Midweek Review

Remedies for the plight of school-leavers

Published

4 years ago

2022/03/23

by Nimal Abeysinghe
nimal.abeysinghe@gmail.com

Deciding what to do when you leave school is tough. It becomes a nightmare for students and parents alike when you suddenly find yourself short of a few marks to qualify for university admission. Every year about 270,000 students face this dilemma.

Let’s delve a little deeper into the unpleasant statistics. In all streams of study combined, about 70 percent of the GCE (O/L) students qualify for the GCE (A/L) and then out of around 350,000 who sit the GCE (A/L) about 63 percent become eligible for admission to a university. However, due to the limited capacity of universities, on average only 23 percent (in 2019 the figure was 19 percent) of the eligible candidates manage to enter university. The competition for Arts and Commerce students is worse with only 17 percent gaining entry (UGC Statistics Report 2020 and University World News 2021). To put this in perspective, if 100 students sit the GCE (O/L) only 10 will eventually enter the university. After studying three to five years in the university depending on the course of study, about 90 percent of graduates of a few disciplines, such as architecture, engineering, medicine and IT, find employment related to the field of study, within two years.

Sadly, only 45 percent of Arts students secure employment, within two to three years of graduation. (Tracer Study of Graduates – Commissioned by UGC in 2017/18). Out of these, how many are underemployed? This is the stark reality in Sri Lanka today. Unfortunately, the vast majority of secondary school students are discouraged by parents from considering any other avenue of tertiary education outside the university. This is done despite knowing very well that the odds are against them. Though the general public may not be aware of these statistics, it is common knowledge that there are unemployed Arts and other graduates in almost every town and village in the country. The total unemployment rate in 2019 was 4.8 percent, ranking Sri Lanka third among South Asian countries with high unemployment. Tragically, the unemployment rate in the 15 to 24 age group in our country recorded the highest rate at 21.5 percent. Based on education level, A/L and above showed the highest rate of unemployment at 8.2 percent (Labour force Survey – Department of Census and Statistics).

However, turning a blind eye to all these gloomy and depressing statistics; every year, soon, after the GCE (A/L) results are released, we hear the usual statement from the government that university intake will be increased this year to accommodate the sons and daughters of ‘poor and innocent people from our villages’. Like a pre-recorded statement we have been hearing this since the 1960s. And we continue to produce more graduates with no marketable skills who cannot improve their own livelihoods or make any positive contribution to the economic development of our society. Notwithstanding, some short-sighted, narrow-minded politicians keep giving false hopes to the masses and the masses allow themselves to be misguided and deceived by these politicians over and over again. Regrettably, some universities have exacerbated the situation by ignoring market demands and employability and continuing to offer courses that add absolutely no value to the graduates or the national economy. Regardless, every year the government in power continues to pump more money into universities to increase student intake across the board, presumably to fulfil an ‘election promise’. The establishment of 15 new technology faculties in some conventional universities a few years ago and the enrolment increase to technology courses are a step in the right direction which will enable a few more students to enter university. However, it does not adequately address the pressing issue of the absence of career development paths for school-leavers. At least going forward, the government needs to revise its funding model for education as a whole to provide more funding for technology-based education in schools. I must hasten to add that I am not advocating wholesale scrapping of Arts and Humanities courses from all universities but taking a pragmatic approach to funding allocation for education and taking steps to gradually reduce the intake to the Arts stream and faculties.

