Midweek Review

Taking time to reflect on Sri Lanka’s war against terrorism in the wake of Pahalgam massacre

Published

12 months ago

2025/05/7

The recent security alert on a flight from Chennai for a person who had been allegedly involved in the recent massacre in Indian-administered Kashmir seems to have been a sort of psychological warfare. The question that arises is as to why UL 122 hadn’t been subjected to checks there if Indian authorities were aware of the identity of the wanted person.
Authorities there couldn’t have learnt of the presence of the alleged suspect after the plane left the Indian airspace

The recent massacre of 25 Indians and one Nepali at Pahalgam in Kashmir attracted international attention. Amidst the war on Gaza, Israeli air strikes on selected targets in the region, particularly Syria, Russia-Ukraine war, and US-UK air campaign against Houthis, the execution-style killings at Pahalgam, in the Indian-administered Kashmir, caused concerns over possible direct clash between nuclear powers India and Pakistan.

Against the backdrop of India alleging a Pakistani hand in the April 22, 2025, massacre and mounting public pressure to hit back hard at Pakistan, Islamabad’s Defence Minister khawaja Muhammad Asif’s declaration that his country backed/sponsored terrorist groups over the years in line with the US-UK strategy couldn’t have been made at a better time. The Pakistani role in notorious Western intelligence operations is widely known and the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011 in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad, named after Major James Abbott, the first Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara District under British rule in 1853, underscored the murky world of the US/UK-Pakistan relations.

Interestingly, Asif said so during an interview with British TV channel Sky News. Having called their decision to get involved in dirty work on behalf of the West a mistake, the seasoned politician admitted the country suffered due to that decision.

Asif bluntly declared that Pakistan got involved in the terrorism projects in support of the West after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late Dec. 1979 and Al Qaeda attacks on the US in Sept. 2001. But, bin Laden’s high profile killing in Pakistan proved that in spite of Islamabad support to the US efforts against al Qaeda at least an influential section of the Pakistan establishment all along played a double game as the wanted man lived under Pakistan protection.

Perhaps Asif’s declaration meant that Pakistan, over the years, lost control over various groups that it sponsored with the explicit understanding of the West. India pounced on Asif’s statement.

The PTI quoted India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel, as having said: “The whole world has heard the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations in a recent television interview.” The largest news agency in India quoted Patel further: “This open confession surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye. I have nothing further to add.”

Would Patel also care to comment on the US and the UK utilising Pakistan to do their dirty work? Pakistani admission that it supported, trained and funded terrorist organisations should be investigated, taking into consideration Asif’s declaration that those terror projects had been sanctioned by the West. Pakistan’s culpability in such operations cannot be examined without taking into consideration the US and British complicity and status of their role.

The US strategy/objectives in Afghanistan had been similar to their intervention in Ukraine. Western powers wanted to bleed the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and now they intended to do the same to Russia in Ukraine.

Those interested in knowing Pakistan’s role in the US war against the Soviet Union should access ‘Operation Cyclone’ the codename given to costly CIA action in the ’80s.

At the time Pakistan got involved in the CIA project meant to build up anti-Soviet groups in Afghanistan, beginning in the early ’80s, India had been busy destabilising Sri Lanka. India established a vast network of terrorist groups here to achieve what can be safely described as New Delhi’s counter strategic, political and security objectives. New Delhi feared the US-Pakistan-Israeli relations with President JRJ’s government and sought to undermine them by consolidating their presence here.

The late J.N. Dixit, who served here as India’s top envoy during the volatile 1985-1989 period, in his memoirs ‘Makers of India’s Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha,’ faulted Premier Gandhi on two key foreign policy decisions. The following is the relevant section verbatim: “…her ambiguous response to the Russian intrusion into Afghanistan and her giving active support to Sri Lankan Tamil militants. Whatever the criticism about these decisions, it cannot be denied that she took them on the basis of her assessments about India’s national interests. Her logic was that she couldn’t openly alienate the former Soviet Union when India was so dependent on that country for defence supplies and related technology transfers. Similarly, she could not afford the emergence of Tamil separatism in Tamil Nadu by refusing to support the aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils.”

