උපුල් ගලප්පත්ති

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ නායකත්වයෙන් 2001 දෙසැම්බර් 9 වැනිදා පිහිටවූ එ.ජා.ප. ආණ්ඩුව 2004 අප්‍රේල් 06 දා කඩා වැටුණේ බෑග් පලහිලව්වක් මුල් කර ගනිමින් ඇරඹි බල අරගලයකින්ය. එදා අගමැති ලෙස රනිල් ආණ්ඩු කරද්දී විධායක ජනාධිපතිකම කළේ චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංගය. ආණ්ඩුව රනිල්ගේ වුවත් පොතේ හැටියට කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ ප්‍රධානියා වන්නේ ජනපතිවරයාය. එහෙත් ඇය වවුලාගේ මඟුල් ගෙදර ගොස් එල්ලිලා සිටීමට අකමැති වූවාය. රනිල්ගේ එ.ජා.ප. ඇමැති මණ්ඩලයේ ප්‍රධානත්වය උසුලන්නට ඈ ගියාය. චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ පැමිණීම එ.ජා.ප. ඇමැතිවරු නොරිස්සුවෝය. කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේදී එදා යූ.ඇන්.පී. ඇමැතිවරු චන්ද්‍රිකා අපහසුතාවට පත් කළේ ඇගේ අත්බෑගයේ අධිතාක්ෂණික කැමරාවක් අටවා කැබිනට් රහස් පිටකරන බවට චෝදනා කරමින්ය. චන්ද්‍රිකා කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට එන සෑම දිනම එ.ජා.ප. ඇමැතිවරු කියා සිටියේ ජනපති චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ අත්බෑගය පරීක්ෂා කළ යුතු බවය. මෙහි මූලිකයා වූයේ එවකට ඇමැති රවී කරුණානායකය. තම අත්බෑගය පරීක්ෂා කිරීමට ඇය කිසි විටෙක කැමති නොවූවාය. එහි ප්‍රතිථලය වූයේ ඇමැතිවරුන්ගේ අවලාද විඳ ගැනීමට නොහැකි යැයි කියමින් චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය මගහැර සිටීමය.

එකල චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ ‘මහෞෂධ’ පඬිවරයා වූ මංගල සමරවීරගේ චරිතාපදානය ඇතුළත් ‘ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා‘ කෘතියේ දැක්වෙන පරිදි අවසානයේ මංගල සමරවීර ඇතුළු චන්ද්‍රිකා හිතවාදීන් ඇයට යෝජනා කළේ කෙනෙහිලිකම් කරන එ.ජා.ප. ආණ්ඩුවේ අභ්‍යන්තර කටයුතු, ආරක්ෂක සහ ජනමාධ්‍ය ඇමැතිකම් පවරාගෙන රනිල්ගේ තටු කැපීමටය. ඉන් නොනැවතුනු චන්ද්‍රිකා, රනිල්ගේ ආණ්ඩුව විසුරුවා හැර බලය අල්ලාගෙන එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන ආණ්ඩුවක් 2004 දී බිහි කළාය.

චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ බෑග් හුටපටයට පසු මෙරට වැඩිම කතාබහට ලක්වූ වෙනත් බෑගයක් වී නම් ඒ, යුද හමුදාපති ලුතිතන් ජෙනරාල් විකුම් ලියනගේ විසින් ජනපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහට ගිය දෙවැනිදා පිරිනැමූ රතු පැහැ බෑගය විය යුතුය. එවැනි ආරක්ෂිත බෑගයක් අවශ්‍ය වූයේ මෙරට ජනාධිපතිවරයා වශයෙන් සහභාගී වන විදේශ සංචාරයන්හිදී රහස්‍ය ලිපි ලේඛන ආරක්ෂිතව රැගෙන යාමට නිල බෑගයක් අවශ්‍ය වීමය. ලෝක නායකයන් විදෙස් ගමන්වලදී මෙවැනි බෑගයක් හෙවත් රතු පෙට්ටියක් භාවිත කිරීම සම්ප්‍රදායක්ය.

යුද හමුදා වෙබ් අඩවියේ සඳහන් වන ආකාරයට මෙම බෑගය යුද හමුදාපතිවරයාගේ උපදෙස් මත සාදා ඇත්තේ යුද හමුදා විදුලි හා යාන්ත්‍රික ඉංජිනේරු අධ්‍යක්ෂ මණ්ඩලයය. මෙම බෑගයේ උසස් නිමාව හා යුද්ධ හමුදාවේ ශිල්පීය දක්ෂතාව, මනාව සැලසුම් කිරීමේ හැකියාව ගැන ජනපතිවරයා ප්‍රසාදයට පත්වූ බවද යුද හමුදා වෙබ් අඩවියේ සඳහන්ය. ඔවුන් මෙය නිර්මාණය කරන ලද්දේ ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය විසින් දුන් පිරිවිතරයන්ට අනුව සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රමිතීන්ට අනුකූලව බවද සඳහන්ය.

ජනපති රනිල් කොහොමත් බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයටත් වඩා වෙස්ට්මිනිස්ටර් සම්ප්‍රදායට ආසා කරන බව රහසක් නොවේ. හමුදාව සැලියුට් ගහන විට සර් ජෝන් කොතලාවලට පසු පෙරලා සැලියුට් ගහන ලංකාවේ අගමැති, ජනපති කෙනෙක් සිටියේ නම් ඒ රනිල් විතරය.

මින්පෙර පස්වරක් අගමැති වූ රනිල්ට මින් පෙර තමන්ට කියා බෑගයක් හදා ගන්නට කල්පනා කළේ නැත. හදිසියේ ඔහුට මෙවැනි අදහසක් පහළ වූ​යේ ඇයි දැයි අප ඇසුවේ බෑගයේ නිෂ්පාදන ක්‍රියාවලිය ජනපති පාර්ශ්වයෙන් සම්බන්ධීකරණය කළ තරුණ කටයුතු සහ තිරසර සංවර්ධනය පිළිබඳ උපදේශක රන්දුල අබේවීරගෙනි.

‘‘මේ වගේ රෙඩ් බෑග් ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන ජනාධිපති කාලේ ඉඳන් තිබිලා තියෙනවා. ප්‍රසිඩන්ට් ඩිස්පැච් බොක්ස් කියලා කිව්වෙ ඒකට. කාලයක් යද්දී ඒක නැතිවෙලා ගිහින්. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා තමයි ආපහු මේක අවශ්‍යයි කියලා හදාගත්තේ.’’

මෙම රතු පෙට්ටි සම්ප්‍රදාය පළමු වරට ආරම්භ වූ බව සැලකෙන්නේ 16 වැනි සියවසේදී පළමුවන එළිසබෙත් රැජිනගේ නියෝජිත ෆ්‍රැන්සිස් ත්‍රොක්මෝර්ටන් විසින් ස්පාඤ්ඤයේ තානාපති බර්නාඩිනෝ ද මෙන්ඩෝසා වෙත රතු පෙට්ටියක පුඩිං බහා යැවීමත් සමගය.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය සම්ප්‍රදාය තුළ රැජින විසින් රතු පෙට්ටිය භාවිත කර ඇති අතර, රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ රහස්‍ය ලේඛන යැවීම සඳහා කළු පෙට්ටිද, අගමැතිවරු, අගමැති ලේකම්වරු සහ බුද්ධි අංශ නිලධාරීන් විසින් රතු ඉරි සහිත නිල් පෙට්ටිද, මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් හෝ ස්ථිර ලේකම්වරුන් විසින් කොළ පැහැ පෙට්ටිද, විපක්ෂ නායකවරුන් බොහෝ විට නිල් පැහැ පෙට්ටිද භාවිත කර ඇත්තේය.

රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් භාවිත කරන මෙම රතු පෙට්ටි නිෂ්පාදනයේ ලොව නම දිනූ ප්‍රමුඛතම ආයතන වන්නේ බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ බැරෝ හෙප්බර්න් සහ ගේල් සමාගම හෝ වික්වාර් සමාගම්ය. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මෙන්ම ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු පාර්ලිමේන්තු පහළ මන්ත්‍රි මණ්ඩලයේ සාමාජිකයන්ද මේවා භාවිත කළ අතර සැලකිය යුතු කාලයක සිට වෙනත් රටවල රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් සහ ඇමැතිවරුන්ද මේවා භාවිත කරන්නේය. සිංගප්පූරු අගමැති ලී ක්වාන් යූ තම රාජ්‍ය පාලනය පුරා මෙවැනි රතු පෙට්ටියක් භාවිත කළ නායකයෙක්ය. එම ලේඛනයට දැන් අලුතෙන් එක්වී ඇත්තේ ජනපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහය.

අදටත් ලොව පුරා රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් භාවිත කරන මෙවැනි රතු පෙට්ටි නිපදවනු ලබන්නේ බැරෝ හෙප්බර්න් සහ ගේල් හෝ වික්වර් ඇන්ඩ් කෝ විසින් නිපදවූ මුල් මෝස්ටරයට අනුගතව සුළු වෙනස් කිරීම්වලට යටත්වය. එම මුල් මෝස්තරයට අනුව මෙවැනි රතු පෙට්ටියක සාමාන්‍ය බර කිලෝග්‍රෑම් දෙකත්, තුනත් අතර වන අතර, එහි ඇතුළත රිදී පාට හෝ කළු සැටින් රෙද්දෙන් හැඩ ගන්වා ඇත්තේය. මුල් යුගයේදී මෙම පෙට්ටිවල ආකෘතිය තැනීමට යොදා ගත්තේ පයින් ගසේ ලීයෙන්ය. බාහිර ආවරණය ඉහළම ගනයේ සම්වලින් හැඩගැන්වෙන අතර, රැජිනගේ හෝ රාජ්‍ය නායකයාගේ මුද්‍රාව (රාජ්‍ය ලාංඡනය) සටහන් කෙරුණේ රන් වන් පැහැයෙන්ය. අගුළු දැමිය හැකි මෙම පෙට්ටි සඳහා රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික ගමන් බිමන් ලදී වෙනත් ගමන් මලුවලට වඩා වැඩි ආරක්ෂාවක් මෙන්ම ප්‍රමුඛතාවක්ද දෙන්නේය.

ජනපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ වෙත පිළිගැන්වූ රතු පෙට්ටි ඔහුගෙන් පසු පත්වන වෙනත් ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ටද භාවිත කළ හැකි පරිදි ඉහළ ගුණාත්මක බවින් යුක්තව නිපදවා ඇති බව ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය අංශය නිවේදනය කර තිබිණි. එය එසේ වුවද, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය සම්ප්‍රදාය වන්නේ එරට රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් භාවිත කළ රතු පෙට්ටි කලක් ඇවෑමෙන් වෙන්දේසියේ විකිණීමට කටයුතු කිරීමය. ඒ අනුව, අගමැතිනී මාග්‍රට් තැචර් විසින් භාවිත කළ රතු පෙට්ටිය 2015 වසරේදී වෙන්දේසි කරන ලද අතර එමගින් ලද ආදායම පවුම් 242,500 ක්ය. සුප්‍රකට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අගමැතිවරයෙක් වූ වින්ස්ටන් චර්චිල්ගේ රතු පෙට්ටිය වෙන්දේසි වූයේ පවුම් 158,500 කටය. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය සම්ප්‍රදාය එසේ වුවද ඇමරිකාවේ නම් කෙරෙන්නේ එරට ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් විශ්‍රාම යාමේදී ඔහු භාවිත කළ රතු පෙට්ටිය ඔහුටම තෑගි කිරීමය.

මෙවැනි එක් රතු පෙට්ටියක් සාමාන්‍යයෙන් (බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේදී) පවුම් 1,250 ක් පමණ වන අතර එය ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුදලින් නම් රුපියල් 559,975 කි. ජනපතිවරයා විසින් ඇණවුම් කොට ලබාගත් රතු පෙට්ටි හතර (04) සඳහා කොතරම් මුදලක් වැය වූයේද යන්න හෙළිවී නැත්තේය.

මින් පෙර ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය නායක කාරකාදීන්ට මෙවැනි විශේෂ බෑග් හදා දී ඇත්තේ යුද හමුදාව හෝ වෙනත් රාජ්‍ය ආයතනයක් නොවේ. ජනපතිවරුන් මෙවැනි ඕනෑ එපාකම් හදා ගත්තේ ඉහළ තත්ත්වයේ බෑග් නිෂ්පාදනයේ යෙදෙන මෙරට සමාගමක් වන පී.ජී. මාටින් සමාගමෙනි. එහි කළමනාකාර අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා වන පී.ජී. නිමලසිරිද ජනපතිවරයාට රතු බෑගය දෙන අවස්ථාවට සහභාගි වන අයුරු දැක්වෙන පින්තූර යුද හමුදා වෙබ් අඩවියේ පළවී තිබිණි. ඒ සමග තිබූ පුවතේ සඳහන්ව තිබුණේ ‘යුද්ධ හමුදාපතිතුමාගේ මගපෙන්වීම හා සෘජු අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල්, විදුලි හා යාන්ත්‍රික ඉංජිනේරු අධ්‍යක්ෂ මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජේ.ඒ.ආර්.එස්.කේ. ජයසේකරගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් යුතුව ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ප්‍රවීණයන් පිරිසක් විසින් ජනපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය විසින් ලබා දෙන ලද පිරිවිතරයන්ට අනුව මෙම නවීනතම බෑගය උසස් තාක්ෂණයෙන් යුතුව නිමවා තිබිණි’ යනුවෙනි. බළලා මල්ලෙන් එළියට පනින්නේ මෙම ඡේදයෙනි.

‘ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ප්‍රවීණයන්’ යනුවෙන් මේ කියන්නේ පී.ජී. මාටින් සමාගම බවට සැකයක් නැත. අපට දැනගන්නට ලැබී ඇති ආකාරයට ජනපතිට දුන් බෑගය හැදුවේ යුද හමුදාව නොව, පී.ජී. මාටින්ලාය. එහෙත් පී.ජී. මාටින්ලා හැදූ බව නොකියා කොළේ වහන්නේ ඇයිදැයි කියා වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු දැනගැනීමට අප හමුදා ප්‍රකාශක බ්‍රිගේඩියර් රවි හේරත්ට කතා කළ විට ‘‘තොරතුරු දෙන්නම්’’ යනුවෙන් කීවා මිසක් ඔහු පුවත්පත මුද්‍රණයට යන තුරා අපට කතා කළේ නැත.

කෙසේ නමුදු මෙම සමාගමට ජනපතිවරුන්ට බෑග් හැදීම මහලොකු කජ්ජක් නොවේ. ආර්. ප්‍රේමදාස මෙන්ම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනපතිවරුන්ට බෑග් නිෂ්පාදනය කර තිබේ.

එක පාරක් ජනාධිපති ප්‍රේමදාස ඔහු කෑම ගෙනියන බෑගය කැඩුණු විට එය අලුත්වැඩියා කරන්න එව්වේ පී.ජී. මාටින් සමාගමටය. ඒක හදන්න බැරි මට්ටමටම අබලන් වී තිබුණේ. මේක හදනවට වැඩිය හොඳයි අලුත් එකක් මහන එකයි සමාගම කීය. ඔහු ඊට කැමති විය. ඊට පස්සෙ ජනපති කියපු විදියට බෑගය ෙමහලා දුන්නේ පී.ජී. මාටින් සමාගමය.

මෙරට ජනපතිවරුන්ගෙන් පී.ජී. මාටින් සමාගමට වැඩිම ඇණවුම් ගණනක් ලැබී තිබුණේ ජනපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂගෙන්ය.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඔහුගේ අව් කණ්ණාඩි දාගෙන යන්න බෑගය වගේම පිටරට යනවිට ගෙනියන ට්‍රැවලින් බෑග් සේරම වගේ හදා ගත්තේ පී.ජී. මාටින්ලාට කියලාය. තව දවසක් වාහනේ යන කොට අයිපෑඩය තියාගෙන වැඩ කරන්න පුළුවන් රඳවනයක් හදලා දෙන්නැයි ජනපතිවරයාගෙන් ඇණවුමක් ආවේය. සමාගම ජනපතිවරයාගේ සිතැඟි හරි අපූරුවට ඉටුකර දුන්නේය. මේ වගේ බෑගයක් පිටරටකදී නම් ලොකු ගාණක් වන්නේය. ලංකාවෙදි අපේ ශිල්පියෙකුට මේ වගේ බෑගයක් රුපියල් එක්ලක්ෂ පනස් දාහක විතර පිරිවැයකින් මාසෙක විතර කාලෙකදී හදන්නට හැකියාව ඇත්තේය.

රනිල්ගේ රතු පෙට්ටි ගැන කතා කිරීමේදී අපේ සිහියට පළමුව එන්නේ අයවැය රහස් පෙට්ටිය ගැනය. 1977 දී පළමු අයවැය ඉදිරිපත් කළ රොනී ද මැල් මුදල් ඇමැතිවරයා භාවිත කළේ ලීයෙන් තැනූ රහස් පෙට්ටියක්ය. මේ අයවැය රහස් ඇතුළත් රතු පෙට්ටිය ලෝකයට මුලින්ම හඳුන්වා දෙනු ලැබුයේ 1852 දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය චාන්සලර් (මුදල් ඇමැති) විලියම් ග්ලැඩ්ස්ටන් විසින්ය. එය 2000 වසරෙන් පසු ලංකාවේ කිසිදු මුදල් ඇමැතිවරයෙක් විසින් අයවැය පෙට්ටි භාවිත නොකළේය. ජනාධිපති කාර්යාල ප්‍රකාශකයෙක් අප සමග පැවසුවේ රොනී ද මැල් විසින් භාවිත කළ අයවැය රහස් පෙට්ටිය අලුත් වැඩියා කර මේ වන විට මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයට ලැබී ඇති අතර, ඉදිරියේදී එය භාවිතයට ගන්නා බවය.

රටේ ජනතාව නොදැන ගත්තාට මෙරට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට කළු පෙට්ටියක් (බ්ලැක් බොක්ස්) නිතිපතා ලැබෙන්නේය. එය විවෘත කිරීම සඳහා වන යතුරු දෙකෙන් එකක් ඇත්තේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සන්තකයේ පමණය. අනෙක ඇත්තේ රාජ්‍ය බුද්ධි අංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා අතේය. ඒ බව වරක් ප්‍රකාශ කළේ රාජ්‍ය බුද්ධි සේවයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයකු වූ හිටපු ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති චන්ද්‍රා නිමල් වාකිෂ්ඨය. මෙම කළු පෙට්ටියේ එන්නේ රටේ දෛනික ආරක්ෂක තත්ත්ව වාර්තාවය. රටේ දෛනික ආරක්ෂක තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ රටේ නායකයා දැනුවත් වන්නේ එම වාර්තාවෙන්ය.

රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් භාවිතයට ගන්නා බෑග් ගැන කතා කිරීමේදී මතකයට එන්නේ කතා ගොන්නක්ය. අගමැතිවරුන් හත් දෙනෙකුගේ ලේකම්වරයෙක් ලෙස කටයුතු කළ බ්‍රැඩ්මන් වීරකෝන් විසින් රචිත ‘අරලියගහ මැදුරේ ස්පන්දනය’ පොතේ අගමැති ඩබ්ලිව්. දහනායකගේ සූට්කේස් දෙකක් ගැන සඳහන්ය. අගමැතිකම ලැබූ මොහොතේ ඔහු අරලියගහ මැදුරේ පදිංචියට ආවේ සූට්කේස් දෙකක් උස්සාගෙනය. හැටේ මාර්තු මහ ඡන්දයෙන් පැරදී ගෙදර යන්නට අරලිය මැදුරේ කොරිඩෝරයේ එදා ගෙනා කසිකබල් සූට් කේස් දෙකම උස්සාගෙන සිටින දහනායක දුටු තමාට කනගාටුවත් දැනුණු බව බ්‍රැඩ්මන් වීරකෝන් සිය කෘතියේ සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේය.

අරලියගහ මැදුරට ආපු විලසින්ම ආපහු ගිය දහනායකගේ කසිකබල් සූට්කේස් දෙකින් කියැවෙන්නේ එදවස දේශපාලනඥයන්ගේ සරලකමය. සොරකම් නොකළ පිරිසිදු දේශපාලනයේ කතාවය. කෙසේ නමුදු මේ හැම බෑගයටම වඩා වෙනස් බෑග් රැසක් ලොව පුරා රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්ගේ ගමන් බිමන්වලදී දැක ගත හැකිය.

එවැනි එක් ගමන් බෑගයක් වන්නේ, බැලස්ටික් බ්‍රීෆ්කේස් (Ballistic Briefcase ) ය. රාජ්‍ය නායකයෙකු හෝ සුවිශේෂී පුද්ගලයෙකු ජනතාව අතරින් රැඟෙන යාමේදී ඔහු දෙපසින් යන ආරක්ෂකයන් අත ඇත්තේ මෙවැනි බෑග්ය. බෑගයක් කීවාට එය බෑගයක්ම නොවේ. බෑගයක් ලෙස නවා එහි ඇත්තේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයාට වෙඩි තැබීමක් වුවහොත් ක්ෂණිකව දිග හැර ඔහු ආවරණය කර ගත හැකි වෙඩි නොවදින ආවරණයක්ය. මෙවැනි බැලස්ටික් බ්‍රීෆ්කේස් වැඩි වශයෙන් ඉන්දීය අගමැති මෝදි ගමන් කරද්දී හතර වටේට භාවිත කෙරේ. මෙරට නායකයන් හා හමුදා ප්‍රධානීන්ගේ ආරක්ෂකයන් සතුවද මෙවැනි බෑග් ඇත්තේය.

ඇමරිකානු ජනාධිපතිවරයා යන සෑම තැනම ඔහු පසුපසින් යන හමුදා නිලධාරියකු විසින් විශාල කළු ගමන් බෑගයක් රැගෙන යන අතර එය නම් කොට ඇත්තේ ‘න්‍යෂ්ටික පාපන්දු බෑගය‘ හෙවත් Nuclear Football Briefcase ලෙසය. ඇමරිකානු ජනපතිවරයා වටා ගෙතුණු ක්‍රියාදාම චිත්‍රපටවලදී මෙවැනි බෑග්වල කතා වරදින්නේ නැත.

ඇමරිකානු ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ න්‍යෂ්ටික පාපන්දු බෑගයේ ඇත්තේ ඇමරිකාව සතු 1,365 ක්වූ දිගු දුර මිසයිල පද්ධතිය සක්‍රිය කිරීම සඳහා සිය රහස් කේතය ඇතුළු කළ හැකි පරිගණක පද්ධතියක්ය. ඇමරිකානු ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකුට මෙවැනි න්‍යෂ්ටික පාපන්දු බෑග් තුනක් ඇති අතර, ඔහු සමග තැනින් තැනට ගෙන යන්නේ ඒවායින් එකක්ය. මෙවැනි ගමන් මලු රුසියානු ජනාධිපති ව්ලැද්මියර් පුටිං සමග ද ගමන් ගන්නා බව නිරීක්ෂණය වන්නේය.

මීළඟ ගැටලුව රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනපතිවරයා රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික ගමන් බිමන් සඳහා තනවා ගත් අභිනව රතු පෙට්ටිවල බහාගෙන විදෙස් රටවලට ඔහු ගෙන යනු ඇත්තේ කුමක්ද යන්නය.

එය බොහෝ විට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද පත්ව ඇති තත්ත්වයෙන් මිදීමට විදෙස් ණය හෝ ආධාර ඉල්ලා කරනු ලබන ආයාචනා ඇතුළත් ලිපිගොනු වෙන්නට බැරිකමක් නැත. මෙරට දරුවන්ගේ මන්ද පෝෂණය, රටේ ජනතාවට ඇති ආහාර අහේනිය මෙන්ම රට පත්ව ඇති අභාග්‍ය සම්පන්න ඉරණම ලෝක බැංකුව මෙන්ම දියුණු රාජ්‍යවල නායකයන්ට තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා වන සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන මෙම රතු බෑගයේ දමාගෙන යාමට ඔහුට සිදුවනු නියතය.

එසේ රැගෙන යන්නේ එවැනි තොරතුරු නම් ඒවා අපට පමණක් නොව ලෝකයටද අද රහසක් නොවන බව නම් කිව යුතුමය. අප බංකොලොත් බව දැන් මුළු ලෝකයම දන්නේය. ඒ ගැන හංගන්න දෙයක් නැත.

උපුල් ගලප්පත්ති

Dessine-moi l’éco

By Ella Nilsen and René Marsh, CNN Courtesy CNN

— 

For the first time ever, US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain, a source familiar with the project confirmed to CNN.

The US Department of Energy is expected to officially announce the breakthrough Tuesday.

The result of the experiment would be a massive step in a decadeslong quest to unleash an infinite source of clean energy that could help end dependence on fossil fuels. Researchers for decades have attempted to recreate nuclear fusion – replicating the fusion that powers the sun.

US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will make an announcement Tuesday on a major scientific breakthrough,” the department announced Sunday. The breakthrough was first reported by the Financial Times.

Nuclear fusion happens when two or more atoms are fused into one larger one, a process that generates a massive amount of energy as heat. Unlike nuclear fission that powers electricity all over the world, it doesn’t generate long-lived radioactive waste.

Full Story

US scientists reach long-awaited nuclear fusion breakthrough, source says | CNN Politics

LARRY ROMANOFF  Courtesy The Unz Review

You may be surprised to learn that the city of London and the City of London are two very different things, related to each other mostly by historical accident and geographical proximity, and co-existing today in a rather complicated power system in which the City of London appears gloriously victorious.

First, the City of London, a small area of about one square mile in size, was established as a haven by the Khazar Jews” during their extermination from Khazaria nearly 1,000 years ago, and was named ‘London’ at the time. And yes, I know the Romans had been there first. The city of London, with the Bridge and Harrods, and the fish and chips and the people driving on the wrong side of the road, was established much later, adopted the same name, and gradually expanded with population until it completely surrounded the Jewish enclave of the City of London. You can see the positions and relative sizes from the map. When you read about The Lord Mayor of London”, you are not reading about the chief executive of the city, but about the chief executive of the City. The City of London Corporation, with its square mile directly in the center of London, obviously owns some very expensive real estate, this in addition to a great deal of other property also in the city center, but this amounts to only perhaps $10 billion in total and, as we will see, is trivial.

The City of London is effectively an independent city-state * existing inside greater London.[1]
[2]
https://www.youtube.com/embed/jZkuwE3ocG8?feature=oembed[3]
 However, its nature is unique and complicated. It is not so neat and tidy as is the Vatican for example, which is clearly a separate sovereign entity nestled within the city of Rome. Still, the City of London has its own government and police force, makes its own laws and levies its own taxes. It has its own flag, crest, and ceremonial armed forces. I have seen one reference stating that the City also has its own port. I could not find an independent confirmation of this, but it would fit the pattern and the City does have some responsibilities for London ports, so this is plausible. If true, it would be stunning because that would mean that the City could bring in products of any kind including currency, precious metals, cocaine, and also people, without the permission or even knowledge of UK customs and immigration or the UK government.

* In performing a search the other day, I was first met with a notice in capital letters telling me The City of London is not a sovereign state”, followed by a small avalanche of websites all doing fact-checking” and misinformation-debunking” to assure me the City of London was NOT an independent anything. There is hardly a sign more certain that we are onto something important, than when 25 Jewish websites leap up to tell us There’s nothing to see here”.

Full Story

The City of London, by Larry Romanoff – The Unz Review

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, December 12 (Counterpoint): In recent days, there has been a lot of concern over the deterioration of air quality in Sri Lanka due to the increase in the level of fine particles (PM2.5) in the atmosphere. The primary reason for the current deterioration is said to be the entry of polluted winds from the Indian subcontinent and the South Asian region at large. This movement had been triggered by the cyclonic conditions prevailing over the Bay of Bengal.

Air pollution, which is evident in all parts of Sri Lanka, has a tendency to cause respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular diseases. The elderly and the medically vulnerable have even been asked to stay indoors and others have been advised to wear good-quality masks.

Pre-existing Problem    

Though transboundary pollution is the primary issue at the moment,  air pollution as such is not new to Sri Lanka. And it has been increasing due to a variety of factors, both internal and external (transboundary). These have been brought out by Peradeniya University Science Faculty’s O.A. Ileperuma in his Review of Air Pollution Studies in Sri Lanka published in 2020.

Here are some of the takeaways from Ileperuma’s review:

Air pollution refers to the release into the atmosphere of various gases and fine particles at rates that exceed the natural capacity of the environment to dissipate, absorb and dilute. The gaseous air pollutants of primary concern are sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide which are directly emitted owing to the combustion of fossil fuel in automobiles, power plants, industries and biomass burning. Ozone formed in the lower atmosphere is a secondary air pollutant generated from the photochemical reactions of primary air pollutants like NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide). Diesel smoke consists of unburnt hydrocarbons like poly-aromatic hydrocarbons which are known carcinogens.

Fossil fuel combustion yields fine particles that can penetrate deep into the lung. An average person inhales about 10,000 litres of air daily. Therefore, its purity profoundly affects people’s health.

Regular air pollution monitoring in Sri Lanka since 1997 has revealed that air quality values have often exceeded safe limits here. Pollution levels are highest during the North-East Monsoon months (December to February) owing to transboundary air pollution. Studies during the period 1997-2003 showed that the levels of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone were steadily increasing while those of carbon monoxide levels were decreasing.

Air pollution increase in Sri Lanka is also due to the phenomenal increase in the number of motor vehicles, traffic congestion, the increasing use of fossil fuel for power generation and also the continued use of wood in domestic cooking and the use of biomass in the rural areas. During the period of an acute shortage of cooking gas  many households in metropolitan Colombo also switched to wood for cooking.    

Kandy Worse Than Colombo

Air quality in Kandy is worse than that of Colombo owing to its geographical location, increased vehicle population and traffic congestion. In Kandy, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels exceeded the standards on 41%, 14% and 28% of the occasions during the period 2001-2005.

Mean total concentrations of 16 prioritized PAHs ranged from 57.43 to 1246.12 ng/m3 with a mean of 695.94 ng/m3 in urban heavy traffic locations in Kandy. PAHs are Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, a group of persistent organic pollutant compounds. Due to the polluted air, there are increasing cases of respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Kandy.

In 2011, emissions from motor vehicles accounted for 55-60% of air pollution, while 20-25% was due to industries and 20% was from domestic sources according to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Environment.

Sri Lanka once produced over 95% of its power needs from hydel projects, but this has gradually decreased, with hydropower now accounting for only about 50% and sometimes even less. In 2018, the generation mix from hydro, thermal and coal was: 5149, 1886 and 4764 GWh respectively (according to a Central bank report of 2018). Thus, more power was produced by burning fossil fuels creating more pollution.

Colombo city’s air is polluted because 50% of the vehicles, 70% of industries and several thermal power plants are located in the Colombo Metropolitan area.  

The transport sector generates the most amount of air pollution. The biggest increase is in the number of motorcycles, which account for about 50% of the entire vehicles fleet. The vehicles fleet in Sri Lanka increased from 978,544 in 1997 to 8.1 million in 2019. Nearly 50% of all vehicles are registered in the Western Province, the most highly populated and congested of the Provinces. Vehicles using two-stroke engines were bad pollutants.

The phenomenal increase in the number of motor vehicles has resulted in traffic jams. Traffic jams produce more soot, carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons compared to vehicles travelling smoothly at a uniform speed of about 40 km/h.

The uncontrolled increase in the number of vehicles will be the biggest challenge in the future. The economic loss due to traffic congestion in Colombo has been estimated by Prof. AS.Kumarage of Moratuwa University, to be around Rs.32 billion annually. The increased cost of treating patients affected by air pollution will be an immense economic burden to the government.

Sulphur Content in Jaffna   

Jaffna, which is located close to the Indian sub-continent, is expected to have a higher influence from the pollution clouds coming from neighboring India.

RAINS- ASIA model 7.52, a computer model to determine sulphur depositions in the form of both wet and dry depositions, has been used to calculate sulphur depositions in several cities including Jaffna. The results reveal that acidic depositions both as sulphate in acid rain and as gaseous SO2, are increasing.

This model predicts that for most cities in Sri Lanka, acidic depositions will increase nearly four-fold during the period from 1990 to 2030. Most of the acid precursors originate in the Indian sub- continent where there is increased power generation using coal power plants.

Marine Traffic

An often-neglected contribution comes from the ships which traverse one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, located in close proximity to the southern tip of Sri Lanka. The fuel used in ships has high sulphur content, typically between 2.5 – 3.5%. Their contribution to acid deposition is highly significant.

As expected, it was found that in Galle, which is situated close to the shipping lanes, recorded the highest emission of sulphur from ships. This accounted for 40% of the total sulphur deposition in 1990. Using the same model, this share is predicted to increase to 60% by the year 2030.

By comparison, in the same year, other coastal cities such as Colombo and Jaffna had 14% and 2% of their sulphur depositions from ship movements.

Mitigating Measures

Under the Clean Air Action Plan of 2000 and subsequent plans in 2007 and 2015, several measures to reduce air pollution in Lankan cities have been taken. These include lowering of sulphur in fuel from 0.5% to 0.25%; banning two-stroke three-wheelers; terminating the addition of lead to petrol and commencing the Vehicle Emissions Testing program.

These have had a beneficial impact. However, so long as fossil fuels are the predominant source of energy and the number of petrol and diesel vehicles on the road is not controlled, the air in Sri Lanka will remain polluted. Alas, there is no sign of public transport replacing or minimizing private transport, and the railways replacing road transport.

lanka C news

කුරුණෑගල පොතුහැර ප්‍රදේශයේ තමන් ආධ්‍යාත්මික ශක්තිය සහිත බෝධිසත්වයෙකු බව පවසන පුද්ගලයෙකු සිටින බව සමාජ ක්‍රියාකාරිකයෙකු වන නිලන්ත රණසිංහ මහතා පවසයි.

ඉදිරියේදී තමා සිටින ස්ථානයට මහනුවර තැන්පත් කර ඇති ශ්‍රී දන්ත ධාතූන් වහන්සේද වඩින බවට එම පුද්ගලයා පවසා ඇතැයිද හෙතෙම කියයි.

රටේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලා පවා මෙම ක්‍රියාවන් අනුගමනය කරමින් ඔහු බෝධිසත්වයකු බව සඳහන් කරමින් ඔහුට වැඳ නමස්කාර කරන ආකාරය දක්නට වීඩියෝ ඇතැයිද හෙතෙම තව දුරටත් කියා සිටි.

Lanka Lead News

යුක්රේන නායක වැලැදිමිර් සෙලෙන්ස්කි මහතාට මොස්කව් පාලනය සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට ඉඩ දීම එක්සත් රාජධානිය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ බව විශ්‍රාමික කර්නල් ඩග්ලස් මැක්ග්‍රෙගර් චෝදනා කරයි.පසුගිය සෙනසුරාදා(10) ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරන ලද මිලිටරි ඉතිහාසඥ මයිකල් ව්ලහෝස් සමඟ සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකට එක් වෙමින් සාමය සඳහා මොස්කව්හි කොන්දේසි කිහිපයක් සපුරාලීමට යුක්රේන ජනාධිපති ව්ලැඩිමීර් සෙලෙන්ස්කි පසුගිය මාර්තු මාසයේදී සූදානම්ව සිටි බව විශ්‍රාමික එක්සත් ජනපද හමුදා කර්නල් ඩග්ලස් මැක්ග්‍රෙගර් ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.යුක්‍රේනය සහ රුසියාව සමථයකට පත් වීම වැළැක්වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔහු හිටපු බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අගමැති බොරිස් ජොන්සන්ට දොස් පැවරීය.

යුක්රේන සහ රුසියානු නියෝජිතයින් මාර්තු මාසයේදී ඉස්තාන්බුල් හිදි මුහුණට මුහුන සාකච්ඡා වලට අසුන් ගන්නා විට, රුසියාව පෙබරවාරියට පෙර යුධ පිටියෙන් ඉවත් වීම වෙනුවට, කියෙව් නේටෝවට බැඳීමේ අභිලාෂය අතහැර මධ්‍යස්ථභාවයට එකඟ වනු ඇති විභවයක් මතුවී තිබූ බව ඒ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය. එහෙත් දින කිහිපයකට පසු, රුසියානු හමුදා විසින් අත්පත් කර්ගෙන සිට ඉවත් ගිය භූමියේ යුද අපරාධ පිළිබඳ සාක්ෂි තමා සොයාගත් බව සෙලෙන්ස්කි පැවසූ අතර එමගින් දෙපාර්ශවය අතර සාකච්ඡා නතර විය.

සාකච්ඡාවෙදි මැක්ග්‍රෙගෝර් කියා සිටියේ සාම සාකච්ඡා හදිසියේ අවසන් වීමට එක්සත් රාජධානිය වගකිව යුතු බවයි.

