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  • The crucial role of minority votes in the Presidential Election - 2024
    The crucial role of minority votes in the Presidential Election - 2024 Sri Lanka is approaching one of its most pivotal presidential elections, scheduled for September 21, 2024. This election is a significant event for the nation, marked by economic turmoil, political uncertainty, and a growing desire for systemic change. With 39 candidates vying for the presidency, the contest has narrowed down to three leading figures: incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), the leader of the National People’s Power (NPP); with the fourth-force being Namal Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). However, the complexity of the race, coupled with a fractured electorate, has raised the possibility that no candidate will secure the necessary 50% +1 of the votes in the first...
    Read More...
  • Anti-terrorism Bill will be changed
    The highly controversial Antiterrorism Bill is subject to amendments and changes in Parliament and as such no one should have any fear or feeling of threat from the proposed Bill, Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. The government is aware of concerns raised by the global and local community on certain provisions contained in the draft of the Anti-terrorism Bill and the Government is ready to alleviate them by discussion, compromise and flexibility, he added. Addressing a news conference at the Information Department auditorium, Minister Rajapakshe said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) passed in 1979 under President J.R. Jayewardene’s rule as a temporary measure to counter the emerging separatist insurgency. The PTA has been misused and exploited by successive Governments since then for their personal and political...
    Read More...
  • WhatsApp adds option to use the same account on multiple phones
    WhatsApp users are no longer restricted to using their account on just a single phone. Today, the Meta-owned messaging service is announcing that its multi-device feature — which previously allowed you to access and send messages from additional Android tablets, browsers, or computers alongside your primary phone — is expanding to support additional smartphones. “One WhatsApp account, now across multiple phones” is how the service describes the feature, which it says is rolling out to everyone in the coming weeks.
    Setting up a secondary phone to use with your WhatsApp account happens after doing a fresh install of the app. Except, rather than entering your phone number during setup and logging in as usual, you instead tap a new “link to existing account” option. This will generate a QR...
    Read More...
  • CBK commends Dr. Shafi’s noble gesture of donating past salary to buy essential medicine
    Falsely accused by racist elements for alleged illegal sterilisation, Kurunegala Teaching Hospital doctor says racism will not take country or organisation forward except make poor people suffer more; calls on all to make Sri Lanka racism-free   Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has commended Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen over his gesture of donating the past salaries amounting to Rs. 2.6 million during his suspension and imprisonment on false charges to buy essential medicines. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

    Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen



    Following...
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  • Dr. Shafi donates arrears of his salary to purchase medicines for hospitals
    Dr. Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, the doctor at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital has decided to donate arrears of his salary amounting over Rs. 2.67 million for the purchase of essential medicines for hospitals.

    Dr. Shafi who was on compulsory leave on charges of performing infertility surgery, has received a cheque of over Rs. 2.67 million salary arrears from the Health Ministry last week.

    The salary arrears include the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living, and allowance in lieu of pension for the period of compulsory leave imposed on Dr. Sihabdeen.

    Dr. Shafi who was employed at the Kurunegala teaching hospital was arrested on May 25th, 2019, on charges of performing infertility surgery.
    On July 25, 2019, the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court ordered that the doctor be released on bail.
    Read More...
  • Govt. used Sinhala-Buddhist shield to its maximum benefit Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera
    This Govt. nurtured thug-like monks promoted them and deployed them in various  places Certain monks have severe psychological wounds If  society isn’t healed cases of domestic violence, harassment and child  abuse will be on the rise Reconciliation  was about having workshops, providing a report and earning dollars Accountability  has not been included in the Constitution or the Judicial system Terrorism  sprouts in a country that has no justice Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera who currently heads the Walpola Rahula Institute for Buddhist Studies has been addressing issues related to social justice and harmony while promoting an inclusive and plural society. Having gathered a wealth of experience during the height of war for instance and having encountered various incidents during his lifetime, Ven. Dhammananda Thera has...
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  • Health ministry to pay back-wages for Dr. Shafi before July 10
    The Ministry of Health today gave an undertaking before the Court of Appeal that the salary and allowances payable to Dr. Shafi  Shihabdeen will be paid before July 10 this year. The Ministry of Health gave this undertaking pursuant to a writ petition filed by Dr. Shafi  Shihabdeen, who was at the centre of the controversy surrounding the alleged sterilisation of female patients. The Director General of Establishment at the Ministry of Public Services had earlier informed the Court that the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living and allowance in lieu of pension could be paid to Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen, for the compulsory leave period. Meanwhile, the petitioner expressed willingness to attend the preliminary inquiry before Director of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Dr. Chandana Kendangamuwa. Taking into consideration the facts,...
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  • Sri Lanka court orders release of lawyer held for two years
    A Sri Lankan court has ordered the release on bail of a lawyer arrested over his alleged links to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked credible evidence. Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 and accused of being linked to the attacks on churches and hotels that left 279 people dead. But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local group, he was instead Read More...
  • Hejaaz Hizbullah leaves from remand custody
    Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah today left from remand custody after fulfilling his bail conditions before Puttlalam High Court.

    He was incarcerated for 22 months for allegedly committing offences come under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.Last Monday (07), the Court of Appeal ordered to release Hizbullah on bail pursuant to a revision application filed on behalf him.Hizbullah was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.100,000 with two sureties of Rs.500,000 by Puttlalam High Court Judge Kumari Abeyratne. He was further ordered to report to the DIG office of Puttalam Police Division every second and fourth Sunday of every month.An indictment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act has now been served on Hejaaz Hizbullah. According to the indictment, Hizbullah...
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  • හිජාස් ගෙදර යයි

    (නිමන්ති රණසිංහ සහ හිරාන් ප්‍රියංකර ජයසිංහ) ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත සහ සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතීන් පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුති පනත ප්‍රකාරව චෝදනා ලැබ වසර දෙකකට ආසන්න කාලයක් රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කර සිටි නිතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අභියාචනාධිකරණ නියෝගය ප්‍රකාරව ඇප මත මුදාහැරීමට පුත්තලම මහාධිකරණය අද (09)...
    Read More...
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News

The crucial role of minority votes in the Presidential Election - 2024

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The crucial role of minority votes in the Presidential Election - 2024

Sri Lanka is approaching one of its most pivotal presidential elections, scheduled for September 21, 2024. This election is a significant event for the nation, marked by economic turmoil, political uncertainty, and a growing desire for systemic change. With 39 candidates vying for the presidency, the contest has narrowed down to three leading figures: incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), the leader of the National People’s Power (NPP); with the fourth-force being Namal Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). However, the complexity of the race, coupled with a fractured electorate, has raised the possibility that no candidate will secure the necessary 50% +1 of the votes in the first round. If so, Sri Lanka could see its first-ever second-round vote counting based on second and third preferences​.

The candidates at the forefront

Ranil Wickremesinghe, currently the sitting president, was not particularly popular before Sri Lanka's 2022 economic crisis. However, his leadership during the economic recovery has helped him gain support, especially among the business elite. These supporters appreciate his efforts to stabilise the country and worry that a shift in leadership could derail the recovery process. Political analysts note that while Sri Lanka's economy is still fragile, "the country is on track and may recover thanks to Wickremesinghe’s intervention." For his backers, continuity is key, and they believe that what the country needs now is stability rather than political upheaval.

Sajith Premadasa, leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), remains a critical figure in this race. Having secured 42% of the vote in the 2019 election, he has maintained a loyal base, particularly among working-class citizens and minority communities. However, Premadasa faced criticism for refusing to join Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government during the height of the economic crisis. Some saw this as a missed opportunity to show leadership in a moment of national urgency. Despite this, his campaign is centred on themes of reform and social justice, which resonate with large segments of the population seeking change.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) has emerged as a significant contender, especially appealing to younger voters and those dissatisfied with the traditional political elite. His anti-corruption stance and grassroots appeal have gained him traction, particularly following the 2022 economic protests. Recent polls suggest that Dissanayake has been leading the race by a considerable margin, with one survey indicating 59% support. However, questions remain about whether his surge in popularity will translate into votes at the polls. Despite his rise, some sceptics point to his lack of administrative experience as a potential hurdle to his candidacy.

