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අලුත්ගම දර්ගා නගරයේ කඩ දෙකකට අද අලුයම ගල් ප්‍රහාරයක් එල්ලවී ඇතැයි පොලිසියට පැමිණිලි කර ඇත.

http://www.lankadeepa.lk/index.php/articles/280754

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Colombo (AFP) - The United States embassy in Sri Lanka denied on Saturday it was "pumping money" into the country to topple President Mahinda Rajapakse after the allegations were levelled by a minister.

Resettlement minister Gunaratne Weerakoon accused US envoy Michele Sison of seeking to fund opposition forces in the election campaign in order to oust Rajapakse who is seeking an unprecedented third term in next month's elections.

"She is pumping money to topple President Mahinda Rajapakse," the minister told an election campaign rally Friday.

The US embassy strongly rejected the minister's accusations.

"The allegations by Minister Gunaratne Weerakoon are baseless," the embassy said in a statement.

"They reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of our engagement with senior government officials and our policy towards Sri Lanka as well as the US political and economic system."

The minister also alleged that Sison had offered him "a five-year scholarship for my children (and) a house in the US and a green card" if he agreed to a demand to remove military camps in the island's former war zone.

Dismantling the camps has been a longstanding demand of US and other Western nations, as well as of neighbouring India, which have criticised Colombo's human rights record.

"I said closing army camps is not something I can do, but it is up to the president," Weerakoon said.

Sison left Sri Lanka Saturday after completing her term as ambassador.

Prior to her departure, she met with President Rajapakse and Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris who had "congratulated her on strengthening bilateral ties", the statement added.

Relations between Washington and Colombo soured after the United States secured a UN-led investigation into the final stages of Sri Lanka's separatist war that came to an end in May 2009.

Sison had strongly articulated Washington's displeasure over Sri Lanka's failure to address allegations that up to 40,000 civilians were killed by troops in the final months of the ethnic war.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-denies-funding-opposition-oust-sri-lanka-leader-144233044.html

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1) Prohibition of Harming Neighbour:
The Prophet, (Peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah, he is not a believer! By Allah, he is not a believer! By Allah, he is not a believer.''
It was asked, "Who is that, O Messenger of Allah?''
He said, "One whose neighbour does not feel safe from his evil"
(Sahih Bukhari).

2) Recommendation to treat neighbour well

The Messenger of Allah, (Peace and blessings be upon him), said: "Jibril kept recommending me to treat my neighbour well until I thought that he would tell me to make him one of my heirs" (Bukhari:6014)

3) Caring for your neighbours
Abu Dharr, May Allah be pleased with him, reported: The Messenger of Allah, (Peace and blessings be upon him), commanded me thus, "O Abu Dharr! Whenever you prepare a broth, put plenty of water in it, and give some of it to your neighbours".( Sahih Muslim)

4) Co-operation with your neighbors
Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the messenger of Allah, (Peace and blessings be upon him), said: "No-one should prevent his neighbour from fixing a wooden peg in his wall." Abu Huraira said (to his companions), "Why do I find you averse to it? By Allah, I certainly will narrate it to you."
(Sahih Bukhari)

5) Do not eat your full while your neighbor is hungry
The Messenger of Allah say:" He is not a believer who eats his fill whilst his neighbor beside him goes hungry" (Bukhari)

6) Never scorn your neighbor's gift
Sahih Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet, (Peace and blessings be upon him), used to say: "O Muslim women! No one should scorn the gift of a neighbor, even if it is (only) a sheep's foot"
(Bukhari: 6017)

7) Harming a neighbor may lead to hell-fire
Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him reported: A man asked, "O Messenger of Allah! There is a woman who prays, gives charity and fasts a great deal, but she harms her neighbors with her speech (by insulting them)"
He said: "She will go to hell"
The man said: "O messenger of Allah! There is (another) woman who is well-known for how little she fasts and prays, but she gives charity from the dried yoghurt she makes and she does not harm her neighbors"
He said: "She will go to paradise"
(Ahmad, vol. 4, p. 166, Ibn Hibban, hadith no. 2054)

8) Tolerance when treating neighbors
Mutarrif said: "I heard that you (he means Abu Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him) have said that the Prophet, (Peace and blessings be upon him), said: "Allah loves three and hates three.'"
Abu Dharr said, "I do not think that I would tell lies about the Messenger of Allah."
Mutarrif said, "Then who are the three whom Allah loves?"
Abu Dharr (quoting the Prophet, (Peace and blessings be upon him)) said: "A man who fights for the sake of Allah, with perseverance and hoping for reward from Him, and fights until he is killed, and you find this in the Book of Allah.' Then he recited: "Truly Allah loves those who fight in His cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure." [al-Saff 61:4] Mutarrif asked, "Then who?"
He said, "A man who has a bad neighbor who annoys and disturbs him, but he bears it with patience and forbearance until Allah ends the matter either during his lifetime or upon the death of either of them."
( Reported with a sahih isnad by Ahmad and al-Tabarani. See Majma' al-Zawa'id, 8/171.)

