Courtesy The Island

A former accountant of the Keleniya Office of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) , Ananda Mabola, was sentenced by Colombo High Court judge Gihan Kulatunga, yesterday, to 37 years rigorous imprisonment for financial irregularities. Mabola was also ordered to pay the NWSDB Rs. 13 million as compensation and Rs. 4 million as fines.

Kulatunga said that if Mabola failed to pay the fine, he would face an additional 23-year jail term.

The case will be called again on May 31 so that Mabola can pay the fine and compensation.

Mabola has embezzled Rs. 12 million, within 12 months (in 2005) by forging the signature of the Manager of the Keleniya Office the NWSDB.

Chandre Dharmawardana

Every one has by now heard of how a large number of cows have been imported in recent years, and how they had died causing severe problems to the dairy farmer. A recent report entitled Importing exotic cows which performed poorly under local conditions” by Ananda Wickremasinghe appeared in the Last Sunday Times.

In the 1970s, when I was a Director of the Leather Products corporation (DI became “Lanka Sam”) there was discussion that “Lanka Sam” should have its own livestock and dairy farm to ensure its autonomous supply of cattle skin. This quest was then linked with the more wider national program and the minster at the time, Mr. T. B. Subasinghe, requested me to contribute my views on it.

So, at the time I wrote a brief report, and my views were that of the odd man out, as I recommended that NO state sponsored dairy farming or cattle farming for beef should be initiated in Sri Lanka, where as if a householder or a farm were to have a few cows, such small-scale ventures should be fine.

Of course, my submission was rejected as everyone else supported developing an indigenous dairy and cattle industry.

My objections at that time have now proved to be 100% accurate. The objections are based on the following reasons.

(I) There is now (and there was then) a glut of milk production in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand  and other countries with large areas of pasture land and low-density human populations. Sri Lanka is a densely populated country and further encroachment of the natural habitat for raising  cows  is something we CANNOT afford to do, as we can hardly accommodate the need for housing and food production for the increasing population. The urban encroachment has now completely transformed the country into asphalt and concrete. Even the Wilpattu has been razed.

(ii) Our cost of production per litre of milk or a kg of beef is actually much more than for the US or NZ farmer. It is much cheaper to import their product and save our land.

(iii)Pasture maintenance requires large fertilizer and water inputs, as well as antibiotics for the animals. One of our Sri Lankan scientists who emigrated to Australia is an authority on pasture lands (Dr. Pari Loganathan) and fertilizer usage. He has studied the gradual degradation of the lands there.  I was proud to hear that he  was briefly one of my chemistry students in the late 1960s!

(iv) Production of meat and animal milk costs a lot of resources compared to producing vegetables, lentils and such legumes. Meat production requires a much higher amount of water than vegetables. IME states (see attached table) that to produce 1kg of meat requires between 5,000 and 20,000 litres of water whereas to produce 1kg of wheat requires between 500 and 4,000 litres of water. One may think that to produce one litre of milk, you only need one litre of water. But that is incorrect, as the cow has to drink much more water to survive to produce one litre. Also, you need to count the water used to grow the grass or fodder. That is why one needs some 1000 liters of water to produce one litre of milk. That is factor of 1000. In the case of beef, it is a factor 15,000 or more!

Furthermore, cows and other grazing animals need a lot of land to graze or grow the fodder. A rough rule of thumb is that you can keep two cows per acre of land, but dairy needs more land than beef cattle, often kept corralled in for intensive farming. Grazed dairy cattle tend to need less antibiotics simply because they produce less milk. Having a high energy feed results in high milk output; however, increased milk output also increases the animal’s physiological stress, leading to a higher incidence of health problems and infectious diseases. Their effluent poisons the ecosystem.

This is why ecological reasons strongly favour the vegetarian diet and lifestyle. Even if one is not a strict vegetarian, it is better to adopt a diet which is high in vegetables and legumes (lentils, peas, “kadala”, mung etc). Milk is a nutritious food, but many civilizations did not use it. The famous China-food study

The China Study

showed that rural Chinese are quite healthy, long lived and did not use milk or much meat.

However, I am advocating that we don’t NEED to produce the milk.

We can import milk products much more cheaply than if we try to produce them. We must count the huge costs involved in habitat loss, need for large amounts of land and water, to produce something which is available cheaply in the global market. Of course the elite rich classes will want their fresh milk and fresh butter, just as they clamor for “organic food” or French wine. They can pay premium prices for it, and so there will always be a niche market for it, or they can fly it in from Australia quite cheaply.

But Sri Lanka should NOT get involved in  dairy farming for meat or milk. That was my recommendation in 1973, and I further confirm it today.

Water consumption for food items in, litres  (rounded)  Source: IME

Chocolate        1 kg     17,200   

Beef                1 kg     15,400

Sheep Meat     1 kg     10,400

Pork                1 kg     6,00

Butter              1 kg     5,600

Chicken meat   1 kg    4,300

Cheese             1 kg     3,200

Olives              1 kg     3,000

Rice                 1 kg     2,500

Cotton      1 @ 250g    2,500

Pasta (dry)       1 kg     1,900

Bread               1 kg     1,610

Milk                 1 litre   1,020

Apple               1 kg      800

Banana             1 kg     800

Potatoes            1 kg     290

Cabbage            1 kg     240

Tomato             1 kg      210

Egg                   1           200
Tea     1 x 250 ml cup    30

Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada

BY ANDREW JAKUBOWICZ. Courtesy John Menadue – Pearls and Irritations

When no name pulled the trigger over one hundred times as he sluiced his way through the congregations at two Christchurch mosques, nothing he did was new. It was bigger, perhaps more successful”, and maybe better planned than his role models had been able to realise, but his actions were entirely predictable.

The type of perpetrator was known, his personality and personal development trajectory predictable.  The likely weaponry was known. The roles that social media had played and would play in the events, apart from the new capacity offered by streaming video on facebook, were known.  The social contexts that gave shape to his fantasies were known, and the political conditions that would authorise his actions were known. No name found a soft target and easy weapons; everything else has been grist for the analytical methods of social scientists for decades.

 Probably since Wilhelm Reich published the Mass Psychology of Fascism in 1933, and Theodor Adorno and his colleagues published The Authoritarian Personality in 1950, bookends to the rise and fall of Nazism, reflective analysts of authoritarian violence have been fairly sure about the types of people, mainly young men, who are drawn to movements of racism, fundamentalist religious militancy, and destructive assertion of personal identity.

Terrorism is a work of the imagination. The terrorist must imagine the act, the emotions (his own, his targets, his peer group’s, the startled watchers) and the various reactions that he desires to create. As a fantasist he inures himself to any negative emotions about his acts, through imagining a moral separation from the humanity that he nevertheless does share, in reality, with his prospective targets. He imagines himself within a narrative of heroism, celebrated by a band of brothers with whom he competes for glory.

The Internet feeds his imagination with its responsibility-free feedback, from his first Call of Duty” to his lurking on Gates of Vienna” to his fevered histrionics on 8Chan in the moments between the imaginary and the real.

His apparent hyper masculinity masks his self loathing, apparent since he was laughed at by his playmates in his chubby and self indulgent childhood, intensified by the abandonment by his absent and self-harmed father. As an adolescent his emerging sexual identity further hardens his resolve, energising his imagination with half suppressed dreams of violence and sadism. Where the focus was the forbidden male bodies his self loathing deepened, complicated by the Sunday devotions before the carved wooden and painted gaunt body of the suffering Jesus. Sometimes the figure of Jesus became all too much the flesh in the person of a predatory parish priest. He must perfect that body, order his followers to react immediately to his commands.

He becomes, in the intersection between personality and culture and opportunity, the perfect storm. His nation’s leaders vote to endorse the mantra It’s OK to be White”. He gasps and then grasps. The pressure plate is released; the perfectly-made destroyer marches into battle…

Our 2017 book Cyber Racism and Community Resilience begins thus:

Word and deed

The cyber world and the world of action are not distinct. On 29 January 2017 a Canadian student attacked a mosque in Quebec City, murdering six worshippers. Alexandre Bissonnette reputedly a strong nationalist, joined Norwegian killer Anders Breivik  as an outstanding global example of the murderous capacity of White Power. Bissonnette had apparently been turned towards White power by the visit to Canada of Marine Le Pen, head of France’s Front National and Brevik had fondly quoted Australian anti-multiculturalists in his online manifesto. Each had long histories of participating in White power online communities. On the same day the Australian media reported the case of a local Central Coast NSW white supremacist” Michael Holt who had pleaded guilty to stockpiling weapons in preparation for a mass rampage in a local shopping mall. He was not known to have been directly connected with any White power group, but had been actively involved in online hate speech. He had also searched the web constantly in pursuit of information about what he should believe and how he should act. There is no doubt that the opportunities afforded by the online world have expanded the reach and impact of race hate across the planet.

Holt had his gun stash about 500 km from where the no name murderer of Christchurch lived most of his life – Ourimbah on the Central coast en route to Grafton on the North coast. Very similar places.

Australia has been for some time the best place in the liberal democratic west to be an online racist. Our racists and white power advocates are adept at using the Internet and social media, in the process driving out and thereby silencing many of their targets. One of their goals has been to normalise White Power hate speech as an acceptable discourse for the Web. In this they have been quite successful, reaching a crescendo of impact when the complete Coalition Senate team voted to endorse their White Racist generated slogan of It’s Ok to be White” late in 2018.  Vide thereafter Sen. Fraser Anning.

Governments of all parties have played a key part in optimising the opportunities for on-line racism. They have played down White Power racism as the fantastic imaginings of the deluded. They have refused to introduce any laws that might restrict the availability of the Internet for racist propagandising and organising. They have made it almost impossible for the targets of racism to push back without great personal suffering, apart from through the use of an archaic law on public carriage services for harassment. The law had been used against the Martin Place Lindt killer Man Haron Monis before his rampage, and successfully to seek redress for Indigenous Senator Nova Peris against a Liberal Party official for racial harassment.

The civil provisions under the Racial Discrimination Act through the Human Rights Commission have been subverted by sustained attacks from the current Government. Australia has no human rights act, making it almost unique in the Commonwealth”, European societies, and the USA. It stands almost alone with the USA (which however has the Bill of Rights), as refusing to endorse the race hate provisions of the UN International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. When given the chance of signing onto the European Convention anti-racism protocol on Cyber Crime, the ALP government withdrew the draft legislation under pressure from the Internet industry.

No state or territory has any agency authorised to push back against cyber racism and support its targets; those targets are expected to do all the heavy lifting themselves or clear out. The last attempt to do so was MulticulturalNSW, whose initiatives were ordered to be terminated by the Berejiklian government in 2017/18.

Andrew Jakubowicz is emeritus professor of Sociology at the University of technology Sydney.

ෂමින්ද්‍ර ෆර්ඩිනැන්ඩෝ  උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ යාපනය දිස්ත‍්‍රික් මන්ත‍්‍රී මතියපරන් ආබ‍්‍රහම් සුමන්තිරන් මාර්තු 22 සවස ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව ජාත්‍යන්තර යුද අධිකරණය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන බවට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී තර්ජනය කළේය.

2015 ඔක්තෝබර් 01දින පොරොන්දු වූ පරිදි ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා රජය විදේශීය විනිසුරුවරුන් ඇතුළු දෙමුහුන් යුද අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවිය යුතු බවට ඔහු බල කළේය. එසේ කිරීමට රජය අවශ්‍ය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග නොගතහොත්, ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාව ඉල්ලන පරිදි ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව ජාත්‍යන්තර යුද අධිකරණයට ගෙන යන බවත් පැවසීය. මෙය සුළු පටු තර්ජනයක් නොවේ.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ නීතිඥයකු වන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මුදල් කාරක සභාවේ සාමාජිකයකු වූ සුමන්තිරන් මෙලෙස ප‍්‍රකාශ කළේ ඇයි?

ජාත්‍යන්තර යුද අධිකරණ ක‍්‍රියාවලියෙන් ගැලවීම සඳහා දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවිය යුතුද?

දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවීමේ පොරොන්දුව ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය ලබා ගත්තේ කාගෙන්ද? කවදාද?

සුමන්තිරන්ගේ දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණයක් ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතියට ලබා දෙනවා යැයි ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව පොරොන්දු වූ බවට පිළිගත හැකි සාක්‍ෂි තිබේද?

එවැනි පොරොන්දුවක් සුමන්තිරන්ගේ කණ්ඩායමට ලැබී තිබුණේ කුමන දේශපාලන වාතාවරණයක් යටතේ ද?

ඉහත සඳහන් ප‍්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු සෙවීමට පෙර ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ සංයුතිය සහ එය පිහිටුවීමේ අරමුණු පිළිබඳව ජනතාව දැනුවත් විය යුතුය. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන බොහෝ ජනතා නියෝජිතයන්ට ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය පිළිබඳව දැනීමක් නැති බව පැහැදිලිය.

2001 අග භාගයේ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය බිහිිවිය. එම සන්ධානයට ලියාපදිංචි පක්‍ෂ කිහිපයක් අයත් විය. එම පක්‍ෂ වලින් සමහරක් 80 දශකයේදී ඉන්දියාවේ පූර්ණ අනුග‍්‍රහය ලැබූ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී සංවිධාන විය. එම සංවිධාන පසු කලෙක ජනාධිපති රණසිංහ පේ‍්‍රමදාස සමයේදී දේශපාලන පක්‍ෂ ලෙස ලියාපදිංචිය ලැබීය. 2001 කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් යුධමය ලෙස ඉතාම ප‍්‍රබල තත්ත්වයක සිටි අතර මුළු වන්නියේ හමුදා බලය සුණු විසුණු වී තිබිණි. අලිමංකඩ හමුදා කඳවුරු සංකීර්ණය කොටි අත්පත් කර ගෙන තිබූ අතර (2000 අපේ‍්‍රල්* කටුනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන් තොටුපළට සහ ගුවන් හමුදා කඳවුරට එල්ල කළ ප‍්‍රහාරයන් (2001 ජුලි* කුමාරතුංග රජය අන්දමන්ද වී සිටි බව අද බොහෝ අයට අමතකය. 2001 ඔක්තෝබර් මස ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ලකුණ යටතේ තරග කළ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය එම මැතිවරණයේදී (2001 දෙසැම්බර්* උතුරු නැගෙනහිර මැතිවරණ ප‍්‍රදේශවල ආසන 15 දිනා ගත්තේය. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් පිහිටුවනු ලැබූ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය 2001 ඔක්තෝබර් මැතිවරණයත් සමග කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් සහ එක පෙරමුණක් පිහිටුවිය. ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ දෙකඩ විය. පරිණත දේශපාලන නායකයකු වූ වීරසිංහම් ආනන්ද සංගරී තනි විය. ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ දේශපාලන පොරපිටියෙන් අතුගා දැමිනි. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ පූර්ණ අනුග‍්‍රහය ලැබූ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය සමග හැප්පීමට ආනන්ද සංගරීගේ පක්‍ෂයට ශක්තියක් නොවීය. ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති පෙරමුණෙන් කැඞී ගිය ත‍්‍රිකුණාමල දිස්ත‍්‍රික් මන්ත‍්‍රී ආර්. සම්බන්ධන්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුත් කණ්ඩායම ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයට නායකත්වය දුනි. එම නායකත්වය 2001 අගදී කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී කණ්ඩායම ද්‍රවිඩ කතා කරන ජනතාවගේ එකම නියෝජිතයා ලෙස පිළිගත්තේ මුළු ද්‍රවිඩ දේශපාලනයම උඩුයටිකුරු කරමිනි.

මෙහිදී විශේෂයෙන් ම සඳහන් කළ යුත්තේ සුමන්තිරන් 2001 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තු දේශපාලනයේ යෙදී සිටියේ නැති බවය. සුමන්තිරන් වැනි පුද්ගලයකුගේ අවශ්‍යතාවය ඒ වකවානුවේ කොටි – ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයට අවශ්‍ය නොවීය. නෝරවේ රජයේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් 2002 පෙබරවාරි අත්සන් කළ ‘සාම ගිවිසුම’ පූර්ණ යුද්ධයකට සූදානම් වීමට යොදා ගත් බව රහසක් නොවේ. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් 2003 අපේ‍්‍රල් සාකච්ඡුා මේසයෙන් ඉවත් විය. නෝන්ජල් එජාප රජය කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් ඉදිරියේ අසරණ විය. ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව අනතුරේ විය. ජනාධිපති කුමාරණතුංග 2003 නොවැම්බර් අමාත්‍යාංශ තුනක් පවරා ගත්තේය. පාර්ලිමේන්තු 2004 පෙබරවාරි මුල විසුරුවා හැරිණි. මහ මැතිවරණයට අපේ‍්‍රල් 02 පැවැත්වීමට නියම විය. කොටි සංවිධානය මේ වන විට දෙකඩ වී තිබිණි. කරුණා අම්මාන්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් මඩකලපුව – අම්පාර දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කවල උපන් දහස් සංඛ්‍යාත ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගෙන් සමන්විත කණ්ඩායමක් කොටි සංවිධානයෙන් ඉවත් වී තිබිණි. නමුත් ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ යුද ශක්තිය වෙන ආකාරයට පිරවීය. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ අවසරය ලත් අපේක්‍ෂකයන් 2004 අපේ‍්‍රල් 02 මහ ඡුන්දයට ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය හරහා ඉදිරිපත් කෙරිණි. එම අපේක්‍ෂකයන් වෙනුවෙන් කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් උපරිම සහාය පළ කළේය. ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් භීක්‍ෂණය මුදා හැරිණි. බලයේ සිටි එජාපය ද ප‍්‍රහාරයට භීෂණයට ලක්විය. ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ මැදිහත්කමින් උතුර නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල ආයතන 22 ක් දිනා ගැනීමට සම්බන්ධන්ගේ කණ්ඩායමට හැකි විය. ඉතිහාසයේ ප‍්‍රථම වරට කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ නියෝජිත කණ්ඩායමක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පත්විය. මෙම පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායම වන්නියේ ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ගේ මූලස්ථානයෙන් පාලනය විය. කිසිදු ප‍්‍රධාන කරුණක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් තනි තීරණයක් ගැනීමේ අවසරය එම පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායමට නොවීය.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව වේගයෙන් හතරවන ඊළාම් යුද්ධය දෙසට ගමන් කරමින් තිබිණි. ඉතිහාසයේ පළමුවන වරට ලියාපදිංචි දේශපාලන පක්‍ෂයක් 2005 නොවැම්බර් ජනපතිවරණය වර්ජනය කිරීමට නියෝගය ලබා දුන්නේය. කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමඟ කිළිනොච්චියේ පැවැති සාකච්ඡුාවකින් පසු ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය තම ජනතාව ඡුන්දය පාවිච්චි නොකළ යුතු බවට නියෝගයක් ලබාදුනි. පසු කලෙක මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ කඳවුර මුදල් ලබා දී කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් හරහා එම ඡුන්ද තහනම ලබාගත් බවට චෝදනා නැගිනි. එලෙස මුදල් ගනුදෙනුවක් සිදුවූයේ නම් ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය සත්‍ය හෙළි කළ යුතුය. මුදල් ලබාගෙන තම සටන කොටි සංවිධානය හරහා පාවා දුන් බව සත්‍යයක් නොවේ. එජාප නායක ජනපති අපේක්‍ෂක රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහගේ ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්බන්ධතා හේතුවෙන් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවට ආරක්‍ෂක ජාලයක් තිබෙන බවට තේරුම් ගත් කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ දිනවීමට කටයුතු කළ බව එවකට එජාප සභාපති මලික් සමරවික‍්‍රම මෙම ලියුම්කරු සමග පැවසීය.

හතරවන ඊළම් යුද්ධයට මුල පුරමින් 2005 දෙසැම්බර් මුල පැති බෝම්බ ප‍්‍රහාර උතුරේදී දියත් කෙරිණි. 2005 ජනවාරියේදී ත‍්‍රිකුණාමල මුහුදේදී නාවික හමුදා වේග ප‍්‍රහාරක යාත‍්‍රාවක් මරාගෙන මැරෙන යාත‍්‍රාවක ප‍්‍රහාරයකට ලක්විය. ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය තම ජනතාවගේ එකම නියෝජිතයා ලෙස හඳුන්වනු ලැබූ කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් යුද්ධය ආරම්භ කර තිබිණි.

2005 අගෝස්තු මස 12 රාත‍්‍රියේ විදේශ ඇමැති ලක්‍ෂ්මන් කදිර්ගාමර් මරා දැමිනි. ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය නිහඬව සිටීමෙන් එම අපරාධය අනුමත කළේය. 2006 අපේ‍්‍රල් 25 යුද හමුදාපති ලූතිනන් ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මරා දැමීමට උත්සහා කෙරිණි. 2006 දෙසැම්බර් 01 දින එවකට ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මරා දැමීමට කොළඹදී උත්සාහ කෙරිණි. රාජපක්‍ෂ රජය වසර දෙකකුත් මාස 10 දිගටම ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කළ හමුදා මෙහෙයුම 2009 මැයි 19 උදයේ අවසන් විය. කොටි සංවිධානය අතුගා දැමිනි. ලක්‍ෂ 300,000 ජනතාවක් ‘මිනිස් පලිහක්’ ලෙස කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් යොදා ගැනීම නොදැක්කා ලෙස සිටි ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයට තම ජනතාව හදිසියේම මතක් විය. හමුදාවට යුද චෝදනා නැගිනි. කිසිදු පදනමක් නැති සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන ඉදිරිපත් කළ බව රහසක් නොවේ. යුද හමුදාව ‘සිංහල හමුදාව’ ලෙස දිගින් දිගටම හංවඩු ගැසිනි.

2010 ජනපතිවරණය අභියස ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය දේශපාලනය උඩු යටිකුරු කළේය. සම්බන්ධන් එජාපය, ජවිපේ සහ මුස්ලිම් කොන්ග‍්‍රසය සමග එක්වී දස දහස් ගණනාවක් මරා දැමූ බවට චෝදනාවට ලක් වූ යුද හමුදාවට නායකත්වය දුන් ජෙනරාල් සරත් ෆොන්සේකාට ඡුන්දය දීමට තම ජනතාවට උපදෙස් දුනි. උතුර – නැගෙනහිර සියලූම මැතිවරණ දිස්ත‍්‍රික්ක ෆොන්සේකා පහසුවෙන් ජයග‍්‍රහණය කළේය. ලක්‍ෂ 18 ඡන්දයකින් පරාද වුවත් ෆොන්සේකා උතුර – නැගෙනහිර ජයග‍්‍රහණය කළේය.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය ෆොන්සේකා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටියාට පසු යුද හමුදාවට මානව හිමිකම් චෝදනා නැඟීම විහිළුවකි. ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය මානව හිමිකම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් තම ස්ථාවරය පැහැදිලි කළ යුතුව තිබුණේ ෆොන්සේකා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටිය කාලයේදී ය. ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය එම තීරණය ගත්තේ කොළඹ පිහිටි ඇමරිකානු තානාපති කාර්යාලය දුන් උපදෙසක් අනුව බව රහසක් නොවේ. කවුරු උපදෙස් ලබා දුන්නත් තීන්දු තීරණ ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කරන පාර්ශ්ව එම ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගවලට වගකීම ගත යුතුය.

ෆොන්සේකා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටිය ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය දෙමහුන් හෝ ජාත්‍යන්තර අධිකරණ පතන්නේ ඇයි?

යුද අපරාධ උගුලේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව හිරකර ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී ව්‍යාපාරයකින් ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වූ රට බෙදන ඉලක්කය ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ මැදිහත්වීම හරහා ලබා ගැනීමට උත්සාහයක් තිබෙන බව පැහැදිලිය.

