Peace for the World World ! Your War Our Lives
The Dalai Lama
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Back to 500BC.
Sunday, August 1, 2021
Breaking the pandemic spell
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Vaccine protection against infection and “mild disease” has pretty much collapsed, whereas protection against severe disease and death remains at a reasonable level, however with the partial exception of the most senior citizens and especially nursing home residents. Moreover, future coronavirus variants will clearly achieve additional immune evasion – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara
Saturday, 31 July 2021
It seems we’re in a trance. We hear proclamations about vaccines, utterly detached from clearly emerging global data.
Three hundred policemen apparently double jabbed have contracted C-19. We saw a similar phenomenon in India with 1,700 army officers out of a cadre of 2,000, getting reinfected despite being “fully vaccinated.” What is now being said in the press is the vaccines don’t stop you from being reinfected, but from becoming seriously ill or dying.
But we don’t know that either, it is just the relatively mild mortality nature of the Delta variant, and mortality among vaxxed and non-vaxxed in the UK and Israel, and the US, is not distinguishable. In fact, more of the vaccinated in Israel and the UK were getting infected. At least, finally, that will, upon recovery, give them some real immunity.
The idea of getting everyone vaccinated, with the above confession in hand, is silly. Since the vaccines neither seem to stop reinfection or transmissibility, who cares whether everyone is vaccinated? Even Fauci in the US has admitted that with Delta, “viral load” is the same whether you are vaccinated or not.
If the vaccines worked fully, you wouldn’t worry for the vaccinated, because they’d be safe. US mortality, despite surging “positive tests” is as low as it’s been since March 2020. In the UK, no excess mortality. In Sweden (about 40% vaccination), below 5-year lows. So, if those who wish to be vaccinated are, it’s irrelevant about the rest, as they are either assuming the risk (as we do with eating sugar, smoking cigarettes, driving fast, or anything else), or frankly as it’s an age stratified illness only of risk to those above 60 with comorbidities overwhelmingly, they may prefer natural immunity. Moreover, there are large numbers who have had COVID and recovered, and do not therefore need vaccination at all, as we’ll explain below.
The worst idea being floated and circulated is that of vaccinating children. Not one child without serious comorbidities has died in the US as per the CDC. Children are at close to zero risk, and do not transmit either. Young teens have been shown to be at nominal risk from COVID, but of real concern re myocarditis from a vaccination they do not need. Again, what is the mania to inject young people at no risk, with vaccines that have not completed safety trials, that have adverse events cited globally? The calculus with the old and vulnerable may indeed be different, but this cannot be a “mass jabbing” exercise divorced again from costs and benefits, just as the whole debacle has been, for example with ruinous “lockdowns” utterly impotent against an airborne virus that is already widespread.
We had two of the world’s top doctors, front-line clinicians, and researchers and leading COVID early treatment pioneers, present to leading practitioners at Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children. I invite and urge all readers to avail of this to get further details and inspiration on this front: https://ranjandesilva-my.sharepoint.com/:v:/g/personal/info_eplglobal_net/ESIL-B0c53xPmXfBcssQvpgBIZK-Kp3aTje2hLteiKKJWQ
Reviewing the evidence
The latest data from Israel, which has used primarily the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, indicates that vaccine effectiveness against Delta coronavirus infection and symptomatic (“mild”) disease has dropped from about 95% to about 40%, whereas effectiveness against hospitalisation and severe disease (i.e., low blood oxygen levels) remains at 80% to 90%, falling but not as steeply or as fast.
Importantly, in people who got vaccinated already in January 2021 (primarily the elderly), protection against infection and mild disease may already have dropped to near 0%. Moreover, since the Delta COVID outbreak is still accelerating in Israel, the effectiveness against hospitalisation and severe disease may further decrease (due to lags in hospitalisations). Israel, perhaps embarrassed by how “counter-narrative” the data is, has now stopped indicating “vaccination status” of the hospitalised.
In the UK, which has primarily used the AstraZeneca DNA adenovector vaccine, the latest estimate by researchers at University College London indicated an effectiveness against infection of close to zero percent and an effectiveness against severe disease of about 60%. In very senior citizens, the effectiveness against severe disease may be even lower (due to a weaker immune response).
While an earlier, higher estimate by Public Health England (PHE), had been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it apparently was based on earlier data from June. The most recent PHE update on AstraZeneca effectiveness in the UK, shows a drop in effectiveness below 20%!