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Published on 27.11.2014 Hijiri date 03.02.1436 Reg. number ACJU/MED/004/2014

The presidential election has been declared to be held on 8th January 2015. Casting the vote during an election is not only a right but also a duty of a citizen. Therefore, ACJU strongly urges Muslims of this country to exercise this important franchise without fail.

Those who believe in Allah and turn towards him, during times of affliction, will be definitely consoled by the Almighty. Episodes of the prophets of Allah substantiate this belief. Therefore, Muslims should excessively consider in strengthening their connection with Allah, refraining from major sins and increasing good deeds. Verily our good deeds would bring prosperity to us as well as to our Motherland.

It is common in a democratic country that various political parties contending during an election. And voters have the right to vote to for whomever they prefer. The ACJU an organization which has been functioning for the past 90 years has never indulged in any political activity is a known truth to all. Therefore the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama will not act in support or against to any party. The ACJU requests not to canvas by using the name of ACJU, but the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama has met the present leaders, past leaders and also the Muslim ministers considering the rights & needs of the Muslims.

In the meantime, ACJU appeals to all Muslim politicians and leaders to give importance to the welfare of Muslims living in this country as minorities in their efforts and actions without being self-centered or corporal in their aims and urges to train their focus more on life Hereafter and to take astute decisions in crucial situations giving priority to promote peace and unity among all the communities living in this country. Moreover, we request the leaders and politicians not to curse and admonish each other and also plead, especially the Muslims not to instigate arguments and debates on political subjects unnecessarily at this volatile season and also to refrain from spreading rumors and not to trigger or involve in any extreme activities.

We also request the ACJU members to educate and guide the Muslims with regard to the above matters in their respective areas and districts of operation.

Ash-Sheikh Fazil Farook

The Secretary – Media Unit

All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama

http://www.acju.lk/press-release/pre-election/

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Dr Lorna Srimathie Dewaraja, the brilliant historian of repute who did not receive the recognition that she rightly deserves in her life time for her contribution to the Muslims of Sri Lanka should be engraved in their hearts and minds for her contribution with her luminous academic research and publication, “The Muslims of Sri Lanka – One thousand years of ethnic harmony- 900 to 1915 first published in 1994.

Her publication, available in English with a translation in Sinhala  is probably the best documentation of the contribution of Muslims to Sri Lanka during the Kandyan period with extensive research and interviews with leading Buddhists, Muslims and others including the Ven. Mahanayake of the Malwatte chapter. This academic effort by this uncrowned historian fulfilled a long felt need of the Muslim community and firmly establishes the contribution of the Muslim community to Sri Lanka. It further establishes the fact that the Muslims of Sri Lanka have been an integral part of the nation for over 1200 years and dismisses the canard of the current day extremists who claim that the Muslims have no right in this country as they are mere visitors.

Dr. Lorna Dewaraja points out in her book “historians have traditionally been attracted by wars and rebellions whereas the peaceful coexistence of groups of people over long periods tends to be overlooked. She adds: “In the history of Sri Lanka few are aware of the harmonious relationship which had developed between the Sinhalese, its indigenous inhabitants, and the Muslims who initially were foreigners, and that both have lived together peacefully for over a thousand years. Perhaps because it was such a peaceful relationship, it has passed unnoticed by the historian.”

Jazeema Ismail, an icon of the modern day Muslims quotes a point made by a one-time Minister of Foreign Affairs, A.C.S. Hameed, “Historians have traditionally been attracted by wars and rebellions whereas the peaceful co-existence of groups of people over long periods tends to be overlooked”.

He goes on to say “in the history of Sri Lanka few are aware of the harmonious relationship which had developed between the Sinhalese, its indigenous inhabitants, and the Muslims who initially were foreigners, and that both have lived together peacefully for over a thousand years. Perhaps because it was such a peaceful relationship it has passed unnoticed by the historian.

