Exposing fake witnesses in Iraq & Sri Lanka: Nayirah & Vany Kumar

The intervention in Syria has become an eye opener as a string of lies, fake videos, images, recruitment of child artists & PR firms have exposed the lies that have gone into justifying military intervention by the West & UN action thereafter. A girl crying before Congress claiming she witnesses Iraqi soldiers remove babies from incubators justified the invasion of Iraq. Channel 4’s star witness was Vany Kumar who had arrived from London to the Vanni and her accounts of blood being mixed with water & given to dying Tamil civilians together with a series of documentaries titled Killing Fields” led to successive UNHRC Resolutions against Sri Lanka. We will now examine these two accounts to showcase how & what has gone into fooling all of us.

This is Nayirah. It was not her real name. Her real name was hidden to protect her from the ‘Iraqis’.

In 1990, she was a 15 year old girl who was one of the many who testified before US Congress. She described with tears how Iraqi soldiers removed babies from the incubators & killed them at the Al-Addan hospital. “While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where … babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die.” Her witness accounts were so vivid it moved those present to tears. Her incubator story was repeated no less than 7 times by the US President George Bush Senior himself. Her story may not have been the only justification to invade Iraq but it definitely steered US sentiments to facilitate it. Even Amnesty International quoted her testimony claiming 312 dead babies and later was forced to retract it. However, there were no other witnesses to support her story, not even the doctors who were present on that day at the hospital.

What the world did not know was that Nayirah was not her real name.

She was Nijirah Al-Sabah, the daughter of Saud Bin Nasir Al-Sabah, the Kuwait ambassador to the US & Canada & a member of the Kuwait Royal Family & she had been trained to cry & give falsified evidence by US PR firm Hill & Knowlton. The firm distributed her testimony. The politicians used the story to manipulate the public and the mainstream media helped spread & reinforce the lie. The killing babies story worked in World War 1 when the British accused Germans. H&K vice-president Lauri Fitz-Pegado had coached Nayirah

When ‘Nayirah’s father was questioned. This was his reply “If I wanted to lie, or if we wanted to lie, if we wanted to exaggerate, I wouldn’t use my daughter to do so. I could easily buy other people to do it.“ — Saud Nasir al-Sabah, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the United States and Canada. He was also related to the Kuwait Royal family. ‘Nayirah’ & family were living in the US.

On 2^nd August 1990 – Iraqi troops under orders of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

When Saddam was a ‘friend’ of the US between 1980-1988 and helped kill about 150,000 Iranians the US, the world, the UN or media were not concerned about human rights. Now that Saddam was no longer an ally of the US & he had done the unpardonable act of invading a country that had oil, the US decided to take action.

According to US Congressman Jimmy Hayes of Louisiana, the Kuwait government had hired 20 PR, law & lobby firms to mobilize US opinion & force against Saddam & Iraq. Some of these included Rendon Group, Neill & Co(to ($50,000 p.m. to lobby Congress) Hill & Knowlton who claimed to be representing Citizens for a Free Kuwait” a front created to hide the real role of the Kuwait Government which had paid $11.9m through the front.

The head of Hill & Knowlton (Craig Fuller) was Chief of Staff when George Bush was Vice President. The devices & techniques used (press conferences showing torture, ‘Free Kuwait” t-shirts, bumper stickers at college campuses, releasing ‘hostage’ letters, radio shows, publication of books Rape of Kuwait” ) by Hill & Knowlton in the 1990s to steer US public sentiment should make everyone wonder at the methodologies now being used. Wirthlin Group, a unit within the Hill & Knowlton carried out daily opinion polls to test the pulse of the people. Wirthlin’s job was to project Saddam as a madman, committing atrocities even against his own people and the US needed to stop him. On September 23, 1990, Hill & Knowlton used its links to evangelical mega-churches to organize a National Day of Prayer for the Kuwaiti people. H&K launched a yellow ribbon campaign to support US invasion. That Iraq was about to strike Saudi Arabia was another PR lie. However, the world may have been fooled but one man wasn’t – John MacArthur, author of ‘The Second Front’ depicting the manipulation of news media during the Gulf War began to doubt the incubator story and soon the whole world came to know it was a paid lie. How happy is Nayirah at what her sobs have done to a country 28 years later?

Here are some videos to understand those that aided, abetted & paid to lie to invade Iraq

Persian Gulf War: Kuwait Incubator Baby Hoax with Tom Lantos and Nayirah – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi6J-pYWqc4

60 Minutes ‘Nayirah’ Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_JfqkEXdAg

To sell a war – Gulf War propaganda – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaR1YBR5g6U&t=63s

This is Vany Kumar

She was presented by UK Channel 4 documentary Killing Fields” as a Star Witness. She has 4 names – Dr. Tamilvani, Damilvany Kumar, Damilvany Gnanakumar & Vany Kumar. C4 screened her 10 times. She was described as a young English Tamil woman who had left London to spend 6 months with relatives in Sri Lanka”…”founder herself caught up with tens of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians on the exodus eastwards”. The UK Guardian reported that she came to Sri Lanka on 28 February 2009 for the 1^st time since moving to UK in 1994 & headed for the Vanni. C4 also says she had not disclosed her whereabouts even to close relatives & it is odd that the first call she made from Sri Lanka was to British media & not to her family.

Like Nayirah who had witnessed Iraqi soldiers putting babies out of incubators, Vany Kumar claims to have watched a 6 year old boy have his leg amputated without anesthetics, then she contradicted herself by claiming blood with mixed with water. She also claimed she saw hospital staff filter blood coming out of patients through a cloth before feeding it back into their veins. You don’t have to be a doctor know that blood cannot be mixed with water & given to patients! Her lies were exposed by Dr. Shanmugarajah (whom she was assisting) in his affidavit we did not conduct any sort of surgery without giving anesthesia”.

She turned out to be a member of the LTTE front the Tamil Youth Organization that was declared a LTTE front by the GOSL in 2014. She is alleged to have arrived in Sri Lanka & made contact with LTTE’s Castro & had undergone military training under Durga, female LTTE leader of Sodiya regiment. She had functioned as translator for LTTE propaganda/media. She denies LTTE abused children then why should UNSG & foreign envoys appeal to the LTTE to release civilians & not use them as hostages, human shields & conscript them as combatants? She says LTTE don’t want to kill their own people, they were fighting for them, they worked so hard to save their people”.. and she even declares the people chose to stay”

The UK Guardian declares she provided running commentary to the outside world from behind the lines”. On 30 May 2009 days after the military defeat of the LTTE the Guardian published an article titled Call to free British medic held in Sri Lanka war zone”. Now Vany Kumar had become a British woman” interned in one of the islands’ detention camps” – if so how did she make contact with others? Then began a global campaign to project her as helping the wounded in a hospital & the British Foreign Office demanded her release. From there onwards from 8000 dead, jumped to double figures 16,000, 40,000 & 150,000 & now 200,000!

How can a member of the proscribed LTTE become a witness” under UNRC witness protection act” & given 20 years. Amnesty International & many other human rights organizations including the UN quoted her extensively too! Lord Naseby says C4 witnesses are paid members of LTTE http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=25901&mode=beauti

Vany Kumar, 25… in a telephone interview with the Guardian, she describes life on the front line. (how did Vany Kumar have access to dial UK from the Vanni?)

· The most terrible thing that I have seen was when a mother had a bullet go through her breast and she was dead and the baby was still on the other side of the breast and the baby was drinking her milk, and that really affected me. I was at that place where it happened. (given Vany’s association with LTTE does this single statement depict the travesty of justice and how media has contributed to blurring civilians from LTTE)

· [The shelling] is definitely coming from the government side, that can be sure, because it is only a small area on the LTTE side and from the sound and from the distance I can surely say it is from the government side.” (a giveaway – an LTTE ‘civilian’ pinning the blame on the GOSL)

· I just want my sister back with me as soon as possible. My mum is crying and we need her back. We didn’t have anything to do with the war.” (why didn’t she tell her family she was coming to Vanni)

· Both parties have got to have a ceasefire. I think the international [community] has to either come into the country or get both parties to stop the fighting and start thinking about the civilians living here. Every single person living here asks why the international [community] is not doing anything.”(did she not say in the C4 interview that civilians were staying with the LTTE voluntarily and that the LTTE was not keeping them by force?)

On 1st June 2009, Murali Reddy an embedded Indian journalist wrote to The Hindu ‘Mystery shrouds presence of British woman in tiger territory’. Reddy refers to Vany Kumar as Damilvany Gnanakumar and asks a very simple question. How did she land in the island nation and how did she stay on in the tiger-controlled territory for nearly 15months?

Nayirah was no victim, she was coached. Vany Kumar was no civilian but a member of a LTTE front.

$12million was paid to Hill & Knowlton PR firm to mastermind & set the stage for the the Gulf War. Nayirah was virtually a hired actress coached to cry & fool the US public & prompt action against a country. How much was C4 paid to make Killing Fields, to lobby & influence foreign governments, foreign MPs & officials of the UN to take action against Sri Lanka? We recall how when the C4 documentary was screen in various parliaments around the world, the MPs were moved to tears just the way Nayirah was coached to cry & lie.

The extent of the lies can be now seen in returning to the news that was relayed

Damilvany Gnanakumar witness of Sri Lanka war – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOqLmYxIDlg

Sri Lankan civil war: Damilvany’s story – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7FSdpWjDkw

Eyewitness Sri Lanka: ‘This is too much to take. Why is the world not helping?’ –

LTTE member Vany Kumar : How many LTTE Terrorists have become witnesses” – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/12/sri-lanka-eyewitness-civil-war

http://www.sinhalanet.net/ltte-member-vany-kumar-how-many-ltte-terrorists-have-become-witnesses

Lies Agreed Upon – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5O1JAfRXew (refuting the C4 videos)

Shenali D Waduge

The Evidence: How lies – Fake Videos – PR stunts – Child Actors justify military interventions of sovereign nations

Countries have fallen. People have lost lives & homes. Countries are destabilized, split to pieces, locals are armed, locals are roped in as poodles, regime change & system change are all part of a neo-colonial liberal agenda that seeks to destroy the sovereign state system & bring corporate rule to the hands of a miniscule. This agenda has been rolled out a well-planned, well-coordinated, well-funded set of initiatives of which manufactured stories, news, fake videos, false eye witnesses, staged scenes, bogus NGOs, bought over locals and now even child actors are playing a role. In bringing out some of the lies that went to destroy nations, the people of Sri Lanka should now not be naïve to think that there is a bigger picture to the existence of the LTTE, those that funded & supported them & every post-war action taking place against everyone that contributed to the defeat of LTTE terrorism.

Gulf War – Iraq

This is Gen. Colin Powell. In 2003 he was the US Secretary of State. In February 2003, he lied to the UN holding up ‘evidence’ of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. There was no such WMDs but Iraq was invaded.

He is alleged to have made 254 false statements in the run up to the Iraq War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughtKRK78-g – Sec of State Powell lies about WMDs at the UN

Donald Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense also caught lying about Iraq’s WMD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPJCPcYCupY

This is Charles Jaco – CNN reporter covering the 1990 Persian Gulf War. He was made famous for no reason. Leaked footage shows the entire clip was done inside CNN studio and they even went to the extent of putting gas masks amid false sirens! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTWY14eyMFg

Nayirah

This is Nayirah. Her ‘performance’ was part of a $12m package to a US PR firm that coached her to cry before US Congress & manufacture a story about Iraqi troops killing babies in incubators which was quoted even by US President Bush to justify bombing of Iraq. Viewing her act will shock any as to how 15 year olds can be trained to cry & tell false stories. She was the daughter of the Kuwait ambassador to US & Canada & a member of the Kuwait Royal Family. There were no such incubator baby killings but Iraq was invaded!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_JfqkEXdAg&t=22s

Listen to the speeches of both PMs – both are identical & helped pave way to invade Iraq! Who wrote the script?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYfDTsjwE58

Lies that Destroyed Yugoslavia, Serbia & created Kosovo

Media & Western government spread fabricated concentration camps,” rape camps,” and similar Nazi- and Auschwitz-like analogies

This is Fikret Alic, a Bosnian Muslim. He was used as a symbol by West against Serbia in 1992. He is shown as an emaciated man standing behind a barbed wire fence but he was not in any concentration camp as alleged. It was from a videoclip by a British TV team to which C4 also participated. His physique was a result of a birth defect!

The picture that fooled the world – https://fbreporter.org/2015/07/12/the-picture-that-fooled-the-world/

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/BOSNIA_PHOTO/bosnia.html

Serbian Concentration Camp fabrication – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xss0Ep1MJM (remember the concentration camp/internment camp stories that were making the rounds against Sri Lanka)

The Pulitzer Prize for international reporting on Yugoslavia was given to John F. Burns of the New York Times in 1993 for his articles on the destruction of Sarajevo and the barbarous killings” in Bosnia. The prize was based heavily on his interview with alleged Serb killer-rapist Borislav Herak. However, Herak later confessed that he was tortured to admit to rape by his Bosnian Muslim captors.

The Markale Market massacre on August 27, 1993 received the same attention the International Community gave Sri Lanka to LTTE crimes – ignored & turning a blind eye. But when Bosnian Muslims claimed 200,000” dead without even providing evidence it became worldwide news just like the inflated figures falling from the sky regarding the ‘dead/missing’ in Sri Lanka – no names, no dead bodies not even skeletons! In Kosovo too the inflated figures of 200,000 eventually had to come down to a realistic 2000 & those exaggerating were never punished. The same scenario prevails in Sri Lanka! KLA are equivalent to LTTE & post-Kosovo KLA are ruling while LTTE’s TNA are now at the helm in Sri Lanka!

The West’s interference & interventions in the Middle East & parts of Africa have been based on lies. Lies manufactured and presented through PR firms, lobbied by others & spread by media. How authentic are these military interventions then? Not one military intervention or R2P has been genuine. From the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the creation of mini-states, the lies that led to the independence of Kosovo, then to the liberation of Libya killing its leader and from 2011 it has been Syria.

Lies that led to the bogus ‘Liberation’ of Libya

Gaddafi was projected as a ‘dictator’. Media relayed him as a killer of his own people. Libyan govt was accused of mass human rights violations. The ‘rebels’ the Libyan govt were fighting were armed, trained & financed by Western governments. The West wanted Gaddafi not to step down but – they wanted him dead. He was eventually mercilessly killed while the West watched and applauded. Today Libyans have not been liberated. They have found out their ‘dictator’ was an angel compared to the failed state that exists after Western regime change. Then the West moved on to their next target Syria

https://www.mondialisation.ca/libya-war-was-based-on-lies-bogus-intelligence-nato-supported-and-armed-the-rebels-british-parliamentary-report/5547356

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/22/libya-and-the-myth-of-humanitarian-intervention/

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-historical-narrative-that-lies-beneath-the-gaddafi-rebellion-2230654.html

Danny Abdul Dayem

This is a screen shot of Danny Abdul Dayem another fake news manufactured in 2011 to facilitate the invasion of Syria. Danny turned out to be a British citizen & one of the rainbow boys paid to kick start the Syrian colour ‘revolution’. His ‘reports’ were used to build anti-Assad sentiment by BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera. He was dubbed the voice of Homs”. Living in London he was portrayed as a ‘eyewitness’ in Homs & shot by Syrian troops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-DCZxsrt9I

EXPOSED: Danny Abdul-Dayem & CNN Lying…Again – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4YfKIPDS8E

https://www.sott.net/article/242491-Truth-about-Western-medias-favourite-Syrian-activist-Danny-Dayem

OMRAN

Everyone will remember this photo. He is OMRAN who was rescued after an airstrike by White Helmets in Syria/Aleppo. The child’s image was used by western media to show brutality of the Syrian Govt. His father alleged his son was used as propaganda with everyone photographing him without attending to his injuries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5BTFvCUz8

Omran Daqneesh’s Father Exposes mainstream media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rE0emXxJTo

Is video of Syrian ‘hero boy’ authentic?

This was what was shown to the world

That it was a film was never told!

Is video of Syrian ‘hero boy’ authentic? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjb4XgjuP4A

Millions became captivated by this video of a Syrian boy rescuing a little girl amidst gunfire. The reality was that it was a film by a Norwegian team & the location was Malta not Syria & the boy was not Syrian but a child actor, so was the little girl.

Image of a Young boy sleeping with his dead parents” was circulated on facebook & twitter in 2014.

The staff of the UN had even circulated it.

We were all shown the first photo & not the 2nd

The reality was that it was part of an art project by photographer Abdul Aziz al Otaibi & shot in Saudi Arabia & not in Syria.

Who are the WHITE HELMETS?

Also known as the Syrian Civil Defense claims to be ‘impartial’ ‘non government’ however White Helmets was created in 2013 not by Syrians but James Le Mesurier a former British army officer & working as a UN staff member. The WH were operating solely in terrorist held areas – that explains their close relationship with the al-Qaeda affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra & thus the defacto ‘eyewitnesses’ (ring a bell regarding the INGOs/NGOs working in LTTE held areas and the ‘eyewitnesses who are LTTE cadres or supporters!) For those that fund both – they are not terrorists but rebels, freedom fighters & civil defense!

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters denounced the White Helmets civil defense group” in Syria as a fake organization” that spreads propaganda for jihadists and terrorists.” White Helmets sounds so much like the LTTE fronts operating from overseas!

The WH claim to be unarmed – but this photo shows otherwise

white helmets very much armed!

US State Dept admitted providing $23m assistance through USAID to the WH but its website claims it accepts no ‘money from governments’. Total funding from other governments come to $100m with $65m from UK officially being declared (Vanessa Beeley)

The White Helmets even won an Oscar (we recall how LTTE funded C4 Killing Fields was similarly nominated)

Eva Bartlett says there are no international organization on the ground in Aleppo Syria. West relies on White Helmets & Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – one man report from UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6utDs1b_TU (this is a must listen as what Eva says has similarities with Sri Lanka’s scenario)

Vanessa Beeley also exposes the White Helmet as participating against Syrian civilians and on the side of the terrorists! If they are virtually terrorists & they die why does the world mourn them simply because they are projected as ‘rescue workers” did we not experience same scenario in Sri Lanka with those supporting the LTTE claiming to be ‘civilian’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwvw9z5j3g – the Lies behind the White Helmets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQL3rX6xWRg

The White Helmets not only feel at home on territories controlled by Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL], but also openly express positive attitudes towards them, providing them with information and even financial assistance,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova said

She noted that there is documentary evidence” showing that White Helmets members were in fact part of certain operations by the terrorists. Zakharova said there are videos showing Syrian troops being tortured and executed in the presence of White Helmets.