Namal Rajapaksa’s candidacy represents an attempt by the Rajapaksa family to regain its political foothold. However, his chances of winning are considered slim, with polls indicating that he trails behind the other three candidates. Namal’s challenge lies in shedding the negative legacy of his family, which is widely blamed for the economic collapse in 2022. Despite being part of the Rajapaksa dynasty, Namal attempts to rebrand himself as a modern, youth-oriented leader. Still, public scepticism remains high, particularly among minority communities such as Tamils and Muslims, who hold the Rajapaksa family responsible for past human rights violations​. His entry into the race appears to be more about preserving his family’s political legacy rather than winning, with many viewing his bid as a test run for future elections​


Tamil and Muslim voting dynamics


Tamil voters: a complex decision

The Tamil vote is equally fragmented but could be decisive in a second-round scenario. Due to historical grievances, many Tamil voters remain sceptical of both Sinhalese parties, the UNP (Ranil) and SJB (Sajith). Distrust of significant parties has made some Tamil voters more open to supporting Dissanayake, who they see as outsiders to the entrenched political elite. However, his Marxist past and association with Sinhala nationalist movements may still limit his appeal among more conservative Tamil voters.

That said, pragmatism versus idealism is likely to shape Tamil voting patterns. While some Tamil voters are drawn to the idealism of Dissanayake’s platform, others may opt for Premadasa or Wickremesinghe, believing that these candidates can offer more concrete benefits, such as regional autonomy or economic stability. Additionally, the second and third preferences of Tamil voters could play a decisive role if the election goes to a second round.

Muslim voters: divided allegiances

The Muslim electorate, traditionally seen as a critical swing vote, appears to be split into three key groups in this election. Business elites are expected to support Ranil Wickremesinghe due to his focus on economic stability. Wickremesinghe’s government has earned favour with this group by stabilising the economy post-crisis, which aligns with their priority of maintaining continuity in governance. Meanwhile, traditional Muslim political followers are more likely to vote for Sajith Premadasa, as his SJB party has historically garnered support from Muslim political leaders and the electorate aligned with them.

However, the most significant shift seems to be occurring among Muslim youth and reform-minded Muslims, who are leaning heavily toward Anura Kumara Dissanayake. This group is driven by disillusionment with the existing political system and a desire for genuine change, which aligns with Dissanayake’s anti-corruption stance and call for systemic reform. His appeal to younger voters, particularly those who feel alienated by the mainstream political discourse, has positioned him as the favoured candidate for those seeking a break from the status quo. Many believe that the number of youth and progressive-minded Muslim voters supporting Dissanayake will likely outstrip those voting for Wickremesinghe or Premadasa.

The role of second-preference voting

If no candidate wins a clear majority in the first round, second-preference votes could determine the next president—a scenario that has never played out in Sri Lankan elections. With the vote likely to be split among Wickremesinghe, Premadasa, and Dissanayake, second-preference votes could prove decisive. The Election Commission has confirmed that the second and third preferences will be counted if no candidate secures over 50% of the vote. This would make the fragmented votes of minority groups, particularly Muslims and Tamils, key to determining the ultimate winner​.

A historic election with an uncertain outcome

Sri Lanka’s 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the country. With no clear frontrunner expected to secure a majority in the first round, the election is poised to enter uncharted territory. The second-preference votes, particularly from the Muslim and Tamil communities, could be the key to determining whether Sri Lanka continues with the economic stability of Wickremesinghe, opts for the reforms of Premadasa, or embraces the radical change promised by Dissanayake. Whatever the outcome, this election will have a lasting impact on the future of Sri Lanka’s political and economic landscape.​

www.slmuslims.com team




 

Anti-terrorism Bill will be changed

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The highly controversial Antiterrorism Bill is subject to amendments and changes in Parliament and as such no one should have any fear or feeling of threat from the proposed Bill, Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said.

The government is aware of concerns raised by the global and local community on certain provisions contained in the draft of the Anti-terrorism Bill and the Government is ready to alleviate them by discussion, compromise and flexibility, he added.

Addressing a news conference at the Information Department auditorium, Minister Rajapakshe said the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) passed in 1979 under President J.R. Jayewardene’s rule as a temporary measure to counter the emerging separatist insurgency. The PTA has been misused and exploited by successive Governments since then for their personal and political advantage.

“That is why we expect to replace the PTA which had been branded as a draconian piece of legislation with the ATA.

“If there are any provisions that restrict the rights of the people, their freedom and democracy, the Government is more than happy to address them. Besides, any citizen, political party or organization is free to challenge the Bill in the Supreme Court once I table it in Parliament,” Minister Rajapakshe emphasized.

Responding to Daily Mirror, Minister Rajapakshe said the ATA had been drafted in accordance with international conventions and covenants dealing with fundamental, human and political rights with the main objective of preventing attempts of terrorism in future.

The Government is cognizant of the concerns raised by the local and global community and does the needful to address them, Minister Dr. Rajapakshe assured.

Most of the provisions found in the PTA such as the acceptance of confessions as evidence against a suspect have been removed in the new Bill.

“If a suspect is taken in under the new law and wants to confess, he or she can do it to a Magistrate voluntarily. The provision that has given the power to DIGS to issue Detention Orders (DOS) on a terrorist suspect is subject to change and retains it only with the Minister of Defence.

“The government expects to use the ATA to promote reconciliation and inter-communal harmony in Sri Lanka which was also the wish of the UNHRC, EU and the UNHRC. Minister Rajapakshe stressed.

“I prefer if the power to issue DOS reserved only under the Defense Minister. These laws can be used by any future government and will be counter-productive against any opposition if we introduce draconian laws for short-term exploitation,” Minister Dr. Rajapakshe noted. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)

 

https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Anti-terrorism-Bill-will-be-changed/108-257993

 

 

WhatsApp adds option to use the same account on multiple phones

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WhatsApp users are no longer restricted to using their account on just a single phone. Today, the Meta-owned messaging service is announcing that its multi-device feature — which previously allowed you to access and send messages from additional Android tablets, browsers, or computers alongside your primary phone — is expanding to support additional smartphones. “One WhatsApp account, now across multiple phones” is how the service describes the feature, which it says is rolling out to everyone in the coming weeks.


Setting up a secondary phone to use with your WhatsApp account happens after doing a fresh install of the app. Except, rather than entering your phone number during setup and logging in as usual, you instead tap a new “link to existing account” option. This will generate a QR code to be scanned by your primary WhatsApp phone via the “link a device” option in settings. The new feature works across both iOS and Android devices.

WhatsApp is pitching the feature as a useful tool for small businesses that might want multiple employees to be able to send and receive messages from the same business number via different phones. But it should be useful for anyone who uses multiple smartphones on a regular basis and wants them all to be associated with the same WhatsApp account.

 

https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/WhatsApp-adds-option-to-use-the-same-account-on-multiple-phones/108-258174

 

CBK commends Dr. Shafi’s noble gesture of donating past salary to buy essential medicine

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  • Falsely accused by racist elements for alleged illegal sterilisation, Kurunegala Teaching Hospital doctor says racism will not take country or organisation forward except make poor people suffer more; calls on all to make Sri Lanka racism-free

 

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has commended Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen over his gesture of donating the past salaries amounting to Rs. 2.6 million during his suspension and imprisonment on false charges to buy essential medicines.

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

Dr. Mohamed Shafi Shihabdeen



Following a Court order, the Ministry of Health last week paid overdue wages of Dr. Shafi who in turn said will donate the funds to Kurunegala Teaching Hospital to buy urgent medicines, sending a strong message to racists and crooks who framed baseless allegation that he performed illegal sterilisation operations at his workplace the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital.

Subsequently, the CID informed the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court in July 2019 that investigations carried out had not proven any of the allegations that had been raised against Dr. Shihabdeen.

On Monday, former President Kumaratunga in a Twitter message said: “A shameful Chapter of Sinhala extremism clothed in lies, jealousy and hatred has ruined the life of a good professional. Congratulations Dr.Safi for your response to the hatred spewed at you. All right-thinking Sinhala citizens pay homage to you.”

Kumaratunga was the only popular politician to have publicly commended Dr. Shafi’s act which has won widespread praise in social media. 

On his part Dr. Shafi said the character assignation suffered by him was unprecedented and racism will not take a country or organisation forward except make poor people suffer more. “Therefore, we all must help to make Sri Lanka a racism-free nation,” he added. 

He said despite the racist attacks and accusations he bears no hatred towards anyone, nor does he curse anyone. But he urged all not to attack professionals and people with a racist attitude or baseless allegations.  

After being cleared by the Court, Dr. Shafi was reinstated subsequently. The payment of Rs. 2.6 million included the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living, and allowance in lieu of pension for the period of compulsory leave imposed on Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen.


https://www.ft.lk/news/CBK-commends-Dr-Shafi-s-noble-gesture-of-donating-past-salary-to-buy-essential-medicine/56-736168#.Yqrneg7w614.whatsapp

 

 

Dr. Shafi donates arrears of his salary to purchase medicines for hospitals

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Dr. Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, the doctor at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital has decided to donate arrears of his salary amounting over Rs. 2.67 million for the purchase of essential medicines for hospitals.

