Courtesy Adaderana

Two main suspects wanted in connection with the Easter Day attack have been arrested at Nawalapitya area, stated the Police.

The suspects have been identified as Mohamed Saadik Abdul Haq and Mohamed Saahid Abdul Haq, according to the Police.

The Special Task Force (STF) and Sri Lanka Army officials made the arrest on a mission based on a tip-off received by the Nawalapitiya Police that the suspects are hiding in a shoe shop belonging to a relative in Gampola area.

Police have also arrested the driver of the van they arrived at Gampola in, the house owner where the van was hidden and the owner of the relevant shoe shop in connection with the incident.

The two arrestees have been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigations.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 27 (Reuters): The wife and daughter of Mohamad Zahran Hashim, the suicide bomber cum mastermind of the serial bombings in Colombo and two other cities on April 21, were injured in the explosion in the Islamic State safe house at Sainthamarudu in Eastern Sri Lanka on Friday night.

The shootout at a safe house erupted as police hunted for people linked to Mohamed Zahran Hashim who has been named as the ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings.

Yes, the wife and daughter were injured in the attack,” said Mohamed Hashim Mathaniya , sister of Zahran. I was asked to come to identify them but I am not sure I can go, ” she told Reuters from the town of Kattankudy in the east.

Police officials said the injured were believed to be Zahran’s relatives.

At least 15 people including six children were killed in the gun battle, a military spokesman said earlier.The shootout at a safe house erupted on Friday in Sainthamaruthu in Ampara district on the east coast as police hunted for people linked to Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran, who has been named as the ringleader of the Easter Sunday bombings.

Yes, the wife and daughter were injured in the attack,” said Mohamed Hashim Mathaniya , sister of Zahran. I was asked to come to identify them but I am not sure I can go, ” she told Reuters from the town of Kattankudy in the east.

Police officials said the injured were believed to be Zahran’s relatives.

At least 15 people including six children were killed in the gun battle, a military spokesman said earlier.

By P.K.Balachandran/newsin.asia

Colombo, April 25: Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, a leading Sri Lankan expert on terrorism, including West Asian terrorism, says that it is misleading to say that the National Tawheed Jamaat (NTJ) carried out the multiple suicide attacks on targets in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The truth is that they were Sri Lankans affiliated to the Islamic State (IS).

Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne was wrong when he told the media that it was the NTJ which had carried out the blasts. The blasts were the handiwork of the Islamic State (IS) with the involvement of its Sri Lankan affiliates,” Dr.Gunaratna, who is an expert on the Al Qaida told this correspondent from Singapore.

Dr.Gunaratna is Professor of Security Studies at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies. He was the first to say publicly, that the Easter Sunday blasts were the handiwork of the Islamic State with the help of its local branch”. He is the author of Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror” (Colombia University Press) and is an expert on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also.

Dr.Gunaratna said that the main suspect, Moulvi Mohammad Zahran, had split from the NTJ and was on his own. And somewhere along the way he linked up with the Islamic State (IS).

According to Hilmy Ahamad of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL), Zahran himself was not sophisticated enough to link up with an international organization like the IS though he had a good command of Arabic. Ahamad believes that some highly educated and similarly motivated Sri Lankans would have brought about the link up with IS.

And sure enough, at least some of the nine suicide bombers involved is Sunday’s blasts were highly educated and wealthy persons with foreign degrees.

Repeated Splits in Tawheed movement

Dr.Gunaratna said that the Tawheed Jamaat movement in Sri Lanka had gone through many splits and that Zahran’s splitting from the NTJ was the latest.

The splits had been taking place over ideology with increasing radicalization being the order of the day since IS changed its name from ISIS to IS on June 29, 2014. It had been driven out of its habitat Iraq and Syria and had become global in its organization and recruitment.

The more radical group would split and form an independent entity, Dr.Gunaratna said.

The inspiration for the Tahweed movement had come from Tamil Nadu in India, where the Tamil Nadu Tawheed Jamaat was well established under the leadership of P.Jainulabdeen alias PJ.

PJ had had difficulty in coming to Sri Lanka to preach as he faced opposition from the Sri Lanka Jamiuathul Ulema which was Sufi in its ideology. Following a violent incident, PJ was barred from entering Sri Lanka twice.

Zahran, who was with the Sri Lanka Tawheed Jamaat (SLTJ), split along with SLTJ Secretary Abdul Razick. They left SLTJ on the grounds that it was not radical enough. After this, Zahran went into hiding and perhaps formed the NTJ. He split with Razick too.

Zahran’s name and that of his organization came to the public domain after a long time only with the blasts on April 21,” MCSL leader Hilmy Ahamad said.

According to Dr.Gunaratna, the NTJ mentioned by the government as the perpetrator is in fact the IS.

On the question if Zahran was one of the suicide bombers as suspected by the government, Dr.Gunaratna said that all he can say with certainty is that Zahran is a very creative man”.

Perhaps this is a hint that Zahran is not among the dead bombers but is alive and kicking somewhere. The Lankan government too is not sure if he is dead or alive or whether he was himself a suicide bomber or not.

State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene told foreign correspondents on Wednesday that out of the nine suicide bombers the body of one is yet to be identified.

Minister Wijewardene said that two groups were involved in the blasts – one is the NTJ and the other he declined to identify. The Minister further said that the unidentified group was the more radical and that its leader was the leader of the joint operation.

But according to Dr.Gunaratne , only one group was responsible and that was the IS operating through its local partners.

Government however says that the exact nature of the foreign involvement is yet to be fathomed. Police are investigating if there had been any foreign financial, logistical and technical help given to the bombers . Going by Minister Wijewardene’s statement, the current official thinking is that the IS’s role has principally been ’motivational”.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

By P.K.Balachandran

Colombo, April 28 (newsin.asia): It was the Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI), which was the actual perpetrator of the Easter Sunday carnage in Colombo and two other Lankan towns, Dr.Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on Islamic terrorism, says.

The Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem and the National Tawheed Jamaat are to be banned, and steps are being taken to give effect to this, the Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena had said in a press release on Saturday.

However, Dr.Gunaratana, who is a co-author of The Three Pillars of Radicalization” (Oxford University Press 2019), feels that it was the Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem which had committed the crime.

Mohammad Cassim Mohammad Zahran or Zahran, the leader of the pack of nine suicide bombers, had quarrelled and left the National Tawheed Jamaat (NTJ) and founded the Jamatheir Millathu Ibraheem, because the NTJ was lagging behind in radicalism.

The Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem was the more radical of the two and was the local representative of the Islamic State (IS),” Dr.Gunaratna said.

Even before President Sirisena mentioned JMI in his communiqué relating to a proposed ban on it, Sri Lankan officials had been mentioning JMI, but without expanding the acronym. This left many to imagine that it was the Jamaat ul Mujahideen India (JMI), well known in India as an affiliate of IS.

The Sri Lankan State Minister of Defense, Ruwan Wijewardene, had mentioned in his press conference that two groups were involved in the blasts. But he named only one, the National Tawheed Jamaat .

However, without naming the second group, he said that the second group was the more radical of the two and that Zahran was the leader of the more radical group.

According to Dr.Gunaratna also, the more radical group is the Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem founded by Zahran, who was also the most radical of Sri Lankan Islamic radicals.

In Dr. Gunaratna’s view, the National Tawheed Jamaat (NTJ) with which Zahran is generally associated, was not involved in the blasts as Zahran had fought with it and left it to form another group, the JMI.

However, Dr.Gunaratna felt, that whatever that remains of the NTJ has to be banned and its affiliates closely watched because the organization could still be involved in the radicalization of SriLankan Muslim youth.

After Zahran left the NTJ, he got closer to IS, and founded JMI with the term Fi-Saylani added to it to make it the Saylan or Sri Lanka branch of the IS,” the expert said.

Impact of Nilam Muhsin’s Death

According to Dr.Gunaratna, JMI was actually created after the death of a 37 year-old Sri Lankan Muslim man called Nilam Muhsin” in Syria in July 2015 while he was fighting with the IS there.

A karate master from Galewela in Sri Lanka’s Kandy district, Sarfaz Nilam Muhsin, known in the Islamic State as Abu Shuraih Sailani, was killed in Syria in July 2015 in a US air strike. He was said to be the first Sri Lankan member of the ISIS.

After completing his GCE Ordinary Level (Class 10), Nilam Muhsin alias Abu Shuraih Sailani, pursued Islamic studies with great zeal mastering Hadith science. He studied contemporary Fiqh (The theory or philosophy of Islamic law, based on the teachings of the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet). He did an LLB in Shariah Law at the International Islamic University in Pakistan.

Nilam’s laying down his life for the sake of God, became a model for Zahran and some radicalized educated and well-heeled Muslims in Sri Lanka. That he was from a rich family and had studied in the elite Trinity College in Kandy enhanced his appeal,” Gunaratna said.

The death of Nilam and his background were reported widely in Sri Lanka. Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe told parliament that 35 Sri Lankan families had left for Syria to join the IS. But Rajapakshe was shouted down by Muslim MPs who maintained that he was lying to create animosity towards local Muslims.

The new Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government formed in January 2015, took no notice of its own Minister’s statement because national security was the least of its concerns, wedded as it was to the restoration of democracy and communal and religious harmony after the Rajapaksa era, which was dubbed authoritarian and communal.

If Nilam’s network here and abroad had been probed at that time, and action had been taken, the Easter Sunday blasts would not have taken place and 253 people would not have died,” Dr.Gunaratna remarked.

The new government not only ignored the advice of security officials but arrested and prosecuted them demoralizing and weakening the security establishment,” he added.

Dr.Gunaratna said that one of the lessons of the Easter Sunday carnage is that politicians should not interfere in security matters. Politicians are not trained to look at things through the security prism,” he said.

The Sri Lankan Security Forces, which are highly professional and which had defeated one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world, were disabled by political interference, the expert said.

He called for new laws because the present laws are inadequate to tackle many aspects of terrorism, such as the process of radicalization, preaching hatred and other activities inimical to social and religious harmony and national security.

The existing Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) cannot be used against those indulging in divisive radical propaganda. I have therefore proposed the adoption of a five-point plan to deal with radicalization.”

Giving details he said: There should be a Harmony Act on the lines of Singapore’s Harmony Act which will criminalize hate speech. Segregation of schools on the basis of ethnicity and religion must end, and all schools should be mixed. The present system of teaching only the religion of the student should stop and all students must go through an inter-faith course. Government must blacklist and punish preachers who preach hatred and animosity. Preachers must be given a license for two years at a time. Every preacher must have a No-Objection Certificate from the government.”

Turkey and the Maldives, though 100% Islamic, keep a close watch on what is said by clerics in the mosques and insist that they follow government’s guidelines. In Turkey, the government lays down the line to be take by the Imams evey week.

Dr.Gunaratna praised the attitude and work of the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema (ACJU) which has stood behind the people of Sri Lanka in the hour tragedy and loss.

The ACJU should be entrusted with the task of guiding preachers in the mosques. The preachers must be told to keep an eye on radicalization and take steps to prevent it. In this respect, the ACJU would be playing a role entirely in the interest of the Muslim community because all but a tiny fraction of them practice a beautiful form of Islam. They have been doing so all along,” Dr.Gunaratna said.

H.M Ameer, head of the Abdul Jawad Ali Waliullah Trust, speaking to this correspondent from the all-Muslim town of Kathankudy in the Eastern Province and the native place of Zahran, said that the Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI) is a shadowy organization about which little is known.

It was part of the NTJ and was used to carry out operations which the NTJ did not want to own. It was rather like the Elara force (Elalan Padai) at the time Tamil Tigers were active in the North areas. When the Tigers attacked Lankan Security Forces during a ceasefire period or when talks were on, they would feign ignorance and blame the shadowy Elara group for the trouble,” Ameer recalled.

(The image at the top is the site of the blast in Batticaloa town in East Sri Lanka)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 28 (newsin.asia): Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will on Monday impose a ban on Muslim women wearing the face veil (the niqab/burqa) to ensure public safety, the Presidential Media Division said here on Sunday.

Though the measure is unlikely to meet any resistance from the Muslims, given the security situation, there is a feeling among Muslim leaders that an advice not to wear the face veil from the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema (ACJU) would have been more acceptable.

The President’s decision follows the suicide bomb attacks staged by Islamic State affiliates on three posh hotels in Colombo and three churches in the capital and two other towns on April 21 which led to the death of 253 people including 40 foreign nationals.

However, the President’s decision came as a surprise to people who were discussing the issue of the face veil with government Minister Thalatha Athukorala and the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema (ACJU) in the last couple of days.

The issue of the niqab (or burqa as it is called in Sri Lanka) came to the fore five days ago when a Member of Parliament Prof. Ashu Marasinghe moved a Private Members’s Bill outlawing the face veil as it hinders identification.

Meanwhile, in view of the security situation in the country, the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulema (ACJU) issued a press release saying that it is requesting Muslim women to remove the face veil when necessary. It did not say that Muslim should not wear the face veil.

Later on Sunday, at a meeting of all religious heads to sort out inter-faith matters in the context of the terrorist attacks, a Buddhist monk asked for a ban on the face veil. But the Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, said that asking for a ban would be improper. It is not right to dictate to Muslims on what practices they should follow. They know what their religion says. The Cardinal wanted the meeting to come to a workable solution based on consensus, which will take into account the needs of national security which had been very badly breached on Apri l 21.

The Muslim representatives backed the Cardinal as did Minister Thalatha Athukorala who represented the government. She categorically stated that she would go by the decision of the ACJU.

And the meeting decided to appeal to Muslim women not to wear the niqab (face veil). It was not a diktat but an advice.

After the meeting ended successfully, came a press release from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe saying that he is not opposing a ban on the face veil. He said that the government is discussing the issue with the ACJU to make a suitable law on the ban.

This came as a surprise to the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) leader Hilmy Ahamad.

The Prime Minister’s statement has created confusion. Perhaps he was misinformed about the decision taken at the meeting of religious heads. It was clearly agreed that the ACJU will issue an advice to Muslim women to remove the veil, not to wear it. A ban was ruled out, ” Ahamad said.

I had asked for two weeks’ time to get the message across to all Muslim women in the country. But the ACJU said that it could do with just one week.”

A few years ago, the militant Buddhist group, the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) had agitated for a ban on the burqa and abhaya, the black gown worn by Muslim women influenced by Arabic culture imbibed through contacts with Saudi Arabia over the past 20 years.

Following the high decibel demand of the BBS, the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka appealed to Muslim women to abandon the black robe and black head cover, and opt for colorful gowns and head scarves. The MCSL even arranged for a system of exchanging black ones for colorful ones. But the project fizzled out when pressure from the BBS waned.

This time, however, it is different. It is the State which is wanting a ban and the Muslims have no option but to go along.

Given the magnitude of the Islamic State’s attacks on Easter Sunday, and the fears that these have generated in the general population through all classes and religions, resistance to the ban is expected to be extremely weak, if there is any resistence at all.

This will be so especially because the ACJU is not insisting that Muslims should cover their faces.

Courtesy The Times of India

As Sri Lanka continues to investigate the Easter serial bombings, alert needs to be maintained across the region. Fresh violence shook Sri Lanka last Friday when security forces raided a bomb workshop in Kalmunai in the country’s east. Gun battles and explosions rocked the area; at least 16 people are reported killed. Another raid saw the recovery of flags and literature belonging to transnational terror outfit Islamic State (IS).

With IS losing almost all territory that it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, this was the danger that security experts had predicted. They believed that the group would switch to a franchise model where local radical outfits carry out terror activities in IS’s name. Add to this the potency of modern communication technology that can beam terror events across the globe. This in turn can be used to fuel social polarisation by creating suspicions among communities and gain fresh recruits for IS.

