Christian Church of Sri Lanka, Buddhism, our ancestors, and our real roots.

The Christian Missionaries followed the invaders, and while their armed gangs robbed, killed, and occupied the territories, the Missionaries began their campaign of saving the lost souls- the heathens by converting them to their Christian faith. The Sinhala or the Tamil heathens some who may not have known the deeper philosophy of Buddhist teachings, or read the Hindu sacred books, the poor people in the coastal areas, the fisher men, the others of the upper strata who liked mixing with the “kindly” Missionary whites were the victims of the proselytising campaign, or enticements of the Missionaries.

Later with the opening up of Schools, with catechism classes, and then hospitals with Catholic nuns attending to nursing of the sick, conversion became a more fruitful campaign, that helped the conquerors to settle down in security with the heathens turned Christians working for them. It was the same with the British colonies in Africa of which they say that when the British left Kenya, the Africans had bibles in their hands, while the British had their lands.

Buddhism was a very old religion of which the conquerors knew nothing and may have looked at our Buddhist monks and devotees, with humorous superiority, as some of them do even to day .
A young British Civil Servant Rhys Davis a son of a Christian Minister, who was sent to Sri Lanka in the early days of British Colonialism came across a Buddhist text in the course of his administrative functions which interested him and learnt the language of the Buddhist text and later translated the Buddhist Canonical writing into English.
He was greatly influenced by the Buddhist Canonical writing, of which he had said that “………Buddhist or not Buddhist, I have examined every one of the great religious systems of the world, and in none of them have I found anything to surpass, in beauty and comprehensiveness, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha. I am content to shape my life according to that path."
He was later dismissed from the Civil Service, probably because of his undue interest in Buddhism, which may have affected the conversion campaign of their Missionaries.

However, the Colonialists beginning from the Portuguese , then the Dutch and lastly the British with their proselytising of the heathens, they stole the religion of their forefathers and the culture that came with it. They have left us with Christians more Christian than their counterparts in the Christian West. While the more and more intelligent Christians, academics, and scholars are turning to Buddhism, the Churches disturbed, and confounded by the phenomenon, are doing every thing possible to turn the tide by every means at their disposal.

They write Books condemning Buddhism.. The latest that has been launched is “Buddhsit Warfare” by Michael Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer. They have mixed up religion with human beings and their activities . They condemn , and accuse the government of Mahinda Rajapakse for war crimes as the Sri Lanka Armed Forces were predominantly Buddhist Sinhala.

The Western Christians desecrate the Buddha image by , opening “ Buddha Bars” with alcohol served in bars around a statue of the Buddha, making the Buddhist statue an article of decoration, and making womens ‘, and mens’ under wear in clothes printed with the images of the Buddha. In Sri Lanka the converts to Buddhism are made to make their prayers standing on floors covered with Buddha images covered with mats put over them.

We see even in the internet the Buddhist Forums are not left alone. There are numerous “bible” vendors who infiltrate into them like “ viruses “ and spam to make the Buddhist Forums unusable by Buddhists. There were many very good Buddhist Forums that had to be closed because of this menace.

When the Western Christians treat Buddhism with scant respect, subjecting Buddhism, Buddhists and the Buddha images to ridicule, there is nothing wrong in our speaking out the truth about the Church and the Christians. But when Buddhists do it, they are immediately pointed out as intolerant, narrow minded persons.

We have also our Christians Kumar Davids, Sonali Samarasinghe, Nimalka Fernando , and the late Lasantha Wickramathunga and the likes to criticise the government because it consists mainly of Buddhists, and it suits them to please their Western religious partners.
These Sinhala Christians like Nimalka Fernando of Sri Lanka mothers and Daughters Association which funded by the NGOs who speaks more to please the contributing NGOs, even runs down the Sinhala and even the Sri Lanka Flag with its lion image.

Even with ethnicity, the Tamils call Sinhala by all sorts of names, but if a Sinhala Buddhist speaks in the same manner ( which is very rare), he is immediately labelled a racist, a Sinhala supremacist.

The Church continues to maintain the communal difference in Sri Lanka. It gets involved in the partisan politics along with reactionary forces, interfering diplomats, and the likes. They get together with the reactionary Buddhist monks, who work according to there own political agenda.

At least now the Church in Sri Lanka should learn to co-exist with the Buddhists, without getting involved any further with conversion campaign of the former times. Instead it should help the indigenous religion of the Sinhala to be preserved in its ancient glory, without interfering into it . That way the Christian religion will also be respected, and find its peaceful existence among the Sinhala Buddhists, each participating in each others activities without harming the religious harmony.

After all even the Sri Lanka Bishops and Archbishops, leave alone the rest of the Christian faith, are of the Sinhala or Tamil origin. They have affinity with Buddhism and Hinduism those being the religions of their ancestors, though they cannot claim such affinity with the early Christians of Bethlehem, who were neither Sinhala nor Tamils. That is one more reason they should take into serious consideration, when they are critical of Buddhism, which was after all the religion of their own ancestors.

It was observed with regret that despite the Sinhala Buddhist Soldiers who protected the Madu Church from being damaged and some of who gave their lives in so doing, no Church in Sri Lanka or abroad had a Church service to commemorate their deaths.

The Sri Lanka Church and their Bishops and Arcbishops, should be the real builders of bridges amoung the Communities forgetting their religious role, as more important today is the unity of the people without distinction of their community and religion. We should work together to make a Nation of Sri Lankans , not mere Communities with equitable or satisfactory political devolution offered to them.

India - the Political Consultant of Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickramasinghe, despite its doubtful relations.

The people of Sri Lanka from what they have been told, what they have seen and observed, take India for what it had been for the last more than 30 years- an unfriendly neighbour, despite both the President and the Opposition Leader of Sri Lanka, have made India its political consultant.

India’s inability to mind its own troubled political business is becoming a nuisance to Sri Lanka. It is no doubt that political diplomacy required Sri Lanka President to accept that India was a great help in the military operations against the terrorists. But the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government it appears is over doing its good relations with India.

India pushing us to accept the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement on top of the already existing Free Trade Agreement, is not at all in the Interest of Sri Lanka. It would be another way of creating economic problems, and making the government unpopular causing economic hardship to medium and lower business activities in Sri Lanka. That is how India is trying to cash on the elimination of terrorists in Sri Lanka. We now see how the elimination of terrorism in Sri Lanka is beneficial to India to implement its own agenda vis-à-vis Sri Lanka.

It was not only Sri Lanka that was the victim of the terrorist outfit created by India in its own political interest, but also it finally resulted in the terrorist bomb blast that killed Rajiv Gandhi. That was a great sacrifice that India had to make for their own short sightedness expansionist agenda of separating the unitary state of Sri Lanka by creating that Frankenstein’s monster Prabhakaran.

But India has not still learnt a lesson from that tragedy that would remain forever marked in the history of India as a political miscalculation of Indian leadership and their complete lack of political foresight. The political weakness of India, is the unbridled racist policies of Tamilnadu. India in its inability control Tamilnadu, is unable to be sincere in its political relation wit Sri Lanka.

Therefore, India instead of being a real friend of Sri Lanka turned out to be a cowardly neighbour trying often times during the 30 years of war against the Terrorist to draw the carpet under the feet of Sri Lanka, hoping that terrorists will at some stage break up Sri Lanka weakening it for ever as a Unitary Sovereign State.

The dropping “parippu” in the North and East in a despicably ignoble act to save the terrorists from being eliminated by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, and forcing a hopelessly helpless Sri Lanka government in place at the time to sign the India-Sri Lanka accord with the 13 Amendment to the Sri Lanka Constitution, India showed what is its real intentions towards Sri Lanka.

The present pretentious show of neighbourly amity taking the Sri Lanka political leaderships’ repeated acknowledgement of India’s help in the elimination of terrorism, as a political weakness , interferes into the affairs of our government demanding the full implementation of the 13 Amendment, which is a hangman’s noose round the neck of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence.

India which sacrificed a young potentially great Indian leader, following its act of cowardice of the “operation Poolmalai”, now continues to push that shameful 13 Amendment we were forced to sign at a time of political weakness and mismanagement.

During the height of Sri Lanka Military operations against terrorism India was again telling us what to do, demanding us not to buy military equipment from China. The Radar equipment India sold to us could not even detect a “shit fly”, where as we could have bought better material from China. Still there are those who try to justify India’s role in eliminating terrorism in Sri Lanka.


