects even before any investigations are completed.

(The Army Commander has attempted to soften the situation by stating that it was a mere request).

Under these circumstances it is reasonable for the public to infer that the investigations currently taking place may not be fair.

I seriously repeat my proposal published in the papers a few days ago, which I strongly believe is the only way out for this country to take a steadier path to progress. They were:

Through a People’s Referendum place the following questions to the voters.

The rulers of both major parties since independence have failed to manage this country in a constructive manner Yes/No?

To remove the powers enjoyed by the present politicians through the parliament (in other words suspend parliament for a specific period) Yes/No?

To appoint a non-political public figure who currently enjoys all-round respect from the public as the head of the Government for a SPECIFIED PERIOD Yes/No?

Such person to be given authority to appoint a cabinet of a maximum of 15 professionals from specialized fields Yes/No?

This country, as at today, requires and overall change in the present structure and style of governance Yes or No?

The current president is allowed an extension of further three months, in order to carry out the above responsibilities Yes/No?

RIENZIE WIJETILLEKE

Colombo 07

නාලක ගොඩහේවා nalaka godahewa FB

එල් ටී ටී ඊ සංවිධානයට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රි ලංකා ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවන් කල යුද්ධයේ තීරණාත්මක සංධිස්ථානයක් වූයේ කොටි සංවිධානයේ පාවෙන අවි ගබඩා ලෙස භාවිත වූ නෞකා ගනනාවක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවුක හමුදාව විසින් 2006 – 2009 කාලය තුල විනාශ කරනු ලැබීමය. ඉන් මුල් නෞකා දෙක 2006 සැප්තැම්බර් හා 2007 පෙබරවාරි වල විනාශ කරනා ලද්දේ ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික සීමාව තුල වූ අතර තුන්වැන්න විනාශ කරනා ලද්දේ 2007 මාර්තු මස ඉන්දුනීසියාවට ආසන්න ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදේදීය. එහෙත් ඉන් පසු කොටි සංවිධනය තම පාවෙන අවි ගබඩා ලංකාවෙන් ඉතා ඈත ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදු වලට ගෙන යන ලද නිසා ඒවා සොයා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය කරණ චන්ද්‍රිකා තාක්ෂණය හෝ අන්තර් ජාතික බුද්ධි අංශ තොරතුරු සහාය ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවුක හමුදාවට නොතිබුනි.

වාසනාවකට මෙන් 2001 සැප්තැම්බර් මස ඇමෙරිකාවේ ලෝක වෙළඳ මධ්‍යසථානයට අල් කයිඩා ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පහරදීමෙන් පසු ඇමෙරිකාව ත්‍රස්ථවාදයට එරෙහිව දැඩි පියවර ගනිමින් සිටි අතර එල් ටී ටී ඊ සංවිධානයේ පාවෙන අවි ගබඩා හරහා අල් කයිඩා සංවිධානයට අවි ආයුධ ලැබීමේ තර්ජනයක් ඇති බව ඇමෙරිකාව වටහා ගෙන තිබුනි. ඒ අනුව ත්‍රස්ථවාදය වැලැක්වීම සඳහා සහයෝගයෙන් කටයුතු කරනා ආකාරය ගැන ලංකාව හා ඇමෙරිකාව අතර සාකච්චා ඇරඹී තිබුනි

2007 මැයි මස ඇමෙරිකාවේ හා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යංශ අතර සහයෝගතා ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් කෙරෙන්නේ මේ වාතාවරණය තුලය. එය මින් පෙර දෙරට අතර තිබු විවිධ ගිවිසුම් වලට වඩා ලංකාවේ ආරක්ෂක අවශ්‍යතා පදනම් කරගෙන සකස් වූවක් වූ අතර එය අත්සන් කරනු ලැබුවේ ලංකාව වෙනුවෙන් හිටපු ආරක්ෂ ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ හා ඇමෙරිකානු ආරක්ෂක දෙපාර්තුමේන්තුව වෙනුවෙන් වෙනුවෙන් හිටපු ඇමෙරිකානු තානාපති රොබට් බ්ලේක් මහතා විසිනි. මෙය කිසිවෙකුට රහසක් නොවූ අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පවා ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැනුවත් කරනා ලදී.

මේ ගිවිසුමෙන් ආවරණය වූයේ යම් අවශ්‍යතාවකදී දෙරට හමුදාවන් අතර බඩු භාන්ඩ හා සේවාවන් හුවමාරු කරගන්නා ක්‍රමවේදයයි.( The agreement is entered into the purpose of establishing covers the basic terms, conditions, and procedures to facilitate the reciprocal provision of logistic support, supplies, and services – SECTION 1 OF THE ACQUISITION AND CROSS-SERVICING AGREEMENT )

මේ ගිවිසුම් හරහා යුධ අවි හුවමාරුවට ඉඩක් නැති බව ගිවිසුමේ පැහැදිලිවම සඳහන් වේ. එහෙත් බුද්ධි අංශ තොරතුරු හා තාක්ෂණ සහාය මේ හරහා ලබා දිය හැකිව තිබුනි.

යුධ සමයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නාවික හමුදාවට නායකත්වය දුන් අද්මිරාල් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩ විසින් රචිත ‘අධිෂ්ඨානය – එල් ටී ටී ඊ ය පරාජය කිරීමේ නෞක හමුදාවේ භූමිකාව’ නැමති ග්‍රන්ථයේ තමා රොබට් බ්ලේක් මහතා සමඟ පැවැත්වූ සාකච්චාත් ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු මුහුදු සීමාවට ආසන්න ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදේ සඟවා තිබූ එල් ටී ටී ඊ පාවෙන අවි ගබඩා පිළිබඳව බුද්ධි තොරතුරු චන්ද්‍රිකා තාක්ෂ්ණය හරහා ඇමෙරිකාව ලබා දුන් ආකාරයත් පැහැදිලි කොට ඇත. ඉතා පරිස්සමින් සැලසුම් කොට ශ්‍රි ලංකා මුහුදු සීමාවෙන් කිලෝමීටර 3500 -4000 ක් පමන ඈතට යාත්‍රා කොට මේ නෞකා විනාශ කිරීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා නෞක හමුදාව කල වික්‍රමාන්විත මෙහෙයුම මේ වන විට ඉතිහාස ගත වී අවසන්ය.

2006 -2009 කාලය තුල කොටින්ගේ පාවෙන අවිගබඩා විනාශ කල දින මෙසේය

2006 සැප්තැම්බර් 17 ලංකාවේ සිට කි. මී 240ක් නැගෙනහිරින් තිබූ එක් නැවක්
2007 පෙබරවාරි 28 ලංකාවේ සිට කි. මී 730ක් දකුණින් තිබූ එක් නැවක්
2007 මාර්තු 18 ලංකාවේ සිට කි. මී 1650ක් ගිනිකොණින් තිබූ එක් නැවක්
2007 සැප්තැම්බර් 10 සහ 11 ලංකාවේ සිට කි. මී 2800ක් ගිනිකොණින් තිබූ නැව් 3 ක්
2007 ඔක්තෝබර් 7 ලංකාවේ සිට කි. මී 3240ක් ගිනිකොණින් තිබූ එක් නැවක්

එල් ටී ටී ඊ යේ පාවෙන අවි ගබඩා අහිමි වීම නිසා ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ ගොඩබිම සටන්කල ත්‍රස්ථවාදීන්ට කිසිදු අඩුවකින් තොරව එතෙක් ලැබුන අවි ආයුද සැපයුම අඩාල විමද ඔවුන්ගේ පරාජයට තුඩු දුන් එක් විශේෂ හේතුවක් විය.

ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ හා රොබට් බ්ලේක් අතර 2007 මැයි මස අත්සන් කෙරුණ ගිවිසුමෙන් ලංකාවට ලැබුනේ වාසියක් පමනි. එම ගිවිසුම් වලංගුව තිබූ වසර 10 න් 2015 දී පසුගිය රජය වෙනස් වන තුරු නම් ලංකාවෙන් අමෙරිකාව ලබා ගත් දෙයක් නැත.

ලංකා රජය ඇමෙරිකාව සමඟ යහන් ගත වන්නට තීරණය කලේ 2015 න් පසුවය.

වර්ථාමානයේ නම් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ අගමැතිවරයා හා ඇමෙරිකාව අතර කුමන ගිවිසුම් තිබෙනවාදැයි රටේ ජනතාව තබා රටේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාවත් නොදන්නා බව නිසැකය. මේ ගිවිසුම් වලනම් වැඩි වාසිය ඇත්තේ ඇමෙරිකාවට බව අගමැතිවරයාගේ පරගැති මානසිකත්වය හොඳින් දන්නා අපට කැට තබා කිව හැක.

ලංකාවෙන් අක්කර දහස් ගනනක් අමෙරිකානු යුධ හමුදාවට ලබා දෙන්නට යන්නේ මේ නව ගිවිසුම් යටතේ මිස ත්‍රස්ථවාදයට එරෙහිව වූ යුධ ජයග්‍රහණයට ඇමෙරිකාවෙන් බුද්ධි තොරතුරු හා තාක්ෂණ සහාය ලබාගත් ගෝටා බ්ලේක් ගිවිසුමෙන් නම් නොවන බව මේ රටේ වසන බුද්ධිමත් ජනතාවටනම් දැන් පැහැදිලි විය යුතුය.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva

“Shilpa Sena”, a rolling exposition will be launched island wide in July, geared towards bringing technological skills, knowledge and products to the general public, at a time when the country embraces new and emerging technologies. The aim of the exposition is to bridge the technological divide in the society while ensuring that no one will be left behind, as part of the government’s wider policy of achieving 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Minister of Science, Technology and Research Sujeewa Senasinghe made these remarks addressing the High-Level Round Table on “The impact of rapid technological change on sustainable development” on 14 May 2019 while participating in the 22nd Session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). The theme of this year’s Commission was “The role of science, technology and innovation in empowering people and in ensuring inclusiveness and equality” and saw the participation of developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America as well as developed countries.

Speaking further, Minister Senasinghe stated that Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Neurotechnology, 5G and Internet of Things, Personalised Medicine, Blue-green Technologies, New Energy, Robotics and Industrial Automation, Mechatronics, Artificial Intelligence and Space Technology have been identified as priority technology themes by the government for action. Highlighting the importance of Blue-Green economy, he stated that the objective of this initiative is to utilize ocean resources through enhanced scientific knowledge while drawing from Sri Lanka’s rich heritage of indigenous knowledge.

At a bilateral meeting with Director of Division of Technology and Logistics, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Ms. Shamika Sirimanne on 14 May 2019, Minister of Science, Technology and Research outlined the various initiatives of the Ministry including on diffusion of science literacy among the public. As part of these initiatives, Vidatha Resource Centres – an island wide network of science and technology centres will be converted to technology transfer offices while more school students will be encouraged to follow STEM education. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Research will seek through private and public partnerships to increase value addition of export products such as naturally occurring minerals in Sri Lanka including graphite stated the Minister. Tax rebates will be also provided for private companies and industries to encourage setting up partnerships with universities. Mrs. Sirimanne expressing her views on the programmes of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research, invited Sri Lanka to share these best practices with UNCTAD to disseminate among developing countries.

During the visit, Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe held a meeting with Ms. Arancha Gonzalez, Executive Director of International Trade Centre in Geneva on 17 May 2019 at which the parties discussed the progress of ITC’s collaboration with Sri Lanka. Minister of Science, Technology and Research sought ITC’s assistance on developing Sri Lanka’s expertise on quality control. Using technology to improve the processes would empower segments of societies, in particular women empowerment through improved economic conditions, Ms. Gonzalez highlighted. Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe briefed the Executive Director of ITC of the many initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research to link markets and innovation and the proposed projects to connect public institutions and private sector ensuring that both sides benefit.

Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations and other International Organizations Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez, Deputy Permanent Representative Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya, Minister Counsellor Ms. Shashika Somaratne, First Secretary (Commercial) Ms. Tharaka Botheju and Second Secretary Ms. Rajmi Manatunga were associated with Minister Senasinghe at the meetings.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations

Geneva

Dr. Chua Rajapakse MNZM Spokesperson USLA.

Thank you for affording me the privilege of being able to reinforce for the ninth consecutive year, my thanks and deep gratitude to the Ranaviru for their sacrifice of , life, limb, in their efforts at liberating Sri lanka from three decades of Tiger terror.

It is because of this sacrifice that, Sri Lanka having enjoyed ten years of peace till unfortunately it was disrupted by the Easter Sunday bombings, entirely owed to the acts of omission and commission of those presently entrusted with preserving the peace. We still hope that this would be a one off event with the custodianship of preserving the peace , passing onto more competent hands ere long.

We owe it to the sacrifices of the Ranaviru ,

That Mothers and fathers and families in SL can travel together in the same bus or train without the fear of being wiped off by one bomb.

That SL was able to replace their pot whole ridden road network with well surfaced roads and expressways

That SL has been able to build new ports, airports, a port city in Colombo

That SL was able to beautify Colombo and make it a worthy travel destination

That SL has been able to provide electricity to every corner of SL, an unparalleled achievement in South Asia

That the per capita income doubled and trebled in the first five years post liberation , though stagnant now,

That SL was named the top travel destination, twice by lonely planet and once by CNN

It is for all of these and many other reasons that we reaffirm our gratitude to the Ranaviru and on this occasion particularly to the soldiers , the unsung and unnamed privates and corprals coming from heart land Sri lanka , whose mothers , fathers brothers, sisters, and even children released their young men to go to war to liberate SL.

25000 of them who never returned. It is all of them that we remember today.

I am proud of the work that USLA has done, with donations worth over $25,000 I believe, to support the welfare of the injured Ranaviru in their new life time abode , at the Seth madura’s at the various locations in SL, and thank USLA for having afforded us also an opportunity to contribute to these funds.

Besides such support, I believe we also have a solemn duty to protect the dignity, might and majesty of what the ranaviru achieved, when ever these are threatened.

These happened , even during the time of the war . I remember one such occasion when a politician, in opposition then ridiculing the hard fought capture of Elephent pass Alimankada, to being the same as walking into Pamankada.

However the recent threats that have come to the dignity of these achievements are more serious. In Torornto, a Mayor has designated the 18th of May as the Tamil Genocide Day”, claiming that the Ranaviru achievements came at the cost of Tamil Genocide , at an unacceptably high civilian casualty rate of 40,000 or more in the last week of the war, .It is also claimed that these are UN endorsed figures

Even in Wellington a Tamil Genocide Remembrance meeting is scheduled on Tuesday 21st at 6pm in the Parliament Theatrette under the auspicies of Mirama Davidson, Green Party co leader. An international speaker and screening of film are on the cards. I learnt of these yesterday from Bret Hudson and Chris Bishop, who sent me a copy of the invitation for this meeting that has gone out to all MP’s.

I have spent all of the last 48 hours emailing Maramar , and whole list of known MP’s, and media that the premise of Tamil Genocide does not come sanctioned by the UN, but comes from the UNSG appointed Darusman commission , not sanctioned by UN and opposed by the UNSC . Also that the commissioners were ill disposed to SL , and came to their conclusion without ever visiting SL, listening only to the tigers not to other SL’s. Since announcing their conclusions they have refused to revealed the sources of their information till 2030.

Hence this claim of Tamil Genocide is neither a UN claim nor a claim with any credibility. Accordingly I have asked her to call off the meeting and adviced other MP’s to be well informed if they go. Some have written and thanked me for making the position clear.

I have passed on copies of these communications to all sections of NZ media for their information and to all NZ MPs.

I also informed the Hon Consul and the HC in Canberra and am hoping that similar pressure would be applied by them.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you could offer a similar helping hand in disseminating these truths, emailing my letter to all of NZ’s MP’s it would be helpful.

I have also indicated to all of these individuals and institutions a catalogue of reasons why these allegation of 40,000 civilian deaths has no credibility , starting form lack of 40,000 graves, nor no where near expected 80,000 , injured. On the other hand the UN office in Colombo in May 2009 estimated 7,000 dead. This was confirmed by the Tamil Teachers census in 2012. The WikiLeaks revelations from despatches from US and UK embassies confirmed the great care exercised by the security forces to minimise civilian casualties . The dispatches from the UK embassy have been tabled in the UK House of Lords in October 2017 by Lord Naseby. Further the Paranagama commission, endorse by several internationally recognise legal luminaries, confirmed that there was no genocide.

Not withstanding these , the greatest slur on the Ranaviru achievements still remains the UNHCR resolution co sponsored by SL which has the implied acceptance of an unacceptably high casualty rate. The tabling in UK house of lords done by Lord Naseby offers a great opportunity for SL to withdraw from this resolution in the light of this new data.

Disappointingly, the current administration does not appear to have the will to do this. We therefore have to wish for a regime change to achieve this.

Whilst we await this , I will conclude ,once again re affirming our deep gratitude to the Ranaviru for their sacrifices for our sake

පේශල පසන් කරුණාරත්න සභාපති සමනල යෞවන සමාජය නාවලකන්ද

ශ්‍රී බුද්ධ වර්ෂ 2563 ක් වූ වෙසක් පුර පසළොස්වක පොහෝ දිනය නිමිති කොට ගනිමින් කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ වලල්ලාවිට ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයට අයත්  නාවලකන්ද ගම්මානයේ ගම්වාසීන්ගේ දායකත්වයෙන් නාවලකන්ද  සමනල යෞවන සමාජය හා රන්තරු ළමා සමාජයෙහි මූලිකත්වයෙන්  වෙසක් පිංකම් මාලාවක් සංවිධානය කරමින් බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ තෙමගුල උත්සවත්ශ්‍රීයෙන් සැමරීමට පියවර ගෙන තිබුණි.

ඉදිවෙමින් පවතින නාවලකන්ද බුද්ධමන්දිරය අභියසදී උතුම් බෝධි පූජා පිංකමින් ආරම්භ වූ මෙම වෙසක් පිංකම් මාලාව මගින් තිස් වසරක කුරිරු යුද්ධය නිමා කරමින් ලැබූ විජයග්‍රහණයෙහි දස වන වර්ෂ පූර්ණය අනුස්මරණය කරමින් කුරිරු යුදධයේදී රට වෙනුවෙන් දිවිපිදූ වීරෝධාර රණවිරුවන් ඇතුළු සමස්ත ජනතාවට පිං පැමිණ වීමත් යුද්ධයේදී තුවල ලැබූ රණවිරුවන්ට සෙත්පැතීම පහ  පසුගිය පාස්කු ඉරු දින සිදුවූ කුරිරු ත්‍රස්ත්‍රවාදීන්ගේ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් දිවි අහිමි වූවන්ට පිං පෙත් පැමිණවීමත්, එම ප්‍රහාරයෙන් තුවල ලැබූවන්ට ඉක්මන් සුව පැතීමද සිදුකරන ලදි. නාවලකන්ද ගම්වාසීන් ඇතුළු සියළු රටවැසියන්ගේ ජීවිත ආලෝකමත් වේවා යයි ප්‍රාර්තනා කරමින් නාවලකන්ද ගම්මානය වටා දර්ශණීය පහන් වැටක් ඉදිකොට ගම්මානය ආලෝකමත් කරමින් ආලෝක පූජාවක් පැවැත්වීමද මෙම පිංකම් මාලාව හා සමගාමීව සිදුවිය.

පාස්කු ඉරු දින සිදුවූ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් පසු රට පුරා පැවැත්වීමට සූදානම් කොට තිබූ වෙසක් තොරණ පහන්කූඩු ආදී චිචිත්‍රාංග සියල්ල අවලංගු කරන ලද නමුත් ආරක්ෂාවට බාධාවක් නොවන අන්දමින් මෙම වෙසක් පිංකම් මාලාව හා සමගාමීව විශාල දර්ශණීය වෙසක් පහන් කූඩුවක්ද ගම්වාසී තරුණ පිරිස විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලදි. ත්‍රස්තවාදී ක්‍රියා නිසා වෙසක් උත්සව අවලංගුවූ නිසා අවට ගම්වල විශාල පිරිසකට වෙසක් සිරිවිඳීමේ අවස්ථාව මෙම පහන් කූඩුව මගින් හිමිවිය.  මේ නිසා අවට ප්‍රදේශයන්හි විශාල ජනකායක් මෙම පහන් කූඩුව නැරඹීමට පැමිණ සිටියහ. පරිවාර කූඩු 36 කින් යුත් මෙම දර්ශණීය පහන් කූඩුව  මෙම මස 18 / 19 / 20 යන තෙදින පුරා ප්‍රදර්ශණය කිරීමට කටයුතු සූදානම් කර ඇත.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

May 19, 2019, 10:04 pm 

A person, whose arrest in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings prompted Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen to make inquiries about him from Army Commander Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake, has been handed over to the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID).

Army headquarters yesterday confirmed the handing over of the suspect taken in by troops to the TID.

In the wake of Lt. Gen. Senanayake’s revelation regarding Minister Bathiudeen getting in touch with him over the arrest of the suspect, the Joint Opposition cited it in the NC against Bathiudeen, handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya on Friday (17).

Vanni District MP Bathiudeen leads the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC),

a constituent of the incumbent UNP-led administration.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader and attorney-at-law Udaya Gammanpila, yesterday, told The Island that the motion had been included in the Order Paper though a section of the social media propagated it had been rejected. Responding to another query, Gammanpila said that they would seek a two-day debate on the motion. The lawmaker said: “A decision can be made tomorrow when party leaders meet at 3 pm. We are confident a decision can be reached on an early date.”

The ACMC parliamentary group comprises five members.

Gammanpila said that of those politicians who had been accused of being involved with the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday bombings, the most serious accusations were directed at Bathiudeen. No less a person than Lt. Gen. Senanayake had revealed that the ACMC leader contacted him over the arrest of a suspect, MP Gammanpila said.

Asked whether the JO was canvassing for support among political parties represented in parliament, MP Gammanpila said the government owed an explanation as to why Minister Bathiudeen even had not been questioned so far though the police had recorded statements from lawmakers, Piyal Nishantha de Silva and Dayasiri Jayasekera, in respect of an erroneous statement and for being present in Wayamba during recent violence, respectively.

MP Gammanpila said that among those who had endorsed the NCM were Tamil National Alliance (TNA) National List MP S. Viyalanderan from Batticaloa. He said that the TNA stand in respect of the NCM would be of pivotal importance as a substantial number of Tamil Catholics perished in suicide bombings at St. Anthony’s church, Kochchikade, Kotahena and Zion Church in Batticaloa. The MP pointed out that Tamil mass was in progress in St. Anthony’s church, Kochchikade, Colombo when the suicide bomber struck.

The TNA parliamentary group comprises 15 including two National List members.

Viyalanderan switched his allegiance to Sirisena-Rajapaksa combine in the wake of Oct 2018 constitutional coup.

MP Gammanpila said the parish priest of St. Theresa’s church, Kilinochchi, had claimed that his church, too, was to be attacked on April 2.

In addition to the TNA MP, two UNP MPs, Ven Atureliye Rathana (National List) and Ananda Aluthgamage, too, endorsed the NCM. Kandy District lawmaker Aluthgamage switched his allegiance to the Sirisena-Rajapaksa combine last Oct whereas Ven. Rathana of the JHU deserted the party much earlier.

Although, SLFP leader Sirisena, is yet to give his consent, several MPs loyal to him have signed the NCM. Among them are S.B. Dissanayake, Tilanga Sumathipala and Dilan Perera.