Creating non-productive jobs that do not make a positive contribution to society is not the solution to this massive problem. Instead of coming up with ambulance-at-the-bottom-of-the-cliff solutions, we must examine the root cause of the problem. If we compare this problem to an unwanted tree, its seed is planted in secondary school (perhaps in primary school) and nurtured by teachers, parents and extended family. One cannot completely blame them for doing so because of the prestige and social status associated with a university degree. Furthermore, most students and parents are not aware of any other avenues of study available to them outside university education. We already have in place the infrastructure and administrative apparatus via the establishment of the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) in 1991 and the National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) framework in 2005. In the year 2017 total university admissions were 31,415 whilst NVQ Level 1 enrolment was only 18,484. What is needed is an intensive social marketing strategy to change the attitude and mindset of students, parents and teachers alike. Unfortunately, this is more easily said than done in a society in which picking up a tool and getting one’s hands dirty is considered below the dignity of an ‘educated’ person. Changing this attitude and building respect and social recognition for a trade-qualified, skilled person will be a slow and arduous process. Another change that needs to be considered simultaneously is to discourage students from taking up dead-end undergraduate courses. A policy decision has to be taken to gradually reduce the intake to such courses. This demands extraordinary political courage as there will be stiff opposition from parents and students and most certainly from certain segments of academics.

With rapid industrialisation in the second half of the last century, the demand for skilled labour such as carpenters, welders, electricians and plumbers saw rapid growth in the developed world because they played a pivotal role in economic growth. This resulted in a surge in the earning power of tradespeople. These financial gains directly contributed to higher living standards which in turn translated to higher social standing and recognition of those engaged in skilled trades. While attaining financial stability and a higher standard of living for themselves, tradespeople continue to make a huge contribution to the economic development of these countries. Another important factor in this social change was the introduction of formal education and training requirements to achieve set standards and certification and licensing protocols introduced and monitored by government agencies. A further noteworthy development was the formation of associations of individual trades with objectives quite different from conventional trade unions. These organisations set quality standards for workmanship and ensured their members adhered to these standards, thus fulfilling the task of formal self-regulation of tradespeople. The membership of such an organisation gave the trades-person a higher standing as well as his or her clients the assurance that the quality of the work done would be of high standard. These measures prevented ‘cowboys’ from calling themselves skilled tradesmen.

Though a direct comparison cannot be drawn between Sri Lanka and developed countries due to widely varying social attitudes and cultural differences, it is still worthwhile studying some of the strategies implemented and the outcomes. Across the developed world one can see an unmistakable upward trend among young people enrolling in vocational training instead of undergraduate studies in Arts and Humanities or similar studies. For instance, in New Zealand during the last 10 years Arts and Humanities subjects have suffered a steep fall in student number: Between 25 percent and 50 percent across different universities, and one university senate decided to axe the Arts courses altogether from 2020 due to low enrolment rates. This decline is against a backdrop of enrolment increases in technology-related courses of study in tertiary institutions. During the same period, students leaving school before age 13 (equivalent to A/L) to take up apprenticeships in trades or to follow trade targeted courses have sharply increased. This trend has continued with the last year showing a significant jump of 50 percent over the previous year and this trend is not isolated to New Zealand but equally true to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries.

Most universities in New Zealand offer courses from certificate (Level 4) to postgraduate level (Level 10) both full-time and part-time (Final year in school – A/L is considered Level 3). Therefore, for instance, a trades-person with a level 5 trade certificate can enter a university course mid-stream, instead of going back and sitting the equivalent of our A/L; and study towards a diploma, degree or beyond. In Sri Lanka, a student who leaves secondary school to take the Technical & Vocational Training route cannot enrol in a university but have to enter the University of Vocational Technology (Sri Lanka Education System Assessment 2017 – World Bank). Unfortunately, any attempt to implement pathways or processes similar to the ones in OECD countries will result in absolute turmoil in our society with unprecedented unrest in our educational institutions. Considering the present situation in our country we may have to put that in the ‘too hard basket’ for now. Nevertheless, if we are to move forward as a nation it is of utmost importance that we remove obstacles facing young men and women keen to build their careers.

The world has become technology dependent. Young men and women and their parents need to realise this and break away from the traditional thinking of ‘office clerk versus factory worker’. The reality is that the choice is whether you start young and earn while you learn and continue to enjoy financial stability or spend three or four years of your youth pursuing an irrelevant course of study only to join a long queue of job seekers. The youth, when faced with financial difficulties, may undergo this psychological transformation more rapidly than parents who are trapped in age-old social beliefs and notions. This is not about a ‘psychological revolution’ but more an evolutionary process of gradually changing the mindset of the general public and as such, invariably demands social marketing by the government, the media, including social media and above all, political parties. It is said that “most politicians know the right thing to do but they don’t know how to get re-elected after doing the right thing”.

