Tamara Kunanayakam

Economist and International Relations Expert, Former Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva, Former Senior International Civil Servant at the United Nations, and Ex-Chairperson/Rapporteur of  Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development

INTRODUCTION

A fundamental principle of international law, incorporated in a wide range of international and regional instruments, is permanent sovereignty over the nation’s wealth and resources and all its economic activities as a basic constituent of the right of peoples to self-determination and its corollary, the duty of States to respect sovereign equality in their relations with other States. It is a recognition that there can be no political independence without economic, social and cultural independence, free from all forms of interference or pressure, direct or indirect, of whatever sort and under whatever pretext.” ¹ For independence to be complete, any future attempt to restore foreign influence or domination must be prevented forever.² This universal admission is the result of the historical struggle of colonised peoples for freedom, particularly of Africa and Asia, whose newly won independence had remained purely formal and fragile, threatened by the resolve of rich capitalist countries to standardise and rationalise the global economy to ensure their monopoly and control over foreign markets.

The ongoing neoliberal reconfiguration of the State to facilitate global expansion of capital by imposing a single model of development and transferring decision-making on all aspects of social relations to a handful of Western oligarchs is inimical to the sovereignty and independence of nation-States.

The agenda is supported by the neoconservative interests observed in modus operandi of the UN Human Rights Council (led by US neoconservatives) who promote direct, unilateral, preventive, and pre-emptive intervention, including military, in the internal affairs of sovereign States.

In examining the rapid progress of neoliberal reforms in Sri Lanka, it is essential to bear in mind this complementarity and commonality between neoliberals and neoconservatives, and their mutually reinforcing actions: their common goal is to maintain US global hegemony, and their common enemy is State sovereignty, the principle upon which the multilateral system is based;³ they both champion a shift of governance to corporate-controlled supranational institutions⁴ they claim are necessarily objective and apolitical, although beyond the reach of domestic accountability; they both foster elite cooperation globally through powerful, often secretive, groups^;5 and, both make claims to a ‘moral universalism’ to justify external intervention, refining and propagating language best described as Orwellian doublespeak to promote their agenda.

The sovereignty of nations and peoples everywhere is at stake, and Sri Lanka is no exception. The present paper counters the neoliberal claim that the breaking down of nation-States and sovereignty is a natural phenomenon that is progressive and inevitable, and shows how its making and perpetuation is a continuing violation of national sovereignty and the inalienable rights of peoples and nations to determine their political, economic, social and cultural systems.

The paper begins by examining the making of the neoliberal global order by a conscious restructuring of the nation-State and the fostering of elite cooperation internationally to ensure its reproduction through, inter alia, think tanks. It will then examine some of neoliberalism’s basic claims and reality, and its impact on politics and society. Finally, it will examine the case of Sri Lanka and attempt to disentangle the complex web of relations that exist between and among think tanks, the ‘mother of all think tanks’ – the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS), global corporates, the US Administration, and Sri Lanka’s trans nationalised elite. The section will focus on some of the lesser known, but visible, vehicles for intervention – the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Advocate Institute, and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). It will conclude with certain observations on fundamental principles of international law that provide a basis for alternatives to the hegemonic neoliberal model, for the restoration of sovereignty.

NEOLIBERAL RE-ENGINEERING OF STATE: A POLITICAL PROJECT

An insidious, radical and all-encompassing transformation or re-engineering of the nation-State is taking place based on a ‘market society’ and ‘market rules,’ involving the marketization of the entire scope of human relations through multiple political, economic, social and cultural processes.

It is not a natural, self-regulating, inevitable and benevolent process, but designed, implemented and reproduced, often through violent intervention, by global corporations in alliance with a section of the local elite, whose destiny and vision have become intertwined with theirs. Its name is neoliberalism, the global expression of capital dominated by finance. Its principal project is ‘globalisation’ – the integration of the world into new globalised circuits of accumulation for profit maximization by transnational capital dominated by finance through use of State power. It is associated with the US project to retain global hegemony, if necessary by unilateral military intervention. Unlike classical liberalism, it goes beyond the mere opening of markets. Its claim is global, a single model for all, imposing the ‘market logic’ to all forms of human interaction, economic as well as financial, social, political, cultural, ecological, and even psychological.

Neoliberalism cannot be separated from capitalism. Roberts describes it a new regimen of capitalism” as political response of capital to the growing militancy of the labour force,⁶ and Saad-Filho as ‘the mode of existence of contemporary capitalism’ ⁷ to curtail the power of labour. As such, it emerged in reaction to the first generalised systemic crisis of world capitalism in 1973-1974 resulting from a falling rate of profit expressed in a crisis of overproduction, a credit crisis in the US aggravated by escalating costs of its military interventions in Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam, the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, stagflation, and an impending debt crisis in the South.

Ever since, it has been imposed globally, often violently, through State intervention and patronage of US hegemony  The first neoliberal experiment, designed and implemented by Milton Friedman’s Chicago Boys, was carried out in Chile from 1973 to 1989 under the military dictatorship of General Pinochet, following the CIA-backed coup d’état and assassination of the democratically elected President Salvador Allende. It gained prominence only after the election of Margaret Thatcher in Britain and Ronald Reagan in the United States. In the Global South, it was imposed through external pressure ranging from IMF/World Bank conditionalities, unilateral threats and sanctions, financing of civil society organisations promoting neoliberal values, fomenting political unrest and regime change, foreign aggression, and military intervention.

Contrary to neoliberal claims, ‘markets’ are not places where goods and services are freely bought and sold by producers and consumers, but where large corporations dominate unhindered by regulation or countervailing social forces. They rely on a strong State to create favourable conditions for the operation of transnational capital. In fact, neoliberalism is based on the systematic use of State power to impose a hegemonic project of decomposition of the rule of capital;” ⁸ ‘non-intervention’ is only the ideological guise. As Gramsci understood, laissez faire too is a form of State ‘regulation’ introduced and maintained by coercive means. It is a deliberate policy, conscious of its own ends, and not the spontaneous automatic expression of economic facts.” ⁹ Instead of being rolled back or made to disappear, the State is reengineered to intervene on its own behalf. The State is expected to intervene heavily to deregulate (liberalise, depoliticise, privatise, outsource, flexibilise, and marketise everything) and implement fiscal and monetary austerity with a view to separating from the political realm all economic/financial and other potentially profitable activities, including social and cultural, so that vital sectors are brought under the control of transnational capital and its economic interests prioritised over the common good, insulating it from peoples’ choices, crippling trade unions, and depriving the State of capacity to act. Once deregulated, the State is expected to reregulate to protect the private property thus acquired by global corporates to shield it from popular resistance and trade union action. ‘Good Governance’ (and the associated ‘Rule of Law’) is the obscure term for a new system of law and government involving legal, political and institutional reform, putting in place instruments of social control – coercive and ideological – to maintain a stable social order’ required by global capital, thus limiting the ability of people and nation to make choices and State capacity to implement those choices and promote social justice, or even to fulfil its international human rights and labour obligations.

Implicit in the dogma of an autonomous free market as optimum for achieving human freedom and a collectivist State as a threat is the view that it is not society that determines the economic system, but the economic system that determines how society is organised,¹⁰ This notion of a mystic entity beyond human control removes decision making from the lives of ordinary people and renders them passive objects, not subjects of their own destiny. It thus permits the imposition of an alien model of society on peoples and nations usurping their inalienable right to freely determine the political, economic, social and cultural system they choose to live in.

Neoliberalism is essentially a political project designed to prevent the emergence of countervailing forces and permit transnational capital to override democratic processes, determine national economic and social priorities, and secure control over the value of what is produced by the nation, its wealth, natural resources, economic activities, workforce, and currency. On the part of the local allies, it implies abdication of State power and its duty to act on behalf of nation and people.

GLOBAL ELITE NETWORK FOR REPRODUCTION OF NEOLIBERALISM (to be continued)

1 UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960.

2 For a more detailed examination of the relevant principles contained in United Nations documents since 1944, see Tamara Kunanayakam, Historical analysis of the principles contained in the Declaration on the Right to Development, UN document HR/RD/1990/CONF.1, Geneva, 1990; Tamara Kunanayakam, The Declaration on the Right to Development in the context of United Nations standard-setting, Realizing the right to development : essays in commemoration of 25 years of the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development. United Nations, 2013; and, Quel development? Quelle cooperation Internationale? Third World Centre (CETIM), Geneva, 2007.

3 Frequent attacks against sovereignty can be seen in the body of neoclassical economic theory and neoconservative philosophy that influenced the development of neoliberalism.

4 Such as the already existing World Trade Organisation, IMF/World Bank, international free trade agreements, etc.

5 For instance, the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission, the Council of Foreign Relations, and Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

6 See Michael Roberts, The Great Recession, 2009.

7 See Alfredo Saad-Filho, Crisis in neoliberalism or crisis of neoliberalism? Socialist Register, 2011. See also Ben Fine and Alfredo Saad-Filho, Thirteen Things You Need to Know About Neoliberalism, Critical Sociology, 43 (4-5), 2016 & Damien Cahill and Alfredo Saad-Filho, Introduction: Neoliberalism Since the Crisis, Critical Sociology Vol. 43 (4-5), 2017.

8 See Alfredo Saad-Filho, Crisis in neoliberalism or crisis of neoliberalism?, op.cit.

9 Antonio Gramsci, The Modern Prince” The Prison Notebooks

10 Karl Polanyi described it as a system in which ‘[i]nstead of economy being embedded in social relations, social relations are embedded in the economic system.’ See K. Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Times. Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

Mahinda Gunasekera

Federal vs Unitary:

Broadly speaking, most are fully in favour of retaining a Unitary Structure of governance as opposed to a Federal, Quasi-Federal based on the Indian model, or other multi-level structure where powers need to be devolved to the semi-autonomous units that are to be set-up for various regions within the tiny island of Sri Lanka, which is the common homeland of all her people.  Federal or quasi-federal systems have been successful to some extent where countries such as Canada, the United States of America, and India with an extensive landmass, involving the coming together of independent colonies in the first two countries, and the weaving together of disparate ethnic and linguistic groups as found in India, to form a single federal state or country.  Federal systems where limited powers have been devolved to linguistic regions in Switzerland and Belgium too would not fit into Sri Lanka’’s demography which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious in character, except for the northern province which has been ethnically cleansed of the Sinhala and Muslim communities who were driven out of the region after 1981.  Furthermore, Sri Lanka is a tiny island which cannot afford to create artificial regional barriers based on language or ethnicity that tend to divide the nation state, as her pluralistic society and territorial integrity could best be safeguarded via a locally crafted unitary system of governance that improves on the existing arrangement which is well understood by the people at all levels.

The new Constitution should be drawn up with a great deal of care after a wide ranging consultation process with members of the public, professional bodies, trade unions, religious leaders, and all concerned categories of people willing to share their input to build one that is acceptable to the vast majority of the nation’s population.  Its framework should be based on a unitary system of governance with the Centre having an overriding say in the matters of national importance while the peripheral units will cover items of regional value not in conflict with the centre. It should at the same time seek to share a greater degree of power with special interest ethnic/religious/and livelihood groups prevailing in the various areas of the country in the power structure at the Centre, so that all issues of a conflicting nature could be freely discussed and resolved in the deliberations taking place in the main body of elected representatives.

Replacement of Provincial Councils by Multi-District Councils:
It would also provide an opportunity to roll back the detrimental impact of the 13th Amendment imposed by our giant neighbour in 1987 creating Provincial Councils deemed ‘white elephants’ by most people, which have failed to deal with the local needs of the resident population.  These have only served to create an additional layer of superfluous politicians feeding on the public purse, and even challenging the unitary character of the state with the combined North and East Provincial Council declaring its independence from the rest of the country soon after its inauguration in March 1990. The solution to preventing a similar situation is not to devolve more powers to the peripheral units but to scale back the powers to fit a lesser council required to serve the day to day needs of the residents. In my opinion, the ideal unit needed to replace the Provincial Councils would be Multi-District Councils tailored to deal with the common problems affecting neighbouring districts as grouped below:

i)   Northern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mannar;
ii)  North-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Mullaitivu and Trincomalee;
iii) North-Central Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa;
iv) North-Western Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Puttalam and Kurunegala;
v)  Central Hill Country Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya;
vi) South-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Kalmunai;
vii) Megapolis Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Gampaha, Colombo and Kalutara;
viii) Kegalu-Sabaragamuwa Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Kegalle and Ratnapura;
ix)   Uva Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Badulla and Moneragala; and
x)    Southern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota.

The members of the Multi-District Councils may be elected by a separate election for a term of up to 3 years, or picked from among local city, town and village council members who will declare their intention to serve both locally as well as at the district level when they present themselves as candidates for the local council.  Each Multi-District Council will be headed by a Multi-District Executive Chairman who may be picked directly by the voting public or by the elected councillors.  The District Secretariats established by the Central Government could be suitably modified to serve the needs of the Multi-District Councils, thereby economizing on staff usage, facilities and administrative expenses.

Some of the powers to be devolved to the Multi-District Councils amongst others to be determined by a competent authority, are listed below for your perusal:

• Licensing of Automobile Vehicles in the district
• General Health and Sanitation
• Local power generation
• Minor roads and bridges
• Administration of District Courts, Family Courts and Local Dispute Arbitration
• Junior Technical Colleges
• Primary School Education
• Special Police to handle Court duties, Traffic control and non-criminal offences
• Welfare services
• Sports and Cultural activities
• Small scale industries
• Agrarian services to localized farming communities

An Alternate Constitutional Arrangement:

The present presidential system where a large proportion of power has been vested in a single Executive President who is also the Commander of the Armed Forces could be of use during a period of internal strife, where these powers could be effectively used to combat the insurgent forces and bring about peace, order and stability in the country.  As the aim is to see beyond the era of armed conflict that has been ended, it is best to opt for a Westminster style parliament where a Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers would govern in consultation with the elected representatives and voting public.

In order to arrive at the goal of enhanced sharing of political power at the centre, I would recommend a blend of the Westminster model with the old Committee System that prevailed during the State Council days prior to independence, to be able to accommodate the minorities in all aspects of governance entrusted to the elected legislature.  I think that the electoral process should be revamped incorporating the following steps to achieve the desired objective:

1.                         a) All political parties should nominate their candidate for each electorate as in the past instead of nominating a whole slate for each district.  This would eliminate the need for each                                            candidate to seek ‘preferential votes’ from the entire district at a great deal of time, effort and expense, thereby drastically reducing the total election budget needed by each candidate                                        to a manageable level. This would in addition help to reduce the tendency for elected representatives to acquire funds or other assets through corrupt and illegal means to recover                                     the large sums that they would otherwise spend to seek preferential votes district-wise at the election.

Take steps to curb political interference in public life and ensure that due process will be speedily applied in accordance with the laws of the land.

Scale down the level of politicization and resultant political rivalry which unduly pits one against the other within society, by at least allowing for the election of members of local          government bodies based on individual preferences instead of on party lines for each ward or electorate without the need to confront each other on party lines on a district basis,          as prevailing in most countries.

The leaders should lead by example, by adopting simple lifestyles and taking all necessary steps to reduce graft, corruption and waste.

1. b) The bonus places or additional seats given to nominees in the National List to which the political parties become eligible could still be determined based on the overall voting strength           of each party.  These additional seats could preferably be reserved for enlisting competent persons who are recognized for their outstanding knowledge, technical skills or volunteer           services to the larger community.
2.        c) The senior positions in government that may be reserved for members of the minority communities are given below:

• Minister of Tamil Language and Culture
• Deputy Minister of Disaster Relief and Re-Settlement
• Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication
• Deputy Minister of Education
• Deputy Minister of Health Care and Nutrition
• Deputy Minister of Local Government and District Councils
• Deputy Minister of Justice and Law Reform
• Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries

Achieving Peace, Harmony and Reconciliation:
It has been reported in the media that part of the reasons for drafting a new constitution was to give effect to the presence of a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society in present day Sri Lanka, and to attempt to heal the divisions and differences and bring about a greater degree of reconciliation amongst the resident populace.  Such thinking is flawed as people of different backgrounds lived in harmony in the earlier historical Kingdom of Sinhale pledging their loyalty to the state and in return receiving equal protection from the crown. The problems that we face today is due to foreign colonial powers having exploited the underlying differences in order to divide and rule the people and create hostilities between different communities thereby destroying the communal harmony and peace within the society. The solution does not lie in highlighting such differences and transforming the society into strict ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious compartments, which will continue to pull the nation apart in different directions, but drawing strength from the past and building on the commonalities based on our shared values generating trust free of external divisive influences.

In order that the desired harmony and reconciliation may be achieved, we must refuse to recognize political parties with ethnic or religious labels, and furthermore give positive effect to the fundamental right of ‘Freedom of Movement’ where citizens are free to move to any part of the island which is their common homeland and settle in where they may engage in lawful pursuits to support themselves and their families.  This right of Freedom of Movement is currently not being upheld equally, as the internally displaced Sinhalese and Muslims are not being given equal treatment in the resettlement plans as Tamil IDPs are being given the highest priority.  While in the early 1970’s there were as much as 27,000 Sinhalese and around 75,000 Muslims living in the Northern Province, only about 17 Sinhalese families have been permitted to resettle in the Navattakulli area, with no statistics of resettled Muslims being available in the public domain. The few Sinhalese allowed to resettle too have not been provided the same level of assistance extended to the Tamil IDPs, even though they too were displaced owing to violence directed against them by extremist Tamil separatist terror groups.  The Sinhalese and Muslims of the eastern province too were attacked by the LTTE and other Tamil separatist terror groups in the 1980’s and 1990’s as they sought this region for their proposed mono-ethnic separate state of Tamil Eelam, forcing many thousands to flee the area thereby depriving themselves of their properties and livelihoods to seek safety elsewhere.  They too have a similar right to be resettled in their places of origin with similar assistance being given to Tamil IDPs.  This policy of step-motherly treatment being extended to the Sinhalese and Muslim IDPs is paving the way for Tamil mono-ethnic regions that would tend to drift towards separatism rather than reconciling with the rest in forming a united nation.

Reconciliation between people of different backgrounds could take place mainly through interaction in day to day living, by fostering the sharing of space instead of compartmentalizing of different communities to different regions.  The northern province which is predominantly Tamil following the historical events of ethnic cleansing during the time of Sankili, and subsequently encouraged by our former European colonial masters and the more recent forced evacuations of non-Tamils by Tamil forces seeking a separate state have led the region to become a mono-ethnic enclave with underlying separatist tendencies given voice to by prominent members of the Tamil community.  While the road and rail links have helped somewhat for the meeting and mixing of communities within and outside the region, more needs to be done to encourage non-Tamils to move to the region just as a large percentage Tamils have been welcomed by the Sinhalese and Muslims living elsewhere in the country. I would suggest as a policy measure, that the state formally decide to select new settlers in land development projects island-wide on the basis of National Ethnic Ratios, so that new communities will reflect the nation’s make up.  Even the private sector too should be encouraged to follow a similar policy subject to their finding the necessary skills, so that multicultural communities will come into being everywhere.  This will permit more non-Tamils to settle amongst the Tamils in the north and for more Tamils to settle in other areas leading to more interaction and shared community life that will help to establish inter-communal harmony and true reconciliation.

Retain State Protection and Foremost Place given to Buddhism:
Sri Lanka, being a civilizational state with a recorded history dating back to over 2,500 years, it is incumbent on the present generation to give due recognition to the unique heritage and culture of the people.  It must be reminded that even the last colonial ruler, namely, the British, undertook to safeguard the ‘Religion of the Budhoo’ in the treaty signed in 1815 known as the Kandyan Convention entered into between Britain to whom power had been ceded by the Chieftains of Sinhale.  The religion practiced, followed or adhered to by the vast majority of the people of the island of Sri Lanka going back to the arrival of Arahat Mahinda Thera at the invitation of Sri Lanka’s monarch, King Devanampiyatissa, over 2300 years ago, to impart the Noble Teachings of the Buddha, that which has always been held in pre-eminence by the rulers and people of the land from the earliest of times, whilst granting freedom for the belief and practice of other faiths without discrimination in private or public.  The foremost place granted to Buddhism, the harmonious way of life expounded by the Buddha, by Chapter II, Article 9, of the Second Republican Constitution should be retained without diminishing its standing, in recognition of this nation’s heritage which has been built by the tenets and values of this religious Teaching which has withstood the test of time, and even permitted other faiths to freely flourish within her terrain.

Create an Office of the Ombudsman:
In addition to the existing bodies set up by parliament such as the Human Rights Commission, it is felt that a useful role could be played by an Independent Ombudsmen who may be authorized to look into complaints of abuse by the state sector or other establishment or person, as a large segment of the people are too poor to litigate or seek  redress for wrongs done or perceived to have been done against them.  At the same time,  steps should be taken to ensure equality of all citizens before the law and grant equal protection to every citizen by re-visiting the Fundamental Rights Chapter.
Conclusion:

I have taken up mainly the contentious issues included in the draft proposals made by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly.  I strongly believe that this submission contains valuable ideas that could be incorporated in drawing up a new constitutional framework creating a workable arrangement which will help the minorities to play an important role in the day to day governance, encourage the establishment of an atmosphere of co-operation amongst competing political forces, whilst making it a home made solution that will remove the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity faced by the nation from armed separatist groups including what is left of the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.  I believe that the proposed model will help the various communities to share the tasks of government and benefit equally from the fruits of the unitary state of Sri Lanka, without seeking a separate future that calls for establishing artificial provincial barriers leading to the tearing apart of the island homeland.  I have also emphasized the need for improved human rights monitoring and at the same time having an Ombudsman to befriend the needy who are too poor to seek redress through the normal channels.  Also, to build a society that is free from corruption, the lead needs to be taken at the top, and it must necessarily flow from the highest echelons by each and every person committing themselves to lead lives that are free from exploitation and misappropriation.

Mahinda Gunasekera

January 25, 2019

ALI SUKHANVER

The Washington Post recently published an article titled, ‘I am a journalist who fled Pakistan, but I no longer feel safe in exile’ written by Mr. Taha Siddiqui, a journalist from Pakistan. Mr. Siddiqui claims that last year in January he survived an abduction and possible assassination attempt by armed men when he was on his way to the Islamabad airport in Pakistan.

He believes the attack was orchestrated by the Pakistani army, which had been threatening him for years over his journalistic work on ‘military abuses’ in Pakistan. After that ‘assault’ he somehow managed to move to France with his wife and five-year-old son. He is still there living a life of self-imposed exile. In his article he said, The U.S. intelligence officials told me they believe that, after Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, repressive regimes such as the one in Pakistan have been emboldened to silence critics, not only at home but also abroad.” He further said, Now, after the warning I received, I once again fear for my life. Every time I leave my apartment, enter public places or simply walk on the streets in Paris, I am paranoid about being followed. Every time I stand on the subway platform, I fear that someone may push me on the tracks at the last moment.”

Whatever Mr. Siddiqui said in his write-up is no doubt very horrible if true and very pathetic if not true; pathetic in a sense that blaming one’s own motherland and putting allegations on the security forces of one’s own country is usually a very uncommon rather rare practice. But unfortunately in Pakistan such practitioners are not very uncommon. I don’t remember the name of the writer but I remember someone had once said in a write up; just start shouting against the army, against the ISI or against the religious traditions if you wish to be blessed with a ‘long-term visa’ of US, UK, France or of other prosperous countries of the same category.

Spreading hatred against the security institutions of Pakistan has ever been a very favourite activity for all those who dream of a shattered and scattered Pakistan. Such ‘well-wishers’ of Pakistan are in abundance everywhere; inside Pakistan as well as outside Pakistan. If Pakistan didn’t have a strong army and if the ISI were professionally not so competent these ‘friends of Pakistan’ would have succeeded long ago but very interesting is the fact that spite of their continuous failure, these friends of Pakistan are never willing to surrender. Just a week back, the Economist said in a report on Pakistan, Since the founding of Pakistan in 1947, the army has not just defended state ideology but defined it, in two destructive ways.

The country exists to safeguard Islam, not a tolerant, prosperous citizenry. And the army, believing the country to be surrounded by enemies, promotes a doctrine of persecution and paranoia.” The paper further said, The paranoid doctrine helps the armed forces commandeer resources. More money goes to them than on development. Worse, it has bred a habit of geopolitical blackmail: help us financially or we might add to your perils in a very dangerous part of the world. This is at the root of Pakistan’s addiction to aid, despite its prickly nationalism.” In short the Economist did all its best to fix and frame the Pakistan Army behind all problems faced by Pakistan at present.

What is false if the Pakistan Army says that Pakistan is surrounded by enemies; certainly the experts at The Economist could be asked this question. And what is wrong if Pakistan warns the world around of the dangers and perils the world will have to face in case Pakistan becomes financially weak. Certainly this all is simply a part of that blame-game which is being played since long to disrepute and to defame Pakistan.

The forces hostile to Pakistan have all rights to use all tools against Pakistan as all is fair in love and war; but what about those who claim to be Pakistanis but always stand with the enemies of Pakistan. Such unlucky ones enjoy all possible benefits of being a citizen of Pakistan but whenever they get a chance of defaming Pakistan, they waste not even a single moment. Same is the case with Taha Siddiqui who admits in his write-up, I left Pakistan, where I had a stable job, a comfortable home and a strong journalism network.” Unfortunately today he is known to the world as a person dissatisfied with his own motherland.

There is another very important question; why do we need a license to shout against the Pakistan Army and the Inter Services Intelligence in the name of freedom of expression? Do the countries like the US, UK and France also allow every Tom Dick and Harry to defame their army and the intelligence agencies? Freedom and liberty of expression is important no doubt but in the name of such liberty, no country could allow anyone to vomit venom against those who sacrifice their lives for the safety and security of the country. The fact of the matter is that Pakistan is in dire need of reshaping the rules and regulations regarding the so-called freedom of expression.

by C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

That Sri Lanka was unable to persuade the international credit markets to roll over the USD one billion sovereign bond that matured earlier this month was an ominous sign that no one should ignore. The last resort of the government was to order the three largest state owned banks to borrow the money from the international market but that, too, failed and the government was constrained to pay the debt out of the existing reserves. Last year, after accepting the position of Prime Minister at President Sirisena’s invitation, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa made an impassioned televised appeal to the people saying that fresh elections and a new government (headed by him) would be the last chance to prevent Sri Lanka from becoming another Greece. The hoped-for general election never took place and the hope-for renewal was dashed with the restoration of the UNP to power.

The failure to raise money on the international markets seems to indicate that the former president’s prediction is coming true. According to reports appearing in the financial press, the total repayment of foreign loans this year will be USD 5.9 billion with USD 2.6 billon being due just in the first three months of this year. Against this backdrop, The Sunday Island spoke to the former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal about the unfolding situation.

Q.    The Central Bank Governor admitted that the three state banks had not been able to raise the one-billion-USD loan to pay off foreign debt. What are the implications of the three state banks being unable to raise that money? All of us were under the impression that the state banks were invincible and that they had a better reputation than the government that owns them.

A.    There’s no appetite for Sri Lankan paper. The state-run banks are fairly advanced banks and there would have been no worry about giving money to those banks because they are fairly liquid. But because of the government’s exposure to the credit markets, the appetite of the investors was not there even to lend to the state banks. Now, the government will have to get bilateral loans like swaps from India or loans from China in order to balance their numbers. They have serious difficulty in raising funds because people know that they are already exposed fairly strongly in forex borrowings and they have something in the region of about 35 billion USD up from about 23 billion USD at the end of President Rajapaksa’s tenure in power. So they have borrowed 50% more than the accumulated debt outstanding at the end of the Rajapaksa government and it is coming at a huge cost because the rupee has depreciated by about Rs. 54 per dollar. The government has to spend 184 rupees to buy dollars either from the market or the Central Bank. That money in turn has to be raised by the government through taxes or through further borrowing. The government is in a very unenviable position.

Q. The country gets its ratings and the various banks get their own ratings from the same credit rating agencies. If the bank is viable one would think that the international investors would not worry too much about being able to recover their money.