It is worth repeating, even if India had secretly supplied military assistance, such as intelligence sharing with our Armed forces which helped the military operations against terrorist, the eventual elimination of terrorism from the Island was a boon to India and what ever assistance it may have given, could be put to rectifying its error of creating the monster that went out of its control. Who knows what more damage Prabhakaran the terrorist, was planning against India ?

Those apologists for India down play the arrogance of India. It is not an over reaction to Nirupama Rao’s statement to say that she need not tell us what we already know of how to settle our so called”ethnic problem”. It may be that other Western meddlers too tell us the same, but we expect a different type of reaction from our “good”neighbour.

The “ Taking the Sri Lanka Peace Process Forward” held in Delhi, reminds us of the peace negotiations with the terrorist outfit held before Mavil Aru incident. It is to carry forward terrorist Prabhakaran’s agenda. We can very well have negotiations if necessary in Sri Lanka, instead of holding them in “neutral” locations outside.

If we take the overall “ underhand “ activities of India with regard to Sri Lanka beginning from 1973 until now it is clear there is in the minds of the Indian political leaders an intention to destabilise Sri Lanka and stop its progress and development. Sri Lanka is being visualised in a different angle since its success with its nonaligned political status, its role in the SAARC, NAM , and the G 15.

Now to keep on prodding Sri Lanka to implement the 1987 India Sri Lanka accord is another tactic on the part of India to divide Sri Lanka , and teaching Sri Lanka and the President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse a lesson for making China a close friend, and taking the leadership of the developing nations, which India with its “economic” leadership status in Asia, was unable to do.

Implementation or not implementation of the 13 Amendment is a matter for Sri Lanka to decide, not India, or other States without any idea of its social and cultural implications, apart from the much hoisted, “ political devolution” interest..

It was not only India, but also other governments may have provided secret information to make Sri Lanka’s Military Operations against the terrorists successful. Terrorists in Sri Lanka were a feared monstrous octopus with its long tentacles extending to every corner of the world. Even the top leaders of the Western Governments may not have escaped from its deadly vengeance for any assistance to the Military Operations of Sri Lanka, if the terrorist Prabhakaran had decided to take revenge.

That may be why some of them were crawling to the Sri Lanka terrorists, even when they were breathing their last, to save them perhaps to be revitalise later for what ever sinister Agenda of the West, and at the same time saving themselves from getting blown up by a black tiger suicide bomb ! They may still be living with that psychological fear

Coming back to the other sinister “object” the 13 Amendment, the implementation of it giving into the pressure being brought in by India, and devolution of power to the Tamils in the North and East merged or demerged, will not solve the Sinhala –Tamil problem as long as there is that element of racism of the Tamils vis-à-vis the Sinhala.

Therefore, the government should, without giving into India or any other “meddler”, find a home made solution to bring the communities together. For that to be possible the Tamil politicians , and other Tamil intelligentsia such as Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Kumar David, Anandasangaree, Douglas Devananda should give up their selfish political agendas, and go all out to bring a change in mental attitude of the Tamils, towards a unity with the “majority” community. One can take for an example Karuna Amman, a very intelligent young Tamil man who did not hesitate to become “one” with the Sinhala without loosing his Tamilness. That is an example to emulate.

Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu living in South , having friends among the Sinhala should know better that the Sinhala are after all a people worthy of keeping company and are not racists, unless he too is a hypocrite and a Tamil racist behind his mask of an independent political analyst.

Devolution of political power should begin from the south, by giving power of political decision to the people at the village level, and building up to a real peoples government of peace, unity , tolerance and coordination of everyone in the exercise of political power for progress and development. It should then be extended to North and East. The North and East should remain de-merged. It was that de-merge (thanks to JVP), that greatly facilitated the “war” against terrorism.

And therefore North and East should never be merged again to make a One Province.

Nirupama Rao may be an accomplished Lady, beautiful and pleasant as well, but that does not allow us to be blind to her role as a meddling diplomat, like Robert O Blake had been, and continuing to be in his new position as the Assistant Secretary of State.

There is no remiss or ungraciousness pointing out what we see as hypocritical, in politics where each one is to oneself, like the West fighting against “their “ terrorists far away from “their” homes causing mayhem to the civilian population of those countries, and calling terrorists of Sri Lanka, “ rebels who take violent action”.

With regard to the Churches , to know what they did in the South one has to read the Buddhist Commission Report of 1956, resulting from the timely Buddhist Committee of Inquiry set up in 1956, consisting of the Venerable Abanwelle Siddhartha, Ven. Haliyale Sumanatissa, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya, Ven. Palonnaruwe Vimaladhamma, Ven. Madihe Pannaseeha, Ven. Henpitagedera Gnanaseeha, Prof. G.P. Malalasekera,, Mr.L.H.Mettananda, P.de S. Kularatne, Dr.Tennekoon Wimalananda and D.C. Wijayawardena.

It decided the political course in Sri Lanka with the defeat of the UNP in 1956.

The problem of India is in its inability to rein in the indiscipline politicians of Tamilnadu- India’s fissiparous partner. That perhaps speaks of the lack of statesmanship of the Prime Minister . He should have his Chief Ministers take an oath of allegiance to India as its motherland, and not to embarrass the central government, by interfere into the Internal affairs of another Sovereign State even if they think it is a necessity as a part of the the people of the other Sovereign State has an affinity to their own language and religion. .

West with its pants down. Part One.

What does the West Stand for ? Is it Democracy politically, and Christianity as its civilizing influence ? But unfortunately it seems as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, the West stands neither for Democracy nor for Christianity as its civilising influence.

They stand more for money, power over those who are different and those who are feeble.We see the role money plays in their lives to the complete absence of a religious compassion for others.

The West, with the “do-gooders” such as the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, are more like school thugs bullying small, feeble fellow students.

In America during the worst of a financial crisis, resulting from financial mismanagement of Banks, Insurance Companies, etc., when people lost their jobs, parents were unable to keep their children in school, the sick were without resources to pay their heavy medical bills , the Government passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to redress the situation and advanced financial aid to Banks , Business Enterprises etc..

It was found that the money so bailed out to ameliorate the financial situation and to activate the economy for the people to find jobs, pay their housing loans etc. were squandered by the recipients to pay large bonuses to their retiring Directors and Executives( The Wall Street Journal of the 14.1.2010). Is that the mentality of a people having Christianity as its civilizing force ?

West keeps its social secrets hidden behind, a display of high morality finding faults with the developing countries. But it was a shock when the world became aware of the existence of the poverty stricken people in America when the hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans .

It was only then that they spoke of urban poverty and segregation of poor families to extremely distressed neighbourhoods. But what have the rich Americans of the Christian civilization done to reduce poverty and enhance the living condition of these people not only in New Orleans but in many other States in the USA. They do not seem to care much about it. The Republicans took a long time to decide even on the President Barack Obama’s Health Reform Plans .

They who speak of the 200, 000 IDP’s in Sri Lanka do not know that our Government of predominantly Sinhala Buddhists have treated the IDP’s with more respect, and within the shortest time possible resettled thousands of them in their homes having cleared personal mines in the settlement areas, and preparing the basic infrastructure requirements.

They who criticise the Government of Sri Lanka for keeping IDPs in temporary camps , and the International Crisis Group accusing the Government of Sri Lanka for war crimes should read the Brooklyn Institution report on Hurricane Katrina, an excerpt of which may help our Tamil friends as well, to have an insight into things happening in those foreign lands to which they crave to migrate:

“ Overall, nearly 50,000 poor New Orleanians lived in neighborhoods where the poverty rate exceeded 40 percent.New Orleans ranked second among the nation's 50 largest cities on the degree to which its poor families, mostly African American, were clustered in extremely poor neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward. In these places, the average household earned barely more than $20,000 annually, only one in twelve adults held a college degree, four in five children were raised in single-parent families, and four in ten working-age adults—many of them disabled—were not connected to the labor force.

Areas of concentrated poverty are not confined to New Orleans. Despite improvements in the 1990s, nearly every major American city still contains a collection of extremely poor, racially segregated neighborhoods. In cities as diverse as Cleveland, New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, more than 30 percent of poor blacks live in areas of severe social and economic distress.”

The report says in conclusion “Though these policies alone cannot erase the gaps between rich and poor in America, creating more neighborhoods of choice and connection would offer millions of low-income Americans—especially children—a true chance at social and economic mobility.”
( http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2005/10poverty_berube.aspx)

That is where the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and now the International Crisis Group should cast their nets to catch the creators of this social imbalance , violation of Human Rights and the more important human crisis of not providing amenities for decent livelihood.

