Enough evidence against Nalaka de Silva on assassination plot – CID

March 6th, 2019

Courtesy Adaderana

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Attorney General’s Department have determined that there is sufficient and clear evidence to prove that the former DIG Nalaka de Silva’s involvement in the alleged VIP assassination plot.

When the case was taken up today (06), the CID and the AG Department have informed the Fort Magistrate with this regard.

The Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris, representing the Attorney General, informed the court that former DIG Nalaka de Silva had connections with the recently arrested underworld kingpin ‘Makndure Madush’ and singer Amal Perera who was arrested along with Madush. The former DIG had acted clandestinely in order not to reveal his connections to these persons, added the Deputy Solicitor General.

Considering the information presented, Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake, directed the CID to produce a report on evidence against Nalaka de Silva, at the next hearing.

Accordingly, former DIG Nalaka de Silva was further remanded until 19th of March, as per the order of the Magistrate.

Director (Operations) of Anti-Corruption Movement, Namal Kumara, on September, had uncovered information of a conspiracy to assassinate President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the alleged conversations that he has had with former DIG Nalaka de Silva regarding the matter and other controversial topics.

The CID subsequently commenced investigations regarding the alleged conspiracy and has recorded statements from both Namal Kumara and the former DIG on multiple occasions.

Sri Lanka U-turns on war crimes probe

March 6th, 2019
Colombo, (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president went back Wednesday on pledges to the UN Human Rights Council to investigate war-time atrocities, saying he did not want to re-open old wounds”.

Sri Lankan government troops were accused of killing at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians in the final months of the island’s 37-year guerrilla war that ended in May 2009.

President Maithripala Sirisena said he will formally ask the United Nations rights body to reconsider a 2015 resolution which called for credible investigations into alleged atrocities.

Sri Lanka considering withdrawal of co-sponsorship of UNHRC resolution on war crimes

It is a decade since we have established peace in this country,” Sirisena told reporters at his official residence in Colombo. I want to tell them (the UN) not to pressure us.”

What I want to tell them is don’t dig the past and re-open old wounds. Let us forget the past and ensure that we all live in peace.”

Soon after coming to power in January 2015, Sirisena pledged to ensure accountability for war-time abuses.

The UN has estimated that over 100,000 people were killed during the guerrilla war.

Exactly two years ago, Sirisena bought two years from the UN rights body after a previous deadline ended without any progress in bringing war criminals to justice.

A UN Human Rights Council resolution in October 2015 granted Sri Lanka 18 months to establish a credible investigation. The two-year extension expires this month with no results.

Sirisena said he will send three of his senior party members to the UNHRC sessions in Geneva this month to plead on his behalf.

I hope they (the UN) will respond positively,” Sirisena said.

Despite previous pledges to the UN, Sirisena has not set up any investigation.

Top UN diplomats had expressed concern over worryingly slow” progress by Colombo.

Sirisena, a member of the majority Sinhalese community, received the support of the Tamil minority after promising accountability for excesses carried out by the largely Sinhalese military.

The UN has acknowledged that Colombo made some positive advances on constitutional and legal reforms, limited land restitution and symbolic gestures towards reconciliation.

But it has also cautioned that the measures taken under Sirisena were inadequate, lacked coordination and a sense of urgency.

Sri Lanka tells foreign construction companies to enter into joint ventures with local contractors

March 6th, 2019

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, March 6 (newsin.asia) – The Sri Lankan government, on Wednesday said that foreign construction companies who wanted to bid for local projects in the island country would only be allowed to do so by entering into a joint venture with a local construction or consultancy company.

In its budget proposals for 2019, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the decision was taken to support and strengthen the local construction industry.
No foreign construction company will be allowed to tender for Government projects, unless the project is fully foreign financed, without forming a joint venture with a local construction or consultancy company. This will support the local companies to benefit from the transfer of technology,” Samaraweera said.

The Minister added that in order to support the property development sector as well, the government proposed to grant residential visas for 3 years to foreign nationals who invested a minimum of US 400,000 dollars or more in condominiums.
This process will be implemented this year. This residential visa will not be valid when the foreigner exits from this investment, Samaraweera said.
Samaraweera, on Tuesday presented the government’s budget for 2019, providing several incentives for Sri Lankan citizens especially those living below the poverty line.
The budget was taken up for debate on Wednesday.

Future Vision for SriLanka Governing Strategy – HE Gotabaya Rajapaksa (GR)

March 5th, 2019

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

Past Governance History:

  1. DS Senanayake – The First PM of SriLanka (SL) was DS Senanayake, a planter by occupation who managed his brother’s graphite mines etc. He was into rubber and tea plantations. (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._S._Senanayake) Though he was the father of the nation who effectively carried out the Structural Transformation”, failed in politics by disfranchising one million upcountry Tamils. He could have achieved his goal before independence but waited until independence to gain cheap popularity ending in catastrophic failure.
  2. SWRD Bandaranaike – This guy although was an old student of the Oxford University, ended up with a shattering calamitous failure in life been killed by his own people. Let us view his political activity of Sinhala ONLY ACT within 24 hours on a scientific domain.: The momentum of a particle depends on the velocity of the particle. 50 kg moving at 10 m/sec will have a momentum of 500 kg. m/sec or 500 N sec. The same 50 kg particle traveling at 100 m/sec will have a momentum of 5000 kg. m/sec or 5,000 N sec. The difference of an impulsive decision of an enactment that can hurt citizens could be explained by momentum theory. SWRD was a total failure with NIL scientific knowledge.
  3. JR Jayawardhane – JRJ sold his country to the Indians and the Tamils in India. A coward by nature, although demonstrating false heroic features, brought economic downfall and needless displacement of SriLankan Tamils neural activities and providing room to mushroom politicians giving birth to disturb the political SL is in a state of untidiness, disarray, and chaos now. People should read about the bribery and corruption of the NPC since 2013 (JRJ’s child). There was no development since CVW became the CM.
  4. Ranil W – Needless to explain here as people in SriLanka and overseas have a thorough understanding.

Provincial Councils     – The birth of PCs has blocked SL’s economic, technological and industrial growth, proliferated bribery, and corruption 11 times as there are eleven PCs. SL should PREPARE to revoke and bring governance under one government from Colombo for economic benefits.

Future Vision for SriLanka:

With the limited resources, SL should review her political strategy for people to contend. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry from the North & South are leaving SL to develop foreign countries. Some Sinhala people have changed their names from Sinhala to Western names. It is a mystery as to why these Buddhist people change their names after moving to the West.

Today’s state of SL is and was as a result of incompetent leaders and politicians. They had no Core Values or goals to achieve except accruing wealth, which indicate their intelligence and patriotism. No politician from SL can be compared to Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, J. F Kennedy, OR Sir W Churchill or Mahatma Gandhi.

What should be the future vision for SL? AN example from future-vision.com.au.

Quote: http://future-vision.com.au/     –Future Vision is our ability to combine elements of the past, present, and future to design a bespoke accommodation strategy that will see your business thrive.  It can be applied to an existing workplace or be used to design a new environment in a new location.

Maybe this applies to Business, however, this can be applied to modeling up a political strategy.

Combine the elements of the past and present:  Racism, unsolicited, undesirable separatism, rebellious act on decentralizing governance. Racial violence, terrorist activities, communist activities, and try to drive the country to be governed on a communistic platform, pursuing/ dogging Tamil/Sinhala the only language in governance, challenging Tamil governor to be appointed to the NPC, and multitude of irregular and idiotic thoughts by the TRISTAR ethnic groups of SL. There is a multitude of shortfalls in the governance of SL by our politicians. Root Cause is they do not think. After all the God has given us a brain for neural activities to better our country for our brothers, and sisters. Example of a degree of racism: When a writer discussed constructing a water reservoir in the North, a Sinhala writer commented that there shall be NO RIVER FOR JAFFNA”. Of course, there can be no river in Jaffna because there are no mountains. It is an indication of pure racism as a result of his/her neurophysiological incapability. Another example: Tamils who cannot understand/speak English who illegally crossed over by BOAT to Australia are surviving and developing their skills to learn English. Why do we then need a Tamil Governor to the NPC?

What can we do?

Every ethnic group shall rid of xenophobic attitude, protesting people drift from the South to the North, obstructing and blocking freedom of practicing religion (Buddhism), rid of JIHAD policy, accepting living under one government, rid of bribery and corrupt zeal.

After all, if Sinhalese are prepared to change their names to Western names from Buddhism, and Tamils are prepared to learn Italian, Ukranian, Spanish, Balkan languages, why not they live in SL  learn English and Sinhalese and build SL. The interior drive is wealth for the Sri Lankans.

What can be done to achieve this goal?  Voters must know whom they are voting to govern. The Presidential candidate should be competent in the following: Strength, Integrity, Relationships, Strong vision, and should be able to offer Delegation and Accountability”, Psychological analytical capability, strong decision making, authenticity, relationship with his subordinates and portfolio holders free from partisan politics.

Quote: Please visit page https://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/dosstrat/2007/html/82950.htm, and study what is the S Gs required to govern. Example, Quote; Strategic Goal 1: Achieving Peace and Security

  • Counterterrorism
  • Weapons of mass destruction and destabilizing conventional weapons
  • Security cooperation and security sector reform
  • Conflict prevention, mitigation, and response
  • Transnational crime
  • Homeland security

Of course, LTTE was equipped with some gas weapons for mass destruction and GOSL should be worried about such weapons in SL. Ref: https://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/dosstrat/2007/html/82950.htm

We have seen so many leaders come and go in SL, however, no one was able to place a counterattack against LTTE, which was led by an 8th standard educated boy, for 30 years. Of the lot, Mahinda Rajapaksa was a capable leader who was able to wipe out terrorism and progress on development. No one can dispute this. However, some wicked, corrupt, unscrupulous, elements crawled into portfolios by wiping MR’s legs. Today the existing GOSL elements are posing a threat of dividing the nation by giving autonomous powers to PCs which is detrimental to the sovereignty of this nation on a 10-year horizon.

Considering the past and present threats, and to maintain peace, harmony, security, progress, and economic and technological growth, it is intelligent and sagacious for the people of Sri Lanka to elect Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the forthcoming president of Sri Lanka, as GR is the only suitable, fit and proper leader in Sri Lanka. The President shall be the chief executive of this nation of Sri Lanka.

THE TAMIL LANGUAGE IN SRI LANKA Part 11

March 5th, 2019

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil lobby has been deeply committed to seeing that the Tamil language was firmly entrenched in Sri Lanka. They have gone into every little aspect of the matter including Tamil typewriters.

The Tamil lobby watched carefully to see whether the provisions for Tamil were followed in the state and public administration. The lobby pointed out that all members of Parliament are entitled to work in his or her own language and get documents in the language of his or her preference. Instead, Tamil MPs were sent documents in Sinhala. Only the Parliament and Colombo Municipal Council has facilities for simultaneous translation of the proceedings, the lobby complained in 2006.

Tamil speaking members of Provincial Councils and Local Authorities outside of the North and East are unable to conduct official business in their own language, complained the Tamil lobby in 2008,  nor are they  offered simultaneous interpretation, with the exception of the Western Provincial Council and Colombo Municipal Council.

They are entitled to receive communications and transact business in Tamil; instead, they are sent communications in Sinhala and to a lesser extent in English. Minutes of meetings and proceedings are not given in all three languages the lobby continued. In the Central Provincial Council where 40% are Tamil MPs, proceedings are in Sinhala. Provincial councils and local authorities continue to publish orders, proclamations, rules, by-laws and regulation as well as circulars and forms solely in the language of administration and without translation into English as required.

The Tamil lobby   was greatly concerned about the provision of services in Tamil in the Police stations and the law courts. In 2003, when the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka., visited Jaffna and held meetings, they were told that the police stations in the peninsula did not record statements and complaints in Tamil. They were maintained only in Sinhala.

Matters had not improved by 2017. Police took   down complaints in Sinhala and asked the Tamil public to sign. They also prosecute in Sinhalese and issue orders in Sinhalese to those in court. They simply assume that it is our duty to know Sinhalese and get angry when we do not understand. We are reduced to behaving like cattle, complained Tamil public.

The court sergeant bellows in Sinhalese, a few understand and follow his orders and the rest of us like cattle follow those who do what the sergeant demanded. Intermediaries have developed who can come in and help, said analysts.  These intermediaries know the procedures involved, have good contacts with the police and can fill the language gap.

There were other complaints. Traffic tickets are issued by policemen speaking only Sinhalese. The ticket is written in Sinhalese. ‘Just to find out the offence and the police station to which the driver needs to go, he or she needs to ask a Sinhalese to read it for him.’ Lastly, Tamil translation of the temporary licence is wrong and misleading. Only the English version speaks of a spot fine.

After the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, it is a constitutional requirement that a police officer should acquire proficiency in a language other than in one’s mother tongue to gain the first promotion and should acquire knowledge of the third language for his or her next promotion.  However, this is not followed when promotions are granted to police officers in the country, said the Tamil lobby.

The Police Department in a report to the National Police Commission (NPC) in 2016, said 7,267 officers had completed a Tamil language training course since 2010. The Police Department plans to train a further 1,200 officers in 2017, it said. But this is a very small number, considering that the force consists of some 75,000 officers of lower rank, a majority of whom speak only Sinhala.

Moreover, Tamil speaking officers cannot be continually deployed in majority Tamil-speaking areas. Depending on service requirements, police are transferred every two years. You can’t keep Tamil-speaking officers indefinitely in the North and East. That will be like a punishment transfer,” said the authorities.

Minister Mano Ganesan had asked the OIC of a police station in Colombo, how he would deal with a complainant who knew only Tamil. The OIC had introduced him to a Tamil-speaking Sinhala officer who did that job. The Minister then struck up a conversation with him in Tamil. Within a minute, I found he could speak very little Tamil,” he recounted. The officer had no academic qualifications in Tamil. He had picked up bits from tuition classes. His skills were clearly inadequate for the task. Since the complaint is taken down in Sinhala and the complainant is required to sign it, the chance for error is high. What this underlines is the need for professional interpreters and translators in the State sector, said Ganesan.

In December 2017 attorney-at-law Kugathasan had accompanied a friend to the Jaffna police station to lodge a complaint. It was around 10.40 a.m. and there was a long queue. But even after one hour, the line did not move. When we inquired, we were told there was only one policeman conversant in Tamil and that he had been summoned by a senior police officer for an urgent matter, He returned over one-and-a-half hours later. And their turn came around 1.15 p.m.

The Tamils were also concerned about the non-use of Tamil in the   Law Courts. The Tamils have the right to file cases in Tamil, but Courts in the North and East are in Sinhalese said D Hoole in 2017. There is a scarcity of competent Sinhala to Tamil and Tamil to Sinhala interpreters and translators as well as Sinhala/Tamil to English and English to Sinhala/ Tamil. The translation of documents including court records, where the language of the court differs is subject to enormous delay and difficulty.

The  Official Languages Commission had recommended n 2008  that a fair number” of judges at all levels of the judiciary be conversant in all three languages to reduce their reliance on interpreters and translators. Mano Ganeshan told Parliament  in 2016, A panel of judges who can understand Tamil will be introduced in the future.

The Tamil language lobby was also concerned about   road and public transport information. They looked at all aspects of public travel. Here is a bouquet of observations. Instructions and notices relating to the regulation of road traffic must be displayed in all three languages along with international sign language, said the Tamil Lobby. Some of the traffic instructions are put out in Sinhala only, when internationally recognized traffic signs could also have been used.

All announcements made over the public address system in bus stations and buses should be in all three languages. Announcements in the main Fort Railway Station take place in both Sinhala and Tamil, said the Lobby approvingly,  except in some cases where they are made in Sinhala only when the trains do travel to supposedly non Tamil areas. Conductors of buses must be in a position to converse in at least two languages (Sinhala and Tamil) said the lobby.

All destination boards, travel notices, instructions Etc Island wide should be displayed in all three language, the lobby said in 2008. While street names in Colombo are in all three languages, bus routes are not, the Tamil lobby complained in 1998. By 2008, the main bus stations were, in a majority of instances, displaying destinations in both languages.  Most of the Sri Lanka Transport Board and private buses carry the destination boards in all three languages or at least in two languages, in Colombo by 2008.

However, researchers reported in 2014 that this was not so outside Colombo. Tudor Silva reporting on the language needs and services in selected bilingual administration divisions in Sri Lanka reported in 2014, that though it is mandatory that bus boards must run names in Sinhala, Tamil and English, they did not do so in all the DS areas they surveyed.

The fourth area looked at by the Tamil lobby was the use of Tamil in public administration. There were a series of circulars issued regarding using Tamil in the government sector. Here are some of them.

  • Cabinet Paper No. 08/0681/326/005 was on the need for including Tamil language terms for all government programmes where only Sinhala language terms have been used,
  • Extraordinary Gazette Notification 1620/27 was on the delegation of responsibilities for implementing Official Languages Policy.
  • Public Administration Circular 22/91 said that all formats/templates of public institutions should include information in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. all forms/templates not complying with this provision should be withdrawn
  • Public Administration Circular 36/89 amended Chapter II of the Establishment Code to bring the EC into line with Official Languages Policy of Chapter IV of the Constitution.
  • Public administration department   issued a series of circulars. Public Administration Circular 51/90 dealt with action to be taken by all secretaries of ministries, chief secretaries of provincial councils, department’s heads and chairmen of corporations for the purpose of implementing the Official Languages Policy.   Public Administration Circular 22/91 dealt with the formats/templates of public institutions that should now carry information in Sinhala, Tamil and English languages. All forms//templates not complying with parameters of this provision should be withdrawn from usage.
  • Public Administration Circular 15/2009 said that all secretaries of ministries, chief secretaries of provincial councils, departments heads and chairmen of corporations should take necessary action to adhere to provisions stipulated in Chapter IV of the Constitution with regard to the languages as per the advice provided in [earlier circulars]

Once Tamil became a state language the Tamil lobby   took it upon themselves to supervise the implementation of the law. They had a series of complaints to make regarding the use of Tamil in Sri Lanka.

The Tamil language lobby focused first of all, on notices and sign boards. They regularly complained about the lack of trilingual notices in public places. This is something the Tamil lobby was very watchful about. Provincial councils in general and some central government departments have failed to display signage in both official languages and English, complained the lobby in 2008. Local authorities have persistently failed to display street signs in all three languages despite reminders.  Similarly all announcements made to the public should be in all three languages, said the Tamil language lobby.

Name boards, designation boards, notices and instructions in government departments and police stations should be displayed in all three languages.  Notices and sign boards in government and private places should be in Tamil as well, they said. Name boards in   government offices are not in Tamil, complained Nesiah in 2012.   Even simple and low cost measures such as having all name and direction boards and notices in Sinhala and Tamil had not been taken in most offices, he said.  Hospitals did not display its notices in all three languages  observed the lobby in 2008.

The Tamil   language lobby regularly complains that Tamil speakers receive government letters in Sinhala. This is repeated over and over again. ‘Tamils still continue to receive letters from the government in Sinhala much to their inconvenience and humiliation, wept the Tamil lobby.  Tamils could correspond with the government in Tamil but very often the reply came in Sinhala, the Tamils resented this. Tamil undergraduates in the Open University and University of Colombo were expected to fill in forms which are only in Sinhala. Letters are sent in Sinhala to the English Department of the University of Kelaniya.  The letters should have been accompanied by translations in English, said the lobby.

The lobby found that Tamil typewriters were not available or were in short supply in many offices. In some offices there were one or two Tamil typewriters but no Tamil typists. There was also a shortage of Tamil stenographers. The lobby wanted these rectified.

In 2008, the lobby found that there were no Tamil translators at the Magistrates court, Mount Lavinia. The electoral register was not in Tamil.There were no Tamil speaking grama niladharis in Badulla district, and birth certificates were in Sinhala only.

Devanesan Nesiah, who was invited to make recommendations, wanted all public servants instructed to comply with Government policy in regard to the use of the national languages.   Most officers in the outstations do not know of the Public Administration Circulars 3 & 7 of 2007 relating to the use of Tamil language. There were other Public Administration Circulars which were also not heeded, the lobby said.

Nesiah suggested in 2012 that a circular setting out the language policy of the government in relation to the use of Tamil be jointly drafted by the Ministry of Public Administration and the Official Languages Commission, and circulated to all offices and sub-offices. The Circular should detail the obligations of the public servants in relation to dealings with Tamil speaking persons. Public Servants must be given clear directions regarding the Language Rights of the Public

The Centre for Policy Alternatives, headed by Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu was asked by the Ministry of official language to do a survey on the implementation of Official language policy in selected ministries.  49 ministries were studied and the report was issued in 2017. Here are some of the observations.

There were no language plans in place in 47 out of 49 ministries. A well-designed and approved language plan was in place only in one ministry. Some effort to implement language plans was observed in 8 ministries

Front office services in Sinhala and Tamil were available in 36 ministries.   However, only 9 of 43 websites followed Official Languages Policy the physical resources required to implement Official Languages Policy were available in 39 ministries. 38 ministries had the numbers of staff necessary for the proper implementation of Official Languages Policy. 5 ministries categorized staff according to language proficiencies. Language skill development programmes had been conducted in 21 ministries. 34 ministries had the capacity to respond in the same language as the letter as received.

Main name boards of the ministries complied with the Official Languages Policy. Some of the designation boards and other name boards did not. 70% of the 384 section name boards observed were in line with Official Languages Policy. 788 designation name boards were observed, out of which 43% complied with criteria set out by the Official Languages Policy. 223 other name boards were inspected out of which 46% were in line with Official Languages Policy.

The Centre for Policy Alternatives     made several recommendations. The CPA said The Ministry of National Co-Existence, Dialogue and Official Languages should take necessary action to review as to why Official Languages Policy is not properly implemented in ministries and institutions functioning under ministries.

The number of branch offices of the Official Language Commission should be increased. The Official Language Commission should conduct an annual language audit in order to review and assess the progress of implementation of Official Languages Policy at the national level. Language proficiency in writing, reading and speaking should be made compulsory for all new recruitments. The officers responsible for delivering the language policy should inform higher administrative authorities and policy makers about key issues and challenges encountered in implementing the Official Languages Policy. Staff who had language proficiency should be at most relevant service points.

The Official Languages Commission reported, in 2008, that it had  conducted language audits to ascertain the extent of implementation of the language policy. This exercise is not very rewarding, said the Commission. Almost every government office or public institution visited, said that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Administration had not provided them with the necessary personnel proficient in the Second Official Language to carry out the official languages policy. And the Ministry has not got the necessary resources either. The necessary number of personnel proficient in Tamil have not been recruited nor trained in sufficient numbers.

The Official Languages Commission   was also empowered to inquire into violations of language rights. Unfortunately the complaints are few,  the Commission said in 2008. The Commission receives only a handful of complaints each year, whether in writing or over the telephone. In 2005 a mere six written complaints were made, while an unspecified number were received by telephone as well as on the basis of media reports.

That does not mean everything is fine. A person whose language rights are violated may be more interested in getting his job done than making complaints said the Commission. Where services in Tamil are not available, Tamil speakers get their letters written in Sinhala by others who know Sinhala, (often paying a fee) and go to offices with persons who could help them with interpretation. (Continued)

 

ආන්ඩුවට අයවැය හිගය පියවගන්න ක්‍රමයක් නැහැ. මේ වසරේ ඩොලර් මිලියන 5.9ක් ණය ගෙවන්න තියෙනවා.

March 5th, 2019

අද දින (05) ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාවට සහභාගි වූ නියෝජිතයින්

ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්නයෙන් ගොඩ එන්න නම් අලුතින් මුදල් අච්චු ගැසීම, දේශිය ණය හෝ විදේශීය ණය ගැනීම, ලාභ ලබන ආයතන කිහිපයක් විකිණීම පමණයි ආන්ඩුවට තියෙන විසදුම්.

  • පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ලක්ෂ්මන් යාපා අබේවර්ධන මහතා
  • පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී අනුර ප්‍රියදර්ශන යාපා මහතා
  • පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රංජිත් සොයිසා මහතා

 

අටුව කඩලා පුටුව කඩනවා වගේ දේශිය ආර්ථකය පරදුවට තබමින්, බිංගිරියේ පොල් අක්කර 1200ක් කපලා ආයෝජන කළාපයක් හදන්න සුදානම් වෙන්නේ කිසිම ආයෝජනයක් නැතිවයි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී අනුර ප්‍රියදර්ශන යාපා මහතා

ලංකාවේ සමස්ත වියදම රුපියල් බිලියන 6550යි. රාජ්‍ය ආදායම රුපියල් බිලියන 2400ක් කියලා වාර්තා වෙනවා.අපිට ප්‍රශ්නයක් තියෙනවා. ලංකාව මේ වසරේ  ඩොලර්  බිලියන 5.9ක් ණය විදියට ගෙවන්න තියෙනවා. රුපියලේ වැඩිවීම නිසා මේ වසරේ රුපියල් බිලියන 1008ක් අයවැය තුළින් ගෙවන්න සිද්ධ වෙනවා. මේ නිසා ආන්ඩුව කියන දේවල් කරන්න පුලුවන්ද කියලා අපිට සැකයි. මෙවැනි තත්ත්වයක් ඇති වුනාම ආන්ඩුවට සිද්ධ වෙනවා බදු වැඩි කරන්න. නැත්නම් ලාභ ලබන ආයතන දෙක තුනක් විකුණන්න වෙනවා. නැතිව අය වැය හිගය පියවා ගන්න බැහැ. මේ ආන්ඩුව ලංකාවේ කෙටි කාලයක් තුල ණය ලබා ගත්ත ආන්ඩුව වගේම ලංකාවේ ජනතාවට වැඩියෙන්ම ජනතාවට හැනිකර බදු පනවපු ආන්ඩුව. රුපියල් බිලියන  90ක් පසුගිය දෙසැබ්ර් වෙද්දි මුදල් අච්චි ගහලා. ඒ විදියට අලුතින් මුදල් අච්චු ගහන්න, දේශිය ණයෙන් පියවන්න, නැත්නම් විදේශිය ණය ගන්න එක හෝ අපේ රටේ තියෙන සම්පත් විකුණා මුදල් පියවීම කියන පියවරයන් ටික විතරයි ආන්ඩුවට ඉතිරි වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. 