A. All the banks would be having ratings which will be the same or below the sovereign. No institution in a country can have a rating that is better than what the sovereign has. That is why the sovereign rating is so important. Those days I used to explain this to the banks and all the banks used to help us to maintain the ratings by doing certain things properly because they all knew that if the country rating drops, they will all suffer. Their borrowing rates will all increase if the country rating drops. So they helped us to improve the ratings by being disciplined and improving their own governance structures and helping us to maintain the currency – they knew that their rating was dependent upon the country rating.

Q. This government has been borrowing money in foreign currency to a much greater extent than the Rajapaksa government. So much so that a one billion Dollar sovereign bond now looks like small change.

A. They have been borrowing at a rate. Last week the Central Bank took on treasury bills to the tune of Rs 90 billion. That’s a case of printing money. Because there is no money to pay the salaries, no money to pay the debt. Even to buy the dollars, you have to have the rupees. So they have now become reckless. I am frightened to even think about the situation now.

Q. What about this theory that if the interest rate is right, no matter what your prospects, there will be lenders?

A. That’s not true. There is a certain elasticity with regard to the interest rates. If the borrower is fairly sound and if a good return is offered there will be lenders. But all those decisions will be on the basis that the repayment capacity of the borrower will be sound.  If there is a doubt about the borrower’s ability to repay, like what this government has now done by increasing the debt to GDP ratio, and the interest rates and so on, there is now a serious worry in the minds of investors whether this government will be able to repay. When that happens, however much you may increase interest rates, that’s not going to work because many investors will be getting wary about lending money. If there is a good chance of losing all their money they will not be interested in an additional 1% or 2%. If you hear that a borrower is indiscriminately raising interest rates in order to borrow, the lenders get a little suspicious. Already Sri Lankan bonds are trading above seven percent and close to 8%.  That’s a huge interest rate. In comparison, the US interest rate is about 2%. When that happens the investors become wary. Raising interest rates may be helpful because there are some people who take that risk. But they will do so with some trepidation. There will come a time when people will say that even at the high interest rate, they will not invest any more money in Sri Lankan bonds. That’s where the crunch occurs. Then you cannot roll over debt. That is what happened with this 1 billion Dollars. In normal circumstances, if Sri Lanka had been well managed, an investor would have subscribed to the new bonds which could have been used to retire the old bonds. What happened was that the government could not find any takers for the new bonds. The government couldn’t find takers for the state owned banks’ issue of bonds also. Then the government was constrained to repay the bond that was maturing with the resources that it already had. They used the reserves and proudly announced that the reserves were being used to retire the maturing bonds. This was an acknowledgement that they were unable to raise new money to pay the maturing bond. The Central Bank Governor was saying what is obvious to all the investors. He was only stating the fact.

Q. What would have been the change in the dynamics if a new government had been in power now? The same mountain of debt would have remained.

A. The people would have at least have known that there was a stable new government with new policies which will hold out some hope. Now there is no chance and hopelessness has set in. You saw the way the stock market reacted when Mahinda Rajapaksa became the Prime Minister. They welcomed the declaration of a general election. Now their hopes have been dashed and they think that they will be saddled with this government for the next one and a half years which means the economy will continue to deteriorate. People have been telling me how much their businesses are struggling. A fertilizer company said they had not been paid for 11 months. The government has ordered a subsidy and the difference between the actual sale price and the cost has to come from the government.  These people have already imported the fertilizer and have paid for all that. So they are on the brink. All the construction companies that have been building roads and bridges have not been paid.  The government is not able to make any payment. The decline in the stock market reflects the situation in the economy. At the end of 2014, the stock market capitalization was 3,105 billion rupees which in US dollar terms was 23.7 billion. By the end of 2015, the market capitalisation had gone down to 2938 billion Rupees which was 20.4 billion Dollars. By the end of 2016, it had further deteriorated to 2745 billion Rupees which works out to 18.2 billion USD. In 2017, there was a marginal improvement with the market capitalization increasing to 2899 billion Rupees which worked out to 19 billion USD. However at the end of 2018, it was Rs. 2839 billion which amounts to 15.5 billion USD. So the 23.7 billion USD at the time MR left office has now come down by 8.2 billion USD. One third of the entire value of our companies has been lost.

A showdown with the IMF?

When a staff team from the IMF led by Manuela Goretti visited Colombo during in mid-September 2018 to hold discussions on the fifth review of the program supported by a three-year Extended Fund Facility, the message they gave the government was clear. The IMF  knew fully well that Sri Lanka was going to enter an election year in 2019 and that there could be the provincial council elections first and the presidential elections by the end of the year and they obviously knew how fearful this government was of losing. They also knew that there was the likelihood of the government resorting to giving handouts to win elections. Yet the message they gave was clear. The team that came to Sri Lanka in September spoke of among other things ‘further fiscal consolidation’ which in IMF jargon means increasing taxes and reducing government expenditure so as to reduce the budget deficit.

To achieve that objective, they stressed that ‘the focus should remain on implementing the new Inland Revenue Act and other tax policy measures’ and spoke of the need to ‘strengthen tax compliance’. The IMF team which was in Sri Lanka for nearly two weeks, also commended the successful implementation of the fuel pricing formula and encouraged the introduction of an automatic pricing mechanism for electricity. They also spoke of how critical it was to have a ‘clear commitment to exchange rate flexibility’ which means to allow the rupee to depreciate until it finds its natural level. It need hardly be said that none of the measures recommended by the IMF will endear the government to the people during an election year. Even in their fourth review under the Extended Fund Facility programme in June 2018, they were very clear about the course of action they were recommending.

In fact, in their June 2018 fourth review report they drew attention to the fact that ‘political uncertainty in the run-up to the 2019–20 elections could slow reforms’. And they stressed that ‘sustained reform momentum is critical’. They observed that “public debt remains high and external buffers low against standard metrics, leaving the economy vulnerable to shocks, while limited export diversification and FDI suggest that the country’s growth potential has yet to be realized through structural reforms. Political uncertainty has increased following the opposition’s victory in the February 2018 local elections and two cabinet reshuffles. While the Prime Minister passed a no-confidence vote in April 01 there is an elevated risk that the political window for enacting major reforms will narrow in the run-up to the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for late 2019 and 2020, respectively. To secure the hard-won gains under the program and support inclusive and sustained growth, the reform momentum needs to accelerate, buttressed by strong policy frameworks and institutions”.

That seems to indicate that the IMF wants the reform programme to continue and would take a very dim view of any derailment due to political reasons. The IMF observed, “Gross public debt is projected at 83.7 percent of GDP in 2018, well-above peer emerging markets. This is in the context of sizable gross financing needs of around 18.6 percent of GDP in 2018 and international bond redemptions in 2019-22. Going forward, sustained fiscal efforts to reach an overall deficit of 3.5 percent of GDP by 2020 are expected to lower the debt ratio to 80 percent of GDP by 2020 and, under unchanged policies, to 73 percent by 2023, reducing the risk of debt distress.”

“The large and inefficient SOE sector (state owned enterprises) continues to pose substantial fiscal risks. SOEs’ financial obligations, estimated at 11 percent of GDP in 2017, consist mainly of project loans, short term bank loans linked to fuel subsidies, and aircraft lease commitments. SOEs have engaged in quasi-fiscal operations such as supplying energy at subsidized prices and funding infrastructure projects, with their debt absorbed by the government in times of difficulties. Lack of transparency, including delays in publishing audited financial statements, has raised concerns over undisclosed liabilities.”

“Staff welcomed important progress with energy pricing reforms…While energy prices reforms are fully implemented, the authorities committed to recognize the quasi-fiscal cost of fuel and electricity NCOs as central government expenditure to prevent further buildup of contingent liabilities.”

“A number of tax policy measures have been implemented to improve revenue performance.  As an initial step towards rationalizing tax incentives, the Cabinet suspended the Board of Investment Act in May 2016, annulling its capacity to grant tax exemptions and other forms of preferential treatment and instead concentrating these powers in the Ministry of Finance, which has ultimate oversight of tax policy. The VAT amendment enacted in November 2016 raised the VAT rate from 11 percent to 15 percent and broadened the VAT base by eliminating exemptions for telecommunication and private healthcare, excluding diagnostic tests, dialysis and services provided by the Outpatient Department (OPD), while the VAT continues to apply to wholesale and retail trade…Budget 2018 envisaged to broaden the VAT base further by eliminating exemptions on items including yarn, fabrics, industrial racks, electronic goods, and airplanes and parts, which are expected to yield about 0.2 percent of GDP in revenues.”

“On the personal and corporate income tax side, an important policy milestone was reached with the legislation of the Inland Revenue Act (IRA) which came into force on April 1st, 2018. The Act creates a predictable, stable, and transparent income tax system. Notable features include: removal of tax exemptions to broaden the tax base… introduction of a capital gains tax on immovable property; increased taxes on dividends and interest income; and a transparent set of investment-based tax incentives. Looking ahead to Budget 2019 and recognizing the need for about 1 percent of GDP in additional revenue, we plan to focus on our policy efforts to broaden the base of income tax and VAT and rationalize excise taxes.”(!)

Given the fact that what the IMF has in mind for Sri Lanka in 2019 and the needs of the government in an election year, some commentators have been predicting a showdown between the IMF and the SL government to take place in 2019. Given the fact that we are already finding ti difficult to raise money in the international markets, that will be the final nail in the coffin and the former president’s warning about becoming another Greece will come true. The government is in a bind. There are signs that it is only too well aware of the predicament it is in. This is probably why all talk of holding the provincial council elections have ceased. It seems to be only the Opposition that is interested in having the provincial council elections. Not holding the provincial council elections will give this government some breathing space until October this year. Thereafter they will have to device some was to avoid holding the presidential elections as well if they are to continue along the path they seem to have chosen for themselves.

by Rajeewa Jayaweera Courtesy The Island

According to a recent media report, UK government (GoUK) has recently appointed a Resident Defense Advisor in Sri Lanka after an absence of ten years. The story was accompanied by a photograph of the newly appointed Colonel David Ashman with Chief of Defense Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne taken during a courtesy call paid by the British RDA on the CDS.

His purported mission is to help the Sri Lankan military to fulfill the obligations as required by the UNHRC 30/1 Resolution originated by the US and UK and so pusillanimously co-sponsored by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe-Samaraweera triumvirate.

It might be recalled, the last British Defense Attaché before the closure of the office and transfer to Delhi was Lt. Col. Anton Gash. He filed dozens of confidential reports between January and May 2009 giving his assessment of what he had seen during the closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war. Against the backdrop of GoUK classifying the reports as Secret, a British member of the House of Lords, Lord Naseby, after a three years battle with the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), managed to obtain 39 pages of the confidential reports, albeit in a highly redacted state. He had to appeal under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) to the Commissioner of Information (UK’s equivalent to Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Act).

Naseby, from the uncensored sections, was able to gather information which could seriously call to question issues such as 40,000 civilian deaths during the closing stages of the conflict, war crimes, firing by government forces on civilian ‘no fire zones’, genocide, crimes against humanity etc. contained in the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) Report and also relevant to the Geneva Resolution.

The FCO, in its objections filed with the Information Commission, stated; “Lt. Col. Gash was the FCO’s defense attaché at the British Commission in Colombo during the closing stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war. Many of his dispatches contain information provided directly to him by his contacts in the Sri Lankan government, the Sri Lankan Army or other military sources. His reports indicate, he had access to reports on troop movements, Sri Lankan military strategic thinking, the movements of the LTTE and assessments of casualty figures. The effective conduct of international relations depends upon the free, frank and confidential exchange of information such as this. If the UK does not respect these confidences, then its ability to protect and promote UK interests through international relations will be hampered which will not be in the public interest.

Consequently, the FCO explained that it was of the view that releasing the information redacted on the basis of section 27( l) (a) would be likely to prejudice the UK’s relationship with Sri Lanka and would negatively impact on the information that they would be willing to exchange with the UK in the future. It further stated, the disclosure of the withheld information, in this case, was not in the public interest as it would be likely to damage the bilateral relationship between the UK and Sri Lanka. This would have the effect of reducing the UK government’s ability to protect and promote UK interests through its relations with Sri Lanka.”

Naseby in his counter-arguments stated the aim of his request “was to find clarity over the events that took place at the end of the war, not to support any side or follow any agenda. If the UK government were committed to that, then to assist rather than hinder that process, the dispatches should be published in the interests of the British people, the UN, and Sri Lanka. Lt Col Gash was one of the few independent observers of what happened in the closing stages of the war, and thus his dispatches were a particularly valuable source.” He argued that it was verging on the criminal to withhold such relevant information from the investigation, particularly given that the potential allegations individuals faced included war crimes. He further argued that it may be the case that the dispatches would confirm that the Sri Lankan government took the greatest care to minimize civilian causalities.

The last SITREP report in the initial set of redacted documents given to Naseby by the FCO was dated April 01, 2009. Under pressure from Naseby, FCO released two further reports and another three upon receiving a directive from the Information Commissioner. Nevertheless, the last SITREP report was dated Sunday, April 26, 2009, at 12.32 hrs whereas GoSL declared the defeat of LTTE on May 16, LTTE conceded defeat on May 17, Prabhakaran and most of LTTE leadership eliminated on May 18, and May 19 declared by GoSL as Victory Day.

The Information Commissioner, on June 26, 2016, dismissed Naseby’s appeal for full disclosure of the Gash dispatches in an uncensored state.

GoUK, FCO, and even the Information Commissioner would have us believe, Defense Attaché Lt. Col. Anton Gash would have taken long leave between April 27 and May 19, 2009. There are no reports even informing the cessation of hostilities and the elimination of Prabhakaran.

Naseby claims that he briefed President Sirisena during his meeting in February 2015 of action he was taking which the Sri Lankan Head of State had supported with no reservation. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister too has stated, he intended using Naseby’s revelations as an “ace” at a future date, whatever that means! However, GoSL has so far done nothing to make use of Naseby’s revelations. Such are the type of leaders we Sri Lankans are blessed nay cursed with.

GoUK stance in this instance, to say the least, is despicable. To make use of frivolous excuses such as the need to safeguard the identity of sources who provided information on troop movements, military strategic thinking, the movements of LTTE and assessments of casualty figures which took place in 2009 and have become purely academic by 2016 is unworthy of a responsible nation.

The British High Commission in Colombo, responding to a query from The Island has stated among other things; “changing to a resident position enables us to work more closely with Sri Lanka on defense issues as a Commonwealth partner and friend; to support the Sri Lankan armed forces as they work towards modernization and reform; and help them to play a positive role in fulfilling Sri Lanka’s commitments to the UN Human Rights Council.”

Sri Lanka is aware of its partners and friends, both within and without the Commonwealth. The armed forces are also aware of who stood by them in their hour of need. Suffice to state not since the days of Prime Minister Margret Thatcher has the UK been a partner and friend to Sri Lanka.

GoUK has effectively shut down both its own investigations i.e., Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) set up to investigate allegations of abuse and torture by British soldiers in Iraq to prevent ICC intervention and Iraq Fatality Investigations (IFI) set up after the European Court of Human Rights decreed that previous investigations had breached procedural rules laid down by the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK has prevented three generations of exiled Chagossians (people of Chagos Island) from returning to their land of birth. With such a track record, Britain has no moral right to speak of Sri Lanka’s commitments to the UNHRC.

But there is a lesson to be learned from Britain’s stance on Naseby’s revelations. Sri Lankan officials and men in uniform shared certain types of information related to the conflict with the then British Defense Attaché as a gesture of goodwill (this writer does not believe any Sri Lankan officials or soldiers were in Gash’s pay even though such things are known to happen elsewhere).

Never again should a British official be taken into confidence. Boycott the new Defense Advisor. Let all government officials, our men in uniform and every citizen adopt an attitude of non-cooperation. Do not greet him. Do not meet him. Do not invite him and do not accept his invitations. If unavoidable, give him monosyllable answers and remind him of Anton Gash’s dispatches.

GoUK considers the disclosure of material and identities of Sri Lankan government and military officials will negatively impact on information they would be willing to exchange with the UK in the future and hence disclosure would not be in the public interest. That is but a lame excuse to implement its agenda for Sri Lanka and please the Tamil diaspora vote block, so important to British politicians.

Any friend of Sri Lanka would provide available material which would be helpful to counter some of the pernicious aspects of the Geneva Resolution. There are senior military officials, many who have now retired unable to obtain a visa to visit western countries due to no other reason than having commanded fighting formations during the conflict.

Sri Lanka must make every effort to prove to GoUK, their warped theory of disclosure affecting bi-lateral relations is misplaced, and in fact, non-disclosure is what will impact not only bi-lateral but even people to people relations.

Every self-respecting Sri Lankan must utilize every available avenue to communicate to GoUK, its act of non-disclosure of the unredacted version of Gash’s wartime dispatches is considered a reprehensible and unfriendly act and with resulting consequences to UK/SL bi-lateral relations.

 ධර්මන් වික්‍රමරත්න උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ (ජවිපෙ) නායක රෝහණ විජේවීර 1989 නොවැම්බර් 12 උලපනේදී ආරක්ෂක හමුදා අත්අඩංගුවට පත්ව පසුදින අලුයම කොළඹදී ඝාතනයට පත්විය. විජේවීර අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වන විටද ජවිපෙ අභියෝග ගණනාවකට මුහුණ දී තිබිණි. උතුරේ බෙදුම්වාදී කැරලිකරුවන්ට පවා ඉතිහාසයේ කිසිම දිනක නොතිබුණු මර්දනයක් ආරක්ෂක අංශ විසින් ජවිපෙ කැරලිකරුවන්ට එරෙහිව මුදාහැර තිබිණි.

ආණ්ඩුවේ පොලිසිය සහ ආරක්ෂක අංශ පමණක් නොව එමඟින් මෙහෙයවනු ලැබූ අතුරු හමුදා කණ්ඩායම් 13 වන කළු බළල්ලු, ප්‍රා, උකුස්සෝ, රාජාලියෝ, කහ බළල්ලු, කොළ කොටි, රතු මකරු, මාපිලා, ගොනුස්සා, නි, කේසර සිංහයෝ, ලේ මාපිල්ලු, කළු කොටි මඟින් ජවිපෙ කැරලිකරුවන් පමණක් නොව එහි හිතවතුන් සහ එයට උදවු කළ අයද, කැරලිකරුවන්ගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයන් සහ ඥාතීන් දහස් ගණනක්ද ඉවක් බවක් නොමැතිව 1989 අගෝස්තුවෙන් පසු ඝාතනය කරන ලදී. එමෙන්ම ඔසී අබේගුණසේකරගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන පක්ෂය ප්‍රමුඛ ඇතැම් වාමාංශික පක්ෂ සහ කණ්ඩායම් ආණ්ඩුවේ අනුග්‍රහයද ඇතිව පවත්වාගෙන ගිය ප්‍රා සංවිධානයද කැරලිකරුවන්ට එරෙහිව ඝාතන කණ්ඩායම්වලට එක්ව තිබිණි.

මේ අනුව ජවිපෙට එරෙහිව සියලු සතුරු බලවේග 1989 ආරම්භයේ සිට එක් කඳවුරකට එක්ව තිබිණි. එයට විෂය මූල තත්ත්වයන් නිර්මාණය කරන ලදදේද ජවිපෙ විසිනි.

කැරැල්ලට එරෙහිව 1987 රජය වෙනුවෙන් නායකත්වය ගනු ලැබුවේ ජාතික ආරක්ෂක ඇමැති ලලිත් ඇතුලත්මුදලිය. දෙවැනුව 1988දී එහි නායකත්වය ගනු ලැබුවේ ආරක්ෂක රාජ්‍ය ඇමැති රන්ජන් විජේරත්නය. අවසානයේ කැරැල්ල මර්දනය කළ 1989 ජනාධිපති ප්‍රේමදාසගේ රජය වෙනුවෙන් එහි නායකත්වය ගනු ලැබුවේ නිවාස සහ ඉදිකිරීම් ඇමැති සිරිසේන කුරේය. කැරැලිකරුවන්ට එරෙහිව සිදුකරනු ලබන ආරක්ෂක හමුදා සම්බන්ධී

ඒ යටතේ ඒකාබද්ධ මෙහෙයුම් ඒකකය හෙවත් ඔප්ස් කම්බයින් 1989 අගෝස්තු 4 පිහිටු වූ අතර එයට ජවිපෙ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 19 ආවරණය කිරීම සඳහා කණ්ඩායම් 100ක් අනුයුක්ත කෙරිණි. එම 20ක පමණ සෑම කණ්ඩායමකට යුද, නාවික, ගුවන් යන ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා සහ පොලිසියේ නිලධාරීන් සහ සෙබළුන් අනුයුක්ත කර තිබිණි. මෙම විශේෂ කණ්ඩායම්වල නායකයන් අතර උසස්වීම් සහ වරප්‍රසාද සඳහා කැරැලිකරුවන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම, රඳවා ගැනීම, ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම, තොරතුරු ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා වධ දීම, ඇතැමුන් ‘ඉවත් කිරීම’ සිදුවූයේ තරගයට මෙනි. ඔප්ස් කම්බයින්හි අණදෙන නිලධාරියා වූයේ ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් මේජර් ජෙනරාල් සිරිල් රණතුංගය. එහි නායකයා හමුදා කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානි මේජර් ජෙනරාල් සිසිල් වෛද්‍යරත්නය. අණදෙන නිලධාරියා වූ කර්නල් ජානක පෙරේරා යටතේ විශේෂ මෙහෙයුම් ඒකකය ක්‍රියාත්මක විය. එහි දෙවැනියා වූ කර්නල් ලක්ෂ්මන් අල්ගම යටතේ තොරතුරු විමර්ශන ඒකකය පැවැතිණි.

ඔප්ස් කම්බයින් පිහිටා තිබුණේ තර්ස්ටන් විදුහල ඉදිරිපිට තට්ටු 2ක ගොඩනැඟිල්ලකය. එහි ප්‍රධානියකු වූයේ බි්‍රගේඩියර් වජිර විජේරත්නය. යුද හමුදා පොලිසියේ මේජර් කුලසිරි උඩුගම්පලද එහි විය. කොළඹ සරසවි නීති පීඨයේ සහ මත්තේගොඩ කඳවුරේ නායකයන් වූයේ ලුතිනන්වරුන් වූ තුවාන් නිසාම් මුතාලිෆ්, සොයිසා, ඒ.එෆ්. ලෆීර්, මංජුල මනතුංග, නිහාල් සිරිශාන්ත සහ කපිතාන් පෙරේරා ඇතුළු පිරිසකි.

ජාවත්තේ සළුසල ඉදිරිපිට විදේශ රැකියා කාර්යාංශයේ ගොඩනැඟිල්ලක පිහිටි කණ්ඩායමක ප්‍රධානීන් වූයේ පාබළ හමුදාවේ කපිතාන් චන්ද්‍රසිරි, කපිතාන් සිරිවර්ධන සහ ලුතිනන් ප්‍රනාන්දුය. හමුදාපති නිවෙස අසල පිහිටි බුඩි හවුස්හි පිහිටි කණ්ඩායමේ ප්‍රධානීන් වූයේ පාබළ හමුදාවේ කාලතුවක්කු හමුදාවේ මේජර් වී.ආර්. සිල්වා, මේජර් බාලසූරිය, කපිතාන් රන්ඔළුව, ලුතිනන් කොස්තා සහ ලුතිනන් ප්‍රියන්ත රණසිංහය. තිඹිරිගස්යාය යටෝරා කඳවුරේ ප්‍රධානීන් වූයේ කාලතුවක්කු හමුදාවේ කපිතාන් කොඩිතුවක්කු සහ ලුතිනන් බස්නායකය. හෙන්රි ප්‍රේද්‍රිස් ක්‍රීඩා මණ්ඩපයේ සිටි කණ්ඩායමේ ප්‍රධානීන් වූයේ සේවා බළකායේ ලුතිනන් ඕවිටපාන සහ මාණ්ඩලික සැරයන් රත්නසූරියය. කොළඹ ප්‍රදේශයේ පමණක් තවත් මෙහෙයුම් මධ්‍යස්ථාන වනාතමුල්ලේ ඕවල් ක්‍රීඩාංගණය, මරදානේ ටි්‍රපොලි, මෝදර, වැල්ලම්පිටියේ සේදවත්ත පාසල ඇතුළු ස්ථාන කිහිපයක පැවැතිණි.

ආරක්ෂක අංශවල අතිශය දරුණු මර්දනය නිසා විනයක් සහිත අත්දැකීම් ඇති සංවිධාන ව්‍යුහයක් තුළ ගොඩනැඟුණු ජවිපෙ ක්‍රියාකාරීන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් 1989 මුල්භාගය වනවිට ඝාතනයට ලක්විය. එම හිඩැස පිරවීමට ජවිපෙට බොහෝ දුරට සිදුවූයේ අත්දැකීම් විරල, පුද්ගල ඝාතනවලට සහ මංකොල්ලවලට එක්වූ විනයකට හුරු නොවූ 1986 ඉන්දු _ ලංකා ගිවිසුමින් පසු අලුතින් බඳවාගත් අය ගෙනි. ඔවුහු බොහෝ දෙනෙක් පාසල් වියේ සිටි දේශපාලන දැනුමෙන් නොමේරූ පුද්ගලයන් වීම, කැරැල්ලේ ආශ්වාදයෙන් මත් වී එයට එක්වූ අය වීම සහ ග්‍රාමීය ප්‍රදේශවල නොහික්මුණු පිරිස් ලෙස ජනයා සැලකූ පුද්ගලයන් විය. ජවිපෙ 2 වැනි කැරැල්ලේ අවසාන කාලයේ භාවිත වුණු බොහෝ ක්‍රියාමාර්ග නිසා සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාගෙන් කැරැලිකරුවන් වෙන්කර ගැනීමට ආරක්ෂක අංශවලට පහසු විය. අවසාන කාලයේ කැරැල්ල සමාජයේ පුළුල් සහභාගිත්වයකින් තොරව හුදකලා කැරලි ගැසීමක් බවට පත්ව තිබිණි.

ඒ වනවිට ජවිපෙ දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලය අතරද යම් යම් මතභේද ඇතිව තිබිණි. විජේවීර ඇතුළු එහි සුළුතරයකගේ මතය වූයේ සතුරාට මුහුණදීම සඳහා විසිර ගොස් හෝ පසුබැස නැවත සංවිධානය වෙමින් අරගල කිරීමය. එහෙත් උපතිස්ස ගමනායක, සමන් පියසිරි ප්‍රනාන්දු, ඩී.එම්. ආනන්ද, ලලිත් විජේරත්න, එච්.බී.හේරත් වැනි අයගේ අදහස වූයේ ආරක්ෂක අංශවලට ප්‍රතිප්‍රහාර එල්ල කර ආරක්ෂක අංශවලට මුහුණදීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් සකසා ගැනීමය. රට තුළ තිබෙන වාතාවරණය අනුව බහුතර තීරණයට එකඟවීම හැර වෙනත් විකල්පයක් රෝහණ විජේවීර ප්‍රමුඛ සුළුතර කණ්ඩායමට නොවීය.

මේ හේතුව නිසා ජවිපෙ නායකත්වය පමණක් හෝ ආරක්ෂා කර මර්දනයට මුහුණදීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් සකස් කරගැනීමටද ක්ෂණිකව නොහැකි විය. අර්බුදයේ ස්වභාවය විසින් නව සංවිධාන යාන්ත්‍රණයක් ජවිපෙට අවශ්‍ය වුවද 1989 ඔක්තෝබර් 28 රත්නපුරයේදී ඩී.එම්. ආනන්ද අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමෙන් පසු දෙසතියක් ඇතුළත හෝ වෙනස් ආරක්ෂක ක්‍රමවේදයක් වෙත හුවමාරුවීමට ජවිපෙ නායකත්වය අසමත් වූයේ එබැවිනි.