Dixit, in short, has acknowledged India’s culpability in terrorism in Sri Lanka. Dixit served as Foreign Secretary (1991-1994) and National Security Advisor (May 2004-January 2005). At the time of his death he was 68. The ugly truth is whatever the reasons and circumstances leading to Indira Gandhi giving the go ahead to the establishment to destabilise Sri Lanka, no less a person than Dixit, who had served as Foreign Secretary, admitted that India, like Pakistan, supported, trained and funded terrorist groups.

In fact, Asif’s admission must have embarrassed both the US, the UK, as well as India that now thrived on its high profile relationship with the US. India owed Sri Lanka an explanation and an apology for what it did to Sri Lanka that led to death and destruction. New Delhi had been so deeply entrenched here in late 1989/early 1990 that President Premadasa pushed for total withdrawal of the Indian Army deployed here (July 1987- March 1990) under Indo-Lanka peace accord that was forced on President JRJ. However, prior to their departure, New Delhi hastily formed the Tamil National Army (TNA) in a bid to protect Varatharaja Perumal’s puppet administration.

A lesson from India

Sri Lankan armed forces paid a very heavy price to bring the Eelam war to an end in May 2009. The Indian-trained LTTE, having gained valuable battlefield experience at the expense of the Indian Army in the Northern and Eastern regions in Sri Lanka, nearly succeeded in their bloody endeavour, if not for the valiant team President Mahinda Rajapaksa gathered around him to meet that mortal threat to the country, ably helped by his battle hardened brother Gotabaya. The war was brought to a successful conclusion on May 19, 2009, when a soldier put a bullet through Velupillai Prabhakaran’s head during a confrontation on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon.

In spite of the great sacrifices the armed forces made, various interested parties, at the drop of a hat, targeted the armed forces and police. The treacherous UNP-SLFP Yahapalana administration sold out our valiant armed forces at the Geneva–based United Nations Human Rights Council, in 2015, to be on the good books of the West, not satisfied with them earlier having mocked the armed forces when they achieved victories that so-called experts claimed the Lankan armed forces were incapable of achieving, and after they were eventually proved wrong with the crushing victory over the Tigers in the battlefield, like sour grapes they questioned the professionalism of our armed forces and helped level baseless war crimes allegations. Remember, for example, when the armed forces were about to capture the LTTE bastion, Kilinochchi, one joker UNP politico claimed they were only at Medawachiya. Similarly when forces were at Alimankada (Elephant Pass) this vicious joker claimed it was Pamankada.

Many eyebrows were raised recently when President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also holds the Defence portfolio, too, questioned the professionalism of our war-winning armed forces.

Speaking in Parliament, in early March, during the Committee Stage debate on the 2025 Budget, President Dissanayake assured that the government would ensure the armed forces achieved professional status. It would be pertinent to mention that our armed forces defeated JVP terrorism twice, in 1971 and 1987-1990, and also separatist Tamil terrorism. Therefore, there cannot be absolutely any issue with regard to their professionalism, commitment and capabilities.

There had been many shortcomings and many lapses on the part of the armed forces, no doubt, due to short-sighted political and military strategies, as well as the absence of preparedness at crucial times of the conflict. But, overall, success that had been achieved by the armed forces and intelligence services cannot be downplayed under any circumstances. Even the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage could have been certainly averted if the then political leadership hadn’t played politics with national security. The Yahapalana Justice Minister hadn’t minced his words when he declared that President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe allowed the extremist build-up by failing to deal with the threat, for political reasons, as well as the appointment of unsuitable persons as Secretary Defence and IGP. Political party leaders, as usual, initiated investigations in a bid to cover up their failures before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) appointed in late 2019 during the tail end of Sirisena’s presidency, exposed the useless lot.

Against the backdrop of the latest Kashmir bloodshed, various interested parties pursued strategies that may have undermined the collective Indian response to the terrorist challenge. Obviously, the Indian armed forces had been targeted over their failure to thwart the attack. But, the Indian Supreme Court, as expected, thwarted one such attempt.

Amidst continuing public furore over the Pahalgam attack, the Indian Supreme Court rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a judicial inquiry by a retired Supreme Court judge into the recent incident. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh dismissed the plea filed by petitioner Fatesh Sahu, warning that such actions during sensitive times could demoralise the armed forces.