මේ නිසා ආර්ථිකය අතින් අපි ඉන්නේ වඩා භයානක තැනක. අපි ඉන්නේ මිට වසර කිහිපයකට කළින් ග්‍රීසිය හිටිය තැනටත් වඩා පහළ තැනක. මතුපිටින් චොකලට් තවරලා මේ අයවැය දුන්නාට ඒකේ යටින් තියෙන්නේ තිත්ත බෙහෙතක්. අපි විරුද්ධ පක්ෂයේ ඉන්න නිසා කියන කතාවක් නෙවෙයි. මේක තමයි ඇත්ත. රුපියලේ අවප්‍රමාණය තව තවත් වැඩිවුනොත් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම මේ සදහා ගෙවිය යුතු රුපියල් ප්‍රමාණයත් ඒ හා සමානව වැඩිවෙනවා. මෙය හම්බන්තොට වරාය ගොඩනගන්න ගත්ත වුදල මෙන් දෙගුණයක් වෙලා තියෙනවා. මේ අස්සේ එජාපය සංදර්ශනයක් කරනවා ඒ අය නිදහස් වෙලෙද කලාප හදන බව පෙන්වමින්. කුරුණෑගල බිංගිරියේ වෙලද කළාපය හදන්න කියලා හොද ඵලදාවක් සහිත පොල් අක්කර 1200ක් යොදා ගෙන. අටුව කඩලා පුටුව හදනවා වගේ මෙවැනි දේ කිරිම සුදුසු නැහැ. ඉඩම් වෙන් කරන්න පුලුවන්. ආයෝජන එනවාද. වොක්ස්වැගන් කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවත් ඒ වගේ. දේශීය ආර්ථකය පරදුවට තබලා මේවගේ රුවටිම් කරන්න හොද නැහැ. පරාක්‍රමබාහු රජතුමාගෙන් පස්සේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ අගමැතිවරයාගේ සමයේ හොදම වී අස්වැන්න වාර්තා වෙලා කියලාත් ජනතාවට බොරු කියනවා. වී අතිරික්තයට හේතුව ජනතාව දන්නවා. වියලි කාලයෙන් පස්සේ අපිට හොද වැස්සක් ලැබුණා. අපේ කෙටිකාලනී ආන්ඩුවෙන් පොහොර ටික කළට දුන්නා. ඒ අනුව ගොවියෝ වැඩකළා.වි වලට මිලකුත් නැහැ. වි මිලදි ගැනීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයකුත් හදලා නැතුව පරාක්‍රමබාහු යුගයක් ගැන කියන්නේ මොකක්ද කියලා මට තේරෙන්නේ නැහැ. දෙවියන්ට කොටසක් වෙන්කරලා වැදුම් පිදුම් කරලයි ගොවියෝ අස්වැන්න ගෙට ගන්නේ. එවැනි ගරු බුහුමන් කරන අස්වැන්න පහුගිය කාලයේ මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපලේ ගෙනත් දැම්මා. තමන්ට අදාල නැති ප්‍රකාශයක් කරලා රට රවට්ටන ප්‍රකාශයක් කිරීම ගැන අපි කණගාටු වෙනවා. වී කිලෝව රුපියල් 30ට වත් දි ගන්න බැරිව ඉන්නේ. පොලොන්නරුව වැනි ප්‍රදේශවල ජනතාව ඉච්ඡාභංගත්වයට පත්වෙලා ඉන්නේ. නරක දරුණු තැනකට ආර්ථිකය පත්වෙලා තියෙද්දි බොරු නොකර මැතිවරණයකට ගිහින් නව රජයක් පත්කරගන්න අවස්තාව දෙන්න කියලා අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

  • අපි ඉදිරියේ තියෙන්නේ ඇස් බැන්දුම් අයවැයක්
  • ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කිරීමට මේ රටේ මිනිසුන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකමක්ම ආරක්ෂා කරන්න, දෙමල ජනතාව පළිහක් කරගෙන ඉන්න වෙලාවේ ඔවුන්ව නිදහස් කරගෙන සමස්ත රට වැසියාටම නිදහස ලබා දී විනය ගරුකව කටයුතු කළ බව මතක තබා ගෙන රණවිරැවන්ට පීඩාවක් නොවන විදියට අතීතය අමතක කරන්න ඔ්නේ.
  • මැතිවරණ කල් දැමීම ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිධූරය අහෝසිකරන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න බැහැ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ලක්ෂ්මන් යාපා අබේවර්ධන මහතා 

ඇස් බැන්දුම් අයවැයක් ඉදිරියේ අපි ඉන්නේ. ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල එක්ක සාකච්ඡාවක් තිබුණා. දේශපාලන අර්බුදයක් නිසා ණය ගෙවීම ප්‍රමාද වුන බව ජාත්‍යන්තර අරමුදලට කියලා වසරකින් කල් ලබා ගෙන තියෙනවා. ඩොලර් බිලියන 101.5 ණය මුදලට වසරකින් කාලය දික් කරලා. ආන්ඩුවට කරුණු කිහිපයක් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල පියවර අරන් තියෙනවා. ආන්ඩුවේ වැය අඩු කරන්න කිව්වාම මෙය මැතිවරණ වසරක් නිසා වැය අඩු කිරීම අමාරැ කබව ආන්ඩුව කිව්වා. වැය අඩු කරන්න අපහසුනම් ආදායම් මාර්ග වැඩි කරගන්න කිව්වා. ඒ සදහා බදු පැනවිම අනිවාර්යයෙන් සිදුවෙනවා. අද ඉදිරිපත් කරන අයවැයෙන් බදු පැනවූයේ නැති වුනත් ඉදිරියේදි ගැසට් මගින් බදු පනවනවා. විනිමය අනුපාතය නිදහසේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්න ඉඩ දෙන්නත්, ඩොලර් බිලියන 150 ආදායමක් හොයා ගන්න, අකාර්යක්ෂම ආයතන විකිණීම හා පුද්ගලීකරණය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම අයවැය හිගය 3.5කින්පවත්වා ගෙන යාම කියන කොන්දේසි අරමුලින් දාලා තියෙනවා. අයවැය හිගය 3.5 ක්ව තියාගන්න නම් බදු වැඩිකරන්න වෙනවා. ඩොලර් මිලියන 150කින් ආදායම වැඩි කරන්නත් බදු ආදායම තදින්ම ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න ඔ්නේ. අද අයවැයෙන් රජයේ සේවකයින්ට ඇස්බැන්දුමක් පෙන්වයි. තව මාස කිහිපයකින් බැංකු පොලී අනුපාතය අනිවාර්යයෙන් වැඩි වෙනවා. මේක මැතිවරණ අයවැයක් වුනත් ඒකවත් හරියට කරගන්න බැරි තත්ත්වයක් තියෙන්නේ.

අගමැතිතුමා උතුරට ගිහින් ප්‍රකාශයක් කරලා තියෙනවා  පරණ අතීතය අමතක කරලා කටයුතු කරන්න කියාලා. යුද්ධයේදී වුනු දේවල් අමතක කරලා අතීතයට සමාව දෙන්න කියපු ඒ ප්‍රකාශය හොදයි. නමුත් අතිතයේ හමුදාවක් ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කිරීමට මේ රටේ මිනිසුන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකමක්ම ආරක්ෂා කරන්න, දෙමල ජනතාව පළිහක් කරගෙන ඉන්න වෙලාවේ ඔවුන්ව නිදහස් කරගෙන සමස්ත රට වැසියාටම නිදහස ලබා දී විනය ගරුකව කටයුතු කළ බව මතක තබා ගෙන රණවිරැවන්ට පීඩාවක් නොවන විදියට අතීතය අමතක කරන්න ඔ්නේ. යුද අපරාධයක් වෙන්න නම් සූහ මිනිස් ඝාතනයක් වෙන්න ඔ්නේ. ළමා සොල්දාදුවන් ඉන්න ඔ්නේ. අපේ හමුදාවන් එවැනි දේ කරලා නැහැ. හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපති අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න උත්සාහය තවමත් තියෙනවා. අපේ සියලු හමුදාවන් විශිෂ්ටයි. මුහුදු මාර්ග රැක ගැනීම වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩයි කලේ.

දැන් ව්‍යවස්ථා මර උගුලක් ගෙනත් තියෙනවා. 1994 ඉදන් ජනාධිපතිධූරය අහෝසි කරන බව කිව්වා. නමුත් මේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල එවැනි දෙයක් කරන්න බැහැ. මේ හදන්නේ පළාත් පාලන ආයතන කල් දැම්ම වගේ, පළාත් සභා කල් දැම්මා වගේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් දාගන්නයි. ජනාධිපතිධූරය අහෝසි කරන්න නම් ශක්තිමත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් ඖනේ. ඒකට මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය වෙනස් කරන්න ඔ්නේ කියන්නයි හදන්නේ. මැතිවරණ කල් දැමීම ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිධූරය අහෝසිකරන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න බැහැ. මේ රටේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කරන්න ගිය හැම අවස්ථාවකම අර්බුද ඇති වුනා. ව්‍යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කරන්න ජනතාවගේ කැමැත්ත ඔ්නේ. පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණය තියෙන බවක් නැහැ. කල් දාන්න බැරි එකම මැතිවරණය ජනාධිපතිවරණය. ඔක්තෝම්බර් වෙද්දි මැතිවරණය තියන්න ඔ්නේ.

  • අයවැය සම්මත කරගන්නේ කොහාමද කියන ගැටලුව සහ අධිකරණයට තමන් බහුතරය කියලා බලයේ ඉන්න එජාපයට පෙන්වීමේ ගැටලුවක් මේ වෙද්දි ඇති වෙලා
  • ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අගමැතිවරයාගේ කියලා අයවැය දෙකක් අපිට නැහැ. අපි සමස්ත අයවැයම පරාජය කිරීමටයි පියවර ගන්නේ
  • විකුම්සිහ රජු සහලින් රට ස්වයංපෝෂිත කරපු නිසා තමයි මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපලේත් වී පිරෙව්වේ
  • ගම්මිරිස් කිලෝ කෝටි 21ක් මහ මුහුද මැදදි නැවෙන් නැවට පටවලා රුපියල් ඩොලර් කෝටි 66ක් තමන්ගේ අයට හොයාදුන්න රජු විදියටත් ඉතිහාසගත වෙනවා.
  • ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රමිතයේ කාන්තා යට ඇදුම් නිර්මානයේ සන්නාමය විදියටත් වික්‍රමසිංහ රජු ඉතිහාසගත වෙනවා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රංජිත් සොයිසා මහතා

තව පැය කිහිපයකින් යහපාලන රජයෙ ්අවසාන අයවැය ලේඛණය ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න නියමිතයි. මේ දෙස විමර්ශනාතාමකව බද්දි බරපතල අයවැය පරතරයක් තියෙනවා. මෙය පියවා ගන්න රජයට විසදුම් වෙන්නේ බදු දඩ සහ ණය මත යැපීමයි. මෙයින් ජනතාවට සහනයක් ලැබෙන්නේ නැහැ. අයවැය සම්මත කරගැනීම දක්වා ආන්ඩුවට අබියෝග දෙකක් තයෙනවා. අයවැය සම්මත කරගන්නේ කොහාමද කියන දේ සහ අධිකරණයට තමන් බහුතරය කියලා බලයේ ඉන්න එජාපයට පෙන්වීමේ ගැටලුවක් තියෙනවා. පිරිසක් අයවැය ට සහාය නොදෙන බවත් කියනවා. විපක්ෂය ලෙස අපි කියන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අගමැතිවරයාගේ අයවැය කියලා දෙකක් නැති බවයි. අපි අයවැය පරාජය කරන්න පියවර ගන්නවා. ස්වයං රැකියා ඇති කරනවා ඉඩම් ඔප්පු දෙනවා වැනි දේ කිව්වට ඒ දේවල් කරන්න තරම් තත්ත්වයක් රටේ ගොඩනැගිලා නැහැ.

කුරුණෑගල වෙලද කළාපයක් විවෘත කරන්න ගිහින් අගමැතිවරයා කියනවා හයවෙනි පරාක්‍රමබාහු රජුගෙන් පසුව සහලින් රට ස්වයං පෝෂිත කලේ තමන් බව. අලුතින් විකුම්සිහ රජු ලෙසයි දැන් හදුන්වන්නේ. එතුමා සහලින් රට ස්වයංපෝෂිත කරපු නිසා තමයි මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපලේත් වී පිරෙව්වේ. එතුමා කෘෂිකර්මයට විරුද්ධ නැහැ කියනවා. එතුමා තමයි ගම්මිරිස් කිලෝ කෝටි 21ක් මහ මුහුද මැදදි නැවෙන් නැවට පටවපු රජු විදියට ඉතිහාසගත වෙන්නේ.  එක කිලෝවෙන් ඩොලර් 3 ගානේ ඩොලර් කෝටි 66ක් ආදායම් හොයාගත්තා රජයට සම්බන්ධ ඇමැතිවරු හා සහෝදරයෝ හොයා ගත්තා. වික්‍රමසිංහ රජු ඒකටත් ඉතිහාසයට එකතු වෙනවා. ඇගලුම් කර්මාන්තය අතින් කාන්තා යට ඇදුම් එතුමාගේ කාලයේ නිස්පාදනය කලාලු. එහෙමනකම් ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රමිතයේ කාන්තා යට ඇදුම් නිර්මානයේ සන්නාමය විදියට වික්‍රමසිංහ රජු ඉතිහාසගත වෙනවා. මේ විදියට ජනතාව අන්දවන්නයි උත්සාහ කරන්නේ. 

Public Seminar on the Kandyan Convention of 1815

March 5th, 2019

Public Seminar on the Kandyan Convention of 1815

March 09, 2019 ( Saturday)

Venue: University of Peradeniya, Arts Theatre, Galaha Road, Peradeniya

Tentative Programme

8.15 am – Registration

8.45 am – Inauguration

Introduction and objectives: Dr. C.M. Madduma Bandara, Emeritus Professor, University of Peradeniya

Speakers & Panelists

  1. Dr. Palitha Kohona, Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, Former Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Topic: The Kandyan Convention, 1815: Did We Have a Better Option?”

  1. Sumedha Weerawardhana, University of Peradeniya
    Topic: Role of the Maha Sangha in Drafting and Signing of the Convention”
  2. Senaka Weeraratna, Attorney at Law
    Topic: A Convention Violated and Dishonored?”
  3. Harendranath Dunuwille, Formerly Mayor, City of Kandy
    Topic: Popular Myths and Mis-Conceptions of the Convention”
  4. Samantha Ratwatte, President’s Counsel
    Topic: Legality and Currency of the Convention”

10.45 am – Panel Discussion – Open to Participants

11.30 am – Anusasana by The Most Venerable Niyangoda Vijithasiri Anu Nayake Thero, Malwathu Maha Viharaya , Kandy

11.45 am – End of Seminar

Consumerism and Proselytism threatening Buddhism in Asia

March 5th, 2019

Lotus News Feature By Natcha Lim

BANGKOK (IDN) – Buddhist scholars attending the 1st Makhapuja International Conference on ‘The Future of Buddhism in Asia’ have warned that consumerist trends within the monastic order and aggressive proselytism by Islamic and Christian groups are a threat to the future of Buddhism in Asia.

Governments in the region lack adequate political solutions to defy “anti-Buddhist movements”, and this poses a huge challenge, said Professor Kapila Abhayawansa, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at the International Buddhist College in Thailand.

And this at a time when Buddhism is widely accepted as a way of life which can offer solutions to almost all the human problems emerging from the mal-effects of globalization everywhere in the world today”, he added.

The Centre for Chinese Studies of Mahidol University in association with Wat Yannawa and Wat Thepthidaram organised the conference that wrapped up on February 20, and focused on both internal and external threats to Buddhism, a religion that has shaped the Asian identity for centuries.

The most prominent challenge to Buddhism in my opinion, emerges from the global consumerism” noted Prof Abhayawansa, adding the popular belief that happiness can only be achieved from indulging one’s desires in acquiring infinite wealth, and of limitless commodities”.

He pointed out that this trend is still new to people of Asia compared to the West, and thus they embrace it with passion, unable to understand its danger to both spiritual and physical aspects of life. Rather than teaching about these dangers, he lamented, many Buddhist monks are performing rituals on a commercial basis.

Dr Charoon Wonnakasinanont, leader of Thailand’s Mahabodhi Party argued that though Islamic terrorism is limited in Asia, yet they indulge in many subtle ways to undermine Buddhism and turn Thai society Islamic. They have developed a joint-venture with others. Neighbourhoods have come together (to) encourage people to follow Islam.”

He listed three plans the Islamists have devised to gradually turn Thailand into an Islamic country: Inciting conflict in the south of Thailand (where a lot of the Thai Muslims live) by using violence; and getting more Muslim people into universities and the public service using a minority rights argument; and Gathering a tax” from Thai people with the registering of the Halal mark.

These strategies are dangerous to Thailand,” argued Dr Wonnakasinanont. He identified in particular the Halal mark demands on food, drugs and cosmetics as a way of Muslims making money out of the predominantly Buddhist population without investing anything. Most Thai people are completely ignorant of all the plans of the minority Muslims in Thailand which makes the whole situation even more dangerous,” he warned.

Ignorance is dangerous for our spiritual wellbeing. We have to change our minds and be alert to everything that is happening (around us) that may harm our lives,” said Dr Wonnakasinanont, pointing out that this is what Buddha also taught 2500 years ago.

Conference convener Dr Tavivat Puntarigvivat of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Mahidol University noted that there is a revival of Buddhism in China and this growing movement is crucial to the survival of Buddhism in Asia because many Buddhist communities are poor and need the support of economically powerful nations. Yet, he warned that both international Muslims and the West are using the Uyghur Muslim issue in Xinjiang to undermine China’s rise.

Among the Uyghur minority, the teenagers are the most vulnerable,” argued Dr Puntarigvivat. They have been incited by extremist ideology from the Middle East to divide the people according to their race and religion, disobey marital law and family planning, resist modernity, and to consider non-Muslims as heretic and the government as an enemy.” He also added that the western media has purposely increased its attacks on China, particularly by distorted news reports on the issues in Xinjiang.

By distorting the principles of human rights, the West has been causing misunderstanding and distrust among people in China,” he added, noting that the western media often sounds like the spoken voice of terrorists”. He argued that the media need to ask the question why the Muslims almost everywhere in the world do not seem ready to adjust themselves to local culture and society into which they migrate and reside”.

The Evangelical Christian threat to Buddhism in Asia was the theme of a keynote speech by Dr Kalinga Seneviratne, founder of the Singapore based Lotus Communication Network. Christian threat is two-pronged,” he argued, (one is) missionaries masquerading as welfare agencies to infiltrate poor Asian communities (and the second) is their popular culture via gospel music and other modern communication tools painting Christianity as ‘cool’ to urban Asian youth”.

He pointed out that a 2015 study done by Dr Terrence Chong of the National University of Singapore had warned about a rapidly growing Pentecostal Christian movement driven largely by upwardly mobile wealthy ethnic Chinese use use their business networking and financial resources to reach poor Buddhist communities for conversions.

Citing an All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) study in 2012, Dr Seneviratne pointed out how these Christian movements infiltrate rural Buddhist communities via NGOs (non-governmental organisations) that bribe local government officials to facilitate their activities among grassroots Buddhists. According to the report, between 2002 and 2009 (at the height of the civil war) such NGOs have mushroomed in Sri Lanka from 110 to over 400. ACBC has called for tighter control of foreign funded NGOs in the country.

Dr Seneviratne further argued that Asian Buddhists needed to mount an international campaign to give collective rights higher priority than individual rights in the international human rights agenda.

There is a notion that when a community is in the majority in the country, it is protected by the state, and is privileged,” he noted, adding: This is not the case with Buddhist communities across Asia, especially because the damage done to these communities by European colonization.”

Under the individual human agenda, he said, minorities enjoy all the rights and majorities none”. This must change because for the Buddhists, their treasured religious and cultural heritage is under attack by Christian and Islamic movements with superior financial resources.

Buddhists must demand that protecting their cultural heritage is a part of human rights and they should not be labeled as ‘extremists’ (by western media) when they do that,” argued Dr Seneviratne. He also called on Asian Buddhists to reinvent Buddhist heritage by using new media tools like video clips, music clips and podcasts to present Buddhism as cool” to young Asians.

In an eye-opening presentation, Prof Tilak Kariyawasam, Dean of the Graduate School, International Buddhist College in Thailand showed how Buddhism flourished in Central Asia at one time and after the collapse of the Chinese Tan Dynasty and with Arab invasions from the West and East, Buddhism gradually vanished from the region. The former Soviet Republics of Central Asia are today all Islamic nations.

The theme of most presentations was that Buddhists needed to empower particularly their grassroots communities, to withstand the current onslaught from Christianity and Islam. Dr Seneviratne also called for the reform of the Bangkok based World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB), which has become a sleeping white elephant. WFB, he said, should spearhead empowerment movement with a more energetic leadership.

It cannot be denied that there are hidden forces which need to discredit Buddhism because of its growing demand in the Western world,” observed Prof Abhayawansa. With such ulterior end in view, they even hire some Buddhist monks who are greedy for wealth. If the Buddhist order is corrupted, it is the biggest harm that can be done to Buddhism, since Buddhism mainly depends on the purity and unity of monks (for it to prosper),” he warns.

Linking Jaffna University – LTTE & the Separatist Ideology

March 5th, 2019

We need to understand that Tamil militancy is just a branch of a malady that is rooted in a mythical notion that Tamils had an independent autonomous homeland in the island of Lanka. To understand this, we need to look carefully at the demands made & realize that LTTE was only demanding by gun what Tamil political leadership had been demanding via a strategy of ‘little now more later”. The link in synergizing the political will & the militant demands became Jaffna University, the heart of Tamil nationalism which would nurture the necessary academic background to internationalize & sustain the struggle while the proponents made merry via the profits generated from various illegal/legal business ventures, political dealings with geopolitically interested western/Indian alliances and the power to hobnob with internationally influential people that would generate plenty of opportunities for themselves & their families while also enabling the middle class to gain some relief in settling overseas on pretext of discrimination.

 

It was in the late 1970s after the University of Jaffna was established in 1974 that Tamil nationalist politics entered the university compounds. 50 academics of the university even issued a statement in 1988 calling for Tamils to participate in the 1st election for the merged N-E provincial council following the Indo-Lanka Accord. Following the departure of the IPKF the LTTE managed to assassinate or scare off ‘moderate’ Tamil academics enabling the entire university to come under control of LTTE by 1990s. Thereafter, there is little to say & the manner Jaffna University, its VC, lecturers, staff & students have been openly supporting LTTE as well as the identical demands of Tamil political leaderships connected with LTTE is revealed in the examples below.

 

Fact 1: Pongu Thamil

Jaffna university commenced the 1st Pongu Thamil (Tamil Uprising) in January 2001 to support ‘Tamil right to self-determination’ ‘Tamil traditional homeland’ the same demands that LTTE has been making. The same demands the Tamil political parties are making. The Pongu Thamil went on to become an annual event held in LTTE areas as well as by LTTE diaspora used as a means to raise funds for LTTE & camouflaged as a cultural program.

 

Fact 2: Mahaveer Naal (Great Heroes Day ONLY FOR LTTE) – creating a cult of martyrdom

November 27th 1989 was the day on which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) first observed its annual Maaveerar Naal” or ONLY LTTE Great Heroes Day.

Sathiyanathan alias Shankar/Suresh was the first LTTE member to die on November 27, 1982 but it took 7 years for LTTE to decide to commemorate its dead. From 1991 the entire week from November 21-27, was declared as Great Heroes Week (Maaveerar Vaaram”). LTTE leader Prabakharan’s birthday was November 26. LTTE also established cemeteries called Maaveerar Thuyilum Illangal” (great heroes slumber).

Maaveerar Kudumbangal” (Great hero families) was a title ONLY for LTTE cadre families. Families of other militants were forbidden from using this title.

LTTE never commemorated or mourned the loss of Tamils who belonged to other Tamil militant movements. LTTE did not regard others as fallen heroes. In fact families of other dead cadres were FORBIDDEN from openly mourning their dead & were told to mourn in private. That means Tamils killed by LTTE would not have been commemorated too nor their families allowed to mourn these dead publicly too.

The 30th anniversary of Mahaveer Naal (Great Heroes Day) will be in November 2019.

 

Did Jaffna University, Tamil politicians or any other who claim Mahaveer Naal is not an LTTE event observe this before 1989? NO

Given that Mahaveer Naal clearly is an LTTE martyrdom of only its cadres (forbidding public mourning of other militants or public mourning by families of other militants or excludes the mourning of Tamils killed by LTTE by their families) we have every right to question why Jaffna University, its students, lecturers, university staff and TNA MPs et al are demanding to mourn ONLY LTTE dead but pretending to the world that they are mourning ‘civilians’. Who are they all trying to fool?

 

Fact 3: Flame of Sacrifice (Eegai Chudar)

Was lit at the memorial monument by senior LTTErs in the presence of LTTE hero families. Entire ceremony was decorated with LTTE colours – red & yellow with LTTE flags & Tamil Eelam map. Prabakaran participated at the main event. Prabakaran’s address begins at 06.05p.m. the exact time Shankar died. A picture of Shankar is also garlanded (the same has been happening since 1989)

 

Fact 4: Politicizing Mahaveer Naal

In 2013 during the NPC campaign TNA observed 2minutes silence in honor of LTTE dead. Some TNA candidates even praised LTTE leaders (D B S Jeyraj 2016 article) The TNA controlled Pradeshiya Sabhas of Karaichchi & Chavakachcheri even passed resolutions to renovate LTTE cemetaries.

C V Wigneswaran continues to light a flame like Prabakaran did in the past.

The hypocrisy of TNA MPs is that it is an alliance of Tamil groups who belonded to other militant groups whom LTTE killed. Unashamedly these militant-turned politicians are happy to mourn LTTE dead completely ignoring the men/women/children that LTTE killed in the parties they originally belonged to.

Mahaveer Naal is to commemorate ONLY LTTE dead & LTTE leader not dead of other militant groups or their leaders or dead civilians killed by LTTE.

Fact 4: LTTE’s Thileepan & Jaffna University

Rasaiah Parthipan or Thileepan is the direct link between LTTE & UofJ as he an undergraduate who joined LTTE in 1983 and fasted unto death which began on 15 September till his death on 26 September 1987 (aged 23). Thileepan’s body was handed over to the University of Jaffna’s medical faculty.

 

September 2018 – Jaffna University commemorates Thileepan

http://globaltamilnews.net/english/31st-remembrance-of-day-of-lt-col-thileepan-has-been-commemorated-at-the-university-of-jaffna-reporter-for-global-tamil-news/

http://www.uktamilnews.com/?p=29627

 

September 2012 – Jaffna University commemorates Thileepan

https://eelamview.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/remembering-lt-col-thileepan/

September 2007 – Jaffna University commemorates Thileepan

http://tamilnation.co/tamileelam/maveerar/thileepan.htm

 

September 2001 – Jaffna University commemorates Thileepan

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=6341

 

 

Fact 5: Attempting to re-write history to be basis for arguments revolving round a mythological Tamil Homeland which Vaddukkodai Resolution artificially impregnated into Tamil minds.

