Ban Ki Moon’s advisory panel failed to accuse Terrorist Front Organizations of Tamil diaspora, for aiding and abetting terrorism in Sri Lanka

Fast unto Death or Self Immolation demanding Ban Ki Moon to withdraw his advisory Panel report is only giving importance to a foolish man’s attempt to bring a sovereign state to its knees either to satisfy his “ masters ” who ever they are, or to assert a stupid sense of self importance because he thinks he is the Secretary General of an International Organization, and his decisions are sacrosanct. This is what happens when the wrong man is given responsibility which he is « too small » to hold.

Ban Ki Moon is a person who will not care even if the whole of the people in Sri Lanka were to self immolate. He will not move a finger to change the stupid stand he has taken, because it is for him his “ self esteem” that is at stake.

Therefore it is important that the President is made aware of these extremes to which our people are ready to go for the sake of the country, and it should not be allowed to happen as it is not the right thing to do. And it will also not change Ban Ki Moon from what he is determined to do.

We can nevertheless understand the anger that is rising in us, as it is we who suffered for 30 years under ruthless terrorism. It was our people , our mothers, our sister, our brothers and our children who were massacred by the terrorists.

It was thanks to our Armed Forces that we were able to rid terrorism from Sri Lanka. It was the terrorists that violated all shades of human rights and Ban Ki Moon’s panel accusing the terrorists and leaving it at that, is the most ridiculous as it had recommended no action for the « violation of human rights » and massacre of men, women and children by the terrorists . The advisory panel had overlooked the essential.

Though the terrorists have been eliminated the Tamil diaspora continues to keep alive the terrorism calling for the division of Sri Lanka which was the object of the terrorists. Therefore for any right thinking investigator, though the terrorists are not their to answer accusations against them, their rump the Tamil diaspora is there and they are as much responsible for the acts of the terrorists as the terrorists themselves were responsible.

Therefore the Ban Ki Moon’s advisory panel should have held the terrorist front organizations of the Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora responsible for the crimes committed by the terrorists and recommended that they should be taken before a tribunal for aiding and abetting terrorism in Sri Lanka, making them directly responsible for the deaths massacres and material destruction committed by the terrorists, as they were the contributors for the purchase of destructive arms which the terrorists turned against the innocent people

The Sri Lanka Armed Forces had no alternative in the face of terrorism that had been let loose but take a military solution. Therefore the panel if it was intelligent should have seen that that the Government of Sri Lanka and its Armed forces did what it was compelled to do to protect its people and its country, and the country should now be left alone to carry on its process of communal reconciliation.

Ban Ki Moon, who seems to have acted beyond powers vested in him as Secretarry General of UNO, should show cause before the Security Council or

Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization had appointed an advisory panel to investigate and advise him if there had been violation of human rights by the Armed Forces of the Sri Lanka Government in the “elimination” of terrorists, paying from his special Fund.

After the advisory panel made its investigations and handed over its report, the Secretary General published the report without the consent of the “party” concerned- in this case the member State of Sri Lanka.

The question is not whether the appointment of the advisory panel by the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to advice him on the particular issue or the publication of its report, is right or wrong.

But the question is , why the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon singled out the member State of Sri Lanka for the investigation, leaving out the other member States who are also engaged in similar “military operations” for the elimination of terrorist in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya ?

It is inconceivable that one member State is singled out by the SGUN to be investigated by an advisory panel to ascertain whether it had violated human rights in the cause of the elimination of terrorists, while other member States go scot free without any probe into their violation of human rights in their military operations against terrorism.

Is it because the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka eliminated terrorism in a military operation while the others have still failed to do so ? It is for Ban Ki Moon to explain.

In order to justify the appointment of the advisory panel of investigation for the member State of Sri Lanka, and the publication of its report causing lot of internal problems to the member State which is in the course of reconciling the communities after elimination of terrorism, Ban Ki Moon should also appoint an advisory panel to investigate whether the on going Military Operations by America, France and other European Nations are violating the human rights of the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

If not the Member State of the United Nations should demand that the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon is brought before the UN Security Council, if not before a Special General Assembly of Member States, to show cause why he should not be impeached for acting beyond powers vested in him as the Secretary General of the United Nations to treat one member State differently from others causing that particular member State internal difficulties of reconciliation of its people after delivering them from a 30 years of suffering under terrorism ?

This is a sine qua non as the Member States of the United Nations are equal before its Charter. There are no powerful Member States of the UNO who have special rights, and poorer Member States of the UNO from the “third world” who have lesser rights.

The Government of Sri Lanka through its Embassies should get in contact with the Member States of the “third world countries “, to make them aware of the situation as the Secretary General may make this a precedence to continue treating other Member States differently for “personal reasons” against some, in favour of a few.

This should be made an eye opener for all member States to become aware of their equality of status before the Charter of the UNO, to begin a reform of the United Nations to allow it to become a true Forum of Member States to settle their problems in peaceful dialogue without allowing any member State to over-step the UNO to intervene in the internal affairs of any Member Sovereign State.

“… the capacity of the Security Council to perform its political functions effectively has narrowed the former role of the Secretary-General as an honest broker between forces locked into intractable enmity. The Council, now more readily able to take decisions, tends to ask the Secretary-General to go to Tripoli and to Baghdad not to exercise an independent political role but more to help execute its own plan of action”230.

The above extract from a study on The UN Secretary General between Law and Politics shows, the Secretary General of UNO is not empowere to exercise an independent political role.

Magicians who make Governments of third world countries terrorists, and terrorists of these countries Governments.

In Libya to day the Colonel Gaddafi the Leader of the Sovereign State of Libya is being hunted by America, France and UK ,as a vulgar terrorists accusing him of dropping cluster bombs to kill his people . And unheard of Libyan expatriates had been assembled in a hurry by Nicolas Sarkozy the French President, to recognize them as the Libyan Government in exile to represent the “terrorirst” rebels in Bengazi. That is the Magic of Nicolas Sarkozy making a Leader of a Sovereign State a terrorist overnight to recognize the “terrorists” rebels in Libya as a Government.