Let us hope Sri Lanka learnt from that significant and far reaching Indian SC directive. The Indian media extensively quoted the bench as having said: “This is a crucial moment when every Indian stands united against terrorism. Please don’t undermine the morale of our forces. Be mindful of the sensitivity of the issue.”

Perhaps the most significant remarks made by Justice Surya Kant were comments on suitability of retired High Court and Supreme Court judges to conduct investigations.

Appointment of serving and retired judges to conduct investigations has been widely practiced by successive governments here as part of their political strategy. Regardless of constitutionality of such appointments, the Indian Supreme Court has emphasised the pivotal importance of safeguarding the interests of their armed forces.

The treacherous Yahapalana government betrayed our armed forces by accepting a US proposal to subject them to a hybrid judicial mechanism with the participation of foreign judges. The tripartite agreement among Sri Lanka, the US and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that had been worked out in the run-up to the acceptance of an accountability resolution at the UNHRC in Oct. 2015, revealed the level of treachery Have you ever heard of a government betraying its own armed forces for political expediency.

There is absolutely no ambiguity in the Indian Supreme Court declaration. Whatever the circumstances and situations, the armed forces shouldn’t be undermined, demoralised.

JD on accountability

In line with its overall response to the Pahalgam massacre, India announced a series of sweeping punitive measures against Pakistan, halting all imports and suspending mail services. These actions were in addition to diplomatic measures taken by Narendra Modi’s government earlier on the basis Islamabad engineered the terrorist attack in southern Kashmir.

A notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on May 2, 2025 banned “direct or indirect import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, whether or not freely importable or otherwise permitted” with immediate effect.

India downgraded trade ties between the two countries in February 2019 when the Modi government imposed a staggering 200% duty on Pakistani goods. Pakistan responded by formally suspending a large part of its trade relations with India. India responded angrily following a vehicle borne suicide attack in Pulwama, Kashmir, that claimed the lives of 40 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CPRF).

In response to the latest Kashmir attack, India also barred ships carrying the Pakistani flag from docking at Indian ports and prohibited Indian-flagged vessels from visiting Pakistani ports.

But when India terrorised hapless Sri Lanka, the then administration lacked the wherewithal to protest and oppose aggressive Indian moves.

Having set up a terrorist project here, India prevented the government from taking measures to neutralise that threat. The Indian Air Force flew in secret missions to Jaffna and invaded Sri Lanka airspace to force President JRJ to stop military action before the signing of the so-called peace accord that was meant to pave the way for the deployment of its Army here.

Even during the time the Indian Army battled the LTTE terrorists here, Tamil Nadu allowed wounded LTTE cadres to receive medical treatment there. India refrained from interfering in that despicable politically motivated practice. India allowed terrorists to carry weapons in India. The killing of 12 EPRLF terrorists, including its leader K. Padmanabha in June 1990, on Indian soil, in Madras, three months after India pulled out its Army from Sri Lanka, is a glaring example of Indian duplicity.

Had India acted at least after Padmanabha’s killing, the suicide attack on Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 could have been thwarted.

One of Sri Lanka’s celebrated career diplomats, the late Jayantha Dhanapala, discussed the issue of accountability when he addressed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), headed by one-time Attorney General, the late C. R. de Silva, on 25 August, 2010.

Dhanapala, in his submissions, said: “Now I think it is important for us to expand that concept to bring in the culpability of those members of the international community who have subscribed to the situation that has caused injury to the civilians of a nation. I talk about the way in which terrorist groups are given sanctuary; harbored; and supplied with arms and training by some countries with regard to their neighbours or with regard to other countries. We know that in our case this has happened, and I don’t want to name countries, but even countries which have allowed their financial procedures and systems to be abused in such a way that money can flow from their countries in order to buy arms and ammunition that cause deaths, maiming and destruction of property in Sri Lanka are to blame and there is, therefore, a responsibility to protect our civilians and the civilians of other nations from that kind of behaviour on the part of members of the international community. And I think this is something that will echo within many countries in the Non-Aligned Movement, where Sri Lanka has a much respected position and where I hope we will be able to raise this issue.”