Doctors have condemned the techniques used by White Helmets

White Helmets Video: Swedish Doctors for Human Rights Denounce Medical Malpractice and ‘Misuse’ of Children for Propaganda Aims

http://theindicter.com/white-helmets-video-swedish-doctors-for-human-rights-denounce-medical-malpractice-and-misuse-of-children-for-propaganda-aims/

This was a hoax shot made to fool the world

Remember this scene? It was posted as a rescue which was untrue but then it turned out it was just a staged scene & White Helmets posted an apology & removed the clip.

White Helmets apologize – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38066791

And not surprisingly people are now questioning the authenticites of White Helmet videos just as people are now question the C4 & Callum McCrae’s videos against Sri Lanka.

However given the patronage of powerful governments in the West behind the White Helmets, is it a surprise they won an Oscar in 2017! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpt4sgoxYI

White Helmets were even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017!

Andrew Korybko’s book, Hybrid Wars: The Indirect Adaptive Approach to Regime Change (available for free shows how NGOs are used as fronts to promote Governmental ‘humanitarian’ missions. The UNHRC is being used for this exercise against Sri Lanka in lieu of Western ‘humanitarian’ intervention given the sensitivity to India’s role in the continent.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/03/01/who-are-the-white-helmets-do-we-really-know-what-they-are-doing-in-syria/

The “ACTOR” even thanked White Helmets for “RESCUING” him!

AYA being used over & over again by White Helmets

It was the White Helmets that accused the Syrian Government of chemical gas attack on Syrian civilians. On April 7th, in the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, an area just east of Damascus, an alleged chemical gas attack occurred, killing over 40 people. Pearson Sharp, a reporter for One America News Network visited Douma and found that all the locals say that the so-called April 7 Douma chemical attack had been fabricated by militants and story spread by white helmets.

11 year old Hassan Diab

Russian foreign ministry says Hassan should tell all to the UNSC of the lies spread by White Helmets –

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201804191063733196-boy-douma-attack-unsc/

No Sri Lanka can ignore these ground realities and compare similarities with scenarios in Sri Lanka. After so doing, the next question is are you going to be part of these regime change destabilizing agenda or will you attempt to safeguard the nation, its people & its national assets?

When reading the expose’s we are happy that Syria has a friend in the Russians who are countering all the lies. We are also happy that journalists like Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley are boldly challenging the corporate media lies & the journalists propagating these lies. In the English local media in Sri Lanka, we have only a handful of such personalities and Shamindra Ferdinando is one that immediately comes to mind. If only Sri Lanka too had a mechanism to put out the truth on the LTTE, the LTTE fronts, LTTE diaspora, the foreign governments, UN officials, NGOs/INGOs on their payroll just as the lies on Syria is helping us to understand the bigger picture – Sri Lanka’s post-LTTE defeat narrative would have been written differently.

Shenali D Waduge

The support for abolishing the Executive Presidency is a ‘Fool’s Errand’

Ranjith Soysa MEDIA RELEASE SPUR (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc)

The Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR) joins other nationalist organisations, professionals and patriotic politicians in strongly condemning the proposal to abolish the Executive Presidential System in Sri Lanka.

The territorial integrity and unitary state of the nation is critically dependent on an Executive President who is directly elected by all its eligible citizens regardless of ethnicity, religion or regional/local interests. In particular, it acts as a counterweight to the separatist features of the 13^th Amendment because the peoples’ sovereignty over the entire nation is exercised by the President through the Provincial Governors.

It is indeed the Executive President, who is also the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, who played a vital role in providing political leadership and mobilising the resources to protect the country from the separatist forces and resisted foreign interference during war with the Tamil Tiger Terrorists. Even in recent times, the perpetrators of infamous Central Bond Scam would not have been exposed even to this extent if not for the intervention of the President.

At a time when the legislative arm of the country has been prone to instability and is being held to ransom by power brokers, it is the Executive Presidency which retains the important role of balancing the power blocks and setting the political direction for Sri Lanka as a whole.

The Presidential System of Government is widely and successfully used in both Western and Eastern countries. While improvements to the Sri Lankan Constitution are always possible, they should be done with proper analysis and consultation rather than as an expedient short-cut to power at the expense of the nation’s stability and security.

In the present context, hasty steps are being taken to introduce a new constitution at the behest of the separatist diaspora as well as the external powers which are attempting to change the character of Sri Lanka by enhancing the powers of the periphery at the expense of a strong and unifying centre. The sudden interest of the JVP and other fringe groups in promoting this as a ‘democratic’ solution is nothing but a trap to enshrine the separatist ‘power sharing’ among racist enclaves within a weakened Sri Lankan State.

It is indeed unfortunate that some representatives of the Joint Opposition appear to support the abolition of the executive presidency. Those on this ‘fool’s errand’, dreaming that it could be linked to the dissolution of Parliament followed by early election, are in fact ‘throwing out the baby with the bath water’ in return for short-term gains in political power.

Hence, we urge the Joint Opposition, the SLFP as well as the patriotic members of all other parties to oppose any proposal to abolish the Executive Presidency. We also appeal to the people of Sri Lanka to be alert to this impending threat and reject any such Constitutional Amendment if and when it is placed before them at a future Referendum.

Ranjith Soysa

(Spokesperson)

Hello

South Asians - One out of every 7 Asian immigrants is undocumented.............................................................................USA

Chula

One out of every 7 Asian immigrants is undocumented

[UPDATED SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 TO INCLUDE THE LATEST POPULATION ESTIMATES OF ASIAN UNDOCUMENTED. ADDITIONAL INFOGRAPHICS CAN BE FOUND HERE]

BY KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN AND SONO SHAH

The issue of undocumented immigration has dominated news coverage and policy discussions, with the Trump administration passing an executive order on interior enforcement in early 2017 and, more recently, threatening to suspend federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions and announcing an end to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). How might Asian immigrant communities be affected?

According to the latest available estimates, there are about 1.7 million Asian undocumented immigrants in the United States. To put those numbers in perspective, they account for about 16%, or 1 out of every 6, undocumented immigrants in the United States. This also means that about 1 out of every 7 Asian immigrants is undocumented.

The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) and and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) have published the most recent estimates of the Asian undocumented population in the United States. The total number of Asian undocumented ranges from 1.46 million (MPI, 2014) to 1.74 million (CMS, 2015). The tables below are from the Center for Migration Studies 2015 estimates.

National Estimates, 2015

Group	Population (2015)	Share of Total (%)
1. Total Undocumented	11,042,503
2. Asian Undocumented	1,737,635	15.70
3. Total Asian Foreign Born	11,519,210
4. Asian Undocumented	1,737,635	15.08

Showing 1 to 4 of 4 entries

Importantly, the Asian undocumented population has more than tripled within 15 years, from the INS estimate of 500,000 Asian unauthorized in 2000 to the CMS estimates of over 1.7 million in 2015. By contrast, the Mexican unauthorized population grew by only 21% during the same period, from about 4.8 million in 2000 to 5.8 million in 2015.

Country of Origin, 2015

India and China account for the largest share of the Asian undocumented (26% and 22%, respectively), followed by the Philippines (14%), South Korea (10%), Vietnam (7%), and Pakistan (3%). The remaining countries from Asia account for 17% of the Asian undocumented population.

State Estimates, 2015

According to both CMS and MPI estimates, California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Illinois are the states with the largest number of Asian undocumented, with MPI and CMS only differing on the order of New Jersey and Texas for the third and fourth largest states. The 2015 estimates from Center for Migration Studies (CMS) are provided below. The share of the Asian immigrant population that is undocumented varies widely across states, with states like Georgia, Colorado, New Jersey, and Hawaii having relatively high shares of Asian immigrants who are undocumented.

State Name	Asian Undocumented (2015)	Asian Foreign Born (2015)	Undocumented Share of Asian Immigrants
Alabama	7,009	42,381	16.54
Alaska	5,110	31,725	16.11
Arizona	23,099	147,893	15.62
Arkansas	4,996	30,881	16.18
California	463,310	3,572,239	12.97
Colorado	20,687	104,144	19.86
Connecticut	18,907	112,000	16.88
Delaware	6,210	26,686	23.27
Florida	56,987	382,569	14.90
Georgia	54,206	269,585	20.11
Hawaii	37,444	199,065	18.81
Idaho	1,989	13,850	14.36
Illinois	71,403	464,109	15.38
Indiana	17,364	99,651	17.42
Iowa	6,936	48,532	14.29
Kansas	9,897	57,540	17.20
Kentucky	4,693	42,912	10.94
Louisiana	9,774	51,407	19.01
Maryland	35,124	266,548	13.18
Massachusetts	43,946	297,513	14.77
Michigan	32,515	207,511	15.67
Minnesota	18,389	162,681	11.30
Mississippi	2,004	19,532	10.26
Missouri	12,522	81,430	15.38
Nebraska	6,492	30,026	21.62
Nevada	22,528	149,543	15.06
New Hampshire	4,467	23,894	18.70
New Jersey	115,680	600,457	19.27
New Mexico	5,588	18,534	30.15
New York	166,806	1,181,787	14.11
North Carolina	30,033	184,252	16.30
North Dakota	1,553	8,412	18.46
Ohio	26,994	168,917	15.98
Oklahoma	10,736	55,292	19.42
Oregon	15,075	110,382	13.66
Pennsylvania	53,096	296,952	17.88
Rhode Island	3,775	22,687	16.64
South Carolina	6,609	50,291	13.14
South Dakota	5,152	9,149	56.31
Tennessee	12,880	75,042	17.16
Texas	148,612	869,716	17.09
Utah	7,014	43,073	16.28
Vermont	1,079	6,204	17.39
Virginia	58,218	363,632	16.01
Washington	58,184	382,131	15.23
West Virginia	1,256	9,725	12.92
Wisconsin	12,611	90,038	14.01

Showing 1 to 47 of 47 entries

Finally, in most states, Asians make up relatively small portions of their total undocumented population. Still, there are six states where Asian immigrants account for a third or more of the undocumented resident population.

Which is Leads to What? Secession via 13a – Self-Determination & Asymmetrical Federalism

Pre-independence Tamil leaders sought a Tamil nation, post-independence Tamil armed militancy also sought a separate Tamil nation, post-LTTE defeat Tamil political leadership are continuing the same calls coated in different politically correct terms that shroud & camouflage the ultimate objective. Can everyone now understand why we are against tweaking the constitution? Why is it difficult for the political leadership of the country, the legal luminaries advising the government, the political pundits to call a spade a spade & showcase that the country will not entertain any demands until all demands, aims & objectives for secession is removed which includes the annulling of the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution, the ITAK 2008 confederal aims & objectives & all verbal statements made in Parliament & outside that clearly indicate separatism via camouflaged & devious means.

If anyone wonders why the majority of the citizens strike down every demand being made by LTTE diaspora, TNA, their support-bases among locals & foreigners, the reasons are simple enough to explain.

The demand of the LTTE, the demands of the TNA & the demands of Tamil politicians associated with both have all sought self-determination, separate Tamil homeland, federalism and are tied to every piece of loose terminology that can pave way to eventual secessionism. No sane government should blindly walk into these traps.

A unitary system of government, or unitary state, is a sovereign state governed as a single entity. The central government is supreme, and the administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government has delegated to them. Subdivisional units are created and can be abolished, and their powers may be broadened and narrowed by the central government.

A Federal state is a union of states wherein all external affairs are controlled by an unified central government and powers are shared to provincial or local bodies. The federal states powers are based on what the Centre grants permission which can be removed if the centre so desires. The necessity to create federal system arose when governing directly by the centre faced logistical/administrative difficulties. Sharing powers & granting permission for areas the centre agreed to allow the federal states to handle was thus adopted. This is why Canada, USA, India are all federal states owing to their size.

A federal set for a small island nation like Sri Lanka is a ridiculous idea. Unilateral secession is impossible under a federal system. What is even more alarming is that the present bogus calls for a federal constitution is promoting asymmetrical federalism where different constituent states possess different powers(North wants more powers than the rest of the provinces) combined with ethno-religious federalism since Tamil leaders are demanding that the North & East be turned into an ONLY Tamil asymmetrical federal state that the Centre has little or no power over it.

When India forced the Indo-Lanka Accord upon Sri Lanka and forced the amendment to its constitution with the 13a - it created a provincial council system that turned Sri Lanka into a quasi-federal state. That the centre remained in control of all provinces was seen when the merged N-E province attempted to declare unilateral declaration of independence leading to the annulment of that provincial council bringing it under the direct control of the centre. Such a possibility is impossible in a confederal set up however, which is why TNA & supporters do not wish to continue with the present quasi-federal set up in Sri Lanka.

A confederal stateon the other hand enables unilateral secession which is why the aims & objectives of ITAK constitution which was changed in 2008 from Samasthi to Innaipachchi is important and questions why political analysists are ignoring this. If Samasthi meant Federal in 1949 why was there a necessity to replace this word with Innaipachchi suddenly in 2008? Is it not because Innaipachchi connotes a confederal set up which is what the ITAK is now deceptively seeking?

In the case of self-determinationwhat everyone needs to first put into context is that every terminology currently used internationally are those coined & definitions decided by colonial invaders who also decided to depart the invaded countries after creating new borders, new lines of demarcation & virtually handing rule to locals they had educated to think & continue governance without challenging the former rulers & their systems. It was these countries that illegally invaded nations/territories, ruled & plundered them that ended up deciding the fate of these created countries & whether to give or not give them ‘self-determination’ on the argument that they were or were not ready to govern themselves.

No one seems to have questioned how these people were functioning & living in their own systems of governance peacefully before these illegally invaders arrived. All of the areas known as the developing world today enjoyed civilizational heritage & were rich is natural assets & resources before these were drained out & helped build the first world! Where is the accountability for these crimes? The irony & tragedy is that these very nations are out to again destroy the very areas they plundered during colonial rule and because they hold the powers & decision-making mechanisms internationally there is no one to challenge or stop them. Those that did ended up eliminated!

Self-determination arose as a result of decolonization and that is how self-determination entered the UN Charter.Over the years to confuse & confound matters various politically correct terms have been added – right to internal self-determination & right to external self-determination. The advocators of these principles & terminologies say that seeking self-determination internal or external is only as a last resort & is not part of secessionism but doesn’t it amount to the same thing eventually? This is like pulling wool over one’s eyes expecting people to accept theories without challenging the eventual outcome.

In 1949 the ITAK was formed seeking a Tamil State as its aim & objectives.

The LTTE demands at Thimpu 1985 were reiterated by TNA in 2001.

· To recognize Tamils of Sri Lanka as a distinct nationality

· To recognize the identified Tamil Homeland and guarantee its territorial integrity

· To recognize the inalienable right ofself-determination of the Tamil nation.

· To recognize the right to full citizenship and other fundamental democratic rights of all Tamils who look upon the island as their country.

The election manifesto of TNA in 2001 even demanded that the GOSL commenced negotiations with the LTTE.

‘We have also consistently asserted that any attempt to draw a distinction between the LTTE and the Tamil people was meaningless’…

‘unless meaningful negotiations are held with the LTTE no just solution can be found to the Tamil national question and that such negotiations should be held immediately ONLY with the LTTE’

ITAK leader Chelvanayagam’s statement of 1975

‘I wish to announce to my people and to the country that I consider the verdict at this election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam Nation should exercise the sovereignty already vested in the Tamil people and become free’.

TULF 1977 election manifesto call was

‘Vote for the Tamil United Liberation Front; for the emancipation of the Tamil Nation; for the freedom of Tamil Eelam’

When TNA election manifesto writes

‘it was inevitable, that the armed struggle gained in strength and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came to occupy a paramount position, and play a pivotal role in the struggle of the Tamil nationality to with their rights’ it clearly establishes the link to the separatist aims by both LTTE & Tamil leadership.

The TNA manifesto of 2004 declared

‘in order to safeguard the life and liberty of the Tamil race and to establish its birthright for self-determination, the Tamil Nation having being pushed to the unavoidable state of armed conflict, as the only way, the war not only broadened but advanced under the generalship of the Tiger’s leader Hon.Pirapaharan’

The 10^th Resolution of the 2004 manifesto reads ‘The LTTE has for the past two years put up with the violent, surly behaviour of the armed forces without impairing the conditions for peace and observing the ceasefire and acting steadfastly and firmly towards the path of peace’.

TNA claims LTTE as the ‘authentic sole representative of the Tamil people’

When TNA says it is ‘accepting LTTE’s leadership as the national leadership of the Tamil Eelam Tamils and the Liberation Tigers as the sole and authentic representatives of the Tamil people’

TNA goes on to say TNA says

‘let us devote our full cooperation for the ideals of the Liberation Tigers struggle with honesty and steadfastness’…

‘let us work side by side with the LTTE’.

Is it not a tragi-comedy that this same TNA is now the Main Opposition & its leader the Opposition Leader?

Immediately after the LTTE defeat notice how TNA changes its stripes.

In its 2010 manifesto unlike the previous 2001 & 2004 manifestos the TNA refers to a Tamil Kingdom and referred to its 2010 manifesto as a FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. Its 2010 manifesto referred to self-determination, Tamil Homeland.

In 2010 TNA called for the ‘abandoning of the unitary model’and to bring in ‘shared sovereignty’recognizing Sri Lanka as a “plural society”within a ‘united and sovereign republic’ – these features are now being inserted deceptively into what is being promoted as a NEW CONSTITUTION& echoes the promises made by Jayampathy W & present Minister of Finance to the LTTE Diaspora known as the Singapore Principles – it is nothing but fulfilling the demands of these separatists.

In its 2010 Manifesto, the TNA refers to the LTTE it as the ‘sole military outfit that fought for a separate homeland for the Tamils’

Following the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement & the ‘Oslo Communique’ which again referred to ‘internal self-determination in areas of historical habitation of the Tamil-speaking Peoples, based on a federal structure within a united Sri Lanka’.

In its 2013 election manifesto insists Tamils have right to self-determination, demanded power sharing arrangement in a MERGED Northern and Eastern province based on Federal Structure that is acceptable to Muslims & Tamils. Repeated demand for devolution of power based on SHARED SOVEREIGNTY over Land, Law and Order, Socio-Economic development including health, education, resources and FISCAL powers. These are all features of a confederation and not a federal system.

· When TNA Chief Minister demands Northern Province to have direct foreign aid (2010 manifesto) – it is a confederal feature & not federal

· When TNA leaders demand referendums only for the North it is a confederal feature as referendums are held only by the Centre & not the states/provinces.

· When TNA demands police powers for the North it is a confederal feature not federal.

· When TNA’s manifestos claim to grant language, cultural rights etc that too is a confederal feature & not federal as the Centre grants all citizens rights not states!

· When TNA repeatedly refers to ‘UNITED’ Sri Lanka instead of ‘UNITARY” that gives away its confederal ploy as confederal states are bound only by a sense of cooperation & when that ceases they can seek separation as was seen in the US confederacy

· When TNA manifesto of 2001 says it opposes ‘state aided Sinhala colonization of the Tamil Homeland’ this is completely against even a federal set up.