2010 අපේ‍්‍රල් මස ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඇතුළු වූ සුමන්තිරන් 2015 අගෝස්තු මැතිවරණයේදී යාපන දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයෙන් තරග කර ජයග‍්‍රහණය කළේය. ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුණ සුමන්තිරන් බව අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැත. කොටි සංවිධානයේ පරාජයත් සමග සුමන්තිරන් හට ප‍්‍රබල භූමිකාවක් කිරීමට අවස්ථාව උදාවිය. යාපනයේ ඉනුවිල් හි උපත ලද සුමන්තිරන් එම පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායමේ සිටින ප‍්‍රබලම මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා බව පිළිගැනීමට සිදු වේ. සුමන්තිරන්ට හිමි අද්විතීය තත්ත්වය නැවත පසක් කර දෙන ප‍්‍රහාරාත්මක කතාවක් ඔහු පසුගිය මාර්තු 22 පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී කළේය. ඇත්ත වශයෙන් ම සුමන්තිරන් එදින කළ ප‍්‍රකාශය 2016 ජුනි මස මැද ඔහු වොෂින්ටන් හිදී කළ හෙළිදරව්වක් නැවත අපේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට මතක් කර දුන්නැයි කීවත් වරදක් නැත.

ඔහුගේ වොෂින්ටන් සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කථා දෙකින් හෙළිවන්නේ 2015 ඔක්තෝබර් 01 ජිනීවා යෝජනාවලිය හරහා දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණ පිහිටුවීමේ එකඟතාවය ඇති කිරීමට (1* ඇමරිකාව මැදිහත් වූ බවය (2* එලෙසම එවකට ‘යහපාලන’ රජයේ අධිකරණ ඇමැති ආචාර්ය ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ විජයදාස රාජපක්‍ෂ එවැනි විදේශීය විනිසුරුවරුන් සිටින යාන්ත‍්‍රණයක් ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවට අනුකූල බව පිළිගත් බවය. (3* පූර්ණ විදේශීය අධිකරණ යාන්ත‍්‍රණය ඉල්ලා සිටීම යටපත් වීමට එකම හේතුව දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණයක් පිහිටුවීමට ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා රජය එකඟ වූ බවය.

2015 ගිවිසුම 2017 මාර්තු සහ 2019 මාර්තු නැවත ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව පිළිඅරගෙන තිබෙන බව ද ඇත්තය. එවකට විදේශ ඇමැති මංගල සමරවීරට 2015 ගිවිසුම හරහා ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා හමුදා ජාත්‍යන්තරයට පාවාදුන් බව ප‍්‍රකාශ කරන මහජන නියෝජිතයන් සහ අනෙකුත් සංවිධාන ජිනීවා සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇති සියලූ කරුණු කාරණා සැලකිල්ලට ගත යුතුය. බදු මුදල් කාබාසිනියා කරමින් නියෝජිත කණ්ඩායම් ජිනීවා යැවීමෙන් පමණක් එක්සත් ජාතීන් යුද්ධය දිනූ ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවට ඇතිකර ඇති බරපතළ ප‍්‍රශ්නය නිරාකරණය කර ගත නොහැක.

සුමන්තිරන්ට දොස් කීමේ තේරුමක් නැත. නමුත් ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයට අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම යොමු කළ යුතු ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් ඇත. 2015 එකඟ වූ පරිදි පිහිටුවීමට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය යැයි කියනු ලබන දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණය ඉදිරියට දමා තම පක්‍ෂය යුධ සමයේ කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදින්ගේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායම ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීමේ චෝදනාවට ලක්විය යුතුද? සිවිල් ජනතාව මිනිස් පලිහයක් ලෙස ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් යොදා ගැනීම වැළැක්වීමට කිසිදු ආකාරයක උත්සාහයක් නොගැනීමෙන් ජනතා නියෝජිතයන් ලෙස තම වගකීම ඉටු නොකිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් එම පක්‍ෂයේ වගවීම දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණයේ විභාගයට ලක්විය යුතුද?

අවසන් ලෙස සඳහන් කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ කොටි සංවිධානයේ මන්ත‍්‍රී කණ්ඩායම පැමිණිලිකරුවන් ලෙස අද හැසුරුනත්, යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා ඉදිරියේ එම කණ්ඩායම චූදිතයන් විය යුතු බවයි.

2015 දී ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී මෛත‍්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන වෙනුවෙන් එජාපය – ජවිපේ සහ මුස්ලිම් කොන්ග‍්‍රසය සමග පෙනී සිටි ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ ඇත්ත ස්වභාවය ඡුන්දදායකයා ඉදිරියේ පෙන්නා දීම 2019 ජනපති මැතිවරණ සටනට එජාපයට එරෙහිව ඉදිරිපත් වන කණ්ඩායමේ වගකීම බව අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැත. නිසියාකාර පරීක්‍ෂණයක් ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ නිරුවත හෙළිකරනු ඇත. හතරවන ඊළාම් යුද්ධය ආරම්භ කිරීමට ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානය කළ කාර්යභාරය මෙන්ම යුද සමයේ ජනතාව කොටින්ට බිලිදීම මතක් කර දිය යුතුමය.

කොටින්ට යුද බලය තිබෙන තුරු ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයට සංහිඳියාව වැදගත් වූයේ නැත. බටහිර රාජ්‍ය නොවන කණ්ඩායම් සංහිඳියාව ගැන කතා කිරීමට පෙළඹුණේ කොටින් විනාශ කර දැමීමෙන් පසුය. ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ තර්ජනය ඉදිරියේ නිහඬවනවාද? නැතහොත් මිනීමරු කොටි සමග යහන්ගත වූ එම කණ්ඩායම ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාව ඉදිරියේ හෙළිකරනවාද? මෙම අභියෝගය බාර ගැනීම හෝ නොගැනීම පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන ත‍්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහි සියලූ පක්‍ෂවල වගකීමයි.http://divaina.com/sunday/index.php/deshapalana2/9057-2019-03-28-06-15-65

අද (01) දින පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවට සහභාගි වූ නියෝජිතයින් -ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජි. එල්. පීරිස් මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා පළාත් සභා සංසදයේ සභාපති කංචන ජයරත්න මහතා 

■             ජනාධිපතිවරයා හෝ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාතයංශය නොදැන ජිනිවා තානාපතිවරයාට උපදෙස් දුන් පුද්ගලයින් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගන්නා පියවර මොනවාද

■             සුලුසිද්ධි සම්බන්ධයෙන් විදේශ ගමන් බලපත්‍රය අහෝසි කරනවා. නමුත් අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්‍රන් ට පැන යන්න අවස්ථාව දුන්නා.

■             එජාපයේ ජනතා විරෝධී වැඩපිළිවෙලට ශ්‍රිලනීපය හදවතින්ම විරුද්ධ නම් අප්‍රියෙල් පස්වෙනිදා එය පෙන්වන්න අවස්ථාව ලැබෙනවා.

■             ඉතිරි කාලයේ පරම්පරා ගණනකට සරිලන වීදියට උපයා ගැනීමයි ආණ්ඩුවේ ඉලක්කය වෙලා තියෙන්නේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජි. එල්. පීරිස් මහතා 

මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධීපතිවරයා දැනුම්වත් නොකර ජිනීවා හී සිටින තානාපති අසීස් මහතාට එහි අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග දැනුම්දීලා. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා කිසිවක් දන්නේ නැහැ. ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ අදහස් විමසලා නැහැ. ජනාධීපතිතුමා කියන විදියට විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ කිසිදු අනුදැනුමකින් තොරව මේ නියෝග නිකුත් කර තිබෙන්නේ. මෙවැන්නක් අපේ රටේ ඉතිහාසයේ කිසිම දිනෙක වෙලා නැහැ. මේ නියෝග නිකුත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයට හෝ ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයට කිසිසේත් සම්බන්ධ නොවන නිලධාරියෙක්. සංහිදියාව පිළීබද ඒකකයේ ප්‍රධානි මනෝ තිත්තවැල්ල මහතා විසින් මේ නියෝග නිකුත් කර ඇති බවයි කියන්නේ. දැන් හැමෝගෙන දෝෂාරෝපනයට ලක්වෙලා තියෙන්නේ අසිස් මහතාගේ ක්‍රියාකලාපයයි. ඔහු අඩුම තරමේ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම්වරයාගෙන්වත් විමසන්නේ නැතිව මේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගවය අවතීර්ණ වුනේ. මෙයින් ජනිත වන ආනුෂංග බරපතලයි. අනාගත රජයක් වුනත් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් බැදී සිටිනවා. රජය පමණක් නෙවෙයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට සෘජුව බලපැම් වෙනවා. උදාහරණයක් විදියට ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත අකුළාගෙන ඒ වෙනුවට අලුත් අණපනත් ආදේශ කිරීමට වෙනවා තානාපති අත්සන් කිරීමේ යෝජනාව නිසා. ඒ වගේම ආන්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙනුත් පොරොන්දුවක් වෙලා තියෙනවා. මේ නියෝග දුන්න පුද්ගලයින් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගන්නේ මොන වගේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක්ද. ලංකා ආන්ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ අපේ රට නියෝජනය කරන තානාපතිවරුන්ට උපදෙස් දීමේ පිළිවෙලක් තියෙනවා. මේක අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්‍රන් දෙක. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ එළිපිට බැදුම්කර සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡා වෙද්දි ,මහජනතාව මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විමසිලිමත් වෙද්දි ඒ කිසිවක් නොතකා අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්‍රන්ට විදේශගතවිමට ඉඩ දුන්නා. ඒක නතර කරන්න තිබුණා. දැන් ඔහුව සිංගප්පූරුවෙන් ගෙන්වා ගන්න උත්සාහ කරනවා. ඒ පුද්ගලයා ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනිමට අවශ්‍ය තොරතුරු තවමත් එවා නැති බවයි සිංගප්පූරුව කියන්නේ. ඔහුට සිංගප්පූරුවට යන්න ඉඩ ඇරියා. නමුත් සුලු සිදුවීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් කීදෙනෙක්ගේ විදේශ ගමන් බලපත්‍ර මේ වෙද්දි අහෝසි කරලා තියෙවාද. ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනතාවට විශාල අලාභයක් කරපු පුද්ගලයාට ගුවන්තොටුපලෙන් ගුවන් යානයක නැගිලා යන්න අවස්ථාව හදලා දුන්නා. මේ නියෝග දුන්න පුද්ගලයින්ට විරුද්ධව දෝෂාරෝපනය කිරිම පමණක් සෑහෙන්නේ නැහැ. එදා ඔහු සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගත යුතු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගත්තේ නැහැ. දැන් ඒ සිදුවීමෙන් අත්දැකීම් ගන්න පුලුවන්. ජනාධිපතිවරයා හෝ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශය නොදැනුවත්ව මේ කරපු දේ ඉතා භයානක පූර්වාදර්ශයක්. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පියවරක් නොගත්තොත් මින් පසු අපේ තානාපති සේවය මෙහෙයවන්නේ කවුද. විදේශ කටයුතු ඇමැතිවරයා හෝ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශය කිසිම වගකීමක් ගන්නේ නැහැ. වෙන යම් යම් පුද්ගලයින්ට තමන්ගේ යම් යම් න්‍යාය පත්‍ර ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා. ඒ නිසා රජය විදියට දැඩි ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගන්න වෙනවා. 

අයවැය සම්බන්ධයෙන් තුන්වැනි වර ඡන්ද විමසීම අප්‍රියෙල් පස් වැනිදා සිදුවෙනවා. ඊට දවස් පහකට පස්සේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ හා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පෙරමුණ අතර තුන්වැනි සාකච්ඡෘ වටය පැවැත්වෙනවා. ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය හා අපි අතර කෙරෙන සාකච්ඡෘ වල ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ එජාප විරෝධී දැවැන්ත සන්ධානයක් නිර්මාණය කර එජාපයේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති පරාජය කිරීමේ වාතාවරණයක් සැකසිමයි. විහේෂයෙන් එජාපයේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති පරාජය කිරීම. මේ නිසා අප්‍රියෙල් පස් වැනිදා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ගන්න ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ඉතා වැදගත් වෙනවා. දෙවන වර කියැවීමේදි ශ්‍රී ලනීප මන්ත්‍රීවරු ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂය සමග පැහැදිලි එකගතාවයකට පැමිණියා අයවැයට විරුද්ධව ඡන්දය දෙන්න. නමුත් අවාසනාවකට අවසන් මොහොතේ ඔවුන් ඡන්දය දීමෙන් වැලකී සිටියා. ඒ ක්‍රියාව හේතුවෙන් මේ වෙද්දි දෙගිඩියාවක්, අවිශ්වාසයක් ඇති වෙලා තියෙනවා අපේ පාක්ෂීකයින් තුල. මෙහි අරමුණ එජාප විරෝධී බලවේගයක් ගොඩනැගීමයි. විවාදයේදී ආන්ඩුව දැඩිව විවේඡනය කරන නමුත් ඡන්දය ගන්න අවස්ථාවේ එජාපය ආරක්ෂා කරන වැඩපිළීවෙලක් ශ්‍රීලනීපය අනුගමනය කරනවා නම් ඔවුන් සමග එජාප විරෝධී බලවේගයක් හදන්නේ කොහොමද කියලා ජනතාව විමසනවා. ඒ සැකය පාක්ෂිකයින්ගේ මනස තුල ඇති වෙලා. අපේ පැත්තෙන් සද්භාවයෙන් මේ සාකච්ඡා පවත්වන්නේ. මේ සාකච්ඡා සාර්ථක කරගෙන තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවක මේ සන්ධෘනය ඉදිරියට ගෙන ඒමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය අපි දකිනවා. නමුත් එක අතකින් අත්පොලසන් දෙන්න බැහැ. ඒ වුනු වැරැද්ද නිවැරදි කිරීමය අප්‍රියෙල් පස්වෙනිදා අවස්ථාව ලැබෙන නිසා එයින් උපරිම ප්‍රයෝජනයක් ශ්‍රීලනීපය ගනියි කියලා අපි හිතනවා. එක්කෝ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට පක්ෂ වෙන්න වෙනවා. නැත්නම් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට විරුද්ධ වෙන්න වෙනවා. මොනවා කිව්වත් කෙරුවාව තමයි වැදගත් වෙන්නේ. එජාපයේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති, මේ රටේ ජාතික සම්පත් විකිණීම, ඇමැතිවරුන්ගේ ප්‍රයෝජනය සදහා මුදල් වෙන්කරන අතරේ ජනතාවට දරාගන්න බැරි කරම් බදු පැටවීම, ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින්ට තියෙන රැකියා අවස්ථා නැතිකෙරෙන ආකාරයේ නිදහස් වෙළෙද ගිවිසුම්වලට ඇතුල්වීමට හදවතින්ම විරුද්ධ නම් එය තුන්වැනිවර ඡන්දය විමසීමේදි පෙන්වන්න  පුලුවන්. එසේ නොකරන්නේ නම් මේ සාකච්ඡාවලින් අපි අපේක්ෂා කරන ප්‍රතිඵලය ලබා ගන්න අසිරුතාවයක් ඇති වෙනවා. එසේ නොවේවායි ඉත සිතින් ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරනවා. 

එජාප රජය මේ රට පාලනය කරන්න කිසිම උනන්දුවක් උද්යෝගයක් නැති බව දැන් පේනවා. අයවැය විවාදය සාකච්ඡාවට ලක්වෙද්දි, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අයවැය ලේඛණය තරම් වැදගත් පනතක් නැහැනේ. නමුත් වැය ශීර්ෂ දෙකක ඡන්ද ගන්න කොට ආන්ඩුපක්ෂයෙන් එක අවස්ථාවක 38යි. අනෙක් අවස්ථාවේ 24යි. අමාත්‍යංශයවලටමුදල් වෙන් කිරීම සිදුවන අවස්ථාවේ පෙනී සිටින්නේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු 24ක් පමණයි. එයින් පේන්නේ මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් කිසිම උද්යෝගයක් නැතැ බවයි. උනන්දු වෙන්නේ වැටුප් දිමනා වරදාන ලබාගැනීමට විතරයි. වරදාන භාරගන්නවා නම් අඩුම තරමේ ජනතාවගේ දෛනික අවශ්‍යතා හෝ සැපිරිය යුතුයි. විදුලිය විතරක් නෙවෙයි දැන් වතුරත් නැහැ. සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට වතුර නැති වුනාට ඇමැතිවරු පදිංචි වෙලා ඉන්න පැතිවලට වතුර දීලා. දැන් ජාතික ආන්ඩුවක් හදන්න හැදුවා. ඒක ආන්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා විරෝධී වැඩපිළීවෙලක්. 19 වැනි සංශෝධනයෙන් කැබිනට් මණෟඩලපයට උපරිම සිමාවක් තියෙනවා. ශ්‍රීලනිප මන්ත්‍රීවරු කිහිප දෙනෙක් ගිහින් ජාතික ආන්ඩුවක් හදන්න බැහැ. එය දැන් කවුරුත් පිළිඅරන් තියෙනවා. දැන් විකල්පය කැබිනට් ඇමැතිවරු බැරිනම් රාජ්‍ය හා නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැතිවරු දිවුරුම් දෙන්න සූදානම්ක තියෙනවා. තව මාස හයක කෙටි කාලයයි තියෙන්නේ. මේ රජයේ ආයුෂ කොට නිසා ඒ සිමිත කාලයේ ගන්න පුලුවන් සියලු දේ අරගෙන සාක්කු පුරවා ගැනීමයි අරමුණ වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. විවිධ විවේඡන දෝශාරෝපණ මැද මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයා නොරොච්චෝලේ හැදුවා. ඒක නොහැදුනානම් අද මේ විදියටවත් විදුලිය දෙන්න ලැබෙන්නේ නැහැ. මේ රජය සාම්පූර් බලාගාරය පිළීබද වැඩපිළිවෙල සම්පූර්ණයෙන් නතර කළා. කෙරවලපිටිය විදුලිබලාගාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපි කාටත් වඩා විවේඡන එල්ල කලේ ජර්මන් තානාපතිවරයා. අදහා ගන්න බැරි තරම් මහා පරිමාන දූෂණ කෙරවලපිටිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇති වෙලා කියනාව. විදුලි බලය නැතිව ජීවත් වෙන්න බැරි නිසා හදිසි අවස්ථාවක් ඇති වුනා කියන පදනම මත පුද්ගලික අංශයෙන් විදුලිබලය ලබාගන්න වුවමනාවෙන් ඇති කරපු තත්ත්වයක් තියෙන්නේ. මේ හදිසි අව්සථාවට මුහුණ දෙන්න කියන තර්කයයි රටට පෙන්වන්නේ. ඒ අනුව ඒෂියා පවර් කියන සපුගස්කන්දේ තියෙන පුද්ගලික සමාගමකින් මෙගාවොට් 50ක් අතිවිශාල මුදලකට ලබාගන්නවා. තවත් පුද්ගලික සමාගමකින් මෙගාවොට් 24ක් ගන්න සූදානම්. මේවායින් අදාල පුද්ගලයින්ගේ පසුම්බිවලට යන මුදල් මිලියන වලින් ගනින්න වෙනවා. ඉතිරි කාලයේ පරම්පරා ගණනකට සරිලන වීදියට උපයා ගැනීමයි ඉලක්කය වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. මේ නිසා ජනතා අධිකරණයට යා යුතුයි. ඒනිසයි අපේ හිටපු මහ ඇමැතිවරු දෙන්නෙක් වන මහිපාල හේරත් සහ එස්. එම්. රන්ජිත් මැතිවරන්‍යක් ඉල්ලා අධීකරණයට ගිහින් තියෙන්නේ. රජය මහා පරිමාන වංචා දූෂණ නිසා මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වන්න සූදානමක් නැහැ. අද අබීයාචානාධිකරණයේ නඩුව ඇහෙනවා. මේ මගඩි සියල්ල මධ්‍යයේ රජය පිළීබද ජනතා මතය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවක් දෙන්න කියලයි අපි කියන්නේ. 

■             බොරුවාගේ දවසේත් අපේ අගමැතිතුමා හොදම බොරුව කියලා

■             අයවැය මග ඇරියේ එජාපයේ පසුපෙල හයිය පෙන්වන්නයි ඒජාප මන්ත්‍රීවරු කියද්දි අගමැතිවරයා ඒක විපක්ෂය මත පටවන්න උත්සාහ කරනවා. අපි කලේ විපක්ෂයේ කාර්යභාරයයි

■             කරපු පාපකර්ම නිසා විදුලි බල ඇමැති ඊළග ආත්මේ ඔටුවෙක් නැත්නම් බකමූනෙක්. මුදල් ඇමැති කපුටෙක්. ආන්ඩුවේ නායකයෝ සත්තුවත්තේ.