Dhanapala also stressed on the accountability on the part of Western governments, which conveniently turned a blind eye to massive fundraising operations in their countries, in support of the LTTE operations. It is no secret that the LTTE would never have been able to emerge as a conventional fighting force without having the wherewithal abroad, mainly in the Western countries, to procure arms, ammunition and equipment. But, the government never acted on Dhanapala’s advice.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

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Midweek Review

Squeaky clean image of JVP in tatters

Published

5 days ago

2026/04/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

During the recent debate on the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody, Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) Batticaloa District lawmaker, Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam, warned that the next NCM would be moved against Fisheries Minister Ramalingham Chandrasekaran. Rasamanickam accused the National List member of corruption, a charge vehemently denied by the NPPer. The NPP/JVP needs to initiate an internal inquiry before corruption allegations overwhelm the party that received the full advantage of Aragalaya to transform the outfit from just a three-member parliamentary group, in 2024, to a staggering 159, a year later. The UNP and SLFP led alliances were dealt harshly by the electorates for want of action to curb corruption. Today, the UNP and SLFP are not represented in Parliament, while the SLPP, that secured 145 seats at the 2020 general election, was reduced to just three with its parliamentary group leader Namal Rajapaksa entering Parliament through the National List. Rajapaksa junior obviously feared to face the Hambantota electorate at the last general election. That is the undeniable truth.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The ongoing controversy over Agriculture, Lands, Irrigation and Livestock Minister K.D. Lal Kantha’s three-storeyed luxury house has intensified pressure on the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) government struggling to cope-up with the devastating coal scam, blamed on Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody forcing him to resign.

Jayakody, one of those who financed the NPP/JVP campaign in the run-up to the 2024 national polls ,resigned on 17 April, along with Prof. Udayanga Hemapala, Secretary to the Energy Ministry. Their resignations happened eight months after the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), a breakaway faction of the JVP, revealed the alleged coal scam. The Lal Kantha affair received significant public attention though the primary issue at hand is the massive coal scam that ripped through the government.

Jayakody will continue as a National List member of the ruling party. The NPP/JVP won an unprecedented 159 seats, including 18 National List slots at the November 2024 parliamentary elections.

The Opposition dismissed government claims that the resignations were meant to facilitate the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the procurement of coal, since the commissioning of the country’s only coal-fired power plant during the onset of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term. In the wake of the much delayed resignations, NPP/JVP heavyweight Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, addressing the media at the Information Department, pathetically vouched for Jayakody’s integrity.

Let us discuss the accusations directed at Lal Kantha who had served the SLFP-led Cabinet for a short period, years ago, in terms of an agreement between the SLFP and the JVP. Lal Kantha had never been accused of corruption and was, in fact, one of those lawmakers who raised the issue both in and outside Parliament. Political parties may have forgotten that the UNP got rid of Lacille de Silva, Director General of Administration, Parliament, during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s premiership, in the 2001-2003 period, alleging he passed on information to Lal Kantha to attack the government.

The NPP Executive Committee member, as well as JVP politburo and Central Committee heavyweight, has publicly defended his right to own a luxury house amidst a section of the social media pushing for police investigation into the lawmaker’s wealth.

Unlike the owner/owners of the mysterious Malwana mansion, built on a 16-acre land overlooking the Kelani river, Lal Kantha didn’t try to disclaim the house ownership at Jusse Road, Welivita, in the Kaduwela area. The Malwana house was built towards the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term as the President. The hullabaloo over the ownership of the Malwana mansion, and construction costs, dominated the 2015 presidential election campaign. On the basis of the Malwana mansion, the UNP and the JVP built a strong case against the Rajapaksas, accusing the family of corruption.

It would be of pivotal importance that the JVP backed Maithripala Sirisena’s 2015 presidential polls candidature. The campaign was built on an anti-corruption platform that earned the appreciation of the public who disregarded the unprecedented development work successfully carried out by the Rajapaksas, while also fighting a war to defeat the most ruthless terrorist organisation that was out to break up the country.

During a US-India backed violent protest campaign, in March-July 2022, an organised gang set the stately Malwana mansion ablaze. The general consensus was that the Malwana mansion belonged to Basil Rajapakasa, though he vehemently denied having anything to do with it.

Yahapalana Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, is on record as having declared that the Malwana mansion would be renovated and used to accommodate a state institution. Lal Kantha’s newly acquired wealth has to be examined and discussed, taking into consideration his long standing claim that as a fulltime member of the JVP he entirely depended on his wife’s monthly salary and help provided by friends and associates. If that was the case, Lal Kantha couldn’t have ended up among the richest group of politicians, within less than two years after the last presidential election, held in September 2024.