Courtesy Mail OnLine

Members of the 2.5-million-strong Tamil community mourned their war dead on Saturday

Sri Lanka’s president marked the 10th anniversary of the end of a protracted war with Tamil rebels Sunday by vowing to crush Islamist militants responsible for Easter bombings that killed 258 people.

Maithripala Sirisena said Sri Lankan security forces and intelligence units could use their experience in defeating separatist Tamil guerrillas a decade ago to meet the new challenge from religious extremists.

The government has blamed a local jihadist group for the April 21 attacks against three churches and three luxury hotels that also left 500 injured and shattered a fragile decade-long peace in the island of 21 million people.

“With experience from a war that lasted over three decades, we are now compelled to meet a completely different threat,” Sirisena told a commemoration ceremony.

“We have been able to arrest all those who were behind the Easter attacks. Some have been killed in confrontations,” he said.

“This gives me confidence that we can completely eliminate the threat from international terrorism.”

Muslims account for 10 percent of the population in the mainly Buddhist nation, which has been under a state of emergency since the attacks that were also claimed by the Islamic State group.

Army chief Mahesh Senanayake said the military was paying tribute to around 28,000 soldiers who died in the war that ended on May 18, 2009 with the killing of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Some 5,000 government troops and police are also listed as missing since the end of the insurgency.

Sri Lankan forces have been accused of killing about 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final months of the conflict, a charge successive governments have denied. Nearly 16,000 others are also reported missing, according to the newly established Office of Missing Persons.

The official remembrance ceremonies in Colombo took place a day after members of the 2.5-million-strong Tamil community mourned their war dead in the northeastern coastal district of Mullaittivu where the rebels mounted their unsuccessful last stand.

Hundreds of Tamils gathered at a public park Saturday to light lamps and offer flowers before a makeshift memorial showing photographs of hundreds of men and women who went missing, in many cases after being captured or surrendering to troops.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Sri Lankan Government has announced the proscription of three Islamic State (IS) affiliates, namely, the National Towheed Jama’ath (NTJ),the Jamaathei MillathuIbrahimee Seylani (JIMS) and the Wilayath as Seylani (WAS).

The first two were publically identified soon after the 21 April Easter Sunday suicide attacks which resulted in 253 deaths. But the Wilayath as Seylani (WAS) was named only recently, perhaps because it was discovered during the investigations into the multiple suicide bombings. The Government is yet to give details of the Wilayat as Seylani and its operations in Sri Lanka.

However, according to Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, a co-author of ‘The Three Pillars of Radicalisation’ (Oxford University Press 2019), the Islamic State’s Caliphate has not formally declared the formation of WAS, though its formation is being discussed at the highest level in the organisation and its establishment is very much on the cards.

The Islamic State’s plan may be to declare WAS’s formation if anti-Muslim violence continues in Sri Lanka and an excuse can be given for the formation of a separate ‘Wilayath’ for Sri Lanka,” he said.

The term Wilayath refers to a ‘province’. Since 2014, the IS has set up ‘Wilayaths’ or provinces in various parts of the world. These ‘Wilayaths’ are not conventional provinces but fields of IS operation. Among the IS’s ‘Wilayaths’ in South Asia are ‘Wilayath Khorasan’ (covering Afghnaistan and Pakistan) and ‘Wilayath al Hind’ (covering India with the nerve center being located in Kashmir). To this has been added ‘Wilayath as Seylani’ ( Seylan is the Arabic name for Sri Lanka).  

According to Dr. Gunaratna, Mohammad Zahran, the leader of the NTJ, who carried out the suicide bombing of Shangri- La Hotel in Colombo, had been wanting to set up an IS ‘Willayath’ in Sri Lanka.

The Lankan Government was probably aware of the discussions going on at the highest levels in the IS Caliphate about forming ‘WAS’ and had banned it in anticipation.

Communal clashes, with the majority community staging mob attacks against Muslims, would have paved the way for the realisation of terrorist Zahran’s dream.

It is therefore very important for the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure that there are no communal clashes and that Buddhists, Christians and Muslims live harmoniously and side by side in safety and security. If need be, the Government should issue shoot at sight orders to quell mobs on the rampage,” Dr. Gunaratna said.

In his paper entitled ‘Islamic State’s Financing: Sources, Methods and Utilization’ in the booklet ‘Counter terrorism- trends and analyses’, brought out in 2017 by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore, Patrick Blannin says that the Islamic State is a multi-million dollar organisation, which can throw money in many parts of the world to recruit, train, retain cadres and carry out its operations.

If Sri Lanka becomes a hub or a ‘Wilayath’ of the IS, it would be exposed to the dangers of other parts of the world with ‘Wilayaths’ face now.

According to Blannin, the IS is a self-sufficient organisation not depending upon any State or individual for its funds. He quotes Patrick Johnson to say that in 2008, before Abu Bakr al Baghdadi became leader of the IS, the organisation was financing itself by running smuggling rackets.

Looking at the financial muscle of the IS, it comes as no surprise that Zahran’s small group in Sri Lanka had as much as Rs 7 billion worth of assets and Rs 140 million in cash.

Baghdadi’s predecessor and IS founder, Abu Mu’sab al Zarkawi,had earned US$ 70 million to US$ 200 million annually through oil smuggling. Kidnapping for ransom got the IS another US$ 36 million. Keith Crane from RAND Corporation told a US Senate Committee that the IS made about US$ 1.2 billion in 2015 alone by various, mostly illegal, activities.

Oil smuggling

According to a 2015 study, the IS earned money from the oil business by attacking, holding, and operating oil infrastructure facilities in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Egypt. Sale of oil and petroleum products fetched it US$ 40 million per month in 2015. IS also operated refineries.

Anyone could buy oil from the IS. It sold at a competitive rate, and therefore sales were good. According to one estimate it charged US$ 20 per barrel in 2015. One report said that it made US$ 1.5 million a day on oil sales. However, US strikes against IS oil facilities in 2016 brought down revenues from oil rackets by 33%.

Interestingly, the many anti-IS groups in the Middle East were using the same methods to earn money to carry out their anti-IS operations.

Human Smuggling

Human smuggling is another racket which the IS had been running. It ran such rackets in Nigeria, Sahel, Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Syria. Prior to Libya’s action in 2016, the IS had a free run of 260 km of the Mediterranean Coast. It is said to have taxed agents involved in the smuggling 250,000 people to Europe across the Mediterranean.

It is alleged that the IS would attack refugee camps,forcing the refugees to flee and then made them pay to get across to Europe.

Though the Salafi Islam it propagates is against idols, the IS has had no compunction about stealing and trading in idols illegally. And the business was booming when it had many parts of Iraq under its control. As many as 4,500 archeological sites including some in the UNESCO World Heritage List, were under its control enabling it to vandalize the sites and sell priceless artifacts. This raised concerns in the UN and the Security Council passed a resolution in 2015 criminalizing this activity.

Taxation cum Extortion

Taxation is another method of making money. The IS reportedly collected not less than US$300 million annually by taxing business and levying religious taxes. The religious tax on business was as high as 20%. Agriculture too was a source of income because at one time the IS controlled 40% of the agricultural land in Iraq.

Cyber Crime

IS’s ‘cyberjihadis’ openly advise their online supporters how to use Dark Wallet, an anonymous bitcoin transfer application, as well as how to set up an anonymous donations system to send money, using bitcoin, to the Mujahedeen, says Patrick Blannin.

Whilst providing a communication channel with mass reach, IS online forums serve as virtual marketplaces forcybercrime tools such as malware and ransom-ware, as well as for skilled hackers, who can be hired for criminal services.”

The Internet has globalized fraudulent schemes, giving fraudsters access to millions of potential victims. British IS supporters committed a large-scale fraud by pretending to be police officers and targeting the UK pensioners for their bank details, earning more than US$1.8 million.”

Magnus Ranstorp has found that IS operatives have used fake identities and pay slips to apply for funds through online applications. They have used these identities to secure soft bank loans, quick loans (SMS loans), government and private welfare schemes as well as lease motor vehicles.”

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

When Ranil Wickremesinghe rightly defines the Easter Sunday massacres as ‘global terrorism’ and vows to get help from the international community, Robert O Blake tells the Sri Lankan audience that Gotabaya Rajapaksa had the best model to defeat terrorism in Sri Lanka and to use it. He made these observations while making a presentation titled, ’US Foreign Policy towards China and South Asia and what it means for Sri Lanka‘, earlier this month in Colombo.

Blake would be privy to such a model for he was the Ambassador of USA to Sri Lanka from September 2006 to May 2009. He could not have served in Sri Lanka at a more decisive turn of events. The final phase of the war against terrorism began on 21 July 2006 when the LTTE closed the sluice gates of the Mavil Aru Reservoir five days earlier. Just three weeks before Blake’s arrival, the Sri Lanka Military won the first step of two-and-half year humanitarian operation.

The LTTE had been flagrantly violating the Norway-brokered Cease Fire Agreement. From the beginning, they were an impossible client who refused to corporate or adhere to the CFA conditions. Yet, it was the expert opinion of the West that the only way forward was through negotiation. They ardently believed that a military solution could never be obtained.
Despite LTTE’s brutishness, both the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim believed that they can somehow reason out with Prabakaran. Years after the war, Solheim is on record that had he had more time with Prabakaran, the turn of events would have been quite different. Solheim should study the relationship Prabakaran had with India and how the overconfidence of Rajiv Gandhi led to his own assassination.

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s chutzpah

The CFA that was signed in 2002 was violated by the LTTE 3,830 times. This included the assassination of the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. Though it shocked the world, the West was adamant that the Sri Lanka Government continues with the peace process. It was an impossible situation for it was a mere farce that the LTTE used to recover from the intense battles in 2001 and to prepare for its next phase. The then Government did not have Mahinda Rajapaksa’s chutzpah to draw the line between advice and interference.

When Ranil Wickremesinghe lost to MR at the 2005 presidential elections, the LTTE stepped up its violence. The U.S. State Department warned them against resuming violence because the Military was evolving into a much more capable and confident force under the new Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Despite the warnings, the LTTE continued to be boorish at the negotiating table whilst attacking both civilian and military targets. Claymore mine attacks killed 150 government troops. The Kebithigollewa massacre included 64 Sinhala civilians. Then the LTTE closed the Mavil Aru Reservoir’s sluice gates. This effectively denied water to 15,000 families and ruined their crops.

After playing a decisive role in paving the path for President Rajapaksa, it is interesting that the LTTE continued in its violent path – despite the U.S. warning. Ironically, LTTE was caught in West’s own propaganda. Wickremesinghe believed in a federal solution, which served the West’s interests well. With nine very strong provincial councils, and a weakened Central Government, the outside world can easily manipulate individual Chief Ministers to their own interests.

MR’s vote bank on the other hand believed in a unitary system. Therefore, the West described him as the ‘talons of Sinhala extremism’. When Prabakaran interferes with the polls, allowing President Rajapaksa to win, he was relying on it. Hence, the repeated provocations. He thought that when the new Government reacted, the consequences can be easily portrayed as the reaction of a Sinhala extremist. Thereby, he hoped to garner international sympathy that would in turn pressurise the Rajapaksa administration to concede to the LTTE demands for a Tamil exclusive homeland.

However, by closing the sluice gates, the Rajapaksa administration got the perfect excuse to resume the military offensive as a humanitarian operation. Regaining control of Mavil Aru Reservoir became the biggest military confrontation between the Sri Lanka Military and the LTTE since signing the CFA. Throughout the offensive operations thereafter, the focus was always on the civilian factor.

Furthermore, Rajapaksa administration opened close-circuit channels with India, US and other international bodies and apprised them of all developments. When LTTE closed the A9 route, civilians caught in the war zone were denied food, medicine and other essentials. The intention was thereby create a humanitarian crisis. The Rajapaksa administration asked the assistance of the diplomatic community to ensure the essentials were sent. Blake played a prominent role in the matter.