■             ආන්ඩුව පැරදුනොත් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ නැවත බලයට එන නිසා ආන්ඩුවට සහාය දෙන්න සූදානම් වෙන දෙමළ සංදානය පහුගිය කාලයේ විපක්ෂ නායකධුරය අරන් ආන්ඩුවට සහාය දිදී හිටපු බව පැහැදිලියි

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා 

අද දවස ඉතාම වැදගත්. අද දවස මේ රටේ බොහෝ දෙනෙක් උදේ නැගටපු ගමන් තමන්ගේ හිතවතුන්ට බොරුවක් කියලා රවටන දවස. බොරුවගේ දවස. මේ දවස හරියටම ගැලපෙන්නේ යහපාලන ආන්ඩුවට. ඒ කියන්නේ යහපාලන ආන්ඩුවේ නායකයිනගේ දවස. ඒ අයට හොද දවසක් නිසා පුලුවන් තරම් බොරු කියන්න පුලුවන්.අගමැතිතුමා අද දවසේත් හොදට වැඬේ කරලා. එතුමා කියනවා මේ මාසෙන් පස්සේ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා හා පළාත් සභා වලට මුදල් නැහැලු. අගමැතිතුමා මෙහෙම කියන්නේ ඇයි. පහුගිය 278 වැනිදා ස්වදේශ කටයුතු හා පළාත් පාලන , බස්නාහිර සංවර්ධන හා නගර සභා වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජය වුනා. දැන් අගමැතිතුමා කියනවා ඒක පරාජය කලේ විපක්ෂය. ඒ නිසා මේ රටේ ග්‍රාමසේවකවරුන්ට පඩි ගෙවන්න සල්ලි නැහැලු. අගමැතිතුමා ඒ ප්‍රකාශය කරන අතරේ අද ලංකාදීප පුවත්පතට එජාප මන්ත්‍රී ඉසාඞ් රහිමාන් කියනවා අයවැය මගහැරියේ එජාපයේ පසුපෙලේ හයිය පෙන්වන්න කියලා. දැන් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා අද දවසට ගැලපෙන්නේ නැත්ද. සිංහල අවුරුද්දට රාජ්‍ය නායකයෝ කිරිබත් කනවා. වෙසක් දවසට පන්සල් යනවා. නත්තල් දවසට පල්ලි යනවා. අපේ අගමැතිතුමාත් අද බොරුවගේ දවස නිසා හොදම බොරුව කියනවා අද දවෙස් වාර්තා කරන්න. එතුමා හැමදාම බොරු කියපු කෙනා. වොක්ස්වැගන් කොම්පැණියවත් නොදැන මෙහෙ අනුශාඛාවක් හැදුවා. මෑත භාගයේදී ඕමාන රාජ්‍ය නොදැන තෙල් පිරිපහදුවකට මුල්ගල තිබ්බා. ලක්ෂ දහයකට රැකියා දදෙනවා කිව්වා. ඒ වගේම රත්තරන් බඩු බේරලා දෙනවා කිව්ව අගමැති. මෝටර් බයිසිකල් දෙනවා කිව්ව. තෙමි තෙමි යන අයට නොතෙමි යන්න පුංචි කාර් දුන්න අගමැති. කප්පරක් බොරු කියපු මෙහෙම අගමැති කෙනෙක් ලෝකෙම නැහැ. මේ වෙද්දි විදුලි කප්පාදුවක් වෙනවා. දවල්ට පැය තුනයි. රෑට පැයයි. රමේ මිනිස්සු කලුවරේ. වතුර නැහැ. කොළඹ නගරයේ මහල් නිවාසවල ඉන්න අයට වතුර නැති වුනාම ඉතාම අපහසුතාවයට පත්වෙනවා. රජයට හෝ මැතිඇමැතිවරුන්ට කිසිම ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැහැ. වෙන අවස්ථාවල මෙවැන්නක් වෙනවා නම් ඊට විසදුම් දෙනවා. ඊළග ආත්මයේ විදුලි බල ඇමැතිවරයා කොහොම ඉදියිද දන්නේ නැහැ. බකමූණාට දවල්ට පේන්නේ නැත්තේ ගිය ආක්මේකරපු පෙර කරුමෙකට. මේ රටේ විදුලි බලඇමැතිවරයා මිළග ආත්මේ බකමූනෙක් වෙනවා. නැත්නම් කාන්තාරෙක ඔටුවෙක් වෙලා ඉපදෙනවා.ත වතුර දෙන්නෙත් නැහැ. ලයිට් දෙන්නෙත් නැහැ. මිනිස්සුන්ව කරුවගේ තියපු පාපකර්මයට අහුවෙනවා. ඒ වගේම මුදල් ඇමැතිවරයාත් ඒ පාපකර්මයට අහුවෙනවා. සිංහල අවුරුද්දට දෙන පඩි පැකට් එක මාසෙ කෑමටත් මදි. මුදල් ඇමැතිවරයාත් කපුටෙක් වෙලා උපදියි. කපුටක්ට මොනතරම් කෑවත් බඩකිනියි. සමහරු එළගි තෙල්වල පොගවපු පහන් තිර දෙනවා කපුටන්ට කන්න. ටික වෙලාවක් හරි බඩගින්නක් නැතිව ඉන්න පුලුවන් වෙන්න. මේ යහපාලන ආන්ඩුවෙ ඉන්න අය ඊළග ආත්මේ උපදින්නේ සත්තු වත්තේ.ඒ තරමට පාපකර්ම කරගත්තා පත්වුනා වසර හතරක කාලයේ. අපි දැක්කා පහුගිය සතියෙ එක්තරා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරපු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් ප්‍රකාශයක් කළා. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ආන්ඩුව පෙරලුනොත් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ නැවත බලයට එන නිසා අයවැයට පක්ෂව ඡන්දය දෙන්න තීරණය කළාලු. ගෝඨාභය ජනාධීපතිවෙන්න දකින සිහනය අතහරින්න වෙනවා කියලා මේ විදියට කියන්නේ දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක්. අද  සිංහල දෙමළ මුස්ලිම් ජාතින් තුනම බෝම්බ පිපිරෙන්නේ නැති රටක ජිවත් වෙනවා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාත්, ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාත් රණවිරුවොත්  නිසා මේ විදියේ පරිසරයක් හැදිලා තියෙද්දි ශ්‍රී දරන් කියන්නේ එල්. ටි. ටි. ඊ එක තිබුණ කාලේ හොදයි කියලයි. ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ එක් ලක්ෂ හතළිස් දහසක් මැරුවා කියලා ශ්‍රිදරන් කියන්නේ දෙමළ ජනතාව අතර වෛරය පතුරවන්නයි. අයවැය පැරදුනොත් ආන්ඩුව පාරාදය. ආණ්ඩුව පැරදුනොත් එන්නේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ. ඒ කියන්නේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ එනවාට කැමැති නැහැ. ඇත්ත. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ආවාම ඊලාම් ගන්න බැහැ. නැවත එල්. ටි. ටී. ඊයට නැගිටින්න බැහැ. ඒ නිසා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ එනවාට කැමැති නැති නිසායි මේ වගේ ප්‍රකාශයක් කරන්නේ. ශ්‍රී දරන් මන්ත්‍රීවරයා මේ ප්‍රකාශය කරන කොට බලන්න පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 16ක් ඉන්න දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයට විපක්ෂය නායක ධූරයත්, හයක් ඉන්න ජවිපෙට විපක්ෂයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායකකම දුන්නා. ඒ ආන්ඩුවට සැබෑ විපක්ෂයක් තිබුණාද කියලා මේ ප්‍රකාශයත් එක්ක සලකා බලන්න. විපක්ෂයේ නායකවරයෙකුට නිලවාහන දීලා, කාර්යාල දීලා තියෙන්නේ විපක්සයේ කාර්ය භාරය ඉටුකරන්න. විපක්ෂනායකකම තියන් හිටපු සම්බන්ධන් මහතා ඇතුළු කණ්ඩායම ඒ කාලේ විපක්ෂ නායකකම කරලාද. නැහැ. ආන්ඩුවට කඬේ ගිහින්ලා. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණත් ආන්ඩුවට කඬේ ගිහින්. එදා ඒකාධීපති වියරුව කියමින් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයාගේ පැත්තට ඇගිල්ල දිගු කරගත්ත අයට තමන්ටම ඇගිල්ල දිගු කරගන්නයි දැන් සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ. එදා ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ 51 දෙනා කෙළීන් හිටගෙන නොහිටියා නම් අද විපක්ෂයක් තියෙනවාද. අද නම් සැබෑ විපක්ෂයක් බිහිවෙලා තියෙනවා. අද මිනිස්සුන්ට හඩ යනවා. එදා අපි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් විදියට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කතා කරන්න තිබෙන අයිතිය නැති කළා. විපක්ෂයට හිමි වුනු කතා කිරීමේ කාලයෙන් වැඩි කාලයක් ගත්තේ දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය. ඊළගට ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ. අපි 51 දෙනාට ලැබෙන්නේ විනාඩි 50යි. ඒක 51න් බෙදන්නත් බැහැ. නැගිටලා කතානායකතුමනි කියපු ගමන් බෙල්ලෙන් අල්ලලා වාඩිකරනවා. ඒ නිසා ශ්‍රීදරන් මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ කාතවෙන් එළීයට එනවා දෙමළ සන්ධාන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට දොලපිදේනි දීලා අයට වැයට අත ඔසවා ගන්න බව. දෙමළ සන්ධානය දෙමළ ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටිනවා වෙනුවට තමන්ගේ සුඛ විහරණය වෙනුවෙනුයි පෙනී සිටින්නේ. දැන් සම්බන්ධන් මන්ත්‍රීවරයාට දිලා තියෙනවා නිල නිවසක්. මමත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ වසර 20ක් සිටිය නිසා මේ දේවල් ඉල්ලන්න බලන් ඉන්නේ. ඒ වගේම ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයාගේ හීනය ගැනත් ශ්‍රීදරන් කියනවා. හීනය සැබෑ වෙන හැටි එතුමාට දැක ගන්න පුලුවන් වෙයි. සරත් පොන්සේකා මහත්තයාත් කියනවා ජනාධිපතිවරණයට කළින් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයා හිරේ යයිද දන්නේ නැහැලු. කොහොමද ඒ වැඬේ. දැන් නඩු තියෙන්නේ විශේෂ අධීකරණයේ. ඒ අධීකරණයේ තීන්දුව ගැන කියන්නේ තවම සාක්ෂි ලබා ගැනීමක්වත් ආරම්භ වෙලා නැති වෙලාවකයි. දැන් බලන්නේ ගොටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව මොනවාට හරි හිර කරන්න පුලුවන්ද කියලයි. ඒ නිසා අපි අධීකරණයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා අධීකරණ්‍යට අපහාස කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පියවරක් ගන්න කියලා. 

ජවිපේ විජිත හේරත් මන්ත්‍රීවරයා රැස්විමක් අමතමින් සිටිනවිට ලයිට් යනවා.තත්ත්පර ගානකින් ලයිට් ආපු ගමන් කියනවා බලන්න මේ ආන්ඩුවේ හැටි . අපි ජෙනරේටරයෙන් තමයි දැන් වැඩ කරන්නේ කියලා. එතුමා මුල අමතක වීමේ පෙත්තක් බීලා ආවද දන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ කඬේ කඩු හොද නැහැ. මේ කඬේ බඩු හොද නැහැ. කියලා හොරෙන් හොරෙන් එජාපෙත් එක්ක ආන්ඩුව හදලා දැන් ආන්ඩුව හොද නැහැ කියනවා. ජවිපේ ට මේ ආන්ඩුව විවේඡනය කරන්න කිසිම අයිතියක් නැහැ. මේ ආන්ඩුව කරන වැරදිවල සියයට තිහක වගකීම ජවිපේ ගන්න වෙනවා. නැති බොරු කියලා, ඒ බොරු පැල කරලා මේ ආන්ඩුව ගෙනත් ඒ අවලාදයෙන් බේරෙන්න දැන් මිනිස්සු ඉස්සරහ බොරු කියනවා. මේ නයාව ඔඩොක්කුවේ දාගත්තේ අපිද . නැහැ. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණයි. 

මාධ්‍ය – වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජ වුනාට පස්සෙ වැටුප් ගෙවන්න සල්ලි නැහැ කියනවා. 

රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා – ආන්ඩුවෙන් පිටට පළාත් පාලන ආයතන දුන්නොත් සල්ලි දෙන්නේ නැහැකියලා මැතිවරණය කාලයේ අගමැතිවරයාකිව්වා. පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවලට සත පහක් දුන්නේ නැහැ. අමු බොරු. වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජය වුනේ අපේ වරදින්ද. අපි විපක්ෂයේ කාර්යභාරය ඉටු කරලා තියෙන්නේ. අපිට අවශ්‍ය ආණ්ඩුව ගෙදර යවන්න. වැටුප් ගෙවන්න සල්ලි නැත්නම් පස්වෙනිදාට අයවැය පැරදෙන්න ඇරලා මැතිවරණයකට යන එකයි. 

ජි.එල් පීරිස් මහතා – අපේ කාලයේ හිටපු මහනුවර නගරාධිපතිවරයා කිව්වා මහනුවර ජනතාවගේ සේවය සදහා මුදල් හොයාගත්තේ යම් යම් නිර්මාණශීලි වැඩපිළීවෙල හරහා කිව්වා. පොහොට්ටුවට බලය දුන්නොත් ඒ ආයතනයට රජයෙන් සත පහක් දෙන්නේ නැති බව අගමැති වරයා සහ ඇමැතිවරු කිව්වා. ඒ ප්‍රකාශයෙන් ජනතාව සැලුනෙත් නැහැ. අපි සැලුනෙත්  නැහැ. ඒ තර්ජන මැද අපි පළාත් පාලන ආයතන ජයගත්තා. 

මාධ්‍ය -මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය වැටලීම් වේගවත් කරන්න මේ වෙද්දි ජනාධිපතිවරයා පියවර අරන් තියෙනවා. 

රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන – මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය වැටලීම් කරන පොලීසිය, ඇතුලු ආර්කෂක අංශ අපි අගය කරනවා. මරණීය දණ්ඩනය නියම කරන්නත් සූදානම් වෙනවා. මත් උවදුර නතර කරන්න ගන්න පියවර සදහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ විදියට අපේ සහාය ලබා දෙනවා. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුනේ පළාත් සභා සංසදයේ සභාපති , සබරගමුව පළාත් සභාවේ සභාපති, කංචන ජයරත්න මහතා ද මේ අවස්ථාවට සහභාගි වූයේය. 

අරවින්ද අතුකෝරල

https://youtu.be/yZPgGr5Gp0s

පිවිතුරු හෙල උරුමයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා එම පක්‍ෂ මූලස්ථානයේදී පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී මෙම අදහස් පල කලේය.

එජාපයට මේ දිනවල ගෝඨා භය කියන මරාන්තික රෝගය හැදිලා උණ විකාරයෙන් කියවනවා. මාරාන්තිකයි කිව්වම ඔය රෝගය හැදුනට පස්සේ ආණ්ඩුව මැරෙනවා මැරෙනවා මයි.   රාවණා කුමරු ඉපදුනා කිව්වාම කුවේර රජතුමා වෙව්ලා ගියා වගේ පණ්ඩුකාභය කුමරු ඉපදුනු අවස්ථාවේ මාමාවරු බියෙන් සැලුනා වගේ නාගසේන හිමියන් දුටුවාම මිලින්ද රජ ත්‍රස්ත වුණා වගේ ගෝඨාභය මැතිඳු එන පුවත ඇසූ සැණෙන් එජාපය උණ විකාරයෙන් කියවන්න පටන් අරන්.

මේ අය නිතර කියන කරුණු දෙකක් තිබෙනවා.  ඒ ඇමෙරිකාවේ දී ලසන්ත ඝාතනයට ගෝඨාභය මැතිතුමා චුදිත කරලා නඩු දානවා කියන එක සහ ජනපතිවරණයට වසරකට කලින් ඇමෙරිකානු පුරවැසිකම අත් හැරියේ නැතිනම් ජනපතිවරණයට තරග කරන්න බෑ කියන එක.  අපි දැන් මේ බොරු දෙක ලිහලා බලමු.

ඇත්තටම ලසන්ත ඝාතනය කරපු අයට නඩු දාන්න උවමනාවක් ආණ්ඩුවට තිබුණා නම් පසුගිය වසර හතරේ යස අගේට කරන්න තිබුණා.  අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා විපක්ෂ නායක ලෙස සිටිය දී ලසන්ත මැරුවේ කවුද කියලා පාරලිමේන්තුවේ දි කිව්වානෙ.  කිව්ව කෙනා දැන් ඉන්නේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා ළඟනෙ.  ඒකනෙ ලසන්ත ඝාතනය ගෝඨාභය මැතිතුමා මත පටවන්න හදන්නේ.  මේ විර්මශනය කවදාවත් අවසන් නොවන්නේ ඇත්ත වැරදිකරු රකිමින් වෙන අය මත වරද පැටවීමට උත්සාහ කරන නිසා.

සර්වලෝක අධිකරණ බලය නැතිනම් universal jurisdiction කියන්නේ එක් රටක දී කරපු අපරාධයකට තවත් රටක දී හෝ ජාත්‍යන්තර අධිකරණයක දී දඬුවම් කිරීමට ඇති හැකියාවටයි.  මේ අධිකරණ බලය යුරෝපීය රටවල් බහුතරයක් පිලිගත්තත් බොහෝ රටවල් පිලිගන්නේ නෑ.  විශේෂයෙන්ම ඇමෙරිකාව සර්වලෝක අධිකරණ බලය භාවිතා කරන්නේ ඉතාමත් සීමිතවයි.  ඒ අනුව පිටරටක සිට ඇමෙරිකාව තුල ත්‍රස්ත ප්‍රහාරයක් වැනි අපරාධයක් කළොත් තානාපති කාරයාලයකට හෝ විදේශයක දී ඇමෙරිකානු නිලධාරියෙකුට අපරාධයක් කළොත් ඒ අය ඇමෙරිකාවට ගෙනැවිත් දඬුවම් කරන්න කටයුතු කර තිබෙනවා.  නමුත් විදේශ රටක දී කරන ලද ඇමෙරිකාවට අදාළ නැති අපරාධ චෝදනාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇමෙරිකාව නඩු පවරන්නේ නෑ.  ඒකට එක් හේතුවක් වන්නේ ඇමෙරිකානු හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ට එරෙහිව පවා සර්වලෝක අධිකරණ බලය භාවිතා කිරීමට විවිධ සංවිධාන උත්සාහ කර තිබීමයි.

හිටපු ඇමෙරිකානු ජනාධිපති ජෝජ් බුෂ්ට එරෙහිව සර්වලෝක අධිකරණ බලය භාවිතා කලේ ව්‍යවස්ථා අයිතින් පිළිබඳ මධ්‍යස්ථානය විසිනි.  ඇමෙරිකාව විසින් රඳවා ගත් පුද්ගලයින් වද හිංසාවන්ට ලක් කිරීම පිළිබඳ ජනපති බුෂ්ට එරෙහිව ස්විට්ර්සලන්තයේ දී නඩු පැවරීමට මෙම සංවිධානය පියවර ගෙන තිබිණි.  මේ පිළිබඳ දැනගත් ජනපති බුෂ් සිය සංචාරය අවලංගු කලේය.  ඔවුන්ගේ ඊ ළඟ ඉලක්කය වූයේ ජනපති බුෂ්ගේ කැනඩා සංචාරයයි.  එය ද කල් දැමීමට ඔහුට සිදුවිය.

මේ තත්වය යටතේ ලසන්ත ඝාතනය ගෝඨාභය මැතිතුමා මත පටවා ඔහුට ඇමෙරිකාවේ දී නඩු පවරන්න කවුරුන් හෝ සැලසුම් කරනවා නම් එය දවල් හීනයක් පමණයි. මේක එජාපය ගෙතූ තවත් එක් බොරුවක්.

එජාපය කියන දෙවන කතාව තමයි ජනපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වෙන්න නම් ඡන්දයට වසරකට කලින් ද්විත්ව පුරවැසිභාවය ඉවත් කර ගන්න ඕනි කියන එක.  කොහේද ඕක තිබෙන්නේ? ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ මොන වගන්තියේද ජනාධිපතිවරණ පනතේ කුමන වගන්තියේද ඕක තියෙන්නේ.  අවම වශයෙන් ද්විත්ව පුරවැසිකම නාමයෝජනා ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන්නවත් හේතුවක් නොවේ.  නමුත් නාමයෝජනා භාර දෙන දවස වන විට ද්විත්ව පුරවැසිකම අත්හැර තිබීම ප්‍රමාණවත්. ඒ නිසා නීති පොත පෙරලා හරි දේ දැන ගෙන කතා කරනු මැනවී කියලා අපට එජාප මන්ත්‍රිවරුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින්නට සිදු වෙනවා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව

අයවැය කාරක සභා අවස්ථාවේ විවාදයේ දී අද දිනයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී රාජ්‍ය ඇමැති රංජන් රාමනායක මහතා සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී මොහාන් සිල්වා මහතා අතර උණුසුම් වචන හුවමාරුවක් ඇති විය.

දෙදෙනා විසින් පැවසූ ඇතැම් වචන හැන්සාඩ් වාර්තාවෙන් ඉවත් කරන්නැයි පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මූලාසනය විසින් දැනුම් දෙනු ලැබීය.

‘ඒ ගැන පරීක්ෂා කරන්න ඕන්නං එතුමාගේ බිරිඳයි රූම් එකකුයි බුක් කරන්න කියන්න. මට තියෙන්නේ මොන වගේ ලිංගයක්ද කියලා මම පෙන්නන්නම් එතුමගේ නෝනට ඇවිල්ලා’ යයි රාමනායක මහතා එක් අවස්ථාවක සඳහන් කළේය.

මොහන් සිල්වා මහතාද ‘ප**’ කියා ඊට ප‍්‍රතිචාර දැක්වීමත් සමග වාදය උණුසුම් විය.

Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Unparliamentary language was used in the House today during a heated argument which broke out between UPFA Mohan Priyadarashana de Silva and State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake with regard to the selling of vehicle permits.

The argument popped up when State Minister said he helped a poor girl by giving some of the money he collected from selling his vehicle permit. He said monetary help was given through the foundation he had formed by selling his permit.

Mr. de Silva who shot back said Mr Ramanayake had to face a court case for selling his vehicle permit. You had to face a court case for selling your vehicle permit to women,” he said.

State Minister then responded saying Mr. De Silva had also sold his vehicle permit. More than 90 percent of MPs have sold their vehicle permits and Mr. de Silva himself had sold his permit. A thief is calling another person a thief,” he said.

MP De Silva used un-parliamentary words in snapping back Mr. Ramanayake. However, he justified the use of such an obscene word saying that it should be construed as a negative word. ()

ලංකා තිලක FB

මහින්ද රටේ තත්පරයකට රැ 750 වියදම් වෙන යුද්ධයක් කළා.

ඒ අතරේ රටේ ඉහළ යන විදුලිබල ඉල්ලුම ගැන විදුලි විශේෂඥයන් පුරෝකථන කලා.

ඉහළ කොත්මලේ හදන්න එපා කියලා උද්ගෝෂණ ආවා.

නොරොච්චෝලය හැදුවොත් මරාගෙන මැරෙන තරමට විරෝධතා ආවා.

මහින්ද යුද්ධය මැද ඒවත් සම්පුර්ණ කලා.

ඒ හංදා මහින්දට ලයිටි කපන කාලසටහන් රටේ ජනමාධ්‍ය තුලින් ප්‍රචාරය කරවන්න අවශ්‍ය වුනේ නෑ.

ලංකාවේ අධිවේග මාර්ග විතරක් නෙවේ වෙනදා පළාත් සභා ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා පාරවල් වල කලේ තාර දාලා උඩින් වැලි දාලා පාරට තාර දැම්මා කියලා පෙන්නන එක. වැලි ටික හෝදගෙන ගිහාම පාර ඉවරයි.

මහින්ද යටතේ මුල්වරට ග්‍රාමීය පළාත් බද පාරවල් පවා කාපට් කලා ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා පාරවල් කොන්ක්‍රීට් කලා.

ඒ හංදා මහින්දගේ කාලේ පාරක් හැදෙන එක පළාත් විෂයට අයිති පුංචි පාළමක් විවෘත.කරන එක.අද වගේ සංවර්ධන පුවත් යහපාලන පුවත් ලෙස විශේෂයෙන් පෙන්නන්න වුනේ නෑ

මේ ලංකාවේ ආසන්න වසර 10 තුළ තෙල් මිළ බැරලයක් ඩොලර් 120 ට ඉහළ ගියේ නෑ. හැබැයි මහින්දට යුද්ධයක් මැද ඒකට මුණ දෙන්න වුනා. එහෙම වුනා කියලා මහින්ද රටේ ජනතාව දවස් ගනන් තෙල් ගන්න පෝළිම් වල තිබ්බේ නෑ.

කොටින්ම මහින්දගේ කාලේ අපි කවදාවත් තෙල් නැවක් එනකල් බලා හිටියෙත් නෑ.

ඒ හංදා මහින්දට තෙල් වලට මිළ සූත්‍ර කියලා දෙයක් පෙන්න පෙන්න ඉන්න අවශ්‍ය වුනේ නෑ.

මහින්ද ජනාධිපති වුන අළුත (2006 විතර) විදේශ කටයුතු ඇමති වුන මංගල සමරවීර ඇමරිකාව ⁣පලස්තීනයට එරෙහිව ගෙනාපු යෝජනාවකට ලංකාව පක්ෂ වෙනවා ජිනීවා වල ( එතකොට මහින්ද පලස්තීන මුස්ලිම් සහයෝගිතාවයේ සභාපති) එයට පලස්තීනයෙන් සහාව අයදින මහින්ද මංගලගේ විදේශ කටයුතු ඔහුගෙන් ඉවත් කරනවා.

ඒ හංදා මහින්දට රටේ ජනතාවට මම දන්නේ නෑ මට කීවේ නෑ කියලා වගකීමෙන් මිදෙන ටෝක් දෙන්න ඕන වුනේ නෑ

අද වගේ රටේ ජනාධිපති නොදන්න ගිවිසුම් වලට ලංකාව එකග වුනාට එදා මහින්ද සෘජුව ක්‍රියා කලේ එහෙමයි.