Sri Lanka was targeted because it has a history of fragile ethno-religious relations. Similar social fissures also exist in India. In fact, the recent release of a poster by a pro-IS channel on the Telegram online platform reading ‘Coming Soon’ in Bengali, exemplifies the modus operandi of the terrorists. This could be a plot to stir up communal polarisation in Bengal in the midst of a heated Lok Sabha election season. Despite political differences, Centre and state governments must work together to thwart any terror schemes in Bengal and other parts of the country. There must not be any politics over security. Else Sri Lanka’s massive Easter terror attacks – which apart from the loss of lives is billed to cost its economy $1.5 billion – is a standing example of what can happen. There can be no excuses for not heeding this warning.

By Alasdair Pal and A. Ananthalakshmi Courtesy The Sydney Morning Herald

Colombo/Kattankudy: Sri Lankan police have raided the headquarters of a hardline Islamist group founded by the suspected ringleader behind the Easter suicide bombings of churches and hotels.

It came as Sunday mass was cancelled across the island because of fears of further attacks.

Armed police in the town of Kattankudy searched the headquarters of the National Thowheeth Jamaath and detained one man at the premises, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. Police did not comment.

On Saturday, the government banned the NTJ under new emergency laws. The authorities believe Zahran Hashim, the founder of NTJ, masterminded and was one of the nine suicide bombers in the attacks on Easter Sunday that killed 253 people.Advertisement

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Police suspect the bombings were carried out by two local Islamist groups, including the one established by Zahran. Around 10,000 soldiers have been deployed around the island as the authorities hunt for more suspects.

Police sources told Reuters on Sunday that Zahran’s father and two brothers had been killed two days earlier in a gun battle with security forces.

A relative identified the three men in a video circulating on social media calling for war against non-Muslims.

The Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith, who had asked churches to suspend Sunday mass over security fears, delivered a televised special sermon from a chapel at his home.

The service was attended by President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The archbishop said earlier this week that he had seen an internal security document warning of further attacks on churches.

“We cannot kill someone in the name of God … It is a great tragedy that happened,” the archbishop said in his sermon.

“We extend our hand of friendship and fraternity to all our brothers and sisters of whatever class, society or religion that differentiates us.”

RELATED ARTICLE

SRI LANKA BOMBINGS

Sri Lankan police failed to act after finding 100kg of high explosives

Add to shortlist

The archbishop and political leaders then lit candles to commemorate the victims.

Most of those killed in the Easter Sunday attacks were Sri Lankans. The dead also included 40 foreigners, including Australian, British, US, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals.

Police believe that radical Muslim preacher Zahran led the NTJ – or a splinter faction – to mount the attacks in Colombo as well as on a church in Batticaloa in the east.

The authorities have named the other group suspected of involvement as Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.

Neither group was well known before the attacks but the government has come under heavy criticism for not heeding intelligence warnings of the bombings, including one from India’s spy service hours before the attacks.

On Friday, Sirisena said the government led by premier Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

More than 100 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, have been detained for questioning for questioning over the Easter attacks.

Courtesy Sputnik

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Sri Lankan police have detained a man with two swords as an elder brother of the suicide attacker responsible for the bombing in the five-star Shangri-La hotel last Sunday, local media reported, citing police.

The man identified as Mohamed Ibrahim Ifthikar has been arrested at Dematagoda area in a suburb outside Colombo, Ada Derana news portal reported.

A police spokesperson said, as quoted by the media outlet, that policemen had found blue sapphires, as well as Sri Lankan and foreign money worth over Rs 10 million ($56,984) in his house in Dematagoda.

Another brother of the suicide attacker has allegedly attacked a restaurant at the luxury Cinnamon Grand hotel.

READ MORE: Two Main Suspects in Sri Lanka Terror Attacks Detained — Reports

Earlier in the day, local media reported that Sri Lankan police had arrested two main suspects in the deadly bombings, which rocked the country last Sunday.

© AFP 2019 / ISHARA S.KODIKARASri Lanka Bans All Clothing Covering Face Under Emergency RegulationsThe suspects, identified as Mohamed Saadik Abdul Haq and Mohamed Saahid Abdul Haq, have been arrested near the town of Nawalapitya in central Sri Lanka, Ada Derana reported. They have been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan Police.

A string of deadly bombings hit Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday leaving hundreds of people killed and injured nationwide. Over 100 suspects have been detained since the country launched a massive anti-terrorist operation and investigation into the attacks.

Daesh* has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks.

* Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia

Courtesy Telegraph

The father and two brothers of the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday terror attack that killed 253 people in Sri Lanka promise more destruction would follow in a chilling video just before they killed themselves on Friday.

The trio had blown themselves up just as police launched a raid on their house in Sainthamaruthu, leaving 15 people dead – including six children.

The disbelieving dogs have closed in on us. We pledge to teach a lesson to all those who are trying to destroy us. The right lesson. Very soon,” says one of the brothers in the video, Rilwan Hashim, who is seated on the floor, wearing a belt with explosives around his stomach.

A battle-scarred man who is blind in one eye with the fingers of his right hand missing bears close resemblance to Mohamed Zahran Hashim, who is believed to be the leader of the terror cell and one of the suicide bombers who carried out the attack on hotel Shangri La on Sunday.

Zainee Hashim, the younger brother of suspected ring leader Zahran, says his final words to the camera, holding an AK47 rifle in one hand, with a small child, identified as his son, seated on his lap: “The killings won’t stop here, even if we are destroyed…you can be sure you will meet more of these attacks in future.”

The terrorist duo’s father, Mohamed Hashim, sitting between his sons calls the video the final call.”

The ominous message is punctuated by crying children in the background, in what seems to be a house filled with young children.

The trio filmed their final words just before the police and military officers surrounded their hideout on Friday night in eastern Sri Lanka.

In the fierce battle that ensued, following a tip-off by the officials of the local mosque and their Muslim neighbours, the three men died.

A sister of Zahran confirmed to Reuters that the father and two younger brothers were killed in the Friday night shootout between the terrorist group and the military.

The military spokesman, Brigadier Sumith Atapattu, told The Telegraph on Saturday that at least one of the explosions inside the house was definitely a suicide bombing,” that killed 15 people including six children and three women.

A woman and a child who survived the explosions but remain in critical condition, were later identified by the police as the wife and child of Zahran.

On Saturday, the Isis claimed that three of its fighters blew themselves up during the Friday raid in eastern Sri Lanka.

The Islamic State later said in a statement released on Sunday by Amaq, the group’s propaganda arm that three of its fighters had drawn in the military to the rented house before detonating their explosives.

The statement further said that 17 policemen were also killed in the battle, a claim the police denied.

The Isis statement was accompanied by a picture of Zahran posing with one of his younger brothers, Rilwan who blew himself up on Friday. Both Zahran and Rilwan were named as prime suspects in an intelligence memo weeks before the attack that the government failed to act upon.

The document chronicled the impending attack on churches and the Indian High Commission with names and locations of the suspects.

The latest suicides brings the total number of suicide bombers since Sunday’s attacks to 12, including the pregnant wife of one of the bombers who detonated herself when the police raided the family home hours after the explosions in the churches and hotels.

NIA arrests 1, asks 2 others to report at its office today.

 A relative of a victim of Easter Sunday bomb blasts pays tribute at the burial site after a televised Sunday mass in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday (Image: AP)

Kozhikode: NIA sleuths raided homes of three people, one in Kollengode in Palakkad district and two in Kasargod district, on Sunday in connection with the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka. The sleuths arrested one and asked two others to report to National Investigation Agency office in Kochi on Monday.

The raid at Kasargod started in the morning and ended by noon. The NIA did not detain the two, while they took Riyas (29) from Kollengode in Palakkad district to their office in Kochi. They sought the help of local police to escort Riyas to Kochi.

The sleuths barged into the homes of the three suspects early in the morning, and started interrogating them and searching their houses.

The two suspects from Kasargod – Ahammed Arafat of Kaliyangad and Aboobacker Siddique of Nayanmarmoola – were under the close watch of NIA since the Lanka blasts. The NIA team seized their mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives, diaries with notes in Arabic and Malayalam, and untitled DVDs. The NIA suspects a link between the modules in Kerala and those in Sri Lanka that carried out the coordinated blasts, killing 253 people on Easter Sunday.

The three have suspected links with the accused in a case reported in 2016 in which 14 from Kasargod

left for Afghanistan and Syria, where they had allegedly joined the Islamic State (IS).

They were following posts of IS operatives on social media, including that of Saharan Hashim, the alleged mastermind of Lanka blasts, the police said.

The NIA got a lead while interrogating Shaibu Nihar, who hails from Koduvally here, after a tipoff from the Interpol in Qatar.

The police said that the speeches of Saharan Hashim were widely circulated among youth in Kerala for indoctrination.

On 21^st April 2019 Sri Lanka experienced 9 multiple terror attacks killing over 250 innocent people. The actions & reactions of the government is leaving citizens seriously anxious. The frightful prospect of a government neglecting the national sovereignty & security of its citizens is now beginning to sink in. Also linked is a clearly visible foreign intrusion which the government is rolling red carpets for even before arrival making many to wonder whether 21 April was part of a plot & plan for their entry. It is therefore important to look at the geopolitical aspect of what happened on Easter Sunday & ask who really planned the attacks, who executed it, why & who now benefits by the attacks and what Sri Lanka can do to set things rights. Whatever foreign involvement it is without a doubt the fault of the Sri Lankan Govt who not only had intel warnings but had appeals and requests for action against Islamic extremists by the Sri Lankan Muslim community itself. All of which had been ignored or not taken seriously.

Was this team of killers really planning for Easter or was it pre-advanced for some sudden change of plan? Are these men on their own or do they have external handlers, if so who are they? Did they get training to carry out their killings if so where & by whom? Why did educated & well to do men who had everything in life wish to take lives of innocent people – how strong is this brainwashing making it all the more dangerous as to how illiterate’s can be drawn to do the same in future. Are there political and others assisting with or without knowledge of ultimate plan to kill? If so, are they being investigated and arrested & more importantly charged? Can Sri Lankan authorities go all out to nullify the menace without keeping it as a beggars wound for political survival?

Why Easter? Is it aligned with the historical Christian-Islam rivalry that has a record of millions of deaths by both religions covering Crusades, Inquisition, Colonial invasions etc? It also enabled immediate international attention. Attacks on churches naturally got quicker & powerful international response than attacking Buddhist temples or Hindu kovils. While these killers are no real friends of Muslims too (though they are Muslims) it has kickstarted an international hate campaign against Muslims which will be aligned to another campaign against the hate-campaigners probably by the same parties handling the two camps. There are hidden hands to all these campaigns!

Why churches & why kill praying people? 14 May 1985 LTTE attacked Sacred Sri Maha Bodhiya in Anuradhapura killing 146 Buddhist worshippers including Buddhist monks while meditating. 2 June 1987, 33 student Buddhist monks were slaughtered one after the other in Aranthalawa. 3 August 1990 LTTE attacked Kattankudy mosque killing 147 Muslims praying. It is no secret that the Catholic church sided with LTTE. Reasons for LTTE attacking Muslims & Sinhalese was to ethnically cleanse them from North & parts of East.

Why hotels? Some 35 foreigners died – many of these were regular visitors and had funded construction of even hospitals as their love for Sri Lanka was so great. Some have lost their children too. Targeting foreigners & hotels was purposely to hit at our economy & tourism and drive out tourists but why (like Bali bombing), what do Islamic terrorists gain from this or is it their handlers who benefit by negating a booming industry? Tourists from India & China are the highest.

What we should know by now

1. LINKS: All of the Islamic terrorist groups have some link, funding, training & support to foreign intelligence agencies, their governments & their satellite states. While the UN has no common definition for a terrorist/organization, countries have their own lists of banned terrorist groups. These powerful links contract these groups to carry out political assassinations, election campaigning, election intimidation etc. Just as terrorists are linked – intel agencies are also linked often carrying out objectives without even the knowledge of their governments. LTTE-Islamic terrorist connections also emerging.

• TERRORISTS / NARCOTICS & UNDERWORLD: Terrorist groups are linked to some form of international illegal racket from which they generate phenomenal illegal income. Illegal drug smuggling, human smuggling, underworld mafia who thrive on extortion, other illegal businesses, generate money used to bribe or buy over anyone from politicians, businessmen to individuals. The recent arrests of drug kingpins, raids & confiscation of drugs are all inter-connected. The entities may function independent of each other but their godfathers monitor their movements! Increase patrols by Navy in areas where illegal entry is possible and strengthen checking in port/airport by customs on rogue businessmen with a record of undeclaring goods or undervaluing what they bring.

• EXTREMISTS: Divide & Rule worked superbly during colonial rule & the same template continues. Filter people into groups (ethnicity, religion, caste, political party, colour of skin etc) divide each group into extreme/moderates, create others group to react to these extremes. Fund all groups covertly & pit them against each other from time to time deploying various tactics that are made to trigger people’s nerves & set into motion a gradual hate/anger psychosis. Keep negative sentiment at a controllable level & use when time is right. The manner a handful of Muslims from covering their head with their saree in the 1960s suddenly began wearing a black silk garment covering body from head to toe increased while simultaneously building opposition to it. Similar new cultures introduced & demanded as religious rights were factors that built animosities. Muslims must now remove these as compromise to return to living cordially with all communities.

• HYPOCRISY: Countries create terrorists, transport them to countries where their policy goals need their deployment, get them to spread terror, present global scenario that countries cannot handle ‘Islamic terrorists’ using media they control they justify their troop presence. Ironically, the very Islamic terrorists that they create end up being used and killed while these terrorists also end up killing the troops the countries deploy to kill the terrorists. Mary’s lambs are these Islamic terrorists sure to follow Mary wherever Mary goes – they become sacrificial lambs too! what a complicated scenario! So have Mary’s lamb chosen Sri Lanka? Is this the reason for the spate of bombings and is Christian & touristS targeted to justify international presence & interference. Coincidentally, wherever the Islamic terrorists are US-UK-NATO will enter and often for a long haul stay. Quite frightening scenario for Sri Lanka in view of the surprising wave of Islamic terror too true to even believe!

So what we have to understand is that no terrorist organization can function without the tacit approval and blessings of some powerful nation(s). Terrorists are fighting with more sophisticated weaponry than some governments can afford (we saw this with LTTE). Terrorists do not manufacture arms, they buy their arms from countries that manufacture them so countries that manufacture arms & ammunition sell to both countries fighting the terrorists & to the terrorists fighting the countries. The countries that send troops to kill the terrorists also end up dying from the very guns their governments have sold to the terrorists they created. You think the UN does not know this?

War on Terror” is just a sham

9/11 launched the global war on terror with 51 powerful nations invading & occupying a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Osama & Al Qaeda was ousted in 2001 & replaced by US-NATO. It’s now 18 years and no signs of US-NATO leaving Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the source of more than 90% of world’s opium supply and opium is grown in areas under US-NATO control & not Taliban control! Heroin industry makes $1.5 trillion annually. Michael Chossudovsky says for US State Dept, CIA & Pentagon this is a multibillion dollar trade & comes third to oil & arms trade all of which US now controls. Countries even pay Taliban not to attack them while Taliban collects tax for selling opium. Heroin is transported with diplomatic immunity on diplomatic flights! A joint report by Pentagon, US Geological Survey (USGS) and USAID says Afghanistan possesses previously unknown” and untapped mineral reserves, estimated authoritatively to be of the order of one trillion dollars (New York Times, ISIS earns over US$1 million from oil smuggling. U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com, June 14, 2010). The US war on terror is a tax burden on the American tax payer but very lucrative for all the US arms manufacturers, construction and other US-UK-European firms who are sharing all the spoils of reconstructing what their governments purposely destroyed.

