Courtesy REUTERS

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s army commander Mahesh Senanayake said the threat of more Islamist militant attacks had been contained and the security services had dismantled most of the network linked to the Easter Sunday bombings.Sri Lanka’s Army commander Mahesh Senanayake speaks during an interview with Reuters at the Army Headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 10, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

Senanayake told Reuters on Friday that investigators had established that the plotters had links to Islamic State, but said the authorities were still trying to establish how deep those contacts were.

Up to now the investigations do not go beyond many areas, so we don’t have to worry about the situation; it is controllable, it is contained,” he said.

We are quietly confident that normalcy is brought back without” any second round of militant attacks.

The attacks in churches and hotels across the Indian Ocean island on April 21 killed more than 250 people, including 42 foreign nationals.

Sri Lankan authorities have said the bombings were believed to have been carried out by two little-known domestic Islamist groups, the National Tawheed Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim (JMI). Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

There is a link internationally, so we are working on those lines,” Senanayake said.

Definitely there is an IS link. That doesn’t mean it was a direct IS hit. But we are trying to establish how deep it is in order to plan our (military) operations.”

OFFSHORE LINKS

He said the focus of the probe is on the plotting, funding and planning of the attacks, as well as the precise nature of the offshore links – including whether any of the explosives came from southern India.

Sri Lanka has been on high alert for any fresh attacks, with security around the country ramped up, including around government buildings, schools and religious places. Scores of suspects have been arrested in the past 2-1/2 weeks.

But the army chief said he wanted the military to head back to their barracks soon.

Investigators from eight countries, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol, are helping Sri Lanka with the investigation.

Senanayake said that India, China, United States, Israel, Australia and the United Arab Emirates were looking to provide high grade military technology, including communication and surveillance equipment, to deal with future threats.

Authorities suspect Zahran Hashim, a radical local preacher from the east of the country was a ringleader of the bombings. Police say eight suicide bombers, including Zahran, were killed in the attacks.

Senanayake, who led the special forces during the last stages of the separatists war which ended in a crushing defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, said the investigation suggested that Zahran was responsible for command and control of the bombings.Slideshow (2 Images)

As of now the understanding is that it was Zahran,” who commanded and orchestrated the bombings, he said. However, he said there may be other important players linked to the militant ideology and seeking leadership.

Senanayake said the bombers had mostly used local explosives but may have also sourced some from southern India, likely Tamil Nadu.

He said some suspects had gone to India, mainly to Kerala, Bengaluru and Kashmir for training. However, investigators were still trying to determine more details around their travel.

Courtesy Mail Online

A Sri Lankan Muslim man prays in Colombo on May 3, 2019. The government has ordered mosques to clamp down on extremism and submit copies of sermons

The Sri Lankan government on Friday ordered mosques to clamp down on extremists and to submit copies of sermons in new fallout from the Easter suicide bombings that left 258 dead.

The country has been on edge since the April 21 attacks by jihadist bombers who attacked three churches and three Colombo hotels which also left 500 people injured.

The Ministry of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs said mosques must not be used for radicalising congregations.

“In view of the prevailing situation in the country, the ministry directs all trustees of mosques not to engage in or permit any gathering to promote or propagate hatred or extremism in any form,” the ministry said.

It said all mosques must submit copies of sermons given within their premises.

Sri Lankan radicals who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group have been been blamed for the April 21 bombings against three Christian churches and three luxury hotels.

Since the attacks, the government has carried out raids across the country and killed several suspected radicals. At least 56 suspects are in custody, according to police, while authorities have also expelled 200 foreign clerics who had overstayed their visas.

The government has imposed a state of emergency and ordered police and security forces to crack down on Islamic extremists.

Sri Lanka’s police say they have killed or arrested all the jihadists responsible for the bombings but attacks are still possible.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene said yesterday an investigation had been launched to find out how Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hisbullah’s son had managed to obtain shares worth Rs.500 million in the controversial Batticaloa Campus.

He said this in response to a question asked by United National Party (UNP) MP Hesha Withanage in parliament yesterday.

MP Withnage said Governor Hisbullah’s son has obtained shares worth Rs. 500 million in this University which has been set up on a grant.

The state minister said the campus was under the purview of the Higher Education Ministry. I believe that there is an investigation in this regard,”

Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa today urged the government to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) with full powers to probe the Easter Sunday attack, ascertain the historical background behind it and recommend the steps to be taken to prevent such disasters in the future.

He told parliament that everyone should rise up as Sri Lankans against terrorism and rescue the country from the debacle.

Mr. Rajapaksa said the government was responsible to ensure the safety of fear-stricken people, build their confidence and re-establish the economy.

“This situation is different from the previous terrorism the country had to face. Contribution of the people is needed to come out of this crisis. We all need to join hands and build the country,” he said.

Mr. Rajapaksa said the government had planned to reopen primary section of schools at a situation when security forces had warned of a possible attack on the 13th of this month and asked if it was reasonable to risk the lives of four million children.

“How can you justify the reopening of schools? I accept that schools cannot be kept closed for long. But is it children’s safety or completing syllabuses more important,” he asked and added that these children were not bullet-proof.

Mr. Rajapaksa said the country had faced terrorism for centuries under several governments but there had been no uncertainty like this before.

“There had been bomb explosions in other countries targeting civilians. But what happened to us was the country fell from the frying fan to the hearth due to the conduct of the government after the bomb explosions,” he said adding that the government should make sure not to create any suspicion among the people on the investigations carried out by the police and security forces.

“People have to be arrested under situations like this. Investigations have to be launched. I urge the government not to allow such investigations to be hindered under anyone’s influence,” he said.

Mr. Rajapaksa said they could not approve of the government’s move to restrict media on countrywide search operations and added that they did not do so even at the height of the war.

“We cannot prevent false news from being spread when true information was suppressed,” he said.

Referring to the proposed Counter Terrorism Act, he said the country could never be rescued from terrorism if this new act was brought in place of the Prevention of Terrorism Act at this juncture.

“Please consult the Mahanayake Theras, Catholic and other religious leaders and trade union leaders and university student unions,” he said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)

Ada Derana

Ada Derana

Courtesy Adaderana

Pulasthini Rajendran alias Sarah, the wife of the suicide bomber at St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, was allegedly abducted and forced to convert to Islam, Pulasthini’s mother claimed, speaking to Indian media.

According to Pulasthini’s mother, her daughter, who had been a devout Hindu, is now being held by Abdul Razik, the Secretary of Ceylon Thowheed Jamath (CTJ).

She alleges that Razik had abducted and forcefully married her daughter off to Atchchi Muhammadu Muhammadu Hasthun in Maligawatte area, despite the objection from the mother.

Muhammadu Hasthun was later identified as the suspect who has carried out the suicide bombing in Katuwapitiya.

Responding to these allegations, Abdul Razik stated that Pulasthini had converted to Islam willingly, however, she had ceased being an Islamic devotee in 2015 after formally informing the CTJ this in writing.
Pulasthini had not maintained further relations with the CTJ since then, Abdul Razik claims.

Meanwhile, the National Movement against Terrorism filed a case at the Criminal Investigation Department against CTJ Secretary Abdul Razik for the alleged kidnapping and marrying off Pulasthini Rajendran by force.

Investigating officers suspect that Pulasthini Rajendran, who was named as one of the six wanted suspects, may have died during the explosion in Chavalakadi in Kalmune but  DNA examinations are to be carried out to ascertain her identity.

Courtesy Adaderana

A buried cache of explosives belonging to the Sainthamaruthu suicide bombers have been recovered from the Kattankudy beach, Police Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said.

The explosives were found buried in the beach area along Beach Road in Kattankudy based on information received by intelligence units.

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo today (10), the police spokesman vowed that all items and weapons which have been hidden by the terrorists will be discovered and that they will not allow anything to remain.

He assured that everything uncovered by the authorities will be revealed to the public in due time.

He said that not only explosives, everyone connected to the terrorists will also be arrested while their assets will also be seized.

Courtesy Adaderana

MP Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero claims that three years ago intelligence officers had given the President a report regarding extremist group arming themselves and shootouts between these groups, but no action was taken out of fear of Muslim politicians.

He made these comments during an event held today (10) for the launch of the Sri Lanka National Council’s five-point national plan to prevent the infiltration of Islamic State terrorism into the country.

Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and several other religious leaders attended the event held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo.

Sri Lanka National Council’s president, Venerable Rathana Thero, further alleged that a haul of explosives were found in the Wanathawilluwa area which were linked to a politician. But they were released.” 

He stated that these extremists had existed in the country since 2013 and that they were armed and prominently seen only after 2015,

The MP said that when this started to grow from 2015, the government did not touch this matter out of fear of the Muslim politicians. That is the true story.”

He alleged that intelligence units had previously reported that extremist groups were arming themselves. He said that in 2016, right in front of the President and himself, intelligence officers had provided a report on these groups arming themselves and shootouts between them.

But nothing was done regarding this out of fear of politicians,” he said.

Ven. Rathana Thero also urged the President and Prime Minister not to implement policies and plans on giving land to America” at this point as the country will definitely be a target of global Islamic terrorists if American camps and built in Trincomalee”.

Courtesy Adaderana

The government on Friday ordered mosques to clamp down on extremists and to submit copies of sermons in new fallout from the Easter suicide bombings that left 258 dead.

The country has been on edge since the April 21 attacks by jihadist bombers who attacked three churches and three Colombo hotels which also left 500 people injured.

The Ministry of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs said mosques must not be used for radicalising congregations.

In view of the prevailing situation in the country, the ministry directs all trustees of mosques not to engage in or permit any gathering to promote or propagate hatred or extremism in any form,” the ministry said.

It said all mosques must submit copies of sermons given within their premises.

Sri Lankan radicals who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group have been been blamed for the April 21 bombings against three Christian churches and three luxury hotels.

Source: AFP

Courtesy Adaderana

Rear Admiral (Retd.) Sarath Weerasekera says that only one law should exist for all races within the country and that there can be no separate universities and laws only for Muslims.

He made these comments while delivering a speech at an event organized by the Patriotic National Movement in Paris on Thursday (9).

The former MP further said that there can be only one national flag and only one national anthem sung in one language. 

Courtesy Adaderana

Police have arrested another individual suspected to be linked to the Easter Sunday attackers, along with gold and over Rs 8.3 million in cash in the Maradana area.

Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said the suspect, Buhari Mohamed Rafik, was arrested yesterday (09) by Slave Island Police.

He said that over Rs 8.3 million in cash and 776 grams of gold jewellery were discovered after a search at his official room at a private institution in T.B. Jayah Mawatha, Colombo 10.

The suspect, a resident of Galwihara Road in Dehiwala, was arrested during an operation carried out based on information received that he is connected to the terrorist group.

The Police Spokesman said that the suspect’s luxury house at Dehiwala and several bank accounts were also uncovered. He is being detained and further interrogated by the police.

By Kanthar Balanathan DipEE(UK), DipBus&Adm(Finance-Massey), GradCert(Rel-Eng. Monash), CEng. MIEE

This article does not reflect on all Muslims, however, restricts only to those maniacs with a Nymphomaniac, selfish, self-destruct, murderous, and Muslims with psychological and psychiatric disorders.

Islamophobia

It is of the general opinion that the so-called Islamic ethnic groups are like that of a winged termite (Alates) type that reproduces quite rapidly to make the number so large. Termites are a devastating insect that destroys property etc. With democracy in place, the Muslims know that they can capture power if they are large in number. The law in SL has not changed and the Islamic people like to have more than one wife with the intention to proliferate. Although the economic status requires each family to manage their life, the Islamic society does not have any class distinction or any caste distinction and anyone is prepared to do any work, as long as their family can manage. In the early days and even now most of them were doing business everywhere plus smuggling, brothels and drug dealing. (Bangladesh and Bombay are an example). If you see a person in Pettah roadside vendor you can be sure that it may be a Muslim. Most of them do illegal activities alongside with smuggling. The interesting part is that wherever they are they can speak the four languages, Sinhala, Tamil, Urdu, broken pidgin English.

Muslim clerics are engaged in indoctrination and intoxication of educated Islamic youths to program to achieve Islam the only religion and bawl Jihad”. What is Jihad? Quote: struggle or fight against the enemies of Islam”. If Islam is a religion that preaches love, kindness and embraces unity, so said in the Ten Commandments in Christianity, there can be no enemies of Islam. The question arises who define the enemies of Islam. It is the power-crazy, despotic policy and focuses on Islamic power that drives the Muslims to assume that there are enemies of Islam”. Non-Islamic religion is considered enemies of Islam. They are living in a world of imagination.

Islamic clerics have a mindset for rigorously converting Muslim people to enter into Jihad destroy property that does not belong to them so that they can secure them. Islamic people lack in mannerism and self-esteem. They do not have respect for others and have an autocrat attitude. Muslim maniacs want the entire world to practice Islam and become Muslims.

Muslims want Sharia Law in the UK and Europe. Let’s talk of the UK. The UK is an island ruled by the Queen and Kings all along. They conquered countries and had colonies. However, they did not destroy the resources, but developed the colonies, educated the local, some barbarians, made them a civilized society, taught democracy, science, arts, etc. The British carried out infrastructural development in countries where they ruled. The British did not use force to convert the locals to be Christians. It’s the good facts about life and faith in Christianity made the people change their religion to become Christians out of willingness. The same with Catholicism. No force was used to convert people. When Islam and Christianity are compared, Christianity is a much older and worthy religion that preaches people to live together. Christianity does not use force, violence for Law & Order. There is no Christianity Law. However, Muslims came to the UK as refugees, beggars, and illegal immigrants, most of them congregated together in one town or village and proliferated population with intent motivation to conquer the country. Now they want Sharia Law in Walthamstow. Why come to the UK and demand Sharia Law. Their native country is the Middle East. Quote Ref: (i) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfDQBoLgLU,

(ii) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2020382/You–entering–Sharia–law–Britain–As–Islamic–extremists–declare–Sharia–law–zone–Londonsuburb–worrying–social–moral–implications.html.