That does not seem to be the priority for the Western humanitarians, who think that it is more important for them to accuse the governments of developing countries for violation of human rights, when they are in fact doing their utmost to save the people from terrorism, build unity amoung communities, find ways and means to develop their countries to come out of poverty, and work for better prospects in the future.

What is the moral sense of the accusations and interference the Amnesty International, Human Rights watch and now the International Crisis Group are indulging in, without even substantial evidence other than hear say or “doctored” photographs.

Louise Arbour the Canadian Legal luminary should know very well that the report issued against Sri Lanka by the International Crisis Group contains no verifiable evidence, and the whole of it is unsubstantiated.

One can understand serious cases of violation of human rights under normal circumstances. But no one can say that military operations during terrorism come under “normal circumstances”. Therefore one cannot understand the reason for these actions of the Western “do-gooders” in question.

Un less of course there is big money coming in from some where, because these “Groups” Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group have to have money to run their “road shows” accusing every one crossing their respective paths.

Louise Arbour -a Legal celebrity with a collection of law degrees, should perhaps know better, that if they dare question what happened during an “abnormal “ time an year back in Sri Lanka, she could as well begin inquiries into the atrocities committed by the Canadian Armies against the aborigine Canadian Indians.

While she is at it she may as well investigate why David killed Goliath, and whether there was collateral damage in that killing ,because there was also a war with Philistines.

There is also the question of Palestine. About 800 000 Palestinians were displaced to carve out the State of Israel, and the Palestinian problem have still to be re-settled. It is a human disaster. We have nothing against Israel, but rights of the Palestinians had been violated in the creation of the State of Israel. Who is responsible for this human disaster ? Coul not they have found a place for the Jewish diaspora without removing the Palestinians from their homes ? What has the International Crisis Group to say to that ?

This is a matter for Louise Arbour with a whole list of legal qualifications attached after her name , now adorning the helm of International Crisis Group to consider, instead of bothering herself with Sri Lanka which carried out a justifiable military operation against ruthless terrorist vermin. Terrorism cannot be eliminated without removing the root cause and that was what Sri Lanka did in eliminating the terrorist Prbhakarana and his cohorts.

Louise Arbour said in an interview, that the last phase of military operations against the terrorist was carried out in an unprecedented secrecy. That shows her ignorance on war strategy. One important strategy in war, Louise Arbour, is secrecy of operations.

However, more relevant to the Western absurdities and the utter hypocrisy in the attempts it is making, interposing their “yes man” in the UN- Ban Ki Moon, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group , to bring Sri Lanka to an International Tribunal for war crimes, is the following excerpt (long but worth reading in View of the utter hypocrisy of the International Crisis Group) from an article by Daya Gamage entitled “ Killing Civilians as legal”, that appeared in the Asian Tribune .com on 24.4.2010


“…..Here is the section of Harold Hongju Koh Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State declared at the March 25 address which is the official position of the Obama administration:
Use of Force
(Begin Quote) “In the same way, in all of our operations involving the use of force, including those in the armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated forces, the Obama Administration is committed by word and deed to conducting ourselves in accordance with all applicable law. With respect to the subject of targeting, which has been much commented upon in the media and international legal circles, there are obviously limits to what I can say publicly.
What I can say is that it is the considered view of this Administration—and it has certainly been my experience during my time as Legal Adviser—that U.S. targeting practices, including lethal operations conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, comply with all applicable law, including the laws of war.
“The United States agrees that it must conform its actions to all applicable law. As I have explained, as a matter of international law, the United States is in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, as well as the Taliban and associated forces, in response to the horrific 9/11 attacks, and may use force consistent with its inherent right to self-defense under international law. As a matter of domestic law, Congress authorized the use of all necessary and appropriate force through the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). These domestic and international legal authorities continue to this day.
“As recent events have shown, al-Qaeda has not abandoned its intent to attack the United States, and indeed continues to attack us. Thus, in this ongoing armed conflict, the United States has the authority under international law, and the responsibility to its citizens, to use force, including lethal force, to defend itself, including by targeting persons such as high-level al-Qaeda leaders who are planning attacks. As you know, this is a conflict with an organized terrorist enemy that does not have conventional forces, but that plans and executes its attacks against us and our allies while hiding among civilian populations. That behavior simultaneously makes the application of international law more difficult and more critical for the protection of innocent civilians. Of course, whether a particular individual will be targeted in a particular location will depend upon considerations specific to each case, including those related to the imminence of the threat, the sovereignty of the other states involved, and the willingness and ability of those states to suppress the threat the target poses.”

How inconsistent is the Western attempt to accuse Sri Lanka for war crimes, if any atrocity committed by the West against the humanity is acceptable and legal ?

West with its pants down. Part two.

Through out the military operations against the Terrorists the Sri Lanka Government Air Force carried out aerial bombardments accurately and precisely targeting locations held by the terrorists without collateral damages to civilians . That was a fact not denied by the ICRC, though they latterly concocted “evidence” of attacks on civilian hospitals, which those very same Doctors quoted by the interested parties of the West, said was false.
The West is crying loud and clear from every one of their “roof tops” that terrorists should be hunted and killed where ever they are found , and suddenly quietens to sing another song with Ban Ki Moon, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and International Crisis Group as the “ chorus”, when it comes to deal with the ruthless band of terrorists in Sri Lanka that sowed terror in the country for thirty long years.
Is this the Christian morality of the West to hinder the development of a Sovereign State defending its people and its territory from undesirable elements, and trying to find a path of progress making friends with all Nations without making a distinction whether they are from the West, East, Middle East, Asia, or South Asia ?
For thirty years a group of terrorists eating into the viscera of our society stopped us from developing our country and making a progressive nation of ourselves. And when we have at last eliminated the whole bunch of them, another set of “terrorists” despicable rascals have come from the West doing the utmost damage to us by castigating us , threatening to take us to tribunals for war crimes.
They are doing the same thing the terrorists did, in a different way, trying to stop us from development and progress as an Independent Nation.
West is “sick”, that is why this unbridled desire to take Gotabhaya Rajapakse and the President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government to a tribunal for grievous sins they think had been committed.

They take themselves for the three Angels the God sent to Sodom and Gomorrah….their “Lot and family- the terrorist Prabhakaran and his cohorts” they could not save, but they want instead to literally “ burn down what remains “ in Sri Lanka, like their God did to Sodom and Gomorrah after “ Lot and his Family” had fled .

The West which with its “do-gooder” Groups attempting to upset the freedom of developing nations, unable to put its own house in order find itself in Greater difficulty. Their unprecedented wars hunting Al Qaida and Taliban terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have already cost wanton waste of men and material.

Their legendary riches seem to be dwindling, falling from one financial crisis to another . Their Christian moral standards have dropped almost to the nadir, with rising criminality, child sex, low and vulgar reality TV shows, drug addiction, pollution of air and seas.

What is there left for them to do , other than to meddle into the affairs of developing nations in an attempt to keep them at bay from running away from them, to seek more favourable pastures else where in more generous China and Russia ?

Let us take a little time to reflect on the meaning of this sudden attention of the West represented by these “vultures” - the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, Channe4, the BBC ,ICRC, and the rest on the gory of the end of military operations against terrorism, just on the date of the anniversary of the defeat of terrorism Sri Lanka is preparing to celebrate.

Are they really interested in the people of Sri Lanka, or just the Tamils ? If so why ? They do not really like them in their own countries, but they seem to love them far away from their shores. It is evident that there is money in just trying to mess up President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government. But apart from the financial benefit it appears there is some thing more to it.

It is evident that the West is making a concerted effort to bring disrepute to the President Mahinda Rajapakse and change the government if possible.

What could be the reason to do this ?

For the first time in the history of decolonisation, from the numerous developing independent countries, Sri Lanka has distanced itself from others into being a fast developing nation with a new political perspective. It had the potential for such development, but lacked a capable political leadership.

It has after about 25 years of despondency , loss of face, dejection, weakened by a CFA signed by a government without foresight, facing a powerful group of ruthless terrorists, created by India , and made into a strong “military force” with financial, material, and technological aid from the West supplied through numerous NGOs who infiltrated into the terrorist controlled areas as humanitarian workers, Sri Lanka rose above its military and political debility, to build a well disciplined military force of brave soldiers not second to any military force in the world despite its comparative “size”.