What everyone needs to understand is that beneath these ‘grievances’ promoted by well-funded propaganda there is a history of attempting to separate and that separatist quest is not confined to the Tamil armed militancy alone, it is associated with the Tamil political leadership that represents the Tamils. That quest has prevailed before independence, after independence, took a backseat to watch it come into reality through armed militancy & when that has failed, the Tamil political leadership is back in the saddle making deceptive demands & pushing them through with the power of money & lobbying exerted internally & internationally. In the absence of alternative Tamil leadership that seeks to peacefully coexist with the rest of the communities in Sri Lanka the cry now is for Tamils themselves to comprehend the damage being done & come forward to nullify the separatist quest.

Shenali D Waduge

Memorabilia and the hysterical mind of JU Students.

Kanthar Balanathan

Quite frequently our Tamil youngsters in the North are critically frantic and hysterical with building memorabilia at odd places. Recently a media commented that the Jaffna University students started building memorabilia inside Jaffna Campus.

Students of the University wanted to remember the people who died during the war, hence started the construction. The Uni administration allowed to construct next to the so-called martyr’s memorabilia. The high Education of the ministry denied and ordered to stop construction of the said memorabilia on the 25^th. It is believed that this construction was in anticipation of the upcoming 18^th May martyr’s day remembrance celebration.

GOSL approved Universities in various region and one in Jaffna. The concept of a University was forgotten by the impeding Tamil students. For the last so many years the Students Union is engaged in terrorist activities of revolting against GOSL propagating that they run the country and what they say is correct. Some professors were involved with the student’s union. Creating racial tension and fights between the Sinhalese and Tamils are a culture among the Tamil violent students.

Why are they engaged in violent activities?

Are they being driven by some violent terrorist mentality politicians?

Are the students being trained to evolve as another LTTE?

Are they planning to create a new New-LTTE terrorist front to fight GOSL?

Do they understand and realise that the North and Jaffna is being perished by their own politicians?

Instead of engaging themselves in building construction (Memorabilia), why not engage in cleaning the Jaffna city? (voluntary service)-If they are so patriotic with the North of SriLanka.

Why do the students want to keep the memory of terrorist in the minds of Tamils?

Sometimes back the foolish Tamil Diaspora joined with Nedumaran of Tamil Nadu were collecting funds to construct such memorabilia in Tanjore. What a nonsense and foolish act?

Finally, are we to conclude that the University is driving the students NUTS and to be racial psychiatric models of the world?

Professors in Tamil Language and Literature should ensure to teach the students in Tamil literature, and culture, NOT terrorism and racism. It is disgusting and a disgrace to the Tamil community all over the world. Let the Professors of JU refine and reform their culture.

K. Indrapala, "Dravidian Settlement In Ceylon", Ph.D. Thesis, University of Jaffna, 1965
Note: It has been included (under the comments) rest of the scholar articles & documentaries, proves that the claim of Tamil separatists Ideology is scientifically baseless. For more, please follow the comments.

=> *The following are some useful extracts from Dr. Karthigesu Indrapala’s Ph.D. thesis on Dravidian Settlements in Ceylon, University of London 1965

Until the ninth century, with the exception of the megalithic remains of pomparippu and the possible exception of those of Katiraveli, there is no definite evidence regarding and Dravidian settlement in the island. (page 51)
No definite evidence regarding any significant Tamil settlement in the Batticaloa district of the Eastern Province, or in other parts of Southern Ceylon has so far come to light. It is possible that there were some Tamil settlers in the Battialoa district from the thirteenth century onwards; we get archeological, epigraphic and literary evidence pointing to Tamil settlements in the area. (page 233)
It may be recollected that several writers on the history of Jaffna, basing their studies on the traditional legends found in the late Tamil chronicles, have put forward certain theories claiming the establishment of Tamil settlements in Jaffna in the period of the Anuradhapura rulers. These theories are not accepted by serious students of history as they are not based on trustworthy data. Many of these have been convincingly dismissed by scholars in recent years.
It is therefore, not our intention to analyze these theories and take serious notice of writings which at best could be described as popular. (page 266)
Jaffna peninsula does not help us to know anything about the identity of the people who lived there in the pre-Christian centuries.
The Pali chronicle informs us that the port of Jambukola (Camputturai), on the eastern cost of the peninsula, was the main port of embarkation to Tamralipti in Eastern India from at least the time of King Devanampriya Tissa (250-210 B.C.). The two embassies from the island to the court of Asoka embarked on their voyage from Jambukola. Sangamitta arrived with the Bo-sapling at this port.
The Samudda-panna-sala, commemorating the arrival of the Bo sapling, and the Jambukola Vihara were built there by Devanampriya Tissa. These facts only reveal that the northern most part of the island was under the suzerainty of the Anuradhapura king in the third century B.C. and that Buddhism had begun to spread by that time in that part of the island as in the other parts. But it is in the second century AD that we get some evidence regarding the people living there.
The language of the gold plate inscription from Vallipuram, the earliest epigraphic record discovered in the Jffna peninsula, is the early form of Sinhalese, in which inscriptions of the time in other parts of the island were written.
This may suggest that the Sinhlese were settled in the Jaffna peninsula, or in some parts at least, in the second century A.D. There were perhaps Tamil traders in the port of Jambukola but there is no evidence that points to Tamil settlements in the peninsula. (page 268)
The gold plate from Vallipuram reveals that there were Buddhists in that part of the peninsula in the second century A.D. At the site of this inscription the foundations are in the premises of a modern Visnu temple. There is little doubt that the Visnu temple was the original Buddhist monument converted in to a Vaisnava establishment at a later date when Tamils settled in the area.
Such conversion of Buddhist establishments into Saiva and Vaisnava temples seems to have been a common phenomenon in the peninsula after it was settled by Dravidians.
In the premised of another Visnu temple at Moolai were discovered some ‘vestiges of ancient remains of walls’ and a broken sedent Buddha image. Again in a Saiva temple at Mahiyapitti a Buddha image was found under a stone step in the temple tank. A lime-stone Buddha image and the remains of an ancient dagaba were unearthed at Nilavarai, in Navakiri.
Among the debris were two sculptured fragments of shaped coral stones with a stone railing design.
According to D.T.Devendra, who conducted the excavation at this site, the dagaba can be dated at least to the tenth century A. D. Near these ruins are the foundations of an ancient building and in the middle of thesis a modern Siva temple. It has been conjectured, and rightly so, that the old foundations are those of the vihara attached to the ancient dagaba.
Buddha images have also been discovered in Uduvil, Kantarodai and Jaffna town. Kantarodai has yeilded very important Buddhist establishment in the region in early times.
Such artifacts as the glazed tiles and the circular discs discovered here have helped to connect the finds with those of Auradhapura.
The Sinhala Nampota, dated in its present form to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, preserved the names of some of the placed of Buddhist worship I the Jaffna peninsula, Kantarodai is mentioned among these places. The others are Nagakovila (Nakarkovil), Telipola (Tellippalai), Mallagama (Mallakam), Minuwangomu Viharaya (Vimankaram). Tanjidivayina
(Tana-tivu or kayts), Nagadivayina (Nkativu or Nayinatovu). Puvangudivayina (Punkutu-tivu) and Kradivayina (Karaitivu).
Of the Buddhist establishments in these places only the vihara and Dagabo at Nakativu have survived to this day. It is justifiable to assume that the Nampotalist dates back time when the Buddhist establishments of these places were well known centres of worship. This was probably before the thirteenth century, for after this date the people of the Jaffna peninsula were mainly Saivas.
The foregoing evidence points to the inevitable conclusion that in the Anuradhapura period, and possibly till about the twelfth century, there were Buddhists in the Jaffna peninsula.
Although it may appear reasonable to presume that these Buddhists were Sinhalese like those in other parts of the island, some have tried to argue that they were Tamils. While it is true that there were Tamil Buddhists in South India and Ceylon before the twelfth century and possibly even later, there is evidence to show that the Buddhists who occupied the Jaffna peninsula in the Anuradhapura period were Sinhalese.
We refer to the toponymic evidence which unmistakably points to the presence if Sinhala settlers in the peninsula before Tamils settled there.
In an area of only about nine hundred square miles covered by this peninsula, there occur over a thousand Sinhalese place names which have survived in a Tamil garb. (page 270-273)
The Yalppana-vaipava-malai, the Tamil chronicle of Jaffna, confirms this when it states that there were Sinhalese people in Jaffna at the time of the first Tamil colonisation of the area.
Secondly, the survival of Sinhalese elements on the local nomenclature indicates a slow and peaceful penetration of Tamils in the area rather than violent occupation. This is in contrast with the evidence of the place names of the North Central Province, where Sinhalese names have been largely replaced by Tamil names. The large percentage of Sinhalese element and the occurrence of Sinhala and Tamil compounds in the place names of Jaffna point to a long survival of the Sinhala population and an intimate intercourse between them and the Tamils.
This is also, borne out by the retention of some territorial names, like Valikamam (Sinhala- Valigama) and Maracci (Maracci-rata), which points to the retention of the old territorial divisions and tell strongly against wholesale extermination or displacement of the Sinhalese population.. (page 276)
The earliest evidence regarding the presence of Tamils in the Jaffna peninsula is possible from the Tamil inscription of Parakramabahu I (1153 - 1186) from Nainativu. We have seen earlier that till about the ninth century our evidence points to minor settlements of Tamils in such important ports as Mahatitha (Mannar) and Gokanna (Trincomalee) as well as in Anuradhapura, where there were considerable number of mercenary soldiers.
In the ninth and tenth centuries some villages in Rajarattha seem to have accommodated Tamil settlers but these were by no means numerous. it seems unlikely that there were many Tamil settlers in the Jaffna peninsula or in any part of the island other that the major ports and the capital city before the tenth century.
As we stated earlier, there were perhaps some Tamil traders in the ports of Jambukola and Uratota, in the Jaffna peninsula. But we have no evidence on this point.. (page 282)
The Sanskrit inscription from Trincomalee, discovered among the ruins of the Konesvram temple, refers to a personage names Cadaganga who went to Ceylon in1223. Paranavitana had identified this person with Kulakkottan.
The inscription is fragmentary and is engraved on a part of a stone door jamb. Among the decipherable words is the name Gokarna, the ancient name of Trincomalee and the root from which the name of the temple is derived (Gokarnesvara). (page 331)
In the Tamil Vanni districts only a few Dravidian style Saiva temples of the thirteenth century have been found. Among these the temples at Tirukkovil, Kapuralla, and Nallatanni-irakkam and the Saiva remains at Uruttirapuram and Kuruntanur are notable.
These certainly indicate the existence or Tamil settlements in those places in the thirteenth century.
But monumental remains of a different type attest to the destruction wrought by the invaders and the conversion of Buddhist institutions in to places of Saiva worship, effected by the new settlers, thus confirming the statements in the Sinhala sources.
The many scattered ruins of Buddhist monasteries and temples all over the Vanni region preserve the memory of the Sinhalese Buddhist settlements that once covered these parts.
Several of the pilima-ges (image houses) attached to the monasteries in places like Kovilkadu, Malikai, Omantai, Kankarayan-kulam, Iracentiran-kulam,Cinnappuvaracankulam and Madukanda were converted into Saiva tempels, often dedicated to Ganesa.
Buddha images or inscribed slabs from the Buddhist structures were used to make the Ganesa statues (J.P. Lewis, Manual of the Vanni Districts, pp. 297, 303-306, 311).
A number of small Saiva shrines have been found in association with Buddhist remains. The destruction of several of the Buddhist edifices and the conversion of pilima-ges into Saiva temples may have begun at the time of Magha.
In the North Central Province too, we find evidence of such activities. On Minneriya Road, close to Polonnaruwa, were discovered a few Saiva edifies which were build of materials from Buddhist structures.
A door jamb from one of the Saiva shrines there was found to bear part of an inscription of Parakramabahu 1.
A broken pillar shaft with Sinhalese writing of the tenth century was recovered from the enclosing wall of another shrine.
In one of the Visnu temples of Polonnaruwa, fragments of Nissankamalla’s stone inscriptions were found. In the same place, two fragments of a broken pillar with Sinhalese writing about the tenth century served as steps o one of the Vaisnava shrines.
A pillar in the mandapa of Siva Devale No. 5 at Polonnaruwa was discovered with a Sinhala inscription of the eleventh century on it. In Siva Devale No.7 a square stone asana with an inscription of Nissankamalla was used as a base for a linga.
Another of the Saiva shrines unearthed at Polonnaruwa yeilded a pillar with a Sinhalese inscription of Jayabahu 1.
These examples leave us in no doubt that materials from Buddhist structures were used in the building of Saiva and Vaisnava temples.
The date of most inscriptions found on the pillars and slabs is the twelfth century. The date of the construction of these Saiva and Vaisanava shrines is certainly later than that. (page 361-364)
The invasion of Kalinga Magha with the help of Kerala and Tamil mercenaries was far more violent than the earlier invasions. Its chief importance lies in the fact that it led to the permanent dislodgement of Sinhalese power from northern Ceylon, the confiscation by Tamils and Keralas of lands and properties belonging to the Sinhalese and the consequent migration of the official class and many of the common people to the south western regions. (page 395-396).
The Author:
Dr. Karthigesu Indrapala, a Sri Lankan Tamil, had his early education in Jaffna and later joined the academic staff of the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, in the late fifties after obtaining a Honours Degree in History from the same University.
In 1965 he was awarded the Ph D by the University of London, for his research on "Dravidian Settlements in Ceylon and the beginnings of the Jaffna Kingdom", which he did at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
The choice and approval of this subject was based on the fact that no reliable research had been done on the Dravidian/South Indian migrations to SriLanka before the tenth century.
On his return to Sri Lanka Indrapala was appointed to the academic staff of the History Department of the Jaffna campus. When the substance of his thesis regarding early Dravidian settlements came to be known from his lectures, talks and articles, he became very unpopular with the Tamil extremists and non-academic Tamil historians. Itis probably for this reason that he left the University and migrated to Australia, and it is also why this valuable thesis remains unpublished.

Non-academic Tamil historians such as C Rasanayagam, C S Navaratnam and Fr Gnanapragasar who has written on the Jaffna Kingdom, which emerged in the twelfth century had made unhistorical assumptions of the period before that date based on the early legendary and mythical sections of the Tamil Ylpana Vaipava Malai.

End of an era

H. L. D. Mahindapala

With a heavy overload of historical memories, some tragic, some triumphant, some futile, and some memorable and everlasting, we have arrived, on the backs of the long-suffering people, in the 70^th year of independence – the Biblical watershed to sit back and consider how far we have advanced or regressed in the intervening years. If you take a panoramic view of the political landscape and pause to assess the agonies and the ecstasies of our journey through the first seven decades, we are entitled to marvel at the fact that we have arrived at where we are now in one piece, thanks to our courageous and self-sacrificing Security Forces. To some extent we may be excused for believing that we have come out in commendable shape considering the destructive fascist forces that came up from the north and the south against the democratic centre, riddled though with all its infirmities.

Accordingly, we should be glorying now in untrammelled optimism. But, instead, there is an uneasy feeling of uncertainty and overarching hopelessness stretching all the way to the foreseeable horizon. The despondency is so thick that it hangs in the air like a mist of blinding confusion preventing any insight into the future. It was there everywhere I went during my recent sojourn. It was so palpable that I was weighed down by a pervasive depression that haunted me.

The best and the brightest – the latest being Lester Peiris – are departing. One headline screamed : Cricket has hit a new low!” So is the rupee. Only two things kept rising : 1.the cost of living and 2. the number of politicians living off the taxes collected from the poor. After the latest reshuffle we now have 114 ministers, including 42 in the Cabinet and 45 in the provincial councils for a population of only 21 million.” (The Island). Then another 441 Provincial Councillors were swept into the governing hierarchy after the recent local government elections. Add this figure to the 225 in Parliament and what do we have: the perfectly constructed irrational state which is over-governed by half-literate nincompoops who believe that the many layers of government which they occupy were made for them to make money.

To rectify the anomalies and the defects in governance dramatic changes are announced. The irony is that the more they change the more they remain the same. The following e-mail which hit my screen explains the latest changes in the ruling party, the UNP:

World Record for a School

Party Leader – Royal College
Deputy leader – Royal
Assistant leader – Royal
Chairman – Royal
National Organizer – Royal
Treasurer – Royal

No wonder the country is in a “Right Royal Mess ” !!!” Another wag wrote that Sri Lanka is now governed by FRCSs – Former Royal College Suckers. Yet another chided the Prime Minister for not abiding by the motto of Royal College ” Disce Aut Discede (Latin “Learn or Depart”)

OVER 40 YEARS IN POLITICS, NOT LEARNED ANYTHING BUT REFUSING TO DEPART. UNFORTUNATELY THE PM IS USURPING THE THOMIAN MOTTO “ ESTO PERPETUA“, GO ON FOR EVER,” said the e-mailer.

Does all this sound like a big joke played on the nation? Or are these stunts wending their way into a chaotic tragedy of uncontrollable proportions?

Occasionally, I was buoyed by some positive glimpses of hope. For instance, seeing the new concretized face of the city (ugh!), where the neon lights advertise the rising power of commerce. I felt that the country was bursting at the seams, ready to grow out of the old mould into a dynamic economy. New architecture leaping vertically into the skies from lands that were vacant only a couple of decades ago project signs of a growing economy. New buildings mean new investments of new entrepreneurs entering the new market place. Also the hustle and the bustle of the noveau riche crowding the market place and the new hotels and restaurants seem to indicate that the poverty line is coming down, with a brassy showiness.

On the other hand, I felt that the political and bureaucratic panjandrums – the perennial evils — were sitting on top of new capital like a huge stone preventing any growth to take off. In particular, the absence of a technocratic leadership to meet the challenges of the 21^st century is visible in the key decision-making process. On top of this we were told that 45% of the MPs in Parliament – the supreme law-making body – consist of mediocrities who have not even passed their O Level! This makes it perfectly clear why Socrates and Plato rejected the democratic form of government in ancient Greece, the home of democracy. Plato opted for philosopher-kings hoping it would generate enlightened governance. Philosopher Bertrand Russell blamed Plato for opening the doors to all-knowing Hitlers and Stalins. Hmm! So much for political theory!

The most frenzied issue that dominates the political discourse of our local philosopher-kings is the proposed constitutional reforms. The legal, constitutional and political tinkering that goes on at the highest level is, partly, about fixing the shaky political bases for the ruling elite to perpetuate their grip on power in perpetuity, if they can, and partly, to dismantle the centre and devolve power to the Tamils of the North who aim to grab the East as well. In the South they also labour indefatigably to manufacture a constitution that would serve them as their hansi putuwa (arm chair) for them to recline in perpetuity without being thrown out by their opponents. They live under the illusion that the worst thing that can happen to the nation is for those occupying chairs of power to lose their seats in parliament or presidency.