There was no Al Qaeda or ISIS during Saddam’s reign but he was ousted promising Iraq liberation. Iraq became a fighting ground for ISIS-US control and Iraqis ended up losers. Libya was the most developed country in North Africa, its citizens enjoyed many freebies under its leader Gaddafi but imported ‘rebels’ and hired media projected the notion that the Libyans wanted Gaddafi out and then it was a case of ‘we came, we saw and he died’ (Hillary Clinton) Today, Libya is a hell hole. Libyans are grieving over the country they lost & the leader who was sodomized & killed. Kosovo independence came by funding Kosovo Liberation Army whose leader became the leader of newly independent Kosovo and in exchange for independence came a massive NATO base in Kosovo. There are 193 countries. Some 165,000 American Special Operations forces are deployed in 149 countries in 2017 alone.

ISIS is ousted in Middle East but replaced by US-UK-NATO isn’t that convenient!

In 2009 Sri Lanka ended LTTE and commenced a massive development program. In 2011 US announced ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy not surprisingly ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s also declared a caliphate. In 2013 China announced a global development program Belt & Road Initiative. In September 2014 Sri Lanka & China sign Port-City Project same time that Ayman al-Zawahiri declares jihad in Indian subcontinent.

Strangely, there are 200m Muslims in India but only 80 cases of ISIS-related investigations. It was the Indian intelligence that alerted Sri Lanka on the attacks, where even giving names of the killers too. What is strange here is that according to Observer Research Foundation it was foreign intelligence that informed India on pro-ISIS activities on Facebook!

The current happenings cannot be dislodged from the US-India backed regime change that took place in 2015 to oust Rajapakse & install a puppet & a pawn to power to escalate the geopolitical objectives politically via Sri Lanka’s leadership. The go-away China chorus in 2015 by the PM backfired & Sri Lanka’s PM had to eventually crawl back to China and offer Hambantota Port as equity swop plus pay enormous compensation for closure of the Port City. Nevertheless, using the leverage from 2012,2013,2014 UNHRC Resolutions, the West was quick to insist on internal system changes that would weaken the country, its national security plus pave way for even a new constitution. India at the other end was pushing its agenda up North and in Central Sri Lanka.

India & West & China’s power struggle is making Sri Lankans vulnerable at home because of a weak government unable to handle either while giving in to all without a proper national policy. It was a matter of time that some form of destabilizing element would surface. All of these Islamic militants are locals whether they have had internal training or influence it is immaterial. Laws must be applied and every person linked must be charged. The very terrorism act that the West wanted annulled is what Sri Lanka has to turn to. When we have had 30 years of terrorism, foreigners have also died why is it that the West wants their intelligence in Sri Lanka for just one act of terror? Is this linked to the status of forces agreement that is said to be secretly signed that allows US troops in Sri Lanka where Sri Lankan laws are not applicable to them? A lot of people are in the dark at what is being signed by the government as if Sri Lanka is their personal property. These approvals hidden from the citizens do not carry any weightage and should be annulled by a future government.

We do not wish to have any pivot, diplomatic or terrorist for the same reason of making Sri Lanka into a client state. We do not wish our beautiful island to be the ground for any hostilities between countries and we certainly do not wish to be victim of other people’s hostilities. We have traditional friends and no one can ask us to stop our friendship with these countries. China’s relationship with Sri Lanka is a long and cherished one. Our relationships with others will be the same if only they learnt not to extend one hand of friendship but try to stab us with the other.

Shenali D Waduge

Prof. Hudson McLean

Both the President of Sri Lanka and the Prime Minister placed their own selfish interest First, at the expense of the Country!

The Result: Annihilation of 250++ innocent Victims, Men, Women, and the next generation of Children and Youth.

The Buck Stops at the Feet of the Maggots of Leadership.

No Excuses.

Both are Complicit, Accessory to Murder, by their Inept, Incompetent, Selfish, Idiotic behaviour.

The Prime Minister is a well known serial Loser in Politics.

Due to his family background and wealth, he thinks, Sri Lanka owes him to be an Eternal Leader!

He is a Born Loser!

Then comes the President My3 Sirisena.

Sirisena, “Bit the Hand that Fed Him” to a Ministerial Position, which he did not deserve.

President Deserves a Kick from a Heavy Boot on His Buttocks.

Followed by “Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka”

Once again “Bit the Hand that Fed Him”.

Good ex-soldiers, specially ex-Generals, cannot hang-their-coats and the bits of brassware.

They still try to Command the Civil Folks.

I have met several ex-Generals & ex-Colonels in business.

They are Total Failures in the Civil World.

Back to the survival of Sri Lanka and the Citizens.

As a Buddhist centric country, the Buddhist culture is a Peaceful, Quiet, Humble, Generous Existence, Epitome of Humanity.

This is the humble opinion of a practising Catholic.

The Easter Sunday massacre is the worst incident I have ever seen and heard in my life.

Caused by two First Class Inept, Incompetent  Idiots who should spend their life in prison.

It is neither the Time nor Reason to have an Citizen’s Uprising when the entire country Mourns for those Departed and Injured.

The Mourning will never stop after 30 days, but will last a lifetime and into the history of Sri Lankan National Loss.

May the Good Lord embrace those who left the Shores of Srt Lanka, in that Fateful Seconds, and Help to Comfort the Grief of their Families!

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Dr.Reffai Sri Lankan Association of Muslim Women & Girls

The bombs went off,the  country was shocked, deaths, injured, search for the relatives……. while these were going on with spot lights on them, two groups who silently, without seeking any publicity were doing their duty. 

One is the health sector employees from doctors down to labourers. They deserve  a deep bow for working round the clock providing the much needed treatmènt for the affected.

 The other group who need even more appreciation is the police, navy and army – the tri forces  risking their own lives in order to protect the common man from further harm.  The onès who went to search suspicious houses, who checked unmanned vehicles for explosives and who   safely detonated the bombs in controlled fashion  – all were putting their lives out on line for the country.  

Hats off to all of  you, brave  sons and daughters of Srilanka! We salute you, pray for you and thanķ you!

Rajendra Alwis

(This article is to mark the Sri Lankan Sinhalese Heritage Day celebrated in the Canadian Parliament on 2019.04.27) 

Sri Lanka is a tropical island with a landmass of 65,610 km² (25,332 sq. miles) separated from the subcontinent of India, situated in the Indian ocean, latitude between 6 and 10 North  and longitude 80 and 81 East. The total population of Sri Lanka, at present, is 21.44 million and the Sinhalese people accounts for 75% of it, and Ceylon Tamils and Indian Tamils, Moors, Malays, and Burghers make up the balance 25% of the population. In view of the majority of the Sinhalese people in the island’s population, during the classical times, Sri Lanka was known as Heladiva” meaning the country of the Sinhalese people. The Sinhalese   Language and its scripts are not spoken or used anywhere in the world other than Sri Lanka since it is solely a unique creation of Sinhalese people.  

The Sinhalese nation possesses an unwritten history of millenniums and a written history of 2500 years. Fossilized human remains that are compatible with the anatomical features of the  modern man have found in several Sri Lankan caves such as Fa Hien-lena, Batadomba-lena, Beli-lena, Bellanbandi Palassa, providing undisputable archeological proof that the country was inhabited by man as long as one million years  ago. These prehistoric humans that had been living in Sri Lank are referred to as ‘Balangoda maanawaya’ (Homosapien Balangodensis) in popular parlance, derived from his being responsible for the Mesolithic Balangoda culture” first defined in sites near Balangoda. Thus the history of Sinhalese people stretches back to millenniums with acceptable archeological tell-tale evidence. Further, in the light of the excavations done by Prof. Raj Somadeva, professor of Archology Kelaniya University, ‘Balangoda Man’ is the earliest reliably dated record of anatomically modern humans in South Asia and hence Sri Lanka receives an important place in the study of human evolution. 

Prof. Nageswara Rao, the vice-chancellor of Andhra University, addressing the Indian Science Congress, in January2019, explained that King Ravana of ancient Sri Lanka had invented the airplane and had 24 types of aircrafts. Explaining the scientific achievements of ancient Sri Lanka, particularly in the sphere of technology, he further said that Sri Lanka at that time had several air ports as well. Still there is a village in Sri Lanka named as Variyapola, meaning the Airport, believed to have used by King Ravana.   

The written history of Sri Lanka dawns with the arrival of prince Vijaya who came from India with his supporters in Sri Lanka which was then known as Tambapanni. According to Mahavansa, the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty written in the 5^th. Century C E, his landing in this new destination coincided on the day of passing away of the Buddha. On his arrival, he has heard the sound of an orchestrated music of a nearby wedding reception. This piece of historical information about a formal wedding avec musical entertainment is an undeniable proof of a rich cultural heritage.  The very first important person that prince Vijaya and his men have encountered in the island, according to the historical records, was Kuveni, the Yakka princess who represented this rich culture with the kith and kin of her clan, which we too have inherited vicariously. 

King Pandukabhaya (474 BC – 367BC) is the founder and the first ruler of the Anuradhapura kingdom and he established the system of Local Government in Sri Lanka for the first time in the world, according to the great chronical of Sri Lanka Mahavansa. In his tenth year of reign the king demarcated all the villages in the country and fixed the boundaries. Subsequently, introduced Gam-Sabhas (Village Councils) to administer the local affairs, and address people’s grievances and settle minor disputes. The royal functionaries entered villages only to arrest and indict high criminals. Major towns were administered by ‘Nagara Guttikas’, meaning Mayors, on behalf of the king. Their principal duties were water management, land allocation and maintain the law and order of their administrative peripheries. 

Further, King Pandukabhaya established lying-in homes and hospitals in various parts of the country. This is the earliest historical evidence we come across on the establishment of a hospitals anywhere in the world. The Sinhalese medical tradition dates back to well over 2000 years. Besides there are number of medical discoveries that are now being acknowledged by western medicine. According to Mahavansa the ancient Sinhalese kings are responsible for introducing the concept of hospitals to the world. 

During the reign of King Devanampiyatissa, Arahath Mahinda son of Indian Emperor, brought Buddhism to  Sri Lanka in 247 BC, an event which marked the beginning of the classical era of the country. King Devanampiyatissa who had already heard of Buddhism from his friend Emperor Asoka received the Buddhist missionaries with great respect and reverence.  

In their first conversation, Venerable Mahinda, in order to gauge the king’s intelligence and capacity to understand the Buddhist doctrine, posed some questions to him and the king answered them all quite rationally. This test is regarded as the first intelligence test recorded in the world history.  After this IQ test, we hear the next recorded IQ test in only in 1916, after more than 2000 years when French psychologist Alfred Binet developed an IQ test at the request of the French government to identify the students who needed assistance to pursue their education. 

Sri Lanka is the first country in the world that a diplomat has been sent to a foreign destination by the Sinhalese King Devanampiyatissa, in 247 B.C., for a diplomatic service. That was prince Arittha, the nephew of King, who was sent to India to meet Emperor Asoka and to make necessary arrangements for his re-coronation.   

Later on, the sapling of the sacred Bo Tree, known as the Sri Maha Bodhi, under which the Buddha attained the enlightenment was brought to Sri Lanka by Sangamitta Therani, full sister of Arahath Mahinda. The Sri Maha Bodhi has existed in Anuradhapura for over 23 centuries and it is the oldest historically documented tree on the earth. 

In this context it is noteworthy that the Sinhalese clergy and laity are very respectful of other religions practised in the country. During the colonial times the Buddhist monks had accommodated Catholic missionaries in their temples and have even provided transport by allowing them to use the bullock carts owned by the temples. 

This is a fitting occasion to mention that another world record regarding the interfaith cordial relationship prevailing among the Sinhalese Buddhists.     Venerable Ittapane Dhammalankara Thero, Maha Nayaka of Kotte Chapter, Sri Lanka, has written a biography on Fr. Marcelline Jayakody titled Malpele Upan Pansale Piyathuma” and this is the first book in the world written by a Buddhist prelate on a Catholic priest.  

Many intellectuals in the world have termed Sri Lankan civilization as a hydraulic civilization. A renowned British author R.L. Brohier (1935) records that the ancient Sri Lankans produced hydraulic engineering capable of building some of the largest man made irrigation works in the world. In fact, the development of irrigation system in Sri Lanka was not a process influenced by any written knowledge, but based on insight, experience and utilizing the thoughts of our ancestors. It is evident that Sinhalese people, more than 2000 years ago have meticulously considered the ways and means of storing water, including its delivery and management. It is clearly evident from the gigantic reservoirs like Parakrama Samudra”, Kalawewa” Minneriya”and the like.  

There are about 30,000 small reservoirs scattered throughout the North Central Province, and its outskirts, generally termed as Rajarata or Dry zone, supporting the agricultural communities. There is also a network of large cannels, some are more than 50 miles long and 40 feet wide, linked to the city of Anuradhapura and played an integral part in the development of the ancient capital. It is still a technological marvel that the gradient of some of these canals like Yoda-ela is only one inch slope per mile.  

Similarly, the water-sealed toilet systems in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, and ornamental fountains at Sigiriya indicate high levels of skill in the management of urban water supply and waste water disposal systems in ancient Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka was under colonial rule by three major western powers; chronologically Portuguese (1505–1658) Dutch (1658–1796) and British (1796-1948).  Except for a period of 133 years when it was entirely under British rule Sri Lanka has been a Sovereign state throughout the history. Its location in the centre of the Indian Ocean while also being close to India Sri Lanka has attracted not only invaders, but also traders, pilgrims, travellers from many   neighbouring Asian countries, and Europeans as well, after they discovered the East. 

However, even after centuries of colonial domination for more than 443 years Sri Lankan culture preserved its identity despite the vicissitudes it was forced to face time and again. The British finally granted Independence to Sri Lanka on February 4^th I in 1948. These three major European powers left behind three valuable souvenirs to Sri Lankans which they have cherished to date, that is, from Portuguese Catholic religion, from Dutch Roman Dutch Law which is still the law system in the country and the parliamentary system of government by the British.  

There are eight World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka identified by the UNESCO, namely; the sacred city of Anuradhapura (1982), the ancient city of Sigiriya (1982), the ancient city of Polonnaruwa (1982), the sacred city of Kandy (1988), the old town of Gale city (1988), Sinharaja Rain forest (1988), the Golden Temple of Dambulla (1991), and the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka (2010). These sites are the crowning glory of the Sinhalese people duly recognised by the UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. 

The Sinhalese New Year is our main national festival that falls in the month of April which is celebrated by both Sinhalese and Tamils. Sri Lanka predominantly being an agricultural country, paddy cultivation is the main occupation of the majority of people. Harvest comes with the dawn of the month of April.  When the harvesting is over and the barns of the farmers are full, elated people have compelling reasons to celebrate the event. According to the Sinhalese calendar the month of April is known in Sinhalese as ‘Bak’ the word derived from a word in Sanskrit language ‘bhagya’ meaning fortune. Hence, it is this time of the year in Sri Lanka many marriages take place in the villages, where this festival is celebrated in all its orthodoxy. This is an ideal occasion for Sri Lankans living throughout the world to rededicate themselves to the task of reviving and sharing our time-honoured traditional values. 