The Israeli data shown indicates that effectiveness against infection and mild symptoms decreases rapidly over time and reaches near-zero levels after about half a year. Most likely, this is because the “vaccines” do not achieve mucosal immunity (in contrast to natural infection) and serum antibody levels in the blood decline sharply within months.
Moreover, highly vaccinated jurisdictions from Seychelles to Iceland, have huge post vaccination spikes (seen also in Israel and the UK initially), again addressed more fully below.
Thus, the false promise of very high protection against “symptomatic infection”, found during official vaccine trials, was simply based on very high short-term serum antibody levels mimicking mucosal immunity. The pharmaceutical companies probably even knew that this was just a (very lucrative) “flash in the pan” and not a lasting protective effect.
Since the trials, they’ve since jabbed those with placebos, so no real long-term comparison is even possible. But even the trial data we have from the mRNA vaccines show:
- Zero reduction in all-cause mortality
- Nonsignificant 0.01% reduction in COVID mortality
- 4 times the rate of adverse effects in the active arm
- 2 times the rate of adverse effects
- Declining efficacy after months
(Pfizer specifically in trials, 15 patients who took the vaccine have died, 14 who received placebo died. But by vaccinating the placebo group, the “trial blind” is broken, so this is all the data we’ll have.)
Short of the greatest propaganda onslaught and fear mongering drive in history, on those facts, is anyone likely to sign up?
Taking it further, protection against severe disease is achieved by lower serum antibody levels in combination with immunological memory (B cells) and cellular immunity (T cells). However, the Delta variant has already achieved partial immune evasion (as did Beta and Gamma, but not Alpha), and future coronavirus variants will likely achieve almost complete immune evasion. So, by September, when all 30 and above are to be jabbed here, the vaccines will be utterly irrelevant! How is this a sane, national goal?
Other considerations
Thus, vaccine protection even against severe disease will likely further decrease due to new variants, or, in the very worst case, will turn into antibody dependent immune enhancement (ADE), if high levels of non-neutralising antibodies aggravate the infection. Indeed, this is what happened in the case of vaccines against SARS-1 and dengue fever.
To prevent such a decrease in protection against severe disease, or to restore short-term protection against infection and mild disease, updated “booster shots” will likely become necessary.
However, there is a very real risk that additional vaccinations, which inject or induce the coronavirus spike protein (which we’ve learned is what causes the distinctive harm related to COVID-19), could substantially increase the risk of serious cardiovascular and neurological adverse effects, such as strokes, GBS and heart muscle inflammation. Globally, COVID “vaccines” may already have killed tens of thousands of people as per adverse effect reports on government databases (which tend to be 1-20% of actuals). Alternatives include safer oral vaccine candidates or medically supervised, low-dose oral live virus challenges in low-risk people, and a plethora of early treatments we seem to assiduously be ignoring.
And we keep saying “WHO has authorised” with all the sacramental fervour of a revelation from on high, whereas their prescriptions, as per the European and American adherents have produced the worst COVID results in the world. WHO has to present data like anyone else, they are not some fount of verity and probity to be untroubled by the same scientific and medical rigor as anyone else.
Furthermore, the millions of people who were told that vaccination will protect them against a coronavirus infection will soon have to realise (once again) that this is not the case: instead, most of them will get infected anyway. On the positive side, as cited above, this reinfection may actually provide additional mucosal immunity, so other than adverse effects, the vaccines may circuitously get them “immunity” after all.
Indeed, data from Israel as well as numerous highly credible recent studies all confirm that a previous coronavirus infection continues to offer the best protection against future infections and disease. And for those not at risk (the overwhelming majority), this has never been much of a risk anyway.
In contrast, vaccination cannot achieve “sterile immunity” against infection and infectiousness. Thus, the whole idea of “vaccination certificates” has become conceptually obsolete – at least from a medical and epidemiological perspective – and should be rejected: the claim that it’s just “the unvaccinated” that are driving outbreaks – a claim made many authorities by simply not “testing” the vaccinated when they are hospitalised as in many of the US States or comparing the total numbers of hospitalised from the beginning to the pandemic to those hospitalised since vaccination (a few months) – is simply false.