Dr. Shafi who was on compulsory leave on charges of performing infertility surgery, has received a cheque of over Rs. 2.67 million salary arrears from the Health Ministry last week.

The salary arrears include the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living, and allowance in lieu of pension for the period of compulsory leave imposed on Dr. Sihabdeen.

Dr. Shafi who was employed at the Kurunegala teaching hospital was arrested on May 25th, 2019, on charges of performing infertility surgery.
On July 25, 2019, the Kurunegala Magistrate’s Court ordered that the doctor be released on bail.

The Public Services Commission in December 2021 decided to reinstate Dr. Shafi and instructed the Secretary to the Ministry of Health to pay arrears of his salary for the period he was sent on compulsory leave.

Dr. Shafi donates arrears of his salary to purchase medicines for hospitals - Breaking News | Daily Mirror

 

Govt. used Sinhala-Buddhist shield to its maximum benefit Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera

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  • This Govt. nurtured thug-like monks promoted them and deployed them in various  places
  • Certain monks have severe psychological wounds
  • If  society isn’t healed cases of domestic violence, harassment and child  abuse will be on the rise
  • Reconciliation  was about having workshops, providing a report and earning dollars
  • Accountability  has not been included in the Constitution or the Judicial system
  • Terrorism  sprouts in a country that has no justice

Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thera who currently heads the Walpola Rahula Institute for Buddhist Studies has been addressing issues related to social justice and harmony while promoting an inclusive and plural society. Having gathered a wealth of experience during the height of war for instance and having encountered various incidents during his lifetime, Ven. Dhammananda Thera has been preaching on the practice of social healing for quite some time. He has also been quite vocal about conventional Buddhist approaches that most people tend to follow and the damage done to society as a result of diverting from Buddha’s teachings.  “We are a wounded society. A society that doesn’t have its wounds healed would only know to seek solutions through wounds,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mirror.


Excerpts :


Q The incumbent Government used the Sinhala-Buddhist ideology as a shield to win votes. What are your observations?


The incumbent regime and successive regimes have harped on the Sinhala-Buddhist ideology. But this time it was used dangerously and it was used against the Muslim community. They portrayed Muslims as a threat and tried to group Sinhala-Buddhists as one lot and the rest of the ethnicities as enemies. This government used the Sinhala-Buddhist shield to its maximum benefit.


Q We saw how the President took oaths at the Ruwanweli Seya, the day before May 9 the former Prime Minister visited Anuradhapura, they put pirith to distract slogans chanted by protesters in front of Temple Trees. Don’t you think the Rajapaksas used Buddhism as a weapon?


How I see it is that they used religion without any respect or ethical consideration. In order to spread wrong information about the Muslim community, they held workshops for monks. At these workshops, they showed videos of Boko Haram and videos based on Islam extremism. Thereafter they would advise monks to allocate around 10-15 minutes from their bana sermons to talk about Islam extremism. This was done several months before the election. Many monks in various outstation areas have complained to me about this and they confessed that they allocated some time from their sermons to talk about extremism. The sermon was never misused in this manner. A lay person invites a monk to his home to find some peace, but this Government spread hatred among people by compelling monks to talk about religious extremism. I have never seen Buddhism being used in such a violent manner ever before. They also nurtured thug-like monks, promoted them and deployed them in various places.


Q Many prominent Buddhist monks also supported the incumbent government…


Many Buddhist monks instilled fear among the people. Then the Easter Sunday attacks happened and what they were preaching became a reality. It happened at an unexpected moment. So there was fear and people needed security and someone to protect them.


Q Do you think that by entering politics, Buddhist monks have distorted Buddha’s teachings or the philosophy itself?


Buddhist monks started doing politics way back in 1946. But here the situation was different. During the colonial era, Buddhists were an oppressed segment of people. Therefore, several monks representing the oppressed segments of society entered politics through the Vidyalankara Pirivena. They brought a theoretical approach to it and said that it is the responsibility of the monks to give a voice to oppressed people, despite it being called politics or anything else. Their responsibility was to voice for the oppressed irrespective of taking positions or power or contest at an election. During the Free Education struggle, it was the monks who played a pivotal role in pushing the then Government to discuss the Free Education Act which was halted for three years. These monks had a newspaper called ‘Kaalaya’ (Time) and one of the resolutions passed during a meeting was that monks who did not engage in politics can continue to thrive from alms offered by the wealthy and that they are not eligible to receive alms offered by the poor. Therefore politics for them was about voicing for the oppressed. However, this idea was later distorted to a point where it had no direction and monks started going after power and money. Today’s monks don’t have any idea about why monks joined politics back in 1946.


Q We are witnessing a people’s struggle and a public uprising. How can monks contribute to politics from now onwards?


Monks should go beyond religiosity and extremism. Buddhism talks about an ecosystem that goes beyond the human species. If they cannot address the ecosystem they should concentrate on humans and keep in mind that nobody is superior to one another. That they cannot be differentiated based on race, religion, gender etc.


Q Let’s talk about the war and its aftermath. You have always said that we are a wounded society. We suffer from trauma. But we don’t see victims and survivors being remembered during so-called victory parades. The war has been glorified and most memories have been erased. What sort of impact do these kinds of events have on society like ours?


As I have said before, we are a society that has been wounded. These wounds can either be direct or inter-generationally transmitted wounds. My ancestors were displaced during the 1818 Uva-Wellassa rebellion and they moved towards forest areas in the Eastern Province. These would have been women and survivors of the rebellion and I always try to imagine how difficult it would have been to leave their ancestral homes behind. Since I haven’t experienced this I don’t know how their wounds were healed. But this society continues to live with sore wounds. A society that doesn’t have its wounds healed would only know to seek solutions through wounds. If they come across a problem, they will resort to using their power to suppress another and resolve the matter. This was witnessed during 1971, ‘88/’89 insurrections and the 30-year ethnic conflict and after destroying everything with weapons, they are ready to pack and leave.


The funny part is that those war victors are now ruling this country and the country is now in dire straits, worse than Bangladesh. According to them, the problem was the war and they said this country will be developed once it is over. Everybody talks about constructing highways but we need to look at the progress of people first. It has to start with education but this education system worsens the wounds further. Teachers should be healed first but this change doesn’t come in the form of a document. It should be a continuous process that should span for around 10 years. We have a new Prime Minister, but bringing dollars alone won’t resolve this problem. Healing is a must. If not cases of domestic violence, harassment, workplace harassment and child abuse will be on the rise. With all these, there’s no point in bringing dollars to the country.


Q Don’t you think that the word ‘reconciliation’ has been misused?


Yes. During this process, we didn’t have words in our vocabulary. They used English/foreign terms and concepts. The English term was translated to Sinhala but they didn’t even know the concept. As a result, they introduced foreign concepts and it was something completely new.


There were issues in the mechanism but many NGO groups earned dollars through these projects. They would hold workshops, provide a report and get their dollars. This was what they called reconciliation. But our institute also got involved in this healing process but we were of the stance that money is not important during the reconciliation process.


The programme we conducted was called the Rahula-Thangarajah Twin School programme. When Walpola Rahula Thera was selected to University as the first Buddhist monk back in 1930 he was sidelined by the Buddhist community. It was a Tamil gentleman named Saravanamuttu Thangarajah who helped Ven. Rahula to continue his studies.


They were good friends and we named this programme in honour of their friendship. For this programme, we merged two schools, namely the Therankandal Tamil School, Thunukkai and Halmillawetiya Vidyalaya in Kebithigollawa.


We worked in both schools for around six months and merged the schools. We travelled in buses, ate what they gave us and slept where we could. So, we were similar to them. We initially donated a water filter to the Therankandal School through the support of well-wishers. We subsequently brought these children to Horana for a workshop and we had collected around Rs. 375,000. The total budget was around Rs. 1.3 million. We had to bring them in five buses, provide accommodation, and meals and we had to pay for translators.


I wanted to do something practical and somebody suggested that we invite the owner of the Wasana Bakers. He was abducted during the height of the war and was taken away by the Army. Upon hearing his story the soldier had released him. After running for dear life, he later returned to his village during Chandrika Bandaranaike’s tenure. He has subsequently started working at a bakery and had learned everything from scratch. Having commenced his journey by providing sponge cake to latex cultivators, Wasana Bakers today is a flourishing business in the bakery industry.