Blake also ensured much assistance from the US Government to end terrorism in Sri Lanka. The US provided specific coordinates from  the Sri Lanka Navy to destroy LTTE ships that were carrying arms and ammunition to the terrorists. 

The FBI too tightened its surveillance
and thwarted those supplying logistics to the LTTE from within the US shores.

An ineffective government

It is most unfortunate that the Obama regime that came to power in early 2009 failed to continue this good relationship the two countries enjoyed. As a career diplomat, Blake could only adapt to his new government’s policies. The world’s biggest refugee crisis since WWII was created because of Obama regime’s ill conceived policies.

When Blake arrived in Sri Lanka in 2006, the journey from the Katunayaka International Airport to Colombo was clearly of a country that was at war. Had he returned to Sri Lanka any time after 19 May, 2010 and before 21 April, 2019, he would have seen a very different country from the time he served as an ambassador. Most unfortunately, when he returned this time to deliver his presentation, it was again a country with heightened security, deserted roads, and a palatable uncertainty among people.

Just two weeks before, the biggest civilian carnage took place in Sri Lanka in the space of couple of hours on the same day. The ISIS may have assumed responsibility for the carnage. However, the true culprits happen to be the incumbent Government and the agents that brought them to power and protected their seat in power.

John Kerry, who was the U.S. Secretary of State, admitted the U.S. role in toppling a strong, visionary, and nationalistic Government for a weak, juxtaposing, ineffective government. U.S. are also responsible for pushing through the contentious Geneva Resolution 30/1. Using this Resolution as a baton, the military intelligence networks were destroyed. The fact that the entire security base refused to act on the reliable intelligence they received of these attacks is an indictment on the security forces’ confidence of the incumbent government.

For all their trouble, U.S. did not gain much. If their contention with the Rajapaksa Administration was the much hyped Chinese factor, the government they installed did not ease their burden. Instead, China now has control over land in Sri Lanka that is bigger than some countries.
To cap it, U.S. are a suspect behind the Easter Sunday massacres. Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith himself had called the massacres part of an international conspiracy. Social unrest, lawlessness that transcends to Islamic extremist terrorism is the usual sequence that follows in the U.S. ‘Regime Change’ exercise. This gives U.S. the perfect excuse to ‘land U.S. boots’ in the country. Yet, when present powers are happy to appease the West’s every whim, the need for the whole hog is questionable. Only time will tell.

Yesterday should have been the day the whole Nation celebrates 10 years of peace. One might say the likes of Blake has much to blame for cruelly taking it away from us. In truth, it is we who took peace for granted and allowed intelligence networks to be dismantled and the victory parade to be cancelled. Main stream media refused to even mention it. Only after we lost it we speak of it.

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

Courtesy Adaderana

Nearly 10 websites containing the domain names .com and .lk have come under a cyber attack, the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT) said.

The Embassy of Kuwait in Sri Lanka has also fallen victim to this cyber attacks, according to the SLCERT.

Cyber Security Engineer of SLCERT Ravindu Meegasmulla added that measures have been taken to curtail the situation.

Preliminary investigations have uncovered that the databases of the websites in question have been subject to changes owing to the attack, Mr Meegasmulla further commented.

MEDIA RELEASE by Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaka

(Translation of the text of a speech made by Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaka at his official residence on Wijerama Mawatha to mark the tenth anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE.)

Venerable members of the Maha Sangha, clergymen of all other religions, citizens of Sri Lanka and friends,

On the 19^th of May 2019, we mark the tenth anniversary of the decisive defeat of the separatist terrorism that prevailed in this country for nearly four decades. Separatist violence which began in a small and amateurish manner from 1970 onwards, gave rise to the most powerful terrorist movement the world has ever known – the LTTE. The suicide jacket, small explosives laden speedboats manned by suicide cadres, night time aerial attacks using small aircraft are just a few of the innovations that the LTTE introduced to global terrorism.  They were well ahead of all other terrorist movements in the world in collecting funds by both legal as well as illegal means. The LTTE was the only terrorist movement in the world that had its own ships deployed in international waters to transport weapons.

The Sri Lankan government bought weapons to combat the LTTE on credit. But the LTTE paid cash on the international market to buy the weapons they used against the Sri Lankan army as well as the Indian army. The LTTE was also the only terrorist organisation in the world to have assassinated two world leaders, – Rajiv Gandhi of India and President Premadasa of Sri Lanka. Those were the reasons why the FBI officially designated the LTTE as the deadliest terrorist organisation in the world in January 2008. Such was the nature of the terrorism that was conclusively brought to an end on the 19th May 2009 with the confirmation that its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was dead.

This was not a victory that was easily obtained. The number of armed forces personnel and officers of the Police Special Task Force killed during that war was 25,367. Several hundred ordinary policemen, thousands of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim civilians and a number of political leaders also lost their lives. Countless numbers of people were injured. The value of the property that was destroyed during that war has not yet been calculated. We succeeded in winning the war because we resisted the pressure being brought on us by certain countries to halt operations. 

The Republican administration in the USA at the time, helped Sri Lanka. It was with American help that we managed to pursuade the EU to name the LTTE as a terrorist organisation in 2006. In 2007, we were able to destroy the LTTE’s arms smuggling ships in international waters off Australia and Indonesia due to specific information provided to us by the USA. However in February 2009, a new Administration took over in the USA and attitudes changed after that. Nevertheless we managed to resist international pressure to halt operations and we won the war.

Sri Lanka is the only country in the recent history of the world to have completely defeated terrorism. After having emerged from a situation of intense conflict, a nation should be able to put all that behind us and to go forward. However though the war ended, certain local and foreign interested parties never allowed things to normalise in this country. From the day the war ended they kept raking up the past in order to keep the conflict going.  Some may have been upset that we did not heed their calls to halt  operations against the LTTE. They may also have been disturbed by the fact that we were being helped by China.

On the 9th January 2009, a government that dances to the tune of foreign powers was elected to power in this country. The agenda that they started implementing after capturing power was designed to break the back of this nation and to ensure that that we never raise our heads again. From the day the so called yahapalana government came into power, they started relentlessly persecuting the armed forces that amazed the entire world by defeating the terrorist organisation that everyone considered to be undefeatable. In 2015, the present government together with their foreign masters co-sponsored Resolution 30/1 in the UN Human Rights Council agreeing among other things to institute a special war crimes court in Sri Lanka with the participation of foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators.

They also agreed to remove from service by administrative means, all armed forces personnel suspected of having committed war crimes even if there is insufficient evidence to present in a court of law. The government has already passed several laws in fulfilment of the pledges given in Resolution 30/1. Through the Office of Missing Persons Act No: 14 of 2016, they have created an investigative body that can enter any armed forces or police installation at any time and seize any document or object and which can summon witnesses and carry out investigations even in contraventon of the Official Secrets Act.

Through Act No: 5 of 2018 which makes the provisions of the International Convention Against Enforced Disappearances applicable to Sri Lanka, the government has made it possible for foreign countries to request the arrest and extradition to their countries of persons supected of being responsible for enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. The International Convention Against Enforced Disappearances is actually a punutive mechansim. The Mtual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Amendment) Act No: 24 of 2018 passed by this government enables Sri Lanka to provide evidence and other related matters in connection with cases being heard in foreign courts.

These three pieces of legislation are related to one another. The Office of Missing Persons conducts investigations and publishes reports from time to time. Cases can then be filed in foreign courts against members of our armed forces on the basis of those reports. Such cases can then be heard in foreign courts with the help of the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act. That was the plan. 

In the meantime, the Sri Lankan government continues with the relentless persecution of our armed forces. If there is no evidence against a targeted member of the armed forces, he is arrested and remanded on the basis of a statement obtained from somebody else through various means. All officers who gave leadership to the war against the LTTE have been at the very least, brought to a police station and questioned. Even the highest serving military officer in the country, the Chief of Defence Staff spent some time in remand while still holding that position. All this was done to establish the view both in Sri Lanka and overseas that our armed forcers personnel are not war heroes but murderers, extortionists and thieves and to justify handing them over to foreign courts for trial.

Members of the intelligence services were held in detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. If members of the armed forces are suspected of some crime, they should be dealt with under the ordinary law of the land. The PTA is meant to be used during a terrorist threat against suspected terrorists. This government deliberately used the PTA against armed forces personnel to bring down the morale of the entire military. What was in operation under this government is a programme for the complete destruction of Sri Lanka. 

On the one hand, members of the armed forces are relentlessly persecuted and neutralised. Then a new constitiution is introduced to weaken the central government and to divide Sri lanka into nine provincial governments. Under the new constitution, provisions were to be introduced to enable anybody to go to courts and obtain a stay order against a declaration of emergency. If by some mischance that constitution had been passed into law, the situation that would have arisen in this country after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks would have been unimaginable. 

Another part of the same programme was to replace the Prevention of Terrosim Act of 1979 with the counter terrorism law that is under discussion today. That was yet another pledge made in UNHRC Resolution number 30/1. The main purpose of any anti-terrorism law is to suppress terrorism. Punishing terrorists is a secondary matter. One of the most important aspects of all anti-terrorism laws is the extended period of detention of suspects over and above what is allowed by the ordinary law. All anti-terroist operations depend on such provisions. Under the provisions of the present Prevention of Terrosim Act, terrorist suspects can be held in detention for 18 months and then kept in remand until the end of legal proceedings.

However under the proposed counter terrorism law, a terrorist suspect can be held in detention and remand only for a maximum period of one year, even on the orders of the High Court. After that suspects have to be mandatorily released on bail. If a case filed against a suspect cannot be completed in one year, the High Court is required to release the suspect on bail. No one can prevail against terrorism with such laws. After the London bombings of 2005, the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to get a law passed to enable the detention of terrorism suspects for 90 days.  

At that time, senior police offices had requested the British government to introduce laws to enable the detention of terrorist suspects for as long as it takes to complete the investigations. However, because some of Tony Blair’s MPs dependended on the votes of certain communities they did not allow that law to go through. The maximum period of detention was fixed at 28 days. Senior British police officers have consistently pointed out that this period is not adequate. 

The Americans however did things differently. In 2011, President Barrack Obama signed the National Defence Authorisation Act which in Section 1021 specifically allowed for the indefintite detention of terrorist suspects until the end of hostilities. NGOs like Amnesty International have pointed out that this law applies equally to foreigners as well as suspect US citizens.

Apart from the period of detention, enhanced punishments also play a role in deterring terrorism. By the 2015 Criminal Justice and Courts Act, the British government amended several of their laws to enhance punishments for terrorism related offences. Thus the production or possession of explosives or training to become a terrorist were made offences carrying life sentences. If any crime is committed in pursuence of a terrorism related objective, British law has enhanced punishments for terrorists which are not meted out to ordianry criminals.  

However the counter terrorism law that has been proposed by the present government actually has reduced penalties for terrorists when compared to ordinary criminals committing the same offences. Even those reduced sentences can be done away with altogether if the accused terrorist agrees to fulfil certain conditions. What we have now is a government that persecutes the armed forces while at the same time providing the maximum leeway for terrorists.

In Contrast to this the USA gives top priority to national defence. In 2002, President George Bush signed into law the American Service Members Protection Act which expressly authorised the President to use force if necessary to obatin the release of any American citizen or a friend of America arrested on the orders of the International Criminal Court. The same law also forbade all American courts and governmental bodies from maintaining any connection or communication with the International Criminal Court. That is how a self-respecting country protects its armed forces.

As we mark the tenth anniversary of the end of separatist terrorism, we are once again confronted with a different terrorist threat. What we now have are local terrorists affiliated with international terrorist groups. The 2008 Mumbai attack was not carried out by Indian terrorists. But the Easter Sunday suicide bombers were all Sri Lankans. With their very first coordinated attack, they managed to cause a much higher number of civilian deaths than what even the LTTE was able to achieve with such attacks.