Today many Sri Lankans, including all our brothers and sisters of all ethnic groups in the country are scattered all over the world.  And many of us have made Canada our second Motherland. Wherever they live, whether that be an ultra-modern city of a developed country or a remotest village of a developing county, they always carry the precious gift they have inherited from our Motherland, a friendly smile. Whenever, Sinhalese people meet their friends they use to greet them by saying ‘Ayubovan’, meaning ‘long live’. Traditionally, this word is used to welcome people at any time of the day, which is similar to the English word ‘Welcome’ or the French word ‘Bonjour’. 

So let me end up this write up by saying Ayubovan! 

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි All Ceylon Railway Employees’ General Union 

රජයේ භාණ්ඩාගාරයට ලැබිය යුතු මුදල් හා ජනතාව සතු මුදල් පුද්ගලික පරිහරණයට යොදගන්නා වංචාකාරී දූෂිත පුද්ගලයෙකු ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් බවට පත්කිරීම නිසා ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාවට ප‍්‍රබල ප‍්‍රහාරයක් එල්ල වී ඇත. පසුගිය පාස්කු ඉරිදා එනම් අප්‍රේල් 21 දින කතෝලික පල්ලි කීපයකට හා ප‍්‍රධාන පෙලේ හෝටල් කීපයකට මෙන්ම තවත් ස්ථාන කීපයකටම එල්ලවූ ත‍්‍රස්ත ප‍්‍රහාරය මගින් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාවේ බිඳවැටීම බව අවධාරණය කර සිටිමු.

ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව භාරව කටයුතු කළ ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්, හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා, ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව පිළිබඳ මෙලෝ අවබෝධයක් නැති පුද්ගලයෙකු බව, ඔහුගේම ප‍්‍රකාශවලින් රටට දැනගැනීමට හැකි වූ බවත්, ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව පිළිබඳ සොයා බලනවාට වඩා, තමා සතු ජාවාරම් පිළිබඳව සොයා බැලීමට  කටයුතු කළ බවත් ඉතා පැහැදිලිය.

දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ස-තු ”වෛස්රෝයි ” (Viceroy) නමින් හැඳින්වෙන විශේෂ සුඛෝපභෝගී දුම්රිය ධාවනය කිරීමේදීත්  ”වෛස්රෝයි  2 ” (Viceroy – 2) විශේෂ සුඛෝපභෝගි දුම්රිය මැදිරිය ධාවනය කිරීමේදීත්,  T-1-515  දරණ විශේෂ රේල් කාර් රථය ධාවනය කිරීමේදීත්, කොළඹ කොටුව දුම්රිය ස්ථානය පරිශ‍්‍රයේ ඇති රේල් ටුවර්ස් කාර්යාලය පවත්වාගෙන යාම වෙනුවෙන් දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට රුපියල් තුන්කෝටි තිස් අට ලක්‍ෂයකට (33800000/=) ආසන්න මුදලක් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා විසින් ගෙවිය යුතුව ඇත. දුම්රිය වෘත්තීය සමිති සන්ධානයේ මැදිහත් විම අනුව ප‍්‍රවාහන අමාතයාංශයේ හිටපු ලේකම් වරයාගේ මැදිහතවීමෙන්, ඉන් රුපියල් එක් කෝටි දස ලක්‍ෂයකට (11000000/=) ආසන්න මුදලක් ගෙවීමට හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා එකඟ කරගෙන තිබුනත්,  එම මුදල හෝ ඉතිරි මුදල් තවමත් කොටස් වශයෙන් හෝ ගෙවා නැත. එමෙන්ම මහජන බැංකුවේ සභාපති වශයෙන් කටයුතු කරන කාල සීමාව තුල එම තනතුරේ අධිකාරි බලය යොදාගෙන මහජන බැංකුව සතු රුපියල් මිලියන 300 ක් අවභාවිතාවට ගනිමින් දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතු භූමිය හා ගොඩනැගිලි යොදාගනිමින් හා ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ධූරයේ බලතල පාවිච්චි කරමින් නාවික හමුදා නිලධාරීන් යොදාගෙන ජාතික කෞතුකාගාරයක් නමින් වෙනම ම ජාවාරමක් කරමින් ඇත. දුම්රිය ආඥා පනතට පටහැනිව දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නම යොදා ගනිමින් කිසිදු අනුමැතියකින් තොරව Railway Museum Guarantee Ltd නමින් සමගමක් පවත්වාගෙන යමින් ඇත. මුදල් මත පදනම්ව ඒ සඳහා ප‍්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ඇතැම් දේශපාලන නායකයන්ගේද ආශීර්වාදය ලැබී ඇත.  සතියේ සෑම දිනකම රජයේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සහිතව, හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ගතකරන කාලයට වඩා වැඩි කාලයක් දුම්රිය අංඟන වල ගතකළේය. දුම්රිය නිලධාරීන්ට නියෝග දුන්නේය. දුම්රිය ගැන පොත් අළෙවි කළේය. ඔහුගේ ජාවාරම් වලට ජනාධිපති වරයා ද උදව්කර ඇති බවද දැනගැනිමට ඇත.  එබැවින් රාජ්‍ය ආරක්‍ෂාව පිළිබඳ අවධානය යොමු කරනවාට වඩා වැඩි කාලයක් හා වැඩි අවධානයක් මෙම ජාවාරම් ගැන සෙවීමට  හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා කටයුතු කළේය. මීට අමතරව ටෙලිකොම් ආයතනයේ සභාපති වශයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමේදීත්, ජාතික ඔලිම්පික් කමිටුවේ සභාපති ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීමේදීත්, මහජන බැංකුවේ සභාපති වශයෙන් සිටියදී මහජන බැංකුව ඩිජිටල් කරණය කිරීමේදීත්,  දූෂිත මුදල් ගණුදෙනු රාශියක් සම්බන්ධයෙන්  හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතාගේ නම පුවත්පත් වල  ඕනෑතරම් පලවී තිබුණි.

සනාථ කළ හැකි දූෂිත මුදල් ගණුදෙනු හා ජාවාරම් ගොන්නක් පිළිබඳව කරුණු අනාවරනය වී තිබියදීත්, අල්ලස් චෝදනා මත අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් අයි.එච්.ඒ. මහනාම මහතා සේවයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමෙන් පසු ජනාධිපති කාර්යමණ්ඩල ප‍්‍රධානියා බවටත්, ඉන්පසු ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් වරයා ලෙසත් ජනාධිපති මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා විසින් පත්කරනු ලැබුවේ හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතාය.

අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් වරයෙක් හැම විටම පරිපාලන සේවයේ පළපුරුදු නිලධාරියෙකු විය යුතුය. ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් හැම විටම ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව පිළිබඳ හසල දැනුමක්  හා පළපුරුද්දක් ඇති නිලධාරියෙක් විය යුතුමය. ඒ කිසිවක් ගැන නොසලකා මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති වරයා සමග ඇති පුද්ගලික ඇයිහොඳයිකම පමණක් සලකා දූෂිත ජාවාරම් කාරයෙකු ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් ලෙස පත්කර ගැනීම නිසා රටට ඇතිවී තිබෙන තත්වය ඉතා බරපතලය. රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරියෙකුට ව්‍යාපාර කිරීමට අවසරයක් නොමැත්තේ අන්කිසිවක් නිසා නොව, නිරවුල් මනසකින් යුතුව, යුක්තිය සහගතව අදාල තනතුරෙහි රාජකාරී වගකීම කාරයක්‍ෂමවත් අනලස්වත් අවංකව නිසි පරිදි ඉටුකිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාව නිසාය. හිරගෙදර සිටිය යුතු පුද්ගලයින්ට රජගෙදර රැකවරණය ලබාදීමෙන් ජනාධිපති වරයා මුළු රටම ඛේදජනක තත්වයකට පත්කර ඇත. රටේ ජනජීවිතය අවුල්සහගත තත්වයකට පත්කර ඇත. රාජ්‍ය සේවය විනාශකර ඇත. රටේ දේශපාලන හා ආර්ථික ස්ථාවරත්වය සුනුවිසුණුකර ඇත. එවන් තත්වයක් තුල හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතාට ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ධූරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීමට උපදෙස් දීමෙන් පමණක් ප‍්‍රශ්නයට විසඳුම් නොලැබුණු ඇත. එහෙත් මේ තත්වය තුල හෙට දවසේ හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා විදේශ තනතුරකට හෝ වෙනත් රජයේ වගකිවයුතු තනතුරකට පත්නොවේයැයි කිව හැක්කේ කාටද?.
එසේ නොවන්නටනම්, හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතාගේ සියළු ජාවාරම් ගැනත්, දූෂිත මුදල් ගණුදෙනු ගැනත් වහාම පරීක්‍ෂාකර ඔහුට එරෙහිව නීති මගින් කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවත් අවධාරනයෙන් පෙන්වා දිය යුතුය.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට, විශ්වාසීය,
එස්.පී.විතානගේ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්,

Priyantha Hettige

False propaganda (lies) – Fake news is a good way to destroy your competitors or even your enemies. It is unbelievably effective -and its use is as old as the hills.

·        Speaking the truth is the mark of a good person, a reliable person; civilization is built on such people, not on liars, cheats nor robbers.

·        People are strongly influenced by those they respect, including the news on T.V. and the newspapers, but such sources can occasionally give us stories that are unchecked and from unnamed sources – even false news.

·        Normal people are easily misled by believable, plausible stories – false news. This innocence can be used by unscrupulous people; politicians, journalists, activists, or by anyone with a grudge, to set in motion hostile forces, unleash the power of the press in a war against something or someone, as follows:

Fake news has recently risen to become a major matter of concern in the west,” and to a lesser extent, all around the world.

The election in 2016 of Donald Trump, a rich businessman, as President of the United States of America, has caused U.S politicians, bureaucrats and media to all take part in a tremendous campaign of lies against him, firstly, to prevent him winning the presidential election and then, to get him impeached (out of office), when finally elected President.

This vast campaign was headed by politicians, (helped by the FBI and DOJ) who launched a barrage of lies and false information in the press, on TV. and by using the internet, for the purpose of taking down the President – an immoral and illegal coup attempt! The use of the media and internet for spreading Fake, harmful news was a great help to them.

The Nature of the Media and the Internet

The arrival on the Internet of social platforms like Facebook, Buzzfeed and  Twitter have opened the way for massive false information campaigns, e.g., scare stories about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world, the arrival of planet Nibiru, never ending global warming, etc., gloom and doom spreading through vast numbers of people around the world. Great fortunes have been amassed but on the other hand, lives ruined or even lost. In general, fake news is destructive and not good.

Consequently, the general population has become misguided, misinformed or not informed at all. Our understanding is corrupted by this FAKE, false news.

Also importantly, our trust in the news and TV – especially the western media, has taken a nose dive and journalism as a whole has become mistrusted as a result.

Because of all this, there has been great activity to understand this phenomenon better and establish why it has become so widespread. It can be divided into:

1.      Mis-information: false information disseminated without harmful intent.

1. Dis-information: created and shared by people with harmful intent.
2. Mal-information: the sharing of “genuine” information with the intent to cause harm.^[33]

Claire Wardle of First Draft News identifies seven types of fake news:^[26]

1. satire or parody (“no intention to cause harm but has potential to fool”)
2. false connection (“when headlines, visuals or captions don’t support the content”)
3. misleading content (“misleading use of information to frame an issue or an individual”)
4. false context (“when genuine content is shared with false contextual information”)
5. impostor content (“when genuine sources are impersonated” with false, made-up sources)
6. manipulated content (“when genuine information or imagery is manipulated to deceive”, as with a “doctored” photo)
7. fabricated content (“new content is 100% false, designed to deceive and do harm”)

Internet social media has brought social benefits: good connectivity and entertainment, but it has also enhanced humanity’s ability to create dissention, conflict and destroy competition and even enemies – and anyone else in the way! 

Social media is a boon, a gift from heaven for politicians, bureaucrats and those with a grudge. It can be, and IS used to spread Fake news. Chief culprits in this flood of disinformation can be both powerful politicians and government bureaucratic officials who want to hold on to their power. These people lust for more power, independence and lack of scrutiny – haven’t you noticed?  – and those in supporting roles like the newspapers and TV shows, increasingly take sides in politician’s propaganda wars.

Usually, political ruling elites like to keep their citizenry in the dark on a matter, if possible. Having a business controlled news media, sympathetic to their politics, is very helpful! This gives them a free hand to do as they please, with no press watch dog to expose their mistakes and even wrong-doing. They are free to issue untruthful or misleading press statements which their friends will dutifully publish or use in discussions to keep the public mis-guided and mis-informed!

They live in their own world of cocktail and dinner parties, a tight social circle: elite bureaucrats, remote from the ordinary man. They like to take decisions themselves, and they resent supervision of their power. Old fashioned journalism is dead in the West.”

Other, doubtful, shady people are also writing this Fake News for a living, and the main TV stations can slip us distortions between true items; inventions and plain old lies. Not on everything – but on certain sensitive, opinion making subjects.  In the past, crowds have run riot and killed on just a rumor.

We do not know it is nonsense until (if ever!) we are told the truth of a matter.                                                   When we find out the truth, we are upset and even angry as we don’t like to be manipulated; perhaps even fooled into voting the wrong way. But yes, manipulation, stirring up negative emotions, is what they are doing, as politics or for profit, to sell a good story.

Advertising Revenue

In addition to these propaganda wars in the western corporate media, must be added the pressure for business revenues – income accrued from having a large number of followers. The fact is, manipulating public opinion – fooling us with lies, and/or attractive stories, can also be profitable. It is also helping drive this problem – the need to maximize financial revenues is also a factor in this blossoming of Fake news. Such news has become entertainment – comic stories that we can enjoy!

Researchers have written books on how people can be manipulated by the power of marketing and advertising on TV.  Governments in power use it to move their voters!  Yes, we can be corrupted – due to our natural biases and/or our ignorance of the facts!! 

The TV news networks are busy advertising consumer products but they do not give us the accurate or useful news we really want and need. We all know about famous manufactured products advertised on TV – just business! But Earthquakes and Volcano events are increasing around the world! What was the cause of the Great Flood? Scientists are figuring out the truth!

Result

Independent journalists, who search out and publicize, accurate, well checked stories, or anyone else with a good story, cannot easily get into print. Journalists critical of the Fake news lose their jobs – Out! Dismissed! Journalism and the mainstream media outlets are a closed shop and are failing the public hard when they print false information, untruthful journalism, or by not telling us useful information as it arises.

The established media in the west” are being discredited and readership is declining. Good quality journalism is suffering, and wounded. People want truthful news, balanced reporting, and anything less is a waste of time and money.

Remedy

The Internet can also help here. Now, there are some new, alternative news outlets on You Tube, which give wider, more reliable news coverage. But, as startups they have less power to investigate a story.

Alternative news outlets, for example the hugely successful RT Cross Talk, who discuss an issue with a small panel of experts, The Duran, Breitbart news and ‘Democracy Now,’ a report on the daily news, not to forget Al Jazeera.

Some Explanation of this Modern Phenomena

Educated people, cultured people talk about ideas, causes and effects. But simple, uneducated people talk about…  er…  other people!  

The media and politicians exploit the weaknesses of simple people to the full – they feed their prejudices about something or somebody, often, politically, as in the case of President Donald Trump, but educated, thinking people are troubled, and want the whole truth! 

It results in ignoring the real evidence and falsely, taking sides on a matter, by having a campaign on, or against soemthing or someone. This attracts advertising revenues from businessmen who agree with and support the same political parties or issues.

Some leading newspapers, made famous for their quality reporting of the news and facts in the past, such as The Times of London, The New York Times, or The Washington Post, and TV stations, like CNN, (all members of the Corporate Media) have now become willing mouthpieces for a particular narrative –  a particular bias in reporting on a story!  But this has cost them dear in terms of credibility. Fake news journalists will never publish something to the opposition’s advantage.