It boils down to people intimidating the British constitution and British Law. Muslims talk of openness, honesty, and freedom, however, behaviour in a contradictory way, quote: According to the Association of Chief Police Officers, every year 17,000 Muslim women in Britain become victims of forced marriages, are raped by their husbands or subjected to female genital mutilation — all condoned by more extreme Islamists. These events only happen in Islamic society worldwide. Quote: In the 70s, the East of SriLanka had more Islamic womenprostitutes according to a Municipal Health Inspector. Muslim women are treated as COWS by their Islamic men. Muslims talk of Sharia, however, with due respect, majority of the real Cattle Butchers are Muslims.

What is Sharia Law? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddA_VjIwzn4

https://www.facebook.com/samantha.desilva.965/videos/10156195097213513/UzpfSTEwMDAyMzQzNTk1M TUxMjo0MjM5MzYyODE3MzA5MDA/

The Muslims believe that punishment like cutting the hands, legs, head, stone to death is a stimulating, revitalising, invigorating human punishment and that Muslims will live in harmony. Firstly, Muslim humans shall understand the fact that if they have a high degree of perception and intelligence, such punishment should remove all kinds of inhuman and illegal activities from their society. The important point is: What type of society would require such ruthless and cruel inhuman punishments? Only if the society is under animalistic behavioural psychology. Animals do not understand because they cannot think except killing, eating and reproducing without any fear. Animals have only five senses. Quote: We have the same five main senses as many animals: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Our main sense is sight.  Some animals and birds have strong sight as they are creditors.

Therefore, Islamic society has been a rough, rowdy, sex driven, gangster, lawbreaker, asperser, outlaw backbiter, characteristics inborn in them. Islamic society needed weapons to control their society. However, in the old ages, such weapons were not in use, therefore they lead the Mohamed to write merciless, unearthly, eerie, a law called Sharia Law”, which is good enough for Animals. This behavioural pattern of Arabs gave birth to Sharia Law and nothing else. Most Arabs are dirty unclean people at home. They shall be treated as Untouchable”. Their dress indicates why they hide their body both men and women. In the middle east, a desert area people cover their body with Daffah Dishdasha Islamic Arab Kaftan for men and Burka for women. The reason for such clothes is to protect their head and body from the desert sand. Eventually, over time, the laughable, irrational people converted this experience into a religious conviction.

Muslims could be treated as having animalistic behaviour as they have sex with multiple women and behave like animals. History proves that Muslims were responsible for the slave trade of the Africans into Europe, The Americas. What made them not to trade Arabs as slaves, but only the African blacks. Barrack Obama stated that he is proud of Islam and that majority of Muslims live in the USA. Obama is intelligent because of the European blood that flows in his veins. Does not he know that it is the Muslims who traded his ancestors as slaves and that he may be a product of a slave reign family? Every African American should know this and be against Islamic convictions and Arabs. Today majority of African Americans are Christians and have a high degree of perception and intelligence and could be judged as intellectuals, Scientists, researchers, Economists, and Astrophysicists.

Arabs still import knowledge in the form of humans to do their home functions. Engineers, Nurses, Doctors, Labourers, and house workers. Mostly all workers are imported on contract into most of the middle east countries. What is the reason? They have no brain to perform functions to live. People from India (Kerala) live on Arabic wealth, however, under harsh conditions. 

Continued in Part 2

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka March 2009

The following is an article I wrote ten years ago, in March 2009, and published in the Lankaweb in the same year, warning the then government to take necessary action immediately on the establishment of Muslim Madrasas, so that possible problems in the future, can be avoided. I also presented this matter as one of my observations’ in a  Cabinet Memorandum in 2009 regarding the NGO Al Haj Adul Jawad Alim Valiyullah Trust. The highly harmful consequences of inaction in this regard, on the part of the then government, is well evident today.   

MUSLIM MADRASAS – implications for Sri Lanka

The recent trend in Sri Lanka has been the establishment of Muslim Madrasas in various names – a major Madrasas that has been proposed to be established is in the form of an  NGO  called Al Haj Adul Jawad Alim Valiyullah Trust.

Muslim Madrasas in several countries have been identified today, to be education and training centres of Muslim fundamentalism, extremism and violence, especially those in Muslim dominated countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan alone has more than 13,000 mandasas of which many are said to be promoting Muslim fundamentalism and extremism.  It is noteworthy that Madrasas have been banned in several non-Muslim countries. It is widely reported that some Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders have obtained radical political views at Madrasas.

Some allege that Madrasas provide Islamic extremism and militancy and are a recruiting ground for terrorism. Some Mandasa are well recorded to be promoting a militant form of Islam and teach and train Muslim students to fight non-believers and stand against the moral standards of the western society. Some who have investigated the functioning of certain Madrasas  say that they are wholly concerned with teaching violence. The suicide bombers involved in the July 2005 London terror attack are said to have spent time in Pakistani Madrasas.

Details of the curriculum and training activities of Muslim Madrasas, already started in Sri Lanka and especially of those proposed to be established in Sri Lanka should necessarily be known in full in order to avoid possible socio-religious problems in the future.  This trend should receive cautious attention by all Sri Lankans, including members of the Muslim community, some of whom may not be fully aware of this trend and more, about the possible negative impacts of this trend. 

It is necessary that we take necessary action to avoid possible problems in the future that can have serious direct and indirect negative social-religious-political implications for the nation as a whole. It is important that authorities, especially religious leaders in our country take serious note of this trend. There need to be an open dialogue and polite interaction between the Muslim leaders and other religious communities in the country, in order to have an in-depth understanding of the specific mission and specific objectives of establishing Madrasas in this country.   

In some countries such as India, Pakistan, Afganistan and Bangladesh, Muslims are among the most deprived communities in terms of education and therefore establishment of certain type of Madrasas for basic educational purposes has become necessary and most people find them to be affordable as compared to other educational institutions in these countries. This is definitely not the case with Sri Lanka where there is no Muslim educational deprivation or backwardness as far as the Muslims are concerned. In fact, our school system is open to all Muslims if they wish to attend them, and there are many Muslim students attending regular schools in Sri Lanka. Also, there are exclusively Muslim national schools in Sri Lanka and importantly, most international schools in the country are owned and operated by Muslims where Muslim students predominate.

Madrasas as educational institutions are said to offer instructions in Islamic subjects including but not limited to the Quoran. It also includes Jurisprudence or “figh” and Muslim law or Sharia Law and the teaching and practice of “sufi” which encompasses Islamic mysticism. These teachings and practices should be investigated and known in sufficient detail in order to understand their impact on social harmony and national unity and solidarity in Sri Lanka.

If Muslim Sharia law is given official recognition by means of registering Madrasas as NGOs, it can result in serious legal problems in the future. There can be only one law in our country and that is a secular law which is applicable to all citizens irrespective of their ethnicity or religious affiliations. There is no need to introduce any other law, especially religious law such as Muslim Sharia Law, and cause problems in our country. 

It is known that Muslim Madrasas work in collaboration with other foreign Muslim organizations and Madrasas in providing vocational training for Muslim youth. This again should be of concern to Sri Lanka.    

In the light of the increased interest in the country for consolidation of national unity, divisive tendencies of any nature should not be encouraged under any circumstances.  With our massive success in containing LTTE terrorism and our determined efforts to bring the various communities together as One Nation, it is important that divisive tendencies in our society be eliminated. This is especially necessary in the light of a national resurgence that is clearly noticeable in the country at the present time and increased interest in fully restoring democratic principles of social organization. It is  important that we try to prevent polarization of our communities by all means available. 

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka

March 2009

Asoka Weerasinghe

Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1

8 May 2019

Mayor Jim Watson & Councillor Tim Tierney (Beacon Hill)
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier West
Ottawa, On
K1P 1J1

Your Worship Jim Watson & Councillor Tim Tierney:

Re:  The intention of Tamil Canadians wanting the City of Ottawa to Declare May 18, 2019 as the ‘Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day’and the ‘Tamil Genocide Education Bill 104’.

I, Asoka Weerasinghe, a proud citizen of the City of Ottawa (East) since I set foot on Canadian soil on 16 October 1970, who has contributed handsomely in my humble little way for the growth of this beautiful and fair City as Chairman,

Advocacy Committee of the Gloucester Arts Council (1992-1994) to build the Shenkman Arts Complex in the East End; Founder-Organizer of the Gloucester Spoken Art, Poetry and Storytelling Series (1995-2007); recipient of the City of

Ottawa Arts and Culture Appreciation Award 2003; Gloucester City Millennium 2000 Arts Award for Leadership and Development of the Arts; Province of Ontario Award for Volunteering for 15 years; and one-person Parents-Teachers Council at Rideau High School 1979, to stall the closing of Rideau HS,

 protest vehemently any effort by the Tamil-Canadian community, to pollute the sanity, peace, growth and positivity of our amazing City of Ottawa, sans ethnic hatred.

I am one proponent who believe  that the Multiculturalism Policy of our fair City has no place for foreign ethnic wars which should be left behind on their shores by one and all immigrants to Canada, as well as refugees who arrive searching  for a home in our country.  Tamils from Sri Lanka who are seeking a home in the Capital Region of Ottawa should be told up front, by you Mayor Watson, and you Councillor Tierney and your Colleagues of the City Council, Your ethnic wars back home has no place in our City.  They should  have been left behind in your country  before you left to join us in Canada.”.  Councillor Tierney, I am sure you know exactly what I mean since our Ward has a fair number of people from the African continent, whose problems that you have had to deal with and solve.

Wanting to coerce the young class-room minds of Ottawans to learn the lies and hate about Tamil Genocide” with the proposed  Tamil Genocide Education Bill 104” by the Tamils should be dismissed without a second thought.

I brought up two beautiful daughters and two granddaughters through Ottawa’s Public School System at Rideau HS, Henry Monroe MS and Colonel By SS in the east end,  never having or wanting to know about the fraudulent cry of Genocide” of the Sri Lankan-Tamils. They did not want other’s ethnic hate injected into their minds. Nor did their Dad and Granddad.  It should be left that way for our future school going generations.

Genocide” is an ugly and a hateful word.  It also has a  working definition in the UN’s lexicon.  Here is a litmus test for you both to  apply on the Tamil Genocide” cry and to make up your mind as a Judge and a Jurist. If you find that the Tamil Genocide” cry is a lie and is a fraudulent mischief,  please dear Mayor Watson and Councillor Tierney, do the favour to all Ottawans, by rejecting the request by the Canadian Tamils, and keep our fair City  clean as a whistle and reject such fraudulent mischievous Sri Lankan-Tamil requests pitting the two Sri Lankan communities, the Tamils and Sinhalese at each other.  I am a Sinhalese and a Buddhist.

Here is the Litmus test:

UN definition of Genocide”.  The Article 2 of the UN Convention of the Crime of Genocide;

…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such:

•  Killing members of the group;
•  Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
•   Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
•   Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
•   Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Ask this simple question from the Tamil-Canadian who is proposing that the City of Ottawa recognize May 18 as the Tamil- Genocide Remembrance Day’, and the ‘Tamil Genocide Education Bill 104.”

 Please explain to us, how would you explain and reconcile the following FACT which took place in the North of Sri Lanka as ‘Tamil Genocide’?”

During the last five months  from January 1 to May 19 of the Tamil Eelam War of 2009, when the Tamil Tigers were annihilated on the beach of the Nandikadal Lagoon in the east coast, 295,873 Tamils who were used as Human Shields by the Tamil Tigers, marching them for 30 tropical-hot months from the west coast to the east coast under the scorching Jaffna-Killinochchi sun, like unwashed cattle and were rescued from the Tamil Tigers clutches by the Sri Lankan Sinhalese soldiers and housed them in temporary refugee camps.  It would have been easy to snuff them out, but they weren’t.   All this doesn’t look like Genocide, does it?”

Tell, us how would you reconcile the FACT that the 295,873 Tamil refugees who were not snuffed out and housed in refugee camps were sustained with three hearty meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.  A million meals were prepared by mainly Sinhalese people, and some were Sinhalese soldiers. They  could have told the authorities, Sorry, we don’t want to cook the meals, let these Tamils starve to death!” No, that didn’t happen.  They opted to cook and feed their Tamil brothers and sisters and keep them alive to see another day.  This doesn’t look like Genocided does it?  Can we have an explanation about your charge of Genocide”.  You are upto some intolerable mischief, aren’t you?”

All of the 295,873 rescued Tamil refugees were sent back to their homes after most of the 1.5 million landmines planted by the Tamil Tigers were  diffused, and their houses were renovated or rebuilt

You know what Mayor Watson, and Councillor Tierney, the majority of our First Nation peoples in Reserves would have moved heaven and earth to exchange their places with these 295,873 Tamil refugees, as they were looked after much, much better by the Sri Lankan Government,  than the Canadian Government looking after our First Nation Peoples, Think about it.

AN ALERT.  I have just read a note from Riccito Giula that … the City of Ottawa has issued a proclamation in recognition of the week of Remembrance for War Victims of Sri Lanka for the period of May 11th to 18th, 2019, as it does comply with our proclamation policy.”

WOW! I am not sure what to think of it.  I am foxed.  I am not sure whether to laugh or to cry.  I am not sure whether both of you deserve a Merry Christmas card from me this Christmas.  Right now, I would say No.

I am pleased that you used the words ….Remembrance of war victims of Sri Lanka..”

Immediately my thoughts went to the Sinhalese infants who were plucked from their young Mother’s breasts and bayoneted by the nasty, brutal Tamil Tigers, in front of the Mother’s eyes, and some infants were bashed on to granite rocks splitting their heads by the Tamil Tigers enjoying the sight of oozing thick ketchup coloured blood, as if they were  bashing coconuts as a Hindu ritual, at the  Nallur Kovil in Jaffna  That still hurts.  These infants didn’t have a chance to fight back these brutal Tamil Tigers wanting to feel their young Sinhalese Mother’s  warm loving hug, one last time.  That was cruel.  That was sad!

Please, try not to pit the two Sri Lankan communities, Sinhalese and Tamils to go at each other when we are trying  our best to reconcile and heal.  Stop being another two insensitive  Canadian politicians who pride themselves as We are Holier than Thou” who have sold their souls for the mono-ethnic, Tamil racist separatist state of Tamil Eelam cause, to buy a Sinhalese blood-soaked vote,  I have met quite a few of them since July 1983.