On the tenth anniversary of the victory against the LTTE, I would like to state publicly that no war crimes were committed during the last phase of that war.  The law of armed conflict has been formulated in such a way, as to enable a war to be fought. It must also be said that it is the Western powers led by America which has been instrumental in keeping the law of armed conflict within those bounds. I state most emphatically that according to the law of armed conflict accepted and upheld by the Western powers, no war crimes were committed in Sri Lanka.

Some of the world’s foremost experts in the law of armed conflict and the practice of war including Professor Michael Newton, Professor David Crane, Sir Desmond de Silva, Sir Geoffery Nice, Rodney Dixon QC, and Major General John Holmes had provided written statements to the government of Sri Lanka confirming this. The war crimes allegations being made against the Sri Lankan armed forces are politically orchestrated. We will have to respond politically to such allegations.

On this occasion I would like to remember with the utmost respect all members of the armed forces who laid down their lives or were rendered disabled in the effort to win the war against terror and to restore peace to this country.

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you. God bless you.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය විපක්‍ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ

(විපක්‍ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා 2009 මැයි 19 වෙනිදා කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කිරීමේ දස වෙනි සංවත්සරය නිමිත්තෙන් විජේරාම නිල නිවසේදී පැවැත් වූ විශේෂ දේශනයේ පිටපත)

අතිපූජනීය මහා සංඝරත්නයෙන් අවසරයි, සියලු ආගම්වල පූජකතුමනි, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවාසී ජනතාවනි, හිතවතුනි,

මේ රටේ දශක හතරකට ආසන්න කාලයක් තිස්සේ පැවතුනු බෙදුම්වාදී ත්‍රස්තවාදය තීරණාත්මකව පරාජය කිරීමේ දසවෙනි සංවත්සරය අපි 2019 මැයි මස 19 වැනිදා සනිටුහන් කරනවා. 1970 ඉඳලා ඉතාමත්ම සුලුවෙන් ආධුනික විදියට ආරම්භ වෙච්ච ඒ බෙදුම්වාදී ප්‍රචන්ඩත්වය තුළින්  ලෝකයේ ප්‍රබලම ත්‍රස්තවාදී සංවිධානය බවට පත්වුණ කොටි සංවිධානය බිහිවුණා. මරාගෙන මැරෙන ඇඳුම් කට්ටලය, මරාගෙන මැරෙන කුඩා බෝට්ටු හා රාත්‍රී කාලයේ කුඩා ගුවන් යානා භාවිතා කරමින් ඉලක්ක වලට පහර දීම වගේ ත්‍රස්තවාදී උපක්‍රම කොටි සංවිධානය තමයි ලෝකයට හඳුන්වල දුන්නෙ. නීත්‍යානුකූල මෙන්ම නීත්‍යානුකූල නොවන ක්‍රම වලින් මුදල් එකතු කිරීම පැත්තෙනුත් කොටි සංවිධානය හිටියේ ලෝකයේ අනිත් හැම ත්‍රස්තවාදී කණ්ඩායමකටම වඩා ඉදිරියෙන්. ආයුධ ගෙන්වීමට වෙනම නැව් ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදේ යොදවල තිබ්බ ලෝකයේ එකම ත්‍රස්තවාදී කණ්ඩායම තමයි කොටි සංවිධානය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුව කොටි සංවිධානයට විරුද්ධව යුද්ධ කිරීමට ආයුධ ලබා ගත්තේ ණයට. නමුත් කොටි සංවිධානය ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාවටත් ඉන්දියාවේ හමුදාවටත් විරුද්ධව සටන් කරන්න ජාත්‍යන්තර වෙළඳපොලෙන් ආයුධ ලබා ගත්තේ අත්පිට මුදලට. රටවල් දෙකක නායකයන් – ඒ කියන්නේ ඉන්දියාවේ රජීව් ගාන්ධි මැතිතුමත්, ලංකාවේ ප්‍රේමදාස ජනාධිපතිතුමාත් – මරාගෙන මැරෙන ප්‍රහාර වලින් ඝාතනය කරපු ලෝකයේ එකම ත්‍රස්තවාදී සංවිධානය කොටි සංවිධානයයි. 2008 ජනවාරියේදී ඇමරිකාවේ FBI ආයතනය ලෝකයේ තිබෙන දරුණුම ත්‍රස්තවාදි සංවිධානය හැටියට ඔවුන්ව නිල වශයෙන්ම ශ්‍රේණිගත කළේ ඔය කාරණා නිසයි. 2009 මැයි 19 වන දා පෙරවරුවේ වේලුපිල්ලේ ප්‍රභාකරන් මියගොස් ඇති බවට තහවුරු වීමත් එක්කම අවසන් වුනේ ඒ වගේ ත්‍රස්තවාදයක්.

මේක පහසුවෙන් ලබාගත්ත ජයග්‍රහණයක් නොවෙයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ හා පොලිස් විශේෂ කාර්ය බලකායේ සෙබලුන් 25,367 දෙනෙකු ඒ යුද්ධයේ දී ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත්වුණා. සාමාන්‍ය පොලිස් නිළධාරීන් සිය ගනනක්ද, සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් සාමාන්‍ය පුරවැසියන් දහස්ගනනක්ද, දේශපාලන නායකයන් ගණනාවක්ද ඒ යුද්ධයෙන් ජීවිතක්‍ෂයට පත්වුණා. එයින් තුවාල ලැබූ ගණනත්, විනාශ වූ දේපල වල වටිනාකමත් මෙතෙකැයි කියන්න බැරි තරම්. කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදයට විරුද්ධව අපි ගෙන ගිය ඒ සටන ජය ගත්තෙ ඇතැම්  රටවල් වලින් ඒ යුද්ධය නවත්වන්නය කියල කරපු බලපෑම් සියල්ල අපි කෙලින්ම ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කරපු  නිසයි.

ඇමරිකාවේ රිපබ්ලිකන් පක්‍ෂ පාලනය අපිට ගොඩක් උදව් කරා. 2006 දී යුරෝපා සංගමය ලවා කොටි සංවිධානය ත්‍රස්තවාදී සංවිධානයක් හැටියට නම් කරගන්න අපට පුලුවන් වුණේ ඇමරිකාවේ උදවු නිසා. 2007 කොටි සංවිධානයේ ආයුධ නැව් ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවට හා ඉන්දුනීසියාවට සමීප ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදේදී අපට විනාශ කරන්න පුලුවන් වුණේ ඇමරිකාවෙන් දීපු නිශ්චිත තොරතුරක්  නිසා. නමුත් 2009 පෙබරවාරි මාසයේ ඉඳල ඇමරිකාවේ අලුත් ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් පත්වුණා. එතකොට ඒගොල්ලන්ගෙ ආකල්පය වෙනස් වුණා.  නමුත් අපි ජාත්‍යන්තර බලපෑම් නොතකා යුද්ධය අවසන් කළා.

මෑත ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ ත්‍රස්තවාදී ව්‍යාපාරයක් ඒ විදියට සහමුලින්ම විනාශ කරපු එකම රට ලංකාවයි. ඒ වගේ මහා විපතකින් ගොඩ ආවට පස්සෙ රටක් ඒ අතීතය අමතක කරල ඉදිරියට යන්න ඕන. නමුත් ලංකාවෙ යුද්ධය අවසන් වුණාට මේ රටට සාමය උදාවෙන්න සමහර ජාත්‍යන්තර මෙන්ම දේශීය බලවේග ඉඩ දුන්නෙ නැහැ. යුද්ධය අවසන් වෙච්ච දවසෙ ඉඳලම ඒ අය කළේ අතීතය කබල්ගාමින් ගැටුම කොහොම හරි පවත්වාගෙන යන එකයි. තමන්ගේ කීම අහන්නෙ නැතුව අපි යුද්ධය ඉවර කරාය කියන එක ඇතැම් අයට ප්‍රශ්නයක් වුණා. චීනය අපට උදවු කරනවාය කියන එකත් ඒ අයට ප්‍රශ්නයක් වුණා.

2015 ජනවාරි 09 වනදා මේ රටේ බලයට පත්වුණේ විදේශීය බලවතුන්ගෙ උවමනා එපාකම් ඉටුකරන ආණ්ඩුවක්. ඒ අයගේ න්‍යායපත්‍රය සකස් කරල තියෙන්නෙ මේ රටේ කොදු නාරටිය බිඳල ලංකාවට නැවත හිස ඔසවන්න බැරි විදියට කටයුතු සලස්වන්නයි. යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව බලයට ආපු දා ඉඳලම කළේ මුලු ලෝකයම මවිත කරමින්, ඉවර කරන්න බැහැයි කියපු ඒ යුද්ධය අවසන් කරපු ශ්‍රී ලංකා ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවට පන්න පන්න පහර දීමයි. 2015 දී මේ ආණ්ඩුව ඔවුන්ගෙ විදේශීය හාම්පුතුන් සමඟ එක්වෙලා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ සම්මත කරගත්ත 30/1 යෝජනාවෙන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුද අපරාධ විමර්ශණය කරන්න විදේශීය විනිශ්චයකාරවරුන් හා පරිචෝදකයන්ගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් දෙමුහුන් යුද අපරාධ අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවන්න එකඟවුණා.

උසාවියට ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න තරම් සාක්‍ෂි නැති වුනත් යුද අපරාධ කළාය කියල සැකයක් හරි චෝදනාවක් හරි තියෙන සියලු ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන්ව තනතුරු වලින් ඉවත් කරන්න ආණ්ඩුව එකඟ වුණා. 30/1 යෝජනාවේ සඳහන් පොරොන්දු ඉටු කිරීමට දැනටමත් ලංකා ආණ්ඩුව නීති ගණනාවක්ම සම්මත කරලයි තියෙන්නෙ.  2016 අංක 14 දරණ අතුරුදහන් වූවන්ගේ කාර්යාල පනත තුළින්, ඕනෑම අවස්ථාවක ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ හෝ පොලීසියේ පරිශ්‍රයකට ඇතුල් වෙලා එහි තිබෙන භාණ්ඩ හෝ ලියවිලි තමන් සන්තකයට ගන්න බලය තියෙන, අවශ්‍ය පුද්ගලයන් කැඳවා රාජ්‍ය රහස් පනතේ විධි විධානත් බල රහිත වෙන විදියට සාක්‍ෂි  විභාග කළ හැකි විමර්ශණ සභාවක් දැනටමත් ඇති කරලයි තියෙන්නෙ.

අතුරුදහන් කරවීම් වලට එරෙහි ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රඥප්තිය ලංකාවේ බලාත්මක කරන 2018 අංක 5 දරණ පනතින්, ලංකාවේ අතරුදහන් කරවීමක් සිදුකලාය කියල සැකකරන පුද්ගලයකු ලංකාවේදී අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන වෙනත් රටකට ගෙන්වාගත හැකිවන විදියට විධිවිධාන සලස්වල තියෙනවා. අතුරුදහන් කරවීම් වැළැක්වීම සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රඥප්තිය කියල ඒකට කිව්වට ඒකේ ඇත්තවශයෙන්ම  තියෙන්නෙ සැකකරුවන්ට දඩුවම් කිරීමේ යාන්ත්‍රණයක්. මේ ආණ්ඩුව ගෙනාව 2018 අංක 24 දරණ අපරාධ කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් අන්‍යෝන්‍යන්‍ය්‍ය   සහයෝගීතාවය ලබාදීමේ පනතෙන් කරන්නෙ පිටරටක උසාවියක් විභාග කරන නඩුවකට අදාලව සාක්‍ෂි හෝ වෙනත් දේවල් ලංකාවෙන් ලබාගත හැකිවන ආකාරයේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් සැකසීමයි.