Nowhere in Sri Lanka’s recorded history is there mention of a separate & independent Tamil homeland. Having promised a ‘Tamil Eelam/Homeland’ TULF had no choice but to feed lied to the Tamil people, presenting an illusion and any critics were called ‘traitors to the cause’ & silenced. The superiority complex fed by 3 colonials were copied upon Tamils by leaders using slogans & rhetoric (to understand read book The Broken Palmyrah”)

 

Tamil historian Rasanayagam says Jaffna was occupied by Sinhalese earlier than by Tamils, is seen, not only in the place names but also in some of the habits & customs of the people” (Ancient Jaffna)

Prof. Iyengar Eelam is the ancient version of the Sinhala word Sihala or Sinhala. Therefore, Eelam stands for the entirety of Ceylon” (preface to Ancient Jaffna)

Codrington place names in Jaffna indicate that it was held by the Sinhalese at no very remote date, and it was certainly part of the dominion of Parakramabahu 1 (1153-1186AD) …colonization of Jaffna by Tamils, cannot be of extreme antiquity” – Parakdramabahu ruled entire Lanka.

Tamil Eelam was first used in 1923 by Ponnabalam Arunachalam addressing the Tamil League.

When Tamils in South India do not call Tamil Nadu as a Tamil Nation how can Tamils in Sri Lanka demand a Tamil Nation?

Sinhalese do not refer to Sri Lanka as a Sinhala Nation but as a Nation for all but with the acknowledgement that the Sinhala Buddhist identity built the nation as can be seen by the historical artefacts & remains as evidence and it was the Sinhalese that defended the Island against foreign invaders.

 

That India was never India until 1947 is accepted & was prime reason for Tamils in South India to demand a separate state from the British in 1944 which was refused. The anti-Hindi agitations in India are no different to the anti-Sinhala slogans Tamils have been chanting. Incidentally the 16th amendment to India’s constitution came as a result of Indian Tamils rioting to demand separation in 1958. Sri Lanka’s quest for a separate Tamil State came with the forming of the ITAK in 1949. Let us all be reminded that the Indian Tamils brought to Sri Lanka by colonials to work on colonial plantations were palmed off to Sri Lanka at independence and negative publicity has been generated that Sri Lanka has denied them citizenship. It is the 3 colonial invaders who must take responsibility for these indentured labor without expecting Sri Lanka to give them citizenship.

 

Essentially, to claim a homeland an ethnic group must have its original roots – so are Tamils rooted in Sri Lanka or India. Tamils in both countries cannot claim a separate state on the same arguments of distinct language, culture etc. There cannot be 2 homelands in 2 different countries either & seeking to amalgamate the 2 areas of (Tamil Nadu & Sri Lanka’s North & East is sine quo non too) Eastern Province was always under the Sinhala king.

 

If Tamils lived here earlier than Sinhalese how come there are only 2m Tamils as even during colonial rule the Tamils brought from Tamil Nadu outnumbered Tamils living in Sri Lanka. Why did Tamils remain in the most barren part of the island without moving downwards which is what the Sinhalese did. If there was a so-called independent Tamil kingdom where are the historical accounts of relationships between the Anuradhapura & Polonnaruwa kingdoms around 400BC lasting 1400 years?

 

Sinhalese have solid monuments & irrigation works to show a civilization existed (many still remaining even after attempts to destroy them by 17 South Indian invasions & 3 colonial rulers) – where are the evidence for this Tamil kingdom? If a separate Tamil kingdom existed how did the Sinhalese build Buddhist dagobas in Kathuragoda and throughout Eastern province. South Indian Sena Guttika came in 230BC but where is no mention of the 2 brothers cohabitating with the Tamil kingdom. South Indian invader Elara ruled too but there are no treaties with him & so-called independent Tamil kingdom.

 

Therefore, Tamil academics have taken it upon themselves to re-write history, create new maps of ‘Eelam’ and these lies are being spread amongst Tamil children & youth through Jaffna University.

January 2001

1st Pongu Thamil (Tamil Resurgence)

Undergraduates, Teachers & university staff of the Eastern University in Batticoloa & College of Education in Vavuniya held rallies demanding GOSL engage in talks with LTTE to recognize Tamil right to self-determination.

Jaffna university held their own Pongu Tamil rallies with teachers. Fr. Jeyapalana, S Nanthakumar of the Commerce Faculty addressed the rally.

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?artid=5735&catid=13

 

April 2002

1st anniversary Pongu Thamil rally at the Jaffna University medical faculty grounds

LTTE is the sole representatives of Tamils”

Pirapaharan is our leader” were shouted by people holding photos of Prabakaran.

MPs of TNA, Jaffna University VC Prof. S. Balasundarampillai, Eastern University VC Prof. V.S. Mookiah

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=6862

 

April 2002 

The Hindu – Nirupama Subramanian on Pongu Tamil

Pro-LTTE Pongu Tamil rally at the Jaffna University grounds held after LTTE opens 1st political office in Jaffna (Kokkuvil) under the terms of the CFA between Prabakaran & PM Ranil in 2002 after 1995. The Pongu Tamil event glorified LTTE leader, pledged allegiance to goal of self-determination, Tamil homeland and Tamil Nation. Pongu Thamil Declaration that LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamils

https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2002/04/18/stories/2002041803531200.htm

 

January 2003

2nd Pongu Thamil/1st Anniversary (Tamil Resurgence) at Jaffna University under theme ‘we want our land’

LTTE Jaffna Political Head Ilamparuthi hoistet Tamil Eelam flag in Jaffna University Students Union complex

LTTE’s Lt.Col. Sara lit flame of sacrifice in the morning & Jaffna University Vice Chancellor S. Balasundarampillai lit it in the evening.

Jaffna Student Union President K Paranaeetharan opened exhibition of historical documents

Excerpts from 2003 Pongu Thamil Declaration:

We further urged the government to recognize the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as the sole representative of Tamils and to initiate dialogue with the LTTE. Today we are very glad to note that talks take place between the government and the LTTE.”

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=8186

 

September 2004

Sri Lankan’s write to Canadian PM against Pongu Thamil

Claimed that Pongu Thamil was a bogey to raise funds for LTTE organized by Canadian Tamil Student Association though the real organizers were the World Tamil Movement & the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils – leading LTTE fronts.

http://www.island.lk/2004/09/21/opinion2.html

 

June 2005

Ponguthamil Declaration garlanded by Mr. T. Thevarajah, Lecturer, Faculty of Commerce, University of Jaffna.

`We, the Tamil people declare that we will defeat Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism and regain our traditional homeland from the occupation of armed forces. We will exercise our right to self-determination in our land with our own strength`

declaration by students of Jaffna campus read at the conclusion of a renaissance event `Voice of Tamil Nation` held Sunday at the Kailasapathy Auditorium. K. Selvakumar, President of the Jaffna University Students Union hoisted the Thamileelam national flag and the Vice Chancellor Professor C. Mohanathas, lit the flame of sacrifice. S. Paramanathan, President of the Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies` Consortium presided.

 

Excerpts from Rev.Fr Bernard’s keynote address:

`The root cause for the two decade old war is the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinistic policies of the successive governments.’

`The LTTE demonstrating is military strength signed the ceasefire agreement with the the Government of Sri Lanka. But power struggle in the South continue to deny the Tamil people the benefits of the ceasefire agreement.’

http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2005/6/2303.html

 

January 2005

4th anniversary of 1st Tamil Resurgence Movement (Pongu Tamil) was held at the Jaffna University Kailasapathy Auditorium.

  1. Ilamparithi, LTTE Jaffna District political head gave keynote address.

Common flame of sacrifice lit by Jaffna Vice Chancellor C. Mohanathas who also laid the foundation for the Maveerar monument to be constructed at entrance of university.

Also participating was N Paramanathan Chairman of the Jaffna Humanitarian Agencies Consortium.

The nameboard was garlanded by T Thevaraja head of Commerce faculty

TNA MPs – Pathmini Sithamparanathan, K Sivajilingam, S Gajendran & K Sivanesan participated.

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=14008

 

September 2005

Pongu Tamil held in Jaffna University Grounds

Thousands from Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Batticoloa, Ampara, Mannar gather calling for army to vacate ‘Tamil homeland’ and declare Tamil right to ‘self-determination’.

The Tamil Resurgence Torch was lit by Ganesh (Government Agent)

Also participating – Bhramma Sri Chandrasekara Sharma, Moulavi Sahil,

 

All 22 TNA MPs led by R Sampanthan participated. Joseph Pararajasingham delivered felicitation speech

P Chandrasekeran – UP-Country People’s Front

Mano Ganeshan – Western Province People’s Front

Jaffna University Professor S Mohanathas & lecturers also participated

Catholic Priests – Rev. Father Jacob Nicholas

Jaffna university students went on a procession denouncing travel restrictions by EU on LTTE.

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=15986

 

2006

Tamil Eelam is not an LTTE proposal. It became our demand after the death of Thanthai Selvam in 1977. It is our need. We’ll always seek a homeland and the LTTE is also part of that struggle,” Jaffna university  student…….

There are just 5,300 students, of which 75 per cent are from the LTTE controlled area of Vanni” Prof R Kumaravadivel, Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University,

(Rajesh Ramachandran, NDTV, November 26, 2006)

 

August 2010 

LTTE medical cadres trained at Jaffna University Medical Faculty to treat LTTE wounded – Gotabaya Rajapakse

giving evidence to the LLRC. Mr. Rajapakse had met ‘3 LTTE doctors’ at the rehabilitation centre in Senapura. LTTE unused slots given to Sinhala & Muslim students to fill LTTE terrorists.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=4645

 

January 2013

Academic activities set to resume after over a month after Ministry of Higher Education sends ultimatum that the university will be closed if it fails to recommence studies. The university closed on 30 November following boycotting of classes by students & lecturers over arrest by police of students who had clashed with military when they tried to commemorate LTTE Heroes Day. The army declined to release the arrested student leaders claiming them to be members of the LTTE and had been sent to undergo rehabilitation.

Jaffna University VC Vasanthi Arasaratnam

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12B/Jan07_1357570801CH.php

 

February 2015

Bishop of Mannar Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph on Tuesday (Feb 24) joined a Tamil National Alliance (TNA)-led demonstration in Jaffna against the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) delaying the release of a report – of the 1200 protestors majority were from Jaffna university

http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/38965

 

November 2015

Pro-LTTE posters in Jaffna University

Posters have been put up within the Jaffna University premises requesting everyone to celebrate LTTE’s ‘Mahaviru’ day that falls on November 27 – posters with the message, ‘Tamil People’s desire is Tamil Eelam,’ ‘Our aim is Tamil Eelam, let’s Celebrate Mahaviru Day,’ were seen in several places within the university premises.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/96811/pro-ltte-posters-in-jaffna-uni-premises

 

May 2016

LTTE Flower

Jaffna university puts up Eelam map as they remember victims of Mullaivaikkal

The Jaffna university student’s union had invited the public to attend the ceremony. Addressing the gathering,

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran said, Not everyone who died during the war was a terrorist. We are here to commemorate the civilians. It is necessary to seek out what happened to these people since a lot of civilians lost their lives due to the war.”

http://colombogazette.com/2016/05/18/eelam-map-used-as-victims-of-mullivaikal-were-remembered-in-north/

 

May 2016

LTTE Commemoration Held In Jaffna University

memorial held at Jaffna University showed the signs of a LTTE commemoration. A banner with a map of self-proclaimed Tamil Eelam and the official flower of the LTTE was also exhibited.

http://www.asianmirror.lk/news/item/16610-ltte-commemoration-held-in-jaffna-university-despite-government-s-assurance

 

July 2016

Tamil Academics White Washing of University of Jaffna Attack to Sinhalese

Joint article by Jaffna University academics N. Sivapalan(Department of Chemistry, Jaffna), S. Selvarajan(Mathematics and Statistics), Rajan Hoole (Science Faculty Board), Prince Jeyaratnam  (Chemistry)

http://www.sinhalanet.net/academic-white-washing-of-university-of-jaffna-attack-to-sinhalese

 

November 2016

Prabakarans 62nd birthday celebrated inside Jaffna university

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tSR8SrTJew

 

November 2016

University of Jaffna commemorates Tamil Eelam Heroes

Entire University confluenced at Kailaasapathy Hall commemorating Tamil Eelam Heroes Day

lighting candles in front of the symbol of Kaarthikaip-poo, the flower declared by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as the national flower of Tamil Eelam

The invincible heroes of the independent struggle of Tamil Eelam, were not prepared to surrender the sovereignty of Eezham Tamils and they sacrificed their lives with dignity. None of them militarily surrendered the struggle. The sovereignty and independence of Eezham Tamils are not negotiable and would brook no compromise, as the doyen of Eelam Tamil sovereignty movement proclaimed it 47 years ago in 1969,” a student leader of Jaffna University Student Union.

Tamil politicians, grassroots activists and the students of Jaffna University also joined the families of Tamil Heroes in cleaning the remaining structures at one of the Tamil Eelam Heroes cemeteries (Maaveerar Thuyilum Illam) at Kanakapuram in Ki’linochchi.

http://ceylon-ananda.com/university-of-jaffna-commemorates-tamil-eelam-heroes/

 

September 2017

Hundreds of students lit candles and gathered in remembrance to pay their respects to Thileepan.

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/remembering-thileepan-30-years

 

November 2017

Jaffna University–TNA commemorate LTTE ‘TAMIL HEROES’

Were they commemorating Tamil heroes” who fought against terrorists? NO

Were they commemorating civilians as ‘Tamil heroes’? NO

If not who are they commemorating?

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/11/28/jaffna-university-tna-commemorate-ltte-tamil-heroes-did-diplomats-un-attend-too/

 

November 2017

Jaffna University community marks Tamil Eelam Heroes Day with renewed resolve

More than 2,000 students along with lecturers, faculty deans and the staff of the University of Jaffna took part in a floral tribute in front of the newly renovated Tamil Eelam Heroes memorial statue

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?artid=38882&catid=13

 

March 2018

Jaffna magistrate orders the President & Members of the Jaffna University. Employees Union not to block the entrance to Ramanathan Hall following a complaint by Kopay police against Sri Nadaraj Kalaraj President of the Employees Union and around 25 others.

http://tamildiplomat.com/court-bans-hindrances-university-jaffna/

 

April 2018

Jaffna university remembers Anna Poopathy who staged a fast unto death on 19 March 1988 demanding IPKF should negotiate with LTTE. Her photo was placed inside the Jaffna university & students lit candles with LTTE flags adorning the area

http://tamildiplomat.com/annai-poopathy-remembered-university-jaffna/

 

September 2018

The Pongu Thamil declaration seeking self-determination for Tamils was first put up on 17 January 2001 and the inscription was built in 2005 during the CFA. It was unveiled at the same venue in Jaffna University built by the Jaffna University Student’s Union and opened by Vice Chancellor R. Vigneswaran in the presence of teachers & students. Sridharan & Sivajilingam also attended the cultural event held thereafter.

https://srilankamirror.com/news/10549-pongu-thamil-memorial-at-jaffna-university

 

November 2018

   

Posters of LTTE leader’s quotes displayed at Jaffna Uni amid birthday celebration

Jaffna university a state university which tax payers fund cannot be taxed to have quotes of a terrorist on display.

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/posters-ltte-leaders-quotes-displayed-jaffna-uni-amid-birthday-celebration

 

November 2018

Maaveerar Naal is a LTTE event commemorating LTTE dead so why is Jaffna University

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/jaffna-university-students-make-final-preparations-maaveerar-naal

 

November 2018

Jaffna Magistrate’s Court grants permission to organise a commemoration ceremony at the University of Jaffna to remember the dead (which dead? – civilians who were never involved in LTTE / civilians who died engaged in hostilities / LTTE in civilian clothing / civilians in LTTE civilian brigade)

 

The order was issued after Kopay Police sought suspension of the Mahaviru Day’ (Mahaveer Naal) commemoration inside Jaffna University. However, it is very clear that Mahaveer Naal is a LTTE commemoration of LTTE dead & questions why Jaffna magistrate knowing this would allow such without using LTTE flags or symbols. Morever if it is does not have anything to do with LTTE why is it being held during the exact week that the LTTE holds its commemoration for LTTE dead?

http://www.adaderana.lk/news/51624/ltte-flags-and-symbol-banned-at-mahaviru-commemorations

 

February 2019

Jaffna Uni. students to observe ‘Black Day’ on Independence Day

Demanding release of ‘Tamil political prisoners’ / ‘missing persons’ during conflict. NPC Chief Minister C V Wignesaran & his newly formed political party Tamil Makkal Koottani (Tamil People’s Front) confirmed its support for the Jaffna student’s protests also announcing support was MP Gajendrakummar Ponnambalam of the TNPF – Tamil National Progressive Front.

http://www.adaderana.lk/news/53029/jaffna-uni-students-to-observe-black-day-on-independence-day

 

February 2019

Banned Mahavir memorial completed and secretly opened

Despite University Grant Commission (UGC) instructions to stop work, university has flouted orders & completed the memorial. The upper part of the memorial displays several signs used by the LTTE to commemorate the Mahaviru day and a symbol hand emerging from the ground.

http://mirrorcitizen.dailymirror.lk/2019/02/13/banned-mahaviru-memorial-completed-and-opened-secretly/

 

It is shocking that any government allows a State university to commemorate LTTE terrorists that continues to remain banned and does nothing against Parliamentarians attending when 6th amendment gives provision for action and physical and photographic proof is available.

 

Contrary to the harped up propaganda that the commemorations are for ‘CIVILIANS’ killed in the last phase the following set of questions remain unanswered.

 

  • Why is this ‘civilian’ mourning called the same name that LTTE uses to mourn their dead ‘Mahaveer Naal’
  • Why do civilian mourning need to have LTTE emblems, LTTE flags, LTTE memorabilia, LTTE leaders images & quotes, Tamil Eelam flag?
  • Why is the flame of sacrifice lit at the same time that LTTE lights to remember LTTE’s first dead (Shankar)?
  • Why is it only LTTE dead families who are present & not the families of other militant groups or families of Tamils killed by LTTE?
  • Why are these ‘civilian’ commemorations happening the same week as LTTE’s Great Heroes Week culminating in the speech of Prabakaran on his birthday?

 

None of these questions will be answered or can be answered.

 

Sadly while pro-LTTE Jaffna University, TNA MPs & associated coterie hold tamashas for dead LTTE only, the surrendered & rehabilitated LTTE cadres continue to be shunned from Tamil society. They are looked down up as being the living reminders of defeat as was visibly described by Tamilini in her book where for over year she remained in prison with no Tamil lawyer coming forward to represent her and eventually 2 Sinhalese lawyers came forward to represent her & help her gain freedom after rehabilitation. What a hypocrisy these pro-LTTE elements including the Jaffna University lecturers, students & staff are and it is a great disappointment that the supposed to be learned are one’s rolling the racism, communalism and separatism wheel and sadly the rest of the Tamils who look up to them for their supposed ‘intellect’ are following them blindly.

 

 

 

Shenali D Waduge

Court case exposes Lux & Lifebuoy contain washing powder ingredient SDBS

March 5th, 2019

Sri Lanka Business News

Unilever Sri Lanka Limited, a leading bathing bar manufacturer in Sri Lanka, obtained an enjoining order in September 2018 preventing Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd from advertising their soap ‘Chandi Panda’. The said ‘Chandi Panda’ advertisements claimed that bathing bars cannot be called ‘soap’ as bathing bars have a TFM of less than 76.5%. The advertisements also highlighted that some bathing bars contain low priced washing powder ingredients such as ‘Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate (SDBS)’.

After considering the written submissions of both parties, Colombo Commercial High Court vacated the enjoining order on 15th of February 2019, and also refused to grant an interim injunction requested by Unilever Sri Lanka Limited.

When delivering the order, the Hon. High Court Judge mentioned that Unilever Sri Lanka Limited has not come to court with clean hands and seems to have misled the Sri Lankan consumer.

Through the documents produced by Unilever Sri Lanka Limited, it was revealed in court that Unilever Sri Lanka uses ‘Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate’ (SDBS) in their bathing bars ‘Lux’ and ‘Lifebuoy’ in Sri Lanka, although the said chemical SDBS is not used by Unilever in their bathing bars sold in any other country. It was further revealed the said SDBS is the main synthetic detergent used for washing powders, dish wash, floor cleaners & similar harsh household cleaning products all over the world.

According to the documents submitted to court by Unilever Sri Lanka Limited, it is evident that ‘Lux’ and ‘Lifebuoy’, which are produced and distributed in Sri Lanka by them, contain high concentrations of Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate (SDBS). The above documents revealed that the SDBS percentage in ‘Lux’ is 3.1% to 4.1% whilst in ‘Lifebuoy’ the SDBS percentage is 4.6% to 5.1%. The defendant company Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd had submitted evidence that an average dish wash contains only about 4% of SDBS which is the main cleaning detergent of a dish wash.

Further, through the documents submitted by Unilever Sri Lanka Limited, it has been revealed in court that the TFM values mentioned in some of their aforementioned bathing bars were also false, thus misleading the consumers.

With the above order, Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd is now permitted to continue their ‘Chandi Panda’ advertising that claims bathing bars cannot be called soap and that some bathing bars contain washing powder ingredients such as ‘Sodium Dodecylbenzene Sulfonate’. Such advertisements will educate the consumers in differentiating toilet soaps from bathing bars.

Attorneys-at-Law Ms. Vishmi Fernando and Mr. Rehan Almeida, with President’s Counsel Mr. Chandaka Jayasundara, as instructed by Attorney-at-Law Mr. Upendra Gunasekara, appeared on behalf of the Defendant Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd who manufactures the soap ‘Chandi Panda’.

වො‌ෂින් පවුඩර් ඇ‌ඟ ගාලා හායි හායි…

March 5th, 2019

 Lanka Lead News

යුනිලීවර් සමාගමේ ලයිෆ්බෝ‌යි සහ ලක්ස් සබන් නිපදවන්නේ නිසි ප්‍රමිතියෙන් යුත් අමුද්‍රව්‍ය යො‌දා නො‌ව වො‌ෂින් පවුඩර් හෙවත් ඩිටර්ජන්ට් යො‌දාගෙන බව පසුගියදා කො‌ළඹ වානිජ මහාධිකරණයේදී අනාවරණය විය. දේශීය සමාගමක් වූ නේචර්ස් බියුටි ක්‍රියේෂන් සමාගමේ වෙළඳ දැන්වීමකට එරෙහිව යුනිලීවර් සමාගම ගො‌නුකළ නඩුවක් පැමිනිලිකරුටම පාරාවලල්ලක් වූයේ මේ සමගිනි.

පෙරකී වෙළඳ දැන්වීම මගින් තමාට පාඩුවන බවත් ඒ‌ අනුව ඒ‌ වෙළඳ දැන්වීම තහනම් කරන ලෙසත් යුනිලීවර් සමාගම වාණිජ මහාධිකරණයෙන් ඉල්ලා තිබු අතර එම වාරණ නියෝ‌ගය අධිකරණය විසින් නිකුත් කර තිබුනේ මුල් අවස්ථාවේදී යුනිලීවර් විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කළ කරුණු පමනක් සළකා බලමිනි. පසුව දේශීය සමාගම සියලු තො‌රතුරු සහිතව කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් ඒ‌ වාරණ නියෝ‌ගය ඉවත් කරන ලෙසට කල ඉල්ලීම පිළිගත් වාණිජ මහාධිකරණය තම නියෝ‌ගය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කර ඇ‌ත.

බාල කුණු කන්දල් අපට විකුනා අපේ පරම්පරා ගණනාවක් පිළිකා, වකුගඩු වැනි රෝ‌ගවලින් වනසන මේ බහුජාතික මාෆියාවන්හි ඉහළ තනතුරැවල සේවය කරන ලාංකිකයිනි. රැකියාවට එහා ගො‌ස් මේ සමාගම් වෙනුවෙන් මරාගෙන මැරෙන භූමිකාව ගැන (මම අවධාරණය කරමි- රැකියාවට එහා ගො‌ස් මේ සමාගම් වෙනුවෙන් මරාගෙන මැරෙන භූමිකාව ගැන” දෙවරක් සිතන්න. ඔබේ දරුවා ද මේ ව්‍යසනයේ ගො‌දුරකි.

පිට ඔපයටත්, වෙළඳ දැන්වීම් හරහා පතුරන දහසක් අසත්‍යයන්ටත් රැවටී මේ දහදරාව හිස්මුදුනින් ගෙන භාවිතා කරන පාරිභෝ‌ගිකයිනි. දැන්වත් සිහිනුවනින් කටයුතු කරන්න. ඉන්දියාවේ නිලියන් පස්ස හේදීමටවත් නො‌ගන්නා මේ රෝ‌ගකාරක විෂද්‍රව්‍ය වෙනුවට ඔබත් පරිසරයත් දේශීය ආ‌ර්ථිකයත් ආ‌රක්ෂාවන විකල්පයන්ට වහා මාරැවන්න. (වැඩිදුර තහවුරැව සඳහා පහත දැක්වෙන අධිකරණ නියෝ‌ගයේ උපුටනයන් හො‌ඳින් කියවන්න.)

ජීනීවා දෙස බලා වීරත්වයට තොණ්ඩුව දමන සීඅයිඞීයේ කැකිල්ලේ න්‍යාය

March 5th, 2019

සමන් ගමගේ උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වන විට දක්‍ෂ බුද්ධි නිලධාරියකු වූ කුමාර සිටියේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඝාතන සිද්ධියේදී දැනට ස්නයිපර් වර්ගයේ ගිනි අවියක් සම`ග අතුරුද්නව සිටින එල්ටීටීඊයේ සිටි සුපිරි ස්නයිපර්කරුවකු වූ ඉලක්කියන් මාස්ටර් නමැත්තා පසුපස හඹායමිනි.
 
 එසේම ප‍්‍රභූ ජීවිත  ගණනාවකට අද තර්ජනයක් වී තිබෙන ඉන්දියාවේ සිට පැමිණි එල්ටීටීඊ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් පිරිසක් මේ වන විට කොළඹට ගෙනවිත් ඇති ක්ලේමෝ බෝම්බ ඇතුළ අවි ආයුධ තොගයක් සම`ග එම ත‍්‍රස්තයන් සොයා යෑමේ සංවේදී බුද්ධි මෙහෙයුමකටද නාවික බුද්ධි නිලධාරී කුමාර දායක වී සිටියේය. 
 