The driving force behind that change in Sri Lanka came without any doubt with the election of Mahinda Rajapakse as the President of Sri Lanka. Such “genuine” leaders of men appear in the world from time to time. We found such a rare leader in Mahinda Rajapakse.

The President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse was able to select appropriate people for a given activity, and give them a “carte blanche” completely relying on them to carry out the responsibilities allocated to them, without interfering into their method of carrying out the work of the given task.

This ability resulted in his choice of the best men for an appropriate field of activity, relieving himself for other activities necessary to develop the country devastated by a thirty year war, and political mismanagement.

This resulted in his winning a difficult “war” against terrorism. And at the same time he carried out numerous development projects, putting the country on the correct path to development. He won the hearts of the people and became a very popular President of the People winning subsequent Presidential and Parliamentary elections with large majorities.

Mahinda Rajapakse did not rest at that. He proceeded to be active in the political field with wisdom. He understood the hypocrisy of the West. They were making use of the Independent developing countries to maintain their world leadership. The West would not transfer technological know how to the developing countries, for them to plan their development on their own.

Instead the West distributed financial aid as repayable loans, which helped them to cultivate political leaders of these developing countries as their “yes” men, thus enabling them to control the activities of the World Forums, such as the UNO and its affiliated agencies, GATT, ILO,WHO and so on.

Thus Mahinda Rajapakse evaluating the situation, forced by the hypocrisy of the West, developed a foreign policy of political neutrality, making diplomatic contact with all nations. China, Russia, Pakistan, Israel were already uncontested friends of Sri Lanka, (India had to be tolerated though not dependable) . He befriended Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Libya, Israel, Burma, established diplomatic relations with North and South Koreas, Vietnam, and several African Sates.

This angered the West, specially after David Milliband and Bernard Kouchner thought they were humiliated by President Rajapakse by refusing them to enter the no-fire zone during the last phase of the military operations against the terrorists. Hence, Milliband along with Eric Solheim, befriended Hillary Clinton for a coordinated action of bringing disrepute to President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Government. Hillary Clinton baselessly accused Sri Lanka army using rape as a weapon of war.

In this situation the Assistant Secretary of USA State department Robert O’Blake, a friend of the Sri Lanka terrorist hierarchy, contacted the terrorist front organisations of the Sri Lanka Tamil Expatriates and encouraged them to unite against Sri Lankaa, with David Milliband in UK even addressing their Forum meetings. These resulted in the Tamil expatriates set up their Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam.

Now it seems the West is doing its best to either send home the President Mahinda Rajapakse, or eliminate him to setup a West friendly Government in place, or divide the unitary status of Sri Lanka by breaking it to set up a Tamil Eelam State, like Serbia.

There is no doubt that Sarath Fonseka had been “bought” over by the west to strengthen their anti Sri Lanka agenda, with the determination to bring the President Rajapakse and Gotabhaya Rajapakse before an International Tribunal accused for war crimes.

That may also be how the last of the anti Sri Lanka Agency- the International Crisis Group may have come into being. One may notice that all these International Organisations peddling anti Sri Lanka rhetoric are concentrating their attack on Sri Lanka Government, to the exclusion of attacks on real perpetrators of “war crimes” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The International Crisis Group talks of atrocities committed by Sri Lanka Armed Forces, but it ignores the fact how the West could be dangerously atrocious when it comes to settling political scores in other countries. We have read how the CIA tortured the Vietcong captives to get information. They were said to have been taken in twos in helicopters, pushing one out into the air to die so that the other talks through fear.

The West is dangerous with regard to eliminating undesirable political leaders of countries that do not toe their line of politics. In 1950 Jacobo Arbenz the President of Guatamala, in 1953 Mossadegh the Prime Minister of Iran, and in 1973 Salvador Allande the President of Chile were ousted by CIA operations.

Please see the YouTube presenting Kennett Love former New York Times reporter at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaGCJmCAJ40

In view of these it is in our interest to see that our President Mahinda Rajapakse is provided with adequate security and protection. The President himself should take precautions for his own safety.

The West sponsoring its humanitarian agencies such as the International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Western Media are a danger to Sri Lanka, and the President should be warned of its growing undesirability.

Louise Arbour and the International Crisis Group should read carefully, the final paragraph of the declaration of Harold Hongju Koh, the Legal Adviser to the USA Department of State. The People with any amount of academic qualifications, or experience as judges or administrators are not specially intelligent.

The worst of it is that their minds are fragmented by their academic and professional achievements, egoistic pretention of worldly knowledge, are unable to look at a problem of what ever nature as a “whole”. Hence the problem of Sri Lanka’s elimination of terrorism they see as a war crime.

They have “one track “minds like horses having blinders put on to run forward without distraction. Therefore these Sri Lanka “Bashers” have no intelligence to understand other people, other cultures, and other governments, and evaluate reasonably well the reason for their actions.

What is good for America in its war against terrorism is also good for Sri Lanka’s military operations against its terrorists, unless we are in two different planets. What is good for the goose, they say is good for the gander.

Here are the last two paragraphs of the declaration of the US State Department Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh :

“Fourth and finally, some have argued that our targeting practices violate domestic law, in particular, the long-standing domestic ban on assassinations. But under domestic law, the use of lawful weapons systems—consistent with the applicable laws of war—for precision targeting of specific high-level belligerent leaders when acting in self-defense or during an armed conflict is not unlawful, and hence does not constitute “assassination.”
“In sum, let me repeat: as in the area of detention operations, this Administration is committed to ensuring that the targeting practices that I have described are lawful.”

The civilization has been built by those who took off time to think, reflect and contemplate before precipitating into action, but if Louise Arbour and her International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Ban ki Moon , Brad Adams and the rest of the Sri Lanka bashers precipitate into action without thinking, reflecting and contemplating, that would be the beginning of the end of their Christian civilization.

( http://pereracharles.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html)

Does India think Sri Lanka is its Colony ? ......and about another Interfering Diplomat and the Church in Sri Lanka.

Indian politicians and Diplomats seem to have lost their heads over India’s new status of a fast developing economy in Asia. They try to dictate terms to Sri Lanka as it is an Indian colony.

The Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, reminding us of a previous Diplomatic intruder Robert Blake, has made a strange statement as if India has solved all its petty problems, and is now clean and proper to advise Sri Lanka as to how it should manage its political affairs. Of all countries India is the last that could advice as to what we should do or should not do in managing our affairs..

Because despite a significant economic growth India has not solved its many problems such as their violation of human rights of the outcaste community- the Harijans , unsettled Kashmir problem, Naxal problem, problems with tribal groups in the North East, trouble brewing in Andrapradesh, and Tamil Nadu. It has still to come to terms with its relations with Pakistan. Even the border problems with China have not been settled.

And Nirupama Rao turns to Sri Lanka to talk big and tell us how we should govern. India has to put its own house in order before pontificating Sri Lank what it should do. India is the most unfriendly country in our neighbourhood. It works hand in hand with the International Community, trying to imitate them looking down upon the developing countries.

India created terrorism in Sri Lanka, and when the JR Jayawardhane’s government was almost winning the war against terrorists, India could not resist stopping Sri Lanka eliminating the terrorism, to rise above underdevelopment one day. India dared to trespass into our air space in “Operation Poolmalai” to come to the rescue of the terrorist Prabhakaran- its “ brain child”.

JR Jayawardhana who had condemned Communism and “curry favoured” with the Americans, hoped that if India were to attack Sri Lanka, America would come to its help. American administration cowered as it always seems to be, abandoned Sri Lanka at that time of its need in 1987, without wanting to antagonize India.

The result was the most despised 13 Amendment to the constitution. That was the treachery of India. And now it shamelessly keeps on demanding us to put into effect an Amendment that is not of our making. The 13 Amendment goes against the Communal Unity of Sri Lanka, far from it being an instrument of unity. It is only the short sighted anti Sri Lankan elements who find in it a solution to the so called ethnic problem.

Nirupama Rao had said, “ India's own experiment with democracy has taught us that effective devolution of powers, equal status before the constitution, equal access to opportunities and addressing of minority concerns ensure that fissiparous forces are contained and differences are addressed in an open and democratic fashion."

We know how India’s democracy is addressing the question of the minority Harijans, leave alone other matters. It is by itself a shameless affront to a democracy stepping into the modern age, and yet Nirupama Rao pontificates Sri Lanka, to address minority concerns to contain fissiparous forces.