මේ පනත් තුනම එකට එකක් සම්බන්ධයි. අතුරුදහන් වූවන්ගේ කාර්යාලය විසින් විභාග පවත්වල සැකකරුවන් පිළිබඳ විස්තර ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් කරනවා. ඒ මත පදනම් වෙලා පිටරට උසාවිවල අපේ රණවිරුවන්ට විරුද්ධව නඩු දානවා. ඊට පස්සෙ ඒ විදේශීය රටවල් අතුරුදහන් වීම් වැළැක්වීමේ ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රඥප්තියේ විධිවිධාන වලට අනුව අදාල පුද්ගලයන් ලංකාවේදී අත්අඩංගුවට අරගෙන තමන්ගෙ රටවලට ගෙන්න ගන්නවා. ඊට පස්සෙ එම පුද්ගලයන්ට විරුද්ධව අපරාධ කටයුතු වලදී අන්‍යෝන්‍ය සහයෝගීතාවය දැක්වීමේ පනතේ විධි විධාන යටතේ නඩුව පවත්වාගෙන යනවා. ඒක තමයි සැලැස්ම.

ඒ අතරතුර ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුව ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් දිගට හරහට දඩයම් කරනව. සාක්ෂියක් නැත්නම් කාගෙන් හෝ ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබාගෙන හෝ ඉලක්කගත සන්නද්ධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන්ව හිරේ දමනවා. යුද්ධයට නායකත්වය දුන් හැම නිලධාරියෙක්ම පොලිසියට ගෙන්නල අඩුම ගානෙ ප්‍රශ්න කරල හරි තියෙනවා. අපේ රටේ ඉහලම ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා නිලධාරියා වන ආරක්‍ෂක මාණ්ඩලික ප්‍රධානියාවත් තනතුර දරද්දිම කාලයක් රිමාන්ඩ් කරල හිටියා. මේවා සේරම කළේ අපේ සන්නද්ධ  හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් රණවිරුවන් නොව මිනීමරුවන්, කප්පන් කාරයන් සහ හොරුන් කියන අදහස මේ රට තුළත්, ලෝකය පුරාමත් සමාජගත කරලා ඔවුන්ව විදේශීය උසාවි වලට පාවාදීම සාධාරණීකරනය කරන්නයි.

බුද්ධි අංශ නිලධාරීන්ව රඳවාගෙන හිටියේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනතේ විධිවිධාන අනුව. ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ නිලධාරීන්ගේ අතින් යම් වැරැද්දක් සිදුවෙලා තියෙනවා නම් ඒක විභාග වෙන්න ඕනෙ සාමාන්‍ය නීතිය යටතේයි. ත්‍රස්තවාදයද වැලැක්වීමේ පනත තියෙන්නෙ ත්‍රස්තවාදී උවදුරක් පවතින වෙලාවක ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ට විරුද්ධව යොදවන්න විතරයි. මේ ආණ්ඩුව ඒ පනත සිතා මතාම සන්නද්ධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන්ට විරුද්ධව පාවිච්චි කළේ මුලු ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවම මානසිකව වට්ටන්න. මෙතන ක්‍රියාත්මක වුනේ ලංකාව සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම නැතිභංගස්තාන කිරීමේ අංගසම්පූර්ණ වැඩ පිළිවෙලක්.

එක පැත්තකින් රට ආරක්‍ෂා කරන ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ සාමාජිකයන් දඩයම් කරලා අකර්මණ්‍ය කරනවා. ඊට පස්සෙ ලංකාවට අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හඳුන්වල දීල මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුව නැත්තටම නැති කරල රට පළාත් ආණ්ඩු 09 කට බෙදල වෙන් කරනවා. අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතට අනුව හදිසි නීති තත්වයක් ප්‍රකාශ කළත් ඒකට විරුද්ධව කාට හෝ උසාවි ගිහිල්ල වාරණයක් ලබා ගන්න පුලුවන් වෙන විදිහට විධිවිධාන සලස්වලයි තිබුණෙ. ඒ ව්‍යවස්ථාව බැරි වෙලාවත් සම්මත වෙලා තිබුණ නම් පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයෙන් පස්සෙ වෙන්නෙ මොනවද කියල අපිට හිතාගන්නවත් බැරි වෙනවා.

මේ සැලසුමේම  තව කොටසක් තමයි 1979 ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ  පනත අහෝසි කරල දැන් ඔය සාකච්ඡා වෙන ප්‍රති-ත්‍රස්ත පනත ගේන එක. ඒකත් 2015 ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේදී අපේ ආණ්ඩුව ඒගොල්ලන්ගෙ විදේශීය හාම්පුතුන්ට දීපු පොරොන්දු වලින් ප්‍රධානම එකක්. ත්‍රස්තවාදවාදයට විරුද්ධව නීති වල ප්‍රධානම අරමුණ වෙන්නෙ ත්‍රස්තවාදය මර්ධනය කිරීමයි. ත්‍රස්තවාදයට දඩුවම් දීම ද්විතීයික කාරණයක්. ත්‍රස්තවාදය මර්ධනය කිරීමට අත්‍යවශය කාරණය වන්නේ අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවන් සාමාන්‍ය නීතියෙන් ඉඩ දෙනවට වඩා කාලයක් රඳවාගෙන ඉන්න ඉඩ සැලසීමයි. ඕක මත තමයි සියල්ල රඳා පවතින්නෙ. අපේ රටේ දැනට බලපවත්වන ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනත යටතේ ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවෙකු මාස 18 ක් දක්වා රැඳවුම් භාරයේ තබා ගැනීමටත් ඔහුට එරෙහිව ඇති නඩු කටයුතු අවසන් වනතුරු රිමාන්ඩ් බාරයේ තබා ගැනීමටත් පුලුවන්.

නමුත් යෝජිත ප්‍රති-ත්‍රස්ත පනතට අනුව ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවෙකු රැඳවුම් භාරයේ හා මහාධිකරණයේ නියෝගය මත රිමාන්ඩ් බාරයේ තබා ගත හැකි උපරිම කාලය අවුරුද්දයි. ඊට පස්සෙ සැකකරුවන්ට ඇප දෙන්න වෙනවා.  ඔහුට විරුද්ධව නඩු පැවරීමෙන් පස්සෙ එක අවුරුද්දක් ඇතුළත නඩුව අවසන් කිරීමට නොහැකි වුවහොත් ඔහුව අනිවාර්යෙන්ම ඇප මත නිදහස් කරන්න වෙනවා. ඔහොම නීති වලින් ත්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහි සටන ජයගන්න බැහැ. 2005 දී ලන්ඩන් නුවර ප්‍රහාරයෙන් පස්සෙ ටෝනි බ්ලෙයාර් අගමැතිවරයා බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ යෝජනාවක් ගෙනාව ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවන්ව මාස තුනක් නඩු නැතුව රැඳවුම් බාරයේ තබන්න.

ඒ වෙලාවෙ බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් ඒ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලා හිටියේ ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවන් විමර්ශණ වලට අවශ්‍ය වෙන ආකාරයට සීමාවක් පනවන්නෙ නැතුව රඳවා ගන්න පුලුවන් වෙන විදියට නීති හදන්න කියලයි. නමුත් ටෝනි බ්ලෙයාර්ගෙ ලේබර් පක්‍ෂයේ සමහර මන්ත්‍රීවරු ඇතැම් ජනකොටස් වල ඡන්දය මත රඳා පවතින නිසා ඒ නීති සංශෝධනයට ඉඩ දුන්නෙ නැහැ. ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවන්ගේ  උපරිම රැඳවුම් කාලය දින 28 ක් දක්වා පහතට දැම්මා. එදා ඉඳල අද වෙනකම්ම බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ පොලීසිය එක දිගටම පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ඒ කාලය  කිසිසේත්ම ප්‍රමාණවත් නැති බවයි.

ඇමරිකාව නම් ඊට වඩා වෙනස් විදියට කටයුතු කළා.  2011 දී බැරක් ඔබාමා ජනාධිපතිවරයා අලුත් නීතියක් ගෙනාවා ඇමරිකාව තුළ හෝ ඉන් පිටත ඇමරිකාවට විරුද්ධව කටයුතු කරන ත්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවෙකු අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තොත් ඔහුව දින නියමයක් නැතුව, නඩුත් නැතුව රැඳවුම් බාරයේ තබා ගන්න. ඇම්නෙස්ටි ඉන්ටර්නැෂනල්  වගේ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන වලින් පෙන්නල දීලා තියෙනවා මේ නීතිය විදේශිකයන්ට මෙන්ම ඇමරිකානු පුරවැසියන්ටත් එක ලෙස බලපාන බව.

රඳවා තබාගන්න එක විතරක් නොවෙයි, ත්‍රස්තවාදයට දෙන දඩුවම් තදකරන එකත් මෙහිදී වැදගත් වෙනවා. 2015 ගෙනාපු පනතකින් මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය  ආණ්ඩුව ඒගොල්ලන්ගෙ අනපනත් ගණනාවක්ම සංශෝධනය කරල ත්‍රස්තවාදයට දෙන දඩුවම් තවත් තද කළා. ඒ අනුව පුපුරණ ද්‍රව්‍ය නිපදවීම හෝ ලඟතබා ගැනීම වැනි වැරදි වලටත්, ත්‍රස්තවාදියෙකු හැටියට පුහුණුව ලැබීමත්, ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිර දඩුවම් නියම විය හැකි වැරදි ලෙස නම් කරනු ලැබුවා. සාමාන්‍ය නීතිය යටතේ ඇති වැරදි යම්කිසි පුද්ගලයෙකු ත්‍රස්තවාදයට හවුල් වීම නිසා සිදු කරන්නේ නම්, එයට සාමාන්‍ය අපරාධකාරයෙකුට වඩා දැඩි දඩුවම් පැමිණවීම බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ නීතියෙන් සිදුවෙනවා.

නමුත් අපේ ආණ්ඩුව දැන් ගේන්න හදන ප්‍රති-ත්‍රස්ත පනතින් කරන්නේ සාමාන්‍ය අපරාධකරුවන්ට ලබාදෙන දඩුවම් වලටත් වඩා බෙහෙවින්ම ලිහිල් දඩුවම් ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ට ලබා දීමයි. ඒ ලිහිල් දඩුවම් වුනත් නොවිඳ සිටීමට ත්‍රස්තවාදී චූදිතයෙකුට නීතියෙන් ඉඩකඩ හදල දීලා තියෙන්නෙ. ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ට උපරිම බුරුලක් ලබා දෙන අතරම රජයේ සන්නද්ධ හමුදා සාමාජිකයන් දඩයම් කරන ආණ්ඩුවක් තමයි අපිට ඉන්නෙ. 

ඊට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් විදියට, ඇමරිකාව තමන්ගේ ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව ගැන සුවිශේෂ උනන්දුවක් දක්වනවා. ජෝර්ජ් බුෂ් ජනාධිපතිවරයා 2002 දී ඇමරිකානු සන්නද්ධ හමුදා ආරක්‍ෂා කිරීමේ පනත තුළින් ඇමරිකානු පුරවැසියෙකු හෝ ඇමරිකාවේ මිත්‍රයෙකු ජාත්‍යන්තර යුද අපරාධ අධිකරණය විසින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගතහොත් එම පුද්ගලයාව බලහත්කාරය යොදවා හෝ මුදවා ගැනීමට ඇමරිකානු ජනාධිපතිවරයාට බලතල පවරා තියෙනවා. ඒ වගේම ඇමරිකාවේ උසාවි හා රජයේ ආයතන සියල්ලටම ජාත්‍යන්තර යුද අපරාධ අධිකරණය එක්ක මොනම හෝ ගනුදෙනුවක් පවත්වාගන්න එක සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම තහනම් කරලයි තියෙන්නෙ. ආත්ම අභිමානයක් තියෙන රටක් තමන්ගේ සන්නද්ධ හමුදා රකින්නේ එහෙමයි.