මර්දනකාරී තත්ත්වය තුළ ජවිපෙ 2 වැනි කැරැල්ල 1989 සැප්තැම්බර් අවසානයේදී යුදමය වශයෙන් විශාල පරාජයකට පත්වෙමින් තිබුණු අතර කැරැලිකරුවන් තුළද මානසික කඩා වැටීම්, භීතිය, අපේක්ෂා භංගත්වය, අවිශ්වාසය සහ සැකය මෝදුවෙමින් පැවැතිණි. විජේවීර ඝාතනය පිළිබඳ ජවිපෙ විසින් නිල ප්‍රකාශයක් සිදුකරනු ලැබුවේද සතියකට පසු 1989 නොවැම්බර් 20 වැනිදාය. ආරක්ෂක අංශ අත්අඩංගුවේ සිටියදී විජේවීර කළ ප්‍රකාශය තුළින් ඔහු දුන් පණිවුඩය වූයේ ‘සියල්ල වෙනස් කරන්න’ යන්නය. විජේවීරගේ ප්‍රකාශයේ හරය උකහාගෙන ජවිපෙ නව නායකත්වය උපාය උපක්‍රමයන් තෝරා ගත්තේ නම් පසුව මිය ගිය දහස් ගණනක් ජීවතුන් අතර සිටින්නට බොහෝ ඉඩ තිබිණි.

ජවිපෙ නායකත්වයට පත් වූ සමන් පියසිරි ප්‍රනාන්දු විසින් 1989 නොවැම්බර් 28 වැනිදා 11 දෙනකුගෙන් සමන්විත නව දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයක් පත් කරනු ලැබීය. රත්නපුර _ හිදැල්ලන පණුකෑරපිටියේ දෙදිනක් පැවැති එම දේශපාලන මණ්ඩල රැස්වීමට ලලිත් විජේරත්න සහභාගි වූ අතර ඒ වනවිට ඝාතනයට පත් නොවී සැඟව සිටි ශාන්ත බණ්ඩාර සහ සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහගේද ලිඛිත අනුමැතිය එයට ලැබිණි. එම රැස්වීමේදී දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 19කට නව දේශපාලන ලේකම්වරුන් සහ සන්නද්ධ ලේකම්වරුන්ද, පළාත් මට්ටමින් දේශපාලන සහ යුද නායකයන්ද පත් කරනු ලැබීය. එහෙත් මධ්‍යම කාරක සභිකයන් පත්කර ගැනීම රට තුළ පැවැති සුවිශේෂී තත්ත්වය හේතුකොටගෙන මසක් ඇතුළත සිදුකිරීමට සැමගේ එකඟත්වය පළවිය.

කලින් 1986 සිට 1989 නොවැම්බර් දක්වා ජවිපෙ වැඩ කළ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 19 බෙදා තිබුණේ කලාප 5කටය. විජේවීර ඝාතනයෙන් පසු නව දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලය විසින් දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 19 බෙදන ලද්දේ කලාප 4කටය. සෝමවංශ 1990 මාර්තු 17 රටින් පිටවීමට ප්‍රථම සමන්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් පැවැති දේශපාලන මණ්ඩල රැස්වීම් දෙකටම සහභාගි නොවීය. එහෙත් සමන් පියසිරිගේ නායකත්වය පිළිගනිමින් ලිඛිත අනුමැතිය එවා තිබිණි. ශාන්ත බණ්ඩාර 1989 නොවැම්බර් 28 පැවැති ප්‍රථම සාකච්ඡාවට සහභාගි නොවූවද නායකත්වයට සියලු සුදුසුකම් ශාන්තට තිබුණද ජවිපෙ නායකත්වය සමන් පියසිරිට භාරදීමට අනුමැතිය පළ කළේය. ශාන්ත 1989 දෙසැම්බර් 07 දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයේ දෙවැනි රැස්වීමට සහභාගි විය.

නව දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයේ සභිකයන් වූ ජවිපෙ පෙරමුණු සංවිධාන භාරව කටයුතු කළ ආනන්ද ඉඩමේගම තරුණ, කාන්තා, භික්ෂු කලාප රැස්වීම් 2ක් කැඳවීමට සමත් වූ අතර මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික් කාන්තා ක්‍රියාකාරීන්ගේ සාකච්ඡාවකට යෑමේදී කොටුවිය. එමෙන්ම උපාලි ජයවීරද උෟව කලාපයේ කලාප මට්ටමින් රැස්වීම් 3ක් කැඳවීමට සමත් විය. ඒවා සිදුවූයේ දුෂ්කර තත්ත්වයන් යටතේ සති 6ක් තුළය. ජවිපෙ දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලය ප්‍රථම වරට 1989 නොවැම්බර් 28 රත්නපුර _ හිදැල්ලන පණුකෑරපිටියේදී පැවැති අතර කලාප දේශපාලන සහ සන්නද්ධ ලේකම්වරුන්ද දිසා ලේකම්වරුන් සහ සන්නද්ධ ලේකම්වරුන්ද එහිදී පත්විය.

ජවිපෙ දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලය දෙවැනි වරට 1989 දෙසැම්බර් 07 රත්නපුර පණුකෑරපිටියේදී රැස් වූ අතර සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහ හැර සියල්ලෝම එයට එක්වූහ. එහිදී 1989 දෙසැම්බර් 13 රට පුරා ප්‍රහාරයක් සැලසුම් කෙරිණි. ජවිපෙ තෙවැනි දේශපාලන මණ්ඩල රැස්වීම 1990 ජනවාරි 5 හෝමාගමදී පැවැත්වීමට කටයුතු සූදානම් කළද ඒ වනවිට සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහ හැර සියල්ලෝම අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන හෝ ඝාතනයට ලක්ව තිබිණි. (ජවිපෙ 2 වැනි කැරලි සමය වූ 1986 සිට 1990 දක්වා පළවන මෙම ලිපි මාලාව පිළිබඳ විස්තර දුරකථන 011 5234384 ලබාගත හැකිය.)කරණය සහ උපදෙස් ලබාදීම 1987 සිට 1989 දක්වා සිදුවූයේ එලෙසිනි. ඊශ්‍රායලයේ මොසාඩ් සහ බි්‍රතාන්‍යයේ එම්.අයි. 6 යන විදේශ රහස් ඔත්තු සේවාවන්හි උපදේශකයන් කිහිපදෙනකුගේ සහායද කැරැල්ල මර්දනය කිරීම සඳහා 1989 මැද භාගයේ සිට ආණ්ඩුවේ දේශපාලන නායකත්වයට ලැබිණි.

ධර්මන් වික්‍රමරත්න

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

Tamils both in SriLanka and Overseas are requested to read and digest this article, please. Tamil diaspora of the current generation, even their children are married to local mixed or half-caste race, are not prepared to give up their Tamil Eelam demand. People like Rudrakumaran and the Diaspora in the UK and Europe are not prepared to give up their hardcore deep-rooted mindset of Tamil Eelam. The Root Cause is the money accrued from the collection and also funds flowing from Charity organizations and/or foreign governments with the intelligent motive of their political strategical plans. Practically Tamil Diaspora leaders in Europe, UK, US, Canada, and Europe are slaves trying to siphon money by their blabbermouth about Discrimination, oppression etc.

In Australia, a refugee who came at the age of 13, who is grown up now is dishonest to a radio that even now Tamils are harassed and killed. Quote: In the said program it was mentioned that ‘still the disappearances of Tamils take place and harassment of Tamils continue’ in Sri Lanka which
is an absolute lie.”

This guy promotes multiculturalism in Australia which is detrimental on a horizon of 25 years. Refer http://nrnmind.blogspot.com/2018/08/concealed-risk-of-multiculturism.html.

It is obvious that the said refugee cum Australian citizen (hope so) who campaigns for multi-culturalism may lack in perception, intelligence, and a total misunderstanding of living in cohesion. He has no business to propagate lies. He participates in Martyr’s day an every protesting gallery, talks sociology etc. Some may infer that he may be suffering from a neurological disorder like the LTTE leader Prabakaran. He should show appreciation to Australia and shall not crawl in to disturb the peace and prosperity of the people living in Australia. Australia is a peace-loving country which provides the need for all citizens. Refugees shall not contemplate and cogitate Australia is a Refugee Social Welfare Country here to absorb all crawling refugees to Australia.

Aran Mylvaganam without going to SL is amazement how he could create such stories.  It is recommended that Aran Mylvaganam do some constructive and productive job and live in peace in Australia.

Quote; https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/korean/en/article/2019/01/14/theyre-not-refugees-dutton-says-queensland-tamil-family-will-be-deported

Persecution fears

According to Home Affairs Office statistics, the couple was two of almost 6,000 illegal maritime arrivals (I MAs) of Sri Lankan background, who were granted bridging visas between 2011 and 2013. Of the 10,600 I MAs currently having their asylum status reviewed, 10 percent are from Sri Lanka.

Aran Mylvaganam from the Tamil Refugee Council says many Tamils, an ethnic minority in Sri Lanka, have fled persecution in the war-ravaged country (Absolutely untrue and cooked up stories). He believes Priya and Nades, both Tamils, will face a bleak fate if deported.

You know the family is not doing well. They are facing irreversible damages to their health as a result of this indefinite detention. The current situation for Tamils in Sri Lanka is very bad,” Mr. Mylvaganam told SBS News.

“Disappearances are still going. Torture is still being used on Tamil people … under these circumstances, no Tamils should be sent back to Sri Lanka.

We highly appreciate Hon Minister Peter Dutton to have confirmed Australian citizens concept of returning the refugees back home to SL.

There is no reason for SriLankan to take high risk and scud into Australia. If they are patriotic they should live in SL and develop the country.

This act is considered intoxication and the outcome will be a mental disturbance of Tamil Eelam Fanatics in Australia and may engage in other activities. The social cohesion and racial synchronization in Australia will be distraught by this action.

There is another man, son of a politician from Batticaloa who voted to disfranchise one million Tamils of Indian origin in 1948, is on a multiculturalism and anti-Sinhala campaign in Australia. Such people have a mental disability to understand, analyze and maintain peace in the country they are domiciled.

I being a Tamil have observed so many Tamils in Australia, UK & USA propagate lies inventing from their chaotic neural system (brain). In my view, these people may be suffering from neurological disorder due to mental weakness and/or mindset.

Quote; Imbecilic Tamils from UK, USA, and Europe are always claiming to about Kumari Kandam” that is sunk in the Indian Ocean. Do these people do not do any work, but live on the dole. The only place that is sunk is Vrindavan near Bombay coast. I politely appeal to those imbecilic Tamils to show where the Kandam is sunk with proof. It is scientific that the plates keep moving and cause an earthquake. The earth revolves around the sun and the speed of the movement is 107,000 km per hour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLahVJNnoZ4&fbclid=IwAR2iEaejCcvAkmNhFFeA-VB6iupQRu0sq0kc4ZLtmgFQrVaJYar4r3TSezw

https://www.indy100.com/article/what-world-looked-like-300-million-years-ago-panega-maps-7710571

A few radios in Australia are only interested in keeping the Tamil Eelam active in the minds of the Diaspora Tamils. Their act is to intoxicate and brainwash the minds of the Tamils. Even Professionals and doctors have been brainwashed.

A Tamil guy’s sexual assault and conviction. This guy was a security guard with SERCO. These are the practices of Tamils overseas and in SriLanka.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-23/former-secro-guard-accused-of-alleged-sexual-assault/7872780

What makes them lie and be at the forefront of dishonest forums: –

They have no Core Values, no vision. The only vision they have is to lie and be in the forefront so that they can be seen and praised by the Imbecilic Tamils in Australia. They lack intelligence and perception and lack of understanding. They have no professional or technical ability, very poor in the English language. A person like Aran in the Refugee Council cannot contribute to Australia, and is not an asset but may be a liability. He may be wasting Australian tax payer’s money for his ambitious work on refugees. People like him should be grateful and loyal to Australia, not become active troublemakers but troubleshooters.

What happens in SriLanka Tamil Areas; The Truth

Drug trafficking, drug dealing, drug consumption, alcohol consumption (high in Northern Province), students on alcohol, drugs, students have sex with teachers and vice versa, bribery and corruption of Council ministers, restaurants selling unhealthy meals, unprofessional unethical hospital practice, incompetent  doctors practice in private hospitals in the North, public toilets; very bad condition with no maintenance, dumping of hospital and human waste in Kallundai near liveable places, killing of people with swords, high rate of robbery, dirtiness in restaurants and eating houses, high degree of caste differentiation and high level of wastage dominates the North, No hygiene practice in eating houses; no gloves are worn while packing. These are all done by the Tamils in the North.

To be continued.

Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec. Canada

The country has been invaded by the army-worm caterpillar local known as the Senaa Dalambuwa”.  All kinds of conspiracy theories are being spun, and some of it was played out in Parliament itself. Claims that the caterpillar has been deliberately introduced”, or that it is the lack of attention at the airport customs, or that big multinationals have sent their agents with bags of worm eggs to capture the albeit tiny market for pesticides in Sri Lanka! The facts are much simpler and  patently clear.

How the Senaa caterpillar came in with blackmarket Indian products.

Tne truth is much simpler than that. I was in Sri Lanka in early 2018, when the ban on the popular herbicide glyphosate was in full force.  As I had relatives living in the North Central Province (NCP)  I visited my uncle’s village which is a rural farming community. My uncle himself runs a small grocery business where he sells everything from Chick Peas (Kadala”) to coconuts and cement. Many people grow maize while others engage in paddy farming (where work is limited to a few weeks in each season) and then they go to towns and work in many odd jobs during the rest of the year.

Smuggled Glyphosate (17-March-2017 courtesy Hiru News)

The ban on glyphosate had little effect on the paddy farmers whose need for  the herbicide is minimal and restricted to a few days in each season. However, the herbicide is crucial to the maize farmers whose product was devastated by the ban on the herbicide. Manual weeding is totally impossible given the hot climate, many serpents,  and the harsh, deep-roots weeds that develop rapidly. So many maize farmers had NO OTHER RECOURSE except to buy the black-market glyphosate that had been smuggled in from India. This glyphosate was available in plenty, and came into the country from both the Eastern sea board as well as the North-western coast. Some may have also come through Jaffna, but what I learnt was that most of  the glyphosate available came from coastal operations nearby. The black market glyphosate was what enabled many families to cultivate at least a portion of their iringu hena” (Maize plot). It was not just glyphosate that was being smuggled to Sri Lanka  from India. Many smuggled items, be it sarees, ayurvedic products” or cheap engine parts,  routinely come to our rural areas as the need has to be fulfilled.

The senaa caterpillar had ALREADY arrived in  India in 2017 and thriving there. As glyphosate is a very harmless pesticide, it has no effect what so ever on the Senaa caterpillar’s eggs. So it is a simpler matter to understand that a lot of Senaa contamination would have come to the maize growing areas by way of smuggled products from India.

If glyphosate had NOT been banned, then only approved products  from known sources would have arrived in the country. Instead, in banning the product, the short-sighted legislators opened the flood gates to questionable products. So it is not surprising that Maize was the first crop that was hit by the senaa caterpillar. Even today, glyphsoate is only allowed for tea and rubber, while maize and vegetable farmers etc.,  have to use the unsafe the black-market product. That this black market product is widely used is well known, since even an ex-minister admitted on TV that he uses black-market glyphosate on his 30-acre estate.

Using the Kohombo (Neem) pesticide to eliminate the Senaa caterpillar.

Venerable Ranatana, speaking at the Sadaham Sevena stated that he can kill these thousands of  Senaa caterpillars  using an insecticide based on  Kohomba (Azadirachta indica), a plant well known to Sri Lankans. It is  indeed painful to see a Buddhist monk talking of taking life at a Sadaham center” and engaging in agriculture, when the Vinaya forbids a monk to even run a small vegetable garden in the Temple yard. That is the work  left to  the lay supporters (Dayakays) of the temple. But then, in Sri Lanka politicized  Buddhist monks have eliminated not just thousands of caterpillars, but even assassinated prime ministers. However, the imposition of the Vinaya is a matter for Buddhist elders. Here we will examine if indeed the use of Kohomba based insecticides on a large scale is safe.

Extensive Fields tests are needed to ensure safety before products are introduced.

If the Kohomba preparation can kill the caterpillar, it can also kill every other beneficial bug that is in the soil, in plants and the environment, be they earthworms or bees. A broad-spectrum insecticide with the powers attributed to it by Ven. Rathana is an extremely dangerous substance.

The agrochemicals and insecticides sold by large licensed companies have to prove their efficiency and safety before they are approved for use in the public domain. Such tests usually need  at least five years of testing, and continued testing before the FDA or the EPA give them a license to sell to the public. Contrary tio the widespread belief that agrochemical companies are to be trusted, the bigger companies are the most trustworthy because they are the most scrutinized, and they alone have the reasearch money needed. But their products are independently tested by the US health department, or various research institutes in Diffent countires. Rothamstead in England, or MahaIlluppallama in Sri lanka, undertake such studies. Thus glyphosate, introduced in 1974, continues to be reviewed every five years. The US department of health followed the health of 90,000 farmers over a period of 25 years, and concluded that there is NO increased risk of cancer or any other  non-communicable disease resulting from its use (reports of this study were published in the interim, and a final report was published in November 2017). In Sri Lanka, it seems that glyphosate was tested at the TRI and CRI from 1997-2000 before it was released to the public from 2000 onwards. And yet the public is correct to be constantly  vigilant about these products. However, this same vigilance should be directed at so-called organic” or natural” products which are pushed by Organic-Food super market chains who make dubious claims of these foods being more healthy and better for the environment. They are in fact not so, but a rip off of the unwary consumer.

The new products touted by Ven. Rathana that he boasts can kill the caterpillar in a  mere minutes are products untested for their safety in the long run. Many powerful toxins come from nature. The products made  from Kohomba plant , the rubber plant, or Niyagala, or vaha-Kaduru, or  Aththana, are extremely toxic. A substance does not become   non-toxic to humans simply because it is natural”. We should not allow self-appointed agricultural experts” like Ven. Rathana to destroy the nations agriculture so painstakingly nurtured over decades, guided by the professionals of the tea-rubber-coconut research institutes (TRI, RRI, CRI) and those of  the department  of agriculture (DOI) which runs Gunnoruwa, Kundasale, Bathalagoda, Maha-illuppallama and many other research stations. It is these scientists who have created new hybrids to feed the rapid increase in Sri Lanka’s population, and combated the diseases that came upon our cash crops.

The agricultural political lobby group founded by Ven. Rathana was installed in the Presidential Secretariat of President Sirisena under the name of SEMA, and this touted a bio-fertilizer which was subsequently shown to be a fraud which had no fertilizer effect, but took the money of the farmer. The devastation and expense caused by SEMA, and the banning of glyphosate (which led to the near collapse of the Tea export industry) were instigated by this no-toxins in Sri Lanka” movement. Now, by unleashing a hither-to untested substance on the environment, we are allowing fools to rush  in where angles fear to tread.

Rathan Thera  banned  glyphosate claiming that it causes CKDu. It does not do so. And if you get CKDu, you do not go to Rathana thera but you go to the Kidney specialists.

For heaven’s sake, let the professionals handle the matter.

Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada

RANJITH SOYSA Spokesperson SPUR Victoria

According to a recent report published , the Defence Secretary , Hemasiri Fernando has invited expatriate Tamils to contact the Defence Ministry to report about the credible atrocities committed by the security forces. This is indeed a strange attempt to offer sacrifices under the delusion that Mr Hemasiri Fernando is carrying out a noble task as the majority of vocal members of the expatriate Tamil community has been highly critical of Sri Lanka’s defence forces for having stopped the Eelam drive of the LTTE at Nandikadal. Therefore. the response to the Defence Secretary’s clarion call will result in further complications with obviously biased inputs. But, it is common knowledge that there is a substantial yet many questionable and some fabricated published reports which had been submitted by the expatriate Tamils to the UNHRC and by other well -known NGOs and also to Western Governments which the Defence Secretary have ready access to. He should go through  theses reports and start to consider to separate the facts from the fiction and to take  action. if at all is the priority at present.

At the same time let me draw his attention to the  documents such as the Census details in 2008/9/10 , LLRC conclusions , GSLF Re Appraisal report to OISL prepared by Sir Desmond De Silva, Prof D.M.Crane and Sir Geoffrey Nice and other authentic reports submitted by Lord Naseby and two senior officers of the UK and US army stationed in Sri Lanka  et about the ‘atrocities committed and the responsible steps taken  by the defence forces ‘ available to the  Government and to the Ministry of Defence. Further there are detailed article by Kath Noble, Dr Delgoda- Tammita and Dr Micheal Roberts about the numbers of Tamil civilians killed  said to have killed. If the defence secretary decides to comb out the issues he will realize that the members of our defence forces have gone that extra mile to protect tens of thousands of civilian lives in overcoming the terrorist LTTE.

We are awaiting for the Defence Secretary to go hard with the task of nailing the untruths about our defence forces as we are moved to know his keenness to hear the credible atrocities from the expatriate Tamils.

RANJITH SOYSA
Spokesperson SPUR Victoria

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

         දළදා වහන්සේ මුල්වරට වැඩම කලා යැයි ජන ප්‍රවාදගත නයාරු ලංකාතොට අසල ගුරුකන්ද රජමහ විහාරයට පසුගියදා ටී.එන්.ඒ. දේශපාලන අංශයෙන් බලහත්කාරකමක් සිදු විය. ගුරුකන්ද රජ මහ විහාරයේ වර්තමාන විහාරාධිපති කොළඹ මේධාලංකාර හිමියන් ගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් එහි බුදු පිළිම වහන්සේ නමක් ප්‍රතිෂ්ඨාපනය වීම ඊට හේතුවයි.දුරුතු මස තෛයිපොංගල් දිනයේ දී පන්සලට කඩා වැදුණු හිටපු උතුරු පළාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රී රවිහරන් ඇතුළු සියයක පමණ කණ්ඩායමක් ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේට සහ එහි දායකයන්ට බැණ තර්ජනය කරමින් බලහත්කාරයෙන් පන්සල් භූමිය තුළ මඩුවක් අටවා පොංගල් කිරිබත් උයා පන්සල් භූමියේ කෝවිලකට අත්තිවාරම් දමන්නට උත්සාහ දරා ඇත.මෙම සිද්දියෙන් පසු එතැනට කඩා වැදුණු ටී.එන්.ඒ. සංවිධානයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු කීප දෙනෙක්ද ආලම්පීල් කෝකිලායි පල්ලි වල පූජකයන්ද චාල්ස් නම් පූජකයාද එක්ව පන්සලට තිබෙන අයිතිය ගැන මේධාලංකාර හිමියන් ගෙන විමසා ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ. මෙම සිදු වීම අතරතුර උතුරේ ගංවතුරෙන් අනාථ වූ දෙමළ ජනතාවට සහනාධාර ලබා දීමට පැමිණි පූජ්‍ය පාහියන්ගල ආනන්ද සාගර හිමියන් ඇතුළු බෞද්ධ උපාසක උපාසික කණ්ඩායමක්ද උදෑසන ආහාර ගැනීමට මෙහි ළගා වී තිබේ.මෙම කණ්ඩායම සමග එක්ව පැමිණි මවුබිම මාධ්‍ය වේදී සපුමල් ජයසේන මහතාද එහි විය. විහාරස්ථානයේ සිදු වූ බලහත්කාරකම් ඔවුන් ඇස් පනාපිට දුටු අතර වහාම එහි අසල තිබෙන හමුදා කඳවුරේ අණදෙන නිළධාරීන් මැදිහත්ව මෙම කණ්ඩායම එතනින් ඉවත් කළ බවටද  මාධ්‍යෙව්දීන්ට ඡායාරූප ගැනීමට පවා ඉඩ නොදුන් බවටද වාර්තා වේ.

       මෙවැනි සිදු වීමක් දකුණේ සිදු වූවා නම් රජයේ මැති ඇමතිවරු බොහෝ දෙනෙකු එම සිදු වීමට එරෙහිව ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කිරීමට පැකිලෙන්නේ නැත. එසේම පොලිසිය වහාම මැදිහත්ව ගැටුමට මැදිහත් වූවන් අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට උසාවි නියෝග ගනී. නැතිනම් තහනම් නියෝග ගැනීමට පමා නොවේ. කූරගල උද්ඝෝෂණය මාවනැල්ල උද්ඝෝෂණය අවස්ථාවලදී පොලිසිය ගත් ක්ෂණික ක්‍රියාමාර්ග රාශියක් ගැන වාර්තා ඇත. දිගන ඇති වූ ගිනි තැබීම් සහ කොලාහලයේ දී අමිත් වීරසිංහ ඇතුළු පිරිස අත් අඩංගුවට පත් වන්නේ දේශපාලන හා සිවිල් අයිතිවාසිකම් පණත යටතේ ජාතිවාදය ඇවිස්සීමේ වරදකටයි. සෑහෙන කලක් මේ පිරිසට ඇප නොමැතිව බන්ධනාගාර ගතකොට තිබූ ආකාරයද සිහිපත් වේ. එහෙත් ගුරුකන්ද රජමහා විහාරයේ ඇති වූ ජාතිවාදී ගැටුම පොලිසිය විසින් දැක තිබෙන්නේ සාමය කඩ වීමේ අවස්ථාවක් ලෙසටයි. මෙම ගැටුම සම්බන්ධව විහාරාධිපති ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ ගෙන් කට උත්තර ලබා ගත් මුලතිව් පොලිසිය බී වාර්තාවක් ගොනුකර දෙපාර්ශවයම 29 වනදා උසාවියට  කැඳවීමට නියෝගයක් නිකුත් කර තිබේ. කෝලාහලයක් සාමය කඩ වීමක් යනු සාමාන්‍ය යෙන් සමථ මණ්ඩලයක විසඳා ගැනීමට හැකි ප්‍රශ්ණයකි. එහෙත් මුලතිව් ගුරුකන්ද විහාරයේ සිදු වූයේ එය නොවේ. බලහත්කාරයෙන් ඇතිකළ ජාතිවාදී  සහ ආගම් වාදී ගැටුමකි.මේ සම්බන්ධව නීතිඥ නුවන් බෙල්ලන්තුඩාව මහතා මුලතිව් පොලිසියේ මූලස්ථාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක ලලිත් හෙට්ටිආරච්චි මහතා විමසීමේ දී ඔහු පවසා ඇත්තේ සිවිල් අයිතිවාසිකම් පණත යටතේ නඩු දැමීමට නම් නීතිපති විමසිය යුතු බවයි.එහෙත් අප දන්නා පරිදි දිගන සිද්දියේ දී පොලිසිය  විසින් නීතිපති විමසා නැත.