At the beginning of the Western “terrorism “ against Libya on Saturday, 19 March, 2011 incidentally the eighth anniversary of the start of the American war in Iraq, with the UN Sanction to keep the Libyan air space free, the Americans commenced the Operation Odyssey Dawn with the US Destroyer USS Barry launching Tomahawk Missiles at Libyan target,. while the British planes used Stormshadow Missiles on yet other Libyan targets.

Few hours later British and American War ships had launched more than 110 tomahawk missiles targeting Libyan Government air defenses around Tripoli and Mistrata In which « unconfirmed » reports stated 48 people mostly children had been killed and 150 wounded.

Barrack Obama calling from Brazil explained "This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought,…..We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."

The majority of the Libyan people does not call Colonel Gaddafi a “tyrant” and it is only a disgruntled few in Bengazi who rose against Colonel Gaddafi. Naturally the Leader of the Nation of Libya could not show mercy to a handful of “terrorists” trying to create chaos in Bengazi against him putting in danger the lives of his people in the country. Hence the stern warning.

For the International Community a Leader of the Sovereign State of Libya becomes overnight a tyrant, because a handful of so called rebels- in reality armed terrorists rise against the Libyan regime, without an apparent “leadership” calling for a change of government.

The Libyan Leader reacted declaring his intention to face the Western aggression by arming his people, which is a correct move to defend his country and his people loyal to him.

The three nations America, France and UK started their “ terrorism” against Libya firing cruise missiles from several American destroyers- USS Barry, USS Stout and three submarines USS Providence, USS Scranton, and USS Florida along with the British Submarine- Westminster.

After all these reckless bombardments into a people in Libya about whom neither the Americans, nor the French nor the British knew or cared to know any thing about, an anti Gaddafi American blogger said, “…but this was 100% necessary, because Gaddafi would have no qualms at dropping missiles onto the heads of his own people if he needed to.”

The world other than these, “ three “ aggressive leaders, does not know that Colonel Gaddafi ever dropped any bombs on his own people or believe he would ever do so. This Western notion comes from their ignorance of the cultural make up of a people, which in Arab countries is an intense tribalism with an unflagging loyalty to its leader..

The three Leaders of America, France and UK on the pretext of keeping the air space of Libya free with all those warships and planes and undeclared number of missiles targeting Tripoli, Mistrata and Bengazi may have certainly dropped many bombs on the heads of Libyans who do not matter very much to them ( unlike Gaddafi who loves them as his people.)

The strategy of the Western trio is to weaken the Libyan Leader and strengthen the terrorist rebels in Bengazi, and create other groups of terrorist rebels in other parts of Libya. The death of the Libyans is not their immediate concern , but their immediate concern is to subdue Gaddafi and force him out of Libya so that they will become the masters to decide on the exploitation and distribution of the Libyan oil fields.

They ascertain that there would be no occupation of Libya by American Soldiers , but only strategic strikes would be pursued to weaken Gaddafi against the rebel fighters- that is to weaken a Leader of a Sovereign State against “ a terrorist” rebel force, supported of course by the Western Imperialists.

In fact this is how the Indian RAW trained a group of Tamil youth to become terrorists in Sri Lanka.

President Barrack Obama was my favourite politician. I thought he would be able to, give the American people a political system hitherto unknown, where peace would rein, crime among the young would be eliminated, the poor Americans will benefit by the implementation of his progressive political ideology. I thought he will put an end to American aggressive confrontational foreign policies.

The Americans vote for his election as the President was a vote to end wars, to stop sacrificing its youth hunting “ invisible terrorists “ in foreign lands away from home in a war of vengeance and hatred , to bring back the war weary American soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan leaving those countries to organize their own security and protection..

But today he has deceived those Americans who voted him to replace a “war crazy” Bush administration with a peace loving, people friendly administration. He has instead engaged himself in another war in Libya, falsely declaring that no American soldier will be deployed in Libya but using 5 destroyers and submarines and launching innumerable missiles and bombs commencing another unending war in Libya following two European leaders who have lost their popularity amoung their people and their r-elections seriously in doubt.

It is time that the President Barrack Obama at least now give the American people and the World looking for a sane leadership in America a “new hope- Yes we can” regime change. America instead of seeking to destroy civilian life by incessant bombardment of “unseen” terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, should turn within to provide effective control inside America to prevent America being targeted for attacks by terrorists coming from outside. America could then utilize the valuable lives of American youth for the development of the country instead of letting their red American blood soak into unfriendly foreign soil..

The President Barrack Obama should at least now maintain his image of a sane leader aware of the suffering of the people, who could use his ability of elocution to created a New America seeking to settle serious problems the world is confronted with today in dialogue and peace negotiations rather than bulldozing the world with bombs and missiles.

Aggression will be replied with aggression and that would not take any one any where. A sane leadership is where the leader has the ability to remain undisturbed in the face of arrogance and be peaceful and speak a language different from that of the aggressor. It is that way the President Barrack Obama could settle disputes not only in Libya, but also in North Korea, Iran, or elsewhere. He should be able to bring aggressive leaders in Europe to his way of thinking.

The present military confrontation in Libya is simply arrogance in search of benefits for the West and not at all in the interest of the people of Libya. Therefore the Wastern aggression in Libya should be stopped and allow the Libyan leader to settle problems in his own way. Presidents of European countries should look after their own people without trying to settle matters in other countries which should best be allowed to be decide by them.

The West could give advice and propose technical aid to developing countries. It is underdevelopment that causes multifarious problems in developing countries and what they want from the International Community is Assistance for development and progress not war in support of rebellious elements who will if pampered by the West become terrorists.

Some of the leaked Guantanamo files give terrifying insight into savagery of American interrogation of captives. The following website reveals unbelievable violation of human rights about which none of the human rights activists or the Amnesty International had probed into, as they seem to care more about the “ethnic “problem in Sri Lanka.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/world/guantanamo-files-lives-in-an-american-limbo.html?_r=1&emc=na

It is hoped that wisdom would prevail and Libya would be left alone to solve its problem.