In the North they insist on modern constitutional changes to regain and reinforce their feudal (casteist) and colonial privileges, power and perks which they lost to Prabhakaran. The permanent Vellala ruling elite (no low-caste man was ever admitted to the higher echelons of power in Jaffna unless he carried a gun like Prabhakaran, a karaiyar) has bonded with the elitist Royalist gang led by Ranil hoping to impose the biggest constitutional scam. Ranil has already lost all his worth in the Bond Scam” – the biggest financial scandal in the history of banking in Sri Lanka. Bonding with Arjuna Mahendran took him down to the lowest depth. His chances of rising by bonding with R. Sampanthan to foist a constitutional scam are as great as Prabhakaran rising out of Nandikadal.

This is the tragic malaise of our time. At no level in the societal hierarchy can one find any signs of a leader with a potential to be a redeemer. In sheer desperation, one can only surmise that there is a savior who is hiding in some dark corner in history waiting to come up, sooner or later. But that is like waiting for Godot / Diyasena. The situation seems so grim that one is reduced to living in hopeless hope.

It is the rapidity of the moral and political decline in the last couple of years that has shocked the nation into a state of paralysis. It is frightening. The overwhelming disillusionment with the promises of Yahapalana-yakos seems to have dragged the victims into the numbed state of a patient etherized upon a table”. (T. S. Eliot). The anesthetized nation is now seen hurtling down a precipitous mountain slope like an uncoupled carriage of a train running loose without an engine. The uncontrolled momentum of going down the slippery slope is felt in every nook and corner except in the higher echelons of power which ought to be the first to wake up and act decisively to arrest the slide. But every act taken so far – even after the tremors that shook the establishment in the latest local government elections – has been to consolidate the crumbling status quo.

Like all decadent regimes the ruling elite from Royal College, oblivious of the hole into which they have fallen, are digging deeper into a black hole from which they cannot escape. Their answer to the crisis is to play musical chairs believing that replacing Tweedle-dee with Tweedle-dum-bo will solve their problems as well as that of the nation. The danger is that, in this process, they are dragging the nation along with them into the same disastrous black hole. Their dithering and diddling are threatening to dismantle all that has been achieved in the last 70 years.

The only visible bright spots seem to be the stars in the night sky — and they too are beyond any one’s reach. The bleakness seem to be deepened by the more convulsive issues rolling in like dark clouds of the thunderstorms that were pouring down in the evenings when I was there. Every exploding issue seems to be heading to a crisis point, cutting deep into the stability and the future of the nation. There is the eerie feeling that the nation is on the verge of something ominous about to happen. The noises / voices assailing the ears are alarming. The signs of everything around you collapsing disorient the mind trying to make sense of what is happening. The whole nation seems to be poised like Meetotamulla ready to collapse in one messy heap.

And the worst is the smugness with which the powers-that-be refuse to recognize the imminence of the impending collapse. That something has to give is clear. How soon it will happen is the question. And, if and when it happens, there seems to be no one around with a compass to give new directions. As usual, everyone will blame the other and there will be no end to the finger-pointing blame game.

Right now there isn’t a leadership with dedicated commitment, vision, capacity and know-how to stop the decline. By and large, most of those whom I met have fallen into a lethargic state of déjà vu. Their blank faces wear that what-to-do-I-say- look” not knowing what had hit them. The hopes that rose with the coming of Yahapalanaya have evaporated, leaving the Sri Lankans adrift in a vacuum.

On the eve of Yahapalanaya in 2014/5 they were hoping to advance swiftly and merrily into the nearest point next to paradise. In fact, they were supposed to have been there in first 100 days of 2015. But three years later, they are still walking like headless zombies wandering towards a dead-end with no exit. It is the sense of not having an alternative to the stagnant, frustrating status quo that is most depressing. Everyone is meandering in search of an outlet. Which way the gathering subterranean forces will turn is anyone’s guess. How long the nation will continue to go along with the corrupt, incompetent and the moral bankruptcy of the UNP regime is also anyone’s guess.

Under the pressures of sharp questioning by Faraz Shauketaly, the MTV anchor man of NEWS 1, the JVP MP, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, admitted the other day that the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is a rogue”. It’s a damning description, in any language. So what are the chances of a rogue prime minister” saving the nation that is clearly heading towards a bottomless pit? Did our founding fathers labour to produce a Rogue Prime Minister” at the end of 70 years?

The forbearance of the people in the face of ever increasing adversity is remarkable. But how long will it take to reach the limits of tolerance? The decibel level of anger is increasing. The number of new voices screaming for a new order is gathering momentum. The impatience for justice and reform is rising. The secular ideological isms” have failed. Even the façade of Buddhism (remember Ven. Sobitha!) used by the fake Yahapalana-yakos have failed.

The centre can hardly hold things together. Sri Lanka is an orphaned nation running in search of a savior. Or at least a just moral force that could wipe out the rotten state and replace it with a new order that can contain the rising wrath and guide them to the next level. But it is not there. The whole nation seems to be trapped inside a boiling cauldron of despondency. One is left wondering when it would spill over to the streets. Is social unrest the next answer? Will it throw up a new leadership?

The fall from hope to despair has been so sudden and unexpected that the nation has been reduced to a gulag of helpless and bemused victims of false prophets. On January 8, 2015 the nation had reached a peak point of promise and hope glowing with moral purity. Now the JVP which was a part of the bandwagon that ushered in the Yahapalanya is worried that they have labored only to produce a Rogue Prime Minister”.

All hopes were pinned on the Yahapalana-yakos because they were perceived as the best idea at the time. In essence they represented moral purity. Even the charismatic figure of Mahinda Rajapakse failed to win because he could not pass the moral test of the day. What politicians fail to recognize is that political legitimacy is derived essentially from morality. All regimes fall when they lose the underpinning force of morality.

Political myths propagandized craftily can temporarily win the day but it can’t sustain power. Lasting political power survives primarily on its moral validity. USSR, for instance, imploded because the system had passed its use by day and lacked any moral validity. The Shah of Persia had one of the most powerful armies in the region, backed by a ruthless Secret Police Service. But he crumbled under the moral force of celluloid tapes sent from Paris by Khoumeni. The moral values of Ayotollah had a force far superior to all the military might of Shah.

Especially in a voter-based democracy the moral values carry a greater force than any organized apparatus of the state. In the contest between Mahinda Rajapakse and Ven. Sobitha the monk represented the higher values of the day. Ranil Wickremesinghe crept in under the cover of the yellow robes. On his own he could never have beaten Rajapakse.

What we are facing is a moral crisis of the highest magnitude. The Yahapalanaya rode into power because it presented itself as a new moral force led by Ven. Sobitha. He was joined by 60-odd NGOs, Western and Indian embassies, minorities, disillusioned SLFPers – all of whom ganged up against Mahinda Rajapakse on moral grounds. It is the very moral force that lifted them up that has brought them down. It is their moral bankruptcy that has thrown the nation into a spin.

At the center of the drama that haunts the Yahapalanaya regime is the miserable failure of the political moralists to live up to their promises. The swindling of people’s money, the lying, the parliamentary manipulations, the racketeering, the eye-wash of shuffling Raigamaya to a Gampolaya’s seat and vice versa, the crooked deals to cover-up and bring back the discredited wheeler-dealers to ministerial seats, the obscene scenes of a Kafkesque judiciary, as revealed with telling effect by Ms. Sughandika Fernando, all of which are well known to the Bar Council, UNP goons attacking MTV on the night Ranil won the no-confidence motion in the House etc., etc., have eroded the people’s faith in politics as a means of finding deliverance. They have, at last, come to come to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that there can be no salvation in politics.

So what are the people left with? At the end of 70 years they are left only with leaders who are dressed in fanciful Emperor’s clothes.

What are the regime change operators in Sri Lanka up to?

No one can deny that regime change took place in January 2015. The West generally dethrones strong leaders & replaces with appeasing puppets. Regime change in Sri Lanka proved Rajapakse was a strong leader & West’s alternative choice to be appeasing puppets. That a different mode of regime change was adopted having attempted to create various Sri Lanka Springs was seen by the manner a Buddhist monk was chosen to spearhead the anti-Rajapakse election defeat. Today Maduluwawa Sobitha is no more to witness the damage he has done. That damage is nowhere near the rising anti-Sri Lanka programs now being rolled out. Do people realize how far Sri Lanka’s sovereignty is declining? Can an election reverse, alter or negate these dramatic changes and who can save Sri Lanka and who are being used as decoys to prevent it are questions we need to now ponder.

The statement of President Obama said In this region, India can play a positive role in helping countries forge a better future, from Burma to Sri Lanka, where today there’s new hope for democracy.” Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice We’ll help countries in transition—like Burma, Tunisia, and Sri Lanka” and immediate arrivals of Tom Malinowski, US Asst Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights & Labor & US Secretary of State John Kerry sufficed as evidence of regime change.

A bevy of locals, MPs in the Rajapakse government, UNP, JVP, TNA, Left parties, media, lawyers, academics, 50 civil society organizations were roped in to defeat Rajapakse. Rajapakse claimed some $650m was spent to oust him. The PR campaigns promised a democratic country with rule of law, rights for all, independence of the judiciary, development & economy benefitting all, no wastage of public funds, no cronies, no kick-backs, no excessive borrowings, no bloating of public service, freedom of speech and freedom after speech, no one shot dead in the night or abducted. One Don Manu a regular columnist claims the PM has the strength of 10 of the whole of Parliament put together because his conscience is pure’. That’s not what the voters at the local government elections thought 3 years after the government was forced to hold an election!

Other give away was the 100 day program while the 19^th amendment was simply a means of creating a bogus national government to absorb all the kangaroos to prevent an opposition while it secured the necessary 2/3 majority to pass controversial constitutionally questionable Bills in Parliament! The funds to maintain a jumbo government came after the Central Bank was brought under the PM who appointed his friend a non-Sri Lankan citizen as Governor & enabled 2 bond scams to raise money.

Note the areas that have been lined up for change – the police are taught Buddhism by a Catholic priest, the armed forces, the public sector, profit-making state institutes, education system, Buddhism & related centres, media, legal fraternity, health, transport & trade, lands & resources. Every area that citizens can generate self-power or self-sustainability is being targeted for destruction subtly without notice & being crippled or placed under supervision of local stooges or sold to foreign concerns. Now the US marines land conversing in Sinhala and singing songs in Sinhala. The only army to have defeated a terrorist movement is now being trained by armies that create terrorist movements!

Phone calls of Senior DIGs are being tapped, military have lost their arms & ammunition capability, sensitive and strategic areas are being slowly turned into foreign investment zones making it out of bounds to locals. Minor demonstrations & protests are staged to test the water for future bigger false flags. Nationalist voices are being watched & monitored. Social media inspite of Western trained local puppets have not being able to promote yahapalana as they did to win the 2015 elections.

A new troika is emerging – UNP-JVP & TNA. They will be spearheading all future elections together and passing Bills unconstitutionally without vote! Now, JVP holds a joint May Day rally with TNA! The links are slowly emerging as are questions wondering if the same foreign entities are funding all three.

Local industries are now receiving slow death & replaced with foreign investments, foreign labor & no-go zones for locals. Trade agreements are being signed without even looking into the catastrophic outcomes or national security aspects. Would a government decide to remove restrictions on foreign ownership of shipping agencies & freight forwarding agencies and compromise the nation’s security? Connect this to the removal of restrictions on foreigners owning land? The PM accepting proposal by his financial advisor Paskarlingam has approved without a Cabinet paper or even a tender to Trimble Navigation paying them $154m to prepare land survey maps & create a database of state owned land with staff of Survey Department & resources under Trimble. A private US company is being given complete control of Sri Lanka’s land registry!

Bias of tender procedures has even seen Yahapalana taken to court : Ceylon Oxygen over awarding contract to Gas World to supply medical gases to 40 government hospitals. Contract changing prilled urea to granular urea is another faux pas bypassing transparent tender procedure. Senok Trade Combines even went to court against the Govt’s decision to award installation of power generation sets to an Indian company overrung the CEB’s recommendations. Another controversial decision was the e-passport project awarded without transparency to De La Rue Lanka.

The nations remain’s shocked at the biased & vengeful manner that the intelligence service personnel, police & military personnel are being hurled into prison without bail, Buddhist monks are also arrested & put into prison while two secretaries nabbed while taking a bribe and close associates of the PM & working for the President are escorted without handcuffs. The appeasing nature of the government has sharpened the tigers teeth in the manner that the tiger agents are demanding the removal of Sinhala speaking government officials, removal of Buddhist heritage sites from the North while the government has meekly approved the Jaffna university to erect a monument for a terrorist leader & his terrorist outfit. Jaffna university remains state owned and the public must demand why a terrorist leader should be commemorated with tax payers money! Is it then a surprise that the government happily co-sponsors a legally questionable and controversial UNHRC resolution virtually accepting a national army committed war crimes. Would any government betray their own troops such as this government has? But then the very party being accused of being the tigers political arm is now the Opposition & its head the Opposition Leader and supported by the JVP who is now being used as the front to introduce the remaining detrimental Bills that would seal Sri Lanka’s sovereignty into a slave nation.

What may lie ahead.

By using Buddhist monks the regime change operators have succeeded in angering the non-Buddhists while also dividing the Buddhist vote base. The numerous other Buddhist monks increasingly coming to the limelight is aimed at disillusioning the Sinhala Buddhists while helping spew hatred against the majority among the minorities while justifying the government to bulldoze the anti-Buddhist programs already devised & being launched one by one.

Divide & rule is the policy adopted by any weak government frantic to grasp on to power at whatever cost & by whatever means. Help & funding by external parties cannot erase an increasingly unpopular government especially one that comes to power based on lies which are now catching up on them. The local government results have to be seen more as a protest vote that needs careful analysis.

How many have been able to grasp the connection of UNP to every racial riot that has transpired in Sri Lanka – 1977, 1983 & even the recent Kandy riots. The social media helped highlight Muslims openly voicing the UNP link. Understandably Muslims that championed to bring yahapalana to power are the biggest victims in terms of business. It has meant the strategies have been fine tuned to divide the Muslim votes & away from accumulating towards the JO candidate. Probably the decision to field Sirisena is a manoevre in this direction using the Muslim MPs in the SLFP. Can the Muslim MPs in the UNP maintain the Muslim vote base is the next question? The strategies will definitely be to divide the Muslim votes while attempting to maintain the UNP Muslim vote base intact.

Local Government elections 2018

Presidential Elections 2015

General Elections 2015

How about the Tamil votes? ITAK secured 515,963 votes (4.6%) at the 2015 general elections. However, it secured only 339,675 votes (3%) at the local government elections. Did 176,288 Tamils not go to vote or did they not vote for ITAK? What of the JVP vote base at the General Elections in 2015 JVP secured 543,944 or 4.87% but at the local government elections JVP obtained 693,875 votes (6.2%) This base will certainly be used to generate the necessary numbers for a victory!

The next question is how much of the UPFA’s 989,821 (8.94%) votes & the SLFP’s 491,835 (4.44%) votes at the Local Government elections will remain with Sirisena & how would the yahapalana strategists plan to split these to ensure these votes do not get collected to the yahapalana opposition candidate. This is some 1.48million (13.3%) votes though President Sirisena as Common Candidate but contesting under SWAN symbol secured 6,217,162 (51.2%)! It clearly shows President Sirisena has virtually lost confidence of all those that voted for him. But he will be used as a spoiler candidate as are many others now being lined up for more spoiler roles. The strategists will try to divide the Opposition candidates votes & floating votes in order not to even place a second preference vote which will give the UNP leader the needed edge.

What will the yahapalana strategists apply to split the SLPP’s 4,941,952 (44.6%) votes gained at the local government election when at the 2015 Presidential elections the former President on his own secured 5,768,090 (47.58%)

In all probability the UNP may not go for a common candidate & instead take the risk of fielding their own leader keeping in mind that at the 2015 General Elections the United National Front (not the UNP) secured 5,098,916 of 45.66% of votes with the help of All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Muslim Tamil National Alliance, Democratic National Movement, Jathika Hela Urumaya, National Front for Good Governance, Tamil Progressive Alliance, National Union of Workers, Democratic People’s Front, Up Control People’s Front, United Left Front.

5,098,916 or 45.66% was with UNP contesting as an alliance. However, UNP that contested alone for the local government elections ended up with only 3,612,259 or 32.6% votes. Is this 3.6m/32.6% the UNP vote base if so how can UNP reach the magical 50% figure to become President or is the next best option to go for a second count and field others who will promote the UNP leader as their second choice?

This looks quite a possible scenario. You will note the many new entrants entering the scene many of whom are being subtly promoted as presidential hopefuls… some are making stunning speeches against the system, some are landing from nowhere claiming to eliminate all loans, others are wooing the Sinhala vote base through well funded programs that appeal to them – animal welfare, indigenous foods/agriculture/culture, development social services … social media is suddenly creating various groups, various programs, various interviews, all with an agenda and all collecting data. Many of those being promoted to cater to different mindsets – urban/rural/extremist/moderate, ethno-religious have connections with key ministers of the yahapalana government & are recipients of funding from overseas. Many of these key ministers have personal goals to become President of Sri Lanka themselves! Guess who these raja yoga aspirants are!

Dishing foreign accolades, titles & going overseas for training are now dead giveaways and the moment any MP or others have their photos splashed across the papers with their certificates people must immediately recall how the present PM & President were recipients before the regime change. The question everyone must ask & wonder is what are they instructed to do and resolve not to have anything to do with it.

By now if we all studied & analyzed the manner countries like Yugoslavia, South Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Haiti & now Syria have fallen it should immediately make all citizens to resolve to identify the external forces & the local traitors roped in to do the same in Sri Lanka some are playing role as extremists, some as moderates, some as civil society representatives… they are all subtly given a role to play to fool the masses.

We are an island nation with a high literacy let us not fall prey to these mechanizations and repent after turning Sri Lanka into a failed state & its people into slaves of foreigners owning every inch and corner of our land.

Identify & expose these local traitors?