Lal Kantha couldn’t have been unaware of the possibility of the Opposition, particularly the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), attacking him and the NPP/JVP over his Kaduwela house. Responding to critics, the Anuradhapura District lawmaker has claimed, on YouTube, that he sold a property he owned in Anuradhapura and used that money to acquire the Jusse Road land.

The outspoken Minister is also on record as having said that the existence of his new house, to which he moved in late 2024, was disclosed by him. However, incisive Youtuber Dharma Sri Kariyawasam has claimed that he made the revelation on 01 October, 2025, while another You-Tuber, Abeetha Edirisinghe, rammed up pressure on the NPP by lodging a complaint with the police, via the special number 1818. Edirisinghe’s SL Leaders YouTube posted a video of him lodging the complaint.

What made the complaint really interesting was Edirisinghe’s declaration based on ‘Dark Room’ YouTube allegations that wealthy businessman Nissanka Senadhipathi, who had been one of the closest associates of the Rajapaksas, provided the wherewithal required to acquire land, build and then furnish the Jusse Road mansion. Defending his position, Lal Kantha claimed that he acquired a piano for his daughter, about 15 years ago, while declaring he enjoyed the capacity to raise large sums of funds if necessary. A smiling Lal Kantha explained how he could effortlessly collect Rs 500,000 each from 100 associates/friends. Programmes posted by Dharma Sri Kariyawasam and Abeetha Edirisinghe are must-watch for those genuinely interested in knowing the explosive story, from different angles.

Close on the heels of debates on Lal Kantha’s mansion, the media reported the Minister’s last available asset declaration, sent to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), dealt with over Rs 80 mn worth of property, vehicles and gold, etc. The JVP heavyweight’s annual income has stunned even the staunchest supporters of the ruling party. Lal Kantha, through his lawyer, demanded Rs 10 bn in damages from ‘Hiru’ for wrongly estimating his properties, etc., at Rs 460 mn.

Both Dharma Sri Kariyawasam and Abeetha Edirisinghe propagated that police wanted the public to complain to special the number 1818, created to accept such complaints in case they felt suspicious about newly acquired property, regardless of who owned them.

Unexpected disclosure of Lal Kantha’s unprecedented wealth obviously stunned the public who genuinely believed in the unshakable NPP/JVP stand on corruption. Lal Kantha, who had joined the JVP in 1982, before becoming a full time member, in 1987, had no qualms in defending his new lifestyle, having repeatedly and bitterly complained about the difficulties experienced by him and his family.

In his defence, Lal Kantha emphasised that he hadn’t been accused of robbing the taxpayer or public sector corruption. However, the NPP/JVP all-out attack on all previous governments, over waste, corruption, irregularities and mismanagement, and branding all their MPs corrupt, cannot adopt such a stance. The Kaduwela mansion has sent shockwaves through the electorate. Dharma Sri Kariyawasam, in his response to Lal Kantha, repeatedly stressed that his wealth was being questioned by those who exercised their franchise in support of the NPP/JVP at the national elections and Local Government polls, in 2025.

Growing public resentment over what various interested parties, including the NPP/JVP called ill-gotten wealth of members and henchmen of previous governments fuelled Aragalaya (31 March-14 July 2022). Those who set houses and other property, belonging to various then government politicians and their associates ablaze, operated on the presumption that they were beneficiaries of ill-gotten wealth. The NPP/JVP powered the campaign, alongside the breakaway JVP faction, styled as Peratugami Pakshaya (Frontline Socialist Party) as well as the UNP.

Ranwala and others

Against the backdrop of Auditor General Samudrika Jayarathne’s devastating report on coal procurement for the 2025/2026 period and Lal Kantha’s declaration that he owned a three-storeyed house, the resignation of Asoka Ranwala, as the Speaker of Parliament, over his failure to prove his declared academic qualifications seemed uncalled for. Jayarathne signed that report on behalf of the National Audit Office (NAO).

The Gampaha District MP resigned on 13 December, 2024, just 22 days after being appointed the Speaker. The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) relentlessly attacked Ranwala over his fabricated or unverified educational qualifications, specifically a Ph.D. from a Japanese university and a degree from the University of Moratuwa.