This divide between fair reporting and bias can be purely political: socialism versus capitalism, but now, more likely, it is the ruling classes, the ruling elite – overblown in terms of power and regulations, versus the citizenry as a whole, along with all the many other issues that divide public debate.

Sanjana Hattotuwa, writing in the Sunday Island of April 14^th 2019, exposes false information and manipulation. He writes: ”The lie is revealed. No summons served” end quote. (on Gotabaya for certain allegations.)  He writes: news that GR was being sued in the US is false and incorrect.”

Hiding News and Information

Some important information is ignored entirely by the press as they pursue their own agendas of Fake news. (E.g., Russia is developing hypersonic weapons; China is developing Electro-Magnetic Pulse bombs to blackout our cities; food shortages.) There is much information to know about. But: We don’t know what we don’t know but should know,” – we are in the dark on so many things!

There are some important news to be had. There is an awesome responsibility to convey it. The North and South poles of our planet may soon exchange positions! Scientists are watching with great interest! The sun may stand still for a day! The oceans may surge forward as they have done many times before… but this important news is absent! And it has consequences. We should prepare!

The Buddha said :

Ignorance is the longest night.”

Venerable Piyadassi, in his book Buddhist Meditation” said:

Ignorance is the highest corruption.”

Fake news has arisen, mainly in the ”west,” even before the arrival of President Trump on the scene, but it has ballooned and got a lot more vicious since he took power. And it has reached here in some newspaper centre-page articles. These are journalists who have swallowed the bait of a ‘good’ fake news story, hook line and sinker!

The Discipline of Good Journalism

Many journalists, just sit in their offices at computers to write their stories, but the best journalists go out searching for truth. They wear out their shoes searching for truth by visiting places and checking with those people involved for information on what really happened. They quote real sources for their stories, not claim it was from unnamed sources. They do not use the misguiding stories put out by those in authority. Good journalism!

Also, everything we read and learn about, has to be written or spoken by someone; a journalist or someone in government. People write from ideas arising due to their personal thoughts, memory and emotional style about a topic. It results in news stories or information having a level of descriptive language matching the writer’s own feelings and powers of self-expression. It is quite difficult to write without personal bias or extra colour, but the best journalists are trained to do it.

However, it is always tempting to follow a political position, or make a story more interesting or shocking, in order to have more impact on the reader or listener – a form of creative writing. Unhappily for those in search of truth, such undisciplined writers are praised and well-paid for attractive stories!

Fake News – mostly in the West”

Throughout the ages, people have distorted and made up stories to hurt someone else. But now, with the power of the big media and social media companies, it has become a crisis. However, by going to the Internet, people can search and find alternative media websites and documents for more accurate news about what they should know about this world, past, present and future.

Sunil Vijaya

Wisdom will prevail if people stop being expert analysts of the current situation and be proactive and guide this Pathetic government on the right path.  As Buddha observed, extinguish the fire first and then find the root cause of the problem.  The fire is still on and it has to be quelled.

The greatest news today and the wise step taken by government under current conditions is to establish an army camp near Wilpattu to clean up the area including the illegal human settlement.

The above settlement of mostly wahabis with the blessing of Bathiudeen and his Saudi friends has to be removed.  A mere presence of a mosque and a few homes during the war time did not necessarily  mean an argument for human settlement as Stated by Batiudeen.

We must be aware of wahabi expansion in Sri Lanka beginning from Pottuvila which was conveyed to the last government who did not take that seriously.   A plead by Muhudu maha vihara monks was conveyed to the then defence secretary and also written to Lankaweb had no impact.  True, the concentration on Tigers would have been a priority during that time,

but that did not mean to ignore the wahabis.

A massive building seen in Katatankudi must be a wahabi and sharia law teaching institution.  Saudis and Qatar men had a free ride in Sri Lanka with blessings of this government and they would have bought many politicians and officials with money.

The 3 persons who run this UNP government Ranil. Saagala and Ava Mangala must at least now stop being Philosophical about the situation and take immediate remedial steps without ‘thinking’ of a UNP vote, including

Banning the burka, the most repulsive dress worn by wahaabi women on this planet. These 3 spineless politicians portray a western English image to impress their friends in USA and Britain and often come up with western ideology on Human Rights, investment, economics etc. 

The solution for the country is not Gota or rest of the 225 plus 1 but to select a set of people emerging from New movements to run the affairs of the country or an army rule to bring vital discipline to the country, restore the

Security situation, flush out all terrorists and drug traffickers and hand over to a select committee of competent People to run the affairs of the country, including foreign experts on various fields.

The irrelevance of Provincial councils was amply demonstrated in the last two years and future development of Sri Lanka should be based at 25 districts level, with powers resting solely on the centre.  As to keep sentiment among few, to function few PCs for the sake of governance with no powers especially on security.  SECURITY MUST NOT BE COMPROMISED and HAS TO RESTED WITH THE CENTER. 

The wahabi attack was a good lesson and an eye opener to this pathetic government run by three fools and a puppet of a president.

Sunil Vijaya

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

Given below is the text of the memo issued by the DIG on April 11, 2019:

April 11, 2019
 
Director/ Ministerial Security Division
Director/ Judicial security division
Director/ Retired presidents security Division
Acting Director/ Diplomatic security Division
Acting Director/ Retired presidents security Division
 
INFORMATION OF AN ALLEGED PLAN ATTACK
 
Reference to the letter of the defence ministry with regard to the above and the statement of IGP dated 2019.04.09 ref : STAFF05/IGP/PS/OUT/2860/19,
 
2. We would like to draw your special attention to the a page no 2 to 4 of the statement of the State Intelligence service stating that information has been received regarding an alleged plan of  suicidal attack by the leader of  ‘ Nations Thawahid Jaman ‘ Mohomad Saharan .
 
3. According to information of that statement ,would like you to give special attention and inform your staff to provide special security measures to the areas covered by your division. 
 
Priyalal Dissanayake
Deputy Inspector General of Police”

The most pertinent points in the Memo are:

i.             It could be a Suicidal Attack

ii.           Attributed to Muslim extremists outfit.

Why authorities failed to prevent the attack? What were the possible reasons?

a.     To expose the President’s weaknesses as the Minister in charge of Law and Order;

b.    The underlying impression that the attack could be against a prominent Presidential candidate;

c.     To delay Presidential and General Elections under the pretext that the political atmosphere is not conducive for mass gatherings during elections;

d.     Reluctance to antagonize Muslim voters and MPs;

e.     To interfere with the pending investigations on the alleged assassination  of the President and former DS.

The opposition should move a vote of no confidence on the government immediately, as neither the President nor Prime Minister will step down otherwise.

Ada Derana

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN, Courtesy The Island

NEW DELHI, April 27: The three intelligence alerts India had sent to Sri Lanka before the devastating serial bombings that killed over 250 people in the island on Easter Sunday had specific details – names of attackers, locations and the plot being hatched.

In the shadowy world of intelligence-gathering, the ‘alert’ is a much-abused but vital tool that can make the difference between life and death. Every day, agencies deal with dozens of alerts, with the numbers occasionally crossing into three figures, but the toughest job is to act on them, as shown in Colombo.

The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) within India’s Intelligence Bureau (IB), which is at the heart of intelligence dissemination, has had its share of failures and successes. It has managed to prevent lone-wolf or ISIS-scale attacks within the country. Its failures included the inability to prevent the attack in Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir) in February this year, and the serial blasts that rocked Mumbai in 1993.

The Multi-Agency Centre, which is referred to as MAC within the system, was revamped in 2009, after the 26/11 attack, to streamline intelligence gathering and is the nodal body at the Centre for sharing intelligence inputs.

The apex body has 24 agencies – from the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Military Intelligence to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) – that share intelligence on a day-to-day basis.

The intelligence collected is sifted through, classified, collated and shared with law enforcers on the ground. On a typical day, the MAC generates 10-15 alerts. But when a big event takes place or in a packed election season, the number of alerts can go up to 100,000 per year.

For counter-terrorism, MAC classifies threats into five theatres: namely Jammu & Kashmir, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Maoism or Naxalism, the North East, Punjab and Hinterland. Its motto is: detect, disrupt, degrade and eventually destroy.

The information shared by agencies is broadly classified into four groups. Category A is considered the “most reliable and credible” and Category B is termed as credible but unable to be corroborated.

Each categorization has further sub-categorizations as well. “There are several factors that come to play during categorization of information. Suppose the source is good and his/her earlier information or sets of information have been found to be genuine and authentic, the value of information or intelligence goes up,” a top Intelligence Bureau sleuth explained.

At the top level is A1 intelligence, where the information is accurate, generated by more than one source and has identifiers that can make it actionable.

In the months prior to the Pulwama suicide bombing on February 14, MAC shared inputs with the military about a spurt in the training of terror cadres across the border on improvised explosive devices.

These inputs ranged from talking about a group of recent recruits that had undergone specialized training to information that attempts were being made locally to produce such explosives. This information was mostly marked in Category B.

However, in December, more specific information came in the ‘next to apex’ A2 level – that Jaish-e-Mohamed’s top bomb maker Abdul Rasheed Ghazi had been sent to train local recruits. While a manhunt was launched, he appears to have succeeded in the mission with the Pulwama strike by a local youth.

Information classified as Category C is unconfirmed, while Category D consists of all sundry and unverified alerts that are processed for future references. Information shared in the B, C and D categories is often used to track a trend or get a lead.

“For any information or intelligence to become actionable, there are five components which are needed. They include: name, place, person, organisation and event,” a Home Ministry official said.

After analysing the five components, the next challenge for intelligence sleuths is to obtain an identifier such as a telephone number, email ID, passport or voice sample to narrow down the search for a person or a definitive lead that can result in an arrest.

This is the most difficult part in sharing of intelligence, when at the ground level, the police is required to leverage the information and finally nab the culprit. This is mostly done at the local or state level, said another official.

Explaining how MAC compiles its alerts, an official added: “Any information/alert received by the MAC control room is immediately filed and followed up with the local authority and SIB (State Intelligence Bureau).

“The IB official handling the MAC desk will not only file his report and action taken on the piece of information but will also create a folder within the system for the person who is coming after him to follow.”

The 24-hour monitoring and recording of threats and alerts are then discussed every morning with top brass from the Ministry of Home Affairs, the National Security Advisor, IB and R&AW, among others. At the state level, there is a subsidiary MAC, which functions in a similar manner.

Although the system has been in place since 2002, it got a completely new look in 2009. MAC meetings to share intelligence are scheduled every working day, with nodal officers of the 24 member-agencies expected to attend.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 27 (newsin.asia): Muslim neighbours and the cleric in charge of the local mosque had tipped off the Security Forces about the existence of a safe house taken on rent by the followers of the Islamic State in the Muslim-majority town of Sainthamarudu in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, locals said.

In a gun battle between the Security Forces and terrorists holed up in a van and the safe house, and following three explosions triggered by the holed-up terrorists on Friday night, 15 people including six men, six women and three children, were killed, police said.

Two suspected terrorists, believed to be suicide bombers have decamped and a hunt is on for them, police said.

Islamic State Safe House

The safe house in question was taken on rent by the followers of a Tawheed Jamaat- led by Moulvi Mohamad Zahran Hashim, who was influenced by the Islamic State (IS), indoctrinated as he was by the Jamaat ul Mujahideen India (JMI), which is an affiliate of the IS.

Zahran was one of the suicide bombers who died in the attack on Shangri-La hotel in Colombo on Easter Sunday.

A woman and a child who were injured in the incident have been hospitalized. No injuries or casualties have been reported among the Security Forces.

Four bodies suspected to be that of the suicide bombers have been recovered at the site of last night’s explosions and gun battles.

Reports had claimed that there could be one or more suicide bombers inside the safe house either killed or in hiding police the army told Reuters on Friday night.

Troops at another town Nintavur detected a brand new unregistered van, suspected to be belonging to the National Towheed Jamat’s leader, Zahran’s brother-in-law, named Niyas.

Following detection of two ID cards, initial reports confirmed the said van had been bought in Akkaraipattu on cash on April 19.

Meanwhile, during another search operation carried out on Friday evening in Sammanthurai area, Army troops recovered ISIS flags, literature and some other objects from a place, said to be the terrorist organization’s place for oath-taking.

According to the Military Spokesman, Brigadier Sumith Atapattu, combined troops recovered explosives, detonators, gelignite sticks, acid bottles, ISIS flags and backdrop, suicide kits,and military uniforms, from the safe house in Sammanthurai.

The dead gunmen are yet to be identified and clearing operations are continuing.

A curfew was imposed within Kalmunai, Chavalakadai and Sammanthurai police areas last night until further notice.

Meanwhile, in Erakandy in Trincomalee district police have arrested a person with 51 water gel explosive sticks and215 detonators. In Colombo a ruling United National Party Municipal Councilor, Noordeen Mohamad Thajuddeen has been arrested for possessing 46 swords.

Local People Tipped Off Police

H.M.Ameer, head of the Abdul Jawad Ali Waliullah Trust, said that when the Security Forces rounded up the Sainthamarudu safe house, gunmen in an un-registered van opened fire on them and the Security Forces returned the fire.

The Muslims here, including the local mosque head, had completely rejected the extremist propaganda which Zahran’s group had been indulging in since 2017. Local people, including their social leaders and clerics, had complained about the Zahran group’s propaganda that non-Muslims have to be exterminated and that those dying in fights against Kafirs, would go straight to heaven,” Ameer said.

Ameer, who is a key personality among the Sufis of the nearby all-Muslim town of Kathankudy, said: People had participated in demonstrations against the Zahran’s Tawheed Jamaat and its propaganda. I, along with 12 others, had filed a case against Zahran seeking a ban on his activities in 2017. I had met Ministry of Defense officials in Colombo with recordings of Zahran’s speeches and the literature he had produced. But all to no avail.”

Rifthi Ali, a freelance journalist now in Sainthamarudu said that local people are livid with Zahran’s men for taking a house on rent and working against the interest of the landlord and the enter area.

Muslims of Sri Lanka consider Zahran and his ilk to be fit to be driven out of Sri Lanka. If there was not such a feeling of discomfort with him, neighbours of the safe house and the local mosque head would not have told the police about the house and its occupants,” Ameer added.

Mohamed Shoib, a political commentator and a media advisor to Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen said that as recently as January 3 this year, the All Ceylon Jamiaythul Ulema (ACJU) had complained to the Defense Ministry about the activities of Zahran’s Tawheed Jamaat, through the good offices of the Governor of the Western Province, Asad Sally. But again to no avail he regretted.

99% of Lankan Muslims are resolutely opposed to terrorism. How can we support them when Islam condemns killing and suicide to be un-Islamic? And here they have children with them,” Shoib pointed out.

No Option

On whether the ugly incident in Samanthurai could have been prevented, people this correspondent talked to said that while stern is called for under the circumstances for the security of the people at large, government should see to it that the Security Forces do not act with impunity.

Hilmy Ahamad, of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) said that the Security Forces had no option but to storm the safe house. He pointed out that the tip-off was given not by non-Muslims but by peace-loving Muslims.

However, the new laws should be exercised with caution so that they are not used to harass people in peace time, Ahmad said.

A well-known human rights activist who is currently on a government committee on missing persons, said that the while tough measures are needed now to track down the conspirators involved in the Easter Sunday carnage, any law allowing disposal of bodies without an inquest should be rejected.

It could give rise to disappearances which have been a major problem in Sri Lanka since the 1980s,” the activist who did not want to be named, said.