For instance, as mentioned in my last article, a “fully vaccinated” Australian managed to pre-symptomatically infect about 60 people at a party in the United States. Many similar stories have already been reported in Europe and Israel: fully vaccinated people can easily transmit the virus even to large groups. Hence, imposing “vaccination certificates” or “green passes” may only serve some debatable political purpose.
A recent data update from Israel gives slightly more positive news, showing that 80% of fully vaccinated people haven’t infected others in public spaces. While authorities claim that this is a good result, in reality, it is the same percentage from unvaccinated people, thus confirming zero effectiveness against infection and transmission, in terms of any demonstrated, sustained advantage.
As also alluded to above, in many countries, mass vaccination campaigns have themselves triggered large coronavirus outbreaks (“post first dose spike”), possibly due to a combination of vaccine-induced temporary immune suppression and infections at large indoor vaccination centres visited by thousands of people. The vaccine-induced temporary immune suppression may also explain the frequently observed post-vaccination appearance of shingles (i.e., herpes zoster reactivation).
Concerning children, since COVID remains mostly asymptomatic (naturally dealt with by their immune system) or mild in them anyway, and since vaccination cannot prevent infection and infectiousness, the vaccination of children and even of young low-risk adults becomes increasingly difficult to justify, especially given the very real vaccine-associated cardiovascular risks to them (e.g., teen myocarditis and cerebral blood clots).
So, to summarise what we know, vaccine protection against infection and “mild disease” has pretty much collapsed, whereas protection against severe disease and death remains at a reasonable level, however with the partial exception of the most senior citizens and especially nursing home residents (who are the most vulnerable and the ones we most are concerned with), some of whom have never mounted a neutralising antibody response to the vaccine. Moreover, future coronavirus variants will clearly achieve additional immune evasion.
Given the current situation and outlook, it may once again be emphasised that research and implementation of early treatment options for high-risk patients – especially anti-viral, anti-inflammatory (immuno-modulatory) and anti-thrombotic treatment – should be a top priority.
Dr. Chetty’s breakthrough
If you treated over 6,000 patients in rural South Africa for C-19, and not one needed oxygen, got hospitalised, or died (and these are verifiable stats), surely the world would be beating a path to your door. And indeed, globally Dr. Chetty’s protocol is now widely and keenly sought after. It even bypasses using “controversial” drugs like Ivermectin (with a billion doses, this Nobel Prize winning anti-parasitic molecule of nature, demonstrated to be a COVID killer at all stages of the disease, and cheap to administer, and which has had more randomised clinical trials than mask wearing or lockdowns or pointless six feet rules for an airborne virus, is not really “controversial” but WHO knows?) and HCQ.
Most attempts at treatment had focused on the first, viral phase. And most of the exceptional early treatment protocols we’ve referenced seek to reduce viral replication and thereby curb the progression of the disease.
And most recover. About 20 to 30% worsen, and these are the leading candidates among the vulnerable demographic, for hospitalisation and death. Dr. Chetty discovered, they “worsen” on the eighth day. His hypothesis was that the onset of the inflammatory phase was a “hypersensitivity,” a kind of allergic reaction to the spike proteins. Hence, his treatment protocol uses simple antihistamines, corticosteroids and aspirin (as anti-coagulants) primarily.
His clinic is outdoors, remember no outdoor transmission verifiably reported. Therefore, well ventilated, plenty of natural sunlight. And with the drugs, the treatment can take place on an outpatient basis. The dyspnea that sets in, though with differences in speed and severity, seemed to present on the eighth day.
Dr. Chetty says, “I tried, on a patient who was critically ill, a dose of promethazine and oxygen saturation returned to 95% within 24 hours.” This pattern repeated confirmed the hypersensitivity hypothesis.
The protocol evolved from steroids to antihistamines to ecotrin/aspirin and montelukast. 99% of his patients were fully recovered within 14 days from the onset of symptomatic reactions.
Since his treatment is not “off label,” as he’s treating for allergic reactions and inflammation, the drugs used are acutely “on label,” I have continued to urge policy makers here to allow me to put them in touch with Dr. Chetty, as this version of “early treatment” can begin right away…far safer, cheaper and clearly more efficacious than vaccines, while the “off label” debates (irrational as they are) continue. There is no disincentive here, and we can immediately take the stress off oxygen needs and ICU usage.