Shenali D Waduge

Tamara Kunanayagam at Viyathmaga Forum: Selling Sri Lanka to Foreign Companies

The Viyathmaga Annual Convention was held on 13^th May 2018 at the Shangrila Hotel. Former diplomat Tamara Kunanayagam speaking on the topic of Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty: Non Negotiable her excellent presentation drew attention to a shocking scenario that if not addressed would result in catastrophic outcomes for the island & its citizens. What has the neoliberal project in store for Sri Lanka & how can we negate it? In short she says that the present Government & their stooges have “been placed in the positions they occupy precisely because of a shared vision with the neoliberals, and their ability to deliver to their foreign masters at a vertiginous speed, selling on their behalf anything and everything that can be sold – and cheaply, and their ability to earn profits for their masters and themselves at an equally vertiginous speed. And, all this is at the expense of the vast majority of the Sri Lankan people, irrespective of their culture, ethnic origin, religion or geographic location”

When there are no permanent friends but permanent interests, it is important that we connect various global & local scenarios & place them in context of what the bigger plan is. Tamara revealed how Sri Lanka has become a subject of two pronged attack – the West using platform of the UN/UNHRC & the neocon agenda while locally within Sri Lanka, their ideological counterparts are pushing the neoliberal agenda. Tamara states ‘their common enemy is the sovereign state’. Who are these neoliberals, where are they placed & who placed them is for you to identify. Following the shocking co-sponsorship of the UNHRC resolution immediately after this puppet government was placed in power, that this 30/1 resolution gives legitimacy for ‘unilateral intervention in Sri Lanka and permits instrumentalization of the OHCHR office to draft laws necessary to permit the physical take over of territory, including natural wealth, resources it contains’ is what should shock all of us & make us all realize the dangers in store. Tamara clears says that the emphasis on ‘rule of law’ & ‘good governance’ decoded means to virtually turn Sri Lanka into a vassal state. The plan was to make “People and nation” into “ dispensable commodities their labour, natural wealth and resources, public institutions, and even State enterprises, are on auction with foreign bidders determining their worth”. This is an alarming situation and should make all citizens of Sri Lanka seriously worried.

In drawing statistics from the privatization of European State Enterprises from 1980 to 2009 she revealed that all privatized companies have performed worse than when there were public. She showed the privatization was a big industry & mentioned the Big 4 accountancy firms operating in Sri Lanka Deloitte, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and Ernst & Young.

According to Tamara all these trends point to Sri Lanka losing its independence. With no 100% perfect model, she highlighted how European cities are reclaiming public services from the private sector in areas such as water, transportation, electricity, garbage collection etc.

https://impact.vice.com/en_us/article/bjx543/european-cities-are-taking-back-public-services-from-private-companies She highlighted the British Metronet Rail, which though a PPP cost the public over £400 million, 95% were loans & unlike public sector the private sector can just walk away after delivering failures which the taxpayers have to pay. Report of the UK House of Commons Transport Committee, January 2008, HMSO.

So what is this neoliberal project?

She drew the attention of the audience to the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS). This is a secret society founded in 1947 by Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman. There are today more than 500 think tanks created by its members to advance its main objective. Tamara K says that this society is accountable for the destructive policies against the State by political leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher & Pinochet while the same policies are being rolled out in Third World countries by IMF, World Bank & US Treasury. Now even Western citizens are becoming victims.

The objective of the Mont Pelerin members was the formation of a minimal state, privatization of employment, health, education, even national defence & enforce laws & policies to favor the ultra-rich. As an example she sites academic & columnist Fernando Schuler linked to the Mont Pelerin Society’s Atlas Network (both Atlas Network & Canada’s Frazer Institute is founded by Anthony Fisher) who proposed the repealing of law making voting compulsory & the withdrawal of support for trade unions citing that the social media platforms suffice for people to voice their views. Tamara says that the PM’s assurance to give free wi-fi to every village by end of 2018 is aligned to Schuler’s view.

We can recall an article by one Gandhara John in November 2015 asking the question ‘Can a Mont Pelerinist honestly be the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka’ where he brought to light that the PM was a member of this secret ultra-right club of white supremacists which work hand in glove with the US with objective to control land, labor & capital of Africa & Asia.

To achieve this they planned to dismantle states, disenfranchise the people, depopulate the continents, install corporates as supreme controlling authority. Their targets were the State, the Government, the boundaries of the state & the citizens via constitutional changes, terrorism, economic & cultural embargoes, interfering in domestic elections installing puppets, replacing internal laws with external laws & systems, creating internal conflicts, instigating armed violence internally, creating various spring protests). Gandhara John interestingly also brought out how colonial Christianity doctrine of civilizing the uncivilized was to be replaced & substituted with ‘human rights’ through UN.

The essence of what Gandhara John & Tamara Kunanayagam are conveying is that the Mont Pelerinists of which the PM is a member plan to transfer powers of a Government/Politicians into the hands of Corporates (foreign) & the local fools willing to help this would be handsomely paid but their future afterwards even they may not know! The manner that the present government allocates less money to state ventures in a means to justify its unprofitability & use as an excuse to privatize it is part of the political strategy formulated by Herbert Giersch the President of the Mont Pelerin society.

Tamara K highlighted how these secret societies are operating think tanks some of whom have even penetrated into national governance.

She cites the example of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) & the Advocata Institute to expose the anti-Sri Lanka State agenda promoted through lackeys of the Mont Pelerin society.

She says the IPS supposed to be Sri Lanka’s main economic policy think tank is actually hijacking Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. She says that though IPS was established in 1988 through an Act of Parliament & located in the Ministry of Finance & Planning, IPS was “co-financed by the Dutch Government & run by a Resident Coordinator from the Dutch Institute for Social Studies”. She says that the IPS announced in 2006 that it would be setting up its own Endowment Fund & would be 100% financially independent though it ironically signed an agreement with the Dutch Government for financing its new building outside the Ministry. As per IPS ‘independent’ equates to being “independent only from the Sri Lankan State but dependent on Western states, their oligarchs & their capital”. Tamara claims IPS is directly & indirectly funded by Netherlands, Canada, UK, Norway & US corporations, banks, equity funds channeled through Hewlett Foundation & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation & these financing is sent via the ‘Think Tank Initiative’ project managed by the Canadian government-owned International Development Research Centre. The present Governor of the Central Bank Indrajit Coomaraswamy is also on the board of IPS. While other IPS members include include M.I.M. Rafeek, Secretary, Ministry of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs, and S.S. Mudalige, Director General, National Planning Department as well as Sarath Rajapathirana, who is Economic Advisor to President Sirisena is also a visiting Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute which had been the key intellectual peddler for the Iraqi invasion.

Tamara claims that IPS is “aggressively promoting the sale of public assets and privatization of all State owned Enterprises, including public utilities”

In short, Tamara claims that the IPS is one of the main anti-State ultraliberal Mont Pelerin entities operating in Sri Lanka and how US neocons & neoliberals have penetrated to influence the State policies of Sri Lanka. With the sudden demise of its former leader Saman Kelegama, IPS is now headed by Dr. Razeen Sally who not surprisingly is also a member of the Mont Pelerin Society & senior advisor to the Ministry of Finance (2017).

The other institute Tamara cites as being part of the anti-Sri Lankan state agenda is the Advocata Institute, another Mont Pelerin think tank which Razeen Sally has close links. IPS is being used by Washington to roll back China’s influence in Sri Lanka. Advocata is doing the same.

In an interview he lays bare the plan – begin with partial privatization, putting all public enterprises (Sri Lankan Airlines, Mihin Air, Sri Lankan Transport Board, Telecommunications etc) into a holding company then gradually increase private sector states until ‘the time is right politically’ to move into major private ownership. As for public utilities such as water, electricity, petroleum etc, Sally recommends replacing the Board of the Public Utilities Commission with ‘independent directors”. By privatizing, it is NOT local private companies, but ‘independent’ Sally meant foreign. This is crucial for all citizens of Sri Lanka to comprehend.

Tamara cites a forum organized by Advocata in 2017 wherein Sally ‘argued that trade & investment in services and industry must be further liberalized to attract investments from the West & India” but China is not mentioned because according to Sally “Sri Lanka could become over-dependent on Chinese investments by state firms”!

Tamara claims Advocata the Colombo-based neoliberal think tank which is part of the Atlas Network, is involved in identifying areas for reform, promoting free market & privatizing.

In December 2017, Atlas Network listed Sri Lanka among 10 countries where it had ‘invested successfully’ & won, Sri Lankan Airlines privatization being cited as one success story.

https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/reforming-and-privatizing-state-owned-enterprises-in-sri-lanka

Advocata had been launched in May 2016 at the Kadiragamar Institute with Eran Wickremaratne as Chief Guest. Its annual report claimed 55 strategically important state-owned enterprises had made enormous losses between 2006 and 2015 & suggested a productivity study to determine which to shut down, which to privatize & which to keep under the government. According to Tamara, this report had been prepared even before Advocata had set up shop exposed when Malik Samarawickrema quoted its findings just 3 months after its launch & announced ‘far reaching privatization plans’ by the yahapalana government. Again, Tamara reiterates that by ‘private sector’ yahapalana government means foreign privatization.

She says that immediately after Malik Samarawickrema’s announcement the PM proposed to hire the US firm McKinsey & Company for $2.3m to establish a Central Program Management Unit in Temple Trees for ‘accelerated economic transformation” & introduce a new Development (Special Provisions) Bill allowing sweeping powers to restructure & transform the economy. This Unit would be directly under the PM & his friend Malik S. Tamara says that the PM even proposed to inclusion of the pro-US ultraliberal Nika Gilauri former PM of Georgia as a senior expert to the project.

Tamara has given some shocking examples of the changes taking place under our very noses.

· November 2016 – Advocata submits recommendations for Budget 2017 to the Ministry of Finance & Planning including the ‘reactivation’ of state-held lands named as ‘dead capital’. This refers to 987,000 acres of land in the Land Reform Commission including ‘prime real estate blocks’ in major cities like Colombo occupied by schools, government ministries. By ‘greatly outweighs their economic value’ equates to mean recommendation to sell these areas occupied by slums, schools, govt ministries etc.

· Adovocata plans for foreign takeover of even fixed assets such as land, buildings occupied by the military done through downsizing the military.

· Advocata recommends accounting property rents at market value to asses ‘dead capital’ occupied by State.

· Advocata recommends a Land Asset Sales Program ‘to dispose of surplus of underutilized land’ which must be under ‘an independent body free of political influence to minimize corruption’ – in short it is advocating foreigners to control State land.

· February 2018 – Lazard, US-based financial advisory & asset management firm arrives to help attract foreign investments. Lazard operates as an advisory service & as an asset management branch – Lazard puts the cap of privatization advisor it undervalues the price of a company so its asset management branch can but it cheaply & sell it for profit as was done with Royal Mail in UK & Airports & Air Traffic Management in Spain. Is this what is going to happen to Sri Lankan Airlines & others?

Tamara suggests that this ‘dead capital’ is part of yahapalana’s decision to remove at least half of some 50,000 slums in Colombo city limits by 2020 which Megapolis minister Champaka R had announced in August 2017. She cites a government official claiming that the govt’s plan is to go for 99 year lease with an investment of Rs.1.92b per acre. After selling land to foreigners for 99 years how much of that money will go to the citizens welfare?

https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/global-directory/libertad-y-progreso

https://www.atlasnetwork.org/news/article/ten-wins-in-ten-countries-how-atlas-networks-investments-in- economic-freedo

What is noteworthy is how Advocata organized a forum in Oct 2017 partnered with Atlas Network & Canada’s Fraser Institute when the Yahapalana Govt was preparing its 2018 budget. Fraser Institutes annual report gave Sri Lanka a low ranking citing “weaknesses in the legal system and property rights.”

It was therefore no surprise when Yahapalana 2018 budget proposed the integration of ocean-related activities, liberalizing land & shipping, including removal of restrictions on foreign ownership of land, shipping & freight forwarding & establishment of PPP unit.

Tamara also provides the links with US administration, Atlas Network, Advocata, IPS & Mont Pelerin Society

· Prof Suri Ratnapala is on the panel of intellectuals appointed by PM Ranil to advise the Steering Committee & Sub-Committees drafting the new constitution which is chaired by PM, the Mont Pelerin member – the proposals include removal of executive powers of the President, devolution of powers, reforms to the electoral process

· Chris Lingle, senior visiting professor of economics at Advocata

· Fredrik Erixon founder of European Centre for International Political Economy

· Razeen Sally IPS Chairman

· Atlas Network is an extension of US foreign policy & involved in regime change in Latin America – played an important role in Honduras to oust Manuel Zelaya, in Argentina helped topple Cristina Kirchner on corruption, in Venezuela ousted Chavez in 2002, in Brazil establishing scores of think tanks helped divert people’s anger against leading politicians leading to President Dilma Roussef’s impeachment in 2016

· US State Dept & National Endowment for Democracy discretely finances think tanks associated with the Atlas Network

· The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US govt body chaired by the US Secretary of State has a Project Unit physically operating inside the PM’s office inside the Policy Development Unit. Tamara quite rightly asks whether MCC is drafting Sri Lanka’s economic & trade policy and the PM’s ‘Vision 2025’.

According to Tamara the MCC is using the prefix ‘smart’ claiming to deliver ‘smart’ US foreign assistance. Tamara says that the MCC ‘partnerships’ are based on coercion & prior political conditionality. She says traditional foreign aid is based on actual ‘good governance’ while MCC funding depends on confirming commitment without change. In short all reforms recommended for which US capital is to be given will be to protect foreign investors & their investment & they will be walking away with the entire loot! The State will have no opportunity to discuss, change or reverse any commitments once project is finalized & MCC capital is approved.

We have to next wonder whether ‘smart patriots’ came to be defined similarly!

The excellent presentation by Tamara Kunanayagam should shock every single citizen. She has shown how Sri Lanka’s economic sovereignty is being sold to foreign investors, she has highlighted the decline of our political independence and we are walking into an environment that we will not be able to defend our sovereign rights or territory. She has clearly shown how this government has submitted itself meekly to US hegemony purely because its leaders share their common vision of selling Sri Lanka to foreigners returning Sri Lanka to a pre-1815 period.

As a proud citizen she is inspiring every citizen to be aware of the dangers & stand up for the sovereignty, independence & territorial integrity of our island which she says is ‘non-negotiable’.

Hope the media will publish her full presentation without changes.

Shenali D Waduge

9TH ANNIVERSARY - DEFEAT OF TERRORISM

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was a terrorist organization formally based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. This evolved into a full-scale terrorist campaign until 2009, when the LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan Military.

LTTE used vehicle bombs, time bombs, kept bombs aboard planes, buses, cars, truck bombs targeting civilians, they attacked villagers by using automatic weapons, small arms, swords, machetes, clubs and other handheld weapons, suicide missions etc.
LTTE was also involved in human trafficking, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering, extortion, credit card skimming, bank loan absconding The LTTE was accused of having up to 5,794 child soldiers in its ranks since 2001. They had their own Military, Navy and Air-force.
At the start of the final round of peace talks in 2002, the LTTE controlled a 15,000 km2 area.
LTTE was the first militant group to acquire air power and used light aircraft in some of its attacks.

FIRST VICTIM
Prabhakaran began his career by murdering Alfred Duraiappah in 1975, the then mayor of Jaffna.
FIRST MAJOR ATTACK
LTTE killed 13 soldiers in Jaffna on July 23, 1983. The attack and subsequent riots in the south (dubbed Black July) are generally considered as the beginning of the conflict.
FIRST CIVILIAN ATTACK
Nov 3, 1984: LTTE killed 67 civilians including women & children in Dollar & Kent Farms in Weli Oya.

FIRST FULL SCALE OPERATION AGAINST LTTE IN 1987
Operation Liberation or the Vadamarachchi Operation was the military offensive carried out by the Sri Lankan military in May and June 1987 to recapture the territory of Vadamarachchi in the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. It was the first conventional warfare engagement on Sri Lankan soil after the end of British colonial rule.
The offensive started on May 26, 1987, under the leadership of two commanders Brig. Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Col. Vijaya Wimalaratne with 8,000 troops from several battalions. The offensive was successful, and the LTTE leader Prabhakaran and the Sea Tiger leader Soosai narrowly escaped from advancing troops at Velvettithurai.
The Vadamarachchi Operation had cornered the LTTE in Jaffna and were confident of bringing an end to the conflict. The second stage of this operation was launched on June 3, 1987, with the goal of capturing the city of Jaffna, but was abandoned due to Indian pressure. Indian military cargo planes escorted by fighter aircraft dropped humanitarian relief supplies in the Jaffna area on June 4 in Operation Poomalai. Indian forces landed in Sri Lanka on July 29 with the signing of the Indo-lanka accord.
ATTACKS ON RELIGIOUS PLACES
LTTE attacked sacred city of Anuradhapura on 14 May 1985 killing 120 devotees including children and wounding scores of others. LTTE attacked a mosque in Kattankudy on 4 August 1990 & massacred 103 Muslims injured over 70 while they were at prayers. January 25, 1998 LTTE sends a suicide mission to attack Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy killing 13 and damaging the historic site.
ETHNIC CLEANSING
The LTTE has been blamed for forcibly removing Sinhalese and Muslim inhabitants from areas under its control, including the use of violence against those who refuse to leave. Most notably, the LTTE forcibly expelled the entire Muslim population of Jaffna with two hours notice in 1990.
SUICIDE ATTACKS
In July 5, 1987, the LTTE carried out their first suicide attack. "Captain Miller" of the Black Tigers drove a small truck carrying explosives through the wall of a fortified army camp, reportedly killing forty soldiers. From their formation in 1987 until the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, more than 330 Black Tigers made suicide attacks on land and sea. In July 2001, 14 Black Tigers attacked Bandaranaike International Airport, causing an estimated USD 350 million worth of damage, mainly to military and civilian aircraft.
NOTABLE PEOPLE KILLED BY THE LTTE
LTTE is the only terrorist group to have killed 2 international political leaders. One on foreign soil - Rajiv Gandhi, former PM of India & Sri Lanka's President R Premadasa on May Day. LTTE has also made a bid to assassinate President Kumaratunga who escaped but lost her eye sight as a result of the shrapnel.

PEACE ATTEMPTS MADE BY THE GOVERNMENT
Several attempts were made to find a peaceful solution to the conflict with help of foreign countries since 1985. The Government had 5 peace talks (1985, 1990, 1995, 2002 and 2006 with ceasefires and all ended with LTTE regrouping and attacking the civilians and military forces.
Sri Lanka is the first country in recent times in the world to eradicate terrorism on its own soil
For over 25 years, LTTE terrorism caused significant hardship to the population, environment and the economy of the country, with an estimated 80,000 –100,000 people killed during its course. After two decades of fighting and four failed tries of peace talks, including the unsuccessful deployment of the Indian Army, the Indian Peace Keeping Force from 1987 to 1990, the Sri Lankan military forces defeated the LTTE in May 2009, bringing the terrorist war to an end.
EAST OPERATION
In the Eastern Theatre of Eelam War IV, the warfare started in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka on July 21, 2006, when the LTTE cut off the water supply to the paddy fields in the Mavilaru area in the Trincomalee district.
NORTH OPERATION
In 2007, the government forces shifted their offensive to the north of the country, and formally announced their withdrawal from the ceasefire agreement (CFA) on January 2, 2008, charging that the LTTE violated the agreement over 9,000 times.
NANTHIKADAL BATTLE
The 58 , 59 and 53 Divisions of the Army , after having boxed the remaining LTTE cadres into a small area of territory near Nandhikkadal lagoon, linked up and eliminated the remaining cadres. This final battle claimed the lives of several top LTTE leaders, including Jeyam, Bhanu, Lawrence, Pappa, Laxamanan, Nadesan, Pottu Amman, Soosai and Velupillai Prabhakaran who attempted to flee as reported.