මාර්තු අග වන විට සෙලෙන්ස්කි මහතා ‘හොඳයි, අපට මධ්‍යස්ථව සිටිය හැකි’ යැයි පැවසූ බවට අපට සාක්ෂි තිබෙනවා, එම වචනය වොෂින්ටනයට සහ ලන්ඩනයට ළඟා වූ විට එම රටවල බලධාරින් කෝපයට පත් වුනා.” ඔහු පැවසීය.
බොරිස් ජොන්සන් වොෂින්ටනයේ අවශ්‍යතා නියෝජනය කළා. ඒ නිසා ඔහු ‘ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම නැත, කටුක අවසානය දක්වා අපි ඔබට සහාය දෙනවා. ඔබ යුක්රේනයේ සෑම අඟලක් වෙනුවෙන්ම ඔබේ ස්ථාවරය වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කළ යුතුයි.” යනුවෙන් පවසා තිබෙනවා.

පසුගිය මාර්තු මාසයේදී සෙලෙන්ස්කි සාමය සඳහා සූදානම් බව අනාවරණය කළ පළමු එක්සත් ජනපද නිලධාරියා මැක්ග්‍රෙගර් නොවේ. ට්‍රම්ප් පරිපාලනයේ එක්සත් ජනපද ජාතික ආරක්ෂක කවුන්සිලයේ යුරෝපය සහ රුසියාව සඳහා ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ලෙස සේවය කළ ප්‍රවීණ එක්සත් ජනපද රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රිකයෙකු වන ෆියෝනා හිල් සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේදී ලිඛෛතව පවසා ඇත්තේ ඉස්තාන්බුල්හිදි අතුරු ගිවිසුමක්” සඳහා එකඟ වී ඇති බවයි.

පසුගිය මැයි මාසයේදී යුක්රේන මාධ්‍ය, මෙම සාකච්ඡා බිඳ වැටීම, ජොන්සන් විසින් කියෙව් මත පටවන ලද පීඩනය හා සම්බන්ධ කරමින් අදහස් දැක්වීය. අප්‍රේල් 9දා අගමැති බොරිස් ජොන්සන් කියෙව් වෙත ගිය අතර, Uක්‍රඉන්ස්කය ඵ්‍රව්ඩ පුවත්පතට අනුව, පුටින් සමඟ ඇපකර සම්බන්ධයෙන් යම් ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීමට යුක්රේනය සූදානම් වුවද,බටහිරයන් එසේ නොවේ” යැයි නිලධාරීන්ට පැවසීය.

මේ වන විට ගැටුමට මාස දහයකට ආසන්න කාලයක්, සෙලෙන්ස්කි විසින් රුසියානු ජනාධිපති ව්ලැඩිමීර් පුටින් සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කිරීම තහනම් කර ඇති අතර, සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේදී රුසියානු සමූහාණ්ඩුවට සම්බන්ධ වීමට ඡන්දය දුන් ඩොනෙට්ස්ක්, ලුගාන්ස්ක්, කර්සන් සහ සැපොරෝෂියේ සියලුම ප්‍රදේශ නැවත ලබා ගැනීමට පොරොන්දු වී තිබේ. 2014 ජනමත විචාරණයෙන් පසු රුසියාවේ කොටසක් වූ ක්‍රිමියාවද අල්ලා ගන්නා බවට යුක්රේන නායකයා ද ප්‍රතිඥා දී ඇත.

ක්‍රෙම්ලිනයේ මාධ්‍ය ලේකම් දිමිත්‍රි පෙස්කොව් පවසා ඇත්තේ රුසියාව සාකච්ඡා සඳහා විවෘතව සිටින නමුත් යුක්‍රේනය සමඟ පමණක් ඇති කර ගත් ගිවිසුමක් බටහිරින් ලැබෙන අණ මත ක්ෂණිකව අවලංගු කළ හැකි” බැවින් බටහිර බලවතුන් සම්බන්ධ විය යුතු බවට ඔක්තෝම්බර් මාසයේදී අනතුරු ඇඟවීය.

By Dr. Tilak Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

Because of the enormous gap between ‘unknown effectiveness’ in conventional (allopathic) medicine, ‘integrative medicine’ should be the new ‘mantra’ in any healthcare system i.e., using the best from conventional medicine and homoeopathy combined. Homoeopathy is both alternative and complementary medicine that can be used alone or with conventional drugs.

Two similar diseases – one weaker and the other stronger — cannot exist in a living body. The stronger disease, which is the artificial disease created by taking allopathic medicine destroys the weaker disease, which is the natural disease in a patient.

Translated into modern English by Wenda Brewster O’Reilly, statements 17-45 in Dr. Hahnemann’s ‘Organon’ of the Medical Art and two other English translations by different translators, especially in the 6th edition (by ignoring references to potencies, as the 6th edition was detected long after Dr. Hahnemann’s death.) Potencies are used as centesimal or decimal configurations–One has to refer to Homeopathy – trials, research, and potency chart.

Common in life

What is common in life for example is that if an apple is taken as an example, it always falls to the ground due to gravity. Newton’s third Law of Motion established magnets have two poles; a sperm from a male must fertilise with an egg from a female to conceive a baby; antibodies are produced in a person following exposure to an infection or after receiving a vaccine; all living things ultimately die; snowflakes have different shapes even though they are made out of the water and finally water expands and freezes.

Dr. Hahnemann who developed homoeopathy finally discovered the potentisation process. In other words, the whole medical science of homoeopathy is based on the main ‘like cures like’ principle. His contribution to medicine remains unchallenged up to now.

By reading a research paper on ‘gene expression’, which is a BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 2014,14:104. by Prof. Khuda-Bukhsh’s prior research has been published in over 150 scientific papers relating to homoeopathy in many journals. He was honoured by European Homeopathy Committee.

Akin to gravity, homoeopathy never becomes obsolete because it is based on ‘scientific’ principles which are (1) universal (2) never-changing and (3) verifiable by experiments.

Proving procedure

The ‘proving procedure’ in homoeopathy absolutely is the opposite of testing allopathic drugs in randomised controlled trials on sick persons suffering from a named disease. By reading The Controlled Clinical Trial by Harris L. Coulter PhD. Chapter VIII deals with whether RCTs (Randomized Control Trials) on sick persons are a valid scientific procedure. This chapter should be read by all researchers doing any kind of drug trial.

Homoeopathy in the U.K

Homoeopathy is practised in the U.K. by two groups. In the first group are members of certain regulated health professions, who have received their training in Homeopathy from the Faculty of Homoeopathy. The faculty was founded in 1844 and later incorporated by an Act of the British Parliament in 1950. King Charles has now become the patron of the faculty. The late Queen Elizabeth II was the patron of The Royal London Homeopathic Hospital for a long time. This hospital is now named The Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine.

In the second group are lay persons who are not members of any regulated health profession, but are not trained by the faculty. They receive their training elsewhere. There is also a highly negative report from a British Parliamentary Committee. This report is signed by only ‘3 MPs out of 14’. The report severely condemns the evidence gathered for not adequately acknowledging factual research evidence, and dismissing patient outcome studies in favour of homoeopathy. Only one person was called to give evidence for Homeopathy – UK Science & Technology Report”.

Critics of two reports

Please note that there is an international network of sceptics who are vociferous, and well-funded by pharma/medico interests, with offshoots in different countries. They have been attacking Homeopathy using distortions, misrepresentations and omissions to make everyone believe that there is only a pharma way of treating the ill. Google search Q.E.D, on Homeopathy” a BBC-TV documentary (which lasts for only 30 minutes) is on the Internet. Anyone listening to BBC documentaries needs to void any mutilated versions. Another documentary to watch is Just One Drop akin to Like cures Like Cures” principle is a strong ‘scientific’ law because it meets the three criteria mentioned, physics, biology and chemistry. Most of the scientists who criticise homoeopathy are completely unaware of these three criteria, which their own fraternity has used to codify laws of physics, biology, and chemistry.

Homoeopathy poses a serious threat to pharma-medico interests. Because many people are attracted to Homeopathy it intends to reduce the sales of pharmaceutical drugs and the incomes of allopaths. When someone comes out with a negative report one needs to ask oneself three questions: [1] Are the authors real experts in homoeopathy?; [2] Have they studied homoeopathy?; [2a] Have they practised it? and (3) Are they distorting evidence showing Homeopathy’s effectiveness? Please do not allow to be taken in by the authors’ qualifications and their positions in society. Has anyone read the Shang study? The British Parliamentary Committee’s report, and the Australian NHMRC’s homoeopathy review? You will find serious flaws, which invalidate the conclusions reached. No one has heard of any negative comments about pharma drugs from those who criticise homoeopathy. You are invited to read, Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime” by Dr. Peter C. Gottschee.

Critical versions

Critics denounce Homeopathy cures as having a placebo effect. But what ethical rule or law prevents humans from providing such treatments should the cures be long-lasting, without side effects and inexpensive? It is just for fear of competition? Or loss of sales/income and ignorance!

 It is impossible to hear any negative comments about pharma drugs from those critics! Conventional drugs (allopathy) are not the only way to treat illnesses. No one branch of medicine can treat all medical problems in all patients. According to BMJ (British Medical Journal) Evidence Centre, only 11% of the 3,000 treatments, as reported, are rated as beneficial; 24% as likely to be beneficial; 7% as a trade-off between benefits and harm; 5% unlikely to be beneficial; 3% likely to be ineffective or harmful; and 50%, the largest proportion, as unknown effectiveness

Any disbeliever is requested to read Dr. Peter C. Gottschee’s text on Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime” He also shows how the drug industry has bought doctors, academics, journals, professional and patient organisations, university departments, journalists, regulators and politicians.

 tilakfernando@gmail.com

By Dr. Tilak Fernando

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

වර්තමාන මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා සහ මුදල් මණ්ඩලය ද සිදු කරනුයේ තමන් කළ ආකාරයෙන් ම ඩොලරයේ අගය ඉහළ යා නොදී පාලනය කිරීම බව හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් පවසයි.                   

මහනුවරදී මල්වතු මහ නාහිමි අතිපූජ්‍ය තිබ්බටුවාවේ ශ්‍රී සුමංගල නාහිමි බැහැ දැකීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඒ මහතා මාධ්‍ය හමුවේ අදහස් දක්වමින් මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ ය.                                                                               

තවදුරට ත් අදහස් පළ කළ හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා මෙසේ පැවසීය.

අද මට මේ අය චෝදනා කරනවා ඩොලරයේ අගය ඉහළ යා නොදී බලහත්කාරයෙන් පාලනය කොට රුපියලේ අගය රැකගත් නිසා රටේ ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැටුණා කියා. නමුත් අද මහ බැංකු අධිපති හා මුදල් මණ්ඩලය කරන්නේ එදා මා කළ දේ ම යි. ඒකෙ වැරැද්දක් මම දකින්නේ නෑ. නමුත් එදා මම එහෙම කළ එක වැරදියි කියන අය. අද මේ අය කරන දේ ගැන මොකුත් කියන්නේ නෑ. මට එල්ල කරලා තියෙන සියලු ම චෝදනා මම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනවා. මම නීති විරෝධී දෙයක් කරලා නෑ. රටේ ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැට්ටුවෙත් නෑ. එදා තිබුණු ආර්ථිකය පාලනය කරලා මම ජනතාවට සහන ලබා දුන්නා. අද මොකද වෙන්නේ. රටේ ජනතාවට බර පටවන්නේ නැතිව විකල්ප ක්‍රමවලට රාජ්‍ය පාලකයෝ යායුතුයි කියන එක තමයි මම හිතන්නේ. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විකල්ප ක්‍රම තියෙනවා ඒවා සොයා බැලිය යුතුයි. ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල ගැන විතරක් ම විශ්වාසය තියලා කටයුතු කිරීම පමණක් ම මේ අර්බුදයෙන් ගොඩ ඒම සඳහා විසඳුමක් නෙවෙයි.”                                                   

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has urgently ordered all relevant authorities to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the assault on the former Vice Chancellor of the Peradeniya University Prof. Athula Senaratne and take necessary action, the President’s Media Division reported. 

Former Vice Chancellor of the Peradeniya University Prof. Athula Senaratne was assaulted by a group near his official residence and hospitalised due to injuries on December 10. 

The attack had been carried out following an argument with Prof. Senaratne, stating that his son’s car had collided with a parked motorcycle.  

Then, a group of around 300 university students had attacked and damaged the official residence of Prof. Senaratne, and Peradeniya Police had managed to disperse the crowd later.

Five including the former Vice Chancellor’s wife and two other individuals who were in the house were reportedly injured during the attack. Prof. Athula Senaratne, who was injured in the attack, had been admitted to the Peradeniya Hospital while his son was admitted to the Kandy Teaching Hospital, following the incident.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Terrance Madujith today (Dec. 12) stated that an inquiry was launched on university level regarding the incident, and that subsequently 12 students have been suspended, pending investigations.

He said that the 12 students in question were identified after observing CCTV camera footage of the incident and that the decision to suspend them will be implemented pending the completion of the inquiry into the matter. 

He added that investigations will be conducted regarding the other students involved in the incident.

Speaking at a press briefing at the university today (12), the Deputy Vice Chancellor said that university authorities, the disciplinary officer, the members of the security department will cooperate with the police and identify the students involved in the incident and execute legal proceedings.

However, the Deputy Vice Chancellor further said that they strongly condemned this attack as university lecturers.

Courtesy Adaderana

SLPP MP S.M. Chandrasena says that in the upcoming local government elections, victory can only be achieved, if the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) forms an alliance with the United National Party (UNP) and many other parties. 

In response to a question raised by journalists whether President Ranil Wickremesinghe will join them in the upcoming election, the MP pointed out that they are joining together with many parties as an alliance, the UNP and many other parties may also join.

Discussions are being held on different levels. Our victory will be ensured if we all come together as an alliance.”

Courtesy Hiru News

The Balance of Payments, (BOP) is what you get when take a country’s total foreign currency inflows and subtract its total foreign currency outflows. This has a direct effect on the value of that nation’s currency. In Sri Lanka, our BOP has been negative for decades, meaning that more foreign exchange flows out of Sri Lanka than into it. That’s why the Rupee has seen such significant depreciation.

FDIs and trade inflows are some of the best ways to narrow the BOP gap, and projects like Port City Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest FDI-driven development, are perfect for this. As a global hub for trade, investment, finance, entertainment, leisure and other services, Port City Colombo will attract huge amounts of foreign currency inflows for Sri Lanka, which will help our BOP. But investors are reluctant to commit right now because they do not know what the regulations will be, because, although the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act was passed in Parliament in May of 2021, the final regulations for the Special Economic Zone have not been published yet.

Speaking at the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2022, held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on the 5th and 6th of December 2022, Thulci Aluwihare, Deputy Managing Director at CHEC Port City Colombo (Private) Limited said, “ We’re unable to execute our marketing strategies and proceed with other matters of logistics and outreach until the regulatory framework, as provided for by the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, is finalized and published by the Government of Sri Lanka. We cannot make any official representations to any parties until this is completed, and until there is clarity over regulations related to taxation. If these matters aren’t finalized soon, it may send the wrong signals to investors and cause them to become hesitant, which will impede the progress of development, which at present is proceeding exceedingly”well.”

With infrastructure development slated for completion by Q3 of 2023, Port City Colombo is Sri Lanka’s biggest FDI-funded development project with USD 1.4 Bn committed by the project company, USD 1.2 Bn already having been invested, and a further USD 1.5 billion expected to flow in during the vertical development phase, which will commence thereafter. A USD 7-million Duty-Free Shopping Mall, the first of its kind in South Asia, and a magnet for shopping and tourism is also expected to open doors at Port City Colombo in April 2023.

Shenali D Waduge

US-India-China profane rivalry but are leading trade partners. They work together & in isolation as per their country agenda/goals & policies. Sri Lanka’s nicely documented policies are just that – it always gets changed with every new govt. Not many governments have had national plans to raise Sri Lanka & instead ends up coolies of global power players. One thing is certain no nation would be bullying or pressurizing Sri Lanka if elected leaders learnt to stand for their nation & their people. That’s how nations respect leaders.

There are some developments that need to be taken note of

• Why would India’s intel chief secretly arrive in Colombo & how can he insist on Indian access to Sri Lanka’s strategic assets across East Sri Lanka, North West Sri Lanka & Central Sri Lanka? Does this not run parallel to the proposed railway line that would connect India & Sri Lanka?

Do we have Sri Lankan policy advisors who are able to read between the lines, who are aware of global dynamics & can foresee dangers of proposals and requests made by international players or does Sri Lanka hire international advisors who are only bothered about their remunerations or Sri Lankan advisors who are actually working for the enemy?

• Was there some reason for a TNA dual citizen MP to perform a gallery drama in an empty Parliament calling for Go Home China” protests which coincided with a flurry of twitter messages blaming China for delay in IMF bailout?

• Why would the default declaring king Sabry suddenly be summoned to Washington at virtually the same time that SLPP’s founder returned to Colombo?

Sabry proudly announced on twitter that US accepted his request for technical support” for sustainable Sri Lanka – is that connected to the debt for nature swop that US had been eyeing since 2002 to take over all our forests? For personal political glory, what are our unelected Ministers committing Sri Lanka to?

While we must certainly be friends with all nations, have we forgotten that all of our post-2009 ills are as a result of US-resolutions against Sri Lanka? All of the interferences are as a result of these intrusive and legally-questionable draft resolutions. When UK & US defends its troops, our politicians do nothing to defend the only military that defeated a terrorist movement.

• Intrusive India & US in virtually every corner of Sri Lankan polity

While US & Indian mission heads & officials have a carte blanche defying diplomatic protocols visiting wherever and whoever they like – when China so much as offers a toffee, both nations blow hot & cold. This is because Sri Lanka’s leaders & foreign minister do not have the guts to question & point out their abuse of diplomatic privileges.

• Who is tracking IMF/WB conditions on Sri Lanka for the bailout? 

Where are the economic pundits – how many of them can show what the advantage has been to Sri Lanka & its people in privatizing & liberalizing as per IMF/WB conditions since 1965? Where are the success stories as against agreeing to all that IMF/WB demanded for the 16 loans we have taken (1965-2016)

Have policy advisors even bothered to take tips from Greece’s former finance minister & economist Prof Yanis who prescribes a non-IMF home-grown solution for Sri Lanka given Greece’s experience with IMF? He advises Sri Lanka not to over-rely on IMF as the pain of pointless investment is more than pain  Doctor IMF’s prescriptions are long-term hazardous no different to what IMF did to South Korea in 1998, Africa in 1970s, Greece in 2010 & 2018 & Argentina which ended up giving dollar profits to the oligarchs & corporations who moved money out of Argentina before Argentina collapsed. The sentiments of MP Wijayadasa Rajapakse is noteworthy in this context. Those who do not benefit from IMF loans end up paying IMF loans. This is why those who wish to benefit are promoting IMF loans.

Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakse at least put the story straight accusing the big companies of hiding their profits & not paying taxes. Many of these were the sponsors of tea/biscuits & biryani for aragala protestors. How many of the system change” promoting companies siphon off their wealth offshore but preach to podiums in Sri Lanka to fool the gullible with their accented rhetoric.

• Malaysia narrowly electing a former IMF official as PM is noteworthy. Anwar Ibrahim held positions in the World Bank & IMF & thereafter he was working for the 2^nd CIA – the National Endowment for Democracy. His election was heavily funded by US using digital media. It would be no exaggeration to say he is pro-US.

Should we ignore Prof. Ashu Marasinghe’s claim that present CB Governor is set to be the common presidential candidate! There is also Coomaraswamy of Pathfinder fame & the man who took $12.5b ISBs during Yahapalana rule as well as promoting MCC implementation. Then there is the other IMF-poster boy a former Deputy of CB who gets column coverage in daily media to brainwash people into believing how gaga IMF deals are.

Readers must connect these scenarios to Sri Lanka in particular all former IMF/WB officials now holding posts in Sri Lanka. How many of them fire a call or run to meet the foreigners to ask their nod of approval before taking action on any matter?

Look also at all the NGOs-Civil Society-Trade Union & other groups that are able to arouse people’s sentiments & see how many of them are funded by overseas or rely on foreign funds for their existence. These are the parties and individuals that are tapped to carry out coloured revolutions, false flag operations, fake news, revolts, protests, demonstrations, anti-China, anti-Russia slogans and these are the ones tasked to carry out surveys that are biased and meant to convey what the Western/Indian narrative desires. Now the youth are targets – increasing offers of foreign scholarships” may be part of their inducement to rebel against the state.  When they all ask for open society” that should give a clue as to who sponsors open” societies globally starting with the Arab Spring.

If we question elected leaders as forsaking to defend the sovereignty of the Nation, we must also question the role of lawyers & the media as well. The manner lawyers openly took part in the Galle Face protests and the journos that were beckoned to meet the IMF country head secretly questions their integrity. Were they tasked to promote a new Act attempting to separate Sri Lanka’s Central Bank from the Govt & work as part of the US system so that Sri Lankan laws do not apply to it but Sri Lanka has to follow through on CB orders! The actions of CB officials must always be under scrutiny to see how far their decisions & actions are Sri Lanka-friendly or meant to serve international interests.

Those who agree to be part of these subversive exercises will meet their own karma – there can be no greater betrayal than betraying one’s nation.

• How many in Parliament or its advisors have taken note of the developments as a result of Ukraine-Russia conflict & considered its relevance to Sri Lanka & the need to plan & mitigate or is everything honky dory as is visible when anyone goes to Colombo hotels & Malls nowadays?

How many are aware of impending energy scarcity in Sri Lanka as a result of EU bans on anyone dealing with Russia? Even India has been threatened with sanctions for continuing to buy oil from Russia. The West are imposing ban on companies that provide shipping insurance, financing, brokering from Russia to third countries & Europe holds the most shipping & maritime insurance companies. This threat cannot be taken lightly though the irony is that Europe’s ban is at the cost of Europe having fuel shortages & its people dying of freezing weather. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka has hardly any bargaining power in any matter therefore what remedial actions have Sri Lanka planned?

• The target of late has been to demoralize the armed forces, police & of course the Sinhala Buddhists

This has been displayed in a rising number of cases where people are seeing verbally abusing the police and refusing to comply with law & order. In case not many are aware there are international digital media operators in Sri Lanka offering to relay video clippings of incidents taking place in Sri Lanka. These are all part of a larger narrative. This is why incidents emerge and within seconds they get relayed over social media & there is another bandwagon of outsourced youth to share these building a false momentum and creating a false scenario.

Similarly, note how the people’s protest” was only a camouflage to target Sinhalese culture, Buddhism throughout the aragala – Vesak was celebrated in black (bet this wont be don’t for Christmas), LTTE dead were commemorated, Sinhalese culture was ridiculed on stage. Ultimately many ended up getting HIV! Now the Sinhalese language is being targeted by creating a picture that Sinhala speaking people especially nurses are unlikely to get jobs. The objective behind this is to isolate the Sinhala language, culture and Buddhism and this is nothing new it’s a historical objective taking shape since 1505. This is why media entities were created to come up with Singlish” terms & promote them as being more fashionable. This very media entity is now trying to grab the vote of the rural masses through their charities” while also attempting to privatize natural resources under their business entities.

• Who analyzes the MOUs and other investments” taking shape in Sri Lanka

A country must know to secure its national assets & natural resources. But does Sri Lanka?

They seem happy to siphon off every asset & resource for political survival & ultimately they will see no political survival while the country will end up a vassal state with everything leased out for 99 years to foreign countries & foreign companies for an investment” that will never erase our debt. How are we to pay off debt when we have no revenue source or income does not seem to bother any of the players making the deals for obviously their ‘commissions’ must be buying their silence.

Food-Energy-health-Telecommunications-Education-Ports-Airports-Harbors-Maritime waters-Forests-Land are all being lined up. Should we even bother to celebrate independence?

It’s not the loan per se – it’s what the wish-lists they want to get their hands on using the loan as ruse that connotes to neocolonialism. Third World including Sri Lanka can never raise its head because of the global capitalist system controlled by powerful nations & their players. Countries are held to ransom with loans on interest in exchange for giving up their natural resources & assets while requiring the countries to complete repayment. If the powerful nations are not given what they want, they slap sanctions or tie up diplomatic engagement to further giving up internal mechanisms to their control. This entire system needs to be relooked & changed.

The former Greek Finance Minister offered advice to Sri Lanka

1. Agreement to reduce debt before borrowing
2. Do not borrow from IMF until & unless international agreement is reached with bankers to reduce debt (as repayment is impossible)
3. Do not borrow under conditions of austerity or fiscal austerity
4. Do not sign any deal with IMF if it is not prepared to grant Sri Lanka 1.2.3.
5. A loan taken by Sri Lanka from IMF in current scenario will only be used to pay off creditors (every borrower has a creditor – every irresponsible borrow has an equally irresponsible creditor – they give intentionally to secure benefit to them. Money is after all created currency printed & given by the powers that be)

Point 5 takes us back to the manner banks have lavishly given loans without collateral to questionable businessmen majority of these loans are not recoverable & banks are too chicken to take action to recover them. Ultimately these default situations also end up being credited to the People who took no loans & who did not benefit from the loans.

Governments & policy advisors should learn not to take loans. The Government ends up piling taxes on the people to pay off the loans & the people who have to pay the loans (via increased taxes) are not even beneficiary of the loans. This ends up draining the people who should be used to generate income within the country & from that income to repay debt. Instead of planning for such, governments & their business cronies & others who benefit from the loans jump to take more loans as none of these loans are being repaid by any of them. Government & its economic advisors are also economic hitmen like the international players.

If Sri Lanka is in a default status – the austerity measures must be applicable across the board & applicable to all with everyone paying taxes & the big sharks who have defaulted taxes over the years being fined for such.

We have to question who are the locals who have brought Sri Lanka to this level since 1948 before we identify the international players.

Shenali D Waduge

Sugath Kulatunga

1.     Bring narcoterrorism under Terrorism Act.

Colonial powers have used drugs and alcohol to weaken cultures and economies of countries throughout history. The use of opium to weaken China was a good example. In a more subtle way Arrack was used by the British to attack the culture of Buddhism in Ceylon. It is rumored that the British spy oily John D’Oyly supplied whisky to the last king and made him an alcoholic and masterminded the King’s downfall with a mix of vile propaganda and bribes. There is a belief that the present drug menace has deeper ramifications than simple money making. The spread of the use of the lethal drug ice into the student population and the youth threatens the present welfare and the very destiny of the future generations. This is nothing but narcoterrorism and should be tackled accordingly. The use of these toxic and addictive drugs terrorize not only the user but also his family and the community. It has become a national security issue and should be addressed with that focus. It is time that drug control be brought under terrorist control and dealt under the Terrorism Act.

2.Use of state funds on farewell parties and tamashas.

Secretary Finance has sent out a second circular warning that state funds should not be used for farewell parties etc. Why is the S/F reluctant to surcharge the offenders? In the past circulars were not advisory but were clear directions and were accompanied with penalties for non-adherence.

·        

·       3.Tax Evasion

It is reported that the government intends to open tax files on all citizens over 18 years. This is a senseless decision where the majority of the population is finding it difficult to make ends meet. Having a file in the IRD does not ensure that it is an identification of a person liable to tax. There is a mistaken notion that the information of the wealth of an individual is a private right. That should be confined if at all to the details of wealth. What the IRD should do is to publish the names of taxpayers in a given local authority. That will be an honors list. This will enable informers to bring to the notice of IRD of parties who may be liable to pay tax but not in the list. It is not difficult to identify them. Most of them would be displaying ostentatious lifestyles. Others will be money lenders, tuition merchants, professionals, mudalalis with a few lorries, owners of trawlers and mills etc. Informants should be entitled to secrecy and attractive rewards similar to that of the Department of Customs.

 4.    Human/ elephant conflict

In the Committee Stage debate on the Budget a former Minister of Wild life and a past State Minister on the subject went at each other on the construction of ditches to prevent elephants entering farm land. The moot point was on the width and depth of the ditch. It is a fact that elephants cannot leap and if the ditch is wide enough elephants will be prevented from attempting to cross it. Neither can an elephant climb a perpendicular height. What is problematic is why did the Wildlife Department not test the minimum dimensions of an elephant barrier ditch using tame animals before they launched on an expensive digging of miles long ditches.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Ceylon history was introduced as a subject to schools during the British period. Initially, pupils were only taught European history, and, as one commentator observed, pupils left school with the notion that ‘our ancestors were barbarians’.  Ceylon history should be introduced, it was suggested, so that pupils would be in a position to admire Ceylon’s ancient civilization and develop a sense of pride and patriotism.   S.A.Pakeman, lecturer in history at University College, Colombo, had pointed out in 1922 that it would be good if some schools at least paid some attention to Asian history in their history syllabuses.  

Rev A.G. Fraser, Principal, Trinity College, Kandy, (1904-1924) was probably the first to start teaching Ceylon History in school. He had had introduced Ceylon History to Trinity, using the two books on the history of Ceylon written by L.E Blaze. F. L. Woodward, Principal of Mahinda College, Galle, (1903-1919), had included history in the school curriculum and staged plays based on Ceylon’s history.    P de S Kularatne encouraged the study of Ceylon’s history at Ananda.   He declared that history was ‘much neglected in our big schools’    and in 1920 announced that ‘Ceylon history was now progressing upwards in the school’. He thought the available history books were biased and contained inaccuracies and he encouraged the staff to take their pupils on excursions to historical places, and study history that way. 

The first text books on Ceylon history written specifically for schools were those by L.E.Blaze, (1861-1951) Founder principal of Kingswood College, Kandy. In 1900 he wrote, History of Ceylon, the first comprehensive school textbook on the history of Sri Lanka. This was the prescribed history textbook for middle school until the late 1930s (with ten editions being published in that time). In 1914 he authored The Story of Lanka, another detailed history of the island, which became the Middle School school text for history (it was re-printed six times). In 1937, Pakeman and GC Mendis wrote Our Heritage: Ceylon and world history up to 1500”. This probably replaced Blaze.

Ceylon history was an established subject in schools when I was at school in the 1950s. I studied from textbooks written by SF de Silva, the A level text book was by L.H. Horace Perera. History was also a popular subject in the university at that time.  My recall is that at this time, the choice in the university was between western history and Indian History. Ceylon history was included into both syllabuses and was compulsory.

Then in the 1970s, history was abruptly removed from the school syllabus, with no notice.  The education reforms of 1972 removed history and geography from the curriculum for secondary schools and substituted in its place a subject titled ‘social studies.’ The minister for education was Baddiudin Mahmud and the Permanent Secretary, was, I believe, Premadasa Udagama, the United Front government was in power.  The intention clearly was to remove from the minds of future generations any formal knowledge of the past. It was intended to be an erasure of the Sinhala Buddhist history of Sri Lanka.  .

 Many Buddhist institutions such as All Ceylon Buddhist congress, YMBA, Lanka Mahabodhi Samitiya and Sasana Sevaka Samitiya made representations to the authorities, protesting against this decision, but nothing happened. As result, for a period of thirty years, generations of school children grew up without knowing the history of their country.

The removal of history from the school syllabus was soundly condemned. Critics charged that this was done ‘purposely’ and ‘surreptitiously’. Its consequences were noted.  Children came out of school not knowing their own history or that of the rest of the world.  Students later complained that they were prevented from knowing the history of their country having had the ‘misfortune’ to study social studies in 1980s.

Comparisons were made with other countries. USA, Australia, and New Zealand, which had short histories, were proud of their history. In USA which has only 200 years of history, even medical students have to offer two papers in American history. Those emigrating to USA were tested on the history of the USA. Chancellor, Kelaniya University, Dr Velamitiyawe Kusaladhamma said   in 2003 that Sri Lanka is the only country where most of our leaders do not like to teach out history to the younger generation. We possess an unblemished history of more than 2500 years. USA with a history of 200 years, teaches history to its children.

There were several calls for the re-introduction of history to the school curriculum. Eksath Sinhala Maha Sabhawa had engaged in vigorous campaigns from 1999, sending appeal after appeal to President, Prime Minister and Minister of education pointing out the need to re-introducing history as a full time subject into the school curriculum. History was surreptitiously withdrawn for the school curriculum says Upali Jayasekera writing to the Island in 2002. The public should ask for its return. Newspaper editorials also endorsed the idea.

The Sri Lanka Historical Association started to negotiate with the government to get history back. The Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka wrote to the National Education Commission in 2002 recommending that history be taught in school.

 In the mean time, while waiting for History to return to the schools, the intelligentsia took over the task of teaching Sri Lanka history. Buddhist organizations planned to ‘teach the chronicles like Mahavamsa’ in their Daham pasal.

Tisara Prakasakayo in 2000 launched a series of cartoon books to teach children the ancient history of Sri Lanka. They dealt with kings such as Dutugemunu, Mahasen and Dhatusena, as well as the subjects of steel technology, medicine and maritime travel. The children’s supplement ‘Funday’ issued with the Sunday Times runs a series on the chronological history of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka

The intelligentsia stated to write books on ancient and medieval history. Numerous books on the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods appeared in Sinhala. The respected historian W.I.Siriweera wrote ‘History of Sri Lanka ‘for the public (2002). In 2002 the Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute had two month course on Sri Lanka history for the public. Dr Bandu Edussuriya, a medical specialist prepared a ‘Simplified English summary of the Mahavamsa’. This sold out fast.

In 2002, the public noted with approval that the Minister for Education, Karunasena Kodituwakku, himself a historian, was   going to re-introduce history as a subject in schools, after nearly four decades of neglect.

In 2003, Ministry of Education announced that it was shortly to recommence teaching history in schools and state universities. History was to be introduced in story book from form 1- 4 grades and as a formal subject from        grade 5-13.

Sirasa news telecast on 29.4.03 announced that history was coming back from grade I to A levels. Eksath Sinhala Maha Sabhawa said they were delighted to hear this.In 2004 history came back to the school curriculum. (contd)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Jayatissa Bandaragoda’s biography titled    Path of destiny: autobiography of a farmer’s son’ was published in 2011 by Godage international. One reason I wrote this autobiography was to refer to some events relating to the ethnic issue in Trincomalee and elsewhere,” said Bandaragoda. This was a key motivating factor behind my autobiography.  I thought I should place some of my personal experiences and related view points in the public domain.”

Bandaragoda’s brush with the Tamil Separatist Movement started with his appointment as Government Agent, Trincomalee.  Bandaragoda was Government agent, Trincomalee from 1978-1981.

This was not a happy period, he said.  A few days after assuming duties, he was invited, as Chief Guest to the prize giving of St Josephs College, Trincomalee. It was certainly not the usual school prize giving”, he said.  Large posters had been put up, threatening people not be part of a ceremony to receive a Sinhala chief guest and to boycott the function. There was a boycott, but the principal, Father Gnanaprakasam wanted to hold the   prize giving because   there were   a few children from the lower classes, a few parents and teachers present.  Bandaragoda made a speech gave away prizes and the ceremony concluded quickly ‘without any mishaps.’ But the incident shattered my confidence, Bandaragoda said.

During my first year of tenure as GA Trincomalee, there were a number of other unpleasant and anti national incidents as well. Independence Day celebrations were limited to Kachcheri only, due to poor attendance said Bandaragoda. Other occasions of national importance, were marred by ugly incidents such as the burning of the lion flag in a school in town. Some phosphorus had been tied to the flag and ignited as the flag went up. There was a spate of such anti national incidents in Trincomalee.  In 1980 on National Day in Trincomalee, many of the schools did not hoist the national flag.

Trincomalee was considered a hostile environment for a state administrator to work in, but Bandaragoda found that the public in Trincomalee were cooperative and appreciative.  However, ethnically charged aggressive and arrogant behavior was clearly    evident among some of the Tamil elites , he said. This domineering had the objective of relegating the Sinhalese to an inferior status, socially and economically.

The AGAs (Assistant Government Agents) at the time were Tamil. A Sinhala AGA was appointed to Kuchchaveli and the Tamil elites did not like it.  The Sansoni Commission appointed to inquire into the Tamil riots 1977 was sitting in Trincomalee when Bandaragoda arrived. He was told that Sampanthan, then MP for Trincomalee had given evidence before the Commission and had said that Tamils could not bear the sight of Sinhalese officials. 

The Urban Council of Trincomalee was dominated by the Tamil community. Documents such as building applications were only in Tamil language.  The district’s budget was allocated mostly to roads,    schools   and so on, which benefitted the Tamil community. The Urban Council was not supportive of  the Sinhalese in Trincomalee. The Sinhala public in Trincomalee complained to the Kachcheri, regarding this. Whenever some harassment occurred in Urban Council the Sinhalese rushed to the Kachcheri, recalled Bandaragoda. 

The Sinhalese in Trincomalee had    grievances. The vegetable and fish market in Trincomalee were run by Sinhalese business men who had come from south. Most of the prominent traders in the town were also Sinhalese. The authorities regularly tried to shift the markets from their current location, the Sinhalese   refused to allow it.

During his stay as GA in Trincomalee, Bandaragoda found anti-Buddhist activity going on, particularly the planned destruction of Bo trees. He observed that the newly set up places of Hindu worship, with lingam and statues, were destroyed in retaliation.

The destruction of the Kilveddi Bo tree in April 1978 took place when Bandaragoda was the GA in Trincomalee. It was believed that this Bo tree was one of the saplings planted in the country, with the Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura.  The destruction had led to a minor ethnic riot in Mutur area.