We need to speak up
Without awaiting symptoms, there are numerous effective treatments and preventatives. HCQ, Ivermectin, quercetin, EGCG, cups of green tea, zinc supplements, Vitamin D3, even bromhexine, dramatically shorten the course of infection and reduce transmission. Since herd immunity via mass vaccination will not happen for reasons explained, dangerous mutations will continue to be “stressed” into existence, mass prophylaxis over a two-week period of time, worldwide, by a reasonable percentage, would resolve undetected early infections, and transmission would be impeded by the temporary immunity. Why should such a campaign not be considered? It has no downside!
We must reclaim “life”. This one pathogen, no matter if it surges or not, has to be rendered endemic. Mass testing has to stop. PCR tests, the folly continues, all indicate they are not diagnostic, and their EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation as not one is “authorised” to date) was only granted for symptomatic testing!
So, we have completely swerved away from that. The US CDC just announced they are withdrawing the EUA application of the original February 2020 deeply flawed PCR test on which the others are modelled by December 2021 and indicate testing methods need to be “multiplexed” and be those that can “differentiate between coronavirus and influenza”! The implications that this wasn’t currently the case are staggering.
Even WHO now indicates to stop mass testing the asymptomatic. So, time to stop! Time to treat symptoms. Time to think that loss of education and livelihood, and other health concerns, poverty and viability, all matter as much as a median influenza strain. It is not a “pandemic” now, as we do not have “excess deaths everywhere,” in fact “anywhere.”
So, time to speak up people, to and with our leaders. The COVID Emperor and the Vaccine God both have no clothes now. That folk tale wasn’t for children, it’s a lesson about freedom, it’s for you and me.
I am not, per se, an Ayn Rand fan. But her insight here was searingly accurate: “When you see that in order to produce you need to obtain permission…when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favours; when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work; and your laws don’t protect you against them but protect them against you. When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming self-sacrifice; you may know your society is doomed.”
So, let’s prove the doomsayers wrong. Let’s return liberties and permission and autonomy to families and entrepreneurs and take penal lockdown off the list of potential prescriptions. What did it do for us but national despair and devastation? The virus was unimpressed, and our unknown mortality accounting, with no references or specifics, continues unabated. We need to get rid of this shoddy testing method, and only count as “COVID deaths” those who died clearly from acute respiratory distress flowing from it. We cannot even bring ourselves to list the comorbidities anymore. What do we gain from the distortion?
Let’s let everyone who wants a shot at success take it and let the country flourish through the productive capability of its people. Let’s be reverent towards data, not vague pronouncements. If leadership is shown by the value you add to the assets in your stewardship, it is high time our leaders helped us clarify not only what we seek to be free “from” but what we are free “for.” High time we nourished and stoked our national will and get on with creating the future.
Families of disappeared protest across North-East for international justice
Tamil families of the disappeared held demonstrations across the North-East on Friday, calling for the international community and United Nations to step in to find their disappeared relatives.
31 July 2021
Families in Jaffna, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya protested, emphasising their years-long struggles for justice and answers.
Many of the families have been engaging in continual protests for over three years, amidst surveillance and harassment from the Sri Lankan state.
The EPDP’s Sorna Accahs Precipitate A Suicide
A recent event shows how close to anarchy Jaffna is, fueled by rowdy militants claiming to have turned to the path of democracy. Details are sketchy because the Police in Jaffna want to keep a lid on things.
The matter in Jaffna’s Kannaapuram revolved around two dove rearing households about two weeks ago. What is known is that some doves from one household, said to be to, went and settled in the neighbour’s house.
The dispute was as to ownership and whether the doves went on their own or were stolen. It resulted in some six persons from one group going to the other, assaulting three persons there and running away. The problem was that the three people who were assaulted were close to the EPDP. One woman from the side that was assaulted, Lalitha, is the EPDP Women’s Wing Joint Secretary.
Persons from this household close to the EPDP and dominated by women, called their next-door boy, Puvanenthirarajh Suhanthan, born on 25 July 2001. They dissembled as if wanting to talk things over, saying he would be let off if he apologized. So says his father. When Suhanthan went there, he was tortured. Many women joined in beating him up badly and poured chilli-powder dissolved in water on his face. The attached video suggests that he was also shaved on his head.
The assault by women was so terrible that the men watching did not interfere.
As if sure of impunity, the women even proudly caught themselves on camera.
Those who are fans of Vikram, the famous he-man Tamil actor, would have heard of Sorna Accah, an illiterate political thug and murderess who manipulated elections. Jaffna surely now has its share of them as seen in the video. Since the incident, these women have been nicknamed Sorna Accahs by many members of the Jaffna public.