MP SUMANTHIRAN’S RABELAISIAN ULTIMATUM?

Ranjith Soysa

TNA MP Sumanthiran voicing the opinion of his party insists that no Buddhist temples should be allowed to be constructed in the North and the East. We, the Sri Lankan people would request Mr Sumanthiran to further clarify his extremely communal statement and to state how the TNA reached such a maverick conclusion.

One wonders whether Sumathiran is attempting to resurrect the once considered important but discarded by the historians, the infamous Cleghorn minute or the TULF manifesto which claimed ..” Tamil Eelam shall consist of the people of the Northern and Eastern provinces” leading to the myth of Tamils traditional homeland. The influx of people of South Indian origin was only around 1650 when the Dutch settled them in Jaffna to work in the tobacco plantations.

TNA should realize that any exclusive claims to any part of land of Sri Lanka was totally rejected and blown over in Nanadikadal. The fact that the Sinhalese lived in the North and the East for more than 2000 years and they have historically important areas in the North and the East cannot be denied. As the land belongs to the State of Sri Lanka and when the people need to be settled in meeting the demand as the population increase as well for the economic and national security objectives decisions will have to be taken from the national point of view rather than on myths.

The Sinhala Buddhists who built the civilization and fought against the foreign rulers as well the separatist forces have the absolute right to build the temples etc in any area of Sri Lanka. No one can attempt to restrict this inalienable right of the Sinhala Buddhists to live and attend to their basic rights in any province. It is very relevant to mention that there is a piece of legislation introduced by the British in 1892 that excluding the Buddhists, all other religious groups should obtain the permission of the Governor to build places of worship.. Are we to assume that the Buddhists in Sri Lanka should agitate to forcefully implement this law?

We request the TNA MP, the TNA and the fellow travellers to DESIST from recreating communal discord and not to get lost in the wash. They are reminded of the paths leading to possible unenviable repercussions of slap-dash racist utterances affecting all Sri Lankans,

HNB Kilinochchi Branch – Commemorating proscribed LTTE during office hours!

The social media relayed 2 horrifying photos of the staff of HNB Branch Kilinochchi commemorating dead LTTE terrorists. Candles were lit in front of an image that had printed Remembering the Tamil Genocide” May 18 War Crimes Day” this comes in the backdrop of a meek & ineffective government allowing the commemoration of a banned terrorist group publicly & even inside the state run Jaffna university. It therefore comes as no surprise when a leading bank in which the Sri Lankan state also has shares is actually commemorating the LTTE during office hours!

The action being taken by the HNB top management against the Manager & the staff is one in which the public will no doubt be watching.

Many have openly stated that the most likely outcome is that the staff member who released the photos will end up the victim & the manager may get a promotion or transfer. Such is the outcome of justice nowadays. If such does happen, it seriously should make depositors to re-evaluate whether they can faith in such a bank. The bank is duty-bound to publicize its findings & issue a public statement in this regard.

Let us not forget, the LTTE started out in the early 1980s by robbing banks. The LTTE is renowned for its ability to gather information on people, their assets & they have in the past kidnapped & sought ransom.

LTTE extortion is rampant in the West in countries like UK, Canada, France & even US where Tamil people are intimidated to monthly donate to the LTTE kitty, those that do not donate, have ended up dead or physically injured.

Anyone doubting this or challenging this may first like to go through Human Rights Watch report

https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/03/14/funding-final-war/ltte-intimidation-and-extortion-tamil-diaspora

In Canada according to the Globe & Mail paper Tamils have to pay $10,000 while Tamil entrepreneurs pay $100,000 each.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/extortion-threats-routine-for-tamils-report-says/article18158687/

We can also recall LTTE had its own Tamileelam bank!

The knowledge of who has how much comes in handy for LTTE to make such demands. This is where the general public must take the commemoration of the LTTE dead inside a leading bank seriously. We have to seriously now wonder how much of banking information is being leaked to external forces of customer accounts by these banking staff.

In UK one Arunesh Thangarajah, 28, has been stabbed to death. When MP Siobhain McDonagh a long time LTTE sympathizer issues a statement on this we have to wonder at the LTTE connections!

http://www.dailynews.lk/2018/05/21/local/151516/sri-lankan-man-stabbed-death-london

France is no different – Tamil Tiger Mafia, a major threat to French society http://asiantribune.com/node/12064

Crimes by Jaffna Tamil Boys in UK

http://www.sinhalanet.net/crimes-by-jaffna-tamil-boys-in-uk

If people can commemorate a banned terrorist organization during office hours – what else can they be not capable of doing! People’s minds are certainly working.

Customers cannot be faulted for having fears of their confidential banking information being leaked to terror sources & even others as a result of this action.

That the Manager has been bold enough to arrange the commemoration for LTTE preparing candles & printing posters while some statement has been read out as can be seen in the photo relayed has more questions than answers. HNB must provide customers & the public answers.

For a Manager to have the guts to actually arrange something of this nature is beyond comprehension – even the security guard is taking part as can be seen from the photo. What is also alarming is that this would have been planned some days in advance, if so why did no one in the staff inform the head office or make an official complaint against it or was such a complaint made & was it ignored. Were there similar commemorations in any of the other 251 HNB branches – the questions are certainly piling.

These are no exaggerations and people commenting on the photo & voicing their views & objections cannot be faulted.

HNB management not only has to take immediate action but they must tender a public apology in particular to all depositors & anyone dealing with HNB who are fast losing confidence in the bank & issue a statement to the effect that May 18 is NO WAR CRIMES DAY, It is NO TAMIL GENOCIDE DAY.

If a bank cannot light a single candle for the soldiers that defeated a terrorist movement, saved close to 300,000 Tamils then they most certainly cannot be allowed to commemorate the LTTE movement that killed thousands of innocent people over 30 years.

If anyone wants to mourn even a terrorist they have all the freedom to do so privately inside their own homes without public display and this is why we are against the commemorations being held openly which are pretending to claim it is to mourn innocent civilians but in reality it is the LTTE dead because LTTE families are taking part, LTTE insignia are being used – LTTE flags, LTTE emblems etc which completely nullifies their claim.

In all probability these LTTE families given that they are from low caste & poor homes must be taking part in these commemorations having being promised some remuneration for appearing for these public tamashas to make political pressure on a very weak, meek & spineless government. Apart from a few hundred present, we do not see thousands representing the supposed to be killed 40,000!

There is no doubt that innocent Tamils were roped into becoming LTTE cadres. It is also true that the majority of Tamils who are now living abroad did so riding on the discrimination tag & wish to have some sort of trouble continuing in order to obtain their refugee status etc. Invariably these LTTErs become the pawns for a selfish game & sadly they are being used by their own people. All LTTE cadres were low caste & from poor families. How many of those who are now enjoying life & holding foreign passports are actually looking after at least one LTTE family except to fund annual tamashas with another agenda in mind?

What are the connections to the LTTE of this Kilinochchi bank manager & the rest of the staff. LTTE being proscribed the State must also conduct its own investigations!

Picture Courtesy – Social Media Sources

HNB is incorporated as a Public Limited Company. Taking over from Rienzie Arseculeratne as Chairman HNB is Dinesh Weerakkody, the Advisor to the PM & son-in-law of Christian Affairs Minister John Amaratunga.

Shenali D Waduge

Sinhale Buddhists – Your Nation Needs You more than ever

You are the majority in our Island. History is witness to your status as majority. History is also witness to how you came forward to defend your soil & protect fellow citizens as the majority should when confronted by invaders from South India and the 3 Christian European countries. History stands witness to the many ways in which you have been divided & kept divided – some of you are even proud to be divided. History is also sadly witness to how your own betrayed for titles & perks and tragically the same is repeating again.

When the island needed to be defended – there were no PR firms or modern day communication channels that beckoned people to come forward to serve the nation. People knew their duty & they did what they knew was the right thing to do. To serve the nation there was no salary and it came with no strings. No one compromised. The nation came first. For Sinhale Buddhists the nation & its alignment with the Buddha’s teachings was a sine quo non – both could not exist without the other. This is what is being now targeted for annihilation & that is exactly why we need to rally in defence of it.

Sinhale denoted essentially the civilization of the Sinhale Buddhists together with others who were living with them. Plugging new nomenclatures as ethnic, races, religion began only after the Europeans invaded & left a legacy of new terms which could keep people ever divided.

In the island of Sinhale, before these Europeans arrived the people were not divided by race, religion was never a problem & they were all citizens of Sinhale – the royal governance followed the dasa raja dhamma, the people followed the concepts of Buddhism while there has been no instances of Hindus & Islam logging any qualms of complaint.

People knew their limits, they knew to respect the other’s space & any incursions were dealt with punishments that were equal to all & known by all. There was certainly better law & order than what exists today!

All that simple living that prevailed across majority of the ancient civilizations changed as a result of the sword & military might by groups that sought to terrorize people & take over their territory & expand their turf. People were forced to replace their hearts & minds with things foreign, they were taught to live & adjust to new cultures, they were presented a totally cosmetic notion of the pastoral life they had been living. Thus, a society that was divided, segregated, separated came into being.

You were also divided. A new socio-religious group came into existence – the Sinhale Christians/Catholics. Unfortunately, many of them have become pawns in the greater game of politics. They religious hierarchy decides which leaders they ought to bring to power. Some are wiser, well-read & they know they have to put country first. Now, more than ever, we need many more of them to come forward to defend the nation.

With time our people were made to forget the great men that built our ancient marvels – the world’s only man-made irrigation systems, the magnificent dagobas, chaityas, Buddha statues – we even built ships on foreign orders. Today we cannot even manufacture a toy ship! There were no architects, there were no engineers, there were no heavy machinery or quality or even quantity surveyors. These marvels stand erect & epitomizes everything we should be proud of. But are we proud? Have we forgotten? Can we forget? There is no future or present without the past. Are there programs in place for us to forget? Can we forget all that our forefathers toiled to achieve? Should we allow our education syllabus to omit this all important past simply because to some it is not fashionable enough or some other foreign cultures are deemed more fashionable?

Is it more fashionable to memorize the achievements of nations with blood soaked hands? The very countries that are bombing the world are the very countries that stole nations & territories, committed genocide of man & animal, disenfranchised people who had been living on lands for centuries & these are the people dictating & writing human rights laws & how international laws should be adjudicated!

That is a question for you to ask your heart & mind. You can copy any other tradition, values, cultures but your roots as a Sinhalese are found in this soil, in these marvels created by our ancient forefathers & mothers. The soil that has shed blood and sacrifice to safeguard it from foreign invaders. These roots cannot be easily broken. Those who deem it a pride to copy & follow other cultures & values, all that we ask is, do not demean the heritage Sinhale culture & its people. Go your own ways peacefully.

Every person who says ‘I hate being Sinhalese’ ‘I hate being a Buddhist’ exactly what have these people as Sinhalese done to even be associated as a Sinhalese. What have they done as a Buddhist to find fault with Buddhism? Their statements only make the world laugh at them and we must pity them.

Of course, we must learn to respect other cultures, other traditions but we don’t need to replace ours with theirs or have theirs replaced with ours.

Respect comes in understanding that there is no reconciliation without reciprocity. You cannot take or demand what you are not prepared to give or forsake. Such a simple thought but people today make demands only. What have they given in return. They ridicule our nation, they have countless lists of its faults – but what have they contributed to make the nation a better place? Our actions decide the state of a nation. Our inputs turn a nation to greatness. If our nation is on the decline it depicts the weaknesses of our own inputs. We need to uplift ourselves to turn Sinhale once more into a great nation.

As we look around the world, what is the happiness we see. All but 11 countries in the world do not have some sort of conflict. What 8 people own is equivalent to the combined wealth of 3.2billion people. There are millions of people who are hungry, who do not have a roof over their heads, who earn just $1 a day, who have no access to water, who cannot read or write & these figures are not relevant to only the third world but to first world developed countries too. So where or who has developed? Is this the formula we want to continue?

We suffered for over 400 years under colonial rule – are we to suffer another 400 years of neocolonial rule?

Why must Sinhalese defend our nation?

In 1815 our own handed over our island to our enemy. That sealed our fate for 133 years. We are in our 70^thyear of independence and the signs we see are no good. Handing over land ownership to foreigners, allowing them zones that treat citizens as trespassers, signing detrimental agreements without exit clauses and overlooking the national security aspects in such agreements are all signs that our island is seeing the same betrayals as that which happened in 1815.

Our people were showered with goodies in return for handing over an entire island and the same is happening now probably the same treacherous DNA bloodline continues. If that be so, the DNA of those that defended the nation must still be in those that must now come forward to defend the nation, to inspire others to do the same.

Sinhale Buddhists remember & never forget – We have nowhere else to go to. No other nation will welcome us.

We evolved on this island. We have a distinct language, distinct culture, values & an unbroken Buddhist heritage. We must protect, defend & preserve that.

People who say they live in fear here have not seen how people are tased, how people are pepper sprayed, how people are even anus searched in other countries simply if a police claims he is suspicious of a person. The incidents taking place in the West are really shocking & it should make any to value our island as a real paradise.

No country is perfect. No people are perfect. We are all humans with shortcomings. We may have different colour skins, follow different religions, customs, traditions & cultures but we all die one day & death makes no differentiation whether a person is rich or poor, comes from the First World or Third World, is educated or not.

We all, have a duty – we have a duty to first be good people, lead lives of integrity, follow a virtuous path, look after our elders our children & home, respect others & be good citizens. All that cannot prevail if we do not have a safe country to call our own & for that we must together protect the land of our birth the land that has roots to our heritage & the land that our history evolved from.

Come forward – protect & defend all that you grew up in because you need to keep our nation in tact so that your child can pass it down to his/her children and they need to pass it down to theirs too.

Imagine One Nation for Our children. That is Our future.

When the enemy comes to your doorstep – what do you do?

Runaway or Defend your Nation?

Shenali D Waduge

SRILANKA, DEMOCRACY, BARTER SYSTEM (COLLATERAL)

AND DEMOCRATIC CORRUPTION

Kanthar Balanathan

Democracy is defined as a set of principles and practices that protect human freedom. It is defined as the codification and management of freedom. It is also said as to rest upon basic, entrenched principles, not uniform practices. It is also known that Democratic societies are committed to the values of tolerance, cooperation, and compromise.

Principles of Democracy is, Majority Rule while protecting Minority Rights. Nowhere in the world democracy is defined as bribery, collaterals, barter system, and corruption to grab power.

Uganda Office of the Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung, in its document “A Guide for Peer Educators”, states Democracy as Quote (1 of 8): “A system of rule by the poor and disadvantaged”. This may not be accepted as true, liberal, democracy in the third world.

It is questionable whether ideal or practical democracy prevails in any third world/developing country. The main reason is lack of understanding of the principles of democracy, shared benefits, cooperation, and acceptance. The absence of readiness to accept propositions from alternative body or person(s), and give up a handful of their own, is mainly the dominance character of humans around the world. Mainly, positive, constructive suggestions and submissions from one group can be disregarded and discounted, due to self-assumed, inflated nous of being better than others.

The first world (West, Europe, Australia) is presumed to practice democracy to at least near ≈ 90%-95%. The reason attributed to the shortfall of ≈ 5%-10% could be questionable, whether the country is policing and controlling political activities under cover of national security or any other reason. This is debatable anyway. Some political party in the West earn their collateral in the form of votes from refugees and migrated (legal & Illegal) minorities which are considered an inferior form of democracy. Some political parties also support refugee migration, not having a liking, however, to gain their support for votes. It's slapdash, haphazard and disgraceful in democracy.

In SriLanka, the electoral system is totally different. The election for MPs is conducted by proportional representation, where an electoral system in which parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes casted for them. This results in no MP is responsible for any electorate. MPs go scot-free for inefficiency, incapability, corrupt practices, and laziness. Government allocates money to be spent to develop an electorate. However, these MPs keep the funds in their pockets and use for their private purpose or election spending(bribery)

For example, within the Northern Provincial Council boundary, no Councillor is responsible for any electorate. Same for the other Councils. Same as parliamentary MPs. Some good patriotic councilor(s) select an area based on their own caste and use a small amount to buy tables, buckets, and chairs.

Three general types:

· Plurality electoral systems. Also called “first-past-the-post” or “winner-take-all” systems, plurality systems simply award a seat to the individual candidate who receives the most votes in an election.

· Majority of electoral systems.

· Proportional representation.

Why do the parties in power formulate such a political framework?

Rich, astute, calculating & foxy men form a club and form a political party. Only people who will become to act a slave to the top hierarchy will be admitted to the party. No intellectual may be admitted unless he will act a slave. Therefore, in a proportional representation system, it is a club of the rich and the cunning run the system. Once they come to power they twist and shape up the constitution and the legal system so that they can trickle out of the legal system.

The top hierarchy studies the weakness of the people and campaign they will work for it. In the case of SriLankan Tamils, since 1949, the slogan of Federalism and Tamil Eelam consolidated by SJVC is still the show running full house. However, in the recent decades, we are able to see the shift of the Tamils towards the patriotic move. Some have shifted towards, SriLanka as their country and consolidated the concept of one nation, one country.

However, the Federal party stooges are still moving with the blind theory and blunt sword of separation fooling the masses, and recent decade, the University students come out and fight.

The SriLankan political club members have evaded from their responsibility of serving their people by the proportional system of government. People in Matara, Vaddukoddai does not know who their Member of Parliament is. Recently a media published that a Provincial Council member got her relative a job in his/her division, however, the said person hardly come to work. Another media statement published that a council minister was collecting a salary for ghost workers. This was happening in the 50s: some Tamil engineers were titled “Casual Sun”, as they collected a salary for non-working (Ghost staff) staff under the casual register. These are all the illegal practices carried by politicians, however, can the voters punish these hoodlums?

In SriLanka and India, politicians buy their votes from voters by paying them money, packets of Biriyani, bottles of liquor, or in some form to get their votes. Voters do not realize the act of the politician that they are been purchased for votes. Uneducated and some educated fools vote for the politician. Virtually there exist some form of collateral for the campaign.This can also be understood as a form of Barter system. Well theoretically, ethically, and logically, this means that the politician has

no responsibility to offer any services to the electorate.

Finally, the democratic system is kinked with a political bow distorting the democratic process and lead the country to corrupt practices.

In 2015 when the current good governance (in theory) came into power by hook or crook with the aid of the West and corrupt practice, was there a barter system threaded in with the sale of the Reserve bank bond? Why was the bond sale approved? Was it for funds for the election campaign?

Finally, whom can the system blame?