The NPP/JVP tried to defend Ranwala but quickly succumbed to SJB pressure. We never managed to establish whether Ranwala resigned on his own accord or the NPP/JVP asked him to resign to save the party. Similarly, the resignations of Energy Minister Jayakody and Prof. Hemapala, who cut a sorry figure before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) recently, must have been demanded by the ruling party. Had the NPP bosses acted prudently, much earlier, after he was indicted before the Colombo High Court on a previous corruption case, they could have easily asked Jayakody to resign his ministerial portfolio before the Parliament debated the no-confidence motion against him.

Another case that really embarrassed the ruling party was accusations directed at Dr. Jagath Wickremeratne, who succeeded Ranwala as House Speaker. The Polonnaruwa District MP was the next to face fire, following a dispute with the Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne who is also the Chief of Staff of the House. Kularatne hit back hard after Parliament sacked him over alleged irregularities. In a petition, dated 2 February, 2026, sent to CIABOC, Kularatne disclosed the circumstances the Speaker reacted angrily after he brought to the NPPer’s notice illegal actions and corruption, as well as his (Kularatne) recommendation in his capacity as the Right to Information (RTI) officer, to release certain information sought by civil society activists. Kularatne further claimed that the situation deteriorated further over an incident that happened on 18 June, 2025, or a date closer to that date, in the room where Speaker Wickremeratne had his lunch. Kularatne refrained from revealing the incident.

There hadn’t been a previous instance of a senior parliamentary official moving the CIABOC against the Speaker. The allegations directed at the Speaker, in respect of abuse of vehicles, taking two fuel allowances, misuse of equipment belonging to the Media Unit of Parliament, inadequate payment for lunch obtained for Chameera Gallage, Speaker’s private secretary, who had lunch with him, illegal payments made to retired Ministry Additional Secretary S.K. Liyanage, who was appointed to inquire into Kularatne’s conduct, suppression of release of information in terms of RTI, and uncalled for interventions in administration.

Kularatne’s complaint to the CIABOC failed to result in an expeditious inquiry, though a complaint lodged against a sacked parliamentary official appeared to have received much more attention. The NPP has responded cautiously to Kularatne vs Wickremeratne battle as pressure mounted on the ruling party over the coal scam that threatened to cause further increase in already unbearable electricity tariffs. The Auditor General’s report, in no uncertain terms, has implicated the Energy Ministry and Lanka Coal Company in the sordid operation that resulted in low-grade coal ending up at the Lakvijaya coal-fired power plant that earlier met about 30 to 40% percent of the country’s power requirements at essentially low cost, barring hydroelectricity.

The report declared that the term tender for the supply of coal was awarded to Trident Champhar, an Indian company that hadn’t been registered at the time it bid for Sri Lanka’s largest tender and procedures in respect of loading and unloading the cargo. To make matters worse, Minister Jayakody, who had been implicated in the coal scam, was recently indicted on corruption charges in the High Court of Colombo. There hadn’t been a previous instance of a sitting member of the Cabinet being indicted for corruption. Therefore, the NPP government cannot be happy over its steamroller majority in Parliament having defeated the no-confidence motion moved against Jayakody who remained confident in the parliamentary group’s support at the behest of the top party leadership.

The NPP/JVP finds itself in an extremely embarrassing and pitiful situation over the coal scam. The damning report issued by the Auditor General pertaining to the coal scam has to be examined taking into consideration the failure on the part of the government and the Constitutional Council to reach a consensus on filling the vacant Auditor General’s post in 2025. The post of Auditor General remained vacant from early April 2025 to early February 2026.

Role of NAO

The NAO functions as an independent body answerable to Parliament. The recent NAO report that dealt with coal procurement exposed the utterly corrupt system in place, regardless of assurances given by the government. The report proved that irregularities can be perpetrated and corrupt practices continued, regardless of assurances given by the current dispensation.

Over the past several years, tangible measures were taken to strengthen the NAO. Parliament certified the National Audit (Amendment) Act, No. 19 of 2025 on 22 September, 2025. That act introduced reforms meant to enhance public sector accountability, enforce audit findings, and streamline the surcharge process. The no nonsense report proved that in spite of interference and undue influence exerted on the NAO, those responsible did their job without fear or favour.