The politicians need to be convinced that the right thing to do today is to stand with the school leavers, promote vocational training and allocate more funds for facilities ranging from more school workshops to increased financial support for vocational trainees and employers of trainees. If they can be shown that for every one undergraduate there are 10 plus school leavers, they might see the potential ‘vote bank’ which will answer every politicians’ proverbial question, “What’s in it for me?”. Having said that, one must not lose hope as the President has reiterated in his Independence Day speech:”Our objective is to do what is right by the country and not to please everyone.”

Since 1990 we have gradually built the legal and administrative framework and the infrastructure to support vocational education and training. Most certainly, like any other process it needs continuous improvement but more importantly, what is lacking is a commitment to implement policies falling under the umbrella of vocational education. This needs urgent action and cannot wait for action by politicians. Other non-political stakeholders like administrators and intellectuals need to take the initiative and lobby for funding to improve much-needed resources to transform the lives of our young men and women who are desperately in need of guidance and support before they leave school. A thorough understanding of the Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF) before leaving school will help students to make informed decisions regarding their future. The vast majority of A/L students take up Arts subjects because they have no other choice due to the lack of facilities in their schools. Providing basic workshop facilities in schools is a good start. It’s not just about learning to use basic engineering tools but about changing the mentality towards working with your hands. This is one area where funding priorities have to be reconsidered. Providing workshop facilities to rural schools and technology teacher training are costly. Experience has shown that retaining such teachers is a greater challenge as they have better prospects in the industry. A skill-based pay system in the education sector is out of the question, as even a hint of a proposal will incur the wrath of the unions.

Information is key to decision-making. Career fairs are becoming more and more popular, as a form of information dissemination, as young people are attracted to such events. If organised at the regional level teachers can ensure that secondary school students attend these fairs and gain knowledge to make informed choices. One other important area of focus can be career advice for students starting from O/L. Career guidance counsellors play a significant role in the school curriculum in the developed world. Customarily, counsellors are teachers with specialised training in career guidance. However, volunteers are quite common as well. They can empower students and parents with knowledge, allowing them to explore different career options and pathways together. Unlike most parents who are driven by preconceived career paths for their children, the counsellors can give unbiased pragmatic advice as they have no emotional attachment to the student. Only a handful of our schools are fortunate enough to have this facility but this is something, if implemented, that will go a long way in reshaping the attitudes of students and parents. Social attitudes of people cannot be changed by enacting laws but will go through a gradual transformation when consistently confronted with positive outcomes. Yet one must not leave it to run its course. A concerted effort by the government and the state apparatus is needed to alter the attitudes of our society towards skilled labour. Having said that, one must acknowledge the fact that respective governments have, to some extent, taken numerous initiatives to implement such projects but they have tragically encountered the same fate as most projects in our country; Endless delays and poor management.

On the whole, Sri Lanka has got the infrastructure, legal and administrative framework and enough government organisations to implement and monitor vocational education and training policies but funding priorities and efficient project management are the two critical areas that desperately need improvement.

(The writer thanks Dr. Julian Nanayakkara, former Senior Lecturer,
University of Moratuwa and University of Kelaniya and resource person for the Ministry of Education, for providing information and encouraging him to write to highlight the plight of school leavers who continue to fall through the cracks in our education system.)

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Midweek Review

At the edge of a world war

Published

7 days ago

2026/03/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

In September 1939, as Europe descended once more into catastrophe, E. H. Carr published The Twenty Years’ Crisis. Twenty years had separated the two great wars—twenty years to reflect, to reconstruct, to restrain. Yet reflection proved fragile. Carr wrote with unsentimental clarity: once the enemy is crushed, the “thereafter” rarely arrives. The illusion that power can come first and morality will follow is as dangerous as the belief that morality alone can command power. Between those illusions, nations lose themselves.