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)

Ben Silva

The present day Muslims are descendants of Yemani and Arab traders. They married local Sinhala woman. Ancient Sinhala Kings defended the Muslims from the aggression of Portuguese and Dutch invaders,  who would have wiped out the Muslims. In general the Muslims lived in peace with the Sinhalese. However, an aggressive flavour of Islam, known as Wahabism, appear to be keen to rule the world and appear to aim to convert the whole world, including Sri Lanka to wahabi brand of Islam. There are also Jihadists  who do not hesitate to kill innocent people or blow themselves up, in the name of Islam. This is indeed an extremely serious threat to the Sinhalaese and other non believers in Sri Lanka. The aim of this particular brand of Islam appears to be to kill all non believers.

Politicians, terrorism and religious indoctrination

It i`s known that during the LTTE terrorism period, certain powerful people in the Govt.  were agents of LTTE. This resulted in a lot of damage to the country. Now media reports indicate alleged links between Islamic politicians and terrorism.  Sources allege  that one of the governors appointed by the President in January this year, Azath Salley, was the one who intervened in the release of an arrested person. According to some other news item, Eastern Province Governor, M. L. A. M. Hizbullah’s driver and former cook were arrested, few days ago. All these allegations need to be thoroughly investigated to ascertain the truth and safeguard the country. The state security unit should not be manipulated by politicians who may have ulterior motives or a hidden agenda.

Some measures that could reduce the risks of terrorist incidents is given below. Intelligence gathering be given top priority and should be effective. ISIS groups in Sri Lanka  and other extremist Islamic groups should be identified, monitored  and dismantled without delay. We would need collaboration with foreign countries to accomplish this task.   Educational establishments and madrasas should be monitored to ensure that persons are not indoctrinated to be hostile to Sri Lanka. All offensive institutions including the Sharia University should be closed down as soon as possible.  Further religious affairs should be handled by one ministry and all religious activities be monitored and controlled to ensure that  no indoctrination takes place. The work on the Sharia law University should be halted or the University be taken under the control of the Govt.  Students of any ethnicity be allowed to study at the University, if it is taken over by the Govt. Madrasas that indoctrinate persons  to be hostile to Sri Lanka should be closed down as soon as possible. Foreign clerics hostile to Sri Lamka should be expelled. Stop funding from foreign countries that could go into the hands of terrorists. Stop the construction of new mosques. Convert illegally constructed Mosques to public places that can be used by anyone. The essence of all major religions be taught as Religious Education, to Sri Lankans,  so that hostility is minimised. If Islamic countries do not allow the construction of temples, why should we allow uncontrolled growth of Mosques ?

If Sinhala Buddhists remain passive, resist change to meet the challenges of the modern world, ignore external and internal threats, remain non vigilant, ignore the environment  then their days are numbered and may soon follow Nalanda Buddhists to Nirvana. Sinhala Buddhists need to develop critical thinking skills and rely less on ancient Indian myths that even Indians have dumped.

In my view there has to bw an organisation to protect the intetests of the Sinhalese and our heritage, as Sri Lanka is our only homeland.

Politicians who attempt to bribe Muslims to get their votes should be exposed as traitors.

I do not see any useful work done by the Mahanayakes to protect Sri Lanka or the Sinhalese. Certainly there is clear evidence of lack of vigilance and apathy to internal and external threats.  

Certain brands of Islam have the following barbaric practices:

1.      Honour killing, where close relatives are killed by members of the family

2.      Stoning to death.

3.      Cutting of hands.

4.      FGM

Further different brands of Muslims kill each other.  It is clear that there is a violence gene in Islam and it threatens the peaceful way of living in Sri Lanka. The violent nature of Islam was demonstrated by the killing of over  250, entirely innocent group by Islamic militants. Therefore it is entirely justifiable to expel Islamic preachers that threaten the stability of Sri Lanka.

At this point, it is better to have a look at history and learn from history. In the past, Muslim invaders from Turkey invaded countries from Afghanistan to Indonesia, killed non Muslims, mainly Buddhists and converted people to followers of Islam. Famous merciless killing of Buddhists took place at Nalanda, India. Buddhism did not recover in India, after the Nalanda debacle. Note that countries from Afghanistan to India and even Maldives were formerly Buddhist countries If we do not learn from the Nalanda debacle and take preventative measures, then we are guaranteed to suffer the same fate as Nalanda Buddhists.  Buddhism has a serious flaw.  It is too passive.  Buddhists seek extinction and seek  giving up  of desires. It is  not the way to survive in a highly  competitive dangerous world. It is worthwhile mentioning that every living organism from a a  virus to a multi cellular organism will want to survive and adapt.   It is strange that Buddhists want to seek extinction (Nirvana)  and give up desires, when every other group in Sri Lanka want to acquire wealth and pass on wealth to the next generation.  If we do not get our thinking straight; we may be wiped out, as happened to Nalanda Buddhists, and achieve Nirvana before long.

Learning of skills such as business skills would be essential for our survival, rather than depend  on ancient Indian myths.

It appears that whilst the incompetent, Yahapalanaya jokers were sleeping, the Muslim terrorists have taken root in Lanka, establishing brain washing educational establishments and bomb factories and training establishments. As an immediate measure foreign clerics that preach things that could harm Sri Lanka should be expelled. Islamic teaching establishments should be closely monitored to see if they teach material hostile to Sri Lanka. Further there should be only one law in Sri Lanka, ie the Sri Lankan Law and all should be treated in the same manner. Sharia law should not be taught in Sri Lanka and any establishment teaching Sharia law, such as the Sharia University  should be closed down.  As some flavours of Islam is dangerous, we should monitor the number, distribution and population growth of followers of Islam. Steps should be taken to integrate Muslims to Sri Lankan culture. There should be no mono ethnic or single religion schools.

It appears that some Muslim clerics use Neuro Linguist  Programmig  (NLP) techniques to control people’s mind with various strategies. It appears that this process has been going on for some time under the nose of foolish and right Royal incompetent yahapalanaya rulers. Serious consideration has to be given to expelling unsuitable clerics who would bring about instability in Sri Lanka.

There is also an urgent need to reskill our women to higher level skills so that they do not have to rely on domestic work.

I repeat, hate crimes should not take place and not a single  peace loving Muslim be harmed or killed. Any disputes should be settled through dialogue, discussion and debate and not using violence

My hope is that people will get  rid of this incompetent Govt. and get Gota in.

I repeat, hate crimes should not take place and not a single  peace loving Muslim be harmed or killed. Any disputes should be settled through dialogue, discussion and debate and not using violence.

Ref

1: http://www.adaderana.lk/news/54760/dayasiri-alleges-muslim-affairs-minister-allowed-construction-of-400-ntj-mosques

2.  https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/05/05/bring-the-politicians-behind-terrorism-directly-or-indirectly-to-justice/

3.  https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/05/08/at-last-a-true-muslim-with-guts-to-tell-the-truth/

විශේෂඥ කායික වෛද්‍ය සුනිල් සෙනෙවිරත්න ඈපා

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග විසින් ලියන ලද වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුගේ සිහි සටහන්  නම් කෘතිය පුද්ගලික අත්දැකීම් සමුදායක් මෙන්ම අගනා සමාජ  විවරණයක්ද වෙයි. ඔහුගේ අත්දැකීම් පරාසය ඉතා පුළුල්‍ ය. එය අන්තර්ජාතික පථයක් දක්වා විහිදී යයි.  ලෝකයේ විවිධ ජාතීන් සමග ඔහු විසින් ගොඩ නගා ගන්නා ලද සබඳතා ජාතීන් අතර තිබිය යුතු සංහිඳියාව පිලිබඳව අපව දැණුවත් කරයි.

මෙම පොතේ ඔහුගේ කුඩා කාලයේ , පාසල් සමයේ , වෛද්‍ය පීඨයේ මෙන්ම වෘත්තීය ජීවිතයේද ලැබූ අත් දැකීම් සඳහන් වෙයි.  මනුෂ්‍ය සන්තානයේ ඇති සියළුම රසයන් උද්දීපනය කෙරෙන මෙම වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුගේ සිහි සටහන්  නම්  කෘතිය  ඕනෑම තරාතිරමක අයෙකුට කියවා රස විඳිය හැකි  පොතකි.

Sunil Vijaya

Perhaps Tribalism is ingrain in most Sri Lankans and every one of us goes through this phase in our life time yet the depth to which it has penetrated in individuals depends to what degree of conditioning the individual has gone through. 

Subtle forms of tribalism such as a school, university are common and most take them lightly except exhibiting rivalry at a time of sport or at any other competitions such as debates etc.

We as a nation, had traditions and ideals which had been inculcated in us from generation to generation, which most

Western countries lack and one of the most unique concepts in our culture was the concept of Shramer daaner or the donation of one’s physical effort.  The villagers would help each other in especially during the time of cultivation of rice, the preparation of paddies, and the rest of the processes ending up with harvesting.

There was harmony among villagers, and everyone participated in rituals with Buddhist ceremonies at the village temple headed by the village monk culminating in traditional poojas.   Life was so simple and beautiful.

With the encroachment of our land by foreigners especially the British, this harmony among villagers deteriorated rapidly with the introduction of a centralised governance headed by an Agent who reported to the centre.  The elected representatives began identifying themselves with a Party and the villagers began supporting and showing loyalty and allegiance to the party man of their choice.

The rice paddies now became battle fields of politics.  The UNPers never worked in paddies owned by SLFPiers and vice versa, and the whole fabric of unity slowly broke down and violence at election time resulted in even deaths and arson.  The worst form of Tribalism stemmed from this and today Sri Lanka experiences this form of tribalism to be the worst which has dramatically impacted and affected the society.

Besides seeds sewn by foreign invaders introducing their culture did further damage with social segregation.Tribalism based on race identifying themselves as Sinhela, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher further divides the nation.   These tribes further segregate themselves on the basis of their creed, faith and label themselves as Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Islamists.  Sinhela Buddhists don’t stop there they continue identify themselves as up country and low country. 

The buck doesn’t stop there either, they label themselves as high caste and low caste depending on ruling class down to farmers, fisher folk and rest of the trades people, drummers and down the ladder the out-castes who are not even offered a seat in their homes.  The vicious nature of these tribes and their tribalism affect electing ideal representatives to parliament, which in-turn affects the judicial system and other important institutions of security the tri-forces and police etc. and the moronic cycle goes on.

Tribalism is observed even among Buddhist monks who distance themselves from rival nikayas as Siam (Thai), Amarapura (Burma) etc .and refuse to even sit with a different sect. or they would elevate themselves to a higher platform (recently observed in Kandy) to show a superiority, which Buddha would have totally opposed.  Even Upasampadava is not offered by the siam nikaya monks to foreigners who seeks to enter the Order.

All these minor tribes however aggregate themselves, irrespective of being monks or layperson, once again as loyalists of political parties and form closer ties shedding their differences to take advantage of a vote, especially at election time. 

Only at a time of disaster, they all speak loud and clear to shed differences and unite for the sake of the nation.  Few decades ago in a LIFE magazine an article carried an equation.  AMITY = ENMITY + HAZARDS – which means the disunity of a group disappears at a time of calamity, as we clearly observed during the recent bombings by wahaabi terror groups.  True clearly, there is a difference between Tamils and Tigers, Muslims and Wahaabis, Sinhelas and sinha Le extremists.

Sri Lanka, considered a country of intellectuals, needs to decide whether we go down the path of dreaded perennial Tribalism or shed it at the highest-level, MAJORITY AND MINORITY, which are just concepts handed down by generation to generation poisoning our minds. 

Let us end this virulent Tribalism and Think Sri Lankan, Act Sri Lankan.  Certainly, we are born human and that’s the only label we should carry to our grave.

Sunil Vijaya

අද (21) පැවැති ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ මාධ්‍ය හමුව

අද (21) පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවට සහභාගි වු නියෝජිතයින්  

■             පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී  තාරක බාලසූරිය මහතා 

■             පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී   ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ද මහතා 

■             නිවැරදි ප්‍රවෘත්තිය මාධ්‍ය ඒසසේ විකාශනය නොවීමෙන් සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ වැරදි පුවත් සමාජගත වීමයි.

■             මද්‍රසා වැනි අන්තවාදි අදහස් පෝෂණය කරන පාසල් තහනම් විය යුතුයි.

■             මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදය ව්‍යාප්ත කරපු මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලන නායකයින් අනිවාර්යයෙන් අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න වෙනවා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී තාරක බාලසූරිය මහතා 

රජයේ ප්‍රවෘත්ති අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබෙනවා සෝදිසි කිරිම්වලින් හමුවෙන ආයුධ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ පෙන්වන්න එපා කියලා. ජන ජිවිතය යථා තත්ත්වයට ගන්න, රටේ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව විශ්වාසයක් ගොඩනගා ගන්න මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ මේ දේවල් වාර්තා කිරිම් තහනම් කිරීමෙන් ඵලක් නැහැ. අද ජනතාව සිටින්නේ දෙවැනි ප්‍රහාරයක්සම්බන්ධයෙන් බියෙන්. රජයත් දෙවැනි ප්‍රහාරයක් සම්බන්දයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබෙනවා. ඒ වගේම සුදුඇදුම් හමුවීම, ආයුධ හමුවීම, හමුදා ඇදුම් හමුවීම වැනිදේ නිසා දෙවැනි ප්‍රහාරයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇති සැකය තහවුරු වෙනවා. 

ජනාධිපතිවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදි කළ ප්‍රකාශයේදී පළවෙනි ප්‍රහාරයට සම්බන්ධ ත්‍රස්තවාදින්ගෙන් 99%ක් අත් අඩංගුවට අරන් තියෙන්නේ කිව්වා. නමුත් එතුමා දෙවැනි ප්‍රහාරය ව්‍යර්ථ කර තිබෙන බවක් කියන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ තර්ජනය මේ වෙද්දි සම්පූර්ණයෙන් තුරන්කර තිබෙන බවක් කියන්නේ නැහැ. අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා ආරක්ෂක අංශ. දේශපාලනඥයින් මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡා නොතියා ආරක්ෂක අංශ මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාවලට එනවා නම් බොහොම හොදයි කියලා අපි විශාවස කරනවා. පාසල් දරුවන් පාසල් ඒමේ වර්ධනයක් අපි දකින්නෙත් නැහැ. රටේ ජනතාව ඉන්නේ විශාල බියකින්. 