So sure of their safety, the assailant women even uploaded their films on social media. Sunhanthan was mentally devastated by this on his birthday. He committed suicide on 27 July just after his birthday.
As with all deaths, Suhanthan was tested for COVID-19. Sadly he was found to have COVID-19. Suspecting the EPDP hand in this diagnosis, the body was sent to Jaffna Hospital where the first diagnosis was confirmed. Suhanthan was promptly cremated!
This cremation alone upset many of his friends lamenting their inability to give him a decent funeral, although no one was to blame. Many youths were angered as the police suppressed information by naming anyone who handled or passed around the videos as witnesses. Being a witness is a terrible inconvenience in our legal system where cases never finish, and witnesses need to hang around court wasting many days. So even reporters refuse to share the many copies of the different videos they have of this pernicious assault by women. As such the circulation of the videos has been suppressed, preventing the full identification from the public of those persons seen in the video.
Read More
2,460 persons test positive for COVID-19
- Health Ministry warns of movement restrictions if detections continue to rise
- Says increase in symptomatic patients in Western Province
- Total COVID-19 detections rise to 306,662, includes over 70,000 from Colombo District
- 27,126 persons currently under medical care, recoveries rise to 275,212
Saturday, 31 July 2021
A total of 2,460 COVID-19 patients were detected yesterday as the country’s daily COVID-19 detections rose and health officials warned of movement restrictions being imposed once again.
According to Health Ministry Spokesperson Dr. Hemantha Herath, movement restrictions will be necessary if the number of COVID-19 patients continues to rise and the situation cannot be controlled.
“In the past few days, there has been a clear rise in patients. At present, there is an increase in the number of symptomatic patients going to many of the main hospitals in Western Province,” he said.
Despite the rise in patients, testing has remained below 20,000 a day, with 12,578 PCR tests carried out yesterday, 14,147 PCR tests the day before and 12,887 PCR tests on Wednesday. In terms of rapid antigen tests, 5,615 tests were carried out on Thursday and 5,709 tests were carried out on Wednesday.
A total of 306,662 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 to date and this includes 202,050 persons from the New Year cluster, 82,785 persons from the Peliyagoda cluster, 7,818 persons from the Prisons cluster, and 3,059 persons from the Divulapitiya cluster.
The cumulative patient count of the four clusters is 298,177 and includes 2,455 persons from the New Year cluster who tested positive yesterday.
In addition to this, 6,248 Sri Lankan overseas arrivals and 328 foreigners have also tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka.
The district distribution of COVID-19 patients shows 70,130 persons from Colombo, 54,446 persons from Gampaha, 32,823 persons from Kalutara, 15,191 persons from Kurunegala, and 14,615 persons from Galle.
During the third wave of the pandemic, 37,833 persons from Colombo, 35,912 persons from Gampaha, and 25,765 persons from Kalutara have tested positive for COVID-19.
The district distribution includes the COVID-19 patients detected on Thursday, of which 396 were from Gampaha, 368 were from Colombo, and 220 were from Kalutara.
Thursday’s COVID-19 detections include 2,323 persons from the New Year cluster, 41 Sri Lankan returnees from abroad and six persons from the Prisons cluster.
At present, 27,126 persons are under medical care, while hospitals have 1,396 persons suspected of having COVID-19 under observation.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 recoveries rose to 275,212 with 1,716 persons leaving hospitals yesterday.
In addition to this, Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control State Minister Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle yesterday said that while she considers the demands of teachers regarding their salaries to be fair, there is room for the emergence of new clusters through protests.
“If there are issues with their salaries, it is best if they are resolved through discussion,” she said, adding, “This is not a time for protests.”
The State Minister went on to stress the importance of following health guidelines despite being fully vaccinated, pointing to countries like the US, where restrictions were relaxed as vaccination coverage increased, which led to an increase in COVID-19 detections.
'Sri Lanka becoming a failed state’ warns former finance minister
29 July 2021
Sri Lanka’s former finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera, warned of a likely fuel shortage in Sri Lanka as the economy continues to grapple with a crisis and fuel debt of 1.2 billion USD, was pushing the island towards becoming a "failed state".