There was much agitation in the villages in Seru Nuwara AGA’s division at the time.  At Allai a Sinhala farmer was shot and killed in the area and the ‘already burning emotions erupted’.  8 persons died. The Allai irrigation scheme had been done in such a way that aSinhala settlement was adjacent to a Tamil settlement.

 A Buddhist monk, reportedly from Kurunegala was injured by gunshot in the same area.   The monk was brought to Trincomalee hospital and an attempt to smuggle his blood stained robes out of the hospital was foiled by the authorities who impounded the clothes and prevented a major communal riot in the country.

The tension was kept under control at local level in Mutur, Kilveddi, Dehiwatte, and Neelapol areas with help of navy and police, but there were still some skirmishes in the Kilveddi area.   The tension remained in Mutur and Seruwila areas, said Bandaragoda.

In 1979, Bandaragoda had been called before Victor Tennekoon Commission on District Development Councils. He had been called because of complaints made against him by the MP for Trincomalee.  While responding, Bandaragoda had spoken about the Kilveddi incident and about the mushrooming of small places of Hindu worship.   Neelan Thiruchelvam who was a member of the Commission had not liked his exposing these facts. He wanted Bandaragoda’s evidence be expunged, as ‘communally biased’.  Tennakoon had refused to do so. The Commission instead had thanked Bandaragoda for his detailed and balanced description of the situation in Trincomalee

Bandaragoda stated that the first objection to his appointment as GA Trincomalee came from the Sinhala Buddhists. After the Kilveddi incident, the second priest of Seruwila and a delegation from the area had rushed to see the President. They complained against Bandaragoda, blaming him for the Mutur incidents, saying that he had allowed AGA Sivanathan to bring in the navy to act against the interests of the Sinhalese in the area. Bandaragoda was not in Trincomalee at the time. AGA Sivanathan had acted on his own. This was explained to the delegation.

 The bhikkhu led delegation had obviously been fed the information that Bandaragoda was responsible, in order to get Bandaragoda removed from Trincomalee, using the Buddhists of Trincomalee. The gullible Buddhists had  readily fallen for this.

Some months later, in September 1978, Bandaragoda was invited to lay the foundation stone for a new stupa which Ven. Rambukkana Saddharmalankara, chief priest of Sri Bodhirajaramaya temple in China Bay was constructing.  Bandaragoda observed that this bhikkhu was later shot and killed by either the LTTE or the IPKF

Bandaragoda   had come across clandestine Tamil settlements in jungle areas in China Bay, Kucchaveli, Morawewa and Tampalagamam areas. In most of these, the people reported that a Catholic priest, an MP and his brother were helping. The one in China Bay was in the form of a religious peace haven or retreat and people settled there were all Tamils from tea estates.  This was a campaign to colonize vacant land with Tamils. This was a   well planned anti government effort, he said. 

A number of housing schemes were started in Trincomalee town at this time.MP for Trincomalee had selected state land at Love Lane,   to put up one housing scheme. Love Lane was situated in front of another existing housing scheme, Sirimapura given to Sinhala fishing families. 

Bandaragoda and others thought that it was not good to have a housing scheme for Tamils so close to Sirimapura which had been a regular place of ethnic tension. We offered alternative state land within the town limits. But they were adamant that it should be Love Lane and in a specific location.

Two senior officers of National Housing Scheme, Dunstan Jayawardene and Susil Sirivardana visited Bandaragoda and pursued the request.  They were shown the location and Bandaragoda   had explained that it could lead to great trouble later.  Ignoring my view that it was a time bomb, they pressed me to release the land and said that it had been asked for by the MP and it was a request from the Prime Minister himself and if I wished to I could refer the matter back to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister however, he was told, ‘had been very angry’ and the land was released. Later, as anticipated, the Sirimapura housing scheme was attacked.

The Mahaweli scheme had a settlement   project in Mahadiulwewa in Seruwila electorate. The Mahadiulwewa project was historic because it was decided that settlement should reflect the ethnic ratio in the district.  This was the first time such a policy had been enunciated. A land Kachcheri was held, the selection made and the selected allottees informed. Most were landless chena cultivators, who had been living in the project area for a long time.

Then an objection was raised by MP for Trincomalee that   persons from Trincomalee electorate should also have been selected. However, the selection already made could not be altered for legal reasons.  Ponraja   of the Irrigation Department suggested that the blocking out plan could be redrawn to increase the number of allotments by reducing the area allocated to an allotment. 

Gamini Dissanayake, Minster for Mahaweli, accompanied by   NGP Panditeratne and Gamini Iriyagolle, came to investigate. Amirthalingam and Sampanthan were also present. I also participated at this unprecedented meeting, said Bandaragoda. It was agreed that applicants from Trincomalee electorate should also be interviewed and selected and the final list should reflect the district’s ethnic ratio. The plan would be redrawn to include more allotments by reducing the extent of land per allotment

Bandaragoda found that Fort Frederick was once a Buddhist monastery on which a Hindu shine had been built.  There was enough evidence in the literature to suggest that Gokanna Vihara was the dominant feature of this region. [Gokanna temple had long since disappeared] and more recently, the Bo tree that had stood on top of the hill had been cut down. The dispute had been settled by an earlier GA, MB Senanayake. I saw the concrete slab   over the spot where the Bo tree had probably been, said Bandaragoda.

Buddhist wanted to set up at their own expense, a stupa and standing Buddha statue within the    army premises of Fort Frederick.  Bandaragoda had no objection and with the support of philanthropists led by a gem merchant from Ratnapura the two shrines were completed in less than three months.

Sometime later there was a hue and cry over the loss of a Siva lingam that had been placed on a small rock within the Fort Frederick area. The spot was a bare land, a few yards away from the compound of Koneswaram temple. The leading politicians blamed the theft on Bandaragoda and President Premadasa came to check escorted by Sampanthan. At the investigation Bandaragoda had strongly denied any involvement in the matter.  Many had wondered why a Siva lingam had been placed there. They thought that this had been done to block the government using this land for some other purpose.

 Bandaragoda found that he was considered ‘anti-Tamil   by journalists and the University Teachers for Human Rights. He was blamed for many matters. In 1981 Bandaragoda was selected to be Additional Secretary to Ministry of Lands. But Amirthalingam, of TULF and Sampanthan, MP for Trincomalee objected as  the Ministry  dealt with national land policy and  Bandaragoda  was considered anti –Tamil. So he was sent as Additional Secretary, Mahaweli Ministry.

Bandaragoda‘s appointment as Additional Secretary, Mahaweli Ministry, started in 1982. Bandaragoda recalled that in 1985, I was in the field inspecting the work on the future settlement, at Mutugala area north of Welikanda. The area was to be settled by those living in Mutugala and adjoining villages, mostly Tamil and Muslim families.  A greatly agitated field officer arrived to tell me what he had just heard on radio.  He had heard on Eelam Radio that the LTTE was opposed to these settlements and that the person entrusted with this was Jayatissa Bandaragoda. Bandaragoda together with the rest, would be killed. Bandaragoda listened to the radio broadcast himself and   reported the matter to the Ministry.

 In 1985 Bandaragoda was on a field visit to Mahaweli System H when he heard the news of the LTTE attack on Anuradhapura. He had made inquires and was able to trace the carnage starting from the bus stand.  Nobody knew where the LTTE had come from but the exit route was clear, it was along the Anuradhapura- Puttalam road up to the turn off to Wilpattu National Park. LTTE  had shot and killed people at random on the way, including a beggar who was sleeping on a mat at the verandah of a small shop at Wilpattu junction.  At the Wilpattu Park bungalow we heard how all the employees were lined up with their hands tied at the back and shot one by one.

Some settler families of system H at  Nochchiyagama has been killed at the bus stand in  Anuradhapura. Three persons had entered the bus and fired shots.     We went to the funeral house of one woman who had been killed on the bus. It was one of the most pathetic scenes I had ever seen with the father and other children crying over the mother’s body and the child who escaped death still looking dazed and confused.  

In 1984 Bandaragoda was appointed Deputy Commandant for civil affairs in the Joint Services Operations in which the Commandant was the Commander of the navy.  Bandaragoda’s team of four SLAS officers travelled to all the villages in districts of Mannar, Vavuniya, and Kilinochchi to find out development  needs that could be attended to in the short term. They did not visit the fourth district Trincomalee, as they all knew the district well.

In the process of this survey we found that a large number of families of estate Tamils had been settled on state land in these districts We had prepared a map of the districts giving the ethnic composition of each grama sevaka division.

They found that in the period 1971 to 1981 about 80,000 people had been added to the population of these three districts in addition to the normal growth.  They were persons repatriated in Sirima Shastri pact. They  were presumably stopped on their way to India and taken to these areas for settlement, apparently with the knowledge of the government servants of the area. A number of NGOs were involved in providing financial and organization assistance to these settlers.

Ceylon Workers Congress had given leadership to this and had retained the full loyalty of the Tamils. Each house we visited in the new settlements had Thondaman’s photo and each house donated a rupee per month to the CWC fund. The new land cleared by the settlers was cultivated with green gram. The government did not eject them and later they were given citizenship.

Bandaragoda was also given another special assignment during this period, as Chairman of a newly formed National Settlement Advisory Board. This Board ratified the recommendation  made by the  Bandaragoda  group that had visited the four districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Trincomalee as part of the  Joint service Operation mention  earlier.

The Board decided that it was necessary to halt the settlements [of the Tamils] in  the area. .One strategy would-be to have a buffer zone of [Sinhala settlements] along Yan Oya.  Some abandoned land which had been given to entrepreneurs on a Marginal Land Alienation Scheme, were divided into smaller units for settlement of ex-prisoners. These were the ill-fated Kent and Dollar farms that were later attacked by the LTTE. Bandaragoda‘s team had suggested that if a buffer zone was formed, adequate protection should be given. Also that those already settled in the area should not be ejected.

When the Dollar and Kent farms were attacked in 1984,  President Jayewardene   sent Bandaragoda to attend to the funeral rites of those killed. Bandaragoda wondered why those who did this project without providing security were not asked to go instead.  Anyway Bandaragoda went, and found that arrangements had been made by the Chief priest of the Padaviya temple  to bring the bodies to Padaviya School. there were        62 bodies of men women and children . Their hands had been tied at the back and each had been shot at close range on the head. Bandaragoda and others had made arrangements for coffins.  Bandaragoda  noted that there were no visitors from Colombo and no media persons to observe the event.

Lastly,  I wish to emphasize that Bandaragoda repeatedly stated  in his book  that he was not anti-Tamil. He described in detail the protection and assistance he and his wife had given to Tamils known to them, during the 1983 riots in Colombo (see p 165 and  173-177).

Malinda Seneviratne

Contour makes the bends

bends make for pause

feet stop and go

and heart to footprint returns

Roads are either slow or fast depending on road conditions, weather, traffic, the condition of the particular vehicle and the urgency or lack thereof of the person at the wheel. The same road can be fast for some and slow for others. It can make for a slow grind at a certain hour and an easy pass at another.

One does plan to get from A to B, from Colombo to Kudumbigala, from Arumgam Bay to Buduruwagala, from Ampitiya to Meemure and from there to the foot of the tallest peak in the Knuckles Range, Gombaniya, from Matale to Kurunegala through Yatawatte, from Moratuwa to Bambalapitiya or Kottawa to Thimbirigasyaya. People travel for a purpose: to work, to school, to meet someone, to deliver something, to buy something or attend an event. Time is a factor — you have appointments to keep, a deadline to meet — and that can make one wish the road was faster or not really mind if the road is slow.  

Slow roads are not necessarily about the time taken to go from A to B. They are, rather, about how one understands time, companionship, conversation, the road itself and the landscapes on either side. Speed (along roads) are mind-made, perception-made and one could argue is about philosophical preferences. Sometimes urgency governs all, but sometimes urgency is a product of not knowing of the thrills, lessons and healing worth of axing time from the life equation.

One could get from Colombo to Hatton in less than four hours, depending on the time you choose to leave. It could also take you longer, say five or six hours. You could be happy about spending less time on the road because you wanted to spend more time in and around Hatton. There’s something to be gained by getting there early. There’s also something that’s lost in getting there too fast.

Way back in the early seventies, a bus would take at least three hours to get from Pitakotuwa to Kurunegala. It was just 56 miles, if I remember right. The trip was so long that it was customary for buses to break journey in Nittambuwa, just 25 miles (40 km) from Colombo. There was less traffic then, but the road was narrower and wasn’t as good as it is now. Maybe people, drivers included, were in less of a hurry too.

It took the bus almost three hours, but it took my father at least 4 and not because he was a cautious driver. He too stopped for tea. A few miles this side of Nittambuwa, opposite the Bandaranaike Samadhiya there was a small arts and crafts shop which served a really good cup of tea. That’s what he said. There were things to look at and on occasion my mother would purchase beautifully embroidered serviettes or pillow cases. My brother would check out the bamboo flutes. I don’t know if my sister remembers any of it but I can’t remember either of us being overawed or agitated.

If there was a pola somewhere along the way, he would stop. Sometimes he was stopped at railway gates. He had stories to tell. We were a literally captive audience. We weren’t in a hurry. The roads were slow. I can’t remember the specifics, but somehow I feel that the potentials of road-sloth would have taken up permanent residence in my consciousness.  

There are countless stop-points on any road, none of which are marked by stop-signs. It could be a wayside kiosk offering plain tea and roti, a vegetable or fruit stall, a bend in the road offering a breathtaking view, a hamuduruwo holding an umbrella against the rain, wind and other vicissitudes, an abandoned vehicle submitting to the elements of corrosion, a tree which like a sentinel stands watch over passing time or a strange configuration of clouds. You could stop at any of these, a few or none and no one can say if you would be wiser for the decision, whatever it may be.  

Speaking strictly for myself, I will not pass judgment on wisdom acquired or lost, but I can say with utmost conviction that I’ve had no reason to regret having made roads slow down on account of whim and fancy. Simply, these ‘stops’ are made of and for fascinating conversations, with travel companions and strangers and, if you are absolutely alone, with the world around you and with yourself.

Make no mistake, it is not only the long roads, good or bad but running through spaces vast enough for the wide-angled capture or panoramic gaze, that make for slowness or slowing down and stopping. There are even ‘stops’ between two bus stops and you can stop-capture without getting off the vehicle. There are stops at railway stations and between them too. There is a stop when a vendor cries out what’s being offered, there’s a stop in the silence between words, peals of laughter, one tear and the next, and between drops of rain.  

A stop is a two-way mirror, one face to re-examine self and the other opening to a world ready for re-definition. Slow roads have many mirrors, this I have learned.

[‘The Morning Inspection’ is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is the first of a new series.]

malindadocs@gmail.com

C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D

සිංහල නම් ඇති පෙඩරල්කාරයින් හා දෙමළ නම් ඇති ක්‍රිස්තියානි ඊළම්කාරයින් සංවිධානාත්මකව කරගෙන යන ලිපි ලිවීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය නිසා මේ පංචස්කන්ධ ගැන සිංහල ජනයාට කරුණු එලිදරව් කිරීම මෙසේ සටහන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ අරමුණ විය. මෙය ඒ සම්බන්ධ අවසාන ලිපියය. මෙම ලිපියෙන් සළකා බලන්නේ නිර්මලා නමැති වයසක කාන්තාවක් විග්නේශ්වරන්ගේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා ලණුව ගිලගෙන අමාරුවේ වැටෙන හැටිය. නොහොත් චෙල්වනායගම්ගේ ඊළම් නිජබිමට විග්නේශ්වරන් විසින් එකතුකල අළුත් කොටිවලිගය ගැනය.

චෙල්වා මෙන්ම විග්නේශ් විසින්ද අහිංසක පීඩිත දෙමළ ජනයාට ගෙනදුන් දුක ගැන <විග්නේශ්වරන් දමණය> යන මාතෘකාව යටතේ ලිපි පහක්ම කලකට පෙර, 2015 මුලදී ලියන ලදී.

LankaWeb – Wigneswaran Damanaya (taming the shrew!) – Part I

බැබ්‍රි මස්ජිද් හා පොලොන්නරුවේ ශිව දේවාල දෙක

මහාචාර්ය සුනිල් ආරියරත්න මැඩ්‍රාස්වල සැඟවී සීටි කාලයේදී ක්ෂේත්‍ර ගවේෂණය කර ලියූ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා නම් ශාස්ත්‍රීය පොත චෙල්වනායගම්ගේ නිජබිම් කතාව ඔළුවෙන් හිටවන්නට යොදාගන්නට විග්නේශ්වරන් සිතුවේය. එහෙත් ගල් ගඩොල් කැබලි වලට බොරු කියන්නට නොහැකිය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් ඉන්දියාවේ අයෝධ්‍යාවේ, විෂ්ණු දෙවියන්ගේ අවතාරය ලෙස සළකණ රාමාගේ උපන් බිමේ තිබූ කෝවිල කඩා ඒ බිමේ, පසුකලක ඉස්ලාම් බැබ්‍රි මස්ජිද් නම් පල්ලිය ඉදිකර ඇතැයි යන මතයට අනුව, එක් දිනක (1992/12/6) හින්දූන් පැමිණ මොස්ක් එක බිමට සමතලා කලේය. මේ ගැන ඇතිවූ නඩුවේදී සත්‍යය සෙවීම සඳහා එම භූමිය හාරා බැලීමට තීරණය විය. සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද? මොස්ක් එක යටින් කෝවිලක් තිබූ අතර ඊට යටින් හමුවූයේ බෞද්ධ විහාරයක නටබුන්ය! පොලොන්නරුවේ ශිව දේවාල දෙක යටින් තිබුණේද බෞද්ධ විහාර නටබුන්ය. (මක්කම ගල යට තිබෙන්නේ බෞද්ධ නටබුන්ය යන මතයක් බෞද්ධ සූත්‍ර අනුව යමින් පලකර ඇතිබව (පුන්න තෙරුණ්, මකුලාරාමය, සුනාපරන්තය, තපස්සු-බල්ලුක වෙළෙන්දන්) බොහෝ අය නොදන්නා කරුණකි).

ලංකාවේ දෙමළ නිජභූමියක් තිබෙනවා යන කතාව චෙල්වනායගම් විසින් උතුරේ වෙල්ලාල කුලයේ දෙමළ දේශපාලකයින්ට හා කොළඹ වසන දෙමළ ක්‍රිස්තියානීන්ට අටවාදුන් සැබෑම කොටි වලිගයකි. කොසොවෝ ගනයේ රටක් ගැන මැලේසියාවේ සිටි දෙමළ ජනයා ගත් උත්සාහය එරට භූමිපුත්‍ර ව්‍යාපාරය මඟින් අඩපණ කලවිට චෙල්වනායගම්ලා වැනි සංක්‍රමණික දමිළයින්ට එරට හැරදා ඒමට සිදුවිය.