        ජනවාරි මස 27 වන දින මෙම විහාරයේ අභිනව පිළිමවහන්සේ නිරාවරණය කරලීමේ උත්සවය යෙදී තිබුණි. එම උත්සවයට අස්ගිරි පාරශවයේ මහානායක අති පූජ්‍ය වරකාගොඩ ඥානරතන නායක හිමියන්ට ද අනූනායක අති පූජ්‍ය වෙඩරුවේ උපාලි නා හිමියන්ටද ලේඛකාධිකාරී අති පූජ්‍ය මැදගම ධම්මානන්ද නා හිමියන්ටද ඇරයුම් කර තිබුණි. දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ  මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ඒ අතර වහා ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් ජනවාරි 29 වනදාට වන කැඳවීම අවලංගු කරමින් 24 වනදා උසාවියට කැඳවිය හැකි වන පරිදි මෝසමක් ගොනු කරගෙන තිබේ.    මෙම ක්‍රියාන්විතයේ අරමුණ වන්නට ඇත්තේ පිළිම වහන් සේ නිරාවරණය කරලීමේ උත්සවයට තහනම් නියෝග ගැනීමයි. පොලිසියද ටී.එන්.ඒ. මන්ත්‍රී වරුන්ට චෝදාන ගොනු නොකරම සාමය කඩවීමේ බී වාර්තාව ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ මෙවැනි තත්ත්වකට මග හදන්නටයි. මීට පෙරද මුලතිව් කුරුඳු මලේ පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථානයට ගිය පුරාවිද්‍යා කණ්ඩායමකට සහ සපුමල්තැන්න ආරණ්‍ය සේනාසනයේ ශාන්තබෝධි හිමියන්ට මුලතිව් පොලිසිය විසින් උසාවිය මගින් තහනම් නියෝග ගෙන තිබුණි.එම සිද්දියට ද මුල් වූයේ රවිහරන් මන්ත්‍රීවරයාමය.ඔහු ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේට බාධාකරමින් ජාතිවාදී ලෙසට හැසිරී තිබුණි. කෙසේ වෙතත් 27 වනදාට යෙදී තිබුණු පිළිම වහන්සේ නිරාවරණය කිරීමේ  උත්සවය වහා වෙනස් කොට මෙම මස විසිතුන් වන දිනට එම උත්සවය ගනිමින්  අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ අනුනායක අති පූජ්‍ය ආනමඩුවේ ධම්මදස්සී නායක හිමියන් ඇතුළු ගෞරවනීය මහා සංඝරත්නය අතින්  පිළිම වහන්සේ විවෘත කරන්නට යෙදුණු බවද මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළ යුතුය..

        යෝජිත නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සඳහා සකස්ව තිබෙන පසුගියදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරපිත් කරන ලද ව්‍යවස්ථා කොටුම්පතේ නීතිය සහ සාමය කොටසේ 254 වගන්තිය ප්‍රකාරව පළාත් බද පොලීසියක් සහ ජාතික පොලිසියක් නිර්මාණය වේ. එවිට  පළාත් නමයකට පොලිසි කොටස් නවයක්ද අග නගරයට එක් පොලිසියක්ද වශයෙන් කොටස් දහයකට කැඩෙනු ඇත. ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදකයන් විසින් ඒකීය රට  ඔරුමිත්ත නාඩුවක් වශයෙන් නම්කර ඇත . පොලිසි දහයක් නිර්මාණය වන විට ඔරුමිත්තනාඩුව ට පිළි ගැනීමක් සහ නීතිමය වටිනාකමක් හිමිවේ.දැන් මුලතිවු ගුරුකන්ද විහාරයේ ඇති වූ සිද්දිය පොලිසිය මගින් කළමනාකරණය කරන්නේ රටේ මූලික නීතියට පටහැනිව පළාත් බද පොලිසීයක් ලෙසටයි. පොලිසියට අණ දෙන්නේද උපදෙස් දෙන්නේද නීතිය අතට ගෙන කටයුතු කරන්නේද දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රී වරුන්ය. පූජ්‍ය අගුලුගල්ලේජිනානන්ද හිමියන් විසින්කොළඹ පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයේ මේ සම්බන්ධව  ගොනුකළ පැමිණිල්ලද කොළඹ ජාතික පොලිසිය  විසින් මේ වනතුරුම විභාගයට ගෙන නොමැත.එහෙයින් ව්‍යවස්ථා ලියවිල්ල සම්මත කර ගැනීමට ද ප්‍රථම මේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ උතුරේ පළාත් බද පොලිස් නීතිය බව පැහැදිලිව කිව හැකි වී තිබේ.

         පොලිසිය බිහි වන්නේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය සම්ප්‍රදාය අනුව ඔවුන්ගේ තිඹිරි ගෙයක බැවින් එහි හැඩය වටිනාකම් සහ සම්ප්‍රදායයන්  කෙරෙහි දේශීයත්වයක් අතැයි පවසන්නට නොහැකිය. පොලිස්  නම් ඉංග්‍රීසි වචනය සකස් වීමට ගැනෙන මුල් අකුරු වල වගන්ති අරුත අනුව එහි මහාර්ඝ වැදගත්කමක් තිබුණද  යටත් විජිත සමයේ සිටම පොලිසිය ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ ආකාරය දෙස බලන කල්හි එම ආයතනයේ මූලික අරමුණු වලින් ඉවත් වී දේශපාලන පක්ෂපාතීත්තවය උදෙසාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වී ඇති බව පෙන්වා දිය හැකිය. දැන් එහි ජාතික වටිනාකමද අහෝසි වී වර්ගවාදී පළාත් බද පොලිසියක් තත්ත්වයට වැටී තිබේ. යහපාලන රජයේ ව්‍යවස්ථාමය විප්ලවය මගින් අරමුණු කරගන්නේ මෙවැනි වර්ගවාදී පෙරළියක් නම් මුලු රටටම පළාත් බද පාතාලයන් ගේ පිහිට පමණක් ඉතුරු වන බව පැවසිය යුතුයි.

By ASOKA BANDARAGE Courtesy Asian Times

MATTHIEU RICARDWOLF SINGER Courtesy The Atlatic.com

DEC 17, 2017A scientist and a monk compare notes on meditation, therapy, and their effects on the brain

Can training the mind make us more attentive, altruistic, and serene? Can we learn to manage our disturbing emotions in an optimal way? What are the transformations that occur in the brain when we practice meditation? In a new book titled Beyond the Self, two friends—Matthieu Ricard, who left a career as a molecular biologist to become a Buddhist monk in Nepal, and Wolf Singer, a distinguished neuroscientist—engage in an unusually well-matched conversation about meditation and the brain. Below is a condensed and edited excerpt.

 

Matthieu Ricard: Although one finds in the Buddhist literature many treatises on traditional sciences”—medicine, cosmology, botanic, logic, and so on—Tibetan Buddhism has not endeavored to the same extent as Western civilizations to expand its knowledge of the world through the natural sciences. Rather it has pursued an exhaustive investigation of the mind for 2,500 years and has accumulated, in an empirical way, a wealth of experiential findings over the centuries. A great number of people have dedicated their whole lives to this contemplative science.

Modern Western psychology began with William James just over a century ago. I can’t help remembering the remark made by Stephen Kosslyn, then chair of the psychology department at Harvard, at the Mind and Life meeting on Investigating the Mind,” which took place at MIT in 2003. He started his presentation by saying, I want to begin with a declaration of humility in the face of the sheer amount of data that the contemplatives are bringing to modern psychology.”

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ බාල පුතු වන ඊයේ දිනයේ විවිාහ දිවියට ඇතුළු වූ රෝහිත රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා සිය විවාහය වෙනුවෙන් අලුත්ම ගිත වීඩියෝවක් නිකුත් කර තිබේ

අගනුවර තරු හෝටලවල මෙතෙක් පැවති තරු මංගළ්‍යන් සියල්ලට සැමතින්ම අභියෝග කරමින් වීරකැටියේ වැවු තාවුල්ලක සිය මංගල උත්සවය ඉතා සරල චාම් නමුත් ගාමභීරව සංවිධානය කරන්නට රෝහිත රාජපක්‍ෂ කටයුතු කර තිබුනේ හැකි උපරිම ලෙස දේශීයත්වයට මුල් තැන දෙමිනි.

https://youtu.be/B4Crmt3d7zs

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Sooriasegaram pointed out that In spite of many obstacles and obstructions by the Tamil ruling elites we have seen slow but definite progress among the oppressed caste community in education and in being able to receive healthcare facilities. This was made possible by the welfare state, introducing free education from primary school all the way up to University and a free national health service and also laws against caste discriminatory practices. In particular, he said, the nationalization of all state funded schools.

Mass Movement for Social Justice (MMSJ)  formed by a group of leftists,  held a conference in Kokuvil, Jaffna on 15 October 2016  to mark the 50th year since the 21st October 1966   demonstration in Jaffna,  and to review the past as well as to strategise the way forward. A series of academics and activists spoke about the ongoing perpetuation of caste-based discrimination and the disregard paid to it by Tamil political parties and leaders. Speakers pointed to numerous recent examples of caste-based discrimination in respect of government administrative officials in the North-East, land disputes, marriages and entrance to temples and churches.

The MMSJ Conference looked at education. The MEP government helped to provide schools for the non-Vellala. At the request of the Maha Sabha, Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party government established nearly 15 schools in the peninsula to cater to the educational needs of minority Tamils.

In the 1960s, Director of Education in Jaffna and the principals of Jaffna Central College and Parameswara College were very keen to educate children coming from oppressed castes and gave them admission. But it was still difficult for the children of minority Tamils to get admission to leading schools, like Jaffna Hindu College, and Puttur Sri Somaskanda College. The Department of Education took action against principals who flouted the regulation.

During MEP rule, more than 200 non-Vellala youth were appointed as teachers at these schools. These appointments were given to those who had three credit passes in the O level exam.  A. Amirthalingam, then an MP in Parliament, opposed this move under the pretext that it would bring down educational standards.

While students from all castes could now go to the same school, you had to look beyond that kind of superficial equality, said a speaker at the Conference.  Discriminatory practices continued in the enrolment of students at schools. I saw on a school admission form that parents had to fill to enroll their child in Grade 1 – details had been asked about the parents’ income, educational levels attained, and even whether they owned land. What has the parents’ income or education (which would knock out many of the oppressed castes’ parents), and especially their ownership of land, got to do with their child’s education?”asked one speaker.

Another participant said We know of a certain school that knocks out applicants based on their addresses – they use the addresses to perceive if a child comes from a dominant caste or not. So oppressed caste parents who want to enroll their children in that school have now learned to give fake addresses – thereby ensuring that their children are given a seat which would otherwise be denied them.”

In many schools, upper-caste teachers discriminated against students from marginalized castes. These students were not given benches or chairs. They had to sit on the floor. Even if they were given seats, they had to use the seats at the back. They were unnecessarily punished by their upper-caste teachers. The teachers insulted these children by pointing out their caste background in front of upper-caste students. The MMSJ Conference noted that the majority of jobs and positions of power were still held by Vellala caste (high caste) Tamils in Jaffna and even if students from oppressed castes were able to succeed in school, they were offered few job opportunities.

P.J.Antony was asked in 2011,   by an interviewer, have you noticed any significant changes in the caste hierarchy over time? P.J. Antony provided a bouquet of observations. Discrimination against minority-Tamil students at schools has declined. We no longer need separate schools for minority Tamils.  Minority Tamils have been able to become graduates, doctors and engineers.We rarely see caste discrimination in public sector offices these days. Barber saloons are free of caste discrimination. Some hairdressers, for instance, have customers exclusively from the Vellala community, whereas others cater to customers from the less-privileged castes.

The younger generation of the downtrodden castes thinks that there is no caste discrimination now. Similarly, people belonging to the upper castes claim that caste oppression has come to an end. But caste discrimination exists on the ground in multiple ways. at the University of Jaffna, minority-Tamil students, even if they excel in studies, are hardly appointed to positions above demonstrator. A person from an underprivileged community was not appointed to the post of Registrar at the University of Jaffna, even though he had the necessary qualifications.

Though minority Tamils are able to secure jobs in various departments and boards, they are denied promotions, though not overtly, on caste grounds. Many temples in Jaffna still remain closed to minority Tamils. When the people of Jaffna were displaced to Chavakacheri in 1995 during the Eelam war, upper-caste well-owners threw litter and excreta into wells on unused land in order to prevent displaced people belonging to non Vellala castes from using those wells. All in all, many oppressed-caste people are impoverished in many ways, concluded Antony.

Non Vellalas are angry and frustrated that there were no Tamil politicians from any political party that were willing to take a public stance against caste and address the issue.  Tamil nationalist groups and dominant Tamil political parties have not shown much interest in abolishing caste oppression, said Antony. ‘Today not a single high caste Tamil intellectual or politician talks openly about the problems of the Tamil underclass, said Jayaweera.’ Caste discrimination is never discussed in Tamil nationalist politics said Swasthika Arulingam and Aheelan Kadirgamar. ‘Human Rights Organizations never talk of the humiliating oppression of the ordinary Tamils of the north by the land owning Tamils, either.

the TNA parliamentarians , domiciled in Colombo,  are typical absentee landlords of the north, the best lands are owned by a small 15% of such upper caste Tamils,  These absentee landlords became MPs and blocked any legislation that  would benefit the non-Vellalas. The leaders of the Tamil Separatist Movement are also Vellala, they   are a landowning caste based elites. It is an ironical that they oppress a substantial section of the Tamil community while at the same time fighting to secure equal rights with the majority Sinhala community. These observations were made by Rasalingam and Sooriasegaram.

Tamil Congress, Federal Party and the TULF never supported freedom struggles of the oppressed people r in the past or present. ‘They always took the side of the oppressors’  which means the Vellala. These political parties unashamedly practiced or promoted or at best remained silent on the marginalization and oppression of the lower caste communities and prevented them from improving their life chances.

Tamil politicians have done their best to keep the Non-Vellala castes down. The Tamil strongly opposed giving the vote to low caste persons, during the Donoughmore commission. After Independence, Tamil Vellala MPs blocked any legislation that would benefit the non-Vellalas.   Federal Party campaigned against the nationalization of schools, which eliminated or at least minimised discrimination against low caste community in school admissions. Building of causeways and road that would make the depressed caste village accessible was opposed. Upgrading of village councils and Town Councils in the North were opposed.

Caste distinctions continue.  Even in the temporary shelters after the Eelam war the upper castes did not like live next to the lower castes.   Tamil youths who migrate to the Colombo also maintain caste distinctions. Lunch groups and social gatherings are exclusive. The different caste groups that constituted the minority-Tamil community do not have marital relationships with one another; they maintain their insularity. Intercaste marriage is still tabooed and the couple are ostracized. The minority Tamils who are educated and hold prestigious jobs conceal their caste identity and regard themselves as superior to the less-privileged members of the minority-Tamil community.

Representation of the non-Vellalas in local government, Provincial Councils and Parliament is almost zero in spite of the fact they represent over 40% of the population in the NP. Non-Vellalas were denied membership in local government bodies such as the village council and the town council. When a non-Vellala was elected to the Kopay Village Council in the late 1950s he was not given a chair he was asked by the other members to sit on an old mortar.

When wards were demarcated for electoral purposes, Vellala bureaucrats split the areas densely populated by minority Tamils into several segments and merged them with the different wards where the Vellalas were the majority. Minority Tamils could not become a majority in any of the wards that came under a local government body. Consequently, they could not send their representatives to the local government bodies in Jaffna.

Non-Vellala Tamils have therefore gone before the recently concluded Pubic Representation Committee on Constitutional Reforms and asked for Caste based reservations in governing bodies. Caste based reservations in governing bodies and educational institutions have been sought by some political parties, organizations and individuals in Jaffna in their submissions to the Pubic Representation Committee on Constitutional Reforms, the Committee said. This is the only province from where they came openly about the caste problem.

The EPRLF was one political party that sough such reservation citing that caste based discrimination was so acute. They said there was discrimination. They even said the depressed castes accounted for 40 per cent. ‘I asked why they did not fight back if the number were so high’ said one committee member.

They were concerned that there was no representation for them in the elected bodies and the education sector. They said the political parties were dominated by the higher caste groups today. It is difficult to get nominations from these parties. They wanted allocation of seats.” Even medical specialists came before the Committee and complained about discrimination over the caste factor.  Some members of our committee were very angry when such complaints were made. Some of our committee members took it as exaggeration,” the Committee said.

The non-Vellala castes traditionally did not own land. Thesawalamai ensured that no uppity low caste person would get piece a piece of land unless he paid the landowner and the neighbours and even then he could be chased off the land, said Rasalingam.

Today, when educated members of their community attempt to buy land, they are thwarted in various ways. Should they succeed even then in buying lands, especially in dominant Vellala areas the community around them tended to harass and marginalise them in various ways.   Upper-caste Tamils who have left the country for good are not willing to sell their land to minority Tamils, said Antony .

The government and NGOs have not done anything substantial to distribute land to the oppressed castes. Though some of them have been living on temple land for many years, they cannot become owners of that land either. In places like Vaddukoddai and Point Pedro, many are unable to build houses, even though the government is willing to provide them with financial support, as they do not possess land.

From 2016, there has been increasing agitation and a series of caste confrontations over upper caste cemeteries located within oppressed caste villages.  A problem which has been simmering for a very long time has now exploded, said an analyst.

In October 2016, in Thidatpulam, the Vellala community from Punnalaikadduvan North attempted to reassert their control over a cemetery after decades. The Thidatpulam villagers, refused to permit the use of the cemetery, where a few families had encroached and built houses over the years. The Vellalas hired sword-wielding gangs, the confrontation turned violent, and the community centre and reading room of Thidatpulam was defaced with used oil. The villagers, many of whom depend on wage labour in the landed upper caste villages, were reminded of the two young men from Thidatpulam who were murdered in 1982.

In March 2017, two villages, one upper caste and the other oppressed caste, attempted to cremate in a cemetery adjoining Kalaimathy village. There was a confrontation   which led to police action. 28 villagers were arrested and were kept in custody for over a week. Villagers launched a continual Satyagraha.

The villagers are strongly opposed to rebuilding this cemetery. they object to the unbearable smell and harmful pollution.  These Jaffna Crematoriums are open spaces with no boundary walls. There is no vegetation, trees or gardens around it. There was also a significant protest numbering to hundreds in front of the Jaffna Bus Stand on May 13, 2017. They are demanding that the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) look into the matter.  They say that local officials, the police and the Pradeshiya Sabhas, are not taking any action.

These cemeteries were not used during the Eelam wars. This attempt to start cremating in these cemeteries is seen as attempt to enforce Vellala power once again. Caste” is re-consolidating through stealth in Jaffna said an analyst. While caste is hardly discussed in public, subtle forms of caste exclusion are still seen in temples and community centres. the caste stratification of Tamils must now be acknowledged  said  Swasthika Arulingam and Aheelan Kadirgamar.  (Concluded)

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The Muslim community in Sri Lanka prior to the formation of the people’s revolutionary government of late Prime Minister Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike in 1956 was more or less a community of serfdom depending entirely on the handouts from the rich traders/merchants, or from the landowners in the agricultural areas, or from the rich families in the fishing areas or from the owners of large herds of animal husbandry. An ordinary Muslim was voiceless and they had to dutifully oblige the master if they were to stay on their vocation and sustain their families. Due to these pathetic slavish status Muslims were forced to support and vote for the United National Party (UNP) of the elites, as dictated by their masters at times of election.

A notice calling for the formation of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party on 2nd September, 1951 was issued with the signatures of 44 eminent personalities of that time, which included persons of all religions and all races. Among the 44 signatories were 5 Muslims and 3 Tamils. The Muslim signatories were Dr. Badiuddin Mahmoud, Haji A.T.Kareem, A.M.Marker, C.A.S.Marikkar, and A.C.Marikkar.

Over 10,000 persons, a massive crowd at that time, heeded this call and converged at the Town Hall premises for the formation of the new Party. At this convention the naming of the new party as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party was proposed by the late Mr. H.Sri Nissanka and it was seconded by the late Dr. Badi-ud-din Mahmoud, who was elected as a Co-Secretary.

Education for the children of the poor Muslims at that time was mainly confined to the schools known as Government Tamil Schools most of which except in main towns had classes only upto 5th or 8th Standard. While the rich Muslims, whose children were educated in leading schools in Colombo and other places, resented the children of their servants acquiring higher education, the teachers in the so-called Government Tamil Schools, who were overwhelmingly Tamils discouraged these poor students pursuing even basic education. Elders relate that most of these teachers used to tell the students that as invariably they will be going to work in shops (or get involved in other labour related works) it would be sufficient if they learn to write something, read a few lines, and count 5 and 5 as 10. Even the far and few Muslim teachers, who belonged to the rich families and served in these schools held similar views and possessed the same attitude. The mosques were also managed by the rich families in the relevant areas.

The first major change made by the first purely Sri Lankan oriented government of 1956 as opposed to the proxy-British UNP governments for the emancipation of Muslims in Sri Lanka was to make a complete change of the teaching staff in schools where majority of students were Muslims. These schools were named as Muslim Schools and Muslim youth who possessed a minimum qualification of having passed SSC were appointed as Teachers to these schools, disregarding their age requirement. There was an acute shortage of Muslim youths with SSC passed qualifications at that time, and it is said by many that in the years of 1958, 1959 and early sixties, Muslim youth got their teaching appointments, even without submitting formal applications, along with their SSC passes, and even before attaining the required minimum age of 18 years.

Although ethnic based schools should not be encouraged and all children of an area should have the right to receive education in the school of that particular area the   establishment of Muslim Schools was a need of the era at that time in order to make a mass educational revolution in the Muslim community. This was a giant step taken by Bandaranaike government to emancipate the Muslim community and liberate them from the bondage to Mudalalis and open a new vista for Muslim children to pursue higher education. It was a well known fact that there were many villages and towns at that time without a single Muslim graduate, without a single Muslim Doctor, Lawyer, Accountant or even a middle ranking government servant.

This massive teaching employment drive initiated by the Bandaranaike government, produced at least one teacher in each Muslim family, and completely changed the changed the educationally backward Muslim society into an educated Muslim polity. It is the children of this new generation of Muslims that occupy seats of employment today in many fields including those in the professional fields and even in Foreign Missions.

It was the SLFP that legitimized the rights of Muslim girls to wear a school dress in conformity to their religious norms even in non-Muslim schools. While the pro_UNP Western countries were not permitting Muslims girls to wear Hijab in schools the SLFP led government in addition to providing school uniforms to Muslim girls studying in government schools also took action to provide Hijabs to Muslim girls annually.

The Endowment Board known as Waqf Board was created to administer the affairs of mosques thereby providing the opportunity for the commoners to participate in the affairs of administering the mosques, and making them qualified to receive government assistance. Relaying the Azan call for the five obligatory prayers using loudspeakers from mosques throughout the island was permitted.

A Special Unit known as Muslim Service was created in the then Radio Ceylon solely dedicated for the Muslims to broadcast religious and cultural programmes and enlighten the Muslims with religious knowledge, their cultural values, and educate them about the affairs of fellow Muslims in other countries. Creation of this Unit helped Muslims to listen to whole night broadcast of religious programmes on special days such as Lailathul Qadr (the blessed night in the month of Ramadan) and listen to whole day programmes on Eid and other significant days, in addition to daily night and morning programmes.

A new set of teachers known as Maulavi Teachers, similar to teachers of other religions was appointed to teach religion to Muslim students even in non-Muslim schools. Two hours permission was given  for Muslim public servants to attend Ju mma Prayers on Fridays.. Days prominent for Muslims were included in the list of Public Holidays.

In the international arena too, the SLFP governments espoused the cause of Muslims and Muslim countries. During the Suez Canal War in 1958 the late Prime Minister Mr. S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike solidly stood supporting the steps taken by President Gamal Abdul Nasser of United Arab Republic (currently Egypt), to nationalise the Suez Canal. Historical records reveal that the late Prime Minister Mr. Bandaranaike speaking at the United Nations not only vehemently condemned the invasion of Egypt by the western imperialist forces together with Isreal but also threatened even to send the armed forces of Sri Lanka to fight these Imperialists along with the Egyptian and Arab armies. Not even the Muslim countries outside the Middle East region had the courage to support President Nasser in this manner.

It was the government of late Prime Minister Mr. Bandaranaike that appointed a Muslim as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. The UNP which fools the Muslims in every election to get their votes and provide them nothing in return is yet to appoint a Muslim to such a prestigious position.

In the olden days Labour Ministry was the insignificant Ministry in the whole Cabinet. The UNP governments always kept this Ministry reserved for Muslims as nothing could be done to serve the community through this Ministry. It was the Bandaranaike government that nullified this discrimination and appointed Mr. C.A.S.Marikkar to the prestigious position of Minister of Post and Telecommunications.

Also the Bandaranaike government has the credit of appointing for the first time a Muslim as the Speaker of Parliament. The late Mr. H.S.Ismail was appointed as the Speaker of Parliament although he was not elected to Parliament as an SLFP MP.

The second structural change in the life of Sri Lankan Muslims and enormous service to the community took place during the reign of the late Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who dearly valued cordial relationships with Middle Eastern and Muslim countries all over the world. It was in gratitude to her cordial relationship that President Nasser sent several oil shipments to Sri Lanka when western countries imposed sanctions on oil supplies to Sri Lanka following the bold step taken by her to nationalise the oil companies in Sri Lanka and establish the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. In gratitude to this friendly gesture, Mrs. Bandaranaike declared one week’s mourning on the death of President Nasser’s funeral proceedings were broadcast live through SLBC. Such a respect to President Nasser’s funeral was not accorded even in several Middle East and Muslim countries.

The late Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike was the only non-Muslim world leader who severed Diplomatic relationship with Israel, for invading Arab countries and occupying their territory following the 1967 war.

When Mrs. Bandaranaike made arrangements to host the 5^th Non-Aligned Summit in Sri Lanka, the UNP and its media not only condemned her decision but also slandered many Muslim leaders who were scheduled to attend. The Summit, however, provided the opportunity for the leaders and Heads of State of almost all Muslim countries to visit our motherland and obtain a first hand knowledge about the country, about the Muslims in this country, and also to interact with them. In spite of UNP’s criticism and vilification the Summit opened a new vista for Muslims and other Sri Lankans to find employment, particularly in the Middle East countries.

Thus began the era of foreign employment for Sri Lankans and it has now become the leading source of foreign exchange earning for Sri Lanka, and a means of alleviating poverty throughout the country. People who went for employment in the Middle East countries in the early phase recall that the general public in the Middle East were not aware of the existence of a country called Sri Lanka and they knew Sri Lanka only as Madam Bandaranaike country.

Under the UNP governments from 1977 to 1994 Muslims faced many hardships and the UNP Ministers and MPs numbering 11 persons were utterly powerless to do anything to help the Muslims. If it was not for the Middle East employment avenue opened up by Mrs. Bandaranaike the pathetic situation Sri Lankan Muslims would have faced is horrific even to imagine it.

During this Adarmishta period of 18 years Sri Lankan Muslims living in the North and East and in the districts of Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Puttalam were continuously subjected to LTTE atrocities. Unable to withstand these atrocities when a delegation of Muslims led by Dr. Badi-ud-din Mahmoud met President J.R.Jayawardene, to request him to provide protection to Muslims, they were bluntly asked to meet the LTTE leadership and sort out their problems. Ultimately they were compelled to go to Chennai, South India, meet the LTTE leadership and negotiate an agreement under which LTTE promised to desist from harming the Muslims. This agreement however was implemented by the LTTE only in the breach.

In the Eastern Province, when the atrocities of Tamil terrorist elements against the Muslims, particularly by the LTTE continued to increase and when more than 500 houses were set on fire by the LTTE in Kalmunai, Sainthamaruthu and Maruthamunai areas within two or three days and the Muslim leaders in the then ruling party failed to press the JR Jayewardene government to act, in order to bring peace to the area,

The massacres of Muslims by the LTTE which started in the latter part of the J.R.Jayawardene government increased to a horrendous level during the Premadasa administration. In the Kattankudy massacre carried out on 3rd August 1990, Muslims who were performing Isha Prayers were sprayed with bullets and 103 Muslims got killed on the sport and 71 were injured and most of them died subsequently.  Premadasa government which was having a honeymoon with the tiger terrorists feasting them at Hilton Hotel, Colombo did not take any action against these massacres or provide adequate protection to the Muslims. Even the families and the widows of the dead were not compensated. Similar massacres continued in several places of the Eastern Province.

In October 1990 Muslims of all the five districts of the Northern Province, Mannar, Vavuniya, Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, were given notice by the LTTE ordering them to leave the Northern Province within 24 hours. The UNP government of President Premadasa did not take any preventive action to protect these Muslims amounting to nearly 100,000 persons. Ultimately the LTTE forcibly chased them out from their traditional habitats where they used to live for centuries. In this world’s worst ethnic cleansing episode the victimised Muslims were not allowed to take any of their belongings except for whatever the dress they were wearing at that time. Even the ear-rings worn by women and children were forcibly removed. A father who had a child of less than one year explaining the ordeal they underwent told a newspaper that the tiger terrorists did not even allow him to take the partly used milk food packet he was carrying to feed his baby.