 නිමා නොවන අතිශය තිරිසන්වූ දඩයමක අප‍්‍රසන්න කතාව යළි යළිත් සටහන් කරන්නට තරම් අපි අවාසනාවන්තයෝ වී සිටිමු. එහෙත් ඒ අවාසනාවන්තකම කොතෙක් වුවද දැනෙන පිළිකුළ වමනය යන තරමේ එකක් වුවද මේ පිළිබ`ද කතා නොකර සිටින්නටද අපට නොහැකිය.

p1 6
 
 මන්ද මේ පාපතරයන් සිය දඩයම තුළින් අද මස්කරමින් සිටින්නේ ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකීය අභිමානයත්, ප්‍රෞඪත්වයත්, අපේකම සහ ජාතියේ වීරත්වයත් වන නිසාය. එසේ කරන අතරේ අද මොවුහු විජාතික ක`දවුර ඉදිරියේ ලක් මවගේ ගත රැු`දි සළු පිළි උනා දමා අමු අමුවේම ඇය නිරුවත් කරමින් සිටින්නාහ. 
 
 මේ පාවාදීම තුළ ඇති අනාගත විපාකය ඉතා බරපතළ වන්නකි. එහෙත් එය නතර කිරීමට කිසිවකුත්ම නැත. එයට එරෙහිව නිසි පරිදි නැගෙන හ`ඩක්ද නැත. හ`ඩක් මතුකළ යුතු අයද කරන්නේ ‘ඡුන්ද’ කුස 
 
 ගින්නට ඈනුම් ඇරීමය. ඇතැම්විට ජාතියේ වීරත්වය සිරගත කෙරෙද්දී එහි දොස වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුවට බැර වී දකුණේ ඡුන්ද පදනම අපට ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි සමහරු සිතනවා විය හැකිය. 
 
 එහෙත් කාට කාටත් අමතකව තිබෙන කරුණ වන්නේ ති‍්‍රවිධ හමුදාවේ සහ ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයන් ගෙන බැලූ කල ලක්ෂ දහය ඉක්මවා ගිය තීරණාත්මක ඡුන්ද ප‍්‍රමාණයක් ඒ අතර ඇතැයි යන්නය.
 
 ඇත්තෙන්ම මේ රටට සිදුව ඇත්තේ කුමක්ද? එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ ජානගත පුරුද්දට මෙන් මීට සිව් වසරකට පෙර ගනු ලැබූ ආරම්භයේ සිට අදටත් සිදුවන රට බේරා ගන්නට ජීවිත පරිත්‍යාගයෙන් කැප වූ රණවිරුවන් එක පෙළට සිරගත කිරීම මේ මොහොතේත් නතර වී නැත්තේ ජාතියේ මොන කරුමයක් නිසාද?
 
 සීඅයිඩියේ සුරංගනා කතා අනුව සිදුවන මේ රණවිරු දඩයම හමුවේ අනාගතයේ දිනක අහම්බයකින් හෝ මේ රට ඉදිරියට අභියෝගයක් පැමිණියහොත් එදාට උපන් බිම වෙනුවෙන් පෙරට යන්නට කිසිවකුත් ඉදිරිපත් වනු ඇතිද? 
 
 නැත. දේශපාලන පෙරළි හමුවේ මේ රට තුළ හැමදාමත් සිදු වන්නේ සහ සිදු වූයේ රටට ජීවය ගෙනදුන් රණවිරුවන් දඩයම් කරමින් ජාතියේ වීරත්වය පෝරකයට නංවා තොණ්ඩුව දැමීමට සැරසීම නම් ඒ වීරත්වය ව`දවී යෑම වැළැක්වීමට කිසිවකුටත් නොහැකි වන්නේය. එදාට අසරණ වන්නේ අප උපන් මේ රට සහ ජාතිය නොවේද?
 
 p15 1සිය ආත්මාර්ථකාමීත්වය හමුවේ විජාතික ක`දවුරට හැමදාමත් අවැසි වූයේ ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකික ප්‍රෞඪත්වය එසේ අසරණ වනු දැකීමටය. ඒ තුළින් තම තමන්ගේ ඕනෑ එපාකම් අනුව මේ රටේ ගමන් ම`ග තීරණය කිරීමටය. 
 
 වේලූපිල්ලේ ප‍්‍රභාකරන් හරහා මේ බිම බෙදා වෙන්කර අරාජික කිරීමේ උත්සාහය අපේ විරුවන් නිසා වැරදී ගිය තැන උරණව අපට එරෙහි වූ ඇමරිකාව ප‍්‍රධාන බටහිර ක`දවුර අද ජීනීවාහිදී කරන්නේත් මංගල සමරවීර වැනි අපේ ඇමැතිවරු උන්ගේ පදේට නටමින් අත ඔසවා අනුමත කරන්නේත් එකී ජාතියක් වශයෙන් අප අසරණ කිරීමේ වෑයමය.
 
 තිත්ත ඇත්ත එසේ වෙද්දී අද සීඅයිඞීයේ සමූහ මංකොල්ල විමර්ශන අංශය සිදු කරගෙන යන රණවිරු දඩයමේ ජවනිකා පෙළ ගැසෙමින් තිබෙන්නේද ජිනීවා නාඩගමේම කොටසක් මේ බිම තුළ 
 
 ර`ග දැක්වෙන්නාක් පරිදි නොවේද?
 
 අපි මේ බව මීට පෙරද අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදීම රටට පෙන්වා දුන්නෙමු. ජිනීවා කොඩි ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ එසැවෙන විට සිව් වසරක් පුරා අඛණ්ඩව ජාතියේ වීරත්වය දංගෙඩියට රැුගෙන ගිය සීඅයිඞීය ඒ වෙනුවෙන් බොහෝ සේ කැපවී කි‍්‍රයාත්මක වන්නට විය.
 
 එක්නැලිගොඩගෙන් ඇරඹී දිගින් දිගට විහිදී ගිය විමර්ශන අටක් පුරාම එය එසේම සිදු විය. හැමදාමත් ජිනීවා දෙස බලා කැපීනෙන සහ විජාතික ක`දවුරට සේම කොටි හිතවාදී දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාවට සහ දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදයට දැනෙන යමක් කිරීමට සීඅයිඞීයේ ඩුප්ලිකේට් ෂර්ලොක් හෝම්ස්ලා වෙහෙසුනේ නැතිද? මෙතෙක් කෙරුණු සියලූම විමර්ශන දෙස විමර්ශනාත්මකව බැලීමේදී එය පැහැදිලිවම පෙනෙන්නට තිබුණකි. 
 
 ඉන් බොහෝ සේ සතුටට පත්වූයේ ඇමරිකාව ප‍්‍රධාන බටහිර ක`දවුර සහ එල්ටීටීඊ හිතවාදී දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව සහ අදටත් ඊළම තුළ සිරවී මස් රාත්තලම ඉල්ලන බෙදුම්වාදී දෙමළ දේශපාලනය විය.
 
 සීඅයිඪියේ මෙකී කෙරුවාවේ අලූත්ම දඩයම බවට අද පත්ව සිටින්නේ ඉකුත් විජයග‍්‍රාහී සටනේදී මේ රටේ නාවික හමුදාවට නායකත්වය දෙමින් කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ මුහුදු බලය සුණු විසුණු කරන්නට කටයුතු කළ අද්මිරාල් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩය.
 
p15 2 අද්මිරාල් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩ අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට ඉකුත් සතියේ සීඅයිඞීය දැඩි උත්සාහයක් ගනු ලැබීය. එහෙත් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩ විසින් තමන්ගේ සිද්ධිය ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධීකරණය වෙතට ගෙන යෑම හමුවේ එකී උත්සාහය තරමක් ව්‍යර්ථ විය. 
 
 එහෙත් දැන් කියැවෙමින් තිබෙන්නේ නියත වශයෙන්ම වැල්ලවත්තේදී තරුණයන් පස්දෙනකු ඇතුළු පුද්ගලයන් එකොළොස් දෙනකු පැහැරගෙන යෑමේ සිද්ධියේ චූදිතයන් ලෙස නුදුරේදීම අද්මිරාල් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩ ඇතුළු නාවික හමුදා බුද්ධි බළකායේ දොළොස් දෙනකුට එරෙහිව අධිචෝදනා ගොනු කර මහාධිකරණය හමුවේ නඩු පවරන බවය.
 
 කියැවෙන කතාව වී තිබෙන්නේ මේ තරුණයන් පස් දෙනා ඇතුළු එකොළොස් දෙනා පැහැරගෙන යෑමෙන් පසු කප්පම් ගෙන ඝාතනය කර ඇති බවකි. එය කියන්නේද සීඅයිඞීයම ය. එහෙත් අදටත් මේ කියන කතාව සනාථ කරන්නට එහෙන් මෙහෙන් එකතු කළ සහ නිර්මාණය කළ ඒවා හැරෙන්නට පැහැදිලි නිශ්චිත සාක්‍ෂි කිසිත් සීඅයිඞීය සතුව තිබේද?
 
 කිසිවකු විසින් හෝ මෙම තරුණයන් ඇතුළු පිරිස පැහැරගෙන ගොස් ඝාතනය කර කළේ නම් යුක්තියේ නාමයෙන් එකී ඝාතකයන්ට ද`ඩුවම් ලැබිය යුතුය. ඒ පිළිබ`ද විවාදයක් අපට නැත. එමෙන්ම මේ සිද්ධිය හමුවේ නාවික හමුදා බුද්ධි බළකායේ පිරිසකට අධි චෝදනා භාරදී නඩු පවරන්නේ නම් අප මෙහිදී මතු කරන සාක්‍ෂි පිළිබ`ද ප‍්‍රශ්නයටත් පැහැදිලි උත්තරයක් තිබිය යුතු නොවේද?
 
 අප එසේ කියන්නේ මෙම සිද්ධිය පිළිබ`ද මූලික නඩු විභාගයේදී සිඅයිඞීය සාක්‍ෂි නිර්මාණය කරන්නට උත්සාහ ගත් බව අධිකරණය හමුවේදීම කියැවුණු නිසාය. එල්ටීටීඊ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදියකුව සිට පසුව නාවික හමුදාවට භාර වී නාවික බුද්ධි අංශ සම`ග කටයුතු කළ විජයකාන්තන් නමැති සීඅයිඞීය විසින් මෙම සිද්ධියේ සාක්‍ෂිකරුවකු ලෙස නම් කර සිටි පුද්ගලයකු අධිකරණය ඉදිරියට පැමිණ පැහැදිලිව ඒ බව ස`දහන් කළේය.
 
 ඔහු එහිදී අධිකරණය හමුවේ පවසා සිටියේ තමන් නොකී කරුණු තමන්ගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයක් ලෙස සීඅයිඞීය අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙන බවය. අද අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩ අත්අඩංගුවට 
 
 ගැනීමට සැරසෙන සීඅයිඞීය මෙම සිද්ධියේදී එතරම් බරපතළ වරදක් කර තිබියදී මේ මොහොත් වන තුරුත් ඒ පිළිබ`ද කෙරුණු විමර්ශනයක්ද නැත.
 
 මේ අන්දමට සීඅයිඞීයේ විමර්ශකයන් මෙම සිද්ධියේදී පක්‍ෂග‍්‍රාහීව කටයුතු කරන බව ස`දහන් කරමින් වරක් කරුණු රැුසක් සහිතව මෙහි චූදිතයන් වන හිටපු නාවික හමුදා මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රකාශක ලූතිනන් කමාණ්ඩර් ඞී.කේ.පී. දසනායක, නැගෙනහිර නාවික බුද්ධි ප‍්‍රධෘනියා ලෙස කටයුතු කළ ලූතිනන් කමාණ්ඩර් සුමිත් රණසිංහ ඇතුළු පිරිස ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ සිට වැදගත් අංශ රැුසකටම පැමිණිලි කරනු ලැබීය. 
 
 සීඅයිඞීය සාක්‍ෂි නිර්මාණය කරන්නට උත්සාහ කළ බව අධිකරණය ඉදිරියේදීම ප‍්‍රකාශ වී තිබියදීත් අදටත් ඔවුන්ගේ පැමිණිල්ල පිළිබ`ද කෙරුණු විමර්ශනයක්ද නැත. 
 
 එසේම වරක් මෙම සිද්ධියේදී සීඅයිඞීය සොයාගත් තවත් සාක්‍ෂිකරුවකු වන පසුගිය කාලයේ ඕස්ටේ‍්‍රලියාවට නීති විරෝධී ලෙස සංක‍්‍රමණිකයන් රැුගෙන ගිය බවට චෝදනා එල්ල වූ නාවික හමුදා ලූතිනන් කමෘණ්ඩර් වෙළගෙදර යන අයට චූදිතයන් වන ඞී.කේ.පී. දසනායක සහ සුමිත් රණසිංහ විසින් මරණීය තර්ජන එල්ල කළ බවටද සීඅයිඞීයට පැමිණිල්ලක් ලැබී තිබිණ.
 
 ඒ පිළිබ`දවද නිසි විමර්ශනයක් කරන ලෙස චූදිත පාර්ශ්වයෙන් වින්දිතයන් හා සාක්‍ෂිකරුවන් ආරක්‍ෂා කිරීමේ අධිකාරියෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කළද අදටත් කිසිවක්ම සිදුවී නැත.
 
 වැල්වත්තේදී තරුණයන් පස්දෙනකු ඇතුළු පුද්ගලයන් එකොත්‍ළාස් දෙනකු පැහැරගත්තේ යැයි කියන මේ කතාවට අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩ චූදිතයකු ලෙස නම් කර ුඅත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට සීඅයිඞීය සූදානම් වන්නේ මේ දක්වාම එකී සිද්ධිය පිළිබ`ද පෙළ ගැසුණු කතාව මේ වී තිබියදීය. 
 
 සීඅයිඞීය අද අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩට ඇ`ගිල්ල දිගු කරන විට මෙම සිද්ධිය හමුවේ ඒ පසුපසින් ඇති කතාවද හරි අපූරු එකකි. මෙ සිද්ධියේ මුල්ම පැමිණිලිකරු වන්නේ අද්මිරාල් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩය. එම පැමිණිල්ල ඔහු පොලිසියට කරනුයේ තමන්ගේ සමීප නිලධාරියකු වූ නිලන්ත සම්පත් මුණසිංහ හෙවත් සීඅයිඞීය පසුව කී පරිදි නේවි සම්පත්ට එරෙහිවය. 
 
 මෙකී නේවි සම්පත් පිළිබ`ද සටහන් කිරීමේදී පසුගිය දිනක සිදුවූ තවත් අපූරු කතාවක්ද ඇත. ඉකුත් සතියේ හිටිහැටියේම නේවි සම්පත්ව අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් සීඅයිඞීය ඔහුව බන්ධනාගාරගත කළේය. ඒ වන විට මීට මාස කිහිපයකට ඉහත සීඅයිඞීය නේවි සම්පතක් කෙනකු බවට පරිවර්තනය කිරීමට සැරසුණ සහ ඇතැම් මාධ්‍ය මගින්ද නේවි සම්පත් ලෙස පුන පුනා හැ`දින්වූ වැල්ලවත්තේ සිද්ධිය පිළිබ`ද චෝදනා එල්ල වී ඇති ලූතිනන් කමාණ්ඩර් ප‍්‍රසාද් චන්දන හෙට්ටිආරච්චිද සිටියේ බන්ධනාගාරගතවය.
 
 බන්ධනාගාරයට ගෙන ආ නේවි සම්පත්ව රැු`දවනු ලැබුවේද ප‍්‍රසාද් චන්දන සිටි කුටියේමය. මෙසේ සැබෑ නේවි සම්පත් බන්ධනාගාරයට රැුගෙන ඒමෙන් පසු මේ දෙදෙනා අතරින් නියම නේවි සම්පත් කවරෙක්දැයි දැන ගැනීමට බන්ධනාගාර නිලධාරීන්ටද අවැසි විය.
 
 ඒ අනුව ඔවුන් සිටි කුටිය වෙත ගිය බන්ධනාගාර නිලධාරියෙක් නියම නේවි සම්පත් කවුදැයි ඔවුන්ගෙන් විමසීය. එහිදී බන්ධනාගාර නිලධෘරියාට පිළිතුරු දී ඇති නිලන්ත සම්පත් මුණසිංහ නොහොත් නේවි සම්පත් පවසා ඇත්තේ ‘නේවි සම්පත් කියන්නේ මට හැබැයි ඒ නම දැම්මේ සීඅයිඞී එක’ යැයි කියාය. 
 
 ඔහුගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයත් අහම්බයකින් මෙන් නේවි සම්පත් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම නිසා ප‍්‍රසාද් චන්දන හෙට්ටිආරච්චි තුළින් නේවි සම්පත් කෙනකු බිහි කරන්නට සීඅයිඞීය ගත් උත්සාහය ව්‍යර්ථ වී ගියේ එසේය.
 
 මෙම සිද්ධයේදී ප‍්‍රසාද් චන්දන හෙට්ටිආරච්චිගේ නමේ කොතැනකවත් සම්පත් යනුවෙන් ස`දහනක් නොවූවද ඔහු තුළින් නේවි සම්පත් කෙනකු මතු කරන්නට සීඅයිඞීය උත්සාහ දැරීම තවත් සුවිශේෂී සිදුවීමක් බවට අද පත්ව ඇත්තේ එසේය. 
 
 එය කෙසේ වෙතත් එදා අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩගේ පැමිණිල්ලෙන් පසු නේවි සම්පත්ව අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් සීඅයිඞීය වසරකට අධික කාලයක් තිස්සේ සිදු කළ විමර්ශනයකින් පසු වැල්වත්තේදී තරුණයන් පස්දෙනා පැහැරගෙන ඇත්තේ නිලන්ත සම්පත් මුණසිංහ නොහොත් නේවි සම්පත් ඇතුළු නාවික හමුදා කල්ලියක් විසින් බවට ඍජු චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් 2011 වසරේදී අධිකරණයට බී වාර්තාවක් මගින් වාර්තා කළේය.
 
 සත්‍ය මෙය නම් ආණ්ඩුව මාරු වී යහපාලනය කරළියට පැමිණ එයද අවසන්ව අද එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය ප‍්‍රධාන ආණ්ඩුවක් යටතේ මෙම සිද්ධියේ පැමිණිල්ල වූ අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩ විත්තිය වන්නේ කෙසේද?
 
 මේවා පිළිතුරු ලැබිය යුතු ප‍්‍රශ්න නොවේද? අප දන්නා පරිදි නම් මෙසේ වී තිබෙන්නේ ආණ්ඩු මාරුවෙන් පසු නැවත වතාවක් සීඅයිඞීය වෙත එන මෙම සිද්ධීයේ ප‍්‍රධාන චූදිතයා වූ නිලන්ත සම්පත් මුණසිංහ නොහොත් නේවි සම්පත් (සීඅයිඞීයේ නිර්මාණයකි* කර ඇති දෙවන ප‍්‍රකාශයකි. ඔහු එය සිදු කරන්නේ තමන්ට ඍජු චෝදනා එල්ලවී සිව් වසරකට පසුවය.
 
 මෙහිදී වෙළගෙදරගේ සහ පසුගිය දිනවල රේගු අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජෙනරාල් ධුරයෙන් පිදුම් ලබා රේගු නිලධාරීන්ගේ විරෝධය හමුවේ ගෙදර ගිය රියර් අද්මිරාල් ශ්‍යමල් ප‍්‍රනාන්දුගේ ප‍්‍රකාශයක්ද සීඅයිඞීය සිය කැකිල්ලේ න්‍යායට අනුව අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩට එරෙහිව චෝදනා ගොනු කිරීමට පදනම් කරගෙන ඇතැයි වාර්තා වන්නේය. 
 
 එසේ නම් මෙවන් කතාවක් හමුවේ අද්මිරාල් කරන්නාගොඩ ඇතුළු නාවික බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන්ට එරෙහිව අධිචෝදනා භාර දී නඩු පවරන්කේ කෙසේද? එයද උත්ර ලැබිය යුතු සමාජ ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් බවට අද පත්ව ඇත.
 
 මේ අතරේ සිදුවූ තවත් සිදුවීමක්ද සටහන් කළ යුතුය. එය වන්නේ මෙම සිද්ධියටම අදාළව සීඅයිඞීය විසින් ඉකුත් සතියේදී තවත් නාිවක බද්ධි නිලධාරියකු වූ කුමාර නමැති නිලධාරියා අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන බන්ධනාගාරගත කිරීමය.
 
 අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වන විට දක්‍ෂ බුද්ධි නිලධාරියකු වූ කුමාර සිටියේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඝාතන සිද්ධියේදී දැනට ස්නයිපර් වර්ගයේ ගිනි අවියක් සම`ග අතුරුද්නව සිටින එල්ටීටීඊයේ සිටි සුපිරි ස්නයිපර්කරුවකු වූ ඉලක්කියන් මාස්ටර් නමැත්තා පසුපස හඹායමිනි.
 
 එසේම ප‍්‍රභූ ජීවිත ගණනාවකට අද තර්ජනයක් වී තිබෙන ඉන්දියාවේ සිට පැමිණි එල්ටීටීඊ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් පිරිසක් මේ වන විට කොළඹට ගෙනවිත් ඇති ක්ලේමෝ බෝම්බ ඇතුළ අවි ආයුධ තොගයක් සම`ග එම ත‍්‍රස්තයන් සොයා යෑමේ සංවේදී බුද්ධි මෙහෙයුමකටද නාවික බුද්ධි නිලධාරී කුමාර දායක වී සිටියේය. 
 
 එසේ නම් හිටි හැටියේ එක්වරම වැල්ලවත්තේ සිද්ධිය ගෙන සීඅයිඞීය ඔහුව අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තේ ඇයි. මේ ඉටු කෙරුණේ ජනාධිපති ඝාතන කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අද බන්ධනාගාරගතව සිටින හිටපු ඞීඅයිජී නාලක සිල්වාගේ කොන්ත‍්‍රාත්තුවක්ද? නැතිහොත් වෙන අන් යමක්ද? 
 
 අපි අවසන් වශයෙන් ඒ ප‍්‍රශ්නය විමසා සිටිනුයේ අද පොලිසිය භාර ජනාධිපති මෛතී‍්‍රපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට සීඅයිඞීයේ හෙට අනිද්දා විශ‍්‍රාම යෑමට නියමිත ලොකු මහත්වරු කැ`දවා මේ ප‍්‍රශ්නයට නිසි පිළිතුර සොයාගනු පිණිසය. 

මුස්ලිම් ප්‍රජාව ගෝඨාභය ආදරයෙන් වැලඳගනී

March 5th, 2019

ගම්පොළ – මාධව බණ්ඩාර, මහනුවර – නදීක දයා බණ්ඩාර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ඉදිරියේදී සෑම පුරවැසියකුටම ගෞරවනීය ලෙස ජීවත්වීමේ වාතාවරණයක් සකස් කර දෙන බවත් නිසි ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති මඟින් රට ඉදිරියට රැගෙන ගොස් මේ රටේ සෑම ජන කොටසකගේම දුප්පත්කම ඉවත් කොට නීතිය, සාමය හා විනය ඇති සමාජයක ජීවත්වීමේ පසුබිම සකස් කර දෙන බවත් \’එළිය\’ සංවිධානයේ සම්මන්ත්‍රණයකට එක්වෙමින් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවැසීය.

උඩුනුවර ඇතුළු අවට ප්‍රදේශ තුළ ජීවත් වන මුස්ලිම් ජනයා ආමන්ත්‍රණය කිරීමේ අරමුණු ඇතිව මුස්ලිම්වරු විසින් ගෙලිඔය එළමල්දෙණිය ප්‍රදේශයේදී මෙම වැඩසටහන සංවිධානය කොට තිබිණි.
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එහිදී මෙසේද කීය.

රටක විනයක් නොමැති නම් ඒ රටේ ජාතීන් අතර, භාෂා අතර, ආගම් අතර පමණක් නොවේ දේශපාලනය, ආර්ථික හා සංස්කෘතිය ඇතුළු සියලු අංශ කඩා වැටී සමාජය පිරිහීම කරා ඇදී යනවා. අද ඇති වී තිබෙන්නේත් එවැනි තත්ත්වයක්.

රටක සාමය හා නීතිය තිබිය යුතුයි. මේ රටේ සුළු ජාතීන් ලෙස හඳුන්වන දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම්, බර්ගර් ආදීන් උත්සාහ කරන්නේ නීතිය, සාමය හා විනය ක්‍රියාත්මක වන සමාජයක ජීවත් වීමටයි.

අද මේ සමාජයේ සෑම අංශයකම අසන්නට තිබෙන්නේ මේ රටේ විනයක් නෑ කියන කාරණයයි.
එද අපි මේ රටට විනයක් ගේනකොට ත්‍රස්තවාදය නැති කරලා සාමය ගේනකොට මේ රටේ පාතාලය නැති කරලා සාමකාමී බව ඇති කරන කොට විවිධ අය අපට අභූත චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් දෝෂාරෝපණය කළා.
ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මා සතුව එකම සුදු වෑන් එකක්වත් නෑ.

නමුත් සුදු වෑන්වලින් මිනිස්සු උස්සන සංකල්පය මේ රටට හඳුන්වා දීපු 87,88,89 කාලය අද කාටත් අමතක වෙලා තියෙනවා.
අපේ කාලය තුළ ත්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහිව සටන් කරන්නට බුද්ධි අංශ මඟින් යම් යම් ක්‍රමවේද යොදා ගන්නට ඇති. ඒවා ලෝකයම අනුගමනය කරන ක්‍රමවේද. ඒ අය කිසිම ආකාරයකින් දේශපාලන පළිගැනීම් කළේ නෑ. අහිංසක මිනිසුන්ට හිරිහැර කළෙත් නෑ. නිර්දෝෂී පුද්ගලයන්ගෙන් පළිගත්තෙත් නෑ. මේ රටේ ජනතාවට සාමයෙන් ඉන්න දෙන්නයි ඔවුන් කටයුතු කළේ.
එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානයේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් මැඬලන්නට, බස්වල දුම්රියවල නිරායුධ මිනිසුන් මැරෙන එක වළක්වන්නට, ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථාන බේරා ගන්න, පූජනීය ස්ථාන විනාශ කරන එක නවත්වන්නට බුද්ධි අංශ විශාල සේවයක් කළා.

ආඩම්බරයි කියන්න, අපේ බුද්ධි අංශවල වැඩි හරියක් හිටියේ මුස්ලිම් නිලධාරීන්. පසුගිය රජයේ වැරැදි වැඩපිළිවෙළ නිසා ඒ බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණය මරුමුවට පත් වුණා.

