Features
How did we become a lawless State?
Talk given by Rajan Hoole at the release of the book, Democracy Stillborn, at Trimmer Hall, Jaffna, on 11 Nov., 2022. The fellow speakers were Devanesan Nesiah, Ahilan Kadirgamar, Swasthika Arulingam and Kirupaimalar Hoole. The meeting was chaired by Mahendran Thiruvarangan
First, a message from K. Sritharan, who was with Rajani Thiranagama and Rajan Hoole in the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna).
“The rule of law is in decline and has provoked much discussion, even in developed countries, where it has been the norm for over a hundred years. The West, which continually championed democracy and the rule of law itself, is facing a major crisis as populist right-wing politics make inroads into the mainstream. In the US, the legitimacy of institutions, which are crucial for accountability and the rule of law, are questioned, and conspiracy theories of utter distrust of authority become the fare among the masses. This crisis can lead to many upheavals. We may eventually overcome and stabilize with more meaningful and broadened democratic formations. But the path towards that may not be smooth and the trend shows the moral high ground is ill-defined.
But, as an island nation, we have gone through major crisis after crisis and in the process have ruined and bankrupted our country. Many youths are now looking for the root causes for this plight. Our modern history is one of cohabitation with dominant colonial powers. During the British period, a cause of major social transformation was the colonial state formation. The vested interest of the British Colonial project, brought in institutional mechanisms and nurtured a political class to manage them. The question is how the ruling elite of Ceylon used those institutions. In the balance, was it to enhance the interest of the people, or in pursuit of their short-term interests? Did their hold on power unleash forces which, of their own nature, created a series of fault lines by a perversion of nation building? In addressing these, we need to charter a new path. Of course, this cannot be done in isolation but it is necessary to identify the internal developments, and form broad solidarities that would get us out of this impasse.” End of message.
About Social Democracy
Arunachalam, was the first civil servant who radically stood for social democracy. He wanted the British officers, responsible for excesses during the Sinhalese-Muslim riots of 1915, punished, according to the law. In 1920, the British authorities, supported by Sinhalese nationalists, undermined the man hitherto deemed indispensable, and put him out to grass. Provoked by the economic collapse of 201, the Aragalaya protesters realised the state of acute lawlessness and got rid of the President and Prime Minister. We have Mahinda Rajapaksa finally admitting his mistakes, all implicitly permitted under the Constitution, and pleaded for another chance. Mahinda Rajapaksa comes in a line of leaders charged with murder, not only of journalists but also of war crimes and robbery. There were, of course, two parties to the war. But the Government’s intransigence made it intractable.
The law was simple, but we have muddled and obscured it. Had we followed it, we could have avoided this present impasse. Article 29 of the Constitution of 1948 had the provision, not to ‘Make persons of any community, or religion, liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities or religions are not made liable …’ Quite simply it means treat everyone equally. The Government, being in a minority after the 1947 elections, used threat and bribery to disqualify Plantation Tamils from citizenship. What we may forget today is the Sinhalese opposition, left and liberal, for example H. Sri Nissanka, were united and firm in standing by the Plantation Tamils.
Britain’s gift to the Sinhalese leaders of cancelling the 1941 elections, gave them an eight-year free ride of power without an electoral mandate from 1940, during which time they were allowed to colour the future constitution. It led to indifference and apathy among opponents of the Citizenship Bill. Neither the Government nor the Supreme Court offered a cogent reason for the disenfranchisement of estate workers. The Supreme Court held that since Article 29 had no reference to race, taking away the franchise of a community was not a violation of Article 29, it was administrative. The Government was nervous when the Plantation Tamils appealed to the Privy Council.
The Privy Council first retreated because Parliament by defining citizenship indirectly by ancestry, had evaded the principle of equality in 29 (2). It however passed the Bill misquoting the Soulbury report which actually made clear that over 80 percent of Plantation Tamils were in 1941 either born in Ceylon or had resided over 10 years.
Lanka is a beneficiary of common laws, the Roman-Dutch and English. Good common law whatever its origins is transposable. Lanka learnt nothing from them. Answering the challenge to the Citizenship Act in 1951, Chief Justice Edward Jayatileke rejected equality and ruled that whatever Parliament passes has to be obeyed. However, Chief Justice Abrahams replying to DSG Wijewardene asserting Parliament’s supremacy in 1937 said, that a new law must accord with those that preceded it ‘so that there be no repugnance but a concordancy in all the parts thereof.’