The UNP government of President Premadasa, in which the anti-Muslim UNP leader Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe was a top ranking Minister, did not care to provide some decent shelters to these victimised Muslims. They were forced to put up their own cadjan  shelters in the coconut lands in places like Ismail Puram, Kalpitty, Palavi, Madurankuliya etc, in the Puttalam District, and several other areas in Kurunegala and Anuradhapura districts, and languish as refugees in their own country living in cadjan huts without any basic amenities for almost two decades.

Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. 

According to Freud meditation is a reaction formation of omnipotence to infantile helplessness. As described by Alexander (1931)   meditation is a “libidinal, narcissistic turning of the urge for knowing inward, a sort of artificial schizophrenia with complete withdrawal of libidinal interest from the outside world.  Kris (1963) viewed meditation as a transitory regressive state that is conducive to the expression of hidden memories, fear love and anger. Shafii (1973) illustrated meditation as a temporary and controlled regression to the preverbal level and meditation returns the individual to the earliest fixation points and permits re-experiencing of traumas of the separation-individuation phase on a non-verbal level.

Carl Gustav Jung was the first major psychologist to explore fully the relation between Buddhist meditation and the Western notion of the unconscious (Welwood, 1977). Jung’s fateful meeting with Richard Wilhelm in 1929 has helped to build a bridge of depth psychological understanding between the East and the West (Ma, 2005). Jung believed in the fulfillment of individual wholeness or self-realization (Moacanin, 1986). Jung spoke of active imagination and believed that it can serve as a bridge between the conscious “ego” and the unconscious. In 1939 Jung wrote …. the meditation on the syllables of the mantra leads to identification with the highest Self. Jung claimed that Eastern higher consciousness is characterized by a nebulous state of non‐intentionality (Zhu, 2009). The transcendent function (unification of archetypal opposites) which Jung described could be the end result of the meditative mind.

Psychoanalysis and meditation compensate for the other’s blind spots (Rubin, 2016).  Within psychoanalysis, meditation has traditionally been associated with a search for the resurrection of infantile ‘primary narcissism’ (Epstein, 1990).

Phenomenologically meditation is a practice that could be meant as mind focalization on objects, body feelings, emotions and thoughts (Bianco, et al., 2016). Psychoanalysis is primarily a psychology of the unconscious. Meditation may also permit deepened access to the unconscious (Bogart, 1991).  Meditation deals mainly with the training and observation of consciousness and observes the mind in great detail on a moment-to-moment level (Falkenström, 2003). The goal of psychoanalysis is to acquire self-understanding and knowledge of the sources of anxiety (Satsangi, 2013) and the goal of meditation is to go beyond the mind and to foster well-being.

For Freud free association is the fundamental rule” of psychoanalysis. According to some experts during meditation auto-catharsis- a form of free-association occurs.  The meditator observes free associated thoughts, feelings, and fantasies silently.  Meditation facilitates self-observation. Both meditation and free association involve self-observation. Self-observation refers to observations and reflections about the self in the present moment (Falkenström, 2012).

The unconscious has played an important explanatory role in transpersonal psychology (Welwood, 1977).  Freud’s topographical model is used to stress that the psychoanalytic unconscious can be understood only in relation to theories of consciousness and wishing (Opatow , 1997). The fundamental proposition of psychoanalysis is that all mental processes are in themselves unconscious (Solms ,1997). Meditation can also bring about “descendence” of consciousness, thus increasing access to the unconscious (Bogart, 1991).  The aim of Zen is, rather, the breaking-up of the very dualistic structure of consciousness-and-unconsciousness (DeMartino, 1961).

According to Freud in each individual there is a coherent organization of mental processes. Meditation uses mental processes to influence physical functioning and promote health. According to object relations theory, the major cause of psychopathology is the lack of a sense of self, caused by failures in establishing a cohesive, integrated self, resulting in an inability to feel real  correspondingly  Buddhist meditation is focused upon seeing through the illusory construction of the self (Bogart , 1991).

In 1912 Freud delineated the ideal state of mind for therapists to listen, what he called “evenly hovering” or “evenly suspended attention which is an accessible state of mind that could be similar to meditative mind (Rubin, 2009).  Meditative mind can achieve the highest level of consciousness.

Meditation is a multidimensional phenomenon and meditation can make a significant contribution to the deep transformation of personality sought in psychotherapy (Bogart, 1991). Meditation may lead to “transcendence,” the experience of going beyond one’s habitual perceptions or conceptions of self and world, culminating in peak experiences such as samadhi, satori, or enlightenment (Noble, 1987).

The main goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring unconscious material into consciousness and enhance the functioning of the ego. Mindfulness   is a method of using the ego to observe its own manifestations (Epstein, 1988).

Meditation promotes egolessness and dissolves ego.  The Jungian term “psychic death” is a synonym for “ego death (Ventegodt & Merrick 2003 ). Ego death is a “complete loss of subjective self-identity (Jonson, 2008). Zen meditation practice is said to lead to ego-death (Safran, 2012). According to Nichtern (2011) egolessness is not a product – it is a discovery. As described by Park (2006) meditation is learning how to die by learning to “forget” the sense of self.

Aape Aththo – Hela Family

As we look to the future and focus on our sovereignty, peace and prosperity, we must not ignore the big picture of the world we live in. In the 21st century, the Indian Ocean will be the center stage for neocolonialists as they jostle to secure resources, trade deals and geopolitical assets to enhance their dominance.

Caught in the middle in a strategic location, is our island nation.

Professing a self-styled moral authority by preaching democracy and human rights on the one hand; and simultaneously supporting numerous corrupt, undemocratic regimes on the other hand, the neocolonialists are set to repeat their age-old tactic of ‘divide and conquer’. They will use their state run media to defame our democratically elected leaders and undermine the sovereignty of the Hela Nation. When their overt tactics fail to produce a favourable result, the neocolonialists will fly below the radar and enter into trade deals that exclude their competitors from engaging in fair trade with us.

In this new century, we need a new way of engagement. We need a new doctrine to protect and safeguard what we value (our security, sovereignty, culture, resources, economy, peace and prosperity) from the neocolonialists who have little or no respect for it.

This new way of engagement is the Hela Doctrine.

The Hela doctrine of supreme sovereignty, non-alignment and fair trade.

The first aspect of this doctrine is sovereignty. Our sovereignty is paramount to us. The doctrine of supreme sovereignty calls for a new constitution (see: www.heladiva.net) to strengthen our democracy against corruptible forces. An important aspect of our sovereignty is the re-establishment of the original identity of our island (Heladiva) and that of our people (The Hela), which was soiled and eroded by past colonialism.

The second aspect is non-alignment. Our prosperity and security cannot be achieved by exclusively aligning with EURASIA allies or NATO allies or any other. Non-alignment is the wise middle path to economic prosperity and security.

The third aspect is fair trade (not ‘free trade’). Fair trade means the equitable free movement of excess goods, services, capital and labour. If any trade causes impoverishment to any community on the island then it is an unfair trade. Fair trade also means respecting the values and the people of our nation. In this 21st century, we will choose not to trade with countries that ‘verbally bash’ our democracy or cause insult to the sovereignty of our nation. We will choose not to trade with countries that covertly or overtly work to destabilise our Hela democracy.

This is the Hela doctrine of supreme sovereignty, non-alignment and fair trade.

We now call upon our elected leaders to adopt the noble Hela doctrine of Supreme sovereignty, Non-alignment and Fair trade.

Aape Aththo – Hela Family

www.heladiva.net

Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL)

Public Lecture

The Illustrated Mahāvaṃsa: Paintings from a 12^th Century Myanmar Temple”

 by

Dr. Hema Goonatilake

 On

Monday 28^th January 2019 at 5.00 p.m.

at the 

Gamini Dissanayake Auditorium

No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 07

ALL ARE WELCOME

When Myanmar got her independence, the first country she wanted to have foreign relations was Sri Lanka. The reason for this friendship from Myanmar was a 1000-year-old relationship with Sri Lanka as had cultivated several other countries in South East Asia. This relationship not only introduced Buddhism from Sri Lanka to these countries but also the art of historical writings. All the Chronicles of South East Asia are modelled after the Mahāvaṃsa and incorporates parts of the Mahāvaṃsa. Consequently, heroes of the Mahāvaṃsa like Dutu Gemunu are hero figures in the region. Rajakumar the grandson of the founder of the Pagan Empire and the builder of the 12^thcentury Myankabau temple painted on the temple walls major events, as recorded in the Mahāvaṃsa. The present illustrated lecture depicts these paintings and is a result of 10 years research on South East Asia by the speaker.

Dr Sarah Obeysekera Meditator

Whole Sri Lanka should start practicing meditation like Maithree and Ranil and develop Metta and Karuna.

We see MAITHREE following principles of Buddha , foster compassion by taking opposition members to Thailand and try to show that he has no hatred and ill will.

Today we saw him accompanying SB and DJ to Singapore who hated him for dumping MR after a sumptuous  hopper breakfast .

Then again we see  that RW visiting.  Weerakatiya to be with his arch enemy ,none other than MR in his son’s matromonial ceremony who tried to send a rocket and end up in Kilimanjaro  in Tanzania to propose to his fiancee

We were wonderiing whether lack of oxygen in the air was affected his rational thinking  when he proposed ( I am joking as men get married without thinking what lies ahead)

One day Rohitha ‘s newly wedded wife may say “leave me alone ,I need space ”

Then  he can say OK ,

I will send a rocket for you to go to space!

Our farmers are lamenting about FALL ARMY WORM destroying the crop when WW claim that it is a CIA plot.

One leader is having fun in SANTOSA island and the other “not so leader” in WEERAKAIYA dancing Baila ,and we citizens are fighting with Fall Army pest and Diaspora in two fronts to save our Brigadier from going  to guillotine for a mere gesture of cutting throat ( with his index finger )  of the head of a poor Tamil freedom fighter in front  of Sri Lankan Embassy in UK.

This is not only a resplendent Island but also a country full of surprises called “SO !  SRILANKA”which is our new moto of Ministry of Tourism

Dr Sarah Obeysekera

Meditator

 Somaweera Sirisinghe of Auckland, New Zealand

The issue of dual citizenship held by politicians arose recently in Australia and in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka an MP’s election was declared void due to the person being a citizen of another country as well. Then stories of others of same genre were coming out of the woodworks.

We have to note here that no one have been forced to obtain citizenship of another country. They seem to have obtained it on their own volition for their own benefit and then sought the advantages of the Dual Citizenship” allowed by Sri Lanka Citizenship Law. Many other Asian countries including India do not have dual citizenships.

Affected Sri Lankan politicians were seen rushing in search of solutions and some even ventured to give interpretations not only to the Sri Lanka’s law but to the laws of the other countries and reportedly some have managed to remove this debilitation.

Is it such an easy thing to do? Legal minds may differ in their opinions because there are some gray areas. Perhaps it may even require judicial interpretation or subsidiary legislation!

According Sri Lanka’s citizenship law a person ceases to be a citizen once he becomes a citizen of another country. However, the provisions for dual citizenship” allow a person who fulfills the set of requirements specified in the law to either retain or resume his Sri Lankan citizenship. Thereafter she/he is considered as a person with dual citizenship and the Sri Lankan Passport issued to her/him contains an endorsement to this effect and proceeds to name the other country of citizenship.

What happens when a person with dual citizenship causes to withdraw or relinquish his/her citizenship of the other country? Logically he may be left with one citizenship but the legal status that he has retained or resumed Sri Lankan citizenship through dual citizenship process” remains intact. Does the ditching of the citizenship of the other country legally bring him back to the pristine Sri Lanka citizenship he held previous to his foreign domicile?

Lanka Lead News

වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර මන්ත්‍රීවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිදු කළ කතාවක් දැඩි අවදානයට ලක්ව තිබේ.

පසුගිය 22 පැවැති පාර්ලිමේන්තු සැසියේදි වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර මන්ත්‍රීවරයා බටලන්ද කොමිෂන් සභාව සහ බැඳුම්කර කොමිෂන් සභාව පිළිබඳ අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම මෙලෙසින් කතාබහට ලක්ව තිබේ.

එහිදි මන්ත්‍රීවරයා අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ අගමැතිවරයාට ප්‍රකාශ කළේ දැන් ඔබට ඉතිරිව ඇත්තේ මෙරටින් පැන යාම පමණක් වන බවයි.

ඒ අවස්ථාවේම කෙටි පිළිතුරක් ලබාදුන් අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අසුනෙන් නැගිට සභාගැබෙන් පිටව ගියබවද වාර්තාවේ.

https://youtu.be/TefQi_TNrKY

Courtesy Adaderana

A motion has been filed with the Colombo Magistrate’s Court today requesting the court to name Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Nandalal Weerasinghe and former Deputy Governor Ananda Silva as suspects in the bond scam case.

The motion was filed by the attorney representing the owner of Perpetual Treasuries Limited, Mr Arjun Aloysius, who is named as the second accused of the case pertaining to the controversial Central Bank treasury bond issuance.

When the case was taken up for hearing today (24) before Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne, the attorney appearing on behalf of Aloysius claimed that the Presidential Commission of Inquiry which investigated the bond issuance in its recommendation had stated that Senior Deputy Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe and retired Deputy Governor Ananda Silva are responsible for the incident.

The defence lawyer further argued that even a statement given by the Auditor general in connection with the investigation had directly implicated them both in the bond scam.

He also charged that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is avoiding from naming these two individuals as suspects and arresting them. He requested the court to issue directive to name them as suspects in the case.

The magistrate stated that request will have to be considered when the investigative officers are also present and therefore informed Aloysius’ lawyers to present this when the case is taken up once again on February 25.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, January 24 (newsin.asia): In July 2017 the Sri Lankan government renewed, for another ten years, the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) with the United States Department of Defense. ACSA allows the exchange of supply and services, training of staff and humanitarian aid in disaster situations between the two countries.

In a proposal to the Sri Lankan cabinet in 2017, President Maithripala Sirisena pointed out that the ACSA would help improve global ties, and given the global security situation, should be renewed. I would create an opportunity for the promotion of new technological, training and development opportunities, he added.

According to Lankan defense analysts, the US recently sought from Sri Lanka, an enlargement of the scope of ACSA to include more departments of the US government. Right now only the Department of Defense is involved.

The original ACSA was signed by in 2007 by the Mahinda Rajapaksa government during Eelam War IV, the final phase in the war against Tamil separatists.

On-Going Exercise

On January 21 this year, as part of ACSA, the U.S. Navy started performing a transfer operation to move cargo between planes at Bandaranaike International Airport. The operation will last till January 29.

A press release from the US embassy said on Wednesday, that this exercise is part of a larger temporary cargo transfer initiative that promotes Sri Lanka’s efforts to become a regional hub for logistics and commerce.”

The January transfers will contribute approximately 25 million Sri Lankan Rupees to the country’s economy.”

This is the third iteration of the temporary cargo transfer initiative. It follows two successful transfers that took place in August 2018 at Bandaranaike International Airport and Trincomalee and in December 2018 at Bandaranaike International Airport,” the release said.

Stressing the operation’s role in Sri Lanka’s development, U.S. Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz, said: Sri Lanka’s leaders have outlined their vision for the country’s regional engagement that reflects its location at the nexus of the Indo-Pacific and seizes the opportunities that this unique position presents.”

We are happy to support this vision through a range of mutually beneficial initiatives, such as contracting Sri Lankan services and goods to support U.S. military and commercial vessels that often transit the Indo-Pacific’s busy sea lanes,” she added.

Only Non-lethal Cargo

Under the initiative, several U.S. naval aircraft are scheduled to land and depart from the commercial airport, bringing in a variety of non-lethal supplies, the embassy release said.

The supplies will be transferred between planes and then flown to the U.S.S. John C. Stennis at sea. Supplies may include personal mail for sailors, paper goods, spare parts and tools, and other items.”

No cargo, military equipment, or personnel associated with this initiative will remain in Sri Lanka after the completion of the cargo transfer,” the embassy release clarified.

Security Cooperation

U.S.-Sri Lanka security cooperation encompasses a variety of joint exercises and training that has developed the skills and interoperability of both countries. This cooperation was designed by both countries to address our mutual security interests, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and maritime domain awareness,” the release added.

Lankan Fears

However, critics of ACSA make three points against ACSA.

First, the US will be the principal beneficiary, or perhaps the only beneficiary, in an ACSA with a small and weak country like Sri Lanka.

Though the facilities offered are mutual, only the US will be using them, with Sri Lanka getting paid for the provision of services. Sri Lanka will have no opportunity to use reciprocal facilities in US ports.

Secondly, while ACSA talks of access only for non-lethal cargo, even access for non-lethal cargo can be useful in the case of an armed conflict. Further, the line between lethal and non-lethal cargo is very thin and almost indistinguishable.

Thirdly, Sri Lanka will, may willy nilly, be drawn into a military conflict between the US and an other country in the Indian Ocean or the Far East given the fact that the US, India, Australia and Japan are arming up to face a perceived threat from resurgent China.

Writing in Daily Mirror in 2017 (when ACSA was renewed by Sri Lanka) commentator Lasanda Kurukulasooriya quoted a 2004 Position Paper on ACSA by two US military officers to say that in addition to host nation supplies and services, ACSA can give US access to basing and infrastructure necessary for force projection in and through the USPACOM (US Pacific Command) area of responsibility.”

Presented to the US War College in Pennsylvania, the Position Paper titled: United States Security Strategy for the Asia-Pacific Region,” refers to the military benefits of ACSA that give vital access to other countries’ infrastructure and other facilities during a time of conflict.

Kurukulasooriya quotes Sri Lankan leftist leader Prof.Tissa Vitharana as saying: The alliance which we are forming with the US endangers national sovereignty and independence.”

Apart from frequent visits by US warships, joint exercises with Sri Lankan naval personnel are taking place, Prof. Vitharana said and added that statements from US officials revealed their interest in setting up a base in Trincomalee.

Vitharana said further confirmation that the government is moving in the direction of making Sri Lanka a part of the military machine formed by the US to control the world” could be seen in Premier Wickremesinghe’s statement in April 2016.

Addressing a commissioning parade at the Naval Academy in Trincomalee, Wickremesinghe said that the Sri Lankan armed forces would have to protect the Indian Ocean from the Maldives to the Straits of Malacca.”

To make this possible, the Premier pledged to buy more ships and weapons.

Prof. Vitharana pointed to the irony of suggesting such a course of action at a time when the country was deeply indebted, having sought $1.5 billion from the IMF with the entire attendant conditions for neo-liberal changes that would enable US exploitation of the Lankan economy.”

This situation is fraught with danger he said, though nobody is talking about it.

The Americans and Indians would be in Trincomalee, while the Chinese will be in Hambantota.

Although the Lankan government says ‘no military use’ of its ports would be allowed, Prof. Vitharana warned that if a military confrontation broke out in the South China Sea, for example, Sri Lanka could get unnecessarily caught up in a big power conflict.

(The featured image at the top shows USS Anchorage at the Trincomalee harbor)

lanka C news

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ බාල පුත් රෝහිත රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා අද දිනයේ විවාහ දිවියට එළැඹුනේය.

වීරකැටියේදී පැවත්වෙන මෙම මංගල උත්සවය සදහා දේශපාලන නායකයන්, ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් ඇතුළු බොහෝ දෙනෙකු සහභාගී වී සිටිති.

මේ විවාහය සදහා කිසිදු ආකාරයක මත්පැන් සැපයීමක් සිදු නොකෙරෙන රණවරා, බෙලිමල්, දිවුල් යුෂ අමුත්තන්ට බීම සහා ලබා දෙයි.

ආහාර සදහා ලබා දෙන්නේ දේශීය ගැමි ආහාර පමණක් වන අතර ඒවා සකසන්නේ අසල්වැසි පවුල් විසිනි. කිසිදු මස් මාංශ වර්ගයක් ආහාර සදහා එක් කර නැත.

මැදමුලන ගම්මානයටම මෙම විවාහයේ ආරාධනා කර ඇත.

තරු හෝටල් සම්ප‍්‍රදායෙන් බැහැරව පැවැත්වෙන මෙම උත්සවය වැවක් ආසන්නයේ පිහිටි භූමි ප‍්‍රදේශක සංවිධානය කර ඇත.

රෝහිත රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ මනාලිය වූයේ ටට්යානා ලිවේරා ජයරත්නයි.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The essay is not a comprehensive study on caste in Jaffna. It is a cluster of observations on caste in Jaffna collected while researching on the Tamil Separatist Movement. Those who write on Jaffna’s greatness, it’s wonderful culture, its need for a separate state have remained silent on the subject of caste in Jaffna, but caste oppression has now come to be discussed in the media.

I looked at the writings of A.L.Basham and Andre Beteille to see what they say about caste in Tamilnadu. I did so because the Jaffna Tamil” is a product of South India, not Sri Lanka.  The label ‘Ceylon Tamil’ is a bogus label created by the British.  A.L.Basham observed that in India, Tamils were mostly Sudra, a few were Brahmin.   Basham in his book ‘The wonder that was India’ has this to say about caste in Tamilnadu:

Early Tamil literature gives no evidence of caste, but the development of a more complex political and economic structure produced a system in some ways more rigid than that of the North. By the Cola period an important feature of South Indian caste structure had appeared, and this has survived to the present day.

In the Dravidian country groups claiming to be Kshatriyas were few, other than the ruling families, and Vaisyas were equally rare.’ Nearly the whole of the population were Brahmans, Sudras or Untouchables.

The Sudra castes, which formed the mass of the people, were divided into two great caste groups, known as the right and left hands. On the right are the trading castes, some weaving castes, musicians, potters, washermen, barbers, and most of the cultivating and labouring castes. On the left are various castes of craftsmen, such as weavers and leather workers, cowherds, and some cultivating castes.” (Wonder that was India)

There are no high caste Tamils in Sri Lanka said Izeth Hussein. There are very few Brahmins in Jaffna, agreed Jayaweera. The Jaffna Tamil immigrated into Jaffna during the Dutch occupation.    These Tamil emigrants were landless agricultural laborers brought in by the Dutch to work the tobacco plantations in the north.  It is most unlikely that they would have belonged to the Brahmin caste. They would have belonged to the Sudra group.

1. Sooriasegaram (2017) says,” In Ceylon there is a very small community of Brahmans and practically all of them are attached to temples, either as priests or as assistants. Unlike the Brahmins in India, they are not highly educated, few have received a good secondary school education.

Some say that the Ceylon Brahmins are not really Brahmin, continued Sooriasegaram. To cross the sea is one way to lose caste, and it is thought that no high caste Brahman from India would have crossed the sea to Ceylon. This means that the Brahmans who are presently attached to temples in Ceylon are from another caste.

There was also the opposite opinion. Bala Tampoe (b 1922) had told Malinda Seneviratne, in an interview that his family belonged to the Jaffna aristocracy and there were even claims that they were connected to Sankili the last Tamil king of Jaffna. Their ancestral home was located opposite the palace at Nallur and was called Sangili thoppe or Sangili garden.

My great, great grandfather was the first Hindu convert to Christianity in Jaffna. Tampoe’s father, a coconut planter in Jaffna, was arrogant, he used to ride horses and carried a whip with him and when he went by car if the road was blocked by cattle or people he would toot his horn and after passing the place would stop take out his whip and lash out at the herdsman or whoever was blocking his path.

Neville Jayaweera, who was   Government Agent in Jaffna 1963-1966, found that the Jaffna Tamil community was ‘highly fragmented by caste’. In Tamilnadu and Jaffna there is a caste consciousness that cannot be equalled anywhere else in the world, announced Jayaweera.

There is an almost impenetrable caste barrier into Vellala and non Vellala, he exclaimed. Even among the Diaspora” abroad the high caste Tamils do not mix with the low caste Tamils.  Rajan Hoole said that the Tamils were a ‘caste ridden entity’. The   standard question asked when one Tamil met another Tamil, what is your village?” That was to find out the caste.

The top caste in Jaffna today is the Vellala, announced Jayaweera. The Vellalas are a unique Tamil social formation peculiar only to Sri Lanka, he observed. In Tamilnadu there is no indigenous concentration of Vellala of any political consequence.

Andre Beteille, who did fieldwork in Sripuram in Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu, in the 1960s, described the Vellala in Sripuram as peasantry. The Vellala are the cultivating caste par excellence in Tamilnadu, he said. (Caste, Class and Power 1965).    Nalin de Silva added to this.  There is a caste called Vellala in Natal in South Africa, he said. These Vellala are the agricultural labourers who migrated to South Africa from India during British rule. It would have been the same with those who came here for tobacco cultivation in Dutch times.

S.R.N. Hoole said, ‘except for the Vellala themselves, all others agree that the Jaffna Tamils are mostly Sudra. Almost everyone in Jaffna tries to pass off as Vellala, Hoole added. Tamils themselves think that unless he is Vellala he is worth nothing, said Hoole. ’ P.G Veerasingham said that Vellala in Jaffna is a mixture of several castes. Castes such as Kallar, Kayavar, and Ahampady became Vellala over time. (Tales of an Enchanted Boyhood, Alupola to Jaffna 1940-1960)”  

The Vellala appear to have entrenched themselves as the top caste during Dutch times. There was a tremendous growth of Vellala in the Dutch Census, observed S.R.N. Hoole. But the present day Vellala  rose due to  calculated patronage of the British, who gave them access to government jobs, ownership of land in Jaffna and elsewhere in the north,

Among the Vellalas themselves there are many sub-divisions, some of which are regarded as higher than others. The Vellalas of Paloli (Point Pedro), Karativu and Arali for instance, are regarded as pure ‘Blue’ Vellalas, and they lay claim to a respect which no one will dispute, said Sooriasegaram.  There were rankings between the Vellala, agreed Vimala Ganeshananthan. Emily Ganesan     however, dismissed the matter. ‘Why fuss over whether this or that is the higher Vellala, when the Vellala belong to the Sudras. They were not high caste like Brahmins’, she said. (The Yaal players)

In Jaffna, the Vellala were the dominant caste.  They go as the superior class, said Jayaweera.  They are the sole power within Jaffna Tamil society.  Akalya Francisglain observed that Jaffna Tamil literature and the arts tended to pass off Vellala culture as synonymous with Tamil Jaffna culture, since Vellala culture was the dominant one. The Vellala speak a distinctive Vellala Tamil.

The Vellala were about 35% of the Tamil population in Jaffna, but they own about 95% of the land and hold all the economic, social and cultural power, declared Jayaweera. ‘The rest of the Jaffna society, i.e. 65% were lumped together as low caste or pariahs and lived on the margins of Tamil society as faceless persons.’

The Vellala controlled the rights to land and water. They controlled wells and rituals in temples. They were also a closed economic class, owning most of the lands and exercising total control over the economy and politics.

The Vellala were a formidable power group as well. All the Tamils in national politics were Vellala, observed Jayaweera. The Tamil DROs in the 1960s were all from the Vellala caste as well. Almost all the Tamils who entered the university were from the Vellala caste with a sprinkling of the Karayiar caste, said Sebastian Ramalingam. All The Tamil journalists were Vellala.

There were also the non-Vellalas. They were necessary. They did the menial jobs. According to Simon Casie Chetty (1807-1860) there were 152 non Vellala castes in Jaffna.  Emily Ganesan (b 1903) recalled that she was told that there were 24 main castes but many subdivisions within each. Each caste had their separate wells.

Each caste, such as goldsmith, carpenters, potters, had its own strip of land. These strips of land had no interaction.  These various lanes in the Karainagar Island were well known to the LTTE, she added, but were a stumbling bloc for the army. The LTTE negotiated the lanes easily as they knew them but the army followed them, lost their way and ran into a blank fence. The barbers and washer men who worked for the Vellala lived in their compound and worked only for them.