His warning hovers over the present war in Iran.

The “thereafter” has long haunted American interventions—after Afghanistan, after Iraq, after Libya. The enemy can be dismantled with precision; the aftermath resists precision. Iran is not a small theater. It is a civilization-state with a geography three times larger than Iraq. At its southern edge lies the Strait of Hormuz, narrow in width yet immense in consequence. Geography does not argue; it compels.

Long before Carr, in the quiet anxiety of the eighteenth century, James Madison, principal architect of the Constitution, warned that war was the “true nurse of executive aggrandizement.” War concentrates authority in the name of urgency. Madison insisted that the power to declare war must rest with Congress, not the president—so that deliberation might restrain impulse. Republics persuade themselves that emergency powers are temporary. History rarely agrees.

Then, at 2:30 a.m., the abstraction becomes decision.

Donald Trump declares war on Iran. The announcement crosses continents before markets open in Asia. Within twenty-four hours, Ali Khamenei, who ruled for thirty-seven years, is killed. The President calls him one of history’s most evil figures and presents his death as an opening for the Iranian people.

In exile, Reza Pahlavi hails the moment as liberation. In less than forty-eight hours, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps collapses under overwhelming air power. A regime that endured decades falls swiftly. Military efficiency appears absolute. Yet efficiency does not resolve legitimacy.

The joint strike with Israel is framed as necessary and pre-emptive. Retaliation follows across the Gulf. The architecture of energy trade becomes fragile. Shipping routes are recalculated. Markets respond before diplomacy finds its language.

It is measured in the price of petrol in Colombo. In the bus fare in Karachi. In the rising cost of cooking gas in Dhaka. It is heard in the anxious voice of a migrant worker in Doha calling home to Kandy, asking whether contracts will be renewed, whether flights will continue, whether wages will be delayed. It is calculated in foreign reserves already strained, in currencies that tremble at rumor, in budgets forced to choose between subsidy and solvency.

Zaara was the breadwinner of her house in Sri Lanka. Her husband had been unemployed for years. At last, he secured an opportunity to travel to Israel as a foreign worker—like many Sri Lankans who depend on employment in the Middle East. It was to be their turning point: a small house repaired, debts reduced, dignity restored.

Now she lowers her eyes when she speaks. For Zaara, geopolitics is not theory. It is fear measured in distance—between a construction site abroad and a village waiting at home.

The war in Iran has shattered calculations that once felt practical. Nations like Sri Lanka now require strategic foresight to navigate unfolding realities. Reactive responses—whether to natural disasters or external shocks like this conflict—can cripple economies far faster than gradual pressures. Disruptions to energy imports, migrant remittances, and foreign reserves show how distant wars ripple into daily lives.

War among great powers is debated in think tanks. Its consequences are lived in markets—and in quiet kitchens where uncertainty sits heavier than hunger.

The conflict does not unfold in isolation. It enters the strategic calculus of China and Russia, both attentive to precedent. Power projected beyond the Western hemisphere reshapes perceptions in the Eastern theater. Iran’s transformation intersects directly with broader alignments. In 2021, Beijing and Tehran signed a twenty-five-year strategic agreement. By 2025, China was purchasing the majority of Iran’s exported oil at discounted rates. Energy underwrote strategy. That continuity has been disrupted. Yet strategic relationships do not vanish; they adjust.

In Winds of Change, my new book, I reproduce Nicholas Spykman’s 1944 two-theater confrontation map—Europe and the Pacific during the Second World War. Spykman distinguished maritime power from amphibian projection. Control of the Rimland determined balance. Then, the United States fought across two vast theaters. Today, Europe remains unsettled through Ukraine, the Pacific simmers over Taiwan and the South China Sea, Latin America remains sensitive, and the Middle East has been abruptly transformed. The architecture of multi-theater tension reappears.