ලංකාවේ ට්‍රොට්ස්කිවාදී සමසමාජකාරයින්ගේ සමතැන (parity of status) නමැති කතාවෙන් ලංකාවේ ලබාගත හැකි හිඩැස තේරුම් ගත් චෙල්වනායගම් දකුණු ඉන්දියානු පල්ලිය හරහා ලංකාවට නැවත පැමිණියේය. තවද මේ මාක්ස්වාදීන් ඉන්දියන් වතු කම්කරු ජනයා වෙනුවෙන් පමණක් නොව කොළඹ  බෝරා වෙළඳුන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාවටද ඉදිරිපත්විය. ඔවුන්ට අනුව සිංහල වෙළඳුන් ගැන කතාකල  ගුණසිංහ ජාතිවාදී ප්‍රතිගාමියෙක් විය. ආරම්භයේදී මේ සියළුම ඊළම්කාරයින් සමසමාජ පක්ෂයට චන්දය දුන් අයවිය.  විග්නේශ්වරන් හොඳම නිදසුණය.

චෙල්වාගේ කාලයේ සිදුවූයේ බණ්ඩාරණායක (1957) හා ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක (1965) රවටා, සුද්දන් විසින් කෘතිම ලෙස මායිම් කල උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර පලාත් දෙක ලබාගැනීමේ උත්සාහයකි. දෙමළ නිජ බිමක අයිතිකරුවන් යයි කියන කල්ලියකට ඉඩම් බලතල දෙන්නේ මොන මෝඩයාද?  ඩඩ්ලි හා ජ්‍ර විසින් ගැසූ ගිවිසුම විශ්මය ජනක අසාධාරණ රට ජාතිය පාවා දීමකි. 1976 වඩ්ඩුකෝඩ්ඩෙයි ජරමරයේදීවත් ටැමිල්නාඩ්වලට සමානම තවත් ලෝක දෙමළ නිජභූමියක් ලංකාවේද තිබෙනවායයි ශාක්ෂි ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට ඔවුන්ට නොහැකිවිය.  ඒ සඳහා පට්ටගැසූ  එකම එක ශාක්ෂියවූයේ ක්ලෙග්-හෝන්ගේ මලබාර් ඉන්හැබිටන්ට් සම්බන්ධ මිනිට් එකය.

ක්ලෙග්-හෝන් විසින් සිය වලිගේ පාගත්  හැටි පසුකාලීන ලේඛකයින් පෙන්වාදී ඇත. ඊළම් මිථ්‍යාව  ගැන දිගින් දිගටම ලංකාවෙබ් වෙබ් අඩවිය හරහා තර්කාන්විතව කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරණ සේනාලි වඩුගේ සුද්දන් තුන්දෙනෙකුගේ ලේඛණ වලින් අඩුතරමින් ලංකාවේ මලබාර් නිජබිමක්වත් නොපැවතිබව නොබෝදා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

LankaWeb – 3 Britishers debunk Tamil Homeland myth

දෙමළ නිජභූමිකාරයින්ට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවූ එක් අකරතැබ්බයක් නම් ඉස්ලාම් මුස්ලිම් ජනකොටසක් සිය දෙමළ නිජබිමේ සිටීමය. මේ නිසා චෙල්වනායගම් විසින් <දෙමළ ජනයා> යන්න වෙනුවට <දෙමළ කතාකරණ> ජනයාගේ නිජබිම යයි සංශෝධනයක් දැම්මේය. මැත් ප්‍රොපෙසර් සුන්දරලිංගම් විසින් පහත් කුලවල ජනායාගෙන් යාපනේ කෝවිල් අපවිත්‍රවිම (caste pollution) වලක්වන්නට යකා නටද්දී චෙල්වනායගම්ලා නිහඬව සිටියේය. ඊට හේතුව වුයේ ඔවුන්ගේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි වලද කුලහීන යයි සළකණ ජනයාට වාඩිවිය හැකිවූයේ බිම හෝ බංකුවල වීමය.

දෙමළ නිජබිම ඇතුලේ ඉන්දියාවේ පොන්ඩිචෙරි ක්‍රමයට අනුව කාවුන් කෑවා වැනි හිඩැස් ඇතිවීම ගැන චන්ද්‍රිකා පැකේජ් ඩීල් කාලයේදී (1995-2000) නීලන් තිරුචෙල්වම් විරුද්ධ විය. භාෂාව වෙනුවට ආගම තෝරා ගනිමින් මුස්ලිම් නායකයින් දෙමළ නිජභූමිය දෙදරවා දැම්මේය. ඔළුවිල් ප්‍රකාශණය එහි සළකුණය. අශ්‍රොෆ් ප්‍රභාකරන්ට කොකා පෙන්නුවේය. මේ නිසා ප්‍රභා මුස්ලිම් ජනයා නිජබිමෙන් නෙරපුවේය.

1977 වන විට චෙල්වා තම නිජබිම් කතාවෙන් හෙම්බත්වී සිටියේය. ඔහු සිය බොරු ගාන්ධි වෙස්මුහුණ ගලවා දැම්මේ මිනීමරුවෙකුගේ පිළිරුවට මල්මාලයක් දමාය. එසේ කර ඊළම් සටන දෙවියන්ට (God) භාර දුන්නේය. ප්‍රභාකරන් දෙමළ දෙවියා, ගැලවුම්කාරයා, විය. ඔහු තාමත් ජීවත්වනවා යයි සිතන අය පවා සිටී! එරික් සොල්හයිම්, හිලරි ක්ලින්ටන්, රොබට් බ්ලේක්, බැංකි මූන් පමණක් නොව, 2010 චන්දයේදී සරත් ෆොන්සේකා පවා තම ගැලවුම්කාරයින් (ඩුප්ලිකේට් මෝසස්ලා) සේ ඊළම්කාරයින් සැළකුවේය.

මෙසේ අන්දමන්දව සිටින TNA ඇතුළු ඊළම්කාරයින්ට උතුරේ පීඩිත දෙමළ ජනයාගේ විරෝධය ආවේ යුද හමුදා යහපත් ක්‍රියාකලාපය හරහාය. යාපනේ චේ ගුවේරා මෙන් අරුන් සිද්ධාථන් නම්  තරුණයා ඊළම්-ඉන්දියන් කුමණ්ත්‍රනයට අභියෝගයක්ව සිටී. හින්දු-බෞද්ධ මිත්‍රත්වය වැඩිවෙමින් පවතී. දකුණේ මෙන්ම උතුරේද පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ගේ චන්ද පදනම දියවෙමින් පවතී.

දෙමළ බෞද්ධ නටබුන් හා දිවයින පුරා විසිරී ඇතැයි විග්නේශ් විසින් කියන ශිව ලිංග පහක් පටලවාගෙන නිර්මලා හා විග්නේශ්ලා දඟලන්නේ චෙල්වා විසින් සිය ජීවිතයේ අන්තිම කාලයේදී දෙවියන්ට භාරදුන් කාර්යය, අතීත ගල් කැබලි හරහා ඉෂ්ට කර ගත හැකියයි සිතාය. මෙහිදී පවා ඔවුන් ප්‍රදර්ශනය කරන්නේ දෙබිඩි මෝඩ හැසිරීමකි.

නිර්මලා යනු අරටු ක්‍රිස්තියානි නාගනාදන්ගේ දුවය. ක්‍රිස්තියානි චෙල්වනායගම්ගේ පුතාගේ බිරිඳය. ඇය මේ වනවිට බෝන් අගේන් ආගමේද, නැත්නම් මැරිලා ඉපදිලා දේශපාලන වාසියට කතාකරණවාද යනු සැක සහිතය. දුප්පත් දෙමළ ජනයා සිංහල ඉගෙන ගැනීම වැලැක්වූ මේ කොළඹ පවුල් සිය දරුවන්ට සිංහල ටියුෂන් ලබා දුන්නේය. රධිකා කුමාරස්වාමි මෙන් මේ නිර්මලාලාද දකුණෙන් සියළුම වරප්‍රසාද ලබාගෙන යටිහිතෙන් ඊළම් සිහින මැවූ අයය. R. පාස්කරලිංගම්, ඔහු විසින් අල්ලේ නටවමින් සිටි ප්‍රේමදාසට බෝම්බය ගැසුදා රෑම ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ඊළම් ගුලට පැනගත්තේය. යළි ආවේ රනිල් අගමැතිගේ උපදේශක ලෙසය. දැන් ඔහු නැවතත්  එරික් සොල්හයිම් සමඟ කොළඹදැයි නොදනිමි.

විග්නේශ් ගැන සිතා බලන්න. සමසමාජකාරයෙක්වූ ඔහු නඩුකාරයෙක්ව සිටියදී දෙමළ විත්තිකරුවන් ඔහු වෙනුවට සිංහල නඩුකාරයින් පැතුවේය. මොහු උතුරේ මහඇමති කරන්නට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හා දයාන් ජයතිලක  සිතුවේ ඔහු  මධ්‍යස්ථ දෙමළ  මතධාරියෙක් කියා සිතාය. එහෙත් සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද? පුද කොටම කාපි යකා කිව්වා මෙන් ඔහු දෙමළ ජෙනොසයිඩ් යෝජනා ලෝකයට බෙදා හැරියේය.

සුනිල් ආරියරත්න ගේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා  පොත තමන්ගේ ගැලවීම සඳහා යොදා ගැනීම සමාන කල හැක්කේ මීට පෙර භාවිතාකල ක්ලෙග්-හෝන්ගේ මිනිට් එක සමඟය.  සිරිසේන  ජනාධිපතිගේ උතුරේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයාවු (දැන් අධ්‍යාපන රාජ්‍ය ඇමති) සුරේන්  රඝුවාන්ද කලක් මේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා ලණුව අල්ලගෙන සිටියේය. දෙමළාට බුද්ධාගම අකැපද කියා අසන්නට තරම් ඔහු අන්ධ විය. මා සමඟ කැනඩාවේ ඉගෙන ගත් ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ නෑයෙක්වූ තවත් ප්‍රභාකරන් කෙනෙක් 1979 දී මට කිව්වේ ඔවුන්ට යාපනේ වෙසක් නිවාඩුවක් අනවශ්‍ය බවත්, කහ සිවුරු දමාගත් හාමුදුරුවරු උතුරේ සැරි සැරීම ඔවුන්ට හිසරදයක් බවත්ය.

ශිව ලිංග පහ

ශිව ලිංග පහක් මඟින් විග්නේශ්වරන් විසින් නිජ භූමි කතාව ඔළුවෙන් හිටවා ඇත. දෙමළ බෞද්ධ නටබුන් කතාව හරහා නිර්මලාද මෙම සූත්‍රයට අසුවී ඇත. මේ අනුව:

 (1)  බුදුහාමුදුරුවන් ලංකාවට තුන් වරක් වැඩියා යන කතාවට නොදෙවෙනි වන සේ විග්නේශ්ට අනුව ශිව ලිංග පහක් ලංකාවට <වැඩමවා> ආශිර්වාද (blessed) කර ඇත. මේ අනුව මුළු දිවයිනේම මුල් අයිතිකාරයෝ ශිව ආගම ඇදහූ දමිළයින්ය. (දමිළ යන වචනය තිබෙන්නේ මහාවංශයේ පමණය, 1911 වන තුරුම ඔවුන් මලබාර් වැසියන් විය).

(2) ඉන් පසුව සිදුවූයේ බුදුහාමුදුරුවන්ගේ කාලයේදී මේ ශිව හින්දූන් බෞද්ධයින් වීමය. දෙමළ බෞද්ධ නටබුන් මේ කාලයේදී සිදුවූදේය.

(3) කුමණ හෝ හේතුවක් නිසා අශෝක අධිරාජයාගේ කාලය වනවිට ඔවුන් බුද්ධාගම අතහැර නැවත අබෞද්ධ (හින්දූ) වී ඇත.

(4)  මිහිඳු හාමුදුරුවන් පැමිණ දේවානම් පියතීසන්ව (විග්නේශ්ට අනුව) බෞද්ධ කලේය. ඉන් පසුව හින්දු ආගම මර්ධනය විය (ජෙනෝසයිඩ් ?)

කාශ්මීරයේ යුදෙව් ගම්මාන

ද්‍රවිඩ ජනයා පන්ජාබ් ප්‍රදේශයේ මොහොන්දජාරෝ-හරප්පා ශිෂ්ටාචාර වලින් දකුණට තල්ලුවූ අයයයි මතයක් පවතී. ජේසුතුමා ඉන්දියාවට ආ බවත්, අදටත් කාශ්මීර ප්‍රදේශයේ තිබෙන යුදෙව් ගම්මාන ඒ කාලයේ සිට පවතින ඒවා බවත් කියැවේ. ලංකාවේ හලාවත-පුත්තලම ප්‍රදේශයේ පෘතුගීසි කාලයේ සිට පවතින කාපිරි (අප්‍රිකාණූ) ගම්මානයක් තිබේ.

මෙසේ සංක්‍රමණය වූ ජන කොටසකට හිටි අඩියේම අළුතින් ආ ප්‍රදේශය තම නිජබිම යයි පසුකාලයක කියන්නට හැකිවන්නේ අඛණ්ඩව පැවති ඉතිහාසයක් තිබේ නම් පමණක් නොවේද? ඒ අනුව හරප්පා සිට ආ අයට ටැමිල්නාඩ් සිය නිජබිම යයි උරුමකල හැකිය. එහෙත් ටැමිල්නාඩ් වලවත්, ලංකාවේවත් එක දෙමළ බෞද්ධ ගම්මානයක්වත් ඉතිරිව නැත. ඉහතින් ඇති සිතියම් දෙකට අනුව සාංචි හෝ බුද්ධගයා වලට කිට්ටුවෙන්වත් යන වැදගත් එක විහාරයක් ඉතිරිව නැත. ටැමිල්නාඩ් වල සුනිල් ආරියරත්නට දක්නට ලැබී ඇත්තේ විසිරී ගිය සුන්බුන්ය.

ඉහත ලංකාවේ පුරාවිද්‍යා සිතියම C. W. නිකොලස් විසින් 1950 ගණන්වල පිලියෙලකල සිතියමකි. පුරාවිද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සිටි එක දෙමළ නිලධාරියෙක්වත් මේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධ නටබුන් ගැන වාර්තාකර තිබේද? ගල් ලෙන් කටාරමක හෝ දහයක දෙමළට හුරු නමක් තිබීම දෙමළ නිජබිමකට ශාක්ෂියක්ද?

මෙම සූත්‍රය නිර්මලා විසින් පිළිගන්නවාද? DBS ජෙයරාජ්, සුමන්තිරන්, ග්ලෝබල් ඊළම් පිරිස් මේ කතාව දන්නවාද?

චෙල්වාට දෙමළ නිජබිම, දෙමළ කතාකරණ අයගේ නිජබිම යයි සංශෝධන කරන්නට වූවා මෙන්, විග්නේශ් අතීත බෞද්ධ නටබුන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් අන්ද මන්ද ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් ගෙන යයි.

(1).බුද්ධාගමට ජාතියක් නැත. ජර්මන් බෞද්ධ, ජපන් බෞද්ධ කියා දෙයක් නැත. සිංහල බෞද්ධ කියා කියන්නේ නිර්මල ථේරවාද ත්‍රිපිටකය ලොවට රැක දුන් ජාතියට මිස බෞද්ධ දර්ශණය සිංහලය යන අර්ථයෙන් නොවේ. තමන්ගේ සිංහල ලේලිලා දෙන්නා සිංහල බෞද්ධද නිකම්ම බෞද්ධද කියා දන්නේ විග්නේශ් පමණමය.

එසේ නම් අතීත දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා ගැන දුක්වන විග්නේශ් උතුරට බුදු පිලිම එපා කියා දෙමළ ජනයාට විෂ පවන්නේ ඇයි? උතුරට පොල් රා එපා කියන සටන් පාඨය තල් රා බේරා ගැනීමටය කියා අමතක කල හැකිය.

(2) දැනට පුරා විද්‍යාව විසින් බෞද්ධ යයි හඳුනාගෙන ඇති ස්ථාන හින්දු කෝවිල් යයි සටන් කරණ ව්‍යාපාරයක් විග්නේශ් ගෙන යන්නේ ඇයි? ගුරුකන්ද රජ මහා විහාරය, කුරුන්දි විහාරය, දීගවාපි උදාහරණය. කුරගල මුස්ලිම් ග්‍රහණයෙන් මුදා ගත්තා මෙන් ප්‍රශ්ණයක් මේ බෞද්ධ නටබුන් ගැන තිබෙන්නේ දෙමළ ජනයාටද විග්නේශ්ටද? කෝට්ටේ රජමහා විහාරය, නුවර දළදා මාළිගාවට අල්ලා ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි ඉදිකලා මෙන් රජරට බෞද්ධ නටබුන් වලට අල්ලා හින්දු කෝවිල් සදන්නට ඉල්ලීම දෙමළ බෞද්ධ ප්‍රතිපත්තියට එකඟ නොව කූට දේශපාලන  උපායකි.

(3), මෙම හින්දු කෝවිල් ආක්‍රමණ සැලැස්මේ පිටුපසින් මෙන්ම ඉදිරියෙන්ද ඉන්නේ කළු-සුදු ලෝගු දාගත් ක්‍රිස්තියානි හා බෝන් අගේන් පූජකයින් වීම දෙමළ බෞද්ධ ඉල්ලීමද?

ඊළම් ප්ලෑන හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි සම්බන්ධය

රට කැඩීමේ පෙඩරල් ප්ලෑන හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි ඊට දුන් තල්ලුව ගැන කතා කිරීම ආගම්-ජාති භේද ඇති කිරීමක්ද?

ලේක් හවුස් පත්තර මෙහිදී කල හානිය පුවත් පත් කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාවේද (1964) සඳහන් විය. දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා කතාව ඉස්සරහට දමා විග්නේශ්ලා හදන්නේ රට කඩා ගැනීමය. ක්‍රිස්තියානි දෙවියන් හා ශිව දෙවියන් ලවා හෝ එය වෙනවා නම් ඊළම්කාරයින්ට ප්‍රශ්ණයක් නැත. ඉස්ලාම් දෙවියන් හරහට සිටීම අනාගතයේ අර්බුදයකි. ත්‍රිකුණාමළ වරාය ඉන්දියාවට හෝ ඇමෙරිකාවට පූජාකර එය යටපත් කල හැකිය.