ඒ බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන් කළ සේවය නිසා තමයි ත්‍රස්තවාදය අවසන් කිරීමට හැකි වුණේ. මේ ආකාරයට යුද්ධය අවසන් කොට රට බේරා ගැනීමට කැප වීම් කළ නිලධාරීන්ට විරුද්ධවයි අද මේ ආණ්ඩුව ක්‍රියා කරමින් සිටින්නේ.
ඒ නිලධාරීන් මේ කැපවීම කළේ ඒ අයගේ පෞද්ගලික අවශ්‍යතාවකට නොවේ. ඒ කැපවීම කළේ රට වෙනුවෙන්. ඒ වගේම මම යම්කිසි නායකත්වයක් දුන්නා නම් යම්කිසි වැඩසටහනක් ගෙන ගියා නම් ඒ කිසිවක් මගේ පෞද්ගලික අවශ්‍යතාවකට නොවේ. ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් කෙනෙක් ලෙසත් මේ රටේ රට වැසියෙක් ලෙසත් මට කරන්න තිබුණු වගකීම තමයි මම ඉෂ්ට කළේ.

ඒ වගකීම නිසි ලෙස ඉෂ්ට කළ නිසා මේ රටේ සිංහල, මුස්ලිම්, දෙමළ යන සෑම ජන කොටසකටම යහපතක් වුණා.

එදා අපේ රටේ විරුද්ධ පක්ෂ පමණක් නොවේ විදේශ බලවේගවලින් පවා විශාල බොරු ප්‍රචාර ගෙන ගියා. එදා ඒ අය බැලුවා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඒ තනතුරෙන් ඉවත් කරන්නේ කොහොමද කියන කරුණ.
මේ හේතුව මත ඔවුන් මේ රටේ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා හා දමිළ ජනයා සාර්ථකව මුළා කළා. නමුත් අද මේ අය දන්නවා මොකක්ද ඇත්ත කතාව කියලා.

එදා අලුත්ගම සිද්ධ වුණු කාරණයේදී කොහොමද අපි ඉක්මනට ක්‍රියා කළේ කියන කාරණයත් අද දිගන සිදුවීමේදී මේ රජය කොහොමද ක්‍රියා කළ ආකාරයෙන් අද මේ අය හොඳින් දන්නවා.

එම නිසා මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා බොරු ප්‍රචාරවලට නොරැවටී මේ රට වැටී ඇති තැනින් ඉදිරියට ගෙන අපි සියල්ලම එකා වගේ වැඩ කරමු කියලා.

ඉදිරියේදී අපේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය වන්නේ මේ රටේ සියලුම ජන කොටස්වලට මේ රටේ එක හා සමානව ජීවත් වීමේ වාතාවරණයක් සකස් කර දීමයි.

අපි ජාතිවාදීන් නොවේ. නමුත් සියලු දෙනා තුළ රට වෙනුවෙන් ජාතිකත්වයක් තිබෙන්නට ඕනේ. රටට ආදරයක් තියෙන්නට ඕනෑ. එදා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ රජය ගෙන ගියේ කිසිම ජන වර්ගයකට විරුද්ධ සටනක් නොවේ. එතුමා සිදු කළේ වසර ගණනක් මේ රටේ සියලුම ජන වර්ගවලට බලපෑ ඒ ත්‍රස්තවාදය අවසන් කිරීමේ සටනයි. අපි ජාතිවාදීන් ලෙසත් අපි මුස්ලිම් ජනයාට විරුද්ධ අය ලෙසත් විරුද්ධවාදීන් පෙන්වල දුන්නා. නමුත් අපේ ආණ්ඩුව ඒ කාලය තුළදී ක්‍රියා කළේ මේ රටේ සිටින සියලුම ජන කොටස්වලට යහපත් වන ආකාරයට.

මේ වැඩසටහන සංවිධානය කරන්නට මුල් වුණු පාරිස් මැතිතුමා කීවා එදා කොළඹ නාගරික නිවාස බෙදාදීමේදී එතුමා සහභාගි වුණු වැඩසටහනකදී මේ නිවාස ලැබී තිබුණේ 90%ක්ම මුස්ලිම් අයට කියලා. එදා මහින්ද මහත්තයා නාගරික සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යවරයා හැටියට සිටියදී එහි ලේකම් වූ මට උපදෙස් දුන්නා කොළඹ නගරයේ තිබෙන පැල්පත් වෙනුවට හොඳ නිවාස ලබා දෙන්න කියලා.

ඒ අනුව මම සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් භේද නොමැතිව ඒ ජන සංයුතීන් සිටි ආකාරයටම කිසිදු වෙනසකින් තොරව නිවාස ලබා දුන්නා.

ඒ වගේම මම තට්ටු නිවාස හදන අවස්ථාවේදී මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව අතර ගෙනගිය මතය තමයි කොළඹින් මේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව ඉවත් කරලා එළවලා දාලා නැඟෙනහිරට යවලා මේ නිවාස හදලා සිංහල ජනතාව පදිංචි කරන්න යනවා කියලා කියන එක. සමහර මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව මේක විශ්වාස කළා. ඒ සමඟ තමයි මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව අතර මේ විසබීජය පැතිර ගියේ. අපට නිදහස ලැබිලා අවුරුදු 71ක් ගත වෙලත් අපි කතා කරනවා දෙමළ ජනයාගේ ප්‍රශ්නය. මුස්ලිම් ජනයාගේ ප්‍රශ්නය.

නමුත් අදටත් මේ ගැටලු තියෙන්නේ දේශපාලනඥයන් ඡන්දය පදනම් කරගෙන පමණක් මේ ගැටලු කතා කරන නිසයි.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම ප්‍රශ්නය තියෙන්නේ සිංහලද දෙමළද මුස්ලිම්ද කියන එක නෙවෙයි. මේ අයට අද ජීවත් වෙන්න පරිසරයක් තියෙනවාද? හරිහමන් ආදායමක් තියෙනවාද? තමන්ගේ දරුවට හොඳ පාසලක් තියෙනවාද? තමන්ට සුදුසු රැකියාවක් ලබා ගන්න පුළුවන්ද? හොඳ නිවෙසක් හා ජීවත් වෙන්න යහපත් පරිසරයක් තියෙනවාද යනාදියයි.

නමුත් මේ ප්‍රශ්න තියෙද්දී අපේ නායකයන් දෙමළ අයට පෙන්නලා දෙන්නේ මේ ප්‍රශ්න තියෙන්නේ සිංහල අය නිසා බවයි.

නමුත් මේ ගැටලු රට වැසියන් ලෙස සැමටම පොදුයි. එදා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව කළේ මේ ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් ලෙස දකුණ, නැඟෙනහිර, උතුර ඇතුළු රටම සංවර්ධනය කිරීමයි.

අපි මේ රටේ සියලුම ජන කොටස්වලට ජීවත් වීමේ නිදහස ලබා දිය යුතුයි. අද මේ රටේ ප්‍රශ්න ඇති වෙලා තියෙන්නේ ජන වර්ග අතර ඇති දුප්පත්කම නිසයි. මුදල් තියෙනවා නම් සිංහලද මුස්ලිම්ද දෙමළද කියන එක ගැටලුවක් වෙන්නේ නෑ. ඔවුන්ට පුළුවන් හොඳ ජීවිතයක් ගෙනියන්න. හොඳ ව්‍යාපාරයක් කරන්න. තමන්ගේ දරුවට හොඳට උගන්වන්න. ඒ දරුවන් පිටරටකට යවන්න. එහෙම නැත්නම් ගැටලු ගොඩයි.

හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල්

වසර දෙදහස් ගණනකට පෙර මේ රටේ ව්‍යාපාරවල යෙදුණු මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට අද ඒ කටයුත්ත කරගන්න විදියක් නෑ. ඔවුන්ගේ ව්‍යාපාර කඩා වැටිලා. සමස්තයක් ලෙස රටේම ව්‍යාපාර කඩා වැටිලා. පොලිය වැඩියි. ආදායම අඩුයි. මේවා තමයි රට පුරාම ඇහෙන්නේ.

එදා ඩොලර් දාහක ආයෝජනයක් කළොත් පොලිය ගෙවන්න වුණේ ලක්ෂයයි. නමුත් අද එක් ලක්ෂ අසූදාහක් ගෙවන්න ඕනෑ.

ඒ වගේම අද රුපියල් විසි දහසක ආදායමක් ලැබුණොත් පොලී ගෙවන්න ඕනේ අට දහසක්. එදා ගෙවන්න වුණේ 2500යි. ඉතින් ව්‍යාපාර කඩා වැටෙන එක අහන්න දෙයක් නෙවෙයි.
නායකත්වය කියන්නේ ජනතාව ඉදිරියට ඇවිත් තමන්ගේ දුක කියන එක හෝ තමන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්න කියන එකම නෙවෙයි. නායකත්වය කියන්නේ ප්‍රශ්නවලට විසඳුම් හොයලා ඒවා නිරාකරණය කරලා රට ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන එකටයි. නමුත් අද අපට එහෙම දෙයක් පේන්නෙ නැහැ.

අද මුළු ලෝකේම අපේ රට ප්‍රසිද්ධ වෙලා තියෙන්නේ සියලුම අංශවලින් කඩා වැටෙන රටක් ලෙසයි.

රටේ සියලු අංශවල බිඳවැටීම්
වැළැක්විය හැකි පාලකයකු
අවශ්‍යව තිබෙනවා – මහාචාර්ය
රිස්වි ෂෙරිෆ්

මේ වන විට රටේ දේශපාලන තත්ත්වය හා ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය පහළට ගමන් කරමින් පවතිනවා. එවැනි වාතාවරණයක් යටතේ රටේ ජීවත් වන සියලුම ජාතීන් දැඩි අර්බුදකාරී තත්ත්වයකට මුහුණ පා සිටිනවා. විශේෂයෙන් මෙම ආර්ථික තත්ත්වයේ පසුබෑම ව්‍යාපාර නිසා ජීවිකාව ගෙනයන මුස්ලිම් ජනයාට එය දැඩිව බලපානවා.

මේ ආකාරයට රටේ සියලු අංශවල බිඳවැටීම වළක්වන්න නම් රටේ පාලනයට හොඳ අයකුගේ අවශ්‍යතාව පැනනැඟී තිබෙනවා. මේ රටේ ජනාධිපතිවරු රැසක් වැඩ කරලා තිබෙනවා. මුස්ලිම්වරු ඒ සෑම කෙනෙක් දෙසම අවධානයෙන් බලාගෙන හිටියා. පසුගිය දිනක නන්දදාස කෝදාගොඩ මහතාගේ අනුස්මරණ වැඩසටහනක් කොළඹදී පැවැත්වුණා. ඒ සඳහා මමත් සහභාගි වුණා. එහිදී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ දේශනයට මමත් සවන් දුන්නා. එයා විශේෂ මනුස්සයෙක් කියලා තේරුණා. ඔහුට විශේෂ කුසලතා මෙන්ම විශේෂ දැක්මකුත් ඇතිව කතා කරන බව තේරුණා. අද රටට අවශ්‍ය ඒ දැක්මයි. කොළඹ නගරය සඳහා හිටපු පාලකයන් විවිධ වැඩසටහන් සිදු කළා. නමුත් ගෝඨාභය මහත්තය ඉදිරිපත් කළ සැලැස්ම හා වැඩපිළිවෙළ ඉතා විශේෂ වෙනවා.

මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ගේ ආර්ථික ශක්තිය වැඩි කිරීමට නම් යහපත් ආර්ථික දැක්මක් තිබිය යුතුයි. එයත් මේ වැඩසටහන සමඟ ඉදිරිපත් වෙනවා.
එදා පරාක්‍රමබාහු රාජ සභාවේ මුස්ලිම්වරු අමාත්‍ය තනතුරු දැරුවා වගේම විහාරස්ථාන සමඟත් ඉතා සමීපව කටයුතු කළා. ඒ ආකාරයට සිංහල ජනතාව සමඟ කටයුතු කළ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව අද යම් යම් අයගේ රැවටීම් බස්වලට හසු වී තිබෙනවා. එය වහාම නිවැරැදි විය යුතු කාලය එළැඹ තිබෙනවා.

ගෝඨාභය කියන්නේ
රටට, මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට
ආදරය කරන
ආදරණීය මනුස්සයෙක් – – අල්හාජ් ඒ.එල්.එම්. ෆාරීස්

අද පළමුවැනි වතාවට මේ වගේ රැස්වීමක මම කතා කරන්නේ අපේ ඊළඟ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඉස්සරහා තියාගෙන. ඒක මට ලොකු ආඩම්බරයක්. මම මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයෙක්. ගොඩක් අය හිතනවා ඇති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ එක්ක මට මේ තරම් යාළුකමක් ඇයි කියලා. මම ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයාට කිසිම දෙයක් දීලා නෑ. එතුමා කිසි දෙයක් ගන්න කෙනෙකුත් නෙවෙයි. ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ගාව දෙන්න දෙයක් නෑ. එතුමා ගාව තියෙන්නේ මේ රට ගැන තිබෙන අසීමිත ආදරය විතරයි. ඒ වගේම මේ රට අපට බේරලා දුන්නා. ඒ රට බේරලා දුන්නට පස්සේ ඔබතුමා මට මුකුත් පෞද්ගලිකව දෙන්න ඕන නැහැ. මට රටක් බේරලා දුන්නා.
මම වගේම අපේ මුස්ලිම් කට්ටිය ගොඩක් අය බිස්නස් කරනවා. දැන් එයාලට බිස්නස් කරන්න පුළුවන් පරිසරයක් හැදිලා තියෙන්නේ රට බේරලා දුන්න නිසයි.

පළමුවැනි වතාවට මම ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයව බලන්න ගියා. ඉ.ඕ. ඇමැතිතුමා තමයි මාව එක්කරගෙන ගියේ. එන්න ෆාරීස් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා හම්බෙන්න යමු කියලා කිව්වා. මම කමිස කිහිපයක් මාරු කළා. ඊට පස්සේ සුදු කමිසයක් ඇඳගෙන ගියා. ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් කියන්නේ හරි භයානක පුද්ගලයෙක් කියලයි මම හිතුවේ. ඹ්ඊඊඡ් යුද්දේ ඉවර කළාම මම හිතාගෙන හිටියේ හරි භයානක කෙනෙක් කියලා. දැක්කාම මට මොනවා වෙයිද දන්නෑ කියලා හිතුණා. එච්චර බයෙන් මේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හම්බවෙන්න ගියේ බිල්ඩින් එකක් හදාගන්න උදව්වක් ගන්න. එතුමා ඒ වෙලාවෙම දුරකථනය අරගෙන සභාපතිතුමාට කතාකරලා කිව්වා මේක කරලා දෙන්න කියලා. එහෙම නැඟිටලා ඇවිත් මට තට්ටු කරලා ඇහුවා ඔයා තට්ටු කීයද්ද හදන්නේ කියලා. මම කිව්වා තට්ටු 12ක් කියලා. ඊළඟ බිල්ඩින් එක ඔයා තට්ටු 100ක් හදන්න ඕන. මම ඔයත් එක්ක ඉන්නවා කියලා වචනයක් කිව්වා. ඊට පස්සේ මම තේරුම් ගත්තා මේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ කියන්නේ පුදුම චරිතයක් කියලා. හරිම ආදරණීයයි. රටට ආදරෙයි. මට ආදරෙයි. අපේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට ආදරෙයි. ඒ හින්දා මම සර් එක්ක හිතවත් වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා. ඉන් පස්සේ ඔබතුමා යන යන තැන මම හොර රහසේ යනවා. සමහර අවස්ථාවල ඔබතුමා දන්නෙත් නෑ.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයා යුද්ධය ඉවර කරලා රට දියුණු කරන්න පටන් ගත්තා. නමුත් ඒ තිබුණු ආර්ථික දියුණුව 3% දක්වා අඩුවෙලා තියෙනවා. අපේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව 95% – 98% ව්‍යාපාර කරන අය. ඒ අයගේ ව්‍යාපාර නැති වෙමින් යනවා. අපේ ව්‍යාපාර ටික අපිට ආරක්ෂා කර ගන්න ඕන. ඒ වගේම කියන්න ඕන මෙතැන ඉන්න මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව හැමෝම ඇවිත් ඉන්නෙ ඔබතුමා බලන්න. මෙච්චර විශාල මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවක් අද ඇවිත් ඉන්නවා නම් ඒකට හේතුව ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ එක්ක අපි ඉන්නවා කියන එකයි.

අපිට රටක් ඕන. අපේ රට ඔබතුමා බේරලා දුන්නා. දැන් ඔබතුමාගේ දෙවැනි මෙහෙයුමයි මේ. අපිට අවශ්‍ය හොඳ නායකත්වයක්. ඒ නායකත්වය ඔබතුමාගෙන් ලැබෙයි කියලා අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා. ඔබතුමා විනය ගරුක නායකයෙක්. කවදාවත් හොරකම් කරන්නෙ නෑ කියලා අපි දන්නවා. ඒ වගේ නායකයෙක් අපිට ඕන. අපිට ලොකු විශ්වාසයක් තියෙනවා ඔබතුමා රට හදයි කියලා. රට හදනකොට වැඩියෙන්ම ලාභ වෙන්නෙ මුස්ලිම් අයටයි. අපි දන්නවා ඔබතුමා කොච්චර ආදරෙයිද කියලා මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට. මම ඔබට පවසනවා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට බයවෙන්න එපා කියලා.

අල්ලා දෙවියන්ගේ නාමයෙන් ගෝඨාභය මැතිතුමාට රටටත් ජනතාවටත් සදාකාලික යහපතක්
උදා කළ හැකි බව විශ්වාසයි – දේශබන්දු මොහොමඩ් මජීඩ්

2020දී පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ඉහළ ජනතා ප්‍රසාදයකින් ජය ගන්නා අපේක්ෂකයා ලෙස අප රටේ අති බහුතරයකගේ අපේක්ෂාවට පාත්‍ර වී සිටින ඔබතුමන් හට පළමුවෙන් මාගේ සුභාසිංශන එක් කරන්න කැමැතියි.

1977 සිට 2005 දක්වා ගතවූ වසර 28ක කාලය තුළ අපගේ ජීවිතය වඩා සක්‍රිය බලවත්ම කාලය වෙමින් තිබුණා. මේ වකවානුවේ පැවැති දේශපාලනය විසින් අපගේ කාර්ය සාධකයන්ගේ යම් සැලකිය යුතු ප්‍රතිශතයක් රටට අහිමි කළ බව දැඩි සිත් වේදනාවෙන් සඳහන් කළ යුතුයි. නිදහසින් පසු දේශපාලන නායකයන්ගෙන් සිදුවූ අතපසුවීම්, අත්වැරදීම් මේ අරාජිකත්වයට හේතු වන්නට ඇතැයි මේ වනවිට සමාජගත වී තියෙනවා.

වගකිවයුතු දේශපාලන නායකයකුගේ සුළු අත්වැරැදීමකින් රටේ පරපුරක් බිඳවීමට හේතුවක් වන බව අද සාක්ෂි දරනවා. 2004 ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපති ලෙස තේරී පත්වීමත් සමඟ එතුමන්ගේ නායකත්වය නව ආණ්ඩුවක් ස්ථාපිත කිරීමට අපට සුපුරුදු තව එක් දේශපාලන සිද්ධියක් පමණක් විය. එයට හේතුව මෙයට පෙර පත්වූ ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ගෙන් දැඩි බලාපොරොත්තු තැබූ දෙදෙනකුම අපගේ බලාපොරොත්තු සුන් කිරීමයි. 2004 න් පසු නව ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇරඹුමත් සමඟ නැවතත් සුපුරුදු පරිදි සටන් විරාමයකි. කැඩි කැඩී ගිය සාම කතා පෙර පරිදිය. නැවතත් සුපුරුදු පරිදි සටන් විරාමයකි. සටන් විරාමය උල්ලංඝනය විය. සුපුරුදු පරිදි නැවත යුද ගිනි ඇවිළිණි. නමුත් මෙවර සුපුරුදු දෙයක් සිදුවිය. අපි තිගැස්සී හිස ඔසවා බැලීමු.

සටන් විරාමයට මුවා වී මැටි බිත්තියට හේත්තු කරන්න එපා. මම ආපහු ගහනවා ජනාධිපතිතුමා ත්‍රස්තවාදය අමතා කළ එම ප්‍රකාශය අපට සුපුරුදු දෙයක් විය. මෙය ජාතියක් වශයෙන් මෙතෙක් ආ ගමනේ පැහැදිලි හැරවුම් ලක්ෂ්‍යයකි. අප රට කර වූ ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් ත්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහිව මෙවැනි නිර්භීත සෘජු අභියෝගාත්මක නිල යුද ප්‍රකාශයක් කළේය.

එය සිදු කළේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාය. ඒත් සමඟ ජීවිතය පිළිබඳ අපගේ තිබූ බලාපොරොත්තුව ඉහළ නැංවිණි. එළැඹෙන සෑම දිනයකම ජයග්‍රහණයේ දිනයක් විය. වසර 30ක් වියැති ත්‍රස්ත රකුසා මරා දමන ලදී. සාමය උදා විය. එම ජයග්‍රහණය අප රටේ සේනාධිනායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ එඩිතර නිර්භීත නායකත්වය හා ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සුපිරි කළමනාකාරිත්වය අභීත කාර්යක්ෂමතාව බුද්ධිය හේතුකොට අප රටේ ජනතාවගේ අති උත්කර්ෂයෙන් පිළිගන්නවා. ජනතාවගේ බලාපොරොත්තු ඉටු කළ ආණ්ඩුවට කෘතගුණ සැලකීමක් ලෙස ජනතාව 2010 ජනාධිපතිවරණය ඉතා පැහැදිලිව අති බහුතරයකින් රාජපක්ෂ පාලනයට ලබාදුන්නා. ඉන් පසු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයා හැටියට ඔබතුමාට විශාල ඉල්ලුමක් රට තුළ ඇති වුණා.

බොහෝ අමාත්‍යාංශවල සේවය කළ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයන් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා තම අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් ලෙස පත් කරනු ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ අයැද සිටියහ. නීතිය, යුක්තිය, විනය, සුපිරි කළමනාකාරිත්වය යන කරුණු පාලනයට නතු වනවාට සියල්ලෝ කැමැති බව ඉන් පැහැදිලි වුණා.

එසේ නම් ඔබතුමාට සහජයෙන් සතු මේ සුපිරි හැකියාවන් හෙට දවසේ කටයුතු සඳහා ඔබට මහෝපකාරී වන්නා සේම එම හැකියාවන් ඔබ සතුව නොපැකිළිව පවතිනතාක් ජනතාව ඔබ වටා රොක් වනු ඇත. වසර 2009දී ඔබ කැපවීමෙන් දිනා දුන් නිදහසින් අපගේ අනාගතය සරසන්නට අපි මුලපිරුවට ගෙවී ගිය සෑම වසරක් පාසාම රටේ හීින වූ සමහර සිදුවීම් හේතු වූ අපේ බලාපොරොත්තු නැවතත් අවිනිශ්චිත බවෙන් අඳුරින් වැඩී වැසී ගියා. මධ්‍යම රජයෙන්ම බල සටනක් දී සිදු වූ සිදුවීම් ප්‍රාදේශීය නායකයන්ගේ සමහර අත්තනෝමතික කටයුතු රට තුළ යම් නොසන්සුන් වාතාවරණයක් ඇති කිරීමට අවස්ථාව ලැබෙන තෙක් බලාසිටි විදේශීය කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරී බලවේග ලද අවස්ථාවෙන් උපරිම ක්‍රියාත්මක වුණා.

2015දී නව ආණ්ඩුවක් බිහි වීමත් නව ආණ්ඩුව බිහි වී මාස 3 යනකොට අපට ඉඟුරු දී මිරිස් ගත්තා යන්න අවබෝධ විය. ඒ මුළාවට හේතුව අපට විකල්පයක් තෝරා ගැනීමේ අවස්ථාවක් නොමැති කමයි.
අප රටේ දේශපාලනය ක්‍රමයෙන් උත්සන්න වෙමින්, වර්ධනය වෙමින් යම් ජාතියකට ආගමකට කොටු කරගෙන දේශපාලන මතවාදයක් ජයග්‍රහණය කරවීමට උත්සාහ කරන විට විනය ගරුක, යුක්ති ගරුක සෑම ජන කොටසකටම බියෙන් සැකෙන් තොරව ජීවත් විය හැකි රටක් ගොඩනැඟිය හැකි ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයකුට රට භාරදීමයි. එවැනි අයකු ඉන්නවා. ඔහු එය ඔප්පු කර තිබෙනවා.

අපගේ ලොකු විශ්වාසයක් තිබෙනවා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පිළිබඳ. අල්ලා දෙවියන්ගේ නාමයෙන් අපි මේ ගරු සභාවෙදි ඔබතුමාට මේ පවසා සිටින්නේ මේ රටටත් ජනතාවටත් සදාකාලික යහපතක් ඔබට උදාකළ හැකි බවට අචල විශ්වාසයක් අපට තිබෙන බවයි. එම විශ්වාසය සපල වේවා යැයි අපි අල්ලා දෙවියන් වහන්සේගෙන් ආශීර්වාද ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

අප බහුතරය සුළු හා මධ්‍යම ව්‍යාපාර හා ව්‍යවසාය හිමි ජන කොටසක්. මේ වනවිට අප රටේ විශාල ආර්ථික කඩා වැටීමක් සිදුවී ඇත. සුළු හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ කර්මාන්ත, ව්‍යවසාකයන් ප්‍රවර්ධනය සඳහා වන අදහස් හා යෝජනා පිළිබඳ අප තුළ සතුටක් ඇත. ඔබ ඉල්ලා සිටින ඕනෑම මොහොතක එය අපට ලබාදිය හැකිය.

අප රටේ අධ්‍යාපනය සඳහා වැඩි සම්පත් ප්‍රමාණයක් වෙන් කිරීම, සුළු හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ කර්මාන්ත ක්ෂේත්‍රය වඩා විධිමත් කිරීම, අප රටේ ශ්‍රම සම්පත වඩා විධිමත් ලෙස ජාතික නිෂ්පාදනයට යොදවා ගැනීම යනාදී සංග්‍රාම රාශියක් කිරීම තුළින් අප රට ගොඩනැඟිය හැකිය යන්න අපේ විශ්වාසයයි. ඒ කිසිදු සංග්‍රාමයක් ඔබතුමාට ජයග්‍රහණය කිරීමට සංග්‍රාමයක් නොවන බවද කිව යුතුයි. ඒවා අසීරු වුවද ඔබතුමාට ඒවා සාර්ථකව කළ හැකි බව අපි විශ්වාස කරමු. එළැඹෙන 2020දී අප රටේ කර්මාන්ත හා සෞභාග්‍යයේ නියැමුවන් ලෙස ඔබතුමන් අභිෂේක කිරීමට අල්ලා දෙවියන් වහන්සේගෙන් ආශීර්වාද ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

 

The way forward

March 5th, 2019

By Prof. Tissa Vitarana Courtesy Ceylon Today

During my three day visit to the North, I addressed the Jaffna Managers Forum, at the Euroville Auditorium on the topic – Sri Lankan Crisis Affects the North and South: The Way Forward.  Vartharaja Perumal, former Chief Minister of the North and East, chaired the meeting.

