KAMALIKA PIERIS

To the surprise of the nation, President Maithripala Sirisena suddenly turned against the Yahapalana government which had made him President and decided to dissolve Parliament. On November 9^th 2018, President Sirisena issued a Gazette notification dissolving Parliament and declaring a general election on January 5, 2019.

This was challenged in Supreme Court by several parties, most of whom belonged to the ‘minorities.’ There were ten fundamental rights petitions. They came from UNP, TNA, SLMC, JVP, Tamil Progressive Alliance, All Ceylon Makkal Congress, and also individuals such as Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives, and Ratnajeevan Hoole, a member of the Elections Commission.

These petitioners were in a quandary. There were two opposing clauses in the Constitution, one which said ‘can dissolve’ and another which said ‘can’t dissolve’. Therefore, the petitioners avoided the text of the Constitution and went on Fundamental Rights. They appealed on the grounds of Fundamental Rights, citing Article 12 which declared that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law.”

The petitioners said the Fundamental Rights of the MPs to stay on in Parliament for four and half years was affected by this Gazette.  They were entitled to complete their term in Parliament. The dissolution also violated the rights of the voters who had sent them there. Critics said that these petitioners were in effect saying that they feared an election.

The Supreme Court verdict was given on December 13, 2018. The judgment was a unanimous one. The judges said that the decision to dissolve Parliament prematurely was unconstitutional. The Gazette was illegal. It was a violation of the rights of the petitioners and all Members of Parliament. The MPs were entitled by law to complete their respective terms in Parliament and have been denied this. The Gazette also violated the rights of the electors who sent this lot to Parliament.

The election set for 2019 was also unlawful.   A General Election can only be held   when   Parliament was dissolved within the terms of Article 70, otherwise it will not be a lawful election. It will not be a true exercise of the franchise of the people.  ‘Any exercise of franchise, must be at an election which is duly and lawfully held and which satisfies the results of an ensuing election’.

The decision rests on the  manner in which Article 33 (2) (c), Article 62 and Article 70 of the Constitution are to be read, understood and applied, said Supreme Court. Article33 (2))(c) vests in the President the power to dissolve Parliament, but  the  manner in which it can be done is specified  in Article 70, which says Parliament cannot be dissolved till 4 ½   of its five year term  had  expired.

The judges observed that ‘our Law does not permit Court to review or question the validity of a statute which has been enacted by the Legislature’. Supreme Court is not permitted to review or question   any law passed by Parliament. The duty cast on this Court therefore is to read and give effect to the provisions in the Constitution, taking into account intention, without twisting the clauses and arrive at a conclusion which would uphold democracy and the Rule of   Law.

Critics had observed that what went before Supreme Court is not a determination of the constitution, but a Fundamental Rights”    application.  The panel of judges recognized this. They agreed that these petitions were for the protection of the MPs Fundamental Rights.

They said every citizen had the inalienable right to invoke Fundamental Rights in Supreme Court and the foremost duty of the Supreme Court, is to protect Fundamental Rights  They also added that Fundamental Rights   was linked to sovereignty, using Clause 4 of the Constitution. Actually   Fundamental Rights   has nothing to do with sovereignty.  Fundamental Rights   are absolute rights.

The decision of the judges seems to have been known before hand, because we saw on television a small group of UNP supporters assembled before the Courts complex, waiting to hear the decision, and the first we knew of the judgment was when we saw this group erupt in cheers. This judgment was not what the SLFP, Pohottuwa and the general public wanted but no one protested, since it was a relief to have the matter settled.

The Supreme Court judges have rendered a pedestrian judgment, said critics. The judges   had simply decided between the two opposed alternatives, ‘dissolve’ or ‘not dissolve’ and opted for the latter. Critics said that the judgment had ignored the pulse of the people. People must be given the chance to choose a new set of representatives with a fresh mandate.

If reading the constitution is relegated only to simple reading alone with no consideration for what the Constitution is intended for in the first place,  there is no point in going to Supreme Court, continued critics. Supreme Court should have take the whole picture into account and arrive at a ‘noble decision’ that would benefit the nation and create a valuable precedent. One critic took a novel approach. He said Supreme Court has ignored the fact that the masses did not vote for the 19th amendment.  The 19 amendment was not in the Constitution at the time the electorate voted Yahapalana government in.

Critics drew attention to India, where the Supreme Court of India in December 2018,   refused to interfere with the decision of Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, to dissolve the state assembly of Jammu and Kashmir. Critics observed that in the case of Kashmir, it was the decision of a governor of   just one Indian state.  ‘In Sri Lanka we are talking of the decision of the Executive President.’

There were many contemptuous comments on the use of word ‘democracy’ when preventing an election. An invigorating national debate capturing the essence of democracy and upholding the rule of law” took place, said one NGO.  This was laughed at. Denying, or postponing, the right to vote was seen as a positive sign of the triumph of democracy observed H.L.D Mahindapala.  The vast majority has been denied their right to express their will through the exercise of universal franchise.

it is comical to witness the sudden discovery of the virtues of democracy  by  the upper-crust of the middle class  and by  the cabal of self-appointed, unrepresentative civil society interventionists    and NGO activists  , funded principally by  the west   who support a disruptive unchangeable government. They are opposed to Mahinda Rajapaksa re-gaining political power, not democracy.

A lot of undemocratic things were done by the Yahapalana government, pointed out critics. There was the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe as the PM in January 2015 with only 42 members, the recognition of the TNA leader as the Leader of the Opposition, the recent holding of Parliamentary sessions without Standing Orders, freezing of elections for local government and then provincial councils. These are all undemocratic.

The call for a general election continued throughout and after the Supreme Court judgment. A petition with 5 million signatures requesting a general election was collected by Ven Muruthetuwe Ananda of the Abhayarama, Colombo. Derana television news of 7.12.18   showed persons signing this at the Abhayarama. Derana news of 29.11.18 showed foreigners signing the   NGO appeal against the dissolution.

The Maha sangha were very active in this matter. They continuously addressed the public through media conferences.  They had one at SEMA building in November 2018, where there were seven of them seated on the platform in a row. Vice Chancellor of the Buddhist and Pali University, Colombo Ven. Prof. Gallelle Sumanasiri presided. Ven. Kegalle Rathanasaara Nayaka, incumbent Monk of the Veherahena Temple, Matara and President of Sasanaarakshaka Mandalaya, Matara, Ven. Paraduwe Jinarathana, Ven. Athuraliye Indrajothi and Ven. Hegoda Vipassi, Director of the Paramadhamma Research Centre, Ratmalana were among those present at the media conference.

The ‘Dissolution drama,’ helped to expose the countries that were propping up the unpopular Yahapalana government. USA, EU, UK, Canada and Australia came out openly for Yahapalana. Having ‘invested’ heavily in Sri Lanka to install an administration in 2015, free of Chinese influence, the US reacted angrily to President Sirisena’s 26 October move,” reported the media. US and its allies are openly supporting the side that does not want an election. They claim this is to restore” democracy in the country, the media said. Why did USA not speak of democracy when Provincial Council elections were delayed for more than two years.

The U.S. Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs said that the United States was “deeply concerned by news the Sri Lanka Parliament will be dissolved, ” It said democracy needed to be respected.” European Union also saw the action as a challenge to democracy. “Mark Field, the British minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, tweeted his concern about the dissolution of Parliament. Canada’s Foreign Policy twitter feed said that it was “deeply concerned” about the decision.” Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs said the move “undermines Sri Lanka’s long democratic tradition and poses a risk to its stability and prosperity.”

The  ambassadors for Britain, Netherlands, Norway, France, Australia, South Africa, Italy, and Canada did not attend  a meeting called  by the new Foreign Minister as a way to  ‘register their protest’ over President Sirisena dissolving Parliament. US, EU, India, and Germany sent junior representatives to the meeting.

However,  representatives from United Nations, Germany, Canada, European Union, the Netherlands and Norway were present in the VIP gallery of Parliament to witness the No Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa being taken up. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had invited them to the gallery to see the day’s proceedings.

A local TV channel broadcast images of the ambassadors cheering when the vote count, in favor of Wickremesinghe, was announced by the Speaker. Diplomats from US, UK, UE and Canada were also in Supreme Court when the fundament rights petition was heard. They were seen sending messages across, said critics.

The US and its allies  strongly opposed Rajapaksa’s appointment as Prime Minister. They applauded the return of Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister. US said it welcomed   the  appointment. Sri Lanka is a valued partner in the Indo Pacific.  The European Union,  and Norway,  said we welcome the peaceful and democratic resolution of the political crisis, in accordance with the Constitution..” Five days after the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa  Japan welcomed ‘the return to political stability’.

Analysts observed that a section of the diplomatic community in Colombo openly sided with the UNP  throughout the eight weeks of political dispute, and in doing so, they violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).These diplomats made public statements on domestic politics, issued veiled threats of sanctions and were present in the Parliamentary gallery when Speaker Karu Jayasuriya controversially accepted a no-confidence motion on the newly-elected PM Rajapaksa.

This active involvement of certain Western diplomatic missions in Colombo and of the United Nations regarding the actions of the President of the country cannot be justified, said Palitha Kohona and Tamara Kunanayagam. There are no gross and systematic violations of human rights, politically motivated violence or the breakdown of social norms in Sri Lanka.

By interfering in the domestic affairs of the receiving country, these diplomats are directly violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations . US, Australia and some EU ambassadors have been involved. Special mention was made of the heads of mission of Canada, Norway and Germany.  It was reported that the German Ambassador even sought a public confrontation with a Sri Lankan parliamentarian.

Palitha Kohona and Tamara Kunanayagam charged that the UN   also was joining the countries which were supportive of Ranil Wickremasinghe, such as UK, Germany, Canada, and EU. This was contrary to the neutrality expected of a UN official. What  happened in Sri Lanka was a domestic matter and the UN representative should stay neutral.

Soon after the judgment was declared, Ranil Wickremasinghe was reappointed as Prime Minister and the same old UNP cabinet was also reappointed, by a grim faced President Sirisena. But things were not the same. The return of the Yahapalana/UNP government was not welcomed. Analysts said that we should be very watchful as to what Yahapalana government is going to do in the coming 1 ½ years.  The boisterous, cocky Yahapalana government was now somewhat subdued. It had got an awful fright. Also its action of opposing the Gazette had spoiled its image. Yahapalana government had succeeded in preventing a much wanted general election.

President Sirisena   and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa now acquired greater stature. President Sirisena   was not a newcomer to politics, though he looked  utterly  diffident at his swearing in as  President. He has been a Member of Parliament from 1989 and had been the Minster for agriculture, health, irrigation, Mahaweli and  Rajarata development.  He has been Leader of the House, and General Secretary of the SLFP. Sirisena is now backed by SLFP, Pohottuwa and the Rajapaksas .He looks resolute. He keeps complaining about Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

After Ranil Wickremesinghe took oaths before him as the Prime Minister, at the Presidential Secretariat, President Sirisena spoke to United National Front Parliamentarians. In that speech, President Sirisena said, inter alia, the statement he made that he would not appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister even if all 225 Members of Parliament should present a signed request was his political opinion. “I still stand by that statement, but as a leader who respects Parliamentary traditions and democracy, I offered him that post,” he said.

Neither Parliament or the Judiciary have the power to name a Prime Minister, but since a majority of Parliamentarians had expressed the view that Ranil Wickremesinghe should be given the Premiership after casting 117 votes in his favor, had he agreed because he respected Parliamentary tradition.

The President said he took steps to dissolve Parliament, prorogue Parliament, and appoint a new Prime Minister, after consulting legal experts. Those decisions were taken with good intentions putting the country’s interest first. He had not the slightest intention of breaching the Constitution. The President said he believed the best solution to the unrest was holding a general election, because, the opinion of 15.5 million voters was more important than the opinion of 122 Members of Parliament.

“The President criticized the government for the way it acted for three-and-a-half years, indefinitely postponing the enactment of the Bribery Commission Act which aimed to penalize the accused in the Central Bank bond issue and to recover the money lost by it. Failing to apportion ministries on a scientific basis as stated in the election manifesto, failing to implement the recommendation of the Presidential Commission which investigated the Central Bank bond issue, losing the confidence of the Maha sangha, and the imprisonment of war heroes were the other issues that he had objected to. These factors influenced my recent decisions. “Whatever people say, I took my decisions in the interests of the public, he said. Now, a political movement that is against fraud and corruption is needed in the country to rebuild its economy.

During the time Ranil Wickremasinghe was out of power, critics had much to say about Ranil Wickremasinghe . Ranil Wickremasinghe holds the record for the most number of elections lost under a party leader, they said. Ryp Van Winkle observed that Ranil Wickremasinghe had been the leader of the UNP for almost 25 years.  ‘Under your leadership the UNP has  never won a simple majority. Also you have never served a full term of office,’  Ryp Van Winkle pointed out.

Wickremesinghe has relied on former Sri Lankans including Arjuna Mahendran (Singapore), Razeen Sally (Singapore), Suri Ratnapala (Australia) as well as prominent foreign personalities in the Economic field such as George Soros, Professor Ricardo Hausmann of Venezuela, Joseph Stieglitz (who came as the chief guest of the former Prime Ministers 2023 agenda for economic prosperity) for his Vision to build Sri Lanka, said Rusiripala Tennekoon.

Tennekoon listed the institutes that were used by Ranil Wickremasinghe to further Yahapalana economic aims. They were, the  institute of Policy Studies, . Advocata Institute, launched at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute as an independent Public Policy Think Tank working towards a free and prosperous Sri Lanka,  and Millennium Challenge Corporation  a unit located within the Strategic Policy Development Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office. The objective of this MCC is to influence the regulatory environment and rule of law in the South. former Prime Minister Wickremesinghe created his own team, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM). This CCEM took decisions bypassing Cabinet.

Pradeep Jayawardene,  said in an interview in November 2018, said that Ranil Wickremesinghe brought in a gazette to close down the  JR Jayewardene Centre, continued  Pradeep,  who is  JR’s grandson. Ranil stopped the Centre’s rental income and said he wanted to establish an institute to train Parliamentarians with funding from a German political group. The Act for this was drafted and brought into Parliament, but cancelled due to  the recent events. Ranil also held a meeting at the JRJ Centre and said this is the last meeting of the JRJ Centre, concluded Pradeep.

Mahinda Rajapaksa continues to be popular. He  has not lost face despite getting and losing the post of Prime Minister within a matter of months. In fact his popularity seems to have increased and so visibly, has his confidence. Rajapaksa cannot even take a sea bathe in peace. Television cameras showed  Rajapaksa receiving the greetings of supporters   when he emerged from the sea,    at Galle,   in swimming trunks with a   towel wrapped around him.

Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived late at a Nelum Pokuna function in January 2019.  President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe were already there. When it was announced that Mahinda Rajapaksa was now in the audience, there was a round of applause.

A test run on the Matara-Beliatte stretch of the southern railway extension, took place amidst cheers and boos, in January 2019. A group of protesters, holding photographs of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, delayed the start of the train at the Beliatta station by blocking the line. A   second   group stopped the train midway, demanding compensation. A third group of Rajapaksa supporters protested at the Bambarenda station.

People are now    saying how effective Mahinda Rajapaksa has been as President. Sarath Obeyesekera recalled, I remember attending a meeting of the Southern Development Committee chaired by Minister  Sagala Ratnayake. When the issue of re-commencing the Galle Yacht and Boat Repair Industry was taken up, I pointed out that the Sri Lanka Ports Authority did not allow me to proceed. At another meeting in the CECM, chaired by the Prime Minister, I again took up the same problem expecting a decision to be made. The PM instructed the Minister to allow the project, despite some ludicrous reasons the Minister had given for not permitting it. I argued about it, but once the meeting was over I knew that the Minister was against it” Business leaders want firm decision from the political leadership..  This was conspicuously absent during the last three and a half years, said Obeysekera.

When I was in UK, continued Obeyesekera,  the current Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the London Buddhist temple just before his first presidential election, to attend a religious ceremony, where I was also present. He had seen me after 10 years. He beckoned me with a wave. When I went near him, he held my hand and asked when I was planning to return to serve the country. One of my friends, while returning from Kataragama happened to meet Rajapaksa, who was the President at that time. The President did not know him but cared to talk to him.

We experienced labor unrest when Mahinda Rajapaksa was the Minister of Labor, continued Obeysekera.  We had been compelled to close the shipyard temporarily in view of trouble. The workers met the Minister, who called me for a meeting. He asked me why I had resorted to such drastic action. I told him that I wanted to maintain discipline. Apparently annoyed, he told me that I did not even listen to the Minister, under whom I worked as Chairman.

Minister Rajapaksa asked me whether I wanted to fight him. He said he was a street fighter and if I was ready we could fight it out, outside the ministry. Then, he winked at me and I realized that he was joking. A three-year collective agreement was signed and the strikers returned to work. Rajapaksa sorted out the issue to the satisfaction of both sides to the dispute. A leader should have these qualities to win the hearts of the people if you want him to lead the country. We need a leader capable of making firm decisions, concluded Sarath Obeysekera.”

Yahapalana thinks otherwise. In January 2019 a group of persons clad in black and calling themselves civil activists demonstrated outside Capital Maharaja Organization, Hiru , Derana, Sirasa , Maubima newspaper office and several other media organizations.  Earlier, a row of protesters clad in black  sat protesting at Railway station, Maradana against the gazette and Mahinda Rajapaksa. They were there for days.

This new group handed over a letter which said, “Owners of media organizations and Mediamen, you  became a part of the anti-constitutional and anti-democratic coup of October 26. Your conduct after October 26 showed how unethical the media can be.  By taking the side of a specific political group during the coup and justifying it, you flouted the expectation among the public that the media would conduct itself ethically.

The letter objected to the manner in which the media had reported the Supreme Court judgment against the dissolution of Parliament, They  had misrepresented facts said the letter.  No , said Chandraprema, the media had  reported the matter accurately. The letter also accused the media of promoting jathiwadaya by which was meant Sinhala jathiwadaya .  However, some of the media   organizations were owned by Tamils and non-Buddhists, commented Chandraprema. The letter ended with the warning “We are watching you.”

The  letter   accused the media of not reporting  both sides of a story. That was not so. Chandraprema point out that none of the mainline media organizations demonstrated against, can be accused of having reported one sidedly during the political crisis following October 26, 2018. The press conferences held at Temple Trees were given wide coverage by all TV stations and newspapers. Since the mainline media is doing a good job of reporting on both the government and the opposition, there is no room for an alternative media to make headway. That is the problem, he said.

The  organizations that participated in the protest were: Sri Lankawe Kanthavo, Aluth Piyapath, Aluth Parapura, Maruthaye Handa, Didulana Hadawatha, Prajathanthrawadaya Sandaha vu Samanallu, Yuththeeya Web Madhyawedeenge Sangamaya, Sadhu Janarawa, Negee Sitimu Sri Lanka, Chitrapata Adhyakshakawarunge Sangamaya, Athurudanvuwange Pavul Ekathuwa, Prajathanthrawadaya Sandaha vu Neethignayin, and  Samabima Organization. Among the prominent people seen   among the protesters were the film director Vimukthi Jayasundera, actress Samanalee Fonseka, Brito Fernando , also one Dhanushka who  was identified as a JVP activist.

The persons demonstrating  were mostly employees of NGOs funded by the  foreign countries that  had openly backed the move to block the holding of a general election, said Chandraprema. The whole country saw the manner in which diplomats of Western embassies in Colombo went to Parliament to express support for the move not to have a general election and even sat in the court rooms to ‘observe’ the proceedings. When people paid by the countries  that  these diplomats belong to demonstrate in front of local media organizations, what are we to understand from that, he asked.

The media stations did not take this challenge  lying down. They said that  this was the work of the  UNP government,  because UNP felt that the media had backed the Oct. 26 government change.  Yahapalana government had launched the protest campaign. Maubima   staff came out of their office with placards of their own and held a counter demonstration charging that the demonstrators were from foreign funded NGOs. The Maubima staff  hooted and jeered as the protestors left.

The UNP has recommenced its attacks on the media, said Chandraprema. Some time ago Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe threatened journalists and media organizations mentioning some by name. this included  Divaina. Since the restoration of the UNP government some weeks ago, these attacks have assumed a more sinister aspect. There has been a stoppage of advertising from government owned institutions to the two premier private TV stations in the country Hiru TV and Derana TV.

The silent masked black clad demonstrators are a warning of something sinister said Chandraprema.  These deliberate planned actions are carried out by educated, English speaking middle class persons.  alarm bells  should start ringing throughout the country. The entire nation should stand up and take notice.

Sri Lanka is now in the middle of a full scale neo-imperialist, neo-liberal invasion with a determined attempt to whip the local media into submission. After January 9, 2015, the media has been the only democratic institution still holding out. Until just days ago, both the government and the opposition were dominated by the same Yahapalana group. The genuine opposition in the country, the Joint Opposition with 53 MPs was given less time to speak in Parliament than the JVP which had only 6 MPs.   It was the media that enabled  the  Opposition to be heard by giving them coverage in the news bulletins. This was why the media has earned the wrath of the UNP and the neo-liberal mafia supporting them.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) came into unexpected prominence due to the Dissolution issue.  In December 2018, Parliament passed a vote of confidence in Ranil Wickremasinghe  to show that he  should be the  Prime Minister. Ranil Wickremasinghe obtained 117 votes. UNP had only 106 votes   of its own.  The winning votes came from TNA. Ranil musters 117 with TNA support” said Daily News on  13.12.18.

United People’s Freedom Alliance said  the UNP today is dictated by the TNA.TNA MP Sumanthiran is dictating terms on the UNP,” he said. The Opposition charged that ousted UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had received Tamil National Alliance (TNA) backing for a Confidence Motion presented on his behalf in return for  promises. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) put forward four main conditions along with a few other conditions in order to extend their support to the United National Party (UNP) in Parliament. The TNA wanted the UNP to give their consent in writing, said informants.

The conditions laid-down by the TNA  included the following, Solutions without any delay to the pressing problems faced by the Tamil Community, Release of political prisoners, free all the lands now under the Sri Lanka Army and assign all important posts to the TNA in the North and East development projects and programmes.

United People’s Freedom Alliance said   TNA has offered its support to the UNP because Wickremesinghe had agreed to their terms, he will agree with anything and anyone to stay in political power, irrespective of policy, national security or integrity of the country.

We have reasons to think that Ranil has already signed an agreement with the TNA to give away the provisions for Police Powers and Land Powers to the North. This is no big deal for him, if he sees an opportunity to stay in power,” said UPFA. PLOTE  also thought that Ranil Wickremesinghe would have given in writing that he agrees with the proposals made by the TNA, to support him in Parliament.

United National Party (UNP) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) categorically denied signing any secret, private or political agreement between them about the 13th Amendment, releasing ex-LTTE cadres from prisons, or withdrawing Army from the North.

TNA admitted that they  had  discussed their problems with UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.We discussed particularly releasing our people’s lands from military occupation, freeing those political prisoners held in government custody, and being vested with more governing powers to the Northern and Eastern Provinces,”  but we never signed any agreement with the UNP.”