At this juncture, the reflections of Marwan Bishara acquire weight. America’s ultimate power, he argues, resides in deterrence, not in the habitual use of force. Power, especially when shared, stabilizes. Force, when used with disregard for international law, breeds instability and humiliation. Arrogance creates enemies and narrows judgment. It is no surprise that many Americans themselves believe the United States should not act alone.

America’s strength does not rest solely in its military reach. Its economy constitutes roughly one-third of global output and generates close to 40 percent of the world’s research and development. Structural power—economic, technological, institutional—has historically underwritten deterrence. When force becomes the primary instrument, influence risks becoming coercion.

The United States now confronts simultaneous pressures across continents. The Second World War demonstrated the capacity to sustain multi-theater engagement; the post-9/11 wars revealed the exhaustion that follows prolonged intervention. Iran, larger and geopolitically deeper, presents a scale that cannot be resolved by air power alone.

Carr’s “thereafter” waits patiently. Military victory may be swift; political reconstruction is slow. Bishara reminds us that deterrence sustains stability, while force risks unraveling it.

At the edge of a potential world war, the decisive question is not who strikes first, but who restrains longest.

History watches. And in places far from the battlefield, mothers wait for phone calls that may not come.

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera is a Senior Research Fellow at the Millennium Project, Washington, D.C., and the author of Winds of Change: Geopolitics at the Crossroads of South and Southeast Asia, published by World Scientific

Midweek Review

Live Coals Burst Aflame

Published

7 days ago

2026/03/4

Sahan Weerasooriya

Live coals of decades-long hate,

Are bursting into all-consuming flames,

In lands where ‘Black Gold’ is abundant,

And it’s a matter to be thought about,

If humans anywhere would be safe now,

Unless these enmities dying hard,

With roots in imperialist exploits,

And identity-based, tribal violence,

Are set aside and laid finally to rest,

By an enthronement of the principle,

Of the Equal Dignity of Humans.

By Lynn Ockersz

Midweek Review

Saga of the arrest of retired intelligence chief

Published

1 week ago

2026/03/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay’s recent arrest attracted internatiattention. His long-expected arrest took place ahead of the seventh anniversary of the bombings. Multiple blasts claimed the lives of nearly 280 people, including 45 foreigners. State-owned international news television network, based in Paris, France 24, declared that arrest was made on the basis of information provided by a whistleblower. The French channel was referring to Hanzeer Azad Moulana, who earlier sought political asylum in the West and one-time close associate of State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pilleyan. May be the fiction he wove against Pilleyan and others may have been to strengthen his asylum claim there. Moulana is on record as having told the British Channel 4 that Sallay allowed the attack to proceed with the intention of influencing the 2019 presidential election. The French news agency quoted an investigating officer as having said: “He was arrested for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday attacks. He has been in touch with people involved in the attacks, even recently.”

****

Suresh Sallay of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) received the wrath of Yahapalana Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in 2016, over the reportage of what the media called the Chavakachcheri explosives detection made on March 30, 2016. Premier Wickremesinghe found fault with Sallay for the coverage, particularly in The Island. Police arrested ex-LTTE child combatant Edward Julian, alias Ramesh, after the detection of one suicide jacket, four claymore mines, three parcels containing about 12 kilos of explosives, to battery packs and several rounds of 9mm ammunition, from his house, situated at Vallakulam Pillaiyar Kovil Street. Chavakachcheri police made the detection, thanks to information provided by the second wife of Ramesh. Investigations revealed that the deadly cache had been brought by Ramesh from Mannar (Detection of LTTE suicide jacket, mines jolts government: Fleeing Tiger apprehended at checkpoint, The Island, March 31, 2016).

The then Jaffna Security Forces Commander, Maj. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake, told the writer that a thorough inquiry was required to ascertain the apprehended LTTE cadre’s intention. The Chavakachcheri detection received the DMI’s attention. The country’s premier intelligence organisation meticulously dealt with the issue against the backdrop of an alleged aborted bid to revive the LTTE in April 2014. Of those who had been involved in the fresh terror project, three were killed in the Nedunkerny jungles. There hadn’t been any other incidents since the Nedunkerny skirmish, until the Chavakachcheri detection.