The 13 Amendment is now our political problem created by India due to lopsided Foreign Policy adopted by JR Jayawardhana. The Indian Government need not through its “ sound boxes” continue to remind us of that the matter, creating and keeping alive separatist movements to draw the Sri Lankan Communities apart. In Sri Lanka there are three main Communities, not just Tamils, and the government of Sri Lanka has to find a suitable “home made” solution to the highly publicised “ethnic problem”, on its own without having Nirupama Rao and others like her on its back.

If one observes one would notice that every move of India today, specially after the elimination of terrorism is to create dissention in Sri Lanka. Their numerous aid programmes for the North and East are a means to create that division-to dra apart the Communities.
It does all that through fear of Tamil Nadu leaving the Union of Indian States. If Tamil Nadu were to leave the union, there are many other states that will follow suit and India is quite aware of it, and politically feeble on that point. Nirupama Rao should therefore find ways and means to keep the separatists at bay in India instead of talking to us about fissiparous forces in Sri Lanka.

The Tamils in Sri Lanka were the Cholan, Pandava thieving hordes that invaded into the Island, of who some of them settled down making it their home centuries ago, now they are a part and parcel of the population of Sri Lanka and they have nothing to do with the Tamils of Tamil Nadu.
Therefore, India should stop treating our Tamil Community as a part of it. It is only the language and religion that are common with the Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. But culturally the Sri Lankan Tamils to-day are far apart from their original counterparts in India, both physically and socially.

Of course there are many Sri Lankans , such as Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, Wickramabahu Karunaratne, Jehan Perera, Kumar David , Sampanthan and his TNA partners, motivated by different personal reasons contributing to India’s dubious political moves towards Sri Lanka .

Nirupama Rao also speaks of the settlement of IDP’s, as it is “something” that we have forgotten or not receiving the Sri Lanka President’s attention. One cannot understand the reason for India’s repeated reminder of it all the time, unless it is to make it a means to draw the Sri Lankan Tamils onto India’s side and keep the idea of being a separate Community alive.

Our President needs no counselling by Nirupama Rao about governance. It was not India that helped Sri Lanka government to eliminate terrorism. But on the other hand it was India during the thirty years of terrorism in Sri Lanka that drew barriers time and again against Sri Lanka’s military operations against terrorism, and made the war against terrorism more difficult by their political interference prompted by Karunanidhi and the rest of the “jokers” from Tamil Nadu.

Sri Lanka has not and will not forget the “dishonest “ role played by the Central Government of India during that period, and remember with gratitude the help and assistance provided to Sri Lanka by the Government of Pakistan through out the same period when ever a request was made.
India even refused to provide transport to 40,000 Soldiers under the command of the late Army Commander Janaka Perera, who were stranded in Jaffna, about to be attacked by the terrorists. It was thanks to the Government of Pakistan that provided arms and ammunitions to the stranded army that saved the Soldiers from an imminent massacre.

We cannot also forget that it was India that not only refused to sell us arms and armaments when our Government Forces were in dire need of them, but also warned us not to by armaments from Russia and China.

It is time that India provides, any aid and services it wishes to render without letting persons like Nirupama Rao open their mouths to poison the air we are trying to clear.

An Interfering Diplomat, and the Church in Sri Lanka.




When one set of interfering diplomats, who have no business to meddle with internal politics of the country where they are stationed have left, another namely the Indian High Commissioner Ashok K Kantha has stepped into pollute the political atmosphere in Sri Lanka, joining hands with no other than the Archbishop Ranjith.
High Commissioner Kantha had spoken of the plight of Sri Lanka and had stated that mutual trust between the two countries will result in greater collaboration. He had further spoken of the desire of the people of the North and East to return to the Villages, and that India is ready to support and aid Sri Lanka to help in the resettlement programme .
But in the same vein he had shown doubt of our President Mahinda Rajapakse’s political honesty in saying that “ he (Ashok.K.Kantha) trusts that the President Mahinda Rajapakse will carry out the programmes.” .

But Indian High Commissioner’s statement about the mutual trust between India and Sri Lanka” is all bunkum, there is no mutual trust between India and Sri Lanka it is only India that is trying to feather its own nest, jumping into help Sri Lanka’s development programme in the North and East.

Archbishop Ranjith spoke a lot when he said , “…relations between the two countries have become much closer and more solid than ever…” India is of course now jumping into the band wagon of North and East aid providers, trying to out do China which is helping ( and has helped) Sri Lanka in far greater ways than India ever had to Sri Lanka.

Archbishop Ranjith, had been in comfortable company stating pompously , “….But now the government must unite all parties and find a solution to the Tamil community. I hope that India will continue to support the efforts of Sri Lanka in this matter ".
It is the sheer hypocrisy of the Church. It is the Church who should make a move to unite the Communities without speaking always for the Tamils as if the other Communities are insignificant and non-existent.
India and the Churches of Sri Lanka speak for the Tamils in the North and the East as if the South and the Sinhala do not exist. But when the country is in peril it is neither the Church nor India that come to save it, but it is always the Sinhala Buddhists who step in, risking their lives without hesitation.

Both India and the Church had always tried to fish in the troubled waters in Sri Lanka keeping the Tamils and the Sinhala apart as it serves their purpose- both that of the Church and India. The High Commissioner Kantha and Archbishop Ranjith are said to have held their meeting in a climate of great cordiality with mutual expressions of appreciation for the social and political role played.

The birds of feather flock together !

What Really is the Point Pedro Institute of Development ?

My friend Athulathmudaly, drew my attention to a curious website http://pointpedro.org . I hope every body, including the Secretary of Defense takes a look into it.

The government is doing its best to develop the North and East, expecting the people there to understand that the efforts being made by government are in fact the respect given to the wishes of the majority Sinhala and other communities in the south to get closer to the Tamil people and build a true and a sincere union of the communities, to make a united attempt to develop our motherland and bring in prosperity.

While the Government and the Sinhala people and the other communities are thus engaged in the greater task of building a Nation, some Tamil groups in the North and East apparently helped by the Norwegian, British and other Western Governments, with the support of the Tamil Expatriate Community, are busy setting up their own agenda, preparing for a different kind of a Nation building organising the Tamil community in the North and East, and distancing them further and further away from the Government and their Sinhala and Muslim compatriots.

The website http://pointpedro.org , in question is titled the Point Pedro Institute of Development (PPID). Its primary objective it says is, “ to empower the people of Eastern and Northern Provinces to emerge out of serfdom towards freedom……..The primary focus area of PPID is the Eastern and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka. In addition, research studies focused nationally and regionally (South Asia) would also be undertaken”.

The organisers forget that the Tamils of the North and East have already been taken out of their serfdom, before the advertised advent of the PPID into the scene, from a ruthless group of terrorists, and the further involvement with this type of liberation proposed by the PPID may be going back to an unknown serfdom worse than that from which they had been saved by the Government of Sri Lanka.

The PPID describes it self as a local institution with global reach. The Founder and Principal Researcher of PPID Muttukrishna Saravanthan with a impressive curriculum vitae of foreign qualifications and employments, is said to be a member of the British Association for South Asian Studies, among many other associations. He is presented as a Sri Lanka Analyst by the BBC, which apparently sponsors him as one of its favoured consultants. He pretends to be a voice out side the terrorists and the Tamil expatriates, and not all together favourable to the government of which he says he doubts the political will to address itself to the legitimate grievances of the Tamil people.

The PPID is definitely sponsored by the West, and its founder cannot be completely cleared of Tamil Expatriate and International Community connections. What is troublesome is its object of resurrecting the knowledge and intellectual bases of the Northern and Eastern provinces, is the map of Sri Lanka it presents (which I have copied below), showing its project of resurrecting the knowledge and intellectual bases of North and East, which incidentally is almost the same Eelam Map of Prbhakaran !

“ EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE TO EMERGE OUT OF SERFDOM TOWARDS FREEDOM !


The Jaffna peninsula can be claimed as the seat of knowledge and learning of the Eastern and Northern Provinces of Sri Lanka. The Jaffna peninsula is divided into three geographical zones; namely Thenmarachchi, Vadamarachchi, and Valikamam. The main town of Vadamarachchi is Point Pedro, which is also the northern-most town of Sri Lanka. The hallmark of Vadamarachchi is its learned citizens. Historically, Vadamarachchi had produced some of the best brains of Sri Lanka. However, due to the quarter century of civil war, almost all the learned persons have deserted to other parts of the country or abroad. This is not a tragic experience of Jaffna alone, but of the entire Eastern and Northen Provinces.