මහ බැංකුවේ වාර්තාව මේ වෙද්දි නිකුත් කරලා තියෙනවා. ඒ වාර්තාවෙන් කියන විදියට මේ වෙද්දි ඒක පුද්ගල ආදායම ඩොලර් 2කින් අඩුවෙලා. හැම පැත්තෙන්ම ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැටීමකට ලක්වෙලා. ඒ වගේම සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරයට වෙන හානිය ගැන මීට වඩා අවධානයක් යොමු කරන්න අවශ්‍යයි. සංචාරකව්‍යාපාරය වුනත් පළවෙනි කාර්තුවෙදි තිබුනේ 2.2% වර්ධනයක් තිබුනේ. ඒ පදනමත් එක්ක ත්‍රස්තවාදි ප්‍රහාරය නිසා ආර්ථිකයට විශාල හානියක් වුනා. මේ හානියෙන් ගොඩයන්න නම්  ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරිම පළමුවෙන්ම කළ යුතුයි. 2015 ප්‍රංශයට එල්ල වුනු ත්‍රස්තවාදී ප්‍රහාරයෙන් පස්සේ හිටපු ජනාධීපතිවරයා සංචාරකයින් ගැවසෙන ස්ථානවල ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරීන් 10000ක් ස්ථානගත කළා. මේ රජයත් ප්‍රවෘත්ති විකාශනය කරන්න එපා කියලා මිනිස්සු තුළ විශ්වාසයක් ගොඩ නගන්න උත්සාහ කරනවා වෙනුවට ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කළ යුතුයි. නිවැරදි ප්‍රවෘත්තිය මාධ්‍ය ඒසසේ විකාශනය නොවීමෙන් සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ වැරදි පුවත් සමාජගත වීමයි. 

මේ සිද්ධිය හේතුවෙන් මුස්ලිම් සහෝදරයින්ගේ හා නොවන අයගේ කිසියම් ඈත්විමක් වෙලා නම් ඒ සම්බන්ධතා නැවත ගොඩනගා ගත යුතුයි. බුර්කා ව තහනම් කිරීමෙන් පමණක් මෙම්ප්‍රශ්නය විසදෙන්නේ නැහැ. වෙලාවෙන් මුස්ලිම් සහෝදරයන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවන් බුර්කාව අදින්න පටන් ගත්තේ ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් වෙනස් විමක් නිසාද, නැත්නම් බුර්කාව ඇදපු නිසා ඒ අයගේ අදහස් වෙනස් විම නිසාද කියලා අපි දෙවරක් හිතා බලන්න ඕනේ. ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව සදහා නම් බුර්කාව තහනම් කරලා මදි. නිතී පද්ධතියක් අවශ්‍යයි. මද්‍රසා වැනි අන්තවාදි අදහස් පෝෂණය කරන පාසල් තහනම් විය යුතුයි. පකිස්තානයේ ඉම්රාන් කාන් අගමැතිවරයා මෙවැනි පාසල් 800ක් තහනම් කරලා තියෙනවා. තුර්කියේත් එවැනි පාසල් තහනම් කළා. මේවායේ අන්තවාදි අදහස් පෝෂණය කරනවා නම් තහනම් විය යුතුයි. අරණායක විල්පල කියන ගමේ පාක්ෂිකයෙක් කිව්වා එහේ මද්‍රසා පාසලක් තියෙනවා. පන්ති පටන්ගන්නේ රෑ 10ට. 10 ඉදන් පාන්දර 2 විතර වෙනකල් පන්ති පවත්වනවා. මේ වගේ පසුබිමක් තුළ ජනතාව තුළ සැකයක් ඇති වෙනවා. මේ ගැන තේරුම් අරගෙන නම්‍යශිලීව කටයුතු කරන්න කියලා මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. ඒ වගේම සිංහල ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නෙත් ඔවුන්ගේ සියලු කටයුතු දිහා සැකයෙන් බලමින් ඔවුන්ව අන්තවාදයට යොමු කරන්න එපා කියලයි. මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදය ව්‍යාප්ත කරපු මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලන නායකයින් අනිවාර්යයෙන් අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න වෙනවා. අද වෙනතුරු අපේ ඇගිල්ල දිගු වෙන සමහර මැති ඇමැතිවරුන්ගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කරලාවත් නැහැ. සමහරුන්ගේ නෑයෝ සියලු දෙනාම මේ අන්තවාදින් සමග සම්බන්ධයි. නමුත් ප්‍රශ්න කිරිමක් වෙලා නැහැ. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙදි සාධාරණ අදහසක් ඉදිරිපත් වුනත් අදහස් ඉදිරිපත්කිරීමට පවා බාධා කරනවා. ඒ අන්තවාදි අයගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කළ යුතුයි. පරීක්ෂණ පැවැත්විය යුතුයි. 

■             සියලු පාර්ශවයන් ප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ත පනත ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනවා. 

■             9 වැනිදා සිට 13 වැනිදා දක්වා පිපිරිම් සිද්ධ වෙන්න ඉඩ තියෙන නිසා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු ඇමැතිවරු විශේෂ උත්සව රාත්‍රී ගමන් බිමන් පිටත් කරන්න එපාලු

■             ඒ වුනාට ජනතාවට කියනවා ළමයි පාසල් යවන්න. සේයට යන්න කියාලා. 

■             අගමැති ජනාධිපති බොරදියේ මාලු බානවා. 

■             බෝම්බකරුගේ තඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ සේවකයින්ට ඇපි දුන්නේ 9 වැනිදා සිට 13 වැනිදා දක්වා කාලයේ කෙරෙනවා කියන  පිපිරවිම්වල ඉතිරි ටික එළි දක්වන්නද 

■             ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු වෙලා නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරින් නැතිව ජනතාව අතරට යන්න. ඒ ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරින් පාසල් ආරක්ෂාවට යොදවන්න. 

■             මේ ආන්ඩුව කියන්නේ පට්ටපල් බොරු. 

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහතා 

රටේ ඇති වෙලා තියෙන ව්‍යසනය ආන්ඩුවට කරගන්න නොහැකි වූ අතපසු වූ කාරණා ඉටු කර ගැනීමට අවස්ථාවක් කර ගැනීමේ සූදානමක් තියෙන්නේ. අගමැතිවරයා කියනවා ත්‍රස්තවාදය වළක්වන්න නම් ප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ත පනත ක්‍රියාත්මක කළයුතු බව කියනවා. නිතිපතිවරයා හමුදාවපතිවරුන් ඇතුලු මේ සම්බන්ධ විශේෂඥයින් ගෙන්වලා කාරක සභාවේදී මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතාකරපු අවස්ථාවේදි ඒ කාරක සභාවේ සභාපතිවරයා කියනවා මේ ගැන හොඳ මතවාදයක් කාරක සභාවේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට හෝ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට නැහැ කියලා. විශේෂඥයෝ තුළත් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් එකඟතාවයක් නැහැ. ඒක නිසයි අගමැතිවරයා කියන්නේ පොල් ගාන්නේ නැතිව පනත ගේන්න කියලා. කාරක සභාව මේ තුළ වෙනත් අවශ්‍යාතවයක් මිස ත්‍රස්තවාදය පිටු දැකීමක් නැහැ කියලා මේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනවා. 

මේ අතරේ තවත් කාණ්ඩයක් මහානායක ස්වාමින් වහන්සේලා කාදිනල්තුමා ,විපක්ෂනායකවරයා පසුපස්සේ යනවා හිටපු හමුදාපති, වත්මන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මහතාට නීතිය හා සාමය ඇමැතිකම දෙන්න කියලා. මේවා මේ වෙලාවේ රටට අවශ්‍ය දේවල්ද? රටේ ආරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා ආරක්ෂක ඇමැති විදියට වගකිම අරන් කටයුතු කරනවා නම් මේ නීතිරීති ඒ සදහා ප්‍රමාණවත් නම් එතුමාට ආරක්ෂක ඇමැතිකම දීලා මිනිස්සුන්ගේ බයට විසදුම් දෙන්න පුලුවන්ද? ආන්ඩුව මේවා පෙන්වමින් කල්මරණවා. ආන්ඩුව ගත්ත දවසේ ඉදන් අපි කිව්වා මේ ආන්ඩුව එළ හරකයි මි හරකයි වගේ කියලා. එක්කෙනෙක් ගොඩට අදිනවා. අනෙක් කෙනා මඩට අදිනවා. දැන් ඒක ත්‍රීව්ර වෙලා. අගමැති එක පාර්ශවයකට කතා කරලා කියනවා ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරුයි කියද්දි, එතුමාගේ කැබිනට් එකේ ඉන්න අය ප්‍රශ්න කරනවා කොහෙද ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරලා තියෙන්නේ කියලා.අපි මේවා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදි දැක්කා. ඒ  ඇමැතිවරුම කියනවා අද (09) ඉදලා 13 වෙනිදා වෙනකල් නගර කිහිපයක පිපිරිම් සිද්ධ වෙන්න ඉඩ තියෙනවාලු. අපේ ආරක්ෂක අංශවලටත්  මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැනුම් දීලා තියෙනවා. පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු ඇමැතිවරු විශේෂ උත්සව රාත්‍රී ගමන් බිමන් පිටත් කරන්න එපාලු. අපේ ආරක්ෂාව අපි සලසා ගත යුතුයි. මිනිස්සුන්ට කියනවා දරුවෝ පාසල් යවන්නලු. සේවයට යන්නලු. රට සාමාන්‍ය තත්ත්වයට ආවලු. එහෙම කියන ගමන් ප්‍රභූවරුන්ට කියනවා හෙට බෝම්බ ගහනවාලු. මෙහෙම වචන දෙකක් තියාගෙන හරි යනවාද?’ පාසල් වල දරුවෝ නැහැ. ගුරුවරු විතරයි. මේ අධ්‍යාපන ඇමැතිට තාම බැරිවුනා  හරි වැඩපිළීවෙලක් හදන්න. ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු වෙනතුරු ගත යුතු අධ්‍යාපනික ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්න වැඩපිළීවෙලක් නැහැ.

අගමැතිතුමාගෙන් හා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ බොරදියේ මාලු බාන්න සූදානම් වෙන්න එපා කියලයි.අද රට දරුණු ආගාධයකට ගිහින් ජනතාව දේශපාලනඥයෝ ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනවා. ප්‍රශ්නයට උත්තරය නෙයෙි දෙන්නේ වෙනත් උත්තරයක්. තඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ සේවකයින්ට ඇප දුන්න විදිය අපි දැක්කා. මේ ගැන පරික්ෂණ කරන්න දෙයක් තියෙනවාද? පොලීසියට කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරන පොලිස් නිලධාරීන්, ස්ථානාධිපතිවරයා,කළාපය භාරව කටයුතු කරන ඩ්‍යේෂ්ට පොලිස් අධීකාරිවරයා නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පතිවරයා, වැඩ බලන පොලිස්පතිවරයා මේ රටේ මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ කාරයෙක්ගේ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවක බෝම්බ තිබුණා, බෝම්බ හැදුවා කියලා පිළි අරන්, ඒක ජනතාවටත් කියලා සතියක් යන්න කළින් ඇප දෙනවා. ඊට පස්සේ පරික්ෂණ කරන්න සූදානම් වෙනවා. මේවා තමයි සැකකටයුතු තැන්. දැන්වත් බුද්ධි අංශ නිලධාරින් යොදවාල මේ ගැන හොයන්න. අපි රටක් විදියට ජාතික ආර්කෂාව තහවුරු කරනවා නම් එදා වනාතවිල්ලුවේදි නියමිත ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නවා. එහෙම වුනා නම් මේ බෝම්බ පිපිරිම් වෙන්නේ නැහැ. මේ අයට ඇප දුන්නේ 9 වෙනිදා සිට 13 වෙනිදා දක්වා තියෙන වැඩපිළීවෙල ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න ද? ඒ පිපිරවිම්වල ඉතිරි ටික එළි දක්වන්නද ඇප දුන්නේ. අධීකරණයට ත්‍රස්තවාදී පනතෙන් ඉදිරිපත් නොකර සාමාන්‍ය පුද්ගලයෙක් විදියට ඉදිරිපත් කලේ ඇප ලබාගන්න බලාගෙන. අපිට පේනවා ජනාධීපතිවරණය දිහා බලාගෙන කදවුරු බදින බව. එල්ලුම් ගස් හදනවා ජනාධීපතිවරණය දිහා බලාගෙන. වෙනත් වෙනත් මර්ධන වැඩපිළීවෙලවල් ගෙනියනවා ජනාධීපතිවරණය දිහා බලාගෙන. චෝදනා කරනවා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාටත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණටත්, ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයටත් බොරදියේ මාලුබාන බවට. එජාපයේ ඡන්ද පදනම 25%ටත් වඩා අඩුවෙලා. කෑලි කෑලි පක්ෂවල අය එකතු කරගෙන ඉඩ දුන්නේනැත්නම්, 12% ක්ව තිබුණු සුලු පක්ෂ වල ඡන්ද ප්‍රතිශතය 5%ට අඩු කලේ නැත්නම් අද එජාපයක් නැහැ.