With the  TNA supporting UNP and voting with it, another issue came up. Is the TNA with the government or the opposition?  When Parliament reconvened after the Supreme Court judgment the post of Opposition leader was   taken away from TNA leader R Sampanthan and given to Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The loss of the Leader of the Opposition position was a major political blow to the TNA., said Jehan Perera. TNA  did everything they could do to ensure that the government was restored after it had been sacked by President Maithripala Sirisena.

The Leader of the Opposition’s position  gave the TNA, which represents a minority community, a position within Sri Lanka’s hierarchy of political leaders. The Leader of the Opposition is a prestigious position that gave the TNA an official status both within and outside the country and made its leader one of the topmost in the pantheon of the country.

There was   also a very practical reason why TNA wanted  the Leader of the Opposition position., the Leader of the Opposition is able to get more things done than can be done by an ordinary MP or even  a  leader of a political party. A request by the Leader of the Opposition would carry more weight and get more things done especially from the government bureaucracy and even the military.

In addition, the Leader of the Opposition is provided with a fully equipped office with staff. Over the past three years the TNA enjoyed this  source of state power that the Tamil community has seldom had the opportunity to enjoy, said TNA regretfully.

The  Dissolution debate  was based on the 19^th Amendment to the Constitution. The 19th Constitutional Amendment  Bill was presented to Parliament by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on 24 March 2015,   just two months after Yahapalana came into power. 19 petitions were filed  in Supreme Court, with regard to this amendment. Five for and 14  against the amendment. The petitions were considered and the amendment was reviewed by a panel of Supreme Court Judges led by Chief Justice K. Sri Pavan  and recommendations sent back to Parliament.

Yahapalana government  changed the bill several times to get the backing of parliamentary opposition parties. It amended the relevant clauses and removed the sections that needed a referendum before presenting it to Parliament. 19 Amendment   was enacted In April 2015. This  law was passed by a nearly unanimous vote in parliament with only one MP Sarath Weerasekera opposing it.   UPFA later said that UPFA was not prepared to support it but President Sirisena wanted them to do so, so they did.

The 19^th amendment introduced clause 70/1 which said that Parliament cannot be dissolved for 4 ½ years out of its five years, unless  Parliament  decided to  dissolve itself. But the same 19 amendment also brought in article 33/2/c  which said,  ‘in addition to the powers given by the Constitution or any other law, President  shall have the power to dissolve Parliament’ .These  contradict each other. The 19th Amendment also said that the Prime Minister cannot be removed , he has to resign.

The Dissolution Issue” brought the ugly aspects of the 19th amendment before the  public. This Amendment was designed to do three things, restrict the power of President Sirisena, make Ranil Wickremasinghe secure in his position as Prime Minister and keep Yahapalana government going for 90% of its term.

The current constitution is an imperfect document full of holes, lacking even simple logic, brought about to safeguard not the people, but a few politicians and deprive certain others of their legitimate rights,  said one commentator. For this reason alone, people must be given the chance to choose a new set of representatives with a fresh mandate” he said.

Our Constitution  does not permit Supreme Court to challenge  a law passed by Parliament and has received the Speaker’s assent, analysts observed.  Improperly enacted laws must not to be protected in this way. If a law is passed by surreptitious means, it should be possible to challenge it in Supreme Court even after it has received the Speaker’s assent. Legislation pushed through without proper examination of its provisions  surely, cannot be    considered valid law.

The Dissolution debate also tried to use the notions of ‘Constitutionalism’ and the ‘Rule of Law’. These two concepts usually stay  inside the disciplines of law and political theory.  For a proper Rule of Law there must be, inter alia,  just laws, not   biased laws like the 19^th amendment. For Constitutionalism, which means ‘adherence to a constitutional system of government,’ the constitution must be a good one, well thought out, meaningful and without howling contradictions and dangerous clauses.

The Dissolution debate, also gave a new slant to the concept of sovereignty.”  Yahapalana supporters complained that the concept of sovereignty is now interpreted as a concept outside the framework of the Constitution, when it should be firmly lodged inside the Constitution.

Sovereignty is defined in all sorts of ways, but this is the first time I have come across this argument. Of course sovereignty is outside the constitution.  The Constitution derives from the sovereign state, not the other way round.   We, the sovereign people of   Sri Lanka, or wherever, herewith declare this to be our Constitution etc etc .”

There is a related matter which has not been debated and that is the right of Parliament to pass amendments to the Constitution. Parliament is created by the Constitution. It is a creature of the Constitution and it is under the Constitution, not the other way round.    Parliament should not, therefore have the right to make any amendments at all to the Constitution or     tamper with it in any way

The intelligentsia have been trained to think that  the notions of ‘state’, ‘constitution’, ‘rule of law ‘   originated in the west in the 17 century , This cannot be accepted.  There were successful centrally ruled states   from ancient times in Asia. In Sri Lanka the Sinhala king was expected to rule according to ‘pera sirit.’ There is also the concept of Dasa Raja Dharma which is found in the Mahahamsa Jataka of the Khuddaka Nikaya. Gautama Buddha, who lived in the 6 century BC, was able to comment on governance because the north Indian states around him were republican states. However, only the    organization in the Lichchavi republic is known to day.

Around the same time as our Dissolution  drama, a strong reaction against the government  developed in France, the  ‘yellow vest” demonstrations. These   began over fuel taxes  and  ballooned into a wider revolt against President Emmanuel Macron’s policies and governing style. It appears that many in France were starving, their salaries were insufficient to live. This protest is now in its ninth week.  Yellow Jackets want the right  to  make the government  repeal a law,  amend the constitution or remove a public official from office.

THIS ESSAY ENDS WITH SOME EXTRACTS FROM  CASSANDRA CRY” They give the opposite point of view.

• Sirisena and Rajapaksa ignominiously had to eat crow, dished out by the ruling of the seven judge Bench of the Supreme Court and loudly crowed over by the right seeing citizens of the land. Mahinda Rajapaksa now stands disgraced in the eyes of many.
• The government is now composed of UNPers, the Muslim Congress and a Tamil Party or two. You could say they stood tall, closed ranks and held their heads high; to express staying loyal and committed to a person, Party or principle and being proud of it. They gathered at Temple Trees.
• Karu Jayasuriya was voted as Gentleman of the Year. You will surely recall that Cass had unlimited and unrestrained praise for him who thought right about the President’s moves in appointing a new PM and all that, withstood verbal and physical barbs, Bibles and bound volumes of the Constitution and conducted the affairs of the august House with rioting Ministers and MPs of the blue and pohottu variety and stood strongly firm like a teak tree in a storm.
• Ranil W was also voted in as a Gentleman to be honored. Yes, even for the one act of staying calm, unmoved, unflinching when so many in the House were behaving like hyena-heathens. That unflinching non-combative resistance was excellent. He also restrained the elephants in his herd, some straining to retaliate, and note – he never hits below the belt in giving voice to his opinion of other politicians.
• Voted in to the 2018 Gentlemen’s Gallery are Mr. Sambandan and his close ally Mr. Sumanthiran. Some say they have an agenda in propping the UNF government. Of course all have agendas; no politician is completely altruistic and open. These same say that their ultimate aim is a separate state. Cass does not want to believe that though she believes they will ask for more and the UNF will have to give if giving is justified. But we cannot listen to harbingers of separatism for their aim is to cause racial disharmony.
• Mahinda Rajapaksa’s minions of the likes of Wimal Weerawansa keep accusing foreign powers, especially Western States of “interfering” in the affairs of our country and even accuse the UNP of being willing stooges.
• Representatives of the UN and countries, in Colombo, were naturally perturbed at the happenings of October 26 and thereafter and expressed concern about the stability of Sri Lanka. Admittedly they are not completely altruistic but they were perturbed for the country and not worried about their organizations or countries being affected.
• Small minded, loudly pontificating men behind Mahinda Rajapaksa are so narrow in their view both of the world and our land. They are also, as the Economist writer mentions, bringing in the twin issues of our armed forces and races. They have been beating their drum on punishments given to armed forces personnel and inalienable rights being restored to the Tamils of the land – to them unjustified benefits. They could not comprehend that the TNA and other non-Sinhala Parties joined hands with the UNP to restore democracy in the country.
• Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sycophants have already seen a division of the land and the so called minorities becoming the majority. Raising the ire of people about armed force personnel being convicted of crimes and igniting the dormant flame of racial animosity are unforgiveable sins.
• If armed forces personnel are guilty of having committed crimes they HAVE to be punished, no two words about that. ( concluded)

Senaka Weeraratna 

A media conference was held on January 13, 2019 organised by Justice for Animals, a community project under the Sri Bodhiraja Foundation, to garner public support for the enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill.

The panel consisted of three key speakers; Ven Dr Omalpe Sobhitha Thero – President of the Sri Bodhiraja Foundation, Mr U. R. de Silva – President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and Mr Senaka Weeraratna – Attorney-at-Law and former consultant to the Law Commission, on Animal Welfare Legislation.

The event was attended by the clergy, animal activist groups, animal lovers and the media, and discussed key problems relating to current legislation on Animal Welfare.

Our religion is to secure the rights of the voiceless

There is no religion here. Our religion should be to secure the rights of the voiceless,” said Ven. Sobhitha Thero who highlighted the pathetic situation faced by animals who share the earth equally alongside humans. We’ve forgotten that animals have the right to share the world as much as we do. We seem to think that we are the owners of everything around us, including animals and natural resources. We have to acknowledge and respect the rights of all living creatures,” said Ven. Sobhitha Thero.

He quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s saying that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. He cited many instances of Sri Lanka’s pre-colonial era and how rulers at the time protected the rights of animals and promoted peaceful co-existence between humans and animals, and of the importance of influencing and putting pressure on the ruling parties to provide similar treatment for animals.

The process of enacting the Bill

U. R. de Silva spoke of the role of the Bar Association in relation to initial preparation of the draft Act. Generally, the process involves drafting at the Legal Draftsman’s Department followed by amendment of the Bill, based on suggestions from the Select Committee of Parliament and recommendations from the relevant Ministry, and direction by the Attorney General. After deliberations, the final Bill will be debated in the parliament and enacted. Rather than waiting for something to happen, we must follow up and actively work on it,” he said. He also informed that the full support of the Bar Association will be given to the enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill.

Current animal welfare situation

The existing law relating to cruelty to animals is as good as non-existent, and certainly not enforced, with the maximum fine for cruelty to animals being only a mere 100 rupees. Mr de Silva informed that a ten-member committee comprising the National Animal Welfare Authority, that is recommended in the Bill to be set up will comprise a lawyer, veterinarians practising both western and eastern medicine, academics and leading activists who are also passionate about animal welfare, will be appointed to the Committee to oversee matters.

People who abandon animals on the roads and temples after allowing them to procreate without taking proper responsibility for them, imprison animals in kennels without giving them adequate freedom, and abuse or neglect them, will be subject to punishment under this law. The Bill introduces a duty of care on every person who is in charge of animal(s). The draft Act stipulates a fine of 100,000 LKR as well as a one-year prison sentence.

Crimes against the voiceless

Topics raised by the audience included instances of shops and even individuals selling animals at exorbitant amounts and making money from the practice of puppy mills, individuals and groups carrying out financial fraud in the names of animal welfare preying on others’ compassion for animals, elephants and other wildlife being neglected and abused in zoos, tourism and cultural based animals abused such as for horseback riding or elephant riding as well as use of elephants in religious processions.

The lack of veterinary clinics to tend to animals in need, lack of accountability by pet owners when abandoning their pets, the use of purebreds as a luxury item, use of social media in showcasing and displaying acts of cruelty towards animals, animals in captivity, transporting and even rearing poultry under intense, cruel conditions for consumption will be covered under Regulations to be Gazetted by the Minister in charge, under the provisions of this Bill.

This Committee will monitor compliance with the provisions of this Act and take steps as deemed fit to ensure that, the objectives of the legislation are met and modern standards of treatment of animals become part of the way that animals handled by people in charge, while at the same time ensuring that those who violate the law will face the enhanced sanctions including increase in the quantum of the fine, and the extension of the sentence of imprisonment.

A country in shame

It is a shame that we have to hold events such as this to enact the Animal Welfare Bill in a country that had paid so much more consideration and respect for animals during pre-colonial times. We were known as the ‘Aryawansa’, or the ‘noble race’, because of the way we treated animals,” said Attorney-At-Law Senaka Weeraratna who was the Legal Consultant on animal welfare legislation to the Law Commission of Sri Lanka and had worked tirelessly in an honorary capacity, from 2000 to 2006 to draft and revise the proposed Bill.

In other countries, people take pride in working for the welfare of the animals. However, here, no one takes the side of the animals in parliament except for a handful. Why? Because animals have no votes, no money, and no clout. We treat them as exploitable, without objection from anyone bar a limited number of organisations and animal lovers. The meat industry is disproportionately powerful in this country. They have even silenced the lawmakers and the media, clearly indicated by the number of advertisements showcasing meat in the media,” emphasised Mr Weeraratna.

Currently, an online petition initiated by activist Anoka Abeyratne at Change.org which requests the Sri Lankan Government to enact the Animal Welfare Bill has garnered more than 113,000 signatures. Citizens are invited to sign this historic petition by visiting https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-of-sri-lanka-pass-a….

(You can find the petition by visiting change.org and searching for Charlie Animal Welfare)

The draft Act prepared by the Law Commission is available for perusal here

https://lawcom.gov.lk/…/re…/the_animal_welfare_bill_2006.pdf

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

           කුසගිනි නොසිඳෙන ආක්‍රමණශීලී දළඹූවෙක් අප්‍රිකාවේ සිට ඉන්දියාවට ඇවිත් යැයි කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වාර්තා කරනු ලබන්නේ පසුගිය වසරේ දෙසැම්බර් මාසයේ දීය .රජරට ප්‍රදේශ වල විශාල වශයෙන් කෙරෙන බඩ ඉරිඟු වාගවේ මේ කීටයා දක්නට සිටීමෙන් පසු ඒ ගැන සොයා බැලූ ඔවුන් ගේ දෙකොන රත් වූයේ මේ කීටයා වීසා නොලබාම ලංකාවට ඇවිත් තිබෙන්නේ දකුණු ඉන්දියාව හරහා බැවිනි. පසුගිය කාලයේ දී වගක් විභාගයක් නොමැතිව ලංකාවට බීජ ගෙන්වන්නට පෞද්ගලික අංශයට භාර කල අතර බඩ ඉරිඟු මිරිස් එළවුළු ඇට පළතුරු පැළ මෙන්ම විසිතුරු පළ වර්ගයන්ද විශාල වශයෙන් ලංකාවට ආනයනය කළහ.කාලයක් එළවුළු ඇට වල සිට වී පළතුරු ආදී භෝග වගාවන්හි බීජ හා රෝපණ ද්‍රව්‍ය සකස් කිරීමේ මූලිකයා වූයේ කෘෂීකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවයි.හරිත විප්ලවයේ පසු ක්‍රියාකාරකම් හේතුවෙන් ලංකාව පුරාම බීජ ගොවිපළ වල් පර්යේෂණ ආයතන සහ කෘෂිකර්ම පුහුණු ගොවිපළවල් විවෘත කරගන්නට රජයට හැකි විය. බිත්තර වී නිෂ්පාදනය ගුණාත්මකව කිරීමට රජයට තිබූ පහසුකම් ඉතා ඉහළ මට්ටමේ විය. අසූව දශකයෙන් පසුව රජයේ විවෘත ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තිය මත රජයේ ආයතන බොහොමයක් පුද්ගලීකරණය කරන ලදී. ලංකාවේ ගොවීන්ට මහඟු සම්පතක බඳු වූ බීජ ගොවිපළවල් රාශියක්ද මේ කාලයේ පුද්ගලික අංශයට විකිණීමෙන් රජය එදිනෙදා වියදම් ආවරණය කරගන්නට ඇත. එසේම මේවා විකිණීමට දායක වූ දේශපාලනඥයන්ට සහ නිළධාරීන්ට ලැබුණු කොමිස් මුදල් ගැන සැබෑ තක්සේරුවක් කෙරී ඇත්දැයි නිශ්චිත නැත.

          2002 වර්ෂයේ රීගේනීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා වැඩ සටහන ආරම්භයත් සමගම ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල් වල කොන්දේසි මත ජල සැපයුම් පෞද්ගලීකරණය බීජ වෙළෙදාම පෞද්ගලීකරණය වේගවත් විය. මෙරට ප්‍රමුඛ පෙලේ බහුජාතික සමාගමක් විසින් කරන ලද නිරන්තර බල කිරීම නිසා කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව බීජ නිෂ්පාදනයෙන් සහ අලෙවියෙන් සෑහෙන දුරට ඉවත් විය. එතනින් පසු පළමු පරම්පරාවේ බීජ නොහොත් හයිබ්‍රඩ් බීජ සඳහා ගොවි ජනතාවගෙන් ලැබුණ ඉල්ලුම ඉතා වේගවත් විය. විදේශීය බඩ ඉරිඟු මැලේසියන් එළවුළු සහ පළතුරු වගාව සහා ආනයනය කරන ලද ඇට වර්ග රාශියක් විය. මේවා අනයනය කිරීමෙන් විශාල ලාභයක් ලැබිය හැකිය. ඒ නිසා විශාල බහුජාතික සමාගම් වලට අමතරව කුඩා තුඩා සමාගම්ද බීජ ගෙන්වමින් සිය ලාභය තර කර ගන්නට උපරිම උත්සාහ දැරූහ. වියට්නාමය ඇමරිකාව මැලේසියාව ඉන්දියාව ආදී රටවල නිෂ්පාදනය කරන බීජ මෙලෙස ලංකාවට සැපත් වන්නට වූයේ කිසිවකුගේ වත් පරීක්ෂාවෙන් තොරවයි. ඇතැම් විට සූට් කේසයක දමා ගෙන පැමිණෙන බීජ වර්ග ද විය. මෙම බීජ සහ රෝපණ වර්ග නිරොධායනය කිරීමට හෝ ප්‍රමිති ගත කිරීමට ශක්තිමත් වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් තව වෙනතුරු කෘෂීකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතුව නොමැත.දැන් දළඹු සේනාවන් මගින් කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තු ගොවිපළවල්ද ආක්‍රමණය කරන්නට පටන් ගැනීමෙන් පසු මේ බලධාරීන් ට ඇහැරී ඇති වගක් පෙනෙන්ට ඇත.

          සේනා දළඹුවා යන නාමය (Fall armyworm) නම් ඉංග්‍රීසී නාමයට දුන් සිංහල නමයි. මේ සතා ගේ හිසේ ඉංග්‍රීසි වයි අකුරක හැඩයක් ඇත. සිරුර පුරා ඉදිමුණු බිබිල මෙන් ගැටිති දක්නට ඇත.වගාවන් කාගෙන කාගෙන යෑමට තරම් කුසගින්නක් මේ දළඹුවාට තිබීම නිසා කීට හමුදාවක් ලෙසට හැඳින්වෙන්නට ඇත. මේ සතා (Spodoptera frugiperda ) නම් සලබයාගේ කීට අවස්ථාවයි.උතුරු සහ දකුණු ඇමරිකාව නිජබිම් ලෙසට උපක් මේ දළඹු විශේෂය මුල්වර්ට ඒ රටවල වාර්තා වන්නේ 1964 වසරේ දීය.පසුව බහුජාතික සමාගම් වල කෘෂි අධිරාජ්‍යවාදය නිසා අප්‍රිකාවේ බොහෝ රටවලට පැතිරුණි. අප්‍රකානු රටවල් 44 ක් පමණ මේ දළඹුවා පැතිර යමින් තිබෙන බව ආහාර හා කෘෂිකර්ම සංවිධානය වාර්තා කර තිබේ.විශේෂයෙන්ම බඩ ඉරිඟු වගාව ආශ්‍රිතව පැතිරෙන්නේ මෙම දළඹුවාට ප්‍රමාණවත් තරම් ආහාර එම වගාවන්හි තිබන බැවිනි. ඊට අමතරව උක් වගාව වී වගාව එළවුළු බෝග ඇතුළ පළල් පත්‍ර තිබෙන වගාවන්ට මේ සතා හානිකරන්නේ ඉතා වේගයෙනි. විදෙස් රටවල වසන්ත කාලය තූළ වැඩෙන මේ සතා ගම්හානයේ දී ඉගිල යේ. ශිත කාලයේ දී ආරක්ෂා වෙමින් ඊළඟ වසන්ත කාලයේ ද පැතිරෙන්නට පටන් ගනී. නමුත් අප්‍රිකාව ඉන්දියාව වැනි ඝර්ම කලාපීය රටක දී උන්ගේ ජීවන චක්‍රය වෙනස්කමකට භාජනය වී ඇතිවාට නිසැකය. ඊට හේතුව පරිසරයට අනුවර්තය වීමට තිබෙන හැකියාවයි.සලබයා විසින් වරකට බිත්තර 1500 ක් පමණ හෙලන අතර දින අනූවක කාලයක් තුළ කීට අවස්ථාවේ සිට සලබයා දක්වා වර්ධනය වන බව සොයා ගෙන තිබේ. කීට අවස්ථාවෙන් පසු මේ සතා තමන්ගේ ගොදුරු සොයා කි.මී. 300ක පමණ ඈත පෙදෙස වලටද පියාසර කරන  බව සොයාගෙන තිබේ. එමි නිසා ඇමරිකාවේ ප්‍රාන්ත කීපයකම මේ සතා ගේ හානිය දක්නට තිබේ යැයි වාර්තා වී ඇත.

       අප්‍රිකානු රටවල මේ සතා පළමු වරට වාර්තා වන්නේ 2016 වසරේ දීය. පසුව ඉන්දියාවේ එය වාර්තා වන්නට පටන් ගත්තේ 2018 වසරේ මැයි මසදීය. 2019 වසරේ දී ලංකාවේ වගා කරන බඩ ඉරිඟු ප්‍ර භේද වල මේ සතා දකින්නට ලැබෙමින් ඇත. රජරට පෙදෙස් වල පමණක් නොව කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතු බස්නාහිර පළාත් ගොවිපළක් වන බෝඹුවල සේවා සංස්කරණ ආයතනය තුළටත් මේ සතා ඇතුළු වී තිබෙන්නේ ආනයනික බීජ හරහා බව නිසැකය. ඒ නිසා මේ දළඹු සේනා උවදුර ගැන සුළුවෙන් තැකිය නොහැතිය. වරින් වර ලංකාවේ වගාවන්ට මෙවැනි විදෙස් සතුන් ගේ ආක්‍රමණ සිදු වී තිබෙන බව මෙහිදී මතක් කළ යුතුය. පොල් වගාවට හානි කළ රතු කුරුමිණියා එක් සතෙකි. ජෛව පාලන ක්‍රමයක් මගින් මේ සතා මර්දනය කිරීමට සමත් විය. මෑත කාලයේ දකුණු පළාතෙන් වාර්තා වූ පොල් කොළ මැලවීමේ රෝගය නිසා දකුණු මුහුදු බඩ තීරයේ පොල් වතු හානියට පත් විය එම උවදුරද පැතිර පැමිණියේ ඉන්දියාවේ කේරළය හරහාය. මේ සතා මර්දනය කරගැනීමට වඩා පහසු උපක්‍රම තිබියදී විශාල පොල් වතු සංඛ්‍යාවක් මුලුමනින්ම කපා දැමීමට පොල් පර්යේෂණ ආයතන උපදෙස් දීමෙන් රට තුළ විශාල පොල් හිඟයක්ද මතුව ආයේය.