It is in this background, an independent private social science research institution in the name of Point Pedro Institute of Development (PPID) was established in 2004, in order to resurrect the knowledge and intellectual bases of the Eastern and Northern Provinces. “

The government should investigate into this, as PPID’s bona fides is doubtful. This may possible be an invisible arm of the expatriate terrorist sympathisers. In view of these developments one wonders whether the relaxing of emergency regulations and withdrawal of the Army Camps from high security zones in the North and the East are wise decisions.

The Government should wary about these associations springing up in the North and the East making it a legal necessity to register all Associations in the North and the East, perhaps under the emergency regulations.

Re-organisation of the UNP

Therer is a proposal to reorganise the UNP. The UNP as the oldest political party deserves a reorganisation as it has not so far contributed to Sri Lanka’s social or economic growth. Only contribution it made in its inception was the bringing in of all communities together to work for the independence of Sri Lanka from its colonial rule that had lasted for nearly three hundred years.

But the Independence alone was not sufficient to establish the sense of freedom - being a Nation a part entire. It had to await the launch of a new political party the SLFP by SWRD Bandaranayake for the emancipation of the country from the bonds of colonialism. Therefore from the very inception the UNP was unable to make a substantial contribution to the people to make them understand what it is to be an Independent Nation.

From time to time the political environment of the country had changed between the UNP and the SLFP. The more progressive parties like the LSSP and the CP could not contribute much to the progress of the country on their own without being a complementary to the SLFP. UNP being a pro western and anti Communist party did not have that fortune of being connected to the ideas of progress of the left and were always saddled with parties that could not give new ideas to take the country on a different path to progress and development. UNP how ever had a short spate of having a left wing politician within its fold Mr. Philip Gunawardhana, for a short while but his contribution of leftist ideas to the UNP was nil.

What ever social and economic progress Sri Lanka made was under the SLFP and their leftwing partners. Each time a SLFP Government was defeated and the UNP came back to power, UNP only stepped backwards from progress until the next SLFP government came into power to put the country back on the rails of social and economic development.

The UNP therefore remained a party of certain interested power blocks, without being a political party of the people. The UNP was a party of the capitalists, the business community and in a country where the small capital that it had was mainly in the hands of a few who had no progressive ideas UNP failed to contribute to the development of the country in a big way.

At its inception UNP under D.S.Senanayake had carried out a few progressive development projects, such as the Yoda Ela irrigation scheme, Norton Bridge and Laxapana, the settlement of Sinhala villagers in the North , and the Free Education. These were the contributions that go to the credit of the UNP of that period. Subsequently the Mahaveli Scheme and development of Villages through Gam Udawa, the clearing and renovating religious areas such as Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Kataragama and Kandy go as well to the credit of UNP under Jayawardhane and Premadasa.

On the whole UNP did little for the economic development of the country until latterly under Ranil Wickramasinghe there was a slight economic growth, but that period also showed lot of misconceived economic ideas put into practice which were not positive to the later growth of Sri Lankan economy.

On the whole the UNP a conservative political Party which catered to the business community and the well to do local landed gentry did not find its proper place in Sri Lanka and was not on the whole a Party that contributed to Sri Lanka’s social, cultural or economic growth.

The writer has no political interests, and was never in the Diplomatic Service of Sri Lanka nor does he know any minsters of the present Government or those of the Governments before. He does not know the present President of Sri Lanka nor any previous Presidents, therefore his only interest is in seeing the development of his motherland of which he is a simple citizen. Therefore, he writes neither to receive accolade from one political party or negate the importance of another. It is just an attempt to evaluate the situation and give his opinion on how the UNP could perhaps be reorganised to be a political party of the people.

It is only now that the political scene in Sri Lanka has seriously changed. It is this political change that has made the members of the UNP think of the necessity to reorganise the UNP. It is time that some one comes forward to speak of the necessity to change the make up of the oldest political party the UNP before it disappears into the past memory of the people. If it were to continue as it is, it would soon be the phantom of its own past. The UNP has contributed nothing in the way of progress and development to the country in the recent past, and very little before.

The UNP if it had adopted a different attitude towards the other main political party the SLFP, it may perhaps have evolved differently and perhaps won the respect of the people, and a certain popularity along side the SLFP. But instead, the UNP adopted an aggressive diametrically opposite attitude thus appealing more to the aggressive, pompous and rude elements of the society. The UNP leadership on political platforms did not inspire the ordinary people; the simple, gentle , and the peace loving.

When the UNP leadership knew that its opponents were more respected and loved, it should have gone along with the people to accept them as good people, but show in a more gentle ways that the politics they have adopted were not the best. Then the people would have listened and perhaps changed their views. But the rhetoric of Tissa Attanayake, Lakshman Kiriella, Ravi Karunanayake, and Ranil Wickrmasinghe were annoying and could not attract the people to their side. UNP thus distanced itself from the ordinary people.

UNP had committed too many mistakes the 1983 riots were the results of a mistakes of UNP. The CFA was another mistake of UNP. The UNP had accumulated such errors and did not accept them as its mistakes. The executive Presidency was the child of UNP. It was used by JR in a negative way. Taking away the civic rights of Mrs. Bandatranaike was another mistake.

JR’s UNP depended too much on America, and when India intervened when the UNP was winning against the terrorists, he expected American intervention which was not forth coming and UNP had no alternative but to give in to Rajiv Gandhi and sign the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

The UNP of Ranil Wickramasinghe had not learnt any lessons from the mistakes UNP had accumulated in the past. The result was that the people relied more and more in Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse. Executive Presidency in the hands of an honest politician, loyal to the service to the people was a boon at the time the country was infested with the cancer of terrorism. That honest politician loyal to the people was Mahinda Rajapakse, to whom executive Presidency paid dividends.

Though some criticise him for a “record” cabinet, it showed Mahinda Rajapakse’s cunning statesmanship and showed his ability to use the worst of a situation to the best of his advantage.

If the UNP played its cards well at the time it would have come off the winner. There would not have been an “exodus” of UNP seniors to the fold of President Mahinda Rajapakse, if Ranil Wickramasinghe had agreed to work in cooperation with the President Mahinda Rajapakse, at the time the country was in danger of being divided by the ruthless terrorists. And the people would have appreciated it and accepted the UNP for an alternative government when the time was ripe.

That in fact was the fall of the UNP, having failed to make use of a situation to its advantage, it was left like a man caught in the flood waters without even a weed to hang on to.

The fact that the leader of the UNP Ranil Wickramasinghe has still not learnt his lesson is evident from the fact that he has not been able to be honest to himself, by handing over his resignation from the leadership of the UNP. That is the best he could have done ,for which the people would have been grateful to him and even pardoned him for his errors.

Those who want to reorganise UNP should take into consideration all this, and make radical changes in its policies. UNP is known as a pro-western conservative party. It had been able to dupe certain section of the people at grass root level, not by adopting people friendly political policies, but by giving certain advantages to its followers , over the rival groups of people.

UNP should also take into consideration that we are a developing country, and in being in that position we should adopt neutral political policies, without being “pro” any one sector, or “anti “ another sector. We should be able to take advantage from both East and West. Russia and China had been our greatest strength at a time of need, and that fact should be kept in mind by those who want to reorganise UNP.

A viable opposition is healthy for democracy, and we wish all the best for those who will reform and reorganise the UNP.

Freedom of the Press.

It is interesting to see how some Western Democracies , and their Agencies, select the winners for awards for Press Freedom or Human right activities. It appears that the awards are not given in appreciation of the deeds themselves, but according to the extent to which their actions had harmed the country which the awarding country or the Agency wants to dishonour.

The runner up for the first annual Freedom Defender’s Award selected by the US Embassy in Sri Lanka was Mano Ganesan. Mano Ganeshan was well known for his close relationship with the terrorists, and whatever part he was playing with the terrorists to set up a separate Eelam. The US Ambassador for Sri Lanka at the time who selected Mano Ganeshan for the award was Robert Blake, who was also well known for his sympathies for the terrorists.

Then Tissainayagam who was arrested and convicted for a more serious offence and whose connection to the terrorists was proved in a court of law was given an award for “ courageous and ethical journalism ” , by the Paris based Reporters Without Borders. He also won the International Press Freedom Award in 2009, awarded by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the British Press Award named him the 2010 Foreign Journalist of theYear.