ඒ නිසා අපිට වැටෙන්න තියෙන අඹයට පොලු ගහන්න ඕනේ නැහැ. අපි දන්නවා ඊළග මැතිවරණයේදී ජනතාවගේ තීන්දුව මොකක්ද කියලා. මේ අන්තවාදි කොටස් මර්ධනය කරන්න අවශ්‍යයි. විමර්ශනවලින් සොයා ගන්න දේවල් පෙන්වන්නේ නැතිව මේවා සමාඩ ජාලාවලින්  පෙන්වන්නද? එදා යුද්ධය වලොවේ මෝටාර් සබ්මැරින් අල්ලන කොට මාධ්‍ය ගිහින් ලෝකෙට පෙන්නුවා මේ රටේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය මොනතරම් ඔඩු දුවලාදකියලා. අද කැත්තක්, උල්පිහියක් අරන් එනඅය තමයි තව අවුරුදු කිහිපයකින් මේ රටේ වෙනම අන්තවාදයක් නිර්මාණය කරන්නේ.ඒකේ මූල බීජය පෙන්වන්න ඕනේ. එක කට්ටියක් කියනවා පල්ලියේ ලිදේ තිබිලා කඩු හම්බ වෙද්දි අන්තවදී විදියට හිතන අය ඇවිත් කියන්නේ පල්ලිය පෙන්නන්න එපා කියලා. අපේ කතෝලික පල්ලියේ ඉටි පන්දමකට එහා දෙයක්, පන්සලේ හදුන්කූරකට වැඩිය දෙයක් තියෙනවා නම් පෙන්වන්න. අන්තවාදිව කටයුතු කරන පල්ලි තියෙනවා නම ්මුස්ලිම් නායකයෝ එකතු වෙන්න ඒ පල්ලි විනාශ කරන්න. ඒ පල්ලිවල උගන්වන්නේ ආගම දහම නෙවෙයි. වෛරය. මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවගේ ඡන්දය, පාර්ලිමේන්තු අසුන බලාගෙන දේශපාලන කරලා රටේ අන්තවාදය වපුරන්න එපා. ඒ ඇමැතිවරුන්ට, ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන්ට යුතුකමක් තියෙනවා තනතුරුවලින් බැහැලා ස්වාධීනව කටයුතු කරන්න අවස්ථාව උදා කරන්න. අපේ දරුවෝ බිලි දෙන්න පාසල් යවන්න දෙමව්පියෝ සූදානම් නැහැ.මාධ්‍ය වාරණ දාලා ඒ දර්ශන මාධ්‍යයෙන් පෙන්වන්න එපා කියලා ජනතාව රවටන්න බැහැ. බෝම්බ භිතියක් තියෙනවා කියලා දැන දැනම රට අස්ථාවර කරන්න එපා. ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු වෙලා නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 225 දෙනාට යන්න කියන්න ආරක්ෂකයින් නැතිව ජනතාව අතරට. ආරක්ෂක නිලධාරීන් පාසල මුර කරන්න ගන්න කියන්න. ඇමැතිවරුන්ට මහ පාරට ඇවිත් අපිට නිදහසේ ඉන්න පුලුවන්, රටේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු වෙලා කියලා ජනතාවට පෙන්වන්න කියන්න. එක කාණ්ඩයකට හැංගෙන්න කියලා, කිරි සප්පයින්ව පාසල්වලට ගෙනත් අතහරින්න කිසිම දෙමව්පියෙක් කැමැති වෙන්නේ නැහැ. දරුවන්ගේ අගය දන්නේ දරුවෝ ඉන්න දෙමව්පියෝ.දරුවෝ නැති අය දරුවන්ව පාසල් යවන්න කිව්වට දෙමව්පියෝ පිළීගන්නේ නැහැ. ආන්ඩුවේ නිවේදන පිළීගන්න ජනතාව කැමැති නැහැ කියන එක 3000ක් විතර ඉන්න පාසලට දරුවේ 20ක්විතර එන එකෙන් ඔප්පු වෙන්නේ. 

අයි රටට මෙහෙම වුනේ. අද විදේශීකයෝ රටේ නැහැ.සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරයේ ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් රජය මැදිහත් වෙනවා කියලා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙදි කිව්වා. අද උදෙත් හෙටත් බැංකු කතාකරලා ණය වාරික ගෙවන්න නැත්නම් වාහනය අත් පත් කරනවාකියනවා. කංකුං මිටිය හෝටලයට ගේන මිනිහා ණයක් ගත්තත් බැංකුවෙන් ණය වාරිකය අය කර ගන්න පස්සෙන් එනවා. අපි බැංකුවට කිව්වා ණය අය කරන්න එපා කියලා කියන දෙ ්ආන්ඩුවෙන්කියද්දි බැංකුව කියනවා එහෙම දෙයක් කිව්වේ නැහැ කියලා. අපි ආන්ඩුවට කියනවා ඒ විදියේ එක පත්‍රිකාවක් හරි ගැහුවා නම් පෙන්වන්න කියලා. මාස කිහිපයක් ණය වාරික අය කරගන්නේ නැහැ කියලා ආණ්ඩුව චක්‍රලේඛණ නිකුත් කරලා නැහැ. පට්ටපල් බොරු මේ ආණ්ඩුව කියන්නේ. ව්‍යවසායකයින් ගත් ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වගේම රටේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවරු කිරිම ගැන හරි ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න කියලා ආන්ඩුවෙන් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම මාධ්‍ය වාරණය වෙනුවට ජනතාවට සත්‍ය තොරතුරු ලබා දෙන්න කියලත් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. 

Embassy of Sri Lanka Washington DC

The Embassy of Sri Lanka together with the Washington National Cathedral jointly organized an Interfaith Service of Prayer and Remembrance dedicated for the people of Sri Lanka at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington DC on Sunday, 05^th May 2019 
 
The event was organized to remember the victims of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks and offer prayers for people of Sri Lanka. A large gathering of guests was present including religious dignitaries representing Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish and Christian faiths, members of Congress, US government representatives, Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps, Sri Lankan community members, well wishers numbering over 1000.
 
The Very Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of the Washington National Cathedral, led the congregation. Welcoming all to the interfaith service, Dean said the presence of such a large gathering of well wishers representing all religious denominations was a testimony of their respect and solidarity for the victims of all faiths.
 
The service of prayer and remembrance began with a procession of religious representatives walking down the aisle carrying candles in honour of the victims. The invocation prayer was offered by the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington followed by the playing of the National Anthem of Sri Lanka.
 
The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Most Venerable Maharagama Dhammasiri Thero, Chief Priest of the Washington Buddhist Vihara,  Ustadh Seyed Rizwan Mowlana, Founder of Medina Centre, His Grace  Anuttama Dasa, Minister for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Rabbi Bruce Lustig, Chief Rabbi of the Washington Hebrew Congregation conducted religious prayers and offered blessings for the victims and their families.
 
Reading stances of the Sacred Script of Thripitaka, Most Venerable Maharagama Dhammasiri Thero emphasized the essence of Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness and path to righteousness. Thero said all the teachings of the Buddha can be summed up in one word, Dhamma. It means truth, that which really is. It also means law, the law which exists in a man’s own heart and mind. It is the principle of righteousness. Therefore, the Buddha appeals to man to be noble, pure, and charitable not in order to please any Supreme Deity, but in order to be true to the highest in himself.  At a time of crisis in  our motherland, Ven Thero underscored the essence of being caring, kind, forgiving and compassionate towards others.
 
His Grace Anuttama Dasa, Communications Minister for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a global Vaishnava Hindu organization offered prayers from the Puranas and Vedas: May the entire universe be blessed with peace and good hope, and may everyone driven by envy and enmity become pacified.” He ended by chanting Om and the holy name of Lord Krishna, asking God’s blessings for all those who suffered from the terrible attacks in Sri Lanka. 
 
Ustadh  Seyed Rizwan Mowlana reflected on the Holy Quran and Prophetic tradition reiterating that violence and evil has no place in Islam. God created mankind out of a male and a female and made them into nations and tribes so that they may dwell in harmony. The true servants of God are those who walk gently upon this earth and repel evil with good, and when confronted by the ignorant, their reply is PEACE.” 
 
Representing the Jewish community, Rabbi Bruce Lustig remarked ” We turn in our Torah scrolls this week to Leviticus 19:18, which teaches us the primary commandment, to love thy neighbor as thyself.  Despite the situation, hated and bigotry, we will not stop loving our neighbor. We stand for the sanctity of the sanctuary that no one should be fearful to pray and praise their God.  May our response be to bring more of God’s love into the world, meet hatred with love, injustice with justice, and fear with faith.”
 
Christian prayers at Sunday’s service at Washington National Cathedral were offered by the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, the Very Reverend Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of Washington National Cathedral; and the Most Reverend Roy Edward Campbell, Jr., Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Prayers were read from the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer and the famed Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
 
Charge d’ Affaires of the Sri Lankan Embassy, Sarath Dissanayake delivering special remarks conveyed his appreciation to the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Dean and staff of the Washington National Cathedral for organizing an Interfaith Memorial Service and thanked  the religious leaders, guests and well wishers for being  part of the congregation in remembrance of the victims. Echoing the sentiments expressed by  those who spoke before him, Charge offered his prayers and blessings to the families of victims and conveyed his gratitude to the government and people of the United States and the likeminded for the outpouring of sympathy and support extended to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of attacks.  In closing, Mr. Dissanayake spoke of the similarities in the teachings of major faiths that advocate their followers to embrace one another and practice loving kindness towards fellow human beings so that the world will become a better and secure place for all.
 
The Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is an American cathedral and the centre of Episcopal Church in Washington and the nation. It should be noted that major state funerals of former US Presidents and dignitaries have been held at the Washington National Cathedral, which is commonly called national house of prayer” and spiritual home for the nation” in recognition of being accepted by religious and political leaders as playing this role.
 
Embassy of Sri Lanka
Washington DC
07 May 2019

Courtesy Lloyd’s List Intelligence

RO-RO TRANSHIPMENT OPERATIONS AT THE PORT. IN 2018, HIPG DOUBLED THE NUMBER OF RO-RO VESSELS HANDLED DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR

HIP is the latest addition to Sri Lanka’s network of harbours, currently being developed in different parts of the island. The expansion is an initiative of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), to take advantage of the nation’s geographic positioning and the growing demand for more capacity in the region. Situated on the southern part of the island, HIP is amultipurposeport, 16 nautical miles from the main sea lane connecting east and west, ideally positioned to become the gateway to the sub-continent.

The port is operated by Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and Hambantota International Port Services (HIPS), two companies formed under the Public Private Partnership entered into between SLPA and global port operator CMPort. One year after HIP came under its new management, the port doubled its ro-robusiness, with a 136% increase in the volume of ro-ro vessels handled.  The port has since diversified its services to include other port-related activities such as container handling, general cargo, passenger, bunkering, bulk terminal, gas and project cargo. HIPG has signed TSA’s with several leading shipping lines and is well on the way to becoming one of a kind in Sri Lanka.

The geographic positioning of HIP provides advantages not just for the shipping industry but for import/export business in general as the port can offer comparatively shorter timelines coupled with experienced handling to ship or transship finished goods to almost any destination in the region.  Competitive labour costs, door to door delivery, attractive concessions and freeport facilities, ample space for storage, coupled with dry weather throughout the year, are among the benefits that give HIP its competitive edge as a maritime and logistics hub. 

Logistical activities involving ro-ro operations and other port related services, targeting the African and South American vehicle markets, are also being further diversified, which will provide a platform for logistics service providers that will have access to the vast number of vessels passing by the port daily.

Part of the management’s strategy for gaining lead position in South Asia was to set the stage for HIP to become an energy hub. The company has already embarked on this ambitious plan by entering into an agreement with one of the world’s largest bunker providers, Sinopec Fuel Oils Company, to supply bunkering facilities to ships calling at the port, as well as vessels moving on the main sea lanes adjacent to the port. HIPG is positioning the Hambantota Port as a source of IMO-compliant fuel for the region.  Located between Singapore and Fujairah – the world’s number one and two bunker suppliers to the world respectively – Sri Lanka is well placed to take full advantage of the potential bunkering business has to offer. 

RO-RO TRANSHIPMENT OPERATIONS AT THE PORT. IN 2018, HIPG DOUBLED THE NUMBER OF RO-RO VESSELS HANDLED DURING THE PREVIOUS YEAR

Ray Ren, CEO of HIPG, says the port will begin its bunkering operations in 4Q19. I am pleased to announce that HIP will be the first port in the region to supply IMO-compliant low sulphur fuel, which we will start doing by the end of this year. With the cap on low sulphur fuel in compliance with the IMO 2020 rule, the demand for it is bound to increase next year and we are very well prepared to take advantage of that. We will also cooperate with trade dealers to maximise economies of scale so that we can offer the best possible price advantage to our customers.”  

The CEO says HIPG will be taking steps to expand the port’s tank capacity, to be ready for the imminent changes in marine fuel markets.

Another HIPG future strategy is to bring in refineries with capability of building their own facilities, which will create opportunity for local marine fuel production. Apart from minimising its own investment considerably, this strategy will allow the port to offer high grade fuel at considerably lower rates.

HIPG is also focused on further developing facilities for LPG handling, for which it intends partnering with local companies. Whilst this would vastly benefit LPG users in Sr Lanka, it would enable the port to become a distributor of LPG to the region. HIPG’s agreement to provide port facilities to Laugfs, a major player in Sri Lanka’s energy industry, is a step in this direction. The port has dedicated two jetties for oil, gas and petroleum business to facilitate energy companies like Laugfs which plans on bringing LPG in larger vessels from international markets.

LNG bunkering facilities are another focus area for HIPG; the company is in the process of negotiating with possible partners to provide this service.

HIPG has already taken on the task of building infrastructure for an industrial zone within the port to develop related industries in the form of greenfield investment. Amongst the facilities HIP would offer are bonded warehousing for related businesses, ship repairs/urgent ship services inside the port by providing sheltered piers etc.  In addition to transshipment facilities, HIP will also provide services such as ship to ship transfer and layups.

A detailed business plan is in place for the development of the 3.5 square kilometres allotted to HIP for port related industries and HIPG is looking at core industries such as the manufacture of building materials, consumables, automobiles, home appliances and fertilizer.

The port’s Bulk Terminal Operating System is another first for Sri Lanka and should vastly improve levels of service delivery and efficiency. HIP’s capacity to handle considerable throughput volumes is a plus for industries setting up operations within the port premises, especially since it is slated to become the centre for the distribution of oil, gas and other commodities to South Asian/Middle Eastern, South East Asian and European markets. All these services are being introduced in planned phases and the port has already commissioned Atkins Limited UK, a firm specialised in designing globally renowned ports, to fast track the port’s master plan. 

Courtesy The United States Department of Justice

A Hudson County, New Jersey, woman was convicted today on charges of forced labor, alien harboring for financial gain, and marriage fraud, announced Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito for the District of New Jersey.

Alia Imad Faleh Al Hunaity, aka Alia Al Qaternah,” 43, was found guilty on all counts of the indictment against her following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler in Camden federal court. The jury deliberated for two hours before returning the guilty verdict. 