“We are becoming a failed state isolated from the world," warned Samaraweera. "Before July 27, we must repay a billion dollars for a loan taken in 2011. In addition, around USD 1.3 billion in Sri Lankan Development Bonds will have to be paid in December this year.”
This statement comes as the US State Department warns investors of the risks they face in Sri Lanka and credit agencies such as Moody and Fitch to continue to raise the alarm of the state of Sri Lanka’s economy. According to a Bloomberg model, Sri Lanka’s default probability was the highest in Asia with the organisation estimating a 27.9% chance of one-year default.
Samaraweera further criticised the Government of Sri Lanka’s economic policy noting “severe shortage of fertiliser” and “serious shortage of imported medicines”.
Lanka Business Online reports that last year, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank was forced to print the largest amount of money printed in a single year to cover the growing budget deficit. In addition, the amount of new loans obtained by the government for the year 2020 alone has increased by another LKR 2 trillion.
Read more here.
Last year Samaraweera described how fragile Colombo's position was at present, stating that Sri Lanka was in "a sordid state" and had "lived beyond its means and did not undertake the reforms".
Samaraweera has previously criticised the Rajapaksas, accusing them of branding Sri Lankan soldiers as “war criminals” and of making "secret deals" with the LTTE and the Tamil diaspora. He has also persistently claimed that his regime’s actions have saved Sri Lankan soldiers, “restored military honour” and halted international action.
Samaraweera also has a long history in southern politics, having previously served as foreign minister under Rajapaksa.
He started as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party's chief organiser for Matara in 1983 and Assistant Secretary of the SLFP Coordinating Secretary of the Mother’s Front.
As a leading member of the SLFP, Samaraweera also participated in several Sinhala nationalist rallies, including a 2003 demonstration alongside Mahinda Rajapaksa that marched against the "betrayal of Sinhala nation” by signing a ceasefire with the LTTE.
He then rose to the post of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s foreign secretary as the Sri Lankan military began a massive military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils.
Is Rerun By SJB’s Yahapālanists Another Sham?
By Amrit Muttukumaru –JULY 30, 2021
Amrit Muttukumaru
The objective of this article is to prod the opposition, particularly the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) for credible course correction, if they are to stand a chance to electorally defeat the Rajapaksa juggernaut even in its current weakened state. Having a Sinhala nationalistic agenda and expecting the minorities to vote for the SJB as the lesser of the evils is unprincipled and does not contribute to nation-building. It is foolhardy for the SJB to think it could prevail against the SLPP on a Sinhala nationalist platform while paying lip service to minority grievances.
The hackneyed adage ‘The more things change the more they stay the same’ is never more truer than in its application to the erstwhile Yahapalanists – particularly those in the SJB and their allies now attempting a rerun to replace the current version of the Rajapaksa dominated government. Were not the leaders of the SJB, Rauff Hakeem led Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Rishard Bathiudeen led All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Karu Jayasuriya led National Movement for Social Justice, JVP and TNA either holding Cabinet office or giving overt political support to the duplicitous UNP dominated 2015-19 Yahapalana government? Would Jayasuriya have been Speaker if not for UNP support? The Yahapalana government was voted into office in 2015 on what turned out to be patently false promises. Are not these parties seemingly minus the JVP once again attempting to hoodwink the voters with almost the same vague promises under more favourable circumstances?
The excuse being proffered by their spokespersons that the Sirisena – Wickremesinghe combine is solely responsible for Yahapalana’s failure is disingenuous and unlikely to be believed even by a notoriously gullible electorate with a short attention span to boot. If that was the case, why did those now in the SJB frontline which include its leader Sajith Premadasa and several others either continue to hold ministerial office or as was the case with the TNA support the Yahapalana government until the moment Premadasa was defeated at the presidential election by Gotabaya Rajapaksa? In the case of the JVP, they overtly supported Yahapalana until the time its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was nominated as their presidential candidate.
We are now asked to repose our confidence in another Yahapalana type coalition, this time dominated by the SJB under the leadership of Karu Jayasuriya’s National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ). It was this same Jayasuriya who decamped from the UNP with 18 members in 2007 to accept ministerial portfolio in the UPFA under the Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency! He rejoined the UNP in December 2008. If indeed Jayasuriya is the leader of this SJB dominated coalition, what does this say of Premadasa’s leadership credentials?