As the respected late A C S Hammed states in the foreword to the book “unlike in India where Islam made its entry as a conquering proselytising force, in Sri Lanka it appeared as the personal faith of a peaceful trading people who in course of time earned the goodwill, confidence and trust of the indigenous people. Buddhist ideals of tolerance and accommodation too were contributory factors. Besides, there was hardly any economic factor that could have caused conflict. Therefore Muslim integration into Sinhala society proceeded at an even pace for which there are few parallels elsewhere in the world”.

In this day of hate campaigns orchestrated by Buddhist extremist elements from the Bodu Bala Sena and other racist groups,  Dr Lorna Dewaraja’s book needs to be distributed widely so that a wider knowledge and understanding of the racial harmony and ethnic reconciliation that prevailed and promoted by Sri Lanka’s leadership through out history.

I would like to end this tribute by a quote by E.H.Carr that has been used by Dr Lorna Devaraja “The present age is the most historical minded of all ages. Modern man is to an unprecedented degree self conscious and therefore conscious of history. He peers eagerly back into the twilight out of which he has come, in the hope that its faint beams will illuminate the obscurity into which he is going; and conversely his aspirations and anxieties about the path that lies ahead quicken his insight into what is behind. Past, present and future is linked together in the endless chain of history.”

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November 29, 2014, 12:00 pm

y Ajith Alahakoon

UPFA National List MP AHM Azwer resigned from his post with effect from yesterday. His vacancy would be filled by UPFA Eastern Provincial Councillor Ameer Ali whose name would soon be sent to the Elections Commissioner, UPFA sources said.

Ameer Ali is a former Parliamentarian from the Batticaloa District and a former non-Cabinet Minister of Disaster Relief Services from 2007 to 2010.

Ameer Ali was one of the three Eastern Provincial Council members. Others were Abdul Farook and Mohamed Shibly, who decided to sit independently in the council from 25 November. All three members represented All Ceylon Muslim Congress led by Industries and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathurdeen.

General Secretary of Parliament Dhammika Dassanayake confirmed that MP Azwer had tendered the letter of resignation.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=115042

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November 28, 2014, 10:37 pm

Ven Aturaliye Ratana Thera and Opposition Presidential Candidate Maithripala Sirisena at yesterday’s press conference. Pic by Nishan S Priyantha

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Opposition Presidential Candidate Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said that he would protect the Rajapaksa family after winning the presidential poll on January 08.

Addressing a media conference at the Opposition Leader’s office in Colombo, Sirisena said that he would not allow any member of Rajapaksa family or members of the armed forces to be hauled up before an international war crimes tribunal.

Pro-LTTE Global Tamil Forum chief Suren Surendiran had recently said in a TV interview that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be taken before the International War Crimes Tribunal after his defeat at the Jan. 08 presidential polls, Sirisena said, adding that he would not allow that to happen.

"I’ll protect all members of Rajapaksa family and war heroes on my watch," he said, adding however Sri Lanka did not sign for any conventions.

Sirisena said that he would work towards reconciliation of all ethnicities and religions according to the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

The Polonnaruwa District MP said that all benefits President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to the people in 2015 budgetary proposals would be granted.

He also promised to continue all development projects launched by the UPFA government without waste and abuse of public funds. "We will set up a national government just after the presidential election together with parties that represent Parliament at present," Sirisena said, noting that if the present Parliament agreed to work according to his policies Parliament would not be dissolved.

He said that his aim was to abolish the executive presidency within 100 days.

Chairman of UNP Leadership Council Karu Jayasuriya, former Fisheries Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, JHU Parliamentary Group Leader Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera and former Deputy Minister of Buddhasasana and Religious Affairs M. K. D. S. Gunawardena also attended the media conference

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=115035

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November 28, 2014, 12:00 pm

By Izeth Hussain

The more it changes the more it’s the same thing – French proverb.

According to widespread Sri Lankan perceptions, we came to a cross roads by 1989 and in 1994 we chose what seemed to most of us to be the right road, which would lead to definitive solutions of the two major problems bedeviling us: that of restoring a fully functioning democracy and establishing unity through a solution of the ethnic problem. Today, twenty years later, many Sri Lankans, perhaps most, share the perception that we have again come to a cross roads at which it is imperative to choose the right road that would lead to definitive solutions of the two major problems bedeviling us: the restoration of a fully functioning democracy and the establishment of unity through the solution of our ethnic problems. It looks like the more it changes the more it’s the same thing. Or rather it’s the same thing but worse, because we now have two ethnic problems – the Muslim one as well – instead of just one. That fact suggests that the major problem underlying everything else in Sri Lanka is that of establishing national unity – which is the main case that I will be advancing in this article.