1. Democracy?

2. Politicians?

3. Citizens / Voters?

4. Political system?

5. Political Culture?

6. The culture of the people?

7. If it is a culture of the people, then what is the grass root of the problem?

8. Who is gaining financially, politically?

9. Finally, what happens? Does it blow to an unproportionate size and drive the country to poverty?

The situation in SriLanka is that Tamil politicians maintain their political seat by campaigning for secession, separation and with the racial campaign. They have absolutely no responsibility for the development of the region. Somehow Tamil younger generation with their free education, qualify and leave the country. What happens next? These people go to foreign countries and campaign for secession. The world should be able to see from the media, the amount of rowdyism around the countries by the LTTE hoodlums. Some Heads of States in the West are sucked into their campaign, by their absurdity or what?

Getting closer to the election Tamil politicians intensify their demand for separation and Tamil Eelam. The people do not understand the actions of the politicians that they are fooling around. They cannot even question as to what development they have done so far?

“The morality of a person, politician, and citizen plays the foremost, imperative role in understanding and practising factual democracy. An immoral person cannot be a good person to enter politics, as his actions would be against moral principles”

This is 21^st-century democracy in the third world.

THE MAKERS OF SRI LANKAN HISTORY Part 1

H. L. D. Mahindapala

When the Buddha asked the Yakkahas a place to sit (T)he yakkhas thus answered the Blessed One: We all, O Lord, give you even the whole of our island. Give us release from our fear” – Mahavamsa – 1: 27-29.

The pioneering Indo-Aryan settlers, who came to be known as Sinhalese later, never stopped making history from the time they stepped ashore. Their uniqueness was in making monumental history which they left behind as their legacy for their successors to accept it with serene joy and emotion of the pious”, to quote the memorable refrain in the Mahavamsa (MV). The task of making history came naturally to them from the moment they landed because each step they took added great meaning to their lives. Each step they took to explore and transform the land into fertile fields of culture and agriculture confirmed to them that their future depended on making their new found land their home. History was made by bonding with the land. They took to the land like duck to water. There was no formidable opposition to them when they arrived. They were the kings of the land they surveyed. They also knew that there was no turning back. They had severed their umbilical cord with India. They did not have one foot in their new land and another in old India like most of the other settlers who came later, particularly those who came from the Dravidian culture of South India.

Above all the Indo-Aryan settlers knew that they had to take their destiny into their hands. And they did so in grand style by creating a new history that equalled any one of the ancient civilisations. Jetawanaramaya, for instance, is the second largest monument, next to the Pyramids, constructed in the ancient world. They gave the world a new civilisation. A new culture. A new language. A new way of life. The new settlers triumphed by establishing Indo-Aryan supremacy in every sphere. No other migrants who came later could match the exemplary standards set by the Indo-Aryans. Each new step was a decisive move to pave the way into their future which they were determined to create and defend, mindful of the good of all”. (MV – IV:7).

What happened in Sri Lankan history in the pioneering stages was the Aryanisation of the island-nation. It matured into a formidable force down the ages, resisting all other migrations, invasions, colonisation, and even integrations with the Dravidian itinerants in particular. The rise of the Dravidian civilization in S. India brought with it the inevitable culture wars. However, the everlasting character that dominated Sri Lankan history has been the triumph of the Indo-Aryan culture over the incursions of the Dravidian culture. The unshakeable foundations laid by Indo-Aryan pioneers stood the test of time. The founding fathers wrote their tryst with destiny in the very first chapters of the history they made on their arrival.

In essence, it is the clash between these two cultures that shaped the history of the nation. If by any chance the Aryan culture went under the power of the neighbouring Dravidians the history of Sri Lanka would have been written in Tamil. It is the successful resistance to the Dravidian and other invasive cultures that determined the unique identity of Sri Lankan history. In fact, the similarities between the pre-colonial and the post-colonial histories are remarkable: both phases were dominated by the clash of the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian cultures on Sri Lankan soil. The Indo-Aryans established their supremacy from the time of their arrival. For instance, those who remember Chapter XXV of the Mahavamsa, where the central issues arising from the clash of Aryan-Dravidian forces are dramatised, will no doubt hear echoes of Vijithapura – the last of the victorious battles in 13-year war against Elara — whistling in the cold winds sweeping across Nandikadal. Mahinda Rajapakse defeating Velupillai Prabhakaran is history repeating the clash of these two cultures, with the Indo-Aryans triumphing once again over the Dravidians.

The dominant theme running through Sri Lankan history has been the struggle of the pioneering Indo-Aryans and their descendants to overthrow the usurping late-comers – the Dravidians, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. All the invaders were temporary occupiers of the island — the territory which was handed over to the founding fathers as a gift in exchange for the release from our fear”. The opening quote from the Mahavamsa summarises the mission handed over to the founders of the Indo-Aryan civilisation. Each time the nation was regained from the alien occupiers by the rightful owners it was freed from fear. Establishing a whole new culture and civilisation as a protective frontier, guarding against invasive anti-Indo-Aryan values, has been to rid the nation of its fear. Resisting, defending, waging wars against the enemies of the nation has been another means of saving the island from fear. The best energies of the nation throughout its history have been spent on releasing the island from worldly and other worldly fears. History was made from the beginning by dispelling fears.

The common task of all contemporaries, living in the history bequeathed by their pioneering predecessors, has been to renew and defend the legacies inherited from the ancestral history-makers. Some do claim that history is the dead hand that lies heavily on the backs of the living. Whether dependence on history is a good or bad legacy is debatable. But the instinctive reaction of the living generations to take refuge in their past recurs regularly, partly because it is not possible to sever the umbilical cord and partly because it is in the genes to adhere to the inherited vision and values for survival. After all, our ancestors, we are told, laboured to create a place lawful according to tradition” (MV – IV:54) and mindful of the good of all”. With each new step the pioneering Sinhalese settlers knew that they were defining and strengthening their way forward to their destiny in their land of hope. The bonding power of the history they made each day kept them magnetically drawn to the realm which they filled with their collective and existential experiences. It gave them an indelible sense of history which they gathered in their journey to keep their tryst with destiny.

Their mission was to carve out new paths to enter the main stream of history with their own creative energies. Their rapid advancement makes it obvious that they arrived on the shores with all the Indo-Aryan tools, accoutrements, and experiences to construct a new home. But the greater historical truth is that they broke away from their past and set out on a brand new course to create a new civilisation. Naturally, their commitment and affinity to the land grew exponentially with their daring endeavours to find their way in unchartered territories guided by their own instincts and ingenuity. In other words, they made history with their bare hands and history, in turn, acclaimed their glorious attainments enshrined in the legacy left behind by the genius of the founding fathers.

Driven by their primary instincts and visions of the future the early settlers knew that they were here to stay and, in the process, they committed themselves to either do or die. They either had to make this their homeland or wither away into the margins of history like the very first settlers, the aboriginals,(Veddahs), whom they encountered on their arrival. They also knew that they had to do it themselves. There was no one else to do it for them, or guide them. There was no compass to show directions. Their affinity to the land grew with ever increasing commitment to their bit of earth they adopted and cultivated to make it their only home.

The legacy they left behind reveals that they were gifted with the creative capacity to make history on a grand scale. They were determined to leave behind a legacy that would make their descendants proud inheritors of a glorious past. With their creativity and the force of history which they made with their blood, sweat and tears, they advanced incrementally into one of the great civilisations of the ancient world, defining on their way forward their identity, dignity and destiny with unquestionable certainty.

As time receded into the ever-expanding past they stood out as a unique force in human history, as stated earlier, creating a new language, new culture and a new civilisation on Sri Lankan soil. No other settler had the commitment, the inclination, the necessity and the capacity to break away from their past and carve out a new world which they could call their new and creative contribution to human history. Only the daring Sinhalese took on the overwhelming challenges of their times and transformed the land, opening up every inch of it for all those who want to call it their sacred home. Their pioneering mission was to make the land blossom with a new culture and civilisation and to preserve both in an open society for all settlers to share it as their homeland based on peaceful coexistence. Tolerant pluralism, embracing diversity, was the secret of their success throughout their journey in history. There were, of course, the inevitable aberrations which took its course, branching out briefly into billabongs and, eventually, returning to merge with the normalcy of the mainstream culture.

Guided by these organising principles they set out to undertake their biggest enterprise of minting a brand new history that could stand shoulder to shoulder with all the other histories of mankind. Filled with hope, determination and courage they explored the virgin land and tamed wild nature to make it an island nation with a unique culture that was not found in any other recorded history. The founding fathers left their footprints on every micro-mini grain of sand in the land they occupied as they inched their way into the unknown future and peeled the darkness with their determined hands and minds to reveal all its glories to their successors. By the time the Dravidians, the Portuguese, Dutch and the British worked their way into Sri Lanka they discovered a flourishing, advanced civilisation well established and well equipped to combat the challenges that came with them. By the time the second wave of settlers, the Dravidians, decided to build permanent homes in the North in the 13^th century the Sinhalese had reached the peak of their great classical civilisation. The Dravidians, like the rest of the migrants, could not catch up with the unique achievements of the Sinhalese. Besides, like the other migrants, they remained as docile imitators of the culture from which they came.

The Sinhala settlers had no reason to look back, either in despair or nostalgia, because they took to the land as if it had been a gift promised to them by the hidden forces of history to fulfil their destiny. As they dug deep roots into the soil their ties to the land became inseparable and indivisible. Propelled by the fervour of pioneering adventurers the history they made together kept them together.

The instinctive urge among the Sinhalese to make history was irresistible. They paid their dues to the adopted land by constructing everlasting monuments as tributes to their time in history. The over-arching historical foundations, creations, inventions, achievements and glories were so overwhelming that those who came later were quite pleased and content to discover that all what they had to do was to share their lives in the shady shelters of history constructed by the founding fathers. The new-comers were like the creepers that twined round the old giant trees that towered over the landscape providing shelter to the undergrowth springing up at the roots of ancient and medieval foundations.

After abandoning the original homes in India, digging new roots in a new land was not an easy task, as any migrant would know. But that is what our ancestors, our founding fathers, had to do. Their pioneering task was to lay the foundations for their descendants to survive, prosper and bask in the historic legacy left behind for the good of all”, with justice for all settlers sharing the new civilisation and culture. The bell that hung over the bed head of Elara rings for justice right through the pages of the Mahavamsa for all.

The Sinhalese were not only obsessed with making history but were also imbued with almost a religious sense of history, a sense of being one with the land driving them forward perennially, irresistibly, towards serene joy” and emotions of the pious”. That driving force of history ran in their blood. As noted by leading historiographers, no other settlers possessed that sense of history. Among the countries of South and South East Asia,” wrote Prof. S. Pathmanathan, the leading Tamil historian and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka is the only one where a tradition of historical writing was developed and maintained for nearly two thousand years.” (p.3 – Facets of Sri Lankan History and Culture, Kumaran Book House, Colombo, 2015).

Bishop R. S. Copleston wrote: It is one of the peculiar distinctions of the Island, that from early times it has possessed historians. The Sinhalese stand alone, or almost alone, among the Indian peoples as having had an interest in history. Their Chronicles are the oldest, I believe, and for centuries the only instances of histories in the Indian world…” (Royal Asiatic Society (Ceylon Branch) JCBRAS XII, No.43, 1892, pp161-172)

Oddly enough, the non-Aryan settlers had not shown a similar commitment to the land, or a deep sense of history. Nor do they possess historians of the calibre of Bhikku Mahanama, the father of history in Sri Lanka, to keep them tied to a sacred past. This may be partly because the hearts and souls of the non-Aryan migrants were tied to the land they left behind and partly because their main interests were to live off the land and exploit its resources without any commitment to the land, or paying anything back in return. Using fashionable theories they opted to blame the pioneering Sinhalese who opened their arms and gave them refuge rather than coexist peacefully as good neighbours. After enjoying the benefits and the generosity of the land – most of which were denied to the oppressed Dravidian settlers by the ruling masters in their neck of the woods — they aggressively claimed ownership to one-third of the coastline and its hinterland based on dubious links to a mythical past.

So to whom does the land belong? Does it belong to those who made history from day one to share the historical terrain in common with all other late-comers, or to those who manufacture history as a latter-day political enterprise engaged in carving out racist enclaves based on the arrogance of myths? Since the Northern manufacturers of history depend essentially on their questionable history to make exclusive claims on the land it is necessary to ask whether those who came as destroyers and temporary occupiers like the Portuguese, Dutch and the British have the right to occupy any part of the land exclusively as their property. Of course, fashionable political theories can be used to justify self-determination” which is also a contested notion.

Anyway, the history of the ownership of land has flowed into post-independent politics as the central issue. It dominates politics even today. Understanding the making of history that flowed into the underlying currents of today’s politics is critical to finding a way forward. Distorted history invariably leads to distorted politics. History has many uses and users. But it is the abuses/abusers of history that had distorted the past to be bedevil the present for the living

SRILANKA, DEMOCRACY, BARTER SYSTEM (COLLATERAL)

AND DEMOCRATIC CORRUPTION

Kanthar Balanathan

Principles of Democracy is, Majority Rule while protecting Minority Rights. Nowhere in the world democracy is defined as bribery, collaterals, barter system, and corruption to grab power.

Uganda Office of the Konrad- Adenauer-Stiftung, in its document “A Guide for Peer Educators”, states Democracy asQuote (1 of 8): “A system of rule by the poor and disadvantaged”. This may not be accepted as true, liberal, democracy in the third world.

It is questionable whether ideal or practical democracy prevails in any third world/developing country. The main reason is lack of understanding ofthe principles of democracy, shared benefits, cooperation, and acceptance. The absence of readiness to accept propositions from alternative body or person(s), and give up a handful of their own, is mainly the dominance character of humans around the world. Mainly, positive, constructive suggestions and submissions from one group can be disregarded and discounted, due to self-assumed, inflated nous of being better than others.

The first world (West, Europe, Australia) is presumed to practicedemocracy to at least near ≈ 90%-95%. The reason attributed to the shortfall of ≈ 5%-10% could be questionable, whether the country is policing and controlling political activities under cover of national security or any other reason. This is debatable anyway. Some political party in the West earn their collateral in the form of votes from refugees and migrated (legal & Illegal) minorities which are considered an inferior form of democracy. Some political parties also support refugee migration, not having a liking, however,to gain their support for votes. It'sslapdash, haphazard and disgraceful in democracy.

Three general types:

· Majority of electoral systems.

· Proportional representation.

Why do the parties in power formulate such a political framework?

Rich, astute, calculating & foxy men form a club and form a political party. Only people who will become to act a slave to the top hierarchywill be admitted to the party. No intellectual may be admitted unless he will act a slave. Therefore, in a proportional representation system, it is a club of the rich and the cunning run the system. Once they come to power they twist and shape up the constitution and the legal system so that they can trickle out of the legal system.

The top hierarchy studies the weakness of the people and campaign they will work for it. In the case of SriLankan Tamils, since 1949, the slogan of Federalism and Tamil Eelam consolidated by SJVC is still the show running full house. However, in the recent decades, we are able to see the shift of the Tamils towards the patrioticmove. Some have shifted towards, SriLanka as their country and consolidated the concept of one nation, one country.

However, the Federal party stooges are still moving with the blind theory and blunt sword of separation fooling the masses, and recent decade, the University students come out and fight.

has no responsibility to offer any services to the electorate.

Finally, the democratic system is kinked with a political bow distorting the democratic process and lead the country to corrupt practices.

Finally, whom can the system blame?

1. Democracy?

2. Politicians?

3. Citizens / Voters?

4. Political system?

5. Political Culture?

6. The culture of the people?

7. If it is a culture of the people, then what is the grass root of the problem?

8. Who is gaining financially, politically?

9. Finally, what happens? Does it blow to an unproportionate size and drive the country to poverty?

This is 21^st-century democracy in the third world.

In the name of a misunderstood identity, Lankan Muslims are getting isolated: Prof. Ali

By Frances Bulathsinghala Courtesy Daily FT

Sri Lanka is currently wedged between Buddhist fundamentalism and rigid Orthodox Islam that have made inroads into the country in the past 40 years or so. Both Buddhists and Muslims have forgotten the magnanimity and tolerance of the Sinhalese who welcomed Muslims into the country centuries ago. Sadly, Muslims have forgotten that they embraced Sri Lankan and not Arabian culture when they decided to live in Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans. It was Buddhist compassion, which made Buddhist monarchs of ancient Sri Lanka welcome believers of other religions and extended their unparalleled hospitality. The experience of the Muslim minority in Sri Lanka until ethno-nationalism raised its ugly head in the 20th century was pleasantly unique,” says Professor Ameer Ali, a scholar of Economics and the former President of the Australian Federation of Islam Councils. Prof. Ameer Ali juxtaposes his analysis of the history of Buddhist compassion in Sri Lanka with explanations of the cosmopolitan outlook of Islam in the medieval era that allowed the Caliphate to welcome intellectuals and theologians of other faiths to settle in Baghdad, Cordoba, Istanbul and Delhi, which ultimately produced a civilisation unmatched by any other at that time. He explains that the convivencia” model in Muslim Spain, which allowed people of different faiths to administer their affairs according to their own religious principles and traditions, had a parallel in ancient and medieval Sri Lanka where the Buddhist monarchs also did not interfere in the administration of Muslim affairs. Muslims in turn did not have any qualms in living peacefully amongst their Buddhist hosts. This is how religious harmony and social equilibrium was built in Sri Lanka. This is the need of the day,” states Prof. Ameer Ali who holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Western Australia and has taught Economics in the University of Ceylon, Murdoch University, University of Brunei and the University of Western Australia.

Below is a discussion with Prof. Ameer Ali:

Q: Why don’t the Muslim intelligentsia, writers, opinion leaders including political leaders, address the issue of the growing cultural gap between the Muslims and other Sri Lankans? Why don’t they even introspect and debate this issue among themselves?

A: Everyone is scared of the orthodox ulema controlled by ACJU, who may issue a fatwa calling such scholars as heretics. The tragedy is that the so called intellectuals do not want to speak out in public although in private they concede that the community needs progressive leadership. One can forget about the politicians because they will lose votes if they criticise the status quo.

Q:Until Wahabi–Salafi Islam was imported into Sri Lanka fromSaudi Arabia, Sri Lankan Muslims had a strong Lankan identity that was especially strong during the days of the Lankan monarchy, which led to Muslims being given refuge in the East of the country by the then Lankan King so they could escape fromconversions to Catholicism forced by the Portuguese. And we know Muslims were very much part of the Buddhist culture and traditions of Sri Lanka, such as making offerings to the Kandyan Pererahera festivities. But this has been changing with the rise of puritanical Islam. Do you think this distancing away from Lankan identity by Sri Lankan Muslims and embracing a Saudi Islamic identity and a dress code, is the root of Sinhala Buddhist fears and extremist views/phobias by some members of the Buddhist clergy and some Sinhala Buddhists?

A: Muslims confuse culture with religion. Religion is only one of the elements that make up one’s culture. Local history and traditions, geography and climate, population mix and language are other elements that influence culture. In the case of dress any dress can be Islamic as long as it complies with the requirement about modesty as emphasised in the Holy Quran. Muslims still do not have a clear idea about the term modesty. Extravagant display of one’s beauty is frowned upon in Islam. In fact that sort of display is not encouraged in any religion.