Was not the TNA given out of turn opposition leadership under the aegis of the UNP on the dubious technicality that the SLFP was part of the Yahapalana government? The question for the TNA and Muslim political parties to honestly answer is whether the lives of Tamil and Muslim communities meaningfully improved given the patronage it had from the Yahapalana government? Another question for SJB’s Yahapalanists and the leaders of the JVP and TNA which gave the Yahapalana government overt support, is whether the installation of TNA leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan as opposition leader on a dubious technicality is consistent with the democratic norms all of them purport to uphold?
There is no better example of broken Yahapalana promises than the outrage demonstrated at a press conference by SJB professionals Dr. Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne in the run-up to the 2015 presidential election in regard to Casino, Drug & Ethanol Mafias (11:15 onwards). It is this same lot in the SJB that now oppose the ‘Port City Economic Commission Bill’ mainly on money laundering implications.
Could it not be said that if only the Yahapalana (good governance) government had fulfilled even half the promises it gave the voters, the country would not be in the precarious plight it now is in respect of its – economy, social stability, widespread corruption and public accountability? Let us be clear, successive administrations since independence have contributed to this – some more culpable.
Placing sole responsibility for Yahapalana failure on the Sirisena – Wickremesinghe combine will not wash. SJB’s Yahapalanists – particularly those who held crucial ministerial positions must bear their share of responsibility.
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Not a single member of Sri Lanka parliament has responded to an official request for their education qualifications
Image: MPs supporting disputed prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa threw books and chairs at police who escorted Speaker Karu Jayasuriya into the chamber and did not allow him to sit in the speaker’s chair. (November 16, 2018) (Reuters)
All members of the Sri Lanka parliament has ignored a official letter from the PA [ Parliamentary Assistant?] requesting them to furnish their education qualifications for last two months. The request was made as a result of the mediation by RTI commission with right to information appeal by a citizen.
Parliament information officer has further informed the appellant that parliament does not have information on any criminal charges leveled against the members of the parliament.
Countering the argument of the Parliament information officer that education qualification of members of the parliament are private information the RTI commission says that ” We emphasize the paramountcy of this information being available to the citizenry. As
pointed out by the Indian judiciary, “a successful democracy posits an „aware‟ citizenry”
[Vide Union of India v Association for Democratic Reforms(Supra)] for which purpose, the
said information is of high public interest.As such,it is our view that it is incumbent on the
PA to takerequisite steps to obtain the said information from elected representatives of the Sri Lanka Parliament and to make the same available of public record.”
The ruling of the RTI commission says that:
“Steps taken by the PA to obtain information relating to the educational qualifications of MPs Proceeding on the basis that the requested information is not currently within the possession, custody or control of the PA in terms of Section 3 (1) of the Act, it is encouraging to note that the PA has taken the first steps in this regard by writing to all Members of Parliament (MPs) by letter dated 10.05.2021 to obtain information on the relevant educational qualifications, citing requests for information made by citizens under the RTI Act. However, the PA has affirmed before this Commission that not a single MP had responded to the said request to date.
“The absence of any response even after the lapse of more than two months since the aforesaid letter is undeniably a matter for concern in the context of the overriding public interest as referred to in this Order. The Commission directs the PA to apprise the Appellant forthwith of any responses to the above stated letter, with copy to the Commission. We further note that, contingent on the said information being furnished, the PA has undertaken to update their website with the educational qualifications of MPs albeit without a specified timeline.”
The information request was made by S. Rubatheesan on 01 January 2021.
- Rubatheesan v Sri Lanka Parliament
11.What are the educational qualifications of the members of the current Parliament, especially the ministers?
12.How many MPs have criminal charges against them?
Upon the PA refusing the information release on the basis that it does not have the information under Section 3 (1) of the RTI Act in that the Sri Lankan Constitution does not require it to collect that information, that in accordance with the said Articles, Members of Parliament are “not bound to provide any such information to the Parliament” and also that it constitutes ‘private information’
By letter dated 10th May, 2021, the Secretary General of Parliament has taken steps to write to all Parliamentarians, stating inter alia that “if you are willing to provide this information, you are kindly requested to furnish me your educational and professional qualifications on the attached specimen as early as possible enabling to disseminate such information to the requests of the citizens” but that no response was recieved to date.