ලංකාවේ රැකියා දෙන්නනම් අදායම වැඩිකර ගන්න ඕන. රටේ ඉදිකිරීම් අංශය පණ ගැන්වූ විට ගම්මාන තුළ අවිධිමත් රැකියා නියුක්තිය( ⁣ගඩොල් පෙදරේරැ වඩු පේන්ටින් වයරිං සුළු පරිමාන නිෂ්පාදන බෙදා හැරිම්) ඉහළ යන බව ආර්ථික සහ මුල්‍ය සංසරණ ක්‍රියාවක්. එය මහින්ද අතිහදා බලනවා. ඒ නිසා 2005 මහින්ද එනවිට රටේ තිබුන රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සේවා නියුක්තිය ලක්ෂ 7 සිට ලක්ෂ 14, දක්වා 2015, වන විට ඉහල නංවන්න වගේම

රටම වැඩ බිමක් ලෙස ආදායම් ගලා යන සක්‍රීය තත්වයට පත් කරන්න හැකිවුනා.

කොටින්ම 2014 මහින්ද රැකියා විරහිත.උපාධි ධාරී කියන කුලකය නවත්වා තිබුනා.

ඒ හංදා මහින්දට මම රැකියා හදනවා කිය කිය යන්න වුවමනාවක් වුනේ නෑ.

මහින්දගේ කාලේ සිරිසේනලා චම්පිකලා රාජිතලා විජිතමුණි සොයිසලා මහින්ද චින්තනයට එරෙහිව වැඩ කරනවා කියලා මහින්දට වැටහෙන්න ඇති ඒත් ඒකට පිළියම ලෙස මහින්ද රනිල් වගේ තමන්ගේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කංඩායමේ නවක මන්ත්‍රීන්ට කියලා රනිල් වගේ ඇමතිවරැන්ට බන්නන්න තර්ජනය කරන්න අමාත්‍යංශ වැය ශීර්ෂ පරාද කරවලා දණ ගස්වන්න වුවමනා වුනේ නැතුව ඇති.

අදටත් පවතින්නේ රජය මහින්දගේ වසර 10 ඉක්මවා යන්න කරන තරගයක් විතරයි.

ඒ වසර දහය තුළ ජනතාවට සාධනීය ලෙස මහින්ද ලබා දන්න දේවල් වලට අලගු තියන්නවත් මේ රජය⁣ට බැරි වෙලා තියනවා.

ඒකයි චන්ද්‍රිකා නොරොච්චෝලය මගේ වැඩක් මම පටන් ගත්තේ කියන්නේ.

ඒකයි චන්ද්‍රිකාලා චම්පිකලා ජවිපයේ අනරලා යුද්ධය අපේ පංගුව මේක.කියලා පෙන්නන්නේ.

ඒකයි රනිල් මහින්ද කරපු ව්‍යාපෘති රටට පාඩු බව අසාර්ථක බව පෙන්නන්න මේ තරම් රටේ ධනය කාබාසිනා කරන්නේ.

කොටින්ම 2015 ඉදන් අද මම මේ ලියන මොහොත දක්වාම යහපාලන අන්ඩුවයි ගෙනාපු අයයි උදව් කරපු අයයි

තොර තෝංචියක් නැතුව අපි මහින්දට වඩා යමක් රටට කරලා තියනවා කිය කිය ජනතාවගේ ඇහැට ඇගිල්ලෙන් ඇන අැන පෙන්නන්නේ

මහින්ද ඉක්මවා යන්න බැරි හේතුව මිසක් වෙන දෙයක් නොවේ.

මහින්දත් තමන්ගේ ගමන යන්නේ වුවමනාවෙන් සටන් වදින්න යමක් මේ ආන්ඩුවේ නැති නිසාමයි.

මහින්ද අගලක් හරි ඉක්මවා ලන්න පුළුවන් වුනානම් මේ අය හෙට පළාත් සභා ටික තියලා දිනාගන්නවා බං.

………….. නුවන් මොණරවිළ …………….

By Charles.S.Perera

Mr.Pujitha S.B.Jayasundara,

Inspector General of Police,

Sri Lanka

Dear Sir,

I am presently living abroad but I am a man from a small village in Sri Lanka. Sir it is we the villagers who feel more for our country to the extent to  even shed tears in secret when we are unable to put right the wrongs that are being done to our country.

I have read you are also from  a village Mahamukalaanayaaya in Bogamuwa. That means you are a real son of the soil and must have seen youths from your village also joining the Armed Forces to fight the ruthless terrorism that we had thought for a long time was an invincible force. Many of those  Sinhala Buddhist village youth whowent to defend our country, came back in coffins, while some had gone missing, and others have escaped after sacrificing  their limbs  in the terrorist war. It was in their heroism that our country was saved and we live tody in peace and security.

But we pay only lip service to these war heroes who  are our own children. This is while those who should take responsibility for deaths, disappearances and mutilation are today demanding that our war heroes be taken before International Criminal Courts.  This had been going on ever since the elimination of terrorists and even the International Community treats our war heroes as their war criminals and the terrorists as their heroes.  This has to end without  our Government treat the terrorists and who aided abetted  them  with soft gloves, while  our war heroes are being sacrificed for a seemingly unachievable reconciliation with the Tamils- specially the TNA Tamils politicians.

The  TNA which keeps calling to take revenge from the Sri Lanka Armed Forces for the elimination of the terrorists, disappearances, violation of human rights, was a part of the terrorist equip terrorising the people  along side Prabhakaran.   In English Law it is said that you cannot go to court with blood on your hands. Therefore  neither the TNA no the Tamils of the diaspora who financed the  terrorism purchasing arms and equipment for them  terrorists cannot now  accuse the armed forces for war crimes when they were a part of the terrorists aiding     and abetting the terrorists.

In 2001 the LTTE during the heights of its ruthless terror against the people, wanted a political arm  to defend and be their spokes persons in the Parliament and outside the terrorists controlled areas.  Terrorist leader Prabhakaran selected the present set of TNA Parliamentarians. They set up an alliance along with Tamil Political parties such as  ACTC (All Ceylon Tamil Congress), the EPRLF (Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front), TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization), TULF (Tamil United Liberation Front).

Thereafter  TNA under Sampanthan of ITAK declared that the  LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamil people, Ananda Sangaree of TULF who disagreed  left the Alliance and TNA became the political arm of the terrorists.

The activities of TNA since then had been organised by the terrorist leader and for all intents and purposes TNA was a part of the LTTE terrorist set up.  Please see the article by Ms.Shenali Waduge in the Lankaweb entitled: Haul TNA to Court for links with LTTE terrorists & Separatist Demands- https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/03/25/haul-tna-to-court-for-links-with-ltte-terrorists-separatist-demands/

 -for details of the involvement of TNA with  terrorism since 2001 to date even after the elimination of terrorism.

After elimination of terrorism in May,2009,  the then Government of ¨President Mahinda Rajapakse should have disbanded the TNA but for whatever reason  it had not been done and we are today suffering the consequence of that failure.

Dear Sir, since 2001 TNA which  had been involved with the terrorists and terrorism never raised a voice against  the savagery of the terrorists and their massacres of innocent villagers, passengers of busses and trains and mass killings by placing claymore bombs in markets and public places, and assassination of many political figures and officers of the Armed Forces and the Police. 

In their silence through out the period of terrorism the TNA and its members were aiding and abetting terrorists in those massacres, assassinations, without directly participating in  the bloody savagery of the terrorists.

Even today the TNA Parliamentarians continue in terrorising the  newly settled Sinhala people in the villages calling for their identity cads and property Deeds. Recently  a group of Tamils  supported by some TNA politicians occupied the Mulathiu Nayaru Khandha Ancient Buddhist temple on the Pongal Day , threatened the resident monk Venerable Kolamba  Medalankara Kiththi Nayaka thero, and even dug a foundation for a Kovil in the temple premises.

Though no killing had been done this too amounts to a terrorist activity, to frighten  persons and make them leave the area in fear  for life.

These TNA politicians continue to criticise and condemn Sri Lanka in international forums and contact foreign countries  complaining about imagined discriminations against the Tamils by the Government calling for their assistance to  win  separate rights and priviledes to the Tamil people and to cooperate  with them for the setting up of a separate Tamil only Province in the North and East. Their statements against the Government are in breach of the Constitution and amounts to criminal defamation

Despite these activities which are  in contravention of the Constitution, the law is not being applied against the TNA Parliamentarians. They are not even been called to the Police Stations and warned against making such statements.

Most often when questioned as to why the TNA Parliamentarians are not taken to custody when they make seditious and libellous statements, authorities cite  an on going reconciliation, and state that the law is kept silent not to hamper  the reconciliation process.

The reconciliation is not a one sided activity. If TNA wants the other communities of Sri Lanka to reconcile with the Tamil Community they should reciprocate these acts of reconciliation by he Government. But so far they   continue to make more demands without making any advance towards reconciliation with the Sinhala.

The Tamil people are kept silent by threat, and made to follow the TNA through fear of them and fear of retaliation. If the Law is applied to the TNA politicians and make them understand that they are not outside the law of the country, the ordinary Tamil people will trust in  law and order and act freely without blindly following the TNA MPs  through fear and for favour.

One Mr.Jayantha Liyanage of  Sinhala Mahasabha once filed an FR action against the TNA, but the courts advised that as there was a move for reconciliation with Tamils   it is good that the legal action is not taken against them for the moment.

But this is not correct any more as the law should be applied when it is broken or in the process of being broken. What is the use of a police force Sir, if you are absent in the North and allow the TNA politicians go free despite their criminal  activities that hamper peace security and freedom of the people.

TNA Parliamentarians Shritharan’s  recent statement that Gotabhaya Rajapakse had killed over 140,000 Tamils  which is false and therefore a statement of criminal defamation.  It is not  acceptable that he is allowed to go free after making such seditious statements. He should be called to the Police Station and warned not to make such false accusations which makes him liable for criminal prosecution.

There is no reconciliation in  the police allowing these TNA Parliamentarians to break the law, and still go free.  The Police should call Shritharan to the police station  to warn  him about making such statements of criminal defamation, and warn him against making such statements in future.

I do not intend to write more as you may already be aware of these unlawful activities and pronouncements of the TNA Parliamentarians. They are citizens of Sri Lanka and the laws of the country should be applied to them as well, no matter whether there is an ongoing reconciliation process.

As a member of the Public I implore you not to be a onlooker of breach of law and order by the TNA Parliamentarians,  and request you to intervene to make them understand that they  too should respect the law.

Yours Sincerely,

Charles.S.Perera

Copy to: President of Sri Lanka Mr. Maithripala Sirisena,

              Leader of the Opposition  of the Parliament of Sri Lanka:Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse

              Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe

Proof is in the pudding they say and so when anyone in Sri Lanka tries to promote UN as the savior the best response is to ask them where ha the UN succeed. UN has had 49 Missions across the world since it started and all of them are virtual failures and none of these countries can say that UN has helped them solve their problems. UN has held tribunals too and none of these have ended with justice to victims except the judges and staff have got rich. Therefore, we in Sri Lanka clearly say we do not have any faith in UN missions, UN tribunals, UN judges or even UN officials who meet a select group of NGOs compile reports based on information they give and expect the whole world to believe these lies.

UN Missions in AMERICAS

1. 1965-1966 – Dominican Republic
2. 1989-1992 – UN Observer Group in 5 countries –  in Costa Rica / El Salvador / Guatemala / Honduras / Nicaragua
3. 1991-1995 – UN Observer Group in El Salvador
4. 1993-1996 – UN Mission in Haiti (after 1991 coup)
5. 1996-1997 – UN Support Mission in Haiti (Haiti’s new democracy)
6. 1997 – UN Verification Mission in Guatemala
7. 1997 – UN Transition Mission in Haiti (training Haitian National Police)
8. 1997-2000 – UN Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (training Haitian National Police)
9. 2000-2001 – UNGA International Support Mission in Haiti (training Haitian National Police)
10. 2004-2017 – UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (after 2004 rebellion) – United Nation (UN) peacekeepers left Haiti in October 2017 after claiming Haiti was stabilized.
11. 2017 – United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti

There has been 10 UN Missions in the America’s since 1965 and what is the UN’s record sheet of success against all of its templates that it boasts to roll out through the UN rapporteurs and other officials sent to these countries to review ‘new democratic systems’ in place?

From 1997 UN has been training Haiti’s National Police which was created only in 1995. More than 8,500 police officers have completed training with plans to increase force to 14,000. Countries are even bidding to train Haiti’s police. Canada is one such bidder https://canada-haiti.ca/node/226 – a contract worth $15-million.

This UN POLICE FORCE was responsible for killing 21 unarmed civilians in Haiti on 16 January 2019. This was not the only incident involving UN Police – in 2017 UN Police raided a school killing 9 civilians and UN was exonerated. Only in 2016 did UN apologize for its role in the 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti but then UN has immunity for crimes though it tries to bring others to justice!

UN Missions in ASIA

1. 1949 – United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan
2. 1962-1963 – UN Security Force in West New Guinea to transfer sovereignty from Indonesia to West New Guinea
3. 1965-1966 – UN India-Pakistan Observation Mission following the Indo-Pak War
4. 1988-1990 – UN Good Offices Mission in Afghanistan & Pakistan after the Soviet-Afghan War
5. 1991-1992 – UN Advance Mission in Cambodia
6. 1992-1993 – UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia
7. 1994-2000 – UN Observer Mission in Tajikistan
8. 1999 – UN Mission in East Timor (Indonesian invasion of East Timor)
9. 1999-2002 – UN Transitional Administration in East Timor
10. 2002-2005 – UN Support Mission in East Timor
11. 2006-2012 – UN Integrated Mission in East Timor

From 1962 the UN has been operating Missions in West New Guinea, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Tajikistan and from 1999 UN has been in East Timor.

If, complicity of US & Britain in supplying arms to Pol Pot’s Khymer Rouge in Cambodia – what good is a tribunal to find truth & justice for crimes committed?

In 1991 an Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict was signed by 19 participating countries ( wanting ‘peace’ on their terms only) creating the UN tribunal for Cambodia that employed 25,000 people spending over $3 billion. UN was blamed for bringing the legacy of AIDS to Cambodia (1992 Richard Holbrook it is clear that the UN personnel are going to both spread AIDS & bring AIDS home with them”.

The UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia recruited military & civil police – 30% of Bulgarian battalion were former prisoners. Some police didn’t even have drivers license! UNTAC chief Yasushi Akashi (whom Sri Lanka knows very well) was called spineless. UNTAC soldiers were referred to as mercenaries. Even when UN scheduled elections in 1993 it was marred by violence, murders, intimidations and undemocratic practices & vote buying but Akashi declared elections ‘free & fair’ with support of Inter-Parliamentary Union & other foreign observers (so you know what to expect)

UN Missions in EUROPE

1. 1964 – UN Peace Keeping Force Cyprus
2. 1992-1995 – UN Protection Force in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Former Yugoslavia
3. 1993-2009 – UN Observer Mission in Georgia
4. 1994-1996 – UN Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia
5. 1995-2002 – UN Mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina
6. 1995-1999 – UN Preventive Force in Macedonia
7. 1996-1998 – UN Transitional Authority in Eastern Slavonia, Western Sirmium
8. 1996-2002 – UN Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (Croatia/Former Yugoslavia)
9. 1998 – UN Civilian Police in Croatia
10. 1999 – United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

In 1995 in Croatia a summary execution took place in a refugee centre right next to a UN mission who were well aware of what took place. All that the UN did was to shed crocodile tears and say ‘they should have done something to stop it’ – what good is foreign troop presence if they do nothing at the time of an incident and thereafter cry over spoilt milk!

Macedonia is one of the co-sponsors of the recent UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka. Macedonia became a UN member only in 1993 but still struggling to register its name.

If UN cried over its failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda, UN didn’t do much in Yugoslavia either.

What have Kosovo got from independence? Can it eat independence? Today Kosovo is a narcotics hub and lawlessness abounds.

UN Missions in MIDDLE EAST

1. 1956-1967 – First UN Emergency Force in Egypt & Israel
2. 1958 – UN Observation Group in Lebanon
3. 1963-1964 – UN Yemen Observation Mission
4. 1974 – Disengagement Observer Force Israel/Lebanon
5. 1973-1979 – Second UN Emergency Force in Egypt & Israel
6. 1978 – UN Interim Force in Lebanon
7. 1988-1991 – UN Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group
8. 1991-2003 – UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission
9. 2012 – UN Supervision Mission in Syria

Has Middle East had any relief inspite of these UN Missions? Whose side is the UN really on?

UN Missions in AFRICA

1. 1991 – UN Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara
2. 2007 – UN/African Union Mission in Sudan
3. 2010 – UN Stabilization Mission in Congo
4. 2011 – UN Interim Security Force for Sudan
5. 2011 – UN Mission in South Sudan
6. 2011 – UN Support Mission in Libya
7. 2013 – Multi-Dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali
8. 2014 – UN Multi-Dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Central African Republic

What is the ‘peace’ that UN has given Mali inspite of over 13,000 UN presence?

South Sudan was given independence in 2011 but conflict erupted 2 years later. UN peace mission in South Sudan are accused of ignoring threats to civilians including rape of women – so what good is a UN peace force.

Libya is another of UN’s failures. Libya was the most richest country in North Africa. Today it is among the poorest & most deadliest. There were no slaves under Gaddafi rule, today Libya is a slave trading hub.

UN has had at least 49 Missions in Americas, Africa, Asia, Middle East in at least 40 countries none of these countries can the UN claim to have successfully rolled out UN ‘democracy’ ‘human rights’ ‘justice’. All of these countries continue to suffer, none of the templates, agreements, truce deals or initiatives that UN boasts about has given any sustainable development, confidence to the ordinary people or improved the lives of the people the UN claims to be helping.

These examples are enough to completely shut the doors to any UN presence in other countries for the failure of UN presence in the above countries is enough proof that UN has no solutions to any conflict that countries suffers when UN troop presence and UN funding is by the very countries that have created the problems in the countries UN is wishing to be present in. How can UN investigate any issue if UN is omitting from investigation the countries culpable for conflicts – Cambodia’s Pol Pot couldn’t do what he did without US & British help same goes for many of the other conflicts around the world. No Tribunal can point fingers at Yugoslavia or Serbia if NATO crimes are also not brought on to the same table and given impartial hearing.

Besides, how can UN officials who are stationed in Geneva, New and other modern capitals pay periodic visits – meet the same local NGO heads who are infamous for feeding lies and distortions and base their reports on what they say and the bogus ‘witnesses’ they produce to substantiate their reports? This farce will soon get exposed for lies cannot go on forever and people can only be misled for a short time – when they wake up and realize who have been lying UN will not know what template to follow.

Everyone in Sri Lanka who are running behind the bogey of international judges & tribunals must first ask themselves how many tribunals has UN held with international judges and what are the outcomes… and the justice for the victims of these international tribunals have been zero and includes truth commissions as well.

Shenali D Waduge

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

28 March 2019

Chief Minister Hon. Edappadi K. Palaniswami

Office of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Veda Nilayam

81/36  Poes Garden

Chennai -600 086

Tamil Nadu

India.

Cc:Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

      UNHRC, Geneva

      Lord Naseby, House of Lords, Westminster, London, UK

      Tilak Marapana, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sri Lanka.

Dear Chief Minister:

Namaste!

I just read the news item in Colombo Gazette of 25 March 2019, which said,, AIADMK seeks probe into Human rights violations”  during the Tamil Eelam war in Sri Lanka.

At first blush, my reaction was, No, can’t be.  Surely these are not the same Tamil Nadu politicians who in the early 1980s, with the help of Indira Gandhi, took over bare-foot Tamils from the North of Sri Lanka, who couldn’t shoot straight to fight the Sri Lankan armed forces, to give them military training to go to war, to claim their  mythical separate mono-ethnic, racist, Tamil State, Eelam, carved out of 33% of the real estate and bordered by 66% of the coastline in the North and East of the island.  Military warfare,  was training them how to shoot AK47s and throw hand-grenades like leather cricket balls at targets and not fighting with catapults and stones as in a High School backyard.  It was sophisticated military training to violate the ‘Right-to-life’ of innocent Sinhalese peoples in border villages of their de facto, Eelam,  by killing them”

And then I realized that these were the aging, friends or siblings of the same Godfathers of Tamil Tiger  terrorists who trained them to violate  the most paramount Human Right, the right-to-life, by killing innocent fisher- and farming Sinhalese folk,  in the process of ethnic cleansing, They happen to be my people.  I am a Sinhalese-Buddhist.

That’s pretty rich on you Tamil Nadu politicians calling for a probe on Human Rights violations in Sri Lanka, having disguised yourselves painting your faces lily-white like scary Halloween ghouls, and sitting on high-horses pretending to be angelic Paragons-of Virtue.  That is a stomach-somersaulting Ha! Ha!! joke, Chief Minister.  You got that one wrong!

That was pretty rich and you Tamil Nadu politicians got the gall and temerity requesting UNHRC to probe alleged Human Rights violations”  by the armed forces in Sri Lanka, when you guys were the Godfathers of those Tamil Tiger Human Rights violators of unarmed innocent people in the scores of. hundreds.  Don’t you guys understand this collusion?

I notice that these Tamil Tiger terrorist human rights violations during the Eelam War are no great concern to you Tamil Nadu politicians nor to the UNHRC.  Little wonder why the US quit UNHRC saying that it is a cesspool of political bias”, and leaving the stink to foolish ‘bully’ countries and politicians like you to inhale and cope with. You all just cannot wriggle out of that horrible fact,  That was nasty, Chief Minister, and you know it.  You all should be ashamed of yourselves and hang down your heads like Tom Dooley every day, when walking into your legislatures.  Look at your palms and you will find a film of red Sinhalese blood in every one of  your palms.  That is the blood of my innocent Sinhalese people and my anger is visceral. And after almost 40 years my eyes are  still cartwheeling with anger spitting dragon breath at you, Tamil Nadu Godfathers of Tamil Tiger terrorists, who killed thousands of my innocent Sinhalese people for almost 30 blooding years.

Come on Chief Minister, give me a break, cut out that Tamil Nadu political  blarney, and get off your high-horse, come down to earth, and take a reality check and don’t be so disingenuous as you will be a good

candidate for the role of Mirror, mirror, on the Wall, who is the liar of them all,” when a fist would punch through the mirror pointing its index finger at you saying, It is You, Sir.”

Chief Minister, I won’t be surprised if you tell me that We are not only Paragons-of-virtue’ we are also Babes in the woods, and we are innocent of your charge that we were involved in training the Tamil Tigers to violate the Human Right of the right-to-life of the Sinhalese people when the Tamil Tiger terrorists massacred thousands of innocent Sinhalese people, by shooting, claymore mining them and chopping them with machetes as if they were animal carcasses  hanging in a Chennai  Street butcher’s stall.   Haro..Hara!  And you from the South of all of Tamils in India requesting the UNHRC to probe the human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the last gasping five-months of the 30-year Eelam War is a call of bull-headed insanity.

Let me nudge your memory, Chief Minister, and tell you that you all in the early 1980s trained the Sri Lankan- Tamil militants from the Eelam People’s  Revolutionary Front (EPRLF); Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO);  Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE); Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS), and Tamil Eelam Liberation Army (TELA).

Once they graduated from their military training they were sent back to Sri Lanka’s North in Tiger-striped khaki fatigues and jack boots, cradling Kalashnikovs like babies in their arms, and festoons of live bullets around their necks.  They were now fully fledged cyanide capsuled  Tamil Tiger Terrorists, assassins and massacers, ready not only to take on the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, but also the Indian Armed Forces who trained them.  And that was embarrassing for Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his RAW advisors. Ha! What a miscalculated adventure when your Indian Peace Keeping Force of 100,000  soldiers were forced to get back home to India, taking with them 120 of their brother-soldiers in body-bags,  That bully-boy-adventure cost your India  US$3 million a day, a huge country characterized by the gaunt drawn out faces of the starving, when you all could have used that money to feed your starving.  Shish! What a bunch of blithering fools.