Word Of Caution

The liberal think tank, Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said in a statement that it fully appreciates the need for a robust and compelling response from the government in the face of terrorism, so as to reassure and restore public confidence in institutions and a swift return to political, economic, and social normalcy.”

However, in moments like these, there is a danger of executive overreach, as demonstrated by our own past experience of protracted conflict, and that of other countries facing the threat of terrorism. While constitutional democracies accommodate the need for expanded executive powers in order to cope with emergencies, and accordingly the need for some regulated abridgement of individual liberties and normal checks and balances, it is critical to ensure that emergency powers are not allowed to completely extinguish the balance between freedom and security.”

In particular, in equipping the state with adequate powers to respond to the threat of terrorism, we emphasize that the following points require serious attention if this is to be done consistently with the democratic values underpinning our Constitution:-

That no ethnic or religious minority is alienated and marginalized through indiscriminate association with any terror groups in conflict with the state, and ensuring proactive measures to maintain communal harmony and safety;

That the exercise of emergency powers does not exceed the limits of the law and the Constitution, which limits have been expanded by the declaration of a state of emergency;

That emergency powers lawfully exercised have the effect of restricting fundamental rights only to the extent permitted by the Constitution and strictly necessary in a democratic society;

That administrative safeguards are in place to prevent or minimise arbitrary, unreasonable, or disproportionate practices, and in particular safeguards against the use of torture or other inhumane treatment;

That attempts are not made to evade necessary judicial and parliamentary oversight over the exercise of emergency powers; and

That all emergency measures are consistent with Sri Lanka’s obligations under international law, and in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Judged against these constitutional standards, the emergency regulations passed by parliament day give cause for concern.

In the scope of offences and penalties, the extraordinary powers adversely affecting personal liberty and property, the potential for the imposition of undue and illegitimate restrictions on the freedoms of expression and assembly, and in the absence of effective oversight mechanisms, the regulations can be seen as pushing the boundaries of what is constitutionally permissible.

We earnestly hope therefore that these powers are exercised with prudence and restraint, and that the current state of emergency is terminated as soon as exigencies permit.

Ada Derana Late Night News

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM Wellington NZ

The peace that great men reached and kept

Were not attained in sudden flight

They, while their companions slept

Were toiling upwards in the night.

When lesser people came to be in charge of protecting this right,

Not realising the need for security and intelligence so tight,

Began gradually dismantling both of these out of Lanka’s site,

The result was Easter Sunday’s gruesome sight.

Add to this a dysfunctional admin not talking to each other seated or standing,

The writing was on the wall for all to see without any hounding,

At least now, bow to the wanting of Lanka’s people of all standing,

Resign, and  the hand the reigns over to others with so much more standing.   

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM

Wellington NZ

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

      බුද්ධි අංශ විසින් තොරතුරු වාර්තා කර තිබියදීත් පාස්කු ඉරිදා ප්‍රහාරය වළක්වා ගැනීමට ආණ්ඩුව අසමත් විය.යම්කිසි ප්‍රහාරයක් දියත්වන බව සැක කළ බව හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ගෙන් ප්‍රකාශ විය. බළලා මල්ලෙන් එළියට පැමිණ ඇත. අවුරුදු සමයේ  දී සියලු දෙන නිවාඩු ගත කරද්දී දේශපාලකයන් පිටරට සහ නුවර එළියේ සවාරි ගසද්දී මෙමවිනාශය සැලසුම් කළ ඔත්තු සේවාවන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වූහ. බදු බරින් මිරිකී ආර්ථික වශයෙන් බෙලහීන වී දේශපාලන මංකොල්ල කෑම් දැක දැක කිසිවක් කරගත නොහුණු ජනතාව ඉදිරියේ සිය නගුට දෙපරන්ද අස්සේ ගසා ගත් වුන් මේ විනාශය සිදුවන්නට ඉඩදී බලා සිටියහ. මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ එල්ල කරන ලද්දේ දේව මෙහෙයන්ට සාභාගි වූ අහිංසක ජනතාවටයි.විනාශයෙන් පසු කාදිනල් තුමා ගේ ප්‍රකාශයෙන් ගම්‍ය වූයේ මෙහි පිටිපස තිබෙන ජගත් ගුමන්ත්‍රණය එතුමා දැන සිටි ආකාරයයි. ප්‍රහාරයෙන් දවස් කීපයක් ඉක්ම යන්නටද ප්‍රථම එකිනෙකාට දොස් පවරා ගත් දේශපාලන මිනී කාක්කන් සිය ගොදුරු ඉව කරමින් දිව ගියහ. රජයේ අනුමැතිය නොලත්  කැබිනට්ටුවේ පවා සාකච්ඡා නොකළ ආර්ථික කොරිඩෝ ව්‍යාපෘතියට ඩෙලර් මිලියන හාරසිය අසූවක මුදලක් ලැබෙන්නේ මේ අතරය.ප්‍රහාරයේ අරමුණ පැහැදිලිය. මේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය හරහා ලංකාවේ ඉඩම් මංකොල්ල කෑමට වරපත්‍රයක් අගමැතිවරාය විසින් දී තිබේ.

      අප්‍රියෙල් 21 වන දින කතෝලික පල්ලි වලට සහ මුල් පෙලේ හෝටල් වලට එල්ල වූ මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදීන්ගේ සපිරිස්ථාන් සිහිනයේ තවත් දිගුවකි. වත්මන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය එක් පැත්තකින් ඇමරිකාව ඇතුළු බටහිර අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ට ගැතිකම් දක්වන අතර අනෙක් පැත්තකින් මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදීන් සතුටු කරලීමට සියලු වරප්‍රසාද ලබාදීම සිදු කරනු ලබයි. එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයේ හිටපු ලේකම් වරයා වූයේ කබීර්හසීම්ය. ඔහු සිංහල පාසලකට ගිය සිංහල බසින් ඉගෙන ගත් මුස්ලිම් ජන නායකයෙකි.  ඔහුට ලැබෙන වැඩිතර චන්ද සිංහලයන්ගෙනි. සිංහල පාසල් වල ඉගෙන ගත් සාමකාමී මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාව යටපත් කරලමින් අන්තවාදීන් මද්‍රසා පාසල් හරහා වර්තමානයේ හතු පිපෙන්නා මෙන් බිහිව තිබෙන්නේ කබීර් හසීම් බද්යුදීන් වැනි ජන නායකයන් ගේ ආශීර්වාදය හරහාය. මොවුහු එකිනෙක සම්බන්ධ කමක් දක්වති. ඥාතිත්වයක්ද ඇත. රටේ හොර ජාවාරම් කරන ගමන් සුද්දවන්තයන් ලෙසට පෙනී සිටිමින් දේශපාලනය කරති. වයඹ පළාතේ ඉඩම් අල්ලා ගනිමින් ජන ව්‍යාප්තිය සිදු කරන බද්යුදීන් ගේ කාර්යය ට සමගාමීව මුජිබර් රහුමාන් එම්.එස්. තව්ෆීක් වැනි මන්ත්‍රී වරු හිස්බුල්ලා වැනි ඇමතිවරු තම තමන්ට අයත් කාර්යයන් කරති. ෆයිස්ර් මුස්තාපා ගේ ක්‍රියාවලිය තවත් එකකි. නමුත් මේ සියල්ල ප්‍රශ්නයකදී එකට එක් වෙති. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජය කාලයේ රජයේ ඉඩමක් ෂරියා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයකට ලබා දීම සිදු විය. මෙය මද්‍රසා පාසල් මෙන්ම රටටම පිළිලයක් බව දැන් පිළිගන්නට සිදුව තිබේ මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාව නිසා ජීවත් වූ  අනෙක් ඇමතිවරයා වූයේ හිටපු අගමැති දි.මු. ජයරත්නයි. මේ ඇමතිවරයා රටපුරා තිබෙන මුස්ලිම් පල්ලි නඩත්තු කරලීමට හා ඉඳිකිරීමට රජයේ මුදල් ලබා දුන්නේය.  ඒ ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශය හරහාය. පසුගිය කාලයේ දඹුල්ල අනුරාධපුරය ආදී බෞද්ධ පුරවරයන්හි අටවා තිබූ මුස්ලිම් යාඥා මඩු ඉවත් කිරීමට බෞද්ධයින් හඬ නගද්දී රජය හා ඇමති වරු මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාව වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිරිපත් ව කතා කළහ. අතයට මුස්ලිම් වරුන් ගෙන් මුදල් අල්ලස් ලබා ගන්නා නිළධාරීන් ගැනද යමක් කිව යුතුය. නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ සිංහලයින් සතුවූ ඉඩම් වල ඔප්පු වෙනස් කොට හොර ඔප්පු සහතික කරලීමට ගන්නා ලද අල්ලස ප්‍රමාණය නිශ්චිත නැත.

.        .එසේම ලංකාවේ බැංකු පද්ධතියට මුස්ලිම් බැංකු කරණය ඇතුළත් කර තිබේ. 2013 /04/19 ගැසට් පත්‍ර යේ පළ කරන ලද අරාබි විදුහල් ස්ථිපිත කිරීම ගැනත් යමක් කිව යුතුය. මේ යෝජනාවන් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද්දේ එවකට සිටි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වරුන් වන එම්.එස්. තවුෆීක් ( රිල්වානියියාහ් සහ අබු හුරෛරාහ් ආරාබි විදුහල් ) සහ එස්.බී. ෂාරුක් (මර්කස් සකාෆතුල් ඉස්ලාමියා ) යන දෙදෙන විසිනි. මෙහි අරමුණ ලෙසින් සඳහන් වූයේ ෂරියා නීතිය ට අදාල දේව ධර්මවාදීන් බිහිකිරීමයි.එලෙසම මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවන් අදින නිකාබ් සහ බුර්කා ඇඳුම සමාජගත වූයේ ද මේ වහාබ් අන්තවාදයේ ප්‍රතිඵලක් වශයෙනි. කොළඹ පමණක් නොව ඈත ගම් දනව් කරාද වේගයෙන් පැතිර ගිය මේ වසංගතය රජයේ ආයතන වලටද කරදරයක් විය. එම නිසාම 2018 වසරේ කොලොන්නාව ප්‍රා දේශීය ලේකම්වරයාව සිටි සුගත් සිසිර කුමාර මහතාට අමිහිරි අත්දැකීමකට මුහුණ දීමට සිදු විය. සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම මුහුණ වසාගත් මුස්ලිම් කාන්තාවන්ට කාර්යාලයට ඇතුලු වීමට ඉඩ නොදීම නිසා පළාතේ මන්ත්‍රී මරික්කාර් මහතා ගෙන් ඔහුට පීඩා විඳින්නට සිදු විය. අවසානයේ ඔහුට ස්ථාන මාරුවක්ද ලැබුණි. මේ බුර්කා ඇඳුම ගැන නීතිඥ ප්‍රසාදිනී මුදුන් කොටුව මහත්මිය විසින් පොලිස්පතිට කරන ලද පැමිණිල්ලකට පොලිස් නීති කොට්ඨාශ යේ පොලිස් අධීකාරී ඩබ්.ජේ.එන්.සේනාරත්න මහතාගෙන් පිළිතුරු ලැබී තිබුණේ මාස හයක් කල් ගතවූ පසුවයි.බුර්කාව තහනම් කරලීමට නීතියක් නොමැති බව ඔහුගේ පිළිතුරයි. දැන් බුර්කාව ගැන හදිසියේ කාහටත් මතක් වී තිබේ. අපරාධකරුවන් මේ ඇඳුම අස්සේ සැඟව සිටීම මීට හේතුවයි.

     ලාංකික ගෘහ සේවිකාවක් එකල සෞදි ආරාබියේදී  ඝාතනයට ලක් විය. එය ලංකාවේ මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාවට බිය ගෙන දෙන ක්‍රියාවක් නොවේ. අඩු වයස් කාර ළදැරියක් වීම පමණක් ඔවුන්ට ප්‍රශ්ණයක් විය. එම කාරණය  රජය විසින් අධිකරණයේදී ඉදිරිපත් නොකරන ලද බව ඉස්මතු කොට සැබෑ ගැටලුව යටපත් කරන ලදී. එනම් ෂරියා නීතිය යටතේ එවැනි දඬුවම් සමාන්‍ය දෙයක් වන ආකාරයයි.  ලංකාවේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින් නොව මුස්ලිම් ජාතිය ලෙසට සැලකීම කාලයක සිට අනුගමනය කෙරෙන්නෙකි. සිංහල ජනතාවට නොලැබෙන වරප්‍රසාද රාශියක්ම ඔවුන් වෙත ප්‍රදානය කර ඇත. බහු භාර්යා සේවනය ඉන් එකකි. ඔවුන්ටම ආවේණික ක්වාසි අධිකරණ පවත්වා ගෙ යෑමට දැන් නීතියෙන් බලතල ලැබී තිබේ.  ෂරියා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන මේ අධිකරණ නැතහොත් නඩු ශාලා පණස් අටක් රටපුරා ඉඳිකර දීමට රුපියල් මිලියන තිස්අටක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය වෙන් කරන ලද්දේ ඉතාමත් මෑතකදීය. ඒ හිටපු අධිකරණ අමාත්‍ය වරයෙකු  වූ ආතාවුද සෙනෙවිරත්න විසිනි. මේ ඇමතිවරයාගේ චන්ද කොට්ඨාශය වන මාවනැල්ල මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ගේ ආධිපත්‍යට යටත්ව ඇත. මෙයට හේතුව දේශපාලකයින් ඔවුන්ගෙන් යැපිමයි. දෙවනගල රජමහා විහාරයේ විහාරගමින් කොටසක් ආතාවුද ඇමතිවරයාගේ චක්ගෝලයෙකු ද වන මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයෙකු විසින් අල්ලා ගෙන ගොඩනැගිලි සාදා ඇති අතර මේ ඉඩම් නිරවුල් කරලීම පිණිස පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේනතුව කටයුතු කරලීමට ඉදිරිපත් වීමේ දී ඇමතිවරයා ඊට බාධා කළ බව කාහටත් මතක අතැයි සිතමි

      2012 දී පමණ එවකට පැවති රජය නබි නායක තුමන්ගේ උපන් දිනය වෙනුවෙන්  නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනය මගින් ප්‍රකාශ කරන ලද්දේ මුස්ලිම් ජන සමූහය විසින් නබි නායක ගේ ඉගැන්වීම් මගින්  සාමය හා ඉවසීම ප්‍රගුණ කරන බවයි. එය සම්පූරණ මුසාවකි. අන්‍ය ආගමිකයින් හා අන්‍ය ජාතිකයින් වෙනුවෙන් කුරාණය තුල මෛත්‍රී සහගත ප්‍රකාශ නොමැත. අවිශ්වාශ කරන්නවුන්ගේ හදවතට ත්‍රස්තය ඇතුලු කිරීම එහි ඉගැන්වීමයි.. . සියලු උපක්‍රමයන් යොදා අන්‍යාගමිකයන් කොටු කළ යුතු බවද. ඔවුන් ගැවසෙන තැන් වල සැංගිසිටීමට කටයුතු කිරීමද  මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාවගේ සිරිතයි.