       වී වගාවට සාමාන්‍යයෙන් ඇති වන කොපු පණු හානිය පුරුක් පණ හානිය වාර්තා වන්නේ දේශගුණික විපර්යාසයන්ද සමගයි.එසේම පැල මැක්කා වැනි හානි වාර්තා වන්නේ කන්නයට වගා නොකරන කුඹුරු වාගවන් වෙතිනි. මේවා මර්දනය කිරීමට කෘෂී විශේෂඥයන් අධික විස සහිත කෘෂිරසායන නිර්දෙශ කරන නමුත් පාරම්පරික ගොවීහු ලිපේ අළු සහ දහයියා අළු භාවිතා කරමින් මේ පණු උවදුරු මර්දනය කිරීමට දැන සිටියහ. මෙම සේනා දළඹුවා නම් ඊනියා විදෙස් සත්ව සේනාව මර්දනය කරගැනීමට නම් විශේෂ ජෛවපාලන උප්‍රෛමයක් සොයා ගැනීමට උනන්දු විය යුතුය.ලංකාවේ නව නිපැයුම් කරුවන් බොහෝ වෙති. කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍යංශය මැදිහත්ව මෙම නව නිපැයුම් කරුවන්ට ආරාධනා කොට සේනා දළඹුවා මර්දනයට යම් පාලන ක්‍රමයක් සොයා ගන්නට පෙළඹීක් කළහොත් නිසැකවට ඔවුන් එය සොයා ගන්නවා ඇත. පසුගිය දෙසැම්බර් මාසයේ අවසාන අවදියේ තිබූ අධික ශීත කාල ගුණයක් සෙනසුරු මාරුවත් නිසා ඇති වූ දෙශගුණ විපරීතය මේ පැතිරීමට තවත් කාරණයක් බව අප මතක තබා ගත යුතුය.මේ නිසා මහ කන්නයේ කුඹුරු වල පණූ හානිය අධීක විය. කෙසේ වෙතත් දෙකොන රත්වී සිටින කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට මතක් කළ යුත්තේ දැන්වත් ආනයනික බීජ සඳහා තහංචි පැනවිය යුතු බවයි අධික ලාභයට කොමිස් කුට්ටි වල ට වහ වැටී දෙශීය කෘෂිකර්ම විනාශ කරලීමට කිසිවකුටත් ඉඩ නොතැබිය යුතුය.එසේම නැවතත් කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතුව තිබෙන ගොවිපළවල් භාවිතා කරමින් බීජ නිෂ්පාදනය සිදු කරලීමට උනන්දු කරලිය යුතුය.විදෙස් සේනා දළඹු සේනා මෙන්ම ඊනියා සමාගම් සේනා ද රටේ ස්වාධීනත්වය ට හැනි කරන බව අප දැන්වත් තේරුම් ගත යුතුය.

Sri Lanka News

2018 නොවැම්බර් මස 09 වන දිනැති අංක 2096/70 දරන අතිවිශේෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රය මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු විසුරුවීමට අදාල ජනාධිපති විසින් නිකුත් කළ ගැසට් නිවේදනය 2018.12.13 දින ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය අවලංගු කරමින් ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් නඩු තීන්දු ලබා දී ඇති අතර එකී ගැසට් නිවේදනය නීතියට පටහැනි බව දක්වමින් සහන අයද නීතිඥ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන විසින් ද 2018.11.12 දින සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් පෙත්සමක් ගොනු කර තිබූ අතර එකී පෙත්සම2019.01.10 දින නඩු තීන්දුවල සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් වන පරිවර්තන ලබා ගැනීමට කරුණු තහවුරු කිරීමට ප්‍රියන්ත ජයවර්ධන සහ විජිත මලල්ගොඩ සහ මෘදු ප්‍රනාන්දු විනිසුරුවරු ඉදිරියේ කැදවා ඇත.

ඒ අවස්ථාවේ විජිත මලල්ගොඩ විනිසුරු නීතිඥවරයා වෙත දෝෂාරෝපනය කරමින් සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ඔහු තීන්දුවල පිටපත් නිතරම ඉල්ලා සිටින බවත්, ඔහු හිගන්නාගේ තුවාලය මෙන් කටයුතු කරන බවත්, සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් පරිවර්තන ඉල්ලීම අධිකරණය අපහසුතාවයට පත් කිරීමක් බවත්, මේ ආකාරයට ගියොත් දෙමළ භාෂාවෙන්ද පිටපත් ඉල්ලිය හැකි බවත් එම විනිසුරුවරයා අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ සිටියදී සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් නඩු තීන්දු ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කළද අසාර්ථක වූ බවත් ඇතුළුව ප්‍රකාශ කරමින් විවෘත අධිකරණයේ දී නීතිඥවරයාව අපහසුතාවයට සහ අවමානයට පත්කර ඇති අතර ඒ සම්බන්ධව එකී නීතිඥවරයා ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන,කථානායක ඇතුළු ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාවේ සාමාජිකයන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට, රාජ්‍ය භාෂා කොමිසමට සහ නීතිපතිවරයාට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යස්ථාවේ 35 , 17 සහ 126 ව්‍යවස්ථා යටතේ සහන ලබා ගන්නා බව දන්වා ඇත.

එම පැමිණිල්ල පහත දැක්වේ….

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Bank of Ceylon has always been the icon of stability for the banking industry in Sri Lanka. Having been the first state commercial bank in the country, BOC has fulfilled its role continuously evolving to cater to the changing needs of customers.

Few of us who have worked in Ship Building Industry wanted to do something for the country after retirement .We developed a shipyard which creates   not only employment to the youth but also generates much needed foreign income .

Our company uses skilled labour of another subsidiary of the owning company .This month subsidiary deposited the salaries of the workers in the bank of Ceylon account .With the difficult conditions in the country ,where many companies are finding difficult to service their loans and pay their workers , .we managed to generate income to remunerate the workers .

Moneys were deposited with the list of account holders who are the  workers are expecting the bank to transfer to each work as per list given to the bank.

The company has some loans to pay to the bank which we need to service in stages .Bank of Ceylon confiscated the money deposited in the account claiming that another blue ship company has filed action in the Courts to claim some overdue amounts .Trick used by the lawyers was to file action to impose a ruling by the courts to liquidate the company and get  the dues .

Advertisement was placed in the national papers by blue chip Company informing the public about their claim requesting any other claimant to come forward. It was not published by the courts but by a private entity.

Bank of Ceylon immediately stopped payment of salaries of the workers and informed the company that account will be frozen unless the loans are paid.

Workers are getting agitated due to none payment of salaries

Labour Department was contacted, which confirmed that Bank may take some other action like filing court action to claim the overdraft but they have no right to stop salaries of the workers.

Advertisement placed by the blue chip company was meant to pressurise the company to pay the dues but not to shut the company down.

Bank of Ceylon being the Bankers of the Nation should help  the wellbeing of the people of this country and help the industries rather than initiating such in inhuman actions.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

January 15, 2019, 9:41 pm

Sri Lanka is under fire for naming Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva as the Chief of Staff of the Army. Various interested parties stepped up attacks on Sri Lanka in the wake of the Gajaba veteran, the wartime General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the 58 Division, receiving the due recognition.

President Maithripala Sirisena elevated the officer on January 10, 2019.

Early last year, Sri Lanka earned the wrath of Yasmin Sooka, a member of three-member UN panel that blamed Sri Lanka for the deaths of over 40,000 civilians, for naming Silva as the Adjutant General.

Sooka, in her capacity as the Executive Director of South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), flayed the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government over Silva’s appointment.

Maj. Gen Silva had been the GoC, 53 Division at the time he received the 2018 appointment.

In a Johannesburg datelined statement, Sooka, who had been a member of UNSG Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka, alleged that the appointment, made immediately after the conclusion of the 34th session of UNHRC, ‘is an outrage and shows the Government is not serious about accountability or security sector reform.’

SOOKA LEADS ATTACK

Calling the Gajaba Regiment veteran a war criminal, Sooka referred to the celebrated 58 Division (Task Force I) as a notorious fighting formation on the basis of the controversial UNSG Panel of Experts’ report on Accountability in Sri Lanka (March 31, 2011) and the report of the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL report / released on Sept. 16, 2015).

Sooka led the attack on the new Army Chief of Staff, with other foreign-funded agents, too, throwing their weight behind the latest project. The UK headquartered Global Tamil Forum (GTF), while condemning the appointment, urged the international community to take appropriate action in respect of the Sri Lankan government.

Under Silva’s command, the 58 Division achieved what no other fighting formation did during the entire Eelam war, though it would never have been the case if other formations and support services failed. At the end of the war, the political and military leadership found it difficult to share the glory.

Even a decade after the end of the conflict, Sri Lanka is mired in controversy over the conduct of her armed forces.

The Island last year dealt with the circumstances under which Gajaba veteran and Maj. Gen. Silva’s colleague, Chagie Gallage retired. “Gajaba was engraved in golden letters on the annals of the history of the Sri Lanka Army, if not in the history of Sri Lanka … and I’m certain it will never be reversed by any.

“So, I’m happy to be retired being a tiny particle of that proud chapter of the history, though designated as a ‘War Criminal.”

Gallage is the first officer to make such a declaration, regardless of the consequences. Even after Gallage highlighted the plight of those who held command appointments, the government did nothing, absolutely nothing at least to examine the crisis.

Now, it’s Maj. Gen. Silva’s turn to face stepped up attacks. With the next Geneva sessions, scheduled for March, 2019, the Army Chief of Staff can expect a major propaganda offensive, directed at Sri Lanka, at his expense.

Maithripala Sirisena’s tenure as the President should be examined against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s failure in Geneva.

SLFP spokesman Mahinda Samarasinghe, on January 09, 2019, faulted the then Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera for co-sponsoring the hotly disputed Geneva Resolution 30/1 titled ‘Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka’ much to the disappointment of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Although, Samarasinghe conveniently refrained from naming UNPer Samaraweera, the reference as regards Geneva Resolution was clearly directed at the former Foreign Minister.

Samarasinghe dealt with the issue at a media briefing at SLFP headquarters, especially called to explain President Sirisena’s four years (January 09, 2015 to January 09, 2019) Office. The National List MP Samarasinghe discussed the contentious accountability issue at the onset of the briefing, his first since he lost the Ports and Shipping portfolios on Dec 20, 2018 in the wake of the UPFA quitting the UNP-led government.

Recollecting his role as wartime President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s human rights envoy, Samarasinghe declared that President Sirisena strongly opposed the Geneva Resolution 30/1 meant to set up a hybrid war crimes mechanism, comprising foreign and local judges. Samarasinghe called the accountability issue the biggest major challenge faced by President Sirisena.

A decade after the successful conclusion of the war, on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon, the accountability issues remained a formidable challenge with a section of the international community pushing Sri Lanka to adopt a new Constitution or introduce far reaching constitutional reforms meant to abolish Sri Lanka’s unitary status.

The Geneva Resolution, adopted on Oct 01, 2015, on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, is the basis for the division of the country on ethnic lines.

Although President Sirisena, on several occasions, vowed not to allow foreign judges in an accountability mechanism, the UNP-led United National Front (UNF) government did absolutely nothing to counter the despicable Geneva project, though Sri Lanka received credible evidence to disprove accusations.

RESPONSIBILITY OF MR GOVT.

The war-winning Rajapaksa administration, too, should accept the responsibility for the current situation as it neglected its responsibility. The top leadership owed an explanation as to why it refrained from building Sri Lanka’s Geneva defence on the basis of a declaration made by US Defence Adviser in Colombo Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith. in early June, 2011. The statement couldn’t have been made at a better a time for Sri Lanka, at that time struggling to cope up with UN accusations: (A) Sri Lanka ordered UN/INGOs to vacate Kilinochchi in September, 2008 to conduct ‘a war without witnesses’ (B) Vanni population denied medicine, food and other basic needs (C) Coordinated mortar/artillery/MBRL (multi-barrel rocket launchers) attacks on civilian population causing deaths of over 40,000 civilians. The UK’s Channel 4 News alleged that then Secretary Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and then Army Commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka executed the operation (D) Rape of combatants/civilians. Subsequently, the military was accused of abusing/raping men. (E) The use of cluster bombs

Samarasinghe, in spite of being Rajapaksa’s human rights envoy. never exploited the US statement made at the inaugural Defence Seminar 2011. In fact, the previous administration was determined not to explore ways and means of using the US statement. Having reported the controversial US statement exclusively, the writer, on several occasions. personally made representations to several officials, including the then Chief of Defence Staff General Jagath Jayasuriya and the then Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem regarding the urgent need to take remedial measures.

In response to a question regarding the alleged move by some LTTE cadres to surrender during the last few days of the war, the US official denied that possibility, thereby effectively contradicting those propagating the story that security forces massacred surrendering persons. The US official was responding to a query posed by retired Indian Maj. General Ashok Metha. (Metha served in Sri Lanka during the deployment of the Indian Army in the late ‘80s in accordance with the Indo-Lanka accord). The Island exclusive on the US official’s reaction was ignored by the GoSL. It would be pertinent to mention the Indian’s question was posed to the wartime General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the celebrated 58 Division, Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva.

This is what Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith had to say.: “Hello, may I say something to a couple of questions raised. I’ve been the defence attache here, at the US Embassy, since June 2008. Regarding the various versions of events that came out in the final hours and days of the conflict, from what I was privileged to hear and to see, the offers to surrender, that I am aware of, seemed to come from the mouthpieces of the LTTE – Nadesan, KP – people who weren’t and never had really demonstrated any control over the leadership or the combat power of the LTTE.

“So their offers were a bit suspect, anyway, and they tended to vary in content, hour by hour, day by day. I think we need to examine the credibility of those offers before we leap to conclusions that such offers were in fact real.

“And I think the same is true for the version of events. It’s not so uncommon, in combat operations, in the fog of war, as we all get our reports second, third and fourth hand from various commanders at various levels that the stories don’t seem to all quite match up.

“But I can say that the version presented here so far in this is what I heard as I was here during that time. And I think I better leave it at that before I get into trouble.”

The GoSL refrained from at least referring to the US statement. The GoSL, for some strange reason, ignored the INCREDIBLE statement made over two years after the LTTE’s defeat. As the senior Colombo-based US military official, he would have certainly had access to all relevant information and wouldn’t have responded that way if he was not sure of the actual situation.

The US State Department asserted that the US military officer hadn’t been at the Defence Seminar on an official capacity. The GoSL remained silent. The State Department NEVER contradicted the statement. Instead it disputed the military official’s right to make that statement.

Maj. Gen. Silva’s plight should be discussed, taking into consideration both negligence on Sri Lanka’s part as well as external factors. Let me reproduce verbatim what Zeid-Hussein stated in his June 28, 2016, address in Geneva, to pressure Sri Lanka into adopting a new Constitution:

= “Significant momentum has been achieved in the process of constitutional reform. On 10 March 2016, Parliament adopted a resolution establishing a constitutional assembly to draft and approve a new constitution or amendments by the end of 2016, which would then be put to a referendum in 2017. The drafting process has benefited from an inclusive public consultation process overseen by a Public Representations Committee that received submissions and held district level consultations in the first quarter of 2016.

= From a human rights perspective, the constitutional reform process presents an important opportunity to rectify structural deficiencies that contributed to human rights violations and abuses in the past and reinforce guarantees of non-recurrence. These could include a more comprehensive Bill of Rights, stronger institutional checks and balances, enhanced constitutional review, improved guarantees for the independence of the judiciary, effective individual complaints mechanisms and greater direct enforceability of international human rights treaty. Also, as demonstrated by other countries’ experience, is the strengthening of civilian oversight over the military in the form of multiple oversight and accountability mechanisms over defence policy, discipline and promotion, budgeting and procurement. The new Constitution will also be important in facilitating the establishment of the transitional justice mechanisms envisaged by the Government, for instance the criminalization of international crimes in national law or allowing for the involvement of international judicial personnel. At the same time, the High Commissioner hopes that the political process of adopting constitutional changes will not involve tradeoffs and compromises on core issues of accountability, transitional justice and human rights.”

Collective failure of political party system

Sri Lanka created history by becoming the first country co-sponsoring a resolution against itself in spite of it being severely inimical to its interests. The entire process leading to the 2015 October Resolution was based on unproved allegations whereas US statement that cleared the country of such accusations were ignored. The Resolution paved the way for a new Constitution, in addition to the implementation of four specific measures meant to address accountability issues, namely (1) a judicial mechanism with a Special Counsel to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international human rights law (2) A Commission for truth, justice, reconciliation and non-recurrence (3) An Office for Missing Persons (OMP) and finally (4) An Office for Reparations.

Those seeking to haul Sri Lanka before hybrid accountability mechanism exploited Sri Lanka’s failure to pursue their objective. The writer firmly believes the issue at hand is not foreign judges in an accountability mechanism but Sri Lanka’s deliberate failure, since the end of war to-date, to present all relevant facts before Geneva. Western powers and the civil society shouldn’t be blamed for the failure on the part of the corrupt political parties to defend the country.

The SLFP spokesman conveniently ignored the fact that in March 2017, Sri Lanka asked for and obtained two years more to fully implement the October 2015 Geneva Resolution. The SLFP cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for taking it up with the UNP, thereby allowing the Geneva process to continue.

The SLFP also turned a blind eye to the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTFRM) in January 2017 calling for full participation of foreign judges, and other personnel, including defence lawyers, prosecutors and investigators, in transitional justice mechanism to address accountability issues.

Having repeatedly assured the country that the change of government, in January, 2015, had ended the likelihood of foreign participation in proposed war crimes inquiry, the government struggled to cope up with a report released by CTFRM, headed by attorney-at-law, Mrs Manouri Muttetuwegama.

The eleven-member committee stressed that foreign participation was required as those who had suffered during the conflict had no faith in local judiciary, which lacked expertise to undertake such a task. They endorsed Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein declaration made in Colombo, in February, 2016, that the judiciary here was incapable of undertaking the process. The Jordanian questioned the integrity of the local judiciary.

The CTFRM comprised Muttetuwegama, Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Gamini Viyangoda, Prof. Sitralega Maunaguru, Dr Farzana Haniffa, Mirak Raheem, Prof. Gameela Samarasinghe, Visaka Dharmadasa, Shantha Abhimanasingham, PC, K.W. Janaranjana and Prof. Daya Somasundaram.

Sri Lanka also ignored invaluable representations made by Lord Naseby in Oct, 2017, in the House of Commons on behalf of Sri Lanka on the basis of wartime British High Commission dispatches (January-May 2009). Sri Lanka turned a Nelsonian-eye to the highly respected Briton’s assertion that the number of dead couldn’t have exceeded 8,000 and one fourth of them were LTTE cadres. Foreign Ministry initially dismissed Lord Naseby’s move. The British High Commission in Colombo, too, adopted a similar stand.

Former Ministers, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Sarath Fonseka and Mahinda Samarasinghe in response to queries raised by this writer, at separate press conferences, admitted that cabinet never discussed how Lord Naseby’s revelation could be used to our advantage. While The Island took up the issue with Jayasekera at a post-cabinet media briefing in Nov. 2017 several weeks after Lord Naseby revelation, Fonseka and Samarasinghe were confronted at the Sustainable Development, Wildlife and Regional Development and SLFP Office, T.B. Jayah Mawatha, respectively.

The war-winning Army Chief admitted that there hadn’t been any Cabinet discussion on how Sri Lanka should respond to Geneva allegations of war crimes against the country. (SF: Cabinet never discussed how to counter war crimes allegations with strap-line…responds to PM’s 2030 leadership change move, The Island, Sept 8, 2018).

Mahinda Samarasinghe acknowledged that Sri Lanka’s decision to co-sponsor the Geneva Resolution 30/1 in Oct 2015 hadn’t been discussed by the Cabinet of Ministers nor the Lord Naseby’s revelation (Cabinet never discussed 2009, 2015 Geneva Resolutions – MS, The Island, Aug 18, 2018).

Jayasekera said that a statement made by Lord Naseby in the House of Lords would be used by the government appropriately at the right time, though the Cabinet was yet to discuss it. Jayasekera asserted that there were far more important issues than Geneva while accusing the writer of raising an unnecessary issue (War crimes: Cabinet spokesman provoked by query on govt. response to Naseby move, The Island, Nov 16, 2018)

One-time Attorney General and Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana, PC, in spite of promising parliament in late Nov 2017 to use the Naseby disclosure at the appropriate time and the venue, never kept the promise. This assurance, given in response to a query raised by the Joint Opposition, is yet to be fulfilled.

Had Sri Lanka properly used Lord Naseby’s disclosure obtained from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) following an intervention made by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office in terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 along with US Defence advisor’s declaration made in June 2011, the Geneva lie could have been countered.

It would be important to know Lord Naseby made his request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on Nov 06, 2014 though the required information was denied on the basis of false claim public disclosure would undermine their relations with Sri Lanka whereas the actual situation was other way around.

Can anyone dare to name a country that deliberately denied its armed forces an opportunity to clear their name?

(To be continued on January 23, 2019)

By Cyril Wimalasurendra Courtesy The Island

The government must strive to solve the economic problems the people were faced with instead of trying to introduce a new Constitution, Mahanayakes of the Asgiri and Malwatta Chapters told State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene yesterday.

The minister visited the Chief Prelate of the Asgiri Chapter, Most Ven Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana There and the Chief Prelate of the Malwatta Chapter, Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddartha Sumangala Thera, yesterday.

The two prelates told the minister that the cost of living was increasing and that the government must do everything in its power to reduce the economic burden of the people. The crime rate was also high, they said.

Most Ven. Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thera criticised the government for attempting to bring in a new Constitution by February 04 amidst opposition to its move.

 By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, January 14: Political consensus is likely to elude Sri Lanka’s draft constitution, given three factors currently at play.

The first factor is the hostility of President Maithripala Sirisena and the Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa to the draft, though only the latter has come out publicly against it so far.

Both Sirisena and Rajapaksa want the Executive Presidency to continue, if not made stronger. But the draft constitution wants the abolition of the Executive Presidency in favor of the Westminster system with the Prime Minister at the helm.

On the matter of Executive Presidency, Sirisena and Rajapaksa speak from experience. While Rajapaksa had derived the fullest benefit from the Executive Presidency in his nine years in power, Sirisena is beginning to savor it and enjoy it. He is asking for more.

Both also want powers devolved to the provinces to be kept to the minimum with a watered-down 13 th.Amendment being the outer limit for devolution of power.

The draft constitution envisages devolution of power over State Land and the separation of provincial police from the national police. But Rajapaksa has dubbed this scheme a blue print for the dismemberment of Sri Lanka. It will divide the country into nine semi-independent units” he has charged.

The second factor militating against the emergence of a consensus is the indeterminate stance of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He is non-committal and dodgy, indicating that his final decision will be based on political expediency.