Order of Commission on Appeal
We rule that the information asked for does not come within the ambit of Section 5 (1)(a) in that firstly, it has a direct relationship to ‘public activity or interest’ within the meaning of that Section and secondly, as a consequence thereof that, there is no ‘unwarranted’ invasion of privacy thereby. It is of direct comparative interest that in Union of India v Association for Democratic Reforms [2002], the Indian Supreme Court held that constituencies have a right to know about interalia the educational qualifications and criminal charges, if any, of elected representatives, as this is an exercise which furthers the citizens’ right to make an informed decision about who should represent them in Parliament.
…In any event, the public interest in disclosure of the said information is paramount as envisaged in Section 5 (4) of the RTI Act,
…Proceeding on the basis that the requested information is not currently within the possession, custody or control of the PA in terms of Section 3 (1) of the Act, it is encouraging to note that the PA has taken the first steps in this regard by writing to all Members of Parliament (MPs) by letter dated 10.05.2021 to obtain information on the relevant educational qualifications, citing requests for information made by citizens under the RTI Act. However, the PA has affirmed before this Commission that not a single MP had responded to the said request to date.
…The absence of any response even after the lapse of more than two months since the aforesaid letter is undeniably a matter for concern in the context of the overriding public interest as referred to in this Order. The Commission directs the PA to apprise the Appellant forthwith of any responses to the above stated letter, with copy to the Commission. We further note that, contingent on the said information being furnished, the PA has undertaken to update their website with the educational qualifications of MPs albeit without a specified timeline.
…Further, it our view that it is incumbent on the PA to take requisite steps to obtain the requested information regarding pending criminal charges from elected representatives of the Sri Lanka Parliament and to make the same available of public record.
29 July 2021
People for Equality and Relief Lanka (PEARL)’s Canadian Advocacy team co-hosted an online discussion yesterday with Canadian MPP Gurratan Singh about the horrors of Black July and its impact and importance for Tamil Canadians.
Abarna Selvarajah, PEARL Advocacy Officer, stated, “between July 23rd and July 30th in 1983 there were a series of brutal pilgrims and riots that took place and were sponsored by the Sri Lankan state, where Sinhala mobs inflicted a devastating amount of violence on Tamil people on the island.”
Black July “represents a very large escalation of anti-Tamil violence that had been ongoing for many, many decades,” Selvarajah continued.
Archana Ravichandradeva, PEARL Senior Advocacy Officer, added to the discussion stating, “this was systematic and intentional genocide. The mobs that committed the violence were transported in and around Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka where most of the violence occurred, in vehicles owned by the Sri Lankan Government. The majority Sinhalese police, soldiers and military officials watched the violence idly or even participated and encouraged the violence themselves.”
“Black the July is seen as the spark that led to the 26-year long armed liberation struggle against the Sri Lankan government and also prompted one of the largest exoduses of Tamils from the island,” she continued.
"After Black July, over 500,000 Tamils left the island and settled in places like Canada, Germany and the US, which led to this very large Tamil diaspora we have now,” Archana stated. “Coming to places like this wasn’t voluntary, we left because we were persecuted,” she added.
Archana Ravichandradeva also spoke about the importance of Black July to Tamil Canadians, stating, “Many Tamil Canadian stories also start with Black July and the violence that occurred in the 1980s... From our perspective, even though Black July occurred 38 years ago, the collective trauma is still being experienced by the community today, and the consequences of that trauma are still being felt on a day-to-day basis which is why we can never forget.”
In the discussion, MPP Gurratan Singh likened the Tamil Genocide to the Sikh Genocide stating, “they are the exact same thing; an organized state genocide targeting people on the voter's list.”
“We cannot be separated from our traumas or our histories,” the MPP added.
Commenting on PEARL’s advocacy work, Ravichandradeva stated, “a lot of [PEARL’s] advocacy is trying to get Canada to take a strong principled and human rights-oriented stand to ensure that justice and accountability is had for these historical and continuing crimes.”
“There has been a consistent failure of domestic institutions in Sri Lanka to hold anyone accountable… when the state itself is unwilling to even let people mourn their dead, how can we rely on the state to actually hold itself accountable? That’s why so much of PEARL’s work is focused on international accountability mechanisms,” Ravichandradeva continued.
Earlier this week, PEARL released a statement "remembering Black July 38 years on," which included renewed calls for justice and reflections on the "indelible impact of this genocide committed against Tamil people."
In addition, several other Canadian Parliamentarians marked the 38th anniversary of the Black July massacre, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who released an official statement remembering the “victim of the horrific events.”
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