The defendant took advantage of the victim for years, forcing her to live in terrible conditions, work without pay, and then enter into a fraudulent marriage to continue the cycle of abuse,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband. The Department of Justice will continue to investigate and vigorously prosecute forced labor cases so that victims can obtain justice.”

The defendant in this case treated the victim as a slave,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said. Al-Hunaity kept the victim in this country illegally and hid her away, in order to force her to perform household work for Al-Hunaity without pay, privacy, or the ability to move about freely. Through the guilty verdicts in this case and other prosecutions like it, this office continues to work to ensure that the evil of human trafficking is brought out from hiding and into the light so that it may be punished appropriately.”

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial, Hunaity brought the victim, a Sri Lankan national, to the United States on a temporary visa in 2009 to perform domestic work. Hunaity caused the victim to overstay her visa and remain in the United States illegally for over nine years. Hunaity forced the victim to cook and clean her homes in Woodland Park and Secaucus, New Jersey, and to care for her three children, all without pay. She further limited the victim’s interactions with the world outside of Hunaity’s homes. During this time, Hunaity required the victim to sleep on a bed in a public space in Hunaity’s homes, including in the kitchen. In 2018, Hunaity forced the victim to marry her so that the victim could obtain legal residence and Hunaity could continue to force her to work without fear of the victim being deported.      

The forced labor charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 4. 

U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Newark Division, under the direction of Brian Michael, led the investigation.   

This case was prosecuted in conjunction with the interagency Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor. ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Macurdy and Alyson M. Oswald of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Criminal Division, and Trial Attorney Kate Hill of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. 

lanka C news

අද මෙරට තුළ කිසිදු සහජීවනයක් නැති බවත් සහජීවනය යනු පට්ටපල් බොරුවක් බවත් එක්සත් ජනතා සන්ධානයේ මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කෙහෙළිය රඹුක්වැල්ල මහතා පවසයි.

අද ආගම් මුල්කරගෙන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ බිහිවන බවත් පාසල් බිහි කරන බවත් මේ ගැන වහා සොයා බැලිය යුතු බවත් මන්ත්‍රීවරයා සඳහන් කළේය.

අලි පැටව් තියාගත්තා කියා පන්සල්වලට නඩු දැමුවත් කඩු තොග ගණන් හසුවූ පල්ලිවලට කිසිදු දඬුවමක් ලබාදී නැති බව ද මන්ත්‍රීවරයා සඳහන් කළේය.

අද මෙරට ප්‍රබල නායකත්වයක් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වී ඇතැයි ද මන්ත්‍රීවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී කියා සිටියේය.

lanka C news

අද වන විට සියළු මුස්ලිම් සංවිධානද එක එකා පාවා දෙමින් සිටින බව කොටුවේ පොඩි හාමුදුරුවෝ පවසති.

අල්ලා හිටියනම් මුන්ගෙ බෙල්ල කපනවා යයිද උන් වහන්සේ අන්තර්ජාල වීඩියෝවක් නිකුත් කරමින් සදහන් කර ඇත.

එම වීඩියෝව මෙරට යූ ටියුබ් භාවිත කරන්නන් අතරේ මුල් තැනට පත්ව තිබේ.

lanka C news

සෑම මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයෙකුගෙන් නිවසකම කඩුවක් තිබෙන බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කවුන්සිලය නායක එන්.එම්. අමීන් මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

සමස්ථ ලංකා ජමියතුල් උලමා සංවිධානය විසින් කොළඹදී කැදවි තිබූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී ඔහු කියා සිටියේ එම කඩු ආදිය තබාගෙන සිටින්නේ ආත්මාරක්ෂාවට බවයි.

විශේෂයෙන්ම නිවෙස් වල සිටින ගැහැනු දරුවන් ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට මෙම කඩු තබාගෙන සිටින බවද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

කඩුවක් නිවසේ තිබූ පරිදි පමණින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම සාධාරණ නැතැයි කී ඔහු ජනාධිපතිතුමන් ද මේ බව දන්වා ඇතැයි සඳහන් කළේය.

සමස්ත ලංකා දඹුල්ල උලමා සංවිධානයේ විසින් මෙම මාධ්‍ය හමුව සංවිධානය කර තිබූ අතර එහිදී ඔවුන් පමණක් අදහස් දැක් වූ අතර මාධ්‍යවේදීන් කිසිවකුට ඔවුන්ගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න ඇසීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා නොදුන්හ.

ඔහුගේ ප‍්‍රකාශය අනුව පෙනී යන්නේ මෙරට තුල ජීවත් වන ලක්‍ෂ 20ක් පමණ වන මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවගේව නිවාස වල ආත්මාරක්‍ෂාව සදහා කඩු වැනි ආයුද තබාගෙන සිටින බවයි.

ආරක්‍ෂක අංශ විසින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇති ප‍්‍රහාණය ඒ හා සැසදීමේදී ඉතා සුළු ප‍්‍රමාණයකි.

පාස්කු ඉරිදා ත්‍රස්තවාදි ප්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳ පාර්ලිමේන්තු විවාදය අමතමින් පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා මෙසේ අදහස් පල කලේය.

මේ දින වල රෑට රූපවාහිනියේ ප්‍රවෘත්ති බලන විට උදේට පත්තර බලන විට  අපට හිතෙන්නේ අපි ජීවත්වෙන්නේ පාවෙන අවි ගබඩාවකද කියලයි.  මුළු රටම එකම අවි ගබඩාවක් බව තමයි ප්‍රවෘත්ති වලින් අපි දකින්නේ. හැමදාම ජෙලිග්නයිට් කූරු ඩෙටනේටර් පුපුරණ ද්‍රව්‍ය අත් බෝම්බ කඩු සිය ගණන් හමු වෙනවා. ඒ වගේම සන්නිවේදන උපකරණ හමුවෙනවා.

මුස්ලිම් කටයුතු ඇමතිතුමා නම් කියන්නේ පල්ලිය වටේ කැලේ කපන්නයි පල්ලිය ඇතුලේ කඩු තියා ගත්තේ කියලා.  කඩු විශාල තොගයක් හමු වුණු කොම්පඤ්ඤ වීදියේ පල්ලිය වටේ තණකොල ගහක්වත් නෑ.  ඒ කඩු වලින් කපන්නේ කෙස් ගස් ද බෙලි ද කියන ප්‍රශ්නය අපට අහන්න වෙනවා.  එතකොට ඩෙටනේටර් තිබුණේ පල්ලියට ලැබුණු පරණ අග්ගලා පුපුරුවන්න ද කියන ප්‍රශ්නය අපට අහන්න වෙනවා.  ත්‍රස්තවාදින් රකින්න මේ වගේ මෝඩ ර්තක ඉදිරිපත් කරලා ඇවිලෙන ගින්නට පිදුරු දාන්න එපා කියලා අපි මුස්ලිම් කටයුතු ඇමතිතුමාට අනතුරු අඟවනවා.

අවි විතරක් නොවේ හමුදා නිල ඇඳුම්, ප්‍රභූ ආරක්ෂක ඇඳුම් වගේම සිවුරු පවා මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයින් ලඟ තිබී තොග පිටින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තා.  ඒ අතරේ සිංහල නම් ගත් මුස්ලිම් විශාල පිරිසක් සොයා ගන්නවා.  මොකාට ද මේ කුරුමානම ඇල්ලුවේ?

අයිඑස්අයිඑස් කියන ඇමෙරිකානු බලල් අත යොදා ගෙන පාස්කු ඉරිදා සිදු වුණේ ඇමෙරිකානු කුමන්ත්‍රණයක්.  එකම දිනයක රට පුරා බෝම්බ නවයක් පත්තු වුණාම ජනතාව හැගීම් බර වෙනවා. 1983 ජූලි කලබල වගේ ඉහල මට්ටමේ සිංහල – මුස්ලිම් කෝලහාලයක් ඇති වේවි කියලා ඒ අය බලාපොරොත්තු වුණා.  ජනතාව ආවේගය පිටකර ගන්න ඒ කරණ කෝලාහලය ඇමෙරිකාවට අවශ්‍ය මට්ටමට නොවෙවී කියලා මේ අය සූදානම් කර ගත්තා මුස්ලිම් පිරිසක් සිංහල නම් ගත්ත. ඒ ගොල්ල හමුදා ඇඳුම් ඇඳ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවටම පහර දෙනවා මේ එකතු කරගත්ත අවි වලින්. ඒ වගේම ඒ මුස්ලිම් පිරිසට සිවුරු දරාගෙන ඇවිදින් ආශිර්වාද කරන්න තවත් පිරිසක්. එතකොට මොකක්ද ලෝකෙට යන පණිවිඩය. මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට පහර දෙන්නේ රටේ ආරක්ෂක හමුදාව. ඒ පහර දීමට ආශිර්වාද කරන්නේ ශික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලා. ඒකයි ලෝකෙට යන පණිවිඩය.

එවිට මුස්ලිම් ලෝකයෙන්ම  හඩක් එනවා ලංකාවේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව දැන් අනාරක්ෂිතයි.  ඒ අයට පහර දෙන්නේ රටේ හමුදාව.  ආශිර්වාද කරන්නේ භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලා.  ඒ අය රකින්න සාම හමුදාවක් ලංකාවට යවන්න කියලා මුස්ලිම් ලෝකයෙන්ම ඉල්ලීම් එනවා.  මුස්ලිම් හමුදා එපෝ කියලා අපි හඬ නගනවා.  එතකොට ඔන්න බටහිර බලවේගයන්ට මග පෑදෙනවා නෑ නෑ මුස්ලිම් හමුදා නෙවෙයි අපියි එන්නේ කියලා  බටහිර සාම සාධක හමුදාවක් මේ රටට ගොඩ බස්සන්න.

මොකටද මේ ලංකාවට බටහිර සාම සාධක හමුදා ගොඩ බස්සන්නේ?

ඇමෙරිකාවේ ප්‍රධානතම බුද්ධි මණ්ඩලයක් නැතිනම් තින්ක් ටෑන්ක් එකක් වන හෙරිටේජ් ෆවුන්ඩේෂන් 2019 මාරතු 14 ර්පයේෂණ පත්‍රිකාවක් නිකුත් කරලා ඇමෙරිකානු ආණ්ඩුවට උපදෙසක් දෙනවා.  රාජපක්ෂවරු හරිම ජනප්‍රියයි.  ඊ ළඟ ඡන්දයෙන් යළි ඒ අය බලයට ඒවි.  ඊට කලින් අපි ලබා ගත්තු ජයග්‍රහණ තහවුරු කර ගන්න කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි කියලා.  මොනවාද තහවුරු කර ගන්න හදන ජයග්‍රහණ?

• මග හිර වෙලා තිබෙන පෙඩරල් ව්‍යවස්ථාව
• අගමැතිතුමන්ගේ වචනයෙන් කියනවා නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ඇතුලේ පොල් ගාමින් තිබෙන ප්‍රතිත්‍රස්ත පනත
• බාගෙට නතර වී තිබෙන රණවිරු දඩයම

ජනාධිපතිවරණයට තව දින 150යි.  ඡන්ද කටේ මේවා කරන්න බෑ.  ඡන්දය එහෙනම් කල් දාන්න ඕනෑ. උතුරයි දකුණයි දෙකම එකට ගිණිගත්ත, රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස ජනාධිපතිතුමන් කියපු විදිහට නම් දෙකොන ගිණි ගත්ත විලක්කුවක් වෙලා තිබියදීත් 1988 ජනාධිපතිවරණය පැවැත්වුනා. මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම බලහත්කාරයෙන් නතර කර ගත හැක්කේ විදේශිය හමුදාවක් මේ රටේ හිටියොත් විතරයි. ඒ වගේම ඇමෙරිකාව යෝජනා කරන ලබාගත් ජයග්‍රහණ තහවුරු කිරීමේ වැඩ පිළිවෙලත් කරන්න පුලුවන් වෙන්නේ.

කාදිනල්තුමා ස්ථානෝචිත ප්‍රඥාවෙන් මේක මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාවේ වැඩක් නොවේ ජාත්‍යන්තර කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් කියලා හඳුනා ගත්තා. එතුමන්ට ඒ සදහා අවශ්‍ය පරිනත භාවය තිබුණා. කවුද මේ මැල්කම් රංජිත් කාදිනල්තුමා?  බිලියන 1.3ක් වන කතෝලික ප්‍රජාවට නායකත්වය දෙන කාදිනල්වරු ලෝකයටම ඉන්නේ 120යි.  එයින් කෙනෙකු තමයි මැල්කම් රංජිත් කාදිනල්තුමා.  ඒ වගේම වසර පන්සීයක ලංකාවේ කතෝලික පල්ලි ඉතිහාසයේ බිහි වුණු දෙවන කාදිනල්වරයා.  එතුමාට තිබුණු ජාත්‍යන්තර දේශපාලනය පිළිබඳ අවබෝධය නිසා මේ ප්‍රහාරය පිටුපස සිටින්නේ ජාත්‍යන්තර බලවේගයක් බව උණු උණුවේම රටට කිව්වා.

කාදිනල්තුමාගේ ස්ථානෝචිත ප්‍රඥාවට සන්සුන් වුණු කතෝලිකයින්, ගමේ පන්සලේ දේව මෙහෙය පැවැත්වීමට ඉඩ ලබා දුන් බෞද්ධයින් ඒ වගේම තම ජාතියේ  වුවත් ත්‍රස්තවාදින් අල්ලලා දුන් මුස්ලිම්වරුන් එකට එකතු වී පරාජය කලේ අයිඑස්අයිඑස් ත්‍රස්තවාදය නොව ඇමෙරිකානු ජාත්‍යන්තර කුමන්ත්‍රණයයි.

ඇමෙරිකානු කුමන්ත්‍රණයේ දෙවන වටය මෙන්න

අපි ඇමෙරිකානු කුමන්ත්‍රණය පළමු වටයෙන් පරාජය කරන විට දැන් ඔන්න දෙවන වටය විධියට අධිකරණයට අත පොවන්න පටන් අරන්. තමන් වසර පහක් පුරා රූකඩ නටවලා රට පාලනය කරපු ගැත්තන් පැරදිලා ගෙදර යන නිසා අධිකරණය හරහා රට පාලනය කිරීමයි ඇමෙරිකාවේ ඊ ළඟ අරමුණ.