The third factor is that Sri Lanka is now in the threshold of multiple elections, provincial, Presidential and parliamentary. In that context, it is highly unlikely that the ruling party, which is currently the United National Party (UNP) headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, will push for any controversial measure like a new constitution which envisages sweeping changes in the State structure and in the distribution of power between the Center and the provinces.

Abolition of Executive Presidency

The Constitutional Expert Committee’s report, which was tabled in parliament on Friday abolishes the powerful Executive Presidency and replaces it by a Westminster style parliamentary system with a powerful Prime Minister and a ceremonial President.

As per the report, which can be described as the draft constitution”, the President will cease to be directly elected by the people and will instead be jointly elected by a bi-cameral legislature comprising a 233 member Parliament” and a 55 member Second Chamber”. The President will be elected by a majority of the whole membership of the two Houses.

This will make a huge difference to the moral authority of the President. Presently, the President enjoys an enormous sense of power because he is the only occupant of a high Sri Lankan office who is elected directly by the entire voting population of Sri Lanka. Others come through smaller constituencies (and also through parliament as in the case of the Prime Minister).

Thus, a directly elected President can legitimately claim that he is the quintessential repository of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. An indirectly elected President can make no such claims.

Under the new draft constitution, the President loses his power to choose the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers. He has to appoint as Prime Minister, not anyone who he imagines may have majority support in parliament, but one who indubitably enjoys it. The President will have to appoint ministers only on the Prime Minister’s advice. He will lose the power to allocate departments to ministries without the Prime Minister’s assent.

Unlike now, the President will not be Head of Government, take Ministerial portfolios, and chair the cabinet. He will only be Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. But every action of his as C-in-C, will be subject to the advice of the PM.

The President will lose the right to dissolve parliament on his own volition. Parliament can be dissolved before its five year term only when the House itself passes a resolution seeking dissolution with a two third majority of its entire membership.

The Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers cannot be dismissed at will. The PM and cabinet will go only when they lose the confidence of the House in a Vote of No Confidence or when the annual budget gets defeated in the third attempt in the first two years, and in two attempts after two years.

The President will cease to have discretion over the grant of pardon. This function will be exercised by the Prime Minister and a judicial committee and the President will only be rubber stamping the decisions.

The President can be removed for mental and physical disability by a committee comprising the Speaker, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition. He can be removed also by a parliamentary resolution backed by a two thirds majority in both the Houses.

After election, the President is expected to sever all links with any political party and function in a non-partisan manner. This is a major departure from the present constitution under which the President can be chairman of his party.

To meet the demand for provincial autonomy, the new constitution vests power over State Land in both the central and the provincial governments with the condition that land use is carried out as per the rules of the National Land Commission. But the commission’s policies should be shaped in consultation with all provincial councils.

The provinces will also have their own police forces headed by officers of the rank of Deputy Inspector General. There will be separate National and Provincial Police Commissions to make appointments, transfers and promotions at the national and at the provincial levels.

The new constitution introduces a Second Chamber to the national legislature. The lower and larger chamber called parliament” will have 233 members elected for a five year term. Out of these, 140 will be elected from single-member constituencies and the rest will be elected on a provincial basis.

There will be a Second Chamber of 55 members, for which members will be elected by parliament and the provincial councils. The Second Chamber will be there not to block bills passed by parliament, but to have a second look and give suggestions for improvement. In drafting bills, parliament will be expected to give due consideration to the view expressed by the Second Chamber.

The draft constitution has described Sri Lanka as Ekiya Rajya” in Sinhala and Orumittha Nadu” in Tamil which mean a United Country”. The experts had avoided labeling the constitution as either unitary” or federal” given the strong feelings for and against these two concepts.

It has retained the foremost place” given to Buddhism in the country while guaranteeing freedom to practice other religions.In a departure from other constitutions, it guarantees individual and family privacy and has stated that gender and sexual orientations will not be a bar to public employment.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told parliament while tabling the draft constitution, that what has been made available is only a draft. Members have also been given summaries of all the views expressed in the six sub- committees, he pointed out. He appealed to the members to study the drafts and the views expressed and come to a consensus on each and every aspect of the constitution.

(The image at the top shows Ranil Wickremesinghe, Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa)

Courtesy straitstimes

COLOMBO (REUTERS) – Sri Lanka is considering an offer from Bank of China for a loan of US$300 million (S$406 million), which could be raised to US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion), to help it meet repayments in coming months, junior finance minister Eran Wickramaratne told Reuters on Tuesday (Jan 15).

He also confirmed that Sri Lanka had started negotiations to increase the amount of a swap deal with India’s central bank to US$1 billion, up from a previously negotiated US$400 million.

A series of credit rating downgrades amid a political crisis have made it harder for Sri Lanka to borrow as it faces record high repayments of US$5.9 billion this year, US$2.6 billion of which fall due in the first three months.

“A government subcommittee will assess and negotiate on the tenure, size, and the price of this loan (with Bank of China). The cost of political crisis is high.” Investor confidence took a hit when President Maithripala Sirisena abruptly sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in October and replaced him with pro-China former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and dissolved parliament.

Sri Lanka’s top court then ruled the dissolution of parliament illegal and Wickremesinghe was restored to power in December – but the seven-week-long crisis hurt the rupee and drove sovereign bond yields higher, straining state finances.

As of the end of 2018, nearly a quarter of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt was owed to China, which has lent some US$8 billion while building ports and highways and planning other major investments in the island state as part of its drive to build a 21st century ‘Silk Road’ across nations and shipping lanes.

Calls to the Bank of China in Colombo went unanswered.

A source with knowledge of the Bank of China offer told Reuters earlier on Tuesday that Sri Lanka’s cabinet had already asked Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera to negotiate the loan, which has been offered at 6-month Libor plus 260 basis points (Libor is a benchmark lending rate between banks). It has to be repaid within three years, the source said.

The 6-month Libor was at 2.865 per cent on Tuesday.

Courtesy the conversation.com

The history of the spice trade conjures up exotic images of caravans plying the Silk Road in storied antiquity as well as warfare between European powers vying for control of what, pound for pound, were among the most valuable commodities in the known world.

One of the most valuable of the spices was clove – the versatile immature bud of the evergreen clove tree (Syzygium aromaticum) which is native to the Maluku Islands or the Moluccas in the Indonesian Archipelago. Prized for its flavour and aroma, and also for its medicinal qualities, clove quickly became important for its use as a breath freshener, perfume and food flavouring.

We believe we might have found the oldest clove in the world at an excavation in Sri Lanka, from an ancient port which dates back to around 200BC. This port, Mantai, was one of the most important ports of medieval Sri Lanka and drew trade from across the ancient world. Not only that, but we also found evidence for black pepper (Piper nigrum), another high-value low-bulk product of the ancient spice trade.

Ancient history

Western knowledge of Sri Lanka dates back to at least 77AD, when the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder wrote about the island as Taprobane in his famous Natural History. This is the earliest existing text which mentions Sri Lanka, however Pliny states that the ancient Greeks (and Alexander the Great) had long known about it.

Sri Lanka, wrote Pliny is more productive of gold and pearls of great size than even India”, as well as having elephants … larger, and better adapted for warfare than those of India”. Fruits were abundant and the people had more wealth than the Romans – as well as living to 100 years old. No wonder then, that ancient Sri Lanka drew trade ships not only from the Roman world, but also from Arabia, India and China.

Decades of archaeological exploration has sought to uncover evidence for the rich kingdoms of ancient Sri Lanka. Mantai (also written as Manthai and known as Manthottam/Manthota), on the northern tip of the island, was one of the port settlements of the Anuradhapura Kingdom (377BC to 1017AD) and has been recently radiocarbon dated to between about 200BC and 1400AD.

Today, the site is barely visible from the ground – but it is still an important location with Thirukketheesvaram temple sitting in the centre of the ancient settlement. From the air, the defensive ditch and banks of ancient Mantai can be seen covered in trees, as can the area where the defences were cut away to build the modern road.

The site was excavated in the 1980s – during three seasons of excavation an amazing array of artefacts were uncovered, including semiprecious stone beads and ceramics from India, Arabia, the Mediterranean and China. But in 1983 Sri Lanka’s civil war broke out, bringing an end to archaeological exploration in the Northern Province, as well as many other areas of the island. Unfortunately, many of the records related to this archaeological work became lost or were destroyed, including detailed stratigraphic information of how the layers of soil excavated related to one another, which would have been used to identify how and when the site developed, prospered and came to an end.

Mantai revisited

In 2009-2010, after the end of the civil war, a multinational team of researchers went back to Mantai and began new excavations. Work was jointly carried out by the Sri Lankan Department of Archaeology, SEALINKS and the UCL Institute of Archaeology. This project aimed to collect as much evidence from these excavations as possible, including fully quantified and systematically collected archaeobotanical (preserved plant) remains. The plants remains recovered include some of the most exciting finds from the site. Crucially, these include what were incredibly valuable spices at the time when they were deposited at the site: black pepper and cloves.

Only a handful of cloves have previously been recovered from archaeological sites, including these from France, for example – other archaeological evidence for cloves, such as pollen from cess pits in the Netherlands, only dates from 1500AD onwards – and there are no examples from South Asia.

Earlier finds of clove have been reported from Syria – but these have since largely been discredited as misidentifications. The clove from Mantai was found in a context dating to 900-1100AD, making this not only the oldest clove in Asia – but we think the oldest in the world.

We also found eight grains of black pepper at Mantai, plus a further nine badly preserved grains that we think are probably black pepper too. The earliest are dated to around 600AD, the time when international maritime trade became increasingly large and well established across Asia, Africa and Europe.

Spice wars

Clove was one of the rarest and most expensive spices in the Roman and Medieval world. It was not grown in Sri Lanka, but came from the Maluku Islands of South-East Asia (some 7,000km away by sea) for trade onwards to Europe, China or one of the other many regions that traded with Mantai.

Black pepper was also traded along these routes, and was most likely grown and harvested in the Western Ghats of India. Although less rare and valuable than clove, it was still known as black gold” on account of its value in the Early Modern Period from 1500AD to about 1800AD.

From the 16th century, Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) was colonised by various European powers, from the Portuguese (1500s-1600s) to the Dutch (1600s-late 1700s) to the British (late 1700s-1948). They were all drawn by the island’s profitable trade in spices – although the British turned the fledgling coffee industry there into an incredibly lucrative tea trade which is still important to the island’s economy to this day.

But, whether or not the cloves we unearthed at Mantai turn out to be the oldest in existence, the presence of the spice at this 2,000-year-old site is solid evidence of the ancient spice trade that existed long before these wars of conquest.

By GEORGE MARTIN Courtesy MAILONLINE

• Jon Lewin, 36, reportedly suffered a seizure while he was out surfing in Sri Lanka
• Three Scandinavian doctors were by chance also present but failed to save Jon 
• His girlfriend Immy Clifton paid tribute to the photojournalist after his death 

PUBLISHED: 17:02, 15 January 2019 | UPDATED: 17:15, 15 January 2019

A British photographer and travel writer described as an ‘inspiration’ who ‘touched so many people’s lives’ has died while surfing off the coast of Sri Lanka.

Jon Lewin, 36, is believed to have suffered a seizure in the water while on holiday and doctors were unable to revive him.

His devastated girlfriend Immy Clifton, who he was on holiday with, paid tribute to ‘soulmate’ Jon in a heartbreaking Facebook post.

Mr Lewin’s best friend Charlie died surfing in 2004 – and Ms Clifton says they have been reunited in the afterlife.

Jon Lewin, 36, is believed to have suffered a seizure in the water while on holiday in Sri Lanka on Sunday last week

The couple were joined by Mr Lewin’s best friends from the UK – and the group woke at 5am for an early surf.

Mr Lewin, a long-term sufferer of seizures, disappeared under water and failed to resurface two hours later.

The ‘free spirit’ grew up in Long Clawson, Leicestershire, before studying photojournalism at Swansea University.

He also wrote a travel cookbook titled The Locals’ Kitchen.

Three Scandinavian doctors were by chance also present but failed to save Mr Lewin.

She said: ‘They didn’t know anything was wrong until they noticed his surfboard floating in the water.

His devastated partner Immy Clifton, who he was on holiday with, posted an update after his death

‘Everyone swam over to it and when they got there, felt that he was still attached to the leash.

‘Incredibly there were also three super efficient Scandinavian doctors in the water.

‘They were apparently amazing with him. Everything that could have been done was done but, it wasn’t meant to be.

 

‘It is presumed that he had a seizure, as he had no injuries, he knows the water so well and the waves were not that big.’

Immy added that she is ‘absolutely devastated’ and said ‘words can’t even describe the hole I feel through my heart physically and emotionally.

She said: ‘He died in the water (where he’d always said he wanted to die) doing something that he loved so much. He was in such a happy place in his life.

According to girlfriend Immy Mr Lewin’s best friend Charlie also died while out surfing in 2004

‘If it was a seizure (most probable) then he would’ve instantly blacked out and it would have been painless.

‘He had said to me before that he never remembered his seizures or felt them coming on so his last moments on this earth would have been surfing a wave in his absolute element, loving life.

‘Although at this moment I can’t imagine life without him, his wise words are still ringing in my ears.

‘He knew death and grief intimately and said that his mum and best friend dying, at such young ages, spurred him on to live life to the absolute fullest, don’t waste precious time, make the most of every moment and make your dreams and passions a reality.

‘Be open and honest and full of love as you never know what’s around the corner.

Immy Clifton and Jon Lewin embarking on their trip to Sri Lanka. His body will be cremated in Sri Lanka and his ashes spread across his two favourite beaches

‘Always look for the positive in life and the lessons. When things like this happen it’s so hard to but I know that’s what he would’ve wanted.

‘He had so much love for everyone in his life and inspired and connected with anyone that was lucky enough to cross his path.

‘He had such a simple and positive outlook on life. That’s why I called him Pooh bear (Winnie the Pooh).

‘I really feel that he was my soulmate and although we weren’t together as long as we wanted, he will always be with me and everyone else who shared love with him.

‘I hope I meet him again in another lifetime but for now, he’s with his mum and his best friend Charlie.

‘Good luck on your journey my one. I hope we find each other again in another lifetime.

Mr Lewin will be cremated in Sri Lanka and his ashes spread across his two favourite beaches.

He will then be carried home where the rest of his ashes will be laid in places close to his heart.

Jon Lewin pictured surfing in Sri Lanka was said to have had no injuries when he was pulled from the water – leading authorities to believe he had a seizure

IMF Communications Department MEDIA RELATIONS

January 15, 2019

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), met today with Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy.

Following the meeting, Ms. Lagarde made the following statement:

I was pleased to meet with Minister Samaraweera and Governor Coomaraswamy this afternoon. We discussed the challenging economic environment and the policy priorities for the country. The authorities stressed Sri Lanka’s continued commitment to their economic reform agenda under the IMF-supported program.

We agreed that a strong policy mix, with effective implementation of that agenda, is key to strengthening confidence, while putting Sri Lanka on a sustainable, high-quality growth path that would benefit its people.

The IMF remains ready to support the Sri Lankan authorities in these endeavors and an IMF team is scheduled to visit Colombo in mid-February to resume program discussions.”

ඉෂාරා සිල්වා උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ඊනියා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා වැඩපිළිවෙළට නිර්භීතව ඉදිරිපත් වන සංඝරත්නය, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රිවරුන්, මාධ්‍ය හා වෘත්තීය සමිති විවිධ උපක්‍රම හරහා නිශ්ශබ්ද කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරන බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය ජී.එල්. පීරිස් මහතා පවසයි.

දමිළ සන්ධානයට ණය ගෙවන්න රට උකස් තියන්න තමන් ඉඩ නොදෙන බවත් මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වා සුජාත භාවය ලබාගෙන මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථා වැඩපිළිවෙළ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නේ නම් කිසිදු ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැති බවත් ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

ඊයේ (14දා) බත්තරමුල්ල නෙලුම් මාවතේ පැවැති ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ මාධ්‍ය හමුවට එක්වෙමින් ඒ මහතා මෙසේද කීය.

ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රමුඛම අරමුණක් විදියට පෙබරවාරි 04ට පෙර නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරනවාලු. ඊට පෙර වාර්තා පහක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළා. ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ මේ වැඩපිළිවෙළට සහමුලින්ම විරුද්ධයි. මේක නැති ප්‍රශ්න ඇති කරන දෙයක්.

සිකුරාදා මේ වාර්තා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ අවස්ථාවේ එජාපයේ මන්ත්‍රිවරු කිව්වා මේ ගැන ඔවුන්ට වැටහීමක් නැති බව. විශේෂයෙන් ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු කියන දේ ගැන පැහැදිලි කරන්න කිව්වා. අපි දන්නේ නැති අධ්‍යයනය කරලා නැති දෙයකට ඡන්දයක් දෙන්න බැරි බව හෘද සාක්‍ෂියක් ඇති මන්ත්‍රිවරුන් කිව්වා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු ස්ථාවර නියෝගවලටත් පටහැනිවයි මේ දෙය කළේ. මේ ලියවිලි හදාරලා එහි හරය අවබෝධ කරගන්න අඩුම තරමේ දින තුනකට කලින්වත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දැනුම්දීමක් කළ යුතුයි. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය මේ ගැන කිව්වත් නොසලකා හැරියා. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැක්කේ මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ වාර්තාවක් පමණක් වුවත් මොකක්ද ඉදිරිපත් කළේ. ඉදිරිපත් කළා කියන්නේ විද්වත් කමිටුවේ වාර්තාවක්. මේ නිසා නීතියට හා සම්ප්‍රදායට පටහැනි දෙයක් සිදුවුණේ. විද්වත් කමිටුවත් ප්‍රධාන කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් එකඟතාවකින් තොරවයි මේ වාර්තා ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රිවරුන් මෙයට එතරම් උදේ‍යාගයක් නැහැ.

පෙබරවාරි 04ට කලින් මේක පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට අනිවාර්යයෙන් ගේන බවයි අගමැති කියන්නේ. දමිළ සන්ධානයයි මේ ආණ්ඩුවට ඔක්සිජන් දෙන්නේ. දමිළ සන්ධානය ආණ්ඩුවට සහාය දෙන්නේ නැහැ කිව්වොත්, හෙට උදේ වෙද්දී මේ ආණ්ඩුව කඩා වැටිලා ඉවරයි. අගමැතිතුමා ආරක්‍ෂා කරන්න දමිළ සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රිවරු 14ක් තීරණයක් ගත්තා.

අය-වැය ලේඛනය පරාජය වුණොත් ආණ්ඩුවක් නැහැ. පරාජය වුණොත් කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය විසුරුවා හැරියා ලෙස සලකනවා. දෙමළ සන්ධානයේ 14 දෙනා නැතිව අය-වැය සම්මත වෙන්නේ නැහැ. ආණ්ඩුව යැපෙන්නේ දෙමළ සන්ධානය මතයි. මේ නිසා කැමැත්තෙන් හෝ අකැමැත්තෙන් දෙමළ සන්ධානය එක්ක ඉන්න වෙනවා. ඇත්තටම මේ රට පාලනය කරන්නේ සුමන්තිරන්ද? වික්‍රමසිංහද? එජාපයද? දෙමළ සන්ධානයද? ජනතා මතය උරගා බැලූ පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයේදී ඡන්ද කොට්ඨාසවලින් 71%ක් මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ පොදුජන පෙරමුණට ලැබුණා. පරාජය වෙන බව දන්න නිසා එජාපය මැතිවරණය තියන්නේ නැහැ. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ කල් දාන්න බැරි එකම මැතිවරණය ජනාධිපතිවරණයයි. මේකත් කල් දාන්න උත්සාහ කරනවා. මින් මත්තට ජනාධිපති පත් කරන්නේ ජනතාව නෙවෙයි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කියලා යෝජනාවක් ඇවිත්. මෙහි එකම අරමුණ ජනාධිපතිවරණයත් කල් දාන්නයි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන: මේ වන විට රට තුළ ආගමික නායකයන්, විද්වතුන් අතර වගේම ජන සමාජය තුළ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතාබහක් ඇතිවෙලා තියෙනවා. මාධ්‍ය ආයතනවලට අපේ ගෞරවය, ස්තූතිය පුද කරනවා, ගේන්න හදන නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගැන ඇත්ත ඇති සැටියෙන් රට හමුවේ හෙළි කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන්. මේ නිසාම ඉදිරියේදී මාධ්‍ය ඉදිරියට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම මුහුණ වහගත්ත අයත් එන්න ඉඩ තියෙනවා.

අපේ පක්‍ෂයේ සභාපති ජී.එල්. පීරිස් ගියා මල්වතු පාර්ශ්වයේ අනුනායක හිමියන් බැහැදකින්න. උන්වහන්සේ කිව්වේ ජන මතයට පිටුපාමින් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙනඒම අවනම්බුවක් බවයි. ඒ වගේම අස්ගිරි පාර්ශ්වයේ අනුනායක හිමියන් කිව්වා, රටට අවශ්‍ය ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් නෙවෙයි ඡන්දයක් බව. තෛ්‍රනිකායික අනුනායක හිමියන්ගේ අදහස් මේ විදියටයි. ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් රටට ඕනේද නැද්ද කියන පණිවුඩය එන්න ඕනේ රටේ ජනතාවගෙන් මිස පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඉන්න කිහිප දෙනෙක් අතරින් නෙවෙයි.

සුමන්තිරන් මහත්තයාට දැන් ව්‍යවස්ථා නාට්‍යයේ අලුත් චරිතයක් භාර දීලා. සුමන්තිරන් උතුරට ඇරලා කියනවා සිංහල ජනතාවගේ ආදරය දිනාගන්න ඕනේ කියලා. සුමන්තිරන් මහත්තයෝ සිංහල ජනතාවගේ ආදරය දිනා ගන්න කලින් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ ආදරය දිනා ගන්න.

ජනාධිපතිවරණයට එද්දී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ හා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂය ඇතුළු එජාප විරෝධී කණ්ඩායම එකතු වෙනවා. 58%ක් ජනතාව ඉන්නේ මේ කඳවුරත් එක්ක. එජාපය එක්ක එකතු වෙන්නේ කවුද? වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයාගේ බාල සහෝදරයා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ අනුර මල්ලී, දෙමළ සන්ධානය. මේ අලි කොටි නරි ටික එකතු වුණාම 41%යි. ඊළඟ ජනාධිපතිවරණයට කුලුඳුල් ඡන්ද ලක්‍ෂ 14ක් එකතු වෙනවා. මේ ලක්‍ෂ 14 තීරණාත්මක සාධකයක් වනවා.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි ගාමිණී ලොකුගේ: අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ යෝජනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන අතරේ වැඩ කරන පන්තියේ නැඟීසිටීම වළක්වන්න වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයෝ දඩයම් කිරීමත් ආණ්ඩුව අරඹලා
ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය, වෘත්තීය අයිතීන් ගැන, නිදහස ගැන කතා කළාට ඒ දේවල් මේ ආණ්ඩුව අහිමි කරලා. අද ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ වෘත්තීය සමිති රටේ ප්‍රධාන වෘත්තීය සමිති වෙලා ඉන්නේ.