Piqued by the media coverage of the Chavakachcheri detection, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration tried to silence the genuine Opposition. As the SLFP had, contrary to the expectations of those who voted for the party at the August 2015 parliamentary elections, formed a treacherous coalition with the UNP, the Joint Opposition (JO) spearheaded the parliamentary opposition.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) questioned former External Affairs Minister and top JO spokesman, Prof. G.L. Peiris, over a statement made by him regarding the Chavakachcheri detection. The former law professor questioned the legality of the CID’s move against the backdrop of police declining to furnish him a certified copy of the then acting IGP S.M. Wickremesinghe’s directive that he be summoned to record a statement as regards the Chavakachcheri lethal detection.

One-time LTTE propagandist Velayutham Dayanidhi, a.k.a. Daya Master, raised with President Maithripala Sirisena the spate of arrests made by law enforcement authorities, in the wake of the Chavakachcheri detection. Daya Master took advantage of a meeting called by Sirisena, on 28 April, 2016, at the President’s House, with the proprietors of media organisations and journalists, to raise the issue. The writer having been among the journalists present on that occasion, inquired from the ex-LETTer whom he represented there. Daya Master had been there on behalf of DAN TV, Tamil language satellite TV, based in Jaffna. Among those who had been detained was Subramaniam Sivakaran, at that time Youth Wing leader of the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), the main constituent of the now defunct Tamil National Alliance. In addition to Sivakaran, the police apprehended several hardcore ex-LTTE cadres (LTTE revival bid confirmed: TNA youth leader arrested, The Island April 20, 2016).

Ranil hits out at media

Subsequent inquiries revealed the role played by Sivakaran in some of those wanted in connection with the Chavakachcheri detection taking refuge in India. When the writer sought an explanation from the then TNA lawmaker, M.A. Sumanthiran, regarding Sivakaran’s arrest, the lawyer disowned the Youth Wing leader. Sumanthiran emphasised that the party suspended Sivakumaran and Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Sasitharan for publicly condemning the TNA’s decision to endorse Maithripala Sirisena’s candidature at the 2015 presidential election (Chava explosives: Key suspects flee to India, The Island, May 2, 2016).

Premier Wickremesinghe went ballistic on May 30, 2016. Addressing the 20th anniversary event of the Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, at the Sports Ministry auditorium, the UNP leader castigated the DMI. Alleging that the DMI had been pursuing an agenda meant to undermine the Yahapalana administration, Wickremesinghe, in order to make his bogus claim look genuine, repeatedly named the writer as part of that plot. Only Wickremesinghe knows the identity of the idiot who influenced him to make such unsubstantiated allegations. The top UNPer went on to allege that The Island, and its sister paper Divaina, were working overtime to bring back Dutugemunu, a reference to war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa. A few days later, sleuths from the Colombo Crime Detection Bureau (CCD) visited The Island editorial to question the writer where lengthy statements were recorded. The police were acting on the instructions of the then Premier, who earlier publicly threatened to send police to question the writer.

In response to police queries about Sallay passing information to the media regarding the Chavakachcheri detection and subsequent related articles, the writer pointed out that the reportage was based on response of the then ASP Ruwan Gunasekera, AAL and Sumanthiran, as had been reported.

Wickremesinghe alleged, at the Muslim media event, that a section of the media manipulated coverage of certain incidents, ahead of the May Day celebrations.

In early May 2016 Wickremesinghe disclosed that he received assurances from the police, and the DMI, that as the LTTE had been wiped out the group couldn’t stage a comeback. The declaration was made at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRIS) on 3 May 2016. Wickremesinghe said that he sought clarifications from the police and the DMI in the wake of the reportage of the Chavakachcheri detection and related developments (PM: LTTE threat no longer exists, The Island, May 5, 2016).