There was yet another anti Sri Lanka Government journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga who was awarded the UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The Harvard Nieman Foundation for Journalism made him the award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism. He also got the National Press Club Press Freedom award, James Cameron Award, and he also got Transparency International's very first Integrity Award.

A wag says that if you have the courage to criticise a government of a developing country or a country which is not towing the Western ideology, and if you are a citizen of that country and write to the press , run a tabloid and cow-tow the west informing them of the weaknesses of the government, you are likely to get all the awards given by the International Community or their Agencies. The wag says Boris Pasternack , and Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn may not have won the Noble Prize if they were not Russians, and critical of the regime.

If Prabhakaran continued to live he may have perhaps been nominated for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize or the Freedom Defender’s Prize of the US State Department , or an award offered by the Amnesty International , UNESCO or UNHCHR.

That is the way how the promoters of the freedom of the Press, manipulate the Journalists of Developing countries to take revenge from Government of Developing Countries for not being meek, and toeing their line of “democracy”. They encourage dissidents by selecting them for grant of awards, honours, and being invited to their countries, or even giving asylum to some of them.

There is evidence of this effort of the International Community to create dissention in developing countries by pampering , and encouraging terrorists and dissidents to work against elected governments, in the way how David Milliband, Bernard Kouchner, Hillary Clinton , Robert o’Blake acted, during the last phase of the government military operations against the terrorist of Sri Lanka, to save Prabhakaran and his terrorists from being completely annihilated.

They did not stop at that even after the Sri Lanka Government Forces eliminated terrorism the International Community was all out to take revenge by attempting to accuse the Government of Sri Lanka for war crimes. They speak of Press Freedom, while Ban Ki Moon is seeking to appoint a commission to investigate whether the Government of Sri Lanka committed war crimes. Is n’t this utter hypocrisy of the International Community interposing their “yes man” Ban ki Moon the cat’s paw for their dirty work, and at the same time defend Press Freedom ?

One may say that this argument is besides the question of the Freedom of the Press. But it is, because it shows why the International Community and their Agencies, like the National Press Club, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and the Reporters Without Borders etc. seek out for their precious “awards” , journalists from developing countries who write against their own governments and by their writing create communal dissention, prevent communal unity, and keep away developing countries from becoming independent of the sacrosanct International Community-the British, American , the French etc. and pave a path of politically independent development.

These protectors of the Press Freedom, think that by the mere fact of being Europeans, give them the privilege of judging journalists on their own without examining the back ground that necessitated a journalist to be convicted under the prevailing law of the land. Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary-general of the Paris based press rights group Reporters Without Borders said,
"J.S. Tissainayagam is one of those and should never have been imprisoned, Sri Lankans have the right to be informed about what is happening on their island. They have the right to read words written by men.”

Of course Sri Lanka does allow the journalists to write freely, but there is a limit beyond which they should not go. That is because Sri Lanka is only a developing country, and it needs the coalition and partnership of all communities for its development as a Nation. Therefore, the government cannot stand aside allowing the journalists to write what they want hampering the country’s progress towards development, by creating chaos among the communities and keep the country always dependent on the developed countries of the West.
Most of What the Foreign Press Clubs and such agencies say are with a view to condemn a developing country, to create dissention among the people, to keep them poor and dependent on the rich and the developed Nations, to take revenge where Sri Lanka is concerned.
As much as they refused to accept the Terrorists in Sri Lanka as “ terrorists “, as they accepted the terrorists that attacked their own countries -America, UK, Germany etc. as “terrorists”, they refuse to accept that some of the journalists in Sri Lanka writing against the interest of their own country are a danger to its independence and development; apart from their bringing disrepute to the country of their birth.
Therefore it is no wonder that Rights watchdogs have named Sri Lanka as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work, after Iraq and Somalia.
Is it correct to speak of the press freedom without speaking about the necessity to control the press when it oversteps the boundaries of decency , and truth. In the West media has caused untold suffering to people through paparazzi- the “ thieves of images” who would do any thing to photograph celebrities in their intimacy.

The Late Princess Diana was a victim of these photo journalists who chased the car in which Princess Diana was travelling with Dodi Al Fayed . The car had to be driven fast to avoid being caught up by the paparazzi, and when the accident happened the paparazzi were not considerate of the life of the Princess, but wanted to take photos of her mangled body which would have brought them a tidy sum of money.

Is that Freedom of the Press or a shameless criminal intrusion into personal intimacy of persons ? Are not the journalists who complain of state restriction to their freedom of writing , at times a danger to the peoples’ freedom to live the way they want whether they are celebrities or not ?

The News Agencies such as the Reuters, AFP, BBC often distort news, or use adjectives which are injurious in introducing to the readers Political Leaders of developing countries. When Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse was elected the President of Sri Lanka, they called him the “hawkish politician”.

When they wanted to contradict a developing countries effort to draw attention of the world to ruthlessness of its enemies, they mollified the effect on the readers by using “soft” adjectives to describe them. They called the terrorists in Sri Lanka “the rebels”. They called Prabhakaran the terrorist leader, “ the rebel leader”. Some even called the terrorists the freedom fighters. Is this part of the freedom of the press , to hide the truth, by using words to soften the effect ?

There are writers in the Guardian.co.uk Jonathan Steel, Malathi de Alwis, who do not seem to understand that a sovereign state could do what it wants, and what it thinks is best for its people. The memories of the ruthless terrorism of the past is best forgotten. The people have had enough of it. A new page has to be turned and the country united to go forward with its projects of development. Therefore, the ruins of the past that brings terrorism to mind are being removed. And that is how it should be.

It is no freedom of the press for journalists who know nothing of the suffering that the people went through to write condemning the action of the government. That is no freedom of the press but an interference in to the affairs of another country, which has to be condemned.


What has the great defenders of the freedom of the press got to say about the journalists of the UK Channel four for accusing Sri Lanka for crimes on “doctored” photographs ? Do they consider that the media- in the name of the freedom of the press, has the right to do what it pleases to accuse a developing country for war crimes simply because it succeeded in eliminating terrorism for good , where as the developed nations are still entrenched in seemingly never ending war against terrorism, violating human rights and killing innocent civilians in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Freedom of the Press indeed is good where a country is developed and internal problems are less acute than those of developing countries. But in developing countries the journalists have a special duty by its country not to be critical of the government, but help it in its effort to develop the country.

Once an elected government shows sign of following a well defined path for the development of the country, every one must put their shoulder to the wheel to make the “machines of development” work. Every thing said and done a good political leader is a rare phenomenon. We in Sri Lanka are fortunate to have such a leader who is willing to work and take Sri Lanka away from the outmoded development programmes, looking only to the known west as our benefactors, depending on the “crumbs” falling from their sumptuous tables to plan our development.

The President Mahinda Rajapakse has broken loose from those ancient shackles and has been able to lead the country to wards a different way of development. It is the duty of the journalists and media to help in his progressive projects by getting all communities together to engage wholly in the task of development. There may have been untoward happenings in the past but it is not the time to keep harping on them and deviate from the necessary effort of bringing all communities together to build a Nation. That is the duty of the free press of a developing country.

I was in Sri Lanka after four years and I saw a tremendous lot of work that had been undertaken to change the country from what it was before. The roads, schools, hospitals, even towns and villages have benefitted from these vast development programme. Every thing may not be perfect, but we cannot deny that we have at last awakened to a new way of development a different strategy.

There is one programme I saw from which poor villagers begin to profit. It is called “Vidatha” or taking technology to the village. It had been organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology. It trains both young and old villagers who are unemployed to use whatever is available to turn them into saleable items. It is good if the free press looks into it to promote it better, and make it known to the people. They do it well in Akurana.

What is most important now as I see is to bring the unity among the three main communities. That is also the duty of the Free Press. Sri Lanka is divided, politically and communally. The only way to jump from being a developing country, to be a developed country is to build this Unity. Everyone , principally the media should step into build this much needed unity.

As it is each group of people is more absorbed about its own welfare, without thinking of the Nation , the Country as a whole. Political parties are on their own vying against each other to be popular among the people. Journalists are critical of the Government for white van kidnappings, and the persecution of journalists. The Trade Unions are active to get salary increases, as that is the only way to bring down the cost of living.

The free press does not speak of achieved benefits, progress, and the governments future plans for development. The Tamils and Sinhala should come together to bring Sri Lanka into the new era that has commenced. There are those who seem to be worried about a Rajapakse dynasty.