එක ත්‍රස්තවාදයක් පරාජය කිරීමේ 10 වන සංවත්සරය සමරණ මේ මොහොතේ අපි දැන් තවත් ත්‍රස්තවාදයකට මුහුණ දීල තියෙනවා. මේක ගෝලීය ත්‍රස්තවාදය එක්ක කටයුතු කරන දේශීය ත්‍රස්තවාදයක්. 2008 මුම්බායි නගරයට ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වුණේ ඉන්දියන් ජාතිකයො අතින් නෙවෙයි. නමුත් පාස්කු ඉරිදා මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල කරපු හැම ත්‍රස්තවාදියෙක්ම ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයෙක්. ඒ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පළමු ප්‍රහාරයෙන්ම කොටි සංවිධානයටවත් එක් තනි ප්‍රහාරයකින් මරන්න බැරි වෙච්ච තරම් සිවිල් වැසියන් ගණනක් ඝාතනය කළා. අද මේ රට බේරගන්න ඉන්නෙ මේ ආණ්ඩුව නින්දිත විදිහට දඩයම් කරපු සන්නද්ධ හමුදාව විතරයි.

යුද ජයග්‍රහණයේ දසවෙනි සංවත්සරයේදී මම ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ප්‍රකාශ කරන්න කැමතියි ලංකාවේ යුද්ධයේ අවසන් අදියරේදී කිසිදු යුද අපරාදයක් සිදු නොවුන බව. ලෝකයේ සන්නද්ධ ගැටුම් වලට බලපාන නීතිය සකස්කරල තියෙන්නේ යුද්ධ කරන්න බැරි විදිහට නෙවෙයි, යුද්ධ කරන්න පුලුවන් විදියට. යුද නීතිය ඒ තත්ත්වයෙන් පවත්වාගෙන යන්නේ ඇමරිකාව ප්‍රමුඛ බටහිර රටවල් කියලත් කියන්න ඕනෙ. එම බටහිර රටවල් පිළිගන්න යුද නීතියට අනුව ලංකාවේ කිසිදු යුද අපරාධයක් සිදු නොවුනු බව මම නැවතත් ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටිනවා.

ලෝකයේ යුද නීතිය හා භාවිතය පිලිබඳව ප්‍රමුඛතම විශේෂඥයන් වන මහාචාර්ය මයිකල්  නිවුටන්, මහාචාර්ය ඩේවිඩ් ක්‍රේන්, ශ්‍රීමත් ඩෙස්මන්ඩ් ද සිල්වා, ශ්‍රීමත් ජෙෆ්රි නයිස්, රැජිනගේ නීතීඥ රොඩ්නි ඩික්සන්, මේජර් ජනරාල් ජෝන් හෝම්ස් වැනි විශේෂඥයන් ඒ කාලයේදී මේ බව ලිඛිතවම ලංකා ආණ්ඩුවට දන්වල තිබුණා. ලංකාවේ සන්නද්ධ හමුදා යුද අපරාධ කළ බවට කෙරෙන මේ චෝදනාව හුදෙක්ම දේශපාලන කාරණයක්. අපිට ඒකට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වන්න පුලුවන් වෙන්නෙත් දේශපාලනිකවයි.

ත්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහි යුද්ධය ජයගෙන රටට සාමය උදාකර දෙන්න දිවි පිදූ හා අබාධිත තත්වයට පත්වුණු සියලුම රණවිරුන් මේ අවස්ථාවේදී මම ගෞරවයෙන් සිහිපත් කර සිටිනවා.

ඔබ සැමට තෙරුවන් සරණයි, දෙවි පිහිටයි.

Ratanapala

17 May 19

Easter Sunday Bombings were over in a day. Mostly thanks to Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith’s foresight and in general the fortitude of the Catholics and the general populace revenge attacks on the Muslims did not take place. Thanks to the Security Forces quick arrests were made of individuals, organizations and arms caches were discovered in a variety of places and to the surprise of many but not to me, inside mosques!

I have tried my level best to inform the general public of the march of Islam in Sri Lanka but found only a few takers to advance my conversation!

What has been found by the Security Forces include knives, swords, bombs, bomb making materials, army uniforms, white garment worn mainly by Buddhist women when visiting temples. We have many excuses for possessing these but we are yet to hear any that ‘stands up to scratch’ as the saying goes!

Now after nearly 3 weeks we have attacks on Muslim business places. This was a time that we all thought that the worst was behind us and what remained was only mopping up operations hither thither.  However it seems from what we hear and see through the media that a concerted attempt has been made to divert the attention and the blame game on the all too familiar – Sinhala Buddhists.  What happened at Minuwangoda, Hettipola, Bingiriya and similar places, so far brings our memories back to some unfortunate happening that took nearly 3 decades ago. The overall effect is to take the conversation elsewhere from the dastardly crime that was perpetrated on the Catholics of Sri Lanka and on visitors to Sri Lanka and lump it all on the backs of the Sinhala Buddhists.

The infamous 24^th of July is on us again. It was for happenings of 24 July ’83 and on the few subsequent days that the Sinhala Buddhists were castigated all over the world for a dastardly crime for which they were not responsible. Given below is a narrative of what took place on that fateful week, nearly 30 years ago.

It is common knowledge that it was UNP goondas who attacked and killed Tamils in Colombo during the July ‘83 riots. It is also common knowledge that it was the then President J R Jayawardene who allowed the riots to continue unabated for a full day before a curfew was called to stop the rioting. On this day J R Jayawardene was under severe pressure from the army after the killing of the 13 soldiers in Jaffna, to take effective action against the LTTE terrorists in the North. His solution was to divert attention and use his Goon Squads to attack the Tamil residents in Colombo and other major cities and thereby avert the wrath of the army.

It is also common knowledge that after his victory at the General Elections in 1977, Jayewardene wanted to remain in power for an extended period, if necessary by terrorizing the general electorate. For this purpose, every minister in his administration was encouraged to form and develop their Goon Squads with the idea of intimidating the electorate prior to any subsequent election in Sri Lanka. In this fashion R Premadasa his Prime Minister, Gamini Dissanayake, Lalith Athulathmudali, Ranil Wickramasinghe the present Prime Minister, Ananda Tissa de Alwis, Cyril Matthew, M H Mohammed and others went on to form their own Goon Squads.

These Goon Squads were used most effectively in subsequent elections to intimidate, terrorize, maim or kill political opponents. viz; the 1980 District Development Council Elections, and the 1982 infamous” the Pot and the Lamp Referendum. They were the very ones who attacked Dr Sarathchandra and also the then Rev Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thero too. How the democracy in Sri Lanka deteriorated during this period is also common knowledge and is a subject that is well researched and documented.

These Goon Squads were equipped with electoral lists and they knew in advance where their political opponents lived.
It is now common knowledge that the mini riot that originated at the Borella Kanatta on the day of the funeral of the 13 soldiers ended at Narahenpita around mid night the same day. However the organized and systematic torching of Tamil trading establishments and residences commenced the following morning at Borella junction. The riots and the burning continued throughout the day through Punchi Borella, Maradana, Pettah and finally on to Fort, and unabated till they reached the Ambal Café in the heart of Fort at 4:00 PM – just a few meters away from where the now infamous President of Sri Lanka had his office. It took Jayewardene 10 hrs to impose a curfew and get his Goons off the streets. Goon Squads armed with electoral lists went from house to house, this time looking for Tamil residents. Goon Squads saved the day for Jayewardene by taking the army who was breathing fire on his scrawny neck to take firm action against rising terrorism in the country.

Once the curfew was in place, on four consecutive days, four very significant statements were made over the Television – Rupavahini Channel. While a shocked populace waited for the Executive President to address the nation, the UNP government and the Church plotted behind the scenes to place the blame entirely on the shoulders of Sinhalese Buddhists.

This is how it was done. While the curfew was in place the following took place.

1. Most Ven Madihe Pannaseeha Maha Nayake Thero was asked to address the Nation first. Naturally the Mahanayake Thero requested the Nation to have patience and be calm. ‘Janathava Sansun Wanna’ was his call! The nation was angry but it was in no mood to go on a killing rampage. By getting him to address the nation J R Jayewardene got the world to believe that the Mahanayake Thero was really addressing the Sinhalese Buddhists and that they were responsible for the pogrom.


2. The second was made by J R Jayewardene (the man with the professional mourner’s face) – DB Nihalsinghe had to dress him for this occasion and it is mentioned he had a task to get his face in one place for the occasion to make him look Presidential. In his address to the nation he justified the riots as the justifiable anger of the Sinhalese for the killing of the 13 soldiers in Jaffna. Here he clearly laid the blame for the pogrom on the Sinhalese. It must also be noted that UNP Goon Squads and every shade of hooligan, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and other took part in the universal phenomenon of looting that followed throughout the island. In many instances old scores were settled, regardless of ethnicity, taking advantage of the deplorable and unfortunate situation.


3. The third statement was made by R Premadasa the Prime Minister. He said that behind the riots was a coup organized by a Naxalite Terror Group. This was a diversionary attempt to put the blame on the pseudo socialist group led by the Catholic – Vijaya Kumaranatunge who was masquerading as a Buddhist at that time.


4. The fourth and final statement was made by Ananda Tissa de Alwis the then Minister of Communications and Constitutional Affairs. He said the next stage of the coup would be for Sinhalese Buddhists to attack Sinhalese Christians. His was the voice of the Christian Church who would finally go to convince the world that Sinhalese Buddhists were highest common denominator of what happened and hense responsible for the carnage.

The curfew was lifted on Friday 29 July 1983. People who had to stay indoors came to the streets to buy essentials groceries with simple bags in their hands. It was on this day the second phase of the conspiracy was unleashed on the populace on this day. Calls went on all major transport arteries emanating from Colombo saying that Tigers  have landed at the Fort Railway Station and are now on the attack. Personally I witnessed the people and the Police running with dread in their eyes. What followed and the carnage that took place made 29 July 1983 to be called Black Friday.

Unfortunately, after 10 years to a month we are back at the same place we were back in July 1983. The attack on the Catholics of Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday 2019 is being diverted to an attack on ‘innocent Muslims’ by Sinhala Buddhists of Sri Lanka. This is the message that Al Jazeera and the BBC are conveying to the world!

Wittingly and some unwittingly foolish elements in our society backed by unscrupulous politicians are trying hard to walk over the dead bodies of innocents to make political capital!

Shame on them! 

By Kelum Bandara Courtesy Daily Mirror

Former Ambassador of the United Sates (US) to Sri Lanka Robert O. Blake, in an interview with Daily Mirror, shares his views on the Indo-Pacific strategy, the importance of Sri Lanka’s strategic positioning in the region and its benefits to the country as a whole. He served as the Ambassador to Sri Lanka between 2006 and 2009 when the country witnessed the height of the war. From 2009 to 2013, he served as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. He currently works as Senior Director (India and South Asia) of McLarty Associates based in Washington D.C. He was here recently at the invitation of Pathfinder Foundation and Joint Apparel Association Forum of Sri Lanka and delivered a lecture titled ‘Update from Washington: US Foreign Policy towards China and South Asia and what it means for Sri Lanka’. The excerpts of the interview:   

• You had a similar group during the war led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa of an inter-agency group of all intelligence, law enforcement and military personnel
• America should not ask the countries to choose between China and the U.S.
• The government needs to depoliticize investigations as much as possible·
• Indonesia set up a special counter-terrorism unit called Densus 88 that has been very successful

Q How do you sum up your programme here in Sri Lanka?
I am here to do a little bit of business. Once that was scheduled, I received an invitation to speak from Milinda Moragoda of the Pathfinder Foundation. It is an important time for Sri Lanka.   

Q These days, foreigners stay away from Sri Lanka. But, you are an exception.
As I said, I had a business commitment for a client. As you know, I was the Ambassador for Sri Lanka during the civil war- from 2006 to 2009. So I am accustomed to a bit of risk. I also think that, from all I have been told, the security forces have done a good job of rounding up a lot of the suspects.   