SJB lawmaker Mujibur Rahman, during the debate on the no-confidence motion against Minister Jayakody, alleged in Parliament that COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) Chairman Dr. Nishantha Samaraweera directly intervened when the NAO was in the process of finalising the report. The former UNPer called for an investigation to establish whether the Galle District NPP MP visited the NAO on several days to meet those handling the investigation.

We are not aware whether the COPE Chief, who called for the NAO to inquire into allegations in respect of coal procurement, visited the NAO.

However, the NAO report on the coal scam, now available online for all to study, underscores the pivotal importance of the anti-corruption fight.

In September 2025, the SJB asked the CIABOC to probe how some NPP/JVP Ministers amassed so much property. The SJB raised the issue with the focus on Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe (like Lal Kantha, he, too, represents the Anuradhapura District) amassed Rs 275 mn. The SJB’s complaint to CIABOC sought investigations on Ministers Sunil Handunetti, Bimal Rathnayake, Dr. Nalinda Jayathissa and Kumara Jayakody, and Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala.

Lal Kantha, who has now acknowledged having as much as Rs 80 mn worth property, was not among the lawmakers targeted by the SJB. Having falsely propagated an anti-corruption campaign to deceive the public, the NPP/JVP stand literally exposed before the public. The coal scam and Lal Kantha fiasco have caused irreparable damage to such an extent, their anti-corruption campaigns may not carry any weight with the public at future elections.

Midweek Review

Some languages confine you; some languages free you

Published

5 days ago

2026/04/22

Sahan Weerasooriya

‘… where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; ….

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward….into ever-widening thought and action…’

With wide apologies, I am going to put snatches of that poem into more dreary uses, though not quite desert sand.

What are those narrow domestic walls which break up the world into fragments? Languages.

Amiya reads the Gitanjali but does not read the Tirukkural. Hong Li reads Kong Fut Ze’s Analects but not Plato’s Republic. Paul reads Miton’s Paradise Lost but not Njal Saga. Sarath Kumara reads Wickremasinghe’s satva santatitya but not Darwin’s Origin of the Species. Ngidi does not read Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the 20th Century or Anthony Atkinson’s Inequality at all. Hirono uses Large Language Models to do homework but Rasolomanana has not seen a computer. And so on and so forth. The world is broken into fragments by languages, but not by languages alone. The daughter of a rich black man living in Howard County in Maryland goes to Stanford but a brown dweller in Dharavi cannot enter Jawaharlal Nehru University. The lesson is that it is not only languages or orthodoxies that break up the world into ‘fragments’ but also many other barriers, about one of which Tagore sang.

Language is a marvellous ‘invention’ of nature well cultivated by humans. No other species has the faculty to use language to know. Ludwig Wittgenstein expressed it epigrammatically, ‘whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.’ It is language that carries forth knowledge. It is not only language that carries forth knowledge: mathematics, in its own right, is a powerful carrier of knowledge. One can write something simple like if x-y=0, then x=y, as well as whole pages of complex and complicated arguments using mathematical notations. Mathematics may and often does write nature and about nature; it also writes about things that exist only in the mind. That is not different from languages: heaven and Vishnu exist in some minds but not in others or elsewhere. Galileo Galilei learnt ‘Nature is an open book but it is written in mathematics’. Much of nature is a closed book to those to whom mathematics is alien territory. But today, I am interested in how some languages ‘break the world into fragments by domestic walls’, while a few others fly about regardless. When a team from India played cricket with a team from Pakistan a few weeks back, the commentary was broadcast in India in 14 languages and in Nigeria national news is read in several languages. That same game of cricket also was broadcast to the rest of the world in one language: English.