Bills against the Plantation Tamils
We had Roman-Dutch law and English common law, both of which with different emphases, stood for common right. Both sets of law rejected the Citizenship and Franchise Acts from several angles. Having accepted the Donoughmore Bill in 1929 which promised the vote to everyone, we had 19 wasted years, no industrialisation, but demolish the voting rights of the Plantation Tamils. Nihal Jayawickrema gave a potent reason for treating the term community in the citizenship acts with respect: ‘Parliament must not discriminate against a particular community already resident in the country.’
We had in 1937 Chief Justice Abrahams upholding Habeas Corpus, no detention without the order of a judge, and freed Bracegirdle from deportation. The reversal, to detain without warrant, was legislated in the 1947 Public Security Ordinance, the last Bill passed under colonial rule. These were signposts on our march to independence and beyond.
Emergency permitted murder in ‘good faith.’ Although a British precedent was claimed for the Bill, in Britain actions under emergency became judicable once the emergency was lifted. The real fear in Ceylon was strike action by the combined unions over the Citizenship Bill of 1948. However, strike action was deterred by the ‘smash up’ of the 1947 general strike.
Ceylon Constitution and the
Citizenship Bill
Britain co-drafted a very fragile constitution to gain the Sinhalese leaders’ support during the Second World War. They cancelled State Council elections due in early 1941, jailed the Left and as pointed out, allowed Senanayake to rule eight years without a mandate prior to independence and determine the colour of the Judiciary. During this period. Left leaders N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, then vocal advocates of the Indian Tamil equality, were cast into prison. Just before, the State Council in 1941 passed the Registration Bill, the precursor of the Citizenship Act of 1948. All Sinhalese, barring the imprisoned Left, voted for the Registration Bill. It required all qualifying as Ceylonese to have domicile of origin – produce father’s birth certificate – it was impossible for many in Ceylon, be it Sinhalese or Tamil, but Plantation Tamils were singled out for exclusion!
Carrot and stick on minorities to betray a fellow minority
The Muslims and Tamils were goaded to support the Citizenship Bill. Most of the Tamil elite, including prominent Youth Congress veterans, wanted the Tamils to support Senanayake. Out of 13 Ceylon Tamil MPs, a minuscule group of two opposed the Bill, S. Chelvanayakam and K.V. Nadarajah. Ponnambalam, however, voted against to avoid a split in the Congress, the remaining five MPs were absent on his instruction. The two Senators E. Naganathan and S. Nadesan, too, opposed the Bill, tooth and nail. For the Tamil minority it was suicide. Had it shown greater conviction the Muslims and the six government appointed members need not have supported the Citizenship Bill.
What we are left with is the Pollution of Administration of Justice by ignoring the principle of legality. The principle states that when we legislate to the hurt of a minority, it should be stated in clear unambiguous terms, acknowledging the political cost. This was never done in Lanka, although the cost was heavy. The new politics was exemplified in arm-twisting T.B. Jayah, champion of the underdog, to join the Government. But is that a way to build up a united nation?
In the 1950s any bill passed by a simple majority and signed by the Speaker was accepted as law, ignoring the two-thirds majority requirement for bills that violated the Constitution. Thus, Sinhala Only became law with 66 voting for and 29 against, short of a two-thirds majority. No one challenged it in court until Ranasinghe in the early 1960s, over something unconnected, the Bribery Tribunals Act. The Privy Council ruled that the Act required a two-thirds majority the Government did not show, and ruled in favour of Ranasinghe.
Giving judgment on 5th May 1964 for Ranasinghe’s case, nine days after de Kretser’s ruling Sinhala Only unconstitutional in the Colombo District Court as violating Article 29 (2), Lord Pearce reaffirmed the long ignored ‘fundamental conditions,’ or equality, stressing Article 29. By this time the SLFP-Left coalition and the UNP wanted the Privy Council and the Soulbury Constitution out. The mutual embarrassment had become heavy. This was accomplished in the new 1972 constitution, ridding our final toehold on the rule of law.
By the time Lord Pearce ruled for a correction in 1964, the Left and the Sinhalese right had rejected reform. The tested and potent Magna Carta right of detention only on the sufferance of a Judge was gone in 1947 and reaffirmed in the 1972 ‘progressive’ constitution. The erosion of law made communal violence, the worst manifestation of barbarity, to savage and kill an innocent person on the basis of race, acceptable. The State failed to punish and the Sinhalese were apologetic in a half-hearted way – Sinhalese they said protected Tamils.