ලංකාවේ ඊළම් ව්‍යාපාරය, දකුණු ඉන්දියාව කැබලි කිරීමේ ලෝක ක්‍රිස්තියානි ප්‍රොජෙක්ට් එකේම දිගුවකි.  Breaking India: Western Interventions In Dravidian And Dalit Fault lines,  Rajiv Malhotra/ Aravindan Neelakandan (2012) යනු මෙම ලෝක ව්‍යාපාරය ගැන ලියා ඇති පොතය. කොළඹ ඊළම් ද්‍රවිඩයින් 1917 සිටම මැඩ්‍රාස් හින්දි-බ්‍රාහ්මණ විරෝධී සටනේ හිතවාදීන් විය. මැඩ්‍රාස් ලංකාවේ බෙදුම්වාදීන්ට සෑම විටම ක්ෂේම භූමියක් විය. චීන-ඉන්දියා යුද්ධය කාලයේ ටැමිල්නාඩ් ද්‍රවිඩ රටකැඩීමේ වැඩ තහනම් කිරීමට දුර්වල ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ගෙන ඒමට නේරුට හැකිවිය. සිදුවූයේ කුමක්ද?  DMK ( ද්‍රවිඩ මුනේත්‍ර කසාගම්) නමින් එය ලංකාවේ කඳුරට ඉන්දියන් ජනයා අතර ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක-පෙඩරල් සභාග ආණ්ඩුකාලයේ පැතිරී ගියේය. සිංහල මිනිසුන් එය සැළකුවේ කල්ලතෝනි උවඳුරක් ලෙසය.

විග්නේශ්වරන් සමඟ මේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා කතාවද අභාවයට යනු ඇත. එහෙත් ඔහු ඇතිකල විෂබීජය කෙතරම් හානිකරද? පුරාවස්තු විනාශ කිරීමට මුස්ලිම් ජනයා වැඩිවැඩියෙන් පෙළඹෙන්නේ මේ විෂබීජය නිසාය. ඔවුන් ලිග්ගල්, අත්තිවාරම්, පාරවල්, වැසිකිළිගල් වශයෙන් යොදාගන්නේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයාගේ ගල් කැබලිද  නැතිනම් බෞද්ධ නටබුන්ද? නිර්මලා විසින් මේ කාරණා තෙරුම් ගතයුතුය. එක අතකින් 13-A, ලංකාවේ  භූගෝලවිද්‍යාවට පටහැණිය. අනිත් අතට එයට පදනම්වූ නිජබිම් මාතෘකාව හිස් ප්‍රලාපයකි.

ලංකාවේ වසන දෙමළ ජනවර්ගයේ යහපත රඳා පවතින්නේ නියම බෞද්ධ ප්‍රතිපත්ති අනුව ක්‍රියාකරණ සිංහල නායකයින් තුලින් මිස කළු සුද්දන් හරහා නොවේ. සිංහල හා දෙමළ ජනයාට බෙදුම්වාදයක් නැත. එය තාමත් ගෙනයන්නේ සුමන්තිරන්, රාසමාණික්කම්, ජෙයරාජ්, ජෙහාන් පෙරේරා නිර්මලා, පාකියසෝති වැනි දෙමළ ක්‍රිස්තියානීන් හා විග්නේශ්වරන් යන සිංහල ලේලිලා දෙන්නෙක් නිසා දෙමළ ජෙනෝසයිඩ් ගැන සිතා දුක්වන පංචස්කන්ධයක්  ද විසින්ය. ඔහු යාපනේ අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථන් නම් තරුණයා සමඟ උමන්දාවට යා යුතුය.

මොවුන්ට බෞද්ධ විසඳුම දැනගැනීමට හැකිවනු පිණිස ඊලම හා බුද්ධාගම යනුවෙන් 2017 දී ලියූ ලිපියක් ඉදිරියේදී කොපිකර එවමි.

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ඊලම හා බුද්‌ධාගම
Posted on January 16th, 2017

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B., Ph.D.

පිරිත්නූල් කඹ

1931 දී ඩොනමෝර් ක්‍රමය යටතේ සර්‍ව ජන චන්ද බලය ලැබුණායින් පසු සිලෝන් (සිංහලේ යන නම ඉංග්‍රීසි කාරයාට ඇහුණ හැටි) කොලනියේ ඉතිහාසය ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හාමුදුරුවන් විසින්

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Now that two top-level people in Geological Survey and Marine Bureau ( GSMB ) are replaced by new people, the very first complaint published by the ex-chairman of the cement corporation, has landed on new bosses to handle

We should seriously look into the possibility of value addition to our own mineral resources which has been ignored in the past 

Recently we saw a large amount of mineral sand in raw form has been shipped From Trinco .

The Sad ( sand) thing is there may a politician behind all these businesses 

If the claim is true we may have to reinvestigate and stop exporting of soil from  Aluwakkaru in Puttalam.

But we have to be mindful of the fact that Foreign investors  will think twice before they decide to invest when such issues are raised after spending money for a feasibility 

Why can’t Iluka ( I call it ඉල්ලන් කා) company carry out value addition in Sri Lanka and provide some benefits to this poor country?

Media Release  Sri Lanka High Commission in India

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda met with the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India (EAC-PM) Dr. Bibek Debroy at the latter’s office in New Delhi and had an exchange of views.

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) is an independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Government of India, specifically to the Prime Minister.

During the discussion, the Chairman of the EAC-PM briefed High Commissioner Moragoda on the mandate and the functions of the Council. High Commissioner Moragoda stressed the importance of economic integration between Sri Lanka and India, and inquired as to how the Council could assist in that process.

In response, Chairman Debroy extended an invitation to High Commissioner Moragoda to address the Council on a mutually convenient date on matters pertaining to economic integration and cooperation, which the High Commissioner accepted.

Post Covid supply chain resilience as well as trade and investment were among other issues that were discussed at the meeting.

Dr. Bibek Debroy is an internationally renowned economist and has held many high posts in the government. He is a prolific writer who has translated a number of ancient Indian classics into English, including the Bhagavad Gita. He has also served in the ‘High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor’, an independent international organization hosted by the United Nations Development Programme from 2005-2008, of which High Commissioner Moragoda was a member.

YaleUniversity

Courtesy Adaderana

In order to switch to organic fertilisers, Sri Lanka yet again relied on a Chinese company, only to get deceived in the end as the organic fertilizer supplied could not pass the two rounds of the National Plant Quarantine Services (NPQS) test due to high contamination. 

Moreover, the Chinese firm also pressurized Sri Lanka for the payment of contaminated fertilizer during the island nation’s worst economic crisis, Indo Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications reported. However, the SL government’s choice to transition to organic fertilisers had a negative impact on the nation’s crop productivity, leading to one of the highest rates of food inflation in the world.

Notably, Sri Lanka was the first country to ban chemical fertilizers in April 2021. The island nation, in a bid to save USD 400 million, the then President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa prohibited the import of chemical fertilizers and decide to opt for the usage of organic fertilizers. On August 11, 2021, a Chinese business, Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co. Ltd., was awarded a contract for the provision of organic fertiliser.

Following receipt of the contract, Qingdao group agreed to supply 99,000 metric tonnes of organic fertiliser over the course of four shipments to Ceylon Fertilizer Company (CFC) and Colombo Commercial Fertilizers, two local purchasers in Sri Lanka, according to Indo Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications. However, the consignment received by Sri Lanka was found severely contaminated by bacteria named ‘Erwinia’.

Erwinia causes plant diseases and generally infects a huge variety of fruits, grain crops, and vegetables too. The bacteria is of Gram-negative strain and a plant-specific pathogen which degrades the plant cell wall. The most frequent etiological agent of the economically significant bacterial soft rot is Pectobacteriumcarotovorum(erwinia).

The usage of organic fertiliser has become very popular globally since it offers substantial environmental advantages over chemical fertiliser use. Organic matters such as animal manure, sewage sludge, and food waste are also used for producing organic fertilizers. But, keeping in mind the usage of excreta and other types of waste used in the formation, sanitisation is equally important.

Many large-scale animal farms with more than 10,000 pigs or 5,000 cattle have been created in China over the past few decades. As a result, a lot of animal excrement is created, which, if left untreated, is significant pollution, according to Indo Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications. In fact, in China, a sizable flock of sheep were observed wandering in circles for a period of 12 days without stopping, according to several media reports. Some scientists believe the strange behaviour may be Listeriosis, also known as the circling illness” and brought on by a bacterium.

Considering China’s propensity to keep all records of epidemics and diseases secret, it now raises concerns as to whether infected sheep corpses were used to make organic fertiliser. According to Indo Pacific Centre for Strategic Communications, additional consideration should be given to the connections between animal waste, water quality, environmental safety, human health, and risk assessment in relation to organic fertilisers.

Source: ANI

–Agencies

Shenali D Waduge

There is a reason why India is always stressing on India’s security interest when the issue of Sri Lanka emerges. It maybe now dawning on India, that it was foolishly roped into training Tamil militancy & allowing Tamil Nadu to be used as a logistics base. That India never trusted LTTE or Prabakaran was evident when he was kept under virtual duress in Delhi while Rajiv Gandhi the Indian PM arrived in Colombo to sign the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987. LTTE, Prabakaran or even its ideologue Anton Balasingham were not privy to the draft of the Accord except to be told to agree to it & India paid in kind for it. A key factor that is omitted from discussion is the role of the West & its Religious units represented by the Church & NGOs in supporting LTTE & Tamil militancy/Tamil separatism. It is a topic unsavory to even the commentators on the subject as they too belong to this nexus.

It is true that the shift in political alliance by the 1978 JR Jayawardena government may have been a trigger used to encourage India to agree to commence guerilla warfare in Sri Lanka. In all probability India may have not looked at the long term repercussions. India may have also ignored that it was during this same period that LTTE opened its international headquarters in London & it was ceremoniously opened by none other than Rev. Rayappu Joseph.

If LTTE was opening an international headquarters – why did they not choose India? Why a western Christian country? 

Why are all the LTTE fronts (most of whom were created after LTTE defeat) stationed and operating from Western Christian countries – Canada, US, UK, EU? Why are there no LTTE offices in India? LTTE is banned in all of these countries still, but the LTTE fronts freely operate in these countries, they openly advocate Tamil Eelam, they sell souvenirs of Tamil Eelam memorabilia, they even put up their eelam flag right next to the national flag of these countries. If LTTE is banned, it is no different to Al Qaeda being banned. Just imagine Al Qaeda putting its flag next to the national flags of US-UK-Canada & EU nations… but this is exactly what banned LTTE fronts are doing and none of these countries are doing anything about it.

How did a British foreign office worker Balasingham become the ideologue of the LTTE?

How did he marry a Christian Australian nurse who became the head trainer of child soldiers? Why is this aunty not held accountable for her crimes against children & instead is happily living in UK? 

How did so many Christian NGOs scamper to set up shop in the North & who has taken statistics of the increase in conversions of Tamil Hindus to Christianity throughout the LTTE rule? How many Hindus have become Christians/Catholics even among LTTE combatants? This question is important because the LTTE referred to its dead as Martyrs” and LTTE held memorials and had graves & tombs for its dead. Hindus don’t bury their dead, they cremate them. Moreover the major religious spokesmen of the LTTE are all Christians/Catholics – Rev Rayappu Joseph, Father Emmanuel, Father Jegath Gasper Raj, Bishop Kenneth Fernando of the NCC even visited Prabakaran

Catholic Fathers & Sisters always lead pro-LTTE protests & processions.

LTTE didn’t have any Hindu channels – LTTE had Voice of Tigers which was tied up with Radio Veritas a Catholic broadcasting station run by the Asian Catholic Bishops Conference.

LTTE didn’t have coordinating offices inside Hindu Kovils in North, instead the LTTE had an office inside St. Sebastians Church in Mallavi Vanni as well as Madhu Church.

Then there are the NGO crusadors – the National Peace Council headed by Jehan P was established by the National Christian Council which is affiliated to the World Council of Churches. Notice how most of the Christian/Catholic commentators on the subject always promote devolution/federalism – all along the Western agenda.

Most of the child soldiers” were orphans & these orphans were in orphanages run by Christians/Catholics inside dense jungles. Some 600 children had been sent to a Catholic Church located iN Walayarmadam – LTTE had arrived at this Church on 24 March 2009 and taken the children.

Has anyone made an assessment of the investments” by Western Govts & their Church-NGOs in the North & looked at their ultimate gameplan? Let us not forget the role of the Church in Rwanda debacle in 1991.

All of LTTE’s top rankers were either Christian/Catholics of Hindu converts, which leads us to wonder on whose orders LTTE leader decided to brutally eliminate his deputy Mahaththaya for being an agent of India. If India was supporting LTTE & Prabakaran, there was no reason for Mahaththaya to be killed by Prabakran. That Mahaththaya was following a different course of action to what the handlers of Prabakaran planned is perhaps the reason for his execution alongside all of Mahaththaya’s loyal combatants. Has that foreign lady who counts terrorist dead, counted how many of Mahaththaya’s men/women were hunted & slain by Prabakaran/LTTE for their loyalty to Mahaththaya. So India’s main man was eliminated by the West’s apparatus.

Has anyone looked at why LTTE would target & eliminate the entire moderate thinking Tamil Hindu leaders? Most of the Tamil loud-mouths in Parliament are Christians or Hindus who are towing an extreme line simply for their political & personal survival.

India may use strong-arm tactics with Sri Lanka & get away, but India has not been able to dictate to the West’s Christian/Catholic backed Tamil or Sinhalese groups whose loyalty are to the West. They all feign loyalty to India.

This is where India needs to take a step back & look at the scenario differently.Every overture India makes siding Tamils is inadvertently bringing advantage to the West-Tamil-Christian-Separatist agenda.

If it is not advantageous to Sri Lanka it is certainly not advantageous to India.

This is something India will have to now accept. It may have its agents all over Sri Lanka, but the agents of the West are more powerful & working to their agenda.

Look at Tamil Nadu & the Western-Christian/Catholic influence prevailing across South India even extending to Kerala where even an increase in Islamic radicalism has emerged. What were the messages given from Easter Sunday mass murders?

Many Tamil Christians/Catholics who put country first have understand the bigger picture have given enough of warnings which have not been heeded.

India has to seriously look at its game & change it considering the ground realities.

We can only remind India, that the balkanizing of India was referred to in 1998 by a US Congressmen & this is very much on the cards. If West could balkanize Soviet Union & Yugoslavia, doing same to India is a piece of cake!

India maybe majority Hindu but the Tamil Hindus in Sri Lanka have no say inspite of being a majority, they are ruled by Tamil Christians/Catholics primarily because of the support they wield from the West & its NGO/INGO & Church apparatus. Tamil Hindus are kept divided by their caste/class differences.

India is being used to push for federalism which in reality is confederalism / asymmetrical federalism via 13a & devolution. India is being used as a smokescreen to realize what the West & its foot soldiers want – to carve out a satellite new state in South Asia as part of their pivot to Asia.

India has no powerful Tamil Hindu leaders in Tamil Nadu or Sri Lanka to even articulate the dangers to the Hindu Tamils in Tamil Nadu or Sri Lanka, which is why India needs to reassess its cards & play a different game. 

The economic collapse was engineered with many agendas in mind, remember the West now dictates the economic policy of Sri Lanka. Its time India starts playing the right pawns unless it wishes to lose its influence in Tamil Nadu as well.

Shenali D Waduge

Ceylon Diary – SBPC Official Channel

මෙරට ආගමික අන්තවාදීන්ට තම ආගම පැතිරීමට වල්බුරු නිදහසක් නැතිබව ඔප්පුවෙන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ නියෝග හා අනිකුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාමය කරුණු.

e-Con e-News

India’s Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) ‘spy chief’ Samant Kumar Goel slunk into Colombo to further grab strategic sectors (fuel, ports, etc) and regions (Trincomalee, Mannar, Hill Country, etc) to divide the country. His arrival accounts for the rather muted LTTE Maaveerar Naal or Great Heroes Day on 27 November (see Random Notes).

  India-allied MPs and media then raised greater clamour blaming China for the delay in the IMF’s gifts. Their IMF demand amounts to continuing the colonial import-export plantation economy. Warlord-backed Trinitian TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam is reported as calling for ‘Go Home China’ demonstrations, just like US-funded NGOs are now doing in Thailand, Malaysia, etc. (see ee Focus, Are China and Russia Imperialist?)

• The US government also summoned Foreign Minister Ali Sabry to Washington for a 3-day visit on November 30, just after ‘dual citizen’ Basil Rajapakse returned from the USA. Sabry met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, also meeting US Senate Foreign Relations Committee members (see ee Sovereignty, Minister Sabry meets).

  ‘The US has been one of the prime movers of the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In this backdrop, diplomatic sources say Washington would try to persuade Sri Lanka to heed the provisions of the resolution. Moreover, a UNHRC Secretariat is now probing allegations against political leaders in SL for alleged human rights violations and ‘economic crimes’.’

• US-state news outlet EconomyNext reports, ‘India sends RAW chief after lending $500mn loan’. The media downplayed the Indian government’s ‘commercial interactions’, their economic and political demands, and instead barked out the usual anti-China rhetoric. RAW’s ‘Goel comes amid indirect efforts by Wickremesinghe to meet Indian PM Narendra Modi since last month, sources said… Officials at Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said they did not facilitate RAW chief’s visit…, while the cabinet spokesman swore: ’I swear that I don’t know such an intelligence chief met the president or any other government official.’

  The RAW chief also met finance minister & strategist of the SLPP Basil Rajapaksa… I think the message is related to the upcoming election’… Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa himself in 2015 said it was India and RAW who defeated him. So the RAW chief’s visit could be something more than what we hear. How can India order a sovereign nation on how and whom to deal with?’

   ‘China has also started funding underprivileged universality students in Jaffna and Eastern Universities. This has also drawn Indian concerns, university sources have told EconomyNext. Jaffna University Students’ Union last week said they are opposed to a move by the government to sign a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese agricultural university.’ (ee Sovereignty, RAW chief Samant Kumar Goel)

• Former IMF & current CIA operator Anwar Ibrahim has been narrowly ‘elected’ PM of Malaysia. This recalls 2015 Sri Lanka’s rigged Yahapalana election. The US chose Ibrahim as Chairman of the Development Committee of World Bank & International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1998. He has been working with the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) ever since. The US government through the NED has massively poured millions of dollars to Ibrahim’s ‘opposition party, a street front he has helped lead, and media networks promoting him across Malaysia’s information space’ (see ee Sovereignty, Malaysia’s New Prime Minister).

• ‘Politicians are known for smug moralising and fervent religiosity’, editorializes the Island. But surely, there is no sickening sanctimony more than the ’Fair and Lovely’ moneyed media, especially the English media. Politicians are an easy target, but this week more evidence arrived of the collusion between this even-more unaccountable and unelected media and those officials who work against the country’s interests

For full Story

World Bank Blogs

Each year, as we mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, we join our partners to renew our commitment and step up our actions for the prevention and elimination of gender-based violence.  