Since I was impressed by this story I visited him and invited him to speak to the children. He was quite surprised because all that while he had had visitors coming to ask for money. Subsequently, he provided us with his wedding hall which was established to host functions of their staff. The programme was a success. Likewise, everybody who contributed had been affected by the war in many ways than one. One of the translators was a Muslim lady and she was a single mother too. She provided her support on a voluntary basis and therefore we were able to travel via Kandy as per the request of the children at Therankandal School. This was our reconciliation model. We have to solve an issue even if we are hungry. But we can’t solve an issue just by taking money from a neighbour. Therefore, the reconciliation model in Sri Lanka is a money-making business and therefore it’s a failure.

Q When we talk about reconciliation we only talk about the North and East. Similar incidents happened in the South as well. But today, the Offices on Missing Persons etc., don’t function efficiently. What are your thoughts?


Abductions and killings have been the order of the day. Three monks whom I knew were abducted this way. One of them was abducted in Dehiwela. An eyewitness told me that ‘Podi Hamuduruwo’ was abducted while on the bus. To date, I don’t know his whereabouts. Two other monks by the names Denagama Pangnaloka, Koradikumbure Gnanaloka had also been abducted and are missing to date. Nobody talks about them. If we can give a colour to the breath of people whose loved ones have gone missing, we’ll be able to see how dark this atmosphere is. 
This is like a mass grave but we continue to light incense sticks and move forward. We are trying to forget these memories. Anybody can forget the incident but they cannot forget the memories that resulted from the incident. We meet these wounded individuals as drivers, passengers etc. These wounds result in aggression and violence.


Q Are we too late to introduce proper healing techniques to these individuals?


Since we are facing a socio-economic crisis at present, we should look at incorporating healing practices within a probable system change.


Q Even though religious places could give some kind of healing, we see people going to temples to post pictures of their offerings, mostly as a trend. Where have we gone wrong?


I believe that there are wounded individuals at religious institutions as well. Certain monks have  severe psychological wounds. During the Imperial era, they lived in fear thinking that they would be extinct. During colonial invasions they become oppressed. Thereafter they have this oppressed mindset. Monks got involved during the insurrections and monks were targeted during the ethnic conflict as well. Therefore they fear whether they would be extinct. Even in Mahavamsa monks have been attributed to protecting the country and the Sāsana. Whenever some monks establish an Organisation, they have several keywords; either it’s something to do with protecting the Sāsana or the motherland.


A farmer protects his paddy field from wild beasts. By saying that they are protecting the Sāsana itself shows that the Sāsana will end and that it has enemies. Then there are wounds when monks are ordained at a younger age, they have wounds since they don’t have a chance to enjoy their youth. The temple is the place that has all these wounds. Someone with a wound goes to another person with a wound to tell their sorrows. I’m not blaming anyone. But I feel that monks should accept the fact that they have been wounded and heal themselves first. I feel that instead of healing a wounded society, they have transformed this society into a marketplace. Therefore we can sell various things to this wounded society such as pirith nool,nisaka dathu wandana etc. Religion includes teachings that bring about spiritual healing but we can bring about healing only if monks accept that they too have been wounded.


Q Doesn’t ordaining novice monks fall under harassment against children?


We have to understand that children are not in a position to make decisions about their life. On the other hand, children are safest when they are with their parents. If children are not safe with their parents, then they belong to the State. If a child is being taken from a safe environment to another guardian, there has to be a mechanism in place. It should happen via the National Child Protection Authority. If I want to take a child under my custody then I should appeal to the NCPA and the NCPA should monitor whether I have sound mental health and whether a child would be safe around me and the environment in which he has to live in.


They should observe the visitors who come here, they should check if I have the time to attend to the child etc. If all these eligibility criteria have been ticked then I’m eligible to have a child under my guardianship. Thereafter if two parents like to hand over a child this should happen in the presence of NCPA officials. Subsequently, these officers should visit every three months to see if he is in a secure environment until the child turns 18. Ordaining as a life decision. If the child wants to reverse his decision, he should be allowed to do so. If he has only studied Pali verses then he cannot face life afterwards. In the end, he should be able to make a healthy decision.


Q Do you think religious places are safe for children?


This depends from place to place. There’s no place that can be a safer place for children than with their parents. When it comes to a religious place, religious leaders have less time to allocate to children. A child needs love, affection and care. But I know some places that look after novice monks and children very well. On the other hand, the family unit in a wounded society has been shattered in most instances. Children are at the receiving end in situations like this and as a result, the child is insecure. Therefore we cannot generalize based on whether a child ends up in a good place or a bad place. We need to put secure mechanisms in place so that children are brought up in safer environments.


Q Let’s talk about the ongoing people’s protests. This is perhaps the first non-violent, peaceful protest that happened in history. But things took a violent turn during the Vesak week. What are your thoughts?


The unprecedented socio-economic crisis brought people towards a common ground. People were inconvenienced due to a shortage of essential items, medicine, fuel etc. It is in this backdrop that people commenced this struggle. People started chanting slogans and it was a non-violent protest. But like during every other instance, the rulers used violence to disrupt the protest. This happened during the 1950s when people requested to include Tamil as an official language. The difference is that this time due to advancements in technology, the whole of the citizenry witnessed the violence, thanks to social media. People knew that the peaceful protesters were voicing everyone’s rights. Everybody felt like they were being attacked.


Q There are many discussions taking place at the Galle Face protest site. Is it a starting point to usher in a new era of governance?


Accountability has not been included in the Constitution or the Judicial system. No politician has been imprisoned for corruption. In that case, everybody should be corrupt. The Constitution should give power to the people. People are in fact like slaves and we have rulers. But we should be citizens and we send a representative to voice on behalf of citizens’ rights. I think this started from GotaGoGama. I don’t know where it is heading. Initially, there were people with various political mindsets and later on, people with extremist ideas too found their ground at the protest site. Therefore I cannot say whether there is one common idea being resonated from the protest site. But I appreciate its positive approaches.


Q We have always witnessed a political culture based on promises. Do you think these people’s protests would bring about a shift in people’s mindsets?


Nothing has been done to bring about a shift in people’s mindsets. The incumbent regime doesn’t care much about the Galle Face protest because their mandate is being decided by people who can be bought over a lunch packet or other short term incentive. The only progressive aspect is that this time people are more knowledgeable about politics thanks to social media. There could be certain changes in this regard in Colombo and suburbs, but in rural areas, people will still be faithful to those who rule their electorates.


Q Justice has become a buzzword. With all that is going on, can we heal ourselves in time to come?


Terrorism sprouts in a country that has no justice. This is what happened on May 9. When the mobsters attacked Galle Face protesters, violence emerged in other parts of the country. This is what happened throughout history. Nobody apologized for the 30-year ethnic conflict. Easter Sunday attacks were a terrible disaster that wounded the Christian and Catholic communities. They feel that they are accountable for the lives that have been lost. Without justice, we can’t move forward. Even though we say this repeatedly we don’t learn this lesson. We should accept that we have been wounded and that we need to heal together.

https://www.dailymirror.lk/recomended-news/Govt-used-Sinhala-Buddhist-shield-to-its-maximum-benefit-Ven-Galkande-Dhammananda-Thera/277-238564

 

 

Health ministry to pay back-wages for Dr. Shafi before July 10

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The Ministry of Health today gave an undertaking before the Court of Appeal that the salary and allowances payable to Dr. Shafi  Shihabdeen will be paid before July 10 this year.

The Ministry of Health gave this undertaking pursuant to a writ petition filed by Dr. Shafi  Shihabdeen, who was at the centre of the controversy surrounding the alleged sterilisation of female patients.

The Director General of Establishment at the Ministry of Public Services had earlier informed the Court that the basic salary, interim allowance, cost of living and allowance in lieu of pension could be paid to Dr. Shafi Shihabdeen, for the compulsory leave period.

Meanwhile, the petitioner expressed willingness to attend the preliminary inquiry before Director of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Dr. Chandana Kendangamuwa.

Taking into consideration the facts, the Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprising Justice Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Justice Dhammika Ganepola decided to terminate the case proceedings following the petitioner’s decision to withdraw it.

The petitioner, a gynecologist attached to Kurunegala Teaching Hospital said he has been arbitrarily and unlawfully placed under compulsory leave from his employment without just cause and without legal authority.

Director of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Dr. Chandana Kendangamuwa, Dr. A. M. S. Weera Bandara Former Director of Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, Secretary to the Ministry of Health Dr. S. H. Munasinghe, Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunaratne were named as respondents.

The petitioner said he was a victim of a hateful, malicious and racially charged campaign that he was alleged of conducting sterilization procedures on females which would render females being barren.

The petitioner stated that said allegations have been disputed as being unscientific and false contemporaneously by experts in the field of Gynecology and Obstetrics including Obstetricians and Gynecologists (VOGs).

Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardena PC with State Counsel Medhaka Fernando appeared for the Attorney General.