An uneasy calm prevailed until 1977. The Muslims regarded themselves fairly safe while Jayewardene opened all stops of the 1972 Constitution. As for the criminal intent of our laws, Dr. Rajasundaram, like many Tamils, approved of the militancy only for a defensive purpose, against state-initiated attacks on civilians. The Sansoni Commission report gives several examples of such in 1977. Having committed himself to rehabilitate Tamil refugees, Rajasundaram had to face the violence of the State. What he did was far from terrorism.
He was detained under the PTA on the gossipy charge of trying to make peace between Maheswaran and Santhathiyar. When the tortured victim was produced in court, Judge Bandaranayake, instead of discharging him, announced an indefinite postponement of the hearing. Six days later he was killed in the infamous Welikade Prison massacre on 25th July 1983. While proof will never be found, it is quite certain that the massacre was organised by the Kelaniya mafia, still a major force in government, the seed planted by the PSO. This was about the time the Government viciously accused the JVP of responsibility for July 1983 and forced it underground, just when it democratically contested the Government’s foul play over the 1982 referendum. The damage was far worse than recent scams that provoked protests.
The Tamils professing to fight for liberation were also infected with the vulgar legalism inherited from the State – its constant demand for proof over complaints about missing persons. In Jaffna, the university students spontaneously went on strike in 1986 charging the LTTE with the disappearance of student Vijitharan. The LTTE leader Kittu came to discuss matters in the University of Jaffna common room. When confronted with the allegation, he responded, “Where is the proof?”
The Government tried tactical evasion by introducing a Bureau of Rehabilitation law that was disallowed by the Supreme Court on 20th October 2022. The state of our laws flows directly from the Citizenship Act. No Government has tried to put us right. All worked in the same culture to our detriment. The Language issue is but a by-product of the Citizenship Act.
Ragging at Sabaragamuwa university has resulted in the loss of another student’s life and there is another incident of barbaric attack on an anti-rag student of J’pura university by some students from the same university. Whether the bullies are backed by political parties or not, they show their undeveloped and conformist minds that need urgent refinement; if they are connected to political parties and student unions, the latter show only their vulgarity and duplicity when they wax eloquent about modern education, culture, decadent politics, human rights, corruption and all that jazz. That this barbarous practice continues in broad daylight and under the very nose of university and law enforcement authorities is deplorable and puzzling to say the least. It is ironic that the best minds, the superstars in academia, the leading lights in education and the guardians of all that is progressive have become helpless spectators of this bullying happening in their universities. The ignominious records of rag victims in our country are a crying shame as all those perpetrators have been from that somewhat musty and largely conservative ‘cream of intelligence’ as they are called at all inauguration ceremonies where their egos are pampered.
Ragging in our universities is a sure sign of the backwardness of our culture and education, in comparison with that of civilized societies. The brutal practice of ragging shows that education in our country, both in schools and universities, has a lot of room for improvement about making the undergraduate population sensitive and sensible, more than ‘educated’. Of course, we can understand torture if it is something which happens in the underworld or in any place where the new recruits must be brutaliesed before they are admitted to their circles, but how can one understand when it happens in the highest seats of academia? Professor O. A. Ileperuma has, in his article “Ragging and loss of life” published in The Island of 5 May 2025, stated that some academics turn a blind eye to ragging perhaps “because they themselves were raggers in the past and see nothing harmful in such sordid instances of ragging”. This is pathetic and may perhaps prove some of the accusations that have been made ad nauseum about the lack of a wholesome education in our university system, which is said to be obsessed with mass producing ‘employable graduates’.
As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. As far as the ragging culture in our universities is concerned, desperate measures are long overdue. In the highest institutes of learning where knowledge is produced and all the progressive and advanced ideas are supposed to be generated, there has been unfathomable brutality, crudeness and conventionality in the name of an acquired beastliness which they call ‘ragging’ to give it a quasi-academic smell when all it amounts to is lack of refinement which can be linked to numerous reasons.