තෙල් සංස්ථාවේ සේවකයෙක් මියගියා. කෝලාහලය ඇරැඹුව කෙනා ඇප අරන් ගෙදර. බේරගත්ත කෙනා ඇප නැතිව හිරේ. දර්ශනවල කොටසයි ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. මුහුණු පොතේ තියෙන දර්ශන කිසිවක් අරන් නැහැ. ඒවා ගැන අධිකරණය සැලකිල්ලක් දක්වලා නැහැ. මෙහෙම අසාධාරණ නීතියක් රජ කරන රටකයි අපි ඉන්නේ.

දෙනගම ධම්මික රණවීර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

බුදු දහමට ප්‍රමුඛතාව දෙමින් ඒකීයභාවය ආරක්ෂා කරන්න කැමැති නම් එම වගන්ති වෙනස් කරමින් යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කොට තිබෙන්නේ ඇයි දැයි අගමැතිතුමා ප්‍රකාශ කළ යුතු යැයි පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි නීතිඥ උදය ගම්මන්පිල ප්‍රකාශ කෙළේය.

ඔහු එම අදහස් පළ කළේ ඊයේ (14දා) ජාතික හෙළ උරුමය පිටකෝට්ටේදී පැවැත්වූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදීය. එහිදී ගම්මන්පිල මහතා මෙසේද පැවැසීය.

පසුගිය 12 වැනිදා යාපනයේ පැවැති රැස්වීමකදී ඉලංකෙයි තමිල් අරසු පක්ෂ නායක මාවෙයි සේනාධිරාජා කිව්වා එ.ජා.ප. ආණ්ඩුවට අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල තීරණ ගැනීමට පෙර දෙමළ සන්ධානය සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කොට තීන්දු ගැනීමේ යාන්ත්‍රණයක් සකස් කරල තියෙනවා කියලා. ඒ වගේම එම්.ඒ. සුමන්තිරන් කියනවා උතුරු පළාත් සංවර්ධන විෂය අගමැතිතුමා භාර ගත්තේ අපේ ඉල්ලීමට බවත් උතුර සංවර්ධනය සිදුවෙන්නේ අපගේ අවශ්‍යතා මතයි කියලා. දෙමළ සන්ධානය ආණ්ඩුවේ තීරණ ගැනීමට සම්බන්ධ නම් එම සන්ධානය අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ආණ්ඩුවේ පාර්ශ්වකරුවෙක්.

එක් පැත්තකින් ඇමැති මණ්ඩලයේ තීරණ ගනිමින් අමාත්‍යාංශ මෙහෙයවමින් අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් විපක්ෂයේ වරප්‍රසාද ලබා ගන්න දෙමළ සන්ධානයට කිසිම අයිතියක් නැහැ.

ජාතික තෛපොංගල් උළෙලේදී අගමැතිතුමා ඉරිදා (13දා) කියනවා නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් පොලිසිය කැඩෙන බවට මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා කිරීම බොරුවක් කියලා. විද්වත් කමිටුවකින් හදපු බව කියමින් අගමැතිතුමා පසුගිය 11 වැනිදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාවට ඉදිරිපත් කරපු වාර්තාවේම තමයි ඒක තියෙන්නේ. එහි 185 වැනි පිටුවේ ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික පොලිසියෙන් සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා පළාත්බද පොලිසියෙන් සමන්විත වන්නේය’ කියල සඳහන් වෙනවා. ජාතික පොලිසියත් පළාත්බද පොලිසි 9ක් වශයෙන් තමයි පොලිසිය කොටස් 10කට කැඩෙන්නෙ.

එම වාර්තාවේ 259 ඡේදයේ සඳහන් වෙනවා ජාතික පොලිසියට විමර්ශන කළ හැක්කේ වැරැදි 15ක් පමණයි කියලා. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් පොලිසියට වැරැදි 300ක් ගැන විතර විමර්ශන කරන්න පුළුවන්. ඉතිරි විමර්ශන කරන්නේ පළාත් බද පොලිසිය කියලා 284 ඡේදයේ සඳහන් වෙනවා.

අගමැතිතුමා කතා කරන දේවලින් පෙනෙන්නේ එතුමා ඉදිරිපත් කළ වාර්තාව එතුමාවත් කියවා නැති බවක්. සුමන්තිරන් ලියා දෙන වාර්තා කියවන්න ගියොත් ඔබත් අපත් මවුබිමත් අලි අමාරුවක වැටෙනවා. ඒ වගේම සැබෑ අගමැති සුමන්තිරන් බවත් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ කියන්නේ සුමන්තිරන්ගේ ප්‍රකාශකයෙක් පමණක් බවත් ජනතාවට හැඟෙන්න ඉඩ තියෙනවා.

අද ලංකාවට කේරළ ගංජා ගෙන්වන්නේ උතුරු පළාතෙන් බව නොරහසක්. පසුගිය සතියේ පලෙයි පොලිසිය කේරළ ගංජා වැටලීමක් කළාම ඊට දමිල ජාතික සන්ධානය මැදිහත්වීමෙන් එම ජාවාරම පිටුපස ඉන්නේ ඔවුන් කියන එකත් රටටම පැහැදිලි වුණා. මෙහිදී මාධ්‍යවේදීන් විසින් අසන ලද ප්‍රශ්නවලට උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා මෙසේ පිළිතුරු දුන්නේය.

ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතක් නැහැ. යෝජනා පමණක් ඉදිරිපත් වී ඇති බව අගමැතිතුමා කරන ප්‍රකාශය ගැන කුමක්ද හිතන්නේ?

විද්වත් කමිටු වාර්තාවක් කියලනේ කියන්නේ. මේකේ කොතැනකවත් ඒ ගැන නමක් සඳහන් වෙන්නේ නැහැ. ඇයි හංගන්නේ. මේ වාර්තාවේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ තියෙන සියල්ල තියෙනවා. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා මණ්ඩලය පිහිටු වූ පාර්ලිමේන්තු යෝජනාවේ 17 වගන්තියේ තියෙනවා මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුව විසින් වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතුයි කියලා. ඒ වාර්තාව තමයි දැන් ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. මේ වාර්තාව අනුමත කරලා නීති කෙටුම්පත් ආයතනය වෙත යවලා කෙටුම්පත් කරනවා. ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ඇති මේකෙ නැති දෙයක් නැහැ.

මේ වාර්තාවට සංශෝධන ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැකිද?

බැහැ. දැන් මීළඟට තියෙන්නේ කෙටුම්පතක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම පමණයි. ඒකීය රාජ්‍යය සුරකින්න කැමැති නම් දැනට ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ සඳහන් ඒකීය යන වචනයේ දෙමළ වචනය වන ඔට්ටි්‍රආච්චි වෙනුවට ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු කියලා යොදන්නෙ ඇයි කියලා සුමන්තිරන් මන්ත්‍රිතුමා කිව යුතුයි.

ෆෙඩරල් ව්‍යවස්ථාවකට එකඟ නොවන බව චම්පික රණවක ඇමැතිතුමා කියනවා?

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයට අගමැතිකම අරගෙන දෙන්න කටයුතු කළේ චම්පික රණවක ඇමැතිතුමා. රනිල් කියන්නේ ‍ෙදාන් ජුවන් ධර්මපාලගෙ පුනරුත්පත්තියක් කියලා තමයි ඔහුට බලය අරගෙන දුන්නේ. ඒ නිසා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා කියන දෙයට ඔහු විරුද්ධ වෙන්නෙ නැහැ.

ඩබ්ලිව්.කේ. ප්‍රසාද් මංජු උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාවේ මෙහෙයුම් මණ්ඩල විශේෂඥ කමිටු වාර්තාවෙන් සිංහල, දෙමළ ජනතව රවටමින් ෆෙඩරල් විසඳුමකට පදනම දමා තිබෙන නිසා එම විශේෂඥ කමිටු වාර්තාව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන බව ඊ.පී.ඩී.පී. සංවිධානයේ නායක යාපනය දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දා මහතා ‘මව්බිම’ට විශේෂ ප්‍රකාශයක් කරමින් කියා සිටියේය.

මෙම කමිටු වාර්තාවේ සිංහල පරිවර්තනයෙහි ‘ඒකීය’ යන වචනය තිබෙන අතර දෙමළ පරිවර්තනයෙහි ‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ වචනය තිබෙන බව ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දා මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ කියන දෙමළ වචනයෙහි සිංහල තේරුම ‘එක්සත්’ බව පෙන්වාදෙන දේවානන්දා මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නේ ‘ඒකීය’ යන වචනයෙහි දෙමළ නියම අර්ථය විය යුත්තේ ‘ඔච්චයිආච්චි’ බවයි.

‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ යන වචනය වෙනුවට ‘ඔච්චයිආච්චි’ යන වචනය ඇතුළත් කරන ලෙසට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සභාවේ මෙහෙයුම් මණ්ඩල රැස්වීම්වලදී තමා කොතරම් ඉල්ලා සිටියද දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි එම්.ඒ. සුමන්තිරන් මහතා ඊට දැඩි විරෝධය පළ කළ බවද ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්දා මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

මෙම විශේෂඥ කමිටු වාර්තාවේ දෙමළ පරිවර්තනයට ‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ කියන වචනය ඇතුළත් කිරීම තුළින් පෙනී යන්නේ නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ පදනම ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයක් බවත් දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ එම්.ඒ. සුමන්තිරන් මන්ත්‍රිවරයා සිංහල හා දෙමළ ජනතාව රවටමින් රට ෆෙඩරල් කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියේ ඉතා සූක්ෂ්මව නිරතව සිටින බවත් දේවානන්දා මහතා පවසයි.

මෙම කමිටු වාර්තාව විශේෂඥයන් විසින් සාදන ලද බවට ප්‍රකාශ වුවද මෙම කමිටු වාර්තාව මුළුමනින්ම සකස් කර තිබෙන්නේ සුමන්තිරන් මහතා බවට තමා චෝදනා කරන බවද දේවානන්දා මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කරයි. ඒකීය රාජ්‍යයක් තුළ දේශපාලන විසඳුමකට කැමැති බවට දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නේ අවංක අදහසින් නොවන බවත් ඔවුන් තුළ තිබෙන එකම යටි අරමුණ ෆෙඩරල් පාලනයකට රට ගෙන යෑම බවත් ‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ වචන ඇතුළත් කර තිබෙන්නේ ඒ නිසාම බවත් දේවානන්දා මහතා අවධාරණය කරයි.

‘ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු’ වචනය යොදාගනිමින් දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය සිංහල හා දෙමළ ජනතාව රැවටීමට සිදුකරන ක්‍රියාදාමය පිළිබඳව ආගමික නායකයන්, ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන, අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්වරුන් ඇතුළු දේශපාලන පක්ෂ නායකයන් හා විවිධ ක්ෂේත්‍රවල විද්වතුන් මෙන්ම රටේ පොදු මහජනතාවද දැනුවත් කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නා බව ඊ.පී.ඩී.පී. නායකයා වැඩිදුරටත් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ව්‍යාජ කරුණු දක්වමින් මාධ්‍යවලට කරන බලපෑම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ එන්.ජී.ඕ. නඩයට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතු බව නීතිඥ ප්‍රේමනාත් සී. ‍ෙදාලේවත්ත පවසයි.

මාධ්‍ය අද යම් කිසි නිදහසක් ලබන අවස්ථාවේදී එම නිදහස නැති කිරීමේ උත්සාහයක ආණ්ඩුව නිරත වන බවද නීතිඥ ‍ෙදාලේවත්ත අවධාරණය කළේය.

ජනමාධ්‍යවේදීන්ට තර්ජනය කරමින් ඔවුන්ගේ වෘත්තීය කටයුතුවලට සිදුකරන බලපෑම පිළිකුලෙන් යුතුව හෙළා දකින බවද හෙතෙම කීය.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින් ඒ මහතා කියා සිටියේ විහාර මහාදේවි උද්‍යානයේ හට් ගහගෙන දඹර අමිල හිමිත් සමඟ ඉඳගෙන නැවත රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාව අගමැති කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටියේ මෙම එන්.ජී.ඕ. නඩය බවයි.

කළු ඇඳුම් ඇඳගෙන, කළු පටි මුහුණුවල බැඳගෙන පැමිණි මෙම එන්.ජී.ඕ. නඩයට ගෙවපු කළු සල්ලි ලැබුණේ කොහෙන්දැයි ප්‍රශ්න කරන බවද ඒ මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය.

වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින් නීතිඥ ප්‍රේමනාත් සී. ‍ෙදාලේවත්ත මහතා පවසා සිටියේ ජනමාධ්‍ය අවදියෙන් සිටින තුරු රට බෙදන ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගෙන ඒමට නොහැකි බැවින් ආණ්ඩුව ජනමාධ්‍යයට බලපෑම් කරන බවයි.

‘මව්බිම’ පුවත්පතට ගිහින් පිළිකුල් සහගත ආකාරයට හැසිරෙනවා. ‘සිරස’ ආයතනය ඉදිරිපිට ගිහින් බලපෑම් කරනවා. අපි අහනවා මේ කළු ඇඳගත්ත අයගෙන් ඒ කළු ඇඳුම්වලට කළු පටිවලට ලැබුණු කළු සල්ලි ලැබුණේ කොහෙන්ද කියලා.

ජනතාවට ඇත්ත දැනගන්න තිබෙන්නේ ජනමාධ්‍ය විතරයි. හෙට වන විට මේ අය මාධ්‍ය ආයතන ඇතුළටත් යන්න හදයි. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා විතරක් නෙවෙයි ඔහුගේ පියත් මෙවැනි දේවල් සිදු කළා. එස්මන්ඩ් වික්‍රමසිංහලා, විජේවර්ධනලා තමයි අනගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා වගේ අයට මේ රට එපා කෙරෙව්වේ.

ආචාර්ය නාලක ගොඩහේවා උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව යනු ගෞරවාන්විත තැනක්ය යන හැඟීම දිනෙන් දිනම ජනතාව අතරින් ගිලිහෙන්නේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයන්ගේ බාල හැසිරීම නිසාය. විශේෂයෙන්ම මෑත ඉතිහාසයේ ආණ්ඩු පක්‍ෂයේත් විපක්‍ෂයේත් හැසිරීම සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවගේ අප්‍රසාදයට ලක්වූ බව නොරහසකි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළ බොරු කීමේ ප්‍රවණතාවද දිගින් දිගටම ඉහළ යමින් පවතී. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් එවැනි හැසිරීමක් බලාපොරොත්තු විය හැක්කේ පසුපෙළ මන්ත්‍රිවරයකුගෙන් වුවද රටේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා පවා පාර්ලිමේන්තු වරප්‍රසාදවලට මුවා වී ජනතාව මුළා කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරනු දක්නට ලැබීම සැබැවින්ම කනගාටුවට කරුණකි.

මෙහි සමීපතම උදාහරණ කිහිපයක්ම පසුගිය සතියේ රූපවාහිනි නාළිකා හරහා ජනතාවට දැකගන්නට ලැබිණි. ඒ අගමැතිවරයා ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය ණය හා විදේශ සංචිත ගැන කළ ප්‍රකාශ දෙකක් හා ත්‍රස්තවාදයට එරෙහි යුද්ධය පිළිබඳව දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රිවරයකු කළ ප්‍රකාශයකි.

අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ප්‍රකාශ කළේ 2019 ලංකාව විසින් ගෙවන්නට ඇති සමස්ත ණය ප්‍රමාණය ඩොලර් මිලියන 590ක් බවය. මේ අවස්ථාවේ ඔහු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව අමතා පැහැදිලිවම කියා සිටියේ මේ සියල්ල පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව විසින් ලබාගෙන ඇති ණය කියාය. මෙය සත්‍යයක්ද අසත්‍යයක්දැයි සොයා බැලීමට අපට යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව විසින්ම මින් පෙර ඉදිරිපත් කළ සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන විමසා බැලිය හැකිය.

2015දී යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ පළමු මුදල් ඇමැති වූයේ රවි කරුණානායක මහතාය. ඔහුත් ඔහුගේ නායකයා මෙන්ම රාජපක්‍ෂ යුගයේ ගත් ණය ගැන දිගින් දිගටම ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කළ අයෙකි. එක් අවස්ථාවක රවි කරුණානායක හිටපු මුදල් ඇමැතිතුමා 2015 සිට 2020 දක්වා සෑම වසරකම ආපසු ගෙවිය යුතු ණය ප්‍රමාණය සඳහන් කරමින් මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කළේය. මේ ඔහු එදා ඉදිරිපත් කළ අගයන්ය.

2015 වසරේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල රු. බි. 276
2016 වසරේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල රු. බි. 269
2017 වසරේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල රු. බි. 355
2018 වසරේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල රු. බි. 377
2019 වසරේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල රු. බි. 586
2020 වසරේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල රු. බි. 509
මේ අනුව 2019 ගෙවීමට නියමිතව තිබුණු රු.බි. 586ක මුදල එදා ඩොලර්වල අගයට අනුව ඩොලර් මිලියන 4400ක් පමණ වේ.

නමුත් අද රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා කියන ආකාරයට 2019 ගෙවිය යුතු ණය මුදල ඩොලර්වලින් නම් මිලියන 5900කි.

එසේ නම් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාශයට අනුව පසුගිය වසර 4 තුළ 2019දී ගෙවිය යුතු ණය ප්‍රමාණය ඩොලර් මිලියන 4400 සිට ඩොලර් මිලියන 5900 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත.

ඒ ඩොලර් මිලියන 1500ක පමණ විශාල ණය වැඩිවීමකි.

මෙම ඩොලර් මිලියන 1500 අද වටිනාකම අනුව රුපියල්වලින් නම් රුපියල් මිලියන 2,70,000ක පමණ ඉහළ අගයකි.

ජනතාවට සාධාරණ ලෙස උපකල්පනය කළ හැක්කේ 2019 ගෙවිය යුතු ණය ප්‍රමාණය මේ ආකාරයට ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත්තේ යහපාලන රජය විසින් පසුගිය වසර 4 පුරා ගත් කෙටි කාලීන ණය නිසා බවය. වෙනත් හේතුවක් තිබිය නොහැකිය.

මීට අමතරව ජනතාවට සිතා ගත හැක්කේ මේ යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව පසුගිය වසර තුළ ගත් අති විශාල ණය කන්දරාවෙන් 2019 ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල පමණක් බවය. පසුගිය වසර 4 තුළ රජය ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 20,000කට වඩා ණය ලබාගෙන ඇත. මේ ණයවලින් බහුතරය ගෙවන්නට සිදුවන්නේ අනාගතයේ පත්වන ආණ්ඩු විසින්ය.

තමන්ගේ බැරිකම වසා ගන්නට අනුන් මත වරද පැටවීම රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ඉතිහාසගත පුරුද්දකි. 2015 යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පත්වූ දා සිට ඔහු කීවේ මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා රට ණය උගුලක පටලවා ඇති නිසා ආර්ථිකය හැසිරවීම අපහසු බවය. රාජපක්‍ෂ ණය ගැන නහයෙන් අඬමින් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ආණ්ඩුව ඉතිහාසයේ කිසිම ආණ්ඩුවක් නොකළ ආකාරයට ලංකාව ණය උගුලක පැටලුවේය. 2017 අවසන් වන විට රාජ්‍ය ණය රුපියල් බිලියන 7391 සිට රුපියල් බිලියන 10,313 දක්වා 40%කින් ඉහළ ගියේය. 2017 දෙසැම්බර්වලින් පසු ණය විස්තරය යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව සඟවා ඇත. ඒ විස්තර මහ බැංකු වෙබ් අඩවියේවත් නැත. බලයට එනතුරු ජනතාවට තිබුණ තොරතුරු දැන ගැනීමේ අයිතිය පවා කාටත් හොරෙන් නැති කොට තිබෙන ආකාරය අපූරුය.

ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ ප්‍රකාශය කළ දිනම ලංකාවේ විදේශ සංචිත සම්බන්ධයෙන්ද ජනතාව නොමඟ හරින ප්‍රයත්නයක අගමැතිවරයා නිරත වනු දක්නට ලැබිණි.

ඔහු කියා සිටියේ 2018 ඔක්තෝබර්වල මහ බැංකුව සතුව විදේශ සංචිත ඩොලර් මිලියන 7900ක් තිබුණ බවත් 2018 නොවැම්බර් හා දෙසැම්බර් මාසවල පැවැති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ දින 51ක කෙටි පාලන කාලය තුළ මේ සංචිත අඩු වී ඇති බවත්ය.

මෙයද හුදෙක්ම ජනතාව නොමඟ යැවීම සඳහා කළ ප්‍රකාශයකි.

2015 ජනවාරිවල රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අගමැති වශයෙන් පත්වන විට ආණ්ඩුව සතු විදේශ සංචිත ඩොලර් මිලියන 8300ක් තිබිණි. ඒ 2005 මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා බලයට එන විට තිබුණු ඩොලර් මිලියන 2,300ය. වසර 9ක් තුළ ඩොලර් මිලියන 6000කින් වැඩිවීමකි.

2015-2014 මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපතිව සිටි වසර 9යෙන් 4 1/2ක්ම මේ රටේ යුද්ධයක් තිබිණි. එසේ තිබියදීත් වසරකට ඩොලර් මිලියන 667කින් සංචිත වැඩි වී තිබිණි.

මේ අවම වේගයෙන් ගියත් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ආර්ථික කළමනාකරණය අතට නොගත්තා නම් අද වන විට විදේශීය සංචිත අවම වශයෙන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 10,900ක්වත් විය යුතුය.

එසේ නම් එදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළ විපක්‍ෂය ප්‍රශ්න කළ යුතුව තිබුණේ 2014 අවසන් වන විට තිබුණු ඩොලර් මිලියන 8,300 වසර 4ක් තුළ ඉහළ යනවා වෙනුවට ඩොලර් මිලියන 7,900ට පහළ ගෙන ආවේ කෙසේද කියාය.
2015 ජනවාරි මස 09දා සිට මේ වන තෙක් දින 51ක් හැරුණු විට මුළු කාලයම එනම් දින 1400කට වඩා රට පාලනය කළ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා සහ ගෝල පිරිස අලුතින් පත්වූ ආණ්ඩුව රටට පෙන්වමින් රඟන නාටකයට රැවටෙන අයද සිටිනා මුත් රටේ සියලු ජනතාව මෝඩයන් නොවේ.

අගමැතිවරයාගේ බොරු කීමට නොදෙවැනි වන්නට සිතාදෝ දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්‍රි ශ්‍රී ධරන් මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව අමතමින් කියා සිටියේ යුද්ධයේ අවසාන කාලයේ ලංකාවේ හමුදාව දෙමළ ජනතාවට එරෙහිව රසායනික අවි භාවිත කළ බවය.