President's Counsel Faiz Mustapha with Counsel Pulasthi Rupasinghe, Hafeel Farisz instructed by Sanjeewa Kaluarachchi appeared for the petitioner. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

https://www.dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Health-ministry-to-pay-back-wages-for-Dr-Shafi-before-July-10/342-238620?fbclid=IwAR2aDf0-vo7GX5axTRltHrBoinUyuKJDW9mQufPwg0U8xwfj9PNANy6QwhM


 

 

Sri Lanka court orders release of lawyer held for two years

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A Sri Lankan court has ordered the release on bail of a lawyer arrested over his alleged links to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked credible evidence.

Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 and accused of being linked to the attacks on churches and hotels that left 279 people dead.

But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local group, he was instead charged with inciting “racial hatred” under Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Monday’s decision comes just weeks before his case was due to be discussed at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, according to diplomats.

Dozens of rights groups have campaigned for his freedom, and his detention has been highlighted by the European Parliament.

Local rights activist Bhavani Fonseka said news of Hizbullah’s impending release was “welcome”, but called for changes at the PTA, which had allowed his indefinite detention without trial.

“This should not distract from the need to repeal the PTA with a clear signal from the European Union and others that token reforms will not suffice,” Fonseka said on Twitter.

Hizbullah has made a name for himself as a vocal advocate of Sri Lanka’s minority Muslim community.

He earned the ire of the island nation’s ruling family after successfully challenging an effort to return former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to power during a constitutional crisis in 2018.

The following year, Mahinda was appointed prime minister after his younger brother Gotabaya won the presidential elections.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/7/sri-lanka-to-free-lawyer-jailed-nearly-two-years-without-trial

 

Hejaaz Hizbullah leaves from remand custody

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Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah today left from remand custody after fulfilling his bail conditions before Puttlalam High Court.

He was incarcerated for 22 months for allegedly committing offences come under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.Last Monday (07), the Court of Appeal ordered to release Hizbullah on bail pursuant to a revision application filed on behalf him.Hizbullah was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.100,000 with two sureties of Rs.500,000 by Puttlalam High Court Judge Kumari Abeyratne. He was further ordered to report to the DIG office of Puttalam Police Division every second and fourth Sunday of every month.An indictment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act has now been served on Hejaaz Hizbullah. According to the indictment, Hizbullah is accused of making certain statements to students in contravention of these laws. He was arrested in April 2020. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

 

https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Hejaaz-Hizbullah-leaves-from-remand-custody/108-230811

 

හිජාස් ගෙදර යයි

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(නිමන්ති රණසිංහ සහ හිරාන් ප්‍රියංකර ජයසිංහ)

ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත සහ සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතීන් පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුති පනත ප්‍රකාරව චෝදනා ලැබ වසර දෙකකට ආසන්න කාලයක් රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කර සිටි නිතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අභියාචනාධිකරණ නියෝගය ප්‍රකාරව ඇප මත මුදාහැරීමට පුත්තලම මහාධිකරණය අද (09) නියෝග කළේය.

ඒ අනුව විත්තිකාර හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා මුදල් රුපියල් ලක්ෂයක සහ රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 05 බැගින් වූ ශරීර ඇප දෙකක් මත මුදා හැරීමට හලාවත මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරු කුමාරි අබේරත්න මහත්මිය එසේ නියෝග කළාය.

සෑම මසකම දෙවන සහ සිව්වන ඉරුදින පෙරවරු 9.00ත් පස්වරු 3.00ත් අතර කාලයේදී පුත්තලම ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරී කාර්යාලයට වාර්තා කරන ලෙසද මෙහිදී විනිසුරුවරිය විත්තකරුට නියෝග කළාය.

විත්තිකරුගේ විදේශ ගමන් බලපත්‍රය සහ පදිංචි සහතිකය අධිකරණයට භාරදීමෙන් පසු ඇපකරුවන් ලෙස ඔහුගේ සහෝදරිය සහ සහෝදරයා අධිකරණය විසින් භාරගනු ලැබීමෙන් අනතරුව මෙලෙස ඇප නියම විණී.

විත්තිකාර නිතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අද (09) බන්ධනාගාරය විසින් අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබ තිබිණී.

පාස්කු ඉරුදින ප්‍රහාර මාලාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් නිතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අපරාධ පරික්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබුවේ ඉකුත් 2020 වසරේ අප්‍රේල් මස 14 වැනිදාය. පසුව ඔහුට එරෙහිව ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත සහ සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතීන් පිළිබද ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුති පනත ප්‍රකාරව නිතිපතිවරයා විසින් පුත්තලම මහාධිකරණය හමුවේ අධි චෝදනා ගොනු කරනු ලැබ ඇත.

ඡායාරූප හිරාන් ප්‍රියංකර ජයසිංහ


https://www.lankadeepa.lk/latest_news/%E0%B7%84%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%A2%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B6%9C%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%AF%E0%B6%BB-%E0%B6%BA%E0%B6%BA%E0%B7%92/1-607931

 

Court of Appeal grants bail on Hejaaz Hizbullah

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The Court of Appeal today ordered to release Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah on bail after nearly two years in detention and remand custody.

Accordingly, the Court of Appeal directed the Puttalam High Court to release Hejaaz Hizbullah on bail with suitable bail conditions.

The Court of Appeal two-judge-bench comprising Justice Menaka Wijesundera and Justice Neil Iddawala made this order taking into consideration a revision application filed on behalf of Hejaaz Hizbullah.

The Attorney General did not raise objections to release Hizbullah on bail.

On January 28, an application made by the defence requesting to release Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah on bail was rejected by Puttalam High Court.

 

The High Court Judge Kumari Abeyrathne refused to grant bail citing that she has no jurisdiction to grant bail under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

 

This revision application had been filed on behalf of Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah seeking an order to release him on bail.

An indictment under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act has now been served on Hejaaz Hizbullah. According to the indictment, Hizbullah is accused of making certain statements to students in contravention of these laws.

Hizbullah is charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He was arrested in April 2020.

Romesh de Silva PC with Niran Anketell and Shanaka Cooray instructed by Sanath Wijewardena appeared for Hejaaz Hizbullah

Additional Solicitor General Rohantha Abeysuriya PC with Senior State Counsel Lakmini Girihagama represented the Attorney General. (Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

 

https://www.dailymirror.lk/top_story/Court-of-Appeal-grants-bail-on-Hejaaz-Hizbullah/155-230596

 

Attorney at law Hejaaz Hizbullah granted bail

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Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah has been granted bail by the Court of Appeal after being detained for over 20 months.

Hizbullah was released on bail today after the Puttalam High Court judge refused to grant bail to him last month.

Refusing bail, she claimed that it was not under her jurisdiction, despite the Attorney General having consented to grant bail.

The judge further informed the defense to request bail from the Court of Appeal on the 9th of February 2022.

The bail application had been filed at the Puttalam High Court after Hizbullah’s lawyer had agreed to a settlement with the other parties in the interest of his client.

On 20th January, the Attorney General’s (AG) Department said it has no objections to releasing Hizbullah on bail subject to conditions.

The AG’s Department informed the Court of Appeal that the bail will be granted only if the defence makes an application for bail at the Puttalam High Court when the case is taken up for hearing.

Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and has been in remand custody for over 20 months.

While the police earlier said the lawyer was arrested for alleged links to the Easter attacks, he was subsequently accused of promoting racial hatred, an offence under Sri Lanka’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act. He had spent 10 months in custody before being charged. (NewsWire)

https://www.newswire.lk/2022/02/07/attorney-at-law-hejaaz-hizbullah-granted-bail/?fbclid=IwAR2I3Mq1wuymKPK8ZGnZa2KAri0ZJDBxHANheQO8UNnTi9E8lhFRNUWdGZM

   

සී.අයි.ඩියෙ හිටිය දවස් 46ම නිදාගත්තෙ ප්ලාස්ටික් බෝතලේ ඔලුවට තියාගෙනයි - දොස්තර ශාෆි කියන කතාව

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“හිර කුටියේදී එයාල මට ලීටර් එක හමාරෙ ප්ලාස්ටික් බීම බෝතලයක් තියාගන්න ඉඩ දුන්නා. කාටවත් කොට්ට දුන්නෙ නෑ. ඒත් බිම ඔලුව තියාගෙන ඉන්නකොට මට නින්ද යන්නෙ නෑ. බෝතලේ වතුරෙන් පුරවල ටිකක් වතුර ඉවත් කළාම ඒක ටිකක් නම්‍ය වෙනවා. මම සී.අයි.ඩියෙ හිටිය දවස් 46ම නිදාගත්තෙ ප්ලාස්ටික් බෝතලේ ඔලුවට තියාගෙනයි. මම ඒකට හුරු වුණා.”