The LTTE couldn’t stage a comeback as a result of measures taken by the then government. It would be a grave mistake, on our part, to believe that the eradication of the LTTE’s conventional military capacity automatically influenced them to give up arms. The successful rehabilitation project, that had been undertaken by the Rajapaksa government and continued by successive governments, ensured that those who once took up arms weren’t interested in returning to the same deadly path.

In spite of the TNA and others shedding crocodile tears for the defeated Tigers, while making a desperate effort to mobilise public opinion against the government, the public never wanted the violence to return. Some interested parties propagated the lie that regardless of the crushing defeat suffered in the hands of the military, the LTTE could resume guerilla-type operations, paving the way for a new conflict. But by the end of 2014, and in the run-up to the presidential election in January following year, the situation seemed under control, especially with Western countries not wanting to upset things here with a pliant administration in the immediate horizon. Soon after the presidential election, the government targeted the armed forces. Remember Sumanthiran’s declaration that the ITAK Youth Wing leader Sivakaran had been opposed to the TNA backing Sirisena at the presidential poll.

The US-led accountability resolution had been co-sponsored by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo to appease the TNA and Tamil Diaspora. The Oct. 01, 2016, resolution delivered a knockout blow to the war-winning armed forces. The UNP pursued an agenda severely inimical to national interests. It would be pertinent to mention that those who now represent the main Opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), were part of the treacherous UNP.

Suresh moved to Malaysia

The Yahapalana leadership resented Sallay’s work. They wanted him out of the country at a time a new threat was emerging. The government attacked the then Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, who warned of the emerging threat from foreign-manipulated local Islamic fanatics on 11 Nov. 2016, in Parliament. Rajapakshe didn’t mince his words when he underscored the threat posed by some Sri Lanka Muslim families taking refuge in Syria where ISIS was running the show. The then government, of which he was part o,f ridiculed their own Justice Minister. Both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe feared action against extremism may cause erosion of Muslim support. By then Sallay, who had been investigating the deadly plot, was out of the country. The Yahapalana government believed that the best way to deal with Sallay was to grant him a diplomatic posting. Sally ended up in Malaysia, a country where the DMI played a significant role in the repatriation of Kumaran Pathmanathan, alias KP, after his arrest there.

Having served the military for over three cadres, Sallay retired in 2024 in the rank of Major General. Against the backdrop of his recent arrest, in connection with the ongoing investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage, The Island felt the need to examine the circumstances Sallay ended up in Malaysia at the time. Now, remanded in terms of the Prevention of terrorism Act (PTA), he is being accused of directing the Easter Sunday operation from Malaysia.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader and former Minister Udaya Gammanpila has alleged that Sallay was apprehended in a bid to divert attention away from the deepening coal scam. Having campaigned on an anti-corruption platformm in the run up to the previous presidential election, in September 2024, the Parliament election, in November of the same year, and local government polls last year, the incumbent dispensation is struggling to cope up with massive corruption issues, particularly the coal scam, which has not only implicated the Energy Minister but the entire Cabinet of Ministers as well.

The crux of the matter is whether Sallay actually met would-be suicide bombers, in February 2018, in an estate, in the Puttalam district, as alleged by the UK’s Channel 4 television, like the BBC is, quite famous for doing hatchet jobs for the West. This is the primary issue at hand. Did Sallay clandestinely leave Malaysia to meet suicide bombers in the presence of Hanzeer Azad Moulana, one-time close associate of State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, aka Pilleyan, former LTTE member?

The British channel raised this issue with Sallay, in 2023, at the time he served as Director, State Intelligence (SIS). Sallay is on record as having told Channel 4 Television that he was not in Sri Lanka the whole of 2018 as he was in Malaysia serving in the Sri Lankan Embassy there as Minister Counsellor.

Therefore, the accusation that he met several members of the National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ), including Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran, in Karadipuval, Puttalam, in Feb. 2018, was baseless, he has said.

