{"id":89664,"date":"2019-05-31T23:38:26","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T05:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=89664"},"modified":"2019-05-31T16:27:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T23:27:02","slug":"the-millennium-challenge-corporation-agreement-%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/05\/31\/the-millennium-challenge-corporation-agreement-%ef%bb%bf\/","title":{"rendered":"The Millennium Challenge Corporation Agreement \ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>Anil Amarasekera <\/strong>Co-President National Joint Committee<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p><em>Hon. Ranil Wickramasinghe,<\/em><br><em>The Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,<\/em><br><em>The Prime Minister\u2019s 0ffice,<\/em><br><em>No. 58, Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha <\/em><br><em>Colombo 7.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Dear\nSir,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nMillennium Challenge Corporation Agreement <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The National Joint\nCommittee is committed to protect and preserve the unity and territorial\nintegrity of our nation. We believe that Sri Lanka should follow a foreign\npolicy of nonalignment. Due to the fact that Sri Lanka is strategically located\nin the Indian Ocean the country needs to remain nonaligned and refrain from\ngetting involved in the geopolitical confrontation that is developing between\nAmerica and China, through agreements that would enable these countries to gain\na foothold in Sri Lanka.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The nonaligned policy was\ncompromised when the Acquisition and Cross Service Agreement (ACSA) was first signed\nin 2007 and subsequently renewed in 2017. This agreement is now contemplated to\nbe further extended to a Status of Forces Agreement (ACSA) with immunity being\nprovided to foreign servicemen on Sri Lankan soil. There is another\ncontroversial agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of\nAmerica that is supposed to have been signed on 27<sup>th<\/sup> of April 2019. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Therefore the National\nJoint Committee at its last meeting decided to request you to release to the public\nthe text of the MCC agreement. The information available in certain websites argue\nthat as a result of this MCC agreement with America the sovereignty, unity and\nterritorial integrity of our nation will be lost to posterity. These websites\nare given below for your information.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-lankaweb-com\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"vziKIc8pcC\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/02\/26\/rise-up-sri-lanka-rise-up-destroy-the-enemy-as-it-pivots-to-lanka-to-build-an-electrified-eelam-border-wall-and-make-the-island-its-military-hub-in-the-indo-pacific-part-1\/\">Rise-up Sri Lanka Rise-up!  Destroy the Enemy as It Pivots-to-Lanka to Build An Electrified Eelam \u2018Border-Wall\u2019   and   Make the Island Its Military-Hub in the Indo-Pacific   (Part 1)<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Rise-up Sri Lanka Rise-up!  Destroy the Enemy as It Pivots-to-Lanka to Build An Electrified Eelam \u2018Border-Wall\u2019   and   Make the Island Its Military-Hub in the Indo-Pacific   (Part 1)&#8221; &#8212; LankaWeb.com\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/02\/26\/rise-up-sri-lanka-rise-up-destroy-the-enemy-as-it-pivots-to-lanka-to-build-an-electrified-eelam-border-wall-and-make-the-island-its-military-hub-in-the-indo-pacific-part-1\/embed\/#?secret=gbIxbrCiOj#?secret=vziKIc8pcC\" data-secret=\"vziKIc8pcC\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-lankaweb-com\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"IOpNKFDREc\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/03\/12\/rise-up-sri-lanka-rise-up-destroy-the-enemy-utterly-as-it-pivots-to-mother-lanka-part-2\/\">Rise-up Sri Lanka Rise-up! Destroy the Enemy Utterly as It Pivots to Mother Lanka  (Part 2)<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Rise-up Sri Lanka Rise-up! Destroy the Enemy Utterly as It Pivots to Mother Lanka  (Part 2)&#8221; &#8212; LankaWeb.com\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/03\/12\/rise-up-sri-lanka-rise-up-destroy-the-enemy-utterly-as-it-pivots-to-mother-lanka-part-2\/embed\/#?secret=UPGqtaI3xb#?secret=IOpNKFDREc\" data-secret=\"IOpNKFDREc\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The articles in these\nwebsites point out that the MCC agreement will create an economic corridor\nextending from Trincomalee to Colombo containing a land mass of 1.2 million\nacres which would be leased for 200 years to America for sum of 480 million\ndollars. To accommodate the acquisition of land for this proposed economic\ncorridor these articles state that two new laws namely the State Land Bank bill\nand Land Special Provision Bill are to be enacted. &nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Furthermore these articles\nindicate that the area covered by this economic corridor will contain Eppawala\nphosphates, Limonite, Thorium, Monazite and rare earth metals Cerium and Lanthanum.\nIt is also pointed out in these articles that the law applicable within this\neconomic corridor would be the American law and not the Sri Lankan law. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Therefore if such an\nagreement is implemented the country will be divided into two parts by this\neconomic corridor with the northern part being available to create the nation\nof Eelam as envisaged in the separatist ideology. &nbsp;It is in this northern part that the ancient\ncities of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kurunangala are situated. <\/em><strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Freeport McMoRan which is\nan American Company in the year 2000 tried to mine the phosphates in Eppawala that\nis now within the proposed economic corridor by acquiring land using the\nMinistry of Industrial Development. However this was not made possible as the\nFundamental Rights of the people to possess their land was upheld by the\nSupreme Court. When delivering judgment in this Eppawala case Justice\nAmarasinghe quoted what Arahat Mahinda had said to King Devanampiyatissa&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>O great King, the birds of the air and the beasts have as equal a right\nto live and move about in any part of the land as thou; The land belongs to the\npeople and all living beings; thou art only the guardian of it \u2026.<\/em> &nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Therefore if the land\nbelongs to the people and the King who was the head of state was only a\nguardian what right has a Prime Minister to sign an agreement to establish an\neconomic corridor and deprive the people of the land on which they live? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>However given the fact that\nyou did sign a peace agreement as the Prime Minister with the LTTE leader\nPrabhakaran in 2002 sans the approval of the then head of state or the cabinet\nand been made aware that MCC has recommended a 500 million dollars payment to\nSri Lanka subject to the approval of the American Congress, would you be kind\nenough to inform the National Joint Committee and the public the text of this agreement\nand if it was signed by you on or about 27<sup>th<\/sup> April 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Yours faithfully,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Anil Amarasekera\/-<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lt Col. A.S.Amarasekera. (Retd.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Co-President National Joint Committee.\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anil Amarasekera Co-President National Joint Committee Hon. Ranil Wickramasinghe,The Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,The Prime Minister\u2019s 0ffice,No. 58, Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha Colombo 7. Dear Sir, The Millennium Challenge Corporation Agreement The National Joint Committee is committed to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our nation. We [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}