Most of the culprits are the victims of a system which esteems hierarchy where it is accepted that superiority is synonymous with repressive power and inferiority is another term for meekness and passive acceptance of all commands coming from above. It is a mentality which is based on the warped logic that superiority is absurd if the seniors have no right to snub the juniors. Those who have tasted humiliation in one form or another for long due to reasons inherent in society can grow up to be vengeful. Most of these diehard raggers often show signs of this mentality in the way they behave the minute they have been automatically lifted to their pathetic superiority after one year in the university where they enjoy a mistaken sense of immunity from the law. The widely publicised idea of ‘freedom’ associated with universities and their relative aloofness from the rest of society and the aura they have acquired have made them safe havens for the raggers if the unmitigated brutality in ragging over the long years is any indication. The question is why (oh why?) these learned bullies despise civilised behaviour so much in their enclaves of power merely on the strength of one year’s seniority. If it is their one year’s accumulated knowledge which makes them feel superior to the newcomers in an aggressive way, surely, such knowledge is questionable, which must intrigue educationists, psychologists, sociologists and all academics interested in the role of education in character building.
Raggers have been saying ad nauseam that ragging is given to make the new entrants tough enough for academic work. As we know their methods include using foul language, humiliation, intimidation, physical and psychological abuse, torture, beating and forcing rigorous exercises even leading to death. The resultant trauma has led some to commit suicide. All this is done to help the new students with a proven capacity for hard work in the academic field!
However, there are some pertinent questions to be asked. Is this method of building resilience of potential academics backed by research? Should this ‘programme’ be conducted by senior students (who are apparently mentally unsound)? Aren’t there better qualified people to conduct a civilised programme which would help make the newcomers ready to face the trials of academic life? Do they believe that no refined programme can be as ‘effective’ as their ragging? Why should they spend their valuable time doing it when it can be done by experts in a more organised and civilised manner? Have they ever been cultured enough to discuss this so-called ‘personality development’ programme with the relevant authorities and academics, with any reliable evidence to prove its effectiveness?
As we know, these raggers who are self-appointed ‘experts’ in character building of sorts expect total submission from the juniors they try to brutalise, and those who dare resist this bullying are viciously suppressed. To what extent does this compulsory compliance expected from the new students at the beginning of their academic career help them to be better undergrads?
How much more brutality in ragging is to be endured by the new university entrants for “desperate measures” to be called for?
by Susantha Hewa
One of the most important dates in World War II, is May 9, 1945, when the Soviet red flag with the hammer and sickle emblem was raised over the Reichstag building, the German parliament. This confirmed Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Soviet Union. Since then, 80 years have passed upto May 9, 2025. It is very timely to look back on the past 80 years of history, and to briefly discuss some of the current issues and the future.
Beginning and End of the 2nd World War
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany attacked Poland. Within a year of the war, the world’s imperialist powers had divided into two camps. Germany was on one side, targeting Europe, Italy Africa, and Japan Asia, while Great Britain, the United States, and France were on the other side of the war.
Within a short time from the start of the war, Germany had conquered many countries in Europe, and on June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union joined the anti- Nazi Allies and launched the “Great Patriotic War” to defend the world’s first socialist state, and progressive forces around the world acted in a way that supported the Soviet Union.
Three major battles known as the Battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, and Kursk turned the tide of World War II, shattering Hitler’s dream of capturing Moscow in a few months (4 months) through Operation “Barbarossa” and celebrating the victory from Red Square. By the beginning of 1945, the entire Soviet Union had been liberated from Nazi Germany, and by March 1945, the Soviet Red Army had surrounded Berlin from the east, south, and north, and then surrounded the entire city, surrendering the German forces, ending the European War of World War II on May 9.
World War II was a major war in which 61 countries, representing 89% of the world’s population participated, and the total number of deaths in this war was 50 million, of which 25-30 million were Soviet citizens. The Soviet Red Army, which ended the Great War for the Liberation of Europe on May 9, 1945, entered the Battle of Manchuria three months later on August 9, 1945, and defeated imperialist Japan. By then, the United States had dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (on August 6 and 9). Thus, the Soviet Union played the major role in defeating the fascist military coalition, including Nazi Germany, during World War II.
Post-World War order
Negotiations, to shape the post-war world order, began while World War II was still ongoing. In talks held in Washington in January-February 1942, in Canada in 1943, later in Moscow, and in Tehran, Iran in November-December 1943, the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain, and China agreed to establish an international organisation with the aim of preserving world peace. Later, the Soviet, American and British leaders who met in Yalta in Crimea agreed on the structure of the United Nations, the Security Council, and the veto power, and the United Nations Charter, signed by 50 countries in San Francisco in 1945, came into force on October 24, 1945.