Here are some locations of camps in Tamil Nadu where the Tamil Tigers were trained by Indian retired army soldiers: Parangamali, and a place about 40 km from the Chennai airport;  Salem;  Kollimalai Kanjipuram;  Kollimalai Kakavel; Anna Nagar; Sengalpattu Presawakkam;  Valachchari and Theniukramama, and so forth.

The weapons training by your Tamil Nadu Indians to kill and violate the Sinhalese innocent victims right-to-lifewere AK47s; pistols and revolvers; SLRs; LMGs; Rocket launchers: 2” Mortars and other modern sophisticated weapons.  Definitely not stones, catapults, and Indian Police crowd controlling bamboo-sticks.

So Chief Minister, it is pretty rich for you Tamil Nadu politicians to paint yourselves lily-white and pretend that you are  Holier than the Sri Lankan Armed Forces whose job training was to safeguard the island’s sovereignty, its territorial integrity and her much loved peoples.  And that included the Tamil communities.   And as you know, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces did a pretty good job annihilating Indira Gandhi’s proteges, Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers. on 19 May, 2009. The last Tamil Tiger was shot dead on the sandy beach of the Nandikadal lagoon on the east coast.

AIADMK seeks probing by UNHRC  Human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the last 5-months of a 30 year long war, which I read in the news item was a crock full of chilli-smarting masala wadai.

Let me be frank and tell you bluntly, that you have sold your soul for geo-

political reasons, ‘bully’ western country pressures at the UNHCR in Geneva,and your domestic Tamil votes at home, and turned your back on your puny neighbour, Sri Lanka, to help crucify her.  And I  have difficulty to swallow Sri Lanka’s brand of foolishness when her governments keep trying to convince me by repeating that Manthra, India is a good friend of ours, and she has been so for donkey’s years.”

That unconvincing tosh I never believed for the simple reasons that a good friend would never park a warship in the International waters outside Colombo’s harbour as a psychological threat, while this  ‘bully-boy’ good neighbour on June 4, 1987 violated Sri Lanka’s airspace  by flying over 5 Russian Antonov 32s Indian Air Force Transport planes escorted by 4 screaming Mirage 2000 fighter jets, to drop 25 tons of red lentils, rice, milk powder and medicines onto the Jaffna peninsula to feed 800,000 Tamils who India said were deliberately been starved by the Sri Lankan Government. 

You know what, Chief Minister, that was mischievous, that was India flexing her gingerly-oil massaged muscles, and that was sordid. That ‘parippu drop’ of 25 tons, was cruel and I strongly believe that Rajiv Gandhi got some sadistic gratification knowing that the majority of the 800,000 Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka, were pushing and shoving each other, fighting and clawing the sun dried earth to collect some grains of rice and lentils to boil and eat, as according to him, they were being starved deliberately by the Sri Lanka government.  Was Rajiv Gandhi nuts or what, Chief Minister.  That was cruel!  What drivel!  What poppycock!   What kind of a bleeding heart did he have?  

I have difficulty to accept this huge good neighbour of Sri Lanka’s Manmohan Singh’s Indian Government providing nails to the UNHRC  to nail Sri Lanka onto a wall by refusing to commit Sri Lanka, their friendly neighbourliness, and support against the US-sponsored UN resolution accusing its military of committing war crimes in the final assault on the Tamil Tigers in 2009. Do I really consider India a good friend of Sri Lanka.  Na…I suspect this neighbour of Sri Lanka as a cunning  hegemonistic fox.

 And my final comment on what you said printed in that news item: …The party will urge the Union Government, United Nations and International Communities to order a credible international probe into the human rights violations, war crimes and genocide committed by the Sinhalese by the then Sri Lankan Government……”

What Genocide” may I ask?  Man…O…man, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, you are on a slippery slope on that one, and don’t you  walk on thin ice, as you might slip and hurt yourself, or drown in a lake of confounding stupidity by breaking through the layer of thin ice,  which was only meant for stupids and no good liars to skate on.

Here’s my problem with your accusatory word Genocide”  Tell me how you would reconcile the fact that by the end of the Eelam war on 19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan Sinhalese” soldiers rescued 295,873 Tamil

refugees from the clutches of the Tamil Tiger serial killers who used them as a human shield for 30 long months, marching them like unwashed cattle from the west coast to the east coast under a scorching Jaffna-Kilinochchi sun,  The  soldiers could have popped them with bullets at close range, as how on June 11,1990, Indira Gandhi’s Tamil Tigers did to 700 surrendered  Sinhalese unarmed  and blindfolded,  policemen with their hands tied at their backs, popping bullets into their heads, at close range in the jungles in the east.  Well, the good news is that the Sinhalese soldiers were not that brutal and didn’t.  They all had compassionate hearts well guarded in cages of ribs.  And you call this Sinhalese act of compassion, respecting the lives of 295,873 of their Tamil brothers and sisters, Genocide How come?  You make me croak with disgust!

Having saved the 295,873 Tamil refugees they were housed in temporary camps and sustained them  with hearty breakfasts, lunches and dinners every day which they gobbled down in haste to fill their hunger, having been starved during the Tamil Tiger Human Shield days of 30 months.  That means, the majority Sinhalese people cooked a million meals a day.  That act of humanity deserves a Nobel Peace Prize and not a penalty sought by you from the UNHRC.  That was a bummer.  What the Sri Lankan soldiers did was an amazing act of loving kindness, to a separatist Tamil community who killed and maimed for life members of their Sinhalese community for 30 bloodying years. It is time that you Tamil Nadu politicians stop ignoring this amazing event.

During the final days of the Eelam War, the soldiers, all of them from the Sinhalese community, carried  frail Tamil grandmothers and grandfathers in their arms like babies and ran to safety, dodging Tamil Tiger bullets.  These acts were recorded on film and one Tamil grandmother kissing the young Sinhalese soldier on his cheek and blessed him for his act of valour saying Puthata Buddhu Sarani” (Son, you will be blessed by Buddha’s Triple gem.)

For Pete’s sake don’t you come out with a ‘hole-in-the-head’ comment telling me that these acts were acts of Genocide.”

And here is a litmus test for you to be fair on your loving Mother who brought you up to be an honest man and not to project yourself as a community and an International Humbug.  

Here is my riddle and it is not a tricky one   According to war statistics, the ratio of casualties, those killed to those injured are 1:2.  For you to request a probe into Human Rights violations  during the last five months of the Eelam War from UNHRC, it is obvious that you have accepted the 40,000 number killed as mentioned in the roguish Darusman Report  If that is so, there should have been roughly  80,000 fatally injured casualties during the last five months of the Eelam War.

Lets try your smarts’ and your common sense and find out from Ban Ki Moon, who used to moon Sri Lanka often, and his anti-Sri Lankan panel of three Musketeers Darusman-Ratner-Sooka, and his UNHCR High Commissioner Navi Pillay who endorsed the Darusman Report.

as to what happened to these 80,000 casualties, who may have been bleeding and scared, may have been wounded heavily,  lost an eye, may have been hobbling on one foot having lost the other.    Were they taken care at makeshift hospitals, or at hospitals in Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Vavuniya or in other cottage hospitals with, may be  a maximum of 50 beds the most.  Or were they left to die by the roadsides by foreign bleeding-heart foreign human rights organization personnel rushing by in air-conditioned SUVs kicking dust at the wounded soldiers faces.  That will expose the bleeding-heart Humbugs among the foreign NGOs.  Eighty thousand (80,000) fatalities are a colossal number for a puny developing country to be taken care of immediately.

If you do not get honest, convincing, acceptable answers, your conscience has every right to conclude that the cut and paste Darusman Report is a Report of Humbugs and dismiss it.  Throw it into the wastepaper basket in your office or make a bonfire out of it.

For your Mother’s sake, make that lady, where ever she is, extremely happy, by showing your honesty which she had inculcated in you when growing up. Don’t turn your back on your neighbour  Sri Lanka, as her Government is convinced that India is their honest and good neighbour, and apologize to the Sri Lankan Government and her peoples  for your faux pas and tell the High Commissioner of the UNHRC that you are withdrawing your request to probe into Human Rights violations” during the Tamil Eelam War in Sri Lanka, Genocide” in particular.

Go ahead and do it Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.  I will be the first person to tip my hat to you, Being a teetotaller, I will toast you with a

fine hot cup of the best Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea.

Bless you.  Shanthi…shanthi…shanthi.

Sincerely

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr)

Ottawa, Canada

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila, MP, yesterday said that former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswarazn’s rejection of scientific findings of Beta Analytic Institute of Florida, USA, in respect of samples of skeletal remains sent from the Mannar mass grave site, underscored the difficulties in post-war national reconciliation process.

Attorney-at-law Gammanpila said that he was really shocked by the stand taken up by the retired Supreme Court judge.

Responding to a query, MP Gammanpila alleged that members of the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) played politics with the Mannar issue. They reacted with shock and dismay over the US laboratory setting the record straight, the lawmaker said,

pointing out that the Colombo-based German Ambassador Joern Rohde and a British delegation visited the Mannar site in Nov and Dec 2018 as they were convinced of Sri Lanka Army’s accountability.

MP Gammanpila recalled how such visits received huge media coverage. Answering another query, Colombo District MP said obviously the Mannar project was meant to be used in a big way at the recently concluded Geneva sessions. Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet went to the extent of commenting on Mannar mass grave in her latest report that dealt with the period from Oct 2015 to January 2019, MP Gammanpila said. Had the US lab issued a report to suit their strategy, would they have accepted fresh tests in case the government of Sri Lanka requested, Gammanpila asked.

The PHU leader said that HRC Bachelet owed Sri Lanka an explanation as to how she arrived at damaging conclusions and whether reassessment could be made in the wake of the US lab report.

The following is relevant section bearing No 23 from Bachelet’s report: “On May 29, 2018, human skeletal remains were discovered at a construction site in Mannar (Northern Province), Excavations conducted in support of the Office on Missing Persons, revealed a mass grave from which more than 300 skeletons were discovered. It was the second mass grave found in Mannar following the discovery of a site in 2014. Given that other mass graves might be expected to be found in the future, systematic access to grave sites by the Office as an observer is crucial for it to fully discharge its mandate, particularly with regard to the investigation and identification of remains, it is imperative that the proposed reforms on the law relating to inquests, and relevant protocols to operationalize the law be adopted. The capacity of the forensic sector must also be strengthened, including in areas of forensic anthropology, forensic archeology and genetics, and its coordination with the Office of Missing Persons must be ensured.”

Gammanpila appreciated one-time Attorney General Foreign Minister Tilak Maparana, PC, raising the Mannar issue in his response to Bachelet. The Joint Opposition heavyweight also noted that though Bachelet reacted angrily to Northern Governor Dr. Suren Raghavan comments on her report she remained conveniently mum on Marapana’s criticism of the report.

MP Gammanpila alleged that those who couldn’t stomach Sri Lanka’s triumph over LTTE terrorism were still pursuing anti-Sri Lanka campaign. The lawmaker pointed out that in addition to the US lab, the disclosure made by wartime US defence attache Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith in June 2011 and Lord Naseby in Oct 2017 strongly countered unsubstantiated allegations directed at the war winning military.

The TNA, a section of the foreign funded civil society grouping and Western powers continue to turn a blind eye to evidence which contradicted the Panel of Experts’ accusation pertaining indiscriminate killings on the Vanni east front, Gammanpila said.

The MP said that Minister Marapana referred to the reluctance on their part to take evidence supportive of Sri Lanka into consideration.

Gammanpila faulted the Foreign Ministry for not using Lord Naseby’s disclosure at much earlier stage for Sri Lanka’s benefit.

Blaming the government for its failure to protect Sri Lanka’s interests in Geneva on previous occasions, the JO front-liner said the government should now go the whole hog. Raising of Lord Naseby’s disclosure and other related matters received the appreciation of vast majority of people. But that wouldn’t be enough, MP Gammanpila said, the government should press Geneva to review its position. It would be necessary to keep in mind that Geneva Resolution 30/1 was based on unsubstantiated allegations. Now, the main allegation pertaining to the massacre of 40,000 had been proved quite wrong hence the need to revisit the process, the MP said.

By Prof. O. A. Ileperuma Courtesy The Island

The budget 2019 reports a massive 2000-billion-rupee deficit. This is going to affect the man on the street via taxes, both direct and indirect and cause severe economic hardships to ordinary people. Combined with the depreciation of the rupee, prices of all consumer items will increase. This budget is full of rhetoric but no substance. Massive handouts in the form of building toilets, houses and other welfare programmes will certainly add to inflation. This budget lacks even a single project where national productivity can be enhanced. It is only through increasing national productivity that economic salvation is possible. Economic pundits at the Finance ministry are capable only of increasing taxes on cigarettes, liquor and services provided to generate revenue. They are woefully illiterate about using our natural resources to bridge this gap. Let me give at least two examples. There was a proposal to commence a soluble phosphate fertiliser plant using Eppawela apatite last year during the period of the previous minister of agriculture. This plan never saw the light of the day owing to some unknown reason. This could have saved Rs. 5 billion annually in savings from the fertiliser subsidy. The other example is the ilmenite deposit at Pulmoddai which is currently sold in raw form at around US $ 150 a tonne. It is possible to produce pigment grade titanium dioxide using a simple process which fetch a price of about US$2000 a tonne. Our politicians and the economists who advise them totally ignore such productive ventures because of their ignorance. Another case is our rare metal resource at Beruwela which has a ready market and even the raw sand has a price of about US$ 500 per tonne. This valuable resource can be sold to bring substantial economic benefits.

Another neglected area in the budget is the lack of emphasis on agriculture. We import spices, dhal, mung beans, potatoes, onions, milk powder and a host of other food related items. All these can be produced in Sri Lanka and it is possible to become self-sufficient in milk powder if there is a will on the part of the government. Massive amount of foreign exchange goes to import these items and our governments, both the previous one and the present one, have never considered this as a priority.

Spending massive amounts of money on social welfare projects such as housing do not help an ailing economy. What is required is to empower people economically so that they can build their own houses. As the ancient Chinese proverb goes “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Instead of working hard to build a house, some people wait for the government to give them a house free of charge. There must be a different mechanism to provide houses such as low interest bank loans and encouraging entrepreneurship. Building hundreds if not thousands of houses is not going to solve the housing problem. Is there any country in the world that provides free houses for its people? Scare resources from tax payers’ money meant for development should not be spent on projects such as free housing. Of course it helps to enhance the images of politicians who want to grab political power at the expense of the tax payers. The same applies to toilets. It is hard to understand why this was ever brought up at a budget speech.

Politicians of this government never had it so good. Recently they got an increased allowance of Rs. 100,000 merely for postage! These are ruses to get the allowances of MPs increased. Duty free car permits enable members to the parliament to earn millions by selling these permits. A single day’s sittings in the parliament costs the taxpayer around 4.6 million rupees! My personal opinion that the parliament of Sri Lanka is a waste of resources and should be closed for at least five years and use the money saved to bridge the budget deficit. The provincial councils are all dissolved and this has created no problems for the general public and in the same vein, closure of the parliament will be no big deal. It has been reported in the newspapers that every time a ministry changes hands, the new minister wants to buy a new luxury car for his personal use. Ordinary public have to watch these antics and cannot voice any dissent except at an election. However, this government which came to curb the corrupt practices of the previous one is acting even worse. Extravagant spending by politicians for their personal glorification and for earning millions in kickbacks goes on unabated. No leader has the courage to say that austerity should prevail. Leaders are busy trying to keep their members of the parliament happy by giving them various perks and privileges. Recently prime minister reported that the government will recruit 7500 A.L. personal assistants to work on government policy implementation, again a ruse to provide jobs to party supporters. This will make only those M.P.s happy if they get a quota of jobs to be given to those in their electorates.

Mr. Anura Kumara Dissanayake raised in parliament, the issue on the need to import two bullet proof vehicles for the prime minister at a cost of Rs, 594 million. Minister Sagala Ratnayake claimed that these were necessary since there is a security threat on the prime minister. There are enough bullet proof vehicles imported during the previous regime and the government can surely use them instead of ordering new ones. According to Mr. Dissanayake, the government is slapping the people with taxes, the farmers can’t sell their crops, tea and rubber industries are in crisis, but the government has money to buy two vehicles for almost Rs. 600 million.

Our leaders should learn from what the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan is doing to reduce government expenditure. It has been reported that the earlier prime minister had 524 employees, 33 bulletproof cars, helicopters, aeroplanes and lived in a super luxury house. The country also had massive Governor’s houses and elected officials were enjoying all luxuries. Prime Minister Imran said that he would keep only two servants and only two vehicles and the rest of the fleet will be auctioned and the money returned to the treasury. `It is inconceivable that our leaders will act like how the Prime minister of Pakistan has done. They are hell bent on glorification, promoting corruption and working for the next election.

 Bharani Vaitheesvaran, ET Bureau

The proposed refinery near the Hambantota port is the largest foreign direct investment project in Sri Lanka.

By Bharani Vaitheesvaran, ET Bureau|
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/68641214.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Raquel Carvalho  Courtesy SCMP.com

• Former soldier Ajith Pushpakumara and a family of four from Sri Lanka hope to regain their freedom soon
• They had all sheltered Edward Snowden when he was in Hong Kong

Ajith Pushpakumara, a Sri Lankan refugee who sheltered Edward Snowden. Photo: Edward WongWhen Ajith Pushpakumara, an asylum seeker from Sri Lanka in Hong Kong, hears the word Canada”, his smile turns wider and his brown eyes brighter. That word isn’t just the name of a country, it means hope to him – an apparently distant and yet tenable possibility.He is one of the four adults who sheltered American whistle-blower Edward Snowdenwhile he was in the city back in 2013. They filed refugee claims for themselves and their children with the Canadian government a couple of years ago.This week, the news that one of them, Vanessa Mae Rodel, from the Philippines, and her seven-year-old daughter Keana, had been granted asylum and were leaving for Montreal, shook his world all over again.

I am really happy for them. We were all in the same situation … I hope it’s like a chain, maybe our time will also come,” he says.‘Snowden refugees’ feel free in Canada after ‘living in hell’ in Hong Kong

But I also feel more tension. It’s like it will go one way or another for me.”Pushpakumara, who has been in Hong Kong for about 15 years, knows that his life is at a crossroads and it can soon take dramatically different turns. I may go to Canada or I may be detained in Hong Kong and sent back to Sri Lanka, where my life is going to be over.”SUBSCRIBE TO THIS WEEK IN ASIAGet updates direct to your inboxSUBMITBy registering for these newsletters you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy

Vanessa Rodel and her seven-year-old daughter Keana talk to the media after arriving at Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto, on March 25. Photo: APShare:In a similar situation is a family of four from Sri Lanka.

Legal experts – who were not involved in the applications and who prefer not to be named due to the sensitivity of the case – say that it is very hard to predict the future of the three adults and two stateless children who still remain in Hong Kong.  TOP ARTICLES1/5READ MOREAs ‘Snowden angels’ start newlife in Canada, other asylum seekers in Hong Kong are filled with greater anxiety, hope  TOP ARTICLES2/5READ MORESaudis ‘had access’ to AmazonCEO Jeff Bezos’ phone, his security chief claims

Even though they all filed their claims with the Canadian authorities at the same time and helped Snowden, the applicants came from different backgrounds, a lawyer says.

Another notes that each country has a number of internal procedures and criteria that we are not necessarily aware of. For instance, some prioritise women over men”.

Robert Tibbo, who has been their legal adviser since 2012 and who is now in Canada, says that each case is being handled by a different Canadian immigration officer. Each one goes at their own pace – that’s what I have seen in terms of documentation,” he says.

It is also likely that the US or the ‘Five Eyes’ [alliance of intelligence agencies] have put pressure on Canada.”

Vanessa Rodel and her daughter Keana with lawyer Robert Tibbo. Photo: APShare:This group of refugees helped Snowden after the former National Security Agency contractor fled the US and went into hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks in June 2013. He was on the run after leaking classified documents that exposed details about global electronic spying programmes used by the United States and other governments.

These are clear-cut cases,” Tibbo argues. They should all have been approved and be brought together to Canada.”

THE CANADIAN DREAM

Pushpakumara has thought of what he would say to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau if both men were to meet.

Thank you for helping Vanessa,” he would say. I am not safe in Hong Kong. I am stuck and very, very tired. Please, take care of us.”Canada accused of ‘dragging its feet’ over asylum seekers in Snowden case

The 47-year-old wears an inscrutable expression, until he talks about Canada. Then, his face lights up. He has been through three interviews with Canadian authorities and imagines the country to be a place where poor people face less discrimination”.

I think Canadians are very good people, who like to help others,” he says. I also think it’s a very quiet place, and cold – I am a bit afraid of that, but I will be happy in summer,” Pushpakumara says, grinning.

If he is given a chance, he would like to work as a carpenter. I have no studies, but my hands can do many things … I can be a good handyman,” Pushpakumara says. I will probably need help in the first two or three months there and then I can buy my own tools and even set up my own business.”

Ajith Pushpakumara, right, Vanessa Rodel, second from right, with her daughter Keana, Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis, third from left, and Supun Thilina Kellapatha, second from left, and their children pose for a photo in front of the Torture Claims Appeal Board building in Hong Kong in July 2017. Photo: AFPShare:

Pushpakumara, who now relies on donations, says he is looking forward to being independent. Asylum seekers are not allowed to work in Hong Kong – one of the world’s most expensive cities to live in.

If I go to Canada, I can work, make money and provide for my mother and daughter,” he says. I could take care of them.”

Pushpakumara has a 17-year-old daughter living with his mother back in Sri Lanka. My daughter knows my story, but she keeps asking ‘when are we going to be together?’”

‘UNSAFE’ IN HONG KONG

Hong Kong had never been part of his plans.

When he fled Sri Lanka, his initial intention was to reach Canada. My agent told me to wait in Hong Kong for a week and he would pick me up a week later. I am still waiting,” he says.

Pushpakumara was a soldier for three years in Sri Lanka. His refugee claim says that he decided to desert the army after being sexually assaulted by superiors, but he was caught and tortured before being able to escape.

He landed in 2003 in Hong Kong, where he later filed a protection claim that was rejected about two years ago.

Pushpakumara needs to report every four weeks at the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre in Tuen Mun, a facility for detainees awaiting repatriation or deportation. I am still waiting for the result of my appeal. But every time I have to report to the Hong Kong authorities, I am very scared of being arrested,” he says.Hong Kong rejects asylum claims by refugees who sheltered Edward Snowden

If his appeal fails, the last avenue for recourse is a judicial review. But he says that his fears have become greater as proposals to tighten the current regulations have emerged.

The city’s Immigration Department has recently suggested amending the existing law and introducing tougher procedures. If their proposal is approved, authorities will be allowed to remove an asylum seeker from Hong Kong even if he had filed a judicial review or a legal aid application – unless the court had already agreed to hear the case.

I don’t think I would be able to cope with detention … And if I am sent back to Sri Lanka, forget it. My life is finished,” Pushpakumara says.

Supun Thilina Kellapatha and his family. Photo: Jonathan Wong.Share:

At an even greater risk of arrest and deportation is the Sri Lankan family of four who also helped Snowden.

Supun Thilina Kellapatha who, according to his claim, was nearly killed because of a relationship with a woman linked to an opposition political party, fled Sri Lanka and met Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis in Hong Kong. She had also to leave her home country after being raped and held against her will by individuals linked to the government.

They meanwhile had two children in the city, who are stateless: Sethmundi, 7, and Dinath, 2.