The three world-class terrorists- Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International and Ban Ki Moon’s Panel

In Iraq there is no number exact as to how many Iraqi Civilians had been killed by the American Armed Forces. Not only they kill but the American Armed forces also humiliate the Iraqis taken as prisoners. We have seen the images of the Iraqi prisoners being humiliated and tortured in the Abu Ghraib Prison by the American Soldiers. We have also seen recently images of American Soldiers in Afghanistan,calling themselves the « kill team » who having killed civilians for « fun », had got them selves photographed with the dead bodies.

In Libya unknown numbers of civilians have been killed, by another « kill team » the President of USA Barrack Obama, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister of UK David Cameron. Perhaps it is irreverent and highly impertinent to call these world leaders terrorists, but when we see how they are getting their armies to bombard Libya and planning to oust on their own accord Colonel Gaddafi the leader of the Sovereign State of Libya, how can we remain not calling them “terrorists”. The dictionary definition of terrorist as “A radical who employs terror as a political weapon” is applicable to these “enemies” of democracy.

They had no right to bomb a Sovereign State to help a group of civilians who rebelled against their Leader. These type of rebels appear every where taking different forms, some carrying guns, and others carrying placards. It is up to the Government of the Sovereign State to find a solution to settle matters and bring the « rebels » under control, in the interest of the country and its people who are not always in agreement with the rebels.

No country has the right to intervene in the affairs of a Sovereign State,even on the pretext of supporting a group of rebels. The sovereignty of a State is sacrosanct. It is similar to the human rights of a person.

Therefore, the American, French and British combined intervention in Libya is an aggression against a Sovereign State and how else are they to be called other than as World Class Terrorists. Their action should be condemned by every freedom loving people in the world.

Now these three world-class terrorists claim they want the Libyan Leader Gaddafi to leave the Country, and as the UN Resolution 1973 has not allowed them the right to deploy their armies on the ground , they are trying another ploy, saying that Libya is using cluster bombs against the people.

There is no evidence that what they is true, as they had shamelessly lied before to the UN saying that they were to control the Air Space over Benghazi to make it a no fly zone, and immediately after getting the sanction of the UN Security Council bombarded all over Libya. Now they are lying about cluster Bombs to justify sending their armies to take over Libya. The world has not forgotten that this is not the first time they are lying to the UNO and therefore to the world at large.

America and UK lied before to declare war on Iraq. Today the three leaders of America, France and UK have become a danger to the world and therefore to the humanity. What happened in Ivory Coast is not different from what they do in Libya.

Immediately after the Presidential elections in Ivory Coast the International Community recognized the Alassane Ouattara who had got 54 percent of the votes. Laurent Gbagbo the incumbent President who had got 46 percent of the votes contested the counting of votes, and demanded a recount.

But Nicolas Sarkozy the President of France, demanded Laurent Gbagbo to leave Ivory Coast or face sanction. EU then imposed Sanctions on Laurent Gbagbo by a viza ban and asset freezes.

Gbagbo reacted against France for supporting Ouattara, and clashes between the partisans irrupted causing large number of deaths . France was seeking to protect 15000 French who are residents of Ivory Coast, and sent its armed forces to take over the Air Port and deployed its army in Ivory Coast.

The whole situation was the result of the International Community intervening to recognition a President in Ivory Coast hardly before the heat of an election was over, the EU imposing sanctions ,and then the Military intervention by France. Which country is now safe from these World Class terrorism ?

The developing countries are better warned not to allow large numbers of citizens from the West to settle down in their countries as that could be made a reason for the International Community to enter into a Sovereign State breaking all International Laws and conventions to dictate its own terms without any legal sanction.

Libya, Ivory Coast, Sri Lanka, Iran are the present theatres of this International interventionism. No developing country is safe from their tentacles working along with its “goons” the Amnesty International, UN and Human Rights activists.

Amnesty International

It is in this situation that Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International- another organization whose former Secretary General Irene Khan is said have received £500,000 and her Assistant Kate Gilmore £300,000 as payouts from the Organization, is working hard for an equal payout collecting information from her contacts in the terrorist front Organizations of the Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora, to make up lies to accuse Sri Lanka for the consumption of the gullible International Community.

Apparently for Amnesty International Sri Lanka is its only area of work for collecting evidence of human rights violations of past military operations against a group of ruthless terrorists.

Terrorism in Sri Lanka is now history , but the Amnesty International is keeping it alive, as it is its “ goose that lays golden eggs”.

The Amnesty International is either blind to what is going on in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast etc, or it does not care so much for the civilians subjected to human rights violation in those countries, than the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

The reason of course is obvious as in those countries where the International Community is violating human rights in all its forms, there is no diaspora like the Tamil diaspora to keep paying Amnesty International to intervene and discredit the violators.

Yolanda Foster says that Sri Lanka had a long history of violence, daring not to mention the thirty years of ruthless terror to which the people of Sri Lanka was subjected to by the Sri Lanka Terrorists, whose front Organizations are her pay masters.

Ban Ki Moon’s Panel

Into the Bargain the “yes” man of the International Community Ban Ki Moon of the UN has released the findings of his panel of investigation as to the violation of human rights by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces during the final phase of the end of terrorism in Sri Lanka. But the report states nothing more than what had been already said by various Western human rights activists ,the Amnesty International, and the Tamil Net, the Sri Lanka Guardian, or Transcurrent. One would say it is a “cut and paste” report of what appeared in pro-terrorist media and statements by pro-terrorist diplomats, Governments, and assistant State Secretaries.

Sri Lanka has finished off with the terrorism and is engaged in reconstructing the country vandalized by the terrorists , and trying its best to provide the people who suffered for thirty long years under terrorism a stress free peaceful life after being settled in the villages they had been forced by the terrorists to leave to provide them a human shield against attacks by the Government forces.

And the International interfering no-do-gooders such as the Amnesty International and Ban Ki Moon of the UN are now refusing to leave alone the Government of Sri Lanka which is trying to turn a new page after the end of thirty years of suffering under terrorism, and begin a difficult yet a remarkable effort to develop the country and give the people a well deserved existence of peace.