Low castes that came to her grandfather’s house, sat on a low seat. The lowest caste would drag a palmyrah frond to indicate that he was approaching.  The high caste person then moved to the opposite side.  Caste was ever important in marriage and guests of the wedding. In Karainagar, nobody forgot or was allowed to forget his or her caste, she said.

Among the less-privileged castes, Koviyar and Karaiyar were favoured by Vellala community. Unlike the other less-privileged castes, they did not face serious problems, said P.J.Antony. However, Ralph Pieris told me, with a wide smile, that a Tamil colleague, Vellala of course, had told him, probably in the 1950s or 1960s, You Sinhalese don’t know how to keep the Karava caste down, we in Jaffna know how.”

Though Tamils converted to Christianity their caste system remained and Church had no alternative but to recognize the caste system. The caste system was accepted by the Church, and caste became a basic qualification for ordination, said Rasalingam. The Christians whom Jayaweera had consulted in 1960s such as Bishop Kulendran and Puisne Judge H.W. Tambiah said caste system was evil but conformed to it willingly and wouldn’t violate its boundaries.

The missionaries were forced to accept caste distinctions. Uduvil Girls School in Jaffna Initially had girls from lower castes, such as Koviah and Pandarama.Koviah are household cooks equal to the Vellala and Pandaram are temple cooks. Uduvil also offered equal seating to all, in a single dining hall, when serving meals. Uduvil was the first school to voluntarily offer this. Before that, the oppressed castes whether students or parents, had to sit out of the way, separately when eating. But Vellala parents objects to their daughters eating with other castes.

In 1826 the Mission decided to accept only girls of good caste, who had some property, who would be a suitable match for the Christian boys.  The Batticotta School boarding was only for Vellala, but day students were a mixture of Vellala and lower castes, who sat on the ground in school and in church too. The Catholic churches in Jaffna did not permit women to cover their heads with a veil.

Caste oppression continued without hindrance in Jaffna    P.J. Antony (b. probably 1935   ) after my father’s death, my mother worked as a daily-wage labourer to raise me. When she approached some Catholic priests, they asked my mother why I could not be trained in my father’s profession. Upper-caste people thought education was not meant for minority Tamils. Downtrodden castes could not send their children to fee-levying schools due to poverty.

I was a victim of caste discrimination when I was 13 years old in Jaffna, said Antony. I was assaulted by upper-caste students at the Christian school I attended. I cannot forget that incident – even now.

Minority Tamils were not allowed to eat food in the company of upper-caste people. They could not go inside tea shops. Tea was given in rusty tin containers and soda bottles. They were asked to sit on an empty sack spread on the floor when they were given food in shops. This custom existed in the 1960s even in places like Subash Café, P.J. Antony said.

Sebastian Rasalingam (b. 1930s) said having come from a depressed caste and group in the in 1930 s in Jaffna, I know the vicious character of caste, maintained by violence as well. ’ When I was growing up in Jaffna, the lower caste Tamil could not go on buses or attend schools. Their very presence was ‘polluting’. In my young days I sat on the class room floor or carried a low stool from class to class as only the high caste could sit on chairs. The treated me and another child like me as excreta and punished us for daring to be there.

When I moved to Hatton and later to Colombo, in the late 1950s, I found a very different world, continued Rasalingam. My wife and I Found that our work mates, mostly Sinhalese would actually” sit with us and shared a cup of tea. We found that we could go to night schools and study without being threatened, beaten up or go and borrow books and do thing that would bring swift retribution back in the north.  Our dwelling would have been torched and our women raped with impunity.

Caste discrimination in Jaffna is not something of the past it exists with equal ugliness today .   The alleged “discrimination of Tamils by the Sinhalese” was nothing compared to the discrimination of the Tamils by the upper castes of the Tamils themselves, concluded Sebastian Rasalingam, writing from Canada in 2012.

Ananda Dharmapala   said ‘I was born an untouchable in Hindu Jaffna. I had no water to drink because the so called high caste Hindus, denied drinking water to me from the wells. The untouchable wells had run dry. I came to the south, took a Sinhala name and embraced Buddhism. It is possible that a large percent of Tamils became Sinhalese in the past. It is natural because they have joined a better society.’ ( Island 1.5.2004 p 9).

A.C.B. Pethiyagoda who had studied in Jaffna College in 1949 said there was a strong caste system at the time. When he was studying in Jaffna College, he was invited by a friend to coffee at one of the tea kiosks outside the school. The shop owner had asked in Tamil what caste Pethiyagoda was and on being told he was of ‘royalty’ had given him the drink in a glass tumbler. Otherwise it would have been a tin mug and a bench outside the boutique.

Neville Jayaweera discovered caste oppression in Jaffna when he was sent there as Government Agent. He was shocked. There was a deep caste divide in the north    he exclaimed. The low castes were a deeply oppressed, degraded group. Jayaweera called it ‘an appalling tragedy’. Jayaweera described the Jaffna Tamil underclass as it was in the 1960s when I discovered it’.

Anyone born Non-Vellala was frozen in his particular station, whether fishing or tree climbing or whatever. They were tied to their villages and their occupations. They could not reside outside their villages. They could not drink at the village well nor use any other public amenity outside their own villages. They could not wear jewellery, ride in carriages nor use drums at any ceremony. The non Vellalas owned little or no land.

They did not have access to high caste temples owned and managed by Brahmins or Vellala and they did to have access to Hindu schools or higher education. This was breached when the missionaries came, much to the consternation of Hindu leaders. They were not allowed into the premises occupied by the Vellala except for doing the tasks they were born to do. They dared not marry anyone form the Vellala caste, When they died they could not be cremated or buried on land reserved for the Vellalas. It was an oppressive system as bad as that in India, concluded Jayaweera.

In the 1930s and 1940s, minority-Tamil women were not allowed to wear sari blouses, recalled Antony. They had to raise the piece of cloth they wore so as to cover their breasts. The upper-caste people also barred minority-Tamil men from wearing the  Vetti, added P.J.Antony.

‘Every leading Hindu citizen of Jaffna whom I consulted’ had said that the whole caste system including denial of access to temples was deeply embedded in the Hindu religion and any attempt to change will not only be resisted but be treated as sacrilege said Jayaweera.  The Jaffna Tamils Christians consulted by Jayaweera also indicated that they too conformed to caste willingly and would not violate its boundaries.

Lalin Fernando, a senior army officer, who was in charge of the army units in Jaffna also said that Jaffna was very caste conscious. When the army first moved there, in 1961, low cast women were not allowed to wear jackets with their saris.  They were prohibited from bathing at wells of the high caste, they were also excluded from certain temples and they could not sit in buses. He recalled that in 1981 Hindu temples refused to take in the displaced Tamils due to caste.

Engineer M.Sooriasegaram , who lives in Jaffna, writing   in 2017,  stated that the   caste system is still practiced in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is a living cancer within the Tamil community. The high caste is the ruling caste in the Northern Province. All other castes have been discriminated and downtrodden in a wide variety of ways , socially, economically and in many other ways. They have been kept out of temples,  eating  places such as restaurants. Serving tea and food took place in separate low quality designated vessels in a very humiliating manner, concluded Sooriasegaram .

H.L.D Mahindapala pointed out in 2012 that low caste Hindus could not enter high caste Hindu temples in Jaffna. They could not bury their dead according to Hindu rights.  High caste would not let low caste drink from their wells.

The non-Vellala castes tried to improve their position, through ‘peaceful demonstrations’. The Minority Tamils Maha Sabha was established in 1941 with the view to winning the rights of the downtrodden castes, said P.J.Antony. Thiruvalluvar Council, Arunthathiyar Association, Toddy Tappers’ Union and the Washermen’s Union also put forward their demands, continued S.K.Senthivel. The Minority Tamils Council and the Communist Party took the initiative in the matter. But they did not put forward a comprehensive set of rights or launch a firm struggle for the rights, said Senthivel.

In the 1940s the  two most  visible  forms of oppression  was non- access into Hindu temples and tea shops. Low castes were not allowed to enter tea shops  and were served tea in broken bottles or rusted tumblers.  Minority Tamils Maha Sabha organized protests and temple-entry campaigns. These had some success.

Some temples were opened amicably. by 1958, three of the major temples of Jaffna, Nallur Murugan, Vanar Panani Sivan and Yal Perumal temples threw their doors open to the  non[Vellalas. ‘This was a major feat to have achieved without violence – the upper caste management of these temples were progressive for their time – but various other temples had to have their doors broken forcibly over the next decade, before temple entry could take place,’ said Senthivel.

‘As a result of severe pressure’, continued Senthivel,   in the 1950s , certain tea shops in Jaffna agreed to serve all castes from the same vessels. The V.S.S.K. café became the first restaurant to open its doors wide to everyone. Apart from  opening up temples and tea-shops however, progress in other areas of caste oppression continued to be slow.

The MEP government of 1956, led by SWRD Bandaranaike, took note of caste oppression. When the buses were nationalized, the CTB buses allowed anyone to go on them.  That angered the high caste Tamils.

The MEP government  passed the Prevention of Social disabilities Act 21 of 1957 amended later  by Act 18 of 1971.  This Act made Imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of their caste to be an offence.

It said any person who imposes any social disability on any other person by reason of such other person’s caste shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years with or without a fine not exceeding three thousand rupees”.

Where an offence under this Act is committed on, or in relation to, any premises where any business is carried on under the authority of a licence and the person who is the proprietor or the manager of such business is convicted of such offence, the court may, in addition to any other punishment it may lawfully impose cancel such licence”.

The Non-Vellalas would have  got much encouragement and support from this Act. ‘In the 1960s there was a change of attitude’ said Senthivel. ‘A mostly non-violent movement which has put up with violence from the dominant castes for decades finally decided to retaliate. They took up arms and forced their way into resisting temples and eateries until nearly all these establishments opened their doors.’

There was a march against caste oppression on 21st October 1966. The march was led by political leaders N. Shanmugathasan, K.A. Subramaniam and V.A. Kandasamy. The march started from Chunnakam and ended in a mass rally at the Jaffna maidan. The march was joined by nearly all castes of the Tamil community, recalled P.J. Antony.  Many of the leaders were beaten up and jailed. Nevertheless, a consciousness had arisen – both in the minds of the anti-casteists as well as the casteists they were addressing – that caste oppression would no longer be acceptable or unchallenged.  It was a historic march by thousands of men and women protesting caste oppression.

By mid 1967, café entry and temple-entry struggles had started. There was direct confrontation.  The café entry confrontation in Changanaie resulted in one death. After Changanai, there were confrontations in cafes in Chavakachcheri, Kodikamam, Acchuveli, Karaveddy, Nelliyadi, Urumpirai, Maruthanarmadam, Chunnakam, Kankesanthurai, Tellippalai, Chitthankeni and Vaddukkoddai,

In Changanai, Kodikamam, Manduvil, Acchuveli, Karaveddy, Kanpollai and Nelliyadi the confrontations became clashes that went on for years.  In Changanai it went on for three years. ‘Up to fifteen militants at the forefront of the struggle became martyrs to the struggle’, said Senthival. Many were imprisoned and tortured in police stations. Many were seriously wounded. At the same time high caste fanatics were also attacked and killed. Many women were at the forefront of struggle, he said.

The battle to gain entry to high case Hindu temples intensified in the 1960s. Jayaweera, as GA Jaffna in the 1960s recorded that there was conflict between the Brahmin and Vellala owned temple authorities on one side and the non Vellala castes on the other. The MPs of the districts and the  14 DROs did nothing to help the non-Vellalas.  The non- Vellalas came to   Jayaweera,  but Jayaweera could not help.

The Vellalas strongly resisted opening their Hindu temples to the low castes. The 1957 Act helped but there were many loopholes in this act when it was implemented for the first time. Taking advantage of these loopholes, the Vellalas continued to prevent minority Tamils from entering the Hindu kovils in Jaffna.

The non-Vellalas did not give up. Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, the most renowned temple in the North, was opened but ‘only under intense pressure. It was the same at Amman temple in Mattvil the Selvacchannathi temple at Thondamanaru and the Azhvar temple in Vallipuram.

The struggle to enter the Maviddapuram Kandaswamy Temple, one of the major temples in the north, went on for three years. During the period the temple remained closed. In  early 1968   non-Vellalas mainly Pallar and Nalavar stormed Maviddapuram temple and staged a non-violent protest outside the temple gates but were met with violence from a group of “high” caste Hindus.

In June 1968  they  tried again and were successful. C Suntheralingam  who was one of the temple authorities had stood at the entrance to the temple flailing his walking stick over his head, and threatening anyone who came within striking distance. Suntheralingam was prosecuted under the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act and fined Rs. 50 by the Supreme Court.

Request to the police to ensure the participation of minority Tamils in pujas and festivals held in Hindu kovils were ignored before 1971. We hardly got the support of the police before 1971 when the Act was amended, said Antony. Once the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act  was amended in 1971, the police, had to support the organisers of temple-entry campaigns.  They could no longer connive with the upper caste or remain inactive. Superintendent of Police, Jaffna, rendered his fullest cooperation to us.  Assistant Superintendent of Police, Kankesanthurai, ordered the trustees of the Variyavalavu Pillayar Kovil in Thunnalai to open the temple to minority Tamils in the presence of some members of the Maha Sabha recalled Antony.  ( continued)

පරිවර්තනය කළේ ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

චං ත්සුවෝ කියලා කියන්නේ කුං ගුරුතුමා ගේ ගුරුකුලයට අයිති පඬිවරයෙක්. පරිපාලන කටයුතුවලට නිලධාරීන් බඳවාගන්න අධිරාජ්‍යය විභාගයත් ඔහු සමත්වුනා. විභාගයේ ප‍්‍රතිඵල ලබාගත්තට පස්සේ දවසක ඔහු අගනුවරට දකුණින් තිබුණු පළාතක පාරක් දිගේ අශ්වයෙක් පිටින් යමින් හිටියා. එහෙම යන අතරමග දී ඔහු වයස්ගත පුද්ගලයෙක්ව දැක්කා. ඒ පුද්ගලයා හිටියේ සුදු කකුල් තියෙන අළු පාට බූරුවෙක්ගේ පිටේ නැගලා. මුව හමින් හදපු කර මල්ලක් ඒ මහල්ලා එල්ලගෙන හිටියා. ඒ මහල්ලා බොහොම සරල ඇඳුමක් ඇඳගෙනයි හිටියේ. හැබැයි ඒ පුද්ගලයා තමන්ගේ ජීවිතයෙන් තෘප්තියට පැමිණිච්ච බවක් තමයි පෙන්නුම් කළේ.

චං පඬිවරයාට ඒ මහල්ලා ගැන ලොකු පැහැදීමක් ඇති වුනා. මහල්ලත් එක්ක කතා කළා නම් හොඳයි කියලා ඔහුට හිතුනා. ඒ හින්දා ඔහු මහල්ලාගෙන් ඇහුවා ”ඔබතුමා කොහේ ඉඳලා ද එන්නේ?” කියලා. චං පඬිවරයා දිහා බලලා හිනාවක් පෑවත් මහල්ලා උත්තරයක් දුන්නේ නෑ. ඒ හින්දා පඬිවරයා තව වතාවක් කලින් ප්‍රශ්නය ම ඇහුවා. ඒක අහපු ගමන් තමන්ට හුඟක් තරහ ගිය බවක් මහල්ලා පෙන්නුවා. ”උඹ මොන තරම් වැඩකට නැති මිනිහෙක් ද? උඹ කොහොම ද මගෙන් ඔය විදිහට ප‍්‍රශ්න අහන්නේ? කාගේ හරි සල්ලි හොරකම් කරගෙන පැනලා යන හොරෙක් කියලා හිතාගෙන ද උඹ ඔහොම මගෙන් අහන්නේ? එහෙම නැතිනම්, උඹේ රාජකාරිය පාරේ යන එවුන්ගෙන් කොහෙද යන්නේ, කොහේ ඉඳල ද එන්නේ කියලා අහන එක ද?” කියලා මහල්ලා තරහෙන් කියාගෙන කියාගෙන ගියා.

”නෑ. නෑ… බැලූ බැල්මට මට හිතෙන්නේ ඔබතුමා බොහොම දැනුම් තේරුම් තියෙන කෙනෙක් කියලා. මම කැමැතියි ඔබතුමාගේ ශිෂ්‍යයෙක් වෙන්න. ඒ හින්දයි මම එහෙම ඇහුවේ. මට සමාවෙන්න” කියලා චං බොහොම බැගෑපත් විදිහට කිව්වා.

”මම හිතන්නේ නෑ උඹට උගන්නන්න තරම් දෙයක් මම දන්නවා කියලා. මම ගොඩක් කල් ජීවත් වෙච්ච නිකම් ම නිකම් නාකි මිනිහෙක් විතරයි. මට හිතන්නේ මගේ වැරහැලි දිහා බලලා, මගේ වැදගම්මකට නැතිකම දැකලා උඹ මට ඔච්චම් කරනවා කියලා.” එහෙම කියපු මහල්ලා බූරුවට කසයෙන් පාරක් ගැහුවා. බූරුවා හැල්මේ දුවන්න පටන්ගත්තා.

චං පඬිවරයත් තමන්ගේ අශ්වයාට කකුලෙන් ඇනලා මහල්ලා පස්සෙන් යන්න පටන්ගත්තා. එදා රෑ ඒ දෙන්න ම එක ම නවාතැනක ලැඟුම්ගත්තා. මහල්ලා ඉක්මනින් ම නිදාගන්න ලෑස්තිවුනා. ඔහු තමන්ගේ මුව හම් කරමල්ල කොට්ටයක් විදිහට ඔලූවට යටින් තියාගත්තා. ඒත් චං පඬිවරයාට හිතුනා දවසේ මහන්සිය යන්නත් එක්ක පොඩි අඩියක් ගැහුවා නම් හොඳයි කියලා. ඔහු ටිකක් චකිතයෙන් වගේ මහල්ලාටත් ආරාධනා කරලා ඇහුවා තමන් එක්ක හවුල් වෙන්න පුළුවන් ද කියලා. ඒ කියන පමාවෙන් මහල්ලා නැගිට්ටා. සද්දෙන් හිනාවුනා. ”ඔන්න ඕක තමයි මම වැඩියෙන් ම කැමැති දේ. මට පුදුමයි. උඹ කොහොම ද ඒක දැනගත්තේ?” කියලා කියාගෙන මහල්ලා චං පඬිවරයා ළඟට කිට්ටුවුනා.

රහමෙර කටගාන්න, කටගාන්න මහල්ලාගේ දරදඬුකමත් ටිකෙන් ටික නැතිවෙලා යන්න පටන්ගත්තා. ඒ වග චං පඬිවරයටත් තේරුණා. ඉතින් අවස්ථාවෙන් ප‍්‍රයෝජනයක් ඇරගෙන ඔහු මෙහෙම කිව්වා. ”මම තරුණයි. මෝඩයි. ඔබතුමාට පුළුවන් ද මගේ මොළේ ටිකක් පාදන්න? මම කැමැතියි ලෝකෙ ගැන මොනවා හරි ටිකක් දැනගන්න.”

”මම දැකලා තියෙන්නේ ලියං, ඡන්, සුයි, ථං රාජ වංශ බලයට එන එකයි ඒවා පිරිහෙන එකයි විතරයි. ඒ හැම එකක් ම දැන් ඉතිහාස පොත්වලට එකතුවෙලා. මං ගැන විතරක් යමක් කියන්න මට පුළුවන්. ඒ කතාව උඹට වැඩක් වෙයි ද කියලා කියන්න බෑ” කියලා මහල්ලා උත්තර දුන්නා.

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(පාඨකයන්ගේ දැනුමට සටහනක්: චීනයේ ලියං යුගය තිබුණේ ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 502 ඉඳලා ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 557 වෙන කල්. ඊට පස්සේ ආවේ ඡන් යුගය. ඒ, ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 557 ඉඳලා ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 589 වෙන කල්. සුයි යුගය පැවැතුනේ ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 581 ඉඳලා ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 618 වෙන කල්. ථං යුගය පැවැතුනේ ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 618 ඉඳලා ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 907 වෙන කල්. ඒ කියන්නේ, මේ මහල්ලා කියන විදිහට එයා අවුරුදු 400 කට වැඩි කාලයක් තිස්සේ වෙච්ච දේවල් දැකලා තියෙනවා. මේ කතාවට අදාළ හින්දා තව කාරණයක් දෙකක් කියන්න ඕන. එකක් තමයි උතුරු චෝ වංශ පාලන කාලය. ඒ පාලනය තිබුණේ ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 557 ඉඳලා ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 581 වෙන කල්. උතුරු චෝ, ලියං, ඡන් කියන පාලන අයිති වුනේ චීනයේ තිබුණු උතුරු සහ දකුණු කියන රාජ්‍ය යුග කාලයට. ඒ, චීන මිනිස්සු වෙන වෙනම පාලන ප්‍රදේශ හදාගෙන කා කොටාගත්ත කාලයක්. සුයි අධිරාජ්‍යය පිහිටුවලා චීනය නැවතත් එක්සේසත් කළා. ථං යුගය කියලා කියන්නේ චීන ඉතිහාසයේ ස්වර්ණමය පාලන කාලය කියලා කියන්න පුළුවන්).

අපි ආයෙත් මහල්ලාට සවන්දෙමු.

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උතුරු චෝ වංශ පාලනේ තියෙන කාලේ මම ජීවත්වුනේ ඡී කෝරළේ. මගේ නම ශන් ත්සුං. වයස අවුරුදු 18 ක් වෙද්දි මම හමුදාවට බැඳුනා. ලියං වංශයේ යුවාන් අධිරාජ්‍යයා අල්ලගෙන හිටපු චිංචෝ නගරයට අපේ හමුදාව පහරදුන්නා. අපි ඒ නගරය අල්ලගත්තා. ඊට පස්සේ මගේ සෙන්පතිතුමාට පැවරුනේ අපේ ජයග‍්‍රාහී හමුදාව උතුරට මෙහෙයවන වැඩේ.

එදා රෑ මම හීනයක් දැක්කා. නිල් පාට ලෝගු ඇඳගත්ත මිනිස්සු දෙන්නෙක් මට ඇහෙන්න පද තේරවිල්ලක් කිව්වා. ඒ දෙන්නා කිව්වේ මොන හරුපයක් ද කියලා මට තේරුණේ නෑ. මම උදේ පාන්දරින් ම නැගිටලා හීන තෝරන්නෙක් හොයාගෙන ගියා. ඒ මනුස්සයා කියපු විදිහට හුඟක් කල් ජීවත්වෙන්න ඕනකමක් මට තියෙනවා නම් මම ඒ නගරයේ ම නැවතිලා ඉන්න ඕන. ඉක්මනින් මැරෙන්න මොකාද කැමැති? ඉතින් මම ඒ උපදේශය පිළි ඇරගෙන මගේ අණදෙන නිලධාරියාට කන්නලව් කරලා ඒ නගරයේ ම නවතින්න අවසර ඉල්ලුවා. ඉතින් ඒ නගරයේ ම නවතින්න කියලා මගේ අණදෙන නිලධාරියා මට අවසර දුන්නා. එතුමා මාව නගරාරක්ෂක බල ඇණියට අනුයුක්ත කළා.

මම ආයෙත් හීන තෝරන්නා හම්බවෙන්න ගියා. නගරයේ ම ඉන්න අවසර ගත්තා කියලා මම ඒ මනුස්සයාට කිව්වා. ඒත් හුඟක් කල් ජීවත්වෙන්න ඒක උදව් වෙයි කියලා විශ්වාසයක් නම් මට තිබුණේ නෑ.

මම කියපු කතාව අහපු හීන තෝරන්නා මට මගේ කලින් ආත්මේ ගැන විස්තරයක් කියන්න පටන්ගත්තා. මම ඊට කලින් ජීවත්වෙලා ඉඳලා තියෙන්නේ ත්ස-ථුං කෝරළේ. ඒ කාලේ මගේ නම ෂ්‍යුඑ චුන්චෝ.

ඒ දවස්වල මම බෙහෙත් ඖෂධයක් පාවිච්චි කරන්නත් තාඕ සූත‍්‍ර, පොත්පත් කියවන්නත් පුරුදුවෙලා ඉඳලා තියෙනවා. පස්සේ කාලෙක මම හුන්-කිං කියන පර්වතය පාමුල ජීවත්වෙන්න ගිහිල්ලා. ඒක කොක්කු ලගින පර්වතයක්. වසන්ත කාලේ දී මම ඒ පර්වතය පාමුල අතු පැලක් අටවගත්තා. ගේ වටේට මල් වැව්වා. වත්ත වටේට උණ ගස් හිටෙව්වා.

අටවැනි චන්ද්‍ර මාසේ පුර පසලොස්වක දවසේ රෑ මම බෙහෙත් ඖෂධය බීලා එළිමහනේ වැතිරිලා හිටියා. මම හුඟක් සංතෝෂෙන් හිටියේ. ඒක හරි ම සුන්දර රාත‍්‍රියක්. මම සිවුරුහන් බෑවා. හඬ නගා සද්ද කළා. මම මගේ හිතේ තිබුණු දේවල් කියාගෙන යන්න පටන්ගත්තා. ”ගිහි ජීවිතේ අත ඇරියාට පස්සේ මම කොච්චර නම් කැපකිරීම් කරලා තියෙනවා ද? මම උත්තරීතර බලාපොරොත්තු ගොඩාක් තියාගෙන මේ ජීවිතේ පටන්ගත්තේ. ඒත් මාත් එක්ක ගැවසෙන්න පුළුවන් උත්තරීතර කෙනෙක් අද වෙනකල් මං ළඟට ඇවිල්ලා නෑ. ඇයි ඇත්තට ම මෙහෙම වෙන්නේ?” කියලා මම සද්දෙන් ඇහුවා.

ඒ එක්කම එක සැරේ ම මට සද්දයක් ඇහෙන්න පටන්ගත්තා. ඒ මොකක් හරි රථයක් එන සද්දයක්. හැබැයි ඒ සද්දේ ඇහුණේ මගේ කන අස්සෙන්. කිසිම හේතුවක් නැතුව එහෙම සද්දයක් ඇහුනා. ඒත් එක්කම මට නිදිමතකුත් ඇතිවුනා. මම පැදුරේ ඇලවුනා.

මගේ ඔළුව පැදුරේ ගෑවෙන කොට ම සිද්ද වුනේ හරිම පුදුමාකාර දෙයක්. පුංචි කරත්තයක්. ඔව්, අඟල් දෙකක් විතර උස ඇති පුංචි කරත්තයක්, රතුපාට රෝද තියෙන, කළුපාට අඹරාවක් තියෙන, කුරුඳු පොතුවල පාට වස්සෙක් ඇද ගෙන ආපු පුංචි කරත්තයක් මගේ කනින් එළියට ආවා. කියන්නත් පුදුමයි. මගේ කනින් එළියට එන්න කරත්තෙට කිසිම අමාරුවක් තිබුණේ නෑ. ඒක හරිම ලේසියෙන් මගේ කනින් එළියට ආවා. හරියට මහ පාරක යනවා වගේ.

ඒ කරත්තේ උඩ පුංචි මිනිස්සු දෙන්නෙක් හිටියා. ඒ දෙන්නා ඇඳගෙන හිටියේ නිල් පාට ලෝගු දෙකක්. ඔළුවේ කොළ පාට තලප්පාවක් බැඳගෙන හිටියා. ආ … ඔව්. රියැදුරෙකුත් හිටියා. අර දෙන්නා හිටියේ අත් වැටට හේත්තු වෙලා. කරත්තේ කනෙන් එළියට ආවාට පස්සේ ඒක නවත්තන්න කියලා ඒ දෙන්නා රියැදුරාට කිව්වා.

දෙන්නා ම කරත්තෙන් බැස්සා. තමන් දෙව් ලෝ රාජධානියේ නියෝජිතයෝ කියලා ඒ දෙන්නා තමන්ව අඳුන්නලා දුන්නා. ඒ ගොල්ලෝ ඇවිල්ලා හිටියේ මගේ සිවුරුහන් හඬ ඇහිච්ච හින්දා. හඳ එළියේ ඉඳගෙන නගපු හඬ ඒ අය හුඟක් ඉහළින් අගය කළා. ඒ අයට ඕන වුනා මාත් එක්ක කතාකරන්න.