Both their protection claims in Hong Kong and their appeals have been rejected. They have already filed a judicial review.Families who sheltered Snowden in Hong Kong say whistle-blower ‘gave them hope’

Their lawyer Tibbo says that they are now under great stress in Hong Kong, noting that Supun had to be hospitalised twice in the past month. They are currently unavailable for comments, the barrister says.

A previously undisclosed link between Supun and Rodel – the asylum seeker who has moved to Canada – was revealed this week. He is also the father of Keana.

Keana (R) with her father Supun in Hong Kong. Photo: HandoutShare:

Both Rodel and her lawyers are calling on the Canadian government to grant refugee status to Supun’s family. Keana should grow up with her father and stepbrother and stepsister,” Rodel says.

Meanwhile, Montreal is receiving her with open arms. People here are really amazing and warm. They already gave us many things, like clothes and toys … And Keana is enjoying it a lot, playing in the snow, seeing birds and squirrels.”

But Rodel, who is being helped by non-profit For the Refugees and other local organisations, insists that their happiness will only be complete when the rest of the group is given the chance to rebuild their lives in Canada.

MEETING SNOWDEN AND THE LIMELIGHT

Pushpakumara, who has been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, has lived in about 15 different houses in Hong Kong – either because of rent going up or safety issues.He recalls an episode from 2016, when he was told that Sri Lankan police investigators were in the city looking for the asylum seekers from the country.

I am still afraid … Life here is very hard. Hong Kong is like a jail,” he says, adding that he sometimes needs to take medication to help him get through the day.

My mind is not the same and sometimes I cannot control my feelings. My body starts shaking and I cannot sleep,” he says.

Despite all the pressure, he says he does not regret having helped Snowden. I would help anyone with a life problem,” he says. We, asylum seekers, know how it is to go through problems, living with no money, no accommodation, in fear.”

Pushpakumara says he monitored the area while Snowden went to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ office in Hong Kong. He says he also travelled several times with the former NSA contractor by taxi.

EXCLUSIVE: Whistle-blower Edward Snowden talks to South China Morning Post

I helped protect him while he was here and at the time I was very happy, because I was useful,” he says. And I think he is a good guy. He did not forget us. He is still not safe, but he still speaks up for us.”

US whistle-blower Edward Snowden now lives in Russia. Photo: Nora TamShare:

Snowden landed in Moscow from Hong Kong in 2013. He ended up stranded in Russia – where he still lives – while he was in transit to Latin America, after the US revoked his passport.

The lives of the asylum seekers and their children dramatically changed in 2016, when their role in helping the former CIA analyst was revealed to the media.Their names and photos were plastered all over the world press shortly before the release of filmmaker Oliver Stone’s Snowden biopic.

Tibbo, who advised Snowden while he was in Hong Kong, argued that their identities were revealed to ensure their safety – but some lawyers and experts criticised the move.

Stone wrote this week on Twitter: Two of the Snowden Refugees (Vanessa and Keana) are now safe in Canada. But the remaining five are still in danger in Hong Kong. It’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to bring them home.”

Snowden also made a similar appeal on his account. After so many years, the first of the families who helped me is free and has a future,” he wrote in French. But the work is not over – with solidarity and compassion, Canada can save them all.”

Pushpakumara talked on the phone with Rodel just before her plane took off on Monday. I told her to be happy and take care. ‘You are now a free bird, you can do your own things’.”

He hopes that such a day will come for him too – so he can enjoy freedom, provide for his daughter and help others, he says.

Every day, I dream about this. ‘Maybe they will call me tomorrow’. Then, I see the phone: no call, no messages.”

Robin Marshall Budapest Business Journal

A Sri Lankan-based company with a 50-year history in tourism is launching what it calls the newest Hungarian airline to take to the skies”: RonanAir.

RonanAir is a scheduled Hungarian airline set to commence operations in summer 2019,” Rihaab Mowlana, media & marketing consultant for the company told the Budapest Business Journal.

Initial phases will see RonanAir fly to approximately 11 European destinations, and consecutive phases will eventually include Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.”

Although no schedule has yet been published, the airline’s website (ronanair.com) lists cities in Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, France, Italy, Romania, Switzerland and Ukraine among its featured destinations”.

RonanAir Kft. is owned by the Sri Lanka-based R-Group, which traces its roots back to 1945 and the establishment of Ceylon Carriers by the late Charles Nanayakkara. According to the group’s website (rgroup-intl.com), Ceylon Carriers handled both goods and tourists, and partnered with many operators in this region, including Ibsuz in Hungary.

R-Group is now chaired by Charles’ eldest son, Rohan Nanayakkara, who is also an Honorary Consul of Hungary, a post he has held for 25 years.

Full Service

The business model will be for a full service airline, rather than a low cost operation. Although unable to give exact fares at this stage, Mowlana says ticket prices will certainly be competitive”, and are expected to go on sale within the next three-four months”. 
The airline will fly Bombardier and Airbus aircraft, the spokesman told the BBJ, with staff recruitment currently under way. Although based in Hungary and registered in this country, back office support will be provided in Sri Lanka in order to facilitate Ronan Air with the know-how and backup of R-Group assets etc. that have been built since 1945.”

Nanayakkara is clealy well connected in Hungary. The R-Group website says its chairman is receiving massive support from [the] Hungarian government in promoting Hungary within and beyond Sri Lankan territory”. That seems to be a two-way street. We will engage in actively promoting Hungarian culture, cuisine and products in the destinations we will be flying to,” Mowlana told the BBJ.

Fallen Falcon

The last attempt to launch a Hungarian airline was Sólyom Hungarian Airways Ltd. (sólyom being the Hungarian for falcon”), which was founded in 2013 with service initially due to start in August of that year. Its business model was openly questioned by analysts, finance from Oman never materialized, the company declared itself bankrupt in October 2013, and it was sold to Hungarians based in Africa the following month. In March 2014, the new owner apparently shot himself dead as police searched his property. Sólyom Airways has never flown commercially.

Hungary’s state-owned flag carrier, MALÉV Hungarian Airlines, collapsed under the weight of its debts in February 2012 after 66 years of continuous operation.

The only recent Hungarian aviation success story is Wizz Air Hungary Ltd., which describes itself as CEE’s largest low-cost airline. With its head office in Budapest, it was established in September 2003 and made its first flight in 2004 (from Poland). Its boss, József Váradi, is a former CEO of MALÉV. According to its website (wizzair.com), it carried 2,548,062 passengers in February 2019.

Ronan Air Kft.

According to Opten Kft.’s company information database, Ronan Air Kft. was established on August 19, 2014, with its offices in Vecsés. It had zero net revenue listed for 2017 (the latest date for which figures are available), and an after tax loss of HUF 1.364 million. Its own capital was put at HUF 5.476 million. There were no employees, with the owner and managing director given as Godaliyanage Rohan Nanayakkara.

BARCELONA INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH (ISGLOBAL) Courtesy  Eurekalert

 E-MAIL

Chronic kidney disease of undetermined causes (CKDu), initially reported among agricultural communities in Central America and Sri Lanka, is also present in India, particularly in Southern rural areas, and could be common in other tropical and subtropical rural settings. These are the main conclusions of a new study published in BMJ Open and in which the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an institution supported by “la Caixa”, participated.

CDKu is considered an epidemic in Central America and it is devastating in Nicaragua and El Salvador, where it affects mainly the working age populations of agricultural communities. CKDu is characterized by a gradual loss of renal function and it is not associated with diabetes or hypertension, the main causes of the traditional chronic kidney disease (CKD). Its clinical evolution, a gradual loss of kidney function, tends to be faster than in other forms of CKD. The disease causes are not clear, but risk factors such as heat stress, strenuous work, climatic conditions, agrochemical use, or heavy metal exposure have been suggested.

In this new study, the researchers set out to assess whether CKDu is also present in India, and identify the risk factors. To do so, they combined cross-sectional data of 12,500 people from three population studies (CARRS, UDAY and ICMR-CHD) in urban and rural areas of Northern (Delhi and Haryana) and Southern (Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) India.

The participants had previously answered questionnaires on dietary habits, alcohol consumption, education level, and other sociodemographic data. Their body mass index and blood pressure were also measured, as well as biomarkers of renal function.

The results indicate a disease prevalence of 1.6% among adults under 60 years of age, but this figure varied markedly between regions, being highest in rural areas of Southern India, where it reached 4.8%. The major risk factors were being in working age (under 60), living in a rural area, alcohol consumption and less education.

Cristina O’Callaghan, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the study, explains that “these risk factors are similar to those previously described in Central America and Sri Lanka”. Exposure to possible disease risk factors, including agricultural work and agrochemical exposure, may be greater in rural areas.

These results have “important implications for global health, since they indicate that CKDu may have a substantial public health burden that has been previously unrecognized”, concludes O’Callaghan.

She emphasizes that “further population-based studies in other tropical and subtropical countries are needed in order to evaluate the global patterns of disease burden”, such as the DEGREE study -international collaboration for the epidemiology of eGFR in low and middle income populations, led by Neil Pearce and Ben Caplin from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and University College London (UCL) and in which Cristina O’Callaghan also participates-.

###

The study has been coordinated by the Public Health Foundation of India and the Centre of Control of Chronic Conditions in India.

Reference

O’Callaghan-Gordo C, Shivashankar R, Anand S, Ghosh S, Glaser J, Gupta R, Jakobsson K, Kondal D, Krishnan A, Mohan S, Mohan V, Nitsch D, P A P, Tandon N, Narayan KMV, Pearce N, Caplin B, Prabhakaran D Prevalence of and risk factors for chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology in India: secondary data analysis of three population-based cross-sectional studies. BMJ Open 2019; 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-023353corr1

Muscat Daily staff writer

MUSCAT – 

Clarifying Oman’s intention to invest and participate in a large oil refinery project in Sri Lanka, H E Dr Mohammed bin Hamad al Rumhi, Minister of Oil and Gas has said that Oman Oil Company is considering the feasibility of participation in the Sril Lankan project.

In a statement to Oman News Agency H E Rumhi said the sultanate, represented by Oman Oil Company, is currently considering the feasibility of participation of up to 30 per cent share of this oil refinery project.

Sri Lanka last week began construction of a nearly US$3.85bn oil refinery, which it hopes will revive foreign interest in its shipping facilities. This refinery project is the single largest foreign investment in Sri Lanka’s history, according to media reports.

The new refinery project will produce 200,000 barrels a day when completed.

Courtesy Adaderana

People who commit fraud and take commissions will be punished severely during his administration, says Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa.

He pointed out that the incumbent government is responsible for the prevailing crisis in the country.

He mentioned this following an event held in Welimada area today (31).

Meanwhile, addressing a function held at Balangoda earlier today, he said that the public has been oppressed due to the administration of the current government without any proper management.

Stating the current government runs the country without any management, focusing only on taking commissions, he says that the political leaders of this government have no idea on the sufferings of the general public.

The government is run with the support of the Tamil National Alliance, said Rajapaksa.

This government is a defeated government. Not just us politicians, but even the people just watch the country deteriorating by the day,” he added.

According to Rajapaksa, there is no place for Buddhism in the new constitution and that it mentions only of a ‘religion’ instead of ‘Buddhism’.

These days antiquities and ruins are bulldozed. This government was trying to build houses by flattening Vijithapura ruins. Even forest reserves are deforested today. If we continue to just watch this, the country will end up a desert,” said he.

The Opposition Leader, attending a function at the Carlton kindergarten in Maligawatte, stated that a winning candidate will be presented for the upcoming presidential elections.

by Garvin Karunaratne

Sri Lanka is a country which is rich in resources. Sadly we, our leaders, do not realize that we can develop these resources and save our foreign exchange.

Even our water in our streams is being converted to foreign exchange and is being sent abroad as profits by multinationals. In the Papers (the LBO) it is reported that a Japanese Firm is investing a million dollars on a mini hydro plant at Eratna in Ratnapura. It means that the waters of the Kalu Ganga will be used to generate power and sold to the Electricity Board and to people in the area and the profits, in terms of payment for the electricity consumed will be sent off to the owners of the Japanese company in hard foreign exchange.

In a recent paper of mine, I highlighted how the waters of a stream that flows into the Mahaweli River at Udugama on the Gampola Nuwara Eliya Road, are being developed into a mini hydro plant by a German company, and once it is done the power will be sold and the profits will flow in foreign exchange to Germany from Sri Lanka.

That is how our water resources are being turned into foreign exchange to be taken out of our country.

It is a simple thing to develop a mini hydro plant. Many of our tea estates had mini hydro- plants and generated power to run the factories. Instead of developing better designs we encourage foreigners to come in and convert our water resources to power, and then convert power to foreign exchange and take it away.

Currently there is a group of protesters who are very active against developing mini hydro plants. They say it is against the environment. It is up to our leaders to direct that our engineers build designs that will develop mini hydro plants that do not damage the environment and get them implemented. Mini Hydro plants can be designed and built in months, not years and we can face the onslaught of power cuts that are expected.

Garvin Karunaratne

Sudath Gunasekara 29.3.2019.

What SB says here has good sense, although often it does not? As I was listening to the news when the President was referring to the Geneva Ambassadors action, I told the same thing to my wife. I think the time has come for the President to talk less and act more. At least now he should act. Then only people will admire him and they will feel that they have a President in this country and they will stop calling him NATO (no action talks only) Sirisena and again will begin to call him Hon Maitripala Sirsena.

Meanwhile I also propose that the President should immediately sack the errant Minister Rishard Badurdeen as well who has been Minster of Trade and Commerce from 2001 to date in all governments doing irreparable damage to the country and all Governments more particularly by destroying the Wilpattu National Park

There is no point in putting the blame for Badurdeens crimes on Basil as many people do to cover up Badurdeen’s crimes and their own. The whole country knows Basil has done a big blunder to harp on Muslim votes. This is what all politicians do. Neither the President or Ranil nor MR or any other Sinhala politician can escape this charge. This is the tragedy and the curse mother Lanka is ever suffering from 1948, since the British left after planting the seeds of communal and Party politics in this country.

If the President sacks him all other politicians who commit this betrayal will learn a good lesson. People will adore and appreciate it and the President will rise above all other politicians who have sold the motherland for few Muslim or Tamil votes ever since 1948 and are continuing to do so even today.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Mar 27, 2019 19:23 PM GMT+0530 | 0 Comment(s)

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka Land Reclamation & Development Corporation is to buy a dredger to mine sand from the deep sea to meet the requirements of the construction industry, the state information office said.Sea sand now meets about 10 percent of the local requirement for building construction, it said in a statement.
But with construction activity expected to increase in future, more sea sand dredging would be required to meet the growing demand.
A proposal to buy a dredger for the Land Reclamation & Development Corporation was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers this week on a proposal by Megapolis and Western Development Ministers Champika Ranawaka. 
(COLOMBO, March 27, 2019-SB)

We have a serious problem in Sri Lanka .Neither Government nor Cabinet of ministers have any clue how to identify specific the  skills and qualification of various corporations and the departments .

When Ceylon Electricity Board decided to install Coal Powered Power Generation plants, electrical engineers who dominate the board functions, never allowed mechanical or marine engineers to provide any input when they procured the coal power plants and barges and tugs to transport coal powder from large ships to the plant .

Outcome is that we have a malfunctioning power plant and unusable three barges and two tugs which are supplied by Chinese .These barges are nor self-propelled hence controlling the barges in high seas is very cumbersome .

Three barges and two tugs have been handed over to Sri Lanka Navy and CEB is hiring some Indian self-propelled barges to transport coal to pier .

Sri Lanka Land Reclamation Corporation ( SLLRDC) planning to buy a dredger may be a good idea assuming that a  Dutch Company is eying to supply the trailing suction hopper  dredger .SLLRDC should  have a team of marine engineers not only to draw up the correct specification but also  to plan operation  and maintenance  of  the dredger .

If they intend to buy a dredger, they should use an  another company or  an organization to  handle such sophisticated equipment.

One might think that Ceylon Shipping Corporation should undertake the operation and maintenance of the dredger .By looking at their pastr performance during last few decades ,  country has seen how they have failed to maintain their own vessels which were  sent for scrap ,Hence government should think twice who should undertake the operation,

By best bet is Sri Lanka Navy to operate and maintain the dredger

 Dr Sarath Obeysekera

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

Revised 1.4.19

Yahapalana reacted strongly against the bond scam investigation. Yahapalana tried to use influence to  cover up the bond scam.  The Auditor General was told by Prime Minister  that the AG’s calculations of the  loss  from the bond scam was all wrong. UNP tried to move court to prevent the release of the first COPE committee report. Footnotes were added to the second COPE report saying that no fraud had taken place. UNP State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe wrote a book stating that no fraud had taken place at the bond auctions. A spate of attempts had been made to sabotage the COPE  inquiry , said DEW Gunasekera .

UNPers on the COPE team, dubbed the ‘footnoters ‘had been on their hand phones during  sittings in Parliament,  Obviously, they were receiving instructions from Aloysius and shared information and perhaps allowed him to listen to proceedings, MPs charged. So what if there were calls made by Ministers and MPs who were members of the Committee on Public Enterprises to Arjun,” asked columnist Don Manu. Is it a crime to dial a friend’s number, an offense to receive a call from a friend even if he is accused of a wrongdoing?

However, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya decided to seek legal opinion   regarding four parliamentarians  were named before the Commission of Inquiry for making telephone calls to Arjun Aloysius when in Parliament. The MPs were at the time serving members of the COPE team inquiring into the  bond scam. The Speaker wanted to ascertain whether the disclosures warranted action since no precedent exist over such matters.

These  MPs  met Speaker Jayasuriya  to explain the phone calls. Explanations had varied from calls being made for personal reasons to a few complaining that their political career has been damaged. They said that checking on their telephones by the CID violated the privileges they enjoyed under Standing Orders of Parliament.

A very senior official of the Central Bank was found removing a haul of files and documents from the bank recently, said the media in July 2017. The official in question arrived at the bank around 7.30 pm and took the documents in his personal car without following the due procedure  of first obtaining a gate pass. Details of the documents being taken out of the Central Bank have to be recorded at the Security Division of the Bank. The official had claimed that he was removing some files belonging to him. The files were removed while inquiry was going on.     The fact that the official had been linked to the Bond scam and was due to retire  seemed to indicate that he might have been eliminating vital evidence.

Yahapalana    tried to scuttle the  COPE inquiry. A Fundamental Rights petition was filed in 2017  by Ven. Thiniyawala Palitha challenging the various findings and statements made in a report prepared by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) regarding the bond issues by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in the year of 2015 and 2016. Lawyer S.A. Parathalingam appeared for him. Senior state counsel was S Gnanarajah.

Ven.  Thiniyawela Palitha asked Supreme Court to declare that the bond auctions were done correctly according to Central Bank rules.  The Petitioner further stated that COPE report is littered with inconsistencies, contradictions, misrepresentations, which makes certain findings and statements in the COPE report unsafe, prejudiced, biased, and a violation and infringement of the Petitioner’s fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 12(1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

The petitioner is seeking an declaration that any findings, statements, suggestions in the   COPE report that say that the direct and private placement method in the issue of Treasury Bonds by the Central Bank has been properly, lawfully and correctly used by the Central Bank from the month of January 2009 up until the date of the COPE report, is wrong.

The petitioner is further seeking an Order or Declaration that as at the time of the Treasury Bond auctions of the Central Bank that was held on February 27, 2015 and March 29, 2016, the proper, lawful process or method as regards the issue of Treasury Bonds was the auction process/method, and not the direct/private placement process/method.

When all this failed and  the Bond scam report was ready, Yahapalana decided to block the report. President  Sirisena dissolved Parliament  on the night of June 26, 2015   just when D.E.W.Gunasekera was about to present the first COPE Committee report on the bond scam to Parliament. Had President Sirisena allowed the explosive report to be tabled, the outcome of the general election in August 2015 would have been different.  This action also paved the way for far bigger Treasury bond scam in March 2016. The President didn’t appoint an investigating committee to probe these massively corrupt transactions till  January 2017.

 President Sirisena, as the Leader of this UNP-SLFP government, went to the incredible extent of dissolving Parliament, one day before the DEW Gunasekera COPE Report was to be presented to the Speaker, said Nivard Cabraal. By such single action, he was able to save all the wrong-doers of the initial Bond Scam of February 2015,  and he paved the way for the same wrong-doers to carry out the second Bond Scam of even greater proportions, in March 2016.

The Commission of Inquiry finished its work and submitted a full report to President Sirisena. Yahapalana played with this report.

The President put  the Commission report  on his website, but with omissions. The section  which   faulted the Prime Minister for not taking action against the then Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran and also blindly believing in him was removed. The deleted para read: “The Commission is of the opinion that the Prime Minister made his statement in Parliament regarding the appointment of Mr Mahendran believing in the facts presented by Mr. Mahendran and Mr.Samarasiri, especially the promises made by Mr Mahendran..”

The President’s website also  carried  a statement by the President  on the findings of the Commission. The first English translation of the President’s Sinhala statement was reasonably close to the original, but a subsequent version removed all references to Wickremesinghe and finance minister Ravi Karunanayake.  References to Ravi Karunanayake  were brought back later.

Yahapalana government did not release  the full report of the Commission of inquiry to Parliament.  Even the MPs in Parliament did not get the full report”. The main report and annexures I, II, IV and V were released  to Parliament,  but not annexure No III, which contains marked documents and evidence notes, said Campaign for Free and fair Elections (CaFFE). Annexure three has neither been given to the MPs nor released to the public via the Presidential secretariat website,

The missing section included Section C 350 (together with C 71, C 123, C 279, C 281, C 67),which  contained detailed phone records collected by the CID of conversations of journalists, politicians, religious leaders and civil society members who had received money from Perpetual Treasuries (Pvt.) Limited (PTL). In the main report there are observations based on a document titled C 350,  but this is not available in the released documents. 

The Bond Commission report was then  sent to the Department of National Archives    where it came under the National Archives Law No. 48 of 1978. Section 2 of the Act  said that such documents shall be closed for public inspection until the lapse of 30 years after their creation”.

Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) Executive Director Tennekoon  tried to get the full report, including all its annexes, from the Department of National Archives  and discovered  this embargo.  He found that the Right to Information Act did not cover the Archives. A written directive from the Presidential Secretariat was needed  to view the documents.  

After a delay of  several months   the National Archives gave him the report. 12 pages were missing. The missing section was the  C350 report, containing phone records of COPE members, and former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.”. What was given only contained details of records of calls between Central Bank officials and some other individuals.  

Shamindra Ferdinando made a pertinent observation. The  joint AG, CID and Central Bank team  examining the Central Bank Bond scam proved beyond any doubt that Sri Lanka had the required expertise to undertake complex investigation,  commented Shamindra Ferdinando. Had investigators been given a free hand to inquire into revelations made by COPE and Public Accounts Committee (PAC), many Ministers would have been found guilty of waste, corruption and irregularities. But Parliament did  not amend Standing Orders to enable the watchdog committees to summon ministers, he added.

The team investigating the Bond Scam were: Senior Additional Solicitor General Dappula de Livera, PC, ASG Yasantha Kodagoda, PC, ASG Priyantha Nawana, PC, Senior DSG Milinda Gunathileka, DSG Dilan Ratnayake, Senior State Counsel Shahida Barrie, Senior State Counsel Nayomi Wickremasekera, Senior State Counsel Dr Avanthi Perera, State Counsel Dhanushan Ganeshayogan, State Counsel Jehan Gunasekera. The Attorney General team was assisted by five-member teams from the Central Bank as well as the Criminal Investigation Department.

To conclude, it has become clear to   the public, thanks to the publicity given to the bond scam on TV and newspapers, that  a very serious financial scam had been carried out, which those responsible  thought would not be discovered, because of  its complexity. This was essentially a colossal bank heist.