The fact that the Government is doing well is evidenced by the IMF report, “ The Press Communiqué of the IMF stated that the Sri Lankan economy continues to make progress under the Fund supported programme and overall macro-economic developments remain favourable. Growth is strong, inflation remains in single digits and the Reserves are at a comfortable level ».

And again by the statement of an American Congressman to the American Senate ,which is reproduced below :

It was reported that Rep.Joe Wilson (R-S.C) had stated in the House of Representatives, “Mr. Speaker, having just ended a decades long conflict in which the government finally defeated terrorist forces within its borders, the Republic of Sri Lanka recently celebrated its second New Year at complete peace,”

“I would like to wish a happy new year to the 250,000 Sri Lankan-Americans,” Rep. Wilson continued, “along with the 21 million citizens of Sri Lanka, a dynamic nation of South Asia.”

The Congressional statement came as Sri Lanka prepared to begin its third year of peace following its decades-long and ultimately successful fight against terrorism. It ended with the defeat of the militant terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009. There have been no terrorist incidents since then.

Rep. Wilson called for a “new-era” of relations between Sri Lanka and the United States.

“During this time of national reconciliation, I look forward to a new era of Sri Lankan-American relations built on economic, strategic, and political cooperation between our two democratic societies.”

Isn’t it therefore, the time now that these parasites of the Amnesty International who are trying to earn their living paying for their luxury life style from payments received for reporting lies, and cooking up stories, stop to discredit and destabilize Sri Lanka ?

It should also be an eye opener to Ban Ki Moon of the UN to get off the back of Sri Lanka, and mind his business else where in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

The leaders of the International Community lie shamelessly. They are dishonest, harbouring criminal intentions making every effort to bar the developing countries from rising up from their under development to compete with them. They do not want national leaders from developing countries to be popular and develop their countries and unite the divided communities, because they are different from them. They presume that they are a creed born to rule the world and others should exist as pariah nations.

The League of Nations was set up to settle disputes among Nations so that their differences will not deteriorate resulting in armed conflict. But the very League of Nation which is now the UN has become an instrument that promotes conflict, allowing the rich powerful nations of the west to dominate the poor and underdeveloped Nations. The UN does not come to the help of developing Nations to improve their standard of living, and contribute by providing a coordinated national effort to help them achieve economic progress and development.

The UN the only Organization to which the developing countries could appeal to intervene if rich Nations are hampering their development, discrediting and destabilizing them to keep them under their control, has become a helpless instrument of the rich nations aiding and abetting them in their politics of “bullying” the poor Nations.

The International Community instead of helping the developing nations to rise above their difficulties to develop their countries, put barriers against their development. For that purpose they make use of “ human rights” a means to intervene in to the internal affairs of these countries to impede their development and progress.

We in Sri Lanka, saw how the European Community withdrew GSP plus concessions for export of garments, which was Sri Lanka’s top foreign exchange earner, which helped the employment of thousands of poor women in the Garment Industry.

The condition the EU put to reconsider the grant of GSP plus concession was an interference in to the internal affairs of the country . “… The EU looks forward to further improvement in three main areas in Sri Lanka’s domestic affairs such as the complete and total application of international conventions agreed to by Sri Lanka on civil rights, labour rights and children’s rights.”

This had nothing to do with trade concession which was a different matter altogether. But that is how the International Community harasses the developing nations.

The West is always prepared to blame the governments of the Developing countries for not respecting the independence of justice, while it-the International Community is making a mockery of the International Law, breaking it to satisfy their desire to impose their will on these developing nations.

The West makes use of every institution to break the International Law. The UN System is more or less at their beck and call to make it easy for them to have a semblance of justice to intervene in to the affairs of developing countries.

In a very instructive article “ The Collapse of International Law “ Brian Risman says , “ So it is clear that no country, except the naive few, truly believe that International Law truly exists. What really exists is politics, raw politics. Justice? Not a chance.”

The most ridiculous article I happen to read today is about the American Administration searching for a country which would give political asylum to Gaddafi. How could we accept the West to respect International Law when they are deciding on their own to chase away a leader of a Sovereign State because the West does not want him to be there ? After chasing away Gaddafi they will be looking for a “puppet” to replace him. Is it not a violation of International Law, and the violation of the human right of the people of a whole Nation who has the right to decide who rules them and who should not ?

It is in this background that I read in the report of the Ban Ki Moon’s Panel , “….In sum, the LLRC is deeply flawed, does not meet International standards for an effective accountability mechanism and, therefore, does not and cannot satisfy the joint commitment of the President of Sri Lanka and the Secretary-General to an accountability process. “

It is a very pretentious assertion on the part of Ban Ki Moon’s panel to have said in its report that the LLRC is deeply flawed, and that it does not meet with International Standard.

Is it because the LLRC did not consist of a white man in its panel. ? The Western concept of acceptance of any committee of inquiry, is the presence in it of a member from any one of the International Community. If not they consider it not within an International Standard. They consider it is only a white Westerner who could be objective , just and fair in evaluating evidence in an inquiry, and that they are honest, and honourable in their declarations.

We do not accept that as true any more. Because we have seen that the West is not honest, fair, and just. It acts in its own interest, and to achieve its object it does not hesitate to lie. We have documentary evidence that USA and UK jointly prepared forged documents showing that Iraq was seeking Uranium from Niger and used them to go to war with Iraq.

Later they accepted they produced forged documents and blamed the British Intelligence for supplying the information. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/jul/17/pressandpublishing.iraq)

Ban Ki Moon’s Panel had an Indonesian-Marzuki Darusman, a South African-Yasmin Sooka and an American-Steven Ratner. They are educated persons with experience in various fields, but they were strangers to the people of Sri Lanka, their cultural back ground and they do not know how the Sri Lankans react in a given situation. That is important in evaluating Sri Lanka’s terrorism how people reacted to it, and how best to counter terrorism where the terrorists were themselves Sri Lankans.

One cannot judge the people of another culture from the Western Standards. That is where every disagreement arises. The education and experience alone is not sufficient to understand how conflicts arise amoung different people and how those people set about to settle them.