It should be useful to chart the salient points in the political trajectories that led to the two cross roads because that could enable us to spot common factors between them. When the Jayewardene Government came to power in 1977, it was the confident expectation of most of us that problems that had been bedeviling us for decades would be set right. In the economy there was a turning to the market leading to phenomenal economic growth, a change that has established itself as irreversible. JRJ showed himself to be more prescient about our economic future than any of our other leaders, and wrought the bourgeois revolution that traditional Marxism saw as the necessary penultimate stage before the establishment of socialism. That was a major achievement, but it was his only one. Since he and his Government had overwhelming popular support, hardly anyone expected that he would want to deviate even one jot from democracy, but he quickly made himself a dictator. On the ethnic front, we confidently expected that the promised all-Party Conference would be held without much delay, resulting in a definitive solution to the ethnic problem. Instead he unleashed a program of State terrorism which reached its apogee in the holocaust of 1983, resulting in the thirty-year war. The record was as follows by the time he relinquished office in 1989: there were two rebellions going on simultaneously in this small country; the IPKF troops were here behaving like conquerors; and the Government had lost control over a third of the national territory and half the coast line. Premadasa also continued the dictatorship and could not solve the ethnic problem.

In 1994 we chose an alternative road. The market oriented economy was continued with – for the most part – very satisfactory growth rates. The economic difficulties we are experiencing, along with many other countries, can be seen – partly at least – as following from the defects inherent in the capitalist system. Democracy was restored. On the ethnic front our Governments were over a long period very accommodative but a solution eluded us mainly because of the intransigence of the LTTE. However, with the assumption of power by President Rajapakse the road has been veering in a totally different direction. But we must first acknowledge his two mighty achievements. If not for the military victory over the LTTE we would today almost certainly be living under a confederal arrangement amounting to a de facto Eelam. The other achievement is that with consummate political skill he has saved this country from one of the worst scourges that could have befallen it, a military government, though that has been at the price of allowing an excessive intrusion of the military into the civilian realm. On the negative side, he is clearly veering towards an absolutist dictatorship with the eighteenth amendment, the ridiculous impeachment of the Chief Justice, and much else. On the ethnic front there has been no political solution for the Tamil ethnic problem, which could have fateful consequences in the future, and he has allowed the eruption of yet another ethnic problem, the Muslim one. Sri Lanka could be moving towards another doom-laden 1989. It is understandable that many Sri Lankans should feel that we have arrived at a cross roads again.

There are several common factors in the two political trajectories that I have outlined above. All our Governments since 1977 have followed market-oriented economic policies, but that is not seen as a factor leading to a political cross roads in which we have to turn desperately to an alternative road. Two other common factors are seen as leading to the present cross roads: dictatorship and the failure to solve ethnic problems. We are still a quasi-democracy, but the drive towards absolutist dictatorship could become irresistible because a known fact about power, differentiating it from victuals, is that the appetite grows in the eating. As for our ethnic problems, there has been a failure to solve them but there have been no mass murder of minority members. That however could follow because Islamophobic extremists – who indisputably have a privileged position with the Government -profess to believe that the Muslims pose an existential threat to the Sinhalese. We could be well on the way to another 1989. It should be understandable that many Sri Lankans today feel that we desperately need to turn towards an alternative political road.

The burden of this article is that the desideratum over-riding everything else in Sri Lanka is the unity of the nation. This article is not being written from a partisan political standpoint. A new President, or for that matter a Prime minister under a Parliamentary system of government, can make himself a dictator if the conditions are propitious for that. And of course our politicians can go on mucking and wrecking our ethnic relations as they have been doing since 1948. We need new thinking about building an inclusive nation. We need, not necessarily a new Party in power, but a new road in our politics. Hitherto the majority assumption has been that there is no need to build a nation because it already exists: this is the land of the Sinhala Buddhists, or it is the land of the Sinhalese inclusive of the Christians, while the minorities are no more than visitors. This has led to a deep sense of alienation among the minorities. It has also, I believe, aggravated the divisiveness among the Sinhalese themselves.

What could be the reason? I have identified two factors – the drive towards dictatorship and the failure to establish ethnic harmony – as having led to the disastrous situation that prevailed in 1989, and those same two factors are threatening to lead us again to another 1989. I suspect that those two factors are really one and the same. A dictatorship can be assumed to have a tendency – not inevitably so but a tendency – towards division and hierarchy. A dictator places himself above the people, and he and his coterie constitute an elite that is above the people, which means that the tendency to division and hierarchy is at the very core of dictatorship. Furthermore, that tendency applies not just to the minorities but to the majority ethnic group as well. That is why under the dictatorship of President JR the ethnic problem got completely out of hand, the result of the hierarchical principle being taken to an extreme, and that is why after the IPKF troops came here the Sinhalese slaughtered each other, showing that the divisiveness extends to the majority as well as the minorities. Sometimes a dictatorship puts up a meretricious show of unity, but the ethnic and other divisions erupt violently once the dictatorship breaks down, as in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and the former Soviet Union. Sri Lanka’s ethnic problems can be solved only under a fully functioning democracy.