ශාෆි සහාබ්දීන් එම බිහිසුණු අත්දැකීම විඳින්නට පටන් ගත්තේ 2019 මැයි 23 වැනිදා පුවත්පතක මුල් පිටුවේ මෙම වෛද්‍යවරයා, පාස්කු ඉරිදා බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය මෙහෙයවූ බවට සැක කරනු ලැබූ තව්හිද් ජමාත් සංවිධානයේ සාමාජිකයකුව හිඳිමින් සිසේරියන් සැත්කම් කරන අතරතුර සිංහල බෞද්ධ මවුවරුන් 4000ක් රහසේ වඳ භාවයට පත් කළේ යයි චෝදනා කරන පුවතක් පළ කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුවයි.

ඔහු සිරගත කොට ඇප මත නිදහස් කිරීමෙන් පසු පළමු වරට තමා සහ තම පවුලේ අය විඳි ගැහැට පිළිබඳව හෙළිදරව් කරමින් සහාබ්දීන්, ‘සන්ඩේ ටයිම්ස්’ පුවත්පත සමග සංවාදයක යෙදුණේය. ඔහු ආරක්ෂා කරනු ලැබුවේ දෙවියන් සමග මූලික වශයෙන් සිංහල රෝගීන්ගේ ආශිර්වාදයත්, යාදිනි විසිනුත් බව හෙතෙම කියා සිටී.

වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් කුරුණෑගල ශික්ෂණ රෝහලේ කාන්තා ප්‍රජනන සෞඛ්‍ය පිළිබඳ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍යවරයාව සිටියේය. 2015 දී ඔහු සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයෙන් අස් වී එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයෙන් මැතිවරණයට තරග කළේය. ඔහුට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඇතුළත් වීමේ වරම අහිමි වූයේ සුළු ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාවකිනි. මැතිවරණයට පෙර පැවැත්වූ සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකදී වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන්, තමා වෛද්‍ය වෘත්තියේදී සිසේරියන් සැත්කම් 8000ක් පමණ කර තිබේ යයි මාධ්‍යවේදියකුට කියා තිබිණි. ඔහුට එරෙහිව එල්ල වූ චෝදනාව වූයේ එයින් සැත්කම් 4000ක් කරන අතරතුර නීති විරෝධී අයුරින් නාළ අවහිරකොට සිංහල බෞද්ධ මවුවරුන් වඳ භාවයට පත් කළේය යන්නයි.

වෛද්‍ය වෘත්තියේ යෙදෙන බොහෝ අයට මෙම කීම මනඃකල්පිතයක් විය. මේ බව අධිකරණ හා නිල විමර්ශනයේදී ගර්භණී හා නාරි වෛද්‍ය අංශයේ වෛද්‍යවරුන් හෙදියන් හා කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයේ අනෙක් අයගෙන් වාර්තා කරගත් ප්‍රකාශවලින් පෙනී ගියේය. එකී චෝදනාවට ඇතැම් වෛද්‍ය විශේෂඥයෝ ප්‍රසිද්ධියේම අභියෝග කළහ.

වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබාගත්තේ කලාවැව මුස්ලිම් විද්‍යාලයෙනි. කලාවැව යනු අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ විශාලතම සහ පැරැණිතම මුස්ලිම් වාසස්ථාන පිහිටි ප්‍රදේශයයි. ඔහුගේ පිය පාර්ශ්වයේ සීයා, එම ප්‍රදේශයේ පළමු රාජ්‍ය සේවකයාය. එම ප්‍රදේශයේ පළමුවෙන්ම දිග කලිසම් ඇඳි අයකුගෙන් කෙනකු වූ ඔහු විජිතපුර රජමහා විහාරයේ ලාබාල බෞද්ධ භික්ෂූන්ට පාලි භාෂාව ඉගැන්වූයේය. ඔහුගේ පියා විදුහල්පතිවරයකු වූ අතර මව ගෘහණියක වූවාය.

පවුලේ දරුවන් තිදෙනාගෙන් බාලයා වූයේ වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන්ය. ඔහුගේ සොයුරිය වෛද්‍යවරියකි. සොයුරා ගණකාධිකාරීවරයෙකි. ඔහු ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ වෛද්‍ය පීඨයෙන් සමත් වූ අයෙකි. 2003 දී තමාට වඩා කනිෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍යවරියක වූ ඉම්රා සමග ඔහු විවාහ වූයේය. ඇගේ උපන් නගරය වූ කුරුණෑගල ඔවුහු පදිංචි වූහ. 2004 දී සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශයට සම්බන්ධ වීමෙන් පසු හෙතෙම මධ්‍යම පළාතේ සේවය කළේය. මැතිවරණය සඳහා නික්ම යනවිට ඔහු සේවය කරමින් සිටියේ දඹුල්ල රෝහලේය.

වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් ටිකෙන් ටික පෞද්ගලික ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීමේද නියැළුණේය. කුරුණෑගල නගරයේ සාර්ථක ලෙස විද්‍යාගාරයක් පිහිටවූ ඔහු වාහන අලෙවි කිරීමට සහ රෙදිපිළි අලෙවි කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපාර වෙතද යොමු වූයේය.

කුරුණෑගල නගරයේ ඉඩමක් මිලදී ගැනීම සඳහා මිතුරන් තිදෙනකු සමග එකඟතාවකට එළැඹීමෙන් පසුව එය මිලදී ගැනීම සඳහා ඔවුහු ඔහුගේ බැංකු ගිණුමේ රුපියල් මිලියන ගණනක් තැන්පත් කළහ. ඒ වනවිට පැවතුණු අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ විමර්ශනයක ඉලක්කයක් බවට පත් වූයේ එම ගනුදෙනුවයි.

මැතිවරණයෙන් ඔහුට ඡන්ද 54,000 ලැබුණු මුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආසනයක් හිමිකර ගැනීම සඳහා එය ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවීය. මැතිවරණයෙන් මාස 16කින් පමණ අනතුරුව සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය ඔහු නැවත සේවයේ පිහිටුවාලූයේ මැතිවරණයෙන් පැරදුණ තවත් වෛද්‍යවරුන් දෙදෙනකු ද සමගය. 2018 පෙබරවාරි මාසයේ පටන් 2019 මැයි මාසයේ ඔහු අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා තුරු ඔහු කුරුණෑගල ශික්ෂණ රෝහලේ ගර්භණී හා නාරි වෛද්‍ය අංශයේ සේවය කළේය.

2019 අප්‍රේල් මාසයේ ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීමෙන් පසු එම ප්‍රදේශය පුරා මුස්ලිම්වරුන් අතර ආතතියක් හට ගත්තේය. නොපැහැදිලි චෝදනා මත සුප්‍රසිද්ධ ප්‍රජා නායකයෝ අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වූහ. ඇතැමුන් සිර භාරයෙන් නිදහස් කරනු ලැබුවේ දින ගණනාවක් ඉක්ම ගිය පසුවය. තමාද ඉලක්ක වී ඇති බවට කියන කටකතා වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන්ගේ කනට ඇසිණි. පවතින තත්ත්වය පහව යනතුරු රටින් පිටව ගොස් හිඳ නැවත පැමිණීමට ඔහුගේ බිරිඳට අවශ්‍ය වූයේය.

“මට බය හිතුනා. ඒත් කාට වුණත් මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න ඕන වෙන්නෙ ඇයි කියල මම ප්‍රශ්න කරමින් හිටියෙ.” ඔහු කීවේය. “මම රටෙන් පිටව යන්න කැමැති වුණේ නෑ මගේ රටට මම ආදරේ නිසා. පසුගිය කාලෙ රටෙන් යන්න ඕනෑ තරම් අවස්ථා මට ලැබුණා. අද පවා එහෙමයි. අසරණ රෝගීන්ගේ කන්නලව් නිසා මම ආරක්ෂා වුණා කියලයි හිතන්නෙ. මොකද මම වැඩ කළේ ඒ අයටයි. යම් පුද්ගලයකුගේ දුක් වේදනා තමන් දුරු කළොත් ඔවුන් තමන් වෙනුවෙන් හදවතින් කතා කරනවා.”