Every member of the LLRC is qualified , respected , honest and honourable, quite able to evaluate evidence objectively. The LLRC had another advantage that the Ban Ki Moon’s three member Panel did not have.

The eight members of the LLRC were all Sri Lankans- Chitta Ranjan de Silva, PC – Chairman, Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, PC, Prof. Mohamed Thahir Mohamed Jiffry, Prof. Karunaratna Hangawatta, Chandirapal Chanmugam, Hewa Mathara Gamage Siripala Palihakkara, Mrs. Manohari Ramanathan, and Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama.

They are representative of the three main Communities- the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim. They are therefore better equipped to understand the people , ask them appropriate questions and evaluate their evidence, objectively without any bias.

The Institutions of Sri Lanka are of a very high standard. They turn out well qualified people in different fields. The Law College of Sri Lanka could compete with any such institution in the world. Therefore our judges and lawyers, as well as our University scholars are well qualified, meeting any International Standard.

Therefore, no one can belittle any activity undertaken by any of them claiming them not within any International Standard. It would be an insult to our institutions.

What matters is how we the people of the country judge, accept and respect decisions taken by our own intellectuals, judges, and professionals.

Make Buddha Jayanthi an occasion to ask, after 2600 years what have we accomplished as Buddhists ? Conclusion.

Ancient India was divided into a feudal class system where people were divided according to professional functions they have been doing generations after generation accepting them as being born into those professions and there by being of a higher or a lower caste. In this caste system even the spiritual emancipation was restricted according to the caste into which one was born. Unfortunately this ancient caste system still remains almost unchanged in modern India.

The Hindu religion of ancient India was the domain of the Indian elite. The Brahmins claimed complete control of the religion, its practice, and the right to allow or prohibit people from entry into the Hindu Temples. The Scavengers of the time the Dalits as they are known today , were prohibited from entering a temple and if they pronounced the holy Sanskrit Religious Texts they were punished by cutting off their tongue.

The scavengers had to hide themselves when the high caste Indians were on the roads as their shadow falling on a Noble man or a woman was a sacrilege punishable by death. They were prohibited from looking into the face of a person of a higher caste.

Into such an ancient India the introduction of the teachings of the Buddha was a social revolution. The Buddha’s Order of the Sangha accepted followers from what ever caste and they attained the highest Nobel attainments, and the Order was distinct not being class and caste conscious.

Sunita the Scavenger was an untouchable who hid himself on seeing the approaching figure of the Budddha. Buddha asked him whether he would like to be a monk like him, when Sunita consented the Buddha took him with him and bathed him, shaved him and ordained him in the presence of the monks and the lay people. He was treated as an equal in the Buddha’s Order of Monks. Venerable Sunita attained to become a Noble Arahat.

In Sri Lanka the Order of the Sangha changed in the mid-18^th century by the formation of the Siyam Nikaya, which later gave rise to two other Nikayas the Amarapura and Ramnnya Nikayas. The Monks of different Nikayas wear their robes differently. The Siyam Nikaya follows a caste system accepting children belonging to good Kandyan families for ordination. The other two Nikayas broke away from the Siyam Nikaya in 1835.

Is it not correct for who ever wants to revive Buddhism at least from the 2600^th Buddha Jayanthi to abolish the Nikaya System which is not in keeping with the teachings of the Buddha ? I do not see it in the 20 point plan of action proposed by the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Steering Committee.

Recently there was a news item about setting up of Quazi Courts in Sri Lanka to settle Muslim Family disputes. In Diplomatic Missions, a diplomat cannot be prosecuted in a foreign civil Court without first obtaining the permission of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of the country represented by the Diplomat. This is called the Diplomatic immunity.

These two cases referred to above makes one wonder why a Buddhist Monk in robes is arrested without first referring the matter to some type of hierarchical council of Buddhist Monks. The Asgiriya Malwatte Chapters of the Siyam Nikaya cannot intervene in the case of Monks from the other two Nikayas as they have no authority over them.

Therefore it becomes all the more reasonable that the Nikaya System should be abolished and the Order of the Sangha of Sri Lanka set up their own Buddhist Councils, such that a Buddhist Monk accused of any criminal offence, is first brought before a Council of Monks. And if the Council of Monks have reasonable doubt of his being guilty of the offence either disrobe or temporarily disrobe him for the Criminal Courts to proceed with the case.

Vinaya of a robed Buddhist Monk is important for the existence itself of the Buddha Sasana. Therefore, the Uposotha should be strictly adhered to. It is better to have a few Buddhist Monks disciplined and highly respected than having a large number of yellow robed individuals who bring shame to a 2600 year old Buddhist Order of the Sangha.

Such a Council of Buddhist Monks should have the respect and obedience of all Buddhist Monks. If for instance a Monk is compelled to take some type of action which is not in keeping with the Buddhist Monkhood, such as a Monk being invited for a Royal Wedding, the matter should be referred to the Council of Monks and receive its approval before accepting such invitation.

Pabbajja or giving up a householders life to become a homeless Monk, is to live a simple life with the minimum of possessions, such as three robes, a begging bowl, and protection against weather. They have to beg for their food, and not handle money. These simple life provides ample mental space for meditation which is the heart of the teachings of the Buddha, and for which sons of noble families had given up householders lives to accept a homeless life.

The education of a monk should therefore be to lead a life convenient for meditation. The 20 point program of the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Steering Committee states , « Creating and ethico- moral environment in state and private sector institutions ensuring development for both character and attitude formation ». This ethico moral environment is more important in the Temples and among the Buddhist Monks. Therefore, the question of the education of the Buddhist Monks should have been given priority by the Steering Committee, which it does not seem to have done.

In view of the creation of an ethico moral environment referred to above , the University Education for the Buddhist Monks should be stopped, reverting them back to Pirivena System of Education for Buddhist Monks, with emphasis on following the 227 Vinaya Rules. Any Monk who is against it may be requested to leave the Community of Monks.