It was planned and carried out by those who were expected to protect the finances of the country. They did so with no concern for the country  and with no remorse. The scam was pulled not once, but twice, very successfully.  The second one took place after the first bond scam had been discovered. 

D. E. W. Gunasekera yesterday said that the top UNP leadership couldn’t absolve itself of the responsibility for the bond scams.  W. A. Wijewardena said that both politicians and officials  had acted in contravention of rules and regulations governing banking operations. They had carried out the ‘business’ with impunity and  weren’t bothered at all about the fact that it was a  serious violation [of trust]. 

The bond scam came to light only due to the courage and integrity of a few officials, a relentless media, concerned citizens, and some Parliamentarians.  The outrage of the presenters of the evening news as the Presidential Commission report was released was palpable as they hosted a special segment dedicated to this misdemeanor, said the media. DEW Gunasekera paid a glowing tribute to those members of both the print and electronic media who had relentlessly followed the Treasury bond scam.

Appendix

Shamindra Ferdinando has provided the following time line for the bond scam:

Jan. 8, 2015: Presidential electionJan.9, 2015: Maithripala Sirisena sworn in as PresidentJan.9, 2015: Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as Prime MinisterJan.23, 2015: Then Finance Minister Ravi K recommended Arjuna Mahendan as Governor, CBSLJan. 26, 2015: President Sirisena appointed Singaporean Mahendran as Governor, CBSL.Feb. 26, 2015: Mahendran met ministers, Ravi K, Kabir H and UNP Chairman Malik S at CBSL, allegedly to discuss a massive fund requirement of Rs 18 bn (All three politicians were present when President Sirisena lambasted the UNP over treasury bond scams on Dec 16, 2018 at the Presidential Secretariat. PM Wickremesinghe and Mrs Wickremesinghe were also present.)Feb 27, 2015: First bond scam perpetrated. Within hours, those who mattered knew how PTL had carried out the operation in connivance with Mahendran. The PTL is a fully owned subsidiary of Perpetual Capital (Pvt) Limited, owned by Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius and Arjun Joseph Aloysius. The Central Bank was under the purview of Premier Wickremesinghe, though previously it functioned under the Finance Ministry. June 26, 2015: Sirisena dissolved parliament to thwart CoPE presenting its report on treasury bond scam. General election set for Aug. 17, 2015. (President Sirisena paid a very heavy price for his action).The dissolution prevented the CoPE Chairman Dew Gunasekera from presenting his report on the first treasury bond scam. In a related action, UNP Deputy Justice Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe moved court to bar Gunasekera from releasing his report to the media.The writer sought an explanation from Gunasekera, in January this year, at a media briefing, as to the responsibility of Sirisena and the SLFP in the second bond scam, perpetrated on March 29, 2016. Asked whether, a far bigger second treasury bond scam could have been prevented if not for the dissolution of parliament in June 2015; Gunasekera said that question should be posed to President Sirisena as he had done so. Nov 16, 2017: Evidence at the Bond Commission revealed how Arjun Aloysius had been in touch with some members of the COPE during its hearings.Aloysius had spoken a total of 227 times to Sujeewa Senasinghe, 18 times with Dayasiri Jayasekara, 176 times with Harshana Rajakaruna and 73 times to Hector Appuhamy during the period commencing January 2015. Nov 20, 2017: Wickremesinghe received kid glove treatment at P-CoI with AG Jayantha Jayasuriya assigned to question him. But Wickremesinghe’s affidavits received by P-CoI in response to questions sent to him by the P-CoI and the AG’s department and PM’s responses to AG Jayasuriya established the UNP’s leader’s complicity and failure to thwart the scams beyond doubt. However, Wickremesinghe and the UNP have repeatedly denied involvement whatsoever in bond scams.  Strangely throughout this period, Western powers conveniently refrained from publicly commenting on the bond scam though they worked overtime to discredit the previous Rajapaksa administration with the US pledging to help Sri Lanka recover stolen funds. India also pledged to assist yahapalana efforts. In fact, the current political leadership certainly owed an explanation to the public as to how Mahendran, Aloysius and PTL CEO Kasun Palisena had committed the second bond scam, 13 months after the first. Obviously, they had been so sure that nothing could go wrong. Most probably, they believed Mahendran was going to have his own term as the Governor after having completed the period allocated to his predecessor Ajith Nivard Cabraal. Cabraal quit immediately after the Jan 2015 presidential polls.The public should be grateful to former CBSL Senior Deputy Governor Dr W. A. Wijewardena, and the media for relentlessly pursuing the treasury bond scamsDec 30, 2017: P-CoI report handed over to Sirisena.Jan. 4, 2018: Sirisena addressed the nation regarding the P-CoI report. Sirisena mounted a devastating attack on the UNP over treasury bond scams in the run-up to the Feb. 10 local government polls. Sirisena’s strategy caused heavy damage to the UNP at the Feb. 10 polls.  (Concluded)

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

March 29, 2019, 7:54 pm

From left MD CDC Events & travels ( Pvt). Ltd.Imran Hassen, Harith Perera, Minister John Amaratunga, Kishu Gomes, Chairman, Sancharaka Udawa 2019, Nishad Wijetunga Pic by Samana Ranaweera

By Steve A. Morrell

Visa – on – arrival and visa – free travel in Sri Lanka are now possible for all in-bound tourists, Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife and Chistian Religious Affairs, John Amaratunga said.

Hurrah ,Finally politicians have understood the necessity . There are few other steps need to be taken.

• Airport should have fleet of metered taxis like in all other countries for tourists to hail as soon as they arrive
• Regular Train service to re commence from airport to Colombo with change over in Ragama to go to East and mid country
• Regular bus service from Karutanayake to Colombo for back packers
• Proper eating places outside airport at a reasonable price
• When super luxury passenger vessels  arrive in Colombo Harbour  high quality terminal to be built with dedicated walkway and entrance for them to go out from Port
• At the exit of the main  gate of the Colombo port Old Customs building to be converted for night life and pubs etc
• Legalised Canabi smoking place to be established for tourists to enjoy in this building
• Legalise cannabis in selected areas in Colombo (So much of drugs coming in with no control)
• Chatam Streel and Bristol street in Colombo to be a walking area with many eating stalls like in Thailand and Singapore
• Russian and Thai lasses to be given special discounts to Come to Colombo and legalize the oldest trade in the world

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

This essay carries four statements made by Mahinda Rajapaksa

STATEMENT NO 1 YAHAPALANA GOVERNMENT” (Island 9.1.18)   

In a statement issued to media on 9.1.18 the former President said: On 9 January 2018, the so-called Yahapalana government completes three years in office. During this short period they have created numerous crises running through virtually every sector in Sri Lanka. The main subject of public discussion today is the bond scam and the attempts being made by the Yahapalana leaders to sweep it under the carpet.

We are awaiting the release of the full report of the Bond Commission. The bond scam is only one of the many disasters brought upon this country by the Yahapalana government. As this government marks its third anniversary, I wish to draw the attention of the public to another danger they have brought upon this country.

During the short period of 36 months that this government has been in power, they have borrowed over USD 14.6 billion in foreign currency loans alone, the breakdown of which would be as follows – USD 7.2 billion through the issue of Sri Lanka Development Bonds from January 2015 onwards, USD 3.6 billion from sovereign bonds issued in 2015 and 2017, USD 2.2 billion through currency swap arrangements with India in 2015 and 2016, USD 1.7 billion through syndicated loans arranged through several international banks in 2016 and 2017 and USD 1.5 billion from the IMF Extended Fund Facility in 2016. No previous government has borrowed so much money through foreign currency loans in such a short period of time.

Even though 14.6 billion USD would suffice to build five Norochcholai power plants, five Hambantota harbours with enough money being left over to build two more Southern Expressways, the Yahapalana government has not built even a culvert with that money.

 I have made reference so far only to foreign currency loans. From January 2015 to date, the Yahapalana government has borrowed well over Rs. 5.7 trillion in Rupee loans as well, through the issue of treasury bills and treasury bonds. The government commissioned the Moragahakanda project and opened the Rajagiriya flyover to coincide with its third anniversary so as to answer the critics who say that the Yahapalana government has not built anything tangible despite massive foreign borrowings.

However, the Moragahakanda project was planned, financial allocations were made and construction commenced under my government way back in 2007 in accordance with the 2005 Mahinda Chintana programme. Likewise the Rajagiriya flyover was planned and money was allocated for its construction by my government. Cabinet approval was granted to call for bids to select contractors for the construction of the flyovers in Rajagiriya, Polgahawela and Ganemulla at the cabinet meeting held on 4 December 2014.

The Yahapalana government has marked its third anniversary by claiming credit for projects for which money was allocated and started by the previous government. They came into power in 2015 claiming that there was a debt crisis in the country due to the loans taken by my government to build power plants, harbours, airports, expressways etcetera. However the total cost of these major development projects were as follows: USD 1,350 million for all three phases of the Norochcholai power plant; USD 740 million for the Southern Expressway from Kottawa to Matara; USD 1,300 million for phases I and II of the Hambantota harbour and its bunkering facility; USD 292 million for the Colombo-Katunayake expressway and USD 209 for the Mattala airport.

All these development projects put together cost less than USD 3.9 billion. The claim that the present government has been forced to borrow heavily to repay the project loans taken by my government is a complete lie. With the 14.6 billion USD in foreign currency loans that this government has borrowed up to now, the loans taken for all the above mentioned development projects could have been repaid four times over.

 The debt now being incurred is used to meet the day to day expenses of the Yahapalana government and not to repay the project loans taken by my government. From January 2015, there was a massive and unplanned increase in government expenditure as a result of state funds being utilized to meet political objectives. The present debt crisis came about due to the Yahapalana government borrowing heavily in Rupees and in foreign currency in order to meet this increased expenditure.

Foreign currency loans should always be taken with the utmost care. Since it is necessary to purchase foreign currency to repay such loans, even a slight change in the exchange rate can give rise to a massive increase in a country’s indebtedness. According to the 2015 and 2016 Central Bank reports, due to the depreciation in the value of the Rupee as a result of the economic downturn that took place after the Yahapalana government took office, an extra Rs. 478 billion has been added to the national debt. It should be noted that the increase in the interest rate by about 50% due to the bond scam, has also added to the debt burden.

My government was always very careful in taking foreign currency loans. According to the Finance Ministry, the repayment of foreign loan installments plus interest during the period 2008-2014 was as follows:

2008 – USD 881 million

2009 – USD 1,041 million

2010 – USD 826 million

2011 – USD 971 million

2012 – USD 1,620 million

2013 – USD 1,160 million

2014 – USD 1,306 million

Since these are not unmanageable amounts, my government never had a problem with foreign loan repayments. The present crisis is entirely a creation of the Yahapalana government. The foreign loan installments and interest thereon that have to be paid after 2015 is as follows:

2015 –  USD 1,828 million

2016 – USD 1,604 million

2017 –  USD 2,132 million

2018 –  USD 2,891 million

2019 –  USD 4,217 million

2020 –  USD 3,699 million

2021 –  USD 3,344 million

2022 –  USD 3,743 million

2023 –  USD 2,120 million

2024 –  USD 2,067 million

2025 – USD 4,155 million

2026 – USD 2,758 million

2027 – USD 3,448 million

These figures amply explain the difference before and after the change of government in 2015. The immediate increase in repayments from 2015 onwards is due to the huge short term commercial loans taken by the Yahapalana government to be repaid in a few months or one or two years.

 What Sri Lanka experienced in 2015 was a borrowing frenzy. Central Bank records indicate that before the Yahapalana government came into power, Sri Lanka Development Bonds were issued only twice a year with the amount borrowed per year not averaging even USD 350 million between 2010 and 2014. It should be borne in mind that this was at the height of the biggest infrastructure building programme in recent history.

 But in the year 2015 without a single new infrastructure project being initiated, the Yahapalana government issued Sri Lanka Development Bonds on no less than nine occasions. The number of SLDB issues made in 2016 were six, with four being made in 2017.

The government has now obtained cabinet approval to borrow a further USD 5 billion in foreign currency commercial loans in 2018 as well. In order to repay these loans taken for consumption purposes, the government has increased the tax burden on the people to an unbearable level by increasing the VAT, vehicle import duties, commodity import taxes, various levies and fines and stamp duties etcetera. From April 2018 onwards, the government will commence a programme to bring virtually every adult in the country into the income tax net.    

Since the massive loans taken by the Yahapalana government cannot be repaid simply by increasing taxes, they have now started selling off all available national assets ranging from government owned hotels to harbours, expressways to power plants. Though the government claims that the Hambantota port was sold off because the loan taken to build it could not be repaid, the proceeds of the sale have not been used to repay the project loan but is to be sent instead to the Treasury to be spent on consumption – which reveals the actual motive in selling off these assets. Since the Hambantota harbour was built with long term loans at concessionary rates of interest, the government is in no hurry to repay the loan taken to build it.

However there is an urgent need to repay the short term foreign currency commercial loans taken by this government for consumption purposes even if the payment has to be made with the money realised through the sale of national assets. If such commitments are not met on time, Sri Lanka will get locked out of the international financial markets. I request all voters to use the opportunity that will come their way on 10 February to register their protest at the disaster brought upon the financial system of this country by this corrupt, incompetent government.   END

STATEMENT NO 2.  HAMBANTOTA”( Island 11.1.17)

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa     issued a statement in January 2017 regarding his much maligned Hambantota project. Since the future of the Hambantota port is now under discussion, I wish to explain to the public, my position on this matter. The loans taken for the construction of this harbour were 450 million USD for the first phase, 70 million USD for the bunkering facility and 802 million USD for the second phase bringing the total to around 1,322 million USD. When complete the harbour would have four terminals and 12 berths. This was meant to be a free port covering an area of 2,000 hectares where goods could be manufactured or value added and shipped overseas. All the necessary feasibility studies were done before these loans were taken and the annual interest plus capital repayments would amount to about 111 million USD. My government had planned to raise that money through the Ports Authority itself.

The first phase of the Hambantota harbour became partially operational in 2011. The transshipment of vehicles began in 2012 with 70% of the vehicles coming into Hambantota being transshipped to other countries. In 2014, 335 vessels called at the Hambantota harbour followed by 295 in 2015. The port made an operating profit of Rs. 900 million in 2014 and Rs 1.2 billion in 2015. These are investments that last centuries and a new harbour cannot be expected to produce large profits in the first few years. Our plan was to break even within ten years.

My government had signed a Supply Operate and Transfer (SOT) management contract with a joint venture between China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co to supply equipment such as cranes and operate the Hambantota container terminal for 40 years. The Ports Authority was to receive a rental of 35,000 USD per hectare per year for the 56 hectares in the container terminal (a total of 1.96 million USD per year), a royalty of 2.5 USD on every container loaded or unloaded, warfrage of 30 USD per container for cargo coming into Sri Lanka and all other usual harbour charges for navigation, piloting, tonnage, etc.  Other than the container terminal, all other terminals in the harbour and the 2,000 hectare industrial zone was to be controlled by the Ports Authority and they would have derived the income from the cargo of the free port passing through their terminals.

The new government made some unwise decisions. Firstly, they disregarded the management contract for the Hambantota container terminal entered into by my government with China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co. Secondly, the Ports Authority had developed the Colombo East container terminal and upon its completion by 2016, this terminal would have produced a revenue of more than 100 million USD a year which the Ports Authority had earmarked to pay off the Hambantota loan until the latter generated sufficient income. The Yahapalana government halted the Colombo East terminal development. Thirdly, by the end of 2014, my government had signed agreements with several foreign and local companies to lease out about 80 hectares in the Hambantota port industrial zone at the minimum rate of 50,000 USD per year per hectare with minimum guaranteed volumes of cargo and minimum guaranteed royalties. All those agreements were disregarded by the new government.

Then the government said the Hambantota port was a white elephant and that it had to be privatized to raise the money to pay off the loans taken to build it. They called for bids, not just for harbour operations but for the rights of the landlord over the entire 2,000 hectare free port so that whoever takes the long lease will operate the entire harbour and have complete control over the industrial zone as well. The two companies China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co which made a joint proposal to lease out the Hambantota container terminal for 40 years during my government are the same companies that have made rival bids to lease the entire free port under the present government.

A framework agreement has been signed by the govt. with China Merchant Co to lease out the entire free port for 99 years for a payment of 1.08 billion USD on an 80%-20% equity sharing basis. No other income will accrue to the Ports Authority for 15 years, after which they will receive dividends for their 20% stake only if dividends are declared. The lease will be extendable for another 99 years and a 44 hectare artificial island outside the port has been included in the deal. There is provision for the construction of another 20+ berths and the rights over these too have been given to the lessee.

 The amount of the lease seems to have been based only on the construction cost of the port without an accredited international valuation reflecting the strategic location value of the port, the value of the 99 year period, its 2,000 hectare land, the oil tank farm and the value of its present commercial operations.

This bid has been accepted in a situation where the other company China Harbour Co. had (according to information available to us) put in a much more favorable bid to lease the free port on a 65-35 equity sharing basis for 50 years with an upfront payment of 750 million USD plus the payment of all the charges they had earlier agreed to with regard to the container terminal management contract. The government has chosen the least favorable bid despite (according to information available to us) the Ports Authority having recommended the other bidder. Details of how the two proposals were evaluated have not been disclosed.

A 99 year lease impinges on Sri Lanka’s sovereign rights because a foreign company will enjoy the rights of the landlord over the 2,000 hectare free port while operating the entire harbour as well. This is not an issue with China or with foreign investors. It is about getting the best deal for Sri Lanka. The agreement that my government negotiated with both China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co to manage the Hambantota container terminal for 40 years is the best deal yet. The bid made by China Harbour Co for a 50 year lease is obviously more favorable than the bid made by the other company.

 As a matter of principle, I am against the leasing of the entire harbour for 99 years and giving the rights of the landlord over the industrial zone to a foreign private company. The industrial zone and the harbour should be controlled by the Ports Authority while harbour operations may be given on management contracts to the private sector. For example, the Colombo port is run by the Ports Authority and two private operators. The Ports Authority has full control over the Colombo harbour as well as equity in the two privately run terminals. I believe this should be the approach to the Hambantota port as well.

Apart from the entire Hambantota free port, the government has decided to lease a further 15,000 acres outside the free port to a foreign company for 99 years. In a situation where even the 2,000 hectares within the free port have not been utilized yet, on what grounds can we justify the leasing of another 15,000 acres to a foreign company?

The total land area of all the Board of Investment economic zones in the country at present put together do not amount to 2,000 hectares. A 15,000 acre zone in Hambantota will be disproportionate to our country’s economy. Furthermore, the disruption caused to the people of the area will be immense if 15,000 acres of land were to be acquired for this purpose.

 The government should fill the free port with investments first before opening more zones. Furthermore the government should have supervision over the kind of factories that will be opened in these industrial zones, the fuel they use and the waste they produce. My government agreed only to the use of LNG gas, even though some potential investors wanted to use coal.

The Hambantota dispute is not an issue that can be resolved by baton-charging or tear gassing protesters or having them assaulted by thugs and remanded. There are real issues relating to the financial benefits that will accrue to the country from this deal, and issues of control and sovereignty over the free port and possible environmental issues that need to be addressed said Mahinda Rajapaksa concluding his statement. END

 STATEMENT NO 3. HAMBANTOTA” ( Island 2.8.17)

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, condemning the way Hambantota port had been handed over to a Chinese company, said  the incumbent administration was selling of what his government had built.

The manner in which the government privatised the Hambantota port has shocked the nation. Parliament was not allowed to debate the Agreement to privatise one of Sri Lanka’s most important strategic assets. No one knows who did the valuation of this asset. No one appears to have seen any technical/financial evaluation report. The government has also not explained to the public on what criteria they selected the company that won the bid when there was clear evidence that the other bid was much more favourable.

This headlong quest to sell state assets is a direct result of the economic crisis that the government has plunged this country into. After the yahapalakayas lied their way to the presidency in January 2015, they knew it would not be possible to win the parliamentary election that was soon due by the same means, so they increased the salaries of government servants, reduced the price of fuel, gas and certain foodstuffs in order to bamboozle the people in a different way.

Thereby, they increased government expenditure while simultaneously reducing revenue, creating the present financial crisis. According to the Auditor General’s reports, the Budget deficit which was 5.7% of the GDP in 2014, had almost doubled to 10.5% in 2015 in just one calendar year. The lack of money to meet day to day expenses including the salaries and pensions of state sector employees resulted in massive foreign currency borrowings.

In just two and a half years, the Yahapalana government has taken foreign currency loans amounting to over USD 13.7 billion. All this money has been spent on consumption. USD 13.7 billion is the equivalent of ten Norochcholai power plants or ten Hambantota Ports, or more than twenty Southern Highways. But the government has nothing to show for all this money that has been borrowed and spent.

Under IMF instructions, the value added tax and other taxes were increased in 2016 to raise money to repay these debts. After imposing taxes even on terminally ill patients, the government was still not able to raise enough money to repay the USD 13.7 billion they borrowed and they have now resorted to increasing non-tax revenue through the sale of state owned assets.

The Budget proposals of the Yahapalana government make it clear that they intend privatising all state owned assets ranging from non-strategic business establishments like the Colombo Hilton to strategic assets like the Norochcholai power plant. The sale of the Hambantota port was just the beginning.

 The Prime Minister has already announced that the Mattala airport would be next. Other assets like the Colombo -Katunayake Highway, Southern Highway, Water Board and Electricity Board are also due to be privatised.

In their desperation to justify the sale of government owned assets, the government has been deliberately running down the enterprises they want to sell, as for instance by stopping bunkering operations in the Hambantota port. The total amount that has to be paid for the Hambantota port is USD 1,266 million capital + USD 495 million in interest – a total of USD 1,761 million by 2036. By the end of 2016, nearly USD 500 million of this total amount had already been repaid.

 There was never any problem about meeting the payments for the Hambantota port because it was paid out of the profits of the Ports Authority. With its privatisation however, the loan taken to build the Hambantota port will be transferred from the Ports Authority to the Treasury to be paid by the tax payer.  

The government has been trying to justify the privatisation of the Hambantota port  on the grounds that the land for the Shangri La hotel was sold outright by my government. The few acres on which a non-strategic asset like a hotel is built cannot be compared to a strategically important port with four terminals, 12 berths and a 5,000 acre industrial park. The Shangri La land moreover was given on the specific condition that it can be used only for a hotel in accordance with the government’s urban development plan.

 The government has also been saying that my government gave land to a Chinese company in the Port City. The Port City is new land that is being reclaimed from the sea. This land has commercial value but is not of strategic importance like a major harbour.

Once the new land mass was created, the company carrying out the construction was to have the use of a very small part of it subject to Sri Lankan law, in lieu of payment. The entire project would not have cost the Sri Lankan government anything.

 It should also be borne in mind that my government enacted the Land (Restrictions on Alienation) Act No: 38 of 2014 which restricts the ability of foreigners and foreign owned companies to buy land in Sri Lanka but the present government removed all such restrictions by Land (Restrictions on Alienation) (Amendment) Act No 3 of 2017.

 My government built or created new things. The present government is making a living by selling what my government built. The government will not be using the 1.12 billion USD that comes from the lease of the port to pay the loan taken to build the port. Instead the money is to go to the treasury to meet the day to day expenditure of the government.

 The USD 1.12 billion raised from the privatisation of the Hambantota port is small change for this government and will soon vanish just like the USD 13.7 billion they raised earlier.

 As public indignation mounts at the manner in which the Hambantota port was privatised, Yahapalana ministers are now going around saying that my government too had planned to sell the entire Hambantota port to the  Chinese. This is a diabolical lie. Everyone knows that my government had an explicit anti-privatisation policy. Not only did my government refrain from privatising any State assets, we reacquired several important assets that had been privatised by previous governments.