ඇමෙරිකානු තානාපති කාරයාලය අධිකරණයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ විනිසුරුවරුන්ට ඇමෙරිකාවේ වැඩමුළුවක් ලැහැස්ති කළා.  මේක තිබුණේ 2019 අප්‍රේල් 8 සිට 12 දක්වා.  මාතෘකාව Money Laundering and Recovery of Stolen Assets.  වැඩමුළුව පවත්වන්නේ ඇමෙරිකාවේ අධිකරණ දෙපාරතමේන්තුවයි එෆ්බිඅයි එකයි.

මුදල් විශුද්ධිකරණය පිළිබඳ අපේ විනිසුරුතුමන්ලා දැන ගැනීමේ වරද මොකද්ද?  ඉතින් මේ වැඩමුළුවට සහභාගි වෙන්න ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨතම විනිසුරුවරුන් නම දෙනෙක් ලංකාවෙන්  අමෙරිකාවට යනවා.

1. ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු බුවනෙක අළුවිහාරේ මැතිතුමා
2. ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු ප්‍රියන්ත ජයර්වධන මැතිතුමා
3. ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු විජිත් මලල්ගොඩ මැතිතුමා
4. අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරු ඒ එච් එම් ඩී නවාස් මැතිතුමා
5. අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරු ජනක් ද සිල්වා මැතිතුමා
6. අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරු බන්දුල කරුණාරත්න මැතිතුමා
7. මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරු සම්පත් විජේරත්න මැතිතුමා
8. මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරු සම්පත් අබේකෝන් මැතිතුමා
9. මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරු චම්පා ජානකි රාජරත්න මැතිණිය

මෙතුමන්ලා තමයි මේ සදහා සහභාගී වෙන්නේ. ඉතාම සූක්ෂම විධියට කණිෂ්ඨත්වය නොසලකා ත්‍රිපුද්ගල විශේෂ මහාධිකරණයේ විනිසුරු තිදෙනාම මේ සංචාරයට එකතු කර ගන්නවා.

මේ වැඩමුළුවේ සම්බන්ධිකරණ නිලධාරි විධියට ගියේ ලංකාවේ  ඇමෙරිකානු තානාපති කාරයාලයේ ප්‍රධාන දේශපාලන නිලධාරි පැට්‍රික් ටිලොවු (Patrick Tillou). මේ  පැට්‍රික් රාත්‍රි භෝජන සංග්‍රහයක දී ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානි ගාමිණි සෙනරත් මහතාගේ නඩුවේ ප්‍රගතිය විමසනවා.  එය අතිශයින්ම දුර්වල නඩුවක් බව විනිසුරුවරු පවසන විට පැට්‍රික් කියන්නේ කුමක්ද? රජයේ අනෙකුත් නිලධාරින්ට ආර්දශයක් විය හැකි තීන්දුවක් ඔබ ලබා දෙනු ඇතැයි අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.  කවුද මේ අපි? අපි කියන්නේ ඇමෙරිකානු ආණ්ඩුව.

දැන් පැට්‍රික් හැසිරෙන්නේ ලංකාවේ අගවිනිසුරු වගේ.  ඊ ළඟට අහනවා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ නඩුව මෙච්චර ඇදෙන්නේ ඇයි?  අපේ නියෝග වලට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට අභියාචනා කරන නිසා නඩුව ඇදෙන බව විනිසුරුවරු පිලිතුරු දෙනවා.  ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ  මහතාට එරෙහි නඩුව  ඉක්මනින් අවසන් කරන්න අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙසත් පැට්‍රික් අපේ විනිසුරුවරුන්ට උපදෙස් දෙනවා.

මෙතැන හිටිය දේශප්‍රේමි විනිසුරුවරුන්ට හරිම කේන්තියි.  එක් විනිසුරුවරයෙක් මේ සංවාදය සම්පූරණයෙන් තම දුරකතනයේ පටිගත කරනවා.  ඒ හඬ පටය මා ළඟ දැන් තිබෙනවා.  විනිසුරුවරුවරුන්ගේ  සංවේදී සංවාද එතැන තියෙන නිසා මම ඒ හඬ පටය සභාගතකරන්න බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ නෑ.  විනිසුරුවරු සාතිශය බහුතරයකට මේ පිළිබඳ ඇති වුණේ කලකිරීමක්.  එක පැත්තකින් මෙය අධිකරණයට බලපෑම් කර අපහාස කිරීමක්.  අනිත් පැත්තෙන් රාජකාරියට බාධා කිරීමක්.  මේ සියල්ලටම වඩා ලෝකෙට ලොක්කා කියල හිතා ගෙන ඉන්න ඇමෙරිකාව ලංකාවේ අභ්‍යන්තර කටයුතු වලට සෘජුව අත පෙවීමක්.

ඥාණසාර හාමුදුරුවන් එක් මහෙස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයකට අපහාස කළා කියලා වසර 19ක් හිරේ දැම්මා. එහෙම නම් මේ පැට්‍රික් ගොයියා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය, අභියාචනාධිකරණය සහ මහාධිකරණය යන ඉහළම අධිකරණ තුනටම අතිශයින් බරපතල අපහාසක් කරල තියෙනවා.  ඥාණසාර හිමියන්ට ලබාදුන් දඩුවම වසර 19යි නම් පැට්‍රික්ට ලබා දීමට ඉතිරි වෙලා තිබෙන දඩුවම එල්ලා මැරීම නෙමෙයි ද?  නමුත් අවාසනාවකට ඥාණසාර හිමිට නැති තානාපති මුක්තිය පැට්‍රික්ට තිබෙනවා.  නැති නම් මේ පිළිබඳ කම්පණයට කලකිරීමට පත් වී  සිටින  විනිසුරුවරු දැනටමත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කරලා හමාරයි.

විනිසුරුවරුනි, ඔබේ දේශප්‍රේමිත්වය පිළිබඳ අපි ආඩම්බරයි.  ඔබ අධිකරණයේ ස්වාධීන්තවය රැක ගැනීම ගැන අපි ආඩම්බරයි.  ඒ වගේම අපේ අධිකරණය වග කියන්නේ පරමාධිපත්‍ය හිමි ලාංකික ජනතාවට ද නැතිනම් විදේශ සංචාර ලබා දෙන ඇමෙරිකානු ආණ්ඩුවට ද කියන එක ගැන දැන් ජනතාව උත්තරයක් ලබාගැනීම සදහා අධිකරණය දෙස  දෑස් දල්වා බලා සිටිනවා කියන එකත් අපි ඉතාමත්ව ගෞරවයෙන් මෙරට අධිකරණයට සිහිපත් කරණවා.

අපි දැක්කා සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරයට මේ රටේ ඇති වෙච්ච ඉරණම ගැන කතා කරලා සංචාරක ෂේත්‍රයට ආණ්ඩුවෙන් සහන මල්ලක් ලබා දුන්නා. මේ බෝම්බ පිපිරීමෙන් අගතියට පත් වෙච්ච නමුත් කාගෙවත් අවධානයට ලක් නොවේච්ච පිරිසකුත් ඉන්නවා. ඒ අය තමයි තොරන් නිර්මාණකරුවන්. වෙසක් උත්සවයට තොරණ් හදන අය ලැහැස්ති වෙන්නේ මාස හයක ඉඳන්.  මේ අය ණය වෙලා උපකරණ විදුලි පරිපථ අරගෙන තොරණ් හදන්න පටන් ගන්නේ.  තොරණ් සංවිධායකයින් ආධාර එකතු කරලා මුදල් ගෙවන්නේ වෙසක් කාලයට.  දැන් වෙසක් එකට තොරණ් නෑ.  ඒ නිසා ණය ගෙවන්න මේ අයට ආදායමක් නෑ.  තොරණ් හදන අයට සංචාරක ර්කමාන්තයට ලබා දුන් ආකාරයට සහන මල්ලක් ලබා දෙන්න.  විශේෂයෙන්ම ණය ආපසු ගෙවීමට සහන කාලයක් ලබා දෙන්න කියලා අපි ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.  විශේෂයෙන්ම බුද්ධ ශාසන ඇමතිතුමා මේ කාරණයට මැදිහත් වේවි කියලා අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.

විවාදය පුරාවට කියැවුණු නම

මේ විවාදය පුරාවට ම කියැවුණු නමක් තියෙනවා. ඒ තමයි රිෂාඩ් බදුර්දීන් අමාත්‍යවරයා. මැයි මාසේ පස්වෙනිදා සිළුමිණ පුවත්පතට සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක් දෙන මේ රටේ යුද හමුදාපතිවරයා කියනවා රිෂාඩ් බදුර්දීන් ඇමතිවරයාගෙන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න අය නිදහස් කරන්න කියලා බලපෑම් එල්ල වෙනවා කියලා.

මේ බෝම්බ පුපුරවා ගන්නෙ එතුමන්ගේ පක්ෂයේ භාණ්ඩාගාරික ගෙ දුව සහ බෑණා. ඒ වගේම පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රබල අනුග්‍රාහකයෙක් වන ඊබ්‍රාහිම් ගේ දරුවන් දෙදෙනා. අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වෙනවා එතුමන්ගේ පක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රිවරුන්  සම්බන්ධීකරණ ලේකම්වරුන්. ඒ වගේම උපදේශකවරුන්.  තබ ටික යන්නේ එතුමන්ගේ අමාත්‍යාංශය හරහා ඊබ්‍රාහිම් ගේ පුතාගේ කම්හලට.  මේ සියල්ල ගත්තහම මේ සිදුවීම් දාමය පුරාම කියවෙන නමක් තමයි රිෂාඩ් බදුර්දීන් කියන නම. එතුමාට විරුද්ධව තවත් චෝදනා ගණනාවක් තියෙනවා.  තමන්ගේ මල්ලි අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වෙනවා.  හමුදාවෙන් ගිහිල්ලා පොලිසියට බාර දෙනවා. මන්නාරම පොලිසියට බලපෑම් ඇවිල්ලා මල්ලිව උසාවියටවත් ඉදිරිපත් නොකර නිදහස් වෙනවා. ත්‍රස්තවාදය සමග එතුමාගේ නම මෙතරම් කිය වෙද්දීත් අඩුම තරමින් එතුමාව පොලිසියේ ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමට වත් ලක්වෙන්නේ නැහැ.

අපේ රණවිරුවෝ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත යටතේ අත්අඩංගුවට අරගෙන මාස 14ක් තියාගත්තා. පොලීසිය තබ කර්මාන්තශාලාවේ සේවකයන්ව ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත යටතේ ඉදිරිපත් නොකළ නිසා නිදහස් වෙනවා. රිෂාඩ් බදුර්දීන් ඇමතිතුමනි මේ බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරයේ ලේ ඔබේ ඇඟේ සෑම තැනම.  ඔබේ අත්වල ලේ. ඒ ලේ සෝදා ගැනීම සඳහා ඔබ කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි යන්න අපි රිෂාඩ් බදුර්දීන් අමාත්‍යවරයාට සිහිපත් කරනවා. ඒ වගේම මේ ත්‍රස්තවාදයේ වගකීමෙන් ආණ්ඩුට ලේසියෙන් පැනල යන්න හදන්න එපා කියලා අපි කියනවා. එමෙන්ම එහි වගකීම ගැනීමෙන් පමණක් නතර වෙන්නෙ නැතුව  රට යළි සුරක්ෂිත කිරීමට විපක්ෂයෙන් ලැබෙන සහයෝගය විවේචන කිරීම වෙනුවට එම සහයෝගයෙන් ප්‍රයෝජනයක් ගත යුතුයැයි අපි ආණ්ඩුවට සිහිපත් කරනවා.

– අරවින්ද අතුකෝරල

Courtesy The Island

State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene told Parliament, yesterday, that the government would hold an investigation to find out how son of Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hisbullah had secured shares amounting to 500 million rupees in the proposed Sharia University in Batticaloa. The University is a gift from Saudi Arabia.

President Maithripala Sirisena in January this year appointed Hisbullah Eastern Province Governor. At the time of his latest political appointment, Hisbullah was a National List MP of the UPFA.

The State Minister said so in response to a question raised by Ratnapura District UNP MP Hesha Withanage who pointed out that obtaining shares from a fund received as a grant was dubious.

MP Withanage: The people are talking about the Sharia University under construction in Batticaloa. Eastern Province Governor Hisbullah’s son has obtained shares worth Rs 500 million from the university.

He is one of the closest friends of presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. How could a son of a Governor obtain shares from a project implemented by the government. On the other, how did he get shares from a project being implemented with foreign funds given as a grant. Public opinion today is against this university. What action will the government take against this project?

Minister Wijewardene: To the best of my knowledge there is an investigation underway in regard to this university. The Prime Minister and the Speaker too have made inquiries about this project. Currently, the Sharia University has been handed over to the Ministry of Higher Education. I, too, think that an investigation should be held to ascertain the veracity of various statements being made about this university.

UPFA MP Bandula Gunawardena: Higher Education Minister Rauff Hakeem is in the chamber right now. We think he owes this House some explanation with regard to this project.

Higher Education Minister Hakeem: The Ministry of Higher Education would give the degree awarding status to any higher education institute only after a lengthy process of checking that institute’s ability to offer courses of study leading to degrees. We have not yet made any decision with regard to this institute. This morning, too, I had a discussion with the Speaker in this regard. This should be done only after a thorough study. Doubts are being expressed about this university. We will have to allay them first if we are to think of the setting up of this university. That should be done in accordance with the proper procedures. I could give the House a detailed explanation on this issue on a later date.

Badulla District UNP MP Chaminda Wijesiri: There is no problem with regard to the degree courses to be offered by this university. This university is to be set up on a grant received by this country. There has been a fraud in giving 500 million rupees worth shares to the son of the Eastern Province Governor. That is the matter we have raised here. We want to know how he received those shares.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya: The State Minister of Defence already said that there will be an investigation by the government. Isn’t it Minister?

Minister Wijeawardene: Yes, it is. There is an investigation in progress.

By Abdul Samad Saleem Courtesy Ceylon Today

The 8 January 2015 will go down as a date that Sri Lanka changed forever. A country with abundance of resources, a multi-billion dollar geographical location, and unmatched human excellence was destined to become a graveyard.