Pabbajja going forth from home to homeless life, to live a simple life is an impetus for meditation. Every Buddhist Monk should be trained in meditation and prepare to lead a life of meditation. Every Temple should have meditation kuti, or a meditation hall for regular meditation practice by the resident monks. This requirement too has been over looked by the Sambuddhatva Jayanthi Steering Committee, perhaps because they fear opposition for it by the Buddhist Monks themselves.

Pabbajja of going forth from a household state to a homeless state of the Buddhist Monkhood, is today a going forth from a comfortless state to a comfortable life, where there is food, a university education, and the possibility of a Government job.

The Buddhists when they complain of other religions such as the Catholic Church, becoming more powerful in the country displacing the place of importance of the Sinhala Buddhist religion we should take into account the radical changes taking place amoung the guardians of the teachings of the Buddha in Sri Lanka, the Order of the Sangha –the Buddhist Monks. Some of the Student Monks are a disgrace to the teachings of the Buddha, they should be asked to change their ways or give up their Robes.

We should question whether these Buddhist Monks of today live a life as required by the teachings of the Buddha, and if they do not then it is up to the Buddhists at least now to change the situation.

We cannot minimize the serious situation the Buddha Sasana is facing today, by saying that it is only a small number of Buddhist Monks who are rebellious without respect to the pattern of behavior expected of Buddhist Monks. The moral degeneration of the Society the Sambuddhatva Jayanty Steering Committee mentions is a side effect of the degeneration of the discipline of the Buddhist Monks . Therefore any human development process should go hand in hand with the regeneration of the Order of the Sangha-the Buddhist Monks.

In the promoting the value of the Dhamma Education, the Buddhist Monks and Nuns should be invited to Schools to make Dhamma “talks” and conduct Meditation courses for which they should not be paid, or if any payments are made they should be made to the Temples from which they come.

A most important development in Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka today after 2600 years of its existence has been completely left out by the Sambuddhatva Jayanthy Steering Committee. It is the re-establishment of the Meheni Sasna or the Order of Bikkhuni, and the development of the Dasasil Matavo.

Specially the latter-the Dasa Sil Matavo are doing a great service in some parts of Sri Lanka in conducting Meditation Centres. They had been neglected both by the Buddhist Temples and the Governments. They should be assisted and their conditions should be improved. Both the Bikkhunis and Dasa Sil Matavo have an important role to play in our Society today.

In Sri Lanka today, in its forward march towards modernity, with a surge of tourism which brings with it a considerable economic benefit, we should not be blind to the fact that it also brings with it considerable danger to our culture and way of life. Our younger generation is caught between their past Buddhist cultural values, and the temptations of modern social development and entertainment.

The young women are more susceptible to these dangers of modernity, it would therefore be a very effective influence to bring in the Bikkhunis and Sil Mathavos to be used in the moral advancement and respect to religio cultural values by getting them to play a role in introducing Buddhist meditation in girls schools and other areas where large communities of women work such as Nursing Schools, Prisons for Women, and Industrial Centres

There for the Ministry of Buddhasasan has a duty to take an active interest in the progress of the Bikkuni Sasana and the Dasa Sil Mathavo and provide them with accommodation, Meheni Aramayas, and special hospitals or separate wards for them in hospitals.

Another important matter would be to make all Buddhist Children learn to read and understand Pali- the language in which the Buddha made his discourses and the language in which the Tripitaka has been written, from a very young age.

This will create an interest in Buddhism, making them understand better the religion to which they were born. It will also give a chance for us to have a well informed well disciplined Buddhist Monks in future, who having given up their householders lives, live a really beneficial life of homelessness through conviction of the value of Buddhist teachings and the path it has traced.

If the Ministry of Buddha Sasana makes an effort to bring about real changes to the way we are practicing Buddhism now , we could still hope to go back to Buddhism of the past, when we had more disciplined Buddhist Monks studying the teachings of the Buddha in Pirivena Schools, highly respected by the people.

In the West there are already Buddhist monks, may be a few in number, who live according to the Vinaya Rules giving importance to meditation. Therefore, it not impossible that we could change the Buddha Sasana in Sri Lanka and bring it back to its pristine glory.

END

2600 years after birth of Buddha to what extent are we Buddhists ?

The Queen Mahamaya Devi while on her way to her parental home to have her baby according to ancient custom, gave birth to a baby boy in the Lumbini Park in Kapilawattu . The father the Sakyan King Suddhodana was overjoyed with the birth of a son.

But the king’s joy did not last long as the Queen Mahamaya Devi died seven days after the birth of the Prince. The baby was placed in the care of his step mother Maha Pajapati Gotami, the younger sister of the late queen.

The Ascetic Asita Kaladevela came to pay respect to the King and to see the new born little Prince. Having seen the baby the great Ascetic predicted that the Prince will be enlightened becoming a Buddha, but regretted that he would not be there on the blissful day as he would be dead by then.

At a naming ceremony five days after his birth the little Prince was named Siddhattha Gotama . One of the eight Brahmins Kondanna , who had been invited for the ceremony seeing the characteristic marks of the child said with certainty, that he would be the future Buddha.

The story of the life of the Buddha recounts different incidents of significance , one of which is a ploughing festival at which the baby Prince Siddhartha was placed in a screened canopied couch under a rose apple tree in the care of the nurses while the king and his retinue participated in the ploughing festival .

At the height of the festivity the caring nurses had left the baby prince alone in the couch and moved away to watch the festivities. When they came back to the canopied couch they found the little Prince Siddhattha seated cross legged in deep meditation. The King Suddhodana who was informed of the “ miracle” hastened to the place and surprised, made respectful salutations to his son.

His childhood and youth were spent in royal luxury . At the still youthful age of 16 he married his young cousin Princess Yasodhara who was of his own age. After 13 years of a happy married life , he had a baby son Rahula .

By then several incidents he had observed from his chariot when he ventured out side the palace gates deeply saddened him, making him aware that his blissfully happy royal life, is a contradiction of the reality of the life of the people out side the walls of the palace. Intrigued by the suffering of these people the Prince Siddattha decided to renounce his royal life to follow the life of an ascetic to search for the truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, a way out of suffering, and a state of non-suffering.