           මේ තත්වය හමුවේ මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලකයින් ලංකාව සපිරිස්ථානයක් නොහොත් මුස්ලිම් රටක් බවට පත් කරලීමේ ශුද්ද වූ යුද්ධය අරඹා තිබේ. මෑතකදී හෙළි වූ හලාල් සහතිකය ලබා ගැනිමේ වැඩපිලිවෙලද  මෙහි අංගයකි. හලාල් යනු දෙවියන්ට කැපවූ ආහාර සඳහා යොදන නාමයයි. එය මුස්ලිම් වරුන්ට පමණක් නොව අන්‍ය ආගමිකයින්ටද බලෙන්ම පැටවීම මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලනයේ සවභාවයයි. ඒ මගින් අල්ලා  දෙවියන් විශ්වාශ නොකරන ජනතාව වෙතින් ලබා ගන්නා මුදල් සපිරිස්ථානය ගොඩ නැන්වීමේ ව්‍යපාරය සඳහාම යොදවන බව පැවසෙයි. වර්තමානය වන විට ඉතා පැරණී පක්ෂයක් වූ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයද මුස්ලිම්  අන්තවාදීන් ඉදිරියේ හලාල් කරවා තිබේ.

              තවුහීද් ජමාත් සංවිධානයේ නාකයෙකු බුදු රජාණන් වහන්සේට අපහාස කරමින් එකල ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කලේය. එසේම ජමිල් උලමා සංවීධානය මේ සියල්ල සම්බන්ධීකරනයට ලක් කරමින් මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදය පෝෂණය කලේය. මේ බව එළිපිටම හඬනගා කිවූ යේ බෙදු බල සේනා සංවිධානය බව කාහටත් අමතක නැතැයි සිතමි.පූජ්‍ය ගලගොඩ අත්තේ ඥානසාර හිමියන් ගේ හැසිරීම් පිළිබද ප්‍රශ්ණ කරමින් උන් වහන්සේට  බැණ අඬ ගැසුවා මිසක සිංහල ජන සමාජය මේ තොරතුරු ග්‍රහණය කර නොගත් බව කිව යුත්තේ කණගාටුවෙනි. පක්ෂ පාට කණ්නාඩි වලින් බලමින් සිංහල අන්තවාදයක්  ගැන කතා කළ මේ මෝඩ ජනතාව තමන් ඇතුලු සමස්ත සමාජය වෙලා ගනිමින් සිටින අන්තවාදී යක්ෂ සේනාව නුදුටුවහ. මේ නිර්වින්දනයේ ප්‍රතිඵල අද අත් දකින්නට  සිදුව තිබේ.මේ නිර්වනිදනය උපයෝගී කරගනිමින් හලාල් කරන ලද යූඑන්පී නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ තවත් අංචියකට අර ඇඳ ඇත.. එනම් මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදය දඩමීමා කරගෙන ඇමරිකන් හමුදාවන් බුද්ධි සේවාවන් රට තුළට කැන්දා ගැනීමයි. පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේ දී සහ සරිව පාක්ෂික සමුලුවේ දී  ඔහු කළ ප්‍රකාශ වලින් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ එයයි. පසුගියදා කළ සුනඛ සොදිසි මෙහෙයුමකදී එක්තරා මුල් පොලේ හෝටලයක් කාමරයක ඇමරිකන් කාරයන්ගේ රහසිගත උපකරණ කීපයක් හමු වූ   බවට රාවයක් පැතිර ගියහ. මේ සිද්දිය සත්‍යක් වුවද නැතද එයින් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ මේ රටේ පක්ෂ විසින් කරන නිර්ලජ්ජිත  පාවා දීමයි. ජනතාවගේ මලමිනී උඩින් වුව තම බලය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට ඔවුන් සූදනම් බවයි.

        ඉතිහාසයේ සඳහන් වන ආකාරයට කුරුණෑගල යුගයේ දී මේ මුස්ලිම් රංචුව තමන්ගේම මුස්ලිම් නායකයෙකු රජ  කිරීමට උත්සාහ කළහ.එය පරාජය විය.පසුව රයිගම සිට මුස්ලිම් පාලනයක් ආරම්භ කරලීමට උත්සාහ කළහ. චීන මැදිහත් වීමෙන් එයද පරාජයට පත් විය.ඉන්පසු ඉන්දීය මරක්කලයන් රට වටේ නාවික බලය අත්පත් කොට ගෙන සිංහල රජු පාලනය කරන්නට විය. පරංගින් ගේ පැමිණීමෙන් එයද ව්‍යර්ථ විය.එහෙත් රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනගහනය ඉන් බලවත් ලෙස පීඩා වින්දහ. පරංගීහු සිංහලයන් මෙන්ම ඉන්දීය සංක්‍රමණිකයන් ක්‍රිස්තියානිකරණයට පත් කළ අතර සිංහල බෞද්ධ සහ කතෝලික ජනතාව අතර විරසකයක් ඇති කළහ. කේෂ්වියර් පූජකවරයා ගේ මෙහෙයවීමෙන් මන්නාරම් සිංහලයන් පරංගීන් අතින් ඝාතනය වූයේ එහෙයිනි.මුස්ලිම් බලපෑම් සිදු වූ බොහෝ අවස්ථාවලදී විදේශ මැදිහත් වීම් සිදුව ඇතිබව මෙයින් අපට ලැබෙන පණිවුඩයයි.

                              මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – I gave leadership to the government that defeated the terrorists that no one thought could ever be defeated. From the moment this government came into power in January 2015, they have been persecuting the members of the armed forces and the intelligence services that ended that war,” said former President and Current Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapakse in an emotional 10 minute address to parliament on April 23.

With his voice almost cracking up with emotion, the war-winning president said that the armed forces personnel who carried out their duties on behalf of the nation were harassed and hunted down by this government”. He slammed the government for listening to foreign (western) powers and undermining national security.

The government should at least now realise that you cannot run this country according to the dictates coming from foreign countries. We have to solve our own problems. Because the government was engaged in relentlessly persecuting its own armed forces, we became an easy target for terrorists,” pointed out Rajapakse, adding that no other country in the world has persecuted and weakened their own armed forces and intelligence services in this manner”.

While social media is blocked by the government, his comments have triggered a debate in much of the mainstream media about how the government led by President Maitripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been inept at protecting the security of the country, because they have allowed western governments, NGOs funded by them and UN organisations like the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to dictate national security policies to them.

In September 2015, the government virtually surrendered the policy making process to the UNHRC when it co-sponsored a resolution calling upon the government to account for alleged war crimes  and missing persons during the final push to eliminate one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world at the time, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

This has led to pressure on the government to set up war crimes courts with foreign judges, set up a missing persons investigation centre and imprisonment of former intelligence officers and army personnel, many of whom are seen by most Sri Lankans as war heroes, who brought peace to the country. At the time of the Easter Sunday attack, the government was on the verge of repealing the ‘Prevention of Terrorism Act’ under the dictates of the West and UNHRC.

If that had happened what position would we be at today?” asked Rajapakse.

In a video interview given by leading Constitutional Lawyer Manohara de Silva on April 23 that was widely circulated via email, he also slammed the government for giving the responsibility for the country’s security to the international community. He blamed the 2015 UNHRC resolution for the current situation where the country’s security guard was lowered.

He pointed out that the new anti-terror law that was presented to parliament recently, makes it impossible to pursue or charge anyone for terrorism activity if that person is a foreign national – even though he may have been a Sri Lankan national before.

If the country he lives now don’t agree, we can’t charge him,” he notes. So this law is going to be subservient to the West (because most of those who support terrorism in Sri Lanka have obtained asylum in Western countries, especially LTTE sympathisers)”. He accuses the government of trying to please the West rather than protecting our citizens”.

Silva pointed out in the interview that about 40 intelligence officers who helped to end terrorism in Sri Lanka are now behind bars. They are still held on remand when there is no sound evidence against them,” he notes. If so they should be charged by now.”

This has led to a situation, argues Silva, that intelligence officers are afraid to investigate terrorism threats today because they are worried that they would be framed like those in jail. We cannot operate our intelligence services this way. This is why we have to depend on Indian intelligence,” he argues.

Silva also points out that 54 bills have been passed against our army” under pressure from UNHRC and the missing persons act passed does not allow the police to the investigations, but delegates it to the ‘Office of Missing Persons’ that is stacked with anti-national NGO types, one of whom is Dr Nilmalka Fernando, a well-known anti-Buddhist western-funded NGO activist.

In a statement released to the media today on April 25, Sri Lanka’s major Buddhist chapter, Asgiriya chapter, called upon the government to give an immediate pardon to all imprisoned intelligence officials and draft them back into the country’s national security framework. Religious extremism spread in the country because experienced intelligence officials have been imprisoned for various reasons. They did an immense service to defeat terrorism. We need to consider our national security and they should be pardoned and released immediately,” the statement said.

Another Sri Lankan lawyer, Dharshan Weerasekare, author of ‘UN’s Relentless Pursuit of Sri Lanka’ in a commentary published in Lankaweb has called into question the timing and reason for the Easter Sunday attack.

What is crucial is that the bombings not be permitted to become a pretext for the Government to join the U.S.’s ‘War on Terror.’ For the past four years, the U.S. and India (the U.S.’s new ally in Asia) have been busy trying to gain maximum indirect control over Sri Lanka in order to prevent the Chinese from establishing a presence in this country,” he argues.They would have succeeded had it not been for the collapse of the ‘National Government’ and the subsequent collapse of the drive to enact a new Constitution”.

With both presidential and parliamentary elections due in Sri Lanka within the next 12 months, the nationalist alliance led by Rajapakse is strongly tipped to win both elections. Survival of the staunchly pro-Western Wickremasingle is crucial for the West to control Sri Lanka’s destiny.

In March 2018 when a no-confidence motion against the PM was gathering momentum a riot broke out between Muslims and Buddhists in Central Sri Lanka. Timely action by local community leaders of both communities prevented it becoming a major nationwide conflict.

Then when Sirisena sacked Wickremasinghe and appointed Rajapakse as PM in November 2018, Western ambassadors in Colombo openly interfered in the domestic political process to get Wickremasinghe reinstalled. Now come the terror attacks that have the potential to create chaos in the country so that Sri Lanka could be called a ‘failed state’, ripe for the West’s new-colonialism via the R2P (Right to Protect) framework.

Sri Lanka which sits at a strategically vital spot in the Indian Ocean is crucial for both the Americans as well as the Chinese, the former in order to further entrench their control over this region, the latter to break out of the ‘encirclement’ notes Weerasekare, pointing out that a new government that would take power after elections next year could be heavily pro-nationalist as well as pro-Chinese.

In short, all the hopes that the Americans/Indians had in January 2015 are now in ruins, and the ‘gains’ they made in the last four years are very much in danger of being reversed.”

Sri Lanka’s oldest leftist party Lanka Sama Samaji Party (LSSP), while issuing a condolence message to victims of the bombing, said there was something more sinister than what meets the eye. This whole attack has similarities with events abroad that have been attributed to the CIA of the USA,” the statement argued.

The statement added: It is known that the CIA and USA think tanks are operating here with the support of the Government. With the blue print for a police state, the diabolical Counter Terrorist Act (CTA) available, to ensure that the UNF (governing alliance) can stay in power, without holding elections, the path to becoming a neo-colony of the USA can go ahead without interruption.”

Thus, what happened on Easter Sunday, may not be merely a jihadist attack on Christians and Western tourists to take revenge on the New Zealand Christchurch massacre in March 2019. This could well be part of the dirty geo-political wars being fought around the world by major powers with young brainwashed religious zealots as fodder. [IDN-InDepthNews – 25 April 2019]

https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/the-world/asia-pacific/2645-sri-lanka-easter-sunday-attacks-possibly-more-than-a-religious-conflict?fbclid=IwAR28lOnKGEmnwynp4TOWhfmO-C-hxfQrsaXPTmFzD3yglftrMAvqv2MlbIU

Editorial

The Easter Sunday massacre could have been easily avoided had the government taken the intelligent information it received seriously rather than shrug it off almost callously ignoring the source whence it came from. The Indian Government Intelligence authorities for starters amongst  others which begs the question what price have the SrI Lankans to pay for such a grievous error?

While it is common knowledge that there is bad blood between the President and the Prime Minister in the aftermath of the former’s  failed attempt to depose him but there can be no excuse regardless of the rhetoric one hears on the international news media that this was a colossal failure on the part of the Sri Lanka authorities to protect her people.

It was almost ludicrous to see and  hear Ranil Wickremasinghe grinning like a cheshire cat on  BBC that he was “outside the loop” whatever that meant and therefore he was not responsible where the fact of the matter is, something of a horrendous nature has  transpired from which the Nation will take a long tome to recover  and it appears the leaders of the Nation are now attempting to pass the buck and carrying on blaming the Defense Secretary and others where they should taking the sole responsibility for the huge lapse which caused so much grief and disrupted the lives of so many innocent people through no fault of their own.

They should hang their heads in shame and the’ loop’ Wickremasinghe refered to likened to a loop of the hangman’s noose that should be placed round his neck inasmuch as that of his superior the President ( indeed capital punishment seems deserving here) who are beyond the shadow of a doubt directly and completely responsible for this National tragedy which could easily have been prevented or its impact greatly reduced if preventive action had been taken given the security resources, intelligence and firepower the Nation has.

One has to now dispel and completely refute the various theories  being circulated  as to the whys and wherefores of the neglect and failure to act promptly and who, beyond the dastardly and inhumane group calling themselves ISIS could be responsible. A group that has been decimated in their original location in the Middle East and outlawed by the world including the international community of global Muslims where it appears ironically they have found a base in Sri Lanka or at least attempted to set  one up which now has to be thwarted and completely destroyed while most Sri Lankans now live in apprehension and fear that the worst is not yet over.

They need to be given the assurance that their country is protected and should have no fear of continuing with their lives where the Authorities now have a huge hand to play towards this unreservedly and with the full force of military capability and the Acts of Parliament attesting to this and the land completely rid of the vermin that has caused so much havoc in the name of radical and fundamental Islam which has no place in Sri Lanka or anywhere else on the planet!

It is now known that  the President has finally admitted it and has said” the government should take responsibility for this unfortunate incident as well as for weakening country’s intelligent services.” where the toll for his lapses as well as that of the Prime Minister has been heavy.

​But to quote a recent news report “he has forgotten that he is in charge of defense and remains as the country’s Commander – in  Chief” albeit with a need to deploy all the resources available to him which if it is beyond his capacity hand over the reins to someone better equipped.

In time to come there will be insurmountable losses in revenue from this incident particularly in the field of Tourism and other areas of revenue where hopefully there will be Nation friendly changes which will favour the economy instituted by the person /persons waiting in the wings to take over from the present decrepit Administration which in no uncertain terms is an utter disgrace  to the once Resplendent Isle we call our Motherland and to her noble people.

God Bless And Protect  Sri Lanka.

By; A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Sri Lanka remained a very peaceful country in the whole of Asia from 9th May 2009 since our gallant forces vanquished the world’s ruthless terrorists, the Tiger terrorists who played havoc in the country for over 30 years and who invented and were responsible for introducing the human suicide bomb to the world. Following the end of terrorism in 2009 Sri Lanka remained the most safe and secure nation, perhaps in the whole world, due to the tight and impenetrable security network imposed by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.  But unexpectedly the foreign, terrorist and hegemonic India imposed foreign and diaspora servile current government, despite stern warnings and vehement condemnations by the joint opposition relaxed these security measures on western, diaspora and TNA demands and boasted that they have made the country a nation of maximum freedom in which no one is harassed or threatened on concocted charges, they have put an end to what they said the white van culture, and the people have the fullest freedom to indulge in whatever actives they deem it necessary.  They also stated that there are and will be no areas called high security zones in the country.