Rise of Socialist world and collapse of colonialism
With the Soviet victory in World War II, the world underwent unprecedented changes. Although Mongolia was the only socialist state other than the Soviet Union at the start of World War II, after that war, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Albania in Eastern Europe also became socialist countries. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established in 1945, and in 1947 a socialist state was established in East Germany under the name of the German Democratic Republic. The Chinese Revolution triumphed in 1949, and the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959. Thus, the socialist system established in a single country by the October Revolution in 1917 developed into a world system against the backdrop of the unique victory of the Soviet Union in World War II.
Another direct result of the victory in World War II was the collapse of the colonial system. National liberation struggles intensified in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and new independent countries emerged one after another on these continents. In the 25-30 years that followed the end of World War II, the colonial system almost completely collapsed. The United Nations, which began with 50 member states, now has 193 members.
With the end of World War II, working class struggles intensified. Communist parties were formed all over the world. Although the Sri Lankan working people’s movement was in a state of truce during World War II, the war ended in May 1945 and by August it had gone on a general strike. The 8-hour workday, wage boards, holiday systems and monthly salary systems were won through that struggle. The working class movement in this country was able to win many rights, including pension rights, overtime pay, and other rights, through the general strike held in 1946. Although the general strike of 1947 was suppressed, there is no doubt that the British government was shocked by this great struggle. In the elections held in 1947, leftist and progressive groups were elected to parliament in large numbers, and independence with Dominion status was achieved in 1948.
World is in turmoil
Until this era, which is 80 years after the end of World War II, the world has so far managed to prevent another world war. Although there have been no world wars, there have been several major conflicts around the world. The ongoing Middle East conflict over the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, the conflict created by Western powers around Iran, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the recently escalating Indo-Pakistan conflict are among them. The limited military operation launched by Russia to prevent the NATO organization reaching its borders, has transformed into a battle between Russia and the collective West. But the conflict now seems to have entered a certain path of resolution.
Several parties have launched trade wars that are destabilising the world, perhaps even escalating into a state of war. Thousands of trade sanctions have been imposed against Russia, and the US President has declared a trade war by imposing tariffs on dozens of countries around the world.
Meanwhile, the world has not yet been able to provide a satisfactory solution to the problem of global warming, which has threatened the existence of the entire human race.
The Bretton Woods Organizations (International Monetary Fund and World Bank), which were economic operating institutions established after World War II, have not only failed to lead the world’s economic development, but there is a strong allegation that the guidance of those institutions has exacerbated the economic problems of newly independent countries.
At this time of commemoration of the 80th anniversary of World War II, it is our responsibility to resolve the above problems facing the people of the world and to dedicate ourselves to the future of humanity.
Way forward
Accordingly, a futuristic, new economic order is emerging, and a multipolar world has been formed. The most important point to emphasise here is that the world order that was established after World War II, which encompasses various fields, is a system jointly developed by the great powers that won that war, and the reforms that need to be made in accordance with the demands to change this world order to suit the current reality must be identified collectively. No single country can change these world structures.
People are rallying all over the world for issues related to the survival of the entire human race, such as controlling global warming. New programmes that contribute to the economic development of most countries in the world have been or are being developed. The New Silk Road projects, the BRICS organisation, the New Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are such programs/new institutions. A global process has been launched to prevent a nuclear war and maintain world peace.
Many of the above-mentioned issues and problems have arisen through imperialist military and economic planning and operations, and therefore, the contradiction between imperialism and the people has become the main contradiction of this era. Therefore, it must be emphasized on the 80th anniversary of the Second World War that the way forward in the world will be through the people’s struggle against imperialism.
by Dr. G. Weerasinghe
General Secretary, Communist
Party of Sri Lanka
This week’s Cry is put together as the voting goes on for mayors of Municipal Councils. Cass is rather confused about this second tier of government, so she googled and here is what she got: “There are currently 29 municipal councils in Sri Lanka. These councils govern the largest cities and first tier municipalities in the country. The local government system also includes 36 urban councils and 276 Pradeshiya Sabhas.” Not that this has made matters clearer to Cass.
She believes that for a small country of 22 m people, we are too heavily governed from above, with a central government and then all these councils and sabhas below. Consider the number employed in them; most underworked and underworking. Another matter is that if you want a matter seen to, regarding property rates, etc., you are most often sent from this Sabha to that council.