Then after six years of relentless effort, he finally attained enlightenment of an all knowing purity of mind of a Samma Sam Buddha on a full moon day of a month of May about 2600 years ago. Thereafter, he began dispensation of the truth he discovered to the world until his death at the age of 80 years.

Therefore, it is relevant to ask ourselves on this “Wesak day” falling 2600 years after the Birth of the Prince Siddattha whether the Buddha during the 45 years of his dispensation of the teaching to escape from the cycle of death and birth-the Samsara , had at any occasion celebrated the anniversary of his birth, an anniversary of his first discourse to the five monks, or the death anniversaries of his disciples Venerable Sariputta and Venerable Mogallana who had pre-deceased him ?

The Buddha did not celebrate any anniversaries nor did he in any of his discourses said that his followers should celebrate the anniversary of his Birth , enlightenment or death. But what he exhorted to his followers just before his death- parinibbana, was:

“Handa dāni bhikkhavē āmantayāmi vō: Vayadhammā sankhārā appamādēna sampādētha.

“You should accomplish all that you have to accomplish without allowing mindfulness to lapse!”

which is far from demanding of them to celebrate his anniversaries for the continued existence of Buddha Sasana.

The Buddha Jayanthi is to be celebrated among Buddhists, and it should not be made an occasion to mix politics with religion by setting up Regional Committees as proposed to Organize Buddha Jayanthi Celebrations, along with non-Buddhists..

In order to explain the reason why the Buddha Jayanthi is purely a Buddhist celebration for which other religious groups should not be invited, I quote the Buddha’s teaching to Subaddha who became his last disciple during his life time. The Buddha told Subaddha ,

“…..In whatsoever Dhamma and Discipline, Subhadda, there is not found the Noble Eightfold Path, neither is there found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, or fourth degree of saintliness. But in whatsoever Dhamma and Discipline there is found the Noble Eightfold Path, there is found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of saintliness. Now in this Dhamma and Discipline, Subhadda, is found the Noble Eightfold Path; and in it alone are also found true ascetics of the first, second, third, and fourth degrees of saintliness. Devoid of true ascetics are the systems of other teachers. But if, Subhadda, the bhikkhus live righteously, the world will not be destitute of arahats.

"In age but twenty-nine was I, Subhadda,
When I renounced the world to seek the Good;
Fifty-one years have passed since then, Subhadda,
And in all that time a wanderer have I been
In the domain of virtue and of truth,
And except therein, there is no saint
(of the first degree).

"And there is none of the second degree, nor of the third degree, nor of the fourth degree of saintliness. Devoid of true ascetics are the systems of other teachers. But if, Subhadda, the bhikkhus live righteously, the world will not be destitute of arahats." (Maha Pari Nibbana Sutta Translated by Sister Vajira and Francis Story)

But it is also worth asking ourselves whether in Buddhism that we practice to-day with the rank indiscipline of the Student Bikkhu population , “.. there is found a true ascetic of the first, second, third, or fourth degree of saintliness .“ ? If not we are no better than, “.. the other systems of other teachers, devoid of true saints.”

With regard to the Celebration of the Anniversary of the Buddha’s birth, it is worth quoting again from the Maha Parinibbana Sutta, in which it is stated that , « …. Now the Blessed One spoke to the Venerable Ananda, saying: "It may be, Ananda, that to some among you the thought will come: 'Ended is the word of the Master; we have a Master no longer.' But it should not, Ananda, be so considered. For that which I have proclaimed and made known as the Dhamma and the Discipline, that shall be your Master when I am gone. »

Hence in reality Celebrating the Buddha Jayanthi is not organizing festivities, but by getting every Buddhist to make an introspection on the day to understand to what extent each one is to day a true follower of the teachings of the Buddha. If in such a search we find that we lack the quality of a true follower of the teachings of the Buddha, then we should leaving aside the celebrations to, interrogate, discuss and redefine how to become true followers of the teachings.

Let us also examine, when we are preparing to celebrate the Buddha Jayanthi, how much of the Buddhism brought to Sri Lanka by Venerable Mahinda thero remains in Sri Lanka to-day.

When the King Devenapatissa accepted the teachings, he proclaimed Buddhism the state Religion of Sri Lanka. He then set up many places of worship and Centres of Buddhist learning. When all that had been done he asked venerable Mahinda whether the Buddha Sasana is now established in Sri Lanka.

The Venerable Mahinda said most significantly: Great King, the Sasana is established but it has not taken root.” He then explained to the King, how it would take root; “ When a person born of parents who belong to Thambapannidipa, enters pabbajja in Thambapannidipa,learns the Vinaya in the Thambapannidipa, and recites the same in Thambapanni dipa, then will the Sasana take root in the Island.” ( Early History of Buddhism in Ceylon by E.W.Adikaram)

It was then found that Bikkhu Maha-Aritta was possessed of the qualification for the purpose and recited the Vinaya at Thuparama, thus making the Buddha Sasana, “ firmly established and well rooted in the Island”.

This shows to what extent the Vinaya is important for Buddhism to continue its existence. It is therefore necessary to ask our Maha Sngha to what extent the Buddhist Monks today keep their Vinaya precepts and how many of them could recite the Vinaya Pitaka by memory.

It would therefore be appropriate that the Vinaya Pitaka is recited by Buddhist Monks in every temple in Sri Lanka on the 2600^th Buddha Jayanthi to firmly re-establish and re- rooted in the Island.

The Sacred City of Anuradhapura was said to have been yellow with the robes of the Maha Sangha. There were Monasteries, Temples , Shrine Rooms, Meditation Huts, and Halls for the gathering of Bikkhus. There were no Churches, Mosques and Kovils .

There were Monasteries from which the sounds of the words of the Buddha were heard through out the day. The Buddhist Bikkhus learnt the Buddhist Canonical texts which they could recite by memory. In the mornings there were the Buddhist monks coming out of temples and Monasteries in a disciplined order one after the other according to their seniority with their begging bowls in hand going for their alms round. The nights were calm with monks sitting in deep meditation.