Gender-based violence is a major issue in South Asia, where a staggering two out of five women experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Only a few women seek any help or report the abuse.  

This is a pattern of gender-based violence (GBV) that we see across the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. 

In the Maldives, one in four women experience some form of violence in their lifetimes, and 60 percent do not seek support. In Nepal, 22 percent of women aged 15-49 experience physical violence since age 15, and 7 percent experience sexual violence. Sixty-six percent of these women do not seek help to stop the violence. And in Sri Lanka, one in five women experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes and only 28 percent seek help. 

Survivors of violence often hesitate to seek help due to social and cultural beliefs that result in victim blaming.  They also often consider the violence to be normal” or not serious enough.” When survivors do seek support, they mostly opt to reach out to family and friends instead of to formal service providers. 

Survivors of gender-based violence often hesitate to seek help; for those who do, service provision is sometimes unavailable or difficult to access in rural areas or remote regions.

For those who want to seek support, service provision is sometimes unavailable or difficult to access in rural areas or remote regions. Where services are available, there are often concerns around confidentiality and the judgemental attitudes of service providers. Moreover, lesbian, bisexual women, and transgender people experience rape and intimate partner violence with even fewer support services available. 

Gender-based violence is preventable 

Research shows that attitudes and behaviors with regards to GBV can change – albeit slowly. Change requires intensive interventions, following well-tested methodologies, a deep understanding of context, and implementing partners that are experienced in social norms programming and know the country and community context well. Since social norms and beliefs that uphold violence against women and girls are resistant to change, approaches need to go beyond the household or individual level to change perceptions and attitudes at the broader community level.

Since social norms and beliefs that uphold violence against women and girls are resistant to change, approaches need to go beyond the household or individual level to change perceptions and attitudes at the broader community level.

Programs like SASA! – or Together for Girls – which work with whole communities and households to change mind-sets and question the acceptability of violence are a good example of what can help. In Bangladesh, the World Bank financed Health and Gender Support Project in Cox’s Bazar teamed up with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) team on the ground, to roll out SASA! among a highly vulnerable displaced population. Currently more than 400,000 girls and women are accessing services through the project.

While social norms programming will not be feasible everywhere, a lot can still be done to address GBV by strengthening the delivery of health care and psychosocial services, social services such as shelters, protection and legal support.  It is critical for service providers to work together to support survivors in a coordinated manner.

This means putting in place effective case management – so that survivors can access the multisectoral services they need in a timely manner and are not further traumatized by having to repeat their stories multiple times. 

In recent years, the World Bank has stepped up operations that support GBV response and supported client governments to make life-saving services available to survivors of violence. 

In recent years, the World Bank has stepped up operations that support GBV response and supported client governments to make life-saving services available to survivors of violence. 

Image

Learning from Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka

In the Maldives, the government established its first Gender Violence Prevention and Response hotline during the pandemic. COVID-19 led to a spike in domestic violence as well as social media conversations around the issue. The newly established 1421 hotline provides support to survivors to help them find the most suitable solutions and options for their particular situation. 

A network of community committees (IBAMA committees) has been established by the Government of the Maldives in partnership with UNICEF. These committees provide much needed referral and protection services in remote atolls where they are often the main (or only) port of call for both women and child survivors.  

The IBAMA committees are an example of the type of support that can be made available building on community resources and training paraprofessionals. The World Bank started its engagement on GBV in the Maldives in 2022, supporting the government to develop an integrated case management system  to help ensure access to a set of key standardized services, along with other types of assistance. 

The World Bank started its engagement on GBV in the Maldives in 2022, supporting the government to develop an integrated case management system

In Nepal, the World Bank is supporting the government to remove gaps in GBV service provision in remote parts of the country and at the municipal level . This will contribute to expanding services to end users. That will involve replicating the best practices of Nepal’s Khabar Garaun (Inform Us) 1145 helpline in selected municipalities across the country. 

The World Bank is focusing on ensuring survivor’s access to health care, psychosocial services, legal aid, and safe spaces in Nepal . Increasing awareness of the availability of the services and building capacity of municipal staff to provide quality services will be an essential building block to sustain these critical services in the long run.

The World Bank is focusing on ensuring survivor’s access to health care, psychosocial services, legal aid, and safe spaces in Nepal.

In Sri Lanka, the government and civil society organizations have played an important role in making service provision on GBV more available across the country, including in remote rural areas. The ministry of women and child affairs has a tollfree national women’s helpline which provides counselling and legal support to victims of violence. The NGO Women in Need for example runs a trilingual 24-hour hotline and digital application to provide psychosocial, legal, and shelter support for survivors. 

The organization works with the Ministry of Health to support one-stop crisis centers (Mithuru Piyasas) in state hospitals. These centers provide life-line services and are present in 30 hospitals across the country. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank supported Mithuru Piyasas to increase service provision for survivors of GBV – focusing particularly on raising awareness of available services, support domestic violence prevention efforts and building staff capacity. This year to mark 16 days of activism against GBV two CSOs launched a helpline designated to respond to complaints around cyber bullying and harassment. 

In Sri Lanka, the World Bank supported Mithuru Piyasas to increase service provision for survivors of GBV – focusing particularly on raising awareness of available services, support domestic violence prevention efforts and building staff capacity

The government is seeking to pass a new bill on gender equality and women’s empowerment in order to improve responses to GBV and address other areas to increase gender equality within the country.

There is still a lot more to be done. Survivors of GBV need better access to quality multi-sectoral services that address their physical and mental health needs,  and provide protection and safety in a confidential, comprehensive, survivor-centered, and respectful manner. 

In Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, we will continue to support the governments and development partners to help make services available to the women and girls who need it the most.

In Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, we will continue to support the governments and development partners to help make services available to the women and girls who need it the most.

Courtesy Hindustan Times

President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued the orders to ensure public health safety, officials said.

Sri Lanka on Saturday suspended the transportation of beef and mutton at district and provincial levels after a large number of cattle and goats died in the last two days due to unusually cold weather in areas of north and eastern provinces.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe issued the orders to ensure public health safety, officials said.

According to the statistics by the Department of Animal Production and Health, 358 cattle and 191 goats have died in the northern province, while 444 cattle, 34 buffaloes and 65 goats died in the eastern province.

Director General of the Department of Animal Production and Health Hemali Kothalawala said that specimen of animals will be subjected to laboratory tests at the Veterinary Research Institute on Saturday and Sunday.

Courtesy The Island

The IMF could finalise Sri Lanka’s financing package within three weeks of the country’s main bilateral creditors formally informing the IMF that they would help Sri Lanka restructure its debt, Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, said on Thursday appearing on a TV programme.

Dr. Weerasinghe said that Sri Lanka had already provided adequate information to the country’s main bilateral creditors and they were in a position to make an informed decision about the role they could play in making Sri Lanka’s debt sustainable.

Sri Lanka’s ability to secure an IMF package depends on the country’s ability to obtain assurances from our bilateral creditors. We have made good progress with the Paris Club, India, and China. We have had two formal meetings with all donors, and we have given all the information. We have kept providing them with information, through the IMF and our advisors, and the creditors now have sufficient information to decide on what kind of contribution they can make to restore debt sustainability,” he said.

Dr. Weerasinghe said that the next step would be getting financial assurances from all creditors, either collectively or bilaterally, based on what type of relief they would provide. Then the creditors could tell the IMF formally that they are willing to help Sri Lanka reach the debt targets that the IMF has set up, he said.

Then, we can go to the board and approve the programme we have set up. The IMF needs a maximum of three weeks to get the programme approved. We were making progress and

we were hoping for an IMF programme by December. However, there was some little delay from some of the creditors because of internal issues. If we had got the assurances in November, we were targeting the IMF board meeting which is to be held on 19 December. But we have missed that,” he said.The Central Bank Governor said that some partners have expressed willingness to support Sri Lanka. Among them are China, India, and the Paris Cub.

When they tell the IMF that they are willing to help formally, we are almost done. We are almost there in my view. Once we get that assurance, the IMF needs a maximum of two to three weeks to prepare all the board papers, circulate with the board members, go to the board and get the programme approved. For example, if we can get the creditors to write to the IMF this month, the IMF can approve this programme in January. The IMF board usually meets two to three days a week,” he said.

Responding to a question whether Sri Lanka is versed in dealing with such matters, Dr. Weerasinghe said working with the IMF is not new to the country. However, previous dealings with the IMF have not been this complex, he said.

That is we did not have a debt crisis. In the past we have gone to the IMF to address Balance of Payment crises, for financing support and also for advice on the overall macro framework. In this case, we also have to also ensure that our debt is sustainable. That is the additional complication,” he said.

  KAMALIKA  PIERIS

Archaeological excavations in Anuradhapura have shed new light on writing in ancient Sri Lanka. Valuable findings have emerged from the excavations in the Anuradhapura citadel site.  Thirty two pieces of broken pottery, with writing on it, were found in 1984, during excavations at the Anuradhapura citadel excavation site. The writing signified ownership. 

Researchers from Cambridge University dated these to 500-600 BC. Techniques used for the dating includedradiocarbon and thermo luminescent techniques. The dates have been accepted by foreign experts. The letters in the writings were almost identical to the Asokan script used 200 years later in India. This means that Sri Lanka had writing well before Maurya period in India. Siran Deraniyagala says this   has pushed the lower boundary of writing in Sri Lanka by at least two centuries, to the time of the Buddha. 

Excavation work on the section (strata) dated to 8th century BC, brought up five pieces of pottery (potsherds) belonging to five different vessels. These pieces had writings which were clearly parts of inscriptions.  They were in early Brahmi. These findings came from the elite area of the Anuradhapura citadel site.   Later several more pieces of pottery with similar brahmi letters were found. Since there was more that one, intrusion could be ruled out. A tile with ‘Anuradha’ scratched on it, in what seems to be prakrit letters, was found by students  at the excavation level dated to 900 BC. These further indicated that we have had a script before India. Deraniyagala commented that while India accepted these findings, some in Sri Lanka did not. He noted that researchers in Madras said that they have found a pot which has older writing, butthe writing is inside the pot and cannot be seen.

Siri Gunasinghe says that Sinhala derives from a Prakrit spoken by Sinhala colonisers. The original prakritic Sinhala can be seen in the vocabulary and grammar of the early Brahmi inscriptions This Sinhala evolved independent of Sanskrit and Maghadi.(Pali) .The words ‘aya’ and ‘maha aya’ found in the inscriptions have no parallel in India. He points out that Sanskrit was also initially a prakrit. The brahmi script of Sri Lanka evolved into the present day Sinhala script.

Nilakanta Sastri said that in south India,  the Telegu, Sanskrit and Tamil languages used the Pallava-Grantha script  P.E.E. Fernando (1949) stated that in the 8th century AD  the Sinhala script was  also influenced by the Grantha script of the Pallavas. He used as evidence six inscriptions found in Sri Lanka and the potsherds found at Arikemedu in Tamilnadu. He pointed out that these potsherds showed two letters in Sinhala brahmi, which are found only in south India, not north India. He assumed that the influence was from Tamil kingdom to Sri Lanka, and not the other way round. However he noted that by 9th century, the Pallava influence was waning and Sinhala was developing its own script. Even today, academics glibly repeat Fernando’s statement that the Sinhala script was influenced by the Pallava script.

These ideas have now been revised. There is new thinking. David Trotter said that the similarity of Malayalam and other Dravidian scripts to Sinhala show that Sinhala must have had a strong influence on the Dravidian areas of India. K.V.Raman   says that around 250 BC a distinctive southern tradition of writing arose, centred primarily on Sri Lanka and the Pandya region of the Tamil kingdom. The earliest Brahmi inscriptions in Tamilnadu are   concentrated in Pandya country, especially around Madura. There are no early epigraphs in northern Tamilnadu or to the west and south of Tiruchirappalli. Raman says that there is a credible possibility that influences from Sri Lanka had played a vital role in the spread of these inscriptions to the Pandyan territory”. He thinks that Sri Lanka probably received the Brahmi script through the sea route from Gujerat or Kalinga.

K. Indrapala says that scholars studying the pottery graffiti from various sites in Tamilnadu found unmistakable evidence of the Sinhala language in Brahmi inscriptions. Potsherds  found at Arikamedu, Alangulam, Kodumanal and Kaveripattnam in Tamilnadu,  were in Sinhala Prakrit written in the  Sinhala Brahmi script of 2nd century BC. S. Iracavely and P. Jeyakumar have independently stated that these show the influence of Sri Lankan Brahmi and Sinhalese Prakrit in the Tamil kingdom.  Irthavan Mahadevan in his monumental work on Tamil epigraphy had also drawn attention to several instances of Sinhala influence in the brahmi inscriptions of Tamilnadu. It is the Sinhala script that has influenced Tamil writing and not the other ways round.  ( concluded)

Malinda Seneviratne

Such diversity! Such passion! Such innovation and creativity! Such courage and heroism! Such were and still are the encomiums floating around in mainstream and new media about the Aragalaya. Yes, there was diversity, passion, creativity, innovation and courage. These however do not necessarily constitute good, healthy, wholesome etc. For example, the LTTE, Al Qaeda, ISIS, Taliban and other such outfits had little diversity as is the case in identity based ‘struggles,’  but that all have long histories marked by creativity, innovation, passion, courage and heroism.

There was diversity and there was division. There were LGBTQ collectives (who, if probed, probably had very divergent views on things like governance systems, capitalism, the so-called ‘national question,’ elitism etc) and there were people spouting homophobic rhetoric. There were nationalists and those who equate the term with Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism. There were victims of the system and system-beneficiaries. There was the left and the right getting comfy with one another (of course the radical credentials of many self-styled leftists have long since been compromised). And there was Julie Chung playing Viceroy in the midst of a flag-waving multitude. But, clearly, they all got together.



For what? Well, even as they blared out their pet slogans, passed around leaflets and posted in social media nutshell version of particular ideologies and preferred outcomes, and ‘educated’ the ‘ill-educated’ at every turn in pitiful attempts to dislodge long-standing angst, they were in unison in the call for the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

If anyone truly believed that getting rid of Gota would sort the country’s many ills, that’s delusion of the highest order. Nevertheless, it could be argued (and it has) that ousting him is a necessary first step in the process of putting things right. This theory is full of holes.

Systems can be represented by a single person or a collective of a few individuals, a family in this case as is argued for example. A system however is not a person (or a collective). The removal of a representative will not alter it. In this instance there was no agreement among the diverse multitude unified by a person-focused slogan and nothing else about successor or succession. Neither was there any cogent idea or even discussion about what kind of system would be desirable and how to go about installing it.

This is not surprising when outfits such as the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) and the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP, which by the way dominates the IUSF) who formed the agitational vanguard in the main and professed to be committed to system-change failed miserably in a) coming up with even a halfway decent set of proposals for system change, and b) did not attempt to mobilise the agitators around the idea of a system-change. The second is understandable given the ideological diversity and a marked tendency to back-burn system change, never going beyond what at best could be called a peripheral slogan/demand.

Not surprisingly neither was there much of a system-change discourse emanating from the Neddas (those individuals/groups directly or indirectly benefiting from funds channeled through the National Endowment for Democracy — NED — the US outfit that took over the CIA’s country-destabilising operation), Candlelight Ladies, Rent-a-Protest Agitators, Stink Tanks, Con-Artists, Bornagainazis and other Funded Voices and other Kolombians. Indeed, for most of them the system was coterminous with Rajapaksas which again demonstrates both naïveté and duplicity.

Not all of this is captured in a survey of the Aragalaya recently carried out by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, but even this suspect outfit has (perhaps inadvertently) come upon a few startling truths about public perception related to what for some, such as the Asia Foundation, was ‘revolutionary’.    

The CPA assures that the semi-structured questionnaire administered among 1100 respondents from the four main ethnic communities (one wonders whether these were weighted to reflect real percentages) covering all 25 districts yielded reliable data.

On the one hand, a vast majority of respondents were willing to compromise on travelling and transport as well as food consumption (76.3% and 69.5%), but more than half were reluctant to agree to more taxes and almost 75% were vehemently opposed to any move that might result in a family member losing a job. This is all understandable. What’s missing here is hat some of the proposals for ‘change’ include these kinds of measures, especially those conditions currently being insisted by the IMF.

More than 80% want ‘system change’ but are clearly wary of neoliberalism. They want welfare and they also want less government. They want foreign companies to invest in Sri Lanka and they don’t want limits on earning capacity but they are not happy about privatising state-owned enterprises. They vehemently oppose greater involvement of the private sector in health and education.


Many questions have not been asked and therefore the data is not available. Here’s a list of issues that the CPA could consider if/when it conducts a follow-up survey:

1. What are the perceptions of Julie Chung’s involvement in the Aragalaya? 2. Can the IMF help the cause of changing the system? 3. Has the system changed? 3a. If ‘yes,’ in what ways specifically? 3b. If not, why not? 4. Does the replacement of a leader amount to system-change? 5. Did the institutional arrangement and the system of state processes change at all thanks to the Aragalaya? If conditions have not improved (The CPA’s income-expenditure data from the survey indicates that the situation has got worse) what really are the positives vis-a-vis ‘change’ that the Aragalaya yielded?  

While at it, the CPA (or anyone else) can ask if people know anything about the global capitalist system, whether or not it is important to develop the country’s manufacturing sector, whether or not development banks are necessary, whether or not a comprehensive plan for food and energy sovereignty and the will to implement it has to be part of a changed-system, whether beneficiaries of the system so reviled (the rich and powerful) truly wanted the structures and processes altered, and why and how the idea of system-change fizzled out the moment Ranil Wickremesinghe took control.

They could also ask what happened to the energy, creativity and courage? What happened to the agitational heroes? Who really benefited from the Aragalaya? Does Galle Face Green look prettier now if more boring? Were they right, those who said that it was a circus, all things considered and that the well-intentioned who were without political affiliation but were determined to build a new Sri Lanka were cheated?

malindadocs@gmail.com

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When the centre cannot hold

Vee da (වීද) hoo da (හූද) people?

ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන මාෆියාව/මේනියාව 

ජනසතු අරගලය ජනතාකරණයට ලක් වුනාද?

අරගලයේ දේශපාලන ඉතිරිය

අරගල, විප්ලව සහ දේශපාලනයේ අවලස්සන යටිපැත්ත

Ambassador Chung and xeroxable change

The Aragalaya: a postscript

Tomorrow, tomorrow and so forth…

A season of (il)legitimacies 

The brink and beyond

Spontaneity and its discontents 

ලෙයට ලෙය වෙනුවට ආලය

පුද්ගල චරිත මතුවේ, නිර්පාක්ෂික හැව ගැලැවේ, අරගලය ඉදිරියටම….

The BASL Proposals: A review