This came about with the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lanka Constitution introduced on November 14, 1987, following the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, which aimed to address the ethnic conflict by granting some autonomy to provincial councils. As Cass believes it was imposed on us by India after the threat expressed by India, instigated by Tamil Nadu, when Prabhakaran in his military childhood, was cornered and almost captured in Vadamarachchi.
India rained parippu on the northern peninsular, demanded no arrests of LTTE; and it was rumoured Indian forces were poised on the southern and south eastern coasts of the subcontinent ready to sail to war to the island below them. PM Rajiv Gandhi came instead; Prez JRJ was constrained to meet, greet and honour him. One rating in a guard of honour which handsome Rajiv inspected, expressed the majority people’s opinion; “We don’t want you here!” After which guards of honour worldwide are kept strictly at a safe distance from the VVIP honoured.
To Cass the most important fact of the election progressing now and its outcome is that she hopes newly elected mayors will insist on the Municipal Councils’ employees doing the work allotted to them: mostly garbage collectors; sprayers against mosquitoes; PHIs inspecting kitchens of eating houses and those in charge of general cleanliness of cities keeping s clean.
Complaints are numerous that roads are dirty, garbage piled up and drains and small waterways clogged so water remains stagnant and thus the rapid spread of most debilitating chikungunya.
May 8 1945 – VE Day
This date marked Victory in Europe. “… after Britain and its allies formally accepted Nazi Germany’s surrender after almost six years of war. At 15.00, the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced World War Two in Europe had come to an end.” Allied Forces marched into Germany from west and South and the Russians entered from the north. Hitler committed suicide and the Nazi so far invincible forces were shattered, battered and splintered. It was Emperor Hirohito who surrendered Japan and himself on August 15, 1945, after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings (Aug 6,9).
Thus, this year is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and Britain brought out its Palace Guards, forces and cheering crowds to celebrate the event, and more to pay homage to veterans still living and extend gratitude to those soldiers, sailors and airmen and women who laid down their lives to save their country. King Charles III was present in a special seating area which had other members of the royal family; politicians and veterans and their families, while some of those who had served in the war rode in open cars to the cheers of the spectators.
The Netherlands and Canada too mounted celebrations. Canada made it a point to pay allegiance to the British Monarch as their head, and Cass feels sure King Charles III reciprocated with acknowledgement. Commented on were video statements Cass heard that this reiteration was for the benefit of Prez Trump with his plans to annex Canada as the 51st State of the US.
Prince of groans and complaints
In the midst of this pageantry and show of British royal family’s unity was Prince Harry cutting a very poor figure of himself, most in an interview given to the BBC after he lost his British Court of Appeal challenge over his security arrangements. “The Duke of Essex, who attended both days of the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice last month, was appealing a ruling dismissing his challenge to the level of police protection he receives in the UK” He was demanding armed security for himself and his family if and when they visit England. This was refused because of his own withdrawal from royal duties, opting not to be a working member of the British Royal Family; and moving to the US to live. Videos Cass watched tore him to pieces on several counts. He said he could not bring his wife and children to Britain. He said he wanted reconciliation but his father would not speak with him. Then the blunder of adding the sentiment that King Charles’ days on earth were numbered. “We don’t know how long he has to live.”
He was very annoyed with a compere of a British late-night show for referring to him as Harry with no Prince or Duke salutation. He and his wife are not allowed to use HRH by King Charles’ orders, but it was said Meghan loves using the title. Here is a straightforward case of wanting and not wanting something, of utter selfishness and gross grasping.
Local news in English
Cass bemoans the fact she is no longer able to watch MTV News First at 6.30 of a morning. MTV late news in English is at 9.00 pm but it was repeated the next morning. Served lots, I am sure. In Cass’ case the TV set is monopolised by the two helpers she has with her. They watch teledramas on various channels all through the late evening almost to midnight. Can she butt in? Never! They need entertainment. So, no local news for her these days until she goes to another TV channel for news in English – few available. She hopes TV One will resume its news relay in English at 6.30 am after the welcome chanting of pirith.
Cassandra wishes everyone and our much-loved country a continuation of the peace of Vesak. Oneness of the people as good persons was demonstrated in the crowds in Kandy recently. Mosques opened their doors wide to let in anyone and everyone come in and sleep. All races supplied food and water. Such unity was not seen before. A propitious sign for the future.
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