”ඔය දෙන්නා ආවේ මගේ කන ඇතුළේ ඉඳලා. එහෙම නම් කොහොම ද දෙව් ලෝ රාජධානියේ ඉඳලා ආවා කියලා කියන්නේ?” කියලා මම පුදුමයෙන් වගේ ඇහුවා. ඇත්තෙන් ම පුදුම නො වී ඉන්න තරම් හේතුවක් මට තිබුණේ නෑ.

”දෙව් ලෝ රාජධානිය තියෙන්නේ අපේ කනේ. කවුද කිව්වේ ඒක ඔබේ කනේ තියෙනවා කියලා?” ඒ දෙන්නා උත්තර දුන්නා.

”ඔය දෙන්නාගේ උස අඟලක් තරම්වත් නෑ. එහෙව් එකේ ඕගොල්ලන්ගේ කන ඇතුළේ රාජධානියක් තියෙන්න ඉඩක් කොහෙද තියෙන්නේ? හොඳයි අපි කියමු කියපු දේ ඇත්ත කියලා. එහෙම නම් ඒ ලෝකේ මිනිස්සු මැක්කන්ටත් වඩා පුංචි එවුන් වෙන්න ඕන” කියලා මම සරදමට වගේ හිනාවුනා.

”ඇත්තම කියනවා නම් අපේ ලෝක දෙකේ ඔය කියන තරම් වෙනසක් නෑ. ඔබට අපිව විශ්වාස නැතිනම් ඇවිල්ලා බලන්න. ඔබේ ඇස් දෙකෙන් ම බලාගන්න. වාසනාව තියෙනවා නම් ඔබට පුළුවන් අපේ රාජධානියේ සදාකාලිකව ම ඉන්න. එතකොට ඔබට පුළුවන් මේ ඉපදෙන මැරෙන චක‍්‍රයෙන් මිදෙන්න” කියලා එතකොට ඒ දෙන්නා කිව්වා.

ඊට පස්සේ ඒ දෙන්නගෙන් කෙනෙක් තමන්ගේ කන මගේ පැත්තට ඇල කළා. මම එබිලා බැලූවා. මම දැක්කා ගස්. මම දැක්කා මල්. මම දැක්කා ගෙවල්. එකක් දෙකක් නෙවෙයි. මහ ගොඩක්. දඟර ගැහිච්ච ගංගා, මහ විශාල කඳු පංති ඈතට විහිදිලා තිබුණා. මම හුඟක් ළං වෙලා ඒවා දිහා බැලූවා. හුඟාක් ළං වුනා. මට මාව ම පාලනය කරගන්න බැරිවුනා. මම ඒ කන ඇතුළට වැටුණා.

මම හිටියේ මහා නගරයක් මැද්දේ. නගරයේ ප‍්‍රාකාරය හුඟක් උසයි. වීදි පළලයි. ඉද්ද ගැහුවා වගේ කෙළින්. මොන පැත්තට යන්න ද කියලා හිතාගන්න බැරිව ඉන්න කොට අර දෙන්නා මගේ දෙපැත්තෙන් හිටගත්තා. ඒ ගොල්ලො කිව්වා තමන්ගේ රට මගේ රට තරම් ම විශාලයි කියලා. ඒක බොරුවක් නෙවෙයි. මම ඒක මගේ ඇස් දෙකින් ම දැක්කා!

ඒ අයගේ රටට ආපු හින්දා මට මහා ෂුවන්චන් රජතුමාව හම්බවෙන්න වෙනවා කියලා ඒ දෙන්නා මට කිව්වා. ෂුවන්චන් රජතුමා ජීවත්වුනේ රත්තරන් මාළිගාවක. දොරවල්වලටයි ජනෙල්වලටයි දාලා තිබුණේ මුතු වැල්වලින් වියපු තිර. මහා ශාලාවක් මැද්දේ එතුමා වාඩිවෙලා හිටියා. රෝස පාට වළාකුළුවලට උඩින් පායලා තියෙන ඉර හඳ රූපවලින් එතුමාගේ ලෝගුව ගෙත්තම් කරලා සරසලා තිබුණා. පැළඳගෙන හිටපු ඔටුන්න හුඟක් උස එකක්. හරිතමිණිවලින් කරවපු පබලූවලින් ඒක වටේට ම සරසලා තිබුණා. නෑඹුල් පිරිමි ළමයි හතර දෙනෙක් උන්වහන්සේගේ දෙපැත්තෙන් හිටගෙන හිටියා.

මාව එක්කර ගෙන ගිය දෙන්න රජතුමා ඉස්සරහා දණ නමස්කාර කළා. ඇස් බිමට කරගත්තා.

උස හිස්වැස්මක් පැළඳගත්ත, කොළ පාට ලෝගුවක් ඇඳගෙන හිටිය නිලධාරියෙක් ලේඛනයක් අතේ තියාගෙන හිටියා. අර දෙන්න කරපු විදිහට ම මමත් රජතුමාට දණ නමස්කාර කළා ම ඒ නිලධාරියා තමන් අතේ තිබුණු ආඥාව කියවන්න පටන්ගත්තා. ඒ කියපු විදිහට මාව ලේකම් මිටිය භාර මහ ලේකම් විදිහට පත් කරලා!

කහ පාට කබා ඇඳගෙන හිටපු මිනිස්සු හතර දෙනෙක් මාව මගේ කාර්යාලයට එක්කර ගෙන ගියා. ඒත් එතෙන්ට ගිය ගමන් ම මට තේරුණා ඒ ලේකම් මිටි ලියලා තියෙන්නේ මහ අමුතු ම භාෂාවකින් කියලා. ඒ එක අකුරක්වත් මට තේරුණේ නෑ. මම මාසයක් ම එතෙන්ට ආවා ගියා. ඒත් කවුරුවත් මාව හම්බවෙන්න ආවේ නෑ. මට කරන්න වැඩක් තිබුණෙත් නෑ.

හැබැයි මට හිතෙන්නේ මොකක් ද, ඒක හිතුණු ගමන් ම මගේ සේවකයෝ ඒ දේ මගේ ළඟට ම ගෙනැල්ලා දුන්නා. මට ඒ ගැන වචනයක්වත් කියන්න ඉඩක් ලැබුණේ නෑ. මට ඕන හැම දෙයක් ම අඩුවක් නැතුව මට ලැබුණා. මට උවමනා දේ ගැන හිතන එක විතරයි මම කළේ.

දවස ගානේ මෙහෙම නිකම් ඉන්න කොට මට මහා කම්මැලිකමක් දැනුණා. කම්මැලිකම යන්නත් එක්ක නගරයේ තිබුණු උස කුළුණකට නගින්න ඕන කියලා මම තීරණය කළා. ඒකට නගින්න පඩිපෙළකුත් තිබුණා. මම ඒ කුළුණ උඩට ම නැග්ගා. ඒක මහ විශාල නගරයක්. හරිම සජීවියි. මිනිස්සු උද්‍යෝගයෙන් එදිනෙදා වැඩවල නිරතවෙනවා. එක එක විදිහේ රථ වාහන වීදි දිගේ දුවනවා. පොඩි එවුන් සෙල්ලම් කරනවා. හරිම උණුසුම් දර්ශනයක්. මට මගේ ගෙදර මතක්වුනා. ඒ හැඟීම මගේ හිතට කවියක් ගෙන එන්න තරම් ප‍්‍රබල එකක් වුනා.

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මේ තුඟු කුළුණ මත සිට – නෙත් හෙළන මා හට

හැ‍ඟෙයි – මේ මගේ නිවහන නොවන වග!

කඩදාසියක කුරුටු ගාපු ඒ කවිය පස්සේ වෙලාවක අර දෙන්නට – ඒ කියන්නේ මාව මේ රාජධානියට එක්කර ගෙන ආපු දෙන්නට; මම පෙන්නුවා. ඒක දැක්කම ඒ දෙන්නා කෝපයෙන් උමතු වුනා. ස්වභාවයෙන් ම මගේ හිත අශුද්ධ අශෝභන දේවල්වලින් කෙලෙසිලා කියලා ඒ දෙන්නා මොර දුන්නා. මාව තමන්ගේ රාජධානියට ගෙනාපු එක ඒ අය කරපු වැරැද්දක් කියලාත් ඒ දෙන්නා කිව්වා. මම ලෞකික ආශාවලින් මිදිච්ච මිනිහෙක් කියලා හිතපු එකේ වැරැද්ද ගැන ඒ දෙන්නා කම්පා වුනා. මම තාමත් ලෞකික දේවල් ගැන හිතන පහත් මිනිහෙක්!

ඒ දෙන්නා මාව ඒ අයගේ ලෝකෙන් එලෙව්වා. එතකොට ම, මට තේරුනා මගේ කකුල් දෙක පොළොවේ වදින බවක්. මම ඉක්මනින් හැරිලා බැලූවා. එතකොට තමයි දැක්කේ මම ඒ පුද්ගලයාගේ කනින් එළියට වැටිච්ච බව. මම ආයෙත් මගේ අතු පැළ ඉස්සරහ මිදුලේ ඉන්න බව. මම ආයෙත් බැලූවා. ඒ දෙන්නා අතුරුදහන් වෙලා. යන්න ගිහිල්ලා.

මම ඉක්මනින් ගමට ගිහින් මිනිස්සුන්ට කතා කළා. ඒ අය පුදුමවෙලා වගේ මගේ දිහා බැලූවා. මම ෂුඑ චුන්චෝ කියලා ඒ අයට කිව්වා. ඒ අය කිව්වා මම ගමෙන් යන්න ගිහිල්ලා අවුරුදු හත – අටකටත් වැඩියි කියලා. ඒත් මට නම් හිතුනේ මම ගමෙන් ගිහිල්ලා මාසෙකට දෙකකට වැඩිය නෑ කියලා. මම මගේ ගමට ආගන්තුකයෙක්. මට එතැන තැනක් නෑ. ඉතින් මොහොතකට පස්සේ මම මියගියා. ශන් ත්සුං විදිහට මම ආයෙත් ඉපැදුනා.

ඊට පස්සේ හීන තෝරන්නා තමන් ගැන මාත් එක්ක කිව්වා. එතුමා කියපු විදිහට එයා වෙන කවුරුවත් නෙවෙයි. එතුමා මගේ කනින් ආපු අර දෙන්නගෙන් එක්කෙනෙක්!

මම මගේ කලින් ජීවිතයේ දී තාඕ හොයාගන්න සෑහෙන්න කැපවෙච්ච හින්දා තමයි දෙව් ලෝ රාජධානියට යන්න අවස්ථාවක් මට ලැබිලා තියෙන්නේ. ඒත් ලෞකික ආශාවල්, ලෞකික මුල් මුළුමනින් ම උගුල්ලලා තිබ්බ නැති හින්දා මට අමරණීය වෙන්න බැරිවෙලා. ඒත් මම කරපු කැපකිරීම් හින්දා, දරපු උත්සාහය අසීමිත හින්දා අවුරුදු දාහක කාලයක් සාමයෙන් ජීවත්වෙන වාසනාව මට උරුමවෙලා තියෙනවා කියලා එතුමා මට කිව්වා.

මේ විස්තරේ කියපු හීන තෝරන්නා එයා ගේ කට ඇතුළෙන් අඩියක් විතර දිග සේද පටියක් ඇදලා ගත්තා. ඒකේ මොනවා හරි අකුරු ගොඩක්, රූප ගොඩක් ලියලා තිබ්බා. එයා ඒක මට දුන්නා. ඒක දීලා එයා මට කිව්වා ඒක ගිලින්න කියලා. එතුමා කියපු විදිහට මම ඒක ගිල්ලා. ඊට පස්සේ තමයි එයා තමන් කවුද කියලා මට කිව්වේ.

ඊට පස්සේ ඒ හීන තෝරන්නා අතුරුදහන් වුනා.

එදා ඉඳලා මේ වෙනකොට අවුරුද හාරසීයකටත් වඩා ගතවෙලා. මට කවදාවත් ලෙඩක් හැදිලා නෑ. මම කොච්චර නම් දුර ඇවිදලා තියෙනවා ද. හැම පූජනීය කන්දකට ම මම ගිහිල්ලා තියෙනවා. හුඟක් පුදුම දේවල් මම දැකලා තියෙනවා. ඒ හැම එකක් ගැන ම මම ලියලාත් තියෙනවා. ඒ ලියපු ඒවා තමයි මගේ මේ මල්ලේ තියෙන්නේ.

මහල්ලා මුව හම් මල්ල ඇරියා. ඒකෙන් ඇරගෙන බොහොම තදට ඔතලා තිබ්බ සේද ලූලි දෙකක් චං පඬිවරයාට පෙන්නුවා. ඒවගේ ලියලා තිබ්බ අකුරු හරි ම පුංචියි. කියවන්න අමාරුයි. ඒකෙන් පාඨයක් දෙකක් කියවන්න කියලා පඬිවරයා මහල්ලගෙන් ඉල්ලූවා. මහල්ලා කියවන්න පටන්ගත්තා. හරි පුදුමාකාර විස්තර!

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ඒ විස්තර අහපු චං පඬිතුමා බොහොම සතුටින් නින්දට ගියා. පහුවදා උදේ පාන්දරින් ම එතුමා නැගිට්ටා. ඒත් ඒ වෙනකොට මහල්ලා යන්න ගිහින්!

එයින් දවස් කීපයකට පස්සේ භෂ්ම නිම්නයේ දී කෙනෙක්ට මහල්ලා හම්බවෙලා තියෙනවා. චං පඬිවරයා මතක් කරපු බවකුත් මහල්ලා ඒ පුද්ගලයාට කියලා තියෙනවා. ඒ ආරංචිය ලැබිච්ච ගමන් ම තමන්ගේ අශ්වයා පිටට නැග්ග චං පඬිවරයා භෂ්ම නිම්නය පැත්තට පිම්මේ යන්න පටන්ගත්තා. එතුමා මොහොතක්වත් පමා වුනේ නෑ. ඒත්, ඔහුට මහල්ලා ව හම්බවුනේ නෑ.

පරිවර්තනය කළේ

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

(මේ කතාව උපුටාගත්තේ ”ථැයි පිං යුගයේ වාර්තාවලින් උපුටාගත් කතා සංග‍්‍රහය” කියන චීන පොතෙන්. ථැයි පිං කියලා කියන්නේ උතුරු සුං අධිරාජ්‍ය යුගයට අයිති කාලයක්. හරියටම කියනවා නම් ක්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 976 ඉඳලා 984 දක්වා වූ කාලය. ඒ වාර්තාවල මේ විදිහේ කතා හත්දාහක් විතර ඇතුළත් වෙලා තියෙනවා. ඉඩ ලැබෙන විදිහට ඉදිරියේ දී ඒ පොතින් උපුටාගත්ත තවත් කතාවක් දෙකක් කියන්න උත්සාහ කරන්නම්)

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ විපක්‍ෂ නායක

පසුගියදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදක සභාව ඉදිරියේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවක කෙටුම්පතක් හැටියට සකස් කර තිබූ පිටු 187ක වර්ථාවක් අගමැතිවරයා සභාගත කළේය. ඉන් පසු ‘ව්‍යවස්ථාවකුත් නෑ ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතකුත් නෑ’ කියමින් ඔහු රට වටේ යන ආකාරය අපි දුටුවෙමු. එවැන්නක් කියන අතරම අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් යටතේ ලංකාව බෙදිය නොහැකි එක්සත් රටක් හැටියට පවතින බවත්,  බුදු දහමට තිබුණු තැන වෙනස් නොවන බවත්, අගමැතිවරයාත්, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ වෙනත් ඇමතිවරුත් කියයි. රටේ පවතින කෘෂිකාර්මික පළිබෝධ උවදුරත්, ණය උගුල ඇතුලු අනේකවිධ අර්බුධ මධ්‍යයේ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් කෙරෙන මේ හොරගල් ඇහිලීම ගැන අපි කවුරුත් අවධානයෙන් සිටිය යුතුය.

වර්ථමාන පාලකයන් 2015 බලයට පැමිණෙන විට ජනතාවට දුන් ව්‍යවස්ථාමය පොරොන්දු දෙක වූයේ විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කිරීමත්, ස්ථාවර පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආණ්ඩු පිහිටුවීමට හැකිවෙන ආකාරයට මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය සංශෝධනය කිරීමත් පමණි. විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කිරීමට මේ කෙටුම්තේ විධිවිධාන තිබේ.  අපි එයට විරුද්ධ නොවෙමු. නමුත් මෙහි යෝජනා කර තිබෙන නව මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය 2017 දී පලාත් පාලන ආයතන හා පලාත්සභා වලට හඳුන්වාදුන් ආකාරයේ ‘පූර්ණ සමානුපාතික’ මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයකි. ඒ මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය ගෙන ඒමට 2017 කටයුතු කළ අයම දැන් එය ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කර ඇත. ස්ථාවර ආණ්ඩු ඇතිවෙන ආකාරයට මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය වෙනස් කිරීමට  නම් හඳුන්වා දිය යුත්තේ දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් පිහිටවනු ලැබූ පාර්ලිමේන්තු තේරීම් කාරක සභාවෙන් යෝජනා කළ 70% ක් කේවල ආසන හා 30% ක් සමානුපාතික ක්‍රමයට මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් තෝරා පත් කෙරෙන ‘දෙමුහුන්’ ඡන්ද ක්‍රමයයි. එම පාර්ලිමේන්තු තේරීම් කාරක සභාව ඒ දෙමුහුන් මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය යෝජනා කලේ, 2002 සිට 2007 දක්වා එජාප සහ එජනිස ආණ්ඩු දෙකක් යටතේ අවුරුදු ගණනාවක් මුලුල්ලේ කරනු ලැබූ  අධ්‍යනයකින් පසුවය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව දරුණු ලෙස දුර්වල කර පලාත් ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයන් විශාල වශයෙන් බලවත් කිරීමට අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතේ යෝජනා ඇත. පලාත් සභා වලට අයිති විශයන් ගැන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් නීති සෑදීමට  නම් හැම පලාත් සභාවක්ම එයට එකඟ විය යුතු වේ. එක පළාත් සභාවක් හෝ එම නීතියට  විරුද්ධ වුවහොත් එය සම්මත කිරීමට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකේ බලය මෙන්ම ජනමතවිචාරණයක්ද අවශ්‍ය වේ. නමුත් ඒ ආකාරයට සම්මත කරනු ලැබූ නීතියක් වුවද ඕනෑම පලාත් සභාවකට ඕනෑම වෙලාවක සරළ බහුතරයකින් සම්මත කරන පනතකින් අහෝසි කර දැමිය හැක (කෙටුම්පතේ 132 ඡේදය). පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බලය ඒ ආකාරයට සීමා කළ විට ඒකීය රාජ්‍ය ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයක් බවට පරිවර්තනය  වේ. අපි එයට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම විරුද්ධ  වෙමු.

සමගාමී ලැයිස්තුවට අයිති විෂයන් ගැන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නීති සෑදීමට නම්  සියලුම පළාත් සභාවල එකඟත්වය ලබාගත යුතු වේ (134 ඡන්දය). එවන් එකඟතාවයක් ලබාගන්නවාද නැද්ද යන්න ගැන තීරණය කිරීමට වත්මන් ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට හිමි බලය එයින් අහෝසි වෙනු ඇත. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් නීතියක් සම්මත කළ පසුත් අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් පිහිටු වීමට යෝජනා කර තිබෙන ව්‍යවස්ථාමය උසාවියට ඒ නීතිය අවලංගු කළ හැක. එයින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බලය තවත් හීන වේ (182-ඇ සහ 185 ඡේද). මේ ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙන ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතේ පලාත් සභා බලතල ලැයිස්තුවක් ගැනත් සමගාමී බලතල ලැයිස්තුවක් ගැනත් මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවේ බලතල ලැයිතුවක් ගැනත් සඳහන් වුවද ඒ ලැයිස්තු අපේ වර්ථමාන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ තිබෙන ලැයිස්තුද නැත්නම් වෙනස් ඒවාද යන්න සඳහන් කර නැත.

මේ අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතත් සමඟ කිසිඳු ප්‍රයෝජනයක් නැති තොරතුරු අඩංගු ලියවිලි මිටි ගණන් සභාගත කෙරුවද වැදගත්ම කාරණයක් වන මේ බලතල ලැයිස්තු ඉදිරිපත් කර නැත. අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා යෝජනා වලට අනුව, මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවේ නියෝජිතයා වන ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාට පලාතේ මහ ඇමති යටතේ කටයුතු කිරීමට සිදුවේ. වත්මන් ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ විධිවිධාන වලට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස්ව පළාතේ විධායක බලය ඇත්තේ මහ ඇමතිවරයාට මිස ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාට නොවන බවට සඳහන්ව තිබීමෙන්ද මේ යෝජනාවල ෆෙඩරල්වාදී නැඹුරුව තවත් පැහැදිලි වේ (242 ඡේදය).

පොලිස් සේවය ජාතික පොලිස් සේවයක් සහ පලාත්බද  පොලිස් සේවාවන් 09 කට කඩා ඒ හැම එකටම වෙන වෙනම පොලිස් කොමිසම් ඇති කිරීමටත් මෙහි විධි විධාන ඇත. ජාතික පොලිස් සේවයට අයිති වන්නේ රාජ්‍ය විරෝධී කටයුතු,  මැතිවරණ සම්බන්ධ වැරදි, හොර මුදල් අච්චු ගැසීම වැනි නම්කරනු ලැබු කාරණා  කිහිපයක් පමණි.  අනෙක් සියලුම එදිනෙදා පොලිස් කටයුතු, එනම්  අපරාධ, වංචා, මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය, රථ වාහන, මහජන සාමය වැනි කරුණු අයිති වන්නේ පලාත්බද පොලීසි වලටය. (254, 259, හා 284 වෙනි ඡේද) මේ ආකාරයට පොලීසිය කොටස් කිහිපයකට  කැඩීමෙන්පමණක් මේ රට ඉවර කර දැමිය හැක. 13 වෙනි සංශෝධනයේ කුමක්  තිබුණත් අවුරුදු 30ක් මුලුල්ලේ කිසිම ආණ්ඩුවක් පොලීසිය කෑලි දහයකට වෙන් නොකලේ ඒ නිසාය.

අලුත් යෝජනා යටතේ, වර්ථමානයේ මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවට අයත් විෂයන් සඳහා භාවිතා වෙන ඉඩම් හැරුණු විට සෙසු සියලුම රජයේ ඉඩම් අයත් වන්නේ පලාත් සභාවලටය. මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවට එවන් රජයේ ඉඩමක් අවශ්‍ය වුවහොත්, එය අදාළ පළාත් සභාවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිය හැක. පලාත් සභාව ඒ ඉඩම නොදී සිටියහොත් එම දුක් ගැනවිල්ල ත්‍රිපුද්ගල බේරුම් කරන කමිටුවකට යොමු වේ. එම කමිටුවේ තීන්දුව ගැන සෑහීමකට පත්නොවන්නේ නම් මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවට ව්‍යවස්ථාමය උසාවියට ඒ ඉඩම ඉල්ලා පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැක.  ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාවට සම්බන්ධ කාරණයකට මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුව රජයේ ඉඩමක් පවරාගත්තත් අදාල පලාත් සභාවට ව්‍යවස්ථාමය අධිකරණය වෙත ඒ පවරා ගැනීමට විරුද්ධව පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැක (302, 307 සහ 308 ඡේද).

අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා යෝජනා වලට අනුව මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවෙන් හදිසි නීතිය ප්‍රකාශ කළත් එයට විරුද්ධව අධිකරණයට පෙත්සම් ඉදිරිපත් කර වාරණයක් ලබාගත හැක. මාස තුනකට වැඩි කාලයකට නැත්නම් දින 180 ක කාලයක් ඇතුළත දින 90 කට වඩා හදිසි නීති තත්වයක් පවත්වාගෙන යෑමට නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකේ බලයක් අවශ්‍ය වේ (290-5, 291- ඈ, 292 ඡේද). එයින් ප්‍රායෝගිකව සිද්ධවන්නේ හදිසි තත්වයකටවත් මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවට සුදුසු ආකාරයට ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වීමට නොහැකි වීමයි. හදිසි නීතිය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමක් යනු විධායකයේ ක්‍රියාවකි. එවන් කාරණා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අධිකරණයට කටයුතු කිරීමට නොහැක. හදිසි නීතිය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට එරෙහිව වාරණයක් ලබාගත හැකිනම්, හදිසි නීතිය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමෙන්ද පලක් නැත.

උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ඒකාබද්ධ කිරීමට හඳුන්වා දී ඇති විධිවිධාන (237-3 ඡේදය), වර්ථමානයේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට හිමි ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්බන්ධ අධිකරණ බලය වෙනම ව්‍යවස්ථාමය අධිකරණයකට පැවරීම (181 සිට 191 දක්වා ඡේද) ඇතුලු තවත් ගැටලු ගණනාවක්ම ඇත. 1983 හයවන සංශෝධනයෙන් වත්මන් ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 7 වෙනි උපලේඛණය හැටියට ඇතුළත් කරන ලද බෙඳුම්වාදයට එරෙහි විශේෂ ප්‍රතිඥාව අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතේ පෙනෙන්නට නැත. මෙහිදී අප සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතේ අපට එකඟ විය නොහැකි විධිවිධාන කිහිපයක් පමණක් බව සැලකිය යුතුය.

මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතේ පැහැදිලි රටාවක් පෙනෙන්ට තිබේ. එමඟින්  පාර්ලිමේන්තුවත් මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවත් හැකි තරම් දුර්වල කරනු ලැබේ. පලාත් සභා හැකි තරම් බල සම්පන්න කරනු ලැබේ. ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන් මහ ඇමතිවරුන්ට යටත්කරනු ලැබේ. සෑම පලාත් සභාවකටම වෙන වෙනම සන්නද්ධ පොලිස් සේවාවන් ඇති කරනු ලැබේ. පලාත් සභා වලට අයත් බලතල මොනවාද, මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවට අයත් බලතල මොනවාද යන්න දැන්මම ප්‍රකාශයට පත් නොකර, පසුව නියම කර ගැනීමට  ඉඩ ඉතුරු කරනු ලැබේ. අවශ්‍ය අවස්ථාවල හදිසි නීතියවත් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට බැරි තත්වයක් ඇති කරනු ලැබේ. මේ සියල්ලම කුමණ අරමුණකින් කරනවාද යන්න කාටත් පැහැදිලි විය යුතුය.

අද රට පාලනය කරන එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හා දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය ඇතුලු හවුල නීති සම්පාදනය කිරීමේදී දක්වා ඇති වංචා සහගත ප්‍රවේශය නිසා ආණ්ඩුව කෙරෙහි ජනතා විශ්වාසය බරපතල ලෙස පලුදු වී ඇත. ඔවුන් ජනතාවත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයත් නොමඟ හැරීම සඳහාම 19 වන සංශෝධනය තුළින් හිස් වගන්ති ව්‍යවස්ථාවට ඇතුළත් කළ ආකාරය කවුරුත් දනී.  සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වෙනත් කාරණා සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කර  තිබුණු පනත් කෙටුම්පත් දෙකකට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කාරක සභා අවස්ථාවේදී ගෙන එනු ලැබූ සංශෝධන වලින් පලාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයත් පලාත් සභා මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයත් පස්සා දොරින් වෙනස් කළ ආකාරය කවුරුත් දනී. 2016 අගෝස්තු මාසයේදී විවාදයක්වත්, හරිහමන් ඡන්දයක්වත් නොපවත්වා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ගාලගෝට්ටියක් මැද මේ ආණ්ඩුව අතුරුදහන් වූවන්ගේ කාර්යාල පනත සම්මත කරගත්හැටි කවුරුත් දනී.