When and how do some languages come to ‘lead the mind forward into ever widening thought and action’? The transformation occurs when users of one language become conquerors and rulers of peoples using other languages and when the users of a language become generators of new knowledge which are eagerly sought after by users of other languages. Greek, Latin and Arabic contributed mightily to the vocabulary of modern Western European languages. When new ideas in law, government, philosophy, medicine and science had to be expressed, they went to Greek, Latin or Arabic. Consequently, you will bump into Greek terms the moment you begin thinking about those disciplines. The serious study of Greek was introduced to England by Erasmus (of Rotterdam) about 1500 AC. The use of Latin began with the Roman Empire but took on new functions when Latin became the vehicle carrying Christianity east and north (of Europe) and elsewhere later. Until about the 18th century AC Latin was the language of learning in most of Europe. At its inception, Manchester Grammar School was a Latin school and the Boston Latin School which started in 1635 still thrives in that name. The two medieval universities in England were mostly seminaries teaching in Latin well into the 19th century. A wide swathe of languages is written with the Latin alphabet: European languages from the Black Sea to the Atlantic and from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, America from Canada to Chile, sub-Saharan Africa including Togo, and Indonesian, Malaysian and several others. The exodus of Jewish, Arabic and other scholars, after the fall of Constantinople (1453) to the Ottomans, brought Greek and Arabic to Western Europe including England. From about the 14 to the 18th century, European indigenous vernaculars grew to be carriers of new knowledge, especially in sciences. Luther’s reformation and the development of German had much in common. Gutenberg’s new printing press (1450 AC) helped the growth of European vernaculars and the spread of reformed Christianity.

Four western European languages stood out as both conquerors and carriers of new knowledge: Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. Arabic performed the same function from about 800 AC to the 13 AC when that language carried a new religion and new knowledge in mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Arabic replaced the indigenous languages in the entire Maghreb. The language of governance and learning from Mexico south to Chile is Spanish with Brazil using Portuguese and are collectively called Latin America, because Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian are Romance or Latin Languages. French is the language of governance and learning in several parts of West Africa. English was a phenomenon in itself. It destroyed the use of hundreds of languages in North America. It conquered almost half the world and English is the language of governance and higher education in a good part of the land it once ruled. As a language carrying new knowledge, English excels all others. As the collapse of four European empires, including the Ottoman, went on from about 1915 to about 1960, English, which produced new knowledge faster than any other, began to break ‘domestic walls’, the world over. China, which had little love for the English-speaking world, had millions of its citizens schooled in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia during the last 30 years and continues to do so, to date. In contrast, during that time how many rushed to Niger to learn Fulfulde or to Lanka to study Sinhala? The prominence of English was promoted by two other processes: one was translation into English of major works in other languages and the other the growth of a class of indigenous writers and readers in the conqueror’s language. One reads Oblomov, Gilgamesh and, indeed, Gitanjali translated into English. India now probably has more readers in English than any other single country. Persons in Western African countries have crafted in French and English, masterpieces in fiction, poetry and drama. Modern European languages have been both conquerors’ languages and carriers of new knowledge.

Several people recently have written in The Island and in Lankadeepa about the importance of using the ‘mother tongue’. They have stressed the importance of the ‘mother tongue’ in creative writing. As with observations regarding empirical phenomena, it is necessary to test those generalisations against reality. Samskrt is a language not entirely unfamiliar to many in this land. Samskrt was nobody’s mother tongue. (After all, it is deva bhaashitam.) There is not a shred of evidence that Kalidasa’s mother talked to him in Samskrt. But Kalidasa wrote rtusmahara and shakuntalam.. The vedas and upanishads were first spoken and later written in samskrt. Pali is nobody’s mother tongue but Theravada writings are almost entirely in that language. Isaac Newton wrote Principia Mathematica in Latin; we have no evidence that baby Isaac babbled in Latin. Paul Dirac wrote about particle physics in mathematics rather than in his father’s beloved French. Leopold Senghor’s mother tongue was not French nor Chinua Achebe’s English. More casually, check your own libraries. I had a collection of about 2,300 books until last year. There weren’t even 200 written in Sinhala and that 200 included editions of works from the 13th century. Check how many books written in Sinhala and English you bought in the last two years. There were far too many writers and scientists who brought forth highly acclaimed work in languages other than their mother tongue, contradicting the argument that the mother tongue was essential or even desirable for original work, in science or in literature.

Most languages ‘break the world into narrow fragments’. A few coagulate them into large masses: 900 million people speak Mandarin and 325 million, Bengali. A half dozen bind themselves together speaking a conqueror’s language. Four languages stand out as having ‘led the ‘mind forward into ever-widening thought and action’: Greek, Latin, Arabic and English. English, so far, is unrivalled.

by Usvatte-aratchi