Sri Lanka is very well positioned. The United States, China, India, Japan, Australia and others are all interested in Sri Lanka because it has an important strategic location on the major sea lanes; it has an open market economy, and a democracy.

Q Now coming to the topic, I would like to ask about the Indo-Pacific strategy of the United States. Sri Lanka is well positioned in the region. How do you view Sri Lanka’s importance?
As I said in my speech, Sri Lanka is very well positioned. The United States, China, India, Japan, Australia and others are all interested in Sri Lanka because it has an important strategic location on the major sea lanes; it has an open market economy, and a democracy. It is important for Sri Lanka to take a few steps now after these bombings. First, of course, they have to pursue investigations with vigour. They need to do it in an even handed way so they treat everybody with respect and dignity. Secondly, they need to work with the religious authorities, to promote reconciliation both within the Muslim community and also between the Muslims and Christians.   

The government needs to de-politicize investigations as much as possible. I heard from a lot of Sri Lankan friends during the last few days that they are very worried about the lack of cooperation between the Prime Minister and the President. And as you saw in my speech, we had similar problems in the United States before 9/11. Our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement authorities were not coordinating with each other. We set up a special group led by the White House. It included the senior officials of all the intelligence agencies and all the law enforcement agencies. Their task was to evaluate every piece of intelligence, and for those that were credible, they assigned somebody very specific to follow up on each threat. As a result of that, we have not had a major foreign terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11. I think Sri Lanka would benefit from forming a similar group to deal with this new threat by the ISIS and some Muslim groups.   

You had a similar group during the war. I remember Gotabaya Rajapaksa led an interagency group of all intelligence, law enforcement and military personnel. Every single week, they gathered all the intelligence together and looked at the threats. But to be clear, I am referring only to the institutional arrangements at that time. It is very important to fully respect human rights and not repeat the excesses of the past, such as the white van disappearances. I expressed the US Government’s strong concern about those and other human rights abuses while I was the Ambassador.   

Q Order in this region is important even for the countries like the United States. What kind of assistance can the US give us in combating this terrorism for overall peace in the region?
I think we are already extending assistance. As you know, our Federal Bureau of Investigations has sent people here to help with the investigations. We can work together with your intelligence agencies to share information about possible threats and to integrate Sri Lanka better into global information sharing networks.   

Q When you were the Ambassador in Sri Lanka, you witnessed LTTE terrorism. Now you see a new kind of terrorism here. How do you compare and contrast the two?
I think they have different objectives. The LTTE wanted to use terrorism as a way of promoting a separate state and also to stop the army from moving to the north. As the army moved to the north, the LTTE increased attacks in Colombo. It had a political objective. In the case of ISIS, they have two objectives. First, after they lost their so-called Caliphate in Iraq and Syria, they need to prove that they are still a relevant, strong organization. So, they are looking around for opportunities all over the world – in Afghanistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka etc- to prove that they still have the capability to mount serious attacks. Secondly, they are looking for places where they can try to sow divisions between the Muslims and Christians for them to exploit to then organize in that country.   

Traditionally, relations between Muslims and Christians have been good in Sri Lanka. May be, they calculated that people will not be paying much attention because of that. Now, it is very important for the government and the religious communities to make sure that there are no hostilities between the Christian and Muslim communities for ISIS to exploit.   

Q According to your own experience and observations, how long will it take for Sri Lanka to recover from this crisis?
As far as the law enforcement is concerned, you have to continuously work with friends like India, the United States and others to prevent these kinds of attacks in the future. The economic impact could last six to twelve months, once can reassure the international community that you have mechanisms in place to detect and prevent future attacks inside the country. Indonesia, for example, set up a special counter-terrorism unit called Densus 88 that has been very successful in apprehending terrorists and preventing attacks. As a result, tourism is booming there.   

Q Did you see signs of radicalization of Sri Lankan Muslims when you were here?
There were certainly pockets in eastern Sri Lanka where people were worried about growing Wahabi influence. But, I cannot say that people in 2009 were focused on possible Al-qaeda or ISIS threats. ISIS is a more recent phenomenon. When I was here, the focus was rightly on the LTTE.   

The economic impact could last six to twelve months. As far as the law enforcement is concerned, you have to continuously work with friends like India, the United States and others to prevent these kinds of attacks in the future

Q Again, back to the topic, Sri Lanka finds it difficult to reconcile its relations with the world powers including the United States, India, China etc because each of these countries have different interests. What is your advice to Sri Lanka?
First, my advice to America is that it should not ask the countries to choose between China and the U.S. They do not want to choose. They want to have good relations with the US, China, India and others. To develop better business opportunities with these countries, you have to improve the ease of doing business as much as possible. You have to heal divisions that have been created in your society. You also must educate your people to confront the challenges that would be posed by automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies that will profoundly affect all our countries.   

A good strategy is to establish educational partnerships with universities from the US and elsewhere. You should then encourage companies like Google, Apple and others to invest in these universities. This can enable cutting edge training and research that can help propel your economy.   

Your apparel companies are a model in this respect. They have been able to maintain their competitive edge for a long time. They do so by continuously upgrading their capabilities, cutting costs and using advice from companies like Accenture who advice companies how to automate, use machine learning and other tools to stay competitive.   

Q A lot of western scholars talk about growing Chinese presence. What is your comment?
China has leveraged the Belt and Road Initiative to expand its influence in the Indian Ocean region. The US is responding.   

It is establishing a new institution called the ‘International Development Finance Cooperation (IDFC). It will have US $ 60 billion of funding to help the American companies all over the Indo-Pacific region. I think we also need to do more to expand our high level diplomatic engagements. President Donald Trump needs to come to the region more. Our ministers need to come to the region more. We need to do everything possible to help our companies.   

But we have our own advantages. We have the soft power of our foundations, our non-governmental organizations, and our universities, all of whom bring the power of our ideas and substantial resources of their own. Another great US asset is the investment brought by American companies. People forget that the US is by far the largest private investor in Asia Pacific, not China.   

Q Assistance from the western countries including the US is linked to political commitments. It is not the case when it comes to China. They don’t interfere with internal politics. So, they have the advantage over other countries. How do you respond?
Most of the problems of war are now behind you. There still needs to be more efforts given to reconciliation between the Tamils and the Sinhalese, and to priorities like reparations. At the same time, the Easter Sunday attacks have opened up new divisions in Sri Lanka between Christians and Muslims. That marks an additional priority for reconciliation. But no one is suggesting our assistance be conditioned. Four days after the attack, the Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) approved a new programme for Sri Lanka. That was a concrete signal of US support.   

Q But, Sri Lanka needs to do some reforms to qualify for it…
The MCC is a good governance programme. To be eligible, countries must ensure good governance, stop corruption, and maintain strong independent institutions. The purpose of the programme is to encourage good governance. It is a positive reinforcement.   

Q How do you recommend Sri Lanka as an investment destination?
I think Sri Lanka needs to do more to improve its investment climate. If you look at the World Bank’s Index of Ease of Doing Business, Sri Lanka ranks 100 out of 190. And, that is not good enough. Yours is a relatively small economy. If you want to attract the leading edge investments, you need to make sure that you are among the most open economies in the world. For example, Singapore has a tiny population. But, they have huge investments. Why? They are the number one country in Ease of Doing Business. It is easy to set up a business. They have a very good, independent judiciary. There are no excessive regulations.   

Q How do you compare Sri Lanka with other countries like India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam in the region?
If you look at this independent index, Sri Lanka is behind all of them. Sri Lanka is 23 points behind India. Sri Lanka is well behind Vietnam. So your country has a lot to do. Now, with bombings people are going to be more cautious about investing here. Now your country has to come together not only to heal these divisions but also think how to make the economy open as much as possible. Then, you can benefit from investment from all of these countries- the United States, China, India etc. There is a huge opportunity for your country.   

Q The US is among the countries that welcomed the change in 2015. What do you feel today?
I am very happy. Relations between Sri Lanka and the United States have come an enormous distance. Our exports have increased by 40 per cent. We remain your largest market for exports. We have good military to military relations. There is a lot of positive momentum now. I am very encouraged now.   

Orange Army

Easter Sunday Massacre has almost totally destroyed the Tourism Industry and all the peripheral revenues generated by Tourism.
Crying over this horrid tragic human disaster, is natural, specially for those who lost their beloved families, and suffered grief & pain. Not only Sri Lankans, but the entire civilised world shared the Pain & Grief.
Begging foreign governments to send their nationals and support the Sri Lankan economy is not the solution.  No government will take the risk to support plane loads of their citizens to fly into a country Without a Leader to offer Credibility in Security.
Sri Lanka under President Maithri Sirisena, and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is like a couple of Headless Chicken, bouncing aimlessly.
As it stands, No Words from these two National Clowns will convince any EU Country, or China, Japan, to risk another impending attack by lifting the Travel Ban.
If the President has a “back-bone”, he should dissolve the Parliament forthwith and allow the electorate to decide on governance.
Immediately upon the General Election, The President must call for a Presidential Election.
Sri Lanka demands Tough Leadership, even moving towards a Temporary Military Leadership.
However, I doubt very much Sri Lankan electorate may accept nothing other than a Democratically elected Leadership.
Like the Tamils with the LTTE, Muslims in Sri Lanka have created doubts, if any Muslim could be trusted.  In most countries Muslim Imams have been the real culprits of creating & supporting Muslim Fundamentalists. 
As with Tamils and Tamil Nadu, Muslims in Sri Lanka are better-off moving and relocating into one of the Muslim States in the Middle East or to Malaysia / Indonesia / Brunei.  
The Violent pre-historic Culture of Islam / Muslim, to be-head, cut-off limbs, stoning to death, is not for a Peace-loving Civility of Sri Lankans.
If by any chance, and I hope not, another attack on a Buddhist Temple during Vesak, or on a Christian Church, will spell the dooms-day for all Muslims in Sri Lanka.
However, to be fair, the Buck-Stops-at the Feet of the Commander-in-Chief of the Security of Sri Lanka.
The  drastic Failure of the Security Chain of Command, due to Inept Ignorance of both the Prime Minister and the President, now must lead to Regime Change.


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සේනක වීරරත්න

ත්‍රස්තවාදය අපරට වෙලාගත් අඳුරු යුගයකදී සිය උපන් බිම වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කර දිවි පිදූ ඔව්හු සැබෑ දේශප්‍රේමින් වූහ.

ඒ මියගිය විරුවන් කෙරෙහි දක්වන ප්‍රණාමය සහ ඔවුන් වෙනුවෙන් නැගී සිටීමේ යුතුකමින් අපට කිසි ලෙසකින් වත් ඉවත්විය නොහැක. ඔවුන් පිලිබඳ මතකය අප තුල සදහටම තිබිය යුතුවා පමණක් නොව ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රතිරූපය විනාශ වීමටද ඉඩ තැබිය නොහැක.

නුදුරු අතීතයේ අප විඳි කටුක අත්දැකීම් නැවතත් මතුවීම වැලැක්විය හැක්කේ ඒ විරුවන් පිලිබඳ මතකය අප තුලත් අපේ දරුවන් තුලත් සැමදා රඳවා ගැනීමෙන් පමණි.

ඒ විරුවන් අවමානයට ලක් කිරීමට ඇතැමුන් ලංකාව තුලත් ඉන් පිටතදීත්, ජාත්‍යන්තර රස්වීමවලදීත් නැවත නැවත තැත් කලද උපන් දේශය වෙනුවෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ කැපවීම, ආත්ම පරිත්‍යාගය සහ ජීවිත පූජාව මිළ කල නොහැක. ඒ තාරුණ්‍යයේ ආධ්‍යාත්මයයි. එය නොමැතිව කිසිම රටකට ජාතියකට පැවතිය නොහැක.

සේනක වීරරත්න