ශ්‍රී ධරන් මහතාගේ කතාවට පිළිතුරු මීට වසර කිහිපයකට පෙර පළ වූ ඉන්දියාවේ හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ශිවශංකර් මෙනන් මහතාගේ ‘ඉන්දීය විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තියේ ඇතුළාන්තය’ නමැති පොතේ සඳහන්ව ඇත. එහි ඔහු මෙසේ කියයි.

ත්‍රස්තවාදය යුද්ධයකින් අවසන් කළ අවස්ථා ලෝකයේ සීමිතය. ලංකාව ඊට එක් උදාහරණයකි. යුද්ධයකදී දෙපැත්තටම හානිවීම වැළැක්විය නොහැකිය. මෙහිදී යමකුට ඇසිය හැකි සාධාරණ ප්‍රශ්නයක් නම් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය යුද්ධය කඩිනමින් අවසන් කිරීමට දරුණු අවි භාවිත නොකළේ මන්ද යන්නයි. එසේ දරුණු අවි භාවිත කළද එය සාධාරණීකරණය ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුව අපහසු නොවන්නට ඉඩ තිබිණි. මන්ද ඇමෙරිකාව පවා දෙවැනි ලෝක යුද්ධයේදී ජපානයට එරෙහිව රසායනික අවි භාවිත කොට කීවේ ඒ නිසා යුද්ධය කලින් අවසන් කර ගත හැකි වූ බව කියාය.

නමුත් ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයා වූ මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ සිතුවේ වෙනස් ආකාරයකටය. යුද්ධය නිසා තමුන්ගේම රට වැසියන් වූ සාමාන්‍ය දෙමළ ජනතාවට වන හානිය අවම කිරීමට ඔහුට අවශ්‍ය විය.

යුද්ධය අවසන් කාලයේ බර අවි භාවිතය පවා හමුදාවට තහනම් වූ නිසා හමුදාව යුද්ධ කළේ සැහැල්ලු අවිවලින් පමණි. ඒ නිසා හමුදා සෙබළුන් වැඩි පිරිසකට හානි සිදු වුවද දමිළ සිවිල් වැසියන් වැඩි පිරිසක් ආරක්‍ෂා විය.
ශ්‍රී ධරන් රසායනික අවි භාවිතයක් ගැන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළ ගජබින්න ඇද බාන්නේ එවැනි මානුෂික මෙහෙයුමක් කළ නායකයකුට හා හමුදාවකට එරෙහිවය.

ලංකාවේ වත්මන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සුජාත භාවය ගිලිහී ඇතැයි පසුගිය සතියේ විපක්‍ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා කළ ප්‍රකාශය සමඟ මේ රටේ ජනතාවගෙන් බහුතරයක් පක්‍ෂ භේද නොතකා එකඟවනු නිසැකය. එසේ නම් මේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කෙසේ හෝ විසුරුවා අලුතින් ඒ සඳහා නියෝජිතයන් පත්කර ගැනීමේ අවස්ථාව ජනතාවට ලබාදිය යුතුම කාලයක් එළැඹ ඇත.

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

MP Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said yesterday Sri Lanka has already given visas to some 242,000 foreign employees and the experts report on Singapore FTA has said this number could increase through the FTA.

He said the experts committee which studied the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA) has verified the concerns expressed over the previous months.

What we have said had been accepted by the experts committee which said our market would not be expanded by the SLSFTA. Through the Board of Investment (BOI), we have already given visas to 242,000 foreigners for investments and industries. The report by the expert committee says many more may come to Sri Lanka through the SLSFTA,” he said.

According to the report, he said the fields of engineering, dentistry, labour and architecture could be open up to foreigners.

Any foreigner who holds a Singapore visa would be able to visit Sri Lanka through the SLSFTA to work. This trade agreement, which may benefit only one percent towards SL, should be annulled,” he said.

RANMINI GUNASEKARA Courtesy Ceylon Today

There are contradictions in the trilingual reports presented to Parliament with regard to the new Constitution, claimed Chairman of the SLPP, Professor G.L. Peiris.

He said this at a SLPP Media briefing held at Party Headquarters today (14). Parliamentarian Rohitha Abeygunawardana also attended this briefing.

Speaking of the said reports, Abeygunawardana made specific reference to the Tamil words ‘Orumittha Naadu’and added the said words do not have a definite meaning in Tamil, although the words purportedly meant a ‘unitary State.’

Prof. Peiris further alleged the Government is conspiring to postpone the Presidential Election.

The Government is trying to bring a proposal stating that from henceforth the President is not appointed by the people, but instead by Parliament. They’re not trying to bring this due to any inherent weakness in the Executive Presidency, but in order to postpone the Presidential Election,” he opined.

He further claimed the current Government did not have the power to make independent decisions, as the TNA exercised a powerful hold over it. It was also said the Government was also at the mercy of the TNA concerning the upcoming Budget.

Courtesy Adaderana

Holding the elections is important at the moment, not bringing forth a new Constitution, says the Mahanayake of the Asgiri Chapter Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero.

Mahanayake Thero stated this during a discussion held with the State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene yesterday (15).

The State Minister, arriving at Kandy last morning, had paid a visit to Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero to invoke blessings.

Mahanayake Thero has further said, what people expect the most is the provincial council elections and the Presidential election rather than a new Constitution.

Accordingly, the State Minister has responded that they have no issue on holding elections.

Mahanayake Thero has also emphasized that expediting the provincial council elections is of utmost importance at the moment.

It was no coincidence that colonial Britain wished to administer then Ceylon separate to India. It is no coincidence that colonial Britain kept Ceylon citizens as guinea pigs for modern divide & rule strategies. All that is now unfolding should be viewed as a catalyst of the outcome of colonial strategies adopted via conversions, English education, colonial friendly brown sahibs, denationalizing citizens via cultural/education, anti-Sinhala-Buddhist initiatives & to break the national resistance movement by projecting it as racist – fundamentalist & not secular/multicultural. In understanding this we should be able to move on to the players tasked to realize these objectives.

It is important that we come to terms with the reality that history has no records of Sinhalese in any animosity with Tamils or vice versa… so how come this new phenomenon of animosity is being flogged of late? This is where a knowledge of history is important because until & unless people understand the root causes of the problems that prevail & the entities responsible for planting the problems the recommended solutions will most likely fail because the solutions have no foundational basis. Themes like minority rights – hate – racism – discrimination – human rights are today’s political tools to interfere & bargain. These are backed by heavy lobby groups & well-funded to achieve various objectives.

All of the post-independent political parties were people educated in English, most converting to Christianity, being taught to think like the white man & to use nationalism only as a means of securing political mileage. In essence very rare was it that the post-independent politicians had the ‘bokken’ type of nationalism that would steer the masses to reverse the discriminations that prevailed for over 443 years of colonial rule & return to tapping the cultural & heritage systems that prevailed but to suit modern times – it is now proven that western neo-liberal capitalism is not only a failure it is failing the entire eco-system. We know that any nationalist that attempted to rule their nation with true nationalism were soon sent to the grave – examples of Patrice Lumumba of Congo & Aung San of Myanmar should come to mind. What post-independent decolonized nations were supposed to do was to pretend to be national but continue being slaves of western neocolonial rule/systems that had been designed via international standards/UN/trade laws/regulations etc. No non-western leader was supposed to function outside this non-declared but very clear framework.

The manner that West has been interfering in elections in Sri Lanka as per Prof. Levin goes back even to 1950s. This means that not only funding but local groups to steer propaganda have been set clandestinely and many of these are now veterans at indoctrinating masses and steering opinion ahead of elections – the fruits of their research, data gathering, funding & other initiatives laid out over decades came to surface in the manner they were able to democratically defeat a populist leader in January 2015 and prop up a virtual non-entity to the position of President. The advances in electronic communication systems have helped to a great extent in steering their propaganda. Elections are manipulated and computer systems are rigged to cheat. It is not just money, time-tested initiatives, brainwashed target groups and media/communication network but the manner that they were able to penetrate into the psyche of people and dig so deep that many are even today unable to balance reality & shake off that brainwashing is something that is both tragic & worrisome for the future of Sri Lanka irrespective of party politics.

Nationalism has been limited to election propaganda & political stages – the political will to ensure national policies that protect national resources/assets/safeguards the livelihoods of the citizens/addresses historical fears & grievances/protects both majority & minority & places clear demarcations on incursions & other rights where citizens clearly understand that their rights/demands cannot infringe on that of another’s rights/demands would if articulated clearly addressed a plethora of unwarranted incidents that have emerged. We cannot rule out that many of these issues are planted or manufactured ones taking groups from both sides & funding them to get up to mischief & thereby create the laws that curbs rights of people while peddling agendas for handouts.

The constitutional farce is such that the so-called experts are people with tainted histories / controversial past records / characters that are clueless about the wants or needs of 99% of the country’s populace and people who have no wish to cater to the needs of this 99% through their proposals. It is the key reason why all their proposals need to be rejected. In essence the first exercise should be is to list out what is wrong in the existing constitution & why & what are the proposals that could address them. Without that simply cutting & chopping & inserting clauses & creating a new constitution & deceptively passing that is not only immoral & unethical but it is likely to lead to bigger & more dangerous consequences later none of which those who created the problem will be able to solve, will want to solve or will even take accountability for errors.

Therefore, the country has more pressing problems to address – a new piece of paper promising a dream world without mechanisms to deal with everyday problems is simply useless. What kind of a constitution inserts clauses that deem accepting of gifts or funding to unions/organizations etc is acceptable when even companies are placing clauses against accepting of any type of gift construing that to be a type of bribe!

What is clear from all this is that money has become a major issue in the manner the integrity of Sri Lanka is being compromised. From the judiciary to the legislature the rumors of various compromising via transactions is something very dangerous and it is completely upsetting the sovereignty & territorial integrity of the nation – it is trickling to the public sector & private sector as well. Selling the country accepting some form of transaction is a treachery & this should be regarded as the highest form of treason.

When we know that there are external players upto mischief, various lucrative handouts being given to advance various agendas that conflict with & threaten Sri Lanka’s sovereignty & territorial integrity should we not first try to identify these traitors & treacheries …

Are we not walking into danger if traitors are drafting this new constitution and what they are drafting are treacherous to the future of Sri Lanka?

Should we not be identifying the traitors & treacheries first and dealing with them before we allow them to decide our fate and the fate of over 21million people.

Shenali D Waduge

By Ranjith W. Dharmaratne Courtesy The Island

By now, it is common knowledge that a significant number of people from farming communities living in the North Central Province (herein referred to as Rajarata) suffer from Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Over the past three decades, a number of investigations on the causes of CKD have been conducted, but no conclusion has been drawn yet on what exactly is causing CKD in the Rajarata context. Although a number of theories have been proposed, none has been confirmed so far, due to the lack of evidence. There are arguments and counter-arguments within the scientific community as well as among laypeople and political circles. As more and more people suffer from CKD, it is concerning that there is still no solution on the horizon for this burning problem. Currently, the only options left for CKD patients are costly procedures such as dialysis and kidney transplant. Unfortunately, there is still not enough guidance and awareness for the Rajarata public on preventing CKD.

A crisis endemic to Rajarata?

The majority of CKD patients from Rajarata do not show any identifiable causes of CKD compared to their CKD counterparts elsewhere, such as long standing diabetes and hypertension. This observation leads one to determine that this particular disease, or at least the cause, may be endemic to the Rajarata area. In fact, in 2003, Dr. Tilak Abeyesekera reported a pattern of this CKD in Rajarata. Considering these observations, it is logical to narrow down our focus to the lifestyles on the said communities, in particular various environmental factors that directly affect people’s day-to-day lives. Some reports claim that more than 15% of residents of the affected areas are suffering from CKD. A significant number of reports have highlighted that mostly the males working in the fields are affected by the disease. A number of theories suggest that CKD occur due to cadmium, fluoride, arsenic, aluminum, mercury, uranium, vanadium, algal toxins, and phosphates. More recent theories mainly focused on the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, especially the use of the herbicide glyphosates.

A link to drinking water?

Although none of the above theories have been confirmed due to the lack of scientific evidence, in the Rajarata context, something almost all CKD investigators in Sri Lanka appear to agree on is the possibility of drinking water having a direct association with CKD observed in Rajarata. Therefore, it is important that we focus a bit more on drinking water in the affected region.

Unlike with many other diseases, CKD often has no symptoms until the disease has reached an advanced stage. Damages shown in certain areas of the kidneys of the CKD patients could indicate the possibility of an adverse effect of a potential toxic substance present in drinking water. Chronic exposure to drugs, occupational hazards, or environmental toxins can lead to chronic kidney diseases, so CKD in Rajarata may possibly be due to one of the above factors contaminating the drinking water of CKD affected people. It is important to note that most people living in Rajarata’s CKD-prone areas consume water from the groundwater and deep-dug tube wells. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that a toxic element could contaminate groundwater in both shallow and deep wells. According to resident doctors in Rajarata, city dwellers who consume potable water supplied from water tanks do not suffer from CKD. These observations lead one to investigate the potential toxic elements in the groundwater that are harmful to kidneys. An examination of groundwater in the CKD-affected areas of Rajarata reveals the presence of an unhealthy amount of fluoride, and this finding is in fact the biggest reason to consider fluoride as the cause for CKD in early studies in the Rajarata context. However, due to the lack of supporting information on their hand, investigators at the time were not able to prove this theory, and therefore the theory of fluoride being the culprit was put aside. I have however, recently reviewed nearly hundred years of literature on toxicity of excess fluoride on animal and human kidneys, and established that there is a direct link between high fluoride levels in drinking water and CKD. The fluoride levels of groundwater consumed in CKD-affected areas range from 0.5 to 5 milligrams per liter (mg/L), a level well above the limit recommended for tropical countries by the World Health Organization (i.e. 1 mg/L). We see some reports showing alarming fluoride levels as high as 3.9 to 7.3 mg/L in groundwater in some of the affected areas. Also, the presence of widespread diseases such as dental and skeletal fluorosis is in Rajarata confirms that people living in these areas are highly likely poisoned by high amounts of fluoride.

Are children at a higher risk?

According to the United States (US) Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) charts, the tolerable upper intake levels of fluorides for children is 1.3 – 2.2 mg per day. It is estimated that an average child consumes 10 cups (2.8 L) of water per day. Therefore, by drinking just 10 cups of water from a water source that has two 2 mg/L of fluoride, a child consumes 5.6 mg of fluoride. This is 2.5 times the maximum tolerable upper intake of fluoride for a child age up to 13 years, which can harm the child’s kidneys. This finding is extremely concerning, because there are areas in Rajarata where the fluoride in groundwater is reported to be 5 mg/L or above. This means children of these areas may be consuming more than 14 mg of fluorides per day, which is 6.4 times of the maximum tolerable upper intake of fluoride for a child. This is a very dangerous situation which can lead to serious damage to the kidneys of children. Scientific research investigations related to fluoride and kidneys show that infants and children have an impaired ability to expel absorbed fluoride from the body, and they retain 80-90% of the absorbed fluoride compared to adults (50%). Therefore, the retention of high amount of fluoride absorbed by body/kidneys of children can lead to kidney damage of children living in areas with even 2 mg/L of fluoride in groundwater, as highlighted in above. Consequently, adults whose kidneys were damaged due to fluoride consumption in childhood are at an even greater risk of ending up as CKD patients, if they continued consuming water from the fluoride contaminated sources. Therefore, it is fairly apparent that kidneys of the people living in the areas where high levels of fluoride present in groundwater are likely being exposed to high levels of fluoride that lead to kidney disease, for some as early as from infancy.

Why men in Rajarata more affected than women?

Now that a considerable relationship between CKD and fluoride-contaminated water has been established, one observation leads me to another CKD-related question: what is a possible explanation for men in affected areas in Rajarata more prone to CKD compared to women? Generally, men spend more times in the paddy fields or farms compared to their female counterparts, and dehydration due to constant exposure to the sun make them consume more water, especially in the form of their humble beverage, tea. Tea, actually adds even more fluoride to their system.

Is tea a vehicle for even more fluoride?

Tea, especially low-quality tea, is exceptionally high in fluoride. According to a study conducted in the US, the average fluoride content of the brewed teas is nearly 4 mg/L, which was 3-4 times higher than the average amount of fluoride in tap water in the US. According to the same US DRI charts referred to earlier in this article, the tolerable upper intake levels of fluorides for adults (above 13 years) is 10 mg per day. Let’s consider a scenario where a farmer drinks 4 liters of water (with 2 mg/L fluoride) and 5 cups of tea (1.4 L) on a given day. A quick calculation shows that this farmer consumes 8 mg of fluoride by drinking the 4 liters of water from the water source that has a 2 mg/L fluoride content. Using the US average fluoride content of the brewed tea, another calculation shows that the farmer would be consuming nearly 7 mg (2.8 mg from water that used to brew tea, and 4.2 mg from tealeaves) of fluoride by drinking the 5 cups of tea. This means the average dose of fluoride consumed by the farmer surpasses 15 mg per a day. This amount is 1.5 times the maximum tolerable upper intake of fluoride for an adult. Therefore, even 2 mg/L of fluoride in groundwater can make have harmful effects on farmers living in Rajarata. Similar calculations show that the farmers living in the areas where fluoride content of water is 5 mg/L or above are probably consuming more than 31 mg of fluoride per day, which is 3.1 times the maximum tolerable upper intake of fluoride for an adult, which is chronically toxic to the kidneys.

A link to the Rajarata diet?

A high concentration of fluoride in the soil is also directly linked to high fluoride in the groundwater and surrounding vegetation. The addition of fluoride from diets of crops grown in this soil will also elevate fluoride levels in the body, making people further vulnerable to CKD. Vegetables, pulses and other crops grown in this area likely contain high amounts of fluoride due to high levels of fluoride in the soil and the groundwater. For example, the green leafy vegetable “Thampala” excessively absorbs fluoride from the soil. Therefore, it is highly likely that crops grown in these areas with higher concentrations of fluoride will add even more fluoride to people’s diet, just as with the consumption of tea.

A crisis born three decades ago?

A possible unintended consequence of the Mahaweli River Diversification Programme (herein referred to as the Mahaweli Project) launched in the 1980s comes to mind as the most plausible explanation for my next question: why have all Rajarata CKD cases emerged within the last three decades? The Mahaweli Project that brought a new water source to benefit the Rajarata area caused the groundwater table to elevate. As the Mahaweli Project started to expand into most of the now CKD-stricken areas, the Mahaweli river basin also extended. Due to the flat landscape in the irrigation areas, the supply of extra water led to an increase in water table levels resulting in high salinity levels in groundwater. High salinity in the groundwater means more fluoride and other minerals in groundwater, and most of these saline products make their way into the systems of those who drink groundwater and consume agricultural crops grown in the area. This theory is supported by reports calming that groundwater in the CKD-affected areas have become more saline during the past decades, based on observations made by the people living in the area. Further, scientific reports on gradual but substantial increases in the fluoride content of groundwater in Rajarata further validate this observation. In addition to the rise of the water table, drilling of a large number of tube wells in the region could also be another factor affecting the increase of salinity of well water, including fluoride levels. Aligning with the above, reports on the distribution of fluoride in groundwater in Sri Lanka clearly show that the level of fluoride in groundwater in CKD-prevalent areas is much higher than that of the neighboring farming districts (i.e. 1-3 mg/L). This disparity may probably be due to the absence of major irrigation projects in those neighboring districts during the last two to three decades, thereby keeping the groundwater table at a stable level, which prevents the increase of fluoride and other minerals in the groundwater as well as in the food crops grown in those areas. As high salinity in groundwater indicates more fluoride in groundwater, drinking this groundwater and consuming a locally-grown diet could highly likely be the reason for this relatively newly-detected chronic kidney disease in Rajarata. If it was not for Dr. Tilak Abeyesekera reporting a pattern of this kidney disease in Rajarata, we would not have known for how long this condition had existed, and how many people had perished from the disease.

To summarize all my points above:

There is a high fluoride content in the groundwater in Rajarata, and due to fluoride poisoning, dental and skeletal fluorosis is widespread in the communities.

There is a considerable amount scientific evidence worldwide to prove that there is a direct link between high fluoride levels in drinking water and kidney disease.

It is harder for children to eliminate fluoride from their systems compared to adults, which leads to kidney damage of children living in the areas with high fluoride.

If adults who had kidney damage due to high fluoride in their childhood continue to consume water from the same water source, they are more vulnerable to CKD.

Through consuming more water and tea, people working in farms and engaging in other laborious activities outside for prolonged periods are even more susceptible to additional doses of fluoride entering their system.

The extension of the Mahaweli river basin due to the Mahaweli Project led to the rise in water-table levels, resulting in high salinity levels in groundwater, adding more fluoride and other minerals to groundwater.

All these additional fluorides and other saline products make their way into the systems of the people in Rajarata area, through the drinking water and through diets of locally grown crops.

To conclude, based on the above arguments derived from scientific literature and research, I believe with confidence that the culprit of the so-called “Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease” in Sri Lanka has to be the excess fluoride in drinking water from the wells and in the local food crops grown in the affected areas. Therefore, I highly recommend that the Sri Lankan Government immediately take action to provide safe drinking water to the people in Rajarata, while educating especially the school children on the possible root causes of the diseases. As a start, for example, nursing mothers should be discouraged from using groundwater for formula preparing or any cooking purposes. I also believe that purified surface water from local tanks fed by Mahaweli river water is much safer than the groundwater in the affected area.

Ranjith W. Dharmaratne (BSc, PhD) is a scientist. This article is based on two recent review articles written by the author that appeared in peer reviewed international journals, Journal of Environment Science and Preventive Medicine (2015) and Human and Experimental Toxicology (2018).

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

In politics, when fighting an election, there are two plans, Plan A and Plan B.

Plan A:  Formulate a broad based plan to win the election.  Primary purpose of Plan A, will be to WIN the election.  Avoid isolating voters, bring them into your fold.  Do not provide any weapons to opponents in Plan A implementation stage.

Plan B: After winning the election, continue educating the masses the value of unity as against disintegration.  Continue rapid industrial and agricultural development in all parts of the island, as previously done by Prez Mahinda  Rajapakse.

All voters are now in a position to make a comparison with Prez Mahinda Rajapakse Regime Vs Maithree/Ranil  Regime.  They have identified the Leadership that is capable of tackling difficult issues, with a vision into the future.

With so much of political misgivings taking place in Sri Lanka, the average voter is not at all distracted by these political games.  They continue with their daily life, build their families.  The voter is far more intelligent than what the political leaders think of them. The voter is not persuaded by sudden movements in the game of musical chairs,  as they are aware that such actions by the so called Leaders are aimed at staying alive in their current political positions.

As the votes have now garnered a clear cut picture by comparing Mahinda Vs Maithree/Ranil Regime,  they cannot be fooled. 

Therefore, the political manifesto in Plan A, should be aimed at bringing everyone together.  The voter will decide whom to believe.

The voter will decide whether to believe the:

1. Bunch of cocktail leaders who placed a spanner in the wheel of economic progress of Sri Lanka;

or

1. Bunch of astute leaders who delivered more than what they have promised and brought Sri Lanka to rapid economic, social and cultural development;

Those who are arguing about  13 and 19 amendments are out of touch with the voters.  They have nothing else to add.  They will shout, parade or write articles  demanding whether or not 13 and 19 will be scrapped.   These are traps. They are few isolated people pregnant with prejudice!  No need to answer them,  as we identify their motives.  Stick to Plan A.