I have raised issues in this article that evidently require in-depth treatment. As that will not be possible within the ambit of a single article, I will conclude by merely mentioning some facts that we must bear in mind about national unity. How did the West gain its ascendancy so easily over Asia? Contemporary scholarship rejects the familiar notion of Western dynamism and Asian decadence because the evidence shows that Asia remained economically and culturally dynamic in the eighteenth century. Pankaj Mishra in his book The Revolt against the West and the Remaking of Asia argues that the ascendancy was due to the West’s superior skills for "industrial civilization", more simply for organization, for acting as members of corporate groups, churches, or governments. In my view behind it all was the nation state which enabled a far higher degree of unity than was possible under any other state formation.

The interested reader should take a look at the DVD of the film Invictus. Under apartheid the South African blacks used to cheer any foreign team playing against the legendary white South African Springbok rugby team. After apartheid the Springboks were faring miserably and didn’t seem to have the faintest chance of winning the World Cup. Nelson Mandela took charge and resorted to concrete measures to make the South African blacks support the white Springboks, who proceeded to win the World Cup spectacularly. It was a victory that had behind it a deep sense of national unity. All our politicians should view that DVD.

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Many youth have been gifted with the priceless gem of leisure, time and health. But these gifts often come along with positive and negative consequences.
Notwithstanding these effects, you can become a Positive Muslim Youth.
Just as life in its entirety is full of many changes, challenges and cheap thrills; Each day comes with its own variety of consequences from your thoughts & accompanying actions.
Your thoughts, words, emotions and actions all need to sync together to help you fully utilise these gifts of youth.
The following phrases will help you train your mind & win against your nafs, to build a more positive attitude & lifestyle. The more positive your thoughts, so will be the accompanying emotions and consequently your speech and actions.
The phrases can be utilised in the following ways;
1. As an internal message to yourself.
2. As verbal utterances in your day to day activities.
3. As a visual prompt in your physical environment.
Here are 33 phrases you can use everyday as a prompt. Try a different one every day for a month. Each phrase will make a difference. You can get started by simply browsing through the list. How does each phrase make you feel?
Read on.
List 1: Eleven (11) phrases to foster positive thoughts of Allah (swt)
1. Be God conscious
2. Be Akhirah (hereafter) driven
3. Be Sincere
4. Be Righteous
5. Be Focused
6. Be Prayerful
7. Be Riya free
8. Be Reflective
9. Be Grateful
10. Be Hopeful
11. Be Content
List 2: Eleven (11) phrases to foster positive close relationships
12. Be Yourself
13. Be Patient
14. Be a Shepherd
15. Be a True Friend
16. Be Kind
17. Be Loving
18. Be Forgiving
19. Be Good Mannered
20. Be Easy on others
21. Be Friendly
22. Be Forgiving
List 3: Eleven (11) phrases to foster positive contributions in the Ummah
23. Be Islamically cultured
24. Be a Change Maker
25. Be a Helper
26. Be Charitable
27. Be Humble
28. Be Good Natured
29. Be Honest
30. Be Just
31. Be a Role Model
32. Be a Mentor
33. Be a Positive influence
The attitude of the Muslim Youth should be that of positivity – from an individual level to a communal one. And that is not to deny that negative situations come about or that negative people exist. Your choice should be towards a more positive outlook; beyond the negative ones.
Being a positive Muslim Youth means that you have only positive thoughts of your Lord (swt). You rely on Him at all times, you put your hope & trust in Him alone, and call on Him constantly – whether in pain, distress or not.
In this way you can also become a source of positivity to others. His Love, Mercy, Bounties & Blessings are just what you need to get through your not-so-perfect circumstances.
Let these simple phrases guide your thoughts and attitudes so they become motivational agents in your life. You can also use them as your daily goals, so they guide your actions and deeds.
And in much the same way, you can turn around negative thoughts and phrases into positive coping ones. After all the affair of the believer is always good.
Amazing is the affair of the believer, verily all of his affair is good and this is not for no one except the believer. If something of good/happiness befalls him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something of harm befalls him he is patient and that is good for him(Saheeh Muslim)