We have had a Senanayake dynasty, then a Bandaranayake dynasty, and why not a Rajapakse dynasty. Is it a matter that should stop us from going ahead with our development projects. Rajapakses- Mahinda, Gotabhaya, and Basil have turned out to be indefatigable workers bent on bringing progress to our country. That is what the people want. Does it then matter that in doing so they are building a dynasty ?

The President Mahinda Rajapakse has shown that he is a man who can change things for the good of the people. He has already done much though the Free Press of Sri Lanka prodded by the International Press Agencies refuse to accept it. The President has won the confidence of the ordinary people. It is now up to those who seek to criticise, find faults and cry over split milk so to say, to stop their preoccupations and join the Rajapakses to build a new Nation of Sri Lankans.

Why a two third Majority, when according to Feizal Samath’s Article “Jaffna Tamils Decry Development Plan of Gov’t”

Mannar Bridge


Part One.

Why a two third majority ? If it is to amend the constitution to allow devolution of political power to the Tamils; it is far better to leave the constitution alone for the time being. It serves no purpose to accept the most undependable politician Rauf Hakeem, the shameless opportunist ManoGaneshan, or the slaves of the terrorists Sampanthan and the rest into the government fold merely to increase the numbers to have the two third majority.

The Tamils should engage themselves completely with the government to participate in the Nation building activities as a part of its citizenry. We should not give in either to the expatriate Tamils who live in their own world as third class citizens in foreign lands pushed from pillar to post by the whites, and yet conspiring with them to divide Sri Lanka for an Eelam where they hope to be first class citizens, nor the dishonestWestern Governments. Neither the expatriate Tamils nor the Western pseudo democracies, care or feel for our people, nor understand our cultural difference nor our national interests.

If the Tamils would like to remain apart, claiming an Eelam State it is better they set it up in Tamil Nadu, leaving Sri Lanka for the Sri Lankans. If they remain in this country they should learn to be a part and parcel of it accepting the fact of the Sinhala being the majority and that they are the minority. The Sinhala Governments have denied them nothing but had always come forward to help them in the worst of times, and they continued to be helped to come out of the misery into which their own people had pushed them.

It was not the Sampanthan and his TNA that helped the Tamils to come out of the throes of suffering under ruthless terrorism. If not for the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sinhala Buddhist Armed Forces the Tamils would still be suffering, and living in continuous fear of death, their children being kidnapped, threats and demand of ransom.

There was an article “ Jaffna Tamils Decry Developement Plan of Gov’t “ by Feizal Samath in IPS of the 26 April,2010. It is interesting to read that article to fathom the extent to which the Jaffna Tamils wants to distance themselves from the Sinhala Community, and prefer to immigrate even to wash dishes in white homes and restaurants in Foreign lands. It is time that the Tamils in Sri Lanka change their attitudes, and at least now, begin to love their motherland in which they were born, with its environment, and with its population of different communities.

The mentioned article begins with an incident, “ Two cyclists from the minority Tamil community are shooed away by government soldiers as they approach this northern Sri Lankan city’s only Buddhist temple while President Mahinda Rajapaksa is paying a visit.

But when a family from the majority Sinhalese ambles toward the guards, they are treated more amiably.

These twin incidents during Rajapaksa’s rare visit to Jaffna on Apr. 1 illustrate the contrasting ways in which soldiers from an army made up largely of Sinhalese treat the majority and minority ethnic groups. ………”

This also happened during the period of terrorism when Tamils residing in some areas in Colombo were checked by the police, and a big hue and cry was then made calling it a discrimination against the minority Tamils. But don’t these Tamils who cry to high heavens that they are still suspected, know that it is they who have brought suspicion upon themselves, and why they are suspected and barred from coming closer to where the President had been ?

There was a chance for the Tamils in Jaffna and the East to prove that they are honest citizens who love their motherland as much as the Sinhalese, if they had the gumption to vote for the UPFA to show that they at least now understand that the Sinhala people are not the enemies of Tamils they have so far thought, but their friends. That would have removed the stigma of suspicion that unfortunately continues to be attached to Tamils.

But the Tamils in Jaffna and the East, shamelessly voted for the TNA- the political Party which represented Prabhakaran and his terrorists, and not the Tamil people, during the 30 years of terrorism in Sri Lanka. Even today the TNA are the flag bearers of Prabhakaran’s doctrine of Eelam and a separate homeland concept for the Tamils. Yet the Tamils who had been saved by the Government Forces, from the thirty years of misery, and the confiscation of their freedom by the ruthless terrorists, seem to dream of Prabhakaran’s Eelam as their heritage.

How can these Tamils now decry the difference of treatment meted out to them by the Military at check points ? Are they willing to be accepted as the children of mother Lanka entirely without reservations ?

If they do not, and follow the ghastly “remnants of terrorism” the TNA, seeking self determination and a separate Eelam for Tamils, they will always be suspect and treated differently from the Sinhala who are entirely the children of mother Lanka , who had all along accepted to live with a fraternal acceptance of their fellow compatriots , even if they seek to treat them differently.

Feizal Samath’s article further reads, “…….Right through the late 1970s, Tamils claimed discrimination from the majority community. In 1977 Tamil parties swept the polls in the northern capital of Jaffna on the call for a separate homeland. A few years later, Tamil militancy emerged and led to almost three decades of civil war.

Many fear the government still has a long way to go in winning the hearts and minds of the Tamil community, which dominates Jaffna.

"There is nothing we can do," explained a veteran Anglican priest, who declined to be named, when asked whether the government was bending backwards to win the support of the Tamils. ”…….”

The Christian Church, in the North and East of Sri Lanka, is a dominant obstacle to unity between the Tamils and the Sinhala Buddhists.

We have evolved since 1970, but have the mental attitude of Tamils evolved since then ? Apparently not. Is it the Government that has to go a long way to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil Community which dominates Jaffna ? Have the Tamils nothing to give to inspire the government to do more to help both the Tamils and Sinhala Communities ?

Why do the Tamils always expect the Government to do things for their welfare ? The Government is responsible for the wellbeing of the people of all communities. As it is the government, since it eliminated terrorism , has undertaken and carried out more development projects in the North and East, than in the South.

But what does the Government get in return for the yeoman service it is rendering to the Tamil population in Jaffna ? More they are given more they want. Their demands are greater than their own contribution to the government and the rest of its people for unity and development of Sri Lanka as a Nation.

They haven’t had the simple gratitude to vote for the government by way of an assent for the Communal unity of Sri Lanka breaking away from the rude concept of a separate Eelam. That was no show of patriotism , but a shameless show of utter racism of the Tamils towards the Sinhala Buddhists.

Feizal Samath wrote incorrectly , “…..Tamils are the largest minority group in Sri Lanka, representing about 13 percent of the country’s total population of 20 million. Many of them live in Jaffna, considered the seat of Tamil nationalism and the second most important city of Sri Lanka, next to Colombo……..” . It is incorrect, as he failed to mention that of the 13 percent of the total population of Tamils, 55 percent live in the South with the Sinhala people.

Feizal Samath continues in his article “………Nearly a year after the war ended, burnt out, shell-shocked buildings can be seen lying side by side with spanking new ones for banks or financial services as Colombo firms rush to grab a share of the new business opportunities in Jaffna.

But youngsters and city elders clamor for a different kind of development. "We need to be able to own rather than be bystanders (to development)," said a city businessman, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisal. “

This “different kind of development” does not come overnight. It is only about a year since the Government eliminated terrorism that had halted all possibilities of development projects in the North and East. Though the Tamil media and interested parties keep harping that progress has still not come to Sri Lanka, the Government of the President Mahinda Rajpakse has been able to develop the country in multifarious ways despite the war against terrorism in which it was forced to be engaged .

But the fact is that the Tamils coaxed by the Tamil media want progress to come to them immediately. They have no patience as if they expect the “Sinhala” Government to come with a magic wand to Jaffna to solve all their problems.

With the elimination of terrorism things have changed in Sri Lanka both for the Tamils and the Sinhala. The development in the North cannot be heralded with only the Tamils in mind, but all communities will have to share in the development of the North and East. And at the same time they have all the right to expect benefit from that development.

Therefore the Tamils in Jaffna should understand that they are no more alone in Jaffna. Jaffna is as much a part of Sri Lanka more than ever before, to the Sinhala and Muslims as much as Colombo is to the Tamils.