මුළු රෝහල පුරාම වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් මුළුමනින් ජනප්‍රියව සිටියේ යයි එයින් ඇඟවෙන්නේ නැත. විශේෂයෙන් ඇතැම් ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨයන් අතර ඔහු ජනප්‍රිය නොවූයේය. ඔහුගේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය වූයේ, ගිහින් තමාගේ රැකියාව කොට එතැනින් නික්ම ඒමයි. එකිනෙකා සමග දොඩමින් සිටීමට ඔහු කාලය ගත කළේ නැත. ශාෆි මහත්තයා ලවා ශල්‍යකර්ම, ස්කෑන් සහ වෙනත් රෝග පරීක්ෂා කිරීම් කර ගැනීමට කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයේ උදවිය ඔහු සොයා ගියහ.

රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරි සංගමයේ හිටපු සභාපති අනුරුද්ධ පාදෙණියගේ දෙවැනි දරුවා ලැබෙන විට ඊට අදාළ සිසේරියන් සැත්කම කර ඇත්තේ ද වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් ය.

“මම GMOA සාමාජිකයකු වුණත් මම ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධව දැඩි මතයක සිටියා. විශේෂයෙන් වර්ජනවලදී තමන් ජයග්‍රහණ ලබන්නේ රෝගීන්ගේ අයිතීන් අහිමි කරලයි’’ යන මතයේ මම සිටිය. ‘‘රෝගීන් දුක් විඳිනව. ඒ නිසා මම වැඩ වර්ජනය කරල වෛද්‍ය සංගමයට සහාය වෙමින් ඊට එක්වුණේ නෑ.”

ඇතැම්හු වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන්ට එරෙහිව අපහාස වදන් දෙඩුවෝය. ඇතැම් විට ඔහු හා වචන හුවමාරු වූයේය. ඔහු හිස උදුම්මාගත් දඩබ්බර අයෙක් සේ සලකනු ලැබිණි.

“මම කාටවත් හිස නැමුවෙ නෑ. මම මගේ වැඩක් බලාගෙන හිටියෙ. ඒත් ඒ ගතිය නිසා මට මෙතරම් හානියක් වේවි කියල මම හිතුවෙ නෑ.”

නීති විරෝධී වඳ සැත්කම්වලට වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් වැරැදිකරු යයි කියන මතයට පක්ෂ පුවත් පත්තර පිටු ගණන් පළවෙන්නට ගත්තේය. සමාජ මාධ්‍යවල ඔහුට මරණ තර්ජන එල්ල විය. මැයි 24 වැනිදා උදයේ ඔහු සේවයට වාර්තා කිරීමට බියෙන් පසුවූයේය. රෝහල් පරිශ්‍රයෙන් පිටත ඔහුට ආරක්ෂාව සැපයීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කෙරිණි. එදින රාත්‍රියේ ඔහු උපවාස කාලයෙන් පසු සිය 12 හැවිරිදි පුත්‍රයා සමග පල්ලියේ යාඥා කරමින් ඉන්නා විට තම නිවසට පොලිසිය පැමිණ ඇතැයි ඔහුට පණිවිඩයක් ලැබුණේය.

ඔහු කඩිමුඩියේ නිවෙසට පැමිණියේය. අසාධාරණ ලෙස තමා ඉලක්කගත වූයේ ඇයි දැයි පොලිසියෙන් විමසා සිටියේය. ඔවුහු ඔහුව පොලිසිය වෙත රැගෙන ගියේ පුවත්පත් ලිපියක සඳහන් චෝදනාවලට, ෆේස්බුක් සටහනක් යෙදූ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ වෛද්‍යවරයකුට එරෙහිව පැමිණිල්ලක් ගොනු කරන මුවාවෙනි. පොලිස් ස්ථානයේදී තමාට අයුක්තිය සිදුකළ පැමිණිල්ල වාර්තාගත කිරීම ඔහුට අවශ්‍ය විය. එම කාර්ය ඉටු නොවීය. ඉන්පසු ඔහු නැවත නිවසට රැගෙන ආයේ නිවස පරීක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහාය. CCTV කැමරා නිවා දමන ලෙස ඔවුහු නියෝග කළහ. ඔවුහු දරුවන්ගේ කොම්පියුටර්, ලැප්ටොප්, බ්‍රීෆ්කේස් සහ පැරැණි දුරකථන ඉවත ඇද ගත්හ. ඔහුගේ බිරිඳගේ කුරාණය පවා ඔවුහු උදුරා ගත්හ.

පොලිස් නිලධාරීහු නැවත ඔහුව පොලිස් ස්ථානය වෙත රැගෙන ආහ. නීතිඥවරයකු අමතන්නට ඔහුට අවසර නොලැබිණි. ඔහුගේ දුරකථන ක්‍රියාවිරහිත කෙරිණි. ඔහු පොලිස් කොස්තාපල්වරයකු ළඟ හිඳුවා තැබූ අතර එම නිලධාරියා ඔහුට ඉවත යන්නට ඉඩ දුන්නේ හෝ ඔහුගේ පැමිණිල්ල ලියා ගැනීමක් සිදු කළේ නැත. ඔහු රඳවා තබාගෙන ඉන්නේ ඇයි දැයි (ඔහු තබාගෙන ඇත්තේ රඳවාගෙන නම්) ඔහු නොදත්තේය. නිවසට ගොස් පසුදා එන්නට ඔහු විමසූ විට කොස්තාපල්වරයා ඊට ඉඩ නුදුන්නේය. කිසිවකුට ඔහු බලන්නට අවසර නුදුන්නේය.

“මාව තනිකරම හුදෙකලා කරා.” වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් කීවේය. “මාව තියාගන්නවද මට යන්න දේවිද දන්නෙත් නෑ.”
ඊළඟ දිනයේ උදෑසන ඥාතීන් දෙදෙනකුට ඇතුළට පැමිණ ඔහුට විස්කෝතු හා වතුර ලබා දෙන්නට ඉඩ දෙනු ලැබීය. ඉහළින් ලැබුණු නියෝගයකට අනුව විමර්ශන සඳහා ඔහු තබාගත් බව පොලිසිය ඔහුට කීවේය. නැවත අපරාධ අංශයට ගෙන ගිය ඔහුට පුටුවක හිඳගෙන ඉන්නට සිදුවිය.

ඔහුගේ නීතිඥවරයාට එතැනට එන්නට අවසර නොලැබිණි. ඔහුගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කරන ලද්දේ බලෙන් වඳ සැත්කම් කිරීමක් ගැන නොව පෞද්ගලික හා පවුලේ ඉතිහාසය පිළිබඳවය. ඔහු අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම ගැන ආරංචිය පැතිරයාමත් සමඟ මාධ්‍යවේදීහු පොලිසිය වෙත ආහ. “ඊට පස්සෙ මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න කතාවක් ඇහුණ.” වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් කීවේය.

මුහුණදීමට සිදුවූ තවත් බොහෝ ගැටලු

වෛද්‍ය ශාෆී සහාබ්දීන්ට කාරණා කිහිපයකදීම තමා වෙනුවෙන් තවමත් කටයුතු කරන්නට සිදු වී ඔහු රිමාන්ඩ් භාරයට පත් කළ පසුව සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය අනිවාර්ය නිවාඩු යවා ඇත්තේ ආයතන සංග්‍රහයට අනුවයි.

තමා නැවත සේවයේ පිහිටුවන ලෙස හා නොගෙවූ වැටුප් ඉල්ලලා ඔහු රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසමට අභියාචනයක් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබේ. රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසම, දෙසැම්බර් මාසයේදී සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය වෙත ඔහුගේ හිඟ වැටුප් ගෙවන ලෙස නියම කර තිබේ. එය මෙතෙක් සිදුවී නැත.

වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් සේවය කළ කුරුණෑගල ශික්ෂණ රෝහල පසුගිය දෙසැම්බරයේ ‘මූලික පරීක්‍ෂණයක්’ සඳහා ප්‍රකාශයක් ගැනීමට ඔහුව කැඳවා තිබිණ. එම මූලික පරීක්‍ෂණය දැන් ආරම්භ වී තිබේ. ඒ සඳහා ලිපි නිකුත් කර ඇත්තේ නීති විරෝධී වඳ සැත්කම් කළ බවට චෝදනා එල්ල වී වසර දෙකහමාරක් ගත වූ පසුවය.

පසුගිය වසරේ රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසම ඔහුට වෙනත් කාරණා රාශියක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා පත්‍රයක් ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබීය. ගිලන් ඇඳේ එල්ලා ඇති Bed Head ටිකට් පතේ නම වෙනස් කිරීම, 2017 ජූනි සහ 2019 මැයි අතර කාලයේදී පෞද්ගලික සමාගමක අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ධුරය දැරීම, තම නිල සටහන් පොතේ තම භාර්යාවට කරුණු සටහන් කිරීමට අවසර දීම යන චෝදනා ඒ අතර විය. ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔහුට දැඩි සේ අවවාද කොට වැටුප් වර්ධකය අත්හිටුවා තිබේ.