A synopsis of my speech: 

The present UNP-led Government was a failure. It has lost a golden opportunity to solve the national question, with a Government of the two major parties the UNP and SLFP, having the active support of the leaders of the Tamil-speaking people, the TNA and SLMC. But, it had also taken the whole country, North and South, into a deep economic, social and political crisis.

The problem of debt is affecting the war widows badly, but, it is also affecting small entrepreneurs in the North and South, causing many to close shop. The Government is facing a deep, debt crisis, local and foreign, and it is struggling to find money to pay salaries each month.

The foreign loan repayment for this year is $5.9 billion, and there is an increasing trend in the next five years. This is accumulated over 20 to 30 years, and the UNP/SLFP Government led by Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken as much loans in these four years, as the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government in nine years. The latter developed infrastructure in the North and South, besides the cost of restoring peace, but the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government has squandered it on luxury imports and trips abroad for the rich one per cent of the population.

Depreciating Dollar

As a result, the cost of imports is double the income from exports. The promised increase in exports by industrialisation through foreign direct investment (FDI) has not materialised, and what had come has departed due to the poor investment climate and lack of economic and political stability. The massive Central Bank fraud which cost the country billions in which the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, is clearly implicated, leading to a three per cent increase in the loan interest rate nationally has destroyed investor confidence.

The GDP growth rate which averaged six to seven per cent, during the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government, has come down to three per cent, and real incomes have come down. To solve the economic problems of the people and country, we need to emerge from the ‘middle income trap’ and become an industrialised country, with a real GDP growth of at least nine per cent. The only areas of growth are vice, corruption and drug trafficking. In fact in the International Corruption Index Sri Lanka’s score has remained at 39 per cent, placing us at 89 among 180 countries.

When a vote of no-confidence was moved on Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament the TNA and SLMC saved him, a clear indication that they do not represent the ordinary Tamil speaking people, but, along with the UNP, the interests of the rich one per cent, which includes the underworld.

The steep rise in the cost-of-living is due to many factors. The wrong tax policy of high indirect taxes like VAT which places the burden on the people, while direct taxes are among the lowest in the world, with an upper slab of 24 per cent, spares the rich.

The increase of VAT from seven per cent to 15 per cent, led to the UNHRC representative on Human Rights, Bohoslavski, to attack the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government for violating fundamental human rights. Imports of luxuries and the like have increased the demand for dollars sending the Rupee value from Rs.131 per dollar, during the Rajapaksa Government, down to Rs.182, raising the price of imports, made worse by the Wickremesinghe Government policy shift to encourage imports rather than self-sufficiency. The result is an increase in poverty, hunger and malnutrition throughout the country. Some people have two or even one meal a day.

But to make matters worse the Ranil Wickremesinghe, led by Yankee Wicky, has signed agreements with the USA to enable it to use Trincomalee as a military base, with freedom to bring in weapons for their use and transport them without being bound by our laws. By also becoming co-signatories to the USAs resolution based on the false Darusman Report which allows foreign interference in our judicial processes, Sri Lanka is no longer an independent, sovereign nation. We are really a  semi-colony of the USA. We run the risk of being caught in the middle of a USA/China War.

Neoliberal agenda

Why has our country been brought to such a terrible state; is it mere bungling? No, there is method to this madness. In the context of the worsening crisis of global capitalism with the West being more affected than the East; led by China which has emerged as the second largest economy after the USA, there has been a shift in economic power from the West to the East.

In an attempt to reverse this trend the USA is in the process of implementing the Neoliberal solution developed by Prof. Milton Friedman in Chicago, on the basis of the Washington consensus with the IMF and World Bank forged in the 1970s.Together with promotion of regional conflicts and wars which enables the USA that produces 60 per cent of global armaments to revive its economy, Neo-liberalism is the way out, exploitation without direct conquest.

Using the open economy the giant multinational corporations, led by those based in the USA and EU, are buying up assets, including essential utilities, from our countries. In Sri Lanka agreements have been framed to purchase the Water Resources Board and the Survey Department. Earlier restrictions on transferring acquired funds abroad are removed. The welfare State is dismantled and the tax burden shifted from the rich one per cent that owns capital to the 99 per cent living on a daily income.

The Ranil Wickremesinghe Government backed by the TNA and SLMC, with some help from the JVP, are the representatives of both the local and foreign one per cent, who own capital. The tax burden is shifted from the one per cent to the 99 per cent.  To perpetuate the power of the one per cent the policy of ‘divide and rule’ is applied exploiting local racial, religious, caste, tribal differences on a global scale.

This is why the National question remains unsolved in Sri Lanka. Lip service is paid to democracy but elections are not held. Draconian laws like the Counter Terrorism (CTA) Act are replacing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), to pave the way for an authoritarian Police State. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the chairman of the Asian chapter of the global Conservative International, serves USA’s interests, not Sri Lanka’s. The door is opened for foreign intervention.

Way forward

The prime task is for the 99 per cent, Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and others, to unite as one Sri Lankan nation. All oppression based on race, religion, caste, gender and class must end. The traitor Ranil Wickremesinghe and his   Government, with its neoliberal policies, must be defeated; sooner the better. All attempts to flout democracy, by delaying elections or by creating conditions of social unrest and conflict to pave the way for a dictatorship using the CTA must be prevented. Sri Lanka must withdraw its support for Resolution 30/1 at the UNHRC.

All military and trade agreements that harm our national interest must be rescinded. We must return to our traditional Non-Aligned foreign policy, friendship with all, subservient to none. We must re-establish our national social welfare economy to serve our people, both in the North and South. A modern industrial economy with maximal value addition to our raw materials using advanced science, technology and innovation and promoting local human resource skills is what we need.

Definition of a racist  

During question time Prof. Hoole, Thavarasa (Deputy Leader of the EPDP) and others questioned why the LSSP was associating with racists like Mahinda Rajapaksa.

My response was MR is a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist, like Sambandan of the TNA who is a Tamil Hindu nationalist.

They are not racists. While MR stands for an independent sovereign Sri Lankan nation developing a national economy that is not subservient to the West, Sambandan is for a subservient USA-dominated economy, in the expectation that the latter will help solve the national question in favour of the Tamils. Mr Sambandan is forgetting that the USA will not solve this problem, but rather use it to divide and rule the country through the UNP, as it has done in many countries round the world such as in the Middle East.

When I was asked about the role of the LSSP and whether the MR-led future government would use the All Party Representative Committee Report, to solve the national question,  my response was, I have already made that request in writing and hopes that it will be accepted and a suitable consensus will be reached.

Ranil is now well and truly trapped – Lokuge

March 5th, 2019

ARUNI MALLAWAARACHCHI Courtesy Ceylon Today

UPFA Member of Parliament Gamini Lokuge says that people are aware if Gotabaya wins, new developments and discipline will be established.

Excerpts of the Interview:

These days most people’s attention is focused on the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the SLFP forming an alliance. What is the latest news on this?

A: We are going to defeat the current government. It’s only if we defeat the existing government could we achieve our aim. Therefore, to gain that victory we are ready to form an alliance with any group at this moment.


You said any group; Are you ready to form an alliance even with the TNA?

A: No, no that is not what I meant. We cooperated with them, previously is true. We conducted Provincial Council Elections during the time our government was in power in the North and the East. Nevertheless, we were aware very clearly that we would not win. However, we contested the election, to provide an opportunity to representatives appointed from among the people to work with the government and to develop the provinces. Now, they have already been dissolved. However, do any of the leaders now talk a word about that? What they are thinking about is to obtain a separate division and not to go for a democratic administration.

We can see their distortion through such behaviour. What I actually meant was about our groups of brotherhood.


Although you say that, why this delay in forming an alliance and no practical activities yet to be seen?

A: No, no there is no such delay. We are open now. We contested the Local Government Elections. We went forward as the Joint Opposition (JO). With the SLPP organising itself, we set up a small system. Even though there were differences of opinion on how we would assist our brother groups we ultimately arrived at an agreement. It was based on that agreement that we contested the Local Government elections. We put forward candidates from the Pohottuwa and achieved an excellent victory. If there is a Parliamentary Election in the future, we will do the same thing. Therefore, we are issuing an open invitation to all our brother political parties to join with us and work together.


The Pohottuwa is a single Party. Will all the other groups like to contest under the Pohottuwa? The reason, being certain problems arose during the past LG elections too?

A: Firstly, we have to determine the Leader of the Pohottuwa. We can form an alliance the way we want to. However, the leader of the Alliance should be Mahinda Rajapaksa. The reason is we cannot form an alliance and then allow an outsider to contest, similar to what Ranil Wickremesinghe did. In the history of Sri Lanka, the only person who formed an alliance and allowed another person to contest is Ranil. It has never happened in history, previously. J. R. Jayewardene, D. S. Senanayake, Dudley Senanayake, and Ranasinghe Premadasa did build Parties. Nevertheless, they were the leaders of the Parties they established. Although Mahinda Rajapaksa formed an Alliance, he was its leader. Even if our brother political parties form an alliance, it should be Mahinda Rajapaksa who becomes its leader. There will be no change in that. As a result, there will not be crisis or differences of opinion, at all. The reason is we worked together as an alliance previously as well. Even now we are doing so.


But you cannot say that there are no differences of opinion and conflicts can you?

A: There are small conflicts when selecting candidates for electorates. They are not serious problems. On the other hand, they are not so serious as to motivate them to break away from the Party. The reason is when engaging in politics, if there are two powerful individuals in the same electorate, when going in for a divisional election, where both parties are concerned only one can be given the candidacy. Such minor problems have to be solved internally.


Alright, now who would the Alliance put forward as Presidential Candidate?

A: The leader of our Party is Mahinda Rajapaksa. It will be discussed with our brother political parties and determined. We have several good candidates.


Chamal Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Basil Rajapaksa are among the names being proposed as Presidential Candidate. Who will be given preferance from among them?

A: All three of them are suitable. There is no problem regarding the three of them.


You cannot propose all three. Therefore, you must be having an idea about one of them surely?

A: We like all three of them.


Whom do you prefer the most?

A: I of course would like someone who can govern this country. There are very good individuals among those who have been named. They can be proposed without any problem at all.


I feel you are not  answering the question directly!

A: It is not about my making a direct answer. As for this point of time we should not pop that question in and create more problems. However, the answer is at the tip of my tongue! It will be given out, not now but at the right time.


Although you are protecting that, some persons say things like, I am the Presidential Candidate and if they cannot why can’t we? Why do they say different stories? Is there no common agreement within the Party?

A: An agreement will be reached only a Leader of the Party says so and not when Electorate Organisers in villages discuss and make decisions. Anyone can express various views on the Candidate they prefer. Whatever anyone says it will become apparent when the right time comes around.


A discussion was held at the house of G. L. Peiris about making Gotabaya Rajapaksa the Presidential Candidate, wasn’t it?

A: Yes, it was held.


When almost everyone participated in it, Basil Rajapaksa who is a powerful member of the Pohottuwa did not participate. When you look at this from outside, it seems apparent that there is some objection, a crisis?

A: No, no. There is no such crisis. I saw Vasudeva Nanayakkara saying that it was no problem for them if Gotabaya Rajapaksa contests, if he agrees with their conditions and arrives at some agreement with them.


But initially what was said was something that was against it?

A: That is the very same thing I am saying. Those who spoke in opposition are changing little by little.


Basil Rajapaksa says that it will be a member of the Pohottuwa who will be sworn in as the President of this country. Whom is he talking about?

A: It is possible that the next President of the country will be from the Pohottuwa. May be one of our  members will become the candidate from the Pohottuwa. There is no problem in that at all. Together with our brother political parties it will be a candidate from the Pohottuwa who will become the President.


Couldn’t it be that he is referring to himself?

A: No, no, not about himself. Nevertheless, you will get to know about it very soon.


If Gotabaya Rajapaksa becomes the President, it will be Mahinda Rajapaksa who becomes the Prime Minister. Then someone could object, can’t they? That it is a government centred on one family?

A: It is like this that people vote, not because of the Rajapaksa family. People will vote after considering the tasks both of them have done. They vote for Mahinda Rajapaksa because he ended the war in this country, and carried out a giant development programme and as a leader who provided benefits to the people.

They will vote for Gotabaya Rajapaksa because he managed the war and as the Defence Secretary subsequent to the war ending, took over the UDA and set up a new development programme in the country and as a leader who established discipline. So, they do not vote for nepotism in politics. People are aware that if Gotabaya comes, new development and discipline will be created. They have already come in through the Rajapaksa family and made it known to the people.


There is no Budget for the year 2019, as yet?

A: The Budget should be presented on 5 March. We are also waiting for the budget. When they bring it, you will be able to see what happens.


Why, will something big happen on that particular day?

A: Just wait and see!


Although you say that, what people who are watching can see is that the Opposition is not strong enough?

A: No we are strong enough. When the Budget is presented we will show you how the task is done at the correct time.


Are you trying to bring about a temporary upheaval similar to what was done on 26 October?

A: We did that too, correctly and at the proper time. No one knew about it until it was done, did they? It is because we did that, that these progressive changes have come about. Who though that Mahinda Rajapaksa will become the Prime Minister of the country. But we did that!


But with what happened, didn’t Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reputation and popularity up to that time, get damaged?

A: That is true. However, since that happened the President and Mahinda Rajapaksa made a firm decision, without saving the country, there was no point in our having a government. Whatever problem arises, we have to work towards saving the country. At that time they were preparing to sell off Palali. They were also getting ready to sell the Hambantota Port and the Petroleum Corporation. They were to give away the Southern Jetty of the Colombo Port too. All of this was halted due to the upheaval we created on 26 October. Now, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is well and truly trapped. We have to wait like this for only another 8 months. That is what we are putting in an effort for.


However, the United National Party (UNP) of course says another story.

A: What is that?

They say that because of what happened on 26 October, they had to pay the biggest loan instalment in the history of Sri Lanka, for the first time.

The economy collapsed. No foreign country or international financial institution is providing loans, they say. Apparently that is due to the short-term decline.

A: Ranil Wickremesinghe does not have anything else to say either. The best example for this is, J. R. Jayewardene. He established the government in 77 and completed the Mahaweli scheme which was due to be done in 10 years, in 5 years. He obtained foreign loans for that. However, no other government came in and said they could not pay off that debt. That was how the Mahaweli Scheme was completed and we became sufficient in rice.

Similarly, Mahinda Rajapaksa built Airports, Ports, Expressways, and Coal Power Plants in the country. How much of foreign exchange is being saved by the country due to these Coal Power Plants now?


But there is an allegation that neither Mattala nor the Hambantota Port succeeded in earning profits?

A: If this government had not come in, they would have reached the stage of earning an income by now. As soon as they came, all flights stopped. At that time there were one hundred and fifty thousand passengers arriving at Mattala. Stability cannot be achieved as soon as an Airport is built. It takes time to start making profits. We commence re-exporting from the Port. This is a country which paid off foreign loan instalments properly up to the time Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power.


There is talk that a Presidential Election will be held. Should the Presidential Election or the Provincial Council Elections be held first?

A: If we are protecting democracy we should conduct the Provincial Council Elections first. It does not matter if the Presidential Election is held after that. Six Provincial Councils are now inactive. However, even the judiciary is silent. No one talks about Non-Governmental Organizations at all. Not even the international community! It shows that they are biased.


The UNP says they could not be held at the proper time because of a group led by you all.

A: There is no point in accusing us of that. It is the Speaker who should be held responsible for that. Then, it was planned to hold the elections on time but who postponed them? The people of this country know who keeps postponing elections in this country. They are scared of contesting an election. In short this government does not like elections.


Due to the expiration of the Delimitation Committee, it will not be possible to hold the elections according to the new system. Would you agree if the elections are to be held using the previous method?

A: We are ready for any method. What we want is an election. If they want it according to the previous method, be it so. If they want it according to electorate level, then be it so. Whichever one is the same to us.


At this time the UNP is talking about the need for a National Government?

A: Even if they want a National Government how can they do it without a two-thirds majority? We are also waiting to see how they will establish a National Government.


There are certain factions, who define the government change you carried out on 26 October as a conspiracy, aren’t there?

A: How can you say it was a conspiracy! When a problem arose between the President and the Prime Minister, we made use of that situation. That is what is called politics. No one went to Court against it. No one went to Court because President Maithripala Sirisena removed Ranil Wickremesinghe from his post as Prime Minister and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa instead. They went to Court against holding an election. Then the Speaker said that they did not have two-thirds majority and not even 50%. Now, they can go to Court again if they want to.


Recently the President said that in the first second an opportunity arose, the government will be toppled.

A: Yes, that should be done.


But toppling governments is not an easy thing to do. Is the battle you have launched to topple the government at this moment, strong enough?

A: That is why we are not saying anything about it. Like the previous time, we will topple this at some time. Wait and see what we are going to do.


But what those who are looking inside from the outside can see is that conspirators of foreign enemy forces who acted to send your government home then still remain within your camp.

A: Actually we too have some doubts about that. From 2012 these enemy forces entered and engaged in eradicating the image of Mahinda Rajapaksa and carried out that procedure both from within and without. Those who were inside made use of them and made them act in a way that those within got disgusted with Mahinda Rajapaksa. In the meantime they spread a rumour that a change was required and thefts had to be halted.

Nevertheless, those who said that are the very same persons who got involved in the biggest robbery of all. Even now, these people have crept into all the Parties and are attempting to spread rumours that Gotabaya is good, Gotabaya is bad, Basil is good and Basil is bad, Chamal is good and Chamal is bad. We do not take much notice of those. There must be such enemy forces. We have to be careful of such persons. We have to be especially alert about enemies that come disguised as friends.


What is your stance regarding the American institution, Millennium Corporation which is thought could become a threat to National security?

A: We questioned this in Parliament. The far more serious problem than the Millennium Corporation is that the 7 fleet of the American Navy is in the Indian Ocean. No one knows for what reason they remain there. They have been granted permission to take from the Bandaranaike Airport without any checks or investigations. I am asking what our freedom is, what is our security? A highway is being built from Trincomalee to Mannar through the Millenium Corporation. Then this country gets divided very simply. Actually a proposal has been made to hand over to this business 35,000 acres in the vicinity of the fuel tanks at the Trincomalee Harbour. Then this 7 fleet of the American Navy is in the Indian Ocean, we feel is to enter the country at any given moment a problem arises. When we consider the things that America did during the past, we have huge doubts.


Although you are talking about a Presidential Election at this moment, do you have a programme to attract minority votes?

A: As I said earlier, we are ready to work with them with cooperation. Now, we were able to work directly with people’s representatives they elected through the Provincial Councils Method. Although we could not hold discussions with armed organisations such as the LTTE, the possibility was there to conduct discussions with democratic institutions. When persons such as Pillaiyan were elected to the Provincial Council we were able to hold discussions without weapons. Now their distortion can be seen. If not, the TNA should shout now too, asking for Provincial Councils to be given to them. They too are in favour of Provincial Council elections being postponed.

Isn’t this man a traitor?

March 4th, 2019

Sudath Gunasekara

Isn’t this man a traitor?  Why can’t the Government, of cause if there is one in this country, arrest this man and all others engaged in this type of traitorous activities immediately and institute legal action, at least now, under the provisions of the 6th Amendment to the 1987 Constitution? 

Wigneswaran off to Geneva

3 March, 2019

By Rajitha Jagoda Arachchi

Former Chief Minister of the Northern Province and current General Secretary of the Tamil People’s Front (TPF), C.V. Wigneswaran will visit Geneva this month to block the extension expected by the Government at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to fully implement Resolutions 30 (1) and 34 (1) passed at the UNHRC.

Leader of the EPRLF and former Member of Parliament Suresh Premachandran told the Sunday Observer that a majority of the political fronts in the Northern Province are of unanimous opinion on blocking further extensions to implement the Resolutions.

In October 2015, the Government co-sponsored Resolution 30 (1) presented to the Council by the United States. Later in 2017, the Government received an extension of two years to implement the recommendations to create peace and reconciliation in the country parallel to taking action against those involved in crimes during the war. In 2015, Wigneswaran hailed the Resolution saying that it was a comprehensive report and a dramatic step towards achieving reconciliation. Later, he complained on several occasions on the failure of the Government to execute those recommendations.

Giving more time wouldn’t help the Tamils and it would only benefit the Government” Wigneswaran, told the TPF Youth Wing in Mullaitivu, last month. Premachadran also objected to the Government seeking extra time. The Government has already spent four years and failed to achieve any progress. Therefore, there is no point in giving more time. In contrast, the President and some politicians spoke about getting away with the Resolution too,” said Premachandran.

As Premachandran said, the report submitted by Wigneswaran to the Geneva UNHRC calls for the release of all political prisoners, release of all military occupied lands in the North, investigations on missing persons, investigations on war crimes which the Government had failed to address during past four years.

Now, the Tamils are left with only two options – to have an international tribunal or intervention from the UN Security Council” he said. Despite several attempts, the former Chief Minister Wigneswaran was not available for comment as he is now on a private tour of India. He will return to the island after the Maha Sivarathri celebrations in India and will then leave for Geneva.

The Geneva sessions which began on February 25 will continue till March 22.

Tamil parties declare no faith in Prez, PM, call for UN office in North

March 4, 2019, 12:34 pm

By Jehan Haniff

A delegation consisting of representatives of at least four Tamil political parties is scheduled to head for Geneva to lobby the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for an international mechanism to speed up investigations into alleged human rights violations and accountability issues.

The delegation would also request the appointment of a UN Rapporteur for Sri Lanka, a top Tamil politician said, yesterday.

“Representatives of the ITAK, TELO, TULF, EPRLF and PLOTE attended a two-hour meeting at a hotel in Jaffna, from 11.00 am, yesterday, to agree on submissions to be made to the UNHRC and the second and final round of our talks will be held within the next few days,” former Northern Provincial Council member and TELO spokesman M. K. Sivajilingam said.

Sivajilingam told The Island that all those present at Saturday’s meeting had said they had no faith in President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“We’ll seek redress through an international judicial process, and we would first request the appointment of a UN Rapporteur for Sri Lanka,” the TELO spokesman added.

Last week former Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran said that a UN office must be established in the North to probe wartime disappearances and human rights abuses.

Wigneswaran said that President Sirisena had publicly stated that he had no intention of implementing the recommendations of the UNHRC regarding alleged human rights violations. “Given this situation, the UN must decide whether there is any point in giving Sri Lanka another extension to fulfil its promises.

“This is why we want an international tribunal to probe these matters. The UNHRC must establish a mechanism to probe Sri Lanka’s war crimes and human rights abuses. Moreover to stop the continuing human rights abuses in the North, the UNHRC must establish an office here.”

The Sri Lankan government had continuously attempted to mislead the UNHRC by establishing toothless mechanisms, the former Chief Minister said. “The government has not released Tamil political prisoners. It has not yet fully returned private property that remains with the security forces. Tamil people are shocked by these developments and their mistrust has grown.”

I quote the 6th A here for your convenience.

Sec 3 Provision against violation of territorial integrity of Sri Lanka

157A91) No person shall directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, spouse, promote ,finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate state within the  territory of Sri Lanka

(2) No political party or other association or organization shall have has one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

The punishments for this offence are listed under sub sections 3 to 9 of Sec 3.

They include civic disability, forfeiture of movable and immovable property removal of civic rights removal from Office and proscription of his political party or organization to which he belongs.

Sri Lankans should be more compassionate with empathy, devoid of ego hatred, ignorance and be honest??

March 4th, 2019

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

I was listening to  you tube talk by one Buddhist monk ,who openly stated that we Sri Lankans ( most probably we was referring to Sinhalese) are hypocoristic people with no compassion ,He was referring to Theravada Buddhist practice in Burma ,Thailand ,Tibet and Laos ,where people look up to Buddhist cultural values and practice then in their daily life. In Sri Lanka behave like animals, we take alcohol during Pirith and Dana ceremonies our drivers are not polite but very arrogant with no concern about fellow drivers, our state workers and officers take bribes for anything they do. Females are sexually harassed in public transport, and get whistled or gazed by bystanders.

And yet he said when he travelled most of the foreigners have been praising Sri Lankan for being very joyful and smiling!

He says that it us so surprising to hear that from visitors.

Should a political party be formed with a manifesto where they will take every endeavor to make this nation more compassionate and kind like in some Buddhist countries like Burma?

Quote

People in Myanmar

People in Myanmar are simply awesome.  They are kind and sincerely in general. Buddhism of the country taught the kindness to most people. Of course, recent communal violence between Muslim minority and Buddhist fundamentalist mobs also bring shame to the community. Hey, we all got some smelly eggs in family!  But most people in Myanmar are simply honest and peaceful.”

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

 

India’s Bid to Promote ‘Buddhist Tourism’ Encounters Hurdles

March 4th, 2019

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BODHGAYA (IDN) – In recent years the Indian government has been promoting the concept of a ‘Buddhist Tourism Circuit’ (BTC) with Bodhgaya – the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment under a Bo-Tree – as its centrepiece. Yet, with less than 1 percent of India’s population Buddhist today, lack of Buddhist communities around the Buddhist sites hinders the promotional pitch. Bodhgaya is a good example.

Nangzey Dorjee, Secretary, Bodhgaya Temple Management Committee (BTMC) disagrees with that view. “How can you say there are no Buddhists here?” he asked. “There’s so many Buddhist temples here. There’s so many Buddhists staying or working with these temples. Taking all these as a whole, there is definitely a Buddhist community here,” he argued.

Bodhgaya in fact has a vibrant Buddhist community with scores of grand and sometimes colourful Buddhist temples representing different Buddhist countries from across Asia, surrounding the Mahabodhi Temple which hosts the Bodhi tree. However, none of these represents what one would describe as ‘Indian Buddhism’.

“Bodhgaya has so many monks, beautiful big temples that are well maintained, but the monks neither know Hindi (local language) nor sometimes English. So, their influence on local community is nil,” complained Venerable Pragyadeep Mahathera, general secretary of the All India Bhikku Sangha in an interview with Lotus News Features.

“Local community takes advantage of their charity, they see the monks (in foreign owned temples) as only charity giving. They don’t teach the dhamma (Buddhist philosophy),” he said.

To create a vibrant Buddhist cultural life here, the Bihar state government organized a three-day Buddhist cultural festival at the end of January known as ‘Bodh Mahotsav’ in the style of an Indian mela (community festival). It was well attended by the local community, but most of the Buddhist cultural performances were done by artistes brought over from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, as well as from traditional Indian Buddhist communities in the Himalayas.

“In Bodhgaya you see monasteries from every part of the globe. But I have seen working with TTV that even a Buddhist doesn’t help a Buddhist here. They have got very different kind of framework,” laments Akil Sindhu founder of Tatagatha TV (TTV), who covered the festival.