This illusory Utopian world was suddenly shattered last Sunday (21st April – the Easter Sunday) and immersed in grief and sorrow by suicide bombings mainly in three holy church premises and three leading hotels by a group of brutal, inhuman fanatics for whom human lives seemed to be not even worthy of stray dogs Up to the time of writing this article the carnage was reported to have caused 319 deaths and over 500 injured with the potential to increase in the number of deaths. The world’s brutal terrorist outfit which has replaced the atrocities of the tiger terrorist, the ISIS claimed responsibility for this carnage. They published photographs and names of seven barbarians in their website AMAQ news agency

The names of the terrorist suicide bombers as announced by the Amaq News Agency were;

St. Anthony’s Church, Colombo – Abu Hamza

 St. Sebastian’s Church, Negombo Abu Kaleel

 Scion Church, Batticaloa – Abu Muhammad

 Shangri-La Hotel – Abu Ubaida

. Cinnamon Gardens – Abu Al Baara

. Kingsbury Hotel – Abu Mukthar, AND

. Dematagoda Blast – Abu Abdulla

The prefix to all the names Abu” is a common usage for names in the Middle East and it denotes that the concerned person is the father of so and so.For instance Abu Hamza is the father of Hamza, Another form they use identification of persons is Ibn (on of), In the case of females they use Umm – mother of – of Bint – daughter of. In Sri Lanka we use father’s name followed by our personal names,

Meanwhile, the Police have published the photograph of the following 6 suspects urgently wanted regarding the bombing incidents.

They are;

Mohamed Ismail Sadik Abdulla

. Pulasthini Rajendran alias Sarah

Fathima Latheefa

Mohamed Iwhaim Shahid Abdullah

Abdul Kader Fathima Kaadia and

Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Rilwan

The former Defence Secry,Mr. Gobhaya Rajapaksa, who had been shocked seeing the collapse of the security fortress painstakingly built by him, issuing a special message has said that it is a fundamental duty of a civilized society to vehemently condemn the terrorist attacks carried out in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday which is a holy day for Christians throughout the world.   . We must wholeheartedly reject, despise, and condemn this cowardly, and inhuman acts, he emphasized. Here is the English translation of his message.

I express my sincere and heartfelt condolences for all those who lost their precious lives and to their kith and kin.  I also express that it should be the common and sincere prayer of the whole country for the early and speedy recovery of all those who have got injured and suffered from this cowardly act. Further, I also draw the attention of the government that it is their prime duty and responsibility to immediately renovate the damaged churches and their premises and the private ropertiesthat had been damaged.

The hearts of Sri Lankans were suddenly stopped with shock and grief when after ending a 30 years of war and were breathing freely when this cruel terrorist attack took place and it reminded  that terrorism has no sanity and consciousness.

Sri Lanka was in possession of an intelligence service that was not second to the world’s most powerful intelligence service and the act of dishonouring this intelligence which assured safety and security for Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and others alike in front of our face is causing much agony and grief. But the moment has come for us to transform this agony and grief into courage and determination.

It is our prime and foremost task today to recreate a lovable and adoring Sri Lanka in which all nationalities, people of all religions can live together in safety and security. I have learned from my personal experience that any force against the motherland can be defeated if we face it determinedly and firmly. It is by this solidarity that we could get the power and strength to wipe out the forces against the motherland.

Let us display that our self-confidence is above all other things at this time the whole country is embedded with shock. It is the noble guidance that should be provided to the people by the religious leadership, by the political leadership, and the social leadership.

Let us rise up on behalf of the motherland under the National Flag in unity and with a single determined heart.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa

In his desperation and agony, Mr. Gotabaya has told media on Friday 26th April that he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveillant citizens. He has ad that the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.. He has said that since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat was to the country.

On the same day, President Sirisena also blamed that the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

He said that if he won, his immediate attention would focussed to rebuild the security set-up and said that is a serious problem  and need e to go deep into dismantle the networks, and he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that in the military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, had some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in east had been disbanded by the current government. He flayed the government saying that they did not give priority to national security, they were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, and they were talking about individual freedoms.

Leading Buddhist monks, prelates of Christian and other religions, and civil society organizations have severely condemned Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe for bringing this country to this vulnerable and pathetic situation due to his foreign, diaspora and TNA servile appeasements , ignoring warnings made by intelligence service units and avenging the war heroes who dedicatedly protected and safeguarded this country.  They have urged Mr. Wickremasinghe to step down immediately and handover the country to security forces to rule the country until a new government is elected by the people. 

They have pointed out that every time he came to power, he crippled the intelligence services and endangered the security of this nation. In this regard they have cited some of the treacherous activities carried out by him which include;

Betrayal of 160 members of highly trained commandos of the Long-range penetration unit which operated from the Millennium City to LTTE and exposing their names and identity;

Signing the awful CFA and thereby caging our security forces to their barracks while granting full freedom to LTTE cadres to roam to anywhere in the country;

Crippling the intelligence services and denying them the special facilities they require;

Allowing the terrorists to import sophisticated technologically advanced communication equipment and allowing them to take it to North unchecked;

Inaction on several thousand ceasefire violation charges against the terrorists;

After 2015crippling the intelligence services by arresting over 20 prominent officers on fraudulent charges;

Enacting legislations targeting arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of war heroes locally and internationally;

Imprisoning several prominent war heroes merely on the requests of foreign, diaspora and TN elements;

Carrying out a witch hunt to net commanding officers of the security forces that too on the requests of foreign, diaspora and TN elements;

 A report published by CNN revealed that on 9th April the Deputy Inspector General of Police Priyalal Dissanauyake has circulated a warning to government leaders on the impending attack on the Easter Sunder and the Prime Minister and other government leaders have completely ignored third circular and has intimated about it to Christian Ministers and Christian MPs in the government and they have deliberately hidden this important warning from the Leader of Opposition Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa and Cardinal His Highness Dr. Malcolm Ranjith fearing that they would take undue advantage from this warning.  At least if they had informed about this danger to is Highness Rd. Malcolm Ranjith he would have certainly taken some concrete measures to minimize the damage of the carnage.  This also shows that the government no concern at all about the people and they only wanted to ensure the safety of their ministers and MPs and hence they including the Minister of Christian Affairs, John Ameratunga,a staunch Christian refrained from attending Mass on this the third most important day of the Christian Calendar.

This foreign servile government has plunged the peaceful country in peril and it is imperative that this government should be done away without any delay, The President should take immediate action to dismiss this government and appoint a caretaker government of Security and judiciary officers until a new government is elected by the people.  It is absurd to expect this government to resign voluntarily as the Kohola Baba and his acolytes would stay glued to their seats until they are caught by the neck and thrown out.

(To be continued).

BY AMAL JAYASINGHE Courtesy The Island

(AFP) Fifteen people including six children died in a battle between Sri Lankan security forces and suicide bombers who blew themselves up in the latest fallout from the Easter attacks, police said Saturday.

Three men set off explosives that killed themselves, three women and six children inside what was believed to a jihadist hideout near the eastern town of Kalmunai on Friday night.

“Three other men, also believed to be suicide bombers, were found dead outside the house,” police added in a statement. The three outside were shot dead by security forces, police officials added.

Security forces tried to storm the house and a one-hour long gun battle ensued before the explosions, a military official said.

Police and troops have stepped up raids after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels, which killed least 253 people and injured 500. 

Kalmunai is in the same region as the home town of the jihadist Zahran Hashim who founded the group accused of staging the attacks.

The operation followed a tip-off that people linked to the attacks were in the town, 370 kilometres (230 miles) east of the capital.

Video on state television showed explosives, a generator, a drone and a large quantity of batteries inside the house. 

The clashes came hours after security forces raided a nearby location where they believe Hashim and the other bombers recorded a video pledge of allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before carrying out the attacks.

Police said they found an IS flag and uniforms similar to those worn by the eight fighters for the video. IS released the video two days after the attacks.

Authorities named Hashim’s group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), as the perpetrators of the attack, but announced Friday he had been killed in the bombing of the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.

The government is on the defensive over its failure to heed a foreign intelligence warning that NTJ was planning suicide bombings on churches.

Police chief Pujith Jayasundara became the second top official to resign over the blunders Friday, after top defence ministry official Hemasiri Fernando also stepped down.

Sri Lanka’s Catholic leader, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, has said he felt “betrayed” by the government’s failure to act on the warnings.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe apologised on Friday.

“We take collective responsibility and apologise to our fellow citizens for our failure to protect victims of these tragic events,” the PM wrote on Twitter.

Amidst fears of new attacks, the Roman Catholic church has suspended all public services across the country until security is guaranteed by the government, with the archbishop appealing to Catholics to stay home and say private prayers.

Security has been stepped up at churches and mosques across the South Asian nation.

Some groups were expected to hold public vigils in Colombo and Negombo, where St Sebastian’s Church suffered some of the worst casualties in the bombings.

The military have poured troops onto the streets to back up police as they search for suspects using newly granted powers under a state of emergency.

At least 94 people are in custody, including a man believed to be the father of two of the bombers. Authorities warned the hunt would contine. 

“We now have info that there are about 140 people in Sri Lanka linked to the Islamic State. We can and we will eradicate all of them very soon,” President Maithripala Sirisena said Friday, announcing new legislation on extremist groups.

– Tourism hit –

Dozens of foreigners died in the attacks and the government has said it expects the number of overseas tourists to fall by 30 percent this year, at a cost of $1.5 billion in revenues.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the island — which depends on tourism as a cornerstone of its economy — could take up to two years to fully recover.

The US State Department on Friday escalated its travel warning for Sri Lanka and ordered the departure of all school-age family members of US government employees.

Other nations including Israel, Australia and Britain have already warned against visiting Sri Lanka.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 27 (newsin.asia): The United States has said that while applying improved safety mechanisms to protect Sri Lanka’s citizens from new threats, it is imperative that the Sri Lankan government do so in ways that also protect rule of law and that do not infringe upon the human rights of individuals or groups, or limit their ability to worship, communicate and to live together in peace.

The US Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, stated in her call for unity on April 25: These terrible attacks are the work of a few individuals and not of an entire community. Sri Lankans of all backgrounds and faiths have come together to condemn these atrocities. Unity is the most powerful answer to terrorism.”

Ambassador Teplitz further underscored that while we work together to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice, we must remain vigilant in defending the democratic ideals that form the pillars of a strong society. And we must do so without destroying communities of peaceful, innocent people who share the faith of the attackers, but not their warped ideology. We must always respect the wonderful diversity of Sri Lanka and fortify the culture of unity that the country needs to thrive.”

Short Term Collaboration

On Saturday, the US said: At the request of the Sri Lankan Government, U.S. experts are already working closely with their Sri Lankan partners on fulfilling short term, specific objectives related to the recent attacks and to bringing the perpetrators to justice. This cooperation does not indicate a larger, long term presence of US security teams in the country,” a press release from the US embassy said.

As Sri Lanka looks to the future and to implementing changes in security and communications procedures to prevent future atrocities, the United States stands ready to assist with lessons learned from our own past tragedies and through our ongoing cooperation with local authorities.”

The US statement follows a warning by an opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardene that the US may post its troop in Sri Lanka in the guise of helping Colombo fight Islamic terror.

When asked about the possibility of US stationing troops in Sri Lanka, President Maithripala Sirisena said that no foreign troops would be allowed to be deployed and that Sri Lanka would only seek cooperation in intelligence.

By Udaya P Gammanpila Courtesy Ceylon Today

Profile pictures have been changed to National flags and white flags, Pray for Sri Lanka” posts have gone viral,  people are lining up to donate blood,  everybody is weeping for the Easter Sunday terrorist attack victims in unison; shedding petty racial, religious and political differences.  

All of us collectively condemn the attacks and convey condolences to families of the victims.  Could we prevent further attacks of this kind by merely mourning and helping each other?  The crystal-clear answer is a big ‘no’.  In order to prevent repetitions, we should find the reasons for this debacle and eliminate the same.

Sri Lanka witnessed a terrorist attack exactly after a decade.  There was no terrorist attack in Sri Lanka after the defeat of LTTE terrorism on 19 May 2009.

 When powerful nations were worrying about terrorist attacks, we boasted about the security in our country.  Unfortunately, national security was put into reverse gear after change of Government on 8 January 2015.

Intelligence officers, Security Forces demoralised

Intelligence officers, who act as eyes and ears of the nation, are the first to receive information about terrorist activities.  Government politicians now ask where the intelligence officers were.

  They conveniently forget that they put intelligence officers behind bars soon after coming into power. 

 The Government not only demoralised intelligence officers, but the entire security forces by arresting several groups of intelligence officers in an indecent manner. So the Government lost the chance of receiving informing well in advance.  

The Government used the judicial system to harass the military top brass who won the war, including the then Defence Secretary by levelling baseless allegations. The message received by the Forces was that defeating terrorism was a punishable offense. 

The Government did not stop there; it joined hands with the former terrorists to accuse our troops of war crimes at the UNHRC. Sri Lanka set a record by being the first Government to go against its own military.

Terrorists were encouraged

The Government not only discouraged the Military but also encouraged the terrorists in every possible way.  A law was enacted to pay compensation for terrorists and to legalise commemorations of fallen terrorist leaders. 

 While soldiers were arrested, the terrorists were pardoned and released.  Encourage your child to be a terrorist instead of a soldier” was the message given by the Government to the general public.

For the first time in our history, we became victims of Islamic extremist terrorism instead of Tamil separatist terrorism; it has been a new experience for us. It was however, a result of making an atmosphere conducive for terrorism during the last four years. When there is wet fertile soil, nobody needs to plant weeds – they grow without any effort. Similarly, brutal terrorism is the unavoidable end result of actions taken by the Government during the recent past.

A warning, unheeded

Joining the Halal debate, I warned in this column in 2014 that international Muslim extremism had reached Sri Lanka and urged Muslim community leaders to look after their people. 

 Unfortunately Muslim scholars and politicians blamed me, accusing me of seeing crocodiles in the tea cup, instead of being vigilant about the warning.  

Similarly, Parliamentarians Wimal Weerawansa and Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa were heavily under attack by Muslim leaders for pointing out the growing extremism in Muslim society.  

Venerable Gnanasara, who had been warning about Muslim militancy, was imprisoned for 19 years.  All was set for free growth of Islamic militancy without any obstacle.

When several Muslims were arrested for vandalising Buddhist shrines and possessing explosives, the Government had a golden opportunity of tracing terrorists responsible for the Easter Sunday Attack.  

The terrorists have reportedly attacked Christians in Sri Lanka in retaliation to the attack that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Why did they choose Sri Lanka?  Sri Lanka had the best atmosphere for such a terrorist attack having a weakened security setup.

Hope

A Silver ray can be seen in the gloomy sky.  He is Ali Sabri PC, a rising Muslim leader.  He warned Muslim society that Muslims are being isolated and Muslim youths are increasing attracted to extremism. 

 He was bold enough to speak the truth because he loves this country and his community more than himself.  In order to ensure a secured future for Muslims, the community should be led by the people, in the calibre of Ali Sabri.

The UNP has been in a shameless attempt to avoid responsibility claiming We were not aware of anything.  Intelligence was received by Police, and the IGP is directly under the President”.  

They have conveniently forgotten that the present IGP was selected by the UNP, ignoring seniors.  His name was recommended to the President by the Constitutional Council of which the majority is with the UNP.  

Furthermore, the IGP can be removed only by Parliament which is in control of the UNP.  Moreover, Police Department had been under UNP ministers until October 2018.  Hence, the UNP cannot shed the responsibility away.

This brutal terrorist attack is the harvest of seeds sowed by the Government for the last four years.  Unfortunately, innocent people had to sacrifice their loved ones for the Government’s blunders.  We have no more tears to shed.  We have no further strength to weep.  

Hence, the Government should revisit its policies and attitudes towards terrorism.