 STATEMENT NO 4.   UMA OYA”  (Island 11.1.17)

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he would like to remind those who are blaming his government for implementing the Uma Oya project that successive governments since 1959 had tried to launch it. 

The Uma Oya project has come in for much criticism in recent times. A few days ago it was reported in the media that the Kirindi Oya tributary which flows past Bandarawela had suddenly gone dry as a result of this project. The leader of the JVP stated in Parliament some weeks ago that as a result of ground water seeping into a tunnel being constructed as part of the Uma Oya project, 2,333 wells, streams and springs in the Bandarawela area had run dry, and cracks had appeared in 4,625 houses, six temples, one mosque and three schools in the area due to the change in ground conditions, and further that thousands of acres of agricultural land have been affected.

 After things started going wrong, members of the JVP, ministers in the Yahapalana government and various NGO activists have been making statements aimed at laying the blame for all this on me and my government. One minister said that this situation had come about because I had wanted to divert water to Hambantota to irrigate land in my village. The President also stated that this project had been carried out due to ‘political requirements’.

 The Uma Oya project consists of constructing a dam and reservoir across the Uma Oya at Puhulpola from where water would be diverted via a 4 km tunnel to another dam and reservoir constructed across the Mahatotilla Oya in Dyraaba. Water from this second reservoir would be channeled through a 15.3 km tunnel to a hydroelectricity powerhouse. The outflow from the powerhouse is to be diverted via a 4 km tunnel into the Kirindi Oya, to provide water to parts of the Moneragala and Hambantota districts.

 The diversion of the Uma Oya has been under discussion for well over sixty years. The idea was first mooted in 1959 in a study carried out by the United States Operations Mission and the Canadian Hunting Survey Corporation. It also featured in the United Nations Development Programme/Food and Agriculture Organisation Master Plan (1968-1969) for the Mahaweli project. Studies regarding the Uma Oya diversion project were also carried out by the Lahmeyer International Company of Germany in 1989, by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) in 1991 and by SNC Lavalin Inc of Canada in collaboration with the CECB in 2000.

 During the UNP led government of 2001-2004, at inter-ministerial meetings held in December 2003 and February 2004, chaired by the then ministers of power and energy and irrigation Karu Jayasuriya and Jayawickrema Perera with the participation of all the ministers and MPs of the Uva province, it was decided to implement the proposed Uma Oya scheme as a high priority project.  On 26 January 2005, under the Chandrika Kumaratunga government, Cabinet approval was granted to proceed with the Uma Oya project, based on a cabinet paper submitted by the then Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The Deputy Minister of this ministry at that time was Bimal Ratnayake.

 The JVP Minister’s Cabinet Paper bearing No: 05/0036/039/002 dated 4 January 2005 stated the following: “For the development of the South East Dry Zone in Sri Lanka, (particularly Hambantota and Moneragala districts) there is no other alternative unless water is diverted from Uma Oya to the South East Dry Zone.” “Strategy for economic development of both Hambantota and Moneragala districts changed during the recent past and diversion of Uma Oya to Kirindi Oya is now seen in the perspective of recently conceived Ruhunupura development.

The infrastructure of Ruhunupura development consists of the development of the Hambantota harbour into one of the modern harbours in the region, international airport in the Moneragala district, and an oil refinery. It is expected that the Hambantota harbour will attract a large number of ships sailing in the Indian Ocean. Also a large number of industrial activities are expected to take place in and around Hambantota including tourism. For all these new developments, projected water requirement has been estimated as 100 MCM in the year 2030.

In the absence of a reliable source of water in the area, water from Uma Oya is seen as the only alternative to supplement this requirement.””Therefore high priority should be given for this project.”   It was only after all of the above had taken place under previous governments that the Uma Oya project appeared in my 2005 presidential election manifesto as a priority project.

The JVP supported my candidacy at the 2005 presidential elections and Uma Oya was made a priority project of my government. From winning the war against terrorism to building highways, harbours and power plants, my government did many things that previous governments had only been able to dream about, but never implement. Uma Oya was one such project.

 On 27 November 2007, consequent to consultations held earlier that year by the then Minister for Enterprises Development Sarath Amunugama and the then Minister for Power and Energy John Seneviratne with the Export Development Board of Iran (EDBI) and Farab Company of Iran, an MOU was signed with the Iranian government under the terms of which the EDBI would finance the project and Farab Company, would prepare the detailed engineering design and carry out the physical construction. 

The contractor Farab Company is owned by the Iranian government and a team of engineers from the Irrigation Ministry, CEB and CECB had checked the credentials of this company and its experience in handling similar projects. In 2008 a Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee got the contract price fixed at USD 514 million. Though the contract was signed in 2008, construction did not commence until 29 November 2011 until the Central Environmental Authority gave it clearance and a full feasibility report acceptable to the engineers of the Irrigation Ministry, Ceylon Electricity Board and the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau had been received.

 Ground water seepage is inevitable when drilling tunnels and measures have to be taken to prevent it. According to information available to me, the water seepage has taken place because the German manufactured drilling machine did not have the additional components to fully seal the tunnel as it moved forward. This was apparently due to the project consultants failing to provide the correct advice.

The first seepage of water had taken place only in late December 2014 just days before the present government came into power. The environmental harm it has caused could have been averted if remedial measures had been taken in time. However the new government took no action because they were too busy persecuting the opposition.

The JVP was also too busy persecuting the Rajapaksas and helping the UNP to run the FCID to make representations to the government to rectify a problem that had arisen in the only major project ever initiated by a JVP Minister.  I now learn that the necessary equipment has been obtained from Germany. 

 Whenever a large scale infrastructure project is implemented, there will be communities that are adversely affected. When the accelerated Mahaweli project was implemented, the entire Maskeliya town had to be shifted to make way for the Maussakele reservoir and the Teldeniya town had to be shifted to make way for the Victoria reservoir.

The extent of water seepage during the drilling of the Uma Oya tunnel may not have been anticipated. But in projects of this magnitude, even unanticipated contingencies have to be provided for. Many large projects were implemented during the nine year tenure of my government, and some displacement of people did take place, but there was no public unrest because problems were identified early on, and compensation packages provided to the satisfaction of those

of the affected. Such alertness and efficiency is however lacking under the present government.

Today, the situation is such that if a citizen loses his house in a landslide or flood or some man-made disaster, he will be living in a tent or a school until the next government comes into power. There is now agitation over issues that have emerged in the construction of the Central Highway which have not been resolved by the government. Those affected by the unforeseen problems that have emerged in the implementation of the Uma Oya project have had to endure the consequences inherent inefficiency of the present government.[1]  (continued)

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[1] Island 29.9.17 p 4 Modern used no 18 .

By Udaya P Gammanpila Courtesy Ceylon Today

MP M.A. Sumanthiran recently threatened in Parliament to take the Sri Lankan Government before an International Criminal Tribunal unless it establishes a hybrid justice system to inquire into war crime allegations. A hybrid justice system means participation of foreigners as judges, prosecutors and investigators. In a criminal investigation, Police Officers conduct the investigation and collect evidence and witnesses. Usually, the Attorney General prosecutes the defendants in Courts.

Judges deliver judgments after hearing both sides. Tamil separatists demand to get foreign Police Officers, prosecutors and Judges involved in inquiring war crime allegations.

Reason

MP Sumanthiran had reason to make this threat. The resolution cosponsored by Sri Lanka in October 2015 contained a demand to establish a hybrid justice system to probe alleged war crimes. The new resolution co-sponsored by the Government in March 2019 contains the same demand. The only difference is the Foreign Minister’s stand. Although Minister Managala Samaraweera fully endorsed this demand in his speeches at the UNHRC, Minister Tilak Marapana, at its 40th session held in this month, refused to establish a hybrid justice system claiming it was unconstitutional. Minister Marapana’s speech made Tamil separatists frustrated and furious. That is why MP Sumanthiran was compelled to make the above-mentioned speech in Parliament.

He is a brilliant lawyer and a knowledgeable person. Hence, he is fully aware of the facts about international tribunals. In this backdrop, why does he make this baseless threat? Obviously, he wants to instil fear in the minds of Government leaders. He has good understanding about behaviour of the leaders of the present Government. Because of their inferiority complex in respect of their former colonial masters, they are in fear of Western nations. They are ready to even betray the motherland to appease these vicious forces. Therefore, the Government may take this threat seriously. Hence, let us look at legal and political aspects of establishing war crime tribunals.

Criminal tribunals
International Criminal Tribunals can be established only by adopting a resolution at the UN Security Council. The Security Council has established two such criminal tribunals to prosecute leaders in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
The Security Council consists of fifteen members of which five are permanent. 

Permanent members are USA, UK, France, Russia and China. These members have veto power to reject a resolution. Hence, in addition to support of at least nine members, the resolution should not be opposed by any permanent member, to ensure its adoption. A large number of resolutions brought before the Security Council against Israel failed to see the daylight since the USA exercised its veto power

There is a risk of mooting a resolution to establish an International Criminal Tribunal against Sri Lanka in the Security Council. Since two permanent members, namely, USA and UK, have brought resolutions against Sri Lanka in the UNHRC, these States are capable of repeating it in the Security Council because of lobbying by Tamil separatists. However, there are two permanent members with veto power in the council who are of the opinion that Sri Lanka has not committed war crimes or genocide attempts. These States are China and Russia.

China and Russia have been continuously voting with Sri Lanka in the UNHRC since 2009. These States never deserted Sri Lanka when Sri Lanka was facing humiliating defeats at votes. Present Government betrayed and embarrassed these friendly nations by cosponsoring the anti-Sri Lanka resolutions brought by our enemies.

When Sri Lanka co-sponsored anti-Sri Lanka resolutions, it was obviously a slap on the faces of nations who supported Sri Lanka for previous resolutions. By siding with the enemy, Sri Lanka has told its friends that those nations have committed a blunder by supporting Sri Lanka for the previous resolutions.
Fortunately, these nations have realised Sri Lanka is presently under the control of its enemies and it is a temporary turbulent situation. 

Their sympathy and support towards Sri Lanka was reflected in their speeches in the UNHRC in the recent past. In this backdrop, Sri Lanka can confidently expect its friendly permanent members of the Security Council, China and Russia, to veto any resolution to establish a tribunal to punish Sri Lanka. Collective veto by China and Russia is a common feature in the council in the recent past.

In the light of the above, the Government should not panic and commit irreversible mistakes by establishing Hybrid Courts. Instead, the Government should avoid any action or inaction which could question the independence of the judiciary.

The conduct of the Constitutional Council is crucial in this regard. The Parliament and public vehemently criticised the appointments made by the Constitutional Council to the Superior Courts. The Council failed to provide reasons for ignoring several senior Judges when it recommended junior Judges as the Chief Justice and Presidents of the Court of Appeal. Similarly, they ignored senior Judges in the High Court when appointments were made to the Court of Appeal.

Biased conduct

The Constitutional Council’s biased conduct was not limited to the Judiciary. It was extended to other branches of the justice system.

When the head of prosecution (Attorney General) and the head of investigation (Inspector General of Police) were appointed, the council ignored the senior officers without any valid reason.

Hence, speculation is rife that the Council was politically motivated in recommending persons for high posts in the justice system.

 Hence, we are in genuine fear that the Constitutional Council is on a deliberate attempt to discredit our justice system with a view to justifying the hybrid justice system with foreign Judges, prosecutors and investigators.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

New Delhi/Colombo, March 29 (Reuters): An agreement to build a proposed $3.85 billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka will take at least a year to be finalized as its main investor, India’s Accord Group, says it is yet to recruit partners and conduct an assessment of the plan’s viability.

The comments add to confusion about the project, which was announced last week by the Sri Lankan government as the nation’s largest single foreign direct investment ever, but has since been the subject of conflicting statements by various parties.

Accord’s Chairman S Jagatrakshakan, a former Indian government minister, said he has submitted a preliminary proposal to the Sri Lankan government to invest in the project but has not finalized any terms of the deal.

The project assessment and financial viability assessment will take at least a year. We have not sorted out any of the equity partners for the projects, but are in talks with investors from many countries,” he told Reuters over the phone from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The 68-year old politician is campaigning in Tamil Nadu for a seat in the current general election. He was an MP and minister in the last Congress-led government in 2009-2014.

CHINA-INDIA STRUGGLE

When the Sri Lankan government made the announcement on March 19, it said the oil refinery would be a joint venture between Oman’s oil ministry and Accord and cost $3.85 billion.

A day later, Omani officials denied involvement in the project, but the middle eastern country’s oil minister arrived in Sri Lanka three days later and said he was excited” to inaugurate the project though there was no indication of a firm deal in place.

India and China have been vying for political influence in Sri Lanka in recent years, with investment a key part of the battleground.

The refinery’s proposed site is 585 acres of land near the site of the new Humbantota International port and a related industrial zone – both run by Chinese entities – on Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

A Sri Lankan government document seen by Reuters showed the previously proposed deal would have a debt to equity ratio of 51:49, and said the Accord Group’s Singapore entity, Silver Park International Pte Ltd, would fund 70 percent of the equity, with Oman funding the rest.

However, Jagatrakshakan said he expected 70 percent of the project to be bankrolled by debt from financial institutions, adding that Silver Park would get more investors to fund the equity stake.

We are looking at getting 20-30 investors on board for the 30 percent equity investment in the project. We expect 70 percent of the project to be bankrolled by debt from financial institutions,” he said.

POTENTIAL RISK

A senior official at Sri Lanka’s Strategic Development and International Trade ministry, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he was confident of the terms of the deal as originally announced by the government.

He said Jagatrakshakan’s son Sandeep was also present when the deal was signed. Sandeep Jagatrakshakan did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.

China is the biggest buyer of Omani oil, importing about 80 percent of the Middle Eastern nation’s overall crude exports in January, according to Oman government data.

– Kumari Courtesy Ceylon Today

The question in the minds of the teaching fraternity and parents of children around the age of ten, island-wide, is: Is it on or is it out? Is the Grade Five Scholarship Examination scrapped or is it going to be held this year too. (At the time of writing 27 March)

The confusion is justified. The President announces one action; education officials seem to pronounce another; the President was shown on TV news to emphatically and definitely say that he has decided to scrap the examination for these young kids. This was on Tuesday (26).  

He said he recommended the cancellation and now is declaring the examination non-existent. The same news broadcast announced that an Education Department big-wig said no decision had been taken.  So that’s where we are. But, Kumari assumes and presumes HE the President will have his say and way.

History

The Scholarship Examination (also known as the Grade 5 Exam) is a highly competitive Sri Lankan examination conducted by the Department of Examinations of the Ministry of Education. It is optional for students to undertake it during the final year of Primary School (Grade 5, usually ages nine to10)). Based on the results of the exam, students could transfer to prominent National Schools. The exams are held in two mediums: Sinhala and Tamil. The examination was introduced by the late Dr. C.W.W. Kannangara, who took the initiative in establishing Free Education when he was the Minister of Education. Under this initiative the Government established Madhya Maha Vidyalayas (MMV – Central Colleges) that were scattered around the island. The Scholarship Examination was a means for gifted students from villages to move to better schools with Government scholarships.”

That was the Wikipedia article retrieved by googling. Leaves much to be desired, as no dates are given so vital for factual histories.  Also, a list of Colombo boys schools is given with the cut off marks – Royal 187 (of 200 we presume); the mark being the cut off dividing those who are eligible for entry to a better school. I was avid to see what the mark was for Kandy schools, rural schools – those in backward areas. No info.

Free education came in the latish 1950s and the Central Schools were excellent, one in each province or district, I believe. These schools produced many who shone in Sri Lanka, mostly in the public sector.  From the scholarship exam being a feeder to the MMVs in the district or province, it soon became a means to get into Grade A1 Schools in cities, like Royal and Visakha being the utopias.

Negatives and positives

The exam now is a torture to kids, having encouraged unhealthy competition and over-ambitious parents, mothers more particularly, slave driving their young kids of Grades 4 and 5 to study, study and study. And in many cases, woe betides if the little one fails to be above the cut-off point. Also glory, too much attention and prizes with banks sponsoring those who top the lists. This too is not so healthy for an impressionable kid. Very many Grade 5 children have no childhood; they jump or crawl mentally damaged from early childhood to teenage. Tuition is resorted to, for kids who have only outgrown infancy!

Of course the positives are present: Teachers and kids work hard at the Grade 4 and 5 levels and the very original aim of the scheme – education in a better endowed school with competent teaching faculty.  Here again it’s we humans who have distorted the good intentions.

The best and almost the only solution that should follow the scrapping of the exam, is better equipping rural and small town schools. The National School scheme is fine where smaller schools are feeders to the best school in the district – the model National School. Cut-off need not be a highly competitive exam. It could be judging a child’s ability, intelligence and so forth through sustained checking over a period of two years – Grades 4 and 5 of Primary School.

Steps have been taken recently to have better teachers and amenities and school buildings have been constructed or refurbished. But with less than 10 per cent of the annual Budget allocated  to the Ministry of Education, wide as its responsibilities are, how much  progress can be made to have at least a  Mahanama College  if not a Royal in every Province?

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Courtesy Ceylon Today

Given what Dayan had told me about what the Americans were up to, given too that Bob Blake, who had been more positive about us previously than the British, had changed and explained that this was because he now served a different administration, I was wary about the new Ambassador, Patricia Butenis. And the first time I saw her in action seemed to justify this, for she was clearly plotting with the EU Ambassador, Julian Wilson, a crafty creature, and Mr Sambanthan, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance.

This was at a Boxing Day party given by the American Political Affairs Officer, Paul Carter. He had been cultivating me assiduously, doubtless having noted that the Embassy had a very positive view of me – Blake having asked me, along with just a few others he described as close friends of the United States; to the party he threw for Obama’s inauguration, way back in January. And again I was one of the few people asked to dinner by his Deputy, Valerie Fowler, to meet him informally, when he paid a visit to Sri Lanka in December 2009. He had by then been elevated to the position of Assistant-Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

Carter soon enough found that, though I was committed to pluralism, I was not the sort who would let down the Government I worked for to other countries. While, I would argue for more forceful efforts to promote reconciliation, which included investigation of particular incidents during the war, I was certainly not going to acquiesce in indiscriminate attacks on our forces as having engaged in war crimes.

By 2010 Carter had realised this, after one more lunch meeting at which I was brusque with him than previously.

This was because I had sensed what he was up to at the Boxing Day Party, which he had been keen I attend, to enjoy what he called traditional Southern hospitality. He was from Georgia, and served excellent mint juleps, but I was surprised to find that I was about the only person there from the Government. And it was clear, when I went to join Patricia and her friends, in the garden, that I was intruding.

Paul steered me away and I spent some time talking to Shavindra Fernando, a Thomian I had known previously, who now worked in the Political Affairs section. And then I left quite early, to get to my cottage that night, but when the TNA soon afterwards announced that it would support Sarath Fonseka, who had expressed excessively chauvinist views during the war, I realised what had happened.

American plans

I should note though that I believe initially the Americans had had a different plan, which was getting Sarath Fonseka to stand to split what it thought of as the chauvinist vote.

I say this because, at a Christmas drinks party given by the British Deputy Head of Mission, Mark Gooding, and Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, who was evidently not happy about having to support Sarath Fonseka, told me that it was all Ranil’s fault for withdrawing.

Ranil had of course realised that he had no chance of winning, but the Western hope had been that he would come through with Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka splitting the Sinhala Buddhist vote. I think they had assumed extremists such as Champika Ranawaka and Wimal Weerawansa would support Fonseka, and perhaps it was because they stuck with him that Mahinda allowed them undue influence after he won the election.

They had been given great prominence during the campaign, as when Weerawansa dominated the press conference to deal with Sarath Fonseka’s allegations about the killing of those who surrendered, instead of the moderate Mahinda Samarasinghe.

Gooding’s party had been small and again, I was, I think the only person from Government who had been asked. Amongst the other guests was the American Deputy Chief of Mission,  James Moore, whom I rather liked though I knew he was more critical of the Rajapaksa Government than Bob Blake had been.

Patricia Butenis

But Moore too soon went away and was replaced by a lady who seemed more moderate. And Patricia Butenis also seemed to change after Mahinda Rajapaksa won the Presidential Election easily. She was a professional rather than a partisan diplomat, and knew she had to work with the new Government. While obviously she would have wanted it to move on a political solution to Tamil problems, and to work positively towards reconciliation, she was not the sort to, therefore, concentrate on support for the Opposition.

So, I think on Jeff’s recommendation, she hosted several gatherings to bring Government and Opposition personalities together, and in fact participated more actively in discussion, than other diplomats did. 

Obviously, she had a particular perspective to advance, and this sometimes led to criticism, I suspect because some of those I asked, such as Thilanga Sumathipala, knew that what happened would be reported back to the President, and they wanted to affirm their own total support for him. But on the whole the meetings were lively and productive, and as time passed she and I got quite close. I still recall her being quite solicitous when I dropped in on her to discuss progress just before I was due to go abroad.
I was suffering from a bad cold, and was fed hot lemon and honey with great care and attention.

I would like to think we might have been able to do much together to develop better understanding between the two countries as well as facilitating provision of American support for those who had suffered in the war, without seeming to be partisan and hyper-critical of the forces that had won. She was deeply concerned for instance about the former combatants who were being rehabilitated, and quite prepared to accept what Government was doing. This was made easier, I should add, by the International Organisation for Migration, essentially a body the Americans had set up when they thought the United Nations High Commission for Refugees was unreliable, being actively involved in the rehabilitation process.

This was what made nonsensical the claim of the Europeans that we were ill-treating the former combatants, who were held in secret. Unfortunately, because of suspicions about the conduct of some ICRC officials during the war, the ICRC had been banned from the centres, even though it had been initially involved in the registration of these combatants. But IOM was in regular attendance, and confirmed that the combatants were able to have visitors, and indeed when I checked I found that practically all those being detained had been in touch with their families.

Paul Carter

But Patricia’s positive approach was set at naught by Paul Carter. He was determined to undermine the Government, and for this purpose he sought to subvert officials, still thinking on the lines American covert agencies had adopted with regard to Sarath Fonseka.

I have no idea what else he did in this respect, but matters came to a head when he tried to win over the military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe, by offering him passage to America and care for his family.

Sadly, Gotabaya was not able or willing to raise the issue publicly, and G.L. Peiris was quite incapable as Minister of External Affairs of advising him sensibly or taking up the issue himself. So Patricia could take the initiative, when she realised Carter had blundered, and she went to the Ministry of Defence and told Gotabaya that there had been a misunderstanding. Gotabaya did not take the matter further, but it obviously simmered, and that put paid to any hopes of a better relationship between the two countries.

My view was that such matters needed to be exposed and so I wrote about the incident. The result was that, when I was next due to meet Patricia, I was asked to come to the Embassy, where Jeff told me that she was deeply upset. So she was, and there almost seemed a catch in her voice when she told me that she could not work with me again, because I had made an allegation that was untrue.

Both she and I knew what had happened, but obviously Carter had demanded action and, given his position, she had to stand by him. Jeff seemed very upset and, though he could not take my side, he did say when I left that there were some very strange people in the Embassy.
Carter was not deterred by Prasad reporting him, for some months later it was reported that he had tried the same thing with Maithripala Sirisena, who was the Secretary of the SLFP. Sirisena promptly reported the effort to suborn him to the President, and once again Patricia had to engage in damage control.

Though we were no longer working together, we were civil when we met – and indeed I kept in touch with her after she had gone back to the States – and I asked her what had happened. Her answer was that Sirisena did not understand English, and the conversation had been through interpreters so a misunderstanding had occurred. But when I checked with Sirisena, the first time indeed that I spoke to him, he told me there had been no misunderstanding at all, and an effort had been made to get him to dissociate himself from the Government.