“If someone comes from a X country and wants to do a Buddhist ceremony, they will do so among themselves in India. They will not invite or entertain people from India. Because they think people from India are totally beggars. They are everywhere asking for money. (Unfortunately) this type of practice here, has defined the native side of Buddhism here.”

A local Buddhist, Kali Prasad Boudh told Lotus News Features that there is a small community of about 15 Buddhists in Siddartha Nagar, just about a kilometre from the Mahabodhi temple, but they don’t get much help from the temples.

“The temples here don’t try to empower the local Buddhists (who are very poor coming from former Dalit – Hindu low caste – backgrounds),” he said. “They work closely with the BTMC, who in turn works closely with the Bihar (state) government.”

Mahabodhi Temple, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2002, attracts over 4 million tourists (both domestic and international) annually. At least half of them would be Buddhist pilgrims that arrive with a charitable mindset. This has led to locals exploiting them and any visitor coming here during the Buddhist pilgrim seasons would find hundreds of Buddhist “monks” and NGO charities virtually begging for money in and outside the temple premises.

One local Buddhist said that most of the monks you find with begging bowls and doing Buddhist chantings are fake monks. They will put yellow robes for Bodhgaya, and then change to white robes and go to Mahayana Buddhist pilgrim sites or festivals in other parts of India to beg. “They are professional beggars,” he said, adding that “temple management has to do something to stop these people giving a bad image to this sacred place”.

In November 2018, it was reported in the local media that a number of fake child monks were apprehended inside the Mahabodhi temple by a regular monk and handed over to the police. Once inside the shrine, they were reported to have duped gullible Buddhist pilgrims from abroad to seek donations, and also stolen wallets and other valuables of the visitors.

Dorjee said that it is difficult to differentiate between a fake monk and a real one. “Mahabodhi temple is a public place not a private place. Anybody can come here. As Buddhists we can’t say only Buddhists can come here. (But) if one does a crime, we can debar him,” he said.

He argued that the fact Bodhgaya is attracting such a large number of poor people to earn a livelihood from begging shows that the temple is “influencing this whole area with Buddhist culture”. A solution to the crux of the problem lies in providing education to the poor, so that they don’t continue to live in poverty, he added.

When asked whether BTMC could initiate a foundation to channel large donations they receive from pilgrims into such activities, he welcomed the suggestion, but said that the temple also needs large funds to maintain the place. Because of this temple so many are benefiting; that is the charity part of it;” he argued.

Venerable Seevali, general secretary of the Mahabodhi Society of India believes that if a thriving Indian Buddhist community is to be developed in Bodhgaya, the government needs to establish a scheme to improve the economy of the poor.

“The government can (then) ask pilgrims to donate to these projects,” he said. “There are no such schemes at present. The pilgrims come here, often using their life savings. It is not their duty to alleviate these peoples’ poverty.”

Mahabodhi Society in fact runs a school here educating the local community. But, Ven  Pragyadeep Mahathera is critical of this school because most of its students are Hindus and Muslims from the local community. “Mahabodhi is not teaching Buddhism in the school,” he said. “They need to teach Dhamma at a very low level to the local population to develop a Buddhist community here.”

Ven Seevali agreed that the Mahabodi school is not a Buddhist school. “Mahabodhi Society is not here to convert Hindus and Muslims (to Buddhism). We are not evangelists. We are helping to educate the community. (In Buddhism) practicing compassion and loving kindness is not only towards the Buddhists,” he told the Lotus News Features.

The local NGO run Sujata School near Sujata Shrine here – where a young maiden gave a bowl of milk rice to Prince Siddhartha to break his spell of extreme asceticism and propelled him to find the ‘middle path’ – is an example of how Buddhist tourism is helping the local community.

The school, which educates 220 poor students from villages in the area, 150 of whom live on site, survives on donations from Buddhist visitors to the shrine close by. They have foot soldiers, who chat up tourists and lobby aggressively for donations. They have survived for eight years so far, with some of the boarded students travelling as far as 50 km away.

Helping the poor of any background without the hidden motive to proselytize may be a good Buddhist tradition. But, local Buddhist Kali Boudh said that BTMCs control of all the Buddhist temples in Bodhgaya needs to be lifted if a local Buddhist community is to prosper.

“(BTMC) does not allow these temples to go outside and promote Buddhism. That is why a Buddhist community is not developing here,” he explained. [IDN-InDepthNews – 03 March 2019)

How Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Can Deescalate India-Pakistan Tensions

March 4th, 2019

By Ambassador M. Ashraf Haidari Senior Fellow INSSSL

India and Pakistan joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as full member-states in the 8-9 June 2017 SCO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan. Before the addition of the two South Asian nations, the SCO consisted of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The now eight-member SCO also has four observer-states, including Afghanistan, and six dialogue-partners, including Sri Lanka. In total and together, they constitute much of the Asian geography with a population of over three billion people.

The foundational purpose of SCO as the largest inter-governmental organization in the world is to strengthen mutual trust and promote good neighborly relations among its member-states. This is to be achieved through gradual but consistent efforts by the SCO member-states to engage in multifaceted cooperation to advance their collective, common interest in the sustainable human and protective security of the SCO space. Parallel to this, the SCO seeks to establish a more democratic and rational world order.

Because sustainable peace makes sustainable development possible in Asia and the rest of the world, the SCO Summits continue emphasizing the importance of results-driven security cooperation among its member-states, observer-states, and dialogue-partners. The addition of India and Pakistan was widely welcomed as a significant opportunity for the SCO to address the lingering security threats of terrorism, extremism, and separatism in South and Central Asia. These same intertwined threats have provided an enabling environment for organized criminality, while deepening poverty that denies the youthful populations of Asia the socio-economic opportunities and facilities they need to contribute to the sustainable development and peace of their individual nations and collectively to those of the rest of Asia.

That is why Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 18th SCO Summit in Qingdao called on the SCO’s expanded membership to move from talk to action. He stated: We need to actively implement the 2019-2021 program of cooperation for combating ‘three evil forces of terrorism, separatism, and extremism;’ continue to conduct the ‘Peace Mission’ and other joint counter-terrorism exercises…We need to give full play to the role of SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group to facilitate peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan.”

President Xi added that Countries are increasingly inter-dependent today… confronted with many common threats and challenges that no one can tackle alone. Only by enhancing solidarity and partnership, will we be able to achieve lasting stability and development.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the Summit as a newly admitted member-state, echoed his Chinese counterpart, floating the concept of SECURE to underpin the work of SCO: ‘S’ for security for citizens, ‘E’ for economic development, ‘C’ for connectivity in the region, ‘U’ for unity, ‘R’ for respect of sovereignty, ‘E’ for environmental protection. He highlighted instability in Afghanistan as an unfortunate effect of terrorism,” noting: I hope the brave steps towards peace taken by President Ghani will be respected by all in the region.”

Moreover, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the accession of India and Pakistan to the SCO. He stressed that countering terrorism remains the priority for cooperation within the SCO,” underlining that the three-year program of action, adopted at the 18th Summit, envisions holding joint drills and counter-terror operations, streamlining a closer exchange of experience and operational information.” He also encouraged the SCO Youth Council to actively participate in our work on preventing the recruitment of young people to participate in terrorist activities.”

Building on these and other statements from the SCO member-states, calling for quick and concrete action to fight and eliminate terrorism, the Central Military Commission of Russia conducted a six-day joint military exercise from 22-29 August 2018 in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. The joint exercise was initiated by the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of SCO (RATS-SCO), which included tactical operations with a focus on strengthening counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency preparedness, coordination and cooperation among the SCO member-states. Around 3,000 soldiers—including 748 from China, 167 from India, and 110 from Pakistan—participated in the joint drill.

Indeed, for India and Pakistan, it was their first such joint military exercise since their independence in 1947. And this raised much hope about the prospect of the two countries participating in the Peace Mission 2018 and future ones to move beyond decades of routine skirmishes along the Line of Control and to begin building inter-military confidence through SCO measures, thereby easing tensions between the two nations. Commenting on this shortly before the joint exercise, Sun Zhuangzhi, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, It is a rare opportunity for Pakistan and India, which have long been involved in military conflict, to enhance military exchanges and trust. This could improve regional stability.”

Contrary to these expectations, however, a rapid escalation of violence between India and Pakistan since February 14, 2019 has been cause for serious concern in the SCO neighborhood and the rest of the world. On February 14, Pakistan-based terrorist group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), carried out and later claimed a suicide attack on a bus, carrying the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The attack killed 40 of the CRPF officers. This unprovoked act of terrorism was internationally condemned with calls on Pakistan to rid its soil of terrorist networks and to dismantle their support infrastructure, including safe havens and training facilities. India promised retaliation and, on February 26, conducted surgical air strikes that hit the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot, Pakistan.” Many militants under training at the camp are reportedly to have been killed by India’s air strikes.

Although the international community has called for restraint by India and Pakistan and de-escalation of tensions between them, now is the time for the SCO’s founding member-states to act on their often-stated common objectives to restore, ensure and maintain peace, security, and stability in the SCO space. In the last SCO Summit, President Putin emphasized that one of the SCO’s key priorities was to assist in the political and diplomatic settlement of conflicts near the external borders of the organization’s member-states.”

Now that escalatory moves by India and Pakistan could lead to breakout of a larger conflict with far-reaching implications within the SCO’s own borders, the SCO should lose no time in engaging with the two countries to have them refrain from further retaliatory measures in favor of returning to direct dialogue for a resolution of mounting tensions caused by the recent developments. While this should be SCO’s immediate goal, the RATS-SCO should be tasked to identify and assess the presence of major terrorist groups and their support infrastructure throughout the SCO region. Then it should map out a results-oriented counter-terrorism plan of action for adoption by the SCO member-states, whose counter-terrorism efforts the RATS-SCO should verify to ensure no distinction between and among terrorist groups. In other words, verification by RATS-SCO should expose for correction duplicitous counter-terrorism policies, which remain an impediment to effective counter-terrorism in South Asia.

As President Ashraf Ghani said, on condemning the February 14 terrorist attack in India, terrorism is a cancer in the region, and it requires collective efforts to root it out.” The SCO can and should initiate to lead a collective, region-wide campaign to fight and eliminate the cancer, before it spreads in multiple destructive ways throughout the SCO region. Afghanistan has done more than a lion’s share, fighting terrorism with regional and transnational roots. Our full accession to the SCO will only enable us to do a lot more, helping our neighbors—including India, Pakistan, China, Russia, and Iran—address the intertwined threats of terrorism, extremism, and criminality.

  1. Ashraf Haidari is the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Sri Lanka,he is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka(INSSSL) as well as a Senior International Security Fellow at the New America in Washington-DC. He tweets @MAshrafHaidari. Views expressed are authors own.

The New Colombo Plan and Australia’s Asian Future

March 4th, 2019

By Grant Wyeth Courtesy The  Diplomat

The program’s true success will come when wider Australia society begins to feel a greater affinity with Asia.

In late February Julie Bishop, Australia’s former foreign minister, declared that she would not recontest her parliamentary seat in the forthcoming election (set for May). Having resigned her position in the cabinet in August last year, after the leadership fight that saw Scott Morrison become prime minister, Bishop has decided to leave the parliament as well. Bishop served five years in the role and was generally seen as having performed admirably in the face of a shifting global political landscape — particularly Australia’s relationship with China — and in the face of the instability of her own political party.

Of the foreign policy initiatives that came to fruition during her period as foreign minister, the one with potentially the farthest reach for Australia’s future could be the New Colombo Plan. The ongoing scheme is aimed at improving Australia’s knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region and facilitating greater people-to-people links by supporting undergraduate students to study and undertake internships throughout Australia.

The title of the scheme is derived from a previous foreign policy initiative by the Australian government. In the period following World War II, Australia was having to significantly readjust its foreign policy. The United Kingdom was no longer going to be an Asian power, making the realities of Australia’s geography a more pronounced phenomenon. The country could no longer see itself as simply a European outpost; it needed to find a way of engaging with its region in a more understanding manner. This necessity became more pronounced as decolonization in the region progressed, with Asian countries taking control of their own affairs.

One of the initiatives from this period to enhance Australia’s regional engagement was the creation of the Colombo Plan in 1951. Initially created as an aid and development program, its centerpiece was the sponsorship of Asian students to study in Australia. By the 1980s, over 20,000 students had utilized the program. The idea was that Asian students would return to their home countries upon completing their studies and would enter the political and professional classes with a sympathetic view of Australia, and would provide the requisite connections for Australia’s political, bureaucratic and trade relations.

Although this scheme looked very much like a one-way street, it was a level of engagement unbeknownst to Australia at the time, and can even be viewed as playing an important role in the ending of the White Australia Policy. It also paved the way for the country’s modern education industry. Australia is now one of the world’s primary destinations for foreign students to study, with Asian students dominating the numbers that come to its universities (China, India, Nepal, Malaysia, and Vietnam being the top five sources).

The New Colombo Plan, however, is an attempt to enhance the other side of this coin, to push Australian students out into Asia, improve the country’s Asian literacy, and increase its Asia capability. Yet for this to occur the program needs to become an institution, with long-stay student education in the region a norm rather than something exceptional. This may mean expanding the program’s scholarship offerings, and raising the current cap on student mobility grants. A program that is too exclusive will struggle to achieve its primary purpose of enhancing a broader Asian literacy among the country’s people.

Complementary to the New Colombo Plan would be a renewed push for the learning of Asian languages in Australian schools. The economic dominance of the United States has facilitated English becoming the global lingua franca, and Australia has been fortunate enough to be able to piggyback on this phenomenon. An antipathy toward language learning is still very much in the mold of the original Colombo Plan, with Asia coming to Australia, rather than Australia going to Asia. The Labor Party has pledged to rectify this problem, should they come to power in the May election.

Despite 11 of the country’s 15 largest trading partners being in the Indo-Pacific region, and a diverse and growing population of Asian-Australians, the country still grapples with the question of its place in Asia. The latest issue of the Australian Foreign Affairs magazine is titled Are We Asian Yet?” with essays exploring the balance between the country’s predominant European heritage, shifting population make-up, and the realities of its geography.

The New Colombo Plan is a positive initiative that Bishop can be rightly proud of developing during her time as Australia’s foreign minister. Yet as a program focused on the country’s university students it can still only be seen as a vanguard toward a broader engagement with the region. The program’s true success will come when wider Australia society begins to feel a greater affinity with Asia. And that’s something that seems perpetually on the horizon.

රිස්ඛාන්ගේ ටැක්සි සමාගම විවෘත කරන්න රනිල් ඇවිත්

March 4th, 2019

අනුරාධා හේරත් උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

පාතාල ගැටුමකින් මැරුම් කෑ මාකඳුරේ මධුෂ්ගේ සමීපතමයකු වන මොහොමඩ් රිස්ඛාන් නමැත්තාගේ ටැක්සි සමාගමක් විවෘත කිරීමට අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ සහභාගි වූ සිද්ධියක් ‘දූෂණ විරෝධී හඬ’ අනාවරණය කළේය.
‘දූෂණ විරෝධී හඬ’ කැඳවුම්කරු වසන්ත සමරසිංහ තවදුරටත් ප්‍රකාශ කළේ අදාළ රිස්ඛාන් නමැත්තාගෙන් අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ නිල් මැණිකක්ද ත්‍යාග වශයෙන් ලබාගෙන ඇති බවත් ඊට අදාළ සියලු ඡායාරූප තමා සතුව පවතින බවත්ය.

විශේෂයෙන්ම පාතාලය සමඟ දේශපාලනඥයන්ට ඇති රහස්‍ය සබඳතා පිළිබඳ මෙය හොඳම උදාහරණයක් බවද සමරසිංහ මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

එමෙන්ම මෙරට ප්‍රධාන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ දෙකම පාතාලය සමඟ කරන ගනුදෙනු ගැන සාක්ෂි හා තොරතුරු තමා සතුව ඇති බවත් ඒවා සියල්ල පිළිබඳව තමා අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට පැමිණිලි කරන බවත් ඔහු පැවැසීය.

ආසන්නතම උදාහරණ ලෙස මධුෂ්ගේ පියාගේ අභාවයට ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි නිරෝෂන් ප්‍රේමරත්න සහභාගි වීම, තව පැත්තකින් මධුෂ්ගේ සමීපතයන්ගේ උත්සවයට ආරාධිතයන් ලෙස අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ සමඟ මුජිබර් රහුමාන්, ඒ.එච්.එම්. ෆවුසි යන අය සහභාගි වීම වැනි සිද්ධීන් රටට හෙළි වන විට බුද්ධි අංශ ඒ ගැන සෙවිය යුතු බවද සමරසිංහ මහතා කීය.

ඒ අනුව මධුෂ්ගේ එක් අතක් පොදුජන පෙරමුණ පාර්ශ්වයේත්, තව අතක් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය සමඟත් බැඳී පවතින බව හොඳින් තහවුරු වී ඇතැයි පවසන ඒ මහතා තවදුරටත් කියා සිටියේ මෙම පාතාලය හා දේශපාලනඥයන් අතර පවතින සබඳතා නිසා රට විනාශ කරන මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ජාවාරම්කරුවන් පෝෂණය වන බව තව තවත් අනාවරණය වන බවය.

ඔහු මේ බව පැවැසුවේ පසුගියදා දෙහිඅත්තකණ්ඩියේ පැවැති ජනහමුවක් අමතමිනි.

ඉදිරියේදී සෑම පුරවැසියකුටම ගෞරවනීය ජීවිතයක් උදාකර දෙනවා-ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ

March 4th, 2019

ගම්පොළ – මාධව බණ්ඩාර, මහනුවර – නදීක දයා බණ්ඩාර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ඉදිරියේදී සෑම පුරවැසියකුටම ගෞරවනීය ලෙස ජීවත්වීමේ වාතාවරණයක් සකස් කර දෙන බවත් නිසි ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති මඟින් රට ඉදිරියට රැගෙන ගොස් මේ රටේ සෑම ජන කොටසකගේම දුප්පත්කම ඉවත් කොට නීතිය, සාමය හා විනය ඇති සමාජයකෙ ජීවත්වීමේ පසුබිම සකස් කර දෙන බවත් ‘එළිය’ සංවිධානයේ සම්මන්ත්‍රණයකට එක්වෙමින් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවැසීය.

උඩුනුවර ඇතුළු අවට ප්‍රදේශ තුළ ජීවත් වන මුස්ලිම් ජනයා ආමන්ත්‍රණය කිරීමේ අරමුණු ඇතිව මුස්ලිම්වරු විසින් එළමල්දෙණිය ප්‍රදේශයේදී මෙම වැඩසටහන සංවිධානය කොට තිබිණි. ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එහිදී මෙසේද කීය.

රටක විනයක් නොමැති නම් ඒ රටේ ජාතීන් අතර, භාෂා අතර, ආගම් අතර පමණක් නොවේ දේශපාලනය, ආර්ථික හා සංස්කෘතිය ඇතුළු සියලු අංශ කඩා වැටී සමාජය පිරිහීම කරා ඇදී යනවා. අද ඇති වී තිබෙන්නේත් එවැනි තත්ත්වයක්.

එද අපි මේ රටට විනයක් ගේනකොට ත්‍රස්තවාදය නැති කරලා සාමය ගේනකොට මේ රටේ පාතාලය නැති කරලා සාමකාමී බව ඇති කරනකොට විවිධ අය අපට අභූත චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් දෝෂාරෝපණය කළා.
ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මා සතුව එකම සුදු වෑන් එකක්වත් නෑ. නමුත් සුදු වෑන්වලින් මිනිස්සු උස්සන සංකල්පය මේ රටට හඳුන්වා දීපු 87,88,89 කාලය අද කාටත් අමතක වෙලා තියෙනවා.

අපේ කාලය තුළ ත්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහිව සටන් කරන්නට බුද්ධි අංශ මඟින් යම් යම් ක්‍රමවේද යොදා ගන්නට ඇති. ඒවා ලෝකයම අනුගමනය කරන ක්‍රමවේද. ඒ අය කිසිම ආකාරයකින් දේශපාලන පළිගැනීම් කළේ නෑ. අහිංසක මිනිසුන්ට හිරිහැර කළෙත් නෑ. නිර්දෝෂී පුද්ගලයන්ගෙන් පළිගත්තෙත් නෑ. මේ රටේ ජනතාවට සාමයෙන් ඉන්න දෙන්නයි ඔවුන් කටයුතු කළේ.

එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානයේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් මැඬලන්නට, බස්වල දුම්රියවල නිරායුධ මිනිසුන් මැරෙන එක වළක්වන්නට, ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථාන බේරා ගන්න, පූජනීය ස්ථාන විනාශ කරන එක නවත්වන්නට බුද්ධි අංශ විශාල සේවයක් කළා.

ඒ බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන් කළ සේවය නිසා තමයි ත්‍රස්තවාදය අවසන් කිරීමට හැකි වුණේ. මේ ආකාරයට යුද්ධය අවසන් කොට රට බේරා ගැනීමට කැප වීම් කළ නිලධාරීන්ට විරුද්ධවයි අද මේ ආණ්ඩුව ක්‍රියා කරමින් සිටින්නේ.
ඒ නිලධාරීන් මේ කැපවීම කළේ ඒ අයගේ පෞද්ගලික අවශ්‍යතාවකට නොවේ. ඒ කැපවීම කළේ රට වෙනුවෙන්. ඒ වගේම මම යම් කිසි නායකත්වයක් දුන්නා නම් යම් කිසි වැඩ සටහනක් ගෙන ගියා නම් ඒ කිසිවක් මගේ පෞද්ගලික අවශ්‍යතාවකට නොවේ. ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් කෙනෙක් ලෙසත් මේ රටේ රට වැසියෙක් ලෙසත් මට කරන්න තිබුණ වගකීම තමයි මම ඉෂ්ට කළේ.

ඒ වගකීම නිසි ලෙස ඉෂ්ට කළ නිසා මේ රටේ සිංහල, මුස්ලිම්, දෙමළ යන සෑම ජනකොටසකටම යහපතක් වුණා.

එදා අපේ රටේ විරුද්ධ පක්ෂ පමණක් නොවේ විදේශ බලවේගවලින් පවා විශාල බොරු ප්‍රචාර ගෙන ගියා. එදා ඒ අය බැලුවා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඒ තනතුරෙන් ඉවත් කරන්නේ කොහොමද කියන කරුණ.
මේ හේතුව මත ඔවුන් මේ රටේ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා හා දමිළ ජනයා සාර්ථකව මුළා කළා. නමුත් අද මේ අය දන්නවා මොකක්ද ඇත්ත කතාව කියලා.

එදා අලුත්ගම සිද්ධ වුණ කාරණයේදී කොහොමද අපි ඉක්මනට ක්‍රියා කළේ කියන කාරණයත් අද දිගන සිදු වීමේදී මේ රජය කොහොමද ක්‍රියා කළ ආකාරයෙන් අද මේ අය හොඳින් දන්නවා.

එම නිසා මම ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා බොරු ප්‍රචාරවලට නොරැවටී මේ රට වැටී ඇති තැනින් ඉදිරියට ගෙන අපි සියල්ලම එකා වගේ වැඩ කරමු කියලා.

ඉදිරියේදී අපේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය වන්නේ මේ රටේ සියලුම ජන කොටස්වලට මේ රටේ එක හා සමානව ජීවත් වීමේ වාතාවරණයක් සකස් කර දීමයි.

අපි ජාතිවාදීන් ලෙසත් අපි මුස්ලිම් ජනයාට විරුද්ධ අය ලෙසත් විරුද්ධවාදීන් පෙන්වල දුන්නා. නමුත් අපේ ආණ්ඩුව ඒ කාලය තුළදී ක්‍රියා කළේ මේ රටේ සිටින සියලුම ජන කොටස්වලට යහපත් වන ආකාරයට.
අපට නිදහස ලැබිලා අවුරුදු 71ක් ගත වෙලත් අපි කතා කරනවා දෙමළ ජනයාගේ ප්‍රශ්නය. මුස්ලිම් ජනයාගේ ප්‍රශ්නය. නමුත් අදටත් මේ ගැටලු තියෙන්නේ දේශපාලනඥයන් ඡන්දය පදනම් කරගෙන පමණක් මේ ගැටලු කතා කරන නිසයි.

එදා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව කළේ මේ ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් ලෙස දකුණ, නැඟෙනහිර, උතුර ඇතුළු රටම සංවර්ධනය කිරීමයි.

අපි මේ රටේ සියලුම ජන කොටස්වලට ජීවත් වීමේ නිදහස ලබා දිය යුතුයි. අද මේ රටේ ප්‍රශ්න ඇති වෙලා තියෙන්නේ ජන වර්ග අතර ඇති දුප්පත්කම නිසයි. මුදල් තියෙනවා නම් සිංහලද මුස්ලිම්ද දෙමළද කියන එක ගැටලුවක් වෙන්නේ නෑ. ඔවුන්ට පුළුවන් හොඳ ජීවිතයක් ගෙනියන්න. හොඳ ව්‍යාපාරයක් කරන්න. තමන්ගේ දරුවට හොඳට උගන්වන්න. ඒ දරුවන් පිටරටකට යවන්න. එහෙම නැත්නම් ගැටලු ගොඩයි.
හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල්

වසර දෙදහස් ගණනකට පෙර මේ රටේ ව්‍යාපාරවල යෙදුණු මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට අද ඒ කටයුත්ත කරගන්න විදියක් නෑ. ඔවුන්ගේ ව්‍යාපාර කඩා වැටිලා. සමස්තයක් ලෙස රටේම ව්‍යාපාර කඩා වැටිලා. පොලිය වැඩියි. ආදායම අඩුයි. මේවා තමයි රට පුරාම ඇහෙන්නේ.

එදා ඩොලර් දාහක ආයෝජනයක් කළොත් පොලිය ගෙවන්න වුණේ ලක්ෂයයි. නමුත් අද එක් ලක්ෂ අසූදාහක් ගෙවන්න ඕනෑ.

ඒ වගේම අද රුපියල් විසි දහසක ආදායමක් ලැබුණොත් පොලී ගෙවන්න ඕනේ අට දහසක්. එදා ගෙවන්න වුණේ 2500යි. ඉතින් ව්‍යාපාර කඩා වැටෙන එක අහන්න දෙයක් නෙවෙයි.

නායකත්වය කියන්නේ ජනතාව ඉදිරියට ඇවිත් තමන්ගේ දුක කියන එක හෝ තමන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්න කියන එකම නෙවෙයි. නායකත්වය කියන්නේ ප්‍රශ්නවලට විසඳුම් හොයලා ඒවා නිරාකරණය කරලා රට ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන එකටයි. නමුත් අද අපට එහෙම දෙයක් පේන්නෙ නැහැ.