However, the dress one wears must be suitable to the climatic environment of one’s country. What is necessary in a hot desert environment is not suitable in a humid climatic environment like Sri Lanka. The cotton sari worn by Indian and Sri Lankan women for centuries with a piece of it covering the head is Islamic enough and satisfies the modesty requirement. The Pakistani shalwar with a shawl thrown over the head also satisfies Quranic expectation and climatically suitable.

I remember that in the ‘60s and ‘70s even Sinhalese and Tamil girls were wearing the shalwar to schools and work. But the abaya, niqab, and burka belong to another culture, history and environment. They are a product of a patriarchal society which treated the woman as a piece of property.The colour black, which was the colour of the Abbasids who succeeded the Umayyads in the 8th century, was chosen to mourn for the loss of members of the Prophet’s family killed by the Umayyads. It has now been misconstrued as the Islamic colour. Who are these people mourning for now?

Q:Modesty is equally emphasised in the Quran for men and women. Am I right? If so, in practice, why is it taken out of proportion for women, where it is a common sight in venues such as restaurants or outdoors to see fully covered women accompanied by men in shorts?

A:Modesty is both for men and women. I know several incidents where fully covered women have been unnecessarily put into embarrassing situations. This is unwanted and should be avoided.Only education can bring changes and that education has to come from the pulpit from more enlightened imams. Where are they in Sri Lanka?

Q:In basic social psychology it is clear that when a human being dresses covered up from head to toe, with only eyes visible, (and that too at times covered in net or cloth) that there can be no social interaction. In schools and universities this can lead to serious segregation and promotion of the ghetto mentality that is displayed by sections of the Muslim community of Sri Lanka. Do you think being covered up like this is actually a requirement of Islam which was at one point of history seen as being more progressive than Christianity?

A: In the name of a misunderstood identity, Muslims are getting isolated. This is a regrettable development since 1980s. There is also something unfair about the fully covered dress with a window for the eyes to see. While it allows the wearer to see clearly the full figure of a man in front of her, that opportunity is denied to the man in front to see the wearer’s face. Is this fair? There is a saying in Tamil to the effect that one’s face is the reflection of the beauty of one’s heart. That means those who cover their face actually are covering their heart. May be their heart is ugly.

Q:After your recent talk ‘Buddhist Compassion and Islam’s cosmopolitanism’, at the Walpola Rahula Institute on 15 May, you referred to a recent incident in a Tamil school in the East where one Muslim teacher insisted on dressing in the abaya. You took the side of argument of the Tamil teachers stating that the dominant culture of the school should be respected and that the ‘human rights argument’ was not valid in this context. As an observer, I would simplify your comments as meaning that in a multi cultural society there must be some compromise and give and take between communities, depending on the dominant culture of the district/community/location, etc. How would you elaborate on this and advice both Buddhists and Muslims on how to adjust their ideologies and beliefs and avoid rigid carved in stone mentalities.

A: Tolerance and compromise are essential elements of successful democracies. If someone wants to join or work for an institution then that person should abide by the rules and regulations of that institution. If unwilling to do that one should not go there at all. It is this principle that was broken at that school in Trincomalee, which led to unwarranted accusations and insults. If you want to enter a mosque you should take off your shoes. You cannot enter with your shoes and then argue in terms of human rights.

Q: Soon after your recent talk you mentioned in the discussion that ensued, that the Sharia Law tells Muslims how to behave towards and live with religious groups that make up a minority populace but that it does not teach Muslims how to live as a minority community under a majority ethnic group. What are your recommendations and advice to the custodians of Islam (the Islamic clergy of Sri Lanka)?

A: What the clergy refers to as Sharia is the fiqh or rules and regulations derived from the Quran and Hadiths by Muslim Jurists who lived in the 8th and 9th centuries. They did an excellent job at that time. These rules fall into different schools of interpretation. What we have in Sri Lanka belong to the Safiite school of Islamic jurisprudence even though there is a small minority that follows other schools of jurisprudence. These rules were derived and prescribed for Muslims by Muslims when Muslims were a hegemonic power.

Today more than one-third of world Muslims live as minorities in more than 100 countries. Time and circumstances have changed and the laws need reforms. Muslim experts in the West are currently engaged in compiling a new set of fiqh to meet current challenges. This is a vast topic impossible to cover adequately in this answer. All I can say is this: There is hardly any Islamic religious scholar or religious institution in Sri Lanka today that is equipped with the vast knowledge which is required to reinterpret the holy texts to meet modern challenges.

Q: In the discussion that took place after your lecture at the Walpola Rahula Institute, I asked you a question on whether the Muslim clergy (as in the case of the Catholic Jesuits) are involved incomparative religious studies (for the cause of promoting similarities in religious philosophies and not for the cause of nitpicking and fault finding, as Salafi Islamic preacher Zakir Naik does) and you replied that under the current Wahabi–Salafi surge that there is ‘no chance of it’. Then, where do we begin? I ask this question in the backdrop of Saudi Arabia currently going on a ‘modernising’ spree and where interestingly some social media posts by Lankan Muslims criticise this move.

A: Comparative religious studies and analytical religious studies stopped in the Muslim world after the 12th century. The study of Kalam as it was known then came to a halt and it should be reintroduced. In a plural society like Sri Lanka, everyone should have an understanding of each other’s religion, not to belittle the others or to convert one to the other, but to create a harmonious relationship among believers of different religions. This should be introduced in our schools.

Q: So you think comparative religious philosophy should be incorporated into the Lankan school curricula and education on ethno religious lines abandoned?

A: This is imperative.

Q: Would you agree that it is important to study one’s own religious roots through other lenses (other than faith alone) such as history, anthropology, philosophy and psychology?

A:This is a must. It was on that basis that the Muslim philosophers of the Abbasid era were able to provide rational explanations to the verses in the Quran.

Q: Islamic history is replete with poets who shone in their wisdom and mystical poetry where pure love equals the concept of God and beauty is spoken of as a pure wonder of God. Sadly this richpoetic legacy is not kept alive or promoted widely today.Your thoughts?

A:It is a strange irony in history of Islam that the entire poetic works of Rumi, Hafiz, Saadi, Nijami, Khayyam and many other Sufis are bubbling with beauty and divine romance, and the revolt of orthodoxy in the 12th century has killed this heritage. The Wahabi imams have even prohibited music. According to the Quran, Prophet David was given the gift of music. If God has given music as a gift to one of his prophets, who is man to prohibit it? What an irony?

Q: In attending many interesting public seminars held in Sri Lanka such those on Vedic philosophy/Buddhist philosophy, I have found the audience is mixed to include Sri Lankan Christians, Catholics, Buddhists and Hindus (including clergy members) but almost always (unless it is some specifically NGO funded event) Muslims are notable absentees. Could you comment?

A: This is unfortunate and adds further to the isolation of Muslims.Even secular Muslim scholars find it difficult to attract a Muslim audience when they want to speak on a mundane subject. To that extent the clergy has indoctrinated the Muslim masses with anti-secular teachings. This indoctrination has a long history for me to elaborate in full.

Q:You opined during your recent talk that ‘if one cannot live with a Sinhala Buddhist villager, one cannot live with anyone’. You referred to many humane qualities inherent in the Sinhalese villager. How do you think the situation has come to current state that there is a lot of hate against Muslims expressed by some Sinhalese Buddhists?

A: They can see a definite change in the external appearance of Muslim men and women which is confronting. To the ordinary villager something that is unordinary creates fear and suspicion. This is natural in any society.Why do we make ourselves the other” by unwanted changes? This is not intentional on the part of Muslims but an unintended consequence of mimicking features foreign to this country and its culture.

Q: Sufis and Malay Muslims are some of the Islamic communities in Sri Lanka that are struggling to keep their identity and beliefs amidst the Wahabi dominance that has asserted itself in this country. Sufism was once dominant in Sri Lanka and Sufi saints/poets/preachers who propagated universal love and wisdom based from the Quran have won much love and popularity across the world. Do you think that the philosophy of Sufism, which is seen as a pacifist branch of Islam as opposed to the current militant Islam, could ‘save the world’ so to speak?

A: Sufism is inclusive whereas Wahabi conservatism is exclusive. By condemning Sufism and destroying sufi shrines these conservatives have caused irreparable damage to a cosmopolitan civilisation. I will give you a simple example, which I observed while in Sri Lanka a few days ago. The mosque at Kataragama, which also has a sufi shrine, is neglected by the community while it has constructed ostentatious mosques in other places. Kataragama is a place where all religions meet and all worshippers gather. In addition, tourists from foreign countries also visit this place. Shouldn’t this mosque be kept beautiful and attractive?

Compare the beauty of the mosque and its shrine in Nagoor in Tamil Nadu, which attracts not only Muslim devotees but also Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and so on. I feel that either the Department of Muslim Religious Affairs or the Wakf Board should take over this mosque and manage it. Wahabism hates the Sufis and that explains the neglect of this shrine. This again is a vast topic for me to cover in this answer. While militant Islam, like militant Buddhism divides communities, Sufism like the true Dhamma unites them.

Q: You described yourself as a rationalist. Could you explain from the rationalist point of view the freedom for people not to believe in God (where their morals are dictated by rationale and conscience, which functions independently of religion)? I ask this in context where in some parts of the world people are lynched for even a vague questioning of what Islam expects people to believe although the actual reality is that the crux of religions such as Christianity and Islam is based more on the individual versions of Prophets across the Old Testament, the New Testament and also the Quran. Don’t you think it is intellectually normal for a person to question, if they wish,accounts of people down the ages who thought they were God or Son of God or Prophets of God? Where do you stand in the argument of rationality that allows people to question, debate or even debunk ‘religion’?

A:In the history of Muslims there were many who remained agnostics or atheists. Freedom of and from religion coexisted especially during the Abbasid rule from 750-1258.Some of the Mu’tazilite rationalists did not believe in God and God’s revelation. The Syrian blind poet Abu al-Ala Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-M’aarri (973-1057) who in his ‘Risalat al Ghufran’ or A Divine Comedy, visits paradise and meets heathen poets who have found forgiveness. Ma’arri was a sceptic of religions. Here is one of the gems he wrote: Each generation of men follows another and turns the old lies into the new religion. Which generation was given the right path?” A statue of this poet remained proudly preserved in Syria until the ISIS murderers destroyed it.

Q: Across ages there has been hundreds of belief systems, many originally connected with animism. Reflecting philosophically, would you agree that these forms of ‘religions’ were far less harmful to society that the current ones, which functions mainly as political labels and are used by countries and communities to dominate, conquer or control human beings?

A:Animism, although less harmful to societies, was the product of a particular age when reason was not the supreme arbiter of human actions. This is why it died before the power of human reasoning.

Q:A person’s diet is generally based on the produce available in the country of birth. Christianity and Islam originated in arid, desert land where there was no abundant vegetation. Because of this lack of vegetation, meat eating was considered to be necessary and was interpreted as God giving man command over all other beings, to use them for consumption if necessary.Meat eating is however not really necessary in the Sri Lankan context and beef eating in particular is known to have caused a cultural gap between the Muslims and Christians vs. the Buddhists. This is a sensitive subject and I do not infer that all Buddhists are pure vegans or vegetarians or practicing ahimsa which should be towards all beings and not just select beings. But I nevertheless ask the question as to why we do not find many Muslims choosing the non violent path of diet in a country such as Sri Lanka when there are hundreds and hundreds of vegetables, grains and fruits to eat? (I would ask the same question from Christians, Catholics and Buddhists).

A: Even among animals there are herbivorous, omnivorous and carnivorous creatures. So too among humans. Is one better than the other, I don’t know. I myself do not like beef but I prefer other meats. My problem with animal slaughter is the way the animals are treated in Sri Lanka. We do not have modern abattoirs. There is absolute cruelty to animals when dragged to the slaughterhouses. An island that is fertile and surrounded by the ocean should consume more vegetables and fish than meat. Why is this country not self-sufficient in the consumption of fish?

Currently there is a countrywide protest in Australia against live sheep export to the Middle East. Some of the videos showing animal cruelty in Muslim slaughterhouses that I saw made me join this protest movement. In a Buddhist society like Sri Lanka I agree that animal slaughter is abominable. However, when some Buddhists, themselves consume meat how can we prevent others from consuming it?

Sinha-Le Buddhists – Your Nation Needs You more than ever

Of course, we must learn to respect other cultures, other traditions but we don’t need to replace ours with theirs or have theirs replaced with ours.

We suffered for over 400 years under colonial rule – are we to suffer another 400 years of neocolonial rule?

Why must Sinhalese defend our nation?

Sinhale Buddhists remember & never forget – We have nowhere else to go to. No other nation will welcome us.

We evolved on this island. We have a distinct language, distinct culture, values & an unbroken Buddhist heritage. We must protect, defend & preserve that.

Imagine One Nation for Our children. That is Our future.

When the enemy comes to your doorstep – what do you do?

Runaway or Defend your Nation?

Shenali D Waduge

LTTE village & a Sri Lankan Military Officer show the world what Reconciliation & Peaceful Coexistence is all about.

It was a farewell that has shocked & left plenty of critics speechless. It has put to rest & completely nullified the lies that have been spread against Sri Lanka’s Army. The culprits include foreign governments/envoys, INGOs/NGOs, UN & even the present government in particular the Tamil leadership & the LTTE diaspora who must be startled at the pictures emerging of an entire village weeping as they bid farewell to a military officer who had played the role of their mentor, their father, their brother, their advisor & virtually their leader. Col. Rathnapriya Bandu has done what Prabakaran, Wigneswaran, Sivajilingam, Sumbanthiran, Sambanthan or even Tamil Nadu politicians could not do & do not want to do. In a world that plays divisive politics of divide & rule he has shown that it takes a hero to unite & Col. Bandu is one hero that we must all salute. No former LTTE village would ever carry a Sri Lankan Military officer on their shoulders & weep as he bid goodbye if he was no hero in their eyes.

Lesson 1: No Caste difference
Vishwamadu was an one time tiger den. Many LTTErs cadres were enlisted from Vishwamadu. It was also a village of only low caste & impoverished Tamils. They were virtually outcastes of their own Tamil people. No Tamil politician desired to look into their needs. They were good enough only to be fighters & have their dead bodies exhibited in photos across the world for political gain. To Col. Ratnapriya these villagers were not low caste or poor. They were people & he opened up to them & they in turn opened up to him. These images can fill the rest of the story. These pictures have shattered the myths & lies that have been floated.

Lesson 2: Sinhalese & Tamil do not need to live separately
No TNA politician has been honored by LTTErs in this manner. No TNA politician has been carried by the people of any Tamil village in the North but these Tamil villagers not only carried Col. Rathnapriya they were all seen crying. It is a sight that has stupefied all of us because it has completely negated the lies that the Tamils & Sinhalese cannot live together, it has completely dislodged the argument that a new constitution is needed with an asymmetrical federated state separately for Tamils. When an entire LTTE village showers love & affection for a military officer the incident must surely shake the entire world in particular the foreign governments & the UN.

Lesson 3: Artificial barriers
We are drilled day in and day out that the Sinhalese cannot live with Tamils & Tamils do not want to live with Sinhalese. We are brainwashed to think the soldiers are cruel & mean to Tamils & the military should be removed from the North. But then, we have an entire LTTE village carrying a soldier on their shoulders, crying as each line up to bid farewell. What the hell is going on, we all are now asking. Well, the pictures tell the story & we really just need to look at the tearing eyes of these Tamil villagers & in digesting the love & affection that has taken place to realize that we have been fed lies & fake news & distortions & these are all artificial barriers created for political agendas. When one soldier has won an entire village, no wonder the TNA & the present government together with the lying machines want him transferred & away from the people.

Lesson 4: Third Parties & Foreign Templates useless
The third parties sitting either across the world, in some hotel or AC room in Colombo, or UN rapporteurs arriving on business class with files & folders of temples on reconciliation & peaceful coexistence should not waste their time, money or our time because one soldier & an entire LTTE village have shown the rest of the country that we don’t need external parties, we don’t need foreign paid NGOs, we don’t need damn rocket science to live in peace with mutual respect & sharing ups & downs together. Let everyone remember that this one officer changed an entire village of hardcore LTTErs. No foregin document can have the answers that! Without these international community & other meddling parties the LTTE families & the Sri Lankan Military have shown that they have mended & bonded & the trust & harmony that has been cemented must be a shocker to all the critics. The incident has shown that reconciliation doesn’t need foreign interference, doesn’t need foreign templates, doesn’t need NGOs, INGOs, foreign envoys & it has shown that reconciliation is easy & is very much possible without the external interferences & interventions.

Lesson 5: TNA / Tamil high castes / LTTE Diaspora don’t fool your own people
Vishwamadu is just one village with virtually a 100% low caste & poor Tamil populace. They were used and good enough only to be enlisted to take a gun & die for a cause that would benefit the Tamil higher castes. They had no voice, they had no one to care for them. TNA, the Tamil high castes & the LTTE diaspora must feel ashamed just as they must be reeling with envy & jealousy seeing how these low caste & poor Tamils are treating with honor a Sri Lankan military officer. They have given a strong message to the TNA/the Tamil high castes & the LTTE diaspora – they no longer wish to kill. They only wish to live. So be it & we must reach out & make many more Vishmadu villages where the hearts & minds have opened to reconcile & usher peaceful coexistence that we were made to believe was never possible. What lies we have all been fed by the same parties that wish to keep us divided promoting bogus reconciliation templates.

Col. Rathnapriya Bandu has completely shattered the lies & myths that have been floating.

The Tamils of Vishwamadu a village that produced hard core LTTE cadres are crying as they bid farewell to a Sri Lankan Military Officer. The message is very clear – remove all interfering parties, remove racist TNA politicos, remove the Sinhalese/Muslim racist politicos, remove Tamil caste system & do not allow LTTE diaspora to divide any further & the Tamils & Sinhalese will be at peace, will be living in peace & harmony as they have done for centuries.

If Vishwamadu had to elect a chief minister it would not be Wigneswaran or the TNA, Col. Rathnapriya would win hands down!
We salute this gallant officer who has silenced all, shattered the lies & myths & shown what true reconciliation, peace & harmony are all about.

Shenali D Waduge

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One out of every 7 Asian immigrants is undocumented

[UPDATED SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 TO INCLUDE THE LATEST POPULATION ESTIMATES OF ASIAN UNDOCUMENTED. ADDITIONAL INFOGRAPHICS CAN BE FOUND HERE]

National Estimates, 2015

Country of Origin, 2015

State Estimates, 2015

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9TH ANNIVERSARY - DEFEAT OF TERRORISM

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H. L. D. Mahindapala

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By Frances Bulathsinghala Courtesy Daily FT

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