Sri Lankans voted in this government expecting CHANGE. A change that was perceived to be better promising the Sun and the Moon to the citizens of this country. Sadly, it was a fabricated move by the so-called joint opposition and certain media heavyweights of this country to destabilise and destroy a thriving country under a strong, capable and efficient leadership.

None of the said things in the manifesto did make any sense then nor do they make any sense now. What has made sense is that
Sri Lankans were misled, used and ultimately killed to fulfil the financial and power thirst of some greedy, mudslinging, classless politicians directed and driven by their imperialist masters.

The struggle and the result

A complex and decisive election for the UNP at the time meant that the party had to field in someone who would appeal to the masses and was worthy in the eyes of the people to be at the helm. Ranil Wickremesinghe, was never going to be that personality or ‘Man’. With his imperialist upbringing, background and education he would never be able to adopt himself to be the heartbeat of the masses. Hence, Maithripala Sirisena was chosen as the marketing tool to win the votes, a successful strategy.

From its inception it has perceived to be a herculean task to make this government function. Polarised personalities, views, policies meant inefficiencies, delays, tireless bureaucracy handicapped public administration and national security. It started off with a collapsing economy. GDP growth which was at 6-7% dropped 3%, bringing down the momentum coupled with increased interest rates resulted in a liquidity crunch not experienced in recent history. An IMF drilled Fiscal Policy agenda drove taxes higher burdening businesses, halting expansion and growth. Resulting in a falling disgraceful equity market and no job creation making lives miserable for the youth of this country. Amidst this fall from grace, the Rupee devalued by about 25% resulting in spiralling inflation and unbearably high cost of living.

However, Sri Lankans being nice and kind people by birth have tolerated this menace. 21-04-2019 saw the darkest chapter in Sri Lanka’s history when more than 250 people were killed and more than 500 shown the way to hospitals. Why? An incapable, inefficient and disastrous government did not act decisively on intelligence and compromised national security to the detriment of its citizens.

High literacy

Sri Lanka has a proud rate of high literacy. Do Sri Lankans need a government that cannot protect them and make them live secure and comfortable lives? It’s beyond comprehension how the people of this country can be so tolerant.

Administrative Achievements  

In this paragraph I would briefly list down some of the key administrative achievements of this government during this time.

Multiple changes in Ministries and Ministers, so much so that it felt like musical chairs at times. What promised to be a scientific approach to appointments turned out to be a National joke, resulting in poor policy making and administration collapsing the system and the end result.

Trying to push through a reconciliation process and implement a federal system that by no means is convincing or appealing to the masses of this country. Constitutional changes and the so-called reconciliation agenda was made to look like more important than the economy and the general well-being of the people. Once again, a well-choreographed event by the Media and the administration.  Making false announcements have been another trait of this administration. The Volkswagen factory investment announcement and most recently the Oil refinery announcement have all proved to be marred by controversy or proven to be completely untrue or false.

Over obsession to remain in power. Throughout the tenure of this government it has been a highlight the focus it has given on consolidating power. It’s rather unfortunate to say if it had concentrated on delivering results, remaining in power would have been an automatic consequence.
Mudslinging – baselessly accusing prominent figures of the previous administration and in the process spending unaccountable millions and billions on legal infrastructure. As of now, there has not been a single verdict or desirable result which would have proved worthy of the cause. 

Api horu allannawa was the tagline during the presidential elections.  Compromise of National security is probably the gravest and most unforgiving of crimes this administration has bestowed upon Sri Lankans. It’s my country, my love, and my peace that’s been taken away by a bunch of incapable public administrators. Peace that was achieved after three decades of war, unparalleled loss of life and mega sacrifices of the tri-forces. We have been set back by a decade economically and socially. Sri Lanka’s flourishing international image is back to doldrums.

A promise for a better tomorrow

January 2020, will bring another opportunity for us to rise from the ashes. A sense of new hope to elect someone truly capable to guide this country to its rightful place on the international stage, both economically and socially. Leaving aside my political bias I would try to list out a few reasons why former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse should be elected to the helm of Sri Lanka’s public administration.

Personality and Strong leadership. During his stint as the Secretary of Defence, he proved his leadership with seamless integration of policy making and administrative excellence. Unprecedented infrastructure development and a robust well-comprehended national security policy ensured a stable prosperous Sri Lanka. An uncompromising personality and strong leadership with a vision were the cornerstones of this success.
No-nonsense attitude and approach to decision making. This is probably the most important trait the next leader of Sri Lanka needs to have. It is precisely this approach that produced dynamic leadership and a result-oriented work structure.

Unconventional politician. It’s probably time that Sri Lankans take a stance against all conventional politicians and their petty politics. Their contribution to the country and society has been an absolute curse to say the least. America is reaping the rewards of electing an unconventional president. Its economy is growing at a faster rate than ever. Millions of jobs are being created, companies are starting to come back with billions to invest in manufacturing and knowledge-based infrastructure. France elected a rookie at the helm and is the second most stable economy after Germany in Europe. Decades old and much-needed labour reforms are coming to facilitate companies to operate and flourish in a competitive environment.

Close and healthy relationship with China. The Rajapaksa regime had a close knit and healthy relationship with China. Much was said about Chinese debt which only constitutes less than 10% of Sri Lanka’s total debt. Balance comprises of debt that came from imperialist institutes such as the IMF, World Bank and ADB. They are collectively responsible for holding the country to ransom and influencing fiscal and monetary policy, making life miserable for the citizens.

The 80/20 policy. The major challenge for a leader is to ensure the majority of the people under him are happy and convinced. This was much the case with the previous regime where some decisions taken in the best interest of the country were less appealing to some minorities. What we as intellectuals have to realise is a leader’s job is not to make or keep everyone happy, if one needs to achieve that, he or she can sell ice-cream by the roadside. What needs to be achieved is a framework where a majority of the people remain confident and satisfied.

The drawbacks

Like all leaders Gotabaya Rajapaksa also has certain flaws in his short political stint. In its post-independent history,  Sri Lanka has produced only two capable and result-oriented leaders – the late president Ranasinghe Premadasa and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. What distinguishes both these great leaders from Gotabaya Rajapaksa is their pro poor policies and their closeness to the masses.  If Gotabaya aspires to be a successful and long term leader of Sri Lanka, changes need to come in policy-making and personality to  appeal to the masses. If people vote for him, especially the masses, it will not be for him but for Mahinda Rajapaksa who is pretty much still the people’s president. Gota needs to build and operate on his own image for a successful career in public administration.

Secularism prevails in his approach to politics. As a person and writer who has closely followed him, I can be rest assured Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is not at all a racist in any form. However, certain elements close to him give such an impression to the minorities. A carefully articulated practical policy with the right people in-charge of implementation will ensure secularism could be used as a positive vibe as opposed to being viewed as negative for a certain section of society. Of course the perception among Muslims is changing but needs to change faster.

A decision for the future

We, as Sri Lankans in January 2020, need to decide on our priorities. Do we need a democracy where there is no value for human life? A Democracy that does bring prosperity or security?A democracy that divides citizens with race and religion. A democracy that breeds corruption and inefficiencies in public administration.The irony is this is exactly what we have today – a regressive economy, a Media that’s corrupt and politically/financially motivated. The interest of the country is the last priority. Is this what is expected from this government?

We, as Sri Lankans are equally responsible for what’s happening now and what will happen in the future. It’s our collective responsibility to elect someone who is capable and will deliver on his promises. Gotabaya Rajapaksa seems to be the only public figure who can guide this country to its rightful place on the international stage.

Readers might argue this might not be the best possible time to write an article of this nature. But then what is a good a time? As a person representing a minority of this country, I assume it’s my responsibility to bring the best of my knowledge and experience to my people.

By Sumanasiri Liyanage Courtesy Ceylon Today

‘Fanatics have their dreams wherewith they weave a paradise for a sect.’– John Keats

Some commentators analysed the governmental change on 8 January 2015 as a revolution although no clear explanation was given as to why they deployed the term that refers to somewhat total transformation. My Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines ‘revolution’ as, a time of great, usually sudden, social and political change especially the changing of a ruler or political system by force.” Of course, some of these characteristics may be attributed to the event that happened on 8 January 2015. It changed the ruler or the ruling clique. In a way it was sudden, one day event. However, it is problematic to paint it as a revolution unless those who commented on that might have had great expectation that it would eventually lead to social and political transformation. After nearly four years, it is an adequate time to assess the performance of the post 2015 Government. In other words, it is high time to revalidate the assessment then made by the change agents about the new Government.

Though it is an interesting area to research upon, the task of this piece is narrower and more focused. It poses a simple and single question: Has the January 2015 change had an impact on the Easter Sunday attack? The Easter Sunday attack came as a bolt from the blue. Does it mean that it was a stochastic happening? And a related question: Is there a chance of repeating it again? Some labour spending on finding even tentative answers to those questions may be productive.

National vs International

A TNA Member of Parliament, M. A. Sumanthiran, is reported to have said that Easter Sunday attack may be attributed to absolute disregard of the majority community with the demands and aspirations of minorities. A similar view was held by some members of Colombo civil society giving the impression that had the new constitutional ‘draft’ been enacted there would have been no attack like the one Sri Lanka experienced on Easter Sunday. Is it possible to find a causal linkage between the Easter Sunday attack and the way in which the majority community treats minority communities in the country? We can pose the same question differently and more precisely. Is there a causal relationship between the riots in Beruwala, Dharga Town and in Digana, Teldeniya and the Easter Sunday suicide attacks? Having answered this question in the negative, I do not share the view that there has been no ethnic tension between two communities. 

Contrarily, I claim that these tensions had blown out in many instances in the form of attacks on Muslims and their property by Sinhala extremist thugs. The thesis I submit here is that the Easter Sunday attacks cannot be attributed to local events and should be explained by referring to global developments.    

The suicide bombers belonging to Nation of Thowheed Jama’at, the breakaway group from National Thowheed Jama’at (NTJ) were quite different from the suicide bombers used by the LTTE in its terror attacks. Many LTTE suicide bombers were women who had gone through continuous physical and psychological sufferings due to variety of reasons. Moreover, many of them belonged to a poor and rural social background. On the contrary, the twelve men who blew themselves up on Easter Sunday were not illiterate poor peasants but well educated, highly skilled and economically well-off people. If someone is looking for similarities their background was quite similar to people who were involved in 9/11 attacks in the United States of America. This class and educational background of the Nation of Thowheed Jama’at indicates that this and other Muslim fundamentalist groups do not react and respond to the grievances of the local Muslim population but link themselves with global projects of Muslims. 

Three days after the attack Jihadist militant organisation, Islamic State (IS formerly ISIL and ISIS) had claimed the responsibility of the attack. The IS, is aiming at establishing a worldwide ‘Caliphate’ or a single Islamic government headed by its leader, Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi. So, in order to understand the barbarous attack on Easter Sunday, it is necessary to link it with Islamic radicalisation as a global phenomenon.

Islamic Radicalisation

Islamic radicalisation has three sources. First source is the ideological transformation within Islam. Like all religions, Islam has also been subjected to different readings. Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab (1703-92) came forward to defend ultra-orthodox interpretation of Muslim law. He called for a return to the pure-beliefs of olden times. This fundamentalist version of Islam has become the dominant interpretation today in Saudi Arabia. Nonetheless, just different ideological reading in itself is not a sufficient condition for building of a material force. Some other factors are needed. The second source of radicalisation was the attack of the Muslim countries by the USA and its allies. At the beginning, the USA directly and through Saudi Arabia supported Islamic radical groups against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. However, the United States’ action backfired as the United States’ invasions killed a large number of Muslims in the region. Radical interpretation thus led to a strong anti-imperialist militant movement that Samuel Huntington recognised as an emerging clash of civilisations. He noted that the future would be characterised by Inter-Muslim wars and wars by Muslims against other religions, especially against Christians. The third source that contributed to Islamic radicalisation is Arab money.

While in recent years, the IS has lost its territorial gains in West Asia, it resorted to brutal terrorist attacks in other parts of the world where the United States hegemony prevails. The IS deployed militant Islamic organisations in those countries as agents who carry out deadly missions of violence to those entities. This is what seems to have happened in the case of Sri Lanka. Why Sri Lanka? I think there are two main reasons. First, since 2015, Sri Lanka has gradually moved away from non-aligned foreign policy that it traditionally adhered to. At the same time, the United States is looking for a new territorial base after the International Court of Justice gave a verdict on Diego Garcia Island, that it should be returned to its original inhabitants. We have seen in the past six months the United States and its allies’ presence and engaging in military exercises in Sri Lanka and its waters. So this may have caused the IS to consider Sri Lanka as a proxy target for the United States. Secondly, the IS might have been aware that there has been a lapse and weakening of the security and the intelligence services of the country making Sri Lanka an easy target. Sri Lanka has lost its sovereignty in the last four years, especially, in the sphere of economic and foreign policies. All major policies in those two spheres seem to be taken by foreign agencies.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe seems to be aware about the international dimension of the Easter Sunday attack. Continuing his Government’s foreign policy, he has already proposed more strong links with the United States and its allies. The United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz has revealed the presence of ‘expert teams from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Indo-Pacific Command to provide support to the Sri Lankan-led investigation into the attacks.’

The writer is a retired teacher of political economy.

E-mail: sumane_l@yahoo.com

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

President Maithripala Sirisena said one of the masterminds who orchestrated the Easter Sunday terror attacks in Sri Lanka was arrested in Saudi Arabia a couple of days ago.

The President said this during a meeting with the representatives of Muslim Civil Organizations including the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema (ACJU) at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday (8).

He said officials from Sri Lanka also went to Saudi Arabia to arrest this person who was one of the masterminds behind the attack.

This suspect arrested in Saudi is one of the masterminds behind the attack. Altogether, we have identified 130-140 suspects as being involved in this terror group and some of them died in suicide bomb attacks,” he said.

He said the security concerns had been addressed and the situation in the country was better now.

It is the false reports that mislead people now. When the government is trying to make things better, some elements from both the government and the opposition sides are trying to sabotage our attempts,” he said.

He said the government was doing its best to resolve issues and hindrances faced by the Muslim community at this moment and requested them to be patient a little while longer.