අද මුළු ලෝකෙම අපේ රට ප්‍රසිද්ධ වෙලා තියෙන්නේ සියලුම අංශවලින් කඩා වැටෙන රටක් ලෙසයි.

 

මහ බැංකුව ගැන ආයෝජකයන්ගේ විශ්වාසය බිඳවැටිලා

March 4th, 2019

ක්‍රිෂාන් පතිරත් ජයසූරිය උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ඊ.ටී.අයි. (E.T.I.) ආයතනය හා ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව පිළිබඳව මේ වනවිට ඇති වී ඇති ආන්දෝලනාත්මක සිද්ධීන් නිසා ආයෝජකයන්ට මහ බැංකුව පිළිබඳව විශ්වාසයක් ඇති නොවන තත්ත්වයක් උදා වී ඇතැයිද ඡ්.ඊ.ධ්. ආයතනය පිළිබඳව මහ බැංකුව කටයුතු කර තිබෙන ආකාරය පිළිබ¼දව කිසිසේත්ම සෑහීමකට පත්වීමට නොහැකි යැයි විදුලිබල, බලශක්ති හා ව්‍යාපාර සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍ය රවි කරුණානායක මහතා පවසයි.

ඉහත සඳහන් කරුණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මහ බැංකුව කටයුතු කර තිබෙන ආකාරය පිළිබඳව විශේෂ අධීක්ෂණයක් යටතේ සොයාබැලීමට සූදානම් යැයිද ජාතික ආර්ථික සභාවේදී තවදුරටත් මේ පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කර තීරණයකට එළැඹෙන බවද අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවැසීය.

ඡ්.ඊ.ධ්. ආයතනයේ මුදල් තැන්පතුකරුවන්ට සිදුවී ඇති අසාධාරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් එම තැන්පතුකරුවන් සහ රවි කරුණානායක අමාත්‍යවරයා අතර විදුලිබල අමාත්‍යාංශයේදී පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවකින් අනතුරුව අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

අමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසුවේ ඡ්.ඊ.ධ්. තැන්පතුකරුවන් ලක් වී ඇති අසාධාරණයට ආණ්ඩුවක් ලෙස මැදිහත් වන බව හා ඔවුන්ගේ තැන්පතු භයානක තත්ත්වයක නොමැති බවයි.
රවි කරුණානායක මහතා මෙසේද පැවැසීය.

ඊ.ටී.අයි. තැන්පත්කරුවන්ට වී ඇති අසාධාරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පසුගියදා ජාතික ආර්ථික සභාවේදී පවා සාකච්ඡා වුණා. ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අවධානයත් මේ පිළිබඳව යොමු වුණා.

මහ බැංකුවේ සහ ඊ.ටී.අයි. (E.T.I.)සමාගම අතර සිදුවුණු දේ පිළිබඳව කිව්වොත්E.T.I.  සමාගම විකිණීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ටෙන්ඩරයට තුන් දෙනකු පමණ ඉදිරිපත් වුණා. එහිදී එක්කෙනකු තේරුණා. එයා විදේශිකයෙක්. ඔහු ඉදිරිපත් කළ ලංසුව ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 75ක්. මහ බැංකු අධිපති කිව්වේ මේ මුදල ඩොලර් මිලියන 70ක් දක්වා අඩු වූවා කියලයි. කොහොමද එහෙම අඩු කරන්නේ. නිරීක්ෂණ කමිටුවකට එහෙම කරන්ට බැහැ. නිරීක්ෂණ කමිටුවෙන් (Monitoring Committee)  තමයි මෙය අඩු කර තිබෙන්නේ. මේ ප්‍රශ්නය ඉදිරිපත් වුණේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඉදිරිපිටදීමයි.

මේ වෙනුවෙන් ලැබිය යුතු ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් ප්‍රමාණයවත් තවම ලැබී නැහැ. හැම දේටම සද්ද කරන මහ බැංකුව මේවා සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතා කරන්නේ නැහැ.

මෙහිදී E.T.I. තැන්පතුකරුවන් සුරැකීමේ ස්වාධීන සංගමයේ සභාපති එච්.එම්. අනූෂා ජයන්ති මහත්මිය ඇතුළු එම සංගමයේ නියෝජිතයන් කිහිප දෙනෙක්ද අදහස් දැක්වූහ.

E.T.I.  ආයතනයේ අපි තැන්පත් කළ මුදල්වලින් අපිට තවමත් ලැබී ඇත්තේ කොටසක් පමණයි. අපි මේ ආයතනයේ පසුගිය වසර 8ක ගිණුම් වාර්තා පරීක්ෂා කළා. එම වාර්තාවලට අනුව මෙම ආයතනය කඩා වැටීමට ආසන්න බව පෙන්නුම් කරනවා. මේ වාර්තා මහ බැංකුව අධීක්ෂණය කළා නම් ඔවුන්ට මේ තත්ත්වය පැහැදිලි වෙනවා. මේ ආයතනයට අවසන් කාලයේ ප්‍රාග්ධනයක් තිබිලා නැහැ. ඔවුන් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම යැපිලා තිබෙන්නේ තැන්පත්කරුවන් මතයි.

එහෙත් මහ බැංකුව දිගටම මේ සමාගමට තැන්පතු ලබාගන්න ඉඩ දීලා තිබෙනවා.

ඇයි මහ බැංකුව මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විරුද්ධව ක්‍රියා නොකළේ. E.T.I. ආයතනය දිගින් දිගටම වංචනික ලෙසින් පවත්වාගෙන ගිහින් තිබෙන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකු නිලධාරීන්ගේ උදවු ඇතිවයි. මහ බැංකුව කරලා තිබෙන්නේ වංචාවකුයි.

මේ ගනුදෙනුවලින් කොමිස් මුදල් බෙදාගෙන තිබෙනවා රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයේ ඇමැතිවරු තුන්දෙනෙක්ම. ඒ නිසයි අපිට සාධාරණයක් ඉටු වන්නේ නැත්තේ. මේ අයගෙන් සමහරු අද මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේත් සිටිනවා.

Wing.Com Abhinandan’s gunslinger mustache is the in-thing in India

March 4th, 2019
New Delhi, March 4 (Russia Today): The Indian fighter pilot who was captured by Pakistan after his plane was shot down in enemy territory has sparked a bizarre new mustache trend following his triumphant return home.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman entered the spotlight and reached hero status after he ejected and landed on the Pakistani-controlled side of Kashmir last week during heightened cross-border tensions.

Wing.Com Abhinandan’s gunslinger mustache is the in-thing in India

Video footage released by Pakistan’s Information Ministry showed the calm and collected pilot sipping tea – solidifying him as a national hero in India and a symbol for peace between the neighboring nations.

Varthaman returned home to India, and fans wanting to pay tribute to the new national hero have started emulating his signature mustache, now aptly known as the Abhinandan.”

The unique mix of a gunslinger mustache and mutton-chop beard can now be seen on the proud faces of men throughout India, some of whom have taken to social media to share their new-found look.

The Kashmir standoff between the two nuclear-armed nations flared up following a car bombing by Pakistani-based militants that killed over 40 Indian police officers in mid-February.

READ MORE: Splits & barrel rolls: Media lays out minute-by-minute account of India & Pakistan’s aerial dogfight

In response, India launched an airstrike across the Kashmir line of control, saying it killed multiple terrorists that Pakistan had allowed to entrench there. Pakistan denies that any militants were present and even accused India of environmental terrorism” for destroying trees in a forest reserve.

The air raid has led to several cross-border skirmishes, including the aerial battle in which Varthaman was captured, as well as worldwide wariness as the international community watched the conflict and urged the two sides to show restraint.

Dogfight exposes chinks in India’s armory: New York Times

March 4th, 2019

SHOULD EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY BE ABOLISHED IN SRI LANKA

March 3rd, 2019

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Executive presidency in Sri Lanka has been integrated to the country’s constitutional administration and public has gradually understood the significance of the executive presidency to Sri Lanka’s society despite rhetoric of some political parties to abolish this great institution. It is the symbol of Sri Lanka like the king in history. Mr J.R. Jayewardene introduced the system with a clear understanding of its requirement to the country with long term experience, understanding and possible instability in Sri Lanka’s politics. Mr Jayewardene properly consulted all political parties and ethnic groups of the country before officially introduce the system. Tamil communities highly agreed with the system and the son in law of Mr Chelvanayagam strongly advised Mr Jayawardene to introduce the system considering the instability experience in 1958 emergency.  Current TNA Members have no idea about the consultation, some time they were inferior members of the party.

The stability of Sri Lanka is strongly based and dependent on the executive presidential system, which has highly democratic and conformity with the sovereignty of people. The democratic value and the sovereignty of people have violated by the system of electing members to the parliament in which several members are appointed by the political parties in addition to the elected members by votes of people. The appointment of members to the parliament was abolished in 1972 as it was purely undemocratic practice.  Unfortunately, it was reintroduced un the election law after i982. The appointment of a Prime Minister to the country could be a person appointed to the parliament who was not elected by votes of people. If so the Prime Minister of the parliament could not be considered as strong reflection of democracy in the country according to the current practice.

When it deeply considers the pattern of electing members of the parliament it could not be considered that the parliament of Sri Lanka is a democratic institution with the conformity of the sovereignty of people. Many appointed members have no consent of people.   The best example was that after the 2015 general election political parties appointed members to the parliament who were rejected at the election.  Was its democracy or a violation of democratic principles. Why JVP wants to abolish the purely democratic institution of the executive presidency and transfer the democratic institution to the parliament, which has an artificial democracy without the sovereignty of people?

Since Mr J.R. Jayawardena all presidents elected showed that the executive presidency has been the protector of the sovereignty of people and the most effective institution for the control of corruption, stability and the desire of the age of Sri Lanka.  There is no argument that if any one attempts to abolish the executive presidency it is an action against the democracy.

The supreme court of Sri Lanka well considered the draft bill of the 20th amendment and rejected it with clear examples.  Why JVP wants to pursued a bill that was rejected by the supreme court.

Another vital point that must be considered is if the executive presidency abolishes the associated practices created with 13th amendment to the constitution should be abolished and Do political parties agree with idea? No, it will not.

Politics in Sri Lanka is a Machiavellian practice than a practice of true democracy.  Today most important practice is giving an opportunity to elect representatives to the parliament not blocking elections in the name of democracy.

Yahapalana’s bashing of Buddhists / Buddhism & Maha Sanga

March 3rd, 2019

Chronology of Tamils taking firearms since 1950s

March 3rd, 2019

1956 – Tamil youth fire at army camp in Batticoloa. Sinhalese civilians shot at in Kalmunai
1961 – Tamil youth attack Sri Lankan soldiers in Jaffna
1961 – Tamil youth forms Pulip Padai ( Army of Tigers) on August 12, 1961 they meet at Koneswaran temple, Trincomalee and take a solemn oath to fight for a Tamil homeland. A.Rajaratnam an activist dies in 1975 of asthma in Madras. Indian investigators believe his daughter Dhanu assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. K.Sivagnanasundaram another activist joined LTTE and was killed by EPRLF in 1988.
1963 – Pulip Padai ( Army of Tigers) put out leaflets advocating militancy. They back politicians Amirthalingam and V.Navaratnam
1963 – Manavar Manram ( students council) set up
1969 – Tamil Liberation Organisation (TLO) formed by Thangathurai and Kuttimani and meetings were held at a Jaffna university professors house.
Sri Sabaratnam (TELO leader) and V.Prabhakaran (LTTE supremo) also attended
1970 – Ponnudorai Satyaseelan founded the Tamil Manavar Peravai ( Tamil Students League) joined by Sivakumaran.
1970 – Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party in Jaffna banned by Sirimavo Bandaranaike
1970 Sept – Sivakumaran attempts to assassinate Sri Lankan deputy minister for Cultural Affiars Somaweera Chandrasiri
1971 – Sivakumaran attempts to assassinate Tamil Mayor Alfred Duraiappah blaming him for the Tamil Conference fiasco that led to Tamil youth deaths.
1971 April – Thangathurai, known as mama ( uncle) and some 15 others were making explosives at the Thondamanar high school
1972 – formation of TULF – Tamil United Liberation Front
1973 – formation of Tamil Elaingyar Peravia (TYL, Tamil Youth Leaque) comprising 40 youth and supported by TLO – Tamil Liberation Organization
1973 Feb – Satyaseelan arrested and arrests of other youth organizations
1973 – Sri Lankan navy seized a boat belonging to Kuttimani filled with dynamite. Kuttimani flees to India but is arrested and deported (Karunanidhi Govt)
1974 June 5, Sivakumaran was trapped by the police while attempting a bank robbery in Jaffna’s Kopai town and committed suicide by biting a cyanide capsule.
1974 protests by Tamils when Prime Minister visited Jaffna to open a campus and bombs were thrown at the police
1974 – First robbery by Tamil militants Rs.91,000 Multipurpose Cooperative Society of Tellipallai – militants fled to India.
1975 – number of armed youth rising, acts of arson and violence was also rising. Thangathurai group of Kuttimani, and the TNT of Prabakaran went underground.
1975 Jan – Group of Sri Lankan Tamils residing in London foremd the Eelam Revolutionary Organisers, EROS
1975 – Assassination of Mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah (First political murder) Number of militants in North was said to be around 50. They were regarded as ‘our boys’ because most Tamils thought they were following orders of the TUF and could be stopped at any time (how wrong they were)
1976 Mar 5 – Prabhakaran led a raid on the state run People’s Bank at Puttur stealing 1million cash and jewellery worth 200,000 – the 1st bank heist by LTTE.
1976 May 5 – LTTE formed by Prabakaran changing the former TNT name
1976 May 14 – TUF (formed in 1972) holds first convention in Pannkam, Amirthalingam’s birth place with Chelvanayagam presiding. Formation of TULF – Tamil United Liberation Front announced calling for self-determination and for Tamil youth to take up arms.
1977 April – Chelvanayagam dies
1977 July – using Resolution of Vaddukoddai, TULF wins elections
1977 August 15 – 3 unarmed constables stop 3 boys riding bicycles in Puttur, Jaffna. One boy takes out a revolver and shoots the constable in the thigh. The next day violence breaks out while police try to unarm youth.
1977 – 10% of Jaffna population were Sinhalese who were bakers, traders, civil servants and business –men
1977 August 31 – 4 young men came in blue Morris car robbed the People’s Bank in Manipay and walked away with 26,000 rupees
1977 September – Thangathurai formed militant group called the Tamil Eelam Liberation Army (TELA) and a political affiliate known as the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) along the lines of IRA and Sinn Fein.
1977 – land surveyor, Kadirgamapillai Nallainathan, better knows as Uma Maheswaran, joined the LTTE. Prabhakaran, younger to Uma by some 10 yrs, continued to be the group’s military commander
1978 – Uma and Prabha made their way to Colombo, where the former had headed the TULF’s city unit
1978 Jan 27 – Uma and Mahesh shoot M.Canagaratnam, a Tamil MP who had won on TULF ticket but crossed over to UNP. Head of CID was a Tamil – Bastianpillai
1978 – Murukan, Bastianpillai and other police officers discover LTTE secret training camp. All were killed brutally by LTTE.
1978 April 25 – LTTE openly admit and confess (on a LTTE letterhead which had been typed by Urmila Devi on TULF leader’s official typewriter in Parliament) to the murder of Alfred Duraiappah and 9 policemen including Bastianpillai.
1978 May 6 – group of 4 or 5 men went to the residence of Inspector K.Pathmanathan, officer in charge of the District Crime Detective Bureau of Jaffna. His children informed their father who returned home with his wife to be gunned down and killed. (10th Tamil policemen killed by LTTE)
1978 – LTTE proscribed
1978 May – Kuttimani guns down a retired police inspector at the Valvettithurai junction (11th policemen)
1978 June – Kuttimani shot and killed another police officer (12th policemen)
1978 September – Parliament introduces new constitution. AVRO 748 of Air Ceylon was blasted by a time bomb after it landed at Ratmalana airport. S.Subramaniam alias Baby was responsible.
1978 Dec 5 – six gunmen stormed to the Thirunelveli People’s bank branch gunned down two policemen and robbed the bank of 1.18 million rupees.(14 policemen killed by LTTE)
1979 – Thangathurai group shot dead 3 more policemen in Jaffna (17 Tamil policemen killed)
1979 – LTTE proscription replaced with Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Thangathurai, Kuttimani and Prabhakaran fled to Tamil Nadu.
1980 – Uma forms PLOTE
1980 – President J R Jayawardena offers TULF District Development Councils (DDC).
1980 – PLOTE shoot UNP leader, R.Balasundaram at Kilinochchi
1981 January – 2 civilians killed by TELO during a robbery at pawn shop at Kurumpasitty
1981 Mar 6 – Kuttimani shoots Chetti at Kalviyankadu in Jaffna. Chetti was a police informant.
1981 Mar 25 – People’s Bank robbery at Neervely by Kuttimani worth 7.8million
1981 Apr 5 – Thangathurai and Kuttimani were arrested at Mannalkadal, near Point Pedro while attempting to escape to India.
1981 July – Sadasivam Sivasunmugamurthy, Uma’s deputy ed a daring raid on a police station at Anakottai, killing 2 policemen and escaping with atleast 10 weapons (19 policemen killed)
1981 Oct – PLOTE raided the People’s bank at Kiilinochi and stole 40m in cash and jewellery
1982 Apr 29 – Jaffna observed its first anti-TULF hartal to protest the party’s participation in the ceremonial opening of a new parliment building at Kotte
Admission of India training LTTE before 1983 riots:
Intelligence agencies (RAW) said….these are boys who were trained by us from 1977” (Dixit, Assignment Colombo)
Shri M. Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (affidavit no. 187/94) :”It is a well known fact that the LTTE and other Sri Lankan Militants camps were established in India ever since 1982 in tune with the policy of the Central Government at that time. The Tamil militants were given military training and allowed to have their own training camps in India.”…
I state that the Congress Governments under the Prime Ministership of late Smt. Indira Gandhi and late Thiru Rajiv Gandhi encouraged, trained and supported the LTTE and other Tamil Militant groups.”
Shri K. Mohandas – then Dir Gen. Police (affidavit no. 64/92-JCI) ….The issue had become very sensitive, and meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s advisors were working overtime, giving facilities to the militants, particularly the TELO (Tamil Ealam Liberation Organisation) to be trained in the use of modern arms in the camps organised in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and elsewhere. The idea was that after the training, they would be supplied with arms and sent to Northern Sri Lanka to engage the Sri Lankan troops in guerrilla action. It was supposed to be a top secret operation without even the knowledge of the State Government and its Intelligence agency. (at least as far as Tamil Nadu was concerned.”….. The insurgency operation was so clumsily organised that it was, before long, an open secret. Each training camp was a mini Union Territory completely controlled by Central agencies, into which the State Intelligence or the State Police had no access.”
RAW handling LTTE:
RAW helped to train and arm the LTTE in the 1970s” (Council of Foreign Relations)
April 5, 1988 Wikileaks cable quotes J N Dixit that India had agreed to pay LTTE Rs.50lakhs per month which was paid in July 1987. This was to make up for the tax loss for the LTTE upon IPKF arrival. It was also a payment that sealed Prabakaran’s agreement to the Indo-Lanka Accord.
Indian camps for Sri Lankan militants:
LTTE:- 6 camps were reported being conducted by the LTTE in the districts of Anna (1 camp), Thanjavur West (1 camp), Thanjavur East (1 camp), Salem (1 camp, Madurai (1 camp) and Ramnad ( 1 camp) of Tamil Nadu. The total strength of trainees in these camps was reported to be 495 cadres including 90 female Tigers. The camp at Sirumalai (Anna district) was the only camp were all the 90 female Tigers were getting training along with 40 male Tigers. The largest LTTE camp was located at Kumbarapatti in Salem district. The training comprised Arms Training, swimming, boat driving and physical training. The camps were equipped with transport facilities such as Jeeps, Vans, motor cycles etc.
TELO:- Five camps organised by Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) were reported to be running in the districts of Ramnad ( 3 camps) and Salem ( 2 camps). There were totally 233 male cadres undergoing this training which comprised Physical Training, Arms training, swimming and boat driving.
EROS:- Eelam Revolutionary Organisers (EROS) were reported to be conducting two camps in the districts of Ramnad and Pasumpon Muthuramalingam districts. There were 8 male trainees in these camps which were imparting Physical Training and Arms Training.
EPRLF: The Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) was reported to be conducting 7 training camps in the districts of Thanjavur West (3 camps), South Arcot (2 camps), Trichy ( 1 camp) and Ramnad (1 camp) with a total strength of 73 male trainees who were being trained in Guerilla warfare, Physical Training and Arms training. These camps reportedly possessed sophisticated weapons such as Light Machine -guns as well as transport vehicles.
PLOT:- The Peoples Liberation Organisation for Tamil Eelam (PLOT) was conducting training in 18 camps located in the districts of Thanjavur West (11 camps), Pudukottai ( 4 camps), Tirunelvei East (2 camps) and Thanjavur East (1 camp). Totally 2236 cadres in addition to 94 female cadres were getting trained in these camps. The camps possessed transport facilities, boats and some weapons. Predominantly, the training comprised guerrilla warfare and also Physical Training, Swimming and Boat Driving.
Other assorted organisations were also conducting their camps in Tamil Nadu such as Tamil Eelam Army (TEA) – 2 camps, 31 trainees; TELA -Kanthan group ( 3 camps, 117 trainees); TELA-Rajan group (1 camp, 10 trainees); TENA (1 camp, 25 trainees); RELO ( 1 camp, 13 trainees; NLFT (1 camp, 2 trainees); ECRP (1 camp, 4 trainees) and TMPP ( 1 camp, 6 trainees).
Thus a total of 3179 males and 184 females (3363 cadres) were trained by the Indian Government in India in secret during 1983-1986. These groups were allowed to run their own offices in Tamil Nadu.
The March 2014 shooting by an LTTEr on a policemen on duty and now absconding reminds us of the events given above and trails us back to the times when LTTE first began their killing spree by targeting policemen on duty.
In the early 1970s inaction of authorities and Tamils treating these youth as ‘our boys’ eventually led 30 or so youth to become 30,000 armed and deadly killers.
The Chief Minister and the TNA are directly responsible for the current situation with their forked tongues and mannerisms thinking that we have forgotten the manner TNA has been linked to the LTTE over the years. Going round the world promoting separatism, linking up with Church priests that have had an agenda to divide Sri Lanka will always keep the Sri Lankan public in doubt about what the actual agenda is.
The sovereignty of the country entails the elected Government to decide where to station its troops, how many to be stationed, where they are to be stationed.
We are not ready to sacrifice the hard won peace that was given to us by the sacrifices made by 27,000 of our heroic soldiers.
We have enough lessons to learn from to not repeat the same mistakes.
Shenali D Waduge

දකුණු පළාතේ ආන්ඩුකාර කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් තමනට කුණුහරුපෙන් බැන්නැයි සවුත්ලන්ඩ් විදුහල්පතිනිය පොලීසි යයි..[Video]

March 3rd, 2019

 lanka C news

දකුණු පළාතේ ආන්ඩුකාර කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා තමන්ටත් තම සැමියාටත් දුරකථනයෙන් අමතා අසභ්‍ය වචනයෙන් බැණ වැදී තර්ජනය කළේ යයි ගාල්ල සවුත්ලන්ඩ්ස් විදුහලේ විදුහල්පතිනිය චෝදනා කරයි.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විදුහල්පතිනිය විසින් ගාල්ල පොලීසියට පැමිණිල්ලක් කර තිබේ.

සිසුවියන් සිව්දෙනෙකු විදුහලට ඇතුළත් කර ගන්නැයි බලකරමින් තමාටත් තම සැමියාටත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා විසින් මෙසේ බැන වැදුණු බවත් විදුහල්පතිනිය විසින් කරන ලද පැමිණිල්ලේ දැක්වේ.

කෙසේ වෙතත් චෝදනාවට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වමින් දකුණේ ආණ්ඩුකාර කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා සඳහන් කරන්නේ දකුණු පළාත තුල පාසැල්වල මාෆියාවක් පවතින බවයි.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ නඩු විභාග කරන භාෂාව වෙනස්කර ගැනීම සදහා මා පෙනී සිටින්නේ ඇයි?

March 3rd, 2019

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන 

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ නඩු කටයුතු සහ නඩු තීන්දු ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් පමණක් පවත්වාගෙන යාම නිසා බහුතරයක් වූ නීතිඥවරුන්ට සහ ජනතාවට එම අධිකරණවලින් සහන ලබා ගැනීම වැළකී ඇති අතර එම අධිකරණවලින් යුක්තිය ඉටුකර ගැනීමට අධික මුදලක් වැය කිරීමට ජනතාවට සිදු වී ඇත.

නිදහස්, ස්වාධීන සහ අපක්ෂපාතී අධිකරණ ලෙස ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණය පවත්වාගෙන යාමේදී ලංකාවේ බහුතර ජනතාවට වැටහෙන භාෂාවෙන් එම අධිකරණවල නඩු කටයුතු පවත්වාගෙන යාමත්, ඕනෑම නීතිඥවරයෙකුට එම අධිකරණවලින් සිය සේවාදායකයන්ට සහන ලබා ගැනීමටත් හැකි විය යුතුය. 

නීතිය නොදැනීම සමාවට කරුණක් නොවන හෙයින් ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යය භාෂා වෙනස්කමකින් තොරව ක්‍රියාත්මකවන, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ශක්තිමත් කරන, රටේ සංවර්ධනයට සියලු ජනතාවට දායකවිය හැකි, විදේශීය රටවල නෛතික ප්‍රහාරයන්ගෙන් ජනතාව බේරාගත හැකි යුක්තිය පසිදලන ක්‍රියාවලියක් රටකට අවශ්‍යම වෙයි. 

කිහිප දෙනෙකුගේ අවශ්‍යතාවය අනුව සහ ඔවුන්ගේ සුඛවිහරණය් සදහා ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් පමණක් නඩු කටයුතු පවත්වාගෙන යන වත්මන් නඩු විභාග කරන ක්‍රියාවලිය වෙනස්කරමින් නඩු විභාග කිරීමේදී භාෂාව මත පුරවැසියන් වෙනස් කමකට ලක් කිරීම අවසන් කර රටේ සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුටම තේරුම් ගතහැකි භාෂාවෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ නඩු විභාග පවත්වාගෙන යාම සහ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටීම මාගේ අරමුණ වේ. 

ඒ වෙනුවෙන් මා විසින් දැනටමත් නීති කෘති 08ක් ලියා පළ කර ඇති අතර නොමිලේ පවත්වන නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩමුළු 06ක් ද, සෙනසුරාදා දිනවල නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන්ද පවත්වනු ලබයි.

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන 

නීති කෘති සහ නීති වැඩමුළු සදහා විමසන්න

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