The intelligence officer has asked the British television station to verify his claim with the Malaysian authorities.

Responding to another query, Sallay had told Channel 4 that on April 21, 2019, the day of the Easter Sunday blasts, he was in India, where he was accommodated at the National Defence College (NDC). That could be verified with the Indian authorities, Sallay has said, strongly denying Channel 4’s claim that he contacted one of Pilleyan’s cadres, over, the phone and directed him to pick a person outside Hotel Taj Samudra.

According to Sallay, during his entire assignment in Malaysia, from Dec. 2016 to Dec. 2018, he had been to Colombo only once, for one week, in Dec. 2017, to assist in an official inquiry.

Having returned to Colombo, Sallay had left for NDC, in late Dec. 2018, and returned only after the conclusion of the course, in November 2019.

Sallay has said so in response to questions posed by Ben de Pear, founder, Basement Films, tasked with producing a film for Channel 4 on the Easter Sunday bombings.

The producer has offered Sallay an opportunity to address the issues in terms of Broadcasting Code while inquiring into fresh evidence regarding the officer’s alleged involvement in the Easter Sunday conspiracy.

The producer sought Sallay’s response, in August 2023, in the wake of political upheaval following the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, elected at the November 2019 presidential election.

At the time, the Yahapalana government granted a diplomatic appointment to Sallay, he had been head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI). After the 2019 presidential election, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa named him the Head of SIS.

The Basement Films has posed several questions to Sallay on the basis of accusations made by Hanzeer Azad Moulana.

In response to the film producer’s query regarding Sallay’s alleged secret meeting with six NTJ cadres who blasted themselves a year later, Sallay has questioned the very basis of the so called new evidence as he was not even in the country during the period the clandestine meeting is alleged to have taken place.

Contradictory stands

Following Sajith Premadasa’s anticipated defeat at the 2019 presidential election, Harin Fernando accused the Catholic Church of facilitating Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory. Fernando, who is also on record as having disclosed that his father knew of the impending Easter Sunday attacks, pointed finger at the Archbishop of Colombo, Rt. Rev Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, for ensuring Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory.

Former President Maithripala Sirisena, as well as JVP frontliner Dr. Nalinda Jayathissa, accused India of masterminding the Easter Sunday bombings. Then there were claims of Sara Jasmin, wife of Katuwapitiya suicide bomber Mohammed Hastun, being an Indian agent who was secretly removed after the Army assaulted extremists’ hideout at Sainthamaruthu in the East. What really had happened to Sara Jasmin who, some believe, is key to the Easter Sunday puzzle.

Then there was huge controversy over the arrest of Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullah over his alleged links with the Easter Sunday bombers. Hizbullah, who had been arrested in April 2020, served as lawyer to the extremely wealthy spice trader Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim’s family that had been deeply involved in the Easter Sunday plot. Mohamed Yusuf Ibrahim had been on the JVP’s National List at the 2015 parliamentary elections. The lawyer received bail after two years. Two of the spice trader’s sons launched suicide attacks, whereas his daughter-in-law triggered a suicide blast when police raided their Dematagoda mansion, several hours after the Easter Sunday blasts.

Investigations also revealed that the suicide vests had been assembled at a factory owned by the family and the project was funded by them. It would be pertinent to mention that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government never really bothered to conduct a comprehensive investigation to identify the Easter Sunday terror project. Perhaps, their biggest failure had been to act on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) recommendations. Instead, President Rajapaksa appointed a six-member committee, headed by his elder brother, Chamal Rajapaksa, to examine the recommendations, probably in a foolish attempt to improve estranged relations with the influential Muslim community. That move caused irreparable damage and influenced the Church to initiate a campaign against the government. The Catholic Church played quite a significant role in the India- and US-backed 2022 Aragalaya that forced President Rajapaksa to flee the country.

Interested parties exploited the deterioration of the national economy, leading to unprecedented declaration of the bankruptcy of the country in April 2022, to mobilie public anger that was used to achieve political change.