මීට අමතරව වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් 2019 ජුනි මාසයේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබේ. එය මෙතෙක් විමසීමට ගෙන නැත. ඔහුට විරුද්ධව ප්‍රධාන නඩුව කුරුණෑගල මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ විභාගයට ගැනීමට නියමිතය.

මෙතෙක් ඔහුට චෝදනා ඉදිරිපත් කර නැත. 2019 නව විමර්ශනය ඇරඹූ පසු අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව අධිකරණයට කරුණු වාර්තා කරමින් සිටී. ඔහු අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පසු ත්‍රස්ත සංවිධානයක් සමඟ එක්වීම හා නීති විරෝධී දේපළ රැස්කිරීම යන අමතර චෝදනා ඔහුට එල්ල කර තිබේ. මෙම නඩුව නැවත පසු දිනෙක ගැනීමට නියමිතව තිබිණ.

“ඔවුන් මාව සී.අයි.ඩියට දෙන්න සූදානම් වුණා. මොනව කරන්නද කියල මට හිතාගන්න බැරිවුණා. ඒ සඳහා අනුගමනය කරන වැඩ කිහිපයක් තිබුණා. මගේ ඇඟිලි සලකුණු අරගෙන ශරීරය පුරා පරීක්ෂා කළා. එය මානසික වදයක්.”

ඔහුට මාංචු දමා ඔහුව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ භාරයට ගැනුණි. මැයි 25 වැනිදා ඒ වනවිට ප.ව. 6.00 පසු වී තිබිණි. ඔහු අධිකරණ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරියා වෙත ගෙන යා යුතු විය. පොලිසිය ඔහු සේවය කළ කුරුණෑගල ශික්ෂණ රෝහලටම රැගෙන ගියේය. “හැමෝටම පේන්න මාංචු පිටින්.” ඔහු කීවේය. “හැම දෙනාම මා දිහා බැලුවා. මට වැඳපු මිනිස්සු මට ගෞරව කරපු මිනිස්සු සමහර ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරුන්ගෙ ඇස්වල කඳුළු.”

අවසානයේ වෛද්‍ය ශාෆිව ගෙන ගියේ සී.අයි.ඩියේ හතරවැනි තට්ටුවටයි. කොළඹ සී.අයි.ඩීයේ මූලස්ථානය වූ එහි සිර මැදිරි 4ක් විය. එකක සිටින්නේ මාකඳුරේ මධුෂ් බව ඔහුට දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

“ඔහු සමග සම තත්ත්වයට වැටීමට මා කළ වරද කුමක්දැයි මා කල්පනා කළා. මට මහ හිතේ අමාරුවක් දැනුණා. මම ඇඬුවෙ නෑ. අඬල වැඩක් නෑ. මගේ අරමුණ වුණේ පිටට එන එකයි. මට කරදරයක් නොවෙන බවට මට ලොකු විශ්වාසයක් තිබුණා. දෙවියන් මා බේරා ගනීවි. මට මාංචු දමන විටත් මට සිහි වුණේ අල්ලා දෙවියන්වයි.” වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් දින 46ක් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ගතකොට ජුලි 25 දින ඇප ලබා ගත්තේ සති දෙකක් කෑගල්ල බන්ධනාගාරයේ ද සිර කර තැබූ පසුවය. ඔහුව රඳවා තබාගනු ලැබුවේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැළැක්වීමේ පනත යටතේය. කිහිප වාරයක් ඔහු ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම්වලට භාජන විය. ඇතැම් විට ප්‍රකාශ ලබාගැනීම සඳහා සාක්ෂිකරුවන් සී.අයි.ඩීයට රැගෙන ආයේය.

“මට එල්ල කළ හැම චෝදනාවක්ම අදාළ නොවේය යන ස්ථාවරයේ මම සිටියා. ඒ බව ඒ අය තේරුම් ගන්නා බව මම දැන සිටියා.” වෛද්‍ය සහාබ්දීන් කීවේය.

ඔහුගේ පවුලේ උදවිය නොයෙක් කරදර වින්දෝය. ඔහුව රැගෙන ගිය දිනයේ ඔවුහු නිවස හැර ගියෝය. ඉම්රා, දරුවන්, ඒ අයගේ පාසල්වලින් ඉවත් කරගෙන කොළඹ රැගෙන ආවාය. වෛද්‍ය ශාෆිගේ බිරිඳට මුස්ලිම්වරු පවා ඉඩ නොදුන්හ. තට්ටු හතක් ඉහළ උසින් පිහිටි නිවාස කොටස කුලියට ගන්නට ගිය අවස්ථාවේ මිත්‍රශීලීව ඇයට සලකා ඇත්තේ එකම එක යුවළක් පමණි.

“ඈ නිතරම බයෙන් පීඩාවට පත්වෙලා හිටියෙ.” ඔහු කීවේය.

“ඈට ඉස්කෝල සොයන්න සිදුවුණා. කුරුණෑගල වැඩ කරන්න බැරි නිසා මාරුවක් ඉල්ලන්න සිදු වුණා. ඇගේ අතේ සතේ නැති වුණා. මගේ ගිණුම් අත්හිටෙව්වා. පත්තරකාරයො ඈව ලුහු බැන්ඳා යන යන තැන. ප්‍රසිද්ධියෙ කතා කළොත් ඈට දරුවන් ආරක්ෂා කර ගන්න බැරිවුණා. තමාව මරා දමාවි කියලත් ඈ බය වුණා.”

දරුවන්ට කුරුණෑගලින් කොළඹ ගොස් ඉන්පසු කල්මුණේ සහ ආපසු මහනුවරටත් යන්නට සිදුවිය. දැන් ඔවුන් වාසය කරන්නේ මහනුවරයි. තවමත් ඔවුන් සාමාන්‍ය තත්ත්වයට පැමිණ නැත. තමන්ට වූ හදිය කුමක්දැයි ඔවුහු තවමත් නොදනිති.

2022/1/23 Sunday Times හි පළවූ ''God and prayers of predominantly Sinhalese patients protected me'' ලිපියේ පරිවර්තනය - සමන් පුෂ්ප ලියනගේ.


නාමිනී විජේද‌ාස විසිනි


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Trial of Hejaaz Hizbullah: Main witness flounders

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  • AG request to amend indictment refused

The main witness in the case against Hejaaz Hizbullah, the 18-year-old Mohomed Malik on Friday, failed to give any evidence relating to the charge during his testimony when the case was heard at the Puttalam High Court.

The young witness floundered when questioned as to the time period of the alleged incident at which Hizbullah is said to have made a speech and the contents of the speech.  As a result, right before the adjournment for lunch, the Attorney General (AG) requested the High Court Judge to amend the indictment. The Defence objected to it by pointing out that the indictment filed was based on repeated statements by the witness to the CID. They said that the statements to the CID by the witness, including statements clarifying the date of the alleged visit, specified the date on which Hizbullah had arrived.  The Defence pointed out that it was based on these statements that the indictment was filed by the AG and the charge framed. The High Court Judge, making order after adjournment, denied the request of the AG, and said that the indictment was specific to the statement by the witness.  Earlier, the Prosecution was reprimanded by the Judge for prompting the witness. Deputy Solicitor General Sudarshana de Silva was twice warned by the Judge for using leading questions during his evidence-in-chief.  The witness, a former Student of the AL Zuhriya Arabic College, narrated his life story and said that Hizbullah had visited the Arabic College in September or October.  The main witness failed to state that Hizbullah gave a speech which called for the “attack on catholics”, despite repeated attempts by the prosecution. The charge is that Hizbullah called on an attack on «catholics» during a speech in August 2018. At the end of the evidence-in-chief, the Defence requested the Court to release Hizbullah on bail, citing a settlement in the Court of Appeal. The request was denied by the Judge, citing lack of jurisdiction.   Deputy Solicitor General Sudarshana de Silva with State Counsel Lakmini Girihagama appeared for the AG. Nalinda Indathissa, Asith Siriwardena, Hafeel Farisz, Chaminda Athukorale, Dhanushan Kaneshayogan and a host of lawyers appeared for the two accused.

 

https://www.ft.lk/news/Trial-of-Hejaaz-Hizbullah-Main-witness-flounders/56-729912?fbclid=IwAR1s1ObyYYebAPWgyEhiwIg86wXmlSK_e10SvjVJmOoE9ZVvLQY3eL5yboQ#.YfnwNNsoudg.facebook

   

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