Kanthar Balanathan

Gautama Buddha

Quote: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha ) Gautama Buddha AKA Buddha’s period is c.563 or c. 480 BCE. The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhartha Gautama was born into the Shakya clan, a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Indian subcontinent in the 5th century BCE.^[34] One of his usual names was “Sakyamuni” or “Shakyamuni” (“Sage of the Shakya’s”). It was either a small republic, or an oligarchy, and his father was an elected chieftain, or oligarch.^[34] According to the Buddhist tradition, Gautama was born in Lumbini, now in modern-day Nepal, and raised in the Shakya capital of Kapilvastu, which may have been either in what is present day Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India.^{[note 1]} He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, and died in Kushinagar. Buddha died at the age of 80. Buddhas wife’s name is Yasodhara. Yasothara was Krishna’s foster mother. Doesn’t matter the spelling.

Isn’t it an indication that all are of the same clan?

Quote: (Ref: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Shakya.html)

 The Shakya were a clan of the Vedic period (1750–500 BCE). The name Śākya is derived from the Sanskrit word śakya, which means “the one who is capable”.

The Shakya formed an independent republican state known as the Śākya Gaṇarājya. The Shakya capital was Kapilavastu, which may have been located either in Tilaurakot, Nepal or Piprahwa, India.^[1][2][3]

The best-known Shakya was the prince Siddhartha (5th century BCE), who was the founder of Buddhism and came to be known as Gautama Buddha. Siddhartha was the son of Śuddhodana, the elected leader of Shakya Republic. Because Gautama Buddha founded a new religion and abdicated the throne, the lineage continued with his son Rāhula.

Quote: (Ref: https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/lanka-txt.htm) Sri Lanka is the oldest continually Buddhist country, Theravada Buddhism being the major religion in the island since its official introduction in the 2nd century BC by Venerable Mahinda, the son of the Emperor Ashoka of India during the reign of King Davanampiya- Tissa.

Quote: Ref: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_Magha)  Kalinga Magha landed in Karainagar in 1215 AD with a large army of 24,000 Tamil and Malayali soldiers. He camped his soldiers in Karainagar and Vallipuram and brought the Jaffna principality under his control. Kalinga Magha then marched to Polonnaruwa, defeated Parakrama Pandyan II and ruled it for 21 years. He was expelled from Polonnaruwa in 1236 and withdrew to Jaffna which he ruled till 1255.

People who lived on the island were the Nagas in the North, Yakka’s in the South and Vedas in the Central and East. The question of Lemuria or Kumari Kandam, the name given by the modern creative lying experts cannot be proved. Several million years ago as told that the African/ South American Australian continent were together as one and they split apart and moved until they formed Africa, America, Australia, and some islands like Mauritius etc. Quote Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLahVJNnoZ4. (Please view this video. Our common sense will confirm that the shapes fit in well, eg. America and Africa)

If there was a Kumari Kandam it cannot split apart leaving SriLanka as a standalone island. History states that Tamils from India left to several islands under British to make money. For history sake, it is good to read fictional stories, but in reality, its fake. Quote: Ref https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/Lemuria-and-Kumari-Kandam/article16265441.ece.

During our school days, we were taught a textbook called Thiruviliyadal Puranam”. The texts in the book are all fictional. We had to learn to move onto to the next level.

Let us come to the current level of intelligence and perception.

Several million years ago a child born in the jungle had the five senses. But did not develop the intelligence and perception immediately but over time. I am sad that the Hindus believe in granite statues, like lingam etc. Pour millions of liters of milk to wash the lingam, instead of feeding a child.

Risk of Federalism

• Over the last centuries, we have learned how the Islamic fundamentalists moved into countries and took over them. Especially the South East. Mohamed and Allah had nothing to do with these South East countries.
• There was no necessity for the one million Indian Tamils to be brought into the country for the tea and rubber plantation. The biggest mistake was made by the Sinhala elites and the community’s self-important, high-handed attitude only. They lacked in foreseeing the risk of cultural, political, and religious imbalance in the country. Today the Indian political candidates are a cause for the commotion and fracas in the country.
• When JVP insurrection uprising took place in 1971, GOSL quickly suppressed the uprising. However, when LTTE uprising occurred, GOSL took 39 years to suppress it.
• SriLanka was a peaceful Buddhist country until the Portuguese arrived. Forced assimilation occurred with a change of religion to Catholicism of the true Buddhists. Some people changed their name to Pereira, Silva, Fonseka, Perera, Moreira, etc. The biggest question is: Why have they not changed their names back to their Sinhale names and also their religion. This goes to both Tamils and Sinhalese. Has any Muslims changed their names or religion?

Splitting up the island will give birth to (i) Muslims some deprecating thoughts. Because of democracy and the number of votes the Sinhala politicians give in to their request. General norm of humans is to marry one wife and maintain the wife and children. However, in the case of Muslims, they are allowed to marry up to four wives and have as many as children. The proliferation of the Muslim race grows as fast as possible. Within the next twenty-five to fifty years, there exists a risk of Muslims takes over SriLanka administration. With the arrival of Arab traders in the 7th century A.D., Islam began to flourish in Sri Lanka. (i.e. Pattani’s arrival to the East)

SriLanka will give birth to racial fronts in three sectors. (i) Sinhale, (ii) Muslims and (iii) Tamils.

Do the Sinhalas and Tamils realize this risk? This is not a racial comment. Muslims have several countries of their own, but Sinhale has only SriLanka. Already East is taken over by Muslims.

In the recent statement made by the new Governor to the North may cause instability to reconciliation and maintenance of peace in the North. Quote Ref: https://www.tamilwin.com/politics/01/204299?ref=imp-news. When the Jaffna man asks for a Tamil Governor, it drives the world to conclude that Tamils are racists. Even Tamil Nadu never had a Tamil Governor, but Tamil Speaking Governor. There is no excuse to free ourselves, but we Tamils are RACISTS. It is a school of thought that he is pouring fuel into fire.

Re’ Muslims, please see picture below:

What sort of guts have the sheiks of Saudi Arabia or wherever they come from to come and establish a sheik city in Mannar of SL? Mannar is a well-known city for Catholicism and a base of the Portuguese and Tamil Catholics? This is not the first case. Richard Badruddin ha ben developing Wilpattu and settling Muslims. Alfred Duraiyappa settled Muslims near Oattumadam an established a town for the Muslims. Batticaloa is being converted to a Muslim Capital to which the President appointed A well known corrupt according to the citizens of SL as the Governor.

So what is going on in SL? Are the Muslims trying to take over SL within a short span with the help of Saudis and Wahabis with collaterals, to which our politicians will keep quiet and receive the collateral?

Mahinda Rajapaksa Leader of the Opposition

On this auspicious Thai Pongal day I wish to convey my greetings towards a prosperous and peaceful future to everyone celebrating. Thai Pongal is not only a day to celebrate the bounty of harvest, it is also a day for all to be grateful for a rich and fulfilling life. This has been tradition and the message that’s conveyed throughout the world.

Let’s celebrate this Thai Pongal day beyond religious differences with our relatives and neighbours in peace and love.

As per tradition a new journey begins when Thai (Tamil New Year) is born. And through this, the Hindu people believe that they would receive good health and wealth without suffering. Thus let us look to this New Year to recover from natural disasters we have recently experienced and come together to rebuild as one.

In my long political journey, not only as a Member of Parliament, Minister, Prime Minister and President of the country but also as a Sri Lankan citizen, I have always prioritized my duty towards the country’s progress with no discrimination.

Moreover, I pray as the Opposition Leader that we are all able to agree on a political solution which will allow all our people to live a united and peaceful life in our motherland.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Leader of the Opposition

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ විපක්‍ෂ නායක

අද දින තෛපොංගල් සමරන දමිළ ජනතාවට මම සාමය, සතුට පිරි සෞභාග්‍යමත් අනාගතයකට සුබ පැතුම් එක් කරන්නේ ඉමහත් ප්‍රීතියෙනි. කෘෂිකාර්මික ජීවිතය හා බැඳුණු ජනයාගේ අස්වනු නෙලන අවස්ථාව සමරනු ලබන මෙම මහෝත්සවය, ගොවියන්ට පමණක් නොව අප සියලු දෙනාටම සුහදත්වය සහ අන්‍යෝන්‍ය අවබෝධය උදා කර ගත හැකි වැදගත් අවස්ථාවක් වන බව මගේ විශ්වාසයයි. මෙම උත්සවයෙන් ලබාදෙන පණිවුඩය ලෝ වාසී සියලු දෙනාටම ඉතාම වැදගත්ය.

ජාති, ආගම් භේද පසෙකලා, තෛපොංගල් උත්සවය අපි අපේ ඥාතී-හිත මිත්‍රාදීන් සමඟ, සාමයෙන් සහ ස්නේහයෙන් යුතුව සමරමු.

හින්දු දින දර්ශනයෙහි වර්ෂයේ මුල් මාසය තෛ යනුවෙන් හැඳින්වෙන අතර, අපගේ මුතුන් මිත්තන්ට අනුව, තෛයි මාසයේ උදාව නව ගමනක ආරම්භය සටහන් කරයි.

මෙම උත්සවය තුළින් දමිළ ජනතාව, එළෙඹෙන වසර දුක් කම්කටොලු වලින් මිදුනු යහපත් සෞඛ්‍ය සහ සමෘද්ධිය උදා කරන මෙන් ආශිර්වාද පතා හිරු දෙවියන්ට බුහුමන් දැක්වීම සිදු කරති. මෙම තෛපොංගල් දිනයේදී, පසුගිය වසරේ අප, විශේෂයෙන් උතුරු – නැගෙනහිර ජනතාව, මුහුණපෑ ස්වාභාවික ව්‍යසනයන්ගේ බලපෑම්වලින් ප්‍රකෘති ස්වභාවයට ජන ජීවිතය පත් කිරීමට එකට එකතු වී කටයුතු කරමු.

මගේ දීර්ඝ දේශපාලන ගමනේදී, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් ලෙස, ඇමතිවරයෙක් ලෙස, අගමැතිවරයෙක් ලෙස, ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් ලෙස මෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලාංකික පුරවැසියන් ලෙස, මා සැම විටම රටේ ප්‍රගතිය වෙනුවෙන් ජාති, ආගම් භේද වලින් තොරව කටයුතු කර ඇත්තෙමු.

තවද, රටේ විපක්‍ෂ නායක ලෙස, රට තුළ එක්සත් සහ සාමකාමී ජීවිතයක් අප සියලු දෙනාටම ගත කිරීමට ඉවහල් වන, අප සියලු දෙනාටම එකඝ විය හැකි දේශපාලන විසඳුමක් ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි මම ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ

විපක්‍ෂ නායක

I am delighted to convey my greetings and good wishes to all those who are celebrating the Thai Pongal throughout Sri Lanka and abroad on Tuesday.

Being my maiden Thai Pongal message to the nation as Governor of the Western Province,  I feel happier and more honored to pass on my sincere greetings on this auspicious day to all those who participate in the festival.

The Thai Pongal festival celebration is believed to have started more than 1000 years ago. Thai Pongal is a harvest festival which is celebrated by Hindhus. It is also a festival that highlights  the importance of agriculture which provides rice and other food products to the people.

On the day of the festival, it is a tradition that sweet rice meal is made, dedicated to the sun god, and then consumed by families in festive meals. The rice is boiled in milk, along with spices, raisins, cashews, and various other ingredients. The cooking is done outside in the sunlight, and is normally done on a porch or in a courtyard. The cooking pot is made of clay and is decorated with colourful patterns. The final product is served up on banana leaves and can be either very sweet or very savoury.

 As you celebrate the festival of Pongal, with a lot of fervor and cheers, this warm greeting comes your way, with a world of good wishes for every joy and happiness.

Pray and hope that this festival marks the beginning of a harvest season, that  is happy and cheerful and one which brings with it good luck and prosperity to everyone of you.

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

• අපරාධ වැඩිවෙලා දිනපතා මනුෂ්‍ය ඝාතන සිදුවෙනවා.
• නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවකට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී5වරු එකගනැති බව සහභාගීත්වයෙන් පැහැදිලි වෙනාවා.
• රජය යැපෙන්නේ දෙමළ සන්ධානය මතයි.

රජයේ ප්‍රමුඛ අරමුණක් විදියට පෙබරවාරි 04ට පෙර නව ආණAඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරනවාලූ. ඊට පෙර වාර්තා පහක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළා. ශී්‍ර ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ මේ වැඩ පිළීවෙලට සහමුලින්ම විරුද්ධයි. මේක නැති ප්‍රශ්න ඇති කරන දෙයක්. අද රටේ නීිතිය සම්පූර්ණයෙන් කඩා වැටිලා. දිනපතා මනුෂ්‍ය ඝාතන සිදුවුනත් රජය කිසිදු කි්‍රයාමාර්ගයක් ගන්න බව පේන්නේ නැහැ. ආර්ථීක පීඩනය, බදු බර වගේ දේවල් තමයි අද ජනතාවට තියෙන ප්‍රශ්න. ආණAඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට විරුද්ධව මැතිවරණ කල්දමමින් හිතුවක්කාර පාලනයක් මේ සුලූතර රජය ගෙනයනවා. මාධ්‍ය මර්ධනයක් කි්‍රයාත්මක වෙනවා. රටේ යථාර්ථය පිළිබදව ජනතාව දැනුම්වත් කිරීම වළක්වන්නයි මේ මාධ්‍ය මර්ධනය වෙන්නේ.
සිකුරාදා මේ වාර්තා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත්කළ අවස්ථාවේ එජාපයේ මන්තී්‍රවරු කිව්වා මේ ගැන ඔවුන්ට වැටහීමක් නැති බව. විශේෂයෙන් ඔරුමිත්තනාඩු කියන දේ ගැන පැහැදිලි කරන්න කිව්වා. අපි දන්නේ නැති අධ්‍යයනය කරලා නැති දෙයකට ඡන්දයක් දෙන්න බැරි බව හෘද සාක්ෂියක් ඇති මන්තී්‍රවරුන් කිව්වා. පාර්ලිමේන්තු ස්ථාවර නියේාගවලටත් පටහැනිවයි මේ දෙය කලේ. මේ ලියවිලි හදාරලා එහි හරය අවබෝධ කරගන්න අඩුම තරමේ දින තුනකට කළීන්වත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දැනුම් දීමක් කළ යුතුයි. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂය මේ ගැන කිව්වත් නොසලකා හැරියා. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැක්කේ මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ වාර්තාවක් පමණක් වුවත් මොකක්ද ඉදිරිපත් කලේ? ඉදිරිපත් කළා කියන්නේ විද්වත් කමිටුවේ වාර්තාවක්. මේනිසා නීිතියට හා සම්ප්‍රධායට පටහැනි දෙයක් සිදුවුනේ. විද්වත් කමිටුවත් ප්‍රදාන කරුණු සම්බන්ධයෙන් එක`ගතාවයකින් තොරවයි මේ වාර්තා ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී්‍රවරුන් මෙයට එතරම් උද්යෝගයක් නැහැ. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව කියන්නේ පරම්පරා කිහිපයකට බලපාන කාරණයක්. නමුත් සභා ගර්භයේ 169ක් මන්තී්‍රවරු හිටියේ නැහැ. අගමැති ඇතුලූ සුලූතර රජය කාගේ වුවමනාවටද මෙය කරන්නේ. පෙබරවාරි 04ට කලින් මේක පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට අනිවාර්යයෙන් ගේන බවයි අගමැති කියන්නේ. දමිල සන්ධානයයි මේ රජයට ඔක්සිජන් දෙන්නේ. දමිල සන්දානය රජයට සහාය දෙන්නේ නැහැ කිව්වොත් හෙට උදේ වෙද්දි මේ ආණAඩුව කඩා වැටිලා ඉවරයි. අගමැතිතුමා ආරක්ෂා කරන්න දමිල සන්ධානයේ මන්තී්‍රවරු 14ක් තිරණයක් ගත්තා. අයවැය ලේඛණය පරාජය වුනොත් රජයක් නැහැ. පරාජය වුනොත් කැබිනට් මණAඩලය විසුරුවා හැරිය ලෙස සළකනවා. දෙමළ සන්දානයේ 14 දෙනා නැතිව අයවැය සම්මත වෙන්නේ නැහැ. රජය යැපෙන්නේ දෙමළ සන්ධානය මතයි. මේ නිසා කැමැත්තෙනක් හෝ අකමැත්්තෙන් දෙමල සන්ධානය එක්ක ඉන්න වෙනවා. ඇත්තටම මේ රට පාලනය කරන්නේ සුමන්දිරන්ද වික්‍රමසිංහද? එජාපයද දෙමළ සන්දනායද? මේ ආණAඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථ ාවැඩපිළිවෙල ජනතාවගේ සුබ සිද්ධියට නෙවෙයි. රජය බලයට පත්වීමට දායක වුනු අය පිනවිමට කරන දෙයක්. මේ වැඩ පිළිවෙලට සුජාත බවක් නැහැ. ජනතාව අනුමත කරලා නැහැ. ඒ නිසයි විනිවිදභාවයකින් තොරව කෙටි මාර්ගවලින් ජනතාවට හැංගි හොරා මෙවැනි වැඩපිළීවෙලක් කරන්නේ. ජනතා මතය උරගා බැලු පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයේදී ඡන්ද කොට්ඨාශවලින් 71% මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ පොදුජන පෙරමුණට ලැබුනා. මේ ප්‍රශ්නය ජනතාවට යොමු කිරීමේ වුවමනාව රජයට නැහැ. ප්‍රතිඵලය මොකක්ද කියලා රජය දන්නවා. අපි්‍රයෙල් මාසය වෙද්දි පළාත් සභා අටක් විසිරගිහින් අවසානයි. පරාජය වෙන බව දන්න නිසා එජාපය මැතිවරණය තියන්නේ නැහැ.දමිළ සන්ධානය පළාත් සභාවලට බලතල ඉල්ලූවත් පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණය පවත්වන්න උනන්දුවක් නැහැ. පළාත් පාලනමැතිවරණයත් කළ් දැම්මා. ආණAඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ කල් දැන්න බැරි එකම මැතිවරණය ජනාධිපතිවරණයයි. මේකත් කල් දාන්න අත්සාහ කරනවා. මින් මත්තට ජනාධිපති පත්කරන්නේ ජනතාව නෙවෙයි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කියලා යෝජනාවක් අවිත්. මෙහි එකම අරමුණ ජනාධීපතිවරණයත් කල්දාන්නයි.
තවම ව්‍යවස්්ථා කොටුම්පතක්වත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් නොකළ බව නවීන් දිසානායක කියනවා. නමුත් ඉංගි්‍රසි පිටපතේ ග්‍රාෆ් කියලා ස`දහන් වෙනවා. මේ රජය කොහොමද විශAවාස කරන්නෙ. පළාතසභා මැතිවරණ පනත සම්පූර්ණයෙන් වෙනස්කලේ කමිටු අවස්ථාවේදියි. පිටු 35ක් සංශෝධන 33ක් කමිටු අවස්ථාවේ ඉදිරිපත් වුනා. ඊට පස්සේ කතානායක අත්සන යෙදුවට පස්සේ විමර්ශන කරන්න බැරිලූ. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව පිළිබ`දවත් ඒ කූඨ ක්‍රමය අනුගමනය කරන්න ඉඩ තියෙනවා. දෙමළ සන්ධානයට ණය ගෙවන්න රට උගස් තියන්න අපි ඉඩදෙන්නේ නැහැ. මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වලා සුජාතභාවය ලබාගෙන මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා වැඩපිළිවෙල කරගෙන ගියාට ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැහැ.
ව්‍යාජ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා වැඩපිළීවෙලට නිර්භීිතව ඉදිරිපත්වෙන කණ්ඩායම් හතරක් සිටිනවා. අපේ සංඝ රත්නයේ ආකල්පය මොකක්ද කියලා මේ වෙද්දි පැහැදිලියි. අපේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී්‍රවරුන්, මාධය හා වෘත්තීය සමිති මේ කණ්ඩායම් හතරයි. මේ කණAඩායම් හතරම විවිධ උපක්‍රම හරහා නිශ්ශබ්ද කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරනවා. අපේ මන්තී්‍රවරුන්ට විනය පරීක්ෂණ තියලා කිසියම් කාලයකට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් නෙරපා හැරීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙලක් මේ වෙද්දි කි්‍රයාත්මකයි. ඒ කාලය තුළ ආණAඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා වැඩපිළීවෙල ඉදිරියට ගෙන යාමට උත්සාහ දරන බව පේනවා. මාධ්‍ය බිය ගැන්වූවොත් ඔවුන්ගේ වැඩපිළීවෙලට පහසුයි. වෘත්තීය සමිති අඩපන කරලා හිර අඩස්සියේ දානවා. අපේ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේත් හිරේ දමනවා. මේ සියල්ල ජනතාව විසින් තේරුම් ගැනීම වඩා වැදගත් කියලයි මම හිතන්නේ.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී්‍රී රෝහිත අබේගුණවර්ධන මහතා

• 1988 – 1989 කාලවල වගේ ගෝනිබිල්ලෝ ඉදිරියේදි දැකගන්න හැකිවෙයි.
• නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව නිසා එජාපයේ ඇතුලේ අර්බුදයක්.
• ජනාධිපතිතුමා පළාත්සභා මැතිවරණය තියන්න සූදානම්.
• වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා ලංකාවේ වැඩිම බොරු කියපු චේතිය රජ්ජුරුවන්ගේ වාර්තාව කඩනවා.
• අද දවසේ වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා රිවස් ගියර් එක දාලා. මේ වෙනකල් ආවේ හතරේ ටොප් ගියර් එකේ.