මේ ආණ්ඩුවේ  කපටිකම් වලට සීමාවක් නැත. ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත ඉදිරිපත් කළ පසු ඔවුන්  කතා කරන්නේ බුද්ධාගමට හිමි තැන ගැනත් ‘ඒකීය’ යන වචනය ගැනත් පමණය. අපට ලබා දී ඇති කෙටුම්පතේ මේ කාරණා දෙකම සම්බන්ධයෙන් විකල්ප වගන්ති යෝජනා කර ඇත. අප මෙතනදී පරීක්‍ෂාකාරී විය යුතුය. බෙදුම්වාදීන්ටයි ෆෙඩරල්වාදීන්ටයි වැදගත් වන්නේ නමවත්, වචනයවත් නොවේ. ඔවුනට අවශ්‍ය දේ ලැබෙනවා නම්, නම කුමක් වුවත් ඔවුනට ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැත. මේ පිරිස සැබවින්ම ඉලක්ක කරගෙන සිටින්නේ ඒකීය කියන වචනයවත් බුදු දහමවත් නොවේය. රටේ ඒකීය භාවය ගැනත් බුදු දහම ගැනත් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙන විකල්ප වගන්ති කේවල් කිරීමේ උපක්‍රමයක් ලෙස ඔවුන් විසින්ම  ඉල්ලා අස් කරගෙන බොරු නම්‍යශීලී බවක් පෙන්වා මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතේ හරය වෙන ෆෙඩරල් පාලන ක්‍රමය දිනා ගැනීමට ඔවුන්  උත්සාහ කිරීමට ඉඩ ඇත.

විශේෂයෙන්ම මහා සංඝරත්නය මේ උප්පරවැට්ටි ගැන අවබෝධයෙන් සිටිය යුතු යැයි මම ගෞරවයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි. වර්ථමාන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ බුද්ධාගමට මුල් තැන දී තිබියදීත්, මේ ආණ්ඩුව භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේලාව මර්ධනය කළ ආකාරය අපි දුටුවෙමු. මේ නිසා ඒකීය ලේබලය එළෙසම තිබියදී ඔවුන්ට රට ෆෙඩරල් කළ හැක. මේ රටේ දමිළ ජනතාවගෙන් බහුතරය ජීවත් වන්නේ උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පලාත් වලින් පිටය. මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවගෙන් අති බහුතරය ජීවත් වන්නේ නැගෙනහිර පළාතෙන් පිටය. මේ වගේ රටකට අලුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සෑදිය යුත්තේ ඒ යතාර්ථයත් හිතේ තබාගෙනය.

වර්ථමාන ආණ්ඩුව ගෙනවිත් තිබෙන මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතට විරුද්ධ වීම යනු සියලුම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන වලට විරුද්ධ වීම නොවන බවද අපි පැහැදිලිව කිව යුතුය. වර්තමාන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ පුලුල් වෙනස්කම් සිඳු විය යුතු බව අපි පිළිගනිමු. 19 වෙනි සංශෝධනය නිසා පමණක් මොන තරම් අවුලක් ඇති වී තිබෙනවාද? ඇතැම් දේශපාලන පක්‍ෂවලට තිබෙන බෙදුම්වාදී නැත්නම් ෆෙඩරල්වාදී අදහස් අපි ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කරන අතරම ඒ ඒ ප්‍රාදේශීය ජන සමාජයන් වලට යම් කිසි ජාතික රාමුවක් තුළ තමන්ගේ කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් ක්‍රියා කිරීමට හැකියාවක් තිබිය යුතු බවත් අපි පිළිගනිමු. ඊලඟ ජාතික ඡන්දයේදී ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපේම යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ජනතාවගෙන් වරමක් ලබාගැනීමට අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමු. අපගේ එම උත්සාහයට සහයෝගය දෙන මෙන් මම ජනතාවගෙන් මෙන්ම සියලුම දේශපාලන පක්‍ෂ වලින්ද මේ අවස්ථාවේදී ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ

විපක්‍ෂ නායක

MEDIA RELEASE  Mahinda Rajapaksa Leader of the Opposition

At the recent meeting of the Constitutional Assembly, the Prime Minister tabled a 187 page report prepared in the form of a draft constitution. Thereafter the PM has been going around the country claiming that there is no constitution or even the draft of a constitution. At the same time we also hear the Prime Minister and other members of the UNP stating that under the proposed new constitution, Sri Lanka will remain an ‘indivisible’ and ‘united’ country and that Buddhism will not be denied the special place it has hitherto had. The people should be mindful about  these moves being made to promote a new constitution in the midst of multiple crises including an unprecedented pest invasion in the agricultural sector and a looming debt crisis.

When the present rulers came into power in 2015, the only constitutional agenda they had was to abolish the executive presidency and to change the system of elections so as to ensure stable parliamentary governments. The draft constitution does have provisions to abolish the executive presidency, which we will not oppose. However, the new system of elections that has been proposed is another ‘pure proportional representation’ system like the systems that were introduced at the local government and provincial council levels in 2017 with disastrous results. Even those who voted for that elections system in 2017 now want it scrapped. If the system of elections is to be changed so as to ensure stable governments, what should be introduced is the hybrid 70%-30% ‘first past the post/proportional representation’ system proposed by the Parliamentary Select Committee headed by Mr. Dinesh Gunawardene after years of careful study from 2002 to 2007 under both UNP and UPFA governments.

The draft constitution seeks to weaken Parliament and immeasurably strengthen the provincial legislatures. If Parliament is to enact a law on a matter on the provincial councils list without the express agreement of each and every provincial council, that law would have to be passed with a two thirds majority by Parliament and also approved at a referendum. Even a law on a provincial council subject passed in this manner can be vitiated by a statute passed by a provincial council with a simple majority (Clause 132 in the draft constitution). Such limitations imposed on the legislative power of Parliament is the turning point at which the unitary state becomes a federal state. We are resolutely opposed to such a change. Parliament can make laws on matters coming under the concurrent list only with the approval of all provincial councils (Clause 134). Thus the discretion that Parliament has under the present Constitution to decide whether to consult the provincial councils or not, is to be done away with.  The legislative power of Parliament is to be further weakened by giving the proposed constitutional court the power to review laws that have been passed by Parliament (Clauses 182-c and 185).

Even though the draft constitution refers to a provincial council list, a concurrent list and a reserved list it has not been stated anywhere whether these lists are the same as those in the present Constitution or not. Although reams of useless information are being tabled in the Constitutional Assembly, some of the most essential information such as the content of these lists, is missing. The federalist tilt in the proposed draft becomes obvious when the Governor – the main representative of the central government in the provinces is placed under the chief minister. The executive power of the province is to be vested in the Chief Minister and not the Governor in complete contradiction to the provisions of the present Constitution (Clause 242).

The police force will be broken up into a national police force and nine separate provincial police forces each with its own Police Commission. The national police force is to have jurisdiction only over a limited number of specified offences, such as offences against the state, election offences and currency related offences etc. The provincial police will have effective charge of all day to day police work pertaining to crime, fraud, narcotics, traffic, public order etc. (Clauses 254, 259, and 284). This country can be destroyed simply by breaking up the police force into 10 separate police forces in the manner proposed. This is why no government in the past 30 years, broke up the police force regardless of the provisions in the 13^thAmendment.

Under the new constitutional proposals, the central government will have control over state land used for subjects pertaining to the national list or the concurrent list at the commencement of the Constitution. The provincial councils are to have authority over all other state land within their borders. If the central government requires state land in a province for any purpose, they may address a request to the provincial administration and if the latter does not comply, the dispute will be referred for arbitration to a three member tribunal. If the central government is not satisfied with the arbitration ruling, they can petition the constitutional court. The central government cannot unilaterally acquire state land in a province even for a national security related purpose as the provincial council can petition the constitutional court against such an acquisition (Clauses 302, 307 and 308).

Under the proposed new constitution the declaration of a state of emergency by the central government is to be made subject to judicial review by the constitutional court. A state of emergency may continue in excess of three months or a period of more than 90 days within a 180 day period only if it is approved by two-thirds of the Members of Parliament (Clauses 290-5, 291-d and 292). What this means in practice is that the central government will not be able to respond adequately to an emergency. The declaration of an emergency is an executive action and the judiciary is not competent to deal with such matters. In any case, if a stay order can be obtained against a declaration of emergency, there will be little point in declaring a state of emergency. There are many other issues as well such as the provision to merge the northern and eastern provinces (Clause 237-3) and the creation of a constitutional court to exercise the constitutional jurisdiction currently exercised by the Supreme Court (Clauses 181 to 191).

The special oath against separatism in the present Seventh Schedule introduced by the 6^th Amendment of 1983 is not to be seen in the draft constitution.  It should be noted that what has been mentioned here are only a few of the provisions in the proposed draft constitution that we are unable to agree to. A certain pattern can be discerned here. The Parliament and the central government is to be weakened and the provincial councils strengthened immeasurably, the governors are to be made subordinate to the chief ministers, separate armed police forces are to be established for each province and the question of subjects allocated to the provinces and the central government is to be kept open to be filled in later. The declaration of a state of emergency when necessary is also to be made virtually impossible. Where all this is leading should be obvious to everybody.

The UNP, TNA and JVP have forfeited the trust of the people due to the manner in which they practiced dissimulation and deception in the law making process. The way the 19^th Amendment was passed with dummy provisions inserted solely to mislead the public and the Supreme Court, the way they changed the local government and provincial councils election laws through the back door by introducing committee stage amendments to Bills gazetted for completely different purposes, and the manner in which the Office of Missing Persons Act was bulldozed through in August 2016 without a debate or a proper vote in the midst of a melee in Parliament are all cases in point.

There is no limit to the perfidy of this government. After putting forward the draft constitution, members of the government have been speaking only of two issues – the place accorded to Buddhism and the term ‘unitary’. In the draft that has been circulated to all MPs, there are several alternative formulations proposed for the provisions relating to the place accorded to Buddhism and the question of the unitary state. The separatists and federalists have no interest in names or words. So long as they get what they want, they do not care by what name it is called. Their real target is not the status of Buddhism or the word ‘unitary’. There is a very real possibility that they will back down from the alternative formulations they have proposed with regard to the status of Buddhism and the term ‘unitary’ as a bargaining strategy in order to win the real federalist demands which is the essence of the new draft constitution.

The venerable Maha Sangha in particular should be mindful of the possibility of such manoeuvres. Even though the present Constitution accords the foremost place to Buddhism, we have seen the manner in which the present government persecuted the Maha Sangha. So there is a very real possibility that this country will be turned into a federal state while still retaining the unitary label. The majority of the Tamil people in this country permanently reside outside the northern and eastern provinces. The vast majority of the Muslims reside permanently outside the eastern province. Such realities should be kept in mind when promulgating a new constitution.

Opposing the draft constitution put forward by the present government does not mean that we as the opposition are slamming the door shut on constitutional reform. We acknowledge that extensive reform of the present constitution is necessary. The 19^th Amendment alone has created a great deal of confusion that needs to be put right. Though we reject the separatist/federalist aspirations of some political parties, we acknowledge that local communities need to be empowered to look after their own affairs within a certain national framework. We will be putting forward our own proposals at the next national election to seek a direct mandate from the people for constitutional reform. I call upon the people and all political parties to support our endeavor because that will be the only real opportunity available to effect constitutional reform in this country.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Leader of the Opposition

සමන් ගමගේ

බල්ලගේ වැඬේ බූරුවා කරනවා යැයි ලෙසින් වූ වටිනා උපමා කතාවක් අපේ ජනවහරේ තිබේ. යමෙකු කළ යුතු සහ එසේ කරන්නට හැකියාව ඇති කාර්යයක් කිසිදු වගකීමක් සහ හැකියාවක් නැති තවෙකකු ඉදිරිපත්වී කරන්නට යන කල සහ වගකීම් විරහිතව වහසිබස් ප‍්‍රකාශ කරනවිට අපේ ජනතාව අතීතයේ මෙන්ම අදත් මේ කතාව සිහිපත් කළේ උපහාසය මුසු පිළිකුලෙන් යුතුවය.
 
 ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකීය ජනවහරේ දකින්නට ඇති අපේ මුතුන් මිත්තන්ගේ නිර්මාණාත්මක හැකියාව එසේ වෙද්දී ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා කොළඹ නාලන්දා විද්‍යාලයේ පැවති උත්සවයකට සහභාගි වෙමින් වගකීම් විරහිත අලජ්ජී ප‍්‍රකාශයක්කර කරන අයුරු පෙරේදා (21 වැනිදා* විකාශය වූ විද්‍යුත් මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රවෘත්ති තුළින් අපි දුටුවෙමු.
 
 එය මෙරට ප‍්‍රධානතම බෞද්ධ පාසලක් වන කොළඹ නාලන්ද විද්‍යාලයේ උත්සවයක පැවති වැදගත් සභාවකි. එම සභාව ඉදිරියට පැමිණ ඉතාම නොවැදගත් ලෙස හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මේ කතාව කරද්දී ඔහු ඇත්තටම මේ රටේ ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්දැයි බරපතළ ගැටලූවක් අපට ඉබේටම මතුවිය. 
 
 අප දන්නා තරමින් නම් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු යනු ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා ප‍්‍රජාතාන්ති‍්‍රක සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්වරයාය. එහෙත් ඔහු මෙහිදී සභාව අමතා කතා කරද්දී වේලූපිල්ලේ ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ගේ අවසානයෙන් පසු රුද්‍රකුමාරන්ලා, එම්මානුවෙල්ලා ඇතුළු කොටි ඩයස්පෝරවේ කෙරුමන් එකතුවී රටින් පිටත පිහිටුවාගත් ඡුායා ඊළාම් රාජ්‍යයේ කෙරුමන්ට ආවඩන අයුරුක්ද පෙනෙන්නට තිබිණි.
 
 හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා මෙහිදී කළ කතාව වූයේ කුමක්ද? එය දැන් මුළු රටේම ජනතාව දැන සිටිති. එහෙත් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දුට කරන උපහාරයක් ලෙස ඒ කතාවෙන් වැදගත්ම කොටස ගෙන අපි එය මෙහි පළ කරන්නෙමු. ඔහු ඒ කොටස කීවේ මෙසේය.
 
 ‘කවුරුහරි යුද්දෙට සම්බන්ධ වෙලා ඉ`දලා ගමට ඇවිත් මිනී මැරුවා නම් එයාට රණවිරුවා කියන්න බැහැ. එයාට කියන්නේ මිනීමරුවා කියලා. එයාව අපි ලංකාවේ වලංගු නීතිය යටතේ අධිකරණයට ගෙනැල්ලා උපරිම ද`ඩුවම් දියයුතුයි. අපි දැන් ඒවගේ කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ග ගනිමින් යනවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම තව සුමාන දෙකකින් ලංකාවේ සිදුවෙච්ච ඉතාම භිහිසුණු ම්ලේච්ඡු මිනිමරුමකට සම්බන්ධ හමුදා පුද්ගලයන් එකොළොස් දෙනකුට අපි නඩු පවරනවා. 
 
 ඒ වගේම අපි එදාට අභියෝග කරනවා ඩයස්පෝරා එකට, උඹලට තිබෙනවා නම් මේ වගේ ඔප්පු කරන්න පුළුවන් සාධක ඇති තව මිනීමැරුම් අපට දෙන්න කියල. අපි ඒවත් විභාග කරලා ද`ඩුවම් දෙනවා..’
 
 හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු කියන මේ කතාව අනුව අපට පමණක් නොව මුළු රටටම මතුවන තවත් ප‍්‍රශ්න ගණනාවක්ම ඇත. ඒ අතරින් මුලින්ම අවධානය යොමු කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ ඔහු කියන මේ ඔප්පු කරන්නට පුළුවන් හමුදා පුද්ගලයන් එකොළොස්දෙනකු සම්බන්ධ මිනීමැරුම කුමක්ද යන්නය. 
 
 හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු යනු විශ‍්‍රාමික විනිසුරුවරයකු නොවේ. එවැන්නකුට වුවද නඩුවක් විභාග කරන්නට පෙර එය ඔප්පු කළ හැකිද නැතිද යන්න ප‍්‍රකාශ කිරීම ඉතා අසීරු කාර්යයකි. ඒ තත්ත්වය තුළ ඔහු ඔප්පු කරන්නට පුළුවන් නඩුවක් ගැන කීමෙන් අපට නම් ඇතිවූයේ ඉස්සර විනෝද සමයේ සිටි ඇනස්ලි, බර්ටි, සැමුවෙල් අතරින් නිතර පව්ඩර් නාගෙන ර`ගපෑ සුපිරි විහිළුකාරයකු වූ බර්ටි ගුණතිලක කොට කලිසම පිටින් මගදී හමුවූවාක් වැනි හැ`ගීමකි.
 
 අනේ හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහත්තයෝ. ඔබ කියන පරිදි විභාග කිරීමට පෙර ඔප්පුකරන්නට පුළුවන් යැයි පූර්ව නිගමනයකට ආ හැකි නඩු තිබෙන්නේ කොහිද? වගකිවයුතු රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරියකු ලෙස රටට සාමය ගෙන දෙන්නට දිවිහිමියෙන් කැපවූ රණවිරුවන් එකොළොස් දෙනකු පිළිබද ඔබ මෙවන් බොළද ප‍්‍රකාශයක් කරනු ලැබුවේ කාගේ වුවමනාවටද?
 
 මේ කතාව ඇසූ කල අපිට දැනුණේ කලකට පෙර පොලිස්පතිවරයා නීතිය නවන්නට සැරසුනාක් මෙන් දැන් ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දුත් නීතිය නවන්නට යන්නේදැයි කියාය. ඇතැම්විට ලබන මාර්තු මාසයේ ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේදී ජිනීවා කෝළම යළි ඇරඹීමට නියමිත නිසා හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු ජාත්‍යන්තරය පිනවීම පිණිස එකී රණවිරුවන් දංගෙඩියට යැවීමේ සැලසුමකට අනුව මේ ප‍්‍රකාශය කළාදැයි අපි නොදනිමු. එය අපට නොවැටහෙන්නකි. මේ ප‍්‍රකාශයේ ඇති සැගවුණ අරුත දන්නේද හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දුමය.
 
 ඔප්පු කරන්නට හැකියැයි ඔහු කියන මේ නඩුව වන්නේ වැල්ලවත්තේදී තරුණයන් පස්දෙනකු දෙනකු ඇතුළු පුද්ගලයන් එකොළොස් දෙනකු පැහැරගත්තේ යැයි කියමින් නාවික හමුදා බුද්ධි බළකායේ රණවිරුවන් පිරිසකට එරෙහිව චෝදනා එල්ලවී තිබෙන සිද්ධිය ය. හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා මෙන් නොව, අප එසේ පූර්ව නිගමනයකට පැමිණියේ සාධක ඇතිවය. හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා නාලන්ද විදුහලේදී මෙකී ප‍්‍රකාශය කිරීමෙන් පසු ඊයේ (22 වැනිදා* අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව නොහොත් සීඅයිඞීය තුළින් ලබාගත් පුවතක් ලෙස ඇතැම් මාධ්‍ය ඒ බව වාර්තා කර තිබෙනු අපි දුටුවෙමු. 
 
 මෙකී පුද්ගලයක් එකොළොස් දෙනකු පැහැරගෙන ගියේ යැයි කියන සිද්ධියේ මූලික නඩු විභාගය සිදු කෙරුණේ කොළඹ කොටුව මහෙස්ත‍්‍රාත්වරයා ඉදිරියේදීය. එය මුල සිටම අපේ අවධානයට ලක්වූවක්ද විය. මේ විමර්ශනය කරනු ලැබුවේ 2015 යහපාලන දේදුණු විප්ලවයෙන් පසු කූඨප්ප‍්‍රාප්තියට පැමිණි සීඅයිඞීයේ සමූහ මංකොල්ල විමර්ශන අංශය මගිනි. එහිදී සිදුවූ දේද බොහෝය.
 
 වරක් අධිකරණය වෙත පැමිණ පැමිණිල්ලේ සාක්ෂිකරුවකු බවට සීඅයිඞීය කී විජයකාන්තන් නමැති පුනරුත්ථාපනය වූ හිටපු එල්ටීටීඊ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදියකු සීඅයිඞීයේ සමුහ මංකොල්ල විමර්ශන අංශයේ නිලධාරීන් තමන් නොමග යවා බලෙන් සාක්ෂි ගත්තේ යැයි අධීකරණය හමුවේ පැවසීය. 
 
 එය ඉතාම බරපතළ කරුණක් වුවද මේ දක්වාම ඒ පිළිබද විමර්ශනයක් නම් සිදුවූයේ නැත. ඒ අතරේ මේ සිද්ධියේ තවත් චූදිතයකු වූ නාවික හමුදා බුද්ධි බළකායේ ලූතිනන් කමාණ්ඩර් ප‍්‍රසාද් චන්ද හෙට්ටිආරච්චි තුළින් නේවි සම්පත් කෙනකු මවන්නටද සීඅයිඞීය දැඩි උත්සාහයක් ගත්තේය. එහෙත් ඇතැම් සත්‍යවාදී මාධ්‍ය අවදියෙන් සිටි නිසා සීඅයිඞීයේ ඒ උත්සාහය ද ව්‍යර්ථ විය. 
 
 එකී මූලික විභාගයට අදාළ වැල්වත්තේදී තරුණයන් පස්දෙනකු පැහැරගත්තේ යැයි කියන සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපති අද්මිරාල් වසන්ත කරන්නාගොඩ කළ පැමිණිල්ලකට අනුව මුලින්ම චෝදනා එල්ල වූයේ හිටපු නාවික හමුදා නිලධාරී නිලන්ත සම්පත් මුණසිංහ ඇතුළු පුද්ගලයන් සිව්දෙනකුට එරෙහිවය. අපේ මතකයේ හැටියට ඒ ඉකුත් 2008 වසරේදී පමණය.
 
 ඒ අනුව සීඅයිඞීය සිදු කළ මේ විමර්ශනයට දැනට ගතවී ඇති කාලය වසර දහයකි. වසර දහයක් පුරා සිදු කෙරුණු මෙය ආරම්භයේදී නිලන්ත සම්පත් මුණසිංහ ඇතුළු සිව්දෙනා සිද්ධියට සම්බන්ධ බවට අධිකරණයට කරුණු වාර්තා කිරීමටද සිඅයිඞීය කටයුතු කර තිබිණි. 
 
 එසේ තිබියදී රට වෙනුවෙන් උපරිමය සිදුකළ තවත් නාවික බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන් හත්දෙනකුට චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් සීඅයීඞීය මෙකී විමර්ශනයට නව මුහුණුවරක් දෙන්නේ ඉකුත් 2015 වසරේ සිදුවූ දේදුණු විප්ලවයත් සමගිනි. එහිදී එකී බුද්ධි නිලධාරීන් හත්දෙනාට චෝදනා එල්ල වන්නේ සම්පත් මුණසිංහ ඇතුළු මුල් චූදිතයන් සහ වෙළගෙදර නමැති නාවික නිලධාරියකු කියන ප‍්‍රකාශ මත පදනම්වය.
 
 එසේ කරන්නට යෑමේදී මේ විමර්ශනය පුරා සීඅයිඞීය සිදු කළ උපහාසාත්මක දේද බොහෝ විය. නාලන්දයේදී කී පරිදි හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතා රණවිරුවන් පිරිසකට මිනීමරුවන් කියමින් නඩු පවරා ඔප්පු කරන්නට යන්නේ මේ කියන සිද්ධිය ය.
 
 මේ වන විට මෙකී විමර්ශනයේ සියලූ වාර්තා නීතිපතිවරයා වෙත යොමුකර අවසන්ව ඇත. ඒ අනුව සහ රටේ සම්මත කි‍්‍රයාදාමය පරිදි දැන් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් චූදිතයන්ට එරෙහිව මහාධිකරණය හමුවේ නඩු පවරන්නේ නම් එය සිදු කළ යුතුව ඇත්තේ නීතිපතිවරයා විසිනි. 
 
 එසේ නම් තව සති දෙකකින් ම්ලේච්ඡු සහ බිහිසුණු ඝාතනයකට සම්බන්ධ වූ හමුදා පුද්ගලයන් එකොළොස් දෙනකුට නඩු පවරන්නේ යැයි කියමින් මෙකී රණවිරුවන්ට නඩු විභාගයකටත් පෙර ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියේ මිනීමරු ලේබලය අලවන්නට හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දුට ඇති අයිතිය කුමක්ද? එසේම නඩු පැවරිය යුත්තේ නීතිපතිවරයා නම් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු තව සති දෙකකින් නඩු පවරන බව කියන්නේ මොන පදනමකින්ද? 
 
 ඔහුගේ අලජ්ජී ප‍්‍රකාශය ඇසෙන කල්හි අපට බලූ බූරු කතාව මතක් වූයේ මේ නිසාය. ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්වරයා ලෙස හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතාට පැවරී ඇති වගකීම වන්නේ ති‍්‍රවිධ හමුදාව ඇතුළු පොලිසියේ ඉහළ පරිපාලනය අධීක්‍ෂණය කරමින් ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡුා පැවත්වෙන ආරක්‍ෂක මණ්ඩල රැුස්වීම වැනිදේට දායකත්වය ලබාදී රටේ ආරක්‍ෂක ඇමැතිවරයා වන සේනාධිනායක ජනාධිපති මෛති‍්‍රපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට අමාත්‍යාංශයේ කටයුතු කරගෙන යෑම සදහා සහාය දැක්වීමය. 
 
 එසේ නොමැතිව නීතිපතිවරයාගේ කටයුතුවලට මැදිහත්වී රූලෙන් පිට යෑමට හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු මහතාට වෘත්තීයමය වගකීමක් නැත. ඔහු එසේ කිරීම සදාචාරාත්මකද නැත. 
 
 නාලන්ද විදුහලේදී කළ කතාවේදී ඔප්පු කරන්නට පුළුවන් තවත් මිනීමරුම් තිබේනම් ලබාදෙන ලෙස ඩයස්පෝරාවෙන් කාරුණික ඉල්ලීමක් කරමින් අන්තිම දීන තත්ත්වයට ඇද වැටෙන්නටද ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් හේමසිරි ප‍්‍රනාන්දු කි‍්‍රයා කළේය. මේ හමුවේ ඔහුගෙන් අවසන් වශයෙන් අහන්නට අපට එකම එක ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් ඇත.
 
 අනේ මහත්තයෝ, ඇත්තටම ඔබ වැඩකරන්නේ ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ හයවන විධායක ජනාධිපති වූ මෛති‍්‍රපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට සහ මේ රටට ද? නැතහොත් රුද්‍රකුමාරන් රජකරන එල්ටීටීඊයේ ඡායා ඊළමටද? 
 
 සමන් ගමගේ

Courtesy Adaderana

Seven students from South Eastern University have been arrested for posting photographs of themselves standing on the ruins if ancient Kiralagala stupa, the Police Spokesperson stated.

A group of youths had recently taken photographs of themselves while standing on the ruins of Kiralagala stupa in Horowpathana and posted them on social media.

The Buddhist Information Centre had, yesterday (22), lodged a complaint at the Police Headquarters seeking an investigation into the incident and penalization of the youths responsible for behaving in this manner at an archaeological site.

Speaking to Ada Derana, the Director General of Archaeology P. B. Mandawala stated that the subject minister has given instructions to strictly enforce the law on the suspects.

The Kiralagala stupa, located in Horowpathana on the Anuradhapura-Trincomalee road, is said to have been built during 4th or 5th century AD.

In an inscription by King Bhatikabhaya Tissa, this stupa is referred to as ‘Dapathakara Vehera’.