There were Stream Entrants, Once Returners, No Returners and , Arahants the Noble Ones who had reached the highest purity of mind. But disciplinary laxity set in gradually and the Bikkhus were divided into two categories those who were engrossed in books-Grantha Dura, and others that followed the Dhamma- Dhamma Dura and practiced Meditation. The last Arahat is said to be Venerable Maliyadeva who lived in the second century before the current era. Since then Buddhism declined.

Later on after the colonization of Sri Lanka by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British, the Christian Churches were built every where. The Sinhala Buddhists were converted to Christianity. Our villagers were slowly drifting away from the temple. There were Mosques, Hindu Kovils and Sinhala Kapuralas with their Pitiye Deiyo and Huniyam Devathavo. The Sinhala Buddhists got mixed up with Hinduism, and their children were educated in Missionary Schools, they learnt about Christianity , were forced to attended catechism classes, and some of them became Christians and Catholics

Still later with the advent of the Muslims foreign religions ate further into our culture and the Muslims came to our villages and they set up their Mosques, and made all people get up in the mornings to the sound of the Muezzin calling the Muslims for their prayer.

Instead of the Buddha words recited in Temples and Monasteries we hear the Muslim children learning their lessons in Arabic, hear the Church bells, and the calls of Muezzins, the noisy rituals of the Kovils, and Bhajan recitals after the Saibaba Cult.

We have come a long way destroying the purity of the teachings of the Buddha. The yellow robes of Buddhist Monks have taken different hues from yellow, to orange, brown and black. We see no more the pleasant view of well shaven yellow robed monks going for their alms rounds.

[Of course the village roads also have buses “bigger than the roads”, that make it impossible for even an ordinary man to walk, leave alone a monk going for his alms round. The Minister of Buddha Sasana should ask the Minister of transport to have small size buses on village roads, to make life a little more convenient for both, bus drivers and pedestrians.]

Then when Buddhism was still the dominant religion, the Buddhist Monks learnt at the feet of an elderly teacher, a senior monk. They were very learned and disciplined. They had to keep 227 disciplinary rules. Every 15th of the month they gathered to recite the Vinaya Pitaka , to examine the extent of the discipline kept by them, and make confessions of their breaches. Then there were Pirivena schools strictly for the Buddhist Monks, where they studied Buddhist texts to become Monks well learned in the teachings of the Buddha.

These are today the relics of the past, the Pirivena system of education disappeared. The Buddhist Monks sat along with the lay students in University auditoriums, learning no more the Buddhist texts, but geography, economics, law, and political science. They studied not to be great teachers of Buddhism, but to do a government job, earn money and become independent. Or eventually disrobe, marry and bring up a family. The Buddhist Monks went to foreign Universities to obtain Doctorates in Buddhism to be in par with the intellectuals of the West.

The admission of the Buddhist Monks to lay Universites, was the final nail on the Buddhist education and the prospect of having learned Buddhist teachers , disciplined, keeping 227 Vinaya Rules.

And we also have Buddhist Monks who forget their “station in life as Buddhist Monks” like Bogoda Seelawimala thero who has proudly accepted an invitation to a royal wedding. It is perhaps a sort of attaining a social « Nibbana » for him. A highest possible social achievement being the first Buddhist Monk invited to a Royal Wedding. And we had also another Monk some time ago who once had the great privilege to ”kiss” the Pope’s ring in the Vatican.

The young Buddhist Monks gave up shaving hair on the head, quoting Buddhist Vinaya Pitaka, that the Buddha had not prescribed shaving the hair of the head, but to cut the hair short. They wear the robes any way they want , resulting in many young Buddhist Monks, unshaven, unclean, “badly” dressed in their robes of different hues.

The Buddhist Monks in Universities are a disaster to the Buddha Sasana. They go on manifestations on the roads behaving worse than the lay students, aggressive, shouting slogans, using coarse abusive language.

The Wesak day has turned out to be a period of Carnival, a commercial event putting up pandols or Wesak thoran to compete with one another.

Less and less families go to temples on the poya days. There are Buddhists Monks who cannot recite the Buddhists texts by memory. Meditation- the heart of Buddhist teaching is left out in most temples, giving place to Bodhi puja, and Kavi Bana -discourses recited in poetry form.

Now after 2600 years of Buddhism we also have Buddhist Monks who are Company Directors, one even a President of a Nurses’ Trade Union, Buddhist Monks as Administrative Officers in Government Service, Lawyers and Parliamentarians. There are Buddhist Monks who ride motor cycles, and drive cars.

There were Buddhist monks arrested for digging temple Statues in search of treasure, selling Buddha Relics, and for various crimes.

There is conversion of poor villagers by different Christian Missionaries going unchecked. Sri Lanka a Buddhist Country could not even pass a Parliamentary Bill Against Conversion.

The Catholic Church has established itself well in the country dictating terms to the Government. They Build Churches any where with out the consent of the Government . They bury metal crosses in Buddhist sacred areas and dig them out to exhibit as archeological relics.

They are so powerful the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka cannot even organize a purely Buddhist function like Buddha Jayanthi without bringing in the most anti-Buddhist Catholics to be in the Organising Committee.

When Sri Lanka celebrated another Buddha Jayanthi many years ago, we had Buddhist Giants like ,Prof. G.P.Malalasekera, L.H. Mettananda, Venerable Abanwelle Siddhartha, Ven. Haliyale Sumanatissa, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya, Ven. Palonnaruwe Vimaladhamma, Ven. Madihe Pannaseeha, Ven. Henpitagedera Gnanaseeha, P.de S. Kularatne, Dr.Tennekoon Wimalananda and D.C. Wijayawardena, who were prepared to come forward to protect Buddhism.

To-day unfortunately we seem to have none to defend our Buddhist values, and the Catholic Church has taken over a greater role, and the Buddhist revival faces many challenges.

This is the situation of the Buddhism of the Sakya Muni Gautama Buddha now in Sri Lanka, but we are still going to celebrate the 2600^th Buddha Jayanthi this May, without addressing ourselves to the more important question of how to stop further degeneration of the Buddha Sasana.

To be continued………..