මේ වන විට රටතුළ ආගමික නායකයින් විද්වතුන් අතර වගේම ජන සමාජය තුළ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතාබහක් ඇතිවෙලා තියෙනවා. මාධ්‍ය ආයතනවලට අපේ ගෞරවය ස්තූතිය පුද කරනවා ගේන්න හදන නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගැන ඇත්ත ඇති සැටියෙන් රට හමුවේ හෙළි කිරිම සම්බන්ධයෙන්. මේ නිසාම ඉදිරියේදි මාධ්‍ය ඉදිරියට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම මුහුණු වහගත්ත අයත් එන්න ඉඩ තියෙනවා. පහුගිය දවස්වල කට විතරක් බැ`දගෙන ඇවිත් මාධ්‍යයේ කට වහන්න උත්සාහ කළාට ඒක හරි ගියේ නැහැ. 1988 – 1989 කාලවල හිටියා ගෝනිබිල්ලෝ. අද තරුණ පිරිස් ඒ අය ගැන දන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ ගෝනි බිල්ලන්ව ජිප් රථයේ නංගා ගෙන එනවා. ගෝනි බිල්ලා ඔව් කිව්වොත් වාහනේට දාගෙන අරන් ගිහින් යටර් දෙකක් දැලා පාර අයිනේ ගිනි තිබ්බා. නැත්නම් කැලණි ගගේ, නිල්වලා ගගේ පාකළා. එහෙම පාකරපු මිනී සංඛ්‍යාව අපමණයි. ගෝනි බිල්ලා නැහැ කිව්වොත් තමයි ජිවිතේ බේරෙන්නේ. ඒ වගේ ගෝනි බිල්ලෝ නැවතත් මාධ්‍ය ආයතන ඉස්සරහට එයි. අපි දන්න එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය කොක්කෙන් හරි කෙක්කෙන් හරි වැඩේ කර ගන්නවා. ඒ නිසා බලය ර`දා පවත්වා ගන්න ඒ වගේ දේවල් කරයි.
අපේ පක්ෂයේ සභාපති ජී. එල්. පිරිස් මහතා ගියා මල්වතු පාර්ශ්වයේ අනුනායක හිමියන් බැහැ දකින්න. අන් වහන්සේ කිව්වේ ජන මතයට පිටුපාමින් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන ඒම අවනම්බුවක් බව කිව්වා. අස්ගිරි පාර්ශAවයේ අනුනායක හිමියන් කිව්වා රටට ඕනේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් නෙවෙයි ඡන්දයක් බව. තෛයිනිකායික අනුනායක හිමියන් ගේ අදහස් මේ විදියටයි. ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් රටට ඕනේද නැද්ද කියන පණිවිඩය එන්න ඕනේ රටේ ජනතාවගෙන් මිස පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඉන්න කිහිප දෙනෙක් අතරින් නෙවෙයි. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙනාවේ ව්‍යවස්ථා යෝජනාවක් කියලා සමහරු කියන අතරේ තවත් සමහරෙක් කියනවා ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටිම්පතක්ලූ. මොකක් නමුත් ඔය ගෙනාවා කියන එක ඊළ`ග පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයට පෙර ජනතාවට තමන්නාන්සේලා දෙන ලියවිල්ලේ ලියන්න. මේ ගෙනත් තියෙන දේ භාෂා දෙක අතර පරස්පරයි. ඉංගි්‍රසි එක නෙවෙයි සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් තියෙන්නේ.
අපි 2005 මහින්ද චින්තනය රටට ඉදිරිපත් කළා. රට පිළිගත්තා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපිපති වුනා. ඊට පස්සේ මහින්ද චින්තන ඉදිරි දැක්ම ඉදිරිපත් කළා. අපි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට අභියෝග කරනවා කෑලි 9ට රට කැඩෙන, පොලිසිය ඛෙදෙන, පාටා පාට පොලීසි වල පාට පෙට්ටි හැදෙන යෝජනාව ජනතාවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන්න. අපි ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නම් අපේ වැඩපිළීවෙල. අද ව්‍යවස්ථාවට වැඩිය අර්බුදයක් සිරිකොත ඇතුලේ ඇති වෙලා. එජාප පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැති ඇමැතිවරු දන්නෙත් නැහැ මේ ගේන ව්‍යවස්ථාව මොකක්ද කියලා. ඒ ගැන දන්නේ ජයම්පති, සුමන්තිරන්, අගමැති වගේ එයට සහාය දෙන සීමිත පිරිසයි. මේ නිසා එජාපයේ පසුපෙල මන්තී්‍රවරු හා අනෙකුත් කණ්ඩායම් අතර ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇති වෙලා. අද දවසේ වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා රිවස් ගියර් එක දාලා. මේ වෙනකල් ආවේ හතරේ ටොප් ගියර් එකේ. දැන් කියනවා මේක යෝජනාවක් විතරයි. ඒ වුනාට මිට කළින් කිව්වේ අපි නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගේනවා. ජනතාවට සහන දෙනවා. ඔය වගේ කතා. ඇයි රිවස් ගියර් වැටුනේ. ත්‍රෛයිනිකායික මහානායක හිමිවරු විරුද්ධ වෙන නිසාද? වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා ලංකාවේ වැඩිම බොරු කියපු චේතිය රජ්ජුරුවන්ගේ වාර්තාව කඩනවා.මේ ව්‍යස්ථාව සම්මත වෙනකොට රටට ඒ තරම් බොරු කියලා තියෙයි.
සුමන්තිරන් මහත්තයාට දැන් ව්‍යවස්ථා නාට්‍යයයේ අලූත් චරිතයක් බාර දිලා. සුමන්තිරන් උතුරට ඇරලා කියවනවා සිංහල ජනතාවගේ ආදරය දිනාගන්න ඕනේ කියලා. සුමන්තිරන් මහත්තයෝ සිංහල ජනතාවගේ ආදරය දිනාගන්න කළින් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ ආදරය දිනාගන්න. අපි සිංහල, ද්‍රවිඩ, මුස්ලිම්, මැලේ සියලූ ජාතින් මේ රටේ ජිවත් වෙන්න ඕනේ. මේ අයගේ මන්තී්‍රකම් රැකිලා තියෙන්නේ ජාතිවාදය තියෙනකල් විතරයි. සිංහල මිනිසායි – ද්‍රවිඩ මිනිසායි අත අල්ලා නොගන්නකල් මේ අය රැකෙනවා. මේ අයගේ ඡන්ද පදනම රැකෙනවා. ඒ නිසා එදා යුද්ධය නිසා එකතු කර ගන්න බැරි වුනා මේ ජනතාව අද වෙන් කරන්න එපා කියලා අපි සුමන්දිරම්ටත් සම්බන්ධන්ටත් කියනවා.
ශී්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයයි පළාත් සභා ඡන්දය තියන්න දෙන්නේ නැත්තේ කියලා ආනAඩුව නිතරම කිව්වා. දැන් ජනාධිපතිතුමා කියනවා මම රජය විදියට මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්ට හා නිතිපතිට කතාකරලා පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණය ඉක්මනින් පවත්වන්න කිව්වලූ. දැන් කවුද ප්‍රමාද වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයෝ. කරුණාකරලා උත්තරේ දෙන්න. අපි ලැහැස්තියි පළාත් සභා ඡන්දයට. දැන් ජනාධීපතිතුමාට බෝලේ පාස් කරන්න එපා. අපි උතුරු පළාත් සභාව හැර සියලූ පළාත් සභා ජය ගන්නවා. අපේ මහ ඇමැතිවරු යටතේ පාලනය වන පළාත් සභා පිහිටුවනවා.
ක‍නාධිපතිවරණය නියමිත වෙලාවට එනවා. ඊට කළින් පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණය තියන්න. එජාපය කියනවා අපි ටොප් බඩුවක් ගේනවා.රෙද්දෙන් වහලා තියෙන්නේ කියනවා. රෙද්දෙන් වහගෙන ඉන්න සැ`ගවුනු අමුත්තාව දෙන්නකෝ. අපි ලැහැස්තියි. 2018 පෙබරවාරි 10 පැවැති මැතිවරණයේදී ශී්‍ර ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ 44.65% ඡන්ද ගන්නවා. ශී්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය 13.38ක් ගන්නවා. ජවිපේ 6.27%ක් ගන්නවා. එජාපය 32%යි. දෙමළ සන්ධානය 3%යි. මේ පහුගිය ජනමතය. මේ ජනමතයත් එක්ක ජනාධිපතිවරණයට එද්දි ශී්‍ර ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ හා ශී්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ඇතුලූ එජාප විරෝධී කණ්ඩායම එකතු වෙනවා. 58%ක් ජනතාව ඉන්නේ මේ ක`දවුරත් එක්ක. එජාපය එක්ක එකතු වෙන්නේ කවුද? වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයාගේ බාල සහෝදරයා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුනේ අනුර මල්ලි. දෙමළ සන්දානය. මේ අලි කොටි නරිටික එකතු වුනාම 41%යි. ඊළ`ග ජනාධිපතිවරණයට කුලූදුල් ඡන්ද ලක්ෂ 14ක් එකතු වෙනවා. මේ ලක්ෂ 14 තීරණාත්මක සාධකයක් එනවා.පාසලේ උසස්පෙල කරන කොට රටට වෙන විනාශය දැකපු මේ ඡන්දවලින් ලක්ෂ 10ක් ආණAඩුවට විරුද්ධයි. ඒ කියන්නේ ඊළ`ග සිංහල අවුරුද්ද ලබන කොට අපි ඉදිරිපත් කරන නායකයා තමයි රටේ ජනාධිපති.
අපේ මන්තී්‍රවරු 20ට නඩු දාන්න සූදානම්. පාර්ලිමේන්තු ඉතිහාසයේ මන්තී්‍රවරු ගහ ගත්තේ පළවෙනි වතාවටද? වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර මහත්තයාට බිම දාගෙන ගහලා තියෙනවා. ජනාධිපතිතුමාට ගහලා තියෙන බව එතුමාම කිව්වා. රොබට් ගුණවර්ධනට ගහලා තියෙනවා. ලෝකේ පුරාම ඒ විදියට ගහගෙන තියෙනවා. අපි කියන්නේ ගහ ගන්න එක හොදයි කියලා නෙවෙයි. මේක දඩමීමා කරගෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කතා කරන එක නතර කරන්න , ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් හ`ඩනැගීම නතර කරන්න හදනවා නම් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය වළලන්න අපි ඉඩ තියන්නේ නැහැ.
චන්ද්‍රිකා නෝනා ජනාධිපතිතුමාට ලිපියක් එවමින් කියලා තියෙනවා පරාජය වුනු ජනතාව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරපු අයත් එක්ක එකතු වෙනවාට එතුමා කැමැති නැහැ කියලා. එතුමිය අමතක වෙන්න ගුළි කනවාද කොහොද? වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා 30 වතාවක් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප වුනා. ඊට පස්සේ අනුන්ගේ පානෙන් එළිය බලලා තියෙනවා. කරුණාකරලා අමතක වෙන ලෙඩේට ඛෙහෙත් හොයා ගන්න කියලා අපි චන්ද්‍රිකා නෝනාටකියනවා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයාව මේ රටේ ජනතාව ප්‍රතික්ෂෙAප කරලා නැහැ. ඒ බව 2018 පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයෙන් පැහැදිලියි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්තී්‍ර ගාමිණී ලොකුගේ මහතා

• වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයින්ගෙන් දිගින් දිගටම පළිගැනීම්
• අසාධාරණ නීතියක් රජ කරන රටකයි අපි ඉන්නේ.

අලූත් ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ යෝජනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන අතරේ වැඩකරන පන්තියේ නැගී සිටීම වළක්වන්න වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයෝ දඩයම් කිරීමත් ආණAඩුව අරඹලා. විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදි කිව්වා වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයින්ගෙන් දේශපාලන පළිගැනීම් කිරිම වළක්වන්නයි කිව්වා. රජයේ මාධ්‍යවලත් මේ දේ වෙනවා. ස්වාධින රූපවාහිනියේ 14ක් වැඩ තහනම් කළා. තරුණ සේවා සභාවේ විසිගානක් මාරු කළා. ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථාවේ විසිගානක් මාරු කළා. නාගරික සංවර්ධන අධීකාරියේ මාරිකිරිම් කළා. අධ්‍යාපන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ මාරුකිරිම් කළා. මේ විදියට දිගින් දිගටම වෘත්තීය සමිති දඩයම් කරනවා.රංජිත් මද්දුමබණ්ඩාර කියනවා ස්වාධීන කොමිෂන් සභා පත්කරලා නිසා එහෙම වෙන්නේ නැහැලූ. එතුමාට වැරදි වෙලා. අධ්‍යාපන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විතරයි ස්වාධින කොමිෂන් සබාවට අයිති වෙන්නේ. වැඩපිළීවෙලක් නැතුවි වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයෝ හිතුමතේ මාරු කරන්නේ. ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ මැදිහත්වීම මත විනය පරික්ෂණයකට යටත්ව ස්වාධීන රුපවාහිනියේ පිරිස නැවත සේවයේ පිහිටුවා තිඛෙනවා. විනය කටයුත්තක් වෙන්වෙන් මාරු කරනවා නම් නිදහසට කරුණු විමසලා හේතු දැක්වීමෙන් පස්සේ මාරුකරනවා. ඓහම නැත්නම් විනය මණAඩලයකට ගිහින් අතිරික්ත සේවකයින් මාරු කරනවා. ඒ කිසිම දෙයක් නොකර ප්‍රධානියාට ඕනේ විදියට යාපනයට, කහටගස්දිගිලියට වගේ මාරුකිරිම් කරනවා. මේ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ දුර දිග බළලා කරන වැඩක්. ශක්තිමත් වෘත්තීය සමිති නායකයෝ අධෛර්යමත් කරලා තමන්ගේන අණපනත්වලට එරෙහිව නැගීසිටිම වළක්වා ගන්න කරන දෙයක්. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය, වෘත්තීය අයිතීන් ගැන , නිදහස ගැන කතා කළාට ඒ දේවල් මේ ආණAඩුව අහිමි කරලා. කම්කරු ආරවුලක් ගැන කම්කරු කොමසාරිස්ට පැමිනිලි කළත් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නිලධාරින් එන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ කියන්නේ හිතාමතා වැඩකරන පන්තියේ පිබිදීම වළක්වන්නයි උත්සාහ කරන්නේ. ආණAඩුව මොන කි්‍රයාමාර්ග ගත්තත් වැඩ කරන පන්තියේ නැගී සිටීම වළක්වන්න බැහැ. අපි අධිකරණයට ගිහින් සේවක අයිතින් ආර්කෂා කරනවා. පෙනි හිටිනවා. අද ශී්‍ර ලංකා පොදු ජන පෙරමුනේ වෘත්තිය සමිති රටේ ප්‍රධාන වෘත්තීය සමිතිවෙලා ඉන්නේ.
තෙල් සංස්ථාවේ සේවකයෙක් මියගියා. කෝලහාලය ඇරඹුව කෙනා ඇප අරන් ගෙදර. බේරගත්ත කෙනා ඇප නැතුව හිරේ. දර්ශනවලින් කොටසයි ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙන්නේ. මුහුණු පොතේ තියන දර්ශන කිසිවක් අරන් නැහැ. ඒවා ගැන අධිකරණය සැළකිල්ලක් දක්වලා නැහැ. මෙහෙම අසාධාරණ නීතියක් රජ කරන රටකයි අපි ඉන්නේ.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට හිටපු පලාත් සභා මන්තී්‍ර, පළාත් සභා මන්තී්‍ර සන්සදයේ සබාපති කාංචන ජයරත්න මහතාද එක්වූහ.

by Chandre Dharmawardana, Canada.

I thank the Lankaweb editor for publishing a  note about the recent unanimous re-affirmation of the
safety of the herbicide glyphosate by a team of 20 Canadian scientists. See: https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/01/12/health-canada-concludes-new-review-of-glyphosate-herbicide/

When this news item appeared in the Lankaweb, two commentators responded to it. I felt that those comments should be responded to in this manner, as a short article,  rather than in the response format as the  issues brought up  by Aloy” and by Christie” are likely to the shared by other readers too. Hence they merit  a detailed answer. Furthermore, every scientist who is knowledgeable on these topics must regard it as his/her solemn duty to bring out the facts, and squash  myths widely held by  some segments of the public,  in order to safeguard Sri Lanka’s  march towards agricultural self-sufficiency and environmental sustainability.

This news item is of prime interest  as  Sri Lanka was the only country in the world to impose a total ban on the herbicide although it if often falsely claimed that other countries have banned it (http://dh-web.org/green/NatuNewsFake.html ).

The ban was  based on the false claim that the herbicide is a likely cause of the kidney disease that has began to plague Sri Lanka’s NCP  since the early 1990s. The ban was imposed in January 2105 by President Sirisena at the behest of Ven. Rathana, although the National Academy of Sciences in Sri Lanka and other learned societies  had opposed such a ban. I myself have written articles on this topic since 2012 when fake science  was presented to the Nation, with a pretence that  it  is based on revelations from God Natha himself.

The ban was reversed in July 2018 due to the collapse of the tea market, the collapse of the cultivation of Indian corn (Bada Iringu”) and other crops. Corn  is  an important economic enterprise for many small cultivators in large  parts of the country. The impending closure of teas estates implied a total loss to the ecosystem due to their irreversible conversion into housing and tourist conglomerates. The total loss to the country over the three years of  the ban is estimated to be around 50 billion in foreign exchange. It will be an up-hill task to recapture lost markets.

Alloy’s Questions.
Aloy states that :
(1) The population which is predominantly Sinhalese in the NCP area is depleting. And there are large number of CKDu cases there. First solve this problem”.
(2)  Then we can talk about the use of Glyphosate in other countries however small the traces in their systems.
(3) Till then let us eliminate agro chemicals one by one and revert to bio fertilizer.
(4) There was no CKDu in the olden days. It started after the uncontrolled use of agrochemicals.

Let us take Aloy’s point number (1).
Indeed, the kidney disease CKDu strikes any one living sufficiently long in certain villages in the NCP,
irrespective of whether they identify themselves as  Sinhalese or  Tamils. It also strikes people in areas like Mullativu (Mooladoova) where the population is predominantly Tamil speaking, and this is an area where agrochemicals have NEVER  been used  for various reasons.

Furthermore, domestic animals (dogs, cats), mice, rabbits and livestock (goats, cattle, pigs) who live in the same environment as the farmers who get CKDu do NOT contract this disease, although those animals are very susceptible, and are in fact used in laboratory research on this type of disease.

The animals drink water from  paddy fields (containing agrochemicals) and irrigation canals, but do NOT get sick. People who get sick do not drink  such water, but use their own dug wells. Scientists have found that these dug wells contain unacceptable amounts of fluoride of geological origin, together
with water hardness caused by the presence of magnesium and calcium salts in the water. Furthermore
scientists have shown that it is this combination of fluoride and hard water that causes CKDu. It has nothing to do with the use of agrochemicals.  This has been confirmed by feeding this water, as well as normal water to laboratory mice. Independently, the Kidney specialists at the Kandy Hospital have done research where they have examined the blood of CKDu patients using a research  technique  known as molecular-pathway analysis. They have shown that the patients all have pathway markers arising from the action of fluoride as well as viral infections. See their latest research report:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325399594_Transcriptome_analysis_supports_viral_infection_and_fluoride_toxicity_as_contributors_to_chronic_kidney_disease_of_unknown_etiology_CKDu_in_Sri_Lank

SO WE KNOW FAIRLY WELL WHAT CAUSES CKDu.
The solution for PREVENTING the disease is to provide clean water, so that the people do NOT  drink contaminated well water. Providing tanks to collect rain water has been tired out in the NCP  and worked well even during the past two years of drought. This costs a few cents a litre (cost of amortizing the tank) compared to Rs 1-3 per litre using imported reverse-osmosis plants that need electricity and  and expensive filtration membranes.

2. Alloy says Then we can talk about the use of Glyphosate in other countries however small the traces in their systems”.

No traces of glyphosate have been found in their systems”, if   Aloy is thinking about  CKDu patients. The WHO study found that 97% of the CKDu patients did not have any significant amounts of glyphosate. About 3% who seemed to have a few parts per billion glyphosate is a quantity  well within the statistical error of such investigations

3. Alloy says Till then let us eliminate agrochemicals one by one and revert to bio fertilizer”.

Till when?
Bio-fertilizers are also agrochemicals with another name.
Where is this bio fertilizer” available? Does Aloy know how much is needed? Does he know how much they cost? You need about a ton of bio fertilizer per Kg of mineral fertilizer to have the same effect in soils where fertilizer is needed. Also, biofertilzer costs much more. It is also not as healthy as touted by the organic-food supermarket chains.

What is the toxic contamination data for bio fertilizers”? Bio fertilizers often have as much or more metal toxins like Cadmium, As, etc., as conventional fertilizers, because the plants that went to make the bio-fertilizer accumulate these toxins from the soil. The soil naturally contains cadmium, and other metallic ore, as seen from Sri Lankan geological data. The traces found in the soil are accumulated by green plants (plants don’t have kidneys to flush out the toxins, and so they accumulate toxins in the plant. So straw has some 200 times more cadmium toxins than in the soil).

The total organic” food production using bio fertilizers in the whole world is less than 2% today, , even though  such organic” methods have existed since the 1920s in the West. It has existed  from time immemorial among rural people who eked out a subsistence  level of existence from such agriculture, feeding a much smaller population. It has been shown by many people including organic-farming researchers at the Swiss Institute,   that organic farming even if extensively adopted,  cannot feed even half the world population without extensive land use, land erosion and the deployment of vast amounts of water (see: https://dh-web.org/place.names/posts/CD-Mueller-OrganicL.pd ).
Just as private education (however  superior  it is) cannot replace free public education, the push for organic farming can only produce a two-tier food system that will  ultimately enfeeble the food supply of the less fortunate.

(4). Aloy says:
There was no CKDu in the olden days. It started after the uncontrolled use of agrochemicals”.

This is completely contrary to facts.
CKDu is not found everywhere agrochemicals are used .Paddy farming requires very little glyphosate (herbicide)  or mineral fertilizers compared to many other crops like tea or corn . CKDu  is found in certain NCP villages where the geology naturally has fluoride. The disease started only after the accelerated  Mahaweli program came into being, where people were settled hurriedly, and in higher ground away from agricultural tanks. As the water is too far, they dug their own household wells and drank water from them.
These were areas that were NOT populated in the old days, due to lack of water, and malaria.
In the old days people lived very close to Tanks and irrigation canals, and got their water from such sources and did not drink water containing fluorides. Although very small amounts of fluoride are  good for health (prevents dental carries etc.), fluoride  is toxic if the safe threshold is exceeded. This safe threshold is reduced in the presence of magnesium salts found in hard water, and makes hard well water containing fluoride the trigger of kidney disease.

Christie’s Question.
Now let us see what Christie, the second respondent had to say.  He says:
Looks like you had your daily dose. How is it now compared to old Monsanto.
Canada Health got nothing to do with us”.

Indeed, Canadian agricultural health has a LOT to do with Sri Lankan  food.  Most of the  lentils (parippu”), and significant amounts of chick peas, soya beans, Canola oil etc., that Sri Lankans consume originate in Canada, even when they are imported from an intermediate source like India.

Upper class Sri Lankan activists who mobilize” to fight” genetically modified foods (GMO foods) probably do not realize that their daily diet is implicitly made up of such GMO products, and that 80% of the nitrogen in their bodies have been produced using the Harber-Bosch process that has fed the world since the early 1900s.  People fail to understand that a major fraction of the food that feeds the 7.2 billion people of the world living today  in 195 countries of the world come from the agriculture of just a few  countries who are leaders  in industrial agriculture. That should not be so, especially for a country like Sri Lanka with abundant water,  fertile soil and a proud  agricultural past.

Courtesy The Island

Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaka has declared that he is ready to contest the next presidential election.

Rajapasa said, over the week end, that he was ready to take up the challenge if the people threw their weight behind him. The declaration was made at the Viyathmaga meeting, on January 12, in Colombo.

The former Defence Secretary made his position known on the next presidential polls against the backdrop of the SLFP declaring President Maithripala Sirisiena would seek a second term (SF)